#i’m pretty sure he has a more recent quote about how this is what the comic industry is now but idk

[roseworth]

from alan moore’s book about writing comics…. alan help something terrible has happened

[midnightorchids]

Hey babe- I wanted to know how you felt about booknerd!reader x Jason. Because it's been rotting my brain forever now and I need to know what someone as genius as yourself thinks about it. So like- We know Jason is a book girl. He's got huge floor to ceiling shelves in his apartment filled with non-fiction, historical fiction, classics, and maybe a few Si-Fi titles. I feel like he would love Toni Morison, Maya Angelou, Henrik Isben, Margret Atwood, and maybe even Harukai Murakami. He has this beautiful collection of leather bond additions of the Iliad Bruce gave him when he was 16. And when he finally invites you over, he cannot contain his excited smile as you start gushing over his home library. He makes you guys coffee and you spend hours talking about your fav genres, authors, online author drama - and after he's walking back to his apartment after dropping you off, he's smiling down at his phone at the message you sent. 'I had so much fun today! Ur library is so so so cool, was wondering if you would be ok going with me to Chapters next week? Wanted to pick up the new Skyward book' He's kicking his feet and hiding his face in his pillow. So deeply overjoyed that his crush shares in his immense love of literature. After you guys officially get together, he buys you so many fucking books. He fallows your goodreads wishlist religiously and surprises you almost every month with a new addition to your growing collection. He usually collects used paper backs, but for you, he splurges on the hardcover special additions. Of course it's because he loves you but it's also so that, maybe, you'll be more incentivised to move into a different apartment. One with floor-to-ceiling book shelves and a shared bed... just saying.. He branches out into more genres and authors he wouldn't usually read from just so he could talk about your favourite books with you. You do the same - your book collections getting mixed together in the process. Library dates, bookstore dates, used-bookstore dates. Your first couple of dates and realisations of love happened in and around books. You would always leave little messages inside the first page of the books you give him. So that if your every away or he's on a mission and he takes a book with him, he'll have one of your small messages of love as a reminder of something to return home to.

Hi hon!! I’m so sorry for the late response, I’ve been dying with uni and just life in general recently, but I’m back and ready to write again!! But I agree with pretty much everything that you said, like you’ve written it out so well and it’s just so cute! I was literally giggling and kicking my feet at the last one omg. I shall try to add more stuff!!

Jason’s go to present for his loved ones is annotated copies of his favourite books. He only does this when he feels comfortable with a person because sharing his thoughts feels raw and vulnerable sometimes.

Having a significant other who loves to read and appreciates these types of gifts would make him feel happy and very emotional. It’s not often he gets to share this side of himself with people.

When he gifts his copies to his friends or his partner, he feels like he’s leaving a piece of him with the person, so he only does this when he trusts you.

He leaves detailed little messages on the margins of his books. He draws little smiley faces on the cute parts and angry faces on the parts that made him upset.

In the books for his significant other, Jason leaves little notes around the quotes that remind him of you. He highlights them in a different colour and makes sure his notes look extra tidy.

He sucks at wrapping things, so sometimes you’ll get a very poorly wrapped, tape covered novel. You’ll look at the wrapping and laugh, you’d pinch his cheeks teasingly and tell him he did a good job. He’d turn his face away in embarrassment, which leads to you placing a gentle kiss on his cheek.

Then, there would be times where he doesn’t have the energy to deal with the horrible wrapping paper. So, you’ll be gifted a plain paper back with a sticky note on the front cover that reads ‘for you,’ in squiggly lines.

It’s honestly sweet and he gets very shy about it.

Also, Jason’s taste in books is very diverse, he reads anything from the classics to romance to gothic horror. He reads anything and everything and because of that, I think that it would be very easy for you to share your thoughts and recommendations with him.

Even if Jason hasn’t read the book, he listens intently with a huge smile on his face. He loves listening to you talk. If he doesn’t know the author or the book, he will try to familiarize himself with what you’re reading and branch into different genres.

There would be lots of reading and bookstore dates. You’d browse through the different aisles with his hand in yours, only letting go when a particular book catches your attention. He watches you in awe as you gush about the different series.

(Side note, my friends and I always go to bookstores and just point out the worst books we’ve read and I think Jason would do that too.)

As you search through the shelves to find your next read, he’ll come to you all excited, rambling about the book in his hand. From the looks of it, it seems like he loves the book. His hands are moving around, he’s smiling and giggling, but if you pay attention, he’s actually just cussing out the author.

This becomes a tradition in your relationship. You both bring up books that you hate instead of the ones that you really enjoy. You’d spend the next hour of your bookstore visit just giggling at the random passages that the author thought were good enough to share with the world.

I think this would also lead to a book club of reading awful books sometimes just for shits and giggles. There would be weeks where you would read amazing, well written stories together, but then there would be times when you guys would pick up something bad just to make fun of it.

Overall, Jason would love having a book nerd significant other because he finally has someone who he can geek out with.

[aramynx]

IZUKU MIDORIYA HEADCANONS...

*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.* *.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.* *.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*

ꕥ baby, my love, sweetie

ꕥ remembers everything- and i mean everything you’ve ever said to him

ꕥ he can quote word for word what you said to him on your first date actually

ꕥ he remembers off the top of his head what you like- which snacks are your favourite, which flavour and brand of ice cream you like, where you are in the show you’ve been watching recently

ꕥ he still gets nervous and giddy around you even after you’ve been together for a while- surprise kisses turn him into a flustered mess when he really isn’t expecting them

ꕥ “oh! hi sweetie, i didn’t see you there- what’s all this for?”

ꕥ loves to ramble about things to you but he does worry that it bores you or freaks you out sometimes so he tries not to carry on for too long

ꕥ when you tell him you love his rambles he just about explodes- he falls in love with you all over again

ꕥ chronically late coming home- whether it’s because he was stopped by a fan, or he needed to go grab some stuff from a store, or if he saw a new limited edition all might figurine…

ꕥ you’re so used to it that you always expect him to get back 30 minutes later than he actually should

ꕥ even though it’s become a routine, he still apologises for coming home late

ꕥ “hey baby! I’m so sorry i’m late home again- they just released a new Kamino All Might figurine!”

ꕥ speaking of figurines, he has a room dedicated to them- and he keeps them in pristine condition

ꕥ he does get nervous about you-or anyone- going in there, but he trusts that you’d never hurt his All Might collection- it’s important to him!

ꕥ you can not sleep around this man- he makes a lot of noise even when he’s trying to be quiet.

ꕥ he’ll sit in bed with an open notebook, scribbling away as he plans things out or puts new information into his hero book

ꕥ “so, if we do… in the morning and then wait… group d arrives in the afternoon, that gives us about 4 hours of rest time between missions… not enough backup… then when the sun starts setting we’re going to head towards… and everyone can take shifts… not secure enough… maybe more to the west… what would all might say? … oh… yeah i see it now… i know what we need…”

ꕥ sometimes he stays up into the early hours of the morning just muttering and writing while you sleep beside him

ꕥ he feels really bad if he wakes you up

ꕥ “oh! i’m sorry, i didn’t mean to wake you, sweetie… i get it, sorry for being so loud- i’ll come to sleep now too okay?”

ꕥ he likes to wrap his arms around your waist and pull you into him to cuddle- he’s still pretty short so he snuggles his face into the warmth of your back

ꕥ over-plans for dates, tries to cram too many things into your dates on his days off and you never end up doing half of them

ꕥ you appreciate the sentiment though!

ꕥ he gives you a lot of flowers- he’ll buy you new ones whenever he sees any in the store, usually accompanied by a note to remind you how much he loves you

ꕥ He was so nervous to bring you home when you started your relationship- more than you were. He just didn’t really know what to expect

ꕥ Inko loved you immediately! She says you’re an amazing person for Izuku and that you compliment each other well.

ꕥ You regularly go to her apartment for dinner- usually every Tuesday night, it’s something you all look forward to doing!

ꕥ Izuku loves that you get along with his mother, it makes him so happy that she loves you as much as he does.

ꕥ you swear he has a different picture of the two of you as his wallpaper every time you look at his phone

ꕥ he likes to have lots of photos of you- he makes sure to take at least one per date!

[avastrasposts]

When's the last time you lived?

A short little one-shot (2.6k) with sweet Marcus PIke for @pedgito @chaotic-mystery and @amanitacowboy and their Summer Loving writing challenge! Thank you for putting this all together!

I was given a quote, a location and Marcus Pike to write for, plus this lovely mood board as inspiration. No warnings needed, this is all fluff!

You really couldn’t say you were enjoying yourself. Leaning against a wall at the back of the stuffy gallery, you sipped the sour red wine and let your bored eyes drift across the crowd. All of your friend’s new boyfriend’s acquaintances, mingling with dry canapes and faces molded into interesting looks as they competed with each other for the wittiest line about the artwork lining the walls. 

Little did you, or anyone else, know how interesting the evening would turn out in the end. All you knew was that the dark haired guy who kept circling the room, making polite small talk and eyeing the art, was as cute as he was sexy. He was the only thing keeping you from making a bad excuse and dipping out. He kept glancing over at you, catching your eye, and you’d exchanged quick smiles. 

When the front door suddenly swung open and four armed police officers marched in, the party froze. With widening eyes you watched as the cute dark haired guy stepped up to the gallery owner, right in the middle of schmoozing a client, and flashed an FBI badge. Within a few minutes the party was broken up, the owner in cuffs being led away and a team of FBI agents swarmed in and started packing up the artwork. You found yourself ushered out onto the street with the rest of the guests, but as you turned to leave, one of the agents held out his hand. 

“Miss, you’ve been asked to stay just a few minutes, Agent Pike has some questions for you.” 

“F-for me? I don’t know anything?” you stammered, following the agent to the side as the other guests hurried away, throwing questioning glances back at you.  

“Thank you, York, I’ve got it from here,” a second male voice said, putting his hand on his colleague's shoulder. The cute dark haired man smiled down at you as the other agent walked away with a brisk nod. 

“I don’t know anything about all this, I was just here with a friend, her boyfriend-” 

“No, no, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for you to think you’re a suspect,” he said, shaking his head with an apologetic look, “I just wanted a chance to come over and say hello before you left. I couldn’t interrupt the raid.” He gave you another warm smile and held out his hand, “Hello, I’m Marcus.” 

You huffed a small laugh of relief as you took his hand and gave him your name, “I’m glad, getting arrested by the FBI is not on my bucket list.” 

That’s how you’d met Marcus Pike, FBI agent, foodie, art nerd and all around great guy. Not to mention an incredible lover and pretty damn near perfect at dating. He did move kind of fast, eager to please and to make sure you always knew what he felt about you. It was endearing but unusual, but once he opened up about a particularly bad relationship in his past you understood him more. He needed reassurance that you were both on the same page, and when you told him you needed to move a bit slower, he understood and backed off a little bit. You dated, had fun, and kept it at that for now. No need to rush. 

This evening he’d invited you to the opening of a new exhibition at the National Gallery of Art. He’d been out of town a few days for work, and you’d felt a little jolt of excitement when you’d spotted him in the crowded foyer. He was scanning the crowd for you but hadn’t seen you yet, so while you crossed the room you took in his tall, broad form. The gray, soft looking, sweater stretched across his shoulders as he pushed a stray strand of his hair off his forehead and scratched absentmindedly at his scruffy beard. The beard was a recent addition, he’d been clean shaven when you met, but he’d let it grow out for a job. He’d complained that his beard never filled in, but you loved the look on him, and how it felt when he kissed you. So he’d kept it, making sure to tickle you with it when he trailed kisses over your neck, laughing when you squealed and squirmed under him. 

As you got closer he saw you approach, and he moved through the crowd with a warm smile. His hand cupped your cheek as you met, and he bent his head to press a soft, lingering kiss to your lips. 

“Hey,” he murmured against your mouth, “I missed you, honey.” 

“Missed you too, Marcus,” you smiled against his lips as you felt his other arm curl around your waist, pulling you into his chest, “How was your trip?” 

“Boring but successful, we got hold of the evidence we needed,” he said, still close to your mouth, letting you trail your fingers across his cheek while he smiled, holding your gaze until you had to kiss him again. 

“I should’ve planned a date at my place instead of in public,” he chuckled, pulling away slightly as you became aware of the crowd milling around you. His hand slipped from your waist and took your hand instead as he gave your cheek a final caress.

“Should we go see what the fuss is about?” he asked, holding up two tickets for the exhibition and you nodded. 

“Let’s see if it was worth giving up the couch for.” 

You ambled together through the exhibition, and it was definitely worth it, as Marcus no doubt had known it would be. He’d visited the van Gogh museum in Amsterdam a few years earlier and hadn’t wanted to miss this exhibition, the biggest one of his works in the US. You weren’t familiar with van Gogh apart from the sunflowers. But as Marcus walked you through the exhibition, reading the signs and asking what you thought about different aspects of the paintings you hadn’t even considered, you began to see that there was a lot more to van Gogh than cheap posters of sunflowers and a man who’d cut his ear off. 

You stopped in front of one of the last works of the exhibition and felt yourself be sucked into the image. The small sign said it was called ‘Wheat field under Thunderclouds’ and the petroleum blue clouds gathering on the horizon, threatening to envelope the sunlit wheat fields captured your imagination. Marcus stopped just behind you, his warm palm on the small of your back, as you took in the atmosphere in the painting. It felt melancholy, the end of summer, the end of warm days, a looming disaster in the distance, rolling in to destroy the wheat fields just as they were ripening. 

“What are you thinking?” Marcus asked in a low voice, he seemed to sense that the painting had stirred something in you. 

“The painting makes me sad, it looks like the end of a warm day, the storm clouds are so ominous,” you said, pointing to how they had rolled up right to the edge of the frame. 

“He painted it just a week before his death, along with several other pieces on the same subject,” Marcus said, “It maybe be a bit on the nose, but I always thought of the clouds as his own looming troubles, maybe he was feeling happy when he painted them, but he knew darkness would roll over him again.” 

“Knowing that makes the painting even sadder,” you said, looking at the dark clouds again, “But I really love the painting anyway. That one and the one he did for his nephew,” you pointed over towards a bright painting of flowering almond branches against a blue sky. 

“That’s one of my favorites too,” Marcus said, “and The Starry Night.” 

He took your hand as you walked slowly towards the exit, “I have a surprise,” he smiled, “I’ve arranged something special for us. Wait for me in the gift shop and I’ll go make sure everything is set up, give me five minutes.” 

“Come here first,” you said, not letting go of his hand as he tried to walk away. He turned back with a grin and came willingly as you pulled him down for a kiss. 

“You’re the best boyfriend, you know that right?” you told him and he chuckled, ducking his head for another kiss. 

“I try my best,” he replied with a wink. 

He gave you a quick smile as he left the gift shop, leaving you to browse a ridiculous assortment of pens, mugs, water bottles, umbrellas, trays, key chains, t-shirt and phone covers adorned with artwork. A book on van Gogh’s work caught your attention and you were flipping through it when Marcus came back. 

“All ready for your surprise, if you’ll accompany me,” he said, holding out his arm for you with a big smile, and you put your hand on his soft sweater and let him guide you out of the shop. He led you away from the crowds, further into the museum, where the lights were dim. 

“I found this little nook, hidden away,” he said, taking another turn, leading you into a gallery filled with marble statues, “And I thought it might be a nice place away from the crowds.” 

“And we can be back here?” you asked, looking at the very empty rooms you were passing through. The rest of the museum was closed for the night, it was only the van Gogh exhibition that had been available to celebrate its opening night. 

“Yeah, sure, I’m FBI,” he grinned, “I’ve got my badge with me just in case.” 

“Marcus,” you say, almost stopping dead in your tracks, “are you sure this is ok?” 

“It’s fine, honey,” he smiled, “When was the last time you lived, huh? Let’s bend the rules a little,” Marcus winked again and tugged you with him, and you felt a reckless giggle bubble up as he led you further into the statues gallery. 

“I’m pleading innocence if we get caught,” you laughed and Marcus smiled, turning a final corner. 

“Here, my lady, dinner is served.” 

“Oh, Marcus!” you gasped at the scene he’d set up. Right at the end of the room, surrounded by elegant Roman statues, was one of the museum’s benches. But now it was covered by a white tablecloth and on it was laid out a picnic, if you could even call it that. The bench was laid with plates and cutlery, two wine glasses and a bottle, together with candlesticks and a single red rose in a vase. Several take out boxes sat between the plates and you could smell something delicious. 

“How did you even do all this?” you asked as he led you to the “table” and made you sit down. 

“Easy,” Marcus grinned, “I brought it from home and put the bag in one of the lockers, then I ordered the food while we were in the exhibition and it arrived right on time.” 

“I’m so impressed,” you said, holding up your glass to let him fill it with wine, “you’ve outdone yourself.” 

“I hope not,” he laughed, “I need to come up with something really great for when I p-” He bit his lip and stopped short as his cheeks turned scarlet, “Sorry, forget I said anything.” 

“The dreaded p-word,” you said, smiling to make him less uncomfortable, “It’s not as scary now as it was six months ago. You’re making the prospect of it less intimidating.” 

Marcus’s face softened into a look of relief, smiling as he took your hand, “And you’re making it easier to just enjoy our relationship right now, thank you for showing me how to slow down.” 

The kiss he pressed to your lips lingered, the food forgotten for the moment, until leaning over the bench became too uncomfortable and you pulled a part. Marcus looked down at the take out boxes and picked one up. 

“Let’s eat before it gets cold, it’s from my favorite Greek places, I hope you like it.” 

“You haven’t given me bad food once, Marcus,” you said, accepting a helping a some spinach dish, “I just wish I could repay you, but since you don’t share my fondness for microwave meals, you’ll just have to keep picking restaurants.” 

“Actually, I was thinking,” Marcus said as he served himself and you sniffed one of the side dishes with feta cheese, “I wanna get better at cooking, maybe we could do one of those cooking classes together? And then we could cook together sometimes, what do you think?” 

“That’s a nice idea, I could do with some cooking classes,” you replied, “Did I tell you I actually set fire to the curtains in my first apartment? I put the toaster too close to them on the window sill and then I burnt the toast and the whole thing went up in flames.” 

Marcus looked at you with wide eyes, “Seriously? Were you ok? Did you get burnt?” 

“No, I was fine, my roommate knew where we had the fire extinguisher so she put it out and then the fire department showed up and made sure it hadn’t spread,” you chuckled at the memory and Marcus shook his head. 

“Lucky, and maybe I should handle the toast the next time we’re at my place.”   

“Marcus, you don’t even own a toaster,” you laughed, “between the two of us, we own one coffee machine and two microwaves.” 

“And a popcorn machine, don’t forget the popcorn machine,” Marcus replied, his warm brown eyes smiling at you as he reached out and swiped a crumb from your bottom lip with a soft touch. 

“It does make excellent popcorn,” you mused, watching him turn his attention back to the eggplant dish on his plate. 

Marcus was a foodie, you’d found out on your very first date when he’d planned a three restaurant “pub crawl” that ended up being four when you told him about your favorite gelateria. You’d agreed to share the ice cream since you’d had dessert at the third restaurant. That plan fell through the second Marcus tasted their cherry gelato, you’d both spent the better part of half an hour tasting all the flavors until he’d settled on cherry and hazelnut chocolate and you’d gone for stracciatella and lemon. Strolling through the warm evening, you’d eaten your gelato while Marcus asked if you’d like to go on a second date with him to a food truck festival and from then on, food had been the theme. 

When all the food had been eaten and the evidence of your secret picnic had disappeared into Marcus’s bag, he took your hand and brought you to the middle of the room. The lights were dim, the statues surrounding you cast in shadows, and it could’ve been creepy, if it wasn’t for Marcus’s presence. He put his phone down on one of the benches and low music filled the room, a slow instrumental piece, and held out his hand in an unmistakable gesture of inviting you to dance. With a smile you took his hand and stepped into his arms as he began to move you both in a slow twirl. You put your head against his shoulder as he led you in time with the music, his warm scent and steady heartbeat lulling you into a comfortable silence. His hand gently caressed your back, holding you close to him and you could feel his breath ghost over your cheek as he bent his head and pressed a soft kiss to your skin. 

“I love you,” he whispered, his voice low in the dark room. A simple statement, no grand gesture, no fanfare or lengthy speech, just an uncomplicated affirmation that filled your heart. 

“I love you too.” 

[valentine-cafe]

. ˚◞♡ fire elemental boyfriend x gn!reader◞ ₊˚

. ˚◞꒰ verse 9948e rasui ꒱ fire elemental x reader, mercenary leader x reader ⊹ ۪ ࣪

𖹭. you call your fire elemental boyfriend after nightmares plaguing you.

you’d tossed and turned enough times for your mind to tell you that there would be no rest for you. not unless the warmth of familiar arms wrapped around you. and that deep, comforting voice of your boyfriend murmured that everything would be alright to your ear. not after that nightmare.

nervously, you take a glance from your wrinkled sheets to your phone idle on the nightstand. second-guessing has always been your weakness.

while typically, you would call him without hesitation. you could not help but feel a small twist of guilt in your tummy.

your fire elemental boyfriend had told you earlier that he is quite busy at work. something about finalising paperwork to keep tabs on a certain series of missions. he’s always kept you in the dark when it came to his job. because - as quoted by him: “it’s not something your pretty little head should worry about, حياتي ( hayati ).”

oh, but worry you do. worry that you may disturb him whilst he is busy. and while his words of assurance have quelled your anxieties time and time again - it seems that the one, persistent voice was louder than the rest.

so with a quick suck of breath through your teeth. you use the sudden shock to your nerves to dart your hand out and snatch your phone. the bite to your lip is another drive to swipe your caller open and hover your thumb over the recent contact list.

should you?

shouldn’t you?

a flutter from the corner of your eye makes you jump. snap your head over to stare at the side with wild eyes. to your window with blinds drawn and curtains covered. must be a shadow.

it’s what you tell yourself in a desperate attempt to quell your heart that races like the cars outside. the city life of the society of shades is something you should be used to.

regardless of what it is. it’s all the more incentive to dig your thumb against his number and watch as the calling screen lights up your phone.

one,

two,

thr -

“my love?”

his mere voice sends warmth through your tummy and chest. even when clearly laced with undertones of overwork and freshly drunk coffee.

“. . . hi rasui,” you murmur. back to square one. you immediately feel small all over again. the urge to tell him what’s wrong instead lumps at the back of your throat.

there is a moment of silence, before his concern bleeds through the line.

“are you alright?”

“I’m okay. how are you?”

you wish to curse at yourself for lying. your fingers flex around the phone and your gaze darts back to the window. to the shadows that flicker around the room and make your heart race.

“. . . are you sure?”

thankfully for you, your boyfriend knows you better than you know yourself. even so, you bite your tongue and pick at the white sheets.

“y-yeah I just -”

“hayati,” he croons. assuring. gentle. “you are a bad liar. what is the problem?”

how can you keep it to yourself when he speaks so tenderly? as though you were a flower he so delicately holds. not allowing even a flame to lick at a single petal.

“I had a nightmare.” voice thick with tears and embarrassment, you suck in another breath and quickly add on. “I-I know it’s stupid - if you’re busy it’s okay. I just. I just need you.”

there is a beat of silence. enough for regret to settle in. yet before you can even think of apologising, backpedalling, or even hanging up all together; the skid of a chair against marble floors catches your attention.

“would you like to stay on the line until I get there?”

you can’t even bring yourself to deny. all you reply with is a small hum of agreement as you listen to his shoes shuffle across his office floor. the small clutters you can only assume as him packing away necessary items as he makes his way to the door.

a small click follows a hum. his low and comforting voice brings you flutters instead of frightened shivers. “right. be there in a few minutes. just wait for me, alright?”

you already feel his presence. his heat. so you push yourself beneath the covers and quietly await your beloved. all while you listen to the sounds from his end - all signifiers that you would be in his hold soon enough.

it brings you an assurance that allows the paranoia to fizzle out. your eyes flutter a few times. at last you feel comfortable enough to shut them for a second. maybe two. even longer.

the clock would not wane for much longer before you feel the bed dip. feel those strong arms around your sleepy form. warm kisses to your neck - if only to engulf the entirety of your body.

“I’m here, my love.”

it’s all you need to hear. the kiss that follows to your ear droops your eyes. and you slowly drift off into sleep before you can so much as stop yourself.

[hairstevington]

Do I wanna know?

Eddie Munson x Steve Harrington

Summary: Somewhere in the multiverse, there is a world where everyone has a choice - If you had the option of reading a list of everyone who's ever been in love with you, would you do it?

Word Count: 2.6K

Warnings: Modern day AU sort of?? It's not based in realism, just go with it. Best friends to lovers, Robin & Steve & Eddie all live together because I said so, mutual pining, fluff, confession of feelings, lots of denial but they figure it out eventually

A/N: This idea came to me during my stats class, and then it became very difficult to continue focusing on my stats class. (I wrote it as soon as we were dismissed lol). Enjoy this cute little Steddie one shot! Ao3 link here :)

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

“Dude, did you see what they just announced?” Steve asked as he played video games with Eddie.

“Yeah, it’s some wild shit,” Eddie replied. “How is it even possible?”

“I think it’s fake,” Robin called from the kitchen as she made them all pizza rolls. 

“Not fake,” Steve insisted. “I was reading about it on the internet and a bunch of people are saying it’s legit.”

“Well, if you read it on the internet, it must be true,” Robin remarked sarcastically. 

“Whatever,” Steve said. “I’m gonna get mine and find out.”

The deal was that, somehow, everyone had the option of getting a list of statistics about their lives. It was advertised with a variety of categories to look through - some of them could have been retrieved through bank statements and background checks, like the number of countries visited, money spent, etc. Other categories (let’s be real, the most intriguing categories), were far more mysterious.

Number of near-death experiences. Every book you’ve read, with a total word count. And, the most exciting of the bunch - How many people have been in love with you, and who.

“Don’t waste your money or your time,” Eddie said with a roll of his eyes. “It’s bullshit. Probably just another way for the government to squeeze more money out of us.”

“Come on, it’s not some conspiracy, Eds,” Steve replied. “I’m just curious, that's all.”

“Oh, I bet,” Robin chimed in. “Just be honest and admit you want to know about the love thing. You and your ego, Dingus.” Steve smiled. He couldn’t argue with her.

“As if you’re not also dying to read yours,” he countered. 

“I’m pretty sure mine would just hurt my feelings,” Robin said with a sigh. “Robin Buckley - loved by her platonic soulmate Steve Harrington and Creepy Carl from band camp.” Eddie snickered.

“Carl wasn’t that creepy,” he said. 

“You’re only saying that because you were also kind of creepy in high school,” she replied. “No offense.”

“None taken,” Eddie responded with a shrug. “But I think I speak for all former creeps when I say we were just socially stunted and awkward. Most of us grew up to be half-decent people.”

“Way to humble brag,” Steve teased. 

“I’m bragging by saying I’m half-decent?” Eddie replied. Steve laughed and nodded. Meanwhile, Robin quickly scrolled through her phone until she stumbled across what she was looking for with a gasp.

“Oh my god,” she said. “Creepy Carl’s most recent post is about how the patriarchy is a myth.” Steve laughed again and pushed Eddie playfully. Eddie flopped over on the couch and groaned.

“Dammit, Carl, I was rooting for you!” he joked. 

“We were all rooting for you, how dare you!” the three of them shouted in unison. 

That was, of course, a reference to America’s Next Top Model, which Robin showed the boys clips of one night during a rant about the toxicity and absolute batshit nature of early 2000s reality TV. That quote, for whatever reason, stuck. They had a lot of inside jokes like that.

This is how life had been for the three of them the last few years. They’d become best friends straight out of high school, then all moved in together. Life was comfortable and nice. 

-

Steve somehow convinced Robin that they would both get their lists together. Eddie, on the other hand, downright refused.

“I don’t need any of that shit,” he insisted. “It’s not gonna do me any good, and I’m perfectly fine staying in the dark.”

“Okay, I get it,” Steve said, holding his hands up. “You’re scared and lame, that’s totally okay.” Eddie rolled his eyes.

“Shut up, dickhead,” he replied. “This whole thing is stupid anyway. And - and it’s not like we can seriously trust whatever it says. It’s probably just…all lies, anyway.”

“Yeah, but they’re fun lies,” Robin countered. “It’s like hearing gossip about your own life.”

“Exactly!” Steve agreed. “It’s just for fun.”

“Have your fun, then,” Eddie said devilishly. “I’ll be in my room, not being an idiot.”

Robin and Steve put their names and date of birth into a search engine and, within five minutes, each had their respective documents in their inboxes. Steve opened his immediately and eagerly, skipping past all the boring shit until he found the good stuff. 

Number of people who have had crushes on Steve Harrington: 436.

Number of people who have been in love with Steve Harrington: 85.

“Holy shit,” he muttered, looking at the long list of names. He looked up from his phone to see Robin staring at the wall. “Why aren’t you reading?”

“I don’t think I can do it,” she said. “I’m chickening out.” Steve scoffed. 

“What? Robs, come on. You already ordered the damn thing.”

“Yeah, but -” She sighed. “But now it’s, like, real.”

“Do you want me to read yours for you?” he asked. She shook her head. 

“No, I think I’m just going to keep it unread for now,” she decided. Steve shrugged.

“Okay, if that’s what you want.” Robin scooted herself over on the couch so she could look at Steve’s phone screen. 

“Wait, they even have crushes on there?” she asked, her eyes wide. “Jeez, Harrington. That’s quite the list.” Steve smirked, realizing it very much did give him an ego boost. He continued scrolling to see even more categories.

Number of people Steve Harrington has had a crush on: 63.

Jesus, Steve thought to himself. That’s kind of embarrassing. In his defense, some of them were celebrities. He continued reading.

Number of people Steve Harrington has been in love with: 3.

Steve didn’t even have to read the list to know who was on it. He quickly clicked his phone off before Robin could see.

“Hey!” she said. “What was that for? It’s not like there are any secrets between us.”

“No, I just - I’ll read it later,” Steve said. 

Robin would usually be right. She was almost completely right. It’s just that Steve had one secret. And it wasn’t even really a secret, it was just something he kept to himself, because it didn’t really matter. 

Nancy Wheeler

Robin Buckley

Eddie Munson

He had barely admitted it to himself, honestly. It’s not like anything would happen. Him and Eddie were best friends, and if something was going to happen between them, it would have already happened. Now, they were too close, and living together. It was different. It didn’t matter. Besides, Robin was on his list, and he wasn’t running off to date her.

Steve put his phone away and didn’t check the list again for a couple days. 

-

“So, how’s the list?” Eddie asked one morning as he made a pot of coffee. “You haven’t said anything about it.” Steve shrugged.

“It’s like a million pages long,” Robin chimed in. Eddie clicked his tongue against his teeth.

“That’s not surprising,” he said. “It’s a shame Harrington isn’t much of a reader. It might take him years to get through.” Steve glared at Eddie, who grinned in response.

“Are you ever going to stop poking fun at me about that?” he wondered. 

“Aaaaabsolutely not,” Eddie replied. “Steve, The Hobbit is 310 pages. 310. Even one page a day you would have been done in a year, and you’re still not done.”

“Okay, listen,” Steve responded defensively. “It’s not my kind of book, alright?”

“He likes the ones with the pictures,” Robin teased. Eddie laughed and high-fived her. 

“Wooow, okay,” Steve replied. “I see how it is. I’m just gonna grab my cereal and go, then.”

“Nooo, don’t leave on our behalf,” Eddie said.

“We’re soorrrryyyyyy,” Robin added. Steve chuckled and shook his head. 

“Whatever,” he resigned. “I haven’t read the damn list. Not all of it, anyway.” Robin’s ears perked up.

“But you’ve read some of it, right?” she asked. “Spill!”

“Just the first ten names or so,” Steve said. He had gotten a glimpse when he skimmed over it the first time. “I think it’s in chronological order.”

“Anyone surprising?” Eddie wondered. Steve shook his head. 

“No,” he said. “Although it did confirm my suspicion that Katie Crystal was into me, after all.”

“I’m thinking maybe I should read mine,” Robin said quietly.

“Yeah, well duh,” Eddie replied. “You paid for it.”

“It’s just - it’s not a big deal, right?” Steve looked at Eddie to survey his reaction. Eddie just shrugged. “It’s like you said, Eds. We don’t even know if it’s accurate.”

Steve didn’t really know if all of it was accurate, but some of it sure as shit was.

“Exactly,” Eddie agreed. “So, Steve, there’s a chance that Katie Crystal actually hated your guts. Who’s to say?”

Steve rolled his eyes. Another few days passed. 

Robin flip-flopped between whether or not she wanted to read her list every few hours or so. Steve and Eddie placed their bets on how long it would take her to crack. 

Meanwhile, Steve counted his lucky stars that Eddie decided not to buy his list. It was clear that they were bros and nothing more, so Eddie finding out would have made everything incredibly weird.

This was for the best.

-

Things carried on as they usually did, until one day Steve was so bored, he decided to revisit the godforsaken document. Plus, he’d been on a few dates that ended in disaster, and reading about the hundreds of people that were into him was bound to put him in good spirits.

He had no idea just how right he was.

The names were all relatively normal. Steve tended to know when girls had a thing for him, especially back in high school. There were some names he didn’t recognize, which meant that there were total strangers crushing on him. He wondered how that was even possible. Like, at that point, they were just basing it on looks and vibes alone. 

Eh. Steve had crushes on people in the past over less. He kept reading.

He made his way down the list until he reached Eddie’s name. He read it again and again to make sure he was seeing it right. 

Eddie had said repeatedly that this thing could be total bullshit, though. Steve had to take it all with a grain of salt. Besides, crushes meant nothing. Hell, Steve was pretty sure Eddie had mentioned once that he thought Steve was hot when they first became friends. 

Steve made his way to the list of people who’d loved him. None of the names mattered except one. 

Eddie Munson. 

“Oh, shit,” Steve muttered. “Oh, shit!” He jumped up out of bed and paced the floor. He had no idea what to do with this information.

It could be bullshit. It could be nothing. 

Or maybe, Eddie had kept saying it was bullshit because he knew what Steve would find. 

“OH MY GOD.”

Robin came bursting into Steve’s room a few moments later. 

“What? What’s going on?” she said. She looked to see his phone on the floor and his hands in his hair. “Oh my god, you read it! What was it? What’s got you all freaked out?”

“I gotta - uhh - I gotta -” He didn’t know how to finish that sentence with Robin in the room. He had to find Eddie - that’s what he had to do. But his head was spinning too much to do so. 

“That’s it. I’m gonna read mine right now,” Robin decided. She swiftly left to go back to her room while Steve continued to pace. 

“Holy shit,” he said to himself. He thought about it for a few minutes, scrawled something on a piece of paper, and then walked down the hall to Eddie’s room.

Eddie opened the door a few inches, still wearing his sweatpants. He hadn’t left his room yet that day, but his guitar was lying on his bed, which meant he’d been practicing. 

“What’s up?” Eddie asked. 

“I finished the list,” Steve replied. Eddie’s jaw clenched just enough for Steve to notice, and then he shrugged. 

“And?” Steve continued to look at Eddie until he broke his composure. He sighed, then opened his door wider. “Come in,” he said. 

Steve had been in Eddie’s bedroom a million times. They’d watched movies in there and stayed up all night talking and smoked together and dear sweet lord I am so dumb for never noticing.

“Is it bullshit?” Steve asked. Eddie started spinning the ring on his middle finger anxiously, refusing to make eye contact.

“Uhh, is what bullshit?” Eddie replied. Steve put his hands on his hips and cocked his head. 

“Come on, you know what I’m talking about,” he said. “I just - is it bullshit? Tell me the truth.”

Eddie stared at him for a few long moments before gently shaking his head. 

“It’s not bullshit.”

Steve’s hands fell back to his sides, and he felt himself get lightheaded. 

“It’s -” he began, struggling to find the words. He cleared his throat. “Wow, I uh -”

“It doesn’t matter, though,” Eddie interjected. “Just so you know. I like what we have. We’re, ya know, we’re friends. Roommates.”

“Do you still -?” Steve started to ask. He noticed Eddie’s eyes flooded with fear, a sight he rarely saw. “I mean, do you still?”

“Steve, I -” Eddie began, his voice tired. “I really, uh. I don’t know what to say.” 

Steve dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out the piece of paper he’d ripped from his notebook. He held it out for Eddie to take, and when Eddie didn’t reach for it, Steve stepped closer and stuffed the page right into Eddie’s hand. 

“Read it,” Steve encouraged.

“What is it?”

“It’s your list.” Eddie’s faced scrunched with confusion. “Yeah, I made it myself.” 

“I told you, I don’t wanna know,” he said, trying to give the paper back to Steve.

“Trust me, you do.”

Eddie sighed, then unfolded the paper and read it. 

People who are in love with Eddie Munson:

-Me

-(Steve Harrington)

Steve waited and watched Eddie’s eyes travel up and down the page, similar to the way Steve’s had when he read Eddie’s name on his own list. Finally, Eddie looked up. 

“Really?” he asked, his voice soft. Steve smiled and nodded. 

“Really.”

In that moment, they both knew this changed everything, and yet it changed nothing at all. They’d just skipped a bunch of steps of dating - blown past the getting-to-know-you stage straight into living together and doing all the domestic shit. 

Eddie and Steve each stepped toward the other until their hands met. 

“OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!”

Robin’s voice pierced through their intimate moment and completely obliterated it. The boys glanced at each other in confusion and then ran out to see what Robin was yelling about. 

She was already out the front door by the time they got to the kitchen. If this were a cartoon, she would have left behind a cloud of smoke. 

“What do you think that’s about?” Steve asked. Eddie felt his phone buzz and checked it to find Robin had texted a screenshot to the household group chat. He smirked.

“Vicki’s on her list,” Eddie said. Steve chuckled, happy that everyone managed to find their happy ending. 

“You know what that means?” Steve asked. 

“That you owe me 20 bucks?” Eddie teased.

“Well, that," Steve replied. "But is also means we’re alone in the apartment for a while." Eddie grinned and took Steve by the hand. 

“I like the way you think.”

They ran to Steve’s room together, and if the confession of love hadn’t already changed everything, sleeping together certainly did.

It was the good kind of change, though. The kind that moved mountains and cleared all the clouds from the sky. 

At last, the idiots were together. All it took was years of denial and one payment of $44.49.

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

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[hazshit-hotel-hater]

I'm not a "ship" person whatsoever but I do scroll character tags on occasion and see quite a bit of Vox and Vel together as well as what seems to be a lot of what I'm assuming is female original character stuff. I've even seen some Charlie and Vox too. So it's out there, but unless you're scrolling through character tags I can see how it might be hard to find. Personally, I also block/filter a lot of the big "ship" tags so maybe that also makes it easier for me to stumble across this stuff that "slips" through since I don't know if those pairings have names.

I get your point though. I do think many are inclined to erase his bisexuality when it's convenient. Interestingly, they also erase Valentino's pansexuality too. The same with Husk as well, but I check his tag a lot less so who knows.

What disappoints me, and I know I'm about to come off as nit-picky right now lol, is the lack of research people put into their "sexuality" headcanons for the characters with reference to their different eras. When reading some of them, you'd think the idea of "gay rights" was a completely new and foreign topic that only emerged after the early 2000s. I get people want to go for the simplistic "repressed and doesn't know what being [insert identity here] is" for some of the older characters but that completely ignores a fascinating and rich tapestry of queer history that could create far more interesting (and still accurate) stories for the characters/their backgrounds. I would really encourage those who haven't already or are generally unfamiliar to dive into this history as it might inspire their character ideas while also educate them on the work, art, and activism our queer elders have contributed to the community we have today.

I think this may partially relate to character ages being under explored as well. While I've seen debate on what is canon/has been decanonized many of these characters, as far as we know, died in their late 30s and beyond. That's a lot of life to live and experience. While certainly many people throughout history (and even today) kept their sexuality hidden from the public due to culture, shame, and safety that doesn't mean there weren't many incredible private venues/spaces that could be utilized to explore those feelings/identities in secret.

I could go on and on about this but I've totally strayed from your original point (I'm sorry!) and I'm very tired haha. I just think there are multiple factors coming into play here with these character interpretations and, for me, the biggest missed opportunity is the lack of historical research. But end of the day people should have their fun! Just an observation.

Completely agree with this! I doubt my response will be as long since I just woke up but other characters doing certain things or not knowing about sexualities is interesting, it just seems like a lot of people think older people don’t want to explore any of that like it only just happened recently as you said. I like to joke about Angel being shocked about gay marriage and not knowing a bunch of current terms but thats about it. With him being in the mafia when he was alive makes it much more interesting as well, I’m pretty sure around his time the mafia was blackmailing men in gay bars but dont quote me on that I might be wrong.

Anyway for Husk and Valentino pan erasure I see that a bunch too. Not exactly erasure but just… ignoring it? Moreso erasure on Valentino’s end because Ive seen people get mad at people for shipping Valentino with a woman and was like “hes gay dont do that” no he isnt. Also dont ship Valentino with anyone for the love of god. But like people are super used to just making up headcanons that they dont bother to look up actual canon stuff. I know Hazbin isn’t the best but if you want canonically LGBTQ+ characters use what you have and add on later. Or headcanon a background character, thats what I did with Molly.

People are very focused on modern day queerness and forget that this stuffs been happening for decades and it’s a bit sad. Also I seem to have strayed from my own question as well?? Anyway ty for mentioning this! Its very interesting 🩷

[butterflydm]

pulling out bits from recent cast interviews re: s3

Several sets of interviews came out today! wotseries.com has six (!); looper.com, decider.com, & collider.com all have one each.

(speculation and spoilers for s3 and for the books through TFoH)

In Ceara's wotseries interview, we get this little hint:

WotSeries: How far along in the books are you? Ceara: I wouldn’t want to say because I read up to where we are in the scripts, and I think that would give away too much.

This implies to me that s3 is going to go a bit beyond The Shadow Rising, at least in places, because it's no secret that TSR is going to be the spine of the season.

We get more from Daniel:

WotSeries: How about any movement towards developing the relationship between Lan and Nynaeve in season three? Daniel: Season three, yes, it’s more of a build season for those two. There are some really great scenes, some stuff we’re really happy with. We do get to see some intimate stuff, not sexual stuff necessarily. So, some moments with them. But with Lan and Nynaeve, it’s this working toward what the book readers know it’s going to be. It all depends on how much time we get, how many seasons we get to do this thing. That’s a relationship that I’m really excited about and I love working with Zoë.

So, again, yeah, that really does make me feel like we're going to get one or two episodes at the start of the season where the whole crew is together and bonding. In the books, Lan and Nynaeve basically don't see each other at all between splitting up at the beginning of TSR and then eight million years later in ACoS. I do think that we might also get a reunion of at least some of the characters at the end of s3, though.

In Donal's interview:

Dónal: Well, I have big faith in Mat. I’m pretty confident in him. Regarding chatting to women.

This makes me wonder if we're getting Melindhra introduced next season. Because, uh, Mat has not really had a lot of success so far. I mean, apart from the very first episode.

Dónal: Well, there’s loads that you can look forward to in season 3. I mean, we’ve got much of it. I feel like I’ve filmed a good stretch of it, and I’ve really enjoyed the material and the new arc. This arc that I go on this season. And I think you can just expect things to be… there’s more moments with the characters to kind of learn about them in more quiet, subtle ways, more revealing ways. And I think it’s probably common knowledge that Mat does change his clothes between 2 and 3. You know, like really, we would have to ask questions and get concerned if he didn’t. I feel like I could tell you that. And I’m excited, man. I’m very happy to be wearing what I’m wearing.

Not that this should be shocking to anyone, lol, but Mat will have an arc next season! Dónal does a good job of not saying anything here though, lol. We WOULD have to be concerned if he hadn't changed clothes, yes, lol. I am excited to hear that Mat is getting some good character moments next season.

Ceara also shared this with us in the collider interview:

My script is always annotated with little quotes from the books, which I really love.

That's amazing! I think this is the first time anyone has mentioned it? That's a really neat way of giving the actors context for their lines.

We all knew that Elayne & Nynaeve would get a big story together in s3 but we get that confirmed:

We see Elayne bump into certain characters this season, but obviously, this cast is huge and growing all the time. I'm sure you cannot go into too many spoilers about Season 3, but for Ceara the actor, which characters are you really excited for Elayne to get to have more screen time with? COVENEY: I'm really excited to continue the journey that Zoë and I have started with Nynaeve and Elayne. I'm really excited to see where that goes because they've had such a rough start and were thrown into such extreme situations. So yeah, if the fans lovingly call it the Detective Agency, I'm excited to see if the business is thriving.

Natasha had two interviews that I've seen, one with decider and one with looper.

There's nothing for s3 in the decider interview that I could see, but from looper we get:

But it's not just about the evil deeds; it's also about the politics. When you come into Season 3 — without giving anything away — it opens up the mind to this more vulnerable side of Lanfear and where she's coming from. The relationship with Rand — there are scenes in Series 2 [where] you get little glimpses and nuggets of that, that there is a vulnerability there, or more reasons rather than just being dark and evil. Circling back to a previous comment, you said Lanfear knows what she wants. As Natasha, what do you think Lanfear wants? The goal in the whole realm of the world is, if I put it like … Beyoncé and Jay-Z. She wants to be the king and queen. What she wants is the Dragon and her to be together, have their kingdom, make some good choices. That's her main goal, and to shoo away anybody else that gets in the way of that.

So it sounds like we might be getting Lanfear's Big Offer (we could challenge the Creator) to Rand in s3, which would make sense.

[1moreff-creator]

Happy Birthday David Chiem!

Usually, for these characters’ birthdays, I do a somewhat half-hearted attempt at a character analysis. But do you think I’m gonna do this for David? Hell no, he’s way too complicated for me to do something like that in this style of post! And I am not making a post that difficult right after that Mai thing.

So, instead, I’m just going to list a few fun facts, because that’s easier. Hope you like it anyways!

(By the way, I’ve always loved that frame of the MV so, so much)

-His birthday lands on “National Book Lovers’ Day”, which says National but is recognized globally. Considering the MV, I’d say that fits. It also coincides with the Annual Perseid Meteor Shower Peak Night, Co-working Day (hah, as if), and get ready, “Hold Hands Day”.

-His profile states he likes ready-make oatmeal. According to the recent Q&A, he can cook, he just prefers not to. This actually fits with quite a few scenes in the series where it’s implied he prefers not to get out of bed unless necessary (mood), such as his brief outburst in the introduction and the several times he’s shown not to eat with anyone else. Though maybe that’s actually caused by him hating people.

-He dislikes expensive things. Kinda based.

-He does TEDTalks, and that’s presumably where he gets his talent from.

-As he stated himself, he has pretty bad bed hair. And apparently, he can summon it at will, as seen in Ch 2 Ep 11.

-His pupils seem to turn into stars whenever he… smiles or puts on a positive attitude? It doesn’t seem to follow a strict logic other than “whenever it looks cool”.

-He has an older sister named Diana. Or, well, that’s what he claims. Footnote 11 of you-know-what may imply she never actually existed. It’s unclear what this means at the moment.

-He seemed to genuinely like Xander, and wanted to be friends with him, as he’d value that relationship more than Xander’s idolatry.

-The secret quote in his page is "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you. I wish you could just die." How nice! This is either talking to himself, or presumably something he'll say to Teruko since their characters do be foiling.

-The quote on Mai's page attached to him is "She forgives everyone." It's the second to last line in the script, before MonoTV's. I have to physically restrain myself from theorizing.

-Some stuff from the Q&As:

*He usually wears semi-formal, 'professional' clothes.

*His blue hair is actually fully natural.

*This is the default sprite for his fuckboy persona:

... But, like, why though. Why's he so sassy.

*Bisexual with a strong female lean. Diversity win! The biggest liar you know is bisexual!

*His favorite color is gamboge (the yellow of his star pupils), stating it’s inspiring; while his least favorite is gray, stating it’s depressing. This could imply he actually likes the cheerier persona he usually puts on more than his real self, or the villainous persona he plays in the trial.

*He handles his feelings badly. We been knew.

*His hair clips were his manager’s idea, to build brand recognition. Apparently David doesn’t like this manager too much, but he puts up with them for the contract. Also, when he takes off his hair clips in the trial, he places them in his PANT POCKETS.

*I’m sure you’ve realized this, but you remember that section of the Q&A where the dev gives details about the family members we had known about from the series (Elliot Cuevas, Felicity Giles, Fuyuko and Natsuko Naegishi, Ryan Moreno/Rosales)? Diana Chiem isn’t mentioned, perhaps further hinting at her non-existence.

*He has an average amount of strength.

*His favorite ice cream flavor is pistachio, because of course it’s pistachio.

*He smells like men’s cologne, but only faintly. Hope you’re happy with that answer, you weirdos (/affectionate).

*He’s American, like everyone else except maybe Teruko.

And now, for his playlist! I kinda already posted this in a reblog to another post, but here it is officially!

+Literature Girl Insane, by Karasuyasabou (I mean, obviously)

+Undead Enemy, by Suzumu and Giga-P (probably his song from the official character playlist)

+Monochrome Mentality, by Riproducer / RIP

+Grey, by QueenPB

+The Distortionist, by Ghost & Pals (CW: Abuse)

+Copycat, by CircusP

+How to Pretend, by CircusP (FNAF pog)

+Echo, by Crusher-P

+God-ish, by PinocchioP

+The Court Jester, by thquib

+DISAPPEARANCE ADDICTION, by Kairikibear

+Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, by Set it Off

+The Things I Deserve, by Ghost & Pals (CW: suicide)

+All Eyes on Me, by OR3O

+Not Your Angel, by NightCove_theFox (apparently I’m making him into an Alice Angel kinnie)

And, finally…

+Happy birthday! Though he would absolutely despise anyone who tries to sing it to him, I imagine.

[batsplat]

A sentence in Casey’s book impressed me, even though he didn't name anyone explicitly

“Maybe someone who could put on the charm when they need it regardless of sincerity could have turned the situation around but I don’t have that skill.”

He totally gets that Valentino has endless charm, lol. I’m sure he felt it too when they hung out

yes!! this was about casey and his relationship to the fans wasn't it, and in a section of the book where he was talking about his rivalry with valentino, so hardly a stretch to say it was deliberately alluding to him. and of course casey talking about valentino's charm is not unrelated to how casey did seem to like valentino perfectly fine back in the day... how he said back in 2007 that he liked talking to valentino, that they generally talked about stuff other than racing, how valentino gets on with most guys in the paddock... though it's interesting (if not particularly surprising) how by the time the autobiography is written, casey portrays the early dynamic between the pair of them pretty dispassionately. just from the book you'd get the sense of someone who was coolly respectful of valentino until valentino started pissing him off, rather than someone who was... y'know, also a bit of a fan. somebody who got the valentino rossi appeal, shall we say. we all have our crosses to bear

which, I don't even think it was just about the racing. I doubt he ever wanted to emulate valentino in the same way jorge or marc might have wanted to do off the track, but stuff like calling him a "great competitor and a great sportsman"... that for years he'd been "dreaming to be like him"... that valentino and doohan were "the sort of people I wanted to become like"... I reckon that's a little more than simply respect for him as a rider, and I don't think casey back then would have said that stuff just because he knew it'll play well with the public. he found valentino exciting, like so many before and since have done - and still did so for the entirety of 2006 (he said more recently that he was even more impressed by valentino after that season, which is kinda noteworthy given that's the year valentino did, you know, lose the title). but then they became direct rivals, and. well

of course the "regardless of sincerity" in the quote is pretty pointed lol, like he does clearly see valentino as very two-faced and willing to spin a line regardless of whether it's true or not and also as someone happy to deceive others for his own gains. and his rhetoric has also changed just a wee bit since he published the autobiography on that count, where he more recently does stress how... well, he did learn from how valentino played the media! he learned how to get friendly with journalists! he learned how to play that game, of trying to win the public discourse! he might never have liked it, and he still probably would say like in the autobiography that this "charm" "regardless of sincerity" isn't something that he'll ever be as good at as valentino was. but he did dabble in the dark arts just a touch... I think one of the most interesting tensions of that rivalry is to what extent valentino forced casey out of his comfort zone both on- and off-track and ended up making casey adopt behaviours and attitudes he continued to find reprehensible. casey considers valentino 'selfish' both on- and off-track but to fight him both on- and off-track he became more selfish in turn... very dramatically compelling

anyway, here's casey chatting to fellow aussie jb when he's come to watch the podium celebrations after one of valentino's 2005 wins:

[gloriousburden]

can u show us ur Loki merch haul or list the items u have? :D -🔎

I REALLY WANT TO I’VE BEEN MEANING TO FOR THE LONGEST TIME IT’S JUST I HAVE SO MUCH STUFF IT’S SCATTERED EVERYWHERE IN MY ROOM 😭😭😭😭

Ok this is just a list I don’t get into many specifics but I’ll post pics of anything if anyone’s curious

Loki collection from what I can remember !!! I may be missing a few small items

- Mind Scepter replica.

- Tesseract replica.

- Officially licensed Loki cape that is based off his in Ragnarok. Came with a horn headband but I lost it on Halloween when I cosplayed him LOL

- Ragnarok Loki nendoroid!! So cute even if I don’t love Ragnarok. I SO NEED AN AVENGERS LOKI NENDOROID OMG

- Loki funko pops… I have the newer Avengers Loki one with the scepter (I posted a pic of it not too long ago), a TDW Loki bitty pop which is the most adorable thing ever I can’t, a What If… ? Jötun Loki + the version of it that comes in like a soda can I don’t remember what it was called, and Thor 2011 Jötun Loki holding the casket of ancient winters.

- A pair of Loki Mickey Mouse/Minnie mouse(?) headbands. One that was released in 2021, one that was released last year.

- A sort of metal picture thing(?) of TDW Loki that I put heart stickers on LOL

- I have the Avengers Quinjet Lego set which comes with a Loki mini figure, and I have another Loki mini figure as well.

- A McDonald’s toy Loki figure.

- LMFAOOOO THE LOKI SERIES MCDONALDS SWEET AND SOUR SAUCE 😭😭😭😭 :)28:$2&$382&3

- The Loki Disney infinity figure. I actually have a big ass collection of Disney infinity figures, but for some reason never got the Loki one back then.

- A figure of Ragnarok Loki flipping his daggers.

- A print of Loki smiling very menacingly that I taped a bow to. (I posted this not that long ago)

- A Loki action figure that talks and came with a scepter!! He actually looks like Loki I’m very happy about him.

- That be more Loki book. I also have an MCU sticker book that has a few Loki stickers in it.

- This Loki nightlight thing.

- A few Loki centered comics.

- A Loki bitty boomer (tiny Bluetooth speaker)

- A Loki wall sticker pack. I haven’t put the others up but I put the big ass TDW one on my wall and put a bow on his head. I posted this not too long ago LOL

- Multiple Loki Disney pins.

- This cool ass Loki mug that have his horns as a handle.

- Two keychains. A scepter one, and one that’s like a cute chibi version of him.

- A Loki backpack.

- Multiple Loki shirts. The first piece of Loki merch I ever got was a shirt that has what I’m pretty sure is comic Loki on it even though at the time I did not read any of the comics LOLLL it was the only option I had. Omg one is a purple long sleeve with comic Loki on the front, but on the back it has multiple Loki quotes on it OMG it says trust my rage on it OMFOSBDKSJDJ I got it two years ago and i’m still fangirling over it. Oh and another one that says ‘Lowkey Loki’ on it?382:$&2!:&2!: I think I have another But I can’t remember rn

- A scepter pen as well as a scepter necklace.

- A literal… Loki pen. A pen, that is literally Loki. Yes, I drew Loki with it.

- A Loki version of one of those little fans that come with candy in them.

- TWO UGLY ASS BIG HEADED ASS LOKI PLUSHIES THAT I POSTED ON HERE NOT TOO LONG AGO HEHE

- Two Loki Christmas ornaments. I bought one recently but it broke smh I need to exchange it.. 😞

- Oh and this Loki horns headband from Hot topic that literally do not fit me they are too big

- Um. Ashamed to admit this one, but President Loki horns that I bought a long ass time ago because I wanted to do a Loki closet cosplay 😭😭😭😭 I hated how they looked so bad but I knew I wasn’t going to find Like.. Avengers Loki’s horns. But i wanted people to know that I was Loki!! Thankfully my cosplaying skills upgraded from then 😁

- Another shameful but not so shameful one because it came from a time of innocence, and naivety... A TVA Loki poster that I bought I think when the first ep of the series came out or briefly before it came out. Actually I’m pretty sure it was before it even came out. I got excited and bought it even if I knew the vibes were off 😞

[agents-shared-space]

Finding Declan

(This takes place around 2 - 2.5 years after S2/OE.)

“Hey Marie, Ceph’s been kinda mopey lately,” Callie whispered, a worried look on her face. “He’s done nothing more than lay around the outkeep these past couple days.” Marie let out a small, sad sigh. Her face changed from her regular neutral expression to one of sadness. She motioned for Callie to follow her so Ceph wouldn’t hear them. Checking to make sure that he wouldn’t move anytime soon, Marie turned her attention back to Callie.

“Ceph recently had his heart broken,” Marie told her, a few tears running down her cheeks. She hated seeing her favorite agent like this. “He saw Jojo in bed with someone else.”

Upon hearing this, Callie's face was adorned with a look of anger. Her body shook, her hands balled into fists, and growls could be heard. Marie was a bit shocked at her reaction. While she knew that Callie saw Ceph as something of a younger brother. Marie didn’t think she’d have this sort of reaction to hearing the news.

“WHA-!” Callie’s loud, shrill cry was cut short by Marie quickly covering her mouth.

“Keep your voice down,” Marie said through gritted teeth. Her brows furrowed. I don’t want Ceph to hear you.”

“What!” Callie whisper-yelled once Marie’s hand was removed. “Why would she do something like that?”

“Apparently she claimed that Ceph wasn’t ‘fulfilling her needs.’” Marie said with air quotes. She let out a sigh and sat on the ground.

“So she was a hussy then.” Marie just nodded to that. “At the very least, Ceph’s parents raised him right, waiting for marriage and whatnot. What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to try and cheer him up. But, I’m not sure how exactly to do that.” Marie’s voice started to get a tone of annoyance. “Aside from his agent work, schooling, and when he was with his now ex… I don’t know what I can do to help.”

“Oh! Maybe the Agent 4 Facto-”

“That’s outdated now. A lot has happened in the past two years.”

“Yeah, a lot has happened.” Callie had a slight smile on her face as she played with the silver band around her arm. “Oh, that reminds me. It’s date night. Samuel is taking me out to eat. Not sure where, but it’ll be good regardless.”

“You two have fun.” Marie stood up. “I’ll probably take him on a walk or something. I’ll see you later.”

Marie watched as Callie left through the kettle. Her resolve strengthened as she made her way over to Ceph. She was determined to make him feel better for both his and their sakes. It broke her heart to see her favorite agent in such a condition. Even if it didn’t do much, at least a walk would be doing something. Reaching Ceph, she crouched down and gently nudged him.

“Ceph, I hate seeing you like this.” She saw Ceph slowly turn his head towards her, his face red from crying. “C’mon let’s go on a walk. Some fresh air will help you some.”

__________

The two of them had been walking in silence for a while. Marie had her mask on to hide from the general public. Those who passed by the two assumed they were on a date or something. Marie wasn’t sure how exactly to feel about the (seemingly) knowing looks they were getting. While she did admit that Ceph was a pretty handsome man, she wasn’t sure if she would be open to the idea of dating him.

But she knew he wouldn’t be ready for a relationship so soon after heartbreak. She’d just be content with cheering him up and just being there for him. The two of them had been out for a while, and it was starting to get dark now. Marie was about to open her mouth when their stomachs grumbled.

“Ah. I guess it's close to dinner time.” Marie pulled out her phone to look up the nearest restaurant. As she was looking, a shrill cry pierced the air, startling them both. The two of them turned their heads trying to locate the sound.

The cry pierced the air again. Without thinking, the two of them made their way over to it. What they found disturbed them to their core. It was Octolings, or they appeared to be octolings. But they were different. They were covered with what looked to be fur, much like both Judds. One of them had something wriggling in their mouth.

“Oh my squid!” Marie exclaimed as one of the furry Octolings rushed the other one and smashed into it. Causing it to drop what it was holding, only for it to be caught in the mouth of the other one.

“I-is that a baby!?” Exclaimed Ceph as he ran forward without thinking. Several growls were heard as one of the Octolings jumped at him. His years of training allowed him to slide underneath the assailant, causing them to miss him and crash into some cans.

Ceph wasn't the only one that was attacked. Marie had one jump at her, but she simply blocked it with her umbrella. The covering was durable enough to where it wouldn't break unless really damaged. It was a custom-made umbrella she had. Many times fans of other groups would attempt to either prank or sabotage the Squid Sisters by throwing ink at them.

She watched at the fury Octoling bounced off the umbrella and growled louder at her. She wasn't going to let it pounce at her again. While she wasn't as good at close-quarters combat as Callie, she still could hold her own.

Before the furry Octoling could pounce again, she ran up to it and gave it a swift kick in the ribs. She expected there to be a good amount of give, but there was resistance. Resistance followed by a loud cracking sound. The furry Octaian let out a huge cry of pain, specks of red flew out its mouth as Marie could just stare in silence.

Just what had happened to these Octolings? Everything about them screamed abnormal, from the fur to the resistance she felt to the red stuff that came out. Something was wrong. This wasn't like the Sanitized Octarians that Caroline fought; those, at least, acted somewhat like their normal selves.

“C'mon Marie. I got them!” Ceph exclaimed, knocking her out of her stupor. She felt him grab her hand and pull her away. Looking back shocked her. Several of the furry Octarians were lying on the ground. Parts of their beaks scattered around them with the red liquid pouring out of them.

__________

When the two of them arrived at the hospital, they were lucky. There wasn't much of a wait. When the receptionist saw the damage, she immediately called for NICU. The baby was carefully taken from Cephs hands and placed in specially designed ink for babies.

As the two of them waited in the reception room, they were approached by an officer. They were asked what they'd been doing before, how they came across the baby, and what happened afterward. The two of them gave the officer as much information as they knew.

“I wonder if this is related to the missing persons cases” They heard the cop mutter. The two of them stayed quiet as they were sure they weren't supposed to have heard that. The officer nodded their head and left the two of them.

Their stomachs grumbled. In all that had happened, they'd forgotten to eat. There were some vending machines with snacks and drinks in them that could pass the time. They elected to use those.

__________

Several hours had passed since they first came in. Ceph had fallen asleep and had fallen on Marie's shoulder. She didn't mind it as Callie also liked to sleep on her shoulder. However this was a bit different. 

A scent hit her nose, it was Ceph. During all that excitement he had sweated a bit, she hadn't noticed due to all the commotion that happened. But now that things had been calm for a while, she was starting to notice it. She didn't think it was a bad smell, in fact, she thought Ceph smelled pretty good.

‘Is this why Callie never complains about Samuel?’ Went through Marie's head as she watched Ceph's chest slowly rise up and down. ‘Does she think that he smells good?’

Her thoughts were broken as a nurse came through the doors and called for them. Marie gently woke Ceph up and told him they could see the baby now. Ceph got up and stretched as the two of them followed the nurse deeper into the hospital. The three of them walked in silence as they were led to the NICU, inside they were greeted by the sounds of machines when Marie saw it.

“An Inktoling!” Marie's hands shot up and covered her already-masked covered mouth in shock. Inktolings weren't unheard of in their society, but they were rare enough that if you came across one it was an amazing occurrence.

Their rarity was in part due to how Inkling and Octarian biology interacted. They were similar enough to be able to create offspring. But different enough to where such occurrences were rare. Rage boiled up in her as the pieces were fitting together.

“How… how can someone just abandon their baby” Ceph whispered yelled. He had connected the dots as well. While what the mother did to the baby was technically legal, it still was heavily frowned upon.

“Well we can't exactly bring them back to his parents now can we?” Marie watched as the baby was sleeping. “Who knows what'll happen to him then”

“Yeah. We were lucky to have been there the first time. Who knows if we'll be that lucky again”

“And our adoption system isn't the best.” Marie let out a sigh as she continued to watch the baby. “It could be years before he's adopted. If he even is.”

The two of them sat in silence for several minutes, lost as to what to do. Ceph had an idea, but it was not the best.

“Why don't you take him in?” Ceph suggested, much to Marie's shock. “Just think about it. He won't go back to whoever abandoned him, and he won't be stuck in the adoption system.”

“Hmmm,” What Ceph said did make sense. Thanks to the money she earned as an idol, she would have more than enough to take care of him. “I mean I guess. I will have to use artificial ink, even if it's not as good as natural breast ink”

[quodekash]

IM BACK WITH MORE MSP INCORRECT QUOTES BUT THIS TIME THEY’RE (mostly) SHIPPING QUOTES BC I SAID SO 

(also it’s mostly soundwin bc theyve taken over but there’s also tiwpor and tinngun and like one yonook quote lol) 

Win: Hey, are you okay?  Sound: Yeah.  Win: You don’t look okay...  Sound: Then stop looking. 

—- —-

Win: You know, when I first met you I thought you were a real bitch. Sound: What changed your mind? Win: Oh, I still think you're a bitch. I've just grown to like that about you.

—- —-

Sound: You know, when I first met you I thought you were a real bitch. Win: What changed your mind? Sound: Oh, I still think you're a bitch. I've just grown to like that about you.

—-(this quote works both ways lmao)—-

Gun: Can I have a private talk with you? Pat: Okay, as long as it’s not about tampons because I just don’t understand them.

—- —-

Sound: Hey, Gun? Can I get some dating advice? Gun: Just because I'm with Tinn doesn't mean I know how I did it.

—- —-

Tiw: So… I’ve seen you’ve been spending a lot of time with Gun recently. Tinn: No, Tiw, it's not what it looks like, I swear. Tiw: Oh really? So no reason for me to be jealous? Tinn: No! You’re the only one for me. Tiw: Is that so? Tinn: I promise! Gun and I are just dating, okay? He's my boyfriend. Tiw: So there are no best-friends-feelings involved? Tinn: You are still my one and only best friend! They’re just the love of my life, nothing more! Tiw: But I’m still the platonic love of your life, right? Tinn: Of course bro! Tiw: Bro... Gun: What the-

—- —-

Sound: H-how do you ask someone out? Por: Well, first- Tiw: Don't ask him, he asked me out in a McDonalds parking lot. Sound: ...And you said yes?

—- —-

Sound: I still have no idea how I’m attracted to you… Win: Yeah, well, you’re stuck with me, and no take backs, honey.

—- —-

Yo, sweating: Nook, there’s something I need to ask you- Nook: Finally! You’re proposing! Yo: How’d you know? Nook: Yo, you’ve dropped the ring five times during dinner. Nook: I even picked it up once.

—- —-

Tiw: Hey Win, wanna third wheel on my date with Por tomorrow? Win: Sure. Tiw: Sound! Wanna third wheel on my date with Por tomorrow? Tiw: Great! I've always wanted to go on a double date! Win & Sound: … Por: Tiw...

—-(the only reason any of them get anything done is bc of tiw)—-

Sound: You have to apologize to them Win. Win: Fine! But I must warn you that this might make me a better, nicer person and that is NOT the person you fell in love with!

—-(PLEASE let this be how the fight happens)—-

Por: Guys, I’ve been meaning to tell you… Tiw and I are dating. Tiw, Gun, Yo, Win, Pat, and Sound: *gasp* Por: Tiw, why are you surprised?!

—- —-

Tinn: Gun is playing hard to get. Tinn: Little does he know, I'm a master at playing hard to get rid of.

—- —-

Tinn: I’ve been dropping him the most insanely obvious hints for like a year now. No response. Gun: Wow. He sounds stupid. Tinn: But he’s not. He’s really smart actually. Just dense. Gun: Maybe you need to be more obvious? Like, I don’t know… “Hey! I love you!” Tinn: I guess you’re right. Hey Gun, I love you. Gun: See! Just say that! Tinn: Holy fucking shit. Gun: If that flies over his head then, sorry Tinn, but he's too dumb for you. Tinn: Gun.

 —-(this is literally how episode 6 went)—-

Tiw: Ooh, somebody has a crush Win: Pfft, I don’t have a crush on Sound I just think he’s cool, it’s not like I stay up at night thinking about him. *Later that night* Win, very much awake: Uh oh.

—- —-

Gun: *yawns* Tinn: Yeah, being that pretty must be tiring. Gun: Then you must be exhuasted. Pat: Will you two shut up? Some of us are lonely.

—- —-

*playing twister* Tiw: Right hand red. Sound: *ends up on top of Win* Win: You're doing this on purpose, aren't you? Tiw: I stopped spinning like 15 minutes ago. Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't notice.

—- —-

Yo: Why doesn’t Nook find me sexy when I bite my lip? Por: What do you look like when you bite your lip? Yo: *bites lip* Por: ...Have you considered biting your bottom lip instead?

—- —-

Sound: My hands are cold. Win: Here, let me hold them. Sound: My lips are cold too. Win: *covers Sound's mouth with his hand*

—- —-

Win: I owe you one. Sound: That’s ok. You can just date me and we’ll call it even.

—- —-

Tiw: My future partner must be brave, strong, intelligent, successful and organized. Por: *steps on a caterpillar and proceeds to drop to their knees and sob while apologizing profusely* Tiw: That one. I want that one.

—- —-

Sound: The stars are so beautiful... Win: They're just giant balls of gas. Sound: You know what, if you're just going to ruin this, then- Win: And yet none of them are as huge as my love for you. Sound: Oh...

—-(IM CRYING PLS LET THIS BE HOW THE REVEAL OF WIN’S FEELINGS HAPPENS (like sound attempting to flirt with win and win cutting him off with his own cheesy confession line and djfdjjfdjdfj))—-

Win, throwing his head into Sound's lap: Tell me I'm pretty! Sound, lovingly stroking his hair: You're pretty fucking annoying, that's what you are.

—- —-

Win: I don't need to go to bed. I'm not tired, I'll be fine. Sound: But, darling, I'll be so lonely without you. Come curl up in my arms so I can feel whole again. Win: O-oh. Well. Are you trying to seduce me into healthy sleeping patterns?? Sound: Is it working?

—- —-

Win: You are the love of my life and I would do anything within reason to make you happy. Sound: I would be happy if you ate, stayed hydrated and got a reasonable amount of sleep. Win: I said within reason, Sound. How about I murder that guy? Sound: So murder is in reason but proper self care isn't? Win: Well, duh. What kind of question is that?

—- —-

Sound: Are we fighting or flirting? Win: I'm pinning you against a wall with my hand around your neck- Sound: Your point?

—- —-

Sound: I love you. Win, not paying attention: What was that? Sound: I said I’m selling you to the zOo-

—- —- 

conclusion: i love soundwin way too much and need to get a grip on myself like a grip as strong as the grip sound and win had on each others shirts at the end of episode 9 im so sorry ill stop now 

[authortango]

Book Review - How to Win a Wager &  Bite Your Neighbor by D. N. Bryn

I recently finished reading How to win a Wager & Bite Your Neighbor by D. N. Bryn ( @brynwrites ), and I wanted to write a review to show my support and share my thoughts about this fantastic book.

Though my review touches on key themes and plot points from the book, there are no big spoilers in it. I’ve still put it under the cut though in case you’d like to read the book before reading this. Review TL;DR - 5/5, I can’t wait for the next one. You can purchase a copy off Amazon or through one of the other options on @brynwrites website here.

How to Bite Your Neighbor & Win a Wager is a slow-burn romance novel by D.N. Bryn, that also happens to include side-plots regarding vampire rights and committing espionage against an evil pharmaceutical company.

“Wesley didn’t tell his legs to move, but neither did he tell his lungs to breathe or his heart to beat. They did so because they were born to, and he was born to run into Vincent’s arms.”

This quote occurs very late in the book, but I feel it perfectly describes the dynamic chemistry and slow burn relationship Wesley has with Vincent. Also, I didn’t think it was possible for two characters to be so horny and yet so wildly oblivious.

This book was fantastic. I got the horny, vampire fantasy that I bought the book for, but I also received the gradual build to a true, romantic relationship between Wesley and Vincent, as well as an enthralling mystery about the shady pharmaceutical company, Vitalis-Barron, that pretty much owns the town. 

Without spoiling anything, I want to touch on some key things I really liked about the book. For example, I really liked how morally grey Wesley’s character is, as Kendall, his best friend, describes it. His whole character arc as well is very satisfying as he comes to terms with a lot of his trauma and learns to redeem himself. 

I liked all of the meta/self-referential moments in the book in the form of comics and video games, and how it was made a part of the world-building instead of being too jokey or fourth wall breaking. The same thing about the true villains, Vitalis-Barron - it wasn’t too jokey, no “dur-hur evil pharmaceuticals” - no man these people are evil and have a deep rooted history in being evil, as most corporations do. 

The world-building and the politics about being a vampire in general and how vampires live on thin, marginalized lines on the edge of society was also incredibly well done. I love books that take classic vampire myths and decide what to keep and kill from them, as well as recontextualizing them with what it may look like today in a more modern society. Vincent’s experience being a vampire and a semi-closeted gay man explores a lot of what that would look like, but also draws an excellent parallel that gives poignant insight on what it is like to be disabled and LGBTQIA+ in today’s society. I’m sure this was an on-purpose parallel done by the author, and it was incredibly well done.

One more excellent thing D. N. Bryn does with the storytelling is how the miscommunication as a romance trope is executed in a way that is believable and moves the story along. Each character has an incredibly valid, albeit dubiously ethical reason to not tell each other what they really want to. I never once felt taken out of the romance, the intrigue, or the suspense of the plot by the miscommunication issues. It was so well done, I had to put the book down and calm down at the blowup/reveal point, because of how stressed out I was about it.

Overall this was a fantastic book! I give it 5/5, and I can’t wait to read D.N. Bryn’s sequel to this, How to Sell Your Blood and Fall In Love, when it comes out. You can purchase a copy of How to Bite Your Neighbor and Win a Wager from Amazon, or you can check out their website at www.dnbryn.com to find more places to purchase their book.

[herofics]

Hello, hello! I saw your recent post about Hawks comforting a suicidal reader, and I got curious with other writing prompts you made. Little did I know, I would grow to love it very much! I'll definitely read more of your posts in my spare time, thank you for making these!

Anyways, I hope I didn't catch you in a bad time. IF, and only IF you're feeling up to it, I'd like to request a Hawks x female reader who has AWFUL social skills and stutters a lot. It's not that she has anxiety, but it happens too often to the point people sometimes misunderstand her. Nonetheless, she tries REALLY hard to communicate with people, especially with Hawks. Little did anyone know, she has a passion for drawing! One day, the reader decided to finally confess her feelings to Hawks; however, there's a twist. The reader was never really good with words in the first place. Instead, she decided to give him a sketchbook filled with little sketches, paintings and complete drawings of him, the reader, or together, with a bit of aesthetic shtick going on (old timey newspapers, Latin quotes in papyrus, colorful pressed flowers, you know, those kinds of dark/light academia aesthetics you see everywhere). To add the cherry on top, a note on top of the sketchbook says, "You are the walking embodiment of the quote, 'What if I fall? But darling, what if you fly?' Thank you for inspiring me to be bolder and for being with me. I love and appreciate you, Chicken Feet."

I'm not sure if this idea had been done, but don't feel pressured to do it whether or not it has been written down. Again, thank you very much, and I wish you the best day!

Have a Chikim Kigs for all your troubles ^^

Sounds very familiar tbh, I’m super awkward and anxious socially, and I absolutely suck at talking to people. When I really need to tell someone something, I write it down and send it to them as a message, because I suck at talking. I think this is a really cute idea and I hope I did it justice. I have a masterlist in the pinned post where you can find all my stuff categorized by character. I hope you have a great day, I’m certainly having a good one :D

•You’re not very good with talking to people, but you do really try

•People still seem to misunderstand you a lot, and sometimes they even get irritated at you

•Sometimes people just don’t even make the effort to understand, but Hawks does

•He’s very patient with you and if he feels like he’s maybe misunderstanding you, he asks more questions to make sure and the situation usually resolves itself like that

•You and Hawks have been friends for a while now, and you’ve fallen for him pretty hard

•You’re not at all sure if he would return your feelings, he’s always been pretty hard to read and not just for you

•Hawks doesn’t really reveal much about himself, even to the people closest to him, but he does feel really safe and relaxed with you

•You started working on your little sketchbook project about a month before you gave it to Hawks

•It was a fun project but when you finally decided it was ready and you wanted to give it to him, you were super nervous

•You didn’t know how he was going to react, but you knew that if he was going to reject your feelings, he was going to do it kindly, that’s just the kind of person he is

•Hawks came over to your place since you were going to go to lunch from there

•You seemed really nervous for some reason, which he picked up on immediately

•So of course he asked you if something was wrong, and you just handed him the sketchbook and requested he would take a look at it

•He started flipping through it and you could see his pupils getting bigger with each page, like cat’s eyes do

•He was also smiling like a total dork, because he was so happy

•You felt a wave of relief wash over you as he flipped through it and he seemed to be very happy with what he was seeing

•Hawks had been super nervous about telling you how he felt, because he didn’t really know if you would return his feelings

•Your lack of social skills make you a bit hard for him to read, but he did have an inkling about you maybe liking him back

•When he got to the end of the sketchbook, he saw your little text bit with the “Thank you for inspiring me to be bolder and for being with me. I love and appreciate you, chicken feet”

•He suddenly hugged you were tightly and whispered in your ear “I love you too, dove”

•You felt all the nervousness leave your body as he said that and you hugged him back after you got over the initial shock

•You were so happy he returned your feelings and also that he liked your way of confessing to him

•Hawks is over the moon and the two of you also go through the sketchbook together because he wants to know how you made it

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

Well then… :)

Re: In My Life - I think it makes a lot of sense that the song is a parent talking to a child - recounting their memories and also “when I think of love as something new” (could be referencing parental love?). But while I think it’s possible that John would write a song for a child despite being a distant parent, I am also not sure if that reading of this particular song is not too gracious (as in I’m not sure John would put parental love above love for his soulmate coded companion - in reference to “in my life I love you more” [than anybody else]). But songwriting does not have to be that literal, I guess.

The songs I did not know about are:

- Remember (listening to it, I don’t feel strongly about it either way - it’s about some sort of a disillusionment and betrayal, interesting Guy Fawkes reference - could be about The Beatles given the context, ig).

- Who Can See It (yeah, no objection)

- I was aware of No Words and Denny Laine credit and... what an interesting coincidence, huh. 🤨

- Crippled Inside (hmmm, a good one. Just by looking at it - I think the first verse applies to Paul better than John, the second one has an interesting reference to Instant Karma, verse 3 seems generalized - but yeah, if it’s in some way about Paul or John, it’s pretty heavy)

- Some People Never Know I knew about, but I always felt like John might be only referenced (he’s “some people” lol, maybe “only fools” if we are willing to open our minds), but otherwise it’s addressed to Linda.

- Another Day how???

Could you tell me more about Day Tripper? Or post a link if you talked about it before? I can kind of see where your interpretation is coming from but I want to know!

Oh I hear you re: In My Life and John's take on the "levels" of love. I do think the song is interesting because, while it's placing the person on a pedestal it's specifcally not outright dismissing the past. And yeah, reading the song from the perspective of a parent does generate my probably favourite reading of "When I think of love as something new". I'll say, I think he may have only adopted that soulmate attitude after meeting Yoko. Like, clearly Yoko shifted how he approached relationships, so it's possible he had a less all-or-nothing attitude before he realized that was an option. I'd even say the way he described meeting Yoko as "teaching him" that someone could be everything to him would even indicate that.

WELCOME TO THE NO WORDS CIRCLE! lol

Nice catch with the Instant Karma! parallel. That's another song I forgot to mention actually. I feel I'd place it in the "I like to think it's about Paul but I'm not sure" category.

No yeah, that's what I meant with Some People Never Know. If John is anyone he's the person who "never knows" (which, if it IS about John is actually kind of harsh lol… though also apt for Mister Divorce Prediction)

Huh, did I mention Another Day?? (outside talking about the line in (Just Like) Starting Over?)

Re: Day Tripper

the source for the highlighted quote is David Sheff's book (so the full Playboy interview).

Basically, given the period when this song was written, I don't see how the fact Paul had recently outright refused to drop acid with him wouldn't be at the forefront of his mind when writing a song about this concept. Paul would have epitomized the subject matter at the time of writing. I sort of think of it as Paul up until now having been fine trying out drugs with John (prellies, weed) but suddenly backing out. That's how I read the "one way ticket" lines and "she took me half the way there".

Also, and I have no clue how much they discussed what this song was about, but the way they trade off the vocals is delicious lmao.