#i don't know if anybody had already pointed that out it just stuck me on my rewatch of s1!

[popopodogrev]

Something something Vex lashes out at Keyleth for an accident, but when Vax intervenes she realises she acted exactly like her father

[yandere--stuck]

Imagine confessing to Joker that, sometimes, you do feel a bit crazy. He'd been wheedling it out of you for hours now, continuously and obviously guiding you to the idea that there had to be something special about you to catch his eye. Something about you that stuck out like a sore thumb, and not just to him. Something innate about you that drew him toward you.

“There has to be something, my dear,” Joker had said. “I don't exactly attract the most normal company.”

You tried noncommittal answers at first. Really, the only person who'd know why he'd fallen for you (so he claimed) would be him. And hadn't he claimed to know everything about you already? God only knew how he'd gotten your information, but it didn't surprise you considering the man holding you captive. Even still, The Joker kept pestering you for your thoughts. Your mind was just so fascinating to him. 

So, you relented, even if just to appease him. You watched his grin widen, and the smile reached his eyes as they crinkled in delight. The clown hanging onto every word. 

Sometimes, you did feel crazy. Like the world didn't really make sense. Everyone else had a set of instructions on how to navigate the world that you never got. How did everybody else know how to start a conversation without a shock of anxiety washing over them? How did others have the ability to get up out of bed when you couldn't find the strength to? How did anybody find consistent meaning and purpose in their lives.

Even when you tried to pretend to be like them, it fell apart so quickly. It was so hard to keep on top of things. So hard to stay organized and stable and motivated. And you were so aware of the act you were putting on. So was everybody else, you were sure of it. You were sure they could tell, as if they thought of you as something not quite human and just something pretending to be. Something to tolerate until it crawled back to where it came from, another failed attempt to infiltrate their ranks.

You didn't even know what made you stand out to The Joker of all people - especially for anything outside of a murder attempt. You purposefully tried not to stand out. It made it harder to detect how different you were so long as you kept your emotions and thoughts close to your chest. No chance for embarrassment if no one ever got close enough to embarrass you again. 

Joker raised a hand to stop you, resting his hand on your shoulder. The green of his eyes held surprising softness before flashing with mischief.

“How about we give those fools something to really be scared of?” The Clown flashed a grin, raising a small contraption in his hands.

“What the Hell is that?” You blurted out.

The metal thing was the same size and shape of a small ball, painted an acidic green and electric purple. Wiring covered the thing, either wrapped around the outside or sprouting up like weeds from within. A small LED display screen was centered in the middle, left blank.

“A bomb,” Joker grinned. “I figured it'd be thematically appropriate.”

“Get that thing away from me!”

“Oh, come now, it's not even armed.”

As if to prove his point, Joker tossed the bomb aside, letting it roll across the floor. He paused for a ment, raising a hand to his chin in thought. Then, he seemed to light up, snapping his fingers. 

“Oh, of course, you'd want to deal with ‘em up close and personal!” Then, with a flourish, Joker pulled a gun from seemingly out of nowhere. He threw his head back as a chorus of laughter erupted from within. 

“Stop!” You spluttered, backing away. “I don't want to hurt anyone!”

Joker stayed put and simply blinked, brows furrowing. He tilted his head. “Why?”

“Because- because you can't just hurt people! It's wrong.”

“No, it's what they told you is wrong,” The Clown's hands balled into fists. “They force you to play by their rules, then punish you for losing at a game you're not designed to win. They wear you down to the bone and know you won't fight back, so they get to walk all over you."

“That's not true.”

“Don't lie to yourself, Darling. I'm saying this all to help you. I want to help you finally fight back. Everything you've gone through has all been leading to this moment.”

“I can't,” You held your ground. “I won't.”

The Clown stared you down. His eyes held an emotion you couldn't quote register. He wasn't frowning exactly, but he certainly wasn't smiling.

You nearly jumped when Joker suddenly crossed the room. The sound of his footsteps mirrored the thundering of your own heartbeat. It muffled all thoughts as electric panic ripped through your veins and left you petrified in place. Not like you could escape, anyway.

You tried to calm your breathing, but hot, panting breaths kept escaping you, chest rising and falling erratically. You could hardly keep yourself composed enough to look him in the eye. And when you did, somehow it was worse than expected. The expression on his face and look in his eyes wasn't one of murderous intent. Not one of rage. Hell, he didn't even look disappointed.

No. His expression was one of pity.

He swept you into an embrace. One arm curled around your back, hand still holding his pistol. You could feel the cold of the metal pressing against the small of your back. Another hand came up to push your head closer to his chest. 

Joker lamented. “Oh, my poor little maniac. It's so sad to see what they've done to you. If only I had saved you sooner.”

You didn't respond, hoping the excuse of being smothered into his jacket would be enough for him to not demand a reply. You felt the slow rise of Joker's chest pressing against you, then sank back as he exhaled a sigh. A gloved hand petted at your head soothingly.

“You're just like Bats, you know,” he said. “These barriers you put up for yourselves are so small, but you give them so much power. And I just don't understand why.”

You paused, giving yourself time to think before mumbling into the fabric of his jacket, “Because it's the right thing to do.”

When you glanced up at him, the look of condescension on the Clown's face was nearly enough to forgo any ideas of self-preservation or pacifism. Nearly. The last thing you'd want to do is prove him right.

“They're never going to see you as normal, you know that, right?” He pressed. “You'll never really be one of them. Like a square peg trying to squeeze itself into a round hole. I don't see why you're so caught up in silly things like morality when it clearly hasn't helped you yet. It certainly doesn't seem like a concern for any of them.”

You didn't want to talk about this anymore. You didn't want to think anymore. You just wanted to find some cold comfort in the embrace of another. 

A pair of lips pressed against the crown of your head. You flinched in his hold, burying yourself further into his grasp. Maybe you could just disappear. 

“It's so sad to see you sabotage your own potential like this,” The Joker continued, voice taking on a lighter tone. “But it's okay. I'm here to take care of you. And I'll keep taking care of you until you can become who you were always meant to be. Because I love you, I really do.”

Yeah, right.

Still, you wished he made it harder to believe otherwise.

[daistea]

Alright so to answer your question, the reader is around their age but maybe slightly older than his brother, and would always reject Mithrun's advances because they think it's inappropriate

You said headcanons in the original request, I hope it’s okay that I added some writing as well! 

The name I give his brother is Arendil, totally stolen from another series with elves and kind of a cliche name, but it’s stuck with me and personally it would feel weird calling him anything else because that’s what I’m used to. 

This is a little more angsty than I expected it to be, tbh :/ Sorry if you don't like angst, I kinda just can't help but pick apart pre-dungeon Mithrun like this.

2700 words

No tw

Pre-Dungeon Mithrun x gn Reader 

●・○・●・○・●

Mithrun was probably a very good boy growing up. He tried so hard, he wanted everybody to like him, and he was a hardcore people pleaser. 

However, once he finds out that he’s the one born out of infidelity, the resentment starts to sink in. I like to think this happens when he’s in his early teens, when he actually takes a look at his family and starts to realize that he’s not truly the favorite. 

His parents treat him like he’s the favorite, and in a way they do prefer him over his brother, but in the end they’re always going to choose his brother because he’s the rightful heir and the oldest, and I think Elven culture would prioritize that more than personality. 

That probably becomes clear to Mithrun early on, just through little things. His sense of worth starts to crumble and he desperately grasps at any opportunity to be the one people prefer, which eventually turns him into the fake-nice, outwardly charming, judgmental, distrustful, bitter boy we know. 

Onto you. As a caretaker and important aspect of Mithrun’s life, he would crave your approval. I don’t think he’d be outwardly mean to servants and helpers, because despite their lower stations he would want them all to like him and think well of him. Since you’re especially close to him and Arendil, he would crave your attention even more. 

As you both get older, though, he starts noticing more about you…

I headcanon that Mithrun was pretty flirty at this point in life. He won’t open up or be vulnerable for anybody, but he will try to charm his way into your heart just to fulfill his own desire to be wanted.

Except… You don’t seem to want him. 

He first notices your rejection of his advances a year or two before he’s sent to join the Canaries.

You felt Mithrun’s eyes on your form. They were steady, intense, and held implications that you weren’t quite ready to acknowledge. You tried your best to ignore the feeling, but the hairs on the back of your neck still stood to attention, and your heart still clenched. 

Resisting the urge to comment on the situation grew more difficult the longer time passed. “Mithrun,” you sighed, “can I help you with something?”

He raised his brows and smiled pleasantly. His head was tilted, his fingers pressed into his cheekbone as he leaned against the table beside his chair. “Yes, actually, you can.”

You wanted to groan. Having basically grown up with Mithrun and his brother, you had the pass to be a little snarky with the boys. Yet the look in his eyes told you that now wasn’t the time. He would grab onto your sarcasm and use it like a rope to pull you forward, into him, into the trap he set. Mithrun’s games had only gotten more subtle with age. 

“I can’t imagine with what,” you said, keeping your voice level and disinterested, “the laundry is done, the manor is clean, and you’ve already eaten.”

Mithrun remained pleasantly unphased, “Do you really think that’s all I would need you for?”

“I don’t. However, there’s no other service I’m willing to offer.”

That was enough to break his demeanor, to shatter the glass he hid behind. His smile faltered for half a second and his shoulders tensed. “We’re friends, please don’t talk as if a caretaker is all you are.”

You knew that. Yet, at the moment, you were just a caretaker. You refused to be more to him— not out of dislike or a lack of attraction to the youngest Kerensil brother, but more because you were professional. It would be inappropriate to let yourself feel anything beyond what was platonic. 

He watched as you shifted uncomfortably. His brows furrowed, and you finally met his unyielding gaze. “We are friends, you’re right,” you said. 

Mithrun finally looked away. Relief flooded your chest as he chose to instead stare at the wall in thought. “I’ve known you all my life. You’ve never treated me lesser because of my biological father, or because I’m younger, or because I’m not the heir. You’ve always seen me and Arendil… equally.” Mithrun said the word ‘equally’ as if it was a bad thing. He only let his scowl last for half a second before he schooled his expression and continued, “You know I appreciate you, right?”

For once, he seemed genuine. You felt yourself melt a little. “I know.”

“You know, I…”

A pause for dramatic effect, of course, letting the anticipation rise so you would be appropriately charmed by his next words. You put up a hand to stop him, “I know you're just trying to get me to like you more than Arendil."

Mithrun’s eyes widened, “That’s not it.”

That was definitely it. 

“I know you. I know how you are,” you said as you turned around to continue folding laundry, an excuse to keep your nervous hands busy. 

Another pause followed your words. Then, “...You know me?”

You nodded. 

Mithrun allowed himself to frown. It was flattering, in a way, that he would let his true emotions show in front of you. 

He looked at you differently, then. There was no more charm in his stare, no more sparks of attraction. As you met his eyes, they widened slightly. His smile shook and his brows furrowed to create a little crease on his forehead. 

You realized it, then, that Mithrun was unnerved. 

Of course he was unnerved, he’d just realized you could see right through him. 

“Sorry,” you couldn’t help but apologize, though you knew you’d done nothing wrong, “I probably went too far with that comment.”

A beat of silence passed. Your hands lingered on the shirt you were folding, while Mithrun’s hands tightened as he crossed his arms over his chest, closing you off. 

Still, he seemed to prepare himself for the sliver of vulnerability that he was willing to offer. “Sometimes, I feel like you’re the only one who actually knows me.”

You had to resist the urge to say ‘well, who’s fault is that?’ 

Instead, you nodded, “Thank you. That means a lot.”

“Truly?”

“Truly,” you echoed. 

Mithrun leaned back in the chair and took a deep breath. His chest rose and fell and he closed his eyes. A silver curl fell into his face as he tilted his head into his hand. He was letting the words sink in, the implication take root. 

All you could do was wonder what might come of this.

Mithrun falls in love slowly. He does not enjoy it. 

He goes through four of the seven stages of grief. 

Shock and denial: ‘I don’t see them in that way, their smile is just pretty and my heart only skips when they look at me because we’re friends.’

Pain and guilt: ‘I shouldn’t be feeling this way about them, they're my caretaker...’

Anger and bargaining: ‘Maybe if they weren’t so considerate and wonderful then I wouldn’t be feeling this way. How annoying. Perhaps I can convince them to choose me in the end, or at least get their attention on me.’ 

Depression: ‘They will never love me the way I love them…’

This elf is suffering. Nobody knows that, though, because he’s an expert at hiding it. 

But in the end, Mithrun shrugs it all off and decides that he wants you. 

When he sees you giving his brother attention, Mithrun feels the deep urge to rip out his brother’s throat. Then he chides himself for being so violent, the blood would make stains on the floor and you’d be angry with him…

Still, you treat them both equally. It drives him up a wall. You obviously don’t prefer his brother over him in any way, but that’s not good enough for Mithrun. He wants all of you. He wants every ounce of your love and care, with absolutely nothing left for Arendil to take, like he does with everything else. (Mithrun has very little self-awareness of how warped his view is at this point.)

Part of his desire for you stems from the need to possess, his insecurity, his desire to be loved, to be the favorite. However, beneath all of that, there’s more. Mithrun also appreciates and admires you as a person. You’re one of the few people that he trusts and can be himself around. You encourage him to be a better person— he doesn’t take that encouragement, but it’s still a nice quality of yours. 

And you make him feel important. How could he not fall in love with you?

Yet, he doesn’t quite comprehend the complexities of genuine love.

 “I think you should know that I’m—”

You clamped your hand over his mouth. It was like a door shutting in his face, barring him from treading down a dangerous path. His eyes widened and he leaned back to get away from you, but you kept your hand where it was. 

The grass beneath your knees was soft. The shade from the tree you and Mithrun sat under was pleasant. And the topic of conversation was horrifying. 

“Don’t,” you told him, “I know what you’re going to say and…”

And what? The words ‘it’s inappropriate’ sat on your tongue, but was that truly the only reason you stopped him? It was a good excuse, certainly, but the tangled knot of your relationship with Mithrun wasn’t ready to be unraveled quite yet. 

When he gave you a look that provided a slight bit of reassurance, you let him go. You sat back, folding your hands on your knees and meeting his silver gaze. His head was tilted down a little as he stared at you. His brain was working overtime, most likely churning out a myriad of thoughts like those factory lines in Dwarven cities. There was anger, betrayal, hurt, resentment, fear. You accepted each flash of emotion like a prisoner accepts the crack of a whip— which was begrudgingly, but with no choice in the matter. 

“I love you,” Mithrun whispered, despite it all. 

“I know,” was the only response you could give him. 

Yet, he had his shovel ready, willing to dig up this grave. “Why?”

“Why am I not returning your feelings?” You asked, though you already knew that was what he was asking. With a sigh, you absently twirled a blade of grass around your index finger, then continued, “Because I care about you, I really do. And I don’t want to ruin us.”

His expression hardened, “How would this ruin us?”

You looked up to meet his eyes once more, “You only want me because you want to be loved, and I’m the best candidate for that. You don’t want me for me, you want me for you.”

“How could you possibly know that?” He seethed. 

“Because I know you,” you murmured, “I know you far too well.”

Mithrun is determined to understand what you mean. However, he doesn’t really have anybody to ask for advice on that particular matter. 

He isn’t one to settle unless necessary. But it’s starting to feel necessary, with how often you stop him from confessing, with how you avoid his touch, with how you won’t hold his gaze most of the time. 

Mithrun is going mad. 

He doesn't particularly care about the girl his brother likes, since his mind is on you, but it's offensive to him that his brother thinks he has a chance with such a cute and refined girl.

It does please Mithrun, though, that Arendil is not interested in you. That makes things easier and slightly calms his boiling blood. 

However, the fact that someone actually likes Arendil back drives him a bit mad too. 

You call him out on this, saying that he’s like a toddler who only wants a certain toy when another kid is playing with it. He chooses to ignore that comparison. 

He still very much has feelings for you. He does whatever you ask, though you never ask for anything, really. If you mention that you like a certain item, he’ll get it for you. If you mention that you want to see a certain play, he suddenly has two tickets to it. 

He is doing his best to court you and you know it, his parents know it, everybody knows it. 

You try to sway him away from doing these things. It’s not proper for him to act like that. He agrees, with his desire to keep a good reputation amongst the nobility and his peers. However, that doesn’t stop him from trying to win you over in secret. (Which doesn’t actually help his case much, because you can’t help but think ‘he’s ashamed of having feelings for a servant. wow.’)

At this point in life, Mithrun does genuinely like people and can be truly cheerful and kind. He’s a social butterfly and enjoys chatting. You allow these interactions, spending hours just talking with him. It’s so easy, it’s so comfortable. Those moments are when you’re closest to being pulled into his path; when his gravity threatens to steal you, a passing comet, and hold you hostage in his orbit.

And sometimes you wonder what it would be like to give in. 

Mithrun knows you wonder that, though, because he knows you just as well as you know him. And he uses that to his advantage, of course. 

He shamelessly flirts when you’re alone together. He’ll brush your hair out of your face and let the tips of his fingers gently caress the edges of your ear. And when you shiver despite your best attempts not to, he only smiles. He knows when he's winning.

He would whisper to you a lot. He likes people-watching and has a lot to say. He can be a total Regina George when he wants to. 

But really, he does like people, he just can’t help but be distrusting and judgmental. His entire self is a result of elven society mixed with subtle emotional neglect. 

Somehow, Mithrun has both an inferiority complex and a superiority complex. It just depends on the situation. 

He’s very jealous. And he gets clingy when he’s jealous, especially if you’re paying attention to his brother. He’ll swoop in, put his hand on your back, start flirting with you, etc. I headcanon that his brother is incredibly oblivious, but kind, and just thinks to himself ‘wow I’m so happy my little brother has found love : )’

You’re not together though. You slip away from his touch often. You ignore his flirting. You maintain your dignity and position. 

Except for when his family receives the letter about the Canaries recruitment. And they announce that they’re sending Mithrun. They give this speech about how he’s bringing honor to the House of Kerensil by fighting the evil that exists in this world… Mithrun knows it's a load of crap. His parents are sending him to his death. 

It’s the biggest proof that he’s not their favorite, that he’ll never be their favorite. No matter how much they talk up his charm and looks, he’s still the bastard son. He’s a trinket on their shelf, but if they need to make room they won’t hesitate to store him in a dusty box in the basement. 

And his brother gets to live; sweet and innocent and ignorant, undeserving of all that he gets. Mithrun hates the air he breathes. 

And when he’s about to leave for the Canaries, you finally admit it. You admit that you love him. And…

His bitterness only grows. If he wasn’t sent to the Canaries… If he was the first born, the heir, the one that was wanted…

In the dungeon, he sees how his brother gets the girl. The girl doesn’t matter, it’s what that image represents that angers him. It’s what his world looks like now; he’s a slave to the government sponsored death squad, and his brother is getting all he’s ever wanted. 

And then there’s you. You love him, but can you be together? No. 

With mirror shards on the floor and the soft clop of hooves, Mithrun's life changes entirely.

[cheezeybread]

Picture Floyd and Jade going to see Yuu for random Azul business reasons. But its Game night with Yuu, Deuce and Ace. the twins get invited to join in and totally forget about whatever Azul wanted.

game niiiight, heck yeah!

I love little scenes like this- don't get me wrong, I love big angsty stuff, but it's a little reminder that these guy are just teenagers, after all!

* . °•★|•°∵ ∵°•|☆•° . *

"Shriiiimpy~" Floyd cooed out, raising a fist to knock on the door again. In contrast to his attempt at a smooth voice, he rapped his knuckles on the door so hard that the old wood practically starting shaking!

"Easy, brother, unless you'd like your paycheck to go towards fixing up the door to this place," Jade remarked, reaching a hand out and rapping on the wood with his own knuckles, as if he were showing his twin how it should be done.

Floyd only stuck his tongue out at Jade, lifting up his fist to the door once more. They've knocked and called out several times already, so wasn't it their right to bust the door down? It was, right? That seemed like it would be the right thing to do. Besides, Azul got antsy whenever both of the eels were out and about on errands, not fully trusting them to get the job done exactly how he wanted. But it was just giving Shrimpy a message, so how hard could it be?

Wait, what were they here to tell them, again? Ah, Jade probably remembered.

Floyd rapped his knuckles on the door again, getting more annoyed with every knock. Certainly they weren't ignoring him, were they? The little Shrimpy wouldn't do such a thing, not to him!

"I'm getting real tired of this, Jade," he grumbled, eyes narrowing.

Sensing his brother's change in mood, Jade took a deep breath before reaching into his pocket and drawing out a ring of keys. Wordlessly, he flicked through each one before singling out an old, rusty key. He leaned down and stuck it in the keyhole, twisting the door unlocked, and opening it.

"Why didn't you try that ten minutes ago?" Floyd snapped, amused despite his attitude.

"I thought it to be rather rude to barge into YN's place without knocking first and giving them a chance to invite us in," Jade replied, giving a coy smile "Besides, it wouldn't do for them to know we have a key to Ramshackle, now, would it?"

"Ahhhh, Jade, you evil genius!" Floyd laughed loudly, slapping his brother on the back.

As soon as they stepped into the building, faint sounds of screams and laughter could be heard few rooms over. Jade nodded to the sound, silently telling his brother to start heading over that way. The two had nothing to fear, of course, from anybody who may be in the building, but it wouldn't do to have their guard down at any point in time.

Following the noise, the two found themselves peering into a doorway- the doorway to the Ramshackle guest room, to be more precise. It looked cleaner than the last time the twins had seen it- which was way back when Azul took Ramshackle as collateral for YN's contract. Now the room was emptied of its trash, was dusted and scrubbed clean, and even had some decent-looking furniture in it.

And lounging around the room, gathered around a table, was YN, Ace, and Deuce.

"No, no, no, you cheater, that's against the rules!" Ace cried out, looking on the verge of tears as he slammed a fist into the table

"Is not!" Deuce cackled, sticking his tongue out.

"Boys, chill out-" YN started, snapping a finger to get their attention. Despite sounding annoyed, it was clear that YN was enjoying themselves, as well "Grim's sleeping in the next room! And don't break my table slamming onto it!"

"Slamming?" Ace tried very hard to contain his laughter, putting a hand over his mouth "That'swhatme'n'yourmomdidlastnight-"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT MY MOTHER?????" Deuce yelled, standing up in a fighting position.

"Chill, dude, chill, I was talking about YN's mom!"

"My mother's in a different universe." YN deadpanned.

"...oh." Ace went into an awkward silence after that.

And then there was a screech of absolute terror from behind the Eels, and in unison, they flicked their heads around to see what had caused such a racket. On the ground was a terrified Grim. He was holding a blanket around his shoulders, and clutched it as if he were worried it would be stolen. He stared up at the two brothers with wide eyes, any sleep gone.

"YNNNNNN!" He cried, darting in between their feet and launching himself at the prefect, burying himself in their arms.

"Oh, Jade, Floyd!" YN seemed unperturbed at the sudden appearance of the two as she stroked Grim's back in comfort, despite the terror in Ace and Deuce's face "What are you two doing here?"

"And where did they come from?" Deuce whispered. "How did they get in...?"

Ignoring Deuce's valid questions, Jade bowed his head slightly towards YN in greeting "We have a message for you from-"

"WHAT are you guys doing?" Floyd interrupted, unable to contain his excitement at the situation. He burst into the room and flopped down on the floor, his legs crossed. He looked over the board game spread out on the table and grinned "Don't tell me you're a nerd like Azul, Shrimpy! Board games?"

"Board games!" YN agreed, laughing.

"We- we're playing Monopoly right now," Deuce offered, trying to regain his composure as he adjusted his sitting position on the couch.

"And then we were going to play charades, maybe even a game of hide and seek, too!" YN grinned "Ace and Deuce got permission from Riddle to spend the night here tonight-"

"Yeah, after busting our chops doing homework and study sessions...and cleaning...and lawnwork," groaned Ace.

"You should join us!" YN said eagerly, clapping their hands together.

"Join you?" Jade questioned, stepping into the room with a small smile.

"Yeah, you guys are my friends, too! Come on, it'll be fun, right, guys?" YN looked to the group for their approval. Grim refused to look at the eels, looking like a pouting child. Ace glanced towards Floyd from the corner of his eye, scooting away casually. Deuce thought about it and shrugged.

"Well, I mean, playing charades and hide and seek would be more fun with more people," he conceded "Ace?"

"I mean- yeah, sure, I guess," he shrugged, "As long as neither of you try to take a bite out of me, okay?"

Biting at the air in front of Ace hard enough to make his teeth clack together loudly, Floyd grinned "I'll try!"

"I suppose I shall, as well," Jade chuckled, taking a seat next to YN and folding his hands in his lap, Azul's task long forgotten "So, how do we play?"

-----

Azul drummed his fingers on his desk impatiently, glancing at the clock every few seconds. It was well after midnight.

He had sent the twins on a task that should have taken no longer than twenty minutes, and they had been gone for three hours. Grumbling under his breath about how hard it was to find good help these days, Azul reached for his phone and called Jade's number.

It kept ringing....no one picked it up.

He called it two more times, with no luck.

He then tried Floyd's, but the call ended almost immediately. The bastard pressed the decline button! Two more tries to Jade's number, to no avail.

On the off-chance (which was probably not an off-chance at this point) that the two were still at Ramshackle, Azul dialed up YN's number.

"hello?" they answered almost immediately, their voice in a hushed whisper.

"Ah, yes, Prefect, I'm calling to see if you know the whereabouts of my workers," He said without missing a beat, standing up from his chair and making his way over to one of the sofas to sit.

"Shhh, they might hear you over the phone!" YN hissed. There were muffled sounds of movement, and when they spoke again, their voice was a little louder "What were you asking again?"

"Floyd and Jade," Azul said firmly, pressing his fingers up against the bridge of his nose. He was starting to lose his patience.

"Ohhhh, yeah, about that-" The prefect's voice was cut off by a loud thud, and they screamed.

"FOUND YOU SHRIMPY!" Azul could hear a familiar voice over the phone.

"Floyd? Floyd!" He barked into the phone, hoping the eel could hear him "Come back right now, do you hear me!"

But apparently he could not, since Azul could only hear Floyd and YN laughing heartily over something. Then there were more hushed whispers, and Floyd giggled like a fool before his voice was heard clearly

"Oh- oh yeah, hey Azul-" he said, barely containing his laughter "Can me and Jade stay the night here?"

"No, Floyd, the two of you have to open the lounge tomorrow, it's Saturday, that's one of our busiest-"

"Thanks, boss-man, see you later!"

Click.

Azul threw his phone to the ground in frustration, slamming his head down into the nearest pillow, and let out a very muffled scream.

* . °•★|•°∵ ∵°•|☆•° . *

[zerokurokawa]

Can I request rindou with a introverted reader who hates rindou? Like a enemies to lovers? Thank you!!

Unwritten | Rindou x Introverted!Reader <3

You were constantly being dragged to Tenjiku meetings due to your best friend dating Shion Madarame. She was forced to go, therefore, you were too. 

"You have to suffer with me," Your best friend would say, "If I have to go to these unbearable meetings, you do too." She smirked as she got out off the back of Shion's bike. You had rode by yourself, meaning you could just leave at any point. But instead, you stayed because you didn't want to make your best friend mad. You didn't even mind the meetings so much, you just minded having to be around him. 

Rindou Haitani was always bothering you in some sort of way. Whether it be teasing you about having your nose stuck in your phone, or just plain out talking to you about nonsense, he annoyed you. He would also pick fights with you, constantly belittling you and how you act. 

As soon as you stepped out of your car, he gave you a glare as if he didn't expect you to be there in the first place. You ignored this, barging through the warehouse doors and finding a comfortable spot to sit while the meeting began. It wasn't until after the meeting that he had began to walk over to you, arms crossed with a sly smile on his face. 

"You again, huh?" He asked, kicking your shoe with his boot, trying to get your attention. You ignored him, scrolling through your phone. 

"You not gonna answer me?" He nudged you again. 

"Rindou, just fuck off already." You said, not looking up from your phone. You had a feeling about Rindou and his ulterior motives when it came to you. You had a feeling that he either hated your guts and wanted you gone completely, or he liked you and this was his way of flirting. 

"Fuck off? Nah, I'd rather sit here and keep bugging you." He smirked, sitting down next to you. 

"What do you even want from me?" You asked, looking up from your phone. 

"I just wanna know why you always come to these meetings, yet, you have nothing to do with Tenjiku. I don't like it." 

"I come because my best friend is with Shion, one of the big four. She doesn't wanna sit here alone so I come with her." You looked over at him to see him with a slight smile on his face. It was devious smile, one that would cause shivers to go down anybody's spine. 

"So you're telling me you just sit here and ignore everybody while she goes around and talks? You could at least be more involved." He began to get up. God, you hated his guts. Hoping he would leave you alone, he did the exact opposite. He nudged your foot again and held out his hand. Cautiously, you took it and he helped you stand up from the corner you were sitting in. 

"I just come to come, I guess." You said, standing up. You noted the height difference between you two as you stood next to him. You for sure wasn't scared of him and you know he fought dirty, however, you didn't think anything of it when it came to you. 

"Well, maybe instead of being stuck up, you could congregate with someone." He said in a snarky tone. 

"I'm not stuck up, I'm just a little shy. That's all." You snapped back at him. 

"Oh..." He said, a little taken back by your sudden explanation and response. 

You didn't say anything else before walking off, leaving him behind. He began to follow you outside though, wanting to finish the conversation you two were having. 

"Hey!" You heard him call before opening your car door, "I'm sorry for assuming you were a stuck up bitch. I didn't know you were just shy." 

"It's fine, honestly..." You trailed off. 

"It's not, and I'm sorry. I'd like to get to know you and introduce you to more people so that way you won't feel so alone." He smiled sweetly. In that moment, you actually thought to yourself about how Rindou Haitani could possibly be bearable to be around. 

"Okay... then we can start by you not being a total asshole to me anymore." You replied. He nodded his head in response and pulled out his phone. 

"Here, lemme get your number and we can start from there." He said, rather confidently. Rindou had the good looks, charisma, and was smooth with his words. You ended up giving in and letting him have your number. 

"I guess just text me whenever." You gave him a small smile. He nodded and smiled back. 

Before you knew it, you were on your way home when your phone buzzed from a text. It was Rindou just saying "hey". You two began to talk and stayed up all night, getting to know each other. 

The rest was unwritten. 

(A/N: Wrote this really late at night, I have to get some sleep because i'm sleep deprived. I hope you enjoy!)

[sunllghtt]

Hi are you up for a messy scene analysis thing

Ofc it's this scene who do you think I am

I've been wanting to do this for God knows how long but I never had the balls and neither the words to (still don't) but I wanna try to properly talk about this scene. My primal instinct is to sit here and tell you how much this 30 second scene changed the trajectory of these characters in the next movies, how it made their friendship grow and develop and how much of a storytelling lesson it is (oh the so so deep understanding you need to have of your characters to have them say things so vaguely and still express exactly what they mean). I could also go down the emotional and subjective road and ramble about how much it means to me and how I resonate with it, but I've done that at least 837382 times and I think everyone knows it by now 😭 so!!! Let's get to the real thing

(I'm trying to keep it as analytical and straightforward as possible but please note that this is my favorite scene that's ever existed so neutrality is not really a possibility)

Rocket is a brat. He's restless, he's loud, he's always puffing up his chest and yelling at someone and picking fights with the wind cuz it was blowing in a way he didn't like and he's just an overall bastard. In this scene, though, we see him inside out. His head is low, his shoulders are slumped, he has his tail between his knees and he looks tired. He speaks quietly (curiously like he doesn't want anybody else to hear him), he's not deliberately insulting anyone and he's just..... defeated??

Up until that point I don't think we ever got to see Rocket like that. From what the movies have shown us he'd never had to. But in the past few days that led to this, Rocket had stolen batteries for no apparent reason (which we'll later learn why💀), ruined their ship, got literally kidnapped by Ravagers, blew up a creepy planet-guy-thing and oh my god attended his friend's dad's funeral. At least half of these things were directly or indirectly his fault and he knows it.

I don't think he ever doubted it was (we see it earlier in the movie when the Guardians leave to "The Chain" by Fleetwood Mac and Rocket scowls and winces like he either stepped in a pile of shit or got hit in the face by regret), but he still argued with Peter even knowing he was in the wrong just to keep up apparences or hold on to a little thread of pride when he was already feeling ashamed for being caught red-handed stealing shit he didn't need AND destroying their ship etc etc, and he just kinda fucked up big time. And I think that's (besides the general exhaustion of parenting a tree and fighting a planet and Yondu's death) is what got him so devastated in that scene.

Ofc Yondu played an extremely important role in that. He was the one to open Rocket's eyes, to give him some sort of reality check and show him the only thing isolation is ever gonna bring him is regret and bitterness (or, in other words, Yondu). Rocket is most of all hopeless and tired and just sad like that because he knows he hurt his friends. He knows he's chasing them away, that he yells at them, that he's always mean and that he steals batteries he doesn't need. He knows he's not awesome to put up with and seeing what happened to Yondu and his former friends probably made him terrified it'd happen to him and the Guardians too. He's stuck in this cycle of pushing them away with everything he can (and we could get into all his trauma regarding betrayal and death and literally endless other things but it's all very clear at this point) and he knows patience doesn't last forever. He's just scared, he feels bad and he's tired.

Now on the other hand we have Quill. He's also destroyed, he lost two fathers (3 if you count what Ego could've been, what he wanted him to be), basically relived his mother's death and had to watch literally every single one of them die. He's also scared and tired, yes, but all he has left is this unstable family of weird idiots who are learning how to show care and he's... pretty much fine with it. He wants it.

And when what Rocket's saying clicks, when he realizes who he's talking about, Quill, who's usually all smirks and teasing and bickering and name-calling, looks at his best friend like this,

because

(From vol 2 script!! Won't even try to comment on that last part before Quill's last line but I also really like that Peter just "shakes his head" over and over like he's just barely listening until he realizes what Rocket really means cuz it also shows a lot about his character. He's naturally a little slow and downright stupid when it comes to this kind of hidden emotional thing and he's also exhausted and depressed from everything that happened and STILL he stops and just. Sees Rocket, and sees Yondu.)

He's not doing well. He's probably sore and hurt and sad and miserable and yet he takes his sweet time to look down at Rocket, let go of his resentment from before and see right through him. In order to understand this scene it's important to remember he most likely doesn't know what Yondu told Rocket at all, he doesn't know anything they said to each other and how Yondu showed him they're mirrors. He doesn't know any of that. He just knows his best friend and his father and how much they resemble each other. He puts up with Rocket's bullshit because he knows how to deal with Yondu.

He could've just ignored him or pretended he didn't know what he was talking about. He could've made Rocket swallow his pride and "teach him a lesson" by making him say what he means without hiding behind metaphors and vague self-deprecation, because Rocket was probably vulnerable and defeated enough to be honest in that moment. And yet, he just looks at his friend, who's usually a loud and mean and restless brat, and is now staring at the floor with his ears droopy and his tail between his knees, and just says, as a form of reassurance and tenderness that's just as subtle and shy as Rocket's insecurities, "Well, of course not."

(The kind and soft and sweet DETERMINATION on his face tho like no!!! No we're not ditching you even though you suck I'm!!! Serious!!!!)

[got-ticket-to-ride]

John Lennon talking about "the Beatles break up" in 1970

Breakdown:

Jann asks about the Beatles break up and John says he told Paul he is leaving (like they are the only two people in the band?)

Paul was still making a lot of plans for the band but John was already being stubborn about everything.

Paul probably thought he could/would do damage control while John has not made the announcement yet.

John saying he wasn't angry and then saying "not angry in that way" (what way then, John?) and then slipping to "we" were angry.

Paul calling John on the phone the same day (after crying his heart out for an hour) declaring : he can do the same "John and Yoko" thing

John answering like he was going to be ok with it.

Jann Wenner: You said you quit The Beatles first.

John: Yeah.

Jann Wenner: How?

John:

Well, I said to Paul, I'm leaving.

We're in Apple and I just on the way over to. I knew before I went to Toronto, I told Alan I was leaving. I told Eric Clapton and Klaus that I was leaving and I'd like to probably use them as a group, you know, and it hadn't decided how to do it, to have a permanent new group or or what. And then later on I thought, fuck, I'm not going to get stuck with another set of people in it, whoever they are. So, but I I announced it to myself and to the people around me on the way to Toronto the few days before. And on the plane, Alan came with me. I told Alan, you know, it's over. And then when I got back there was a few meetings and Alan had said, well, cool it cool it because there was a lot to do, you know, business wise it wouldn't have been suitable at the time, you know.

And then we were discussing something in the office with Paul, and Paul said something other, like like to do something or. And I kept saying no, no, no to everything, he said, you see. So it came to a point. I had to say something, of course. And well, what do you mean then? So I said, I mean the group's over, I'm leaving.

And but Alan was there. He'll remember exactly, and she will. This is my how I see it. Alan was saying don't tell.

He didn't want me to tell Paul even you know (pause). And but I couldn't help. So I thought I was out. I couldn't stop.

It came out and Paul and Alan said they were glad that I wasn't going to announce it, that I was going to make an event out of it. Right, but Paul and Alan both. I don't know whether Paul said don't tell anybody, but he was damn pleased that I wasn't, you know, he said, Oh well, that means nothing really happened if you're not going to say anything.

So that's what happened. Well, I mean, like, like anybody when you say divorce, you know, their face goes all sorts of colours. It's like he knew what really that this was the final thing, you know?

And then six months later, he comes out with whatever, you know, I told Ray Connolly. So there's a lot of people knew I'd left, but I was a fool not to do it, you know? Not to do what Paul did, which is use it to sell a record.

Jann Wenner: You were really angry at Paul.

John: No, I wasn't angry. But when he came out with his, I'm leaving. Well, I wasn't angry. I was just shit, you know, I mean, he's a good PR man, Paul. I mean, he's about the best in the world, probably. He really does a job.

I was just. I wasn't angry in that way. I was. We were all hurt that he didn't tell us.

That what he was going to do. But he, I think he claims that he didn't mean that to happen, but that's bullshit. He called me in the afternoon of that day and said I'm doing what you and Yoko were doing last year. And I said good, you know.

Mal Evans during an interview in 1975

MAL (Source): And then… John left. And I remember that well. That was really, truly a heartbreaking experience. We were in Apple, at 3 Savile Row, and John said – “It’s over.” You know? And I drove Paul home. And we got to Paul’s house, and

he spent the next hour in the house crying his eyes out.

And I just wandered around the garden like a lost soul, just crying. It was the end of the world. It was like the end of The Wizard of Oz – when she gets back to the black-and-white reality. All the colour had gone out of life.

[accirax]

As of the latest episode, with all the secrets out in the open, do you have any changed opinions on the general outcomes of your “Secret Swap: For Better or Worse”?

Now that is a fantastic question! Thank you for remembering that this post existed-- I wasn't sure if anybody other than me did 😅 (And also, thank you for your patience while waiting for me to respond to you.) Here's a link to the post in question for anyone who might not know what fatherfigurefusion is asking about. As for the contents of that AU...

DRDT Secret Swap AU: For Better or Worse - REVISIONS

(CW for the suite of issues that we always have to talk about when it comes to the DRDT secrets: murder, death, suicide, implied homophobia/transphobia, self harm, eating disorders.)

Well, first of all, it's good for me that (other than the Xander/Teruko swap thing still not being confirmed) all of the secrets landed in the way in which I thought they would at the time I wrote that post. I would have had a lot more workshopping to do if, say, Hu had been the murderer without remorse and Levi had been the hopeless child.

I think I'll run through each choice I made individually, and then maybe try to fix any issues I encounter at the end after summing up the situation.

The Good Timeline

Eden receives Levi’s secret

Well, Eden did have a more negative reaction to Levi's secret than I initially anticipated in this post, criticizing him for being selfish in hardly even remembering whose lives he took. However, Levi also (presumably) has a more positive reaction to being approached with his secret than I feared. He was willing to share it with everyone himself, so I doubt he would threaten Eden if she were to approach him with it.

An updated summary of what might have happened: Eden receives Levi's secret, and is a little frightened, but might want more details before judging Levi fully (after all, she already knows that his family weren't the best of people). If she decides to approach him about it, Levi coolly explains what exactly his secret means. Eden's discomfort grows, which makes Levi feel bad.

Is it a fantastic scenario? Not really. But are there any better solutions to Levi's secret out there? Debatable. I think this one held up decently.

Nico receives David's secret

I still stand by this one, despite David being even more wild than initially expected. There's definitely a chance that Nico would just bluntly say the secret at some point if they determined that David was being manipulative. But, at the very least, Nico wouldn't be bringing their own drama to the situation-- just potentially elevating others' via timing.

It's a hard secret to deal with, but I still think that Nico is one of the better options.

Hu receives Ace's secret

So, this one obviously gains the new complications that we now canonically know that Ace was the killer, and that he was planning to do so basically before the motives were even revealed. I still think that Hu would probably react in much the way I "predicted" (assuming Ace's former bullying of Nico didn't already damn him in her eyes too much). But, I also don't think that hearing kind words from Hu would be enough to dissuade Ace from wanting to kill for his own safety.

Therefore, what happens to Hu after Ace kills? Is she now stuck in the opinion of defending Ace at the Class Trial, and being inevitably disappointed when he's revealed to truly be the killer? I guess that's not that different from what Hu canonically did with Nico, but it's not like that's going to be great for her mental health either. Not to mention 1) she would have been speaking up for a previously more controversial figure, therefore bringing her judgment even further into question for ever trusting Ace at all, and 2) Ace would actually die at the end, which would be worse for Hu's "wanting to be reliable and save people" bit.

For those reasons, I think this assignment is... dubious, but Ace's secret is also much more of a loaded gun now that we know that he was already planning to kill prior to the secrets' existence. I don't think there's any assignment I could make that would convince Ace out of killing.

J receives Eden's secret

This one still makes a ton of sense to me.

Rose receives J's secret

While I may wind up shuffling this one around in order to defuse another secret's problem, I think the logic behind this assessment holds true.

"Xander" receives Arei's secret

Also still makes sense to me. Let my girl rest. (But not in peace.) (Well, wait.) (You know what I mean!!!)

Arturo receives Min's secret

I don't think that any of our further explanations of Arturo's traumas would make the "poisoning the competition" secret any more traumatic to him. Thus, it still works.

David receives Xander's secret

I. Um. Wow.

I'm pretty certain I wasn't the only one caught off guard by the true extent of how much David cares/d about Xander. With the "knowledge" that David was planning on throwing the killing game and slaughtering everyone in pursuit of Xander's ideals-- taking into account that his actions may have been falsified/exaggerated, of course-- I fear that leaving David with this secret might be irresponsible.

If his emotions surrounding Xander grew even fiercer, so might his determination to bring the killing game to an end. No matter how much what David said in the Class Trial was the truth, I don't think giving him Xander's secret would have the "out of commission" effect I wrote about. This is definitely one I'd like to reassign, if possible.

Arei receives Whit's secret

Now, we have the confirmation that Arei didn't tell anyone about having Levi's secret! We still (understandably) don't know anything about Arei's relationship with her mom, though. Still, this one is looking good.

Veronika receives Charles' secret

As it turns out, Veronika actually found the secrets overall pretty boring (or at least, so she tells us), and only didn't reveal Hu's secret because of the pact she made with Hu. However, I still think that the logic behind her revealing the secret to Charles early holds, and that it's for the best that Charles learns this information on the sooner side. So, this one is still good!

Levi receives Arturo's secret

Well. We know that Levi wouldn't condemn someone for murdering a family member! If anything, if he treated Felicity's death like his own father's, he'd just forget that he ever read the secret. That's a joke, but I think I did a good job with deescalating Arturo's secret.

The worst consequences I can see here are 1) Levi coming to believe that Arturo is a bad person (which may have been the case already?), and/or 2) Levi could callously spill Arturo's secret to the group if he didn't understand the gravity of the sentiment. We don't exactly know how Arturo would react to his secret being shared publicly in a non-Class Trial setting, but given how he treated Eden in his mini-breakdown in 2-10, I can't imagine it would be good.

However, those are only hypotheticals, and I don't know if I'd really get any better by giving Arturo's secret to someone else. I still stand by most of the logic, so I think this choice would remain.

Ace receives Veronika's secret

I still think that nothing bad would happen from this assignment. Which means... Ace would proceed in his plan to kill Eden. Yay...?

Now that we finally have the answer as to who the killer is, it's really weird to look at this good AU. Every time, I'm like, "phew, we didn't do anything to give someone the motivation to kill!" But, as I don't think there are any secrets Ace could receive that would convince him not to kill, that just means that the "good timeline" is condemning Eden to die. Is that really better than some of the other timelines?

That's a bit more philosophical than I think is required for this AU re-analysis, so we'll just give this one a pass.

Teruko receives Hu's secret

Honestly, I think this one got better since I proposed it. This was probably my least favorite assignment of the original good AU. However, now we know that Hu had interest in forming a pact of secrecy with the person who held her secret.

Naturally, it's possible that she was only able to make this pact with Veronika because they had each other's secrets. I have no idea how Hu would have figured out that Veronika had her secret otherwise, barring a Hu!Mastermind situation.

However, as we saw in canon, Teruko decided to approach Rose and ask Rose about her secret. If Teruko did that in this AU, then Hu could surely ask Teruko not to tell others about her secret, and I imagine Teruko would oblige. It removes the possibility I was worried about with Hu feeling insecure about someone learning this about her; while that may still be the case, we can assume that instead of lashing out, she would just ask Teruko to keep it on the down low. This one's good!

Charles receives Rose's secret

I mean. Yeah.

Whit receives Nico's secret

Yeah x2. I do wonder how Whit would react if Nico tried to ask him for help with regards to Ace's bullying, though. I doubt that would actually happen, given that Nico doesn't trust anyone. Still, I'm curious if Whit would turn a blind eye like he did to their arguing canonically, or if that direct connection to Nico's mental health would call him to action a la Charles.

"Min" receives Teruko's secret

If David's creepy-ass smile didn't convince you that this secret should remain dead and buried, I don't know what will. This one can stay.

-

Finally, we've finished recapping the good version! In the end, I was still happy with 13/16 of my answers, which is a pretty good batting average.

But, how would I fix it? Well, as I alluded to in Rose's section, I think I would wind up giving Rose a different secret than J even though it was fine, just because Rose is a really useful slot to have. The best solution I could come up with is that Rose gets Ace's secret, David gets J's secret, and Hu gets Xander's secret.

I don't think that anyone would get mad at Rose for throwing away Ace's secret because it's pretty personal and likely not murder-related. And, Veronika was able to figure out that the secret belonged to Ace mere moments after hearing it for the first time anyways.

While giving David's secret to J is a bit of a dangerous game, I don't think he'd really be able to do much with it pre-Trial without blowing his cover. He might reveal the secret at the Trial just to throw things off track, but even when the secret was with Rose, it probably would have been revealed via process of elimination at the Trial anyways. We don't get the "take David out of commission" factor that made the assignment extra good the first time around, but that was a fluke. I don't think there's anything here that could stop David from David-ing.

I am banking on the fact that learning about Xander's suicidal tendencies wouldn't reignite any old feelings in Hu, but I think it would be okay. I would imagine that their circumstances are pretty different, and (on the surface, at least) Hu seems pretty resolute in her newfound desire to live.

As for Levi's secret, I think the best path for it would be to bury it in the "Xander" or "Min" slot and hand Eden either Arei or Teruko's secrets. Obviously, both of those are very loaded choices, given that Arei and Teruko are almost certainly the two characters that Eden is most connected to in the narrative right now.

In Arei's case, if Eden approached her about her secret, I think that encounter would play out much like the canonical clock-making scene did. However, that means that (if David is still in the area, I guess) they would also have that same rebound that would lead to Arei declaring herself Eden's friend-- albeit probably not as dramatically, given that in this universe, Arturo never attacks Eden. Of course, if Ace is still in the area, that then raises the question of whether the target would still change from Eden to Arei if Arei didn't make such a bold declaration. Which is the better scenario? That's impossible to say, because they both suck. Still, things to think about.

In Teruko's case, it really depends on how kindhearted Eden is feeling at the moment. I want to believe that Eden would approach "the killing game is all your fault" with skepticism and patience, and talk to Teruko to learn that she (most likely) has no memory of anything like this being the case. If Teruko could see that Eden wouldn't immediately turn against her at her literal worst, it would probably go a long way. That being said, it would be totally reasonable for Eden to be upset and worried about reading this secret, and to therefore begin to distrust Teruko.

Both of these situations raise enough issues that I can't decisively determine if they're better than just leaving Eden with Levi's secret. I'll leave it up to you to decide which iteration you personally prefer.

On to the bad section!

The Bad Timeline

As I said in the original AU post, it's difficult to determine which options are truly the worst when there are so many terrible options. Therefore, I expect that most-if-not-all of these options will still get a pass at least. We'll see if I wind up having enough brain cells to change anything in the end.

And, on that note...

Ace receives Levi's secret

Yeah, this one is still bad! Knowing what we know now, Ace is definitely killing if he gets Levi's secret, possibly faster. I do wonder if it would wind up leading Ace to target Levi, even if I'm not sure how he would pull that off. If Ace tried and failed, could it lead to Levi killing Ace instead? Eh, Ace probably wouldn't even try, given that everyone would suspect him if Levi were to turn up dead. "A reason to stay mad at you," indeed.

Veronika receives David's secret

The logic behind this one still cracks me up. Totally still think I'm right, though.

Levi receives Ace's secret

This one is okay. Really, the pushback I'm running into is just that things are already so bad with Ace that I don't think this extra layer of distrust would make things all that much worse. Plus, I don't know if Levi would pick up on the subtler implications of Ace's secret anymore. The question is just, "is there a better way that we can screw over Levi in this situation?" We'll just have to wait and see.

"Xander" receives Eden's secret

Sorry for kinda closeting you, Eden. But, that's what makes this selection so bad. And that's why it stays.

Arturo receives J's secret

There's no way to make J more miserable than to directly hand her secret over to Arturo. We'll continue sticking with canon on this one.

Hu receives Arei's secret

I didn't even mention in my original passage that Hu's love for her family would put her at odds with Arei's treatment of her sisters. That's really terrible, I say with a thumbs up.

Rose receives Min's secret

Tracks.

Teruko receives Xander's secret

While the whole David thing didn't really pan out, I do think that Teruko's segment still makes sense. It's possible we could do worse, but it's not like giving Teruko more reasons to hate herself is a terrible conclusion. I mean, it is, but not for the sake of crafting the worst possible timeline. You know how it is.

Charles receives Whit's secret

Charwhit angst :((((( Good thing that'll never happen in canon! Ha ha. This section is oxygen-potassium, which would also be potassium oxide (K2O), a corrosive compound! Or, you can just call it O-K.

Whit receives Charles' secret

Meanwhile, this section gets a heart from me.

Arei receives Arturo's secret

So if Arturo were in this even worse mental state after Arei wrecking his shop, possibly even being the blackened himself, would Levi also die? Because, Teruko was presumably planning on enacting her plan no matter who the blackened was, and DefaultTV would presumably always punish Teruko for it, and Levi (unless he too was too distracted by this motive) would probably still step in front of Teruko to repay his "debt" to her. However, if Arturo was either the one up for execution or too hateful of himself or anyone else to be spurred to surgery, we'd probably lose Levi too. It's even worse than I thought! Which means it's fully approved.

David receives Veronika's secret

Although this one kinda reads to me as "not that bad," it's important to keep in mind that I gave David a "not that bad" secret so that he would continue to encourage other people to share theirs. That's important for screwing over everyone else. So, I think this one will remain, but I could see blowing it up if it would help something else worsen.

Nico receives Hu's secret

This choice has always been one that I've felt was difficult to talk about, as was probably apparent by the million disclaimers I put at the beginning of it. Because of that, I'm sort of inclined to dissolve it. However, I... think it still holds up?

We also now have the direct confirmation that Hu wanted to keep her secret under wraps because she didn't want others to see her as weak or unreliable. If Nico was holding on to Hu's secret, she would likely only figure that out in a moment of stress, when people needed her to be reliable the most. My point is, she might go into further overdrive trying to prove to Nico that she really is reliable, which would only make things more stressful for Nico and more annoying for everyone else. With that additional reasoning, I don't currently see any reason why this should be changed.

"Min" receives Rose's secret

I didn't realize before that I had Rose and Min swap secrets-- not that it really matters, given that I could have just as easily given Rose's secret to "Xander." Anyways, this also tracks.

Eden receives Nico's secret

I still feel mean for this one 😅 But, y'know, that's just what life is like for a professional Eden Bully. Which is worse, threatening a lesbian with homophobia or falsely accusing her of murder for a year and a half? (/j) Jokes aside, this will remain.

J receives Teruko's secret

Guys, did you know that J HATES MURDER? Forget the theorist's "I feel like" disqualifier, J would definitely tell everyone and their annoying celebrity mom that everything in Teruko's life is worth killing for. Like a fine wine, this got better with age.

-

Unsurprisingly, after what I predicted at the beginning, I wound up approving 15/16 of these options. The only one I really had any issues with was Levi getting Ace's secret.

The worst secret for Levi to receive would probably be either something that makes him perceive a "good person" as a "bad person" or a "bad person" as a "good person." So, like, Teruko maybe for the former? And the worst person for Ace's secret to go to would probably be someone who would outright weaponize it against him, so possibly someone like Arei or David.

If I wanted to shuffle things around, I think it would give David Ace's secret and give Levi Veronika's secret. Ace's secret is also the kind of juicy insight that could still allow David to pull his manipulator BS, and David could absolutely destroy that man in the Class Trial, blackened or not, with the info when the time was right. Meanwhile, I could see Levi being like, "well, if it's stopping Veronika from hurting herself, then... her talent is a "good" thing, right? Every day I grow more jealous of you and your amazing perception, Veronika..." Honestly, I think I do like that one more than what I originally wrote. Let's roll with it.

And now, nearly two months after this ask was sent in, I'm finally done with it! Once again, I'm sorry I spent so long to complete this relatively simple ask. I hope this lived up to your expectations! Thanks for sending it in :)

[wyattjohnston]

playing house - jack hughes

series: we don't have no time to waste

summary: luke is staying with jack and daisy. daisy is equal parts excited and worried.

word count: 1,426

Daisy was bouncing on her toes at the front door.

There was an assignment waiting to be finished, due in less than twelve hours but she’d had trouble focussing since UMich lost their game—since Luke called Jack, half downtrodden and half ecstatic, to tell him that he was going to meet him in Boston.

It had long been decided that he would be in Jersey when his season ended and Daisy thought she was prepared for the day it finally came. But she’d yelled at both of them on the phone when it was clear Luke wasn’t coming straight to their place in Hoboken.

So, Daisy was waiting at the front door, barely keeping herself from opening it and staring out it, for Jack to arrive with Luke in tow.

The doorknob turned, Jack’s voice coming through with a “Honey, we’re—” before Daisy pulled it open the rest of the way, throwing Jack of balance, and then throwing herself at Luke and sending him off balance.

She grabbed onto Luke’s arms, spinning him around in circles as she shouted deliriously and nonsensically.

“Is Luke your favourite? I thought Quinn was your favourite,” Jack deadpanned.

Daisy stopped their spinning, took in Luke’s bewildered expression, before she shrugged and told Jack, very seriously, that she didn’t have favourites and that she loved the three of them equally.

“I already regret being here,” Luke chimed in, still stuck in place.

“You love It and you love me and you will love it here. If you don’t I will be very upset because I put a lot of effort into fixing up Ty’s old room and making sure you could make it your own and—”

“Breathe, Daisy,” Jack said behind a smile. “Let us inside.”

With one last squeal, Daisy gave Luke a proper hug before letting the boys lug Luke’s cases into the house.

Daisy appreciated that Jack kept his mouth shut as they walked further into the house—the level of effort she’d put into cleaning, and baking cookies, and clearly having down a full grocery shop, was something she only ever did for Ellen and Jim’s visits. It had been important to her that Luke walked in and felt welcome. It was also maybe a little important that he couldn’t report back about the heaping pile of clean laundry that substituted as their wardrobes, or the fact that at any given time there was mostly just enough food for Daisy to snack on and some assorted cereals.

“Rule number one is that you can’t complain about any noises you hear coming from our room,” Jack said while they were dropping things in Luke’s new room. “This is the furthest you can get from our room and Ty never said anything.”

“Ty was too nice.”

“Rule number two is no bringing random girls into the house.”

Luke scoffed, throwing his backpack heavily onto the bed as he said, “You’re such a dickhead.”

“You can bring home whoever you want,” Daisy said, elbowing her way past Jack into the room. “But no knocking anybody up—if you need condoms or lube or anything—”

“Jesus Christ, it’s like I moved back home.” He paused, thinking. “Mom and Dad might actually be less annoying.”

Daisy let out a muted, oh, and took a step back so that she was hiding more behind Jack. She felt her face fall and didn’t particularly want Luke to see. Jack knew it, though, looking over his shoulder as Daisy walked back.

Pointedly Jack said to Luke, “Rule number three is no upsetting Daisy.”

“Sorry, Daze, long weekend,” Luke apologised sheepishly.

“I can tone it down a notch. I just—I don’t know,” she shrugged instead of finishing her sentence because she was entirely uncertain of where it was going, anyway.

“Daisy wants you to feel welcome and like this is your home, too.”

“It is your home,” Daisy stressed.

“She’s just gonna be a lot nicer about it than I am. Which leads me to rule four—did I tell you you can’t bring girls home?”

“Fuck you,” Luke said, rather loudly as he started pointing his finger between them. “My first rule is that you guys keep your sex life to your bedroom.”

“One day,” Jack said sagely, despite the handful of Daisy’s ass he was grabbing, “you will understand what it’s like to have a smoking hot woman want to spend the rest of her life with you. She’ll never be the hottest woman in the room when Daze is around but she’ll be too good for you anyway so I suppose that doesn’t matter.”

Daisy rolled her eyes, chided Jack for comparing women even if the primary purpose was to poke fun at Luke and the second woman was hypothetical, and then pushed Jack out of Luke’s room so he could get settled.

When they walked past the kitchen, Jack backed Daisy up slowly into the counter, both to greet her properly and also, Daisy knew, to shove proposed Luke’s rule in his face if he wandered out of his room.

Any other day, Daisy would have kissed him back, would have let his hand wander up her shirt, would have happily been on the receiving and/or giving end of an orgasm or two but it was different with Luke in the house—it was different when she couldn’t wrap her head around all the effort she’d put in just for his arrival.

“I don’t really know why I tried so hard,” she said, mumbled against Jack’s neck as she buried her face. It was with total uncertainty that she said, “It might be about not wanting to disappoint your parents?”

Jack held her closer, his fingers only barely brushing the skin under her top. The undercurrent of laughter in his voice wasn’t directed at her when he said, “We’ve been living together for nearly three years now; been together for so long that I think that ship has probably sailed.”

“You’re so in love with me I could set this place on fire and you wouldn’t tell them,” Daisy said turning her face but still hiding in Jack’s chest. Jack hummed in agreement. “Luke, though… He doesn’t have anything to lose if he tells them that we had milk in the fridge that expired a month ago and neither of us noticed. I go to an Ivy League school, dude—I’m supposed to be smarter than that.”

“Babe,” Jack said, now laughing at her, even if it was light-hearted, “They weren’t even disappointed when I told them about the pregnancy thing. You couldn’t disappoint them if you tried. And, Luke will end up on the street if he tries. I’ve seen photos of his dorm and I will send them to Mom if I have to.”

Daisy had seen those photos, too, and the photos of the houses some of the other players on the team lived in—both Luke’s teammates and Quinn’s—and knew that Ellen and Jim were under no illusions about what went on in college. It was satisfying, at least, to know that Jack was willing to blackmail his own brother for her.

For something so minor, she also knew that he would have done it for fun, though.

“I just want him to be happy here,” she said, finally pulling her head away from his chest. “This whole thing is such a big deal for him and I don’t want to make it any harder.”

“He wouldn’t shut up the entire flight about living here. He’s fucking ecstatic.” After a brief pause, his face screwed up. “You don’t even drink milk. That one’s on me.”

She groaned, the memory filling her brain. “It was the grossest thing I’ve ever smelled in my life.”

“You smelled it? Daisy, babe, I think that’s enough to get you kicked out of Columbia. Even I know you don’t smell the expired milk.”

Daisy shoved Jack away, making various attempts to get him to stop talking—from telling him to shut up, to trying to get her hand over his mouth, to making loud noises to drown at the ensuing taunting.

She was making a break for it when Jack’s arms wrapped around her waist, her feet coming off the ground just enough that she lost all traction and hope of escaping. She shrieked—half laugh, half surprise��when she was caught.

Luke emerged from his room, didn’t even blink at what he was seeing, and bypassed them to get water from the filter in the fridge.

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[vidavalor]

Hello dear,

Sweets are on me this time. Ginger hot chocolate?

Very interested in your opinion about this: What exactly do you think Crowley suddenly realizes after his conversation with Nina? It seems impossible to me that he realizes that he is in love…

♥️♥️♥️

Hi @margotmignard-blog! Hope you're having a good day today. :) Ginger hot chocolate!!! Do you know that I've somehow never had one of those? You've inspired me to try it this week. Thanks for the ask.

Imho, Crowley doesn't realize he's in love with Aziraphale when Nina's peppering him with questions about his and Aziraphale's relationship-- he's known that forever. He realizes he might want to consider again whether or not he should tell Aziraphale that he's in love with him using the whole real 'love' word itself here. That was actually what I think he was considering doing here, if Aziraphale had said yes to getting a glass and having a little date with him:

If you look at the scene with Nina and Crowley, Crowley actually admits to loving Aziraphale in which of her questions he chooses to respond to and how he responds, all of which proves he already knows he is at that point. In only really addressing the "bit on the side" bit, Crowley says that Aziraphale is "far too pure of heart" to be anybody's bit on the side, which is defending Aziraphale's honor from the accusation of him being willing to have an affair with someone in a committed relationship (very gentlemanly of Crowley :)) but is also at the same time admitting that he loves his pure of heart angel Aziraphale by describing him this way.

The irony of the conversation is that here's Crowley, right-- sweet, romantic Crowley-- who has spent the past week trying get Nina and Maggie together and doling out free love advice to everyone from Muriel to Shax lol and he and Aziraphale have been in love for millennia and use every word under the sun to describe what they are-- except for any of the words that Nina has just said... all of which are typical words for romantic relationships lol. In 2.06, Crowley is hesitating to say "couple" and turns into Merriam-Webster to speak around it-- "a team; a group of the two of us". Language is everything in Crowley and Aziraphale's insular world and it's not like they don't know how they feel about one another. They both know they're in love with one another. They use words around it because they've always been only a matter of time away from potentially losing one another forever.

That's even worse after S1 than it was before because at least back then they knew that they had "about 6,000 years" until Armageddon but after S1, Armageddon: Round Two could show up anytime. It could be tomorrow, it could be next month, it could be ten years later. They don't know. Their best source of information is Shax, who doesn't know that much and whom Crowley wisely doesn't really trust. It is hard to build a future when you're waiting for the world to end, right? Aziraphale is shown to be so on edge over it that his 1827 trauma has been triggered and he thinks every time he sees Crowley could be the last time he ever sees him-- but he's still terrified of just asking Crowley to stay because he's afraid to lose him if they were to get caught or when this all ends, which could be any day. So they're stuck running in neutral a little while trying to move forward together.

They're doing their bests by one another. Aziraphale's apology dance for his half of their argument in 2.01 is our car/our bookshop. It's to try to suggest that if they really want a life together, they both have to stop making unilateral decisions and make decisions together. During the week, to help Gabriel and Maggie, they both get pushed out onto Whickber Street a bit more and their relationship is reflected back to them by the shopkeepers. The Crowley and Nina "bit on the side" conversation, imo, causes Crowley to think about Aziraphale's our car/our bookshop moves during the week-- the way Aziraphale's really been trying hard to have it be their life and how he seems a little more ready for it than he has been in the past-- and it gives Crowley pause. Part of the humor of this moment is that Crowley can talk about love all day long when it's in reference to other people-- "just gotta get Nina to do the love thing with Maggie", asking Muriel if she's interested in learning more about "humans falling in love", etc.-- and enjoys doing so in front of Aziraphale as like a way of kind of skirting around the edges of the rules of their language and their relationship but get him considering again just saying "I love you" and this is about as far as he can get it out of his mouth lol:

He repeats "love" to himself a bit after Nina says "love lives" because he's struck by how easy it was for her to say it. Here he and Aziraphale are, in love for thousands of years, running around trying to matchmake the humans, and they've never said this. Crowley and Aziraphale are Earth's longest-running love affair. They are ridiculously old lol and so is their love but the coffee shop human in her late '30s has more experience with saying "I love you" than these two semi-immortal, supernatural beings who have been mad for one another since before the literal beginning of time do lol.

Cupid over here has never confessed he's in love before and Nina's words, plus the events of the week of S2-- namely, Aziraphale's actions during them-- lead him to think maybe he could and should make that fantasy into a reality. He's spent the week doling out solid love advice and matchmaking everyone else and now Nina is making him realize that he needed some himself as well.

Other people's love lives always seem more straightforward than our own is what Nina says and she's (rightly) shading Crowley a little bit for messing about in her and Maggie's love lives but she's also just expressing a bit of disappointment, in the sense that she really likes Crowley and Aziraphale's relationship. She wants what they have, which is why she was asking a million questions of Crowley. Ironically, Crowley and Aziraphale come up with plans to try to get Maggie and Nina together but what really does it is Nina just seeing them together and being like they are fucking adorable-- that's what I want. Both Crowley and Aziraphale are a little successful but fail at it a bit-- the vavoom is a partial success and so is the dance-- but it's really just *them* that helps Nina to see that it's Maggie that she wants.

Nina knows she's a Crowley and she's charmed by Crowley's faux-long-suffering thing with Aziraphale, how he follows him around and dotes on him, flirts with him, calls him "angel" and their sweet banter and how completely besotted they are with one another. Crowley's a snarky, jaded bastard like how Nina herself can be-- he radiates 'have been hurt, will bite, tread carefully'-- but he's also just as soft as Nina also really is underneath and she can tell that. She can see how he trusts Aziraphale enough that he's able to be unguarded with him, which is something Nina doesn't have with Lindsay but thinks she could have with Maggie. Nina can see the peace in it for Crowley that he himself expressed to Aziraphale earlier in S2 and she wants that for herself so she's asking Crowley a million questions to figure out how to emulate it. What are Crowley and Aziraphale? Nina needs to know because she thinks Maggie could be her Aziraphale and she feels a bit lost and needs a path. What she finds out is that Crowley doesn't have words she can understand for it.

It's not that he doesn't have words at all. He and Aziraphale have words-- have all the words but for the traditional ones. They love words. They mess around with language constantly and have for thousands of years, speaking a language that only they really speak. What is missing, though, are the words that they're afraid to say. What they said to each other at The Ritz at the end of S1 ("little bit of a good person"/"bastard worth knowing") was "I love you" in a roundabout way. Crowley has obliquely referred to himself and Aziraphale as humans in love but in an indirect way. Aziraphale has come just as close, maybe even closer-- he covertly referred to him and Crowley together as lovely in 1.01. But we know they haven't ever just said I'm in love with you or I love you because Crowley nearly hyperventilates just trying to say "couple" in 2.06 and admits that they've spent their existence pretending that they aren't one. Maybe a little less so "the last few years", as he says, but if Crowley can't say "couple", neither of them have ever called it "love" aloud directly before. That is what I think Crowley is thinking about when he repeats "love" to himself at the end of that conversation with Nina.

He thinks about how when he looked over at Aziraphale just a couple of days ago when he was doing that whole queer 'humans in love' dark joke about the police force that, even though Crowley was speaking to Muriel, was meant just for Aziraphale, that Aziraphale looked very into hearing Crowley refer-- even a little obliquely-- to their relationship in a way that aligned it with love.

That and Aziraphale's our car/our bookshop and everything the past week makes Crowley think maybe he should say the love thing and it's ridiculous in a way and he knows it, right? It's not like it's going to be breaking news to Aziraphale. They have been in love for thousands of years lol. They know it's love. They're long past any notion of wondering if it really is love in a way like the humans feel, if they're capable of it, all of that. All of that is bullshit anyway-- they've known all along, whether or not they were ready at different times to admit it to themselves. But saying it, when language is everything in their relationship, is still a huge deal and it's become even more of a thing since they've gone so long without doing so.

He and Aziraphale are both spooked a little by Gabriel showing up naked and memory-wiped-- it feels foreboding. If Gabriel can fall, the end of days seem to be circling closer again, so they're both going a little faster out of anxiety a bit so Crowley apparently decides he's going to tell Aziraphale right away and then has to think of how to do it. The next time we see Crowley-- minutes after the conversation with Nina-- he seems to have come up with a plan. He does always like a good plan. He'd probably rather do it in the bookshop but it takes a bit of the romance out of it to have to send Gabriel with a hot chocolate to his room for a bit for it lol and Crowley's thought of a better plan anyway-- Marguerite's.

They probably really do owe Justine the purchase of an expensive bottle of 1938 wine in exchange for her putting up with Aziraphale's French earlier lol but, more importantly, just look at the place, yeah? It's all romantic and lovely-- the ivy and the lights and the roses. It's French in the sense of their everything-French-is-romantic thing. It's a gorgeous little date spot and Crowley whistles Aziraphale over and tries for cool and does he want a glass? and Aziraphale, you absolute fool lol. You went for this place, closed, and The Metatron but you should have gone for it open, right here, and said yes to a glass and let Crowley tell you he's in love with you... The irony, of course, is that Aziraphale is working on his own romantic gesture in this moment and just doesn't want Crowley to know about it yet. The ball is really for Crowley-- the whole thing is to dance with Crowley. It's to take our car/our bookshop into we're having a ball.

Odds are solid that this Aziraphale above here was going to ask Crowley after the ball to stay and to stop leaving at night before everything went to hell and he went missing for the entire night and then the epic disaster that was the next morning happened but Crowley knows none of that back in the scene at Marguerite's and Aziraphale doesn't share it because he's planning for it to be later so the conversation at the restaurant goes quite differently.

Aziraphale not wanting to sit and have a glass of wine with Crowley leaves him disappointed. He makes such a pretty picture, though, and he looks upset, so Aziraphale does sit to talk with him. He tries to get Crowley to wait for him inside the bookshop and the "you like waiting inside" is both flirty and ridiculously married. It's a continuation of the bookshop-is-Aziraphale sexual innuendo but it's also like "sweetheart, why don't you go take a nap?" in tone, which makes the idea that Crowley is trying to confess love here all the darkly funnier as here's Aziraphale with a line that implies Crowley is just frequently in the bookshop when Aziraphale is out doing errands, etc., and they're all but living with one another now. They're married but forgot to say "I love you."

Crowley winds up telling Aziraphale that he was up all night with anxiety over Gabriel and that becomes the conversation topic, with Crowley still thinking about how maybe the timing isn't right for this after all-- maybe it's already too late-- because they're going to be distracted by Gabriel and Heaven and Hell and Armageddon and there might not be any 'after' after all of that. As they're talking, Crowley's dialogue (the way he talks about anxiety over Gabriel and then steers it towards the "smitten" flirting) indicates he might be thinking about the afternoon he wanted instead that maybe isn't really possible in the moment: Aziraphale sitting there, not having to look over his shoulder, having a glass of wine in the romantic restaurant with him, talking and flirting a bit and Crowley thinks that he could have gotten up the nerve to say it, if that had happened. You know he was rehearsing it in his head a little until he spotted Aziraphale and called him over. Instead, it lives underneath the flirtation when Aziraphale suggests he just talk to Gabriel and Crowley uses their love of wordplay and their language to set up the conversation so that Aziraphale will wind up saying "smitten" back to him.

'Smite' is in the same realm as 'wily' and 'thwart' in their language-- a word that has a dramatic, dark, religious meaning but also another, equal meaning related to love and/or sex. (Crowley, who totally wrote Aziraphale's entry in the guide to angels thing that Furfur had, wrote that Aziraphale was a known "demon-smiter", showing that the use of that word for them predates this scene in S2.) "To smite" is one of the rare verbs in English that has two, different past tenses, depending on which meaning of the word a person is using. Crowley flirts with Aziraphale by pretending that he can't remember the correct past tense of 'smite'-- but which one is correct depends entirely on the intended meaning.

"If Gabriel smites you, you've been... smited? smote?" Crowley starts.

'Smited' isn't a word at all and indicates that Crowley is flirting and does genuinely know the answer to the question. 'Smote' is the past tense of 'smite'-- if the intended meaning is in reference to being attacked with the righteous fury of an angel. Aziraphale teases Crowley in return by saying that the past tense of Gabriel smiting someone would be that his target is now "smitten, I believe"-- meaning, now a bit in love. This is both a play on the fact that Gabriel did try to smite both Crowley and Aziraphale in S1 but now it seems to have boomeranged back because, since the arrival of Jim, Gabriel is basically smitten with the two of them-- he's just a big marshmallow who hearts his new friends lol. It's also, though, really more of a joke on Crowley's unwillingness to try to talk with Gabriel, which Aziraphale has been trying to facilitate the whole week, because he knows that Crowley and Gabriel actually have a lot in common and could be good at helping one another through the similar traumas they've been through. He's joking that if Gabriel smites Crowley, as he tried to in S1, then the end result is that Crowley will wind up "smitten", not "smote", which is to gently tease Crowley about how Crowley is secretly big-hearted and warm and they both know he's going to wind up befriending Gabriel. It's also a joke on the fact that they both know that Crowley finds Gabriel attractive, which is part of the reason why Crowley takes the bottle of wine with him from the table when he goes to talk to Gabriel. Alcohol is sex in Ineffable Husbands Speak so if Aziraphale was going to leave Crowley to drink alone but now joke about how hot Crowley thinks Gabriel is while encouraging him to go to talk to him, then Crowley's taking the wine to Gabriel out of flirty spite lol. (And will drink it himself because he really just only has eyes for Aziraphale, as they both know.)

The end result of the wordplay set up, though, is one Aziraphale sees coming a mile away and indulges. He could have said "smote" but he knew Crowley was angling to hear "smitten", which is a word they've used to talk around how they feel about each other by using it in its Biblical euphemistic way while knowing they mean it in the "strongly attracted" definition. It's still not saying love, per se, and it's not the moment Crowley wanted but it was a sweet one anyway because Aziraphale's tone and expression indicated not just the teasing him over Gabriel but the fact that he is smitten with Crowley himself. It was meant to be Crowley telling Aziraphale that he's in love with him and it wound up being Aziraphale reminding Crowley of his feelings for him in their language.

In S3, though, you must allow him to tell you how ardently he admires and loves you, Aziraphale... (just with the second Pride & Prejudice proposal ending, please)...

[literaryavenger]

Captain America: Civil War

Summary: When on a mission in Lagos things don't go as you expected, Secretary Ross offers the team a solution.

Pairing: Platonic!Avengers x F!Reader

Warnings: Descriptions of violence. Language. My poor attempts at being funny.

Word Count: 3K

A/N: It's only half of January and I've already been sick, great! Anyway, basically all the other parts of this story were queued and ready to go, so I got some time to rest but now I'm here writing with a fever! So, if anything doesn't make sense or I missed some mistakes, that's why. Enjoy!

Masterlist | Series Masterlist

After months of tracking down Rumlow, you finally have a chance to get him once and for all.

You’re in Lagos, sitting at a cafe.

“All right, what do you see?” Steve’s voice comes in your ear. You know he’s talking to Wanda, she’s still learning how to be an Avenger.

“Standard beat cops,” she looks around her. “Small station. Quiet street. It’s a good target.”

“There’s an ATM in the south corner, which means…” he trails off letting Wanda finish his sentence.

“Cameras.” she promptly says.

“Both cross streets are one way.” Steve keeps going.

“So compromised escape routes.” Wanda reasons.

“Means our guy doesn't care about being seen, he isn't afraid to make a mess on the way out.” Steve says, “You see that Range Rover halfway up the block?”

“Yeah, the red one?” she asks “It’s cute.”

“It's also bulletproof,” you discreetly point out  ”which means private security, which means more guns, which means more headaches for somebody. Probably us.”

“You guys know I can move things with my mind, right?” she says and you smirk.

“Looking over your shoulder needs to become second nature.” Natasha answers from a few tables away.

“Anybody ever tell you you're a little paranoid?” you hear Sam ask and try hard to contain your laughter.

“Not to my face. Why? Did you hear something?” Natasha says and you can see her smirking.

“Eyes on target, folks. This is the best lead we've had on Rumlow in six months. I don't want to lose him.” Steve says in our comms.

“If he sees us coming that won't be a problem.” Sam says. 

“Yeah, he kind of hates us.” you add.

There’s a minute of silence as you all keep an eye on your surroundings, then you hear Steve’s voice again. “Sam, see that garbage truck? Tag it.”

You turn around just in time to see Redwing flying under it to scan the truck.

“Give me X-ray.” Sam orders the drone. “That truck’s loaded for max weight. And the driver’s armed.”

“It’s a battering ram.” Natasha says and your eyes widen a little.

“Go now!” Steve says and before the words are even out of his mouth you’re moving.

“What?” Wanda asks confused.

“He’s not hitting the police.” you say and then you’re all running in the truck’s direction.

Steve and his supersoldier ass get there first, then Sam and Wanda who can fly, while you and Nat are stuck driving your motorcycles as fast as you can, but can still hear the conversation through the comms.

“Body armor, AR-15's.” Steve says “I make seven hostiles.”

You hear some gun fire and then Sam “I make five.”

“Sam.”- Wanda says and, after a few seconds, Sam again “Four.”

“Rumlow’s on the third floor.” Sam says, then Steve says in his Captain voice “Wanda, just like we practiced.”

“What about the gas?”-you hear her ask.

“Get it out.” he orders. You can see the green and red whirlpool from the street.

“Rumlow has a biological weapon.” Steve after a few minutes, just as you and Natasha get there.

“We’re on it.” she says and basically jumps off her motorcycle and it skids into an agent.

You make a sharp turn and come to a sudden stop in front of an agent on your right side, so you push your left leg off the bike and, twisting your body, you kick the guy hard on the stomach while also dismounting the motorcycle.

When you turn around Nat cocks her eyebrow at you and you shrug. “What? I’m not throwing my bike at these assholes.” she rolls her eyes at you as you two keep taking out soldiers.

You can see Nat getting dragged by Rumlow, but you’re too busy fighting off some agents to help her. You vaguely hear him saying ‘I don't work like that no more’ and frown, you manage to take out the last one around you and, just as you turn, you see Rumlow launch a grenade into the truck and say “Fire in the hole.”

You run towards it, knowing Natasha’s probably in it, but it explodes before you can get close and do anything, the door flying and Natasha falling out of it coughing.

Once you’re sure she’s okay, you turn around but Rumlow’s already gone.

“Sam. He's in an AFV heading north.” you hear Steve say and, sharing a nod with Natasha, you get back onto your bikes and run to catch up with the truck.

“I got six, they're splitting up.” Sam says just as you and Natasha get to where they ditched the truck.

Natasha jumps onto a car and then another and you follow her. “I got the two on the left.” she says.

“I got the middle!” you say and start your pursuit.

“They ditched their gear. It's a shell game now.” you hear Steve say as you run after your two guys. “One of them has the payload.”

Just as you manage to catch up to your guys and knock one of them out, you can hear Sam saying “He doesn't have it. I’m empty.”

You quickly take down the other guy and search through them. “I struck out, too.”

Then you hear Natasha say “Payload secure.” and you allow yourself to relax.

“Thanks, Sam.” She adds.

“Don't thank me.” he answers and you frown, confused as you start making your way back.

“I’m… not thanking that thing.” is all Natasha needs to say for you to understand, and you roll your eyes.

“His name is Redwing.” Sam corrects her.

“I'm still not thanking it.” she says.

“He's cute. Go ahead, pet him.” he says and you can’t help but laugh.

Your amusement is cut short as you hear Steve’s grunts, clearly still in a fight and you try to move faster to make your way to him.

You catch up right after Wanda, just as Rumlow says “And you're coming with me.” and activates the bomb vest he’s wearing.

You don’t have time to even try and cover yourself as Wanda keeps the blast contained in a ball around Rumlow, his screams the only thing that can be heard.

She launches him in the air and the ball of energy explodes too close to the building next to it, setting a couple of floors on fire.

As you all watch in horror, you barely register Steve asking Sam for Fire and Rescue as you put your hands on Wanda’s shoulders and turn her away from the building. You let her rest her head on your shoulder as she starts crying, your own shocked attention still on the building.

This is not good.

-

It’s been a rough couple of days for the team after the mission in Lagos.

You’re all back at the compound now, and you’re on your way to the conference room to wait there for Tony when you pass Wanda’s room and hear her talking to Steve.

“Rumlow said ‘Bucky’ and… all of a sudden I was a 16-year-old kid again, in Brooklyn.” Steve pauses “And people died. It's on me.”

“It's on both of us.” Wanda counters.

“This job…” Steve starts “we try to save as many people as we can. Sometimes that doesn't mean everybody. But if we can't find a way to live with that, next time… maybe nobody gets saved.” 

You see Vision approach and keep walking to make your way to the conference room, exchanging a knowing nod with him.

When you get there you’re a little startled to see The Secretary of State, but you sit down at the table in silence.

Once everyone gets there, Steve sits at the head of table, to his left Sam, then Vision and then Wanda, to his right you then Natasha, then Rhodey and Tony is sitting in a chair by himself to the right of the table.

Secretary Ross is on his feet in front of the table and, once everyone takes a seat, he starts talking.

“Five years ago, I had a heart attack. I dropped right in the middle of my back-swing. Turned out it was the best round of my life, because after 13 hours of surgery and a triple bypass… I found something 40 years in the Army had never taught me: Perspective. The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt. You have fought for us, protected us, risked your lives… but while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some… who would prefer the word ‘vigilantes’”

“And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?” Natasha asks.

“How about ‘dangerous’?” Your eyebrows shoot up in surprise. Definitely not the word you were expecting “What would you call a group of US-based, enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?”

Ross activates a screen behind him and News footage from past Avengers and SHIELD matters flash on the screen as he speaks.

“New York.” A Chitauri leviathan. Terrified citizens. A soldier firing a gun. The Hulk smashes into a building and sends a dust cloud that engulfs the camera. Rhodey looks regretful and he glances behind him at Natasha.

“Washington DC.” The three Insight helicarriers, firing on each other. The destroyed Triskelion. A helicarrier crashing into the Potomac and throwing up a massive wave, engulfing citizens and the camera. You and Sam look at each other, then down.

“Sokovia.” Terrified citizens, running. The city rising. A building falling over. Everyone’s eyes are glued to the screen.

“Lagos.” The burning building. Paramedics moving a body. A dead girl. Wanda is particularly affected by the footage from Lagos. Steve sees this and intervenes.

“Okay. That's enough.” Steve says, looking at Wanda.

Secretary Ross nods to his aide and the images disappear, then he starts talking again.

“For the past four years, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate. But I think we have a solution.” he places a thick document on the desk and passes it to Wanda. She looks at it and then slides it over to Rhodey. “The Sokovia Accords. Approved by 117 countries… it states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead, they'll operate under the supervision of a United Nations panel, only when and if that panel deems it necessary.”

“The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place.” Steve points out. “I feel we've done that.”

“Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?” Steve looks up and meets Ross's eyes. “If I misplaced a couple of 30 megaton nukes… you can bet there'd be consequences.”

You narrow your eyes at him. They’re people, not weapons. Before you can voice your thoughts he goes on. “Compromise. Reassurance. That's how the world works. Believe me, this is the middle ground.” He points at the Accords.

“So, there are contingencies.” Rhodey says, familiar with the politics by now.

“Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords.” Steve glances at Tony “Talk it over.”

He starts to walk away when you speak up for the first time. “And if we come to a decision you don't like?”

Ross stops and looks back at you. “Then you retire.” he deadpans.

You simply nod, trying to stifle a grin and, when you look at Natasha, you can see she’s doing the same.

He leaves with his aide and there’s a moment of silence before you all get up and walk quietly to the common room. Some sitting, some standing and Tony laying down on a chair. And then the discussion starts.

-

“Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor, which is one more than you have.” Rhodey says to sam. You’ve lost track of how long the team has been discussing.

“So let's say we agree to this thing. How long is it gonna be before they LoJack us like a bunch of common criminals?”

“117 countries want to sign this. 117, Sam,” He leans in to look at Sam since you’re currently between the two men. “and you're just like, ‘No, that's cool. We got it.’”

“Why am I always in the middle of this?” you say, a little exasperated at the two that are almost glaring at each other now, you make eye contact with Nat and she clearly feels the same way you do.

“How long are you going to play both sides?” Sam says, ignoring your comment.

“I have an equation.” Vision jumps in and everyone looks at him.

“Oh, this will clear it up.” you say sarcastically and cross your arms in front of your chest.

“In the eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially. And during the same period, the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate.” Vision explains.

“Are you saying it's our fault?” Steve asks.

“I'm saying there may be a causality.” Vision clarifies, before going on “Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict… breeds catastrophe. Oversight… oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand.”

“Boom.” Rhodey says and you roll your eyes while Sam glares at him.

“Tony. You are being uncharacteristically non-hyper-verbal.” Natasha points out.

“It's because he's already made up his mind.” Steve says.

“Boy, you know me so well.” Tony says sarcastically and gets up, rubbing his head. “Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache.”

He walks to the kitchen and grabs a mug before continuing. “That's what's going on, Cap. It's just pain. It's discomfort- Who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal? Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?”

He puts his phone in a basket and taps it, the phone projects an image of a smiling young man. He looks down, then back up, and pretends to notice the picture for the first time. “Oh, that's Charles Spencer, by the way. He's a great kid. Computer engineering degree, 3.6 GPA. Had a floor level gig at Intel planned for the fall. But first, he wanted to put a few miles on his soul, before he parked it behind a desk. See the world. Maybe be of service. Charlie didn't want to go to Vegas or Fort Lauderdale, which is what I would do. He didn't go to Paris or Amsterdam, which sounds fun. He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the poor. Guess where, Sokovia.” Everyone is listening to him intently as he seems to be having a little meltdown, but his words are clearly affecting the whole team.

“He wanted to make a difference, I suppose. I mean, we won't know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass.” He pauses and takes a pill with some coffee, then faces you all. “There's no decision-making process here. We need to be put in check! Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, if we're boundary-less, we're no better than the bad guys.”

“Tony, someone dies on your watch, you don't give up.” Steve says.

“Who said we're giving up?” Tony promptly answers.

“We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions.” Steve counters. “This document just shifts the blame.”

“I'm sorry. Steve. That- that is dangerously arrogant.” Rhodey says. “This is the United Nations we're talking about. It's not the World Security Council, it's not SHIELD, it's not HYDRA.”

“No, but it's run by people with agendas, and agendas change.” you interject, seeing Steve’s point.

“That's good. That's why I'm here.” Tony says, pointing at you. “When I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down and stopped manufacturing.”

“Tony, you chose to do that.” you tell him, then Steve talks, nodding at you.

“She’s right. If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose. What if this panel sends us somewhere we don't think we should go? What if there is somewhere we need to go, and they don't let us? We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own.” Steve says.

“If we don't do this now, it's gonna be done to us later.” Tony reasons. “That's the fact. That won't be pretty.”

“You're saying they'll come for me.” Wanda speaks up for the first time since this discussion started.

“We would protect you.” Vision says confidently.

“Could we?” you say and everyone looks at you, so you elaborate. “If we don’t sign this we’re criminals for even trying to keep her safe. If we do sign, it’ll be our job to come for her if we get ordered to.”

There’s a moment of silence while you all think about this, before Natasha speaks up. “Maybe Tony's right.”

You all look at her, surprised. “If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer. If we take it off-” she gets interrupted by Sam.

“Aren't you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?”

“He’s not wrong, Tasha.” You add.

“I'm just… I'm reading the terrain.” She explains. “We have made… some very public mistakes. We need to win their trust back.”

“Focus up.” Tony says and looks at Natasha, clearly amused. “I'm sorry, did I just mishear you or did you agree with me?” you roll your eyes.

“Oh, I want to take it back now.”

“No, no, no. You can't retract it. Thank you. Unprecedented. Okay, case closed--I win.”

They all start to talk over each other, but you’re focused on Steve’s phone that you can see over his shoulder since you’re standing right behind him. He gets a text that says ‘She’s gone. In her sleep.’ and you frown, watching Steve quickly get up.

“I have to go.” is all he says while dropping the Accords on the coffee table and, when he exits the room, you exchange a worried glance with Sam.

Requested taglist: @sapphirebarnes @aki-ham

[yelenasdiary]

Can I request a wandanatxreader or one of them with us.

Okay so I had a rough day, I’m one to suffer with body image and how I apply makeup and stuff. And I felt confident today until my family said something. We were going out for dinner and then my whole mood got changed and I was down the rest of the night that I couldn’t even enjoy the dinner.

Can you do something like this? I know it’s more of me ranting rn, but I just need some comfort.

Our Girl

Pairing: WandaNat x Reader

Summary: Wanda and Nat comfort you after a work dinner goes to shit.  

Fluff | Comfort | Angst | Body Image Issues | Basically Bullying | Mentions of Anxiety | Light Language Warning | 1.2K |

Translations: moya lyubov' (my love), dorogoy (sweetheart), lyubov' (love), 

AC: I wasn’t comfortable writing this as if family were being little pricks so I changed it to a work party setting, I hope that’s okay! Also, try not to think too much about what others say, I know it’s hard but I’m putting all my bets on the fact you looked amazing that night and your family were jealous xx I hope you’re doing okay & thank you for sending my first ever WandaNat request! 

*Please do not take credit for this photo I made*

"Are you sure I look okay, I don't know if this outfit looks good on me" you asked your girlfriends as your eyes fell to the floor. "Baby, you look amazing!" Natasha smiled softly as she walked over to you, lifting your head up with her thumb under your chin. "You're worrying too much pumpkin, you're breath-taking!" Wanda added as she walked up, stopping to give you a kiss on the cheek. 

"You guys are jus-"

"Don't even finish that sentence" Nat raised a brow at you, "You look beyond beautiful, anybody who doesn't see that can answer to myself or Wanda" she added before pulling you in for a hug, "stop stressing moya lyubov'" Natasha whispered. "We don't want to be late, let's go" Wanda opened the front door. If it wasn't for her, you and Natasha would be late for a lot of things. 

Natasha drove while Wanda sat in the back with you, she could see your anxiety was starting to take its toll, the worry and fear on your face crushed her as she placed a hand over yours, "Look at me honey" she spoke softly. You looked over to her and smiled softly, she always had this aura about her that made you forget the world around you. "It's just a silly work party, we'll go, have a couple of drinks, pick at the finger food and mingle with a few people. If at any point it's too much, we'll go" Wanda assures you as her thumb rubs over your knuckles. 

You'll never understand how Wanda was always able to clear your worries and fears but you were always so thankful for that power of hers. You took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly, a wave of confidence came over you as you smiled back at your girlfriend, "thank you Wands" you said as you lent over and kissed her softly. 

----

For most of the afternoon, your work party went well. You, Natasha and Wanda stuck close to each other as you introduced them to your co-workers and of course, Natasha couldn't help herself and kept one hand draped around your waist. Your boss and Wanda seemed to have kicked things off well or maybe it was because they both loved to garden in their free time. It wasn't until the two women that for some reason disliked you came up to you and your girlfriends that things went downhill after that.

"Nat, Wanda, this is Sadie and Sarah" you smiled kindly as you introduced your partners. Of course they already knew who they were the moment you said their names and almost instantly Natasha's cold glare was glued to them until you gave her a begging "please be nice" look. 

"It's lovely to meet you both" Wanda reached her hand out with a smile. "You too" Sadie mumbled as she took Wanda's hand as though it was almost too much for her to do. "I see you went with an interesting outfit for this evening, Y/n" Sarah spoke as she looked you up and down causing Natasha to frown slightly. 

"Oh this? it was just something I had lying around" you replied quickly before Natasha could say a word. "Yeah, we can see that" Sadie turned her nose up which didn't help the burning anger building within Natasha. "Best you leave the sales talking to us, wouldn't want any buyers to get the wrong idea now, would we?" Sadie added. It didn't take much but the way both girls looked you up and down with disgust made your mood drop, you sighed and nodded at Sadie's words in defeat and not wanting to cause a scene. 

"Excuse me? Wrong idea? What is that supposed to mean?" Natasha asked, slightly pulling you closer to her.

"Nat, please, it's fine" you turned to her and whispered.

"No dorogoy, it's not fine" Wanda stepped in, "if you have something to say, say it or don't bother" She tilted her head slightly at the two women who worked with you.

"I just meant that we don't need whatever this is to make the company look bad, I mean, no disrespect but I don't think our boss would appreciate a sloppy look and hack job attempt to apply some make up to try and sell our product" Sadie explained before sipping her drink. 

"Hack job and sloppy? I'll tell you what's sloppy and hack job attempt!" Natasha took a step forward, "Nat, please!" you begged when her voice began to rise.

"Let's start with how that dress you're wearing is extremely too small I'm surprised you can even breathe let along have a drink while wearing that. I don't think almost whoring yourself out is something your boss would want to gain some sales, would they? Oh and let's not forget how much of a hack job you've done with those hair extensions and that necklace you're wearing, we can all tell they are cubic zirconia diamonds!" Natasha's strong eye contact made Sadie look small and you swore you could see a few tears building in her eyes. 

"Honey, that's enough" Wanda gently placed a hand over Natasha's lower back, "Basically what Natasha is saying is that if either of you ever, and I mean ever, speak to our girl like that again it won't just be a few things Natasha mentions. A little tip of advice, take it as you will but that foundation isn't your tone and next time you want to try blending it in with your neck" Wanda smiled softly at the two women, "now, if you don't mind I believe Y/n has some sales to make seeing as she's already made 7 tonight" she added. 

Both Sadie and Sarah looked over at you and smiled softly as if to excuse themselves before they walked away. Nat and Wanda turned to you and saw the hurt written all over your face. "lyubov', don't listen to them. They clearly just wanted to try and make themselves feel better" Wanda pulled you close, "you're so beautiful and you look so, so in creditably beautiful tonight. I'm so proud of you for coming tonight, I know it wasn't something you wanted to do but look at you" she smiled softly once more. 

"Wands is right baby, you're so strong. If we had of known just how badly those little shits were, we would've said something a lot sooner. You don't need to let them walk all over you, honestly baby" Natasha's hand found its way to your lower back, "you're our beautiful and strong girl! Fuck everybody else in this room, you're the real diamond here" she added with a wink as you smiled at her words. 

"I don't think I will ever be able to understand how I have the world's best women, I love you both so much, thank you" you replied as you looked between them both. 

"You don't have to thank us darling; we weren't going to just let them do that and walk away" Wanda brushed a lock of your hair out of your face, "We love you more than words could ever explain" she added. "And much more than actions could show" Natasha said, "let's go get that last sale and get out of here. I think our girl deserves a much-needed vacation after tonight" Nat suggested as she kissed you softly. 

"I couldn't agree more!" Wanda said before kissing you as well. 

[thegeminisage]

it is time for. NOT a tng update. but a ds9 update!!! wednesday* we watched "emissary" and actually i'm not clear on if we watched both parts or just one since my website is wonky but either way whatever we watched FUCKING RULED. i'm dispensing w the normal bullet points so i can ramble as much as i want

*it was last night actually but it took me all day to type this up so i'm scheduling it to go up later. it got looooong lol

the first most striking thing i noticed about ds9, or at least the first half of what we watched, is that it FEELS like a video game. someone tell me if this is insane. you're playing as sisko. you get flashbacks of his backstory, you get thrown into this starbase that's in shambles and it's Your Job to fix it up. you go around meeting all the secondary characters who will be in charge of this or that gameplay aspect or upgrade system or shop: kira, o'brien, quark, odo, jadzia, julian, etc. the FOLEY in this was insane. all the noise in the back CONSTANTLY suggested a lively and whole universe outside of our direct line of focus - it felt so alive in the way not even the enterprise in tos did. i could picture myself in the opening gameplay/cutscene like slowly walking my character through what will become a hub area that i gradually upgrade over time while kira or o'brien narrates the list of problems. you're starting at the bottom rung and expected to fail, but you can FEEL the potential even in just one brief walk through the promenade. IS THIS INSANE? it feels like an insane thing to say. someone PLEASE write in if you have ever had similar feelings. if they haven't made a ds9 game yet, they should.

i also notice that not only is the quality of the ds9 episodes worse than that of tng and tos - no one has remastered them into 1080p, apparently - but the lighting is very different, as well. it felt WEIRD to see picard and the enterprise D shot this way. but it also lends, perhaps unintentionally, perhaps not, a really gritty atmosphere to what is normally a very clean universe. i guess since we mostly see it from the inside of starships, it would feel like a sterile place to us, but you know how everyone always compliments star wars on how lived-in it feels? the buttons are wearing, sand is stuck in their fancy thingamajigs, etc? this was how ds9 felt to me.

okay. the characters. let's fucking get into it. what's so fun about ds9 in general is that in all other trek shows i have picked out my specialest little guy in 5 seconds flat. tos was spock EASILY. tng i knew it was data before i started. i already know seven's gonna be my favorite voyager character, but i have NO IDEA!!! who my precious little baby in ds9 will be. what a fun surprise for everyone involved. if anybody wants to place bets go ahead.

like, i thought tng had a pretty solid lineup (hence my eternal frustration with its wasted potential) but they're not anywhere as eclectic as ds9's core cast. iirc, sisko and o'brien are the ONLY humans who for once are outnumbered by trek's cool aliens. i'm saving sisko for last because that was the part of ds9 that touched me most profoundly, but for o'brien - it was a little sad to see him leave the enterprise, because picard was right, it WON'T feel the same without him, but i'm really excited to see why everybody says he suffers more than jesus and to find out if the eyepatch is a permanent thing or if it's just mirrorverse fuckery. either way, i win. like, o'brien is cool, and i always miss him when i don't see him in tng, and i'll continue to miss him in tng from here on out, but he could never shine in that show. it's too stiff and too reluctant to put its characters through any real development. it's a shame they can't ALL move to ds9, tbh.

the next person we met was kira, who was WONDERFUL. it took me a minute to warm up to her, not because there was anything wrong with her, but because i figured at first glance she was ds9's version of ro laren, the obligatory bajoran cast member to connect us with the bajoran/cardassian plot - which would of course be good because ro is awesome, but it's not necessarily anything new and i already love ro. BUT I WAS WRONG! kira's personality is very distinct from ro's; really the only thing they have in common is not liking cardassians which lmao Yeah. my favorite thing about kira is that she smiles when she's upset or angry. that's Such an acting choic, to have her grinning at the cardassians when she's almost certain they're about to blow her whole space station to smithereens. all love light and respect to ro laren my beloved, but i think i actually like kira BETTER.

odo: WHAT is that thing he can do oh my god...is this a changeling?? i got that result in a star trek quiz once. i really loved when he snuck aboard the enemy ship posing as a bag to hold gambling winnings. i was like oh they showed us the bag to show us it will get stolen soon BUT NO it was odo!!!!!!! such a fun surprise. the exposition on his backstory was a little slapdash but i enjoyed it all the same, i cannot wait to learn more

i was most nervous to meet quark because i hate hate HATE the ferengi in tng, but he was actually so entertaining! like, you're never gonna be able to entirely remove the antisemetic undertones from the ferengi as a whole, but he was smart, practical, and endearingly longsuffering. i love his wryness and deadpan humor. i have a feeling he is gonna be so much fun to torture lovingly.

meeting julian bashir felt like meeting a famous person. for the longest time all i knew about ds9 was that cardassian guy wanted to FUCK that gay little doctor, so it was a little hilarious that in his first scene he was asking a woman* out on a date. sir do you not know you're gay?? even funnier was the fact that out of everybody in the pilot he had the least lines. we barely know him, but we finally met him. relatedly, i can't to wait to meet more cardassians, especially The cardassian. so far, they're still all gay.

*jadzia!!! gnc/trans queen! the trill stuff is SO interesting and watching that worm slither in and out of people during those flashbacks was so wonderful but also made me wince. i love that she used to be an old man and the jokes about it are actually really funny without feeling transphobic or anything SO FAR. who knows if that changes. i feel like we haven't gotten much yet from her either but i cannot wait.

SISKO. damn. where do i even...first of all, he should be allowed to bite kick kill picard. i say this as someone who experienced a genuine THRILL of pleasure upon seeing picard's borged self again. i loved that whole thing, i'm obsessed with the borg. that it comes back in this small way in ds9, and has such a HUGE impact on the storyline, was so so so fucking good. i always say tng tells and not shows, but even after just knowing sisko for a few moments i felt keenly how much it devastated to find his wife like that and THAT WAS JUST FROM THE FIRST SCENE. and it only gets better! he's a great dad. he's FUNNY. he is not above manual labor. he wants to tear picard limb from limb. and he exists HERE.

the wormhole alien sequence was. so good. it was SO GOOD. explaining linear time to aliens. the aliens using his memories to talk to him. HE EXISTS HERE. back and back and BACK to finding his wife in the rubble because HE EXISTS HERE. he CHOOSES to exist here. he existed there when he applied for a transfer to earth. he existed there when he confronted picard. he never left the ship because HE NEVER LEFT THE SHIP. they dragged him out but they COULDN'T DRAG HIM OUT. he exists here because he won't leave her to exist here alone because damn it we can't just leave her here. that was the most insane series of events i ever watched. like, because at first you DO think it's the aliens taking him back there BUT IT'S HIM. HE IS DOING IT TO HIMSELF. when the penny dropped i got literal chill bumps and when the aliens said "it's not linear" and he, openly weeping, replied "it's NOT linear," i genuinely, truly, shed a tear along with him. TNG COULD NEVER. none of those miserable fucks EVER cry!!! sisko did it in the god damn pilot!!!!!!!

and like, the fact that he can choose to stay at the space station at the end, to shake picard's hand, to exist SOMEWHERE ELSE. AAAAAUGHGHGHG

i really loved the final confrontation, too. kira is so so so so good, again, i LOVE that she smiles when she's angry, when she's sad, and it's not a fake smile, it's genuine and honest emotion, and she's genuinely and honestly going to start eating the cardassians for sport if they don't leave her alone. it was very scrappy, them pretending to be bigger and badder than they actually were because they had no other choice. you get the feeling everybody on the station and indeed the station itself is barely holding together, and what little togetherness is present comes from sheer spite.

anyway, absolutely 10/10. i was so worried ds9 wouldn't be good but it not only met my most furtive hopes it surpassed them with flying colors. it's gonna be REAL hard to go back to tng after this.

[x-neurotoxin-x]

Ahem, could you write a meta on it? 🫣

I use the term meta very, very loosely here as this will likely be me rambling more than actually analyzing things but I'll try to keep this as coherent and to the point as I can.

(General trigger warning, I'm discussing sexual assault, csa, and medical trauma here, as well as mental issues that are usually caused by sexual trauma)

Touya, especially in the way of his medical trauma, represents a SA victim to me.

There are a lot of tropes and metaphors in media that can be used represent SA, and a large one is medical trauma, specifically non-consenusal body modification, human experimentation, and loss of bodily autonomy / the right to your own body, all of these are heavily present in Touya's backstory in chapter 350 and everything that happened while he was in a coma. We don't exactly know what they did to him while he was under, but we know he was under for 3 years and his body was modified, experimented on, and reconstructed unwillingly and without his knowledge.

Then when he wakes up he's told he's not allowed to leave, treated like he's overreacting for being horrified, and there's the whole thing Ujiko/Afo/whoever was on that monitor told him that he'll "never be the same again." He's also in general dehumanized and objectified by Ujiko in present day when he's talking about Touya to the Tartarus Guard, he's described like he's not a person.

Then there's everything about what Touya's going through mentally in this chapter when he wakes up. He's confused and disoriented, he feels a disconnect from his body now and can't recognize his own voice, and he's got a very childlike demeanor that he seems to carry into adulthood - like maturity wise, he's extremely stunted.

All these examples, if you wanna look at it that way, can be metaphors used for sexual assault and relate to victims of sa.

Loss of bodily autonomy - Your body is not your own, your body no longer belongs to you, you have no control over what others do to you

Medical Trauma/Human Experimentation/non consensual body modifications - once again your body doesn't belong to you and others can make it into whatever would better serve them. They can use and ruin you, destroy and rebuild you into what they want. Usually turns the victim into something horrific

Which brings me to Body Horror - another trope usually used to symbolize the loss of control over your body, being mutilated and becoming changed forever. Especially with the medical / experimentation stuff.

Disconnect / Dissociation from body and identity - particularly after something traumatic like SA or abuse, victims feel a real disconnect from their body, a sense of dissociation and being unable to recognize themself/their body and feel like it's theirs. Touya changing his name and appearance afterwards (even if that was mostly due to the familial trauma) coupled with the "youll never be the same again" line really feels relatable to rape victims because after someone does that to you, you really do feel like you're changed forever and your body isn't your body any more, it's not how you remember it.

Touya's mental state in general can be seen as symptoms of SA. Having self destructive tendencies can also be seen as a symptom of SA, especially relating to how badly he destroys his own body after the coma. Touya (especially reveal/post reveal) having a very childish demeanor, kinda stuck mentally at 13 at times, also can relate to sexual trauma since csa survivors that age regress tend tp regress to the age(s) they were when they were victimized. The tendency to be very withdrawn and keeping his guard up around most everyone.

Then just the fact Touya was already a victim of grooming and abuse, and had no support system growing up- and Afo seemed to be implied to had stalked the todofam and specifically singled out Touya because he was already a victim and didn't have support or anybody that genuinely cared about him, and that is a tactic predators use to single out victims.

Touya being used and thrown away when he's no longer of use i would argue can also represent that. Especially since its a reoccurring thing that happened to him - His Father used him until he no longer wanted him and then abandoned him, afo/Ujiko then also used Touya and abandoned him when they decided he was too damaged to be of use (especially with the fact they kinda let him go bc Enji had already done so much damage to him mentally, and Touya couldn't be what they wanted of him no matter how much they did to him so they just discarded him after.)

Of course all these can be contributed to other metaphors and things like that, and as a disclaimer I'm not saying Touya's canonically a victim of SA (though I argue it could be implied with at least the coma stuff), but I do feel sa victims can relate to him a lot and a lot of the tropes and metaphors we see with Touya - especially with the coma - can be read as rape metaphors. I hardly ever see anybody talk about it and we should talk about it.

[blackhill2245]

New rookie

Warnings - fluff light angst (very very light angst)

Summary - new recruit reader has trouble sleeping but keeps it a secret, unfortunately for her maya and carina are determined to help her out.

I step into the station, hands shaking with nerves.

I had transferred stations as my last one was filled with angry white men who couldn't fathom the idea of having to work with a girl. I spent three years there and was constantly harrased and bullied, I'm thankful I got out now as I don't think I could have handled another day there without jumping out the moving truck.

I looked around the first thing I took note of was of how clean it was, sighing internally, knowing I'll be doing most of the cleaning now as the new rookie.

I spot a man at reception and quickly approach, my duffle bag on my shoulder and new uniform on. I preferred getting dressed at home.

"Hello, is Captain Bishop here?" I ask politely before remembering my manners, "oh I'm y/n y/l/n. " I stuck my hand out for a handshake.

He snapped his head around to look at me, his hand clutching his chest, "Jesus, you scared me, I'm Travis." he shook my hand, chuckling to himself.

"OH, sorry," I say bashfuly, "hey, don't worry, she's upstairs having breakfast, I'm guessing you're the new recruite?" He led me up the stairs, eyeing me up and down.

My first impression of him was that he was very neat, and I could see him being a little neat freak always having his pens in straight lines.

I huff to myself in amusement, "Uh yea, but I'm not a recruit. I've been working as a firefighter for three years. " he raised a brow but was thankfully interrupted before he could ask, "Oh shit!" I turn my head to the dining table, seeing the whole team sitting down for breakfast and a brunette woman, the one who spoke was a blond woman who I persume to be captain bishop, she was looking right at me.

The brunette gave her a look before the captain bishop got up. "Hello, " she cleared her throat. "I totally didn't forget you were coming," she chuckled to herself, I guess she was trying to joke? I wasn't very good with cues sometimes.

"Um well hello" I smacked my thighs nervously, my hands shaking again, having do many people look at me, "y/n y/l/n" I introduce, to her and the rest of the team.

She seemed to snap out of a trance of sorts as she straightened up and nodded, "Right, I'm maya bishop captain. Over there are Andy Herrera and Jack Gibson, the lieutenants, then there's Travis, whom you already seem to know. There is victoria Hugh's, Ben Warren over there. And my wonderful girlfriend Carina Deluca." She pointed to everyone who waved or gave me a nod.

"It's nice to meet you all." My voice shook, but I don't think k anybody realized. Maya jestured me away to a corner to talk.

"So I've already given out assignments, so you'll be on the truck, and your chore for today is to clean the locker room." I tilt my head a little. "Anything else?" I ask, thinking she's not finished. "Nope, that's it, but if you have time, could you just clean off the gym, just sanitize?" I nodded, slightly shocked. That was it.

"Whats with that look, newbie?!" I turn my head to see victoria looking at me, I assume she's the one who asked. "Too much work for you?" I shrunk a little, I knew all people were tough on the new people but I hadn't been one in three years so it was weird.

"Uh no, I'm just a little shocked on how little I have to do." I smile politely, swinging my hands by my side.

"What do you mean, Bella?" I hear an accented voice ask from right behind me, flinching in suprise. I fully turn around, everyone's attention now on Me.

"OH well, my old station made me do laundry, cooking, clean the bathrooms, change the sheets in the bunks, clean the aid car and truck, and mop every floor." I list off not thinking much if it.

"Surely you had help" I turn my head to see Warren talking to me, shaking my head negative, they all give each other looks.

"Um, well, if you don't mind if I?.." I gesture to my heavy duffle bag. They all rushed to say I could go, I make my way to the locker room finding an empty one and putting my stuff away, putting my little toy firetruck and ambulance next to my spare clothes, smiling lightly they were my good luck charms.

It was one month in, and I don't think I have ever felt this happy, exhausted, yes, but happy too. You see, I have insomnia and anxiety, and as nice as everyone is, they are still new to me, so my anxiety is through the roof, making my insomnia bad again.

Currently, I was hanging out. It was a quiet shift, and carina was around again, we were all around the dining table just chatting and having fun.

I didn't partisapate much to exhausted and trying to stay awake, I was in-between carina and Maya, they took a liking to me and are very friendly towards me.

I picked at my food, feeling bad for not eating it as carina made it, I loved her cooking, but I just didn't have an appetite.

I didn't notice the table go quiet until maya gently shook my shoulder, snapping myself upright. I turned to her. "What?" I ask, blearily not realizing how rude it sounded. She furrowed her brows bending her head down to look at me, "You ok?" She said, gently rubbing my shoulder with her thumb.

I nod taking a bite of my now cold food, grimacing a little.

Everyone suddenly gasps. "Something must be wrong if you don't like carina food." victoria accused, pointing her finger at me. I swat her finger away from my face, "Get your smelly finger out of my face," I grumble. "Exceus me my finger is very clean!" She pretended to be offended, "clean my ass, " I huff sinking in my seat.

"What's wrong, bambina? Hmm?" Carina gently grabs my chin, so I look at her, and I immediately melt into her touch, everyone around the table giving each other amused looks, not used to seeing me so touchy.

"Nufin," I mutter, turning my head away. She gives Maya a look, "cmon, we're going home, your shift is over," maya declares, standing up. "It is?" I ask confused.

"It ended half an hour ago, we all just thought you wanted to stay for dinner" Travis says gently, "oh" is all I say in reposnse as carina gently grabs my hands and helps me stand up, "Ok well bye" I say bluntly, turning to leave.

"OH no, you dont." Maya grabs the back of my shirt, pulling me back and keeping me there until she and Carina said goodbye to everyone herself.

I huff trying to walk away, "bambino stay." carina pointed a finger, and despite not being a dog, I stayed put. "Were bringing you home," she told me, gently caressing my head, "I can just go home myself." I didn't want to leave my car here. "Shush," She dismissed me immediately.

Once they said goodbye to everyone, I was led over to the locker room to grab my stuff before being led once again to thier car.

"You're coming home with us," Maya said from the front seat, "but I don't have any clothes or stuff for a sleepover." I weakly protest I didn't have the energy to argue. "We have stuff you can use," carina turned and gave me a soft look quickly buckling me. in. I was bright red in an embarrassment. I huffed but gave in.

The ride was quiet apart from the occasional conversation between Maya and Carina, I was grateful my eyes kept shutting, and I would have gotten irritated.

The car pulled over, and I was again led up to their apartment and brought inside, taking my shoes off and leaving them at the door. I was left standing there like an idiot, but not for long.

"Cmon, time for bed," Maya called from fhier bathroom, I walked over, tilting my head confused. "But it's only 7 pm." I point out.

"Bambina, you're clearly tired, relax it's OK, we'll take care of you" I don't know why, maybe it was her gentle touch and tone or the way she and Maya were looking st me like I hung the moon and stars, but it made me emotional.

"OH hun," Maya said, sympathetically seeing my tears, I'd like to blame my tiredness on why I was so emotional, but carina saying, it was OK, just broke me.

I started sniffling but it wasn't long before I was engulfed in two sets of arms being rocked side by side, "it's OK hun let it out" and "sh sh sh it's OK, your ok" were being whisperd, such a heartfelt moment.

I chuckle pulling away and wiping my eyes, "m ok" I mutter, "you sure" they checked and I nodded, but as Carina went to grab me stuff to wear and use maya stayed with me, always having one hand or the other on me to comfort me.

I got ready quickly before stumbling out of the bathroom in Spiderman fluffy pj bottoms and a Grey batman shirt, "thankyou for letting me stay" I mutter bashfuly heading towards the door so I could sleep in the guest bedroom.

"Where are you going, silly?" I turn to see Maya patting the middle of the bed, "Hmm?" I tilt my head confused "your staying with us, if you're comfterble, of course. " I eye them still confused.

"You're quite oblivious, bambina. Me and Maya want to be more than friends with you." They both suddenly looked shy.

"Oh" I say completely shocked, I did not see that coming I mean yea I had butterfly when I saw them and yea they were more touchy with me and flirty, come to think of it maybe they were crushing on me. "Me?" I point stupidly to my self.

Carina hopped out of bed and dragged me in between them on the bed, "Yes, you stupid".

I huff offended "Maya carina being mean!" I yelp as she pokes my stomach.

Maya chuckled, cuddling on my side, head laying on top of mine, "so how about we go on a date, together" I sigh melting as she played with my hair, Carina pulling the blankets over us, "of course I would are you kidding?!".

My eyes began shutting, but I tried keeping them open "God I'm tired.", "We notice you haven't been sleeping?" Carina said concerned "yes I think changing stations is causing it, It was a lot of stress, and I guess my insomnia is acting up because of that. "

"OH baby," Maya cooed, kissing the top of my head, "Relax, we have you." carina curled on my other side, and I lay on my side head laying on mayas chest listening to her heart beat.

I fell asleep that night happier than ever. Waking up was like a dream the next day.

[japhgura]

Ok ok I found it surprisingly fast but

One of Maegawa's most well kept secrets, she only starts wearing it openly sometime after Kensei's miraculous return

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"Incredible guy, really! Took on missions here while he was still in the academy I heard. He's sure skilled enough for it. Ah, don't let his edgy exterior scare you off, he's a real goof beneath it all"

Maegawa sighed as her friend lost herself in another ramble. Did the corridors of the 9th seem longer today..?

The strawberry-blonde shinigami had thoroughly enjoyed Minamoto's earlier ramblings about mantodea. This one about some edgy academy upstart? ..Not so much.

"Mina, as much as I trust your insights.. why exactly are you dragging me into this? The Cleansing Festival Preparations are already underway and I have more work on my desk than coffee cups.... Which means I'm behind", Maegawa sighed again. "Also the Shinigami Women's Assocation has asked about a strange new holiday and I have no clue what it is, but if I don't get to part of the preparations for 'Cake and Cunnilingus Day' I swear to you-"

"Hold! I know, I know- but Asa, just trust me with this one, ok?", Minako's excited, and - worryingly enough - mischievous little grinny smile was hard to say no to.

The endless corridors finally seemed to have come to an end and the two Shinigami stepped out into the courtyard.

A few other soul reapers were on the move around them, and the strawberry blonde's eyes wandered over the black clad figures in search of someone waiting.

"..Fine. But if I miss out on cake and cunnilingus-", Asahi's voice got stuck in her throat as her lightly annoyed gaze fell on a young man she hadn't seen around before. Specifically the tattoo ever so prominently displayed on his cheek.

The woman's eyes widened, a ghost of a boasting laugh haunting the back of her mind at seeing that ridiculous number printed so boldy.. and so proudly. Her eyes stung for a moment, but she'd grown adept at swallowing her woes like soul candy.

...Why was something she thought she'd never see again in her agonisingly long afterlife... Printed so boldly on this young man's cheek..?

"Minamoto Minako to Maegawa Asahi, patching through, hello hello, is anybody home?", Mina ripped her friend out of her thoughts, causing Asahi to shake her head and look at her instead.

"Ah, yes, right. Sorry. What was it?"

"I'm introducing you", Minako grinned as she waved the young man over, who crossed the courtyard after her ok with a few haste steps.

As much as he tried to look ever so serious, his hand betrayed him as he fidgeted with the sleeves of his shihakushō.

"Hisagi Shūhei, Maegawa Asahi", Minamoto introduced them with a smile showcasing how proud she was of herself.

Asahi was still struggling with words, trying to keep her eyes from ever so obviously returning to the tattoo on the guy's cheek.

"Uhm.. It's nice to meet you. ...I.. Well, if I could get straight to the point.. Minamoto said.. you were quite close to someone. Uhm.. Someone named..", the man's pointer and middle finger softly touched the 69 on his cheek.

"....Muguruma Kensei", Maegawa softly finished his question for him. ".....I.. might have a moment or two.. for some tea", the Shinigami offered with a rueful smile.

"Guess Cake and Cunnilingus is later then, huh?", Minako snickered, earning a pragmatic nod from Asahi and an extremely bewildered and very much flustered, wide-eyed shock-stare from poor Shūhei.

She got the tattoo after seeing it on Shūhei and missing Kensei, she originally planned to never let anyone see it ever