#hmmm they are like the same level of how much i love their friendships as

[pjlotrhhjeml]

crying over Isaac and Charlie bc oh god their friendships is my world and this is how im going to explain platonic love from now on yall

[kaijuparfait]

long ramble of me going through the venom trailer because i am insane totally normal about it

this isn't anything professional, just me spouting out random words as i run around in circles like an excited dog-

OK LET'S GO:

firstly... king please change your clothes its been years, why are you still wearing that exact same outfit???

BUT i am a sucker for the light going over and past Eddie as he walks, i just think it's so cool hehe,,

E: "You should probably know that I have a really dark and unpredictable side to me."

hmmm... i'll believe you. at first, it sounds like he's telling this to Venom, but I wouldn't be surprised if Eddie is telling this to someone else and this "dark and unpredictable side" is Venom.... Or he is telling this to Venom and Eddie just really wants to kill now which. I am ok with that, love that for them, they should be allowed to do what they want

cleanly punching off the lock via the ~ Power of Friendship ~ (or something like that)

not the dogs :( i'm assuming this is a place to hold dogs for like. dog fighting?? i think? which is terrible and those guys deserved to get their heads eaten!

E: "I'm giving you a chance, sweetie."

LET. EDDIE. KILL. everyone say thank you Tom Hardy for being Eddie cause WOAH i am. normal.

V: "Just say "when"." E: "...when."

WE'RE SO BACK its just like the "Mask!" "Copy." bit from the first movie omg we're so back, these two make me ill i love them sm

also Eddie not even flinching at the knife, most likely Venom turning off the pain (or something) but I like to think Eddie's just cool like that (these close ups of Eddie's face makes me wanna do a study on him, just draw him a million times for the fun of it, and i will! Tom Hardy is a beautiful man!)

either venom is fully acting as shoes or Eddie is wear the most busted up pair of crocs i have ever seen and both options are so great. either way- KICK! that guy is GONE you even see him slouched against the wall, surrounded by bricks in a later scene, Venom and Eddie are not messing around this movie!

I- hhhhh. ok. I'm ok. Yeah these two are NOT messing around, Eddie could not care less about these dudes, there is no hesitating, no guilt, no fear in this man's expression AND I LOVE IT <333 GET ANGRY! GET SCARY!!!

AND WE HAVE THE BOI. THERE HE IS!!! the roar sounds different too i think, it's very cool tho, feels like a shrill, higher pitch than i expected but i don't dislike it

let the dogs be free! they immediately start attacking those guys and i love it <3 doggy :3

AND EDDIE IS FIGHTING TOO WOOOOO i need to redraw all of these frame cause WHEW! making me blush with these shot compositions, so good. so much trust, Eddie knows Venom will keep him safe and jumps in! literally! i adore how Venom's head is following him too, it's so creepy, the way it just slithers through the air, I wish to send all my love to the teams who work on Venom, there are so many points from the trailer and the first 2 movies that I wanna dissect, just to point out all his little movements, very fun

speaking of his little movements- squinty eyes :3 and the half venom, half eddie face again! always a win, forever iconic <3

tearing apart this venom scene OK! the little tendrils by Eddie's face, the way they move around is so UGH its so weird and i adore it! This "pose" is also fun because we really get to see the inside of Venom's mouth, most importantly his teeeeeth, in a long, pretty still shot that isn't when his mouth is wide open, the artist in me is loving it

also the team always does an amazing job on just making Venom look alien- the thick veins, the shiny black skin, and the tendrils that are holding up the bad guy split apart, instead of being just one tentacle, very gross, but in a good way

E: "We.. are..-" V: "WE ARE VENOM!" E: "We.. are..-" V: "VENOM!!" E: "No.."

They share one braincell, holy fudge, I love symbrock fjdkslfjsdk

and Eddie just keeps trying! same tone, same level, and Venom is so excited

V: "Oh!"

(I also love these shots because we get a nice close up of how Venom's mouth moves when pronouncing words)

E: "Yeah.. We.." V: "We.." E + V: "are... Venom." E: "...We really need to work on that."

and they get there eventually lmao, the way they say it is so in sync, even the eye movements are the same, how they open wider, and THE VOICES hhhh the voices.,,.. Tom Hardy is such a good. voice actor? in this sense ig.. i am on the ground, pure joy with how Eddie and Venom's voices overlap here

and Venom goes to town! lovely meal <3 getting a meal with the bf <3

I am LOOKING oh my goodness his mouth can open WIDE... normal feelings rn, yup, mhm!

doggy :D dog friends :D also Eddie no shot you stole that guy's shoes lmao??? nice boots tho (as someone who wears cowboy boots often, i would love to see Eddie in a full outfit.. putting that in the drawing idea list...)

V: "DELICIOUS! You take me to all the finest places!"

see! dinner date! :3 I can just hear the smile on Venom, i love when he's happy

and the world's most pathetic wet cat of a man (I say with the upmost affection) is back!

more proof that Eddie is never NOT sweating and that Tom Hardy's Eddie voice has the most confusing accent- i think he's saying

E: "Honey, I don't know."

but he could very well just be stuttering, or maybe he stopped midway and instead said "I need- I don't know." but i'm hoping they're at the point of pet names, go full comic, let Eddie call Venom "love" and "dear" and "my darling"

[Edit- thank you @.bridoesotherjunk for pointing out that he says "I need a Tylenol." i need better listening comprehension i guess??? lol?]

i don't know 100% of the Venom lore, still have tons of comics to read, so i won't talk much about the potential storyline here but- 4 SYMBIOTES!! maybe maybe maybe the Life Foundation Symbiotes... these babies got some funky colors.. they already used the name Riot but these 4 could be Lasher, Phage, Scream and Agony if i pray hard enough, the colors don't match but i can dream!

totally not emotional over this little bit of Venom that was left behind from that one after credits scene trying to bond with a host gently. yup yeah my heart isn't hurting at all!

LET MY BOY GO, HE DID NO WRONG!!!

my favorite local cryptid, what a creature

and he changed! finally! nice shirt tho, buttoned up only part way? the HAIR??? good stuff

fire seems to be a known weakness now, looking at the background, and i can't guess what they're looking up at, Eddie does speed up for it tho. I'm gonna say either a helicopter or something else they're gonna try and jump up to? Venom does go-

V: "OH SHIT"

during this scene so maybe it's one of those Symbiotes from before? Who knows, I could guess a hundred things but idk

THE WATER SCENE!! FROM THAT ONE BEHIND THE SCENES PHOTO TOM HARDY POSTED!!!

Venom in the last bit and Eddie being just himself if the first portion of these clips show that these guys 100% know what they're doing and have some sort of device (shown in the right image) that is capable of doing some crazy damage to Venom! Which! Oh no!!! I enjoy fight scenes underwater tho (Looks at Godzilla), very hyped for this one, I really wanna see how Venom swims. Yeah that sounds a bit weird but like. no way he's swimming like a human, c'mon now

E: "We are living the dream, my friend V: "You mean it?!" E: "NO."

Can't get over Venom's delivery here, he sounds so genuinely, it made me laugh, especially to how exhausted Eddie sounds lmao

LAS VEGAS??? y'all guessed right, they really are gonna get married in vegas,,

Eddie in a suit, HELLO??? my guy is looking snazzy! really tho, he looks so nice a suit, the BLACK AND WHITE suit? perfect. I saw people saying that they hope that Venom is the suit and just. me too..

MRS. CHEN RETURNS omg this cast are all so <333 she is GORGEOUS that dress is beautiful on her AND HER HAIR Mrs. Chen my beloved

Mrs. Chen sounds so happy to see Eddie, and Venom also very excitedly say hi, my heart is going to burst, it is overflowing, this part of the trailer makes me smile so much AND THEN THEY DANCE WITH EACH OTHER!!! I know it's called The Last Dance but I was not expecting a dance with Mrs. Chen??? I am more than ok with this tho, Venom and Mrs. Chen, dancing on the stairs, they look so happy, they're having such a good time i can't, my heart can't take this <3

AND LOOK HOW THEY HOLD HER HANDS.. they... they care about each other so much i'm going to cry in the theaters- no i'm gonna cry NOW.

is that a xenophage i see??? that thing is HUGE HUH??? i fully understand Venom in this (side note, i ADORE how Venom goes "JESUS CHRIST" upon seeing this thing, the line delivery get's better every film, that was so genuine) this design is insane tho, i might spend some time doing a study on it

Toxin is here! YIPPEE!!! love the voice, thought it was Venom for a second the first time i watch this but its pretty good

I have no clue who the people are that are in this tower thing, I've seen a few theories but i ain't embarrassing myself by guessing wrong here lmao

(running out of image spaces sorry!)

in the clip of Venom walking into this lab (?) and then getting violently shot at, is it just me or does Venom seem small? I'm guessing the door is just really big but like. idk maybe i'm just mixing up my Venoms and thinking that he's not as big as I remember

really quick cut of what may be 2 more Symbiotes like the 4 from earlier? maybe they're the same and are just changing colors, maybe they're new, who knows! I love their colors tho, the one on the right (in the clip) looks like it's blue and pink and i think that's cute

Xenophage breaks into this lab, love that for her, she is still terrifying!

E: "We may not make it out of this alive, buddy."

haha what do you mean by that king?

V: "Eddie... the time has come..."

HAHA PAUSE. uhm. he said the same thing last time at the end of Let There Be Carnage and Eddie didn't let him go but, istg, IF THEY DIE AT THE END OF THIS MOVIE. i know its the last of the trilogy BUT THEY DON'T NEED TO DIE, SONY, MARVEL, DON'T DO THIS TO ME. i am going cry violently at the writers... i don't think i will ever stop crying if they die at the end

they're in this busted up helicopter, already intriguing, but when it zooms in on Eddie's face, he's tearing up??? this movie is checking off every emotion, i need to remember to stay hydrated before i go see it, i will cry so much

I don't even think i'll be able to handle just one of them dying, the end of the first movie made me tear up the first time i saw it, and that was before i was as insane about them as i am now, i will be UNWELL in the theater

And last but certainly not least. HORSE VENOM WOOOOOO

the design for this things is insane, i didn't think i'd ever wanna draw a horse in my life but like.. kinda changing my mind ngl (weird detail, Venom horse has hands and feet and not hooves!)

E: "Be honest with me, how fast do you think you can make that thing go, without killing it?" V: "..ONLY ONE WAY TO FIND OUT!"

Venom sounds a bit muffled in this clip which makes it a bit more funny to me, i won't lie. Eddie is hanging on FOR HIS LIFE THOUGH, geez i know he said "how fast" but Eddie gets LAUNCHED OFF VENOM when they go over that cliff. fun reference to the first movie, how Venom grabs onto Eddie as he flies up, like on the motorcycle <3

this horse scene has to be earlier on because Eddie is in The Outfit and is also not wearing shoes??? i refuse to believe he'd put it back on, and in the helicopter-"it is time" clip, Eddie is wearing that white shirt, which looks like the undershirt to the suit (maybe) so the Las Vegas scene happens before them running from the explosion/fire.

oh right, the song that's playing? Space Oddity by David Bowie? yeah it's about an astronaut dying along in space.... which... is not very comforting...

god this trailer makes me so hyped, October cannot come faster i need this movie NOW. please.

man the trailer is kinda confusing, i'm already making guesses on where things happen and what the context could be, but literally anything could happen in this film. there are so many things that just don't make sense yet and it's hurting my brain I JUST WANNA KNOW! are those new Symbiotes or not? What even is the plot? Will Eddie and Venom profess their love to each other? Will Sleeper be real? How many times will this movie make me cry? Only time will tell

...and it's only the first trailer! head so full of thoughts, heart so full of emotions!

[karliahs]

Aizawa, Present Mic, and All Might for the character ask!!

thank you anon!! here we go:

aizawa:

favorite thing about them

god i was hoping someone would ask aizawa for this but also. picking one fave thing is so so hard

this is kind of cheating but my fave thing might be...contrasts. like how in so much of his screentime he's lazing around, so languid and barely present, and then when needed he explodes into motion with this insane fighting style that's clearly the product of years and years of hard work. and how he has his whole strict teacher thing where he is harsh and scares kids on purpose, but is also capable of this incredible gentleness - the overhaul arc alone has so many examples, him with ochako & mirio & izuku...argh. his flat neutral monotone that then makes it so impactful when it breaks, like when he finds out about shirakumo/kurogiri and there's this incredible rage. i love that he's easy to interpret as kind of a hypocrite! it's extremely fun to play with in fic. i love that iconic all might line in the ep where aizawa's introduced - in your own strange way you're a very kind man, aizawa - and like that's...that's the thing. the kind and the strange. you've gotta have both for it to feel like aizawa

god this is already so long. please know that i could continue for like 19 more things and am actively restraining myself from doing so. thank you.

least favorite thing about them

hmmm i was gonna say the fact that he is a relatively minor character in this anime, but i wonder if he'd have quite the same impact for me if there wasn't that space to kind of read around the canon moments?

so i guess maybe the ways he falls victim to other flaws in the logic of the show, its biases and faults...mineta is a big one. i actually kind of hate the scenes where aizawa kind of offhand scolds/warns mineta for stuff bc it's so...inadequate. and kind of more damning than if he was never shown responding to it at all. but as with everything else concerning mineta i find it's best to just ignore it entirely

favorite line

"There's a difference between sacrifice for others and throwing your life away." and the parts that follow (approximate bc this was me scribbling down quotes while i watched): "When these naive kids get the two mixed up, I can expel them, give them a little death so they'll learn. That way they know what's at stake and they'll strive to reach even higher."

i just adore this encapsulation of the strange kindness embedded in his weird teaching philosophy. and maybe my favourite thing in this show is how it grapples over and over again with the intersection of self-sacrifice and self-destruction (even if for me it's maybe better at asking these questions than answering them).

it's also just very satisfying to have been writing aizawa having this exact perspective for years and then seeing it laid out so simply. there is a difference. and he's dedicating his life to trying to teach it to these kids.

brOTP

okay it's weird to use the word bro about a mentor-student relationship, but if we're taking this one to mean any platonic dynamic then...gestures to the number of midoriya & aizawa fics i've written. i just think they're neat...and i love aizawa's perspective on self-sacrifice playing off the way my boy mido is just...Like That

but also eri!! and shinsou. and i've been enjoying the hints of midnight-aizawa friendship in vigilantes especially

OTP

erasermic...honestly i find their dynamic equally interesting whether it's platonic or romantic but still. way back in 2018 when i first wrote bnha fic, i was very erasermic-focused. i enjoy the flavour that's v common in fic where they just in the background are secretly married, it's very cute. but in my heart of hearts i have a particular attachment to the erasermic variety where they have not at all figured their shit out by the time canon starts, bc i think it's so juicy and excellent if there's been some level of longing there for fifteen years, but they're still for one reason or another holding each other at arms length

nOTP

i don't really care for eraserjoke. i'm only just about capable of enjoying the joke of their interactions anyway, but if you put genuine romantic intent there then...bleh

random headcanon

torn between doing a sad one or a funny one. uhhh (spins mental wheel) i think he had a terrible energy drink phase in his early 20s in which he was like it's fine it's fine i can utilise caffeine to stay awake longer when required. it's logical. it's fine. and then it very much wasn't fine and since then he cannot even look at one without feeling a little bit sick

also sneaky second one: like many characters in this show, i do think he has some level of chronic pain. bc holy shit those usj injuries.

unpopular opinion

uhhhhhh. i don't know how many of my aizawa opinions are truly unpopular. i guess...i often see in fics him referring to his kids as stuff like hellions/hell class to their face. which i get bc i think it probs started out in more lighthearted crack fics etc and then spread through fanon. but I was surprised in rewatch by how formal and at times polite he is to the kids, like he's blunt but I think his variation of strictness precludes that kind of thing. behind their backs...possibly

song i associate with them

oh man I actually…don't have any aizawa songs. which is wild given how much real estate he occupies in my brain. if other people have aizawa songs, please tell me them

favorite picture of them

best hairstyle best look...i could and do stare at the gif version all day

i can't believe how long this has gotten....others below the cut

mic:

favorite thing about them

performance!!! how the idea of performing yourself is so baked into the whole character! the levels where like...it seems like an intentional joyful performance, but can also have sad flavours of hiding behind a mask to stay safe. and it's also very fun to bounce him off aizawa, who I think also performs himself if in a different way

i accidentally scrolled really far back in my notes app the other day and found a bunch of notes-form fic from 2018ish, one of which included a note at the end reading "loving present mic is lgbt culture bc complicated relationship with self-performance and artifice and also have you seen the way he dresses" and honestly. i stand by it

least favorite thing about them

once again i was briefly tempted to say the fact that he is such a minor character, but also i do enjoy that space to expand on stuff myself

okay this feels mean but...when i switched from subs to dubs i liked all the new voices pretty much immediately...except mic's. it's a reasonable choice to dial into the goofiness like that but...it took some getting used to for me for sure

favorite line

"Some people have arbor ardor but I'm more of a city kitty, ya dig?"

this. is the perfect line of dialogue actually. no notes. i think about it and the textpost referring to it as "the most delightfully gay thing" said tumblr user had ever heard...all the time.

the wordplay. having fun with language. the phrase city kitty in itself. we don't deserve present mic.

brOTP

shirakumo...it's interesting to me that the vibe i got from vigilantes is the strongest friendships in the trio aren't between mic & aizawa? like they are friends for sure but I got the vibe both of them were closer with shirakumo than they were with each other. that shirakumo mic friendship ahhh...

and I'm forever thinking about that panel of aizawa climbing the rope, mic left on the ground. aizawa coping in a very specific way that kind of…leaves mic behind. mic's grief. the feeling that he's lost both his closest friends all at once. ahhh.

OTP

hey look it's erasermic again

nOTP

i don't really have one! i don't often see him shipped with people other than aizawa honestly

random headcanon

i sprinkled a bunch of mic headcanons into the last chapter of swim or drown that i still like a lot...one is a little mention of him cooking. i like the idea of him being one of those people who doesn't like to make a recipe the same way twice, measuring with his heart and playing around a lot with big flavours...everything he makes either slaps or is inedible

unpopular opinion

hmmmm i think a lot of the time he gets kind of morphed into this profoundly well-adjusted dude to play off aizawa, and i don't necessarily object to that! i've arguably done it myself. and it's part of the comedy of taking these two weirdos and deciding they have a profoundly functional domestic relationship off-screen.

but i find it interesting to consider the inverse too - with his rage, especially. one of his earliest scenes is him suggesting using his quirk on a bunch of random journalists (maybe as a joke but...hm). and there's a line about what he's gonna do to the people responsible for making nomu that made me go "MIC. BUD" out loud to my screen. i think it's entirely possible he has dealt emotionally with...nothing, ever.

song i associate with them

i hadn't consciously connected this before, but thinking about it i think dirty imbecile by the happy fits could be a mic song

favorite picture of them

if i can cheat and use a gif then it's this:

i just love his wind-ups to gestures so much. he's so extra and it rules

all might:

favorite thing about them

how hard he tries. all that work for all those years because he cares about people and wants them to be safe. i love that little shot of young toshinori running towards the future like...even with all that insane power, it's about the work of it. the long, hard graft of trying to make the world safer

least favorite thing about them

i.......sometimes find the america gimmick distractingly silly

favorite line

gah i think it's the line after kamino to midoriya when he says "I will dedicate myself to raising you." like......them......and i also really love the whole speech where he talks about deciding he's going to live. idk it really moves me to see him discovering new purpose after he'd accepted that he was going to basically destroy himself for the world. picking yourself back up after that...finding new things to keep you going...

brOTP

midoriya!!! the mutual admiration, the devotion, all might bringing izuku into this world he's longed for for so long, izuku making all might remember the hope and idealism that almost burned out of him after all those lonely years. i'm nuts about it

OTP

i kind of like aroace all might honestly!! erasermight is cute though...

nOTP

don't really have one

random headcanon

hmmm i imagine him being kind of relieved when the dorm system was implemented and all the teachers start living on campus too. i imagine his living spaces at least for the last few years or so have always been...large, objectively comfortable, but very empty and lonely

unpopular opinion

aha this one might be very unpopular, but of all the stuff all might gets criticised for from the early eps, i actually get him telling mido he can't be a hero the most...it's definitely still bad! but i can really see it from his POV...like he's basically been fighting a war for decades. and for like 5 years he's been doing it basically alone, the people in his life unwilling to watch him do this to himself anymore. and it feels so necessary and vital and also he can feel his ability to do it draining more and more everyday, this awareness that any day now he might fall and leave a space for all that darkness to sweep back in...i feel like if any teenager, any child, looked at you and asked if they could head out onto that battlefield too, without even the weapon you've relied so heavily on...no is a really understandable answer! not a good answer, but very explicable in character terms at least

song i associate with them

the whole beat the champ album by the mountain goats is about wrestling, which i really like as a bnha heroes analogue because it's about fighting but also artifice, deliberate creation of identity, so a lot of beat the champ songs ping me when i think about bnha heroes and all might especially...there's a part in the legend of chavo guerrero that always makes me think about all might and midoriya: "and I need justice in my life, here it comes"

favorite picture of them

okay i love the whole scene in the forest where they're bathed in this golden light but also. maybe instead it's this:

iconic

[pinkprimrose05]

Can you do the whole favorite thing about them, least favorite thing about them, favorite line, brOTP, OTP, nOTP, etc. for Yuya?

Warning: Long post, contains slight spoilers.

I am so very sorry for long this stayed in the box- but thanks a lot for the ask!

Favorite thing about them: Why must you make me choose. I can't. I can't do that. There's genuinely too many things to choose from.

...fine, I can do honorable mentions. One thing that piqued my interest in the tomato son all those years ago was how layered his persona can be... if you squint. Or if you're like me and relate to him on a spiritual level. You see, at the surface of his character, Yuuya's your average protag boy: fun-loving, good-natured and full of innocent hopes and dreams-

Except, that's not all there is to it. Not even at the very start of the story. We see from the get-go how he struggles with the weight of past events and his own doubts and insecurities -which only gets more and more prominent as the show goes on- all while holding onto his smiles in defiance against adversity, and trying to help others do the same as well. Personally, I still think that this is a deceptively simple yet very powerful message.

Least favorite thing about them: Ah, that's a question I can't quite answer. You see, there isn't anything specific I dislike about him, as much as there's stuff I dislike that happen to him- as in, to his character. Like the last stretch of the Xyz and Fusion arcs. Those parts did irreversible damage Yuuya's portrayal- so much so that even I, known for being more forgiving of the story's flaws than most, was shaking my head in denial through the first, second, and third watch. Lord help me when I reach them in the fourth.

Favorite line: Quoting myself from the Yuugo version of this post: would it be cheating the question if I said there's too many to count? Because it's still true. I know for a fact that I'll mention a line here and then find another one I prefer not a day later- that's how it is with the faves, I suppose. For the sake of not leaving this empty, though, here's one quote that stuck with me longer than most:

"The dueling I've had up until now isn't something I made alone. Because everyone was there, I was able to make it this far!"

brOTP: Yuugo!

...Saw that coming? Yes? No? Look, Yuuya's the protagonist so he naturally has a lot of interesting friendships, some established, some made over the course of the show... and a few entirely hypothetical, like this one. What can I say? I just think they'd go great together. Picture this: two idiots with half a braincell between them, who meet each other proper and instantly click. And get on like a house on fire from there. Seriously, they're so different yet similar in so many ways, and I think that'd lend itself to a great mutual underdtanding between the two- almost as if they have some kind of telepathetic link (hmmm). Putting them in one room for extended periods of time will either result in the most fun sort of chaos or in talks so deep they both end up bawling their eyes out in each other's arms.

They're friends. Besties. Brothers even.

OTP: Look, I'm a bonafide vanilla when it comes to romantic ships. Fruitshipping is my first and main OTP in all media of interest, and the threatre kiddos get a badge of honor for being one of a scant few pairs that got me extremely close to crying on more than 1 occasion. That's more than can be said for... *checks notes* ...99.8% of the characters I know!

nOTP: Hmm... there's none that come to mind, honestly. I don't mind seeing Yuuya paired with anyone, as long as the ship is not inherently inappropriate and/or isn't portrayed in any weird ways.

Random headcanon: Thanks to certain happenings towards the end of the plot, Yuuya ends up developing the unconscious habit of hoarding things precious to him. He'll go to sleep curled up in the middle of a nest of blankets and pillows, surrounded by all his favorite plushies, random trinkets and gifts from friends, and of course, his pendulum and card partners (thank god in-universe cards are stupidly sturdy). The first time Youko chances upon him in this state, deep in the peaceful bliss of slumber, she stealthily snaps a photo and- huh? No, you didn't hear a thing. "Cuteness overload can be heard from over a mile away?" Pfft, nonsense.

Unpopular opinion: No idea how unpopular this may be, but... I don't get the claims that Yuuya's not a good duelist?

Several people point out that he relies on Action cards to stall out a duel until he can turn it around, and conclude that as such, he's less skillful than most of his opponents. That take confuses me more than anything; after all, isn't it in the nature of the Action duel rule that one must make use of the card scattered around them? They're not just there for show, nor are they solely used for their effects. And besides, it's clear that Yuuya's particular brand of entertainment dueling places heavy emphasis on the dynamic aspect, which is why he's always running around the field and trying to make a spectacle out of every move. That doesn't diminish his skill in any way I can see- he's just more inclined to using resources outside those in his deck, thanks in part to needing more combo pieces than survivability cards by virtue of using Pendulums.

Song I associate with them: Assuming any song qualifies, I'd say it's Future Fighter; because it's literally Yuuya's (and Reiji's) very own personal song. It highlights core aspects of their personalities through the lyrics- and what do you know, our boy has a very nice singing voice too! It was one among many highlights from the back half of ARC-V S1 to me.

Favorite picture of them: Look, I just want to see him happy. I think he deserves to display genuine joy more often. And the more sparkles the episode budget allows, the better! So with that in mind, here's a few of my favorite pics of the boyo.

....oh, you thought I could pick only one?

Bonus:

[suleikashideaway]

10 ways to tell you're reading a fic by suleikas_hideaway

Thank you @gardengalwrites for the tag!! 

Most of these relate to how I’ve felt while writing my (still unpublished) longfic, but a few things have popped up in the recent one-shots I’ve written for the ffviiicharacterweek challenges. Overall, this was a really enlightening activity and took me wayyyyyy longer than I would have thought. Tbh, I’ve learned so much about myself as a little baby writer and I’m grateful for the opportunity to reflect! 

I inadvertently focus every aspect of my stories on personal growth and recovery. I started writing as a form of therapy to help me deal with my personal struggles, and so that’s inherently what my characters do, too. I live for that slow, nonlinear climb from rock bottom. Or, in my recent discovery of writing one-shots, it’s the understanding that yes, we can do hard things, or yes, it’s worth taking a step back and seeing the big picture and appreciating how we got here. 

In that same vein, I discovered that I quite enjoy writing the journey towards rock bottom. You know the one. In which you keep thinking “wow, it can’t get any worse than this!” And then you think it a dozen more times until you’re in a place where you can literally go nowhere but up. Love that. Heh.

I think the above two points make it obvious that introspection is my thing! I aim to give characters a reasonable and believable amount of processing time. I want you to be inside their little heads and see what makes them tick. What do they outwardly show versus what they keep to themselves? What kind of winding thought patterns do they have? What are their secret fears and desires, and do they even realize them? And hopefully not bore you to hell while doing so (:

It’s my goal to make every single word meaningful. I honestly don’t know if I accomplish this, but if there is an object or an image invoked, it’s intentional. Symbolism, motifs, imagery – it’s all meant to be there. 

In addition to the symbolism, everything mentioned has a backstory. If a character is drinking a cup of coffee in one scene, you better believe I have their entire backstory as to why they drink coffee. If a character mentions music in one single sentence, you better believe I have the entire backstory of their appreciation for music. 

So far I’ve only ever written in close third-person narrative. I’ve been striving for the absolute closest I can get without making it first person, using vocabulary and vibes that only that character can give you. This has been one of the most enjoyable things about writing from different perspectives. Tbh it makes me want to try first person sometime soon. 

I’ve also only ever written in past tense. I don’t know why I do this??? I want to try writing in present tense but it’s not something that feels natural to me, though I love reading present.

Another thing I try to do is give an immersive description of the physical environment of a scene. I want to make you feel like you are in the bar with the character, or out in the rain, or in a cold, unwelcome room. It’s something I strive for, and hopefully accomplish! To add to this, I aim for specificity in my descriptions. I try to paint a full picture without going overboard or making anything too purple. (Though I can admit I don’t think my one-shots really go for the level of description I like. Hmmm maybe some more editing is in order!)

I really adore writing romantic relationships as well as family dynamic relationships. Something I hope to add more of is platonic relationships! But as of now, none of my fics have any friendships really highlighted, which I think is sad!

I live for the narrative, which means I try to change my style based on what is needed for the scene. I think I tend to write long sentences but sometimes they get choppy on purpose if that’s better for the tone. Or sometimes, if a character is really in the throes then description is done away in favor for the inward spiral they’re having.

[castlebyersafterdark]

do you think lots of audiences didnt pick up on will's love for mike because its filmed using the cinematic female gaze? i think will's longing and desire is so potent but so many audiences don't seem to read it as desire but rather [just] sadness, or confusion about mike as a friend, etc. these are situational and contextual emotions though, whereas surely if you pick up on an emotion as a viewer, you have faith in it even if the narrative is textually telling you something different? the true undercurrent of stories and life really is the emotion beneath, the true meaning beneath. i dont see why people dont see this or didnt feel will's desire. do they think desire must be portrayed as animal lust or obvious ogling, or perhaps telling someone how you feel?

ive seen viewers express confusion over other films too, where they thought things came out of nowhere, whereas the desire to me rippled through every scene. same for will. he is the epitome of longing in s4.

Hmmm. I say this with genuine sincerity in wanting to understand more - not sure I get what you mean by his feelings and pining and love being the cinematic female gaze? I have no idea what that means. I mean, I do like the gnc read of some instances of Will's traits and from a thematic standard, analyzing his role in a "traditionally female" horror role whilst being a man - but hmm. I see misunderstanding his character as people just... dismissing Will. He's still a guy, a teenage boy - who are fully capable of subtle desire and longing. I think that's simplifying it too much.

Its a lot of the audience being ignorant and disinterested and blind to reading gay love stories and arcs. Robin? Her sexuality was a twist. Will's feelings for Mike and sexuality? That's a storyline the audience is supposed to pick up on, it's intentional. Audience's fault if they don't, to be honest. It's just society. I think the average straight audience member isn't looking for a gay storyline. So maybe, yeah. They're seeing the sadness, the loss of innocence and childhood and strained friendships, but his sexuality and romantic strains are there, too.

Also honestly - there's just different levels of viewer engagement. What preconceived ideas someone takes into a movie or show. What they're already looking to get out of the show. Personal bias. Attention. A lot of things!

[incandescentia]

Ⓐ hmmm qingyan for yunying?

@paramythas | 𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐝 Ⓐ 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 ( accepting! )

Qingyan -> Yunying

Attractiveness:

repulsive || hideous || ugly || not attractive || unappealing || not unattractive || meh || no preference || ok || mildly attractive || nice looking || cute || adorable || attractive || pleasant on the eyes || good looking || hot || sexy || beautiful || gorgeous || hot damn || would tap that || perfect || godlike || holy fuck there are no words

Personality:

grating || irritating || frustrating || boring || confusing at best || awkward || unreasonable || psychotic || disturbing || interesting || engaging || affectionate || aggressive || ambitious || anxious || artistic || bad tempered || bossy || charismatic || appealing || unappealing || creative || courageous || dependable || unreliable || unpredictable || predictable || devious || dim || extroverted || introverted ||  egotistical || gregarious || fabulous || impulsive || intelligent || sympathetic || talkative || up beat || peaceful || calming || badass || flexible

How likely they would have sex with them:

not if they were the last person on earth and the world was ending || fuck no! || never || no way || not likely || not sure || indifferent || I’m asexual || maybe || probably || it depends || fairly likely || likely || yeah sure || yes || would tap that || hell yes || fuck yes! || wishing that could happen right now || as many times as possible || we are already having sex

Level of Friendship:

never in a million years || worst of enemies || enemies || rivals || indifferent || neutral || acquaintance || friendly toward each other || casual friends || friends || good friends || best friends || fuck buddies || bosom buddies || practically the same person || would die for them || true friends || my only friend ||

First impression of them:

I hate them so much || I don’t like them || I don’t trust them || they annoy me || they’re weird || I’m indifferent || meh || they seem alright || they’re growing on me || truce || I think I like them || I like them || I’m not sure if I trust them || I trust them || they’re cool || they’re genuine || I think we’re going to get along || I really like them || I think I’m in love || oh fuck they’re hot || I love them

Current impression of them:

I hate them so much || I don’t like them || I don’t trust them || they annoy me || they’re weird || I’m indifferent || meh || they seem alright || they’re growing on me || truce || I think I like them || I like them || I’m not sure if I trust them || I trust them || they’re cool || they’re genuine || I think we’re going to get along || I really like them || I think I’m in love || oh fuck they’re hot || I love them

How good of a kisser:

worst kisser ever || terrible || bad || awkward || just okay || alright || pretty good || good || makes me moan || excellent || exciting || oh god they’re good || I dream about it || fucking amazing || absolute perfection || we haven’t kissed

[haleigh-sloth]

Ah..so the complaint of the week is about the romantic interest plot line. I didn't know this until I got on twitter...yikes.

The MC + love interest situation is so not important here.

Nevermind the fact that the romance involvement is entirely foundational for Toga's character.

It's not about "who ends up with Deku" or what the fuck ever. It's not even about the IzuOcha ending's likelihood.

It's about how Toga experiences basic human emotions like having innocent middle school crushes that explode in a blood fest because she has a quirk that gets mixed up with her emotions (sound familiar?).

She experiences normal. human. emotions. but her quirk makes it come out in a way that is hard to relate to by most peoples' standards/experiences with emotions.. At one point in time it was nothing more than a little kid who was interested in blood, but her parents blew it completely out of proportion and mentally and emotionally abused the fuck out of her, causing her emotions to--you guessed it--unlock the detrimental side effects of her quirk. Her emotions--ALL NEGATIVE--made the urge to drink blood outweigh the self-control she had.

I guess I can fully dive into why she latched onto Ochacko so quickly and so strongly the second they met.

I've talked about it repeatedly how the remaining members of the League are all facing the similar challenge of hating themselves.

Toga is no exception.

She sees Ochacko and Tsu during the camp raid and sees how well they work together as friends, how they look out for each other latches onto them immediately. Clocks Ochacko for having a crush on someone and immediately relates to the sentiment--but projects her extreme view onto Ochacko by taking the "I want to be like whoever" to the next level. But she liked the two of them before that moment. Why does she like the idea of their friendship so much? Of Tsu only allowing her friends to call her by her nickname?

Toga:"Hm, I like their friendship. I wish I could have that. Too bad I can't because I'm me. If only I could turn into one of them, then i could have what they have."

She sees the way Midoriya trusts Ochacko undoubtedly--even when he was suspicious anyway--during the licensing arc and not-so-internally expresses that she wants that too with someone/people. And we literally see her live her wish for a brief moment when he catches her and you can tell that she loved every second of it.

Toga: "Hm, I can't have that because I'm me, so I'll turn into someone else so I can experience that, because I'll never experience it as me." Did she say this? No. Did she quite literally demonstrate this? Hmmm 🤔 (the answer is yes).

We saw a pretty blatant metaphor for self-harm in chapter 341 where she lies in her room at night chewing on her wrist, and having a dream of something she loves (the bird) being inside her (blood of people she loves). It's very extreme, because nobody should want to lose their identity/be entirely consumed by loved ones. But it was very much a result of years of emotional torment at home. We saw the aftermath of her leaving. They threw her stuff away. It's no wonder her emotions eventually exploded in such a negative way, mixing with her quirk.

So what is Ochacko's role in all of this? And what does it have to do with romance/love?

It's a call back to their encounter during the war arc when Toga tries to tell her outright everything she internally struggles with and how hard it is for her to live as the way she was born. When she gets attached to people and forms a sort of "love" for them, that same old story of her emotions and her quirk combining repeats itself, and just as it was hard back then, it's hard now. Because Toga never got any relief from being thrown away, all that did was build up inside her over time. Ochacko saw it as her making excuses for her past murders--and honestly it can be read that way, if you don't pay attention to Toga outside of that encounter (which obviously Ochacko couldn't, so her misunderstanding is justified).

Toga was entirely comfortable around the League and never felt the urge to drink any of their blood. In fact her blood thirst never even bothered her when she was with them. We know she wants blood from people she feels attached/connected to--so why nobody in the League? Not even Twice. It was never an issue for her--not once during MVA (only during the retelling of her past).

It's because there is zero judgment from the League. They're all outcasts. Deeply, mentally tormented outcasts--like Toga. There were zero expectations for how they needed to act, look, behave, anything. And with that accepting (albeit very miserable) environment, Toga's blood thirst sat on the back burner.

Obviously that environment isn't what she wants, hence her continuing to try and try with Ochacko. But that's a different topic with its own can of worms to get into.

SO all Ochacko has to do is just......accept her. How she is. She's not weird for how she was born. She's not weird for having intense emotions toward people. She's not weird for wanting friendships like Ochacko and Tsu, or for having normal crushes like Ochacko and Midoriya. Ochacko shouting out to her trying to carry on their conversation about love is the FIRST attempt Ochacko has made to show Toga that she relates to something Toga experiences. It's the first step toward accepting Toga, and it's the first step toward her showing that Toga deserved to be accepted back then, and still does now.

All Ochacko has to do is give Toga a reason to stop hating herself by accepting her.

[irrealisms]

got tagged by @vascera ! ty :D

answer 30 questions and tag 20 blogs you want to get to know better

Name: Hearts/Will/Casey/Francis/Kit/Sofia. yes i know this is complicated. im sorry. in my defense it is even worse for me

Sign: ares

Height: 5′5″ if i stand up straight 5′4″ if I slouch

Birthday: april 3

Time: 7:06pm est as of typing this

Favorite band/artists: the mountain goats. theoretically other artists too but in practice the mountain goats

Last movie: it probably says something about how often i watch movies that i genuinely cannot remember.

Last show: uh. ditto. ....prooooobably the Untamed or Hannibal.

What I post: mostly fandom content. which rn is dsmp because I have awful taste. but when i started this blog it was much more religion-heavy and I occasionally think of that in longing before going back to posting my fandom nonsense :’)

Last thing I googled: “beeduo visual novel” (ended up finding it in my tumblr likes lol. link here)

Other blogs: i have a few old blogs ( @weird-together​ , @liminaes , @creepycrawlycrazies , @daywillcomeagain , a couple old sideblogs that I made like one post on and then never used) but I don’t have any other currently active blogs

Do I get asks: occasionally? not often. this is almost definitely worsened by the fact that I reply to significantly less than half of the asks I get. talking is scary guys

Following: 1,232

Average hours of sleep: like. 9 or 10. my night meds Forcibly Knock Me Out. if i don’t take them i will do an allnighter by accident. if i do take them i will sleep like 8-12 hours. if i am woken up before 8 hours after taking my night meds i will simply go back to sleep

Instruments: none. I’m a decent singer though! not professional-level but I did allstate chorus a couple times in middle n high school

What I’m wearing: a magnus archives t-shirt, a flannel, and jeans

Dream job: when I was 4 years old I answered "what do you want to be when you grow up?” question by listing various animals and honestly that’s still true

Dream trip: visiting my internet friends 🥺

Favorite songs: Love Love Love by the Mountain Goats. Caroline by Emma Lloyd. Gasoline by Halsey.

Last book I read: (in its entirety) Spiritual Friendship by St. Aelred of Rievaulx, (in part) the Bible

3 fictional universes I’d live in: hmmm this is a tough one, a lot of my favorite fictional universes would be worse or the same as this timeline? I’d go for the His Dark Materials multiverse, which is like our world except (a) I’d have to deconvert and change my theology around (b) the seeing-your-daemon-out-of-the-corner-of-your-eye trick that I tried to do for years of my childhood would actually work. Same with Arda, except (a) I’d get to be more confident in my theology, and (b) I’d get to be confident that elves used to exist. Uhhhhh. I’d probably go for Vanda Nosseo from Silmaril (glowfic) by Lintamande, probably, which has the same (a) as HDM but makes up for it with “not only did elves exist in the past, they still do”. I think elves existing is pretty neat.

if you read all of that, consider yourself tagged! (if you want to be.)

[countessofravenclaw]

I remember you mentioned you used to make some Violetta/Soy Luna character comparisons, do you wanna explain them?

Hmmm, sure. That was in 2021 when I was just starting out. I'll fetch the post for you...

...update, I could not find the post so I'll just paraphrase it for you

Lets treat this as an updated version

Luna ~ Violetta (The protagonist)

They are the main character who change their hairstyle every season. They are pretty, and talented but also humble and everyone loves them almost. They get into the most drama with boys even when neither of them is straight. They also have very complicated family relationships. They can sometimes be super frustrating with how much screen time they hog and occasionally and unintentionally make everything about them when something else would have been more important. They have flaws, but the show and the other characters ignore them, so the flaws never slow them down or get developed on. They are still focus point of the show and the one viewer often relates to te most

Ambar ~ Ludmila (The mean girl)

They are the blonde popular girl who starts feeling threatened by the protagonist almost as soon as they arrive. They feel like they need to be the best no matter what and try to sabotage the protagonist often but almost always fail and never actually bother the protagonist. They have an extremely toxic friendship with their best friend/s. They secretly have broken home lives and get pseudo-adopted to the protagonist's' family in the final season, finding a new parental figure.

Matteo ~ Leon (The cool guy)

They start out as the coolest guy possible and date the mean girl. They and the protagonist meet by chance and they start pursuing her for not-so-noble means until they fall for her. The protagonist makes them rethink their life and become a better person. They and the protagonist have the most amount of drama and multiple break ups. They try/do leave the designated hangout spot because they want to discover themselves. They also end up in hospital in the final season

Simon ~ Tomas (The "nice" guy)

From the start seems like the obvious love interest for the protagonist. They are presented as the better choice than the cool guy and are the protagonist's first exploration into relationship/love

Simon ~ Federico (The brother)

The protagonist brotherly figure who she can confide and trust in. They also started out liking the protagonist but got past that after she didn't feel the same. They fall in love with the means girl and and up helping her change

Nina ~ Francesca (The best friend)

The platonic soulmate of the protagonist who she meets by chance but they automatically connect. They support the protagonist through their struggles and are often the more level-headed one. They are often relegated to the protagonist's emotional support even when exploration of their own struggles would be much more interesting. They end up having the best love story and the healthiest relationship in the show

Gastón ~ Marco (The disappearing love interest)

The love interest of the best friend who ends up leaving the show in the final season and they never mention him again, even though he was a very close friend of the other main characters.

Gastón ~ Diego (The bestie love interest)

The love interest of the best friend who is her true love and they go through a bit more complicated and uniquer love story, which ends up kind of frustrating to watch since it could have been solved better. They have the most normal and healthy relationship in the show

Gastón ~ Andres (The cool best friend)

The cool guys best friend who wants nothing more than happiness for him. They give pretty solid advice and stand by the cool guy no matter what kind of mess the cool guys gets themselves into

Jim & Yam ~ Camila (The other best friend/s)

The protagonist's's obviously queer other best friend/s. They bring chaos and have one brain cell.

Delfi & Jazmin ~ Naty (The minion/s)

The best friend/s of the mean girl who uses them to achieve her scenes. They end up abandoning the mean girl at some point during the series

Ramiro ~ Broduey (The dancer)

They are the guy who just dances through life with no care in the world

Pedro & Nico ~ Maxi (The other guys)

The other guys in the designated friendgroup

[verobatto]

It's Always been You.

I love you

Destiel Meta. 15x18 meta.

Keeping the fire burning in our hearts, i can't believe what we just saw last night, and i have to keep screaming about this historical scene.

I wrote this meta with my friend's huge help @mrsaquaman187 , because we needed to talk more about body language. Because the scene was perfectly played by Jensen and Misha.

And i want to say thank you to my dearest friend @spnsmile because she made amazing gifs for this analysis. Love you girl!

Before start this meta, i want you to read a meta i wrote two years ago, and i want to share it again with you today.

Break the jar and do it again. The slow construction of Destiel Canon

Okay, now, let's start this journey...

Castiel's honesty at his purest form

I will analyze word by word, because this is historical, as I said before. So, let's rewatch the scene together, the scene in which Castiel released himself, and allowed for the first time, to be happy. (I want my angel back 😭).

“I always wondered, ever since I took that that burden, that curse, I wondered what it could be, what...what my true happiness could even look like. I never found an answer. Because the one thing I want...it's something I know I can't have."

Well, my friends, as I yelled in my Destiel meta you can find here, is canon now that Castiel was wondering what would it be to have Dean not just as a friend, but as a lover, and I'm.... Okay. (Internally screaming).

And damn @weird-dorky-little-deana and her post here in which I screamed again, this is it, my friends. Is perfect. Because is all along what I was suspecting... Remember 14x09, Pamela represented Dean's fem side, Dean's subconscious, so, in conclusion, Pamela was Dean talking to himself and saying :YOU WANT WHAT YOU CAN'T HAVE. Is because Dean thought CAS didn't love him back, and Cas saying he can't have Dean is a huge parallel because it shows the way it was constructed. Both men thinking they can't have each other. Is perfect and angsty and so romantic.

"But I think i know...I think I know now. Happiness isn't in the having. It's in just being. It's in just saying it.”

This is such a deep thought and it talks about Castiel's maturity of character. He understood once for all, that loving Dean Winchester, feeling what he feels for him, and expressing that to Dean, is his true happiness. Because...

METATRON: "(...) You draped yourself in the flag of Heaven, but ultimately, it was all about saving one human. Right?"

Dean didn't know it

Dean: “What are you talking about, man?”

Dean's question shows us he didn't know what Cas was trying to say, he didn't know Cas was about to confess his love for him, he didn't know Castiel loves him back the same way Dean loves him.

Cas: “I know. I know how you see yourself, Dean. You see yourself the same way our enemies see you. You're destructive and you're angry and you're broken. You're...you're 'Daddy's Blunt Instrument.' And you think hate and anger, that's...that's what drives you. That's who you are. It's not. And everyone who knows you sees it.

I just have to put everything in red because, OMG, people, this is Cas in the barn all over again but after 11 years of being with him and truly sees through him, and this is Cas in the golden room:

CASTIEL: What is so worth saving? I see nothing but pain here. I see inside you. I see your guilt, your anger, confusion.

This time answering himself, this time, healing all the weight and the pain Dean could carry inside. Because Dean deserves to be saved. That's why Cas gave his life again for him.

Even now, with Billie outside saying IT AS ALWAYS BEEN YOU, and naming him like the rebel, Cas rewords all of that, and shows Dean why he is all of that, because he is GOOD.

Oh Lord, okay, everytime I see Cas smiling and saying those words i have to repress my tears, but...

"Since Castiel laid a hand on you in Hell, he was lost!"

No, sister, he was found.

Castiel is rewording each bad comment or mocking angels had done based on his romantic love for Dean, he is saying , yes since I met you in Hell, i was found, you changed me, I fell for you. Damn... Dean go get back this angel because I swear...

But now, i want to share with you my friend reading about their body language on this scene.

@mrsaquaman187 wrote:

"Here is interesting because usually with conversations like these Dean would get upset or strut around then disagree and blame himself for something. BUT he doesn’t do that this time. Which leads me to believe he knew what Cas was going to say... you can see his face stiffen, intense eye contact and he clenches his jaw. Which tells me he is MAKING himself listen. He knows what’s coming and he has made the decision to HEAR it."

@mrsaquaman187 wrote:

Gif 1:

"Here he’s trying to hold it together. He’s swallowing back tears because he wants to see this conversation through to the end."

Gif 2:

"Oh this one is fascinating because he’s not moving. This means he’s no longer trying to be sure of what Cas is saying. He definitely knows what he’s going to say. Also if you look at his eyes, his pupils are dialated. Fun fact: when you’re looking at someone you love, your pupils dialate."

If you are still alive, i just want to point how romantic is this, because he is saying that Dean changed him for good. And he is naming all their family, Sam, Jack, and humanity, the world. Dean. So practically, Cas is saying, Dean showed Cas how to take care of others. Damn...

But also....

ISHIM: The way you let those simians talk to you... Castiel, when did you get so gooey? You know why we're meant to stay away from them humans? Hmm? It's not because we're a danger to them. They're a danger to us. Case in point.

CAS: Well, my friendship with Sam and Dean has made me stronger.

Castiel rewording again, because he knows what Dean did on him, Dean changed him for good.

I Love You

@mrsaquaman187 wrote:

Gif 1:

"Hmmm this one is a mixture of disappointment and denile...he’s basically thinking “you can’t be leaving me again”. His slow blinking and calm appearance indicates that he’s sort of asking out of disbelief or denial."

Gif 2:

"My poor boy had so much to say! Here you can tell he realizes what Cas was saying...he gets the meaning but can’t get his response out. He starts with the head tilt which signifies endearment and fondness. He swallows hard which represents the nervousness he feels and the sadness he feels. And then you can see his lips twitch and turn into a light smile along with his eyes softening. So he understands that Cas is confessing to loving him. And he understands that Cas has been holding it in and hurting the whole time. Which is why he tilts his head. The hard swallow is because he’s being loved but wants to love back and has no idea how to express that. All he could manage was “don’t do this Cas” which along with the body language equals to “Cas don’t leave me”.

I'm crying again, damn...

Okay Dean is shocked, shocked because he just figured out Cas loves him, Cas had loved him this whole time!! Is a huge, huge revelation to him, because Dean didn't imagine his best friend would feel the same for him! That's why he always thought he couldn't have Castiel the way he wanted to.

"I can see the love inside of you, but is croaked in shame."

Shame because it was his best friend, a pure, beautiful angel, out of his league. But now... This angel is confessing he had been in love with him the whole time! And not just that but he dies after that!

Dean losing again the love of his life after knowing he loved him back, is a new level of shock and despair to him. So Dean's reaction is just accurate and perfect!

And the scene crying alone in silence, not answering Sammy's phone call is SO SO IMPORTANT! He forgot about Chuck, about the world ending, about everything, because he only could think about Cas, and how he just lost him, and how he loves him the way Dean loves him, this whole freaking time.

To Conclude:

This was the most beautiful Destiel scene until now, and i only hope for the second Destiel canon scene, in which Dean will said I LOVE YOU TOO to his angel, closing his ILY journey, and rescuing Castiel. Maybe with the reset button, maybe entering into the Empty. But this is not the end, my friends, is just their starting.

Hugs! Love you all!

Tagging @metafest @gneisscastiel @emblue-sparks @magnificent-winged-beast @weird-dorky-little-deana @michyribeiro @whyjm @legendary-destiel @a-bit-of-influence @thatwitchydestielfan @misha-moose-dean-burger-lover @lykanyouko @evvvissticante @savannadarkbaby @dea-stiel @mybonsai1976 @anarchiana @angelwithashotgunandtrenchcoat @trashblackrainbow @destielshipper221b @mishtho @dancingtuesdaymorning @feathered-castiel @bre95611 @zoerayne2426 @justmeand-myinsight @that-one-fandom-chick @proccastinate @studio-hatter @pepevons @poorreputation @mrsaquaman187 @dizzypinwheel @jawnlockwinchester @dwstiel @thislunarkiss @ladygon @shippsblog @la-random-fangirl @lets-try-this-again-please @mychemicalobsession514 @destiel-shipper-11

@asphodelesauvage @2musiclover2

Buenos Aires November 6th 8:54 PM

[captnjacksparrow]

Okay so I know I’m far off my rocker with what I’m about to say but I have to say it otherwise I’ll forget or keep thinking about it like crazy.

It’s probably just me but I can’t help but feel like SNS aren’t straight. I can’t help but feel like Naruto could possibly be bi with women preference or don’t realize it. I can’t help but feel like Sasuke might be gay or bi. I don’t want to state it as a fact because we don’t know their sexualities canon wise plus I want to respect the author’s creation however I can’t see those two as straight, especially Sasuke. I understand that Sasuke puts his goals before romance and that may be the case for this. I know he wants to defeat his brother and restore his clan, thats his top priority in life. People say he doesn’t know how to express his emotions, yet I see it fine with Naruto. He seems to trust Naruto more than anything and wants to be with Naruto. He turns down girls, mainly Sakura when it comes to affection or flirtatiousness. Now it could be just that those girls see him as a trophy and Sakura doesn’t understand him or respect him, however even after Boruto when he “marries” Sakura, it seems he’s depressed and regrets the relationship. He visits Naruto’s family more than his own and I find it depressing and interesting because it shows he chooses Naruto over his own “wife”. Even with Karin, he cares about her as a comrade or friend yet I don’t feel romantic attraction on his side. Yet I feel a bit of that with him and Naruto. There was a rumor that the author or creator of Naruto that between Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura isn’t a love triangle but rather a circle like a fish biting its own tail. So Naruto —> Sakura —> Sasuke and Sasuke —> Naruto. Anyways, i know this show isn’t about their sexuality and I shouldn’t focus on that but I couldn’t help but notice something or rather feel it. Also, your post on SNS Sasukes pov, I remember you mentioning Sasuke being comfortable enough to show his vulnerability with Naruto and that had me thinking... is this Sasuke accepting his love for Naruto? Is this Sasuke allowing Naruto to open him and save him. It seems Naruto was the first and only person that made his way to his heart, even expanding it just a little.

That’s just me but I would love to hear what you have to say and correct me if I’m wrong. What do you think?

Nice ask @larrycherry04 😍😍

There was a rumor that the author or creator of Naruto that between Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura isn’t a love triangle but rather a circle like a fish biting its own tail. So Naruto —> Sakura —> Sasuke and Sasuke —> Naruto.

Again larry, there is no official proof for this interview. And if it is so, I don’t really believe any of his interviews, tbh. 

These are the two different official interviews from Shounen Jump at different point of time with Kishimoto and two contradicting answers. 

So, when it comes to drawing Manga, Kishi was very truthful. But when it comes to interviews, he started to contradict his own answers. Which makes him a liar, in my opinion and I don’t blame him.

So, In short, Read the manga or Watch the Anime and see how you feel about it and come to a conclusion rather that believing his interviews.

But to answer whether it’s a love circle??? Nope. 

Sakura, like I said before, she is a pairing fodder for Sasuke, most of the time and for Naruto, a little bit. 

If it is a love circle, like, if Naruto truly loved Sakura, he never should’ve let Sasuke off the hook, for all the tantrums/outbursts he has shown towards Sakura not once or twice but multiple times.

Imagine you are Naruto, you love Sakura so much and values her a lot above everyone.

What would you do in the following scene?

I seriously can’t stop laughing here. Here, a boy, your supposed rival, is mildly insulting your most valued person’s tears. What will you do?

You will speak on her behalf, Of course. Just like Naruto did.

But the moment your rival says something to you, you forget everything about Sakura and starts to think about your rival. Wellllll ... So weird!!!!! Which begs the question ‘Do you really love her in the first place???’.

In this scene, the moment he heard those words from Sasuke, Sakura was out of the picture. Important point to note, Naruto still had a crush on Sakura until this point. 

Moment 1

Sakura: I am going to stab Sasuke-Kun

Sasuke : Am gonna kill you too

**Naruto heroically saves her**

Naruto: Sasuke, Sakura was a member of Team 7.

Sasuke: I don’t give a fuck

Naruto: Anyways, I heard the truth about Itachi and what you’ve been doing so far, is understandable, (including trying to kill Sakura)

Sakura: **surprised pikachu face**

Moment 2

Sakura: I love you, Sasuke-Kun

Sasuke: Annoying!! I am gonna put her in a murdering Genjutsu

Naruto: Sasuke, you shouldn’t have put her in such a strong Genjutsu

Sasuke: If I didn’t , she will come in our way

Naruto: Ummm, that’s true. Let’s go fight!!!

This is the pattern of Team 7 dynamics even until the very end. And I don’t see a love circle at all. 

To put it bluntly,

These words from Naruto is an admonition to Sakura, that is, ‘Whatever happens between us, do not meddle!!’

Sakura is just a third wheel to elevate the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto likes her but not more than Sasuke. Naruto will die for Sasuke but not for Sakura. Sasuke will put his life on the line for Naruto but not for Sakura. 

He turns down girls, mainly Sakura when it comes to affection or flirtatiousness. Now it could be just that those girls see him as a trophy and Sakura doesn’t understand him or respect him, however even after Boruto when he “marries” Sakura, it seems he’s depressed and regrets the relationship. He visits Naruto’s family more than his own and I find it depressing and interesting because it shows he chooses Naruto over his own “wife”. Even with Karin, he cares about her as a comrade or friend yet I don’t feel romantic attraction on his side.

Sasuke closed all his walls in his heart to let anyone in, after the massacre. And even before that incident, it was never shown that he had any friends or rather he was frustrated with those boys revering him because of the ‘Uchiha’ name he bears. Uchiha is the powerful clan of Konoha and so everyone has high level of expectations. So, there is that. 

Sasuke was thoroughly frustrated at this comment because nobody is seeing him as a boy named ‘Sasuke’ in his Academy. Even his homeroom teacher saw him as 'Itachi's little brother'. He was clearly facing an identity problem during this time, even in his home. Because Fugaku, Sasuke’s father completely ignored Sasuke and was showing his full attention towards his brother Itachi. When it comes to girls, I don’t have to say anything. They treated him like a trophy. Meaning, Everybody was expecting something from him but nobody was trying to befriend him unconditionally or approach him for who he was. 

This was explained nicely by Itachi in Itachi Shinden novel.

I wish this scene were in the Anime series. Such a warm one.

He was turning down all those girls, because like you said, they just see him as a cool boy who can do anything. And Sakura was one among them. 

If Sasuke looked like Rock Lee, would Sakura have flirted with him??? Absolutely not. 

And to play romance, there should be certain effort from Sasuke’s side, like going for dates or whatever shit, which he was never ready for. Most of all, there should be a reason when you start a relationship. Sakura never tried to reach him in a deeper level and tried to understand his sufferings and hence there were no reason. This is the case even after their marriage. Does she know about Uchiha Clan massacre's reason? Or Itachi? If she had known, she should've educated her daughter and stopped wearing that fucking clan crest on their back. And most of all, what could Sasuke talk with her if she doesn't know a single thing about him?? Their relationship was built on Editorial pressure, regrets and shallowness. Of course, If I were Sasuke, I would avoid my family by staying in my office more.

With Karin, their relationship was purely business 'I use you, you use me' kind. He was very clear about that when he formed 'Team Hebi'.

He helped Suigetsu to get Zabuza's sword and in turn Sasuke wants him to help with his goal. Same with Karin & Jugo. But it seems Sasuke respected her a lot in terms of her strength. Karin was similar to Sakura when it comes to flirting but when it comes to work she means business and can offer Sasuke a lot in terms of Chakra replenishment or sensing enemies plan while battling. That's why he treated her better than Sakura but that's all there is to it. It never went anywhere because Karin knows nothing about him. And Sasuke was not interested in forming a bond with any of Team Taka members either.

In other words, to evolve from a friendship to romance, it takes a massive effort from both sides in terms of understanding. Like I said before, Sasuke built a strong wall around his heart and he never let anyone in it as he saw it as a weakness. Sakura barely made a scratch on that wall. Just for becoming a friend takes a big effort to break that wall. How much effort do you think it takes for romance?? Instead of becoming his friend first, Sakura jumped straight into romance, which makes Sasuke uncomfortable most of the times. Hence the depressed reaction you see in Boruto.

Even with Karin, he cares about her as a comrade or friend yet I don’t feel romantic attraction on his side. Yet I feel a bit of that with him and Naruto.

Hmmm, I don't see Sasuke having a romantic attraction with Naruto. Romantic attraction leans towards sexual desire. But, Sasuke has more of a childlike attraction which leans towards purity and innocence, like more of a desire to be near Naruto, will never be bored even if it was for eternity and would like to look after his safety without expecting anything back.

I've seen this quite a few times.

Sasuke is not competing here, otherwise he would have walked ahead Naruto. He just wants to walk along side him.

This is that dream sequence after their fight. Sasuke, just like before, approaches Naruto by himself and listens to him intently. I am pretty sure he could do this for a whole day and still would not leave him.

LOL. Sasuke, at this moment, doesn’t gives two shit about the world. Meaning he is not missing anyone from there. The person he really wants to be with is right next to him. He even convinces Naruto that Kakashi and Sakura will do something and he doesn’t have to worry. However the moment Naruto leaves, he worries and looks around for him. 

This is what I called, an innocent attraction and the desire to be around the person you feel warm and comfortable. 

But every possibility of changing this into romance is already there. Because Naruto broke his wall long back and has a high place in his heart. A strong friendship with an innocent attraction is all there. If someday Kishi comes out and said 'Sasuke loved Naruto', I won't be surprised at all.

Sasuke being comfortable enough to show his vulnerability with Naruto and that had me thinking... is this Sasuke accepting his love for Naruto? Is this Sasuke allowing Naruto to open him and save him. It seems Naruto was the first and only person that made his way to his heart, even expanding it just a little.

I think Sasuke started to like Naruto unknowingly ever since he started to watch him secretly. Because it always makes him feel warm and fuzzy. 

But, the scars left by Itachi made Sasuke feel that having people around will always makes him weak. Meaning, The more people you love and when you lose them, you will feel weak. Hence, he was very hesitant to reach Naruto. Slowly but surely, Naruto was already making his way into Sasuke’s heart. And once they were put in the same team, he just loved Naruto unconditionally. That’s why he almost gave his life for him.

But Once Sasuke decided to leave the village, he severed all the ties with Konoha, including Kakashi and Sakura. The level of bond Sasuke had with them can be cut off by saying ‘Thank you’. But with Naruto, it takes more than that. Because for Sasuke, Naruto’s existence itself is making him weak by bringing back all the feelings he once had for him. Like Orochimaru said, Naruto has certain power to influence Sasuke’s heart. So Sasuke decided to kill him but in the end he simply couldn’t. 

Everytime Sasuke strays off the path, Naruto will always appear and remind him that he is his friend

Every time Naruto appears and talks to him, Sasuke’s heart was changing but he simply doesn’t want that and he hates that feeling. Which was why he wants to destroy Naruto and whatever he represents. What Naruto represents is a powerful bond between Sasuke and Naruto.

In the final fight, he simply couldn’t cut that bond even though he had a chance to kill. These bipolar battles are what he was fighting all along internally. And finally accepts that he lost and was happy for it. Those words, ‘I lost’ meant he lost the fight physically and mentally he had with Naruto and was ready to totally embrace the feelings he already had.  

It’s not Naruto who was expanding Sasuke’s heart a little, Sasuke already gave a wide berth for Naruto and one day decided to close it. In the end, he couldn’t. 

I can’t help but feel like Naruto could possibly be bi with women preference or don’t realize it. I can’t help but feel like Sasuke might be gay or bi. I don’t want to state it as a fact because we don’t know their sexualities canon wise plus I want to respect the author’s creation however I can’t see those two as straight, especially Sasuke.

As for their sexualities, I seriously could not conclude anything. But from the way Naruto behaves, he certainly looks like a closeted bisexual just like Kishimoto. And Kishi was not hold his guns in this aspect at all, he went all out in the Manga chapter 347. 

I mean it was evident from the way he casted Multiple Reverse Harem no jutsu before Kaguya without any reaction but when Konohamaru did the same Jutsu with Sai and Sasuke, he looked visibly disgusted.

Why to react extremely when Konohamaru is doing the same as you? Probably he doesnt like Sasuke in this jutsu I guess. LOL.

When asked about that ‘accidental’ kiss again, he reacts visibly disgusted but at the same time with a Nosebleed. This screams ‘Closet bisexual’ to me.

As for Sasuke, I simply see him as close to Asexual and possibly demisexual for Naruto.

Why Asexual?

Because Kishi purposefully made Sasuke to be in certain awkward scenes and on top of it, he painted an over sexualized aura all over him, in part II of the manga. It was evident from his bare chested costumes and the way characters like Karin behaves around him. In the same chapter 347, Kishi went all out for Sasuke too.

I don’t even know why Kishi made this scene. But it certainly shows Sasuke wasn’t bothered by a naked man at all unlike Naruto who acted disgusted.

I simply cannot see Sasuke will be romantically attracted to someone if they cannot form a strong bond with him. And to form that kind of bond is not an easy task. But even for a demisexual, there will be a preference. and his preference were not any of those girls especially Sakura. So, I can safely say, if he ever wants to be romantic, all the possibilities points towards Naruto. Because of certain obsession he has towards Naruto throughout the War arc.  

Believe me, Obsession comes from two ways. You will be obsessed on someone whom you hate to your bone because of what they did to you. Most possibly, a hard betrayal. Or, You will be obsessed on someone who you love above yourself. 

Itachi falls under the first category (that’s why when Sasuke was told Itachi was good all along, he couldn’t accept the fact that he hated him for wrong reasons and he snapped and went onto a killing spree because of that obsession. Even though he was sane after losing his parents) and Naruto falls in the later.

Like he was basically saying ‘Naruto is my person. Only I can kill him, he is not yours’ to Obito when he was trying to kill Naruto. And where did these obsession comes from provided Naruto never betrayed him in any which ways? Because of all the past he had with him and he was already in love but was trying to deny it.

Anyways at the end of the day, I don’t mind their sexualities at all. What matters is how they prioritizes each other at any given situations without an ounce of regrets. Because, like I always say, their bond transcends way beyond Marriage, Children and Sex. 

Hope my answer helps :-)

[sfb123]

Uncle Drake and the Royal Heir

You know how sometimes TV shows will do like a special episode that acts as a pilot for a spin off series? Yea, that’s what this is. I have a two story pilot with an option to pick it up as a series.

Since Uncle Drake seems to be such a superstar, I decided to dig into his relationship with Eleanor, in a little something I like to call...

The timing of finishing this first story couldn’t be better. Today just so happens to be the lovely @burnsoslow’s birthday, so I would like to dedicate today’s inaugural Uncle Drake story to her. Happy birthday, doll! Thanks for being so amazing. 💚💜

Book: The Royal Heir

Pairing: Uncle Drake x Eleanor (uncle/niece/friendship)

All characters belong to Pixelberry.

Rating: G

Warning: Get your dentist on speed dial, there are some seriously cavity inducing levels of sweetness ahead.

Word Count: 1,565

Notes: I haven’t hung out with a 5 year old since my youngest cousin was 5, and she’s 26 now, so I had no idea what I was doing in writing Eleanor. Therefore, my sincerest thanks to @jessiembruno for pre-reading, and being a real life resource to help me get into the mind of a 5 year old. It was good to have a point of view that wasn’t just episodes of Full House (but I did do that too).

Tags: I used my Sapere Aude tag list, if you’d like to be removed (no hard feelings) or added (lots of soft feelings), just let me know! 

“Alright baby girl, be good for Uncle Drake, I’ll see you when I get home.” Riley pulled Eleanor into a big hug and kissed her cheek as they parted.

“Love you mommy!”

“I love you too.” Riley stepped in front of Drake and wrapped her arms around him. “Thank you so much for watching her Drake. I really really appreciate it.”

“Anytime Brooks, you know that.”

“Ever the marshmallow.” She grinned and pinched his cheek.

“All right, all right.” He swatted her hand away. “Would you just get out of here before I change my mind?”

“I’m going, jeeze.” Riley dropped down to Eleanor’s level and whispered not so quietly in her ear. “Give Uncle Drake extra tickles tonight, he’s feeling grumpy.” Eleanor grinned widely.

“Hey! I heard that!”

Riley put her hands up in mock surrender, and winked at her daughter before exiting the estate. Once she was gone, Drake turned to Eleanor. “Alright kiddo, dinner time. What are you thinking?”

“Mac and cheese!” Eleanor screamed, jumping up and down.

“Alright, but only if you help me cook.” He extended his arm, Eleanor placed her hand in his, and they walked into the kitchen.

Drake pulled a step stool out of the pantry, and set it up at the counter so that Eleanor could reach. He then went to gather the ingredients he needed to make their dinner while Eleanor set herself up at the counter. “Extra cheese please, Uncle Drake.”

“Extra cheese? What are you, a mouse?”

“I’m not a mouse. I’m Eleanor. I’m a princess!” She stood a little taller, and puffed out her chest.

“My apologies, your majesty. Extra cheese it is.” Drake bowed and went to the refrigerator to get more cheese.

Drake poured pasta into the boiling water and turned back to Eleanor. “You remember the rule about stoves, right?”

“Stoves are hot, no touching.”

Drake held up his hand, and Eleanor slapped hers against it, giving him a high five. “Nailed it.”

They continued to make their dinner, working together. Drake helped Eleanor add ingredients to ensure that they got most of it into the casserole, not on the counter. Once everything was mixed together, Drake took the casserole dish and placed it in the oven, setting a timer and stepping back to the counter where Eleanor was standing. “Alright kid, time to wash those messy hands.”

Eleanor got a gleam in her eyes and held her hands up in front of her, wiggling her fingers. “Messy hands.”

Drake chuckled, picking up a dish towel and approached the princess taking her hands in his and wiping them off. “Nice try, Eleanor. Keep those messy hands to yourself. We have to set up the table for dinner.”

“Uncle Drake?”

“Yes?”

“Can we have a picnic?” She looked at him with her father’s pleading eyes. The same eyes that convinced Drake to do all kinds of mischievous things with his best friend when they were boys. He couldn’t help but smile, he loved seeing little bits and pieces of his friends shine through in Eleanor. She really was the best of both of them, and would make a hell of a Queen someday.

“I don’t know, I’m not really a fan of being outside.” He said sarcastically.

Eleanor scrunched her face at him. “Nooooooo you love outside. Outside is your favorite!”

Drake guffawed as he helped Eleanor down from the step stool. “You caught me, I do love being outside. I guess I can’t trick you.”

“Nope, I’m too smart.” She smiled proudly.

Drake agreed to a picnic in the garden, and tasked Eleanor with finding blankets and pillows they could use while he got the food and dinnerware. Once they had everything packed and together, they walked hand in hand to the garden. He had Eleanor pick the spot where they would set up, and helped her lay out the blanket. They sat and ate, enjoying the extra cheesy macaroni and cheese that they had made together. After dinner, they packed everything up and returned to the kitchen, where they washed the dishes and put everything they used away where it belonged. Eleanor was being raised to take care of herself, instead of relying on the staff for everything, and Drake was more than happy to help enforce this when she was under his care, so she always helped him do everything, and they always cleaned up after themselves.

“Alright kid, what’s next on the agenda.”

Eleanor tapped her finger over her lips, she noticed her dad do that whenever she would ask him a question, so she figured that’s what you’re supposed to do when you think. “Hmmm...hide and seek. You go count.”

“You go count, what?” Drake put his hands on his hips and raised an eyebrow, waiting for Elanor to say the magic word.

She paused for a minute, trying to think of what he was looking for from her. “You go count please.”

“There you go.” Drake turned his back and covered his eyes, slowly counting to twenty.

Eleanor ran through the corridors of the estate trying to find the perfect place to hide. She entered the throne room and her eyes went wide when she looked at her mother’s throne. She ran up to it, crawling underneath, making sure to place herself behind the footstool so that Drake would never find her.

Eleanor sat there in silence, she heard her uncle’s lumbering footsteps coming closer down the hallway. As the door to the throne room opened, Eleanor stifled a giggle. She was sure that she had found the best hiding spot in the entire estate.

“I know you’re in here, princess. I’m going to find you.” Drake stalked around the room, pushing curtains aside, and looking behind the planters. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a small shoe poking out from underneath the throne. He silently slapped his hand against his forehead, chuckling to himself and shaking his head, quietly approaching his target. Once he reached her, he grabbed her ankle, gently pulling her out from under the throne and tickling her. “Ha ha! I found you. Better luck next time, kid.”

Eleanor was laughing so hard that she could barely breathe. Her legs were kicking wildly, tears flowing down her face. Drake finally relented and gave her a chance to catch her breath and calm down a little. “Alright, my turn to hide. How high are you counting to these days?”

“I can count all the way to twenty.” She placed her hands on her hips and stood tall.

“Alright hot shot, cover those eyes and get to counting.”

“Get to counting, what?” Eleanor raised an eyebrow, trying to mimic Drake’s actions from earlier.

He rolled his eyes, he was annoyed that he just got bested by a five year old. “Get to counting please.”

She nodded in approval and turned her back to Drake, covering her eyes. “One...two...three...four...five...eight...ten…seven...”

Drake laughed quietly while rushing through the estate looking for a hiding spot. He had no idea when she was going to hit twenty, so he had to work fast.

They continued to play for several more rounds. Eventually, Drake noticed that Eleanor had started to slow down, her eyes getting glossy. Then the yawn hit. “Ok, I think hide and seek is done for tonight. How about we head upstairs for bedtime?”

“No way, I’m not even a little tired…” she yawned again. “...we’re having way too much fun.” She rubbed her eyes.

“Tell you what, you come upstairs and get ready for bed now, and I think I may be able to find the time to read you a story or two.”

“Poky Little Puppy?” She looked up at him with excitement in her eyes.

“Yea, I think The Poky Little Puppy could potentially make an appearance, but we have to go get changed like right now.”

Eleanor ran up the stairs as fast as she could and stormed into her room. She grabbed the pajamas that her mother had laid out for her before she had left and immediately changed into them. As Drake entered, she stood before him with her hands outstretched...and her pajama top on backwards.

“Close, kiddo. Let me help you out there.” Drake helped her turn the top around, so she was dressed properly. “Alright, good to go. You grab the book, I’ll meet you in the chair.”

Eleanor grabbed ‘The Poky Little Puppy’ off of her bookshelf and brought it to Drake. He lifted her into his lap before taking the book from her hands. “Here, I’ll hold this side, and you hold that one. That means you’re in charge of turning the page, you think you can handle it?”

“I’ve got this Uncle Drake, don’t worry.”

He opened the book to the first page, cleared his throat, and began to read. “Five little puppies dug a hole under a fence…”

Drake continued reading the story, but suddenly, Eleanor realized that he stopped talking before he got to the part where Poky found the strawberry. She looked up at him to find he had fallen asleep. She gently patted him on his head and kissed his cheek. “That’s ok, we can finish it tomorrow. I think you’ll like the end.” She snuggled into his arms and closed her eyes. “Goodnight Uncle Drake, I love you.”

Tags: @txemrn @texaskitten30 @kingliam2019 @anjanettexcordonia @twinkleallnight @mile9213 @kittypryde-bipride @motorcitymademadame @kat-tia801 @bebepac @gkittylove99 @khoicesbyk @jessiembruno @queenrileyrose @athena-penrose @pixie88 @eadanga @choicesficwriterscreations @iaminlovewithtrr @hopelessromanticmonie @annarenee355 @burnsoslow @shewillreadyou @imturaxamara @gabesmommie1130​ @cordoniaqueensworld​

[aros001]

First time read through light novel vol. 18. Random thoughts.

I somewhat suspect the author was hungry while writing this volume.

Also, wow, I knew Kizuna was short but the prior artworks never gave me the full idea of how short. She

is only chest-high compared to Naofumi and Glass (I suppose that could make Glass happy, though; ease of access for Kizuna and whatnot).

Given that, outside of the natural gluttons like Filo, S’yne, and the killer whale sisters, the only person on Naofumi's side with the "Eat food for EXP" matter is Itsuki, I think this is him falling dangerously close to thinking only in terms of game mechanics instead of reality, much like the other three heroes had been early on. Theoretically, yes, if you can gain levels and strength just by eating, why wouldn't you do a lot of it? But he's almost outright ignoring the physical discomfort and pain it's causing his allies and seeing only the numbers. Not to mention that he himself doesn't appear to be eating nearly as much, as he's focus on the cooking.

That said, it is cute that this is the first time in her life Filo is starting to feel full.

Chapter One: Sloth

OH SHI-! Oh, wait. Wrong franchise. We're good. I did not want to have to imagine Kizuna biting her fingers off (Kizuna: "My brain trembles!!!).

If Kizuna is indeed suffering under the curse of Sloth, I'm curious what triggered that specific sin for her. We only have the four heroes of Raphtalia's world to go off of but each sin applied to that specific hero for a reason. Naofumi: Wrath because of his hatred of what Witch and Trash put him through. Ren: Greed because he wanted more EXP, levels, and loot; a toxic extreme of his solo-adventuring. Itsuki: Pride because he believed only in his view of justice. And Motoyasu: lust and envy because of his obsession with Filo and being kept away from her. Kizuna's obsession with fishing, even when there's other important matters that need to be dealt with, I suppose could be considered lazy and thus lead to sloth as its extreme, but it feels a little bit like a stretch.

As he did so, the books from a nearby shelf whirled up into the air, forming . . . a dinosaur . . . perhaps. No, a dragon. The monster’s name was “Magical Tome Dragon.” Now things were really getting a bit crazy. A dragon created from books! Was this some kind of joke?

I want a Yu-Gi-Oh card of that.

“Don’t tell me, Glass is like the Raphtalia of this world? Could we really get that lucky?”

I mean, that's what the fandom likes to joke when it comes to her and Kizuna.

Breaking the sloth curse through Kizuna's love of fishing was about what I expected. Not complaining, of course. Again though, I'm just wonder what about her coincides with Sloth. She prefers talking it out and making allies as opposed to fighting but I wouldn't exactly call that lazy or slothful either.

Kizuna had a lot of folks like this among her allies—people who had started out as enemies but then became allies. If I fought someone as an enemy, there was generally no coming back—there were exceptions, like Sadeena and Shildina, so it was probably better not to generalize.

Glass and L'Arc are literally standing right next to Naofumi as he thinks this and Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki all tried to murder him at one point or another. S'yne was part of the gladiator fights too, now that I think about it, and while they never fought he and Trash were definitely enemies for a while. This dude turns more enemies into friends than freakin' Naruto. Being kind of oblivious is part of Naofumi's character but I suppose this could be seen as an interesting look as to how exactly he considers someone an enemy. If they fought him for reasons he eventually came to understand and sympathize with, then he perhaps doesn't consider them as ever having been a "true" enemy.

Aww, Glass is jealous of Tsugumi being close to Kizuna. And unlike Raphtalia with Naofumi, Kizuna doesn't have any kind of tragedy that keeps her opposed to relationship and would require Glass to be patient. I suppose Glass could simply be afraid of hurting their friendship by proposing romance or even that Kizuna doesn't swing that way. And this is from Naofumi's perspective, so Glass being gay could be completely off the mark. Still, it'd be nice to get a solid landing one way or another. Even Eclair unknowingly rejecting Ren at least give solid confirmation that he's into her and why they're not together.

“What! I’m the Hunting Hero! I don’t handle the cooking part!” Kizuna complained.

“And I’m the Shield Hero!” I retorted. Not the Stewpot Hero! If anyone called me that, I would kill them with cookery!

And technically, you're not even that right now. Not with that mirror on your arm. The mirror is cool and all but I am looking forward to Naofumi eventually getting his shield back. He just feels incomplete without it.

“Almost feeding time!” one of them said. Others proceeded to chime in.

“Yes . . . the time we’ve all been waiting for.”

“The moment we live for, basically!”

“Even if I only get to eat one mouthful . . . that is the fuel that will keep me alive!”

“I’ll never eat anything but his cooking ever again!”

“I think the schweiz is the best! It has to be!”

“No! The stietz!”

“Hey! No fighting! We’ve been warned about fighting!”

Did they stumble across a food cult?

“It isn’t bad,” Filo said. “It just isn’t as nice as yours, Master.”

“Well, okay . . .” I replied.

“All of the heroes have cooked in the village, Mr. Naofumi, but Filo and everyone else all feel the same way,” Raphtalia told me.

Filo also grew up with Naofumi's cooking since birth, so while he's already a good cook you get the added taste of home for her. I've said it before but out of everyone I consider Filo to be the most like Naofumi's daughter.

“Then you wish to settle the bill,” she replied. I thought it was free. As my suspicions intensified, the girl spread both of her hands and continued. “How was the food at Seya’s restaurant? It was so delicious, wasn’t it? If you wish to become a member, please leave all of your assets or hand over anything that can be turned into money. If you leave some personal items as collateral, you can have some time to go and fetch some offerings.”

Yep, that's a cult alright.

“Master’s food!” Filo said.

“They’ll get a surprise when they taste what you’re cooking, kiddo,” L’Arc said.

“Indeed. Your victory is assured, if that’s the best they can do,” Glass agreed. I was still concerned about how aggressive they were being. Were they hopped up on endorphins or something? They weren’t acting in character at all.

My first thought was that the OOC behavior was some side effect Naofumi didn't realize came with the Mirror weapon's power-up method, but then why wouldn't Raphtalia or Kizuna be effected when they have been eating the food too? Then I thought maybe they were more used to eating Naofumi's food in general and would have a tolerance to any addictive effects, but then why is Filo still effected?

“That’s the best dish Seya’s restaurant has to offer! Seya’s curry bag! And it’s Fifth Floor too!” one of the MCs shouted. I barely stopped myself from tipping over onto the ground. He really was just reheating a premade curry in a bag! So he was allowed to heat and serve already finished dishes? I mean, that might give me some ideas myself . . .

“The flavors that are normally lost in reheating have been sealed in the bag using proprietary technology! Now you get the maximized flavor from the moment you open the bag! This truly is the ultimate culinary technique! Everyone, watch this kitchen miracle closely as it unfolds before your astounded eyes!” The MCs continued their diatribe, but it just made it harder for me to keep a straight face. It was all a matter of perspective. Capturing the flavor in a bag was certainly a worse approach than making it on the spot.

“Naofumi . . . am I imagining things? It looks to me like he’s just adding or warming up instant ingredients using hot water,” Kizuna said.

So, like most other antagonists in this series lately, Seya is just an arrogant, entitled fraud high on his own stolen power. Why am I not surprised? Though he is giving me a bit of a Kazuma from Konosuba vibe with how he managed to figure out how to recreate items the old heroes would have talked about from Japan. It's odd to say he doesn't have nearly the same level of charisma as Kazuma give...well...it's Kazuma and he's deliberately written to be a massive scumbag.

I do like with his magic powers and awesome cape, Naofumi is basically the little muddy boy meeting a superhero, one who will save the day through cooking.

As for Kizuna . . . I handed her some of the fish we had brought in and had her cut it up. She’d finished with the poisonous fish already. Her life as a fishing fool was paying off now. She knew her way around a fish. The blood had been skillfully drained, and overall, she was a step ahead when it came to gutting and cleaning.

...You think the Hunting Tool can turn into something like the Wunder Boner

?

I explained pointedly, looking at Seya, Trash III, and the other MC. Trash III responded by flipping me off. I could taunt with the best of them, and I mouthed some swear words back.

I mean, one of my favorite scenes in Isekai Quartet was Naofumi and Shalltear sassing each other, so I can agree with that.

“Pollution?” Kizuna asked, looking puzzled.

“You didn’t notice that?” I replied. “Well, just watch.” She wasn’t the brightest bulb, that was for sure.

“Hmmm, I think I need to go wash up,” the rotund noble said. “I’ll be right back.” The judges proceeded to take turns visiting the washroom. Once they had all returned, it was time to eat Seya’s food.

“Huh?” Kizuna, L’Arc, and Therese were looking puzzled. The other diners around us too. I guess there was cause for a little suspicion.

...Did Naofumi give them laxatives?

“Ah!” Kizuna finally cottoned on. “So that’s why you used so many medicinal herbs in your dishes!”

“Exactly. The reason they all wanted to go to the washroom after eating was to expel the toxins. I also used other herbs to bolster the lethargic feeling that would bring on,” I explained.

He gave the judges f**king laxatives! That's hilarious! I get the actual explanation he gives is more complicated than that, relating to purifying and digestion and getting them to finally take notice of the toxins in Seya's food now that they're free from its hold, but it's funny to think that's basically what he did. He won a cooking competition through dishes that encouraged the judges to take a sh*t (or a p*ss, I suppose).

“Hey . . . you’ve been reading too many cooking manga. It’s an illusion that delicious and good things will be evaluated highly. What you need is popularity and demand,” I said. Of course, it had to taste good, but putting the emphasis on that as a bare requirement was also a problem. If you were planning on selling food in a restaurant, of course it had to taste good. Customers came because of other elements, because of popularity. If Seya’s restaurant collapsed here, it would cause trouble for all the judges. That was why I’d created an escape for them. In order to realize the future that boy wanted.

While we don't see Naofumi selling his wares so much anymore because he has far less of a need to, it is nice we do still get that cynical and merchant side of him. All that time didn't just go to waste and it's still a key part of his character.

“What, then? What do you want?” Seya asked.

“There’s someone behind all of this, correct? Someone pulling the strings. If you tell us all about that, we’ll let you go. Hey, I have an idea. Write it down on this piece of paper here. I want a record of this.” I said and passed a piece of paper to him. Seya’s expression immediately brightened.

“That’s all you want? Fine, I can—” But the rest of that sentence vanished into an awful grunt. The moment Seya tried to write a single word, his head simply crumpled in on itself. He managed a brief scream, and then his entire melon exploded. I didn’t want to traumatize my allies, so I quickly threw up a cage and blocked out the grisly scene. Then I gave a sigh.

Well...that was kind of f**ked up for Naofumi to do. Don't get me wrong, after what they had to do to get Takt to be willing to confess, this is much less horrific. But Naofumi did basically just give Seya false hope and then trick him into executing himself. I get why he did it and how dangerous the vanguards are, but it is interesting to think that while ROTSH isn't the darkest of the light novel series I've been reading, Naofumi, save for Ainz Ooal Gown, is definitely the most morally grey of the protagonists compared to Kazuma, Subaru, and Goblin Slayer.

“No matter how delicious the food is, if you eat the same thing every time, you’ll start to get sick of it. Once you get sick of it, you won’t overeat simply because you won’t want to. I’ve been applying that concept to my food,”

That is better than what I was thinking with Naofumi getting too into the game mechanics. And boy do I feel for his friends. It's the same thing that killed me off of soda for a few years. Obviously it's worse to starve than be overstuffed but it's still not a pleasant experience.

We were talking about the primary reason why Kizuna was summoned here in the first place. To put it simply, the idea was to revive the Demon Dragon.

YYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

And they Tanya'd him too; reborn as an infant of the opposite gender. So does that make Kizuna or Naofumi Being X?

“Seriously . . . it brings dragon tears to my dragon eyes to see you, the great Shield Hero who defeated me, now reduced to this.” The Demon Dragon placed her front paws against her head and muttered sadly to herself.

“I hope you aren’t looking for sympathy,” I said harshly.

“Just think about it for a moment. The same bunch who shouted about defeating me and saving the world are now back, having screwed everything up, relying on me—their sworn enemy—to save them! Take a look around. Does this world look like it’s at peace to you? Well?” the dragon said, really coming for me now. What was worse, I didn’t really have a reply. This world was still plagued by humans fighting each other and had been ravaged by the vanguards of the waves. Everything the dragon had said so far had been so on the money that Kizuna and Glass probably didn’t have any response either. “Can you see how this might feel like something from your own past? Having been chased as a criminal, and then having to clean up after those very weaklings who were chasing you after they had been beaten down by the waves and people from another world?” That punch really landed hard. I wanted to call it a low blow, but she was basically providing a stunningly succinct summary of my life in these other worlds.

Seriously though, after Kyo, Takt, and the various other vanguards, it is so refreshing to have a villain who speaks with some dignity and can actually make a decent point or two, rather than "I'm strong so I can do whatever I want! Losers!" In my vol. 16 random thoughts I compared Takt to All For One from My Hero Academia and I still feel the same way. The two are not that much different goal-wise. They wanted the world and had the power to make it theirs, thus their actions. It is an immature goal when you think about it but AFO did not act anywhere near as immature as Takt and it made him feel so much more intimating. He would sometimes mock his enemy but when he did they were deep cuts that he knew would get under the skin of someone he truly hated, like All Might, rather than just throwing out insults and acting like a brat. And the Demon Dragon is the same (the High Priest too, now that I remember him, even if I don't talk about him as much). I liked Glass as an antagonist because she was intimidating, spoke only as much as she needed to, and was very powerful compared to the protagonists at that time, getting Naofumi to fear facing her again and giving her weight to the story and for the audience. Finding out later her motivations gave her some depth and added grey to the situation. The Demon Dragon is not nearly as sympathetic, but he still works for a lot of the reasons she did. There's presence to him, er, her. It's not a brat who needs to be knocked off their high horse but a genuine threat.

And being able to work with the heroes weirdly makes that even better. The Demon Dragon calls a 100 year truce, not because she's on the side of good, but because she wants there to still be a world around for her to take over. She's completely open about her goal, which ironically makes it easier to trust her.

“That should do for now,” the dragon said. “Hmmm, and this is a female body. Excellent. Shield Hero, under the condition that you will ultimately mate with me, I shall provide even greater cooperation.” So that was how long it took for things to take a crazy turn.

Still a little weird that she wants to f**k Naofumi though. And when the anime gets to this part there is almost definitely going to be a fanfic or doujin. Actually, now that I think about it, there are going to be creators getting some mileage out of when the Demon Dragon tried to take Naofumi over earlier in the series.

“Can’t you make do with Kizuna? She’s one of the four holies from this world. You’ll just have to overcome the gender barrier,” I said.

“Why me?!” Kizuna exclaimed.

“What are you planning on doing to Kizuna?” Now Glass turned a hostile gaze on me too.

Ahh, Naofumi's such a d*ck, I love it. Also, now that's two rivals in one book for Glass. She's almost caught up with Raphtalia.

It would have suited us better if the enemy was a bunch of morons. It was annoying that life never worked out quite so easily. We had no idea how bad it was going to get with the waves, so we had to plan our moves carefully and move to prevent this “fusion of the worlds,” whatever that meant.

Wouldn't that be a heck of a comeback to my bitching about the villains? The ones behind the vanguards have been sending out their idiots first, the ones arrogant and drunk off their power, to soften up the heroes first and cause a bunch of damage but that they know will ultimately just get killed. Takt and the others getting offered up as sacrificial lambs basically because those like S'yne's sister don't like them either.

“I’m starting to feel sorry for Naofumi,” Kizuna agreed.

“He probably thinks you two are in the ‘harem,’” I told them.

“I really don’t like that,” Glass responded. “No, I don’t. I don’t like that at all.” I wasn’t sure why she said it three times, but I didn’t like it either. Just for the record.

“Naofumi is a friend and a comrade, but we’re not like that!” Kizuna retorted. I wondered if she really understood the situation. She was the type who needed things to be said directly to her face.

“A shame we don’t have Fohl here. Even L’Arc would have worked,” I said. Just a few guys mixed in might have broken the group up a bit and prevented it from looking like a harem.

“Naofumi . . . even if we did have some guys, it would probably just give them some different ideas. Like . . . boys love?” Kizuna said. It sounded like, whatever the composition of the party, they would presume a lewd relationship with me at the center.

You know, you never hear about this kind of thing with Ren and Itsuki. Motoyasu went out of his way to have a harem and he still doesn't get it thrown at him as much as Naofumi does. Maybe it's one of those "He protest too much" kind of mindsets, where the more Naofumi denies it the more people think it's true.

“You got lucky. If a wave had occurred with the world of our illustrious leader, we were planning on shattering you. That’s the problem with this system; that’s the only way to get the reward for destroying a world,” the sister explained. I’d heard this talk about rewards for destroying worlds before, I vaguely recalled. I had no idea where that reward came from.

So there's a third world mixed up in all this. Obviously there already was the implication of multiple universes with S'yne and such but now there's a big spotlight on somewhere besides Raphtalia and Kizuna's worlds, where the big bad supposedly lives.

“That’s pretty much what I was expecting. Shield Hero, let me tell you something interesting,” the Demon Dragon began. Then she looked at the Artificial Behemoth’s chest again. “That part there houses a corrupted holy weapon from this world, which has artificially turned the monster into one of the four holy heroes and has allowed it all the power-up methods. It’s basically the monster version of a holy hero.”

I'm somewhat suspecting it's the Blunt Force Holy Weapon, given how easily that beast is smashing through barriers.

The soul that Raphtalia had pulled from the vanguard of the waves was not much like the body it had come from. Instead, it was a gloomy, Japanese-looking guy who was probably in his thirties.

...

“The vanguards of the waves are people who have been reborn or transferred over here after being selected by the one who assumes the name of God. They are given all sorts of abilities, such as the power to steal holy weapons or seven star weapons. They come into these worlds and start causing chaos,” I explained.

“Reborn? You mean like having spare bodies, like Kyo?” Raphtalia asked.

“No, something else. Just their souls were led to this world from Japan, and then they were reborn here as someone from this world. With their memories of the past,” I said. For example, they are people who died in unfortunate accidents—people like Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu. This “god” would whisper to them that they had died an untimely death and offer to reincarnate them in any world they liked. They were already dead and so had no reason to reject such an offer. If they did, the “god” probably claimed to be taken with their resolve and promised to give them additional cheat powers, basically forcing them to accept. In some cases, maybe they were just forced to be reborn, no matter what they felt. I’d read books like that, loads of them. Now that they knew being summoned to another world was actually a thing, why not getting reborn or transferred over?

So I was right about Takt being some OC f**kboy! They're all OCs! They're people from Japan who died and now are getting to live out their sh*tty power fantasy fanfiction as their equally sh*tty original character! As a source of useful but disposable minions, that's actually kind of brilliant. We saw how bad Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki had been at the beginning (with Naofumi himself potentially on that path as well before he was betrayed) and they were chosen by weapons that actually have the world's best interest at heart. Take those same people and have a malevolent entity constantly feeding their egos and pushing them to do terrible things because "it's their right to do so" and "they're the real heroes" and you've got an near endless source of wrenches to throw into the works of those trying to stop you.

Of course, now I just have this image in my head that the World Eater is Aqua from Konosuba. Which would actually be kind of amazing, not gonna lie. A godly being reincarnating otakus from Japan into a new fantasy-based world for a singular purpose and giving them special powers and tools in exchange.

“What if . . . and just hear me out . . . what if this one who assumes the name of a god is somehow responsible for my game knowledge?” Itsuki quietly suggested. That sounded possible to me now. Even if being summoned was the correct process, having some prior knowledge would change your actions once you arrived.

Before, when the Shield Spirit had explained to Naofumi that he was a first pick choice and the other three heroes were their weapons' third picks, I'd theorized as to why and how the final selection ended up. Assuming the weapons were telling the truth about being able to grant any wish once the waves were over, it could be assumed they have some power over reality even in the four's home universe. So I'd theorized the weapons set up a window to snag their picks, with the shield getting Naofumi and the other weapons, by sheer unfortunance, had their picks keep missing the window and thus they became more desperate, thus why their third picks had to die in order to reincarnate because the weapons couldn't leave things to chance anymore.

Now, with the new speculation and info, we can assume the World Eater has some influence over other universes too, including the heroes' original ones. So two new theories come to mind.

The first, and one I find most likely, is that the World Eater is causing video games that are similar to the worlds impacted by the waves to appear in the original worlds of the heroes. In theory, the butterfly effect could cause a chain of events that'd lead to such games existing, so it's not like the World Eater is just dropping them into each reality. It would just need to nudge things in the right direction. If video game knowledge is actually detrimental to the heroes, then that leaves less choices for the Holy Weapons (at least in regards to what their ideal candidates would be) and opens up more choices for the World Eater, since it wants arrogant and know-it-alls like that for vanguards.

The second, which could still work with the first, is that the World Eater is aware of humans the Holy Weapons have their eyes on and is actively sabotaging them. A weapon has a first choice, so the World Eater throws the game or other things in their path to turn them into a less desirable option, possibly even vanguard material.

After all my comments about the recent antagonists, S'yne's sister is starting to grow on me. She's filling a similar role as Witch; manipulating and using people before ultimately tossing them aside. But like the Demon Dragon and High Priest, there is more of an air of dignity about her than with Witch. With the exception of her sister, she's not really talking down and belittling anyone to try and promote her own strength. Like Glass she feels like someone who is genuinely powerful and doesn't need to prove it. How she's using the enemies of the week is curious and perhaps even a little scary because it does feel like she's testing and experimenting and these losses are not really a loss for her. And there's the added mystery Sadeena threw in over what she really wants. Whether bad guy with a bigger agenda or a secret good guy, she's more enjoyable to read about, as opposed to the vanguards where the biggest enjoyment they offer is watching them get taken down, and even that's not much with all the whining and tantrums they have after they're beaten. She's different from Witch and Kyo. She's not completely high off her own power and doesn't refuse to recognize her enemies' strength. Her casually teleporting away for a bit when she realized the battle was turning in the heroes' favor gave a ton to her character.

I'm just looking forward to when she gets a name other than S'yne's sister or Moron Woman. I appreciate Naofumi's completely lack of caring for learning the names of people who don't deserve it, but if she's going to be a serious antagonist or secret ally, a name would help.

Original Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/shieldbro/comments/kdwai7/first_time_read_through_light_novel_vol_18_random/

[alj4890]

Good evening! I’m have an ask? We know during the social season in book one after the regatta there’s a beach party. What if we get Liams POV when he see Riley and Drake putting each other sunscreen then they go for a swim.

A/N Hmmm. Very interesting. I would love to have seen Liam's response to that. I always hated that forced choice of either Hana or Drake if you are playing the book with Liam as the LI. Why couldn’t we choose no one or Maxwell😉 Of course, this could be my own reaction of not wanting anyone other than the one I'm interested in touching me 😂 But let's see what I can do with a drabble for Liam and this situation.

@gkittylove99 @darley1101 @krsnlove @kingliam2019 @texaskitten30 @yourmajesty09 @mom2000aggie @ofpixelsandscribbles @twinkleallnight

Masterlist

Burning

Liam tugged at his collar. The light burgundy sweater had been comfortable during the regatta, but now it felt like it was nearly suffocating him. The sun seemed to beat down upon him as his eyes once more settled on a certain lady.

Perhaps it wasn't the sun that had caused him to burn.

He had to remind himself numerous times that he must to be the well behaved crown prince. That meant that he had to spend time with each suitor, especially after today's bombshell of an announcement.

Why didn't Father warn me he was stepping down as king?

Liam began to scan the crowd on the beach, hoping to find his secretive parent. Feeling frustrated, he remembered that one of the medications Constantine was taking warned about being in direct sunlight. After spending the early morning at the regatta, he would have had to go inside and miss this private event.

Regina gently squeezed his arm when she noticed he was not paying attention.

"Liam, dear?" She nudged. "Madeleine wishes to know if you prefer these type of appetizers or something else."

"I want to make certain that when you next visit Fydelia that your every comfort is met." Madeleine added with a well practiced smile.

"How thoughtful." He muttered, once more watching with envy as Drake drew Riley, Hana, and Maxwell over to Liam's surprise . "I believe I would prefer something other than this. I enjoy seafood, yet not necessarily some of the more adventurous cuisines."

Seeing Riley's delight in the different offerings of American barbeque made his heart ache with longing. He wished he was the one she was expressing her happiness to instead of his friend.

He felt his heart stutter when he noticed her searching the crowd. Her eyes finally found her prince and she leveled her smile on him.

Thank you, she mouthed.

He smiled at her. He stepped back, deciding to give in to his need to join her. Before he could utter the words to excuse himself, his arm was captured by Kiara.

"My prince," she said softly. "I was hoping you would join me at my table."

"Thank you for the offer, my lady." His shoulders slumped somewhat. Summoning his court smile once more, he allowed her to pull him in the opposite direction of Riley's. "I would be delighted to sit with you."

Throughout the meal, he managed to give the appropriate responses to the other suitors that joined him and Kiara. His attention though remained on Riley. Every laugh, smile, and movement she made held him enthralled.

He also couldn't help but notice how thrilled two of his oldest friends were spending time with his lady.

A slight frown firmed on his lips when he noticed Drake sitting unnecessarily close to Riley.

Liam had never considered himself a jealous man. He had not held envy over Leo being the heir to the throne. He had accepted his lot in life as one being in support of his family and country. The women he had occasionally been interested in never resulted in a possessive sort of love.

But since meeting Riley, he realized he wasn't above such emotions. He didn't believe he owned her or her heart, yet...he so desperately wanted her love for his own. He was glad those he cared for were growing closer to her. Nothing made him happier than seeing their joy along with hers.

But, there was a fine line between friendship and something more.

And if Liam had to go by appearances alone, it seemed that Drake was crossing that particular line.

Tuning out the buzz of female voices surrounding him, his eyes narrowed when Drake began to get undressed.

Hana followed suit all while encouraging Riley to join them for a swim. Maxwell good naturedly told them he needed to recover from gorging on so much barbeque as he flopped down on a beach towel, keeping his secret tattoo hidden under his black shirt.

And then the bottle of sunblock appeared.

Riley removed her swimsuit cover, revealing a body only he had seen at Olivia's mere days ago. Liam felt heat that had nothing to do with the sun rise up his neck and ears as his eyes traced her curves.

Then the burning consumed him.

The lady he had lost his heart to began to rub sunblock on Drake's shoulders and back. Those same hands had tangled in Liam's hair with every secretive kiss.

He noticed that his friend wasn't really grumbling about the attention he was receiving.

And then they switched places.

Liam wondered if it was his imagination that Drake's hands seemed to hover before touching Riley's skin. There was a slight tremble to his fingers as he rubbed the lotion into her lower back.

Just when Liam thought that he would lose what surprisingly little control he had on his unexpected temper, the three ran into the water. Their laughter could be beard from where he sat, trapped, as they splashed each other before challenges to race were issued.

"Prince Liam?"

He mentally shook himself as he looked up into the pouty face of Penelope.

She gestured toward a shaded area. "Would you like to sit over there with me for a change?"

He grit his teeth at once more having to postpone joining Riley.

"Of course, Lady Penelope. I know we haven't had much of a chance to talk these last few days." Liam followed her to a set of chairs under a beach umbrella.

While Penelope hemmed and stuttered to try to find things to talk about, he focused once more on Drake and Riley swimming.

They were nearly neck and neck as they neared Hana. Riley's triumphant whoop brought a smile to his face. He wished he could hear her teasing as Drake rolled his eyes.

He felt a deep sense of relief not only with Penelope leaving his side for something to eat but in seeing Riley and Drake part ways. Some more nobles approached him, keeping him once more from finding a moment alone.

A stray thought began to worm its way into his mind.

What if all Riley remembered about this day was her time spent with Drake

He had helped her win the sailboat race. He had been the one to produce the barbeque. He had touched her skin, played in the water, and made her laugh.

Liam knew he needed to do something, something romantic to leave his own mark on Riley's memory.

He then remembered the waterfall.

With his heart beating in anticipation, he retrieved a glass of lemonade for her and intercepted her return to Maxwell's side.

"Liam!" Her smile grew warm as she looked up at him. "I was wondering if we would get to spend any time together today."

If she only knew how he was beginning to think of every event they had to attend. She had become the prize Liam worked so hard to achieve. He knew he had to do what was expected with the other suitors just so he could not feel any sort of guilt over spending the remaining time in her company. Every moment with Riley felt like he had won the lottery, Olympics, and the Tour de France all rolled into one.

When Liam offered to take her somewhere private, just for the two of them, he once again felt the jolt of happiness when her hand slipped into his.

"I would love to." She replied.

And with that, Liam set out to show her once again how much she meant to him.

[debbierhea]

devil’s food / better call saul / wc: 1,262 / mailroom era / missing scene / post-howard crushing jimmy’s spirit in piñata

Summary: She’s greeted by a scene so still it could be a photograph. The door to the mailroom is closed and his shoulders are slouched in a way she hasn’t seen in months. He looks like the version of himself that flew in on the redeye with a single suitcase and no home of his own, folding in on himself like the house of cards life he’d built in Cicero when the prospect of potential jail time was dropped on the table he’d built its foundation on. Kim takes a deep breath. And knocks.

Howard passes her by in the hallway, eyes averted, adjusting his cufflinks. He stops at the elevator, waiting, looking everywhere but her direction. She continues down the hall, the staccato click clack of her knock off Louboutins increasing in tempo as she rounds the corner, then abruptly stops. She’s greeted by a scene so still it could be a photograph. The door to the mailroom is closed and his shoulders are slouched in a way she hasn’t seen in months. He looks like the version of himself that flew in on the redeye with a single suitcase and no home of his own, folding in on himself like the house of cards life he’d built in Cicero when the prospect of potential jail time was dropped on the table he’d built its foundation on. Kim takes a deep breath. And knocks.

He doesn’t acknowledge the knock or the creak of the door as she slips through it, allows it to close again. He sits stock-still, back to her with his hands on his thighs, posture weary. She approaches gingerly, quietly, and when she rests her hand on his shoulder, he jumps.

“Jimmy?”

There’s a pause. “Hey, Kim. How goes it?” He’s trying for levity, that trademark candor and charm, but it falls flat and he won’t meet her eyes. She squeezes his shoulder.

“What did Howard say?”

They are rarely this direct, their friendship built on snark and wit and the ability to talk in intricate circles, like well-choreographed dance partners or perhaps as a talented jazz musician plays, the music flowing freely and never the same twice, misunderstood by the masses and appreciated by few. Either way, there’s an art to the way they communicate and a delicate tension that Kim is straining, on her way to breaking, and Jimmy is trying to save with silence. He continues staring ahead, eyes glazed.

“Jimmy? Hey…” She steps around him 90 degrees and plants her feet in front of him, her hand never leaving his right shoulder. “Talk to me.”

His gaze is trained just past her, on a faded painting one of the associates no longer wanted hanging in their office, and she feels a bit helpless which is not a feeling she enjoys. But neither of them is good at this part, letting the other in, and nothing good has ever come of pushing him. So, instead, she bends forward, leveling their eyes and touches her free hand to his face. She cups his jaw, fingers bracketing his ear, thumb caressing his cheek.

“Who do I need to beat up?” She asks. His chuckle surprises them both, bouncing off the glass walls and the stacks of stuffed envelopes blanketing every surface of the room.

“Oh, probably God,” his eyes drift to hers, “or Buddha or someone like that. Whoever’s in charge of fate.”

“Hmmm,” she wonders. “Fate? Really?” Her hand still rests on his cheek.

“Why?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Her voice is soft. “I never really took you for a ‘believes in fate’ kind of guy.”

There’s a silence now, full and heavy, but pleasant, like a weighted blanket or that feeling you get when the one person in the world you love rests their head on your shoulder, your chest. Kim’s thumb grazes back and forth across his cheek and he can’t quite meet her eye when she’s looking at him like that, touching him like that, so he lowers them to his lap, exhales deeply.

She can feel his lip start to tremble in her hand and he’s horrified at the single wayward tear that streaks down his face and lands on the soft skin of her thumb. He feels ashamed and vulnerable doing this in front of her, crying, facing the rejection he knows deep down that he deserves. Who is he to believe in second chances when he’s already burned through more of those than any one man like him deserves in a lifetime. He’s just proven to himself and Chuck and the world and Kim that he’s still plain old Slippin’ Jimmy. What is his law degree worth, anyway? You put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig. That’s what Chuck always used to say, anyway.

And he knows there will be more tears to come, but not here. He won’t let more fall in front of her, won’t give her the burden of comforting him through his failure. Maybe in the car, later, stuck in traffic on the way home or in the shower after his microwaved salisbury steak. He’s always liked the shower as a place to cry—it’s private by nature and no one asks why your eyes are a little red-rimmed afterwards.

Too much time has passed and her hand is still holding his jaw. He owes her an apology or at least eye contact, so he glances up, expecting to find some discomfort, embarrassment in her eyes or maybe even a pitying frown. He’s become an expert in her subtlety, a professional at spotting the truth of her emotion she so deftly buries. Instead, he finds an earnest look, a gentle, closed-lip smile, sad and serious and, dare he hope, loving.

She sweeps her thumb once more beneath his eye, tenderly, like his mother might have, takes a small step back, clears her throat, says, “I could use a cigarette. Or a drink.” His brows knit together. “Yeah, definitely a drink.”

“Kim,” he says, glancing at the clock hung high above her head, “it’s barely 3 o’clock.”

“And?”

“Well," he gestures vaguely, "billable hours and all that.”

“They’ll be fine without me for an afternoon.”

He raises his eyebrows; she raises hers in return.

“But…”

“Listen, Jimmy. I’m going to get a whiskey neat at Louie’s with or without you. You have ten seconds to decide.”

It’s a thought he’s had before, and will most likely have again and again for the rest of his life, but he has never been more grateful for Kimberly Wexler than in this very moment. He doesn’t deserve her, he knows this, but he tries his best to. And it’s in moments like these that he re-commits to his goal: be the kind of man Kim deserves, the kind of man she can be proud of, the kind of man she could maybe even love someday, if he plays his cards right.

“Well? You coming?” She’s halfway through the door, twisted at the waist to look back at him, faux impatience creasing her forehead.

He sighs. “Oh alright.”

Hiding his grin, he turns to pop the plastic lid back over the abandoned cake. She’s tapping her foot on the tile as he shuffles towards her.

“What? It’s no devil’s food, but it’s still one helluva cake. I don’t want it drying out just because you want to play hookey mid-party.”

Her eyes roll to the ceiling as he walks through the door she’s holding. “Hookey? What are we? In junior high?”

“I’d say HHM feels a little more like high school, wouldn’t you? Still under the thumb of our parents, but with a few more privileges.”

She snorts. “Speak for yourself. I still have to ask to go to the bathroom.”

Just then, the sound of footsteps approach them from down the hall, Burt’s baritone garbled but strong against the beige walls. Jimmy puts his arm out, stopping Kim mid-stride.

“Well then. We better get out of here before someone asks for our hall pass.”

Kim’s startled giggles echo through the stairwell as Jimmy grabs her waist and pulls her through the door.