#i dunno i just think its a cute coincidence

[sweetestberryofthebunch]

The way Brosé and I now basically have the exact same hairstyle

[yuri-is-online]

Missed Connection Section of the NRC Gazette (Floyd, Leona, and Ruggie)

While cleaning the Ramshackle guest room, the prefect occasionally finds items that remind them of their guests. Sometimes that is because those items actually belong to them and need to be returned, other times it's just a happy coincidence. Either way, the item needs to be delivered, might as well invite them over again? Or just chase them down, whatever is most convenient.

notes: they/them pronouns used for Yuu, Yuu is implied to be short, based off the personal items you can find in the guest room and a line from Floyd's dormwear card, title inspired by a country song that has nothing to do with the subject of the fic. I got a request for the 300 followers event, but since it's closed and I had this kicking around for Floyd anyway I added the other two requested characters. If you liked this you can read my other fics here.

Grey Scarf

"Floyd." Azul has a boring look on his face, all grimacy and angry and not worth Floyd's attention. Unfortunately he is very close to his face making it a tad impossible to ignore. "Where is your scarf?"  

"Dunno." He says. "I ain't wearing it." 

"I can see that." Snaps Azul. "You need it for your shift, you look sloppy enough as it is.  You scarf is a part of your uniform!  How can you be so careless with it?"

Because it's ugly.  Sure, it matches his dorm uniform kind of but his socks get to be a snazzy purple with a cute octopus pattern, why'd the scarf have to be such a boring grey?  Rules are rules though, and he does need it to work so he drags himself back over to his room and starts looking around. Normally, he would just steal Jade's and wait tables until he figured it out and forced Floyd to take the kitchen off his hands, but Floyd really didn't feel like cooking today. He didn't feel like waiting tables either, but money was money and Azul paid well. Only if he could find his stupid scarf apparently which was nowhere he could see, and he was far from happy about physically looking. Jade opens the door as he's halfway through emptying his bedside drawer on top of his bed, alongside all the laundry he'd had scattered across the floor.

"Looking for your scarf?" Floyd throws a pillow at him which is quickly returned with a pointed look that dares him to escalate things further just obviously enough Floyd doesn't want to do it. Instead he falls face first into the pile of laundry and nick nacks he'd been sorting through, making Jade sigh in disappointment.

"'s not here." Floyd grunts, muffled by an ok smelling t-shirt.

"Have you tried retracing your steps?" Jade is saying it just to be annoying but it is ok advice. Floyd tries, he doesn't usually wear his dorm uniform outside of school stuff, so it would have to be somewhere on campus. He hauls himself up from the pile and shuffles past his brother, the walk out of the mirror and towards the main campus passing by in a blur. There's a vague memory of club practice, but that could have been from any day this week, and it's not like he wears it to classes. Floyd chews on his lip in annoyance, he feels like he remembers where the last place the scarf was, but his bad mood is keeping him from sorting through his memories intellectually. It also keeps him from looking where he's going, smacking him directly into a very tiny, very familiar looking person who pointedly ignores his angry snarl to shove something in his face. Something very familiar, very boring, and very clearly the only reason either of them had left their dorms this evening.

"Seriously," the little shrimp has to stand up on their tip toes to throw the scarf around his shoulders "you have got to stop leaving your things at my dorm!" He thinks they're angry. That would explain the look on their face, but it's making his heart do weird flips between his chest and his stomach that keep him from thinking straight. A smile finds its way to his face, wide and unbidden coupled with outstretched arms that can't catch them fast enough, like he's reaching through honey even though he finds his mark and tugs them thrashing into his embrace.

"Awww," the words that come out of his mouth don't really feel like his "was little shrimpy wooooried about me?" He should say thank you. That's what Mamma Leech would say, and it's not that he doesn't want to, it's just there's a weird weight to the words he can't quite figure out. Something that wants to be said, but not just yet. They deserve a better tone, a better mood.

"No!" Yuu yells, muffled by his squeeze and unaware of how struggling is only going to make his hold tighter. "You just always burst in and whine about being bored-" Floyd nuzzles his cheek against theirs, trying to ignore the pushing against his chest as he sets them down.

"It's ok little shrimpy, you don't have to be so modest. Good shrimpies get rewards, I'll make sure to bring you something after I get off work, make sure to leave the door unlocked for me~" Or maybe don't, he could find his way in anyway he's sure of that but there's something about the fantasy of them wanting to see him (it's not a fantasy, they've invited him over before he knows that they don't fear him as much as they should) after work that's going to get him through the shift. Maybe he'll ditch the scarf again and make them come running after him on purpose this time, he thinks to himself with an uncharacteristically gentle smile.

Grand Wallet

Contrary to what he would say out-loud, Leona does think that the Ramshackle Prefect is quite smart. You do not survive as a magicless student from a different reality without some flexibility and raw intelligence. The consistency with which they could pick up on things and see through concealed intentions demands respect. But, he supposes as he idly thumbs through his bill fold disappointed to find it just as thick as when he left it, they are also... he decides to go with nice. The concerned way they stare at him is nice, Leona likes positive attention. He just wishes it wasn't from the nicest person he knows, is it so wrong to wish he had some reassurance that there was someone willing to be only nice to him? There's an ugly sort of suspicion they might have refused to steal from him out of fear, he's certainly more of a threat to them than he is to Ruggie.

"Well I guess I owe you a reward huh?" They jump, not helping the accusation (unvoiced) that they're only doing this out of fear.

"No?" Yuu says, looking around them probably to make sure that bratty cat monster isn't within earshot. Leona doesn't care about rewarding Grim, this is between him and the prefect, not some gluttonous bastard who is half the reason he was expecting to be stolen from in the first place. "You- Just stop forgetting things at my place!" He smiles slightly at that choice of phrasing just as they cringe at it. It almost makes him sound like a normal guy, if a Prince was leaving things around someone's place that would invite speculation; and Leona knows better than anyone that speculation invites scandal.

"Real shame no one ever does things out of the goodness of their hearts these days." His voice drawls as embarrassment settles over their face. They look almost mouse-like, if they try to speak Leona just knows they'll squeak and they clearly know it too. "You're really twisting my arm here, pretty shameless, prefect." That does it, the deep breath they take does nothing but really accentuate the harsh contrast of the squeaking to their normal voice.

"I did not," Yuu is so mortified they can barely get the words out, if he can't be the only recipient of their kindness he will satisfy himself with batting them around in his paws until they can pull together some nerves and force him to stop "return your wallet just for a reward. It's yours it belongs to you and now it is back where it belongs. Which isn't my guest room on top of a fucking couch seriously Leona-" Mice still have claws, even if the dent they leave is just a little scratch to such a big cat, he finds himself pleased with the annoyance of Yuu finding their voice. "It was like you were practically begging to be robbed. What if one of the Leech twins found that huh? Would you be getting it back?"

"Only after I paid the finders fee." He can ignore the tickle caused by the unsavory image of an eel inviting itself into your personal space. "Which is what I am doin' now, you're demanding it remember?" He tunes his ears to their footsteps as he walks towards the cafeteria, content with how quickly they jump to follow. The typically steady beat of their heart is skipping in tune with the directions of their thoughts. Good, the mouse is smart contrary to what the trapped lion thinks, so let them; they'll realize the hold they have over him soon enough.

Empty Lunch Box

This was really starting to annoy you, but no matter how much you turned the whole thing over in your mind you couldn't figure out why. You had been tempted to try and ask someone about it, but you could already tell what the general reaction to the situation would be.

The "situation" being that simply put, Ruggie liked to hang out in your guest room. That wasn't the issue. You liked having Ruggie over, it's actually really nice. Sometimes he brings small projects from some odd job or another and you'll work on them together while having a chat. He likes to ask you things about your world, it started as just small talk about the sort of jobs you'd had in your world but evolved into much more meaningful talks about your hobbies and the family you missed. You had even had a lengthy conversation about death and the difference between cultural beliefs about where you go after you die. Yes it was very nice and domestic even but then you made the mistake of trying to be nice.

Ruggie liked to bring a lunchbox with him when he visited. Sometimes it had food in it, and while he hadn't shared it with you at first, but then you started talking about your families and he had slightly warmed up to the idea of sharing snacks. You hadn't taken anything from him until he explicitly offered, and when he forgot the now empty lunch box you had pulled some of your personal savings to get him something from the Mystery Shop. It was supposed to be a cute surprise for him to find when you returned the lunch box, and it worked. Granted you had intended for him to find it after he got back to his dorm, but he had sniffed it out as soon as you handed it over. His reaction was cute, he was cute, it was almost like he thought he was dreaming with just how excited he had been to receive some packaged pastries. When he came over later in the week and left the lunchbox again you had done the same thing. Fair is fair, he gets you jobs and shares his food and you give a little food back in return. Lately though something has been different. Ruggie has still been coming to hang out, he still brings work, you still talk, and he still leaves that damn lunch box. But he hasn't been sharing anything, meaningful; personal information or foodwise.

Maybe it was the death conversation. If you had revealed you were an orphan and that you never knew your mom to someone you had a crush on (not that Ruggie like likes you no matter how much you might might want that) you would be pumping the breaks too. But it still kind of hurt, it felt like a rejection of something that you knew hadn't existed in the first place.

"Y'know you don't have to give me stuff." Ruggie had come over today too, with shitty plastic garbage that needed packed into boxes. He's either read your mind or noticed you brought the remainder of the packaged goods out to snack on while you work. You try to asses him from behind your pile of card stock, he's overly focused on his task. Reflective maybe? He is almost pouting.

"I wanted to." You decide to stick with honesty, sure Ruggie might be sneaky but he deserves that much, doesn't he? "You share with me, I share with you. Fair's fair, right?"

"Right." Ruggie says, audibly disappointed to your confusion. You have never seen him so... gloomy over the concept of someone owing him a favor. Especially one paid back in food. "You do that for everybody, yeah?"

"Yeah?" You say, pausing in your work for just a second to try and collect yourself. Up until a few seconds ago you had been under the impression that had been one of your better qualities.

"So like," he isn't looking at you and his ears are saggy, tugging at your heartstrings painfully though just a tiny part of you is starting to hope- "if Leona left no that doesn't make sense. If Jack left his lunch box here and it was empty would you buy him a snack?" You think for a second.

"Did he share his lunch with me?"

"Yes." Ruggie's looking at you again, like he has a bone to pick.

"Maybe." You don't really have to think about the answer, as much as you like returning the favor Jack would probably just be happy to find his lost item and leave it at that. "If we were hanging out and he wanted something from a vending machine I'd spot him."

"But you wouldn't go out of your way to get him something?" Ruggie's stopped working now, he's really staring at you almost like he is trying to sus you out as if he hasn't been friends with you for a while now. As if he doesn't know more of your secrets than anyone else.

"I-" for some reason what you want to say gets stuck on your throat, maybe it's because Ruggie leans across the couch to get a bit closer to your face. Maybe it's because you are suddenly a lot more aware of what your little actions might have meant to him as your previous conversations play over in your mind "no. You're the only person I've really gone out of my way to get food for. Well except for maybe Grim but he doesn't really count..." You both let out sharp breaths, your eyes fall down to your work, hands going back to the task out of habit and desire to distract yourself.

shishishishi

Ruggie is silent and back in his perch across from you once your head snaps up to look at him. His small grin is intoxicating, his tail is swishing in pride like he's just won a great victory in some war you had no idea he was fighting. It is a smug look, too smug for someone who just put you through a few days of mental torture.

Maybe you'll make him some food next time, you'll see who is smug after that.

[patchiko]

comic!jason todd x m!indie rock singer/guitarist reader

cold weather - glass beach

1:08 ──⚬──── 2:18

⇆ ◃◃ ıı ▹▹ ↻

🪐⁠☆ﾟ⁠.⁠*⁠･⁠｡ﾟ warnings ; sfw (none)

…

🪐⁠☆ﾟ⁠.⁠*⁠･⁠｡ﾟ contents ; hc’s totally not based off glass beach lyrics haha thats so cheesy whaat lololo…

I love the way you make me feel when I’m staring at my screen.

At 4AM, trying not to fall asleep

And you hit me up just to see if I’m OK

JASON TODD CODED SOOO BAAADD

literally how the crushes form for both sides

jason has like an inner psyche where he just fuckin knows when youre awake

if you ask him he’ll probably say something stupid like ‘i can hear your (guitar)/(voice)’ and he’s nowhere around you

and his heart throbs whenever you two stay texting for waayy tooooo loonggg, starts cheesing and shit

NEERRRDD

average jason todd text

When I keep you up sending Mamegoma Lines

You know it's shit like that that makes me wanna be alive

JASON TODD CODED LINE. CANON CANON.

he responds through his helmet while he’s kicking ass

it gets so common to a point where he ends up having a full blown convo w/ you using those stupid fuckin stickers

bug him late at night !!

he’ll tell you to gts but he’d be lying if he says it doesn’t make his heart melt when u send him these little fucks.

So I'll call in sick again just to spend the day with you

100% he’ll call a day off to hang with you

whether its showing up to your show then hitting a bar, 100%,

i need jason todd in a relationship where he just drops everything for his s/o,

fuck the mission!! he wants to listen to those fucking vocals for an hour or you shredding ur guitar!!

he’s fucking around in an arcade with you till 11pm

hes a little ass at mario kart, better with motorcycle games,

BRING HIM TO ANY SHOOTER ONES WHERE U HOLD THE GUN AND UR GETTING WAAAASHHHEDD.

he has the most fun with the halo ones or the walking dead ones

weirdly good at the multiplayer pacman games

AMAZING AT GALAXIA ILL DIE ON THIS HILLL

Wanna say I think it's so gay that we really both feel the same way

That I feel like we're more than just friends

It took too long to realize

I didn't miss the cold weather, I just missed you

Jason was never homophobic and or totally against the idea of him being gay

i dont think he was ever in a gay relationship b4 you two

bc most of the vigilante guys he met were trying to fight him or absolute dick heads,

n’ most of the male figures in his life weren’t the absolute best.

so there wasn’t tooo much room for crushing on a guy too easily

if you’d ask him abt his sexuality its smthn like ‘i think im straight but i dunno what if im not.’

heres how i think it starts ;)

you’re preforming at a bar, n’ ofc jason todd can admit when a guys cute/attractive, any guy could do that

and maybe its ur guitar or your vocals but he cant stop watching (he convinces himself its your talent which is reasonably not gay)

maybe one coincidence leads to another and you two chat and go out at times, he pulls up to your shows more.

and the whole time he thinks he’s just acknowledging that your a very attractive person,

notthin crazy to admit ya homie has mad kisssble lips after starin at them for a sec too long. lol. haha. hm.

and i think the thought really hits him when he’s out of gotham for a mission. and he’s craving your presence

he texts you but you dont respond, fuck right you have a show and the timezone difference—

n he gets fuckin, ANTSY and SAD.

he tries to smoke a cig to fuck off

but he cant stop thinking about that one night where he brings you to his favorite rooftop view of the city,

how those sly stupid jokes slip from your mouth like honey,

the way you glance at him and the moonlight on your skin

how he got that random need to just lean into your lips

and— (GAY REALIZATION PANICC) <- link

'Cause I don't need the cold weather like I need you

And I don't need the sweater weather I just need you

Na na na na na na na

Na na na na na na na

Na na na na na na na

Fuck! Hahahaha

hes unlabeled your honor.

[the-ghost-of-a-spirit]

watching mha S4 and my thoughts while watching ep1-14

@maidofdarkness23

their interveiwing 1A? this'll be funny.

nezu, it makes total sense to allow someone you dont know, who could be a villan onto school grounds, sure buddy (i will bully nezu about everything now) also i dont trust the interviwer, his name is tanayo i think

bakugo is so real for getting mad when a guy is photographing him eating breakfast love how tokoyami uses dark shadow to get food instead of waiting in line himself

why are their chess tiles flat, thats not chess bro

time to find out who overhaul is

okay, so a guy just exploded

shigaraki: "now i get it" well i dont, please explain okay so, i still have no clue whats going but i think its like: twice brings overhaul to base. they talk, shigaraki gets mad. they fight. some guy blows up, overhauls friends come, someone else died at some point and the guys arm gets cut off, overhaul and co. tell leage of villans to think about it, and leave

present mic calling almight emo is SO FUNNY wonder what happened with him and nighteye

miriyo!

nighteye, what in the actual fuck. he literally trapped a girl to a laughing machine, he's insane, like why, what is wrong with him.

WHAT IS THAT, DEKU WHAT

"oh no, hes not funny"

alright nighteye has an even worse almight obsession then deku

okay, so deku isn't failing

betting something happens with nighteye and almight in this season

Tokoyami is going to work study with a guy called hawks. I think hawks is goanna be cool

Deku and mirio found a kid. She was in the intro I think so she's important

so her name is ari. She's cute.

Is it coincidence that ari and shigarako have te same hair?

Crack ship: grand torino/recovery girl

I love Tomiki. He's my favourite.

random but, i'm gonna say that ectoplasm (the guy who makes clones) is the traitor. cause the leuge of villans has a clone guy (mimic) and ectoplasm is a clone guy. so same guy.

red riot is a pretty sick name ngl

kirashima tragic backstory unlocked? (had to check his name with google)

tomiki is allergic to postitvity its so funny i love him

okay, i need explanation, why is everyone here okay got it, this is boring, waiting for the actual rescue misson

nighteye: I cant! (regarding him not using his quirk right then) Aizawa: most jujdmental sideye ever (why does he have the funniest expressions)

loving aizwa right now, with him saying that to deku, like hes so.. also that little chest punch, then also the "i'll be your man" "no"

also ari is so cute and i love her (i barely know her)

ida is so silly, like why

dragonladydragonladydragonlady

TAMAKI-CENTRIC EPISODE, LETS GO, right after i decided he's my favourite too lol (4 ep8) also just realised his name is tamaki not tomiki

i love miriyo, hes so nice and just generally a good person

tiny plauge doctor becomong big :( he was kinda cute when he was little

tamaki's hero name is sun-eater?

we gonna talk about how miriyo is "sun" and tamaki is "sun eater" i need the backstory of tamaki's hero name okay, not what i expected, i still think theres more we can read into with sun/sun eater (yes im shipping it, sue me)

what if tamaki just starts eating random stuff, imagine if he eats paper and becomes his own notepad

tamaki is not okay (he got hurt and collapsed after a fight)

how come fat's skinny now. like why. i despise skinny fatgum

"a few pounds" you are literally less than half the size you were before

i love how evryones usually obsessing over almight, but we also have kirashima with crimson riot, and i think thats neat

okay, so i think ari's quirk is destroying someones quirk forever? give my kid a break, shes like, 5

also, on one hand, i think overhaul is a really cool and interesting power. on the other, child experimentation is not ok

alright, i'm betting someone gets shot, dunno who yet, but someone will get shot by those permanent quirk destroying bullets

how many personas does twice have?

someone has a truth quirk, also taking back the ectoplasm=twice thing cause they know who twice really is, and who ectoplasm is too, probably

the upside down drunk guy is so funny to me "what are you, drunk" "no, that would be you" (what if this became a ship)

ari is missing a horn, she has one, but its not centered, therefore she's meant to have 2, cause these things are supposed to be symetrical

i would die for ari, and also kill overhaul for her (MD i see why you hate him now)

going to say this now, capes are dumb, especially for million, cause his clothes are made of his hair, so you'd expect for there to not be much fabric, but he has a cape.

nimoto/chisaki new ship

(minimum requirements for ship is that they breathed the same air for at least a scene, and possible are loyal to eachother, but we dont need that)

MIRIYO GOT SHOT, HE GOT SHOT BY THE PERMANENT BULLET

what if miryo become the first quirkless hero?

miriyo, stop getting hurt

deku came and saved the day (and so did evryone else, probably)

i like locklock

chisaki killed nimoto, like dude, he was, like, the one guy who genuinely liked and supported you.

what if shigaraki and ari are related, i'm pretty sure they are.

NIGHTEYE'S DEAD???

ARI NO

ari is also favourite, i love her and would die for her

everytime someone screams "chisaki" i feel like their gonna say "Chisaki smash" and idk why

ari's quirk is to rewind

this scene (deku and ari right after quirk reveal) is going to break me

what if almight and nighteye became "messed up stomach due to villan" buddies

i like dabi, i think he's neat

shigaraki, u good bro? probably not but still

okay, nighteyes dead

i hope we get to see more of ari later on

[dreaming-in-daylight]

memories- hannah bang streetlight by changbin hug me by i.n fire in the rain burn the house down carried home take me home hold on-just search up httyd after this tourner dans le vide-indilla sped up vers. blossom-enhypen

+ some more memories by han hold on by seungmin

can you see that im slowly putting you in kpop

hehe you already did my princess and hopefully this will be a nice present for when you wake up <3

memories, hannah bang - voice is very very soothing and relaxing, got chills, hear an accent

streetlight, changbin - this is a mooood, woah the metaphors, is this like toxic masculinity?, i dont think im supposed to be relating--, totally saving that

hug me, i.n - WEIRUFBUDFIBRFRIDBU THATS SO DUCKING CUTEEEEE. whys that so adorable and wholesome and just UGH. would you hug me? yes sir!

fire in the rain - giving riptide vance joy vibes, awwwwww this is so cuteeee, im saving this too. im gonna listen to this until i am sick of it. aylin your taste is beyond amazing

burn the house down - AJR!!! I LOVE THIS SO MUCH THE TUNE IS SO CATCHYY AHHH THE TWINNSS OML I LOVE THEMM. way up way up we gooo, been up and down that road mmmm i love this sm ty so much aylin im saving this rn

carried home -  this is so calming i swear. was this in httyd ? i feel like it was. so freaking relaxing. 

take me home - WHOO! just started and i already like this! TAKE ME HOOOOME! HOOOME, MY LOVE! HOOOOME! TAKE ME HOME. YESSSSSSS I LOVE THIS AHHHHH AMAZING AYLIN YOUR TASTE IS GOLD!!! I LOVE EVERY LYRIC AHH

hold on, httyd - ooh a sad one now, i already know this so im gonna react to hiccastrid. nooo astrid's panicked voice.  STOP THIS IS SO GOOD ITS GIVING ME SHIVERS. THE LYRICS MATCHES THE SCENES AND THE TRANSITIONS. this so depressing what. DID THEY REALLY SHOW HICCUPS DEAD DAD ARE YOU KIDDING ME DO THEY WANT ME TO CRY BECAUSE THEY ARE SUCCEEDING. THEY ARE LITERALLY PERCABETH WHATRE YOU TALKING ABOUT AHHH THE CUTE CHEEK KISSES AND HUGS OML 

tourners dans le vide (sped up) - (i coincidently found one with the thumbnail as mikasa) oooooh spooky like a dark carousel i dunno how to explain it. i am only judging by the voice. OHHHH I HEARD THIS IN EDITS YEAHHH. SO COOOOOOOLLLL. I LOVE THISS THE VIBE AHHHH AYLIN YOURE TASTE 🫶🫶🫶

blossom, enhypen - tHE HARMONIES IN THE BEGINNING I CANT- THEIR VOICES ARE SO GOOOOOOOD THE WAY THEY JUST SWITCHED THE LYRICS BETWEEN EACH OTHER IS SO CUTEE. THE LYRICS ARE SOO WHOLESOME AWWWWW. I FEEL LIKE IVE BEEN MISSING THIS MY WHOLE LIFE AHHHHHHH. kimi e no ai ga ai ga yurayura yurayura! I LOVE THIS THANK YOU AYLIN. IM FALLING FOR YOU TOO, JAKE

miserable, han - his voice is cute. the vibe is very nice. okay this does NOT sound like a healthy relationship 😅. oooooh his rapping is so good. i really like this. i would listen to this in happy rainy days. 

hold on, seungmin - 3 seconds in and i've fallen in love with the tune alone, awww "you came to me like a gift, you brought joy to meaningless days" byjcrewjybrc, wait. is he talking about a pet or a furry. im so confused. is he dating a furry???, STOPP "when the remaining ashes are blown away, i will call your name once again" brb im sobbing and screaming curled up in my bed, STOPP THIS SO SAD BUT SO HOPEFUL AT THE SAME TIME AND THE TUNE AHHHH, new favorite

[p5x-theories]

So what are your thoughts on the designs of all of the new Thieves?

Oh boy, my thoughts on them? This'll get long, so I'll put it under a cut to spare everyone my rambling haha.

The TLDR is that I like all their designs! I would change some things about most of them, but I do like them as-is, and I don't consider any of the designs objectively, completely, bad.

As a disclaimer, I'm only going to comment on what they are, as opposed to what they aren't- for instance, I'm not going to say "oh, I wish [thief]'s theme was actually this instead" or "they should've completely changed [thief]'s color palette"- because I think doing that would be kind of unfair. Just sharing my thoughts on what's actually going on in the design, I'm not going about this from the approach of what I would've done if I were designing a given character's thief outfit from scratch!

(At most, maybe sometimes suggesting an alternate style of clothing for a particular aspect of their outfit, or an adjustment to a pattern, if I think it'd fit the theme the designers seemed to be going for better.)

Starting out with Wonder!

Overall I like his outfit. It feels similar to Joker's, which makes sense given he's sort of the "new" Joker of P5X, but other than maybe the the way his jacket splits into three pieces, it feels distinct from him, too. I think my favorite parts are the mask, the really high collar on his jacket, and the red glove fingers- they really stand out as unique to him in my brain, which is especially important for the mask to do, since it's literally his Persona, haha.

I sort of waver on whether or not I like the shoes- they have a distinct shape to them, but it's also just a little weird and blocky? I dunno, but I do think how ridiculously high up his leg they go is a fun detail.

I think the thing that bugs me the most about his outfit is the belts- specifically, the shade of brown they used. I think it should be either more or less saturated? It's in a weird middle state where it looks too brown to go with the rest of the black/greys in his outfit, but not brown (/red-brown) enough to look like it belongs with his gloves and mask instead. I also don't love the belts, like, framing his lower pelvis?? It seems sort of out of place to just have extra ones there, on top of the weird color, and nowhere else. I guess maybe they're supposed to be holding his jacket/armor onto him sort of like the strap under his armpit seems to be, but I just... I dunno, it feels like there should either be even more belts, or just the one around his waist. Go big or go home, I guess?

Closer!

I'm admittedly not usually a fan of yellow, but I think she actually makes it work! Or maybe I'm just biased because I like her as a character, haha. Either way, it gets a pass.

I like the clear reference to the iconic outfit from Kill Bill without it feeling like a complete ripoff? With the yellow, black stripes, and her weapon, I don't think there's any way it's just a coincidence, but it also feels like they built it into its own thing. Also, the hood is so cute, just a little silly, and easily my favorite part of the outfit. It's very distinctly-shaped, which I think makes up for the fact that her mask isn't all that interesting besides being red. The outfit overall just feels very athletic, while being a bit mischievous, which is fitting for Motoha!

Once again I do have the complaint that the pouch on her arm is sort of a weird unnecessary extra brown, but I think on her it does blend a little better. I'd maybe have spread the brown around to some more details on her outfit so it stands out a little less, but I think the shade it is could work if there was just more of it? Similarly, though, the aglets on her hood's drawstrings being the only other red bit on her outfit is sort of weird. I kind of think it would've worked better if her mask was actually the only red thing?

Cattle!

Honestly, his design has grown on me since we first saw it. His feather tuft/earlike things poking through the hood, I think, really tie it together for me? He feels like an owl, but not exactly like he's just an owl- sort of like if an owl was a little kid, who also was familiar with the cognitive world and techniques for beating up + robbing people in it, haha.

His face is a liiiiiiiittle weird, and it sort of bothers me from an in-universe-mechanics standpoint that he doesn't actually wear his goggles, but I don't think it ruins the design or anything. Maybe if he just put the goggles on occasionally, or something...

I think my favorite aspect of his design besides the feather tuft things (sorry, I don't know the proper name for those, heh) is his silly sleeve wings. He looks so serious in expression, and overall he comes across as probably the member of the story team that's got the best idea of what's going on most of the time, but he does also still look like their little mascot, too. It's a good balance!

Soy!

I'll admit, his hat + bandana look initially set the bar pretty high in my mind for his full outfit, haha. I LOVE the silly cowboy hat that makes him look just a little like a witch, and the bandana + lower pants + boots really bring the cowboy vibe home. The two strips of fabric that trail behind him kinda like a scarf are also fun. The arm bracers and the belt are just a little odd, but nothing I really have a problem with, and the bracers actually contribute to that slight fantasy magic-user vibe that I'm not sure completely makes sense but I enjoy anyway. The mask's nothing I'm super attached to, but I think it works fine.

It's just... the chest armor, for me, I think? It feels so out of place for the rest of the outfit, because it doesn't really go for cowboy or magic-user. I guess maybe they could've wanted the sort of impression almost like he's... idk, shirtless?? But it really just starts to look to me like someone saw a superhero's super suit and slapped a pair of pants, hat, and bandana on it. I really want to like his outfit, but the chest armor kind of ruins what it's going for in my mind. Something more traditionally cowboy, like a button up shirt, or something that leans into what (I think) it's really supposed to be, like bigger plates of armor rather than replicating the muscles underneath, would probably have looked more like it belonged on him?

Mont!

I enjoy her outfit's vibe, though I don't think it quite ranks as a favorite for me. There's sort of a vague soldier element to it, but it's still very much within the realm of what I could imagine a more noble (perhaps ice-skating) sort of thief wearing? I really like the puffy sleeves especially, I think those + her collar are my favorite parts.

I sort of wish her shorts were just a little more poofy, to mirror her sleeves just a little better, but I'm also not sure how good that would actually look, so I guess that one gets a pass. She does also fall into that recurring theme of "why are the straps on her arms the only brown in her outfit?", but since her whole outfit's so bright compared to the dark bits, it's at least less noticeable.

Her sort of socks (?) boots (?) whatever that situation is extending past the boot cuffs, or whatever you call those, does bother me a bit. Since it's the exact same shade of white, it sort of looks like the boots just... keep going past where they stop...? Some kind of adjustment there so my brain doesn't keep trying to continue her boots past where I think they stop would've been nice, maybe changing the color a little + turning them into full tights or something. The other thing that bugs me a bit is that her mask is silver, but most of the rest of the metal on her outfit is gold?? I'm going to be honest, I think her mask should've been gold too, or at least that all the gold should've been a matching silver instead. A gold mask would help the mask pop out from her silvery white hair better, which is why I'm inclined to lean that direction?

Seiji!

His outfit's another one that I enjoy. I think overall, it keeps a pretty cohesive theme, too, which really makes it work! The vibe of it very much fits the vibe he gives off, while also feeling suited for a revolutionary (if not exactly thief) that might be fighting as part of the team to change the world around them.

I don't really have a lot to say about it, tbh, but the blue gloves are maybe just a little too blue, haha? Putting aside the fact that it's a sort of strange color choice for him anyway as a wind teammate with a predominantly gold/orange Persona... while I love a pop of color, the extreme saturation of the gloves (especially in the above art) compared to the rest of his outfit, mask, and hair makes the high-saturation blue feel slightly aggressive, haha.

Yuki!

I'm a big fan of her outfit's whole vibe, honestly! The really dramatic collar on the cape is easily my favorite part, and probably one of my favorite details on any of the P5X teammates' outfits, hehe. I'm a sucker for that kind of design element. Also not immediately visible in this particular image, the spade-shaped brooch is a neat little touch? The mask, the sleeves, the vest, the top of the pants... there's something interesting with Yuki's outfit where her vibe sort of feels like it brings her, Seiji, and Mont's outfits together as a trio, haha, even if I'm not really sure whether they're meant to be outside of the fact that we were introduced to them (outside the game) at the same time.

While I love the armored boots and very pointed heels + toes of them, I'll admit that the thigh-high metal feels a bit incongruous with the rest of her outfit. I feel like it would've been SUCH a simple fix to just make her shorts into pants, and have them extend maybe a little past her knees over the boots, and otherwise leave everything the same, and that would've kept the thematic momentum that the upper half of her design has? As much as thigh-high boots can be a look, I think the abrupt, large amount of metal is sort of out of place. Which, on that note, I think metal gloves/gauntlets would've helped with that too/instead? I'm sort of neutral on the gloves she has now, but I think making them partially or totally metal would've balanced that out more.

Leo!

Oh, I wanted to like Leo's outfit so badly. You have no idea. I'm SUCH a big fan of superheroes (not the MCU, though, I have taste, haha).

And I don't hate it. It immediately makes people think of things like Power Rangers and Kamen Rider, so it gets the job done, certainly. It... just... feels a little all over the place?? The mask feels like it belongs in a different outfit than the cape and torso, which don't really go with the belt, which doesn't really go with the lower half of his outfit, which doesn't really go with the thigh highs, which don't really go with the kneepads, which don't really go with the lower arm/glove situation. I think his outfit's almost there in a lot of respects, it just... maybe needed another pass or two on the drawing board, hah?

The mask has a very sci-fi feel to it, and I feel like if they'd carried that vaguely circuitboard vibe through the outfit more that could've worked. I think if the belt's center was instead blue, or maybe even orange, that would've helped it feel more like it belongs here? I think he should've had elbow pads if he's going to have kneepads, because otherwise they're sort of a strange, solitary armor element, or just cut the kneepads entirely (but I do like them, tbh). I think if the right upper arm is yellow, then maybe the left lower leg should've been yellow, or in general if they pushed the asymmetry more than just the mask, that yellow patch, and the yellow + orange stripes on his chest? Maybe if his boots and gloves were both a more like the Feathermen uniform's style of boots + gloves, it could contribute to his theme more while also differentiating him from the very prevalent pattern of nearly all the thieves having some kind of sleeve/cuff separating the gloves from the rest of the outfit at the wrist (and also the prevalent, though less so, pattern of thigh highs in P5X)...

Augh, I feel bad that I'm tearing into his outfit so much, but I think it's because I really, really wanted to like it, and I just can't quite bring myself to. I genuinely don't hate it, I just look at it and it feels like a bunch of threads that never got woven together into a coherent sweater, haha.

Rin!

Oh, I love her outfit, honestly. The poofy shorts, the mask, the entire top, the cohesive color scheme... I'm not sure I even have any notes! They really knocked it out of the park with her, in my opinion.

I suppose if I had to nitpick anything, the red fingers on her gloves do sort of encroach onto Wonder's outfit territory just slightly, but I think she gets away with it because the rest of her outfit's so different, and she has a lot more red on her anyway, so there's less attention drawn to it on her than on him.

Kotomo!

Ohhhhhh I'm so biased because I'm a fan of her anyway, but I love her thief outfit. It feels so medieval archer, but it's also very cute, which fits the impression I've gotten of her so far. The hat? The sleeves? The ENDS of the sleeves? The ankle boots with the steel toes? Man, it's so hard to pick a favorite detail.

I have to say, they really did have to get the thigh high aspect in there again, though, haha. It's not the end of the world, but I think the material they rendered it as, itself, is actually what draws my attention to them in a less positive light? They seem sort of more rubbery, or at least a leathery in a different kind of way, than anything else she's wearing, and it's a little odd in a way I don't love. I also think they could've stylized the armor plates around her waist- which I love in theory- a bit more so they match the more intricate feel of the metal on her mask, shoulders, boots, and even swords? Which is a little bit of a nitpick, but whatever, it's genuinely one of my favorite outfits anyway, haha.

She does definitely remind me of Noir's outfit a bit, but I think their vibes are so distinct that it's really only because they both have hats and a similar purple-pink color scheme.

Okyann!

I'm not going to speak too much about how her skintone darkens as a thief, because I don't think it's really my place (and I do understand why the designers did that, because it's considered part of the gyaru look), but I'd also feel weird not acknowledging it at all when we're talking about their designs, so. Uh. Yeah.

That aside, for one, I love that her hairstyle completely changes as a thief. This style not only immediately leaves an impression, but also really differentiates her from her real-world appearance to the point where I still think it's funny I never even suspected that the woman visibly holding her phone in the exact same way in one of the stickers released beforehand could possibly be Okyann until we got it confirmed in-game. I think the yellow mask and gloves are also a really good pop of color that draws attention without being overpowering compared to the fact that the rest of the outfit is largely darker in color.

I do think her outfit itself could be a bit more gyaru to fit her demeanor change? Some more rhinestone detailing (like her phone has), or something like that, could really go a long way. Admittedly I'm a bit neutral on her outfit overall- I think I like the concept behind it (/her as a thief in general) a bit more than the actual execution, but that might just come down to my personal taste more than anything objectively "wrong" with her outfit, haha.

And last but certainly not least, Kii!

I'll admit- another one I'm very biased towards because I like him as a character so far and I think conceptually, him being a Phantom Idol is hilarious (as the Phantom Thieves do, quite arguably, utilize psychic powers in the form of Personas. So he does have psychic powers. But only an alternate, cognitive version of him that the real him doesn't know exists). And also he's exorcist-themed. I'm just so entertained by the fact that he exists in the first place, haha!

Anyway, as for the design, I really like that his outfit is balanced more towards white, but isn't so predominantly white that you'd just call it a white outfit, like Mont's or Crow's. I really like the sneaky pops of (bright, but not overpowering) orange, which keep it from feeling too monochrome, and go well with the gold/maybe brass details. I'll be honest- I also just really like the style of his pants and shoes, haha, and I think it's a nice change of pace that his shoes are even a nicer, almost dress shoe sort of style, even if it's... maybe not the most typically practical for combat. The white... strap? Things? That hook over his shoulders are also fun, and probably the thing that most gives me a sort of exorcist vibe from his outfit.

His outfit does feel the least conceptually obvious to me, besides maybe Wonder's, though. I'm really not sure if that's just me- someone else did successfully predict his theme- and I do enjoy his outfit overall, so maybe I just missed it? It feels cohesive as a look, I guess just not as an outfit that immediately reads as "exorcist"... again, at least to me, since I may not be the majority there!

-

Aaaaaaand with that, I think that's everyone so far? Wow, that really did end up being a long post. I guess that's what you get for asking someone with an art degree (who enjoys character design, even!) about character designs, heh. Hope that was entertaining for you to read? I actually had more fun typing this out than I thought I would!

[checkers-dance]

hi oomf. i come to talk abt The Music. usually i would have sent something the moment i got done listening to it but i was fighting for my life (migraine 😔) but its another day and i've had more time to rlly digest the songs so at least my thoughts can be more coherent.

as a whole, i enjoyed myself a lot! it was very fun to listen to. there's something INSANE about hearing sh*wnu again. like wowwww i forgot how much i liked his voice??? it was such a joy, i think i ended up rlly latching to his lines. but hy*ngwon did rlly good too, i actually think his breathy tone (dunno how to describe it) was a rlly great fit for some of these songs, it was very neat. i feel like the entire ep sounded exactly like what i would expect from a unit with these two... idk but something about it just felt so natural. so i had a lot of fun! if i have any complaints, is that i wish it was a little longer... i RLLY could use a couple more songs, especially from hy*ngwon. as for more specific thoughts love me a little was reaaaally good, and i think it was the objective best choice as a title track so i'm glad they went with it. the chorus was SOOO good, its been stuck in my head all day. and the last part of the song was also sooo great, it had a rlly strong conclusion i feel. its rlly rlly cool to see hy*ngwon making title tracks, i reaaally hope he gets a chance to do it again. love therapy was not a fave but it had some rlly strong parts... i love love love the part where it's just hy*ngwon talk singing, it scratches such an itch for me. and that one high note by sh*wnu.... shaking throwing up /pos. roll with me was SO.... i think its my favorite. listen.... its the fucking piano... I KNOW IM SO PREDICTABLE BUT WELL.... it had a really fun darker vibe to it that i actually wasnt expecting, so i was very pleasantly surprised. and GODDD THAT PRECHORUS... TRULY A BANGER. play me was very cute, but i dont have too much to say about it. it was very fun but not a fav yknow. and lastly slow dance was SO fun and cute, its rlly romantic sounding and another personal fav. there's just something abt it. SO YES I HAD FUN... which is to be expected, i feel like its been a while since i've truly had anything negative to say abt anything mx releases which is sooo brainwashed of me but yknow 😔 ALSO i actually rlly dig the vibe of the cover. album covers in kpop are literally just text and a background, its getting so boring sjsbdbsbd yes this is still rlly simple but it has style to it yknow

outside of the music, the music video had some really cool shots, esp during the later half. but i was honestly kinda underwhelmed idkkkkk... I KNOW I SHOULDNT TRUST THEIR CONCEPT PHOTOS BUT LISTEN... THAT ONE VID THEY RELEASED WITH THE WEIRD ASS CREEPYPASTA VIBE?? they are literally just fucking with me at this point 😭

THERE MIGHT BE SOME TYPOS HERE BUT IM SLEEPY... I CANT BE BOTHERED TO CHECK IM SORRY

NO BUT IT'S ACTUALLY SO SAD THAT THEY HAD NONE OF THE VIBES FROM THE CREEPYPASTA MV......I was ready to sit here theorizing the meaning behind the tree and the lab thing and the beaker AND NONE OF IT SHOWED UP.....this is truly so sad. And yeah, the mv was cool but it didn't scratch the itch the preview video gave me 😭😭😭

Ik what u mean abt the breathy tone tho, hy*ngwon rlly does pull it off so well. And is it a coincidence roll w me is a fave of urs bc his breathy tone rlly is showed off there 🧐🧐. I liked roll w me, and yeah it def has a darker vibe

I agree w u abt play w me and slow dance so there's not much to say there

I actually rlly liked love therapy, minus the chorus which was just alright (BUT IT GETS STUCK IN MY HEAD OK...). The synth was simply too sexy. Also the fact that the song starts out w "I need some therapy" is so funny. This could've been the mx version of vixx's "lalala I need therapy" song. If the chorus was stronger I think this song would be a fave

Omg hy*ngwon composed the title track? Good for him. And yeah, the chorus is super catchy, and the build up to it is so good. Also the guitar at the end was SO good (<- extremely predictable for me). I was just listening to it again and I caught the subtle saxophone and IT SLAPPED......

[crowning-art]

TGCF SPOILERS!!! THE FINAL STRETCH!

Ahhh after so long, through many distractions, and most importantly, me getting out all my feeling for Xie Lian, I am ready to finish the book!

----------------------------------------------

To begin:

I WAS RIGHT!! (the one time out of my 90 million guesses) I SAID WHITE CLOTHED CALAMITY WAS PRINCE OF WUYONG!! AHH it feels so good to be right 😌

Evidence of me being so so right

1.

AND ALSO

2.

(Not me artfully cropping out my ridiculous theory I said right AFTER that lol)

BAMBOO HAAAAATTTT MY BELOVED T-T MY HEART LITERALLY GOES CRAZY EVERY TIME XIE LIAN MAKES SURE HIS HAT IS FINE DHJDJDJD

Just as that hand was about to hoist him up, Xie Lian suddenly remembered he forgot something and cried hastily, “WAIT!”

Then, he jumped down to grab his bamboo hat before leaping back up. Then that giant hand lifted, drawing further and further away from the firelight. Xie Lian could also sense they were going higher and higher, and his hands formed seals once again.

Ok ngl of all the ways I expected this story to take a turn, I did not expect some next level mecha stuff to go down lol

THE PAIN HUA CHENG MUST HAVE FELT OH MY GOD DJDJXJJX HE PROBABLY DID GO INSANE FOR A SECOND and especially knowing it's in the KILN of all places, with WHITE NO FACE, of all people too

His first syllable was still echoing when in an instant, he was pulled into an embrace from behind by a pair of hands. Xie Lian stiffened at first and looked down, but when he saw red sleeves and silver vambraces circled around his waist, he relaxed.

A deep, forlorn voice came from above his ears, “…I was going crazy!”

Ok smt about this imagery is so haunting. So beautiful. I dunno I love white no face, the vibes he gives off are unlike any other, yknow?

About ten meters below in the snow, in that field of white, there stood the figure of a whiteclothed man, and it was White No-Face. He seemed to have melded into one with the snow, but he still couldn’t deceive their eyes. Heavy, thick layers of snow blew like a giant white tsunami from that smash, but the strike did not hit its target.

This part was just

AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH

Hua Cheng only stood there behind his person, his hands supporting his waist steadily, but with just this person, it felt as if the entire world was behind him. Xie Lian inhaled deeply and closed his eyes.

Ahh I love these two clowns, I can't even begin to imagine what they were thinking during this scene lol

Coincidently, Xie Lian saw Feng Xin and Mu Qing also come out of the woods, looking around, seeming to be searching for them. However, they were looking in the wrong direction. They never thought to look up, so they didn’t see Xie Lian and Hua Cheng at all.

Feng Xin said to the butterfly, “Your Highness, you’re not here yet? Where are you?”

Xie Lian cupped his hands to his mouth and yelled towards the bottom, “I’M HERE ALREADY, UP, LOOK UP, ABOVE YOUR HEADS!”

“…”

Only then did the two notice that they were shrouded in a gigantic shadow, and they looked up uniformly.

And Xie lian just so oblivious and waving so cutely from the top is so adorable bdjdndjdjdj

[yumeka36]

Fruits Basket (2019)

*Artwork credited to みるき on pixiv*

Just watched the last episode of the new Fruits Basket anime. Wow, what an emotional ride! I'm someone who watched the original 26-episode anime from the early 2000s but never continued the story through the manga (I considered buying the manga volumes but never followed through with it...I'm just more into anime than manga). It's so great to finally know the complete story behind one of my favorite anime. I wanted to share my thoughts here, as someone who knew nothing about what happens from where the original 2001 anime left off (spoiler warning from here on)...

- Kureno and Rin were the two zodiac members who never appeared in the original anime. It was nice to finally see them and I think they were both good characters.

- The four student council members that Yuki interacts with were also new to me. I can't say I liked them much overall as they (mostly) seemed to be comic relief and I didn't think they were that funny or interesting. I also found myself wondering why we got these new characters when the show already has such a large ensemble - a lot of their filler screentime could have gone to developing the more "forgotten" zodiac members, like Ritsu (seriously, why was Ritsu totally shafted?) But the relationship between Machi and Yuki was cute at least.

-The background music for the series was really nice, though the opening and ending songs didn't really grab me. But then again, the opening song from the original anime, "For Fruits Basket" by Ritsuko Okazaki, is such a beautiful song - one of my favorite anime tunes and very hard to outshine!

- I adored the relationship between Arisa and Kureno, probably more than any other relationship in the show! I couldn't get enough of those early episodes where they first met...but then I was sad when it seemed like they would never be able to get together. Glad that wasn't the case in the end!

- I'm still not clear on what Shigure's motivations were throughout the series. Even in the original anime, although he seemed jovial and fatherly, I could tell he had some ulterior motives. But even in this new series, I'm still not sure what his intentions were. According to the Fruits Basket wiki, he also wanted to break the curse, but his methods didn’t click with me...and he did some pretty despicable things in the past. But did he genuinely care about Tohru and the others or was he just using them for some less than pure purpose? Obviously it’s revealed that he’s always been in love with Akito, but often it seemed like he did more sadistic things to her than trying to help her. I dunno, I just couldn't quite figure Shigure out.

- The backstory with Kyo first encountering Tohru and coincidently forming a bond with Kyoko felt slightly contrived, but it was still nice to see their interactions. The fact that Kyo will forever wonder whether Kyoko actually said that she’d never forgive him is frustrating though. I know Tohru somewhat convinced him that she’d never say that, and the audience obviously knows she didn’t, but I feel like Kyo might still have doubts.

- There were a lot of episodes that got me right in the feels, but the backstory episode about the origin of the zodiac animals’ bonds with “god” was amazing! It was such an emotional shock to finally know where that bond came from and why it was so strong, and then to subsequently see each Sohma break their bond one by one. Such a memorable episode and definitely one of my favorites.

- I tried, but it was really hard for me to feel much sympathy for Akito. I know she had her own personal hell she was living in, but her cruelty towards the others was pretty unbearable. Even though she felt bad about it in the end and was willing to turn over a new leaf, she should have gotten some kind of punishment for what she did. It’s not like she was just a bully - she has many accounts of literal attempted murder and assault behind her. Just saying “sorry” and feeling bad shouldn’t be enough to atone for that in my opinion. I know the Sohmas probably avoid interacting with law enforcement out of fear that their secret will be found out, but they could still punish Akito on their own accord. I know the show heavily advocates forgiveness, but still, accountability when it matters is important too.

- Since I only ever watched the original anime, I never knew who Tohru ended up with. Even though the original series ended strongly on her relationship with Kyo, I still thought Yuki had a chance. I didn’t really have a preference, but now that I’ve seen the new series, I think Kyo makes more sense. His character development from anger-filled delinquent to a caring and confident young man was fantastic and definitely one of the highlights of the series. Though the huge time skip in the final episode’s epilogue was a bit...too far into the future, lol. I would have preferred seeing each of the Sohmas say goodbye to Tohru instead, since they kept talking about it throughout the episode but then we never see them sending her off.

Overall, it was an emotional but rewarding experience to finally know the complete story behind an anime that’s been among my favorites for almost 20 years. I was satisfied with how the original anime ended, but I still longed to know the complete story. Even though the emotional moments and character monologues did sometimes drag on a bit, and the comedic scenes didn’t always hit their mark for me, Fruits Basket’s good points more than outweigh its bad points in my opinion. What it lacks in some aspects it makes up for in excellent drama and compelling character arcs. I’m many years late, but I’m glad I didn’t miss out on knowing the full story!

[postmodernmulticoloredcloak]

So due to popular demand I watched episode 2 of Walker for you guys. Part 2 of 2

The pilot was more interesting and it wasn’t interesting. But let’s continue, maybe it’s gonna get better.

So my cookies are ready now! I ate the smallest one to check if they’re good. They are. At least I have my cookies.

Apparently now they have to take a horseriding test. Walker puts the saddle on a horse. But he gets emotional. The flashback music starts. If I see more of these I will develop rabies symptoms. I’m sorry this is what we’re talking about. This is Geneviève Padalecki’s role in this show.

Walker gets on the horse. He touches the bad and the flashback sound effect plays. Rabies. “Walker are you okay?” Ramirez asks. He nods. I’m Fine Lie #9000.

No, wait. He gets off the horse. Dude it’s called handling a loss badly and they have therapists for that. Please go to therapy. There are literal professionals trained to help you with that.

He takes off his hat, which lets you know this is serious.

He goes at the bar run by the lady who was with Emily when she died. He is no longer a ranger until he passes the test. We are happy about it because he is not in the psychological conditions to be a law enforcement officer. Oh, wait, we’re supposed not to be happy about it. Honestly, I’m not sure. Is he supposed to be relatable, or are we supposed to think that he’s screwed up and should not be a cop or a parent right now? Because he’s ostensibly the latter but maybe the intentions of the writers are the former.

He says that James thinks he’s “not quite right in the head”. Mmm… are we supposed to think James is being exaggerated? Because it’s true. He’s not in the conditions to do this job… he needs to get professional mental health support, period.

They reminisce about Emily and Walker repeats the same things that made him think there’s more to the case than it appears, like the way her eyes were closed. The bartender confesses she closed her eyes. Well. That was anticlimactic.

In the meanwhile, Liam the gay brother meets his partner for lunch. He’s attractive. Liam would also be if he weren’t dressed and hair-styled like that. I dunno. The partner wants them to move to New York. They joke about dying of queso.

Augustus goes to take pictures with his mother’s camera and has a glowy flashback of his own. “He’s sensitive. He keeps a lot inside, like his father” his grandma comments to her husband. They talk about Walker fixing the house. “He wants to pick up where he left off” she says. I am hurting inside. Did they write this with the Supernatural pilot script open on the desk!?

Ramirez keeps working the case. Turns out, the horse that died wasn’t the horse it was supposed to be (a famous racing horse). Someone swapped the horses? I don’t care, actually. I’m gonna skip the case details.

Walker eats tortilla chips with queso. And begs Ramirez to let him work on the case because that’s all he knows how to do. That’s stolen from a couple Supernatural episodes when they talk about hunting, but okay.

“You know how you can see a horse’s soul in its eyes?” …no, but okay.

They’ll need to find the mysteriously disappeared horse… which is loose! In the hospital! No, not in the hospital. Just on a road. Best shot in the show, big dark horse walking around Austin.

They need to go find the horse. Obviously Walker volunteers to get the horse. “Might not be a ranger, but I’m still a cowboy”. I’m crying this is so cliché.

You know Walker is cool because he gets out of the truck without using the little step.

It’s so deep.

Oh my god. He. He follows horse dung. It’s. It’s literally a plot point. He tracks the horse following horse poop.

He finds the horse, feeds him a lil sugar cube, puts the reins on him. It’s a beautiful horse. Can’t the show be about this horse?

Billionaire bad guy (owner of the horse, set the fire to pretend the horse was dead because lots of bets were placed on the horse, but the horse was lightly injured so couldn’t win) driving towards his plane to catch his plane to escape. James and Ramirez do a car chase.

Bad guy lackey shoots at their wheels so their car stops. But Walker arrives on the horse, gets Ramirez on the horse and they ride the horse to the bad guys’ car. Ramirez gets on the car and punches the bad guys unconscious.

For some reason (I mean, budget limitations) the fighting sequences are very quick. I would have watched more of Ramirez kicking billionaire bad guy’s ass on a moving car. But it’s fine, I mean, if this show had a bigger budget they’d spend it on more cowboy hats, so it’s fine.

Walker, James and Ramirez celebrate at the bar. Apparently the bad guy’s lackey that was supposed to get rid of the horse loved the horse too much and set him free in Austin. Mood.

There’s still a third of the episode still to go, though. Drama will ensue. Indeed Liam arrives and is super pissed off at Walker for missing lunch, which he forgot because he was busy with his lil tests.

Liam says Stella didn’t show up to the game. Walker says he know where she is and gets Ramirez to come with him.

Indeed she’s thrown a party at their house. Walker asks her what she’s doing. “Being a disappointment I guess” she answers. He asks her why she missed the game. She says that it shouldn’t be so easy to get a second chance after messing up - like him. He’s like, a second chance? It’s not like a stopped being your father. Except… you did? You disappeared from their lives entirely. He calls her out for damaging the house and she’s like, it’s not even our home anymore but I’m supposed to treat it like a museum? Honestly her scenes are the only interesting thing in this show. He says he’s back now, but she says that being back isn’t enough, what makes a parent is *doing parent things*, supporting the kids.

“I wish uncle Liam had gotten custody of us when he tried” she eventually drops the big bomb. Ouch.

He’s super pissed off, takes off the hat dramatically, and drives back to Liam. He gets off the drunk and immediately assaults Liam. “You tried to take my damn kids!”

I’m flabbergasted. They. They just wrote a plotline where a gay man tried to ~steal a straight man’s children~ like it was a good idea. I mean! Liam getting custody of the kids would have been a VERY GOOD IDEA but what, we’re supposed to think he was wrong? I am so confused because I can’t tell if we’re supposed to be on Walker’s side or not. He is NOT in the condition of being a parent. The kids SHOULD be under the custody of their grandparents and/or uncle. Not because he’s traumatized by loss, but because he’s not trying at all. He keeps saying he’s trying but he’s not. He gets aggressive too easily and it could be dangerous.

Anyway the brothers have this physical fight which isn’t by far the most embarrassing thing in this show so I’ll let it slide. “You had no right!” Walker says, to which Liam replies that he gets it was rough but “you went dark! That was negligence!” Which is absolutely right and he should have gotten the custody of the kids. Liam mentions that their parents also agreed on the thing, and Walker yells “these are MY kids!” which is appalling, because being the biological father of some kids doesn’t make it okay to disappear on them for months and being mad if someone else stepped up to be their parent in your absence. “I didn’t want them to be orphans, did you!?” Liam yells back.

“I would never _take_ them, I wanted to protect them,” Liam says, and says more very reasonable things. “Even now you’re not here.” Walker yells that he is here (again, being physically in Austin doesn’t make you a parent, like Stella said), Liam replies that he’s chasing ghosts.

He brings up the things that don’t add up again, like the poker chip. I’m afraid that the narrative will prove him right, that there WAS something there and he was right to follow through the case despite everyone else telling him he was being delusional and that he should let it go and focus on the family. It would be actually good if it turned out that there was nothing there, that it was all coincidence (like the friend closing her eyes) and that he just chased ghosts for real, but I’m afraid this isn’t that kind of show. I think they’re playing it straight, that they’ll make Walker be right, and it will suck.

A note: now that he’s fighting and yelling and being angry, Jared is actually acting properly, which I don’t know if it’s a good thing or creepy.

Actually Liam says something very reasonable now, that answers will not actually satisfy him, her being gone will never make sense emotionally. The poker chip isn’t going to bring her back. He will lose everything if he keeps searching for something that isn’t there.

Now that Walker has calmed down, Jared returns to doing Jared mouth things. Oh no! Augustus watched them fight.

Oooh. Augustus gives him the present Emily was going to give him for father’s day. Poker chips. “She kept a few of the chips so she could show people” (what? But okay). Another of the mysteries was actually not a weird conspiracy at all. I suspect the narrative will make us believe there was nothing there to just pull a twist afterwards. It would be interesting if Walker were indeed looking for nothing, but I doubt that’s what they’re doing. They’re playing the tropes too straight.

Meanwhile Ramirez comes home to her boyfriend preparing a homemade dinner. She says she’s happy he’s there, and that scares the crap out of her. She wants to get both the job and the relationship right. They’re really cute and I hope their relationship doesn’t get drama-fied for drama. A healthy relationship where two partners figure out how to navigate it together, with normal minor bumps along the way they face together, would really be a good thing for the show to portray.

The next morning, Walker is making breakfast when Stella enters the kitchen. She doesn’t speak to him but gets on her phone so he starts texting her. They have a moment. He was looking for him mug and she gets it out for him. She says it reminded her of him being gone so she’d put it away. They do a bonding activity (bringing a memento from their old house to their new one), she cries, he hugs her.

Back at the ranch, Walker’s father has made him a new saddle. Gramps Walker is rough around the edges but has a hidden wisdom.

The emotional moment is kinda broken for me by the big Texas flag they have inside the house. I suppose it’s just how Texas is but it’s still funny for that very reason.

Augustus for his school project has put together a video from old family footage. Lots of flashback, but this time with a regular song and not the rabies sound effect and with the soft lighting but not the most extreme glowy effect, so it’s kinda okay.

Jared makes emotional faces and the episode’s over.

Well, at least the dead guy having been to prison wasn’t really relevant and the bad guy was a billionaire. An improvement from the previous episode.

I’m not going to give views to the youtube trailers, but I’ve been told in the next episode a new character will be introduced that is a childhood friend that is ~the Han Solo to Walker’s Luke Skywalker. *single tear of sorrow* They’re trying SO HARD to be Supernatural and they’re managing to pick the least interesting concepts of Supernatural to do so. Can’t wait to see Fake Dean. Also we haven’t seen Walker lasso a person either. I suppose I’ll have to watch more of this.

Honestly, it’s mostly boring with Stella being the only interesting part and Ramirez and her boyfriend being cute to watch. Walker is so unlikeable. You want him to get his shit together for the sake of the people around him, but not really for his sake. He should go to therapy but he is a manly cowboy man so obviously he won’t go (but I will be impressed if they actually have him see a therapist. It would be interesting to have a manly cowboy man see a therapist. But will they do it?) The idyllic flashbacks of Emily are so overdone and it’s only the second episode! Everything is cheesy.

This traditional Texan ranch aesthetic meets Austin city would be interesting if played in a way that genuinely questions the values of old, but the show doesn’t really, it uses the gay brother and the immigrant friend and the Latina cop and the Black boyfriend as props but the narrative itself doesn’t really do anything with the traditional Texan family thing. Unless they really pull the rug from under the audience’s feet and make some big twists regarding the way the narrative is presenting itself, there’s nothing really interesting or useful in the show. I’m afraid they will solve their problems by Wanting To Do Better and Sticking Together As A Family, which is just a conservative fantasy of how to fix problems.

By the way, the cookies were really good and my family loved them too.

[theknightoflameblogs]

Dinner Date? (AOS Spock x Reader)

A/N: I think this may just be a part one, I do want to continue the story but I was more eager to see if people were interested first. Also this is meant to be read with either a female, male, or non-binary reader! I have been wanting to do a Spock x Reader for awhile now, this is my first time writing one! Enjoy!

Summary: After being hospitalized (and passing out) in Sickbay from a dumb choice you made while on mission, you are surprised to find that Commander Spock had stayed by your side while you slept.

Word Count: 3,338

Warning: Swearing and a sarcastic Bones and cute moments

---

“Shit. Shit. Holy- FUCK!” Was all you could manage to say as a sharp pain twisted into your side. You were currently in Sickbay after having collapsed on the floor just outside of the bridge, nearby crewmen immediately rushed you to a not-so-happy Dr. McCoy.

“Damn it, man, I told you not to eat that planet’s weird berries!” McCoy said in a frustrated tone as he pulled out his scanner. “It’s only been what- two hours? And you are already showing symptoms of infection in your abdominal region that would usually take years to develop!”

“How can you be so sure…” You breathed, gripping at your stomach which started to cramp. “...that it was the berries?”

“Mm, I dunno (Y/N), maybe because of the fact that Jim and I had no berries whatsoever and we seem to be doing perfectly fine. It’s no coincidence, damn it!”

Nausea passed over your body in massive waves, you applied pressure via your fingertips between the two tendons on your wrist in an attempt to get the feeling to cease. You remembered seeing this technique in an article somewhere, but you were pretty sure that the article didn’t take into account your situation. “Well the natives said... that eating the berries was a sign of a... good spirit… a way to connect with them. It’s called respecting...tradition. Something you and the Captain… refused to do.” The fact that it was taking so much energy to construct sentences both amazed and horrified you.

“Maybe those berries weren’t meant for humans.” McCoy grunted, walking out your line of sight. “Just because you're some diplomat representing all of Starfleet doesn’t mean you have to go around eating weird foods for the sake of tradition.”

“Bones,” You declared. “I could really do without the lecture right now.” You only felt worse the longer you laid there, your forehead broke out into a sweat and your face grew hot. You pictured McCoy getting his instruments together from the sound of metal clinking against metal, at least that is what you hoped he was doing.

“Alright! Alright, hold on…” He said, fumbling with what sounded like a plastic bag. “Damn... what would that green-blooded hobgoblin think of this?”

“You mean Commander Spock?” You asked, even though you understood what he meant. “What does he have to do with-” a sharp sting entered the side of your arm as your asshole-of-a-friend, and trusted doctor, injected you with a large syringe. “-Oh, what the hell was that?!”

“That-” McCoy said, holding up the syringe defiantly, “-just saved your life. Well, maybe. Give it an hour or two, your fever should already be going down. The pain will subside in no time.”

“Jesus, Bones, you could have at least warned me before stabbing my arm!"

“Well it’s not supposed to hurt so much without a warning.” You heard him say, but you were more focused on the white walls within the Sickbay, which were beginning to blur into everything else until it became one muddy display. It made your eyelids feel heavy.

“Everything is so abstract looking…” You said half-consciously, watching as different colors danced in front of your vision.

“Well I’m no Picasso, much less a painter,” You heard him say, or maybe you just imagined it. It didn’t matter though, seeing as all the sounds and sights were becoming one big jumble. It didn’t stay this way for long before everything went completely black.

You have been abroad upon the Enterprise for almost a year now, part of its five-year intergalactic planetary voyage. As a Starfleet diplomat, you were stationed on the bridge and tasked with regulating Starfleet protocol and managing peace-treaties and negotiations. Through this job, you befriended many on the Enterprise, especially those stationed on the bridge with you. You were quick to become friends with the notorious (or so he thought) Captain Kirk, as well as others like Lieutenant Uhura and the pilots, Mr. Sulu and Chekhov.There were even people beyond the bridge like Mr. Scotty down in Engineering who you managed to get well acquainted with. You were simply amazed by all these different and infatuating personalities you had come to know, but there was one person- or rather, an alien- who you had come to admire the most aboard your time here.

Commander Spock.

You were only to report on the bridge three days out of the week, the rest of your time was spent helping to ease the tension between antsy crewmen who were getting themselves into disputes and fistfights (even though it was not in your pay grade, and was sure as hell not part of your job description either) and even assisting the Chief Officers in preparation for meetings in the department they resided over (which was part of your pay grade).

It was a small attraction… at first.

The Enterprise was only four months into its five-year voyage whenever the Captain tasked you to assist in preparing and partaking in an introductory meeting (really it was more of a banquet) for the Science Department. The last two months had already taken up your time with meetings (*banquets) in other departments: speaking on behalf of Starfleet, introducing yourself to the staff and crew, helping them adjust to life aboard a starship, answering to millions upon millions questions and concerns. Today would be no different, or so you thought.

You entered the science lab with a clipboard full of notes you were preparing to say in your speech. Contrary to others’ belief, you never used the same speech twice, you took too much pride in your work to do so- except for those few rush jobs where the only thing you managed to have on hand was a speech about how cute yet terrifying Tribbles were. The memory of all those confused faces in the crowd during a Starfleet conference still haunted you to this day. The Admiral was to say, in the very least, displeased.

Awaiting by a table of fliers was the Enterprise’s chief science officer. His back had been turned to you when you entered the lab, and he was still unaware of your presence as you drew closer to him.

“Commander.” you greeted, yet received no reply. That was odd, with you being the only other person in the laboratory besides him, he had to have heard you. Maybe you just weren’t being loud enough. Determined, you took another step closer. “Commander!” 

Still, no reply. By now you managed to get close enough to see his face, and you were rather more perplexed to see that his eyes were closed. Odd. You weren’t well educated enough about Vulcans to know if this was some ritualistic standing sleep-like state they put themselves in, but it reminded you of a similar nature that some of the Terran animals back home displayed.

“Just like a horse…” You murmured, before slowly reaching up to touch the Vulcan’s face. You hadn’t realized how close you had gotten to him. He stood there perfectly, his face was so mellow, so clear of emotion, he almost looked like some sort of statue…

A hand caught your wrist before a finger could even graze his cheek, a shock ran through your body, it scared the shit out of you. “What is like a horse?” Commander Spock asked, staring down at you with his full, dark eyes.

You quickly (and embarrassingly) pulled your hand away from his grip, holding it protectively close over your hammering heart. “C-Commander Spock, I-I thought you were asleep!”

“I was not sleeping.” He responded in a calm tone. He straightened his posture and placed his hands behind his back.  “I was meditating.”

“Nervous?” You asked half-jokingly. “The whole department is going to be here tonight, things can go wrong, but it will be alright.” It was apparent you were saying this more for your own benefit rather than his.

“I find it illogical to be nervous.”

“And why is that?”

“Based on what I could gather from your involvement in past assignments, Lieutenant. I trust you are more than qualified to execute this meeting successfully.” He replied with a small smile.

You felt your heart swell at the praise, and you smiled right back.

After that day, you and Commander Spock maintained a mutual friendship: greeting one another with a nod or smile as you passed by in the hallways or having small (but quite educational on your part) talks while riding the lift, it never went beyond that, but you didn’t mind. You felt like your growing attraction for him had to be limited in some way, seeing as his thoughts on you are nothing but platonic.

…

...Lieutenant?

Lieutenant (L/N)? Can you hear me?

You felt a rough shake of your shoulders, pulling you straight out of the darkness in a start.

“Doctor, I believe that was an unnecessary course of action. The Lieutenant was already waking up.” A familiar voice said. 

“You’re overreacting, Spock. (Y/N) needed a jumpstart.” Another voice responded.

You looked around the room quickly, watching as the blurred figures started to take appropriate shape and form. It was Dr. McCoy and Commander Spock, both peering down at you. Immediately, McCoy started to check your vitals asking you clipboard questions like: How are you feeling? Is there any pain when I do this? Commander Spock on the other hand stood idly by with his hands behind his back, his face could be read as stoic if it weren’t for the fact that his eyebrows were furrowed. It actually surprised you to see him here, but you had a feeling that it had to do with the details of your mission.

"Oh man…" you grunted as you sat up slowly. "How long was I out for?"

"Approximately for five hours and twenty-one minutes." Spock responded.

"Yeah, because (Y/N) was so worried about the exact number of minutes they missed." McCoy said with a loose smile, despite the gruff tone in his voice.

"I may not be well acquainted in human social cues, Doctor-" Spock said, turning his gaze on McCoy, "-But I believe you are using sarcasm. In your case, this would not be uncommon."

"Well good job, Sherlock. Seems you cracked the case!" McCoy said with false praise.

Spock went to open his mouth, you could tell he wanted clarification by the way his gaze narrowed, but instead, he diverted his attention back onto you. "How are you feeling, Lieutenant?"

It was a question that surprised both you and the doctor (or maybe he always looked that confused). “I feel fine-” You said abruptly, “Well, at least I think I do. Am I, Bones?” You nervously looked over to your friend.

“Yeah, you’re fine.” McCoy responded, waving his hand casually. “All we had to do was pump your system full of antibodies and just like that, infection was gone. Thank God we aren’t living in the Dark Ages.”

The Commander approached your bedside. “It seems the berries initiated a rapid case of abdominal infection known to your species as colonic diverticulitis. It’s quickening effects seem to have caused a trauma in your nerves, specifically your sensory nerves, leading them to send incorrect signals. Which explains your disassociation with reality.”

“Alright, Mr. Know-it-all, I’m the doctor here.” McCoy said with a grumble, before addressing you. “It just means those berries infected your bowels and started blending your five senses together like one big smoothie.”

“That is rather an inaccurate description, but yes, the Doctor is somewhat correct.” A slight grimace was in Spock’s voice, causing you to smile. The two always had differentiating opinions. Watching them react to one another like highly-active mind fields was quite entertaining.

McCoy only shook his head in irritation, “Which means, (Y/N), no more eating any foreign soul-binding berries, you hear? I mean it.” He was now targeting you, which was not so entertaining.

“Okay. Okay.” You held up your hands in defeat. “I solemnly promise to never eat any foreign soul-binding berries, again.”

“Yeah, well let’s see how long that promise lasts.” He crossed his arms, before a faint smirk appeared on his face. “You know Pointy-Ears here-” he said gesturing to the Commander. “-was worried sick about you. Got here as soon as you passed out, didn’t even leave your side when writing his report to command.”

You felt your face grow hot at the news. He waited here for you? He wasn’t in the landing party with you when you beamed down onto that planet… you didn’t know how to take this news. But knowing you, you must have been overthinking it, he was just being friendly after all. Still, you had to force yourself not to cover your face in shame as you knew it was red with embarrassment. You didn’t want your friend (and doctor) or the Vulcan you had come to like so much see your flustered expression.

“I was merely concerned with the Lieutenant’s well-being, as (L/N)’s superior, I saw it only fitting to stay by their side until they got better.” You heard him say.

When you felt confident enough to look up from your bed sheets you were surprised to see Spock staring straight at you.

“Uh huh…and I’m the king of Mars.” McCoy sarcastically said with a taunting smile that you wish you could smack off his face. He probably didn’t even know what he was embarrassing you by doing this.

“Doctor, the United Martian Colonies is governed by a uniglobal government, it does not have an establish monarchy-”

“How about I get a drink, and you finish that thought later. Alright, Spock?” Bones interjected with eagerness. “(Y/N), you’re free to leave whenever. From your head to your toes, you are medically sound.”

“Thanks to you, Bones.” You replied.

“Please, it’s only my life’s work.” He said, waving his PADD up in the air knowingly. “And if you need me, which you better not, I’ll be in the bar- drinking the day away.” With that, he disappeared out the door.

You turned your attention over to Spock, who had his gaze on the door. You decided it would be best to head out as well, seeing as you couldn’t control your heartbeat, you were sure you looked like a tomato with how frequently your face was turning red. "Well I guess I’m free to leave since my doctor suggested so." You say in a means of farewell.

The bed's mattress shifted under your weight as you slowly began to peel yourself off from it, it took awhile, seeing as the way you had been laying on it for the past five hours made you stiff,

"I have to agree with the Doctor's earlier statement." Spock said, grabbing your attention. "Your actions were reckless and could have been fatal if it were not for him."

"Understood, Commander.” You responded formally as you pulled on your yellow blazer over your tank top. You felt somewhat dejected, but shook that feeling away. He was concerned because he was your commanding officer. That gesture alone should have been satisfying enough.

“I typed up a mission report and sent it to Command, they requested that you send in a report as well.”

“Thank you, Commander.” You replied, grabbing your Command insignia off of the end table before reattaching it to your uniform. “Have the natives of the planet decided whether or not to join the Federation?”

“I’m afraid I do not know. I was... preoccupied at the time.”

He must have been talking about the report. Thinking about it now, it would be best to complete yours now while it was still fresh on your mind. It was only fair to your Commander that you got it done as soon as possible. 

“Well I better head-” You started.

“Lieutenant, I was wondering-” Spock also initiated taking another step forward.

The sound of the entry door sliding open stopped you both, it was Captain Kirk.

“I heard what had happened and the natives promised-” Kirk announced as he casually walked into Sickbay. “-they did not know it was potentially fatal to us and assured- am I interrupting something here?” His nonchalant attitude formed into a more devious one as he looked between the two of you.

“Uh, no, you aren’t.” You said quickly. “What did they say?”

Kirk smirked, briefly shrugging his shoulders, before continuing on. “Well everything is all good now. Just about an hour after you were admitted into Sickbay, the natives agreed to join the Federation. Took awhile for them to decide. They sent gifts of apology to you, I had them sent to your room. Of course, if I had known that I would be receiving gifts, I would have eaten some berries too.” He said with a chuckle.

“Captain, that would be highly illogical seeing as the same berries led to the incapacitation of Lieutenant (L/N).” Spock noted matter-of-factly, making you smile a bit. It was well-known that as a Vulcan, his mind-set followed logic to its core, however you couldn’t help but interpret his words as being thoughtful. Or maybe, you were just projecting that into his words.

“And that is why I am in debt to our wonderful Lieutenant, here.” Kirk said with a dramatic bow. “Without (Y/N), the Federation would not have gained a whole planet as its ally today.” You couldn’t help but laugh as you watched your Captain move across the room like some Shakespearean actor (like running on his tippy-toes and bowing), you decided to play along and twirl dramatically over to him before kissing him on the cheek as though his words just meant the world to you. The scene itself caused an eyebrow-raised look from a clearly confused Spock, the expression alone made you two laugh.

“Am I missing something here?” Spock asked, looking between the two of you.

“Nope.” Kirk responded, lazily putting his arm around the Vulcan’s shoulder, “But you know what you are missing? A nice, hot meal. After such a long day, you two deserve a treat. Go grab something in the mess hall together, Captain’s orders.” He finished with a smirk, making your stomach turn. Why would he say it like that? ...Did he know you liked the Commander? But that would be impossible! You never even mentioned to anyone how you felt about Spock… Were you that obvious?

Before you could open your mouth to say anything, you saw that your Captain was already leaving the room. He turned around briefly and gave two thumbs up and an encouraging nod in your direction, but to your surprise the gesture wasn’t aimed at you, but rather.... at the Commander.

You heard a throat clear beside you and turned to see that Spock was looking you in the eyes. Like, really looking at you.

“Lieutenant...” The way his voice wavered suggested… nervousness. He knitted his eyebrows together and his posture became much more stiff, confirming your suspicions. “...do I have your permission to address you by your first name?”

You felt your cheeks burn again at his request. “You do.” Immediately his body relaxed. “May I, in turn, address you as Spock?”

“Certainly, (Y/N).” He said smoothly, you could tell he was testing out your name. You liked it.

You felt a nervousness build up within you, unsure where this conversation was leading to until Spock spoke up again.

“I would like to request your presence tonight in the mess hall for social engagement and dinner.”

And with that your heart was blown ten thousand light-years away.

“You sure our lovely Captain didn’t bribe you to say that?” You asked half-jokingly, trying not to sound like you were just melted away.

“I do not need persuasion with money or gifts to spend an evening with you.”

How he could say such things without becoming a puddle of embarrassment amazed you. You felt giddy as a warm smile spread across your lips. “Then yes, I would love to have dinner with you.”

“I’ll come by your quarters at eight.” He stated, smiling down at you.

“I’ll be waiting.”

[mspaintbunny]

8, 10, 29, 30, 49 🧡🧡🧡

8. What’re your most unusual turn-ons in general? dunno if i have any that most people would consider unusual, maybe we should try and find out? 😳

10. If you could have one fantasy fulfilled right now, what would it be? date with 💎, we go outside and tease eachother a bunch, for example he might casually and sneakily grab my butt and i gotta pretend to ignore it cuz we're on a public space or something i keep up of course, cuz i want him to destroy me later then we get somewhere private and hmmmm hmmmmmmm 👉👈

29. What’re the most effective ways to tease you in public? oh wow what a coincidence huh well i already mentioned unapropriate undercover grabbing, but i think just, the other person being upfront about it and telling me directly, to the ear, what and how they're gonna do things to me later i could die right then and there

30. What’re your favourite ways to tease your partner in public? i guess how i like to be teased is also how i like to tease, only im much more shy about it, i'd get flustered even attempting the things i descrived on the previous ask but i guess id just add my own flavor to it, a "i want you to destroy me" vibe rather than "i want destroy you" cant really put into words how the two differ but, you get me, youre smart, you understand, its 4 am and i cant form coherent thoughts

49. Do you own any sex toys? Do you want any? I DO NOT AND I WISH I HAD answered an ask about all the toys id buy were money not an issue hold up imma copypaste that one "a magic wand would be the first thing i get, i know for sure id get use out of it then i wanna say a bunch of dildos of different sizes, to test them, see how much i can take, maybe find a favorite and keep the rest there for when i feel like spicing things up i also want cute buttplugs! with different animal tails! the bunny one is the priority! maybe something that can be remotely controlled by people that you entrust a code to and you can just wear? couldnt give you an example cuz i simply do not have that knowledge, but you can probably think of one and also… a fleshlight… i know im mostly a bottom but that doesnt mean i dont have my moments i’d get a transparent one cuz the ones that try to look like skin just look gross and it’d be exciting to see my dick through it" add to that list a chew toy, cuz my oral fixation is out of control lately

[starcountesseevee]

A Rocket Coincidence (Part 26)

Part 25 / Part 27

     Kali was pacing excitedly around the kitchen, it was Monday and Cliff was finally back in town after what felt like forever. While he had “work stuff” -his words- during the day they had already made plans for the evening and Kali couldn't wait. Mara had insisted that Kali take today off but she found herself actually kind of wishing she was working just so that the time would go faster. The sound of Mara’s bedroom opening alerted Kali and she looked over with a grin as Mara came into the kitchen. 

     “Good morning!”  

     "I thought I smelled bacon." Mara plopped down. “You’re certainly in a good mood. And up early.” 

     “Why wouldn’t I be?” Kali beamed. “Although, that’s the last of the bacon so I'll probably run out to the store today, need anything else while I'm out?" 

     "Yeah I think we're low on patience, too. Think you can pick some of that up?" Mara teased as she made up a plate for herself. 

     "Oh hush. I'm plenty patient."

     "Says the girl who's been counting the days...nay hours until today." 

     "Okay so I've just been a little excited to see my boyfriend, is that a crime?"

     "Ahh to be young and in love…" Mara batted her eyelashes at Kali and threw her hand across her forehead dramatically. 

     "I...don't know about all that." Kali mumbled as she felt her cheeks flush.

     "Sure you don’t.” Mara rolled her eyes as she passed Kali to head back to her bedroom. “But everyone else does. And by everyone else I mean me. I'll be at the studio if you need me!" She called back, cutting off any further argument Kali could have had. Love, Kali thought to herself with a scoff. Mara didn’t know what she was talking about. 

     Kali checked the time again as she headed down Skiploom Street. It wasn’t even noon yet and a trip to the store wasn’t going to waste the hours she had until this evening so she decided to take a longer walk and scan some Pokestops to maybe get her mind off the time. It had also been a while since she’d been able to stock up on some supplies and she would need the coins to do that anyway. Most Pokestops in the city only gave five to ten coins a day so getting a decent amount to spend was a job but there was one just around the next corner that Kali was pretty sure gave twenty. 

     “Hey,” Zeke nudged his co-trainee, Bradley, as he saw a red-headed girl with a pokeball dangling from her belt turn the corner. “Looks like she might be a trainer, guess we’ll get to show off to the boss after all.” He thought he had said it low enough but Cliff overheard from where he was leaning and rolled his eyes. They weren’t here to show off, they were here to do a job, he thought as he scanned through his emails from the weekend. Their training was over and this was supposed to be their first time out on their own, Cliff was just there to make sure their training paid off but so far he wasn’t impressed. 

     “Yeah she’s cute too, maybe I’ll get her to bet on more than just leaving when I win.” Both boys chuckled. Cliff frowned at that, he didn’t support that kind of talk. Another tick in the unimpressed box, he thought as he paid a little more attention to what was going on to make sure they didn’t start harassing whoever it was.

     “What do we have here?” Zeke stepped forward taking the lead. Kali sighed as she spotted the two. Of course she would run into a Grunt here she thought as she questioned whether or not she felt like battling or turning around.

      “Looks like a little troublemaker.” Bradley chimed in, mimicking Zeke by crossing his arms as well. Kali raised a brow and glanced between them. She had been considering backing down but “troublemaker”? What were they, five? 

     “Really? That’s the best you’ve got? Did you forget to pick up your brains this morning with your uniform?” Kali quipped and Cliff’s head shot up, he knew that voice.

     “Hey, watch what you say, you’re messing with Team Rocket you know!” A sudden firm hand on his shoulder caused Zeke to turn around. Kali couldn’t hide the look of surprise on her face as Cliff pushed his way between the two grunts with a smirk.

     “So these two idiots are yours?” 

     “They’re a work in progress.” They began to protest but one look from Cliff had them retreat a few steps and he turned back to Kali. “This is a nice surprise.” He said low enough for only her to hear. As much as he might have wanted to pull her in for a kiss right there he didn’t want to presume that she wanted their relationship status publicized, especially not in front of others from Team Rocket. And he was on the job. But mostly the first reason.

     “It is.” She smiled coyly at him. “So that means you’re going to let me go scan that pokestop, right?” Cliff opened his mouth to answer but immediately shut it. There was no way he could just let her waltz right by with Zeke and Bradley watching. Not only would he look weak but they would probably go back to base and tell people he broke the rules. Kali must have read his silence correctly; when he glanced back at her she was eyeing him with a look that said are you really thinking about doing this? Okay so maybe challenging his girlfriend wasn’t the best idea but on the other hand maybe it was about time they had a battle.  

     “I think you know how this works, the only way you’re getting by is battling first.” 

     “Seems like a silly rule, but okay. Which one of those kids do you want me to trounce?”

     “Neither, I think it’s about time we faced off don’t you?” 

     “Oh?” Kali held his gaze for a long moment. “Alright, if you’re so ready to get your butt kicked so be it.” 

     “I don’t think that’s how this is gonna go. But I’ll tell you what, I’ll even go easy on ya.”

     “You can, but I won’t.” Kali could practically taste the tension hanging in the air between them. Cliff had a bit of an advantage as he had seen her battle before but she was pretty confident she could win regardless. And now that she had said it there was no backing down.

     Cliff could hear the two idiots, as Kali so eloquently put it, behind him snickering something along the lines of “she’s gonna get her butt whooped” and had an idea that would probably shut them up. “How about we up the stakes then? If I win you have to go on a date with me.” He kept his expression neutral as he heard the two guys gasp behind them. 

     Kali bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing, he was trying to show off in front of those kids wasn’t he? “And what if I already have a boyfriend?” She decided to play along. 

     “I’m sure he won’t mind.”  

     “I dunno, he’s a pretty big guy. Tough. I don’t think he’d like his girl making such deals with another man.” Kali stood her ground as Cliff took a few steps closer and crossed his arms over his chest. 

     “Maybe he is, dollface, but so am I.” He winked.

     “Tell you what if you win, and that’s a pretty big if, I’ll think about it. But….” She glanced behind him to the QR code a little further down the street and decided on a term of her own. “If I win you have to abandon this pokestop and can’t block it off ever again.” She looked back at him challengingly. 

     “What?” Cliff frowned, fighting the urge to turn around and yell at the peanut gallery behind them, and lowered his voice before continuing. “That’s not something I can promise, doll.” 

     “Then don’t lose.” Kali smirked and reached for a pokeball before proclaiming loudly to get this match started, ending any further arguments on the matter. "Standard match I presume? Last one standing out of three?" She questioned as she racked her brain for any time Cliff had mentioned pokemon so she could pick a starter. If she remembered correctly he had mentioned Tyranitar and maybe Onyx and Torterra as well, all of which were rock types. Maybe there was something there. 

     “Right.” This had suddenly gone from playful banter to something a little more serious. He was a Leader with Team Rocket, there was no way he could just promise to not do his job. Didn’t she understand that? Not that he was going to lose.

     “Ready when you are.” Both of them tossed pokeballs forward at the same time. Kali had chosen Clover, her Leafeon, gambling on her rock type theory. Her choice paid off as an Omanyte appeared across from her. Perfect. “Razor Leaf!” She tried getting the upper hand with a first move but Cliff was just as quick to have his Omanyte attack, but Mud Shot wasn’t going to do much against her grass type. 

     “Dodge!” Cliff was cursing inwardly as Kali’s Leafeon hopped swiftly around his slower Omanyte getting in far more hits than he would have liked. Within moments it was apparent that his Omanyte was outmatched and he swore under his breath as he was forced to return it. The two Grunts snickered. 

     Kali grinned as Clover returned to stand anxiously in front of her for Cliff’s second choice. By the look on his face he was not as amused as she was. “Alright, what’s next?” She murmured to her Leafeon as he tossed forward another ball. It was clearly something large, Kali thought as the pokemon began to take shape in front of her before becoming recognizable as an Electivire. Alright, so maybe her theory was wrong but an electric type wasn’t a huge obstacle and her Leafeon hadn’t taken much damage from the Omanyte anyway. At Cliff's command the large yellow pokemon charged forward, electric energy cracking between the two antennas on the top of its head. "Clover, dodge!" Her Leafeon jumped aside but not quickly enough and a jolt of electricity hit its hindquarters causing it to stumble. It quickly recovered as Kali called for it to use Razor Leaf again. The larger pokemon took the hits as it shot a few more bolts of electricity at Clover who managed to dodge most of them. 

     "Use Thunder Punch!" Cliff called with a grin, he might have had a rough start but the match was turning back around in his favor. The Electivire charged at Kali's Leafeon again, this time gripping its tail to get more of a charge on its attack. 

     "Hold and use Energy Ball!" Pulling this move off meant that Clover would most likely take the full force of the Electivire's attack but it should also be enough to knock out the opponent as well. The leaf shaped sprout on its head began to glow white as a green ball of energy started forming in front of its open mouth. “Now!” Kali called as soon as the Electivire got close enough and the ball of energy shot forward into the other pokemon’s chest but just like Kali had predicted it was able to hit Clover too, both pokemon skid backwards and were spent. As she returned Clover she made a mental note to make sure it got extra treats later. 

     “Dammit!” Cliff swore under his breath as he was forced to return his second pokemon. He had hoped to get Electivire’s charged attack in before it got hit but it was too slow. The smug look on Kali’s face was only fueling the well of anger rising in his chest, he couldn’t lose in front of two trainees! He had an example to set!

     “I thought he was supposed to be tough.” Zeke whispered to Bradley but not quietly enough and his eyes went wide as Cliff rounded on him. 

     “One more word out of you two and it’s desk duty for a month!” 

     Two down, one to go. Kali took out her second pokeball as Cliff reached for his third. She wasn’t about to let up and chose her Vaporeon, Lyra, who was arguably her strongest Eeveelution. She was very much relieved when she saw Cliff’s selection, a Tyranitar. They had plenty of training against this particular pokemon after training with Cole so Kali knew she wouldn’t have to give Lyra much direction as they had a tried and true strategy. 

     “Water gun!” Lyra jumped into action sending small but quick jets of water at the Tyranitar that was advancing. Its stubby arms swatted away at some of the jets as it went in for an attack and Lyra just managed to jump out of the way of its teeth, although Kali had to admit Cliff’s was much faster than the one Cole had. 

     “Use Iron Tail!” The large green creature swung around deftly as its tail began to glow white and before Lyra could jump out of the way its tail crashed into her Vaporeon’s side. Cliff wasted no time in having his Tyranitar attack again as the Vaporeon got back on its feet. 

     “Dodge!” Lyra obeyed and before Kali could call for another attack she was already shooting more jets of water at the Tyranitar, she seemed angry that it had gotten a hit in on her and was retaliating in full force. “Yes, go girl!” 

     That Vaporeon was too damn fast. Changing strategies Cliff shouted for his pokemon to use Stone Edge, hopefully this would give him the upper hand again. Turning to face its opponent the Tyranitar slammed its hands onto the street and a wave of rock pillars shot towards Lyra causing her to stumble as she scurried to avoid them. “Quick, Iron Tail while its recovering!” But Lyra wasn’t falling for that again and shot a quick jet of water at the Tyranitar’s face to distract it before moving swiftly behind it. 

      “Hydro Pump!” Kali practically yelled with excitement. Before Cliff’s pokemon could react Lyra opened her mouth and a large, forceful jet of water slammed into the Tyranitar’s back causing it to crash forward into the ground. 

     “Get up, dammit!” To the creature’s credit it did try to but wound up slumping back down onto the pavement defeated.

     “Yes!” Kali cheered as she recalled her Vaporeon. “Told you I’d win.” 

     “What the hell?!" Her elation was short lived as Cliff stormed towards her with a scowl. 

     "What the hell, what?" She glared back at him, why was he so angry about this? This was certainly new, was he really that big of a sore loser? 

     "There's no way you should have been able to beat me with just a couple of Eeveelutions!" 

     "Excuse me?! Just what is that supposed to mean?" A hot spark of anger flared in her chest as her hands clenched into fists at her side. 

     "It means I shouldn't have lost to a...to a pipsqueak like you! You’re not even on a Team!" 

     “Pipsqueak!? Did you forget who you’re talking to?” Kali glared up at him, she wasn’t going to show it but the not being on a Team comment stung more than the name calling. She was clearly just as good as anyone else regardless of not being on a Team and he knew it. 

     Cliff took a deep breath as he met her furious gaze. “No…” He relented a little and lowered his voice before continuing. “But really, you had to beat me in front of my trainees?” 

     “I told you I wasn’t going to go easy! I’m not going to lose just so you can show off!” Stars, she was angry. “You know what, forget this.” Kali spun on her heels and stalked off towards the corner. 

     “Kali, wait!” Cliff jogged after her, catching up right before she reached it. “Babe look I-” 

     “Save it.” One look told Cliff he should probably back off for now. 

     “Alright, we’ll talk later then.” He replied weakly as she walked off. It was probably better to wait until they both had a chance to cool off anyway.

Part 25 / Part 27

A huge shout out to @rubystartrail for always being willing to chat through writer’s block! And to @nenalata for being an avid reader!

[bisluthq]

I legit don’t understand why you ain’t a kaylor and you legit don’t understand why I am one. It’s kinda poetic.

The reason I’m not a Kaylor is 1) I don’t really ship stuff and 2) I can’t see a way for Kaylor not to have been messy and a bit shitty and I ship Tay x happiness so I can’t see how Kar would’ve ever been... that... for her. Like I just don’t think they were a good combo even just for friendship.

They both have very cute friendships with other people but I dunno like the vibe with Kaylor always seemed a bit off (which again is why I do believe something more than friendship could’ve happened because it was just... intense and clearly affected them both but rang a bit different to their other friendships and I still find it weird they never meshed friend groups).

I think you’re wrong tho. I actually do understand why people are Kaylors - it’s hot, primarily, and if you don’t think too hard it seems cute. Like they’re very photogenic and because there was a promotional bend to their friendship they created a lot of content together which makes it easy to ship. Like its public nature makes it easy to project from.

I also honestly don’t have any issue with people shipping this (or anything else) or clowning on it and I make a point of saying that. Most of shipping and fan theories is just clowning and as long as we all remember that it really can be quite fun. The problem comes when people start treating fandom theories as facts and receipts and shit and acting like making links between tenuous coincidences is hard proof. Clowning and shipping is cool. It’s not my primary thing - just hasn’t ever been - but I am a softie and I’ll read theories or see edits where I’m like “damn that’s cute”. @taylorsdianna shared some gifs a while back of Kaylor and lyrics from happiness and like I don’t think the song is even vaguely about Kar but it did hit me in the feels because I’m not like... an unfeeling bitch lol and it was cute and sad.

But shipping this - or anything that isn’t my fave x happiness - is just not my vibe.

[shaezerburn]

Flowers for Freezerburn Week. :)

WC: 1790

Haven’t written in forever. Dunno if I like it. Ahhhh. Either way, FREEZERBURN FOR THE SOUL ENJOY THESE TWO NERDS.

A single golden chrysanthemum laid on her desk.

Her lavender eyes scanned the room for a hint of who or what might’ve laid it there. Nobody seemed too suspicious, or out of place. The usual group of guys in the back were doing their, well, dude things. Some of the girls seemed to be doing their own things as well. Blake on her phone, Velvet messing with her camera, and so on. And well, there was another student - one particular student who always seemed to be giving everyone and anyone the cold shoulder. Weiss Schnee who was nose deep in a textbook.

Yang tried to envision every single one of her classmates sneaking in, and dropping the flower off on her desk. But none seemed more preposterous than to have someone like Weiss dropping off the flower. So much so that Yang snickered to herself, only to be interrupted by a smack on the back.

“Yang! Is that a flower?” Sun peeked around Yang’s shoulder, side-stepping now to grab the flower. He took a hearty sniff, “Oh wow, that’s pretty fresh.” He turned to Yang who had an eyebrow raised at his forwardness, he seemed to wave the flower in her face, “Is this from an admirer?” 

Yang yanked the flower out of his hand and carefully set it back on the desk. “Honestly, I don’t know. It was just here when I arrived.” She looked around the room, Sun doing the same but waving happily at Blake at the same time.

“You think it could be anyone in here?” Sun asked he spoke loud enough for Yang to hear as he walked a few feet to get to Blake’s desk. Yang set down her backpack near the desk, grabbed the flower and followed Sun to Blake’s desk. 

“Nah,” she shook her head, “Hey Blake, did you see who put this here?” she waved the flower in front of Blake’s face. Blake swatted at Yang, as Yang quickly pulled back the flower. 

“No. It was here when I walked in.”

“And that was?”

“Fifteen minutes ago.”

“Seriously?” Yang guffawed. The thought of someone coming in here so early before 8 am just to drop off a flower for Yang was seriously something else for her. Who would actually have the dedication to do that? Although Yang secretly found it kind of cute and sweet, she never considered herself ever getting flowers. Especially since she was the kind of gal to go and give flowers. “Weird…” she muttered.

“Who even grows these types of flowers, anyways?” Sun gawked at the flower. “What type is it?” he mischievously stole back the flower from Yang observing it in an obnoxious manner.

Yang shoved Sun in retaliation, “The least you could do is not destroy it and let me figure that out!” as she growled out her statement she stole back the flower and returned to her desk.

Yang returned to her desk and carefully slipped the flower into her backpack. This flower mystery was surely going to get the better of her and her thoughts. Yang could not figure out who, what, or why someone would leave a flower for her. 

“Alright class,” Professor Port called out as he entered the room “The lesson for today is…”

It didn’t really matter what the lesson was for Yang, either way, she’d pass. And either way, she’d get down to the mystery of who had left this flower on her desk. One way or another.

---

Weeks passed and the mystery of who had left the flower there was growing. Yang had managed to trickle it down to several suspicious people. One was Mercury, she hadn’t of known why she would’ve thought he was a suspect - but her gut instinct and the massive amount of glares she had constantly received from the suspect in question was something to be wary about. Maybe he had a crush. Or maybe he was buttering her up to be her number one enemy on the campus.

Sun and Blake had agreed on the suspicions of Mercury, but they also seemed to single out Shay-D. His goofy and nearly toothless smile was also something to be cautious about. Was he too, crushing on Yang? Or was this some sort of long-winded prank that Yang was waiting on the punchline for? 

Lastly, it seemed like Neptune was a good contender. Sun’s best friend. Although the combination of his incessant flirting and denial of the floral arrangement went hand in hand as the days went on. Yang wasn’t sure if Neptune was actually capable of such romantic interactions such as fresh flowers and of the likes.

Things for Yang had only grown more mysterious. One Friday morning Yang came in to see her desk surrounded by other classmates. Yang shuffled her way through the small crowd to see a gorgeous bouquet of chrysanthemums on her desk. Golden chrysanthemums lined the outside, while another smaller circle was covered with orange, and then a single yellow one rested as the centerpiece. 

A hard blush came over Yang as her classmates gawked at her new gift. Just who in the world was giving her these flowers? And how in the hell did they know that these were her favorite flowers? One single flower, Yang considered a fluke - but a whole bouquet dedicated to Yang along with her favorite colors… well that, that wasn’t a coincidence. 

Shooing everyone away from her desk, she slammed her backpack on the ground and sat at her desk. Focusing long and hard on the flowers before her. Their aroma to her, was intoxicating. Her favorite flower, and favorite smell.

She groaned and covered her face in her hands. This was going to bother her. Just who exactly was this mysterious flower giver? She looked around the classroom, exchanging small glances with some classmates who too were curious about the mystery admirer.

Sun and Blake gave her pitying looks and shrugs. It seemed like they too were just spectators in this spectacle. Her eyes scanned once more, she met eyes with someone she didn’t expect to. Weiss Schnee. Weiss seemed to sneer at her, brows furrowed. Her head quickly turned away, going back to whatever she was doing before their eyes had met. Yang shook her head and turned back to her desk looking at the flowers.

It wasn’t Weiss. Sun. Blake. Or Neptune, or anyone else in this classroom. Who in their right mind would just send Yang flowers of all things? 

She would figure it out one way or another.

///

It seemed like her mysterious admirer had other ideas when it came to a confrontation. In Yang’s locker appeared a sticky note -  ‘Meet me on the roof if you want to know who I am.’ It was signed with a badly drawn bouquet of flowers. It was way passed leaving time as Yang had stayed back for a little extra credit work. 

“So you know my locker number too?” Yang muttered to herself, folding the note and sticking it in her pocket. The roof, huh? Yang racked her mind by trying to remember what was on the roof. There were certain electives and academics that had taken odd spots around the school’s campus, so this just had to be another one.

She walked her way up towards the roof, taking a staircase after staircase. Just who else on earth would be at school still?

Finally arriving at the rooftop, she prepared to meet this mysterious admirer.

Passing through the door, she was greeted by bright sunlight on its way to meet the horizon, causing her to squint and shield her face with her hand. There was a light breeze in the air as Yang closed the rooftops door behind her. An aroma like no other hit her nose, she stared at ahead of her finally getting back her senses. 

Before her were rows and rows of flowers, lined up on the rooftops. A small cabin laid in the center of it all. Who exited the cabin, was what surprised Yang most of all.

Weiss Schnee exited the cabin, wiping sweat off of her forehead and approached Yang with an air about her.

“No way…” Yang stood there in shock, “You?!” she approached Weiss with a fervor. 

Weiss of all things nonchalantly nodded with a very soft “Yeah.”

Now flabbergasted Yang stood there with her mouth agape. “Why?”

This simple question made Weiss smirk. “You’re really cute when you look at flowers,” she answered almost immediately. “Your secret love for them is really admiring.”

Yang took a step back and blushed, “How would you know that?!”

“You really don’t notice the world around you, do you? Though, I guess there is to say you DO stop to smell the flowers every now and then.” Weiss sighed and twiddled her thumbs anxiously.

“What are you talking about?!” 

Weiss rolled her eyes, “You can’t be serious, Yang. Every Saturday, at 6:30 AM you pass by Fiona’s Flowers and smell every single flower there. Stopping at the chrysanthemums the longest. Then when you come by again, same day, 6:30 PM and do it again, but only if no one is watching.”

Yang was speechless. How the hell did Weiss know all of these things? And did she SEE her if Yang had taken every precaution to make sure that no one knew about her secret love and her secret routine when she goes to the gym and work!

“I work at Fiona’s Flowers by the way. Every Saturday.” Weiss admitted.

By now Yang’s face was the reddest it had ever been. “Please, don’t tell anyone…”

“Don’t tell anyone that you like flowers? Yang, do you know how ridiculous you sound?”

“I know, but please...can we let it be our little secret?”

Weiss approached Yang, her eyes locked on to Yangs. Yang’s blush grew. “Sure, but…”

“But..?”

She was now inches apart from Yang’s face, looking up at her intensely. Yang could feel her heartbeat in her throat, Weiss was gorgeous from afar she had to admit, but this close up? Beauty beyond words.

“Can you keep mine?”

There was a small hesitation with Weiss, she wasn’t sure that Yang would accept what she was about to do. But Yang watched her carefully, actually leaning in towards Weiss to help her with her own ‘secret’. Weiss’s lips met Yang’s. Yang had clearly accepted the movement, kissing her back - but as Weiss pulled away Yang was still clearly shocked.

“Uh..wow. Yeah, I…” Yang sputtered out, her body burned. Her face still having that one shade of red covering it. “C-Can we keep doing this?” her arms gestured around her.

“The flowers or the kissing?”

“Both?” Yang sputtered.

“Both is good.” Weiss smiled.

[freddiesaysalright]

Soft in Love Part 9

A Gwilym Lee x Student!Reader Fic

Summary: Y/N is an acting student in her last semester of college. When a professor unexpectedly can’t make it for the senior capstone class, a very famous (and handsome) substitute is called in. When they connect, they face a few challenges.

Word Count: 3.2k

Tag List:  @psychosupernatural​, @someone-get-a-medic​, @bensrhapsody​, @deakyclicks​, @crazylittlethingcalledobsession​, @minigranger​, @crazyweirdocalledfriday​, @benders-diamond-earring​, @im-an-adult-ish​, @anincurablefangirl​, @kiainspace​, @lookuptotheskiesandsee​, @god-save-the-deaks​, @assembledherethevolunteers​, @misslolasworld​, @not-john-watsons-blog​, @spacedustmazzello​, @theindiealto​, @riddikuluslypotter​, @depressedbitchxox​, @tenement-funstah​, @7-seas-of-fat-bottomed-girls​, @sarablog10​, @johndeaconshands​, @coincidence-ithinknots-blog​, @simonedk​, @queenlover05​, @goodoldfashionedloverboyy​, @the-claire-bitch-project, @kerouacsroad​, @rose-writes-prose​ If you’d like to be added, let me know!

A/N: The drama intensifies! Gwilym and Y/N make some important decisions regarding Edith’s blackmail.

Warning(s): none!

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5  Part 6  Part 7  Part 8 

Part 9 here we go!!!

That night, Gwilym picked you up from your dorm. His hands were sweaty as he waited for you to emerge. Again, he was debating telling you about Edith and her threats. That way you wouldn’t be so angry at him. But a stronger part of him didn’t want to make you feel bad. Still, he knew you were going to have questions. He had to come up with something to say to satisfy you.

You slid into the passenger seat, his heart skipping its usual beat at the sight of your smile. When you leaned over to kiss him, he was surprised.

“You’re not angry with me?” he wondered as you sat back to buckle up.

You shook your head. “Daniel told me what happened.”

“Daniel?”

You explained what Daniel told you in the dressing room. You even shared his suggestion to break up and take away Edith’s power. You carefully watched Gwilym’s expression at this. His mouth turned down and he narrowed his eyes. He pulled up to his hotel in silence. As you followed him to his room, you grew more anxious. He wasn’t actually considering what Daniel said was he? You had refused it as an option because it felt impossible. Did Gwilym not feel the same? What did that mean?

Gwilym opened the door for you and you walked inside, legs slightly shaking. You weren’t sure what he might say now. Would he end it?

He flopped down on the bed, lying spread eagle. You crawled up after him and cuddled into his side. His arm draped over your shoulders. It made you feel so safe.

“We’ve got to figure something out,” he said. “She can’t take shows from you.”

“I dunno, baby,” you said. “Maybe we should just let this happen.”

“It’s not right!” he protested.

“No, it’s not, but what can we do?” you replied. “We’ve sort of done this to ourselves.”

“I know,” he sighed irritably. “But I hate this for you.”

“I do too,” you agreed. “I really do. Especially opening night. I wish you had given her closing instead.”

“She asked for that,” he said. “But I couldn’t.”

You sat up and looked sharply at him. “What?! Why?!”

“Now that, I really can’t tell you,” he said. “I’ve got something in mind for that night.”

“A surprise?” you asked, curiosity piqued. “What is it?”

“Well, it wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you, would it?” he returned.

He sat up too and pressed his lips to your temple. Then he sighed again. Your eyes searched his face. You saw in his eyes a deep sadness. It had come on so suddenly, it frightened you.

“I think Daniel’s right,” he said. “I think we should...call it a day.”

Once again, tears filled your eyes.

“Is that really what you want?” you whimpered. 

He looked at you, took in your tearful face, and he pulled you into his arms.

“Of course it’s not,” he said. “I just don’t want you to miss out on your rightful chance. I care about you too much, and if being without me is better for you -”

“Stop it,” you sighed and tugged yourself away from him. “Gwilym, you either want to be with me or not. Which is it?”

“I want to be with you,” he answered without hesitation. “It’s just that -”

“No, listen to me,” you said. “It doesn’t matter if we break up. She still heard what she heard, and so did Dan. We can get through this as a couple or separate and still have the same problem.”

He looked thoughtfully at the floor.

“I suppose you’re right,” he said. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have considered it.”

You offered a watery smile. “It’s alright. Just...fuck, Gwil. What are we going to do?”

“So now you’re on board to do something?” he teased.

“Yes!” you said, perking up. “Edith can’t do this. She can’t take my shows away from me and she can’t take you away from me.”

“I admire your conviction, darling,” he said with a soft smile.

“Well, she can’t,” you repeated stubbornly. 

His heart swelled as he looked at your determined face.

“You’re so cute,” he said, cupping your cheek. You closed your eyes to his touch. “I love you.”

Your eyes snapped open to meet Gwilym’s. His were wide, frightened, as if he’d just told you something terrible instead of perhaps the most wonderful thing you’d ever heard in your life.

“You...you love me?”

Gwilym took a deep breath, relaxing his face. He looked at you. This time with strength and confidence.

“Yes, Y/N,” he said. “That’s where my heart is. I love you.”

A smile spread slowly across your face as he said it again.

“I love you too,” you replied. “So, so much.”

He grinned. Then pulled you in for another kiss. It was soft and tender and expressive. Everything that reflected the moment. Your heart felt full. This was so right.

“I love you,” he said again as you parted. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” you giggled.

“Because I love you, I’m not going to let Edith have this,” he said, getting to his feet. “I’m going to restore your nights to you and go to the Dean’s office myself.”

Panic shot through you.

“No!” you cried. “They’ll fire you!”

“So what?” he returned. “I’ll tell them it was me, and you shouldn’t be punished.”

“If you’re going to lie, it might as well be a flat out denial,” you pointed out. “Let’s face it, I came on to you. I think we should let her go to the Dean’s office and then deny when there’s questions.”

“It is her word against ours,” he said.

“Oh, fuck,” you sighed. 

“What?”

“I forgot about Dan,” you said. “He heard us too. She’s got another witness.”

“Shit,” he muttered.

A beat passed as you both pondered.

“Y/N, please let me do the honorable thing,” he said. “Let me take the fall for this so you don’t have to lose.”

You bottom lip quivered. “But then you’ll leave…”

“It won’t be forever,” he said. “I’ll stay in New York until you’re done and then we’ll figure it out. Together.”

“I can’t let you,” you told him. “I can’t let you take this alone.”

“Please,” he said again. “Let me do this for you.”

A tear slid down your cheek. Any more ups and downs and you were sure your head would literally be spinning.

“We don’t have to decide tonight,” you said. “I’m so tired. Can’t we just lay down and forget about all of it? We love each other, we should be celebrating.”

He smiled gently.

“You’re right,” he said. “I’ll order some champagne and then we’ll just relax. It’s been a long day.”

“You’re the best,”  you told him.

He did order champagne and some dinner from room service. Together, you ate, took a bath, and then settled into bed and watched some trashy reality TV show. For a couple hours, all thoughts of Edith, the show, and anything else were null and void. You were in love with Gwilym, and he loved you right back. Despite everything going on, you were completely and totally happy.

On Thursday, when you arrived early, Edith and Gwilym were already there. He was speaking calmly to her but she looked furious. Her eyes flashed toward you when you walked through the door. She stormed toward you.

“Just because you’re fucking the professor, you think you can get whatever you want,” she spat. Literally. She was so close to you, you felt drops of saliva on your face. “Well, I’ll get rid of you right now!”

“Oh, shut up,” you replied, rolling your eyes. “I got the part of Esther before Gwilym was even here.”

She stamped her foot and then whipped around to face Gwilym again.

“I’m going to the Dean’s office right now!” she shouted. “You’ll both be out of here!”

“Go then!” you yelled back.

She swept out of the auditorium, trying to slam the door behind her, but it was too slow and it clicked shut softly. When she was well away, you jogged over to Gwilym.

“What do you want to do?” you asked frantically.

He stared at the spot where Edith disappeared.

“I want to keep teaching,” he admitted. “I want to stay with you.”

“So, we lie?” you wondered.

He nodded and looked at you. “We lie.”

You sat in anxiety for the remainder of the ten minutes until the rest of the class started showing up. Gwilym started to go on with class as usual, starting with attendance, when suddenly, Edith burst back into the auditorium. You would have rolled your eyes at her dramatics if it weren’t for the three people following her: Dr. Curtis, the head of the department; Dr. Dragel, the Dean of Students; and Sheri Peacock, the Chancellor.

Gwilym glanced at you before turning to his old teacher.

“Dr. Curtis,” he said. “To what do I owe the pleasure of our guests?”

“It’s very serious, Gwilym,” Dr. Curtis replied. “Miss Bernard here has made an...an  accusation.”

“What sort of accusation?” Gwilym asked.

God, he was good. If you didn’t know any better, you would have thought him genuinely confused.

“About you and Y/N,” Edith said. “You’re sleeping together!”

The whole class turned eyes on you and Sloan gasped loudly next to you. Andrew was staring daggers into your left side. Gwilym blinked and his mouth dropped. You wanted to disappear into your chair. You didn't think she’d do this in front of the whole class.

“I - are you joking?!” he cried. “That’s ridiculous!”

“It is not a joke, Mr. Lee,” said Dr. Dragel. He was a stern man who was not very popular with the student body because of his strictness. “This sort of accusation is no laughing matter. She claims she heard the act taking place in Dr. Bennett’s office.”

The whole class was whispering now, a wave of shock going through them. Sloan grabbed your arm and leaned into your ear.

“Is it true?” she hissed.

You gave a curt nod, barely moving at all, and only after ensuring that the three upper faculty members had their back to you. Sloan glared fiercely at you.

“We should discuss this in private,” Dr. Curtis said. “There are dressing rooms backstage where we won’t cause so much commotion.”

He scanned the crowd and found you.

“Y/N, come with us, please,” he said.

You stood up, feeling every person’s eyes on you as you shimmied down the row and into the aisle. The murmurs of everyone were driving you crazy. You couldn’t hear what they were saying, but you guessed the general idea. They were discussing favoritism and scandal. You clearly heard the word “slut” from someone a row in front of you.

Putting your head down, you followed the faculty members and Edith to the dressing room. The same one where Gwil had delivered the horrible news to you earlier that week. Chancellor Peacock and Dr. Dragel looked between you and Gwilym as Dr. Curtis closed the door.

“Well, Miss Y/L/N,” said Chancellor Peacock. “Is it true? Are you and Mr. Lee in a relationship?”

“No!” you insisted. “Edith’s been jealous of me all semester, she’s making this up!”

“Don’t lie, I heard you!” Edith interjected.

“Miss Bernard, please,” said Dr. Dragel. “We’ve heard your side of the story, now we need to hear theirs.”

“I don’t know what she heard - if she heard anything at all,” you said. “But I don’t go to office hours ever. I don’t need to. This class has only one grade and it’s the show.”

“Why would Miss Bernard accuse you of something like this?” wondered Chancellor Peacock.

“Edith’s ambitious and jealous,” you said. “She really wanted my part. Not to mention, she’s been hitting on Gwilym all semester. Everyone in class will tell you that. I guess it was because she was upset I got more attention from him than she did.”

“Mr. Lee, anything to say?” Dr. Dragel asked, turning to Gwilym.

“Y/N is right, Edith has made several advances, all of which I’ve turned down,” he said. “I don’t want to say she’s a liar, but I can’t speak to what she heard that day.”

“Were you...watching pornography or something?” Dr. Dragel pressed.

“What? God, no!” Gwilym answered. “That office doesn’t even belong to me. I wouldn’t dream of doing something like that.”

Chancellor Peacock looked at Edith. “Is it true you made advances toward Gwilym?”

Edith’s face went pink. “Well - I - yes, I did,” she admitted. “But I stopped after a while because he was so clearly into Y/N.”

“Was it clear?” Dr. Curtis spoke up. “Y/N is the star of the show, it’s natural for the director to spend extra time with her. In all my rehearsals with you, I’ve never noticed anything other than professionalism from both of you. Edith on the other hand, I did see being flirtatious.”

“And you didn’t say anything?” Dr. Dragel snapped.

“Well, I expected the girls to like him,” Dr. Curtis said. “Look at him! It didn’t seem very serious, so I let it go.”

“Let me get this straight,” Chancellor Peacock said. “Edith has been flirting with Gwilym consistently over the semester. She wanted Y/N’s role from the start. Y/N got more attention from Gwilym. Now, just two weeks before the show opens, she’s come to us with a claim of an inappropriate relationship between Y/N and Gwilym that no one else can corroborate. Is that the situation here?”

“Yes,” you and Gwilym said in unison then exchanged a playful smile.

“Well, then,” Dr. Dragel said. “I think it’s perfectly clear what’s going on.”

“Hold on, I have another witness!” Edith said desperately. “Daniel was with me when I heard them. He heard it too.”

Your stomach dropped. Dr. Curtis left the room to fetch Daniel and get his statement on things. Your heart pounded. Would Daniel lie? Would he defend what Edith said? He told you he didn’t agree with her, but he was already on academic probation. If he lied now, and was found out, he could be suspended from the school.

You looked at Gwilym, willing him to look back at you, only he didn’t. He couldn’t really. It would be too obvious now. Your hand itched to clasp his for comfort. If this was the moment you went down together, you needed his support. Only, you couldn’t. Everything hinged on what Daniel might say. When the door opened, it startled you.

“Okay, Mr. Snow,” said Dr. Dragel. “Here’s what we’ve heard.”

He went over everything again. What Edith said, what you and Gwilym said, and all the information. Daniel listened, not looking at anyone, his focus solely on Dr. Dragel.

“So,” Dr. Dragel wrapped up. “Did you hear them...uh...well - did you hear them -”

“Bangin’?” Daniel finished.

Dr. Dragel flushed. You fought back a brutal urge to throttle your ex boyfriend.

Chancellor Peacock interjected. “Did you hear them having intercourse in the office?”

“Nope,” he said with a shrug. “I don’t know what she’s talking about.”

Edith’s mouth dropped. Yours almost did too, but you couldn’t look shocked. You looked relieved instead, which was also something you were feeling.

“We went to his office so Edith could ask to play Esther for one night,” Daniel went on. “Gwilym said no. That was that.”

Gwilym sighed with relief. You did the same.

“Well, I think this makes things perfectly clear,” said Dr. Curtis, glaring at Edith. “You, young lady, will be -”

Guilt washed over you. Edith wasn’t lying, and as angry as you were with her, she didn’t deserve to be punished.

“Dr. Curtis,” you said, interrupting. “Please don’t punish Edith. I know her actions were drastic, but jealousy is a complicated emotion. I don’t want anything to happen to her.”

“Miss Y/L/N, this is a serious thing she accused a member of our faculty of,” Dr. Dragel said. “And quite frankly, any disciplinary action is not up to you.”

“I agree with Y/N,” Gwilym added. “It was likely a misunderstanding. Something she thought she heard, but didn’t. Besides, it’s not like I’m a permanent member of faculty.”

“Permanent or otherwise,” Dr. Dragel went on. “To falsely accuse someone of taking advantage of a student makes cases like these all the harder for real victims of such offenses. It isn’t right.”

You opened your mouth to protest again, seeing the anguish on Edith’s face, but Chancellor Peacock stepped forward.

“Dr. Dragel, Dr. Curtis, and I will deal with Edith now,” she said. “The rest of you may go.”

“But -”

“Y/N, we must go,” Gwilym cut across you.

He led you and Daniel back out, and all three of you went to the next dressing room on the other side of the stage. You popped in and closed the door.

“Thank you!” you cried, throwing yourself into Daniel’s arms. “Thank you so much!”

“No problem,” he returned. “You can owe me one.”

“I owe you a thousand,” you said, pulling back and looking at him.

“Why stand up for Edith, though?” he asked.

“Because she wasn’t actually lying,” you replied. “I felt kinda bad.”

Daniel laughed. “You’re unbelievable.”

“Really, Daniel, thank you,” Gwilym added, extending his hand.

Daniel shook it. “Really, it’s nothing. The situation is all kinds of fucked, but I thought you guys deserved a chance.”

He looked at you and remembered how you’d exclaimed your love for Gwilym. He would never tell you so, but that was what convinced him to lie for you.

“It means a great deal,” Gwilym said. “Now, I’ve got to go tell the class what happened so they don’t get carried away.”

“Oh, yeah, pretty sure Mary and Leon already started a rumor that Y/N is pregnant,” Daniel said.

Gwilym sighed. “Oh, God. I might be too late.”

You chuckled as Gwilym kissed you swiftly on the cheek and went out. You looked at Daniel.

“Seriously, Dan, if there’s anything I can do for you,” you said. “Let me know.”

He looked at the floor and toed the ground with his boot. “Well...there is one thing.”

“Anything!” you reminded him.

“D’you…” he trailed off. “Ah, nevermind, it’s stupid.”

You took his arm before he could leave.

“Dan, just tell me,” you said.

He sighed. “Do you know if Andrew is into guys at all?”

You blinked, absolutely stunned.

“A-are you into guys?” you questioned.

“Yeah…” he said. “Well, mostly the one guy. But he’s so hung up on you and I dunno how he feels about...y’know…”

You smiled. “To answer your question, yes, Andrew is also into guys. And I think he’s mad enough at me now to be over me.”

Daniel chuckled. “Alright. Thanks, Y/N.”

“If you’re gonna go for Andrew, you better not cheat on him,” you warned.

“I won’t,” he said with a laugh. “Promise.”

You went out together to the auditorium.

“...so please forget what you heard,” Gwilym was finishing up. “It was all a misunderstanding.”

“So, you and Y/N aren’t sleeping together?” asked Leon.

“No, we’re not,” Gwilym said.

Your eyes found Andrew and Sloan. Both of them were glowering at you. You knew they were mad, and you were pretty sure you understood why. You just hoped they could understand too.