#guess it shows how people still underestimate the sticks and I have to do it myself

[skellseerwriting]

I (Don’t) Like Valentine’s Day

Hades x Cupid!GN!Reader Oneshot

Stupid Cupid (song was an afterthought)

Word Count: 3,993

Warnings: Reader is not lactose intolerant, (mostly) petty theft, malicious pranks, Merlin refers to intercourse if you squint really really hard, Reference to Dia De Los Muertos, Greek figure references, kissing, love confession (technically)

Summary: Reader is the child of Cupid and hates Valentine’s Day. Hades suggests they try and ruin Valentine’s Day and reader is quick to agree. As they have fun pulling pranks and committing misdemeanors, reader doesn’t expect what starts happening to them…

“Disgusting.” You curled your upper lip in revulsion.

You were on the academy roof in front of the courtyard, legs hanging off the edge; opposite the school exit. Laying your hand against the gray, brick bell tower tower, you watched the students swarming the area like bees in a flower field.

They buzzed around, passing little gifts around like bumblebees with pollen. Staying in one place for a moment before moving on to the next person. Bearing chocolates and cards and flowers, hormonal teenagers professed their love like Romeo the moment he met Juliet.

You smirked, remembering your father telling you how he loved shooting that boy with his bow.

“I know, right?” A voice could be heard behind you.

You whipped your head around; body stationary but feeling prickly. Your heckles lowered upon identifying the person present, but you were still not quite at ease. The rustling between your shoulder blades barely settled either.

“Hades.” You spoke nonchalantly, trying not to show that you were startled. That had nothing to do with your reputation, but more so to do with his.

“That is one of the names I’m known by, yes.”

“Don’t be a smart alec.” You snarked, quickly deflating your anxiousness through humor.

“I’m simply speaking the truth.” He shrugged, as if there was no meaning or purpose to this conversation.

“Why are you here?” You posed the question, feeling your feathers raise again. Hades’ eyes meandered about as if bored, before settling between yours and the tell-tale wings on your back.

“I have many reasons, but I’ll stick with my main question first. Cupid’s your father, right?”

You sighed, turning back to the courtyard and resting your chin on your fist. “Guilty as charged.”

“Great.” You heard him say with what could have been a smile in his voice, before hearing him approach and sit near you on the roof. His next words lacked any amusement though. “So what’s with you hating Valentine’s Day? Shouldn’t it be like- your favorite holiday?”

Scoffing, you turned to face him with a hawkish glare. “Is Dia De Los Muertos your favorite Holiday?”

You saw his face flinch, and he looked away.

“No.” Hades told you. “It reminds me of my job, and I’m sure you can guess why that’s not fun.”

“What, helping the souls reach the afterlife? Sounds sick.” You said with little emotion.

He gave you an aloof look. “You underestimate how many people die everyday. The day of the dead actually makes my job easier, even if for just that day. It’s not my favorite holiday but it’s a pretty good one.”

There was a moment of silence, then Hades spoke again. “I guess I thought getting to play matchmaker would be fun for you. At least you get to enjoy shooting people with arrows without getting in trouble” He mimed a little bow and arrow with a pew.

Feeling a grin clawing to emerge onto your face, you clenched your jaw and returned your focus down below.

“I think I’ve been pretty evident around this place with my opinions on match-making.”

“And what is that again?”

Was he teasing you?!

Grunting, you went: “No.”

“Well, then maybe you’d like to hear my idea.” He said, and something about the way he said it shot itself into your brain like one of those arrows you accidentally stuck in your foot at a young age when your father tried teaching you to follow in his footsteps.

“I’m listening.” You said, with the intrigue in your voice thinly veiled. Your visual attention was back on Hades now.

“What if…” He began, leaning closer in your direction. You subconsciously did the same.

“Yes?”

“You do the opposite of what your father used to do.” He finished with a twinkle in those usually dead eyes. You raised an eyebrow.

“And what would that entail exactly?”

“Well.” Hades spoke more plainly, although there was a layer of excitement underneath. “We snip their flowers, eat their chocolate, take their cards and give them to the wrong person; stuff like that. We ruin their Valentine’s Day”

Where had he been all your life?

“Wait.” You paused. “But why do you need me for this? Can’t you do it on your own?”

The glint in his iris returned again.

“Technically, yes. But pranks are boring by yourself, and they’d be a lot easier to pull off with those wings of yours-“ he gave the fluffy appendages a pointed look. “And… I was thinking you could use your bow and make couples fall in love with the wrong people. Watch their hearts get broken.”

You were all but willing until that last part.

“That’s a violation of bodily autonomy. I’m vindictive; not evil.” You bristled.

“And I’m a saint.” He said sarcastically.

“Don’t jump out of the same boat as me. People’s interpretations of the morality of your godly responsibilities haven’t been kind to you, Pluto.”

“Hard to call it the same boat when kindness is only bestowed unto one of us by the general public, child of Eros.”

“Listen,” You told Hades. “I’m all for your ideas. Ecstatic, even. But when I say that I’m nothing like my father, that includes not messing with people’s ability to make decisions; got it?”

“Got it.” He nodded, perhaps a bit to quickly. Upon sensing your distrust, he spoke again: “Look, you’re right, it would be evil to make people do stuff they wouldn’t chose to do. I get it.”

After scrutinizing him for another moment, you deemed it acceptable; not everybody realized how wrong something can be until it’s actually pointed out to them for the first time. And that was one of the things you’ve hated having to do since attending this school once word got out of who your father was.

At first, students would constantly bombard you and ask you to love-arrow someone they had a crush on. It was gross. After a near-month of increasing your refusals, general unpleasantness to be around, and vocal disdain for romance, you were finally left alone.

A few more had tried the upcoming week of Valentine’s Day, to which you immediately shut them down. In the beginning, it was fun seeing their disappointment, walking away with their tail between their legs. Now? It was unbearable.

“So,” Hades interrupted your thoughts. “Are you in?”

You reflected on the the whole of the unpleasant experiences you’ve had to deal with because of how love-crazy the teenagers in this school were. You had the chance to finally get back at them, and ruin their day as they had ruined your semester.

You focused your eyes back on Hades; white wings arching.

“I’m in.”

“Check it out.” You told Hades, snipping some scissors in the air; metal scraping against each other sharply. You held up a few rose heads in your other hand with their stems nowhere to be found.

“Nice.” He grinned, before bringing his hidden arm forward. He held a bouquet of charred flowers. You gave a wolf whistle. He shrugged.

“Figured I’d take the more practical approach.”

“Well, it suits you.” You complimented your partner in crime.

You didn’t realize how fun this would be. When you two briefly parted ways to destroy some flowers, you were uncertain how this would go. But now, after getting to hear those gasps of surprise from girls witnessing petals fall at the mercy of your pruning skills; it put you in a feverish state of excitement. You were positively itching to do more.

“What’s next?” You asked eagerly, setting your stuff down. Then, the sound of many doors opening ran through the building, students exiting their classrooms to walk to their next ones. Hades proceeded to move next to you in the nook of the wall to be more out of view. It wasn’t very effective should someone so much as look down the near-empty hallway, but it did put you and Hades really close to each other. You weren’t sure if you were comfortable sharing the same air as the god in front of you. However, you decided to allow it.

“Since people will be meeting up with others to confess feelings between classes,” he brought his face nearer than he should have. “I need you to scout them out.”

“What are you going to do?” You breathed, trying not to move at all lest you get too close.

“You’ll see~”

Circling the sky, you scoured the grounds. It felt great to be able to stretch your wings on a fine day like this. The sky was blue, the grass was green, and two students were gathered at a secluded area in the gardens.

Flying back to your spot by the bell tower, you went to tell Hades where your next victims were. Before hitting the roof, you swept your wings back and out to counteract gravity before your feet touched the tiles slowly and ever-so-gracefully. Hades seemed distracted, eyes never leaving your wings as if putting him under hypnosis.

“Hey.” You snapped in front of his eyes. “Stop gawking, ya creep. Gardens; mini hedge maze. Got it?”

His eyes and face began moving again, like snapping out of a trance. “Uh- yeah… yeah, got it.”

“Great.” You reached your feathers to the clouds. “See you there.”

You were off again.

You swore you saw Hades staring.

Shaking your head, you did your best to ignore it and perched on a tiny round gazebo. Getting comfortable with crouching down, hands placed right between your shoes, you watched. You stared with those hawkish eyes as your wings hooded your figure like a snowy cloak.

It didn’t take long for Hades to arrive. You couldn’t hear very much from the brief distance, but body language was a huge helper.

It was hilarious.

You couldn’t quite tell what Hades said, but it seemed like he was pretending that the girl invited him to meet her there. The other boy got angry, shouting questions at her. Hades just shrugged, watching as the almost-couple began to argue as the poor girl began crying.

You felt a twinge in your chest.

That wasn’t… guilt, was it?

No, no. You did not feel guilty, you hated romance. You-

“That was sick.” Hades said from the ground. You examined him from your spot, eyes boring into.

“What? Was that not fun?” He asked, brow beginning to furrow. You opened your mouth, and it turned dry.

“I guess…” you attempted to speak. “I guess that’s a little far for me. I don’t want to make someone that upset from our pranks.”

You shut your eyes, fearing what he’d say. He’d probably call you a wimp or a coward; say something about how this is what you wanted to do.

That didn’t happen however, as he simply responded with:

“Alright, cool. Can we go do the next one now?”

You breathed a sigh of relief, not expecting him to be so accommodating. How could someone who’s notorious for rule-breaking and bullying be nice to someone they barely knew?

Ignoring the thoughts of maybe he wants to be friends with me, you jumped off the small structure with your usually elegance.

Once again, Hades was staring at your wings. You made a face but decided to brush it off. It was understandable why people thought they looked so beautiful; you yourself shared the same sentiment.

“So,” you dusted off your clothes, ignoring his looking at you. “What are we doing next?”

“Have you got them?” Hades whispered to you as you closed the classroom door behind you.

“Yeah.” You snickered, lifting up the flap on your satchel to show dozens of cards along with many things of chocolates. They were mostly in gross pinks and reds, and contrasted heavily with all the green you were wearing.

It’s not that you liked green, it’s just that it was as far away from pink and red on the color wheel as you could get.

“Which classroom are we heading to?” Hades asked.

“I dunno, this was your plan, wiseguy!”

He looked amused.

“That’s Athena.” Was all he said before walking away and giving you the chance to call him a “smart Alec” again. He’d repeat himself if you said that though.

Running to catch up to Hades, you almost bumped into his dark, leather-clad back as he halted at the fork in the hallway. Peering around him, you figured out why.

Headmaster Merlin.

“Hello students.” Mr. Merlin greeted you both. “Enjoying Valentine’s Day?”

You opened your mouth to say no and diffuse any possible suspicions of your intentions.

“Yes.” Hades said, ruining everything. “We are.”

Fear spiked through you and turned you rigid. Merlin eyed the both of you, then down at the leather satchel you realized you started clutching. For a moment you began to think he could see right through it. That he knew what you two had been up to.

“Well,” Merlin said formally. “As long as you participate in school, I suppose it doesn’t matter what you do together on this celebratory day of love. Happy romance, children!” And he walked away.

You and Hades turned and looked at each other; eyes wide.

“You don’t think he-“

“He couldn’t have meant-“

You both burst out laughing. The sound filled the halls and echoed around you; bouncing back on your ears. You kept laughing and laughing, and somehow ended up leaning on each other for support.

Eventually, the hilarity of it died down and slowed to a huffing. You wiped a tear from your eye.

“That was priceless.” You gleamed.

“Yeah.” Hades gasped. “Who would’ve thought Merlin would think we’re together.”

You froze, and suddenly you realized how much of you was in contact with him. All of your previous entertainment was washed away.

“We’re not.” You said coldly. You felt Hades pause.

“I know.” He said a bit too quietly.

Pulling away from him, you felt the cool air envelop all of you where Hades had been. He gave you a look, and you hadn’t the faintest idea what it meant. And dang it, now he put the thought in your head -if ever so briefly- what it would be like if you were together. You two seemed to get along so well as friends after barely knowing each other, and Hades was more than willing to accept the boundaries you set with things you weren’t comfortable doing and-

Drat.

You held your satchel up. “Where to, dead guy?” You asked him, plastering a fake little grin on your face to hide your turmoil.

“That’s Thanatos.” He grinned back, and you had a feeling his was actually genuine.

“Shut up.”

“Should I just put the cards on random desks?” You asked Hades, hoping you’d have enough time before the bell rang for lunch to be over.

“Yeah, but try not to be obvious that someone just dumped a bunch of cards on the desks.” He told you, rifling through desk drawers for any other hidden candy and goodies.

Doing as he suggested, you still kept an eye on him; seeing if you could catch anymore weird behavior and for definitely no other reason. After Hades opened an unsuspecting drawer, you saw him pocket something.

“What’s that?” You lilted, hoping you didn’t sound suspicious of him.

“Chocolate.” he answered all too quickly. Definitely suspicious.

Maneuvering between more desks and placing more cards, you went to the spot Hades had been and looked at the name on the sturdy piece of furniture.

It was Hades’ desk.

Looking back at him, he was just leaning against a window, seemingly ignoring everything. The natural light shone on his countenance, painting a pretty picture for your eyes.

To your shock, you realized you began to blush a bit from that. Turning back to the task at hand, you once again were shaking your head in an attempt at shaking your unwanted thoughts out.

What is your deal, God of the dead?

Both of you were eating chocolate on your spot on the roof, and both of you were avoiding looking at each other.

You didn’t even know what stolen candy you were currently munching on, to distracted by the flurry of emotions plaguing your mind.

You didn’t want to admit it.

You hated to admit it.

But… you think you were beginning to like Hades. Or, at the very least, you found him attractive.

You weren’t sure which was worse. Attraction can lead to a desire to date, whereas emotional attachment was a stronger pull.

You buried your face in your hand and let out a groan with a “Not today of all days.” As your plumage ruffled along with your riled up emotions.

“Something wrong?” Hades asked nonchalantly, attention now on you.

Great.

“Yeah,” you reached for a fib in the back of your brain. “Just, not finding any chocolate I like is all.”

“Oh.” Was all he said. Then, he reached into his pile of goodies. “Want a kiss?”

You almost choked on your snack.

“What?” You spluttered, wiping your mouth with the back of your hand. Hades gave you an incredulous look.

“A Hershey kiss?” He held up the tiny thing by the tissue. Gaping like a fish, you watched the sunlight reflect off the tinfoil. “You want it?”

Forcing your jaw to move back up into place, you silently grabbed the tiny chocolate he handed you. Feeling flustered still with your cheeks warm, you began tearing the foil off.

“The king of the underworld has good etiquette?” You teased, trying to use humor to diffuse your current undesirable state.

“I’m evil, not ill-mannered.” Was all he responded with.

“Well,” you said after popping the chocolate into your mouth. “Can I have another?”

“You can have all of them.”

“What?” You looked at him. He turned away.

Was he blushing?

No, it must’ve been your imagination.

Looking down at your feet to prevent accidental eye contact, you grabbed another one from his pile.

“Here.” You told Hades, reaching it up to his face. Then, you dared to look up a little through your eyelashes, smiling slightly. “Now I’ve given you a kiss too.”

His hair caught fire.

Hades’ hair literally caught on fire.

“Oh my gosh!” You launched to your feet to jump back.

“Sorry, sorry.” He hurriedly apologized as he stood up; flames gone as soon as they appeared.

Your back foot stopped at an angle. Tucked firmly behind your back for safety were your wings.

“Are you alright?” You asked genuinely, not hiding your concern.

“I-“ It looked like a visible strain for him to get any words out. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just…”

And that’s when you noticed him holding something in his other hand.

“What’s that?”

He looked where you were looking, then brought his hand up as if to examine it more closely.

“I found it on someone’s desk.” He said.

“What are you going to do with it?” You tried to say in a normal voice, knowing full well Hades was lying. His awkwardness barely diffused as he attempted to get more words out.

“Well I- I was going to give it to you.” He started rubbing the back of his neck with his hand, avoiding looking at you again. “-Since I don’t want it.” He tacked on at the end.

Now you were both flustered; at a loss of what to say or where to carry this conversation.

You had an idea of where Hades was trying to go with this, but you were far too afraid to ask anything outright.

“I’ll have you know, I won’t be having it if it was meant for someone else.” You tested him. “It has no special importance to me when it was hand picked for a certain special someone.”

Please take the bait please take the bait.

“Well…”

Your stomach started doing somersaults.

“Actually…”

Your heart felt like it was beating out of your chest.

“I’m the one who got it. For you.” Hades admitted, hand covering his mouth, eyes shifting to and fro from your direction. It still did nothing to hide the red on his face, and it did nothing in stopping the butterflies that stormed your stomach. Or the feathers that ruffled against your shoulders.

Quickly, he set a little box in your hand, bent on seeing you open it.

Not wanting to torture him -or yourself- any longer, you lifted the lid and dropped it the instant you saw what was inside. You didn’t even notice the cardboard square tumbling off the roof; eyes glued to the gift.

It was a little clip with small, green beads (jade?) strung off of it. At the end of the stones was a single, white feather. You were in awe.

“Did you-“ You couldn’t even finish your sentence, instead choosing to lift the item out of the box.

“I made it.” Hades told you, taking a step closer. “For you.”

“And this is-“

“Your feather.” He confessed, still bashful. “I’ve had it for months now, I- sorry if that’s weird. I know you shed them a lot so I didn’t think it would bother you if I just kept… one feather…” the last part was more whispered. He was averting his gaze again, seemingly unsure of himself.

“Hades…”

“I know how you feel about Valentine’s Day.” He interrupted you, words rushing out of him. “I know you think it’s disgusting, I know you think stuff like this-“ He gestured to your present. “-is disgusting.”

A fond smile began to grow on your face, though Hades didn’t notice. Instead, he began running his hand through his hair, exasperated.

“I know you hate romance and flowers and people giving each other chocolates and cards and confessing their love but I-“ he paused. “I just can’t stop myself. I can’t stop myself despite my better judgment and I hate it.”

He finally stopped his rant and looked at you with raw eyes.

“But I could never hate you.” He confessed. “And I could never hate the way you scowl at others and put them in their place. The way your eyes look when you’re mad or defensive. The way your wings look when you fly, the way you look when you fly-“

He gritted his teeth together.

“Sorry. I’m sorry for all of this.” He told you. And to your greatest displeasure, he started walking away.

“Hades!” You blurted his name as fast as you could, grabbing his hand to pull him back to you. He looked surprised.

“Yeah?”

You inhaled with a big, giddy smile.

“I don’t hate Valentine’s Day.”

His confusion shifted into something a little happier.

“Really?”

You nodded.

“Yeah.”

“But-“ a smile broke out on his face. “Since when?”

“Since now!” You told him, still holding his hand. “Well, since today. Since getting to spend time with you. I’ve had a lot of fun and-“ you squeezed his hand. “Maybe things aren’t as one sided as you fear?”

With the look Hades gave you he might as well have been the happiest man in the world. He snatched your other hand and pulled you close, face right against yours, then hesitated.

Deciding not to waste another second, you spoke and acted for the both of you.

“I love you too.” You whispered, then kissed him before he could prolong things any longer like the nervous wreck that he was.

Hades immediately reciprocated, letting go of your hands to wrap his arms around you and pull you closer. In turn, you encaged both of you with your massive white wings.

You forgot all about the candy, or the fact that you were standing on the roof right where anybody could see you. All you could think about was how this man in front of you managed to completely upend your worldview on your least favorite holiday and make you feel something you thought you would never ever feel.

You kissed him again.

Maybe you did like Valentine’s Day.

Taglist: For Hades

@perfect-revenge

@lesbpotmurdocklokistan

@leoisbabygirl

@brokenmilkcrates

@little-teacupss

@eretsupremacy89

[fishbloc]

hiiii friend (it’s birdie shhh didn’t want to send on my main blog) i fully support avoiding wips as i am doing the same so here is my question:

what, if you have any, are some of your favorite desert duo headcanons? can be scar or grian individually or them together

HIII BIRDIE sorry one of the wips is said yours related sigh . we're in this nightmare blunt rotation together

anyway. im gonna answer this in both for general and my WTLT!verse because theyre kinda different LOL sorry this gets long

general hcs 1) scar is a... very practical guy i would say. despite his strength lies in his words he would still favour showing care and affection. yknow stuff like cutting fruits for someone without asking. hes littered with small fleeting gestures and only someone who knows him well enough like grian could pick up on them 2) personally i always see grian as the loud annoying friend/partner/whatever you wanna call it. sure he sometimes uses it as an excuse to repress things he doesnt wanna talk about (this is where scar would usually coax him out of it) but his loudness can be really handy at times when an uneasy awkwardness fall between them. ALTHOUGH this doesnt mean grian won't 'shut down' when the situation arises (because i like quiet grian too) 3) not sure how to fit in one small paragraph about my dynamic hc for them but i can say with full conviction grian and scar would stick fruit labels onto each other's forehead when grocery shopping to piss the other off. hope this helps 😁😁

where the light touches hcs: 1) i really really like the hc that scar is so unphased by everything because hes jaded like that (whether a placid facade or no) like oh suddenly he managed to sign himself up for a death game. oh heres an immortal who wounded up in his path. oh suddenly he needs to start manipulating people to win. and hes like ok 👍 (he was first runner up in 3rd life for a reason) 2) for grian i like that hes kinda cunning in his own way. like yes hes not to full power with his watcher abilities stripped away and he can be kinda weak at times, but then he uses this front to trick people and when their guards are let down and turns the battle's tide with it. literally a small guy who packs a punch to those who underestimate him 3) for the both of them, my hc will always be that they have no choice but to trust each other wholeheartedly. because one small falter can cause their faction to fall and the only way they succeeded is because they dont second guess every time when the other will put a knife behind their back. sure this is not a popular hc but in 3rd life grian constantly stood by scar's side so. also its my storyverse and i get to pick the dynamics!!!!

[butterflydm]

Nynaeve and maybe Lan for the blorbo bingo?

Thank you!

Nynaeve! <3 <3

I love her to pieces. Her PoV is a genuine trip, utterly delightful. I also love how the show feels like it distilled the essence of her and filtered out Jordan's weird obsession with making all authority figures cartoonishly violent, I have to say. Nynaeve doesn't need a thumping stick and I'm glad it was taken away from her, lol.

I love how she adopts these kids as her responsibility and then takes that so seriously that she turns her own world upside down in order to help them. I love that she both underestimates how wonderful she is while at the same time believing she is the only person in the world who isn't a fool.

The "writer's dropped the ball" is pretty much entirely about how she basically disappears as a headlining character after she and Lan get married. After that, she mostly plays back-up singer in other people's plotlines, even though there were still tons of plots that she could have headlined (I am crossing my fingers hard that we get Nynaeve doing the Black Tower plotline in the show!). Her being essentially a battery for Rand in the cleansing, for example, is just... Jordan did not have to write the plot that way.

I think that the show will absolutely not make that mistake and we will get Peak Nynaeve for the entire run. <3

I like Lan so much more in the show haha. In the books, I honestly mostly just tolerate him because many characters that I care about love him, but I genuinely love him for his own sake in the show!

The relationships that we got to see him showing with Moiraine and with the other Warders were a genuine highlight for me and I'm looking forward to seeing where he goes in the future. <3 <3 <3

The biggest issue I have with Lan is that he often gets treated as a Cool Mentor With Great Advice and some people (though not as often on tumblr) don't seem to realize that the advice that he gives Rand is awful, actually, and that the books are critiquing Lan's advice and following his advice is one of the big things that turns Rand into 'brittle hard' rather than 'flexible strong'. The thing about Lan is that he's been essentially abused since childhood by the remnants of his culture -- in a way that is understandable emotionally (he is the Lost and Last King of Malkier) but raising a child to believe it's his duty to go kill himself in an unwinnable war is a bad thing. Jordan actually DID see this very much about Lan's character -- that's the whole point about Nynaeve (and Rand) breaking down the walls inside him and letting hope back into his life. Or even back in New Spring, when Moiraine gives him a reason to dedicate his life to a purpose instead of just promising his death to a purpose (and we actively see him being abused by his culture in that book via that lady whose name I forget).

Book!Lan is the Fight Club of Wheel of Time, I guess I'm saying.

[honeybeewhereartthee]

MY DARLING DOLLS 51

PREVIOUS || PT 9 CH51 || NEXT

Kanata did calm down as well the rain did. He slept in your arms as mayoi was singing to calm him down.

Kuma really want to say something but decided he would say it when your not busy calming that big baby.

Honestly he have notice so many weird things about that Kanata. First was saying his journey outside this world is "seeing things" to him. Usually... People would react differently. Yet when he remembers why his here was because of the future-present of Kanata.

He heard that Kanata and Mayoi have an argument. Leading Kanata to take away the DD body and he already have your unconscious soul with him. Yet why does he need to force him to travel time to seek where you are???

Kuma felt headache when he think too much about it. It's all bloody complicated!

He takes a deep breath before he plan what he will do next if things come out of hand.

...

Kanata seems to only have the reaction to Mayoi since the next year after that you made two more DD with the two of them.

The doll Rei and Shu. Who's seems close with Kanata out of the bat. Kuma seems offended by the presence of Rei but through the link said otherwise.

"ah... Because rei and ritsu are brothers..." Kanata explain to you as the two of you takes a walk around the beach that his cult follower have brought for him.

It's been years already instead of those cult being nom hype to his so called godly image they all went more delulu instead.

"They are?" You tilt your head. "Hmm. At least... That's what's the usual [canon] event. Through the other ritsu is not the current ritsu..."

You were even more confuse by his statement. Not understanding what's canon and what's not.

"my dollmaker looks so silly when confuse." He bloop your nose with a chuckle. "I would tell you anything but your not the type that dwell in such matter."

[ ... ASK HIM ASK HIM! ] Kuma began to demand in your mind, he already feed up with Kanata stuff.

You thought of something you heard from him before. < Do you love Kanata or me > or something close to that. it's from years back yet it did stick around when you heard it.

"..." You look at Kanata. "Do you mean destiny by canon?" Your just guessing. "Hmm... I guess so, in some way it is. " He nodded his head.

"Other ritsu seems to want me to ask me so many things.... But I don't entertain question from other people but my dollmaker." He said in a sing a song while looking deep inside of you. Looking straight at ritsu red orbs.

"if Kuma is other ritsu. Are you perhaps someone else?" You stared at his green orbs "will you tell me your name so I can call you right... And what happened to Kanata?" You don't show aggression or hate to him.

He stared at you in silent. Before he smiles and hold your hands. "My dollmaker... " He seems to be in deep thought. You earnestly look at him waiting. Even Kuma is in the edge.

"I don't know..." He finally said as he sigh. "I don't think I can use my old one." He chuckle at your reaction. Far from distance he stared at the flowers, the sea and the sky.

MC: "Old one?"

"hmm... "

MC: " What's that?"

"I don't think you can understand it."

MC: "are you underestimating me?" You felt challenge. It's not that impossible --

"it's < ***** > ."

MC:"huh."(⁠⊙⁠_⁠◎⁠) who can only hear a BEEP BEEP

"it's < *****> ???? Can't you understand that?" He tilt his head in wonder.

MC: "........no?"

"ah it's probably cause it's a foreign word from another world. It's ok. If you can't understand it then that's fine too. I don't need to use that label now. Since Canon name is still Kanata Shinkai either way." He bloop your nose and think how cute and silly you are at the moment.

"I will understand your name one day! Hmmp!" You cross your arms. Taking this as a challenge. but then remember something. " Are you another Kanata if so... What happened to the one that supposed to be here?"

"oh. I eat his soul." He smiles as if he answer something about the weather while he pick up some shell in the sand.

".........." WTF. You and Kuma cannot help but want to back away even if it's a joke... which you hope it is.

[dustedmagazine]

Ian Mathers’ 2022: Are you with me even now?

For the third year in a row, Low are part of my reflection on the year that just happened. But this time I don’t want them to be. They didn’t put out a record, I didn’t see them play live (virtually or not) even once. I don’t really want to spend a ton of time going over Mimi Parker’s death and the reactions to it (including my own); I can say this is the one time ever in my life that mourning an artist whose work I love felt anything at all like mourning someone I actually knew. For at least a month I thought about it all the time, read about it constantly, watched and listened to everything I could get my hands on, talked about it often. It felt ridiculous and necessary. I don’t know what happens with my favorite band now; I mainly just hope her family and other loved ones are doing as ok as possible. One wonderful and horrible thing about the reactions is that they were both more numerous and more heartfelt than I would have guessed; up until a few years ago running into other fans of their work felt a lot more rare. 30 years into what I personally think stacks up as one of the greatest creative runs in all of popular music (I’ve been ringing the bell about Low doing better, more vital and interesting work than other bands [x] years into their career since… 2007’s The Great Destroyer at least), I’m glad that people were noticing what they did. The bittersweetness of that, that at least by the end Low were a lot more widely and deeply loved than I would have guessed... I hope she knew that too. How many artists have passed before they made their Double Negative and HEY WHAT? We can never really know the extent of what the world misses out on when someone dies.

Other than that horrible pall weighing down the end of the year, though, at least on the small scale 2022 was pretty good to me. The world in general continues to feel more and more fraught (here in Canada too!) and we’re still not properly dealing with a pandemic. With us being an immunocompromised household… when you see people talking about leaving behind the chronically ill, it absolutely includes those of us who, pre-COVID, nobody could tell weren’t “normal” or “healthy.” I did get to a very few shows this year, masked. But mostly this was a third year in a row of just… never going out or doing most of the things we used to do. Both my wife and I switched jobs to positions that are both much more satisfying and important to us and, not incidentally, quite a bit better paying. By the end of 2022 we’ve hit the first time in our adult lives where (despite how little it would take to knock us back down) we’re not experiencing constant financial stress.

I could have guessed this would change my relationship with music, but honestly, would have underestimated the degree to which that would be true. I’m happier with my writing this year, both frequency and end result, although there’s always more work to do on those fronts. And without feeling like I was trying very hard to do so, I somehow listened to 170 new LPs and EPs over the course of the year. And I found a lot to like, too: my 2022 playlist in Swinsian (which I tried out and then switched to when the Apple Music program started having weird glitches and hours of tech support couldn’t help at all) currently has a little over 1000 tracks in it, equaling over 3 days of music. There’s still a near-infinite amount of stuff out there I’ve never touched or even heard of. But more than ever, it feels like I covered my particularly bailiwick(s) as thoroughly as could be expected of someone who still has a day job and relatively normal life.

This increased volume of input doesn’t necessarily make me think 2022 was a better (or worse!) year for music than any other, but it does lead to a list of records that I feel more strongly about. There are plenty of good records I am keeping in full that just didn’t make it onto my list(s), especially since I’m sticking with a top 40 like I did in 2021. In years where I’ve ‘only’ managed to check out 80-90 records, even a top 20 often covers just about everything I’ve solidly enjoyed from the year. In 2022, 40 records isn’t even half of that group. It has made me reflect a bit on just how sustainable this all is — do I just keep accumulating dozens of records I love every year I’m here? How often am I going to go back to any of them? And sure enough, one thing all this new listening has done has drastically slowed progress on my now years-long effort to corral and organize my existing collection. But I do feel strongly enough about what I loved this year, both from existing favorites and acts totally new to me, that I’m probably just going to kick those cans a little further down the road. I’m also mulling over how, if at all, I want to change my listening in the new year, not least because one of the major ways I discover new things ended in 2022 (RIP, The Singles Jukebox).

As I’ve mentioned before in these roundups, I don’t necessarily feel like every year these days I have an “album of the year” (and am generally loathe to try and rank things). This year I can’t decide if I have one or two; Cloakroom’s Dissolution Wave was one of my most anticipated and ever since I first got the promo back in January, I’ve been listening to it very regularly. One of the things I like about music writing (at least the way I do it) is that it forces me to listen to records a lot more than I would even if I otherwise adore them, and at this point I have an almost Pavlovian joy reaction to the beginning of “Lost Meaning.” For a long time, it seemed like it stood alone for me, and I think it still does, but I need to give at least an honorable mention to Let’s Eat Grandma’s Two Ribbons. It didn’t have the immediate impact on me the Cloakroom did, even though that first half, especially, is immediately ingratiating. But over months I found myself going back to it more and more and in another year, I could easily see it having the unquestioned top spot. I’ve seen neither in most year-end stuff, which makes me a bit sad.

So here are the lists; my 40 favorite LPs, followed by 5 EPs, 5 reissues and/or compilations, 5 releases from Aidan Baker (which makes up not even half of the releases from his various projects!), and 20 ‘loose’ songs either from records I liked but who don’t make it into the main list, or where this song was really the only one I liked, or just ones that came out on their own. If all the little extra lists seem like cheating, well, they kind of are. But this was as narrowed down as I could get it. All of the lists are in alphabetical order, and for all but the songs list any links are to where I’ve written about them here at Dusted. For the songs, partly because so many of them do have music videos (and I love music videos), I’ve actually just provided a link to the song on YouTube should you be so moved. Last year I ended by saying I hoped we’d all continue to get better at taking care of ourselves and each other in 2022. On a micro level, I can say that did happen for us, and many of our loved ones. I hope as much as possible it did for you too, and we can all find the strength to keep at it in 2023.

40 LPs

Aarktica — We Will Find the Light

Alvvays — Blue Rev

Aoife O'Donovan — Age of Apathy

Beyoncé — RENAISSANCE

Billow Observatory — Stareside

Black Ox Orkestar — Everything Returns

The Body & OAA — Enemy of Love

Bruno Bavota & Chantal Acda — A Closer Distance

Carly Rae Jepsen — The Loneliest Time

Charli XCX — Crash

Chelsea Jade — Soft Spot

Cloakroom — Dissolution Wave

Earthless — Night Parade of One Hundred Demons

Eric Cheneaux — Say Laura

Esmerine — Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More

Ethel Cain — Preacher’s Daughter

Fujiya & Miyagi — Slight Variations

Hagop Tchaparian — Bolts

Hatchie — Giving the World Away

High Vis — Blending

Horsegirl — Versions of Modern Performance

Hot Chip — Freakout/Release

Jessica Moss — Galaxy Heart

Kali Malone — Living Torch

Let’s Eat Grandma — Two Ribbons

Locrian — New Catastrophism

Loop — Sonancy

loscil — The Sails p.1/p.2

Michael Beharie — Promise

Oneida — Success

Party Dozen — The Real Work

SASAMI — Squeeze

Spiritualized — Everything Was Beautiful

Szun Waves — Earth Patterns

Use Knife — The Shedding of Skin

Vince Staples — RAMONA PARK BROKE MY HEART

Water Damage — Repeater

Wet Leg — Wet Leg

Winged Wheel — No Island

Winter — What Kind of Blue Are You?

5 EPs

Gillian Stone — Spirit Photographs

Greet Death — New Low

Picastro — I’ve Never Met a Stranger

Sun’s Signature — Sun’s Signature

Trauma Ray — Transmissions

5 Reissues/Compilations

Broadcast — Maida Vale Sessions

Laddio Bolocko — '97​-​'99

Les Rallizes Dénudés —’77 LIVE

Prolapse — John Peel session 20.08.94/John Peel session 08.04.97

Wire — Not About to Die

5 Releases From Aidan Baker

Aidan Baker — The Evelyn Tables

Aidan Baker — Tenebrist

Baker Ja Lehtisalo — Crocodile Tears

Nadja — Labyrinthine

Nadja — Nalepa

20 More Songs

Animal Collective — “Prester John”

Boy Harsher ft Lucy - Cooper B. Handy — “Autonomy”

Caroline Polachek — “Billions”

Chappell Roan — “Casual”

Death Cab for Cutie — “I Won’t Give Up on You”

Diatom Deli — “False Alarm”

Duke Deuce ft GloRilla — “Just Say That”

Flume ft Caroline Polachek — “Sirens”

HAAi ft. Jon Hopkins — “Baby, We’re Ascending”

Ibibio Sound Machine — “Protection From Evil”

Miči & Sun-EL Musician — “Respond”

MUNA — “Anything But Me”

Porridge Radio — “Back to the Radio”

Spoon — “Wild”

Steve Lacy — “Bad Habit”

Storefront Church ft Phoebe Bridgers — “Words”

Stromae — “L’enfer”

Sudan Archives — “Selfish Soul”

Yeah Yeah Yeahs ft Perfume Genius — “Spitting Off the Edge of the World”

yeule — “Bites on My Neck”

Ian Mathers

[justtogetthrough]

After the mishap yesterday where I needed steristrips and somehow had some on hand (I don't even remember from what tbh, I haven't used them in over a decade so it must have been from the surgeries when I had homecaring nursing), I placed an order to stock up on a bunch more because I really fucked up by underestimating how much my body has healed this week (I.e., basically barely at all) and now I'm gonna need to be steristripping this shit closed for a few more days. But also. I clearly should keep some in stock for things like this I guess.

When my friend and I were debating going to the hospital for self harm vs not earlier this week and I was describing what it's actually like to attend ER for psychiatric reasons/self-inflicted wounds and how scary it is to take a gamble each time about whether or not the doctor working that night will think you are deserving of their time and medical resources, I told them there's a reason I own so much *hospital-grade* first aid. For every product they send home with me, I google the brand and order some for myself.

Do you know how how pissed off people would be if I was showing up every other day and taking away time and resources from people who ~need it~ for no fault of their own? Can you imagine me taking the stitches out last night, only 1 day early and having the thing fall back open to the point of actually needing to be closed again and going to the ER to be like uuuuh so for once I actually left the stitches in for more than 3 days and this STILL happened????

But I'd sit there for 2+ hours (rural hospital) before seeing a doctor just to be told they won't restitch a days-old wound and probably do nothing except apply some steri strips themselves, so I can just... skip that whole step by having the same products at home ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Im wondering if I should get glue too tbh. Steristrips don't even stick that well and I'm allergic to tape adhesive so I had to decide that closing the gaping 5 day old wound was more important than the blisters I'm going to get from the tape holding the strips in place (I'm currently dealing with 3 blisters nearby from tape... my body has just gone to shit) and idk like I'm aware closing days-old wounds is bad and also I hate glue/don't think it works that well based on my one experience with it but last night had me wondering if that would have been a good situation for it. I do have plenty of saline from surgery to flush it out beforehand lol.

I'm so sick of dealing with this and I have so much lifting/organizing/rearranging to do to settle my house that I was planning in continuing today but I feel like I shouldn't, now, given the gaping holes in my wrist that apparently aren't healing 🙃

I'm so sick of being this unstable and self destructive. At work I see kids all the time who cut "superficially" and it's so hard to take seriously as concerning at all because I was getting stitches by the time I was 15 or 16. By 19 I was risking loss of limb. I think I cut superficially for like... 2 years before it escalated and my whole life since then has just been trying to one up myself over and over and over. I'd give anything to be satisfied with superficial cutting and not this dumb shit I do to myself. It does nothing but make my life hell and makes my friends abandon me the rare time they find out about it/have to deal with it. The only purpose it serves in my life is making me happy to destroy myself due to how much I fucking hate myself. But that happiness is fleeting when I also spend weeks absolutely miserable with the wound care and loss of mobility/function.

It's so stupidddddd

[translations-dark-matter]

Living as an Extra in an Omegaverse novel

Chapter 103

"Do you have any guesses about what contents Ha Jin-seong handed over to the secretary on the USB?"

Although Ha Min-hyuk didn't know what was on the USB, he suspected that it was related to SR.

In response to Ha Min-hyuk's question, Shin Tae-oh nodded hesitantly.

"Se-hyeon brought something with him."

That's why they arranged the business trip to Ulsan. Somehow, after Ha Jin-seong threw the bait, everything became too quiet.

"A picture starts to form."

The corruption issues have already been dealt with internally. Those people are quietly being investigated by the prosecutors, so even if an article comes out, they can claim that the legal process is already underway and suppress it. However, Ha Jin-seong had a legitimate reason to act.

It seemed like he wanted to make it clear that they couldn't maintain the consortium with the image damage and loss of trust. Shin Tae-oh seemed amused by the situation.

"Are you willing to risk Ha Jin-woong?"

Ha Min-hyuk asked, showing no signs of hesitation.

"I'm considering whether to let go of Ha Jin-seong's hand or stick to him like glue."

Letting go of his hand meant turning their backs on each other.

The deteriorating partnership was not Ha Min-hyuk's desire. But there was nothing he could do.

Shin Tae-oh stared intently at Ha Min-hyuk's face as he made his determination. It seemed like he was trying to ascertain the truth.

"It's not a debt, it's a favor."

Shin Tae-oh replied, reading Ha Min-hyuk's sincere apologies. Only then did Ha Min-hyuk's face lighten up.

After he left, Shin Tae-oh was left alone and ordered another cup of coffee. He savored each sip of the warm, rising steam.

"The atmosphere is not great."

He should be drinking the coffee while listening to the sound of rain in the car, with the aroma of coffee wafting gently.

If what Ha Min-hyuk said was true, they didn't know when the article would come out, but Shin Tae-oh remained calm. He crossed his legs and looked out the window before picking up his phone to call Se-hyeon.

"Have you been waiting for my call?"

Shin Tae-oh chuckled at the voice that came even before the dial tone.

"I didn't call to play a prank. My biggest desire is to hear your voice, and then... Ha Jin-seong."

Listening to Se-hyeon's breathing, Shin Tae-oh leisurely got up from his seat.

"Should I handle it? Or..."

Se-hyeon?

***

Se-hyeon let out a long sigh as he read the article about the corruption scandal at SR Construction. Even if he had seen the news before Shin Tae-oh's call, he could have guessed who was behind it.

As Se-hyeon came across the content of the data he had left behind as an article, he felt troubled. The corruption case in Ulsan would be quickly exposed since they had prepared for it in advance, but the consortium had become as vulnerable as a lamp in the wind.

First and foremost, those who committed the corruption were the ones at fault. Then, Se-hyeon blamed himself for underestimating Ha Jin-seong. He had foolishly tried to handle the situation by memorizing some of the data's contents, only to be completely caught off guard.

The consequences of what he had done had come back to haunt him. Although he couldn't think of a solution right away...

"I'll wait."

Shin Tae-oh's voice, soothing and calming, moved Se-hyeon. He knew how much of a support it was to have someone backing him up. With that strength as his support, Se-hyeon took action.

With his phone still in his pocket, Se-hyeon entered the cafe.

"Seeing everything here, was it a coincidence? If not..."

Ha Jin-seong, who was drinking coffee, mumbled when he saw Se-hyeon standing in front of him.

"It's both."

As Se-hyeon took his seat, the cafe owner personally brought him a cup of coffee. Se-hyeon nodded in gratitude and clasped the mug with both hands.

It was not just the warmth of holding his hands that made him feel hot. It was a proof that winter was receding and spring was coming.

"I called the company, but they said you weren't there, so I wondered where you might be. I wasn't sure if you would be here."

"That's right."

Ha Jin-seong smiled mischievously and looked out the window. It was a late afternoon with rain falling, and there were no people passing by. He tapped the table lightly to the sound of raindrops hitting the window frame.

"The article must have already been published, so why did you come? It won't change anything if you're here."

"I know."

Se-hyeon acted nonchalant, as if it had nothing to do with him.

"You don't even try to stop it. Why? Did you come from that company?"

Ha Jin-seong raised an eyebrow and playfully asked.

"Do you expect me to come and fix it now? And continue with the consortium?"

"..."

"If you want, I can have my secretary take care of it."

Ha Jin-seong spoke excitedly, trying to engage in conversation, but Se-hyeon didn't feel the need to respond. He simply looked at Ha Jin-seong's face and nothing more.

In the end, Ha Jin-seong fell silent, and the occasional conversation between the occasional customers and the owner was all that filled the space between them.

Se-hyeon didn't miss a single detail, from the fading smile on Ha Jin-seong's lips to his silence. Until he met Ha Jin-seong, he had no idea how to solve this situation.

Wandering around aimlessly might have been reckless. If it weren't for Shin Tae-oh, he might have been able to stop in the middle.

But now that he faced Ha Jin-seong, he knew what he had to resolve.

"You are..."

After a rather long silence, Se-hyeon took a deep breath.

"You're not good at acting."

"What?"

"If you're genuinely excited and happy, that's one thing, but there's no need to force acting that doesn't work."

"What are you talking about?"

Ha Jin-seong turned his head with an annoyed expression. Se-hyeon noticed Ha Jin-seong's bewildered emotions upon being caught and smiled.

"Have you forgotten that there are people around me who are genuinely happy?"

"Surely you didn't come all the way here to mention Shin Tae-oh?"

Ha Jin-seong blatantly showed his displeasure through his eyes, but Se-hyeon acknowledged it nonchalantly.

"Yes, that's right. After seeing someone like that, it's easy to see through your forced acting."

"You seem to have a deep affection for Shin Tae-oh."

"Yes, I do. When I think of him, even if I stay still, laughter comes out, and there's a tingling sensation somewhere I can't reach. I didn't know that loving someone could be so wonderful, and I didn't know I could be so whipped."

"A remarkable first love, I must say."

Se-hyeon laughed at Ha Jin-seong's sulking, taking a sip of his coffee.

"I appreciate you acknowledging it as my first love."

"What's there to be grateful for after you said it yourself?"

"I'm grateful for you liking me too."

"You have a lot to be grateful for..."

Ha Jin-seong forcibly choked out his words as he caught on to the meaning in the middle.

"I've come to realize how heavy the feeling of liking someone can be. I also realized that it's an incredible thing for someone to embrace that feeling for my sake. That's why I'm greeting you."

"You're just spouting unnecessary words without even considering my feelings."

Ha Jin-seong muttered as if it wasn't amusing, but his initial calmness vanished, revealing a wavering emotion.

"The candy you gave me to avoid facing that situation, the business card you gave me to meet someone else... I showed you how much weight those things hold for me."

"I came here to apologize for pretending not to know."

"Don't bother."

"I'm sorry."

Ha Jin-seong tried to cut off the conversation quickly, but Se-hyeon continued with sincerity.

"What I want to say today is this."

Perhaps Shin Tae-oh also had this in mind? Maybe he was waiting for me to resolve the unfinished conversation with Ha Jin-seong, rather than expecting me to continue with the consortium...

"You're so selfish to the end. How many times do you plan to hurt me to satisfy yourself?"

Ha Jin-seong looked at Se-hyeon resentfully, gripping his teeth tightly.

"I intentionally published the article. I'm breaking up the consortium because of you. I wanted to corner you by making you think I'll go to Shin Tae-oh."

Ha Jin-seong's gaze sharpened, and the veins in his temples bulged as a threatening aura emanated from him.

"You were my first too."

An accumulation of resentment and frustration seemed to have turned Ha Jin-seong's eyes fiercely menacing.

"If you found out my secret, I thought you'd freak out and run away. What's the point of coming close and then running away like this?"

"I'm not running away."

"Is that so? Then give me a chance. Come and work by my side, just like you did with Shin Tae-oh, and give me a chance."

Along with Ha Jin-seong's sharp emotions, the air around them became heavy. Even though there was no scent, it was clear that his pheromones were emanating and enveloping Se-hyeon.

"It wasn't fair. Wasn't it?"

"From the beginning..."

Se-hyeon closed his mouth, feeling suffocated. It seemed that the concentration of pheromones was quite strong.

"I couldn't be fair. How could there be any other chance when I love the CEO?"

Since Se-hyeon had jumped into the center of the original work for Shin Tae-oh's sake, there couldn't have been a place for Ha Jin-seong from the beginning.

"Then how about something else?"

"In the current situation, I can't make any deals..."

As Ha Jin-seong spoke without being able to calm down his excitement, Se-hyeon reached out his hand towards him.

"Friend."

With a dazed look, as if he had heard something absurd, Ha Jin-seong stared down at Se-hyeon, who shook his hand as if urging him to take it.

"Please be my friend."

"This... Are you asking me to suppress my feelings for you and just watch from the sidelines?"

"There will be someone else to nurture those feelings, just not me."

However, it won't be me.

"Do you know that you're truly a selfish person?"

"So what's your answer?"

With the insistence to answer any emotion, Ha Jin-seong bit his tongue.

"Being friends means becoming lovers. How do you think Shin Tae-oh will feel about that?"

"I'll handle that myself. Anyway, you said you want to be friends. Oh, can I still use informal speech with a friend?"

When Se-hyeon subtly dropped his words, Ha Jin-seong glared at him fiercely.

"Not yet, huh? Oh, this is just me talking to myself. But if we become friends, I'll accept all your dirty traits."

"Dirty... what?"

"And this is a secret."

Se-hyeon leaned forward, as if worried that others might overhear. Despite Ha Jin-seong's pitiful and disdainful gaze, Se-hyeon lowered his voice without being bothered.

"I don't have any friends. You're the first."

Ha Jin-seong hesitated for a moment, as if taken aback, before finally revealing his true intentions.

"You'll regret rejecting me. You'll eventually come to me."

"If you say so."

"You know how persistent my personality is, right?"

"If this were a novel, you would probably be the final villain. You would torment the protagonist to the end."

As Se-hyeon calmly stated that Ha Jin-seong was the worst person, Ha Jin-seong seemed to forget that they were in a cafe and was about to cause a scene.

"You shouldn't do that in a public place."

Se-hyeon's words of restraint only fueled his excitement further.

***

The article was resolved through legal procedures, and the consortium remained intact.

Prev / Next

[clear-dapple-dualies]

It’s hard to think I’ve killed 1k Fish Sticks over any other bosses (other than Steelhead and Maws)

[sillysadduck]

hi love *does a lil twirl* hope you’re having a gay day. please share your duck thoughts and psychoanalyse it. if you want. if not you can just send me a lil kiss

૮ • ﻌ - ა

OMGNSBFH THIS IS WHY I LOVE YOU

congrats now yall have to read my duck thoughts bc my love gave me the chance [I'm on mobile so excuse any weirdness btw] as always this is a personal opinion etc etc and I like to connect the webseries with the TV series as a sequel ♡ + some fluffybird undertones bc im gay and they are too

OKAY SO!¡ HE'S A VERY COMPLEX CHARACTER, PEOPLE UNDERESTIMATE HIM AND LEAVE HIM TO BE "just a pet" OR "just a replaceable doll" BUT HES SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT.

I believe, just like Red and Yellow, he has free will about his thoughts, but not fully about his actions sometimes. He loves the other two (in different ways) but he can't show it, he doesn't know how to and he's too scared to do it. This eternal torment took his ability to show his emotions, and the same thing happened to Red. It didn't apply to Yellow, because his innocence protected his emotional intelligence.

The days go by and he's still trapped, but he's too scared to say anything about it. That's why he tries to stick to the world they know, he doesn't want to risk anything worse happening.

It's not that he's completely clueless, but he thinks (He knows from experience) saying something about the situation will make things worse. An example is episode 5 of the webseries, I believe he realized Red was missing but he didn't say anything because he could see Roy watching them behind the scenes, he tried to answer Red's calls and was trying to be subtle about alerting Yellow, this went on until he finally gave up and tried to leave...

And you know how that went for him, and for Yellow too. I wouldn't want to try again either.

I think that's when we see his first real "death", not an illusion like the Time episode where they see themselves dying on what appears to be just an illusion. That's why he was so scared when the giant cans took his organs, he looked terrified, they had to make him sleep at first and trap him so he would let it happen. He didn't know he would come back.

Yet, when his heart straight up falls out in the new series he's just like oh!! Haha oh well guess I'm dead see ya.

Because he knows he's gonna come back. He's aware "the journey always ends up back at home" and he can't die forever no matter what. He's super chill about getting his insides removed.

But the longer he's trapped, everything gets worse. He gets worse, his relationship with the other two gets worse, and he becomes more and more scared to leave or change anything [Ex: Yellow getting new batteries upsets him deeply because he has no way of knowing if that will make things worse or better]

He and Red used to reassure Yellow about how much they loved him and didn't want him to be sad, they tried to cheer him up when they got a chance and apologized when they made him feel bad.

Now, in the june 20th loop, his only response is yelling and hitting the other two. Because at the end of the day everything is pointless and they're all going crazy. He doesn't want to try anymore, we see he never makes the first move. Again, he's too scared to do that and he knows it's pointless. He lost all hope.

Even in the simplest things. When the computer gives too many results his first response is "Well let's give up." And that's his philosophy for everything.

But if someone else takes the first step, he will follow. He doesn't want change unless he feels like it's good change. Even then, he's hesitant about it.

But he will always have opportunities to show his real self through the denial and funny aggressive personality he made up to hide himself behind. He loves Red, he loves looking at him. And even when they were having privacy and a soft moment for themselves, he was asking "but what about Yellow?"

I know "they just hate each other and never want to see each other again" is a very common interpretation in the fandom now, but I feel like they still care.

Duck still cares, but he's scared. If he shows he cares, this world will gladly take Red and Yellow away from him. Staying in denial will always be easier. He's ok with dying a thousand times, at the end of the day he knows he will come back.

[noforkingclue]

No Questions Asked (Laszlo Kreizler x reader) Chapter 5

No Questions Asked tag list: @fandom-lover-4, @ajeff855, @booksarekindaneat, @greeneyedblondie44

Everything tag list: @greenrevolutionary, @byebyebreezywrites, @spngingerbread21, @layazul, @lov3vivian, @simonsbluee

“Are you serious?”

You raised an eyebrow at Sara who held her head up high and looked down at you. You were lacing up your shoes when she barged into your room. You were surprised that she had actually showed up and was also on time.

“Is something the matter?” she asked

“You’re going to stick out.”

“In what way?”

You rolled your eyes as you stood up and gestured up and down. Sara looked down at her dress and you sighed and said,

“What you’re wearing. Going down to the harbour by yourself would guarantee you’d get mugged.”

“Then it’s a good thing you’re coming with me.”

“Just to make sure you don’t get murdered. Or worse.”

“Is there something worse the being killed?”

“As a woman I’m sure you are aware that there are. Now, then are we going to sit here and talk all day or are we going to get some work done?”

“Let’s go. I guess there’s a reason you wanted me here so early?”

“Of course. To beat the rush!”

 *

 Even at this time there was still bustle around the harbour. Nobody paid you much attention, most people knew who you were either personally or through word of mouth, but Sara gained passing glances. Although you wouldn’t say it out loud, you were impressed with how she ignored them. You didn’t like coming down here at the best of times.

Maybe you had underestimated Miss Howard.

“Bertie!” you called out, “I thought I recognised you! No, wait, don’t you dare leave. I need a word with you.”

The towering figure of Bertie almost seemed to cower at the sound of your voice. People around him didn’t bother to contain their amused smiles. How could someone so tall and intimidating be afraid of someone so short and seemingly harmless?

“What do you want Doc?” asked Bertie

“Information.”

“Information. Gonna cost you.”

“Oh Bertie,” you said, grin widening on your face, “After what I did for your little boy last month. Without payment as well. How is he doing?”

“Very well, thank you.”

“And all I asked in return was one small favour.”

A had on your shoulder interrupted you. You looked over at Sara and jerked her head away. You side and followed her to the side as she whispered,

“What are you doing?”

“Getting information.”

“You’re blackmailing him.”

“People like you pay in money,” you said with a shrug, “People like me pay with what they have. Whether that’s money, food, drink or in this case favours. Now shut up and let me work.”

You turned your back on her and walked back over to Bertie. He seemed to have relaxed slightly since Sara’s interruption. Fuck, this was what you didn’t want to happen.

“Now then,” you said, “I’m calling in that favour.”

“What do you want to know?” asked Bertie reluctantly

“The Dock-“

“No,” Bertie said quickly, “I’m not getting involved in that.”

“Just one question,” you said, “Then your debt is cleared.”

“I-“

“It’s either me or the police.”

“Fine,” no one wanted to get involved with the police, even if they were innocent, “What do you want to know?”

“Where was the body found?”

Bertie closed his eyes and ran a large hand over his face. It wasn’t pleasant reading it in the newspaper so you couldn’t imagine what it would be like to find the body. You weren’t even sure if Bertie found the body but you were sure he knew something. Even you weren’t completely cold hearted.

“By the sewer opening.”

Bertie jerked his head over his shoulder.

“Now is there anything else or can I get on with my work?”

“That’s all. Thanks Bertie.”

“Don’t mention it.”

He pushed passed you and you pursed your lips. Sara walked over next to you and looked over at where Bertie had gone.

“Do you have the feeling that there’s more he isn’t telling us?”

“Yeah. He’s afraid of something.”

“Or someone.”

“Exactly.”

You wrinkled your nose at the sewer entrance and said,

“I think that might be a job for Kreizler and Moore, don’t you?”

[shotorozu]

relationship realizations

— ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦ 3k followers milestone

character(s) : multiple characters (bnha)

legend : [Y/N = your name] they/them pronouns used, quirk not mentioned

note(s) : happy 3k ‼️ thank you all for all the love, and most especially those that continue to send love, and indulge in my works. further context, this is what the bnha boys/men learned by being with you :))

»»————-　♡　————-««

midoriya izuku

↮ that his opinion does matter. okay— it’s not like you handed his confidence to him, no that’s different. but, you are a main contributor to the sudden increase of confidence in himself. before, he was just so used to be brushed aside, other people being told to ignore him whenever he does this, and for his rambles to be ignored like white noise— but after you showed up and spent some time with him, he realizes that it’s not the end of the world if he does ramble, and it’s not the end of the world to not be confident about your opinions 100% of the time, but what does matter is that his opinion was heard. which ultimately lead to him being more confident in expressing his own opinions, not caring if it’s apart of the vase majority, or the minority. he’ll forever love you for this.

todoroki shouto

↮ that taking your time isn’t abnormal. shouto, being someone that had little to no set example of what romance is, and being exposed to romance comedies, and tv shows— made him realize something. that people were already kissing on the first date, and he felt well,, under developed because of it. he was never the biggest fan of physical touch, it’s not to say that he never wanted to kiss you, he always does want to, but— he won’t just kiss you just because it’s the first date, or because the movies said so, even as much as he wanted to, no. that’s not what he wanted. he felt worried that he was moving too slowly, compared to the examples he’s seen online but— you say things differently. you allowed him to take his time, showing him patience as you peck him on his temples, and he couldn’t be more grateful to love someone like you.

bakugou katsuki

↮ that being vunerable isn’t a bad idea. you’re even aware of the many few boundaries katsuki has set up for himself— like no pda. which, you’re perfectly fine with, but katsuki hated the idea of being vunerable because well,, people shoved him onto this pedestal at a very young age, he’s thee bakugou katsuki, there’s no room for vulnerability (or so he thinks) besides all might and deku, you’re really the only one that has seen the vulnerable bakugou katsuki, not the loud and explosive one everyone is used to. he was repulsed by the idea, but after the first time he allowed himself to cry on your lap, shedding tears as he trembles in your caring embrace— he realized that he has someone, and that someone wouldn’t care for the world if he wasn’t this big and strong person 24/7. he won’t say it out loud, but he’s incredibly thankful

kaminari denki

↮ that people do take him seriously. nearly everyone sees this man as this.. class clown, goof ball, and that he’s ‘stupid’ or he’s ‘lacking braincells’ most of the time, and that’s all they make him out to be. denki doesn’t like drowning in self pity, but he can’t help it, why doesn’t anyone take him seriously? but wait, that’s when you come along. it was heartbreaking to say the least when you saw how shocked he was when you wanted to hear his plans and ideas. to anyone else, it might appear to be the bare minimum, but it’s everything to denki. to be taken seriously when the time says so, to be treated like the next person with ambitions. sure, he loves being a jokester, he loves making people laugh, but he can’t bite back the smile, when he sees you worry about him after every short circuit, and kiss him on the cheek whenever he comes back to his senses.

shinsou hitoshi

↮ that not everyone’s opinion is valid. okay hear me out, that might be considered a bad thing, but it’s really not. in fact, it’s a good thing. hitoshi’s just used to hearing sugar coated and backhanded compliments being thrown his way, people saying that “you’d be a good villain, at least!” but, he doesn’t want to be a villain. sometimes they’re not even backhanded, and he’s just used to accepting it as it is. because, everyone has been thinking that way, since well— he first manifested his quirk. but that’s when you come along, and blow away his expectations. you weren’t afraid to tell him the truth, that he shouldn’t have allowed all of them to insult him like that, since he deserved all of the good that was in the world. that wasn’t the part that stuck out the most, but it was the part where you told him that it’s the intent that mattered, and who cares if his quirk seems villainous, as long as he meant well? for once in his life, he stopped paying attention to the senseless comments, and focused on what really mattered— you.

kirishima eijirou

↮ that you don’t need a flashy quirk to be honorable. his quirk, while it took some time for it to be in the state that it is today, it has always been an insecurity of his, not that he’d admit that. that he can’t create big explosions or large glaciers of ice like bakugou or todoroki, or he can’t create whatever he desired like yaoyorozu, he just felt,, plain sometimes. which was something he never voiced out in such a blunt manner before, since he always presented himself as this cheery dude that’s always ready for the occasion. it might be easy, he probably curses at himself for being under your spell a little bit too easily, but he feels great whenever you praise him for his hard work, and especially his quirk. even when the insecurity slips out by accident, and when you’re questioned if you really meant that, you stay true to your statement, and that was an eye opener.

amajiki tamaki

↮ that there are other ways of being strong. look, it’s not like tamaki’s quirk is weak— in fact, it’s the very opposite, but his self esteem, and the absence of a sociable personality does take a toll on him sometimes. he feels like he can’t do anything right, especially when he mutters, messes up on what he wants to say, more importantly when he has an idea on what to say. he feels helpless, compared to the other two strong personalities of UA’s big three. and that’s why, you’ve showed him that shyness is completely normal and fine, and it’s not just him that struggles with socializing— and besides, tamaki does have other strong points, like his ability to be considerate with his actions, and his carefully selected words of affirmation whenever he sits next to you on a date. tamaki might be socially uh.. weak sometimes, but he’s come to realize that it’s fine, since he has other strong parts!

monoma neito

↮ that he won’t be forgotten, and also— that being nice to class 1-A doesn’t sound that bad. come to think of it, neito DOES have a nice side in him, but it’s just not exposed to class 1-A for several different reasons (that are layered) when he was younger, he was told that his quirk wasn’t that spectacular, people have underestimated his quirk a lot. not because it’s ‘boring’ but because it just ‘copies other quirks,’ and has no individual attributes. thus, lead neito to act out as an attempt to stand out and not be ‘boring.’ in reality, neito doesn’t realize that he’s anything close to that, and that he can be remembered in the best ways. like, when you first saw his room, and it was covered in pastels, and whenever he sees you, the first thing he says is a compliment. who would’ve guessed it from him? and most importantly, when he is nice to class 1-A, he finds himself laughing at amusement— and he thinks ‘hey! this,, isn’t bad.’ it’s a slowburn for him to finally act like how he is with his class but hey, process!

dabi todoroki touya

↮ that he needs someone. how ironic, a villain— needing someone, and all for what? just to be abandoned for someone better? no thanks. you didn’t actually shove it in his face for him to realize it but, you did contribute to it. his staples were starting to falling off again after another gruesome mission, dabi didn’t feel like plucking them out himself, but he knows that he has to— he went to go pick them off, until, you come in. a stapler in your hand, as you practically make him sit tightly as you replaced the staples. it stings, not that he’ll ever admit that, he’ll just stick to making fun at you in such dabi fashion. but ugh, there’s that warmth again everytime he looks at you. it’s not the cruel burn, similar to his quirk— but it’s,, gentle. it makes him want to disembowel himself, but he doesn’t mind it when you touch the cool metal. just,, get out of his face before he decides to flame you, all just because he learned that he needs someone (he won’t actually flame you but ugh, he’s still dealing with that kind of warmth you’re making him feel)

»»————-　♡　————-««

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[candlewaxandp0lar0ids]

if I can never give you peace — one || Jungkook

Pairing: Jungkook x reader // Word count (chapter): 6k // Genre: Mafia AU, Hybrid AU, enemies to lovers // Ao3

↳ It starts like quite a few stories do, in your world. Girl meets boy, who happens to be a hybrid, girl buys him at an auction where hybrids are sold, boy falls in love with her, girl gets bored of him. Then it’s not so typical anymore, when the boy ends up forced into illegal fighting rings, until he makes a wrong move and the girl’s father decides he needs to be killed.

Where does that leave you? Well, you’re the one who handled Jungkook’s fight and generally organized his life, and, when the girl’s father, your boss and mafia leader, tells you he wants him ‘put down’, you’re the one who has to get it done. Except, instead, you let him escape, and everything turns out fine.

Until he comes back.

Warnings and tags (chapter): Descriptions of violence, Minor Character Death, Guns, kind of dark in general

Previous · Next

The first gunshot takes everyone by surprise. Unsure glances are exchanged all around, “did you guys hear that”, and disbelief is clear as day on people’s faces. There’s no way this would happen here, right? People are mostly aware of the fact that they’re technically working for a mafia leader, but this is the legal side of the business, and this building is in the middle of the town’s business centre. This cannot be happening.

You stay perfectly still, immobile where you were standing. Out of all the people here, you’re the one who is the most involved in the questionable parts of the family’s activities. In fact, you were just about to go up to Mr. X’s floor to discuss said questionable things — in this case, the smuggling of a large cargo of weapons.

The gunshot is still ringing in your ears when it is followed by another one, and then possibly more, but you can’t hear them because chaos erupts all around you.

People get up, start running around, some towards the elevators, some towards the stairs. Your brain tells you those choices are probably bad. If those gunshots are for the Family — and who are you kidding, they are — then whoever is firing them is coming up.

“Don’t use the stairs,” you order, and some people stop to look at you, unsure of what to do. They trust your decisions, to a degree, but you doubt it’s enough in this situation. “They’re probably coming,” you explain, even if three of the employees have already slipped through the door and left, “and I don’t think you should be in front of the elevator when the door opens.”

Blood drains from people’s faces. Downstairs, there are more shots fired. A woman starts to cry. Your brain is going in overdrive, processing everything, trying to come up with the best decision, and yet it doesn’t feel like anything is actually registering.

“You should barricade yourself in a room,” you say. Your voice is eerily calm, even to your ears, and it feels strange to hear it. It’s like a curtain has fallen between you and the world around you. You understand that this situation is terrifying, that you should have a reaction that is not apathy. You just don’t. “I don’t think you’re the main targets here. I’ll be going up to see Mr. X.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” a man shouts. “You just want to leave us here to be canon fodder! You—”

He’s shut up by your bodyguard pulling out a gun of his own.

“I suggest you do what she’s saying,” he orders, voice deep and gravelly.

On top of being armed, Hector is a bear hybrid you hired about a year ago. He’s tall and large, very impressive physically, which is generally enough to discourage any kind of altercation. He’s also a calm and gentle person most of the time. This is the first time you’ve ever seen him hold the gun he carries.

“You should stay here with them,” you tell him. He send you a disconcerted look.

“Are you sure? Even if they’re not the target, you might be.”

The statement shouldn’t take you by surprise. It’s something you should have considered immediately, and it takes you a second to figure out why you haven’t. If you are a target, that means the attacker knows about the workings of the organization. That would mean that they’ve been planning this for a while, and that they’ve simply gone completely under your radar all this time. Which is a lot more worrying to you than anything else.

“Stay,” you insist. When this is over, it will be better if people here think you had their best interest at heart.

If you make it out, that is.

Hector ushers people inside a conference room, and you walk towards the stairs. From there, you hear gunshots better than you did earlier, and you wince at the sound. You’re not used to it. It’s strange, since you’ve been working for the Family for years now, but you’ve very rarely heard people firing guns. You’ve never even had a gun pulled on you. You’d like to think it’s because you’re too careful, or too smart to find yourself in those situations, but the truth is you’ve just never been in situations where that sort of things would happen.

Sure, someone could send a killer for you — they have, actually — and then the carefully crafted net of precautions you’ve woven around yourself would — did — stop them, but you don’t participate in drug deals and you’re rarely out in the street, and that’s where those things happen most of the time.

You glance down. You’re on the fifteenth floor, so you doubt the employees who ignored your warning have made it out yet. You doubt they will, to be honest.

Glancing up, you wonder if you’ll make it to the twentieth before someone catches up with you and, since it’s a useless thing to think about, you begin your ascension. You’re not the most in shape, most of your daily exercise consisting in walking from places to places. That is a lot of walking, and you can do it without getting breathless, but you never take the stairs. Soon, you’re panting, and you’re about to take a break after three floors when you hear new gunshots that make you freeze.

These were in the stairwell. They echo deafeningly, and, for the first time since this all started, fear actually grips you. You swallow, heart beating loudly, and you keep going. You hear some screams, down there, and the horrible sound of flesh — bodies — hitting the floor, and then nothing. You’re sure someone must be climbing up those stairs, but you can’t hear them at all, and that terrifies you. You have no idea how fast they are, how soon they’ll catch up with you, how—

You slam open the door to the last floor. The time is not to discretion, and anyway, whoever is down there is probably coming for the twentieth floor.

The second you walk out, three guns are pointed towards you, and someone is screaming at you to stay where you are. You obey, until Mr. X’s bodyguards identify you. You had told him that hiring hybrids would be a good idea, since they rely more on their heightened senses and tend to have better reflexes, but you’d been ignored, so you had just shrugged it off and followed your own advice.

“Mr. X is inside,” one of the men tells you, pointing at the door, but not moving to take you there. You walk by him, and they all keep their eyes firmly on the stairwell’s door. That makes you assume the elevators don’t work, otherwise they’d have part of their focus on there.

“Mr. X, do we have any idea what— Miss Xanders, I apologize, I hadn’t seen you there.”

“It’s fine, (Y/N),” Anna says. “We really have more important things to concern ourselves with.”

“Do we know who’s attacking us?” you ask, giving your attention back to Mr. Xanders.

Mr. Xanders is an old man, you feel that he was already an old man when you’d joined. He had Anna quite late, when he was nearing his fifties, and he recently celebrated his seventieth birthday. You would know, you organized the party.

He’s looked old for as long as you’ve worked for him, using a walking stick, small eyes hidden behind large glasses, skin marked with wrinkles. But there was always something sharp and smart, cunning, in his eyes. Despite everything, he felt dangerous, and you had never doubted that he was not a man to underestimate.

Right now, though, he looks tired. Exhausted. He’s staring at his laptop screen and shaking his head, utterly confused.

“I can’t recognize anyone,” he says, and your heart misses a beat. Not good, that’s not good at all. “Can you?”

You walk around the desk quickly, examining the view you get from various cameras placed all around the building, and your hands involuntarily clench into fists as you see how dire everything is. On several different floors, men with machine guns are walking around, and you know for a fact they’re not working for you. You can’t see what’s happened to your people in the low-resolution, but you can guess, and your stomach tightens at the thought.

“How is that possible?” you whisper. “How has no one intervened yet?”

You know the police isn’t too keen on coming here, but this is genuinely insane. The only explanation you can think of is that they’ve been paid-off, and again, you don’t know how you wouldn’t have heard about that.

“That’s not what I asked you,” Mr. X says harshly, and you wince, focusing again on the men on the screen. You scan the men again, quickly. Some are wearing masks, but a lot of them are brazenly showing their faces, and that is one more thing that is not good. They should want to make sure no one would recognize them. If they’re confident enough to do that…

“I don’t know them,” you whisper. Some look vaguely familiar, but you just can’t place it, so you’re sure they aren’t big names. You have definitely not been on the look-out for them.

“Dad, we should really go up to the helicopter,” Anna says urgently.

Mr. Xanders hesitates, then nods, getting up in a movement that is slow and clearly painful. You help him out without thinking much about it, holding his arm and giving him his walking stick.

“How will you do that? The elevators aren’t working and the stairs don’t go to the roof.”

“We’ll reactivate the elevators,” Anna explains with a shrug, and you stare at her in disbelief.

“That will mean those people will be able to move freely in the building. I don’t think—”

“They are already moving freely,” Mr. Xanders barks.

“Still—”

Then, a lot of things happen at the same time. You were standing in front of the elevator, Anna calling it with a special key, the bodyguards surrounding you, eyes and weapons still directed at the stairwell door.

The elevator opens with a ding. And the door slams open.

There are gunshots everywhere. You dive to the ground, or maybe you’re pushed down, you’re not too sure. You look up to see two men falling down around you, the third guard ushering Anna and her father in. You try to push yourself to your feet, but the door is already closing. You call out, you can’t hear your own voice, ears ringing from all the noise.

You meet Anna’s eyes, filled with indifference and a complete lack of remorse, and then the door is closed, and you know they’re gone.

And someone, someone who wanted them dead and just killed two men, is in this room with you.

Slowly, oh so slowly, you turn around. As you do, you feel your lower lip starting to tremble, and you sink your teeth into the flesh to stop it. You push yourself on your elbows, and your eyes fall on a man with bleached blonde hair pushed back with a bandana, a round face that makes him look younger than you suspect he is, and a mocking smirk. Once more, you’re struck by the fact that you don’t know him. He’s alone and he took out two trained guards, not to mention the people he must have killed to get there, and you have no clue who he is.

His eyes confuse you, at first, and then you realize it’s their color that is throwing you off, an unnatural yellow, and the slit of his pupils. He’s a hybrid, you understand, and you curse yourself for how slow your brain is at the moment. You don’t have time to wonder if he’s part cat or part snake before he takes a step towards you. Fear grips you, and you consider crawling back, but you force yourself to stay unmoving. You don’t let emotions control you. That’s not who you are.

Instead, you stare at him straight in the eyes, even as you feel tears well up in yours. You’ve never been afraid of death, and yet it seems that you can’t stop your body’s reaction as you understand that this is it. This is how you die, where you die, this is who kills you.

The man crouches down in front of you, and lifts his gun to press the barrel against your forehead. He looks at you like an animal playing with its food. The situation seems to be amusing to him, and you think he is waiting for you to beg. You have no intention of doing that.

“Just make it quick,” you say.

You don’t recognize your own voice. The man’s smile widens, revealing pearly white teeth and a set of fangs. Tears start to roll down your cheeks, and you’re completely unable to stop them. You don’t feel sad or afraid, you just feel empty, but the tears keep falling. Still, you hold the man’s gaze. You won’t beg for your life.

“What if I let you go?” he drawls, and you can’t help the way your eyes widen at the possibility. Then, he laughs, pleased by your reaction, and you’re horrified to find out that this had an effect on you. The treacherous hope you’d just felt makes the reality of your imminent death crushing. A sob escapes you before you can get yourself under control again.

“Please,” you whisper. “Just get it over with.”

A pout forms on his face, and he shrugs. Then, to your surprise, he removes the gun from your forehead. The next thing you feel is the grip of the weapon, violently connecting with your temple, and then you don’t feel anything at all, not even the floor when your head hits it in your fall.

You wake up to the sound of soft, muffled sobs. It takes you a few seconds to piece things together, your head throbbing painfully and your mind in shambles. You lift your head with a groan, trying to take in your surroundings. Your thoughts are slow and you hate it. It makes you feel so vulnerable and defenseless.

Of course, that gets worse when you realize your hands are tied behind your back. That sends a jolt of adrenaline through your body, and you manage to look around you. It seems like you are in some warehouse, which, in your experience, is not a good thing. That’s where executions happen. They’re places that are accident prone, so the presence of blood could be explained easily, and they aren’t inspected that often anyway.

There's another sob beside you, and when you turn to look where it’s coming from, you find Anna, not just tied up but gagged, tears streaming down her cheeks. You assume that means her and her father were caught before they made it to the helicopter. On the other side of her is Mr. X, who seems to be in the same situation as her.

I’m here to be killed, you think. You can’t see another explanation. Mr. X and Anna are definitely here for that reason, so if you’re there with them— it means you’re here to die. You hope it will be quick, like you had asked that man, but you doubt it. If they took you here, it’s probably because they intend to make an example out of you. Intellectually, you don’t blame them. If this is a takeover of the family, they’ll probably need all the intimidation power they can get to keep the situation under control. It’s a ballsy move, certainly, and you would be at least a little impressed if you weren’t thinking about the creative and painful ways they can choose to get rid of you.

“Is she awake?” a voice asks. You turn your head quickly, too quickly, and another groan escapes you as your head painfully reminds you of the blow you just took.

You meet the mocking eyes of the man who knocked you out, before he looks away from you, at a large man you don’t think you’ve seen before.

“He wants to see her.”

The man nods, and then he’s on you in just a few steps, roughly forcing you up, his grip tight around your arm. You groan again as he drags you through the warehouse, to a large black car. You have just the time to think that someone must not want to be seen, if they’re in that, before you’re pushed into it. You lose your balance and land on your knees, and that’s when legs appear in your field of vision. They’re clad in black suit trousers.

You slowly look up. First, you discover elbows resting on spread knees, tattooed hands joined between them. Then there’s an elegant white shirt, unbuttoned at the top, muscular shoulders, a strong jaw, an amused, mocking smile and—

Your mouth drops open. Today is definitely proving to be a trying day for your reputation of never expressing your emotions, no matter the situation.

“Jungkook?” you ask, in disbelief.

Because it’s him. There’s something harsher in his eyes, his hair is longer, dark locks falling down to his jaw, and he’s lost any remaining softness he still had two years ago, when you last saw him, but it’s definitely him. He looks confident, and he’s more relaxed than you’ve ever seen him, clearly knowing that he’s in full control of the situation.

“Hey,” he says. “Wanna take a seat?”

He watches you struggle to get to your feet, something that turns out not to be that easy when your hands are tied behind your back, and doesn’t make a movement to help you. When you manage to sit opposite him, you’re still watching him like you’ve seen a ghost.

“What are you doing here?”

You know you should be able to piece things together to get an answer now. The deferential tone the man had when he talked about him earlier, everything that happened since these first gunshots… In another situation, it would be obvious to you. But because it’s Jungkook, you can’t bring yourself to come to the natural conclusion.

Jungkook had an out. He could have left this world behind altogether. So why wouldn’t he?

“Come on, you’re supposed to be smart,” he says, mocking, and his smile is harsh and condescending. “I’m taking over for the Xanders family. I think that should have been pretty clear.”

There’s a moment of silence, a long moment, as he waits for it to sink in. He’s in no hurry.

“But why?”

He shrugs, lean back against the leather seat.

“Because I can. Don’t you wanna why you’re here?”

That… would be a good idea, actually, and you’re bothered by how long it took you to think about it. You’re also bothered by how you lost track of that the second you saw Jungkook. You blame it on the surprise and on the fact that you’ve known him since before you became as— you’d like to say ‘efficient’, but the right word is probably ‘emotionless’. Empty.

“Why am I here?” you ask, frowning. If he wanted to kill you, he would have done it outside. It could be that he just wants to gloat, but something tell you he has—

“I have an offer for you,” he says, and then he grins and reveals his teeth. “It’s my way of saying thanks for how generous you were when you gave me five minutes to save my life.”

His tone is so abrasive it almost makes you wince, but you’re already falling back into your normal self. ‘Offer’ is a good thing, it means negotiation, conversation, things you can do, things you’re good at, things you can focus on to block out everything else, like the pain in your head or the guilt that settles in when he describes your actions.

“What offer?”

The grin disappears. He doesn’t seem happy he didn’t get a reaction from you.

“Work for me.”

That… makes sense, you suppose.

“I’m taking over for Mr. X. You know everything around here, and some people say you’re the best there is at what you do.” Then he shrugs, and casually pulls out a gun that you think was tucked in his back pocket. “That, or join him out there. I’m not sure you’ll like the outcome for that though.”

Despite the obvious threat, you can’t help but seriously consider the offer. If there’s one thing you’re sure of, it’s that it’s not a good one. Even if he manages to replace Mr. X, you doubt all the people who work for him will obey him. Stabilizing the whole thing will be a titanic task, but that’s not even what worries you — you can appreciate a challenge. No, the issue is that if you switch your allegiance, people will remember it. You will make a lot of enemies, and that doesn’t even include the people who simply will not trust you because you used to work for someone else. It’s a poisoned gift, really, and you’re sure Jungkook knows it.

“How do you plan on making the families follow suit?” you ask with a frown.

He rolls his eyes.

“Do people ever tell you how boring you are?”

They do, actually.

“This is not the only coup happening today. Some people who have already agreed to work for me will get in power. And the others… will take some convincing, but I’m sure they’ll come around.” He gives you a joyless, aggressive smile.

You’re still focused on his first words. You were already so puzzled that you wouldn’t have heard about what’s going on today — about how Jungkook is back in town, about how he’s been planning an entire takeover — but this is on a whole other level.

“How did you do that?” you ask, and when he lifts an eyebrow, you know you didn’t manage to keep your surprise out of your voice.

“Which part?”

“How did I not hear about that? I mean, Mr. X could sneeze and I would have known about it. People couldn’t open speakeasies without getting approved by me first — and they tried more than once.”

Jungkook looks at you, and disbelief passes on his face. This is what gets you? You couldn’t be bothered to give a shit about anything earlier, now you seem barely affected by the fact that he was threatening to kill you, but that caught your interest. Not just that, but you almost look impressed.

Okay, maybe you’re not as boring as he’d said, but you sure are fucking weird.

“We can smell you,” he says, tapping his nose. “It’s not too hard to figure out who you’re in contact with. Just had to make sure to avoid them. There were a few close calls, but we took care of it.” Then he shrugs. “It wasn’t as hard as you think it was. You’re not as cautious around hybrids.”

You stare at him for a while. He starts picking at his suit, looking annoyed by the turn the situation has taken, and you think about what he said. He’s right, you realize. You fucked up here — badly. You should have taken hybrids’ senses into consideration. You’d like to tell yourself that you didn’t think about it because there were no hybrids in high places, in the organization, but that’s not a good excuse. You file the information in your brain. You’ll do better.

“I’ll do it,” you say, and Jungkook glances at you.

“What changed your mind?”

“I’m— curious, I suppose. I’d like to see where this thing is going.”

Jungkook considers taking back his offer. He didn’t know what he thought would happen, but he expected it to be more interesting than this. Instead, you sat there, face as stiff as ever, and now you’re talking about being curious, which sounds wildly out of character, if you ask him. Yoongi’s told him you cried when you thought he was about to kill him, but he doubts it right now. It doesn’t look like anything can get through that thick shell of yours — and even if it did, he doesn’t think there would be a lot underneath it.

But the thing is, he was telling the truth earlier, when he said you were rumored to be the best there was at your job, and Jungkook is nothing if not a perfectionist. He likes to surround himself with the best. Which, unfortunately, means you.

“Suga!” he shouts, opening the door.

The man with the slit pupils jumps in easily, and looks at you with a disapproving twist of his lips.

“I’m not killing her, am I?”

He sounds disappointed.

Jungkook shakes his head in response.

“That’s Suga,” he tells you, pointing at the man. “He’ll explain how we work to you.”

You nod.

“I think he should kill you,” Suga informs you off-handedly, dropping on the seat next to you. “I think you’ll betray us.”

“If she does, I’ll kill her, if she fucks up her job, I’ll kill her, ” Jungkook says, and you have no doubt he means it. “Consider this your five minutes. Let them go, and you won’t have another shot.”

“That’s fine by me,” you say evenly. Betrayal has never been an option for you. You had no loyalty towards Mr. X, but the threat over your family was too big to risk it. And now, with Jungkook— you guess you’ll have to wait and see. You don’t think you’ll betray him, but if things turn sour… You suppose you’re not above it.

Maybe it should worry you, how little you value your own life, but you brush it off quickly. Thinking about it too much could compromise the way you do your job, and you can’t have that.

“So,” Jungkook says, leaning back, eyes watching you carefully. “What do you suggest we do with the Xanders?”

Suga opens his mouth, but Jungkook lifts a hand, signaling that he wants your answer. You wonder if this is some kind of test.

“Killing them would be the best decision,” you say, somewhat reluctantly. You know your decisions in the past, your suggestions, have lead to the death of people, but you’ve rarely been so direct about it. Then again, death is part of the game, when you work this kind of job. Mr. Xanders is about as close to an actual monster as it gets. And Anna… Well, maybe Anna isn’t. You don’t like her, and you absolutely believe that she was happy to enjoy everything that came with what her father did, but she’s not him. Which is a low bar to clear.

“She’s not wrong,” Suga echoes, sounding annoyed.

“Letting them live would be seen as a proof of weakness and they would try to come back. It’s just— a bad idea.”

You can see Jungkook’s jaw tensing. Next to you, Suga starts to make his leg shake. You suppose he has the same kind of bad feeling you do.

“What if we kill Mr. X but not Anna?” he asks, and Suga groans. Jungkook rolls his eyes and develops. “Yoongi, we’re not taking over the legal part of the business. We can just— leave that to her, and not bother about it.”

“We’ll have to figure out something else to launder money,” you say, because that was the main point of that side of things, legal just in name really. That is not your biggest concern, though. “But if you kill her father and not her—”

“That’s bullshit and you know it,” Yoongi snaps. “She needs to die.”

He’s right. It’s just the smart thing to do.

“People here aren’t impressed by mercy,” you insist, and that’s when you realize you’ve lost that fight already. Jungkook knows it. There’s no way he doesn’t. He’s made his decision, even if it’s a bad one, and trying to change his mind is useless. So you’re quick to jump to the things that need to be done if he lets Anna live. “You need to get her to sign emancipation papers.”

Jungkook tenses suddenly at the suggestion and a low growl comes from his throat as he bares his teeth at you threateningly. Yoongi barely moves, but you see his hand settling on his hip, near his gun, which you guess serves as a reassuring gesture. The car fills with tension, and you swallow. You feel small and defenseless. It’s not that rare a sentiment, but you suddenly become extremely aware of the fact that you’re alone with them, hands still fucking tied behind your back, and there’s absolutely nothing you can do.

“Anna doesn’t own me,” Jungkook snarls.

“Legally she does,” you explain. You’re choosing your words carefully, making sure not to anger him any more, but you’re still staring right at him. “You may have forged an ID or something, but if she lives and she can prove she hasn’t freed you— the consequences will be bad.”

There is a second that feels like an eternity, Jungkook just staring at you, lips now in a tight line, before he shrugs and you can breathe again.

“Okay. Let’s do that.”

Yoongi groans and sends you a furious glare that you don’t understand. You agreed with him. What did you do to deserve that?

“I’ll take care of Xanders,” Jungkook adds. “C’mon. Let’s go.”

“Can someone— Can someone untie me?” you ask as they’re moving towards the door.

Jungkook glances at you.

“We’ll see when we come back.”

A grin flashes on his lips when your lips twist into an offended expression, and then he jumps out of the car, followed by Yoongi, and leaves you alone in there.

Fuck.

What an asshole.

Jungkook walks towards his captives with long, confident strides. Yoongi is right behind him, of course, his shadow, the perfect killer. He may disapprove of Jungkook’s plan, if you can even call it that, and he sure doesn’t like how easily you dropped the topic, but he’s still loyal to him. If he fucks up, he’ll clean up after him.

Jungkook savors the moment when Anna’s eyes fall on him. He can tell she recognizes him immediately by the way they widen and how she tries to speak through her gag. It’s been years since the last time he saw her. Much longer than the last time he saw you, which leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. He’s thought about this so much. A long time ago, he dreamt of her telling him she wanted him back, but over the years, it mostly turned into him finally taking revenge, and he intends to fully savor it now that it’s happening.

He removes the gag from her mouth, and takes an unhealthy pleasure from the way she sobs out, loud and desperate.

“Jungkook, Jungkook, baby, please, please…”

Jungkook only needs to glance at Yoongi for him to set her free, albeit after an annoyed roll of his eyes. The second he does, Anna falls from the chair, right into his arms. Jungkook knows that she’s only trying to save her life, doubts she’s thought of him for more than a split second since he’s disappeared, but that doesn’t mean he’s not going to enjoy it.

“Hey baby,” he grins, and he watches as she winces when she sees his sharp teeth. Right, she didn’t see him after that.

Fuck. It’s been a long, long time. She really didn’t give a fuck about him, huh?

And yet he can’t kill her. And yet he knows her bright, pleading eyes, the light weight of her body, the curve of her neck by heart.

“I’m going to need you to do something for me,” he says, voice deep and eyes boring into hers.

She blinks.

“And if I do you won’t— you won’t kill me?”

Jungkook’s opinion of Anna is far less charitable than yours. He thinks she’s an opportunist, will do anything to preserve herself and, sure, she’s not personally involved in her father’s business, but she wouldn’t bat an eye if she was. She likes to play the innocent girl who’s horrified by what’s going on with her family, but she just isn’t. As simple as that.

“Nah. I won’t.”

It doesn’t take long before Anna is kneeling on the floor, writing down what Yoongi is dictating to her, reading from his phone. Jungkook could do it, knows the text by heart, learned it a long time ago when he still hoped for it, but he just stays there immobile instead, watching her at his mercy.

It’s not as nice as he’d imagined.

Finally, she hands him the piece of paper with trembling hands, a small smile forming on her lips as she thinks that her nightmare is over.

Jungkook takes it, reads it over, and nods. Then he pulls his gun out, and Anna’s smile vanishes. Jungkook thrives on her reaction, on the idea that he has complete power over her in that moment. It feels dark and twisted, but fuck, it also feels good.

“But I—”

He shoots and Anna yelps, protecting her ears in reflex.

It takes her a second to realize he wasn’t aiming at her, and relief washes over her, before she understands what it means. She turns around, slowly. And screams.

A clean shot, Jungkook decides, looking at Mr. X. The man had been glaring at him the entire time, and he doubts he would have groveled like Anna had. Now, his blood is splattered on the floor, head thrown back, mouth open, staring at the ceiling with empty, dead eyes. Jungkook doesn’t care when Anna runs to him, sobbing, calling for him, trying to shake him awake.

“We’re going,” Jungkook announces to Yoongi, who finally seems a little less angry with him.

He doesn’t look back at Anna as he walks away.

You rub your wrists, then your shoulders after Yoongi has cut you free. Jungkook doesn’t say anything about it, just sits back in the luxurious car. You thought he would look content, happy with himself. He doesn’t.

When the car stops in front of your building, you’re not sure what to do. Part of you still can’t believe he’s letting you live.

“We’ll come and get you tomorrow to get things started,” Jungkook informs you while staring out the window. “You know, you probably should have moved two years ago,” he adds, and for some reason, that really rubs you the wrong way.

“I changed the locks,” you answer, and he grins.

“You still haven’t figured out how I did it, right?”

You frown. You haven’t.

He looks genuinely pleased by that.

“What should I call you?” you ask. “Do you want to be the new Mr. X?”

He growls at the suggestion, but seriously thinks about your question.

“Call me— Call me Mr. Jeon,” he decides spontaneously, without explaining his decision, and you nod. This should help make things more professional, isn’t if this isn’t actually a professional setting.

“Fine, Mr. Jeon. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

You’re pleased to find that your voice is back to normal, calm and even, not letting anyone know of whatever you’re feeling.

Except Jungkook and Yoongi can probably hear how fast your heart is still beating, but that’s a problem you’ll have to deal with some other time.

You step out, and linger there a second too long, the door open. Finally, you gather the courage to turn around and look at Jungkook.

“Why are you back?”

You mean a lot by that. In the city, sure, but also in that setting. You’d always thought— you’d always thought Jungkook was better than that. You’d always thought he should get the opportunity to get away and he’d be fine. That’s something you can’t shake away, can’t push under the rug.

He couldn’t escape.

He stares at you blankly.

“Where else am I supposed to go?”

Then he leans in and closes the door, and you’re left alone on the pavement.

Tagging list: @chaiwivluv​ @mintyrae​

[shingia]

✗ HQ BOYS AND THEIR HIDDEN TALENTS ✗

aka the things you’re most likely to discover after a few weeks/months of being around them

-> multi

-> reblogs help a lot !

HINATA : HULA HOOPING FOR AN INDETERMINATE AMOUNT OF TIME

if you ever need some peace and quiet (while studying for example), just ask hinata to show you how good he is at hula hooping and you won’t be bothered for quite some time. he’s so determinate that he won’t stop until you take the hoop back yourself

KAGEYAMA : SHUFFLING CARDS

he’s on some casino type of shit, i’m telling you. he’d riffle shuffle the cards without even trying that hard - and yes, it’s a pretty hot thing to watch. i mean, he has very nice hands 👀

YAMAGUCHI : GUESSING PEOPLE’S ZODIAC SIGNS

you guys were enjoying a nice afternoon in a café and he randomly started to analyze the man ordering at the counter before turning back at you like « definitely a virgo ». he was very embarrassed when you actually went to the man to ask him about his sign tho. but it turned out yamaguchi was right (once again)

TSUKISHIMA : PREDICTING THE END OF A MOVIE

tsukki is the kind of person you don’t want to have by your side when you’re watching a psychological thriller, because no matter what the plot twist is, he’ll guess it halfway through the movie. and no he doesn’t keep it to himself

TANAKA : RAPPING EXTREMELY FAST

he’s the kind of guy who knows how to rap « rap god » and won’t shut up about it. and noya is definitely not helping because he hypes him up every single time. i just know that tanaka actually considered becoming a rapper at some point in his teen years

NOYA : RUNNING WITH HIGH HEELS

don’t ask how he discovered this talent, but it’s here now and for some reason it always comes up at some point during a party. this man can literally sprint in 6 inches stilettos

DAICHI : BEING INSANELY GOOD AT JUST DANCE

don’t get me wrong, he is a terrible dancer. yet he always gets the highest score, even if he’s doing it all wrong. sadly, nobody wants to play with him anymore because it’s very frustrating

SUGA : USING PHOTOSHOP

he knows it can be a pretty useful talent, but he also knows that he hasn’t unlocked its full potential for now. so he just keeps it in the back of his mind, waiting for THE DAY when it’ll really come in handy

ASAHI : FINDING SOMEONE IN A CROWD

you (or anyone else, really) could be lost in a crowd similar to those on black fridays and he would still be able to find you in a split second. you almost suspect him to have a radar of some kind

KUROO : IMITATING THE SINGING OF BIRDS

one time he showed you his talent while you were taking a walk in the park, and you basically got assaulted by every bird around. but kuroo was still very very proud of himself

KENMA : CHOOSING THE FASTEST LINE AT THE SUPERMARKET

i have no explanation for that, i just know that kenma is one of those people who somehow always choose the fastest line, he’s like a lucky charm that you bring grocery shopping with you on busy days

LEV : UNDERSTANDING BABIES

sometimes he even does a better job than the parents of the baby. he can have entire conversations with a toddler, and it lowkey impresses everyone (yaku says it’s because they have the same mental age)

BOKUTO : WINNING AT ROCK PAPER SCISSORS

do i need to explain this more ?? he’s ridiculously good at this game, even though he has absolutely zero strategy or knowledge of mental mechanisms. which is why he uses this talent to make every single decision

AKAASHI : CHUGGING BEER

yup, you heard me. he discovered this when he started attending kind of ‘wilder’ parties after high school. but he rarely uses this talent because he thinks it’s the most useless thing ever

USHIJIMA : GUESSING THE BREED OF ANY CAT OR DOG

he never gets it wrong. tbh he doesn’t even know where all this knowledge about breeds comes from, but now that it’s here, might as well make the most of it, right ?

TENDOU : 👏🏼HE👏🏼CAN👏🏼DO👏🏼THE👏🏼SPLITS👏🏼

he says that he just tried it one day and boom: he touched the floor. but you suspect that he actually trained quite a lot to get there. also, he doesn’t even need to warm up before, just ask and you shall receive immediately

SEMI : REMEMBERING ACTORS IN MOVIES

you know that moment when you’re watching a movie and you just know you’ve already seen this actor somewhere but you can’t remember where ? well no need to ask google, semi always has the answer to your question

ATSUMU : MEMORIZING TV COMMERCIALS

now i know tv commercials always stick with us at least a little bit. but atsumu’s brain is FULL OF THEM. he can repeat literally any commercial with the exact same words, intonation and rhythm (he memorizes the dumbest ones rly easily)

OSAMU : CRYING ON COMMAND

he developed this ability when he was a kid, because he used to go crying to his mom and pretend that atsumu had been mean to him : it was the easiest way to get what he wanted. atsumu definitely feared this talent, to the point that samu only had to threaten to fake-cry to get whatever toy he wanted from his brother

SUNA : IMITATING HANDWRITINGS

he can imitate literally anyone’s handwriting - including celebrities’ autographs - and it’s common knowledge at inarizaki so many students come to him when they need a fake signature or a fake absence note. he may or may not have started to make people pay for his services

KITA : GAMBLING

he is extremely good at bluffing and everyone always underestimates him, which makes it much easier. he never plays with real money tho, but if he did, he would be pretty rich by now

SAKUSA : THE ABSOLUTE BLIND TEST MASTER

he’s not the type of guy that will scream the answer to make sure everyone hears him, but if you pay attention to him during the game you’ll see that he always gets the title and the artist at least thirty seconds before everyone else, even if he keeps it to himself

🏷 taglist : @toworuu @catwithangerissues @miyumiya @livy384 @k0u-minamo2 @fullsundear @hsjvwq @boo-marie @hiraeth-z @velvetvirgos @kohi-zeri @viridevi @kirishimas-manly-eyeliner @geektastic84 @japanesevenom @catb6y

[stxleslyds]

NIGHTWING #81

UMM... HOW ABOUT NO. 

Ever since Tom Taylor took over Nightwing I have only made a post about one issue of his (I will leave it here Nightwing #78), that issue was beautiful, it was a solid start and the little things that made me feel a bit icky were not mentioned in the post because the issue was good.

Then the issues felt like connectors or just very bland story wise. I had problems with the book also feeling like a Nightwing and (fake) Oracle book instead of just Nightwing. There were many instances where Dick alone could have gotten himself out of situations without Barbara, but because she was there the opportunity to show that he can do things was taken from him. I guess what I am trying to say is that the book has disappointed me but I didn’t feel like making a post because it was too early and this is an ongoing book that Taylor said he planned on continuing for a while, but now I can’t not make a post.

A few days ago, I finally read the Red Hood story in Urban Legends (I have a review for that one too I will link it here Red Hood part 4) and I couldn’t stand how OOC and disappointing the story/characterization has been. I am saying this because I am only reading these two books at the moment, ONLY these two, and all I have gotten from them is shit.

I know it’s still early to say that the Nightwing book is bad but…I hated this issue, I hated it with all of my heart. But now that I am a bit calmer, I have come up with some ideas of what is truly going on with the Melinda situation.

Anyway, let me give you my thoughts.

There are big Wilson Fisk vibes coming from both Blockbuster and Melinda Zucco. Those two will lie, manipulate and be evil every chance they get. They are working together to make Nightwing disappear. I know it. The whole “make us all much wealthier and to extend your power beyond the city” idea does not include Nightwing.

Melinda might not want to burn anything down but she sure isn’t a hero. This woman accepted the position of Mayor after watching Blockbuster kill the former mayor. I understand that talking with the BHPD isn’t the best idea but this woman feels way too comfortable in the presence of a killer.

She is cunning and she has plans, I strongly believe that she might be a villain and that she will betray Blockbuster and take all the power (if it reaches that point) to herself.

Heartless is just another weirdo, he tricks both Nightwing and the reader into thinking that he has a soft spot for kids but surprise! He doesn’t. There isn’t much to say about him, he just has very complex gadgets and doesn’t know how to fight. I don’t even have any ideas about who he might be.

What I know though is that there was absolutely no need for Dick to think that he had “underestimated” Heartless, my love you threw your stick at him while he was looking directly at you, there was a 50/50 chance of him catching it. I swear I don’t understand the need to write him thinking that mostly because Taylor then has Dick swiping the floor with the guy, not only is it a simple fight (for Dick) but it’s also boring for him. Taylor’s writing is so annoying sometimes, he just loves to write extra things that are out of place like the “Tim Drake. Thought of by many as the best Robin” why the fuck did he put that there? Honestly, what was the point of having Dick say that, I don’t read a Nightwing book to have Tim Drake praise. If it doesn’t offer anything to the story that is being told then keep the thought to yourself Tom...

Moving forward the scene in the pier was quite nice, mostly because it’s Dick’s quick thinking that gets everyone to safety, he knows exactly what to do and how to contact the Maritime distress channel.

He has hope for his city, he knows there is good in it and he believes help will show up when lives are about to be lost. I loved that, just like Heartless said, Nightwing IS Bludhaven’s Guardian Angel. Once again, I am having Daredevil vibes from Dick (like from the show)

After the fight we get to see consequences of Dick not healing properly from a shot to the head. He loses his consciousness which is extremely dangerous but luckily Tim is at arm’s reach to help him out of the pier.

There are many things I want to talk about from the scenes that happen after Dick wakes up in his apartment so here we go.

First of all, Bitewing is adorable, she loves Dick the most and was happy to see him awake once more, what a good girl!

Secondly, Barbara, honey, you do not have three names, you aren’t Batgirl anymore, you are a grown woman that needs to move on from a mantle that has other people that can do something else/better with it. And we all know that this Oracle is just the ableist version of Oracle. So yeah…all I ask is for Barbara to move on from Batgirl, Cass and Stephanie are right there, enough is enough.

In these panels we have Dick, Tim and Barbara being kinda dismissive about the homeless kids, and it has been happening for so many issues, what is the point, Taylor? You made Dick a millionaire and you just can’t have him say or think for a second that he will monetarily help those kids and make sure they are put somewhere safe? You are really going to wait up until you have Dick running for Mayor or something to help the kids? I just don’t get it. Kids living on the streets and each time they are mentioned the three heroes of the book act like it’s normal and doesn’t need fixing. What the fuck.

Then we have the gang finding out that Melinda Zucco is the new mayor, the woman has an FBI file and a redacted one! This makes me think two things, either things are like I thought in the beginning of the post (she is evil and very good at it) or this woman is actually FBI and she is undercover (this one is less likely because of what happens at the end of the issue).

What we can see from the file that Barbara found is very little, but in these two pictures we can see that maybe she was put in foster care and x age? Also, she was apparently investigated in April of 20xx, the investigation must have been recent, why would the FBI investigate a minor or college student? What if these files were implanted by Melinda for someone to find them, and for her to have some sort of proof of her lies? If the file is about her being left in foster care or something while would the file be redacted? I don’t know, everything about her is shady and I don’t trust anything from or about her.

This could be a complex and very interesting character but Tom Taylor and DC really love to do stupid shit for shock value (more of this later).

All the new information (the Maroni, Blockbuster and now this very shady Mayor) has Dick saying that it is a bit too much for him and yeah, it is too much, you know who could help? Red Hood. I am of course not talking about current DC comics Red Hood, I am talking about the Red Hood that I would love to see, just yesterday I had an ask about who would I like to see working with Jason and I said Nightwing because Dick puts a lot of responsibility on his shoulders so it would be nice if they negotiated and each could work on different crime areas in Bludhaven, if only DC would hear me…

Anyway, now that we come to the end of the scene let’s talk about Barbara’s shirt.

That was unnecessary and not funny. That’s all it was. Yeah, I know it’s a meme and I know it was included for funny ha-ha purposes but I am not laughing. Bruce has been written as abusive towards his kids for so long, Jason, Tim and Dick have been physically harmed by Bruce and writers use it as just something that happens, there are never repercussions for the Bat. And this shirt sucks because Dick was Robin there and he was a kid, so having Barbara or anyone wearing a shirt with Batman hitting Robin!Dick right in front of Dick is just disgusting. What if someone wore a shirt that had Joker beating Jason with a crowbar in front of Jason, would that be a funny ha-ha too? What about Dick wearing a shirt with the Joker shooting Barbara, is that a funny ha-ha? The answer to those questions is no, it’s not funny.

The idea of that shirt shouldn’t have been pitched, drawn or included after the editor took a look at it.

The picture is a meme in our world, not in theirs. And the readers aren’t laughing.

 Back to the issue, Dick is left alone in his apartment to rest (seriously? You think the man that showed up to help Bruce in Gotham with a knee brace is going to rest?) but he can’t, he just found out that Mayor Zucco might be trouble for Bludhaven and might be working with not only Blockbuster but the Maroni family. He is not waiting one more second to have a chat with her.

Dick is obviously still concussed so of course he grabs a mask that has a camera that Oracle can view, and of course he enters yet another window without being careful.

Melinda and Audre were obviously waiting for him.

But here is where the real bullshit begins. Dick is unmasked.

I am so mad; it’s been four issues and Dick gets his ass in a trap and is unmasked by a villain? Are you kidding me right now?

But that’s not all, after Dick breaks free and accuses Melinda of being the daughter of the man that killed his parents, she pulls out a uno reverse card and says that her actual father is John Grayson, and that she is his sister.

How about no. Absolutely not. Go away.

Let’s re-visit Melinda’s appearances in the book so far so we can start theorizing about her real intentions or if she could be saying the truth.

Back in issue #78 where she is first introduced to us, after Melinda watches Blockbuster kill the mayor, she goes home and tells her Audre that she is now mayor because Blockbuster did what he does, so she knows that this guy is trash and a killer. But that’s not all, Audre asks her if she came across Dick Grayson to which Melinda answers “I am not ready for him yet”. Audre suggests she talks to him sooner rather than later because she might not have “another chance”, and the issue ends with Melinda agreeing with her while she is looking at a Flying Graysons poster with a red circle framing Dick’s face.

That whole thing? Shady. Melinda, obviously, wanted to talk to Dick Grayson, probably to tell him that she is his sister, but why is there a time limit, why is Audre telling Melinda that she can’t wait too long? Is it because her undercover work is ending soon? Is it because it’s not real at all and she needs to tell that lie in order to move forward with some sort of plan? I don’t know…

In issue #79 Melinda (and Audre) are out in the open with Maroni and they are talking about her becoming the next Mayor, Nightwing was watching from afar so this is his first contact with her. And it might be the first time that Melinda and her friend see Nightwing in action too. I cannot tell if she is aware that Nightwing/Dick Grayson are the same person here.

In #80 she doesn’t make an appearance.

But now in #81 she is taking her place as Mayor of Bludhaven, there Commissioner McClean takes her somewhere she didn’t expect to go (she is shown not knowing that Maroni and Blockbuster were in the next room over). Once in the room she refuses to take the cash from McClean but she will take the money as a transaction (for a second I thought she wouldn’t take the money but she did because she is very corrupt) and talks to Maroni once more. Before I talk about what happens with Blockbuster let me say this, she acts so distant to Maroni, she calls him Mr. Maroni every single time and she comes off as cold and feeling no type of way while talking with someone that is part of the family that actually raised her, and this is not because she is in a room full of other people, she did it too in #79. It seems weird that she acts that way with someone that took her under his wing since she was eight years old.

When she sits with Blockbuster he says “tell us your plan for my city” to which she says all of this: “My plan, Blockbuster, is to make us all much wealthier and to extend your power beyond the city. But to do so in a way that builds on the good work you’ve already done I have no interest in burning anything down.”

At the start of the post I said she gave me big Wilson Fisk vibes and that right there is why. She is shady, she has plans on top of plans, she calls Roland Desmond Blockbuster to his face but says that he has done good work for Bludhaven, which is weird because Blockbuster destroys Bludhaven a couple of times a year…

As I said before whatever she has planned does not include Nightwing, and here is where I kinda start theorizing a bit more, what if Blockbuster told Melinda Nightwing’s real name, he used to know who he was once upon a time…

Later in this issue when Nightwing is going to Melinda’s place Audre is already waiting for him right next to the window (with a sword), so, was he making an insane amount of noise or were they told to be ready for him?

Melinda traps him and takes his mask off, she barely seems surprised about Nightwing being Dick, she barely reacts when he jumps at her. She is in complete control of the situation and proves that by disarming Dick, as fast as he accuses her of being Zucco’s daughter she tells him that her real father is John Grayson.

She is in complete control. She has to be lying, she put a stop to whatever Dick had to say and do in seconds. This woman is trained and she is manipulative as fuck!

And if she isn’t lying then fuck DC and fuck Tom Taylor, this woman is either younger or the same age as Dick, John Grayson was not a cheater, the man is dead, has been dead for so long, don’t throw dirt on his name at this point. I refuse to believe this is true.

I honestly think that she is evil, and knows more than we are aware of, her first appearance was shady as fuck, let's suppose that she didn’t truly know that Dick was Nightwing, why on earth did she have a Flying Graysons poster with a red circle on top of Dick’s face? That doesn’t seem like something a sister would do! And why would this be information that is so important that she NEEDS to tell him in a certain amount of time?

It’s fucking insane. Tom Taylor, if she is actually Dick's sister then shame on you. Disgusting, what is with writers and cheating, what the hell is going on? Dick doesn’t need to think back to his parents and see a cheater in one of them. This better be Melinda being a cruel and vile human being that is trying to emotionally hurt Dick/Nightwing so she and Blockbuster can do whatever its they want to do.

That’s all I have to say.

[ddixons-angel]

Stay

Requested by Anonymous

This is my first ever scenario request and I honestly had a lot of fun doing it haha big thanks to @twdeadfanfic for helping me out with this one and motivating me with going on, love you!!! This is probably the longest one-shot I’ve written so far, I hope you all like it!

Request - Daryl finds Reader in the woods, alone, dirty, possibly even hurt. She’s been alone so long that she’s scared of anyone she encounters. However, she’s practically glued to his side when he brings her around other people. Daryl has a hard time getting her to talk/leave the house. Fluff and angst

Mid-season 6; Alexandria

Run. That was the only thing on your mind. You just knew you had to run. It’s the only thing that kept you alive for the last few weeks, your only means of survival. You were alone in the woods, not knowing where you were going, the only thing you knew was that nowhere was safe. Without slowing down, you look over your shoulder behind you to gauge how far the dead was from you, but that was a mistake. You found yourself tumbling down to the hard ground as you tripped over a large root of a tree that stuck out of the ground. You let out an involuntary shriek when you feel your hair being grabbed, you had no doubt it was the dead when you feel the cold fingers gripping your arm. This was it. This was how you would die; getting ripped apart while screaming for your life in the middle of a forest. 

“Hey, ya a’right?” a rough voice calls out to you.

It was only when you registered the voice that you realized that the dead that had grabbed you was no longer moving or trying to kill you. You look over to the dead body that lay still, there was an arrow of some sort sticking out from its skull. You get up, letting out of a breath of relief but then freeze when you remember that you weren’t alone. Your eyes dart to the figure in front of you; a man with long dark hair and icy blue eyes. 

Your first instinct was to run, but your legs weren’t listening to you. They stayed planted in the ground as you felt your knees going weak. The adrenaline from running for hours and hours, days at a time without anything to eat, it was all catching up to you as you stared at the stranger who just undoubtedly saved your life. Rather than answering his first question verbally, your legs give out as you fall into a state of darkness.

---

“So... let me just get this straight...” Rick says as he pushes himself off the kitchen counter he was leaning on and turns to look at Daryl, “you brought someone back but know absolutely nothing about them?”

“Couldn’t get a chance...” Daryl says; he knew how this was going to go down the moment he decided to bring a stranger back to Alexandria with no information on who she was.

“Did you at least get a name? Or if she has a group?” Carol asks, standing by the counter with her arms crossed.

“Told ya I never got a chance to.” Daryl says, frustration evident in his voice.

“I know you’re not stupid, Daryl, but what the hell were you thinking?” Carol pesters on.

“She fainted ‘fore I could ask her anythin’!” Daryl snaps, “wha’ was I s’pposed to do? Leave her out there for the walkers to have at her? That can’t be who we are!”

“And I’m not saying that’s who we are or that you should have left her out there,” Rick says calmly, “I’m just concerned about bringing a complete stranger back, someone we know absolutely nothing about.”

“She’s jus’ a girl, Rick! We got her locked up in that house with people watchin’ over her, she ain’ dangerous, she’s jus’ hurt ‘n’ scared.” Daryl says in defense, the others could tell he was getting emotional.

“I know that, but you can’t blame people here for being worried, people are still shaken up by those Wolves that attacked us a few weeks ago. For all we know, she could be one of them.” Rick tries to reason.

“Well, she ain’.” Daryl says immediately.

“And how do you know?” Rick challenges.

“I don’ see no ‘W’ on her, do you?” Daryl asks rhetorically, “‘sides... we didn’ hesitate bringin’ in Michonne when she showed up at the prison an’ she turned out okay. No offense.”

“None taken,” Michonne chuckles softly at his apology, “why are you so adamant on keeping her here, Daryl? This isn’t like you.”

Daryl lets out a deep sigh before answering the question, “the look in her eyes jus’ before she passed out... she was scared ‘n’ alone... nothin’ bad ‘bout her... so even without askin’ her anythin’ I chose to bring her back ‘cause o’ that look... she ain’ a bad person... but guess I’m jus’ fightin’ y’all on it ‘cause I don’ wanna be wrong again.”

The looks on his friends’ faces soften at his words. They heard what happened a few weeks back when Daryl, Abraham, and Sasha had to lead the herd of walkers away from the community. Daryl ran into some people he thought were good, only to turn on him and steal his things. They all noticed that ever since then, Daryl changed. He started to doubt his own instincts and even his ability to tell who was good and who was bad. 

“What if uh...” Glenn pipes in after a moment of silence, “what if we wait for her to wake up and ask her the questions, then make a decision when we hear what she has to say?”

Glenn, Michonne, Carol, and Daryl all look towards Rick, waiting for his decision. After pondering for a moment, he walks over to the kitchen counter and looks at Carol.

“Can you put together a sandwich and get a glass of water? If what Daryl said is true, the girl probably hasn’t eaten in a while, and if we want answers, we should show some sort of hospitality.” Rick says. 

Carol sighs softly with a stern look on her face but nods, “okay.”

Rick nods to her as thanks then looks over to Daryl. The two lock eyes, communicating without words as they wait for Carol to prepare the food. Once they’re ready, Daryl takes the plate and glass of water and walks out of the house, following Rick to the jailhouse the community had set up for temporary confinement. Rick knocks on the door before opening it, stepping in with Daryl behind him. The two of them greet Tara as she was given the task to watch over the stranger. 

“How is she?” Rick asks, stepping further into the room.

“Still out cold,” Tara informs, glancing back at the sleeping figure on the mattress. 

“Well, we brought her food for when she wakes up,” Daryl says, holding up the plate and glass then he heads over to the sleeping girl and places down the meal, “I’ll take over yer shift, Tara.”

Tara nods in understanding and leaves the two of them alone with the sleeping stranger. Daryl goes to sit in the chair that was placed in the corner of the room. 

“I’ll be on guard outside, call me in when she wakes up,” Rick says.

“Why ya gonna be on guard outside?” Daryl questions, a frown of confusion on his face, “think I can’t handle her?”

“It’s just in case,” Rick says just before he steps out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Daryl sighs, he knew why Rick was keeping guard outside, he wasn’t stupid and it wasn’t that Rick underestimated his ability. Daryl knew that Rick was aware what this entire thing meant to him. What it would do to him if the stranger he believed to be good turned out to be bad. 

His eyes fall back on the sleeping figure in front of him, the peaceful look on her face made his lips involuntarily twitch into a small smile. His smile turns into a frown though when he sees her hands tied up with rope. 

“Dammit Rick...” he sighs, then he gets up to untie of the rope. 

Daryl thought he had convinced Rick that there was no need to tie her up since she was unconscious. He told them all that she looked frail and weak, as if she hadn’t eaten for days. He thought he got through to Rick with that logic but he was wrong. Although, Daryl couldn’t blame him for being extra careful. Their community had gotten attacked by a group a few weeks back, they couldn’t take any chances. 

Kneeling down, Daryl reaches out to the girl’s bound hands and gently tugs at the rope. As he begins to untie the knots, the girl shifts a bit then her eyes start to open. Daryl freezes at the movement and he looks at her face. Her eyes lock with his, looking at him with fear like a deer in headlights. She pulls her hands away and whimpers, backing away from Daryl only to hit the wall behind her. 

“It’s okay, I’m not gonna hurt ya,” Daryl says quickly, holding his hands up to show her that he means no harm, “I jus’ wanted to untie yer restraints.” 

She continues to stare at him, not moving or saying anything in response and Daryl isn’t quite sure what to do, not sure what exactly to tell Rick about the situation. He woke her up by trying to remove the rope Rick had originally tied as a safety precaution; yeah, he wouldn’t like the sound of that. Daryl sighs and slowly crouches down to her eye level, his hands still out. 

“I found ya out in the woods, ya passed out an’ I brought ya back here,” Daryl explains, then he grabs the glass of water, “I can tell ya’ve been out there for awhile, here.”

Slowly, Daryl reaches out and offers her the glass of water. Her eyes glance at the glass then back at him, he can practically see the gears turning in her head whether or not to trust him. 

“I ain’ gonna hurt ya, I promise.” Daryl says.

It seems that she heard the sincerity in his voice as Daryl sees her eyes soften. He waits patiently for her to take the glass in which she slowly but surely does. She takes the glass in both hands and she looks at it, then back at Daryl who smiles softly at her. Finally, she starts to drink from the glass. At first she’s taking small sips but her thirst catches up with her as she desperately finishes the contents of the glass within seconds. Daryl reaches out to her again to take the glass from her. 

“Brought ya some food too,” he tells her, gesturing to the plate on the ground, “ya wanna let me untie ya so ya can eat?” 

She still has her hands close to her chest as she contemplates Daryl’s words. He sees her lips quiver slightly, her eyes peering at the plate on the ground. She takes a few breaths before hesitantly raising her arms towards Daryl, her hands tremble as she holds them out. 

“Easy now,” Daryl whispers, carefully and gently untying the rope around her wrists.

He backs away once the ropes are off, pursing his lips together as he gestures to the plate again and sits back on the chair. He watches as she timidly reaches for the sandwich, she picks it up and holds it to her mouth. She pauses, looking at Daryl as if asking him permission with her eyes. He nods at her again, a soft smile on his lips. Daryl can’t help but think that she reminded him of a lost, abandoned puppy. She carefully takes a bite of the sandwich, then another as she starts to feel a little more relaxed. 

“There’s more where that came from,” Daryl tells her after she finished the sandwich, “I can get ya another if ya want.”

Before she can respond, the door to the room opens, startling her and she cowers away again with her back against the wall, afraid of Rick who had just walked in. Daryl had gotten up from his seat on the chair and stands between Rick and the girl. Rick frowns as he sees the rope on the ground. 

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, it’s okay, he’s a friend,” Daryl says gently, trying to calm her down.

“Daryl...” Rick sighs, he beckons him to come over, “you untied her?”

“Ya said to show her some hospitality,” Daryl says.

“I also said to call me when she wakes up,” Rick retorts, he then sighs again, “did you ask her the questions? She tell you anything?”

“Nah, she jus’ finished eatin’. Look at her, she’s scared, man.” Daryl says, gesturing towards her; she had that deer in the headlights look again as she stares at the two.

Rick ponders for a moment then nods pointedly towards her, “alright, let’s ask her now then, are you okay with that?”

Daryl purses his lips and nods. The two make their way towards the girl again and she watches them, mainly Rick, warily. Rick takes the chair and sets it down in front of her before sitting on it as Daryl stands idly behind him. He notices that she flinches at Rick’s every movement as if afraid that he was going to hit her. 

“My name is Rick Grimes,” he starts, “now, I’m gonna ask you a few questions and I want you to answer me as honest as you can, can you do that?”

She stares at him, not blinking, her eyes hard again showing her distrust for Rick, and when she stays silent, he continues, “how many walkers have you killed?” 

Daryl waits anxiously for her to answer, he chews his bottom lip, nervous when she doesn’t respond. She just continues to stare at Rick. 

“I’m gonna ask you again, how many walkers have you killed?” Rick repeats, seemingly running out of patience. 

After another moment of complete silence from the stranger, Rick huffs and gets up from the chair. Daryl steps to him putting his hand on his shoulder to calm him down. 

“Lemme try, a’right?” Daryl says softly.

Rick sighs and nods, stepping back to let Daryl try with the questioning. Daryl carefully kneels down instead of sitting on the chair, catching the girl’s attention again. Her eyes seem to soften when she looks at him. 

“Ya a’right?” Daryl asks, his voice gentle, he continues when he sees her nod shyly, “I’m sorry ‘bout him, he can be a real pain in the ass sometimes.”

Rick furrows his brows at this, not in annoyance, rather in confusion. Daryl has never been like this to a complete stranger before, he was always serious when interrogating new people. This is the first time he’s been so lightheartedly joking around with someone and if the circumstances were different, Rick would be teasing him about it. 

“‘M gonna ask ya some questions, a’right? An’ I want ya to be as honest as possible, if ya do that for me, maybe I can get ya another sandwich,” Daryl says, nodding pointedly to the empty plate. 

The girl bites her lips together in hesitation but then she nods again. Rick crosses his arms as he watches, an impressed smirk forms on his lips. 

“How many walkers have ya killed?” Daryl asks, he catches the look of confusion in her eyes at the term they’d all become used to, “the walkers out there, the dead, how many have ya killed?”

She furrows her brows once she understands the question, she shrugs then lets out a small whisper, “a lot.”

“Wha’ ‘bout people?” Daryl asks, “how many people have ya killed?”

There’s a look in her eyes when she hears his question that Daryl isn’t quite sure how to describe. It was a mix of hurt, fear, and guilt. It was a look that told him that she had definitely killed at least one person. Tears well up in her eyes, as if she was reliving the memory. 

She takes a deep breath before whispering again, “one...”

“Why?” Daryl asks the last question, furrowing his brow in concern at her body language. 

She looks away from him, cowering back again and her arms wrap around her own body in a protective hug, her hands grasp tightly to the fabric of her shirt. Daryl sighs at the sight of this then he turns to look at Rick; both of them knew exactly what her body language meant and why she had to kill. The two men communicate without words then Daryl turns his attention back to the girl.

“Hey,” he calls out, his voice soft, “what I promised ya before, ‘bout not hurtin’ ya, I meant it. I ain’ gonna hurt ya, none o’ us will.” 

She looks at Daryl again, her eyes watery but there was that same softness in them that told him that she trusted him. She nods, her grasp on her clothing loosening slightly. Daryl gives her a small smile then turns to look at Rick.

“Can ya go an’ bring Denise here?” Daryl asks him.

Rick opens his mouth to speak but then decides against it, trusting Daryl and his instincts. Rick nods then heads out to find the community’s doctor. Daryl looks back at the girl who’s now staring at him. 

“Ya got a name?” Daryl asks, “‘cause I don’ wanna just keep calling ya ‘girl’.”

A hint of a smile tugs at her lips at his attempt at humoring her, she whispers, “Y/N.”

“You’re gonna be safe here with us, Y/N.” Daryl tells her, “I ain’ gonna let anyone hurt ya.”

Daryl didn’t know what made him say those words to her. From what he could remember, he’s never said those kinds of words to anyone, not out loud at least. He’s always been the type to say those words through actions, but there was something about Y/N that made Daryl feel the need to convince her that they were good; for some reason, he needed her to know that. 

It seemed as though his words got through to her as her smile grew slightly and she nods at him, trusting his word. Unfortunately, her smile was replaced by another look of fear when there was a sudden knock on the door. Daryl quickly glances over to the door as it opens; it was Denise. He looks back over at Y/N who has yet again put up defensive walls, wary of another stranger now in the room.

“It’s okay, Y/N, it’s okay, she’s a friend, a doctor, she’s here to help ya,” Daryl says in a soft voice before getting up to greet Denise.

“Hey,” Denise smiles at him, “uh, Rick said you sent for me?”

“Yeah, the girl I brought back, Y/N, was hopin’ ya could make sure she’s okay. She also has some cut ‘r somethin’ on her left forearm,” Daryl tells her, he’d taken note of the dried blood on her sleeve.

“I figured it was something like that,” Denise says with a smile, showing her medkit she’d brought with her, she then goes over to Y/N who is staring at her warily, “hi, I’m Denise.” 

Y/N doesn’t say anything in response to her friendly introduction, instead she cowers away. Her body language clearly telling Denise that she does trust her and to stay away. Denise furrows her brows at this but she takes no offense as she heard from Rick that she must have been outside for a long time alone. 

“Y/N,” Daryl makes his way over to her, he crouches down to her eye level, “she’s helped a lot ‘o people, even me, she’s a good person.”

Denise furrows her brows when she takes notice of how Y/N’s expression changes when she looks at Daryl. Her eyes were soft and trusting, as if allowing only Daryl to see a completely vulnerable side to her. A smile reaches Denise’s face when she gets an idea.

“Daryl,” she calls out to get his attention, “I think you should treat her.”

He turns to look at her with a confused look on his face, “wha’?”

Denise sighs at his ability to be so oblivious then beckons him to come closer so she can explain, “she trusts you, Daryl, way more than she trusts me, you can see that just by the way she looks at you compared to me. I’ll take a look at her wounds, but if she needs stitches, you’re going to have to be the one to do them, I’ll only end up hurting her if I stitch her up while she’s tense.”

Daryl purses his lips together, nodding as he understands what Denise was saying, “a’right.”

“Don’t worry though,” Denise pats his shoulder, a teasing smile on her face, “I’ll still be here to guide you through it.”

He scoffs playfully at her then he goes back to Y/N’s side, crouching down beside her again, “Denise is gonna take a look at yer arm, okay? Jus’ to make sure it ain’ infected, then I’ll help ya patch it up.”

Y/N bites her lips together, glancing down at her arms then back at Daryl. Her eyes told him that she wasn’t quite sure how Daryl knew about her injury, but she nods in agreement to his words. Slowly but surely, she pulls up the sleeve of her left arm, revealing a gash. Denise carefully takes a step closer to see the wound and Y/N flinches at the movement. She stares at Denise then glances at Daryl who nods at her encouragingly. She hesitantly extends her arm towards Denise so that she can examine her wound. Denise raises both of her hands to show that she means her no harm then takes another step towards the mattress. 

“It doesn’t seem to be infected, which is a really good thing. And it doesn’t look that deep so I don’t think you’ll need stitches either,” Denise says with a smile after examining the wound, “the only part that might hurt is when Daryl has to disinfect the wound, but other than that, you’ll be okay. Now, do you have any other injuries we should know about?”

Y/N shakes her head at the question and Daryl smiles softly at her, then gestures to Denise, “told ya she’s a good person.” 

Denise chuckles then hands Daryl her medkit, “I’ll leave this with you, I trust you know how to patch up a simple wound without messing up too badly?”

He rolls his eyes at her then scoffs, “yeah, I done it enough times.”

“I’ll leave you to it then,” Denise laughs then walks towards the door, but then she turns to Y/N as she remembers something, “by the way, if you end up feeling sick or feverish in any way, you have to let Daryl know right away, that could be a sign that your wound got infected by his dirty hands.”

“Jus’ go a’ready!” Daryl scoffs making Denise laugh at his reaction just before she leaves the building, he looks back at Y/N, “I won’ give ya an infection...”

“I know.” she says in a slight whisper. 

Daryl smiles at this then places the medkit on the ground. He opens it and takes out an alcohol swab, tearing open the small packet then looks at Y/N. She seems to know what he wants as she extends her arm towards him. 

He gently takes hold of her arm, “this might sting a bit.”

He begins to gently dab at the wound, cleaning off the dried blood and dirt on her skin. He furrows his brows when Y/N winces at the sting. Daryl proceeds to blow onto the wound to try and soothe the pain. Once he’s done cleaning the wound, he dresses it with a bandage. 

“How’s that feel?” he asks her, leaning back a bit to give her some space.

She looks down at the bandage and a small smile tugs at her lips before she looks up at Daryl, “a lot better... thank you.”

Daryl returns her smile and nods, a small moment of silence passes when he dares to pose his next question, “do ya have a group?”

He watches as her brows furrow in confusion at his words so Daryl tries to word his question differently, “do ya have a camp or a group ya stayed with?” 

Finally understanding his question, Y/N shakes her head, “no... I did but... I lost them...”

“‘M sorry...” Daryl says, he purses his lips, seeming nervously shy, “did ya wanna stay here? We got food, water, walls, ya’ll be safe here.”

Y/N bites her lips together as if unsure how to answer, “...can I?”

“Yeah, we got a few houses we can spare, won’t be a problem,” Daryl says, “so ya jus’ gotta tell me if ya wanna stay, I ain’t gonna force ya if ya don’t wanna.” 

Although he hadn’t spoken with Rick on the matter of Y/N staying yet, he was sure that their leader would be accepting of it after seeing her. Daryl was sure Rick could see that Y/N wasn’t a threat to their community. He watches as she carefully contemplates her choices then finally she looks up at him with a soft smile and nods.

“I want to stay... with you.” she says shyly.

Daryl couldn’t help the shy smile that tugs on his lips, he also couldn’t help the blood rushing to his face as he blushes at her words, “a’right... let me jus’ talk to Rick, figure out where ya can stay. Wait here” 

With that, he gets up and heads for the door. Just before he leaves the room, he turns and gives her another reassuring smile. 

---

You stayed sat on the mattress in the room for what felt like a few hours, obediently waiting for Daryl to come back. You trusted Daryl. You didn’t know why but there was just something about him that made you believe that you could trust him. Maybe it was the way he looked at you, or how he did his best to make sure that you felt comfortable. You couldn’t explain it, and it wasn’t like you trusted easily either. You didn’t get the same sense of comfort when Daryl’s friend, Rick, came by and started interrogating you. You didn’t even feel that safe when the doctor, Denise, came to help you, and she looked completely harmless, although you had to learn the hard way to not judge a book by its cover. 

With everything you’ve been through though, you couldn’t help but feel jumpy or nervous and that proved to still be the case when there was a knock on the door. The end of the world forced you to always be on high alert, but you found yourself relaxing when you saw Daryl walk back into the room. There was a feeling in your heart that confused you when you saw him, as if you were happy that he came back to you. As if you missed him. That was a feeling that felt so foreign to you, but you couldn’t help it.

“Ya a’right?” Daryl asks, crouching down again, he continues when you nod, “I talked to Rick, an’ he talked to some o’ the others. They’re okay with ya stayin’.”

You smile at his words. It was only then that you realized just how much you wanted to stay in this place. How much you wanted to stay with Daryl. 

“C’mon, I’ll show ya ‘round an’ where ya’ll be stayin’.” Daryl says as he stands up, holding his hand out for you.

You glance at his hand then back at him. Carefully, you reach up and take his outreached hand and he gently helps you stand. His other hand hovering around your body to make sure you don’t fall. Once you’re steadily on your feet, he guides you out of the house. You have to shield your eyes from the intense rays of the sun at first but once your eyes adjusted to the light, you gasp lightly in disbelief. 

This place was.... Incredible. You never thought you’d ever see a place like this, not after the world ended. It felt as if you went back in time when the dead didn’t roam the Earth, this place was like one of those suburbs with huge houses you could only dream of affording. 

You look over at Daryl when you hear him let out a soft chuckle. He must have caught your bewildered expression as you ogled at your surroundings. You look down at the ground, shy and embarrassed as you blush. 

“C’mon,” he says, tugging at your hand gently.

He must have sensed that you were embarrassed as he didn’t comment on the look on your face. You follow him around, trying to ignore the growing butterflies in your stomach as Daryl holds your hand. He points out the house that he’s staying in as the two of you walk by it. You feel slightly shy as you spot some of the people watching you walk with Daryl. By the sly smiles on their faces, you were sure it was because the two of you were holding hands. 

“Infirmary’s over there,” Daryl says, pulling you out of your thoughts as he points over to the house where you see Denise sitting on the porch reading, “if ya need anythin’ or yer arm starts to act up, ya can go an’ find Denise, she’ll help ya out.”

You smile and nod at Daryl in acknowledgement then continue to follow him around until he stops in front of one of the large houses.

“This one’s yers.” he tells you, making you gawk at him.

“Mine?” you question, not believing it.

When Daryl said that they’d figure out where you could stay, you thought you would have a room that you shared with someone, not an entire house to yourself. 

“Yeah, we got a few houses to spare... if ya don’ like it, ya can look at one o’ the other free ones,” Daryl bites his lip nervously, as if he was afraid you wouldn’t like it.

You quickly shake your head, “no, it’s not that I don’t like it... I just... didn’t think...”

You trail off as you look at the large house in front of you, slightly intimidated. Daryl seems to sense this as well as he gently tugs at your hand again, then he nods pointedly towards the house. You understand his intent and begin to step towards the house. You walk up the porch slowly, continuously taking hesitant glances back at Daryl to make sure he’s still following behind you; he had let go of your hand, much to your dismay. 

Taking a deep breath, you slowly open the door to the house. Although you knew that the house was empty, part of you still expected to be greeted by snarls and growls of the dead. You guessed that being on your own and running from the dead for weeks would do that to you. 

“Wow...” you say breathlessly as you step into the house.

This wasn’t just a house, this was a mansion. Even just looking at the kitchen, it was twice as big as any room you stayed in, before and after the world ended. It looked to be fully furnished, clean, completely untouched by the outside world. You had a hard time believing your eyes as you looked around in awe. 

“Is this... real?” you hear yourself wonder out loud. 

“It is,” Daryl says from behind you and you turn to look at him, he smiles softly at you, “ya like it?”

You return his smile and nod, “I do... thank you.”

There’s a sort of sweet silence between you two before Daryl clears his throat, maybe he felt awkward, “I’ll leave ya to it, get settled ‘r somethin’...”

You feel your heart drop at his words, something you haven’t felt in a long time, “what?”

“I showed ya where my place is, if ya need me, I’ll be there.” Daryl nods and he begins to turn to leave.

A slight panic rises in your chest when you see him turn. You didn’t want him to go, you didn’t want to be alone. It was true that you were safe in a community, surrounded by walls and protected from the dead, but you were still afraid of being left alone. 

Before Daryl could leave, you quickly step to him and reach out, your fingers clutching onto his. He turns around to face you again, a confused look on his face. You notice his eyes soften when he looks at you. 

“Please don’t go...” you say in a small voice, “please stay...” 

Daryl purses his lips together, not sure of what to say. You can tell that he’s thinking of what to do. You were sure that he was trying to think of a way to tell you that he shouldn’t stay. You were practically begging him with your eyes. 

“Okay.” Daryl says with a shy smile after a moment of silence. 

You couldn’t help the smile on your face at his words. Daryl had agreed to stay with you. He had saved your life, brought you back to his community and given you a home. On top of everything he already did for you, he even agreed to stay with you. Even if you had just met him that day, you knew that he would be able to keep you safe. And for the first time in a really, really long time, you finally felt safe. 

---

This was one of my very first attempts at writing in Daryl’s perspective so I hope I did it justice! Please let me know what you thought about this one, I personally loved writing it haha 

Taglist (please let me know if you’d like to be added/removed!):

@twdeadfanfic​ | @fandomfanatic97 | @crossbowking | @watchmeaspire | @spidergirla5 | @kamieshep | @letsstarsfalling | @molethemollie | @alicewinchester99 | @neilox | @womanup22 | @jodiereedus22 | @theonlyone-meeeee | @theunofficialduke | @inlovewdxx | @delightfullykrispypeach | @mrsfortune1306 | @wolfkg | @funeral-7 | @wnygirl2012 | @alispaceme | @themihala | @aavocadocloud |  @polkadottedpillowcase | @felicisimor | @depressedfrog2 | @spacexkiddo0 | @rachelxwayne | @liadamerondjarin | @soraitmnt | @angelofthorr | @vampteefies | @decadentsoulbiscuitgoth

[darealsaltysam]

what your paladins main says about you

a comprehensive essay by a paladins player of right around 4 years

this is like really long so i’ll make it under the cut so my followers don’t have to scroll through this if they don’t wanna

(for context i’m a current maeve main, i used to main skye and sha lin and played tyra a long while ago)

.

Androxus

it’s not a phase, mum

“i don’t care we don’t have healer, i’m really good at him i swear”

you ult every time it loads in and you die before the final shot

your favorite mode is siege because you can fly up and shoot the whole point on ult

you’re usually really stand-offish and don’t communicate much and/or a 13 year old boy with anger issues

.

Ash

you are level-headed but in a scary way

you will hold the point solo even if it costs you your streak

“get on the point” “guys get on the point” “attack the objective”

you’ll ult to save yourself 99% of the time

good leader

.

Atlas

you probably used to main lex or androxus before he came out

“he’s like a flank, but a tank, he’s great!”

you chase after solo kills instead of sticking to the point

healers hate you, flanks and damages fear you

your favorite mode is death match

.

Barik

you’re a former/current tf2 player looking for something fresh

you don’t like working too hard so you spam turrets on the point and hope for the best

“healer stick to me i’m boutta ult”

actually really nice between rounds

but you don’t communicate much mid-game and kind of do your thing

.

Bomb King

you’re a really old player. you have the beta makoa skin and you were there when lex was first released. veteran’s discount.

your favorite maps are the old ones and they barely show up any more

the team always underestimates you

“who plays bomb king in 2021 lol?”

you need a hug

.

Buck

“wait, he’s a flank? i thought he was a tank??”

you’re also a veteran in the game

you’re a dying breed. i like never see you. do you even exist?

you’ve been here since like the first day of the game

buck gets so many skins and you want all of them but the best you have is a random recolor

.

Cassie

sweetest person alive

“we can do it guys! let’s try to all rush the point this time!”

you are the bane of every flank

the opposing team hates you, your own team kind of doesn’t notice you’re there

*casually gets a pentakill*

.

Corvus

you know those weirdly political kids who like ww2 and know the details of every tank to ever exist? yeah that’s you

but like that’s corvus. as a character.

but no one ever plays him.

like i never even see him do you exist???

you are a cryptid.

.

Dredge

yo ho you’re a hoe

no seriously the other team views you and they FEAR you

“yeah i just got a penta kill” “YOU WHAT?” “eyes on the point mate don’t get distracted”

hella good at the game and hella casual about it

you like onslaught on the one sea map the most

.

Drogoz

another veteran, are we?

you’re either useless or can wipe out a whole team in seconds. there is no in-between.

you always have a really cool skin.

dovahkiin, dovahkiin...

“i don’t care about the point i gotta get them trips”

.

Evie

you bought her because you thought she was cute, admit it

*turns into ice right before dying* *turns into ice right before dying* *turns into ice right be

your personality type is identical to her. no question about that.

always buys faster reload and better speed

strangely good communication with the team

.

Fernando

gay gay homosexual gay

“he’s kinda hot if you look at him the right way”

fernando is the tank for gay people

you are gay people

i don’t have much more to say

.

Furia

mum energy. not as much as inara mains, but still, mum energy.

will protect every member of the team with your life, even the flanks

you’ve been maining her since she was first added

i bet you didn’t even know she’s canonically seris’ sister

“we’ve literally failed to capture the point the last 3 times we might as well give up and go to another game”

.

Grohk

“yeah i have a gremlincore tumblr blog, how could you tell?”

i honestly have no words

you’re kind of like a catboy but a racoon

do you even heal the team or do you just pretend

you were there when lex got announced and thought he was cringe, now everyone finally agrees with you

.

Grover

he was your first purchased character and he’s stuck around ever since

he’s the only healer you can play well

“i am groot lmao”

you would never say a word to your team

would give your life for the tank but that’s about it

.

Imani

daenerys targaryen on drugs

your favorite anime is my hero academia

your husbando is todoroki

you see where i am going with this

“team protect me i’m gonna ult” *dies 5 seconds into ult*

.

Inara

BIG MUM ENERGY

your team is your family. you will protect them with your life.

can only hold your own with a good healer so you have good teamwork going for you

*cutely places wall in front of your ult*

useless in tdm so you stick to onslaught, siege and koth

.

Io

are you a furry, furry, or a furry?

“victow! dont ult on my tweam pwease! uwu!”

you 100% find her attractive in some way shape or form

you are either a 30 year old redditor who enjoys loli content or a 16 year old teen who is playing a shooter for the first time

she’s kind of cute, i guess

.

Jenos

i can never tell if i’m going to absolutely destroy you or if you’re gonna kick my ass

*cutely holds you up so the whole team can shoot you to death*

kamehameha

you’re a healer??? i guess???

your character has such deep lore and i bet you don’t even know half of it

.

Khan

one day you were playing and your team desperately needed a tank. you picked the first one you saw. suddenly, you’re lian’s foot stool

despite 2 layers of heavy armor, you’d still let this man walk all over you

“this skin is really cool, wish it wasn’t behind a pay wall...”

YEET

you actually know the game’s lore, for some reason

.

Kinessa

i never trust people who are good at a sniper. if you’re bad that’s natural and you’re 99% of the population. if you’re good you are definitely up to something

you’d sell your sister for 5 pennies if you could

you’re missing from the team all game and somehow have the most kills

“we have a kinessa???”

you are an urban legend to your team

.

Koga

someone’s been watching naruto

you are so shit at the game. like i’m sorry. no one’s good at koga i’m so sorry

how do you have so many skins for one character???

you’re always missing from the point

healers hate you. so does the enemy kinessa.

.

Lex

quit the game /nm

“who mains lex in 2021??? lmao???”

wall hacks, aimbot, and it’s all legal for you as an ability. you are a hacker in a world of puny vanillas. you like it easy so you go for the easy min max character. have fun getting hated

you think he’s hot and press on his loading abilities just so he can scold you and you can hear him being mad at you

*bonk* go to horny jail

.

Lian

"she could step on me”

you used to main some sort of healer but switched over when you got sick of everyone being needy

you can hold a point all on your own for a really really long time but the moment your team gets there you start flunking

you wish you had more skins for her

you don’t

.

Maeve

so imagine this. it was like 2018 and you were just chilling playing the game. you kept getting killed by maeve. in every game. she was in every game you went to and she kept killing you over and over and over again. you got frustrated, snapped, and bought her to see if you could do the same to others. you are now the maeve in every game. the cycle repeats.

your whole team doubts you but then you casually get a quad kill and they just sort of look away

you die a total of two times each round and 99% of the time it’s because you go too fast and fall off the map

you repeat everything she says in her accent because you think it’s cute

“welcome to ze meant streets, kitten!” “can you shut the fuck up” “i hate to cut and run, he-he!”

.

Makoa

you have the plushie skin or the beta skin, otherwise you don’t main and only play casually stop lying to yourself

“attack turtle go brrr”

you’re really good if you get paired with a good healer

otherwise you’re useless

you wish you could get better teammates because you could really thrive with an organized group. but on paladins you won’t get that, i’m sorry-

.

Mal’Damba

i always forget this guy is even in the game

you’re definitely under 6 foot IRL

you have an older sibling you always fight with

you’d love to have a snake irl

you’re really chill outside of the game, but when playing you hella rage

.

Moji

you are so precious

but also such a little shit

you annoy me but i also want to give you a hug

“let’s go guys!! to the point!! wheee!!”

please never change but also get out of my sight

.

Octavia

you always main the new character until the new person drops

somehow always have enough credits to buy the new champion whenever they come out

you don’t like having a stable main cuz you get bored

you like hanging out at the training rage

hate siege and love team death match, you like your games quick

.

Pip

you are the worst and best thing to ever happen to this game

you only pick him to heal yourself and hardly ever heal your team

no one notices you there until you ult

then you get focused

honestly you just seem like you wanna do your thing and i can respect that

.

Raum

you probably go to therapy or desperately need it

“BIG MAN BIG. HE IS BIG. BRRRR”

you always love the demons in media

you like being in charge of the team and wreck the point any time you are there, you like fighting on your own but having a healer nearby is nice too

you probably have daddy issues

.

Ruckus

you think ruckus’ and bolt’s dynamic is cool and that’s one of the main reasons you started playing him

he’s the only tank you can play

you used to main either inara or ying at some point but chose violence instead

really short irl. you physically relate to ruckus and spiritually to bolt.

“funny goblin man :)”

.

Seris

certified girlboss

you can hold an objective all on your own or heal your whole team no problem. either way you are SLAYING

“alright. who’s ass am i kicking today?”

mum energy is inferior to inara but still kind of there

i’m like 50% sure you have a foot fetish

.

Sha Lin

*pointing and chanting* incel, incel, ince-

whether that’s about you or the character you can decide

you like minecraft bedwars on the side

“if i don’t get this headshot i am literally going to spontaneously combust”

really useful when there’s no other long distance people - otherwise a nuisance

.

Skye

AWOOGA *jaw drops to ground, eyes roll out of head* BOOBA BOOBA BOOBA

you bought her for the tiddies, didn’t you?

she’s actually really satisfying to play once you get the hang of her, but can be real tough on rough days

you need a break i think - maybe play some other game for a bit?

*casually gets team kill with ult*

.

Strix

you own at least one pretty knife

you played him when he was unlocked on rotation, fell in love, and spent a whole evening collecting credits to buy him fully

“haha bird man”

i’ve said what i said about snipers. if you’re actually good at him you are hiding a body somewhere. i fear you.

why does everyone ship him with viktor????

.

Talus

little furry child

he reminds me of tommyinnit because he is small and annoying

if you play him you are tall and intimidating 

i’m friends with a tall scary talus main

i can’t say bad things please spare me

.

Terminus

you always ult at the worst time and just get killed again 5 seconds after

“hey losers watch this” *goes on the point, dies, revives, kills one person and dies again*

you’re only a good tank if you cooperate

you don’t

on your own you’re a pretty good player

.

Tiberius

*sigh*

you think the cat is hot, don’t you?

“his accent is kinda cute tho hehe”

you saw that one ending scene in zootopia with the dancing tigers and it CHANGED you

you are probably a furry. if not your awakening is coming. be ready.

.

Torvald

you’ve been playing this game for too long

you’ve seen skins rise and fall. you’ve seen nerfs and buffs. you’ve seen reworks and remakes. you are ancient. older than the dragons and wiser than makoa. respect.

people see you on the opposing team and get really annoyed

“the point is really crowded, we can’t move in” “don’t worry guys, my ult is charged up”

you’re really good at all the characters but you like this guy a lot because you think he’s funky fresh

.

Tyra

you’re either new to the game or have been playing for too long

either way you can KICK ASS but you need to keep behind your team to do the most damage

flanks are the bane of you, especially the fast jumpy ones

you really want one of the cooler skins but you can only ever get the basic ones. such is the curse of maining one of the OG characters.

“bite me”

.

Viktor

you are level 100+ guaranteed, and everyone fears you

“oh shit they got a victor. flank focus him”

you probably play COD and CS:GO normally and wanted to go with something familiar and easy. your skill from the other more advanced games DWARFS everyone else

but why are you playing “guy with gun 132″ in a game with magical elves and fairies. like come on bro.

you don’t have any in-game friends because paladins is your guilty pleasure game you would never admit to

.

Vivian

“step on me” syndrome cranked up to 100%

this woman could spit on you and you’d still respect her more than your own mother. good for you

“i’m not a simp. i’m just tier 3 subbed to pokimane ironically”

you sweat the game hardcore. former victor main or he’s your secondary.

you’ve got her on level 50+ at least

.

Vora

like the maeve mains but somehow worse

bought her out of spite or played her while she was on rotation, now here you are grinding credits for her a day after she became unavailable

honestly you’re really good at the game i have nothing else to say

you enjoy the newer characters more than the OGs - you’re either a former vivian or lian main

you miss the play of the game feature in the game because you’d get all of them with this girl

.

Willo

you seem like the moji mains at first but show your true colors soon after

“fuck you” x50

you are a trash talker on max overdrive. you need to sit down, do some breathing exercises and have a drink.

you hate your own team more than the opposing guys

when you see a willow on the opposing team you make it your sole goal to eliminate her as many times as humanely possible

.

Yagorath

i bet you didn’t know she was canonically female until you read this

you don’t like sweating too much so you pick the tank that leaves you heavily relying on your healers and damages

you can hold a point really well so you like siege and onslaught

“are vora and yagorath connected in the lore somehow and do i really care?”

you have a friend who you always party up with to be your healer, otherwise you might switch to another character

.

Ying

“tanks love me, flanks hate me”

you are too powerful. literally. how are you so strong

you’ve mastered the most difficult healer in the game. the others are really easy for you to play but you have trouble with seris

motivate your team a lot but start shading and trash talking if they don’t cooperate

you’ll gladly play someone else for a long while and like taking breaks from her

.

Zhin

this is your first main after switching over from overwatch. we can smell it on you.

you’re really annoyed with his personality and voice lines but the character is too good to play for you to pass him up for that. you respond to his voice lines aloud very aggressively to let him know he’s an ass

“YES ZHIN HEALERS AREN’T USELESS YOU SELFISH PRICK”

you try your best but you’re not a great team player

infinite trips on a good day, die repeatedly without kills on a bad one and you switch over to vora or skye for a bit.

.

this took me hours to write out pls leave reblog and note thanks uwu