#got made fun of by someone i honestly had a very teensy wish i could have a chance with. squandered. but nevertheless the goal of life is

[hampterguts]

embarrassingly talking to a wall again here. i. would like to meet a woman who wants me. just once. a woman who will act on wanting me. i want to know what its like and ask her what she fucking means.

[kwonhoshi0]

𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐢 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 | h.c

navigation | requests : open | 26th feb 2021 | part 1

pairing : todoroki x fem!reader

genre : very fluffy, teensy bit of angst

themes : mutual pining, violence, tiny bit clichè,

request : heyy can you do a todoroki and bakugo, bestfriends to lovers troupe ? fem reader please >:)) feel free to decline or anything !!

quirk : telekinesis, you get lightheaded when you use too much and your nose bleeds

note : you are all mights neice, you live with him. you don’t have parents and in this storyline you move into the dorms after the USJ attack

[ todoroki ]

> honestly he didn’t understand the difference between bestfriends and what he was feeling

> he thought what he was feeling for you was normal since he’s never had a bestfriend before pain

> he met you around 2 years before you got into UA

-> meeting you

> you were waiting outside of a meeting room your uncle was in and you weren’t the only one

> you weren’t allowed to actually go into the meeting room so you sat outside opposite the dual haired boy

> his hair reminded you of a candycane

> you were curious as to why you hadn’t see him there before especially if his parent is a pro

> you tried not to look at him too much but it was near impossible when he looks the way he does

> you opted to just play with your rings instead you didn’t want to freak him out

> after a couple minutes he noticed your gaze shifted from your rings to the setting sky and since you were too immersed in the red and pink clouds you didn’t notice him staring at you

> honestly i think he loved you from then, watching your eyes light up at the sky was so endearing he didn’t want to look away

> imagine someone being that in love with you i’m so sad rn i’m sorry

> a couple minutes later your uncle walked out of the room along with a couple other heroes including the flame hero endeavor

> ‘shoto i’ll be bringing you along to these meetings often!’

> his voice was loud while the boy looked sick of him, he gritted his teeth a little agreeing

> so that’s why you hadn’t seen him here before

> ‘young y/n! ah this is shoto todoroki you’ll be seeing a lot more of him, endeavor and i have agreed on training you together’

> you have wanted to become a pro-hero like your uncle and since they’re busy it’d be easier having one of them take turns each week

> the heroes explained to shoto that no one can know your last name or your connection to all might since it makes it dangerous for you

> during training you noticed how similar you are, you were both quite reserved and quiet at first

> the first time you talked to him was during your 4th or 5th training session and it was because all might told you to try be more open to friends

> ‘um, hi’

> ‘hello’

> and that’s how you got here

> your friendship was one people only wished to have

> whenever todoroki came around you were both a whole new level of chaotic

> your go to was to either watch terrible films together and make fun of them or bake together

> you were watching the kissing booth and you had to pause it every couple minutes to stop yourself from cringing so much

> he laughed watching your disgusted expression

> he loved seeing your nose scrunch up at the terrible scenes

> you’re not the only one who cringed ‘y/n please pause it again, that was disgusting i need a moment’

> when baking it was usually biscuits and it always resulted in you getting flour everywhere

> ‘wait wait shoto we need to add more sugar’

> ‘uhh but we used all the sugar’

> ‘fuck’ chaos

> whenever shoto had a bad day with his father he knew your house was always open to him

> the first time he got upset he came to you, you opened the door and immediately let him in

> ‘i can’t, i can’t live in that house with him’ you let him cry in your arms when he needed to

> to cheer him up you ate soba together and devised very well thought out plans on how to annoy the fuck out of endeavor

> you went over to todoroki’s as well usually when endeavor wasn’t home so he wouldn’t make you train

> fuyumi and natsuo were the first to notice your closeness and they never made fun of you for it but often said ‘they’re going to fall in love’

> there have been moments you’ll cherish

> when watching a movie marathon there have been many times when all might has come home to your head on todoroki’s shoulder while his head is on yours, you’re both fast asleep

> he draped a blanket over the both of you before telling endeavor he’ll drop shoto off later and that you’re busy training together

> when you first joined UA he finally made a few more friends as did you, at first you were worried that you’d grow apart but thankfully yoi didn’t

> during lunch you always met up after eating, you had gotten a lot closer with the bakusquad but still found time to be together

> walking towards the lunch hall he noticed you walking with midoriya, he was about to speed up to catch up with you guys but you went into a room together and he got very confused

> he went to his usual table ( dekutable )

> when you guys came back he innocently said ‘where were you guys’

> midoriya fumbled over his words while you replied ‘had to ask all might about some homework’ since only todoroki knows about your connection to the pro-hero you had to keep it discreet

> but now midoriya knows as well since he’s the next successor, since todoroki didn’t know that he got suspicous when he saw you heading out the training rooms together, what he didn’t see was all might walking out soon after

> he didn’t understand why this affected him so much, you’re his friend and midoriya is his friend so why does he feel rage when he sees you with him

> at one point he had enough and walked into the room you and midoriya had been going to every lunch ‘are you going to tell me what you’re hiding?’

> inside was you a very scared midoriya and a skeleton form all might

> yeah you had to explain everything but all might wasn’t mad since it’s shoto he knows he can trust him, you’ve trusted him with your name and secrets and he hasn’t said a word

> let’s just say shoto slept very well that night knowing you weren’t secretly dating midoriya

> speaking of that night you walked back to the dorms together, the sunset looked the same as the day you met him

> you got back to your room and sat on your bed after kicking your shoes off

> he watched you as you picked a movie, smiling a little at your pout

> ‘why’re you smiling at me like that icyhot’

> ‘hm just, feel happy’ you looked at him and layed your head in his lap as the light through the window hit your face

> he brought a hand to your forehead and ran his fingers through your hair slightly scratching at your scalp

> you hummed bringing your arms around his waist as he smiled down at you touchstarved, same

> you let the movie play and his eyes were stuck on the screen, you looked up at him and just admired him

> you knew your feeling for him haven’t changed since you met him but that doesn’t matter as long as this doesn’t change

> ‘y/n?’

> ‘hm’

> ‘what happened to that nickname you used to call me, candy cane?’

> ‘do you want me to call you it again’ you could see blush on his cheeks

> ‘yeah, i liked it..it made me feel closer to you’

> you felt your heart swell at his words and you buried your face into his stomach as you felt it heat up

> he giggled at the feeling and pryed your face away from his ticklish stomach, he was now cupping your face

> his grey and blue eyes were stuck in your own [c] eyes

> it was as if you understood what you both wanted, he leaned down a little and when you lifted your head up he knew you wanted this too

> he brought your face towards his own and closed the gap between you both, his lips were gentle against your own

> you both smiled into the kiss

> ‘things won’t change right?’

> ‘never, we’ll only get closer’

> you nudged your nose against his and pecked him again before laying back into his lap

> you talked about how dumb you’ve both been and how long you’ve liked each other before

> an hour later you felt deep breathes coming from him, looking up he had fallen back onto the bed and was asleep with a small smile on his face

A/N :

i will literally never find real love bexause tHIS is so hard to come by and that :) is :) pain :)

taglist : @todoroki-shoto-is-life @blazedbakugou @luluwiie @blue-gold-demigod-clouds @gazelle-des-pres

[spiderman-homecomeme]

Can you write about MJ’s internal thoughts as Peter started clearly flirting with /her/ and liking her back and reciprocating? 😍

Hello!! Sorry this took so long, but YES OF COURSE I can write this!! I have been so excited to write this all week and am so glad I can finally share it with you guys!!

It’s been a bit since I’ve seen the movie, so I may not have gotten some of the exact quotes right, and it’s a little brief, but I hope you enjoy!!

Thank you for the lovely request, anon

Here is about 1.5k of PURE fluff and a teensy bit of angst

.

.

It takes every ounce of strength MJ has in her hormone riddled teenage body not to visibly show any of the emotional whiplash that comes from Ned asking Betty to swap seats with Peter due to a surprising perfume allergy, to Mr. Harrington hijacking the whole switcheroo and subsequently placing her right next to Brad Davis. She doesn’t even have time to imagine What Could Have Been™, no time to feel the slight sting of disappointment of not getting to sit next to her dumb crush, before her teacher basically forces a game of musical chairs onto them, Ned now in her old spot next to Betty, Peter sandwiched between both chaperones, and of course, herself next to Brad. 

It could certainly be worse, she figures. Mr. Harrington could have made her sit next to Flash, or something. Brad’s nice enough. He’s smart, pretty funny on occasion, and she’d be lying if she said that he wasn’t at least a little bit attractive. She had eyes, she wasn’t blind; the boy was more than easy on the eyes.

But she didn’t like him like that.

He didn’t have that same cute, boyish charm.

He didn’t fill her with those same, stupid, bubbly nerves.

And he was no Peter Parker.

It was much more ideal that she wasn’t sitting next to the real object of her affection. Over the past few months, Peter’s been getting progressively weirder and weirder around her, and as observant and perceptive as she was, she couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason for his change in demeanor. This proved to be endlessly frustrating as someone who spent a good chunk of her time watching him from a distance. Numerous times she’d caught him staring at her, that same dopey little expression he’d had when staring at Liz. But sometimes, he couldn’t even look her in the eye when she was right in front of him, instead, his gaze trained on his feet as his hands wring together, his voice a shaky octave higher than normal. 

“I brought a dual headphone adapter.” Brad’s voice cuts through her inner monologue, an easy smile stretched across his face. “In case you wanted to watch a movie, or something.”

She’d once toyed with the idea that maybe, just maybe, it was because Peter liked her back, that his nerves came from feelings of the Romantic™ variety.

See, she’s only about 42% sure– maybe even less than that– that there’s even a possibility that Peter Parker might like her back.

“Only if it’s really depressing.” She deadpans, leaning back against the head rest. “Or hilarious.”

Brad’s smile only widens.

Yes, perhaps this was a better idea. A good distraction.

–

She sees him step out of the jewelry shop, tiny golden gift bag in hand, and there’s a brief glimmer, and entirely unwelcome, hint of wishful thinking at the back of her mind that it’s something for her. But she quickly shakes that thought away. It was impossible. She and Peter were just friends; nothing more than that. 

The way he looks at her as she’s describing the fine inventions of the Italians makes her stomach do these weird Olympian-level back handsprings, and she silently curses him for being so… so… so Peter. This would be so much easier if he weren’t himself. She dares to ask what’s in the bag, and she can’t help but notice the mild panic that flickers in his eyes as he glances between her and the gift in his hand. 

She smiles, nodding in approval as he throws the perfect word, “bo,” right back at her.

–

Honestly, at this point she’s never been more disappointed in herself for being so damn oblivious. How the hell did it take her so long to figure out that, yeah, maybe Peter does like her back? It’s not a realization that hits her like a truck, nothing like that. It sneaks up on her, little by little, piece by piece until it all comes together, and she feels like a proper idiot for being so invested in her own feelings that she doesn’t even consider that he might have the exact same ones. 

It’s kind of like how she’s only about 67% sure that he’s Spider-Man. It’s something that’s pretty freaking obvious when you think about it, but she doesn’t want to get ahead of herself. 

Her heart nearly bursts out of her chest, butterflies erupting in her stomach when he tells her she looks pretty just before the opera. She barely has a second to react when her brain seems to go on auto-pilot, and the sarcasm just flies right out of her mouth before she can even stop it. 

“Therefore I have value?”

Peter sputters, frantically trying to explain himself in a way that’s not cute in the slightest.

She has to laugh, though it’s quiet, and she shows mercy. “I’m messing with you.”

And now her heartbeat seems to be one of the only things she can hear in this moment as he sighs in relief, smiling up at her, the expression widening when she tells him that he looks pretty, too. 

Okay, yeah, she’s 67% sure that Peter Parker might like her back. 

–

The pit in her stomach is a concoction of both nervousness and excitement as they walk side-by-side on the bridge. The faintest brush of their knuckles sends those dumb butterflies into overdrive, and she instantly yanks her hand away. She catches his gaze a few times, offering a tight-lipped smile in return. Slowly, she starts to question why she agreed to this… date, walk-thing, evening ambulation, or whatever it was, and the giddiness in her belly gradually melts into dread. 

Truthfully, she’s never had very much luck with relationships, both romantic and platonic. It wasn’t really her area. She was happy just staying on the sidelines, a background character in their daily teenage lives. Getting close to others has never been something she’s been very good at, the idea of putting that much trust into another person only for them to potentially shatter it into a million tiny pieces putting almost the fear of God itself in her. That was the whole reason why she never did anything like this, never pursued anything with anyone. 

She can’t help but feel like Peter’s about to confess something to her. Something big. 

And she doesn’t give him the chance to say it for himself.

“That’s what you were going to say; that you’re Spider-Man.”

The pain didn’t really seem worth it.

Which was why, in a last minute change of heart, she goes against her regular, trademark brutal honesty and lies when Peter asks if him being Spider-Man was the only reason she was watching him. 

“Why else would I be watching you?”

If neither of them said anything, neither of them got hurt.

It was easier just to be alone.

–

She didn’t have a whole lot of time to admire the necklace the old sweaty guy gave her, but that doesn’t stop the warmth that blooms in her chest when she holds it in her hand. She still thinks of it, burning a hole in her pocket, as they’re all seconds away from what they assume is their imminent demise, and she is instantly filled with regret for never telling Peter how she felt. 

Which is why she doesn’t take a second thought as she sprints from the tower and to the bridge, mace in hand, ready to help her Peter no matter what as the drones fall to the ground. He’s standing there, battered, broken, and limping as she throws herself into his arms, bodies drawn together like two magnets. She can feel him shaking in her embrace, and she tightens her hold, mumbling her worries into the crook of his neck.

She shows him the broken necklace as they pull apart. Her favorite flower, the Black Dahlia, now in pieces. Her heart flutters in her chest as he takes her hand in his, disappointment clouding his features as he stares at the shards of glass, apologizing profusely and going on about some grand plan he had.

And she can’t help but kiss him. 

Yeah, it’s a little awkward and entirely too quick, because again, she’s never really done this before, but she still can’t help but smile at the way his eyes widen in surprise, even if her body feels as if it’s on fire as she waits for his reaction. 

“You kissed me.”

Maybe another time she would have made fun of him for pulling a straight-up, Captain Obvious moment, but she holds back, instead, her voice nearly failing her as she confesses her true feelings, that she lied when she said she’d only been watching him because she thought he was Spider-Man. It’s a scary thing, and she desperately fights against her own flight response at putting herself in such a vulnerable situation, setting herself up for what could be the worst pain in the world. 

But she doesn’t care. 

He apologizes again for the necklace being broken, but she stops him, the corners of her lips twitching upward as she tells him that she likes it better that way. 

His voice breaks as he smiles at her, like she’s the best damn thing he’s ever seen, eyes welling with happy tears, as he says the words she’s always wanted to hear.

“I really like you.”

A breathy, nervous chuckle escapes her as she matches his expression, and she feels as if she might explode into a million, tiny little overjoyed pieces. 

“I really like you too.” 

And after all of this, she can safely say that she’s about 100% sure that Peter Parker likes her back.

[straightfacedstrangeness]

Patlabor fanfic WIP

Summary:  Shige has a cute moment with Noa.  Asuma is definitely not jealous.  Because this is SV2 and nobody ever has anything better to do, absolutely everybody gets involved.  Basically, Noa becomes the center of a (PG) harem comedy and has absolutely no idea.

Backstory:  I’ve been going through a handful of fanfic WIPs and story notes from the past few years, seeing if anything really sparks my interest / seems like it’s worth finishing up...and I really like a lot of lines and concepts in this one, but I also probably won’t ever finish it.

At the time (sometime in 2018), I never finished it because the ideas got more complicated than I felt like wrangling, and because the “she was actually just blushing over Alphonse all along” ending seemed so obvious that it didn’t feel like the shenanigans leading up to the reveal were “worth it”.

And now, I probably won’t finished it because at the time I thought Noa was in her early or mid-twenties, and that Shige was in his mid- or late twenties...but it turns out that Noa is 18 in the Early Days / TV timeline (and left SV2 by the time she was 23 in Patlabor 2) and that The Next Generation set Shige’s canon age at 59, making him fucking 45 during Early Days / TV.  8′)  Since part of the story hinges on Shige crushing on her, even though (or especially because?) it’s onesided, the age difference kinda squicks me out too much for me to want to write any more.  But again, a lot of the lines and concepts make me laugh, so I figured I might as well share.

If you like this but wish it had more terrible sex jokes and/or that it was just poorly written Shige/Sakaki smut, check out my AO3 page cus that describes the only two Patlabor fics I've finished thus far  X’D  (And I definitely won’t be offended if that’s not your cup of tea.)

And now, the story~ (+ notes)

“AHH—!”

Shige started, banging his head on the raised hatch.  It took a few moments of swearing and cradling his skull before he managed to straighten up and turn around.

Noa had her hand over her mouth, a fiery blush spreading across her face.  He hadn’t expected to see her—it was so late, and she was clearly dressed to go home.

“Oh, uh,” she fumbled, shuffling her feet a bit.  “S-sorry, I didn’t—didn’t mean to interrupt—”

Shige grinned, though the muscle movement made his head injury sting.  “No problem!  ’Sup?”

“I, uh...”

Another surprise.  The blush deepened, and—Shige had never seen her shy.  Hadn’t thought her capable of it, honestly.  Noa was the only girl he’d ever met who burped openly instead of holding it in.

Noa’s hand slowly rose up to point at—him?  Oh, no, past him, into the cavity of her Ingram’s leg.  The hatch on its shin had been opened and the curved guard over the ankle removed, exposing a tangled web of pistons and wiring.

“Hm?”  Shige blinked, then seemed to get it.  “Oh!  Oh, you’re worried about your ‘Alphonse’, right?”

“Oh, n-no, that’s not—”

“ ‘He’s’ just fine, Izumi-chan, cross my heart!  I’m just taking a peek at the ankle servos, you’ve been shifting to the left a teensy bit when you walk lately—not enough to interfere with the auto-balance, of course, but who wants to worry about maybe possibly potentially tripping over six-ton feet in the middle of a chase scene, right?  I’ll get ‘him’ back in tip-top shape in no time!”

“Ah, well, th-thank you, Shige-san...”

Shige grinned again, turned back around, bent into the leg cavity and picked up his toolbox.

Sound echoed in here.

He heard the slight whistling through his teeth as he tried to expel the tune stuck in his head, every little reverberating clink when his tools touched the mechanisms.

He didn’t hear footsteps.

More carefully this time—squatting further down instead of straightening up—Shige extricated himself and turned around.

Noa jumped, glancing away sharply, shuffling her feet again.  That pink in her cheeks looked utterly alien, but...very, very cute.

Shige swallowed.

“H-hey, c’mere,” he blustered, grin a bit more lopsided than before.  “Lemme show you.”

Noa hesitated—wow, shy was a really great look on her—but stepped forward.  There was only room for one on the awkwardly curved slope of the Ingram’s foot, so Shige slid off and gallantly helped her up, being extremely careful about the placement of his hands.  Noa’s fingers dug into his shoulder as she steadied herself, peering into the inner workings of the Ingram.

Shige pointed at things, his already-too-loud voice echoing throughout the cavern of the exposed leg.  He explained what was what, Noa nodded and “oh!”ed and asked all the right questions, her hand on his shoulder the entire time.  She glanced clumsily back and forth between the towering mechanisms and Shige, eyes bright, breath a little ragged.

It was Noa who almost slipped and fell climbing down, but Shige was absolutely dizzy.

---

“Sucks to be you, Asuma-chan~”

Asuma and a handful of the maintenance crew were crowded in the break room divvying up their Shanghai Noodle lunch orders.  He squinted skeptically.  Shige had been bursting at the seams with swagger and pride all day, and the tone of this latest remark implied a dramatic reveal.

But Asuma refused to give him the satisfaction of showing he was curious, and instead calmly dipped his chopsticks into his ramen with nothing more than an “Oh?”

“Izumi-chan’s got a crush on me.”

SSSSPPGHHHKHKG!!

Half the room jumped.  Shige crowed with laughter.  Asuma tried his best to hurriedly wipe the wet noodles off his vest and to look coolly aloof at the same time.

“So, what,” he grumbled, failing at the latter, “is this like the time you thought the mailman had a crush on you?”

“He did,” Shige retorted defensively.  Then he settled back in his chair again, arms folded behind his head, the picture of perfect smug serenity.  “But I caught Izumi-chan staring at my sexy ass while I was bent over the Ingram’s ankle servos last night.  You ever seen her blush?  Almost reminds you she’s a sweet young girl!”

“What makes you think she was staring at your ass?” mumbled one of the mechanics.

Asuma almost dropped the paper towel he’d been furiously wiping with.

“Yes.  Yes!” he blurted, then remembered he was supposed to be coolly aloof and crossed his arms (spreading the broth stains to his sleeves).  “I mean...it was probably ‘Alphonse’ you were working on, right?  ‘He’s’ the only ‘man’ she has eyes for.”

“Oh, so you think just ’cus she hasn’t jumped on you that she’s completely immune to masculine charms?”  Shige snorted, but he was already starting to go red at the ears.  “All you ever do is yell orders at her!  I’m the one taking care of her beloved ‘Pat-chan’ every day—nursing ‘him’ when ‘he’s’ sick—making sure ‘he’ always looks ‘his’ best—it just makes sense that she’d fall in love with—”

“Seriously?  By that logic, Noa’d be sleeping with the entire maintenance staff!”

All the mechanics in the room became very alert.

“Or Chief Sakaki!” added Asuma.

The mechanics instantly deflated.

“Whatever.”  Shige snapped up his bowl and dug in, pointedly avoiding Asuma’s gaze.  “You’re just jealous.”

A triumphant smirk played across Asuma’s face.  He sat back down, stain be damned.  “Aw, don’t worry about it,” he said soothingly, blowing on his own ramen.  “I get it.  You’re crazed with loneliness being cooped up with a bunch of sweaty guys day after day, right?  Of course you’ll take any smile from a girl as a—”

“I am not—”

“Shige-san!”

Both men nearly fell out of their chairs.

“There you are!” chirped Noa, though she gave a self-conscious start as she glanced around the room and saw just how many people were in it.  Asuma stared.  He’d never actually seen her blush before.

“U-um,” she went on, suddenly timid again but trying to smile through it.  “So, Shige-san...I just wanted to ask...c-can I, uh, hang out with you again after my shift’s over?  ...Like yesterday?”

“Absolutely, Izumi-chan,” said Shige smoothly, flashing a toothy grin at Asuma.  “Absolutely.”

---

Hiromi groaned.

“C’mon, c’mon!” Asuma hissed, shaking him.  Well, as much as he could shake the big man.  “You’re curious too, right?”

Hiromi groaned again.

“What?  It’s gotta be you, it’d sound weird coming from anyone else!”

Groan.

“You’re nonthreatening, man, you’re like a big teddy bear, you listen to people and care about their feelings and stuff!”

 ___

Notes:

Asuma bullies Hiromi into discreetly asking Noa cus Hiromi’s nonthreatening (like a big teddy bear)...Noa misinterprets & thinks Hiromi’s asking her out?

Ota thinks crush talk and/or dating a coworker is super unprofessional but now he can’t stop thinking about it either, is jealous that no one’s hitting on him?  Starts alternately peacocking & being really irritable? Demands Noa and Kanuka rate the men in terms of attractiveness and then immediately gets mad cus that’s so dumb?

Noa keeps hanging out w Shige after work, looking at Alphonse’s schematics...he tries to ask her on like an actual date and she’s disappointed? Goes anyways (& went with Hiromi too)?? Now everyone’s really confused??? Asuma asks her out too???

Kanuka’s stoically scornful, like “are you all that desperate for a woman?” (like they’re all crowding around Noa cus she’s one of the only girls they know, and/or comparing it to kids who don’t want a toy until they see someone else play with it)  Hiromi’s just really embarrassed and too shy to admit to Noa that there’d been a misunderstanding

Shinshi’s glad that everyone’s thinking seriously about their romantic futures

Shige & Asuma start getting weirdly competitive and start going on like trio dates where they keep one-upping each other and/or Noa thinks it’s a group hang and invites the others along

Eventually Kanuka just spells out to Noa what’s going on & she’s really surprised and embarrassed. Admits she was so shy and cagey with Shige cus she didn’t want anyone making fun if her for looking at Alphonse “naked” (since he was a mechanic, he’d understand the fascination)

[hamilton-one-shots]

(I wrote a Sanders Side one shot and, because it’s Thomas’s birthday, I figured I should post it today! 

Based off of this post by @devil-towne)

Patton hummed a tune to himself as he walked down the hallway of the mind palace, something catching his eye. That was funny. He’d passed that hallway so many times before, but this was the first time he remembered seeing a door there. He tilted his head in thought. The other sides would’ve told him if they made a new room, right?

Maybe it was a surprise! Oh, they knew how he loved surprises!

Patton smiled widely and began to step away from the door. After all, he wouldn’t want to ruin it.. But.. He supposed a peek wouldn’t hurt.

No.. That wouldn’t be right. If they didn’t want him to see it, he really shouldn’t..

On the other hand.. If he had an idea what it was, he could make sure he wasn’t too surprised, so he could still thank them. And, besides, maybe they wanted him to see it. After all, a random door basically screamed Patton’s name!

That settled it! He carefully turned the door knob and took the smallest peek inside, his eyes going wide at what he saw.

An open zoo! They really did know how much Patton adored animals!

He squealed to himself and looked around, his smile fading as he saw a far too familiar black cape flowing about.

Deceit... What was he doing there? Actually, it was pretty obvious. He was going to ruin the zoo! Probably put one of his evil spells over the cute animals...

Well, that wouldn’t stand!

Patton opened the door wider and walked in, marching over to Deceit and tapping his shoulder. “Excuse me, mister, but what are you doing here?”

Deceit turned around, his signature grin on his face as he realized it was Patton standing there. “Oh, Morality, I totally heard you coming. You honestly didn’t surprise me one bit.”

“Well, surprised or not, you need to answer my question. What are you up to this time, mister?” he asked sternly, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I was going to ask you the same thing. It’s not very moral of you to sneak around in someone else’s space.”

Okay... Now Patton was confused. “What do you mean ‘someone else’s space’?”

The slithery side shrugged a bit before explaining. “Well, you and the rest of the sides have your own room, don’t you?”

“Well.. Yeah..”

Deceit raised an eyebrow. “Oh, it’s clearly not obvious, is it? Ever since Thomas accepted I was a side, albeit a side nobody likes very much, I have been granted the ability to create my own room. So, I took the liberty of giving myself something even more free,” he explained, opening his arms wide to gesture at the space.

The moral side was still a bit confused... “Why would you pick something so... cute?”

“How open minded of you,” Deceit deadpanned. “People can enjoy things, Patton. This isn’t a world where everyone’s personality can be stuffed into a box.”

“Huh.. I’m sorry, I just never took you for the animal loving type. Especially not cute, fluffy animals like these.”

“Well, I supposed you can judge a book by it’s cover, can’t you?”

Patton shrugged, feeling kind of guilty. Deceit wasn’t a very good person, but he supposed the other at least deserved a room if he was an official side.

Deceit cleared his throat, making Patton look up instinctively.

“As much as I... love... having you around,” Deceit began before pointing towards the door.

“Oh, alright. I know when I’m not wanted.” Patton huffed a bit and left the room, wishing he at least got to pet one bunny before he did so.

That night, Patton began making dinner for all of his kiddos when he realized.. Should he make an extra plate for Deceit?.. After all, if he had a room, maybe Patton should-

His thoughts were cut off by Roman zipping into the room, a look of distress on his face as he ran to Logan, who was helping Patton make dinner. Patton helped make dinner with love and Logan helped make sure the tomatoes didn’t get all squishy when they were cut.

“What seems to be upsetting you?” Logan asked, turning away from said tomatoes.

“I found this poor little creature out on my latest quest and I just had to bring it here,” the princely side explained, opening his hands to reveal an injured bird. “I just don’t know how to care for it..”

“Oh. That’s a simple task. Splint it’s wing, put it in a lined box, feed it, and give it water until it can fly home.”

Roman nodded, but looked at the logical side expectantly.

“Yes?”

“How do I do that?!”

“Simple. Splint it’s wing, put it in a lined box, feed it, and give it water until it can fly home.”

Roman sighed, exasperated. “Oh, you are no help! Virgil takes care of his tarantula, perhaps he will tell me.”

Logan pushed up his glasses. “After you made fun of him for it? Who’s to say he won’t feed the bird to his tarantula?”

Patton was surprised at the accusation. “Logan, I’m surprised at you! My little Virgil would never do such a thing. But, Roman... I might know someone who can help... But you’re not going to like it.”

“I’ll do anything for the poor thing to fly again,” Roman assured, stepping towards Patton. “Tell me. Who is this mysterious healer you speak of?” No matter what kind of quest it would take, Roman would make sure that the creature once again was able to live it’s life.

“I would like to see, too. I wonder who has more knowledge than I when it comes to these matters,” Logan said, cleaning his hands.

Patton turned off the stove and did the same before leading them to the new door.

“I’ve never seen this door,” Roman pointed out.

“This door has never been here. What has caused it to appear?” Logan asked.

Patton didn’t respond, knocking on the door instead.

It was only a minute before he received a response, Deceit poking his head through the door. “Yesss?”

“Deceit!” Roman cried out. “I will protect you, my feathered friend!” he shouted as he unsheathed his sword.

“Roman! No, Roman! Put the sword away!” Patton called back, using his outside voice.

“But-”

“Deceit is who I meant. I saw him with a ton of animals earlier, maybe he can help.”

“Oh, no, Patton, I rather like Roman holding his sword to my neck,” Deceit remarked, looking completely unamused.

“Sorry..” Patton helped Roman lower his sword.

“I’m sorry,” Logan began, “but you thought to ask Deceit about animals over letting him take my advice?” he asked, almost looking offended.

Deceit yawned. “Well, if you guys are just going to insult me, might I go back to my own business?”

Patton smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry.. Roman found an injured birdie and I was kinda hoping you can help him take care of the little guy..”

Deceit looked... genuinely surprised. But, seconds later, it morphed into an almost devious look.

“Alright. If Roman can ask for my help, I will assist him in healing the little bird.”

Roman growled, ready to use his sword until Patton put a hand on his shoulder.

“Come on, Princey.. Even a prince can ask for help sometimes.”

And it was a low blow to his ego, but Roman knew Patton was right. He huffed and put down his sword, looking Deceit in his mismatched eyes. “Deceit, will you-”

“Of course I will, just give me a moment,” Deceit interrupted before shutting the door.

Before anyone could react, the door was opened once more and Deceit walked out with a shoebox in hand. “Alright, where shall we do this? The kitchen, perhaps?”

“Uh- Sure,” Roman said, acting like he knew what was happening.

“Splendid.” Deceit walked with the other three sides to the kitchen and sat at the dining table, patting the seat next to him for Roman.

The creative side clenched his teeth and looked at Patton, wondering if he was serious about this. And the way Patton smiled and nodded towards the table said he was.

Roman sighed and joined Deceit at the table, still carefully holding the bird. “Oh, alright.”

“Good.” Deceit opened the box, revealing the fact that it was quite literally made for this situation. The inside was lined with what looked like old shirts and there was a roll of bandages and what looked like a tongue depressor. “Let me see the little guy,” Deceit asked, holding out his hand.

Roman held the bird away defensively and shook his head. He found the bird, it was his responsibility to make sure the little guy was safe.

Deceit sighed. “Roman, I know you don’t trust me, but I can’t help the poor thing when you flinch it away every time I move.”

And, as much as Roman hated to admit it, loathed, in fact, he knew Deceit was right. He sighed and handed the bird over.

“Thank you.” Deceit made quick, but careful, work of putting the bird in a splint, the other sides watching in silence and only being disturbed by Virgil’s late appearance.

“Here we go.. Just one ore wrap around and-”

“Deceit?! What the heck is he doing here and why are you all just standing there?” Virgil asked as he saw the dark side, looking at everyone for an answer.

Patton smiled sheepishly. “It’s a long story.. But Roman found this poor birdie and Deceit was helping Roman take care of it. He’s good with animals.”

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “Deceit? Good with animals?”

“The truth hurts, doesn’t it?” Deceit remarked. “Now, if you please, I can’t work like this. I need silence to help the poor thing.”

Patton nodded and looked at Virgil. “Can you please be quiet for a teensy second?.. Then you can complain about Deceit all you want.”

Virgil rolled his eyes and dropped himself into a chair, watching Deceit in action. “Well, don’t let me stop you.”

Deceit turned back to the bird and finished the splint before placing the bird in the box.

“What about food or water?” Roman asked. “It is a living creature, after all.”

“True, but the poor thing is far too scared to eat or drink, as one could imagine. That will be tomorrow’s lesson. For now, be careful not to rattle it and tell me if something else goes wrong.” He began to rise to leave, pausing as he heard Virgil stand up suddenly and run out of the room.

“Virgil?” Patton asked, jogging after him. “Where are you going, kidd- Ahh!” He screamed his girlish scream as Virgil came back, holding a small cage against his chest.

The anxious side ground his teeth and held out the cage towards Deceit, looking away in embarrassment. He knew his precious pet tarantula was just molting, he’d done hours and hours of research as soon as it started, but... He just wanted to be sure. “What’s happening to him?”

Deceit hummed in thought and reached for the latch, glancing up at Virgil. “May I?”

“Yeah, whatever...” Virgil grumbled, unlatching the cage for him. “I usually keep him in his terrarium, but I can’t move that whole thing and there’s no way you’re ever going into my room.”

“Yes, because this definitely makes you seem like an irresponsible pet owner,” Deceit said with a small chuckle as he reached in and pulled the tarantula from the cage, resulting in another ear piercing screech from Patton.

“Get it away! Get it away!” he cried out from the other side of the room, clinging to Logan for dear life.

Deceit ignored them and recognized what was happening as soon as the spider curled up in his palm. Well, he recognized what was happening as soon as he saw the big guy, but it wasn’t everyday that he got to hold a tarantula. “He’s just preparing for molting,” Deceit assured. “Some time in a few weeks, he will shed his skin,” he explained as he gently set the creature back in it’s cage. “After that, don’t touch him for at least a week or so, okay?”

Virgil nodded and locked the cage. “I knew that.. And I still hate you.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” Deceit said with a shrug, watching Virgil take his pet back to his room before looking at Patton. “Aren’t you his father? If you didn’t want him to have a tarantula, surely he would’ve listened.”

“I let him.. But I made him promise to keep it in his room,” Patton explained as he straightened out Logan’s now rumpled clothing, then his own. “I will make an exception for this, but if I see that thing again, you can bet your hat he’s grounded.”

“Quite. Well, I should be heading back to my room now. You four enjoy your dinner,” Deceit said with a wave before beginning to leave.

“Wait!” Patton called back, making Deceit turn.

Patton smile his dad smile, one full of soft emotion and the intent of caring for someone, anyone who needs it. “Well.. Maybe you can stay for dinner? It must be lonely to eat all by yourself.”

Deceit smiled and turned towards him, gauging whether or not he actually meant it. “Patton... No.”

Patton’s face dropped in surprise before it morphed into one of sadness. “Why not?..”

“Oh, Patton.. I’m not one of you. You know it. The other sides know it. No mount of fluffy animals will ever change that,” he said with a shrug before leaving.

And, for once, Roman couldn’t comment on what a jerk he was. Logan found that it wasn’t time to point out that he was right. Even Virgil, from the top of the stairs, knew Deceit was right.

And so did Patton.

Deceit was a dark side. That’s how they saw him and who knew what would change that.

Deceit had no idea that anything could even change it. If it did, they’d expect him to give up his constant lying, to only use it for good. That just wasn’t him. He wasn’t the worst dark side, that was for sure. But he also wasn’t a light side, either.

As he sat under a tree, birds in his hair, snakes on his arms, and smaller, furrier animals piled in his lap, he knew he was happy that way. Why fix what wasn’t broken?

[quicksilversquared]

How to Announce a Pregnancy Chapter 4

Several years after the event of How to Fake a Marriage, Adrien and Marinette are ready to expand their family. When it comes to breaking the news, though…

Well, some people are harder to tell than others.

Month Eight, Week 1. Mr. Agreste returned from his trip in the middle of the night. He was too tired and grouchy from the plane ride (and also a very minor sunburn) for them to even try to slip in a family dinner before the gala that he was insisting they attend.

It was honestly getting ridiculous at this point. Or maybe getting ridiculous was the wrong phrasing.

It already had been ridiculous. It was just worse now.

"If anyone knew to look for it, they would be able to tell that I'm pregnant," Marinette said as she scanned her reflection in the mirror. "Otherwise…"

"Considering that you'll be giving birth in a couple weeks, it's insane that it isn't immediately obvious," Adrien commented. He scanned Marinette's dress, looking it up and down. With the draping sweater hiding the side view of the bump and a gorgeous gold necklace drawing attention to Marinette's neck and away from the bump that was almost entirely hidden by the black empire-waist dress, it would be a rare person who picked up that Marinette was pregnant. "I know exactly where to look, but as long as no one is looking too close they won't pick it up. And no one should have any reason to, really."

"I just worry that someone will figure it out partway through the evening." Marinette fussed with her dress once more, than straightened. "Hopefully they wouldn't just blurt it out in front of a group. Private congratulations I can deal with."

"And that's the most we would get, I think. You don't look that far along, especially not in that dress." Adrien gave Marinette's arm a quick squeeze. "You look radiant, love."

"Thank you."

The Gorilla picked them up, since the gala was a bit out of the city limits and neither Adrien nor Marinette wanted to borrow her parents' bakery van again. Mr. Agreste had already headed out, of course- he had insisted on overseeing the last of the preparations- so they had the car to themselves and were free to update the Gorilla on the progress of Marinette's pregnancy. He listened with an interested expression though, as usual, he didn't make any comments.

"We have approximately three weeks left to tell Father," Adrien commented, and wow, saying that out loud really cemented the fact that there was not a lot of time left. "We're talking to Nathalie, of course, to try to get dinner scheduled, but she only has so much control over Father's schedule."

"I've practically resigned myself to showing up for dinner a couple months in the future with Emma in my arms and letting Mr. Agreste find out then," Marinette mumbled into her hands. "That's just how this is going right now."

"I think the papers might have picked up on her by then," Adrien pointed out helpfully. "And honestly, I refuse to hide our kid from the world just because Father can't make time for us. If he finds out the news via tabloid or some investor congratulating him on his granddaughter, so be it."

"I was curious, so I decided to look up stories of other people who didn't discover their babies as early as usual," Marinette told him as they merged onto the highway. "And there were cases where people got to the giving labor part without realizing. And they must have had even smaller bumps than me."

Adrien let out a low whistle. "And we were rushing to get all caught up on all of the tests and forms and whatnot when we found out at four and a half months. I can't even imagine getting to nine."

"To be fair, some of them went into labor early. But yeah, the point still stands." Marinette caught herself mid-yawn and made a face. "Ugh. I rested all day today, I shouldn't be tired."

Adrien glanced over at her. "How is leave treating you?"

"I like sleeping in. And I got one of my projects done, so there's that." Marinette shrugged. "I'm normally going to be doing more during the day, but I just wanted to be rested up for tonight. Not that it's made any difference, it seems. Maybe it's just because it's dark outside and I'm hungry."

"We'll leave early," Adrien promised. "We can say that you've been working hard at work- which is true, even if you've been doing a lot of work from home recently. Maybe we can bring up the idea of scheduling a family dinner next weekend when we see my father."

Marinette made a bit of a face, but she tried to hide it. Adrien couldn't blame her. He was starting to think that they would have to wait two weeks minimum for his father to even consider scheduling a dinner with them, and that would put Marinette at eight months, three weeks.

Traffic was light, and it didn't take overly long for them to arrive at the gala. Adrien and Marinette wove through the crowds, greeting a few people that they recognized and avoiding others that- well, that they recognized but had no interest in talking to. Mostly people who thought that Adrien should return to being a model and Marinette should join Gabriel since she was part of the family now and had no problem telling them exactly that.

"And Father is busy, as always," Adrien sighed once they caught sight of Mr. Agreste, surrounded by designers and investors and department heads clamoring for his attention. "He's not going to work through that crowd until after we've left."

"How deeply unfortunate."

Adrien laughed. Marinette looked as though she wouldn't mind that at all, and frankly he couldn't blame her. Not with how all of their conversations with his father recently had gone.

"We should try to talk to Nathalie, at least," Adrien decided a few minutes later. "She might have an idea of what his schedule is going to look like and if we could schedule a dinner."

Marinette glanced over at the gaggle of people waiting to catch his father's attention and made another face. Adrien followed her gaze and this time, he spotted Nathalie in the middle of the fray, looking harried as she typed things into her tablet.

Things weren't looking hopeful, then.

Still, that didn't meant that they couldn't at least try to have fun. The food provided was delicious, of course- Tikki enjoyed the dessert spread while Plagg visited the cheese plates, and both Adrien and Marinette found things to eat- and there were a few people who were decent enough company to talk to. Mr. Agreste finally worked his way over to greet them, though it turned out to be because he wanted to show them off to a few investors. They managed to exchange a few pleasantries, and Adrien was struck once again by how stilted and unnatural his conversations with his father were compared to his conversations with Marinette's parents. If they were talking with Tom instead of Gabriel, they would have already exchanged at least a couple puns.

His father didn't pun in front of investors. He also didn't pun when they were having family dinner at the mansion. Adrien had had more enjoyable job interviews.

That actually wasn't an exaggeration, which was pretty sad.

It wasn't long before Mr. Agreste moved on, stepping away with his eyes on another potential customer that he clearly wanted to set up an appointment with. Before he went, though, he gave a once-over of Marinette's outfit. Adrien tensed up for a moment, wondering if his father had somehow picked up on her teensy-tiny baby bump, but that wasn't the case.

"I would like to remind you that, for future events, ladies should be wearing at least a short heel," Mr. Agreste told Marinette stiffly, gesturing to her feet. "Particularly short ladies. Flats should be left for informal events."

And then he turned and left.

"Adrien, will you be mad at me if I strangle your father?" Marinette asked after a second of shocked silence had passed. "Or whack him over the head with my oh-so-unfashionable flats?"

"Only because you'd be exerting yourself without Tikki's protection," Adrien assured her. "Otherwise, I would tell you to go for it."

Marinette laughed. "I bet I could take him down with one hit. It wouldn't be exertion at all."

Adrien tried and failed to not smile at that.

Nathalie managed to catch them right as they headed towards the door to leave. She looked a bit hassled, though she managed a smile for them.

"He's going to end up putting himself back at the same level of stress," Nathalie told them. "Which I've told him, but he's convinced that he's fine. I've scheduled regular doctor's appointments, though, just to be safe. And several screenings that his regular doctor recommended."

Adrien nodded, a whisper of worry in his stomach. His father was going to work himself into an early grave, he really was. There was only so much that Nathalie could do to help.

"Make sure that you aren't overworking yourself," Marinette told Nathalie. "Surely you could use some help, too, to back off on the workload."

"I hired two helpers while Gabriel was on holiday," Nathalie assured them. "And set limits on how late I'm willing to work on normal workdays, blocked off weekends for myself, and made a resolution to actually use all of the vacation time that I'm given every year."

Adrien nodded. That was good. He didn't want to lose Nathalie to overworking.

"But enough about that- how are you?" Nathalie asked Marinette. She glanced downwards. "You don't- excuse my observation- you don't look eight months along."

"There's a combination of factors keeping my bump in," Marinette said cheerfully. "But Emma is the right size and is doing well, so we're not worried about it."

"I certainly wasn't judging- I know plenty of women who wish they could have been that small when they were as far along as you, Adrien's mother included." Nathalie smiled. "And I don't think anyone noticed tonight, which is nice. I'm sure it's great to not have strangers cooing over your stomach."

"My mom once punched someone who wouldn't get out of her personal bubble when she was pregnant with me," Adrien told Marinette. "She broke their nose, I'm pretty sure. I think it made headlines. Father wasn't pleased."

"He's never pleased, though, really."

Adrien tried his best not to laugh at that. On his other side, he could see Nathalie fighting with a smirk.

"I'll let you two go, since I'm sure you're tired," Nathalie said once she had sufficiently composed herself. "And I'll let you know if any openings for dinner come up. Your father has already filled up all of his lunches and dinners for this week with appointments, against my advice," she told Adrien. "There should still be openings for next week, once things die down a bit. You'll be at- what?"

"I'm at eight months and one week now, and eight month-two by next weekend," Marinette told her. She was frowning. "I'd be worried about how long telling Mr. Agreste has been put off if he wasn't literally doing this to himself."

"I'd say that after this, you'll get a good four to five years of him never canceling a dinner on you again," Nathalie said. A small smile slid onto her face. "I personally can't wait to see his reaction. Promise me that you'll make sure that I'm in the room when you tell him."

"I think we can manage that much." Adrien grinned at Nathalie. She had never seemed this devious when he was younger. "As long as you don't decide to leave the city on whatever night we finally manage to pin my father down for dinner."

"I never leave Paris, you know that." Nathalie glanced back through the crowd. Mr. Agreste was gesturing to her, looking irritated that she wasn't right by his side. "I have to go. Good night, you two."

"Goodnight, Nathalie."

  As Nathalie had expected, week eight months, two weeks didn't even get as far as having a dinner scheduled. Apparently investors and potential clients came before family, so Mr. Agreste was kept in the dark for one week longer.

At least none of the tabloids had picked up Marinette's pregnancy. It was probably a combination of two main factors- the fact that Adrien hadn't modeled seriously for years (he made exceptions for Marinette's designs, of course) meant that the tabloids really weren't that interested in him anymore, and then Marinette's small baby bump was easily hidden under a loose sweater or dress. They hadn't really been in the public eye that much, either, largely not going to any high-profile events.

The week after that- eight months, three weeks- came with a canceled dinner. Nathalie sounded exasperated as she delivered the news.

"That really is ridiculous," Marinette said after Adrien had thanked Nathalie and hung up. "And after he made such a fuss about wanting you to live in Paris instead of London! He sees you about as much as he would if we were in London."

"It's all about knowing that he could visit easily if he wanted to." Adrien made a face at his phone. "Just like how he wanted me to live at home, but then never ate dinner with me, and never dropped in to chat when I was back from London. He just wants to know that he would have the option." He sighed, wishing that his mom was still around. She would have way better about spending time with them. But there was no point on lingering on what-ifs and what-could-have-beens. "D'you wanna call up Nino and Alya and see if they want to go out for dinner? My father isn't the only one who gets to have dinner plans."

"Oh, I like that." Marinette perked up, nearly upsetting Masha and Sasha, who were competing for her lap space. "Alya's been swearing up and down that her bump is easily twice as big as mine now, and I want to see."

"I'll call them up right away," Adrien promised. "And even if they can't come out, we can go out. It would be nice to have one more date night before Emma comes."

As it turned out, Alya and Nino were free and 100% willing to head out to a casual restaurant for dinner with them. They hadn't gotten to hang out for a couple weeks, since Alya was still working and also had family visiting from out of town, and baby shopping had taken up all of the time not occupied by that.

And as it turned out, Alya was 100% correct about her baby bump being twice as big as Marinette's. In fact, twice as big was a bit of an understatement.

"Yeah, you're definitely showing," Marinette said with a laugh as they all got settled around the table and accepted their menus from the waitress. "See, that's why I couldn't believe it when the doctor told me that I was already at four and a half months, because that's what I think of when I think of five months along."

"I wish I could just stop at this size," Alya admitted. "It's quite big enough, thanks. Big enough to let people know that I'm pregnant, not just gaining weight, but not quite at balloon stage." She grinned. "But all this pregnancy talk- have you looked at the Ladyblog lately?"

Adrien and Marinette both blinked at that. "Uh, no?"

"Yeah, a lot of people haven't been, but I've been getting submissions and-look!" Alya pulled out her phone, pulling up the Ladyblog with a few practiced taps. "I mean, I always get photos, because people know that I'll publish them and they like having an audience. But I noticed something last night, so I did a bit of digging!"

Adrien and Marinette exchanged a nervous look. They didn't know where Alya was going with this, and considering that it was technically them that she was talking about, that wasn't comforting.

"Look!" Alya announced, shoving her phone at them once the Ladyblog had loaded. "There's one photo of Ladybug from last year, then one from two-ish months ago, and last month, and this month, and last night- and do you see that?"

"You mean, do we see the bright red circle that you've drawn around Ladybug's stomach?" Adrien asked dryly. "Yeah, it's kind of hard to miss."

"No, not that- the baby bump!" Alya exclaimed. "It's still small- just based off of my bump, I'm thinking she's at three months at most, probably- but it's definitely there. That skin-tight supersuit doesn't hide anything."

Adrien hid his smile. Oh, Alya was so far off. That was probably a good thing, actually- other people would probably assume the same, and as long as Marinette didn't go out as Ladybug for a couple months after Emma was born, people would keep that assumption.

Or if she went out, but there was some way to pad the suit to make it look as though she was still pregnant. That might not be a good idea, though, since there were bound to be people who would think that Ladybug shouldn't still be exercising as a superhero when she was pregnant.

(Which was dumb, of course, since both Tikki and their doctor were fine with the exercise (though the OBGYN admittedly didn't know about the magical part of it), but since when did that ever stop anyone from judging?)

"So if I'm right with how pregnant she is, Ladybug'll probably be giving birth a couple months after me! Just think, Emma and Elodie might end up being in the same class as Ladybug and Chat Noir's kid!" Alya was practically bouncing in her seat. "It's so cool that she and Chat Noir are hitting the same milestones as we are! I wonder if they'll dress their kid up in the Ladybug and Chat Noir baby clothes. I mean, on one had that could be a super obvious giveaway, but on the other hand everyone in Paris does that, so maybe not?"

"If their family and friends know- which they have to, right?- then what harm would it do?" Nino countered. "No one on the street is going to think anything of it. Though I do wonder how many amateur sleuths are going to be trying to look up who got married after Ladybug and Chat Noir announced their engagement, and then at which of those couples is going to have a kid."

Adrien and Marinette exchanged a look. They had timed the release of their superhero engagement photo so that people would by and large count out their wedding as a possibility, and it seemed to have worked. Then with a little help- once again, Adrien would have to ask Tikki about potentially padding the suit so Marinette could go out and still look pregnant after she gave birth- they could use the news of their superhero pregnancy to throw people off of their trail.

"Anyway, we've been discussing this ever since Alya noticed the bump in the photos," Nino added to Adrien and Marinette. "She's excited, I'm not sure if you could tell?"

They all laughed at that.

"I just think that it's cool, that's all," Alya defended herself. "Like, I thought that we would never even know 'cause she would stop going out for a bit. Or maybe that would be just as obvious, if Chat Noir was still going out. But we haven't gotten any new news about them for ages, so all I've been posting is old footage that people submitted and patrol photos, plus any new things that I've been sent about the old superheroes. It's not much, really, not when I used to be posting things every other day."

"Well, that's to be expected, since Hawkmoth is gone," Marinette pointed out. Adrien watched as her hand rested protectively on her baby bump. He knew that she was a little self-conscious about it, since she hadn't really gotten used to people really seeing it and commenting on it- well, besides the people that they had told, that was. Finding out that people had noticed that Ladybug was pregnant had come as a surprise.

Adrien hoped that the news wouldn't stop Marinette from wanting to go out as Ladybug again. They enjoyed their exercise time together, and it was a good way to spend a clear evening when they didn't have company over.

"And it's a good thing too, because trying to balance a full-time job and full-time Ladyblogging and a new baby would be really hard," Nino added. "And I'm sure Ladybug and Chat Noir appreciate being able to sit back and enjoy their evenings instead of having to be called out to save the city."

"Anyway, on the whole baby theme- your Nonna is in town now, right?" Alya asked Marinette. "Since Emma could come early?"

Marinette nodded. "Yeah, she arrived- three days ago, I think? She's been meeting up with some old friends and exploring the city so she isn't underfoot at the bakery. I met up with her for lunch yesterday and let me tell you, she is about ready to deck Adrien's father. She thinks that I should be able to wear maternity fashion that would actually show off what bump I do have, and that the worry about tabloids is what is keeping me from doing that. But I don't know if I would necessarily want to wear super form-fitted stuff out and about even if I could."

Alya looked surprised. "Really? But I'm sure you could find some super cute pregnancy outfits. And you would rock them, honestly."

"I wouldn't want strangers coming up and commenting about 'oh! A baby!' or trying to talk about me being pregnant or- or any of the stuff that I've heard about," Marinette said, shrugging. "You've talked about it before, with how annoying it is to have people doing commentary on your pregnancy. And I just don't want to have to deal with that. Besides, loose clothes are comfortable."

Nino made a face. "Okay, fair enough."

"Yeah, I nearly decked a lady a week ago when she was asking if I was planning on bottle- or breast-feeding," Alya said. She made a face. "Like, who are you, lady? Mind your own business."

Adrien grinned. "Marinette was considering whacking my father over the head with her shoe when he criticized her for wearing flats at the gala. Is the urge to hit people a pregnant people thing, or…?"

"The urge to hit your father is a normal person thing," Nino corrected Adrien, who was dodging playful whacks from Marinette. "And the urge to hit nosy people is probably the same."

"I know, I know, I wanted to whack my father myself, I was just joking!" Adrien yelped. He sat up with a grin once Marinette finally let up. "And speaking of which- do you want me to really rub that comment of his in once we tell him? Just to make sure he knows how much of a jerk he's been?"

Marinette's smirk was vicious. "Only if I don't rub it in first."

Nino just shook his head, bemused. "I don't understand how your father dares to cancel stuff on you guys. I would be terrified to cross you two. Particularly when Mari's smirking like that."

Their waiter came back to get their order then, and conversation wandered onto what maternity leave was like for Marinette so far (filled with a fair bit of jittering around when she wasn't resting or making sure that everything was as ready as it could be) and what each couple had left to do (not much for Adrien and Marinette, but Nino and Alya still had some stocking up to do).

"My office is turning into Elodie's nursery," Alya told them. "Which is fine, now that my book has gone to print. My stuff is going to stay in there for the time being, though. It's not like it takes up that much room, now that everything is sorted and put away."

"We had to move a chunk of Marinette's sewing room into our bedroom," Adrien said. He grinned at Marinette. "That does take up a bit of the room. But we'll manage."

"As long as I'm not trying to make twenty leather warrior outfits again, I shouldn't take up too much space," Marinette said with a laugh. "And I've mostly been getting screen-printing orders on commissions recently, since I put up a note on my site that said that I was pretty busy and only wanted smaller projects. That barely takes up any space at all, since I just do the designs on my tablet and then-"

"And then have to fill up your entire living room with clothesline to hang pieces up to dry?" Alya chimed in, looking dubious. "I remember how much space that takes, Mari. Don't act like it's just a tiny side project."

"I outsource the printing part of most of my screen-printing orders now," Marinette told her friend. "I have a professional silkscreen printer doing the printing bit on those pieces, and I just come up with the design. It's faster and more cost-effective. And space-effective."

"And 'fewer chemical smells in our apartment'-effective" Adrien added with a laugh. "Which we all appreciate."

"I can do slightly more complex designs with a pro printer, too," Marinette added. "They cost more, of course, but they cost me more to make at home, too, and there was no guarantee that I would get it right. And I get a discount at the printer, since I'm such a regular customer."

"And then you get to keep all of the printing mess out of your house. Good idea." Alya nodded appreciatively. "...when did you start doing that?"

"Last year, I think. Or is it closer to two years now?" Marinette tipped her head to the side, considering. "I don't remember. I had been considering it for a bit before I switched, and shopping around for someone who would be good to work with long-term took a couple months. I just thought it might be a good idea because I really enjoy the designing part, but not the actual screen-making and printing part so much."

"And stuff was taking up so much space of our storage," Adrien added. "And it was taking up her evenings when Marinette had an order to do."

"You mean it was stinking up the place while you were home."

Adrien grinned and shrugged. "Yeah, well, even if you did try to do as much as possible outside, some smell still ended up in here."

"So anyway, my projects at home don't take up that much space right now," Marinette said loudly, ignoring Adrien's grin. "And they're very portable. So having half of my stuff in our bedroom and half in Emma's room should work until we get our three-bedroom apartment, however long that takes."

"Right, of course." Nino glanced up and hastily gestured to clear the table, just as their waiter arrived with their pizzas. They accepted their water refills, then eagerly dug in.

"So," Alya said as she loaded her plate. "So you have just about one week left, right? Are you excited?"

Marinette laughed. "Excited, nervous, occasionally terrified in case we mess up or somehow missed getting something important. It varies, really." Reaching over, she squeezed Adrien's hand. "I know it'll be all right, though. No matter what happens, I know that Adrien and I can handle it together."

[khadij-al-kubra]

Thomas In Wonderland (ch 2)

Characters: Thomas (fictional), Virgil, Roman, Patton, Logan, Remy, Emile, Joan, Talyn, Deceit, Nate, The Dragon Witch, fan adopted short vid characters

Pairings: None (some implied Prinxiety)

Words: 1993

Summary: Thomas takes a long fall and has some snacks

Author’s Note: Hey friends! Ya girl is back at it! Not much to say in the ways of notes except now i have an actual Beta reader! Yaaaay. The awesome and talented @fuck-my-life-i-want-food. I have to thank them for catching all the little errors and typos I miss and that WordDoc failed to point out. (digital dummy) As always I am open to any writing critiques or tips you may have, and any likes, comments or reblogs would be immensely appreciated! Also please let me know if you would like to be tagged in future chapters for this fanfic or any of my other future writings. I am so happy everyone’s enjoying the story so far, and i’m having a lot of fun writing it! So now, where were we? Ah yes...

Down the Rabbit Hole

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH”

Thomas’s echoes screamed as he tumbled down the rabbit hole. Which if he wasn’t so busy falling he might’ve noticed was much larger than a normal rabbit hole might be. Not that he had seen the insides of many rabbit holes, but it didn’t take someone with a degree in chemical engineering to take an educated guess that most weren’t the circumference of a very large albeit dirt covered swirly slide. Nor were they probably as well lit or furbished with homey brick-a-brack here and there.

But then again, nobody in their right mind would be expected to notice these things while falling down said hole screaming their lungs out. So you could hardly blame Thomas’s momentary laps of attention to detail.

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH *cough cough * AAAAAAHHHHHH”

Thomas had never been so scared in his life. Not even that one time his uncle had taken him out on a fishing trip and they got caught in that rainstorm out on the water. He didn’t know how long he’d been falling but surely it was only a matter of time until he hit the ground harder than Wile E Coyote. And his body did NOT run on the kind of cartoon logic where he could survive such a fall. His anxiety was going through the roof and his voice was growing hoarse from his shouts. Plus it was dark and dirty and humid and oh my gosh, why didn’t he just stay home!?

“AAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaah?”

Huh…jeez this tunnel is deep, Thomas thought. Now that he wasn’t so focused on screaming, Thomas had a chance to let his logic catch up to him. He realized that the less he panicked the more his decent slowed down.

Okay Thomas, just remember your breathing exercises. In for four…Hold for seven...Out for eight… As Thomas worked to count, hold, and release his breath he felt himself slowing like syrup. His spinning body settled into a calmer upright position, and finally his heart rate was back to a comfortable comforting rhythm.

Phew! Taking a break from his tiring terror, the young artist got a look around him. It was dirt brown for obvious reasons, but for less obvious reasons he also spotted old-fashioned gaslights along the walls. As well as a half stuck leather love seat, a mirror, exactly three different pride flags and a toaster oven. One thing he did not see however was a pitcher of water, which Thomas wished was around because his poor dry throat sure could’ve used something to drink right about then. Oh! He just remembered there was half a packet of gum left in his pocket from his last run to CVS. Too bad I didn’t keep the receipts, or else I could’ve made myself a rope to climb up or something. Oh well. Thomas took a piece of gum and chewed on it gratefully.

As he coated his throat in minty sweetness Thomas wished that he had a wristwatch so he could know exactly how long he’d been falling. I mean it’s gotta be a solid five minutes at least since I tripped. Stupid laces. Thomas bent down to tie his laces so he wouldn’t trip on them into any more holes. That is if he ever landed on solid ground again. The momentum caused him to flip around once or twice but eventually he made the two rabbit ear knots. Down and down Thomas went, yet still no sign of a light below or any below at all beyond the shadowy black. Who would’ve thought slowly falling down a hole for so long could be so boring! Thomas hated being bored. Almost as much as he hated writers block, but definitely more than muggy weather. And he still had no clue what time it was.

“Such a weird thing to want while falling down a deep hole,” Thomas said. “A watch of all things. Then again, I’ve definitely had stranger thoughts…Have I always talked to myself this much?”

Before he could answer his own question, Thomas spotted a glint of something from below. A light? Or maybe it was a ladder or something useful. As he went down the item came up to meet him and he snatched it form the air. It was the silver pocket watch the Black Rabbit had on him.

“Poor thing must have lost it on the way down here.”

He opened the watch to check the time, only to find that the hands were not only ticking oddly fast (Thomas would’ve sworn it was the same counts as a waltz) but also moving counter clockwise. Well that’s a lot of help, he thought. Only now did he see there was also an inscription written on the inside:

‘V- I go mad for you, every time. – R’

Thomas wasn’t sure if this was meant to be a compliment or a weird threat, but either way it was clear from the inscription and well-worn look of the silver that this watch meant a great deal to the Black Rabbit.

“Poor little guy must be going nuts without it, especially if he was in a hurry for something,” said Thomas. “I’ll try my best to get it back to him. If I ever touch ground again, let alone—Oof!”

His whole body suddenly jerked to a halt, like how it did at the end of rollercoaster rides. Thomas looked down and to his great relief saw he was floating a foot above solid ground. A second later he was dropped down and tasted said solid ground.

“Ow…” Despite the taste of twigs and leaves that he picked out of his mouth, Thomas was relieved to have reached a bottom at last.  

It looked like he was in another tunnel- only this one was long ways and had a clear warm light at the end. Moreover, he saw up ahead of him a rather large shadow on the wall with rabbit ears and could hear anxious mutterings of, “I’mlatei’mlateafucki’m SO late! Where’s my watch, I’m so LATE!”

“Hey, Mr. Black Rabbit,” Thomas called out.

The shadow turned to his voice, ears shooting straight up, only to scamper out of sight. He really was a jittery little fella. Thomas ran down the tunnel in the hopes of catching up. Not only to give him back the pocket watch, but also he was honestly still pretty curious about where the Black Rabbit was going.

As he ran Thomas passed a few wooden doors and portraits of upside down selfies, but he kept his eyes ahead. At one point he saw the Rabbit’s cottony tail and turned that same corner. At the end of the hall was a door left ajar. Thomas opened it and found himself in a spacious room, nearly bare save for a round glass table and lamps along the walls. The Rabbit seemed to have vanished.

“Boy he’s really good at popping in and out of places suddenly,” Thomas said, scratching his hair. “But where could he have gone?”

Just then he spotted a spec of blue to his right: a small pair of curtains low to the ground. Thomas knelt down and pulled them apart. Behind it was a simple door with a brass handle and keyhole. This was getting curiouser and curiouser by the minute. He stooped even lower, practically laying on the wooden floor now and peeked through the keyhole. What he saw took his breath away and made him smile for the first time all day. Beyond the door was the most gorgeous garden he had ever seen! Filled with gardenias and tulips, roses and violets, sunflowers and daffodils…he really liked flowers. There were even ones in colors and species he didn’t recognize.

“Oh I gotta check that out! But how am I going to get through this teensy thing?”

Thomas stood up and walked around the room, hoping there might be another him-sized door he’d maybe missed. He saw no door but when he accidentally knocked his hip into the round table (Ouch) he saw there was a small glass bottle with a tag on it that read DRINK ME in Arial font, and a plate with a single large sugar cookie on it. On the cookie in pink colored icing were the words Eat Me in lovely Cursive. It wasn’t every day that Thomas came across food that was so bossy. Then again, he hadn’t eaten or drunk much today, and he was no good on an empty stomach. He left the bottle alone because a) the font wasn’t too nice and b) the blue liquid inside looked like Gatorade but could also very well be poison or liquid drainer or something. He remembered what happened in Heathers.

The cookie on the other hand a) had a sweeter font and b) well, he’d always been weak for cookies. So he pocketed the bottle for later, took the gum that had long ago lost its flavor out of his mouth, put in in the wrapper (because he wasn’t a barbarian), picked up the big cookie, and took a bite.

Aaaand he immediately regretted it. Not because the cookie tasted bad, it was actually delicious. But because he felt himself getting slightly compressed and saw the room getting even larger, until Thomas found himself to be the size of an ant.

“Oookay. So big cookies here make you small. Duly noted.” For some reason he felt like that should be reversed, but he could mull one that more later. Thomas turned to the door. “Say, maybe I’m small enough to fit through that door! Even if it’s locked, which it probably is and I didn’t see a key anywhere…I could probably fit through that keyhole. Ha!”

Thomas jogged on his teensy legs over to the door. He was certainly small enough to fit into the hole. Unfortunately he was too small to actually reach said hole no matter how high he tried to jump. Thomas gave a sigh.

“Okay new plan.” Thomas thought for a moment and then took the DRINK ME bottle out of his pocket. If the cookie made him small, then it stood to reason the drink might make him big. “Well, here’s hoping is not liquid cleaner.”

With 50% hope and 50% anxiety, Thomas uncorked the bottle and took a swig, downing the whole thing. Not that there was much to begin with. It was a small bottle after all. Thankfully it wasn’t poisonous; actually it tasted like grape soda. Or  some kind of berry maybe? Definitely something fruity. Also thankfully, Thomas felt himself being stretched big and bigger. Not so thankfully his head knocked into the ceiling. Now he was too big. Thomas groaned. At least now he knew what it was like to be tall. That was kind of nice.

“Okay, new-new plan.” Thomas took out the rest of the Eat Me cookie and this time only took a nibble. “Take two.”

Thomas once again felt that compression like before. This time however, he was more like the size of a mouse than an ant. He jogged back to the wooden door again and this time found he could just reach the rim of the keyhole. He pulled himself up (good thing he’d been going to the gym lately) and through the hole. Finally he was on the other side.

“Woohoo! Thank you size changing snacks!”

His mood improved greatly with the treats and the new scenery. The garden was even grander up front than through a keyhole. So many vibrant colors, and the sweet earthy perfumes seemed to wrap around him like chiffon. Thomas relaxed for the first time all day. Still, he didn’t know where exactly he was or where the Black Rabbit in the purple waistcoat had run off to. What Thomas did know was that he had been very distressed about something and that he had the bunny’s missing pocket watch. There was still a chance that Thomas could help the poor fella, or at least give his belonging back to him. He could still do something. So Thomas moved on in the only direction he was sure of- forward.

<=PREV

NEXT=>

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[cutiecrates]

Cutie Reviews: Tokyo Treat May 18

Ahhhh, I took a bit longer than I would have liked to. But with good reason.

Sorta.

Basically, I spent the past few days going through all of the old crates to sort the items and dispose of the boxes/crates. They take up a lot of space when you order so many, and I bought some cute little boxes to sort the items by type and take them to my room.

I still have some to go through, but I made a lot of progress. I think I threw away about 20 boxes. But I did keep a handful of them either because I had use for them, or someone I know did. It’s actually been kind of fun going through them :3 and oddly therapeutic.

Anyway, let’s get on with it! If you like anime, manga, and video games, this box is perfect for you!

Theme: ANIME SNACK ATTACK

So, as you can see, we’re having an anime (and manga and video game) theme. Three things I adore!

LUCKY TREAT

The Lucky Treat is full of anime inspired items, and Pokemon! One of the most popular merchandising brands you find in these boxes lately. Like literally, nearly each box I've gotten recently seems to have some form of Pokemon item in it (not counting the makeups. But I know they have pokemon beauty products.)

MINUTE MAID CRAFTZ CHERRY & PEACH

I'm putting this here because the image of this is the very first one in the post. You can see it on the right-hand side there. Anyway, this is a drink by Minute Maid, a very popular juice brand that I like x3 It combines the sweet, flowery tastes of cherry and peach- I think this would perfect for spring time!

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

If you like Peach then you'd like this drink, basically. The Peach is overwhelmingly strong, and there is a faint cherry-ness to it, but it mostly blends into the peach. It was refreshing~

Sriracha Rice Chips & Don Taro Udon Snack

First up we got some delicious looking Sriracha chips made from brown rice and soy beans. As you can see on the bag in the pic. These are gluten free and flavored with a spicy kick! Perfect for those intense scenes; or when you start feeling yourself getting tired and need a wake-me-up.

Although, there was one little problem with mine...

Seeing this nice, big clean slice in the bag had me worried a teensy-bit. It came like that out of the box and it wasn't tampered with as far as I know- so I can only assume it was a last-second manufacturing thing that went unnoticed. It happens.They seemed fine, so I just put them in another bag.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Besides a tiny bit of staleness they tasted really good x3 They had a "deep crunch" to them, being sorta soft (which was either staleness or due to being made out of bean and rice) but still crispy. Oddly they reminded me of chicken-flavored ramen.

They are spicy, but it has to build up. It sort of lingers on the tongue for a few minutes but otherwise you won't notice it just eating a couple. It wasn’t really hot though for being made with sriracha. But I really like eating it so maybe I just didn’t notice?

Our next item in the pic is a snacking noodle dagashi, flavored after a real udon bowl.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥

Honestly they tasted a lot like those chips did. Minus the rice-bean texture. They're not bad or anything, but I'm not super-obsessed with snacking noodles; or noodles as a whole. I have to be in the mood for them. But they didn't taste bad, as I said, and if you really like crunchy snacks (or ramen) you would probably like these.

MENTAIKO UMAIBO & SENZU BEAN EDAMAME

Oh, our usual Umaibo and share pack snacks! How I love and sometimes detest you~

Depending on the flavors that is.

Our Umaibo is one I've had, maybe two other times by now. Mentaiko is "salted, creamy pollock roe", or fish eggs if you're not familiar with the term.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥

Not being a fish person, I've never tried fish eggs before. They haven't appealed to me. So I can't say if this tastes accurately or not- to me it reminds me of their cheese-flavored ones. I’m not a big fan of this, but it’s not bad either. It's not as strange to me as it originally was the first time I tried it.

Now, I've already given my opinions of these "share packs" so I won't waste time doing it again. For this month we get packs of this edamame themed snack with a light flavoring on them. First of all, each bag is 64 calories, making this a nice snack for those who worry over their weight or just want something a little healthier.

Apparently chosen to represent the "Senzou Bean" from Dragonball. Each bag also has a cute design, made to look like a mesh bag or pouch filled with edamame!

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

If they reminded me of anything on smell alone, I'd say "cheez-its and some green vegetable". Their taste and texture is about the same too, but I do get an edamame vibe. I think its adorable how they look like them too x3 and they have a light saltiness to them that is pleasant.

Besides the snacking noodles, I’d say these were the top in crunchiness.

DRAGON BALL CHEESE PUFFS

You read that right: Dragonball Cheese Puffs. These are 91.9 calories for the bag, and include a fun card as part of a game series. I know they've made these, but I'm used to seeing the gummy ones; but because I only buy those types, it was neat to try another kind.

So... as you can see, I got Vegeta! He's my favorite x3 I can't ever use the card for its intended purpose- but I'm happy regardless.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

They're basically like any other cheese puff-based snack. However, the flavoring was actually very light on the cheese and tasted more like the corn its made out of. But it didn't taste bad, and the crispy texture is nice. These are good as long as you're not expecting a huge, cheesy flavor.

ALMOND TOFU CHOCOBI & CHOCOPIE

I think I'll swap things around and start with the Chocobi; it hasn't been in the box for a while. This time, rather than a fruit it's flavored after a specific dish: Almond Tofu, a smooth and healthy Japanese dessert. I've never tried it before but I assume it's like yogurt or pudding with a jelly texture.

The box is 139.4 calories, and was made in celebration of yet-another Crayon Shin-chan movie. This one features stickers from different regions in Japan, the one I got says Aichi. But to be honest, the only one of these I recognized was Hokkaido. I kinda wish I got that one~

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥

As usual Chocobi as a texture is pretty nice. It's crispy, and they come in such a cute shape!

However... as usual, they also go stale VERY quickly.... So I've never been a fan of them.

Now these, the flavor isn't as odd as past ones I received. It's kind of like sweet, very light coconut, maybe a tiny bit almond x vanilla-ish. I really like almonds and tofu, but I didn't come to this snack knowing what to expect so I can’t say I’m being picky.

Our other item here I was a lot more excited for, meanwhile. The Petite Chocopie by LOTTE! It's basically chocolate covered cake and marshmallow cream- but since when has that ever been a bad thing??

Per each cake/pie its 74 calories, which isn't that bad if you want something sweet. According to the back they also have a type that features a chocolate drizzle rather than coating, and has chocolate and marshmallow cream inside~

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Right off, if you don't like dark chocolate then you probably won't like these. I don't think they're made with it, but they certainly tasted like it. My mom thought so too, and she hates dark chocolate- which is a shame because I really like it. But at least I know it'll be safe from her ;3

These were pretty good, but I did have one complaint. As you can see in the picture I took they don't really sync up with the photo on the package. Which is common, I know, but what the actual item lacks in thickness it also lacks in taste unfortunately. With the rich chocolate and cake/cookies under it, the marshmallow cream is too thin- you barely taste it, if at all.

SHIN-CHAN GUMMY, SPLATOON GUMMIES, AND THOMAS THE TRAIN CHEWY CANDY

This single piece of Shin-chan Gummy is available in soda/ramune, and cola flavors. As much as I enjoy soda/ramune, I really, REALLY wish I got cola. Or maybe one of each. The image in the booklet is a tiny bit misleading because you only get 1.

I kinda had to leave it in the package because by the time I got to it (a week ago, just about) it had like... melted into the plastic. At least I assume. I tried to remove it and it was not coming. I took the picture, then I mangled it to get as much as I could out.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥

I LOVED how this tasted. Exactly like the soda/ramune flavor I like. However, I couldn't necessarily judge the quality of the gummy due to unforeseen issues. As noted above...

The next item I got was another one I was excited for cus who doesn't love Splatoon, am I right?

I only have the first game for now, but I'll be getting the Switch VERY SOON, so I'm excited to get the second on x3 I also have a cute pink water-filled squid I got from the toy store like a year or so ago.

Anyway, these gummies are available in Orange and Melon. There's also a very rare gummy shaped like an octopus that can be found in certain bags. Mine wasn't one of them. One bag is 155 calories, which is kind of lame due to how small it is. BUT at the same time, I've seen worse.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Not only are the gummies really cute, but they taste very good too. I was also happy to see that the bag is zip-lock style and they lasted for 4 months with no sign of aging!

I was so excited when I got them back in May that I couldn't resist trying them then (=´3`=)

The gummy texture... I can’t really describe. It's chewy, but not hard, and they don't take five minutes to eat either. More like a few seconds.

Our last item in this picture is the Thomas the Tank Engine Chewy Candy!

The inner-child in me was really excited to see this. Not only because the candy itself sounded good, but I grew up on the Thomas the Tank Engine stop-motion cartoons x3 Ironically, now that I'm older he seems a lot more popular. That or I just never noticed it before. There's also another sense of irony here though. Back in August, I was re-watching the super old original stop-motions I grew up on; not for any real reason, I was just bored and like the background noise.

Okay, so anyway the candy is a grape chewy candy by Lotte. It looks a lot like gum but it's kind of thicker, and what's fun is that each piece has a little puzzle on it, or you can fold the wrapper in certain ways to make shapes or "toys". Each stick, or the whole pack is 85 calories. I can't actually tell.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

It pretty much tastes exactly like grape hi-chew, the only difference is the texture. So if you like Hi-chew or grape candy you'd like this. If you don't then... you probably won't.

(Oh, and if you're curious my favorite is/was James~)

BORUTO GUMMY & BORUTO PINEAPPLE JELLIES

Our last items of the box are these two "Boruto" snacks! Boruto, if you never heard of the series is essentially a sequel to "Naruto". A series I was very fond of. However, I don't like Boruto. It's not because of the characters or anything, but because of some "decisions" they made I just didn't agree with. Besides the cute packaging and decorative detail on the bag, the jellies each feature a decorative lid design based on various Boruto characters. Each Jelly is 19 calories, and are pineapple flavored, with real pineapple juice!

This box was essentially full of nostalgia for me x3 when I was younger I loved eating little jellies. They became pretty scarce as I got older though, and one day they kind of just stopped showing up. It's a bit disappointing.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

They taste really good, it's not an overwhelming Pineapple flavor. I love the slippery, soft, squishy texture~

Our final item is this Boruto energy-drink flavored Hand Gummy :3 Hand Gummies are popular and fun, being based on the game Rock-Paper-Scissors. I've gotten one or two other gummies like this before, but if I recall they were much smaller- but I got scissors both times, including this one!

That's usually my go-to gesture and always has been ;D But you can also look at is as "peace sign" too if you wanted. Anyway, these are energy-drink flavored, but the booklet assures us that no energy drink ingredients were actually used in making this. It's simply BASED on a fizzy, sweet-and-sour pineapple energy drink.

That rested any concerns I had, because I'm one of those who people who avoids energy drinks at all cost. If I want energy I'll just eat sugar.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

It pretty much tastes like the jelly, but the flavor was stronger. I also really liked its super-soft texture x3

♥ Cutie Ranking ♥

Quality - 4 out of 5. The only real reason why I marked it down was because of that slice in the rice chips bag. I'm sure this was an extremely rare thing though, I usually don't have any problems with any of the items I get in this box.  

Content - 3 out of 5. I didn't hate anything at all this time around- which is almost as rare as the above mention. Usually I find one item I detest, and I pretty much only disliked one item, and even then it wasn't that bad...

Theme - 5 out of 5. Besides a couple of items, it was pretty much covered in anime stuff!

Total Rank: 12 out of 15 Cuties. I genuinely LOVED this box in comparison to the April box. It had a couple of faults but nothing serious that I couldn't overlook. Considering how excited I was for this, I feel like they could have done better- but they did really good! Maybe like a... B+

♥ Cutie’s Scale of Yummy ♥

1. Cherry x Peach Drink - It was so refreshing~

2. Splatoon Gummies - I can't say I prefer orange or melon flavors in comparison to ramune, grape, or cola- but they tasted so good and looked adorable!

3. Thomas Grape Chewy Candy - Loved. Loved. Loved!

4. Hand Gummy - I liked this just a little bit better than the jelly. It's very soft and chewy, I'd recommend these if you can find them, they come in many flavors.

5. Pineapple Jellies - I loved their soft, wiggly-jiggly texture~

6. Chocopie -  I loved the soft, cakey texture and its dark chocolate-esque taste~

7. Rice Chips - Delicious!

8. Shin-chan Gummy - I was disappointed with this because it was delicious! I just wish it hadn't stuck to its packaging. Well, that and I wish we got maybe one or two more~

9. Edamame snack - They tasted good but I just liked other stuff better.

10. Dragonball Cheese Puffs - I liked how they tasted, but I felt like it might have been a tiny bit misleading cause it didn't taste like cheese to me. I don't know if its because the information in the booklet was wrong, or... I’m very happy with the card I got though!

11. Mentaiko Umaibo - It tastes better than when I first tried it. But I can't say it's in my top 5 Umaibo list...

12. Udon Snacking Noodles - As I mentioned, these I have to be in the mood for. They don't taste bad but it's not something I'd probably reach for.

13. Almond Tofu snack - I really am not just a fan of Chocobi...

Alrighty, here we are at the end of another review. I'm sorry if it seemed like the quality started lowering so far down. I'm feeling kinda tired and my head hurts suddenly, and after trying to write these twice I really didn't want to have to try again you know?

Anyway, I hope you'll stay tuned for the next review :3 it'll be May's Doki Doki crate, then we'll be moving onto June stuff!

Until then, stay cute!

[pyropsychiccollector]

AU Headcannon: Natsu and Erza try for a baby but can't. Erza goes to a doctor and finds out she's infertile, incapable of having babies. She becomes depressed but Natsu figures out a way to make her happy; they adopt. Instead of picking out one, Erza chooses to adopt all the kids, making their wish come true of having a large and awesome family! :D

Crossover with Danganronpa 2/3… yeah…

            ChisaYukizome twitched and forced a brilliant smile onto her face as she regardedher fellow redhead.

            “I’m sorry,could you repeat that? I must have misheard you.”

            And true toform, Erza Dragneel did not bat an eye as she repeated word for word her“decision”.

            “I want all of them.”

            Chisa’ssmile dropped completely and she gave off a blank stare. Oh dear. This womanwas clearly delusional. It took all of herwillpower to not go crazy with all these kids every day, and she was trained for this sort of thing!

            “Ma’am,”Chisa started slowly. She needed to bring this madwoman back down to earth. “Wecurrently have seventeen children in our care. Seventeen. I don’t think you understand the gravity of howimportant it is to-”

            “I KNOWJUST HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO CARE FOR THEM! I GREW UP IN A GUILD OF ORPHANS!”Erza roared, making the matron flinch. Okay, she definitely had a voice thatcould keep them in line, and maybe the passion, but even so…  

            “D-Do youeven remember all their names? What each of them likes to do?” Chisa tried adifferent approach, but her eyes became wide as Erza’s eyes sparkled.

            “Fuyuhiko-kunis just so adorable! Well, they allare, especially Chiaki-chan, but still! The way he takes charge of theplayground like a yakuza… So cute!And little Mikan-chan is so sweet…”

             Chisa’s eyes got wider and wider as Erza wenton and on, listing each and every childand what they apparently liked to do. Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu: Wants to be the head ofa yakuza empire. Chiaki Nanami: Content with playing video games, and beingleft to herself (though she certainly doesn’t mind multiplayer). Mikan Tsumiki:Hated so much to see others get hurt, wanted to be a nurse when she grew up.The “Imposter” (real name unknown): Because he doesn’t know or remember his ownname, he wants to copy others so that he feels like he is somebody. TeruteruHanamura: Developing a talent for cooking, wants to become Fiore’s greatestchef (then aim for the world title). Mahiru Koizumi: Sweet little girl contentwith taking pictures of anything and everything. Peko Pekoyama: Seems right upErza’s ally with her interest in becoming a swordswoman; seems smitten withFuyuhiko. Hiyoko Saionji: Very taken with dancing (and is a bit of a bully tothe other kids, especially Mikan-chan). Ibuki Mioda: Very outgoing, lovesplaying music (eager to learn any instrument). Nekomaru Nidai: Very athletic,but also has a habit of coaching the other kids so they’re in top physicalcondition (most… will pass up on his coaching). Akane Owari: Also veryathletic, but has an appetite to match (interacts with Nidai the most). GundhamTanaka: Very boastful of the animals he’s kept as pets (especially fourhamsters that he calls “the Four Dark Devas”). Nagito Komaeda: One of the oddducks; Lady Luck seems to be very fickle with this boy – it’s almost creepy howlucky or unlucky he can be at any given moment. Kazuichi Soda: Loves tinkeringaround with machines; has a massive crush on the “Princess” of the group. SoniaNevermind: Came from a wealthy family (they fell victim to bandits, and she hasno one left), but she’s come to terms with living at the orphanage with all theother children. Ryota Mitarai: Another reclusive boy; he likes to spend timedrawing and animating. And… Hajime Hinata. Chisa really feels bad for this lastone, because the boy feels so different from everyone else – like a “scrub”, ashe so puts it. If all these other kids can be described as “talented” in someway, then he seems to think himself “untalented”. “Average”. “Worthless”. He wants to be good at something, but hejust hasn’t found his calling yet – or at least, that’s what Chisa has toldhim… over and over and over. At least none of the other kids look down on him;most of Chisa’s time would be devoted to Hajime if that were the case. EvenHiyoko is a little less biting when she bullies Hajime like the other kids. Chisawas surprised Erza remembered Hajime… not because she doubted her fellow redhead,but because Hajime has been at the orphanage longer than the other kids, ifonly by a year. He’s so overlooked by potential parents, and it greatly saddensChisa.

            “O-Okay… soyou know them.” Chisa sounded dazed as she acknowledged that she was wrong.Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Dragneel had been stopping by the past few days, but to hearsomeone else know all her kids tosome degree… it was… Chisa honestly didn’t know how to feel about that. Alittle wary? Glad? Nervous? “I still don’t think you’d be able to give allseventeen of them the love they need… B-B-But if you want a trial run with themor something, b-by all means! Please! Let’s just get this pesky paperwork outof the way!”

            Apparently, Dragneel didn’t like her parenting skills being scrutinized. Well, it washer loss if she went insane. … Just kidding. Chisa would feel terrible forevery neglected child that would have to return to the orphanage until theDragneels could manage.

            Wouldn’tChisa be surprised when not a single child returned? Not even that odd duckNagito.

            ~*~

            “The fuck?!No one said we had to drink any milk!”Fuyuhiko raged with a reddened face.

            As he andErza proceeded to get into a screaming match, Natsu leaned over to his fellowpink-head. They had to set up two tables to accommodate all nineteen of them,plus Happy, but they made it work… somehow…

            “What’s upwith him?”

            Sodascratched his cheek sheepishly.

            “Peko orHajime might be able to tell you for sure, but I think he’s got an allergy orsomethin’. Lactose intolerant, I think?”

            Natsu madean ‘O’ face at this information. He should probably tell Erza, but they werecurrently on opposite sides of the tables… For his own good, he shouldn’t yellacross the table and incur Erza’s wrath about his own table manners.

            Aw hell,what did he care about manners?

            “ERZA! FUYU’SLACTOSE ‘N SOMETHIN’!”

            Thistriggered a shouting match between husband and wife, as Natsu had to pass alongSoda’s message accurately, and Erza scolded Natsu on his lack of manners. Mostof the kids ignored this over their own chatter; it wasn’t any louder thanAkane or Nekomaru’s verbal exclamations about the exercises they’d be doingafter dinner (even with Akane’s face stuffed), and with the adults occupied,the kids were free to ‘socialize’ as they pleased. Like Hiyoko picking on Mikan(Mahiru tried to get her to let up), Nagito getting on Fuyuhiko’s nerves (ittook all of Peko’s willpower not to smack him with her bamboo sword), Ibukitrying to get the “quiet ones” (the Imposter, Ryota, Hajime, and Chiaki) to bemore open and talkative, and Sonia apparently found Gundham feeding hishamsters “adorable” (which drew in a jealous Soda, who immediately beganslinging insults at Gundham and trying to pick a fight with him).

            “Hey Soniaaa!”It was all fun and games until Teruteru opened his perverted mouth. Withinearshot of Erza. “Some nasty poison caused my… little wiener to inflame, and it’s very troublesome… So I’d be verythankful if you sucked out the poison with your mouth~~”

            Of course thepoor aspiring chef was then dragged off by their new mother, who was nowred-faced and just a teensy bit shifty-eyed. Boys just entering their teensshould not be perverts yet! … But what does Erza care about Pervertedness? It’snot like she’s got a collection of erotica to share with her new ‘problem child’…or anything…

            For someunknown reason, Hiyoko, Ibuki, and Mahiru felt goosebumps go up their backs. Theyhad this odd premonition that one of their parents was going to be an enablerto that dirty rotten pervert…

            ~*~

             “So, mortal… whose master are you?” Gundhamasked Natsu, when they were alone with Happy. The dark-haired boy pausedbriefly before gesturing one bandage-wrapped hand at the Exceed. “… Aside fromthis magnificent specimen here.”

            “Eh?” Natsusquinted at the boy.

            “Whichtribe did you make a pact with? Answer me!” The boy pulled down his purplescarf to fix the Dragon Slayer with an intense stare… and the Pyro wasn’t anyless confused.

            “’Pact’?”

            “Answer menow! Though I shall cast you into a watery grave once you do!” Okay, nowGundham was just sounding bratty.

            Natsusquinted at the boy once again. Even by Fairy Tail’s standards, this guy was…eccentric. Happy seemed to understand, though… somehow.

            “I bet he’saskin’ if you’ve ever raised a pet, Natsu!” He rubbed the back of his head asGundham’s intense gaze fell on him. Natsu made an ‘O’ face.

            “Well, Ihaven’t raised any pets… Happy’s Kin.” Natsu sweatdropped as Gundham seemeddissatisfied with this answer. “… Oh! And Kemo-Kemo lived with us for a bit! Hewas green, and furry, and could breathe fire!But he wasn’t a pet, ‘cause he was Kin, like Happy.”

            Gundham’seyes seemed to bulge as Natsu described Kemo-Kemo. Never before had he heard ofsuch a creature… and this mortal had made a pact with it?! And this blue catcould fly… truly, his new father figure was a force to be reckoned with!

            “I-Itappears I underestimated you… to have raised such a pair of specimens…! I haveno way to gauge your Magic Essence! You may very well rival the great andpowerful Gundham Tanaka, SupremeOverlord of Ice!” Gundham posed dramatically and cackled gleefully.

            Happywatched the hamsters emerge from Gundham’s scarf.

            “Do thoselittle guys live in there…?” The Exceed asked cutely.

            Gundhamcrossed his arms proudly.

            “Tamingevil by using myself as a bed… Truly, this is the secret art of the TanakaEmpire!” He then paused again and nodded sagely. “One of my Four Dark Devas ofDestruction, Mirage Golden Hawk Jum-P, has this to say: ‘We’re not used togoing easy on our enemies…so don’t make us angry. You wouldn’t like us when we’reangry.’ FUAHAHAHA!”

            Natsu andHappy stared dumbfounded at the aspiring breeder. They hadn’t heard thehamsters say anything, but the boy apparently did.

            “Yourhamsters can talk?!” They chorused.

            Gundhamsmirked and chuckled. Oh yes. With a family that respected him like this, hewould make a fine roost here! He could not wait to tame the woodland creaturesand make them staunch allies!

           "Oh yeah.... Natsu was raised by a dragon! Thought you might find that cool."

           Gundham stared speechless at the flying blue cat. He had found quite the fascinating home indeed.....

            ~*~

            For thefirst few weeks, the Dragneel family home had to be renovated heavily to accommodatenineteen (eccentric) people. Unfortunately, it was a bit unreasonable to builda house that had nearly twenty separate bedrooms, so the kids were separatedinto rooms by gender, and given simple cots until they all raised enough moneyto upgrade living arrangements. None of the kids wanted Natsu, Erza, and Happyto break their backs to make sure they were all fed and cared for, so theyopted to help out around the Guild, and Magnolia in general for some. Chiakiand Sonia helped to serve tables in the Guildhall, while Teruteru helped Miraout in the kitchen; Elfman got some extra hands in bringing stuff out of thestorage room (Akane and Nekomaru); the Imposter was able to pull off convincing“Transformations” without the use of Magic, so he taught those the ‘tools’ ofhis trade; Mahiru didn’t want to intrude on poor Reedus’s turf, so she offeredto take photos around town; Fuyuhiko felt out of place in the Guildhall, so hetook to the streets and started cracking down on the “rival gangs” and bringingthem under his control (Erza thought it was a bit dangerous for him to handle,but the boy was an aspiring yakuza; and he had Peko to back him up, so Magnoliawas steadily becoming an even safer place to live); Ibuki and Hiyoko offered toperform shows for both the Guild and Magnolia in general; Mikan wanted to helpout in the infirmary, so for the time being she was learning under Porlyusica;Gundham grudgingly accepted the suggestion of taming wild animals and sellingthem to townspeople; Soda, aspiring mechanic that he was, offered to do oddjobsaround town and study under some mechanics; Ryota was working on honing histalent for animation, and he was getting some drawing tips from Reedus; Nagitowas a bit harder to pin down for a ‘job’, but Makarov gleefully had the boyentering all sorts of lotteries to earn money for the Guild (his bad luck wasannoying, but the good luck made it so worth it…); and Hajime… well…

            Hajime hada whole new world to explore with Fairy Tail. He usually helped out withwaiting on tables with Chiaki and Sonia, but he was also associating with manyof the Guildmates in an attempt to find his calling. He hadn’t found it yet,but he wasn’t going to give up. As one of the sons of Natsu and Erza Dragneel, thatwas one lesson drilled into his head fairly early on. Never give up. The futurehad endless possibilities~.

~*~

Note: I might continue this AU… The crossover’s a bit of a stretch in some places, like with Chiaki’s video-gaming and Ryota’s animation talent, but…. it’s fun~. I know I didn’t get into Erza’s infertility, but I wanted to get to these crazy kids. Phwwwh. They’d get along with the Fairy Tail cast… somewhat…. *giving Hiyoko the stinkeye* Hope you enjoyed this a little!

[newheather-blog]

Could you rate Duncney, Gwent, and Gwuncan (and maybe even Scourtney) because of the Love Triangle™

( rate the character/ship. )

hoo boy.

Now we’re getting into the bigger ships, huh. So! This one’s gonna get long and I’ll put the majority of my thoughts under a readmore. I will preface this by saying I definitely see the merits to each ship, especially the first three as they relate to s1, and my feelings on all of them are about as complicated as my own opinions on the main three related to it! And, honestly, especially when most ships are concerned in this series I’m definitely always open to hearing fans’ opinion of it and pointing out where maybe I’ve got the wrong idea. I’m definitely not the expert on any of these five characters that are getting brought up.

also, I’ve missed about ten years of debate to all of these ships, and I’ve only skimmed defenses because I don’t find myself in the tags that often. I’m definitely open to discussing all of them because I’m bound to either be misremembering or misinterpreting something!

well then. let’s jump in!

I’ll go in order asked, I think. Originally I was going to list them from fave to least fave but order asked may end up being neater. So:

Dun.cn.ey:Overall: 6-8, depending on the season.

Definitely not my favorite flagship, uh, ship, but I was very surprised to see that they did have a lot more of a rapport and chemistry than I remembered from watching years ago. Actually, I completely forgot it happened in s1, and it wasn’t all s2 onwards that had it starting. I actually really enjoy how Courtney and Duncan bounce off each other normally, even outside of a ship context. They’re fun to watch! And I definitely have a soft spot for the TDDDI special. They make a great dynamic duo, and in a way they’re the predecessors for… I wouldn’t go so far to say the “villain duo” because I maintain that neither of them are really, truly villains but that sort of dynamic that we’ll see shades of with other, more driven and snarky characters teaming up. They’re a great time to watch!

…Aaaaand Action and sliding into World Tour…. and then to All-Stars… ouch. Action! Courtney continues to puzzle me, as where I like her subplot in theory and understand where they were coming from, there’s just… parts that rub me the wrong way that I feel are less story beats to do with Duncan and more something on the writing level I’d need to rewatch Action much more closely to properly parse. They definitely break up, and hard, and go out of their way to be cruel to each other in a way that… well, I wouldn’t say doesn’t make sense for their age or characters, but it does hurt a little to see, as someone who was reasonably surprised by how engaging they were to begin with and someone whom is sad to see how far they end up falling. I liked them at least being friends, and personally it’s a little uncomfortable sitting through how nasty they end up becoming towards one another. It makes me a teensy bit sad, complicated feelings or not. That’s life, I guess. And I guess the real rating should be more like… 8 to 6, where they start out okay and then just become something hard to stomach.

This ship bums me out as someone who has had not so great breakups in real life. Could’ve had it all, I guess.

Gw.en.tOverall: 6.5-6.9.

I remember really liking this ship when I was younger, actually. For as poor as my memory ended up being, I remember having a soft spot for their interactions, even as I struggled to remember a single thing about poor Trent. Knowing what happens in Action does kind of color how I saw their interactions in s1 re-watching, though, so I guess in that respect I’m much more inclined to be a little less enthused about it.

But, fair shakes and all. They also have a really good place to start from, a good rapport, even though Heather reading the diary aloud should… maybe have been more of a plot point than it ended up being. C’mon, that was a brilliant power move on her part and it’s never brought up again! I get the feeling it’s kind of supposed to be one of those popular/unpopular ships in s1, but honestly it felt more like two loners jiving than anything else. Not a bad thing, just an observation.

I do think they ultimately work better as just close friends, though. And it’s a shame we never really see them properly reconcile, because Gwen gets bounced immediately into another ship fiasco before she’s even had properly time to breathe– well, okay, we’ve got a year between s2 and s3, but the audience doesn’t see the reconcile/attempt at reconciliation at all, and I don’t even think they talk but once in World Tour after Gwen is eliminated, which is really kind of bizarre.

Can’t help but feel a little uncomfortable with Gwen in Action, and the breakup with Trent is a part of it. Action is kind of all over the place in the first half, though, so for what it is worth they aren’t the only mess there.

I wish they could’ve been friends again. Like, really wish that had happened.

Gw.un.canOverall: 4.5-5.

Honestly, I knew it was only a matter of time before I’d have to bring this one up, and I feel semi-bad, because this seems to have a very sweet following– but this ship has just never done anything for me. I don’t hate it, but I’ve always just been indifferent to their interactions romantically.

I don’t understand where their chemistry was in s1. I don’t know why it suddenly was apparently so obvious in s2. I know Gwen and Duncan talked a little in s1, but was it that much to where it was decided that’s the direction they should go? It’s easily one of the most baffling decisions in the entire series to me because I cannot for the life of me find any romantic chemistry between the two of them. In some ways, I do understand why they’d be attracted to each other in theory. But their relationship has always read as just friends to me up until World Tour went and made it a big subplot, and honestly that just makes the both of them look even worse? If the writers wanted to make them a couple to root for in some way, World Tour was not the way to go about it. Again, I just end up feeling sorrier and sorrier for Courtney instead of excited these two actually got together.

They do have good friendship potential, though! Clearly they would be friends outside of a competition setting, and they do have a lot in common. I just find their switch to suddenly into one another to be abrupt and really clumsily written and even in All-Stars when they do break up I don’t have really any reaction at all. This ship certainly happened, and I’m sure there’s some potential there, as it definitely captivated enough people, but I’ve just never seen it.

Sc.ourt.neyOverall: 6-7.

Honestly, this is definitely a ship I gave an unfair shake to the first time I rewatched All-Stars. For some context, I’ve seen the entire season three times in full: once right after Revenge, once after World Tour, and again recently in order to take some notes on Heather. For some reason or other, this has ended up being the season I know way more about than I’ve wanted to.

It probably isn’t fair to judge this ship entirely on what All-Stars gives us, either, because Scott and Courtney are just… so nerfed in it that it isn’t fair to either. I think with a full season they could have ended up with a rapport that’s at least a lot more interesting than what we actually have to work with. In theory, I understand them falling for each other, too, and actually I find their rather blunt interactions kind of hilarious the more I go back and engage with them.

In theory, this could have worked. Or, at least, it wouldn’t have felt as out of nowhere and out of place as it does in the All-Stars we actually got. I think if Courtney wanted an ally, Scott is the perfect choice on the Vultures! And had he been back to his usual antics but outsmarted by her, I think their foundation would’ve been a lot stronger. I also think this ship as-is suffers from just not enough time in the episodes to really develop mutually, both because there’s only 13 episodes and because Courtney is also constantly pulled into the remaining fragments of World Tour drama.

So, yes. In theory I see how it could’ve been really fun, but in the source material I’m less than enthused, much like how I feel about gw.ourt.ney. But, hey, that’s what fanworks are for, right? I could see a rewrite of AS running them very effectively in much the same way.

Not my favorite ship for either character, though, sadly.

[cutiecrates]

Cutie Reviews: Tokyo Treat Dec 18

Ironically, I just filled out a survey the other day about this box. Changes will probably be coming to it, but not for a handful of boxes yet considering how far behind I am. If the box does change, I just help I like it~

Meanwhile I still haven’t gotten my delivery. As of tomorrow it’ll have been two weeks since it sent.

“Everyone’s favorite time of year is finally here! The holidays have begun and cheer is flowing throughout the air. It is time to be generous to those around you, give and receive gifts, and to enjoy a good time with those dear to you. With that in mind, we curated a fun holiday Santa’s Snacks box so that you can share a relaxing time snacking on fun holiday themed Japanese snacks with friends and family. We hope you enjoy all the many snacks inspired by Japanese holiday culture and that this month’s snack box warms your heart during this holiday season. Who will you be sharing your snacks this month with? Whomever it is, we hope you have a great holiday!“

So because of pictures, I didn’t include the Lucky Treat or prize pics. The Lucky Treat is entirely Crayon Shin-chan dedicated (I’m not a big fan of that series so I don’t really mind not getting this one...) while the prizes are Vocaloid based. Those I’d have loved to get.

The book also features an article on Christmas traditions in Japan (like ordering KFC), and one on onsen.

Fanta Mango Jelly Drink & DIY

As usual I’ll be covering the DIY in a new topic- only because I do have a handful of pictures and a few choice words...

Okay, so our first item is a jellied, mango Fanta drink. It might be a little strange to have in December, but right now when it’s June it couldn’t be better timing!

Each can is 68kcal, which I think is pretty nice because with it being full of jelly it’s bound to fill you up a bit more than a normal drink would, and if you happen to be weight conscious or don’t want a big meal it could be a good addition to the meal.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I feel like if you like mango you’ll love this, but there’s a small chance if you don’t like mango you might still like it. Whatever you do do not smell it >3< maybe it’s just me, but as much as I like mango it always stinks. It’ll taste good but the smell is very unpleasant.

Texture is another thing to take into mind because this drink has it. If you don’t like gelatinous things this might not be something you would consider trying. I love jelly textures though :P

Salty Green Pea Mini Chips & Vegetable Potato Sticks

Next up are two semi-healthy vegetable themed savory snacks! The share pack item are the bags of potato sticks by Calbee, Each bag is only 44kcal and packed with 9 vegetables! You can even see bits of them in each stick.

These I’m pretty sure I’ve had before, but I don’t really remember so i will be rating them just to make sure.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

The flavor is light but it’s there, it doesn’t really taste like one specific vegetable though. It kind of reminds me of a very light, non-breath threatening sour cream and onion. They have a medium-crisp.

Our next item are these mini chips by Bourbon, in salted pea flavor. Every 37 grams (which might be the entire bag) is 1 serving, for a total of 207kcal.

It’s hard to tell in the pic, but they kind of have a faint green coloring.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I didn’t really like these when I first tried them, I didn’t taste anything but some salt. However, the more of them you eat the more the flavor comes through, but oddly they don’t really taste like peas to me (I hate peas so it’s not a big deal), they make me think more of pistachio.

Apple Chocobi & Bourbon Strawberry Chocolate Chips

Okay, you can probably tell by now that Bourbon is kinda featured a lot in the box. Not a big deal though cause they got a lot of variety :3

Our first item in this pic is the Apple-flavored Chocobi. I admit I’m not a huge fan of these, usually because they go stale before I can finish them and they’re too sweet in my opinion. But I do like to try new flavors, and I love apples so I decided to remain open minded about this one.

These are made from apples all the way in Nagano Japan, and this set includes some cute, Crayon Shin-chan stickers in various locations in Japan.The one I got is Kagoshima.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I was very surprised by how tasty these are~ They are sweet but not cloyingly, and they actually taste like real apples, but they kind of remind me of cereal too.

For now, I think these might be my favorite (or at least liked) chocobi :3

Our next item I was very excited to try! I love strawberry chocolate, and chocolate-covered chips are usually-always delicious~

Each pack is 199kcal.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

They pretty much taste like their name “chips covered in strawberry chocolate“, with a hint of salt. It makes me think of eating McDonalds fries with strawberry milk or ice cream actually, but they are delicious!

The flavor might be a bit odd, but I really think it’s good. I want to keep eating them~

Kumamon White Sesame Cracker

Our next item is a dense white sesame cracker, I think it also has a very light glaze and broken up pieces of nut in it. It kind of looks like something you would give a bird doesn’t it?

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I thought it was kind of yummy, I love sesame seeds. But I also feel like I taste a bit of peanut, which I hate. I also didn’t like how dry it left my mouth after eating it. It’s also a little bitter, and sweet.

I feel like this is an “acquired“ item, because I gave a piece of it to my mom and she dislikes sesame seeds. Now, I’ve given her mochi with sesame seeds and she doesn’t seem to hate them, but this she didn’t like at all.

See, it’s unique things like this I wish they gave us more often. Maybe more rice-based products?

Melon Bread Cookies & Burnt Caramel Taiyaki

Next up we have two sweet items, first up being a small cookie based on Melon Pan (bread that resembles a melon. Only some of them actually taste like melon though).

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥

I’d say the melon-flavoring is a medium-high in rating, and I think the cookie might be shortbread. I thought it was nice for a bite sized cookie.

The larger item on the side is inspired by a Taiyaki (fish-shaped pancake-like treats filled with cream, jam, or chocolate). This is a popular snack item by meito and is flavored burnt caramel, these specific taiyaki are made from wafer with air popped chocolate inside~!

This specific flavor is 87kcal, and they have a handful of different flavors. As of now, I’ve tried two or three (soon to be four hint hint) of these, they’re so good.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

The black color might look a bit scary at first (or not, I like black so I thought it was kind of fun), but oddly to me it actually smells and tastes a lot like brown sugar and pancakes, I love caramel but I thought this tasted amazing!

I would highly recommend trying this, or any of the others if you can find them!

Bubbly Cola Ramune Candy & Tomato & Cherry Gummies

Okay so... one of these items I was extremely dreading to try. Wanna guess which one?

Our first item here is the cola candy inspired by a real pop. If the picture doesn’t imply anything, this is very foamy. I noticed when sucking on it, the foaming is very slow, and the candy has a teensy bit of sourness. But when you bite into it, it will foam a huge amount! It filled my entire mouth!

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

As I say all the time, I love cola (I’m even drinking coke as I write this) so I really like getting to try the unique cola-flavored Japanese candies. I think these were really fun, and each pack actually has 3 of them in it so these would be a fun candy to share with friends or to give someone if you wanted to play a cute little prank on them ;p

The next item meanwhile... I was terrified of it. It’s our Kinosei (health snack) is a bag of these tomato and cherry gummies. They contain a blend of natural collagen and lycopene to increase ones natural beauty. They also lower blood pressure, refresh the skin, and help ones heart. It’s also naturally refreshing.

Each bag is 94kcal. They are squishy-soft and jelly-like on the inside. They smell strongly of ketchup and sweetness.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I kid you not, each time I smell these I cringe. I HATE tomatoes, but ironically I really like ketchup. Because of this, I was honestly afraid of this, the only reason I tried it was because I figured “it can’t be any worse than that Takoyaki ramune right?“

They’re actually not bad though; I was shook! I can’t really explain the flavor though, it’s like a cross between cherries and the acidicness of ketchup. Does that make sense? They’re have a neutral sweetness to them, and they actually are kind of refreshing. 

A few years ago I saw tomato jelly (basically a jelly tomato) on cold noodles during the summer and thought “what a strange concept“, but now I feel like I understand it a little more...

Bourbon Sylveine Chocolate Cake

To go with the holiday box, of course they had to include a holiday staple- that being a delicious cake! Everyone has a cake on Christmas in Japan, along with the KFC or home-cooked meal. Like a few other items this cake is by the brand Bourbon.

Each cake (or box, I’m not sure) is 102kcal. There are six cakes in total, so you could essentially use this as a dessert for a meal if you wanted :3 The cake is a soft, creamy yellow with thin sections of cream between the layers, and it is covered in chocolate and topped with something. I’m not sure what it is, but it reminds me of a raisin in taste and feel.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

These are delicious- they’re a lot like little snack cakes you can buy at the grocery store, in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if these are the Japanese version of them.

The cakes are very soft and squishable, but not soft enough that they can’t be eaten in your hands if you really wanted or had to. But the chocolate is super-melty and a little bit bitter in taste.

I don’t get to have fancy cakes as much as I would like to (nor can I make them just yet...), I couldn’t help but feel fancy eating these cuties~

Oh, and I did share them with my family, don’t worry.

Takoyaki Umaibo & Christmas Pizza Poteko

I was pleasantly delighted by the variety of savory items we got, and surprised too. Our last time items are also savory :D including an Umaibo I’m not going to review because I’ve already had it. 

I will say that I think it’s delicious though- way better than the horrible takoyaki Ramune drink. It doesn’t taste fishy, but I honestly can’t think of how to describe the flavor either. It’s covered in seasoning, and it seems to have a very thin, saucy layer or glaze, matching the sauce Takoyaki is usually covered in.

The last item, which I will review because it’s new is an item we get all the time, Poteko rings. You’ve seen these several times on here, but again, when we have a new flavor I’m more likely to be open-minded, and I was kind of curious because we hardly get pizza-inspired snacks.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

They strongly smell like cheese, but I actually didn’t taste pizza at all. To me (my mom agreed but my dad took some time to agree as well), it tastes like a McDonalds cheeseburger!

Like an exact cheeseburger from McDonalds. Bun, burger, cheese, ketchup, pickle and all. It’s very delicious, but it kind of made me wonder if they make burger flavored snacks...

♥ Cutie Ranking ♥

Content - 5 out of 5. I loved everything! There was also a nice change in that we had a LOT of savory items, and I thought they did well in terms of item variety. There was a bit of each thing.

Theme - 1.5 out of 5. Sadly I thought they did decently with this before, but this year was really lacking. I could feel the spirit on Christmas with the box, but if I didn’t know it was a Christmas box and didn’t get the one item with a Christmas wrapper I wouldn’t have been able to tell it was Christmas themed.

Total Rank: 9 out of 10. An awesome box, one of the best to have gotten I thought. All they had to do was focus more on the Christmas theme they were going for and I think it could have been a perfect 10.

♥ Cutie’s Scale of Yummy ♥

1. Burnt Caramel Taiyaki - Like I said, I’m not sure it tasted like caramel. But I really liked it! If I see it online I’ll definitely be buying it, I just hope the next one I get tastes as good, if not better~

2. Chocolate Cake - I’m glad we got six of these because they are very delicious~ My dad and I loved them, but my mom was less receptive since it reminded her of dark chocolate. 

3. Strawberry chocolate chips - I like em, what more can i say :D

4. Takoyaki Umaibo - I may not be able to describe the flavor well but this one is a winner!

5. Mango Jelly Drink - I really liked this, but as I already warned- try not to smell mango items. They will either smell delicious, or like feet. 

6. Cola Candy - I love cola, I love pop, I think fizzy candy is fun to try; I was a little surprised they were kind of sour though.

7. Apple Chocobi - Again, I was surprised by how much I actually liked these. Only because I’ve never been into Chocobi that much. They don’t taste bad, but I gotta remember to eat these before they go south (stale).

8. Pizza Poteko - I’m still convinced they taste like cheeseburgers, but they are good :P

9. Tomato & Cherry Gummies - I was really surprised by these!  

10. Melon Bread Cookie - It was okay. I like melon, but for some reason I’m not too into melon-flavored baked goods. I love melon candy and drinks.

11. Potato Sticks - They don’t have a huge amount of taste but I still like them enough. I like the texture too.

12. Peas Mini Chips -  They weren’t bad, I just like other items more. 

13. Sesame Cracker - I really did like it, but I wasn’t too crazy about the desert left in my mouth after eating it...