#idk why no ship in particular really grabbed me usually they do

[indisputablypercy]

Imma be real I’m very neutral on like every raincode ship possible. that being said

i did spend way to long making this anyway.

[lovesastateofmind1]

20 Questions Game

tagged by @sssammich and I'm gonna do this instead of editing so yall know where to point the blame for the delay

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

9

2. What’s your total AO3 words count?

372,061

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Supercorp currently

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

You, Me and The In Betweens

Tempo

Heaven is a Place on Earth

Can I Have Your Attention Please

Hey There... Lena

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do respond to majority of them. I miss a few here and there and I don't respond to the rude ones. I also take ages to actually reply, which is because I'm super flattered and don't know how to properly convey that in words so I procrastinate. A lot.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

If we're solely talking endings, Sweet Dreams probably

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most of them end on a positive note. But in my personal opinion, Heaven is a Place on Earth

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Every now and then, but usually it comes from Amy - yall know Amy - and even when it doesn't, its typically in relation to my plot choices and not a critique of my skill

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Bro. Yes lmao. Not super kinky. Not entirely vanilla either. Idk that I could really give you a 'kind.' It's solely based on how thirsty I'm feeling on any particular day and then when I have to actually edit it, I want to punch my past self in the face.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Never written one, probably would though.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes and it was so cool to see. Still endlessly grateful.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

*sigh* I call myself cowriting a fic with @fyonahmacnally and @chaotic-super. I also call myself cowriting a different fic with @sssammich. And then of course that series that we absolutely aren't writing. But thus far, most of the 'writing' has taken place inside our own imaginations. Maybe we'll make progress. Someday.

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

Do you really have to ask me that?

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I think I'll finish all of them honestly. May take 3-5 years. But I think I'll finish.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Injecting the most misery possible into a single fic. Smut. I think I have a nice prose too.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Writing lmao.

I think most things are a weakness for me. I'm told my descriptive writing is great, but I always think it needs so much improvement because of my inability to visualize anything ever. But if yall can see it, then that's fantastic. Otherwise, long scenes with dialogue. I struggle so bad with extended dialogue.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Would stress me tf out lol. I think it's great. I've almost done it. But I don't trust google translate near enough and I don't personally know anyone who speaks fluent French. So we all just gonna have to use our imaginations when Lena walks through that parking garage.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Technically, Law and Order SVU, though it was never finished or posted anywhere. I needed Katie McGrath to come grab my inspiration by the throat, evidently.

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

Lie to Me. Without question. I put the most into it and I'm incredibly proud of it, even if I wanted to set it on fire most days. It's simultaneously the easiest and most difficult thing I've ever written and I hope I always love it this much.

Tagging @mssirey, @sneezewizard, @someoneyouloved93 and anyone else who wants to give it a go, zero pressure of course!

[nefling]

I hate it when anyone is like "Why do you ship Dōma and Toika, or Shí and Dōma," like— Don't get me wrong, I loveeee dōma he is so babygirl, but Toika and Shí are NOT me, they are literally based off Yin and Yang lmfao. But anyways, the only reason they like have any interaction is cuz I've roleplayed with a few dōmas as them, but it has never been in a romantical or even sexual sense.

Toika literally just keeps getting snatched by Dōma bro, I mean like grabbed, Dōma GRABBED her and threw her in the infinity castle LMFAOO, funniest RP ever btw.

Dōma just usually ends up changing Toika into a demon to keep her as a sort of companion, someone who is special, like him. So in terms dōma is more of a mentor to Shí / Toika if anything, though I wouldn't mind too much I guess shipping them?? Idk, I just find the blind girl getting made fun of by the rainbow eyed Elsa funny as hell.

Plus I don't really like, have ships for them in a canon sense? Yk? Like, my really close friend has OCS and our OCS end up getting together—

Like Yuji and Yumeko, Toika/Shí and Haruki, Aiko and Kazuki.

This may or may not have been written because a particular person who was an anon gave me an ask and it set me off 😞

[phoenixyfriend]

Commander Buir

Follow-up to this post. Not in any particular order, just spitballing ideas, with contributions from several friends on discord.

Like presumably it takes long enough for them all to meet up again that Anakin and Cody do, in fact, end up treating each other like family, just so I can have that good good "well, guess I'm Dad now" energy. Shmi isn't entirely sure what's going on but she's not a slave anymore and her kid seems to like this rando mando, so.

Anakin gets to have a mom and two dads, though one of the dads is arguably younger than him.

Also when they all meet up again and Cody explains the "General Skywalker got shrunk" thing, there are three reactions: (General) Obi-Wan: Oh, Anakin. Obi-Wan: [gestures to take him, ends up with an armful of clingy padatoddler] Anakin: You can't blame this on me, Obi. Obi-Wan, a little teary, because babies cause emotions: Of course I can, you absurd human being. ------ Rex: That's... my general. Anakin: I am, Captain. Rex: Cool cool cool I'm gonna go stand where I can't, uh, break you. Anakin: I'm not THAT fragile! ------ Ahsoka: [gasp] Skyguy is SKYKID! Anakin: Padawan, this is-- Ahsoka, grabbing him and cuddling: Oh my goodness you're adorable this is the best day ever. Anakin: This is humiliating, Snips, put me down. Ahsoka: Never.

Anakin hates being a toddler because of the lack of independence but Cody keeps picking him up when he's cranky and just holding him until he falls asleep and that's... nice.......

- The brain limitations aren't quite as bad as the situation with Sokanth and Ylliben in the other AU, but - Even if his brain is mostly adjusted he’s still got a tiny body with different needs that he’s not used to. Like, he needs to sleep more but he’s got more energy than usual when he’s awake and it’s all weird.

Cody carrying around toddler Anakin like "God you give me ulcers but you're adorable, you little shit."

Inconveniently tiny body aside, Anakin has a pretty great time in this au. His family are all together and safe and within reach. His wife isn't around, but toddler brain means he doesn't have the Romance Drive, so that's not as bad as it could be It could be significantly worse.

@atagotiak asked: Does Anakin get annoyed about being called cute? - To which I say, He bites the first few times but Shmi tells him that's Naughty so he stops. - Babies are cute so you packbond with them before they’re annoying, Anakin is cute as a self defense mechanism - He’s extra annoying so he needs to be extra cute

You know how you need to keep an eye on toddlers so they don't, like, fall down the stairs or put something toxic in their mouth? - They need to keep an eye on Anakin specifically so he doesn't rewire the ship they're in while they're in hyperspace. - He has less self control on account of being smol. He still has all the mechanical knowledge! Just less comprehension of y’know, consequences.

Anakin, with a sippy cup: This is demeaning. Ahsoka: Your hands don't work great enough to avoid accidents yet. Anakin: It's still embarrassing.

General Kenobi can't just kill Maul, not when Maul is baby right now (sixteen, which is baby enough) so he just. Kinda. Kidnaps a baby Sith. (It's fine. He's fine.)

General Kenobi (not to be confused with Padawan Kenobi) decides to declare Maul his new padawan because someone has to deal with this teenager, and Plo already claimed the rest of Ahsoka's training. And Anakin's three, so.

"What do we do with Maul?" "Eh, I can handle him. I dealt with teenage Anakin getting arrested for illegal pod-racing twice a month, I can work with this."

Maul bites, but only slightly more often than Anakin, it's fine

Ahsoka definitely bullies Maul whenever possible

Consider: Rex holding very still because Anakin wanted to be tall, so he climbed Rex. Being unexpectedly climbed is better than being unexpectedly yeeted. It's still extremely nerve-wracking. - Cody is perfectly capable of running around with a backpacking toddler General, but Rex freezes like a statue. - Ahsoka finds this hilarious

You know how little kids like to be thrown around and swung in circles and stuff like that? This must get even more ridiculous with force users. Can throw a child real high and catch them safely. - Rex panics whenever Ahsoka throws her chibified Master

Literally everyone except Rex loves being yeeted. Even Maul can appreciate a good tactical yeet no shut up he's not having fun this is TRAINING - Rex is Suffering - Cody, a very Tired Dad, deserves to mock his vod'ika a little, as stress relief - Rex, a certified Little Brother, shoves Cody off something tall. Jokes on him, Cody thinks freefall is fun too.

Tia asked: So the people who didn’t exist yet got flung bodily back in time and Anakin did the mental time travel. Why did Obi-Wan not become Padawan Kenobi? (I mean “because I want it that way” is def a good enough answer I’m just wondering if there’s any reason.) - Which, well, it really was mostly "I want to" but here's two options, both of which come down to Blame Daughter and Father. 1. They figured a responsible adult Jedi Master was needed to convince people. 2. Nobody was supposed to get de-aged but Daughter figured they needed to make Anakin less liable to kill things for a few years. - Also IDK the Force God-Manifestations also took away any risk of rapid aging and early death from the clones because uhhhhhhhhhhh I said so

Rex and Ahsoka are fumbling their way through a relationship where ages are just really confusing and awkward, so they're keeping it to just kisses and cuddles for a bit.

Cody is so tired he doesn't even realize anyone's hitting on him until it's been three years of co-parenting with Shmi and his General. - Somehow Anakin knows Cody is in a relationship before Cody does. Cody has never been so embarrassed. - How did he manage to be less observant than Skywalker? -- it was sabotage; all his brain cells were taken up in managing said Skywalker -- Because Skywalker was up at three in the morning whacking a training droid with a stick so he didn't have the energy for Relationships

Also Shmi's come-ons are super subtle, while the General's are... well, Cody's gotten very used to ignoring anything ambiguous on that end because fraternization rules, and also because Obi-Wan flirts a lot with everyone. So.

Please imagine Cody and General Kenobi walking around with Anakin tucked into a toddler sling while they do whatever work they've ended up with at the Temple. - Yes, Cody is helping the Jedi figure out the best plan of attack to take down this slave ring because his grasp on tactics is phenomenal and he knows how to deploy people at greatest efficiency, but also he's got a nosy toddler on his hip who keeps offering his own insane-but-competent ideas. - General Kenobi ends up with a Council Seat just on account of, like, being the kind of person he is. As often as not, he's got Anakin tucked into his robes, chewing on the ear of a stuffed tooka or something.

IDK what Shmi's doing but apparently Legends had it that some of the administrative and support positions in the Temple were held by non-Jedi civilians? So probably something like that.

GENERAL KENOBI LECTURING PADAWAN MAUL WHILE ANAKIN'S BALANCED ON HIS HIP AND GLARING AT MAUL FOR STEALING HIS DAD

General Kenobi: Ahsoka's babysitting. Anakin: I'm her master, I don't need babysitting, this is-- General Kenobi: Fine, then you need supervision, so that you don't blow up a training salle again. Anakin: And you think Ahsoka would stop me? General Kenobi, eye twitching: Fine, I'm leaving you with Plo.

Even if he’s mentally an adult Anakin always needs supervision Look at canon! Anakin was left without supervision for like two days and he became a Sith

Quinlan gets distracted by how attractive General Kenobi is and tells Obi-Wan "dude, you're gonna be so hot once you can get rid of the stupid haircut" and Obi-Wan pushes him into the nearest pond.

They end up with this weird "Uncle Jango" situation (uncle to Anakin, via weird brotherhood-ish to Cody) because Rex and Cody are just like "Uhhhhhhhhh yeah okay" about him eventually, and Jango just like. Drops by. Trying to Earn Affection Of Blood Kin by bringing weird gifts for them and their (ugh) Jedi.

"Okay, Rex'ika, I stopped by Shili--" "What?" "--and apparently this is a delicacy there, so just... your girlfriend will like it." "She's not my girlfriend." "..." "Okay, I can't call her my girlfriend. Jedi have rules about that sort of thing, and--" "This will make your Jedi happy, probably. Just take it, kid."

Baby Anakin got his arm back but for some inexplicable reason still has The Eye Scar. He matches Buir.

[yourlocalmaraudersbabe]

Ahhh I love those headcanons are so cute!! Can I request something with Y/n taking care of Sirius? Maybe he's not feeling well and Y/n is always there for him. Braiding his hair, making some tea, y'know? Maybe even trying some skin care products together? I have so many ideas haha 🤭 kisses💙

“I love it and I love you”

Summary: Sirius is sick and you’re there for him (headcanons?? idk i kinda got carried away)

A/N: Thanks for sending this in, my lovely anon! I love writing all of these requests <33

Word Count: 948

Masterlist + Characters and ships that I write for

Requests are always open <3

Fluff Dialogue Prompt List

Join my taglist here!

Reminder that I do not support jkr. Do not interact if you do.

You and Sirius have been living together for nearly five years now. It was a small little place just above the coffee shop you two opened after leaving Hogwarts.

Sirius rarely got sick, usually around the winter holidays when everyone would pass a certain strain around. They were never terrible, it was always something that he could still work through.

There was almost always something you could do to help through the miserableness he felt: braiding his hair, reading to him, rubbing his back, bringing him tea.

“What kind of tea?” he’d ask nearly every time.“It’s the tea blend my parents always send for sore throats. Now scoot over,” you’d say getting under the covers, handing him his tea.

When sleep overtook the two of you, he’d always manage to wake up being held, despite you two first going to sleep side by side.

He’d sometimes wake up to you running your fingers through his hair and ask for you to braid it for him.

One year, you came home with face masks for you to try as a little date night and found him holed up on the couch with every blanket in the house he could dig out. But that, of course, didn’t stop you from doing a skincare night with him.

Other times he’d get out of the shower and without asking, you’d brush through his hair, tying it back gently for him. He’d lay with his head on your shoulder, listening to you read as the weight of his eyelids became unbearable, giving into the sleep his body was asking for.

This particular cold was pretty bad considering how fast it came on.

He complained of a headache just a couple hours before closing. You gave him a kiss on the forehead and sent him upstairs. “Darling, why don’t you get some rest?”

So, just four hours later, you flipped the ‘open’ sign around, displaying ‘closed’ for anyone walking by. You slipped upstairs, breathing in the muggy air of your completely dark flat.

You flicked the light on, walking over to the window, cracking it just enough for the cool air to spill into the room. You shook off the chill that crept up your spine and walked down to the bedroom. “Sirius?” you whispered.

You heard him stirring. You obviously hadn’t meant to wake him, so you made your way to the door. “Wait,” he said, his voice strained.

He sat himself up in bed against the headboard, turning the lamp on next to him. “You look terrible,” you laughed softly.

“Gee thanks,” he mumbled as you wrapped your arms around him, holding his head to your chest. You ran your fingers through his hair and he melted into you.

“How can I help?” you asked him, pulling him away from you slightly to examine him. You pushed the hair that fell over his forehead away, pressing the back of your hand on his skin carefully. His nose was rubbed raw and his eyes were glossy.

He mumbled something incoherently and leaned forward again, silently asking to be held longer. You stayed like that for a couple minutes before proposing an idea to him. “How about a hot shower while I clean up a bit and make tea?” He agreed, getting out of bed with a low groan of pain.

You went into the bathroom first, starting the shower for him. He came in shortly after and you pressed your lips to his forehead, walking into the kitchen.

In between making tea for Sirius, you washed the few dishes that were left dirty in the sink, tidied up the living room, and when you had finished all that and he was still in the shower, you went back to your bedroom. You grabbed him a sweatshirt and sweatpants just as you heard the water turning off.

He came into the room, flopping onto the bed where you sat with a book. He rolled over, sliding dramatically off the bed, leaving only his hands on the cover. You laid on your stomach, leaning over the side of your bed and shoving his hands off.

He lazily pulled a sweatshirt over his head, laughing at the compromising position. “Did you enjoy your shower?”

Sirius mumbled an “mhm” just before a cough. You sat up, reaching for the mug you brought him. He got into bed, slipping under your arm, pressed up against your side.

You ran your fingers back through his hair just before he shoved the mug into your hand, sneezing. “Aw, I’m really sorry, Sirius,” you leaned your head on top of his, handing his cup back. His wet hair made your chin cold when you lifted your head up. “Is your head feeling any better?”

“No,” he said, moving the mug around in his hands. “Want me to braid your hair?” you asked, already knowing his answer.

“Ummm, of course,” his voice turned playful, never losing that side of himself, regardless of how sick he was.

You let him sit however he wanted, whatever was most comfortable for him. Sirius laid in between your legs, resting his head on your stomach and hugged your waist.

You gathered his hair to the side, sectioning it off while you watched his eyes hang so low, they eventually shut. “Thank you,” he whispered.

“I’m always here for you, Sirius. And plus, your hair looks amazing,” you smiled, hoping he could hear it. He reached his hand around, feeling it. “I love it and I love you.”

“I love you, Sirius,” you said, rubbing your thumb softly against the top of his hand while he cleared his throat. “Now get some sleep, you need it.”

Taglist (if you’d like to be removed, send me an ask!): @violetrainbow412-blog @wisedreamcatcher @scorpiobaby22 @emmaev @harrypotter0addict

[ryuichirou]

Do you (and your gf, tell her anon said hi) have any top Eren headcanons? Or is Levi the main focus for you two?

opinion on how Eren would be in sex?

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

(I hope it’s ok if I reply to both of you here… sorry for the wait)

Levi isn’t the main focus, I just can’t shut up about him because he is my personal fave hahaha, but we love headcanoning stuff about all the characters, but especially the our main ships (eruriererizevi), so feel free to ask if you’re interested in anyone else! These are extremely fun to write.

What’s interesting about Eren is how he changes over the time… well, I don’t think he’s changed much to be honest, but we think he became more bold and mature. I’d say that he also became more open about what he likes, but I tbh I feel like Eren never really knew how to hide what he wants, it’s always written all over his face.

You can also check out my reply to the ask I received 3 month ago about why I like top!Eren so much, I talk about a lot of same stuff here too. And there are some manga caps, so it’s fun 👀

Ok, so here are some of our headcanons about Eren:

Eren is extremely physical. He loves to touch, to grab, to rub his face and to press his head against his lover’s shoulders, back, chest, etc. He became more touchy as he got older, now he grabs and hugs Levi whenever he feels like it. He just knows Levi would let him do that.

Eren doesn’t necessarily hate to be touched, but let’s just say that Levi is the only lover of his who is allowed to touch him wherever he wants. He’ll never say “don’t touch me here” to Levi, he adores him and he’s always hungry for him. He can smack Jean’s hand though, poor Jean.

Eren is very animalistic, very dog/wolf-like. Sometimes he’s straight-up feral. He growls a lot, he grabs very aggressively, he literally mounts his lover like a dog sometimes lol He also dry humps his lover through the clothes from time to time.

Oh and the most obvious thing: he bites A LOT. He’s EXTREMELY bite-y. His teeth are so strong it’s scary. Remember when he bit through his own meat 1023410 times in the manga? He does the same thing to Levi’s shoulders almost every time. He feels guilty afterwards, but as I mentioned in a previous post, Levi doesn’t mind, so this keeps happening.

Is it surprising to anyone that doggy is his preferred position?

Cowboy position with Eren is a little tricky. It’s impossible when he’s to horny, because he’ll end up still moving his hips, thrusting into his lover from below, and then he’ll just change position and take all the initiative anyways. Although sometimes he can just lay and watch his lover with a very bored and almost apathetic face. It’s either this or that, no in-between with him.

Same with blowjobs. He’d either watch his partner suck the d all bored and stuff, or just thrust into his face like if it’d kill him to stay still for a moment. He always goes straight to the throat in this case.

I should probably mention that he never looks bored with Levi (unless it’s needed for a very specific reason for a very particular AU…). Like I said, he adores him too much and respects him too much.

Eren doesn’t hate Jean or whoever else there is in an alternative ship with him. He still enjoys the process, he’s just a little mean lol idk how to explain this one, he’s a little bit condescending towards them, I think it’s based on the fact that Eren’s always bored and treats everyone like crap (it’s shown much better in Isayama’s High School AU) lol

Speaking of Jean, we have a headcanon that in the canonverse these two had some sexual experiments going on back when they were cadets fighting each other every day. This is one of the reasons Jean missed their bickering, Eren got a little distant overtime, and Jean kind of sort of misses that d and that rude attitude that comes with it.

Eren always ejaculates inside. He likes this feeling too much.

He’s very neglectful towards his own body, he doesn’t really think very well when he fucks, and a lot of times he ends up being absolutely exhausted.

He used to be very loud when he was younger. He was moaning, whimpering, mumbling, all this stuff. But now that he’s 19, there’s only heavy breathing and low growls. He doesn’t like to remember how he used to be, it makes him a little embarrassed.

He also used to cry after an orgasm almost every time. He was so overwhelmed and euphoric that by the end of the process he became a wet red crying mess that hides his face in Levi’s neck and bites him for distraction. Plus all the love he’s feeling for Levi becomes too much for him. He was shy about crying even back then but he couldn’t control it very well (Levi pretended he didn’t notice this stuff in order not to make Eren feel uncomfortable). This is the part Eren really doesn’t like to remember as well, this makes him even more embarrassed. Now that he’s 19 he very rarely feels that he’s getting teary eyes, but it still can happen.

I don’t want you to think that Eren in the past was a crying baby, he was still very thoughtful of whatever was going on, he thought about his admiration to Levi and how he should control himself and stuff, and he was still very initiative and... pervy, although the latter was happening by accident. It was just hard for him to think while having sex with Levi (who can blame him) and all his emotions were a mess, but still, the only thing that’s changed – Eren’s calmed down a bit.

Eren gets horny very easily. There were a lot of sudden boners when he was younger, a lot of them happened at very bad moments for him lol his teenage body was out of control. This doesn’t happen so often anymore, but Eren still can get a boner when you least expect him to. For example, sometimes he gets horny while watching a horror movie, even though he’s extremely bored…

If we’re talking canonverse, he definitely got a boner while he was in his titan a bunch of times. When he was crushing titans for the first time ever, when he was fighting Annie both in the forest and in Stohess, when he was fighting Reiner. He was emotionally distressed, but he felt some level of arousal in all of these situations, esp the first one.

When he was at his depressed emo stage, he was more gentle and less intense with Levi. Maybe it’s fair to say that he was asking for comfort with no words, because he couldn’t say anything about what was going through his head at that time, but he needed to run away from these thoughts just for a moment. He was also less bitey back then, but much more clingy.

Out of all the characters, his libido is the highest.  He’s the most interested in sex and probably has it most often compared to others. Especially in the AUs, where he has nothing interesting to do a lot of times and gets bored all the time.

A lot of Eren’s boldness came from him seeing how Erwin and Levi interact with each other. He was a little bit scared of Levi at first, well, rather he was scared that he might disappoint him if he got too clingy. But seeing how patient Levi was to whatever Erwin did to him made Eren think, “Can I really do that to him too?” And then he did. And never got scolded. And everything was great.

He’s the only lover of Levi that helps him with the cleaning afterwards. At least a little bit. He’s a responsible young man.

When he wants to be left alone with his lover to do the thing, it’s super obvious. It’s obvious that he hates everyone who doesn’t leave them alone at the moment, he looks like he’s about to bite your face off if you don’t leave. When he’s pissed off and horny enough, he can just ignore the presence of a person and start touching Levi, waiting for a person to feel uncomfortable and leave. This usually happens to Zeke.

Oof, this is… a lot lol. I feel like we can talk about Eren for even longer than about Levi, and this is saying a lot. His energy is bizarre… And this is such a small portion of everything we’ve discussed about Eren.

Hope you find any of it interesting! Haha

Thanks for your question

[lady-plantagenet]

Ship bingo: Anne Boleyn & Henry VIII (I know, I'm not the most original person in this site); and Eleanor Cobham & Humphrey of Gloucester

Hey hey sorry for answering this shipbingo so late hh. Hope you’ll still be interested in my odd and headcanon-y analyses. Since you requested 2 I will write shorter comments if ur ok with that :) x

Anne Boleyn & Henry VIII

‘I broke England from the Church yeah I really am that secksy’ or something along the lines is said by Anne’s character in Six: The Musical. I sorta resent that. I’m not very passionate about this ship nor do I take any ‘sides’, but I must admit I’m more partial to Catherine of Aragon and consider her to be Henry’s true love. The odd thing is, this is also cause a part of my feels like Anne was in some ways to good/evolved for him?? We all know the whole seductress Anne trope or poor set-up pawn Anne, we don’t know which are true but one thing we know for sure is that there was ‘pious outspoken religious reformer Anne’ and that’s what I am more interested in. My admiration grew 1000x when I realised she was heavily critical with where the desolution of the monastery funds were going - how they enriched ministers and lackeys of Henry as opposed to going towards schools. I say all this because my mental Anne Boleyn might be a bit different from most people’s and that will influence how I also see this ship.

I guess the above paragraph explains the ‘I’m picky about it part’, I hate anything that is major baby drama. Delicious and intrigued are oddly left out because I don’t really feel that myself though I understand why others would. It is perhaps because it’s such an overportrayed relationship and because by the time it became a thing Henry was already kind of obese I believe. Sue me, I like both my ship parties to be attractive XD. I would read fic for it just like I would read anything provided it is well written enough. I’m currently reading ‘Chained in War and Love’ by Lady Perserverence on AO3 (you know that one really famous fic in the Tudor fandom) which I suppose counts but since it’s a Francois I of France/Anne Boleyn AU I guess it doesn’t count (and I much prefer this pairing). This ship is one of those historical pairings where it’s hard to deny it was not romantic and sexual, one must remember that there must have been something about Anne in particular that attracted Henry and her educational background was unusually worldly for a woman of minor English nobility, given the fact that she could very well have been 32 (and age which is considered old for motherhood even by our times) by the time she married Henry simply put there must have been a romantic/sexual attraction beyond just her being fertile. She, herself, may have also had reason to feel attracted to him (despite his fatness) because he appears to have exuded the character of a Renaissance Prince which I feel she could have been drawn towards.

To be honest the ‘it’s complicated and unhealthily’ kind of speak for themselves. I feel like a part of the breakdown went beyond her not being able to hear a son because he does not seem to have properly tried like he did with Catherine of Aragon - the marriage was only three years long. I also feel like he was a bit too set in the past for her and she may have felt disillusioned with how he carried out the reformation. I also feel like Henry thought he would find a woman with Catherine’s brand of strength but with an ability to bear children, but despite both women having education in common Anne’s Protestant beliefs made her someone entirely different. Their feelings were strong but they clearly were not made for each other. With that said, theology fasincates me so to an extent I am more interested in the consequences (the reformation and how it changed the fabric of England) then even the ship itself - that is not to say the ship doesn’t interest me. And yes. I could/want to be convinced that this ship is interesting but if anyone wants me to get on board you will have to first throw off ‘seductress Anne’ or ‘poor maligned pawn Anne’. Only mercurial Henry and reformer Anne will do for me. With that said, I really wouldn’t mind the unrequited love trope thrown in there but with Anne accepting him only because Cromwell and co convince her that this is the only way England’s religion can change. I also liked the ‘Anne of One Thousand Days’ spin where it’s unrequited on her side and then turns unrequited on Henry’s side. Now that’s super tragic and would grab my attention. Overall, I like Anne Boleyn but I don’t ship them because I don’t think they were compatible, I don’t like Henry and I hate how the reformation was carried out and how the knock-on effect was the death of the Tudor figures I care the most about: Cardinal Fisher, Thomas More and Margaret Pole.

Eleanor Cobham & Humphrey of Gloucester

I love ships where both figures were described as intelligent by their contemporaries because there’s also a meeting of minds there. It also gives this partners in crime vibes which I really like. This connects to my whole ’delicious’, ‘romantic’, ‘best friends’ and ‘I’m intrigued’. A lot of fun things could be done with this ship and so I would read fic for it but I remain unpicky (except for , you know, prose as per usual). As it happens I also already read fic for this pairing and unless you are her, I would recommend @nuingiliath who writes loads for this couple and is the resident shipper - I believe this is her OTP. On Ao3 she is ‘heartofstanding’ she has plenty of stuff both on her tumblr and on that site so just follow the tags. Also all I know about these guys is from her pretty much.

The thing is, Eleanor Cobham is like Jane Shore for me, she brings out very weird feelings because I am very traditionalist and boring and hate my infidelities and tend to have an aversion towards mistresses. However, like Jane Shore, Eleanor Cobham appears to have had some virtues and was more than a pretty face (apparently Jacobia herself was quite dull and that’s one of the things that turned Humphrey off her but I’m not sure if that’s hearsay). So just like that, I don’t get an ‘ugh’ feeling like I would with people interested in the Bourbon mistresses in the 18th century or such because I much feel like it wasn’t that physical. This is where ‘softly’ comes, the age difference makes me imagine Humphrey as having that dad-aura Idk (and btw no I’m not pleading daddy issues at all - I feel like it quite undermines this couple), his incredible level of learning further feading into this wise persona but obviously his skirmishes with the administration give me an impression of this grand daring man as well. He seemed the picture of true aristocracy and in all the way he falters from those expectations (eg lack of martial talent) I also like to see. As I said, Eleanor also being described as intelligent makes me feel that she was at his level and while I am satisfied that the necromancy charges were shams it does indicate that she was considered bright enough by her contemporaries in order for such charges to be levelled in the first place. While it is true that the whole affair was targeting Humphrey, I really feel like Eleanor herself possessed (or at least was perceived by others as possessing) a certain dangerousness and this course of action was pursued by their rivals in order to kill two birds with one stone. After all, we have seen how easy treason charges can be conjured against magnates who though not technically speaking guilty have acted against the wrong faction eg Clarence’s case. With that I also put ‘best friends’ because I feel like like all those traits derived from the facts I’ve been privy to point to the fact that the two were friends as well as in love and attracted to each other. They really give me a partners-in-crime vibe and I’m always all for that. Not to mention I’m also a sucker of one part of the ship dying (preferably the woman) with the other following not late after or at least never living a fulfilled life as a widow-widower. It’s cruel but I love my doomed couples. So yeah, I ship it, I really do. I also have a great admiration for Humphrey as I have a soft-heart for scholarly people, I also admire how he was not blindly loyal and quite brazen. It’s a personality that intrigues me.

[dreamsequencer]

some ships for the ship ask game:

• Jack and Daniel

• Daniel and Ronon

• Ayreon and Gunpowder Tim

(and, because I am still thinking about the Ronien Renaissance Fair drawing you showed me)

• Ronan and Damien

Oooo okay

Jack/Daniel

Y'know, I honestly can't put my finger on what made me ship it, there's no particular moment or anything for me.

I like how it's built on a solid foundation of friendship. I like how they work together as part of a team. I just... idk. Them,,,

I'm bad at this one 😂 which I think has something to do with not engaging with the fandom enough to know what is and isn't an unpopular opinion

Daniel/Ronon

I found a fanfic that opened my eyes to the possibilities that shipping my two faves could hold

They've never actually met in canon so I have no canon to point to,,, however there is always the height difference. I also think Ronon would be somewhat protective of Daniel (not bc he thinks Daniel can't protect himself, but bc Daniel seemingly has just. The worst luck and is constantly ending up in dangerous situations, to the point where he's literally died multiple times) and I'm a sucker for protectiveness. And!! Daniel talks a lot. Ronon doesn't talk much. It just,,, works.

Pretty sure shipping it in the first place is the unpopular opinion

Ayreon/Tim

Okay so I think this one requires some explanation 😂 I'm pretty sure it originated from the sgmechs au? Which. I don't remember exactly when or why I decided to throw Ayreon in the mix but I think it had something to do with the two Daniels? Which I'm sure I thought was incredibly funny at the time. Anyway, Ayreon the character got dragged into it when the Mechs found themselves in 6th century Britain, Tim decided to explore, met Ayreon, and ended up mechanizing him after he was killed by Merlin. Anyway, on to the questions!

I'm not entirely sure when we decided they should be together? I think it just kinda,, happened.

Robot eyes solidarity! (Ayreon was mechanized that way bc it was his Sight - not literal sight, but the ability to see into the future - that got him into this mess, and immortality does love a metaphor.) Also the fact that Ayreon is absolutely the chill one of the two (which, I mean, isn't hard) meaning that "Ayreon grabbing Tim by the collar to pull him away from doing something everyone will regret" is a fairly common occurrence.

Once again the ship is the unpopular opinion.

Ronien

Once again I think I should explain a bit,,, Ronan Callaghan and Damien Olsen are ocs of mine :) shameless self-promo,,, you can learn more about them over on @ask-apophisrising

Again, I'm not really sure how it happened, just that it did lmao

They're both really protective of each other, which is always fun. As usual, the height difference is cute. Damien likes to play with Ronan's hair which is cute,,, as is the fact that Damien learned sign language for Ronan (although he did originally do that just to be able to work with him more easily, but still)

Alas, very few people even know they exist 😔

[wreckofawriter]

can i get a harry potter ship? (idk how many eras at a time u do but if possible all 3 pls;’marauders, curse child and harry) i have brown hair and hazel ish eyes and i am 5’1 (even if i h8 to say it: slim thick) rly good at like any sport and i am very sarcastic and witty. i am a girl and i am straight. i love reading and being with my friends. i will prob die and kill for my friends to be honest. i am a gryffindor with a wolf patronus. i am both a social butterflie and an introvert. thankssss

I ship you with...

Draco Malfoy! (bear with me)

Ok so, you guys are definitely enemies first. I mean how could you not be? You're a witty Gryffindor who would kill for her freinds, everything about you pissed him off

Started in first year when he called Hermione a mudblood infront of you

You didnt know her that well but you didnt really care

"At least shes not some inbred purist with anger issues!" You had spat at him

Draco just stopped and stared at you, that was the first time he had ever been truly stood up to

Everyone waited for him to explode and possibly kill you

But instead he just glared saying, "You better watch your back y/l/n." Before turing on his heel and leaving

From years 1 to 4 just hearing his name caused your blood to boil.

You could barley be in the same room together before launching into a vicious argument of insults and sarcastic remarks

By year four you had punched him twice (breaking his nose once), slapped him 5 times and hexed him more times than you cared to count

But then the yule ball happened.

You didnt have a particular interest in anyone so choosing a date was difficult. You ended up going with some Ravenclaw in the year above you

Your parents had sent you a dress, the only issue was it was dark green and the jewelry you were planing to wear was silver so, suddenly you were wearing slytherin colors

When Draco saw you he couldnt move, he was utterly and completely stunned.

He didnt know you could look so incredibly beautiful

He stared the entire ball, he simply couldnt drag his eyes away from you, you were too captivating

You on the other hand were too busy attempting to ease the tention in the Golden Trio to actually enjoy the night

Finally you ended up just outside of the great hall completely exhausted, the heels you were wearing digging into your feet

Draco had walked out quite quickly and he ran strait into you. He managed to grab your arm before you fell and dragged you back upward

Neither of you had any idea if what to do, each expecting the other to throw some harsh remark.

Finally he just backed up mumbling something he thought you couldnt hear before departing

"You are so beautiful."

That's what he said. You literally had zero clue what to do with that but it didnt really matter

The rest of fourth year he completely avoided you

At the begging of fifth year, you didnt see Draco much, he still lingered in your mind now and then

You joined Dumbledores Army and you couldnt help but feel your heart break when Umbrudge broke down the room of requirement with Draco at her side

You made a point to show him the scar you gained while passing in the halls or raising your hand in class. You were proud of the mark, not ashamed of it.

You started having bad dreams in sixth year dreams about chaos and destruction. Your family and friends lying dead at your feet.

You would wake up and take walks most nights, sleep evading you

You ran into Draco one night at the astronomy tower, you intended to leave turning in your heel

"Stay. Please." Was all he said.

You had stayed in you postion back turned for almost a minute, "Why?" You asked

"Because I need you."

You had almost left. Almost.

You finally walked to the edge standing next to him angry and ready to tell him off

But you couldnt. The words got caught in your throat as you glanced at him. His usually bright shinning eyes were dulled to a bare grey, dark bags brusing underneath them; they were rimmed in a puffy red, his sclera tinged with pink. Tears ran down is blotched cheeks and your anger washed away

"I'm sorry."

You wanted to scream at him but instead you whispered, "For what?"

He pointed at your hand I will not tell lies etched into it "For that."

You didnt say anything

"I need your help." He choked out

"With what?"

"With this." He had pulled down his sleeve to show you what you had already expected

You just stood there feeling tears crawl to your eyes for unexplainable reasons, "How can I possibly help with that?"

"Kiss me."

You had, it was slow and salty, tasting of tears and built up feelings.

Draco and you dated in secret for a while. You both snuck off frequently for study dates or just to hangout and read.

He got jealous easily especially when it came to Harry so you made a point not get too close to him

If he was feeling particularly jealous or angry he would grab you and kiss you roughly wherever he could.

You tried to help him with his death eater mark but there wasnt much you could do.

You were the only one who really saw the actual Draco

The Draco that fell asleep in your lap whole you played with his hair

Or the Draco who whined for attention while you were trying to study and pouted when you ignored him

You became his everything, the one thing he truly cared about

He would kill for you or die for you, because you were his and you were the only thing that kept him from drowning in the abyss of his inevitable demise

(So sorry that got kinda angsty, and I have like 14 other ships I have to write so I can only do one long one but for marduars era I ship you with James Potter and for Cursed Child Era I ship you with James Sirius Potter)

[faejilly]

author interview

tagged by @twistedsinews tagging: anyone who wants to blame me! (also, uh... no pressure: @junemermaid @jadesabre301 @firstaudrina @fancytrinkets @laughingmagnus)

Name

jilly

Fandoms:

Shadowhunters is most active atm, but historically also BioWare (Mass Effect/Dragon age) and whatever catches my eye re: Yuletide or the occassional gifty-prompt-fill-type-thing

Where You Post:

AO3, and I try to cross-post here on tumblr and on twitter (and occasionally I even think to mention a thing in a discord server or two?)

Most Popular One-Shot:

By hits/kudos, two are halves of one

By comments/bookmarks, i cannot touch because they are too near

Most Popular Multi-Chapter Story:

Finished (tho only about 22k words, so it’s still not really long-fic for all it’s not a one-shot either): with an if in its soul

WIP: I am for you

Favorite Story You Wrote:

fAV0riTe?!

that’s an impossible nebulous criterion wtf

uh

today I am going to pick out of some dreaming tree

Because Fairy Tales! (In tone, not specifics.)

There’s a plot! (Said plot is a quest and very straightforward, but still!)

(because a dash of speculative metaphysics!)

BECAUSE THERE’S A FOREST THAT (sometimes) EATS PEOPLE! Or Demons. And stuff?

Romance and sex magic! Flirting over weird magical investigations! (My favorite lady Cat makes tea!) It was for a BANG. It’s the only Bang-Fic I’ve ever finished! It has pretty art!

It’s a good story, y’all should give it a try. (Even if I haven’t sucked you into watching the joyfully sincere trash-fire that is Shadowhunters. It’s Very AU! It stands alone whether you know the SH canon or not!)

Story You Were Nervous to Post:

known subjects because that is a heck of a niche fic, it’s about an OC designed to fit the fusion setting (Criminal Minds’ BAU) rather than the fandom the other characters are from (Shadowhunters), it’s an outsider POV of the main ship rather than being about said ship... It is basically five steps sideways from all the things that usually attract readers but wow, am I ever so glad I wrote it and posted it anyways.

I love Fuller. I may very well stick him into my actual-Shadowhunters-canon fic as a background character some day. <3

How You Choose Your Titles:

For Malec I cruise my way through my e.e. cummings complete poems book until I find a thing I like and then I poke at it ‘til a line falls out

For everything else I reference the canon or do something relatively literal, an emotion or an event or a description of the main character. Sometimes I grab someone else’s poetry or song lyrics! (I like things besides cummings, who knew. Me. I knew.)

/I’m bad at titles, y’all. SO BAD. Sometimes I get an AO3 email and don’t recognize my own title and have to click the link to figure out what fic someone liked. I honestly have no idea why anyone ever clicks on my fic, I am not good at selling them 😅

Complete:

Uh. Published? I have 104 completed fics on AO3!

(Excluding fanmixes (because not fic!) & ficlet collections, because counting those/their chapters gets REALLY WEIRD AND EXCESSIVE VERY QUICKLY.)

In-complete:

(published, and again excluding ficlet collections because those are both always finished and yet potentially never done)

FOUR:

12 Moons is an old DA2 game prequel fic that will never ever get any more but a few people seemed to quite like so I haven’t taken it down.

Persephone Rising is a Mass Effect collaborative fic, and my two co-authors and I just cannot seem to line up for writing together again, so it probably won’t ever get any more, but you never know. Life is weird. It could happen.

Next is if broken hearts were whole, (Malec soulmarks fic!) which I am still working on but I’m not going to post again until it’s all done. (To avoid more things like those first two.)

And last is i am for you, my epistolary!fluff fic! I posted a chapter for it last week and it’s actually pretty close to the end? Should only be a couple more chapters, I just have to, you know, actually write them.

Do You Outline:

I wish. So much no.

Coming Soon / Not Yet Started:

More Clizzy post-canon fic. It appears to be turning into ficlets rather than a long-fic, but IDK, we’ll see what happens.

I also have a wing!fic that is remarkably about politics more than wings, some relationship reconciliation/Pandemonium Porn, a s3 retelling/sequel to with an if in its soul, mer!Alec sequels, priest!kink, a weird mafia/procedural/omegaverse thing that was SUPPOSED to be a sex!farce and isn’t cooperating, a Practical Magic thing I want to do for Halloween and MANY MANY Shadowhunters CODAS/FICLETS.

And maybe some day I’ll dig the Persuasion!AU or the pro-bono-porn or the sequel to out of some dreaming tree out of the archive and try them again. Or some #7kpp fic, or the Code: Realize and Scarecrow & Mrs. King epilogues I started!

My brain is full of possibilities. I don’t actually finish a lot of them though, clearly. 😳😅🙃

Do You Accept Prompts:

Yes. I may not fill them, but I am never unhappy to receive them. <3

Upcoming Story You Are Most Excited to Write

Malec Arranged Marriage AU. I did a twitter thread on why I like this particular trope, like, literally two years ago and then I tried to write it for the 3b countdown thing but realized very quickly that it was going to be MUCH TOO BIG to finish in time, and started something else (Pandemonium Porn iirc?) which also didn’t cooperate, and then I finally managed i cannot touch because they are too near instead! And now I’ve pulled the Arranged Marriage back out for the @wipbigbang​ this year so HOPEFULLY YOU WILL ALL SEE IT AT LAST IN AUGUST.

[post-futurism]

Cowboy bebop and/or NGE please!

Ok i watched both of these animes in like 2008-2010 so my memory on them is very hazy. I’m more familiar with NGE because of the movie remakes but still i may be a bit vague lmao so hopefully you get something out of this anon haha

Favorite episode and why - the one with ramiel lmao

Funniest/crackiest/it’s-terrible-but-I-still-love-it episode/scene - idk from memory nge isn’t exactly a funny anime lmao i think they tried to capture all audiences in the first one or two episodes with drama, explosions, sexualisation of misato and comical moments, so for me the part where they introduce pen pen the penguin and he’s just like grabbing something out of the fridge or something like that... definitely the crackiest scene that i still love purely because like... it’s so out of place in comparison to everything else happening in that anime? lmao like yeah shinji’s just been asked to pilot this massive fucking robot to save humanity from being destroyed by massive fucking aliens that are different each time for some reason and oh btw he has to share an apartment with a penguin, he’s in the bath, don’t disturb him lmao

It’s-terrible-and-I-hate it episode/scene - can’t remember specific episodes but probably any time that misato kissed shinji?? or any time an adult was inappropriate with a 14yo child. 

Best episode/scene for my favorite character - um idk i think when i was watching the show the only character i actually genuinely liked was misato but i can’t remember shit about what happens to her lmao. over time i’ve become attached to asuka, i simply did not understand her when i was a child myself watching this anime, now i’m more sympathetic to her. so probably my favourite scenes for her are any time that she got to go fucking ratchet and murder an angel or something. people were always telling her she wasn’t good enough but she’s brilliant in my eyes. 

Best episode/scene for my favorite ship - don’t have one 

Best episode/scene for a particular supporting character - Ramiel the angel arrives lmao love that bitch

Best episode/scene for a character I don’t usually like - um idk i can’t remember the show very well but probably when shinji got to be a little bit gay with kaworu?? but in this scenario it’s kaworu that i didn’t usually like lmao shinji is not annoying he’s just fucking depressed

Most visually beautiful or interesting episode/scene - my favourites are always the ones where they’re like, idk about to be attacked and so the city goes into invert lockdown mode. and they show like tokyo-3 going from a skyscraper city to pushing all that shit underground and you get this cool upside down city underground. Examples here and here 

Most emotionally affecting episode/scene - um like the entire show?? idk i’m going to go from my memory on this one but most affecting points (which may or may not have happened, lads, it’s been over a decade. and also potential spoilers ahead--) that part where shinj finds out that his mum’s pysche or whatever was imbued into eva-01, that part where we see asuka’s mum in the hospital and asuka just wants love and attention but she gets abused, any body horror scene with rei, whenever shinji pulls out of doing something he was asked to do and he sees his friends get physically and mentally wounded instead of him like BRUH 

Most powerful use of music in an episode/scene - i literally can’t remember any music scenes so gonna say the starting and ending themes will always be iconic

Episode/scene that changed my perspective on the show -  god like i remember being really confused by the last two episodes?? ik that the general fandom experience of that episode is to be felt let down and like nothing got resolved and to prefer the film endings versions better but honestly seeing those episodes changed my perspective of the show i suppose because you really get into shinji’s psyche and that’s what the whole show really is about, not just the other shit going on. it’s about shinji. 

Episode/scene where the acting stands out - uuuhhh kind of along the lines of acting lmao any time they show shinji’s dad doing An Emotion 

Overall best-written episode - um again i can’t remember specific episodes but the general vibe was that the second half of the season got a lot more dramatic and fucking intense so i’d say those ones are best??

Friendly reminder that NGE is available to watch on netflix and i’m mad that there wasn’t a massive resurgance of fans for it because it’s a great show. (i know they changed some stuff particularly lgbt stuff for no reason but come on still watch it lads) 

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 158: Deku VS Overhaul ~Conclusion~

Previously on BNHA: Eri escaped Overhaul and leaped into Deku’s waiting arms. Before Overhaul could grab them, Deku instinctively activated 100% OFA in his legs and leaped to safety on the surface. Back in the Pit of Despair, Nighteye told the others he’d seen Deku’s death in a vision, and he believes they can’t do anything to stop it. Up on the street level, Deku marveled at how all of his wounds were suddenly healed up. But then he collapsed in pain feeling like his body was being “pulled apart from the inside.” Overhaul reappeared, having merged himself with a new minion, and explained that Eri’s quirk gives her the power to “rewind” humans, reverting them back to a previous state. Depending on how she uses it, she can even rewind them back to nothingness. He made it out to be some cursed thing, but Deku was all “8D” and realized he was carrying a full-HP-restored-and-all-status-ailments-cured healer who was currently using her quirk uncontrollably, unable to turn it off. So he literally fucking strapped her to his back with Mirio’s cape, and activated 100% One for All Full Cowl.

Today on BnHA: We say goodbye to volume 17 and usher in the new era of volume 18. Overhaul monologues a bunch about quirks and mutations and disease and blah blah blah. He says brats like Deku can’t appreciate Eri’s value and the power of her quirk. Meanwhile Togawice watch from a safe distance, and Ochako floats Nighteye up to get him some medical help. Overhaul has more flashbacks about how the Comatose Boss (back before he was comatose) told him to stop selling quirk drugs and not to stray from the right path. Of course, as we all know, he didn’t listen, wanting to restore the yakuza to their former glory by starting a drug war and supplying both sides. It’s arguably implied here that Overhaul may be the one who put the Comatose Boss in his coma, but Horikoshi is very vague about it. At any rate, back in the present day Overhaul continues to rant at Deku, but Deku has fucking All Might power now, and he just. Beats the everloving shit out of him. Like, it takes about four pages. Holy shit. And just like that, this battle is finally over.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 187 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

WE’RE DONE WITH THE PREVIOUS VOLUME OH MY GOD. WE’RE ON TO A NEW VOLUME. A NEW VOLUME WHICH WILL FINALLY INCLUDE A NEW FUCKING ARC AT LONG LAST. SOMEBODY HOLD ME

IF KACCHAN ISN’T ON THE CHARACTER PAGE, I WILL FUCKING FLY TO JAPAN AND FIND OUT WHERE HORIKOSHI IS KEEPING MY BOY HOSTAGE AND SAVE HIM MYSELF

HERE WE GOOOO

ooooohhhhh

(ETA: I recall reading in an interview somewhere that Horikoshi usually colors the volume covers in Photoshop, but for this one he felt like doing something different and so he colored it by hand and very much enjoyed it. it looks good!)

somehow I wasn’t picturing this weird mutant Overhaul creature to be red. somehow it makes him look even more like a Zelda boss

100% OFA Deku looks so cool! and his OFA lightning has turned yellow just like All Might’s oh gosh

“a bright future” OH GOD YES PLEASE

THIS TITLE PAGE IS GIVING ME ALL THE FEELS??

NIGHTEYE YOU REALLY ARE GOING TO FUCKING DIE AREN’T YOU. FUCK

MIRIOOOOOO

FUCK THIS STUPID PAGE AND ITS “BACK IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS BEFORE ALL THE HORRIBLE THINGS HAPPENED” VIBE

(ETA: I HATE IT EVEN MORE NOW!! looking back on it now is giving me the headcanon that Mirio is actually sitting on the bench alone, sometime after this arc, and that’s actually Nighteye’s spirit sitting there, watching over him. I have no idea why my subconscious would choose to come up with a background story for this page that makes me want to cry even more.)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[LEAPS OUT OF MY CHAIR AND POUNDS MY FIST ONTO MY DESK IN TRIUMPH]

(AND I REALLY DID YOU GUYS, AND THEN I THUMPED MY FIST ON MY DESK SEVERAL MORE TIMES FOR GOOD MEASURE!!!)

BAKUGOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

AND SHOUTO! AND INASA OH MY GOD, WHAT A PLEASANT SURPRISE. ARE WE FINALLY GOING TO SEE THEIR SPECIAL TRAINING??

(ETA: I love this volume)

AND SEIJI. MR. MEATBALL. SO YOU’RE STILL AROUND. YOU DIDN’T MAKE IT PAST THE FIRST ROUND, SO I’M VERY SURPRISED THEY APPARENTLY ALLOWED YOU TO TAKE THE SPECIAL TRAINING COURSE. BUT I GUESS WE’LL FIND OUT ALL ABOUT THAT

(ETA: Seiji sure has a lot of spare time on his hands huh)

WELL GUESS WHAT, OVERHAUL, THIS ONE PAGE HAS GIVEN ME THE POWER NEEDED TO DEFEAT YOU AND YOUR STUPID ARC ONCE AND FOR ALL. LET’S DO THIS. FOR KACCHAN AND SHOUTO. THE FORGOTTEN CHARACTERS

wow this opening panel is talking about the possible origin of quirks as a fucking virus spread by rats. like if the fucking bubonic plague gave you superpowers

oh no

I did not ask for an Overhaul flashback and I don’t care about him. go ahead and flesh him out if you must, but no amount of backstory can satisfactorily explain why he’s such a fucking creep

Tongue!Overhaul says that neither Deku nor Eri understand the value of Eri’s power

idk man, Deku’s already making some damn good use of it barely two seconds after discovering that it exists

so he’s explaining that her quirk can be used to rewind the mutation that brought quirks about

how come the version Tamaki got shot with only did this temporarily, though? does this mean the effect is eventually going to wear off on Deku and he’ll collapse with every last one of his bones shattered and probably die immediately omg

also would it then be possible to undo what happened to Mirio? or does the quirk not work on itself? goddammit

and in theory this could potentially even be used for creepy necromancy purposes. ohhhh man

(ETA: and also I’m telling you, the more I think about it, the more I’m becoming convinced that this is the quirk which will eventually bring All for One back to power. eventually someone is going to make the mistake of letting AFO come into contact with Overhaul over in Tartarus, and once that happens, things are going to go downhill fast.)

ironically, this actually seems like the most narrow-minded view of Eri’s quirk possible. most people would look at Eri’s quirk and immediately identify it as a healing quirk. the fact that he turned it into a destructive quirk tells you all you need to know about the kind of person he is right there

also, those buildings he’s casually smashing just so happen to have people in them omg

why would they not have evacuated by this point. there was a fight going on between a dragon and a giant villain for a full 20 minutes. for that matter, you’d think that local heroes would have eventually stepped in at some point. that’s plenty of time for backup to have arrived, and it should have been abundantly clear by that point that they needed it. so much about this doesn’t make any damn sense smh

(ETA: I think later on they confirm that there were only a handful of civilian injuries, though, and they were only light scratches and stuff. but all that means is that they got lucky goddammit.)

wowwwww Overhaul. wow

I’ll take “most ironic things villains have ever said” for $500, Alex

LOL

AND SO OVERHAUL WAS KICKED INTO SPACE, NEVER TO BE HEARD FROM AGAIN. NOTHING OF VALUE LOST, ETC

Deku’s thinking to himself that Eri’s power is getting stronger and that she doesn’t know how to stop it. “just like the first time I used One for All”

he’s thinking that she basically has her foot stuck on the gas pedal

OH HEY YOU GUYS

is he “Deku” now? no more Izuku-kun or -chan or whatever?

as for Mr. Compress, he got squished by Ryuukyuu and melted

Ochako’s floating up to the surface with Nighteye in tow. and they were smart enough to avoid removing the spike in his stomach so he doesn’t instantly bleed out

does Nighteye even still have his left arm omg

now we’re flashing back again to the old boss chewing out Overhaul for getting into a fight with some dude and laying him out in critical condition

the boss thinks Overhaul is going behind his back and undertaking some secret venture in the drug business

he says he told Overhaul not to get involved with those drugs. I think that was the flashback we saw some chapters earlier

and he’s again telling him “you must not stray from my path”

why am I starting to get the feeling that the boss never actually got “sick” and that was Overhaul’s doing as well...?

oh my god is he talking to Kurono here

I feel like this is the only person who could plausibly be shipped with him. it doesn’t hurt that at this point he’s literally the last Precept standing

Overhaul’s determined to restore the family back to its former glory

oh here we go. finally the complete master plan

so first they flood the streets with some of the “incomplete products” they have on hand that can temporarily erase quirks

and once people have gotten a taste of that they’ll all be clamoring to purchase the completed product from them at sky-high prices

!!!!!!

SO YOU’RE TELLING ME MIRIO’S QUIRK CAN BE RESTORED OH MY GOD. THERE IS HOPE!

did they actually start to work on that particular serum yet?

anyways, because the boss isn’t A COMPLETE MONSTER, he’s immediately telling him no

you know, this is one of those instances where the time-honored mob tradition of doing away with a troublesome family member before they get even more troublesome would not have gone amiss. just sayin’. in hindsight he probably wishes he had

instead he just told him “if you’re going to disobey our way of thinking then you should just leave”

Overhaul says all he wants to do is repay the boss for taking him in

then why don’t you start by, I don’t know, FUCKING LISTENING TO HIM oh my god

but instead he went behind his back, continued torturing the innocent little girl, and proceeded with his plan

(ETA: okay, so! after much discussion, I have come to agree with the people saying that this scene...

...which I initially took to be Overhaul relenting, followed by the transition from the flashback back to the present, is in fact actually Overhaul making the decision to take his boss out of commission. the fade to black and the startled look on the boss’s face are intended to show that Something Bad is about to happen. and the next panel after that is just Overhaul thinking about how he owes a great debt to the boss, and that if they proceed with his plan, they can restore the family. “look forward to it, Pop.” so yeah, that does make sense.

what still annoys me though is that they don’t explicitly confirm it, even though it’s arguably the key moment in terms of Overhaul’s development into a villain. the series has no problem showing Eri’s torture in way more detail than anyone ever needed or asked for, and yet this key scene merely gets hinted at. it’s basically the thing all of these flashbacks are leading up to, and then they just... don’t show it.

there is one possible reason I can think of for this, which is that this scene is from Overhaul’s perspective, and because he wants to continue thinking of himself as the loyal son who’s doing this all for the sake of his father figure, it makes sense that he would censor his own recollection of the incident in order to further convince himself that it was all for the best. but while that explains the vagueness, there are still tons of other ways Horikoshi as the author could have confirmed it for us. for instance he could have showed it from Kurono’s perspective instead. or hell, just confirm it with a simple line of dialogue if you have to. but narratively, I think the decision to leave it inconclusive hurts the story by robbing us of the coolest, most dramatic and defining moment of Overhaul’s past.

so idk, I’m still not the biggest fan of this scene. for me, it comes tantalizingly close to being the kind of super dark twist I was hoping for, but then fails to stick the landing. so I’m hoping the anime can improve on this a little bit.)

so now we’re back in the present, and there are a few panels of Overhaul screaming that everyone else is missing the bigger picture, and he’s trying to destroy this world (the word “world” being in quotation marks, so I assume he means society, not the actual world), and that the “fake heroes” who are fixated on their tiny notions of justice need to stay out of his way

boy this is getting tiresome. it’s like someone combined Stain and Overhaul and created... Worse Overhaul

but he really doesn’t stand a chance against a 100% Deku, I think

well, we just had three huge pages of Deku beating the shit out of Overhaul. what do you guys think. climax? are we done at last?

oh my god you guys

;________; WE DID IT

(ETA: this is the quickest Final Battle a 40+ chapter arc has ever had. I’m not complaining, mind. good god am I not complaining)

so Deku punched Nighteye’s vision in the face?? apparently?

I mean, there didn’t even seem to be any point where he was even remotely in danger of dying. so either there’s something coming up, or Nighteye really screwed up on that one

either way it’s not like I mind? holy shit. we’re done? we’re really done?? ARE WE MOVING ON FROM THIS ARC

oh my god you guys. hey google play “We Are the Champions”

hang in there Kacchan and Shouto. we’re coming, lads

no bonus, this volume is pretty skimpy on the omake content honestly. but hey guys, tomorrow our favorite villain with too many hands makes his own long-awaited reappearance! google, when you’re done with this song, get ready to play some AC/DC next. we’re about to embark on the Highway to Hell, baby.

[bigskydreaming]

Whats Nightwing and Deathstroke's dynamic? Why does it make you wince? Im not very familiar with it.

Nightwing and Slade actually have a really interesting and compelling dynamic in a lot of ways, that can be really good when written well and really terrible when not. My biggest issue is it is that its not sexual in the comics (Slade is a good thirty years older than him) or in other adaptations that have a version of it, like the Teen Titans cartoon. But fandom being fandom, Dick/Slade is a bigger ship than like, half his actual canon ships, so any new take on it always comes with a big sigh at all the new Dick/Slade shipping that’s gonna crop up or have a resurgence cuz of it. And I’m annoyed enough with YJ right now that I’m not giving them the benefit of the doubt that they’ll do anything new or interesting with it that’s worth having to wade through pages of new Dick/Slade noncon in the months afterwards. Its a ship that generates a lot of non-con fic in particular, or at least my old favorite, ‘dubcon’, with the dubious part of the consent referring to the fact that it usually involves mind control or brainwashing, both tropes that show up a lot in their interactions anyway. (Not that there’s anything dubious about this NOT allowing for consensual anything, just that people love to call it dubcon because….fuck if I know).

But anyway….in the comics, Deathstroke is a mercenary who’s one of the Titans’ earliest and most iconic enemies. Though at various times and depending on who’s writing him, he’s sometimes an antihero and even a semi-trusted ally of the Titans (usually with Dick specifically), other times a villain but with his own personal code of honor that means he won’t help the Titans or other heroes but he’ll refuse to take jobs that would pit him against them, and other times he’s full on remorseless and sadistic villain who hates them all and wants them all dead.

He also had three kids, his son Grant (the first Ravager), his younger son Joseph (Jericho) and his youngest, their half-sister Rose (the second Ravager). Basically, the first time he interacted with the Titans was when the supervillain group HIVE put out a contract to have the Titans all killed. Slade turned them down cuz of his personal honor code and how young the Titans were, but his son Grant accepted the contract in exchange for HIVE giving him superpowers to help him fulfill it. The process didn’t work right though, and when fighting the Titans, Grant’s powers overloaded and killed him.

Slade blamed the Titans for this, and vowed to finish the contract and kill them as some twisted way of honoring Grant. He doesn’t do Logic so good, well no, its more like he doesn’t really do parenting so good, as in he tends to have fuck all to do with his kids 364 days of the year, but then something bad happens to one of them and suddenly he thinks he’s Dad of the Year and going 0 to Homicidal in six seconds flat is the way to make up for all the times he’s let them down or screwed them over, instead of just…not Doing That.

So Slade recruited a young meta named Tara Markov (yup, that one) and trained her as his apprentice specifically to help him get revenge on the Titans. At his prompting, she joined the Titans as a spy for him, feeding him intel and plotting against them in one of the best known comicbook storylines of all time, The Judas Contract. It was up there with some of the X-Men’s best known stories like the Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past. (In the 80s actually, the Titans comic book was almost as popular as Uncanny X-Men at the time. Like way more than the Justice League. They were DC’s big hitters, popularity wise - specifically the lineup that for the most part was centered around Dick, Donna, Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg and Raven, with other members like the original Titans and later ones like Pantha and Wildebeest coming and going at various points in the 80s too).

Ultimately, Tara made her move and betrayed the Titans, enabling Slade to kidnap each of them one by one and turn them over to the HIVE….all except for Dick. In the meanwhile, he was approached by Slade’s ex-wife Adeline Kane - who has an equally all over the place dynamic with Slade, like sometimes she’s his worst enemy and other times she’s manipulating events behind the scenes to help him without him knowing, because she still loves him…it basically just depends on who’s writing her, same as with Slade. Also, Kane is Adeline’s maiden name, she’s distantly related to Kate Kane aka Batwoman in some extremely complicated manner I can never remember, but that’s mostly just trivia. I can’t remember a time its ever been relevant to a story, and it has nothing to do with Slade’s interactions with Dick.

ANYWAY. Point being, so Adeline, who blames and hates Slade at this time for their son Grant’s death, along with their other son Joey, seek out Dick and offer their help rescuing the Titans and defeating Slade. Joey is a metahuman as a result of Slade’s altered DNA (he has regenerative powers and is actually immortal, due to experiments the army did on him while he was a soldier). So Joey was born with powers although they didn’t activate until he was a young adult. His codename was Jericho and his power lets him possess peoples’ bodies. He’s also mute, and I’m half expecting him to show up in YJ fairly soon. If not this season then hinted at by the end of it. Also wouldn’t surprise me if they had plans to have him be gay in the YJ universe. He’s a character who was coded as gay practically from his debut. Joey/Dick is actually probably Dick’s oldest and most enduring slash ship, for the record.

So Joey works with Dick to rescue the Titans and defeat Slade, who’s captured and goes on trial for kidnapping the Titans. Joey ends up joining the Titans in the aftermath, and Adeline’s yay good, this was my Sekrit Plan all along, I did all this solely in the hopes that you would end up a superhero and have positive influences and not end up a murdering douchebag of flexible morality like your dad cuz fuck that guy, am I right Titans?

Did Adeline really just do all of that because she wanted her son to have more friends? Like…idk honestly it could go either way. Like….it IS the kind of thing she would do, tbh, so its as likely she was telling the truth as it is she just wanted to screw Slade one last time to avenge Grant and then was like hey if I take credit for my kid ending up a Titan now, I could probably play the “you owe me one” card later if I ever need to. Addy does like handing out “you owe me one” cards, just to be safe. Never know when you might need one.

The thing all this has to do with Dick is like, so it basically ended up being Dick versus Slade in the big finale, while Joey was rescuing the others and helping them face off against Tara. And for whatever reason - with multiple takes on this offered by multiple writers in the decades since - something about Dick just stuck with Slade and he’s had a kinda fascination with him ever since. Like he’s always talking about how much more he could teach Dick than what he already learned from Bruce, trying to convince him he’s got a killer instinct that Bruce just suppressed and its holding him back, blah blah, like saying he’s good, but Slade could make him great, so he surpasses both Bruce and Slade. TBH, he spends WAY more time obsessing about Dick and getting Dick to join him than he bothers paying attention to his own kids. 

It really isn’t inherently sexual though, its a weird kinda pseudo father/son, pseudo mentor/mentee type thing. And its not entirely one-sided, because Dick at various times IS…tempted? Kinda? Like whenever Dick’s having some kind of crisis of conscience, or he’s pissed at Bruce or is questioning the effectiveness of superheroes or why they do the things they do or what does it all matter blah blah blah like omg I love you Dick, I really do, but sometimes you are such a drama queen, my god, blast some My Chemical Romance, experiment with drugs and chill out already, its not that deep. (LOL I kid. Well mostly). But point being, every once in awhile something happens that puts Dick in a funk and makes him second guess himself, and he spends like….a month being convinced he should reinvent himself as the anti-Bruce, that’s the solution, and this usually sends him in search of Slade except he’s always like ‘OH FANCY MEETING YOU HERE, THIS IS TOTALLY RANDOM AND NOT ON PURPOSE’. 

And Slade likes to take any opportunity to try and convince him like BE A BAD GUY DICK, KILL PEOPLE FOR MONEY, ALL THE COOL KIDS ARE DOING IT. Except inevitably Slade does something that pisses Dick off and Dick snaps out of it and is like NO, IM A HERO AND THIS IS BAD, I REMEMBER NOW AND I’LL NEVER JOIN YOU, YOU’RE NOT MY REAL DAD I HATE YOU! And then they fight again, but with swords, not words, and then they’re like crap, we’re too well matched, this is going nowhere, you’re a worthy opponent, the only one I can truly respect, blah blah and then they call a breather and Slade’s like hey kid, wanna grab a beer and Dick’s like yeah but only if you promise not to kill anyone. And Slade’s like ugh fine.

And then Slade’s all, look kid, its been fun but its time you went home to your real family and your real life, this isn’t you, you’re a hero, I can’t try and turn you into something you’re not, its Wrong. And Dick’s like….umm yeah, I know, I literally JUST said that, how hard did I hit you? And Slade’s like NO SHHH, DONT TRY AND ARGUE, GO, YOU GO NOW, GO ON, LIVE YOUR LIFE, YOU DONT BELONG HERE IN THE DARK WITH ME, YOU’RE ONE OF THE GOOD ONES, GO BACK TO YOUR OWN KIND.

And Dick’s like no seriously dude, I already called my dad to come pick me up, what are you even on right now, are we having the same conversation?

Slade, sobbing paternally: I HAVE TO LET YOU GO, ALL I EVER DO IS HURT MY KIDS, I’M A TERRIBLE FATHER, ITS NO WONDER JOEY HATES ME.

And then Dick awkwardly slips out while Slade’s mid monologue, with his head thrown back yelling up at the sky and shaking his fists like WHY GOD WHY IS THIS THE WORLD WE LIVE IN WHY - because the thing about Slade is he’s actually even MORE of a drama queen than Dick, he just hides it better. Most of the time. But seriously tho.

Anyway yeah, this is like…a pattern with them basically. And Slade’s like, you’ve inspired me, I see in you the man I could’ve become, maybe even that I can still be, and he like doubles down on his personal honor code and becomes a Mercenary With A Heart for a couple years and even helps out the Titans every now and then (basically just whenever Dick’s in trouble and he goes on a killing spree, like NOBODY IS ALLOWED TO MURDER MY KIDS BUT ME - also by this point in time, Joey had died because Slade literally killed him, I forget why, it was a dumb story, but its okay Joey came back, its not like his name is Uncle Ben. But yeah, killing his kids is kinda a thing with Slade too, and he’s very proprietary about it).

And then he falls off the wagon and is like fuck, I forgot how much I like murder, ugh, you should have never tried to make me change, THIS IS WHO I AM, and Dick’s just like….I literally do not know where you’re getting these conversations from, like am I there when you think we’re having them, am I just blacking out…do I need to see a doctor??? And Slade’s like YOU WILL RUE THE DAY YOU EVER MET ME, GRAYSON, FROM NOW ON I AM THE TITANS’ MORTAL ENEMY and runs off all dramatically while Dick’s like…..wut, and all the other Titans are like srsly, dude, what is WITH you too, and Dick’s all I DON’T EVEN KNOW, HE’S JUST LIKE THAT.

In all seriousness though, ultimately my take on their dynamic is that for Slade, Dick’s a combination of seeing himself and Grant in Bruce and Dick’s dynamic, and its like….all about his regret and missed opportunities. Like, he tends to be super judgey of Bruce and critical of how he trains (and raises Dick) and passive aggressively like *I* would never do that and Dick just kinda lifts an eyebrow and is all, you’ve literally killed two of your three kids. 

But like, Slade kinda views himself as the anti-Batman and thus Dick is inadvertently cast as Grant, but its like Slade can never decide if he thinks Bruce is actually holding Dick back from his full potential and he wants to push Dick the way he thinks Bruce refuses to, or if like, he blames Bruce for getting Dick involved in this life, the same life that got Grant killed, and wants to protect Dick from Bruce and from the same thing happening to him. So its this weird mix of Slade manipulating Dick sometimes and pushing him way further than even Bruce ever does and saying its for his own good, but also randomly mixed in there are these bouts of extreme protectiveness, and there’s like zero rhyme or reason to which he is on any given day and there’s never any way to predict where Slade will land and so it always fucks with Dick’s head in a big way, he’s like…I’m getting whiplash.

And then on Dick’s end, like, the thing about Dick like I’ve mentioned before is he’s a huge people pleaser? Like he’s a very empathetic caretaker type personality who sinks a huge amount of his identity into being everything for everyone, to the extent that he tends to lose sight of himself in the process, sometimes. And he’s also a perfectionist who was raised with the most demanding father of all demanding fathers ever, and has a lot of abandonment issues and insecurities that Bruce’s mutant power is to trip over and set off in the worst possible ways.

And so I think the reason Dick keeps seeking Slade out every now and then is not because he ACTUALLY wants to ever take Slade up on his offer and genuinely become his apprentice or partner and like, turn his back on how he was raised. I think the point of it for Dick is the fact that each and every time he ends up affirming for himself no, wait, this ISN’T actually what I want, I just needed to be reminded of that, to remember that. That he always pulls himself back before going too far. And at the same time, I do think on some level he likes that Slade is this kinda constant in his life, that at the end of the day Slade is like…so fixated on his potential and his achievements and his worth as a fighter and a hero, because like….Dick Grayson is a person who craves validation but will never ask for it ever. 

And he’s one of those people who everyone is just so USED to liking without even thinking about it that it never occurs to them when talking amongst themselves about how great he is, that they forget to say this to his actual face? And so he never hears it? And never asks for it, because gasp, then people might think he’s needy, and that would be bad, so he mostly just goes and sulks in his apartment about how nobody likes him and he’s terribad. Except for Slade. Slade always compliments him on what a good fighter and what a good planner and what a good leader he is, so hmm wonder what he’s doing. He hasn’t committed any crimes in six months and I can’t find any reason to track him down and bring him in? Ugh, that asshole. Okay, ummm, I guess I could tell him I’m thinking of turning evil again, I haven’t done that in a couple years, he’d probably buy it.

And then later Bruce is pacing around the Batcave wrathfully shaking his fist, like “Damn that man and his sick hold over my son, if only I knew how he keeps getting his hooks into you!”

And Dick basically shrugs and plays games on his phone. “He mostly just tells me I’m special, and that’s nice to hear.”

Bruce, still pacing and ranting and fist shaking: “What kind of evil genius is he, how master a manipulator he must be to be able to get inside your head and upend your normal views of right and wrong, to make you entertain these ideas of working with him, learning from him…”

Dick: No its seriously just the saying nice things about me bit. I like that.

Bruce: If only I had a code word or phrase I could use to snap you out of whatever brainwashing he seems to be able to affect you with any time you come near him, perhaps some kind of alien tech….

Dick: You could try “I’m proud of you, son.” I mean if you’re taking suggestions.

Bruce: There’s also the possibility of a magical component to consider, blast, I hate working with magic so of course he WOULD do something like that, ugh I suppose I could ask Zatanna or Jason Blood for help there…

Dick: Cool cool, well this has been a fun and productive chat as always, so you keep doing…all that…and meanwhile I’m gonna go ponder my fixation on father figures who are 100% more committed to obsessing over their failures as a parent than like…actual parenting of their actual kids.

Bruce, ten minutes later: Dick? Where are you? DID SLADE GET TO YOU AGAIN? RIGHT UNDER MY NOSE? CURSE THAT MAN AND HIS UNNATURAL SKILLS, HOW DOES HE DO IT??!?

Anyway, that’s Slade and Dick. There’s also the whole Renegade thing, when Dick asked for Slade’s help in infiltrating the Society of Super Villains in his fake villain identity as Renegade, with you know, lots of Slade trying to corrupt him and also trying to murder any supervillains who looked as his not!son the wrong way. 

And then there was the time Slade brought his daughter Rose to Dick to train and said he couldn’t teach her himself because his track record with training his kids and them not ending up dead is like, not good, and he’s superstitious or something? Idk, I forget his logic, it was probably bad though.

And Slade was like, I only trust you to be a competent teacher for my daughter, I want you to teach her everything you know! Except for like, being a hero. None of that nonsense. I FORBID you from trying to make my daughter into a hero or the deal is off. (The deal being that if Dick did this, Slade would not do crime in Dick’s city for a year).

And Dick was like, you got a deal. I will train Rose but there will be NO trying to make her a hero, I swear. /he said while crossing his fingers behind his back because duh.

And Slade was like okay, fine, you got a deal, I will absolutely still do crime and be villainous but only in every place except for Bludhaven specifically. /he said while crossing his fingers behind his back because duh.

And then Dick tried to make Rose a hero and then Slade blew up Bludhaven and that was definitely a thing, so…yeah.

In summation, Slade and Dick are weird but also very interesting but also if we get another rehash of the Renegade/apprentice arc aka the Teen Titans cartoon adaptation of that story aka the single most popular Dick Grayson fic trope of all time, like….I swear I will probably get a brain bleed.

[cringeytumblorg]

Day 10: Trust

Ship: Katsuki and Tsuyu.

The atmosphere that month had changed completely. After two of her classmates had a fight, the tension could be felt in every part of the U.A alliance. She was very concerned about her classmates. Or well, not her classmates... But a boy in particular. That guy who she had weird feelings for. That guy who she loved teasing all the time, and who made her heart skip a beat whenever he was close to her.

She had noticed that something in him had changed. His attitude, the way he treated others. How he was quieter, but still very distant. How he now looked very lost... And even sad.

This should be something people were happy about, having the boy who had caused so much damage to others during all of his life, finally paying for it in some way. But not when it was about Bakugou.

While most of his classmates hated him, some others really appreciated him as a friend... Or had stronger feelings for him. And even for the ones who did hate him, the boy acting that way was a big loss. Both his aggressiveness and impulsiveness that had always been useful in battle, were gone.

Working in a team with him meant him not working as hard as before, not making a true effort. He did use his explosions and tried to win, but what used to make him such a powerful person wasn't there anymore. It felt empty. He didn't even argue with the rest of the team, and just silently agreed to following orders instead.

She felt like she was betraying herself, not speaking her mind, nor being honest with the people around her. Hiding her feelings, losing her mind. All of that needed to stop soon, or she wouldn't be able to handle it.

-"Tsuyu-chan, I noticed you are quieter than usual. Is everything okay?"- The green-haired girl nodded in response to her friend's concern, not looking at her. The brown-haired girl had a worried look on her face, yet she was trying her best to smile.

Everyone was very overwhelmed and feeling a bit down, because that particular month had been very stressful and things had changed for everyone. It had been very harsh. They were all tired and needed some rest from all of it, for everyone to be able to reconnect with each other and recover.

-"Ochaco-chan, I appreciate your concern... But I am fine, ribbit"- the girl said and smiled softly, so that her friend wouldn't worry about her anymore. But she knew something was off with her, so all she gained with that was making Uraraka even more worried.

She sighed and nodded anyways, smiling. And in a few seconds, she was gone. Like almost everyone was. The class was empty, except for a certain blond boy she liked and herself. She wanted to hurry, to not have to deal with being alone with him in the same class... Even if she knew he would probably not even notice.

She tried not to look in his way, but it was inevitable. She couldn't help but stare at him, which made her feel like a stalker most of the time. And it was weird, it being her first time experiencing all of this.

She still had to put all of her things in her bag, all of the colour pencils and other stuff she had used to draw... Him. And colour everything with very cute colours, and write their names together and mix them to make up a couple name. She thought of many, but she stayed with "Katsuyu".

She could only see his back, him moving slowly. Him putting all of his things in a bag too, taking his time. For a whole minute, she had gotten lost in her cheesy thoughts about the boy and her being together. And she had forgotten what she was doing, and that she was supposed to run away like a coward from that situation.

He felt like someone was staring at him, and so he turned around. He saw her, holding a pencil with her arm in the air... Froze in time. Blushing, embarrassed by the situation. Her already big eyes by default widened a little bit, breaking all the rules of nature.

She didn't know how to react to that... She just stayed in that pose, in silence. Looking away would be dumb now, and it wasn't her style to break eye contact and be all shy and dumb. But she had been caught by him, that was for sure.

The look in his eyes was going to kill her any second. His face looked very calm, which was rather unsettling. She thought he would shout at her for staring at him like a creep or something.

She let an unintentional croak come out of her, and internally was hating on her quirk for that. She was nervous about what would happen next... But the boy just sighed and slightly frowned, turning back to continue with his activity. He didn't have time for that; and they couldn't stay all day there, they had to leave the building after classes were over.

She continued to put her things in her bag but quicker this time, as she saw the boy finally finishing to pack his things and standing up to leave. She knew it was time to talk to him, even if she knew it would turn up horribly.

She finished and ran out of the classroom, trying to get to the guy she wanted to talk with.

-"Tch"- He turned to his classmate, who he definitely knew was chasing him. Him stopping was too sudden for her, so she stopped running too late and hit her head with his chest.

-"I am sorry, Bakugou-chan... I just wanted to talk to you, ribbit. And I didn't expect you to stop walking just now"- she blushed once again, expecting him to this time actually shout at her and get very mad. But again, she got nothing. Only that slight frown again.

-"What do you want?"- Yes he was quiet, but his words still sounded very harsh. She couldn’t find even the slightest of interest in them. It sounded like he had been trying so hard to hold his anger and to change for so long, that he had lost all of his emotions.

-"Why isn't Bakugou-chan being himself anymore?"- that question caught him off guard. His jaw dropped a little. For someone else it probably wouldn't mean as much, but for him... And especially coming from her, it made his anger wake up. He for sure knew she was very blunt, but he didn't expect her to out of nowhere worry about his attitude. And that question also meant that she had been thinking about him, and probably observing him too.

-"Why do you care anyways? Aren't you supposed to be happy now I am not being irrational and mad all the time anymore? Weren't you the one who said I would never be a popular hero, because of my attitude!? Aren't you the one who is always criticizing my actions!?"- her eyes widened once again, and she felt very guilty. She felt a slight pain in her chest, and it was her turn now for her jaw to drop a little.

-"Bakugou-chan..."- The boy turned around, no longer facing her. But he was still standing there, waiting for her to say whatever she wanted. He didn't want to go back to his anger, and that question of her had made him react in a way he had tried holding back from for a long time. One of the reasons he would let her talk, was his pride. He would show her that she was wrong all along, and that he could do things right. That he wasn't only an angry piece of trash, and that he could stay rather calm and rational.

But she didn't talk. And instead, she started walking away. Or at least she tried, because the boy without even thinking about it, grabbed her by the wrist; keeping her from trying to escape.

-"You wanted to talk so badly, why don't you speak now? you owe me this. Tell me, why do you care about me now? Why not when I was kidnapped, instead of trying to keep the rest from going to save me? What if they hadn't gone, and no pro hero could save me!? Didn't you care about it!? Wouldn't you feel guilty afterwards!?"-

A single tear rolled down her cheek, and she didn't try to escape from him. He was looking at her, but she wasn't looking at him. Since he had grabbed her wrist, she hadn't moved at all.

-"I am sorry, Bakugou-chan... I was a coward, and I didn't want to lose anyone else. I couldn't let the rest of my friends go risk their lives, because I trusted the pro heroes enough and knew you would get saved. I trusted All Might, and the rest. And I was scared... I was sad, thinking about how you were probably getting tortured and how they would try to brainwash you"- she tried not to cry, but none could do. She didn't expect him to believe her, or trust her. She didn't expect him to forgive her. She had always been very harsh on him, teasing him and criticizing him everytime he did something wrong. But all along, it was because she liked him. And she did care about him.

He didn't expect any of that. The whole time, he had thought she didn't like him at all and was just being a smartass. He let go of her wrist, with his eyes wide open. He had a very confused look on his face.

After all that had happened with All Might and the guilt he had felt, he started considering what the rest of people had said about him. And whom he had received the most comments from, and the only person who had always the courage to speak up to him, was her. So her words hurt.

Her words hurt a lot, and he started worrying about what she would think about him. He didn't exactly know why, but he figured it was because she was very honest and one of the smartest there... So he could trust her opinion.

-"Bakugou-chan, I..."- she was cut off by an embrace. Her face turned very red, and she suddenly started feeling her neck a little wet. The boy's tears were rolling down her skin.

-"You dumb frog face, I thought you didn't care about me"- his voice cracked a little, and the girl felt very guilty again. She couldn't believe he was crying there, with her. Both of them now shared a lot of things in common. For example, a red face and tears.

She returned him the hug, feeling his warmth. It was very comforting and even if it wasn't a good time, she was finally getting closer to him. And now, she knew he trusted her.

-

Notes ???:

•Excuse my bad English-

•Idk how many words I wrote because it doesn't let me copy the whole thing to put it in a word counter thing-

@bnha-rarepair-month

•Hhhhh I am 8 prompts late GODIhatemyself.

•This small thing took more than an hour and I am angry now. Plus it's 12 am already haH I have a lot of work to do.

•ProbablyNoOneWillRradThisButIapologizeForMyInactivity,It'sLastMonthOfSchoolAndIHaveAllTheFinalExamShitsAndStuff- PLEASE DO MORE KATSUYU AND TSUTSU (Tsuburaba x Tsuyu) HHHH I NEED IT.

•I would EXTREMELY appreciate your honest opinion in the comments. Also I am not confident at all with this, but for monthly challenges I always upload things anyways or I won't be able to keep up with it- at all.

•I love you have a wonderful day.

[aikainkauna]

Fanfic trope meme

Apologies to those of you who see this for a third time, as I’ve crossposted it to both LJ and Pillowfort. Feel free to comment over on there (or my other posts) if you like. And of course, feel free to grab this one and do it yourself, if you like.

***

Grabbed this meme from a couple of people on LJ. It's... well, apparently about fanfic tropes. Some of them more terrifying than others.

I have written:

-Hurt/comfort (Yeah, baby! Most of my fic is this.)

-Body swapping (Sort of? Souls slipping into each other's bodies for a bit? Jaffar feeling what Yassamin feels? Sex swap, I've definitely done.)

-Soulmate identifying marks (tattoo, red thread of fate, etc) (I have! The Throne of Solomon. And maybe The Past Forgotten counts, in its way. I may have written more, but I forget.)

-Snowed-in cabin/isolated together for extended period of time (The Jaffar/Pwinzezz Cavefic!)

-Found families (I guess the Samarkand gang counts for poor old Fadl? Even if Jaffar *is* his brother, so technically it is his family. But he does have his religious congregation and Zainab, and is... well, he always does seem to be seeking something, so he's the kind of guy to go for this trope.)

-Fairy tale/mythology AU (And not just when I am  writing in *actual* fairytale/mythology fandoms. Which I am doing most of the time, what with Thief of Bagdad being a 1001 Nights fanfic anyway. So I'm writing fanfic about a fanfic of some age-old RPF (fantasy AU!) about historical figures from the late 700s/early 800s...)

-Enemies  to friends to lovers (Yes, please! Aplenty. I'm surprised that  enemyslash/FoeYay/Hero(ine)/Villain(ess), whatever you want to call it,  isn't mentioned on this list.)

-Characters swap roles AU (Uh... I've written sexual switching in some isolated chapters? Like when Laura  briefly doms Torsten in The Fall of Angels, to help him get over some traumas?)

-Friends to lovers (With RPS, Veidtbone in particular, and Theta/Koschei. This also seems to happen whenever I write femslash.)

-Magical  connection (telepathy, etc) (Doctor/Master basically ruined me for all  my other ships what with their telepathic ability. So that now, it feels less interesting for me to write love/sex that *doesn't* have telepathy.)

-Fake dating/fake marriage accidentally turns into feelings (see next trope)

-Royals/political marriage turns into feelings (These last two are pretty much the same thing in ToB, as I've had Yassamin marry Jaffar a couple of times--like The Past Forgotten and The King's White Falcon, but without him laying a hand on her for up to a year, until she finally grows a brain and realises how loveworthy he is after all.)

-Seemingly unrequited pining (Emphasis on the "seemingly." Jaffar's unrequited   pining is painful enough in the movie, so there's no point in making him  suffer any more.)

-Accidentally fell in love with the mission target (Well, *kind of,* what with Torsten. Lars-Erik was definitely his mission target in the original film, and at the start of Because The World Belongs to the Devil, he made no bones about having wanted to kill Laura Erika [the teenage girl version of Lars-Erik in this AU, to those of you just joining in] when she was born.)

-They break up (but then they get back together) (With Jaffar/Fadl.  Fadl's stormed off in a huff at least twice in the past. And Doctor/Master is always the same old on-off car crash, isn't it? Although this is not a favourite trope of mine, as the setup would usually necessitate them being an existing couple in the first place,  and I tend to not write canon or "plausibly lovers" ships because   they're already happily together. What do Two and Jamie, Holmes and   Watson etc. need me for? They're already as good as married. Let them have their happiness.)

-Supernatural creature/human romance (Sort of. I've written Time Lords/humans, humans/djinn at least. And surely wizards count as supernatural romance, anyway?)

-Reincarnation/'25  Lives' AU (What's with the 25 lives? Is this some big fandom thing again? One of the darkest, most fucked-up fics I ever wrote was the Master killing the Doctor during sex and fucking him as he regenerated around him. As you do. And there's reincarnation in one of my Jaffar/Pwinzezz fics,  but I won't spoil it for the new readers by telling you which one it is.)

-Selfcest (possibly due to time travel) (I am scratching my head trying to remember when I wrote this and in which fandom, but I have the distinct feeling I've written it. I've certainly whacked off to  that World Of Simm!Masters clusterfuck what with the pink dress so many  times I... I think I broke two clit buzzers during that time. I've certainly drawn it. And drawn some Connies on Connies. And then there's, of course, Sarosh the Sexbot  who's a clone of Jaffar, looks-wise, but he is very distinctly just a robot, not a living character as such--not the sort with which you could  have a real, interpersonal dynamic. My problem with selfcest, in general, is that I like having that character dynamic--and that requires  the characters to be different from one another. If it's two characters  that are too similar--if they fulfill a similar role in the canons--it's hard to create a dynamic between them and to make it   interesting.)

-Polyamory (Swinging away ALL the bloody time with the Roses!Jaffar and Yassamin, and Torsten/Laura. Sometimes I miss the monogamous 'verses.)

-Amnesia (I've got a post-movie "Jaffar comes  back from the dead" WIP I'll probs never finish, because it doesn't seem to get off the ground. If I wrote this trope, I would have the characters gradually regain memory, though; complete mind-wipes are   horrid. I did have Handy lose the majority of his cognitive/motor/Timey skills in No More  and that was the main reason I had to... well, I'm not going to spoil it if someone hasn't read it yet, but it wasn't the cheeriest of fics. The Past Forgotten *sort of* has this, but I don't want to spoil as to how that happens.)

***

I could write:

-Daemons (Why the archaic spelling? I have written djinn, so I almost put this in the 'have written' section. I can't remember if I actually *have* written real demons, because I might have. Surely, Torsten counts...)

-'Everyone is evil'/mirrorverse AU (Well, mostly, if I want to explore "evil"   characters, I write about those types of characters in the first place, without having to turn anyone evil. Devilry is the 'verse for that. Hell, usually it's the other way around; I try to look for the human elements of the baddies, or at least explore their logic--what makes them tick, what makes them the way they are. So, IDK, I could've also   put this in the "unlikely to ever write" section.)

-And they were roommates! (This would be terrible and also hilarious, whatever characters ended up becoming my victims. Even if I'm more interested in those hurt/comfort plots, overall. And I have always found it *impossible* to live under the same roof with other people because I need peace and quiet and solitude too much. So this is almost a bit too much like the sorts of negative RL experiences I don't really want to get more of in fic.  But I *could* write it as a comedy for cheap lols, especially if the stress were resolved by hot bonking, ASAP.)

-'They  all work in an office' AU (Otherwise, I would've put this in the "just  no" category, but... the Barmakids were civil servants. So I *could*   write Jaffar and Fadl drowning in paperwork--"WHY DID WE EVER introduce paper into THIS EMPIRE?!?" and cursing their fates and Jaffar restraining Fadl from braining Harun al-Rashid with a paperweight. Same with Lina doing Zainab's books and trying to hold back The Fist of Death when Fadl carelessly drops a piece of his lunch over her perfectly calligraphied accounting.)

-'Falling for a coworker/teammate is a bad idea' except this is fiction so it works out (Maybe. Just maybe. But it'd also be in a medieval ToB context.)

***  

I will probably never write:

-'Groundhog  Day'/karmic time loop (I just never got the appeal of this. Sounds like the sort of thing experimental writers would like? The sorts who really  like filling in bingo cards and challenge lists?)

-Vampires/werewolves  AU (I'm not that big on either. Super-unpopular opinion coming up: I prefer sex to the sublimation of it that vampires are often all about; bloodsucking in lieu of sex, and/or being seen as way better than sex just always feel to me like a cheap cop-out from writers who are disappointed in sex, or afraid of it. I've never grokked it any more   than that stupid, stupid "chocolate is better than sex" quip from women who don't know what masturbation is--yes, it fucking well is sex, TYVM! I much prefer to make partnered sex better than it is IRL by adding supernatural stuff like telepathy to *that*. Immortality alone is interesting to explore, as are Gothic themes, but all the usual themes that vampires *specifically* usually represent just... either hold little interest for me, or then, I can explore them in other ways.)

-'Pride  and Prejudice' AU (I don't hate Jane Austen, but it's not my fandom. That kind of society stuff and being witty over teacups in bonnets has never really been my thing--if anything, I usually have my characters exist in their own bubble, isolated from society and its restrictive mores and social stresses.)

***

JUST NO!

-Coffee  house AU/food service AU (AUGH! Please, no coffeeshop AUs for me; the world is full of them already. Maybe I could write it as some terrible, short parody? Or doodle it? But no more than that.)

-Hogwarts AU (Haven't read HP. Young Adult isn't really my genre. I know, I know; I've just lost all my WLW cred.)

-High  school/university AU (I've done Time Lord Academy-era stuff with Doctor/Master, but I expect this means a sort of American high school/university AU with jocks and cheerleaders and shit. Hell, no. Again, the exact sort of horrid society stuff I would rather have my characters escape from.)

-Adopting/raising a baby (Erm, not unless you count Jaffar/Yassamin adopting a cheetah? They do have kids in some 'verses but there's none of that everyday baby stuff that this question/trope probably implies. I'm squicked by   babies, sorry.)

-Unusually specific occupation AU, like, the Author clearly has the same job (It worries me that this is, by virtue of its inclusion here, apparently seen as normal and acceptable..? When it's crap fanfic, inserting yourself into something that should be about the *established* characters instead. Jesus, I don't want to go in expecting a fanfic, and then find out it’s your diary instead! Unless you're Anaïs Nin. And even if you really *do* want to write about yourself, then just... write original fic? An autobiography? A blog? Write an OC that has your job. Don't do this false advertising where you insist it's fanfic when it's not. That's a dick move towards your readers.)

-Loyalty kink (see next trope)

-Alpha/beta/omega (Too creepy. I can write about piss, shit, incest, necrophilia and cannibalism, but not these last two. Any more than I can glorify the Nazis I've written about; I either take the piss out of them, as with Strasser, or just step outside of their politics and bring them into the land of happy sexings like with von Kolb, with the aim of dragging him out of that madness and leaving it behind.)

-Hot single parent(s) (Please. Rundvik: "You love children." Torsten: "I loooooathe themm.")

-Unrequited pining (Too much of an emotional squick. Has to be requited. I write fanfic to fix things, to avenge wrongs, to set things right. I don't write them to make the characters more miserable than they already are. Unless it's for temporary, character-development purposes, that is.)

[kumo-headcanons]

Ok so Idk if this is going over board but since Darui and C are a ship, do you think that when they were younger, they mightve been able to have a thing or wanted to but couldn't for what reason? And as adults they shoved it into the back of their heads?

Why would that be going over board? Are you referring to the remark I made about shipping asks taking more effort than others? Because there's really no need to worry about that, if that's what you mean. The only reason that came up at all was because that ask had been sitting in my inbox for nearly a week already and I hadn’t had the time to sit down and properly concentrate. I like working on questions, it’s just that some take more time to answer than others.

Hm... Yes, but also no? I actually tend to think of it as happening the other way around with the thought of a romantic relationship never even occurring to them until the events of Shippuuden, possibly even as late as after the war. Here's how I see their relationship developing:

C, Darui, Mabui and Samui's ninja registration numbers lie within the range of CL5517 and CL5596 (funnily enough, C's is actually the lowest out of the four of them despite his being the youngest, while Darui's registration number is the highest). For comparison, Omoi and Karui's registration numbers are CL6305 and CL6306 respectively, which is why I assume C, Darui, Mabui and Samui graduated from the academy at roughly the same time, meaning Darui and C most likely graduated early since they are a good three years younger than Mabui and Samui.

A while ago, I actually posted a headcanon about what Darui and C's relationship might have been like during their academy years and totally intended to follow up on that with more posts about their teenage years and early twenties but never got around to it because there were some details I hadn't (still haven't) worked out yet but that's a story for another day.

Anyway, what I've noticed is that, while they're A's bodyguards, they have a distinct (and probably unconscious) habit of gravitating towards each other, regardless of A's position, which is probably the most inconsequential detail ever but also kinda sweet?

What I'm getting at is, I don't think Darui and C ever made the conscious decision to get to hang out, get to know each other, become friends and so on and so forth; it just kind of happened and by the time they realised where things were headed their lives were already entangled to the point where it just naturally seemed like the next logical step to take.

For no reason in particular, I think C and Darui, actually didn't see all that much of each other for a couple of years after graduating. The higher ups of Kumo might have been busy spreading rumours about Darui's skills and sending him on missions left and right because ever village wants to flaunt its geniuses as much as secrecy allows and Darui is the closest Kumo had to its own Hatake Kakashi, while C, after deciding to go into the medical field, was kept busy by hospital duty but for some reason they still ended up running into each other every couple of months, always slipping back into that same easy, effortless companionship. Like, C might spot Darui taking a nap somewhere between missions, flop down next to him and spend the next two hours going over his anatomy notes while Darui grunts his acknowledgment and goes back to sleep until work catches up with them and they see nothing of each other for a couple of weeks or months again until that early morning on that one faithful day where they run into each other on the way to the Raikage's office, chat for a bit, say their goodbyes because they'd be late for work otherwise, and then spend the next five minutes awkwardly walking next to each other because they're both headed for the Raikage's office.

Starting at the time they entered the academy their relationship might have gone from something like "You're the least annoying. I'll gonna sit next to you" to "So you're gonna graduate early too, huh?" to "Didn't expect to run into you again so soon, last I heard you were on a mission in Water Country. Wanna catch up?" to "Wait. When did you get promoted?" to "Wanna grab a bite to eat once the shift's over?" to "Mind if I crash here tonight? Mission got me beat and I really don't feel like walking home." to "I got you a toothbrush, you know, since you're staying over so much." to "I heard your lease was running out. Wanna move in together? Might save us both some money." to "Karui, Omoi, not that we don't appreciate it but... the cards, the flowers, a gift basket? Isn't that a bit much for an appartment?" which is about the point where I think their relationship is at when they're first introduced in Shippuuden.

They're used to each other's company and, more importantly, they're comfortable in it and then canon happens makes their lives a whole lot more complicated. Specifically ep. 202/3 comes along and makes Darui's life a whole lot more complicated.

I kinda think the fight against Team Taka was a bit of a "Holy shit! Close call! I actually thought I might lose you" kind of wake up point to Darui. When comparing Darui's attitude at the beginning of the fight to his attitude at the point after Suigetsu attempts to attack C and later when C is caught in Sasuke's genjutsu the shift in the way he fights is remarkable – for that same reason, it's also great fun to compare this fight with his fight against Ginkaku and Kinkaku; it's like looking at two completely different characters.

Darui is not taking things seriously at first, or at least he's feeling calm and casual enough to keep snarking back and fourth with C despite being in the middle fight. But there's this tiny moment:

Jūgo's talking about C specifically and depending on context, the Japanese line can either be translated as "take him down" or "kill him" and I love that the camera switches to Darui's reaction first, before showing C's. Darui literally just told him that there was no need for him to stay in the fight and that he and A would handle the situation, while C basically paints a giant target on himself by remaining stationary as he's looking for Karin and I think this is the moment Darui realises the responsibility he's taking on and the amount of trust he's (unwittingly) asked of C and I'll be damned if the "The change in his personality"-line isn't more Darui trying to appear casual rather than him actually making light of the situation. By the time Suigetsu attempts to go after C, Darui is dead serious.

Which is why when C actually does go down after Sasuke's genjutsu effects, something snaps and logic gets thrown out the window. C falls over and Darui is distracted to the point of taking his eyes off of Suigetsu for several seconds, long enough for Suigetsu to initiate a jumping attack and actually push Darui on the defensive while he's still off balance. Which you can't really fault him for since a huge explosion just went off and the next thing he sees is C keeling over for some unknown reason.

Conversely, this was his reaction right after Atsui got sealed within Benihisago:

It's not that he isn't serious during the fight with Ginkaku and Kinkaku, or doesn't care; it's just on a completely different level. Anyway at this point at the fight against Team Taka is where things get really fun. The KinGin siblings make a huge deal about words being tools with which to trick people and here Darui does just that. In an effort to quickly finish off Suigetsu, he makes use of the fact that Suigetsu is already somewhat distracted out of concern for Sasuke and gets him to actually look away and in the direction of A and Sasuke with one short quip about how Sasuke's done for (which is not Darui's usual style, he snarks a lot and might even get carried away with a small speech just before or after a fight, but with opponents he's really blunt. Quite the opposite, against Ginkaku and Kinkaku he's almost excessively polite.) Anyway, so he intends to finish the fight quickly and he does..

And I love using those screen caps at every chance I get because of the cold, cold fury on Darui's face and the fact that this is an expression you rarely get to see on him. Seriously, that's Darui going after Ginkaku and Kinkaku:

Against the KinGin siblings, that's war; but the thing against Suigetsu? That's personal.

And I love how, rather than joining up with A, he jumps straight to C, plasters himself to his side in the most impractical way possible, casually talks shit about Sasuke as if he hadn't just pinned a guy to a wall with his sword, and doesn't even consider letting go until prompted because Raikage's orders.

Also, holy fuck, Darui, that's your boss you're glaring at. xD

Anyway, what I meant to say is, getting C back on his feet is all well and good, but right now Karin is still around (theoretically capable of attacking them) and Darui has successfully prevented himself and C from forming handseals or taking any kind of quick measure to defend themselves. And they remain in that position for several minutes, all the while the fighting continues without them but, you know, priorities. By the way, notice how by the time Darui let's go, C's chakra control is able to control his chakra well enough to perform Mystical Palm, despite Darui having to hold him up until seconds prior? I'm not say they were both stalling because that feels like a bit of a stretch but I'm heavily implying it nonetheless.

Well, point I was trying to make before I got carried away is, the fight against Team Taka is a bit of a turning point for the two of them (Darui maybe more so than C). Maybe it was actually one of the closest calls they'd had in a while and Darui is confronted with the thought of "Shit. That could've ended badly." and "For a moment there I really thought you might've died." and this is where one realisation in particular sets in. He can do well on his own. But he can do so much better with C by his side.

And that's the realisation that eventually leads to this line:

And I've talked about this line before. At length. Darui's fine shinobi, fully capable of taking over the role of the Raikage's right-hand man; and he knows that. But he's not above admitting to himself or the Raikage that he's just that much better when working together with C. Not even necessarily in a romantic context yet, but definitely as a partner of equal standing.

Hell, in ep. 363 during the Allied Shinobi Jutsu, it's not just future Raikage Darui who's leading the charge of the Kumonin. Again, C's right there by his side.

And you know how there's this theme of some Kage having a second in command to share the duties with? Chronologically, you have Hashirama and Tobirama, Hiruzen and Danzo, (I'd even go so far as to include) Tsunade and Shizune, A and Darui, Kakashi and Gai, and Naruto and Shikamaru. And I don't know how much of that actually was a conscious decision on the writers' part, but C is framed in a way that makes him the character most likely to take over the position of Darui's second in command.

Now what would be the last push necessary to push their relationship into the realms of romance? I'm afraid this is gonna be the most anti-climactic answer ever.

I blame the Infinite Tsukuyomi.

Give them knowledge of a reality that's so very, very much like their own except for that teeny-tiny difference. Give them a taste of else they could have in addition to the bond they already have and have them notice that, while unexpected, it feels right. Remind them that, while it's all well and good to be willing to give your life for someone, it's better to share it with them.

It might leave them reeling for a while but once they're back in Kumo things will work themselves out sooner or later because of that pesky habit they have of always kind of gravitating towards each other.