#if a character isnt here that means i paired them up already sorry :(

[joshusten]

bitter melon (guy/honey, redacted audios)

Honey got stood up on a date and Guy tried to save their night.

(pre-relationship, hurt/comfort, jealousy (hohohoho), slight misunderstanding, conflict between characters, making up, fluff) 4.6k+ words [ao3 link] [masterlist]

[cw/notes: insecurities, self-depreciating thoughts and a lil breakdown im sorry honey has some issues over here (projecting moment?), NOT PROOFREAD as always LMAOO 

ALSO sadly guy isnt as silly (maybe really ooc) as he is most of the fic because he has Internal Conflict + i tried to make honey’s outfit and appearance as ambiguous as possible but i’m not sure how well i did with that ;---; so just keep that in mind! Idk how to feel about this fic ! i love it and i hate it LMAO]

"Oooh, what's got you all dressed up, roomie?"

It was the weekend—Kayla had just been picked up by her boyfriend, which had Guy realizing he and his favorite roommate had the place all to themselves for a few hours. As far as he recalled, he was off from work, and they hadn’t mentioned any errands to him for today. Perfect!

Guy had a bounce in his step as he arrived by the entrance to the room at the leftmost side of their shared apartment. He rapidly knocked at the door with a giddy “Hello?”, eagerly waiting for the response that he knew would always come. 

Hm, which game should they play this time? Smash was always an option but he wouldn’t mind trying something new with them. They could even watch some random YouTube documentary again like they did last time. Or maybe he can finally muster up the courage to ask them if they want to hang out somewhere outside the apartment that isn’t for laundry or groceries. 

He smiled to himself. Yeah, I’d like that. They can go to that new arcade that opened up nearby!

Before Guy can daydream more of sharing smiles in photo booths and frustratingly rigged crane games, the door opens to reveal the subject of his reverie, clad in clothing and accessories flashier than what they would typically wear. He got a whiff of a pleasant fragrance too and he realized that they must have put on a perfume of some kind.

Woah. 

They looked…amazing. They've always looked amazing. He had thought that about his grumpy companion even before the pair got close. But, seeing them in anything other than their usual casualwear or pajamas was definitely a surprise. 

The teasing amount of skin they had exposed didn’t go unnoticed by him, as well.

His roommate, by all means, was no prude. They even had their fair share of comebacks more vulgar than his flirts when they banter (Those particular interactions definitely do not keep him up at night, blushing and wide-eyed while he stares at the ceiling. Nope. Never.) This side of them, however, was something he’d never seen before until now. This side of how they present themselves with such boldness was new and he didn’t mind it at all.

The outfit looked good on them. Too good. A seductive dark top that very much complemented the tone of their skin, unbuttoned dangerously low enough to reveal the expanse of their collarbone that was adorned by a simple necklace. 

Their shoes gave them more height too, slightly towering over Guy more than they already did before and forcing him to tilt his head up a little for their eyes to meet. The dizzying scent of their cologne paired with those pants that hugged their figure just right had his mind reeling. It was mortifying—how they had him in such a daze so easily.

Fuck. 

Guy gulped nervously.

“You going out tonight with friends o–or something?” he frantically adds, suddenly aware of how much he was probably staring amidst his very appropriate train of thought about the person before him. Admittedly, the man was a little bummed that his plans to take them out first (Platonically, of course. How else would it be?) were off the table, though his interest had been piqued by what they were up to being dressed like that.

"Oh, uhm, no. I mean, yeah? Kinda? I'm…" They looked hesitant and a little…embarrassed? Well if it's something they don't want to share then he didn’t mind. Despite how much of a menace he is (with his roommate never failing to lovingly remind him of this), Guy wouldn’t want to force anything out of them, especially if it got them so uncharacteristically timid. He tends to forget such social cues, but he actively tries to improve and avoid being so pushy.

As he was about to reassure them that it was okay to not respond, they replied with a bashfulness that was unlikely of them, “I’m…going on a date.”

 A date? With someone else? Romantically? He felt his grip on the door frame tighten, and a sharp pang shot through his heart, silencing his buzzing mind for a split second before managing to fake a curious smile.

“Oh? Who are they? Do I know them?” He liked to think he inquired them out of politeness, like a nosey friend pestering someone about their crush, but the thought of his roommate being alone with someone for the night leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. He had the need to asses this person, and determine if they really were worthy of their time—of them—for reasons he isn’t really sure of, it just felt like instinct.

Guy internally cringed. What the fuck does that mean? Why the hell is he thinking like this? Protective! He’s being protective, of course. Any friend would want to protect their friend with things like these! A love life is a huge factor in someone’s happiness after all, right? So he, as a friend, can definitely be wary if someone could be a potential risk of heartbreak for their friend.

Okay, if he thinks of the word ‘friend’ one more time he might actually lose it.

He needed a cold shower. Yeah! He just needs a nice cold shower to shock his brain and stop the weirdest fucking thoughts from ever forming, especially thoughts concerning his roommate that’s currently driving him crazy in every way possible.

“Ah, no, I don’t think so. He’s from my class.” They shrugged, looking to the side awkwardly. “I dont know, he just asked me out yesterday and I figured, ‘Why not?’”

Guy hands began to twitch involuntarily as his roommate smiled at themself, oblivious to the spiral that he was having. "My friends kept on saying I should try letting loose and going out more so I guess it���s about time.” 

“Oh, uh, hope you enjoy, then.” God, he feels light-headed.

“Well, isn’t this a first. What, no witty remark? No innuendo about me finally ‘getting some’?” Guy fought the urge to grimace. Somehow those jokes would do nothing but sour his mood even more instead.

“Hey,” The man started, struggling to keep his voice steady. “Can’t I wish a friend good luck on their date?” Friend. The word felt worse and worse the more it festered in his mind. Yeah, that’s what they were. What they’ll ever be. Nothing more. 

“Pfft, whatever, man.” The smirk grew wider on their lips. They seem really excited and he shamefully thinks it might make him vomit at how eager they are for this date. He should support them, right? Guy can see how his roommate tends to keep to themself most of the time, especially when Kayla’s with them. So seeing them go out of their comfort zone should have been a relief. He should be happy for them.

Whenever Guy was with them, being happy was easy. So why was he having such a hard time now?

Their grin dropped when they glanced at their watch with widened eyes. “Oh shit, I think I need to go.”

They opened their bedroom door and lifted up their arms from the side in a way to reveal more of what they were wearing. “How do I look?” 

Yup, feeling dizzy again. Remember to breathe, Guy.

“Uh, yeah, y–you look great! Really.” Guy put on a strained smile. “Have fun, just don’t miss me too much, though. Might be unbecoming for your date.” He prays to god they don’t notice how his voice wavered at the end.

They rolled their eyes with a familiar chuckle that usually follows whenever he makes a joke, “Pfft, whatever.” 

Waving him goodbye as they rush to the exit. “Don’t wait for me when you’re gonna eat dinner, by the way. I might be home late!” One last look on their watch had them walking faster. “Okaygottacatchthebusnowbye–!”

 He heard the gentle click of the door shutting and the apartment felt lonelier than what he’s used to.

— 

Tap, tap, tap.

“In old legends, tales long forgotten, the sea is often said to be unkind. 

The sea’s temper is short, and his rage is felt through the angry swells of the water that eat sailors alive. His strength is tremendous, taking down the tallest of mountains and sinking whole countries with his surging claws. But most of all, his cruel waves do not discriminate, drowning both the wicked and the innocent altogether. He cares not for the last breath he takes from their lungs to fill with salt and water and death. 

Despite his hostility, the sea yearns for the moon. 

Whenever the moon came down to greet him like an old, treasured friend, the waters still. All is tranquil when the sky and the sea meet. The sea breeze is calm as the children play by the shore. The people were grateful, for the sea had fallen for the beauty in the sky.

But all good things never last.

The sea became selfish. He loathes the time when the moon eventually ascends to the abode of angels, their home. He loathes the loneliness that becomes of him when he can no longer feel the warmth of their glow. His loathing turns into wallowing in sorrow until he decides that he has had enough.

His calm waves suddenly grow with the intent to seize, to take, to keep the jewel of the night for himself. His desire for them to stay overflowed into his foolish actions that had done nothing but have the moon be victim to the harshness he had reserved for men.

The moon wept, and the sea received their tears. He had hurt them. He had hurt them in his act of love. They returned to the skies, burdened to carry the melancholy of a broken heart and the sea remains, afraid to cause more harm.

The moon never came down again.

His attempts to reconnect bear no fruit. A different kind of madness consumed him, wrapping around his very soul like how guilt wraps around the sinners. It’s God’s punishment, he deems, for his covetous ways. To chase for the sky but never touch the clouds, to stretch up to the heavens but never high enough. 

He had realized that they could not be attained. 

They will not come back for him.

Yet he continues to reach high above, hoping for the blessing of a god birthed by pity. To push his tides to the limit for a chance to be in the moon’s presence once more until the end of time.

It is all but a myth, ancient words that the people of the present cannot truly decipher, but all its messages share the same sentiment;

The sea is…”

“Hm.”

Tap, tap, tap.

“The sea is mysterious?”

“No, no, no…”

Tap, tap, tap.

“The sea is prideful?”

“Ugh, that doesn’t sound right either.”

Tap, tap, tap.

“The sea is spiteful?

Vitriolic?

Rancorous?”

The living room which was once filled with the constant stream of clicking laptop keys came to an abrupt halt. I give up. This whole ‘running away from your issues’ thing really isn’t working.

That same irritating pain still persisted. It was becoming less of an annoyance and more of a discomfort, aching to the point that Guy started to rub his chest a few times in an attempt to soothe it. What is up with me today? Even after the cold shower that he was sure would solve his current predicament, the feeling of unease still lingered. 

He figured he might as well do the writing exercises that his professor had assigned a few days ago to distract himself yet it was of no help at all. In fact, it was just fueling the fire of these messy emotions that he had been feeling. His tired eyes closed, fingers circling his throbbing temples, as he racked his mind for something that would best fit the final line. I swear to god it’s at the tip of my tongue!

His mind snapped out of focus after hearing the noise of the door suddenly opening. He managed to haphazardly type a word to try out before it could escape his mind so that he could finally finish this troubling assignment that had opened more problems he had meant to solve. 

The sound of heavy footsteps reached his ears and they burned, knowing full well who had just barged in. Speak of the devil. His roommate finally returned along with the sinking feeling in his ribs. They had gotten back from their date. Guy made sure to put on his most convincing smile. 

“Hey, roomie! Back already? How was it?”

“Uh, yeah, hi.” They didn’t bother to look at him, ignoring his eager questions while they hastily set down the small bag they brought. Guy sees them navigate through the kitchen to fill up a glass of water and hungrily gulp it down. “I-is Kayla here?”

He frowned, shifting his body to face where they were in the kitchen. “Uh, no. She texted me that she was staying over with her boyfriend. Why?”

“Thank god.” 

“Yeah, I know right? So, uh, how’s the date?”

No response came again, His roommate was seemingly distracted by whatever they were scrolling through on their phone but it was clear that they were purposely ignoring him.

“He-ey! I asked how the date was. Did something happen?” They were as timid as they were before. And like before, the unease in his gut grew.

“U-uhm, it was fine.” The man heard them murmur. Why were they so secretive? They seemed frazzled and they were doing that thing where they touched their cheeks to cover their face whenever they got warm because they were…flustered. Are they–? On that date, did they–? Did something happen like that between them and their date?

Unnoticed by his roommate, Guy’s eyes widened. The pain in his chest returned tenfold. This should’ve been a good thing. That means they had a great time. Why is he mad? Why does he get that sinking feeling? Why does he feel so spiteful about it?

“What, no juicy details? Oh, I get it. You’re keeping secrets from me! Not a kiss-and-tell typa person now, are we?”

Maybe it was stupid of him to prod, especially about the one thing that set this rollercoaster of confusing emotions in the first place. But he needs to know. What did they do? How was it? Did they like it— being with him instead of Guy?

They continued to ignore his lighthearted interrogations and Guy knew that he should’ve just dropped it at this point but something in him snapped all of a sudden. He isn’t sure if the agitation that built up had got to him but he couldn’t stop himself from blurting out his next words—harsher than intended.

“Hey, I'm not the selfish one over here who left me all alone inside at a weekend while they got to actually enjoy the night in some fancy restaurant or something. C’mon, spill!” 

The lightness in his tone never left. In fact, to anyone else, it would’ve sounded like his usual playful nagging Both of them, however, noticed the shift in the direction of their conversation. (Since when was he one to provoke someone?) He’ll blame it on being in the heat of the moment for now. They understand he was just curious like that, right? All he was sure of was that he needed to know what happened. Why is he mad? Stop being mad. They didn’t do anything wrong.

He noticed their flinch far too late.

“I got stood up, Guy. Was that what you wanted to hear? Because, god forbid, I get to actually go out and do shit for myself!” The acidity of the way they said his name sent chills up to his spine. Their voice was eerily still, its coldness made Guy’s blood freeze. “Because I’m such a selfish asshole to enjoy things for once, right?”

“Oh.” 

Oh fuck. He fucked up.

“Yeah, oh,” A dry chuckle left their quivering lips. “Can’t believe I fucking thought he would actually show up. Thought somebody wasn’t fucking around with me for once and I–” They abruptly stood up. The harsh scrape of the chair puts the whole room into an uncomfortable silence.

They weren’t flustered from the date, they were embarrassed. Humiliated. They had probably been waiting for that douchebag to show up only to receive false hope and pitying glances. And he just had to add insult to injury by being when he clearly should’ve just listened, should’ve stopped, should’ve comforted them. He can finally see the tears that began to stream down their face.

“It’s whatever. I’ll be in my room.” 

“Fuck, I–I’m sorry. I didn’t know that he–”

But they had already slammed their bedroom door with a force that shook the place. Guy stayed sitting on the couch, all alone once more. Great, you just had to be a dick because of your stupid fucking…feelings about the thought of them spending their time with someone else! 

He’s pathetic.

Here he was brooding over his roommate going out on a date only for whoever that moron was to throw away the fucking chance to spend time with them. But maybe he���s the bigger moron in this case. The guilt seeped into his bones and he felt them ache. What is going on with him? He was supposed to be there for them. To be a decent friend. But now, he just ruined their already shitty night more.

Truly pathetic.

His eyes darted to the last line he had typed on his laptop and he held his breath.

"The sea is a jealous being."

The lump in his throat became harder to swallow. He needs to make it up to them.

—

This is stupid. This is fucking stupid.

They should have never gone with it. They should have never accepted that asshole’s offer in the first place. 

The faint sounds of an old TV series played from their phone, which had long been abandoned within patterned sheets, accompanied the figure that was currently trembling under the blankets. Stuttering, hiccuped gasps filled the room with a suffocating gloom. They think their hoarse throat couldn’t handle another broken sob to let out, having already cried every single last drop of their wallow out hours ago, their hot cheeks sticky from its tears. 

It wasn’t like this was the first time something involving relationships didn’t work out with them. They were used to it. They should be used to it—being left out, avoided, and unwanted. (It’s just a stupid date, it wasn’t even meant to be serious. Why are you making it a big deal? Why are you so affected?)

Why are they so affected by this? What made them think they were all-so-suddenly desirable to someone? Why did they even think they had a shot at all this lovey-dovey shit in the first place? 

Stupid, stupid, stupid. They’re shit with expressing their emotions and even shittier with dealing with them. Their outburst a while ago was a testament to that, shouting at Guy when he didn’t know any better. Maybe everything tonight was doomed from the start, then. They should’ve expected the hurt. Heartbreak was far from being a stranger to them at this point.

A tired groan came out of them again. 

Tired. They’re so tired.

Hungry rumbles erupted from their stomach. Damn it. Thanks to their ‘date’, they weren’t able to eat. Fuck it. Waiting out until Guy’s in bed and sneaking out of their room to eat would probably be the best option. For now, they stay bundled in their bed—thoughts spiraling, head pounding, eyes swollen, and a heavy heart waiting for its pieces to be picked up again.

Then they’ll sleep it off like always. And then they’ll confront him about it, play it off like it’s another bad day so he’ll stop worrying because they know he will. Everything’s back to normal— they’ll apologize for the overreaction, he’ll joke about it and everybody goes on with their lives again.

Yeah. That could work.

Knock, knock! 

“Hello?”

What the–? Ugh. For the love of–

“Hello? Roomie? You there?”

When they wanted to confront the roommate that they snapped at, they didn’t mean right now!

“What do you want, Guy?” 

“Can you come out, please? It’s…important.” 

They finally stood up from their blanket cocoon, hastily wiping the tears from their eyes to try and ‘shoo’ their roommate away. The door swung open, ready to put on their whole grumpy facade again. “Guy, I’m not really in the mood for–”

“Good evening, prestige customer! Your dinner awaits.”

What.

“Wha-- How did– When did you–?” Not giving any mind to Guy’s abominable impersonation of a British accent nor the messy scrawls of black ink on paper that vaguely resembles a mustache taped to his mouth, their eyes wander around the living room, confused and curious. 

The atmosphere was completely different from the bleak apartment they had been enduring for months. Multicolored lights that they usually use for the holidays hung around the area, providing the dim room with enough light to give a dreamy ambiance. The small foldable table set they had for eating was moved to the middle, covered in what they remembered to be Guy’s freshly cleaned checkered blanket that they had just picked up from the laundry when they were doing errands. 

On the table were some scented candles in mismatched glass containers, and two servings of a dish they couldn’t recognize. They even noticed faint jazzy music playing in the background to imitate the mood of a pretentiously lavish restaurant.

Overall, the decor clashed together horribly, yet despite that, they’d never seen the apartment so charming. The improvised set-up looks endearingly…cozy. 

“Come, let me guide you to your table,” Guy, err, the waiter, dressed in a white longsleeved button-up and apron, led them to the center, pulling out a chair and tucking the napkin he had around the collar of their shirt. The man directed their attention to the ceramics containing what seemed to be their dinner this evening.

“Our main course that the chef has prepared for tonight is a creative twist of a classic European dish composed of a rich tomato-based sauce paired with a unique and innovative pasta shell shape, garnished with traditional Italian herbs and spices.” “Guy, that’s a bowl of SpagetthiOs with some dried basil sprinkled on top,”

“Shush! Don’t ruin the immersion. And I am not Guy! I’m a waiter! Ahem!” The totally legitimate server who is not their roommate coughed very un-fakely, before composing himself in a more very real professional stance (then again, that might actually be real, seeing that he also serves the tables at Max’s when he’s not out delivering). 

“I believe your date has returned. A very dashing fellow if I do say so myself, consider yourself lucky!” Guy suddenly ducked down out of view (though they could very much see him all the same) removing the mustache and button-up to reveal a shirt with a tacky tuxedo print on it. 

He stood up, fixed a few strands of his hair that stuck up from his sudden movement, and looked at the person in front of him with a beaming expression. 

“Hey, honey! Just got back from the restroom. Wow! The food looks amazing!”

All ‘Honey’ could do was stare dumbfoundedly before covering their smiling mouth with a trembling hand. A small chuckle became a bemused giggle until eventually they were full-on belly-laughing.

“H-Honey? Really? Where did you even get that from? And what the hell are you w-wearing?” Their voice shook, unable to contain any semblance of composure. This whole situation felt like it was pulled straight from a rom-com. 

Guy laughed with them as he sat down to his side of the table. “Oh, so you like it? The nickname…came to me naturally. Feel like it suits you a lot, seeing how sweet you are to me, right?”

 Honey, huh? They wouldn’t mind him calling them that. 

“Also, I don’t know what you’re talking about! I think I look the most classy I’ll ever be!”

“Well, I’m underdressed then.” Their laughter had died down, slowly processing everything going on, well, it made them want to cry. All of this, for them? It’s too much trouble to go through.

“Nah, you’re fine! And besides, you look pretty all the time—which by the way, is absolutely not fair! I’m supposed to be the hot roommate here!” He declared with a mock offended tone as he sassily put his hands on his hips. Honey hoped he wouldn’t notice how their cheeks burned at how casually he called them ‘pretty’, like it was second nature.

“Then again, I wouldn’t mind if you underdress some more, ehh–”

It was his comfortingly familiar lewd quips, something they didn’t realize they missed hearing, yet why did their eyes water instead? The sobs that they weren’t aware they had been keeping in broke their dam again. Their cheeks must’ve grown tired from their crying all night, but this time, these weren’t tears for some dickhead that ditched them. 

The abrupt stop of laughter and panicked sputtering from Guy after hearing their croaky sniveling would have had Honey laughing if they weren’t already struggling to breathe from their convulsive crying. “Oh, fuck! Uh, okay, sorry! I’m sorry! Bad timing! I shouldn’t have joked–”

“No, no, Guy, I’m sorry I–” They let out a shaky breath. “Wh–why did you go through all the trouble for me? I-I snapped at you and I don’t–,” hands wildly gestured around their surroundings. “–deserve all of this! I don’t– I’m so sorry I–”

“Hey, no, don’t apologize. You deserve this, okay? If someone like Kayla gets to share a night with her boyfriend then you, out of all people, deserve to spend your weekend having a great time and I won’t let some jerk ruin that for you,” He looked at Honey in the eyes with a sincerity that involuntarily made them shiver.

It’s not often that Guy was this serious with them. It was only reserved for moments when it was late at night and their teasing and gossip turned into deeper talks about anything and everything. They forgot how intense the look in his pretty eyes could get, how it felt like he saw through them, through their very being.

“I’m…one of those jerks, too. I really shouldn’t have said those words to you. You’re not selfish or an asshole. Your date was the asshole for not showing up and that’s a reflection on him rather than yourself. I just sprouted out those stupid things because I was just…bitter that you had your own plans when I really didn’t have the right to be.” Among other things. He decided not to bring up the other messy emotional stuff in his head. It’s not what they need to hear right now. “I’m really sorry for pushing you. I…really hope that you can forgive me but I would understand if you won’t.”

“I forgive you, Guy. Thank you for… for all of this. It really means a lot.”

They shared a tender smile as they continued their chatting with their dinner. By the time they cleaned the dishes and put everything back in its original place, the pair plopped down on the soft cushions of their sofa. Guy shifted himself into a better position to face Honey.

“I’m surprisingly still not sleepy. What else do you wanna do for tonight?”

“Hm…Smash?”

“Honey! How scandalous! Take me out to dinner first! Oh, well technically, I already did, so I guess your wish is my command after all—Ow!”

“I meant the game, you freak!” --- THIS FIC TOOK SOOOOO LONG i was so close to giving it up BUT WE'RE HERE EYYYY also this was suppose to have a bonus scene but ehhhh idk where i was going with it rlly rlly hope you enjoyed ;--; i'm still not rlly happy with how i wrote this but there are some parts that i rlly like so i decided to post it HAHAHAHA feel free to give me feedback :DD and have a nc day/night!!

[hazshit-hotel-hater]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[suffarustuffaru]

so @alderamiin said subaru for the ask…. yes your ask was the one i deleted on accident whoops 😭😭 BUT HERE WE GO I MADE SURE TO REMEMBER TO DO YOURS WKDNDN (and i LOVE subaru fr i simply could not skip over him also) (pls expect my usual chaotic rambling im so sorry i really am overusing the caps button 😳😭😭)

Sexuality Headcanon: bisexual 👍 subaru being somewhere on the ace spectrum isnt a super strong headcanon of mine compared to the bisexual hc but i am still fond of it <33 bc i do tend to just hc him as bisexual but i suppose i could kind of see it <33 :DD !!

Gender Headcanon: subaru is literally, as we’ve all discussed, like EVERY letter of lgbtq+ i swear. like natsumi EXPLICITLY being stated to be his ideal self….. what cisgender boy has his ideal version of himself be a woman…. come on….. and hes been like. dressing and trying to pass as a girl for his crossdressing pre-isekai too. like subarus Practiced A Lot at this. subaru clearly enjoys doing this and he was crushed when he couldnt pass bc of his voice pre-isekai :(( AND LIKE subaru and his complex relationship to masculinity and feeling insecure in his own skin like……………… and then natsumi being his ideal self…… natsumi being the Heroine……….. and its like. subaru clearly has a case of “do i want to be them or be With Them” when it comes to men hes attracted to (most notably julius.) so like. it could apply to women too. like. and then the way subaru reacts to felix’s presentation too………. i just think it says a lot. i dont care what tappei says but he wrote all this shit in the text fr!!! and also in general. natsuki subaru being a gender neutral name…. same with natsumi schwartz… so yes genderqueer subaru for the win. i personally hc subaru as genderfluid or bigender!! and also like. subaru being Very LGBTQ+ is so in line with rezero’s themes of self love and self improvement and self discovery and Identity. i think it hits so much harder if subaru Is lgbtq+ versus if he was just insecure straight cis man. like no wonder subaru was struggling Even More. hes so so far in the closet and struggling with like the internal homophobia and shit fr :(((

that and 1. subaru being lgbt is such a great subversion of what you would think when you first meet his character. and also a subversion of ur typical isekai protag which ADDS to rezeros subversion of isekai in general and 2. i love making Certain People mad with these hcs. like its so supported by the text the only thing missing is explicit confirmation. which. i have my doubts with tappei on that but iirc he DID say he nearly wrote a lust if with the guys…. tappei. come on. you already explicitly said that natsumi is subarus ideal self.

A ship I have with said character: im very open to most subaru ships!!! i just love a lot of them—reinsuba, ottosuba, emisuba, remsuba, julisuba… i just like how each kind of dynamic with subaru has so much range like even in just main route alone?? and then you factor in the ifs and it gets So Interesting. theres so much history with each pairing and so much to explore, whether its platonic or romantic. and subaru has a LOT of love in his heart.

i just like each pairing for different reasons hah—like ok ive talked a lot about reinsuba and emisuba already in other asks so. i DO like remsuba okay. not in the sense that i want it to be the endgame ship in main route bc thats very much not happening and i would prefer The Most Detailed emisuba development of all time. which would be more thematically relevant <3 but i DO ADORE remsubas relationship in general. like its so so complicated??? like. yeah theres the conflict in arc 2. theres the conflict in arc 7 with her waking up and being different and being so mean to him about natsumi :((( theres her “youre my hero” versus “youre not a hero” WHICH. URHGHF ITS SO GOOD….. and like yeah remsuba really do be. iffy. in terms of how healthy it is. but its so complicated bc you also have rem being like—she was like the first person, narratively, to be willing to DIE to save subaru the exact way he does for other people (including rem). and then the famous from zero scene in season one which is a MASTERPIECE but i hate how people fixate on “i love emilia” LIKE REM IS HAPPY FOR SUBARU. SHE IS HAPPY AS LONG AS HE IS. EVEN IF HE DOESNT LIKE HER BACK. but also he did like her back romantically for a time. and also of course rem had her fixation on subaru :(( subaru had his own obsession for emilia while rem had hers for subaru pre-being gluttonyed?? :(( yeah like. remsuba being so complicated is so interesting to me. like she and subaru are very passionate people yes. but also they do need to learn to tone it down sometimes you know? REM ESPECIALLY TOO BECAUSE EVEN AFTER SHE STOPS BEING MURDERY TOWARDS HIM… FOR EXAMPLE IN SEASON ONE SHE WOULD CANONICALLY GO TO HIS ROOM IN THE MORNING AND WAIT FOR HIM TO WAKE UP…. like she'd just sit there at his bedside and Stare at him... like girl chill a bit its okay T^T i havent read sloth if. but it seems like they learned to mellow out and have a happy life T^T apart from. a shit ton of people dying in the background and also subaru dying of old age and resetting back to arc 3. i am interested to see if we’ll get further remsuba closure in arc 8 yes. but also im bonking subaru on the head in arc 7 for saying even REM TORTURING HIM was a fond memory. pls let this be addressed again later i swear sodndn.

ok also julisuba and ottosuba. i am no expert on julisuba but on the other hand i have analyzed Too Much Ottosuba so perhaps i am an expert there wodndn. but YEAH i love those ships. they have so much history and moments between them and they are. definitely the more Explicit evidence of subaru being bi (between subarus Interest in julius and reid calling julisuba boyfriends and SUBARUS INTEREST IN JULIUS... vs ottosuba repeatedly being like “omg do you Like Like me?” “NO I DONT SHUT UP” and also their continued divorce arc dynamics yep). but also i will say i really like ottosuba because specifically they are the subaru pairing where theyre like. Very Much Closer To Being Equals. if theyre not already equals in something. like in terms of power levels and intellect and their very loving families and previous inability to fit in or be believed by people and also their status in the narrative as Being Just A Guy in comparison to everyone else. and yet ottosuba are the MOST important members to their camp for their jobs—subaru keeps everyone alive, and otto handles All the politics, which we see over and over again. they are literally THE power duo. otto is so so important too as the second person to die FOR subaru the same way subarus died for others. like the paralleling of otto pushing subaru out of the way when the white whale drove otto insane (and later otto tried to go back for subaru once he regained his senses ;-;;;) versus otto pushing subaru out of the way so he didnt get killed by garf ;-;;;;;. and otto being the second person after rem to also give subaru an EXTREMELY IMPORTANT speech to him (otto-rem parallels...???) <33 except ottosuba also foil a lot bc of their Different Morals. but theyre both stubborn as hell and have a tendency to go off and do shit they think is best without telling anyone bc theyre too deadset (hah) on what THEY think. (OTTO. SPENDING A WHOLE YEAR SECRETLY GETTING THE BOOK OF WISDOM AND HAVING IT RESTORED?? HELLO???) anyway yeah ill stop right here bc i have So Much ottosuba posts on this damn blog wkdndn but i really do think the appeal of ottosuba is that they Are on a more even playing ground. and their morality flipflops sometimes. ottos issues are just more lowkey than subarus widndnd. i am. however. nervous about all the ottosuba and vincent-chisha parallels in arc 8 bc………. possible otto perma death on the horizon??? 😭😭😭😭 itd CRUSH subaru.

also of course the similar flavors of julisuba and ottosuba….. u can have ur tsundere x tsundere ships in TWO DIFFERENT FONTS. anyway ill become a julius lore expert someday i promise.

A BROTP I have with said character: BROTP ottosuba and ramsuba are so so funny and great wofndn but special shoutout to garf and subaru in particular!!! i think its interesting how far their relationship has come bc they had a VERY rough start and its like. 1. im sure garf would immediately regret going into a rage and killing a shit ton of people in that One Failed Loop and 2. we learn garf is a traumatized fourteen year old whos been trying so hard to take care of the demihumans inside sanctuary while his sister and mom left him, one way or another, and hes very afraid of the outside world. and its like YEAH now your behavior makes sense. and its so good to see garfs growth and also his growth in his relationship with subaru (and otto) bc he looks up to subaru sm!!! subaru helped garf so much T^T theyre brothers guys 😭😭 i think its so adorable and so sweet. ill defend garf all day everyday. garf 🤝 subaru with their DAMN hero complexes while otto tries to keep them both on a leash so they dont do stupid shit. subaru IS a good role model for garf though ill say that. subaru tries so hard to be a good role model wkdndn. and yes i always laugh when garf teases subaru for drawing doodles and writing encouraging things for emilia in the temple.

A NOTP I have with said character: okay so. maybe i will spill some tea here. hah so i went over in ram’s ask how i think ramsuba in wrath if is actually super interesting widndns but otherwise ramsuba to me is bland. which. i also just feel like subaru/crusch and subaru/ana and subaru/priscilla are also bland. like. i dont think theyll ever feel interesting to me akdndn. like theres not. as much to work off of imo. like i just dont think theyre a good match romantically at all. like At All. priscilla especially LMAO…. and im tired of people reducing women in the story to just boobs and being fucked by subaru 😭😭😭 like i dont have anything against those subaru ships, my biggest notp is just seeing a bunch of characters be butchered just to have subaru have sex with various women. 😭😭 obviously not everyone in the fandom does that but i see this happens the most with priscilla fr. pls. shes more than just boobs :(((

anyway. my other notp is like. echidna/subaru but like. i feel similarly to ram/roswaal on this where its like. theres a potential there to show a nuanced complex toxic relationship bc THAT IS what echidna/subaru are. even more so in greed if. like theyve spent an UNGODLY amount of time together like their relationship is so fucked. like god the amount of details that were added to their dynamic in the greed if ln makes me go INSANE….. like you know how echidna said that subaru could use her body with this contract?? what she ALSO really meant was HEY SUBARU YOU CAN KILL ME IF YOU WANT. ILL JUST COME BACK BC WE ALWAYS MEET IN A DREAM WORLD AND THERES NO CONSEQUENCES BUT ITLL FEEL REAL TO YOU. LIKE HOLY FUCK FR 😭😭 and like in generally reading through greed if ln is a Trip alright. like “no yeah duh of course it is, suffaru, its GREED IF” but LISTEN……. echidna being subarus weird mother figure and then like. idk there are obvious implications i feel from like the body fluid tea and then echidna being like “you can use my body” and then theres a moment where she puts his hand on her chest and yeah its to feel her heart but LIKE…. SOMETHING ABOUT THAT SCENE FELT LIKE. SOMETHING. TO ME. AND THEN SHES SO OBSESSED WITH HIM AND HES DEPENDENT ON HER LIKE JESUS ITS A MESS. ITS LIKE HOW SHE WAS WITH OG ROSWAAL. GOD. *puts my head in my hands*

anyway my real notp is like. depicting echidna/subaru like it is a Healthy Thing like no it is not 😭😭😭😭 it never was healthy and it literally never will be unless ur changing echidnas character drastically. if ur gonna show off echidna/subaru then they are gonna be SO RANCID in like every way possible there is no other correct way to write them. she is terrible for him. she literally saw him and went “i can make him worse” and then it happened. bc greed if subaru is a Terrible Person. like. its not even a question. the biggest example i can think of rn other than obvious Rbd use is KEEPING MEILI. A CHILD. HOSTAGE AND LOCKED UP IN ORDER TO USE ELSA. HER OLDER SISTER FIGURE. JEEZ. my biggest notp of all time is treating unhealthy relationships as if they Arent unhealthy.

MY OTHER BIGGEST NOTP OF ALL TIME FOR ANYTHING IS SHIPPING A CHILD AND AN OLDER PERSON TOGETHER. subaru/petra SHOULD BE AN OBVIOUS NOTP BUT SURE DOESNT FEEL LIKE IT SOMETIMES….. guys she is a child. come on. hes seventeen and shes TWELVE. GUYS…. and then theres tappei making iirc an ACTUAL petra if????? and idk what the content in petra if is exactly but i worry given tappeis track record with the child characters sometimes 😭😭 AND THEN PETRA BEING IN LUST IF. TAPPEI…… N-NOTHING HAPPENS, RIGHT? *EXPLODES WITH RAGE*. even if petra and subaru get together later when theyre Older Adults in some AU or something its like. subaru knew her when she was a young child. and she had a crush on him then. um. personally idk if im fully comfortable with that hah T^T

A random headcanon: GONNA TALK ABOUT WRATH IF. anyway so the wrath if divergence point is that subaru gets beatrice to teleport him away and ram chases him down, ram tries to strangle him to death but fails, he smashes her head with a rock. yes. BUT OKAY when u watch the anime. beatrice comes for his aid AFTER subaru gets to the cliff and tries to psych himself up to like. jump off to save rem and stuff. THEREFORE wrath if subaru still considered trying to rbd via jumping off that cliff. he just decided not to and agreed to have beatrice teleport him away. this is something not many people seem to mention or maybe even notice (??) but I THINK ABOUT IT A LOT…. :((

General Opinion over said character: i LOVE SUBARU WITH MY WHOLE BEING. he is my absolute favorite anime character of all time. his character arc is so chaotic and complicated and i think the way he Does like still struggle with the same Inner Conflicts is so so much more realistic. recovery and self improvement are NOT linear and he shows that perfectly. and i hate how much people misread subaru T^T the whole chadbaru trend in fandom of how he should get harems or how he should leave everyone or be terrible to emilia for *insert a long list of Terrible reasons here* is so. like did we all read and watch the same damn story or what hah. the whole point of rezero is LOVE ITSELF….. and subaru ultimately has a lot of love for so many people around him. though of course i do worry for how rbd reveal is going to be handled, and im not entirely sure how to feel about subarus arc 7 development atm. rbd reveal is gonna have catastrophic consequences for Everyone. like everyone hes ever been close to finding out hes died a shit ton of times to save him?? that so many of them have like. maimed and killed him or at least Tried To Do That? like HOW are we gonna get a happy ending out of all of this—hows tappei gonna handle this?? 😭😭 i worry sometimes that when rbd reveal happens it wont be nuanced or itll gloss over certain things or it just. wont be so satisfying. bc u have arc 7 subaru out here with SUICIDE PILLS……. ARC 7 SUBARU IN REPEATED INSANE DEATH LOOPS AS A CHILD….. how are we gonna come back from this?? 😭😭 i have my doubts sometimes but tappei loves insane character development for subaru so i suppose i will hope. i just wish for all the trauma to be seen and addressed akdndn and the fact that rbd is so. complicated. it makes subaru and his relationships with everyone else so complicated. and rbd is inherently unfair in a lot of ways to both subaru and everyone hes close to. i cant wait for more subaru development but i also think after arc 8 he NEEDS a break or like otherwise, personally i think subarus gonna snap for good and not be able to return from it 😭😭 or ill just have to suspend my uhh disbelief. i suppose. but yes i do love subaru a lot!!! his hair is a Pain in the ass to draw but ill endure the pain just for him. <33

but regarding all of subarus loved ones maiming and killing him a lot—i think its fascinating how the if routes prove he is JUST as capable of ruining all their lives. like i feel like people forget that sometimes in favor of woaaah cool what if routes where subaru becomes “badass”…. but LIKE…. hes SO SO CAPABLE of so much destruction. he is choice itself. he is capable of changing the entire world and everyone around him. he is capable of causing the deaths and trauma for SO MANY PEOPLE… and like i think rezero itself and subarus relationships are like an extreme version of hedgehog’s dilemma, u know? like u get close to people to love and be loved, but ur also very vulnerable to getting hurt. and rezero is About love. and part of close relationships are that ur so close u Can be hurt. maybe you Will be hurt. but u will also Love….. unless ur one of the ifbarus then fuck u for making the wrong decisions ig wodndndn. im telling u guys that subaru is LITERALLY an eldritch being at this rate. todd is so right.

and. okay one last thing im gonna be real for a second. im a little eh on subaru being a child, honestly. like i DO like the trope of turning characters back into their child selves in order to explore their psychology that way!! but like. idk i feel like the childbaru arc is kinda too similar to the whole amnesiabaru arc in arc 6. it feels Extraneous. it doesnt feel different enough for me personally. (emphasis on personally. this is all my opinion hah.) and then he is STILL A CHILD IN ARC 8 EVEN THOUGH THE OTHER PEOPLE THAT GOT TURNED INTO KIDS ARE NOW BACK TO NORMAL…… LIKE…. im sorry but the childbaru has overstayed its welcome by the time we get to arc 8 imo 😭😭

[v-cain]

I posted 405 times in 2022

That's 405 more posts than 2021!

63 posts created (16%)

342 posts reblogged (84%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@xofemeraldstars

@book-place

@bringinsexybackk69

@cas-kingdom

I tagged 79 of my posts in 2022

#supernatural - 9 posts

#sam winchester - 8 posts

#xmen - 7 posts

#dean winchester - 6 posts

#castiel - 5 posts

#moon knight - 5 posts

#criminal minds - 4 posts

#spn - 4 posts

#toothless!reader - 4 posts

#tumblr milestone - 3 posts

Longest Tag: 129 characters

#why isnt underlining a word an option?? i wanted to do that multiple times now and evry time i get stuck with the bold word thing

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

im not even 5 minutes into rewatching moonknight when i realized... if marcs mum is dead..does that mean he was writing steven postcards and leaving them their for him?

31 notes - Posted May 12, 2022

#4

"A Leap Of Faith"

Fandom: Xmen

Pairings: Logan Howlett x gn!teen!reader, Hank McCoy x gn!teen!reader, Scott Summers x gn!teen!reader, Kurt Wagner x gn!teen!reader, Jean Grey x gn!teen!reader, Jubilation Lee x gn!teen!reader

Warnings: Crying, Swearing, Alcohol, Implied Gore

A/N: holy fucking shit this took ages to make. so proud of it though!! the flying part was my favourite part to write, plus scott and logans relationship with the r.

----

"Ok, Scott, truth or dare?" Jean grins at Scott. He looks terrified, which you find hilarious, and he quietly says "Truth?" You look at him with your mouth agape "Damn, Summers, you've got some balls!" Scott rolls his eyes and looks over at Jean, Kurt and Jubilee discussing what they should ask- apparently your questions were 'too lame' so you got kicked. So rude.

Jubilee turns around suddenly and asks "Have you ever taken alcohol from Logans cabinet?" Scott quickly anwsers "Fuck no! I don't have a death wish!" You open your mouth to comment on that but Jubilee turns to you brightly and says "Y/N! Your turn! Truth or Dare?" You smirk, "Well, unlike Summers over here, I'm not a pussy. Dare." Scott threw his hands up in the air "What the fuck, dude?", and you promptly ignore him, instead intently staring at the group in front of you. (Scott got kicked out of the group too, because his dares were deemed too risky.)

After a solid 5 minutes, Kurt turns to you and says "We dare you to fly off the roof!" You instantly pale. "Guys, I'd wake the entire mansion up. Can't you think of something better?" you try reason, but Scott jumps in and quips "What, too much of a pussy?" You glare at him and he shrinks back a bit. "Oh, come on Y/N, it'll be fun! Besides, we've never seen you fly before!" Jubilee chines in.You feel your face start to heat up and your hands shaking.

All too quick, you stand up and stumble over an excuse of needing the bathroom. Jean frowns at you as you scurry out the room, opening her mouth to interfere but Scott has already started truth or dare again.

You rush down the halls, ignoring the looks of any onlooking students. You just wanted to get outside and sit in the garden, and cry a little bit, because of your stupid fucking-

Bam!

You whack into someone tall and stagger back a little, mumbling a small 'Sorry' and continuing on your way. You run over to your spot and finally break down. Tears stream down your face, and all you can think is 'Why did it have to be me? Why me?'  You curl up into a ball, your wings encasing you in a cold shell.

Why me?

----

Logan was walking down the halls after a very, very tiring day- also known as Hank used him as his 'assistant' in the lab. Personally he thought this was payback for drinking all the good whiskey, but hey, could you blame him? Anyway, as he thinks about how damn good that whiskey was, he slams into some kid. Taken aback, he looks down to see a very distraught Y/N, who quickly runs away. "What the fuck?" he mutters, immediately turning to follow them.

A good ten minutes of running to catch up with this kid pass, and Logan slows down as he approaches soft crying. He cautiously walks around the tree.

The snap of a tree branch makes you whip your head towards the noise and growl- only to start crying again once you realize it's just Logan. He awkwardly sits down beside you and wait for you to start talking.

Some time passes and your cries slowly quite down to just sniffles and the occasional hiccup. You rub your eyes and look over at Logan, who simply asks "What happened, kid?" You sigh and look at the ground for a moment, before pulling your tail halfway into your lap and stare at your missing fin. "When I first got my mutation, my parents weren't.." you pause and glance over for a moment "Well you can imagine how they'd react to their kid growing wings and a tail." Logan softly hums beside you.

"Anyway, they realized that I wouldn't be able to fly if I didn't have one of my fins, so they.." you trail off and stare at your tail. Logan takes a sharp intake and breaths out "Jesus, kid I'm sorry." You stare at your tail for another moment and continue "Me and the others were playing Truth or Dare and they dared me to fly off the roof. I didn't have the confidence to tell them I couldn't, so.." you vaguely gesture to the field surrounding you two. Logan is silent beside you, thinking deeply.

"Well," Logan starts "We could always talk to Hank about making prosthetic fin?". You turn and stare at him, prompting him to continue "Think about it. People get prosthetic hands and legs all the time, why would it be different for you? Just means Hank would have to make it and not some corporation." You start to process what he's saying- you could be able to fly! You grin at Logan who returns it immediately.

----

*Two Weeks Later*

----

After two weeks of Professor McCoy doing measurements and fitting prototype prosthetics on you, it's finally time. You're going to fly. Which sounds so much easier in your head.

You peer over the edge of the roof, cringing at how high you're up. You step back and weakly joke "Hey, if it doesn't work do I get a refund?" Professor McCoy huffed a laugh, and said reassuringly "Trust me, it's going to work." You hum and mutter under your breath "Yeah, like the last two did." Logan claps a hand on your back, "C'mon kid, it's just a leap of faith. The second you jump you'll be fine." You glance at him and step back again, rolling your shoulders back. It's just a leap of faith, that's all it is.

You take a deep breath, and take a running leap off the roof. For a moment you're plummeting towards the ground, wind blurring your eyes and whipping through your hair. Then you pull up your wings and suddenly you're soaring through the air, faster than light itself. You start laughing maniacally- you're fucking flying! You turn around and fly over Professor McCoy and Logan. You can just hear Logan yelling "Fuck yeah, kid!"

You pull yourself upwards into the clouds and slow down, admiring the view. You swoop down to the clouds and fly through them, soaking your clothes. Oops. You twirl around in the air, feeling free as can be.

Eventually you return to Logan and Professor McCoy, and you immediately hug the latter mumbling a "Thank you Professor." He smiles and returns the hug, responding warmly "No problem. Remember to tell me if you have any problems with it." He nods to Logan, and walks downstairs.

You grin at Logan, "Did you see me up there? I was so fast! I was in the fucking clouds, Logan! The clouds! And- and it was so cool! I was so cool!" Logan laughs at your excitedness, wrapping an arm around you as you continue to ramble about how awesome flying was and how you could bring him up there someday.

32 notes - Posted November 12, 2022

#3

"What The Fuck?"

Fandom: Xmen

Pairings: Logan Howlett x gn!teen!reader, mentioned Kurt Wagner x gn!teen!reader

Warnings: Swearing, Falling on your ass.

A/N: crack fic with minor foreshadowing ooh spooky. anyways theres a lil heartfelt moment in there cuz im a loser who likes heartfelt moments. enjoy. (lmk if i missed any warnings)

----

Last night, you got to spend your first night in your own room! This may not seem like huge thing to most, but when you've been sharing with a group of twelve year old boys..you loose your mind a bit.You sit up and stretch with a huge yawn. For once in your life, you've managed to get a peaceful nights sleep, which meant you could probably do something productive with your evening. You go to your dresser and choose a lovely f/c outfit that compliment your scales beautifully, and then walk to your door so you can go downstairs and eat some food. Maybe you would even do today's homework-

THUD

You stumble backwards, nearly falling on your ass. What the fuck? You try and walk forwards once again before you realize the problem: your wings. Sometimes your wings wouldn't fold if you kept them folded for too long, which has never proven to be a problem because you could always squeeze through the doors. This is apparently not the case in your new room. You stare at the door before trying to turn sideways and walk through the door- except your room wasn't big enough to turn fully with your wings expanded.

What the hell do you do? Do you yell for Kurt to get his ass in here and teleport you out? Or do you wait for Logan to realize you're not in class and go looking for you? You stand there for ages before eventually looking out the window. The stars were out tonight, which meant you would be able to convince Logan to skip class and look at the stars instead. If you could get out of your god forsaken room-

----

Logan sighed for what felt like the hundredth time this minute. Y/N was late for class by an hour, which by itself was unusual, but no one has seen Y/N all day- they usually at least try to leave their room during the morning. He gave up on waiting and decided to look for them- first thing first, their bedroom. They could've just overslept and are still tangled in about a million blankets (Logan commented that it looked like a nest, and Y/N's response had been "Fuckin' duh.")

He reached their room and knocked three times, and immediately heard an exasperated "Fucking finally! Open the door!" Clearly confused, Logan opened the door to reveal Y/N standing on their bed with their wings expanded, taking up most of the room. "Kid...what the hell happened?" the teen grinned at him and shrugged, simply responding "I got stuck here for two hours 'cause my wings wouldn't fold. Can you get Kurt to teleport me out?"Logan nodded and took one last glance at them before heading off to the end of the hall where Kurt was.

----

"..So, that's what happened to my wings earlier. It doesn't really hurt, but keeping them folded up all the time does." the teen said nonchalantly. Logan looked at them with a raised eyebrow, "You would think you would have the common sense to stretch them or, you know, fly, but I guess not." You shift uncomfortably and laugh a little " Yeah, I probably should stretch more often." The older man looks at you for a moment but decides to not comment on your wording.

The pair sits in silence for the next while, quietly admiring the stars. You look at Logan momentarily, wondering how different your life would be if you hadn't come to the school. You would probably be deep in a forest, far away from any civilisation. You wouldn't have your amazing friends, any good role models...you would be alone.

Thank fuck you're not.

34 notes - Posted November 11, 2022

#2

"Guard Dog"

Fandom: Xmen

Pairings: Charles Xavier x teen!reader, Hank Mccoy x teen!reader, Kurt Wagner x teen!reader, Scott Summers x teen!reader, Jean Grey x teen!reader, Jubilation Lee x teen!reader

Warnings: Bullying

A/N: this came to me months ago and now im cool enough to write it down. go follow my friends @book-place @bringinsexybackk69 (this is set when everyone other than the teachers are teens! ;] )

----

You drag yourself out of bed and lazily put on a hoodie, not even bothering to change out of your pajamas. Scott had convinced you to wake up at lunch time so you could eat with your friends, which would usually get a solid "Fuck no."...but there was a promise of chocolate chip cookies. So fucking up your sleep schedule it was!

Walking down the stairs, you catch a few staring eyes and shoot a glare at them. They immediately scramble away  much to your happiness.

You easily spot your friends under a tree and walk over to them, enjoying the afternoon you rarely get to see. Scott spots you and cheers "Sup Snow White!". You roll your eyes playfully "Oh hardy har har Summers." you sarcastically snark as you plop yourself down beside Kurt.

Everyone launches back into conversation, and you find yourself calmly smiling at the mess of a group you call family friends. Then, the fire nation attacked.

"Hey, freak! Did you force them to sit with you? Or do they just feel bad?" Your attention is turned to some random teen you've seen in passing- he was mocking your wings. Not a pleasant guy. Jean just rolls her eyes at him, while Kurt sits looking uncomfortable. Jubilee and Scott are glaring at him, and you're- well...

"Oi! Who the fuck do you think you're talking to?" you holler at him. This garners the attention of some nearby students who are now whispering to each other. The teen scoffs and rolls his eyes, "Oh, is this your little guard dog? How cute!" he mockingly coos. Your mind is racing a mile a minute but you keep yourself under control, and calmly walk over to him. The students are gathering closer now, curious to what's going to happen next.

The teen sizes you up and gets in your face, "You mad, doggy? What're gonna do about it? Bark?" You smile sweetly at him, and then swing you're tail underneath his legs. He immediately falls backwards but you catch to collar of his shirt and bring him close, "If you ever, and I mean ever" you bringing him closer "come near my friends again, I won't be here to catch you. Got it?" He nods vigorously. You smile sweetly and let him stumble backwards. "There's a good doggy." you mock as you turn back to your friends.

Sadly, the universe was not on your side, as Professor McCoy calls for you and the teen to follow him to the headmasters office.

...Well, shit.

----

School sucks, you think as you walk to the office. One moment you're defending your friend against some dickwad and the next you're being escorted to the headmasters office, which is complete bullshit! Sure Jean could handle herself on her own, but she shouldn't have to! Everyone deserves a friend who has their back. And maybe a little bit of your reaction was because you were sick of being treated like an animal, but who could blame you?

Before you realize, Professor McCoy is knocking on the Professors door- you wonder if they had to battle for who got the title of "The Professor"- and he opens it, closing it after the three of you are inside. Professor Xavier looks up blindly before a flash of recognition sparks in his eyes, so he sits up straighter and looks more serious. Glancing beside you, it looks like the teen (who's name you learn to be Doug) is playing the innocent lamb while you get the part of the Big Bad Wolf. Lovely.

"Can anyone care to tell me why you're here?" the Professor asks, looking between you two. Doug responds scarily quickly "Yeah, that asshole attacked me for no fucking reason!" Your eyebrows raise a bit- he couldn't have tried made his story a bit believable? The Professor sharply turns to him "Mr. Carol, I do not appreciate that tome of voice." Doug squirms a bit where he stands as the Professor continues "Now please, could you elaborate?"

Doug starts to tell a story how he was leaning against a tree reading a book, when you walked up to him and got up in his face and pushed him to the ground. Which is complete bullshit, but you wouldn't let that show. The Professor takes this in and the  turns to you, and tells you to recount your side of the story. You glance at Doug and start "Well, I was sitting with my friends, when Doug walked by and called Jean a freak. I got mad at him and shouted at him, so he called me a dog multiple time, so I told him to leave me and my friends alone and went to sit back down- that was when Professor McCoy interfered.

Doug glares at me while the Professor frowns. He exchanged glances with the other professor who come to some sort of silent agreement. "It seems clear who is in the right. Doug, you will attend detention during lunchtime for the next two weeks-" Doug turns red and immediately storms out the office, slamming the door on his way out. Dramatic.

The Professor raises an eyebrow and turns to you "Y/N, you will be in detention after school today. I understand wanting to defend your friends, but that wasn't the way to go about it. You may leave now." You nod and turn for the door, pausing and turning back. "Professor, I'm sorry for acting out. It won't happen again." He smiles and you softly and responds "I know, Y/N. Now go, I can hear your friends thoughts from here." You giggle and walk out the door.

You practically sprint out to your friends, who are still waiting for you to come back. Jubilee grins at you and hugs you tightly "That was freaking awesome!" you blush and meekly smile at her. Everyone starts asking if you're ok, but through all the chaos you catch Jeans eye and give her a smile that she returns.

Yeah, you probably shouldn't have done that, and yeah you're fucking exhausted, but it's worth it to see the smile on their faces.

----

Late at night, you sit up straight on the couch you were lazing on and exclaim to youself "Damn Summers never gave me my fucking cookies!"

62 notes - Posted October 19, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

"You'll Have A Family"

Request: OOH X-MEN?? How about a shy gn!teen reader meeting characters of your choice for the first time and they’re all really supportive and nice :) Sorry if that’s kinda weird 😭😭 No worries if not!!

Fandom: Xmen

Mutation Explanation: Dude, imagine toothless except he's a human. R hides their wings and tail with a cloak because they dont like showing them off.

Pairings: (all platonic) Charles Xavier x gn!teen!reader, Logan Howlett x gn!teen!reader, Kurt Wagner x gn!teen!reader

A/N: what? no this wasn't requested in august wdym *sweats nervously* hope you enjoy @book-place !!! <333 (please ignore anything that doesn't make sense, not feeling the best recently so i get a pass on bullshit)

----

You walk up to the gate, hugging your cape closer to your body. The sign on the gate read 'Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters'. Recently, your family had contacted the headmaster of the school asking if they could enrol you as soon as possible. The school had agreed, and your family had sent you off the next week- they weren't very fond of your mutation.

As you approach the front door, you can't help but overthink all the possibilities of what could happen. What if everyone hates you? What if they turn you away?Where would you go? Why couldn't you be normal-

Before you know it, you're standing in front of the door. You raise your hand to knock, and...stand there for ten minutes deciding whether or not to walk away and live in the woods for the rest of your life.

----

Inside, Charles was leaving his office as he was expecting the arrival of a new student soon. He was heading down to the common area when he heard some frantic thoughts coming behind the front door. He stopped and turned his attention to it. He moved towards the door and opened it to find the new student.

----

You blink and look down to see a man sitting in a wheelchair with a kind smile. "Hello! I'm Professor Charles Xavier, the headmaster of this school. Please, come in." You awkwardly shuffle in the door and close it behind you. Charles noticed that you have yet to take off your cloak, but he wouldn't push you to.

You look around the mansion, that you realize you'll be living in from now on. It reminded you of a tour you took in a castle when you were young-it was probably smaller than this place. Your attention is brought back to Charles as he explains that a student would be meeting you soon to take you on a tour around the mansion.

You nod slightly and rub the sleep out of your eyes, which reminds you of something your parents didn't tell the school. "Uh, sir?" He turns back to you with a small smile. "Yes? And Professor is just fine." You hum in return, and continue "I don't think my parents mentioned this to you, but I have a nocturnal sleeping pattern, so how would I attend classes?" Charles paused for a second, why wouldn't your parents mention this? Brushing the thought off, he responds "We can discuss this later in my office in more detail, but I'm sure we can work around it."

Just as he finished speaking, a teen showed up our of nowhere, scaring the shit out of you. You shriek and jump back, causing your wings to flair up in defence. The teen raised his hands up, "Uh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" You stood back, wings still up, and took in his appearance. He had blue skin, blue hair, yellow eyes and a blue tail thatwas swishing around. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt with a TV show logo you didn't recognise.

Slowly, your wings lowered back down but you were still nervous. The teen awkwardly glances at the Professor before holding his hand out to shake. "My name is Kurt. What's yours?" You hesitantly shake his hand, responding quietly "Y/N L/N..." He smiles at you, and then explains how he would be giving you the tour of the mansion. You nod and bid your goodbyes to the Professor, who smiles and returns to his office.

A few hours later, Kurt has shown you where classes are, bathrooms, bedrooms, the kitchen, the common area...and you are exhausted. All you wanted to do was flop down on your bed and sleep, but the universe had other plans. Right at the end of your tour, Kurt and you ran into some of Kurts friends. They introduced themselves as Scott, Jean and Jubilee. You nod at them but say nothing in response. You all stand there for a moment before Jean suggests everyone goes outside because it's a nice day outside.

"Um... I'm actually pretty tired after travelling all night... I think I'm gonna lie down for a while." You awkwardly smile. Jean smiles at you kindly and responds "Yeah, that's chill, have a good nap!" And with that, the group were off. You stand still for a moment and then head upstairs to the bedrooms. You get there, and finally fall asleep.

----

When you wake up, you find that you've slept through dinner. You shrug off your cloak and walk downstairs, your tail dragging on the ground. You always felt more relaxed during the night time- there wasn't anyone around to judge you, and you could look at the stars in peace and quiet.

You walk down to the kitchen without getting lost- total win- and rummage around in the cupboards for some food. One of the best parts of your mutation is the fact you can see perfectly well in the dark, so you've never had to use lights during the night.

You find a packet of your favourite chips, hopping up on the counter to eat them.

Lost in your own world, you failed to notice a new arrival in the kitchen.

----

Logan walked down the hallway in the mansion, with the intention of getting some beer from the kitchen. He walked in, and noticed someone sitting on the counter. They had yellow eyes- holy shit were they glowing?- black scaly wings and tail, and scattered scales across their arms, face and legs. They had claws for hands and feet, which looked scarily sharp. What caught his eye the most, though, was that clutched in their hands were his chips.

----

"Hey kid-" The stranger didn't get to finish his sentence because you, once again, got the shit scared out of you and fell off the counter. The man tried to come and help you up but your wings shot up protectively and a fireball started in your throat. The man steps back slowly and raises his hands up in defence, "Woah, kid, I'm not gonna hurt you. 'Was just gonna say you were eatin' my chips." You continue to stare at him for a moment, trying to determine if he was telling the truth. You backed down and picked up the chips, eating them again.

The man raises and eyebrow at you, "That's mine." You narrow your eyes at him and growl, to which he rolls his eyes and breaks the lock off a cabinet beside the sink. He reaches in and pulls out a can of beer. You peer at the cabinet, curious. He notices and thinks for a moment. "You want one?" Your eyes shoot up to him and you nod immediately. He chuckles and grabs one for you too.

See the full post

91 notes - Posted October 14, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[laconchadetumadre]

these days I've been trying to understand how so many fans ended up blaming kyle for cartman's ending and well i think a lot of other people here have covered that already but i just wanted to add a little bit of my personal experience with the post covid special. so well, just as everybody else i was expecting a lot more of character development and heart to heart moments between the boys like that stan-randy convo that i think would have been more fitting bettween kyle and stan but oh well:), the thing is, right as the whole cartman vs kyle fight was going on i remember asking out loud "is kyle ever gonna get any retribution? is cartman ever gonna admit all the horrible things hes done to him and at least apologize?" then the ending rolled in and tbh i didnt feel anything for cartman, like at all, no sadness or happiness, i didnt feel like it was karma being served like some have said or felt like cartman was a poor hero who got a tragic ending, i just thought "woah... matt and trey really would rather take cartman's family and make him homeless then ever let him fucking own up to his mistakes and apologize" i kinda felt like wendy on that breast cancer episode, when she is telling cartman shes gonna beat him up for making fun of cancer and despite wendy giving him multiple chances to apologize cartman chooses to fucking eat his own underwear and shit on the teacher's desk in front of everyone instead of just saying sorry. like, be honest, we all know cartman would have kept his family had he not been so stuborn on trying to kill kyle. His hate for kyle is LITERALLY what ended up wiping his family bc his wife and kids would rather fucking die than "be like kyle" and dude i don't know if the whole thing with his kids is genetic or if he taught them to hate kyle but either way, its still his family's hate for kyle that ended up destroying them. when kyle popped up with his kids i wasn't really excited about it at first bc i was still pretty mad that cartman managed to not pay apologies where it was due... again, like i hope im not the only one who thinks this but cartman's suffering gives no retribution to all the people he's hurt, him being homeless isnt a good replacement of a propper apology to kyle, butters and heidi... like ill admit i feel a bit strongly about it bc guess what? my faves are kyle, butters AND heidi so yeah. i mean when the first trailer dropped i was really excited about the possibility of a redeemed cartman bc a properly redeemed cartman means kyle and butters get to finally live their lives in peace. i thought if there is any time to give cartman, stan and kyle a major character development is now, but well we got nft and space jams jokes i guess?? i dont know, it's just, i agree with a lot of the arguments from the people who ended up blaming kyle but its that whole "blame the victim" mentality that bothers me, and also the fact that it seems like thats what matt and trey were going for. like, the whole "cartman's hate for kyle is on his genes" joke is pretty funny ngl, but paired with cartman's antisemitism and all the times he's fucking sexually harassed kyle is just...yikes. also, this is pretty minor but i dont get how so many people ended up attached to cartman's family, like i did find them funny but the only thing they had going on is that they are cartman's family and they hate kyle lol also the fact that yentl was a rude guest and her scene with cartman ugh, like i know the point of that is that kyle's jealous bc he doesnt get how someone like cartman gets to have a family and blablabla but honestly it would be totally understandable and relatable if he was just annoyed bc couples being affectionate in public is fucking disgusting, like dont fight me on that, get a fucking room (your OWN room in YOUR house) no one wants to see that shit lol. like same with heidi, i love her but i always skip her scenes with cartman bc gay fatigue. so yeah i didnt find yentl or the kids all that likable and i don't really feel anything for their ending, rip i guess. if anyone bothered to read all this

uhm... thanks? this is honestly just how i feel about the special, ive seen cartman stans wish the worst on kyle so yeah im just allowing myself to leave a few my ugly thoughts out there, see if anyone agrees. the whole debate is pretty death by now so i doubt this will do anything.

[lunatic-fandom-space]

Ayyyyyyyy Guess Who Just Finished Watching Angel's Friends

Me. I did.

So yeah, the start of this post is going to be a spoiler-less review-recommendation kinda thingy and then I'll put all of my other thoughts which include spoilers under the cut

Also, I would like to mention that Im only talking about the cartoon here, I have not read either the comics or the books at this point (I didnt even know that there were books before checking wikipedia to make sure that I actually watched every episode of the show lol)

Lets go babey!

This series is very not-good, but it has some interesting concepts and scratches some of my itches, so I like it. But before we get into that in detail, heres a summary of the basic plot, taken from wikipedia:

"Four Angels (Raf, Uri, Sweet and Miki) and four Devils/Demons (Sulfus, Cabiria, Kabale and Gas) are sent to Earth, in an unused area of the Golden School, where they learn everything they need to become Guardian Angels and Guardian Devils. The Angels and Devils are required to form pairs as part of their education, each of which will have to deal with a human being, known as Earthly Ones, and help them choose between the right and wrong way in life without being discovered. Angels and Devils cannot operate at the same time, so they decide, clashing in the Challenge Room, who will work first. Moreover, they are subject to the V.E.T.O. (Vetoed from Exposing, Touching or Obstructing/Overhearing in the comic – Italian: Vietato Esporsi, Toccare, Ostacolare/Origliare)."

Something that isnt mentioned here is the romance between Raf, the protagonist, and Sulfus, her devil rival, but its a pretty important part of the story that I'll talk about in more detail.

First, the animation is fine. Its kinda clunky and the posing is pretty unnatural at times, you can tell that the budget wasnt that high. The lipsyncing for the english dub is pretty abysmal in the first season but it gets better in the movie and in the second season.

Second, the voice acting is... something. It has that very not-good anime dub quality, which makes sense considering Angel's Friends is already very anime, even more so when youre watching it in italian (with subtitles bc you dont understand italian) and they randomly yell english phrases like "Think Fly!" or "Angel's Friends! Together forever!" or, my personal favourite, "Devil's Enemies! Supreme Temptation!" when transforming or using their powers. The dub is decent enough, Ive only watched the movie in italien and their voices seem mostly the same, with the exception of Sulfus, who sounds just awful in the dub im sorry. I hate listening to him talk, which is pretty bad considering hes the love interest. I mean, he makes up for it by having a great personality but man, what I wouldnt give to have him sound like he does in italian.... But the worst thing has to be the..... moaning, that the voice actors inexplicably do. Its very uncomfortable, I have no idea who is responsible for this but they have stuff to atone for

Third, the characters are pretty good, I like them a lot. Theyre not that deep, but theyre likable and pretty fun. Raf is a pretty nice and likable protagonist without being bland, although I kinda hate her subplot/backstory-thingy. I can ignore that for the most part though, so I dont really mind. Honestly, I think I would've liked Sulfus as a protagonist a bit better, but that might just be my bias towards edgy and pathetic (affectionate) guys coming through lmao. We mainly focus on Raf and her angel friends and their friendship is really cute. I kinda wish they paid more attention to the intragroup-friendships, if you know what I mean? Like, Raf and Urie were best friends and Miki and Sweet were kindof a duo, but thats kinda it and I really wish we explored some other dynamics a bit more. I wouldve also liked them to focus a bit more on Sulfus' friends, but at the same time, I get why they didnt. When it comes to stories where romance is incredibly important, I personally prefer it when the two characters in the main couple are both the protagonists, or when one of them is more like the deutergonist as opposed to just the love interest, but it works well enough here I guess

I also like the little background-plots (?? idk if thats the right word) that the humans get, theyre pretty charming and its fun to watch the angels n devils influence them

Speaking of the protagonist and the love interest, I absolutely adore the romance between Raf and Sulfus. Theyre soooooooo cute together its insane <3 Its gonna be kinda hard to explain why I love them so much as a couple without spoilery examples, but I'll try

Their dynamic is a fairly basic Good Girl/Bad Boy kinda thing (because of course it is) but like, in a way that I dont find absolutely loathesome lol. I usually really hate that dynamic because it feels like writers tend to use the fact that the guy is a 'Bad Boy' to make him toxic and insufferable for some reason while making the 'Good Girl' into a pushover who cant call him out on it, and then the whole thing is inexplicably framed as romantic?? And yea, I cannot vibe with that Im sorry. Fortunately, Raf n Sulfus arent like that :D Their relationship is pretty healthy and most of the drama between them either stems from external stuff or from the fact that their love is yknow, forbidden and no one really wants it to prosper (I think??? Idk honestly the storytelling isnt particularly clear here, I'll get into it later)

I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that Raf enforces her boundaries and Sulfus respects them despite their mutual interests, do you know what I mean? Like, okay, another thing that I love about their relationship is that they actually find out about each others feelings pretty early on and actually communicate about them; From Raf's perspective, the issue isnt "Oh no! Im in love with a devil who will never love an angel like me back :'(", its "Oh no! Im in love with a devil and he loves me back, but we cant be together because its forbidden :'(". And she basically tells Sulfus just that, and he goes "Well, rules were meant to be broken but fine, I get it I respect your decision pls tell me when you change ur mind tho" and I think thats neat

The fact that they know about each other feelings and are able to actually talk without turning into mushy flustered messes around each other is soooooooo incredibly refreshing. Like, I was comparing them to the Love Square from Miraculous in my head, since thats the last romance-centric Magical Girl show I watched and its literally so much better, I refuse to believe anyone actually likes it when the main couple doesnt communicate and dont get together until the last episode. And to be fair, Raf and Sulfus dont actually officially get together either (it looks like the series was cancelled prematurely and they were saving that for a potential third season), but they talk, they compliment each other and confess their feelings to each other and its just so nice, yknow?

The external drama between them doesnt feel contrived either. They straight-up have one of those stupid moments where the love interest appears to do something bad bc of some Outside Influence, like cheating or smth, and the protagonist gets mad and yells at the love interest while the love interest is like "no! wait!! I can explain!!!" but keeps getting interrupted except it didnt feel stupid at all, I was actually really invested in the drama rather than thinking "man, this is so dumb" like I usually do when this kind of stuff happens in stories.

The last thing I wanted to talk about was the story and the storytelling. Its pretty alright. I appreciate the structure of the two seasons with both of them starting out with a string of small, mostly unrelated, personal problems (that are mainly the angels and devils trying to make things better or worse for their human charges) while the villains are doing stuff in the background with the good guys being almost completely unaware until they achieve their first Real Victory and then the rest of the season is all the important characters banding together to actually stop them from achieving their World Destroying Final Goal. Theres a good amount of potential and set up to explore interesting themes about morality, free will, maybe love too idk, but the series is far too immature to really delve into any of it. Like, this isnt Winx Club Seasons 1-3, this is more like Winx Club Season 4 or maybe 5 idk I havent watched those season in a while. I would LOVE an animated She-ra (2018)-style reboot of this show because oughhhhhhhh theres so much good shit here but aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Also idk if this is the right place to put this, but the unsubtle and honestly pretty clunky dialogue really isnt helping lol

The biggest issue I have with this series is definitely the pacing. Im gonna be honest, I dont think I truly understood what people who critize media meant when they were talking about The Pacing before watching Angel's Friends and. i sure do now. The first few episodes especially feel like they tried to put 22 minutes worth of story into an 11 minute episode and like, I wouldnt call the experience of watching those episodes dreadful, mainly because they go by pretty quickly but, it sure isnt great. It gets a bit better, I think??? I honestly couldnt really tell you if actually gets better or if you just get used to it. I wasnt too bothered by it once I got used to not always looking at another screen while watching something because I have a pretty low attention span and tend to feel understimulated while watching TV shows, so the fast pace actually helped me in some weird way lol. As a kinda-writer, it was still really noticeable though and not in a good way

Another issue that I have is the fact that Raf and Sulfus' friends dont really seem to have an opinion on their love?? Or rather, its not really explained how much who knows and they dont really touch on it, which I think is kinda important for stories revolving around a Forbidden Love but, oh well.

So yea, thats about it for the non-spoilery stuff I think. I would definitely recommend to check Angel's Friends out, if only for some of the good ideas and the lovely kinda-subversive-in-a-way romance.

Alright, time to talk about what I liked, what I disliked and some missed opportunities in more detail (Apologies in advance if this next part is kinda disjointed lol)

The finales were my least favorite part, hands down. I especially didnt like the second season's finale, which is a shame because I really liked everything until they get to the Libra of the Veto and fight Cassidy and her cringe fail kinda-husband (forgot his name sry). Like, I loved the relationship drama between Raf n Sulfus and all the stuff with the clone and I thought Blue was really intriguing and the like, heist arc(?) were they infiltrate Angi Town and Match City respectively was sooooo much fun, but then the finale was just. eh. I think it might be because thats when I realized that oh, no theyre not really going to expand on all this interesting stuff that I would like them to expand on, are they. And yea, they didnt.

I was especially disappointed that we didnt really find out what Blue's deal was. I get that they were going to do that in a third season, but since we didnt get that, its just. Idk, disappointing, I guess?? Like, I predicted her being someone outside of the angel/devil binary basically in the scene she was introduced and I was theorizing about what exactly she was and where she came from and hyping myself up about her and then it was just.... nothing. Shes connected to Reina, but, how?? I personally thought she was a fallen angel given her primarily devilish features, but lack of horns or a halo and the weird shape of her wings. Maybe they elaborate on her in the books but i dont even know if those follow the same continuity as the show sooooo yea

The episode that truly made me like this show as much as I do was probably season 1 episode 26, where they kiss but it wasnt just the kiss, it was the whole build-up to it. Like, I feel like it couldve been so easy to mess up and make Sulfus come across as really unlikable or frame it like Raf was in the wrong for being upset when she wasnt, but I think they did it really well. And then ougggggggh the actual kiss...... I just really wish their lips didnt look so weird and ugly while they kissed lol

I kinda already mentioned this earlier but I like it happens so early in the series too. Ngl I initially didnt like that their relationship progressed so quickly (yea, the main couple having their kiss by episode 26 is pretty normal but remember that the episodes here are 11 minutes long) but theyre just so sweet together and I kinda realized that I actually prefer this to the usual way of writing 'slowburn' romance where theyre in mutual love but cant communicate at all for bullshit reasons lmao

The only thing that kinda pisses me off about this episode in hindsight are Sulfus healing powers which NEVER come up again. Like !!!! BRO how are you gonna give one of your main characters healing powers and never have him use them??!?! And its not like there werent opportunities!! Like, during the season 2 finale when Raf was injured and unconscious and everyone was telling them to go rest before their battle against those generals I was going "oh! Sulfus is gonna use those healing powers that he has but hasnt used for the entire rest of the series for some reason" but NO

Like, okay, in order to further explain why that sucks Im gonna go into another thing that really bothers me and thats the lack of gray morality

So, the angels as a whole are Good, the devils as a whole are Bad but in like, an emo school bully kinda way and anyone who threatens both angels and devils at the same time is Bad but in like, an actually evil way. Thats honestly perfectly fine in the first season, where we have the angels, the devils and Reina whos outside the binary and threatening to eradicate the existence of both angels and devils at the same time. When the devils are tempting humans into doing The Wrong Thing in the first season, I remember it always being unambigiously bad/selfish (in a bad way), while the angels are always in the right and theres never any doubts about that ever. The second season has these moments(?) that seem to call that into question but with absolutely no payoff

The most obvious is example is Sarah Jane, specifically her little plot about wanting to go to the mall with her friends but her mom not allowing her to because she wants her daughter to practice for a concert thats 3 months away. Thats unfair and her mom is obviously being shitty here and iirc even Urie and the other angels are like "thats unfair" but they dont wanna let the devils win so they convince Sarah Jane to just invite her friends to her practice instead of going to the mall and thats like. fine, I guess. I just think it sucks that the morality of the angels was only questioned for a brief moment and then tossed away because they found an adequate comprise, yknow?? I feel like they couldve had an interesting conversation about how its maybe not always wrong to be selfish (if youve watched Sanders Sides, basically the whole Selfishness vs Selflessness stuff but w/ angels and devils)

Also, it feels weird that no one really calls attention to Cassidy?? Yknow, that angel that was evil and wanted to incite a war?? That wanted it so much that she willingly worked with a devil??? But also, the War Of A Thousand Centuries was seemingly not considered to be bad itself, but rather the fact that Cassidy and her cringe fail kinda-husband tried to re-incite it after there war a law/truce put in place preventing them from fighting. And Im noticing thats kind of a theme in the series as Im writing it down here, where the Morally Wrong Thing tends to be the thing that makes you break a rule or disobey someone. And like, even beyond my own personal issues with that philosophy, that just makes for some pretty boring storytelling

And then theres the fact that. Okay, how do I explain this. It seems like theyre trying to make Raf a bit more 'diabolical' while making Sulfus more 'angelic' even more so in the second season, which, on paper, is a good way to approach their romance. But like, theyre not really doing that?? At least I feel like they arent. Its a bit hard to explain, but let me get back to those powers they gained right before they kissed. Raf uses her fireball powers quite a bit, she is (symbolically) being diabolical throughout the series, while Sulfus only uses his healing powers once, do you get what Im trying to say here??

Idk man, I was originally gonna write some more but ive been writing this post for hours andmy brain is running out of juice so yea. Hope you liked this

[sugako]

Can i request doing the clothes swap trend with Kenma Bokuto Ushijima Oikawa and Kageyama(idk your character limit. It wasnt in your rules) i hope this isnt too much for you. Have a good day

i lowkey did not know what this trend even was 😳 but this is cute (also i don’t really have a chara limit currently within reason)

sum: clothing swap trend w/ gn!reader x kenma, bokuto, ushi, oikawa, and kags

cw: clothing switches (no sizing indicators really), mostly fluff, kinda slightly suggestive content (for bokuto), timeskip spoilers!

kenma

does not get it or why you would want to

you already wear his hoodies/sweatpants all the time so that’s the same thing he thinks

but he does it anyone because it’s going to make you happy

you get into it teasing him abt habits he has while he streams/in meetings

he doesn’t act super different but still imitates you a little

secretly loves having your soft sweater on because it smells like you

“you’re wearing my clothes right now.” he says bluntly, motioning to the old, too loose hoodie and fresh pair of boxers of his you have on.

“you know what i mean. i know you watch tiktoks even you pretend you don’t. you gotta wear my clothes.” you say, already reaching behind you to grab the set you pulled out for him.

for just another moment longer he hesitates before he finally snatches them from your hand. you close your eyes, waiting for him to change, and when he’s done he taps your shoulder.

“c’mon, my followers will like it.” he sighs.

bokuto

he suggests it as soon as he sees one video of people doing it

drags you away from whatever you’re doing to ask

already loves seeing you in his jerseys and t-shirts

idc if you have big tiddies so does he and his shirts would fit anyone

he would love to squeeze into your shorts or skirts with his massive ass and thighs

you just hope he doesn’t pull any seams, but even if he does it’s just funny and cute

“hey, baby...?” he draws out the word, pulling you away from your laptop screen. you shut it, already sensing that he wants to do something.

“what’s up?” you ask, pulling him into your arms, running your fingers through his hair.

“wanna do the couples outfit swap thing with me?”

“of course!” as you agree, he’s dragging you to your shared bedroom when he tosses his clean MSBY uniform at you, helping to drag the clothes you’re wearing off.

he shimmies on your clothes and sets his phone up to record. you hold back a wheeze as he awkwardly steps in front of the screen as the music starts up, gently mocking some of your habits. nearly in tears, you step out when it’s your turn holding onto a volleyball and trying to imitate his chest receive, but laughing so hard it barely bounces across the room to him.

“hey!” he comes stumbling back into view of the camera, laughing as he picks up the ball.

“you do that a lot, you’re very good at it with these.” you say, cupping his chest. on reflex, he tightens his muscles under your hold, firming up the soft flesh. the music fades off and the phone finishes recording.

“they’re good for a lot more than that,” he purrs, leaning in as though to kiss you, but bouncing the ball between your chests at the last second.

ushijima

another one that just doesn’t get it

doesn’t have tiktok so he doesn’t know what you mean at first

agrees immediately because you seem excited

he’s worried about fitting in your clothes though no matter your size

doesn’t know what to do so he just stands there (askjlsfj i’m sorry i just think he would)

“so, this is all.” he asks, looking down at himself before his eyes refocus on you.

“yep.” you answer plainly, buttoning the last button of his crisp, white dress shirt he pulled for you. while he didn’t totally get it, the way your eyes lit up when he was in your clothes and you in his made his heart warm and he couldn’t say no.

“i don’t do anything or...?”

“you can act like me if you want. promise i won’t be offended.” you joke, clicking the phone on and nodding at him. he’s a little stiff, but he does his best.

when it’s your turn, you hop up to him with your arms stretched over your head, spiking a mini foam volleyball that was sitting on your bedside table with a straight expression.

with his phone you snatched minutes ago you pretend to scroll through it with an oddly intense look that he gets when he concentrates. to anyone else, he might look angry, but you know he’s just focusing.

“do i really look that mad all the time?” his eyebrow just barely quirks up, and you can hear the tiniest hint of amusement in his voice.

“aww, you’re just a big, kind of sometimes serious guy with the prettiest eyes i’ve ever seen.” you cup his face in your hands, bringing it close so you can peck the tip of his nose. “but, uhh yes, a little bit.”

oikawa

another one that suggests it to you

has you in a plain shirt and athletic shorts in seconds

peruses all of your clothes to find the ones he thinks will suit him best

finally finds something that’s his favorite shade of blue and gets it on

he gets very much into it, overexaggerating your mannerisms, etc.

“i do not do that!” you call, holding back a crooked smile. finally, you push him out from in front of the phone.

before he can stop you, you start making flirty faces at the camera, pretending to take selfies with your tongue stuck out and eyebrows furrowed.

“excuse me?” he chuckles, coming back into frame. “i don’t do that.”

“oh, should i be poutykawa then?” you counter, crossing your arms and sticking out your bottom lip with a sullen look on your face. “i miss my bestie in japan and shoyo so much, but at least i’ll see them when i crush them at the olympics.” you taunt, throwing your head back.

“hey,” he whines, “did iwa tell you to call me those awful names? you know i just want you to call me tooru.”

you giggle as he lets out a long, dramatic sigh.

“i’m y/n and i’m so in love with tooru oikawa, san juan setter and his pretty hair and hands even though i pretend i’m all tough.” he throws back at you, grabbing your wrists and playfully started to wrestle with you. at onces, you’re glad he proposed this silly idea even as you’re about to be strong-armed onto the ground.

kageyama

another clueless king like ushi

but also does it because you seem excited

...and he likes seeing you in his clothes

if you give him something complicated (like that laces up, skirt, dress, etc.) he needs your help

looks very good in whatever clothes you put him in

even if you’re the same height/barely shorter than him, he’s gonna make fun of you for being short

you gotta hold back your laughing tears even before you start up

you let him go first, and he stiffly mocks some things you do, in step with the music. when you have to go, you’re already on the edge of losing it, you think you’re joke is too good.

first, you take a deep breath, and use your hands to part you hair, just like you’ve seen hinata do during his kageyama impressions. you barely get out the words “...power curry...” before you feel him roll his eyes and you let out a shuddering laugh.

“is that supposed to be me?” he asks as you pretend to quickly stuff you mouth with nothing.

“what?” you chuckle, “there’s nothing wrong with being a big eater, you’re a big guy.” you say, voice raising up a couple octaves.

“uh-huh, and the power curry commercial?” he questions.

“was a, uh, very important thing that you did and now some people know you from it.” you coughed out, acutely aware of the sinister smirk growing on his features.

suddenly, he drops down to both his knees. “hmm, is this how you see things?” he says flatly, looking around the room.

“tobio, i’m not even-”

“nuh-uh, i think this is a much better impression than i did earlier.” he stops you, still looking around. “i could see below a volleyball net from here, that’s pretty amazing.”

“yeah, well you’re a big, tall...big guy.” you weakly try to counter. his flat face drops for a just a second as a smile breaks through and he nods.

“i’m actually 188cm so i think you need to get on a chair or two.”

[starymintss]

Please enjoy an essay on why mitsukou has so much fucking potential and why they’re great together

by Elena~

I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a connection like the one that mitsukou shares. This ship literally has true canon potential. I have hope and believe that we may be victorious in mitsukou becoming canon- I mean god dammit guys they are “SEMI CANON”-

kounene obviously won’t be endgame. In Houkago Shounen Hanako Kun (the spin-off series) they played a game in which the person who pulled a king card was able to get to command a person that was playing the game to do something no matter what. When Kou pulled his card- he literally decided he wanted his brother Teru who was there and Nene to have a romantic connection (hence- him saying and I fucking quote, “This will make senpai happy!”) He could’ve done it to his own benefit- to maybe earn a kiss or do something of his own benefit. But he didn’t, instead choosing to make his senpai happy.

Besides Hananene is basically canon already like what the fuck

As for Mitsuba he’s a gay coded character and hasn’t denied the guys aren’t his type. Some people who deem Mitsuba straight might use the scene where he tells Kou “Is this a love confession? Sorry but lame earrings aren’t really my style.” That still does not confirm that Mitsuba doesn’t swing that way. A really great piece of evidence is the bonus comics at the start and end of a manga- one titled, “Tell Me, Mitsuba Kun,” in which Kou asks if he ever had a crush on other girls- Mitsuba responding that there are simply no other girls cuter than him. In another bonus comic he says the same thing again when he tells Yokoo and Satou he wants to fall in love. When asked to name some girls he thinks are cute, he asks if it's possible that he was the cutest one of all. On the other hand, Kou has stated that he likes someone with a pretty smile (do I have to explain that) which is a pretty open explanation of his type (not denying or confirming he doesn’t like guys). Obviously as a Mitsukou shipper I can point out different actions that I’ll admit looks pretty gay.

It’s not the fact that it’s very common in manga like this that there’s the straight couple and then the other two people in the group are automatically paired together- they are so much more than that. They have a deep connection, and both Kou and Mitsuba are somewhat aware of that themselves. Mitsuba is willing to protect Kou from harm- he’s willing to stop him from getting himself hurt for others because Mitsuba cares, and he knows that he’s too reckless and caring and fearless for others in a way that isn’t healthy?

Kou likes to be everything for everyone and the reader can see in chapter 64 that Mitsuba really did try to talk to him about the behavior. Yes it’s weird to see Mitsuba actually show true concern to people--because it’s his character to be a jerk and an asshole, but that doesn’t mean Mitsuba is incapable of not having true genuine feelings for people he seems as his friends.

Obviously, Mitsuba trying to talk to Kou didn’t happen due to other events that occurred. But I think a lot of people agree that the moment would’ve been so beautifully written and truly played an extremely important part in Kou’s character development.

As for Mitsuba, Kou is generally a sweet guy. It’s stated he will give up his life for anyone, it was what he was taught growing up as an exorcist and a fighter. Those words do not fail his actions, and anyone can see Kou will die for literally anything which is really messed up. He’s 14 for fucks sake.

Someone against Mitsukou could use that as an argument but we see here in the manga that there’s simply something different about this said connection. Kou is first introduced to Mitsuba in chapter 30 something, and he remembers who he is after Yokoo tells him--what happened to Mitsuba that was ultimately the end of his life. Mitsuba does again by his rumor being changed, and being stabbed by Hanako- but it’s the fact he cries and loses sleep and just cannot let him go for anything that moves me. May I point out that he actually decided to process the photos even after Mitsubas death? He didn’t have to do that. Not at all. But he did anyways. It’s seen that Kou wants to find a way to help Mitsuba get away from Tsukasa and help him fit in more- he wants to be a friend. (Note: after he’s reintroduced to Mitsuba; this Mitsuba being a pure apparition with no memories.)

Mitsuba is deeply insecure about himself, and feels he doesn’t fit in. He’s lonely, and doesn’t have friends even as a ghost. But Kou is there. He’s there to be by Mitsubas side.

The deep connection the two of them have is strong and that’s especially shown in the picture perfect arc. At the beginning Kou first sees Mitsuba as a human and obviously it’s freaking him out because-he’s a ghost you know. But once him and Nene meet Shijima Mei, and are told they must kill Hanako (Amane) and Mitsuba, it’s disturbing to them. At this point in the series literally everyone know Hanako and Yashiro share a connection as lovers. I mean- its the couple that the series revolves around. But Kou is deeply disturbed because he doesn’t want to kill Mitsuba. Yet- Mei also reassured them that things will be alright since after all this is a fake world and there’s no need for hesitation. But it’s still affecting Kou and he’s carrying this information on his back as he learns beside Mitsuba in school and has fun with him while cleaning the pool. At night, when the two of them are walking on the school building and watching the stars from the window, Kou confronts Mitsuba about this (note: by now Kou knows that Mitsuba knows). Mitsuba goes on to reveal his true form, and uses his powers to show Kou the past. He tells him about how he learns about his past self. And he states to just feel so… “envious”

Mitsuba grows angry with Kou- because he can see how he’s looking at the true Mitsuba with such a gaze the fake Mitsuba knows he won’t ever get.

Things lead to one another and he smashes the window in fury. (“It’s that Mitsuba you want, right?!” And I dare you to tell me that doesn’t sound like a fucking quote from a bittersweet romance novel.)

Kou insists on getting Mitsuba out of there. And can I please just point out that Mitsuba says: “What are you doing?!” He asks Kou if this isn’t what he wanted- if this isnt the life they want to live from here on out where they can be happy together along with their friends. This reminds me of a direct parallel to Hananene, in which Hanako is confused as to why Nene wouldn’t want to stay here, and Nene tells him that this isn’t what she wants. Kou says the same thing to Mitsuba.

Kou drags out embedded feelings Mitsuba has as they fight, and he says quotes that are really important to their development. Things such as:

“But… who else is there?! Who else could grant my wish?! Even you, Minamoto- Kun!”

“You see… even you don’t care about me. It’s that “Mitsuba,” isn’t it?! I don't even MATTER!!”

“I’m Mitsuba’s fake, but let’s just call it real! This is a world where the “Mitsuba” you were unable to save can live happily! That’s good, isn’t it?”

“Even if it’s only in this world, be my friend, and stay by my side… I’m just thinking scary things. Over there, I’ll be jealous.”

I think the Picture Perfect arc really shows how desperate Mitsuba is to have friends- to fit in with everyone else and to just feel like he belongs and matters. Kou tries to tell him that isn’t true... he’s willing to do everything to let him know that he is so much more than what he deems himself as. He’s so much more than a “fake” of what used to be his original friend, there's so much more to do than wish wishes and hope things will just go the way you want things to go. There’s a better way than to look to evil to bend and defy the laws of existing.

There’s the famous quote Kou says- the “How about I die too. So that we can be together forever.” And how he decided right there this this fake Mitsuba- this apparition who very much will never become human- is worthy. He’s worthy of his life; this is more than the whole “I will die for every life” because Mitsuba is dead- he’s immortal as a ghost. But a human like him... in Mitsubas words someone who will never understand something as ugly and as horrifying as a apparition born from a real persons soul and lesser about to disappear spirits- Kou will give his life up just to know the hell he goes through. Even if it’s just a glimpse- even if it’s just for a second Kou will do anything to just fulfill Mitsubas wish for him to stay by his side. He will do anything for Mitsuba.

I think writing this out also makes me realize they both have their walls up. Kou has his walls up to try and hide his true feelings- his deepest fears and insecurities- feeling as if he isn’t good enough. Mitsuba has his walls up to do the same. He portrays himself as a guy that he deems will get him friends. He hides the ugliness in himself- hides the fact he’s a total fake; doesn’t belong anywhere and his deepest insecurities.

But the two of them together help each other in such a way that it’s unable to truly analyze every single moment they share together.

They help each other but teach the other to bring their walls down. That it’s okay to talk about your feelings and that you don’t have to be everything for everyone. That you don’t have to give up everything you have living- your health and your literal life- for someone. That it’s okay to feel like you don’t fit in. It’s okay to feel like there’s just no other choice of getting what you want and therefore doing the wrong things. That people will love you just for you; what happened in the past put aside.

Mitsuba and Kou are in love.

The end. 💖

[iaminlovewithtrr]

Christmas with a stranger

This is my submission for 'gift of cheer' by @cordonianroyalty and @texaskitten30. This is the fluff one shot requested by @anjanettaexcordonia.

Characters belong to pixelberry

Pairings:LiamxRiley

A/N: this is the first fic I have ever written, so i apologize for any mistakes. Criticism is openly accepted, negative or otherwise. Feel free to say anything!

Tags: @texaskitten30 @cordonianroyalty

@kat-tia801 @eadanga @xxrainbow-princessxx @knightthunderis @kingliam2019 @anjanettexcordonia @stuti-singh @queenrileyrose @bbrandy2002 @twinkleallnight @bebepac @ladyrileyrussel @hopelessromanticsposts @dcbbw

Summary: Two strangers spend Christmas day with which each other, which changes the rest of their lives.....

Song inspiration: All I want for Christmas is you

Word count:2683

I don't want a lot for Christmas

There is just one thing I need

Don't care about the presents

Underneath the Christmas tree

I don't need to hang my stocking

There upon the fireplace

Santa Claus won't make me happy

With a toy on Christmas Day

I just want you for my own

It was the morning of Christmas, and Riley was overly excited. She always waited for this time of the year, especially Christmas. Nothing is more enjoyable than sipping cider in the presence of her beloved and enjoying the Christmas meal, she always thoughts. Orphaned at 4 ,she didn't had a blood family to celebrate with , but was blessed with a great deal of foster family and friends. Every year, during Christmas, as a sort of tribute, she spends the entire day celebrating with the children of her previous foster care. Watching those kids playing merrily reminded her of her own good days in the past.

She quickly ate her breakfast and made her way out of her NY apartment, whistling and softly humming to the tune of All I want for Christmas is you, her favorite song.

More than you could ever know

Make my wish come true

All I want for Christmas is you

Baby....

She was so engrossed in her little singing gig that she barely registered the stranger coming towards her, and crashed right into his broad chest, spilling her reticule's content on the sidewalk.

"Oof"she yelped, rubbing her forhead.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! Let me help with those! " the stranger apologized.

Riley and the stranger kneeled down at the same moment to collect her scattered belonging, and for the first time the two glanced into each others eyes. Ocean blue eyes locking onto dark ones. Damn... Those eyes.. Riley swallowed.

"Ahem" she softy cleared her thought, quickly collected her belongings, and stood up.

"Sorry for that. Should've watched my steps. " then she quickly disappeared into the crowd, not noticing the stranger eyes on her from behind.

Riley finally arrived at the foster care. Loving hearts. A bit strange name, but filling her chest with warmth nonetheless. She rummaged through her reticule for her Digital key card, but it was not there.

"Uh...?"she muttered. "Where the hell is my keycard? "

After a few moment of searching she gave up. "Im not going to get in there without my key card...."

"Excuse me Miss.... But I belive this is yours. " a voice behind her startled her.

Riley turned around and found herself staring at the pair of those same dark eyes she encountered earlier. I'd recognise those eyes anywhere, even though I had stared at his eyes for less than 5 seconds. The (cute) guy i bumped with!

"Ahem" the stranger let out a exaggerated cough and riley realised that she has been staring at his face for a solid 10 seconds.

"Right.. Ahem... Sorry... I mean... Thank you for returning this. You totally saved my ass--, i mean my...my...job". Way to make a fool of yourself Riley.

The stranger laughed quitly. "Well then I am glad I could save your job. But I should get going."

Just as he turned, a little voice in the back of her head called out to her, and instinctively she reached out and grabbed his sleeve.

"Er... Sir... I know this is extremly forward of me... But if you would be kind enough to spend the day with volunteering at the orphanage I work at? We are kinda short-staffed tonight, and there aren't much volunteers. Those children at the orphanage will be quite happy to see a new face. You could spend the with them. And me. If you are free, that is?

Crap. Crap. Crap. This i really asked a random hot stranger to volunteer?! Snap the hell out of it Riley!

Plz say yes. Plz say yes. The little voice inside her screamed.

To her surprise, he gave her a smile. "Id be happy to. I don't have any special plans for today. Btw. "

He smiled, and stuck out her hand to shake hers.

"Liam Rys"

"Riley Brooks". She said she she shook his hand. A familiar electric tinge sparked through her veins as she held his hand. His hand impossibly smooth underneath her. Woah! Are guys even supposed to have this soft hands? I wonder what kind of moisturiser he uses....

"Miss Brooks --"

"Call me Riley. "

"Well ahem, Riley.. it is rather cold outside. What say we make it inside? "

"Oh right."

She quickly swiped her keycard and stepped inside, sighing contentedly as the warm air from the heaters enveloped her. She melted a little inside as she felt Liam's warm body alongside her. Brushing this aside, she focused her attention on the scenario in front of her. Numerous gift boxes piled beneath the Christmas tree... Children merrily running and there... Volunteers mingling with each other and the children... The aroma of the food... And the Christmas songs softly playing in the background. A wide smile played on her lips.

While Riley was busy observing the surroundings, Liam found his sight stuck on the beautiful women he had known for not more than 15 minutes. She was beautiful, in a way that the noble ladies back at home in Cordonia arn't. And seeing her here in here element, smiling widely without giving a damn about public decorum or whatsoever, he found himself attracted to her. And without a second thought, he agreed to volunteer. We'll see how the day goes...

Liam cleared his throat, claiming her attention. "So what needs to be done? "

"As you can see this is a orphanage, so the children here dont have any families to celebrate the holidays with. So each year, myself and many other gather here to celebrate the celebrate with them. Thats what we have to do. Mingle with the children, play with them... And make them feel loved. "

"Sure. I can definately do that. I actually volunteered too at orphanages back home."

"If I may ask, Where are you from?

Liam immediately stiffened at the question. When he asked his father for a quiet getaway before the beginning of the social season, meeting Riley was not on the itinerary. And the fact that he was leaving Tommorow didnt helped either. The last thing he wanted to do was to lie with her, but he wasn't going to destroy these good moments he had with her by revealing that he was the crown prince of cordonia.

"I'm actually from one of the small islands surrounding Greece. "

Before she could open her mouth to ask more, Liam immediately turned away to play with one of the children.

The day went on quite peacefully and quite enjoyable for Liam. Holidays back home were anything besides spending with families. It was all about press conferences and photo ops and disguised motives hidden away in gifts. But here I was a lot more different, the sight of children playfully jostling each other without giving a damn made him smile, as that was the part of childhood he missed.

He suddenly felt a small hand on his shoulder and his pulse quickened at the feel of skin over his clothes. Behind her was Riley, holding a eggnog mug in her hands.

"Not to ruin your volunteering gig, but I got you something. "She said as she handed him the mug. Their fingers brushed, and lingered for just a moment longer.

"Ahem. Thank you. " Liam blushed, his ears turning pink.

Riley chucked softly at his antics. He is already so cute, and looks extra cute while he blushes.

Night came quickly. After winding up all the activities for the day including the gift exchanging and christmas dinner, all the children were put to bed and the volunteers were bidding their goodbyes. Only the foster care staff plus liam was left behind.

Riley glanced around. All the staff were mingling on the rooftop, with only her and Liam left in the main hall.

"Hey.... " she softly asked Liam, who was lounging in a chair beside her.

"Yeah? "

"Will you accompany me for a little walk around the times square? I just wanna clear my head a bit. " And hopefully spend some time with you...

He smiled. "Sure! Just let me get my coats. "

The pair walker out of the building and into the cold, brisk night. Celebrations were in full swing outside. Its called the city who never sleeps for Nothing.

Outside was really cold, and with the softly falling snow Riley barely suppressed the shiver that ran up het spine. Suddenly she felt strong arms around her shoulders and a moment later a coat was wrapped around them.

"I would be a terrible gentleman if a let a beautiful lady like you freeze to death. "

"Beautiful, huh? " she teased.

He blushed. That blush.

They both arrived at the square, staring at the enormous Christmas tree situated in the very middle. The glow of the lights and mini bulbs bathing them both in a gentle bluish light.

"Its really beautiful, isnt it? Riley asked. Just as she turned her head towards him liam's eyes quickly found their ways towards the decoration. Was he really admiring me than the beautiful decoration in front of him? Was it possible that he was feeling the same fluttering in his heart that she felt whenever they interacted? No, it can't be. I am reading onto this too much. We are strangers. Strangers.

"Indeed it is. " Liam quitly whispered, hiding the blush in his cheeks. Crap, she caught him staring at her. I hope she doesnt think i am creep or something. To Liam even the most beautiful decorations paled in front of her, she was more beautiful than any sights he had laid his eyes on. Don't get too attached, Liam. Its temporary. You are going to leave tomorrow. There can nothing be between you and her. You have a duty back home. This is just a little escape from reality. They are strangers. Strangers.

Just then the local band striked up a a waltz. All around them peoples paired up, with Riley watching the couples with a hopeful gleam in her eyes... which didnt went unnoticed by Liam. And in that moment, he knew what he had to do.

Liam bowed a little in front of her, and held out his hand, his other arm draped around his back. "May I have this dance? "

She smiled as she put her hand into his, her pulse quickning, "It would be my pleasure. "

She awkwardly bowed, earning a chuckle from Liam as he sweeped her in his arms, her one hand on his shoulder, his on her waist, their free hand twined together. They elegantly twirled together on the makeswift dance floor, stepping in time to each rhythm. As they glided together, liam couldnt help but gaze down at her angelic face, illuminated by the surroundings. His gaze strayed to her lips just as Riley glanced at him, they met each other halfway as their lips come together in a magnetic kiss. Time seemed to stopped when his lips met hers, and the flutter in their chest intensified. Riley's finger gently curled in his coat as liam tangled his hands in her soft brown curls. She smelled like jasmine, a scent that liam is all too familiar with. Their hands tighten around each other, almost desperately, refusing to let go, their lips moving against each other in perfect harmony. Liam tightened his arm around her waist, pulling her into his chest, and Riley softly sighed as she breathed in the scent of him.

For that moment it was only the two of them in the entire world, all the surroundings fading into nothing. Their little bubble of heaven was broken as the pair heard the the sound of clapping and soft cheering. Flustered, Liam grasped her hand and led both of them out of the dance floor and into the streets, grinning all the way.

The two of them found themselves at the threshold of a quint restaurant, and they both collapsed onto the stairs, still holding each other while wearing goofy smiles.

"So... That was.... Something else.. " Riley chuckled.

"Indeed it was. " Liam snickered.

As he glanced down at the lady in his arms, Liam felt a sudden tinge of guilt in his chest. I still haven't told her who I am. I have to tell her.

After her laughter had subsided, Liam gently took her shoulders in his hands and looked square in her eyes. "Riley, can I have a word with you? "

"Yeah... What happened? "

"I haven't told you where I am from, or what I am doing alone in a unknown city without my family. The truth is I am the Crown Prince of a small country called Cordonia. "

Riley stared at him, then burst into laughter. "Haha, Liam, nice joke. If you are a crown prince then i'm Kate Middleton." She stopped laughing when she saw the look on his face. "Oh, you are serious?"

Liam nodded. "Of course. I have no reason to lie to you. I just wanted to let you know that....that...." He struggled to move forward. "That i'll be leaving for Cordonia Tommorow morning. My social season will commence once I get back. I have to choose a bride from all the noble ladies presented to me as suitors. "

Her face fell. "You... You are really going back... I just thought we.... " She trailed off.

"I knew Riley, and I am sorry that I didn't told you sooner. I understand if you are mad--"

"Of course im not mad Liam. You did what you thought was the best. You just wanted a nice time without wandering about your duties."

"I... I wished we had more time together Riley." He whispered.

"Then lets make the most of it. We just have this night tonight, Liam. And I want to make it count. For just this one night let's just be Riley and Liam, two peoples without any obligations.

Riley pointed to the mistletoe over their head, then leaned forward to capture his lips in a heated kiss. He immediately responded, his hand cupping the side of her neck tenderly as she ran her hair through his dark hair. They pulled apart, staring into each others eyes, then their lips came together again, more passionately this time.

"Merry Christmas, Riley."

"Merry Christmas, Liam."

The night was spend together in Liam's suite, tangled in the sheets and in each other's arms.

************

The next morning

Liam woke up in his room.... Alone. He glanced around, none of Riley's belongings were in sight. A single note was on the coffee table beside the bed.

Liam,

I want you to know that the short time I have spend with you more to me than I could describe. You gave me the one thing I wanted most for Christmas...Family. I'm grateful for that. I'm sorry that I had to convey this to you by a letter, but i thought it would be better for both of us. Perhaps we will meet again.

Riley

Liam reached and wiped the lone tear that has escaped on his cheek. "I'm grateful for our time together too, Riley.

**********

Cordonia

It was the evening of the masquerade ball in the palace. Liam was dressed in his usual black regalia with a matching ornate mask. No matter how hard he tried, his thoughts managed to make their way back to Riley. Be a good prince, Liam. She's gone.

Liam stood in the huge elegant ballroom, a queue of noble ladies in front of him. Each lady he encountered, whether it was the poodle loving lady Penelope, the diplomat's daughter Kiara, or his best friend Olivia, made him realize that none of them were her.

The next lady approached, who was adorned in a white angel costume, with a literal halo above her head, her blue eyes peeking out of the glittering mask. Why are those eyes familiar...

"Hello..." Liam greeted her politely. "I don't believe we have met... Have we?"

The women smiled, then reached behind the back of her head to loosen the mask strings, Liam caught a glimpse of a familiar face as she removed her mask.

"Riley..."

[dinolikes]

IMPOSTER- PART TWO

summery ❤︎ Nobody has any quirks and are stuck on a ship like among us

pairings ❤︎ Imposter!Dabi x Reader

content warnings ❤︎ major character death

| prev. |

you sobbed into dabi's chest as hawks and ingeniumu covered thirteens body with a sheet, everyone looking over, some with tears, and some with just a blank look, like they were still processing it.

it was silent for a long time before ingeniumu cleared his throat and looked up, everyone seeing the ghost of tears in his eyes, "we have to call h-headquarters," his voice cracked but he stood tall, he would make a great captain one day, even with his pushover attitude.

you were crowded in the cafeteria, a computer resting on the table with headquarters on the line.

"im sorry to say this but you have an imposter."

you shook your head, you refused to believe it, how could these people, your FRIENDS, who you've lived with for a year, how could they be imposters?

though you shouldnt be surprised, the league has been gaining members, rarely any ship didnt have at least ONE imposter, some even having as much as three, you just thought you guys were the exception.

"twice, hawks, you searched thirteens body correct?" a voice came through the screen.

"yes sir," hawks quietly muttered.

"was everything in place?"

"he didnt have the vent key."

the vent key, really easy to pass through, was originally made for people to quickly go from room to rooms, but after the rise of imposters who started using it to sneak up on people, only one person was allowed to use it per day.

the voice cursed, "very well." a sigh could be heard, "well you know the drill," you did, you just didnt like it, "if you suspect someone, send them out and let them die," you gulped.

you didnt know if you could do that, even knowing that someone here murdered thirteen, you learned to care for each of them, even weirdo itchy snatch tomura. you didnt know if you could just send them into space to suffocate. even the thought made you sick.

"until then, we'll need you to finish your tasks fast, we'll have you home by the end of the day, which means the imposter will probably try to kill faster today. watch out." with that a beep was heard, signaling that you were disconnected.

a grim silence filled the room.

hawks finally spoke up, "which one of you assholes did it?"

dabi glared at the taller man, "fuck you dude, how do we know you didnt do it?"

hawks took a step closer, "bold accusations from someone who seems to hate everyone!"

"why would I kill one of the only people I actually like in this shithole?"

"because he had the vent key dumbass!"

"hey!" twice yelled.

hawks glowered at him, "oh yeah, how could we forget twice here? you found the body right? meaning you were the last one to see him? why DID you decide to check on him huh?"

"why would I come to you guys then?!"

"i dunno, to throw off suspicion maybe?"

you finally snapped "stop it!" everyone's heads shot towards you, "thirteen is dead," you choked out, "and I know thay we're all upset but we just have to finish today's tasks and then we're back home, okay?"

everyone stared, until deku started nodding, "y-yeah! just today's tasks left! then we'll go home and catch the imposter and we'll be fine!"

"what makes you so sure we'll catch him once we get home idiot?"

deku stared up confusingly at kaachan, "dont we have cameras?"

ingeniumu looked at his friend "obviously deku but whatre you getting at?"

"our cameras have memory sticks," shoto spoke up quietly, "when they're connected into one of headquarters machines, you can access all of what it caught,"

deku nodded rapidly, "exactly!"

your eyes lit up, "deku your a genius!" you grabbed his head and gave him a big smooch on the forehead, leaving him a red and stuttering mess.

dabi tsk'ed, "c'mere,' he grabbed you hand and pulled you towards him, wrapping you hands around you and resting his head on your shoulder.

you rolled your eyes playfully at his jealous nature.

"fine. we finish our task but if another person is found dead we're booting someone off." with that, hawks stormed off.

you tried not to go too harsh on him, you knew hawks looked up to thirteen, and beneath that cocky demeanor, he really was soft.

knowing that though, you couldnt help but feel some fear and resentment.

fear because you didnt think you could kill off one of your own and resentment because you knew hawks would make you do exactly that.

"we should have a plan," ingeniumu speaks up, "4 groups of two who continue on and do their tasks, and I think twice should be on security, just incase the imposter attacks again," everyone nods.

"i'll go with wonder," dabi states, already grabbing your hand,

"dont you think you'll get distracted with...other things?" tomura smirks, dabi clenching your hand in his.

"fuck. off."

"oo feisty~"

dabi glares, "yknow you dont really seem to care much that thirteens dead!"

tomura's eyes flash a dangerous color and he leans forward.

"the FUCK did you just say?"

"you heard me you fucking incel,"

"stop!" ingeniumu yells, "tomura is right, you guys do get quite distracted, wonder is with hawks, dabi your with shoto. ill go with tomura and that leaves deku and kaachan, with twice on security. let's go!"

dabi grumbles but goes with his brother as you lightly kiss him on the cheek and go with hawks.

you cant help but think about how amazing that kid is gonna be when hes older as a captain of his own ship.

you and hawks head off, both of you checking your list and stopping by rooms, the other waiting as they finish their task and repeating, until hawks sighed.

"how are you dating that asshole?"

you laugh, "hes not too bad once he likes you,"

"and what? he just doesn't like me?"

"exactly."

"what if he didnt like thirteen?" your smile drops instantly.

"hawks..."

"I'm just saying!"

"well STOP saying! I know dabi and he wouldnt betray me like that, so whatever accusations you have against MY boyfriend, I dont wanna here it," you scowl as you check your notebook, and started heading forward, "c'mon. I have to do wires in electrical."

hawks stayed quiet through the walk, as you stormed forward, wanting to get as much away from him as possible without ACTUALLY losing him. if you were being honest you were scared of going off alone.

as you walked in electrical you instantly went towards the wires, not noticing hawks standing in the doorway,

"wonder?"

"yes hawks?" you snap.

"I just saw someone vent." you pause and turn around.

"where and who?!"

"I dont know! I just saw the vent close when we walked in here and since Thirteen had the key before he died, that means that only the imposter can vent!"

"fuck! why would they vent though?!"

hawks paused. "maybe they killed someone again."

tears filled your eyes as you started searching the dark room, almost tripping over something, you only briefly looked up but you choked back a sob.

it was a foot.

"hawks!"

he came running towards you from behind the wall and saw the foot, gulping as he turned on the flashlight.

there say ingeniumu, with his throat slashed.

you couldnt hold back the cry that left your throat as hawks pulled you in for a hug, mostly to hide his own tears.

"what's going on in here?" you heard dabi's voice and you lifted you head to see him and shoto.

he looked mad but when hawks gestured with his flashlight towards the body, the brief flash letting both of the boys see, dabi understood.

"c'mere baby," he grabbed you quickly and held you tight as you sobbed into his chest, dabi looked up at his brother, "shoto can you call a meeting?" he asked softly. you assumed shoto nodded because there were no other words spoken.

there you all sat again, in cafeteria.

you were sniffling as dabi played with your hair, you holding shoto close as he leaned into you, still in shock of seeing his friend's lifeless corpse like that.

deku stood tall and didnt bother to hide the tears streaming down his face and even kaachan was caught sniffling a bit.

twice sat quietly in the corner, with his elbows on his knees.

hawks though, was red in the face from anger. and the victim of his anger was none other than tomura.

"you were teamed up with him fuckface!"

tomura simply shrugged, "I got bored and wanted to check on twice, see if he was alive,"

"well he is! but your partner fucking isnt!" hawks jammed his finger against the other mans chest, "and I think YOURE the cause!"

tomura raised his eyebrows, "I was with twice, right twice?" he did a 180 to stare hard at twice who looked up slightly and slowly nodded. that seemed to please tomura though as he turned back around, "see?"

"that doesnt mean shit! you were supposed to be with him!"

"but I wasnt."

"but you WERE! that's why the kid is dead!"

"I say we vote." shoto's voice was muffled by your neck and dabi's chest, where he was currently crammed in, but it was still intelligible.

you raise your head and wipe a few stray tears, "I think that's smart sho,"

you all nod and murmur in agreement.

"fine then. let's vote." hawks glares at tomura one last time, "who says skip?"

tomura, twice and shoto raise their hands.

"i dont think theres enough evidence." shoto explains and you nod, quietly telling him that theres nothing wrong with his belief.

hawks has a slight triumph look on his face, "who says that tomura is a fucking psychopath who likes to murder children!"

"murder a child. thirteen is practically twice my age" tomura corrects, "and besides I didn't do it."

hawks rolls his eyes, "whatever, everyone just vote."

you, dabi, hawks, deku and kaachan raise your hand, making you guys the winner.

"perfect." hawks drags tomura over to the ejecting room, usually used for heavier garbage that didnt fit in the disposal.

as you all surrounding the glass wall that separated you and tomura you cried a bit more.

sure you hated this dude but you still KNEW him!

"anything left to say sicko?" hawks glared at the smiling tomura.

"maybe you arent as much of a bird brain as I thought hawks. good job, you win," he does a slight bow like this was a performance before hawks pulls the lever, tomura's body flying out before hawks closed it again.

"he admitted to it." deku stated simply.

"yeah."

| next |

[bridgyrose]

referring to suns involvement as just being a bit is bs sun was a big part of blakes arc since v1 ( and blacksun had actual buildup since v1 and never got sunk there was never a moment which sunk the blacksun ship the v6 ep 1 goodbye was just that a romantic goodbye we will resume when we meet again ( if bb shippers can ship bb and say it wasnt sunk after separated why not blacksun ) while bb didnt get any hints or buildup that portrayed them as more then friends or hinting at them getting together while blacksun did from the introduction with the slow motion camera focus when sun ran past blake and focusing on their faces with sun winking at blake and which is why if someone were to show that scene with burning the candles scene remove names and genders people would say the blacksun scene was romantic over bb scene which gave no reason to think it was anything more then a friend reaching out to another friend ( heck trying to use wink as evidence is dubious at best) while nothing for bb got hinted at being more then friends you have to do a lot of reaching like going well adam said he would destroy everything blake loved starting with her ( when to be blunt no that is not romantic saying someone loves someone else doesnt equal romantic love ( it includes friends and family who adam also tried to kill ) yang was just there and needed to be given a reason to be separated from yang . ( heck nothing in v6which bb shippers tried to claim was canon after the finale was inherently romantic moment for blake and yang ) if your best argument for bb is its lgbt rep / an f/f pairing first of all good writing is more important then whether a ships rep or not ( bb only has popularity over blacksun the direction change only happened because of popularity and certain people on crew shipping it ) second of all its not like bb was the only possible same sex ship for a member of team rwby there was freezerburn if its focused on two members of team rwby together or a lot of possibilities if you remove that restriction people saying bb was forced isnt misogyny its fact bb had no buildup from v1-v6 while blacksun did many would not have a problem with bb if they didnt buildup blacksun for so long calling bb forced isnt homophobia or bigotry ( seriously claiming misogyny for saying bb is forced is a new stupid take an example of insulting people over criticism ( the argument isnt about same sex ship vs het ship its good writing over bad writing and good writing is more important then the genders involved in a pairing if you ship a pairing just because of genders involved its a shallow reason

This is going to be a long post, so... everything will be under the cut.

You know what, I originally wasnt going to answer this, but I'm going to humor you since your whole ask is just.... amusing to me to read. First, I'm not sure why you're sending this to me. I'm a multishipper at heart and Bmblby isnt exactly a ship I like to ship, just happy to see that something is going to be canon in RWBY (and complain all you like, BB will become canon. There is and has been too much build up for it.) Secondly, I think you need to re organize your thoughts because I have a lot of issues with this ask. We'll take this part "which is why if someone were to show that scene with burning the candles scene remove names and genders people would say the blacksun scene was romantic over bb scene which gave no reason to think it was anything more then a friend reaching out to another friend" which honestly, I'm not sure what you're trying to say. What it sounds like you're trying to say is that if you remove names and gender of Blake and Yang and replaced them with anything else, then it would be just as romantic. Which is the point of that scene. It's meant to be taken romantically. A good romance scene is one that you can replace anyone from, put other characters, and still have it give that same vibe. Which it does. So I'm going to start tracking score here and set point 0 for anon and point 1 for... whatever it is you're trying to prove.

This next point throws me off though: "heck trying to use wink as evidence is dubious at best" because, you say, and I quote "while blacksun did from the introduction with the slow motion camera focus when sun ran past blake and focusing on their faces with sun winking at blake" which means somewhere along the line, which means you're already contradicting yourself. So, now the score is anon 0/ 2 for whatever it is you're trying to argue against.

Now, as far as Adam goes, you quote "you have to do a lot of reaching like going well adam said he would destroy everything blake loved starting with her ( when to be blunt no that is not romantic saying someone loves someone else doesnt equal romantic love ( it includes friends and family who adam also tried to kill ) yang was just there and needed to be given a reason to be separated from yang" I do have one solid question for you: why do you think there needed to be a reason for Yang and Blake to be separated? And if this was meant to not be romantic, then why even bother with Yang if she was just there? Because, I'll be honest, I think there's one part of that whole episode you missed:

This, is not the face you make if its just a friend that comes around to find you when your crazy ex is trying to hurt you. The only reason that Adam continues to say "starting with her" is because he recognized the sheer fear that Blake had that someone she cared about was going to get hurt. The only other parallel we have to that is Adam's line about Sun asking why Blake keeps having her friends fight for her. He didnt care about Sun as much as he did about Yang at that point. So, 0 for anon/ 3 for whatever it is you're against.

Now, lastly, you say that all you care about is good writing for the ships and that BB is not good writing. And while BS had some build up, where it officially died is Vol 4, not 6. Vol 4 and 5 reiterated over and over that Yang and Blake had been thinking about each other. Also, there's the fact that our reintroduction to Sun in vol 4 was basically him acting like a creepy stalker which anyone can admit is poor writing to have him and Blake get together after that. So... final tally is 0/4 meaning you, anon, lose.

And while I do agree that there is opportunity for other f/f ships between team rwby, me being a hardcore ladybug shipper, even I can see where the build up has come in between Blake and Yang. Contrary to your belief, it didnt come out of no where, you just ignored everything in favor for Sun. Blake is bisexual, there's no way around that. She can have feelings for both guys and girls. I have no doubt that she had a slight crush on Sun during the Beacon arc, but ultimately, she still had feelings for Yang too. You dont just seek someone out during initiation off a whim. You dont just say your first dance is already spoken for with another girl if you're planning on going with a guy. That coupled with the look of terror when she heard Yang just before Adam threatened her and then laying next to her and holding her hand after the fact isnt something you do as just friends

TL;DR: I dont ship bb, but I can see exactly where the build up has been. And since vol 1, bb has not only had fantastic, slowburn writing, its one of those relationships that is evolving from just friends to more than friends as each volume goes on. I'm sorry you're too blind to see it, but if even a ladybug shipper can see where bb is going, then I think you need a bit more help than just having everything explained to you.

and ps...

if you send another ask like this again

have someone proofread it to make sure you're not contradicting yourself. That's embarrassing on your part anon.

[chimswae]

Untold Bonus Part 1

Foreword:

Some stories are better left unsaid.I couldn’t change anything for the world, although the fame part of this industry is tough to handle.Do i have a life? Yes I have my fans.Do i have friends? Yes the members that I cherish. Do i have love? No I have to let go.Life always offers you a second chance. It’s called tomorrow. But do i have any tomorrow?

Pairing: Jimin x OC (Other characters: BTS, OCs, Lee Taehwan)

Genre: Idolau, Fluff, Romance, Father!Au

Word Count: 3,143

Author Note: I almost forgotten to update the bonus chapter and epilogue, so there would be another two parts of this bonus chapters and one epilogue! 

You can check full masterlist below :)

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20

Part 1

“Im sorry that we just have time to go for our honeymoon, love” Jimin interlaced their fingers together leaving a soft kiss on her knuckles with an apologetic smile.

 To be truth, after their wedding Bangtan went straight to studios for their upcoming comeback. The comeback was a real lit though and Yeoul never once regretted for skipping their honeymoon for Sonyeodan comeback. It was worthwhile.

 “Jimin no more sorry, I don’t need fancy honeymoon. We can skip the tradition, what matters here you are with me” she tapped the tip of his nose with a slight giggle. Sometimes, Jimin worried too much even a simple thing like how he had to stay with the guys which happened to be just two floor beneath them for their practice.

 Jimin could be silly from time to time too and Yeoul had to assure him nothing was going to happen to her even though he had to work overtime. The nature of his job required him to live this way, and since Yeoul signed up for this she would not whine over it.

She understood Jimin.

 They complement each other.

 Their marriage had been a real blessing in life, she had a life that she dreamed. Minyeol had a loving daddy and seven handsome samchons including Taehwan to pamper him.

 This honeymoon was unplanned and actually was a gift from Bang PD to them. It was overwhelming knowing a man like Bang PD would treat them not as their source of income but a real family. She felt welcomed.

 Since they were having a long break now, Jimin decided to bring Yeoul abroad to make up for their pending honeymoon. He still felt bad for delaying it. Morocco would be a perfect place for their honeymoon since island was too mainstream to Jimin.

 Don’t misunderstood him, he just thought camel ride would be pretty dope and romantic.

 Camel ride, Sahara Desert and Yeoul. Wouldnt that be a perfect combos with extra Yeoul in it?

 He exhaled a soft sigh, wounding one of his arms around her waist, pulling the small size girl closer to his chest “How can you be okay with it Mrs Park? We should have gone for honeymoon months ago. I promise to be a better husband” he nuzzled the top of her head.

 Yeoul awed at his softness and sincerity. On top of all, she knew Jimin put everything on the line including his fame just to marry her.

 “Mister husband, if I were to choose honeymoon or bangtan sonyeodan, I will still choose Bangtan over our honeymoon” she rested her chin against his chest and looked up at Jimin as their eyes locked. They were immersed in the moment until Jimin inquired her the reasons to her answers.

 Her lips broke into a lovely smile “Because I know how much Bangtan means to you. It completes you, Park Jimin and Bangtan.. just how we complement each other. After all, it is you first wife.. as long as you give me fair love, I don’t mind being the second wife” she giggled.

 Jimin let out a small chuckle “Really? You sounded super cheesy today. What did I do to deserve you Na Yeoul…” he hums. Within a second, Jimin inched close as she could feel his hot breath against her skin.

 “Jim…we are still on the plane” her lips quivered against him. Jimin could feel the vibrate against his soft lips. How that drive him mad.

 “It is first class seat. We are away from prying eyes at least..” before Yeoul could protest, his soft and wet lips already took over her cold one. She swore in the name of their love, she was not tired kissing him everyday. The love channeled via every kisses that he showered was undeniably amazing.

 Her body tingled every single time. With every stroke of his tongue intertwined her desperate one, she could feel every receptors in her body reacting to it. She hated how much his presence affect her, even though it was safe to say Jimin wasn’t just a good kisser but he knew how to love his woman in bed too.

 Jimin bit down her lower lips, shoving his tongue inside deepening their kisses as one of his hands locked their body together. Their breath hitched feeling the friction against their skin. This was bad move, they were in a freaking plane.

 Her sanity took over her mind as she slowly pulled away, inhaling a deep breath “Jims.. behave..” she muttered in between kisses.

 “Mmm..I think we have time..” he teased caused the latter to turn crimson red.

 “Park Jimin” she hissed silently while biting her lower lips. Yeoul buried her already hot face at the crook of his neck with audible mumbles. Ever since they tied knot, Jimin’s physical affections had moved to another extreme level though they were in a public spaces like this.

 He would try to steal kisses from Yeoul or they might end up making out at the corner. In other words, they thought it was hidden from public at least even though they were in fact in public. Then their effort was no used.

 Just like Yeoul could stop him, she would end up giving up no matter how much she tried to resist. She really hated her body. It obeyed his every action like it depended on it.

 Jimin ran his hand further, stroking her torso and moved lower just above her buttocks before pulling her slightly close onto his lap. She tried to hold back her gasp as she felt her lower body had been lifted up then Yeoul realized the mastermind behind this.

 Park Jimin is the devil in mask.

 “What are you doing..” she whispered awfully low in his earlobe.

 Little did she knew, that actually encouraged Jimin to further tease her.

 His fingers traced along her waistline and ended up between her thigh “Why? I am having a conversation with my wife” he chortled.

 “This isnt a conversation..This is-” her breath once again caught at her throat as she felt his moist lips sucking on her sensitive skin. Yeoul tugged his arms in between her fingers, and bit down her lips before it let out inappropriate sound.

 “What…Mrs Park.. continue. This is what?” he challenged. Jimin’s eyes fixated at her soft flesh, as he moved his free hand to pull down the strap of her pastel dress a little. He kissed her shoulder and playfully leaving a soft suckle here and there before moving close to her collarbone.

 Jimin could feel Yeoul twitched under his touch, so he knew exactly where to love her.

 He caught her eyes and though he tried to flash her an innocent smile, she could still smell lust even from miles away. Her husband was a big big trouble.

Yeoul bit his earlobe, exhaling a soft sigh more like she was holding back her moan and that was the least thing she could do to calm herself down. The voice of Yeoul had awaken the inner beast in him, and it absolutely at the wrong time.

 Showing no sign of retreat from this messy and heated make out session, Jimin’s sinful lips continued to cause chaos over there. He sucked on her neck, rolling his tongue in process with one sole intention, he wanted to mark her.

 She gasped softly “Jimin.. stop..” Jimin smug. Yeoul shifted a little and Jimin took the chance to move her properly on his lap and now she was straddling him with her legs trapping Jimin at both side.

 It was rather fun to have this secret little rendezvous at an unexpected place. Not to mention, he was rather grateful their seat was at the corner back of this first class section. Seats across them were filled but the old couple was in deep slumber.

 Therefore at this rate to get caught by other passengers or worse the flight attendant were rather low now. The anxiety and fear of getting caught made things even hotter. Screw everything.

 To spice things up, Jimin slid his playful hand under her dress feeling her skin beneath the pastel dress causing the latter to jerk forward at the sudden contact. He loved the close proximity of their bodies, it was arousing.

 Yeoul cupped his cheeks and leaned to kiss him with so much passionate which startled Jimin. Since Yeoul was a reserve girl, to see this side of her taking the lead was rather amusing. If he were to recall back all their intimate sessions, there were roughly four times when Yeoul dominates in bed.

 Jimin loved those rare moments. It spiced their relationship a bit.

 His attention was back in teasing his wife “Na Yeoul.. I thought you wanted to talk” he breathed between kisses with a playful smile.

 “I hate you Park Jimin.. stop the tug-o-war” she wounded one of her arms around his neck, shutting him off with a long endearing kisses that could blown Jimin’s mind right away if they didn’t stop. Their kisses turned sloppy when Yeoul moaned lowly in the process.

 He squished her perky mound and fondled it a little sensually causing her to squirm under his touch again. Yeoul thought it was unfair how woman owned half of the sensitive parts to be teased  during intimate sessions while man could get arouse over a simple moan.

 Yeoul did not want to suffer alone so she would drag her husband down with her in this pit hole.

 She purposely created friction down there, just to see how he reacted to that. However to her surprise, she could actually feel him poking in his jeans. That was another trouble. Their make out session could not turn into a real love making.

 Not here and definitely not when they were thousand feet above the ground. So kinky.

 “Na Yeoul.. You are in deep trouble” his voiced turned rowdy and stupidly sexy. How disturbing.

 Jimin pressed their clothed sexes together, not trying to break away the contact. Both of them exhaled a deep sigh, feeling sexually frustrated at the moment because as much he wanted to take her right away, he couldn’t do it.

 Their love making should be special and it should only be initiated on bed.

Of course they love goofing around in the public teasing each other patience, but when it came to sexual intercourse Jimin had a very clear conscience on it. It could only be done with the presence of proper bed.

 Yeoul nuzzled their face together with a teasing smile, her cheeks were reddened as a result of their heated session “Wait for it Jiminie.. we have the whole week for it” she winked. Oh man, once again it weakened Jimin heart but hardened his little naughty smurf.

 “Park Jimin calm down you little smurfie!” her eyes widened at the sudden feeling of his bulge against her.

 Jimin pouted in response “I am trying too.. baby….” puckering his lips, he demanded a kiss at least to sooth away the pain that he experienced down there.

 “Aww Jiminie.. I will treat you good later on okay?” she let out a soft chuckle, leaning in for one last kiss before breaking away. Or more like before everyone else woke up and caught them eating each other face with her sitting inappropriately like this.

 This got to stop otherwise, they would be banned from this airline.

 -------------------------

 It was a long haul flight despite being in the same Asia continent, still it sucked out their energy. As soon as they arrived in Morocco, they went straight to hotel to check-in and not to forget to settle their unfinished business in the plane.

 Only God knows how hard it was to hold back the feeling, though they ended up napping for few hours just to ease the tense. It was late evening when their plane touched down. So their plan would eventually start the next day.

 They spent their day in the room catching up some sleep and pretty much something more important that just a sleep. It was honeymoon after all.

 The next day, Jimin and Yeoul woke pretty late than they scheduled since they really pulled an all nighter yesterday. The sun had set and the light beamed through the window woken Jimin up from his deep sleep.

 Squinting his eyes together, he blinked few times before searching for the button near his bed to shut the curtain close. He yawned a little as his eyes moved to Yeoul figure in her arms,the corner of his lips twitch into a soft smile.

 Yeoul was still fast asleep accompanied by her steady breathing, not to mention she was painfully beautiful. Looking so effortlessly stunning even in her sleep. Jimin wrapped his arm around her small body, gluing their body close.

 He just couldn’t get enough of her. Cuddling with her had always been the best thing to do every morning. He wanted to pause the time so it would last longer.

 Yeoul shifted closer, burying her face in his neck “What time..” she mumbled.

 “Hmm…Time to get drown in my warm embrace” he joked but only to received a light nibble on his skin.

 “Im serious mister husband”

 Jimin chortled “It is past 12 but it is alright, rest all you want. We can have a walk a little later. Besides, I prefer honeymoon activity in bed”

 “wow you are so damn honest over everything. Sadly, I didn’t come to Morocco just to create offspring with you” Yeoul was fully awake now, her eyes opened penetrating the deepest core of his heart.

 Park Jimin is electrified by love, again.

 “Hey to create offspring is one of the goals. Nothing wrong with that, Na Yeoul shut your eyes for one more hour. I will wake you up later okay?” he stroked her cheeks lovingly.

 To be frank, after what Jimin pulled yesterday Yeoul deserved an extra sleep if she did not want to walk around Morocco like a friggin zombie. She nodded while stretching a little in his embrace, “Wake me up aite?” she muttered groggily.

 “I will.. just sleep” Jimin soothed her hair and beamed when she felt her relax in his arms.

 It was a good way to start their day, indeed.

 ---------------------

 The lovebird went out around 4 in the afternoon as soon as their brunch on bed, which specially prepared by Jimin. To make it sounded so cringe worthy, Jimin actually flaunt about it whole freaking day as if that was the only romantic things that he ever did to Yeoul.

 There were plenty but out of every romantic plans he ever made, he said breakfast in bed was one of the best thing that he ever done. First, he was the one who cooked the food. Second, it was something that he always wanted to do for Yeoul but due to his busy schedule he always left so early in the morning.

 Another goals unlocked.

 Jimin’s wish list could be pretty innocent sometimes in comparison to his playful nature. So it was not a big surprise at all.

 They strolled along the street enjoying the view and uniqueness of the place as it was so different from Korea. It felt good to see something new and to meet new people at least. They found a good restaurant and had ridiculously good local food with an addition of cocktails. That’s a must thing to have for honeymooners like them.

 Delicious food and cocktails, what a combination.

 They took a private charter to Chefchaouen or known as blue city, one of Morocco tourist hotspot. Walking hand in hand, the place continued to amaze them from the natural wonders that they offered as well as stunning architectural building around the city. Every corner of the city never ceased to amaze them.

 After spending for good few hours outside, they decided to head back to their hotel since they had another plan tomorrow morning to Sahara Desert. Out of all the itinerary being planning out to them, a visit to Sahara Desert lit up their expectations.

 Bumpy camel ride which according to Jimin could be romantic.

 Approaching the exquisite building before them, Yeoul’s eyes caught a familiar figure at the lobby. She thought she was daydreaming but it turned out..it was really him.

 Jeon Jungkook.

 And, not just Jeon Jungkook. Stood beside him grinning ear to ear was Jung Hoseok.

Oh shoot, what were they up too? As Yeoul was about to warn Jimin about their sudden appearance in Morocco, she saw the small figure that she missed dearly Park Minyeol.

 “OH MY GOD” she gasped in disbelief.

 “What happen? What did you see?” Jimin glanced around trying to find any suspicious jerks messing around with his woman but only to be welcomed with Kim Seokjin senile smile.

 Holy shit, did he really see it right? It was really Kim Seokjin.

 “HYUNG!” a familiar voice brought his attention back to the sight before him. Jeon Jungkook.

 What the hell? Jimin cussed in his head at this absurd situation.

 Jungkook was waving a little too cheerfully at his direction but didn’t he know Jimin was boiling inside? He thought this was supposed to be their honeymoon and why on earth they were here? Within a minute, one by one of his members face came into their vision smiling like an idiot.

 “Great the entire squad is here” Jimin scowled lowly as he exchanged meaningful look with Yeoul.

 Wait, a second. He noticed there were additional members in the squad, Lee Taehwan. How dare he tagged them along? Was this his idea? If that’s the case, he was ready to kill this Tae 2.0.

 His frown worn off upon seeing Minyeol in Taehwan’s arms “Minyeol..” he beamed in excitement.

 Yeoul squished his hand showing her happiness at the sight of their son. Both of them approached the group not paying attention to six devils who craved for their attention. They still had to answer tons of questions from him, for now they missed their son.

 “Oh god, how come you guys are here” Yeoul smiled and slowly took sleeping Minyeol from Taehwan.

 “Not my idea, ask Bangtan Sonyeodan” Taehwan eyed the six guilty guys who seemed all ready to dodge bullets from Jimin.

 Jimin knew something was fishy the moment when Taehyung kept on pestering him with kakaotalk message yesterday. They were up for no good. So this was it, cockblocking his honeymoon. Touche.

 “Now let’s start with Jungkook” Jimin crossed his arms, snickering under his breath still bewildered.

 “WHY ME?” he retorted.

 “Because you are the dongsaeng. You are going to give this HYUNG answers. HONEST ANSWER, alright Kukkie?’” Jungkook gulped in fear. This was seriously getting out of hand.

 He was not supposed to get involved but because of other hyungs, he was guilty as charged.

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This work belongs to  Chimswae © 2020. All Rights Reserved

[theshinobiway]

I read your other two posts about shipping nejiten and why you dont. I think you make good arguments about how marrying neji would take away tenten's freedom but I was actually wondering about how you view the ship from the perspective of someone who is married? Sorry of that doesn't make sense. I mean like how compatible you think their personalities are if the story was written differently.

Hey there anon!

So this will be my third time addressing the pairing and not to say it's any fault of yours, but I hope it's the last.

I care most about what makes a character develop in a way that is meaningful and beneficial for the overarching story. This extends into the pairings I choose to ship. I've also never been a big shipper to begin with and I'm indifferent to most pairings from any show I watch.

I also am married. Personally, fictional ships or shipping wars do not interest me in the slightest. I'd rather focus on my own, real, interpersonal relationships.

To expand on why I don't like talking about this pairing in particular: it's because I have been openly harassed by fans of the pairing both on this blog and on a previous blog that I eventually closed because my inbox blew up with angry stans that, a few years ago, I was not mentally equipped to handle. I've responded to around two to three asks openly on the blog, but at this point I've deleted in the range of 10-12 messages that I did not see fit to dignify with a response.

I figure that most of these comments come from underage followers who are too immature to understand complexities of romantic relationships or are simply too disinterested in talking about the literature to have open discourse with. They just want to ship what they believe the characters are like, have headcanons, and ignore the evidence contrary. As an adult, I have to handle this with patience and understanding. I'm not about to rage on any anon follower because I don't know their age or personal circumstances. And frankly, a fictional pairing is not worth tearing someone down over–I speak from experience.

Now, on to answering your question in full:

When it comes to the narrative, there isn't a common thread (theme, motif, storyline, etc.) that ties Neji and Tenten together. They both have the goal to get stronger, (As is the theme of team Gai at large) but Neji's story is MOST closely tied to Hinata/The Hyuga, Lee, and Naruto (in that order.) All three of those characters are sufficient enough to spur Neji's growth in his own arc. Tenten's support as a teammate is also sufficient enough. They are good battle partners (combining long range and short range) but the same is also said for Tenten and Lee. There's nothing special here. Nothing that screams "chemistry" or that "stands out."

The reason people love pairings such as SnS, NaruSaku, NaruHina, Sasusaku, SaiIno, ShikaTema, etc. is because all of these pairings have two partners that can equally contribute to the other's growth. Neji and Tenten simply do not have this. Tenten adds nothing to Neji that he does not already have: her support already comes from multiple other people in his life that understand his situation better. Tenten is often shown having a more common thread with Lee: they are both ninja that came from no special background and are overcoming their own weaknesses to pave their own path. You might say Tenten could humanize Neji or humble him, but Naruto and Lee already do that. Neji's closest female relationship is with Hinata, and that's where we see him become softer and more patient. Hinata is the one that humanizes Neji the most, and it's because they also share a same arc: literally, the Hyuga clan arc. She has the emotional intelligence to reach Neji and the position to make him believe in the determination of the once-talentless. That's THEIR arc as siblings.

I would also like people to ask themselves what exactly Neji can offer Tenten. In the reverse, I strongly can affirm that Neji does NOTHING for Tenten. He can train with her? So can the rest of her team, and she does. He can encourage her? So can the rest of her team, and they do–far more than Neji. He can calm her down when Gai/Lee do their antics? Okay, but is being a walking pacifier really a great foundry for a relationship? (Also, as Tenten gets older, part of her personal development is finally accepting her own goofy side and joining in!) In fact, his relationship and subsequent would inhibit her stated goals and dreams.

Tenten flat out does not want to have a traditional, feminine lifestyle of getting married. And as a married person, it's not impossible to understand why! Relationships and marriages are HARD work! It's not sailing into the sunset with kids and a house! They require commitment and upkeep! Sacrifice! They are a huge stressor (even the best marriages!) and you must balance the feelings and dreams of another person when you are deciding your future and make personal sacrifices.

Tenten wants to follow her hobbies and her dream is one of self-determination. Marrying Neji means introducing a rigid, hierarchical clan structure for which Tenten has no experience/interest in and is ill-prepared to handle. Her blunt, insensitive attitude would not fare well in the formal atmosphere of Hyuga affairs–this isnt a shoujo of rich guy/average girl. This is a shounen. She'll be expected to raise children and retire/hiatus from her career. This expectation does not help her goals or dreams and effectively halts her personal development.

In fact, had this pairing actually happened, shippers might have been happy that their pairing "made it," but I have no doubt that people would have ALSO called Tenten yet ANOTHER victim of Kishi's 'housewife' troupe next to Sakura and Temari. Making her Neji's wife erases what little personal identity and development she had. Why would you want to put the ONE woman who pursued her career and goals in a relationship and erase that? Because they have an aesthetic? I surely hope you never then complain about the fates of Sakura or Temari, then!

And on that note, "fixing the writing" to where Tenten is an 'empowered working mom' does NOT address Tenten's personal desires. I see this most often discarded in favor of ANY of her ships.

Tenten's purpose in the story is to show a woman who branches out from the norm. I also seldom see a woman in any story who is as balanced and flawed as she is while still being lovable. Also, despite relegating the other kunoichi to housewife status, Kishi deliberately let Tenten be a single woman who is not criticized for her decision. Japan itself still has a traditional mindset in that regard, and seeing the other cast members treat Tenten as normal–not even commenting on her relationship status–is a quiet, but no less significant addition to the story. It normalizes career women in a traditional atmosphere.

Gag about her store aside, Tenten's shop isn't doing poorly because she's a bad businesswoman or a spinster. It's been clearly stated by Tenten herself that it's because they are in a time of peace. Again, a small but significant detail that gets overlooked in Tenten's story. As Boruto progresses and war seems to loom on the horizon, I have no doubt her shop may get more business soon.

Tenten and Neji have the making of good friends and comrades with some common ground, and it's for the betterment of both of them personally that they stayed that way throughout the series. Good relationships add to characters and stories–they don't take things away.

Hopefully this finally puts my full opinions on the matter to rest. Fandom can do whatever it wants, but I'd like to not see any more of the ridiculous "pairing war" nonsense pop up in my inbox. Nejiten has FAR better reasons to stay platonic than it ever will to become canon, even in a rewritten story where Neji lives. If you want a pairing with this aesthetic but actually have chemistry and a shared narrative, look at Ren/Nora of RWBY (which, coincidentally, is actually one of the few pairings I enjoy.)

Thanks for contributing to the blog!

[dvp95]

quiet on widow’s peak (6)

pairing: dan howell/phil lester, pj liguori/sophie newton/chris kendall rating: teen & up tags: paranormal investigator, mystery, online friendship, slow burn, strangers to lovers, nonbinary character, trans character, background poly, phil does some buzzfeed unsolved shit and dan is a fan word count: 2.9k (this chapter), 19.7k (total) summary: Phil’s got a list of paranormal experiences a mile long that he likes to share with the world. Abandoned buildings, cemeteries, and ghost stories have always called his name, and a particular fan of his has a really, really good ghost story.

read this chapter on ao3 or here!

Hope my friends and I didn't make things weird for you yesterday. We're heading to the city around noon if you're still up for helping us with the boring part.

noon?? fucking alright i guess i gotta put pants on

lmao yeah, sorry. My parents woke us up at EIGHT like that's a normal time to be awake????

desgostang

What?

ill send u the link later and also no i didnt feel weird yesterday you guys are nice

That's good! And hey I wanted to ask. You were kind of put on the spot with introducing yourself, would you rather we called you Dan or Winnie? I just wanna make sure we aren't making you uncomfortable at all lmao

no its all fine you can call me dan idc and actually its best if you do call me dan when youre in my work lmao

Are you totally sure?

why would i lie abt this. dont be an idiot it isnt a good look on you

haha okay. I’ll see you around noon.

--

“Christopher is a nice boy,” Phil’s mum is telling him as she helps him with their fancy new coffeemaker. There are so many buttons and Phil is so, so tired. “And Sophie is lovely, such a soft-spoken thing. Why haven’t we met them before, dear?”

“Dunno,” Phil says instead of the truth, which is that he’d had no idea how he was supposed to introduce them. “You have now, though.”

His mum laughs and reaches up to pat his cheek. “True enough. I’m so happy that you’ve got good people around you, Philip. I’ve gotten quite worried about you down there by yourself, you know.”

“I’m not by myself,” says Phil. “I live with, like, thirty people.”

“Bunch of strangers, I’ll bet,” she says, because she knows him. “Aside from those three.”

The thing is, she’s not wrong. Phil’s obviously exaggerating about the number of people under the roof of the creaky Brighton house, but the truth is that he can’t keep track half the time. A lot of the rooms get sublet out randomly, or a significant other will start spending so much time around the place that they might as well pay rent, and Phil really isn’t good with new people. He gets along fine with Holly and Dave, but they’ve been there as long as he has and the closest they’ve ever come to a heart-to-heart was comparing anxiety meds over burned pancakes.

Chris and Sophie were there when Phil moved in, and they’d taken one look at him and decided to just keep shoving into his space until he liked having them there, like they were on a mission to adopt PJ’s sad, ghost-obsessed friend from the internet.

“You might be right,” Phil says, feeling a smile tug at his lips for the first time all morning. He’s already had a coffee - and a half, when PJ declared that not even Kath could make coffee taste good and shoved the rest of his Phil’s way - but he still doesn’t feel fully awake. “I’m only really friends with Chris and Soph because of PJ.”

“PJ is a good friend to you, isn’t he?” his mum hums. That slightly pointed tone doesn’t get to Phil the way it usually does, because he knows that she’s just trying to understand him.

It doesn’t escape Phil’s notice that he’s looking into a mirror whenever he sees his parents watching him carefully, waiting for him to tell them something he hasn’t explicitly said, because he’s been doing the exact same thing to his housemates for nearly two years.

Maybe he’ll tell his parents when he’s got someone serious or even, like, semi-serious. Longer than two dates would be a record at this point. But right now he already feels like he’s been one misstep away from disappointing them, and he doesn’t want to take the gamble that his sexuality will be that misstep.

He’s not up for this conversation, though, isn’t sure he’ll ever be, so he just says, “Yeah, he is.”

--

Dan is late. They’re so late, actually, that Phil’s wheel of worst case scenarios has been spinning silently and getting faster and faster the more caffeine he chugs. They roll in with flushed cheeks and a jacket that looks too thin, apologies on their shiny lips that Phil doesn’t even hear for a couple of seconds because he’s too busy staring at them.

“No worries,” Sophie says, interrupting their rambling before they lose another half hour to it. “You want something? I’m getting a refill.”

“No, no, let me,” says Dan. They shrug off their jacket and hang it on one of the empty chairs. Phil and his friends have co-opted the largest table in the place so they can spread out with their laptops and notebooks, and it doesn’t escape Phil’s notice that Dan has decided to sit next to him when they’ve got a couple of options. “I get free drinks if Gabe’s in a good mood. Anyone else need a refill?”

“Me,” Chris says, not looking up from his screen. “Not Phil. He’s cut off.”

“Hey,” Phil protests weakly. His heart rate really has picked up since they sat down, so he knows Chris has a point.

Dan grins, their soft cheeks giving way to the dimples that Phil is very quickly growing obsessed with. He just wants to make Dan smile and laugh constantly, to hear them cackle and see all the lines in their round face deepen with happiness.

Right. Phil watched a horror movie with PJ instead of unpacking this fluttering start of a crush last night, and now he’s just got to deal with it for the rest of the day.

As if it’s a compulsion, Dan clears the empty mugs from their table before heading up to the counter. Phil focuses on the EMF readings so he doesn’t get caught up on Dan holding four mugs by the handles with total ease.

PJ has got headphones on and his eyes closed, so he might not even have noticed that Dan is there. He’s been going through Sophie’s footage and his own audio recordings to try and find some anomalies while Chris looks for the weird visual stuff - they’re a great team at that, and it makes Phil feel like he’s not doing enough. Sure, he could find those things on his own, but not as quickly as they can when it’s a team effort, and they’re on a bit of a tight schedule here. Well, his housemates are. They’ve got actual jobs to get back to once the weekend is over.

Allegedly, Sophie is doing research on sigils, but it looks to Phil like she’s just doodling. Not that he really blames her if she is. He’s barely been paying attention to the chart he’s making of spikes in electromagnetism because he’s been so busy watching the door for Dan.

And Dan looks… good. They’re wearing chunky boots and a shirt that falls to their thighs - a dress, maybe, but it looks like a regular black t-shirt that got extended at the hem - with tight white jeans. The only colour on them is the plaid shirt around their waist and the shiny red product on their lips to match it. Phil watches them lean against the counter and grin at the older barista, and he’s so distracted by looking at their profile that he startles when a foot connects with his under the table.

“Stop staring,” Sophie says, quiet and smiling. “He’s going to notice.”

Phil considers correcting her, but then he remembers that he probably doesn’t have to. Dan had said any pronouns, that they didn’t care how they were referred to, so it would definitely be weirder to act like he knows better than Sophie.

He knows he won’t be able to use masculine terms for Dan. Not because they aren’t true, because he’s pretty sure they’re no less accurate than neutral or feminine would be, but because thinking of Dan as a maculine person is only going to allow Phil’s brain to fall into the familiar traps of gender in ways he doesn’t want to allow.

Gay monkey brain doesn’t need any more leeway in finding Dan attractive, that’s for damn sure.

“So, what are we doing?” Dan asks, interrupting Phil’s thoughts, and, wow, four mugs is a lot more impressive when they’re full of hot liquid. Phil marvels at Dan’s ability not to trip and spill it all as they dole out the coffee and teas.

“I’m doing the boring part,” says Phil. He turns his screen so Dan can see the Excel spreadsheet and laughs at the face they make. “Yeah. It's not glamorous, but it's the easiest way to find patterns in the EMF readings. Honestly, most of my job is just staring at things and finding patterns in them. Like, uh, what's that guy? With the butterfly splotches?"

"Worcestershire," Chris suggests.

"Rorschach," Dan corrects him, lips twitching like they aren't sure if they're allowed to laugh in Chris' face or not.

“That’s exactly what I said,” says Chris.

“You know EMF meters don’t have anything to do with ghosts, right?” Dan asks, ignoring Chris completely and leaning a bit closer to Phil to get a better look at his laptop. “I mean, none of this has anything to do with ghosts, really, but you’re more or less just measuring electricity.”

Phil is aware of that. He wonders if Dan thinks he just stumbles into haunted houses with equipment he hasn’t researched and waits to be spooked. He’s too distracted by how close Dan is and how good they smell to work up to proper offense, though. “Yeah,” he says simply. “But don’t you think it’s weird that the place still has electricity to begin with? Who’s paying for that?”

“A Wilkins, I’d imagine.”

“But why? If they’ve forgotten about the property or abandoned it on purpose, surely they wouldn’t still pay the bills.”

“Maybe they don’t handle their own finances,” Dan suggests. “How rich were these assholes?”

“I honestly don’t know,” says Phil. He taps his fingers in an erratic pattern on the edge of his laptop, trying to spark something in his mind.

It’s almost disappointing when Dan pulls away to dig out their own sleek Macbook out of their messenger bag, but Phil is also glad for it. He can think a lot easier when the warm scent of spice and mint isn’t clogging his brain.

Dan slots into the work as easily as if a space was left for them. They’ve got dozens of tabs open already and they start to go through them, cross-referencing magic things with Sophie in quiet tones and digging deeper into the Wilkins family than Phil ever would have thought to. Every so often they tap Phil on the arm and drag him into whatever rabbithole they’ve fallen down, chatting animatedly.

Phil knows, objectively, that Dan is a fan of his and that Dan is weird about research. It’s another thing entirely to watch it happen in real time, to see Dan pull up local census PDFs from the eighties and explain why chaos magic is bullshit in the same breath.

An hour or so goes by like that, all of them working on their own things with minimal words exchanged by everybody but Dan, and then Chris shouts loud enough to make the barista jump. Nobody else is in the coffee shop right now, which is lucky, because Dan’s got a hand over their chest and Sophie has slopped tea down her front. PJ, with his headphones on, simply cracks an eye open.

“What the fuck was that about?” Phil asks, putting his own palm against his chest to feel his heart race. Dan raises their eyebrows and looks at Phil, seemingly distracted from the startling, wordless exclamation.

They don’t get a chance to say whatever they’re thinking, though, because Chris is turning his laptop to the rest of the table and grinning wide like the Cheshire Cat. “I found something.”

Everybody gathers round, PJ getting up to lean over the back of Phil’s chair and Sophie getting so far into Dan’s personal space that Phil is certain they’re uncomfortable with it, and then Chris presses play upside down. It’s part of Sophie’s footage, Phil standing in the dim foyer and looking frustrated. Even without sound, Phil can tell that this is when he was arguing with Sophie about going upstairs. He squints, but he can’t see whatever it is that’s got Chris being so loud.

“What am I looking at?” PJ asks when the short clip ends, and Dan hums an agreement. Chris makes a frustrated noise like they’re being obtuse on purpose and rewinds to the beginning.

"There," Chris says, excited like he hasn't been since they got to Manchester. He taps his finger against the laptop screen. "D'you see it? D'you see the shadow?"

Now that Chris has pointed it out, Phil does see something. He moves his own laptop and notebook out of the way to pull Chris’ closer with a frown. Chris lets him do that, bouncing in his seat a little bit.

“That’s straight up a person,” Phil says slowly, tracing the outline of the shadow with the mouse. It’s behind him, in the entry to the kitchen, and it looks tall. Quite a bit taller than Phil, anyway, if he’s remembering that doorframe correctly. He decides to measure it next time they go so he isn’t going off memory. “I knew we weren’t alone in there. Like. I’m not crazy, that’s a human being.”

“That’s what I thought,” says Chris. “But press play.”

So Phil presses play. He watches the shadow stay perfectly still in the kitchen doorway until, suddenly, it’s not there anymore. He blinks, rewinds, and watches it disappear again.

Phil’s caffeinated brain is firing on all cylinders now. He grins and shoves his sleeves up to his elbows before he starts fiddling with the clip. The lighting gets played with until the shadow is more obvious and then he slows it down to 0.25 times speed to see if the shadow really just vanishes.

He presses play again. This time, with a very slow-motion Phil talking in the foreground, he sees the shadow move. It runs sideways, further into the house.

“What the fuck?” Dan breathes.

“We are not going back there without some serious protection,” PJ says, even firmer on the topic now.

“What, like sigils?” Dan asks, their pretty eyes wide even as they scoff. “You’d be better off with a fucking, like, baseball bat, mate. That doesn’t look like something that wants to be your friend.”

“I’ve got a crowbar in PJ’s trunk,” Phil says, absent-minded as he plays with the clip some more.

“Excuse me? When did you put that in my car?”

“Couple months ago.”

“Huh. How have I not noticed?”

“You’re not the most observant person I’ve ever met,” says Phil. He looks up at Chris, who’s got the same exhilarated look that Phil is sure he’s mirroring. They don’t get evidence like this very often, something so clearly there that it’s even got a skeptic’s mind racing. Phil exports the edited clip and then the original, putting them both into the Cloud and emailing them to himself. “Was this the only time you saw it?”

Chris nods, accepting his laptop back when Phil is done with it. “I’ll look through everything again, now that I know what I’m looking for and all, but I think that’s it.”

“Okay, cool.” Phil looks around at his friends and Dan, beaming. “Something weird is happening. I love it when something weird is happening.”

“I hate it when something weird is happening,” PJ says, which is a blatant lie.

“Well, we can’t go snooping around until it’s darker out, anyhow,” Sophie reminds them.

“Wait, we’re snooping?” Dan asks, their voice going up an entire octave in disbelief. “Like… you just saw that someone is there and probably not happy about people sneaking around, right? Don’t you have enough for a video already?”

“We’re spending the night,” says Phil. “It’s what we do.”

“It’s what you do,” PJ corrects him.

“Okay, yeah, you guys don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

“No, I’m coming,” says PJ.

As if she can’t hear them bickering, Sophie turns to Dan with a sweet smile, her eyes twinkling with the same excitement in Chris’. They love this, just like Phil does. “What about you, Dan?” she asks. “Are you going to have a ghost sleepover with us?”

“There’s no such thing as ghosts,” Dan says, their eyes still glued to the back of Chris’ laptop like they can see the shadow through it.

“Guess you don’t have anything to be afraid of, then,” says Chris.

“Uh, axe murderers, maybe?”

“We know what we’re doing, Dan,” Phil reassures them. He reaches a hand out to pat at their arm, feeling a bit awkward about it. “But you don’t have to come with us if you’re scared.”

That makes Dan’s gaze shift. Suddenly, those brown eyes are staring right into Phil’s soul, defiant and beautiful and impossible to look away from.

“Who said I was fucking scared?”

[macklives]

i dont technically hardcore ship kids buuuut i will say “fuck thats hecking cute” to any and all pairings and join in on the fun wholesome content. for example, if you give me fanart, give me fics, give me headcanons, then im already sold on how adorable that specific pairing will be bc theres now some quality content to explore. as long as its not toxic, disgusting or impractical.

god okay, get motherfucking ready guys.

now, i may rant a bit on the matter to further explain my point of view on shipping in this comic and how i will go around it lol. sorry for the long note. there’s a tldr at the end.

honestly, idc who gets together, bc i just want the kids to be happy and if the pairing is happy together, thats all that matters to me. i just dont like taking shipping to the extreme, yknow. (which means having nsfw stuff for kids and flipping out if one ship is canon when another really should be. similar to many other fandoms who have those problems and i just.. dont get why?) anyways, thats not to say i will freak out if a cute pairing of mine becomes canon and especially if the rep is nice. and honestly? ill probably freak out for any canon ship as long as its healthy and theyre both happy - as ive mentioned. keep in mind im still a fan lmao, i will prob participate in the recurring ship talk and discourse bc ugh it can be so fucking cute.

anyways, regarding what we have now, i honestly like all pairings atm (obviously between the kids only and not some cursed ones ive heard about which i refuse to get into). all their interactions are so unique and cute and quite adorable. davejade is wholesome. johnrose is valid. i also like jaderose, daverose and johndave. which technically is almost every possible pairing lmfao. sometimes my opinion can vary, sometimes things could happen to make my view on that specific pairing to change. and sometimes new people come into the picture which allows me to explore more potential candidates that i think would be better for that characters rather than just having a ship to progress the plot further. if that makes sense. it always depends, doesnt it? (so keep in mind you can ask me if i ever have changed my opinion on a specific ship, character, ect in the future)

and of course, there’s a big difference between who i think are going to get together and who i wouldnt mind getting together despite canonical evidence that it wont happen. which i wont get into unless yall want me to talk about in depth who likes who and how it will probably impact the relationships of the characters vs how it should be.. well, not “fixed”, but what could be another alternative if a specific relationship seems to have its downfalls. 

however, i doubt there’s going to be any “endgame” ships bc homestuck is more prone to story telling than romance. it’s a webcomic for plot and probable character growth rather than making people’s ships come true. meaning shipping is a concept that andrew will give you, and he will give you all types of interaction so you’re free to ship what you want. however, he’ll leave it open without giving us an ultimate pairing. which is where i think this comic will go. i may be wrong. but it seems the most likely situation.

so shipping is all fun and games but things happen, not everything becomes canon and even if i have theories on future relationships, i will only analyze what we were given and not necessarily based on non-canonical evidence. so as much as i like crackships (and boy do i have fun in crackships, lets be real), because this is a liveblog, i wont be able to get into depth with false claims on a ship if there’s literally nothing to go on. however, pls expect joke ships to happen. if i say cake #42 wants to be with john’s fake arms, so be it. that was a fun time on the discord, man. i love joking around but then again, they are just jokes. im not actually shipping them. its similar to how i view dave and AT. they got married duh. yet thats a joke. something i will bring up again, but that never means im serious about it. (besides imp soap opera. thats becoming massively real now, isnt it. a liveblog inside joke that got way out of hand and is now canon.)

anyways, romance is a nice bonus treat for everyone as they read a webcomic which is not centered around it. and of course ill analyse the possibilities of what we could get and how characters will go through it based on their personalities and past experiences, but i dont think itll become a main part of homestuck as of now. perhaps something.. could happen in the future? and ill keep my hopes of some pairings getting together. but, overall, i will be happy with whatever we get and i refuse to bitch about how some ship is better than the other and be mad at homestuck in its entirety. because andy here is not trying to portray a romcom, he’s making an actual story.

wow, i kind of went off a little on what you were trying to ask in the first place, but i feel this was a nice place to get that out there and explain how ill perceive shipping in homestuck. all so i wont have to explain this for the future when characters potentially start getting together. which is to say, ill enjoy shipping characters on my hs experience, hell, ill even participate in it, but they are 13 and i have my limits.

cool. i feel like i just wrote a philosophy book.

tldr; shipping is a nice gateway in a fandom, i like pretty much anything as long as its not toxic and theyre happy together. expect character/relationship analyses in the future.