#fun fact the drawing i put on the paper has only been seen by ONE FOLLOWER

[wabunguss]

yor art is so amazing. i wish every time you made art you knocked on my door and handed it to me so i could enjoy it silently and nod and smile approvingly at you as i tape it to the fridg.e. i woud print a second one out later and tear it to shreds (super pos)

youre too kind dude

having it hung up on the fridge is the highest form of praise

also feel free to provide an example of you ripping my art up like first i had the blood sacrifice i gotta see something more normal as a pallet cleanser or however you spell it

[uchihaharlot]

I didn't mean to break their hearts, I was just curious, srry!😭😭 (but Itachi's one was kinda funny-)

But anyway, now I'm wondering about how they would react if they found out that you can draw really cool and beautiful.

(I'm an artist, so😎)

Nonny 🥹🥹

That put me in an really good mood; lol. That was way too fun to write; maybe I can one day write a super angsty break up (but I love them too much!!!).

I love all artists 😭😭😭 Painters, writers — digital or paper. Anything that expresses the inner workings of someone’s mind and the fact that they can manifest it to reality is so so so beautiful. I hope I’ve secretly seen your art, I’d probably simp over it. Always simp over art. 😂😂🥹🥹

N/SFW; very cute Uchiha men adoring your artwork! 🥹🥹🥹 (ooc Madara??); Simpy Obito; …Scandalous Shisui; abnormally observant Itachi 😂 suggestive themes rolled out the further I got. For some reason, I just had to. (P.s. I should not be allowed to write when tired??? Half of this was done while my eyes rolled shut in bed).

Madara:

It’s not everyday that Madara is blown like a leaf in the wind. When you mentioned being a patron of the arts, he thought maybe the art of battle?? Didn’t expect your weapon to be a paint brush with some acrylic paint. Thought it was some weird jutsu infused shit.

And then you just had to go above and beyond and do a portrait of him for his birthday!!!!! It’s hung on the living room center wall so that it’s the first thing anyone sees! Honestly, this man is a brute, but your art envokes his softer side! A side that he hasn’t been in touch with for…well, a long time.

Makes sure that everyone and I mean, everyone, is aware of your talent! Still, he tries to find the side hussle in it, soliciting customers for you and all. 😭😭 Will trash talk the chalk art children make on the sidewalk, which ‘…that’s not nice, they’re children..’ you say. He shrugs, nobody is as good as you.

Obito:

Finds out and tries to ‘secretly’ commission you lmao. Makes it totally obvious too, his handwriting is shit and eveeeerrryyyyone knows who Tobi really is…. Plus how can you even begin without discussing what he wants done!! Duh, Obito! Unfortunately for him, you are more interested in drawing matters of the flesh. He’ll only show his chest, nothing more.

‘That’s fine.’ You shrug, and get to work. Obito, however, does not have the resolve to sit still! It’s frustrating to no end, but alas, after what seems an eternity— its done. Sort of. Still much to add, but the basics are there and you’ll work better when he’s not asking how does it look every twenty minutes.

Eventually you do finish this beautiful piece of him, and Obito cries. You made his scars tolerable and beautiful with your mind’s creativity, he feels less self conscious about them, only a little.

Shisui:

Is the least normal about it when he discovered your sketchbook — more like snatched and played keep away. Had to fight him for it, literally. Will ask you to paint/draw him naked…many times lol and you respectfully say no... Not that he likes people to see him naked (ok maybe a little?) but he secretly hopes it might happen one day. It would be a private thing for the two of you, cause he wants that ass.

And when you do cave to his whim, just to satiate him. He’s nervous lmao. Had this oh so macho man idea of rocking a hard on but Shisui simply maintains his usual semi. It’s nice though, you make sure it’s extremely detailed..as he asked for.

But, ‘(y/n)… this is chibbi!!!’ Lol, jokes on Shisui!! He didn’t say how to draw his pp.

Itachi:

Is the most normal about it. Though he still will praise you every time you finish a piece and show him, he is still massively impressed. How does your wrist not get tired? …maybe this is why your hand jobs are so good. 😈 Just watching you try a new technique (pointillism, which is my favorite style) makes his wrist hurt. Enjoys when you ask him for ideas! He has lots of them! Mostly…obscure and derelict landscapes though.

Would not be opposed to having his portrait done, but it’s really not his style. He is disciplined enough to sit still but doesn’t see the value in it. Not until the final product is revealed, does he truly understand how important this piece was. You’ve captured his personality in a new light.

[grvstnaya-svka]

Matilda (‘96) Headcannons

*picking up where the movie left off : Miss Honey becomes principal of Crunchem Hall, they’ve moved into Magnus Honey’s old house - Miss Honey’s childhood home. Matilda’s adoption is finalized.*

Matilda asks if she can change her last name. Miss Honey was the mother that she always wanted. And she never particularly enjoyed being a Wormwood anyway. She had no use for that name. From now on, she shall be called Matilda Honey.

Miss Honey & Matilda have adopted the black cat (the one that trunchbull kicked). His name is Charles. Yes, after Charles Dickens. He is happy and healthy. He gets a gentle pat and kiss on the head from Matilda whenever she leaves the house. And Miss Honey is his favorite cuddle partner.

Miss Honey and Matilda walk to and from school together everyday. It’s their favorite part of the day. They get to debrief each other and sometimes they play games. Hopscotch or sometimes even racing. And, of course, Miss Honey always enjoys Matilda’s fun facts.

Nightly chocolates after supper! Miss Honey tells Matilda they don’t have to, but Matilda insists. Miss Honey is ecstatic that Matilda wants to continue the tradition. Obviously, she always gives Matilda the bigger half.

Picnics and gardening! (Obviously.) Miss honey teaches Matilda to garden. They use the herbs and vegetables for tea and cooking, which they also enjoy together.

Breakfast and tea each morning before school. Usually pancakes, as miss honey quickly learns that it’s Matilda’s favorite. Sometimes Jen picks some blueberries and strawberries to go with it. Matilda loves it!

Hella play dates and sleepovers with her best friends, Lavender and Amanda! On nights that Matilda isn’t home, Jennifer curls up on the couch; a book in one hand, petting Charles with the other. His purring is the most soothing sound.

Lissy Doll and Matilda’s rag doll sit on the shelf, right next to each other. Overtime, they develop a system to let each other know where they’ll be using the dolls. But usually they sit next to each other. Sometimes when one of them is home, missing the other, they’ll grab the others’ respective doll, and hold them for comfort.

Matilda slowly starts calling Miss Honey ‘Mom/mum’ and Jennifer nearly tears up the first couple times it happens. Jennifer asks Matilda if she may call her ‘Tilly’ and Matilda says yes. She also begins to introduce her to people as her daughter. Her brilliant, most wonderful daughter.

Weekends are spent at the library. Mrs Phelps is always happy to see little Matilda. Then she sees Miss Honey, and says, “it’s been a long time, eh Miss Jennifer?” “Yes it has, Mrs. Phelps. It’s good to see you!”

Matilda crafts the most lovely, heartfelt Mother’s Day cards for Miss Honey every May. Jenny treasures them deeply. The first one was a surprise. She didn’t imagine Matilda would’ve actually seen her as her mom. A maternal figure, sure. But she’d only just adopted the child.

In the same respect, while filing Matilda’s papers, she learns little Tilly’s birthday and organizes a surprise party for her. She invites all of Matilda’s friends from school, and some neighbors. (Even Mrs. Phelps sends in a card and a small book related gift.) Matilda finally gets a proper birthday! She gives Miss Honey the biggest hug when she arrives at the party and realizes what Jennifer’s put on for her. “Thank you! Nobody’s ever done this for me before. It’s wonderful! Thank you, thank you so much! I love it!”

Matilda’s drawings are proudly displayed up on the fridge. Her favorite is King Magnus & the Bumblebee. As well as the one of her and Matilda, or “Me & mum” as Matilda calls it.

Jennifer likes to give Matilda her old T-shirts. Matilda loves wearing them. They always smell so lovely. It’s like getting an endless hug from Miss Honey. It’s the best feeling in the whole world.

Matilda seldom uses her powers now. When she does, it’s usually to make Miss Honey smile.

Matilda does her schoolwork at the kitchen table while Jennifer does her own work across the table. They take tea breaks often.

Matilda visits Miss Honey in her new office between classes. She has a drawer full of all Matilda’s favorite snacks. Sometimes Lavender and Amanda come to visit too and are always greeted with a hug. “How are my girls doing today?” She asks. The principal’s office is a happy place. And of course, Miss Honey always greets her students at the front doors each morning.

The first thing Miss Honey does the next day following the forceful impeachment of the Trunch, is bring Death to the Chokey! With the help from a handful of her colleagues and the maintenance man, the pipe is repaired and is as good as new, the rotten smell is gone, and they dispose of the rusty nail riddled door. They make repairs to the rest of the school as well. Miss honey brings all the color and joy that’s supposed to come with learning and Crunchem Hall becomes a proper children’s school.

Whenever she gets the chance, Miss Honey reminds Matilda how grateful she is to have a daughter who is so bright and kind and beautiful. Matilda makes sure Miss Honey knows how grateful she is to have such an amazing, kind, beautiful mother.

One time, when Matilda gets in trouble at school, Jennifer learns that she’d been trying to tell her teacher about a bully in her class. He was a new student and thought it’d be wise to pick on Bruce, Lavender and herself. Matilda had decided she’s had enough. When he goes to hit Lavender after she blocks him from grabbing her glasses, Matilda uses her powers on instinct - & the next thing anyone knows, he’s somehow punched himself in the face instead. But the teacher didn’t quite see what happened. Miss Honey later tells Matilda, “I know you were trying to do the right thing, sweetheart, but I can’t have you hurting your classmates with your powers. Promise you won’t do it again?” “Yes ma’am.”

One morning, while reading the newspaper, Matilda sees that Trunchbull had been found and arrested and charged with Murder of the first Degree, child abuse and endangerment, along with a few other serious offenses. She immediately runs to show Jennifer, who lets out a sigh of disbelief and then relief. Finally, justice for her father. And her students. She gives Matilda a massive hug.

Miss Jennifer Honey is awarded Best Principal, of one of the top schools in the state. And rightfully so.

Neither of them have been so happy and so proud. Never did Matilda think this was what it would feel like when Miss Honey told her things were going to be different. All was well and right. Everything was perfect. Matilda had never felt so loved in her life. Miss Honey hadn’t felt so loved in a very long time.

[robyn-i-guess]

gerrymichael enjoyers and writers i want your opinion 🎤

ok so i have this au fic for gerrymichael where it's college au, and it's a like the whole bad boy/good girl (minus the fact they're both boys, and even that's questionable)

basically, gerry is stereotyped due to his more alternative looks and everyone assumes he's probably doing illegal things or just sleeps around a lot

meanwhile michael is the head of student council "goody two shoes" type, who most are sort of aware of but don't know anything about

gerry thinks about michael. a lot. he sees them in the halls for only a few seconds a day but thinks about him for a lot longer. hallway crush vibes. and when they get put into a painting class together, suddenly they have an opportunity to meet, and gerry is freaking out a usual amount. (there's more to the whole plot but that's just the beginning bit)

putting a short lil concept thing under the cut

Gerard Keay does not know Michael Shelley.

The only reason he knows their name is because they're in the student council, meaning it's not uncommon for their name to be said during school events.

He has only seen them in hallways, passing by in a rush while holding papers or books that always seem like they're going to fall out of their hands. Even in those moments, most of what Gerard is able to catch is a blur of golden curls and eyes that are ridden with exhaustion.

So, it is safe to say that he does not know Michael.

That fact only caused confusion to him whenever Gerard realized his strange excitement once learning that Michael would be in one of his classes for the semester.

It was an art class, one that he had picked due to him already being practiced is painting and drawing. He assumed it would be a fun class, or at least one that wouldn't be too stressful. However, when he had first walked into that classroom and saw Michael Shelley sitting at an area in the back, Gerard had assumed the emotion he was feeling was stress. He couldn't pinpoint why, it wasn't like he was intimidated by their status, but he couldn't shake the feeling of nervousness he felt when he accidentally locked eyes with them. He turned his head quickly in that moment, deciding to sit in the front of the room despite that not being where he'd usually prefer to be. Something about Michael sitting there made Gerard think twice about sitting in the back as he normally would.

The lecture went smoothly, it mostly being an introduction to the professor and what would be happening throughout the classes. So did the next, and then the next one after that. That didn't get rid of the feeling he felt, however, every time that Gerard walked into that room and attempted to avoid looking at the one with golden curls in the back. He knew he'd have to talk to them at some point, it was inevitable, but there was something about them that meant he was more nervous to talk to them than he usually would be. And he very much denied the idea that it could be caused by any... feelings he may have. Gerard ruled it as impossible, as he had never spoken to them, and he wasn't that much of an idiot to fall for someone he'd only mostly seen in hallways.

Michael wasn't one to speak up in class, and instead they'd work silently on any research on the history of art they may have been doing, only giving simple responses or nods when the professor would come around and ask how their work was coming along. When Gerard thought about it, he didn't really know what their voice sounded like because it was always quiet or unintelligible from their distance. That only made him more interested in talking to them.

That day never came, though, much to Gerard's disappointment.

They both went through that class without talking to each other once, and when Gerard left that room for the last time he couldn't help but feel like he had failed at some kind of goal. A failure that had meant he would be left with only seeing the elusive Michael Shelley in hallway rushes again, which annoyed him in a way he didn't understand.

He did talk to them one day, though.

(note this is old as heck lmao i've gotten better at writing since i wrote this)

anyways yeah. should i continue it or is it too basic idk, i want to write it for me but it would also be multiple chapters long and my "1k-words-is-rare-for-me" self probably won't bother to write it unless someone else is interested

[burgersnacksformax]

SFW and NSFW Vasily/reader hcs because help

His gunshot scars havent fully healed so he still cant talk

Gender neutral reader

Also uh. This is kinda long so have fun scrolling

SFW

Vasily's kisses are so warm and sweet. He enjoys gently pulling you close to him by wrapping his arms around your waist, and kissing you. It's like a blanket of love and warmth has been wrapped all around you.

And if you aren't tall enough to give him a kiss, all you have to do is get on your tippy toes (or, yknow, just ask) and he'll bend down in a heartbeat to meet you in the middle.

He'll give you lots and lots of kisses to make up for the fact he cant verbally tell you he loves you.

But of course if you ever lean over his shoulder to watch him draw, he'll write "I love you", before proceeding to smile at you with the sweetest little smile you've seen.

When you cuddle, Vasily likes to run his fingers along your skin - maybe on your wrists, jawline, or anywhere else youre comfortable with.

Vasily is quite observant and notices fluctuations in your mood. Sometimes if he sees you agitated, he'll act on it by getting you something to eat or drink and insisting that you sit or do some activity with him until you calm down.

Similarly, sometimes he gets so engrossed in a task that you have to pull him away or distract him from it to get him to rest. He himself doesn't notice when he gets too invested in something, so he's always thankful when you help him with that.

Sometimes he draws you when you arent looking. One time he showed you one of the drawings, and he could've sworn that his heart skipped a beat when he saw how flustered you got when you saw it, so he made it a point to show you each time just to see your reaction.

If you're an artist too, he'll always praise your artworks even if you don't think your art is that good. Sometimes he'll even ask to keep pieces of paper you drew on, or purposely give you small sticky notes to doodle on so he can keep it with him wherever he goes.

Sometimes you notice the side of Vasily's hand is dark with pencil lead. One time he looked upon you horrified after cupping your cheeks in his palms and notcing a dark spot on your face when he pulled away, only to chuckle at himself and relax when he realised it's just lead.

He makes it a point to clean up stray eraser dust, but sometimes you find some pieces that he missed littered across your table or floor.

He'll let you doodle little things or write messages in his sketchbook. He enjoys looking back on them knowing that it was you who added it - he likes knowing you were thinking about him. You once wrote a little "Y/N was here !" message in it when he wasn't looking, and it made him light up when he eventually found it.

When Vasily's hair is down, it tends to tickle your forehead when you kiss. Sometimes you'll run your hands through his hair, and he always hums softly to show you that he likes it.

Sometimes he'll lean his head against your shoulder, as if he's a little cat asking for pats.

He likes to help you pick out clothes he thinks you'd look good in, and would absolutely style your hair if you're okay with it (even if it's short, he'll find a way). It's cheesy, but he likes to wear matching outfits / colours with you.

When you're out for a walk, he likes to pick flowers for you and put one behind your ear. There was once a time you both stopped to admire a meadow, and he took that opportunity to make a flower crown for you. Plus, any flower you pick for him will be pressed and immortalized in his sketchbook by the end of the day.

When you and Vasily hold hands, he'll absentmindedly rub his thumb along your knuckles. The warmth of his hand comforts you.

Sometimes you sneak up on Vasily when he's invested in a task to kiss his cheek or the back of his neck or wrap your arms around his waist. Usually he sees you coming, but when he doesnt ? His sweet flustered expression makes your heart flutter.

His eyes are mesmerizing, you could stare into them all day.

Fortunately for you, he could stare at your eyes all day too.

and youll both be staring and then smiling like a pair of lovestruck fools.

Sometimes Vasily cuddles you by having you sit between his legs while you both do your own thing.

He likes to sit with you on his lap facing away from him so he can rest his head on your shoulder while you work on things. Unfortunately this also spells for absolutely zero concentration on the task at hand from your end, but he insists he just wants to watch !

He lets you make little braids in his hair, and he'll just let them stay there. If you want to add ribbons or clips or anything, he usually doesn't mind as long as its not super bulky.

He's like a cat in that you can pet his hair and run your fingers through it while he leans on you, and he'll be quick to fall asleep.

Vasily is less of the type to let you have his coat when youre cold, but rather when he realises youre cold, he'll bundle up to you and try and fit you with him in his coat no matter how impractical it is.

Sometimes youll tuck some loose strands of hair behind his ear or brush his bangs out of his face. If your hair is long enough, he started taking to mimicking that action for you.

Sometimes he lays down on the floor to draw, and you are always invited to floor time.

NSFW - also gn, refers to readers genitalia in a gn way too

You two have a nonverbal way of communicating

Tracing a circle on your wrist means he likes it, while tapping three times means stop

Tapping with two fingers means faster, drawing a line means slower

When you run your hands along Vasily's chest and body, he tries to put on a brave face, but you can always feel his subtle yet blatantly obvious jolts when you touch him somewhere he likes.

He likes to hide his face when embarassed by burying it in your neck or by kissing you.

He lets you hold his boobs. Need I say more ?

You can give Vasily head and through nearly the whole thing he'll be tracing circles on your wrist.

And when he gets close to finishing, he'll be tapping on the back of your neck with two fingers like crazy.

He's not very loud when aroused, but he tends to gasp and groan softly, and his breathing becomes much more audible.

When you're between his legs, you can feel the way he tries not to close his thighs around you. It becomes almost like a game to see how much he can handle without impulsively squeezing you between his legs or thrusting into your mouth.

Vasily is scared to hurt you on accident, so you sometimes have to reassure him. And even if he did, he'd do all he could to make up for it.

When you jack him off for the first time, he puts his hand on yours to guide you to touch him how he likes it.

Vasily loves when you sit on his lap and face him, it makes it that much easier for him to hold you close. Plus, he loves to tease you, and the feeling of you squirming on his legs gives him butterflies.

He'll run his fingers up and down your back and trail kisses on your neck, leaving your skin tingling.

The artist in him loves to observe little details, and he'll try and learn everything about your body that he can. Whether thats making a mental note of moles / birthmarks, noting where you're most sensitive to touch, and all the little dips and curves of your body. He'll remember it.

Sometimes you get embarassed and look away, but without fail he'll always tilt your chin gently back to him. He loves seeing you flustered, especially knowing he was the one who put you in that state.

It still hurts for Vasily to open his mouth too wide, so he cant bite, but he'll gently drag his fingernails along your skin.

He's such a gentle dom, but dont get things mistaken. He loves to mess with you and loves to feel your body pressing against him, as if youre ask for more without your words.

He'll purposely go slowly in order to savour you and your reactions, but that usually leads to you begging him for more. And it's a win-win for him, as he either gets to see you in pleasure for longer, or he gets to hear you softly plead to him.

Vasily pays so much care into foreplay, he always makes sure to set the mood in just the way you like it. Whether it's setting up the atmostphere with candles, or just holding you close and trailing kisses along your body - if you want it, he'll do it.

He'll always make note of what positions and actions turn you on the most. Even if it's something he's not used to, he'll do it if it means he gets to see you enjoying yourself.

(Not to mention that the more aroused he gets you, the better itll feel when he fucks you)

Vasily wants to start out gentle, but he can get a little rough if he knows youre comfortable with it.

Whether its pulling on your hair or being more forceful as he pushes you down. Over and over, he'll do it and find your reactions to it adorable each time.

He doesn't like to restrain your hands though, as he can't get enough of you touching him.

He likes to hold your hips in place when he fucks you, partly to make things easier for him, but partly because he loves to turn you into a mess only to pull out just when youre really getting into it.

Vasily will watch in amusement as you wriggle and try to inch yourself closer to his dick again, and he'll smile softly at you as your efforts are to no avail as he holds you still. He holds you there until you beg. Until you beg for him to fuck you.

Your moans and whimpers are music to his ears and he wants to wring as many out of you as possible.

You're dealing with sniper's patience - be prepared to be up late for quite some time.

And when you moan his name ? It makes his head spin. It makes him want to push you to the edge but not let you cross it, just to hear you say it over and over.

And he will do it. Over. And over. Until you beg for him to let you finish.

Vasily likes to fuck you in missionary so he can easily kiss you and see your face.

And if he gives you head, he'll hold your thighs in place so you can't squeeze his head with them.

Youll run your hands through his hair and he'll give you a little hum of approval, but the vibrations of his deep voice only end up pushing you further.

He won't stop until you're so sensitive that you wonder if you can even take it or not. And at that point, you're already letting out incoherent moans and noises that you couldnt even string a sentence together, and the words that do come out are indecipherable.

Saying that Vasily loves hearing you and seeing you in that state is an understatement. He wishes he could just freeze time and pull out his sketchbook so he can keep this moment and treasure it.

And sometimes he'll be staring at you so intently that you wonder what's going on in that mind of his.

(In truth hes just making note after note in his head so he can draw you like this later)

When he fucks you, he always pulls out to cum on your stomach. He just adores the sight of you breathless under his touch covered in his spend.

When you peg him, he's so obedient to do whatever you say, all while letting out low groans and whimpers.

When it comes to aftercare, any roughness Vasily mightve shown immediately dissipates as he opts to help clean you up, and he'll give you even more kisses to let you know how much he enjoyed it.

But of course youre both too exhausted to do anything much but wipe off any mess made before inevitably falling asleep in each others arms.

[aladaylessecondblog]

Lil Nerevar 3

Author's Note: I just can't stop y'all

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

The brothers Dagoth had been asked to take it in turns to meet young Haj-deek. Gilvoth was still Grumpy Gilvoth to the little girl; Endus had been silly enough to accidentally teach her a few 'creative' new words (she had gone around attaching the f word to everything as an adjective for a while); and Odros had to Ulen's ire taught her Levitate. The resultant game she had played had had her napping atop Akulakhan's head, nestled in so concealed a way that only a spell of Detect Life had seen her found again.

"How was I to know she would learn it so quickly?" Odros had protested, once Voryn had given him a sound verbal thrashing, "She's four years of age and Nerevar was utterly hopeless with magic! As a matter of fact I was certain it would bore her to sleep!"

"I don't CARE what you were certain about, it's not going to happen again!" Voryn was furious, simply furious, and on hearing a whimper from a downward direction seemed to realize he'd frightened her. "You don't need to cry, I am not mad at you."

"B-but," she stammered, and clung to the patched-up stuffed guar at her side, "Y-you yelled, and...you were scary..."

There was a pause, and a sharp inhale of breath.

"Forgive me. Your absence..." Then another paused as he added, "When your mother was here, I lost her, and never saw her again."

"What your lord father means is he does not want you to--even by accident--put yourself in danger," Ulen came to the rescue, "Nothing happened this time, but it could have. Being hurt and laying in bed after healing doesn't sound like fun, does it?"

She shook her head.

"We aren't doing this to be mean. We are doing this to make sure you are safe while you are here. Do you understand?"

She nodded.

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

Uthol's visit was next, and he found her not in the room that had been set aside for her, but the Heart Chamber itself. In fact in front of the Heart of Lorkhan, doing something with papers set before her. Ulen stood wordlessly nearby.

"So this is the little one that has caused such a stir," he said, "And the reason Voryn has had you reassigned. Child minding suits you, Ulen."

"Thank you, Lord Uthol. It pleases me greatly to be of service to Lord Dagoth, particularly..."

"Oo-len, I'm done!"

"And what are you done with?" Uthol asked, moving closer to look. Below Haj-deek was a dusty drawing done with a stump of charcoal. Figures had been made -- Ulen, at one side, with several face trunks, labeled "Oolen"; then one labeled "me"; then a skinny tall figure he assumed must be Voryn, owing to the three triangles drawn on the rounder head and 'volcano man' written underneath. That was all normal. What was decidely NOT normal was the odd blobbish thing on the other side of Voryn, that had a squiggly line next to it.

"What's that?" he asked her.

"This is Oo-len," she said, pointing to the sleeper on the page, "And me. And..."

"Your father," Ulen prompted.

"Dis is beeko, uhhh, serjo Lorkhan."

Both Ulen and Uthol went quiet for a minute.

"Lorkhan?" Ulen finally asked, "What do you mean?"

"Heart man!" Haj-deek said. "He says his name Shor too. I don't unnerstand that, but then I remember the volcano man call me Sunnar. So the heart man like me wif diff-rent names."

Uthol took Ulen aside.

"Do you think there's anything in that Lorkhan talk?"

"Children have flights of fancy all the time, and create friends from nothing," Ulen replied, "I shall keep watch, and put an end to it only if it becomes dangerous."

"Voryn never took well to being parted from things he liked, even as a child...that is a sensible course of action."

They watched her for a little longer. She was given paints, and immediately took to fingerpainting on the Heart.

"That is the Heart of Lorkhan, Sunnar, you shouldn't just--"

"But he likes it!" she drew a smiling face with blue paint.

"How does he tell you he likes it? Do you hear words? Or is it a feeling, such as when you feel happy or sad?" Uthol went ahead when it seemed Ulen was going to let the matter drop.

Haj-deek paused, small fingers still smeared, and thought. "Feeling. Heart man lonely."

They left her to her drawing.

"We can wash it off later," Uthol said to Ulen.

They both felt something then, a strong denial in their minds.

The Heart of Lorkhan did not want the colored smears on its (or rather, his) surface removed, that much was clear.

[outeremissary]

14, 25, 26?

Thanks for the ask!! I'm sorry if these aren't going to be super thrilling answers, but some stuff I just don't hear much or don't remember well. ^^;;

[prompt]

14. Any favorite motifs

Haha. Have you noticed. That I like angels. And birds. And wings. And radiant light. And feathers. Do you think that's noticeable in what I draw. Kingmaker has really spoiled me for these- there are so many legitimate reasons to draw them, and I still feel like I'm not doing enough here. At the least, I feel like there's a lot more that I could be doing thematically that I'm not. But I think it's telling that as soon as I started regularly drawing Not Kingmaker stuff I just kept going with the wings- sometimes for Real Reasons, and sometimes... not really. It's my natural state. And I will draw More Wings in the future. This is a promise. I will continue to think about them and hopefully do more interesting and thoughtful things with them, haha.

And I also of course love flowers... I'm not a flower language knower, but I looooove drawing flowers and floral motifs.

25. Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by

Last summer while recovering from surgery I took an actual real figure drawing class, like in a real studio downtown with real people and real models. I had a lot of trouble adapting to the materials, the scale of the drawings (big...), and the idea of shading as one of the earliest parts of a sketch. I remember speaking to the instructor after class once about having trouble, and he was pretty nice about stuff even if it didn't help me all that much except to reduce the stress a little. But in that conversation I remember him saying my art (of which he had only seen the model drawings) had a comic book quality. That really surprised me, especially considering the context! I was trying very hard to do realism the best I could there, and besides that I have just never spent a lot of time with American comic books. Even the artists in that sphere who have styles I find really compelling and want to learn from are just not in my mind when I draw almost ever, and they certainly weren't when I was trying to sketch the model! It was interesting to hear though- one way or another, the graphic background I do have comes through that strongly both in how I interpret things into work that's not meant to be stylized and in how I work. I guess it stood out for better or worse that I leaned so heavily on lines ^^;;

26. What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended

I remember back in 2021 I did this sketch of Nyrissa and Tristian (I swear it is in fact from 2021 despite the post date. my art was slightly better and definitely more accurate to the game in 2022.) where Nyrissa had a hand under Tristian's chin, forcing Tristian to look her in the eyes. I don't really remember what was on my mind drawing that. I think consciously I was just looking for a typical domineering villain pose that seemed fun to draw- I like the idea of the power dynamic between them and I was interested in how that relationship had shaped the Tristian we see in game. Just doing a little thing to put that master/servant dynamic on paper was satisfying for me. Of course, the second I showed it to other people all the responses were like "this is so horny. you can't show me an image this horny." or "this is so horny, I don't know who I want to be." And at the start I think I was always like "noooooo it's super normal!! it's not horny at all!!!" But I think deep down it probably was a horny drawing, whether I did that consciously or not... And I've definitely leaned into that Vibe since then when I draw them together, haha.

That's not a very good story, but honestly I think I just have not seen a lot of interpretations of what I draw that were so different from what was on my mind that they were memorable. ^^;; I don't have a super great memory for this kind of thing though

[rightbrainawake]

First step

I have found printmaking, it is a wonderful thing.

I had previously only been a #watercolour painter, and I am enjoying the technical process involved in printmaking as I find a great number of similarities between the two, at least in the way that one has to build a picture from a base up. The common understanding that you begin and preserve the white paper is helpful, as opposed to other forms where the opposite is common of dark to light building of colour.

I joined a class at my local art gallery, Hazelhurst, and was producing collagraph  prints with differing success.

Here I experimented with as many different texture producing things as possible in order to see what could be produced as outcomes in the printing process: corrugated cardboard, string, hessian, crêpe paper, paper doilies, cling wrap, glue along with some improvised punctures of the mat board also cutting and removal of the paper cover.

This plate, shown above was then covered in a sealant of varnish and dried under a hot hair dryer to enable printing straight away - what fun!

As this was my first print it was clear that I was not yet aware of how much ink was in fact too much, this is a key learning of course.

Too much ink and the print does not show much of the collagraph as the ink does not allow for any discernible change to be seen between different components of the collage, too little and there is no ink to record any of your textures onto the paper.

The amount of ink, and the amount of pressure applied is related just to add to the variability of printmaking. Too much pressure will draw out more ink, and too little pressure will only touch the surface of the collage. When this is combined with different ink types and different ink minerals, then the technicality of print making is just starting to present itself to you.

I am lucky to enjoy and appreciate experiment, I did not expect fantastic results straight away and learn to enjoy the process.

You can see that I did two prints, the original print - of the ink that I applied and then run through the press, and the ghost print - the same plate reprinted without adding any further ink.

Yes, my first print had way too much ink. I can make out the detail mainly because I laid out and put the collage together. Some of the scraping I did with some tarlatan, of course I did not remove anything close enough, hence one can see those scratch marks.

This ghost print is much better is showing the different elements of the collegraph. The string collects a great deal of ink on one or both sides, similar to the corrugated cardboard which is provides a more subtle line. The hessian (or tarlatan) does come out quite well as does the crêpe paper. I was interested in the difference between the section where the crêpe was cover with masking tape to produce a muted effect of the texture of the crêpe paper.

With the ghost the paper doilie detail is far clearer, and my use in attempt to symbolise the sun can be seen (with a long bow). The different clouds of cling wrap and cut away board produce different effects in the apparent sky. What is was most surprised was the small punctures did really bring out some interesting tonal texture in the printed surface (an almost emu skin effect from my perspective).

I am using this blog to simply record my works and progress, if you do get something out of it then it is great also - let me know.

[digirhys]

Got to do smth incredibly fun and enriching yesterday!! I rly love hunting down sources for uncredited/stolen art. 1) it is infuriating seeing that happen to other artists and so 2) feels rly good when I can let them know & point ppl their way to appreciate what they're making!! And 3) just in general it's fun for me bc it's like a treasure hunt puzzle for stuff that isn't quite as simple as just plugging it into google or tineye reverse image search! I love it!!!!

✨️I got to track down the artist for 8-year-old expression meme!!✨️

Someone on bsky last night mentioned having an expression meme (one of those classic pick a letter + number grids full of faces) but not wanting to post it to take suggestions bc they couldn't find & credit the artist. I volunteered to try n help if she wanted to send it to me bc I'm a little Insane abt that and had just done a source hunt for some stolen art earlier that day and was Pumped lmao Despite having a semi-legible signature it took me abt 1.5hrs to hunt down the artist (admittedly might've been much quicker if I'd slept first n tried to do it today lol) and I just found the digital "paper trail" rly neat, and wanted to share! Plus, actually give credit back to the artist's current socials since this thing has been RAMPANTLY reposted across deviantart for the last 8 years. I'll put it all below so u can ignore it lmao

We will start w the meme in question! One I've certainly seen before, and so have MANY others lol

It's small n sorta faint but there's def a visible signature beneath A1 that appears to read "@garmekoii" to the best I could tell. Googling the name tho only bring up ONE result from an aminoapps post on Oct 25, 2017 where a user posted it (along w several similar memes) and credits this one specifically to garmekoii on tumblr, with the note "*I literally spent an hour searching to find that the username was written on this,,,,, I just hope it's accurate"

Unfortunately, if that tumblr existed, it and the variants have long-since been gone. A glimmer of hope for a sec there but, ah, definitely not it lmao

Outright searching the URLs in tumblr search didn't result w anything even from a browser, which was. Unsurprising lmao ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and the image searches from Google and tineye unfortunately only pulled up any number of the times this has been reposted in "stolen from X" reposts on dA that just. Point back to the prev dA user, none of which were the OG artist fhsjfbshf and in fact many just say "meme isn't mine/I just stole this" FHSJFBSH😂😭 with tineye at LEAST I could determine that, well, this meme is at LEAST from early February 2017 or earlier

A SMARTER (and better-rested) PERSON MIGHT'VE THEN GONE THROUGH ALL OF THE PREV TUMBLR URLS ON DEVIANTART INSTEAD!!! I WAS NOT THAT PERSON AT 11:30PM LMAO (to be fair I did check garmekoii and gamekoii...but not gamekoi) instead like a lunatic who Didn't have to wake up less than 6hrs later for work, I was clicking through the dA results one by one on tineye until......someone in the description credited it back to @\gladejade here on tumblr :0 unlikely to be the artist, but maybe SHE had a link back to the artist!! So to her archives I went, staring August 2017 and back, as that was when the dA post was from

And!!! There were indeed drawings of her filling prompts from the meme w Trigun characters on January 1, 2017 lmao!!!! Only she was taking the prompts on her Twitter so the meme wasn't actually on her blog (in the midst of writing this n double-checking smth i DID actually find a reblog of Jade's tumblr post of the meme from Jan 4, 2017 but for whatever reason the original post was deleted lol so she did have it on tumblr at least for a bit to take prompts here too), but!! Twitter was still linked!! At this point i thanked CHRIST she was not an artist who'd been chronically posting multiple images a day every day since January 2017😭 so it only took a minute to find scrolling thru the media tab!............but, sadly, no additional insight onto a link back to the artist, even a defunct link or @ 😔😔😔😔

At this point I was getting close to calling quits at least for the night, maybe to try taking a look on my actual computer come morning, but.....I noticed that Google image search lets you put in a URL, so, figured what the hell. The meme was originally sent to me AS the direct tumblr PNG address, maybe that'd bring up something different...??? Possibly???????

It didn't lmao so on a whim I just started typing the url variations into google in quotes to see if ANYTHING would pull up, and-

Holy shit lol!!!!! I could’ve gone to sleep right then from embarrassment at having checked that spelling of the URL on deviantart yet, fuck lmao but!! Lo and behold!!!!!!

THEY FUCKING LIVE(D)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They were going by Koi but now by Fish. The gallery here is sparse and the meme is nowhere in sight, but at this point I could confidently say I had found the original artist who created the meme! But, I am nothing if not extra, and wanted to see if I could find the original post of the meme, if it still existed. Just for fun! There was ONE archived version of the dA from January 23, 2022, but for whatever reason it returns a 403 error when trying to view the snapshot. So to the social links I went!! Insta linked to a defunct account but the Twitter is alive-ish and well, at least (hasn’t been touched since mid-2023), and THAT links to what appears to be a fairly current carrd!!! She even has a tumblr @\disco--fish !!! I’m not directly tagging bc I don’t want to be weird, but PLEASE go check it out n give their art some love!!

Anyway, back to the meme hunt

Insta was the best bet and wouldn’t ya know, he’s actively posting art as of July 2024!!! Fuck yeah!!!!! No sign of the meme though, here or on their doodle account 🤔 could sense I was nearing the end one way or another – at least I was gonna be able to confidently say I’d found the artist in order to credit her for the meme!!! Since I was thoroughly embarrassed by having not checked the gamekoi dA earlier and saving myself a good chunk of time, I tried those on insta, just in case.

And!! The gamekoii account still exists, hot damn!!!! No meme in sight THERE, but there is a link to what was a Hamilton art side account. I’ve nearly exhausted my options so. Why not lol. Scrolling back through the gallery, and. Holy shit-

!!!!!!!!

IT!!!!!!!!!

THE MEME, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND!! DATE OF POSTING DECEMBER 29, 2016!!!!!! WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE original, or at least the oldest surviving post of the meme BY the artist, 8 years later (if it was ever posted to gamekoii I’ll never know bc that Insta isn’t in the wayback machine) with the digital paper trail to prove the original artist to credit for it!!!!!!!!!!

gamekoii (insta) links to oui.lafayette (insta), which holds the original meme!

oui.lafayette (insta) moves to cocoakoi (insta), which moves to the defunct sucrefish (insta), BUT gamekoi (dA) links to the same defunct insta as well as ssugarfish (twt)

ssugarfish (twt) in turn links to discofish (carrd), which links to disco--fish (tumblr) and the ACTIVE diiscofish & zuccheropesce (both insta). There IS also a bsky under discofish but looks like, similar to twt, it hasn't been used in abt a year :0

A complete, albeit scattered, timeline of Fish's art over the years, including a much loved (& criminally reposted lol) expression meme!! Idk, I find that cool as shit from like an "art history" n preservation standpoint :000

Anyway, was this necessary???? To a degree!! I think crediting artists is absolutely vital, EVEN if that means pointing back to a dead URL if they've abandoned old personas or posting online as a whole. And I absolutely could've found it much quicker if I'd gone to bed like a reasonable person and simply tried doing it today from a proper desktop browser ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but! Here we are lol

So, if you've ever used this meme:

Please give credit & thanks to disco--fish (tumblr), diiscofish (instagram), ssugarfish (twt), or sugarfish (bsky)!

[getmemymicroscope]

It's been ages since I read this book, and whilst it wasn't my favorite Grisham, it was one I did enjoy at the time (I think I've enjoyed essentially every Grisham novel while reading it - even if, at the end of most of them, you walk away a bit sad/depressed by the ending).

And I had seen a clip of this movie on the TV at some point somewhere ages ago, that has remained sorta fixed in my brain - the scene where Callahan dies. ... Not exactly best scene to draw you into wanting to watch a movie. Which is why we sit here, almost 30 years from the release date of the movie, and I've just now gotten around to watching the full movie.

Like most of the Grisham 'legal thriller' movie adaptations, it is fun - though it's clearly also very condensed down from the book (with good reason, sure, but still). Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts are excellent, though by having an essentially 'macguffin'-type of villain - and a 'macguffin'-type of brief for most of the movie - you are sort of only catching part of the thrill that you get in other thrillers, I feel.

I mean, there's still plenty going on - Stanley Tucci in a very un-2023 "what do you think of when you think of Stanley Tucci" role, and plenty of other attempts at their lives, especially towards the end. And it is engaging in that way. And, honestly, I don't fully remember the story in the book (time for a re-read, maybe), but I only now fully understand why it is called the pelican brief.

Though, honestly, it seems more like just "law student does some brainstorming and puts her thoughts down on paper" - and the fact that so many people end up dead over it is a bit crazy.

And, man, 1993 - the computers, the corded phones, the sitting in the library and pulling out all the reference books, the not being able to look up the images of the people you're going to meet for the first time... so much has changed since then.

During the video they're watching, I thought he mentioned a date in September - but then, when he's calling everyone to get commments, I thought I heard him say April. Additionally, for some reason I thought she asked Verheek to wear a red shirt as well. Maybe I was just imagining things though - I am very tired.

It's not The Firm or Runaway Jury, but it still does a passable job of being enthralling and fun. And very real about how all of the money-hungry people are assholes.

Still waiting for them to make an adaptation of The Partner.

[abyssal-debonair]

hey Sky community, you have a racism problem

look at this

these are officially released promo art depicting the in-game spirits. I am also going to gesture at a few stills from the animations.

not even touching on that the spirits in-game are all various shades of blue, but yknow what, I will touch on it. they’re blue. the ancestors spirits are all various shades of dark blue, sometimes with darker brown wisps of skin or explicitly dark brown when portrayed as alive. likewise the skykids are various shades of brown or darker colors. I know y’all can see that.

so with that out of the way

why the fuck would you draw them white?

see, this has always bothered me for the year I’ve been playing Sky and interacting with its online fandom – seen it speckled in Skyblr, in the art channels of Skycord, throughout Twitter, disconcertingly prominent on Instagram – but given how immaturely the Sky community handles confronting any amount of discourse, I never wanted to say anything publicly cos I didn’t want to be on the receiving end of a deluge of harassment this oh so positive and kind playerbase is known for.

then TGC Twitter retweeted a piece of art that whitewashes the ancestor spirits.

deep breath.

I don’t want any of you racist shits to take this as confirmation that it’s somehow acceptable to make the ancestors and skykids white. sure, TGC says a lot of things in this game are “up to interpretation,” but it strikes me so strange that some of y’all look at these darker-skinned characters and immediately go against canon to give them light pink or paper white skin. why is it so hard to draw these darker-skinned characters with the dark skin they have both in game and as how TGC officially depicts them?

I’ve seen several excuses for this:

“I’m humanizing them.” okay and why does this humanization necessitate making them white? why do you have to make these nonhuman characters human? why does your brain immediately go to “white” when considering “human” and not any other palette for the many people of color who make up the majority of the human population?

“I’m projecting onto them.” you can’t project onto characters with dark skin? you don’t find characters with dark skin relatable? that’s quite racist. I, as a black child, often projected or saw myself in pale-skinned characters that dominate the entertainment media I watched growing up. surely it shouldn’t be that hard for white people to see themselves in non-white characters. surely.

“it doesn’t fit my artstyle / I’m not used to drawing POC.” then you are a terrible artist unwilling to challenge yourself or your own biases, unwilling to improve your skills or explore other palettes you may find favorable and attract a larger diverse audience. drawing with another color is not that difficult. if you do find it hard, there are a monumental amount of tutorials on illustrating people of color and darker skin tones out there online for free. you can even color pick from your reference! the only thing stopping you is your racism.

"they’re not human so it can’t be whitewashing.” true, the characters of Sky are not human, they likely don’t have human conceptions of race to them. I’ve been asked before “why are you bringing race into this?” as if I’m the one racializing non-raced characters. look, I wasn’t the one who drew them white. believe it or not, white is a race – it isn’t the “default,” it isn’t a non-race, white is a race. making these non-raced characters white is racializing them, putting race upon them that they do not have. it’s weird. for all you complain about “making everything about race these days,” why go out of your way to portray these humanoid characters with dark skin as white? fun fact: it’s still whitewashing even if the character is not a human being, especially if said character resembles humans of color.

however, I will add that is particularly insulting to see characters with explicitly black hairstyles drawn white. if I see another ancestor or skykid with an afro, afro poof(s), or dreadlocks with pale skin, I am going to bite someone. likewise, the Enchantment spirits take inspiration from Arabic cultures, Flight crew have influence from Inuit and other Northern American indigenous cultures. no, I am not invoking cultural appropriation to condemn your skykids with Lively Navigator’s hair or Cheerful Spectator’s afro or Fire Prophet’s short dreads or Indifferent Alchemist’s turban – that is perfectly okay. it’s the far too many Sky fanartists whitewashing skykids and these ancestors that is the problem.

I’m not demanding you to be canon compliant, I’m asking you to stop whitewashing, to stop erasing the little representation the players of color have overall. we do not often see people who resemble us in Western media very often, especially as the majority of the characters. it’s the same for those who ascribe gender onto these canonically agender characters, contributing to nonbinary erasure, though that is a story for another time.

and this doesn’t even touch on the afro chibi trend (how come this black hairstyle is only ever “cute” when it’s on an infantilized character? and for fucks sake do not call it clown hair or broccoli or, god forbid, cotton) or how Vault Elder’s headscarf is used to make “eggs” or “chickens.” why can’t you appreciate our hair and our headcoverings as just as fashionable as uncovered white hairstyles? why do y’all keep calling POC hair fucking food? if you do it as a joke, it’s still a racist joke. do you know how hard it is for me to exist without white people nonsense as a Black person with an afro irl? don’t get me started on the bullshit hijabi Muslims have to deal with. the best you could do is not mock their appearance.

now there are those of you who have been doing these racist things without really thinking about it. you just drew the ancestors with pale skin cos that’s where your mind goes or you’ve been a silly afro chibi for a while or you drew your white self as a white skykid. reading this, you’re doubling down now cos you don’t think you’re racist, you’re not a raging bigot, you can’t be a *gasp* bad person!

and, yknow what, I don’t think you’re a bad person either. I condemn the actions, not the person (unless you’re an asshole). like you, I grew up in a white supremacist society participating in racist institutions down to the micro level, not questioning what I was taught or socialized even if I was often on the receiving end of microaggressions. but I learned to confront the prejudices that have been socialized in me because they maintain an unjust world that hurts  people unnecessarily. even now I am still confronting prejudices that have been ingrained in me because I understand the harm they cause and the oppression they perpetuate, how bullshit have and continue to make the world a hostile place for people of color like myself. I stop doing bigoted things. it’s the least I can do.

surely, you can too.

and for those blokes who are aware of how racist you are and continue to do this shit anyways? fuck you.

sincerely, a Black Sky player

[raebayhc]

Girls Night Out

warnings: implied virgin, fingering, lesbian implied, bi implied, public sex, smut, fluff, angst

word count: 2164

summary: you along with your groups of friends decide to have a girls' night for the first time in a while, things get heated and your friends end up taking turns using your body.

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It was a Thursday night and you along with the other ladies who went to the same college as you decided to go out and have a girls’ night. Yall planned on going to see a movie, going out for drinks, then finally retiring to Sasha’s barn where yall planned to stay up late telling spooky stories trying to freak one another out. Normally you wouldn’t agree to something like this because socially you were a lost cause, you had many friends and were very close to them. However, when it came to hanging out in large groups and even going out in public with the group, that’s when you started to get anxious. Your friends always had your back though and you knew that. Ultimately you decide not to fret too much and just have fun.

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

It was the beginning of a very long night, you and pieck were roommates so yall got ready at the same time and left together to meet everyone else at the theatre. On the ride there pieck looked over to you and broke the silence- “if it becomes too much just let me know, I’m good to go home anytime.. Okay darling?” she patted your thigh and you nodded waiting for her warm hand to leave its place. It never did. She kept her hand on your thigh occasionally tapping to the beat of the music she turned on after yall briefly spoke. You felt your cheeks begin to warm as you peered out the window. Nobody within the group of friends knew you swung that way you wouldn’t dare tell them fearing the absolute worst. You knew they would love you no matter what and you never thought they would say anything hurtful but you still kept your little secret to yourself.

Piecks hand remained on you the whole car ride to the theatre. When yall arrived you hopped out of the car with intent... That intent being getting away from under piecks touch as you know you wouldn’t be able to hide your heavy breath for much longer. You played it off as getting “all excited” about seeing the movie when you really just wanted to escape. You waited as pieck slowly gathered her items and met you outside the car, yall then proceeded to walk through the glass doors into the theatre where the rest of the girls were already waiting.

“Yo what took yall so long??” Sasha said while stuffing her face full of popcorn. “Yeah, we thought we were gonna miss the movie because of you two” Ymir followed, whilst rolling her eyes. You look around to check everyone out, Historia and Ymir were clinging together, as usual, Sasha and Mikasa playing “hot hands” in the corner. You laughed as Mikasa gagged after Sasha got butter all over her hands. Pieck walked off to go meet hitch at the counter to get some candy. You giggled to yourself and told the girls that the movie was going to start soon and yall should probably head to yalls seats.

Finally, in yalls seats waiting for the movie to begin, you were sat between Sasha and Mikasa. You were definitely closer to these two than you were anyone else. Yall had been a trio since fourth grade and nothing could ever split yall apart. Nothing. All of the ladies were quite touchy with each other, it was all platonic of course. Why wouldn’t it be? Sasha snatched your right hand and hugged your shoulder burying her nose in the crook on your neck as a monster popped out at the screen. “Why would you choose a horror movie when you can't handle them” you whispered to Sasha to which she replied “because I like the way it makes me feel y/n, I get all tingly and itchy” you rolled your eyes holding back a chuckle so you wouldn’t disturb the others during the quiet scene.

You felt a slight tug at your left hand as Mikasa habitually grabs your hand. She tends to do that when she has nothing to do with her hands, it “helps her stay focused” she has explained to you a million times. Between Sashas breath on your neck and Mikasa drawing circles on your hand with her index you couldn’t help but squirm. You go to whisper something about the movie to Mikasa when she goes to do the same, your faces come within an inch of each other, noses barely touching you feel her breath out her nose as it fans across your lips. Your face turns bright pink as you halt in surprise. “I wanted to point out that actor….. Since we’ve spoken about them before…” she spoke softly. You replied with a small “me too…”. Yall have yet to part until you are broken up by screams as the movie takes a turn and Sasha yanks your arm “AHHHHH Y/N HELP!!!!!” Sasha screams in a high-pitched tone. You turn breaking your eye contact with Mikasa “Sasha! Be quiet we arent the only ones here!” you jab at her as you apologetically smile at the others in the theatre. You momentarily forgot about the moment you and Mikasa had until she takes her hand and places it on the back of your neck. Thumb swiping up and down, she pulls you a bit closer to whisper “awfully close weren’t we…” she lets that sentence linger before playfully giggling and removing her hand from your nape.

The movie was finally over and you were one of the last to leave your seat, since you decided to pick up all the popcorn Sasha had dropped after one of the jumpscares, you stand up, lifting your arms towards the ceiling, stretching and letting out a soft moan. You felt hands slither from the small of your back to the front of your hips “wow y/n, you have a hot moan. Whoever sleeps with you must be lucky” Ymir says before shifting you to the side to make way for her and historia. “Ugh, Ymir how many times do I have to tell you it’s not ladylike to talk about such things so casually” “I know I know I’m sorry... But it had to be pointed out” Ymir shrugged “she does have a point y/n.. You have an attractive voice it makes sense your moans would be..” historia pitches in and she looks you up and down before continuing “h o t” she lingers on the t a bit before moving on. You could feel your arousal pooling. The ladies seem different tonight... Maybe it’s just you... Maybe it’s not... They walk out and you follow suit.

You decide to ride with hitch since yall haven’t spoken a lot tonight, you ask her about life and she goes on to rant about her boyfriend noting that he’s not good in bed and she hates his haircut, she finishes her rant off with “ugh maybe I should just switch to girls! You’d date me right y/n?” you pause for a moment then reply with a simple “who wouldn’t!” a simple sentence yet complex at the same time. She turns to you and examines your face “you know I think id be a top if I were with a girl… in fact, you’d make a perfect bottom for me..” her eyes linger a bit too long, your skin crawling whilst illuminated by the red light yall were stopped at. It flashes green and her eyes return to the road “of course if I was single and into girls hahaha” she plays it off.

Yall arrive at the bar shortly after Sasha and Mikasa who had taken the same car and followed by Ymir who carpooled with historia. Mikasa and Sahsa hand out everyone’s paper wristbands, Sasha stops in front of you takes your hand, and putting it on for you. She didn’t do it for anyone else… just you. You decided you were overthinking and you moved on, walking into the club you were bombarded with loud music busybodies and the smell of alcohol. You were stressed, so many people, so many noises, so many smells. It was overwhelming, to say the least. Pieck noticed your uneasiness and placed her hand on the small of your back, she led you to a dark hallway filled with heavy pheromones and kissing partners, past that was a bathroom to which she leads you, pushed you in, followed after you, and locked the door. “Wh-” pieck covered your mouth with a single finger, “I noticed your stress, we can leave if you need y/n” a look of sorrow on her face. “No I’m fine it was just a lot at once I’m sorry, I’m okay now” you push out with a soft smile. Her body moving closer to you she wraps an arm around you pulling you closer “baby… tell me if you need anything, mmkay?” she purrs into your neck giving it a soft peck. Your arousal beginning to pool again you squeeze your thighs.

She excuses herself letting you go and leaving the bathroom. Turning around to face the mirror you scold yourself for acting the way you are when your friends are just being nice, they’d probably feel so grossed out if they knew your cunt was getting all nice and soaked for them, you thought. “Maybe I just need to relieve some stress… yeah that's all it is… built-up stress…” you hiked up the mini skirt that you decided to wear today above your hips and you pulled your new pink lace panties to the side. Beginning to slide your fingers over your unclothed clit the door rattles “hey bear, pieck said you weren’t feeling well so I brought you a dri-” historias sentence is cut short when she looks up to see you sitting on the counter sprawled open like a book. “I’m so so-” you begin before she hurriedly shuts and locks the door behind her.

“I- i- can explain-” she cuts you off before you get a chance to explain “oh bear..” a slight purr in her voice “who knew you had such a perfect pussy?.. All this time you’ve been hiding it from me?” she pouts, you’ve never seen her act this way much less talk this way before. Shocked by her actions you freeze, she steps closer and peers up into your eyes, lifting a hand to show she has her pinky and index slightly bent, she speaks “..may I?” if this was any other night you would freak out, apologize, get dressed quickly and leave, but for some reason you cant. “Please do” a slight whininess in your voice. Taking her ring and middle finger she traces a line from your entrance to your clit making you twitch once she reaches the small bud. She chuckles a bit and continues, pushing her middle finger into you, slowly but surely, you lay your head back resting it on the mirror. A low groan leaves her throat as you tighten around her finger “y/n… can I ask you a question? Hmm?” “nghh yes” you manage to push out through cries and moans. “You’re a virgin aren’t you, bear? Nobody has ever touched this perfect little body. Nobody has ever stuck their fingers in you either, huh?” you nod trying to keep sane while her pace quickens, you squint your eyes shut forcing tears out and down the sides of your face. Your response influenced her as she moved faster prodding another finger at your entrance and pushing it in with her other. “Ahh fuck ‘ri’” RI was a name you’ve called her since yall first met, originally made because you couldn’t remember her full name but it kind of just stuck throughout the years. “I’m gonna- I think I’m g-” cut off by the feeling of her warm tongue prodding your clit, dangerously licking and lapping, boy did she know how to please, and that she did. “RI oh shit” you grab a fistful of her hair as your orgasm hits, continuing to finger fuck you and lightly lick your sensitive bud she helps you ride out your high. “..- first, right?” you couldn’t make out what she said through your hazy mindset “what RI?” she repeats “I was your first, right??” you nod with lazy eyes, she smiles a big smile then gives you a sloppy kiss, you groan into her lips.

She cleans you up then helps you off the counter. Now realizing what had just happened you panic pushing out a quick “oh my goodness ri I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to put you in that position” she chuckles “don’t worry bear there are plenty of other positions I plan to have you in” before you could really digest that she tugs at your wrist leading you out to the main hallway and back to your groups of friends. The night has only begun….

THE END Pt. 1

this is my first fanfic ever so I'm sorry if it's bad!! I will continue to improve trust me! also, this will be a multi-part series so stay updated!

[audreydoeskaren]

Reviewing Nancy Duong’s Fashion Timeline of Chinese Clothing

If you like historical Chinese clothing and have an internet connection chances are you have seen these drawings. They have been spread around so much but for some reason I was only able to find out the author yesterday (at time of writing), Nancy Duong from @nannaia. Her website is nancyduong.com. These drawings are so iconic and famous but I don’t really see anybody talking about their accuracy? So I thought it’d be fun to review the drawings as well as the sources used. Ok clickbaity title here, I’m only going to talk about the segments on Ming, Qing and republican era because I know nothing about the others. 

Quick disclaimer: none of what I am going to say is a criticism of the artist or her research abilities, as we will see Duong obviously put a lot of efforts into the research and this project was absolutely epic; this will just be a nitpicky review of some of the details which I hope some of you will find useful or enlightening. Also the fact that this was made in 2013 still blows my mind, like I was still a wee child then.

Without further ado, let’s get into it.

Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)

*I’m not yet so familiar with the minutiae of Ming fashion so if anything I say is whack feel free to correct me.

I’ll begin with Fig 12 which is the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. This doesn’t really look like what we think of as early Ming fashion nowadays because I think the reference material she used was likely a 仕女画 shinvhua, a genre of literati painting that featured highly stylized female figures in historicist clothing. The costumes were meant to be excessively flowing and adhering to people’s imaginations of deities or historical figures, meaning that they had little to no connection to what was actually popular in real life. This is a very common misunderstanding for earlier scholars of Chinese fashion history, they just weren’t aware that 仕女画 were not realistic. In her post, Duong mentioned that one of the books she consulted was 5000 Years of Chinese Costume published in 1987, which is very dated and kind of notorious for using a lot of non realistic art as reference for real fashion... In recent years there has been more awareness about what paintings could be used for research and what could not, but in 2013 that was probably too much to ask. So this is more of a sign of the times.

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Ming Dynasty shinvhua by 仇英 Qiu Ying (1492-1552), a renowned painter. For some reason the costumes in most shinvhua feature an apron of some kind tied to the waist and a 披帛 pibo or shawl, perhaps it was a reference to Tang Dynasty fashion. If you see a painting from the Ming Dynasty or later featuring women wearing an apron and a shawl, it’s a huge red flag that the clothing is not realistic. From the Ming Dynasty onward, women wore robes outside of skirts, meaning the waistband shouldn’t really be visible.

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Closeup of 真武灵应图册, presumably made in the early 15th century, showing the more realistic way of dressing for women in the early Ming.

The other thing here is the caption “restoration of native rule, Yuan customs are abolished”. While that is true on paper, in practice early Ming fashion was full of leftovers from the Yuan Dynasty. A popular decoration style was 织金锦 zhijinjin or gold brocade, a textile manufacturing technique presumably of Persian origin that was immensely popular among the Mongols. I can understand why the first emperor of the Ming would advertise himself as the restorer of Han customs for legitimacy and power, but personally he was a huge fan of gold brocade too ;)

Ok next panel.

Fig 13 is probably traced from this painting below, which is very legit. The only minor qualm is that Duong seems to have added two 裙襕 qunlan or decorative horizontal strips to the skirt, which are not present in the painting itself. This style of qunlan was common in the early Ming (you can see it in the previous painting) but I’m not sure if it would be acceptable on this particular outfit.

Source here

Next one.

Fig 14 is where it gets interesting and where my niche area of expertise comes in. Duong didn’t specify which part of the Ming Dynasty each outfit was from, but there is at least a 200 year gap between fig 13 and 14, because fig 14 is from the Qing Dynasty... I mentioned this in my review of Evolution & Revolution, I’ll just repeat here. A lot of early historians bought into the rhetoric that the “late Ming aesthetic” continued into the Qing for a couple of years before being obliterated by a mystical form of Manchu inspired dress (something that looks like fig 15 probably). In reality though, that so called “late Ming aesthetic” persisted well into the 18th century until the Jiaqing era when it began to be replaced by a new style, which also wasn’t the stereotypical Qing Dynasty outfit; that didn’t solidify into a thing until the 1840s, at which point the Qing was seven decades away from death. Because of this, fashion from the 18th century often gets mislabeled as Ming. It could be potentially considered hanfu but it’s definitely not Ming... I feel like 17th and 18th century clothing represent the Qing as much as the 19th century does, the Qing is not just the 19th century.

Fig 14 specifically reads very much as Yongzheng era (1720s), with the back heavy hairstyle, tight fitting 披风 pifeng, robe with standing collar and the white skirt. This confusion really isn’t Duong’s fault but more of the book’s. If I analyzed this as Yongzheng era fashion, it would be pretty accurate with the only problems being the sleeve length and button placement. The sleeves are way too short for that era. Before 挽袖 wanxiu or folded cuffs became a thing in the Qianlong era, the sleeves of most Chinese historical clothing were made longer than the wearer’s arms, meaning they had to grab the cuffs to use their hands, creating very beautiful folds and creases when doing that. Also the sleeves commonly had a decorative border similar to that at the collar. The lower button was usually placed at the very bottom of the collar because that would actually connect the collar and the neck area. You see what I mean in the below image.

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A painting from the series 雍亲王十二美人图, made in the 1710s/20s. These paintings are full of mysteries and we aren’t even sure who the women (or woman) portrayed really were, but they did depict Han aristocratic women’s fashion realistically. Some of the details resemble late Ming fashion, such as the metal buttons, soft standing collar and parallel collar pifeng, but this is undeniably Qing.

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I think this illustration is from 5000 Years? It’s categorized as Ming Dynasty in the book which is what led a lot of people astray.

By the way, this hairstyle that looks like poop, is from the Yongzheng era as well.

Source here

Also from 雍亲王十二美人图.

Now I can’t just tell you what Ming fashion is not and not tell you what it is. Duong actually neglected huge chunks of the Ming Dynasty in the infographics, like fig 13 is 14something and fig 14 is 1720s. The 16th and 17th centuries are completely missing, which is a shame because they were very beautiful. @ziseviolet has a Ming Dynasty tag with plenty of images, I don’t have a lot of primary images for the Ming so please just enjoy these two:

Source here or see watermark

A very particular look from the Wanli era (1572-1620).

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Late Ming, possibly Chongzhen era (1627-44) illustration showing the fad for big sleeves.

Now that I have the drawings out of the way, let’s take a look at Duong’s notes on her research:

“The clothing for women in the Ming Dynasty consisted mainly of gowns, coats, rosy capes, over-dresses with or without sleeves, and skirts. These styles were imitations of ones first seen in the Tang and Song Dynasties. However, the openings were on the right-hand side, according to the Han Dynasty convention.” ((5,000 years of Chinese Costume, pg. 147)

I don’t have this book with me but I think this was pulled from early Ming Dynasty regulations on dress. This is kind of vague; I think the more precise term used in 2021 would be 袄裙 aoqun or robe and skirt, to describe the most common combination worn in the early Ming. “Rosy capes” sounds like a literal translation of 霞帔 xiapei, which was a garment reserved for formal dress and weddings. I don’t think your average woman would roam about the street in a xiapei. The part about the source of inspiration being the Tang and Song is also true on paper, but visually the early Ming was a very different style to the Tang and Song.

Also the thing with the openings on the right hand side. Theoretically everybody in the Ming should wear the openings on the right but in the early and mid Ming because of Yuan customs carrying over, many women still wore robes with closures on the left. It gradually began to be phased out by the mid Ming but was still occasionally practiced well into the Qing and 20th century.

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A Ming portrait featuring a woman in a robe with left closures. I don’t know which decade this is from because I suck at dating Ming clothing uwu I’m opening up about my weaknesses.

“The formal dress for commoners could only be made of coarse purple cloth, and no gold embroidery was allowed. Gowns could only in such light colours as purple, green and pink; and in no case should crimson, reddish blue or yellow be used. These regulations were observed for over a decade, and it was not until the 14th year of Hong Wu that minor changes were made.” (5,000 years of Chinese Costume, pg. 147)

Is this turning into a review of 5000 Years of Chinese Costume... Whatever. Again this is also likely pulled from sumptuary laws which people had completely stopped observing in the mid to late Ming. For the early Ming this does hold true though.

Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)

Not to be rude or anything but wow I didn’t know the Qing Dynasty began in the 1860s. I mean, fig 15 is legitimate Qing fashion and drawn very well but the fact that it’s placed at the beginning coupled with the caption “China is conquered by the Manchurians” suggests that this is what Qing Han fashion looked like since the beginning, which is not true. This look only came into its own in the Daoguang era (1820-50), 180 years after the establishment of the Qing Dynasty. Also the lady is shown with natural feet but foot binding was supposedly at the peek of its popularity in the mid 19th century; although a lot of women didn’t bind, it’d be a more accurate representation of the fashion ideal if bound feet were drawn.

Source here

Export art from the Daoguang era (1820-50). This is earlier than fig 15 hence the higher collar and simplistic fabric.

Next panel.

Fig 16 looks 1880s, which is great in that it shows the progression of time since fig 15. I love that it shows aoku, which was the more popular combination in the late 19th century. The round hair ornament is there (though the tassels are somewhat unnecessary). The bound feet are there. The robe even has the split front trim design, a very nice period detail. The collar is a bit weird though like 1) it should be much lower 2) it should be able to close completely; this kind of collar gap did not become a fashionable thing until the 1900s, but even then the bottom would still be closed because it was made by simply not buttoning the collar not a deliberately designed gap. The sleeves are also too short for the 1880s. Even then this is a well done drawing.

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Aoqun ensemble from the 1870s or 80s. The robe has the split front trim like in fig 16, while the skirt is more like that shown in fig 15 with the rectangular area of embroidery and trimmed pleats.

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The lady on the left is wearing aoku ca. 1885.

My bone with this one is again mainly the caption “The Manchurians attempt several bans on foot-binding but are unsuccessful”. It refers to events at the very very beginning of the Qing, which appears somewhat anachronistic when placed under a drawing of the 1880s... As the Qing progressed the emperors increasingly came to the realization that Han women’s fashion was too powerful to be regulated and just gave up on banning foot binding :0

Although it’s probably not fair to judge this series for what it did not include, I still think it’s really sad that there are only two drawings for the Qing and both of them from the 19th century... I’ll photobomb you with early to mid Qing fashion.

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Kangxi era (1661-1722) painting.

Source here or see watermark

Early Qianlong era (1730s or 40s) painting.

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Mid to late Qianlong era (1750s-90s) reverse glass painting.

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Jiaqing era (1796-1820) wallpaper.

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Daoguang era (1820-50) reverse glass painting.

After fig 15 there should still be two looks, the 1890s and 1900s, for which I have an individual post.

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1890s or 1900s aoku. I think this is from the Hong Kong Museum of History?

Now onto the writings:

When China fell under Manchurian rule, Chinese men were forced to adopt Manchurian customs. As a sign of submission, the new government made a decree that men must shave their head and wear the Manchurian queue or lose their heads. Many choose the latter.

Legit, nothing to see here. Maybe the phrasing of the last part is overly dramatic, since the majority of men opted for the queue and survived.

On the other hand, Chinese women were not pressured to adopt Manchurian clothing and fashions. “Women, in general, wore skirts as their lower garments, and red skirts were for women of position. At first, there were still the “phoenix-tail” skirt and the “moonlight” skirt and others from the Ming tradition. However the styles evolved with the passage of time: some skirts were adorned with ribbons that floated in the air when one walked; some had little bells fastened under them: ...

First sentence completely legit. The red skirt bit is slightly unfounded, the most popular skirts during the Ming-Qing transition were white. “Phoenix-tail” skirt and “moonlight” skirt are probably literal translations of 凤尾裙 fengweiqun and 月华裙 yuehuaqun, neither of which were from the Ming. In fact, I have not yet seen either appear in mainstream fashion before the mid 18th century. Both of these terminologies are kind of vague and to this day I still haven’t found literature giving solid explanations of what they are. 

Phoenix tail skirts were likely made by attaching embroidered ribbons of different colors to a waistband. The “ribbons that floated in the air when one walked” and “little bells fastened under them” did not evolve with the passage of time, but were a part of the construction of this garment to begin with. I think they were more of an overskirt meant to be worn over an actual 马面 mamian skirt? Extant examples of phoenix tail skirts from the 18th century existed because they likely took inspiration from theater costumes, notably skirts from the 宫衣 gongyi ensemble worn by royal female characters. I don’t think they became everyday fashion until the mid 18th century, even then they were pretty rare.

Source here

Phoenix tail skirt from the Qing, presumably 19th century.

Moonlight skirts were structurally the same as mamian skirts but every pleat or vertical section was a different color.

Source here

Moonlight skirt, presumably 19th century.

Source here or see watermark

Detail of a Jiaqing era painting showing the lady on the left in a moonlight skirt.

...others had their lower edge embroidered with wavy designs. ...

The “wavy designs” embroidered at the lower edge is somewhat unclear, as it could refer to qunlan used since the early Ming or specifically the wavy shape of the hems in Guangxu era (1875-1908) 花神衣 huashenyi?? It was a type of theater costume and not everyday wear, and also I’ve only seen this wavy design on robes not skirts. If it were actually referring to qunlan or border binding, that has always been used in the Ming and Qing, albeit in different styles in each era. 

Source here

Guangxu era huanshenyi costume.

...As the dynasty drew to an end, the wearing of trousers became the fashion among commoner women. There were trousers with full crotches and over trousers, both made of silk embroidered with patters.” (5,000 years of Chinese Costume, pg. 173)

Yess aoku was very popular. It became “fashionable” in the beginning of the 19th century but working women like maids wore them in the 18th century as well.

Republican era (1912-1949)

Ok so republican era fashion was extremely fast changing and convoluted which is why I wrote a whole series on it. If you’re interested in the looks not covered by these drawings do check them out :)) I’m kind of tired of going back and forth and linking all the posts I wrote so if you would like to know more about a specific decade just come back to the masterpost here.

With fig 17 we’re already in the mid 1920s, a decade after the revolution. This is a pretty good drawing, mostly showing the aoqun ensemble correctly. It has the half length flared pagoda sleeves or 倒大袖 daodaxiu, the stiffened collar that closes with one button and the curved robe hem, which are all accurate details. The black mary janes are correct, albeit slightly basic and stereotypical; there were so many cool shoes in the 20s (but hey it’s great that Duong didn’t draw T-straps the arch-nemesis of historically accurate flapper footwear). The hair with the section of bangs is extremely 20s and deserves a medal. There seems to be a low bun at the back of the head, I mean women with long hair did roll up their hair to emulate the short bob but it wouldn’t be so big and rest so low on the head. The skirt is appropriately gathered and flared; however it seems a tad too long for the mid 20s, since most mid 20s skirts were knee or at least calf length. It could also work for 1926-28, but then it would have a more tubular silhouette and the top needs to be shorter and more form fitting. 

Source here

Song Qinling and Sun Yat-sen ca. 1926-28. I think this is the vibe Duong was going for? If the skirt were less A-line it would be perfect.

Another (very) minor issue is the lack of binding on the right side of the figure’s neck. It’s very possible that Duong traced this photograph where it isn’t visible because of the shadow, but all Chinese clothing prior to the 1950s had the binding/trim go all around the neck.

Source here

Painting from around the same time, you can clearly see the trim on the right side of the neck. And look at their gorgeous shoes!

I’ll just quickly address the caption: “1927: Natural Breast Movement; Native attempts on banning foot-binding remain unsuccessful”. The natural breast movement is something people talk about a lot, but aside from their moralistic discourse I’d like to also bring fashion into the perspective. Basically since the Ming Dynasty, Chinese women bound their breasts to flatten them, and in the republican era some people started to think that it was unnatural and unhealthy, so they started to advocate for “natural breasts” in the 1920s. Unfortunately for them, because Chinese women wanted to be more or less on the same page as Western women on fashion and the popular silhouette in 20s Western fashion was also flat chested, Chinese women’s breast curves did not begin to show until around 1933 in high fashion, when breasts were again emphasized in Western high fashion. That’s not to say that individual women did not take off their breast binders, it’s just that the high fashion ideal did not switch to having boobs until the 30s. Changing fashions did what doctors and “progressive” activists couldn’t do for decades, I live for that.

On my usual feminist tangent here, I really don’t like the idea that “natural breasts” is interchangeable with “curvy”? Some women naturally have the flat 1920s silhouette and it’s not like their bodies are invalid. If you want to say normalize curves just say normalize curves, wearing bras and having big boobs are not inherently “natural”...

Still this one is pretty good, next one.

Fig 18 is the cheongsam rendition of the same silhouette as fig 17. In the late 1920s, four styles of womenswear with the same silhouette coexisted, namely 1) the two piece aoqun shown in fig 17, 2) three piece aoqun with vest, 3) long vest with sleeves derived from 2 and 4) the one piece cheongsam derived from 3. The caption is that age old myth about cheongsam being Manchu we can just throw that in the trash. I don’t blame Duong for this at all this myth is extremely widespread. While the cheongsam visually resembles Manchu changyi from the 19th century, it did not evolve from that. Manchu women didn’t give a shit about cheongsam and never wore it either, cheongsam and changyi or chenyi belonged in two very different systems of dress that evolved independently from each other at the time. Also, foot binding became very obsolete among urban “fashionable” women in the 1910s already. It was a very regional practice so it was still done by some women in rural areas or whatnot well into the 20th century, but the high fashion ideal has long switched to natural feet.

The drawing itself is very accurate though, it’s a standard late 20s cheongsam. The hair looks ok as well. The binding is all around the neck this time which is very good. The collar could be slightly higher, especially if approaching the end of the 20s.

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Late 20s cheongsam.

Just gonna quickly show you the 20s three pieces aoqun and vest with sleeves looks not included here.

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Left: three piece aoqun. Right: vest with sleeves.

Moving on to the next panel :3

With fig 19 we arrive in the 1930s. With the slightly lower height of the collar and low slits it appears more like the second half of the 30s, maybe 1938-1940ish. This drawing is overall pretty solid. The cap sleeves are there. The binding is in the right places. The shoe shape is appropriate. The rounded edge collar with two buttons is legit. The brush out curls are great. 

Source here

Annay May Wong in a late 30s cheongsam.

One minor issue it that due to the T shape in which the cheongsam was cut, the pattern at the sleeve part would run horizontally instead of vertically when the arms are down.

Source here

This is what I mean. This image of Xu Lai is from the early 30s.

Let’s look at the caption: “Dress is further westernized, tailored to flatter body shape. 1949: foot-binding is eradicated”. I guuueeesss you could call the 1930s cheongsam westernized in the sense that it was inspired by the Western evening dress silhouette in that it was long, flowy and slender, but that is not to be confused with “using Western tailoring techniques”. 1930s cheongsam were made completely using the Chinese dressmaking method (平裁 pingcai or flat tailoring). Also “tailored to flatter body shape” is somewhat of a generic and reductive statement, since clothes could show the body shape in a variety of ways using optical illusion and different cuts. The 30s cheongsam was not extremely form fitting to the point that it required negative ease by way of corsets or girdles, it just hugged the body very softly but still left plenty of wiggle space. 

I wouldn’t really say that foot binding was “eradicated” anytime anywhere because it was a continuous process not an on or off one, as explained in Dorothy Ko’s Cinderella’s Sisters. Parents stopped binding their daughters after the republican era that’s true, but many older women who had bound in their childhood and found bound feet more comfortable than let out feet continued binding for their own convenience.

Now onto the textual explanation by Duong.

“Ever since the Tang Dynasty, the design of Chinese women’s costumes had kept to the same straight style: flat and straight lines for the chest, shoulders and hips, with few curves visible; and it was not until the 1920’s that Chinese women came to appreciate ‘the beauty of curves’, and to pay attention to figure when cutting and making up dresses, instead of adhering to the traditional style.” (5,000 years of Chinese Costume, pg. 214)

This gives me a stroke. This book is true vintage from the 80s and it never ceases to (negatively) surprise me with incorrect takes. The “straight style” was very much not a thing in the Ming, the authors would know if they looked at the right sources lmao. Curves, what curves in the 1920s? Did you see any curves in the pictures I included of the 1920s? The 1920s flapper silhouette was notoriously flat, unless the flared pagoda sleeves count as curves, in which case most of the Ming and Qing would also be curvy. This is an erroneous stereotype. If you mean “curves” as in showing the shape of the body, in my opinion the 1910s showed a lot more body than the 1920s did. If you mean it as in “curvy” or “hourglass”, then the 1930s was the beginning. If you mean “extreme hourglass”, then the 1950s would be the beginning. More on the 50s later. 

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Ca. 1915 fashion, note how tight the robe and pants are.

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1920s aoku, noticeably more relaxed. Still very much flat though.

“The most popular item of a Chinese woman’s wardrobe in modern times was the qi pao. Originall the dress of the Manchus, it was adopted by Han women in the 1920s. Modifications and improvements were then made so that for a time, it became the most fashionable form of dress for women in China.

Already addressed the origin issue: cheongsam was not Manchu. Also aoqun and aoku representation matters.

Two main factors account for women’s general preference for the qi pao: first, it was economical and convenient to wear.” (5,000 years of Chinese Costume, pg. 214-215)

That’s... not true. It was slender and consumed less fabric than older clothing styles so it was more economical for women who were middle class or upward, but the tight, long skirt made it difficult for working women to wear. The cheongsam was largely a phenomenon for privileged women, working women adored the aoku and continued wearing it to the present day. I don’t understand why class issues are seldom addressed in cheongsam discourse.

Women traditionally bound their breasts in the Ming and Qing dynasties with tight fitting vests and continued to do so in the early 20th century.

“The vests were called xiaomajia ‘little vest’ or xiaoshan ‘little shirt” “used by Chinese women as underclothing for the upper part of the body.” (Changing Clothes in China: Fashion, History, Nation: Finnane pg 162) “Doudu [is] a sort of apron for the upper body […] in former times the doudu had been worn by everyone, old and young, male and female. The young wore red, the middle-aged wore white or grey-green, the elderly wore black. A little pocket sewn into the top was used by adults to secrete them money and by children their sweets. When a girl got engaged, she would show off her embroidery skills by sending an elaborately worked doudu to her fiancé, decorated with bats for good forturne and pomegranates, symbolizing many sons.” (Changing Clothes in China: Fashion, History, Nation: Finnane pg 162)

This part is incredibly legit, mostly because Duong cited more reliable sources. Thank you for releasing me from the hell that is 5000 Years.

A ban on bound breasts began in 1927, in which the government started advocating for the “Natural Breast Movement”. Despite this, bound breasts still widely continued into the 1930s. The government also banned earrings as it fell under the criteria of deforming the natural body. The 1930s also saw the introduction of the western/French bra come to Shanghai.

Ok I didn’t even know about the ban on bound breasts, most fashionable women had quite flat breasts up until 1933. The earrings ban too, like earrings seemed very popular throughout the republican era.

“The little vest was designed to constrain the breasts and streamline the body. Such a garment was necessary to look comme il faut around 1908, when (as J. Dyer Ball observed): ‘fashion decreed that jackets should fit tight, though not yielding to the contours of the figure, except in the slightest degree, as such an exposure of the body would be considered immodest.’ It became necessary again in the mid-twenties, when the jacket-blouse—a garment cut on rounded lines – began to give way to the qipao. At this stage, darts were not used to tailor the bodice or upper part of the qipao, nor would they be till the mid-fifties. The most that could be done by way of further fitting the qipao to the bosom was to stretch the material at the right places through ironing. Under these circumstances, breast-binding must have made the tailor’s task easier.” (Finnane 163, Changing Clothes in China: Fashion, History, Nation)

Woww this part is actually really good I’m impressed! Yess the little vest was worn to alter a woman’s body to fit the fashionable flat silhouette. I love how Finnane acknowledged that darts were not used on cheongsam until the 50s and shaping could only be achieved by 归拔 guiba, stretching the fabric and ironing the shit out of it. I’ll explain it in more details when I post about making a 30s cheongsam (still waiting for the pankou currently 😠). 

Successful eradication of bound feet would not come until the 1949 when the People’s Republic of China came into power.

Already addressed, foot binding was never eradicated as in it died in a blast or something.

Post republican era

The cheongsam in fig 20 has the right idea but could do with some more extreme proportions. It’s titled 1940s to 1960s but the 1940s were a very different silhouette to the 1950s and 60s in that it didn’t use Western tailoring techniques and had a very very low collar. The hair is difficult to decipher as it doesn’t vaguely resemble anything worn in the 1940s-60s? I’m gonna interpret this as 1950s and 60s because of the caption “The qipao/cheongsam survives as everyday wear in Hong Kong until the late 1960s”, suggesting that it was already “extinct” in the mainland according to legend (it was not though, see my post on 1950s mainland China). A 50s/60s Hong Kong cheongsam would have a much, much more extreme hourglass shape, even for everyday wear. The boobs would be pointy not round because of bullet bras. The waist would be violently (positive) cinched in. The hips would be emphasized and the skirt hem would taper inward. The collar is on the right track with the v shape gap but could be a tad taller. The stiletto heels and the slit length are appropriate as well.

As for hairstyles, large brush out curls forming a round coiffure was popular in the 50s while tall beehive hair dominated the 60s.

Source here

1962 Hong Kong cheongsam.

Text time.

Under the People’s Republic of China, very few mainland women wore the cheongsam, save for ceremonial attire. Clothing became de-sexualized for mainlanders.

Stereotypes, stereotypes, stereotypes. Cheongsam has always been worn by only a few (privileged) women, it’s just that in the republican era they were overrepresented in popular media. The bulk of the Chinese population consisted of peasants who wore aoku. In the Mao era, urban housewives continued wearing cheongsam into the 60s because that was a part of their lives. I wonder what is meant with “de-sexualized” cause no item of clothing from the republican era was sexualized to begin with?? Maybe they meant sex as in gender, in which case no clothing in the mainland was not unisex, if you were a guy wearing a dress (platye in the 50s) you would probably be stoned on the spot (over exaggeration here to describe the dangers of transphobia). 

Source here or see watermark

50s mainland housewife in a cheongsam. You can also see with the children that the girl is wearing a skirt and the boy a pair of pants, gender denominators were not dead.

Another feminist tangent because this is my blog. I hate how fashion historians describe the masculine looking uniforms and “Mao suits” in the communist era “androgynous” like no they weren’t fucking androgynous they were masculine. Androgyny means showing both masculine and feminine elements but somehow feminine fashion is never represented in “androgynous clothing”. Don’t try to pull that “uhh feminine clothing is not practical” card, like so what? Does the definition of “androgyny” include “practicality”? Obviously not, it’s just an excuse to exclude femininity. It’s that age old misogynistic thing of treating masculinity as the neutral norm or “not having gender” and femininity as the cursed variation with gender added to it. If clothing in the communist era was truly unisex or androgynous, why do we have no evidence of cis guys roaming about the streets in cheongsam or platye?? I think a lot about this video on androgyny by Jade Fox.

It was the flip side in Hong Kong, as the cheongsam continued its function as everyday wear which lasted until the late 1960s. The cheongsam in the 1950s and 1960s became even tighter fitting to further accentuate feminine curves. Western clothing became the default after the late 1960s, though the cheongsam continued to survive as uniforms for students (who donned a looser and androgynous version), waitresses, brides, and beauty contestants.

This is all pretty standard and correct, my only two bones to pick are the “feminine curves” and “androgynous version”. I already explained my problem with modern interpretation of androgyny, a looser cut does not equal androgyny. The thing about feminine curves is true on the surface but if you think deeper about it the 50s/60s cheongsam doesn’t show the “real”, biological female body but rather an hourglass ideal artificially created by shapewear that people are taught to perceive as feminine. The Hong Kong cheongsam didn’t accentuate feminine curves so much as invent them, because curves are not a necessary prerequisite for femininity anyway. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, fashion is all about different silhouettes, but can we just stop giving inanimate pieces of fabric or shapes gender like all of this belongs in r/arethecisok.

I’m not gonna analyze fig 21 because everything was possible after the 1970s and this drawing looks pretty good. That’s all :))

Conclusion

Woah this got long. I had a lot of fun reviewing these drawings and I would say that overall Duong did a very good job for 2013 (please do not kill me I mean no harm :.3). The main takeaway here is to not consult 5000 Years of Chinese Costume for anything ever, it leads only to pain and tears... I guess this post also functions as a partial review of 5000 Years then? I should rate it too. Solid 3/10 from the passages included here, would not recommend. If you want to learn about Chinese fashion history, read more recent books, at least from 2000 onward the bar is very low.

[heyheyloki]

U&I

Summary: The reader begins to realize his feelings for Saiki.

Saiki x M!Reader

Word Count: 8711

1. The Best Friends

Being friends with a psychic definitely had its ups and downs. At first, you didn’t notice a thing out of the ordinary with Saiki, well, granted you were kids when the both of you met so naturally you just wanted to be friends and thought nothing more. However, he noticed something odd with you the moment you two met.

He couldn’t read your mind.

Actually forget being about to read your mind, none of his psychic abilities worked on you. He couldn’t see through you and when he touched you without his super thin transparent gloves on nothing happened. You were basically immune to him.

At first, he thought something was wrong with you, or that maybe you had some psychic powers as well. That wasn’t the case at all. In reality, you were a normal human without any powers or tricks. That stumped Saiki even more, but it also became the soul reason he wanted to be your friend as well.

For one, he didn’t have to deal with your thoughts. Two, his image of you wasn’t ruined because he can’t see under your skin. Three, your calmer personality made him relax. And of course all those other things like your kindness and stuff, but those were irrelevant the moment he knew he couldn’t read your mind.

It’s been years since he met you in the park during recess, and now here you guys were, 16 years later and still friends. Oh, there was one thing that bothered him about you.

“What to hang out today?” You asked as you slung your bag over your shoulder.

“Sure.” Saiki said. Yep. That’s right, since he can’t get in your mind, he actually has to move his mouth when he talks to you.

It was a bit weird to others that he never did it with anyone else other than you, but he didn’t care.

On the way home he couldn’t help but notice you eyeing his antennas, the things that keep his powers stable. He turned his head towards you and gave you a curiosity look.

“Do those things poke at your head at all?” You asked, moving you hand up to poke at the top of the pink ball. “Like, does it make your head ichy?”

Saiki shook his head. He knew he had to talk to you at some points, but times like these he didn’t. He enjoyed that about you too, that you don’t force him to talk all the time. You knew it was a bit weird for him to talk, he explained it to you when he told you all about his powers.

“Hm,” you hummed out. Your hands going back at your side and into your pant pockets. “It would for me, if I was you. They just look painful, but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do if you don’t wanna blow up the world.”

Saiki nodded his head, his eyes continuing to linger on you. It was one days like these when he saw you thinking so hard about something that he wished he could just take a peak. At some points, he loved the silence, especially when the both of you were watching movies, but right now, especially in this moment, he’d give anything to know. It was mostly prominent when he’d stare at you during class and you’d have this far out look in your orbs, you drew him in, and perhaps that’s why he fell for you.

Though, there were other factors that won his favor. Mostly the fact that, unlike everyone else, he can’t stare right through you and just see your raw muscles and pumping organs. Instead, he was able to focus on your handsome face and not get side tracked about your racing thoughts. You were the only person in the world that make him feel somewhat normal. That was a love-hate relationship at times.

“Think I could sleep over tonight?” You suddenly asked, “we don’t have school tomorrow.”

Saiki stared at you for a moment just to relish in that fact that nothing worked on you. No telekinesis, mind control, no nothing. He was going to have to win your favor just like everyone else. To him, it wasn’t normal, but looking at you, he didn’t seem to mind the extra work.

“Sure,” Saiki said. He still had trouble talking aloud, hell, sometimes he will actually use telekinesis and wait for your response only to have pure silence. “My parents are leaving for a wedding, so the house should be free for a while.”

When the two of you got to Saiki’s house, it was a bit peaceful until his parents had to head out. You liked his mom and dad a lot, they were like your second family, so you wanted to wish them a good time. It was for one Saiki’s dad’s coworkers.

“Are you sure you don’t wanna come with us?” Saiki’s dad asked his son. “You’ve met Kirishima before, and you can bring [Name] as your plus one date.”

You knew Saiki wasn’t going to be interested in a wedding. He always told you normal happy events for others is misery for him since he can hear the jealousy and pity that the crowd is thinking. You felt sorry that he couldn’t turn it off, but you were glad that you were the only person he could catch a break with. However, when you looking over at Saiki, he seemed to entertain the thought.

It was a new side to Saiki, one that made you confused. It was always either you or no one. You could tell the way he wanted to get away from many of the people in his class that seemed to have declared themselves his friends from a small interaction. Sure, you felt their interest, but it was just a bit sad to you that Saiki could never actually enjoy friends unless they were pure. Otherwise, he could hear all the backstabbing thoughts or otherwise stupid comments that go around in their brain that was thought to be private to them.

“I’m going to have to pass,” you commented. “I don’t have a suit, besides, you two should enjoy the night. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you both go out alone.”

Saiki’s mom smiled widely at you. Her eyes clouding over with a wet film before wrapping her arms around you for a tight hug. “Ah, thank you, [Name]! What would we do without you?”

You chuckled softy at the comment before saying, “Who knows, I rather not think about that.”

When she finally let you go, you and Saiki waved the both of them off as they left. Honestly, you weren’t sure if they’d even make it back at a reasonable time. It was a wedding, after all. Oh well, as long as they make it back drunk and safe rather than drunk and not safe, you didn’t mind. You were sleeping over anyway, so right now, you just wanted to hang out with your childhood best friend.

“What do you wanna do?” You asked with a calming tone.

Saiki turned his head to you. “TV?”

“Sure,” you smiled. However, as soon as you turned to the living room, you noticed the absolute mess his parents left behind. So, out of the goodness of your heart, you said, “How about you find something and all clean up this in the meantime. Sound good?”

Saiki nodded once more. He truly thought your actions were kind, but he rather have you watching TV with him than picking up his dad’s dirty clothes. He knew his father tended to be sloppy, but this was just a mess.

As you were about to pick up a pair of jeans, all the clothes that were strewn about the floor suddenly started to float in the air and shoot into the open washing machine. The trash floated itself into the garage while everything else was moved around to make it look clean until otherwise.

You pressed your lips together as your brows furrowed in annoyance. Once you turned to Saiki and saw his innocence face, you knew you couldn’t be angry but you had to ask, “Do you really want me to watch TV with you that bad?”

“Yes,” Saiki stated.

You sighed, your lips parting as you left the oxygen leave your lungs. “Fine, but let’s both clean up a bit before than. It’ll be a nice surprise and a way to thank your parents for letting me stay the night.”

Saiki nodded. “Okay.”

It took a bit of convincing on your end to let him let you help out. You may not have powers, but you didn’t want to take advantage of his. You knew it was effortless and he made it seem like it didn’t affect him whatsoever, but you knew every time he does something it takes a toll. His powers aren’t perfect.

You both ended up cleaning the living room, Saiki’s room, and now you were in the kitchen sorting the trash. Saiki was using his powers to sort while you whipped down the countertops.

“Good grief,” Saiki said aloud, his voice drawing your eyes to him. He was crouched down with two bags in front of him and the garage floating upside down, it’s contents was either going in the first or second bag.

“What?” You asked curiosity. It wasn’t all the time that he speaks from his mouth without you talking first.

“How could anyone have let it get this dirty in here?” He asked aloud. “I mean, really it’s a wonder we don’t have bugs.”

You were going to respond. That was until he suddenly shut his mouth, a chest deep grunt leaving him as you notice him stare at something on the furniture next to him.

It was a cockroach.

Mind you, the moment you realized what it was you weren’t the least bit surprised when he suddenly teleported. Saiki hates bugs. He could read the minds of humans, as well as animals, but he couldn’t with bugs. He thought they were small minded icky things. Hell, he couldn’t even let his powers touch the thing.

You counted down the seconds before he came back. It was around ten, maybe fifteen. He also teleported right behind you.

“Welcome back,” you greeted and watched as his eyes dart towards the floor.

“Sorry, I may have overreacted.” He muttered. “I just hate them.”

“I know,” you hummed out before looking around and grabbing a cup and piece of paper. Saiki watched you as you let the roach crawl on the piece of paper before placing the cup over it so it didn’t run away. You were quick to put it outside and close the window after so Saiki didn’t worry about it coming back in.

“All gone,” you cheered with a smile. “Now, let’s watch TV, ya?”

2. Saiki’s Pushy Friends

PK Academy was a school were many different personalities and people collided. It was always fun to meet new people in this school, yet on the other side of the coin, sometimes they were more than a little odd. Not like you can speak, your best friend was a psychic. Though, he wasn’t delusional like this one guy in your class that declared himself Saiki’s friend. His name was Kaido. He thinks he has powers and has an evil organization following him around.

Then, you have Nendou. Basically, he’s stupid. Not that you minded, but sometimes being stupid isn’t the best thing in the world, especially now.

It was the sports festival at PK and Saiki and you had to participate in it. You both were on the same team since all the teams were decided by class. This also gave you a good idea of the friends Saiki has made. It was safe to say that Kaido was growing on you. You felt a little bad for the guy, what can you say.

Let’s not forget about Hairo as well. You knew him a bit more from hearsay than the others, plus he was class rep. Though, you had to say, he was a little too overly enthusiastic.

It was kind of a surprise to see Teruhashi, the most popular girl in school, try and interact with Saiki. Though, it was a bit amusing since to him, she’s nothing more than walking muscle. However, you did think he would swoon over her like all the other guys in your school if she was like you. However, you knew Saiki had no interest in romance so you don’t care either way.

Finally, Nendou. You were originally going to say that you didn’t mind the guy that much and thought maybe he would be a good thing for Saiki. However, after just watching him take out one of the antennas from Saiki’s head, you started to wonder how much of a danger his stupidity is to Saiki.

You watched that pink haired friend of yours collapse to the ground with a hard thud as soon as Nendou pull the thing out of his head. You were quick to rush over to him and sit by his side. When you flipped him over, since he fell face forward, worry grew about your body and infected your bloodstream.

You heard protests about turning him over, but at this point all the worried voices drowned before they were even audible to you. His lips were parted as drool leaked from his mouth and went down his chin, his eyes dead and without life as darkness surrounded them. It didn’t take you long to recover and swipe the antenna Nendou was holding and pop it back in its rightful place in his pink locks.

You didn’t know how long it would take for him to wake up, or if he’d wake up at all. All you knew was to sit and wait for him to wake up. To your surprise, he woke up rather quickly. Maybe a mere minute or so after you fixed him up. When his eyes opened, you felt yourself suddenly get surrounded as Saiki’s friends crowed over him to ask how he was.

You noticed him using telepathy to talk to everyone when Hairo said, “You passed out after Nendou took that think out of your head, lucky for you, [Name] put it back right away!”

“Yeah, he saved your life!” Kaido spit out next, their hands placing on my shoulder out of respect and gratitude. 

Saiki’s eye then direct to you, his voice never leaving his lips for a moment before you noticed him flinch.

‘Ah,’ you thought. ‘He tried to use telepathy with me again.’

When he noticed, Saiki just nodded in your direction. You knew he was thanking you, he didn’t need to word it out to you. The look in his eyes was enough.

Lunch came immediately after Saiki ended up waking up, and it was understatement to say he didn’t want to be bother with anyone else besides you. He was quick to drag you to the roof of the school to eat.

The both of you sat against the railing, lunch in your laps. You wanted I just forget about the scare that Saiki gave you, but the after effects he was having wasn’t making that easy. He was having trouble, and it was easy to see when his hands were shaking so much that he couldn’t even pick up his food without it falling back in the box.

You side eyed him, his expression one of concentration as he tried to pick up his food again. Though, he dropped it again.

He sighed quickly after that, only looking down at his food as you saw his mind wonder off.

Once you finished chewing whatever food you had in your mouth, you placed your food to the side and moved so that you weren’t side to side, but rather across from Saiki’s body now. He didn’t register your movements until he saw a hand come into his view and pick up an item of food with his chopsticks.

When he turned to you, you had the chopsticks in your dominant hand and your other under the food so it didn’t drop to the filthy ground.

“C’mon, lemme help,” you said. It was easy for Saiki to pick up the worry in your tone, however he knew not to address it or else you’ll just either deny it or baby him. “Open up.”

He obeyed your command after a moment, opening his mouth wide enough for you to place his food in his mouth. The hand that was meant to catch the food if it fell made sure Saiki closed his mouth, his fingers placed a bit of pressure under his chin to shut his jaws before slowly trailing away. The food wasn’t nearly as satisfying as the chill that ran down his spine at your lingering touch that crawled on his skin.

“I could hurt you.” He suddenly spit out. It was pained. “Having my antenna taken out messed up my powers.”

You leaned your head to the side, your eyes never falling from his. “Yeah, I kinda figured.”

“You should go.” He stated.

“Why?”

“I just told you.”

You smiled. “Saiki, you could never hurt me.”

He looked at you like you had something stuck in your teeth. “You don’t know that, I may not be able to read your mind, but I don’t know how my other powers react to you.”

You remained quiet for a moment before shuffling your body side by side again, your head falling to rest of Saiki’s shoulder. You felt him flinch at the contact, his muscles even began to tighten just out of fear.

“Yanno,” you started out saying, your hand coming up to play the antenna that you could reach. “It’s odd to me how these things are the only thing keeping you stable.”

“Is it?”

You chuckled and nodded. “Small things like these verses your powers. The thing that gets me is that these things actually win in that fight. Though, I suppose it does complete the look you have.”

“And what look is that?” Saiki asked as he gazed down at you to see your eyes already on him. He could feel his fingers twitch as he watched you say shamelessly, “The cute, mysterious loner type.”

Saiki’s lips parted as he gazed at you. He quickly recomposed himself when he noticed you waiting patiently for him to respond. He sighed before asking, “Mysterious loner? Where’d you get that?”

You laughed before sarcastically questioning, “yep, I wonder where.”

3. Your friends are my friends

You don’t know how you got wrapped into this, but perhaps it’ll allow you to know Saiki’s friends better.

Currently, you were walking with Kaido, Nendou, and Saiki to a good ramen shop Nendou suggested. You were dragged along when Nendou remembered you from the Sports Festival and as Saiki’s friend. They never really got the chance to speak to you since you’re usually out the door as soon as the bell rings, but today they finally caught you.

At some point Teruhashi joined the group, though you feel like she kinda took over since now the boys, except for Saiki and you, were fawning over her. Saiki and you took it upon yourselves to give them all room to talk to her, so you both sorts trailed behind.

It was silent for a while, the only noise was Nendou or Kaido talking to Teruhashi. However, you caught the, “what does that even mean,” that Saiki mumbled under his breath.

“Hm?” You hummed. “What does what mean?”

It was obvious to you he didn’t realize he said that aloud. But he just seemed to be glad that only you heard that.

“Teruhashi wants me to go ‘oh wow’ or something to her.” Saiki revealed. “I don’t even know what that means.”

You kept your gaze on Saiki for a moment. “So, she likes you?”

“I guess,” he muttered. “I think it’s more that I’m the only guy that isn’t kissing her feet.”

You watched Teruhashi interact with Nendou and Kaido. You know that, normally, she wouldn’t take time to hang out with these guys. However, because of her crush on Saiki, she bares with them. In all honesty, she seems a bit perfect. Being able to deal with them just for the person she adores. It’s easy for anyone to do, and not a lot of people would even bother.

“She seems like a good fit for you.” You suddenly uttered out.

When Saiki heard that, he felt his hands twitch. He didn’t like that, not one bit. What irked him the most was that it seemed natural, like you actually meant it. And, of course, he had no way of knowing if those words were genuine or actually forced.

“No way,” Saiki stated coldly. “Never in a million years.”

“Damn, that’s cold, Saiki.” He heard you say, a teasing tone wedged in your voice.

“Why do you keep calling me Saiki, anyway? We aren’t acquaintances.”

“Hm?” You questioned. “I thought you don’t like me calling you by your first name in public?”

Saiki sighed. “Well now I’m telling you I don’t care.”

Saiki knew this way of showing that you were closer to him than anyone would ever be may have been childish on his part, but when he heard his first name come from your lips in front of his other ‘friends’, he felt more than satisfied. 

4. Friendship Can Bring Romance

Being able to rest during class was one of your guilty pleasures. Even if you got called out by your teacher, you didn’t mind. It was better when it was raining outside, the patter of rain when it hit the window made you want to nap.

“Hey,” a voice called out to you. You didn’t listen though, it wasn’t important.

“Hey, [Name],” it called out again. Okay, maybe you should wake up. Then again, sleep. You could always sleep later though.

You fluttered your eyes open as you felt your body being pushed around. When your sight became focused, the blurry figure in front of you showed a blue hair kid. You knew him, but from where?

“Saiki asked me to wake you up, sorry,” he confessed.

Oh, right. That’s Kaido, Saiki’s friend.

“Hm? Where is Kusuo?” You asked in a groggy voice, your hand coming up to wipe your eyes.

“Oh, he went home.” Kaido informed you. “Something just came up, I guess.”

“Alright,” you hummed before the end of your lips pulled upward. “Thank you, Kaido.”

It wasn’t easy for Kaido to wake up the quiet kid. Kaido only met the guy once or twice, and when he was hanging with him, you only stayed close to Saiki. It was kinda odd, but Kaido understood your attachment to the pink haired man. Saiki was Kaido’s first friend, after all, so he knew how awesome the guy was.

Though, he’s never got the chance to speak to you. He knows Saiki never really goes anywhere with you, and somehow you always end up by his side. He just always seemed to miss you when it came to getting the chance to introduce himself so Kaido was pretty glad when you came along the trip to that ramen place, even if it was a dumb and he got distracted by Teruhashi.

Kaido knew you were the closest person to Saiki. He’s pretty sure that not even Nendou is as close to Saiki as you are. And those two are best friends. Kaido didn’t know the extend of how long you two have been friends, but he does know from watching that Saiki has respect for you. So, it was critical that he makes a great impression with you so that he can become closer to Saiki and maybe you as well.

“S-Sure, no problem!” He stuttered, his bandaged hand retracting from your shoulder and holding them up in the air in a surrendered notion.

“Do you live around here at all? I’ll walk you home as a thank you.” You said as you stood from your seat and began to search for your bag.

“What? You don’t have to do that, really, it isn’t necessary!” Kaido spit out quickly, his words jumping all over the place.

“It’s really no trouble at all,” you stated as you put your bag over your shoulder. “C’mon, let’s get going before the rain gets worse.”

The rain eventually stopped when both teens got closer to your house. Kaido’s was further ahead, so he thought it would be better if he just walked you home instead so you didn’t have to walk more than you have to already.

“So, you’ve been friends with Saiki since he was little, huh?” Kaido asked as you explained why Saiki trusts you so much. “That’s pretty awesome! What was he like back then?”

“Pretty much the same.” You answered. “Though he did get more handsome throughout the years, and he used to be kinda sweet. Now, not so much.”

“I see, so you guys have been through it all together.” Kaido replied.

“Basically, though, he did start to worry me a bit since I was his only friend for a really long time,” you confessed. You paused as you looked up at Kaido and gave him a smile, “But I’m glad he finally made a friend like you.”

Kaido could feel his heart beat a million miles an hour just at the words you strung together. He never heard kinder words than those, and he was even more thrilled that he succeeded in making a good impression on Saiki’s childhood friend!

“It’s, uh, n-no problem, really!” Kaido muttered out as his whole face began to fluster, his hands going everywhere.

“Oh,” you hummed out.

“Hm?” Kaido questioned. His nerves going down. “What is it?”

“Did you know you were dragging your scarf the whole time?” You asked curiosity as your hands started to real in the extra fabric.

“What?” He asked out of pure shock. Though, realizing that he doesn’t make a fool out of himself he said, “O-Of course I did! It’s a fashion choice.”

“Not the best one,” you stated as you stepped closer to the blue haired male.

Kaido’s eyes widened as he stated directly into your colored orbs, watching them dance solely for him. It was like getting attention from a loved one, but this attention make him nervous to the point where he thought his face was going to explode with red. Kaido’s lips slowly started to disappear as the scarf started to build up around his shoulders and neck.

“There you go,” you said, “much better. Now your scarf doesn’t get more dirty and you look even better.”

‘Even better? What’s that supposed to mean? Does it.. does it mean he thought I looked good before?!’ Kaido thought.

Kaido let out an awkward laugh as he played with the end of the scarf. “O-Oh, haha, thank you.”

“Sure,” you hummed. “Now let’s get going.”

5. Blessing Turned On Jealousy

What’s that saying, the enemy of my enemy is my friend? Yeah, that’s it. See, that could apply to this yet at the same time it would go a little different.

More like, the enemy of my best friend is my friend. At least for your situation. You see, walking home with Saiki has now turned into walking home with Saiki, Nendou, and Kaido. Not that you mind, but sometimes you really do wish it was back to when Saiki and you got to spend time alone together. However, being friends with Saiki and then having his friends automatically become your friends may have some perks.

Like now. Bumping into Kaido’s mom was totally accidental. But, in the end it payed off. Why?

Because coffee jelly.

“I know it’s not easy being friends with my son because he’s so shy, but please be patient.” Kaido’s mom announced as she placed the coffee jelly down in front of Saiki and you.

“Please don’t say that mama—I mean—mother.” Kaido pleased, his voice cracking as it got higher with embarrassment.

Overall, the beginning was a very nice. Hell, it was damn near perfect. Although, you just had to snoop around. Well, it was more like exploring Kaido’s room.

Your fingertips brushed along the spines of the many books Kaido had stacked up in his bookcase. It was seriously amazing how many books he had, he even had some original copies of some famous old books.

“This is pretty awesome,” you muttered to yourself before your eyes spotted something that didn’t quite match with the others. In all honesty, you were simply curious. However, curiosity did kill the cat. In your case, more like awakened the Saiki K.

“Hey, Kaido, what is the Jet Black Wings?” You asked aloud as the group sat down eating whatever snacks were about. You would always hear either chewing or at least some conversation, but after that question left your mouth it was dead silent. You felt like you killed something, but when you looked over you noticed Kaido’s face beat red. Seriously, his entire face was as red as a blood moon.

“P-Put that back!” He stuttered out, the blue haired boy suddenly running up to you to snatch the book from your hand.

As he reached for it, you held it higher. Even if he was about the same height or maybe a inch or so taller, you just needed to make him miss his hand from grabbing it.

“Don’t be embarrassed, I’m just curious.” You calmly said. “Is it bad or something?”

“N-No! It’s nothing, uh, bad! Just give me it back!” Kaido begged this time around, his hands trying desperately to grab it from you. Okay, maybe you were being a little mean at this point, but it was kinda fun to tease him.

You began to back up as Kaido trying to nab the book in your hand. “Just explain it!”

“No! Never!” He shouted.

You couldn’t help but laugh a little, though, that was your fatal mistake. Having yourself distracted by your own humor, your mind didn’t take into account the pile of prep books scattered about until it was too late. You quickly lost your voice, as well as your balance before slamming your head hard against the wood floors.

“Woah! You guys okay?” Nendou asked out of genuine concern.

As much as you would have liked to answer him, you were too concerned with the pain pounding into your skull like a jackhammer. Seriously, this is gonna give you one massive headache.

You scrunched your nose as your finally gave effort to open your eyes, though, they permanently remained open when you noticed a face staring down at you, a body on top of yours. You guessed that during the fall Kaido tried to save you, but only got dragged along instead.

“H-Hey, um, are you okay?” He asked under his shaky breath.

You only nodded before trying to avoid his gaze in any possible way. The position you were in didn’t help whatsoever in that department. Instead, you hoped that Kaido would take the hint and get off. That plan wasn’t looking too good cause all that was running through his mind was how you looked under him. Let’s say, the thoughts he had left a distaste in Saiki’s mouth.

Originally, he was just gonna let you handle it, but after hearing Kaido’s perverted thoughts about you, that plan blew up.

Saiki stood up, leaving his coffee jelly half eaten before grabbing Kaido by the back of his shirt and yanking him off of you. Saiki gave some strength into that but not enough to launch him into the bookshelf like he wanted too. He knelt down to come to your level and help you up, your massive headache being noticeable when you held onto the back of your head.

“Damnit, that really hurt,” you muttered to yourself but Saiki heard it clear as day.

It wasn’t long after that he took you home as well as the left over coffee jelly. Saiki advised you to stay home a day just to let the pain die down a bit before going back to school, so, the pink haired boy was all alone today. And all alone to everyone else meant to bother him more than usual.

Teruhashi, Nendou, Hairo. All of them. Though, it was a bit weird that Kaido wasn’t bothering with him today. Not that he was complaining, but he couldn’t pinpoint the answer until he heard Kaido’s thoughts, ‘I need to ask Saiki for permission. They’re best friends, it would be rude if I didn’t ask permission to ask out [Name].’

Never mind. He didn’t need to know that.

It was around lunch time that Kaido walked up to Saiki for the first one, the blush that littered his cheeks made Saiki want to gag for a moment.

“So, uh, Saiki, I have to ask you something.” Kaido uttered out lowly. Clearly, this was nerve wracking for him.

“What is it?” Saiki asked telepathically.

“Well, it’s about [Name], yanno, our [Name]?”

‘What other person has that name?’ Saiki thought. ‘And don’t say our, it’s creepy.’

“You see, I, well, I think I like him and I’d like your blessing to ask him out!” Kaido shouted, his body bowing at an almost 90 degree angle.

Normally, Saiki would just say to do whatever since he could read [Name]’s thoughts and see that he doesn’t like Kaido in that way. However, the one person in the world that Saiki actually wants is immune to his powers. He knew he needed to shut this down fast.

‘No way.’ Saiki responded.

“Thank you so much, Saiki, you won’t—wait—why not?” Kaido asked aloud, his voice getting higher the more he freaked out. He thought this would be easy, he means, it was Saiki. The most chill guy ever actually gave him a hard ‘no’ to asking out his best friend. Kaido shouldn’t be surprised, even though he is.

‘Because I said so,’ Saiki strictly put. He knew it was wrong to say this, who was he to say no to something that isn’t his business. Though, the feeling of relief that he still had a chance was more satisfying in the end.

By the time Saiki got to your house it was basically as soon as school ended. He used teleportation to get here as fast as he could, as well as just appear in your room. He wasn’t expecting you to still be asleep, though, he supposed this wasn’t too bad.

The pink haired male carefully walking up to the bedside of his best friend. It was odd to see your hair going in one direction instead of all over the place like normal, and don’t even get him started on the soft snores that came from your nose. Snoring isn’t usually the most attractive thing in the world, but this light snores from you made him think of the habit as cute.

Now, he would normally wake you up. But, just allowing himself to look at you for a moment longer without any consequences never hurt anybody. Saiki sat himself down on your floor, his eyes keeping to your closed ones as they slowly began to travel down to your lips. He doesn’t know what came over him, but it seriously began to freak him out when he started think about Kaido touching his lips with yours. After the freak out, jealousy was spiraling around in the psychic. He never knew that Kaido, of all people, would actually develop romantic feelings for you. If he did, he would have never allowed the both of you to interact the way you did at his house the other day.

Saiki let out a sigh before standing up once more, his hand came up to your shoulder slowly and began to shake it. It wasn’t long after that your eyes fluttered open and gave him that soft smile that caused his heart to skip a beat.

6. School Trip

The school trip was always the most looked forward to activity in high school. This year it was a three day trip to Okinawa. While you were excited to spend some time at a gorgeous place like Okinawa, Saiki was definitely less excited.

As kids talked with their friends in a group or just at their desks, you were currently sitting on top of Saiki’s desk with the pink haired boy sitting in the chair. This wasn’t something you always do, especially since at times Saiki has pushed you off out of retaliation, but after a moment or two of still being there, you knew he didn’t mind today.

“You excited?” You asked him.

“No. I don’t get the appeal.” He spit out, his eyes closing as he moved his head down. “I could get to Okinawa in three minutes.”

“Kusuo, not everyone is like you.” You explained. “So don’t go getting moody on this trip, I’m not letting you ruin it for me.”

“I won’t, I’m just saying a fact.” He replied.

You were about to continue with things you’re excited to do during the trip before Hairo came around to the both of you with a clip board in hand. He was responsible for dividing rooms.

“Saiki, [Name], did you guys decide on your group for the class trip?” He asked politely. “You should have three boys and three girls in your group.”

Saiki didn’t say anything, instead he just rested his head against your forearm. Perhaps he wanted Hairo to think he fell asleep and leave it to you, or maybe he was actually saying that he didn’t care as long as he was with you. Either way, you smiled at the contact and said to Hairo, “Kusuo and I will be rooming, it doesn’t matter who else is in our group.”

“Okay, great!” Hairo exclaimed as he wrote it down. “Kaido and Nendou are still available so I’ll just place Kaido with your group, and then randomly place you guys with a girls group.”

“Thanks, Hairo,” you hummed out as he walked away to probably inform Kaido about the rooming.

You never minded contact with Saiki, in fact, you sort of enjoyed it. However, seeing him still like this, even with Hario now gone, you worried.

“Hey, Kusuo,” you called out.

No answer.

“Kusuo?” You asked this time. And when he didn’t answer again you unconsciously moved your hand up to his head and moved it back to where you could look him in the eyes. Saiki’s face was still without expression, though, those eyes worried you. He seemed, almost, upset.

“Kusuo?” You asked. “What’s wrong?”

He shook his head, signaling that nothing was wrong. You knew he was lying.

You tilted your head, some of your hair moving with gravity to expose part of your forehead. “Why are you lying to me?”

“I’m not.” He said, his voice was steady and yet, that look in his eyes still bothered you.

You knew he wasn’t going to budge but still, just because you’re going to let it go now doesn’t mean that you weren’t about to keep an eye on him.

Throughout the beginning and the first day of the trip, you kept an eye on Saiki. He seemed way more tired than usual, but that didn’t startle you. Instead, it was how he was by your side more often now when Kaido was around. You weren’t an idiot, it was pretty obvious. You didn’t mind Saiki’s attention, but you didn’t want him to think just because you were friends with Kaido that he’d be put second.

“Kusuo, can we talk?” You asked him as the two of you had the room to yourselves. The others were out and about, but the two of you decided on an early night.

“About what?” He asked as he set up his sleeping area.

“Today.” You started out. “You’ve been acting weird around Kaido. Did something happen?”

You watched Saiki carefully, so carefully that you noticed his fingers lightly curl around the blanket. You didn’t want to push him, so instead of pushing him to speak, you allowed yourself to be silent and let him take his time. You don’t remember how many minutes pasted, but you swear it felt like decades.

“Nothing happened.” He informed you. “His thoughts just aren’t for my taste at the moment.”

“His thoughts?” You questioned as you slowly approached Saiki on his blanket until you were right in front of him. “Okay, then, what’s got you all bothered? Let me guess, he’s thinking dirty things, right?”

“Sort of.” He replied.

“I bet it’s about Teruhashi,” you theorized. “Is that why you don’t like it?”

“No, it’s not about Teruhashi.”

“Really? Then who?”

Saiki went quiet once more.

You sighed. Your head moving down to get a glimpse at his face. It wasn’t until you moved your hand over by his, your finger tips brushing with his accidentally to get more stability as you leaned in did you hear him finally confess.

“It was about you.”

To say that you needed a minute to take that in was an understatement. Kaido was a good guy and all, but it was kinda startling to realize he liked guys, as well as girls, since you didn’t suspect that even for a minute with him.

“Seriously?” You asked once more.

Saiki nodded. “He asked me if he could ask you out.”

“And what did you say?”

“No.”

You couldn’t help a smile crawl upon your face with that one. You knew it was a bit hard to read Saiki, especially when it came to you, but you were just beyond happy to hear that.

“Good,” you suddenly shot out. Saiki’s head moving back up in an instant to see your happy features. “I don’t like Kaido like that anyway, saves me from breaking his heart.”

“You don’t?”

“Nope.” You hummed out. You knew this may backfire on you in more ways than one, but right now, you didn’t care. The happiness you felt told you to take a chance and throw out the bait. “I know you can’t read my mind, but I actually do have someone I like.”

Saiki aimlessly stared at you for a moment and took in the words you confessed to him. It was an odd feeling, the rapid beating of his heart, but perhaps this was finally the start of things going his way for once.

On the second day of the trip, everyone went to Emerald Beach. It was one of the many places were people could stare at others and no one would think anything of it. A perverts dream. Though, for Saiki, he just wanted to hang out with you.

“Where’s [Name]?” Kaido asked Nendou as Saiki stood behind the two.

“He said he had to go buy a swimsuit. The one he brought apparently went missing.” Nendou told the blue haired boy.

Now, that want a mistake. Sure, it may have been a dirty trick but Saiki rather die than see you in the swimsuit you brought. After all, you bought a shirt with it. He knew you didn’t take off your shirt often, even at the beach, but he was determined to see you with just a pair of shorts.

Much like how all the guys that crowded around the girls changing house waited patiently to see Teruhashi in a two piece swim suit.

It was a while after Teruhashi came out, and when everyone was in the water that you made your appearance. You had your hands wedged into your swim shirt pockets as you allowed your feet to take in the hot sand that felt magical between your toes. You gazed around for a moment before noticing pink hair sitting under an umbrella.

A devilish smirk crawled on your features as you began to slowly approach the male. This may give Saiki a heart attack, but it was worth it. As you stood over him from behind, you attacked. Your body shot down as your arms wrapped aruund his neck and pushed your chest into his bare back.

“Hey, what’s a cute guy like you doing all alone at a place like this?” You teased, allowing your voice to go on for some time so that he realized it was just you.

Saiki immediately flinched at the contact before noticing it was just you. However, when he noticed the touch of your skin against his, he could feel his entire body heat up. The sensation was new, he’s felt his face go hot before, but his entire body was a new one.

“What took you so long?” Saiki tried to play off.

You just sighed and got a tighter grip on the male, your chest pushing more into his back. “Someone stole my swimsuit. Sadly, I didn’t have enough money to replace the whole thing, so I had to go by some swim shorts.”

“Hm, as least you’re here.” Saiki stated, making sure not to comment on the ‘stolen swimsuit’.

“Yeah,” you uttered as you released Saiki from your grasp and sat down next to him. You gazed out at the beautiful ocean that was filled with laughing people with this loving look in your eyes, all the while not realizing Saiki’s held that same gaze as he stared at you.

When you did turn to him, he completely lost himself in his mind as his eyes wondered about your figure. You weren’t the most fit guy in the world, but you did have these subtle yet enchanting muscle lines along your upper body that made Saiki lose himself.

“I saw that.” You suddenly said. Saiki’s eyes now darting back to yours. “You just checked me out.”

Saiki saw no way out of this one. So, he just confessed it. “So what if I was?”

In all honesty, he just expected you to laugh and tell him that it’s only fair if he does the same. However, the twist was unexpected and, well, definitely appreciated. He watched as you gazed down, this bashful look in your eyes as you did everything to avoid his gaze. Your body language wasn’t helping either. Your fingers were tapping against the towel and the heel of your foot was moving back and forth.

Maybe this trip wasn’t totally for nothing.

7. All That Was A Secret

Spring break. It was one of those weeks that Saiki went to go visit his grandparents all the way in the middle fo nowhere. So, for the most of this break, you were home alone. 

It was kind of boring. This break was definitely not one that you looked forward to, more now then before, especially after the beach during the class trip. Those words always ended up repeating in your mind, way too much then you thought they would. Then again, you shouldn’t be surprised. All those days that you’d try to subtly touch him, tease him, it was just a way to relieve yourself of the pent up emotions you’ve had for him for a few years now. 

Currently, you were in your room upon your bed, hugging one of your pillows close to your chest. You never tried to dwell on if Saiki felt the same or not, but recently, it’s been clawing at you more and more. It wasn’t like you didn’t think you had a chance, but more if Saiki was more comfortable just staying friends. You would understand, even if it would hurt, you’d do it for him. You’d do anything for that guy. 

You sighed before slowly lifting your body off the bed. Today wasn’t a good day for being sad, it was summer break, after all. You knew you had to get your mind off Saiki, and him being away made it a bit easier. So, you grabbed some clothes from your closet and laid them on the bed. You weren’t sure what you were going to do, but you were determined to fine something to take your mind off him. 

You let your pants drop to the ground before taking the ones on your bed and letting your legs slip through each of the pant legs. Next, you stripped your shirt off and took in a deep breath. You paused for a moment before dropping the dirty shirt on the ground and grabbing the new one. In all honestly, you never really pay attention to your surroundings when changing. But, does anyone? It wasn’t until your head went through the hole on the top of the shirt did you realize that the bed in front of you was now missing and the wall you were staring at was not the wall of your bed room. When you turned your head, you locked eyes with Saiki in an unfamiliar room. 

“Huh?” You uttered under your breath before your eyes widened, your face felling hotter than usual before frantically pulling your shirt all the way down. Once down, you opened your mouth and said, “You can’t do that without me knowing! What if I was in the middle of a shower or something and not just changing?”

“I would have given you some of my clothes.” He replied nonchalantly.

You bit the inside of your cheek before crossing your arms over your chest. “Why did you teleport me anyway?”

“I can’t stand it here.” Saiki confessed. Of course, you knew he didn’t exactly enjoying visiting his grandparents but he has never done this before. “Just hang out with me. I’ll send you back after.”

You sighed. You can’t exactly say no after that, so, with that Saiki and you began to watch a movie. It wasn’t one you two watched before so it was easy to get lost in it. Though, it was also easy to focus on Saiki when he suddenly placed his hand on top of yours as you guys watched. You weren’t too sure if he thought you wouldn’t notice, but there was no way you were going to pull away. After all, it’s not like he placed his fingers between yours, if he did that, you don’t know if you could handle it. 

After a half an hour into the movie you finally got the plot of it, and you weren’t amused at all. It was a best friends to lovers troupe. More specifically, childhood friends that drifted apart only to be brought back together by work and now slowly are developing feelings for one another. Let’s just say now, you were a little more than nervous. 

Thank god Saiki couldn’t read your mind, because now, you feel like you’d give him a headache. You couldn’t help but ask yourself if he knows and is only doing this to taunt you, or maybe this was all just a big coincident. Yeah, one massive coincident. In reality though, Saiki was just teasing you. He had no idea of your feelings but he wanted to watch the movie with you to implant the idea in his mind of the possibility.

Well, his plan was working. Maybe a little too much. Though, as you were about to spit something out, your eyes suddenly shot down to the floor in embarrassment. Yep, a make out scene. Of course, Saiki had no idea about that, but it was better than just the sappy stuff cause now it was really ingrained in your head. 

Once it was over and you had somewhat of your cool back you couldn’t help it. You needed to ask. If it blew up in flames, then so be it. 

“Hey, Saiki,” you uttered out lowly. Saiki caught it immediately and turned his gaze on you. “I have a.. question.”

“What?” He asked.

“Well,” your voice trailed off as you moved your eyes down to where both of your hands connected. “We’ve been best friends for a long time now but, have you ever, um, thought about doing...that?

Saiki remained quiet for a moment, his thoughts going everywhere before thinking to himself, ‘All the time, actually.’

As much as he wish he could have said that telepathically, he could never try to say that vocally. So, he just opted for a nod and watched your body flinch. The hand he touched growing warm.

“You’re hot.” Saiki suddenly spit out. This time, you brought your hand back to your body so he couldn’t tell anymore. 

“S-So what?” You stuttered out.

To say that Saiki didn’t like this side of you was an understatement. He’s never never seen you so flustered before, and it was really adorable to look at.

“It’s cute.” Saiki commented, his body leaning in just to see your face closer.

You turned your head to the side, eyes darting to the tv just to look away for a moment to compose yourself. You knew that there wasn’t gonna be another perfect moment like this so, you slowly reached over to place your hand on the back of Saiki’s neck. It was warm. When he noticed what you wanted as you started to lean back and gently pull him with you, he complied quickly until he gazed at you from above. Suddenly, he was jealous at the fact that Kaido got to see this view before him. 

He stared at you for a moment before watching you bite down on your bottom lip, his mind doing backflips at the want to read your mind, but also at how good you looked under him. 

“Kiss me.” You whispered under your breath, just loud enough for him to hear. 

“If I do,” Saiki uttered lowly. “I might not be able to stop.”

“That’s okay.”

[astaroth1357]

The Brothers Catch the MC Dancing/Singing By Themselves

So long 2020!!! I’ve been listening to nothing but End-of-Decade Mashups and the 2010s was the decade of club bangers, so excuse me as I write a little happiness at the end of this shitty, shitty year.

Lucifer

Lucifer was in his secret study with the door closed which usually would block out a lot of distractions, but…

The MC was out in the library just blasting this… awful noise!!

Okay, maybe the noise wasn't awful - but as a classical music man, he had no use for the electronic bleep-bloops of whatever the hell they called "music!"

He had tried to put up with it for about an hour… but he had his limits. Soon enough he could feel his fuse dwindling to nothing and he just HAD to open up the door and tell the MC to keep it down!

He just wasn't expecting to find them dancing… while belting their heart out using a feather duster as a microphone…

Oh… wasn’t this amusing~?

For once, Lucifer decided that work could wait for a minute or two as he leaned against the doorframe to watch the MC do their thing, his smile could only be described as somewhere between being highly entertained and genuinely smitten with the off-key goofball in front of him...

The look went away real quick after the MC finally noticed he was there and dropped the feather duster like it was on fire. Shame… They were acting so cute before... 

He still had a knowing smile on his face when he asked them to turn their music down some, but he didn’t blow up at them or anything… What can he say? He enjoyed the show. 😏

Mammon

The MC has a nasty habit of singing under their breath when they’re bored. Mammon knew this, of course, and he never stopped straining to try and hear their quiet notes whenever he could...

It was hard to do since they had long trained themselves to keep it quiet in public, but he was certain that from what he could hear, he certainly wouldn’t mind listening to more!

The only exception was when they thought they were alone… like in their bedroom doing homework for example.

Mammon had just happened to pass by their bedroom door (and not going there directly just to bother them because he felt lonely or anything...) and heard something through the door…

It sounded like the MC but different… rhythmic and melodic… That was it!! They were singing!!!

He knew he had to be careful about this... If the MC realized he was listening, then they’d stop and leave him high, dry, and wanting more...

He had to push their bedroom door in incredibly gently so it wouldn’t make any noise… The House was old - okay scratch that, ancient - and all the doors have a creak to them if you’re not careful… but oh, was it worth it…

He knew, he just knew, that he would like their voice! Good or bad, it was all them! Why did they also sing so quietly?? He felt like he could listen for hours!

 And he just might have gotten the chance if he had been paying enough attention to notice that he was leaning ever closer into the doorway... The second those rusted hinges made a creak, the MC whipped around and snapped their mouth shut.

Busted...

Unfortunately, no amount of begging got the MC to start singing for him again, so he had to go back to the drawing board… Maybe he’d get to hear them again someday… right?

Leviathan 

Levi had been looking for the MC for some time now to see if they wanted to play a game with him but he wasn’t finding them in any of their usual hangouts… 

Their bedroom was the last place for him to check and when he stuck his head in he didn’t see them there… But he did heard the sound of running water from their personal bathroom.

He was going to leave, honest! He wasn’t going to be one of those creeps who listens to people shower (despite absolutely being perverted enough to do so) but he recognized a familiar riff coming from the room…

He knew it anywhere. It was from one of his favorite anime openings of all time!! And what’s more? He heard a new voice joining the singer like accompaniment… It was… the MC??

Levi could have probably fainted from delight right then. Even if the MC wasn’t as good at singing, the mere fact that they were singing that opening made his heart soar! Who doesn’t love to sing along to their favorite songs??

He probably should have thought a bit more before throwing the door open to belt out his favorite part like he did because, you know, even behind a shower curtain the MC was naked and definitely not expecting him... But, hey, for five whole seconds they sounded great together!

Annnnd then he ran out of the room, red-faced and shouting semi-mortified apologies right after he realized what he could have seen by doing that (*cough*nakedMC*cough*)... 

Poor Levi, but at least he just scored himself a new karaoke partner!

Satan 

You ever been so happy about something you just want to go for a run? Or even better, dance? That seemed to have been the case for the MC that day...

The MC’s least favorite subject had just had a test and they received their scores before leaving the classroom the next day. He knew they must have been anxious by how nervously they clutched their paper...

They had been getting tutoring help from him for weeks and it really must have paid off! Satan wasn’t able to catch up to them before they checked their score, but the way their face lit up was a good sign at least.

He was on his way to go congratulate them when… they started to dance. Right in the middle of the school. They kicked up the music on their phone then started dancing down the hallway like nothing could stop them!

It was such a random and carefree act that it frankly blew him away... You’d think a human in a school full of demons would be running, maybe even hiding, but certainty not dancing! What even was their human sometimes...?? 

He had to hold in some laughter to keep from getting noticed and just followed them down the hallways with a grin on his face and his phone in his hand…

He, of course, posted it to the brothers’ group chat and all of them got to see the wonderful view of the MC shaking their ass to their favorite song of all time… Oh, and they aren’t going to forget that, like, ever. Devious little shit...

Asmodeus 

Asmo loves to go clubbing so dancing is just an enjoyable pastime for this man, but he never thought that he’d end up dancing in a dressing room... 🤷‍♀️

He and the MC were on their weekly trip to Majolish and the MC was behind some curtains in order to try on a new outfit he put together for them. Usually during these times, Asmo waits out in front of their stall distracted by his phone, but this time he actually noticed something...

The MC’s feet. He could see them behind the gap of the curtain moving along to the music playing through the store’s speakers… So they liked this song, hm...?

Honestly, Asmo couldn’t help himself. He ended up getting up from his seat and pulling back the curtain a tiny crack just to see what the MC was doing in their stall... Thankfully, they were already dressed, but they were indeed dancing by themselves hidden just out of his sight...

Now, how could he let them dance all by their lonesome~?

Asmo slipped into the stall himself and caught the MC by the hips, frankly any protest they might of had didn’t really last long as he guided their body along with his. 

It was far from their first time dancing together and it always felt amazing when they did… Their every move fit together perfectly like a call and response and it didn’t take long for them to get lost in the music.

Eventually, a store employee began to wonder why they were in there for so long and eventually found two sets of feet in one stall… Really, they got off lucky, because knowing Asmo it was kind of amazing that dancing was all he was doing back there!

Asmo was a far too valuable customer for the store to kick out, so the two of them just got a warning not to do it again but man was it worth it… 

The MC has to wear that outfit to their next club. No exceptions!! 😌

Beelzebub

You know, sometimes you just got a rhythm and beat in your soul and it pops out at the most random times… like in the middle of cooking!

Beel was coming into the kitchen looking for yet another snack for the day when he caught the MC already in there baking and… dancing?

They had their phone out to play music while they worked, hips swaying to the beat. Hell, everything they were doing was set to that pace! Every flick of the whisk and stir of the batter was just a part of their private dance sequence.

For a second, he had to wonder if he had just stepped into a musical or something? Dancing while cooking? He hadn’t seen any of his brothers mix those things before… but it worked?? Like, they made it look natural and even a little fun!

Just imagine the look on the MC’s face when Beel came up behind them and pulled them into a twirl behind the counter. It caught them so off-guard that a bag in their hands slipped and covered them both in powdered sugar!

Not that Beel cared about the mess because he just licked his lips clean and told the MC not to stop what they were doing... Which was how the others found them both covered in sugar and moving to the beat while the MC was icing the cake they just finished. 🤷‍♀️

Lucifer ended up lecturing them both about being more careful in the kitchen but they were too busy sneaking smiles to each other to pay much attention... 

Sometimes the music just moves you, you know?

Belphegor 

Belphie very rarely gets up from his naps without a little help. Sure, even his body needs to wake up eventually, but it normally takes some kind of outside force to drag him back to the world of the living...

So imagine his surprise when he seemingly woke up for no reason in the middle of his afternoon nap with MC… Or well, he thought there wasn’t reason, until he started paying more attention.

The MC was cuddled up to him like usual, but he could feel a hum against his arm that was coming from their chest. Steady and slow… almost soothing.

When he finally heard a noise in the air - equally soothing as the humming and in time with the vibrations - he put two and two together… Were they singing right now?

Belphie kept himself very still and pretended to be asleep just to check his suspicions and… yeah. He could hear the MC softly singing a human world song under their breath.

Must have been a testament to how besotted this cow man was with them that even hearing their voice that quietly could pull him out of his dreams. 

Eventually, Belphie just had to roll over and pull them up against his chest so he could hear them better... Of course, his movement just made them stop, but any idea that they were off the hook got swept away when they heard him grunt:

“Hey, you woke me up… Don’t stop now.”

Let’s hope they know a good lullaby or two...

[mrs-march-ahs]

how the evans would act when they have a crush on u ^^

How The Evans Act When They Have A Crush On You & How They React When You Tell Them You Like Them Too

Award for the longest title goes tooooo... me!

JAMES SUCKS BUT I MAKE UP FOR IT BY DOING BOTH KYLE’S AND A DETAILED KIT

Two other requests-

Could I please request how the Evans would react to their best friend (reader) admitting they're in love with them? 

Heyo! I’m not sure how this would go but how would the Evan’s react to a nervous/insecure reader confessing to them?

-I hope this is satisfactory, even though I don’t think it’s what you two wanted<3

Enjoy! :)

--

Tate

-Would always just be interested in you

-Wanting to help you, watch you, talk to you, just constantly be around you

-But he’d also be insecure whether he was annoying you, so occasionally he would make himself invisible and just watch you

-Whatever hobbies you had, he’d love to watch you do them, paint, draw, write, play games

-If you played any instrument he would love to lay on your bed and listen to you, no matter how good or bad you were

-He would leave little sweet messages on the chalkboard and leave little post-it notes for you to find

-They would have fun little facts about birds or other trivial stuff but you would find them cute

-The occasional fact about something romantic, like ‘Every time you kiss somebody, your heart beat increases by 10-15 beats per minute’

-He might go a little far and leave a message like ‘Your dress looked pretty’, which you would find creepy since you didn’t know Tate was a ghost

Kit

-He thought of ways to tell you how he felt but because it seemed like your family was gonna live in the murder house for a while, cause you were all settling in well, he didn’t want to risk losing his friendship with you, since you were the only ghost with whom he really got along

-You walked down to the basement and said his name in a sing song voice, “Tateeeee”, “Come out come out wherever you are!”

-He showed up and you asked him if he wanted to go out on a real date

-He was obviously nervous, because you didn’t know yet that he was a ghost, but when he hesitated and you looked upset, he said yes right away

-You ran up and hugged him and kissed him on the cheek, making him blush and laugh, and whilst you were at school, he got some things ready and got candles and a table cover so make your kitchen look like a restaurant

-He ordered McDonalds delivery and got your chicken nuggets under a serving platter for effect

- “We are dining on, nuggets of the chicken”

-Although you were a little disappointed and wanted to go out on a real date with him, you found his effort cute

-He definitely played footsie with you under the table the whole date

-Definitely walked you to your room

- “Well… this is me…”

- “Just wanted to make sure you got home safe”

-Kissed you

oh my god I got so carried away

-You would first meet Kit when you first come and move to Massachusetts

-One day you want to venture out and get an taxi to go to town, only a few minutes later to realise you don’t have your wallet

-You awkwardly tell the driver that if takes you back home quickly, you can get money and you will pay him right away

-But since Boston men aren’t usually so sweet, he just kicks you out, leaving you to wander the motorway alone late at night, far away from your home and hoping to quickly find somewhere to go

-Eventually you stumble upon a gas station, and as you walk up, a hand appearing on your shoulder makes you automatically turn around and push whoever touched you to the ground

-The man in blue uniform gets up slowly with his hands up defensively, “Hey hey, didn’t mean to startle ya, miss”

-You apologise, feeling stupid for this kind of encounter, but he doesn’t seem to mind as much as you’d think

- “It’s always nice to see a woman able to protect herself”, he smiles

-He offers to drive you home, and you thank him dearly, explaining to him that you don’t have a car yet, having only just moved here

-He offers to take you to buy one, knowing an awful lot about cars, and to convince you further, tells you that any man working in a car salon will try to sell a single lady a piece of junk for a high price

-You agree, thinking that the offer is sweet, and he takes you to buy yourself a car, to make the date even more fun, Kit tells you to pretend you’re an old married couple

- “Miss Walka over here needs a car, good Sir”

-At some point while looking at cars, Kit holds your hand and you don’t even notice

-He negotiates a good deal with the salesman, and you get a car together

- “Your husband just got you an awfully good deal, Madam, he’s a man who deserves a good meal and a cold beer if I’ve ever seen one”, the salesman laughs, signing the last of the papers before handing Kit the keys to your car. “Oh, he’ll get more than that”, you say to tease Kit, before smiling at him sweetly. Kit blinks at you, before turning back to the salesman and shaking his hand. As the two of you walk away, Kit looks at you in disbelief, the thought of your dirty words clearly plastered in his mind. “Did ya mean what you said back there?”. He says, as he opens the car door for you. “Whatever do you mean?”, you act stupid. “I was just pretending to be your wife, Mr Walka”

-When he has a crush on you, he gives you sooo many compliments

-Little dirty innuendos

-Would definitely call you and talk to you late night on the phone until one of you fell asleep (house phone if they had them)

-He’s the kind of person to tell you that he got a visit from a cute dog earlier at the gas station and it made him think of you

 Kyle

-Every time you go to get gas from Kit, he gives you only a little amount, so you have a reason to keep coming back

-One time when you go get gas from him, you forget your wallet again, and he teases you about it

-He lets you off and pays for your gas

- “I owe you, Mr Walka”

- “How about a date?”

-You smile at how confident he is, and nod excitedly, having been waiting for him to ask you for a while now

-Kit winks at you and waves as you drive off, completely melted inside about finally getting his girl

-Even though he’s always confident, he’s still a little shy and awkward around you when he sees you in class

-If all of his friends are in a class messing around, throwing stuff, being loud, and you walk it, he tells everybody to shut up because there’s a lady present

- “Hey careful, make sure you don’t throw it at her”

-It’s not until he sees you at a huge party, that he’s confident enough to go up to you

-Even though he’s more than happy to flirt, he’s just not confident enough to do that last step and ask you out somewhere

-He’ll bring you a drink and  talk and flirt with you, and you’ll definitely get the hint

-He slowly lifts his arm up and stretches it over you, trying to do the classic yawn move, hoping you won’t notice or mind. You look over at him and narrow your eyes in fake suspicion.

- “Didn’t you come here with a movie star? Surely you get handsome men bringing you drinks all the time?”, he says, motioning to the drink in your hand.

“You calling yourself handsome?”, you tease him. Kyle laughs a breathy awkward laugh and nods. “Well yeah”

-When you do ask him for a date, he insists that he take the initiative to plan what you two do

-Clearly wanting to make a good first impression, he’d take you somewhere interesting

-Aquarium, in which he’ll make up clearly fake facts about the fish just to make you laugh

-Bowling, just so he can tease you about how much you suck

-Mini golf, so, even though you know how to play, he can wrap his arms around you and help you put

-And if he does take you to the movies, you aren’t spending a dime

-He’ll also wrap his arm around you not-so subtly

Franken Kyle

“Whatcha doin there, hm?”. Kyle leans into your ear and whispers.

“Just in case you get scared, you can cuddle up to me”

“Kyle we’re watching the Lego movie”

Jimmy

-You’re a witch at the academy, and with Kyle’s very slow progress to getting better, both Zoe and Madison are getting slightly tired of having to constantly take care of him

-But you don’t mind, finding his Frankenstein state cute

-Whenever he stumbles into the kitchen by himself you always help him make food

-If he’s ever struggling with anything, he usually comes to you, knowing you’re the most patient out of them all

-Then, one night, all the teens in the academy go to a party, while you lay in bed

-But when the rain starts to get really heavy and the first thunder growls, Kyle rushes into your room, before slowly knowing and peaking his head out, clearly scared

-You let him come and lay with you, rubbing his back to calm him down

-Although no real words are spoken, it’s from that moment that you decide to take on all responsibilities relating to Kyle, the good and the bad

-He’s admired you from afar for a very long time, ever since the first time you joined the circus

-You were incredibly flexible, and always showing off to everyone and practicing on stage

-He would always come and watch you practice, cheering you on more than anybody else

-You called Jimmy ‘my cheerleader’

-It made him blush every time

-Amazon Eve always told him to just ask you for dinner, but the only thing that stopped him was the thought that you wouldn’t want to go out and be seen with a freak like him, especially since your body looked so normal that you didn’t have to hide anything

-Eve and Paul reminded Jimmy that it’s him who’s always the most confident in going out into the real world, and he mustn’t be scared

-When they all plan to go to a diner together, as a protest to being shunned from society, you find his leadership charming and happily go with them

-Even though you all get kicked out, you calm Jimmy down and take care of him when his dad beats him up

James

-You wipe the scars on his face and tell him how brave you think he is

- Trying to gain confidence, you take a deep breath before making the move. “Maybe the two of us should go to that diner”. Jimmy looks up at you, as if he expects you to keep talking. When the nerves hit you all at once, you begin rambling. “You know cause if the two of us go and they’re okay with that then maybe we can start going with the others one by one, and then you know we’ll ease our way back into society and stuff”. You laugh a breathy laugh, but Jimmy says nothing. With every silent second passing, your heart begins to break. But luckily for you, Jimmy speaks up. “Wait, are you asking me out? Like… on a date? To the diner?”. “What if I were?”, you quietly reply. He smiles wide and pulls you closer to him, “I’d love that”.

-James is definitely the least subtle

-Constantly giving you compliments, kisses and gifts

-Opening every door for you and listening very carefully to everything you say

-He doesn’t want you to even think about another man, so he overwhelms you with every way he can show you he likes you

-I can imagine him organising a big ball or event at the hotel just so the two of you can dress up and go together

-He is also the most confident out of them all, although he is a softie around you, he has no trouble asking you anything he wants to you

-He’ll kiss your hand a lot and you’ll eventually get the hint

Kai

- “I would be most delighted if we were to make our relationship more official, and vow fully loyalty to one another”

-You agree and he is over the moon

-Once the two of you are in a relationship, the compliments, kisses and gifts don’t stop

-He will give you your space without him, but when the two of you are in the same room together, he treats your precious time together as if it’s sacred

-He will approximately 43 seconds into your relationship begin planning how he’s gonna kill you

-You can tell Kai likes you when he’s harsher on you than he is on other members of the cult

-He’ll be pissed at you for being a distraction for him

-He’ll definitely tell you when he’s impressed with you, when you murdered somebody or helped him plan something

-Even though he definitely would not want it

-If you proved to be smarter than him in any aspect, he’d be furious

-You’d be sat on his sofa while he’s talking to you about having to kill Sally because she’s getting in the way of him winning city council

- “Samuels looked at where she lives, and it has no back doors, no nothing, it’ll be impossible to get in her house without smashing windows and causing attention”

“Why don’t you get Ally to go to her first? If Meadow convinces her to go to Sally to talk about the cult, then the front door will be open”. Kai looks at you with angry eyebrows. “We’ll sit in the car and wait for a few seconds, she’ll let Ally in, won’t lock the door straight after her, and then let them talk for a minute before we just walk right in”

-His ego won’t let him take suggestions from somebody below him, so even though he wants to be proud of you for being smart, he’s mad

-He’ll sit for hooours trying to think of any other solution he physically can think of, to not go with what you suggested

-Around the cult, he’d treat you like everybody else though

- “Y/N’s idea was brilliant, Ally just walked in and they walked straight to sit down, she didn’t lock the door”

-He’d praise you to encourage you to think of ideas, which he would later be mad that you have

━━━━━━♡♤♡━━━━━━

-You’d find out how he felt about you during pinky power

-After being suspicious that he may have feelings for you for a while, you realised this is the only way to truly find out how he feels without him trying to manipulate you

-He’d ask you about something deep, and you’d latch on after he finishes a sentence to ask him your question

- “I have a question for you”

“Go ahead”

“How do you feel about me?”

Kai stays silent and continues to look you in the eye, taken aback by the question but not wanting to show it.

“When you’re with me, how do you feel?”

“I think you have real potential, you’re strong-”

“I’m not asking the Divine Ruler, I’m asking Kai, Kai Anderson”

He takes a deep breath before unintentionally breaking eye contact for a few seconds to think. You wait anxiously for the answer, and with every second passing you know what it will be.

“You’re special”, he starts, looking you in the eye again. “You’re valuable to the group, and to me. And I think you’d be a great… mother”. The last catches you off guard, not expecting Kai to be a family man or to think about this with you.

“You… you want me to… have your children?”

“I think our children would be indestructible, strong, powerful, decisive. They would be the seed of the better future”. Although it was a little forward for somebody you’ve never even kissed, you were beyond flattered, knowing how specific Kai is with traits in people.

“Let’s make a baby”, Kai says.

“Whoa whoa”, you laugh and unlink your pinky with his. “We’re not even dating, Kai”

“Why date if children is the ultimate purpose?”

“Then don’t look at is as dating… look at it… as getting to know the mother of your future children”

-Kai would love this and you’d soon end up dating

-And have like 6 kids

@milly-louise  @amourtentiaa  @kitwalker02  @tatestripedsweater  @therenlover  @maria-akira         @tatesimper  @thxc0untessesgl0ve  @mossybank  @ahsxual  @mxlti-fand0m-imaginess  @mrs-march-ahs-biggest-fan  @kitwalkerangel  @kitisagoldenretrieverboy @darlingkitt  @blackbat2020@elaineygrace @kaiandersonskoolaid  @undeadcortez @whiiiiplaaaaash

As usual, if you wanted to be added or taken away, dm me or comment!! I won’t mind! <3