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gugudalala · 8 months ago

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pairing: Toji x reader / TojiMMA

synopsis: Toji MMA with an upcoming match with Sakuna. Y/N a new reporter with a last chance on the job she need Toji help where he offer his help in exchange for sex.

warning: pet names, smut with plot, overtim, squirting, dumbification, size kink, unprotected, praise, ect+++

words: 1964

A/N. English is not my first language if there any mistake plz forgive me. I do not own any of the character or picture (credit to the rightful owner) only the plots are mine.

Enjoy ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

CH: (1) | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

Toji Zenin, a heavyweight MMA fighter. He is not only known for his amazing winning record but also for his sexy, dangerous body and looks that could put down anybody who passes his way. With all the body muscle and his good look no wonder he is so popular. Nobody knows where the scar on his face comes from but that does not stop the increasing number of his fangirls and boys yet, he hates the attention that he receives.

“Fuck off” he shouted out to the reporter who had crowed him after his match, which of crouse he had won

“Stop scaring them off” said his manger, as he quickly followed him into the break room leaving the press behind with the help of their bodyguard “They just doing their job, why don’t you enjoy their attention a little more”

Toji ignores him sitting into the chair relaxing his muscles provided for him by his physical therapist, as they help him cool down his body

“You know, they’re just excited for your upcoming match. With you fighting one of the MMA legend, how would they ever stay calm”

“Sukuna, a MMA legend? Funny”

˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

Y/N POV

"Listen here and listen well, this is your last chance. You will do an interview with Toji about the upcoming MMA match of Toji Zenin VS Sakuna. Do you understand?!" scream your boss

‘Fuck Toji, fuck the MMA’ you mentaly curse as you drink down another glass of whiskey. Becoming a reporter had always been your dream, however the only kinds of news that had your interest were about crimes. Mystery and thriller which was your favorite, not some celebrity life. Yet, the crimes had been decreasing and there was nothing for you to make a living off

‘Not sure if I should be happy or sad about it’ you thought as you asked for another glass. Looking over you just happen to notice that there was a man sitting 3 seats away from you. You can’t recall when the man came by. However, that does not matter now when all you want to do is to forget your boss

Looking over to that man all you can tell is that he might be loaded as he dresses so comfortably for these luxury bars. With a tight black shirt and gray sweatpants. With all of his muscles that are hugging his shirt. You could not tell if the shirt is too small or his muscles too big. ‘Must be the latter’ you taught to yourself

“Like what you see?” said the man as you realize that you’re caught from staring at him

“Not much to see” you lied as you look away blushing from the embarrassment from getting caught

A light laugh leaves his mouth as move toward the seat beside you and leans on his palm facing you. Seeing his face close up all you can say is that he is handsome- too handsome for your little heart. With a scar on his mouth you can't help but to let that little thriller heart of your run free

“Your face is red” he smirk

“I drank a lot tonight” you replied holding onto your glass tighter looking forward not wanting to face him

“Hmm” he slowing reach his hand out to you with one of his finger touching your ear dragging down to your neck pass your shoulder to the collar of your shirt “it all red” his eyes never leaving you

“Oh” is all that you can reply hoping that he would not hear how hard your heart is pounding

“Where does it end?” he asked with a smug. As his finger traces upward back to your ear. You knowing full well of what will happen next based on your answer

‘A night won’t hurt’ you thought, losing your mind into the alcohol. “Want to see it out yourself?” You asked him now facing him and by the time you know it you were already in one of the hotel rooms. Him being all over you, kissing harshly as you were pushed against the wall

You felt dizzy, as he hungrily kissed you as he bit into your bottom lip. You parted your lips allowing him to kiss you deeper with his hand onto the back of your neck holding your face upward toward him as he pressed himself between your legs. Never in your life had been kissed like this before and as he pull away leaving small kiss around your face to your ear as he whisper ‘get on the bed’

˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

You both move toward the bed, walking backward following his lead with his mouth never leaving you. Once on the bed with his body on top of you leaving a small kiss along the side of your neck down to your breast. He unbuttons your shirt, pants, and undergarment, throwing them away leaving you naked. He sat up while scanning your body from top to bottom with only the bedside lamp as your light source. A small smile formed on his mouth “it's all red” he smirked as his strong hand held onto one of your breasts playing with your nipple as he blended down to suck on another. He smiles as he hears you whimper, his hand reaching down playing with your clit. A moan escaped your mouth as his finger entered you. Lewd squelching sound filled up the room as he hit all the right spots in you. Your moan became louder as your stomach tighten almost reaching your climax

“Gonna cum on my finger? Show me how you cum, little one” with him fingering you faster helping you reach your climax. He help you ride it down your hand reaching out grabbing his shirt

“Take it off” you plead. So he did, finger leaving you hanging wanting for more and within a second his shirt was off thrown away leaving him only in his sweatpant. Him standing on his knee above you, the little light helps define all his muscles and you take your time scanning him from the top only to stop at the bulging on his sweatpant. You hand reach out to touch it as you sit right up and you can’t help but to pull down his pants freeing his dick only for it to hit your face. You were stunned at how huge he was, worrying if you could even handle it. Before you could say a word he pushed you onto your back with one leg in his arm over his shoulder. Feeling his tip rubbing your fold “Such a sweet little thing for me” he teased

“Are you on pill” he asked “yes” and with that he slowly sank in stretching you out. You moan out as you feel every inch of him entering you. “Fuck, so tight” he moan as he pull out just to push right back in. You suck in a shaky breath never once you had anything that big in you. “Too big” you murmur, lip trembling. He picks up his speed and pounds right into you. Burying it so deep and thrusting fast and rough. “I’m go-gonna” You whine as you climax for the second time of the night. Drunk on pleasure, you didn’t notice that he slowly positioned you into the matting press with your two legs up on both of his arms.

“Think you can handle me more” he ask. Looking to where you both connected only to find out that he is only half way in- all this time. “W-wait” before you could reply he already sank himself deeper into you hitting your cervix. Your mouth pops open with a gasp taking him in more and more. “You feel that, taking me so-so well” he praised as he was pounding harder and deeper than before. With every thrust he hits your cervix you can’t help but to cry out of pleasure. “I can’t- no more-“ you cried. “Shhh, you can and you well” he shushes you, as he bent down kissing you. You never had sex this intense in your life before, the amount of pleasure you felt scare you. “W-wait some-something coming, I feel strange” you cried as you tried to move away from him yet with his strong arm he was able to hold you down. Now you're back facing him with you in all four. His arm is holding onto your side forcing you down onto him as he continues trust into you.

“Go on then, make a mess” one of his hands reaching down, playing with your swollen clit. Your core tightens as you reach your high, leaking all over the sheet beneath you. Screaming with your eyes roll back from the intense pleasure. “Fuck” he groans seeing you squirt all over. “Good girl” trusting faster, reaching his own climax coming inside you. Before you can even catch your breath he flips you over, now facing him with him in between your legs. Looking at his face, his eyes dazed in pleasure with a smug expression and his hand stroked his once again hard on “Again” he demanded while looking at you “cum like that for me again” he positioned himself right at your entrance. “Hmmm” you moan back too tired to form a word, feeling him going in-

˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

*buzz-buzz buzz-buzz*

You woke up to your phone ringing. Reaching out you receive the call "Y/N! Finally the phone went through, I just received mail from the team that you are allowed to go in for a quick photo of the gym today. Meet them at their gym at 2 and take this as your chance and meet up with the coach to get closer to Toji-san. I will send the location of the gym to your mail. Don't forget this is your last chance" your boss ended the call

'Fuck' you mentally curse sitting up you look around to see the other side of the bed empty- no note, no men cloths, nothing. You recall the night before which was the most intense sex you ever had and which you had enjoyed thoroughly. Hell, you never knew that sex can be that extreme and with the guy whom you never get the chance to know his name

˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

Looking in front of you is the so-called gym that your boss forces you to come to. You had gone home, got dressed and gathered your stuff even with the difficulty of your sore leg and muscle you finally made it to the gym. One of the men came out and greet you

"Hi, you're the reporter right? I'm the coach assistant that will be helping you around today" he introduced himself. He brought you into the gym which can only be accessed by the members of the team. Which he introduces you around through the building, rooms, and the equipment along with some new addition members of the team. Everyone is friendly as they help you along the gym yet you can't help but feel the soreness from last night is getting back through you from walking around.

"-and so this is Toji-san's personal break room" he guides you to the front door "Can't we go in?" you asked. During the tour you were able to access into other member's personal room, so you questioned him. "Sorry, unlike other members Toji-san rooms are off limits. He hated when people come into his room without permission" he answer you with a small awkward smile "Oh, what a jerk"

"That is not what you called me last night" a familiar voice calls you out. A shadow looms over you from behind, turning around looking up you recognize the face- the exact same one that makes you cum over and over oh god how could you ever forget

#toji fushiguro #toji x reader #jjk toji #toji smut #toji x you #fushiguro toji #toji zenin #fushiguro #jjk #jjk x reader #jjk smut #jujutsu kaisen

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froot-batty · 1 year ago

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(most of) The sewer squad!

Surprisingly, Clay and Croc were super fun for me to color. Rat was the one that kicked my ass this time

(P.S. sorry about the lore being so long down there)

Waylon Jones was originally born in Louisiana. He was born into a relatively low income but very big, very loving family. He was also born with Epidermolytic Ichthyosis, which caused patches of his skin to blister or thicken, sort of like scales. This would be the first thing he'd be bullied for as a child, and it would only grow worse as he went through school and his undiagnosed ADHD and dyslexia would make it ten times harder for him. He would eventually decide to drop out of school, both because of his learning difficulties and the bullying.

One thing Waylon had always loved was boxing. His father had taught him and all of his siblings the basics of boxing, and Waylon was one of the ones who really took a shining to it. It helped that he was a naturally bulky guy who could put on muscle pretty easily. So now that he was out of school, he decided to put his free time towards participating in amateur boxing matches. It didn't rake in very much money, and usually took place in some guy's backyard or a junkyard, but he thought it was a lot of fun - and, most of all, he was good at it.

He made the choice to move to Gotham after he'd collected enough money to start a life somewhere else. He loved his family, and it hurt to move away from them, but a big city like Gotham provided more opportunity than backyard brawling. And indeed, it did! He graduated from probably illegal homemade boxing matches to actual, professional matches - still nothing above amateur, but it was something, and it made a lot more money!

It was during this time when he'd gain the nickname Killer Croc, from a combination of his skin condition, how big he was, and where he'd been born. (He didn't actually kill anyone though, he was a sweetie. He's just killer at boxing).

Things started going downhill for him when he finally won enough matches to go up against another relatively popular name in the amateur boxing league. This opponent, not wanting to lose against what was still a fresh face in Gotham, conspired to cheat in order to win. Because it's Gotham, and anyone can be made to look the other way, no one caught the man as he mixed plaster of Paris with his hand wraps (which hardens into something similar to concrete) before the match.

Safe to say, Waylon lost the fight pretty badly. While he would have been a good sport about it, he knew that who he'd fought had cheated, and he was pissed. As soon as he was out of the hospital, and his face was healed enough for it, he caught the other boxer as he was leaving the gym. He tried to convince him to admit that he had cheated and forfeit his win, but they'd end up getting into an argument that'd turn physical when he tried to punch Waylon.

When the cops arrived, instead of breaking up the both of them and taking them both in, they instead arrested just Waylon. Because the other boxer chose to press charges, Waylon was shipped off to BlackGate Penitentiary after a hasty trial. But he didn't stay there for very long.

Doctor Hugo Strange, head of Arkham Asylum, had followed Waylon's arrest closely in the news. He took an interest in the boxer specifically because of the irony of his nickname. Strange would go on to convince the superintendent of BlackGate that Waylon was unfit to be housed in a regular prison because of how dangerous he might be - Arkham would be a much better fit for him.

Strange promised Waylon that being in an asylum would greatly reduce how long he'd have to spend incarcerated, as he could get out of an asylum when he was proven "sane". But Waylon was given a cell in the lowest pits of Arkham - in the basement, where Strange made his monsters. And he would become the living test subject for what would become Kirk Langstrom's own bat-serum; his nickname, Killer Croc, once a source of pride, becoming a cruel prediction of what he'd become.

Unlike Kirk, however, Waylon is permanently trapped in this new form; shunned from society and now living as Gotham's monster in the sewers. Forever a Killer Croc.

??? (Nickname: Rat/Rats) was born in....Well, actually, no one really knows where it came from. Rats was there the first time Waylon escaped into the sewers, and it seemed it'd been there a long time before that, too.

Rats is like a cryptid to most of the Gotham population. But, like, the kind of cryptid where everyone knows it's real, you just don't encounter it that often. 12 year old rat child in the sewers? Yeah, everyone knows about that

They're shy, unnerving, and tend to be nonspeaking, their only appearances to most of the public coming from brief glimpses in the sewers or, occasionally, guiding people lost within them back out.

To the rogues, though, Ratcatcher is a source of information. It seems to know far more than it should, due to communication with the all-seeing eyes of it's many rats. But how much it's willing to help depends on how much it trusts you, which is usually not very much at all.

And if they don't want to talk to you, then Waylon will be sure to escort you quickly out of the sewers.

(Fun fact: Rats communicates mostly in ASL!)

Basil Karlo was born and raised in Gotham. A lover of performance from the moment he could join the theatre club in school, he was dead set on pursuing an acting career after he graduated from college. His first experiences were small background roles or roles in commercials, but even then directors could see the acting potential lurking within him.

Small roles grew into more major roles, as they grew from background actor, to minor actor, to eventually starring in major roles. And they were a popular guy! Pretty face, charming voice, they became Gotham's own star!

In one of these movie roles, Basil would grow very close to one of his co-stars. Their relationship would move very quickly from friendship to romance, as it does when you work so closely with someone. It might have even moved a little too fast, as they decided to get married the moment they returned to America from their filming location. She moved into his home in Gotham, and things were good, for a little while.

But a lot of cast romances end up not working out, and this was one of those cases. Basil and his wife began to drift apart, focusing on their own careers and neglecting one another in the process. Their relationship began to decay, and with the nature of Basil's career, there began to be...people on the side.

They thought he kept these escapades a secret. They did everything they could to not let their wife or the public know about their cheating.

Of course, this was a pipedream.

This all happened around the time J's Red Hood Gang was at their peak. They figured out Basil's secret, gathered material, and would present the evidence to Basil himself. To keep their secret safe, Basil was forced under the Red Hood.

Basil...did not take well to what he had to do as a Red Hood. But he was desperate to save face amongst the well-to-do of Gotham, so he continued doing the bidding of J and her gaggle for a good while.

Until the day, with no interference from the Red Hoods, their wife left them. She had apparently been contacted by one of Basil's partners, and now they were going to leak that to the press during the divorce proceedings.

Basil's life was ruined. His reputation was in shambles, and he was doing more work for criminals than directors. But he decided he was going to change that. What was the point of working as a Red Hood if they had no way to blackmail him anymore?

So they attempted to leave. They confronted J and demanded that she let them go, and without waiting for her response, left.

Red Hoods were waiting at their home when they got back there. They kidnapped them, dragged them to Ace Chemicals, and proceeded to pour an experimental chemical onto their face. This chemical made flesh like clay—moldable, which the Hoods used to their advantage as they toyed with Basil's face. Morphing it into different shapes and expressions for their own amusement.

When they were done, they dragged him to the vat where they were developing that chemical and threw him into it, expecting him to die.

Unfortunately for Basil, they did not.

#frootverse #waylon jones #killer croc #ratcatcher #basil karlo #clayface #batman #rogues gallery #my art #rogue design

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simply-ivanka · 2 months ago

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Trump’s Comeback and What’s to Come

By Karl Rove

Wall Street Journal

It seemed impossible a year ago, but the success of America is again in his hands.

And so it ended, almost abruptly.

Many pundits—me included—expected days of uncertainty, vote counting and legal wrangling. But before sunrise Wednesday, it was over. Donald Trump engineered the most astonishing political comeback in American history.

The former and future president appears to have swept all seven battleground states. He also is well ahead of Kamala Harris in the national popular vote, 51% to 47.5% as of Wednesday afternoon. If he carries every state he now leads, he will have a more substantial Electoral College victory: 312 votes to her 226. That’s a clear mandate.

President-elect Trump achieved his victory by assembling a new coalition. He added to the GOP’s traditional base working-class noncollege voters of all races; young voters, especially young men; the biggest share of the Hispanic vote since at least 2004; and the largest black percentage for Republicans in decades. He expanded his majorities in rural counties and small towns while building his numbers in cities and suburbs. His percentage of the vote ballooned in blue states like New York, New Jersey and Illinois.

Mr. Trump created this coalition by opposing Biden-Harris policies on the economy, inflation, the border and wokeness while promising to restore America’s greatness. He was aided by the sense that the economy was better and more prosperous when he was in office. And with two-thirds of Americans believing our country was on the wrong course, he became the change candidate.

When his re-election journey began in 2022, it seemed impossible to all but him, his family and true believers that he would win. The lawsuits, indictments and later the conviction would have doomed any other candidacy.

But he persevered, and his supporters grew in numbers. He knew what appealed to people in a way others—including me—didn’t see. A friend explained it to me on Monday as we walked a New York street. Pointing to nearby construction workers, he said the former president cares about people like them and they feel that. Millions of Americans who don’t believe politicians care about them, their challenges and their aspirations see Mr. Trump as their champion.

Mr. Trump also benefited from the mental and physical incapacity of the sitting president seeking a second term. It’s a scandal that Joe Biden and his inner circle thought it was in the country’s best interest that he run when he had declined so precipitously. They hid the fact that age had robbed Mr. Biden of what America needed in the Oval Office.

Challenges await Mr. Trump. The international scene is chaotic and dangerous, from Ukraine to Taiwan to the Middle East. He will have a Republican Senate but there’s still a slim chance of a Democratic House. It will likely take days to settle the final contests in California that may determine which party has the lower chamber’s majority.

America remains deeply polarized, and some of Mr. Trump’s proposed policies—such as the expensive sales taxes that his tariff ideas constitute—could prove unpopular. This could boomerang on him in the 2026 midterms. And second terms are rarely easy.

Early Wednesday morning Mr. Trump promised: “Every citizen, I will fight for you, for your family and your future.” He pledged “with every breath in my body, I will not rest until we have delivered the strong, safe and prosperous America that our children deserve.”

If the new president focuses his prodigious energies on this, he can achieve good things in the next two years. But if he makes a priority of settling scores with opponents—which he promised to do during the campaign—he’ll waste his limited time and precious political capital.

But Mr. Trump will do it his way. In Trump 2.0, there will likely be more people urging him to hit the accelerator on whatever policy idea, good or bad, occurs to him than in his first term and fewer counseling him to pump the brakes.

Some of his ardent supporters play this down. They remind us of journalist Salena Zito’s admonition to take Mr. Trump seriously but not literally. She may have a point, but it should be a greater comfort to nervous Americans that the guardrails of our system of government remain strong and effective.

This is the moment when both victors and the defeated traditionally set aside the election’s acrimony and, even if briefly, give the incoming president a chance to start fresh. Mr. Trump is the only president America will have come January. We should all wish him godspeed and pray for wisdom in his efforts. Our nation’s success is once again tied to him.

#trump #trump 2024 #president trump #ivanka #repost #america first #americans first #america #donald trump

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tohwitchesduels · 3 months ago

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REQUEST BATTLES OF WITCHES DUELS - Battle 45: Willow Park vs Gus Porter

Disclaimer: This is not a popularity contest or which character you prefer, in this tournament, you decide who is stronger/better/smarter/etc. opponent.

information for both opponents under the cut to those who don't know what they can do in their battle:

Since both have quite huge profiles, I won't be getting into specifics, just motivations and I will link to their profiles in their names.

Willow Park:

Willow Park is a prodigy in plant magic. Only a few can match her talent and raw power when it comes to her command over plant life. She's also very knowledgeable when it comes to Botanics and is very promising when it comes to them (she knows how to tame various plants and what are they capable of). However, her capabilities only extend to plant magic and not other types of magic.

Willow Park is also very strong, athletic, and sporty. She's the Captain of Flyer Derby Emeral Entrails and managed to defeat the captain of Grudgby team Boscha while playing Grudgby for the first time. It is known that Willow works out and shows a lot of physical strength. The girl knows how to pack a punch.

Willow and Gus are best friends and are always there for each other. Willow has to admit she actually doesn't like the idea of fighting him out of sheer worry that Gus could potentially get hurt with how rough she plays. However, Gus reassured her he would be fine so Willow is doing her best not necessarily because she wants to defeat him but out of respect for him and his efforts.

Willow possesses a palisman and is quite capable when it comes to staff wielding. Also as captain of flyer derby, she's a very proficient and quite skilled flyer. Being capable of flying traditionally and switching midair to surfing. She is also capable of using her staff to enhance her already very potent magic.

Willow's magic is enhanced by her emotional state. If she's confident in herself she's most in control, however, if she's bottling up her feelings or feeling insecure, her magic can turn against her. Her magic also gets stronger once she uses anger and determination to power it.

Gus Porter:

Gus Porter is a prodigy when it comes to illusion magic. Prodigious enough to skip a few grades and even defeat the coven head of illusions with his sheer raw power. Gus displays insane potential and a big imagination when it comes to his magic. Now his powers are still limited by his own imagination and creativity meaning his illusions for the most part can be used mostly for deception and distraction, but during this tournament, Gus finally revised his own skill to find even offensive capabilities of his powers. While Gus did display the willingness to study other tracks, he ultimately never did due to his reassurance in being a master illusionist how easy it comes to him, and how much he can do with illusions alone.

One must know how intelligent Gus is during his battles. He can easily fool and toy with his opponents thanks to his illusions and Gus is also not afraid to either mock or straight-up torture his enemies during his battle just to get the results he needs, and has more than enough raw power to pull his schemes to their fullest. It's worth noting that when Gus feels extreme emotions, his magic only gets amplified, however, the side effects could be that Gus actually loses control over his own powers and gets to be the victim of them too, though thankfully to the magical amplifier from Graye, the risk of that is lesser.

Gus does possess a Palisman and is known to be an utter speed demon. Gus doesn't fly in a traditional sense like most other competitors due, to preferring to surf in the air, but this only further allows him to still cast spells while midair, which mixed with his capacity to trick his opponents more dangerous. It's hard to tell however how good he is in combat with his staff, but it appears he knows how to battle with it if he still used it as a means to fight in LR when briefly facing Hunter.

One of the artifacts I allow Gus to have independently regarding whether or not his opponent also has any supportive gear is the looking glass earring he got after he defeated Adrian. The magical amplifier allows Gus to further concentrate his raw power into specific abilities he has a hard time pulling on his own and even enhancing them in the process, growing more powerful.

Gus and Willow are best friends. Gus wanted to battle his friends in the finals though both Luz and Amity beat him to the race so he requested for both Hunter and Willow to battle him outside of the tournament. Willow was not really confident about this battle as while she respects Gus, she used to protect him for the longest time and now she feels kind of bad to have to duel with him, but Gus reassures her it's alright. After all, he knows what he's about and he can survive (Hunter wouldn't entirely agree with it) so Willow respected Gus's wishes. There is no bad blood, just a friendly duel, it will be alright! Hopefully

Return to Masterpost

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clowningaroundmars · 9 months ago

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morales twins hcs

i'm absolutely in love with the idea of miles42 and miles1610 being twins, i'm so glad most of the fandom has basically adopted 42 lmao

some of my own twins headcanons, just random stuff to add onto other ppls hcs ive seen:

☆ 42 loves his mamí absolutely but def acts the most like his dad, and haaaates when anyone points it out. it's the most obvious when 42 gets mad, he sounds EXACTLY like his father then lol

☆ in fact, the twins polar opposite personalities is probs bc 1610 takes after his mom's temperament more, while 42 is as stoic, stubborn and slightly dorky as his dad is

☆ whenever the boys made each other cry (by accident or otherwise) they did the typical little kid thing and tried immediately comforting the other. now that they're older 1610 handles his emotions better and is mature when talking about them, but 42 is the one who comforts 1610 more often

more below ↓

☆ as well as staying on top of his academics, 42 also plays basketball and trains in a couple martial arts studios after school. 1610 is taller than 42 bc of the spider bite but 42 has always been slightly bigger and more muscular than 1610 since he's the athlete. whenever the family attends 42's boxing matches, jeff gets an overwhelming sense of deja vu from back when he attended his own brother's matches before

☆ they both got thru school p okay, not many incidents of bullying mostly bc if anyone did try, 42 would put a stop to that nonsense immediately. 42 loves his bro with his whole heart and was glad to pick a fight with anyone who gave him any trouble at all. the whole neighborhood knew it too bc the only person allowed to bully 1610 is 42 himself!

☆ in fact, 42 doesn't win the lottery to enter visions in the first place, which saddened both brothers when they found out. so because they're at separate schools now, 42 makes sure his twin knows that if any fuckery is afoot at visions that he'd be more than happy to roll up and dogwalk any fool who tries it. 1610 laughs him off but knows his bro has got his back for sure

☆ 42 likes to pretend 1610 is the nerdy one, but they are both very big anime and manga nerds. every time they hit up any bookstore, they both make a beeline for the manga section and argue over who's gonna read the newest one first (they have to share cuz those books cost some moneeyyyy, man)

☆ 1610 and 42 love their uncle to pieces, OFC. they both pick up separate traits from him, even. 42 was inspired to start martial arts and boxing from watching videos on old digital cameras that aaron hung onto thru the years. they were of a much younger aaron back in his boxing days, when his family went to his matches and recorded them from the seats. 1610 was inspired to pick up graffiti and then even started doodling in notebooks bc of aaron

☆ 1610 is def the social butterfly and easily the most popular kid on the block by virtue of how friendly and outgoing he is. 42 is more introverted and keeps a small circle of friends, but everyone is cool with him nonetheless since they fuck with his twin bro

☆ since 42 stays at home the most (lol he a homebody) he picks up cooking much better than 1610 thanks to him staying in the kitchen to help his mom make dinner while they watch telenovelas together. 42 also knows how to dance bachata and salsa much better than 1610 too

☆ both twins love physics and math but 42 is more hardware-inclined. 1610 is about software, data, and formulas. 42 is good at taking things apart, putting things together, building and engineering. he kinda takes after his uncle aaron that way, and drove his parents nuts as a lil kid when he got his hands on radios, computers, clocks, etc

☆ 1610 loves softer brighter music like JID, steve lacy, smino, frank ocean, kid cudi, post malone, and nujabes. 42 is always bumping harder shit like pop smoke, waka flocka, zillakami, three 6 mafia, benny the butcher and some oldies like paul wall, wu tang clan, biggie smalls, MF DOOM and big KRIT. they tease each other's music tastes a lot since they're polar opposites in almost every way

☆ they actually have a shared playlist where they add new music they like (probs on some e-1610 spotify or soundcloud equivalent since everything is slightly skewed on e-1610 tbh). both of them check it periodically, and 42 is the more frequent contributor

☆ they both make art but 1610 is the artsier kid for sure. 42 doodles occasionally but he's not as enthusiastic about it as his twin is. they both go around the city tagging walls whenever they have any free time, though. 1610 loves colors, expressive styles and is good at coming up with cool ways to draw text. 42's lines, accuracy and technical skill can never be beat

☆ 1610 has superpowers, sure, but his fighting skills are trash! 42 was always the scrappy one, not 1610, so he shows his twin how to properly throw punches and other useful fighting knowledge. it def comes in handy in the future

☆ jeff loves his sons to death but he often finds himself butting heads the most with 42 since they're so similar, it kinda drives them both nuts. it def gets worse once aaron starts gossiping abt what jeff used to be like when they were kids, giving 42 plenty of ammo. they love each other but their relationship is just as complicated as it is between jeff and 1610, and 42 would be lying if he said he wasn't affected by the rift between his dad and uncle himself

☆ the minute the twins turn 16, 42 goes out and gets his drivers license on the first try (computer quiz AND road test aced) and rubs it in 1610's face almost constantly. 1610 likes to throw back that there's no parking space for another car on their block, so he can't even get his own car even if he wanted to anyways

☆ whenever the boys really fight, the whole city seems to know. they squabble a lot obvi, they're brothers. but the very few times they've given each other the silent treatment like for real, everyone in the family tries to get them to make up since it's unsettling to see two peas in a pod be so hostile with each other

☆ and since they've always been attached at the hip, 1610 being enrolled into visions felt. weird. everyone thought 1610 was gonna take it the hardest but surprisingly 42 had a harder time adjusting since he always saw his bro in the hallways at school, and was so used to him knowing the latest gossip of anybody in their grade. without 1610 around as often, 42 becomes even more withdrawn than usual

rio looks up from the pot suddenly, glancing at the time. dinner was almost ready and she… hadn't seen not hide nor tail of her son this evening. he returned home from school a couple hours earlier, choosing to skip going to his boxing class to shut himself in his room.

fine. teenagers can be moody sometimes and rio would rather keep her moody son at home where she can keep an eye on him, rather than worry about what he's getting up to on the streets.

strange thing is, though... rio hadn't heard a single noise come out of that room all night. 42 usually liked to have at least some music playing, maybe video game noises out of his nintendo... oh, what was it called again? whatever, that nintendo thing he played on sometimes.

rio placed the lid on the pot and lowered the flame a bit before making her way over to her twin sons' bedroom door, hesitating a bit when she noticed no light was filtering out from the bottom either. okay... that was weird, too. neither of her sons ever went to bed before dinner. ever.

the one time rio dared to try and send her sons to bed without dinner years ago-- as punishment for fighting right there in the kitchen that time-- both twins hollered so loud they got concerned knocks on their front door from various different neighbors. never again, rio remembered thinking that time.

now, the bedroom door stands oddly quiet and completely hollow without any signs of life behind it. rio knocked anyways, hoping against hope itself that 42 didn't go ahead and sneak out of the house without her knowledge. if he did sneak out, he's grounded for 3 months, rio thinks to herself mostly as reassurance. she nervously picks at a nail and strains to hear anything behind the wood.

she thinks she hears a groan and decides to try her luck by slowly opening the door. hopefully he's not in there... y'know, doing teenage boy things, either. dios mío.

rio swings the door open to...

...a completely pitch-black room, save for the sliver of streetlight filtering in past a crack in the window curtains and casting an eerie yellow glow on anything it could touch. it is cold, and also deathly quiet.

rio is shocked.

she walks over to the right side of the room where 42's bed is pushed up against the corner, next to the windows. on that bed lies a big lump, buried under several layers of blankets. the lump stirs.

rio crosses her arms. "mijo, mi amor. are you sleeping? …pero qué te pasa, papí?"¹

42 rolls onto his back and glares sleepily at his concerned mother standing at his bedside. it's dark in the room, but rio's face is illuminated by the living room lights pouring in from the open door. she's wearing a tilted smile, but coupled with the worry lines on her forehead, it isn't fooling anyone.

42 slowly closes his eyes, chin still under the covers, and lets out the most world-weary sigh rio has ever heard coming out of someone as young as him. if it weren't coming from her own son, she might have even laughed.

she immediately sits down, lifting the cover off of 42's chin to check his temperature all over his face. he tries to wriggle away.

"maaaaaa, stop..." he grumbles, trying to pull the covers up higher over his head. "'m not sick, mamí, forreal… chill."

rio leans on a hand. "¿si no 'ta enfermó pues qué es?² what's wrong?"

42 doesn't answer for a bit and rio exhales through her nose. " 'moré, what are you doing in this pitch-black room all by yourself? no light, no music, no nothing. what's wrong? you look like you're on a death bed!"

42 finally opens his eyes again, and blinks a few times as he says, "nothing, ma. seriously, i'm just... tired. that's all. i'm fine."

"you don't look 'fine' 42, you look like 2 seconds away from flatlining."

another sigh from the boy. rio rolls her eyes and places her hand on his forehead again, then strokes his cheek.

"is it 1610? hmm?" rio asks 42. she asks so unbelievably gently, as if by only mentioning his brother's name she would shatter something in the room. a mirror or something.

42's heart clenches at the love and care his mother is showing around this particular topic. it was true, and he couldn't even deny it. having 1610 in the house less and less every week, not seeing him in the hallways at their local high school, receiving sparser and shorter replies to his texts... it was all building up in his chest and the dam was pretty close to bursting. especially now as his mom was lovingly stroking his cheek as she checked in with him. how embarassing. rio wouldn't see him cry, not right now. he closed his eyes and willed the tears away, for her sake.

miraculously, 42's voice didn't crack or waver when he said, "yeah. yeah, i miss 'im."

rio crooned something saccharine in spanish and placed a kiss on her son's forehead. she saw right through his cold tough guy act, as expected. with how much of a mama's boy 42 was, it would've been impossible not to. they spent way too much time together for her to miss how he dragged his feet getting ready for school in the mornings, how he's been skipping martial arts and basketball practice more often lately, and how unenthusiastic he's been in general.

rio chuckles as she lays her cheek on 42's forehead for a second before sitting back up. "ay, bendito. 42, you know your brother is just down a few blocks from here. why don't you go visit him soon?"

42 shuffles under the covers. he's unsure if he should even admit this, but he proceeds anyways. "uhm. he's not answering my texts lately, so." he feels strangely guilty about this, like he just snitched on his twin somehow even though he has no reason to suspect that at all.

rio sighs and looks off into the distance, bracing herself for what she's about to say. she looks back down. "yeah. i know. he doesn't answer mine, either. i was hoping he was talking to you, but... well. "

something in 42 stirs a bit. "i bet he thinks he's in some fancy private school, around rich kids, now he's too good for us," it's a weak attempt at a joke, but rio smiles down at him anyways.

"don't worry. the second he gets home this weekend, he's on house arrest. okay? he's gonna be chained to you the whoooole time. and i'm keepin' watch."

it's not much, but 42 still takes that little bit of hope and holds it gently in his mind.

"the second he walks through that door, i'm tackling him. i don't care." 42 smiles at the thought.

rio laughs, kisses his forehead again and stands up. "dinner is almost ready, by the way." she gives him a look. "you better eat with me tonight, because your brother is at school and your dad is doing overtime tonight. okay? okay."

42 sighs deeply to wake himself up a bit more as he sits up and scratches at his durag. "yeah, yeah. 'm comin', ma!"

¹ "but what is going on with you, papí?" (papí being a common term of affection for a boy in spanish, it doesn't always mean "dad" lol)

² "if you're not sick, then what is it?"

☆ until they get "too old" for halloween, the morales twins ALWAYS wear matching costumes. every year. every single year, no matter what. what they usually end up wearing changes every year and they aaaaaalways argue over it, of course. notable costumes so far: batman and superman (age 13), two ninja turtles (age 9) (im thinking mikey and donatello bc of personality but lbr rio most likely forbade either of them to be leonardo bc the twins would deadass get into a fist fight over it), tom and jerry (age 2), mario and luigi (age 7), woody and buzz (age 5), peter pan and captain hook (age 10), and-- rio's favorite-- thing 1 and thing 2 (age 4)

☆ 42 was surprisingly always very popular with the girls at school. in middle school, 1610 was the geeky one with braces and acne. 42 got off relatively easy in that regard and as a result was labeled "a heartbreaker" from the jump, which annoyed him. he has no interest in dating whatsoever and swore to never get into a relationship before graduating high school. he's got his mom and brother to take care of and he's going places after high school, damnit! 1610 on the other hand is a huge romantic and has a crush on a new person almost every year of school, easily

☆ the literal second 1610 set foot in the house after his spider bite, 42 was all over him asking a million questions since they both have that supernatural twintuition, and 42 sussed him out immediately. 1610 obviously had to come clean and tell his brother he was spiderman just like he told ganke, otherwise he was never gonna be able to change into his spider suit at home (plus they share a room, so. there's that)

1610 didn't even get to close their bedroom door all the way before his twin leaped up from his own bed and stalked over.

"óye, bro. what's up? what happened at visions?" 42 circled his brother, squinty-eyed in the exact same way their mom is when she's suspicious. 1610 dropped his bag next to his bed and plopped down on his sheets, trying to put some distance between them.

"uhhhh what're you talkin' about?" he tries casually, and immediately regrets it.

"uhhhhh what're you talkin' about?" 42 mocks. "don't play dumb with me. you KNOW what i'm talkin' about, stupid. first, you answer, like, none of my texts ever. then dad comes home sayin' you never let him talk face-to-face when he visited you a couple days ago. mamí has been texting and calling you nonstop, no answer either. you are a brand new person now, huh? qué te pasa, yo?"

1610 hunched his shoulders as he got up and slumped over to his desk. he was quietly weighing his options, nervously rearranging papers and sketches on the wooden table, wondering how he was going to break it to his brother that he was--

"lemme guess. you have superpowers now," 42 says easily. he crosses his arms triumphantly when big round amber eyes suddenly turn up to his face.

1610 searches his face for any hint of a joke. no... no way. did his brother just...?

"you're playin' with me. no way. how did you--?"

42's eyes widen. "wait, are you being deadass right now?" he threw his head back and crowed with laughter. "that was just a guess!"

1610 leaped forward and pushed his hand onto 42's mouth, shutting him up. "heeyyy hey hey hey hey shhhhh, man. damn, could you possibly be any louder? look," he took his twin by the shoulders and gave him a slight shake, lowering his voice to a near whisper. "mom and dad can never know anything about this. okay? anything. not a word, you understand?"

42 pushes his brother off. "ok-ay man, cool it. i promise. we can shake on it, even."

wordlessly, they did their super secret handshake they came up with and perfected in the 4th grade in lieu of hooking their pinkies together. it was the morales shake, a move that binds them to secrecy and keeping promises til death. this was serious business. 1610 relaxes a bit once they're done.

"... okay. and i mean it, pencil braids. if you even breathe a word about this, or even think about--!"

"if you don't just tell me already, goddamn."

with a meaningful look thrown at his brother's way, 1610 raises an arm silently. 42 looks back expectantly.

1610 shoots a web up. he jumps up, using the web as a bungee rope to help him flip and land feet-first onto the ceiling. once his sneakers touch their ceiling, he stands up... upside-down. he stares at his brother and his brother stares back, mouth agape.

"niiiiiiice," 42 leans back and grins up at his twin brother, spiderman.

☆ 1610 is glad he has someone besides ganke to talk to about spiderman stuff, though. his brother listens way more attentively than his roommate anyways, and even tries to help sometimes esp when 1610 needs a quick distraction so he can switch from spiderman back into his regular clothes before the parents notice

☆ 42 is surprisingly cool abt his twin bro being spiderman, actually. even when they're texting 42 is careful not to imply 1610 is spiderman, and often calls stuff in to the police station if 1610 webs anyone up and lets him know. he also gets very good at bandaging up wounds quickly

☆ 42 is a hardass on the outside and contains his emotions much better than his twin, but he's kinda different around his family, since he loves them a lot. he jokes around a lot with them, esp around 1610. they also love pranking their parents, and are p creative at coming up with ways to make everyone laugh

☆ i personally picture 42's personality being sort of like huey's from the boondocks, especially around other adults. he becomes withdrawn and speaks very clearly and directly, and is very shy around strangers. some ppl mistake that as him having an attitude problem but his friends and family know better. only difference between huey and 42 is that 42 isn't nearly as woke lmfao

☆ meanwhile, 1610 becomes a motormouth around strangers and is quick to hug and kiss random family members at family reunions. as a lil kid, he'd always be the one up at the counter ordering for the both of them and chatting with the cashiers, or bus drivers, or whoever. as he gets older and used to the spiderman thing, he chats and jokes with randoms a lil less. he has to save the good material for when the mask is on

☆ 42 is a better writer than he is an artist, actually. he has notebooks filled with poetry and lyrics he scribbles down on post-it notes just to stick them in there for safekeeping. he's also been working on a sci-fi story since he was in 6th grade in absolute secrecy; he doesn't want a single soul to see it. he'd be mortified if anyone saw the nerdy shit he comes up with

☆ even tho 1610 has never fought anyone or been scrappy with anyone else, he's very good at wrestling and dodging punches thanks to his brother.

☆ 42 is the more fashion-inclined twin, even tho they're both sneakerheads. 42 just pays more attention to accessories, the fit of his clothing, how to pair the right shoes with the right jacket. 1610 throws on anything comfortable and calls it a day, and it gets even worse after he becomes spiderman. 42 clowns his brother SO HARD after he finds him wearing yellow sweatpants with an oversized red adidas hoodie and a green puffer jacket once (it was when 1610 came home from fighting a shapeshifting lizard that tried to take over cypress hills. the sweatpants were on backwards)

☆ 1610's sense of humor is geeky and he always tries too hard with his quips and jokes. he usually gets "secondhand embarrassment" chuckles from ppl. 42's style of comedy is a mix of dry humor and unintentionally being funny. this dude will say something clever with the straightest face ever and have the ENTIRE room in stitches without even meaning to

☆ just to nail home how different they are, even tho they share a room, you can tell EXACTLY which half of their room begins and ends. 1610's half is cluttered, vibrant, covered in posters and action figures, collages and trinkets on every available surface. 42's is as clean as a hospital room, and he ALWAYS makes his bed every morning. 42 has a poster or 2 hung up but he's not much for decorating in general. he's more into alphabetizing his bookshelf and looking for more efficient storage to put under his bed

☆ when jeff looks at his sons, he sees aaron and himself and sometimes it scares him. when the boys were around 12 (the Evil Year) he made SURE to sign them up for camp trips that summer and keep them close together as much as possible. he hates to see his boys drift apart at all and is the 1st one to call it out if he sees it. he just doesn't want his boys to end up like he and his brother did…

☆ … and then other times? it genuinely makes him feel a combination of irritation and also fondness bc sometimes 1610 and 42 really really remind him of aaron and himself, esp when they were young. ESPECIALLY when they argue. in every playful slap on the shoulder, every arbitrary competition started out of nowhere, every sleepy brother slowly sliding onto the other's shoulder during nighttime car rides, he sees it. he sees them, and then he sees his past. and with every little difference between the boys slowly cracking open like a chasm with each passing day, sometimes he thinks he can even see his future.

☆ 42 is cool or whatever but i also hc he's kinda… weird sometimes. it gets worse when his twin bro goes off to visions, he keeps staring at walls while sitting in dark rooms and eating at weird hours of the day. rio caught him fast asleep practically hanging off the window sill one night, and another time jeff found him having an entire conversation with a brick wall once while on patrol. 42 refuses to answer any questions

☆ after 1610 gets into visions, becomes spiderman, tells his parents abt his plans to go to princeton, etc... 42 eventually starts feeling a type of way (a jealous way…) their parents also seem to pay attention to 1610 more whenever he's home just to add insult to injury. he knows he's not supposed to, but he often finds himself thinking about the prowler gloves and schematics aaron left behind. he managed to grab them and hide them in a gym bag one day while helping his parents clear out aaron's apartment. the tech currently lives under his bed…

#mine #across the spiderverse #spiderverse #miles morales #miles g morales #BOY that sure is a lot to read huh. well. if u read all this here's a heart ♡#can u tell i am Not Normal abt these two #esp wrt them being potential parallels to their father and uncle.........#i can scream FOREVER abt this #the morales family always has me All Up In My Feels man #also LOL @ me writing fanfic again in this post #what can i say...... i guess i can't help it lol #i just love these two they are my babies............#also guess how many times i went and started writing “miles” for 1610 before having to backspace after realizing #yea thats right. Too Many Times #anyways hopes this like uhhh reads okay. the formatting might be weird cuz i had to copy n paste this from my notes app #but i think its cool. i hope #hope yall enjoy aallll of this lol

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grimtab · 4 months ago

Text

"Just us" Yandere Rival Jake x fem reader (Pokémon BRICK Bronze) Part 1/?

Part 2 is up: "Loving Backstabber"

Jake would be a pretty clingy, overprotective and manipulative. He wouldn't be harmful as much physically (unless someone harms you)

he is always by your side, complimenting you, calling you beautiful, pretty, cute and oddly a bit touchy

backs off if you tell him to not touch him, but will resume to play with your hair or whatever he was doing 5 minutes later

he loves hugging, he loves feeling you close to him

doesn't really like boundaries with you

"What do you mean personal space? We've known eachother forever, don't be silly"

it wouldn't be that obvious to people that he head over heels obsessed witih you, until he joins Team Eclipse later on which makes him snap

Jake always has been the one to be in your downs and lows

you've known each other since kids, I mean, being neighbors and all, you two were glued to the hip

fights were pretty rare

Jake never liked you hanging around with anyone except him, or your parents (I mean they're not competition so) in fact, he actually liked your parents, I mean, they are going to be his parents in law.. lol

He gets pretty upset when seeing you with guys (if you bisexual like me then ur fucked LOL)

he is surprisingly patient - or maybe he was good at faking his emotions

He usually bottled his jealousy, anger and frustration, leading to arguements

Arguments did happen, but rarely

"I can just tell you're going to leave me for him- am I just not enough for you?"

Jake just guilt trips and manipulates if you're getting too close with someone

no wonder why you don't have anyone else except Jake LOL

When you both became teenagers Jake's crush on you just fired up more

Every time you brought up someone who was hot at school, Jake's eye just twitched

So Jake did what he had to

He was pretty popular in school so he did unfortunately have to make up some rumor's that led you to being an outcast, forcing you to be with him only

If you managed to get a boyfriend, they left due to rumors of you cheating (which you didn't, it was Jake all along)

"Jeez.. I don't know who started a rumor about you being unloyal to your exes.."

Others would look at him in pity for hanging out with you

People think he's too nice of a person

but he is still popular nonetheless and uses it to his advantage, giving you the idea of Jake being the only one to understand you

-- Start of the Journey --

(in this fic the age you get Pokémons for your journey is after you graduate, because you learn every essential thing from highschool)

Reason Jake hasn't confessed his feeling is just... he's incredibly scared of rejection

He loved your friendship with him but he wanted more

sure you two acted like lovebirds but he was scared that if you do reject him, things will never be the same (until when he's in Team Eclipse he forces you back with him with the power he has)

After graduating and celebrating with your only friend Jake at your favourite small restaurant, you confess to him

He's on cloud 9. Like he could explode with happiness

He was so happy to make it official he jumped up, knocking the table slightly and spilling food on you

He was happy to call you his girlfriend, and one day his wife

Waking up after that day was a special one. Checking the window for the weather but instead seeing Jake wave at you was a pleasant way to start it

Your first official Pokémon for your journey

After getting your starter Pokémon and saying goodbye to your parents, you and Jake set off together

You did win the battle with Jake's Eevee, but he was still happy to battle with you

He comforted you after your parents were kidnapped

Jake doesn't meet you up later and leave you like he does in the game, he's always by your side

If he does leave, it's for a valid reason, and under like 20 minutes, if he's in a battle, or he needs to heal his Pokémon while you are in a battle

He trusts you enough to know you're not going to just run off- I mean he has your location on his phone

He is by your side, pretty much all the time

While you battled in Silvent City's gym, he stood in the crowd, watching and cheering you on

As soon as you got the badge, he congratulated you, dragging you away before you can shake the gym leaders hand goodbye

You didn't know Team Eclipse were watching you both, observing the way Jake was always obsessed with you

Jake befriended your Pokémons, it was like a cute little family with you and him

time and time went on, Jake's anxiety about you leaving him dulled down as he was always with you

He always put a hand around you when you're talking with people and put on a fake smile

He can't really stop you from talking to people, so he just figured he'd show people that you were his

You always fought trainers with Jake watching unless if he's in another battle with another trainer

It's been a month and a half

Rosecove city rolled around and came Tess

Jake just finished a battle and was following the directions in his phone which showed your location

As he climbed up the hill, he had that pang again

You saved her from Team Eclipse and she thanked you with a hug

He felt his heart just.. kind of break

Like why is this random girl hugging you? Do you know her? He doesn't recognize her, he didn't know her, and he did not like her

He comes up to you as you hug him, telling him about Team Eclipse.

His frown slightly turned to a thin line and his eyebrows furrowed

You introduce Tess to Jake

He put his arms around your waist and nodded along at times with the conversation, faking a smile

"I would love to join you in your journey." He heard Tess say to you. He narrowed his eyes

What? Tess is going to come along for the journey?

Jake groaned internally. This journey was supposed to be just the two of us, not some Tess

He observed how Tess was slightly flirting with you - or maybe she was just complimenting you and Jake took it the wrong way

Maybe he shouldn't leave you even for a measly 10 minutes

"Sorry, me and "Y/N have to get going- I hope you have a nice time on your own journey-"

He hide the anger in his words as he 'kindly' smiled at Tess and her grandfather

He dragged you away

sigh

argument

"You said it would be nice to expand our team so me being your team enough for you? You didn't see the way that Tess was flirting with you or did you like it? She doesn't want to train with us she wants to get in your pants!" so you refused Tess

It was two of you again and he was pretty happy

He proposes you with a beautiful ring a week later

it was a great day :)

You two found your way to Anthian City by making an old gentlemen your friend It was exciting, a big city with a challenging gym would excite any trainer

But just like before, Jake was upset again

In Anthian City, you just bump into Tess

Ugh everything was going great, and now Tess was here to ruin it all

Apparently she had crucial information about your kidnapped parents from a family friendTess was more favoring to you, and Jake just hated Tess

When you later get alone together,

"Maybe it's best if we just deal with Team Eclipse on our own, we don't need Tess."

You had a gym to battle and to train your pokemons stronger so you had to put it to a later notice

While you were battling the gym leader, Jake snuck away to find Team Eclipse and get back your parents for you to recognize what a hero he is, and how much he does for you!

But it backfires. He gets kidnapped lol

#yandere x you #yandere imagines #yandere headcanons #yandere boyfriend #yandere x reader #yandere x y/n #Jake pbb #pokemon brick bronze #obsession #roblox x reader #idk man #this is insane #LMAO #pffffft

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necrotic-nephilim · 2 months ago

Note

Before reading the comics, thanks to sladixk fics, i genuinely thought that dick always lost to slade, now I know that most times when he's and adult he beats slade no problem but it got me wondering how you feel about this canon-fanon difference

OHH this is a good question!!

i think sometimes fanon makes Slade a little... too badass. i think something some fanon fans don't understand about Slade in the 80s/90s is that he was like... kind of a loser? like don't get me wrong he was a main villain of the Titans for a while and he was certainly meant to be a formidable villain but this reputation he has in fanon almost supersedes him. (for example with specific plots: the fandom interpretation of the Judas Contract is Slade as the mastermind, but the writers have said that Terra was supposed to be the big villain manipulating everything. which is a ridiculous thing to put on a teenage girl getting groomed but, it does depict the intention of who was supposed to be "at fault" in that story) and don't get me wrong, i definitely love playing up the reputation and aura Slade has, but he really is a general contract killer on the level of like, Deadshot. personally, i wouldn't even put him on Lady Shiva's level, i think she far outranks him.

and to be fair to some fanon, recent comics have... tried to badass-ify Slade. some of his more recent Deathstroke runs are really trying to put him as this guy with legions of men underneath him who's this *deadly* killer who can take on Batman and Superman and all the like. and i just find that... boring? like, do i enjoy him being a smarter-than-average villain with a lot of connections? yes. but i don't think anything in his backstory really lends him to being as formidable as he appears in some fanfiction that puts him on this untouchable level. i would personally go as far to say i think *most* of the Batfamily could beat him in a fight under the right circumstances. bc Slade really is just Some Guy who got a serum from the military and went AWOL. (there's certainly more to his backstory than that, but at a glance, he's really not a trained fighter from birth like other characters are) and whilst i do enjoy Slade being formidable i have to admit, it was sort of fun when he was a loser? and i've gotten a kick out of certain comics that point out he's only a terrifying villain when he's up against teenagers. (Ghost-Maker calling him out on that is one of the funniest things, to me) like could Slade give Batman a serious fight? sure, but i don't see him ever winning unless you *really* nerf Bruce. and i really don't see him ever winning against most of the Batkids once they've got some years under their belt. Slade's scare factor was always tapered by who he was against, and he was a *Teen Titans* villain. so he's a little ridiculous and sometimes just sort of a weird loser. and i say that affectionately.

furthermore, on the flipside, i think... sometimes, we woobify Dick a bit too much to my tastes. or, really any Robin who gets shipped with Slade but of course Dick is the standout in popularity and i find it's more prominent with him. it's really a general slash problem, in which one man must be the Strong Top and then other must be the Weak Bottom. and that manifests in Slade being physically larger than Dick (which in canon, ehhh i think the size difference would be largely negligible) and him being able to beat Dick. bc it makes for more fanfic scenarios where you can put Dick at Slade's mercy for porn, for angst, for whatever you'd like. Slade is a good pick if you want to really put Dick on the weaker side, bc you can play with healing factors and strength enhancements. so on a physical level, Slade will be stronger than Dick. does that mean Slade can beat Dick in a fight? historically, no. i mean, Slade trusted Dick to train his own daughter in the Renegade storyline, so i think this is a fact even Slade is aware of.

i don't think it's a bad thing fanfiction likes its big top/small bottom tropes. if you want to make Dick a submissive, pliant bottom who is going to lose in a fight to Slade for your dead dove porn, get it. i've probably written or will write the same. it's appealing and it's a very common trope for Dick. but it becoming the fandom norm does sort of nerf Dick, occasionally. i think some fans don't fully comprehend the actual level Dick is on, where he's very close to being an equal to Bruce, if not already Bruce's equal. in fandom Dick is sort of trapped in this "post-adolescence but not full adulthood" state that does not acknowledge he has been an adult running superhero teams for years. he was filling in for Bruce in the Batman mantle all the way back in the 90s. he can defeat villains like Slade, and usually without a lot of difficulty. to me the only time you can realistically make Dick lose and it be "in character" is either 1, to have Dick *very* early on in his Robin years (i think if he's past 16, he can beat Slade) or 2, very deeply wound Dick/have him in a psychologically altered state via drugs or something. otherwise yeah, i think Dick wins 99% of the time.

but fanfiction is fanfiction, and it doesn't *have* to be canon. esp if Dick losing to Slade is just a sexy prerequisite to porn. do i wish more fanon explored Slade as kind of a loser? absolutely. do i think Slade is *too* cool in most fanon? also absolutely. but those are my tastes and i don't begrudge anyone who just wants a strong, mean man to whump the shit out of their blorbos, which usually, is the purpose of Slade. i find most fanfic with Slade tends not to be exploring Slade's character. they're simply using him as an easy stand-in for a metahuman who's morally grey and very mean but has a nuanced history with Dick, or whoever else. which, very valid. not all fanfic needs to be a character study, but i do think it'd be cool to see more Slade-centric fics that *do* want to be character studies.

#necrotic answerings #slade wilson #sladick #character meta #MAN i lvoe talking about fanon vs canon tysm for this ask #esp with slade!#bc atp it has seeped into canon #like slade rlly was a loser. deathstroke wasn't even intended to be his name. he was the terminator #which sounds far sillier and puts into better contaxt the level of badassery you ewre dealing with #is uber badass slade cool? yes #and i will probably use it for some of my fics for sladerobin week #but like. i sort of want slade-centric fics too #i want exploration of his family dynamic and his friends and how he's kinda just. a run of the mill contract killer #this mans is not special.#he just happened to have staying power and slowly got cooler over time to compensate for his repeated appearances #which is how characters in comics tend to go #you always have to one-up it yk. you always have to up the stakes #so every character ends up ridiculously hyper-competent at one point or another #and it makes it difficult to do anything with them #but i prefer slade knowing he can lose to dick bc it means he has to get more creative when he wants to beat dick #*or* he has to purosefully take advantage of dick when dick is in a vulenrable state #which makes him less cool and more sleezy #and i enjoy that *so* mcuh more for slade #but that's all my opinion yk

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biggest-geo-oogami-enjoyer · 8 months ago

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Geo cult hear me out-

geo vs sol

How would that go down? Especially since sol is best friends with hyugo. Geo dislikes hyugo while hyugo cares about geo (at least from what we know). Sol is strong physically but geo has body guards and was stated to be good with weapons especially archery.

The outcome may change depending on MC, who their preference is (geo ofc ❤️)- and which route mc takes. but if MC was unsure or didn't care then what lengths would they go to?

Geos advantages

same friend group; close with crowe (how close is unsure but the fact that they are friends says alot). Crowe is close w/ us and has our trust, crowe could get MC to like geo. idk how this could be used as I doubt geo would ask crowe to do this, but what if crowe notices and does it out of kindness for Geo? Not just crowe, but deryl talks good about geo too.

rich; has connections (to the citys founder) & body guards (who are armed with katanas)

popular

Good with weapons, relatively strong. Extremely close with deryl (who's the strongest physically in the whole cast). I dont doubt that deryl would be willing to throw hands for geo if worst comes to worst.

Probably more mentally stable than sol

Could probably expose sol for stalking us or something

Being with him literally guarantees a stable life, hes rich and mc and him would not only be happy together but financialy stable!! A fairy tail 😇

Geos disadvantages

Clearly emotionally constipated, would probably SUCK at being affectionate.

Intimidating, he death glares us and tells us to leave when we ask a question.

Doesn't take action. hes the type to wait for a confession. depending on the type of person mc is, would cause problems.

He seems hostile, not only to strangers but to his friends (clearly in a more affectionate way).this would scare away a timid mc, or even IF mc was outgoing, i feel like geos hostile attitude would just drive mc away sooner or later.

Sols advantages

Hyugo, from our interactions with hyugo he is clearly sols wingman and is trying to get us together

Takes action, unlike geo he asked us for our number (depending on the route). And he is clearly more likely to take romantic advances

Affectionate, hes cheeky / kind with us from the get go, and even after knowing him for only 2 days mc trusts him alot due to how kind he is. Things would progress much more faster.

Protected us in day 2 (depends which route), mc owes him alot, not only that but mc got to see how much sol cares for them, "this man was crying for you". Unlike geo sol would cry and is more willing to be emotional

Strong physically, his skill with weapons are unknown, but if it were just a pure fist fight then sol would win

Probably better at communicating feelings

Sols disadvantages

Mentally unstable and a stalker, being more realistic, this would scare off mc and have a restraining order

Lacks emotion for those other than mc (and hyugo?). If mc had close friends he would be seething of jealousy, and apathetic towards them and again would push mc away because of his possessiveness.

While both sol and geo are jealous, geo doesn't get jealous often, its just that when he does he gets REALLY jealous, and adding the fact that geo isnt as crazy and sol, he would be more reasonable in his jealousy, like he wouldn't get pissy because we are hanging out with our friends like sol does in day 2 ending. Geo likely understands we each need alone time and time with friends and family.

(im not sure about family, as in one of fantasias asks its stated somthing along the lines of "he was to claim a spot in your family)

has crazy rumors surrounding him, its not clear ingame what these details contain, but knowing sol they are probably somewhat true

SORRY FOR RAMBLING!! I didn't proofread so it might be messy... (ﾟ▽ﾟ*)

Hmm, the Geo cult have taken your query into admission, and you shall not be trialed for heresy...yet. (don't worry, you're all good, fellow cultist enjoyer.) ₊˚⊹ ᰔ (˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

Anyway, I assume this is going to involve me pitting Geode and Sol against each other, so...enjoy. <33

- Signed by @biggest-geo-oogami-enjoyer

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'll be honest, for this fight to even happen we need these two in the same place at the same time.

Which will be difficult...unless we utilise our magnificent MC powers to get them to do whatever we want.

Taking all your points into account (which are excellent, good job btw), I genuinely think Geo will win.

Is it because I am devoted to him? (Yes /hj). Perhaps, but let me explain.

Geo has 4 friends (5 if we include you), one of whom being stronger than Sol (Deryl), and I see Deryl as a cute little retriever that'll go rabid if someone attacks who it loves/cares about.

Deryl won't let Sol get remotely near Geo.

Same with Brittney, if she got involved, she'd use the #gossipgyaru perks she has to try and fuck up Sol's rep even more.

Would be the one to give you a talk on why Sol's dangerous.

Geo also has bodyguards, along with a fuckton of money.

He could easily hire a hitman or bribe the police to ensure he has no legal trouble.

Also probably knows Hyugo well enough, so he'd probably be prepared for things his big brother is capable of.

Will use his popularity to get people to ensure Sol is far away from him (and you).

May not be as handy in a fistfight, but has prime access and ability to wield a wide range of weapons against Sol. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ However, these are the most...social and physical sides of a fight. What about you? ------------------------------------------------------------------------

To win you over, I feel like Geo would simply get you to warm up to his friends, then him.

After all, you'd be significantly more comfortable and relaxed around him that way, right?

Despite being fucked when it comes to emotion/affection, Geo is perfect at other things.

Like keeping you safe from the man who watches you sleep.

It honestly horrified you when you found out.

And you never spoke to Sol again, hell you even got a restraining order against him.

Will make his group and himself look angelic to try and get you to warm up faster.

Despite his cold geode-like exterior, will try to warm up to you (Deryl is astounded, to say the least).

Will probably tell you Sol's from a fucked home and needs psychiatric help.

You might also just start believing it.

#reminder that geo is superior #the kid at the back #tkatb #tkatb vn #geo subaru oogami #geo oogami #sol brugmansia #tkatb geo #tkatb sol #solivan brugmansia #this was so funny

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03l210 · 2 years ago

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Bllk Boys Hcs with a S/O that has (a lot of) beauty marks:

Not a request | Gn reader, no pronouns used but still wanted to specify

CHARACTERS: Bachira, Kaiser, and Shidou

GENRE: Fluff | WARNINGS: None (besides that these may suck, I was overthinking while writing so I'm sorry if it appears ooc)

Shoutout to @khuzena for helping me confirm my thoughts on who to do for this + gave me the idea for Kaiser

⊱ ──────── {.⋅🦋⋅.} ─────── ⊰

Bachira:

This is mostly him kissing you I'm so sorry but I needed this to be shared.

Oh sweet boy

He absolutely ADORES you and your beauty marks

He just thinks they add on to your already beautiful face, don't even try to fight him on that (he'll win)

When he's giving you kisses on your face, he gives them to you all over in no specific order but makes it his mission to make sure he kisses all your beauty marks

Like if he realizes he 'accidentally' missed one he will start his crazy kisses all over again before you can even protest (and you will, I just know some of them are disgustingly wet sometimes)

Will literally jump at you upon seeing you to start kissing you too

Did I mention he is 5'9?

...if you're short or not very strong physically have fun cause ...yeah

If you have any on your arms/hands too, don't think they are safe from his chaotic kisses. He will just use it as an excuse to kiss you even more and for longer so either be prepared for that or wear long sleeves to at least save yourself from that

If you have any on your neck and are ticklish, good luck my friend.

He will laugh while giving the ones on your neck kisses sometimes (does that tickle people? I will never know, I'm not ticklish so bear with me here)

CONSTANTLY complimenting you and your beauty marks but in the weirdest most Bachira ways (no I will not elaborate any further on this, anyways-)

If you're asleep (or even awake sometimes) he finds himself tracing his finger from one beauty mark to another almost like a connect the dots game with his usual smile on his face

Kaiser:

*taps my little imaginary microphone* ahem, HE SHOULD'VE HAD BEAUTY MA- *is forcibly removed from the stage*

this man.

Your beauty marks are probably what attracted him to you in the first place tbh

To catch his attention, you need to stand out to him first. If not while playing soccer then something from your appearance (could be hair, a tattoo, or in this case, your beauty marks) or even certain actions

LOVES staring at the ones on your face randomly or when he wants a reaction out of you

If he doesn't get as strong of a reaction out of you from his staring like he hoped, don't be surprised to feel a pair of lips on your face where one of your beauty marks are if you turned away from him and him saying/whispering one of his terms of endearment for you (in german!) before pulling away and looking at you again with his smug face (Do not be fooled by this, I really do dislike Kaiser)

Which reminds me, his more popular names for you are Schätzchen/Schatzi (both mean "Little Treasure", but I think Schätzchen can also mean something else, so I just put both), Spatzi (Little Sparrow), and sometimes Liebe (Love). No, it doesn't matter if you are taller than him, he will still include the "little" part of the name

I couldn't find any theater-related names that I liked for this, forgive me🙇🙇‍♀️

He really does love your beauty marks as much as he loves you, there is literally no doubting it and he won't even let you say anything bad about them, let alone anyone else (seriously, dude gets scarily serious when you do, I would be scared for the person that said something bad about your beauty marks)

He loves kissing them even more though, he does it teasingly sometimes, but you can tell when they are loving without the teasing in them just from how he is kissing them

Constantly praising your beauty and emphasizes how your beauty marks are included in that praise no matter what

This also turned more into kissing, I'm sorry but so far, Bachira and Kaiser just love to kiss them more than they probably should

Shidou:

This menace,,, I miss him in the manga, but at least he will be animated soon....eventually... (8bit please don't mess him up, I'm begging you plea-)

Let me get this out of the way, like the rest, loves to kiss them too, but obnoxiously.

Not wet kisses like Bachira or lovingly teasing like Kaiser, just obnoxious to the point of "If you do not stop, I will punch you" obnoxious, especially in front of others

only time he's not being obnoxious with them is when he's tired, that's the only exception you're getting for now

But no matter how annoying he is about them or in general there is no denying that he loves them and you

Like Kaiser, they probably are partially what would've attracted him to you, but I definitely see it more action wise that did it (how if you don't play soccer? idk, you probably told him or someone else off or got in a fight and your beauty marks were just a bonus)

LIVES to show you and your beauty marks off to people like Kaiser but worse

Like 10x worse

maybe even 100x worse

Bro will ask you stuff about them that make you want to question why you are even with him sometimes

"You got anymore hidden undernea-"

"Shut your mouth before I jump out of this window" (you guys are on the 5th floor of the building)

You know how I said Bachira likes tracing them with his finger? Shidou does too, but with a marker

If it's permanent or not, you'll find out when you try to wash it off /j

HONORABLE MENTION FOR THIS POST: Karasu (except if I write for him I am afraid I will spontaneously combust into flames)

⊱ ──────── {.⋅🦋⋅.} ─────── ⊰

I finished these hcs just before the match between Real Madrid vs. Al Hilal ended (I just forgot to post them T - T), congratulations to Real Madrid for winning their 5th Club World Cup!!

Isagi was supposed to be in this too but I decided to cut him out just cause of the pure length of this post but I hope you enjoyed this post!!

Likes, Comments, and re-shares are greatly appreciated, just no full reposts on other platforms outside of Tumblr.

#aponia.🦋 writings #blue lock x reader #bllk x reader #gender neutral reader #bachira x reader #bachira meguru x reader #kaiser x reader #micheal kaiser x reader #shidou x reader #shidou ryusei x reader #i feel like this is ooc for a couple of these help #but hey i finally posted💪

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virtuouswhitehatorganization · 5 months ago

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Miss Heed And Dark Phantom Are More Similar Than I Think

On the surface, it would be crazy to think they would have anything in common until you examine them up close.

For one thing they both come from wealth and have nepo baby written all over them, which influences how they are as people. Due to their backgrounds they tend to be very spoiled and immature for their age. It's evident their privileged lifestyles has coddled them from real hardship. However, I do think one major difference is that Miss Heed is a case of spoiled brat who pretends to be nice while Dark Phantom is a case of spoiled sweet despite being a villain.

Despite in the present being a popular heroine under scrutiny, she like Dark Phantom was disdained among her peers. For Dark Phantom, it's usually due to him screwing things up and her it was because she was really obnoxious. As a result, both of them were/are considered outcasts among villains. This outcast status caused her to decide to switch sides to become more popular and get the attention she craved while Dark Phantom sticks to the villain side due to legacy and probably the thought never crossed his mind.

Also another thing I noticed between the two is the fact that both are very reliant on others to fight their own battles and barely have any fighting skills. This is especially true for Miss Heed who often tries to pretend on social media she is a physical fighter but in reality she uses her cronies to do the heavy lifting for her.

Dark Phantom and her also seems to overcompensate for their lack of natural talent like with Dark Phantom bragging about his legacy despite being an abysmal villain on his own while she outright lies and steals credit from others while passing it off as her work. Unlike Dark Phantom who doesn't hide his incompetence, she does everything she can to make her appear to be this mary sue type of villain who can win any battle and villain hearts while also being a beloved person part of the hero community.

What makes them differ is again how well they also treat their close friends. Despite being a proclaimed heroine, she in the past stole from her supposed friend Flug to become help her as a heroine. This is in contrast with Dark Phantom who didn't think much helping a friend out when she was a fugitive and on the run from that aforementioned Heed. Because as much as a villain he tries to live up to, he does have more moral traits than Heed does who uses the cover of a heroine to act shitty and have her actions be misconstrued as noble.

Ultimately I think both Dark Phantom and Miss Heed are kind of sort of two sides of the same coin. Dark Phantom is what would happen if that nepo baby still tried the villain path despite his lack of talent while Miss Heed is an example of forgoing the path to become a fake heroine while still having villainous traits. It does make them unintentional foils for each other and how in an AU both could have switched roles.

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longsufferingcritic · 1 month ago

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On the topic of the HTTYD trilogy's misogyny...

Notice how Astrid is the only character in the Hooligan tribe with a realistic name, despite the film's opening narration stating that Vikings give their kids "hideous" names on purpose due to a cultural superstition. (The female lead in the books is named Camicazi, for comparison, and is also not a love interest.)

Notice how Astrid's character design is focused more on beauty standards than her actual personality. If you wanted to convey that a male character is tough and fierce and a skilled warrior, would you make them "petite"/slender with a round face and button nose? No? Why not? Because in this context that design serves to further gender roles, not her actual characterization.

The head of character animation (Simon Otto) said of Astrid in an art book: "We love that she is more of a lean, athletic beach volleyball player as opposed to the bulky, shot-putting type of Viking woman." Really think about the implications here. Why does the love interest have to be thin and conventionally attractive/feminine rather than buff and muscular as you'd expect for a Viking woman? Unlike Hiccup (and Camicazi who's a 4-foot-tall child for that matter) the fact she's physically smaller than what Vikings expect of a warrior is never addressed or relevant, because it's presumed that's just the natural default way for girls to look.

Speaking of which, notice how Astrid's character arc exclusively revolves around Hiccup in all three movies. She has almost no screen time to herself, no depth, and no meaningful character growth. She just starts out hating Hiccup because she's the popular girl and he's the awkward underdog, yet he later exceeds her in skill which she's understandably pissed and jealous about, but she gets over it instantly once he wins her over with a romantic dragon ride. (This follows a common and very obnoxious trope in many animated films.) From then on her role in the story begins and ends at "Hiccup's girlfriend".

Astrid sorta breaks gender roles by being a strong fighter, yes -- but that doesn't cancel out the other gendered problems with her characterization. Despite what many film studios apparently believe, physical strength and character strength are not synonymous, so if a female character is poorly written, making her good at fighting does not magically make her a "strong female character". Especially considering that due to extremely limited non-Hiccup-related screen time, Astrid doesn't get to actually use her strength very often. I mean, for fuck's sake, her role in the first film's climax is limited to being rescued by Hiccup/Toothless and then waiting on the shore and saying "Go..." to them. Sigh.

And just to make myself extra clear since media literacy is at an all-time low: pointing out misogyny does not mean that HTTYD is 100% Bad or that you're Bad for liking it or liking Astrid anyway. You can love a character while still acknowledging how she got screwed over by narrative sexism (just ask all the Bumble Warrior Cats fans here on Tumblr). And having serious issues like misogyny doesn't mean the films have nothing valuable to offer and to worth loving.

#criticism #analysis #httyd #misogyny #my post

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batsplat · 3 months ago

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follow up to this post that provides the context of the donington 2008 race, and also some photos with more than three pixels of valentino and casey with their arms around each other

so. *cracks knuckles*. let's talk about jorge and valentino. if you want to understand the texture of the early years of that dynamic, there are worse places to start than checking out the bit of jorge's biography where he talks about valentino attempting to calm down the crowd at misano 2009

the post about that rivalry linked to above doesn't go into much detail about this passage, mainly because that thing was quite frankly getting long enough as it is. but the passage really does capture some key elements that give you a sense of what the vibe was like back then - including jorge loving the donkey ears and needing the world to know how much he loved the donkey ears. you've got jorge's desire to learn from valentino, acknowledging the skill with which valentino bounced back from a disastrous weekend, talking about how he can orchestrate a crowd. jorge's professed belief that there is nothing wrong with the crowd reaction as they are simply backing one of their own. this intense preoccupation with public personas, with fan perception, with what constitutes acceptable standards of conduct within a rivalry, how to engage in honourable combat, man to man and all of that... the air of pompousness, of earnestness verging on self-seriousness that is so central to young jorge's whole deal. and on valentino's end, it is important to pay attention to how he is willing to make gestures in the name of keeping the rivalry civil. in truth, he knows that he can still rely on the public sphere to make jorge's life rough. let's not forget, after all, that the way-too-online jorge was far more affected by spaniards talking shit about him on the internet on valentino's behalf - italians just don't matter as much because their partisanship is essentially already factored in. unlike at certain other stages of his career, however, valentino can throw in these little symbolic acts to calm the waters, to show he doesn't actually want to be jorge's enemy. they're just rivals, after all; they can behave respectfully towards each other. below all the sturm and drang and drama, valentino's approach to managing rivalries in that era involves a general reticence to allow things to get too nasty between himself and his new rivals. that will not always mean that the non-valentino side of those rivalries perceived valentino's behaviour that way - but obviously they are not applying the same standards. valentino's points of comparison are fist fights and curses. what feels excessive to him is rather radically different to where some of his younger rivals would draw the line

while jorge will at least outwardly claim he takes no issue with the hostility of the fans, casey takes a rather different approach. it is one of the biggest themes of his rivalry with valentino: casey having an awful time with the public and resenting valentino for it. valentino will not have been the only reason for how poorly the fans received casey - there are elements of casey's personality that would probably have always made him a tricky sell to the fanbase. still, the extent to which the public adored valentino and wished him to win above all others obviously and undeniably contributed heavily to the vitriol with which casey was met. (to return to jorge, he is the more clear cut example where his lack of popularity was a combination of different factors - plenty of fans already hated him for his antics in 250cc well before he was anything approaching a threat to valentino.) abusive fan mail, fans physically assaulting him when he was riding around on scooters, booing... the main country casey associates with that hostility is england. italians specifically don't actually ever really come up - probably in large part because there were plenty of ducati fans in italy who supported him even when fighting valentino. but the english fans? no such conflicting loyalties whatsoever. obviously, they loved valentino - and the sports culture in that country being what it was... well, that love could easily get ugly for anyone who posed too great a threat. (not to get into the ins and outs of british vs european identity but it is funny sometimes how casey talks about english speakers in the paddock As Good - "I only speak to english-speaking riders" he says in 2009 - and also european fans As Bad, but then the only specific european fanbase he ever properly complains about is the english. casey radically pro-european in essentially separating out the concept of 'english-speaking' from The English and also then treating The English as like... quintessentially european. anyways.) and for whatever reason, they had it in for casey in a way they never quite seemed to for any of valentino's other rivals. there's obviously also the deeply personal element where he has family in england, he moved there directly from australia as a teenager... on paper, this should have been a country that offered him support, or at the very least didn't actively hate him. it felt more like a betrayal - it's a similar dynamic to why jorge was particularly frustrated by the spanish fans not backing him. the english fans being so unkind to casey was a particularly bitter pill to swallow because he never would have expected it from them

casey obviously feels quite strongly that valentino should have done something about this behaviour and didn't. depending on how much stock you put into certain write-ups of races in britain over the years, it is at least possible that valentino quite deliberately made casey's life more unpleasant in britain. all of which would make it particularly interesting if valentino did go for a little bit of a symbolic gesture with casey too, like he did with jorge. during the race weekend of donington 2008, casey was having a rough time of it (well, outside of the actual racing, where he was slaughtering the field lol) and was as ever outspoken in his irritation. he tended to have plenty of complaints about donington whenever he went - not just with the fans but also the track and just, like, the vibe being off, wasn't really ever enthusiastic about the place. none of this stopped him from winning the race by a country mile, of course. back then there were still track invasions after races, which is a safety nightmare at the best of times - but it was worse for casey, who talks afterwards about the "abuse" he got from the crowd on that lap. which does make you pay closer attention to how valentino catches up, darts ahead of casey, and basically leads him quite closely through the worst bit of the crowd to parc fermé; it's something that is remarked on in the commentary, how valentino has essentially gotten casey to follow him on their 'shaky' cooldown lap

here you have the traditional post-race thumbs up and shake of hand

and then a few moments later, the densest part of the crowd

deliberate gesture to ward off the worst of it by essentially providing a line to follow to casey, or just a coincidence?

then you have the podium, where... well, you can barely ever actually hear booing on the broadcast for any race lol, dismal sound quality, casey definitely complained about it after the race so we know it happened. but having turned up the volume all the way, in the process permanently damaging my hearing - I'm fairly confident I can hear something that sounds vaguely like jeering and boos turn into what is definitely louder cheers when valentino puts his arm around casey, as depicted at the top of this post. I have watched way too many valentino podiums over the years, and I will say that a full arm around the shoulder isn't exactly common from him. amateur body language analysis corner, but there's something interesting in how valentino doesn't actually meet casey's eyes while he's doing it, looks straight ahead at the crowd while putting his arm around casey - there is obviously something quite performative about it, something quite pointed, something the crowd immediately picks up on and responds to... hold, hold, hold as they get the photos done, pat pat on the back, and then valentino lets his arm drop. casey of course reciprocated with his own arm vaguely around valentino, and he does also bust out the full grin right at valentino at the end there (you can see it if you lean really close to your screen). which the amateur body language analysts might conclude indicates appreciation for the gesture

now, look, I have fuck all reporting and only a few forum posts to back up what essentially amounts to squinting at footage of a race you've watched for the nth time in order to induce motorcycle racer-themed hallucinations. I'm about 50/50 on the cooldown lap, that might just be reading too much into it, but the podium does feel a lot more clear cut - and the combination of the two (plus jorge's testimony establishing that this sort of behaviour might be something valentino is vaguely inclined to do during this specific time period) is JUST enough to make me buy there's something deliberate there. your mileage may vary. also important to note that valentino's actual response in 2008 to casey's english fan situation was a big old shrug - aka some talk about how casey did complain rather a lot about everything to do with this race and also rumination about the ancient hatreds still raging between the anglo nations of the world to this day. he certainly was not willing to go on the record and admit to any responsibility for the animosity. given that valentino is not an idiot, he did obviously know that partisanship in his favour was in large part to blame for casey's reception in britain - not something, at the end of the day, he's going to be losing too much sleep over. still, he's aware of it, which is why the arm around the shoulder works the way it does, right? because he knew the crowd would respond to it. and it's just... these little symbolic touches that do matter when establishing the tone in 2008. valentino was willing to use pretty much the whole toolkit against casey to crack the toughest of nuts - hell, give him two more races and he'd bust out a hithertofore unseen couple of tools - but it was not quite the ugly fervour of past feuds at their peaks. instead, here we have someone simply playing the game and trying to judge how far to push things at any given moment, when it made sense to twist the knife and when it was better to play nice. valentino didn't actually want casey to hate him. given what valentino was willing to do to win motorcycling competitions (including not stepping in more firmly against his own fanbase, yes), casey coming to hate valentino was very much the end result of valentino's actions in those few years. which still does not mean that this was the intent behind valentino's actions; there are feuds of his where he is actively attempting to provoke his rivals, but this was not one of them (during the years where they were meaningful on-track rivals, which is just a blanket caveat I'm applying to the rest of this post). if casey came to hate him, then of course that was a price worth paying - but given a choice, valentino would generally opt for the cordial approach

this preference is reflected in the way he generally talked pretty positively about his dynamic with dani and casey in 2008, e.g. "the relationship between me, casey and dani is more normal, whereas biaggi was always saying bullshit". it's there in the descriptions of valentino using charm with his rivals, being free in his compliments ("when rossi gets beaten he makes sure to praise whoever has defeated him"). and, look: valentino was skilled at being a gracious loser, he did tend to throw some pretty effusive compliments especially in casey's direction when he lost to him, always preferring to bite his opponents harder from a position of strength etc etc. (still fond of this line from the guardian article about catalunya 2007: '"truly, casey is riding like a god," said the italian, who is rarely guilty of making an understatement.' please allow him. also, what if casey is just riding so well that this actually IS an understatement, what then.) yes, casey felt like valentino wasn't being particularly complimentary, that the compliments had dried up by the end of 2007. that's the thing about this rivalry, right, like you do have to remember that casey obviously isn't able to perfectly read valentino's intentions lol. valentino did still lob plenty of compliments casey's way - and actually said in 2009 that casey had started criticising valentino more when casey started winning after having been more complimentary before that, which is such a lovely example of both of them just being so fundamentally at odds that their grievances perfectly mirror each other. but the problem is that even if valentino was still saying nice things about casey, 1) it's human nature to pay more attention to one insult than nine compliments - and casey is particularly susceptible to this, and 2) what valentino considers 'keeping a rivalry civil' looks completely different from casey's understanding of that concept. (at times casey would probably be better served applying a generational lens than a cultural one lol - there's a reason why some retired racers found it remarkable how nice valentino was about his opposition.) valentino cools off towards casey interpersonally as part of his working process in title fights, doesn't go out of his way to provoke casey but does want to apply pressure wherever possible using all the little tricks he can along the way. which is understandably received as active hostility by casey (who is also still extremely young at this point) - but that doesn't necessarily mean this was actually the intent. when valentino wants to make an enemy out of you, typically you do notice it pretty quickly

see too how both of them are willing to engage in the song and dance of calling a truce at brno 2008, with only a couple of barbed comments attached from both sides. casey had given valentino grounds to escalate the conflict in the aftermath of laguna (including obviously the 'I'm faster than him and he knows it' thing), but valentino more or less refrains from doing so. an arm around the shoulder to get the crowd to give it a rest, accepting an apology without too much fuss... smiles and jokes and plenty of civility in-person... there have been valentino feuds that are considerably easier to spot at a distance, such is the interpersonal rancidity. all this while valentino is concurrently stepping up the on-track intimidation, but to him there is no contradiction there. valentino wasn't provoking casey for shits and giggles - he believed he had to do something not to lose the title that year. and... well, you can find his actions morally questionable, but it's a bit tougher to argue with the actual logic underlying valentino's behaviour. laguna 2008 isn't a case of valentino's need to create enemies expressing itself in attacks on his rivals for no good reason - it's a case of valentino being willing to do whatever it takes to win, even if it ends up making a new enemy. again: valentino is certainly using his entire playbook to exert pressure on casey - but at the same time, casey is not being treated like an actual enemy. at times, casey will have read a little too much outright animosity into valentino's approach... even though by his standards, valentino was trying to keep things reasonably cordial. it's just that he had a comically different understanding of what that looked like from casey. to understand that rivalry, you do have to get that a part of valentino's toolkit in those years was the interpersonal friendliness - a public willingness to perform civility. all you need to do is compare how the pair of them act around each other in the aftermath of that rivalry's biggest flashpoint (aka laguna '08) to how things play out in literally every single other valentino feud. (I know I started this post off talking about jorge and broadly speaking valentino does adhere to the same approach in 2009. but, 1) his relationship with jorge was a lot icier than his relationship with casey right from the start, partly because valentino just flat out disliked jorge, and 2) 2009 might star that rivalry's best duel but does not feature its major flashpoints, cf motegi 2010 and *checks smeared notes* something about a spanish conspiracy? - so it's not quite as notable jorge and valentino keep it vaguely polite.) from valentino's perspective, he escalates only as far as he has to. he's not emotionally invested enough to be all that offended by casey's response to laguna 2008, if anything can derive additional satisfaction from it... the race did what it was supposed to - he'll gladly accept a handshake of apology in its aftermath

sometimes, hygienic rivalry management involves giving off some mixed signals to confuse the opposition, to keep them guessing. it's a more uncertain situation than being outright enemies, one that makes it a little trickier for the opposition to parse how to approach that rivalry going forward, how nasty to be in response... valentino is happy enough to play this game when it comes to casey. the compliments, the public cordiality, the little gestures when he's feeling like it... charming off the track and vicious on it - all while dripping a steady dose of poison into the public discourse, attempting to make casey's life as difficult as possible. casey is the worst victim out of any of valentino's rivals of this two-faced approach, this disconnect between person and character casey himself is well aware of. even when the feud on paper should have been at its worst, valentino does not feel the need to cut casey off entirely. usually valentino does skew more clearly one direction or the other at any given time - usually he's at least a little more willing to show his hand, not mix pleasantries with cruelty quite so liberally. but he does not want casey to be his enemy. what a nuisance, right... can't like him can't loathe him certainly can't get rid of him

#dani as ever the only person in the sport adhering strictly to social distancing guidelines. ahead of his time #i do feel a teensy bit sorry for anyone who followed me for literally anything other than whatever the fuck this is #an intimidating number of asks staring back at me unblinkingly whenever i go to my drafts to analyse 20 blurry screenshots from 2008 #//#heretic tag #2 #brr brr #funniest relevant comment i found from that year posited that casey and valentino really liked and respected each other #which i think may be pushing it just a touch #uses as evidence this podium business and motegi 2008. delving into the body language and even the HANDSHAKE STYLE at motegi #only used by motorcyclists when they share a genuine bond apparently. who would have thought right #which does read like utter bollocks but who doesn't enjoy some borderline rpf in their noughties motogp comment sections

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mariacallous · 1 year ago

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The Athenian historian Thucydides once remarked that Sparta was so lacking in impressive temples or monuments that future generations who found the place deserted would struggle to believe it had ever been a great power. But even without physical monuments, the memory of Sparta is very much alive in the modern United States. In popular culture, Spartans star in film and feature as the protagonists of several of the largest video game franchises. The Spartan brand is used to promote obstacle races, fitness equipment, and firearms. Sparta has also become a political rallying cry, including by members of the extreme right who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Sparta is gone, but the glorification of Sparta—Spartaganda, as it were—is alive and well.

Even more concerning is the U.S. military’s love of all things Spartan. The U.S. Army, of course, has a Spartan Brigade (Motto: “Sparta Lives”) as well as a Task Force Spartan and Spartan Warrior exercises, while the Marine Corps conducts Spartan Trident littoral exercises—an odd choice given that the Spartans were famously very poor at littoral operations. Beyond this sort of official nomenclature, unofficial media regularly invites comparisons between U.S. service personnel and the Spartans as well.

Much of this tendency to imagine U.S. soldiers as Spartan warriors comes from Steven Pressfield’s historical fiction novel Gates of Fire, still regularly assigned in military reading lists. The book presents the Spartans as superior warriors from an ultra-militarized society bravely defending freedom (against an ethnically foreign “other,” a feature drawn out more explicitly in the comic and later film 300). Sparta in this vision is a radically egalitarian society predicated on the cultivation of manly martial virtues. Yet this image of Sparta is almost entirely wrong. Spartan society was singularly unworthy of emulation or praise, especially in a democratic society.

To start with, the Spartan reputation for military excellence turns out to be, on closer inspection, mostly a mirage. Despite Sparta’s reputation for superior fighting, Spartan armies were as likely to lose battles as to win them, especially against peer opponents such as other Greek city-states. Sparta defeated Athens in the Peloponnesian War—but only by accepting Persian money to do it, reopening the door to Persian influence in the Aegean, which Greek victories at Plataea and Salamis nearly a century early had closed. Famous Spartan victories at Plataea and Mantinea were matched by consequential defeats at Pylos, Arginusae, and ultimately Leuctra. That last defeat at Leuctra, delivered by Thebes a mere 33 years after Sparta’s triumph over Athens, broke the back of Spartan power permanently, reducing Sparta to the status of a second-class power from which it never recovered.

Sparta was one of the largest Greek city-states in the classical period, yet it struggled to achieve meaningful political objectives; the result of Spartan arms abroad was mostly failure. Sparta was particularly poor at logistics; while Athens could maintain armies across the Eastern Mediterranean, Sparta repeatedly struggled to keep an army in the field even within Greece. Indeed, Sparta spent the entirety of the initial phase of the Peloponnesian War, the Archidamian War (431-421 B.C.), failing to solve the basic logistical problem of operating long term in Attica, less than 150 miles overland from Sparta and just a few days on foot from the nearest friendly major port and market, Corinth.

The Spartans were at best tactically and strategically uncreative. Tactically, Sparta employed the phalanx, a close-order shield and spear formation. But while elements of the hoplite phalanx are often presented in popular culture as uniquely Spartan, the formation and its equipment were common among the Greeks from at least the early fifth century, if not earlier. And beyond the phalanx, the Spartans were not innovators, slow to experiment with new tactics, combined arms, and naval operations. Instead, Spartan leaders consistently tried to solve their military problems with pitched hoplite battles. Spartan efforts to compel friendship by hoplite battle were particularly unsuccessful, as with the failed Spartan efforts to compel Corinth to rejoin the Spartan-led Peloponnesian League by force during the Corinthian War.

Sparta’s military mediocrity seems inexplicable given the city-state’s popular reputation as a highly militarized society, but modern scholarship has shown that this, too, is mostly a mirage. The agoge, Sparta’s rearing system for citizen boys, frequently represented in popular culture as akin to an intense military bootcamp, in fact included no arms training or military drills and was primarily designed to instill obedience and conformity rather than skill at arms or tactics. In order to instill that obedience, the older boys were encouraged to police the younger boys with violence, with the result that even in adulthood Spartan citizens were liable to settle disputes with their fists, a tendency that predictably made them poor diplomats.

But while Sparta’s military performance was merely mediocre, no better or worse than its Greek neighbors, Spartan politics makes it an exceptionally bad example for citizens or soldiers in a modern free society. Modern scholars continue to debate the degree to which ancient Sparta exercised a unique tyranny of the state over the lives of individual Spartan citizens. However, the Spartan citizenry represented only a tiny minority of people in Sparta, likely never more than 15 percent, including women of citizen status (who could not vote or hold office). Instead, the vast majority of people in Sparta, between 65 and 85 percent, were enslaved helots. (The remainder of the population was confined to Sparta’s bewildering array of noncitizen underclasses.) The figure is staggering, far higher than any other ancient Mediterranean state or, for instance, the antebellum American South, rightly termed a slave society with a third of its people enslaved.

The ancient sources are effectively unanimous that the helots were the worst treated slaves in all of Greece; helotry was an institution that shocked the conscience of Athenian slaveholders. Critias, an Athenian collaborator with Sparta, was said to have quipped that it was in Sparta that “the free were most free and the slaves most a slave,” a staggering statement about a society that was mostly enslaved (and about Critias as a person that he thought this was praise). Plutarch reports the various ways that the Spartans humiliated and degraded the helots, while the Athenian orator Isocrates argued that it was a crime to murder enslaved people everywhere in Greece, except Sparta. Sparta, with both the most slaves per capita and the worst treated slaves, was likely the least free society in the whole of the ancient world.

Nor were the Spartans particularly good stewards of Greek freedom. While their place in popular culture, motivated by films such as 300, puts the Spartans at the head of efforts to defend Greek freedom from the expanding Persian Empire, Sparta was not always so averse to Persia. Unable to deal with the Athenian fleet itself, Sparta accepted Persian money during the Peloponnesian War to build its own, selling the Ionian Greeks back into Persian rule in exchange for humbling Athens. That war won the Spartans a brief hegemony in Greece, which they quickly squandered, ending up at war with their former allies in Corinth.

Unable to win that war either, Sparta again turned to Persia to enforce a peace, called the “King’s Peace,” which sold yet more Greek city-states to the Persian king in exchange for making Sparta into Persia’s local enforcer in Greece, tasked with preventing the emergence of larger Greek alliances that could challenge Persia. Far from being the defender of Greek independence, when given the chance the Spartans opened not only the windows but also the doors to Persian rule. They also refused to join in Alexander the Great’s expedition against Persia, for which Alexander mocked them by dedicating the spoils of his first victories “from all of the Greeks, except the Spartans.”

Instead of a society of freedom-defending super-warriors, Sparta is better understood as a place where the wealthiest class of landholder, the Spartans themselves, had succeeded in reducing the great majority of their poor compatriots to slavery and excluded the rest, called the perioikoi, from political participation or citizenship. The tiny minority of Spartan citizens derived their entire income from the labor of slaves, being legally barred from doing any productive work or engaging in commerce.

And rather than spending their time in ascetic military training, they spent their ample leisure time doing the full suite of expensive, aristocratic Greek pastimes: hunting (a pastime for the wealthy rather than a means of subsistence in the ancient world), eating amply, accumulating money, funding Olympic teams, breeding horses, and so on. Greek authors such as Xenophon and Plutarch continually insist that the golden age of Spartan austerity and egalitarianism existed in the distant past, but each author pushes that golden age further and further into that past, and in any event, archaeology tells us it was never so.

And that lavish lifestyle was clearly very important to the Spartans because they were willing to sacrifice all of their other ambitions on the altar to it. Beginning in the early 400s, the population of Spartan citizens, defined by being rich enough in land to make the mess contributions that were a key part of military and social lfie, began to decline as Spartan families used inheritance and marriage to consolidate holdings and increase their wealth, from 8,000 Spartan citizens in 480 B.C. to 3,500 in 418 to 2,500 in 394 to just 1,500 in 371. The collapse in the number of Spartans who qualified for citizenship had disastrous effects on the manpower available for the Spartan army, causing Sparta’s strategic ambitions to all crumble, one by one. Yet efforts by Agis IV (245-241 B.C.) and Cleomenes III (235-222 B.C.) to arrest the decline were foiled precisely because the Spartan political system denied any political voice to any but the leisured rich, who had little incentive to change.

Sparta is no inspiration for the leaders of a free state. Sparta was a prison in the guise of a state and added little to the sum of the human experience except suffering. No American, much less any U.S. soldier, should aspire to be like a Spartan.

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