#im a sucker for their trope....

[jelloia]

It is another kid’s ghost too, so that may become awkward a few years down the line.

DJSFJHEJ idk about the underage marriage part but beckett being the only fowl to pull a girl is sending me

[whump-in-the-closet]

The Small Moments

its the small moments in whump for me, those glimpses right before and after your character loses it all in no chronological order

-- the hitched breath after a blow to the face

-- the sound of footsteps in the hallway, and the flinching when the door opens

-- the soft sound, more animal than human, when whumpee pulls a blood-drenched hand away from their side

-- caretaker leaning over whumpee, whispering assurances that they cant keep

-- when the curses catch in whumpee's throat and all they can manage is a strangled, don't...please

-- when whumpee stumbles and clings to the doorway. better when they look up and meet caretaker's eyes. The slow, dreaded realization. caretaker lunges forward, but not in time to catch whumpee

-- when whumpee's head hits the tiles with a thud

-- the panic they swallow down when they see Whumper for the first time

-- the added details of used knives, splattered with dried blood, faded from crimson to rusty brown

-- the dead, hollowed-out light in whumpee's eyes after they're rescued

-- coughing that turns into whumpee doubling over, and desperately, so desperately trying to hide the fact they coughed up blood

-- a still hand, palm up on the floor, and no semblance of consciousness. The pool of blood around them is growing

-- caretaker pausing-- oh. oh god-- when they rush through the door to rescue whumpee, their eyes widening and stomach dropping, before cutting whumpee down from their restraints

-- Whumper tracing whumpee's jaw with the tip of their finger. "Now, isn't this nice."

-- When Whumper kicks Whumpee when they're already down and all Whumpee can manage is a small curse.

-- When Whumper yanks Whumpee's head up by their hair and Whumpee has to squint because of the sudden, sharp light

-- whumpee clutching a sink for a long moment before turning on the faucet and splashing water in their face to hide the fact they've been crying

anyway.

this.

[emmafrostyyy]

y'all sleeping on Astarion/Lae'zel bc this moment is so...the way the flippant demeanor drops and he doesn't hesitate to call her out for sticking with her version of Cazador like their relationship is so underrated fr...

sitting down writing this bullshit like let me peel it like an onion a bit and elaborate why this pairing is fascinating to me

It's really interesting how during the most cathartic, life-altering moment in Astarion's questline, the reactions of the other companions are more about the moral wrongness/guilt of sacrificing innocent lives. Lae'zel doesn't do that and instead relates to his hurt.

She knows what's he's feeling, the lack of control, the unfairness of being powerless for too long. This is a woman who just found out her entire life purpose was built on lies, discarded and hunted by her own people after outliving her usefulness, and groomed to basically die for an insane power-hungry lich queen. She knows all too well that power isn't always real freedom. Her first instinct is to empathize with Astarion to steer him away from his hate and resentment.

Astarion/Lae'zel is so interesting to me because they're such a classic "can we make each other worse or make a better person out of the other?".

They both have genuine appreciation for violence and respect each other's ruthlessness. Astarion was used as a weapon of seduction while Lae'zel was of warfare. Sex with people is meaningless and not real intimacy for them, and while both have little understanding/experience of interpersonal relationships beyond the physical, they still feel and love very deeply. They have no frame of reference for things like friendship and warmth, but they badly want all of that and more, even if they don't know it yet.

In-game they can sleep with each other, which is basically the foundation of the normal Tav/Astarion romance. Lae'zel saw him during combat and got horny, who knows. Astarion who's used to luring people with his charms, takes up Lae'zel's blunt offer because she's a strong hardened warrior that can provide protection and be a worthy ally, and he doesn't know how to say no. Navigating the complications between one who wants to be seen beyond as a sex object, and one who comes from a totally alien culture with no concept of love/family/connections and only sex is honestly really compelling to me. It's a transactional, mutually beneficial thing with no emotional expectations. Once you get past the skeevy rockiness of their early relationship, I really like the idea of them slowly seeing something past the exterior and realizing they may have harshly misjudged the other, an unspoken friendship blooms, and in comes the realization that they are essentially loners longing for kindness and a comforting touch in the most desperate of situations.

Lae'zel is prideful, direct, has no sense of courtship talk, and doesn't hold back her thoughts the slightest--she's not sweet/agreeable and what you see is really what you get, which I imagine would be disarming for Astarion who's used to vacuous flattery and has difficulty trusting others. But she's also insanely protective, passionate, loyal, and an initiator-- every romance scene is triggered by her first and she's always showing effort towards her relationships, which would mesh well with Astarion who does need someone to nudge him.

She doesn't purposely suppress her feelings, she's just simply at loss at how to express them sometimes due to her wildly different upbringing. She stops the sparring match you agree to and an easy vulnerability slips instantly out of her: "I don't want to hurt you. I want to protect you, and for you to protect me." and "Thus far I've taunted you, devoured you, battled you. Now I want more than anything to soothe you." are romantic as fuck and Astarion of all people really needs to hear that tbh.

Astarion is also someone who struggles with reinforcing his boundaries, and a key theme in Lae'zel's romance is that she encourages and wants you to challenge her and learn to stand your ground. It's not gentlest method, but hey, relationships are about having to make an effort to learn each other's language.

I think he also would take pleasure "educating her on the matters of Fay-run" (I believe there's a whole banter with him teasing her and teaching her pet names) and would get a kick out of coaxing Lae'zel out of her shell with her shyness at showing public affection, and making her blush. Also it simply would be fucking funny to see Astarion who's used to easy seduction, trying to pass a persuasion check just to get a smooch and generally having to work to earn regular kisses from Lae'zel lmfaooo

Lae'zel also initially struggles to see her chains as chains. When she learns about Vlaakith's betrayal, she copes instantly through denial and shuts it down. Astarion is NOT having it and calls her out, he knows her well enough to recognize that she would value blunt honesty above all.

I imagine he also despises her lack of self-preservation, the way her entire identity is tied to duty and being in service of others, and doesn't understand her desire to still help/liberate the people that want her dead and are hunting her down. He wants to make this duty-bound soldier realize that looking out for herself, and putting herself first may not be the worst thing in the world.

They're so similar to each other but are also polar opposites in some ways that make a more equal, balanced romance I think. It's not a simple, one-sided, feel-good "she/he can fix her/him" fantasy because both of them have to earn each other's love, actually cut through the other's flaws, and actively motivate each other to be better versions of themselves.

They're not at all the other's ideal guiding hand. It's rough, jagged, and imperfect, but that's how healing goes. It's so far from being the healthiest relationship -- but even if their belief systems differ, their moral compass does often align. I imagine it's a slight relief for them to have a partner where there would be less shame and judgment when they expectedly, occasionally slip up and fall into their bad habits.

Also, man, the "You showed me the betweens and beyonds. Beyond war and peace, beyond passion and obsession, most importantly, you showed me freedom.", "First you were my wound, now you were my cure.", "But you saw something else in me - someone else I could be. Someone who could break the cycle of power and terror that started centuries ago.." lines really hit hard when applied to them.

Of course, they can also make each other worse, feed into the other's negative traits that will bring out the worst part of themselves. It's this duality of their pairing that is very interesting to explore, the way it can steer in either direction because it's an intense, fraught relationship at its core.

[astradella]

BABY LETS BE LOSERS‼️‼️

[satanghulu]

Thnks fr th Mmrs

✦ PAIRING: barbatos & reader (no romantic relationship but you can read it as such) ✦ SUMMARY: A collection of photos throughout his life. ✦ WARNING: FLUFF!! Tooth-rotting fluff to be exact; one use of MC instead of Y/N ✦ WC: 1.8K ✦ tagging my fav barbatos stan @romcomeon huehue, hope u enjoy it!! also huge thanks to lupe & kelo who had to sit thru my rambling while i talked abt this fic 🧍‍♂️

| MASTERLIST

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For a demon who has been there since the beginning of time, Barbatos has never seen the need to be captured in history – he is not the kind of person who has photos of himself in his D.D.D. He doesn’t see the need to. His gallery is filled with pictures of paperwork, the young master in all sorts of situations, sometimes Lucifer makes an appearance along with the other demon brothers. But regardless, there are hardly any photos of himself.

That is until the exchange program happened.

Lately, his gallery seems to be filling up – he has been taking pictures of his baked goods with Luke smiling proudly in the background, (he keeps this photo close to his heart. In a way, this reminds him of the young demon prince.) and he even has pictures with the other angels when there are events organised in the Demon Lord Castle. 

Luke sends him pictures of himself – he saves all of them into a folder on his D.D.D. and sometimes, he pulls them out if he needs a pick-me-up. But most of all, his gallery has been recently populated with pictures of you. Of course, the Demon Prince would be the first in terms of photos in his gallery but following close behind, he has amassed a collection of you.

They’re not even anything special. They are just photos that you have sent over during conversations with him. He categorises them into folders – there is a collection of your selfies, food photos that you send over, photos that reminds him of you, and another one of your daily life.

Maybe it’s the age catching up with him, but he thinks he is becoming softer.

Lucifer tells him so as well.

(“You’ve been smiling at your phone more often nowadays.” Lucifer says. The conversation was unexpected, coming out of nowhere as the two of them were buried deep in paperwork in the Student Council Room.

Barbatos nods, hands paused mid-air in the middle of checking his notifications. 

“Luke sent me photos of Simeon, MC, and him going on a picnic.” He replies instead. His hands were busy moving to place the D.D.D. back into his pockets. To be exact, both Luke and you had sent him photos but saying it in front of Lucifer felt like losing, an uncertain feeling in his stomach.

Lucifer stopped and looked up from his document, tired eyes wide open in surprise.

“I see.” He says after a moment of silence, turning back to his stack of paperwork. The grating noise of pen scratching paper fills the air again.

 “This expression is a good look on you.”  

Barbatos blinks in surprise, mulling the sentence over in his head.)

.

He has a recent new favourite – it’s a photo of the young master, you, and him in a selfie together. It was taken after an expedition to the human world with you being their guide. (There was honestly no reason for you to be the guide but both the young master and him insisted on your help.)

You’re in the middle, face squished in between his and the young master’s. The three of you are wearing accessories; a huge bow headband in matching colours, squeezed into the small photo booth. The demon prince and you had given him puppy eyes to convince him to wear the headbands and it didn’t take much for him to give in.

You’re also holding a huge teddy bear plushie, bestowed by the young demon prince who had wanted to repay you for your time. The maroon teddy bear had taken up most of the space in the photo and is blocking half of your face, but the genuine happy expression on your face is clear as day. 

The picture was adorned with silly doodles, courtesy of both the young prince and you. He places the picture behind his D.D.D – no one knows it’s there, he uses a simple black cover that Luke had gotten him when the little angel had realised he hadn’t changed his case in decades.

The young master has it proudly framed in the office and Lucifer’s eyebrow twitches a little every time he comes into the room. Barbatos finds it funny, really. But he doesn’t comment on it for the sake of the ever-growing stack of paperwork.

.

The young prince was currently on an excursion with the Avatar of Pride and hadn’t wanted him to tag along. Thus, Barbatos had busied himself with assigning the Little D’s chores and re-training them on the basics. Really, he hasn’t been taking care of them much lately and their skills had deteriorated. It seemed that he would need to be stricter in his future training.

From the corner of his eyes, his D.D.D flashes with a notification. He slowly took his time to walk across the room to check on the message. (The Little D’s would beg to differ. They would say that a gust of wind almost sent them flying when Barbatos got up to check on the notification.)

Surprisingly, it was a message from you and not Lord Diavolo. 

.

[02:14PM] You: barbatos, would u be free right abt now? could you stop by HOL? i need ur help with something :<

[02:20PM] Barbatos: I am free right now, thankfully. I’ll head over to the HOL in a minute. 

He’s curious as to what is the issue. It is a given that you have become independent due to the harsh settings of the Devildom and it’s almost unheard of for you to request help, especially from him and not the demon brothers.

.

The doorbell rang, a long chime of an anime song that rings throughout the house. Levi had installed it a few months after moving in and none of them had figured out how to change the tune.

He patiently waits.

The door swings open. He is greeted by the sight of you, eyes bright and wide open as you huff loudly. It seemed that you had run down from somewhere in the house to not keep him waiting.

“Hello.” 

He bows his head slightly as a form of politeness. You stand there, hands on your knees as you try to catch your breath. His lips twitched in amusement but he fought to keep it down. Finally, you cleared your throat and straightened up.

“You’re here! Come with me.” You turned on your heels to walk off, leaving Barbatos in your wake. This strange behaviour left him even more puzzled, yet also entertained. 

He follows behind you, noting that the house seemed quieter than usual. As far as he knows, only the young prince and the firstborn should be out of the house. But he digresses. It’s not his responsibility to keep track of their schedules.

Lost in his thoughts, he only realised that the final destination was your room. He watches as you knock on the door and then immediately pushes him forward to open the door handle. Bemused, he did exactly as you motioned.

“Happy birthday!”

Multicoloured confetti fluttered in his vision, twirling to land around his feet. He stares at the air for a while, the stark contrast of the rainbow-squared paper against the wall somehow made his throat develop a lump.

A tug on his coat caught his attention. He chances a glance down to see a mess of blonde hair sprinkled with colourful paper, bashfully holding the end of his tailcoat.

“Luke.” He says, hand automatically landing on the top of his head to pick out the confetti.

The small angel pushes a gift into his arm, before quickly scuttling away to Simeon’s side. It was a box of macarons and a limited-edition baking cookbook from the Celestial Realm. It was truly sweet how much the little angel catered to his preference.

“The gifts are from Luke and I.” Simeon chuckles, as he pushes Luke in front of him. He arched an eyebrow towards Barbatos, gloved hands placed on the shoulder of the younger angel.

“Thank you.” He said, hands wrapping around the gifts tightly. “I will prepare something for your birthdays next year as well.” The older angel smiles at him peacefully, gesturing for him to turn around.

You stand there with a beam, a present clutched in your arms. He badly wants to pick off the confetti in your hair but he knows it isn’t appropriate.

“We know it’s earlier than your birthday but we wanted to do something for you too.” You pipe up, offering the vaguely book-shaped present to him. 

“Luke and I need to head back to the Celestial Realm on your actual birthday.” Simeon quips in, fingers picking out all the confetti that Barbatos had missed earlier. “And Luke also really wanted to celebrate with you.” Barbatos couldn’t help but find the miniature pout on Luke’s face cute.

“Anyways, open it!” With excitement evident in your voice, you dragged Barbatos to sit on the bed. Dimly, he notes that the teddy bear that the young master had gotten for you was taking up almost half of the bed. (Maybe for the sake of your quality of sleep, he should magic it down.) He carefully tears the wrapping off, and what’s inside makes him let out a soft appreciative noise.

“Do you like it?” You gave him a big toothy grin, eagerly pointing at the book. “I noticed how much you liked the photo we took together during our trip in the human world.”

Barbatos stays silent, staring blankly at the book. The moment everything sinks in, he looks up at you with eyes wide and searching.

“I pulled some strings and went around collecting photos from everyone.” You continued bragging, tugging the book away from him. You flipped through the pages to point at each picture, the two angels crowding around the bed to listen intently.

“I had the most trouble collecting this particular--“

“--Thank you.” He says once. “Thank you all.” He speaks out louder again, feeling like his heart was laid bare for all to see. In retrospect, a photo album and a cooking book are considered nothing in the larger scheme of things but the thoughtfulness behind the gifts makes it feel…different.

Most of his usual composure has been lost due to the embarrassed flush on his cheek but no one in the room points it out. Instead, you smile softly at him as you reach out to tap him on the shoulder once for reassurance.

“Picture?”

Simeon brandishes a camera, a model that Barbatos vaguely recognises from the Celestial Realm. You squeeze up beside him, wrapping an arm around his waist as you push Luke to sit on his other end.

“You can add this photo to the album too.” You whisper into his ears as if you were telling him a top-notch secret. “I left some slots blank so that we can fill it up in the future.”

He ponders your words in his head even as the timer goes off and the resultant flash blinds his vision for a bit.

We, huh?

He supposes that it has a nice ring to it.

══════════════════

a/n ▸ i’m of the agenda that barbatos adopted luke as his nephew/son or whatever but i just know he showers luke in love (as he should) also the photobooth photo is just because im a huge huge sucker for photobooths. I love wearing headbands and taking silly photos <3 also, first barb fic. do not perceive me too much. im struggling. /j ;; also can this be accepted as a very late barbatos birthday post

[ipostmysimpingstuffanonymously]

My entry for a prompt week we organized on the SatoSho Discord Server. The prompt was Soft Touches

[vampiresbloodx]

Seeing your childhood!best friend!Natasha Romanoff for the first time in so long the day you arrived at your home town to see your mom again, you weren't all that surprised to see Natasha already there, apparently, she just likes to hang around and chat with your mom every now and then, checking in on her which you find sweet, but you know the real reason why she sticks around.

She's hoping to see you again, hear your voice, your laughter, smiles, how carefree the two of you once were, it seems everything has changed, for the better or for the worse she doesn't know. The day you left town was the worst day of her life, she dreaded that moment, where she'd watch you drive away, she feared she'll never see you again, but luck just might be on her side when you show up again on your old childhood homes doorstep, she's already there, waiting.

"Natasha?" You said, in slight shock and confusion, almost didn't recognise her at first.

"wow, so formal are we now? That you don't call me Nat anymore?" She teased, you rolled your eyes at her playfully.

God you're still so pretty, she thinks.

"Nat" you say with a grin, "it's good to see you're still alive."

"thanks, same goes for you" she said with a smile.

"I'd honestly thought you would have died in some accident by now" you joked, she scoffed, chuckling.

"oh yeah? I thought college would have killed you instead" she snickered, the old banter you two used to have still there, she likes that.

But there's something about you that seems different to Nat, she doesn't know what exactly, you've changed.

The flutter in her heart still hasn't gone away when she sees you smile at her.

"well, what are you doing just standing there? Come on in, Yelena's missed you a lot! So have I, of course."

[nouearth]

oh, professor!peter parker, what can i do for you to bump my grade up...? 😩

[ivipl1]

(You look over at Sage.)

(...they seem bored.)

[hashtagnevermore]

THE MISFITS AND THEIR SILLY LITTLE BLOOD OATH I WANT WHAT THEY HAVE SO BAD

[trendingdrama]

LOVELY RUNNER 선재 업고 튀어 (2024)

[ooeygooeyghoul]

I'll never forgive ffxiv for not letting the WoL show affection to the twins. You spend the whole game with them watching them grow and hurt and change, and I REALLY feel like they deserve some hugs or at least something more than a couple dialog options and the stoic silent nod lol. Alphinaud canonically looks up to the WoL as an older sibling, and Alisaie repeatedly relies on them as a close companion and guardian. Those kids be starved as hell for any kind of positive role model to tell them they're doing great (which is even more true later on aha).

I was so disappointed when the reunion with them in Norvrandt was just them talking at you. Thancred gets to give Ryne headpats, why can't I have that for the twins!! Let me show them how proud of them I am I NEED them to understand that I care them so much-

[a-v-j]

Who came up with the brilliant idea to have Orion and D-16 as husbands and B as their adopted baby-

Yall know what

I love it

[blu-ish]

The character arc of the century

[cadashly]

It's the (literal) found family of it all for me. That's why I love the mourn watch backstory. Family is an aspect DAO and DA2 did so well but DAI barely touched. Lavellan's whole clan can die and it's never really acknowledged.

And I don't expect Veilguard will go into it extensively either given how many backgrounds there are but I'm just loving the potential of the concept. Undead finding a living baby in a tomb, which like?? Why did their parents leave them there of all places? Did they not expect Ingellvar to live?

And then a group of necromancers just have a kid to raise?? In a crypt full of undead and spirits no less. They better tell me at least the name of the main person or people who looked after Mourn Watch Rook. Please, Bioware!

[tonydaddingham]

okay wait so im having a bit of a crisis over how crowley fell. my man says "i only asked questions" in one breath, and then "i just hung around the wrong people". then about the fall itself, "i just sort of... sauntered... vaguely downwards'", but then "did a million-light-year, freestyle dive in to pool of burning sulphur!"

so which is it, crowley? my buddy my pal? which shitshow actually happened here?

well, only one of these remarks was in front of aziraphale. funnily enough, the one about it being a leisurely stroll into hell like he owned the place. the others, the wrong friends, the asking questions and the horrific crash landing into dis or wherever was alone, only to the camera.

has crowley been trying to protect aziraphale from knowing not only was the fall incredibly painful and frightening, but that also protecting aziraphale from the knowledge that even though aziraphale warned him not to, he went and asked questions anyway? that in essence, aziraphale failed to save crowley?

alternatively, are all answers wrong, and crowley is either lying, or doesn't remember why/how he fell? did he even technically fall at all (reawakening theory that crowley fell for a reason -- see reason: god's ineffable plan -- and she wiped his memory of it)? crowley still has wings, and presumably the other demons don't - is this why he does?

edit bc important: "I play an ineffable game of my own devising..." 👀