#fun fact: i think the only reason i dislike coffee shop AUs is because of that *one* super-popular M!Fenhawke fic (you know the one) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

burnedbyshoto · 4 years ago

Text

temerity

― the perfect job for an overworked, tired, and romantic you is obviously a stressful, demanding, but oh so aesthetic coffeeshop. your job only becomes better when a handsome redhead appears through the door with a loud bang, and you can do nothing but fall for him. or the five times kirishima orders coffee and the one time he doesn’t.

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pairing: kirishima eijirou x fem!reader

warnings: cursing, fluff, light angst, pining, coffee shop!au, modern!au, college!au, happy ending, five times he did and one time he didn’t trope

word count: 9,394

a/n: happy birthday to my beautiful love @ikinabi!!!! this was written for you based off of your favorite tropes including your favorite word, bet you saw this coming a mile away because my interrogation for this was absolute ass. also sorry for the angst, I couldn’t help myself! for the rest of you non-reds, this was a pretty damn fun piece to write. kirishima was modeled after how red sees him too, sorry. I haven’t typed that much in a single sitting in a long time, so it was p refreshing. like always, enjoy and leave a comment if you enjoyed ;-; (oh and thank you all for kiri coffee taste suggestions)

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O N E

Working in a small coffee shop isn’t exactly what you had once thought it to be.

For years you had been attending the small coffee shop just by your university. Most of your studying, homework, and late-night mental breakdowns had taken place in the corner of the shop, hidden from the sight of the patrons, which was conventionally the best spot for the strongest wifi.

You had been there so many times, having tried every single drink on their menu, and had gotten to know every worker there ― including the owners. So when the invitation to work there was brought up the one night you showed up in hysterics because you had lost your other job, it shouldn’t have taken you by surprise.

So now, in your final year of university, you stood at the counter. A textbook cracked open near the register light, the gentle coffee shop tunes playing merrily in the background. The intricate, familiar, and distinguished smell of both fresh and aging coffee beans with day-old pastries soaked deep into every centimeter of the room.

The coffee shop was typically slow at this time at night, most people, thankfully, choosing to keep their caffeine addictions primarily in the mornings. Or, as a student had once confessed, didn’t want to make your job more demanding, so they made their own caffeinated drink this late at night. Regardless, it didn’t matter; the morning and afternoon crowds at this coffee shop were busy enough for you to be grateful for this downtime, especially as midterm season was beginning to approach. With this upcoming season, you knew you would be pouring liters of coffee down red-eyed, broken-spirited, college students' throats in the coming days.

Humming, you flipped the page of your biochem textbook, information on amino acids and protein structure twisting in your mind. At the same time, you tried to absorb the chaotic, overflowing amount of information presented on a single page. With a pen to your lip, you frowned at the sentence, rereading phrases over and over again as you struggled to figure out just why Hydrogen formation was so important.

That didn’t last for too long, fortunately.

For when you were about to scream to your coworker who was hiding away in the backroom about how amino acids could go fuck themselves, the front door slammed open.

Despite the wooden door being extremely, almost stupidly heavy (to the point where there was a sign that clearly read: YES WE ARE OPEN, THE DOOR IS JUST REALLY HEAVY, outside), it crashed into the wall, causing a loud smack to rattle the shop. You, having been so absorbed in your studies, jumped at the sound. Your body flinched as a surprised shriek left your lips.

“Oh shit, I’m so sorry! It said the door was heavy, but I didn’t think it would slam open like that!” came an apologetic and obviously embarrassed voice from the entrance.

Your heart was pounding with adrenaline. You focused your attention on the man who was frantically checking potential damages to both the door and the wall. All while he continued to apologize.

Red hair and red eyes are the first things you noticed about him.

Red hair that obviously was dyed, red, warm eyes seemed smooth and seemed to melt into sugary brown, and a rather large scar over his right eye that stopped just at his eyebrow. His smile was broad, exceedingly bright, albeit stiff.

Despite your pumping blood and the way that your fingertips tingle with your fear, a smile and laugh pressed to your lips as he fumbled to close the door behind him (although it was nearly closed by the time he fumbled for the metal brass door handle). Pushing up off the counter from where you were lying, you shut the textbook you had, waving off the new customer.

“No worries! Most people either overcompensate or can’t open the door at all,” you explained with a pinching smile, the laughter in your tone so noticeable despite your intent to keep your humor hidden. Your smile and softly thudding heart only seemed to increase stupidly as the red-headed man approached the cash register.

He was dressed horribly.

He wore an orange gym shirt, most definitely worn with age, and a bit too small on his… physique, navy blue basketball shorts that had white stripes on the side of his thigh, and black athletic crew socks with bright red crocs.

A living, walking fashion disaster.

“Um,” you stifled a teasing snort, “what can I get for ya?”

The man (was he a himbo? he seemed like he could be one through his appearance alone!) crossed his arms across his chest, lower lip jutting out as he read the menu under his breath with curious, wide eyes. His head tilted to the side, his gaze seemingly stuck on a single area of the menu, and with all the curiosity of the world weighing down on you at this one, very moment, you turned behind you.

“Anything catching your eye?”

“This is… uh, this is my first time in here,” he admitted, his gaze falling from the menu, catching your own eye when you turned back around to face him. His eyes were wide, clear as they were alarmingly honest; he paused for a bit before eventually adding, “actually.”

“Well,” you began, your own honest smile brightening on your face, “lucky for you, I’ve tried everything on this menu. Pick your poison, I can tell you what everything tastes like.”

His eyes widen in what you can only recognize as being overwhelmed, but you try to hide the way your smile is turning into a smirk when he begins to list out drinks.

Drink after drink he names, most of them being dark, black, bitter-tasting coffees, and you can see some hesitation in him with each name he lists.

“You don’t seem to know what kinda coffee you like, huh?” you eventually point out once he’s had you repeat the entire menu for the dark roasts the shop had.

“That would be embarrassing if it wasn’t for the fact that I’ve never had coffee in my life before,” he laughed partially in embarrassment, but much more in some underlying mirth and energy, he seemed to easily hold. Energy that seemed to warm your chest more than any cup of coffee on a cold morning. “I’m what you could call a coffee virgin.”

Now that got a snort out of you.

“Okay, coffee virgin,” you teased, immediately grabbing a kids' throwaway cup behind the counter. “You should’ve started with that!”

“I didn’t want to come off as uncultured! I mean, I’m down at the university, the uni down the street, I’m a university student myself! But being twenty-one and never having coffee before? It just seems… I don’t know so unmanly!”

All while he was confessing the reason as to why he had never in his life had a single cup of coffee, you had poured the simmering black coffee that he was most interested in into the cup. It was filled with only a small amount of the black, bitter liquid, just enough to give him a good taste of the drink. Placing the kids' cup in front of him with a satisfactory thunk, you grinned up at him.

His hand was pressed to the back of his neck, an almost shameful look on his face with just the smallest blush brightening his cheeks and ear tips.

“I think it’s cool you’re a uni student without a coffee addiction,” you smile earnestly, pressing the kids' cup closer to him. “Shows a different kind of man that you’re able to handle a workload without a caffeine drip.”

If you didn’t know better (and honestly, you didn’t, you were probably projecting the weird stranger crush you had seamlessly formed on him), you would have said he forgot how to speak. He clears his throat, his embarrassment fading into a small, soft smile, and he picks up the cup.

“Thank you for the sample.”

He takes a drink of the warm liquid, and immediately he seems to crush the paper cup in his hand, a suppressed hysteric of coughing spluttering past his fisted hand on his mouth, tears springing into his eyes. You yelped in surprise, hands fluttering out to smack him on the arm in a failed attempt to reach his back.

“O-Oh my god!” he eventually wheezed, his eyes staring down at the crushed cup as if it was some sort of vermin, a creature that had no use being alive but still pitied it. His other hand wiped at his lips as to rid of its taste. His head snapped back towards you, his eyes wet with betrayal from both his thoughts and taste buds. “Can you do something, not this at all?!”

You purse your lips for a second, thinking about just what could suit his apparent dislike for bitter, black coffee. With a single idea in your head, you leaned forward onto the counter, a smile back on your lips.

“Do you like cinnamon rolls?”

He blinked.

“Who doesn’t?”

“For here or to go?” you asked, head tilting to the side before you eventually remembered that the shop was closing in a few minutes. “Actually, it’ll be to go!”

“O-Oh, okay!”

“Can I get a name?” you asked, your hand grabbing the paper cup and a sharpie to write his name. There was no reason for you to write down his name; he was the only person in the shop right now.

“K-Kiripima,” he answers with wide eyes and red cheeks. Your eyebrows scrunch.

“Kiripima?”

“No! I’m, oh my god, this is so unmanly of me,” he bemoaned, his head shaking. “Kirishima Eijirou! I’m Kirishima Eijirou!”

The pealing laughter that erupted from your mouth stood no chance at being silenced. And so with an embarrassed nod of your own, you pressed off the counter, writing his name was the neatest writing you had, before setting off.

You worked fast behind the counter, making the specialized drink just for the blushing himbo of a man before you, well, at least until he interrupted your chain of thoughts and actions.

“Biochem, right?”

Placing the cup where the steamed milk machine was, you turned to look at Kiri(p)shima, who was pointing at your textbook with an all too familiar look on his face that told you he recognized it.

“Unfortunately,” you smiled at him, eventually shrugging. “I also go to the uni down the street.”

“Aw damn, sucks I’ve never seen you there before!” he laughs, rubbing the back of his neck when he glances up at you from the textbook before looking back down. “I took this class last semester!”

“Oh? Who’d you have?” you asked, continuing on with your work, your suspicion of him being a himbo slightly dwindling.

“Chaney!” he responded, and you looked over at him; you had him this semester, too. “It was the worst! I dropped out the first week! Didn’t help that I thought biochem was a split biology and chemistry course… teaches me not to listen to Kaminari and Mina… ah, I mean, my friends!”

Himbo indeed.

Laughing at his flux in judgment, you placed the steaming cup of sweet, sweet coffee in front of Kirishima, hands pressing onto your hips as you did so.

“How about this?”

You watch as the redhead grins at you, picking up the cup of coffee and drinking it despite your last second squeak that it was probably way too hot to be consumed.

“HOLY SHIT! This is so much better! It tastes just like cinnamon rolls! Bro, you have some serious talent!” Kirishima yelled, his eyes not quite as bright, but his smile definitely still as warm. “How much will it be?”

“On the house,” you admitted with a shrug, your cheeks warming with his look of disbelief. “I took your, uh, coffee virginity away and nearly killed ya, it’s the least I could do!”

Kirishima narrows his gaze on you, his smile softening in tandem while he looks over at the menu again, taking another stiff sip of the coffee.

You watch as he takes his wallet out of his pocket, and with a little effort, pulls out two thousand yen.

“For the next few customers then, yeah?” he smoothly states, already moving back towards the door long before you could demand that he come back and take his money with him.

“Hey!” Kirishima yells, his hand had opened the heavy ass door with no problem or strain. “What's your name?”

“Why?!” you yelled back despite your instincts screaming at you to tell him your name.

His grin stretches so widely you take notice of his glinting, almost abnormally sharp canines from the counter.

“So, I know who to blame for my caffeine addiction!”

You laugh.

“Y/l/n y/n,” you smile, your stomach flipping at the way he seems to brighten with that information. “I promise that’s my real name too, no mess-ups.”

Kirishima laughs, red staining his face.

“Guess we can’t all be as amazing as you, huh?”

You didn’t get the chance to even scream in your fluster because he was already gone. The heavy wooden door closed by the time your coworker emerged from the back, an all too curious look on their face.

“What was that?”

You shrug, a smile stretching further on your face.

“Hopefully, a new regular.”

T W O

“Kiripima!”

If there was a way for you to not giggle at the way Kirishima nearly slammed the door through the wall in his shock embarrassment, you would have liked to know.

“My name is Kirishima, y/l/n!” he yelled back, his cheeks the same color as his spiked hair. “I mean, if you want to call me Kiripima, that’s okay! It’s just… my name is Kiri-shima!”

“Sorry, sorry, Kiripima was too cute to resist!” you admitted with a smirk, your body leaning forward, elbows pressed onto the counter, hands pressed against your cheeks. “What can I get for you so late at night, Kiri-shima?”

Kirishima smiles broadly, his hands sinking into his pockets as he walks over towards you and the counter. He’s dressed much more normally today, he wore black jeans that are slightly dirty with some sort of white powder, and his shirt is a crimson red. It’s tight against his biceps but fits him much better than the last shirt he wore, and on the fabric right above his heart, lays a simple print: FATGUM’S GRUB.

“Nightshift, unfortunately, finally caught me this week!” Kirishima sighs, his shoulder-shrugging but the smile remaining just as firmly on his face. “It’s no biggie, though; it’s for one of my bros who needed the night off!”

“Oh, so you’re an everyday hero?” you tease, enjoying the way that he grins wide enough to show off his sharp canines before it humbles into an embarrassed smile. “How manly of you.”

“Nothing anyone else wouldn’t do,” he mumbled, his gaze falling to your shoulder in his embarrassment.

“Alright, alright, if you say so,” you relent, sighing softly before straightening up and smiling up at the red-haired man who was busy taking in your menu once again with significant hesitation. “What can I get for you this time, Kirishima?”

Kirishima’s eyes glinted over, a laugh once again rumbling in his chest before he sighed, “What do you suggest for me, y/l/n?”

And so, at nearly ten p.m., you stood behind the cash register, Kirishima’s coffee long since given to him, and the two of you were intently talking, laughter and enthusiastic yelling being exchanged fervently.

You learned his name was Kirishima Eijirou; he was twenty-one years old, born and raised in Musutafu. You knew that while yes, he most definitely a himbo (something you confirmed with strategic questions, and not straight up asking him), he was an engineering major! He played a ton of sports but seemed to prefer heavy contact sports, rugby, and soccer being his top choice of sport. You even found out that this man (who often used the term manly in a way that meant ‘approved by Kirishima’) was the biggest fan of the old movies and comic book hero Crimson Riot. You figured this out when he pulled out his phone to show you a picture of his new goldfish and accidentally revealed his lock screen being him and the famous actor behind the superhero.

“You’re telling me you’ve NEVER seen an All Might movie, but you’ve seen ALL the Crimson Riot movies?!” Kirishima yelled, his arms shooting out past the counter to grab you by the shoulders, shaking you intensely with the biggest, goofiest smile on his face.

“Be careful with your coffee!” you squealed, trying to keep his elbow from knocking over his cup that had still gone untouched.

“Y/L/N!” he exasperated, pulling himself in closer to you, his eyes wide and bright, quickly drowning you with his radiant energy and overwhelming enthusiasm. “Answer!!!”

“Oh my god! Yes, Kirishima! I have never seen an All Might film but have seen every single Crimson Riot film!” you confess, your cheeks hurting from your laughter, and growing sense of embarrassment because everyone in the world has seen the All Might movies!

Hell, even people who weren’t from Japan had seen them all!

The movie superhero was a blockbuster smash with every movie they did!

“Why not?! How not?!”

“Because my dad never let me watch them growing up because the guide warnings,” you wheezed, your stomach cramping with your laughter, your hands grabbing onto his sturdy ― and holy fuck, were they sturdy ― biceps trying to ease his excited(???) shaking. “Besides, my dad is a hardcore Crimson Riot fan; he would have a heart attack and die if he heard that I went to go watch an All Might film.”

“Holy shit,” Kirishima breathed, a glazed over glee washing over his face in some euphoric bliss. “Your dad… is so manly, I think I could marry him.”

Your laughter only grew when Kirishima wiped tears from his eyes, and you patted his arm in your condolences.

“I think he would not take to someone claiming to be the biggest Crimson Riot fan!”

Kirishima grin only grew, “Bet he wouldn’t!”

You tilted your head, your smile becoming a bit lopsided, ready to take that bet right there, right now. You knew your dad was most definitely still awake at this time.

But the words never got to pass your mouth because as soon as you opened your mouth to speak, a loud ringtone interrupted you.

You also hated the fact that you recognized the ringtone to be the Crimson Riots theme song.

Kirishima’s warm hands pulled away from you, his overeagerness abandoned as he pulled out his phone and pressed it to his ear without checking who was calling.

“It’s Ei, talk to me.”

The nickname of his first name caused your stomach to flip, his smooth baritone voice easily sending shivers down your spine. Still, with the mention of such an intimate nickname… the chill crawling down your spine, teasing every nerve in your system, was inevitable.

You watched Kirishima’s face. The way that he easily took in the words of whoever was on the other side of the line. The smile on his face remained if only muted just a bit as he agreed left and right with whoever was on the other side.

“Nah, I can get there in a few! Don’t worry about it, Fat, I normally show up early to shifts regardless, I don’t blame ya! Yeah, yeah, okay, yeah! Yeah! See ya soon!”

Disappointment blossomed in your chest, the horrible feeling of having to say goodbye to a customer who had only come in twice! Twice! Most times, you never wanted to see any customers, even some regulars, more than once in your lifetime! But again, there had been no other customer in your life as a barista that had been as kind, friendly, and hot as Kirishima.

“Well, I gotta go now,” Kirishima softly sighed, his lips pressing into a half-smile, his eyebrows scrunched together in his (maybe) reluctance to leave. “Fat, er, my boss, got overloaded with the late-night munchies, so…”

“Time for the fanboy to leave?” you finished for him, your fingers looping into your apron, your eyes glancing at the clock that showed you that you should’ve been cleaning up five minutes ago.

“Yeah, sadly!” Kirishima laughed, his hand grabbing the coffee and pocketing his phone as he made his way to the front door. You followed after him, ready to lock the door after him in case some desperate customer tried to come in. “Well, thank you for the coffee again! I gotta see just how much you know about the greatest superhero ever the next time I drop by!”

You smiled.

“Next time?”

Kirishima paused for a bit, “Yeah, next time!” he pushed through the front door, and you watched as he exited the shop, his body turning so he was looking at you while he walked backward. “I told ya, y/l/n, it's pretty unmanly of you, but you got me hooked on caffeine!”

There was no time for you to argue otherwise because he turned on his heel just as quickly and began jogging off to his own job.

“You’ll close up by yourself?” your bitchy coworker asked, and you startled, seeing that she was also pushing past the door. “You kept us over way later because you can’t stop flirting with the customers, which by the way, is against protocol.”

You roll your eyes.

“Yeah, whatever, bye.”

T H R E E

“Next in line, please!”

It was busy.

As you had once thought many, many weeks ago, the midterm season had finally come with full force, and it was horrible. There were at least four crying college students found in any of the studying rooms the shop had from sun up to sundown. Some of the students were found soaking their tears onto the worn leather sofa, some moments from dying on the plenty of counters and tables.

On multiple days there had been students who stayed the entire day, drinking whole pots worth of black coffee when they were ordinarily sweet coffee drinkers. You had to give some freshmen girl a tight hug the other day who was seconds from taking a W on her transcripts because she absolutely could no longer handle her math class. You had the unfortunate time of giving a student the news that no, today was not Thursday, it’s Friday, so yes… they missed their midterm for a professor who would refuse to reschedule any missed exam.

But it wasn’t all too bad.

Kirishima had been showing up practically every day now; he would order a pastry every time, opting out of a drink by showing you his three-liter water bottle. It was nice to have someone like Kirishima around (partially because you usually worked with a younger coworker,) who was both strong and sweet. He wasn’t majorly concerned about his midterms, stating that he had study groups with his friends and had been on top of his game and only came to the coffee shop to do light personal studying. So, during your mad dashes to make the 2,783rd cup of coffee within your shift, you couldn’t help but glance over at Kirishima, who was comforting crying students. When they weren’t crying, and you weren’t desperately trying to appease the caffeine raged customers, he chatted with you, seated on the counter by the coffee counter.

Having him around so much was actually both making your day better and much, much worse. On the one hand, that meant that since you were paired up with coworkers you didn’t get along with, you had a fantastic company that literally made the nights go by so fast as you and he became closer and closer friends. But, on the other hand, it also made your once attraction to him, having been solely based on physical looks to bleed over to personal traits, and you wanted to cry with every poor attempt of flirting that flew over his head.

However, you did get to learn that 1. he did, in fact, dye his hair red because you had the privilege of seeing his black roots. And that 2. despite his phone being filled with the craziest metal and rock songs, he really only listened to a playlist buried in his phone that was filled with soft acoustic guitar and sweet bubblegum pop songs. It was great.

But it was no time to think about your tall, red-headed crush. You had much more pressing issues with the large coffee crowd in front of you. It was rush hour, and since you were scheduled for tonight's shift, they asked if you wanted more hours for today since they were training someone new.

Obviously, you had agreed.

You had forgotten the horrors of rush that included sleep-deprived, caffeine-infused insanity of students coupled with the ever-demanding adults with jobs that they very much needed to return too. It was always horrific.

But you for sure never expected to see your crush before you.

“Kiri!” you smiled, the smile on your face was one of pure exhaustion and joy of seeing your friend crush. Your gaze quickly dropped away from him, your eyes returning to the paper cups you held, writing in their orders and name as quickly as you could. “How can I help you?”

Kirishima visibly gulped, and you froze a bit before setting down the large order on the counter for your coworkers to eventually get to. You knew by the pile-up on orders you would be switched out with the new hire after Kirishima and the person behind him.

“I, uh, I need to ask you something!” Kirishima spoke sharply, his arms stiff at his side. His usual kind and gentle smile on his face is mechanic and dull. He was… he was sweating? Pity filled your stomach; maybe he had done terribly on a midterm.

“Do you need a new coffee rec?” you immediately ask your mind on the set menu behind you, trying to come up with a coffee just sweet enough for the charming man in front of you. “You haven’t had a drink in a while, I don’t remember what you had last, though.”

“No, not that! I have a… well, I have a confession!” Kirishima tries again, his body somehow becoming even stiffer as he nods his head in growing speeds. “Yup! A confession!”

“Would ya hurry it up, kid! Some of us got work to get to!” came a crabby voice from behind Kirishima, and you winced, looking past your crush to the eldering man who looked like he was eating and shitting stress every day for the past three years.

“Sir, please calm down, it won’t take too long,” you frowned, not at all happy with the sheer impatience of the customer. You turned back to Kirishima, an apologetic look on your face. “But a confession? Okay, well, actually… I have one for you as well!” Maybe you could get yourself to confess you liked him?

But the old man’s interruption seemed to have calmed Kirishima down significantly, who snapped out of his haze.

“Sorry, sorry!” he apologized to the man behind him, bowing deeply for his troubles before facing you again and laughed. The palm of his hand hit his forehead as he groaned lowly. “Sorry, this is so unmanly of me, y/l/n! I mean, I shouldn’t even be doing this because you’re working, but I finally… I just…”

He trailed off, and you found it impossible to follow his train of thought, something you weren’t too bad at doing.

“Just what?”

It was with that the world seemed to still.

The noise of the busy coffee shop, the hustling of your coworkers, the chattering of the studying students, and business calls going mute as you stared up into Kirishima’s red, comprehensive, honest eyes.

“Well, it’s just that I, um, I--”

“Listen, kid,” the man behind Kirishima snapped at him. “I have twelve minutes to gather my drink and make it back to my meeting with my executive board. And you’re holding up the damn fucking line! Make up your mind on what coffee you want, because you’ve been in this line with me for almost ten minutes, order it and pay! Let’s get moving!”

“Sir!” you gasped, horrendously mortified a customer was acting like that! “That’s incredibly rude! He hasn’t even been here for a minute!”

“It’s actually been three!” he sneered.

You opened your mouth to retaliate, not at all positive if it had been three minutes because by god did you get lost in Kirishima’s eyes.

“No!” Kirishima interrupted you before you could begin, and you looked up at Kirishima, who looked like a kicked puppy, and that sent your heart into a whole series of palpitations you didn’t know would happen with him. “It’s fine, sorry, I got worked up… um… one of my best bros likes his coffee black, and well, I like it now too. A regular black coffee, to go…”

You didn’t even get a chance to say anything, Kirishima slipping the exact amount of money for the drink before disappearing into the crowd.

Your sight narrowed when it befell onto the old man who looked proud of himself, “Finally! Now, let me see what you guys have! I don’t know what I want!”

F O U R

Kirishima was late.

So late, so very, very late.

He checked his phone for the time yet again, somehow praying that in the last time he had checked his phone (which had been three seconds ago), the time hadn’t shot forward by ten minutes, and by the spirit of god had maybe, possibly rewound by ten minutes. He only hoped that he wouldn’t show up too late today; he actually needed something with caffeine to keep him awake today.

But he saw the coffee shop straight ahead, the small white light by the front door still buzzing and bright with the illuminated: OPEN! sign. Kirishima barreled through the front door with now practiced and known strength, his forehead sweating profusely, and his heart hammering in his throat.

“I’m… here!” he panted, his eyes finding yours as you were cleaning up the counter with a disinfecting liquid and cloth.

He had seen you yesterday, but still, seeing you at the counter, your gaze on what you were doing was like an arrow to his lungs. He looked at you in his personal slowed downtime, the way that the halo of frizzy, curly, flyaways from your hair gleamed softly with the backlight, the warmth of your skin, the gentle flutter of your eyelashes as you looked up, and he was met with the depth pool of your warm eyes.

Beautiful.

His eyes fell onto your lips, and noticed they were moving ever so slightly, and he realized that he couldn’t hear what you were saying.

All the tables had been wiped down, the chairs by the table turned upside down, laying on the tabletops. The floor still streaked with what was definitely a mop, and guilt bubbled in his stomach. You were closing up, and by the looks of it, were nearly done as well.

Kirishima paused, he was here one minute before closing, and he froze. The heavy wooden door closing behind him with an awkwardly loud thud that only seemed to thunder in his ears as the world finally caught up.

“―anything?”

Kirishima blinked, his cheeks exploding with heat.

“What?”

He hadn’t heard you utter a single word.

He watched the way your lips pulled into an endearing, yet slightly exasperated smile, your eyes rolling.

“Did you want anything?” you repeated, hands placed on your hips in a taunting, near commanding way. “Coffee’s still on the pot, so if you want anything, let me know!”

“Did you already clean up?” Kirishima asks, his eyes falling to the floor to find the different wet streaks on the tile and avoid them if his shoe was dirty. He stops when he sees the cleaned and cleared coffee counter, and guilt floods him. “It looks like you’re mostly cleaned up; I don’t want you to get things dirty again, it’s okay.”

“It’ll take me five minutes tops to clean back up!” you retort, hands already moving to grab a to-go cup for him to have.

“No, no!” Kirishima exclaims, moving back towards the door as fast as he could. He didn’t want to cause you more work, and if anything, he would just wait for you to leave the shop, and he would simply walk you back to your apartment! That seemed like the more manly thing to do, right? “It’s okay! I’m okay! I’ll live without a cup!”

You snorted, slamming the cup onto the counter with definitive intentions, “Don’t be ridiculous, coffee addict!” you pointed to the spot before the cash register, pen in hand as you readied to write down his order. “Come. Don’t be silly! Can you turn off the open sign for me, though! What do you want?”

“I feel bad,” Kirishima frowns, turning off the neon light per request before turning back towards you. His hands stuffed into his pockets. “You don’t have to do this.”

“No, I don’t have to,” you say with a grin and a roll of your eyes. “But since I’m the reason your addiction is a thing, I’m more than happy to deal with the consequences, Kiri.”

There’s a beat, and Kirishima walks to the counter, his lower lip jutted out in a small pout, but the energetic smile painted on your lips melts his pout into a smile immediately.

“What do you suggest?”

“Café de Olla.”

His face scrunches at the so, very not Japanese words that come from your mouth.

“Cafe de la what?”

He watches your smile brighten by a tenfold, enjoying the way your eyes easily glitter with your mirth as you turn away from him.

“Café de Olla,” you repeat again, and he can only assume it’s Spanish. “It’s a Mexican coffee, that one of the transfer students we hired from Mexico introduced us to!” Kirishima watched as you went to a small pot of coffee, put a cleaned ladle in, and eventually poured in a slightly steaming cup of dark coffee. “I can’t remember the ingredients, but the main one is cinnamon! I know you like cinnamon, and since you’re a big boy black coffee drinker now, I think you’ll like it!”

Kirishima missed the teasing look on your face when you placed the truly dark coffee in front of him.

“Um,” Kirishima nervously laughed, staring at the cup of dark liquid before him. He hated black coffee. “Are you… are you gonna put any sugar or milk in it?”

“Nope! Drink up, handsome!”

Kirishima whimpered at both the nickname you had been calling him as of late and the coffee before him. Eventually, he picked up the warm cup, not at all deceived by the warm, sweet aroma of the cup of coffee in his hand ― the black coffee had smelled sweet too. Not one to back down, especially as you were in the process of cleaning up for the day, he took a hesitant, gentle sip of the coffee and froze.

Despite the bitter, dark persona the steaming cup gave, the liquid was sweet.

Very sweet.

It was light in its spice, warming him gently, and giving him a world of flavors he hadn’t been aware of. He drank the rest of it eagerly.

“Good, right?!” you exclaimed excitedly, having caught onto what Kirishima already knew to be his unmistakable likeness. “I wasn’t too sure of it at first either! I mean, I don’t really dabble with straight black coffee, but this just hits differently!”

Kirishima placed his sample down, the back of his hand rubbing his wet lips, his smile wide and excited. He couldn’t believe he actually liked a cup of coffee! “That was SO good, fuck! I didn’t think I was going to like that! Can I have a cup of this?”

He watched as you nodded your head excitedly, more stray pieces of hair falling out of place, framing your face even more as you grabbed the cup and made due to filling it up. Kirishima watched you the entire time you filled his cup up, his fingers blindly holding his bills of cash to give to you.

‘I’m going to do it,’ he thought as you placed a lid on the cup.

‘You got this!’ he encouraged himself as you walked over, handing off the warm cup into his hands. He softly smiled at the feeling of your warm, soft fingers brushing familiarly against his own.

‘DO IT!’

“Y-Y/l/n―”

“Babycakes, are you done out here?!” a voice hollered, and Kirishima stilled when a face emerged from the back. “I’m exhausted and ready to go!”

He watched as a tall girl with green eyes and brown hair emerged from the back room, her arms stretched precariously over her head, stepped into the bar. And the world slowed when her arms quickly enveloped you.

It was then that he remembered what you had said yesterday. The way that your face morphed from apologetic to bashful, the fluster in your eyes, and the way you bit your lip nervously as you said you had something to confess to him… was she… your confession?

“Ami!” you spluttered, and Kirishima watched the way the girl who was draped over your body, much taller than you were, smile at you endearingly as you, in your fluster, failed to get her off. “Kirishima ― a customer is here!”

The word customer echoed like a bell in the world's deepest cave in Kirishima’s ear.

He was just…

He was just a customer, after all.

His smile faded from a genuine one to a phony one as he watched your coworker/girlfriend fight you on showing affection, and eventually, you won.

“S-Sorry about that!” you stammered, trying to fix your outfit, your hair chaotically was undone. His throat nearly sealed off when your pristine eyes locked back up his; he felt light under your gaze, but oh, so, cold. “You were saying?”

“Just… um, thank you!” Kirishima mustered a feeble laugh, his hand grabbing the coffee in his hand, and without so much as a goodbye, he left the coffee shop. Your echoing salutation doing nothing but making him nauseous as heartbreak overtook him.

F I V E

The last time you had seen Kirishima, you served him the café de olla during that night, which was weeks ago.

By weeks you meant nearly two months; finals season had just finished.

Despite your obvious disappointment in not seeing the one person you were enamored with, you reasoned with yourself with every disappointing redhead who would enter the coffeeshop that you had never asked for his phone number, and he was an engineering student. He had to be busy.

Even if he wasn’t busy, you tried to reason, your brow set in a knit position as you washed the ceramic cups in the sink, he had every reason to never show back up again. He wasn’t your boyfriend or anything…

Thankfully, you heard the all too familiar sound of the front door being opened, and now with new company policy, you called out in greetings.

“Welcome!”

You quickly patted your hands dry on your apron, knowing that your coworker was on break at the moment, and turned to the entrance of the shop, and froze.

It was an all too familiar head of bright red spikes.

“Kiri!” you exclaimed happily, rushing over to the register with a bright, wide smile as you restrained yourself from flinging over the counter and hugging him tightly. Of course, that would have been both unprofessional and probably pushing the boundaries of your friendship/one-sided affections. “It’s been so long, how are you?!”

Kirishima stood on the other side of the counter, his hands shoved into his blue hoodie pocket, his eyes for the first time ever almost empty, the smile you knew he wore almost religiously, nowhere to be seen. In lieu of the smile, were lips pressed into a stout line, his face puckered just slightly enough as if he had smelled something sour moments before.

What was going on?

“You okay?” you ask, your once outstretched arms retracting into yourself, seeing that he was not reciprocating your movements. Your head tilted. “Did something happen?”

“Yeah, Ei,” came a new voice. “Is something wrong?”

You almost startled when a girl with curly, pink hair seemed to appear from behind Kirishima. She had eyes of liquid gold, and a teasing smile on her face as she nudged Kirishima. “What’s going on?”

Your stomach flips in unwelcomed jealousy, your teeth biting the inside of your cheek in hopes that the girl wouldn’t catch on.

When the seconds felt like minutes of silence, the girl merely sighed, her attention focusing onto you with a look of slight mischief.

“Please excuse my friend―” you relax with the f word― “we’ve been friends since grade school, and he’s never been like that! Maybe he caught a bug during breakfast?”

“Mina…” Kirishima spoke softly, not quite a warning, not quite a whine.

“You must be the famous ‘y/l/n,’ I’ve heard so much about you!” the girl ― Mina ― exclaimed excitedly, her hands grabbing yours while nodding excitedly. “When I heard that Ei hadn’t gone for coffee in so long, I obviously had to force him to come! That and he totally made one of our friends throw away my coffee, and I need the coffee in my bloodstream to survive my dumb classes!”

The one-sided tension between you and Mina expelled quickly.

“Kiri hasn’t been here in a while, but I’m sure he’s got his reasons,” you defend your crush, your smile soft as you traded your locked gaze on Mina to look at Kirishima, who weakly, barely, horribly returned the smile. “But I can definitely help with the coffee! What can I get for you?”

“Good question…” Mina sighed, her eyes studying the menu with practiced skill.

Eventually, Mina ordered a chai tea latte with an oat milk substitution, a pump of caramel, and two shots of espresso. She squealed with delight when you placed her order in front of her, and maybe had you not been excited to get Kiri’s answer, you would have noticed the way his friend strategically walked towards the door to give you two your space.

“So, how can I help ya, handsome?” you ask, your smile back to full power, although a bit shy, unaffected by the brick wall of a man before you. “We’re out of the café de olla right now, but if you don’t mind waiting fifteen minutes, I can make you a fresh batch!”

That’s a lie, the pot of Mexican coffee is still completely filled, ready for Kirishima should he want it. But you were selfish; you were trying to get him to stay longer.

“Nah, that’s okay,” Kirishima shakes his head. “I don’t wanna bug ya. I’ll just take a caramel latte, no worries.”

Disappointment rams through you, but you try your best at hiding it.

“Oh, okay! I’ll get that started for you!” you try to chirp, grabbing a to-go cup and beginning the relatively short task. “How’ve you been?” you ask, trying to initiate old conversations.

“Good.”

“Oh, that’s good to hear! How were your finals? Mine was terrible! I had a professor who forgot what time section we were, so not only were we given only thirty minutes to finish the exam, but there was no compensation for his mistake!”

“Wow… that sucks. Mine were fine.”

“Nothing crazy happened?”

“No.”

“Um, okay… well, did you see that the animated Crimson Riot movie is out?!” you ask, pathetically hopeful that the biggest conversation card you held right now would give you something better than these simple, halfhearted responses. The movie had had no promos, just a message from the local theaters that it had been made and to come and watch it.

“Yup.”

…

“Oh, that’s cool! I just found out this morning when my dad called me! I’m not near home, so I was wondering if maybe you wanted to come and watch it with me?”

You froze. Was that a date you had asked him out on? It was, wasn’t it?! Your face exploded with heat, your fingers trembling as you poured the finished hot coffee into the cup.

“...I’d rather not.”

Oh.

“T-That’s okay! I’m sure I can find a friend or something to go watch it with me… or I’ll just wait until a holiday to see it with my dad… if it’s still out.”

“Hopefully, it’s still out by then,” Kirishima muttered, his face refusing to look at you, his eyes buried into his wallet as he handed you the change for his drink. “Thanks.” he rushed, grabbing his cup and turning on his heel.

“What’s wrong with you?” you manage to ask before you can keep your mouth shut, but you can’t help it. Your chest aches with his dismissal, with every sentence he spoke that horribly and effectively shut you down before you even had a chance. In the end, it seemed that your hurt feelings won out your need to be polite. “Did something happen? A-Are you okay? Did I do something?”

Kirishima freezes in his path.

“No, nothing happened.”

That was not the answer you were hoping to get.

“Then why are you acting like this?” you ask, your voice bordering a desperate plea for an answer.

For the past many weeks, you had never once thought that he had been avoiding you, ignoring you. You thought that maybe he had just been busy with his personal life, too busy with school and work to spare his free time entertaining you at work. But even if you were disillusioned with your admiration and feelings for him, you knew the two of you were friends. You had to have been friends!

Silence.

“What’s going on?” you ask again, your voice feeling small and weak.

“Nothing,” Kirishima reiterates, his head turning so you both looked at each other through the corner of his eyes. “Nothing happened, I just… couldn’t show up.”

“Why?”

“I don’t like being around you, not anymore.”

Those words wash over you like freezing water; they’re harsh, cruel, and mean. His face twisting up as if he was some snarling, upset animal. He didn’t want to be here, his face screamed, he felt like some cornered, caged animal.

Muted anger and heartache wash over you, your head nodding numbly as you laugh humorlessly. You had been the problem.

“Sorry for… for making you feel obligated in showing up,” you whisper, your soul feeling as though it was leaving your body, your face twisted in the horribleness in his words.

I don’t like being around you, not anymore.

He wasn’t even apologizing… he’d meant it… didn’t he?

Kirishima moves to walk away, his eyes glazed over similarly to your own, but you’re not done. Not quite yet.

“You know,” you manage to speak out, your voice starting off paltrily, an almost chuckle tickling the back of your throat, humming deeply in your chest. He stops. “This entire time, you always boasted about being ‘manly’… about being chivalrous and a decent human being. For the most part, I’ve always agreed and thought that you were manly, chivalrous, and a more than decent human being but now… I can’t believe you. You really came all this way after two months of avoiding me to tell me that you would never be showing up again? That the reason for you not returning was because you’re sick of me?”

He’s silent for a bit, and it's then you notice the tears falling down your face, “Thought it was manlier to tell you I wasn’t coming back then to stop showing up without a reason.”

“You already did that!” you snapped, suddenly piercing, thundering anger running through every cell of your body, raising the hair on your body. “You’re being a complete fucking dick now, Kirishima! For what? At least before I thought it was because you’re busy, but no, you just had to tell me it was because of me! Oh my god?! To think I have a crush on you?! That I was ready to confess to you the next fucking time we had a moment together?!”

You felt hysterical, his reasoning jumbling and twisting in your mind, not at all feeling coherent, and your blazing feelings that were now biting you in the ass… you wanted to make him feel guilt most of all. With tears falling bitterly, angrily down your face, you stared at Kirishima. He was finally facing you, looking you dead on with emotion-filled eyes and a gaping fish mouth ― opening and closing pathetically.

“Get out,” you spoke with a serenity you were not quite feeling, your finger thrust toward the front door.

“Y-Y/l/n―”

“I don’t want to hear it,” you laugh bitterly, no longer wanting to have whatever it is that he wanted to say.

He was just a customer, not a friend, only a customer.

You didn’t need to be his friend anymore.

“Get. Out. Now.”

You didn’t wait for him to leave, turning on your heel, you walked to the backroom, not daring to return to the front until he left.

You’d forgotten how much rejection hurt.

O N E

Whoever said heartbreak was healed with a wild night out, a pint of ice cream and crying had clearly been built differently from you.

One wild night out with your friends, two pints of ice cream, and thirty crying sessions later, you were still sulking as you simply existed. You weren’t even sure why you were overreacting either?! He had been a crush, not a boyfriend!

Lord save you for whenever an actual reciprocated lover dumped you, you were probably never going to recover. Still, you couldn’t let it affect you all that much; you were still going about your day as you usually would, just… sulking.

“You’re a blessing in my life,” your coworker sighed as she came out from the back, her hands moving to release her hair from her bun, her purse slung against her chest as she continued to thank you. “I promise you the next time we work together, I’ll clean up on my own!”

You shake your head, waving her off as you dried some of the dishes lying about.

“We aren’t busy, and there’s no one here, I’ll clean up just fine!” you laugh, glancing over your shoulder to look at her. “Just buy me a pastry tomorrow or something. I’ve closed on my own many times, I’ll be fine! There's no coffee demand this late at night anyway!”

“Fine! I won’t forget! But don’t complain if there’s more than one pastry!”

“Oh my god, LEAVE!” you yell, blindly pointing at the door for her to leave, and you hear her resounding laughter as she finally does go.

“Oops, sorry, welcome and excuse me!” you hear her exclaim as she steps out, and you turn around, already knowing that it’s a customer.

Taking your coworkers' welcome as the company greeting, you merely shouted out that you’d be right with them as you finished washing ― you were almost done with them anyways. Finally done, you turned around, eyes on your thighs as you dried your hands on your apron.

“Alright, how can I help…” you froze when you caught sight of familiar, warm red eyes. “...you.”

Kirishima.

He looked at you with blushing, puffed cheeks, his eyes full of mixing, swirling emotions that you probably couldn’t handle to hear (especially if he had come to yell at you). You don’t know what to do, merely looking at him before sighing.

“The usual?” you ask, moving to get things as smoothly and effortlessly as you could (you had been yelled at for your emotional outburst by your boss).

“Uh, actually, no. I’m okay,” Kirishima spoke up as soon as you pulled out a paper cup, and you stopped, looking at him with your best attempt at dull, emotionless eyes.

“What can I get for you then?” you try again, hating the way that you want to smile at him, to pretend that nothing happened two weeks ago; that this was his first time back.

“I have to confess something,” Kirishima states, his fingers fisting into his ridiculous mismatched athleisure clothing. “I actually really, really, really hate coffee…”

You blinked.

You hadn’t expected that confession.

“Um, okay? Well, then can I make you some―”

“I’m not quite done, sorry,” Kirishima apologized, his hand rubbing the back of his neck in his embarrassment. “I hate coffee, and I don’t like being dishonest, but really, I feel like I’ve been lying to you this entire time.”

“...what?”

“I told you at some point that I had come into this shop by coincidence, but that’s not true! I’ve been passing by for months before stepping foot into here! I had always seen you working through the front window, and you just… you captivated me from that very moment, but I’ve been too weak, nervous, and totally unmanly and could never build up the courage to come in! It took me a year to build up the courage to come in ― which is why I nearly broke the front door that first day! I was so nervous about messing up; I just overexerted my strength!”

Kirishima laughed, his hands raking through his spiked hair, and you could only stare at him as the gelled hair began to fall under his ministrations.

“See, the truth is, I’ve liked you for a long time. Like a long time. And then, when I came in, and we became friends, I only fell for you even more, and I’ve been trying to work up the courage to confess to you! But every time I tried, something bad happened! Like the grouchy old man in the line, how you got sick and couldn’t work! But a true man doesn’t give up until it’s over… and I thought that girl who was hugging you and kissing your cheek that one day was your girlfriend, so I gave up! But the thing is, I was a coward, so fucking unmanly that I couldn’t be around you without you being mine! And so I left because it hurt… but it hurt not being around you, so Mina brought me here! But then you said… you said you liked me back, and unless you’re in a polyamorous relationship, there’s no way for you to have said feelings and confess them to me like that!”

He stopped, his breath frantic, panting, and you could only look up with him with a mirrored breathing pattern despite your quietness.

“I’m here because I’m tired of being weak and unmanly. I’m here because I have deep feelings for you, and I want to ask you out!”

You’re silent for a bit, the temerity of his words loud and clear in your ears, ringing with the need to be addressed. For the first time since he had walked out of your life for the first time, a warmth bubbled in your chest.

“You know,” you whisper, your eyes locked with his, the tears in your eyes freely showing. “This coffee shop does, in fact, have tea?”

“Wha―?”

He doesn’t have the chance to finish the curious ask, your hands grabbing his shirt and bringing him close, his nose brushing against yours but your lips hovering below his own.

“Can I kiss you?” you whisper, your eyes falling to his lips for a second before coming back to his eyes that shone brightly, vividly, excitedly.

“Please?”

Your lips found themselves pressed against his, and the two of you stood there, leaning against the counter by the cash register. Lips passionately, smoothly, deeply pressing against one another as electricity traveled slowly down your spine as his hands pressed against your ribcage. When you pulled away, his eyes fluttered open after yours, and he had the brightest, dumbest smile on his face.

“Would you like to go see the Crimson Riot movie with me?”

#kirishima x reader #kirishima eijiro x reader #bnha #bnha x reader #mha

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bittysvalentines · 5 years ago

Text

How to deal with your ex like the adult you are

From @yoshiscribbles

To @thatsclassicsbaby

Rating: G. Relationships: Bitty/Parse, past Jack/Parse, pre Bitty/Jack/Parse. Tags: coffee shop au, trans bitty, trans parse, developing relationship, established relationship.

I hope you enjoy this fic! I had a lot of fun writing it and tried to incorporate elements you seemed to like, so enjoy :D

The door to the kitchen of the coffee shop slammed open and Bitty turned his head to see his boyfriend plastering his back against the door. Most of Kent’s face was blank, but there was a look of utter panic in his eyes that nearly made Bitty abandon the puffed pastry he was working on. Kent opened his mouth before Bitty could ask what was wrong.

“We can’t work here anymore.”

Bitty blinked, because that made absolutely no sense. “What are you talking about sweetpea, you love it here.”

Finishing up, Bitty folded the pastry before moving to put it back in the refrigerator, which incidentally brought him closer to Kent. The other boy had pushed himself off the door and was now pacing agitatedly in Bitty’s kitchen. “Okay, you can still work here. And so can I, I guess, but I can’t go back to the front.”

Bitty chanced a look at the front through the small round windows in the double doors that led to the kitchen, but there didn’t seem to be anything special going on. Certainly nothing that would warrant this reaction from Kent at least.

"The guy,” Kent said helpfully, though he still didn’t move from his prostrated position on the ground. “With a square jaw and stupidly blue eyes and that perfect fucking hair and-"

Kent stopped himself with a groan, but Bitty felt like it wasn't because he had run out of material to talk about. The description was perfect though, because wow, the guy near the corner did have a perfect jaw, and hair that looked soft, and when he raised his head Bitty ducked under the windows too because those piercing blue eyes sure were something.

"So it's not just me, is it?"

Kent's commiserating voice let Bitty breathe properly again as he realised that his heart was beating far too fast for no discernable reason. "Does he always look at you like-"

Bitty couldn't find the words to express the feeling, but Kent and him were on the same wavelength as usual. "Like you're the sole focus of his attention, yeah."

And this time, Bitty realised that something was wrong, because Kent usually never sounded despondent when they were both noticing a boy like that. He stood up and moved closer to his boyfriend.

"Okay, what did he do?" Bitty asked in all seriousness. He pulled Kent into his arms and the other boy moved easily enough. The tension in Ken's sturdy frame seemed to lessen as Bitty breathed with him, and he eventually answered the hug.

"We... used to date, Kent said eventually. And it hadn’t ended well judging by the way Kent was still refusing to look Bitty in the eyes.

Bitty chased every good thought he'd had about the man's attractiveness out of his mind. "Want me to kick him out?" he asked, though he wasn't expecting a positive answer. After all, Kent knew how much Bitty abhorred confrontation, and kicking that guy out without due cause would certainly count as such. As he’d expected, Kent shook his head in refusal.

They stayed like that for a few more moments, and it thankfully seemed like the ex wasn’t planning on staying in the coffee shop for long. The next time Bitty looked through the windows, Kent’s ex was gone, much to both their relief.

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

Unfortunately, it seemed like the appearance of Kent’s ex wasn’t a coincidence the first time, but was instead the beginning of a new habit. Bitty usually wouldn’t mind, except that this was Kent’s ex and Bitty was thus contractually obligated to hate him on principle. This also wouldn’t be a problem if it wasn’t for the café’s dreadful lack of clientele at 7 in the morning, which coupled with Bitty’s southern upbringing, forced him to make small talk with the man under pain of disappointing his mental mama Bittle. Actually talking to the guy emphatically did not improve things however.

“All of this would be so much easier if he was actually rude,” Bitty eventually complained to Chowder, who had the misfortune of being the only person in the vicinity other than Kent once the ex left.

“But he isn’t?” Chowder asked, but Bitty was too busy moping over how terrible of a boyfriend he was being to try and process what undercurrent of emotion the other boy had added in his tone.

“But he isn’t.” In fact, Kent’s ex – and Bitty was determined not to call him Jack despite having been given explicit permission to do so by the man himself – had been nothing but polite to Bitty, and even tipped generously, the bastard! How was Bitty supposed to hold on to his dislike in such a case?

“Talking to Kent might work?” Chowder’s reply had Bitty realizing that he must have said part of his inner monologue out loud and he flushed. Chowder waved away his attempts at apologies and simply continued. “That’s his ex, right? If they broke up, Kent must have tons of reasons as to why it didn’t work, and they might help you like him less.”

“Chowder, you are a genius!” Elated, Bitty engulfed the younger boy into a hug, nearly choking him with the force of his embrace.

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

Kent looked up as the doors to the apartment he shared with his boyfriend opened. He would usually have waited for Bitty to be done so that they could leave the coffee shop together, but he’d had an appointment with his endocrinologist that afternoon and had to leave earlier. Bitty crossed the threshold, arms laden with groceries and looking slightly dumbfounded. Kent chuckled and moved to help him.

“You look like you’ve discovered the answers to the universe, what gives?”

If Kent hadn’t been looking at his boyfriend, he might have missed the way his expression faltered slightly before coming back to normal. As it was, he had nothing to distract him from Bitty’s face and he didn’t much like what he saw.

It seemed like Bitty had learned that there wasn’t much he could do to keep Kent from finding out what he was feeling, for he relented. He greeted Kent with a kiss and crossed the room to put down the groceries in the kitchen. “It’s about your ex.”

Kent grimaced even as he tried to ignore the pang in his chest that resurfaced every time he thought about Jack. It had been years already – 3 years and 7 months, not that Kent was counting – and yet his reaction still hadn’t abated.

He knew Bitty wouldn't push, especially not if Kent insisted, but maybe it was time to face his problems instead of spending another two weeks hiding in the kitchen like his life depended on it every time he caught a glimpse of Jack. "Shoot," he sighed, though he put on a cocky smirk to put his boyfriend at ease.

Bitty didn't seem impressed, but he still continued. He seemed to hesitate over his words, strangely enough. Kent briefly wondered how terrible the question he was going to ask had to be to cause this reaction. "I need you to give me all the reasons you can think of to hate him," Bitty said in a rush, as though the words were fighting to come out of his mouth.

"You... what?"

Kent's nonplussed answer must have opened a dam, because Bitty transformed under his widening eyes. The other boy spoke too fast, moving his arms so much as he ranted that the sleeves of his shirt slid down to reveal the strap of his binder. Kent managed to catch something about Jack, and nice, and too much hockey, and tips, and polite maybe? By the time the rant was over, he did have a very good idea about what the problem was, and grimaced slightly as he considered his answer.

"Yeah, Itsy?" Bitty turned, facing Kent again, and he opened his mouth. "Yeah, he's not- I can't really help you with that." Kent admitted wistfully. "We didn't break up because he was terrible or anything, it was..."

He raised his hand to make some kind of gesture, to try to illustrate his feelings, but eventually let it fall down after it having hovered in the air. What was there to say? That they’d broken up because they were both in terrible states, which in turn made them terrible for each other? He sighed, before leaning against Bitty’s shoulder, who’d approached to stand at his side. Reaching out for his boyfriend’s hand, Kent looked at their entangled fingers and tried to voice his thoughts.

“He hated himself and closed himself off, I hated myself and lashed out, it built up along with other factors until…” Kent interrupted himself, not wanting to be the one to tell Bitty about Jack’s overdose. It wasn’t his place after all, and Bitty really didn’t have to know. “Something happened,” he continued instead. He shrugged. Turned his head to look Bitty in the eye. “We never officially broke up, I guess, but we never saw each other again and eventually moved away.”

Kent had thought he’d gotten over the whole train of events, but even years later there was still an ache in his chest when he thought about Jack. That, and he had to admit that his inability to face Jack didn’t solely come from the awkwardness of facing an ex.

“Nonono, Kent!” Bitty was pleading in that way that let Kent know he was being a drama queen rather than genuinely distressed. He even swooned toward Kent, and Kent couldn’t help the small laughter that escaped him at the sight. It was far too obvious that he was trying to dispel the tension, but Kent still felt grateful for it, ridiculous as his boyfriend was being. It was working after all.

“You were supposed to help me hate your ex, not make me feel sad for the both of you” Bitty protested, though he was also smiling slightly now that the tension had been released.

Kent shook his head fondly and lowered his face to Bitty’s hair, breathing in his familiar scent. “Sorry Bitsy, he’s just that great.”

The tranquil atmosphere couldn’t last for that long though, not when Kent knew he’d let too much of his feelings show with the way he spoke.

“You still love him,” Bitty said eventually, and Kent flinched as he realised that it wasn’t a question. And he couldn’t in all honesty deny the statement.

“I love you,” he said instead. Even to his ears the words sounded like an exrather than honest, even if he meant every single one of them.

Still, Bitty didn’t push him away. He didn’t even let go of the reassuring hold he had on Kent’s shoulder. Instead, he kept holding Kent close and used his free hand to guide Kent’s chin until they were locking gazes together again.

“I never doubted that for a second, Kent,” Bitty said, and the words were fierce in a way that made Kent’s eyes mist over a little. “And I love you too, no matter what your feelings towards Jack may be.”

Kent couldn’t keep looking Bitty in the eyes like this. Not when he felt like his heart had grown three sizes and he had to bite his lip to keep it from trembling. Not when the weight and guilt he’d unconsciously felt piling on his shoulder seemed to have lightened with his boyfriend’s tacit approval and unconditional love. Not when he knew Bitty would support his decision no matter what it would be.

Sniffling a little, Kent engulfed Bitty into a hug and hid his face into his boyfriend’s neck, relishing in the soothing motion a steady hand on his back.

“You should talk to him,” Bitty whispered near his ear. Kent couldn’t see his face, but his voice was tremulous, like he was holding back tears too. “There’s enough place in your heart for more than just little me, and you could see where you want to go from there, alright?”

This time, it was Kent’s turn to pull back a little until he could press his forehead on Bitty’s own. “You’ve never been “just” anything to me,” he whispered hoarsely against Bitty’s lips. He closed the distance between their mouths to press them together gently for a few moments. “And if there’s a future out there that doesn’t include you I don’t want it.

“Kent Parson!” Bitty exclaimed with a tearful burst of laughter. “You are not allowed to make me cry in my own goddamn apartment!”

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

It took a while for Kent to put Bitty’s advice into action. Bitty didn’t even push, even when Kent kept conveniently finding tasks to do in the kitchen where he could remain out of view of the customers. Jack must have seen him at least once by this point, unless he had truly become more oblivious to the way he affected people with time. It had to come to a breaking point eventually though.

“Okay, this can’t go on like this I’m going out.”

“Kent, are you-”

But Kent didn’t let Bitty finish his sentence before he’d headed off towards the table that had become Jack’s usual since his first visit to the café. Jack didn’t look up as Kent approached, nose buried in what was probably a history book, knowing him. He did raise his head however when Kent stopped near his table and didn’t move.

“Hey.” The word left his mouth like a prayer and a curse all at once. It was also like exhaling a sigh of relief, and Kent felt all the better for it even as he felt his senses narrow until everything outside of Jack and himself felt dulled.

Kent had been very careful about not stalking Jack on the various kind of social networks available to him, and maybe this was why he was so taken aback by the intensity of those blue eyes. Jack’s eyes looked Kent over with a clinical gaze for a few moments, and Kent felt ice begin to cover him as he pondered the possibility that Jack might have forgotten him entirely. After all, it had been years since they’d seen each other, he’d gotten on hormones since he’d broken up with Jack and though he wasn’t unrecognizable there were still some sizeable changes there. What if Jack had never tried contacting Kent because he truly didn’t care? This entire thing was a terrible idea, Kent should have remained in the kitchen after all.

After what seemed like too long, Jack finally opened his mouth, recognition replacing the confusion in that cold gaze. “Kenny?” said Jack, looking him up and down, and Kent felt the full weight of that stare on him. He didn’t answer verbally – couldn’t get his voice to work suddenly – but his expression must have talked enough for him because Jack suddenly looked both relieved and deeply uncomfortable. They stared at each other in silence, neither of them willing to break it.

“You, euh, you have thighs,” Jack eventually said.

Kent just. Stared. Well no, that wasn’t exactly what he did. He looked at his thighs first and noticed that yes, he did in fact have them, but then he let his gaze climb back up and stared at Jack. To be fair, the other man seemed as confused as Kent about the words that came out of his own mouth, so Kent decided to give him some leeway. Before he could speak, Jack hastened to correct himself.

“Not that you didn’t before, it’s just-” Jack gestured vaguely in the direction of Kent’s legs, and Kent couldn’t believe he still felt some sort of fondness for that awkward mess of a boy. “They got bigger since we-”

“Yeah,” Kent interrupted before Jack could mention their failed attempt at a relationship. “Um, I took up hockey again? And I work out too so…”

They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence, and Kent couldn’t take it anymore. He broke their staredown and turned on his feet, speed walking out of there as fast as he could.

Bitty was hands deep in a new batch of what looked like croissants when Kent opened the door, so Kent hovered at his side and waited for him to finish before he spoke. “Okay, we need to move on to plan B.”

“Plan B, what plan B?” Bitty asked confusedly. Then his face split up in a delighted smile. “Oh, you talked to Jack! How did it go?”

Kent waved his concerns away. “We talked, but now we need plan B,” Kent repeated, and he couldn’t believe Bitty hadn’t understood him the first time. “Which is the one where you talk to him in my place, because I can’t focus when his face is just… Right there!”

“Oh honey,” was Bitty’s answer, accompanied by one of Bitty’s commiserating faces and a hand pressed over his heart. That’s when Kent knew that his plan of simply avoiding Jack until Bitty fixed his relationship would not succeed and he’d have to actually talk to the man himself.

#bv2020 #bitty's valentines #bittykent #bittyjackkent

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dyaz-stories · 5 years ago

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Fic Writer Meme

Thanks a lot to @bearpluscat for tagging me! You can find her post here !

Author Name:

Ever since I started writing fan fictions, I had some sort of version of Dya in my pen-names, for no particular reason I’ll admit (and, as you do, Dyana was the name of my very first OC). There were lots of variations, and a couple even left out the “Dya”, but it’s what I always came back to. Miss_Dyana (on Ao3) and Just Dyana (on ff.net) are probably my favorite now.

Fandoms You Write For:

Mainly Inuyasha really! I have a couple of pieces for the Fairy Tail fandom out there (namely Gajevy though, fun fact, I’m originally a Graylu shipper, it was my very first OTP), I’ve also written a bit for Veronica Mars, Riverdale and Sky High (for LoVe, Falice and Greenpeace, or Layla/Warren, respectively). I’m fairly monomaniac I guess, I can only be very involved in one fandom at a time, and it’s been Inuyasha for the past year and a half — and I’m very happy about it. I like indie otomes and I wrote for one of them, namely Changeling, too (it’s a great game by the way, I definitely recommend it) .

Where You Post:

Almost everything ends up here, except for my Riverdale writing, which so far is only on Ao3, where most of my Inukag stuff… isn’t. I’m also usually rather active on ff.net, though I haven’t been keeping up in updating my one-shot collections in… a while now… I really have to do that again.

Most Popular Multichapter:

At the moment, no doubt The Maid and The Bodyguard, but then it’s my only multi chapter considering The Cursed Paintings is in hiatus. I’m bad enough at writing one multi chapter at a time, I’d never get anything done if I started several… (Yup, that’s why The Cursed Paintings isn’t being updated) My most popular fic ever however was back when I was writing for My Candy Love, in French at the time (so Amour Sucré), and it was called “Moi, seize ans, pétasse repentie…” I was 16 when I started it, never finished it ^^

Favorite Story:

That I wrote myself? Hm. I actually really, really enjoy writing The Maid and the Bodyguard. Other than that, I have a big soft spot for Superhero I think. I also love all the stories (generally prettyyyy angsty) in which I explore the characters’ emotions more in depth.

Story You Were Most Nervous to Post:

I’m always nervous to post in a new fandom / on new characters. I feel I need to write 2-3 stories to be really comfortable with them, so the first ones aren’t great and at the same time I can’t get a good grasp of the characters without, well, writing them. In the Inuyasha fandom though, I’m always nervous to post something related to Kikyo. I don’t want to have my writing labeled as ‘bashing’, but I also dislike her as a character and as a person. Writing about Kagome’s emotions also feels delicate, especially because to me it’s essential to recognize Inuyasha’s responsibility and mistakes when doing so. Bad Day was definitely a bit stressful to post since it involves both of those things. Different takes on scenes that are usually liked by the fandom are also hard, as in I don’t know what reception I’ll get. My take on the almost kiss, Opposites, for example, while being actually one of my favorite stories, was a bit stressful, same goes for Haunted — and yet I really, really like them both.

How Do You Pick Titles:

I’m pretty bad at it lol. I mean, The Maid and the Bodyguard? Really? I like to pick song lyrics though. I feel it often really gives a good impression of what the story is like. It’s better if you know the song, but even if you don’t I think it sounds nice. Heaven Is A Place on Earth is pretty evocative no matter what and still somewhat poetic, for example.

Do You Outline:

…ish? I mean I’d like to. Theoretically. I like to at least have a good idea of where I’m going (knowing how it ends), but it’s not necessarily in detail. If I’m afraid I’m going to forget it, I write it down. The first page of my document is just scenes I’d like to write for the story. So, I guess the answer is mostly no. I’d kinda like to do it more (having planned one thing in particular would have saved me from an almost two-months pause in TMTB), but I do appreciate the freedom it gives to me.

Complete Stories:

Yeah, um, about that… I’m bad at finishing stuff? Only thing I’ve ever finished was a story for Disney Channel’s ZOMBIES. I was really, really happy about managing to get it done though!

Coming Soon:

Well, Inuvember, hopefully? So that should be intense (and I have a couple of ideas that I’m excited to share for that but they’ll have to be surprises). Other than that, I really want to focus on finishing TMTB now, so maybe not that many one-shots in the meantime (though, yeah, with Inuvember it’s still going to have to wait a while <.< ).

Prompts:

Yup. Yupyupyup. I really like writing them. Send ‘em. I’m not saying I’m fast (I’m not), but if you’re ever interested in reading my take on something, always feel free to send something!

Upcoming Story You are Most Excited For:

Once I’m done with TMTB (5-10 chapters, including the epilogue, and probably two NSFW bonus chapters that will be posted on the side), I’d like to write a couple of short stories (5-10 chapters), for some of the headcanons I’ve posted. There’s also a Coffee Shop AU I want to write and I’d like to continue the ‘Pregnant after a one-night stand AU’. So, I’m hyped to test a new format and I’m curious to see what it’ll change for me on the writing side. I’d kinda like to try my hand at writing a whole canon story, but I’m not sure it’d work well, so don’t hold your breath ^^'

Five Authors: @shinidamachu @artistefish @eternalnight8806-3 @mustardyellowsunshine @cstorm86

#inuyasha #fic writer meme #dya's nonsense

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temsikfates-archive · 4 years ago

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Relationships

Ok so I decided to make a post for the main relationships in this blog. If I forgot someone, just let me know! I’m not gonna add the AUs here because it would made things even more messy than they already are adskjdkj

Yomiel (Shades)

Jowd | fourminutesbefore (Friend)

“I guess I can consider Jowd my friend, despite all the shit I did to him. He forgave me and we both are trying to deal with the awful memories from that terrible timeline. I owe him a lot. I feel like I’ll forever owe him for everything I did. He says he forgives me, but I don’t feel like this is enough. I think my debt to him will never be completely paid, but I’m trying my best.”

Cat!Sissel | catofkismet/phantompets (Best Friend)

“My best friend in the entire world is a cat. Call me crazy, but that’s the truth. He’s the only one I can talk to about my traumas from the past timeline and he’s been helping me a lot.”

Missile | fourminutesbefore/phantompets/ghostlymissile (Friend)

“I’m not a dog person and honestly, dogs makes me feel nervous, but this particular one? I like him. He helped Sissel to avert my fate, so I owe him my life too.”

Apollo Justice | taiyodoroki (Friend)

“Apollo is really nice and we have a lot in common. First, he appreciates red. Got my respect. He also loves cats and is a nerd so thumbs up. He is also very nice to me.”

Apollo Justice | aptlyattorney (Friend)

A lawyer I met when I was talking about cats. I ended up telling him about my secret because he seemed to know I was lying. Must be a lawyer thing I guess, since it’s part of their profession to detect when someone is lying or hiding facts. He seems nice and has a good taste for suits.

Koven | spiritkat (Friend)

“I’ve met this kitten accidentally and I already love him. He reminds me a lot of Sissel and he’s also willing to help me. I can’t have enough kitty friends, the more the better!”

Kamila | fourminutesbefore (Unofficial niece figure)

“Kamila…. What do I have to say about this poor girl whose life I tormented so much in a past timeline? I feel terrible for what I did to her. I’m trying to atone for everything I did to her. She seems to like me, I guess. Guess I’m an awkward uncle figure to her, apparently.”

Selena Dean | hackerdean (Pupil/Unofficial niece figure)

“Met this girl one day in a coffee shop while waiting for a client to show up. She seems to be into programming too and likes cats. We have a very nice chat. She seems to look up to me as a mentor. Guess I got another awkward niece figure.”

Connor | bambino-muses (Friend)

“This is the Android that was sent by CyberLife to work with the detectives in the PD. Really innocent. Sissel is very fond of him and I like him too. I’m really curious to study about his programming.”

Cabanela | nooothinglikeme (Grudge)

“Ah, the inspector… He still annoys me a lot. I haven’t forgiven him, but Sissel says I should try to forgive him and move on. And even though I know she’s right… I don’t know if I’m ready yet. The inspector should also forgive me, this go both ways. I dunno how the fuck he found out about the timelines, but it seems it has something to do with the multiverses I recently found out were real.”

Kaname Date/Saito Sejima | psyncin-in-the-restrain (Awkward Friend)

“Met this guy while walking on the streets once. Seems to be a new detective in the precint, working with the local detectives. Said he came from Japan and seems to be working on a big case. He’s a bit of a werid guy and I had a weird feeling about him. Maybe it’s me being paranoid or just my trust issues alerting me to be careful, but I’m definitely curious about him. I guess I can consider him a friend now. He’s nice towards me and Sissel and he respects our relationship, so I guess I can trust him.”

Manipulator Yomiel (Shard)

Seluna | garounthropy/silenthcwl (Close Friend/Crush)

“We started out in a bad mood, but then we turned out to be friends. She reached a hand out to me when no else would. She’s… been doing a lot for me. More than anyone else ever did. I guess I am developing feelings for her, but I think it’s just my grief that’s making me project Sissel on her… I’m still confused about my feelings for her, but I hope this doesn’t ruin our friendship.”

Cat!Sissel | catofkismet /phamtompets (Best Friend)

“My best friend. He’s been beside me for years and has been my only companion and the only one I could talk to. Too bad cats can’t talk. I love him so much…”

Apollo Justice | taiyodoroki (Friend)

“I like this kid. I’ve been trying to teach him how to shoot people. He’s shot that inspector twice. I’m proud of him.”

Jowd | fourminutesbefore (Enemy/Victim)

“Ah, Jowd, I hope you’re enjoying your spot in your prison cell. I make sure to visit you everyday to see if you’re suffering properly. I’ll make sure you pay for what you did to me.”

Cabanela | nooothinglikeme (Enemy/Victim)

“This bastard inspector always like to get in the way of my plans. I killed him once and I’d kill him as many times as needed.”

Alfendi Layton | twiceminded (Victim)

“This one’s an interesting case. He’s intriguing. He reminds me ot that bastard inspector in white, and he’s also a man of the law so another reason for me to dislike him. Right now, I’m just toying with him, seeing how far I can push him…”

Bluemiel | fourminutesbefore (Enemy/Victim)

“This one’s a shameful alternate. I can’t even consider him an alternate. How can he not feel the need for vengeance for the people who destroyed our lives? He’s weak. He’s pathetic. And I hate him.”

Sissel

Alma | celebratorysoul (Close Friend)

“Alma’s the adorable wife of Detective Jowd. We have much in common and lots of interesting stuff to talk about. She’s helped me distract myself and feel better when that terrible incident at the park happened.”

Larry | itsgottabethebutz (Friend)

“We met once in a very hot day and we drank a limonade together. Despite initially flirting with me, he quickly understood I’m engaged and he’s really nice towards me! We’re both artists and I love it! Larry is a very fun guy to be around and very respectful too. I really want him and Yomiel to be friends too. Yomiel needs more friends in his life to distract himself.”

Kaname Date/Saito Sejima | psyncin-in-the-restrain (Friend)

“A very nice guy I met in a Market Fair! He also is an awkward friend of Yomiel’s. I guess an awkward friend is better than nothing! He’s a really nice guy and I really want to get to know him better. I really hope Yomiel can get along with him. Saito seems so lonely and he could use a friend, same to Yomiel. Just hope Yomiel stops with his silly jealousness towards him.

Teenmiel

Clive Dove | clivedoveplblog (Second Best Friend/Classmates)

“Clive is my other friend besides Sissel. It’s weird how we came to be friends, but I like him. He loves to tease me, but since it’s in a friendly way and not in a mean way like the bullies, I don’t really mind it. He’s a bit mysterious sometimes, but he’s fun to be around.”

TeenSissel

Clive Dove | clivedoveplblog (Friend/Classmates)

“Clive is Yomiel’s friend, so he’s my friend too. He spends more time with Yomiel, but we also do some shenanigans together.”

#Relationships;

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firelxdykatara · 4 years ago

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I went looking through the notes because this is exactly what I was thinking as I read this post. And I think that’s a point that the OP should definitely consider--there’s a reason “there was only one bed”/”oh my god there was only one bed” is such a wide-spread meme. there’s a reason ‘coffee shop AUs’ and ‘soulmate AUs’ (and many others) are so popular they have their own dedicated tags on ao3. there’s a reason there are so many posts going around to the effect of ‘have i read a million of this exact au in fics? yes. am i going to read the very next one i find? also yes’

(in fact, on a one shot i wrote for zutara week last year, i got a comment that said something like “me: -knows it’s a zutara fic and the summary foreshadowed zuko running from the altar- also me: omg zuko just ran from the altar” and i was absolutely tickled pink)

people love tropes and cliches. and yes, they can be trite and poorly done (it really depends on the work), but sometimes, fans just want to read a thousand variations on the theme of their favorite characters trapped in a hotel room with only one bed and omg what could possibly happen next?

and i think that extends to original works, as well.

yeah, there are tropes and cliches aplenty that you’ll find in any given genre--and if i didn’t like them, i’d probably stop consuming that genre. but i don’t watch romcoms to be blown away by originality! i watch romcoms because i enjoy the sight of two people either thrown together or kept apart by sometimes wildly improbable scenarios, i enjoy the Sudden Twist near the end where something goes Wrong, and then the inevitable conclusion where they get together and there’s an implied Happily Ever After. i don’t read YA fantasy novels for deep and thought-provoking subversions of the genre, i read it because sometimes i just want to see teenage girls/young women save the goddamn world against all odds (and probably kiss a pretty boy or girl in the bargain)!

and, idk, sometimes i think familiarity with the genre and the tropes and cliches present in it adds to the experience, for me, rather than detracts from it. do i know that the Chosen One is going to win at the end, given all the narrative beats that have come before, or that the couple who initially disliked each other but were thrown together by circumstance are gonna kiss soon? of course. and that’s exactly why i’m reading/watching it. genre subversions can be fun and interesting, if done well, and as long as the ‘subversions’ are properly set up and not thrown in specifically for shock value (if the bad guys are gonna win in the end, i don’t wanna be blindsided by it), but most of the time, if i’m reading a Chosen One fantasy or watching a romcom or action flick, i know exactly what i’m gonna get.

and that’s precisely why i’m watching or reading it. because i love it every time and, usually, it’s the characters themselves who make the story, rather than some original story idea or plot twist.

there’s also a reason people re-watch movies and reread books, after all. the mummy is just as funny and charming and makes me tear up at all the right places the hundredth time i’ve watched it as it did the first.

Having a really galaxy brain thought process about how “originality” and “derivativeness” in books, and even just how well a book pulls off the tropes it uses...are all almost totally relative and subjective things.

People have discussed how, at one point, “the butler did it” or “Luke, I am your father” were stunning and unexpected. The biggest and most predictable cliches were, at some point, exposed to a big audience for the first time, and they were fresh and original and they worked.

But this doesn’t just happen for everyone at one point in time for every trope, as if the Trope Codifier comes about and from then on all people are like “ehh, it’s been done before.” This is happening on a micro-level all the time. An example is when a niche subgenre or long-running franchise starts to expand and get more fans. Newer installments or examples of the subgenre that are seen as tropey and dumb by Fandom Olds can be really popular with the newcomers because to people who are new, the ideas aren’t cliche or “already done.” They’re new. The same thing happens when a book borrows elements from a different genre—a fantasy book having a romance subplot that would make regular romance readers cringe is acceptable because the romance readers and fantasy readers are largely two different groups of people.

You also see this with people who are new to a genre or category of book—or people who are relatively new to reading in general. Middle grade and YA fantasy continue to produce very formulaic and unoriginal stuff, that people who read hundreds of books in that category generally hate. However, these books often gain fans who are captivated by them, because there will always be people who haven’t read hundreds of books in that category. There will always be people for whom your book is their very first experience encountering a particular trope or reading in your genre or even reading a fiction book for pleasure at all.

And all of us were new to every genre we’ve read, once upon a time. My first real YA novel I read was Origin by Jessica Khoury, and in hindsight the love interest and teenage girl main character were both pretty typical and cliched for YA, and the love interest was definitely described in ways that would make me cringe now, simply because “the ripple of muscle beneath his tanned skin” and the “smell of cedar and wind that clung to him” are in every. YA. novel. ever. But I didn’t have that reaction, and I was honestly pretty taken in, because I was like 14 and hadn’t read a genre-typical YA romance before.

Some books, I would argue, specifically exist to appeal to people that are category/genre newbies. That’s their niche. MG/YA variants of lots of genre fiction are often like this, because kids and teens just...have not read as many books due to just not having been alive as long. Children’s books still (unfortunately) get away with incredibly cliche portal fantasies about boy chosen ones because their audience is one that is always full of people who have never read a fantasy book before. Children, though critical and thoughtful readers, got born more recently than adults. Romance in YA or MG tends to seem formulaic and tropey. Horror in YA or MG tends to seem overdone and tropey. Of course there are outstanding MG and YA books for which this is not true, but for the broad mass of YA and MG literature, tropey works because the audience almost definitely doesn’t have the kind of experience with romance or horror needed to develop a sense that “ugh, this is such an overdone trope.”

So it’s true that “every cliche trope got used for the first time at some point,” but the corresponding fact that “every trope a person percieves as cliche got encountered by them for the first time at some point” doesn’t seem to be getting attention and I think it shapes the way we see genres and tropes a lot more.

There will always be people who will appreciate cliches because there will always be people to whom they aren’t cliches. There’s even some validity to the idea that the people who have read extensively enough in a category to bitterly hate its common tropes are outliers. The vast, vast majority of people don’t read hundreds of books per year, and therefore there’s a sort of volunteer bias going on with reviews of books from Goodreads book bloggers who devote a massive fraction of their lives to reading and reviewing books.

With fairly niche subgenres or just genres that don’t have broad, far-reaching appeal, I feel like it’s way more common to have a plague of what seems like tropey garbage constantly churning out to annoy the “Fandom Olds.” Horror is a good example. I’ve experienced this myself—there’s a post where a bunch of people are like “OH GOD WHAT THE FUCK” in response to a clickhole article where an astronaut is talking about seeing his fellow astronaut trapped outside the airlock begging to be let in while the same fellow astronaut is safely inside, warning him not to let in the doppelgänger. And like, yeah, a pretty fucked up concept—which doesn’t really affect me anymore because the clickhole article was like, the third time I’d seen it used in some online short horror piece. There have been stories in this exact format with some slight variation going around online for a long-ass time. And horror is always going to have this problem by the bucketload because the really (or even moderately) fucked up stuff does not appeal to general audiences, at least not in large quantities or consumed frequently, but dedicated horror fans are going to end up desensitized to all of the common tropes. Which is going to cause problems because the horror that’s the most appealing to general audiences is going to be the exact stuff that seems like insipid tropey garbage to the people who really, really, really love horror.

So now I’m thinking about how literally no one has literally complete knowledge of any given genre or category of book, because it’s like physically impossible to read all the books even in fairly niche categories because there are just so many books in the world. Which means that there are Forbidden Opinions about the cliches and tropes of them all that are literally inaccessible to mankind, but that hypothetically a person who’d somehow read them all would develop. We can extrapolate what those opinions would be, but we don’t know for sure what cliche or originality or uniqueness really is! Because none of us have ever experienced All Of Fantasy!

Like. Everyone’s experience of what a genre is is different, because everyone’s sampled literature differently. So everyone’s understanding of what a unique or original idea is...depends on and is limited by what they happen to have read or not read.

And the people who have read more books and who have been dedicated to the genre they like for 20 years or more aren’t necessarily more correct. Like, yes, they have a broader knowledge of the genre, but from a different point of view, don’t they matter less, since having read, say, 900 fantasy novels since the 1990’s makes them actually kind of an outlier in the category of people who enjoy fantasy?

#it was a fascinating post and definitely interesting to think about #but i think the implication that people who are extremely familiar with certain genres get LESS out of them than newbies #misses the reason why they often became familiar with those genres in the first place #if i didn't love tropes and cliches i never would've gotten as familiar with romcoms and action flicks as i am #every james bond movie follows the same story beats and i love watching and rewatching them #and i think the people most likely to complain about those tropes and cliches are those who don't particularly care for the genre #and keep getting irritated when the things they DON'T LIKE about that genre continue to pop up #there's also a difference between tropes and cliches done well and those same tropes done poorly and i think that distinction is important #not that it's not still subjective but there's a reason for instance twilight gained so much criticism even from people #who love teen vampire romance novels as a genre

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lettersofsky · 7 years ago

Note

Sorry if I overwhelm you, buuuut, Kingdom Hearts and FFVII for the fandoms meme. 'Cause I love hearing about your interests.

Don’t you worry about overwhelming me Wings, I’m always happy to ramble about things! Besides, it’s a good way to unwind after a not-too-great shift! This is big and rambly, hopefully just what you wanted!

FFVII

Character I first fell in love with:

The first character I fell in love with the very first time I played the game was definitely Barret. It was his interactions with Marlene that just made me go; ‘yes, this is a good character, he will stay with me for many hours’. He did in fact stay with me for many hours, being one of the first I got all the limit breaks for and part of my final party at the end of the game.

Character I never expected to love as much as I do now:

Probably Sephiroth. I enjoyed him very much as the villain of the OG but Crisis Core went a whole ‘nother yard in making me sympathise with him, because holy shit, no, that’s sad. Also I really love all the small, minuscule details on him in the Crisis Core cut-scenes, namely those one’s where he actually does hide behind his hair, it’s glorious and I love him so much.

Character everyone loves but I don’t:

I’m gonna cheat and put down three because they’re all kinda equal in my eyes and I want to. Angeal, Tifa and Aerith. They’re all just kinda meh to me and that’s basically it. They’re good characters definitely, there’s no doubt about that, I mean I rambled a whole think-piece about how Tifa may have manipulated Cloud into believing that they were actually close before he left for Midgar which is a really interesting parallel to Jenova manipulating Sephiroth in order to get what ‘she’ wanted.

Character I love but everyone else hates:

Probably Rosso, but only for the fact that she’s from Dirge of Cerberus which a lot of people dislike in general (I enjoyed it, I can’t play it because I can’t Shooter for the life of me, but it was fun to watch). But maybe Yazoo as well? I have no idea what characters the majority of the fandom hates; except Hojo, I’m pretty sure that most of the fandom hates Hojo… Maybe Don Corneo too.

Character I used to love but don’t any longer:

Aerith. I used to fucking love Aerith so much but then she kinda started a trend of female characters needing to die in Final Fantasy games and my feelings towards her soured, the worst case of this was Lunafreya in FFXV, which is a beautifully composed scene but it’s just so hollow and it’s fairly obvious that it’s trying to get the emotional response that Aerith’s death scene did without having earned it. Kinda a stupid reason to stop enjoying a character but that’s what happened.

Character I would kiss:

Nanaki, he’s a big fire kitty and I love him. Very much.

Character I want to slap:

Don Corneo, though I also don’t want to touch him in case I contract something that I can’t get rid of easily. Maybe Joe because I did the Chocobo Racing Mini Game too many times to be a good idea; Penelope was a freaking Champion and nothing Joe says can change that.

A pairing I love:

STRIFESODOS AND CLOSSO!! My favourite rare pairs! I love them so much! So, so much! I will keep them forever and never stop writing things for them! Especially Soulmate AUs because I adore those, they’re my Coffee Shop AU and they’ll need to be pried from my cold, dead hands.

A pairing I hate:

… I don’t know... I don’t think there is one. I mean I’ve got ships blacklisted but that’s more because they’re my squick and don’t want to see them but I don’t hate them. I guess

Kingdom Hearts

Character I first fell in love with:

This was actually Vexen, the first time I played Chain of Memories (which is my favourite game of the series). I wasn’t too impressed by anything in the first game (which became a trend with me, I don’t enjoy the main titles that much but I absolutely adore the side games) but then Vexen showed up in CoM and I loved how animated he was. I’m certain that whoever got to animate him was having a great time, because his facial expressions (he’s surprisingly expressive for an unfeeling Nobody) are some of the best things ever.

Character I never expected to love as much as I do now:

Riku, I was kinda meh with him for the first game and then the rest of the series kept building on him until, finally, Dream Drop Distance happened cementing him as one of my favourite characters in the series.

Character everyone loves but I don’t:

Axel, entirely because of petty reasons. He set my scientist man on fire. I’m not ok with him.

Character I love but everyone else hates:

I freaking Love Braig! Especially in Birth by Sleep, where you can beat him without touching the attack button! It was a complete accident the first time I fought him and beat him using the block button but repeat attempts revealed that Cure Block was an amazing ability against him because it heals you while deflecting his attacks back onto him. That’s a fun boss fight when you realize that, it’s basically just a big game of ‘stop hitting yourself’!

Character I used to love but don’t any longer:

Damn it! I can’t think of one off the top of my head…

Character I would kiss:

Goofy! He’s such a good dog-man! He’s such a good team mate! I love him!

Character I want to slap:

Xaldin. I spent so many days trying to fight him until eventually I just gave up and got a friend to fight him for me. (Actually I still haven’t been able to finish a full game of KH2. I always stop around the last three boss fights and move onto another game that I can actually enjoy)

A pairing I love:

Terra/Even aka Frosted Earth. I will go down with this crack ship and be perfectly understanding towards those who would jeer me for writing it!

A pairing I hate:

Roxas/Namine. It’s just a big nope for me, especially after KH2 tried to force it for some reason that I don’t get?? Why’d you attempt to do that square? They’re interactions narrow down to; ‘I wanted to meet you before you die because someone decided Sora’s life was more necessary than yours,’ and ‘You need to murder yourself now so that Sora can wake up despite the fact that you have thoughts and feelings of your own and it’s of no fault of yours that Sora’s memories leaked into you’… Yes, this is how I actually perceive the KH2 prologue.

#ask meme thing reply #missingmywing #final fantasy vii #kingdom hearts #thank you for sending me things!#I enjoyed writing this #It was fun!

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movetogetherau · 7 years ago

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Move together. A Yousana AU - Chapter 11

Summary, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7 , Chapter 8, Chapter 9 , Chapter 10

Read also on ao3

In these past weeks Sana has flown out to Norway twice. That’s more than she usually goes back home in months. She’d be too wrapped up in work to be able to fly home so her family or at least her brother would go visit her. Of course she is happy to go home again, just a few days after she got back to LA but she knows it’s not for vacation. It’s to keep up the charade of being a couple without any drama. When even your agents tell you that you need to go back home and spend time there, you know it’s a severe situation. Especially for Sana and Yousef now.

After a long conversation with their agents and the rest of the people involved with their fake relationship, they came to one conclusion: they had two main problems.

The first one, of course, was the fact that everybody thought that Yousef had cheated on Sana and that they’re pretending to be happy when they’re actually not.

The second one, probably the one that worried the agents the most, was the fact that there is a mysterious, anonymous girl who’s being approached by the press to confirm Yousef’s affair with her. Even if Yousef repeated over and over again that there was no way that his friend would take advantage of the situation and lie to make money, the agents didn’t care. ‘You don’t know this industry like we do, Yousef. People are willing to do whatever it takes for their moment of glory’.

So now there they are. In Norway. In Oslo. Their hometown. A ‘romantic’ trip to convince everyone that they’re as in love as ever and also to have a little conversation with the girl the agents were so worried about.

Sana is used to meeting new people. People that should make her nervous because they can decide whether or not she is going to be cast in a movie or how she will be portrayed in an article. She is not used to being so nervous about meeting new people that are supposed to be friends of her boyfriend, her fake boyfriend.

Well, here she is. Standing outside of a coffee shop, with Yousef right by her side and waiting for that mysterious girl from the picture, Astrid.

“There, she’s coming.”, Yousef says, nodding into the direction of which Astrid is walking towards them.

She’s on the other side of the road and Sana feels like she is going to need support walking. No wonder the press was so excited about Yousef’s alleged affair. The girl walking towards them is beautiful. Shiny blonde hair, big blue eyes, so pretty that she could stand next to Yousef on a big magazine cover.

Sana looks up at Yousef who is smiling at the approaching girl and presses her lips together. He seems really happy to see her.

“Hi.”, the girl says once she’s standing right in front of the couple. She’s smiling at them with a perfect smile.

“Hey, Astrid. Thanks for meeting with us. How are you?”, Yousef starts the conversation quickly.

From the corner of her eye Sana can see that Yousef was about to go a step closer and hug her. She is his friend since high school, after all. That’s what Yousef has told Sana. But he refrains and instead puts an arm around Sana.

“Yeah, no problem. I think we need to talk anyway.”, she says laughingly, not looking like she blames either Yousef nor Sana for the huge outburst of articles with her, although blurry, pictures included.

Then she turns to Sana with a polite smile playing on her lips and extends her hand: “I’m Astrid.”, then she glances at Yousef for a second and can’t help herself when she turns to Sana again. “I’m sorry but Yousef has talked so much about you and I’m a huge fan of your movies so I’m sorry if I seem a little overexcited.”

The sinking feeling in Sana’s stomach starts to disappear slowly. Astrid actually really seems nice. She doesn’t look like she’s faking it. Sana knows what that looks like. So she ends up just smiling at Astrid until Yousef asks if they should go inside.

-x-

“Here you have, latte with no cream for you.” Yousef places Astrid’s coffee in front of her and then turns to Sana, “And a vanilla latte for my girl.”

Sana smiles shyly at Yousef as he takes the seat right next to her. As always he’s having a black coffee. This reminds her of their first dates, breaks, when they would spend a lot of time at the coffee shop near the studio.

“Astrid, I think that the first thing we should say is that we’re really sorry we got you into this mess.” Sana is the one that breaks the ice. Ever since those pictures came out she’s been feeling really bad about it. Sana chose this life, so did Yousef. They both knew they would have to deal with the press. Astrid, on the other hand, she didn’t ask for any of this.

“Oh, Sana, please don’t apologize. None of this is your fault. None of this is anyone’s fault except the press that’s trying to make money out of a lie.” Astrid quickly assures her. Sure, this past week has been kind of a mess. She’s found herself avoiding calls from the press that were practically begging her to betray Yousef. But she knows all of this is just temporary. Soon, they will find another story and she will be able to go back to her life. “And also...I’m sure Yousef has already told you this but you should know that there is nothing going on between us. I swear, we’re just friends.”

“I know.” Sana says looking at Yousef and placing her hand on top of his. “I trust him.”

Yousef smiles fondly at Sana and squeezes her hand. He knows that she’s only acting because they’re in a public place and Astrid has to think that they’re dating but still, it feels good to hear her saying that. And well, holding Sana’s hand is also not the worst thing in the world.

“Look, I know that what I’m about to say it’s not even necessary but...you can’t talk to the press.” Yousef instantly feels guilty about this. He doesn’t want Astrid to think that he doesn’t trust her, he does. But Bendikt, Agnes and Robert said it very clearly, they had to warn Astrid.

“I know, I know. And you have nothing to worry about. Believe me, I don’t have any intention of talking to the press. I like my anonymous life. I only want people’s attention when I’m dancing, that’s all.”

“You dance?” Well, Sana is not actually surprised. She really has the body of a dancer.

“Yes, I do. I mean not for a living. Just as a hobby. So again, you can trust me, I would never betray my dance partner.” Astrid smiles at a very confused Sana and a very embarrassed Yousef. He knows what’s coming.

“Dance partner?” Sana turns to Yousef with her eyebrows raised. This is brand new information.

“Wait, you haven’t told your girlfriend that you used to be a dancer before modeling?” Astrid asks shaking her head.

“So that’s why you were so good in the video. That’s why you didn’t struggle even a little bit with the choreography.” Now everything is making sense to Sana. Of course he’s a dancer. That easiness he showed while filming the Balloon Boy’s videoclip wasn’t normal. She can’t help but smile at the memory of those days. Even if she would never admit it, she had a lot of fun filming that video, especially dancing with Yousef. She doesn’t really know how to define what she felt while dancing with him, but it was definitely something very, very, nice.

“Well, yeah…” Yousef is blushing now. He’s always been very confident about his dancing skills, he has never tried to hide it. But for some reason every time Sana finds something new about his life he can’t shake this nervous feeling. Like he’s holding his breath until he sees Sana’s reaction about the new information, hoping that she doesn’t think it’s embarrassing.

Sana shows Yousef a big smile that calms him down instantly. Since they’re still holding hands, now is Sana the one that squeezes Yousef’s hand.

Astrid looks at the couple with a smirk. She’s known Yousef for years and she has never seen him looking at anyone the way he looks at Sana. She is so happy that he has found her.

“So you two have danced together, I’m assuming?” Astrid asks. They were talking about some choreography so probably it was for some Hollywood project. She didn’t know Sana Bakkoush danced.

“Well, he did, I only tried to follow his lead.” Sana laughs. If there’s something she knows is that she’s definitely not a good dancer.

“Oh don’t listen to her. She’s great.” Yousef says rolling his eyes a little bit. He then lets go of Sana’s hand to put his arm around her. “I’m sorry Astrid but I’ve found a new partner for dancing and for everything.”

-x-

...

....

...

-x-

Since Sana lives in LA most of the times she doesn't get to see all of her family in one place very often. She feels like she's missing out on a lot.

That's why, when he found out that she's coming back again, Elias called all his family living in or near Oslo to come see her.

He knows how stressed she is with her 'fake' dating life and the press and everything else.

Seeing the happy look on Sana's face makes everyone else smile. It's not possible to see her smile her million dollar smile and not join her.

"Yousef! You can't even catch me!", Sana's five year-old cousin Jamil giggles while running away from Yousef.

As soon as Yousef had arrived he was being greeted by many people, all of which are Sana's relatives. He knew that he'd meet some of Sana's family and put a lot of thought into what to wear and what to bring to the BBQ to make the best possible impression. Yousef doesn’t want any of Sana's family members to dislike him. She's too important to him for that.

Well, he did not anticipate that the backyard of the Bakkoush house would be filled to this degree.

Children running around, the adults either playing with them or watching over them or preparing food or just chatting.

Yousef had barely sat down when little Jamil and his one year older sister came running up to him to ask if he was Elias' friend.

"Yes, I am. But also Sana's...", Yousef said and didn't even have the chance to finish the sentence because Jamil poked him in the stomach and shouted you're it.

Yousef saw the little boy looking at him with so much anticipation that that he couldn't deny playing tag with him and his sister.

Now, after about ten minutes, his mother catches Jamil and tells him to go wash up.

Then she turns to Yousef and introduces herself as Sana's aunt.

"It's really nice to meet you. I'm Yousef."

Sana's aunt smirks lightly and nods: "Yes, we know about you. Partly due to the press."

Yousef's eyes immediately widen. So much for making a good first impression. He shakes his head and opens his mouth to tell her how it really was but she interrupts him with a laugh.

He furrows his eyebrows in confusion but it's cleared up quickly.

"Don't worry. Sana and Elias have told us about the truth. You wouldn't be here right now if they didn't."

Her words leave Yousef stunned but she just turns around and leaves him standing there alone. That was an interesting, short but very interesting conversation.

Yousef shakes his head to clear his thoughts and looks around the garden.

Sana finally reenters the backyard with a lot in her hands, too much for one person to carry. Yousef smiles to himself. Sana, always the overachiever. But he wouldn't have her any other way. She's just great how she already is.

He snaps out of it and goes to help her out but Elias beats him to it. Sana's brother takes a few of the plates from Sana's hands and proceeds to walk backwards in front of Sana, leading the way to the table.

From where he's standing Yousef can see Sana roll her eyes at her brother while having a smile play on her lips. Yousef is so happy that Sana has a brother like that. From what he has seen and what he has heard from Sana, Elias is always there for her and that's something Yousef really appreciates.

Leaning on the wall behind him, Yousef watches the siblings with another of their cousins whose name Yousef remembers because Sana had shown him a picture of her when they were back in LA, after a long day of filming when they ended up watching a movie together. The little girl's name is Adilha.

When Elias leans down to pick up a fork he had dropped Adilha jumps on his back and holds tight onto his neck. Smiling he stands up, securing her. Sana watches them with a big smile, showing her dimples.

Yousef can't hear what either of them is saying but Sana responds to something that Adilha said by looking at her in an over dramatically shocked way and taking a big step towards them.

Adilha shrieks and Elias takes a step back to keep the distance, whatever they might be joking about. Yousef loves seeing Sana like this. So carefree, not caring how she moves, what she says, who could see her. She's almost like a completely other person and at the same time she's the exact same. How is that possible? Yousef is really amazed by her

In LA with all the people around her, famous or not, Sana never changes who she is. She's unapologetically herself. That's something Yousef really admires about his girlfriend. Well, fake girlfriend.

The more he gets to know her, the more he realizes how awful it must be for her to lie so much because of this stupid agreement they made. Sana doesn't lie. Not about anything but this. She probably had thought that this act would be a lot easier, so did Yousef, but she's handling it a lot better than he is.

While Sana could let the fame get to her head, she did not. She's so down to earth and cool and pretty and smart and fit and amazingly sarcastic sometimes... Yousef cannot think of one thing that bothers him about her.

"Yousef, welcome.", he hears someone say from right next to him and gets surprised a bit.

This whole time he was looking at Sana and how she is around her family and couldn't keep his smile off his face.

Turning to his right side, Yousef is faced with Sana's father.

"Mr. Bakkoush, thanks for having me. It's really lovely here!"

Sana's father only smiles a little at Yousef and puts a hand on his shoulder.

Yousef gets nervous and instinctively his eyes search for Sana. She's still standing close to the table, now running after and catching Adhila and tickling her. Both girls start laughing loudly which makes Yousef smile.

He turns his eyes back to Sana's father who now looks more serious than a few seconds ago.

"Yousef, we know now that the rumours were only that. Rumours. Not true, right?", he gets asked and instantly nods furiously.

"I would never cheat on anyone. Especially not on Sana.", Yousef says, speaking very quickly.

Sana's father nods shortly but his serious look on his face doesn't soften.

"So, now that that is cleared ... How serious are your feelings for my daughter? What are your intentions with my daughter?"

Shouldn't this question make Yousef panic? Shouldn't this question make him forget how to talk for a moment? Shouldn't this question make him unsure of what to answer?

Then why does he feel like he doesn't even need to think about it?

His gaze finds Sana again. On the other end of the garden. Right in that moment she looks up from watching her brother play rock, paper, scissors with Adilha. She smiles right at Yousef, showing her dimples, and makes Yousef forget how to breathe for a moment. Her light purple hijab just compliments her beauty perfectly and seeing her like that with her family Yousef only has one thought in his mind.

He wouldn't mind seeing this every day. He would love to see Sana as happy as she is now everyday. He would love to be lucky enough to have Sana in his life permanently.

"I love her...", Yousef answers without looking away from Sana, without noticing what he's saying.

Sana raises her eyebrows at him and never letting her smile falter. When Yousef doesn't react she scrunches up her nose and sticks her tongue out to him before turning back to her cousin.

Yousef smiles to himself and adds, almost in a whisper tone.

"I'm in love with her."

-x-

Yousef Acar: It's official, I like the whole Bakkoush family.

Sana Bakkoush: Oh right. You finally met my eldest brother! :)

Yousef Acar: And a lot more of your relatives :D

Sana Bakkoush: They actually really liked you

Yousef Acar: Why do you sound so surprised? I'm a likable person!

Yousef Acar: But I liked them too

Sana Bakkoush: ehh, depends on who you're asking.

Sana Bakkoush: you said that already haha

Yousef Acar: What if I'm asking you?

Sana Bakkoush: Hmm... You're alright, I guess.

Yousef Acar: Okay, I understand. Go on, break my heart a little more

Yousef Acar: And here I was wondering if you wanted to go on a date tomorrow

Sana Bakkoush: a date?

Yousef Acar: Yes

Yousef Acar: I mean, could be called that

Yousef Acar: So that we're seen in public together

Yousef Acar: for the press

Sana Bakkoush: okay

Sana Bakkoush: what time?

Yousef Acar: I'll pick you up around noon?

Sana Bakkoush: Sounds good to me!

Sana Bakkoush: Thank you for coming today :)

Sana Bakkoush: Good night!

Yousef Acar: Good night ❤

Next chapter tomorrow

#yousana #yousana au #skam #move together au #famous!yousana

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moonshroooms · 8 years ago

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Random Fandom Questions Oh My

A - Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed.

Currently the other ships I like right now are Human Bill Cipher and Dipper (a big guilty pleasure). If there are any Billdip shippers reading this may I humbly recommend Defining Bill Cipher, cause it’s 100% fantastic with plot, characterization, and some uh, heated moments if ya get what I mean.

I always enjoy Frisk x Sans from Undertale, though I’ve been lagging behind on fanfics. I also like Sans and Toriel (which honestly, I like Frisk and Sans better for fanfics, but I’d want Sans and Toriel to be canon), and Frisk and Asriel are super cute too.

I’ve started reading Owari no Seraph (like, I think I’m only like ch 5), and I already knew about Mika x Yuu long before I ever started reading so I’m absolutely shipping them right now A++

I also ship Gon and Killua from Hunter x Hunter, though I don’t read a lot of fanfics for them. I just kinda annoy my friend with it when we watch the show XD

B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

You know, I actually don’t think I do

C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will.

Ciel and Sebastian from Black Butler. And it’s weird cause like, they are absolutely ripe for shipping and there are plenty of other ships in like, nearly the same position I like but just. He doesn’t love-love Ciel man. He don’t even friendship-love him. Sebastian wants to eat his soul like literally and that’s it he’s just food. For whatever reason I just can’t get into that pairing. Please just let Ciel be with Elizabeth she’s such a cutie and let them be happy forever on okay good okay

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t.

Ichigo and Masaya from Tokyo Mew Mew. I am 100% a Kisshu x Ichigo shipper and I know Ichigo x Masaya is like, oddly, one of the healthiest relationships you could have in an anime and Masaya would be a boy I’d fall head-over-heels for myself if he was real like honestly everything about him is basically perfect but I just. He’s so boring. He’s a really boring character to watch. And he gets more interesting near the end of the show, but it was just kinda too little too late, yanno? If they’d put more hints at the darker side of his wonderful personality then I’d probably would have shipped them, but I saw Kishigo first and that’s who I glommed onto srry

E - Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what?

I don’t contribute anything to society let alone a fandom XD

F - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom?

I mean, that’s under the idea I’m actually in a fandom? Do I have to do something to be in a fandom? Can I just enjoy content? Does that count? If it do then I’ve been in the Tokyo Mew Mew fandom for like, 10 years or more. It’s like 99% dead so it’s not like I’ve searched up anything recently, but believe me if it ever gets a good remake I will be there 100%

G - Have you ever had an OTP? If so, do you remember your first one? Who was in it?

My first OTP back before I ever knew what an OTP was was Kisshu and Ichigo from Tokyo Mew Mew. And that fandom is super dead and I’ll probably never read a new good fanfic ever again but I’ll probably never let them go. I still consider them my OTP, and I’ve never found anyone that tops it XD They’re also completely toxic but just. Ah. I love them so much I just want them in a cute relationship plz

H - What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)?

Ennething. I guess anime is the easiest one to find though. I think I like Western animation better than anime, if only for comedy that hits home a little bit more, since I grew up in that culture and whatnot

I - Has Tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?

Nah. I avoid the Discourse by never joining the conversation e v e r. And most of the time I don’t really follow fandom blogs specifically, just blogs that happen to post some fandom stuff, so I probably don’t see any sort of annoying people or awful environments or anything. I don’t understand how people can get so annoyed I feel like discourse is just so easy to avoid/ignore??? But maybe that’s just me

J - Name a fandom you didn’t think about until you saw it all over Tumblr. (You don’t have to care about it or follow it; it just has to be something that Tumblr made you aware of.)

Voltron. I didn’t even know it existed until some of the funny blogs I follow started posting stuff about it. I don’t even know what Voltron’s about, other than the name sounded really familiar, like it’s an old anime being remade or something.

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

Peridot from Steven Universe. No wait, Rinna from Forest Born. Forest Born is one of my favorite books (from the Books of Bayern series by Shannon Hale, I highly recommend them). When I was younger I related to Rinna a lot (and I’m like, nothing like her now but that’s beside the point), and I loved her development her slow development towards not hating herself so much. It’s wonderful and steady and feels real

L - Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. (Characters you’re neutral about are fair game, as are characters you merely dislike. Characters that you absolutely loathe with the fire of ten thousand suns are exempt, as there is no point in giving yourself an aneurysm over a character that you hate.)

Jackie from Star vs. is a really nice girl A+ girlfriend material and if I didn’t ship Marco and Star she’d be next up for the Marco ship train. I absolutely don’t hate her and she’s a fun and nice character, but sorry you can’t be Marco’s girlfriend the bloodmoon and also me said so

M - Name a character that you’d like to have for a friend.

Isi from the Goose Girl. She already reminds me a lot of my friend, so maybe I’m a little biased, but she seems like an absolutely wonderful person to be friends with and I’d 100% love that. I’d also like Dasha from River Secrets and Enna from Enna Burning. Just. Any of the main girls from the Books of Bayern. I love them all

N - Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice).

Since I don’t have a main fandom, I’ll just choose one:

From Steven Universe I want more funny comics, dumb memes, and Stevonnie anything. And that’s considering there’s already a shitton of all of that. There’s never enough

O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?

He’s Hurting Me by Maria Mena. And Kisshu x Ichigo, mostly because I’ve seen an AMV with them and that song XD

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas).

Active Fandom for Tokyo Mew Mew AU!

Okay fine, that doesn’t count. But oh geez I can’t think of any good ideas though. I don’t know but anything but a coffee shop AU. Give me something with adventure man. Uhh *spins wheel* Siren AU with *rolls dice* Pokémon. Make it happen, people

Q - A fandom you’ve abandoned and why.

Eh, considering I’m never an active part of any fandom, I can’t say I’ve abandoned anything. I’ll even go back to really old fandoms and try to find something I haven’t read before

R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?

Do Steven and Connie and Star and Marco count even though I ship them? Because I value their friendship just as much if not more than their shipping capabilities. If not then, Sailor Moon and the other sailor scouts from Sailor Moon (from the original anime). I just really like that they joke and roast and support each other. A lot of the episodes focus a lot on their random interactions and it’s a joy to watch.

S - Show us an example of your personal headcanon (prompts optional but encouraged)

I have none honestly XD I’m not usually a person that gets into headcanons much. I ship plenty of people that aren’t together but I wouldn’t really call them headcanons, I dunno. Gon and Killua end up married. There, there’s your headcanon.

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending?

Kisshu returns to Earth for Whatever reason (any reason that means more battles and adventures is good), Ichigo ends up falling in love with him, Pudding and Tart end up together, Lettuce and Pie are together, Masaya is just fine and not dead, and everyone’s happy the end

That’s the best I got XD

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.

Kisshu from Tokyo Mew Mew: Other than the fact he’s from my long-standing OTP, he’s just really fun to watch. He’s probably the reason I have an immediate attachment to character that are slightly crazy and shit tons of dangerous. He’s cheeky and flirty and gawd I luv it A+

Peridot and Lapis from Steven Universe. I couldn’t choose really. Peridot is such a trash gremlin and Lapis is amazing when it’s not complete angst she is just Ultimate Emo Child.

Willis from Awful Hospital (I highly recommend this comic by the way. It’s weird and wonderful). So far he’s just the cutest little thing and I love watching him it’s great

V - Which character do you relate to most?

I used to relate to Rinna from Forest Born a whole bunch, especially when I was younger. Nowadays I relate much more to her older brother Razo from River Secrets. He’s self-concious, but always cracking jokes and always in the mood for eating. I think he’s hilarious and honestly I hope I can be as funny as him. He’s got a lot of talents he just never notices. I hope that gets to be me, too.

W - A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom.

Characters with no personality. And I think this is mostly just in the otome and harem anime’s that this kind of thing is rampant, cause you gotta make a character that people can slip into but just. My god. I tried playing an otome once and I couldn’t even finish it it was so awful and infuriating. Watching Diabolik Lovers was so painful this girl just L E T everything happen she didn’t even try putting up a fight even when some dude GAVE HER A KNIFE TO STAB HER VAMPIRE WHATEVERS WITH. MY GOD. I hated everything I wanted to cry. And don’t even get me started on the manga Black Bird I hate it so much they just rinse repeat everything. ‘No love interest don’t do sexy things at me I don’t want it’ ‘I’m doing it as punishment for you doing/not doing Whatever’ ‘Noooo’ and then proceeds to just continue to love the assbag. Just stop oh my goooood

X - A trope which you are almost certain to love in any fandom.

Enemies to Lovers. Or enemies being in love in general. Or forbidden romances of any kind. Basically I want a shit ton of angst and a happy ending.

Y - What are your secondhand fandoms (i.e., fandoms you aren’t in personally but are tangentially familiar with because your friends/people on your dash are in them)?

I know a little bit about Homestuck, which I tried to read once and got bored. I keep wanting to pick it back up but just… aaaah the beginning is so boring I can hardly tell what’s going on. And I hate the 1 panel thing. I’m sure it was good while it was being posted, but it just takes so long to load the next page. I need a multi-page version please.

I also know a tad bit about Madoka Magic, which I’m not entirely sure how. I just kinda. Read stuff I came across, despite never being interested in the show myself.

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go! (Prompts optional but encouraged.)

Dear god please let Star and Marco be together (they probably will).

I want at the very least a cute cheek kiss from Steven and Connie, also, can Stevonnie fuse with other gems??? That’d be wild.

Danny Phantom needed to be longer also he needed to be with Valerie I loved her why the flip flap did they give her such a crappy reason to not be with Danny AAAH

I haven’t been able to watch the Legend of Korra because I tear up anytime I see something about the old gang being old or dead like legit if I ever see Aang being all dead and spiritual and shit I will cry

The Amazing World of Gumball is hilarious and I want more people to watch it

I tried watching Bob’s Burger’s for just like, a funny show without a plot and I got bored eventually. Thankfully Gumball saved the day

I think Ni no Kuni is an adorable game and I love their little definitely-not-Pokémon monsters and I’ll probably rant about who’s on my team one day

I ship Link and Midna 100% but like, only the TP incarnation of Link. Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild and Spirit Tracks Link can be with Zelda. Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass Link can be with Tetra (specifically Tetra).

Speaking of Tetra, why the flip flap SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN’T PLAYED WIND WAKER BUT LIKE, IT’S REALLY OLD AND HAS A REMAKE SO I GUESS THAT’S MOSTLY YOUR FAULT BEWAAAAAAAAAARE. ALSO THE BEGINNING OF BREATH OF THE WILD I GUESS? THOUGH IT’S NOT REALLY A BIG IMPORTANT SPOILER.

does she get pale when she turns into Zelda? Like, bam you’re royalty also kiss your tan goodbye. Same thing happens to the mysterious old man when he becomes the king. Do bluebloods just not get tan or something like, the flip?

#fandom #fandoms #personal #asks

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edenfalling · 8 years ago

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Ooh! Homestuck, Dirk, Roxy, cuddle. It's the post-Sburb world, and there are too many people all the time, and only Dirk and Roxy want to flee screaming to a (pair of) faraway mountains. Bring back the blissful solitude of the post-apocalypse.

Notcompliant with the credits snapchats, because reasons. :) [2,700 words]

---------------------------------------------Some Little Talk aWhile of Me and Thee---------------------------------------------

The stupid part is, up until that one moment, Roxy washaving a really good night. All her friends (except Dirk, who hung grimly onthrough dinner and absconded immediately thereafter) together in one room, enoughdinner for everyone to eat their fill and then dessert on top of that, thepleasant ache of an honest day's work building the infrastructure of their newworld... yeah. A good night.

Except the thing is, as much as she needs people -- and sheneeds people a lot, needs that feedback loop of attention paid and returned --there's a big difference between hanging out online and hanging out with adozen people jammed together in a single room. And she hasn't been gettingalone time during the days either, always busy working with a crew ofcarapacians (who at least are quiet) and consorts (who are emphatically not).

Roxy doesn't notice the slow buildup of stress, but she canpinpoint exactly when the night tips from I-can-manage to oh-god-make-it-stop.

She's been kibitzing on the edges of Rose, John, and Jane'smeal planning session (defusing any baby disagreements before they grow intoanything serious), keeping half an ear on the Pictionary session Callie,Kanaya, and Terezi have going in the far corner, and watching Jade gleefullyannihilate Dave and Karkat at Mario Kart. It's maybe a little bit much to betracking all at once, but the satisfaction outweighs the strain until Davethrows a piece of popcorn at Jade, who teleports it into the tangle of Karkat'shair, who draws breath in preparation for an inside-voice-what-inside-voicerant, and Roxy is abruptly and completely done.Zip, zilch, finito, cutlery shop's closed up and all the merchandise is gone.

She shoves herself up from the warm and squashy armchair shestaked out as her private territory back when they first built this grouphouse, and says to nobody in particular: "I'm gonna go check on Dirk, it'sbeen a while since he noped out and I want to make sure he hasn't broken his neckor started a robot apocalypse in his sleep."

Rose and Jane break off their debate over the relativemerits of fish tacos and sushi to give her a pair of sharp glances. John justlooks adorkably confused.

Roxy dredges up a smile from her last reserves of sociability.

It must not be very convincing, because Rose frowns andtenses like she's going to ask if Roxy needs any help, or maybe even stand upand give her a hug. Her concern is like a warm mug of hot chocolate, but thething about warm mugs of hot chocolate is they're awesome on a frigid winterday after messing around in the snow for a couple hours, but this specific timeand place are more like a metaphorical scorching summer day when you're alreadysugared out and anything sweet makes you want to gag. In other words, amomdaughter's loving attention is nice in theory, but it's not conducive tonoping the fuck out of the room, not to mention if anyone touches her rightnow, Roxy might actually break down and scream.

Fortunately, Jane rescues her.

She does something to Rose -- elbows her? kicks her underthe coffee table? hard to say -- and while Rose is busy trying to regather hertrain of thought, Jane grins at Roxy, somehow managing to make the expressionboth obviously fake and equally obviously made of 24-carat solid goldsincerity.

"That sounds like an excellent plan!" she says."When you find him, tell him that Jade needs to run the latest plans forthe electricity grid past him, particularly the battery storage systems forevening the solar and wind outputs. I think the files are in the civilengineering dropbox account, so he shouldn't need to ask her for anything untilhe's finished reviewing and annotating them."

Roxy nods.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Scram!" Janemakes little shooing motions with her hands.

Rose, apparently catching on to Roxy's actual state of mind,smiles benevolently and waves goodbye. "Au revoir," she says in herperpetually dry tone. "If anyone asks where you are, I'll tell them I sentyou to give daddy dearest my love, perhaps in the form of seagull pie."

Jane rolls her eyes. John snickers and sticks out his tonguein mostly mock-disgust.

"Thanks, guys," Roxy manages to say, and flees.

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

After a indeterminate period of time trying not tohyperventilate in her en suite bathroom, she sits cross-legged on her bed andwonders if she ought to make good on her escape excuse.

Dirk's even worse with large groups than Roxy is and doesn'tmake any attempt to pretend otherwise, but he's still human (no matter how muchhe sometimes dislikes that fact) and even the most introverted human is, atbase, a social animal. And not all contact has to be as overwhelming as groupevents.

Roxy pulls out her phone, briefly contemplates calling him,then tosses that plan right the fuck out the window. Voices are bullshit. Textis their mutual mother tongue, and she'd bet at least half a baby universe Dirkisn't up for vocalizing right now.

-- tipsyGnostalgic [TG] began pestering timaeusTestified[TT] --

TG: the thing nobody ever tells you about other people ishow fuckin NOISY they areTG: amiright?TG: i never thought id say this, but i miss ourpost-apocalyptic disaster zoneTG: not like, the looming threat of the batterwitch n shit,but the quietTG: maybe even some of the survivalist stuffTG: rose and the crockerberts gave me the weirdest look wheni said we should make seagull pie for our next movie night extravaganzaTG: there is GOOD EATING on seagullsTG: and they make a nice change from fish you know?TG: i thought id finally gotten away from descaling fishwhen we ditched sea hitlers water hellscape, but nopeTG: here we are back to fish for every meal that doesnt comestraight from our alchemiters and dwindling stocks of gristTG: (its ok you dont have to talk back if you dont want to)TG: (i just wanted to bitch to someone who gets it)TT: It's cool.TT: I know exactlywhat you mean about the quiet.TT: If you're game toendure the ultra minimum of human contact, i.e., breathing within the samecubic meter of air, I'm on the roof by the south chimney.TT: If not, I can seethe dock and it's currently unoccupied.TT: Assuming this isa day when the incessant susurrus of waves will invoke positive memories ratherthan negative ones, that could make a decent temporary retreat.TG: awww, ur a sweetie, sitting watch over our friends likea depressed gargoyleTG: on due consideration im ok with breathing your grosspre-breathed airTG: maybe if we get really daring we can work up to touchingpinky fingers!TG: le gaspTT: Scandalous. What will the neighbors say?TT: But I'm down forperversion if you are, Ms. Lalonde.TG: k hang onto your panties, im coming up

-- tipsyGnostalgic [TG] ceased pestering timaeusTestified[TT] --

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

Roxy scrambles over the edge of the roof (she could justfly, of course, but where's the fun in that?) to find Dirk not just near thesouth chimney but actually curled up in the angle where it meets the solartiles, using the heat radiating from the bricks to counter the early autumnchill. He has his shades off in deference to the darkness, but his eyes are closedinstead of aimed up toward the frankly gorgeous light of the pink and whitemoons, both approaching full tonight.

Roxy flops back against the dark tiles of the roof, armsspread wide, and watches the moons flirt with thin veils of cloud. Her friends'voices drift out of the open windows downstairs, but distance and the ambientsounds of wind and wave blur them into a companionable sort of white noise. Theconsorts' various weekend parties are louder, but further away; noticeable onlywhen a line or two of song finds a favorable breeze or a new branch tossed on abonfire sends a gust of sparks above the trees and roofs of the slowly growingtown.

The carapacians' celebrations, of course, make no sound.

She and Dirk breathe in companionable silence for nearly anhour, while the white moon travels fifteen degrees toward zenith and the pinkmoon nearly twenty degrees in the same direction, edging toward partialeclipse. Roxy's still kind of giddy over the orbital mechanics of a three-bodysystem, and the difference two moons make in the rhythm of the tides. It couldtake years to work the changes into her bones.

She has years tospend on things like that. She spent her whole childhood isolated and trappedunder an incessant, shadowy weight. Now it's gone. She's free. She's not aloneanymore.

It would be nice if she were better at coping with thatchange.

Beside her, Dirk sighs, pulls his legs up to his chest, andrests his face between his knees. Something's gone cockeyed in his head again,and if nobody interrupts him he'll just debate himself into knots and grandiose'for your own good' bullshit stunts.

And hey, an hour of silence isn't enough to get Roxyanywhere near ready to face a crowd, but it's more than enough to talk to heroldest friend.

"The dumbest thing," she says, jumping straight inbecause what's the sense in wasting mouth noises on irrelevancies, "isthat weekend movie nights aren't even party-parties,nothing loud or crazy intense. It's just all our best friends hanging out oncomfy sofas playing goofy sleepover games, but stupid me got so wound up I hadto run screaming into the night. Otherwise I would've lost my shit at them overfish tacos and a popcorn fight, and that's just wrong with a capital R."

"Capital W," Dirk mutters, uncurling slightly andtilting his head until a sliver of orange iris is visible over the edge of hisright knee.

"Pedant," Roxy says, rather than draw attention tohis temporary lack of shades. "I just keep thinking, it shouldn't bug meso much. You've got a perfect excuse to flip out at extended socialinteractions, mister raised-by-robots. I actually had real live neighbors. Ishould be over this by now."

Dirk shrugs, which looks incredibly doofy when he's allcurled up like a pill bug. "As people keep telling me, brains aren'tparticularly logical organs. Besides, there's a pretty big difference betweensign language and a dozen plus people with actual vocal cords, some of whomhave a tragically shaky grasp of appropriate volume control."

"Ha. Yeah. Still."

"Still," Dirk agrees.

Roxy spreads her arms wide, staring up at the moons and theas-yet-unnamed constellations of their new universe, galaxy, solar system.Their new sun's a little brighter than Sol used to be -- a little smaller inthe sky, a little more pure-white than yellow-white -- and more like Alternia'ssun in its position vis-à-vis galactic center, which makes for some amazinglydense and brilliant starscapes. And she's saying this as a person who grew upwith no artificial light to blank out old Earth's night skies.

"Humans made the trolls' signs into constellationswithout any outside influence, just the shape of the universe orsomething," she muses. "I wonder if it's cheating to design ourconstellations ourselves."

Dirk shrugs again, a faint movement of shadow against darkershadow in the corner of her vision. "All our sessions were fucked from thestart; we had to cheat just to get out alive. What's a little more cheatingcompared to that? Ethical qualms aside, I'm pretty sure this planet isn't goingto be the focus of any future Sburb sessions. That dubious honor goes to the billionsof native planets kicking around this universe. If anyone's getting gentlymanipulated into using three-eyed cats and purple horrorterrors as part oftheir star myths, it's all those statistically inevitable aliens out there inthe wild black yonder."

"I bet their myths kick ass," Roxy says.

"I believe that's more or less implicit in thedefinition of the word. I'm not sure what they'll make of a hat or an LPrecord, though," Dirk says.

This time it's Roxy's turn to shrug. "Old-schoolD&D monsters, maybe? Or no, ten gets you one they'll go with crows andseagulls instead." She pauses, reconsiders. "Then again, Terezi'ssymbol is basically a giant lab tool with a shit-ton of cultural baggage, andKarkat's is kind of like, handcuffs, right? Maybe hats wind up as a symbol ofintellect and general badassery -- oh! or artificial life, like Frosty theSnowman's magic hat, 'cause of your robots and puppets thing -- and recordssymbolize creativity and art and stuff."

"Hats as a symbol of hubris and overreach, morelikely," Dirk mutters.

Roxy wriggles sideways until she's just close enough toflick the fingertips of her left hand against the side of his shoe. "Knockit off, dumbass. Nobody gets to badmouth my best friend -- not even my bestfriend."

Dirk unburies his face and meets Roxy's eyes straight on,one eyebrow raised. "I was under the impression that that title belongedto either Jane or Calliope. When did I inherit the position, and why was I notpreviously informed of this change in status? Are you sure you're followingfriend protocol correctly?"

Roxy flicks his shoe again. "Friendship is a bigcategory! You're all, like, different instantiations of the concept of 'bestfriend' -- Callie's my squee and kissing partner, Janey's my partner in crime,Rosie's my sister, Jake's my goofing off friend, Dave's my surrealism feedbackdude, John's my maybe-kinda-sorta other kissing partner, and so on and soforth. You, Dirk Strider, are theperson who knows me best in two and a half entire fucking universes. Okay?You're the one who knows what it's like. If I ever run off to be a hermit on amountaintop, I want you to come be a hermit on the mountain next door. We cansend heliograph messages back and forth, or learn how to yodel and shit, andonce a month we'll get together and have a wild and crazy hermit party, justthe two of us. That's the kind of best friend you are for me."

Dirk is silent for a long moment. Then he unwraps his righthand from his legs and lets it drop downward until his fingertips are justbrushing the soft, ticklish (completely un-carapacian) skin of Roxy's leftwrist, right over the veins carrying blood back to her heart.

"All that, back at you," he says.

Roxy blinks back a sudden rush of tears, and laces theirfingers together. Dirk lets her.

"Jade has some electric grid plans for you to lookover," she says after a minute. "You can do that anywhere,right?"

"Yeah," Dirk says.

"Then come seagull hunting with me tomorrow. Just the twoof us, out on the water. Like old times. I have a harpoon gun I've been wantingto try out, and we can tell anyone who complains that we're taking soundingsand stuff for potential tidal generators. Hell, we can even actually do that.But I miss you. I keep getting tangled up in everyone else and losing sight ofus."

Dirk squeezes her fingers. From him, it's as good as a hug.

"Yeah," he says. "It's a plan."

Roxy looks up at the night sky rather than try to put heremotions into words. There's a patch that looks a bit like a cat with wings, ifshe squints and takes some heavy artistic license. She holds up her phone inher right hand and adjusts the camera settings until she can snap a usefulpicture. She'll photoshop the constellation in later tonight and show it toDirk tomorrow: their friendship, immortalized in stars.

"Cool," she says.

They watch the pink moon overtake the white one in silence,fingers still entwined, the same air pumping in and out of their lungs.

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

End of Fic

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

It's still a little disjointed, I think, but whatever. Iwin. \o/

#liz writes stuff #homestuck #roxy lalonde #dirk strider #mini ficlet prompt meme #cotton candy bingo #asks and answers #in conversation with the internet #madamehardy #generalized content warning

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