#i’ve seen the image of it passed around a lot before

[stingyslegslookweird]

Fun Kaixa Fact

As I’ve mentioned before, there’s a semi-niche Kamen Rider toyline called Card Warrior Kamen Rider that gives pre-existing Riders new forms. For example, here are the boxes for V3 Flaresalamander and Agito Stagtornador:

But did you know Kamen Rider Kaixa also got a Card Warrior form? Indeed, here’s the box and figure for Kaixa Chaosdile!

Information regarding Card Warrior as a whole is remarkably difficult to come by, so I’m not sure how exactly this form is acquired or if it makes Kaixa any more powerful or anything, but it’s certainly a form that exists.

[theorphicangel]

“𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬?” | 𝐌𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐥 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦! 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

synopsis: you have a valentine’s date tomorrow and you’re somewhat excited for it. but there’s just one thing you’re unsure about…thankfully your trusted roommate can help. right?

tags: roommate au! (Here we go again), smut, 18+, oral (m.receiving), blowjob, praise, mutual pining, these mfs are in DENIAL smh

PART ONE.

“You have a valentine’s date?”

“God, O’Hara don’t even try to hide the surprise in your voice, why don’t you.”

You cross your arms, frowning at your roommate who was currently sitting next to you on the couch. The two of you were watching a remake of a new movie that had come out recently. An hour or so had passed, the both of you stuck within a comfortable silence before your words had distracted him.

“How could you blame me?” He begins, his gaze still on the television screen. “I’ve never seen you bring anyone home before.”

“So you keep notice on who I bring home?”

A pause runs between the two of you.

“No.”

“Liar.”

Miguel clears his throat. “It’s none of my business anyways, what you do.”

After a few beats of silence, Miguel speaks again, this time with a teasing tone. “I wouldn’t want to be like you anyways, keeping track of who I sleep with.”

“I do not keep track!” you exclaimed.

“How come you remembered Cindy’s name then?”

You hesitate, stuttering off. “You–you talk about her a lot.”

“Bullshit.” A grin creeps up across his lips.

“You jerk, I was gonna ask you for a favor but since you wanna play that game, nevermind.” You crossed your arms, turning your attention back to the screen. Simultaneously, you had just sparked off Miguel’s own curiosity.

“What’s the favor?”

“I don’t want to ask you anymore, I’ll ask someone else.”

“Like who? Peter?”

“Don’t be mean, mig’.”

The movie continues to play in the background for a minute or two before Miguel starts getting restless.

“So who's the guy then? Someone you paid?” Miguel’s grin doesn’t have the time to stretch across his lips this time as you throw a pillow to his face.

“Hey!”

“Watch your mouth, O’hara.”

The two of you had been roommates for just under a year. You had moved in due to an emergency situation. A few troubles with your finances, student loans and the loss of your job resulted in you desperately responding to a roommate advert posted on the internet. Moving in at the beginning was awkward, the two of you avoiding each other, minimal conversation revolving around the weather and who would take out the trash.

But all it took was one night for the both of you to open up to each other, a shift in your realization that Miguel wasn’t as bad as you thought. A few too many drinks one night led you to learn a lot about each other. Like how he didn’t like the dark yet had a weird obsession with space. You found that he had a brother, a few years younger than him who was almost a spitting image. For him, he learned how you once had wanted to be a painter but soon switched career paths to psychology as well as taking up a foreign language.

Ever since that night, you’ve managed to maintain a good friendship with Miguel, completed with a little teasing here and there. On some nights, when you were left alone in your room, you laid back and stared at the ceiling, thinking about him. Particularly, thinking about him and the girls which he brought home. Your mind wandered to the possibilities of what he would be like with them. Imagining what it would be like to be in their position.

How would he touch you, feel you, look at you? Would he be gentle and take his time or does he rush, his passion taking over his whole body? It was questions like these that plagued your mind. You began to create a fantasy in your head, touching yourself at the thought of him touching you; imagining his movements to be slow and cautious, taking you all for himself.

Speaking of, you’ve recently noticed his lack of…visitors lately. Instead of hiding away with them in his room, he’s recently been spending a lot of late nights in your company.

“What’s your plans for Valentine's Day?” you queried, trying to maintain a casual tone. “Taking Cindy out for a romantic dinner?”

Miguel scoffs, shaking his head a little. “Why don’t you ask her out yourself, since you’re so obsessed with the woman?”

A small wave of ease flows through your mind at his answer. Yet it wasn’t exactly the answer you wanted. You pat Miguel on the chest mockingly.

“I knew she said no to you. If you ever want to talk about it, I’m here you kno—” Unfortunately you weren’t able to finish your sentence as a small scream left your mouth, as Miguel pinched your thigh.

“Watch it, imbécil.” he glared, before changing the topic. “But I’m serious, who's the poor guy then?”

You shoot an offended glare back before repositioning yourself on the couch, turning your body to face him properly.

“Someone asked me from work.”

“And you didn’t have to get on your knees and beg them first?” Playfully, you hit him on the arm and he lets out a fake wince of pain.

“Shut up. And no, for your information, I didn’t.”

Miguel hums, his eyes quickly glancing back to the television screen as he tries his best to ignore the sinking feeling of disappointment in his lower abdomen. Guess he should cancel tomorrow then.

“But I had a favor to ask you.” you turn your body, shifting your position to face him. Miguel merely raises a brow, humming deeply again with his eyes still glued on the screen.

“I was wondering if you’d…show me how to—uhhh how do I put this? Suck someone off.”

Miguel froze. Oh, now you had his attention.

“¿Qué?”

You freeze, clearing your throat as his eyes snap back to you. “I mean it was just a suggestion– I-I’ve watched a few videos but I’m still kinda—I just— I mean, I don’t–”

“You don’t know how to give a blowjob?”

It was a bit more blunt than you had wanted to put it but…yes.

You nodded silently, now choosing to avoid eye contact. “I just wanted some tips, y’know? What do guys generally like? I’ve read that some like it differently than others so…”

“Why are you asking me?”

Ah yes, the million dollar question. Why were you asking your hot ass roommate for blowjob tips? You had the choice to ask anyone: your best friend, or another friend or even a random stranger on the internet. Why him?

“You���re…experienced.” was all that you could come up with. “And not in a bad way!” You quickly correct. “ but I can assume you’ve had your good shares of…that.”

Miguel raises a brow again, swallowing thickly. Anxiety was now bubbling at the base of his stomach. You were asking him how to please a man and immediately his mind jumped at the thought of you with your valentine’s date at the end of the night. Ah, you were asking for your date.

“Well, did you just want tips or did you…” he trails off without finishing the sentence, thinking how weird it would be to finish the sentence that had popped up in his mind.

“ ‘Or did I’ what?” You repeat, tilting your head ever so innocently.

“Or did you want to practice on me?”

/

And that’s how you got here. Kneeling on the floor between the thighs of your very own roommate whom you have only known for less than a year. Was this what you were expecting when asking for advice? Of course not. But there was a sense of excitement that grew in the pit of your stomach and you weren’t going to complain about it.

“So how do I start?” You glance up at Miguel, your eyes wide with innocence and curiosity to learn. Just from the way that you looked at him, he was already beginning to get hard.

“Well, you just start.”

You roll your eyes, “Okay, doofus. So you expect me to just get into it? No foreplay or anything?”

“There’ll probably be some foreplay with your date and stuff but…we don’t have to do that.”

For a split second there’s an aura of hesitation between the two of you; him regretting his last words and you almost wanting to reject his assumption. Mutually, there’s a little voice inside of you that tempts you both to take the chance and do this properly.

But of course, this was a lesson.

A mere, innocent favor from a roommate. With no strings attached. Or feelings for that matter.

Even if it killed you both to suppress them.

You nod silently, taking mental notes. Miguel raised his hips a little to pull down his sweatpants, enough so that you could access him with ease. Now you’re starting to get nervous. Your heart was palpitating so much that you could hear your own heartbeat thump in your ears. “I-”

“If you don’t want to, we can stop.” He quips quickly, noticing your hesitation.

You pause, reflecting for the final time whether or not you wanted to do it. Once you made your decision, you glanced up at Miguel.

“It’s not like I have much time left to practice, right?”

Miguel raises a brow. After all, Valentine's day was tomorrow so you needed all the practice that you could get. “If you’re sure.”

“I’m sure.” you vocalized, trying to sound more confident in this way.

“Okay, lemme just–” Miguel mumbled to himself as tugs down his boxers. You noticed the way the bottom of his shirt hiked up a little, presenting his happy trail; a dark bush of hair leading all the way down to his…

Oh.

It’s big. Bigger than you thought. And he’s not even hard yet.

Miguel seethes a little, his cock only semi-hard. He pumps himself a few times before removing his hand, leaving it up to you. His arms now rest on the back edge of the couch, widening his thighs a little more for accessibility.

‘Holy shit’, you think to yourself, how the fuck were you supposed to deal with this?

Miguel caught onto your expression, panic drawn all over your face. “We can–”

“No.” you interrupt him, reading his apprehension too. His concern for you is more than obvious. “I want to.”

Miguel chuckles a little, “I was going to suggest to take it slow but yeah, if you’re still up for it.”

You swallow thickly, edging nearer before planting your hands on his thighs. This is so alien to you. After many months of tiptoeing around him at a distance, it was scary how fast you found yourself in a position of intimacy with him.

Sure, many times before have you fantasized about what it would be like to get close to him. With the sounds of moans coming from his bedroom late at night, it wasn’t hard for you to figure out how much of a woman pleaser he was.

Slowly, your hand wraps around his cock, feeling him get harder and harder with every second that passes. You think back to the videos that you had watched previous to this, noticing that most of the women decide to give a few strokes before going in with their mouth. You imitate them easily, watching your hand move.

You take in every fine detail: every vein, every twitch, every shade leading from the tip to the base. The crown of his cock is thick, becoming redder with every stroke as juices of pre-cum subtly spilling away.

“Jus’ like that.” Miguel murmurs and you notice how his tone is a little lighter than before. “When you’re ready, you can lick the tip a little, warm yourself up to it.”

You hum in response. You can’t bring yourself to look at him, not yet at least.

Once again, you think back to the porn videos you had watched, imitating the women by tracing little circles across the tip of his dick. Miguel lets out a drawn out groan and little by little you can feel his body relax as you continue on. It tastes salty. The tip of his cock is reddened and soft.

For a minute or two you continue to trace circles, closing your eyes in the moment, allowing yourself to relax and get rid of any nerves or doubt. Miguel says nothing more, his teeth softly biting down on his lower lip, he watches as you hesitate, unsure of how to continue from here.

Miguel’s hand soon reaches for your chin, causing you to pause and tilt your head up towards him. His hand cups right under your lips and your face turns to confusion for a split second before he lets out his command.

“Spit.”

For some reason, your body listens to him without a second thought.

“It’s okay if it gets messy,” he advises, “the messier the better.”

You make a mental note of that.

You make sure to be careful with your teeth as your lips part around his cock. Once again you take it slow, letting your mouth adjust to his size. He’s bigger and thicker than you had expected, barely halfway before he already fills up your mouth. Your eyes water as you attempt to take him whole, a decision which you realize quickly was too hasty as you reach your gag reflex.

“Hey, hey, hey, don’t– mierda!” Miguel sits up a little, trying to pace you. Your eyes water and saliva continues to pool out of your mouth, dripping down to his balls. Your cheeks are full of his cock and as if following his instincts, Miguel almost wants to hold your head there. It takes all of his resilience not to place his hand at the back of your head. He let out a grunt at the warmth of your mouth, coaxing him to stay a little longer. But unfortunately if he does, then he may cum sooner rather than later.

You feel his fingers tap your shoulder, “Hey–” he manages to draw out, “brea–breathe through your nose.” You attempt to do so, just letting off a few inches of his dick, letting your hand stroke whatever you can’t take. With you, you can build up a pace more freely, bobbing your head up and down. You close your eyes, concentrating on keeping your rhythm, a steady pace for now.

Fuck it, Miguel gives into his instincts, letting a hand cup the back of your head ever so lightly.

“Fuck, keep going… you’re doing so well.”

Miguel’s praises boost your confidence, the simple phrase removing past doubts that had cast over you. You pause to allow yourself to breathe, your hand stroking his length in the meanwhile and Miguel seems to cup your chin again.

“Mírame.”

One simple order and he has you hooked and, god, you have a gorgeous view.

His dark brows are deeply furrowed. Chest rising and falling heavily, His hands are now by his side, prominent veins from his other arm lead to the back of his hand which currently grips a pillow on the couch. His eyes are beginning to droop, with his head tilted back slightly. You notice how his Adam apple bobs in his throat with every guttural hum that he makes. His mouth is just about agape enough for you to spot his pink tongue peeking out at you.

And as for him? The sight of you is more wondrous than he could ever imagine. Your eyes are also heavy-lidded. Lips plump and wet with saliva dripping down your chin. This is a side of you that he’s never seen before. Your eyes glow with submission, the innocence and inexperience peeling off of you. If you keep looking at him with that expression, he’s not particularly confident that he’ll be able to hold on for that long.

“Don’t stop looking at me, okay?”

You hum a little before your lips open wide to wrap around his cock again. Yet this time, you manage to keep eye contact. Another unrestrained grunt leaves Miguel’s mouth, his lips parting once more.

You’d say that you’re confident now, relaxed more than ever – confident enough to begin exploring. Keeping his cock in your mouth, you begin to bob your head at a rhythmic pace and at the same time a free hand reaches down to his base, lightly tracing over his balls.

A sharp inhale leaves his mouth. “You’re gonna kill me, you know that, nena?”

You hum in response, the vibration of your mouth causing a helpless moan from your roommate. You focus near the tip of his cock, returning back to tracing circles over the slit. One hand still pumps the rest of him whilst the other gently teases his balls with your fingertips.

He’s closer than you think. And you can tell by the way that his hips begin to shift a little as if he’s trying to get more of your touch. He tilts his head back, chest rising and falling at a more dramatic pace. “Shit–shit–shit-m’gonna, m’gonna cum– if– if you keep going… oh fuck!”

“Wan’ me to swallow it all?”

You’re practically teasing him at this point. Fuck, he’ll do anything, anything. And this time he doesn’t hold back in vocalizing this, the words ‘yes’ falling from his tongue, pleading, begging you to continue. “Yes, yes, don’t fucking stop.”

You decide to grant him his wishes, turning to a faster pace as you stroke his length with your hand. You can feel his cock twitching, thick veins rubbing against your palm.

“You close, mig’?” you taunt, watching as he closes his eyes in pure euphoria. He nods, inchorant words fall from his lips in a babble as his hips jerk upwards and his thighs tense around you.

Fuck, fuck, fuck m’cumming! M’gonna–”

Miguel manages to cut himself off with a deep groan, lifting his hips up as you wrap your lips around him for the last time. His cock twitches, veins pulsating as your mouth is filled with his white seed. You swallow as much as you can, trying to bear the salty taste. His cum is thick, spurting so much out you think you won’t be able to keep up. Some leaks out, dripping down his shaft. As soon as you’ve swallowed, you lap up what you missed.

“Fuck, wait, wait–”

“M’cleaning you up.” you mumble. You can tell how sensitive he is. Just from your tongue lightly licking his length so as to not waste anything, his cock twitches. Once satisfied, you pull away, your tongue licking at your bottom lip.

Apart from the sound of the now forgotten movie playing in the background and the sound of light panting coming from Miguel, there’s a silence between the both of you.

You lean back, resting on your heels as you begin to grow aware of your actions.

You’ve just sucked off your roommate. Correction. Your hot ass roommate.

Neither of you know what to say. You begin to avoid his eye contact, feeling the awkwardness creep in. Yet, it fails to fully entrap you as Miguel chooses to bite the dust and speaks first.

“For someone with a mouth that doesn’t shut up, I’m surprised you know how to use it well.” he mutters, pulling up his boxers and sweatpants.

All tension from your body begins to evaporate, a slight smile appearing on your lips.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” you frown, wiping off remnants of his cum mixed with your saliva from your lips with the back of your hand.

“Nothing, nothing. You were just…good for someone who hadn’t done anything like this before.”

Unlike when you were sucking him off, his praise causes heat to rise to your cheeks, your face burning up. And like a few moments ago too, you continue to avoid his eyes.

Clearing your throat, you move to stand, gesturing that you’re about to go to your room. The movie is just about over but neither you nor him were worried about that anymore.

“Any other advice that I should take?” you say.

Miguel frowns, taking a few moments to think deeply. If he’s being completely honest with himself, that orgasm has crushed him. Leaving him with nothing but thoughts of you and that sweet mouth of yours. Just thinking about it almost makes him hard again.

A part of him almost dares to tell you to forget your date tomorrow and to go out with him tomorrow. The card and flowers addressed to you, wait patiently in his room, a last-minute gift after weeks of building up the courage to ask you. All that courage is lost now though.

He’s too late.

“No.” He says, finally, going against his instincts. “Just do exactly what you did for me.”

“No complaints?”

“No complaints.” He clarifies. A deep pit of regret and hurt builds up again in his lower stomach, a feeling that he’ll have to start getting used to. He deserves it, he thinks, for not asking you sooner. He has no right to be jealous that someone else beat him to it. Not when he wasn’t dropping enough signs to prove that…

he’s falling in love with you.

Before entering your bedroom, you pause, the door leading to your bedroom slightly ajar. “Hey.”

Miguel glancing up to look at you.

“Thanks.”

Miguel says nothing more and really he should be the one thanking you for the heaven that you’ve just taken him to. He waits until he hears your bedroom door close and lock before letting out a sigh that he didn’t know he was holding in.

After he’s sure that you won’t return, Miguel pulls out his phone, tapping his screen until he reaches a certain page.

‘Are you sure you want to cancel your reservation for a ‘table for two’ on the 14th of February ?’

After a mere moment of hesitation, he confirms. His thumb clicking on ‘yes’.

part 2.

[shorthaltsjester]

there is something so, so devastating to me about imogen having spent the past weeks utilizing how much like her mother she appears to be as a way for the hells to gain intel and slip past different situations but how significantly her like . relvin vibes have increased in the past couple episodes. and of course we only have the one interaction with him but the temult dynamic is one of the ones that spins my brain around in knots. there is something very juicy to me about an imogen who can’t escape her mother’s fate because she looks like her spitting image and has her same powers and who can’t escape her father’s fate because she’s also powerless watching the woman she loves disappear.

like relvin in that visit is of course walled off and he’s decades down the road of having seen the woman he loves disappear into the unknown of her powers and what we got of his response to liliana and the idea of helping imogen save her wasn’t unlike imogen’s recent response to laudna. his comment that he always figured that liliana would realize gelvaan wasn’t the place for her, he just also hoped they’d go together when she left is like the domestic small town mirror of imogen’s illogical but real griefguilt about leaving laudna alone by fighting against predathos. i mean relvin specifically brings up that he doesn’t know if liliana was lying to him the whole time about her powers or if she didn’t know either, “it’s a lot to take in at once. you think you know someone, there’s a whole part of their life that they just been keeping secret from you. i was angry. i’m still angry. but you know, a little part of me wants to believe she was just doing it to protect you.“ a sentiment echoed by imogen’s responses to laudna the past few episodes.

and at the end of that gelvaan visit, relvin speaking up enough to tell imogen to “tell her…” but not having anything to say. because liliana made her choice and he knows his words didn’t mean anything before. imogen just watching as laudna shoves a dagger into her own chest, imogen telling her “i’ll always love you, laudna. i just don’t know what to do with it.”

god, in general, imogen who grew up knowing that love isn’t enough. that love is important and it’s a lot, but not enough. relvin and imogen standing with a chasm of grief and a silver locket between them and “i never want you to be afraid of me, daddy” “me neither.” and laudna’s “i don’t like people being mad at me.” and imogen’s “i know.”

because imogen is her father’s daughter. like absolutely with anger at him and complexity in that relationship but silly little cowboy jokes aside, the values imogen expresses are ones that — when not ones born of her experiences with her powers — seem very much contextualized by her upbringing. i mean the ideal life that she dreamt of and dismissed with laudna someday when the apocalypse is over is a small cottage with some horses. relvin lives in a farmhouse furnished for one.

i’ve talked before about how For Me the most fruitful lens for viewing imogen’s story is one of generational trauma, and i think the reasons for that re: liliana are obvious. but i also think that being raised by someone who isn’t privy to the intricacies of whatever haunts their spouse enough that it’s been passed down is another sort of fucked up legacy and i am truly delighted/sorrowed by how messily and interestingly imogen sits at the intersection of these dual temult legacies; one of leaving and one of being left.

[sixosix]

PLASTIC FLOWERS | LYNEY

i. summary the great magician lyney wooing nine-to-fiver reader

ii. tags 1.8k words, fluff, reader is a little slow but hey that’s what 9-to-5 does to someone, pining lyney, awkward flirting, and a lot of wilted flowers im sorry…

You’ve heard of Lyney and Lynette in passing before. You might’ve rushed past one of their street performances once or twice, or maybe you stumbled upon flyers promoting their grand shows fluttering past. However, today, they are the center of every discussion, particularly Lyney, from your gushing coworkers. They swoon about how charming the young man was to them, and how exceptionally talented twins are.

You start to feel a little left out. You want to witness what all the excitement is all about, too. Your nine-to-five has you rushing back and forth the streets of Fontaine like there’s no tomorrow—and to your defense, with all the rumors and prophecies floating around, it might as well be that case.

Afternoon. Nearly evening. Your legs feel like water, liquid, and unable to keep themselves upright. You’re like a zombie walking back to your humble abode, drained of human life from too much human interaction.

A round of applause has you slowing your steps, your attention pulled towards a small crowd as if struck by a magnetic force.

A young man stands at the center, grinning devilishly as the crowd once again erupts into gasps of awe. He clutches a deck of cards in his hand, the classic image of what comes to mind when you think of magicians. Yet, you find yourself unable to move. It might be your water-legs; it might be how the man has everyone spellbound.

“Thank you, everyone!” he says, and the spell is broken at once. Was it a spell? It felt like one. “Be sure to come next week to Lynette and I’s performance at the Opera Epiclese, alright?” So he is Lyney.

Witnessing his elegance and heart-stealing smirk, you at least now know that your coworkers were certainly telling the truth.

The crowd filters out one by one. You do the same, wondering how much the tickets would cost. Hopefully no more than your usual dinner; that would mean you’d have to eat frozen bread for an entire evening.

“Wait, wait!”

You turn at the frantic exclamation, startled when Lyney is looking directly at you and rushing toward you. Panicked, you quickly scan your surroundings, only to find that there’s no one else he could possibly be referring to.

Just you.

“Hello,” you murmur begrudgingly once he’s at a close distance.

“Hi,” he says back, a little breathless. “You missed the show earlier.”

“I—I did.” Is he seriously talking to you? “But don’t worry! I saw enough. It was really cool!” Really? It was really cool?

He relaxes, his smile turning pleased. Lyney’s gaze feels heavy when you’re the only one holding onto it. “That’s a shame. I’ve seen you around before, zipping through. I won’t let you slip through my fingers this time around.”

His voice is smooth. You find yourself liking the lilac of his eyes.

At your stunned silence, Lyney continues, “Here, watch my hand closely, alright?”

You nod obediently, mostly to conceal how flustered his presence is making you feel. It feels as if his voice is right beside your ears, or it might just be how it seems like the world quiets down for this moment.

He closes his palm. You hear him huff a sweet laugh. You get distracted and glance up, though it seems it was a mistake. He grins at you knowingly, eyes twinkling—his stupid, dark eyes. You look back down, and a flower has magically appeared square on his palm.

It’s a flower you’re unfamiliar with, but it’s beautiful and smells sweet so you find yourself uncaring of whatever it could mean.

He stares patiently.

You blink, dumb-struck. “For me?”

“Of course,” he says with a dazzling grin.

“Oh, thank you, but I— I really don’t know how to take care of these things, and I’m so busy, I don’t know if I should—”

You reject it. Which, in hindsight, was most rude.

Lyney tilts his head, smiling like you’re some cute cat he found passing by—and that gaze has your words dying on your tongue. “I’m not giving it to you for you to feel burdened with the responsibility of taking care of it. Trust me, I just want you to have it.”

You look at him, uncertainty flashing in your expression. “You don’t want to give it to someone else…?”

“Why would I? I saved this one especially for you,” the sweet talker says.

You highly doubt his words, but it’s nice to hear nevertheless. With a bashful smile, you take the flower and vow to yourself to take care of it as much as you can. It’s the only flower you’ve received your entire life.

“Thank you,” you say quietly.

He lights up impossibly, standing out so easily against the crowd. Just like that, you’re captivated.

The next day, Lyney reappears in your life. You're beginning to suspect that his hat conceals an infinite stockpile of these roses, and maybe that's the true magic: the enigma of Lyney's never-ending supply.

This time around, he’s loitering the streets without plans for any performances, however small. Though, he still entertains you in different ways.

“My work’s not too nice,” you tell him when he asks why you look tired, all too aware of your sore feet and cheeks from straining smiles all day. “I don’t know how you performers do it non-stop. I feel like I could just sleep on this sidewalk.”

“It might be helping that I love doing what I do,” Lyney supplies after a thoughtful hum. It’s still a little surreal having the man printed in posters and pictures all over The Steambird is now casually walking alongside you, but it’s nice. You feel your world has just brightened up a little—the new change of pace painting over the dull back and forth you’ve been living through for a while.

“Hey,” Lyney starts, as your eyes flick up from the ground to him. He’s holding another flower.

You smile as you gingerly take it from his fingers, skin brushing against his glove-free hands. “You’re helping the flower shops thrive, that’s for sure.”

“What can I say? I’m wonderful like that.”

You laugh, but it quickly dies down when you catch a glimpse of how Lyney is staring at you so openly with a bit of awe.

You clear your throat, looking away.

Lyney does the same as you find your face heating up. “Sorry.”

“Um,” scrambling for a change of topic, you say, “Are you trying to get me to watch the show you and your sister are holding next week?”

“What?” Lyney blinks, caught off guard. He smiles lopsidedly as you await for an answer. “No, I’m talking to you because I like you. And here I thought I was making myself obvious.”

“Sorry, I’m a bit slow,” you say, in a daze at his blunt confession.

That was nothing (that has to be). That was probably just your imagination, honestly—fantasizing about a handsome face, a small braid, and a mischievous grin. And you definitely don’t find yourself lying awake at night thinking about it.

As always, Lyney comes with a flower in hand. And you find out that he wasn’t lying when he said he saves a special flower for you.

You’re not sure how it seamlessly became a routine with him. At times, you wonder if he’s actually keeping track of the roses if you haven’t been throwing them to the trash. You wouldn't be able to deny it; you eventually would have to discard a once again graying rose, no matter how heartbreaking the parting is.

This time, you’re prepared. You've been studying up, like a lovesick high school student devouring dating magazines during your spare moments at work. The rose will still most likely wilt unfairly fast with how you’re barely a presence in your own home; sleeping soundly as soon as you arrive.

Lyney is smiling softly as he gives this one to you, silent. Though that’s probably because you’re raving on about how you swear that the next ones he’ll give will live longer if you figure out how to do it right.

He likes doing that—staring at you like watching a film play even though he’s the one on stage more often than not.

“Do you know what all those flowers I gave you mean?” he asks as you’re twirling it around and counting the petals. They’re still bright pink, fading to yellow at its tips. You shake your head. It could mean anything, really. You haven’t gotten to that part of the book yet. “My feelings for you,” he says. “I give them to you every day so you’re reminded of it.”

Your finger catches on one of the petals, your skin burning. “…Is that what you think? I feel horrible; the flowers you’ve given me all die in a day or two.”

Lyney laughs. “Is that what you’re worried about?”

“How else can I show you I’m not just casting your feelings aside?”

You turn to Lyney, wondering why he suddenly went silent. Only then, you see how he has his face buried in his palm, a dazed smile peeking out from what’s visible. “You’re going to be the death of me.”

“...Sorry.”

He recovers fast. “Don’t be sorry.” Lyney holds your jaw in a precise grip, keeping your gaze focused on him. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

It’s only the next morning do you realize that the petals haven’t changed at all. You’re not sure why you haven’t noticed earlier.

Then again, you should’ve realized when he brought up what they mean so suddenly, that slick bastard.

Lyney sees you around the afternoon, and immediately he sees something new around your collar, probably because he keeps staring at it.

Lyney pulls you closer with a hand on the small of your back, and the other inspecting your brand-new necklace. “Is this…?”

It was a bit difficult to craft your own accessory, but you tried nevertheless. If Lyney goes out of his way to purchase different kinds of flowers, the least you can do is show him that each one makes you as happy as the first one did.

“You said they’re kind of like your feelings, right?” you say, unsure as to why you’re whispering. Lyney’s expression looks a little fragile. “So I made them into something to remind me of you every day.”

He presses his face onto your neck, and you nearly lose balance, holding onto the back of his head to keep yourself upright. “You’re too cute, amour. My heart can’t handle all of this,” he weeps dramatically.

( “Close your mouth, Lyney. You’re drooling,” Lynette says as she follows his gaze, watching you flutter past.

Lyney’s mouth snaps shut, wiping at his lips. He frowns. “I wasn’t even drooling.” He shakes his head. “Nevermind that—do you know who that was?”

“No,” Lynette says simply. “But I’m sure you’ll find a way to figure out eventually.” )

lyney went back to giving you real flowers after that btw

this was inspired by me daydreaming about lyney’s character quest and remembering that he literally gave us that flower accessory

[xxselenite]

٠ ࣪⭑ Happens great, happens sweet | Jacaerys x reader

modern!Jacaerys Velaryon x fem!reader [no use of y/n] Word count: 2.4k words Summary: You are officially meeting Jace’s family after a few months of relationship Warning: none, pure fluff. Considering this is a modern!au, let's pretend no one in this family is related, and that step-siblings are not betrothed to one another :) a/n: The title is a lyric from Wasteland, Baby! By Hozier because live laugh love Hozier and because this is the epitome of romance. As usual English isn’t my first language so I apologise in advance for any possible grammatical and/or lexical mistake (especially considering I wrote most of this in the middle of the night haha) feedback is welcome and appreciated <3 (images are taken from pinterest)

You passed a hand in your hair to fix it before knocking on the door. You would lie if you said you weren’t at least a little stressed, but Jace’s face when he opened the door revealed an even higher level of tension. He had immediately opened like he had been waiting for you for hours. You remained on the threshold as he leaned towards you and pressed a passionate kiss on your lips, hands on your waist to pull you closer, and you would have remained a lifetime against his lips if he hadn’t broken the kiss.

“I’m happy to see you.”

“Yeah, I got that bit,” you chuckled, a bit dizzy because of the kiss. You look at the serious look on your boyfriend’s face and sighed. “Don’t be so scared. You told me your family would love me, and I’ve done my studying. I remember everyone’s name.”

Jace’s parents had invited you for lunch to meet you officially. You had been dating their son for a few months, so they had caught a glimpse of your appearance in Jace’s car or on his wallpaper’s phone, but they wanted to get to know the lucky girl who had won his heart.

Jace preferred hanging out at your house because it offered him a little calm. As much as he loved his large blended family, silence and privacy were almost unachievable with so many children running around. Sometimes he would just lie on your bed, his head on your lap, enjoying the stillness of the scene.

You cherished those moments as well, but hearing about Rhaenyra’s invitation had created a bubble of joy in your heart. Meeting your in-laws meant that your relationship was getting really serious. You knew that the apprehension that made you flatten your dress over and over again was just the quid pro quo of your excitement. What you also knew, however, was how important family was to Jace and his nervousness was all the more understandable, and that was why you had tried to be as prepared as possible for the big day.

Upon hearing your words, a smile spread on Jace’s face and he sighed. “You’re right. They’re going to love you.” His hand did not leave your lower back as he guided you in.

You had already entered his house of course, but most of the time you’d have fun sneaking in through the window, even when it was unnecessary. The only time you had used the front door, Luke had walked on Jace and you making out because he had finished early, and this mortifying event had led Jace to tell you “Let’s hang out at your place next time.”

The living room felt a lot different when everyone was here sitting on the couches. It felt much warmer this way, with a fire burning in the chimney, candles lit up on the coffee table and the smell of food perfuming the room.

The first members of the households to greet you were Syrax and Caraxes, the two enormous dogs of the family. You had helped Jace walk them a couple of times before, and you affectionately pet their heads. You knew Jace also had a handful of cats, but he had warned you that they tended to avoid visitors and you probably wouldn't see them this time.

After the dog's enthusiastic welcome, you reported your attention on the actual humans of the house and quickly identify everyone; Baela and Rhaena were chatting about something Rhaena had seen on her phone (you were pretty confident you knew who was who thanks to Jace’s indications). Joffrey and Luke seemed to be fighting over the remote control – at this moment you were really praying Luke wouldn’t make any allusion to the compromising situation he had found you in. The youngest kids, Viserys and Aegon, were playing on the carpet with their toys, paying little attention to their surroundings. You couldn’t see Rhaenyra or Daemon, but you assumed they were in the kitchen or the dining room.

Clearing his throat to attract his sibling’s attention, Jace gently pushed you towards the middle of the room, his hand moving from your back to hold your hand.

“So…” he said with a little hesitation, “that’s my girlfriend.”

Luke immediately raised his head with a mischievous light in his eyes and exclaimed, “She looks much nicer when your tongue isn’t-”

Before he could end his sentence, Baela gave him a little slap at the back of the head, preventing him from saying anything else, and Rhaena stood up to greet you, avoiding you to remain mortified for too long. You immediately decided that you liked the girls and Jace left your side to “talk” to Luce (the “talk” looked more like a brotherly argument). Joffrey remained hidden behind Rhaena, while the two blond-haired toddlers kept playing like nothing had happened.

After a few minutes of light-hearted discussions that helped you relax, Jace’s parents entered the room. You never admitted it in front of your boyfriend, but they intimidated to you to an unmatched level with their cold beauty and their charismatic aura. You thought that a glance from them would be enough for you to be petrified, like some sort of modern Medusa, or that at least they would be stone-cold at first. Yet, at the very moment her gaze fell on you, Rhaenyra’s face brightened and she greeted you with open arms.

“I’m so happy to meet you!” She told you with a contagious smile.

Behind her, Daemon remained more discreet, though you could discern the same mischievous light as there was in Luke’s eyes. His smile, though, seemed sincere.

“We’ve heard a lot about you,” he said, insisting on the words “a lot,” and you saw Jace stiffen in the corner of your eyes. As if she had not noticed her husband’s teasing, Rhaenyra nodded.

“Jace talked a lot about you. He did not lie when he said you were beautiful.”

Your cheeks heat up at the compliment and your brain went wild as you tried to imagine what Jace had told them. You tilted your head to look at him, the poor boy seemed to be about to explode, his face redder than you had ever seen it. You let out a chuckle.

“I hope he did not talk too highly of me, or else I fear I will not meet your expectations.”

Jace moved back by your side and grabbed your hand again. He was giving you the impression that he was going to faint if you weren’t holding him in some sort of way, which made your heart melt.

“You would never disappoint anyone.” He gave a small squeeze to your hand and you resisted the urge to grab him by his collar and kiss him right here right now – as tempting as it was, you weren’t sure that would make the best first impression possible.

You were sitting between Jace and Luke at the dinner table which has been decorated for the occasion. While the presence of your boyfriend by your side was definitely reassuring, you deep down wished you were away from the menace Luke represented (you had to admit he was funny and pretty sweet, but he seemed way too excited to have the opportunity to embarrass his big brother.)

Lunch went swiftly with everyone contributing to the conversation to an extent, even if that meant an unintelligible babble from the kids. You were growing really fond of Rhaena and Baela and it seemed to be reciprocal – perhaps that was the joy of having another girl in their age to talk to in the house or the common interests you shared, but they were enthusiastic to ask you questions. Although this sympathy was great to experience, you were a bit uncomfortable talking about yourself so much. An insidious fear of seeming selfish or shallow was making its way into your mind, and you tried to ask as many questions as you answered. Luckily, most of the questions came from the girls so it did not feel like Jace’s parents were interrogating you.

Next to you, Jace remained mostly silent, holding your hand under the table and looking at you with sparkles in his eyes. You could feel him relaxing as it became clear his family appreciated you. You even saw a proud smile on his face when you glanced at him after managing to cut Luke’s teasing short.

“So,” Rhaenyra asked before one of the twin girls would launch a new topic, “how did you two meet?”

You immediately looked at Jace, suspicious. You had a hard time believing he had never told them the story if he really talked about her as much as Daemon had implied earlier. He caught your gaze and raised his hands in a falsely defensive manner.

“Don’t look at me like that, I just thought you were a better storyteller than I am.”

You rolled your eyes with a chuckle.

“Of course. It’s not the fact that you made an absolute fool of yourself at some point.”

“Oh, now that’s interesting,” Luke laughed and this time no one contradicted him. Jace let out a sigh although he couldn’t hide the smile at the corner of his mouth.

“Alright, go on.”

You started explaining how Jace and you were always “fighting” to get the best grade in every class, and the way this rivalry had prevented you from having a real chat until your literature teacher paired you up for a presentation. You thought he was an arrogant prick, he thought you were a goody-two-shoes, but you were both proved wrong, and just like this, you two became friends, which turned into “friends,” which turned into frantic calls to your friends starting with “I think I have feelings for Jace.” Discussions turned into flirt, hanging out turned into going on dates, and that’s when you reached your favourite part of the story.

“So Jace arrived to pick me up and he had bought me a drink because he’s a sweetheart,” you interrupted your account to offer your lover a bright smile while he looked away, already blushing. “And when he saw me, he literally dropped the drink!” You tried your best not to chuckle, and you saw that Daemon was struggling to do it. “That’s pretty much when I understood that the feelings were mutual,” you concluded.

“For my defence,” Jace started, “you looked particularly gorgeous. Even more than usual, which is not easy.”

“Ah, young love,” Rhaenyra sighed with a dreamy expression on her face. “got me feeling nostalgic.”

“And so,” Daemon asked after a little silence, “do you want any kids?”

You put down your glass before risking choking to death on your water. Next to you, Jace stiffened all at once and you placed a hand on his knee to calm him down. You were pretty sure Rhaenyra scowled at her husband who looked in high spirits. After clearing your throat, you answered with calm:

“I think I’m a bit young to be considering it too seriously. I don’t want any at the moment but it’s not a hard no either, we’ll see where this is going.”

You held Daemon’s gaze for a second before he lowered it to grab his glass of wine, apparently satisfied with your answer. Baela was the one who broke the tension when she stood up.

“It’s time for dessert, isn’t it?” She said and started to group the plates to clear the table before anyone answered. You stood up to help, and despite Rhaenyra trying to stop you (“You’re our guests, you don’t have to help.”), you made your way into the kitchen.

The room was bathed in light and smelled delicious. The counters were definitely not tidy, but with such a big family you couldn’t blame anyone. You put the silverware down when Rhaenyra took you aside with an apologetic look on her face.

“Sorry for Daemon’s question, he likes to provoke people, but it’s nothing personal. He’s a bit like Luke, god these two are so similar you’d think they are blood-related.”

“It’s okay,” you kept a light-hearted tone. “First meeting is always a sort of test, isn’t it?”

Rhaenyra offered you a smile that reminded you of Jace’s. “And I think you’re acing it.”

The rest of the lunch passed without any more embarrassing questions, and you felt increasingly at ease. At the end, Rhaenyra even offered you to dine with them as well, which you agreed to immediately. This household was very different from your own, and even though you understand how it could sometimes be exhausting, you enjoyed the agitation, the laughter and the energy that it contained.

“They loved you,” Jace whispered after closing the door of his bedroom as you were using the nap time of his youngest siblings to catch a break. You could hear the glee in his voice, and he grabbed your hands to pull you closer.

“See! There was no need to be so scared.” You pulled your arms around his shoulders and he leant down to kiss you. It was a soft, chaste kiss, although the grip of his hands on your waist betrayed a stronger want. You tried to deepen the kiss but he broke it, leaving you breathless and a bit frustrated.

“I see what you’re doing and it is not a good idea.” He chuckled and you crossed your arms over your chest. “And don’t start pouting,” he added before you could do anything.

“You know what? I think I’m gonna miss sneaking into your room. It was very Romeo and Juliet-esque, except that we’re a much better couple.”

“Really?” The look in his eyes alone was enough to send your cheeks on fire. “Why so?”

“Well, none of us is thirteen, that’s already a good start. We’d be a healthier Shakespearean couple anyway.”

“Are there any healthy Shakespeare couple?”

“I guess Benedick and Beatrice are pretty cute?” You shrugged

“Hum-hum, even though they spent the play arguing.”

“I can appreciate a good enemies to lovers.”

“Speaking of which, do you wanna watch a film?” He asked you, ready to turn on the old tv he has kept from his childhood. “A romcom for example, or anything that suits you.”

 “Sure,” you nodded. “It’s very nice of your mother to let me stay this evening,” you said as you sat on Jace’s bed.

“Yeah, it’s nice to spend more time with you.” He said with a sigh as he lay between your legs, his back pressed against his chest. You started playing with his hair mindlessly and he hummed. “I’m gonna fall asleep if you keep doing this.”

You laughed softly and pressed a kiss on top of his head. “I’m fine napping with you as well. Who said it was just for toddlers.”

You closed your eyes, enjoying the warmth of his body against yours and the soft strokes of his hands on your legs. The house was pretty calm and you were about to fall asleep when Jace sat up all of a sudden.

“What’s going on?” You asked, staring at him with a confused expression.

“What do you hear?” He asked.

You stopped talking, pricking up your ears, and shrugged after a few seconds.

“Nothing, why?”

“Precisely!” He interrupted you, lowering his voice. “Nothing. There are six other people in this house, and I’m ready to admit that Aegon, Viserys and Joffrey are napping and that Rhaena and Baela are just calm, but there is no reason the others are so silent. Unless…”

“Unless?” You echoed when Jace stood up and tip-toed towards the door.

Your eyes widened when you realised what he was implying and you sat straighter as he opened the door in a hurry, revealing his parents and Luke who all instantly adopted a shameful expression, caught red-handed. You tried your best not to laugh as Jace shooed them away while they tentatively justified their eavesdropping.

Jace waited a few seconds for them to resume their normal activities before closing the door and finally returning to you, breathing out deeply to calm down.

“You know I love them, but sometimes I can’t believe we’re related.”

You bit your lower lip to keep a straight face and opened your arms to return to your earlier position.

“You have to admit it’s at least a little bit cute.” You whispered once you were both at ease, Jace lying between your legs again and gently holding your hands.

“They’re behaving like I’m twelve and I closed the door while studying with a girl.” You let out a low chuckle.

“You’ll get your revenge when Luke has his first partner.”

You stroked Jace’s hand with your thumb and he stopped your motion to kiss your palm and murmur against your skin, “I can’t wait for that day, but in the meantime, I think we should keep hanging out at your place.”

[otomehoneyybearr]

Kagari Amagase

What Lies Ahead of Connecting the Past and Present

Taglist: @candied-boys

In the country of Kogyoku, it’s said that good things will come to you if the tea leaves stand upright in your brewed tea."

However, when I entered the forest, I encountered Prince Kagari holding a sword in one hand while grabbing a child by the collar with the other.

Emma: "W-What are you doing!?"

???: "......!"

Kagari: "Princess, what a coincidence. What brings you to the forest?"

Emma: "The weather was nice, so I thought I'd take a walk in the... No, what are you planning to do with this child?"

Kagari: "Exactly as you imagined, I was about to give him a quick stab."

Kagari: "He’s the potential cause of future misfortune. He needs to be dealt with before it's too late."

Emma: "A source of misfortune... He looks like a normal child to me. Surely, you must be mistaken."

Kagari: "I wouldn't mistake myself."

Emma: "Yourself?"

(This child has... red hair in braids, green eyes... he’s the spitting image of Prince Kagari.)

???: "...Who are you?"

Emma: "I'm Emma. Can you tell me your name?"

Little Kagari: "...Kagari."

(If he has the same name, then...)

Emma: "Is this a dream?"

Kagari: "If this is a dream, then there shouldn’t be problem with me laying my hands on him, right? No problem at all."

Emma: "No, no, you can’t! If you point your sword at this child again, I won't talk to you anymore."

Kagari: "......"

(Thank goodness... he put his sword away.)

Emma: "Why are you in the forest, Little Kagari? Or was it Big Kagari that brought you here?"

Little Kagari: "I was playing in my brother's room, but before I knew it, I was in the forest."

Little Kagari: "Then as I walked around, I met the adult me."

Little Kagari: "I was impressed because it's the first time I've met someone stronger than me."

(His expression hasn't changed, but his eyes are sparkling a bit... how cute.)

(It’s the first time he’s met someone stronger than himself, huh... Then he was skilled in swordsmanship at such a young age.)

Emma: “I see.... In that case, you might return to your brother’s room after some time passes."

Emma: "How about we stay together until then?"

Little Kagari: "...Is that okay?"

Emma: "Of course."

Kagari: "You’re so optimistic, Princess."

Kagari: "But it's better than wasting time overthinking this impossible situation."

Emma: "You’re staying with us too, Prince Kagari?"

Kagari: "Just to keep an eye on you in case you do something strange."

Kagari: "And because it's convenient."

(Convenient?)

Emma: "I don’t think there’s anything to worry about, but it’s reassuring to have you with us."

Kagari: "Good answer. Let's go."

Emma: "Huh? Where to...? Ah, Prince Kagari, you don't need to pull my hand, I'll follow you."

Emma: "Little Kagari, can I hold your hand?"

Little Kagari: "......?"

Emma: "It would be terrible if you got lost."

Little Kagari: "...Like this?"

Emma: "Yes, thank you."

Little Kagari: "......"

Little Kagari: "...Warm."

.....

Emma: "Wow...! I didn't know there was a festival going on in the nearby town."

Kagari: "You're still new to Kogyoku, so it's only natural."

Kagari: "It's on the smaller side, but do you like it?"

Emma: "Yes!"

(There are so many stalls I've never seen in Rhodolite.)

(Goldfish scooping, ring toss, cherry-flavored tea leaves, bread, dumplings, grilled meat!? I wonder if it's tasty... Ah.)

Emma: "Was that 'convenient' comment from earlier because you planned to invite me to this festival?"

Kagari: "Yes. Although an unexpected stray cat tagged along."

Little Kagari: "...Is that me?"

Kagari: "Yes, you."

Emma: "Oh, please don't put it like that."

Emma: "But thank you. I'm really happy!"

Kagari: "I know."

Little Kagari: "......"

(Little Kagari is looking around a lot.)

Emma: "It would be nice if there's a dorayaki stall around."

Little Kagari: "...Why?"

Emma: "Hm? Don’t you like dorayaki?"

Little Kagari: "...I’ve only ever eaten candy."

Kagari: "I see... he’s from before he met Keith. No wonder."

(So he wasn't a dorayaki fanatic yet at this age.)

(Even so, having only candy for sweets...)

(He doesn't look weak, nor does he seem to dislike sweets, so he might have been raised strictly.)

Emma: "Little Kagari, is this your first festival?"

Little Kagari: "......Yeah. I've seen them from the castle before."

(He's still small, and given his royal status, he probably can't just go out freely.)

(That makes this even more special...)

Emma: "Then let's enjoy it to the fullest today!"

Emma: "Is there any stall that catches your eye?"

Little Kagari: "......No. Anything is fine with me."

Kagari: "There must be something. Speak up."

Little Kagari: "........"

(He seems a bit hesitant.)

(I guess Prince Kagari was the type who had trouble expressing his opinions when he was a child.)

(He's looking around, so there must be something that interests him, just as Prince Kagari said.)

(Maybe I can figure it out by following his gaze.)

Emma: "Ah, you're interested in the candy apples, aren't you?"

Little Kagari: "!"

(Great, that reaction means I got it right.)

.....

Emma: "How's the candied apple?"

Little Kagari: "......It’s tasty. And they're shiny and pretty."

(Haha, he's stuffing his mouth full.)

Little Kagari: "......Want some?"

Emma: "Can I? Just one bite then... mmm, it's sweet and delicious."

Kagari: "If you're going to spoil someone, spoil me, Princess."

Emma: "If I'm going to spoil anyone, I'd like to spoil both of you."

Kagari: "Greedy Princess."

Emma: "Don't sulk. After the candy apple, let's have some dorayaki! Come on, both of you, let's go."

Little Kagari: "......Shall we hold hands?"

Emma: "Can we?"

Little Kagari: "......I want to."

(Gah, the way he looks away as he says it is just too adorable...)

Kagari: "The adult me is cute too."

Emma: "D-Don't read my mind and try to compete with him."

Kagari: "Don't worry, it was just written all over your face."

(Does that mean I had a silly expression? That’s more embarrassing than having my mind read...)

(What, Rain!? Even though it was just sunny...)

Emma: "Let's find somewhere to take shelter from the rain—whoa!"

Little Kagari: ".........!"

Kagari: "Hold still if you don't want to be dropped."

(Prince Kagari is strong enough to carry both me and Little Kagari under his arms while running!?)

Kagari: "The rain should stop soon enough."

Emma: "That's good. I still want to enjoy the festival some more."

Emma: "Little Kagari, you ‘re a bit wet, so let me dry you off with a handkerchief."

Little Kagari: "......It's fine. It'll dry soon."

Emma: "Pretty please? I just really, really want to dry you off!"

Little Kagari: "......Alright."

Little Kagari: "......"

(Oh. Is he happy? Haha, I'm glad to see him showing different expressions little by little.)

Kagari: "........"

Emma: "That should do it. Next is—Prince Kagari!? "

Kagari: "What's the matter, Princess?"

Emma: "I should be asking you that! Why are you standing in the rain!?"

Kagari: "I wanted to be dried off too."

Emma: "I was already going to do that! Anyway, come back under here quickly, or you'll catch a cold."

Kagari: "Oh, you're so being forceful, Princess."

Emma: "I have to be... geez."

(His hair is dripping wet! I need to dry him off quickly.)

Little Kagari: "........"

Kagari: "Being dried off by you feels nice. Makes me want to purr."

Emma: "I'm angry, you know?"

Kagari: "You’re cute even when you’re angry."

Emma: "Um, well, thank you... but don't deliberately get wet in the rain again, okay?"

(Alright, this should be good enough.)

Little Kagari: "... Miss Emma."

(What— just now...)

Emma: "Little Kagari, did you just call my name—wait, how are you even more wet than before!?"

(What happened!?)

(Could it be that he imitated adult Kagari...?)

Little Kagari: "......I want you to dry me again, Miss Emma."

Little Kagari: "It felt warm and cozy."

(I knew it...!)

Emma: "Oh, you'll catch a cold from this kind of coziness!"

Little Kagari: "Wha... you're a bit rougher than before."

Emma: "It’s punishment for being bad.”

Kagari: "Being punished by the Princess... sounds nice."

Emma: "Prince Kagari, don't you dare try getting wet in the rain again—achoo!"

Kagari & Little Kagari:

"........"

Kagari & Little Kagari:

"......Sorry."

"......I’m sorry."

Emma: "......I'm sorry too."

(Hm, getting hugged from both sides to warm me up is so unfair...)

(When you do something this cute, I can't stay mad!)

In the end, I spent a blissful time being warmed up by these spoiled cats until the rain stopped.

▼・ᴥ・▼

[seinahirai]

『 Blinded Haze 』 Bada Lee x Reader

summary: bada’s been stressed lately, so you decide to surprise her.

word count: 1.6k

contents: smut, dom!bada, sub!reader, reader gets a bit self conscious, bada takes care of that, hickeys, blindfolding, sex toys, fingering, bada licks your cum off her fingers, implication of aftercare

disclaimer: the images are only for aesthetics and are not depicted as what reader’s body looks like ‼️

you know how stressed bada’s been the past few weeks, with the concerts and performances, on top of having to teach classes back at justjerk.

she was finally getting a day off tomorrow, so you figured, what better way to greet her than with lingerie?

bada herself said that sex with you always made her feel better, that feeling your warm body against hers while in a post orgasmic haze was like heaven.

that lead you to the idea of surprising her with some old lingerie you found in your closet and taking out your box of sex toys and leaving it on the bed so she could choose what she wanted to do to you.

you also know that her favorite thing to do after sex is cuddle and eat snacks, so you went out and bought all of her favorite snacks and left them near the nightstand for when you were finished.

now all you had to do was wait, which was easier said than done.

you had finished all the preparations about an hour before bada usually came home, which gave you a lot of time to think.

and when you have a lot of time to think, you most likely begin to overthink, which is exactly what you started to do.

the more time that passed, the more your mind began to flood with thoughts like “what if she doesn’t find me attractive in this lingerie” or “what if she’s too tired to have sex and i got ahead of myself?”

after a while, you were ready to just cancel everything altogether, when you heard the familiar sound of keys jingling and the door opening.

you froze in your spot, taking a deep breath before getting up to greet bada.

you made your way to the door, feeling a bit nervous as you watched her come through the door.

nonetheless, you smile and give her a hug after she takes her coat off and puts her stuff down.

“hey, baby.” she says, giving you a kiss on the lips before stepping back to fully look at you.

that was when she realized what you were wearing, and when she did realize, she did nothing but stare for a few seconds.

realistically, it should have been obvious that she was admiring how beautiful your body looked, but with your previous session of overthinking, you couldn’t help but feel even more self conscious.

“fuck, you look…”

“i can take it off if you’re not in the mood.”

you say quickly, avoiding bada’s gaze as you fidget with your fingers.

at that, bada gives you a confused look before stepping closer to you and gently pulling you in by the waist.

“baby, i’ll always be in the mood for you. i told you this already.” she leans in to kiss you, and you wrap your arms around her neck to deepen it.

after a few seconds you pull away, still avoiding her eyes.

“i know, it’s just…you’ve been really tired lately, and it’s been a while since you’ve seen me in lingerie. i guess i just got a little self conscious…”

bada chuckles a bit at that, bringing a thumb to your chin and lifting it up, making you look at her.

“baby, you’re absolutely stunning with or without the lingerie. truthfully, you didn’t even need it to turn me on.” she says, pressing soft kisses on your neck as her hands begin to explore your body.

“do you know how many times i’ve had to excuse myself to the bathroom because i’ve gotten horny at just the thought of you?” she whispers against the skin of your collarbone before pressing a few more kisses there.

you sigh softly, tangling your fingers in her hair as you lean your head back to give her easier access.

she begins gently sucking on the soft skin of your neck as one of her hands begin to grope one of your tits, her thumb flicking your nipple through the thin material of the lingerie.

you let out a whine, gasping softly at the feeling of her hands on your tits.

after a few more seconds of bada sucking on your neck, she pulls away and admires the sight of your neck now covered in hickeys.

“how about we take this to the bedroom?” she says, and you only nod, letting her lead you to your shared bedroom.

when you walk into the room, bada seems amused at the sight of your box of sex toys sitting on the bed.

“you can use anything in there on me tonight.” you say, and she looks down at you with a smirk on her face.

“anything?”

you nod, taking her hand and guiding her to the bed. “i wanted to surprise you.”

bada scans through the box, looking at all the different options before her eyes stop on one thing in particular.

the blindfold.

she’s never used the blindfolds on you before, so she saw this as an opportunity to do so. she took the blindfold out, her eyes meeting yours as if to confirm that this was okay to use on you.

when you give her a nod, she smiles and beckons you to come closer, which you do quite eagerly. she gently ties the blindfold around your eyes, double checking to make sure it wasn’t too tight.

it does feel slightly strange to not be able to see what bada’s doing, but you trust her with your life so it doesn’t bother you too much.

you hear her take something else out of the box before moving it to the floor.

“what else did you get?” you ask, your head turning in the direction of the noise.

“you’re blindfolded for a reason, princess.” she says, and you can imagine the smirk on her face as she says it.

you pout slightly, but mumble an “okay” as you lay down on the bed.

you feel bada spread your legs apart, chuckling softly at the sight of your dripping cunt. “your pretty pussy is already so wet for me.”

you whine pathetically, her words only making you even more wet.

“don’t worry baby, i’m gonna take good care of this pussy.”

she begins kissing your inner thigh, her lips leaving the same marks they left on your neck. after a few moments, she looks up at you through the opening of your thighs (not that you could see her lustful gaze).

“you ready, baby?” she asks, pressing one last kiss to your inner thigh.

after you nod eagerly, you hear a noise that sounds like something being turned on, but before you can think anything of it, you feel a vibrating sensation on your clit, making you moan out loudly as you instinctively close your thighs at the sudden pleasure.

bada quickly forces your thighs back open, pressing the vibrator to your clit once more. “don’t run from it, baby.” she says, smirking at the way you squirm around.

bada reaches her hand out to yours, letting you squeeze it as you moan loudly from the pleasure. the fact that you couldn’t see anything only seemed to make you more sensitive.

your hold on bada’s hand only becomes tighter when she turns up the setting on the vibrator without warning. you let out stuttered moans and whines as she coos softly at the sight of your pussy clenching around nothing.

“aww, does my pretty baby wanna be filled up?” she pulls her hand away from yours, and before you can whine about it, you feel two fingers pushing into your pussy, making you gasp in pleasure as you dig your nails into the sheets.

bada immediately begins thrusting her fingers in and out of your sopping cunt, not giving you any time to adjust to the penetration.

“good girl, taking me so well.” she praises, and it only seems to make you even louder.

you feel the familiar sensation of your orgasm approaching, but you can’t form the words to let bada know. luckily, she can already tell from the way your walls tighten around her fingers.

“are you close, pretty girl? here, let me help you.”

bada’s fingers press up against the spongey part of your pussy while her other hand turns the vibrator up onto the 3rd setting.

you cry out pathetically as your orgasm washes over you, your thighs trembling your hands gripping the sheets tightly.

bada continues the move her fingers, fucking you through your orgasm and the overstimulation of it all brings you to tears.

when bada notices it looks like you’ve had enough, she slides her fingers out of you and turns the vibrator off, bringing her fingers to her lips to clean off your cum and wetness.

“you taste so good, baby.” she says, bringing her face to your cunt to lick up all your cum, making you whine loudly.

bada chuckles and lays down next to you, taking off the blindfold and smiling at your hazed expression when you open your eyes.

“there’s my pretty girl.” she says softly, grabbing your cheeks and kissing you deeply before pulling you into a hug, wrapping her arms around you tightly.

she sighs at the feeling of your bodies against each other, having missed the feeling of intimacy.

after a few minutes, you mumble something incoherently, nuzzling your cheek further onto bada’s neck.

bada giggles, finding you adorable. “what’s that, baby? i can’t hear you.”

you repeat your mumbling, but bada can faintly make out the words “snacks” and “nightstand”.

bada glances over to the nightstand next to your bed, smiling softly when she sees the bag full of snacks. she had completely missed it earlier.

“aww, baby. you’re so sweet.” bada coos, kissing you on the cheek once more.

“i love you, bada.” you whisper, giving her a lopsided smile.

“i love you more, baby.”

[gatorbites-imagines]

I'm so sorry if you were not mental prepared for this info during your spiderman brainrot..

But, fun fact with a lot of spiders their mating rituals have the male lay down a "spermweb" to attract mates. As well as fear is a big part of what turns them on, female spiders being 2x the size of males, tending to have the dominant role. Pinning is also a big part of it as well. (Male spiders actually tend to be much more skishes.)

So imagine your spiderman of choice being in mating season, with a mix of these feelings due to them being half spider. Them making a den like structure with every blanket in their apartment, being very timid wanting to hide, because of how embrassing these feelings and thoughts are to them. But getting so unbelievably horny at the thought of you pinning them down in their den and fucking them until they see stars. You being extremely rough with them, them wanting you to mark up their entire body.

Them trying to get themselves off, and trying not to give into the urge to text/call you begging for you to comeover.

Ben Reilly x male reader

Headcanons

Hallo everynyan. I am not dead, I just have felt the worst case of writers block I’ve had in a while. Trying to get myself out of this funk, so here’s something about Ben Reilly, as I haven’t seen a single x male reader about him.

You and Ben would have been dating for a while before his heat hits him, leaving him scrambling through his apartment to start gathering blankets and other materials he can use to make a structure.

It’s not fully a nest, its more like a pillow and blanket fort, closed off from the outside world. There’s webs all over it too, almost like Ben was marking his territory, or some animalistic part of himself was saying “hey, this is mine, back off”-

Ben would shoot off a text to his earths Peter, since they most likely work side by side, that he needs his patrol covered for personal reasons. Seeing as peter has heats as well, he understands and wishes Ben luck, offering to bring him stuff he needs.

After calling around with his job and getting his shifts covered, Ben would settle down into the structure, antsy and oh so uncomfortable in his skin. He would feel almost naked without you there, without your weight holding him down and your hands touching him.

Ben would never have told you about his heats if you weren’t another spider as they embarrass him so greatly, because they reduce him to a limp submissive mess. Normally he can just ride it out, but now that you two are dating his thoughts are filled with images of you, what he wants you to do to him, and how he wants you to do it.

He would wrap himself in the clothes you left at his apartment, his heightened senses letting him inhale your scent as he touches himself almost desperately.

It’s nowhere near enough without you there, but Ben is too proud to contact you. So it would end up with Ben laying there curled up in a ball, his fingers pumping in and out of himself as he listens to recording of you on his phone, be it voicemails or videos you two have taken.

If he has any pictures of you that show off your strength in any way, you bet he’s looking at those two. Think gym selfies, you hiking, you fixing a car, anything along those lines. It gets so bad that he busts just looking at a picture of you carrying 4 bags of heavy groceries on one arm.

After that shameful orgasm Ben realizes he probably won’t be able to do this without you, as the soul deep urge to be held and used by you grows by the day. In one of his less lucid and weaker moments he would send you a fumbled text before passing out.

When he wakes up you are there with him and taking care of him. Ben would try to play it off and stay cool, but he feels more submissive and meeker than usual, struggling to meet your eyes and lowering his head when you look at him.

You most likely contacted Peter for help, fearing Ben was dying or had been poisoned or something like that. When you learn it’s a spider heat, you are surprised but you would never leave Ben for something as small as that, you just wished he’d have told you before.

Ben would hesitate to let you help in the beginning, but soon the need for you, your power, your dominance, would break down his walls. He would follow orders so well, wanting nothing more than for you to tell him what to do.

He would burst immediately the first time you pin him down by the neck, his entire body locking up as he wails in pleasure, twitching and gasping. After that you’d take care of him, cleaning him up, and lay down on top of him as he slept.

Having you lay on top of him like a blanket help settle that deep urge inside him that he needs you there, and it tells his animal brain that you are watching out for him and protecting him as he sleeps.

After the heat is over you can expect Ben to be more open about his wants and needs, though he is still a little flustered about him. He’s still an overconfident guy, showing off and flexing his muscles at you, but he also wants to please you, and he melts under any and all praise you give him.

[hiorintruther]

An Updated ‘Reasons Why I Ship Hiorin’ — Because It’s Been Ages Since I Made The First One And I’ve Had More Thoughts (and we got more moments!)

Aka: can you tell this ship makes me mentally unwell?

Hi again! It’s been a while. I did make one of these long posts a while back outlining why I choose to ship hiorin even though they’ve barely interacted and on the surface don’t look like they’d make sense at all. Since then, hiorin has gained quite a few shippers in the fandom and I keep thinking about the ship, especially with the Bastard Munchen vs PXG game FINALLY giving us some new crumbs. Unsurprisingly, ever since making the first post I’ve also had a lot more ideas about the dynamic, its potential, some more connections between them that I never touched on before, etc… and rather than editing the other post I thought it would be easier to just make a new one.

Some stuff I go over here might be familiar from the first post. I want this to be a kind of hub for any and all of my hiorin interpretations, analysis, trivia, headcanons, ‘theories’ (which I don’t think will be canon but the narrative potential for them is through the roof) and anything else I think is relevant to the ship. Feel free to jump around and read whatever is most interesting for you. Hiorin is a ship that, for me, is built on mountains of untapped potential. I just want to bring that potential to light all in one place.

Note: for this post I’ll only use information that has been written by Kaneshiro, drawn by Nomura or Sanomiya, or has otherwise been green-lit by Kaneshiro as canon. Merch collabs, voice actor QnAs, the PWC game etc… for me do not count as canon and I won’t use them. Also, the 10-image limit is biting my ass so my formatting for certain bits might be a bit all over the place. Apologies.

So without further ado. Let’s start! Enjoy the yap sesh!

Part 1 — The Manga Canon

Hiorin get their (very sparse and brief) interactions mostly from the Third Selection Arc (chapters 87-108) and the U20 arc (chapters 109-151). We’re also recently getting some new moments in the BM vs PXG match (chapters 250-present).

First off: the tryouts. It’s implied here that Hiori and Rin have never met, as Hiori notices Isagi’s response to Rin and asks if Isagi knows who Rin is. Rin also doesn’t acknowledge Hiori in any way here, so we can presume they’re strangers (although some shippers like to headcanon that they met during the first selection).

That being said during the match, after Isagi has been thoroughly shut down by Karasu, Rin turns his attention to Hiori as a teammate to help him get the ball up the field. Rin has never seen Hiori play before (as far as we know). They’ve never even talked. They’re barely getting familiar with each other’s play styles. And yet, they immediately link up to form a clean back and forth that optimises Rin’s play style. In fact, this duo helps Rin score 1 goal, and it would have helped Rin score 2 had Shidou not rudely interrupted the second.

It’s so deadly that Otoya has to intervene specifically to break them up, so that they can no longer continue their one-two passes up the field and threaten to go for another goal. (Also notice in this page below how as soon as the kickoff happens, Hiori is already running into position in the background. He understands what Rin wants to do).

Not only did Hiori and Rin naturally form a link-up, but Hiori was also fully capable of keeping up with Rin, something Nanase admitted he struggled with during this match and even Isagi was struggling with as well, since later on we see Isagi fail to intercept one of Hiori’s passes due to not being able to reach it in time (which presumably Rin would have been able to were he in Isagi’s position). So, from what we see of Hiori and Rin in this match, they’re on a similar wavelength in terms of skills, field vision and gameplay, and are naturally able to link up even as strangers. I’ll note here that neither of them were playing at full power — Hiori was playing on 0 motivation, and Rin was still utilising his Puppeteer play style instead of his Destroyer. More on this later in the ‘Headcanons’ section.

After the Tryouts, we next see them interact in the U20 match. We start with a brief callback to their tryouts link up in chapter 132, where Rin passes to Hiori. Hiori is acting as a relay between Isagi and Rin, which in my opinion would be a good way to utilise him after the NEL. Whether or not that’s how Kaneshiro chooses to use him in the future is anyone’s guess though.

The next big moment comes in chapter 140, after Shidou has kicked Rin in the face and the game has briefly paused. I think this is by far the most ‘iconic’ hiorin moment. While Isagi is analysing the previous play and Karasu is arguing with the ref, Hiori is the only one who actually checks on Rin. Even Bachira and Reo were right next to Rin and neither of them go to him. Hiori was further down the field but he moved to help Rin first. Not only is he gentle with and worried for Rin, but by some miracle Rin actually accepts his help! It feels almost out of character, given how angry Rin is for the rest of the match, but for this very brief moment he lets Hiori help him up and reassures him that he’s ‘fine’ (yeah sure buddy…).

For many this is the main ‘ooooooh’ moment with hiorin. But what if I told you it actually happens a second time this match? After Aiku goes rogue in chapter 142 and tries to score a goal, Rin ends up slide-tackling him to prevent it. And once again, if you look in the background of the panels following the interception in chapter 143, who is it helping Rin stand? It’s Hiori. And this time they actually hold hands!

The final hiorin moment in the U20 match comes soon after this in chapter 144, when Rin is about to enter his Destroyer mode. When Rin enters Destroyer mode, Hiori is in possession of the ball and so Rin steals it from him in a completely unpredictable move that had everyone stunned.

The U20 match moments, for many of us hiorin shippers, felt like the last time we’d ever see them properly interact. I at least had zero hopes for PXG. But oh boy was I wrong! Kaneshiro might not realise the dynamic he’s setting up with this duo but I’m gonna milk every interaction for what they’re worth! And so with that, I’ll bring you to the BM vs PXG match (note: currently still ongoing, so I’ll update this section as we get more moments). Since the U20 match, we’ve had some changes. The biggest one is Hiori’s personality. After going through his arc in Ubers, Hiori has become more outspoken and confident, playing into his ‘Ultra-Sadist’ style and being more than happy to speak his mind. He’s more argumentative and can whip up a good piece of trash talk (my gamer boy fr!). We see this on full display in chapter 251 when he completely shuts down Rin’s goal opportunity because Rin was too focussed on Isagi to see the bigger picture of the match. Hiori turns around, points at Rin, and tells him “if ya want a goal… come at me with an unpredictable script!”

Notice here how he isn’t simply putting Rin down for not being able to score. Hiori may be taunting Rin, perhaps getting over-confident, but he does still technically give Rin helpful advice. In a previous panel he explains how he was able to read Rin because Rin was too focussed on Isagi, and in combination with Hiori’s ‘unpredictable script’ line it forms some rather blunt and rude but nevertheless useful advice. Hiori is telling Rin exactly how to get past him and what Rin needs to do to improve. Notice the focus on unpredictability. I personally think this is a line foreshadowing Rin’s Destroyer mode, even if Hiori himself is unaware of it. Even if it’s not foreshadowing, Hiori’s advice is reasonable and Rin should listen to it.

The next moment we have of them together is from chapter 259, where Hiori is aided by Raichi to block Rin in a 2-person press, causing Rin to lose the ball. From a purely indulgent, shipping perspective, notice how Hiori’s and Rin’s legs are touching, their hands are on each other’s chests and they’re looking at each other. Raichi is just there lol.

Next we have chapter 270, where Rin has started to awaken his Destroyer and is barrelling his way through BM’s various players. Hiori is one of the players Rin gets past with ease. Rin gets past him with a rainbow flick, to which Hiori acknowledges Rin awakening by saying ‘he is good’. Note here that he is the only player on BM’s side to get actual dialogue in response to Rin overpowering them.

And as of right now, the latest interaction comes from chapter 273. Rin has entered Destroyer mode and has completely overwhelmed Hiori. Isagi actually says in this chapter that Rin has become someone he can’t analyse, a completely unreadable beast of a player. I think this means the ‘unpredictable script’ Hiori spoke of truly is the Destroyer, and Rin has finally been able to get past Hiori with it.

This may be it for their canon interactions, however it’s far from all the canon information we have about them that’s interesting for the dynamic. A big part of the hiorin ship is about looking at their individual information and drawing together similarities and/or parallels. While on the surface they seem very different, almost opposites, digging a little deeper reveals a lot of small coincidences about them that build up to make you realise that they’re a lot more similar than you might initially think.

Part 2 — Where Hiori and Rin Align

Analytical players. Both of them are capable of deeply analytical play styles that utilises field vision and high levels of technical skills. This way of playing doesn’t rely on brute strength or pure intimidation to get through the opponents’ defence, rather analysis, playing with and overcoming their opponents with strategy and out-playing their opponents with sheer levels of skill. This similarity is likely what led to them to be able to so easily link up when they first met. Rin is however also capable of being the Destroyer, which leads me to my second point below.

Sadism. Both are known sadists. Rin’s Destroyer mode is particularly sadistic, aiming to destroy in every way to the point where he will give up goal opportunities to destroy even more. In general, he revels in being at the top, destroying others under him. He’s open with his insults and destroys chaotically, looking for breaks in his opponents’ defence and completely tearing them down until there’s no hope of his opponents winning. Meanwhile Hiori is a self-proclaimed “ultra-sadist”. After his arc, he enjoys watching his opponents scramble to try and keep up with him only to be destroyed by his top-tier plays, especially in a ‘best play’ scenario with his chosen striker of the moment. He’s also not loyal to any one striker and will leave them behind if they’re not playing up to his standards or goal vision. Hiori’s sadism also manifests as him teasing his friends, as we see in chapter 241 when he jokingly teases Isagi for getting shipped with Kaiser by BLTV fans.

Sae connections. Rin’s connections to Sae are obvious, since they’re brothers and Sae is the cornerstone of Rin’s character arc. Hiori also has connections to Sae though. He’s been compared to Sae twice in-universe, once by Sendou in chapter 129 who said his passes had the same level of skill as Sae’s, and once by Yukimiya in chapter 241 who thinks Hiori’s ultra-sadist mindset is similar to Sae’s.

Replacements. In Rin’s light novel, he tells Sae that once Sae is gone, he’ll “find a replacement”. In chapter 239, Hiori tells Isagi that he won’t just be loyal to Isagi and will happily replace him with another striker should they be in a better position for Hiori’s vision.

They’re both gamers. Obviously we know Hiori is one. That’s been a big part of his character ever since we first met him. However, Rin also plays video games, specifically horror games. We get this info from both the Egoist Bible and his prequel light novel, where it explains that he plays horror games to de-stress at night: (chapter 2) “… even games, should be chilling and scary. Playing horror games alone at night is quite thrilling”.

Horror, gore and zombies. As well as playing horror games to de-stress, it’s explained in the Egoist Bible and Rin’s light novel that he watches horror movies for the same reason: (chapter 2) “When he’s done, he watches a horror movie and then goes to bed. This is his daily routine. For some reason, since Sae has been gone, he only watches horror movies. Movies, videos …”. The light novel slightly expands on this to specify that he enjoys splatter films, as well as showing an illustration of him watching rather a gory zombie movie: (chapter 4) “Lately, he's been into splatter films. The one where a killer comes out with an electric saw and a big-ass ax, then blood splatters all over the place. The one where a killer chases you no matter how hard you try to escape, and if you get caught, you end up being dismembered. His heart is pounding, but he’s not the type to show on his face, so Rin watching the slaughter scene without any expression on his face is much more horrifying”. Likewise, Hiori is shown in chapter 206 playing a zombie shooter in which he imagines the zombies becoming his parents and he violently kills them. We see his inner monologue of this in his prequel light novel, showing the depths of how much he wants them to suffer: (chapter 6) “Before he knew it, in his imagination, his parents became zombies. His father and mother are coming towards him, laughing. He shoots without hesitation. Bang! Headshot. The bullet that entered the father's jaw blew off the back of his head. Bang! Bang! His mother's eyeballs pop out and there's a hole in her chest. He aims for vital spots with rapid fire, but they don't fall easily because they're zombies”.

Solitude. Rin is ranked as the most anti-social member of Blue Lock in the Egoist Bible. He says he “doesn’t have time for lukewarm conversations” (although I do think on some level he longs for approval and love from someone, given how much he craves his brother’s attention). He is also one of the only characters who genuinely has no friends in Blue Lock. He tolerated Bachira for a time and trained Nanase begrudgingly, but no one is very close with him at all. Now, at a glance Hiori might seem far more social. He has a lot of friends and seems to enjoy hanging out with them. However, in a Twitter QnA (which tend to have questions compiled for the Egoist Bible or character profiles, but alas Hiori doesn’t have one compiled yet) it was revealed that his ideal type in a romantic partner is “someone who can leave me alone”. The wording he used — 放置し合えるん — seems to imply a reciprocal nature of this ‘leaving alone’, ie ‘you leave me alone, I’ll leave you alone’. Now tell me that arrangement wouldn’t work perfectly for Rin? Hiori is also shown in chapter 172 (which is before his character arc) spending time alone in the BM dorms while the others are out training. While Hiori can enjoy socialising, he also needs plenty of time to himself to the point where it becomes a deal-breaker in a relationship for him.

Ochazuke (tea on rice). Rin’s favourite food according to the Egoist Bible is ochazuke, specifically taichazuke. In the Episode Rin extra chapter we see him going to enjoy some taichazuke at a traditional restaurant because he was hungry for ochazuke. When Hiori was asked in another Twitter QnA what his favourite accompaniment for rice is, he replied that it’s the ochazuke brand Nagatanien.

Stripes. Rin’s casual outfits for both the Shibuya collab (designed by Nomura) and Episode Rin feature a striped/ribbed pattern. Likewise, Hiori’s casual pyjamas, childhood design and one of Nomura’s coaster designs feature him wearing striped clothing.

Eyelashes. Both of them have long under-lashes. That’s kinda it for this one lol.

Water connections. Hiori’s favourite season is the rainy season and he has been referred to as ‘water coloured’ in the manga due to his hair colour (it means ‘cyan’ in Japanese — see point 12). Rin’s aura is water and he is regularly connected to the sea in his hometown of Kamakura.

Name kanji (yes, I’m in this deep). In Rin’s surname, the kanji 糸 means ‘thread/yarn’. In Hiori’s surname, the kanji 織 means ‘weaver’. Both of them have kanji relating to weaving, likely in relation to both Rin’s Puppeteer play style (and Sae’s insane control of the midfield), and Hiori’s way of ‘weaving’ together a best play through his skills (and his parents ‘weaving’ his life for him rather than letting him control it himself). To get even more conspiracy theorist-y, when Charles meets Hiori he calls Hiori “水色お兄さん” — literally ‘water-coloured big brother’, likely in relation to his hair colour because 水色 can also mean ‘cyan’. To keep it on the topic of water though, whose aura is made of water? That’s right. Rin’s! (yes I know this is really grasping at straws but I did say this post was for EVERYTHING hiorin).

Part 3 — Family Relationships: Love, Expectations and Abandonment

Rin and Hiori both have relationships with particular members of their family that are similar and also unique among the rest of the cast. For Rin, it’s his relationship with Sae. For Hiori, it’s his relationship with his parents.

To begin with Hiori, his parents only wanted a child who could fulfil their dream of being number one in the world at a particular sport. They held this expectation of him throughout his whole life, pretending to genuinely care about and love him when in reality all they wanted was for him to be the best. If he tried to step out of line, they’d become monstrous, as seen in his light novel: (chapter 2) “Can I take a day off from soccer tomorrow and go play with my friends?” As soon as he said this, the smiles disappeared from his parents’ faces. His mother looked very surprised, and then she made the scariest face he's ever seen. “......!” He doesn’t remember what she said. He just remembers that he was scolded terribly. After that, he was hugged tightly. “Hiori, you are born to be the best at soccer.” “You can play with other kids anytime you want.” “But if you don’t do soccer properly from now on, you will never be the best.” His mother was desperate. His father was behind her, looking sadly at Hiori. “Please, Hiori, trust us and play soccer.” Hiori felt that he had done something very wrong. … What should I do? I said something bad. I'm sorry. The air was stifling, as if he had been locked in a room full of needles. He felt like he would get hurt if he moved, so all Hiori could do was nod.” We also see the extent of this in chapter 206, when Hiori overhears his parents threatening to get a divorce if he isn’t the best. This makes him realise that if he doesn’t fulfil their expectations, his parents don’t want him. In essence, they would abandon him, letting their family fall apart and blaming it all on him.

With Rin, it’s a bit more complicated. His relationship with his older brother Sae is still pretty up in the air as to what really happened from Sae’s perspective. We need to distinguish between what actually happened (which is difficult to determine as of right now) and what Rin interpreted as happening. From his perspective, he has a moment in chapter 125 where he thinks Sae pretended to love him while they were growing up, only using him as a stepping stone to get to the world stage. After that had been achieved, Rin presumes was abandoned. This is unlikely true though (even if it’s tricky to discern for now). This is where I cry on deaf ears for a Sae light novel or spin-off chapter, anything to get his side of the story. My current PERSONAL interpretation of canon is that Sae still loves Rin, however he knows that Rin’s desire to be the world’s best as a duo is impossible, and his way of trying to ween Rin off such a dream was to sever their relationship, he just went about it in perhaps the worst way possible. No matter what really happened though, I’m more interested in what Rin interpreted from being abandoned, which is a mix of hatred and confusion but also still a desire for recognition.

This to me reads as very similar to what Hiori’s relationship with his parents used to be before his arc. Hiori hated his parents. He wished death upon them. And yet, despite that he kept fighting for what they wanted, fulfilling their expectations because he was so afraid that if he didn’t, all the blame would be placed on him for their family falling apart. Rin’s situation is sort of a dark mirror to Hiori’s, where instead of just fearing that abandonment, Rin was abandoned, with all the blame being placed on him by Sae. And yet, deep down, he’s still fighting for Sae’s approval again, trying to find any way he can to fulfil Sae’s expectations. We see this in the way Rin chose Isagi to be his rival after the U20 match not because of anything in particular that Isagi has done, but because Sae acknowledged Isagi. We see Rin’s desire for love in the way he travelled to Tokyo in the Episode Rin extra chapter to possibly watch Sae’s match, even though they’d already fallen out by that point. Even as recently as chapter 273, where Rin gives up a goal opportunity because, to him, Sae wouldn’t approve of it.

Rin and Hiori both strove for love from their families, it’s just that Hiori has now managed to break free from this mindset and fight only for himself, meanwhile Rin is still clinging to the memory of Sae no matter how much he wants to crush Sae for abandoning him. This complicated relationship with love, expectation and abandonment is what draws me to a lot of hiorin’s potential. They both exist at different points along a trajectory of breaking free from their families’ expectations, with Hiori having decided to not try to appease his family anymore meanwhile Rin is still chasing after Sae, perhaps fruitlessly.

Part 4 — Headcanons Part 1: The Hiorin Potential For A Joint Arc (which yes I know won’t happen. Let me dream)

Anything from this point on is pure headcanon, taking into account all the canon information listed in the previous sections. This is NOT ‘speculation’. I genuinely don’t think any of this will be canon or else Kaneshiro would have started calling attention to it by now in the main manga. Kaneshiro hasn’t consciously laid the groundwork for Rin and Hiori to have a joint arc together, he has done so by accident and all the pieces are in place.

The bulk of this section revolves around Rin’s Destroyer mode and Hiori’s ultra-sadism and ‘producer’ epithet, as well as the ‘best-play’ scenario theorised by Isagi and Hiori in the early PXG chapters. Basically, I think that a ‘best-play’ chemical reaction between Ultra-Sadist Producer Hiori and Destroyer Rin would be both broken as fuck and would be a great way to showcase Rin’s character development as he learns to balance the Destroyer with his desire to crush Sae.

In Rin’s light novel, we learn that as a child playing alongside Sae as a duo, Rin didn’t have the Puppeteer play style he’s known for in the main series. Instead, he was fully zoned in on himself and the game, moving on instinct, looking for the perfect spot to break through the enemy’s defence, trusting fully that he would receive Sae’s passes (chapter 1): ‘“Rin, what are you thinking about when you play soccer?” Rin scored two goals in today’s match. Meanwhile, Sae scored three points with a hat trick. His Nii-chan is great after all. “Hm? Nothing. I guess it's just about goals. I just run to the bad area and then Nii-chan passes to me.” “What do you mean by bad area?” Sae asks, while playing with the stick in his mouth. “Hm. The area where the enemy panics and falls through.” The area the enemy falls through. Sae let his younger brother's words quietly seep into his mind. “You rely too much on your intuition, you know.” “But Nii-chan always passes to me, so why not? Nobody else is good enough for me.” That’s why it’s okay to move on impulse without thinking. “......What will you do when I’m not around?” “I don’t know but, I guess I’ll look for a replacement.” Rin says nonchalantly.’

This method of running ‘to the area where the enemy panics and falls through’ seems to be alluding to Rin’s Destroyer mode — the version of Rin we see in the final moments of the U20 match after he loses control and goes on a destructive rampage. Indeed, in chapter 152 we also see Rin wondering what this side of him is truly capable of and how he wants to try harnessing it more, but he still only wants to use it to destroy Isagi and Sae rather than playing for himself. His Puppeteer is not his original play style, instead it’s one he developed after Sae left in order to appease his teammates and to be a able to carry his team to victory by himself (chapter 3); ‘Even in a high-level club team, no one could handle Rin’s moves’, (chapter 4): ‘Without Sae's passes, he can't play the way he wants to play’, (chapter 5): ‘Rin erases his best image and then captures the whole picture. In his head, he sees the movements of all the players, as if filmed from a drone’, (chapter 5): ‘No one understands Rin's frustration. But they can win, so that's fine. It's as if there are marionette strings attached to his teammates, controlling and moving the team…… That is Rin's new weapon. It is a play that can only be made with Rin's combination of technical, physical, and tactical skills. It has also led him to bring out the best in his teammates’. It was only in the U20 match that the Destroyer was able to come out again after it had been sealed away for so long. It was a completely different way of playing that was more primal and natural for Rin but less controlled and more clumsy due to his lack of practice using it. Still, its pure destructive power was insane enough to almost score.

In the current chapters of the manga, we know that Rin has gotten a certain better grasp of his more destructive side since the start of the NEL. In chapter 239 (immediately after Hiori says he’ll happily drop Isagi for someone else should they come along, mind you) we see Rin utilising a very destructive play style against Nagi in the PXG vs MC match. Clearly he has been trying to improve this side of himself since first letting it loose again during the U20 match. However, clearly what we’ve seen of this destructive style up until chapter 268 was not the complete Destroyer, as Rin himself says in chapter 269 that something was missing from his improvement throughout the NEL. And so, we’re only now seeing the Destroyer properly again in the later part of the BM vs PXG match. Furthermore, it seems as though Rin might be a ‘restrictive’ player, given that the Destroyer comes out when he’s bottle-necked into a tense situation caused by Isagi limiting his options.

Now, undoubtably we’re seeing the Destroyer in full action, and very recently we’ve seen it absolutely decimate Hiori. This is a good thing, in my opinion, and I’d been hoping to see this outcome since chapter 251 when Hiori said his ‘unpredictable script’ line. Since Hiori flat out told Rin to come at him with ‘an unpredictable script’, the Destroyer can be the ‘unpredictable script’ that blows Hiori away. And I personally think that this should catch Hiori’s attention. Remember, his resolve in chapter 239 is to produce the greatest striker, and his ultra-sadism means he’s more than happy to drop Isagi for someone he thinks is better. So, no matter what the outcome of the BM vs PXG match is, I think Rin’s Destroyer should pique Hiori’s interest as a potential best striker candidate. This is especially so when you remember that Hiori has technically already experienced Rin’s Destroyer first hand in the U20 match, when Rin stole the ball from Hiori (interesting side note here: Hiori’s immediate thoughts before the ball was stolen from him were him having to choose who he should pass to, Barou or Nagi. He thought ‘which one of you?’ but didn’t pass, in my eyes because he couldn’t envision the play working with either of them, and then immediately Rin stole the ball. Rin unknowingly answered the question Hiori was asking in those crucial seconds).

In the next arc (a U20 World Cup training mini-arc I’d presume), I’d have Hiori and Rin slowly start to interact. I think Hiori’s ultra-sadism would be incredibly useful in helping draw the Destroyer out of Rin because Hiori only passes to the best spot on the field. He doesn’t alter his level of play for the sake of his striker. So, if Rin is not in a mindset where he can bring about his Destroyer, then his plays become affected and Hiori simply won’t pass to him. And if Hiori were trying to link up with a specific striker, he would likely pass to Isagi instead. This creates a bottle-neck where Rin has to evolve his mindset, discarding the Puppeteer (which is still useful in some cases, but not here) and instead fully embracing the Destroyer. If he can get into that mindset, only focussing on himself, zoning in on just the goal ahead and causing as much chaos as possible, he is guaranteed to be rewarded by receiving Hiori’s perfect pass to the ideal spot where the enemy ‘breaks’. It mirrors how Sae used to pass to him in their childhood (remembering Hiori has been compared to Sae in terms of both skill and mindset), except now Rin isn’t thinking that he’s part of a permanent duo, rather he alone is the star and he can trust his midfielder to aid him and match goal-visions without the need for the Puppeteer.

The key word here is trust. Rin and Hiori would have to develop a level of trust. Hiori has to trust that Rin will embody the Destroyer, and Rin has to trust that Hiori will side with him. It’s why Hiori has currently been able to work so well with Isagi. Their goal visions aligned and they placed the utmost trust in each other to perform at their individual bests, thus leading to Isagi scoring successful goals. For me, if Rin could also reach this state, it would be a showcase of the culmination of his development as he breaks free of Sae and learns how to play fully for himself. It would simultaneously be a return to his childhood, where he was able to freely utilise a Destroyer-like style without worrying about the rest of the team, while also showing his evolution because he no longer places that trust onto just Sae ‘because it’s Nii-chan’. When Rin trusts in Hiori, it wouldn’t be because ‘it’s Hiori’, rather it would be Rin fully focussing purely on his own plays and simply allowing the ball to land in the ideal spot at his feet. It’s a completely sadistic, self-serving mindset, just like Hiori’s is from a midfielder’s perspective. Hiori’s ultra-sadism means he likely can’t be controlled by Rin’s Puppeteer style, since he plays for himself fully. He’d only let Rin control him if their visions aligned. Therefore in order to successfully earn Hiori’s passes, Rin would need to fully embrace the Destroyer, abandon anything clouding his potential, and throw himself fully into goal-scoring. Hiori can’t be controlled but he’s reliable and can be trusted. I do think the road to building this trust should have its ups and downs. Let Rin get frustrated at Hiori not being controllable. Let Hiori want to see Rin improve while also not bending to Rin’s will. Let Hiori refuse to work with Rin sometimes. All of it would be part of a gradual, arc-spanning development for Rin that doesn’t take place in a single chapter.

In my personal opinion, having Hiori specifically be the midfielder who helps Rin most would be more narratively satisfying someone like Nanase (no hate to Nanase or nanarin tho. Love them 🫶). While Nanase works as a nice support for Rin especially at the moment in PXG, plus his sunshine personality might help Rin relax and open up more over time, his skill level isn’t quite up to scratch for Rin’s highest-level plays. Nanase’s passes are useful with his ambidexterity but they aren’t clean. They aren’t as reliable. Rin still has to pay attention to Nanase in order to guarantee a successful play. He can’t block out literally everything else to hyper-focus on goal-scoring in this state. And as we’ve seen several times during PXG, the Rin-Nanase link-up has been easily thwarted by characters like Isagi and Hiori, such as in chapter 268 when their two-person press costs Nanase the ball. Hiori on the other hand provides that high level of play (he can win 3v1s and pass through tight openings with ease) which means Rin can afford to essentially forget Hiori even exists — the ball will still find its way to him. They wouldn’t even have to look at each other (much like the Isagi x Hiori best play we saw in Ubers that was recently sort of recreated in PXG).

There is also the thematic element that Hiori has been compared to Sae before, setting him up as a Sae parallel which I think could be utilised in Rin’s evolution. Placing trust in Hiori would show that Rin is finally able to detach his reason to play from Sae and he can stop striving so strongly for Sae to notice him. This plays into the shared relationship Hiori and Rin both have with expectations, love and abandonment. It could arguably help them get on each others wavelength and understand exactly what they want from a play and how best to execute a strategy they haven’t even discussed beforehand. On top of all this, it means Hiori would be the one to help ‘produce’ Rin since Hiori has already gone through the mental baggage of his arc and would understand Rin’s mental blocks.

Still, I do not think that canonically Rin and Hiori will interact much, if at all, and if they do Hiori will likely side with Isagi over Rin. Rin’s development will likely come from a combination of continuing to battle against Isagi, confronting Sae and having a lot of internal monologues. Meanwhile, Hiori will continue to improve alongside Isagi as a plot device who can be pulled out at convenient moments, while occasionally passing to other strikers for dramatic flair (I don’t really like this after Hiori’s resolve so strongly telegraphed that he’d very happily drop Isagi without a second thought, but oh well, what can you do?). I doubt Hiori will canonically play into Rin’s development at all.

Still, from the moment Rin and Hiori met in the third selection tryouts, they were able to flawlessly link up without the need for planning or communication. Hiori understood what Rin needed and moved to the perfect spot to work with him. If both of them were in Flow, creating a ‘best-play’ scenario with the Destroyer and the Ultra-Sadist Producer, it would both be a show of incredible skill and high-level play while also showcasing Rin’s personal development and evolution, as well as utilising Hiori as a narrative support in a way that doesn’t impose him too strongly on the main plot but keeps him relevant and active in the story.

Part 5 — Headcanons Part 2: Some Fun Ideas

This section is all about some fun ideas I’ve had about hiorin, mostly trying to use canon as a strong basis so that they make sense. They aren’t things I think will ever be explored in canon but they’re fun to think about nonetheless. These can range from canon-adjacent to domestic AU material, it’s a whole mix really. I’ll probably come back to this bit every now and again to update it with new ideas I have, so keep an eye out for that.

A shared understanding. Since they’re both familiar with what they perceive to be feelings of false love from family members, it creates a situation where they can understand why they act the way they do better than anyone else. I hc that this would help them to more naturally form link-ups on the field, since they’d be in tune with each other’s mental states as well as general play styles. Off-field they’d be able to recognise when something has ticked the other off or resurfaced some unpleasant memories. I don’t think they’d really be ones to talk about their family traumas to each other openly, but they’d have an understanding of the things they do find out and wouldn’t think the other is overreacting, especially Hiori understanding Rin. While I think it’s good that Rin has friends like Nanase who he can be more chilled out with, I personally prefer the idea that his partner is someone who can actually understand the depths of his issues and sit with him in the eye of the storm until it passes, rather than trying to just ‘fix’ him without being able to understand him properly.

Touch-starved and both slow to physical affection. Since they’re both introverted and Rin is emotionally constipated as hell, they aren’t really a couple that would be very into PDA. Not even hand-holding. But it doesn’t really matter for them. They’re both not very used to that sort of physical comfort especially in the presence of others. However, while I think in general Rin might be a bit more reluctant to initiate intimacy than Hiori, I do think he’d still be more inclined to initiate hugs. Why Rin of all people? Because he grew up with a sibling. And he was a younger sibling at that. On some level he would have received attention from Sae while their relationship was still good, even if only a little bit. Hiori on the other hand grew up an only child in a household where hugs and doting were used as a tool to manipulate him. He’d likely not be used to the idea of hugs as a genuine show of affection. But Rin’s hugs are always genuine and often given out sparingly and tentatively, after a lot of hesitation. They’re both slow to physical affection but they’d find a way to navigate their wants and needs together, taking their time.

All-nighter horror dates. Be it playing co-op horror games or binging horror movies in the dark, I think they’d both prefer that as a date night over going out to a restaurant. It’s an activity they can both have fun with as a shared interest, just the two of them, alone at home with no need to even leave the house. They can let themselves get more passionate and competitive (and sadistic) while playing horror games too.

Owl eyes. According to the Egoist Bible, Rin’s favourite animal is owls (a lot of Nomura’s Rin drawings also feature owls, he has a plushie of an owl in chapter 270 and he wears a ‘fukurou’ (owl) bag in the Episode Rin extra chapter). It is also a fandom-wide thing to say that Hiori has giant eyes. While most people compare Hiori’s eyes to bugs, I’d like to offer comparing them to owl eyes — giant, round, staring into your soul maybe a bit too much. Hiori has owl eyes and Rin loves owls, so I headcanon that Rin would love Hiori’s large, curious eyes more than anyone.

Yoga together. While we only have canonical confirmation that Rin both regularly does yoga and is good at it, I hc that Hiori would also be quite good at it due to his parents likely drilling him with intense schedules and being helicopter parents about his health. Yoga would likely fall into it somewhere as a cool-down activity and a good way to exercise on rainy days. While Hiori initially wouldn’t find yoga fun to do with Rin due to his negative associations with it, I feel like over time it could be a nice bonding activity for the two of them. It requires minimal talking if they’re doing their own routines, and as long as Hiori isn’t messing up the moves I think Rin would tolerate the two of them existing in the same space. At the very least, Hiori wouldn’t try to one-up Rin with moves he can’t do and topple onto Rin as a result (looking at you, Isagi…). They wouldn’t do couples yoga though, just their own thing in the same space.

Sharing food. In the Twitter QnAs, it states that Hiori’s favourite food is salt-grilled saury (saury shiyoyaki) “including the bitter bits”. His least favourite food is cotton candy because “it’s just sugar”. Therefore, I hc that he tends to enjoy bitter food while disliking sweet food. In contrast, we know that Rin quite likes sweet food because he used to eat ice cream with Sae on the way home from practice, plus in the Episode Rin extra chapter he enjoys most blanc at a dessert cafe. Because of this difference in tastes, I like to hc Hiori giving any sweet food Blue Lock offers in their meals to Rin. Likewise, if the main meal Rin is given is ever burnt or charred too much for his liking, he gives the charred bits to Hiori since he knows Hiori will eat them so the food won’t be wasted.

Tea and coffee. As an addendum to the previous hc, I think Hiori would be a coffee drinker and Rin would be a tea drinker. This is because coffee tends to be more bitter, especially ones without sugar like espressos, so I can see Hiori preferring them to tea. There’s also the idea that ochazuke is made with tea, which is a bonus for Rin liking tea over coffee.

Cooking. Last food-related one I promise! While Hiori likely has a ton of technical knowledge about nutrition, dieting, calorie counting etc… due to his mother’s frenzied control of his diet growing up, I headcanon that he doesn’t actually have a clue how to cook. Once again, this is because of his parents being overprotective and worrying that he’d injure himself with a kitchen knife or burn himself on the stovetop. So he has zero clue about where to start in the kitchen. On the flip-side, while Rin isn’t the best cook in the world I reckon he’d have somewhat of an idea of how to cook the basics, plus he likely also has knowledge of dieting and nutrition for the sake of his own health. So while they’d both have things to learn in the kitchen, it would be Rin doing more of the actual cooking while Hiori decides what meals to eat to optimise their health and training.

A joint-aura that’s a blizzard — in the event that they ever were to team up on the field, I think that the aura they’d give off together should be a blizzard. It makes sense to me for them to have this because Hiori has ice associations with the kanji 氷 in his surname, which means ‘ice’, and in chapter 239 when he gives his monologue about finding a reason to play, a metaphorical key appears with a snowflake on it to symbolise his newfound resolve. Rin’s connections to snow are less positive though, since it was snowing the day that Sae abandoned him. I think making their joint aura a blizzard could symbolise both Hiori’s ultra-sadist resolve to play, and Rin finally being able to move on from Sae to associate the snow with his sadistic determination. A snowstorm joint-aura would also emphasise the pair of them having a sadistic, destructive take-down of their opponents.

Hiori has a type. His canon type is already ‘someone who will leave me alone’ as I previously discussed in section 2. However, I do like to semi-jokingly say that his type is also ‘dark-haired, analytical guys with an attitude who are really good at football’. Obviously this is meant to refer mostly to Isagi and Karasu (we’ve all seen the heart-eyes you give them, Hiori!), but it is amusing to me that the description also fits Rin perfectly.

Part 6 — Transformative Works I Recommend For New Shippers

These are just some of my favourite fanfics all linked together in one place. I’ll start with a shameless plug of my own fic:

14 Days To NOT Fall In Love (but guess who did anyway)

Summary: This annoyingly mandated break of Ego's was only fourteen days long. That would never be enough time for Rin to fall for this aggravatingly sweet, understanding, level-headed, cyan-haired gamer boy... Okay, maybe he'd need to exercise SOME restraint. Aka: how Rin and Hiori become mutually pining idiots after the U-20 match through a combination of video games, late night discord calls and learning that perhaps they're not all that different after all.

(Chapters: 10 , Word Count: 67088 , Rating: T)

And now for my personal favourites I think new shippers will enjoy, in no particular order (if any of the authors see this and have tumblrs you want me to tag, lmk!):

catch us in the morning by transrightssokka (kellallyourfriends)

Summary: Hiori looks down and brings his hand up to his mouth, hiding a faint smile. “You don’t wanna go home, do you?” “No shit, I don’t,” Rin says. He’d rather sleep on the sidewalk than spend the next two weeks with Sae. Hiori is silent for a minute. His pretty eyes flick to his feet. Up to the back of the seat in front of them. Over to Rin. “So.” “So?” Rin says. Hiori lowers his voice. “So, what if we didn’t?”

(Chapters: 3 , Word Count: 27206 , Rated: M)

Even When It’s Starless by saturnshots

Summary: Everyone’s had an imaginary friend or two — it’s not often they change the course of your life, but who says being imaginary could stop them from bringing your dreams come true?

(Chapters: 1 , Word Count: 2838 , Rating: G)

sine wave by starstruckdove

Summary: Rin discovers Bachira’s “super secret surprise” sooner than he’d thought. There’s a new boy standing next to Ego at practice, and Rin knows he’s new because each of his unfortunate teammates have made their presence (loudly and raucously) known in his life. The boy has a nice face–wide eyes and soft mouth, all rounded corners instead of sharp edges. His hair is a shocking shade of blue and Rin finds it almost familiar. “This is your new manager,” Ego says with about as much energy as a dead battery.

(Chapters: 1 , Word Count: 8990 , Rated: T)

Daydreaming by em_hiorin

Summary: Hiori can’t seem to concentrate during practice, as a certain Itoshi has been plaguing his mind.

(Chapters: 1 , Word Count: 1560 , Rating: G)

My family thinks we’re dating. by akiangelsolos

Summary: “Oh, I see.” His mother hummed, placing her silver fork down on the table. “You must be upset, Hiori hasn’t come over in a while. You have to be lonely without your boyfriend around.” “I’m not lonely-” Rin shot his eyes at his mom, “What did you just say?”

(Chapters: 2 , Word Count: 5486 , Rating: G)

Part 7 — Wow, You Made It This Far? Congratulations And Thank You!

If you’ve made it this far, then I am both immensely thankful and I applaud you. Seriously, thank you for putting up with my insane, delusional brainrot over this silly rarepair that has barely any canon backing to speak of. Hopefully if anything, you now understand why people are starting to take interest in the ship (or at least why I enjoy it). And if you’re a shipper now, welcome to the club! You will now have to watch Hiori and Rin never affect each other’s development, never interact in any meaningful capacity and you’ll be eternally bitter about it 👍. For any aspiring fic writers, I hope this can be a nice hub of info for all of you if you want to consult the hiorin ‘dynamic’ (i say in quotations because let’s face it, I made up like 95% of the dynamic based on analysis and a canon dynamic doesn’t actually exist). Also, bear in mind that in the off chance we do get some more moments, I plan to update this post. So you may end up being subject to even more brainrot in the future.

Until that day comes though, I can only thank you once again. Hiorin is my otp and no matter how much Kaneshiro doesn’t make it come to fruition, he will have to try incredibly hard to make me stop shipping them. The dynamic can change. They can become more and more ‘incompatible’. I don’t care. If hiorin has no shippers, I have passed on from this world.

[your-local-grinning-cat]

The Ultimate Compilation Callout

Hey Guys! AR OOC once again to say I am 100% done.

I'm done with this. I thought it was finally dying down and the drama was finally getting to be over with but then she came back and is now trying to say that we are the ones in the wrong. And she is STILL trying to blame Leona's mod when, as both @/castaway-achlys and I have stated numerous times at this point, they were asleep during the entire event. They did not ask for us to defend them. We were both just tired of hearing our friend be exhausted and stressed out by her.

And the fact that so many people have come out to give their own experiences of her being rude and cruel to them just proves this is not a singular event.

I'm putting all this under a cut because it's gonna get long guys. In fact, I’m probably going to end up needing to create a couple reblog chains to get it all out.

But I'm done playing nice. I have all the receipts. Like I went allllll the way back to when the discord was first created. I caught her in her first lie.

Which, coincidentally, her very first lie in the Discord server happened on the very first day it was formed. What a way to start.

I call her the Malleus mod as an identifier in these screenshots, because unlike her, I am not petty enough to reveal peoples’ personal information on the internet just because I don’t like them.

HOWEVER. I will remind everyone that she is not JUST the owner of the Malleus account. Even if you don’t want to look under the read more because there are a LOT of receipts, know that these are all her known blogs.

I do not condone harassment. Harassment is basically what started all this. Just block and go.

Malleus Draconia @/therealmalleusdraconia

Falena Kingscholar @/the-falena-kingscholar

Aijuka (A Leona gf OC) @/the-one-aijuka

Jack Howl @/frosh-jack-howl

Fellow Honest @/fellow-honest

Meleanor Draconia @/meleanor-draconia

Baul Zigvolt @/baul-zigvolt

Sebek’s Mother @/thethickestone

Marja Felmier @/marja-felmier

And her latest: Eric Venue @/ericvenue

(Bonus non-rp blog @/thetwistedminds)

Before we get too far into it I will say there is a slight color code! But only a tiny one!

Gross light green color - look at that lie! 👀

Gross darker green color - a lie is revealed! 🤭

Orange - note the date/time! 🗓️⏰

Let me show you what I mean in the lie I’ve already mentioned - her very first one. :)

There we have the orange, telling you to note the date. That’s because I was wanting to make sure it was known that the pet posts were made on the same date that the discord was created.

And then we have the gross light green around Malleus mod claiming that this bunny is her bunny and that it was her bunny’s birthday recently.

Now here is the follow up with the gross darker green of a lie revealed. 😌

And there we have it! The color coding system and her very first lie told the very first day the Discord channel was active and easily disproven with an image search.

Now let’s get into the FUN STUFF! /sarc

We’re going to be doing some rehashing here but I’m also going to probably be including some new things so stay with me folks! This’ll be a ride! Buckle up!

So, originally I was thinking I'd start with the current drama. But considering that a lot of that has already been covered and what hasn't been covered needs more context, I'm just going to keep going in chronological order, I guess.

I've been up for over 24 hours compiling receipts, editing them to protect IDs, and then getting them all sorted so let's finally do this so I can pass out!

First up is something that actually has been covered a bit but I'm going to expand on it slightly - her blatant lie to @/elysia-nsimp (I'm not tagging anyone because I'm not forcing anyone to get notifications on this lmao).

Here's what everyone has already seen. But to expand on the event, we didn't call her out on her bad behavior, even though we probably should have as she had just lied straight to another mod's face about her blog ownership. I simply DM'd the mod in question privately to make sure they were okay and then tried to keep the peace in the main chat.

Because, believe it or not with this major callout post, I don't generally like confrontation. But I stepped in there for Elysia and I stepped up during this for Leona's mod.

Now, later that night, she posts this as if nothing had happened and she hadn't just been told that she needed to work on her roleplaying skills:

Uh huh. Sure. That's your last account. Because you have shown so much self-control when it comes to filling character voids within the twst rp community already. I'll be generous and give you a month before you break.

Now these next ones need a tiny bit of background information and a note: the Malleus mod is German and, as far as we know, lives in Germany. These next pictures are little indicators that she has not experienced the United States at all. These indicators may not seem important now, but they will be in just a little time. So keep them in mind for after the pause.

You cannot tell me anyone who has spent any length of time in the United States has not at least heard of Walmart.

Quick pitstop to say wow! You didn't even make it a month! Congratulations!

Also, note the question from the admin and the pretty obvious passive aggressiveness from me. We were sending plenty of hints that they needed to stop - sometimes coming outright and saying it, sometimes simply implying. Either way, we were all ignored.

She says she's not a mind reader. Well, apparently she's just not a reader period.

Now... a bit of an oddball here. And I want to say I do not necessarily think this is a lie. I am including it for a lie that is coming. The one that I included all those America comments for.

I'm sure you will note that I said that I don't "necessarily think" it's a lie - indicating that I do think it could be a possibility. That would be correct.

She has been lying since day one and, after this doozy of a story I'm about to share with you, I honestly don't know what to believe when it comes to her.

So.. to sum this up...

We went from a cringe ask from an OC account that she didn't want to answer -> the asker wasn't supposed to be on tumblr because they were underage (???) and was trying to date her irl and somehow had all of her information (oh but don't worry guys she deleted the ask!) -> he found her social media accounts and sent her NSFW pictures and started spam liking, demanding pictures of her kids, sent pictures of her at-the-time boyfriend, sent pictures of his family and his kids -> so she blocked him on everything and then started spam creating the rp accounts to see if he did it with other people or if it was just her (...mmmhmmm...) but nope he was only interested in Malleus -> she then apparently moved to America for a bit to crash with her boyfriend because this underage person went to Germany to find he.

Oh, by the way, why was this guy obsessed with her? Oh, he was obsessed with German women. He decided that all German women were pretty. And she's German-Russian! And Russians have intense standards for women you know! After this guy found out she was German AND Russian, I mean... it was only a matter of time before he upped his game to try to find her!

Guys, she's not saying she's too beautiful for her own good - the underage stalker speaks for itself!

Now, since this stalker found her through her Malleus account and was obviously very determined, you would think the first course of action would be to, ya know, delete the Malleus blog. Right?

No, no, no! Then she would have to start all over and, of course, if she switched accounts she would be forced to make a post on her current blog saying what her new blog is and he would just find her there. That's why she's trying to make her other accounts more active than her Malleus account (her Malleus account was still, by far, before all this happened, the most popular of all her rp blogs)!

Can I also mention that in that post announcing her pregnancy ON HER MALLEUS ACCOUNT WHERE SHE SUPPOSEDLY HAS A STALKER, she had tagged ALL OF HER BLOGS AT THE TIME?

But yes, Malleus mod. I definitely believe your story. :)

Please. Please tell me you all can understand why I just cannot find it in me to trust a single word coming out of this woman's mouth.

Especially now that during this whole drama, she has been lying through her teeth and trying to pin the entire blame on Leona's mod.

Now this part is nearly over (thank whatever gods anyone believes in) but let's just post the last few of the "before drama happened" pictures, shall we?

...I'm realizing I didn't underline the part where I called her out for having that many blogs in the gross dark green of a lie caught... oops. This is what happens when you have far too little sleep.

But either way, here is another time when she was called out on a lie of hers. And her little comment at the end means she read it and she acknowledged us.

She just didn't care because it didn't suit her.

~~~~~~

ALRIGHT!

THAT'S THE END OF PART ONE!

Yeah. This is going to come out in PARTS. I can't cover it all in one post because there is a picture limit.

So, I'm going to end up making a reblog chain...

Eventually.

Real talk? I need to sleep. Desperately. It's nearly two in the afternoon where I am and I have not slept yet.

Do not underestimate the power of spite and my loyalty to my friends. Both are very strong motivators.

But my body's needs are finally winning.

When I wake up, I'll have the Ultimate Drama Arc to post and expand upon and then the Return of the Drama Arc.

Yay. (said in the most unenthused voice ever lmao)

Anyway. Enjoy all this. I'm gonna go die. /j

[bestworstcase]

Grimm behavior reassessment thought: y'know that sister training session called on account of Rather Tanky Ursa? Could Ruby & Yang have avoided that fight if they'd known to treat the big lug like careful hikers would an 'ordinary' bear encounter? There were a few 'pause & rear/roar' moments on its part which I guess *could* be read as 'hey stop that' or 'my turf, leave'.

yang’s character short has always interested me bc the ursa was there the whole time they were sparring.

like. yang throws a punch, ruby panic-flies into the bushes and then passes out:

on this screenshot i’ve marked ruby’s approximate path in red and circled the clump of bushes the ursa emerges from (using the logs laid around the perimeter as markers):

note the very dense foliage around the grimm; he’s completely hidden. yang gets concerned when ruby doesn’t respond, startles when she hears a twig snap in the area circled in yellow, this is what she sees:

and then he stands up:

which. ok. he’s a really big guy. there is no way he crept up on them and got that close before making a noticeable sound, and most grimm behave like pursuit predators besides—they wander around in the open and give chase when they come across prey. (although there are exceptions: the pack of apathy at brunswick drag the lamp around a corner and go dark to lie in wait, for example.)

the point is, he’s there, but yang can’t see him until his eyes illuminate because he’s lying down in the bushes. his markings are also ‘off’ and only begin to glow as he stands up.

we’ve seen grimm Do That a couple times:

and we’ve also seen in v8 that just because there don’t seem to be any grimm nearby doesn’t mean they aren’t there:

<- same thing happens in the mine. dozens of centinels pop out of the ground when the geist signals for them to screen his retreat deeper into the mine. which suggests that grimm may spend a lot of time… not hunting. unseen, hidden just under the surface or in the densest thickets, crevices, whatever. and no one knows because when grimm aren’t on the hunt they don’t attack unless provoked.

the big guy was just There! taking a nap! and he didn’t aggro until yang got spooked by ruby’s silence.

he also doesn’t seem to be all that interested in attacking after his initial charge and swipe; he knocks yang across the clearing and then turns away, until yang shoots him again:

i do think it’s really interesting that WOR: grimm implies that grimm are most strongly drawn by violence, not negativity per se: “what is perhaps even more unsettling is the basis of their attraction,” and the accompanying image is

a person killing another person with a rock.

i think—much more so than real animals—grimm are kind of emotional mirrors, in that they reflect the energy they’re shown. one thing that stands out to me about both salem and cinder is that while there is obviously an element of magic or kinship or both behind their influence over the grimm, from both of them we see these occasional moments of tenderness toward the grimm; cinder’s very gentle and soothing “shh, this is your home now” when she calms the wyvern, and the way salem softens when she caresses the goliath’s face in the v6 stinger:

and i wonder if there isn’t a meaningful correlation there. the two characters in the story who demonstrably have the ability to communicate and work with grimm are also the two characters who, in private moments when no one else is around to see, choose to be gentle with these creatures. is salem able to command grimm the way she does by magical compulsion or is she their leader, as raven put it, whom they follow because she’s kind to them and protects them.

[apieceofmi]

STRANGERS… or not

Noah Sebastian x Reader

Summary: a stranger in a train that captive her heart, never seen him again… but his face was familiar, maybe that was more than just a connection, maybe she already saw him somewhere. A lot of research and… oh, yeah, she really sees his face before, her and millions of people… it's just sad that he seems so untouchable. Right?

Author’s note: Okay, so part 2 was unexpected, but It's here!! And now I have a few more ideas for this same couple and context… I think there are more coming. Anyway, hope you like it! xx

Part One (You don't have to necessarily read the first part to understand this one, it's up to you)

__________________________________________________________

Just when I thought that my chances are over, I found him. The stranger I’ve met in a train coming back from my hometown months ago, talked for hours and I left without knowing his name.

I took the same train and visit my parents more times than is good for my mental health, I sat there and wait for him, but got nothing. Then I searched in social media, everywhere I could think of, but it is so difficult to search for something - someone in this case - that you know nothing about. I have an image in my mind, the sound of a laugh, and nothing more. We shared so much that day, but as the days passed it seemed like nothing. Then, when I gave up and convinced myself that I was making it bigger than it should have been, when I accepted that it had become just a great memory, exactly how I wanted it, I found him.

Screaming in my phone, I'm not the only one that think he's a cool guy. I feel kind of stupid when I realize that he's not just an ordinary person, and that's probably why I thought I already knew him that day on the train.

Not a surprise, just me romanticizing my life again.

And maybe that is the reason why I'm doing it again, because I swear that I feel something more around this - him. In my delusion mind, you don't meet someone by chance. You don't screw up the chance you have to really know someone when you feel a special connection with them. Not like I did. Maybe that's the reason that I feel the necessity to just see him again. I don't know what I expect of this, and maybe I should just let it go, but I have friends that are delusional like me, and they support me with this crazy feeling… So, yeah, I listened to all of his band's albums and came to a show - just because it was in my city. It's not like I fight for tickets when I found out that they would be here. Not at all. 

Everything was good, and I was already feeling that coming to the show was the closure that I need to this history when my friend Anna, that came with me, grab my hand while we're exiting the venue.

“Let's wait outside. I know some fans do it, sometimes they stop to take pictures and talk to them.”

I get nervous immediately. I've already seen him, discovered who he is and for me that's enough, I don't have the courage to be in front of him again. I don't want him to think that I'm stalking him and make this role thing uncomfortable. It was supposed to be something nice, just it. Actually, it was just supposed to be a memory. Everything that happened after I left that day shouldn't have happened, I didn't say my name because I didn't want anything to happen. I'm going further than I should, I'm exceeding the limit I drew for myself. It's more than enough.

“No! We can't wait for them!” I protest, thinking in an excuse when Anna looks at me, her eyes narrow, knowing me well enough. “I have to work in the morning.”

“You can miss one rehearsal.”

“I have class tomorrow. I can't miss it, I'm the teacher.” I say, but Anna doesn't take me serious, she knows that I'm having a meltdown right now. “What if they don't even came out? We’re just going to lose time waiting here.”

Squeezing my hand, she smiles at me.

“Then at least you tried.”

So we wait, talk with some people that are waiting there too and it's cool. It's nice. But I can't stop feeling that I'm doing something wrong being here. I don't know, betraying the universe, maybe? I made my choice that day and just because I regret it now, can I just switch sides? 

Uh, no, I don't think so. 

Maybe it's supposed to be just like it was, some nice exchange in the train between strangers. Maybe it supposed for me not saying my name.

I'm almost given up and going home when I see them coming in our direction. Anna has a big smile in her face, her eyes shinning, and I almost can hear her saying - he's here! He's here! - but I just look at her and then at him approaching the others, and I freeze, taking a step back. 

There's another member of the band with him - with I know now that his name is Nicholas - and they start to talking with the little crowed waiting for them. I stay in the corner with Anna, without a clue to how to start this interaction without being a weirdo.

I'm still considering running out of here when his eyes catch me one time. Two times. A little frowning in his face in the third time. What if he doesn't remember me? 

“I know you” he says, his eyes studying mine, coming closer.

“We met at…” But I don't need to finish when his faces changes. He recognizes me. 

“Yes, I remember” he smiles. “You found me.”

I let out a small nervous breath, forcing it into a weak smile.

“It took long enough, but yes. I did found you.”

There’s a grin that won't leave his lips, and I cannot stop staring at it. 

“What's your name?” Yeah, here's the million dollars question.

I finally tell him my name, answering the question I should have answered months ago when I had the opportunity, then had to beg the universe for another chance.

“Well, I’m Noah” he says next.

“Nice to meet you.” I chuckled nervously.

I already know his name, but him saying it to me feels more legit. I think I can finally stop referring to this man in my mind as him or the stranger.

He finally has a name.

“You liked the show?” Noah asks.

“Yes! It was so great!” I rejoiced. “You guys are so talented! I was shocked when I was listening the albums, I'm just… I became a fan.”

The smile in Noah’s lips grows and the shy look in his eyes makes strange things happen in my stomach. I really hope that's not butterflies. It's like something frozen at the moment, at the same time suddenly I'm well aware of the people still around us, hoping for a little more time with the members of the band they came to see. 

Noah gives me a little embrace, catching me off guard when I hear his voice so close.

“You found me, now it's my time” he whispers in my ear.

“I follow you” I replied, the words coming out my mouth like it's an urgency. 

“Great.” he says, stepping back and giving attention to the person next to us.

I look around for Anna, who I didn't even see leaving, she's back at my side in a second.

“How it was?” she asks as we leave. 

“He said he's going to find me” I chuckle. “ I think on social media? I don't know.”

“It would be suspicious if he asked for your number in front of everyone.” She considers. “Or even invite you for, I don't know… their bus” Anna makes a funny face, giving me a side look. “I wouldn’t let you leave with him like that anyway, he’s cute and talented, but he’s still a man.”

I laugh, loving her a little more for taking care of me.

“I wouldn’t abandon you like that.” I say. “Thank you for coming with me.”

"Of course. As if I would miss the chance to help my best friend meet her train crush, who happened to be a fucking rock star." She rolls her eyes, getting into the car.

“It don't even make sense.” I let out a disbelief laugh. “Did you see how many people were there today? This is like impossible, he's famous, a celebrity, I'm not the kind of person…”

“Stop it right now.” She interrupts me. “He's a person just like you are. Yes, he's talented and is in a band that obviously is getting bigger every second, but it doesn't mean anything. He's human. You're human. It's all we need.”

“You're right, I'm thinking too much again.” I say, starting the car. “At least I tried.”

I'm already home getting ready to sleep when a notification came on my phone. A message on Instagram from an account with a peculiar profile pic. I don't make a ceremony and open it right away.

“I can't believe that I spend two hours talking with you that day and don't ask your name first thing!” 

“I swear, I'm not like this in normal situations”

“You got me nervous”

I bite my bottom lip, trying to stop myself from smiling.

“I'm sorry for not saying my name when you asked. I regret it every day since I left.” 

“Two fools”

“How did you found me? I tried to look for you but get nothing”

“Well, I'm not as popular as you”

“A video of the band randomly appeared on my timeline, I think I talked about the guy on the train so much to my friends that the algorithm took pity on me and threw it in my face.”

“For once social media did something right”

“So… You're going to stay in town or…?”

“No. We already left”

“I didn't want to expose you out there earlier, but if you get me your number, I can let you know when I'm around?”

“I'll understand if you don't want to, my life can be a little crazy sometimes.”

There's no hesitation in my answer.

“I really want to know better the guy that I met on the train three months ago and can't stop wondering about, so… Yes, If that's okay for you.”

“Great. I've searched for you in every city that we go to since that day, can't wait to properly get to know you too, stranger.”

So I sent my number.

And God, I should have known I was in trouble the moment I got that first message from him. As the days went by, I realized that I was crazy to think that Noah was untouchable just because of what he does for a living, he has become the funniest and sweetest person I know.

We're definitely not strangers anymore.

Not when we talk every day now.

Not when I learned all his favorites.

Not when I’m counting days to see Noah in person again.

[moody-alcoholic]

Tattoo

I just love the idea of 141 all having matching tattoos. Don't tell me they wouldn't, and a group chat that is 90% Gaz & Rosaly and 10% emoji reactions from Price and Ghost...

Summary: Simon x OC, 1.7k words. Gaz takes Rosaly to get the 'team' tattoo. First draft dribbles, tattooing inaccuracies.

Disclaimer: I have never had a tattoo, I am going off what I have seen about other people getting a tattoos, so there are bound to be inaccuracies...

Enjoy <3

Masterlist

“It’s going to hurt.” I protest to Gaz as I step out the car. He laughs.

“It’s a right of passage, you’re 141 we have to get you a tattoo. Besides I thought you’re used to working with needles?” He says.

“On other people yeah.” I say as we walk to the tattoo shop. I take a deep breath in as he opens the door. A bell rings and a woman walks round the corner she has pink and red hair her face dotted with peicings. She opens her arms and hugs Gaz.

“Lu this is Rosaly.” I put my hand out and shake it, as I do I realise how sweaty my palm is.

“Sorry,” I say wiping them on my jeans.

“Nervous?” She asks. I nod. “It’s fine you’ll barely feel it.” They take a step to a gate but my feet wont move. I feel sick, I don’t think I can do this.

“Are you sure this is not just an SAS thing cos technically I’m still navy.” I say to Gaz, he chuckles reaching for my wrist, pulling me through the gate.

“It’s definitely not just an SAS thing.” He says leading me through the shop. I see another artist working on a woman's arm she smiles at me as I pass her. The pit hasn’t gone away as Gaz sits me down in a chair. I watch as Lu swivels round on a stool with a tablet in her hands.

“So the same as the rest Kyle?” She asks.

“Yeah the initials are RW.” He says looking over at her tapping on the tablet. She spins the tablet showing me. I see the SAS crest, around it are different images, in the bottom right there a some dogtags with my initials on them, on the opposite side there is a sniper. On each side of the crest there are flags, a sottish flag on one side and the union jack on the other. Under each flag is their representative countries flower, a thistle for Scotland and a rose for Britain. I smiled looking at it.

“Now, Kyle added his medals to the space at the top of his.” Lu explains.

“Yeah and LT added his mask.” Gaz said. I looked over at the space at the top of the crest.

“How about an anchor, and rope?” I look up at Gaz he smiles. “And could I change the rose to a Yorkshire rose?” Lu nodded enthusiastically taking a stylus out and drawing on the tablet. After a few seconds she turns the tablet round.

“It looks great.” I say looking at the sketch, she nods.

“I’ll go print this off,” she says getting up. All of a sudden I was nervous again.

“So you’ve all got one? Even Price?” I ask Gaz.

“It was Price’s idea.” Gaz chuckled. “You’ve seen Simon’s right?”

“Yeah but he has lots of tattoos I thought it was just another one.” I say, the pit reforms in my stomach as I see Lu coming back with a stencil. She sit’s back down on the stool scooting towards me.

“Where do you want it?” She asks. The stencil looks bigger all of a sudden, my eyes switch to Gaz, I don’t know what to say. My mouth is just hanging open as I look between them.

“Where will it hurt the least?” I ask before I can stop myself.

“Everyone is different but your forearms or your thighs?” She shrugs.

“Thighs sounds like a good idea.” I say.

“I can put the stencil on and then we can see?” Lu says, I nod.

“Do you want to sit on the bed?” She asks. I nod forcing myself out of the chair onto the pleather bed. Lu adjusts the top of the bed so it’s not flat and pulls her stool round. I hitch my pants down to my knees. Lu looks at Gaz.

“Oh I’ve pulled bullets out him, my thigh is nothing.” I say she giggles.

“I’ll have to shave the spot,” She says taking out some shaving foam and a razor. I nod letting her do her thing. I look over at Gaz taking his phone out, holding it up to me. My eyes widen.

“You better not be taking pictures of me.” I say. He chuckles shaking his head typing something on his phone. A second later I hear my phone vibrate. I look over at the group chat seeing a notification.

“I so should have made LT bring me.” Gaz smiles.

“What do you think?” Lu asks, I look down at the blue stencil lines on my thigh. I twist my leg looking at it. It looks good, I feel myself smiling.

“I like it.” I say looking at her.

“Do you want to take a look in the mirror before we start?” I nod hopping off the bed my pants falling all the way down to my ankles. I step over to the standing mirror. I turn my body so I can see it, it’s not as big as it seemed in the bed. I could handle this, it’s not like it’s overly decorated or anything. This was a good thing, it means they really do see me as one of the team. John had one, I never saw his I wonder where he got it? I’m surprised Price was the one who came up with it, I really want to know where his was. I smile turning to Gaz who nods and gives me a thumbs up. I see Lu coming back out with a clipboard walking over to me.

“All good?” She asks. I nod and she hands me the clipboard. I look over it, it looks like a lot of legal jargon.

“It’s just consent forms and the last page is our studio’s waver.” I nod taking the pen off. I froze again, this was really it I was about to do this I took a big gulp of air in and signed the pages handing them back to her.

“Wait, sorry, can I change one more tiny little thing?” I say trying not to come across as being a pain.

“Sure,” She says smiling, okay now she is being too kind. I turn back to look in the mirror real quick.

“The dogtags, can I move them out some more so you can see them both and add some initials?” I say looking back at her, she nods.

“What initials?”

“JM,” I look at Gaz who is still smiling.

“Yeah sure, I can draw that in, hop up on the bed I’ll be back in a second.” I nod walking back to lie on the bed looking at Gaz.

“Where did Price get his?” I ask.

“No one knows.” He laughs. “Apart from Lu of course, and she’s sworn to secrecy.”

“So Lu did all of them?” I ask. Gaz nods. Simon’s is on his arm, Gaz’s is on his shoulder, I don’t know where John’s was it wasn’t on the top half of his body at least. It felt weird getting an SAS tattoo when I wasn’t even SAS, maybe this was Price’s way of making sure I accepted the offer for SAS training. I hadn’t told anyone yet, not even Simon but I would not be surprised if he knew, which made it even worse that I hadn’t told him yet. Price told me 4 days ago, before I could start spiraling Lu came back. She sat back down and started drawing on my leg, moving the dogtags and writing the initials in.

“For Johnny right?” She asks when she’s done and looks at me for approval. I nod. “I was sorry to hear he passed, he helped me design this.” She said putting the pen down and pulling on some gloves.

“That explains the Scottish stuff.” I chuckle. I watched as she rubbed a blob of vaseline on the back of her glove and moved a light over so it was shining on my thigh. I watched her pick the tattoo gun up. The nerves came back like a flood I all of a sudden felt sick. I instinctively reached out for Gaz. He stood up coming over to grab my hand laughing.

“It’s not funny.” I protest, I hear he gun turn on and I squeeze his hand which only makes him laugh again. I turn over to Lu who is dipping it in the ink.

“Ready?” She asks smiling at me. I look up and take a breath in squeezing my eyes closed.

“Yeah,” I say.

“Okay here we go,” she says. I prepare to feel pain, but I don’t feel anything. I open my eyes, I stop squeezing gaz’s hand, he chuckles shaking his head. I look over at Lu she’s definitely tattooing my skin, it doesn't hurt though. I sigh letting go of his hand he sits back down in the chair. I start to relax letting the sound of the gun buzzing ground me. Gaz and Lu make small talk, they swap stories as I sit patiently waiting for it to be done, every now and then I feel a sting of pain and I look back down to see the progress. Gaz distracts me by pulling me into the conversations about missions. Lu seems to be interested in what Gaz has been doing more then me though. I give him a cheeky look every time she asks him a simple question, almost like she wants to listen to him talk about anything. When she is done with the main design she asks if I want a break before she starts on the colour. I shake my head and another 30 minutes passes when she says she’s done. I’m excited now I’m almost jumping off the bed to look in the mirror. I love it, my skin is red and puffy but I don’t mind. I want to touch it but I restrain myself.

"I love the little colours, on the flags the rope on the anchor is so smooth.” I say turning back to look at Lu.

“See I told you it wouldn’t hurt.” Gaz said taking his phone out. “Let me get a picture.”

I move so he can take one then go back over to Lu, I’m almost not paying attention as she cleans and wraps it listing off instructions for aftercare. I thank her for being so patient, and she tells me to be careful for the next few days. I jump off the bed pulling my jeans up, maybe not the best idea to ware jeans but at least there loose and she did wrap it well. I take the bottle out her hand and the aftercare leaflet, I’m giddy I just want to show everyone. I can’t wait to see what it looks like healed.

“Charge it to Price right?” Lu asks Gaz.

“Always.” Gaz says.

“You should stop by when you’re around next we can go for coffee?” She calls back as I pull the door handle to leave.

“Yeah, I’ll text you.” He replies. When we get back in the car I nudge him.

"What?" he asks confused.

"You and Lu." I say fluttering my eyelashes at him.

"Stop," he says turning the engine on, I giggle watching him blush. My hand finds it's way to my dogtags I rub John's. I would have to ask Simon where John had his tattoo done he would know, Simon knew everything about Johnny.

[drceydoessstuff]

i have this image of alex and reader going on a mini road trip, listening to music, eating snacks and stopping at playgrounds and swinging on the swings.

would you do something inspired by that?

Actually love this idea so much guys!

I’m sick rn so I hope I did okay, I love you

To say you were excited was an understatement. You’d had this planned a couple weeks, both of you having a long weekend off work it sounded like the perfect thing for you to relax. you’d felt like work just kept piling on lately, it was never ending, you’d barely been able to spend time with Alex and frankly (I’m turning into Spencer) you missed him a lot. And according to him he felt the same way.

so now you’re here at 9am, kind of regretting your time choice, packing your stuff into the car, Alex along side you, looking slightly more awake than you. ‘you can sleep on the drive if you want’ their voice breaking you out of your thoughts of tiredness.

he places a gently kiss on your temple, before moving away to get into the car, you following suit.

you sleep for a good hour, which theyre content with seeing as you being tired and moody the rest of the trip doesn’t seem like a fun time at all.

You wake up to the soft sound of music, he’s humming along gently, the soft morning light hits his face in a way that’s almost ethereal, other worldly. Hair tied back, eyes focused on the road. You can’t help but stare, that’s your partner.

soon he realised you’re awake, smiling at you briefly before looking back ahead

‘Morning’ you hum in acknowledgment to the words, stretching to wake yourself up more.

the next hour you spend talking, some of the stuff he talks about just being his interests you know nothing about but you’re happy to listen, eager even, just because you love them and seeing him happy is the highlight of the trip so far.

You both take turns on choosing the song that’s playing, sometimes there’s a big contrast in tastes, others not so much.

after a while you spot a gas station, deciding to pull in and grabs some stuff to eat and then find an area near by to eat it.

the place you end up at is just a small park, nothing major spectacular or beautiful, but there’s something sweet about it.

something sweet about sitting on bench with your partner, talking about all the topics in the world. No work, no stress. There’s no one else in that moment.

at one point you’re just sat, his arm around you and your head on his shoulder, no words exchanged, just a knowing of your love for one another.

‘we should probably start heading off’ he breaks the silence looking down at you, his tone of voice says he doesn’t wanna leave this moment just yet but he knows you have places to be.

‘orrrr’ you but in point at a set of swings you saw earlier

‘Swings?’ He asks amused, laughing slightly but still following suit when you start to walk towards them

‘hey let me have fun it’s been a while since I’ve even seen a set of swings, theres no parks near us’

he shrugs in agreement, sitting on the swing opposite you.

a few minutes pass, gently swinging back and forth, back and forth, building a rhythm. for a second he stops and looks at you, the shadow of a smile on his face

you laugh slightly ‘what’s up?’

‘You’re just pretty that’s all’ he shrugs, like it’s nothing.

I mean it’s not a big deal, it’s not like he hasn’t said it before. But right now in this moment, you feel so deeply inlove with them.

every minute of that trip, meant the world to you. He means the world to you

[themirokai]

I am beyond lucky that the wildly talented @kulapti is a fan of the Emotional Support Raven series. In addition to the incredible art that she's done for Hanging and Loverboy, she also has fantastic pictures of Matthew and Jessamy together here and here and here. (Go, click the links, look at the great art. Reblog it.)

Those images stayed with me and I wanted to write something for Kulapti that could be the background for how Matthew and Jessamy get to be pals. That story is below. Thanks to the inimitable @once-in-a-blue-moon-rising for the speedy beta read!

(Also, it's not required reading, but the end of this post is now canon for this series and slightly relevant.)

Reunion

Matthew felt the familiar swoop of vertigo that signaled when he had switched from flying up into the sky of the Dreaming to flying down through the sky of the Waking. Below him he saw the black-clad figure that was his goal, and he glided downward in a graceful curve. 

Lord Morpheus was talking to someone, so Matthew landed on the ground beside his feet, rather than on his shoulder. Lord Morpheus glanced down at him with the tiniest up-curve of the corner of his mouth, which passed as a warm smile from him. He extended his hand to Matthew, who quickly hopped onto it with one flap of his wings, and was lifted to Lord Morpheus’s shoulder. 

Matthew finally looked at Lord Morpheus’s conversation partner who was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. But there was something- 

“Sister,” Lord Morpheus was saying, “allow me to present my Raven, Matthew. Matthew, this is my sister, the Lady Death.” 

The woman’s eyes were warm and her smile bright. “Hello, Matthew.”

Oh. 

“I know you.” The words left Matthew’s beak before he could stop them. 

Death’s smile faltered for a nanosecond and she tipped her head to the side. “You remember me?”

“Yes. I mean no. I mean sort of.”

“Sort of?” Death smiled encouragingly. 

“It’s… sort of hazy.” Matthew shifted uncomfortably. “I remember you were there and you were. Um. You were kind. And then… and then I was in a different body and Lucienne was talking to me.” 

“Those were the important parts,” Death said gently. “And how are you finding being a raven?” 

“I like it.” Matthew glanced at Lord Morpheus. “A lot. It’s a good gig and I like flying.” 

“And you’ve got shoulder privileges.” Death beamed. “It took some of your ravens decades to make it to your shoulder, didn’t it, Dream?” 

“Perhaps.” 

Matthew preened. He knew what ‘perhaps’ meant in the Boss’s lingo. 

“Well I’m glad it’s working out.” Death looked distinctly pleased. “But I’m afraid I’ve got work to do.” She grabbed Lord Morpheus’s hand, then leaned in to kiss his cheek. “See you later, Dream. Bye, Matthew, keep up the good work!” 

“Fare you well, my sister.”

“Bye! Thank you … ma’am,” Matthew finished awkwardly. 

Lord Morpheus looked at him with a raised eyebrow and Matthew shrugged his wings. 

—

Matthew gave his wings a gentle flap to keep his blood flowing: he had been perched on the tree branch for a long time. He wasn’t sure if this would work, but it was important, and he felt like he had to try. Fortunately Hob had some outing planned for Lord Morpheus in the Waking, so Matthew figured he had plenty of time. 

When he decided to try to talk to Death, Matthew considered that he might kill something, a mouse for instance, in order to make contact. The fact that he liked eating mice was something that the formerly human part of his brain gingerly stepped around whenever it came up. But he wasn’t a great hunter by any stretch, he felt odd asking another raven for help with this particular errand, and he wasn’t entirely sure whether a mouse’s demise would mean that Death would show up in the form of a mouse. Plus it might be awkward, and the conversation already had plenty of potential for awkwardness, without adding blood sacrifice to the mix. 

Waiting outside a hospice was, he felt, a much safer bet. 

Matthew hadn’t seen her enter, but she walked out of the front door after Matthew had been waiting for a few hours. Same black pants and black tank top and black boots. It seemed the fashion sense ran in the family. Matthew took a breath, then flew down to land on the pavement in front of her. 

Death pulled up short. “Matthew! Hi!” 

Matthew gave a little bow. 

“Oh,” Death laughed, “you don’t have to do that with me.” 

“Um, thanks.” Matthew looked up at her. 

“What’s up?” she asked. “Is Dream okay?”

“Yeah! Yeah, he’s fine!” Matthew said quickly. “He’s with Hob. All good. I just - um - I was hoping to talk to you? If that’s okay?” 

“Of course!” She smiled. “Can you walk with me though? I should be getting to my next appointment.” 

“Oh yeah, sure.” 

Death started off and Matthew hopped along beside her. 

“Do you want a lift?” she asked, patting her shoulder. 

“Oh,” Matthew desperately hoped she wouldn’t take offense, “thanks for the offer, but I’m kind of a one shoulder type of guy.” 

Death beamed at him. “I get it. So what’s on your mind?” she asked. 

Matthew swallowed, steeled himself. “I wanted to ask you about Jessamy. The Raven before me.” 

“Mm.” Death’s voice was quiet. “She was Dream’s Raven for a long time, but I can’t say I knew her well. He tends to keep you lot to himself.” 

That wasn’t surprising, but Matthew still wasn’t quite sure how he felt about it. He filed it away and pressed on. “I actually wanted to ask about her death.” 

“Okay…” Death sounded wary. 

“It’s just… Lucienne told me that when the Corinthian was killed in the Waking, he re-formed in the Dreaming. And - and Lord Morpheus’s Ravens are dreams, and dreams can’t die, right?”   

Death stopped walking and let out a slow breath. Matthew idly wondered if she actually needed to breathe. 

“Dream knows far more than I do about how the rules work for his realm and his creations. We mostly stay out of each other’s affairs.”

“Yeah, and that’s worked out really great for your whole family,” Matthew deadpanned. 

Death’s eyebrows shot up and she turned to face him. “Excuse me?”

Matthew’s beak fell open as he realized that he had just mouthed off to Death. THE Death! 

“Sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean -“

But then her expression broke into a broad grin and she laughed. “Okay, fair enough.”

Matthew let himself breathe again. 

Death leaned her back against a tree, propping the sole of one foot up against the trunk. She stuck her hands into her pockets. “But I’m still not sure I have any answers for you.”

“Well, even if you don’t know how dreams work, you know how death works,” Matthew said. “So why didn’t Jessamy go back to the Dreaming when she was murdered?” 

“You said the Corinthian was renewed in the Dreaming?”

Matthew nodded. 

“That was after Dream escaped, right?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

Death nodded and took a breath. “I’m pretty sure Jessamy couldn’t go back to the Dreaming because Dream wasn’t there,” Death said quietly. “He was cut off from the Dreaming so it couldn’t function to renew her. She wasn’t the only dream who died while he was imprisoned.”

“But she was the most important to him. And she died trying to save him.” 

Death inclined her head in acknowledgment. 

“So now that he’s back and the Dreaming is working again, could it renew her?” 

Death sighed. “Matthew, she’s been dead for decades.” 

“Sure, but she was a dream, it’s not like she has a corpse rotting in the ground. And lots of people exist in the Dreaming after they die, even if you don’t count me.” 

“She is in the place appointed for her.” 

“She’s not though,” Matthew insisted, opening his wings a little, “she’s in whatever shitty place she ended up because things were fucked when she was murdered trying to save your brother. The place appointed for her was the Dreaming. And now that it’s fixed, she should be able to come back.”

“Are you seriously asking me to bring Jessamy back from the dead?” Death crossed her arms over her chest. 

“No. She’ll still be dead, I’m just asking you to let her be dead in the Dreaming. Like I am.” Matthew swallowed, pushing away the thought that he was arguing with Death. 

“I can't just do that,” she said firmly. 

Matthew bobbed his head. “I- I understand that you can’t just do that. But… what happened to Jessamy hurt Lord Morpheus. He’s better than he was but it still hurts him. I don’t know that bringing her back to the Dreaming will fix that hurt. In fact it probably won’t. But I’d bet you a pretty penny that it would help. Please.” 

Death sighed and her shoulders slumped a little. “I do worry about him,” she said softly. 

“Me too,” Matthew said, taking a step closer. “I wouldn’t be asking otherwise.”

Death blew out a long breath and straightened up, pushing off from the tree. “She has to want to come.”

“I didn’t know her, but she was his Raven. She’ll want to come.” There was no doubt in Matthew’s mind. 

Death took another deep breath. “Okay. Let’s do this.” 

She snapped her fingers and a doorway of white light appeared in front of them. Matthew wondered, as he hopped after her, whether he should feel more nervous about following Death into the light. But he reminded himself that it had worked out pretty well the last time. 

—

Matthew had expected labyrinthine pathways, or at least a road, but instead they stepped into a blank white void, and there, laying down with her eyes closed peacefully, was Jessamy. Matthew supposed that Death got to take shortcuts. Jessamy was smaller than him, with a band of white feathers around her torso, and while he had never seen her before he was certain he would know her anywhere. 

Death stroked a finger over Jessamy’s head. “Hi, sweetheart.” 

Jessamy opened her eyes and blinked at Death, then her beak opened and she got quickly to her feet. “My lady! Hello!” 

Death smiled warmly. “I have someone here who wants to talk to you.” She stepped aside so Jessamy could see Matthew. 

Before Matthew could speak, Jessamy gasped.

“Oh! You’re his Raven! He got free? Is he alright?!” 

“He’s alright,” Matthew said gently, stepping forward. “He’s doing pretty good, actually. He escaped a while ago and got his tools back and rebuilt the Dreaming.” 

Jessamy seemed to sag with relief. “Oh, thank goodness!” She paused and shook her head, then looked up at him again. “I am so relieved. Thank you for telling me - ah, what is your name?” 

Matthew bobbed his head. “I’m Matthew, and it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.” 

“From… from Lord Morpheus?” Jessamy took a hesitant step towards him. 

“Yeah. He misses you a lot. That’s - uh, why I’m here actually.” 

Jessamy cocked her head to the side. 

“When you were killed you came here instead of going back to the Dreaming because Lord Morpheus was cut off from the realm and it didn’t function right without him. But now that he’s back and has rebuilt it -” Matthew glanced at Death “- Lady Death was kind enough to say you could return.” 

Death put her hands on her hips and gave him a wry smile. “You left out the part where you insisted and guilt-tripped me, Matthew.” 

Matthew shrugged his wings. “I wanted you to have the credit.” 

“I - I can go home?” Jessamy looked from one to another. 

Death’s smile warmed and she went down on one knee. “Yes, sweetheart, you can go home if that’s what you want.” 

“Oh!” Jessamy hopped towards Death. “Oh, please, my lady! More than anything!” 

“You won’t be able to leave,” Death cautioned. “No more flying between realms. You’re still dead, but you can be dead in the Dreaming.” 

“I understand!” Jessamy said quickly. “An eternity at home in the Dreaming is all I could ever ask for!” 

“Right then.” Death stroked Jessamy’s head again, then stood and snapped her fingers. 

Another doorway opened and Matthew could see Lord Morpheus’s throne room on the other side. Lord Morpheus was sitting on the stairs talking to Lucienne when the door caught Lord Morpheus’s attention and he stood with a frown.

“Off you go,” Death said. “Tell Dream I said hello.” 

“You’re not coming?” Matthew asked. 

“Nah,” she said, scrunching up her nose, “got work to do, and we try not to drop in on each other unannounced. You go enjoy the reunion.” 

Jessamy turned and bowed low to Death. “Thank you, my lady. You have my neverending gratitude.” 

Death smiled. “You two just take care of my brother.” 

Matthew dipped his head. “Thank you, my lady. We will.” 

With that, Matthew and Jessamy stepped through the door. 

—

As they crossed the threshold Lord Morpheus stopped in his tracks, and his jaw dropped in a silent gasp. 

“Jessamy,” he whispered, then turned to Matthew. “Matthew, what is this?” 

“It’s me, my lord,” Jessamy said, stepping forward. “Lady Death permitted me to return.” 

Lord Morpheus’s breath hitched and he ran forward as Jessamy flew into his arms. He caught her in a hug and dropped to his knees, burying his nose in the feathers of her back. 

Matthew watched them, feeling warm from beak to tail feathers. 

Lucienne stepped up beside him. “Is that really…” she asked in an undertone. 

“Jessamy,” Matthew told her, proudly. “Real, sacrificed-herself-trying-to-save-him, Jessamy.” 

“How?” Lucienne asked. 

“I had a chat with Death,” Matthew said, his nonchalant tone undermined slightly by his preening. “Pointed out that if the Boss wasn’t locked up when Jessamy was killed, she would have just come back here when she died. So now that the place is fixed up, she should get to come back.” 

“Oh, Matthew, well done!” 

Lord Morpheus, who had been speaking quietly to Jessamy, looked up, his eyes shining with tears. “Matthew, Jessamy says this was your doing?” 

“It was Lady Death, Boss. And she says hi. But I made the suggestion.”

Lord Morpheus held out his hand to Matthew, who flew to it and was brought into an embrace along with Jessamy. He pressed his head against Lord Morpheus’s chest. 

“Thank you, Matthew. Thank you.” 

“You’re welcome, Boss.”

He felt a beak combing the feathers at his neck. 

“If I had an eternity to choose, I could not find someone better suited for the job of Raven,” Jessamy said. 

Matthew was grateful that he couldn’t blush. “Yeah, well, it’ll be nice to have another Raven around the place.”

[fandomsandflyingstingrays]

Luz has been here before.

When she stood between two different worlds, between two different families who needed her, and watched one of them disappear behind a door she didn’t know how to open. When she bridged the divide between dimensions as an echo to reach out to her mom, only to watch her mom's tears mix with the rain as she shrank into a memory and Luz was pulled away. When she watched her mentor’s eyes fill with darkness, the shadows sealing Eda so deep within herself that Luz didn’t know how to call her back. When she sat in a white-walled room facing a separation beyond portals or curses, seeing her dad right beside her and knowing, at the same time, that he would never be with her again.

Luz has been here before, again and again and again, and she never manages to find the right goodbye.

All she can do is admit that to Eda and King before she can no longer see them through her tears, before they splinter into light and she is obscured by shadow, unable to conceive of anything but the embrace of a dark ocean and a single thought.

I know what I should have said. I should have thanked them.

The lost words, the goodbye that she has never, ever been quick enough to get out, lodge and swell in her throat before finding their release in a single sob. She watches the tears mix with the water that holds her and relaxes into its embrace.

Then, all at once, there is a hand around her wrist, and she is being yanked upwards into light and air.

It feels exhausting just to stand, and she sways, blinking at her rescuer through bleary eyes. At first, all she can see is a blurred form, a sort of worm… bird worm… Hooty? Only, when she blinks again, she realize that this Hooty is still, expressionless, and tiny, protruding from the eye socket of someone who looks like…

“King?”

The figure chuckles in a voice that is decidedly not King’s, deep and measured. “No. But he does get his good looks from me.”

In the last twenty-four hours, Luz has faced down a dragon of eyeballs and mold, been chased through a celestial playground, and seen Mattholomule with a drawn-on mustache, and she’s managed not to get overwhelmed. But this? She feels like her brain is a plate of warm spaghetti, being twirled around and around on a fork.

“Oh, Titan,” she breathes.

“Oh, me!” her rescuer says, pleased. “Nice to meet you, Luz the human.”

He’s wearing a Bad Girl Coven shirt, Luz realizes half-hysterically. And glyph-patterned pajama pants. But still, she reaches out and takes his hand. He might be some kind of mold-blast-induced dream, but that’s no reason not to be polite.

“You can’t actually be the Titan Titan, right? You’re the Boiling Isles, and that Titan is all—“

“Dead-looking?” he asks. His expression is sad, but there’s no denial in it, and Luz feels her knees go weak. She wraps her arms around herself, slowly sinking back into the embrace of the water.

“Does that mean I’m also…”

“Ah, no, nope, no, you don’t want to do that.” He reaches out, pulling her back to her feet. “If you go under without a portal, you really will be dead-looking.”

So… she’s not? And neither is he? Luz finds herself beaming. “I can’t believe this. You’re King’s dad!”

“I think King said it best once: ‘I am both king and queen, best of both things!’ But dad works fine.”

This might be the coolest being Luz has ever met.

With her most pressing questions answered, Luz looks around, and realizes to her surprise that her surroundings are familiar. The liquid below her, the floating cubes above… this is the space between the Human Realm and the demon one. Only, she’s never been clear about where exactly that is.

“What is this place?”

“This is the space in between… well, in between a lot of places. And I’ve been stuck here for quite some time. But at least I can keep an eye on my child, and those who have been kind to him.”

King’s dad grabs hold of a passing cube and watches images pass over it. Luz grabbing King in a hug, the two of them laughing over a pile of bread slices, Eda embracing them both. Luz feels warm and cold all at once. She’s thrilled for King, eager to tell him, that the parent he felt so far away from him was watching him with so much love. But behind that happiness is the question of her own dad, and the breathless wish that he could be watching her and the people she loves in the same way.

As soon as she thinks it, shame rises in her, so thick and choking that she has to look away. Does she really wish her dad could see what she’s become? This person who was nearly responsible for the deaths of an entire island of people, who can never make a plan that doesn’t fall apart almost immediately, who has turned so angry and vengeful?

“I’m not so kind,” she whispers. “When I saw the Collector fly up to Belos, I hoped with all my heart I would see them blast him away, and—"

“Hey, I can relate. I was willing to do anything to keep my kid safe. But I attacked the wrong person, dragged the Collector down here for nothing.”

“Does that make us as bad as Belos?”

To Luz’s shock, King’s dad laughs. “What? Have you been drinking Eda’s homemade apple blood?”

“Well, Belos says he’s trying to save humanity, and we’re saying we want to save our families, so isn’t that the same thing, don’t those feelings come from the same place?”

“Well, you assume Belos’s goal comes from a genuine place. But that man doesn’t care about anything but his need to be the hero in his own delusion. And because of that, he fears what he can’t control.”

“And now that fear is going to win.”

“Ah, dang.” Luz turns to see King’s dad staring down at his chest. She gasps.

There’s a glowing tumor there, eating a hole into it. It’s the same fungus that’s covering the Isles, she knows, the one Belos conjured— but it looks so much like her childhood nightmare, like the way her younger self began to picture her dad’s insides as his outside grew weaker and weaker, that a single look at it is enough to burn her eyes.

“I thought I had more time left,” King’s dad says, “but Belos will have full control soon.” He looks at Luz. “You ready to stop him?”

“What? What can I do?” 

Nothing. It’s the obvious answer, the lesson Luz has learned time and time again. She moved to Gravesfield without complaint because she thought it would fix her dad, and she was wrong. She did that stupid book report because she thought it would fix things for her mom, and she was wrong. She tried to fix things for the Isles, again and again and again, and she only made things worse— and then, when she attempted to set that right, she ended up here.

“You’ve already helped King so much. Now let me use my last bit of life to help you.”

King’s dad extends his hand, glowing with a combination of glyphs Luz has never seen before. But she knows what it means, what he’s offering: a second chance. A new body. Magic.

“Are you sure you want to give this power to me?”

“Well, you’re the one here, and you seem like a good witch. But I can’t give you anything unless you choose to accept it. So the question is, will you choose yourself?”

Luz has a flash of seeing the Titan as she knew him, watching his skeleton in the sea from high above on Owlbert, Eda on one side of her and King on the other. Look, kid, everyone wants to believe they’re chosen. But if we all waited around for a prophecy to make us special, we’d die waiting. That’s why you need to choose yourself.

Luz came to the Isles wanting to be a savior. If the person she was then had been in this position, she would have taken the Titan’s hand without hesitation, overjoyed to fulfill her fantasy. To be the hero in her own delusion. But she knows now that she’s not a hero. She’s just the one here.

The one here... because King’s dad believed she was a good witch. Because even when she was caught up in her fantasy, he still saw enough in her worth empowering to show her the glyphs she withheld from Belos. That has to mean something.

You’ve helped King so much, he said, and she believes him. She knows King loves her. And if she had given up after her dad died, if she had let herself believe it would be better for her mom if she became someone neither of them recognized, she never would have found him. Never would have found Eda and reunited her with Lilith, helped Amity leave her parents’ shadow and reconnect with Willow, helped Hunter see the truth about Belos before it was too late. She tried to help people, and yes, sometimes there was nothing she could do. Yes, sometimes she hurt people in the process. But she never meant to. Not like Belos… not like Philip.

Luz has been here before. Standing before a father she can’t heal. But there is still something she can do. It’s something she did for her mom, opening The Good Witch Azura for the first time in her black dress and reading it through puffy eyes. It’s something she did for Eda and King, following Owlbert through the portal door. It’s something she did for Amity and Willow and Hunter and Gus, running to that same door with them as it threatened to splinter apart. It’s something she did for all of them when she stepped back into the Isles two months later.

Luz can choose herself.

She reaches out to take King’s dad’s hand. And she comes back to life.