#i hate to do that but at this point it's so much more trouble than it's worth with these kids

[girlishwhimsies]

i love looking at hot takes and realizing that some outsiders fans don’t realize that fandom is something fun. nothing is truly that serious at the end of the day.

[fatliberation]

Sorry for leaving this in your inbox, but I need to vent and ask for advice in a place where people won't mock me. What do you do when sex is super difficult because of your fat? I've recently gotten into my first relationship and. I thought I had a handle on my internalized fatphobia and self hate but this has made it worse than ever. We can't have satisfying penetrative sex (we've tried all the tips and workarounds. Nothing works. I'm larger than most of the FA community.), and recieving oral sex is also difficult for me. I also get tired and sweaty extremely quickly if I have to like hold up myself on mostly my arms or something, so he has to do most of the work. So sex is just. Mostly the one that works on repeat, and we don't have it very often because it isn't that fun for either of us, and it also makes me cry afterwards sometimes because of how disappointing it is & me beating myself up over it.

I'm genuinely worried my boyfriend is going to leave me for this. He's clearly very frustrated with the situation, even though he tries to be nice about it most of the time. Earlier today I tried to like be flirty and hint at stuff and he just. got a bit sad. and then said that clearly neither of us enjoy the sex we're having and that he has a lot of trouble staying hard.and that he doesn't see the point when we're both forcing it for no reason. I think he's going to break up with me soon. His ex is way lighter than me, so he's probably comparing the normal sex he had with her with whatever the fuck this abnormal shitshow is :/

All the work I've done on myself to be happy with being fat (including working up the courage to date, what a mistake that was lmao) is all gone. This has ruined my self-esteem so much. I feel like one of those fatphobic jokes but a person.

first and foremost, please try your best to remember this: your body is not the problem. one more time. your body is not the problem. I'm so very sorry you're concerned that your boyfriend would leave you over this. it sounds like he has a lot of preconceived ideas about how sex is supposed to go. I promise you that it doesn't have to be this way. if this is something that could really end the relationship, know that this person is not compatible or open to exploring your needs, rather than your needs being "too difficult." I promise it's him, not you. I know folks who are 600+ pounds who have excellent sex lives and partners who satisfy them and enjoy satisfying them. when someone starts treating your pleasure like a chore, that's just shitty. I know how much it hurts. it also does damage to your own openness to pleasure. when you're caught up in feeling like sex/your body is something that needs to be "fixed," nothing is going to feel sexy, because all that pressure puts stress on and takes you out of the mental state where you're able to experience pleasure. does that make sense? so many couples get stuck in this cycle.

there are so many ways to engage in pleasure without penetration or orgasm. there's a lot that goes into foreplay, setting a mood, making your partner feel appreciated and attractive. words and touch play a huge part in this. something as simple as exploring each other's bodies, not with the intention of reaching climax, but simply to be vulnerable and engage each others' senses. have your partner give you a massage. play with your hair. tickle your back with a feather. shower together. kiss you. compliment you. if either of you are into any kinks or dirty talk, that could be a great way to engage each other sexually without the pressure of "achieving" a goal. the goal here is just to feel good, close, and connected. societal messaging about sex has placed so much importance on orgasm instead of pleasure - when taking the time and space to relax and receive attention, is key.

feel free to check out my other posts on fat sex ed, there's lots of assistive toys that can make pleasure more accessible, but I think that should be a tool for later, since the biggest issue here is the pressure to perform. know that pleasurable sex can exist for you! but for now, I would recommend taking a break from sex altogether since it is not pleasurable for you right now. because pleasure is the whole point. forcing it is only going to feel worse. you do not owe it to your boyfriend, especially if it doesn't feel good and is taking an emotional toll. I hope you both are able to take a step back, reassess and communicate, and are able to reconnect and create a safe space to explore.

I understand why you're beating yourself up over this, I've been there too. but also know that it's just another societal standard that's been internalized (and it doesn't sound like your boyfriend is helping). like you said, you've done a lot to unlearn fatphobia. there's a lot of internalized beliefs we absorb from society surrounding sex, just like body image. I promise that there is nothing wrong with you. If your boyfriend takes his frustration out on you instead of making you feel safe to express your needs, then he's not a supportive partner. you deserve someone who takes delight in your pleasure and your body. believe me, we're out there.

[howtodrawyourdragon]

Been thinking a lot as of late about the fandom take that Hiccup actually should hold a grudge against his village for the way he was treated. This is the "hold a grudge" website, so I'm not surprised and neither is this post about telling you that you're wrong to feel this way. If I was raised the way Hiccup was, outcasted to the point that I start to make friends with the enemy, I would be angry, too!

But holding a grudge just isn't in Hiccup's nature. And I think there is no bigger proof than his incredibly deep bond with Toothless.

Because even ignoring Httyd 2 for a moment, the first movie also hints at Valka dying to dragons.

The dragon raids are the only mentioned outside threat before they learn about the Red Death. And with Stoick gifting Hiccup a helmet made of his mother's breast plate (which are not supposed to be boob-shaped, believe it or not) when he thinks his son does surprisingly well in dragon training, that could be another one of those hints.

Hiccup will be facing dragons after training instead of being hidden in the forge for his own safety (while helping to contribute like the other teens) so it makes sense to me that Valka's death was always meant to be at the claws of dragons and Stoick is trying to prevent that now that it's become a reality that Hiccup might actually face dragons in the very near future.

There is no other threat spoken about in the first movie. Hiccup's mother was always killed by dragons. She's missing from his life because Toothless' kind took him away from her. If Hiccup were to be angry at his village for the way he was treated, he should also be angry at dragons for taking away the one person who could've been unconditionally on his side. Like mothers are supposed to be.

But Hiccup isn't angry at dragons. As a matter of fact, when he gets up close to one, has one completely at his mercy, he doesn't hate Toothless. And this is before he even realizes that there's more to them than fire breathing, home-destroying, food-stealing, man-eating creatures from Hell.

Instead of being angry, he sees Toothless for who he is. A living being just as complex as he is. Capable of fear, of curiosity, of forgiveness, of remorse, of love. And Hiccup wasn't kept from seeing this because anger for having his mother taken from him didn't blind him.

The same can be said about Mildew, who gets the dragons in trouble again and again. But at the end of RoB, Hiccup still decides to put his trust in him to get them both (and Toothless) home.

And Dagur, who started a whole war over being betrayed by Hiccup, which gives him a grudge for three whole years that leaves him filled with revenge until Viggo gives him a sudden change of perspective that leads to months of introspection. It takes a little while, but Hiccup doesn't just accept him as a friend, but accepts Dagur's offer to be found brothers.

He should hold a grudge against Heather. Who played on his kindness to get Alvin the Book of Dragons and then seemingly played him again in RttE, when he lets her stay on Dragon's Edge and the very next time they see her, she's working for the Hunters. Who come into their lives by leaving Astrid to die stranded in the middle of the ocean and abducting Stormfly. With only Astrid learning that Heather is actually spying on them with Hiccup not learning about this fact until much later. (Something very clearly hurts him, but even being left out of the loop he forgives Astrid and Heather for.)

Alvin canonically held Hiccup and Toothless captive for days, barely giving Toothless any food or water. Hiccup literally states that in the first episode of DoB.

And while they don't show it in the show itself, in the very first episode afterwards, Hiccup is trying to prepare his 14 and 15 year old friends for interrogation. Clearly something in that two-parter spooked him enough to do something as drastic as this.

But at the end of DoB, Hiccup still chooses trust Alvin to help rescue Stoick and get Outcast Island back from Dagur. An alliance was forged. One strong enough that when Stoick gets gravely injured in RttE, Alvin can be trusted to come in and help out around Berk.

The closest Hiccup comes to holding a grudge is with Viggo. The first person to ever make Hiccup feel like an idiot, make him feel frustrated that he can't get immediately out on top like he did with all his previous villains. He spends literal months trying to find Viggo just to get back at him, dragging all his friends and his dragons down with him. But even that doesn't last.

Not with both Dagur as well as Stoick advising him against harboring feelings of vengeance. Dagur warns Hiccup against how the need for vengeance can change a person. Stoick warns Hiccup that revenge can lead to an endless cycle of violence, explicitly telling his son that he's telling him this out of experience. They don't want Hiccup to be lead astray and hurt by holding and acting on grudges.

There is the potential for Drago, which the comics did try to get into until a certain comic got cancelled and left us with that story unresolved. For newer fans who don't yet know this; Hiccup was actually meant to experience a downward spiral in the comics that take place after Httyd 2. Except the comic that would've concluded this storyline got canceled around the time of THW's release. Probably because THW confirms that Drago is dead while the canceled comic actually had Hiccup face Drago again, the man in hiding after his defeat. Release The Fire Tides!

This entire post just to say... A grudge would've been justified, but Hiccup just doesn't have it in him to hold onto one. Certainly not forever.

[glitterrosesnzz]

intolerable

well,, it's late but at least i got it done faster than i did the last time!! w/anderer b-day fic is a go-

word count: 3k

The Wanderer discreetly separated himself from the rest of the party, harshly rubbing at his nose as he stepped out onto the much quieter balcony. He eyed the flowers that had been tied around the balcony’s rails with distaste, then let out a sigh. 

For the past week people had been preparing for the Dendro Archon’s birthday, stringing up decorations left and right. In the Wanderer’s opinion, they’d severely overdone it. Especially with the flowers. The pollen levels in the city had been intolerable for the past few days, and was borderline unbearable now that Nahida’s actual birthday was in full swing. 

Not that he was going to actively complain about it. The birthday girl herself seemed quite pleased with everything, after all. 

The Wanderer wasn’t having a good time though, that was for sure. 

Hell, it was to the point where he’d even gone through the trouble of sneaking into the Akademiya Nurse’s office and stealing some allergy pills this morning. Normally he wouldn’t bother, as most medications didn’t have a very strong effect on him anymore, but today was just- 

“Hh’IShKiu!!” The sneeze snuck up on him too fast for him to even attempt to stop it. The resulting burst of anemo rustled the nearby decorations, and he quickly stifled the following sneeze into silence. 

“Oh, there you are!” 

The Wanderer stiffened, lowering his hand away from his face as fast as he could. Sethos hurried over to him, stopping just inches away from him. Way too close. The Wanderer took half a step back, not that Sethos seemed to notice. 

“I was wondering where you went.” Sethos said, “Was the party getting too loud for you?” 

“...I simply had my fill of putting up with those annoyances.” 

“Sure sure sure. Well, do you mind if I stay out here with you until you feel like going back in?” 

“And what, exactly, makes you think I plan on going back in there?” 

“...The fact you haven’t left yet?” Sethos tilted his head to the side with an innocent smile on his face. “Normally when you’re really done with people you vanish entirely, but you’re still here, so…” 

…Sometimes the Wanderer really hated how easily Sethos seemed to understand him. He avoided eye contact, looking out at the night sky, and thus missed the moment when Sethos’ expression shifted to one of slight concern. 

“Hey, are you okay?” Sethos asked. 

“...Fine.” The Wanderer glanced back at him, nervousness striking him as he registered the look on Sethos’ face. “Why would you even ask?” 

“You keep uh…” Sethos mimed rubbing at his nose with one hand, and the Wanderer abruptly realized that, oh, he was doing that. 

He lowered his hand away from his face again, but unfortunately that had the consequence of- 

“Hihh-” The Wanderer turned away, tilting his hat down to hide his face better as he- “Hh’nNxtii!! Heh- hiH’xNtiu!! Hh… hHN’xTii!! Hh’INkshiu!!” 

The wind blew strong enough to knock some of the flower decorations off the railing, sending them fluttering down to the ground below. Sethos looked down at them, and then back at the Wanderer, who was still turned away. 

“...Hat Guy, are you-” 

“I’m leaving.” 

“Wh- hey, wait!” 

Sethos reached out to grab him- but was just a moment too late, as the Wanderer activated his halo and took off. 

~

Sitting in the corner of the rafters of the Sanctuary was only a marginally better position than the one the Wanderer had been in before. Only marginally, of course, because he was inside. 

It would’ve been a lot more than marginally better if Lesser Lord Kusanali hadn’t decided to decorate the rafters and ceiling with her oh so beloved plants as well. 

Still, even despite the disgustingly sweet scent of the flowers playing with his nose, the Wanderer stayed in place. There was a reason he hadn’t immediately retreated to his room, after all. 

The sound of the doors opening interrupted his thoughts, and he held his breath as Nahida padded into the Sanctuary. Her arms were filled with candies- and of course, with even more flowers. It was to the point that some of them were falling out of her grip, leaving a small trail of flowers and candies behind her. The Wanderer rolled his eyes, knowing he’d likely be the one responsible for cleaning that up later. 

Sure enough, it did not take her long to notice the rather obvious box that had been placed in the center of the room. Setting her armful of things to the side, she curiously walked up and opened it- and let out an excited little gasp as she pulled out a shiny golden diadem, looking it over and admiring the details before placing it upon her head. 

The Wanderer relaxed slightly. She liked it. Good, he hadn’t spent weeks learning the slightly more complex methods of forging jewelry for nothing. 

(It was a much more delicate process than that of forging a sword, but the Wanderer had found himself liking it nonetheless). 

Of course, he ended up stiffening up again as Nahida started looking around. 

“Wandererrrrr!” She called, “I know you’re in here somewhere!” 

The Wanderer shifted a little, hiding himself deeper in the shadows. 

Of course, that was the exact moment his body decided to rebel against him. 

The tickle that he’d been trying to ignore all day suddenly turned into a more stinging, burning sensation that cut right through the Wanderer’s attempt at keeping his breathing shut down. His breath hitched, and he covered his mouth with his hand, trying to muffle it. 

“Hih… hH-” He managed to stifle the first sneeze into silence, as well as the second. But the third… “Hh’NxtTii!!” 

Shit.

“There you are!” 

Double shit. 

The Wanderer’s eyes snapped open to be faced with Nahida standing on the rafter he was sitting on. …She must’ve teleported up as soon as she heard him… 

Nahida’s excited smile faded as she finally got a good look at him. 

“...Are you okay?” She asked, “You’re crying.” 

The Wanderer blinked- and then hastily wiped the allergic tears off of his face as he stood up. 

“I’m fine.” He hissed, before slightly softening his tone. Only slightly, of course. “You shouldn’t be up here, you’re going to fall, you dunce-” 

He picked her up, fully intending on floating them back down to the ground. 

Big mistake. 

He should’ve known that she would be covered in pollen. 

With his hands full of one heavily pollinated dendro archon, the Wanderer was left with no choice but to snap his head to the side as fast as he could, sneezing away from her. 

“HihH’iKShii!! Hh’Shkii!! HhEh- hEH’IShiu!! ‘Kshiu!!” The burst of anemo that swept through the area was enough to knock down some of the decorations, sending them tumbling to the floor. Nahida herself gripped on to her diadem, making sure it wouldn’t get sent askew as she stared at the Wanderer in shock. 

“Are-” She started, her ears drooping slightly with realization. “Are you allergic?” 

All the plants in the room seemed to visibly wilt slightly at her question, and the Wanderer internally panicked. 

“Snf- ugh, n-noohH- hiH’inKShii!!” Was his very unconvincing answer. Nahida gave him an extremely unimpressed look in response, which would have been way more effective if the Wanderer wasn’t currently holding her up off the ground like a dangling cat. Still, her expression made the Wanderer wince, and he used a moments pause between sneezes to jump off the rafter, using anemo to soften their fall instead of floating down like he had previously intended. Doing this messed up Nahida’s hair more than it was already, but she didn’t bother trying to readjust it, instead continuing to stare at the Wanderer as he set her back down on the ground so that he could free his hands. 

He harshly rubbed at his nose, trying to make the itch go away. 

Nahida was still staring at him. 

Not being able to think of any other response, the Wanderer decided to just stare back, keeping the side of his hand pressed against his nose. 

Nahida crossed her arms. 

The Wanderer did his best to glare at her despite his vision starting to get blurry from unshed allergic tears. 

Nahida was still staring at him- 

The Wanderer unwillingly broke the staring contest as his eyes slipped shut- 

“Hh’Kshii!!” The sneeze slipped out before he could stifle it, and he let out a quiet groan as more decorations got knocked down by the resulting gust of wind. 

“You are allergic.” Nahida said, her tone sounding final. “...So you’re the one who broke into the nurse’s office this morning…” 

“I wasn’t- do you expehH- …expect me to be responsible for every c-crime in Sumer-hH’Shiiu!!” 

“Bless you!” 

The Wanderer shuddered at the feeling of divine dendro energy washing over him. Nahida at least seemed to realize what she’d done if the apologetic look she was giving him was any indication. 

“...Putting possible criminal activities to the side-” She said, “-why didn’t you tell me?” 

The Wanderer looked away from her, refusing to be lured into answering by her wide green puppy dog eyes. Jeez, what was it with green eyed people and pestering him today…

“Hh- hH’inKshii!!” Another string of decorations fell down, and the Wanderer’s shoulders noticeably slumped. Somehow, this small action was all that was needed for Nahida to put two and two together. 

“...Oh.” She said, “...Still, you should’ve just told me- I wouldn’t have minded if there were fewer decorations! I want everyone to have a good time during the Sabzeruz festival- that includes you!” 

…The Wanderer wasn’t really sure what to say in response to that, so despite the look Nahida was giving him, he chose to say nothing at all. 

Instead, he walked past her, absentmindedly patting her on the head as he went, heading towards his room. Nahida let him go. 

~

“Say,” Aether said, a few months later, “-which plants are you allergic to, exactly?” 

The Wanderer, who, before this moment, had been laying on the ground having a fairly normal relaxing time, visibly stiffened. 

“...I’m a puppet, remember?” He deadpanned, “I’m not allergic to anything.” 

“Hm, doubtful.” Aether said, “Especially considering I have two eye-witness accounts stating otherwise.” 

Those fools had snitched on him? The Wanderer silently vowed revenge in his mind. 

“...Ugh. Why does it even matter-” Today's date and how close it was to a certain other date suddenly sprung into his mind, unprompted, and he immediately shot up into a sitting position. “You are not getting me in a flower crown for my birthday.” 

“I was thinking more along the lines of giving you your own personal Sabzeruz festival but-” 

“Absolutely not.” 

“-it wouldn’t exactly be great for the birthday guy to just sneeze all the decorations down, now would it?” 

The Wanderer’s face flushed slightly, which severely downplayed the effects of the glare he leveled at the Traveler. Aether seemed to find this amusing if his smirk was any indication. 

“I’ll ask you again-” He said, “-which plants are you allergic to? …C’mon it’s an easy question- unless… do you not know?” 

The Wanderer… did not deny this. He didn’t confirm it either, but Aether seemed to take his silence as an affirmative answer anyways. 

“Well, that complicates things… I guess an easier question would be if you’ve only reacted in Sumeru? I have some Inazuman plants we could use instead-” 

Aether rummaged through his bag- and then froze as the Wanderer suddenly reached out and grabbed a hold of his wrist, stopping him in his tracks. 

“There’s no need to do anything for my birthday.” The Wanderer said, narrowing his eyes as the glow in Aether’s chest changed from blue to green. “...Don’t you dare-” 

Aether silently raised an eyebrow at him, and then released a wave of dendro energy, causing plants to grow at their feet. The sakura branch he’d been trying to take out of his bag expanded, the petals overflowing from it. 

The Wanderer immediately let go of Aether’s wrist, activating his halo and shooting up into the air, seemingly in an attempt to get out of the pollen’s reach. 

“...I take it by your reaction that plants from Inazuma are also a no-go?” Aether asked, crossing his arms as he stared up at the Wanderer, who seemed to realize that his reaction had inadvertently given him away. 

Instead of attempting to deny it again however, he instead chose to stick his tongue out at him- and got a handful of flowers thrown at his face in response. Aether didn’t even have the grace to look the slightest bit remorseful as the Wanderer’s breath hitched- 

“Hh’XnTii!!” The Wanderer dropped by at least an inch as his halo flickered, not even getting through a second hitching breath before, “Hih’nNxtii!! Hehh- hH’xNtiu!!” 

His halo vanished completely- and it was only due to Aether catching him that he didn’t end up slamming into the ground. 

“Let gohH- go of mehH- hiH’KShhii!! ‘Kshiu!!” 

“Hmm- no.” Aether readjusted his hold on the Wanderer as the other started squirming, somehow completely unaffected by the gusts of anemo. “I think I’ll keep you here until we figure out a solution to this problem.” 

“It wouldn’t- wouldn’t be a problem if- hH’Kshyii!!” 

“Oh that one was cute-” 

“Shut up!” 

“Wait, I’ve got it.” Aether said, “We’ll take you to the Simulanka, the plants there are all fake, after all.” 

“Sure, whatever- hiH’iNkshii!! snf- can you let go of me now?” 

Aether obediently set the Wanderer down. The Wanderer immediately distanced himself from him, attempting to readjust his clothes- which was pointless as another sneeze sent them askew again. He pointedly ignored the way the Traveler laughed at him in response. 

~

“I can’t believe you convinced me to do this.” The Wanderer grumbled as a necklace of paper flowers was placed around his neck. 

“Hey, you said no flower crowns.” Aether said, “You said nothing about flower necklaces.” 

“Aren’t those practically the same thing-” The Wanderer was cut off as Aether suddenly leaned closer, frowning. 

“You feel warmer than usual…” He said, pressing the back of his hand against the Wanderer’s cheek as the Wanderer avoided eye contact with him. “I know you vanished for a while yesterday, you didn’t get into any trouble during that time, did you?” 

“Tch.” The Wanderer knocked Aether’s hand away from him. “There’s nothing wrong with me.” 

“I didn’t say that there was.” Aether looked over the Wanderer’s appearance. “Though, now that you mention it…” 

Aether reached out and snapped his fingers in front of the Wanderer’s face, summoning a flash of light. For a moment the Wanderer’s expression screamed betrayal, before it twisted into something different altogether. 

“Why- hH… hiH- hEH’NxtTii!! Hh’Nxt!!” 

“I knew it.” Aether said, watching as the slightly red-tinted glow faded from the Wanderer’s eyes- which were of course now glaring at him. “You’ve gotten yourself stuck with an elemental reaction again, haven’t you?” 

“...It’s none of your business.” 

“Kinda is actually considering we’re in a world made out of paper and you’ve just shown that you’re a potential fire hazard-” 

“I am not-” The Wanderer paused, thinking through his words, before mumbling, “...Don’t worry about it. I can deal with it.” 

“Nu-uh, absolutely not.” Aether said, “I’m not just gonna let you feel bad on your birthday. C’mere-” 

The Wanderer dodged backwards just before Aether could grab a hold of him. Aether froze for a moment, shocked, before narrowing his eyes at him. 

“So that’s how you want to do this, huh?” He asked, “Fine then.” 

Aether lunged at him, electro crackling over him to give him a speed boost as the Wanderer dodged out of the way again. The Wanderer turned on his heel, taking off running, but- 

“Gah!” The Wanderer ran right into Sethos, who immediately reached out and grabbed onto the Wanderer’s arms to steady him. 

“Woah there-” Sethos said, “...What’s going on? Kusanali sent me back here to check on you two since you were taking so long…” 

“It’s nothing.” The Wanderer hissed out- at the exact same time that Aether said; 

“The Wanderer is swirl-stuck again.” 

Sethos blinked, and the Wanderer glared over his shoulder at Aether, mentally calling him the rudest swears imaginable. 

“...Swi- oh, that’s the elemental thing Kusanali told me about, right?” Sethos asked, inspecting the Wanderer more closely. “You do feel pretty warm… let me guess, pyro?” 

The Wanderer stared down at the ground, mumbling something under his breath that sounded like something along the lines of ‘is it really that noticeable?’. He pointedly did not actually answer Sethos’ question, so Aether decided to do it for him. 

“Pretty sure about it.” He said, “Hold him still there, would you? He needs to get rid of it before he can go to the party-” 

“Wait wait wait!” Sethos looked almost nervous, “Uh, if I remember this correctly- well, I. Do not want to end up burnt-” 

“Oh, don’t worry about that, I’ve got it covered.” Aether said, standing behind the Wanderer, reaching around and placing his hand over the Wanderer’s mouth and nose. “...Literally.” 

The Wanderer himself looked almost resigned, not bothering to try and squirm out of his position, but even so- 

“I’m not going to sneeze.” He said, voice muffled by Aether’s hand, “I don’t even need to.” 

Sethos and Aether shared a Look™. The Wanderer realized just a few seconds too late what the two of them planned to do. 

“Wait, don’t-” 

“Hah-” 

“Heh-” 

“Hihh- hH’kshiu!!” The Wanderer’s body jolted forwards, and it was only due to Sethos and Aether holding him that he didn’t double over. “Hih’iKShhii!!” 

“Look at that, we barely did anything and he’s sneezing already.” Aether said, smirking. Sethos seemed to be having a hard time keeping himself from making a similar expression if the way his lips were twitching was any indication. Not that the Wanderer noticed. 

“Hehh… hH- H’iShHhiu!! hiH’IsHKii!!” Without being able to stifle- with the pyro energy still in him, it was kinda hard to stop. “Hh’shKiu!! Hh- heH’inKshiu!! Ngh… hH’KSHii!! ‘Kshiu!!” 

A few more sneezes tumbled out of him before Aether finally spoke up again. 

“You can let go of him now.” He said, pulling his own hand away as the Wanderer’s breath caught on another hitch. “I don’t sense the pyro energy anymore.” 

Sethos let go of the Wanderer’s arms, and the Wanderer immediately backed away from both of them, putting his own hands over his mouth to catch the tail end of the sneeze fit he’d been forced into. 

“Hh’iKshii!! H’eshii!! Hihh- hEH’iKshiu!!” The trees rustled with the breeze that got sent through them, and the Wanderer sniffled, rubbing his nose against his wrist. 

“...Feeling better now?” Sethos asked, wincing as the Wanderer glared at him. 

“You’re both intolerable.” 

“Well,” Aether said, “You’ll have to tolerate our intolerableness for a bit longer. We still have a party to get to remember? Even if it is a rather small one.” 

“Ugh, don’t remind me.” The Wanderer muttered, “I’m only doing this cause Durin wanted to, okay?” 

“Yeah, sure, whatever you say.” 

[midnight-shadow-cafe]

Suds & Smiles

Pairing: John "Soap" MacTavish x Reader

AU: Mechanic!Soap x Reader

Warnings: Fluff, flirting, slow-burn romance

Author’s Note: I hope you enjoy this fluff-filled story! Soap deserves all the love, and this AU brings out his sweetest side.(He’s blondish here cuz I imagine him as such when he had the chance because he’s not in the military-)

Masterlist

MDNI18+MDNI18+MDNI18+MDNI18+MDNI18+

The soft hum of your car’s engine filled the air as you pulled up to the small garage on the edge of town. The paint on the sign outside had faded slightly, but the bold letters still read *MacTavish Repairs & Restorations.* You sighed, glancing at your dashboard lights blinking in protest. Your car needed fixing, and though you hated dealing with mechanics, this place had been highly recommended.

The bell above the door jingled as you stepped inside, the scent of oil and leather mixing with a hint of coffee. Behind the counter stood a man, tall and broad-shouldered, with a shock of blondish brown hair that seemed to defy gravity. His grin was immediate and disarming, like he’d been waiting just for you.

“Morning! What can I do for ye?” His Scottish lilt rolled off his tongue effortlessly, and you couldn’t help but smile back.

“I’m having some trouble with my car,” you started, suddenly hyper-aware of how much of a mess it looked after the recent rain. “The engine light came on yesterday, and it’s been making this weird clicking noise.”

Soap nodded thoughtfully, already grabbing a notepad. “No worries, lass. We’ll get it sorted. Park it up front, and I’ll take a look. Tea? Coffee? Or do ye prefer to supervise?”

You laughed softly, surprised by how relaxed he made you feel. “I’ll supervise. You never know with mechanics these days.”

“Ouch!” he teased, placing a hand over his chest like you’d wounded him. “I’ll have ye know, MacTavish Repairs has a spotless reputation. But fair enough, yer majesty. Grab a seat, and I’ll put on a wee show for ye.”

You followed him outside as he went straight to work, rolling up the sleeves of his coveralls. His arms flexed slightly as he popped the hood, and you quickly averted your gaze, focusing on anything else.

“So,” he called over his shoulder, “what brings ye to this side of town? You’re not from here, aye?”

“No, just moved a few months ago,” you replied, leaning against a nearby post. “Still trying to get used to everything.”

“Ah, a newbie! Well, welcome to our wee corner of the world. Not much happens here, but the folk are nice enough. And now ye’ve got me to look after yer car, so you’re in safe hands.”

His grin was infectious, and you found yourself relaxing more as the minutes ticked by. He narrated everything he was doing with a playful commentary, throwing in exaggerated warnings about “angry gremlins” in your engine and how they only responded to his charm.

After that first visit, your car seemed to develop a knack for needing Soap’s attention every few weeks. Each time you stopped by, he greeted you with a grin and some teasing comment that made your day brighter. Before long, you started dropping by just to bring him lunch or snacks, earning his wide-eyed delight.

“Ye spoil me, lass,” he said one afternoon, biting into the sandwich you’d made.

“Someone’s got to make sure you’re eating more than just greasy chips,” you replied with a grin.

“Careful,” he said, pointing at you with half his sandwich. “Keep this up, and I’ll start thinking ye care about me.”

“What if I do?” you asked, caught off guard by your own boldness.

Soap froze for a moment, then his grin softened. “Then I’d say yer a smart lass with impeccable taste.”

One evening, you stopped by the shop after hours, bringing dinner for both of you. Soap was under the hood of an old truck, his face smudged with grease and his hair tousled. When he saw you walk in, his grin broke across his face like sunlight.

“You’re a sight for sore eyes,” he said, wiping his hands on a rag before walking over.

“I figured you’d still be here,” you replied, holding up the food. “Thought you might be hungry.”

He took the bag from you with exaggerated reverence, peeking inside. “Aye, this lass is a keeper,” he declared, earning a laugh from you.

As you ate together, Soap leaned against a workbench, watching you with a soft smile.

“What?” you asked, self-conscious under his gaze.

“Nothing,” he said, shaking his head. “Just... I like having ye around. Makes the place feel less lonely.”

You nudged his arm gently. “I like being here, too.”

One quiet afternoon, you were in the garage’s small office while Soap finished up a repair. A song played softly on the radio, and when he returned, he held out his hand with a grin.

“Care to dance?” he asked.

“There’s no room in here!” you laughed.

“Excuses, excuses,” he teased, pulling you to your feet.

With one hand on your waist and the other holding yours, he started swaying to the music, humming along. It was clumsy and awkward, but his smile was so genuine you couldn’t help but join in.

“See?” he said, spinning you lightly. “Told ye I was good.”

“You’re ridiculous,” you said, laughing.

“Aye, but I’m yer kind of ridiculous, aren’t I?”

One rainy night, your car gave out completely, stranding you on the side of the road. Without hesitation, you called Soap, who arrived in record time with his truck.

“You really know how to keep me on my toes, don’t ye?” he teased, helping you into the passenger seat and handing you a thermos of tea.

When you reached the shop, Soap refused to let you sit in the cold waiting area. Instead, he wrapped you in one of his oversized hoodies and brought you into the back office, where a space heater buzzed softly.

By the time your car was ready, dawn was breaking, and the two of you stood beside it, neither wanting to say goodbye.

“I don’t think I’ve ever thanked ye properly,” he said, his voice softer than usual.

“For what?”

“For making this place brighter. For putting up with my nonsense. For... being you.”

Your breath hitched as he leaned in slightly, his blue eyes flickering to your lips. When you didn’t pull away, he closed the gap, his kiss soft and warm, full of unspoken feelings.

When you finally parted, his forehead rested against yours, a quiet chuckle escaping him. “I’ve been wanting to do that for ages.”

“Why didn’t you?” you asked, smiling.

“Didn’t know if ye felt the same,” he admitted. “But now I do.”

From that moment on, your relationship grew naturally. Soap would surprise you with wildflowers from the field behind the shop, saying, “They reminded me of ye—bright and beautiful.”

He’d show up at your door with a grin, ready to whisk you off on impromptu dates to his favorite spots around town.

One evening, as the two of you curled up on his couch, he pressed a kiss to your temple and whispered, “I don’t know how I got so lucky, but I’m never letting ye go.”

You smiled, leaning into him. “I think we both got lucky.”

Hope you enjoyed it! Please consider liking and reposting! – Midnight💜 

[mumuscae]

SPOILERS!!! SPOILERS!!!

Rant on Storytaco's bad writing of dark skinned characters. Specifically Sirius.

I wanna start this out with saying, I do not hate Sirius as a character. He's one of my favorites and I feel like he had wasted potential being in the hands of Storytaco. I don't think there's anything wrong with enjoying Sirius as a character either! I believe however that we can enjoy media, and look at it from a critical lense. There are good things about his character and I enjoy a lot of how he was written lore wise!!! Otherwise I wouldn't be so violently obsessed with him since the age of 15 lol. But again. There are a combination of things that I can't really see as a coincidence.

If you have anything to add, or disagree with any of my points, please do not be afraid to say so! I wanna have an actual discussion about this. please I do not bite. I stand pretty firm on my points at this very moment, but I'm entirely willing to listen and change.

Uh. Apologies if my points come across poorly or if my writing is incoherent. There's a reason why I did bad in school lol.

My criticisms are below here. Have fun

Anyways.

Fuck Storytaco?

Uh. This is 100% inspired by recent discussion on the fandoms treatment of Sirius. But I'd like to discuss why this treatment is actively perpetuated by the developers of Arcana Twilight. Which is much more disturbing to think about when you consider their games are often marketed towards minors.(There are other issues with storytaco marketing towards minors too. Uh, idk if those are relevant for this post though. Maybe later cuz it's high key disturbing!!! 😃)

Sirius was written very inconsiderately. Like I know he's a villainous/morally gray character. However I feel like there needs to be a lot more tact when your only dark skinned character is written to be not a good person. Especially in comparison to the light skinned characters. I feel like they just applied every negative trait on earth to him, then turned around and went "jk guys! He's not actually bad. Hes like this cuz he's an orphan." 😭 Like some of these traits would be fine in their own if balanced out with other things, but there's so many combined together that I can't help but feel suspicious of their intentions and bias.

He's the most provocative out of all the love interests. He's consistently initiating suggestive situations, is labeled the "sexyman", and is constantly making innuendos. The game has a lot of fan service in general (even though it's rated E), but Sirius is disproportionately portrayed this way and is just constantly going "hehe sex 😁" Which making him the provocative one is both an issue with him being queer coded and dark skinned..double whammy 😟

He's the dangerous, unpredictable and violent one. He SHOT!!! SHOT the mc within the first few floors. And like. There wasn't even a good reason behind why they decided to write that in other than to make us think he's violent/dangerous/untrustworthy. There are times when it's portrayed that he can't even be trusted alone in a room with the mc, even prior to the villain arc. 😐

He's a pretty much a domestic terrorist.... 😐

He was a wanted criminal for half of the story. Idk if I need to explain what's wrong with that either 😐

He's potentially the only one killed off at the ending depending on your interpretation.

In the clan equivalent of Americans (cough. Guns + eagles + the lazy unlikable rebellious group that just gets into trouble) which is just. Silly. 😭😒

Again he's the "untrustworthy one that nobody wants to be around." This is a point constantly driven in by the characters he's surrounded with. they drill that into the viewers head so so so much.

He's the "party animal" of the group??? Which isn't really portrayed beyond him drinking a lot but was definitely advertised as such.

He's 100% queer coded you cannot convince me otherwise. Which. Now we're falling into queer coded poc villain territory. Double whammy again! Disney is that you?

Going off the queer coded point, he's falling into "predatory gay man" territory. Hes shipped with basically every man in the game by storytaco for promotional and bait reasons. But it's always displayed as Sirius making the other party uncomfortable and getting in their personal space. Making unwanted advances. Like... Y'all don't got a do that

Ok this is possibly nitpicky but deadass why'd they make him a basketball player in the highschool au thingy. He's a theater kid. Nothing about him reads as liking sports. Please do not wear dangly earrings while playing sports??? It bothers me so much 💀

Okay so the sassy, violent, deranged, perverted terrorist... is the only romance-able dark skinned man in the game. ??? NONONO just think about that for a good moment

HE HAS OTHER THINGS IN HIS CHARACTER. THERE ARE GOOD PARTS ABOUT HIS CHARACTER!!! I LOVE SIRIUS SO MUCH. HES VERY COMPLEX AND INTERESTING.. but this is such a horrible combination of very specific negative tropes that it's hard to ignore. Especially when thinking about how this game is advertised to minors who, more often than not, are easily subjected to subconscious bias in media and are easily influenced due to our lack of ability to critically analyze media we're haphazardly consuming. (Sorry fellow minors. As a senior minor aka 17 yo it's the hard truth y'all gotta accept. we've all been there and we've been influenced by media whether we're aware of it or not. I'm not mad at y'all or belittling. Keep having ur funsies with ur silly star men I'm not stopping you lol? This is legitimate concern and criticism towards a company that is promoting weird stereotypes to us)

And I don't think Sirius is just a one off weirdly written dark skinned character from Storytaco. Thuban (WHO IS GREEEEEY. Big issue on its own 😰😭) is depicted as lazy and rude.???? Like he has a single redeeming moment but again. Just reads as "domineering rowdy black man." Especially when you look at the whole great hero trio .. he's supposed to fall within the fantasy "Fighter" archetype with his big ass mace. Compared to Polaris who is like a Cleric and the Wizard/Ranger Schedar.

Also shout out to storytacos other grey men.....???????? I was only able to find four dark skinned men (not just tanned a bit) including Sirius when I went thru Storytacos game catalogue. Two of them are grey. 😐

Anyways Sirius was a huge motivating factor in why I wanted to make Extraterrestrial... Fucked up potential of a character. There are 100% biases showing through how he was written. These were all conscious decisions made on the writers part and I don't think it can be kept behind "he's a morally gray character who's going thru it" because there were so many good ways to show that and his grief without going to every. single. extreme.

--

[thestrangerthingsgirl]

okay look, at this point, i do not care about what you guys ship, I do not care if you ship mileven or if you ship byler, ya'll need to be patient and relax, don't go hating on others just because you don't like the same ship as each other, iti's always "byler this mileven that" and like calling the ship names different names just to make the ship look bad, it's 2025, ya'll are still fighting over ships and the show is ending any moment of this year, do you guys really want to just keep on fighting even AFTER the show ends? the show will end with the ship that will end up endgame after a while and we'll have to deal with the consequences with what ship ends up endgame, if i'm being honest, I like the show, I love it obviously but not just for the ships and the love, but just mainly for the plot, for it's story, i'm sorry if your tired of me bickering about the hatred that goes around with the stranger things fandom in here (obviously other sites like instagram, tiktok, x etc has different opinions on ships i just feel like tumblr is mainly more about the hatred around the ships) but i'm just going to be completely honest, I don't think we should worry too much about whatever ship happens, we should just worry about what characters the duffers are deciding to kill off in the end, like there's a lot to worry more about what ship will end up endgame, I know there's a lot of proof on both sides but it's not like the duffers want to use fan service for the last season.

and if you are wondering what side i am on, i'm on neither, I like both ships but I don't hardcore ship mileven or hardcore ship byler, I find them both nice ships but I don't go hating on others for liking mileven or liking byler, I just feel like we all need to relax and be patient instead of just assuming that all mileven or byler fans are mean and cruel, like of course not all of you guys are cruel and I see you, I see you looking at my posts and I understand that you aren't here for the drama and the hatred, and I want to see more of that, I would like to see more honest respect about opinions, I don't want to see anyone hating on each other just because they have a different preference or a different opinion, it's not the end of the world if you ship doesn't end up endgame and you are not delusional for enjoying mileven or byler.

I don't want to say anything about my opinion on the ships, I obviously don't care what happens other than the characters happiness, like I would rather see them happy with each other than one of the characters being disgusted or angry about them liking the other character (for example: el upset about will falling in love with mike because that's her bf or something) i obviously think that el wouldn't really care much or understand, just being honest but after the whole massacre she really did lose her memory so she basically has to understand everything that she learns about like learning about sexuality. I mean I don't really understand why people would think that El would hate Will for liking Mike? like it's valid that he likes mike and El likes Mike too but it shouldn't be something to like reconsider, let's just trust the duffers, like we're not the writers of the story, and the actors don't write the script they act out the script but other than that, I think we all need to relax which I know that doesn't help to say so but I feel like people just need to stop attacking each other for people's opinions, even the actors had said stuff about their opinions on the ships whether or not they want to talk about it especially since they don't want to deal with getting in trouble for spoiling something, like yes i have heard about noah saying that will has a crush on mike, like that's obviously something we know about, and millie, she doesn't need to talk about mileven if she wants to avoid questions about that, or finn also, like i feel like when it comes to the actors, whenever they do panels and such in cons I feel like the most majority of questions that people ask is about the ships and what their opinions are on it but maybe we should ask them about what they think themselves about the ship war or maybe ask about their character arcs and such, and there's also the fact that sometimes maybe the ships won't exactly end up what we want as sometimes the actors will say "don't be upset if byler doesn't happen" as that's something noah has said in a live stream before but he could be wrong he could be right but he can't get im trouble for spoiling especially since NDAs are very strict.

Okay i see that the name is something so it doesn't show up on the tags of the opposite ship, I don't be calling byler something else that seems rude okay, I'm putting this into the tag of both ships for a understandment of both ships, obviously this post isn't here to hate on each others ships or anything, I'm not here to hate on y'all for liking mileven or byler don't get me wrong but don't go saying assumptions that I'm hating on one of the ships when I'm not hating on any ships whatsoever, i'm just talking about how ship wars are stupid and unnecessarily.

If you don't agree with me on this that's okay, just scroll ahead, I just don't want to cause any trouble but I wanted to say like my opinion around the ship war.

Another note, don't go assuming that i hate a specific character, I do not hate el, will or mike, i just hate the ship wars involving the 3 of them. I do not technically have any predictions about the 3 of the characters but i do hope they are all happy with whatever decision they are in.

One last thing, I do not hate mileven nor byler, I just hate the ongoing fight about whatever ship should end up endgame, You are entitled to what you ship and I respect that, I am just here to state how I do not enjoy the ship war that always tends to be a problem in the fandom.

[septimusmoonlight]

You doing ok?

hi

[absolutelyzoned]

really really hate how my brothers make fun of me for being mentally ill . not great!!

[medicinemane]

At least I could disable the suggestions but just... I'm sick of it, I'm sick of companies trying to think for me

I'd rather be miserable but doing shit my own way than placid and glass eyed and just taking whatever companies tell me to

Like... literally just asking what I get out of writing a post on tumblr... zero suggestions, just letting me say whatever dumb stuff comes to my head

[dying-suffering-french-stalkers]

god help me i'm going insane about dickson xenoblade again

[sabertoothwalrus]

There’s something I love love loveeee about Laios and how badly he wants to be cool.

Let me preface with this: in general, I believe the harder you try to be cool, the less cool you actually are. The less you care what people think about you, if you’re “cringe” or “weird”, the more likely people will perceive you as confident and self-assured.

There are countless pieces of media where characters try to fit in with some group, change every part of themself to look/act like what they’re “supposed” to be, and end up miserable, often realizing the people they’re trying to impress aren’t worth the trouble.

I’ve experienced this in my own life too! Sometimes when I go out I wear a rainbow propeller cap! Cause I think it’s funny and silly and!! I ALWAYS get compliments!! I don’t wear it to be cool, I wear it because it makes me happy. And people overall have a positive reaction to it. it’s a huge contrast to when I was teenager and didn’t really put as much of myself into my appearance/wardrobe, and barely left any kind of impression on people.

So anyway, let’s get into it.

Laios… he’s been hurt so badly by people. He resented humanity for it. And yet, he still yearns for the approval of others. He wants FRIENDS!!!! and was angry and frustrated to learn his perception of his relationship with Shuro was so drastically different than Shuro’s!!!!

He KNEW that people were put-off by his love of monsters. Up until Falin got eaten, he deliberately suppressed how much he talked about it with others. He probably thought by not talking about monsters so much, it was working!! He was doing all the Right Things now! So Shuro confessing he always hated him was a huge blow.

But the reality is, he loves monsters. And most importantly, he loves cool monsters. He fantasizes about what would make the Ultimate Monster.

He feels very strongly about what he considers “cool” as well. He finds all aspects of monsters fascinating, but can still be HORRIBLY underwhelmed when they look too lame for his tastes.

He knows most people don’t feel the same way he does. He knows his “cool” is everyone else’s “weird”. It’s so tragically sweet how he latches onto Kabru the moment he shows interest in monsters, and takes every opportunity to infodump about them to him.

He wants people to find monsters as cool as he does!! But, he also wants people to think he’s as cool as he finds monsters.

Like!!! djkfghadkfjg IT DOESN'T EVEN BOTHER HIM WHEN PEOPLE HAVE A WRONG IMPRESSION OF HIM! He's FLATTERED by it. It's almost like, at this point, it doesn't matter to him if people don't like him. People can not like him and still think he's cool.

And my favorite thing is, it works. Laios IS cool as fuck. You KNOW he thought he looked so badass when he did this and he was RIGHT:

And yet, this is him trying very hard to look cool. But it's Laios's version of cool. It's almost contradictory, in that sense. Cause he knows people still don't get it. Like. He wants to be cool. He doesn't care about the "normal" ways to be cool. He thinks his cringe thing is cool. He does his cringe thing, that people very much do still think is cringe. So you would think that, since he wants people to think he's cool, he would not do the cringe thing. But he wore the pelt because he thought it was cool. And people clapped and cheered for him anyway.

is what he's doing really so different than this? ^

YAYYYYY WOOO GO LAIOS YOURE SO COOL!!!!!!!

[ragingbookdragon]

It comes as somewhat a surprise when the others realize that something has obviously happened between their resident Lieutenant and Private, as she’s quick to fall silent whenever he appears, and even more so make herself scare when she can when he’s around. It’s only the third time that Soap sees it that he says something, because if he doesn’t no one else will, and where’s the fun in that?

He watches her duck her head and leave the break room, Gaz, Soap, Price, and Ghost sitting alone at the breakfast table conversing over soggy cereal and cooling tea; Soap pushes a piece of bacon on his plate and asks, “Trouble in paradise, Lt?” the corner of his mouth arches with a slight grin when he hears the warning grunt come from Ghost.

“No.”

“Seems like it,” he retorts, taking a sip of his coffee. “What’d ya do? Tell her ta fuck off?”

“Drop it, MacTavish,” Ghost warns darkly. “Nothing’s wrong.”

This time, Gaz jumps in. “C’mon, Lt., it’s obvious that something’s wrong. I mean, she won’t even look at you, let alone say anything unless you speak first.”

“An’ she’s callin’ ‘im ‘sir.’” Soap adds, pointing at him. “Christ, Lt., ya musta done a number on ‘er. Poor Puffin. So sweet and kind. Broke ‘er heart ya did.”

Price can tell that Ghost is close to snapping at the both of them but gets to it before he does. “Soap, Gaz, go catalogue our inventory for the mission next week.”

“Aw, but we already d—” Soap falls silent when Price shoots him a look and quietly grumbles to himself as he grabs his plate and cup, Gaz following in suit.

It’s only until the two soldiers are alone that Price asks, “What did happen, Simon?”

Ghost lets out a long sigh and rolls his head back, staring at the ceiling. “Pretty much told ‘er to fuck off.”

Price watches quietly as Ghost begins rattling to himself—he’s never really had to ask the man to explain himself. All he’s gotta do is prompt him to do so and Ghost does the rest.

“I just got mad. She’s always ‘round and practically up my arse, and I got caught up and instead of ‘andlin’ it properly, I shoved my fucking foot in my mouth and scalped her.” He rubs a hand over his face. “I meant to be gentler but once I started, I couldn’t stop. It just kept comin’ out. And now she fuckin’ hates me.”

He pulls his hand down and looks up at Price with a scowl—the man is smiling at him, but it’s that stupid smile that means more than Ghost wants to admit it does.

“Quit that.”

“You care about her,” Price murmurs, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, though his admonish is still harsh. “And instead of telling her how you felt like a grown adult, you took the ten-year-old way out and decided to be a cunt to her.”

“I didn’t mean to be such a cunt.”

“But the fact of the matter is that you did, and you’ve screwed up team fluidity and cohesion.” He looks at him. “You know a team divided—”

“Can’t stand,” Ghost finishes with an even worse scowl. “Yeah, yeah, I know.” He looks away. “I just don’t know how to even start tryin’ to fix it.”

“Well, apologizing might be a good start,” Price rumbles with a grin. “She’s a good kid, Simon. Her heart’s in the right place, even if it’s a bit much at times. Shows she cares. More than most do in our line of work. She’s a rare one.”

“I know,” he admits in a much, much softer tone. “I just don’t want her to lose that doin’ this.” His eyes meet Price’s, and they hold such a misery. “Look at us, Price,” he mutters, gesturing between them. “Middle age, unmarried, no kids, too fucked up for anything like that. She doesn’t…” he clenches his jaw. “She deserves a better path, a safer path, than this life. She deserves to go out and have a life where she comes home to a family.”

“That’s not your choice to make, son,” he replies gently, but there’s a firmness to it. “If this is what she wants to do, then she will. We can’t make her get out of service.”

Ghost growls low in his throat. “She has so much more potential than being cannon fodder. She could do somethin’ with her life. Somethin’ good. Somethin’ that won’t have her dying face down in the sand with a bullet wound in the back.”

Price simply watches him.

“But she’s so fuckin’ stupid. She wants to be here. She wants to spend whatever time she has dodgin’ bullets and wakin’ up every night in sweat ‘cause she can’t escape the dreams. No one wants to do this. We don’t want to do this. We do this because we have to. But her? She’s happy here.” He lowers his voice, it’s as if he’s in disbelief. “She’s happy here.” He looks at Price. “Why? Why is she so happy here?”

It's another long moment before Price speaks.

“You hear, son, but you don’t listen.” He moves the cup on the saucer. “She bounced around homes growing up, scraped by on the skin of her teeth. She has no one. But here, she has something. She has people who care for her, if nothing else, they won’t let her die alone.”

“Oh what? So, it’s found family bullshit?” Ghost spits. “If she dies, at least the team would mourn her?”

“Isn’t that what you’ve done too?” he replies, and Ghost falls silent. “People like Gaz, Soap, and myself are different than you and she are, Simon. We have homes. We’ve had families that have loved us, that do love us. But you two? Simon, you’ve made a home where you’ve had to. Made a family out of people you’ve bled for, would gladly bleed for. You’ve made something that’s yours. You made a family for yourself. And so did she. She’s made us her family. The one she never had the privilege to call her own.”

Price lets out a quiet hum, and pats his thighs, standing up and pushing his chair in.

“Think on what I’ve said, son. And if nothing else, apologize and leave it at that. Put the ball in her court and let her make the next move.”

As he walks off, he hears, “And if she doesn’t want it?”

He tosses a knowing look over his shoulder. “I’m sure she’ll take it.” His eyes twinkle as he adds, “Takes an awful strong woman to care about a man like you.”

[thebestandworstdayofjune]

snapdragons mean i'm sorry

summary: you own a flower shop down the street from Wade and Althea, and now Logan's apartment. You and Logan had grown quite close, until you hear him complaining about you through the door. A week later, he shows up at the shop, groveling wc: 2.0 k a/n: sorry about the delay with this one, things have been a bit crazy! I really enjoyed writing for worst!Logan, I think I'm considering a part two for this as well. This fic is based on this request! warnings: lots of hurt and comfort, reader uses she/her pronouns, confused and groveling Logan, Wade being a meddler, slight spoilers for the end of Deadpool and Wolverine

You were two seconds away from chucking the bouquet that you were working on clear across the room. Instead, you gently set the flowers down on your workbench and tightened your pony tail. Heaving a sigh, you snatched the broom out of it’s place leaning up against the doorway and made you way to the front of store. 

Usually, being surrounded by all of your flowers and specially curated knickknacks brought you a sense of peace. But so far today you’d broken two vases and stabbed your thumb on rose thorns maybe more than you’d ever done in your entire life. 

Being friends with a superhero (singular) was much less stressful than you’d thought it would be. Wade would stop in to the shop around once a week to buy flowers for Vanessa, always with a quick joke or two before being on his way. It wasn’t until he’d saved you from an attempted mugging a few years back that you’d really become close. And you’d been there for a lot. Through his break up with Vanessa, when he was nonstop moaning about how deeply he hated selling lightly used cars, and whenever he needed a second opinion about a new hair system he was perched on a second stool that now had permanent residence behind the counter, right next to yours. 

Being friends with superheroes (plural) was bringing a new host of issues. Namely, an accelerated heart rate and trouble forming your words in front of Wade’s new roommate. Wade had warned you that his new acquisition was prickly when he’d stopped over to invite you to the Welcome Home Pizza Party Palooza, according to the hand drawn invitation he’d proudly presented you. He’d lured you in with promises of meeting his new dog before dropping the bomb that there was an introduction to his roommate included in the package deal. You’d already agreed, and Wade was too busy rambling about how you were being moved up to from side character status for you to intercede with a made up reason you could no longer attend. 

You historically didn’t do well with meeting new people, and someone who was likely to snap at you at some point throughout the evening, by Wade’s estimations, was an even bigger hurdle. Even though you had worked yourself up enough to feel slightly sick to your stomach, you’d arrived at the party, armed with flowers for the new roommate and a mini bouquet of dog treats for Mary Puppins. Wade and Al’s apartment was full of familiar faces when you’d arrived. You were caught up in a conversation with Peter and Yukio for a few minutes before they’d asked about the flowers all but forgotten in your hands. You admitted they were a welcome home present, and Peter kindly pointed out where Logan was standing across the room. You’d thanked him, and made your way across the room. 

When you reached him in the kitchen, you stood quietly behind him, working up the courage to make your presence known. Ultimately, it was unnecessary, because he quickly turned around and greeted you with a crinkly-eyed smile that made your heart flutter against your better judgement. You’d shyly handed over the flowers, stuttering through the explanation of owning the shop down the street and apologizing preemptively if he didn’t like them, expecting a strong rebuttal. He certainly looked like the type of man to rebuff the offer of flowers in fear of appearing unmanly or some other nonsense. Instead, he took the flowers from you gently, thanking you. He turned away, searching through the cabinets before pulling out a novelty beer stein decorated with My Little Pony characters with a huff. Logan made quick work of depositing the bouquet in the beer stein, but he frowned at his work, clearly unhappy with the vase options. “So you’re the florist that he’s obsessed with.” 

You smiled to yourself, glad to hear that Wade wasn’t only kind to your face. “Are you kidding me?” Speak of the devil. Wade slung an arm around your shoulders, depositing your typical drink of choice in your hand. “More like worship the ground you walk on. I may be Marvel Jesus but I’m your disciple. The things she can do with a chrysanthemum.” He moaned in a way you had never heard someone while talking about a flower, of all things.

Logan shook his head, but before either of you could respond, Wade noticed Vanessa coming through the door and was at her side in an instant. You’d stood with him in the kitchen for a few moments, silent but comfortable. It wasn’t long before Althea had called everyone to the table, where you took your usual seat next to Althea and Vanessa. The evening had been comfortable and you couldn’t help but notice how naturally Logan and his daughter Laura fit into your strange little family. 

The next day, you’d stopped by their apartment armed with another bouquet, this one beautifully arranged in one of your favorite vases you kept in stock. You couldn’t shake the image of how disappointed Logan had looked with his options the previous night. Al had ushered you inside quickly, letting you know that the rest of the roommates had left her in the name of picking up some necessities for Logan. You’d dropped the vase on the kitchen counter, ruffled Mary Puppins’ hair and saw yourself out. 

Logan had come by to thank you at the store, startling you where you were working in the back. You’d fumbled one of your vases, sending it crashing to the ground. Logan was quick to usher you onto a stool, locating a broom and making quick work of the glass. You’d insisted you could take care of it, but he’d shot your down insisting that he would heal right up if he managed to cut himself and he didn’t feel like a trip to the ER. It should have stung, but there was a lightness to his voice and a twinkle in his eyes that instead had you fighting down the hear rising to your cheeks. 

After a few weeks, it was routine for you to stop by a couple nights a week after work, armed with a fresh set of flowers for the vase and some take out. Logan very well could have taken some home with him, as often as he was stopping by, but somehow you’d always get to talking and forget to bundle some up for him. He was immensely helpful around the shop, able to reach things on high shelves and move heavy pallets you would get in much more easily than you were able to. Wade’s stool had quickly become Logan’s but you didn’t much mind. 

Your hand had settled on the doorknob to their apartment, when two familiar voices faded in through the closed door. It was instinct to pause, you hand’t really meant to snoop. But the words hurt all the same. “I really am fond of her, but she could really stand to let up on how often she’s hanging around me.” Your heart started to hammer, frozen in the hallway. 

“I hear you peanut,” Wade was quick to respond. “Cling-ville USA, population her, amiright?” 

“Fuck off, you’ve been obsessed with her as long as I’ve known you.” Your heart sunk. Isn’t that what Logan had said, the first night you met? Wade was obsessed with you? As quietly as you could, you dropped your hand from the doorknob and backed away down the hall, hoping that their conversation was loud enough to drown out the sound of your retreating footsteps. You’d retreated down the hallway, quickly shooting Wade a text that you weren’t feeling well and wouldn’t be able to make it. 

You hadn’t seen them since. You knew it shouldn’t have mattered, but it stung. You’d moved their stool into the far back corner of the shop because as silly as it sounded, it made you sad to look at him. Thankfully, there had been a steady stream of customers to keep you busy for a while. But now, you were dead and your thoughts were drifting when the bell on the front door rang. You sent a silent thank you to the universe and rushed out to the front of the store. But the customer waiting for you was the only one you were reluctant to see. 

You hated to admit it, but the image of Logan standing in the middle of your showroom, shoulders slumped and one of the most regretful looks you’d ever seen on anyone was almost enough for you to forgive him on sight. Close but no cigar, one could say.   

“Hey, sweetheart” he said sheepishly, hands shoved into this pockets. 

If this is how he was going to play it, so be it. “Hey, Lo. Where’ve you been?”

“Laura needed some help at the mansion, and they roped us into a mission. Meant to call but,” he shrugged, scratching the back of his neck. “Got a bit busy.” You nodded, doing your best to remember that you were mad at him. Stopped by for some flowers, if you have a minute.”

You nodded curtly, shocked that he wasn’t bringing up the obvious tension. He wasn’t one to beat around the bush. “What kind are you looking for?” 

“Eh, whatever you think says ‘Sorry, I fucked up’ the best” he shrugged, making his way behind the counter. 

“Who else did you piss off?” You asked, arranging a few more pieces of greenery into the bouquet he had requested. Even if you were frustrated and moody, you couldn’t bring yourself to make something you weren’t proud of. 

“Where’s my seat sweetheart?” He asked, before taking a pause. “What do you mean who else?” He asked, cocking his head to the side. 

“What do you mean ‘where’s my seat’?” You mocked, doing a poor imitation of his gruff voice. 

“Okay, you’ve gotta catch me up here, sweetheart because I clearly missed something.” 

“Wouldn’t wanna cling on too hard, are you sure you want me to do that?” You snarked, dropping the bouquet on the table and storming over to him, poking your finger into his chest. “I heard the both of you complaining about me last week.” 

Logan’s hand wrapped around yours, drawing it closer to his chest. “I was coming in here to apologize for being gone for a week. But I’m happy to double the order to make up for the confusion. If my math is right, bub, you overheard me complaining about that fucking dog insisting on sleeping on my bed. Even after I told Wade to keep her out of my room.” 

“You love her.” 

“Yeah, you know me too well sweetheart.” 

You smiled up at him, soaking in the warmth of having him this close, when something clicks in your head. “Are you telling me that you waltzed in here and asked me to make my own apology flowers?” If you hadn’t already decided he was off the hook, the way his mouth turned down into a little pout would have sealed the deal. 

He hesitates for a few moments, eyes glancing around the shop seemingly in search of an answer. “Didn’t want to give the business to someone else.” He shrugged, bashfully.  

Against your better judgement, a few giggles slipped past your lips, which had been firmly pressed together. A few more, and then you were laughing so hard you were having trouble breathing. You leaned your head against his chest, taking measured deep breaths to curve the laughter “I can’t believe this,” you gasped, wiping a few tears away that had spilled onto your cheeks.  You grinned up at him through the tears, taking in the way his eyes warmed when he smiled. 

“Could have been worse,” he shrugged, mischief making his eyes sparkle. “Could have gone with Wade’s suggestion.”

“I have to know.” 

He slipped both his arms around you, pulling you in close. “Wanted me to jump out of a cake.” 

You snuggled in close, leaning your head on his chest. “I would like to see it.” 

“Then we’ll have to see what we can do about that.” 

[gwydionae]

Intention: Write a sweet Raph and Mikey bonding fic about how Raph is bummed that Casey has been spending more time with Donnie. Result: Every cell in my body trying desperately to keep this from becoming a vent fic about how dirty the 2012 show did Raph's relationships with Casey and Slash.

[kokokoula]

you fall first, but he falls harder

a/n: i can only write fluff, so please trust me that it's fluff. there's like, one usage of 'she', timeskip spoilers, and a bit of language. it's my longest fic yet (which isn't saying much), no beta we die like daichi

you don't know that tsukishima kei knows about your crush on him. it's so damn obvious, how you turn red so easily when he's around. unfortunately for you, though, he doesn't reciprocate, nor does he bother confronting you about it. you are his closest friend other than yamaguchi, and as much as he hates to admit it, he doesn't want to lose you as one. it's so tedious, anyways.

---

"it's our last year in karasuno, do you have anything planned?" you ask as you lay on the floor of tsukishima's room. you're supposed to be studying, since it was what you came over to do with kei and tadashi, but you gave up somewhere halfway in geography.

"it is my last year, but who knows about you? you've been slacking so much, you'd probably have to repeat a year. and could you get up?" he sighs and nudges your side with his foot.

"asshole," you mutter, cheeks growing red. if you knew that he just dodged your question, you don't do anything about it. "just you wait, i'll enroll into kyoto university and make you eat your words, beanpole."

"sure." his reply drips with sarcasm, but he doesn't doubt that you can make it far. there's a knock at the door.

"sorry for being late!"

"tadashi!!"

---

kei knows you can read him like an open book. you can tell he's having a bad day just by a conversation with him through text. he also knows that when he says that he doesn't want to talk, you immediately ring his phone.

the first time it happened, he had tried to decline your calls, or just ignore them entirely, but you're insistent. eventually he picked up, filled with pure irritation at that point.

"could you--"

"i'm heading over. i promise i won't push for any details. i'll even get strawberry shortcake on the way." you immediately stated. he paused to mull it over.

"fine, but if the cake sucks, i'm kicking you out." it's safe to say that the cake was good enough to make this a habit, so much so that tsukshima doesn't even know why you still call him to let him know you're coming over. the both of you know you will no matter what.

so here you are, sitting on his bedroom floor with him and eating desserts in silence, save for the music playing softly from his computer.

"you're gonna get in trouble with your parents when they realise you snuck out." he remarks. you shrug your shoulders, stuffing the remaining taiyaki in your mouth.

"i know."

"don't talk with your mouth full." you roll your eyes with a furious blush. somehow, you being here with him becomes sweeter than the strawberry shortcake.

---

you were there when tsukishima made the decision to go professional with volleyball.

his last match as karasuno's middle blocker had ended. his body was sore all over, but somehow the freak duo managed to convince him and yamaguchi to play one more match back at school, just the four of them with yachi. but even with landing third in nationals and a final intimate match with his teammates, he still somehow felt so unsatisfied.

the walk home with you was silent. he was grateful you didn't say anything. he couldn't handle any more questions about how he was feeling when he himself was unsure. it was when you two stepped outside the convenience store after getting ice cream did he come to the conclusion that he never wants to have a last match.

"i'm not going to give up on volleyball after graduation." he announced out of the blue. you were caught off guard for a bit, before grinning at him. "i expected that."

"why?"

"you call hinata and kageyama freaks for being so insane about volleyball, but you don't even realise that you're just as equally crazy about it as them." you said it so nonchalantly as you eat your ice cream, like you're stating a fact. now it was his turn to be taken off guard. he took a while to let it settle in before chuckling softly.

he should have known that you know him better than he does himself.

---

it's graduation day. tsukishima and kageyama are stuck with their four teary-eyed friends by their side. kei awkwardly pats your head, not knowing how to comfort you. you laugh at his feeble attempt, your rosy cheeks burning red. have you always been this cute? in the midst of all the bittersweet interactions, you get distracted by something on your phone, and let out a gasp.

"what is it, (name)?" yamaguchi asks. you're trembling slightly, and tsukishima grows worried.

"i, uh, got into kyoto university," you say in disbelief. "i actually got in!" everyone congratulates you, but you only care about one thing.

"tsukki, remember that day i told you i'd make you eat your words?" he hums in acknowledgement. you shove the acceptance email in his face, but he can only focus on how proud you look with that shit-eating smirk. "what do you have to say now, beanpole?"

he smiles. that's my best friend right there.

"nothing."

---

you were gone before the new year, and kei was handling your absence well until semester started. he had believed it'd be fine, you were only across the country, not across the world. plus, you promised you would call as often as you could.

but he doesn't see you in his classes anymore, and you don't come over when he's having a bad day. he got himself strawberry shortcake to lighten his mood like it usually does, but he only feels hollow. it doesn't help that since he's going pro, his volleyball training is almost everyday now, and with your commitments, he rarely gets to call you anymore. it hurts like hell inside.

"hey tsukki, you've been off recently. is everything ok?" tadashi calls him one day.

"i'm fine, yamaguchi." kei lies. tadashi isn't convinced.

"does it have something to do with (name) being in kyoto?"

"why would you say that?" he answered too quickly for his liking.

"well, you bring (name) up quite a bit, and when you realise she isn't there, you get all quiet and snappy." tsukishima is about to retort back, but then it hits him.

oh shit, he's in love.

---

the day you finally return back to miyagi to visit, tsukishima waits at the station with yamaguchi. kei's eyes are constantly searching the crowd and flickering to his watch every so often.

"tsukki, relax, she'll be here soon." he ignores tadashi's reassurance.

tsukishima kei is a composed man, always able to think before he acts. but when he catches sight of you, he runs. before you can register anything, he hugs you, gripping onto you like a lifeline, like he will die if he lets go of you.

"tsukki--"

"gosh, i missed you so much, you idiot." he knows you could have easily lost feelings for him when you were away.

"wha--"

"i've suffered so much because of your stupid, dumb ass." he doesn't care.

"wait--"

"i like you, so go out with me before you have to head back to kyoto." you're back, and he's scared to lose you again. every second you stay quiet, the louder his heart beats in his ears.

"really?" you finally say, your voice barely over a whisper.

"yea." another pause.

"guess i'm yours then, beanpole."

bonus:

"you know, i knew about your crush back in high school."

"what the heck?"

"you didn't necessarily hide it well."

"then i'll have you know that yamaguchi told me everything that had happened when i've been gone."

"...fuck."