#i always say that anything can work if written well enough but 99% of the fandom doesnt lay any of the groundwork

[qprstobin]

Steve also just doesn't have as big of a guilt complex as fandom likes to pretend he does...

when i see takes like “realistically steve wouldn’t be affected by eddie’s death” it’s like are you Insane. even without bringing shipping into it at all do you genuinely truly think steve wouldn’t be shackled with the guilt of someone Dying doing a plan he approved of and helped devised esp after he was initially vocally against the plan for being too dangerous …. hello ……. he’s haunted for the rest of his life absolutely

[girlgrouptrash101]

Karina (Aespa) as Your Girlfriend

Requests:

"aespa’s karina as your gf please?"

"Can you do Karina from aespa as a girlfriend please?"

"I would like to request Aespa Karina as your girlfriend 😍"

"hi!! i hope your having a great day and i hope your doing well, can i request aespa’s karina as your gf? thank you~"

"Hello! Can I please request Aespa’s Karina as your girlfriend? Thank you!"

A/N: cannot believe it has been over 2 years since I've written anything lol. so here's a lil something to try get the creative juices flowing again wOO 🤭

- C

when 99% of the relationship is you just staring at karina and wondering how someone can be that beautiful. as you SHOULD

idk why but i feel like karina is the perfect person for the trope where she would make a habit of going to the same coffee shop every day even though she hates coffee,, just because you were the cute barista that worked there

despite her cool and composed aura, she unfortunately had no idea how to talk to you outside of ordering a drink; her brain would just fizzle out whenever she tried to strike up further conversation 🥲

so you had to be the one to take the first step, which took a hot minute because perhaps. miss yoo jimin had a sliiiiiightly threatening aura at first (you quickly learned she was really just a cutie patootie behind that stoic face she tended to wear. teehee)

after gaining enough courage, you ended up asking her out for coffee because you thought hm,, she comes here every day for coffee she must love it!

safe to say it was a little surprising when she responded with a very embarrassed "...i don't even like coffee"

with the tips of her ears flushing red as she had to explain her reasoning behind coming in every day

you decided instead to take her to the carnival that came to town every summer

[insert cliche top of the ferris wheel kiss here]

and every summer since then you've always gone to the carnival together, the two of you running around to go on all the rides like little kids, never getting tired of it even though you do the same thing every time it comes

she's the kind of girl to be super head over heels for you but never admit it until those times where you lay side by side in bed at night, your eyes doing your best to see each other's silhouettes in the dark

her hand coming up to rest on your cheek, thumb gently caressing your face as she reminds you of how much you mean to her

but don't bring it up the morning after unless you wanna get hit with the "idek what you're talking about i would never be so sappy 🤨"

fit checks!!!

refuses to leave the house in said fit unless you send a paragraph in all caps hyping her tf up (it's just what she deserves!)

queen of soft launching your relationship on social media 🥹

like IG stories of flowers you gave her, or your hands intertwined, but nothing too much more than that

because it's her relationship and she doesn't need the world to know about every little thing you two get up to,, that's for her to know and her only

well......... her and the aespa girlies who can't help but smile every time their leader comes home and launches herself face first into her pillow, gushing over how much she likes you and how nice your date was

(which she will NEVER admit happens. she's no softie, okay? okay. yes she is hehehehe)

ningning stealing karina's phone at the dorm and blowing your phone up with memes n sending off guard pics of Karina lol <3

Loves going for walks in the park nearby, no matter the weather or time, especially if there's something on her mind and she just wants to get some fresh air and chat it out with you

lives in your hoodies whether you like it or not, you have no choice cuz girlie just treats your wardrobe as hers

never brings PJs when she's staying at yours as an excuse for you to lend her even more clothes

brings a film camera everywhere,, her favourite thing is when the film fills up and she gets the pictures developed so she can bring them back to you and you can look back over the memories shared together

scrapbooking together !!! will even spend hours in the stationary shop looking for the perfect pen/washi tape to use for it hehe.

Can't stand it but also loves it when you compliment her as often as you do

(but it hurts ur heart a little when you feel she doesn't believe what you say is true, you wish she could feel the same love she has for you for herself too :[ )

so you pledge to always be there to lift her up and be her #1 fan!! in both day to day life and as a My of course

which meanssss first row seats to all the aespa concerts, practice nights, just generally supporting her through thick and thin, and she will no doubt do the same for you!

and that one day you came to an aespa fansign to surprise her 🥹 she had to hold back all the affection she wanted to give you :((((

gaming nights 🤓 and by gaming i mean gardenscapes....... god she's such a lil nerd

anime nights 🤓 her getting all excited when her faves come on screen, smacking you on the leg repeatedly with joy while she explains what's going on (because as much as you enjoy sitting down to watch her favourite shows w her, you really didn't understand half of it LOL)

loooooves late night arcade dates

especially so she can win plushies in the claw machines,,, or rather, you can win them for her (so chivalrous 😁)

her love for claw machine plushies gets so bad that your bed now has a mountain of them stacked up that you have to throw off before bed everyyyyy night omg

not to change the subject but like. Karina's morning cuddles 🥹

or for the mornings where you wake up late, your eyes opening to the sound of her padding back into the bedroom to check on you, a smile creeping onto your face as you feel the bed sink where she sits by your side

and when she leans over to kiss your forehead, her gorgeous locks framing her face while her cute glasses slip down her nose 🥹🥹🥹 IM GONNA CRY

tldr; the softest girl that just wants to be loved the way she loves you 😔

[pearlsephoni]

Spiking Heartbeats: Deals and Promotions

Can also be read on AO3!

Rating: T

Fandom: Haikyuu!!

Relationships: Platonic Karasuno First Years, pre-relationship Tsukkiyama (Tsukishima/Yamaguchi), pre-relationship Kagehina (Kageyama/Hinata)

Characters: Shoyo Hinata, Hitoka Yachi, Tadashi Yamaguchi, Kei Tsukishima, Tobio Kageyama

Word Count: 1.6k

Summary:

"What the hell?" Kageyama grumbles. "Tsukishima, did you know about this?" Tsukishima rolls his eyes and scoffs, "Of course I did." "Then why the hell didn't you tell us?" "You never asked."

Some shocking news at the hospital reveals an even more shocking secret.

A/N: Written as part of a collaborative series with @/r0mantic-era of Haikyuu Hospital Playlist AU fics, featuring the Karasuno first years as the 99s! Originally published on AO3 on April 8th. Further author's notes can be found there.

🩺

The chairman of Ohyama Hospital dies in the middle of the night. Hitoka is the first to get the call, but it doesn’t take long for her to let the others know.

By the time the funeral begins later that morning in a special wing of the hospital, she's sitting at a table with Kageyama and Tsukishima. Hinata is in the middle of operating, and Yamaguchi…

"What the hell?" Kageyama grumbles. "Tsukishima, did you know about this?"

Tsukishima rolls his eyes and scoffs, "Of course I did. You think I haven’t met his family? We've been friends since middle school."

"Then why the hell didn't you tell us?"

"You never asked." Tsukishima's voice is bland as he helps himself to some takoyaki. "You knew his family was loaded anyway."

"Not 'son of the chairman' loaded! I thought he was broke these days, the way he keeps mooching off you."

Tsukishima's apathetic wall cracks as he shoots Kageyama a sharp glare. "He's not asking you for anything, so why do you care?"

Kageyama glares back and his lips twist, but he says nothing. It's Hitoka who quietly pipes up, "Still…it would've been nice to hear it from him. I didn't know he was keeping a secret this big from us."

As always, Tsukishima's gaze softens a bit on the trip from Kageyama to her. "It's not that he didn't trust you guys. He just didn't know how to bring it up, and he didn't want it to change things."

"Change things how?" Kageyama grumbles. "Did he think we'd ask him for money? A promotion?"

"No." Hitoka and Kageyama jump when Yamaguchi suddenly sits at the head of their little table. He looks drained, like he's been scooped hollow with grief and exhaustion. "I don't think that would've even occurred to you, Kageyama."

"How're you doing?" Hitoka asks gently, just loud enough to cover the sound of Kageyama's grumbles.

"Been better. It's just…a lot to take care of." His smile is tired, even a little bitter. "It doesn't feel fair, having to take care of so much when the grief is so fresh."

A hum of sympathy runs around the table. There's a moment of silence, before Tsukishima peers at Yamaguchi and carefully asks, "Have you thought about what you'll do?"

"I'm not taking the position over," Yamaguchi scoffs. A wrinkle forms between his brows at the thought. "I don't care how many times Father asked, it's not happening. I'm trying to convince the board to vote for Kitagawa-san over me, but I'm not sure if it's working."

"Well, if anyone can convince them, it'd be you." Tsukishima's voice is ever-so-gentle, and the weary stress on Yamaguchi's face melts away in gratitude.

"Thanks, Tsukki."

A wry grin tugs at Kageyama's lips. When Hitoka shoots him a questioning frown, he only mouths, Simp.

🩺

"You're what?"

The entire group flinches at Hinata's shriek, his shrill notes bouncing in the empty room. Hitoka sends a silent thanks to the universe that the VIP ward is currently unoccupied.

"The late chairman's son," Tsukishima snaps, rubbing at his ear closest to Hinata. "God, King, you didn't tell him?"

"Sorry, it didn't 'come up.'"

"Okay, alright!" Yamaguchi exclaims before Tsukishima can say anything, holding his hands up as though he could physically hold back an argument. "Yeah, Hinata, he's my dad."

"But you're not taking his position?"

"No."

"Why?! You could make enough money to stop mooching off Stingy-shima!"

"Why do you two care so much about him borrowing my money?"

"I didn't become a doctor to be stuck behind a desk, taking care of administrative paperwork." The threat of bickering again subsides at Yamaguchi's words. "I do this job for the patients. They're the ones who matter to me."

Hinata immediately looks abashed, his grimace lined with understanding as much as embarrassment. It's still not enough to fully silence him. "Then…why the meeting?"

Yamaguchi brightens at the reminder, his eyes settling into the cool focus so distinct from his warm, sometimes-nervous smiles. "I spoke with Kitagawa-san regarding the VIP wards once he agreed to take the position. We managed to come to some more agreements, but he said I would be responsible for ensuring the ward is staffed with the best of the best."

"And that's…? Ow!" The sight of Kageyama's shoulder moving and Hinata rubbing at his ribs tells Hitoka all she needs to know. "Alright, I get it!"

"What if we don't want to work for the VIP?"

Yamaguchi doesn't look surprised by Tsukishima's pushback. Hitoka isn't surprised either, not once she looks to her side and sees a small grin and a challenging glint in Tsukishima's eye. "Don't be so quick to say no, Tsukki."

With that, he unclips his messenger bag and produces four packets of paper, earning a groan from Hinata and a sigh from Kageyama. "I still don't know how you two made it through med school," Tsukishima sniffs.

"Yacchan."

The unified answer brings a flush to Hitoka's cheeks, even as she shoots a small frown at the pair. "Give yourselves more credit than that!"

"Or don't," Tsukishima snorts. "They're not wrong."

"'Duties include coming to the hospital and performing procedures at the request of Party A, including during holidays and weekends,'" Kageyama reads off the second page, ignoring Tsukishima in favor of looking through the contract. "Who's Party A?"

Hitoka skims through the contract and can't help letting out a soft laugh when she finds the answer. "It's him."

The other three follow her eyeline back to Yamaguchi. "Wow," Kageyama scoffs, "what're you trying to do, make us your slaves?"

Hinata nods in furious agreement. "Yeah! Why would we agree to something like that?!"

"You'll get paid twice your annual salary."

There's a beat of silence, broken by the sound of rustling paper and clicking pens. "You should've put that on the first page!" Hitoka laughs as she signs every dotted line.

"Does anyone have an inkpad? I should sign this with my fingerprint," Tsukishima mutters.

"Hey, Yama—?"

"No."

Hitoka and Tsukishima look up in simultaneous bewilderment. "What do you mean, no?" Yamaguchi asks, affronted.

"I mean, no," Kageyama repeats, unwaveringly meeting Yamaguchi's bewildered stare.

"You too, Hinata?!"

"Yep!"

"Why?!"

"We want something besides extra pay!" Hinata declares stoutly.

Yamaguchi stares at them in silent deliberation, before offering, "You'll get your own parking spaces and private offices."

"What?!" Hitoka squeaks.

Hinata and Kageyama continue staring at Yamaguchi in a rare moment of unified silence.

"...and private labs with grant assistance."

"Yamaguchi, you traitor."

"I don't wanna do more work," Hinata tuts, looking entirely too satisfied with himself.

"Then what?"

Understanding, dread, and amusement clamor in Hitoka's chest when she sees the duo exchange a grin. "Oh, no."

"No," Tsukishima declares, "no, I already told you two, I won't do it. I'm way too busy for that, we're not in college anymore!"

"Then we won't sign!" Hinata's demeanor is casual when he leans back with his arms crossed. "It's not really a VIP ward without an obstetrician or a general surgeon, huh?"

"Shoyo, come on," Hitoka tries to gently cajole him. "We don't even have enough for a team."

"Sure we do!" he cheerfully corrects her. "We've got enough for beach!"

"Where the hell—?"

"Hinata found a gym in the city with indoor beach courts." Kageyama's expression finally cracks with a smug grin at Tsukishima. The way Hinata puffs out his chest with pride would be sweet, if Hitoka couldn't easily read the smug triumph in his warm eyes.

Yamaguchi is silent the whole time, eyes flickering between Hinata and Kageyama. He only speaks up after Kageyama mentions the gym. "It's just for fun, right?"

Hinata blinks. "Huh?"

"You want to do this just for fun? No tournaments or championships or any of that?"

"Oh! Right!" Hinata's smile could rival the sun. "We just wanna play volleyball again and spend more time with you guys!"

"But mostly play volleyball," Kageyama adds.

"So if we agree to play volleyball, you both will sign the contracts and work for the VIP wards?"

"Yep!"

Yamaguchi nods slowly, almost setting a beat to the gradual descent of horror over Tsukishima's face. "Yamaguchi…Tadashi, don't you dare."

"...Fine."

Hinata whoops with triumph, and Kageyama wears a broad grin that conveys the same amount of excitement. Tsukishima, on the other hand, shoots to his feet and drops his pen onto his contract with a muffled clatter. "No, no way," he declares, "I gave them my answer and I meant it! I don't have time, and even if I did, I wouldn't want to spend it diving into the sand with these two!"

"We're right here," Kageyama reminds him, grin unwavering even under Tsukishima's withering glare.

"You two can go choke on sand together, but leave me out of it."

With that, Tsukishima storms out of the room. Hinata chases him to the door, where he shouts behind him, "We don't need you anyway! Yacchan can play with Yamaguchi!"

"Um," Hitoka pipes up, trying and failing to keep her voice from shaking with suppressed laughter, "if I have to play instead of referee, I don't think it's fair for you and Kageyama to be on a team together."

It's a little sweet, the way both Hinata and Kageyama's faces fall. "...Fine," Kageyama sighs. "I'll play with Yamaguchi."

Hinata forces his face into a bright smile that Hitoka can see straight through. "You'll be a beach pro before you know it!"

Ah, well. She'll just wait until later to tease him about ruining his clear plans to get closer to Kageyama and badly matchmake Yamaguchi and Tsukishima.

🩺

That weekend, ahead of their first set, Kageyama and Hinata's receiving lessons for Hitoka are interrupted by Yamaguchi's arrival. To everyone's shock, he's not alone.

"What're you doing here?!" Hinata squawks, pointing an accusatory finger at Tsukishima's beetred, glowering face.

"Ah, Tsukki was easy to convince," Yamaguchi chuckles, slinging an arm around Tsukishima's shoulders and tugging him down the small difference in their heights. "He just needed a reminder of all the fun we had in Hawaii."

"...Shut up, Yamaguchi."

[glitter-and-metal]

From the writing ask going around - if you would like to share, would be cool to hear! 🖖

What’s your favourite line you’ve written in a fic? 

What is your ideal writing set up? 

What is your favourite fic you’ve written and why?

Any advice for writers working through writers block or burnout? 

This ask always a lovely surprise! Thank you!

What’s your favourite line you’ve written in a fic?

I particularly like “She might have been the one kneeling, but he was the one worshipping.” from You and I Belong. Also, “So you thought you’d bleach your hair brighter than the sun?” from Tickled Pink makes me giggle too.

What is your ideal writing set up?

Uuuhhhhhh. Well the most comfortable is definitely typing on my laptop but I do end up writing a lot of fic on my phone. I like to use Google Docs because it syncs so easily so I can always access my writing wherever I am, for example say in a waiting room.

What is your favourite fic you’ve written and why?

I am currently quite happy with most of my writing because I got back into it after more than a decade. I am quite proud of Anything's a Weapon If You Throw It Hard Enough because I was TERRIFIED that it was gonna flop but it's my most popular one. I also really love Darling! because it is 99% dialogue. When I started writing I could feel that dialogue wasn't my strong point but I kept at it and now I'm much more confident about it and I find it easier to find the characters’ “voices.” Also, You and Me needs a mention because I had so much fun co-writing it with @saintzenni

Any advice for writers working through writers block or burnout?

I just got back into writing a few months ago and don't want to lose it as a hobby. So I'm mostly going with the flow. I don't really "force" myself to sit down and write unless

I know what I want to write but I'm feeling a little bit lazy to conclude the story.

I have to finish a story by a certain deadline - like for a secret Santa

and in those cases I'd still be in the mood to do something with fic. So it's not even that I'm doing something I don't want to do. I just need to motivate myself a little sometimes!

Otherwise I just vibe. Some days I bang out 1k, edit, and publish. Some WEEKS nothing really gets done. Life has its own responsibilities too so sometimes time is just not available. And sometimes I'm too tired to write. But I know my writing is there waiting for me whenever I'm ready to continue :))

[thedepressedjuggalette]

hey so I saw your "THIS SHIT AIN'T NEW WHEN IT COMES TO ROWLING!" Reblog and i have always had this thought in mind.

you know how the Harry Potter fandom and you know how it is more well known that the bigger the fandom the chances of maybe mass harassment of some on who says something even wrong for like a piece of media like as an example how Anime Fan's tend to go after anyone who is even uncomfortable about what is shown or how fans of celebrities do not take it well when you point out that some one they like is awful?

I have been thinking, was there a chance that some one who tried to point out the nasty implications in the series could have been chased out due to trying to criticize the work and may have done so well that people like forgot?

its like I can't help but feel paranoid that that could have happened and been forgotten. because fandoms can be awful or cruel to critics.

That wouldn't be surprising, hell I might as well say YES because I can damn near guarantee that it's happened multiple times and is still happening to this day, but to take your consideration further as to commentate on the problems of fandom culture… I am gonna go on a bit of a tangent/rant so if you don't want to read that understand that you're spot on.

Anime/Weeb culture has existed and doubled down on and incentivized by the Anime and even Manga creators/studios to such an extent that women are outright ostracized to a point that it's disgusting. I have a question?

How many men have been asked to name every single anime title that had been created in the 90’s?

How many men have been asked to name every single song on the 12 album of the Beetles in order of length and then in order that is played?

How many men have been asked to name every album made by Sleep Token?

I can, with my full chest, say that no man has been asked these sorts of questions. But a woman? They've been asked these sort of things a million times for a million different fandoms.

I myself haven't, despite being a woman, only because I rarely interact with fandoms and do my best to avoid these sorts of situations, specifically online where I can easily be assumed to be the opposite gender. But there is also another aspect to it when it comes to anime as you've indirectly pointed out:

The treatment of female characters in just about 98% of anime and 99% of Isekai anime. That being female characters are either damsels in distress or just tits on a stick.

Softcore porn because the creators honestly think that their viewers are so unabashedly stupid and lack an attention span to such a point that they think they need to shove enough tits and ass shots – doubly so for under age characters – in order to keep the viewers’ attention.

Many weebs defend this sort of behavior because and I quote “Anime isn't for girls”.

My response is always, “Then you need to stop watching every anime made by women and you also have to step away from every magical girl show ever created.”

Fullmetal Alchemist: made by a woman.

Black Butler: made by a woman.

Revolutionary Girl Utena: made by a woman.

Fruits Basket: made by a woman.

Violet Evergarden: made by a woman.

Beastars, motherfucking INUYASHA, DEMON SLAYER, and SAILOR MOON WERE ALL MADE BY WOMEN!

The entire Manga and Anime industries face so much sex-based discrimination that female creators have to hide their genders through a pen-name. Your favorite anime was probably made by a woman who had to hide her gender/identity in order to get it published.

But this will never be acknowledged by the “Boy's Club” that is the Anime/Weeb community and the Industry. They don't want to acknowledge their bullshit.

They don't want to look at the opposite gender as anything other than objects. Objects to save, objects to look at, a pretty face to wank one out to.

It's so easy to piss off the Weebs that it's damn near ridiculous.

Write somewhere “Sakura is actually not useless, read the Light Novels which are actually cannon and she's actually written as a decent character.” and watch how many weebs will be pissed off by that alone.

Make a video talking about how you’re tired of being taken out of Isekai anime because the needless sexualization of the female characters just shoots your immersion down so hard that it hurts, while casually mentioning that you do like Dr. Stone and Demon Slayer, and watch as those casual mentions are ignored and get screamed at by so many weebs that you're forced to ignore it because it's clear they don't care about the other half of the audience.

Try to talk about how female characters are needlessly sexualized in their designs and it's getting to the point that you're unable to take the characters seriously when their own lore shows them to be something else entirely? Yeah good luck with how many assholes call you a “soyboy feminist who hates sexy characters”.

No matter what you do you're gonna get attacked and downed out. And that to me is horrifying.

[nonbigalmari]

[This is a transcript from January 18th at 4:25 PM of me (Mari Diaz) having a chat at the park written in third person.]

[Mari stands up from the park bench, placing their phone behind them back on the bench. Staring at someone who had walked up, The person is slightly taller, wearing a yellow hoodie with a black winter jacket over it and has a red beanie and long dark brown hair. Mari looks at the person, tilting their head.]

Ma: Um… Ok so I should ask before any other questions… Who are you and why did you walk up to me, sitting on a park bench eating an apple alone?

?: Oh, I’m Marigold Ash! Nice to meet you!

[Marigold sticks out her left arm, but instead of a hand there’s two black hooks coming from her sleeve. Mari stands there for a moment, before slowly grabbing one of the hooks and carefully shakes it.]

Ma: I hope I did that right? Um… This is going to sound dumb but I haven't met many people with a prosthetic arm…

[Mari laughs, but almost immediately stops.]

Mg: Most people haven’t, but I don’t mind questions as long as you aren’t a dick about it.

Ma: I uh right now my only question is… I wasn’t like… An asshole shaking the arm like that? Um… I would feel kinda bad.

Mg: The asshole move is just staring at it. Or staring at my other hand instead. You’re good dude.

Ma: Cool… Um… So why did you walk up to me randomly?

[Marigold stares blanky for a second before a look of understanding crosses her face and she reaches into her pocket with her right hand and pulls out a phone.]

Mg: Right! So uh, could be wrong, the lighting is shit and the footage is all blurry but uh, is this you?

[Mari looks at the footage and slowly nods, before looking back at Marigold.]

Ma: Yep, that's me. Why, are you a cop?

Mg: Ew no. I was just wondering if you knew the other person, I want to ask them how they designed that prosthetic of their’s. And why the hell they were wearing it to a random club when it’s not even close to Halloween.

Ma: I only know like… 3 people from that night? And uh that person you're talking about technically isn't one… I mean they have spoken to my coworkers over tumblr? They sign off with the letter H if that helps?

Mg: Damn, my search continues then. Oh well, nothing’s fun when it’s easy anyways as my mom always says.

Ma: Hm… Yeah I guess that's kinda true… Depends on the thing I guess.

[Mari looks at the ground, seemingly upset about something.]

Mg: Ah yeah, fair enough. But hey, you said some of your coworkers have talked to this person?

Ma: Yeahhhh?

[Marigold puts her phone away, and reaches into another pocket and pulls out a small card and holds it out to Mari.]

Mg: Here, if you ever learn any more about them, you can find me here!

Ma: I um… Ok.

[Mari grabs the card, slowly putting it in their hoodie pocket.]

Ma: Oh I uh forgot… Are you fine being recorded and this being turned into a transcript for uh… Tummmmmmmmmblrrrrrrrr purposesssss?

[Marigold paused for a few seconds before nodding.]

Mg: You know what? In any other circumstance I would probably have said no, but since you did actually ask, why the hell not.

Ma: Ok cool um… Also, um if you see the green haired person I was fighting, just… Don’t mention me to her? It’s a… Long fucking story.

[Marigold mimes zipping her lips with her prosthetic hand.]

Ma: Cool… Wait… The card is for a repair shop?

Mg: Yeah! It’s the family business. Well, it’s my mom’s and I also work there and that’s it most of the time.

Ma: Oh… I'll try to pop in sometime if I remember.

Mg: Yup! If you ever need pretty much anything repaired, there’s like a 99% chance we’ll be able to fix it!

Ma: Nice! I uh… might need some stuff repaired around my house… [Muttering.] Like the bluray player that just stopped working.

Mg: Just stop by any time we’re open and we can probably help! Although speaking of the shop… I’m technically almost running late for my shift…

Ma: Oh um… Need a ride..? I have my car.

Mg: No thanks, but it’s not too far from here so I’m good.

Ma: Oh, alright! Be careful.

[Marigold starts to turn to walk off.]

Mg: [Calling over her shoulder] My mom would kill me if I wasn’t!

[Mari laughs, before looking back at the phone. Grabbing it.]

Ma: Ok… Um… Interesting…

[End transcript.]

[winsoongi]

hai i am not saying this a joke or anything I genuinely want to see every answer for that oc game :)

[ask game]

YESSSSSSSS HELL YEAH

I'm gonna do these for seonjin bc i'm thinking about him. here is a sneak peak at his new design also:

answers under the cut bc there are a lot

I typically associate seonjin with the color purple, though in character i doubt he cares much about it. typically he wears a lot of blacks, dark blues and greys.

Seonjin would like hard rock, though he's adamant that anything written after 2000 is trash. he would never admit this, but he also listens to a lot of NELL and other tearjerker kpop. I don't know about his favorite song, but I associate him with sabotage by the beastie boys

As for weapon of choice, seonjins weapon in Ad Terra is a revolver, but he never uses it because he doesn't have many bullets. Seonjin believes he can outwit or avoid other people (and zombies) 99% of the time so he doesn't feel the need to weigh himself down carrying a big weapon. If push comes to shove though, he thinks the revolver's intimidation factor should be enough.

Seonjin is resourceful in some ways and just refuses to try in others. he's stubborn about not knowing how to build things, mend clothing, etc. but he's survived on his own for a long time so he knows how to meet his needs.

In Ad Terra, seonjin favors practicality and freedom of movement over anything else, but in normalverse he's definitely more of an aesthetic guy. he owns WAY too many shoes. he doesn't have an interest in fashion though, it's more of a status thing for him.

Again, how seonjin wears his hair differs in normalverse vs. Ad Terra. In normalverse he has a stylish and very well maintained haircut, but in Ad Terra he bleaches his hair and basically has a mullet. go figure.

He likes orcas and narwhals he thinks they're cool as hell

Seonjin's only nickname is his gamer tag, PRinCe. He didn't choose it for any strong reason, he just thought it sounded good and he thought it would be cool to change it to, like, King or something when he made a name for himself

His favorite food is ribs prepared absolutely any way. He's definitely a picky eater, he hates fish and anything fishy. Tragically he is also lactose intolerant.

Seonjin does not wear jewelry, but he does think it'd be cool to get his ears pierced at some point. He likes gold more than silver but I don't think he has a favorite gem other than "most expensive."

What he has in common with me? hmmm. we both play offtank and try to live in the present, i guess. he's different in that he is... ruthless isn't quite the right word, but he is goal-oriented to the extreme and actively tries not to be approachable. I think i'd get along with him better than with most of my other ocs, but we wouldn't be close.

He's been around for... what, 3 years now? His original concept was very loose and I don't remember when he really started to carve himself out. I haven't decided on a birthday for him yet, but he was born in '99. As for what he thinks about celebrating birthdays, he'd say it isn't really important to him but he definitely cares.

Seonjin is a native korean speaker and also speaks english very fluently!

He's, like, fine with numbers and he'd be better if he tried, but he doesn't really care about math

His family is just him, his parents, and his paternal grandparents. When he was growing up it was just him and his parents, but after he left to compete in the US his parents moved in with his grandparents. In Ad Terra, he lives by himself, but he doesn't stay anywhere too long.

Seonjin doesn't have pets, but he's always wanted to get a hamster and thinks they're the perfect animal.

He spent most of his summers/free time gaming, and the rest of it working at a relative's store.

Seonjin doesn't care if someone lies or steals (and does so often himself), but killing is WAY too far. Generally, his main priority is survival and he understands when others lie to or steal from him to do the same

Seonjin gets angry very easily, but he's very good at taking a deep breath, pushing it aside, and not letting his emotions control him. Notable exceptions are when his past as a booster is brought up as a gotcha or when someone (nyangi) goes too far.

Seonjin cannot drive and will never learn. public transit sweep!!!!!

His favorite place to be is at home. He doesn't get to come back often (or at all in Ad Terra), so he misses it a lot.

Seonjin's sleep is segmented and he usually wakes up a few times throughout the night. he prefers to take short naps as opposed to long sleeps.

His voice is gentle and he typically speaks casually. He's on the low end of the tenor spectrum? I think he could sing if he wanted to, but he never does.

Seonjin does not have any creative hobbies, but he'd find woodcarving fun if he tried it out.

His eyesight is like, fine, but his hearing is a bit below average. he makes up for this by having REALLY good intuition.

seonjin is super agile! he's quick on his feet and very flexible.

(changing this to favorite game instead of favorite sport for obvious reasons) he plays Fantasy Overwatch professionally, but seonjin's all time favorite game is Fantasy Quake

Seonjin shows he cares by like. keeping an eye out and going out of his way to be helpful to them. as for how he shows he dislikes someone... he doesn't care. if he doesn't like them, they're a fly buzzing in his ear, nothing more.

the element i associate him with is fire, but in my superpower AU he's got earth magic for plot reasons LMAO

I don't think he smells like anything particular. just very neutral

Seonjin likes receiving gifts, but he never knows what to do with them because generally he's already gotten himself whatever he needs. he really hates giving gifts because he assumes other people are the same and also don't like novelties (but he gives them anyways if its socially required). his ideal gift? a gift card to his favorite restaurant. he doesn't think anyone pays attention to him or what he likes/dislikes, so someone taking the time to figure that out would mean a lot to him.

odd habbits? not really... he's laser focused on his goals and doesn't care to do anything but work towards them.

How my other characters would describe him... most of them would describe him as hardworking and amicable, but more standoffish and forgettable than anything else. nyangi on the other hand would say he's a manipulative spiteful sonofabitch. sale would say the same thing as everyone else, but add that they feel sorry for him.

seonjin would describe himself as someone who never gives up and who's stronger than anyone else believes he is. he prides himself on his intuition and work ethic.

In normalverse, Seonjin returns home as much as he can (which isn't often). In Ad Terra? he can't return home, and in more ways than he thinks.

[xtrablak674]

Another game of #NameThatYear

See last game by clicking here. Once again these collages are generated by Google Photos this is another one with a really good mix doing a range of at least forty years and various individuals.

1. Oh boy duck lips before duck lips were a thing. I have always thought I didn't have enough lips so sometimes I attempt to make them look bigger. This is probably in the late nineties into early aughts, I am thinking late 98 or 99 or possible 00.

2. This was on a visit to Maine maybe around 2010 or so. I was visiting my former friend Matt and his partner would later be his husband.

3. Well I see Cuban artwork in the background of this shot but its not framed yet, so I would say maybe 2013? #Maybe

4. This restaurant selfie in the East Village I can't place in time. I just know I had some errand on the lower east side that left me in the village so I took myself out for a meal.

5. A selfie in the window prior to window seat. I can't really see my loc length here but I think my cats may have still be alive Anastasia and Neo, I can see the pillow I put in the window for them. I am thinking this is in the mid-aughts

6. At the Brooklyn Museum with my nibling Justice, I think this was shot in 2018 or 2019, it was the first time I met up with him as a fully grown adult and also the last time. I am happy I at least captured the moment.

7. Another selfie in the window, not enough detail for me to figure out anything except that there look like there are grey hairs in my eyebrows and that didn't happen till around 2019 or 2020.

8. This is a split shot, one from the late eighties at Mt. Calvary Baptist Church in Harlem. The other one sometime between 2021 and 2022 of me on the steps at the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library where I had also exhibited work in I think 2010.

9. This is at the now closed Brooklyn Flavors shop that was on Washington Avenue, I am standing in front of one of my pieces that was hangin in the store called Speckled Fire. This has to be somewhere in the tens I think.

10. The wrap and the top are give aways this has to be either 2023 or 24 right here at home.

11. A huge throwback to my birthday dinner at a local Fort Green restaurant. My beau at the time and my former friend Adam took me out for my bday, I want to say this was like 2004 or 2005.

12. All dressed up and somewhere to go, the wedding of my youngest brother that would end like twenty year later, but lets not get ahead of ourselves. I want to say this is like 2001 or 02. I know I have it written down somewhere but I am compiling this list from memory.

13. This is one of the oldest shots of me included here, I think this is the early eighties when I was on one of my many trips with my grandmother. I can't recall exactly where we were in this picture, I think its either our trip out west or the one to Toronto.

14. This is 1993 in my first apartment in Williamsburg, I am in my room with a whole lotta cassettes behind me, mostly from my father's collection which I inherited after his death. This is a still for a video I was in called "Meet Trevor Brown" I think it was some assignment for a film student.

15. 1998 the year of the fire in my apartment. The photo is taken by former friend Matt Carlin who was putting me up for a few weeks before I decided to go stay in the YMCA in Chelsea till the repairs were completed to my unit.

Whoa this was a lot a good highlight real of significant moments in my life. The sad thing is all the lost friendships for one reason or another. I don't have any regrets about them, but its sad when things just don't work out.

[Photos by Brown Estate]

[teddyeyeseddie]

A New Set of Eyes: Chapter 1

Pairing:Mechanic! Dean x Reader 

WC: 1,621

Warnings: None (will change as series progresses)

A/N: This is my first time ever posting anything I’ve written. I don’t know anyone in the SPN community so this is completely unbetad. I love getting lost in writing and have so many WIPs that I want to get out and ideas that I’m itching to write. I hope you all like this and if anyone wants to offer any help, I’d love you forever!

That taste 

All I ever wanted

All I ever needed

Just too dumb to surrender

She shakes Like a mornin railway checking me out

Someone on her shoulder

“Charles listen, I gotta go. They’re calling me up into the Bay.” Y/N huffed out as she threw her car into drive. “Just- think about it okay? You can’t mope over this forever.” Her friend let out, concern lacing her voice. She let out a huff and hung up her phone, rolling down her window as a crotchety old man approached the driver side door. “Whaddya need.” He huffed out leaning up against her car.

“Bobby! I got this one, go take a break. And for Pete’s sake stop trying to scare away these poor girls, lookin at you is already scary enough.” Looking past the older man, a younger, much more handsome man approached. His blue coveralls pulled down around his waist, revealing a grease stained white t-shirt that stretched across his chest in a way that Y/N could only describe as obscene.

Bobby turned on his heels and sauntered away to a room labeled as “Employees Only”. The man reached Y/N’s car quickly and bent at the waist, coming down to her level.

“What are we doin’ for ya today sweetheart?” Y/N looked up at the man, admiring the way the crinkles around his eyes moved as he smiled, wishing she could sit there all day and map out the freckles that danced across his face. 

“Uh- an oil change.” The man nodded his head and stood up.

 “Do you mind if I open your door so I can scan you in and show you to our waiting area?” Y/N nodded, quickly gathering her purse and phone.

The man opened her door and offered his hand, helping her out of the car. “Watch your step, there's no telling what these degenerates leave lying around. I’m pretty sure they’re in the breakroom right now staging a mutiny.”

 Y/N let out a chuckle, looking up at the man. “Well you are making them work on New Year’s Eve..” 

The man's lips turned up into a grin, “Says the one getting their oil changed on New Year’s Eve. ‘sides we’re closing up at 3. More than enough time for them to start drinking.”

Y/N followed closely behind the man, walking through the door he was holding open for her with his boot. The door closed softly behind them as the man shuffled behind Y/N, his hand lightly brushing against her back as he made his way towards the counter.

“Alright- is it gonna be conventional or synthetic?” The man asked as he typed away on the computer in front of him.

 Y/N cocked her head to the side, “What?” The man looked up from the screen, an amused look on his face.  

“Like, do you want conventional oil or synthetic oil? Conventional is usually cheaper.” Y/N still had no idea what the correct answer was, feeling stupid that she didnt come prepared. 

“To be honest, I’ve never taken my car in for an oil change. Dad always used to change it at home. Then once his hands got too crooked to work on cars, my boyfriend would take it to get changed.” The man nodded his head and looked back down at his computer.

 “Well I’m 99% sure you probably used conventional last time, but uh has your boyfriend ever brought it to us before? I could look him up and see if he has an account with us. That way we can see what we used last time.” Dread settled in the pit of Y/N’s stomach as she replied, “Yeah he usually brought it here, it should be under the last name Scottsman.” The man raised his eyebrows, 

“Landed you a Scottsman eh?” flashing her a sarcastic grin.

“Well we service Ethan and Troy’s cars so which one is the lucky guy?” Y/N fiddled with the hem of her coat, “Troy- he was.” The man cocked his head to the side this time, his turn to be confused. “Was lucky. We uh, broke up a few months back.” 

The expression on the mechanic's face softened as he pulled up her Exes account, “Shit, I'm sorry darlin.” She flashed him the softest smile she could muster up, endeared by the way “darlin” rolled so smoothly off his tongue. “No worries.”

“Jo!” The mechanic's voice boomed, snapping Y/N out of the trance she found herself stuck in as he looked through Troy’s account.

 Sue her okay? It was bad enough the man’s legs and ass filled out his coveralls so well. Could it bother him to use a stool or something? Anything to stop him from leaning over the counter, his backside pushed out. The way his forearms flexed as he rifled through papers, how quickly his fingers moved over the keyboard of the computer in front of him. All of it sending Y/N’s mind to a place it definitely should not be going. She doesn’t even know his name for Christ's sake.

The man straightened up letting out an annoyed huff as he went to yell again for whoever he needed, “Harve-” He was cut off by a blonde woman rounding the corner, “I’m right here De, there is no reason to be yelling so damn loud. What do you want?” 

The man, (De? Is that what she called him?) rolled his eyes and handed over some paperwork to the woman. “I gotta get started on Miss-” This time he cut himself off, looking at you with a glimpse of wonder on his face. 

“Y/N, Y/N Y/LN” He smiled at her, those crinkles she had already grown fond of in just a short 10 minutes, back on full display, making Y/N weak in the knees. “I gotta get started on Miss Y/N’s car so I can get this pretty lady sent on her way. Can you handle finishing this all up?” The blonde woman nodded, “Sure thing boss.”

De flashed her a quick smile and began pulling his coveralls back up over his torso, sticking his arms back in the sleeves which made the already tight t-shirt even tighter across his broad chest. The thin material stretched so far she could see a glimpse of a tattoo on his chest. God she was so fucking done for. 

“Oh and get the info from Troy Scottsman’s account transferred over to a new account for her. I just need the info on her car moved over, nothing from his other cars.” He finished zipping up his coveralls and smoothed out the collar. Jo nodded her head and Y/N gave him a silent “Thank you” as he made his way back out into the garage.

Finishing up and paying took no time at all, Jo retreating back to what Y/N could only assume was the office area of the garage. Y/N sat down in one of the chairs, looking through the small window on the door. She could perfectly see De as he worked on her car. Checking to make sure all the lights worked, checking the tire pressure, all the simple tasks he has had to of done thousands of times. He disappeared for a while, disappointing Y/N because she could no longer ogle over the man. She looked down at her phone, mindlessly scrolling through social media to pass the time.

The sound of the door leading out to the shop opened, causing Y/N to look up. De was standing before her, much dirtier than he had been before. The whiteness of his teeth starkly contrasting against the dark smudges littering his face. 

“You got a little-” Y/N said as she pointed at her own face. The mechanic laughed, holding up his hands which were also dirty. 

“Yeah, had a little bit of a mishap down there, got into a fight with the oil pan. Haven’t done that in years. Must be something about working on a pretty lady’s car that makes me nervous.” Y/N blushed as she stood up to follow De back out to her car. He opened up the door for her and she slid back into the front seat.

He leaned down bracing himself on the door, “Well, I will see you in 6 months or 5,000 miles. Whichever comes first.”

 Y/N nodded her head and started her car. “Well I will see you then, I’ll make sure to ask for you..” Y/N hoped that her trailing off would be an invitation for the pretty stranger to tell her his full name. Not that she’s weird or anything. She wouldn’t go home and search for him on facebook, who would do that?

“Ask for Dean when you come back. Dean Winchester.”  He pointed at the chest of his coveralls, a “Winchester’s Auto and Body” logo standing out against the navy piece of clothing, his name delicately embroidered underneath.  

“Dad left me the place when he retired so I’m always here since I kinda own the place. My brother does all the logistical stuff. I’m just the brute who keeps the customers happy. Besides, it's important a man knows how to use his hands. I wouldn’t last a day in an office.” Dean pushed himself back off her door, “Have a Happy New Year sweetheart, be safe tonight.” 

Y/Ns cheeks were as red as the paint on the vintage car in the bay next to her. She put her own in reverse as Dean took several steps back and waved her off, never looking away until she was safely out on the road.

[flareish]

Rival

akaashi x reader

summary: you and akaashi are fighting for that #1 class rank. however there is not just a scholarship at stake here but some deeply hidden feelings too

genre: rivals to lovers

word count: 2.1k

warnings: kissing, there is a kinda sexual joke

a/n: ahhh! my first request thank you so much! I haven’t written for akaashi yet but he is so great so I hope this does him justice. Love our pretty setters. 

Rage consumes you. You want to throw Akaashi out of the wall of windows right now. It’s only one test you tell yourself. One test that he managed to scrape in one point higher than you. You got 99% and somehow this idiot gets 100%. Quickly putting your stuff away you try and slip out of class before you he finds out. You would like to avoid his snarky remarks. 

“Oh, that’s a pretty good score.” Too late. Akaashi has appeared from behind you, smugness ran through his sarcastic comment. You compose yourself and bounce right back.

“Thought I’d give you a little something since I’ve been crushing your scores lately.” You fire back. He’s not the only one who can play at this game.

“Careful you might just give the spot away at this point.” That spot being #1 in class rank as well as the hefty academic scholarship that goes with it. The spot you’ve occupied for the past two years and suddenly this guy comes out of nowhere and tries to take it from you, right before it really matters. 

“Haha. Well some of us actually have stuff to do. Have fun playing with your balls.” You walk straight past him and out the class. He held a smug grin the whole time. No matter what you did it never left his face. The amount of insults you’ve thrown at each other and every time it’s you who always gets bested. 

Anger fueling your walk to the point onlookers might think you were exercising, not walking home from school. You make it home in record time. As soon as you’re in your room you immediately start studying. You’ve never had to study this hard before in your life. You don’t mean to sound conceded but academics just kinda came easy to you. Sure, you had your rough patches but you just seemed to absorb information. You didn’t really have many other passions either but your parents always said that could come later right now isn’t for fun and games it is for learning. So learn you did. 

The next day, your teacher had started a new project and decided to assign partners. 

“Akaashi and Y/N. You two will be working together.” What did you do to deserve this? You remain in your seat waiting for him to come over but he never does. You look over and see him still sat there, reclined back in his seat talking with Bokuto who sat behind him. That’s when you realize he is waiting for you to move over there. Cocky bastard. Taking a deep breath, you swallow your pride and move over there.

“Please don’t rush, I would hate for you to strain yourself.” You snap sitting down. “That’s so great you got the hint, I wasn’t planning on getting up. Thank you for being so obedient.” Still wearing that grin. Oh, what you would do to slap it off of his face. You ignore him and start working on the project. He simply resumes his conversation with Bokuto, who never does the projects anyway. Seems like you will be doing this all by yourself. Half of you is tempted to purposefully fail but then it would just hurt your grade too. Although it would be pretty funny to see his face. He ignored you for the rest of the class. Once again you part ways.

When you go home and open your computer to continue working on the project to find that it has been already done. Did he seriously not lift a finger in class just to do a rush job right before his volleyball practice. You roll your eyes before reading through his work. You realize it hadn’t been a rush job at all but was perfect. Now you weren’t sure to be happy he actually did it or pissed that it was better than what you could have done. 

After you’ve cooled down a bit you take a moment to think. Maybe he isn’t as bad as you think. You’ve never taken the time to think about why he is doing this. You just immediately jumped on that he was out to get you. That’s pretty childish now you think about it. Maybe he really needs this academic scholarship so he can go to college. There is no way you can be nice to him but perhaps you could be tolerant. You weren’t giving him that scholarship though. No matter how much he needed it, you did too. 

The next day in class you are determined to stick by your discovery. With it including being nicer to Akaashi. You were talking to your friend when he came into the classroom.

“You’re so loud Y/N I swear I could hear you from across the school.” You don’t say anything just look at him and smile. You almost see his grin falter, you’re not sure if he is surprised or scared at your smile.

“Wow have I finally broken you.” You keep ignoring him. This annoys him and he pokes you. You swat at him and he chuckles before walking off. Your friend laughs at the two of you. The teacher came into the room and everyone quickly settled down and class began. You could feel Akaashi’s stare from across the room but you didn’t dare look at him.

When class ended you are your friend took your time and ended up being the last people in the classroom.

“So is ignoring him your next idea?” Your friend asks amused by the earlier interaction, “Can’t beat him then just will him out of existence.”

“No, I’m trying to be a nicer person and embrace competition.” Your friend bursts out laughing.

“That’s not going to last long. Before you know it you will be at his throat again.”

“I don’t know. Think why does he want to be #1 so badly? The scholarship. He probably needs it for college.” You say seriously.

“Ha! As if.” Your friend laughs as if she knows something you don’t.

“Why is he secretly loaded of something?” You ask kinda curious as you pack up your stuff.

“I don’t know about that but I do know he already has multiple athletic scholarships lined up.” You pause at that.

“What?” You are in complete and utter disbelief. If he didn’t need this scholarship what was the point in stealing it from you. Did he seriously hate you that much? You were beyond angry now. You throw your stuff in your bag messily and march out of the class room heading straight for the gyms. If he wanted this scholarship so badly from you, you were going to get an answer. 

As you near the gyms however you hear something that stops you in your tracks.

“Are you seriously going to study for all those classes tonight?” One of his teammates asked in shock.

“He’s got to if he wants to keep up with Y/N.” Another teases. You make sure you are out of sight and continue listening in. 

“Wait why do you compete with Y/N. I thought you were a jock, not a nerd.” You hear laughter and something being thrown at someone. 

“Can’t you see? Our Akaashi is smitten!” You recognize Bokuto’s voice.

“Shut up you dumb owl.” Akaashi didn’t deny it though.

“He’s so crazy for them that he decided to bring his class ranking up so they would notice him,” Bokuto breaks into laughter “But now they just hate him. We got a real  player here, am I right.”

You hear Akaashi yell at him and then you hear some hitting and decide to leave before you got caught. However, not once did you hear Akaashi deny it. He was just silent and then would yell at them for outing him. For telling the truth.

Akaashi likes you.

What an idiot. Who decides the way about trying to get to know someone is by threatening their biggest goal?! You can’t deny though he’s not the only smitten one. Although lately, you have absolutely hated him, before all this you actually had a crush on him. You never acted on it because you were so busy with academics. Is now a second chance? You decided to wait for him after practice. 

By some miracle he is the last one left in the gym, meaning you can confront him without an audience.

“What are you waiting to jump me? I’ll warn you I’m not afraid to fight back.” He snapped at you but you kept quiet. This silence was driving him crazy. At least when you were arguing back with him you were acknowledging him but now. It was like he didn’t exist all over again. He was about to lose it when you spoke up. 

“You know there are better ways to gain someone affection than trying to take the scholarship that they have been working towards for the past three years away from them.” It was your turn to shoot him a smug look. He looks like a deer caught in headlights. For once you’ve caught him off guard, good and proper.

“Wha-Who said I wanted your affections.” He tried to play it off but it was written all over his face. He truly did like you.

“You know I would have said yes.” You say nonchalantly as you begin to walk away. He snaps out of his confused stupor and grabs your arm, turning you around.

“What did you just say.” No longer is he embarrassed or caught off guard but intense and desperate. Like he had misheard what you just said. Like it was a dream.

“That maybe if you had just asked me, I would have said yes.” You try to be as confident as you were a moment ago but that was hard with a blush spreading across your cheeks.

“And what about right now?” He asked, almost pleaded. This was no longer the Akaashi you had known the past year. This was something different. Something raw and intense. 

“What?” You were shocked. Was he seriously about to ask you out? Like this?

“All I ever wanted was you to talk to me. I thought that if I got my rank up that you would respect me, that I’d be smart enough to hold a conversation with you. But no matter how high my rank went, it never felt good enough so I decided that #2 would be the greatest spot I could reach. Then instead of getting you admiration and praise, you thought I was trying to steal your spot. Maybe I should have just explained then that I wasn’t but you were actually talking to me. What if after I explained it we just went back to the way it was before. Suddenly we had some common ground, so I just kept going. When you stopped talking to me today, I hated it so much. So please I know our relationship is in a weird place and we’re not even friends but-” He trailed off. He didn’t even know what he was begging for. 

It was so strange to see him like this. Normally, even with his friends, he was guarded, quick-witted, confident. Now he was so vulnerable. It sparked something in you. At first, it was just a quick thought in your brain but before you knew it your body was moving. Acting on it.

You pulled your arm out of his grasp and with it his face dropped, thinking this was you rejecting him. You didn’t pay it any mind and grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling his stupidy tall body down.

With that, you kissed him.

He was frozen for a moment before jumping back to life. His hands came up to your face and he kissed you back as if he would never get the chance to again. He definitely wasn’t expecting this but he wasn’t going to waste this once in a lifetime opportunity. Eventually, you pulled away and his lips chased yours back. You caught his eyes and he relented. 

“Maybe we could work something out.” You say began a smug smile. You run your hand down his side and into his pocket, his eyes blew wide in surprise not really sure what you were doing. You pulled his phone out of the pocket and started putting your number in.

“Call me tonight.” When you handed him his phone back he matched your smug smile with one of his own. 

“You bet.” He said as he watched you walk off. Once your back was turned you couldn’t help but let out a giddy giggle.

[theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin]

Hey, you once mentioned something about Tom Riddle being a little suicidal. Your new post reminded of that and I wonder why you think that. It’s the complete opposite of what the books want you to think.

Alright, it’s time, let’s do this.

My standard disclaimer whenever we venture into the dark pit that is my thoughts on Tom Riddle: I’m going to say a lot of controversial stuff that fandom generally doesn’t agree with, I will say so much of this shit that I simply do not have time to explain it all, I expect 99% of you to disagree with me and the other 1% to be so horrifyingly offended that I dare to contemplate a world in which Tom isn’t always an overly competent psychopath that they leave me notes telling me to take this trash out of their character tags.

We good? Alright.

So, when I say a little suicidal, I mean that he is suicidal.

Not on the level that he’s going to kill himself tomorrow, or even has plans to kill himself, but in that he makes very strange decisions for someone who desperately wants to live.

And yes, I realize I speak blasphemy given that Tom Riddle’s entire m.o. is supposed to be his crippling fear of death.

Oh man, this one’s going to be so long.

So, my reasoning comes down to a few things:

The location of the horcruxes and the nature of their protections.

The events of Deathly Hallows and Tom’s final actions in the novel

The nature of horcruxes and what it means to not only be able to create one but what it does to you (caveat that I am going to headcanon hard here and speak utter blasphemy)

So, let’s start in order this time, because I think the first two are actually far easier for me to explain.

The Location and Nature of the Horcrux Protections and the Trouble with Backdoors in Security

So, first, the horcruxes are all conveniently located in Great Britain. Not even just in Great Britain, all in places that Albus Dumbledore and later Harry Potter can track down with relative ease, all fairly close to each other.

Now, part of this is undoubtedly attributable to Tom’s overly romantic nature. 

Yes, Tom Riddle is a giant romantic, though not necessarily in the traditional sense everyone thinks of. The film “Patton” and its treatment of Patton comes to mind. Tom Riddle is a man enamored by a sense of greatness, of being remembered in this world rather than fading into oblivion, by the significance of places and times in history not only of the world but of himself. He creates an entire, grand, persona for himself because to live an ordinary life for him is to be worthy of nothing.

So, given that, of course Tom places the horcruxes in sentimental locations that have personal meaning to him.

However, it also makes them perilously easy to find and collect.

By itself, this wouldn’t spark my notice.

The ability to destroy horcruxes are not easy to come by. There’s only one basilisk and it’s by chance/Lucius fucking up that Harry gains access to the necessary basilisk venom. Using Fyendfire is an incredibly dangerous thing to do and just as likely to blow up you and the next three towns over as it is to destroy a horcrux. And if there are other means of destroying a horcrux they’re just as hard to come by or just as dangerous.

It’s not quite throwing it into the fires of Mt. Doom from which it was forged but it’s pretty damn close.

So, really, without JKR’s convenient Deus Ex Machina giving both him and Dumbledore the means to actually destroy these things, Tom Riddle’s horcruxes are pretty damn safe no matter where we put them. As we see from the locket, which Regulus manages to collect but Kreacher cannot destroy even after several decades.

However, what does spark my notice, is that the horcruxes can be collected by someone other than Tom Riddle when it appears as if they were never intended to be. What do I mean by this?

From what we see, there’s no benefit to Tom if the original horcruxes are found by anyone. He doesn’t seek them out to restore his original body, they’re just anchor points that should be hidden at all costs. So, he’ll never need a Death Eater to go collect them for him should he be indisposed (indeed, to do so would require a tremendous amount of trust in people he has very little trust in). 

So, why hide them in such a way that others can access them? There are canon based options which would have prevented anyone else from reaching them. Given the existence of age lines, I imagine Tom Riddle could make some arbitrary barrier keyed only to himself. There are mokeskin pouches, such as the one Harry is given in the seventh book, which we know can only be accessed by whoever they’re keyed to. There’s the Fidelius Charm which, true requires a secret keeper which Tom would be very meh on, but options exist.

Tom Riddle could wipe the locations of his horcruxes off the face of the map. He chooses not to. Which leads me to believe that, at least on some unconscious level, he wants the horcruxes to be found.

Then we have the protections.

Specifically, I’m thinking of the locket here.

Yes, the protections are very formidable, but they’re also goddamn weird. 

Rather than make the horcrux simply inaccessible, kill all those intruding, instead the intruder has to go through a very “Saw” like puzzle in which they drown themselves in despair until they finally get the locket, at which point they likely suicide by zombie.

More, there’s no hint that there’s any other way to retrieve the locket. 

Backdoors in security are a very bad idea. What they do is weaken the security as a whole and, if you can take a short cut is, it means that someone who is clever enough and motivated enough can to. Dumbledore is both clever and motivated enough, and I imagine if there was a way to get the horcrux that involved not doing this ridiculous task he would have done it.

More, we’d be back to the land of Tom making sure only he can access the horcrux by requiring a password, keying it to his magical signature, or something so that no one else could get it.

Which means, that’s right, if Tom wants to get the locket he’s drinking the goddamn despair juice just like the rest of us.

What kind of a person would do any of this?

I’ve gone over this before, but I don’t think Tom Riddle’s crazy. Rather, in this case, I think he’s driven by an unbelievable amount of nihilist rage and is also quite depressed.

Tom goes to collect his horcrux, “Ah, it’s time to remember what a miserable life I’ve led and the sheer awfulness of my own existence. Good, I was starting to feel a little too happy. Let’s see if I get eaten by my undead, vengeful, victims today.” 

The Events of Deathly Hallows and Tom Riddle’s Death

I think Tom Riddle’s final death in the books was suicide.

Tom takes over the Wizarding World, finally, and it’s as miserable as ever.

He’s trapped in this sham, barely functional, probably very painful body. His Death Eaters are completely out of control and for all that he wanted society to burn it’s now burning and no one’s even learned anything from this. Children in Hogwarts are being routinely tortured and have now staged a rebellion in which he’s having to slaughter them (I have reasons to believe that this is not what Tom Riddle wanted, at all, but that’s best saved for another post), and then he learns his horcruxes have all been destroyed without him even noticing.

There’s so little left of him, he has accomplished nothing, and there’s Harry Potter back from the dead yet again, gloating at him that love conquers all and Tom Riddle will never understand.

And Harry’s right, Tom Riddle will never understand, the world is meaningless and flat to him now and he finally understand that there’s no point to it. I think Tom Riddle decides he’s done. He’s just done.

He enters in a duel with Harry Potter knowing the weird nature of their wands. Now, it can be assumed he used the Elder Wand, but we know they get locked in Priori Incatatum , and that makes no damn sense with the Elder Wand (well, wandlore in general is silly, but I’m working with what JKR gave me here). So I choose to take JKR at her somewhat established canon and say that, no matter what Harry thought, Voldemort was using his original wand.

He throws out the killing curse, despite having now witnessed Harry resurrecting twice to this thing, and within two seconds it rebounds and kills him.

Voldemort’s death is a lot like this scene from the recent, terrible, 2020 live action Mulan (10/10 do not recommend).  Now, we’re supposed to think that this scene is the witch saving Mulan’s life and thus showing her hope for the next generation. In actuality, the witch literally flies into an arrow she could have easily deflected from Mulan’s path. It’s a suicide that Mulan is too stupid to notice.

Tom chooses suicide in the most ridiculous, flamboyant, and easily written off manner one can and no one even notices. Instead Harry crows that he has personally defeated Voldemort, with the power of love no less, HUZZAH!

And the castle parties.

The Nature of Horcruxes

I almost don’t want to include this because it’s so... well, I’m really drifting far from canon and fandom now.

However, with horcruxes, there’s always an overriding question of why Tom is able to make so many when we don’t see anyone else with these things around (especially as it’s clear that murder doesn’t simply happen for those that now have horcruxes).

Usually, you have fic authors just sort of shrug and go, “Well, he’s that evil, I guess.” Sometimes you have them go, “No one else is crazy enough to keep going, and that’s why Voldemort’s cuckoo bananas.” 

One very good explanation I’ve seen is that it’s because most people, when they murder, feel remorse immediately. The soul split happens, but they’re haunted by the murder for the rest of their life, and thus the horcrux isn’t made. Voldemort, feeling nothing when he kills anyone, is thus able to make them even for when he’s only indirectly associated with the death in question.

However, to me that never really jived philosophically.

Mostly, I simply cannot imagine that tearing apart your very soul is an act of indifference. Here’s how I see it: to do something like that to yourself, you must care, you must care beyond all imagine and human endurance. Your soul literally cannot abide it and saws itself in half, purging what you cannot stand about yourself the most. 

The remorse part is, yes, remorse for the act and the victim but more to the point it is the ability to forgive and reaccept the worst part of yourself. That part of yourself that you purged and destroyed, which is nearly impossible to do and might very well destroy the fabric of who you are). 

In other words, while creating a horcrux is an abominable act of hatred, it is also one of profound self-hatred.

Tom Riddle loathes himself so much that he is able to do this over and over and over again. 

As Tom Riddle goes on he makes himself into less and less and less of himself until he probably doesn’t even know who he is anymore. He just knows, whatever is left of him, he loathes that too. 

And then, of course, he gives up, runs into the nearest flying arrow, and dies.

TL;DR: Tom Riddle’s is a miserable existence that ended in a miserable if unintentionally hilarious manner

[worth-more-than-two-thousand]

Returning from the Dead is Easier Said than Done...

Request: Welcome, Shiny! May I request an x Reader (can be fem or gender neutral) where Echo (post-citadel) comes up to their s/o's doorstep to give them flowers and ask them on a date? A plus if the Bad Batch teases him for dressing up nicely and buying flowers. Thank you! (@handmaidenthesimp)

Author’s Note: Enjoy! If anybody wants me to repost with a gender-neutral reader, just let me know. 

Story Notes: Some swearing, not much else to warn you about. Take place in-between Season 7 of CW and The Bad Batch. No Omega this time, sorry! 

🖑 🖑 🖑 🖑 🖑

Being declared dead was uncomplicated. Your Republic file was branded with a "KIA" stamp, everyone stoically mourned, and someone just a bit shinier would step in to fill your shoes. 

Being declared undead, however, was decidedly more complicated. Oh, Echo was reassigned to Clone Force 99 easily enough. But it was the little things that seemed to get mired in red tape. Getting his few personal effects back. Re-opening his modest credit account.

Approving a rental application.

Admittedly, it wasn't that Echo really needed his own place; clones were conditioned to be accustomed to share minimalist, often-cramped quarters. And they were always on the move, so it hardly made any financial or practical sense, in the long run. 

But right now, oh, did Echo dearly wish that he was dressing up in the privacy of his own space...and not the shared cabin area of the Havoc Marauder. 

He kept his face stoic, as though readying for battle, refusing to acknowledge his teammates goggling in the background. They had returned early from their supply run. Echo had meant to be out of here an hour ago, but (somehow) hadn’t counted on just how difficult it would be to get dressed into multiple clothing pieces with a scomp link for a hand. 

So that’s how his comrades found him: trying to wrangle a neck accessory into submission by sheer will. 

Oh, if Fives could see him now. 

“You look funny,” Wrecker had declared decisively after an unbearably long silence. “What’s that thing you’ve got on?” 

“It’s a suit,” he grumbled, refusing to look any of them in the eye. “I’m going to see Y/N.”

Wrecker gasped like a fishwife. He leaned forward, and pitched his voice low. As though the others couldn’t still hear him in the tinny space.  “Your girlfriend? You mean you’re going to see her for the first time....since…” Wrecker made a muted cartoonish sound with his mouth, clenching then expanding his fingers in a gesture for ‘explosion’.

Echo stared at him for a moment disbelievingly, before nodding slowly, forcing the sarcastic response he really wanted to say back down. He couldn’t fault Wrecker for being...well, Wrecker. He had all the tact of a rampaging bantha. 

“An’ what’s that? Around your neck?” 

Echo opened his mouth, but someone cut across his response. “A bowtie,” Crosshair drolled, though his eyes glittered with amusement. Echo tensed, knowing that he wasn’t going to like what was coming next. 

“Fifty credits says he chokes, and he ends up strangling himself with it in shame." 

“No way!” Wrecker exclaimed, always the optimist. He clapped Echo on the back, who was unprepared so his knees buckled. He felt his metal joints strain. “Don’t worry, Echo,” his brother rasped in the loudest whisper known to man. “I bet she’s gonna love it!” 

“You know,” Tech piped up unhelpfully, “Your strategy may backfire. The current deviation from your usual appearance may be so jarring for your beloved that she refuses your offer out of simple self-preservation instincts.” 

Echo gritted his teeth. “Right. You have stats to back that up, I suppose?” 

Tech blinked at him owlishly. “Of course I don’t. This is an obvious possible outcome.”

“I’m trying to look nice,” he snapped, scowling. 

There was a loaded pause. “...’trying’ being the objective word here,” Crosshair smirked.  

Before Echo could wipe the look off his comrade’s face with a well-placed ARC trooper punch that would’ve made Hardcase proud, Hunter wedged his way in between them, hands up in a conciliatory gesture. 

“All right, laugh it up, fellas. Personally, I think you’re all jealous because you don’t have a girl waiting for you like Echo does.” Hunter turned to face their newest member, took the bowtie that was clenched in Echo’s fist, and smoothed it out before proceeding to tie it around his neck with surprisingly deft hands. 

Crosshair ‘hmphed’ while Wrecker verbally agreed, looking slightly put out by the undeniable truth. Tech simply nodded in neutral confirmation. The group lapsed into a somewhat awkward (but not unwelcome) silence as Hunter finished tugging at the folded ends of the bow, then double-checking to ensure it was straight. He stepped back to assess his work.

“You look good,” he said sincerely.

Echo thought he was in the clear. 

Hunter frowned. “But...it looks like you’re missing something.” 

Or not. 

“Like dignity?” Crosshair drawled from a dark corner of the ship that Echo frustratingly couldn’t glare at. 

“A sense of self-confidence,” Tech suggested. He wasn’t joking. 

“FLOWERS!” Wrecker boomed confidently. “All girls like flowers. You gotta get her some before you see her!”   

“I...fine.” Echo relented, anything to get his teammates to shut up. He shoved his way through them towards the bridge. “I’ll get her some flowers. You all stay here until I get back. I mean it, Fives!” he warned.

An uneasy silence followed him, which he didn’t register until he reached the landing ramp. 

He shot an exasperated look back at them. “What?’ 

“...Your former comrade is not here, Echo.” Tech finally spoke. His words were clinical, as always, but there was a touch of understanding underlying his tone. 

Echo froze, just for a moment, then shook off the shock of his faux pas as best as he could. 

It wasn’t the first time that had happened, after all. 

Echo descended the landing ramp, squared his shoulders, and marched into town. 

Y/N lived in a run-down but culturally distinct district of Coruscant, characterized by food stalls from species and ethnicities all over the galaxy. Children often ran through the streets, sellers in colorful robes and attire shouting their wares and art for all to peruse. It was one of the nicer markets, he thought, having come here once. He had been accompanying Y/N on her usual run for specialized ingredients that made the diner she worked at the talk of the galaxy. 

Echo elbowed his way through the crowded street, content to simply blend in with the crowd, to forget about being a soldier for a moment. 

He paused at a flower stand and was mindful not to draw too much attention to his scomp-link hand as he ordered a dozen sunflowers, which he remembered were Y/N’s favorite. When his credit chip was declined, however, he sighed and reached into his pocket to see what spare change he could muster up. Being that he was wearing a never-worn suit, however, meant that there was no change to be found, and the unimpressed florist snatched the bouquet away. 

That’s okay, Echo. Y/N doesn't need flowers. She just wants to see you.

At least, he hoped that was the case. He hadn’t exactly written to her yet, unsure that he could sufficiently explain his sudden non-death in typed words...

Surprise! I’m not dead! Hey, you know that explosion on the citadel? Well, I survived! And out of it, I got an all-expenses paid trip to  the Techno Union research facility! Why didn’t I write? Well, I was in stasis most of the time and that part’s a bit fuzzy. I also was responsible for killing my brothers by using their own battle plans against them. Oh, and you might notice that I’m missing most of my fleshy bits these days… 

He shook his head to clear his thoughts, which were more rapid these days thanks to his enhancements. He was good at compartmentalizing, though. He had to be. He was still a soldier, through and through, and no one wanted a soldier who was about two seconds away from a mental breakdown.

Yeah, a letter to Y/N wouldn’t have cut it. But he still felt like maybe he could have sent ahead some sort of...heads up? A warning? A ‘Please don’t scream when you see me because I don’t think my heart could take it?’ 

His feet finally guided him to the front entrance of the building where he knew she lived on the 14th floor. Glancing around, he spotted some blue flowers sprouting in a planter near the entrance. He yanked a fairly healthy-looking handful from the soil, shaking the roots to get most of the dirt off. He tucked the strangled roots into his fist so that they would be less obvious. 

It was time. He nodded to himself, squared his shoulders, and entered the building. 

A short elevator ride later, Echo could feed the sweat beading at his forehead and neck. At least his fight or flight response seemed to be healthy and alive, and Echo tuned out everything but the door in front of him, adorned with a purple wreath of lavender flowers. 

He stood in front of the door, and raised his hand to knock. 

He stood…

In front of the door…

...and raised his hand…

...to knock, you coward. Just fucking knock. 

His raised knuckles, however, refused to move. Echo caught a glimpse of himself in the curtained window panes on the sides of the door, and at the sight of his bloodless face, suddenly felt a whole lot less sure of himself. 

He looked ridiculous. 

He and Y/N had barely gotten to know each other before his untimely death. 

What if she was with someone new? 

This was a terrible idea. Echo should leave now, before he caused himself any more embarrassment. Crosshair might get his fifty credits, after all. 

Echo had just convinced himself to turn around and admit defeat, when the door suddenly swung open. 

Two Y/C/E eyes met his. 

There were points during Echo’s battle career where time slowed to a crawl. When an explosive grenade was thrown just a bit too close, or the comrade you had just exchanged banter with received blaster fire to the face. 

Echo was experiencing the same sensation now, but he would voluntarily stay in this moment forever, if he could. He fervently hoped his nightmares would be replaced with the sight that was etched before him. 

She was wearing her yellow work uniform, white apron pressed crisply with starch...and was as beautiful as ever. Her hair was up in a messy ‘late-for-work’ up-do, a smudge of blushed color not quite within the lines of her lips smearing her cupids’ bow where she had applied it in a rush.

He couldn’t determine whether her reaction to his sudden appearance was positive or not, and so didn’t dare speak first, breathlessly afraid that if he did, the moment would shatter. 

He saw her swallow hard, glancing at him from head to toe, gaze landing on his right hand. 

He guarded his heart. 

“Ech? Echo, is that you?” she whispered. Her eyes tore away from the scomp link hand, and began searching his face as though just as afraid he would disappear. 

He nodded. “Yeah,” he rasped, then cleared his throat. “Yeah, it’s me.”

The silence stretched out, and the fight or flight response was creeping back. 

“I know I look a bit different.” He tried for a light-hearted joke, but couldn’t quite get his tone to match. “Had some work done. What do you think?” He winced slightly.

She stepped forward and he froze as Y/N lifted her fingers, hesitating briefly before gently touching one of the metal bolts by his left temple. Her eyebrows furrowed in concern.

“...do they hurt?” 

He gasped a little as he remembered to breathe again.

“No,” he reassured her, raising his undamaged hand to steady hers. “No, it doesn’t hurt.” 

“...good.” 

The wind was knocked out of him as Y/N flung her arms around him, burying her face in his neck, tardiness to her job completely forgotten. 

She began sobbing. It wasn’t neat little sobs, like in the scripted holovids, but heaving sobs that wracked her whole body, and he worried slightly that she was going to faint on him. He forgot about his scomp link for the first time as he rubbed it in circles against her back, murmuring nonsense words of comfort in her ear. 

After several minutes, she sniffled, stepping back. She rubbed her nose ungracefully where snot was leaking out, but Echo could have cared less about any of that. He only kept his arms out to steady her, in case she needed support again.

Y/N glanced down suddenly, and flushed.

“Oh. I’ve crushed them.”

Echo followed her gaze and saw that he was still holding the blue flowers from the planter in his good hand, the bouquet having been caught in between their bodies when she had thrown herself at him. They did look a little worse for wear. 

He shrugged unconcernedly. “They were free,” he said, not wanting her to feel guilty. 

She stared at him for a moment before a bubble of laughter burst from her lips. She still looked like she was about to sob at any moment, but she smiled tremulously at him through shining eyes. 

Desperate to make her feel better, he began rambling. 

“I can get you better ones! N-not right now, though,” he stuttered. “Actually, it turns out that I don’t have any credits on me at the moment. Everything’s still kind of backed up at the bank regarding my accounts. Also, this suit is new. Well. Not new. It used to belong to this woman’s father who we rescued during a mission on Bith. Long story.” His brain, which worked faster than usual these days anyways, still couldn’t seem to catch up to his mouth.

He forced himself to get back to the task at hand. “I was actually here to ask you for a date. I mean, assuming there’s no one else at the moment…oh, but you have your job to go do…bantha spit, I forgot about that...” He would have to ask Tech if it was possible for his brain to actually short-circuit.

Echo finally trailed off. Now he was the one blushing. 

The whole of Domino Squad was probably having a good laugh at his expense right about now, wherever they were. 

But Y/N was still smiling at him. And her chin had stopped wobbling. She gently took the flowers from Echo’s hand and placed them on one of the side tables in the hallway before intertwining her fingers with his and grasping his right hand without hesitation. 

“Forget about my job. Let’s go on that date. My treat. Though, if I know Dexter, he’ll give us a free meal, on the house. And the rest of the day off."

For the first time since he had joined Clone Force 99, since he had been rescued on Skako Minor, and even before the Citadel...Echo allowed a true grin of happiness to spread on his face. 

“A free meal,” he echoed. “Sounds like a plan.” 

[hopeless-ro-simptic]

Familiar Cerulean Eyes Pt. 5

Click here for other parts. Part 6 is up here.

Sorry for the delay, midterms kicked my butt and then I was sick all weekend, but here it is! For those wondering where Shoto is, don’t worry, he’s coming. This chapter is more of an introduction to the rest of the League. 

Word Count: 2.5 K 

Taglist:  @skzero-99 @superblyspeedydragon @jparra4587 @flyingowls @emrysaaryn @imuziawi @sheedaabee @peculiarinsomniac @littlelovebug98 @plutoneu @giftofwonder @kitty-kat-ash @fukyouthink @anarchys-bnha-mess @threbony @orenjineki @toobsessedsstuff @bamf-barnes @x-a-delama-x @inanabsentia @reallyshey @godsblesstheboi @operatorsdime @drownedbytears

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You expected there to by some sort of delay, making you sit in the black mist for a moment, a brief second before entering wherever it was taking you. There wasn’t. So, with no preparation at all, you were dropped into a corner of a dingy looking bar, surrounded by the unfamiliar scents of strangers. None of which you could assume were good company.

Dabi immediately shoved you behind him up against the corner, standing between you and the rest of the villains all of which who’s eyes immediately locked onto your own as you peeked out from behind him. There was no hiding your omega’s scent.

“My, my, someone smells delicious… what do you have there lover boy?” An Alpha on the other side of the room with a mask covering everything but his mouth and eyes stared back at you, smile on his face, a marble being rolled between his fingers.

“She’s so cute, I want a taste.” Golden eyes, wide with excitement, followed your movements as the petite blonde beta bounced in her seat, a knife between her fingers. You think you recognized her as the one that was called Toga, Shoto and his friends had run into her a couple times now. She had some kind of blood quirk and was obsessive with people.

You shrunk further back into the corner, eliciting a low growl from Dabi, which only made the alpha’s smile across the room widen.

“Now now pretty boy, why don’t you let the pretty girl say hello?”

The second beta jumped in now, his scent confusing your omega as it smelled both sweet and spicey, strong and weak all at the same time. “She should join us. Kill her she knows too much!” He sounded like two completely different people when he spoke, if you weren’t watching him you couldn’t have been sure that both voices were him.

The last person in the room, other than Shigaraki and Kurogiri, a scaled alpha with purple hair that sat the closest to you stayed silent, watching and listening.

You had barely blinked and the small blonde in the school uniform was in your face, peering around Dabi a wide smile across her features, her tongue licking her vampire like teeth.

“I’m Toga, that’s Twice, Spinner and the fancy guy in the top hat is Compress!”

“Toga!” Shigaraki growled out in annoyance.

“What? Everyone already knows who we are anyways! It’s rude to not introduce yourself.” Toga turned back to you, her crazed smile still wide, knife still in her hand. She took a step towards you only for Dabi to burst into flames, essentially engulfing you as well, forcing her to step back several paces.

“If anyone touches her I will rip their fucking heads off and burn them to a crisp”

The room was immediately filled with the scent of your panic rising as you tried to cower away from the flames licking at your skin but not burning you. You tried to rein in the panic, knowing you were fine but the sight and smell of the flames and smoke had your omega chirping wildly for help from an unknown source.

Dabi put out the fire as soon as everyone was far enough away, not even bothering to glance back at your terrified form. What the fuck was that? Did he know you couldn’t be burned? Did he care?

It was then that you noticed the deafening silence that followed. The questions hung thick in the air as everyone watched as your unscathed form looked up at Dabi with distress on your face. Even the hoodie you were wearing was barely burnt at the edges, making you wonder if most of his clothes were fire resistant somehow.

Kurogiri was the first to react, appearing suddenly in front of your form between you and Dabi, causing a low warning growl to be emited from the alpha, but the calm and collected beta ignored him completely.

“What’s your name little one?”

Dabi watched, ready to step in at a moments notice, but shockingly, you didn’t feel any malice coming from the well dressed mist in front of you. You had heard about majority of the member of the league from the Todoroki’s, mostly Shoto, but you were still amazed at the mist in front of you. Did he have a body? His scent was so soft and calming, even for a beta. It was so easy to miss. Like a light rain on a spring morning. It was no wonder you didn’t notice him when he first entered Dabi’s apartment earlier.

Everyone else was silent, watching on with curiosity as Kurogiri prompted you a second time.

“Your name?”

“Oh.. um… Y/N” You felt oddly at ease speaking to the mist in front of you, he didn’t have nearly the same effect on your omega that the other villains in the room did. You felt like he wouldn’t hurt you for some reason. You weren’t scared of him.

“Y/N…and can I ask what your quirk is, Y/N?”

You glanced over to Dabi, his face unreadable, before glancing around the room. As much as you didn’t want to tell the league of villains anything about yourself, you knew they weren’t going to leave you alone until you answered.

“Nullification skin… quirks and their effects that are outside of my skin don’t usually work on me. It’s pretty hit or miss though.”

Dabi glanced over to see that Shigaraki, who had been silently scratching away at his neck this entire time had stopped, glancing at his hands and back at you the question clearly written on his face. Dabi let out a snarl stepping towards the other alpha, ready to take him on if he so much as reached for you again.

“That doesn’t mean test it.”

You could see the blue haired alpha growing angry with how Dabi was talking to him. You didn’t want to be in the middle of another fight between the two.

“Come now, let’s not fight over the pretty damsel, I believe we have a mission to discuss?” Compress had spoken again, his eyes watching you with interest and something else. He made you uneasy.

“He’s right. Show and tell is over. We can deal with your little pet later. Kurogiri, get her out of here.”

Before Dabi could react, you were once again sent through the black mist of a portal, a soft chirp leaving your lips.

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The room you were in was small and looked like a prison cell if you were being honest. Maybe it was, after all you knew that the League of Villains was not above taking hostages. There was nothing in the room other than a toilet in the corner and a mattress on the floor, as well as a camera perched high up in the corner of the ceiling. Not even a blanket to keep you warm. There wasn’t even a door, which really had you confused. You guessed that the only way in or out of here was through a teleportation quirk. You curled up in the corner, on the mattress pulling your knees tight against your chest, tears streaming down your face as you cried silently.

You had always been a cry baby, the Todoroki pups used to tease you about it all the time, even Touya. Especially Touya. You felt like today you were allowed to cry though, given everything that has gone down in the last day or so. You felt like every five minutes you were going to die, and now the only person who seems to care about your safety, even though he is the one that kidnapped you to begin with, was ripped away from you, not to mention he clearly was hiding things. Like how he knew what your quirk was, or at least that his fire wouldn’t affect you. Had you been on fire at the market? Did he just assume you were fireproof? Or did he not know and just didn’t care if he burnt you?

The emotions that swirled in you were so confusing. You had been kidnapped, caught on fire, and almost killed.

On the other hand, your omega was over the moon at the attention you had received today. You hadn’t had someone look at you the way that Dabi does in years, in some ways ever. Were you just latching onto him emotionally because he is the nicest one out of all the murderers? You didn’t think so. Before the others were even involved he was kind to you. Sure he kidnapped you, and yes he was a cocky arrogant bastard that seems to think he has a claim over you. But he hasn’t even fully scented you yet. He hasn’t really forced himself on you. Not how a typical alpha would… and he gave you a blanket. Unscented. What alpha does that? For some reason, your omega, no not even, you were entranced by the blue eyed alpha. You wanted to smell him, to build a nest around him, to…

You frowned at your thoughts. Why were you going there? You barely knew this guy, and clearly he knew a lot more about you than you thought.  You couldn’t trust him just because he was a little nicer than some of the other alpha’s you had known, let alone the other villains you were surrounded by. Just because he is only the second other person to get you a gift. Just because he reminds you so much of a red-haired alpha that you missed with every ounce of your being.

Your stomach growled and you realized there was no food in this room or water, you weren’t sure how long it has been or how long you would be in here. Surely they would bring you some food and water, since they didn’t kill you outright.

Or maybe they would all grab some popcorn and watch as you starved to death, your mind going crazy at the silence.

After a few more minutes, or maybe it was a couple hours, you weren’t sure, the black mist of a portal finally showed up again, Dabi stepping through, it closing behind him. He looked tired and annoyed, his hair all sticking up from what you assumed was him running his fingers through it. It was a sexy look that’s for sure, but you ignored your inner omega, refusing to acknowledge his existence as you continued to stare at where the portal had been. At this point you were done crying, now you were angry.  

“I’ll be back in a couple days… you’ll have to stay here. It’s the best protection I can offer you right now. Tomura won’t even let me take you to my room here. He’s worried you’ll escape and go running to the hero’s” He glanced over at you, his hands buried deep in the pockets of his long cloak that was classic for his villain costume, a frown gracing his lips. “He’s probably not wrong I assume.”

“I want to go home,” His lips quirked up at your response. You sounded mad. Feisty. He liked it a little too much. He wanted to rile you up some more.

“I don’t doubt that, but which home are we talking about princess? The cage that is the number 2 hero’s domain? Or is it somewhere else?”

“What do you know about me?” Your eyes flitted over to his, a frown pulling at your face seeing that he was smirking per the usual. As much as your omega wanted him, there was no denying it at this point, you didn’t trust him for a second.

He squatted down in front of you, his arms resting casually on his knees, his face leaning in close to your own, the smell of alcohol on his breath.

“I know that you’re not wearing any underwear right now, cause I have your panties in my pocket. I know that the little gasps you make are sexy as fuck, and that you’ll probably be a good obedient little mouse once we get down to the nasty of things. I know that your lips look so damned kissable and I know that you want m-“ You shoved him, causing him to fall back onto the floor in front of you a weak hiss coming out of your throat, your face beet red.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it” the smirk on his lips wavering slightly as you turned away from him again, your voice flat. You were tired, you didn’t want to play his games right now. You were already starting to feel numb from the constant stress.

He let out a sigh, pushing himself back up onto his feet, pulling a walkie-talkie from his cloak pocket, tossing it to the bed next to you.

“Look, Kurogiri has the other one, if you need anything call him, he will get it for you. I’ll be back in a couple days and then we can get you into a more comfortable place okay? With a real bed.”

You continued to ignore him, wishing he would just leave you alone. Apparently having your life threated and being toyed with was exhausting. You curled up into yourself, facing the corner of the room leaning your head against the wall, as you heard the shuffle behind you the Alpha waiting for any kind of response.

After about a minute, he let out a soft grunt, turning to leave, pausing once more.

“Is there anything you want from the apartment before I leave? Maybe your old clothes for comfort…” You could barely hear the last part, a strange sadness tinting his voice. They only barely had Shoto’s scent on them, but you somehow knew that was what he was referring to.

Your omega spoke before you could even think.

“Can I have that blanket back... and some food?”

It was only a couple minutes after he left that the portal opened, your blanket, a singular pillow that after a quick sniff you confirmed was the one from his bed, and a bag of snacks and food being dropped onto the floor before closing again. You shuffled over grabbing the pillow and blanket planning to make what little of a nest you could when you noticed a sticky note with one word scratched onto it stuck to the bag of snacks. Reading it made your heart flutter in a way that you hated. Why did your omega want him?  

Sorry.

[bigskydreaming]

Hi! You've talked about Brother Blood a lot so I was hoping you'd know. I saw a post where some people were saying that Dick being brainwashed was a retcon done just to make him look less jerky. Is that true?

Eh, yes and no?

Like it depends on what you consider a retcon to be, I guess. If you view any story moment that contradicts or alters a previous one to be a retcon, then yeah, I suppose you could call it that. Personally though, I consider retcons to be later additions to a story or continuity that create a REPLACEMENT for an earlier story moment, that people are meant to refer back to from then on. Dick's brainwashing, to me, was simply a reveal. It altered the way his previous behavior was viewed, but it was deliberately led up to, like that WAS the story.

Now, to be fair, the specific way the brainwashing was explained, it made things ambiguous enough that you could make USE of the brainwashing to excuse or explain away pretty much anything you didn't like about his behavior between the first Church of Blood story (when Dick was still Robin) and this one. So I suppose in that respect, it is a retcon.

But what makes me scrunchy faced when most people write off or ignore the brainwashing as a retcon (and why is it that people are so willing to accept SOME retcons but not others, I would really like to know, like 'but it was a retcon' seems to come up ANNOYINGLY often in Dick's narratives in particular, with that line being used to try and invalidate Dick being fired, Robin being his mother's name for him, that he was brainwashed in the Church of Blood stories, etc. Yeah they were retcons, but so were eighty million other things people just accept. Like.....I'm just saying).

BUT I DIGRESS.

Anyway, what makes me go eh about people going 'oh the brainwashing was just a retcon to make him seem like less of a jerk' because yes, I have heard that argument too.....is that the things people cite as what they feel are examples of the behavior they think this was a retcon FOR, like.....just do not work as such.

Because the big ones are the ways Dick behaved on Tamaran and with Kory's political marriage, and then his fight with Donna upon his return to Earth.

And I just want to point out the timeline involved here:

Dick's big blowup with Kory over her political marriage? Was in New Teen Titans #18. His fight with Donna, was in #19. The reveal of his brainwashing, which led him to lash out due to the mental and emotional turmoil he was in fighting against the conditioning, as Mother Mayhem termed it, was in #22.

That's a span of less than five months from the biggest jerk moment people cite as what was being retconned with the brainwashing....til the brainwashing moment itself. And there's a couple of things to keep in mind here.....first, that comics - especially back in the eighties - take TIME to produce. Even if there had been a huge reader backlash at the time of #18's publication, with readers calling for Dick's head, the idea that this could lead to inserting the entire brainwashing plot setup as a fix-it retcon is dubious if not outright impossible. Issue #22 was on the SHELVES not even five full months after #18's publication. In the 80s, the way comics were produced and published, they needed to be completely finished and shipped off to retailers a couple months before their on-shelf date, and it took weeks to print everything, and the lettering and inking and every step of the creation of each issue was done by hand.....

How exactly, do people propose that DC even had TIME to note any sizable need to correct or fix Dick's behavior in something like #18....and actually DO so by #22?

Not to mention, every issue in between them lays another brick into place on the road to REVEALING that Dick was brainwashed this whole time.....because in #19, when he had that big fight with Donna, he was actively shown questioning himself on his OWN behavior after the fight was over. Asking himself why he said the things he did, like....he was second-guessing his own behavior, which I don't see how that could have possibly been put in to lay groundwork for a retcon AFTER #18 was published....because #19 and #20 likely should have been already completed and off to the printers by the time #18 even hit stands.

And then AFTER #19, in #20 and #21, we saw Dick actively infiltrating the Church, or THINKING that was what he was doing, even though the Church was on to him the whole time, because his conditioning was actually just....directing him to basically walk right back into their clutches. Again, works as set up for the REVEAL that he was brainwashed, but impossible to have put into place to enable a RETCON.

So no matter how you look at it, even IF the decision to introduce a brainwashing retcon to 'fix' some of Dick's behavior had been made due to story elements from BEFORE #18.....

The events of #18 themselves, as well as #19-#22......still do not work as things that are just conveniently retconned by the brainwashing.....they have to have been written with the specific intention in mind of laying groundwork for the idea that Dick was 'lashing out due to his mental struggle against his conditioning.'

The timing just does not work for them to be anything else.

So it doesn't work for me at all, to cite those issues as things retconned by the brainwashing reveal, when HOW Dick acted on Tamaran, plus his fight with Donna, were very clearly written as DELIBERATE moments where he was behaving in a way that can literally be described as out of character, because they were meant to post-reveal, be viewed as examples of how he wasn't himself, how his mental and emotional state themselves were being impacted by external influences. (Not just in terms of external events but like, external mental conditioning).

And I just don't think it works to use moments that are written WITHIN a narrative to be DELIBERATELY out of character.....as examples of his characterization or proof of the necessity of a retcon for his character, lol. That makes no sense to me.

And lastly, I also have to point to the fact that like......good old Marv is not actually the most aware guy out there? And I question the idea that just because people TODAY may look at various things Dick said or did in stories leading up to the reveal and think oh yeah, of course they'd want to course correct that.....I don't exactly think that means that back in the 80s, Wolfman viewed those same things as even NEEDING a retcon to correct. Especially when you consider things the other characters around Dick were doing, without any kind of retcon for their worst behavior? Why would it be only Dick that he saw a need to retcon his behavior or actions, especially when Dick's worst ones literally ONLY happen in the actual narrative buildup to the brainwashing reveal, mere months before the issue revealing it hit the stands?

*Shrugs* Anyway, YMMV, but to me its always clearly read as all of that was just a story where writing Dick acting increasingly out of character in ways that isolated him from his closest friends and allies so there was no one around TO stop him from walking himself right back into the Church's grasp....like, that was pretty clearly the POINT of that entire narrative, and the literal reason those fights he had even happened.

Writing it off as a retcon just to me seems an unnecessary tangle that doesn't serve any real purpose and complicates things needlessly. All it accomplishes is more of the usual 'oh Dick's not so great, look at THIS stuff he did, and how DC did this and this to make all that go away.'

Like.....DC doesn't even see a need to retcon away BRUCE'S worst behavior - then as much as now - and if they don't do it for BATMAN why are people so sure they're invested in doing it for Dick Grayson?

Sometimes a story reveal is just a story reveal, if you ask me. Which you did. So yeah. That's my answer. Nah, it wasn't actually a retcon, it was a planned plot twist.

Edit: Actually one last thing to point out -

Wolfman wrote brainwashing and possession storylines all the time. ALL THE TIME. Like, he LOVES that shit. 99% of those other ones don’t seem to have ‘need to retcon this character’s behavior’ as a reason for them being written, so why does this particular storyline need a reason for existing beyond ‘Wolfman wanted to write a brainwashing story. Again.’

[princecharmingmendes]

Heart by Heart | Chapter II | Raul Mendes

                                          *secret agent AU*

Y/N and Raul have been friends ever since they could remember. And falling in love with your best friend can be pretty tricky and messy 99% of the times, add that to the fact they're constantly risking their lives side by side on the field since they're both secret agents, and the best team that's ever existed. Perfect recipe for disaster.

Hi, this is the second chapter of this series, you can find the first one here. Please read the warnings on this one, if you don't feel comfortable with the contents listed on the "warnings" section, please read something else, there are a lot of other works on my masterlist and on the "fic rec" hashtag on my blog. Please give me some feedback and I hope you guys like. Happy Reading!

previous chapter | masterpost | next chapter

*Word Count: 5.2K+

*Warnings: cursing, mentions of violence/crimes, migraine due to work stress, Raul teasing the reader endlessly (for me, that’s the most important warning). Please don’t read it if any of this subjects make you uncomfortable, feel free to check my masterlist for other writings. 

*Posted: July 8th, 2021.

                                                    -*-

A week later things were back to normal. 

Sure, the night they came back, after they were checked for any injuries on the med department and were cleared, Raul dragged her back to his apartment claiming he was craving sushi and he was only ordering if she was with him. In reality, that was a way to keeping his head busy with something else so the events of that day would be coped nicely without so much suffering. And one way of doing it was keeping his girl, best friend and partner, at a close distance so he knew she’d be safe and well. 

He was extra sweet that night, making sure she had everything she needed, even agreed to put on face masks with her while watching a random movie. And she was really glad to have him near. The thought of him getting her, or worst... it just killed her a bit. But he was safe and he had his arms securely around her, and that was enough to put her on dreamland and having a great night of sleep.

Unfortunately that was not the case for Y/N today. 

Ever since Seth was back, he spent most of his time on the med bay to recover, he had to go through surgery and was finally recovering, but ever since he was back, every piece of information he had was being collected, and she was the one responsible to write it down. Most of the info he had was encoded and she was supposed to break it. Y/N’s been working nonstop for the past week, and when she had the opportunity to relax all by herself in her house, she felt restless. The main reason is that the person who had Seth was one of the most wanted man on the planet. Geonoff Reyes was capable of the vilest things without giving a second thought, and he’s been wanted for years now, and apparently Seth had the newest information of his whereabouts and new plans.

And knowing that was enough to put Y/N in restless nights of sleep, when she was even able to drift off. Most of her hours were invested on figuring out whatever she could, and several nights were only the continuation of her job during the day. And yeah, it was reckless and a bit stupid of her to sacrifice so much in a research, but Y/N knew this was a great opportunity and the biggest amount of clues they’ve ever received, she couldn’t let this all go. And she had to work fast, so Geonoff didn’t have enough time to notice some information missing or that someone outside of his limited inner circle so he wouldn’t chance anything. Or even move outside the country again, putting a massive political obstacle on their way. 

Y/N should’ve known better than to barely get any sleep in over seven days. She knew better than to barely eat or drink anything other than coffee. She knew and did it anyone. And that’s why she ended up where she was. Seven A.M. sharp on her little office on her company’s Head Quarters with a killing migraine that only got worse under the fluorescent lights. Y/N groaned softly as she basically collided on her office chair, cursing under her breath whoever thought bright white lights was a great idea. She was softly rubbing her temples when she heard a knock on her door, before someone came in without being invited, a delicious smell of coffee coming alongside the intruder. She didn’t need to look up to know Raul would be standing right in front of her desk. 

“What?” she grumbled, spinning in her chair to turn on her computer without even sparing a glance at him. 

Raul chuckled “good morning to you too, sunshine, I’m not even daring to ask how you are”

Y/N rolled her eyes and wincing at the pain the movement brought her “look, go pester someone else, I’m not in a good day”

“Yeah, that’s easy to see, gremlin, that’s why I brought you this” and a soft thud on her desk made her turn.

Raul was standing in front of her desk as she imagined, wearing his usual black outfit, a long sleeved tight turtleneck, accentuating all the muscles on his arms and back, tucked into a pair of dark grey trousers and Y/N had to hold back all her thoughts that were rather inappropriate to have on your best friend. And she wanted to be mad at how effortlessly beautiful he looked, just standing there, hands supporting his weight on the glass table as he leant forward casually to pick at her computer. He looked like a fucking runaway model at seven in the morning, his citric scent leaving her slightly intoxicated, but she knew he didn’t do it on purpose, he was just naturally hot. 

She than darted her eyes from his body quickly to not seem as if she was ogling him, which she totally was, only to be met with a steaming cup of black coffee. She rolled her eyes on the little attempts of black hearts he drew with a sharpie alongside a poorly written ‘secret admirer’ on the disposable cup. Y/N shook her head huffing a laugh as she took it.

“Aren’t you supposed to thank me?”

Y/N arched her brow at him “what for, exactly?”

“For being the best friend you’ll ever have?!” he stated as if it was obvious “come on, you look like you need it and I swear I didn’t spike it with anything”

“You’re saying you did out of your own free will? A benevolent act?” Y/N questioned playfully inspecting the cup.

Raul scoffed feigning hurt “Of course, I’m a good guy, practically a gentleman, you gremlin, how dare you think any different?” Behind all the teasing in his voice, she could see the worry evident in his golden eyes. Raul didn’t know all the details about what she was digging into since that were her boss’s order, but he knew enough to know she was probably overworking herself and getting a bit anxious. He knew her better than anyone and there were barely any secrets between them. 

“Fine” Y/N sighed taking a sip from the coffee, and it was precisely what she liked “thank you for being a decent human being once in your lifetime”

“You are very welcome, so any news?” he asked pointing to the screens of her computer. 

“Not really, I guess I was too tired to do much last night” she said opening all the images she had collected over the past week on her five computer screens “you know basically all the important stuff I gathered, I’m also monitoring the surveillance cameras on the places he might be, trying to get a glimpse of him, but till now nothing, only this car that’s been parked here for five days now”

“Weird”

Y/N giggled to herself before closing everything again “yeah, I know”

“So, I didn’t exactly came here just for the coffee” Raul said crossing his arms across his chest, standing on his full height, his biceps popping against the fabric of his shirt. 

“Of course not, I was just waiting for you order, cap”  she said as she reached into her purse for a painkiller.

His signature smirk appeared as he beamed down at her “Don’t tempt me, doll” 

“What is it then?” she asked and before Raul could reply, someone knocked on her door.

“Come in” he managed to say before her and soon enough Raul’s copy stuck his head inside. 

“Oh hi guys” Peter said before fully walking in and closing the door behind him “Am I interrupting something?”

“No, what do you need?” Y/N said turning to face him completely. 

Seeing Peter right beside Raul just made them look a lot more different. Sure, they were triplets, but they had completely opposite personalities. While Raul looked like a super model bad boy out of every romcom, Peter looked soft and gentle. He was just as handsome, his hair a bit more messy and a pair of glasses perched on his nose, adding to the soft features. He also wore light washed jeans and a very soft looking button up, a permanent blush on his cheeks. And despite the 6’3 and big muscles, he was almost like a walking teddy bear with a golden heart, specially if you got to know him. 

“I actually have some stuff for you two to test on my lab downstairs, and I thought since I was already here I could call you two to join me”

“Oh of course” Y/N said jumping to her feet and cursing under her breath, momentarily having forgotten the excruciating migraine she was still having “now right?”

“Yeah, but only if you can”

“Sure, come on, Raul” Y/N said grabbing her cup of coffee before walking to the door.

Raul chuckled lowly before following her and his brother to the elevator “whatever you say, boss”

“Don’t give me any ideas” she mumbled before pressing the button, but as soon as the doors opened, Y/N regretted getting out of her office.

Standing on the elevator was Daphne. Daphne was one breathtakingly gorgeous woman. With bright green eyes and golden soft model like waves, always dressed nicely and with paper white teeth, and to top that, she was a great agent. But she clearly had a crush on Raul and she’s been hitting on him for a while now, but he didn’t seem to care much, which made no sense at all. And for some reason she wasn’t as friendly towards Y/N, Daphne was never directly rude, but she always made sure to look her up and down and was never her friendly self. And Y/N wasn’t one to push anyone to like her, it just made situations like this a bit more awkward. 

“Oh hello” Daphne said with a warm smile.

“Morning” Raul responded as he climbed in the elevator. 

Y/N mumbled a quick “hi” before moving to the back of it with Peter. 

Daphne turned towards Raul and gently placed her hand on his bicep “I heard about the little incident on your latest mission, are you alright?”

“Oh yeah, not even a single scratch”

“That’s great, I mean, how did it happen again? Was it a failure on the planning or watching?” she asked and Y/N almost spat the coffee she was drinking, seeing Peter send a look her way.

“It was my fault actually, the team handed it pretty well” Raul replied unceremoniously.

“Oh, I see” she said pulling her hand from his arm and nervously placing a strand of loose hair behind her ear “hm, actually there was something I wanted to ask you”

God, how long could this elevator take to arrive on the last floor.

Raul only hummed in response, turning his face to the side to watch her so Daphne proceeded “Hm, there’s this new place that opened this weekend down the street and apparently the sandwiches there are amazing, me and a few other agents were planning to have lunch there today, and I was wondering if you’d like to join”

With that he truly seemed taken aback a bit “oh, I unfortunately can’t today, I’m sorry” with that he turned back to face Y/N “that’s what I wanted to tell you earlier, we have that lunch meeting today, Shawn’s in town and he wanted to invite you to lunch with us and his friends”

“Oh shit, I completely forgot” Y/N whined, her head pounding “I don’t think I can make it today, I’m so sorry”

Raul smiled softly at her “yeah, I figured, if you get any better let me know”

“Oh you’re sick?” Daphne asked turning to her as well.

Y/N shook her head, regretting it immediately “just a bit of a migraine”

“I hope you get better soon” Daphne offered a tight lip smile and Y/N just nodded in response.   

“We’re here” Peter said for the first time “Bye, Daphne” he said getting out of the elevator pulling Y/N with him. 

“Why are you running? Slow down, you’re gonna pull my arm off” Y/N hushed it as Peter kept on with the fast pace. 

“What was that?” he asked in a low tone.

Y/N then came in realization “right?! Why won’t he go out with her?”

“I think he might be just not interested at all, but I wasn’t talking about that, you know Raul can be pretty secretive about his feelings, right?” Peter asked with an archer brow, knowing look on his eyes. 

Y/N stepped into his lab alongside him “well yeah”

“I don’t know, I think I saw something there”

“Between me and Raul?!”

Peter leaned against his desk with his arms crossed “Well, more of him towards you, it’s actually something I’ve been noticing for a while”

“What are you even talking about? He’s always been like that with me” Y/N tried avoiding Peter’s gaze, afraid somehow that would give away the little spark of hope on her eyes. 

“No, I mean, yes, but I feel like that intensified a bit, just pay attention to it” he said and then looked behind her.

Y/N turned around only to be met with Raul standing at the door “sorry, got a little caught up”

“We noticed, cap, it’s okay, no important details were discussed in your absence” she said teasingly and he just rolled his eyes playfully at her. 

“Okay, I upgraded your coms a bit, so switching between channels will be easier” Peter started picking up the little earpieces up “And I also took notes about the appearance of my glasses yeah? Now would you mind approving the design of it, miss fashion icon”

Y/N laughed softly and went to check on the 3D design “thank you, I do take fashion very seriously, I only loose it to your brother”

Raul scoffed “Of course I would be involved in it somehow”

Peter laughed “come on, I need to show you this thing I want to put on your suit, Y/N can you please check the new computer I promised you?”

“Oh my, it’s ready?” She said turning to them, suddenly feeling a lot better.

“It’s on the corner right there, just feel free to explore it and adapt it to how you like it best, and then it’s yours” Peter said with a bright smile on his features as he dragged Raul away. 

Y/N sat down on the desk he pouted at, opening the super resistant protective case and being faced with a beautiful tiny computer she could use on future missions. She finished her coffee, feeling the medicine kick in as she dumped the empty cup on the trash, before sitting down in front of her new screen and starting to work on it. Y/N lost track of time as she explored the new configurations, installed the programs she used. She only noticed she’s been there for over two hours when she felt someone carefully placing a gentle hand on her shoulder and she looked up to check the time, being met with Raul standing right beside her. 

“Oh, hi” she said feeling her face warming up as he smiled softly at her. 

“Don’t spend too much time with this, you’ll have more opportunities later, sweetheart, don’t force yourself too much” he squeezed her shoulder a bit and she sighed nodding “how are you feeling?”

She looked up at him, cracking her back on the process “Better, I think the coffee helps a bit and the painkiller did a great job”

“Good, I’m guessing you still won’t be able to make it to Shawn’s crowded and noisy lunch” Raul had a little amused look in his eyes and Y/N giggled at that, shaking her head.

“Definitely not, might as well skip lunch and nap on my lunch break”

Raul nodded “It’s tempting but you need food, now how about I take you to that salad shop you like, we buy ourselves a quick to go one, eat it at your office and nao for like, forty minutes maybe? How does that sound?”

Y/N contained the urge to lunch forward and wrap him in her arms “Pretty fucking great, but what about Shawn?”

“I’ll meet him later for dinner with Peter, so he wouldn’t mind”

“Oh”

“So, are you in, doll?”

Y/N shook her head “you had me in the forty minute nap, say no more”

Raul laughed “Of course I had, know you better than anyone”

“That is unfortunately true” she mumbled grabbing the computer and getting up.

Raul stared at her quizzically “Why is that unfortunate?”

“Cause that will only feed your ever growing ego”

“You wound me, sweetheart” he said with frightened hurt, a hand clutched over his heart. 

Y/N rolled her eyes at him as they both said their goodbyes to Peter, who only threw a knowing look in her direction and a little wink when Raul wasn’t looking. She only rolled her eyes, shoving her middle finger in the air behind Raul’s back to Peter, who only laughed in response. But Raul might have felt her arm hovering his back, cause he looked down at her, throwing his charming smile down at her and throwing his arm around her shoulders as the climbed in the elevator again. 

Oh great, now Y/N had one more thing to keep her awake all night, wondering if she was crazy and Raul could be somehow interested in her and if she should do something about it. But do what? Tell him she liked him? Kissing him? Confronting someone who already has a hard time talking feelings about how he felt about her?! Only terrible scenarios played in her head with every little thing she thought about. But before she could go on spiraling, Raul gently squeezed her shoulder making Y/N look up at him. 

“Still with me, sweetheart?” he asked smirking at her and she only huffed rolling her eyes, making Raul full on laugh. 

                                                  -*-

Later that morning, they ended up following Raul’s idea. Around noon he knocked on her office again, with his leather jacket and ready to go, Y/N then just grabbed her coat and purse, ready to follow him to the elevator again. They kept a light banter, talking about conspiracy theories and random gossip, and she felt really better but was too tired to socialize with a lot of people. So they walked down the street a couple of blocks to a little shop where they bought salad bowls and iced tea “to balance things out” according to Raul about how much coffee she’s had the past week. 

They ordered to go and walked back to the HQ that looked like a very fancy business building, but instead of going back to her office, they headed to Raul’s instead. There they sat down on his couch since it was bigger as they casually had lunch, and right after, he convinced Y/N to get comfortable on the couch as he relaxed right next to her. Y/N curled into a little ball on the further corner of the couch, but he was quick to tut his tongue at her. 

“Here, sweetheart, you can lay your head on my lap and stretch your legs on the couch, yeah? And you can grab that little fluffy blanket if you want” He was quick to offer and Y/N sighed.

“Are you sure?” she asked eyeing him suspiciously “I don’t want to bother you” he chuckled softly and nodded

“Of course, we still have 50 minutes of lunch break, nap a bit, baby, come here” Raul said in such a gentle tone, almost cooing at her and how could she possibly say no to that?

She removed her boots before laying her head on his lap and pulling her legs to stretch across the rest of the couch, while she got comfy, she felt the gentle weight of the thick fluffy blanket being laid on top of her. Y/N sighed in relief as she slowly closed her eyes, allowing herself to fully relax, and feeling the soft caress of Raul’s fingers gently combing through her hair was only making it easier to fall asleep. And so she did. 

She dreamed of something random, she was stuck in a boat and it didn’t really make much sense, but it was better than the sleepless nights or the scary things her mind came up with. So waking up was not the best sensation, but Raul managed to make the experience less unpleasant. He was very softly coaxing her to wake up, by gently shaking her shoulder and caressing her cheek, slowly calling her name. Y/N could get used to it. 

Raul truly didn’t want to do it, he, himself, didn’t want to get up. He ended up falling asleep a few minutes in, but the timer on his phone vibrating on his hand woke him when he promised he’d wake her up. He almost didn’t have the heart to do it. Y/N looked so peaceful, the frown that’s been on her brows for the whole week was finally gone, but he knew if he didn’t wake her, she’d spend her day blaming herself and wouldn’t be able to sleep properly at night. So he cleared his throat and started calling her gently not to startle her.

Y/N started coming slowly back to her senses, slowly sitting up from Raul’s lap, rubbing at her eyes and checking her phone quickly for important notifications. A low chuckle brought her attention away from her phone and to her best friend beside her, to which she just truly looked at, being able to notice the throw pillow creases on his cheek, the soft curls of his hair a bit messier than usual.

“Hi” he mumbled softly. 

Y/N smiled at him before mumbling a “hi” in response. 

“Sleep well?” Raul asked as he stretched his arms above his head and she nodded “yeah? I ended up joining you in your nap”

“Don’t blame you, this is a really nice couch”

“Right? Unfortunately this was the first time I took full advantage of it” he chuckled as he got up from the couch, moving to turn on his computer.

Y/N just chuckled before nearly folding his blanket back in its place “well thank you for everything, you truly are a great friend, but I should probably leave and stop bothering you”

“You never bother me, and I know, I’m the best friend anyone could ever wish for” he said sitting on his chair as she leaned down to put her shoes back on. 

She just rolled her eyes at him, grabbing her stuff before getting up “there you go, ruining a perfectly sweet moment”

Raul laughed “that’s my biggest ability, doll, thought you knew that already”

“Should’ve guessed it” Y/N said as she opened his door “see you later, thanks again”

Raul just winked at her “anytime” before she closed his door and moved to her office shaking her head, but unable to hold back the smile from blossoming on her lips. 

Maybe Peter was wrong and just messing things up, how could he not notice the way Raul affected her? But saw the way he was different with her? It made no sense. And there was no time to go into the rabbit hole, she had better things to do, like spend countless hours uselessly trying to crack a code. 

                                                  -*-

In the middle of Y/N’s afternoon shift, she was able to spot Geonoff himself on one of the surveillance cameras she’s been watching incessantly for the past weeks. She basically tripped on her on shoes as she scrambled up to her computer to register the appearance, quickly sending it to her boss. They finally were sure where he was and maybe that was enough to set up a plan or something to get him. 

Geonoff Reyes was one of the most wanted man right now by intelligences from multiple countries. The man himself had a long list of crimes, that if there was an opportunity would be enough to sentence him for thousands of years. Most of Geonoff’s crimes were related to the mafia, he was one of the biggest and most dangerous bosses there was. He started fairly young, around 15 years old, but that was the extent of information everyone had on his childhood. Some liked to guess it was what kind of household he was raised to blame the way he had become what he became. 

He’s been chased for years now, and that’s why Y/N was quick to let her boss, Mrs. Benson, know she found him, compiling all the information she was able to gather this past week in files. So she did what she could and it took her around an hour to have everything printed and organized in a folder, letting Janet she was coming and basically running to the elevator to get to her office. 

The heavy metal doors opened on the waiting room outside of  her office, being met with Luca, Janet’s personal assistant, who winked at her and pointed at the door. Y/N smiled at him and knocked on the dark wooden doors, opening it silently as she heard people talking inside. Her office was decorated very minimalistic and was usually a very pristine place, but today, there were papers everywhere as Janet, Helen (Janet’s right hand), Dimitri (head of security department) and Raul Mendes stood there apparently discussing the same case. 

“Thank God you’re here, darling, please come out this madness to an end” Janet said with a gentle smile as she pointed towards the mess in her table.

Helen chuckled as Dimitri was quick to push their papers to a corner on the table. 

“Thank you” Y/N mumbled as she placed her folder down.

Raul silently move to stand right next to her, a careful hand laying on the small of her back in a comforting touch as she looked up at Janet to check if she could start. With a nod from the boss, she started pulling all the evidence she could. All the pictures, the surveillance images, the documents Seth was able to bring back and information he was able to remember as well.

With everything laid out on the table and presented to all of them, Janet ended up telling what she’d been discussing with Helen for the past two days. They both figured the best thing to do at the moment, since they didn’t have enough evidence to make an arrest for this crime and maybe this was a great opportunity to catch another people involved, not only Geonoff. The plan was basically getting new identities and keep a close eye on all of his activities, track down his moves and if possible get even more evidence. 

Raul was called because he was the best for this kind of jobs and would be a great leader to the team, Y/N was offered to join the team as well, being his partner and leading the strategic part of the plan. They were also told to pick other agents that they knew would be great for this specific operation, Janet only asking to keep it at a maximum of 5 people including them, the less people knowing, the better.

Of course both agreed and were also instructed to inform Peter so he could separate the gadgets necessary, and obviously intensify their physical training. Despite this being mostly and observant kind of mission, Geonoff was unpredictable and highly dangerous, so being well prepared and extra careful wouldn’t be a bad idea. They were both dismissed for the day and the early shift next morning, so they could rest and plan it as best as they could.

So Y/N was quick to bid her goodbyes as she placed everything neatly back on the folder and moved out of the room. As soon as she pressed the button to call the elevator, she heard the office door opening and closing again, rushed steps moving closer to her. She didn’t even need to look to know Raul was the one approaching her since his scent clouded every room he ever stepped into, she only shook her head and looked up at her right as he stood right beside her. He smirked at her with a little wink. 

“My house or yours, doll?” he asked as they climbed into the elevator. 

“Tonight?” she eyed him suspiciously as she pressed the button to her floor to grab her stuff and he leaned in to press the one to Peter’s. Y/N glanced at him and noticed he had all of his personal belongings with him. 

“Of course, I’ll even order from that Thai place you like”

Y/N giggled shaking her head “of course you will, am I supposed to spend the night?”

“Oh yeah, definitely, I’ll invite Peter too” he said with a smile.

Y/N folded her arms across her chest “I thought we were supposed to rest?”

“Oh but we will, I’ll make sure you’ll fall sleep at reasonable hours, eat properly and all that stuff, of course we’re gonna take a look at work, but just a little” he said with a knowing look.

“Fine, daddy” she added with annoyance, rolling her eyes, Raul just laughed and shook his head.

“You can’t just say stuff like that, sweetheart”

“What? Does it do something for you?” She asked looking up at him and he just shrugged as the doors opened at her floor.

“There’s only one way to find out, doll” he added with a smirk, a teasing tone evident on his voice as he leaned the weight of his body on the elevator doors to hold it for her, shoulders crossed over his broad chest, biceps flexing against the material of his shirt. 

Y/N rolled her eyes stepping out of the elevator, ignoring the heat creeping up her face and the stupid flutter on her lower stomach, turning to face him as she said “see you later, Mendes”

“See you, and oh, don’t forget your gym attire, we’re going running at 5:30 sharp tomorrow, bye bye now” he blew her a kiss as he stepped inside and the doors closed before she could add anything. 

He was definitely trying to kill her in all the ways possible, she just didn’t know which way would be the fatal blow. 

                                                    -*-

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@mariamuses

[utterlyinevitable]

182 Days of Prompts: 99. kiss

FATL  |  What If  |  OH Fic  |  Flatmate  |  Fairytale  |  DWHAF  |  Tragically Twenty  |  Handful of Lovers  |  Stories for Songs  |  TWC Fic  |  Anita  |  Always or Never

(Buckle up this is basically a poorly executed fic)

Pairing: Ethan x F!MC Rating: 16+  Warnings: nothing outright but eludes to sex Summary: They can’t be together in real life. But what if there’s a place they can simply be? Enter Lia’s idea for a Control Room. 

Things to note: Ethan’s the only one who pronounces her given name properly (Loo-chee-ah. Most people pronounce it loo-see-ah).

____________________

“We can’t,” he admonished as he stopped himself from cupping her cheek.

“Please. Save the lecture.”

He’s moved towards his desk. “You know why.”

“And every time we stop it just makes me want you more… I want you, Ethan. All the time.”

She crossed the distance quicker than her short legs should allow. Her forefingers hooking in his front two belt loops.

“I…”

“Maybe we should just give in…” she said.

“Lucia…”

“Hear me out.” Her grip tightened just enough to fight his pull. “We let ourselves indulge in a controlled environment. A safe place. A place where we can put our pent up feelings. We’ll be the picture of professionalism everywhere outside of that space.”

He didn’t say a word, looking off into the distance with contemplation. She couldn’t read this look. Was he mad? Did she go to far? The idea didn’t seem so crazy…

“Ethan?”

“I’m… Where’s this control room?”

“Yours?”

He raised a knowing eyebrow. This has disaster written all over it.

“It’s the safest place! You don’t have roommates or nosey colleagues watching your every move.”

His eyes narrowed, his face still drawn in contemplation. “Touché.”

They both know the risks. They both know the reward this secret would enable. The one thing Lucia and Ethan want more than anything…

“So?”

Ethan closed his eyes. Took a breath. Then said in his stable tone, “You’ll have to walk me through this later.”

***

“Good evening, Lucia,” Ethan greeted upon opening his apartment door to her.

“Doctor Ramsey.” She smiled brightly, her kaleidoscope eyes sparking like a diamond.

“When does your little experiment st-“

She stepped over the threshold and pressed her lips to his. It wasn’t romantic or heated in any sense, just a press between companionable lovers. A chaste lingering kiss of knowing partners. His hand found her waist as he kissed her back, deepening, unsure with himself that this was real even though it felt so right. Ethics be damned.

She pulled away seconds before Ethan could truly taste the mouthwash on her tongue. She dropped her bag by the door, letting him shut it behind her.

“It started the moment I stepped in the building. What’d you think?”

“I have my reservations.” He folded his arms over his chest and assumed his authoritative stance. “This is risky, Lia.”

“It’s meant to be an outlet. How many times did you think about fucking me today?”

“Lucia!”

She continued to challenge, “Or holding my hand, caressing my cheek, kissing me..?”

He wouldn’t answer. Even the thought of saying his desires out loud felt wrong. His inner thoughts of her were meant for him and only him and even those were… wrong.

Ethan made his way to the open plan kitchen, promptly ignoring this thread of conversation.

She began to lament on their day as she moved through his apartment like it was her second home. She raked his body up and down biting her lip as she undressed him with her eyes - Ethan was still in his trousers but shed the pressed shirt in favor of a crisp white vest.

“At the nurses station today I wanted to wrap my arms around you while we read over Mr. James’s file.” Lia snaked her arms around his waist as he made their drinks. “I really wanted to kiss you in your office earlier when we were discussing that theory.”

She placed a kiss to the bare space of shoulder she could reach.

“And the good thing about this control room is I can do all of them. Right now.”

She unwrapped her arms from around him in his kitchen, moving around to his front. Standing on the balls of her feet she pressed another tender kiss to Ethan’s soft lips. He obliged, taking her all in. His arms wrapped around her waist, deepening the kiss as he pulled her closer and closer. Lia cocked her head to the right taking it further, inviting his tongue to dance with hers. In this moment she couldn’t help but remember the first time they were kissing in his kitchen. How they were both just people infatuated and somehow changing the course of their lives in one swift movement. She couldn’t help but smile.

“What’s on your mind?” Ethan whispered. She lost a bit of fervor and he knew it meant her mind was elsewhere.

“Mmm, you.”

“Me?”

“The first time we were here in this kitchen… together.”

His smile crooked as the memory washed over him as well. “One of my fondest memories.”

“Really?”

“I cherish all of the moments we have together.”

She had never wanted to say those three words more. But she knew it wasn’t the time. Once they were uttered the experiment would be over. He wouldn’t let them get that far, she was sure. If she told him, she’d lose him even quicker.

“Even though you think things were a mistake.”

It wasn’t a question. With all the push and pull he was doing with her, she took his actions as a confession of a series of mistakes. To her they were everything, and in her mind he kept her at a distance.

“I never said that. Things were - are complicated. You’re a colossal pain in my ass,” he tucked some wayward strands behind her ear “But you’ve made me happier than I’ve ever thought possible.”

They looked into each others eyes, holding the gaze. Longing, gratitude, lust, adoration… love. Her heart swelled at his words. It’s the most transparent he’s ever been about his feelings. Even if he didn’t actually say as much, she could feel it in the way he held her.

Before she could reiterate his feelings he said, “I want to take things slow. Do it right this time. I - I don’t want this… arrangement room to be just about sex.”

“So you don’t want to rip my clothes off right now?”

“Believe me, I do. But the next time we do, I want it to mean something.”

She laced her fingers with his, “I think every moment we spend together means something.”

“Of course they do.” Ethan shook his head with a silly private grin. “I want to woo you.”

“I’m ready to be wooed, Mr. Ramsey.”

Calling him Doctor Ramsey seemed too formal, too close to work. In here, their safe space, they were just two people.

***

They were taking things in stride. It’s obvious they were happier than normal in the few weeks that passed since they started this game. Although they didn’t let their affection show through touch in public, their looks and verbal cues said otherwise. Both making mental notes of their opportunities to slip up throughout the day for use later.

“Come on, Lucia. I’ll drive you home.”

It became a little routine. The days they’re on shift together he’ll offer to drive her home, save her from the long train journey that would be cut in a third if he drove her. He always made a show of explaining how he’s driving her for the greater good of the team - if she gets home early she’ll go to sleep earlier. Though the reality is far from that.

“Thank you, Dr. Ramsey. Have a good evening, Baz!”

He drove them back to his place. Once in the elevator their hands intertwined and they fell into the comfort of just being Lucia and Ethan. Dr. Ramsey and Dr. Lipari were left at the hospitals parking lot. She held his hand cradled in both of hers resting her head on his shoulder.

“I have been wanting to do this all day,” she sighed as she cuddled closer.

He chuckled.

“What?”

“The irony of your control room.” Ethan clarified, “It’s the place where we lose control.”

“It’s the place where we get to control our relationship on our terms,” she said matter-of-factly.

Relationship? Are they in a relationship, he thought.

They haven’t discussed what they were or weren’t, preferring to live in the sweetness of their moments together. Labeling their time together could have detrimental repercussions.

Right now neither of them were ready to let go.

____________________

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