#improvements can be made but for the most part I’m quite happy w it :))))

[noodles-and-tea]

And the address is 221b Baker Street… ;)

[lightlycareless]

Valentine's day '24 special — pt. 2

sequel to this.

Heya everyone!!! Sorry for the delay, you will not believe what happened to me 💀 I was intending to upload this much earlier, but by some strange reason my neighborhood just didn't have electricity anymore—for hours. BUT It's finally back, and with it, the second part of my valentine's day special :>

I won't say much, except that the whole plot turned to be quite different than what I envisioned; will I say I didn't like it? No, I feel like it was according to the character's personality and such, very... teenage awkwardness 😂🤭

Anyways, I won't say much anymore, outside of the warnings: highschool au. no major ones. angst. a jealous/possessive naoya.

Without further a do, happy reading, and happy valentine's day!

taglist: @sureconfused

You weren’t the only one excited for this day, by far, albeit for other… reasons.

Made into a well-kept secret, Naoya, heir of the Zen’in, was impatiently waiting for the day he’d effectively label himself as the best catch there ever was—

And win your affection.

Although he’ll have to admit that achieving this feat wasn’t all too easy as he once expected, less with the unwanted advancements valentine’s day brought upon.

Was it a matter of not getting chocolates? Even with his reputation, he still managed to bag a few. Naoya was handsome and rich after all, things that didn’t necessarily need to intertwine with a good personality in order for someone to like him. One has to be blind for that!

The problem here was that none of the gifts he got that day belonged to you, and that put him in a very, very bad mood.

More so when learning that Geto was the one stealing his rightful spot.

“How come he got chocolates from her, and not me?!” Naoya would cry to his best friend, Ranta, as soon as classes were over. The poor kid, although miles away and safeguarded by the other side of the line, still recoiled in surprise by his tone. “What, suddenly I’m not good enough for Y/N?!”

“I wouldn’t say that necessarily, Naoya.” Ranta attempts to comfort him, whatever he can through his friend’s frantic state anyways. “From what you told me, Geto is really popular, right?”

“I’m popular too.” Naoya quickly responds.

«But not for the right reasons» Ranta holds his tongue from saying, instead, he sighs.

“Just take it as what it was—a popular guy getting chocolates; that’s all. He must’ve gotten a thousand, he probably didn’t even notice.”

Damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t. Naoya is quickly irritated by the notion of your efforts being disregarded.

“I would’ve noticed!”

“Then do it.” Ranta says, Naoya frowns, confused. “White day is next month; it’ll be the perfect moment to let her know of your feelings!”

“What?—no. She has to come to me.” He corrected, Ranta does his best to not groan out of exasperation.

“Naoya, have you even spoken to her, outside of jujutsu stuff?”

Nope. Not at all. And yet, Naoya already envisioned you’d be the one he’d marry.

“Then start by something simple.” Ranta continues. “A letter telling her your feelings and how you’d like to know her better can go a long way.”

“But I don’t—men aren’t supposed to do that.”

“Well, what you won’t, maybe Geto will.”

“…I dare you to say that in front of my face.”

Ranta knows he’ll live to regret it later, but honestly, it was the only way he could get Naoya to actually do something about this growing infatuation he’d long determined to be more than a mere attraction.

He’s never seen his friend so… whipped for anyone before, ever, to the point of spending most, if not all, of their conversations talking about her.

There was even a moment where Ranta felt like he was unwittingly third wheeling, and they weren’t even dating yet!

But putting that aside, this could be a positive influence on Naoya’s life too. Perhaps you could soften his edges or make him a better person! —The way his mood improves whenever you’re in his mind is something he could get used to.

Except this time, of course, but that’s within reason (even for Ranta, Naoya’s jealousy still adds up.)

So, after the right motivation (or more like threat), Naoya begins to write down the perfect letter to demonstrate his feelings and intentions with you.

Or tries to.

Naoya has never considered himself particularly the best when it came to showing vulnerability, even though he’s taken countless classical literature courses many would’ve assumed amounted to something—

But like a true man in love, the things he once impossible were nothing but small hindrances along the way.

And soon, here he is, letter in hand as he heads over to the small booth Mei Mei set up for her stupid Cupid Mail thing she set up or whatever she called it—coincidentally, the perfect way to deliver his missive.

Because obviously, beneath his exuberant overconfidence, Naoya is actually very, very shy when it comes to approaching you.

“Off to confess your feelings for darling Y/N?” Mei Mei asks with a sly smirk that passes undetected to him, ass well as her words, once arriving.

“Yes, I ought to before anyone—wait, where did you even get that—”

“I have my ways.” She interrupts. But to anyone with eyes, it was nothing less than obvious. “Anyways, you know my price when it comes to keeping secrets.”

It’s not the first time he’s used her services, and it seems it wouldn’t be the last either.

“Whatever—just—send this letter for me. To Y/N.”

“Hmm… it’ll be ¥1500 please.”

“To send a letter?!” he cries. “What are you going to do, have it signed by the emperor??”

“No, but for people that already have lots of letters piled up, I tend to charge an extra fee—and an additional one if you want it to be first in line.”

“…what?” Naoya breathes.

“What? Thought you were the only one that liked her?” she snickers.

“What do you mean she has piled up letters?” Naoya asks, and having to repeat her words made his heart sink further into his stomach. “From who?!”

“That’s confidential, Zen’in-san.” Mei Mei discloses. “I can’t risk the identity of my clients—”

“How much do you want?” He counters; not buying her sudden righteousness, not even for a second.

“¥100,000”

“Fine, just—”

“Per letter.”

Naoya’s eye twitches at the outrageous bank statement he’d later have to defend before his family.

But even then, he feels no regret when it comes to knowing who could be having the upper hand against him and seize it.

“Here—take whatever you want but let me see who’s sending her letters.”

Mei Mei grins once Naoya sends her a money transfer equivalent to the 15 people that had written out their feelings for you (allegedly), happily obliging when handing over the missives for his open scrutiny, alongside some silly gifts that made him wonder if he also should’ve gotten you something more than just a paper.

However, that thought doesn’t last longer than a few seconds when his eyes fall on the names of the senders. The familiarity of one catching his attention to the fullest, blood running cold upon acknowledging the depth of your relationship with him, and what this could mean for his own advances.

Nanami.

Your proclaimed best friend…

Had sent you a letter, because more likely, he liked you.

…

Naoya didn’t bother to ask Ranta for advice for he already knew what to do. Or at least what his heart was pushing him to commit.

“She’s quite the popular one, isn’t she? Must be because of her siblings—”

“How much to not send anything to her?”

“Oh.” Mei Mei’s eyes glinted with greed and surprise. Although her interest mostly dwelled on the first. “Don’t tell me the great Naoya Zen’in is feeling threatened.”

Or more like afflicted.

“Just tell me how much. And so no one else can send her anything either.”

She smiles—Mei Mei couldn’t believe it was that easy to hit jackpot, but she won’t complain.

“A million.”

“Done.”

“Are you still sending the letter?” she still asks, shamelessly, as if she hadn’t just secured her living for the foreseeable future.

“Yes.”

Although not by itself anymore.

Understanding the sensibility in which he’d greatly miscalculated the intervention of others, Naoya rushes to make himself stand out by all means possible, as well as show just how strong his determination was to be with you.

Thus, the plushies he heard were of your liking, your favorites, or simply reminded him of you, soon began to make their way to him, settling the first foundations of the boxes he was to send you.

Alongside the sweets he’s seen you bring along for lunch, either through the nearest vending machine or gifted from your siblings and friends—didn’t matter how, just that you loved them.

To add a twist, jewelry was also included. Ones he thought would look great on you, both representing a piece of his immeasurable wealth, and his undying affection for you.

And lastly, but not least, roses. Flowers that were prided on for their beauty and significance, the perfect way to profess one’s feelings and cement them as real—he found no personal use behind them, not when he thought you much more alluring, but if necessary…

Amongst the other gifts Mei Mei managed to sneak in, like a true visionaire, for her financial gain.

Down to the smallest detail, everything was intricately planned for White Day to unfold: yes, even their tardy arrival.

The reason why Naoya chose the end of the day to deliver his countless gifts was simply because he thought he’d make a greater impression this way, give you something to think about after a long day of boring work and once back in your room.

To keep your mind completely on him, wondering who was attentive enough to bless you with all these gestures…

And of course, making you smile, cheeks flustered and face beaming in the same beautiful way that always mesmerized him—just like now.

“I… I can’t believe it.” You’d whisper to yourself while overlooking your gifts one more time; gaze lost in the ocean of sweets, flowers, and jewelry alike. There were just too many, you simply didn’t know where to start!

Or how to take them with you.

“I, uh… I think I’m going to need help to move them to my dorm” you say, eyes circling back to Mei Mei. “Do you think you can—oh.”

But she was already gone, possibly to complete more of her money-hungry schemes, such as convincing Satoru to spend more money on Suguru, or scam an innocent, unsuspecting student to confess their feelings to their crush, whom she knows has no chance with, via her postal service, or not. Mei Mei was always a mystery.

What was not a mystery, was the unwitting companionship she left you behind with, an astonished crowd slowly surrounding you the moment the first gift graced your hands, all in a similar state of disbelief, if not jealousy—

Alongside a fascinated admirer.

“Oh, how am I going to move all this—”

“Let me help you.” Keeping a close eye at a distance, Naoya sees this opportunity as his moment, and steps in.

“Naoya!” You gasp, startled by his unexpected appearance, a rare occurrence unless it involved sorcery manners, or Satoru. “I didn’t see you get here, where did you come from?”

“My class just finished, and I was heading back to the dorms.” He explains—a blatant lie, considering the teacher didn’t show up because of a date, or so many theorized. “What’s with all the gifts?”

“I know, right? Can you believe they’re all for me??” you bubbled—grabbing on the compliment bait he’d thrown. “But they don’t come with a sender.”

“Really? How weird…” Naoya plays along, wanting to hear more of your enthusiastic praises. “You don’t think it’s from a creep or something, right?”

“I don’t to think so... I don’t want to think it was.” You say, twisting your lips in concern. Naoya then quietly scolds himself for foolishly planting the seed of doubt in your mind. “Anyways, I thought it was sweet.”

As if he couldn’t fall more in love with you. Naoya smiles.

“I’m glad you did.”

For the slightest of seconds, you press your brows together, finding his words to be a bit odd, if not contradictory, to his previous statement—almost as if he were somewhat involved.

“Thanks…?”

“So…” Naoya says, walking over to one of the many baskets and picking them up. “What do you think of this?”

Even when finding his sudden interest odd, since he never struck you as the kind of person to care about these “silly” (his words) situations, you agree to indulge him only because he’s helping you.

And because this is so in-your-face, you really couldn’t blame him for being curious.

“About the gifts?” You ask.

Guess the weird part of it is that he’s insisting so much. Wasn’t your previous answer enough?

“Yeah.”

“Well, I told you; it was sweet.” You repeat, leading him towards your dorm. “And even though the mystery surrounding the sender adds a layer of romanticism to these gifts, I really want to know who did it.”

“For what?” Naoya pushes forward—all because in his mind, he thinks you’ve now unknowingly fallen for him too, and wants to confirm it.

“Oh, uh—I’m just curious! I mean, I’m human, you know?” you explain with a chuckle. “Don’t you feel the same way when this happens?”

Then, something in your mind clicked.

“No—Naoya, don’t tell me you didn’t get anything?!” you gasp.

«From the one I want, no.» he wishes to say, but it felt redundant to do so.

“I didn’t ask that.” Naoya responds instead, words that sting you, although not so much anymore, since you’ve long accepted that he can be quite… crude when he doesn’t want to talk about something.

“…Sorry.” You murmur, moving forward. Something so nice shouldn’t be ruined by his inability to socialize like a normal human being. “But… yeah, I guess I’m just curious. I mean, I’ve never gotten so many things like this before, it almost feels like I’m undeserving!”

“You’re not.”

You frown once again—why is he acting so weird, today, of all days?

“Well, at least I won’t have to buy sweets for a long time now.” You say with a smile, already savoring the delicacies before you. “Although the mochi are not making it past today! How did they even know taro was my favorite?”

And there was still one last thing for you to see—his letter.

Naoya was planning on giving it to you once arriving at your dorm, but your excitement, alongside your beautiful beaming smile, and your glistening eyes, pushed him to act now.

“Y/N.” Naoya says, a stern tone that makes you stop and turn around.

“Hm?”

“…What would you do if I… told you I knew who sent all these gifts?”

“You do?” you breathe. His heart clenches with longing.

“Hypothetically.” Naoya says. Even if he’s absolutely confident he wants to do this, there’s still a part of him, although very small, that fills him with hesitance. He can’t be judged for wanting to be cautious, right?

“Oh, well, if that’s the case… I’d like to thank him first.” You respond. “Although a bit exaggerated, it was still the nicest gesture I’ve gotten in a while. And it definitely made my day! I was just about to head to my room to whine about not getting anything, haha! Anyways… what I mean to say is, I’d like to thank them and… maybe even get to know them bett—”

“Me.” Naoya says without further precedent, you blink.

“What?”

“Me. It was me. I sent the gifts.” He reiterated, through the sudden knot forming in his throat and the rising heat of his cheeks.  “I’m the one you want to thank. The one that sent everything: from the box in your hands, to the rest of the things in your dorm.”

Naoya was wholeheartedly expecting you to glee and cheer now that the revelation was, open the door for the relationship he envisioned would begin from this day forward…

And not your following reaction.

“That’s—that’s a good one, Naoya!” You laugh nervously. “You almost got me there!”

If he didn’t know any better, it would seem you were attempting to hide disappointment. And your once dreamy laughter became his absolute nightmare.

“I’m not joking.” Naoya justifies, growing defensive of what little dignity he had left.

“Oh…” murmur, chuckle slowly subsiding while opening way to your true emotions, filling you with tension at the one outcome he never considered palpable.

“Were you expecting someone else?” He dares to ask, with an accusatory tone that lets you know you’ve stung a nerve.

And as much as honesty seemed to be the most intimidating path to take, it was still the right one.

“I—I mean… yeah.” You anxiously admit, his frown deepens.

“So, what? Even with my gifts, I’m still not good enough for you?”

“What? No! That’s not it, Naoya!” Your voice trembles—regretful for the misinterpretation of your words; but truth to be told, there was no amount of assertiveness that could’ve mended Naoya’s slowly breaking heart.

“Then what is it?” influenced by a thousand reasons, he goes with the most hurtful one. “It’s someone else, isn’t it? Was it Nanami?”

“What does he have to do with anything?” you cautioned.

“Nothing.” He rushes to cover, thankfully for him, you seem to drop the subject all together. “Why does it seem so shocking I got you these things? Weren’t you say how much liked them a few minutes ago? Or how much you wanted to thank the person behind them?”

“I didn’t—I mean… I’m still grateful for the gifts, but… I have to be honest.” You thread carefully, heart on your throat. “I don’t… know you. And you don’t know me, either.”

“What do you mean you don’t know me? We’ve worked together before, hadn’t we?”

“Naoya… We barely talk to each other outside of class, and—and… forgive me if I don’t believe your interest in me, but what am I supposed to think after the way you act whenever I’m around?”

“What way??”

While the rest of the world seemed to be nothing but acknowledging of Naoya’s infatuation with you, if not irritated by your obliviousness—

All this time, you were seeing the other side of the coin.

Starting from the silent way he’d stare at you, a piercing gaze that made you feel miniscule, scrutinized, urging you to leave his sight as soon as possible.

Followed by the irritation in his face whenever you’d interact with someone else, as if wondering where you’d get the audacity to interact with his fellow classmates, or anyone at all.

Adding the way he’d swiftly avoid you when accidentally bumping into you—uttering a quick watch out before leaving you to your own devices, careless to bother checking if you were hurt, or not.

And now, the defensiveness in which he took your skepticism.

Was it surprising that you didn’t believe his intentions? From your point of view, it was only obvious.

But to him, it was the highest of distresses.

Guess explaining his behavior towards you up to that point would amount to nothing.

Why would he bother wasting his breath affirming to you that the only reason why he did all those things was because he was afraid of approaching you? Ignorant on how to make you like him? Or because he was jealous of others?

…when he’s already ruined everything, anyways?

“I thank you for all the beautiful things you got me, Naoya, but… I think they’re better off with someone you do like.” You say, looking down at the box, before moving it closer to him. “Besides, we both know I’m not your type.”

“Not my type? What’s that supposed to mean?”

From the rumors surrounding him, to his behavior, it was the only conclusion you could get at.

But more precisely, the continuously proved reputation he’s got of dating girls only to dump them a few days later.

While he might be exceptional when it comes to giving gifts, you were looking for something a bit more… long term, permanent, in the emotional department.

And to you, Naoya was just not that kind of person.

The silence between the two gave you enough time to define your next step.

“I can give you the things back if you want—”

“No, keep them, I got them with you in mind anyways, what good will it do to give them to someone else?” He frowns, his heart effectively shattered at this point. “Or throw them away, I don’t care.”

That would be the last time you’d see Naoya that week, who’d still helped you move all of the gifts towards your dorm and placing them just outside the door before retreating to what you supposed to be the city—no doubt in your mind that he already had other plans for the day, just staying around to see if he could try his luck with you, before going to plan B.

After all, a man like him surely couldn’t settle for just one person, a date being nothing but a box to check in his routine.

And you were surprisingly accurate—

If you were referring to the Naoya who hadn’t met you yet.

Because since you arrived in his life, you’re all he thinks of. All he could bother to care for, day and night, he only longed to be with you.

But after today, he’s not sure if this is even something he wishes to continue doing. If there’s even hope for someone like him, who’s ruined all his chances—a purpose to fight for.

A friendship with you is the last thing he could expect to happen now, especially after the gruesome conclusion you granted him. Perhaps there was never even a reason to start off from, only his delusions longing for something better.

Yet, unbeknownst to him, this was only the beginning.

Ok so I do feel a bit guilty for going down the angsty path BUT hear me out, it makes sense!!! naoya is the kind of person to make up this whole life with you and he hasn't even spoken with you lol.

outside of that, the beauty of oneshots is that I can literally write 10000 versions of this same scenario 😏 I already have another one in mind, but I'll postpone it to after the other requests I have on my ask.

Either way, I still hope you enjoyed this piece :> Happy valentines day!!

Take care, and hope to see you around ❤️

[matheotoyoursahrefortheworld]

                 SEVEN DAYS WITHOUT CLASSES The school's second-quarter exams ended, and that meant it was time for a break. From January 24 to January 30, I had a whole week off, and it happened to include my 13th birthday. But my plans for the break didn't quite turn out as I expected.

At first, I thought the break would be a blast. No more studying, no more early mornings. But instead of doing something cool or useful, I mostly just lounged around. I stayed in bed way too much, played a ton of video games, and ate way too many/much snacks. I had thought about doing some research for school during the break, but I never got around to it. Looking back, I can see that I missed out on a chance to make good use of my time.

Well in the first day of our semestral break, we planned to celebrate our fiesta on January 27 and 28. after planning, my cousins, uncle and auntie help us cook and clean the house. After our fiesta, I was very happy to see our cousins that we never saw, because of pandemic and they were very far from home.

On second day, I thought of something new, something fun like making my own ingredient to make food.it is my favorite thing to do while I’m getting bored; the foods that I thought were biscuits and cakes. After making it, the result was very good. I couldn’t  stop eating the food that I made.

On the third day was very boring because they forced me to clean the house for tomorrow. It’s the eve of our patronal feast after our cleaning thing all I did was playing mobile legends. Guess what? I got a winstreak and my rank was epic and turned into legend; my favorite hero was Nana. You see Nana is a leonin and she is the most powerful leonin but she doesn’t know how to use it. Luckily there’s some one leonin who helped her control her magic.

 In the days that followed, things felt pretty ordinary. I couldn't shake this feeling of wanting something more exciting. I thought about going back to my old school, but instead, I just stuck to playing on my gadgets. I really wanted to have some fun, but I didn't know how to make it happen, so I ended up experimenting with different foods again.

Each day seemed to blur into the next, with nothing special happening. I spent a lot of time thinking about the good times I had at my old school. The classrooms were always full of laughter, and the hallways were buzzing with activity. But now, everything felt quiet and lonely.

I tried to distract myself by playing games on my gadgets. It was easy to get lost in the virtual worlds they offered. But deep down, I knew it wasn't really making me happy. It was just a temporary escape from reality.

Then one day, I had an idea. I decided to try my hand at cooking. I had never really done much cooking before, but I figured it might be a fun way to pass the time. So, I gathered up some ingredients from the kitchen and got to work.

I started off simple, with basic recipes that I found online. I made things like spaghetti and meatballs, grilled cheese sandwiches, and chocolate chip cookies. It was a bit nerve-wracking at first, but as I got more comfortable in the kitchen, I started to have fun with it.

I began experimenting with different flavors and ingredients, trying out new recipes and techniques. Some of my experiments turned out better than others, but I didn't let the failures discourage me. Instead, I saw them as opportunities to learn and improve.

As I spent more time cooking, I found that it was a great way to express myself creatively. I loved experimenting with different flavor combinations and presentation styles. And the best part was getting to share my creations with my family. They were always excited to try whatever new dish I had whipped up, and their encouragement motivated me to keep cooking.

Cooking also helped me to feel more connected to the world around me. Instead of just mindlessly scrolling through my gadgets, I was actively engaging with the world, using my hands and my senses to create something tangible. It was a refreshing change of pace from the digital distractions that had consumed so much of my time.

As the days of the break went by, I found myself looking forward to my cooking experiments more and more. It became a highlight of my day, something to break up the monotony of the endless hours spent at home. And even though the break eventually came to an end, my newfound love of cooking stayed with me.

After those days all I did in my brothers apartment was eat many foods and play mobile legends again because it is boring but the worst of all, the internet! The internet was so slow I couldn’t even watch my favorite video my story animated (MSA) I was about to cry but I didn’t.

As the days of the break went by, I couldn’t help but think about my best friends Nash Ivor T. Bacani, Lia Venisse M. Cabasag, Oscar G. Basya, Raissa Palalay, and Ma Nina Gabiran. You see they are seriously my best friends anyone could ask for. They were always been there for me.

As the break continued, I started feeling kind of bad about how I was spending my time. So, I decided to change things up.

Looking back, I’m very lucky and grateful for the break and all the memories I made. It wasn't perfect, but it taught me some important lessons. And I'm ready to take on whatever comes next, with Nash by my side every step of the way. Because of it I will never forget all the moment and the time that break gave me to spend it all with my family.

[stealforreal]

Midoriya Izuku - Future kids I

Midoriya Izuku's day just got turned upside down. MIdoriya is slightly ooc, and I'm dissapointed with the quality of this work. I lost inspiration sorry, but here you go anyways.

Midoriya Izuku x f!reader

Warnings: none, maybe slight cussing

It had been a normal day, so far. Class 1-b and 1-a had a joint training session, and everyone was giving it their all. Iida was using his recipico burst against their team's opponents, giving Midoriya time to think up a new plan now that they had been discovered. They had previously planned to use Aoyama's navel laser to lure their opponents to a specific spot, before using Iida to get him away so Midoriya and Todoroki could apprehend them. The plan had unfortunately backfired, since they had captured Aoyama before Iida could get to him. The solid air user from 1-b had gotten him in his hold, and only after Todoroki had gotten him back did they realise how much the rest of the plan would fail. So now Midoriya was tasked with coming up with a new plan.

Todoroki was occupied with holding the others at bay, and Iida was running out of fuel so they wouldn’t be much help. Aoyama was on the brink of his usual stomach ache that followed with overuse, so he was also pretty useless. Even if he wanted too Midoriya knew he was out matched, a 4 v 1 would not end well for him, besides he had to look out for Monoma and his copy quirk. He was so in his head planning that he didn’t see the Copycat sneaking up on him, not before it was too late. He should have felt an impact, Monoma had pointed one of Bakugou’s explosions towards him. But the impact never came, instead he felt himself float in the air hovering over the remaining smoke from the explosion. “Don’t you dare hurt my daddy” A loud girly voice proclaimed, effectively gaining everybody nearby attention.

Turning his attention towards the girly voice, he felt himself freeze up. In the middle of their training field stood a girl around the age of 10, if he had to take a guess. But that wasn’t what caused him to freeze up, no not the fact that this young girl had somehow managed to bypass UA’s security. Which should have been impossible, considering all the improvements that had been made to it after all the villain attacks that had happened. No, what caused him to freeze up was the fact that before him stood this girl, who looked like a carbon copy of him. It seemed that way from this distance. “Who is responsible for holding Midoriya in the air?” Aizawa’s gruff voice rang out. “Oh right, I forgot about that,” The curly green haired girl exclaimed, catching the attention of the slowly increasing crowd. Slowly Midoriya could feel himself being lowered to the ground again, once his feet hit the cement the quirk that had previously held him in the air deactivated making him feel 10 times heavier.

“Who the fuck disturbed the exercise, I’m gonna kill who ever did it” a familiar angry voice yelled out, making Bakugou’s presence noticeable. Everybody was a little on edge, they had enough experience with villains to not foolishly blindly trust anybody. It didn’t matter that it was a 10 year-old girl, or that she looked like a carbon copy of the resident green haired cinnamon roll. “Man, Uncle Katsu you really were loud back in the day” This statement from the green haired girl left everyone speechless. ‘Does she have a death wish’ was the thought on most of 1-A’s minds, nobody was so casual with Bakugou because it was a serious health hazard.

Well everyone except maybe his two best friends, Kirishima and y/n. It was common knowledge in class A that Bakugou had a soft spot for his two best friends, they had honestly been shocked the first time they met her. She had walked into the classroom, blank faced, walked over to Bakugou’s table, smacked him upside the head with a book before leaving it on his desk, and walked out the door with only a quick “don’t forget it next time, Idiot”. Miraculously she had lived, and Bakugou hadn’t even begun yelling. An impressive feat in itself. Not long after Midoriya had begun noticing you around school, and found out you were a part of the support course. He came to know you a bit, his observation skills made that almost too easy. Slowly but surely he began falling in love with you, the way your hair frames your face, your sharp tongue that never held back. How you would stand up for anybody, it didn’t matter if you knew them well or not if they were in trouble you would help them.

“Hah, what was that you brat?” Bakugou’s loud yelling and heavy footsteps approaching snapped him out of his thoughts, and back to the situation at hand. “ W-wait a minute Kacchan, I’m s-sure that there is a logical explanation” He found himself saying before he could even register what happened. Midoriya was hit with an immense feeling of protectiveness, similar to when they had rescued Eri, but stronger. Without knowing he had subconsciously stepped in front of the girl, pushing her behind his back. “Don’t worry dad I can handle myself, besides it’s only uncle Katsu” she spoke up behind the protective cinnamon roll. “Explain now” Aizawa cut in before they could get side tracked again. It was like the fact she hadn’t introduced herself, only hit her now.

“ Right, allow me to introduce myself” Bowing slightly she continued. “ My name is Midoriya Izumi, I am 10 years old and from the future” Aizawa sent her a raised eyebrow, wanting an elaborated answer. “ My friend was being teased by the others in class about how he was quirkless” Izuku tensed slightly but continued listening to Izumi “ Since my friend’s parents each has a quirk related to time, his mom could speed up herself for only a couple of minutes and his dad could slow down others a bit. This made it really hard for my friend to know if he had a quirk or not, so I helped him research and test different theories. Our last one must have worked, which is time travel by the way, but I have no idea how long his quirk will last” Izumi rambled slightly, reminding them of another curly green haired individual. Difference is Izumi talked loud enough for them to hear, and a bit slower making it understandable.

“Wait, you said your name was Midoriya Izumi. Does this mean that you are Midoriya’s daughter” The ever stoic, conspiracy theory thinking, dual haired boy pointed out. “ Yep, sure am uncle Sho, Don’t tell me you don’t see the resemblance.” She stood next to Izuku hugging his waist with one arm, before continuing” I’m dad's younger copy but female, mom always says there is more wholesomeness in him than there is in her. I remember her asking dad one time why his genes were so damn strong. Luckily for her Haru looks a lot more like her, he’s her younger copy but male” The people present looked between the two Midoriyas, it was true nobody could deny that she was her fathers daughter. The only thing that was different was her eyes, they had specks of y/e/c instead of being fully emerald like Izuku’s were. Also she talks a lot, just like their classmate. They shared the same green hair, both were curly in texture and the classic Midoriya freckles. Though it seemed that she had gotten more of her mothers personality, at least they assumed so. I mean she stood up to Bakugou, without even flinching at his tone.

“Oi, squirt what’s your quirk. And quit rambling like shitty Deku” Bakugou asked, interest evident in his tone. “ Right, my quirk is called Telekinesis, so I can move stuff with my mind. It was also how I was able to keep daddy in the air” Izumi responded, puffing her chest out comically in pride. “Huh so it skipped a generation, and your quirk is stronger than my mom’s. But you also have a different approach so maybe that helps. I wonder why yours is stronger, is it because of your mothers quirk. But then again my quirk is also powerful maybe an aspect of it ties to the genes maybe that’s why your quirk is stronger than moms” The older green haired individual began mumbling on, and he probably would have continued if he hadn’t been cut off by his lowly daughter hitting him in the head. “ Daddy stop mumbling,” Izumi stated sternly.

Bakugou grinned, he liked this kid's spunk and she seemed to have a strong quirk, even if she was shitty Deku’s kid. “Oi squirt fight me” He loudly proclaimed, earning all his classmates attention. Almost everyone began yelling over each other, what the hell dude and she just a kid another one was so not manly bro. Instead of being happy her dad’s old classmates were defending her, stopping her uncle from fighting her she got annoyed. So what if she was a child, this wouldn’t be her first time fighting her dad or her uncles. Before everyone could attack Bakugou even more a voice piqued up “ Sure, if that is alright with you sensei” she directed her attention towards Mr. Aizawa.

It wasn’t rational to challenge a child to a fight, but he couldn’t deny she had a great fighting spirit in her eyes. So he allowed it, he was curious himself to see how it would end. The control she displayed earlier was phenomenal, and she was only 10 but she had a lot of potential in his book. He shooed everuýone a bit away from the hothead and the young Midoriya, and so then created a ring of sorts acting a the line of confinement.

3…..2…...1…...GO!

Bakugou charged straight in with his usual right hook, only to have it swiftly caught by Izumi. She grabbed his right hand, squatted down a bit, then swiftly pushed her shoulder into his rib. The momentum of that allowed her to, even with some difficulty, flip his much larger body over her shoulder and into the ground. There was a small second of silence where Bakugou just laid on the ground in shock, a girl over 5 years younger than him just flipped him over her shoulder like it wasn’t even that hard. However Izumi didn’t give him time to think as she sent metal bars towards him. They had been fried earlier, before her arrival. Bakugou used his explosions to evade the metal projectiles, sending another one straight towards her face. Die squirt die, his colorful vocabulary re-entered the scene. She used her Telekinesis to command the explosion to change course and hit Bakugou square in the face instead. Slightly dazed Bakugou didn’t have time to move before a heel connected to his temple, effectively knocking him out.

Everyone who bore witness to this fight was shell shocked, Bakugou lost. The fight lasted only around 8 minutes before the winner of the 1 years sports festival got knocked out by a 10 year old girl. “Huh, that was easier than expected,” the panting girl exclaimed. Izuku could feel his chest swell with pride, that was his daughter. Strong and smart just like her parents. She walked over to Izuku and slumped against him “ I’m tired daddy, carry me” She looked up at him with those doe green eyes, and how could he say no to his little warrior princess. Blushing, he picked her up, and she let out a sigh of contentment. Using her quirk to command things on a molecular level, like Bakugou’s explosions always took a toll on her.

“Midoriya take Izumi to the dorms to let her rest, the rest of you come with me for our next exercise” Mr. Aizawa commanded the frozen teens and teacher. Izuku then began making his way to the dorms, asking his sleepy daughter a tornado of questions. Do you know about my quirk, how does your quirk work, how old is Haru, am I a good dad, who is your mom? Even in her sleepy state Izumi answered his questions to the best of her abilities, though she refused to reveal who her mother was.

When they arrived at the dorms he put her on the living room couch, and went to leave to grab her some old All Might merch that could fit her. Before he could leave she grabbed his cheeks rather harshly, looking him straight in the eye she said “Don’t worry about who mom is, she loves you for you so it's gonna be fine. Also don’t screw this up so I’ll still be born.” Izuku sweat dropped nervously, before getting out of her hold to go find that old merch of his.

When he returned to the living room after finding what he was looking for, he looked around only to find that it was empty. He walked over to the couch and coffee table where he found a note, picking it up and sitting down on the couch to read it. Dearest daddy, I felt tingly so I think the quirk is gonna wear off now. I just wanted to say that you are awesome and the best daddy out there, I love you so much. I’ll see you again in the future - hugs Izumi Midoriya. Izuku’s heart fell, she had only just arrived an hour or so ago and now she was gone. He didn’t get to know his daughter better like he had hoped, and he didn’t get to see her adorably dressed up in his old All Might merch. He read the note over and over again, trying to satisfy his heart. He would see her again in the future, and then it clicked. his heart swelled, yeah he would see Izumu again some day.

Yeah he would see her again when he was married and happy. Yeah he could wait for that, as long as he has too.

@rainypeachbakerygoth

[bearsanpancakes]

Mitsuki Izumi Sugao Rabbit Chat - Part 4: Failure and growth

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

ㅤ

Tsumugi: Mitsuki-san, thank you for your hard work today! Your talk about today’s program was very interesting!

Tsumugi: Your co-star was complimenting you, saying that you did well with your job as an MC!

Tsumugi:

Mitsuki: Thanks! The staff members for the program complimented me as well. They said that the topics that I came up with were amazing!

Mitsuki:

Tsumugi: That’s because you reflected upon the details that you could’ve improved on while we were in the car the other day, after all! To think that your efforts bore fruit, I feel very happy as well!

Tsumugi:

Mitsuki: I feel like I’ve grown quite a bit as well.

Mitsuki: I used to worry a lot over small details and errors, so I don’t think I would’ve ever felt this way back then.

Mitsuki: It’s all thanks to manager and everyone else that I’ve noticed, failure can also be an experience for growth. Because of this, I can turn my frustrations into a growing experience, and use said experience in future jobs.

Tsumugi: You’ve been more enthusiastic and optimistic about your jobs lately compared to the past, I think that’s amazing!

Mitsuki: Right?

Mitsuki: Though, I do feel a bit embarrassed getting such a direct compliment ww

Mitsuki: Now I have more opportunities to get some input from Momo-san, Mr Shimooka, and many other senpais. I feel really grateful for the feedback from the people around me.

Tsumugi: I understand! I often receive other people's and the staff’s feedback, it really has made me notice a lot more things.

Tsumugi: You can’t get a complete picture of yourself as yourself after all, so input from an outsider’s perspective is really important.

Mitsuki: Even if it’s just watching the television in the dorm, I’m able to learn quite a lot if the other members tell me their thoughts as feedback.

ㅤ

Choices:

Option 1 - Whose feedback do you often receive the most?

Mitsuki: The person who tells me his thoughts the most has got to be Nagi I think, he always tells me positive comments about how I did well in certain aspects and such. Iori would give me very detailed feedback, but rather than calling it feedback, I’d say it’s more like an analysis ww

ㅤ

Option 2 - What kind of feedback makes you the happiest?

Mitsuki: I’ll feel happy no matter the type of feedback! Someone recently complimented how they found the parts where I would play dumb and then tease Riku amusing, my drive is through the roof right now!

ㅤ

Option 3 - Do you share your own feedback as well?

Mitsuki: I think I always give my honest feedback as well. Every time I see Yamato’s acting skills, I’ll always feel impressed! Though he feels like an entirely different person when he’s at the dorm w

ㅤ

Mitsuki: I’m sure that lots of other challenges will appear in the future, but on the other hand I can also grow from them. I will work hard to hone my skills bit by bit in the future!

Tsumugi: Mitsuki-san is always trying his absolute hardest all the time, it’s very impressive…!

Mitsuki: The reason why I’m able to do my job as an MC with peace of mind is all because of your assistance.

Mitsuki: It makes me feel reassured that you’re always watching over me, plus you helped me by giving me a summary of what my co-star was talking about during another program last time!

Mitsuki: I would’ve never been able to do that if I was on my own, so you’ve really helped me out a lot with that!

Tsumugi: I’m glad to hear you say that as well!

Mitsuki: If you’re asking me, you’re the one who’s working the hardest, manager!

Mitsuki: You’re working so hard to take care of all 7 of us, thank you for meticulously helping all of us.

Mitsuki: Saying this out loud feels a bit embarrassing, but I truly want to thank you…!

Tsumugi: I’m the one who should be thanking you…!

Tsumugi: I also often receive Mitsuki-san’s care and assistance as well!

Mitsuki:

ㅤ

End of part 4

[natromanxoff]

Queen live at Oakland Coliseum Arena in Oakland, CA, USA - September 7, 1982 (Part-1)

(x)

The band are in great form tonight, full of vitality and passion. Only the intro of Rock It is performed from now onward. When the vocal is expected to re-enter after the rhythm section joins in, the band jump into the first verse of the fast We Will Rock You. John Deacon's bass solo after the second chorus is aggressive, and overall the band are clearly happy to be playing the longer version of the song again - although they do have a bit of trouble getting out of the middle section together, but they recover well. Freddie offers a great version of Play The Game. After the song, he has a word with the enthusiastic audience. "So here we are, back again in Oakland after a long time. Has everybody been keeping okay since we've been away?" Naturally everyone says "yeah", and Freddie replies, "Bullshit!" He continues, "Anyway, we have a lot of new songs for you since we were here last, and this next one is a song for all the girls here tonight, you know what I mean? The real girls. If you've got tits or if you haven't got tits it don't matter." The girls quickly stop cheering as Freddie is just trying too hard when he actually doesn't have to. He attempts to recover, "You just don't understand English. It doesn't matter. This is a Roger Taylor composition [the mention of Roger's name gets the girls screaming again] entitled Calling All Girls." Just before the first chorus of the song, Freddie adlibs, "I've got a message for you babe!" After the second chorus, following "take a message of love for all to hear," he adds to the energy with a few spontaneous words: "Have you got it? Can you hear it? Can you feel it?" Tonight is the first known performance of the Hot Space rocker Put Out The Fire, segueing from the vocal improv of Now I'm Here (Freddie doesn't have the lyrics perfected yet, which suggests it hasn't been performed too many times - fan club magazines from the period say the song was performed as a standalone piece earlier in the tour). After the second chorus, the band seamlessly jump into Dragon Attack. The combination of these three songs seems to recall the medley idea that had been dropped in 1981. After Now I'm Here, Freddie challenges the audience to one of his usual vocal duels. For the first time, he is heard singing "Dee do de de", something that would become part of the lyrics of "Living On My Own" off his first solo album in 1985. Shortly thereafter, after an "alright" that's held for a few seconds, he shouts, "You can do it!" in encouragement, after which he says, "Not bad! It's amazing what you will do if you're pushed." He really takes a liking to this audience. During the next song, Save Me, instead of singing the line "I love you 'til I die," he speaks the words "I love ya", and during the three quiet beats leading into the first chorus, he quickly and poignantly adds, "don't forget it!" Freddie once again dedicates Fat Bottomed Girls to "people who like fucking a lot." In the second verse of Crazy Little Thing Called Love, he modifies a lyric to say "she knows how to fuck and roll." One can draw their own conclusions as to where Freddie Mercury's mind was at on this tour. He turns in a very passionate version of Bohemian Rhapsody (despite not being in full voice by the end of the show), where everything seems to come home to him. Only he knew what the song really meant, but plenty have suggested that the proverbial man being killed in the first verse as told to his mother is his former self that had not yet come to terms with his sexuality. A clash of worlds in 1982, if that's the case. Matt Granz (also with a story from San Francisco '77) fondly shares his memories of this show here:

“This photo is from Queen's last Bay area show ever with Freddie Mercury. With the new direction that they took with the album "The Game" Brian May stated that Queen had "gained the world, but lost America". I think that after they played a Los Angeles gig or two after this particular show that they never did come back to the US. That is truly sad since they were one of the most charismatic of all rock groups to ever play on a stage. This concert was no exception! This photo was taken during Brian's echo solo. The three lights backlighting Brian belonged to one of two manned light pods that followed him around the stage. It was a spectacular effect!

The friend I went to the concert with (who's name I can't even begin to recall) took his SLR 35mm and I took a pocket fixed focus... after seeing me lament over the bad quality of my images he took mercy on me and sold me this memory as an 8x10 B&W Glossy that I kept secured in a folder... and just recently rediscovered and decided to digitize these many years later. My own pics from the concert all came out underexposed... drat! His SLR had some great lenses and he had his own darkroom. He also had great access to many good spots to shoot from.

By the way… remember the days when you didn't need a press badge to bring a camera to a concert? What happened??? Lawyers, I'll tell ya... Lawyers.

The story behind the Flying V being utilized was that at the very onset of his Echo solo, Brian busted a string on the "Red Special". He waked backstage and then shortly reappeared with this guitar. The sound was quite different. After the solo was done fifteen minutes later, he took back his own guitar and proceeded to use it for the rest of the show. It was pretty unusual to see him playing this and (besides the Tele he plays on Crazy Little Thing Called Love for the songs' first solo) have not seen him play another electric besides his main axe that he and his father made.

I was pretty poor at the time, but I liked this photo enough to buy it because of the before mentioned spectacular lighting and the fact that Brian is playing a Flying V.

Though I was not a fan of The Game, this concert was superb! I came to see Brian (being a guitarist myself) and was amazed at how distracted I was by the rest of the band. They were flawless that night and the floor seats I snuck into... 20 rows from the stage... provided the perfect viewing experience. The light show was also the best I had ever seen as well, in that it didn't distract from the music or musicians but rather pulsated perfectly with the beats and saturated the stage with great color combinations.

Freddie, Brian, Roger & John all had the whole auditorium held by the throat from the very start of the show till the last fading notes of "God Save the Queen". Sheer Excellence!” Most of the photos were taken by Sean Trend. A few of the pictures show Brian with the Gibson Flying V, as he had played in East Rutherford last month. But this time he begins his solo with the Flying V, as confirmed by someone who attended the show. Brian, in disbelief, later commented on this: http://www.brianmay.com

“Well, I'm shocked. I definitely would have sworn that I never played a solo live with a Flying V. I played around with them, but mainly at home, except for one video appearance for "Princes of the Universe" in which I'm obviously not really playing!!!

Cheers Bri”

(x)

Part-2

[jordanstrophe]

A Cinnamon Bun too Pure for this World, part 6

(Why am I posting so late? Don’t ask why, for I know not.)

CW: Whump, conditioned whumpee, panic attacks, drowning, restraining, slapping, manhandling, brief flashback with Nathen, Cin getting a cute wholesome fluffy moment as he’s taught how to say no <3

Masterlist

“Nathen! Please, I’m sor-sorry!” He screamed, as he was thrown against the side of the tub by his arm, his shoulder bashing against the hard acrylic. He already knew that would leave a bruise later. 

“Shut up! I’m sick and tired of you being a pathetic little pest!” Nathen spat.

“Please... It w-was an accident, I’ll do better nex-”

*SLAP*

He was struck across the cheek as he fell against the bathtub again. He tasted blood. Nathen turned the water on as Cin cried out, pleading as Nathen grabbed his hair and threw his chest to the ground. He placed the heel of his boot to the side of his head as he pinned him to the ground.

“Next time? If you weren’t such a screw up the first time, then none of this woulda happened, would it?” He hissed. He held him to the floor listening to his sobs be drowned by the blasting cold water filling the tub. 

He unbuckled his belt as he wrenched his arms behind him, pulling it until Cin let out a squeak. He pulled him up by his hair as he bent his waist over the tub, Cin fought back as he tried to keep his head above the water. A hand slammed against the back of his head as he was instantly enveloped by the cold water stinging his face. His screams were muffled and drowned by his own suffocating as he felt water invade his lungs.

“PLEASE STOP IT! STOP!” He screamed.

‘'CIN! It’s okay! Calm down!” Richard begged. “Hhnn.. Huh?” Cin blinked his eyes open, he was being held by Richard with his arms tightly woven around his chest. His hands were gripping his wrists in front of him.

“It’s okay! You’re okay, you’re safe, take a deep breath. Try and copy me.” Richard instructed. Cin’s back was pinned to his chest as he felt Richard take a slow breath as he tried his best to mimic it. His breathing came out in broken short rasps, but it was still an improvement as his head began to feel less fuzzy.

“That’s it, you’re going great.” He whispered, as Cin melted at the praise.

Praise was good... Praise means he did something right. Praise meant he wasn’t in trouble.

“I-I’m sorry.” Cin whispered quietly.

“No apologies, it’s not your fault. What frightened you?” He asked.

Cin opened his lips, but nothing came out. His voice refused to answer as an instinct. He shouldn’t complain. Everything he received was given to him for a reason. Even the punishments.

Richard sighed at his silence. “Are you okay now?”

“Mmhm..”

“Are you sure?”

“...Mmhm.”

“Okay, we’re going to hop up now.” Richard gently helped him to his feet as he let him loose. Cin turned around to face him, only for his eyes to spike with fear once again.

“NO!” Cin screamed, as Richard couldn’t help but to let out a sigh. He took his shoulders, spun him around and walked him straight out the door. He shut it  behind him and turned around, expecting to have to wrangle Cin back down to the floor and calm him, but he...

Was fine? He stood skittishly but that was normal for him.He was just looking up at him expectantly back with his curious expression. 

Jeez this young man was unpredictable... His left hand wasn't twitching wildly, which means he knew he was safe at least. “Would you be more comfortable in the kitchen?” Richard asked. Cin nodded his head with a smile. “Alright then.” 

It would definitely make things harder and more limited, but if this is what made this more tolerable, then this is what he would do. Exposing him to the things that scared him would actually help him get over it quickly, but he just didn’t have the heart to do that to him...

He just hoped that time would heal. 

“Alrighty! Let's get creative.” Richard clapped his hands together as Cin flinched. “S-sorry.” Richard muttered, gently patting his shoulder as Cin gave him a confused head tilt. 

He curiously watched Richard get to work, scooting chairs across the floor, setting up pillows on the counters, laying out bandages and band-aids. 

“Can I he-help?” Cin chirped. Richard halted mid scoot with a chair wrapped in his arms.

“I, uhh. I’ll say, you are doing a phenomenal job at standing right.. There!” Richard pointed a bit more out of the way. 

“R-right here?” Cin hopped over to where he pointed.

“Right there! Perfect.” He gave him a rewarding smile, as Cin beamed. He did something right! He did something perfect! He hardly ever heard those words of praise. 

Richard dusted his hands off as he admired his odd work. “Done! Is it alright if I pick you up?” He asked. 

Cin froze with bewilderment. Why.. Why was he being asked if it was okay? Of course it was okay! Anything he did to him was okay. Anything at all!

“You can say no if you don’t want to.” Richard added. 

“N-.” Cin clapped a hand over his mouth as he gasped. “Y..Yes! I mean yes!” He stuttered. Richards' brow raised as he crossed his arms.

Oh no... He didn't mean to! He meant to say yes! Wh-why was he always messing things up? It was an accident! 

 He walked over as Cin cringed and squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the strike for his disrespect. 

Instead, he felt the most soft and gentle touch graze his cheek. It wasn’t rough, it wasn’t angry. It was just a soft touch.

“Cin, it’s okay to be uncomfortable sometimes. You can say no. No should be just as natural as saying yes.” He smiled. Cin blinked his eyes open as he fought the tears trying to escape. 

“But I’m n-not.. Allowed.” Cin murmured, squeezing his eyes closed in shame as a tear managed to fall. It was immediately thumbed away by Richard. 

“Yes you are.” 

“..I.. I am?” He sniffed, as Richard nodded. Cin fiddled with his shirt as his cheeks burned red... Why didn't anyone tell him he was allowed?!

“N-No! I mean... No I would not like to be pi-picked up... pl-please?” Cin asked. 

Richard proudly smiled at him, before getting an extra chair so he could get up himself. 

“And that’s fine! Can you come up on the counter please?” He asked. “On the counter?” Cin’s head tilted.

“I know! I know it’s odd, but since we’re not using the bathroom I got a little creative! You cut your foot on the glass yesterday, I just want to take care of it.

“I did?!” Cin shouted, checking each foot until he finally found a red cut across the soul of his foot. 

“Y-You didn’t notice? Man... You’re a tough one.” Richard shook his head. He had a feeling that it was quite a bad sign. 

Cin took Richard’s hand as he was helped up onto the pillow sitting on the counter as Richard sat on the chair and got to work on his foot. The entire time Cin was still as stone looking quite happy and content to be so tall on the counter. 

The whole rest of day, Cin decided he was going to use his new found power to the full extent.

“Cin! Are you hungry?”

“No!”

“Are you sure you don’t want dinner?”

“No!”

“Do you want this pillow?”

“No!”

"Can you hold this for a second?"

"No!"

“Are you okay...?”

“No!”

@milk-carton-whump @whumpasaurus101  @sillypizzazineoperator @as-a-matter-of-whump @alien-octopus @unicornscotty  @yesthisiswhump @flower-whump

ʕっ• ᴥ • ʔっ  Thank you for reading!

[jisungsmochi]

tutor girl - ljn

tutor girl - lee jeno fic 

based off one tree hill hehe (been binging it lately) 

word count: 8.6k (might be my longest one yet) 

summary: lee jeno was an asshole. an awfully charming asshole. he wanted nothing more than to make your best friend’s life a living hell. he had his plan ready to go, but something, or rather someone, got in the way. will tutor girl change him for the better or will he stick to his ways? 

mainly fluff but we got a lil bit of angst in there oops 

(for the sake of this au , imagine jeno and mark are the same age)

//

“you should try out for the basketball team this year. i think you should show off your abilities on the real court” you walk alongside your best friend. mark lee. you clearly remember the day you met him. you were both around nine years old, placed in the same fourth grade class. you wanted to befriend him after finding out he only lived with his mother. coming from a big family, you were always used to having others around you. so you thought you’d do the same for him.

“really? i don’t know...the guys on the team are all jerks. besides i’m fine playing by the river court, there’s no pressure” mark shrugs at you, contemplating your suggestion.

“it’s a well known fact that they’re all jerks, but they’re jerks who can get scholarships for college, isn’t that what you want?” you continued to push. you knew the true reason he was hesitant on joining the team. but you didn’t want him to hold himself back in life, any good friend would do the same.

“yeah of course. i’ll think about it, y/n. but no guarantees” he sighs, walking into his mother’s cafe. you made your way to greet his mother,

“ah y/n, it’s great that you’re here, i’m gonna need you for another shift” she smiles softly, handing you your apron.

“yes ma’am” you smile back, watching as mark sat at the counter. this was how most of your days went. hanging out with mark most of the day, then coming to work at the cafe if you weren’t tutoring a student in need as part of the tutoring program at your school. you enjoyed helping your peers and their improved marks and positive attitude gave you a sense of accomplishment.

you were having dinner with mark and his mother, soojin, like you did most nights, when she suddenly brought up basketball tryouts,

“thinking of joining, mark?” soojin asked curiously.

“i don’t know if i want to, you know he’s gonna be on the team” mark anxiously admits.

see, the thing was, mark had a half brother by the name of lee jeno. he was notorious for being a grade A asshat. following suit of his and mark’s father, lee juyoung. juyoung and soojin were high school sweethearts, winning prom king and queen in their senior year. the day before graduation, soojin told juyoung she had fallen pregnant with mark. but he couldn’t handle being a father, having just earned a prestigious basketball scholarship for some fancy college. they quickly ended their relationship after graduating, wishing to never see or hear from one another again. soojin raised mark on her own whilst juyoung went to college, where he met jeno’s mother, minji. juyoung recklessly got minji pregnant with jeno, roughly six months after mark was conceived. but he stuck with minji, as she was from an affluent background and saw a more promising and stable future with her. jeno was brought up by his father to despise mark. they first met each other at a basketball summer camp when they were ten years old, but rarely saw eachother until high school. mark despised jeno equally, infuriated that he was favoured by their father. jeno had everything. he was the basketball team’s shooting guard, always getting the glory of scoring points. he was also dating one of the most popular girls in school, kang mina. and it didn’t help that he was pleasing to the eye, aside from his jackass tendencies. jeno had it all, mark often caught himself feeling jealous of the life jeno got to live. he hated his father for leaving his mother to raise him alone. it was needless to say, the lee brothers did not get along.

“who cares if jeno’s on the team? remember that you’re doing this for you, not for him or anyone else” you encourage, knowing how he truly felt towards jeno.

“y/n’s right. you are a great player, anyone can see it. just give it a try, you’ll never know what can come from it” his mother gave him a gently squeeze to his shoulder. mark avoided looking at the both of you, softly sighing,

“alright alright, i’ll tryout! what’s the worst that could happen?” he chuckled lightly.

//

as expected, mark surpassed everyone who tried out and was able to fill the last spot in the school’s varsity basketball team. unfortunately, he was not greeted with open arms, the other boys taunting that he wasn’t as good as them. especially jeno, absolutely disgusted by the idea of him and mark having to interact.

you sat with mark in his room as he ranted about his interactions with the team,

“they all said to watch my back, that they had something planned for me. is that not concerning?” he paced in his room, your heart sunk at his words. who would ever want to hurt such a kind soul like mark?

“you should tell coach, i’m sure he’ll try and straighten them out” you suggest, unsure if it even helped.

“that’s the thing, if i tell on them, they’ll retaliate even harder. god i knew i shouldn’t have joined” he groaned,

“don’t say that, you deserve to be on the team whether they like it or not” you furrow your eyebrows in concern. you move over to sit with mark on his bed, pulling his head to your shoulder.

“jeno’s the worst of them all. he always takes low blows at me about our dad, saying that he loves him more than me. that he doesn’t care about my mother. he’s ruthless” mark mumbled, your heart aching for him. you knew jeno was an ass, but you didn’t know he would outright say such hurtful things.

“he’s just jealous because you’re a threat to him. and besides, it doesn’t help that you’re totally crushing on his girlfriend, don’t think i haven’t noticed” you tease at the end, fully aware of mark lee’s massive crush on kang mina.

“w-what?! i do not have a crush on mina!” he exclaims causing you to chuckle.

“sure you don’t buddy, don’t act like you’re not happy to join the team. you get to watch her cheer for you from the sidelines” you poke his cheeks, trying to get him to lighten up. you hated seeing him so nervous and anxious all the time. you hoped things would get better from then on, but you were wrong. lee jeno was the epitome of an asshole.

jeno wanted mark off the team and he didn’t care how he did it or who he hurt in the process. not only did he take harsh jabs at mark about his mother, but he went as far as to soaking his gym clothes in water, leaving him with no clothes for practice. he refused to hand mark the ball during practice, often getting his friends to barge into mark if he tried to get the ball off him. somehow it got around that mina had been getting closer to mark as they had been paired up for an assignment, which only fuelled more anger in jeno. he needed to be more smart if he wanted mark to quit the team.

jeno was standing with his friend, jaemin at their lockers, when they caught sight of mark talking to you.

“who’s the chick that’s always hanging with mark?” jeno curiously asks, scanning his eyes over you.

“her name’s y/n, she’s part of the tutor program” jaemin responded, looking over at jeno who had a mysterious look in his eyes.

“i might just have to sign up for some tutoring” he smirked to himself, making his way to his next class.

//

you were filing some applications for tutoring at the student centre when you heard someone knock at the door.

“hang on a minute!” you politely spoke, turning to see who it was. your face immediately fell as your eyes landed on the dark haired boy infront of you.

“may i help you?” you crossed your arms, already fed up with him.

“i hope so, you’re my tutor” jeno copies your gesture, looking down at you in amusement.

“uh no, don’t think so” you turned your back to him, continuing to file applications.

“you’re y/n, right? see it says right here” he approaches you, practically shoving the form in your face. you glanced at the section where the allocated tutor’s name should be written and there you were. you took the form from him, softly biting the inside of your cheek before looking back at him.

“look i’m sorry but i’m best friends with mark” you hand the form back to him.

“well then i’m sorry too” he snickers, causing you to roll your eyes.

“i can’t help you okay? i’ll find someone else t-“

“i don’t want anyone else. you’re the best student tutor in this program. i really need your help” jeno practically whined. part of you wanted to help him, but your loyalty to mark, alongside all the terrible things jeno has said and done, wasn’t going to change your mind.

“i’m sorry, again. i-i just can’t” you rush out of the room, feeling guilty. as much as you disliked jeno, you were never the one to turn away a student in need. all you knew is that mark could never know about this.

//

your english teacher was handing back grades for the latest assignment. your eyes couldn’t stop focusing on jeno, who was visibly distraught after receiving his grade. the guilty feeling in your stomach wasn’t going away. so what if you helped jeno? maybe you could get him to back off mark. plus it was your duty as a tutor to help students in need. and right now, jeno needed you.

he approached you again in the student centre later that day,

“hey just letting you know, i won’t be needing you anymore, i’ll be just fine” jeno sternly announced to you, gaining your attention. before you could say anything back, he held up his grade from english,

“i mean, F is for fine, right?” your eyes moved to the paper that had a large, red ‘F’ written on it. you gave him a solemn look, debating what you would say next, you didn’t know what came over you,

“okay! i’ll tutor you!” you blurted out, catching jeno by surprise as well. his lips slowly formed into a smirk, walking closer to you.

“but on one condition, mark never finds out, and you also leave him alone!” you let out a short sigh, hoping you weren’t making a bad decision.

“that’s actually two conditions” he retorts, leading you to roll your eyes, already regretting everything.

“but okay, i’ll tell the guys to chill a bit” you looked at him in shock, not expecting him to consider your conditions at all.

“then it’s settled, let’s meet at the dock by the pier tomorrow morning at 8 o’clock sharp” you walk past him,

“why can’t we do it at school?” he asked in confusion,

“because i don’t want anyone else seeing us, especially mark” you sternly respond, making sure he understood.

“aye aye captain” jeno tried to joke, but you had already left before he could finish.

maybe this was going to be harder than he thought.

//

you were sitting at a table on the dock, waiting for jeno to show up. but your expectations were low. you questioned if he was taking this whole tutoring thing seriously, but your thoughts were interrupted when he rushed to you.

“sorry i’m late, i was hungry” he pulled out a small box of pocky, offering some to you. you shook your head,

“no thanks” he nodded as he shoved one in his mouth. he had also picked up a kinder surprise egg,

“praying i get a cheat sheet for this exam” he hold his hands together, quickly making a wish. you cracked a small smile at his antics, hoping he didn’t take notice. he opened the little bag containing the plastic prizes. he pulled out a colourful beaded bracelet. it was clearly made for children, but jeno thought you’d like it,

“here, for you” he looped it onto your wrist, “don’t say i never gave you anything” he winked, causing you to cringe.

“let’s just get started, shall we?” you ignored his comments, finally beginning the very first tutoring session. it wasn’t as bad as you initially thought it’d be. to your surprise, jeno was fully attentive and had made genuine attempts to learn. but it was probably only due to the fact he needed good grades to play basketball, it didn’t suddenly turn him into an amazing person in your eyes.

//

“hey! y/n! it feels like i haven’t seen you in a while, how have you been?” mark caught up to you on your way home from school. you two would usually walk together but with his basketball practices and your tutoring sessions, you both slowly stopped.

“i’ve been good! just busy with tutoring” you shrug, happy to have your best friend by your side again.

“ah same with basketball. it’s so weird, jeno and his goons haven’t done anything remotely bad to me this entire week” mark pulled the strap of his backpack over his shoulder.

“isn’t that a good thing?” you softly smiled at yourself, remembering the deal you made with jeno.

“i mean yeah, but i can’t help but be suspicious. what if there’s some other huge thing they have planned?” mark started stressing, gliding his hand through his hair.

“maybe you should give him the benefit of the doubt” you mutter, unsure why you were even defending jeno.

“since when were you on his side?” your best friend stopped in his tracks, not believing a word that just left your mouth. you pulled at the strings of your hoodie,

“i’m on your side of course! i’m just saying that maybe he’s not as evil as you think he is” you tried to pull yourself out of the hole you were currently digging.

“i don’t know, y/n. i guess we’ll have to wait and see” he paused for a moment, looking down at your wrist,

“nice bracelet” your eyes shifted to the lame beaded bracelet jeno gave you. why were you still wearing it?

//

for your next tutoring session, jeno had invited you to his house, claiming that the dock was too noisy and he couldn’t focus properly. you actually agreed with him for once, now standing outside his house. you rang the doorbell, hearing someone shuffling behind the door. jeno swung the door open, greeting you with his classic smile. he led you to the dining table, with all of his materials already set out.

“finally organised, i’m impressed” you compliment him, not noticing how his cheeks were heating up.

midway through the session, jeno became distracted. he has received a text on his phone. you weren’t sure who it was, but by the way he was reacting, he was clearly frustrated.

“hey, can you get off your phone? we still have more examples to go through” you were slowly getting annoyed by his inability to remain focused.

“sorry, just uh- it’s nothing” he mumbled, shoving his phone back in his pocket before turning to face you.

“alright, break time” you sigh, closing the book infront of you. jeno shot you a confused look,

“why?”

“because something’s on your mind, you need to clear it” you advise him, hoping he would open up to you.

“you’re right, it’s just, mina. we’ve been getting into so many fights lately, plus she’s been hanging out with mark a lot. i just don’t know where we’re at” jeno looks down at his hands that were placed in his lap. you weren’t sure what to say, you slightly felt sorry for jeno, something you’d never thought would happen.

“and my dad, he keeps pressuring me to do better in basketball. he makes everything a competition between himself and me. now with mark on the team, there’s a direct comparison which he just cannot avoid bringing up every single day” jeno continues to rant, slowly taking you back. you had no idea he was feeling like this. he always presented himself as this tough guy who had no care in the world about anything but basketball.

“i-i don’t know what to say” you honestly admit, avoiding eye contact with him.

“it’s alright, i didn’t expect you to anyway. i just keep this all inside” he sighed, relieved to be able to say these things out loud for once, without being judged.

“i think that, you should live your life the way you want. if mina makes you happy then show her that. if basketball is your passion, don’t give up on it just because of your dad or mark or anyone else. just do your best, that’s all anyone can ask for” you tried your best to give him advice, not sure if he would even take any from you. but jeno was surprised at how gentle and understanding you were. he had never had someone to properly vent to about his problems.

“y-you’re right. like absolutely spot on right. damn, i guess you’re more than just a tutor” he smiled softly,

“ah yes i am also a part time motivational speaker and hype woman” you fake cheered, making him burst out in a soft chuckle.

“thanks for this, y/n. i uh, really appreciate you listening” jeno’s eyes meet yours as you listen to his every word. you almost got lost in his eyes for a split second before you pulled yourself back to reality.

“no problem, what a friends for” you murmured, causing him to raise his eyebrows,

“oh so we’re friends now?” he shot you another smirk, clearly entertained by this entire situation.

“i mean yeah, i consider you a friend. but if you tell anyone, i will deny it” you pointed a finger a him playfully.

“wouldn’t expect anything less”

//

the following week, you were lining up for your physical education class, waiting for the basketball boys to finish up their short practice. you caught sight of mark and jeno, who seem to be in the middle of a very heated argument.

“coach wants you to be shooting guard now? you really wanna take my position, lee? then let me take y/n off your hands” jeno cockily exclaimed,

“leave her alone! you better not be messing with her or i swear i’ll hurt you a lot more than i already want to” mark gritted through his teeth.

“funny you say that, because she’s been tutoring me, and i must say, she’s a special one” jeno continues to aggravate mark. you knew he was saying these things to get a rise from the other boy. to say you were disgusted was an understatement. now, they were shoving eachother, to the point where mark was on top of jeno, ready to punch him. the coach had to pull both of them apart, along with some of the other players. it was a whole mess, mark stormed out of the gym, giving you a sharp side eye before walking right past you. your eyes caught jeno’s, he gave you a pitiful look. everything had just gone to shit.

that afternoon, you decided to go over mark’s house to check up on him. you were prepared for him to yell at you, probably still in disbelief that you were hanging out with jeno behind his back. you softly knocked on his bedroom door, you heard him grunt slightly before opening the door.

“hey” you quietly muttered, mark just raised his eyebrows before letting you enter. you sat by his study desk, unsure of how to bring up the situation.

“why’d you do it, y/n? why did you agree to tutor that jerk?!” mark broke the awkward tension, arms folded across his chest.

“i-i don’t know, mark. he needed help with his work, what was i supposed to do? turn him away?” you argue back, feeling defensive.

“yes! that’s exactly what you should have done. jeno has made my life a living hell, just for being on the team. now he’s got you wrapped around his silly little finger? i thought you were better than that” mark scoffed. you just froze. never in your seven years of friendship, had mark yelled at you like this.

“jeno is strictly just a tutoring student to me! he’s nothing more than that. and you’re the one to talk! you’re over here flirting and hanging out with jeno’s girlfriend. she’s taken, mark. your silly crush on her needs to stop” you were beyond frustrated at this point, harsh words spilled out of you like there was no end.

“he treats her like crap, y/n! she comes to me for comfort! what am i supposed to do?” mark ran his hands through his hair.

“you wait for them to breakup, mark! that’s what any logical person would do. you don’t pine after her while she’s in a relationship. you’re better than that” you whimper the last sentence, hot tears filled your eyes. mark almost broke down, seeing you so upset. but he was too mad and stubborn to comfort you.

“you really think jeno cares about you? he’s only hanging out with you to get to me!” mark continued to fuel your anger,

“mark lee, you are an asshole. who would have thought you and jeno would switch places?” you finally spat out, rushing out of his room, ready at cry your eyes out at home.

//

“y/n! wait up!” you heard the familiar deep voice behind you. you kept walking, wanting nothing more than to go home and ignore everyone and everything around you. but lee jeno was persistent. he caught up to you, moving to stand right infront of you.

“i don’t want to talk to you right now” you sternly let out, trying to walk away from him. jeno softly gripped your shoulders, pulling you along with him to a secluded spot behind the school gates.

“i know you don’t, but i want to explain myself” jeno started, he appeared to be quite distraught. you nodded along, ready to hear his explanation.

“coach promoted mark to shooting guard. i haven’t been on my best game lately, you know, with my dad always on my back. i was so mad that coach wanted to replace me. he knows that basketball is my only shot to get into college, because let’s face it, academics will not get me through” you frowned once he said that, which made him crack a slight smile,

“you’ve helped a lot. more than you know. but anyway, i got so mad at mark, i kind of went crazy. i know i shouldn’t have brought you up. that was a dick move and i’m sorry. i just wanted to hurt him. i’ve noticed that you two haven’t been talking. and i can’t help but feel like i was the reason for it. so i don’t expect you to forgive me right away. i just wanted you to hear my side” jeno finally finished, his shoulders resting. your eyes were wide, not expecting this entire speech from him.

“jeno, i appreciate that you wanted me to know your side. and i’m sorry about mark replacing you. he was going to find out about us one way or another. atleast it’s finally out” you shrugged before continuing, “mark and i haven’t been as close as we used to be. and it kind of hurts. i cried a lot after he yelled at me and i jus-” before you could finish, jeno pulled you into him. you immediately froze against him, arms avoiding wrapping around his torso. jeno didn’t know why he hugged you, something about your whimpering tone made him want to hold you.

“i-i’m sorry, you just looked like you needed it” he muttered, slowly pulling away from you.

“i-it’s okay” you mumble back to him, avoiding his eyes at all costs.

“i can leave now if you want?” jeno pulled a piece of hair away from your face, making you look up at him.

“a-actually, wanna go for a walk to the dock?” you offer, watching as his face slowly lit up,

“sure” he smiled softly at you, as you both began walking. you caught sight of mark and mina, who were staring right back at you and jeno. you weren’t sure what to do, jeno noticed how uncomfortable you felt. he too, was not too fond of the sight of mark and his now, ex girlfriend, judging the both of you.

“so are they a thing?” jeno suddenly brings up on your way to the dock.

“mark and mina? i thought you were dating” your confused tone made him smile,

“uh well we kind of broke up a few days ago. the day of the fight actually” jeno informed you. you stopped in your path, looking over at the taller boy.

“why didn’t you tell me? are you okay?” you slightly pout,

“firstly, you were ignoring me. and secondly, to my surprise, i am okay. we just weren’t right for eachother, it happens” jeno just shrugs, but you could tell there was more behind it.

“what else is bothering you? aside from your dad and basketball?” you decided to push, feeling he was holding something back.

“i just realised how poorly i treated mina. i never really put much effort into the relationship. seeing her with mark kind of struck a nerve” he explained as you both sat at the same table as your first tutoring session.

“well it’s okay to have regrets, jeno. it means you’re human” you assure him, placing your hand over his. jeno froze at your action, not used to you initiating physical touch with him. his eyes scanned to your wrist,

“hey, you’re still wearing the bracelet” he couldn’t help but feel giddy that you had kept such a useless gift.

“ah yeah, it’s kinda cute don’t you think?” you show off to him, trying to get him to laugh.

you’re cute.

jeno thought to himself. he didn’t want to admit that he had a slight interest in you. the plan wasn’t for him to fall for you. but jeno was well on his way. and he wanted to snap out of it, as soon as possible. because you deserved someone better than him.

//

as the days went on, mark slowly began to talk to you again. it would start with small conversations during your shifts at the cafe, but once you got to the point where you would ask to hang out, he always had something to do. all you wanted was your best friend back, but he seemed pretty occupied with mina’s company, you didn’t want to make things worse.

on top of this, jeno was struggling a lot with his english work. you tried your best to get him to understand but his mind wasn’t in the right place.

“i’m sorry if it feels like i’m wasting your time, y/n” jeno pouted at you,

“you’re not wasting my time, jeno. you’ll get there eventually. you just have to practice, like in basketball” you tried to develop a comparison between the two, in order to encourage jeno’s study habits.

“speaking of, are you coming to the game on friday?” jeno suddenly went off topic, not that you minded, you both needed a brain break.

“um i don’t know, i might have plans” you tried to come up with some lame excuse before he continued,

“oh come on, it’ll be a good game, we always beat this team” jeno was practically begging you at this point, you softly chuckled at his desperation,

“i’ll make you a deal, get over 80 for the english exam and i’ll go” you suggested as you pulled out your pinky. jeno hesitated for a moment, but opted to promising you anyway. your pinkies remained linked, both of you too embarrassed to pull away. as cheesy as it sounds, for just a moment, you felt everything else freeze. your focus was only on jeno, how adorable he looked with his ruffled hair, practically in his pajamas. you slowly brought yourself back to reality, a warm feeling now developing in your stomach. this isn’t good.

//

wednesday afternoon rolled by, as you were about to leave the school gates, you heard jeno call for you. he wasn’t being so discrete either, gaining the attention of others around you.

“y/n! wait up!” he was practically wheezing by the time he reached you.

“god, did you run a marathon or something?” you chuckle, helping him stable himself.

“i had to see you right after i got this damn mark, 84!!” his face lit up like you had never seen before. you could tell he was genuinely pleased with himself.

“that’s amazing, jeno! i knew you could do it” you jumped up and down in excitement for him. jeno smiled at you, pulling his arms out, signalling whether or not it was okay to hug you. you nodded ecstatically, launching yourself in his arms. jeno couldn’t believe how perfectly you fit in his arms. if only he could do this more often.

as you both pulled away, jeno still kept his hands hooked on your forearms.

“so you’ll come to the game?” he raised his eyebrows in anticipation.

“a deal is a deal!” you nod once again, watching as jeno’s eyes creased into a crescent moon shape.

“thanks again for everything, i’ll look out for you on friday!” he cheered as he released your forearms from his gentle grip, making his way back to his friends who watched the entire interaction. you couldn’t help but feel a sudden wave of heat rush to your face. goddammit lee jeno.

//

the basketball game was in full swing. you had gotten to the gym right before the game started. you looked over the court for jeno, your eyes meeting his. he gave you a slight smile, followed by a nod. you waved lightly at him, feeling slightly embarrassed that the only reason you came was to see him. mark witnessed the entire interaction, his instincts telling him that something more was going on between you two. the last thing he wanted was to see you hurt, especially if it were at the hands of jeno. mark approached jeno before the game started, he pulled out his hand to shake,

“hey, i know it’s been rough between us but let’s do our best for this game” mark pushed aside his pride. jeno cluelessly stared at mark’s hand, hesitantly placing his hand against his.

“yeah, agreed” jeno awkwardly muttered, quickly pulling away from mark, joining the rest of the team for the pregame huddle.

there was five seconds on the clock, jeno was double teamed. there was no way he could make the shot, he knew his dad was watching, probably yelling at him to take the shot anyway. but jeno couldn’t risk it, he looked to his right, seeing an open mark lee with his hands ready to handle the ball. jeno spun on his heel, swiftly making a clean pass to mark. everyone stood from their seats, all eyes on mark lee. it took a few seconds for the opposing team to realise what had happened, giving mark the perfect shot. just as the buzzer signalled the end of the game, mark lee had scored the winning basket. all the boys on the team ran to the slightly frazzled boy, pulling him in for a group hug. jeno smiled at the sight, looking over to find you, but he was met with the disappointing glares of his father instead. jeno’s smile faded, an uneasy feeling making its way through his body. you noticed that he seemed off, quickly rushing to be by his side.

“jeno! are you okay?” you tried to gain his attention amongst the loud cheers and screams of everyone. jeno turned to face you, placing his hands on the sides of your arms.

“y-yeah, i’m okay now” he smiled lightly, sweat dripping from his forehead. you pulled the sleeve of your sweater down slightly, wiping some of the sweat from his face.

“gosh you look gross” you fake gagged as he rolled his eyes.

“so you’re not going to congratulate me on winning?” he pouted, which had a tug on your heartstrings.

“andddd, congrats on winning!” you pulled him in for a hug, it was jeno’s turn to freeze at your embrace this time. he didn’t expect you to openly hug him infront of everyone but who was he to object?

“hey y/n, i’m going to have a celebratory party at my dad’s beach house tonight, wanna come? i’ll even invite mark” he offered as you both pulled away, his hands still on your sides.

“parties aren’t really my thing, you know? i’m not really dressed for the occasion anyway” you shrugged, feeling guilty for trying to ditch.

“oh come on, please? even if it’s for a little bit, i can take you home” jeno continues to budge, shooting you a doe eyed look. you shook your head at his efforts to persuade you.

“alright, alright! i think i’ll try and talk to mark first, see you soon” you give him one last smile before making your way to congratulate mark. despite the tension in your friendship, you knew that mark was too occupied, running on the high of winning, to ignore you. his eyes met yours, already expecting you to approach him.

“congrats mark, you did really well” you awkwardly greeted as he finally faced you.

“thanks y/n, i’m glad you came. even if it wasn’t for me” mark teased in a playful tone,

“w-what’s that supposed to mean?” you stutter, feeling heat rise to your face.

“i mean, you came to see jeno. i saw you two” mark explained, but before you could butt in, he continued,

“it’s fine really, it was wrong of me to make you think you needed my permission or something. jeno’s not so bad, i guess. but i still want you to be careful with him, okay?” there was the mark you knew and loved. the boy who would always give it to you straight, even if it hurt, but you knew in your heart that everything was okay. you nodded along, pulling your arms out, practically begging to hug him again. mark slightly chuckled, pulling you into him.

“i missed you, mark” you muttered into his shoulder and his hold on your tightened.

“i missed you too, loser” he whispered. as you pulled away from him, mark started walking with you to his car where you would both be on your way to lee jeno’s after game party.

//

jeno’s dad’s beach house exceeded all of your expectations. it was right by the shore, a bunch of teenagers already scattered on the sand. you and mark entered the house, greeted by mina and her best friend, jarim. you noticed how awkward mark and mina were with eachother, part of you wanting to laugh but you were able to keep it inside. you also noticed jarim practically glaring you down, maybe it was your outfit? your thoughts were interrupted when jeno came rushing to the group.

“glad you two could make it” he smiled at both you and mark, mainly keeping his focus on you.

“this place is huge” mark blurted out in awe, causing jeno to chuckle lightly. he was dressed in a plain black hoodie and some jogger pants. despite dressing down for his own party, how does he still look so damn good?

“thanks man, feel free to walk around, just don’t break anything” jeno jokingly winked, looking down at you,

“want me to show you around?” it was clear he was directing the question at you. you looked back at mark who gave you a look, telling you to go with jeno. you turned back to the dark haired boy, his eyes never left yours.

“sure” you nodded, walking alongside him, hearing soft whispers from jarim and mina.

jeno pulled you with him to an empty room. your eyes widened as he shut the door, unsure of why he only pulled you aside from the others.

“you can sit on the bed if you want” he insisted as he shuffled around the room. you followed along, still curious as to why you were here.

“is everything okay? why did you pull me away?” you questioned,

“i just wanted to thank you. for everything. for the tutoring, the mina drama and the stuff with my dad. i don’t really talk to anyone about my problems like how i do with you, and i really just want to say thanks, privately” this was the first time you saw jeno being timid. he stuck to the back of the door, eyes glued to the floor. you softly smiled at his words, making your way to meet him. you pulled his chin up, so he could look at you properly.

“you’re welcome, jeno. i’m really glad to hear that i’ve been able to help. it really does mean a lot to me” the words glided through your mouth with ease. lee jeno wasn’t as intimidating as you initially thought. he was flawed, like everyone else in the world. all he needed was someone to show him that it was okay to not be okay.

jeno placed the palm of his right hand to meet your cheek, gently brushing his thumb over it. the gesture made your heart flutter. how was he so good at this?

“y-you’re really pretty, you know?” jeno mumbled, pulling strands of your hair behind your ear. you blushed at his words, not believing them yourself.

“n-no, i’m not” you shook your head, as he halted his actions.

“why do you say that?” he furrowed his eyebrows at you, genuinely in disbelief at your words.

“i guess, i don’t really feel pretty? i don’t know. i just haven’t really been called pretty before, especially by a guy like yo-“ you cut yourself off, not wanting to finish your sentence. before jeno could say anything, there was a loud knock at the door.

“anyone in there?” the person yelled, continuing to knock. jeno turned to open the door, in which jarim, mark, mina and jaemin were all standing.

“oh were we interrupting something?” jarim smirked, clearly tipsy from the alcohol she consumed earlier that night. mina gave you a concerned look, aware of how her friend acts when she’s drunk.

“uh kinda” jeno harshly responded, mark’s eyes immediately shooting to you,

“is that true?” he questioned. you felt everyone’s eyes on you. you froze up, words unable to leave your mouth.

“aw cat’s got her tongue. were you two making out?” jarim continued to budge you both, no one responded.

“ah i see, you were about to have sex!” she slurred her words, mina having to hold her back from entering the room.

“shut up, jarim” jeno spat, causing the drunk girl to shove him further into the room. the small group all entered, jaemin closing the door behind him.

“jarim, lets get you home, okay?” mina struggles to pick up her friend.

“no no, i wanna stay. if you wanna be nasty, jeno. how about we discuss the elephant in the room? i mean, you don’t actually like tutor girl here, do you? wasn’t it all a ploy to get back at our little markie boy here” jarim exposed, chuckling to herself.

“what’s she talking about?” you finally spoke up, fists balled and tears threatening to fall from your eyes.

“no, it’s not like that, god why are you such a bitch, jarim?” jeno ran his hands through his hair, taking a step towards you. you took a step back in response, making your way to mark.

“i want to go home” you mumble to him, mark immediately taking you into his arms. he bid mina a farewell, as she apologised over and over for her friend’s behaviour. jeno tried to call after you both but jaemin held him back,

“dude, you messed up”

“i fucking know that, i have to go apologise” jeno gritted through his teeth,

“woah, you like her. you like tutor girl” jaemin was astonished, the thought of you and jeno as a couple, never crossing his mind.

“yeah, i really do. but now she’ll never want to see me again” jeno let out a defeated sigh, leaning against the door frame.

so much for a celebratory occasion.

//

you heard a knock at your bedroom door, interrupting your study session. you opened the door, eyes furrowed at the person standing infront of you.

“i’m probably the last person you expected to see” jarim sighed, clearly unsure of what else to say to you. you were ready to slam the door in her face, but you wanted to hear what excuse she had for coming to your house.

“what are you doing here?” you fold your arms, leaning on your door frame. jarim hesitates, handing you a piece of paper before speaking,

“i feel really awful about the way i acted at the party. i was drunk, not that it excuses what i did and said. but i hope you can understand that i didn’t have ill intent” jarim tried to defend herself, pleading for you to listen. you allowed her to continue, still holding the folded piece of paper in your hand.

“i’m sorry about making things awkward now with jeno, i want to make it up to you both” she paused, waiting for you to respond.

“i appreciate you coming to apologise and everything but jeno and i aren’t, and will never be a thing. i think it’s pretty clear how he feels about me” you try handing back the paper to her but she stops you.

“no you’re wrong, jeno likes you. he really does. he just has a crappy way of showing it. that piece of paper is an itinerary for your first date with him” jarim gave you a small smile.

“i’m confused? you’re suddenly playing match maker now?” you scoffed, fed up with the schemes,

“well yes! i think you two should give it a shot. just read through what i planned out. jeno will be at the cafe on friday night. it’s up to you if you want to go on the date or not, no pressure. i really am sorry again, i hope you can forgive me” jarim gave you a soft nod before leaving your house. you let out a short sigh, unfolding the piece of paper. you weren’t sure if you were ready to speak to jeno again, nonetheless go on a date with him. you couldn’t help but think about what could have happened between you two. would it be so bad?

//

on friday night, you were finishing up your shift at the cafe. mark and mina kept you company. mark was ranting about the next basketball game and mina was stressed about the upcoming cheer competition. you were wiping down your last table when the bell on top of the door rang, signalling someone had just entered. you swiftly turn to meet whoever came in, your face falling at the sight of jeno, still in his basketball jacket, staring right back at you. you walked right past him, removing your apron. mark awkwardly shifted looks between the both of you.

“y/n, can we talk?” jeno finally breaks the silence, walking closer to the counter you were standing behind. mark and mina slowly crept out of the cafe, mark mouthing a quick apology to you before scurrying off. you sighed, still unsure if you wanted to be on speaking terms with jeno.

“what is there is talk about?” you questioned, avoiding his gaze at all costs.

“the date that jarim organised, i would really like to go on it” jeno stumbled over his words, holding the folded piece of paper, identical to the one you received earlier that week.

“look, i just don’t think it’s a good idea, jeno. i mean, us going on a date? isn’t it ridiculous?” you tried to brush off any indication you were interested in him.

“it’s not ridiculous to me, y/n. just give me a chance, please?” he tried so hard to get you to look at him. you finally caved in and saw how fragile he looked.

“i can bail whenever i feel like it?” you fold your arms, hoping you wouldn’t regret your decision.

“yes, of course” jeno nodded, as you made your way to stand next to him.

“then let’s get going” you pulled your jacket and walked out of the cafe with jeno.

“okay so first thing she wrote was for us to list three things we like about eachother” jeno read off the piece of paper as you both walked aimlessly on the sidewalk.

“suddenly i can’t come up with anything” you jokingly shrug as jeno shoots you a playful glare. he started to loosen up, instantly feeling more comfortable with you.

“if you wanna be like that, i’ll go first then. i like how patient you are with me. you don’t treat me like some moron during tutoring” jeno awkwardly smiled at you, watching as your face softened. you knew how hard he was trying to get his grades up.

“thankyou jeno, that’s really sweet. i’m really proud of how far you’ve come” you compliment, watching as his cheeks start heating up. jeno moved closer to you, your arms brushing against eachother.

“i like the way you call my name, i know it sounds strange but it’s nice listening to your voice” you chuckle softly, completely embarrassed by your response. jeno couldn’t help but gush, he didn’t realise that you felt the same towards him.

“i actually think that’s cute. i’ll just keep talking to you then? even if you tell me to shut up” he smirks, nudging you gently.

“yeah yeah, it’s your turn” you tried to rush through this segment, butterflies forming in your stomach.

“i like that you’re pretty” he stopped you both in your tracks, fingers dangling near yours. you looked up at him, his eyes gazing into yours.

“i-i think you’re pretty too” you blurred, causing jeno to chuckle. you shook your head,

“ah no i mean that, i think you’re good looking? handsome? beautiful?” you couldn’t stop rambling, which only entertained him more.

“i got it” he mumbled, inching closer to you. you felt your breath hitch, never being this close to him before. you were crumbling under his gaze, suddenly pulling away from him. jeno let out a soft sigh, inserting himself next to you as you both started walking again.

you made it to the dock, choosing to sit on a nearby bench, admiring the moonlight shining on the water.

“i like you, jeno. that’s the last thing” you muttered, avoiding eye contact with the boy. jeno couldn’t contain how happy he was, wanting to pull you into him as soon as you finished speaking. but he saw how your expression dropped, a look of concern washed over you.

“i like you too, y/n. but w-what’s wrong?” jeno placed his arm around your shoulder, giving you a gentle pat.

“i-i’m scared, okay? i’ve never really been in a relationship before or even confessed to a guy. and to top it off, you and mark aren’t completely on good terms yet. so it just feels like everything is working against us being together” you ranted, jeno listening along to every word you said. he paused before responding, seeing how you were so worried about this, made his heart ache.

“hey, it’s okay. i don’t want to rush you into dating me or anything. i will work on my relationship with mark, if it makes you more comfortable. i swear, i would do anything to be with you, y/n. i can promise you that” jeno’s words brought much needed assurance to you. you finally looked over at him, his eyes dazzling under the moonlight.

“what will everyone think? i mean, i’m practically a no one. and you’re lee jeno. you aren’t scared of committing social suicide?” you dramatically point out. jeno throws his head back in laughter.

“i don’t care what anyone thinks. i just care what you think.” jeno slowly takes your hands in his, intertwining your fingers. you felt your heart race. how was he do good at this?

“how can i be sure that this isn’t another ploy to get to mark? how do i know this is real, jeno?” you mumble, still afraid of getting hurt again.

“if i could take back what i did, i would. without a doubt. y/n, i just want to be someone who’s good enough to be seen with you” jeno confesses, his words bringing a small smile to your face.

“well you should have thought about that before you humiliated me at the party! i really wanted to give you a piece of my mind, you know? there’s nothing you can do now that will make me forgive yo-“

you were cut off mid rant, feeling a pair of lips meet yours. you felt his hand gently caress your cheek, you didn’t know what came over you. you pressed your lips closer to his, if that was even possible. jeno softly mumbled against your lips,

“i’m sorry, i’ve just wanted to do that for so long” you ignored him for a bit, pulling him into you again. kissing jeno was something your past self would have beat you up for. but it just felt so damn good.

jeno broke away from your lips, giving you a quick peck on the cheek. you were intensely blushing at this point. hands now placed on the sides of jeno’s face. he looked at you with so much admiration, you couldn’t help but swoon over him.

“hate to say, but i was wrong about you” you whispered, a wide smile making its way to his lips.

“i’m all yours, y/n. i want to be there for you, through everything. i want to be the one you go to for comfort. i want you to come to my games and cheer me on. i want you to keep tutoring me until we graduate. i just want to be with you” jeno couldn’t stop rambling, the overwhelming feelings he had towards you were taking over him.

“i want to be with you too, jeno. it feels so good to finally say it” you surprise him by pecking his lips quickly. jeno’s eyes widened, he couldn’t hold back his need to embrace you. jeno pulled you up from the bench, wrapping his arms around you.

“thankyou, for everything” he mumbled against your forehead, placing a small kiss on it, as you both embraced eachother.

and that’s how you ended up dating your best friend’s half brother...it was definitely a story you enjoyed telling. dating lee jeno was filled with random rants in the early hours of the morning, breakfast delivered at your door step before he walked you to school. he visited the cafe to keep you company on your shifts, in return you would attend his basketball games, painting his jersey number in your cheek. he always searched for you in the crowd, giving you a wink before shooting the winning basket. it was ritual for you to jump in his arms after every game, whispering endless congratulations to him while kissing his cheeks. being with jeno was surprisingly drama free. he was completely loyal to you, and always showed you off every chance he could. he had also gotten closer to mark, partially due to your help. so you all ended up hanging out often, riding the roller coaster of life together.

who would have thought that the arrogant boy who despised your best friend, would become the most important person in your life?

[t4tlawlight]

Occam's razor is the principle that, of two explanations that account for all the facts, the simpler one is more likely to be correct.

this post is going to cover traits specific to the manga and the television drama, since those are the best adaptations to showcase L’s autism. THIS POST is required reading before you read anything i’m about to type, because it explains what kind of character niche L falls into--an unintentionally autistic coded character. i’ll talk more about that at the end.

i’m going to talk about manga L first, since he’s the original version after all. i’m going to go in order of physical traits, to behavioral, to his character writing. also, tumblr eats posts that have outside links, so i’m going to have my non-tumblr sources in a separate post, here.

anyways, more under the cut!

MANGA/ANIME:

sitting with his legs up and spine bent / sitting on the floor

this is such a big one and its extremely common in ppl with autism. sitting in chairs normally is uncomfortable to outright painful w many ppl with these disorders, myself included. L sitting like that (which, to recall, is a blatant homage to sherlock holmes, another character that is so blatantly autistic coded you can find absolutely ridiculous amounts of writing on the topic) and being like "I HAVE TO SIT LIKE THIS TO THINK PROPERLY" is so autistic. like sitting in a certain way to give you specific sensory stimulus/avoid distracting discomfort and pain is a thing. i found this post (1) written by an autistic person on the topic of sitting in chairs being uncomfortable, and it says as much:

“I suspect that seating discomfort is common in autism (though by no means limited to autistic people). Many of us, particularly as children, benefit greatly from chairs designed to be non-stationary: rocking chairs, “fidget” chairs, and so forth. These can improve focus, compensate for proprioceptive hypo-sensitivity, and alleviate restlessness. In short, many “attention issues” can be fixed simply by providing a little motion for the person sitting. Small change, huge results. That's what accommodations do at their best. They make (often minor) adjustments that have profound impacts.”

so when L says that sitting the way he does, for a specific sensory experience, improves his ability to think, it’s perfectly in line with this idea. Also it’s a good pressure stim.

standing with a slouch / shifting his weight around

to begin: yes! it’s very common for autistic people to stand or walk oddly for a number of different reasons, from physical comorbidity to other issues such as dyspraxia (see: movie L). From an article by YAI (2), an I/DD (intellectual and/or developmental disabilities) community program:

“Kyphosis (a curved spine), collapsed chest, dropped shoulders and even scoliosis are observed in many of our patients. These myriad of postural issues may result from reduced strength, decreased biomechanical stability, or from a sensory impairment, such as apraxia. 

Depending on the scene, L has mild to severe kyphosis which is very common in autistic individuals. Other things mentioned in that article if you want to click on it is instability in standing, where you sort of shift your weight around a lot between your  feet or rest all of your weight on one foot, which L is literally doing the first time we see all of him.

speaking with a monotone voice.

i obviously can’t show a picture for this one and it honestly depends on the voice actor you find for L, but in the anime in particular L has a very flat tone. a lot of this is bc he has a dry sense of humor but. just know that it’s very common for autistic people to have a flat affect (or go the other way into being too loud/emotive).

his eating habits. 

a lot (a LOT) of autistic ppl myself included can only eat certain kinds of food for texture and flavor reasons. HOWEVER there’s a term in the autism community called “samefoods” which is really well put by tumblr users candidlyautistic and autism-asks: 

“Samefoods or samefooding is a community word to describe the autistic trait of eating the same food over, and over and over . . . It is part sensory, part routine driven in most cases. A lot of times we samefood because we need that particular mouthfeel / texture / taste, and a lot of times even after that need passes, it turns into a need for routine until you actively dislike that food again.”

“Samefooding on the other hand is closer to a special interest. When I have a samefood (chocolate ice cream, currently), I really, really want that food. I could eat that food endlessly and not get tired of it. I will get upset if I’m not able to have the food in a day. For me, it usually is kind of routine based as well. For instance, with my current samefood, I have some in the evenings and it’s become part of how I wind down from my day.”

we don’t know exactly why L specifically desires sweet food or if he considers it part of his routine, but what we do know is that he really wants to eat sweet food and avoids eating anything other than sweet food, so it could either be that he’s a picky eater and can’t handle savory or he’s samefooding on sweets!

wearing the same clothes

L wears the same clothes every single day. It’s also worth noting that what he does wear is baggy, too-big clothing, the kind that wouldn’t be tight and uncomfortable. once again, sensory issues are a huge thing for autistic individuals. one of my favorite aspects is that in no adaptation does he wear socks. even L wears shoes, he wears them like slippers, not putting them on all the way. people comment that he seems like he’s poor, but we know for a fact that he’s very rich and that wearing these clothes is a personal choice he made.

not caring for himself/outsourcing his self-care

i don’t think one day is exactly canon, rather it’s an exaggeration of what might actually happen--i.e. L doesn’t have a huge closet full of the same outfit, but he does have several versions of the same outfit on rotation; L doesn’t use a human washing machine, but Watari might help him/encourage him to bathe regularly. One Day is a parody comic, but it was made by the creators for a reason and that reason is that L pretty obviously relies on a caretaker (Watari) for his personal needs. Watari, in the manga proper, cooks and cleans and does most things for L. we’ll come back to this topic when we get to the drama though.

doing stimming behaviors

if you don’t know what stimming is, it refers to self-stimulating behaviors, usually involving repetitive movements or sounds. everyone stims to some extent, but in autism it tends to be more obvious, go on for longer, and sometimes be more disruptive to others. it’s often used to help deal with sensory overload, or used to express feelings--think of an autistic person being happy and flapping their hands in the air.

there are a LOT of instances of L displaying stimming behavior, from stacking his food or things on his desk, to spinning in his chair, to biting his fingers/using them to press on his lips, to wriggling and tapping his toes. here are some specific instances:

there are a lot more. i’ll talk about more when we get to dramaverse, but if you rewatch/reread death note it’s definitely worth noting whenever L does something like this!

detective work as a special interest

ok, first and foremost i want to establish what a special interest is. Tumblr user cartoon has my favorite explanation of what a special interest is that i’ve seen to date: 

“To have a deep, intense, passionate and incredibly focused / narrowed interest in a certain area of study, subject, topic or thing - to the exclusion of other interests. This interest is something that exists for the long-term, most often lasting for multiple months, years, or even you’re entire life “

L says that he only does detective work because it’s a hobby, and he finds it entertaining. We’ve also seen that he’s been at it for quite some time--if you take side content (the wammy’s house comic, LABB) seriously, then he’s been at it since childhood, with unwavering interest. it definitely comes across to me as L having a special interest in detective work, rather than it just being a normal hobby or a job for him, especially since he says it isn’t out of any moral obligation.

germaphobia

Germaphobia is very common for individuals with autism. a lot of the time it’s actually sensory issues associated with “dirty” things, and a lot of the time it’s because features of OCD are heavily comorbid with autism, including contamination OCD and such fears. regardless of the reason, though, L’s aversion to touching Bad Things is a very autistic behavior, and so is his resulting quirk that he tends to hold things in a very odd manner!

muted emotional expression

this is getting more into L’s character, but L tends to feel and express emotions in a very muted way. not to say he doesn’t have them, but for instance in the example above, L doesn’t have a solid grasp on what exactly he’s feeling. he thinks he might be acting irrationally and overemotionally because he logically should be afraid, but he isn’t sure, and none of these emotions present themselves visibly. 

i’ve also seen it said that Ukita’s death is another good example of his muted response to emotion--he tells Aizawa to stay rational and his voice doesn’t waver as he tells him as much, but he holds himself tightly. for someone with poor emotional competence, these physical signs of distress can be hard to read in oneself, but Aizawa (a man who is extremely in-tune with his emotions) can tell immediately.

high logic, low empathy

L is also a character who, like many autistic people, lacks a certain degree of empathy. it’s not that he doesn’t have any, but it’s limited enough--and he values logic over it enough--that he’s willing to make extreme decisions and take a “ends justify the means” approach (such as using people as bait.) in the example above, L takes a moment to work through what it must actually feel like, which rings as very autistic.

bluntness/not caring about social convention

there are so many examples of this i honestly could list them all day, but L is a character who is very to-the-point and doesn’t care about mincing his words. he can be outright rude to the people around him, especially if he considers them not worth basic courtesy. see: Matsuda. 

DRAMAVERSE

if you all knew me you should have known this section is inevitable. i’m not going to talk about every single adaptation because i do not have the time and the only other adaptation that is meaningful in that regard is the movieverse (i am fairly certain that movie L is dyspraxic) but on account of the fact that i don’t care about them i won’t subject you all to them here.

anyway, drama L shows much the same traits as animanga L above (they are, after all, technically the same character) but he displays them in different ways. 

he has a much more advanced degree of germaphobia, with Watari saying he’s sensitive to outside air and spraying everyone who enters his space with disinfectant, but not making them wash their hands or anything like that, so we can kind of tell that his issues are more rooted, again, in a fear of germs rather than any actual medical issue. he wants to feel as though he is clean, not necessarily actually be clean. this is very common in contamination OCD, which has a high comorbidity with autism. (my girlfriend has a very good headcanon post about drama L and OCD that isn’t so much analysis than just plain fun, but it’s worth a read!)

he stims, but he has a different array of stims than animanga L--he chews on his jelly pouch bottles, 

he tosses it between his hands, 

he kicks his feet,

and he bounces in his chair.

he still sits in an unconventional manner. he still samefoods, this time even more exclusively--he only eats Lucky Charge jelly pouches and nutritional bars. Watari onscreen puts his shirts on for him, as well as cooking, cleaning, and mending his clothes for him.

however, there are a few traits that are drama-exclusive that i think really add to an analysis of his autism!

social scripting

social scripting and echolalic scripting are both commonly described as “scripting,” but are very different! echolalic scripting is like echolalia, but echolalic scripting is the recitation of longer passages of dialogue from things the individual has heard before. but social scripting is when you memorize common conversations so you can rattle it off without worrying too much! this can be very handy, such as exchanging basic pleasantries or ordering food, but it can also backfire if someone responds in a way your script’s not set up for. you can find more information on the difference in this video (3). 

now, this relates to L in that there are two separate scenes where L says the same thing, rather inappropriately:

L: When I consider Kira’s personality, could it be that the strong-willed daughter is Kira? Or could that sweet-looking son of yours surprise us by proving to be him? You never know what humans are hiding beneath the surface... Soichiro: Enough. L: Sorry. It was just a joke.

-- Episode 2

L: Light-kun. Oh, I’m sorry... If I called you “Yagami-san,” it would be the same as what I call your father.  Light: That’s okay. Call me whatever you want. L: Then what about Kira? (silence) L: It's a joke.

-- Episode 4

one could say that L just has a terrible sense of humor--and, of course, having a poor grasp of humor is common with autistic individuals--but the fact that he says nearly the same thing as a defense twice makes me feel as though he has it rehearsed as a defense when people react poorly to things he’s said, which happens often.

mirroring and echolalia

echolalia was briefly covered in the previous example, but for those unaware, via wikipedia (4):

Echolalia is the unsolicited repetition of vocalizations made by another person (when repeated by the same person, it is called palilalia). In its profound form it is automatic and effortless.

mirroring, on the other hand, is explained as such, also via wikipedia (5):

Mirroring is the behavior in which one person unconsciously imitates the gesture, speech pattern, or attitude of another. Mirroring often occurs in social situations, particularly in the company of close friends or family. The concept often affects other individuals' notions about the individual that is exhibiting mirroring behaviors, which can lead to the individual building rapport with others.

both of these are very common in autism, and they’re exemplified while L’s character is established watching his favorite TV show, Owarai Paradise. On one occasion, he’s watching the show and this dialogue happens:

Hiroshi: Despite never telling her how I felt, I still got dumped. I am Hiroshi.  Watari: Who was this one again? L: He is Hiroshi. Hiroshi: I am Hiroshi. I am Hiroshi.

-- Episode 2

it’s important to note that in Japanese, “He is Hiroshi” and “I am Hiroshi” are said, at least in this instance, exactly the same, so L is echoing precisely what he’s heard.

On another occasion, L is again watching the show with a glass of wine (seemingly acquired simply to imitate the characters onscreen, as he never drinks it) and when the characters onscreen toast their glasses, L does the same, mirroring them. 

CONCLUSION

I linked a post at the very beginning of this analysis talking about how characters are unintentionally autistic coded, and it’s important to understand how this unintentional coding is different from a headcanon--i didn’t make up these traits. they aren’t something that only exist in my head that i ascribe to L for fun. 

i made this analysis both because i wanted to share L’s autistic coding in one cohesive place, because plenty of people have made lists before, but none that i could find that included so many examples with images and explanations--and i also made it because of the old ryuzaki persona “theory.” 

for those unaware, the ryuzaki persona headcanon suggests that L faked all of these traits in order to make people uncomfortable, to put them off-guard and better mask his identity. i’ve seen posts about people claiming that nobody could actually behave in these ways, that L would surely be unhappy and uncomfortable sitting like that, or eating like that, or engaging in any of these behaviors. I’ve seen some people outright say that L isn’t autistic, but his persona is--that is, he’s pretending to be autistic.

i named this essay “occam’s razor” because, to me, L being autistic is the simplest answer to account for all of these traits. claiming that an autistic coded character is faking it is ableist and it just doesn’t make sense with anything else we know about his character.

but if you want to know more about that, i recommend reading eyecicles’ first!L tag. it’s debunked it in more ways than i ever could.

anyways, in conclusion

[prosebushpatch]

Hi, I'm a huge fan of your Detective Pikachu AHIT au, so much so that you've inspired me to try and make an AHIT au of my own. I was wondering if you had any tips or advice for me though because I've never really written an au before, let alone a fanfic. I'm not sure how to word it well, but I'll try my best. I guess what I'm wondering specifically is how do you find the balance between standing apart from the original media and making the two blend together in a way that feels natural? If that makes sense? And/or general advice. I've been wanting to write this story for a long time but actually writing (and posting it for others to see) is very intimidating. Sorry if this is a lot to ask for though. I really look up to you a lot when it comes to writing stories. You do such a good job of making the characters easy to relate to and I can almost physically feel myself in your stories when I'm reading them because of how full of life they are. If the advice thing is too much, I understand. If nothing else I wanted so say thank you for all the AHIT stories you've written. They've helped me through some difficult times. Still are. It gives me something to look forward to when everything else is unclear. Thank you very much <3

Oh gosh, first, thank you so much, this is so kind and I’m so glad and grateful my stories can do that for you ;o; <333 It means a lot! I’m happy to share my thought processes for writing! Under the cut because I get a little rambly, but I hope it helps a bit and feel free to ask me to clarify anything!

For balancing aus, what I usually do is pinpoint the main pieces of the original media that I think are most important to the media itself and then if there are any matching themes/vibes with the media I’m working with, I latch onto those too. For example! The main thing I zeroed in on in the Detective Pikachu au is how the dad gets turned into a pokemon, gets amnesia, and has to team up with his kid to unravel the mystery surrounding his predicament. That’s the part that, I think, makes it a Detective Pikachu au first and foremost and it’s where I’m the most faithful to the source, and then I deviate quite a bit, like how I keep the prince/snatcher a lawyer and turn him into an eevee instead because I thought it fit the character more.

And then with that au, I threw in the shadow pokemon mechanic because I thought the artificial corruption of hearts and closing them fit how Vanessa and the prince in ahit are corrupted/overshadowed by their heartbreak. And a smaller thing I did to combine Detective Pikachu with the prince was how, in the movie, detective pikachu is obsessed with coffee and since I made the prince’s partner a polteageist, it made sense to have him have an affinity for tea. And then from there it was a matter of just playing around with how the characters and the world of ahit would change with pokemon!

The most important advice I can give is to write the moments/tropes/emotions that you most want to! For as much as I can justify my choices for the story above, I also just really wanted to write them like that, haha. Like I just adore the shadow pokemon mechanic and wish it was utilized in games more, so I brought it into the story so I could play with it!

I totally get nervous posting stories too. And, looking back, there are a lot of ways I could improve the aus, like I feel that my majora’s mask au could have more influence from majora’s mask itself, but also I do love the story I ended up with! So I think, just writing things that make you happy/call to you is the best place to start. There are a lot of moments in those aus that I was certain no one else but me would enjoy, but then they ended up being some favorites of readers! (Like Wuka ;w; I wasn’t going to keep him in as long but I was delighted to find others loved him too, so I indulged in more shameless owo moments hehe).

This got a little long, but I hope it helps and I hope you start writing your story soon!!! I think my favorite thing about stories is how many ways you can tell the same one, or similar ones, or ones that start in the same place but branch into different paths, and how they all matter. In some way, big or small, stories matter. And your story matters! Wherever you start it, and however you guide it through its journey, it matters! And I most certainly look forward to reading it when it’s ready! <333

[birlcholtz]

Fic Questions

tagged by @the-lincyclopedia thank you!! (fun game: watch my writing get progressively less formal as the post continues. by the end it’s like what is capitalization)

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

77!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

434,378 as of this week but it does go up quite regularly

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Okay so in terms of what’s on my AO3, I have Check Please, All For the Game, Sharp Zero, HP, and Miraculous Ladybug. I also have The Forbidden LOTR and PJO Fanfiction (as in, I’ve written it, but it’s never seeing the light of day)

(technically there is a PJO fic out there that has seen the light of day but I orphaned it because I was tired of getting comments asking about when it would be updated)

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

and then i met you (and the whole world changed)

for the better

Knew It Was You

come home (to you, to us)

sin bin schematics

All of these are Check Please and all of them except Knew It Was You are part of my Zimbits Airport AU!

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

I do! It’s actually a very recent thing that I’ve started not responding to literally every single comment. Mainly I respond because I love talking about my writing so I am going to seize that opportunity when it comes up

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

Oh, DEFINITELY Happy Birthday (HP). Check out that MCD tag ahah. (I say HP but what I really mean is that I write fic about Regulus Black. The Regulus Black-centric tag is my home in the HP fandom)

fun fact: this is a very short fic that I wrote when I was 15 and basically forgot about until recently, and then I reread it recently and went holy shit?? I pulled NO punches????

7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the wildest one you’ve written?

Not a ton? I think a lot of the fandoms I write for don’t really mesh that well. That being said, the aforementioned orphaned PJO fic is actually a PJO/ML crossover, so there’s that

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Nope! Sometimes I get comments that are just.... really confusing? And a more common thing is that in my AFTG fic I’ll get comments from people who are so focused on Andreil (or the most common ships in general) to the point that like. they miss the point of what I actually wrote. Those are annoying but they’re not hate, they’re very enthusiastic, they’re just... enthusiastic about a story I’m not writing? So it’s a bit frustrating.

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

No sjflskgjhgf I struggle enough to write kissing, I think if I ever tried to write smut my brain would just shut down. I’ve managed some fade-to-blacks (which are mostly in WIPs that haven’t been posted) but they rely HEAVILY on the powers of implication

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of!

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, although I have occasionally made a brief go of it, not to post, more as an exercise for myself in a language that I’m learning. Anyway I never finish them so I’m gonna say no

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not really? I’ve definitely group brainstormed fics and then written them (the best example of this being Q&A (AFTG), which was the product of a truly off-the-walls group chat), but I tend to do all the actual writing myself. I think the way I write would drive a co-writer up the wall since it’s very disorganized and I don’t write stuff down because ~I know what’s gonna happen I don’t need notes~ and it would infuriate me if I was co-writing with me lmao, so I won’t inflict that on someone else

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

I regularly move through ships I’m SUPER focused on, like it’s kind of a rotation. I will forever and always ship Percabeth though.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Okay so if you follow me at @birlwrites you may know this already, but i have this ‘warmups’ document that is just like, random ideas i get that i don’t necessarily want to finish but i just want to try out for a bit? and i have a rule that once a ‘warmup’ is more than 10 pages long (so 11+) then it has to be moved to its own document, just to make scrolling through the warmups doc easier. but usually, a warmup only passes 10 pages when i’m INTO it. so i have a bazillion wips i will probably never finish. i complain about this a lot. i have so many wips. i don’t need more.

here’s one: it’s titled ‘interrobang doesn’t know they’re dating’, it’s basically a full outline for a chowder/tango fic and it would be SO cool if i could ever like. get around to writing it. but i am constantly swamped with writing projects, so it’s probably not gonna happen. if anyone’s interested in adopting it though i’d be down for that!! i think it’s a fun idea i just almost def won’t write it myself

15. What are your writing strengths?

SNAPPY DIALOGUE AND SNARKY INTERNAL MONOLOGUE. my writing is COMEDIC, 90% of my ideas are based on a funny snippet that popped into my head, a lot of my worldbuilding is based on ‘hey you know what would be hilarious’ (whenever i explain how larai selects a chosen one in the rainfall universe i start laughing, which is a STARK contrast to how it plays out on the page), i love writing funny stuff!!

also i think my writing sounds nice, a lot of the time i pick words/syntax based on sound and flow so there’s that too. and i have lots of ideas! i don’t struggle much with writer’s block because a) i have a lot of strategies to deal with it and b) i have a lot of ideas to help get around it/work with it

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

PHYSICAL INTIMACY LMAO, sometimes in my end notes on shippy fics you can see me complaining ‘it took me literally 4 hours to write that very brief kiss’. also sometimes the humor in my writing gets in the way a bit, i have to very consciously put it away so characters can actually have serious, genuine emotions. also i don’t like outlining and i tend not to get betas for fanfiction so like..... i do my best continuity-wise but having really tightly plotted stories is just not my focus lol. (and i do put more effort into that for original stuff, it’s just fic where i kind of go wild)

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

If the reader’s supposed to know what it means, then writing it in another language is iffy for me. (stuff like terms of endearment which come up a lot in fic are fine imo, you can just put a note in to translate them and your reader will prob remember)

If the pov character isn’t supposed to understand it, and it doesn’t matter if the reader understands it, then ig it’s fine? but unless you already speak the other language (and i am NOT confident in my ability to translate english into literally any other language), then i think it’s way easier to just note that a character’s speaking x language and provide tone indicators, body language cues, etc. so the reader understands as much as the pov character.

That being said there are def times when it’s used super effectively--the dialogue in spanish in cemetery boys comes to mind! that’s not fanfic but it’s still creative writing so w/e

so i guess it comes down to: does actually writing out the dialogue in the other language serve a purpose? if it doesn’t, then you’re filling up the screen with words your reader isn’t likely to understand, which i try to avoid doing

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

so the first fandom i actually *wrote* for was PJO, but i distinctly remember creating warrior cats OCs when i was little. i never actually did anything w them but i had them and my favorite was a riverclan warrior named shellstream i remember this VIVIDLY

19. What’s your favorite fic you’ve ever written?

oh boy. okay so this is hard because i feel like i’m continuously improving as a writer. like in the sense that my writing is getting closer and closer to really matching my own taste? my favorites tend to always be my current projects as a result. and i do really love set those ghosts alight (HP) but it feels a little like cheating to say a fic i haven’t even finished writing yet. even though it’s def not cheating, that’s just the direction my brain is taking it.

i’m gonna say and then what? (OMGCP) because i’m super proud of the prose (especially ch 2 aka the first actual prose chapter), survived by (HP) for SUCCESSFULLY WRITING AN EMOTION and making readers cry :), and Q&A (AFTG) because i’m literally the one who wrote it and yet it still makes me wheeze. those are all fics i reread occasionally, because i’m big enough to admit i enjoy rereading my old stuff! (just like. to a point. some of my old stuff i can’t look at anymore because all the mistakes stick out to me like they have spotlights shining directly on them)

this was fun!! i’m gonna do an open tag because i just started my fall semester and brain tired. i know sometimes people see open tags and assume the op didn’t really mean it but I MEAN IT, PLEASE DO THIS AND TAG ME!!!!! YES YOU READING THIS

[plumoh]

[FE3H] This Isn’t An Embarrassment Competition, Guys

Rating: G

Word count: 2520

Summary: They bet on the number of times Felix and Sylvain are being affectionate in public; Annette is certain she won't lose. / post-AM route

Note: AO3 link. Humour, PDA, a compilation of Sylvix being embarrassing. Originally written for Sylvix week 2020!

“500 gold.”

“800 gold.”

“You are all cowards. 1500 gold!”

“You’re awfully confident, Annette…”

“I’ve seen them! I see them too often!”

Annette resists the urge to smile like she’s possessed as Felix joins them at the breakfast table, alone. He raises an eyebrow when all heads swivel to stare at him.

“What?”

“Nothing!” Annette exclaims, waving her hands frantically. “It’s a fine morning, isn’t it?”

“It’s literally freezing outside.”

“I mean, it’s a good day in Faerghan standards!”

Ashe, sitting across her, is visibly wincing and probably trying to become one with his chair. Annette bites the inside of her cheek and forces herself to stop talking as even Mercedes’s quiet amusement starts making her embarrassed. Oh well, they can thank her later for diverting Felix’s attention from their conversation!

Felix deems her reaction not worth another question and digs into his food. A mere minute later Sylvain strolls into the mess hall, grabs a plate of food at random, and heads towards their table, like a moth attracted to light. Annette clasps a hand over her mouth to hide her smile, and she knows they’re all holding their breath. The grin on Sylvain’s face is a dead giveaway.

“Hey guys, good morning!” he greets cheerfully.

He puts the plate on the table, next to Felix’s, and casually bends down to kiss Felix’s cheek not once, not twice, but three times, unashamed and practically glowing with joy.

“And good morning to you, sweetheart.”

“I told you to stop calling me that,” Felix mutters, but there is the smallest hint of satisfaction on his face.

Annette is now biting her lower lip, trying really hard not to laugh. They’re cute, but also disgustingly so. She actually doesn’t know if she hates them for that or not.

She glances briefly at Ashe, then Mercedes, and holds up a finger.

First act of public display of affection of the day. She bet on eight. She’s going to win so easily.

***

She knew that Sylvain would be the kind of person to show off his partner and to kiss them right in front of other people, but she didn’t account for Felix to also be embarrassing in public. Annette is a bigger romantic than they are, but she isn’t going to enjoy kissing her significant other or holding hands with them when so many pairs of eyes are going to judge! She doesn’t have a death wish!

Felix is someone who likes keeping his privacy, but apparently the concept completely flew out of the window once he’s officially declared he was courting Sylvain. At first it was nothing exceptional, just some hand touches during meetings, Sylvain’s arm around Felix’s shoulders as usual, or lingering stares that made the temperature of the room go up at least five degrees. No, it was after their marriage that it started getting out of hand. Something about the bliss of being newly wed, the excitement of beginning a new life, and other reasons that Annette doesn’t quite believe apply to these particular idiots. Ingrid agrees with her; being embarrassing is in their nature.

Annette is visiting the castle for the day and attending meetings about education, and how they can improve the students’ learning experience. She probably won’t be stuck to Felix or Sylvain, but she is certain she will see enough of them to win the bet. And a lot of gold.

She walks towards the meeting room, her steps light. She knows that some nobles are thinking that nobody should appear so eager and happy early in the morning, as if it’s a rule established by the king himself—well, sucks to be them, Annette loves mornings, and this one is going to be wonderful.

Luck is smiling down on her; at the end of the corridor, she can see Felix’s blue coat and Sylvain’s fiery hair. They’re whispering to each other, not urgently, which can only mean they’re telling each other goodbyes for the day. Or the morning. Most likely the morning, because the chances of them not meeting for lunch are slimmer than Felix skipping a training session. Annette is squinting at their figures, then rolls her eyes when she makes out the shape of their hands linked together.

Sweet words and hand holding in the middle of a corridor? That definitely counts as PDA.

***

Meetings are still incredibly boring, even after a few years of attending them regularly. Annette likes contributing to the educational system, but most of the time they don’t make much progress after discussing for one hour or two, which frustrates her a lot. This deserves a cookie break.

On her way to the gardens, she bumps into Ingrid, who is doing her usual rounds in the castle grounds—even during peacetime, she doesn’t take her duties lightly.

“Hi Ingrid!” Annette greets her. “Have you heard of our new bet?”

“Hello, Annette.” Ingrid smiles. “Yes, Mercedes told me she expects the two idiots to be gross in public six times today.”

“Ashe said it would be four times because they calmed down, but I think he’s just being nice. It’s not even lunchtime yet and I already caught them twice!”

Ingrid shakes her head and sighs. Annette wonders what it must feel like to hear about your childhood friends getting into trouble every day, and being unable to do anything to change that. Well, during their academy days, Annette also had her fair share of Sylvain-incidents to take care of, but it’s probably not comparable of years of antics. Ingrid loves them still, which means that this has become a natural task in her routine? Annette still feels kind of bad for her.

“Felix and Sylvain were headed to see His Majesty earlier, before I left for my rounds. Some nobles were asking for an audience, so Sylvain took the opportunity to introduce himself as Felix’s husband who, and I quote, ‘is like the best part of myself, precious and dangerous, and I love him with my entire being’.”

Annette bursts out laughing. “Ugh, Sylvain is such a sap! The count goes up to three! And I thought they weren’t stuck together today?”

“They are not, and that’s exactly why this is ridiculous.”

Maybe they know about the bet and they’re doing it on purpose.Lunchtime rolls around and they all gather in the mess hall once again. Annette sees Ashe already sitting with Felix and Sylvain, the three of them deep in conversation about horses, Sylvain talking with his hands like he always does while Ashe jabs his finger at him.

“Stop talking and eat, we don’t have all day,” Felix says.

Annette sits next to Ashe just as Felix scoops up some vegetables and a piece of meat with his fork, and directly deposits the content into Sylvain’s mouth, who readily accepts the offering with a smile. They’re making eyes at each other. That never happened before; Annette is speechless. Ashe stops talking mid-sentence.

“Wow, aren’t we bothering them, Ashe?”Annette asks lowly, glancing his way.

“Uh.”

Felix rolls his eyes. “What are you gawking at? Mind your own business.”

This is the fourth occurrence. Annette knew she was going to get richer by the end of the day, but she didn’t think it would be that predictable. Don’t they feel embarrassed? Don’t they think it’s awkward to spread their love like that, unbridled and free for everyone to see? Annette would be mortified if it were her. Who does that, in goddamn Faerghus?

Ashe coughs and attempts resuming the conversation from earlier (fast horses or something), but he’s struggling getting the words out because Felix keeps feeding Sylvain. Sylvain has hands! He can eat by himself! Annette is going to scream.

“W-What are you supposed to do this afternoon?” she cuts in, clutching her utensils a bit too firmly.

“Oh, I just have to see some guys for a problem about food supply chain,” Sylvain answers with a shrug. “Nothing exciting.”

“You could come with me to watch the new recruits after that,” Ashe suggests.

Sylvain makes a face. “Are you asking me to train?”

“A bit of training wouldn’t hurt you.” Felix snorts. “I have to accompany Dimitri in his duties today, and I’m going now.”

Felix rises from his chair, and before he can walk away, Sylvain takes his wrist and tugs him down for a kiss on the mouth. It’s the kind of kiss that doesn’t last long, but it’s not a simple brush of lips either, it’s the kind involving sucking and licking. They’re enjoying it too much.

“See you later,” Sylvain says, grinning.

“Yeah, don’t slack off,” Felix says.

Ashe leans towards her, and whispers harshly, “This counts double, right?”

“Of course it counts double,” Annette replies on the same tone. “That makes currently five for me. You lost.”

Ashe sighs. “Well, I had too much faith in them.”

***

Actually, since Felix is with Dimitri all afternoon, he shouldn’t be able to meet up with Sylvain, right? There is no reason for them to cross paths, and even if they did, doing something inappropriate in the presence of the king and other dignitaries would be highly frowned upon, right?

“That has never stopped them before,” Dedue says calmly, almost like he’s accepted his fate.

The greenhouse is quiet, as they water plants and cut some leaves for a tea blend.

“It was funny at first, but now it’s downright disconcerting!” Annette whines.

“You don’t spend much time at the castle, but I do assure you that these public displays of affection have almost become an attraction to many people here.”

“You’re joking.”

The corner of Dedue’s mouth twitches upwards. “I am not. Consider yourself lucky to be away from this nonsense, Annette.”

Still, Dedue sounds entertained. He doesn’t partake in their silly games or bets, but he’s always there to witness the results of the events, collecting evidence of their general stupidity and bad decisions—like that one time they all tried to make a very drunk Dimitri dance and sing, which ended in too many broken expensive furniture, even for the royal treasury; Felix was not amused.

“I believe that they are trying to see how far they can keep this up before someone starts berating them for their behaviors,” Dedue muses.

“That wouldn’t surprise me,” Annette mutters. “Ingrid warned them multiple times, but they don’t listen.”

“They don’t listen to anyone, not even to His Majesty.”

Suddenly, it occurs to Annette that Dimitri has probably seen way more than they all did, and he must be suffering greatly.

***

The sixth time Annette sees them spilling their love all over the place can’t really be considered a show of PDA, but if she caught them in the act, then anybody could. The sun is nearly setting and Dimitri, with his close advisors, are taking a walk in the gardens, greeting the last visiting nobles who couldn’t get a glimpse of him all day. Felix flanks his right while Dedue stands on his left, and Sylvain has magically materialized to trail behind them, all smiles and charm.

Sylvain is saying something to Felix, but Felix shakes his head, like he’s refusing a request or expressing how doubtful he is of whatever he heard. Sylvain laughs, then takes Felix’s hand to kiss it like he’s still courting him, and this time it makes Felix blush at the ears. Something so innocent, which can even be considered relatively common to greet another noble, is igniting such a warm reaction in him. It was a quick gesture but Annette saw it! Even if Dimitri is in the vicinity exuding his kingly aura, drawing attention to him, that doesn’t mean his advisors are invisible!

So yes, PDA!

***

They’re having dinner with Dimitri in his quarters, all eight of them (the Professor is sadly held back by their duties as Archbishop). The room they are in isn’t fitted to accommodate so many dinner guests, but with some arrangement and goodwill they can all sit perfectly around a table.

Felix is sitting on Sylvain’s lap.

“How are you going to eat like that?” Ingrid groans.

“Don’t worry, we always make things work.” Sylvain winks.

“You two look like you are having fun,” Mercedes comments with a smile.

“I’m not,” Ashe mumbles.

“It’s not unpleasant,” Felix says, unhelpful.

Annette glances at Dimitri, who is softly laughing at their antics. Dedue discreetly sighs but he doesn’t seem totally opposed to this...seating predicament, so he’s letting it slide. Unless he’s giving Annette an opportunity to win the bet, which would be extremely generous of him. That’s indeed the seventh occurrence, and it’s now a matter of time before Annette gets her sweet 3000 gold.

They eat, talk and reminisce all evening. Spending time together with no worries, no duties to think about, never fails to bring a smile on everyone’s faces. Annette likes these evenings where they’re not their titles, especially when Dimitri lets himself enjoy a moment of respite, free of the crown he’s wearing.

The hours pass by, bottles of alcohol are emptied, but still no sign of a kiss or loving gazes. Annette supposes it’s still early.

When some of them start dozing off and Annette herself is blinking away her sleepiness, Felix gets up to fetch blankets, then drops them on a nearby couch and yells at them to sleep if they can’t remain awake—that’s actually thoughtful of him. He goes back to sitting too close to Sylvain, but at least he’s not sitting in his lap anymore.

“This can be embarrassing to watch, but I am actually happy to see Felix and Sylvain unrestrained in their love,” Dimitri admits sheepishly.

Annette hits her forehead against the table.

“I don’t mean any offense, but they’re kind of exhausting.”

“Yes, they are,” Dimitri laughs. “But they have always been close.”

“...Your heart is made of gold, Your Majesty.”

“Oh, I am simply waiting for the day it goes too far.”

At this Annette jerks her head up, staring at Dimitri who keeps smiling, his eye glinting with playfulness.

“My lecture will be unforgettable.”

It sounds so honest and normal that Annette can’t help but snicker, imagining Felix’s and Sylvain’s faces twisted in a grimace as they listen to their king rant about propriety and manners and etiquette.

She ends up falling asleep on her chair after talking a while longer with Dimitri, vaguely aware she is forgetting about something.

***

“You’re telling me they behaved?!”

“Yes, unfortunately for you, the number of public displays of affection stopped at seven yesterday.”

“Wait, but those seven occurrences are what I’ve seen and heard about! I’m sure someone witnessed something we didn’t!”

Annette lets out a long whine, as Mercedes pats her shoulder.

“I’m sorry Annie, there is no way to confirm it.”

“So no one won the bet?” Annette asks.

“See the bright side: you didn’t lose money.”

Mercedes smiles kindly at her, but Annette knows that behind this smile her best friend is teasing her. One more occurrence and she could have won… There is no way Felix and Sylvain didn’t know; evil, the both of them.

[stillness-in-green]

The MLA(/PLF) Headcanon Post (1/2)

In response to this nice ask about whether I have any headcanon or thoughts about the current members of the MLA/PLF, I spent two weeks blithering 16.5K words of exactly that into a Word file, because when it comes to underappreciated characters I love, I do not understand restraint.  This post and its follow-up will cover all ranked ex-MLA members of the PLF, as well as Original Flavor Destro and Curious, since I wasn't going to leave them out of a project like this even if they aren't "current."

The ask only mentioned having previously read The Lore Post, the last exercise in ridiculousness that I wrote at the tail end of MLA Week, so I wrote this to summarize everything that doesn't appear there—which is to say that a lot of the material in these two posts will look familiar to anyone who's read my fanfic about the MLA cast.  There’s still plenty of new material to go around too, though!

So, I don't have much in the vein of askblog-style headcanons where I can randomly tell you stray trivia about a character’s favorite foods or their love languages or what have you; that stuff either comes up when I'm writing fanfic or it doesn't.  That said, below, please find a mix of thoughts I keep in mind when writing characters, facts that have only turned up in my fanfic/notes so far and not the Lore Post meta, and a selection of lightning round headcanon provided by cross-referencing a random number generator with some old questionnaires I keep around for OCs and tabletop characters.

In this post: Destro, Re-Destro and his advisors, and Geten.

Destro— 

General Thoughts The whole "revolutionary leader" thing came very naturally to him. He was committed, charismatic, very willing to risk his life and safety for the cause, and he cared about his people. All that said, he absolutely had a pompous, prideful streak, especially where it came to his justification for terrorism.  You only have to read his own words to see that.  Still, he was in large part reacting to the world he lived in, one of greater violence and danger than the current day. 

I like to think that—because he was genuine in wanting freedom for all—he would not approve of what became of his Army.  He'd be able to see how they got there, and he would probably have made much the same choices if he'd been there with them, but while he would have agreed that his role should be remembered—that's just Due Credit—he would never have wanted to become the nigh-on religious figure his followers turned him into. Continuing to fight the good fight for his ideals is one thing, but secret salutes and isolated villages and being raised from infancy to know your life has only as much worth as it can contribute to Liberation…  Well, it's just not what he would have wanted for his people, much less his descendants. 

Family Situation Chikara was only around 7 when his mother was killed, the event that would shape the rest of his life.  He wasn't hiding in the closet from the mob, either; he was kicking and punching and biting, his motivation to save her overflowing—but he was still only 7, and eventually overwhelmed.  His own life might well have ended there with hers, but for a group of neighborhood vigilante types (at least one of whom probably went on to a career as a hero, after legalization).

He went most of his adolescence without getting involved with anything more sinister than student newspapers, founding a secret meta-rights "club," and attending the odd larger protest, but when the government started talking about passing laws restricting the use of meta-abilities, he started getting very radical very quickly, and when some absolute snake started to use his martyred mother's words to bang the drum for banning quirk use outside the home outright, he went off the deep end.

Lightning Round (Randomly Selected Headcanons)

Favorite book genre?  Memoirs and biographies—he wouldn't have written his own if he didn't appreciate their value.  The intimacy of the personal juxtaposed against the broad scope of history appeals to both his regard for individuality and his revolutionary mindset.

Most prized possession?  Thoughts on material possessions in general?   He doesn’t generally prize material possessions—in fact, he’s something of a skinflint.  His most prized possession is an old pair of gloves that belonged to his mother, which he'd been wearing at the time of her murder.  He didn't come from money to begin with, but his mother’s story made enough of a splash that his financial situation was improved by well-meaning sorts sending along donations and contributions and the like, as well as government officials knowing they needed to be sure that he wound up somewhere at least semi-reasonable lest they court further outrage by mishandling the son of a martyred woman.  The money all went towards school and living expenses, though, leaving him quite experienced at balancing a budget, which would come in handy for that whole ‘leading a violent uprising against the state’ thing later on.

Academic Background: Got all the way through college!  Was involved in student groups as far back as middle school, and only got moreso the further in school he got.  Majored in Human Development; he was intending to go into the public health and policy sphere before the appropriation of his mother's language pissed him off so much he got into terrorism instead.

THE MODERN MLA

Re-Destro—

General Thoughts A huge amount of the way I write him is influenced by one single thing—his characterization as described in the second data book.  His personality is summed up there as "sokoshirenai yami"—bottomless darkness, or, as a friend translated it for me, "unfathomable gloominess."  That really, really stuck with me, because on the one hand, it's so opposed to virtually all of what we see of him on the page, where he's being cheerful or scornful or sycophantic; the closest he ever gets are his brief tears for Miyashita, Curious, and his other followers.

On the other hand, it makes so much sense that the man we see—the man who talks about the heavy burdens of his legacy, who was handed that legacy when he couldn't possibly have been any older than 6 or so, who willingly straps on a self-designed torture device to wring out more power, who all but worships the ground Shigaraki walks on even though Shigaraki is the reason Re-Destro no longer has legs to walk that same ground with—should be "unfathomably gloomy."  Of course he's gloomy!  He was never allowed to be his own person!  He has never in his life known true freedom, only existed as a vessel to bring that freedom to others!  And he can't really even talk to his closest friends about it, because his closest friends are still his followers, and he wouldn't want to weigh them down!

With that context, it makes all the sense in the world that he'd be so devoted to the man who relieved him of that burden.

Family Situation He loved his mother Yukie a great deal, despite knowing from early on that he was carrying the weight of the title because she believed she couldn’t.  (Perhaps growing up hearing about the martyrdom of Destro’s mother left him wanting to ensure the happiness of his own, for her happiness was very rare.)  He was 10 when she was killed in a Villain attack; she’d been on a daytrip over to a neighboring city to visit some of her erstwhile school friends.  The requisite mourning period was 49 days, and as the only surviving family member, quite a lot fell to him even before considerations of his role as Re-Destro.  it was perceived as better—for both the Army’s morale and for his own stability—for him to be involved with as much of the work of transition as possible, but obviously he couldn’t do it completely alone, nor should he.  Thus, for two months after Yukie’s death, the previous generation's Sanctum[i] stayed with him in his family home. Afterward, he moved in with Anchor (one of his grandfather's advisors), where he would spend the rest of his young adulthood until moving away for college.

Claustrophobia The name of that literal-iron-maiden deathtrap he brings to bear against Shigaraki is no coincidence: Rikiya developed claustrophobia over the course of a stint of abusive training when he was thirteen. He generally has a pretty good handle on disguising it, thanks to a combination of people being unwilling to ask him questions they don’t actually want the answers to and the fact that he had to learn how to operate through it in order to complete the training at all. He has never told anyone, largely because he’s never been able to recognize that it was abuse, and so his abuser remains a figure of some influence.

Education He was largely taught by private tutors, in his home and in theirs, rather than attending school, but I think he probably wasn't completely home-schooled.  Particularly once he'd decided that he did want to attend university—and not just some little local technical program, but a major school in a proper city—he probably attended classes a few times a week at his local high school just to get a feel for being around other people his own age. He'd been friends with Koku for several years by that point, otherwise he probably would have been pretty hopeless, but he was still a pretty odd duck by the time he got to university.

This, incidentally, is why he never pushed Geten too hard about school—his own experience of it was so weird and piecemeal that he mostly thinks of school as relevant only for the education it provides, and less so the crash course in social dynamics.  Since Geten doesn't care about getting an education (nor, indeed, about learning how not to be a rude little troll), and has a strong enough quirk that he'll never lack for a position in the Army even without a formal education, Rikiya is perfectly happy to let Geten have his way and just be minimally learnèd.

Stress His powers operate by infusing his body with the characteristic black matter of his manifested stress; he can increase his size with this (his so-called Liberated Form isn't just armored up; he becomes physically taller and bulkier), as well as throw handfuls of the materialized power.  A side effect of this is that his stress can also infuse itself into his bodily fluids. The stress matter is a highly dense particulate, so if Rikiya is not in proper control of himself, his proverbial blood, sweat and tears can be literally heavy with the weight of his power.

The Value of Life He cares very much about the lives of his followers, but those genuine feelings are filtered through both the mental compartmentalization required by an emotion-based quirk, and an upbringing that taught him to care about his underlings in the same way one would rare goods.  Valuable goods, certainly, goods worth being proud of, goods to be maintained with care, but still, ultimately, things that can be sold or traded or bartered off as necessary to further one's goals.  Even his own life, while "objectively" the most valuable of them all, isn't an exception to that policy—the Great Cause is more important than any individual life, up to and including his own.

On a Personal Note He’s something of an obvious weirdo to outsiders—his enthusiasm comes off as strident, his smiles overly polished—but despite that, he's bizarrely hard to dislike once they start spending real time with him.  He's not anywhere near as prideful about himself as he is the legacy of the MLA, for a start; he's actually pretty self-deprecating when he's not performing the whole Heir of Destro's Great Bloodline routine at people.  He's also happy to go along with other people sharing their hobbies (because he doesn't have any of his own).  The more you get to know him, the more obvious it becomes that he's a total basket case, but “total basket case” is still an improvement over “self-absorbed 1%-er CEO” that people like Spinner come in expecting.

What Are Boundaries? He has very little understanding of how to enforce boundaries around his private life, or, indeed, of why such boundaries might ever be necessary.  Oh, he can do the double life thing, keep the CEO of Detnerat separate from the Grand Commander of the Metahuman Liberation Army, but when it comes to the MLA itself, he's so groomed to devote himself to the cause that he doesn't really distinguish between the responsibilities of Re-Destro and the needs of Yotsubashi Rikiya.  Rather than being the egomaniac you might expect of a man with the absolute power over others he has, he instead struggles to assert himself as his own person at all.

Issues with boundaries are not uncommon with the MLA—they're all raised to see themselves as warriors to advance the cause before they are, like, “human beings”—but Rikiya’s are particularly exacerbated because he was raised by adults who were getting pretty paranoid about his bloodline's tendency to die young, and thus were always checking in on how he was doing, dictating his schedule, weighing in on his plans, and so on.  He just wasn’t raised with reasonable expectations for privacy.  Even as an adult, he'll give his apartment door code to pretty much anyone in the MLA who has even a semi-plausible reason to want it—certainly quite a few of the elders know it!  And it isn’t only the elders, either; Rikiya's phone and several of his accessories carry tracking chips courtesy of Skeptic, which Rikiya knows about and doesn't think is at all untoward.

While his experience dating Koku definitely taught him some hard lessons about how much he could allow himself to ask of people who would obey him without question (they broke up over Rikiya’s realization that Koku would never deny him anything, thanks to a cracked rib Koku didn’t see fit to tell Rikiya about until Rikiya hugged him a little too hard), he never learned how to value his own autonomy in turn.  Oh, he's the Grand Commander, and everyone around him has been raised to venerate his bloodline, so most of them would never even think about trying to take advantage of him as such, but it's absolutely the case that people who are bold or familiar enough to try can basically run right over him with minimal efforts made at obscuring the fact.  His life is full of people who do and have done exactly that, some to a net positive effect, and some—well.  See again the entry about his claustrophobia.

The abjectly terrible state of his sense of self-worth is also the reason the Claustro exists.  While he was relatively capable of trying to work around his phobia when he was younger, the older he got, the more it started to feel like leaving doors cracked behind him or only working in offices with big spacious floor plans and oversized windows was, in some way, Letting Down The Cause by allowing his fear to control him, rather than embracing it so he could properly stockpile it for later use.  A dinnertime chat with Curious about turning one’s trauma into a weapon for the good of others catalyzed this, leading to the development of the “burden-enhancing steel pressure mechanism,” Claustro. 

(It also means the clone of him made by Twice to handle Detnerat after Deika is bizarrely okay with its circumstances, which I will almost certainly write more about one of these days, but I’m still kind of reeling from that reveal, so more on that another time.)

Lightning Round

Religion?   He doesn't identify as being of a religious faith, but he was brought up in the same peaceful marriage of Shinto and Buddhism that the majority of Japanese people are, and like many, he adheres to a number of traditional practices more out of habit than devout faith.  There are two celebrations that demand significant emotional investment from him.  First comes the New Year's celebrations, important because the MLA prides itself on looking to a brighter, freer future, and it's a period when he can let himself think that maybe he'll be just that little bit closer to Liberation by the end of the year than he was at the start.  Second is Obon, a summer festival for honoring one's departed ancestors. Since his authority and his life's work derive entirely from his bloodline, he's obligated to care about this one, though in practice, he tends to shy away from thinking much about Destro (who he has very twisted-up feelings about indeed) in favor of less emotionally fraught waters.

What did he dream of being or doing as a child? Did that dream come true?   He never really had a significant period where he thought about being e.g. an astronaut or a doctor or a hero; in fact, it came as something of a surprise to him the first time Koku asked him what he was planning to do when he grew up.  He always just had the nebulous expectation of, "Be the Grand Commander," and the elders were happy to leave it at that until he brought it up on his own.[ii]  

How does he behave around children? He likes kids!  He’s wistful about the freedom enjoyed by happy children while also being sympathetic to ones that seem overly burdened.  He’s not the most natural person in the world with them, but most of them can tell that the awkwardness comes from a well-intentioned place, and will treat him as a funny-looking man who’ll let them bother him at length without getting mean.  It turns out he’s actually pretty good with them, then, if only by virtue of being easily bullied.  (This, notably, goes for non-MLA-affiliated children.  Everything’s much more formal within the cult, though it didn’t Geten long to suss out the “easily-bullied” part, either.)

Trumpet—

General Thoughts The largest factor in how I write Koku is, of course, the headcanon that he and Rikiya are ex-lovers, and neither of them is 100% over it even all these years later.  Beyond that, though, Koku is the most temperate of the group, the one with the most easy charisma (MLA members are more swayed by Re-Destro, but Koku does better with outsiders who aren't predisposed to hanging on Rikiya's every word).  He strives to come off as The Sensible One, and given the extremes the rest of the inner circle are capable of, it's not hard for him to maintain that title.  He's as messed up as any of them, though, second only to Rikiya in levels of childhood grooming.  He thinks of himself as a practical man, but he is deeply indoctrinated, the boundaries of his expectations very much defined by his upbringing, so he never really sees it coming when he gets clobbered by something from out of left field.

Family Situation: Koku has the largest family of the identified members.  Aside from his grandfather (called Old Man Hanabata, the founder of the Hearts & Minds Party, and passed away by the canon era), Koku has cousins, nieces, nephews and more, courtesy of his uncle, his older sister and her husband, and other extended family.

He’s also the member most accustomed to wealth, power and influence.  He's from a rural area, certainly, but being in a family of hereditary politicians (and with that family not suffering a string of untimely deaths and disappearances like Rikiya's did), he was raised from the start with ready access to money and nice things.  Still, for all his family's sway in a major branch of the MLA's operations, they're not First Families, and thus don't have any elders in their ranks, making them still somewhat subordinate to said elders when it comes to orders about the Great Cause.  (He’s working on it.)

Meeting Re-Destro Koku and Rikiya met at 12 and 10 respectively, when Koku tagged along with Old Man Hanabata for a meeting RD was likewise accompanying Anchor for.  It had been the better part of a year since Rikiya's mother passed away, but he was still strikingly melancholy for a boy that age, which—along with all the weight given to the importance of the meeting—left quite an impression on Koku.  Koku thus became Rikiya's first real friend in his own age group, a friendship heartily encouraged by everyone around them.  Koku was well-behaved, intelligent, a little older but not too much so, and set to become influential without a danger of becoming too influential; he was seen as a good choice for a friend.[iii]

The Break-Up Painful as it was at the time, there was a silver lining to his and RD's post-college break-up: it got Koku out of the elders' pocket.  He’s been groomed for one thing or another all his life, but after he became friends with Rikiya, he was always getting leaned on to report back to the First Families about how Re-Destro was doing, and to try to influence him towards actions the First Families approved of.  In a very real sense, Koku was part of the apparatus keeping Rikiya from any real freedom.  Their break-up and subsequent estrangement meant that the elders had far less to breathe down Koku's neck about, and by the time they reconciled, Trumpet had gotten his feet under him, as had Re-Destro, and they were both better able to fend off such background meddling.

This doesn't mean Trumpet's not still carrying a torch, however.  He thought he was handling his long-banked feelings pretty well—being Professional, being the advisor Re-Destro needed and as much a friend as Rikiya would allow—right up until Rikiya scared the life out of him by nearly dying in Deika.  He's all but glued himself to Rikiya since, as much as he can get away with given their respective responsibilities.

As an Advisor Other than leading the HMP, he does some work with internal politics and reputation. It's not, strictly speaking, his actual job as advisor—Re-Destro or the elders would probably be sought for more formal or critical mediations—but he and the people who report directly to him do enough travelling around to see constituents that they're often in a position to field those tensions before they get big enough to require attention from higher up.  Koku's happy to do so, in fact—not because he just loves handling petty arguments about resources, but because the HMP is a faction of the MLA in and of itself, and mediating is a boost to that faction's standing and autonomy.  (Also, it's that much less on Rikiya's ever-overburdened plate.)

Lightning Round

What would he do if he needed to make dinner but the kitchen was busy?Ahahahahaha, “make dinner but the kitchen was busy,” please.  Any time there could feasibly be someone else occupying a kitchen he has any business being in himself, it would be a housekeeper, and s/he would be making food for him/his family.  It’s not as though Trumpet has never cooked—he did live alone for some years after school—but outside of a scant few years in university, there’s never really been a time that kitchen use overlap would have been a problem for him. 

Favorite indulgence and feelings surrounding indulging. Probably gourmet cuisine, especially imported stuff. He’s had tailored clothes all his life; they’re just part of the job.  Expensive alcohol also doesn’t wow him; it wouldn’t be strange to find some sake maker whose family has been doing it for sixteen generations in the village he grew up in.  It’s a lot harder to cultivate a true gourmand’s palate out in the sticks, though, no matter how rich your family is.  Living in actual civilization affords a great deal more variety—and anyway, nice dinners are one of the few things he can reliably tempt Rikiya into accepting.  As to his feelings about indulging in general, he’s broadly For It.  He works very hard, he seldom gets real time off, and it doesn’t help the Great Cause for him to deny himself nice things, unlike some people.  (He’s maybe a bit bitter.)

Does he like to be the center of attention all of the time? Not especially.  Oh, he’s very good at it, certainly, and he doesn’t dislike it, but being the center of attention is practically always going to be tied up in The Great Work, so he desperately needs to get out of the spotlight from time to time, if only to be able to turn off the persona.

Curious—

General Thoughts There are two main factors in how I write Chitose: her practicality and her rapaciousness.  I write her as having an appreciation for good moral character in other people, especially when it makes a good story, but not considering herself particularly bound by conventional morality: her moral compass is Liberation, and she follows it unswervingly.  I also write her as predatory, lusty about a lot of things, often to the point of overstepping.  It doesn't hurt anyone that she likes hearty foods and strong alcohol, but she also doesn't have much regard for peoples' boundaries, and even less so when she thinks they have something to offer the Great Cause.

While that trait isn't without its benefits, it can get pretty ugly, too, as we see in how she treats, and talks to, Toga.  Even with Rikiya, the only person she thinks of as 'above' her in any meaningful sense, she's not at all above manipulation.  She's respectful of him, but knows him too well to always take him at his word.  He plainly can't always see what's best for him, but what's best for him is best for Liberation, and therefore, as a Liberation warrior, it's her responsibility to sometimes make decisions for him.  He'll appreciate it in the long run—he always does.  (Skeptic and Geten have similar views—Rikiya makes it easy.)

Family Situation She probably has the best actual relationship with her family of the group—her mothers are removed enough from the heart of MLA politics that her relationship with Rikiya doesn't color her family life the way Koku's does his, and she's much more sociable than Skeptic or Geten.  She doesn't get home much—just the major holidays, work permitting—but she's in frequent enough communication for a grown woman, and chats with her younger sister more often than that.

Meeting Re-Destro She met Rikiya properly when they were 21 and 27 respectively.  They were living in the same city at the time (him running Detnerat, her in university), so of course she'd seen him at the odd MLA event he turned up at, but when she landed an internship in her junior year, she cheekily turned up one day in her reporter capacity to interview him as “a local rising star of industry.”  It was the first chance they'd had to talk one-on-one, and would not be the last, as she frankly elbowed her way into his life and gradually sussed out that here was a man with Problems.  He and Koku were still in a distant patch at the time; she is largely responsible for getting them back on friendly terms as a way of showing her Pure Intentions.

The fact that her Pure Intentions both land her a square position as one of RD's advisors herself and get Rikiya to a better place emotionally is calculated, but not, therefore, untrue.  Ironically, while she was concerned about looking like a gold-digger, the MLA elders were probably thrilled and relieved to hear rumors that Rikiya was getting romantically involved again.  And with a lovely young MLA woman!  They wouldn't even need to worry about surrogacy arrangements!  (Not having grown up around the Yotsubashis, Chitose is unaware of exactly how pointed an interest the elders take in the matter of securing that bloodline.)

Feelings Today She loves Rikiya dearly, and prizes his regard more highly than anything in her life, but has not devoted much thought to the idea of being in love with him. She's married to her work, as they say, but she's also keenly aware that Rikiya would, for a great many reasons, be a lot of work to be in love with.  She's decided it's generally better for his mental well-being, and therefore also better for the Great Cause (she’s much more capable of reading that relationship reciprocally than Rikiya is), to make sure he's eating at least one good meal a week and getting some proper socialization in outside of MLA meet-and-greets.

As an Advisor She handles external politics and reputation--it's her job to prime Japan culturally for the Liberation agenda in ways more wide-reaching than Trumpet (he's head of a political party, and that's not nothing, but that party is still a small minority on the floor of the Diet).  She pulls attention to stories that benefit the MLA, and diverts attention from stories that don't.  This is far broader than just publishing Destro's memoir; it also means poking holes in the broader Hero Society narrative.  She does this by providing as broad a platform possible for stories about the tragedies of excessive regulation, the evils of quirk-related bias, the abuses of power heroes are capable of, and so on.

Lightning Round

Does she remember names or faces easier? She’s quite good with both, actually, but I’d give names the advantage because she works primarily with written rather than visual mediums.  (Also, BNHA names being the ridiculous puns that they are, you can probably tell more about a person in HeroAca Land by analyzing their name than their face anyway.) 

Is she more concerned with defending her honor, or protecting her status? Her status, absolutely.  Impugning her honor hurts no one but her; she can laugh that off because honor is a silly social construct anyway.  Threatening her status is a much more dangerous prospect—her status is long-cultivated to enable the advancement of Liberation ideology; it lets her keep an eye on Re-Destro, who needs as many people looking out for him as he can get; it’s what she’s worked for all her life. Curious will fuck you up if you threaten her status.

In what situation was she the most afraid she’d ever been? The time she got in trouble for nearly exploding some dude’s face off for stealing her purse.  She was 17, had spent very little time in non-Liberated territory before, and was not raised to wait on heroes to solve her problems.  She wasn’t afraid of the thief or the hero, really, but she was completely terrified that she might have just blown over half a century of secrecy by not performing Helpless Civilian well enough. The terror was pretty convincing to the police interviewing her about it, anyway.  On the whole, it was a very valuable learning experience!  

Skeptic—

General Thoughts Tomoyasu is a character I haven't written extensively yet, but what I think is most interesting about him so far is the contrast of his hyper-modern methods with the bone-deep zealotry for the cause.  See, Rikiya, Koku and Chitose all grew up in the sticks; Rikiya and Koku had money from a young age, but it was old money, tied up in trusts.  (Geten didn't have any of those, but Geten's a different story for other reasons.)  Tomoyasu grew up in a major city from the start; he was a technological prodigy from practically as soon as he could hold a tablet.  He has very little respect for the old ways of doing things when he knows there are newer, better ways of advancing the Cause. However, none of that makes him more likely to break from the MLA's ranks—if anything, his idiosyncratic approach just causes him to approach Liberation in really weird ways, ways no one else would ever come up with.

Pressganging Bubaigawara Jin based on a plan to clone Re-Destro?  Who else would that ever even occur to, much less such that it became the basis for an elaborate psychological assault?  But that's Skeptic in a nutshell—respect the old for what it did at the time, but don't think that means you have to use the same methods they did forever as you pick up the torch to carry it forward.

Family Situation He has an amicable but not intimate relationship with his family.  His parents are very proud of what he's done for the cause and how he won the confidence of Re-Destro, but they don't make much claim to understand how his mind works.  In turn, he recognizes the value of their support over the years—he certainly made a lot of waves with his unabashed venom for the MLA leadership's hidebound traditionalism, and his parents' staunch backing meant a lot for him being able to take the stands he did—but is not very emotionally close with them.  Might find himself with an older brother, if I ever occasion to write about his family situation in more depth.

Education He graduated a four-year university program for getting his computer science degree in two very intense years, during which he did virtually nothing for the Great Cause, his intention being to better position himself for maximum ability to advance Liberation afterward.  See above re: battles his parents fought for him while he was busy modernizing.

Meeting Re-Destro He met Re-Destro via Curious.  He was 22, just a year out of university and already climbing the chain of command at a young telecommunications company.  Rikiya was 33, working on the Claustro, and needed proprietary comms built to a higher standard of security than Detnerat was focused on.  Curious, who was always better positioned to be keeping up with the local personalities, introduced them.

Tomoyasu attempted to keep a civil tongue in his head the first few times he and RD met, but he'd been running on bile and energy drinks for years by that point and was hard-pressed to stop just because he was meeting his Grand Commander.  If anything, finding out that Rikiya was okay with his direction and his mouth eventually helped him chill the fuck out, marginally.

On that note, Skeptic is absolutely the advisor most willing to backtalk Rikiya right to his face.  (Rikiya loves him for it.)  Oh, he'll still accede to Rikiya's wishes, and Re-Destro's orders are his highest priority, but that doesn't mean he feels obligated to be diffident about it.  Like Curious, he has a highly developed sense of, "It's fine if it's for the greater good," which will and has led to him taking things into his own hands when he thinks he knows best (which is always).  He's not going to explicitly disobey orders, but he will creatively interpret them if he feels strongly about them, and he will try to "anticipate" orders before anyone has time to give him specific ones, the better to tailor his efforts towards proving his methods and goals correct rather than being stuck with orders he hates.

On Names I’ve definitely evolved some in my approach on this since I started writing the MLA cast, but at current, Skeptic and Geten are the only ones I consistently write as using and thinking mainly in terms of code names rather than given names.  Trumpet is too familiar with the public/private divide, and has too much intimate history with Rikya-the-person, to default to Re-Destro; Curious is too trained to look for The Human Heart of the Story.  Re-Destro himself, ever since breaking up with Koku, has always tried to use code names for people (himself excluded, because he has enormous self-confidence issues about measuring himself up to the original Destro), but can slip into given names when he’s vulnerable.  To Skeptic and Geten, though, the code name is the real name, for all intents and purposes.  The cover identity is a fake; the whole point of the code name is that you’re proving yourself worthy of taking up your proper place in the Army.  Of course the name you win for yourself is the name that counts.

Lightning Round

Given a blank piece of paper, a pencil, and nothing to do, what would happen? You’d pretty much have to lock him in a room with nothing but paper and pencil in it for that to be his first resort rather than whatever item of personal electronics he’d otherwise have on his person.  But assuming some actual plausible scenario—couldn’t bring his electronics into a government building, let’s say—he would find trying to do something productive on paper and pencil rather beneath him, and he’s an inveterate fidgeter.  I mostly see him folding that ludicrously tall frame of his into a chair and setting to using the pencil to poke about three hundred holes in the sheet of paper, meticulous and orderly, while muttering complaints to himself the whole time until something annoys him a bit too much and he jabs the whole pencil through the page. 

Who does he see as his best friend?  His worst enemy? I headcanon him having a very reasonable, functional, productive relationship with his No. 1 advisor, Red, and being reasonable, functional, and productive probably goes a lot farther on making you Skeptic’s “friend” than any amount of emotional intimacy.  But “best friend” is not really the kind of language Skeptic uses for his relationships; if you were to ask him who his best friend is, he’d probably tell you, “Iced coffee.”  As to his worst enemy, that’s just whoever is annoying him most on any given day, from difficult clients, to people annoying Re-Destro, stodgy elders, that hero grinning like a tool, that couple walking too slow in front of him on the sidewalk, etc. And Skeptic is pretty proactive about dealing with enemies, as much as he can be.

Has he ever been bitten by an animal? How was he affected (or unaffected)? lol he is a city boy and always has been.  He probably tried to pet a stray cat once out of curiosity, and because it seemed like the sort of thing people did, and then has never forgiven Animals In General when it bit him and then ran off. 

Geten—

General Thoughts Another one I haven’t written a great deal about yet, particularly in the present day, though I’m looking for that to change soonish.  One thing I’d like to explore is Geten when he’s not seething with rage and shame because he failed to bring Re-Destro a victory in Deika. The fandom tends to write Geten as an always-angry attack dog barely contained beneath a chilly veneer, and that’s fair—ever since we got the face reveal, ever since the MLA’s defeat at Shigaraki’s hands, Geten has been an always-angry attack dog barely contained beneath a chilly veneer.

But if you look at Geten from before we knew what was under the hood, you find a different story.  “Chilly and angry all the time” is not at all how he acted when he was fighting Dabi!  At that point, he was talkative, even chatty.  He engaged in a lot of snide smack-talk; he was obviously confident in himself and he spoke very proudly of the MLA as a collective.

He was still quiet at the dinner he attended with Rikiya and his advisors, yes, so I don’t think Geten’s done some kind of full 180 on characterization.  I do, however, think that Geten has a sense of humor in there, has a sense of camaraderie with the MLA rooted in more than just his relationship with Re-Destro, even if Re-Destro is obviously his most important person.  I don’t know if we’ll ever see that in the manga proper, given everything that’s happened, but it’s worth remembering in terms of what Geten is like when he’s solely among allies.

Family Situation Orphaned at a young age, and a problem child from then on.  He passed through a series of foster parents and state facilities before eventually crossing paths with the leader of the local MLA branch in Kesseru, Beacon (more on him next time).  This encounter would lead to him being sent to a group home with a reputation for being good with such difficult cases, giving them Structure and Companionship and Meaningful Work.  (Spoilers: It’s Liberation.)

Despite evening out considerably after a significant meeting with Re-Destro when he was 7[iv], Geten never got particularly close to his adopted family/the other kids at the group home.  He's very favored by the Grand Commander, for one thing, and he has the strongest quirk in the home for another—and since he learned the quirk supremacist stuff from them, that’s a pretty significant part of the dynamic!  Both of these factors mean there's some distance between him and the rest. Still, he's not on bad terms with them—indeed, his foster parents are quite proud of him—and he would probably tear out someone's throat with his teeth for threatening them, if only as a matter of pride.  

There are 4-6 other kids there at any given time; for the bulk of his young adulthood, there were two older than him, the others younger.  He doesn't have much time for Big Brother Pastimes, but is not completely immune to them, either, particularly where the youngest kids are concerned.  His tolerance for Little Brother Antics, however, is nonexistent—if the older kids think they can ruffle his hair and treat him like a kid, they can square the fuck up; he is Number One around here and don’t forget it.

Education Geten never went to school, but he's not completely uneducated.  He had some tutoring in the group home, some more from Re-Destro personally, and has a pile of books he keeps at his bedside, mostly strategic in nature.  He finds them vexing at times, but is slowly reading through them anyway because Re-Destro asked him to.  He’s been a bit more diligent about it since he was made a regiment leader, because lord knows Dabi isn't contributing much.

On Re-Destro Re-Destro became fond of Geten for the same reason he became fond of Skeptic and Curious—Geten was willing to push back.  He really did make some attempts early on to keep Geten at a proper distance, mindful of anything that would look too much like favoritism.  And Geten knew, in the hard-headed way of a child, that Re-Destro was being a grown-up about things, trying to be mature, trying to be impartial.  Geten just didn’t care about any of those things.  Every time, he would listen very seriously to the things Rikiya told him, nod attentively, repeat back what he’d been told, and then go on about doing his own thing anyway.  And his own thing was, typically, to keep coming back.

Of course, if there’s anything we can tell about Re-Destro from the way he treats Shigaraki, it’s that Re-Destro loves people who take the choice away from him.

Eventually, of course, Geten grew up (mostly; I peg him at 19 now), joined the MLA officially, and had to settle into the structure of the Army.  It began to lead to trouble for Re-Destro, when Geten blatantly disobeyed him; it stopped being cute.  Still, the sense that he Knows What’s Best lingers, so Geten works himself very, very hard to be everything Re-Destro needs him to be and more, so that maybe Re-Destro’s burden will be just that little bit lighter.

On Quirk Supremacy (and Re-Destro, still) Here’s the thing about Geten and the whole, “A life without a strong meta-ability has no value,” line, and this continues to drive me mad because of how people getting it wrong influences the bad takes on the MLA in this fandom: Geten is not a reliable witness.  He is not one of the leaders of the MLA, nor does he speak for its rank and file. Even if you assume the absolute worst about his implications there, far worse than is justified by the text, Geten’s very name, Apocrypha, means that he cannot be presumed to be aligned with MLA orthodoxy.

The only one of the people close to Re-Destro who wasn't born and raised MLA, he still manages to come off, in some ways, as the most zealous of the lot of them.  But really, it’s very noticeable that Geten—unlike Re-Destro himself, and unlike even Re-Destro’s close cohort—never talks about the original Destro, never even mentions him.  When he thinks about his leader, he only ever thinks about Rikiya.  Geten doesn’t follow Re-Destro because of his bloodline, because of the tenets; he follows Re-Destro because of personal loyalty.[v]

So how best to do that?  Well, think about it: Geten is not terribly intelligent, nor wealthy, nor well-connected. He and Trumpet are the ones most influenced by the quirk supremacist line of thought, Trumpet because his relatively weak quirk comes off as exponentially stronger the more he can surround himself in people it works on, and Geten because his strong quirk lets him mentally justify Re-Destro's investment in him despite his other insufficiencies.

Compare this with Re-Destro, who only ever talks about quirks in terms of freedom. Even more prominently, look at Skeptic and Curious, who are not at all defined by their quirks and how strong or weak said quirks may be.  Indeed, those two devote scarcely a thought to the matter because they contribute to the cause in much more important ways and seem to be perfectly comfortable with where that leaves them.

Geten may not be very smart or influential, but he’s very capable of looking at what strengths he does have and focusing hard on those.  That, I think, is what really lead to his embracing quirk supremacy, even in the face of evidence that he doesn’t have the whole picture: the search for a way to measure himself up to the movers and shakers Rikiya is otherwise surrounded with, and not come up drastically wanting.  

“Apocrypha” Geten has been Geten for a long time, since long before the MLA types usually take up their code names. He’s also an outlier in the MLA for having a name in Japanese instead of in English—the only one who does!  My headcanon, unless and until we get some other members with Japanese code names, is that he got the name directly from Re-Destro—possibly even in the conversation that lead to him imprinting so hard on the man when he was 7—and insisted on keeping it before any other code name that was suggested to him in later years.

But yes, he does have a normal Japanese name on file at the group home, which he’s obligated to answer to on the rare occasions that someone from Child Services is checking in or he and Re-Destro are out in public.  I don’t plan to bother coming up with it unless I need to, as I expect we’ll get it in a character profile one of these days.

His Quirk While a lot of people like the vibe of Geten and Dabi being somewhat equivalently vulnerable to their own quirks, and I agree it makes for good fanart, in truth, Geten is only as vulnerable to his ice as Endeavor is his flames.  Which is to say, he isn't immune, but he's certainly more resistant to it than the average person would be!  There’s already plenty of good material to contrast Dabi and Geten without pretending their quirks are more mirrored than is actually the case.

Lightning Round

How does he treat people in service jobs? He doesn’t, because he’s never in a position to interact with people in service jobs.  There have been times he’s gone out with Re-Destro, but in those cases he’s mostly let Re-Destro handle the human interaction.

What does he dislike in other people? Laziness; the lack of a higher purpose of some kind.  (It’s possible he’d thaw out on his disdain for Dabi considerably if he knew more about Dabi’s plans to undermine the whole of the Hero System than Dabi is inclined to tell him.)

Is he always there for a friend in need? Sure, as long as by “friend” you mean “fellow Liberation warrior” and by “need” you mean “in need of an icicle punched through one of someone else’s desperately fleshy body parts.”

Footnotes

[i]  Sanctum II's tastes being what they are, this probably means Rikiya is the MLA member most likely to be able to perform traditional Japanese tea ceremony.

[ii]  And there were elders who would have been happy to leave it at that permanently, I'm sure.  There are always going to be those regents who have trouble relinquishing power back to the boy prince when he grows up and becomes king, you know?

[iii]  And, when it eventually got out that they were dating, a relatively solid match, give or take the surrogacy arrangements that would eventually need to be made.

[iv]  I’m hoping canon gives us some details on this eventually, so I’m not planning to iron out more headcanon on the matter unless I absolutely have to.

[v]  This, incidentally, is a large part of why Rikiya does keep him around—it’s soothing to have someone around who never brings up his ancestor.  Anyway, after Geten evolved his quirk, people stopped complaining so much, even though RD never did get around to, like, giving Geten any formal responsibilities.  Geten, who knows very well that Re-Destro’s real advisors have real jobs, mostly took this as reason to be all the stronger, in hopes that he’d eventually be given one.

[peepspersonalperspective]

MY PICKS: Top 10 K-Dramas

Disclaimer: These are totally subjective choices and I've justified them as per my preferences. Consider them friendly recommendations and let me know if you disagree. Also, I've discovered the wonderful world of K-Dramas over the last couple of years and they've really evolved not just in storytelling but also production value so I personally prefer the more recent ones. So for example I haven't put a very popular pick like My Love from the Star simply because I've seen better stuff since (don't shoot me). Anyway, 가자!

MEMORIES OF ALAHAMBRA

This is my first recommendation for anyone who's just starting out watching Korean television content simply because it's so different from what new viewers expect it to be. It's so gripping and thrilling. I would expect nothing less from Song Jae Jung's writing.

So it's a sci-fi show, set in Spain, about an augmented reality game, that seems to have physical implications in the real world, sending the lead, Hyun Bin on a rollercoaster ride to find answers. Exo's Chanyeol has a recurring role as the game developer, so that's exciting too. I learnt that he was cast because of his love for PubG. Lol.

Every episode will leave you wanting more, and you'll find yourself as desperate to search for answers as Yoo Jin Woo (Hyun Bin).

Granted, mid season, it gets a little complicated, especially with newer nuances of the game unfolding, but fret not because the characters are discovering the secrets of the game with you. So they're as confused as you would be, and that's why this show is so good! More so because the graphics are excellent! You can tell they really spent money on ensuring high quality work. You will really feel like you're part of the game with Yoo Jin Woo.

Anyway, if you are an EXO-L, or you like gaming, sci-fi, thriller and Hyun Bin, this show is great!

2. W - Two Worlds

Another piece of awesome from Song Jae Jung. I would still rank this show a little below Alahambra, because I think the makers made improvements from this sci-fi drama in Alahambra, in the sense of storytelling. Still, W is just as intriguing.

Oh Yeon Joo (Han Hyo Joo) gets sucked into a comic book where she falls in love with the lead character of the comic book, Kang Chul (Lee Jeong Suk). Sounds like a typical romance drama right? Don't be fooled because there are many many twists and turns along the way.

I feel like there is metaphor in there somewhere about existentialism, the creation and destiny. But maybe that's just me reading into things.

Lee Jeong Suk is extremely desirable as Kang Chul, unsuspectingly charming and endearing, and Oh Yeon Joo is an absolutely relatable character, and how she deals as an ordinary girl thrown into extraordinary circumstances is genuine.

I would say this drama is wholesome, with sci-fi, suspense, thriller, action, romance, filial relationships, and more. And while it's usually difficult to jam pack all this into one show without screwing it up, W emerges exceptional.

3. Extraordinary You

This show is so cute! If you want just a light hearted, quirky show, this is the one for you.

It's about characters in a cartoon becoming aware of their existence in a cartoon. But don't worry this is NOTHING like W.

The best part about the show is that it's not about the main characters of the said cartoon. It's the story about the extras finding their way in that world, hence the pun intended in the title. The main characters (of the cartoon) are actually the most dull, because they are bound by the laws of stereotypical high school romance. But the real stuff is happening on the sidelines, with Kim Hye Yoon as Dan Oh and Rowoon as Haru.

Dan Oh is a hilarious character and Kim Hye Yoon does a fantastic job of switching emotions when she's in and out of a scene in the cartoon. One minute she goes into character mode, next minute she's bitching at the sorry fate of her character when she wakes up, to the astonishment of the characters surrounding her (who aren't aware of their reality yet).

Rowoon has a quiet charm about him that perfectly complements Hye Yoon. Check it out for a chuckle and a taste of something different.

4. Crash Landing on You

This show is hard not to like. Apart from the poorly picturized tornado carrying our leading lady over the border to North Korea, this show is a wonderful Netflix and Chill kind of show, I think.

The cultural disparity between the South and North is interesting to watch and also entertaining. Like when they mention buying mobile games at an App store (a literal application store in a Pyongyang market).

Ri Jung Hyuk (Hyun Bin again) and Yoon Seri (Son Yejin) are such a delight in comedic, romantic, and dramatic scenes. But the scene stealer for me was Yang Kyun Won as Pyo Chi Soo, and his unshakeable nationalism that he is ready to set aside for some shampoo and conditioner.

The interesting thing is going into the show, you have an idea of the longevity, so ofcourse, Seri's journey back to the South ain't going to be easy, also her relationship with Ri Jung Hyuk is doomed, and yet you find yourself rooting for them at each step, crying with them during their failures and crying with them even in their triumph. But the most tears were shed for the least expected character, who simply left us all heart broken.

5. Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo

In a world where women are expected to behave and look a certain way to be considered attractive by someone they're vying for, here's a food hogging, tomboy, weightlifting champ, with her first crush.

The premise may rope you into the show, but midway you realise that the heart of the show is in its characters, and without realising you become so invested in them that you feel their fears, insecurities, and cherish their victories with them.

This coming of age show really relishes on the quirks of each character, friendship, love and aspirations. It's not a very dramatic story which is probably why it didn't rate very high during its broadcast, but that's part of its charm, and that's why it's been able to gather a significant cult following since.

Lee Sung Kyung and Nam Joo Hyuk portray the most sincere friends and eventual couple. Their relationship blossoms in the most organic manner and it's so heartwarming. They're not cheesy or unrealistic; they even beat each other up! I don't think I've seen that level of comfort portrayed on screen so well before.

Watch out for guest appearances by Ji Soo and Lee Jeong Suk.

6. Strong Girl Do Bong Soon

I'll be honest, this recommendation is mainly for Park Hyung Sik. He's amazing in the show. And there could be no better supernaturally strong petite girl than Park Bo Young, either.

So there are actually a lot of things happening in the show, story wise, but I promise it all comes together in the end. There is quite a build up and I'm happy that it pays off adequately.

This is like a superhero show with all the spices and flavours of a Marvel movie, but K-Drama style. There's an invincible villain, some idiot gangsters for comedic value, romance (a love triangle infact), functional training, a point of lost hope for Bong Soon, and then her resurrection as a superhero.

It's all there, and more.

But Park Hyung Sik.....

7. Itaewon Class

This recommendation is simply for the refreshing change of representation on TV. I know a lot has already been spoken about it already, but I have to admit that that's what sets this revenge drama apart. That, and the music. Dayum, Start by Gaho is so catchy! And let's not forget V's Sweet Night.

This show starts off slow but give it 3 episodes before it gets to the real shit.

Park Saeroyi is almost too good to be true, and in that lies his shortcoming. His character is so strong that while watching him I forgot that Park Seo Joon was acting. And despite some unnerving moments I found myself rooting for him. He has some strong motivational lines too, like about his choice for a better life. His determination is almost unreal, as he goes on to take down his mortal enemy.

Some of the best scenes, though, are of Jo Yi Seo (Kim Dami), a sociopathic enterprising genius. She was the one who actually kept me hooked to the series. She added some much needed flair to the show, and as it appears to Park Saeroyi's establishment.

Actually, every character was strong, every character had a strong backstory and motivation for the action, and most importantly they never broke character.

Watch out for Park Bo Gum's special appearance.

8. Love In The Moonlight

Speaking of Park Bo Gum...

This show is all kinds of weird in the best way! A girl pretends to be a palace eunuch and falls in love with the crown Prince. That is so messed up!

But that's the fun part! And Park Bo Gum and Kim You Jung make it a wonderful ride. Full of quirky romance, political conflicts and hidden identity issues, this show is addictive af!

And even though this wasn't in the show and was just a promo, be sure to watch Park Bo Gum's Bombastic dance. It's adorable!

9. The Third Charm

I'm sure this is my least popular recommendation. But something about watching this show was so cathartic. I highly recommend it for those who may have gone through heartbreak ever in their lives.

This is probably one of those rare times when I was lost in the story instead of Seo Kang Jun's eyes. Hehe. This story is about an on again off again couple and their journey through life together and apart.

This was meant to be a healing drama, and it really does take you through the emotional evolution that comes with growing up. I think it's the perfect medicine for a healing heart.

10. It's Okay Not To Be Okay

This show! This is my current obsession. Kim Soo Hyun's comeback couldn't have been more perfect. Seo Yeji couldn't have been a more perfect casting. And the two leads couldn't have had a better chemistry.

This show is all kinds of whimsical and I love it. Also a healing drama, this show deals with.... Baggage....to put it simply. Some baggage may be bigger than other baggage, some even irrevocable. But seeing all the characters overcome this baggage is so fulfilling.

But the charm of this show is in Ko Moon Young's (Seo Yeji) craziness and the Tim Burton-esque setup, that really makes one perceive fairytales in a whole new way. I mean I always knew that fairytales were sanitized German folklore, but I never thought to find a very different messaging from the material. The parables are ingenious, and it really is a pleasure to watch each and every person on this show.

Special mentions: Goblin, Reply 1988, 30 but 17/ Still 17, My ID is Gangnam Beauty, Hotel Del Luna

[thepeakyfckingblinders]

The Whore || John Shelby x reader

⤠ MASTERLIST⤟

Anon requested: “11&19 with John boy? cause I miss him “ (I miss him too, my poor heart aches)

Summary:  n.11 & 19 from prompt list: “Please, please, please” + “I’ll burn this fucking place down” Warnings: swearing, a lot of angst, prostitution, nudity, violence, mentions of abuse, mentions of rape, misogynistic talk, graphic description of signs of physical abuse

Author’s notes:

Behind each one of these works there are sleepless nights and something really close to multiple mental breakdowns, so, please, take a minute to send me a message about it, I need actual feedbacks to understand how to improve my skills and grow ♡

So, this request’s been in my mind for ages, and even though I’m not happy with its final part ‘cause it sucks, I’m literally obsessed with this idea, I love it so much that I’ll probably write a long fic about it, right after Contagio, but it will depend on you babes, because, first and froemost, I need to know what you think about this piece. ⤟ IMPORTANT

Please, if you’re a victim of any kind of abuse, talk to someone who can help you, nobody should go through something like that alone.⤟ IMPORTANT 

I edited the gif and added the text, it’s not an actual scene from the show, but I thought it could be a good idea, a small detail that could be added to my works. What do you think about it? Pls, let me hear your opinions babeees ⤟ 

I’m sorry for being this late, but I’ve been really busy in the past days and writing is never just easy, it demands concentration and effort, plus I don’t want you to be disappointed, so I’m always extra accurate while working. I hope this is worth the wait!

If you want to be added to my tag list, please, directly message me

I’m Italian, English isn’t my first language, so I apologize for every possible mistake I made. Also, please, help me improve my writing by telling me if there’s something wrong

ENJOY!

Birmingham was somehow silent that night, John noticed the unusually empty streets around him, as his feisty pace easily led him towards a well-known destination, his confident steps resounding in between the damp walls of those sordid blocks made of innumerable overcrowded flats. The unmistakable stench of stagnant urine viciously permeated his nostrils, soon causing a disgusted expression to taint his angelic face, while he avidly took the umpteenth drag of smoke from his Cuban cigar and finally stopped his unceasing walk in front of the most renowned brothel in the entire city. For about three years by then, day after day, his life had been perilously circling the drain: things had got totally out of hand, fate had pitilessly thrown him into profound despair, giving life to an apparently endless spiral of darkness and desolation, which was gradually corroding his fragile self, brutally strangling him, rapaciously plundering each of his already strained vital breaths. And, nevertheless, it was beyond hard to blame him for such catastrophic outcomes, after all, he’d scarcely survived the battlefield, only to find himself with a handful of nothing, left alone to deal with a dead wife and four children to raise on his own, while his guts crawled with excruciating grief and ravenous acrimony for the whole world, having him develop a tendency to self-destruction that was just as concerning as it was well concealed.  As a matter of fact, in spite of his private hell, he still remained a Shelby, and a Shelby wasn’t meant to be soft, nor weak, none of them could afford to succumb to their affliction, never, not for a moment. They had to be invulnerable. 

Or, at least, they had to look invulnerable, for truth was that John was scared, utterly frightened by all those unmerciful changes.  Deep inside he felt like a hopeless, undefended child, forsaken by God and discarded to wander that grim world without any destination other than death and misery, thus his blood boiled with virulence and venom, having his heart clench with blind wrath and his devastated young soul desperately long for sort of any distorted kind of unattached affection. That was basically the main reason why his bed was incessantly warm, or more accurately, warmer than it had always been before, because, needless to say, John Shelby had actually been an authentic ladies’ man since his first cry. His stunning beauty constantly teemed on everyone’s lips in Birmingham, there was not a single woman in the whole town who hadn’t dreamt of sleeping with him at least once in her life. Therefore, John was more than happy to please them all, literally, welcoming them with wide open arms, even during his past marriage; and, on those rare times when no girl went to knock on his door, he had now grown accustomed to seek relief into whorehouses, rather than sleep alone and become an easy prey for his ferocious demons.

So he eventually ended up dropping his smouldering cigar on the uneven asphalt of the most rundown place in Small Heath, “Le Belle Donne”, an Italian house of tolerance, quite dilapidated and about to fall to pieces, but which often happened to have his favourite prostitutes. Indeed, ever since the Peaky Blinders had defeated and subjugated Sabini’s clan, they’d occupied a prominent position among the country, to the point that several other Italian gangs on their territory, including the Changrettas who owned that brothel in particular, had finally given in to the Shelbys. As a direct consequence, to put it simply, John and all his brothers had, in a very real sense, earned the full right to abuse of whatever business the wops held.

“Hey, man!”  Johnny resonantly barked as he entered the hall, maintaining a pretty intimidating attitude and a menacing look on purpose, in order to strike even greater fear in his newest flunky. “C’mon, show me what you got” That rough order cunningly glided onto his lower lip, immediately followed by his hot tongue, while his famished gaze travelled around the room, examining the face of each harlot standing there with meticulous attention, without however finding something that could come anywhere close to seriously rapture him. Robert Turrini, the whoremaster, was a bizarre bloke, for his physical appearance could be probably described as both disturbing and amusing: his revortingly corpulent stomach wobbled and his short legs dangerously stumbled, when he made haste to stand up and accommodate his toughest client. “Mr. Shelby, what an honour and a pleasure to have you back!” Those sycophant words fled his moist and malodorous mouth, and nonetheless, his stubby fingers inexorably betrayed his true thoughts, since they were either nervously torturing each other or, as only alternative, convulsively running through his greasy, mangy bangs. “Please, sir, follow me, these are for yokels and boozers, nothing to do with gentlemen like yourself” Once again, Turrini’s shrill fawning tone relentlessly grated his ears, making clear reference to the bunch of second-rate whores who could be found at the entrance; thus the lame pimp quickly moved, his hand anxiously beckoning John to tread upon his heels, then headed towards an eerily narrow corridor, so scanty that it was almost impossible to cross, if not walking on the bias. The secret lounge was illuminated only in part by a squalid red light creating a gruesome atmosphere, a dull silence tyrannically reigned into that small space, although you were not alone, but practically glued to another girl; both sitting on a minuscle sofa, your elbows touching, still none of you dared emit a single sound. Everything felt like lead upon your papier-mâché ribcage, that horrible sensation forcing your traumatized brain to involuntarily keep counting the seconds until that heinous burden would’ve potentially staved in your sternum, definitively annihilating your splintered heart. As a result, when the ramshackle door opened and a high-pitched squeak scraped your skin, you really thought to be about to die. Your torturer made his entrance, and right after him, another man came in, yet you couldn’t spot his face, since the peak of his cap designedly casted a mysterious shadow on it. “These two right here, they're real young, real fresh” Robert flaunted his goods along with a nefarious grin, rubbing his soiled paws with evident greed. “Behold the finest offering of flesh and bone on the market” A sadistic snicker repugnantly accompanied his speech, instantly causing John to frown, visibly disgruntled with the way that man deliberately talked about human beings. Luckily, it was a known fact that the middle Shelby was used to treating his women with all due respect: whether he paid them or not, he always made sure they were comfortable with him and never shrank from giving them some good time as well; therefore, a vexed glare was shot in the direction of his gross interlocutor, before his crystalline eyes briefly fluttered around the place, then bumping into your elegant figure almost at once.

Your bloodstream seemed to benumb on the spot as the stranger’s confident stare entangled yours, his rawboned features being now fully displayed, for he had lifted his chin a little in order to properly look at you, and you only, despite Clarissa’s desperate and petulant attempts to get his attention with malicious smiles and ridiculous pet names. Even though your dazed mind had just been ruthlessly brutalized by the sudden, ablaze assault of his glacial irises, a few moments were enough for you to realize how profoundly different he was from all the low-down rats who usually came through that horrible place.

Each sharp, still somehow delicate, trait of his face was brimming with delicious youthfulness, a less keen eye might have even confounded his freshness with actual naivety, but not yours; you were far too clever to make such a coarse mistake. Furthermore, the midnight-blue posh fabric of the classy suit, remarkably folding his majestic body, left gaunt doubt that he was, in all likelihood, a considerably rich man, which was beyond disorientating you, since the price to pay for some tawdry delight in that brothel was outrageously derisory, to say the least. And ultimately, as much as it killed you to conceive it, he was without question one of the most enchanting men you had ever seen, to the point that you found yourself subconsciously wondering the possible reason why a heavenly creature of his kind would’ve needed to buy a miserable hour of dissembled love. 

“There she is” That malleable murmur, filled with longing and gratification, furtively sidled past John’s roseate mouth, as its corners seductively bent upwards and his gaze persevered in its praiseworthy commitment to scrupulously linger your finest shape in sheer adoration. Lace and organdy sublimely merged on the light crimson negligee you were wearing, your immaculate form appeared as a beguiling paradox into his dilated pupils, being your long legs lecherously left exposed, while every inch of your porcelain skin, from your lean neck to your groin, was painstakingly disguised by that unholy material, dark and inscrutable, albeit thin enough to allow him to glimpse the inviting turgidity of your nipples. His breath shuddered in awe when he went back to contemplate your aphrodisiac facial features, flushed cheeks and plump lips having him ache with desire, and then your doe eyes flooded by melancholy, strangling his soul with no mercy, entrenching into his brains the treacherous conviction that, at the end of the day, he would’ve gladly dilapidated his fortune, if only to venerate you from afar. “Oi, sweetheart!” His low voice finally rumbled within the walls of that small space, overwhelmingly vibrating into your abdomen, while you forced yourself to swallow the painful lump obstructing your throat and stand up, promptly responding to his command, aware as you had become that rebelling against your pitiable destiny would’ve served no purpose at all. Holding your client’s hand behind your back, but keeping your head down during the whole route, you silently guided him up the spiral staircase to the best room in the house, like you had previously been instructed by your pimp. His jacket and hat were quickly hung on the apposite coat-rack, leaving his muscular top covered with just his white shirt and blue vest, an alluring grin was flashed in your direction and you detected a libidinous sparkle in his irises, as he healed the rift between you at a slow pace. “What should I call you, sweetheart?” He knowingly used the same flattering pet name once more, whispering that barely audible question into your ear, for he was now behind you: his large hands laid around your waist, gently making your back and his vigorous chest fit together, while his skilled mouth brushed forthwith against your nape, drawing an ardent contrail of ephemeral pecks up until your jaw. “Just y/n” You gasped in response, the marked contrast between his warmth and your bitter cold body, along with crippling dread eating you alive, caused your scrambled stomach to squirm and your eyelids to distressingly shut into a frown. “Well, that’s a pretty good one, I’m John, by the way” A lovely, yet hinted giggle fleetingly filled your ears together with that little compliment; there was no record of mockery in his tone, though, it simply sounded like he wanted to be nice to you, without any aspiration of personal gain, and you almost blushed, caught off guard and no longer used to any form of kindness. Nevertheless, it was a matter of instants before another wet, long kiss was pressed on your jawline, making you startle with evident apprehension and, at a later time, definitively back away from him, as soon as you sensed his touch abandoning your hips only to climb your sides, till he reached for your nightgown’s collar and his fingers began to fiddle with its round buttons. “No, I’ll do it!” You curtly gave notice, as you temporarily lost control of both your speech and actions, placing your hands above his in order to shrug them off, then turning to face him with short breath, your open palms shielding you. “I got it” A noticeably softer voice supplanted your preceding rudeness once you gradually metabolised how much damage your incautious reaction could’ve done.

“Aye, aye, darling, as you wish” But John just chuckled, tenderly humouring you, while his forearms jokingly lift in surrender to your commands, although, truth be told, your strange behaviour had left him a bit bewildered, well-nigh confused. Carefully moving backwards, he cockily made himself comfortable on the edge of the double bed, sitting right in front of you with splayed legs, his yearning stare never deflecting from you, and started to unbutton his waistcoat along with his shirt and undershirt, until his statuesque torso was completely nude, in all its glory, as the moon transpired through the curtains and shed its faint rays on his every contour, superbly enhancing all of his muscles.

Without reprieve, he ogled up at you in pure adoration, devastatingly astonished afresh by your dazzling beauty, eager to feel your afire flesh around his, literally hanging on your every word or move, while a provocative smirk steadily rippled his lips. Still, he kept questioning why a seraphic vision like you was slowly withering away in that authentic hell on heart, adamantly squandering your blush of youth amidst that rabble of unrestrained putridity. It made absolutely no sense, and he couldn’t get rid of that pernicious thought haunting his mind ever since he had first seen you: you looked nervous, extremely defensive, almost paralyzed with fear; you seemed so different from all the whores he’d had before, hence his instincts, however obfuscated with cupidity, were screaming that something was wrong.  And when he watched you turn your back on him again, so to avoid his penetrating gaze as you reluctantly got undressed, it was enough for him to understand that his execrable hunch was right. Nevertheless, by the time his head managed to eventually reconnect to his mouth, it was already too late, the soft textile of your nightdress ineluctably fell to your feet, leaving you naked under his starving leer.

John choked on his own breath; for the very first time, he felt like a fledgling kid at his earliest experience, no matter if nothing could be further form the truth, in some turbid, cryptic way, you were able to make him vulnerable. His craw went hellishly dry while he continued to gape at you in awe, the sinuous curves of your flawless glutes, the meandering line of your superlatively arched back covered in part by your soft hair, your tensed shoulders and your refined legs, everything about you caused his mind to go entirely black, words stifling in his throat. Yet, as soon as you moved to face him and his sight was blessed with the full view of your voluptuous figure, something altered the light in his cerulean eyes, suddenly making it dark and gloomy. His jaw slightly dropped under the weight of that violent dismay: in conjunction, an obnoxious sense of nausea cruelly shot him in the gut and blind anger virulently assailed him, for your front bust was completely martyrized.

“What the hell...” That unmeant babble died in the gelid air, his shocked orbs demarcating the strokes of your damaged silhouette: your neck and collarbone were horridly plastered with several violet fingerprints, as if someone had mercilessly strangled you over and over, greenish bruises with the shape of full palms circled both your arms, there were conspicuous signs of ligature around your tiny wrists. Worse still, his eyelids had to squeeze a little in order to bring into focus the multiple oxblood dots stigmatizing your soft breasts, until he noticed in horror how those round specks were effectively cigarettes burns; all of the oxygen bluntly withdrew from his lungs, when he dwelled on the multiple blue and black marks barbarically desecrating the protuberances of your ribs. But what irremediably drove him over the edge were the two ghastly scars digging stretched grooves in your lower stomach, in parallel with your bulging pelvic bones and down almost to your livid groin.

Prey of that deleterious humiliation, you observed raw disgust contaminating his features and, with no apparent reason, the dormant hatred you had for yourself began to ferment inside your belly. “I-I’m sorry” you forced yourself to swallow your imminent tears, unexpectedly, the awareness of not being able to please him somehow inflicted more suffering on your mangled soul “If I’m not to your taste, y-you can...” The young man quickly stood up and, before you had the chance to finish your nonsensical sentence, he readily grabbed his shirt, approaching you with dispatch, his cold irises burning with an implausible mixture of fury and concern. “I don’t fucking care right now” His voice was unsteady, rolling down his tongue in fatigued panting, as his hands hastened to wrap his shirt around your shoulders, his trembling fingers struggling to put the buttons through the eyelets  “Who did this to you?” In truth, he was talking to himself rather than with you, noticeable impatience worsening his mad tone, yet you persistently steered clear of his inquiring look, more than determined to keep your mouth shut, forasmuch as your dizzy head was already helplessly spinning, along with your heart rabidly hammering against your sore ribcage. You were having a hard time figuring out what was going on, everything around you was so confused, you didn’t even know whether to trust him or not, you only wanted to close your eyes and forget about that lucid nightmare. “I’m not asking you, for fuck’s sake! Tell me who it was!”  That searing order tersely brought you back to reality and cleared how easily his rash temper could reemerge; indeed, all of a sudden, no trace was left of that kind, cheerful boy who earlier that night had succeeded in making you genuinely blush, on the contrary, when he cupped your cheeks and vehemently shook you, in a desperate effort to get your attention, his rough, authoritative command unbendingly hit you, and the sweet child within him ended up being thoroughly smothered by the scary, ruthless gangster that he truly was. That unforeseen contact had your feet automatically stagger backwards, your eyes fell to your tiptoes and your teeth started skewering your lower lip, while your exhausted brain resorted to its last ounce of strength, thereby obligating you to spit out a bit of your sorrow. “Three months ago, the man I once called father sold me to settle one of his debts with the Italians” Your thorax seemed to shrink to the point of absurdity once you became aware that it was essentially the first time you allowed yourself to say it all out loud. However, the presence of that compassionate stranger still represented for you a substantial barrier to surmount, leading your unquiet glance to franticly move from the grime on the floor, to the broken window on your left, anywhere, but never daring to meet his. “ I tried to run away, I swear I did, but they always caught me and-” 

A large knot callously plugged the bottom of your palate, causing you to hesitate for a minute, gently rubbing your own arms, in attempt to comfort yourself . “Robert has a short fuse, he g-gets pretty brutal when you don’t cooperate” Those disenchanted considerations carried an involuntary grin, it was nothing more than a spasm, but hid the unmistakable sign of an imminent cry, and John’s attentive irises certainly did not let it go unnoticed, yet he chose to stay quiet, because the last thing he would’ve wanted in that crucial moment was to scare you even more. “He beat me to death, each time harder than the time before, and then he let those men-... He-e kept me tied to that bed for days to teach me a lesson” Copious tears were now unremittingly streaming down your flushed face, your heart aching with raw affliction, preventing you from breathing properly, one of your palms instinctively went to cover the space between your breasts, in a vain whirl to ease that excruciating grief. “Oh, God” John simply sighed, he was precariously theetering on the verge of tears as well, thick veins untamedly pumped in the proximity of his temples, till his solid shape ruinously keeled over the longest side of the bed, his elbows piercing his own thighs, as he hid behind his clenched fists and finally permitted himself to indulge a couple of muffled sobs. Innumerable atrocities had clouded his eyes and soul during his brief life, he himself was capable of unspeakable acts of cruelty, still, that was absolutely intolerable, hearing your story was taking a terrible toll on him. Try as he might, he couldn’t conceive how somebody could have been so hopelessly evil, to abuse in such a heinous way a defenseless creature as pure as you were. That thought was irretrievably disturbing him, rancorously eroding his bowels, almost depriving him of his sanity.

“U-until I stopped fighting them”  Your last, indescribably anguished whisper struck the fatal blow, it unrelentingly plunged into his chest, sending an unbearable jolt of pain through his poisoned veins. For a brief instant, his expression, together with yours, harshly turned into a mask made of neat despair, as if your synapsis had been ravelled and both of you were enduring the exact same ache, at the exact same moment.

“I’ll fucking kill him!” Then, all at once, something apopletic inside him violently detonated, he berserkly stood up, roughly tripping over the beside table and everything placed on it. “Fucking kill that filthy bastard with my own two hands, bloody hell!” His hoarse yells made your bruised skin cringe and his furious steps covered the whole length of the room in the space of a scant minute; he was literally seething with murderous fits of rage, teeth grinding with irrepressible choler. “No!” your desperate voice erupted afresh and you hurried to reach for him, your hands unconsciously enveloping his cheekbones “Please, please, John, please, stop!” For the first time, his name slipped out of your aching throat in between those pathetic pleads, your wrists forced him to look at you, in attempt to dissuade him from his homicidal purposes; the mere thought of the potential disastrous consequences to his calamitous ire totally asphyxiated you, rampant panic assaulted your frail mind and, soon after, you found yourself hyperventilating and simultaneously rambling a bunch of incoherent words, your fingers gradually tightening their grip on him. “He’s gonna get so angry at me, he’s gonna- he-he’s...” “I’m a fucking Shelby, he does not draw a damn breath unless I say so” He firmly grabbed your chin with just two of his fingers, guiding your depleted pupils to entirely focus on his confident stare, and he growled that undisputable fact a span away from your nose. Petrified by that new awareness, you fell utterly silent, only gawking in his direction, while he put his undershirt back on with ease and rapidly grasped his cap. “Just stay here, do you hear me? Don’t move until I come back” An incandescent kiss was impulsively pressed to your forehead, no other words were spent, before he disappeared behind the door of your private hell. When your persecutor saw his special guest unyieldingly storming towards his desk with a truculent expression exuding fervent disappointment, he jumped on his feet, ready to find a solution to whatever problem had possibly arisen; one thing was sure, he never would’ve guessed what was about to happen. “Mr. Shelby, what’s wron-” John’s fist savagely collided with his jaw, nipping his cloying speech in the bud, without giving Turrini a second to process what was going on, another punch pitilessly smote him, and then another one, and then another, until hot, plenteous blood gushed from his multiple wounds. “You son of a bitch”   Animalistic groans left his rabid maws, sheer hate rushing through his brains, as he violently tossed him to the ground, immediately beginning to kick his torso with all of his brute force. “Mercy! I beg of you, sir, have mercy!” His victim’s prayers and harrowing screams barely titillated his ears, everything he could think about was your tragically marred body, hence an unbridled desire to give him a taste of his own medicine completely took over. “Where was your mercy when you were torturing her?”  Expertely holding his hat in the most efficient way, in a fury, John went down on his sacrificial lamb, promptly disfiguring just one side of his face, in order to take a quite theatrical pause from his wicked work.

“When she was imploring you to stop?”  Robert was now crying out loud, overwhelmed by that merciless agony, reduced to just invoke the glacial scynt of death, since nothing in his entire miserable existence had ever caused him more intense pain, than the coarse perception of a finely sharpened razorblade brutishly lacerating his flesh once more, inch by inch.

“Now bend your ear to this” despite his wrenching laments, John rudely lift him up by seizing the blood stained collar of his jacket “if anyone else but me goes near her fucking room again, I’ll burn this fucking place down!” And with that first, deadly threat the pimp’s head was brutally slammed into the wall, an umpteenth whine of contrition escaping his mouth filled with blood, nevertheless, no time was left for redemption.

“You lay a finger on her again” his skull was doggedly crashed into the bricks once again, a crimson spatter smeared the pale plaster covering them “I will break your neck” John’s knuckles clasped, having his red right hand effectively strenghten its hold on his neck, nearly killing him on the spot. However, fortunately for the whoremaster, Johnny would’ve not put an end to his sufferings, nor he could've simply taken you away, deep inside, he knew he needed to discuss it with his family, first and foremost, with Thomas, for the unstable equilibrium reached by the Peaky Blinder was far too fragile to start a new war against the Italians. Thus, with great difficulty, he forced himself to keep his mind clear and put a lid on his beastly instinct. “From now on, no one of you dirty swines is allowed to even look at her”  Throwing him to the floor, the middle Shelby delivered one last kick straight to his fat abdomen, and disrespectfully spit on him, marking with his salt slaver the end of his brutalized prey’s calvary. “By order of the Peaky Blinders”   As soon as the crackling door snapped open, your heart seemed to explode, your eyelids bolted with pure fear, whilst you pulled your knees closer to your clavicles, an ancient prayer lingering your lips together with heavy breaths, as you prepared for the worst. But the worst never came. “Y/n, hey, calm down. It’s all right” John’s husky voice echoed in your ears, and, you could’ve sworn it, that was, without the slightest doubt, the most beautiful sound you had ever heard. Your head abruptly tilted in his direction, an oxymoric mixture of fear and hope twinkling into your watery irises, deep pants still rocking your tiny self. “It’s me, it’s just me” Keeping his arms up to indicate his innocuous purpose, he carefully approached you. Almost immediately, you noticed the several scarlet handprints staining his pale top, eloquent sign that he had tried to wipe his palms on that ivory material as best as he could. Yet, you were so profoundly relieved to see his friendly face, that, to be honest, the sight of fresh blood didn’t upset you at all. It was like you had fallen into a fugue state, every single thing around you was so distant, your numb senses were only able to concentrate on John’s lean silhouette kneeling in front of you. “ No one will hurt you anymore, darling” his hands gently went to caress your thighs, while his worried gaze tirelessly sought yours and he spoke those soft, reassuring words “You need to trust me”. And you did want to put all of your faith in that young man. His delicate flair easily awakened you from that ostensible slumber, building a rousing fire inside your belly; without a thought about your unforeseen actions, you threw your arms around his strong neck, your knees producing a dry sound as they collided with the wooden pavement, still you didn’t care and you held him tight, letting out loud cries and drowning into his muscular chest, finally revelling in the feeling of that warm embrace. Soon, he entangled his callous fingers with your velvety locks, subconsciously narrowing his solid shoulders, as to shield your frangible figure from the outside world. “I'll get you out of here soon, I promise”

tag list: @spidey-pal​, @shadow-of-wonder​, @stassaurus​​, @peachlle​, @livvtheangel​, @myjbphase​, @namelesslosers, @crazyonesarethebest​, @vxxn128​, @keithseabrook27​, @spaghettirogers​​, @writingstudent​​, @hp-hogwartsexpress​​

[pinktwingirl]

Rats, Squirrels, and Unlikely Friends

A quick oneshot in which Squirrel Girl travels to the DC universe and meets Ratcatcher II. Enjoy! :) @oh-its-jennyyy

Doreen knew she wasn’t supposed to be doing this. Stark Industries’ prototype wormhole generator was strictly off-limits to anyone but authorized staff, and that certainly did not include Doreen. She was a new hire, fresh out of college. She didn’t belong in top-secret labs, tampering with cutting-edge technology that could alter the fabric of space and time as we knew it. And yet, there she was, hacking into the “supposedly” un-hackable security system to check it out when no one was working on it. (She was slightly more skilled in the firewall breaching and data encryption area than her supervisors were aware.)

Every cell in her body screamed at her to stop. God, what was she thinking?! If anyone caught a glimpse of her doing this, she’d be fired on the spot. But whether it was her unending curiosity or her stubbornness to blame, she kept going. She just couldn’t help it; the whole concept of wormholes and interdimensional travel was so cool! She only wanted to see what the thing could do and how far they’d come... and hey, maybe if there were any areas for improvements that she could offer ideas on-

The device, a tall, silver arch, suddenly illuminated in a bright white haze, with its center forming some sort of black void. She must have somehow turned it on by accident.

“Ohhhh shit...” she grumbled.  

Frantically scrambling around to find an off-switch, Doreen quickly realized that there wasn’t one. In fact, there were no buttons or cord connectors on the device at all. Was it motion activated? Voice activated? Maybe thermally activated from body heat?

There was no time to find out. Before she could move or do anything, she felt her body pulled into the void, and everything went dark.

                                                       …

It took Doreen a while to fully process her surroundings when she regained consciousness. A bright light, that she assumed was the sun – or, at least, a sun, given that she was in a new universe – was shining in her eyes, and she had to blink a few times for her vision to adjust. She could feel hard gravel pressing on her protesting back, which begged her to sit up. When she did, she came face-to-face with a young woman posed in a defensive stance, ready to strike.  

Doreen took a moment to size up her potential assailant. The woman had a small stature, much like her, with short, dark hair, a dirty black coat, and, most bafflingly of all, a rat sitting on her shoulder, which didn’t seem to bother her in the slightest.  

“Who are you?” the woman demanded. She certainly had a bit of an accent, although Doreen couldn’t quite place what it was. Not that it would really matter, though; countries could be entirely different in this world, assuming that this even was another Earth in the first place.

Well, at least people in this universe could still speak English. That would make communication easy.

“Umm...” Doreen got out. “Would you believe me if I said I was from another universe?”

Before the woman could respond, they both jumped when they heard loud squeaking behind them. Doreen was shocked to see her three faithful companions, Monkey Joe, Tippy-Toe, and Mr. Liebermann, bounding to her side.

“Wh-? What are you three doing here?! Did you follow me?” Tippy-Toe nodded and gave an enthusiastic chirp as Doreen stroked her back. “Oh, you silly squirrels... You know you’re not supposed to come to work with me...”

The dark-haired woman, much to Doreen’s surprise, was looking at her not with disgust or judgment, but instead wide-eyed wonder and fascination.

“Are these your... friends?”

“Huh? Oh! I guess it would be rude to skip introductions. These are my pet squirrels, Monkey Joe, Tippy-Toe, and Mr. Liebermann.” Doreen stuck out her hand. “I’m Doreen Green.”

Reaching her hand out as well, the dark-haired woman tentatively shook it, apparently having decided that Doreen wasn’t a threat. “Cleo Cazo. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too! So, um... yeah... I guess you’re... wondering where I came from?”  

Cleo nodded.

“Well, so... the company I work for kind of built a wormhole generator that could transport people to alternate universes. And... I guess this place is one of them. Although, I actually wasn’t supposed to be messing with it. This was all a huge accident.” After a moment, she gave Cleo a sheepish grin. “I guess that must all be hard for you to believe, though...”

The rat on Cleo’s shoulder squeaked something into her ear, and she smiled. “No, it’s okay. Sebastian says you are telling the truth. He can sense that you are an honest and kind person!” The rat suddenly scurried to a patch of grass nearby to chew a dandelion off its stem and present it to Doreen. “Aww, look! He is offering you a flower as a token of his goodwill!”

Doreen giggled as she took the flower and put it in her hair. “Thank you, Sebastian! Would you like an almond?” Sebastian squeaked happily as she reached into her pocket and handed him his gift.

As Doreen stood up, Cleo was surprised to see a long, bushy tail extending from her backside. “Forgive me if this is a rude question, but... do all people in your universe have tails?”

“Oh, no. I’m actually the only one. I was born with altered DNA that made me part squirrel. They call me a mutant because of that. Do you have mutants here?”

Cleo shook her head. “I do not think so. I have heard of people born with altered DNA, but I have never heard the word ‘mutant’ used to describe them. Your powers are so cool, though! I wish I were part rat. But I don’t have any rat blood in me. I just communicate with them and tell them what to do.”

“That’s still pretty impressive! How do you do it?”

Cleo showed Doreen her rat-guiding light. “With this. My papa taught me how. He was the original Ratcatcher. When he passed away, I became his successor: Ratcatcher II.”

“That’s amazing!” Doreen smiled at Sebastian. “Do you mind if I pet him?”

“Not at all! Can I pet your squirrels?”

“Sure!”

The girls swapped rodents, with Cleo stroking Monkey Joe, Tippy-Toe, and Mr. Liebermann and Doreen scratching the head of a very happy Sebastian. After a moment of silent contemplation, Doreen spoke up again.  

“I’ve never... met anybody like me. I mean... someone who talks to small rodents. It’s a really underrated ability!”

“I know, right? Everyone always thinks I am weird or gross.”

“You know, I never got why people hate rats so much. They’re so cute and fluffy! I mean, sure, they eat garbage, but it’s not their fault! They don’t have anything else to eat! What else are they supposed to do?”

“That’s what I keep saying!”

“So... are countries still the same in this universe? Is this the U.S.?”

“Yes, we have a United States. And a Portugal. That’s where I am from. Does your universe have a Portugal?”

“Yep! It sounds like we have all the same countries! That’s a relief.”

“But this is not American soil. We are in the Hispanic nation of Corto Maltese.”

“Oh... I guess it’s a good thing I ran into you, then, instead of the natives. I don’t speak a lick of Spanish.”

“Neither do I. I don’t live here.”

“Then what are you doing here?”

Cleo pointed to what looked like the ruins of a tall building off in the distance. “Cleaning up that. The ruins of Jotunheim.”

“Jotunheim? You mean, like, the place where frost giants live?”

“What are ‘frost giants?’”

“Oh... you... don’t have those here? I have a friend who’s a frost giant, so I thought that’s what you were talking about.”

“Jotunheim was once a research laboratory. They used a giant alien starfish to conduct experiments with the creature’s mind control abilities. Many people died in the process, and the American government was behind all of it.”

“That’s horrible!”

“The government sent me with a team to cover it up. But when the monster got loose, we destroyed it instead. Now, we have to clean up the damage in the city. It is not as glamorous as saving the world, but no job is too menial for the Suicide Squad.”

“The ‘Suicide Squad?’ That’s what you guys call yourselves? That’s a pretty bleak name. See, I’m part of a team called The Avengers. Now, that’s a much better name."

“Well, it’s only a nickname. Our official codename is Task Force X.”

“You know, why does the letter X always make everything sound, like, ten times cooler? Like, ‘Task Force Y’ or ‘Task Force W’ just wouldn’t sound right, would it?”

Cleo giggled. “I guess not.” She handed the squirrels back to Doreen as Sebastian happily bounded back to her side.

“Well, this has been a real treat, but I should probably get back now,” Doreen laughed. “I don’t want to get-” She froze as she looked behind her, realizing that there was no wormhole device. “Oh... I... I don’t know how to get back... Oh no, this is bad...”

Cleo put a hand on her shoulder before she could start to panic. “Don’t worry! I’m sure my friends can help you figure something out! Let’s get you back to my teammates.”

The two walked down several blocks, where a tall man with heavy-duty armor and a walking shark were waiting for them. Cleo grinned at Doreen.

“Is seeing a giant shark with legs strange in your world?”

“Well, I’m friends with a talking tree and racoon, so, not really, to be honest.”

The tall man gave Doreen a weird look. She wasn’t sure if it was because of her tail or her last rather bizarre-sounding remark. Maybe both.  

“Who is this?” he asked.

Doreen cheerfully stuck out her hand. “My name’s Doreen Green, also known as Squirrel Girl! I’m from another universe!” She paused. “It’s kind of a long story. I also need help getting back home now.”

The tall man tentatively shook her hand. “Robert DuBois. Or Bloodsport. I guess we can get you down to the science people if you really want to come with us.”

Doreen took a moment to peer at him. “You know, it’s weird... You look just like this guy one of my friends used to know. Would you happen to be related to a guy called Heimdall at all? Guardian of Asgard? Watchman of the Gods? Is that ringing any bells?”

After staring blankly at her for a moment, Bloodsport turned to Cleo. “Is this girl on drugs?”

“Excuse me! I most certainly am not!” Doreen protested. “It’s strictly against company protocol to be under the influence of any substances during work hours! And I’m technically still working!”

The shark suddenly pointed at the squirrels. “Nom nom!”

Cleo sighed. “No, Nanaue, that’s not nom nom. Squirrels are friends. Just like rats.” She patted the shark’s back as he gave a dejected slump. “We’ll get you food when you get back.”

Out of nowhere, Doreen suddenly felt a tingling sensation in her body. Moving of their own will, her legs suddenly starting stumbling backwards. Her squirrels instantly jumped on her shoulder, ready to protect their human from any harm.

“Hey, where are you going?” Bloodsport called.

“I...” Doreen got out. “I think the device is pulling me back!”

“You’re leaving now?!” Cleo shouted.

“I can’t stop it!” Doreen grabbed onto Cleo’s hand in a last-ditch moment of desperation. “Cleo! Take good care of Sebastian! And don’t ever let anyone underestimate you! Trust me, I learned the hard way! People think we’re weak because they don’t understand us... But you’re stronger than you th-”

Before she could finish, she was gone.

                                                           …

Doreen collapsed on the ground, her heart racing at the familiar tile patterns. She knew this laboratory! She knew this building! She was back!

Her excitement quickly faded when she realized that return would mean consequences. Yep, she was definitely fired...

Except... there was still no one in the lab. No one had come back. Doreen checked the time. 2:15. She’d only been gone for 5 minutes! She looked around in awe at the silent room. All she would have to do now was sneak out. Had she really gotten away with it?

Slipping out the door and quietly returning to her workstation, she did her best to ignore her coworker’s questions about why she took a fairly lengthy bathroom break and whether she knew what they were supposed to be doing, instead giving them quick, uninvolved answers. Her mind was on Cleo and that strange, strange universe. It was so different, and yet... so similar to hers. The multiverse was certainly big and daunting, but no matter what people found in it in the future, no matter what research lied ahead, she knew it would always give her one source of comfort:

She’d found a friend that was just like her.