tozier-qt-blog

[wcters]

𝟮𝟰 𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗦 + 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗥𝗜𝗩𝗔𝗟𝗥𝗬 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗥𝗬 𝗚𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗘

pairing: lando norris x fem!reader

word count: 2.9k+

summary: your view of the behind the scenes and video of “i ate and trained like lando norris for 24 hours”

warnings: swearing, some pda, sexual innuendos, flirting | here’s some redemption for lando, this may suck because i need to get better at writing transitions, please watch the video titled in the summary for context 😚

You were awoken by the feeling of a finger grazing your hip. You mumbled something incoherent and went to go back to sleep when you felt a kiss on your cheek. “Time to get up.” You heard your boyfriend whisper from behind you. “Go away.” You mumbled, still not fully awake and angry that you had been woken up. “Unless you want to be caught walking around in just a shirt and underwear in front of a camera, you need to get up.”

You let out a groan and rubbed your eyes as you remembered what day it was. Lando was filming a Quadrant video with Ethan and the man who rivalled you in how much you love your boyfriend, Morgan ━━ otherwise known as “Angry Ginge”. You and him had a rivalry, though it was just fun and games, and Lando and Morgan make it known a lot. “Fine, fine.” You shooed him away with a movement of your hand and moved to lay on your back as you finally opened your eyes.

When you looked around, you were blessed with the sight of your boyfriends bare back as he changed into a basic hoodie and pants. You let out a wolf whistle and he turned around to face you with a look on his face. “What? Can’t appreciate my wonderful boyfriend?” He laughed and turned around to continue. “As long as I can do the same to my girlfriend.”

The two of you fell into a quiet conversation of how the day was going to go as you willed yourself to get up from your extremely comfy bed to get ready. “What time is it anyway?” You had a habit of keeping your phone plugged in in the living room because even though your boyfriend was a multimillionaire, the plug in on your side of the bed was shitty and both of you don’t bother to get it fixed. You didn’t mind it too much though. When Lando wasn’t away at races, he was here with you and he’d let you know the time. When he wasn’t, you’d use the plug in on his side because you sleep on his side when he’s away anyway.

“Around 7:15. Wanted to give you time to shower and put makeup on if you needed to.” He replied, heading out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. You hummed in acknowledgment even though he couldn’t hear you and you finished getting dressed before heading to the bathroom to do your skincare and put makeup on. By the time you were done doing that and made your way into the kitchen it was 7:45. As Lando got prepared for filming, you spent the rest of the time cleaning up things around the house. It wasn’t messy, per se, but you wanted the house to look good for the guests and the boys. You know both Morgan and Ethan wouldn’t care about some coffee mugs left on the table or some blanket strewn about, but you didn’t care.

As you unplugged your phone to check the time and see if you had any missed messages the doorbell rang. You put your phone down as to not be rude. You had met Ethan before, but you’d never met Ginge in person before. You heard the door open and greetings being said before there are footsteps and the four figures come into view. You hug Ethan while telling him you missed him and hoped he’s doing good before making your way over to Ginge. “Y/n.” He said as if a brawl is about to start. You play along, “Morgan.” There’s silence as the camera films the encounter before you hug and greet each other. “It’s nice to meet you in person.” You tell him as you pull away. “You two, I guess.” He joked. You roll your eyes.

“Well, welcome in.” Lando interrupted as he gestures to the apartment. You lead the boys through a tour of the house as you point out different rooms ━━ and you add on embarrassing stories about Lando that make him blush.

“He takes up more space with his trophy’s than with you,” Ginge teased as he looked at the trophies on the side table in the living room. Lando opened his mouth to respond but you do it first. “At least we have trophies to put out? What do you have? The award for most annoying person ever?” Morgan started to rant and you laugh as you lean into Lando’s body. “We hang photos elsewhere.” You answer seriously this time. “All the embarrassing ones stay in the camera roll though. I wear a bonnet to bed and Lando thinks it’s hilarious and takes pictures every time. I’ve tried to get him to wear one as it’s good at protecting your hair, but he claimed he couldn’t sleep with it.” “I couldn’t!” “I’d pay to see that.”

Morgan played with the box and ended up breaking it ━━ you know how to fix it, you’re prepared, and you all make conversations as they set up the “interview” spot in the living room and film them. After that, you all make your way to the kitchen. “That better not be what we’re eatin’.” Ginge exclaimed as Lando opened the door to the fridge. “This is your breakfast, my friend.” Lando smiled and pointed to the containers. Morgan turned to you, “are you eating that?” You shook your head and let out a ‘no’. “That’s for him and you guys, I get my own food.” You tell them. “I want whatever that is because it has to be better than this.”

“This might be one of the best breakfasts you’ll ever have.” Lando told them. “Mate, that looks like you ate reakfast and then threw it up.” Ethan joked. “It’s actually not bad,” you interrupted as you started to make your breakfast, “I’ve had it before. It’s quite good, although I’m not a fan of cinnamon.” “It has cinnamon in it?” Ginge asked. “Apple, cinnamon, and pecan.” Lando answered. They chat about the texture and make fun of it as you finish making your breakfast.

“You normally up at this time?” Morgan questioned Lando. “Yeah.” “What about you y/n?” “Depends on the day,” you reply, “I’m normally not up this early but with travelling and work it changes.” “What time do you go to bed?” Morgan continued. “Depends.” “On what?” Ethan raised an eyebrow. “If they’re going at it, dirty bastards.” You laugh and Lando blushes at that. “It’s not always nighttime.” You winked at them before heading into the dining room and turning on your computer. You worked from home which made it easier to visit Lando at races. Most of them you went to, but sometimes you had to stay home as you had an important meeting or had to head into your works headquarters. You wanted to take the time you had right now to finish sending some emails and editing work before the day officially started.

There was some more conversation before Lando kissed your head and let you know that they were going to go do some training. A couple minutes passed before you were done replying to emails and things. “Y/n?” Lando called out to you from the workout room. “What?” You called back as you got up and closed your laptop. “Where are the workout bands?” “I think they’re in the bedroom.” You crossed your arms as you made your way into the hallway facing the room. “How have the workout bands made it to the bedroom?” Ethan asked out loud. “I do yoga in there because I like to watch my show while I do it,” you answered, “always so dirty minded Ethan.” You shake your head with a smile on your face.

Lando comes back with them and they continue with what they were doing before, obviously with some jokes ━━ especially about the mirror you have in there ━━ and Ginge “flirting” with your boyfriend. You joined in on some things like the planking and the stretches, but you opted out of most of it. Who could blame you? You preferred to ogle your boyfriend. You did the same when they moved on to the cryotherapy. “You not joinin’ us? Coward.” Morgan teased you as you stood behind the camera. “Mate, I do not need to be in -110 degrees. I didn’t do that full workout.” As they went in, you could hear the jokes and the laughing that was happening in there.

You turned to the camera to speak. “I’ve done that before, and let’s just say I never want to do it again. I felt like my tits were going to fall off. Their reactions are valid.” You told the camera as you knew their footage from inside was going in. When the three minutes were up, you let the boys know and they came rushing out as soon as the door was opened. “Mate, that was freezing.” Ethan said as he came out. “I felt the cold when the door was opened, I can’t imagine how you guys feel,” You laughed, “If you’re still cold when we get back to the house I’ll give you some blankets.”

The boys and you came home around one pm after the cryotherapy and they sat around the dining table as they get introduced to their lunch. You had leftovers from when you went out for dinner a couple days ago so you were eating that. Since this morning, you could tell that the boys were probably going to hate the menu today. You felt a little bad, but also thought it was funny. It was their video idea. You could hear Morgan’s complaining in the kitchen.

“What’s this though?” You hear Ginge ask as you enter the dining room. “Radish.” You answer as you take a peice of chicken from Lando’s bowl and put in your mouth. “Oh, that’s disgusting.” Ginge exclaimed once he puts the radish in his mouth. “I’ll just eat the mango, I’m not having anything else.” Ginge said with a furrow in his brow. “No, eat all of it.” “You can’t force it down my throat. “Here,” you started as you swallowed your bite, “eat what you can and you can have this. It’s still quite healthy but I assume it’s things you like.” You traded your meal with his. “I like those so I’ll eat them.” The camera panned to Lando and his face of disbelief. “I don’t know how you can like that.” Morgan glanced between you and the plate with disgust. You shrugged, “his nutritionist makes good food.” Ethan made a face that obviously says he disagrees and Lando laughs. “How often do you have this?” Morgan asked him as he takes a bit of your food. “About five times a week.” Lando answered, “though sometimes I’ll have leftovers like y/n was.”

“Do you ever get bored of this and think ‘fuck it, I’ll have a pizza’?” Lando laughs and then nods. “All the time.” You revealed to them, “though he’s usually good at sticking with that.” You point to the bowl in front of him. “Does y/n eating regular food make you jealous?” Ethan questioned and you laugh at the choice of words. “Sometimes, but she eats healthy as well so it’s the same level of nutrition and tastes quite similarly.” Lando explained. “Sometimes I’ll sneak him a pizza though.” You reveal as you smirk. “Hey, I do that to myself all the time.” Morgan joked.

There was some quiet conversation as the boys started their game of Jenga before Ginge spoke up. “How’d you two meet?” He asked as Ethan was trying carefully to get a brick out. “I was actually doing a media internship with McLaren in 2021. I have to be honest, I had no idea who Lando was. I had heard of Lewis a couple times but I wasn’t a big F1 fan. McLaren was just an opportunity that popped up and I took it.” You explained to everyone. “So, officially ending the rumours, you’re not a gold digger?” Morgan asked as a joke. You hummed, “I can’t say that.” You laugh. “I’m just kidding, no, I’m not. We made a deal that we half most things but he just gets to the bill before me most of the time. I need to work on being quicker.” The camera panned to Lando as he ate. “I like to spoil her.” “I’d let you spoil me Lando.” Ginge winked as the brunette. You jokingly glare at him. “I’m sorry, he just loves me too much.” He continued to say, “he’s just afraid to admit it.” “Oh yeah, I’m sure.” You nod slowly.

“How did you ask her out?” Ethan asked Lando. He put a finger to his lips, “it’s a secret.” Because he wouldn’t tell everyone looked at you. “He doesn’t want to tell because it’s embarrassing. I’m not allowed to tell.” You told them the truth. It was. If he just felt it was embarrassing you would’ve told but it really was embarrassing. He had a whole plan of what he was going to do but when I happened he got nervous and fucked it. The boys begged to hear the story. “The only thing I’ll say is I’m surprised I said yes.”

“It was that bad?” Morgan asked in disbelief. “I mean, I knew you were bad at flirting but I didn’t think it was that bad.” Lando blushed and tried it come up with a response. “Even if I knew before he asked me out he was rich, that probably wouldn’t change my chances of saying no.” Both Ethan and Ginge grimaced. “Does Max know?” Ethan then asked. “Nope. No one knows except for me and Lando ━━ and maybe Daniel who might’ve witnessed it.” Lando then jokingly hit you on the back of the head and you knew it was time to stop. You laughed and stuck your tongue out at him.

The next thing that Lando had planned for them was sim racing. He explained how it works and what circuit it was set on before he got on it to set up a baseline for what time they needed to get. “Who do you thinks going to be the best?” Ethan asked you as Lando was in the chair. “I mean . . . Ethan doesn’t even have his license but in that one quadrant video where they tested everyone’s driving skills he did alright,” you answered, “it’s also happening on a screen. I’ve never seen you drive,” you pointed to Morgan, “but I don’t know if I’d trust you.” Ethan gave you a fist bump as the ginger put a hand over his heart. “That wounds me, y/n.” “Just being honest.” You shrugged. “Too honest in my opinion.”

After setting a time and letting Ethan have a practice go, he let the boys know they had to be within 4.5 seconds of his time - having changed it from 10 and then having a mini fight with Ginge. It was Ethan’s turn first at the simulator. He did pretty well in your eyes ━━ besides hitting a cone and sliding off the track. Compared to Ginge, he was excellent. You didn’t know what was happening with Morgan and what he was doing, but you did know it was incredibly funny . . . And you definitely took videos of him freaking out that totally weren’t for blackmail.

After he crashed for the millionth time and you laughing again, he turned his face to you. “Do you want to give it a go then?” He challenge you. “Sure.” You replied, sliding into the seat as he got up. You’d done the sim a few times. Mostly Lando trying to teach you and you not getting it, but other times you’d be bored at the house and try to give it a try. You think you did well with the two times you tried it. You only crashed once and went off a few times, and were only a little better than Ethan. Morgan kept yelling and saying it was clearly rigged and that the software was dogshit.

The day in Monaco ended with going out for dinner and Lando taking the boys out for a helicopter ride. You didn’t know this, but in the final video cut there’d be clips but together of you and Morgan bickering all throughout the video and whenever this would happen, the camera would show either Lando and Ethan with a look on their face. Even though you pretended to not like Morgan, he was a pretty good guy. You had a good time with him and Ethan ━━ especially singing karaoke in the car.

And for anyone’s information, you were definitely forced to get Lightning McQueen crocs against your will.

+ moment featured in morgan’s vlog

You stood at the passenger side of the car with your arms crossed and eyebrow raised. “What?” Morgan asked you. “Why you starin’ at me like that?” “That’s my seat.” You tell him as you make a movement with your head. He makes a face, “you don’t claim seats. And I got here first. In the back you go.” That’s when Lando made his war to the car and into the drivers seat. “That’s her seat, mate.” He told the ginger. He makes the same face as he did before. He shakes his head and gets up, pulling his phone out of his pocket and begins to film. “This is discrimination against the poor. I’m suing you.” You smile at him. “Too bad, I’m his girlfriend, I get the passenger seat.” “You just wait until he dumps you for me, babe. Then you’ll be sorry.” “When that day happens, you can get the story of how he asked me out.”

[amorisxx]

Snickerdoodle pt. iii

(Halloween special)

pairing: Art Donaldson x reader summary: The fall fest rolls around. You and Art are part of the parent committee. An unexpected meeting leads to another moment in a parking lot. warnings: smut 18+, car sex, piv, cheating, description of panic attack word count: 3.6K a/n: This part gives a bit more context to each of their lives. It doesn't really progress the plot very much, but I enjoyed writing it. previous part here

𝄃𝄃𝄂𝄂𝄀𝄁𝄃𝄂𝄂𝄃

It’s a Wednesday afternoon. The house is quiet, free of the frenetic energy that children bring. Kaleb is still at school, and you’d taken the day to finish preparing your baked goods for the fall fest on Friday. The only noise to be heard is the sound of Art panting into your ear.

“Oh…f-fuck… please, please.”

Halfway through decorating the sugar cookies, he’d started pressing kisses to the side of your neck. You had tried shooing him off, but it was to no avail.

That’s how you end up pressed against the kitchen counter with your dress bunched up at the hips. One strap is halfway down your arm as Art frantically ruts into you from behind.

“You feel so fucking good,” he groans into your neck. 

He has one hand holding your hip in place while his other arm pins your back against his chest. In between thrusts, he uses one hand to greedily palm at your breasts.

When you start clenching around him, Art snakes a hand around to your front. He moves his fingers to where his cock is throbbing inside you. He groans at the wetness that has seeped out of you and collected at his base. You moan when he drags his fingers up to rub desperate circles over your slippery clit.

“Want you to cum, ah, need to feel it baby, please,” he pants.

It isn’t long before you’re throwing your head back and squeezing around him.

Ѽ

“Now, will you please let me finish these cookies?” You huff. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you come over.”

He snorts. “You said you could use the help.”

“Well that’s when I thought you’d actually be of some help.”

He grins at you with lidded eyes.

The truth is Art did come over to help you, but he also came because watching you bake has become one of his favorite things to do. Since the two of you have started seeing each other more often, he’s started spending time at your place during the weekends when Kaleb has to stay with his dad. Though you don’t admit it, he’s noticed that you tend to bake when you’re worried. Art thinks it must take your mind off of things. It’s as if you go on autopilot. You disappear into the task as everything fades to the background. It reminds Art of what tennis used to feel like.

The baking also reminds him of his grandmother. Before she moved to the nursing home, she would always bake cookies for Art when he was young. He’d know because the sweet aroma would fill his nostrils upon entering the front door.

Sometimes, he was able to watch her bake and take in the entire process. It was calming for him to observe all the various steps and pass her different ingredients. He wondered how she knew the exact amount to add, and she’d tell him it was because of “years and years of practice.” Art quickly grew fond of the idea of building something up from scratch. And he learned that through lots of practice, you could make something really sweet.

So, in a way, you remind Art of his grandmother. He doesn’t tell you that though because he doesn’t think that’s the best thing to say to someone he’s just been balls deep inside. He does tell you, however, that he likes seeing you like this.

You look up at him in between adding orange icing to a cookie. Some of the icing spills onto the counter as you tilt your head and furrow your eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

He gestures around the kitchen. “It’s nice, you know, being able to watch you make something.”

Though you’re looking down at the cookie, he sees the smile splitting your lips open. Art leans forward and swipes the icing from the counter with his index finger before popping it into his mouth. He smiles at you around his finger, and you flush as warmth spreads throughout your body.

Ѽ

“Nancy,” you start. “I just finished setting up this entire table. I am not moving all of this again.” You gesture to the spread of homemade cookies, pumpkin shaped cake pops, and pretzel rods dipped and drizzled in orange, black, and purple icing and sprinkles. The cookies themselves were a pain to arrange. You wanted there to be an even number of skull and jack-o’-lantern shaped sugar cookies on each platter. And each cookie needed to be facing forward. You didn’t think you had the patience for some snaggletoothed kid to ask what’s this? And plant their finger right on the cookie only to decide they hate pumpkins and leave it there. 

“Okay!” She says defensively. “I just wonder if it’s such a good idea for the sweets table to be so close to the bouncy house. I wouldn’t want the kids to get sick.”

She turns to assess the giant inflated pumpkin. “I’d say they probably need a good 50 feet to walk and let the cookies settle before they start jumping up and down…don’t you think?”

You stare back blankly at the woman. “You just had me move because you said the smell of the petting zoo might ruin appetites.”

“And it could!” She whips her head back around at you, her blonde bob slapping the side of her face. “Those baby goats are cute, but they don’t smell great hon!”

You fold your arms.

“Alright.” Nancy raises a hand with a shake of her bobble head. “We won’t move,” she relents, “but could you maybe just tell each kid to eat their treats at the table, you know just to make sure they stand around for a couple of minutes before running to the bouncy castle?”

You start to tell her that it’ll be hard to control what a bunch of excited, elementary schoolers do after they get some sugar in them, but decide it’s not worth arguing with her. You glance over at her husband, Frank, who has set out his red and black folding chair next to the drink cooler. She’d instructed him to make sure each kid grabbed one drink at a time because “lord knows we’ll be picking up half full juice boxes all night.” Without so much as a glance, he’d mumbled a well versed “yes honey” and sat in his chair, staring into the distance and scratching his chest.

You decide to take a page out of Frank’s book.

“Sure, Nancy.”

Ѽ

Your table proves to be a popular one. You’re not even halfway through the festival, and most of your cake pops are gone, and the sugar cookies are depleting by the minute. You blame Art for being such a distraction that you didn’t think to bake more cookies just in case. Once he’s done with face painting duty, you plan on letting him have it.

You’re counting how many jack-o’-lantern  cookies are left on the platters when a voice interrupts you.

“I always did love your baking.”

“Chris? What are you doing here?”

Your ex husband is standing in front of you, hands in his pockets as he smiles down at your spread of goodies.

He makes his way over to your side of the table. “My boy practically begged me to come, so of course I had to show up.”

You turn and purse your lips. “Well I hadn’t heard from you so I assumed you weren’t coming. They took your name off the list at the PTA meeting.”

“Dad!”

You look over to see your son barreling towards his father. He laughs reaching out to haul him up into the air. His little pirate hat goes crooked on his head. “You came!”

“Yeah, man, I told you I would!”

They fall into their own conversation as you help serve treats to some other kids that have wandered to the table. Despite your feelings about Chris, you can’t help but smile at the sound of Kaleb’s giggles. You’re glad that his dad’s presence brings him so much joy. You remember a time when you too felt that unyielding happiness around him. That flutter in your belly and the warmth in your chest that can only be characterized as pure, genuine fondness. God, you were so fond of him.

At the time, you thought you could never experience anything better than that. It’s why you agreed to marry him. And why you also agreed to stopping your birth control. Knowing he wanted to start a family with you made you love him even more, because to have a child with someone is to irrevocably tie yourself to that person. Being loved by Chris was your point of reference for so long.

But that was before.

Before he decided you weren’t enough for him, before he decided to be withholding, before he made you feel unlovable. It turns out that having a child with someone isn’t the symbol of unconditional love that you’d believed it was. Once you had removed the rose tinted glasses, you were able to see that love isn’t something that’s promised to you. Even if someone makes that promise to you, the love itself may not endure. You’re not sure how much control Chris really had when it came to loving you. You’re still figuring out what love entails when you’re not with him.

Now, you just hope that Kaleb will never learn what it’s like to not be loved by his father. That he’ll never have to vie for his affections nor his attention. That he will always feel held by his love and not stifled by it.

You feel something poke your hip, jolting you from your thoughts. It’s Kaleb, pressing his plastic pirate’s hook into your side to get your attention. You grab the hook in your hand, reminding him to be mindful of the point. He offers you a sheepish, snaggletoothed smile. “Sorry.”

You sigh and run your hands over his curls before gently tugging his ear. It’s a habitual motion that began when he was a toddler. He could be a little rambunctious, running around the house in nothing but a pull-up to avoid bedtime. When you’d finally catch him, you would ruffle his hair and gently pinch his little ears, calling him a silly monkey. He would erupt into fits of giggles before breaking away again making “ooh-ooh ah-ah” sounds.

Kaleb takes his arm behind his back in an effort to control his hook. “Dad said I can go with him tonight!”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah! Said once this is over we can go have some real fun!”

Chris laughs, patting Kaleb’s shoulder.

“What does that mean? Real fun?” You raise an eyebrow at your ex.

“Oh Christ! I’m just gonna take him to get some ice cream or something,” he says.

“I’m just trying to make sure my son doesn’t pick up any of your…” you look over him from head to toe, “… bad habits.”

He rolls his eyes.

“But yeah, that’s fine,” you sigh. “Do you have the booster seat?”

“Yeah, and it’s the perfect height for him to see the girls at the strip club tonight,” he cracks a smile like it’s the funniest thing ever.

Kaleb catches sight of a classmate and almost knocks his dad over in his haste to run to them. Chris shouts “Be careful!” before glancing over at you and chuckling.

You curl your lip in disgust before turning toward the couple approaching your table and offering them a bright smile. You can feel Chris’ eyes on you as you move to serve them. Once they’ve gone, you turn to him.

“Is there a reason you’re still standing here?”

He chuckles. “How do you know I didn’t want some of your cookies?”

“Okay, well what are you getting?” You ask impatiently.

He doesn’t answer the question. Instead, he runs his thumb over his bottom lip and smirks, “You look really good.”

Your stomach twists.

“I miss you.” He searches your face. “You know that?”

You scoff. “No you don’t,” you say definitively before turning away from him.

You then notice that Art is making his way over to your table. He’s wearing the same black and orange “fall fest committee” shirt that you are, but his figure fills it out much better than you can. His jeans are hanging effortlessly on his hips, and you think that if he hadn’t stuck with tennis all those years, modeling would’ve been a great second option.

Your field of vision gets cut off by your mosquito of an ex husband. You literally swat at him to move away, but he’s still smiling at you.

“Please just get whatever you’re gonna get and leave me alone.”

He reaches for you. “C’mon, baby, don’t be like that.”

You yank your arm out of his reach, sending him a warning glare.

He ignores the warning, stepping closer to you to lean down near your ear. “You know every time I come pick up Kaleb, I just think, God, what will it take for me to get those pretty legs open again?”

A loud smack resounds as his head snaps to the side. You’re gritting your teeth. “Fuck you.”

He holds his cheek from where you’ve smacked him, a tiny smirk etched onto his face.

You point your finger at him. “How dare you? How dare you come to me with this shit! You have a fucking fiancée!” Your hands have started to tremble as your anger rises. “I mean, seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you?? You don’t get to treat me the way you did then come here saying shit like that!”

You don’t realize that Art has been standing there. He sees your trembling hands and glassy eyes and subtly positions himself between the two of you. “Is everything okay?”

You’re still glaring at your ex as if daring him to say something else.

Like the coward he is, Chris lowers his voice like he’s talking to a rabid animal. He tells you that you need to calm down before turning to Art. “Yeah, man, everything’s fine.” It’s just like him to make it seem like you’re the one who’s unhinged in the company of outsiders.

Thankfully, Art isn’t just some person.

He fully stands between the two of you, blocking you from Chris’ sight. You hear him say, “yeah well it doesn’t seem like it, man.” The muscles in his back are tense and his shoulders are square.

Chris sounds like he’s about to say something, but Art doesn’t let him finish. “I think you should leave her alone.”

You swallow and look down at your shaky hands willing them to be still.

Chris makes a move to step around Art. His jaw is clenched tight. “Respectfully, I don’t think it’s any of your business.”

Art lets out a humorless laugh. “Yeah. It wasn’t a request,” he says.

A second or two passes by as the two men stare at each other. Chris squints at Art, throws a glance around at you before stepping back with a laugh. He shakes his head assessing the way Art has planted himself in front of you. His eyes drop to where you’re fisting the end of Art’s t-shirt in an attempt to calm your nerves. He mumbles something about not being surprised but continues his retreat. “I’ll drop Kaleb off Sunday night,” he announces over his shoulder.

Once he’s gone, Art turns to you, rubbing his palms down your arms. “Hey,” he bends down to look you in your eyes. “You’re okay.”

It only makes your lip tremble more, the anger from earlier dissipating as something else takes over. Art tells you he’ll be right back. You bring your arms over your chest as your breathing gets heavier. The ruckus in the air is starting to feel suffocating. Your ears are ringing and you begin to feel tingling in your cheeks.

When Art comes back, he has Nancy’s husband, Frank, in tow. He tells him something, but you can’t hear him over the sound of your own heartbeat. You’re gasping for air. You barely pick up Art’s voice saying “come with me.” You let him take your hand and lead you out of the chaos.

Ѽ

The sound of Art’s car door shutting makes you realize that your face has stopped tingling. You blink as your breathing returns to normal and the static-like ringing in your ears fades away. You rub your palms over your fabric covered thighs and take one big breath before exhaling. Something moves in your peripheral vision, and you glance to your left. Art is sitting in the driver’s seat, but most of his upper body is facing you. His soft eyes watch you with a patience that makes you want to cry all over again. You reach for him.

Art immediately pulls you to him, letting you settle in his lap as you wrap your arms around his neck and rest your head on his shoulder. He presses a kiss to your head.

“I’m sorry you had to see me like that,” you mumble into his shirt.

“Baby,” he runs a hand over your back.

“No, it was pathetic. I can’t believe I let him get under my skin like that.”

“It was a panic attack. It’s not your fault,” Art murmurs into your hair. “And that’s exactly why he did that. He wanted to get a reaction out of you. Don’t blame yourself.”

You lift your head up to look at him. You search his face. All you find is sincerity.

You brush your thumb over the skin behind his ear and lean in. Your noses gently bump against one another before you’re pressing your lips to his. It’s soft, slow, and deliberate. Art places his palm flat against the small of your back as he returns the kiss with equal tenderness. Through your lips and your tongue, you try to tell Art everything you aren’t able to say with your voice. And if you didn’t know any better, you’d think he was telling you the exact same thing back.

When you bring your hips down to roll against him, Art tells you “we don’t have to.” It’s your turn to tell him that you want this.

You move to the backseat. He peppers quick kisses over you every now and then as you both work to get each other’s pants down. It would probably be quicker to simply take them off one at a time, but you two aren’t thinking properly. Your head is swimming from how bad you need him right now. Once you’ve gotten your jeans off, and Art’s are to his knees, he’s sitting back against the black leather, pulling you with him.

You release a small whimper when his wet mouth attaches to your throat. His forehead knocks against your shoulder as you reach your hands under his shirt. “Off. Please.” He lets out a soft grunt as he complies with your request.

Before he can fully toss the committee shirt to the side, you’re running your hands over his chest. You stop at his nipples, letting your thumb roll over the small buds. Despite his attempt to hold it in, Art moans when you lean down and swirl your tongue around his nipple. It makes his cock jump.

You begin to move against his hard member, seeking out the friction of him bumping against your clit. Art gets his tongue back into your mouth as he reaches under your shirt, pinching your nipples. His lips smack against yours as he brings his hands around to your back. He lets them trace down your spine until they meet the band of your underwear.

Art dips both hands into your panties and smoothes his palms over your cheeks. He grips your ass as he guides you to rock against him. You moan into his mouth before you lift your hips to allow him room to pull his underwear down his thighs.

His dick slaps against his abdomen.

Your mouth waters and your stomach clenches in anticipation. You reach for him, and Art lets you take him in your hand, pumping him one, two, three times before he’s greedily grabbing your hips. He promptly hooks his thumb in the seat of your panties. He uses the leverage to pull them to the side, and you guide his tip to rub against your sticky folds. You moan as you drag it upwards to which Art starts rutting his head against your clit.

Without warning, you press Art’s tip to your opening. He hisses when you start to sink down onto him. With him fully buried in your cunt, you let out a sigh. He wraps his arms around your waist, hugging you to his chest. You two share a kiss as he begins shallowly thrusting into you.

Ѽ

After the both of you have finished, Art doesn’t pull out right away. He keeps you there for a moment telling you he just wants to feel you for a little bit more. Naturally, you don’t protest. The two of you sit within the fogged windows of his car in blissful silence as he lazily strokes your back.

Unfortunately, the shrill ringing of your cellphone punctures that silence.

It’s Nancy.

She asks where you’ve disappeared to, then doesn’t let you respond as she tells you that Frank is at your table which is now empty. They’re going to start cleaning up in about 45 minutes.

When you rejoin the festival, you and Art spot your kids and their friends comparing their various prizes and candy. Standing off to the side is Tashi. She sends you a smile when she notices you. Your stomach drops.

𝄃𝄃𝄂𝄂𝄀𝄁𝄃𝄂𝄂𝄃

a/n: As always, let me know what you think <3 my asks are open!

[star2fishmeg]

CONGRATULATIONS ON THE MILESTONE!!!

can i get a fluff # 38 with Quinn please?

Thank you for requesting <3 - Happy Halloween🎃

FLUFF #38 "This isn't what it looks like!"

📞 dialling…

It wasn’t supposed to turn out that way. Halloween night was supposed to be some kick-ass night of partying and making memories to look back on, dressed up in embarrassing, funny or even incredible costumes but it just couldn’t turn out that way this year. It was just embarrassing, especially since it was an NHL Halloween party and she was spending a large portion of it draped over a toilet bowl in her bandit costume, retching up all the vodka cranberries Brock had somehow convinced her were a good idea. 

Leant against the sink cabinet in his sheriff’s get-up, Quinn stroked her back soothingly, doing his best every now and then to brush any loose hairs away from her mouth, worry written all over his face. It wounded him, seeing her like that, but as she once said, ‘what goes down, sometimes must come back up.’ It wasn’t how he expected his Halloween to go, especially not his early years of being the captain. 

When y/n took his hands with half-lidded eyes under the low colourful lights and started leading him out of the living room and towards the bathroom, he thought of the best, not-so-romantic but certainly enjoyable scenario a young couple could have at a party. Instead, she’d B-lined for the toilet, and he’d dropped to his knees and hands straight to her hair to keep it out of the way. 

“‘Atta girl, I got you,” he softly reassured, tearing off pieces of toilet paper and handing it to her, “we’re not leaving until you’re empty, even if I have to stick my fingers down your throat.”

She groaned, wiping her mouth and discarding the tissue in the toilet, sitting back on her heels, ripping off another piece of toilet paper, and dabbing it under her eyes to catch the welled tears. Thank God for waterproof mascara. “That was one- maybe two times and it’s not like you haven’t chosen to put your fingers in my mouth before.” 

“Different context though, very different context, pretty girl. Are you feeling better?” He chuckled, moving from his sitting position to a crouch, hands on his knees. 

“Yeah, thank you, again. Please don’t let me out of your sight now, Brock can be a terrible influence when he’s had vodka.” Y/n nodded, standing up and straightening out her outfit, Quinn running his hand through his hair, his shirt slightly untucking itself from constant position changing every five minutes. 

She took a glance in the mirror, screwing her face up at her smeared lipstick and used her finger to make herself look presentable at least. A fond smile spread across his lips, chest meeting her back as his thick arms wound around her waist firmly, nose burying itself into the crook of her neck and his eyelashes fluttered closed, relishing in the peace and quiet he had with her before venturing back out into the wild. Cherishing her floral perfume, the minutes when he could float on cloud nine without someone hooting and hollering in the back at him. Y/n leaned her head against his, letting his body melt like wax into hers and she smiled.

“Love you s’much, you know that, right?” he asked with a deep voice, muffled by her skin and clothes slightly. 

Thumbs rubbing gently over his arms, the hairs and warm skin, she hummed, “I love you too, more than words can describe.” 

For a minute the only sounds were the subdued music from the communal space and the buzz of the light, controlled breathing hot on her neck until he pulled away, placing his cowboy hat back on his head. She fussed around with her hair, attempting to make it less of a mess but messy enough to match her costume, Quinn’s love-sick puppy gaze watching her with adoration in his eyes, chest swelling with warmth. 

It wasn’t supposed to turn out that way, and they’d never live it down. Quinn let y/n slip past before closing the door behind him innocently, only to look up to make direct eye contact with bright blue ones and Prince Charming from Shrek smirking directly at him, eyes occasionally jumping to y/n. They both froze, hearts suddenly hammering in their chests for no reason. At all. But Brock was ruthless when it came to teasing Quinn, watching the sweat shimmer on the captain’s neck and the words slipped out too fast before Quinn could think of a way to play it off honestly.

“It’s not what it looks like!” 

It looked exactly what Brock thought it was; sweating, dishevelled hair, y/n’s missing lipstick, still slightly smeared under her lip, lovestruck eyes, untucked shirt. It was exactly how Quinn imagined his Halloween would go.

Brock’s smirk quirked into a grin like he’d struck gold, and he rubbed his beard, nodding cockily, like he was proud, “Huggy, you dog.”

[loved-reid]

Peter Pan

Spencer Reid x fem!reader

Summary: Reader lends Spencer her favorite story, Peter Pan.

Warnings: Nothing that I know of, let me know if y’all find any! :)

Note: I honestly love Peter Pan, I’ve watched the cartoon way too many times and I’m reading the original book for the fifth time! So that was my inspiration for this story. :)

Also, I directly quote the book, so credits to the author

“Whatcha reading?”

The voice brought him out of his focus on his finger running along the book page furiously, mind reading the words at a substantially high speed. His eyes blinked a couple times, looking away from the book in front of from, neck almost cracking at having to look up after a long time.

He looked at her face, and her eyes were full of curiosity, sparkling with kindess but slight worry of having disturbed him during his reading time.

“Just some story.” He mumbled almost embarrassed, having an unwanted fear brewing in his chest that she’d somehow found out what it was about and tease him.

“Can I see?” She asked, and it was the question he’d hoped she wouldn’t wonder. Not just because it was an a language she definitely wouldn’t understand, but he didn’t want to be the one to inform her, which would be a possible solution of her making her upset in some kind of way. Which is kinda silly, but if someone was reading a book he was wondering what was about, only to find out it was in a different language, he would be kind of hurt for an unknown reason. Disappointed if you will.

And the last thing Spencer wanted was to come off rude, so he tried to be polite. “I’m sorry, it isn’t in English.”

Her eyes widened, and to Spencer’s surprise they only brewed with even more curiosity. “Oh, what language?”

Spencer stuttered at her sudden growth in interest but answered nonetheless. “Russian.”

Her eyes sparkled with glee as she leaned forward, eyes scanning the words that she didn’t understand, yet she gazed at them like she could read it all. “That’s so cool. You just read it like normal? Like that smoothly? Because I think when I read in a language I somewhat know that isn’t English I find myself focusing on the translation, yet you just glide right over it.” She rambled, blinking a couple times. “That’s actually so cool.”

And the positive part is that she looked like she meant it. Her eyes showed nothing but pure genuine kindness to the compliment. Spencer’s chest squeezed, heart beating a little faster than normal, raising his BPM.

Her painted nail pointed at the page, a random part of a sentence underneath her finger. “What does that mean?”

Spencer glanced at the part of the sentence, reading it and pronouncing the language in his mind, before transferring the meaning to English. It didn’t take much time, for the sentence wasn’t that long. “It means ‘begged to be excused’. Which is way out of context because it’s only part of the sentence, not the whole thing.”

She hummed in interest, placing her full attention on him before her brain took it elsewhere. “Oo! That reminds me of Peter Pan.”

Spencer had the word confusion sprayed on all throughout his face, eyebrows furrowed and lips turned slightly downward in a concentrated frown, mind already wiring to figure out what she meant.

She chuckled, waving her hand at him as a way to clear the look on his face. “No, what I mean is the book. Have you ever read it?”

Spencer shook his head, for he’s only heard of the fairy tale and the movie, yet he hasn’t found the time to read the original story.

The girl played on a fake surprise and offense expression, pressing her hand to her chest as she gasped. “You seriously haven’t read it? That changes now.”

The sentence she said was a decision, not an offer. With that she got up and walked to her desk, digging into her bag before she grabbed a tiny book, making her way back over to him. Spencer felt a moment of shock that she just had it on her, just in reach for any occasion such as this one, before it went away quite quickly because she did seem very excited to share the story with him.

She sat in her swivel chair, rolling over so their shoulders were brushing. Spencer felt a flush soar to his cheeks, his neck red and Adam’s apple bobbing nervously at the contact.

He looked upon the book to distract him, and luckily it worked. The book had golden page edges and a dark navy blue hard cover. It had some sort of plant in the front, many of them scattered across the cover with Peter Pan written in gold lettering at the top, the author listed below. Spencer gazed at it, watching as her fingers held it so delicately, almost like it was a flower.

“It’s my favorite book in the world.” She whispered, handing it to him so he could hold it. He felt honored to hold such prize possession, for this was hers, and it was clearly taken care of with the bestest of care. Although it was a little worn out, the love was displayed so much so Spencer could feel it flooding out of the cover. He felt special that she let him hold such a meaningful thing that belonged to her.

He didn’t know why she was whispering, maybe because it was a secret, the fact that the book is her favorite, but he joined in. “Why?”

She was practically squealing, eyes sparkling as they gazed at the fantasy story. “Because it’s magical, and the wording is so beautiful. And the story line is entertaining; I just love everything about it.”

Spencer was no longer looking at the book, but at her. Her face lit up with the same happiness he had when he was rambling about something, the facts he normally was spilling out of his mouth was now things she loved about the story, yet the happiness stayed true.

“Really?” He asked, and she nodded eagerly. “What’s the line thing about?”

She seemed to snap out of her rambling daydream, eyebrows shooting up when he reminded her about what for her brain thinking about the story in the first place. “Oh, Mr. Darling says that when he is trying to tie his tie.” She laughed out not only at how silly it was, but at his face when she answered. She gently grabbed the book from him, flipping through the pages carefully yet with a hint of excitement. Spencer spotted some pictures throughout the story, some small but some big enough to take up a whole page. They were all vibrant and

colorful, briefly reminding him of Penelope’s outfits. They were so simple yet so effective, giving him a sense of magic and longing to read the story and experience the excitement she was going through.

She got to the page, which was near the beginning, and chuckled as she read it aloud in a dramatic awful man’s voice. “‘Matter!’ He yelled; he really yelled. ‘This tie, it will not tie.’ He became dangerously sarcastic. ‘Not round my neck! Round the bed-post! Oh yes, twenty times have I made it up round the bed-post, but round my neck, no! Oh dear no! begs to be excused!’”

Spencer chuckled and was unable to stop, reaching over and guiding down from in front of her face. She laughed too, closing the book softly and setting it in his hands.

“You really should read it, Spence. it’s an amazing read.” She suggested once their laughter died down, yet the smile that took over their lips stayed true.

She was gonna be honest, she hasn’t seen Spencer smile like this in a long time, maybe because of the permanent crease in his brows due to stress, or the fact that Hotch was expecting so much of him these past few days, but she was just happy that he was happy.

-

Spencer had taken up on the offer of reading it, for he finished it in one sitting. Of course he didn’t give it back to her right away, for he wanted to re-read it.

That night, he sat down on his couch with mix match purple socks on, legs curled up as the book sat on his lap, soft lamp light casting over the pages. He read it slower than his normal speed, eyes talking their time to read the words. (Even though it was much faster than the normal human reading speed, it was significantly slower for him.)

He ended up finishing it, closing the book and smiling at nothing in particular. He liked the magic of it, which was much different than the other books he’s read recently. He was so focused on the history and other culture books that he almost forgot about the entertainment books. He forgot about the books that people tend to read rather than the ones he reads.

He held it closely to his chest, his heart fluttering at the fact he was holding something that she must have held so many times.

He suddenly felt like a little kid, wishing the story was true and that a little boy would come to his window, wishing him off to a far away land, too far for anyone to find him and his problems were unreachable.

But he shook his head, smiling softly, glad to feel a little childish for the first time in what felt like years.

He crawled into his blankets, head swarming about a certain cow worker and an imaginable boy who couldn’t grow up, simply because he decided he didn’t want to.

-

“Spence?”

The boy snapped out of his thoughts, looking up to meet the very girl whom swarmed his thoughts the night before.

She had the scent of freshly blossomed roses surrounding her as she leaned forward, worry spread across her features.

Spencer hummed in response, eyes dazed from being zoned out.

Her eyebrows raised. “You okay?”

He nodded almost immediately to ease her anxiety. “Course, I was just zoned out.”

It was her turn to hum, smiling soft in relief. “Good. So,” she started, folding her hands, glee spreading on her face as she started to take interest on how he was doing. “How was your night?”

He smiled at the thought of the certain fairy tale he finished last night.

“Good, I finished the book you recommended me.”

Her eyes shined, and Spencer would give up everything he had to see it forever, for it was a lovely sight. Her lips stretched, and she squealed.

She actually squealed.

And Spencer adored the sound more than anything.

She shook in her seat from excitement, leaning forward in her chair so her knees were touching his. She acted like the discussion was a secret, and Spencer wanted nothing more than to play along, so he leaned forward as well, and it seemed to add more to her shining eyes.

“How was it? Tell me you liked it.” She asked.

He nodded and she smiled and giggled at the same time. “I loved it, thank you.”

She leaned back, relief flying off her. “I’m glad you liked it, Spence.”

“Me too,” he admitted. “I read it twice.”

Her eyebrows raised, a small smile coming over her. “Really?” When he nodded, she chuckled, “why?”

“Well the first time I did it very quickly, then I wanted to experience it the way you did, so I read it slower.”

Her cheeks flushed, rolling her chair over next to his before leaning over his shoulder. “Thanks Spence, it means a lot.”

“Of course, love.”

Thankfully, Spencer caught a glimpse of her even redder face.

[deim0sdread]

The Outsiders characters as things I did

Pretty self explanatory I just do a lot of stupid things and one of them had me thinking about it too bad I needed to share

Two-Bit: Made a joke that cruelly lacked context and made me look like I kicked children for fun. So I used to coach kids at this gymnastics school and I taught 5 to 9 year old kids and I was getting overstimulated and the kid bit my leg and licked the blood from the wound and I shook my leg until the kid was off. I had to get stitches for the wound and I cope with humour so I texted my friend “Call me Mister Hyde the way I just kicked a child” and I almost got cancelled. Even after explaining we still stopped being friends and honestly I get why

Dally: Called my guy best friend’s girlfriend a cheating whore while myself dating a man that was cheating on me. Then finding out that he was cheating on me with his girlfriend. I fought them after finding them in bed together. I’D DO IT AGAIN 🗣️🗣️🗣️

Ponyboy: I got caught reading in class because I had a huge reaction to what was said in the book and my teacher took my book away and never gave it back. I WANT MY BOOK BACK

Sodapop: Sobbed before going inside the Walt Disney World Haunted Mansion and when my mom tried to comfort me in my native language I kept sobbing and even got worse but when the park lady came up to me to comfort me in a language I didn’t understand I immediately stopped crying

Johnny: Screamed bloody murder and got ignored while my parents were arguing really badly and I thought they were about to kill each other. The neighbour called the cops because he heard me scream and not because of the argument and my parents were confused when the cops showed up for a loud scared scream

Darry: At one of my first shifts at work in was a closing shift and it was late and I was exhausted so when a guy asked me when his drink would be ready I just said “Hell if I know!” instead of “just in a moment” like I was meant to

Steve: I tried to fix my bike when I was little and I thought I could do it alone and almost ended up cutting off my pinky finger while changing the bike chain. I haven’t been on a bike since!

Bob: First time I ever drank alcohol I was so drunk that when I watched my favourite movie at the time and my two favourite characters got killed off I was sobbing and pointing at the screen saying “No… Billy no!” For 15 minutes

Randy: I was supposed to fight this guy and I forgot about it and the next day he punched me in the face and I just said “My man let’s kiss not fight” and we did end up kissing

Marcia: I saw my dad come back from work covered in motor oil and I cried because I didn’t recognize him when he was dirty

Cherry: First time that I went to a drive-in movie I was arguing with my friend because I wanted her to stop talking so I could watch Guardians of the Galaxy and I fell out of the van and we had to scrap my favourite clothes because there was cow shit

Paul: When I broke up with my ex (a different one than previously mentioned) I was so heartbroken I acted like I planned it all from the beginning and this was all part of my master plan because I was actually emotionless and people were like a chess board to me while I was sobbing in call to my best friend because I couldn’t believe he left me for some 25 year old when we were both still 15

also mendatory moot ping @izaacs-notdeadyet @urmomatron700 @b3st-sunday-dr3ss @brat-pack-it-up-boys @brooke-likesmusic

[coffeesleep-ooc]

This is going to be a bit fucked up but hear me out

CW: im talking about cannibalism and related stuff here

so i was mindlessly scrolling thru tumblr and saw art of moshang looking at bingqiu being all smoochy and MBJ chomping SQH’s cheek

and suddenly thought, what if eating each other was part of demonic lore like hitting your crush is?

So I remember part of some indigenous history, and how in Latin America until recently most books were saying that indigenous ppl were cannibals before the colonization, but the actual thing wasn’t that indigenous ppl ate each other but more like, if they were enemies and one of them was defeated, it was a belief that eating that warrior’s heart would make you absorb the beat qualities of said warrior (which to me is still eating someone but with a whole different context ig?)

So my thought process went from aww cute moshang, to, what if demons complimented each other with biting? Like, in the: you are so strong, so capable, so good that i’d like to eat you? To integrate you with my own being????

we all know that LBH originally was biting SQQ like there was no tomorrow until SQQ taught him not to bite, but what if that was hiw own way of saying ‘i admire Shizun the most, you are the person i’d like to absorb into myself to always be with you. To have the strengths you have is to be complete, superior, etc etc’ ???? like MBJ hitting SQH was a way of saying he would be a strong partner, LBH biting SQQ could be directing him the top praise he could think of in demonic terms

also, lore wise, demons that fought and defeat strong opponents could symbolically (and literally) consume their strength to enhance themselves and honor the life the other demon/warrior lived…

and for demons that ate human flesh???

well, that could still be them disregarding humans because they never fought and defeated them, human flesh would be distasteful to consume for stronger demons and a sign of weakness!

now, im not saying that eating each other would be commonplace or anything, just that it could become a highly regarded ritual

and a tease-chomp that leaves marks would make other demons know how highly regarded one is to their partner or even family-clan

now im imagining a feiend demon of SQQ asking him if he could bite him and SQQ being in shock (TM) while LBH is between smug and jealous bc NOBODY TOUCHES SHIZUN! Same with SQH honestly

SQQ n SQH: why our husbands like to bite so much 😭😭😭

demons: wow, the consorts of Emperor Luo and Mobei-Jun are truly treasured!!!

also, i think LBH would be regarded as a truly strong and altive leader bc he refuses to do said ritual (maybe abyss ptsd? Maybe his human sensibilities??) but when he gets together with SQQ and bites him like there’s no tomorrow his subjects end up appeased in that regard despite their leader marrying and giving the honor of the bite to a human jejeje

also just…worshipping someone in such a bloody and messy way is hmmm, interesting to some parts of me

maybe I’ll put this in one of my fics idk…maybe the abo one since bites are a thing there too…? Idk but wanted to get this out of my head into the wild jaja

[rockwgooglyeyes]

A beloved mutual said something that very much tickled my noodle, making me think on it.

This was on the heels of a thing about ivantill not being romantically requited in canon (which I agree with) but the original post was mostly focused on the fact that, at least I believe, Till didn't reciprocate Ivan's feelings. Which, I mean, they loved each other, but not necessarily in the same way. Now, a friend and mutual of mine (@alien-til-i-stage) actually makes the argument that it doesn't *matter* whether or not either of their feelings were romantic or platonic or whatever, because they loved each other and they had a monumental connection and that's what matters. Now, I love that to bits, that's so incredibly real, but at the same time I am nothing if not a dog with a bone so I actually want to talk about my thoughts on this.

Now, I don't think it's at all bad or wrong or even controversial to say that Ivan might not have had romantic feelings for Till. I think it's really fair to question whether or not Ivan really loved Till romantically, especially given that they were never taught about relationships and undoubtedly, their only real example for "romance" was Mizi and Sua. I would argue that Ivan actually does have a little bit more probability to know about romance due to his background (growing up on the streets) as well as his knowledge background (enjoying literature. While literature doesn't necessarily have romance in it, a lot of dramas do depict some kind of romantic relationship) but that's really neither here nor there.

I'll get down to the real point of this post, which is my thoughts on whether or not Ivan actually had romantic feelings for Till in the main, canon universe/timeline of ALNST, and I would say yes. I admittedly haven't really questioned whether or not Ivan's feelings were romantic or something else but when I do think about it, I would say that my answer is "I believe Ivan." I believe it's romantic because that's what he says it is.

As much shit as I give him for being an unreliable narrator, one of the few things that we can trust Ivan's thoughts on? Himself. Obviously disregarding the way that he thinks of himself as someone horrible and shallow and monstrous but like, he's self aware. He's introspective. While he never explicitly says that his feelings for Till are romantic, it's heavily implied with both his behavior (sweats in looking at the birthday kiss comic and the fact that apparently his excuse for asking about that was "kissing is popular in the garden rn" which is pretty flagrant in it being about mizisua) as well as the symbolism/allusions around him, the fact that he directly compares himself and Till to Mizisua, it's heavily heavily implied that he believes his love towards Till to be romantic, at least, in part.

(two images with extremely different vibes but basically, example of the symbolism/comparison and example of the behavior) (also "thank you for being the victim of my shallow emotions" anybody??)

To give a little context, I am autistic and I'm on the aroace spectrum, two things I also headcanon Ivan to be, and so the fact that he believes his feelings to be romantic, if he thinks he knows what he's feeling, I am inclined very heavily to believe him. I find cataloguing and defining my feelings very difficult, especially in a way that allistic people understand, so I often end up using metaphors to communicate them because I am very rarely able to pinpoint my feelings and be like "oh yeah I am happy right now." This is especially true when it comes to my feelings about other people, because of how much I know about biases, perspective, first encounters, etc, I tend to get really, really in my head about stuff.

So basically, tl;dr, the reason I believe Ivan about his feelings for Till being romantic is that very rarely do I ever say "I have feelings for this person" without doubting myself and double checking and running it over in my mind for hours upon hours because I am neurotic as hell and I kind of feel like Ivan wouldn't be so certain on the Till thing if he hadn't thought about it a lot.

tagging @bluemoonscape per his request <3 love you pookie

[haru-dipthong]

Ep 10 of my Utena fansub is out!

The start of this episode where Saionji is expelled has a lot of very Japanese talk of shame, responsibility, 面倒 (mendou: care/burden), etc. Many of the turns of phrase sound funny when directly translated, so it makes more sense to rephase the sentence into something more familiar. Here’s a lightning round of 3 lines and their various translations. Hopefully based on the colour coding you’ll be able to see where and why I made the choices I did.

破廉恥にもほどがある

Is there any limit to his shame? (from ohtori.nu)

Is there no limit to his shamelessness? (from internet archive)

How desperate can you get? (my translation)

Said by Juri. 破廉恥 means “shameless, disgraceful”. にもほどがある kind of means “it’s an understatement to say X” or “is there a limit to X?”. I think talking of “shame” in this sense is distinctly Japanese. If Juri was an English speaker I think she would come at the behaviour from a different angle — desperation.

この上、面倒かけて悪いんだが…

Sorry to further burden you… (from ohtori.nu)

I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you. (from internet archive)

I hate to ask another favour of you, but… (my translation)

This from Saionji — a literal translation would be “on top of everything, I’m sorry for burdening you with another thing”. This is just before he shows Touga the exchange diary to give back to Anthy. Interesting to me that the Internet Archive subs don’t mention that he’s asking a new favour.

俺は責任持って渡しておくよ

I’ll take responsibility for delivering it to her. (from ohtori.nu)

I’ll take care of it for you. (from internet archive)

I’ll personally see to it that she receives this. (my translation)

責任持って literally means “hold onto the responsibility and…” which sounds better as “take responsibility for…” but I think it sounds even better completely rephrased. Side note: The Internet Archive subs make another interesting decision here. “Take care of” is ambiguous and makes it so that Touga isn’t outright lying (since he immediately incinerates the diary). But he literally does lie in Japanese, he says he’s going to hand it over.

-----

やはり、女の子は王子様にはなれないのでしょうか。

Should have known, a girl can’t become a prince… (from ohtori.nu)

Maybe a girl really can’t become a prince… (from internet archive)

Maybe girls can’t be princes after all. (my translation)

A classic translation foible: translating やはり as “as expected” or “I should have known”. Of course it can sometimes be translated as that, but in many contexts that translation doesn’t make sense. My vibe read of やはり is that it signifies that the speaker is reflecting back to a past state of mind. In some cases, this is thinking back and realising you were right all along, hence “as expected” as a common translation. But in some cases, like this one, you’re thinking back and reconsidering that you may have been wrong. I guess this is what the “should have known” translation is trying to do, but it’s not as strong as that. The English phrase “should have known” is almost berating yourself for not knowing, whereas the Japanese やはり is not nearly as self-deprecating. It just shows that you’re reflecting and reconsidering.

-----

目障りなのよあんた達。いつもお兄様の周りにうろちょろと。

You two are an eyesore, always hovering around my brother. (from ohtori.nu)

You’re both eyesores, always hanging around my brother. (from internet archive)

You two sicken me. Always dangling off my brother like parasites. (my translation)

It’s sad that these other translations used “eyesore”. Technically that’s what the word means, but I’m being completely honest when I say I’ve literally never seen or heard the word “eyesore” outside of an anime translation. I really, really hate the word “eyesore”. In my mind it’s the very essence of poor translation.

What does 目障り actually mean? It’s a compound word — 目 is “eye” and 障り is “hinderance”, “obstruction” or “sickness”. It basically just means “I can’t stand the sight of you”. So I translated it as such: if someone “sickens you” then you can’t stand the sight of them. This plays into the second half of the line.

I took a few liberties with the second half. うろちょろ is an onomatopoeic word for like, pottering around, loitering, hovering without doing anything. I actually like this part of the translation from the ohtori script, “hovering” is a great word. お兄様の周り can mean “around my brother” or “in the vicinity of my brother”. I believe Nanami is trying to get across the idea that Utena and Anthy have nothing better to do than hover around Touga. The problem was that the “hovering around” phrasing didn’t feel visceral enough to go with “sicken me”. I could have reworded the first half (”I can’t stand you two”), but I really liked how emotionally charged the line felt, so I doubled down on it.

-----

Thank you to @dontbe-lasanya for some very nice changes this episode on some lines I was really struggling to phrase naturally! And for this comment lol

Follow to see new episodes as they release! Go here for all past episodes:

[simpleeindulge]

The Beast and the Mouse

Info: Fem/readerxKid, semi-slow burn, mutual yearning, cussing

Context: Kid develops a crush on a girl, and he can't deal with it.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4🔞

Part 5

Kid woke up with a raging hangover the following day. He groaned and covered his eyes with his left arm. While hangovers were the worst, they never stopped him from indulging.

And I fucking deserved it last night, he thought.

After his rendezvous with the woman in the mask, Kid returned to the bar and drank for the rest of the night. Other women tried to approach him, but he waved them off and then scared them off. He didn't see any value in taking another woman upstairs when the first one actually did her job satisfying him.

Satisfied.

Kid paused and wondered.

When was the last time he was satisfied after fucking just one woman? He breathed in slowly as his head throbbed with thinking. Never, he answered himself. Oh, he would finish, but he usually would have another woman ready, but he didn't have that need this time.

And fucking wasn't the right word, either. It was by no means love-making, but it was different.

Kid lay in bed staring at the ceiling. They were setting sail tomorrow, and the rest of the supplies needed to be gathered today. And then, there was Y/N.

Y/N.

"Fuck," he breathed and then winced.

He would deal with her later when his skull wasn't trying to crush his brain. His thoughts then drifted back to the woman in the mask and what was different about her. She was feisty for one thing, and for another, she actually participated.

The woman seemed to enjoy herself and worked to ensure her pleasure. Interesting for a woman who was supposed to be whore. They typically just did whatever would finish the job so they could move onto the next client.

And she didn't exactly acted like virgin either.

Who was she?

Kid swallowed some bile that crept up into his throat and breathed.

They were setting sail tomorrow and he needed to deal with his mouse problem once and for all.

But first, he needed a little more satisfaction.

Y/N woke up early, showered, and dressed before heading to the infirmary. She started to mix her ingredients when her first patient of the morning walked in.

"Wire," She greeted and quickly poured her concoction into a small glass.

Wire eyed her warily and said, "If this is poison, I will kill you."

Y/N didn't dignify his comment with a reply and merely pushed the glass towards him. Wire glanced at the glass for a minute before reaching for it. He tossed it back and grimaced.

"That tasted like shit."

"But you won't feel like shit for the rest of the morning," Y/N replied and started on her next batch. Wire turned to leave but paused and said, "He's thinking of kicking you off."

Y/N froze, and her head snapped up to look at Wire.

"What?"

Wire peered at her, his expression unreadable.

Y/N knew that Wire was part of Kid's inner circle and that anything Kid shared with Killer typically gets shared with Wire or Heat. Though he trained her, Y/N sensed that Wire's opinion of her was always natural, which was the expectation of that day.

"You need to think if this is where you belong, Mouse." Wire said in a dull tone. "If you have any doubts, you should leave before he kicks you off the boat in the middle of the sea. He's done that before."

Y/N swallowed as she imagined Kid throwing some poor soul off the Victora Punk in the middle of nowhere. She could see him walking away from the railing as they screamed to be let back on the ship. Kid wouldn't waste a lifeboat on someone he deemed worthless.

She wanted to ask Wire if this had to do with the stabbing incident or something else. Y/N wanted to know if there was anything she could do to change his mind or what she was doing wrong. There were more questions she wanted to ask, but Y/N knew that he wasn't the person to talk to. Neither was Heat or Killer.

"Thank you for making me aware of my situation." That was all she said before making her hangover juice for the next person to walk through the door.

Wire didn't bother sparing her a glance as he left the room. More people came into the infirmary, groaning, hands on their foreheads, and looking pale. Y/N served them all her elixir. Wire's warning tumbled in her head, slowly shaking her calm facade apart.

What was Kid's reason for kicking her off the crew?

He couldn't have found out about last night. If he had, Kid would be raging and shouting at her. It was odd timing to punish her for the knife incident now. Maybe Wire had lied to her, but she didn't think he would waste the time.

Y/n let out a frustrated sigh as she set a large pitcher of her elixir on the main counter. She needed a walk to clear her head before she snapped at someone. She set cups next to the pitcher and turned to leave when Killer walked in. Y/N paused as she looked at him with surprise.

Killer didn't seem like the type to get hangovers, and with his mask on, it was hard to tell if he was experiencing any symptoms.

"If you have a hangover, I made a big-"

"Don't need it." Killer said as he walked to the counter and poured the pitcher's contents into a cup.

Y/N realized that Killer must be taking it to Kid.

"The Captain isn't feeling well?" She asked and felt immediately stupid. Kid was a big drinker, and there were mornings when he stomped in here with a foul mood and demanded she make her elixir for him.

Killer ignored her and then turned to leave the room. Y/N knew he wasn't the person to ask and that she should be a big girl and confront Kid herself, but...

"I heard that I might be kicked off the ship." She forced herself to say.

Rarely was it possible to get a straight reaction from Killer. He was the polar opposite of Kid—calm and collected. It was not just his mask that hid his emotions and thoughts. Killer's voice and body language gave nothing away, but her comment surprised him.

He glanced at her and tilted his head in thought, then said, "It's not for me to say if it's true or not. You'll have to ask the Captain yourself."

His answer cemented in Y/N's mind that the kid was going to kick her off the crew.

“Well, shit,” She breathed as she tossed down a cleaning rag she had in her hand. One hand went to her head as the other rested on her hip.

“I guess I can't blame him, but he goated me into stabbing him,” she murmured.

“Do you want to leave?”

Y/N glanced up at Killer.

“Huh?”

“Do you want to leave?” Killer asked again, this time annunciating each word.

“Of course not!” Y/N replied, sounding offended.

“Then talked to him,” Killer replied and left the room.

Y/N groaned. Maybe Wire was right; she needed to consider her opinions while they were still on land.

Y/N was still deciding what to do hours later as she helped shop for supplies. She was browsing a stall with medicinal herbs when a woman came up next to her. Y/n was about to step aside to make room when the woman spoke in a low voice.

"He wants to see you again."

Y/N froze with confusion and quickly realized who the woman was and what she was talking about.

"Does he know?" Asked as she pretended to continue her shopping.

The woman picked up a bundle of holy basil, turning it over to inspect the leaves.

"No, he doesn't."

"What did he say?"

"That he wants to see you again. Tonight."

"For what-?"

"Don't waste time asking stupid questions! You know why!"

Y/N winced at her snappy tone. The madame of the Garden's brothel was right; that was a stupid question.

"I can't. The crew is setting sail tomorrow, and I have other problems I need to deal with."

The woman set the bundle aside and picked up another bundle of herbs Y/N recognized for its use for nerves. The woman sighed and mused, "He and his money are more trouble than they're worth. I let my pride cloud my judgment."

She set that bundle next to her holy basil. Y/N breathed to speak, but the woman cut her off. Her tone was steady at first but edged near hysteria as she noticed Y/N's hesitation and reluctance.

"You will come to The Garden tonight and see him. I will disguise you better if you insist on remaining unknown. I don't care what your problems are, but he is not a man I will risk saying no to!"

Y/N swallowed the lump in her throat and pleaded.

"Can't you disguise someone else? Make them look like the girl he was with or like something?"

The woman scoffed, "If it were that simple, I wouldn't have bothered to look for you. I have my limits."

She then selected a few more bundles of herbs and paid the merchant. Y/N made her purchase as well and turned to face the madame.

"You do know that I am part of a pirate crew."

The woman smirked and said, "Yes, I know. I had you followed. Your crew is setting sail tomorrow, so I'm sure there will be one last hurrah tonight. If you are not at The Garden when he asks for you, I will tell your captain something interesting."

She then started to walk away, and men waiting at the other stalls quickly followed behind her. Y/N let out a big breath and headed in the other direction to the ship.

What she needed was a drink and a long think.

Kid was heading back to the ship. They both happened to turn the corner at the same time. They both saw each other and stopped walking.

@ella157 @bdudette @faetoraa @elen-alambil @buckysxgal @ryuv1i @ilovespicykimchi @stuckinthewrongworld @ninablue @kookydoesstuff @Kimyk10br @rivui

[bicheetopuff]

I think Hori was kind of a genius when he came up witgh "Kacchan" as a concept. I mean why and how did he decide that Izuku would refer Bakugo as Kacchan since the start of the story? A crazy and unhinged idea tbh

As much as I would love to believe that Hori was a genius for that, it’s actually something pretty common amongst children and childhood friends and people with close relationships in general. It’s only a step up from calling someone their first name with an honorific. You’ll see it in other anime’s occasionally being said amongst childhood friends/family members. The same concept is used in the light novels between Macchan and Takkun (two childhood playmates that show up for a chapter and never really show up again) and actually, Ochaco calling Izuku “Deku-kun” isn’t much different.

I know people make jokes about the English equivalent being like someone calling another person “baby” or “pookie” or “snookums” or something, which I’ve always loved, but in reality it’s more like calling your friend Michael “Mikey” or calling your friend Thomas “Tommy” in childhood, and just continuing to call him that as you grow up instead of calling him his actual name. Mike and Sully do the same thing in Monsters inc. (this reminds me that I still need to write that post about the parallels between those two and bkdk ajdbejd)

All of that being said though, I do think it’s kind of unhinged for Hori to decide to have Deku keep the cutesy nickname for him despite their relationship being really bad. It would’ve been one thing if Deku had kind of a petty personality and called him Kacchan to tease or make fun of him kind of like Katsuki did with “Deku,” but that’s not at all the case… he still calls him Kacchan out of childlike adoration. I think that goes to show that Izuku still saw Katsuki’s strengths over his flaws as opposed to the opposite for most other characters. A lot, if not all, of his class were quick to point out how shit his personality was, but Izuku rarely said much about it.

It’s always “yeah he’s kind of a nasty guy, but he’s amazing in every way” or just “he’s amazing.” Even though Izuku was on the other end of Katsuki’s treatment, he would never really like to acknowledge his bad side that much unless he felt like it was needed. I think it’s Izuku trying to keep up the idea of how he saw Katsuki as a kid and didn’t want to ruin that for himself by hating him. He just wanted to be near him and watch him be amazing without much regard of what Katsuki would do to him as a result and I honestly can’t tell if that’s a good or bad thing. My minds leaning towards bad cuz of Izuku’s self sacrificial tendencies even in his childhood, resorting to following around the kid who hates having him around because he views him as the friendly neighborhood All Might in the making, but at the same time, I think it’s honorable how forgiving of a person Izuku is to be able to see the good in literally everything when the bad is literally punching you in the face. So basically, “Kacchan” is the hero he sees in Katsuki, making “Kacchan” the name of a hero, which is why it’s important to him that Uraraka helped him reevaluate his own nickname, making “Deku” the name of a hero instead of the useless kid Katsuki trying to view him as. And I think Katsuki had a hard time accepting that, because he’s always seen Deku as a hero and just never wanted to admit it to himself because he also saw him as weak.

Izuku’s a better man than me, cuz if my relationship with my childhood friend turned into that, my new nickname for them would probably be “fucking bitch” for the rest of my life, even if we started to get along again.

But that’s why I think it’s also so important and honestly a lot more meaningful for Katsuki to start calling him “Izuku” again and only calling him Deku when it’s in a heroic context, because it signifies things going back “to normal” between them when it hasn’t been normal since they were literally four years old. “Izuku” is Katsuki accepting him and accepting the fact that he genuinely cares about him. He’s not just some “Deku” anymore and he didn’t feel like it was justifiable to keep pretending like he ever was.

I retract my first statement. You’re right Anon - Hori is definitely a genius for that. He somehow made the way they refer to each other an arc of its own and gave so much meaning to something that a lot of people wouldn’t really care about. And it’s kind of beautiful tbh.

[cryptid-intraining]

Thoughts about the Mexican GP and the season so far.

Very happy at yet another Ferrari win, would have loved the 1-2 but I'll get into that. Any points taken off Lando is great in my books and it's starting to look like McLaren is now at risk of losing the WCC as well if Ferrari keeps this up.

As a Max fan, he absolutely deserved those penalties but I think anyone complaining about how unfair it is, is being silly. He did the move, got the penalties. That's fair. Fucking around and finding out is a gamble all drivers make at some point, sometimes getting those penalties is a price they're willing to pay.

My biggest issue with the narrative and criticism Max has been getting about those two incidents is that it was sloppy driving. I think Martin Brundle called his second move a "red mist" moment and I think in light of what Max has said about the incidents, that is just untrue. I think it's fairly clear to see it was a calculated decision that Max made as soon as he realized that the RB20 did not have the power to hold the McLaren behind. In his own words, without the penalties he may have ended up ahead of the Mercs but Lando probably would have won the race.

He dropped a possible 13 point loss to 10. That's a championship move, that's how you win the WDC. Race wins and podiums don't matter to Max at this point clearly (yes he would prefer to be winning, obviously) his goal going into every weekend is just about finishing higher than Lando or as close to him as possible. That car does not have the tools for him to go offensive and outscore Lando every race so of course he will do anything in his power to ruin Lando's races and slow him down and get in his way. It's strategy.

And dragging that car back from 20s of penalties to P6 was a feat in and of itself, especially if you look at the races that Perez and Piastri had. Especially Piastri, considering he had the whole race and superior machinery and ended up in P8, behind Max and KMag. Really not a good weekend from him overall.

Onto the Ferrari's. I honestly don't know what to say, Carlos was incredibly strong all weekend, well deserved win. But once again it feels like Ferrari sometimes really struggles in managing to bring home a 1-2. They're often too afraid of their drivers fighting out front which is fair but asking your other driver to lift and coast every five minutes or so was a ridiculous call that cost them the 1-2. You cannot LICO on hard tyres for the majority of a race and keep temperature in them, which makes you lose grip and nearly crash as we saw. Charles was very lucky and very quick to catch that snap before it put him in the wall.

Not taking away from Carlos' performance because he was just the quicker driver that weekend but once again when he comes under pressure from Charles he tries to get Ferrari to pull team orders. It's something he has done time and time again and it gets a bit frustrating to see. If team orders had not been established prior to the race, he had no grounds to come on the radio and comment on Charles closing the gap in the first stint. If I heard that radio message without context I would have thought Charles had dive bombed him or something, it was ridiculous.

Now, I know Carlos was asked to lift and coast too but I think in context to Carlos' radio message and the weird atmosphere between them after the race (could be reading into) I don't think Charles was particularly happy with the strategy.

And finally McLaren. I think we are so wrapped up in the hype of having such a competitive season that we're not seeing what this year is going to end up being for McLaren and that is: disastrous. They've been so shockingly indecisive this whole season and I think if Ferrari keeps this performance in the last leg of the season it is going to cost them the WCC as well because they've just been acting like they've got it in the bag and I think that's the key difference in attitude between McLaren and Red Bull, to some degree Ferrari too. Max himself has said it, even if he's 50+ points ahead he's not going to let Lando pass him easily because that's not how you win. Dropping your guard and thinking you're safe is how you lose, coasting to a win is how you lose, if that was how Max Verstappen raced he wouldn't be a three time world champion and he certainly wouldn't still be 47 points ahead.

But it feels almost like McLaren are just assuming that the WCC is safe because they have good drivers and the fastest car but I think there is a possibility they're going to walk away with nothing and it's going to be very embarrassing for them because everyone expected immediate performance from their drivers once given a championship car, that's what everyone has been saying about both Lando and Oscar for the past few years, that they're championship material and they just need the car.

I don't disagree, I think they both will get a WDC eventually but it's put them both on these pedestals of performance that they've just been unable to live up to yet. Lando has not been consistent, he has shown he has a long way to go in terms of wheel to wheel battling and needs to improve his ability to make calls and strategy decisions on the track and Oscar has to be more competitive in qualifying if he wants to pose a threat to Lando.

And the team needs to pull it together if they want to win. Stop asking your drivers so much, don't let them call all the shots on strategy because it doesn't work. Sometimes when I hear their radio messages I actually start to lose my mind because why are they having full conversations? It's too much information for too little. Drivers should never be that involved in the strategy, it's distracting for them and shows everyone else how little faith the strategists seem to have in themselves. It feels like they're improvising as they go.

All in all, I think this season is going to do more for Max's reputation than any other championship season he's had. 2023 was dominant and incredible but people will always just say he had no competition and therefore it means nothing which is an insane thing to say about the most successful singular season in the history of the sport, 2022 for some reason people just write off. Once again, they'll just say he had the best car so of course he'll win, and 2021 is obviously fraught with controversies that overshadow what was objectively a brilliant season for Max. But 2024? It's showing that he does not need the fastest car to win. Not even the second, but the third fastest car (at points the fourth) and he's still 47 points ahead.

It's brilliant. Hasn't won a race in months and he's still winning. In a car that at points didn't even turn, with an engine that seems to want to fail every other weekend, with a practically non-existent teammate, and a team that feels like it's falling apart around him.

But it's just the car. Okay, so where's Lando? Oh, right, 47 points behind.

See you in Abu Dhabi.

[lurkingshan]

My mind has been spinning and spinning around episodes 3 and 4, and I have so many feelings about them that I have been struggling to decide what I want to write about. One of @bengiyo's questions is about the different feel of this part of the story in the transition from page to screen, including the overall kdramafication effect, and I felt that most keenly where Hyung was concerned.

Let's start with the obvious: Hyung is not supposed to be this young and hot. But then, Young is not supposed to look like Nam Yoon Su, so I guess we can let that one go. More than that, though, I think episode 3 went out of its way to make Yeong Su a more appealing love interest than he ever seemed to be in the novel, and that had a clear purpose: to make the comedown in episode 4 so much worse.

Episode 3 used the familiar trappings of romance dramas to help us understand why Go Yeong was so drawn to this man despite some of his rough edges. They had interesting dates with good conversations. They shared an umbrella in the rain. They kissed sexily outside. They danced together in Yeong Su's (much nicer than described in the book) apartment. I may or may not have actually said OH MY GOD out loud when they were moving together to that old song; it was intoxicating in exactly the way early attraction is. Instead of viewing Hyung through the bitter recollections of Young's memory already knowing he's a bastard, we experienced him the way Go Yeong did when he was first catching his interest, and it was easy to see why he would latch onto this man as a balm and a distraction while he was going through a very hard time with his mother's illness.

Which means it hurt so much worse when Go Yeong emerged from that initial haze in episode 4 and realized who Yeong Su really was. He got a hard look at the deep internalized homophobia Yeong Su was carrying and projecting onto him, and it was not pleasant, nor was the way it echoed across his experiences with his mother.

Another interesting change made in the adaptation was to increase the severity of Hyung's crime; where in the novel he only searched and read articles on the evils of homosexuality, in the show he wrote the damn article while Go Yeong slept in his bed. A much larger betrayal and blow for Young. And this makes sense for the screen version, IMO; the romance is deeper and therefore so must be the fracture. Everything is just a bit bigger and more dramatic to amplify the themes of the story and to help the audience understand why this might drive Go Yeong to such a low moment without the benefit of his internal monologue to connect all the dots.

I was reflecting on these changes and how they affected the tone when I read @solitaryandwandering's thoughts, because I was intrigued by her reception of these episodes as darker, where for me, with the (much) more depressing novel version in my head, they felt lighter than expected. Which is kind of a wild thing to say about a section of the story that includes Young's suicide attempt, but context is everything! The T-aras, of course, also contribute to how different this section feels. In the book, Young is presented as so isolated and alone with this relationship, but in the show he has friends who know and care and try to help and show up for him in his low moment to make sure he is not alone. It makes such a difference to the bleakness of it all, and also makes the story feel more cohesive across the different parts in a way the book intentionally does not.

I think ultimately the adaptation choices made here were smart, and I continue to be impressed with how thoughtful Sang Young Park has been with his different visions for his story in each medium.

[failedfics]

BNHA/MHA Story Snippet #1: Kirishima X Reader

Quirkless AU -- Kirishima Eijiro X Reader

Word Vomit: 1710

Content: aged-up characters, (legal) drinking/alcohol misuse, (lowkey) cheating/infidelity, boyfriend's best friend, roast session, Kirishima drops f-bombs, swearing, confession but not in the way you're likely thinking, spending the night/unplanned sleepover, Bakugou is mentioned

(Skippable) Quick Context: The reader is with Bakugou, but Bakugou's a massive jerk towards her. Some way, some how, she ended up being alone with Kirishima at his place; I couldn't figure out how, and I wasn't even far enough in the story to be at this part, but it got written. I think it was supposed to be a party or something; I don't know. The premise of the story doesn't really matter anymore, but that's pretty much what happened before this snippet -- which is absolutely nothing, because it never got written and, like mentioned, I never got that far along in the story.

You poured yourself another drink.

When you went to lift the glass to your lips, Kirishima blocked your lips from the rim. The pair of you giggled. When you tried, again, to get a swig of the alcohol, Kirishima had stopped you once more. "What are you doing?" you chuckled. "I don't want you to drink too much," he said before putting a can of beer to his lips. You rose an eyebrow. "So you can be four beers deep, but I can only be two glasses of wine in?" The red head smiled at you. "That's different. You still have to drive home. Not to mention, you'll regret it when that massive hangover comes later." You scoffed. You went to take a sip out of your third glass of red wine, and Kirishima let you this time. "I couldn't possibly regret anything more than dating Bakugou." 

The pair of you froze when you had said that. Shit, where had that come from? You looked over at Kirishima, and he was already looking at you. Your mouth fell agape. Way to confess that to his best friend. With no way to explain yourself, you took a big gulp of wine and averted your eyes. You were shocked to hear Kirishima suddenly laugh. "No kidding. It's hard enough being his friend sometimes. I don't know how you manage to be in a relationship with him." You weren't expecting that, and you were suddenly intrigued. You focused your eyes back on him. "It's hard being his friend?" Kirishima gave you an exaggerated look. "Being Katsuki Bakugou's friend? His best friend? The absolute hardest. Guy's a jerk."

Kirishima had six more beers, and you had finished off the first bottle of wine and were halfway through another bottle. You became giggly, and Kirishima's language became vulgar. Stories about Bakugou were swapped, and eventually, it became a bashing session. The pair of you talked about how he was a terrible person to be around, and how the pair of you found it hard to be around him most of the time. You talked about how he kept you around for ego and would constantly insult you, and Kirishima spoke of the same. You talked about his bad habits, and Kirishima disclosed some of his most embarrassing moments. Guess Bakugou wasn't as great as he made himself seem. "Honestly? Fuck him," you finally said. You tilted back your wine glass, trying desperately to get the last few drops of your sixth helping. "Seriously," Kirishima agreed, crushing his beer can and putting it in the small pile he had created on the table. A few moments of silence past before the red-head finally broke it.

"Hey, [Name]?"

"Hm?"

"Why do you put up with Bakugou, anyways?"

The question was sudden but one that you had seen coming. You laughed it off. "Why do you put up with, Bakugou?" Kirishima shook his head, sliding closer to you on the couch. "No, seriously. Why do you put up with him?" His close proximity flustered you -- either that, or you were warm from all that wine you had drunk, and Kirishima bringing all of his body heat from his own alcohol consumption hadn't made it better. "I mean--" his voice broke you out of your thoughts "--you're super nice, you're funny, and you're really cool to be around. Not to mention, you're smart, and..." Kirishima's voice drifted off before he confidently said "You have a gorgeous smile."

You felt your face flush -- it was definitely not the alcohol this time. You fiddled with the empty glass in your hands. "Y-you...like my smile?" He gave you his own signature grin. "Absolutely," he confirmed without hesitation. "And your laugh is fu--frickin' adorable," he censored. He must've realized that he'd swear a lot whenever he was tipsy, just as you had. You noticed that his arm was draped across the top of the couch and right next to you. You looked back at his reddened face. You felt your stomach flip when he leaned closer to you. Your knees were touching now, and you looked down briefly when you felt the contact. When Kirishima chuckled, you looked up at him again. "Sorry. I had scooted closer to you, because it seemed like we were super far away, but I guess that was the beer. Depth perception and everything." You felt the reverb of his laugh in your core, and the way that his lips curved when he smiled...

Your eyes widened, and you gasped audibly. This was starting to get too real. Better yet, it was getting too intimate. The red head's face immediately went to one of concern. "Hey, are you all right?" "Y-yeah, yeah! I'm go-- I'm fine!" You planted your hands on the couch to stand.

"It's just getting late, and I sh-- woah."

"H-hey! Careful!"

Not your brightest move. When you stood up so suddenly, everything came crashing back down, and you started to really feel the effects of all that wine that you had drunk. It was, admittedly, more powerful than you had anticipated. Still, you, thankfully, fell back onto the couch, but you slumped over and landed in the crook of Kirishima's arm in the process. The pair of you made eye contact, and it was no mistaking that you saw each other get flustered. It took some extra effort with the room spinning, but the pair of you separated from one another. You were now on opposite ends of the couch trying to gather yourselves.

Kirishima didn't allow the silence to linger for long, clearing his throat somewhat loudly before he spoke. "You were right about it getting late. We should get some sleep." You nodded, a delay in your voice as you agreed with a, "Y-yeah. We should." You felt as Kirishima moved to get off the couch, but it appeared that he was experiencing the same difficulties that you were. He chuckled. "Well, I was going to grab a blanket and tell you that you can have the bed, but, shit, I can't even make it to the closet." You joined him in laughter.

"I wouldn't want to take the bed from you anyways, if that makes you feel better."

More laughter. "It doesn't, because I can't make it to the fucking bedroom either."

"Well, how about this. Whoever can get up first can have the bedroom."

"Deal. Hope you don't mind sharing the couch if neither of us can get up though."

An agreement was made, and the night proceeded. Kirishima groaned as he reached out for the TV remote that was on the coffee table in front of you. Thankfully, a nearby lamp was used as the source of light, so it didn't take much effort to lean over and turn it off. You settled into your respective side of the couch as Kirishima turned on the TV and flipped through the selections of a random streaming service. "Any requests?" he asked. You yawned in response. "I don't think I'll be up for much longer. You can pick." Kirishima yawned backed. "Fucking same, dude. Whatever--" he selected a true crime series "--this will do."

The two of you weren't long into the show before you felt your eyelids get heavy. You regretted not wearing something comfier. You really wanted to take your jeans off, at the very least. You felt the straps of your bra bite into you, and you sighed. Suddenly, your jeans weren't the problem. You looked over at Kirishima, and his eyes were shut. You quickly snaked your arms under your shirt, removed your bra, and stuffed in between the cushions of the couch. This was much better. You curled up and shut your eyes. A few seconds went by before you opened them once more. This was not better. Your jeans were restricting you too much and curling up was just not an option. You weren't bold enough to take your jeans off. You looked over at Kirishima again; his eyes were still closed. You breathed heavily. "Fuck it." You needed to stretch out. You scooted over to the red head's side of the couch. You shamelessly laid your head in his lap, but it wasn't long before you felt him stir. You looked up at him, and you saw him looking down at you.

He gave you a quick smile. "Getting comfy?" You nodded. "Here. Let's do this instead." You lifted yourself off the man as he adjusted himself and swung his leg over you, sandwiching it between your body and the couch. You fell into a natural position and laid your head on his chest, nuzzling into him; he was so warm. You sighed in bliss. "Oh yeah, this is the stuff," you breathed out. You felt the rumble in Kirishima's chest as he chuckled. "Yeah? I meant to ask if you wanted to borrow some clothes. Don't get me wrong, you look nice, but I don't think that's suitable for sleep." Your eyes met his. "Wouldn't that mean you'd have to get up?" Kirishima smiled, resting his head on the plush arm of the couch. "I was just gonna give you what I was wearing to be honest." The pair of you laughed. "And besides, if I got up, I'd have to take the bed. Why would I wanna miss out on this?"

Your heart fluttered and clenched at the same time. Kirishima was so sweet, but this was not right. You shouldn't be over at your boyfriend's best friend's house by yourself. You shouldn't be enjoying the sweet words that your boyfriend's best friend said to you. You shouldn't be cuddling with your boyfriend's best friend on his couch. You shouldn't be happy that your boyfriend's best friend wanted to sleep together, too. You nuzzled more into Kirishima's chest. It was just the alcohol working. Your imagination and better judgement was just running free. You didn't like Kirishima that way. This was all platonic. It was just two tipsy friends sharing a couch.

"Hey, Kiri?"

"Hm?"

"Is that offer to borrow your clothes still available?"

"Of course. Did you want the shirt, too? I don't know if you'd be comfortable with me being shirtless."

It's just the alcohol working. This was all platonic.

[lupinsversion]

𝐒𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 - 𝐏𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐤𝐢𝐧 𝐆𝐮𝐭𝐬

• summary: when reader and sirius are meant to be carving pumpkins, they find themselves a bit distracted

• contains: sirius black x fem reader, established relationship, flirting, pumpkin fight, hints at sexual context

• word count: 1.2k

masterlist || requests

The weather is chilly and crisp as Halloween creeps ever so closer. The sun is slowly setting below the horizon, casting a warm golden glow over the scene.

A small pile of pumpkins sits on the ground next to them, fresh from the farmer's market.

A small table has been set up outside, a few carving tools and a couple of old magazines spread out. Sirius stands beside her, a big, goofy grin on his face as he grabs ahold of a knife, ready to start carving the first pumpkin.

"So we have the knives, the pumpkin.” He lists off on his fingers, a playful gleam in his eyes, "Some old magazines for inspiration, oh and your wonderful presence. I’d say we've got everything we need for a fantastic carving session, wouldn't you agree?"

“Real cheeky.” She commented with a playful roll of her eyes as she scooped out the insides of her own pumpkin, the weird goop covering her fingers.

He chuckled heartily as he watched her scoop out the insides of the pumpkin, a mixture of amusement and disgust on his face. He couldn't help but admire her determination to get down and dirty in the gross, pulpy mess.

"I can't help it, love.” He replied with a cocky grin. "Just comes with my charming personality."

She took a small bit of the pumpkin’s guts and seeds and playfully threw it in his direction.

He let out a loud, surprised gasp at her playful act. He hadn't expected her to throw the pumpkin gunk at him, and it caught him completely off guard. A look of disbelief was evident on his face, mixed with a hint of amusement. "Did you just-" He sputtered, unable to finish his sentence from surprise.

“I did, and I would do it again.” She stuck her tongue out playfully before resuming the scraping of inside the pumpkin as if she were doing it this whole time.

He stared at her for a moment, shock still evident on his face. Hs couldn't believe she had the audacity to throw pumpkin guts at him. But then his expression shifted, a mischievous grin spreading across his face. "Oh, that's it." He grabbed a handful of pumpkin guts off the table and threw it back at her with a playful laugh.

She let out a squeal before picking up a clump of her hair that was now covered. “Not the hair.” She whined.

He chuckled at her squeal, finding her reaction absolutely endearing. He tried to look sympathetic, but the hint of mischievousness was still present in his eyes. "Oh come on, it's just a little pumpkin guts."

He reached out and gently picked a clump of the pumpkin guts out of her hair. "I think it's an improvement, honestly. Really brings out your highlights."

She looked up from her hair to his face, her eyes narrowed in a cold glare.

He couldn't help but chuckle at the cold glare in her eyes. He loved seeing her riled up, even if it was just playfully. He took a step closer, the mischievous grin still present on his face. "Oh, don't look at me like that," he said, feigning innocence. "You started it."

“I didn’t get it in your hair.” She protested grumpily.

He just smirked, enjoying the way she pouted and protested. He loved seeing this grumpy, slightly bratty side of her. He took another step closer, closing the distance between the two of them. He reached out and gently tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, his touch almost tender.

"Trust me, love, if you had gotten it in my hair, we'd be having a different kind of conversation right now," he teased.

She had to suppress the smirk that threatened to pull at her lips, he was walking straight into her trap and didn’t even know it. She pouted as he spoke as she sneakily lifted up her hand with a bit of the inside of the pumpkin between her fingers, slipping it in between his lips and onto his tongue.

He opened his mouth to respond, fully confident in his banter, when he suddenly felt the cold, slimy sensation of pumpkin guts slide onto his tongue.

A look of surprise mixed with disgust flashed across his face as he sputtered, the bitter, cold flavor of the pumpkin guts hitting his taste buds. He immediately pulled back, a mixture of shock and annoyance in his expression. "What the-" He grumbled, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, "What was that for?"

“My hair!” She expressed dramatically.

He couldn’t help but roll his eyes at her melodramatic display. He knew she was trying to get a rise out of him, and damn it, it was working.

He reached up and ran a hand through his hair, trying to assess the damage. thankfully, not a lot of the pumpkin guts had gotten in his hair, but he was still slightly annoyed.

“Really? You’re gonna play the ‘my hair’ card?” He said, trying to sound frustrated, but failing to hide the hint of amusement in his voice.

She waved her pumpkin covered hair in his face. “Look at it!” She demanded playfully. “It’s all mushed together. Besides, pumpkin is edible, it’s not going to kill you.”

He grumbled, reluctantly admitting that she had a point. he couldn’t stay annoyed at her for too long, no matter how much he tried. He reached out and grabbed a handful of her pumpkin-filled hair, gently combing through it with his fingers to untangle it. “Fine, you got me.” He conceded, a playful glint in his eyes. “But next time, aim better.”

“I’ll aim for your nose next.” She smiled up at him innocently.

He chuckled at her innocent smile, finding her boldness endearing. He took a step closer, towering over her with a mischievous smirk. “If you get it in my nostrils, I’m pinning you against the wall.” He warned, a hint of challenge in his eyes.

She couldn’t help the little giggle that escaped her. He found her giggle adorable, and it only served to make his desire for her grow. He took another step closer, closing the distance between them even more.

He reached out and placed a finger under her chin, tilting her head up to look at him. “Be careful, love,” he teased, his voice low and sultry. “I can only hold back for so long.”

He could feel his desire for her ignite, his need to have her and be close to her growing with every passing second. He leaned closer, his face mere inches from hers, his breath hot against her skin.

"You really do like pushing my buttons, don't you?" he whispered, his voice a low, hungry rumble.

“A little bit.” She confirmed in a whisper as she brushed her lips over his.

He felt a thrill run through his body as her lips brushed against his. He was completely captivated by her in this moment, his need to kiss her and explore her body overwhelming.

Without warning, he cupped her face in his hands and claimed her lips in a fierce, passionate kiss. his tongue teased at the seam of her lips, seeking entry into her mouth.

© lupinsversion 2024

[agenttommykinard]

I think the deleted scene is simply showing you how much Buck is cared for by the people he chose to be in his life, and from someone who craved that care and attention for so long I just think that's neat that Buck has so many people now that do, and idk I'm just happy for him

[cluescorner]

Randomized Robins AU - Ages + Worst Trait Exercise:

Steph (25):

Says her worst trait is her murderous rages (she is exaggerating for dramatic/comedic effect, she’s killed 3 people tops and for very good reason)

Thinks her worst trait is her spitefulness (one of the few traits she definitely got from her father + one that prevents her from fixing her relationships and living her best possible life. She’ll refuse to interact with someone she dearly loves after an argument (happens significantly less after Tim’s death) or will say things she knows are hurtful just for the sake of having the last word. This trait will worsen in some ways as the list of people who have wronged her and those she loves grows, but will also ease up as she matures and realizes the harm it’s doing to her relationships with those she loves most.)

Her worst trait really is her spitefulness

Cass (26)

Says her worst trait is her self-righteousness (she believes that her goals are righteous and, as a result, she is righteous. Cass becomes very defensive whenever someone questions the mission and often does not second-guess herself. This is a trait she only develops later in life as she grows closer to Bruce/learns to understand herself more/starts to love herself more. But she knows she isn’t perfect and when somebody she trusts criticizes something she is doing she is willing to listen. She just usually isn’t the one to START the introspection.) 

Thinks her worst trait is her self-righteousness. 

Her worst trait actually is her obsessiveness (she gets it from Bruce and, while not as bad as him, she will easily become preoccupied with her night-life and the mission if someone isn’t there to pull her back. She will do this to the point of self-destruction and it hurts her relationships with the people she loves, especially Steph.)

Tim (24)

Says his worst trait is his spitefulness (he actively rejects the idea of mending his relationships with the older members of the family and this causes him to also lack good relationships with the younger ones)

Thinks his worst trait is his obsessiveness (similar to Cass, if he gets fixated on a task or idea he will neglect everything else in his life in order to dedicate more time to it. Unlike Cass, he will almost never be dragged away from it unless Pierrot snatches control of the body and forces them to take care of themself.)

His worst trait actually is how manipulative he is (the KING of guilt-tripping and using people’s emotions against them. He’ll do whatever he needs to do to get what he wants, he’s not above crocodile tears. And he will do it to whoever he needs (or wants) to with little care for how his actions impact others.)

Pierrot (Insists: “Age doesn’t apply to me! And even if it did, I'd probably be the oldest. Or the youngest! I’d never be a middle child, though.” Mental assessments by the Bats have put him around 21, with a margin of error of 3 years. Pierrot has called this “blatant character assassination by my eternal rival!”)

Says his worst trait is that he is an irredeemable psychopath without any regard for the wellbeing of others (this is a lie and everyone who's important to him understands this). 

Thinks his worst trait is his parasitic nature (he literally would not exist had Tim not suffered the way he did. Plus he is a living reminder of one of the worst things that happened to many of his loved ones. He is a parasite injected into a functional person's body and contributes to his continued suffering. This is also a largely incorrect judgement of himself, caused by his actual worst trait.)

His worst trait actually is his limited sense of self (he doesn’t really know who he is outside of ‘inheritor to the legacy of the Joker (a man he despises yet also views as a father)’ and ‘chip in Tim’s brain that became sentient’. He slowly develops an identity over the course of his life and relationships with other people, but he lacks the foundations of identity that most people have. Pierrot will often almost become a caricature of himself and what others perceive him to be because it's the only person he knows how to be. This causes wild swings in how he behaves and relates to others, sometimes to the detriment of himself and others.)

Dick (17) 

Says his worst trait is his clinginess (he is a very extraverted person who likes to be around others, which mixed with his fear of abandonment after his parents died means that if he goes a few days without seeing/talking to a friend he will get very anxious.)

Thinks his worst trait is his anger issues (he gets ticked off very easily and will explode on people. He’s kind at his core and is usually very nice, but he has a temper that can escalate significantly. Spoiler (and later Twist) help him channel this anger into something positive.)

His worst trait actually is his anger issues.

Barbara (18)

Says her worst trait is her disability (internalized ableism, she thinks of herself as less valuable than the other Bats because she cannot be out there in the capes like they can. She will grow out of this as she matures and as she learns how invaluable her support for the team is.)  

Thinks her worst trait is her disability 

Her worst trait actually is her overly-independent nature (In an attempt to overcompensate for everything she can no longer do, she has resolved to do literally everything that she possibly can without any help from others. This results in many instances where she either takes on too much and winds up not being able to fully realize any of her tasks or where she makes her life and the lives of others significantly harder by refusing help when offered/not asking for it when she needs it.)

Damian (16)

Says his worst trait is his perfectionism (he is overly critical of both himself and others, taking any flaw or problem and amplifying it to an absurd degree. This is due in part to his life with the LoA (where even a brief misstep could lead to death), in part to how others treated him initially as Spoiler (any flaw was fixated on and used as a reason to either mistrust him or portray him as unworthy of the mantle), and in part due to the fact that he is Bruce’s son (the only person with worse perfectionism problems than Damian). Gradually, Damian has improved in this regard but it’s still a massive barrier to both his own happiness and his relationships with others.)

Thinks his worst trait is his perfectionism 

His worst trait actually is his perfectionism

Duke (16)

Says his worst trait is his definitely-real secret evil side (says this as a ‘my dad is a villain so who knows??’ joke)

Thinks his worst trait is his impulsivity in his words (Sometimes he will crack a joke or say a remark without thinking it through, leading to a LOT of hurt feelings and drama. He’ll say something without thinking it through and wind up seeming insensitive. This isn’t done because of malice, rather because Duke is someone who’s quick to act and speak. But while the mantle of Insight and his awakening powers have helped him with his actions, they do not always help with his loose tongue. As such, Duke gains an unfair reputation in the media as an instigator and will accidentally cause family drama through what he says.)

His worst trait actually is his impulsivity in his words

Jason (14)

Says his worst trait is his bad manners (he grew up on the streets and has no idea how rich-people society works, which he’s pretty insecure about considering he’s now the youngest kid of Bruce freaking Wayne). 

Thinks his worst trait is his reactiveness (Jason never got the privilege of planning ahead for various events in his life, so he instead needed to rely on being swift and harsh in how he could react to situations. It’s saved his life on multiple occasions and helps significantly in his role as Spoiler, but it can also lead to extreme overreactions (accidentally causing kidnapping scare after Jason ran away following a fight with Dick) and a struggle to plan things out ahead of time. As he grows more secure in his place in the family and in life, this trait will lessen but never fully dissipate.)

His worst trait actually is his reactiveness