#it is amazing though to hear about people who very literally blame all the world's problems on the existence of fat ppl like we're a Scourg

[sergle]

i've litchrally been going crazymode listening to Maintenence Phase, which is my current favorite podcast, and i highly highly recommend it if you like informative podcasts about debunking misinfo around the wellness/health/diet sphere. it's also just really fucking funny, Michael Hobbs and Aubrey Gordon are great hosts and i love their chemistry together. i'd say "if you're a fat person, you gotta listen to this shit" but honestly i don't even need to be that specific, i just think it's good listening in general. like actually, i think skinny people with or without fat friends would greatly benefit from hearing some of these episodes.

[prettiestboyev]

DO NOT TOUCH ( bang chan )

sypnosis ! you're a member in stray kids, and you accidentally flex your abs to your stays. the members want a feel of your figure, but so did channie.

pairing ! idol!bangchan x idol!reader ( was written with male in mind, but pronouns are never mentioned so i suppose it can be read as fem or gn too )

cw ! jealous channie, suggestive but subtle moves on reader by channie, minho and i.n touching reader's abs, mentions that changbin and reader are shipped a lot, corny ass ending

a/n ! this was so shit im CRYING but its ok ig. PLEASE GUYS REQUESSTT im losing inspiration

Performing with your band like usual, the crowds shouting fanchants and you can, like always, hear the faint sound of people screaming your name. Who could blame them? You are one of the hottest idols in the industry.

You laughed mentally at your own egoistic thoughts, you believed everything except that. You were attractive, sure, but a lot of stays and people who biased you put you on a pedestal in your opinion.

As the music in your earpiece ended, signaling the close end of the concert, you felt a sudden heatwave on your body. Sweat, more than usual anyway, dripped down your leather outfit, you took the chance and grabbed the hem of your shirt and used it to wipe the droplets of sweat off your forehead, panting lively.

In that moment, you heard the faint sound of fans grow into something extreme, hints of "woah" and "damn" crawling in your ear aswell. You were a bit confused, did someone do something? Then you saw the looks your members were giving you. Oh.

Oh.

You chuckled, it going loud from the headset microphone you all wore, making the screams only worse. "Yes, yes, a man has abs and it's the end of the world." You joked, your charming voice sending fans into a state of swoon, and if possible, making them scream even louder.

"If it's you, then yeah" Changbin said into the microphone, making the fans squeal since you two were shipped a lot because fans can't stand idols being friends (you guys literally almost kissed once).

You laughed at him, hitting his shoulder lightly as a joke as your maknae, I.N. went up to you and hit your stomach. "Ouch!" You winced, hitting the younger male back as he laughed, complimenting your strong figure.

Minho then walked up, pulling your shirt and revealing the abs once more, the squeals that were finally dying down from your fans then grew in a wave of excitement from the move. "I never knew you worked out." He said quietly into the mic.

Though all your members gushed over your figure, the only person that you had your eyes on was Bang Chan, your leader, who was so fucking hot to you. I mean, who you thought was a great producer with very amazing humor, who just was attractive to you sometimes. Gosh, especially with his blonde luxurious curly ha-

"N/N, let's work out together sometime." He said to you, snapping you out of your very appropriate train of thoughts. You nodded, happily dreaming about the idea.

In Bang Chan's mind, he was fuming with jealousy. He wanted to rub his hands all over your abs just like his other members did, but that was just too out of character for Channie. He sighed, quietly, as he dealt with only touching your shoulders and subtly tracing the blades of them, making you chuckle.

You adjusted your microphone so your words wouldn't blast in the speakers, whispering in his ear with a mouth over your lips, so no magical lip- reader could expose you.

"Don't worry, you can touch me later, I can sense your grumpiness from here, Channie." The words placed a smile on his face.

He slapped your head teasingly, rubbing your hair as the fumes from earlier calmed down. After all, the other members could touch you and rub you all they like,

But he'll always be the one you'll dream about.

[got-into-worm-by-mistake]

Okay, I've Read Worm: A Retrospective Part 2: What The Fuck Did I Just Read?

So I don't mean literally 'what did I read'. I know and understand the plot, and while I probably didn't pick up on all the references and cape theme stuff Wildbow was going for, it was established a while ago that I wouldn't. And I may not have understood every scene and character the way may intended, but sincerely, fuck his intent, it sometimes sucks.

What I mean by this is -

I heard a lot about Worm before I read it. "Grimdark" "Depressing" "Optimistic" (Yes, someone actually called Worm an Optimistic Work which is... a take), "Bleak" "A Deconstruction" "A Love Letter To The Superhero Genre" "A Takedown of the Superhero Genre" "Just A Fucking Story" "The Greatest Piece Of Superhero Media Ever" and god knows what else.

I didn't hear anyone call worm a Reconstruction until I was partway into the Work, when I also discovered TV tropes calls it that which is... well, we'll get into that.

And I heard Wildbow called "A Hack" "A Nihilist" "A Guy Who Lets His Problems With Authority Get Ahead Of Him" (Or something to that effect" "An Amazing Writer" "A God Amongst Men" (Okay, not really on that last one, but I have made jokes about Wildbow having cultists or the 'Church of Wildbow' for a reason, because some people are really fucking out here acting like he's just... way better than he is, imo. Like, beyond just the degree of just subjective opinion. Not that I think Wildbow deliberately fostered such a mentality... probably)

So. What the fuck did I just read? What is Worm?

Well I am comfortable in saying that Worm is Grim, Bleak, Depressing. A lot of really bad shit happens without neat narrative resolution, there's a lot of hurt and not a lot of comfort. Taylor's life mostly gets worse, and most other people's lives mostly get worse. There's not a lot of unambiguous victories, even the ones that are straight up victories come at hilariously lopsided costs, the whole damn world is slowly collapsing, and everyone in authority is largely either complicit, incompetent, overwhelmed, corrupt, or useless. Almost nobody is just straight up heroic, and those who are usually die (in often pointless ways) or get treated as incredibly naïve by the narrative. Often both. Worm often feels pretty hopeless, and even the hope is pretty fragile and strained, when it's there.

Is Worm dark? Is it Grimdark? Well... that's trickier. There are a hell of a lot of dark implications of Worm, a lot of dark stuff that is hinted at, or insisted is there by the writer (*cough* *Cough*) but in terms of the actual darkness onscreen... depending on how one defines 'Grimdark' - how reliant are they on the conventional 4chan inspired definition or if they've expanded their understanding of the word and so on - it could qualify, but... *equivocating hand gesture*. I am reasonably comfortable that Worm itself never really quite qualifies as grimdark. The darkness on the screen is not really enough, and really, under the narrowest of 4chan definitions, it probably isn't even grim. Though I would say that there's a point where the 4chan Noble/Grim Bright/Dark four quadrant approach becomes a useless category of analysis.

I think in most cases people who call Worm grimdark are either parroting other people, lack adequate terminology to really describe what they mean (because Worm is rather hard to put a box around) or have very low standards for 'grimdark'. But I don't think everyone is talking out of their ass, because like I said, there's a lot of really dark implications of Worm. Some likely intended by Wildbow, some the result of probably oversights by him or didn't really quite grasp certain things and just kinda... threw stuff out there without following through. (Not that I blame him, Worm was huge and not every single detail needed to be followed through on, but still. Happens). Worm's entire universe and setting runs on people rather consistently making the decisions that make shit worse.

Like in 90% of the cases, each individual person's decision to make shit worse makes sense from their perspective and understanding their psyches, but it does strain credulity a little, and make it hard to say the story isn't kinda grimdark when almost every decision almost everyone makes makes things worse.

But... technically, I think Worm manages to skate by being grimdark. Sometimes just barely, but just barely can be enough.

I don't think it's particularly controversial to call Worm 'A Deconstruction' or to say that Worm deconstructs elements of the superhero genre. Does Worm Reconstruct... well, yes. It does the deconstructing thing (exploring how so many common elements of the superhero genre don't make a lot of sense) and then it does the reconstructing thing (putting them back together and designing the physics and rules of the universe so they kind of do make more sense).

But I would say that calling Worm a 'Reconstruction' is false advertising. Not because it isn't, but when most people hear the word Deconstruction, they expect a kind of depressing, bleak, grim, sometimes dark, etc story. Reconstructions are thus expected to be more upbeat and optimistic and bright. I don't think this is just me. To be fair, this doesn't have to be true. A deconstructed slasher flick would probably be fairly upbeat and bright, and a reconstructed slasher flick would... probably not be those things. But I think the general implications of the words remain true.

Telling someone Worm is a Reconstruction of the Superhero Genre, before they read it, without a lot of qualifiers, would, I think, be pretty deceptive. Accurate, but deceptive. It is possible to be misleading while being totally accurate, after all.

One thing I hear a lot about is how much more 'realistic' Worm is compared to other superhero media. Without being a deep aficionado about superhero media, I honestly can't say if this is true, but I can say that, as of itself, Worm is not what I would call realistic. Leaving aside the way Wildbow puts his thumb on the scale of 'everyone makes decisions that make shit worse' across the board, there's the fact that every element of the underlying rules of the universe are deliberately, and sometimes quite obviously, contrived to create the necessary parameters for the story he wants. Which is fine, that's perfectly fine worldbuilding and writing, but it's not 'realistic'.

He covers his ass with PtV, using it as an excuse for a lot of shit, but uh... that's still covering his ass, it's still obvious plot device is obvious. Not the worst thing the world, and I've seen much worse handlings of obvious plot device is obvious, but... man, sometimes with his worst WoGs, Wildbow really would have benefited from just admitting it was a plot hole and he made a mistake or he didn't consider something or that 'you know what, yes, it's unlikely that no one shot Jack Slash in the face during his entire career pre-Bonesaw's modifications, but it happened' (i.e. the Cauldron gun social engineering WoG is just so goddamn dumb. Less in of itself and more how it fits to everything else. String enough of his WoGs together and the whole damn setting starts to fall apart)

Things like the CUI, and the Gesellschaft and the way Africa and South America are written speak to the profound lack of realism and the contrived way that the Wormverse got constructed. The Gesellschaft is a perfectly fine plot device to have in a story - a reference and use of the way Nazi and Nazi-created and Nazi-descended and Nazi-related villains and villain organizations are a common trope in superhero comics - but it's not really all that realistic as presented. Wildbow has rather repeatedly insisted that it is, but uh... no, he's wrong. (He has admitted that his handling of South America and Africa weren't great, and to be fair, most of what we know of both could just be filtered through Taylor's own distinctly American Teenager view of the world, and to be more fair, developing entire continents that aren't even close to being in-focus for the story is a tall ask for anyone). But like, Worm isn't realistic. The way Shards work was deliberately contrived to have his intended outcome. Endbringers too. Cauldron. The backstories of characters and organizations show the way they were bent that way to achieve the outcome he wanted. And again, I don't really have a problem with elements of a story being constructed to achieve the intended outcome. People who get too focused on the worldbuilding will sometimes write themselves into a hole where the needs of the story and the needs of the Worldbuilding conflict. Wildbow almost always picked the story. It can be frustrating for people trying to isolate the elements of the world to write fanfics or analyze the world for like, versus fights or whatever, but... I don't blame the author for that. (Though his inability to just admit that he picked story over worldbuilding and instead keeps pulling a WoG out of the ether to cover his ass is... not great) To be fair, I don't think Wildbow has ever called his work 'More Realistic than Other Superhero Media'. I don't think he set out to create some hyperrealistic superhero story. And the word 'Realistic' is tossed around a lot without really clarifying what someone means. I honestly don't really call things realistic that often for that reason.

The problem here isn't Worm, or Wildbow, but some of his fans. Like I said, there's a reason why I joke about a 'Church of Wildbow.' There's people who have said that Worm has 'ruined' other superhero media for them and to those people... I mean, ruined is subjective, and like I've said repeatedly, I'm not really into superhero media, but like, deconstructing and even reconstructing the Superhero genre is not new? DC and Marvel and a lot of smaller presses have been doing that since like, the 90s? At least? I've already address how Worm doesn't seem particularly realistic to me. I think in some cases, what they may mean is that Worm is more cohesive. It's one single story told by one guy with one clear vision. Comic books in particular can experience all sorts of tonal and narrative whiplash between runs, as writers change, as artists change, as executive meddling can interfere. And that's pretty true. (*sings* We don't talk about Waaard oh-no-no).

But I also feel like if Worm really did ruin all other superhero media for you... maybe you weren't actually that into superhero media? Even if you've read a lot of it, maybe Superhero media wasn't actually for you? Just maybe?

Now, this all brings us back to the question that started this: What the Fuck did I just Read? And the disappointing answer is that... putting a box around Worm is really fucking hard. It doesn't really fit into a nice, simple, easy, pithy descriptor. Not one that doesn't mislead. I mean, Worm is grim, bleak and depressing, but it is more than that. Worm is... Worm a lot of things.

I think honestly the closest thing to a nice, succicnt, easy way to describe Worm is this one:

I don't know if Wildbow was the one to use this to describe Worm first, or if a Fan did or what, but... yeah. That's Worm.

That's what the fuck I just read.

(I did hope to go into 'Who the Hell is Worm For' question here, but uh... this is pretty long as it is, so we'll leave that off for later.)

[silvervioletvalentine]

❣️Bad Influence❣️

Pairing : Mick Schumacher X Cherrie!

Word count : 7.2k

Summary: in which Cherrie is a bad influence. She’s also a little over protective too.

Mick stood in front of the reporter with a amused smile tugging at his lips as the topic of his girlfriend and rival on the track was brought up again.

His cheeks flushing a subtle pink just at the sound of her name , shifting on his feet with a shy laugh as he glanced around him to make sure that she wasn't near him to make fun of him when he acted like a fool in love for her in front of everyone .

If she saw him blushing over just hearing her name, he would never hear the end of it. The picture would be screen shotted and framed in their apartment with a proud plack engraved with the words 'SIMP #1' on it.

How did he know that would happen?

Because it already had the last time she caught him giggling about her to the press again.

"How does it feel for your partner to beat you today? Is there any part of you that is envious of her constant wins lately?" The man asked him clearly looking for some drama to stir.

But he was picking the wrong man to hear it from . Because mick was as in love with Cherrie as a man could possibly be.

She could crash into him on purpose and he would still refuse to blame her for it. In fact he'd probably thank her for it . That's how soft he was for her.

Mick just smiled at the man with a small laugh , shaking his head at him.

"No, no. I'm Incredibly proud of her. She's one of the best drivers in the world and she deserves every single win that she has achieved. She works incredibly hard and there's been days where she's literally been up all night on the simulator refusing to come off until she's satisfied that she's knows the track by memory. Even when I try and get her to relax and enjoy her time off-" he laughed fondly at the stubbornness and insane drive to win that she had .

"She'll just look at me like I've asked her to go to Mars. So I've learned to leave her alone and just let her be the best that she can be. Because her hard work pays off .. I mean, she's won again so she must be doing something right!" He exclaimed with a proud look on his face .

Before laughing a little as he felt his phone buzz in his hand, already knowing who it was and just what it would say .

He looked at the camera with a small smirk , chuckling . "Look- she likes to annoy me with it though. She's not very er- she's not very humble and loves to brag.." he told them in amusement at how shameless his girlfriend was when it came to rubbing her success in other people's faces for her own amusement.

He then laughed loudly as he opened up her text and showed it to the camera for the world to see.

"Look- this is my super supportive girlfriend by the way ... she's wrote- ‘I've just got back home after taking a ride in the winners car. You did amazing today, not as good as me because that's impossible , but still fabulous! So I've gotten you a cake.." he read out with his tongue in his cheek as he looked at the photo she had sent him.

It was of a large cake with white frosting , and written in bright red icing were the words

'Better luck next time gorgeous!'

The reporter and cameraman chuckled at her teasing and the usual cheek that she had . Not at all surprised by her behaviour .

It was one of the reasons why people had been so shocked when Cherrie had announced her relationship with mick over a year ago now . No one could quite believe it.

Because the two of them couldn't have been more opposite If they tried.

Cherrie was this loudmouth , arrogant and risky driver who wasn't afraid to get into someone's face and tell them that exactly what she thought about them.

Like the time that Cherrie had took a hold of max before he could leave the paddock just to ask him what the fuck did he think he was doing after nearly taking her out on the track.

Mick had to hurry over and intervene , physically carrying his furious girlfriend away while she cursed max out in Spanish and promised him that karma would bite his ass soon.

Karma being herself because the next race after that incident , Cherrie had overtook him at the last second , deliberately leaving him to think that he was about to win before pressing full throttle at the last second and taking the leadership away from him just like that.

The smug look on her face when she stood next to max on the podium , clearly proud of herself for getting back at max in the best way possible.

With pure Success .

"It's what he gets. Maybe he'll think twice before trying to screw me over time . Because I don't get sad . I get even." Cherrie had simply told them, unbothered and confident in herself like always .

Where mick was sweet, Cherrie was a cocky asshole who found humour in pissing people off.

And where mick was soft spoken and polite, Cherrie was mouthy and came across as rude sometimes with how blunt and unfiltered she was .

Many a time has mick had to slap his hand over her big mouth before she could start another verbal fight with someone just because she was bored.

And while mick had a hard time sometimes sticking up for himself and speaking up to his team when he didn't think something was right , too afraid to upset anyone or cause any trouble with someone.

Cherrie was not shy or hesitant at all.

When mick had told her that his team weren't listening to his complaints about his wheel not feeling right , telling her that they had just ignored him and refused to listen. Cherrie had simply told him that she would handle it.

And by handling it she meant storming into his garage and screaming at his team, with a face of fury and tightened fists as she had refused to leave until they had Listened to every single one of the issues that he had been silently facing .

She had Stood beside him like a pissed off and over protective  parent while he quietly told them his problems with the car , giving him a encouraging nod each time he looked to her for approval.

And as they had been leaving . The camera had picked up on her threatening his team principal without it giving a single shit at the amount of trouble she was going to be in for doing so.

"You better give him a better car and actually listen to him next time . Otherwise the lot of you will be leaving here in an ambulance!" She had snapped at them while mick had laughed nervously and told them that she was joking , pulling her away before she actually de-knee capped them all.

They may have been different but mick was certain that was why it worked so well between them.

His kindness and gentleness helped calmed her down , he brought her back down to Earth when she was spiralling out of control inside her clustered head. He brought her calmness and safety , knowing that she could trust him  and just be herself after an exhausting day of people expecting things from her.

Whereas Cherrie gave him more confidence in himself. The minute she heard him even slightly putting himself down or blaming himself over something that was out of his control, she would give him a firm slap around the head and tell him to stop being stupid .

She would then sit there with him and list off every single amazing thing about him, she would hold him tight and promised him that no matter the problem. They could work it out together.

Even though she was in a different team and the two of them were supposed to be Rivals. None of that applied to them because Cherrie did whatever the fuck she wanted to.

She let him use her teams simulator with the track that they would be racing on. Sitting up all night with him and showing him tips and tricks to use at certain corners, showing him the best places to brake quicker and which corners he needed to be careful on. Even though she wasn't supposed to be helping him, she did anyways.

Because while they may not have been a team on the track, they were a team off of it and she would always have his back. Always.

It was a nice feeling for him to know that he would always have someone on his side even when he was the one in the wrong. She would simply defend him without any hesitation to the public but scold him in private when they were at home. Telling him what he had done wrong instead of making him feel like shit about it , she would simply go over his mistakes with him and fix them. Showing him what to do next time instead.

They loved each other and it showed.

And was his girlfriend a slightly crazy, obnoxious , and intimidating woman? A little bit , yes.

Did he care? Absolutely not. It was what made him love her even more .

She kept him on the edge of his seat and never once had he ever doubted her love for him because it showed in every single thing that she did .

"Would you say that Cherrie is a bad influence on you?" He asked him with a knowing look on his face.

Mick hesitated at that , titling his head side to side with a bashful laugh as he thought about how mischievous she was. How she always managed to drag him into her shit too.

"Er- yes , a little. I can't deny it. She likes trouble and she likes to get me into trouble too." He admitted with a grin as he thought back to all the times she had been a bad influence on him.

There was that time in Monaco when Charles had offered to take them on a tour around the place , both of them had been waiting by his car while he walked back inside the hotel to take a phone call, telling them that he'd only be a minute .

They were stood there waiting for him for ten minutes when Cherrie finally had enough. Unable to stand still and huffing and puffing with each second that passed by without Charles reappearing .

"Christ! who is he in the phone with? The insurance company?!" She whines out impatiently , rolling her eyes in annoyance as she turned to look at the ferrari in front of her.

Mick just laughed and rubbed her back gently , used to her inability to just stand still and wait.

"He won't be long-" he broke off into a startled gasp when Cherrie suddenly opened the drivers side of the Ferrari and slid into the seat , the keys having already been left inside , having just been about to leave before he got a call.

Mick looked at her with wide eyes as she turned on the engine and looked up at him innocently .

"What are you doing?!" He exclaimed with a nervous look back to the hotel. Knowing that Charles wouldn't want her driving his precious car without permission.

But his girlfriend simply didn't give a shit. Giving him a look and nodding over to the passenger seat impatiently .

"I'm hungry and if I have to wait here for another minute I'm going to go mad! Are you getting in or what baby?" She looked at him with a challenging  smirk , closing her door and reviving the engine again just to wind him up some more .

Mick hesitated , running a hand over his face anxiously as he chewed nervously on his lower lip.

Glancing down at his cool as a cucumber girlfriend who was looking up at him in amusement at the way he kept shooting nervous looks over his shoulder at the hotel .

"This isn't a good idea! We can't just steal his car! He'll go mental!" He scolded her , taking a small step closer to the Ferrari despite himself.

Cherrie just laughed and leaned over to open the passenger side of the door for him, nodding confidently to the seat knowing that there was no way on earth he would let her drive off in Monaco without him.

"We'll be back before he's even noticed we’ve gone! Come on baby! You don't want me to starve do you? I haven't even had any breakfast yet!" She knew just how to guilt trip him.

Mick hesitated with his head halfway in the car , looking at the love of his life with a concerned frown.

"You haven't? Cherrie! I told you not to go without something to eat first! Oh my god! You never listen!" He scolded her , quickly sliding into Charles's Ferrari before he could chicken out and change his mind.

Cherrie stepped on the gas, quickly speeding off down the road without any hesitation. Laughing loudly as mick reached over and clicked her seatbelt into place for her , untucking her hair from beneath it too so it didn't tug at her head.

"I had some toast. I was just lying to get you into the damn car!" She giggled like a naughty kid at the disbelieving look he sent her .

Mouth dropping open in disbelief "Cherrie! This is a crime! We've stolen his Ferrari! This is peer pressure!" His voice went higher incredulously at how unbothered she looked.

The wind blowing through her hair as she turned on the radio and glanced over at him with a pretty smile on her face . Mick's heart fluttering when she placed her hand on his thigh and squeezed teasingly.

"Love you." She sang to him playfully , tilting her head for a kiss.

Mick yelled "keep your eyes on the road!" Before quickly leaning over the console to give her a kiss, then he grabbed her jaw and turned her head back to face the front again. Shaking his head in pure disbelief at her.

Crazy . She was crazy!

"I quite like this car. It's very smooth to drive. Do you want to drive it?" She nudged his shoulder with a smirk as they both slowly walked back to the badly parked Ferrari , Cherrie holding a small tub of ice cream in her hand .

Mick swallowed down the bite that she fed to him, humming at the sweet taste as he caressed the back of her head affectionately. Admiring how pretty she looked underneath the beaming sun.

Before Shaking his head "no because then I'm the criminal. Right now im just - a witness." He told her before giving her a stern look when she looked up beneath her dark lashes at him, tilting her head cutely.

He inhaled sharply "no! No! Don't give me that look. You are not dragging me any further into this- I am not driving Charles Ferrari away. We really need to take it back before he kills us!" He tried to stick to his own words, he really did.

But then she pouted up at him and gently kissed his bicep a couple of times . Mumbling a small "please? I want you to drive me to the beach. Please mick.."

He groaned "no. I meant it. I'm not doing it-" he was adamant .

Five minutes later mick was driving Charles's Ferrari to the beach with a sigh , glancing over at a pleased looking Cherrie in the passenger seat taking photos

Of him behind the wheel to send to a furious Charles .

He never let them anywhere near his Ferrari again.

Or there was that time at the hotel when some of the drivers had been lounging around the pool while they had an off day.

Mick was stood behind Cherrie as he gently rubbed sunscreen onto her back, biting his down on his lip as he admired her Tanned and sweating body in the tiny red bikini that she was wearing. Sighing in awe, unable to believe that she was all his.

"You look beautiful. Are you sure that you don't want to head back up to our room?" He murmured suggestively into her ear.

Kissing the side of her head as he wrapped his arms around her chest from behind , resting the side of his cheek against her own as he hugged her close to him. Enjoying having her to himself again after such a busy week.

Cherrie just giggled as she leaned back against his chest, lifting one of her arms so that she could hold the hand dangling over her chest, intertwining their fingers together lazily as she stared over at max who was stood by the edge of the pool talking to lando about something.

Narrowing her eyes at him, still feeling a little pissed off by the risky overtake he did on her . She sighed loudly and lifted mick's hand in front of her , kissing his knuckles gently to soften him up.

"Did you see that dangerous move max did to me at the corner?" She murmured to him, smiling a little slyly when she leaned her head back to look up at him through her lashes . Just like she always did when she wanted something from him.

Mick frowned a little at the reminder , humming in confusion once he saw the calculating look on her pretty face.

Fighting back a loud sigh already knowing that whether she was about to suggest would be no good.

"Yeah? What about it? He apologised to you this morning didn't he?" He had seen max hesitantly approach his girlfriend while they had all been getting breakfast in the hall.

Trying not to laugh at the way max had stood a good metre away from her while telling her he was sorry, Cherrie just glaring up at him unhappily as she bit into a banana aggressively while looking him straight in the eye.

Cherrie just hummed, leaning up to kiss his jaw gently as she mumbled to him. "Still.. do you remember what I did when pierre did the same thing to you?" She was referring to the time that the French man hasn't left enough room and sent mick spinning into the wall.

Mick looked down at her warily , recalling the way she had found pierre in the club later that night and then proceeded to tackle him to the dance floor. Keeping him in a headlock until he apologised to a flustered mick who was trying to get her off him while their friends all laughed hysterically at the scene she had made .

"Yes... what about it?" He worried as he caught her eyes shifting back over to max by the pool, groaning as he realised what she was hinting at him to do.

"Cherrie- I am not attacking max-"

She just scoffed and waved her hand in front of her "no, no. I'm not asking you to do that! I'm just saying.. look how close he is to the edge of the pool. He's just asking to be pushed in Isn't he?" She said to him with a smirk.

Mick pulled away from her with another groan, frowning at her disapprovingly . Wondering why she was like this.

"I am not pushing max into the pool for you-" he whisper shouted to her . Eyes widening as she started to give him that look .

Rapidly shaking his head at her in denial "no- no!"

She walked behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and kissed between his shoulders with a mischievous giggle . Knowing that she always got what she wanted .

"Please mick? It'll be so funny! It'll be good for him to cool off in this heat anway! Plus I took down gasly for you so it's time you returned the favour-" she told him confidently .

Mick looked over his shoulder at her with wide eyes "I didn't ask you to put pierre in a headlock! I don't want to piss max off either-" he reminded her .

But he still glanced back over at max who was standing so incredibly close to the edge of the pool , oblivious to cherrie's plan for him.

Mick took a small step closer to him as he thought about how max had nearly taken his girlfriend out of the race with his risky cut off.

Hearing Cherrie giggle like a evil little gremlin behind him , narrowing his eyes at her as he hesitated just a couple of steps behind max.

Cherrie just beamed at him , eyes sparkling as she nodded insistently towards max.

"Do it!" She mouthed to him with a smirk, hands pressed to her cheeks in excitement .

Mick looked at Max's back and then back to his hopeful girlfriend , hands twitching as he hesitated .

Bedore letting out a defeated sigh and turning around, walking straight over to max who looked over at him in confusion , starting to smile at him politely.

"Hey mate what-?" He started to say only to gasp loudly as mick gave him a hard shove to his shoulders and sent him tumbling straight back into the pool behind him.

All he could hear was Cherrie laughing hysterically as she fell down to her knees in tears, gasping between giggles at the big splash max made as he fell hard into the water.

Spluttering and coughing as he came back up for her , soaking wet and blinking water out from his eyes as he gaped up at a sheepish mick in disbelief.

"Why?! What was that for?!" He exclaimed in shock while the other drivers laughed and took photos of him.

Mick just shrugged and scratched the side of his neck sheepishly , glancing over to his giggling girlfriend with a small grin . Pleased with how proud she looked of him.

"That's for nearly taking Cher off the track. You're lucky that I didn't do what she wanted me to do to you." He told him honestly.

Walking back over to her and placing his hands underneath her armpits to pull his hysterically laughing girlfriend up from the floor. Placing her on his lap as he sat down at the end of one of the sun loungers instead .

Cherrie immediately wrapping her arm around his shoulders and giving him a kiss before pulling away to watch max pull himself out of the pool with a huff.

"And what did she want you to do?" He dared to ask, shooting a giggling Cherrie an unimpressed look.

"Kill you. But mick said no." She replied without any hesitation . Face serious .

Max paused and eyed her warily while mick just laughed nervously and placed his hand over her smirking mouth , shaking his head .

"No, no. She's kidding! She never told me to kill you. She's really sweet actually!" He lied with a smile as he pulled her down to lay with him instead before she Could get them into any more trouble .

Locking her body between his legs as she squirmed on him, still laughing like a naughty kid. He hooked his arm around the back of her neck, resting her head in the crook of his elbow to keep her still.

Leaning down to give her a brief kiss "behave. You've already paid a fine for threatening to break Max's nose last time remember? It'll be even more if you do it again." He whispered against her lips, smiling despite himself .

Finding it funny how her first answer to everything was violence . Always being the one to calm her down and tell her that killing off all of her rivals wouldn't solve a thing.

She just sighed and buried her face into his neck, snuggling into him happily.

"It would make me feel really good though. But if he does that to me on the track again.." she trailed off, peering up at him with a smirk.

Mick just sighed in defeat "then I'll pop the tires to his car and cancel his plane ride home. I know . You've already told what to do." He murmured in amusement  . Getting another proud kiss from her as she whispered that she loved him.

So was she a slightly bad influence on him?

Maybe.

But she was also fiercely protective of him too and she showed just how much she loved him with her actions.

Like that time he crashed into the barrier and Cherrie had been right behind him, just narrowly missing being taken out by one of his wheels flying onto the track.

She slowed down her car and looked over at his crashed car in worry , her radio quickly coming on.

"Okay that's a red flag . You need to pull back and follow the safety car-" he told her firmly.

Cherrie didn't listen, instead she felt her heart pounding her chest with worry when mick didn't get straight out of the car like he usually did.

"Fuck that was a bad one! Stupid fucking car they’ve dumped him with! Who the hell did that? How did that happen?" She turned off her engine , refusing to move her car away from her boyfriends crashed one.

Her team knew her though and immediately replied with concern "you need to stay in your car and follow the-”

Cherrie cut him off with a scoff , eyes never leaving the car opposite her .

"Fuck off! I'm not leaving him there! I'll pay the fucking fine or whatever they slap me with. Okay?" Was all she snapped at them before pulling off her wheel and hauling herself out of the car .

The announcer was going crazy "that's something you don't see very often! The Ferrari has come to a complete stop and Cherrie is getting out of the car, denying team orders! That's going to get her into a lot of trouble but by the sounds of it she really doesn't care!" He exclaimed , sounding impressed.

Cherrie ran over to his car as fast as she could, quickly kneeling beside it and bending over so that she could see mick inside.

Placing her hand ontop of his helmet and tapping it gently "you okay? Are you good? Are you hurt? Can you get out?" She rushed the questions at him in worry.

Signing loudly in relief when mick lifted up his visor and looked at her with tears in his eyes, clearly upset with crashing again.

"Yeah I'm okay. I'm out of the race though- the team isn't going to be very happy with me-" he mumbled to her sadly.

Cherrie just scoffed and pulled out of his wheel, throwing it down to the side and grasping his hands in her own to help pull him out .

Wrapping her arm around his waist to steady him while he got his footing again, pulling off his helmet and placing it into the car with a sigh.

Cherrie pulled her own off too and carelessly flung it onto the grass. Bending her head down so that she could meet his teary eyes, she immediately pulled him into her side for a hug.

"I don't give a shit. I'm just glad you're okay! That's all that matters! If your team has anything to say they can say it to the both of us tomorrow because we're going home!" She snapped , checking him over for injuries  herself.

Mick wrapped his arm around her shoulder and frowned in worry . "I don't think we're allowed to. We'll be fined if we leave-" he reminded her , waving the medics off and telling them that he was okay. Just winded.

Cherrie pushed past all of the people and grabbed his hand in her own, pulling him along the side and over to the wall with determined strides. Mick following behind her without any hesitation, trusting her to have his best interests at heart like she always did .

She didn’t mess around when it came to him.

"Then they can fine me . I don't care. You're worth more than money and you know that the press will only hound you and they'll have you doing media for hours to cover over for what a shit fucking box your team have given you." She ranted angrily as she jumped over the wall that lead to a parking lot that was about five minute walk away.

Mick just smiled and kissed the side of her head in adoration. “thank you. I just really want to go home and calm down." He murmured to her honestly , grateful for her stubbornness and determination to protect him all the time. Damned the consequences.

"Then we'll go home and calm down. Fuck the rest of them. Come on." Was all she muttered as she wrapped her arm around his waist, letting mick lean on her side as they walked side by side down the road to where she had parked her car.

A camera drone filming them getting further and further away from the track , still in their races suits and ignoring everybody else as they chatted casually between each other . Hand in hand.

"I can't believe this! They have left the Grand Prix! They've jumped the wall to the car park, instead of heading back to their team and garage. They're leaving together-!" The announcer exclaimed in astonishment as the whole world watched Cherrie gently push mick into her car and quickly get in herself .

The black Ferrari quickly reversing and turning around bedore speeding down to the nearest highway , before disappearing completely out of sight.

"Now that's what you call love! She got him out of there before his team could even think of calling him down! No doubt they'll be in a world of trouble for this but-" he laughed in amusement , sounding proud.

"Cherrie cares for nobody but mick! His team principals won't even get close to him if she's there! It's clear to see who's the real boss here isn't it?"

Or there was that time when mick wasn't feeling too good and was slouched down in his seat at the airport , hood over his head as he tried to drown out the loud noise coming from the rest of the drivers that would they would be sharing a plane with to attend some fancy gala by one of their sponsors.

Already dreading being in a plane with them, his head pounding and just wanting some peace and quiet so he could rest.

He looked around for his girlfriend who had taken one look at his miserable face and disappeared, spotting her jogging back her to him with piece of papers and both of their passports in her hand.

She smiled down at him gently , nodding behind her. "Come on. Let's go." She said casually as she pulled him up from his seat by the sleeve of his hoodie.

Mick glancing down at her in confusion "what? The planes not here yet." He told her with a frown.

Lando and Charles glanced over at them once they noticed Cherrie trying to drag him away.

"Where are you going?" Lando questioned them in confusion. The other drivers now looking at them too.

Cherrie paid them absolutely no mind , keeping her gaze on her flushed boyfriend who clearly wasn't well.

"I've got us a private plane. It's ready now. Come on." She simply told him as though it was no big deal.

Mick looked at her in disbelief , heart warming . "You got us a private plane? To the event?"

She looked at him with a small smile "no. To home. We're not going to some pretentious gala . We're going home and you're going to bed to rest. I've texted my mum to drop off some soup for you when we get there as well." She informed him softly , wrapping her arm around his waist and pulling him along with her casually.

Mick looked at her with love in his eyes, heart squeezing in his chest from how thoughtful she was to him without even making a big deal out of it. And without him even saying a thing.

Charles looked between the two of them in disbelief "I thought we were all travelling together? You've got a private plane just for the two of you ?!" He exclaimed in shock at how they were just ditching them there without any hesitation.

Cherrie just glanced at them briefly , unbothered.

"Yes. Enjoy your noisy flight. We'll be in the jet with plenty of leg room and champagne! See you guys!" She chirped at them with a smug smirk before turning back around and heading on their way.

Mick grinning to himself as he sheepishly waved at the read of the shocked drivers , jogging to keep up with her long strides as they headed over to the private part of the airport where a small, sleek plane was waiting for them.

"I love you so much." He whispered to her honestly , unable to believe that it was possible to love someone as much as he did her.

She was his life, his soul and his heart .

And he didn't know what he would do without her. She was his person. His best friend. She always had been and always would be.

She may have been a cocky little asshole but she was his cocky little asshole.

It was the only time that she ever let her guard down and showed how truly soft and caring she could be, but only for him. It was all the little things that she did for him that showed everyone else how much she loved him.

Like the way she was about to pass mick to head to her own media duties , stopping to wish him luck for his press conference with Lewis and Charles.

She leaned into his side for a brief hug ,waving off her assistant who was trying to get her to hurry up. She just told her to give her a minute as she spoke to mick.

"You okay?" She murmured to him, leaning up to give him a quick kiss. Squeezing his waist affectionately .

Mick hummed a little , sniffling from the cold as he gave her red cheeks a kiss. Nudging her nose with his own fondly .

"Yeah. Just want to get this over with . I didn't get to eat anything yet- I'm really hungry." He grumbled to her . Upset that he hasn't had the chance to even have any breakfast before he was dragged away.

Cherrie frowned at him "thats not good. We'll go out for dinner tonight yeah? Order the whole menu." She mumbled to him , yawning from how tired she was. The both of them not morning people at all.

Mick smiled at her and gave her another quick kiss before he was pulled away, waving to her .

"Sounds good! Love you!" He called over his shoulder to her loudly .

She gave him a wink "love you too! Have fun!" She sarcastically added , laughing when he pulled a face. Both of them hating media just as much as anybody else .

It was almost halfway through the conference when there was some rustling and loud muttering from

Behind them, the interviewer pausing mid question as they all looked over to the commotion at the door.

And mick could only sink into his seat with a flustered grin as his girlfriend confidently pushed past security , rolling her eyes at them when they tried to stop her from going up on the stage.

She just gave them a look before waving over at mick happily. Nodding respectfully to Charles and Lewis who were chuckling at her sudden appearance in amusement , not all all surprised with her crashing the conference.

"Oh my god. What are you doing?" Mick flushed, giggling a little in embarrassment as she casually walked over to the table with a brown paper bag in her hand.

She leant down and gave him a quick kiss "I got you a sandwich and a cupcake from the bakery around the corner ." She told him simply as she handed him the food she had rushed off to get him after he had told her that he was hungry.

Mick's face softened at her kindness , smiling at the way she was pretending to be casual and unbothered by the glances she was getting as she also handed him a hot chocolate to drink too.

He looked up at her in amazement , fondness coating his voice as he mumbled . "Thank you baby. You didn't have too."

She just shrugged and waved his thanks away like she always did . "course I did. You get pissy when you're hungry and there's only enough room for one mean little bitch in this relationship and it's me." She simply replied. Ruffling his hair before stepping away from The table , ready to leave as quick as she had came.

Having put off her own media duties to drive to the nearest cafe, she ignored the way her assistant was glaring at her. Not caring that she was going to be in trouble again .

Mick came first , always.

He quickly reached out with his hand to stop her from going , smiling at her gently . "One second.." he muttered to her before reaching into the bag and seeing two cupcakes .

He pulled out the chocolate one and handed it to her , raising his eyebrow at her sternly when she refused to take it.

"I got it for you." She muttered with a frown .

He just smiled and placed it into her hand "I only need one baby. I'm not the only one who's an asshole when they’re hungry. Eat it and I'll see you later okay?" He murmured to her quietly but the microphone on the table still picked up his affectionate words.

Cheeks flushing red when he heard Lewis 'aww.' At them fondly.

Cherrie just sighed and took the cupcake reluctantly, rolling her eyes at him playfully . Leaning down to give him one last kiss before pulling away.

"Love you. I'll see you at home?" She said as she jumped down from stage.

Mick didn't take his eyes off her , taking a sip from the hot chocolate to cover up his lovesick smile.

"Definitely. I'll call you when I'm done!" He told her , getting a thumbs up in response before she disappeared back around the corner as though she had never even arrived in the first place .

He sighed happily , only to pause in his place when he turned his head and noticed the amused looks he was getting from both the press and the drivers.

"You two are made for each other." Lewis said with a grin , laughing at the way mick flushed red and could hardly meet their eyes.

Charles nodded along in agreement , chuckling. "I think you're the only that she smiles at. If I told her I was hungry she would just pull a face and tell me to eat something then!" He said amused.

Mick thought back to the way Cherrie had given him her coat that morning when he said he was cold , having forgotten his own at home.

She didn't even hesitate to give him hers. Telling him that she ran hot anyways when he hesitated to take it from her.

Clearly lying because this was the same woman who had bought five blankets for their bed and tucked her hands under his shirt just to warm up her freezing cold hands during the night.

She simply did it Because she loved him. The hot headed , self proclaimed ice queen , uncaring and bitchy woman, loved him and would do anything for him.

And mick would do the same. Because she was it for him.

So he smiled bashfully down at his fingers and laughed shyly , biting down on his lip to control his lovesick grin.

"She's the love of my life. I'm gonna marry her someday." He admitted to them quietly , cheeks red at the awwwing he heard from around the room.

Lewis just laughed, not surprised at all.

"Not if she beats you to it first. She's definitely the type to propose before you do." He mused.

Charles agreed "yeah mate. We all know who wears the pants in your relationship." He chuckled , grinning at him.

Mick just shrugged, unashamed by the fact that she was the starring role in his life.

She took the lead and mick would follow her wherever she took him without any hesitation. Because he loved her, as simple as that.

"She looks great in my pants anyway." He smirked a little , laughing beneath his breath.

Feeling a little smug as he felt the ring box in the pocket of his hoodie just waiting to be opened tonight.

He couldn't beat Cherrie in a lot of things, but he would just this one time. It was a special occasion after all.

And even when he didn't win the race he was still winning when she ran over to him each time with a pretty little smile on her beautiful face.

He won everyday when he woke up in her arms each morning.

He won by the way that every man wanted her but she went home with him without any hesitation, he was the only one she whispered ‘i love you’ to in the darkness of the night.

She was the one. A little crazy and a little bit unhinged, but the one for him nonetheless.

And what was better than having a girlfriend that could fight too ? Mick would never have to even clench a fist because she would go swinging for him.

It was nice how wanted she made him feel .

She made him happy , she made him feel safe . She made him feel like superman. Like he could do anything he wanted as long as she was there by his side.

She was it for him. It was a rare kind of love, the kind that barely made any sense to someone who didn’t know the them well. But he didn’t care.

Because their love was real. Theirs was chaotic and messy. It was fun and safe. Loud and proud.

Their love was unfading and true. That was all that mattered to them.

Fuck everybody else. They had each other. That’s all they needed.

[1indigoisles]

Can we just step back and take a moment to appreciate the fact that we now have the smallest, tiniest, most insignificant inkling of an idea as to what might happen in TWP?

And that after New Year we will have more small, tiny, insignificant inklings as to what we might get to see?

CC has us all in web woven by her novel universe. I love her.

But gratitude and all aside, it's TWP CrAckPOt ThEorY TImE (by yours truly)!!

I have some pretty random theories and headcanons that I will be randomly spouting around now and for the next couple of days.

Theory #1: Kit gets gold wings.

Hear me out, why not? He's not just any old part faerie, he's the descendant of the First Heir! Also, Clary had a dream in CoLS of two people standing together beside a lake, one with white hair and black wings and the other with gold hair and gold wings. At the time, it was assumed that those two people were Sebastian and Jace, but the pieces are falling together! ASH HAS WHITE HAIR AND BLACK WINGS, can you not tell how excited I am?

Theory #2: The disappearance that Kit and Ty have to investigate is Livvy's.

I mean, does anyone reading this post have other ideas? It would make sense, since Dru would be sucked into Faerie danger, and even if she wasn't, she couldn't really help Ty because she can't even see Livvy. And if we assume that Dru is in Faerie, Kit is literally the only one Ty could go to, since nobody else knows (except for Magnus and Ragnor, who I think would either be too busy or simply refuse to help, thinking that if Livvy had finally truly died, then it would be lucky that the world got off without having to pay for it). Ty would, obviously, try to find Livvy on his own, but the thought that only Kit could help him would be nagging at him the entire time. So either he finally plucks up the courage to ask Kit, or they just bump into each other on their own. Either way, they team up together, very begrudgingly on Kit's part, because he'll be all ice and "I hate you" on Ty. Then, Kit's faerie magic spurts out again in a moment of danger, or in a fight scene where they're outnumbered, and Ty, aside being amazed, interrogates Kit heavily, and when Kit is finally worn off, he tells Ty angrily about his heritage and how if Faerie knew of it, the entire lands would be after him. And even though the thought gives me immense pain, I think that eventually, it's how Jessa dies, and Kit blames himself for it, and added to how he has to take care of Mina and live for her, he absolutely refuses to help Ty any longer. But then, when danger strikes again, his faerie magic comes out in full, Kit gets himself severely injured. And THIS happens:

"Well, it's a bit ironic, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

"All that effort to convince you I wasn't in love with you, and here I am, dying in your arms."

[Teaser #6] Link below.

I just realised I gave an entire rant about it, I'll stop now.

Theory #3: What can transpire between Dru, Jaime and Ash.

And I don't mean this just romantically. Dru getting involved in Faerie finally connects the dots, since Ash literally lives there, and Jaime disappeared there. Their storylines probably merge somewhere around TLKoF and they have their own adventures. Also, headcanon; you know how in TDA, Jaime was all distant when he found out that Dru was 13 and not 16, like he'd thought? And how he literally left, like, the next day? So, what I'm thinking is that he was already beginning to crush on Dru, and he was disappointed, not because she hid her age, but because they wouldn't be possible. Okay, okay, I know Jaime said that Dru was like his sister, but that if you go to that scene, you'll find he's speaking after a moment of being silent, perhaps drinking in the situation. I think he says that because he's trying to convince himself that whatever he likes about Dru is just friendly, and nothing more. Now, I know that people don't have the kindest opinions about DruxJaime, because Dru was just a child when they met, but if you really think about it, 13's really not that young, and Dru was really mature for her age. And this 3-year gap is nothing compared to what Lucie and Jesse had going on. Girl meets a 17-year-old-looking boy when she was 6 years old. Can you believe the age gap that I'm too lazy to calculate? So yes, DruxJaime is plausible, it can and will happen, although Dru will obviously end up with Ash. And if CC pulls an open end to Jaime's character like she did to Matthew, I will literally cry. I really dislike open ends, because it fills me with so many questions! I hate not knowing what happens next! I really want Jaime to either end up with Anush or go poly with Thais, which I know is just wishful thinking at this point. Any character will do, CC! Please and thank you!

Okay, I just read this entire thing over, and my self-critic says; this is not a post, this is me ranting. My writing is literally all over the place. I feel like I wrote too much. But I think I got it all out for now. This was fun.

[kafkamus]

desabafo:

i receive the notification of my bsf ig acc, and there’s this guy, who honestly i’m so sure is gonna marry her someday, we are all very close friends and all… but i’m closer to her, and he lives in another state so. wtv, back to my rant.

looking at his replies on her story made me realize what made me ‘fall in love’ (disgusting to use these words like bffr) with this friends’ best friend, who also became friends w me and my bsf.

it’s just that for so many years (and still counting ‘em) i’ve always felt and still feel like i am nothing but a bro to the men around me, it’s not that i want them to want me, ‘cause let’s be honest, even if they did, i wouldn’t want them back, but i’m a bro, i am seen as one of the dudes since i’m not exceedingly feminine, or skinny, or pretty. many of my interests are shared with men, and when i don’t have the size 3 body and pretty face to make me liking these things ‘different’ and ‘not like other girls’, i inevitably end up being the bro. which absolutely is a-okay most of the times, i’ll never complain about having a close friendship w my male friends, but the thing is, i’m still a woman, y’know? and due to my personality and overall appearance i’m not usually treated by my male friends as a woman, so i hear a lot of shit, i’m treated clearly differently, which is fine but also not?

so what ends up happening, inevitably, (and honestly i just want to make myself clear that i don’t and could never ever blame any of my beautiful amazing female friends for this happening) is men clearly choose my other friends over me, which is like, fine cause it’s not like i actively care, as in i could ever like any of them, cause let’s be fr, would never do myself that dirty, but also, how can you not crave even a bit of male attention sometimes (i am literally just a girl, and i’m not even joking when i say this, i am literally an 18 year old girl, and i can absolutely understand myself, specially on my younger teenage years for craving that men would also find me interesting and pretty sometimes, and not see me as a fucking dude)

so it’s so clear to me that how could i not fall in love when a very cute and sweet looking guy that looks beyond the beautiful friend and talks to me, and calls me, and texts me, and flirts w me? it all seemed so far beyond reality that how could i not like him? i was 13/14, feeling as ugly as a person can feel, and the person who i get to call my best friend (and thank god i still do) is a fucking beautiful blonde who’s the sweetest smartest kindest girl i know to this day, how the FUCK did he look past that and decided that I was worth looking at, and taking to, and flirting with, y’know? and ik i sound like the pick me-iest person in the world, but that meant so much to me that i wasn’t just a fat preteen that no one would want.

it has been almost 6 years now since that happened and sometimes i still think about him just to remind myself that there are people (men) out there who are willing to get to know me despite of what i look like. it’s just a good reminder that i am a person too after all, and even though the feeling changed between us and today we still are friends, he is one of the most special people to me for making me realize that.

[izunias-meme-hole]

My Top 10 Favorite Pokemon Characters (Updated)

Number 1. Ghetsis - Ah yes, the worst father in Pokemon and the greatest villain the series has ever known. Ghetsis is Team Plasma’s founder, the father of N, and the greatest embodiment of evil this series has seen, so that kinda makes him the perfect foil to N. Ghetsis is cunning, manipulative, abusive, banal, psychotic, and narcissistic, not to mention that his plan was actually put together pretty well. However the best part about this guy are his BREAKDOWNS, like good lord it’s satisfying to kick this rancid old man into the dirt and watch him mentally not take a loss. As for why he’s this high, I just love knocking an evil old man down a peg with maxed out pokemon, and I love watching him be shitty just to see karma hit him like a truck. I love HATING him as much as I love N and Colress as characters.

Number 2. Colress - One of the top 10 villains in the series. I know y’all are gonna say “COLRESS WASN’T EVIL, HE’S CHAOTIC NEUTRAL”, but let me explain. Colress is a very charismatic scientist who’s not a true villain, but he IS amoral and only cares about what benefits his research, and when we first meet him he’s the villain in the story. We never got to see any true onscreen villainy in B2/W2, but the game makes it obvious that if he’d skin a kitten, for science. Sure, he’s not a threat currently, but if he thought that a return to villainy could benefit his research, then he’d be a bastard again in a heartbeat. Let’s not forget that the anime and manga showed his amorality at it’s highest, especially since Team Plasma lets him do what he needs to. He’s kinda like a huge contrast to both N and Ghetsis in a way, making him indeed a true grey area character that can flip between good and evil in an instant. Colress ain’t a traditional villain, but his amorality and neutral positioning makes him scary, and that’s what makes him great for me.

Number 3. N Harmonia Gropius - N, is literally a lot of peoples favorite Pokemon character, and with good reason. The man is genuinely pure of heart and has earned the trust of people and pokemon, and it all started with the original Black & White duology. He started out as the misguided, yet noble puppet leader of Team Plasma that believed in Pokemon Liberation, and by B2/W2 he became a fine young man with a better view on the world. I could write more about him, but we’d be here all day, but just know that this man is an amazing example of a very pure character.

Number 4. Cyrus - If I were to put any villain teams on par with Plasma, I’d say Rocket, Skull, Star and Galactic, ESPECIALLY GALACTIC. Cyrus had one hell of a goal, especially since universal alteration is a pretty big feat. He wanted a world without spirit, without emotions, he wanted people to be cogs in one great big machine so conflict and “flaws” could be erased, but in order to achieve this goal, he needed the power of gods. So yeah, Cyrus was trying to temporarily obtain godhood, but wanna know the dangerous part? He believed he was right to do this, despite being as “flawed” as every other person. Sure, that’s nothing special, but Cyrus genuinely believes that humanity being emotionless cogs in a single machine is good for everyone because he has no hope for the current world, even though he himself is a small part of the world he hates. In all honesty, Cyrus is almost nihilistic, but he’s eternally tethered to this world out of a desire to change it, and I pity this man because of it.

Number 5. Penny/Cassiopeia - Scarlet/Violet spoilers: Penny, a.k.a Cassiopeia, was the founder of Team Star, a group of bullied private school kids that got payback on their tormentors and got in trouble. However Penny saved her comrades by taking the blame and she even attempted to disband the team, but after hearing that they’re still active, she set up Operation: Starfall, and managed to get the player to help disband Team Star by challenging each boss to a pokemon battle, and when you’re done handling the bosses, you end up taking Penny on yourself. She also looks like an introverted nerd, and she’s an Eveelution trainer, so you can pretty much guess her character based off her story, her pokemon, and her design.

Number 6. Iris - She’s a major character in the Black & White anime, which I used to watch a lot when I was 5, and out of all of Ash’s buddies, I remembered her and Clemont the most. So to discover that she WASN’T original to the show and a CHAMPION, was quite a shock to me, but regardless, Iris is a pretty accomplished and fun character, both in the anime and the games. 

Number 7. Giovanni - Giovanni may seem like an average fiend, and the boss of a bunch of loveable idiots, but in reality he’s a lot like an old school mafia boss or a businessman, and he does have some competent troops in his ranks. Giovanni prioritizes on world domination and the expansion of his enterprise, but he does it in a multitude of different ways, such as theft, and bribery, but he also has a little bit of an honorable streak too, so he’s not unreasonable. Aside from that he’s one of the craftiest villains in the entire series, meaning that there’s nothing he cannot scheme out of. Also let’s not forget about how iconic he is in the anime whenever he ACTUALLY appears on the field, like holy shit! There’s a reason why he’s a fan favorite.

Number 8. Guzma - “EY IT”S YA BOI, GUZMA!!!!” That’s it... that’s his energy?

Number 9. Lysandre - Lysandre is... interesting. He’s was a self-made rich man who went nuts after seeing that his efforts to help the world were leaving no effect, and decided to try and kill 99% of humanity. Good villain right? Unfortunately he’s not good in his debut games, and a majority of that is due to wasted potential, which is also the problem of his organization, Team Flare. So why is her on here? Simple... THE GODDAMN ANIME! Every other piece of media took the blueprint for Lysandre’s character and got rid of the problems and refined the character, but the anime did it PERFECTLY. He’s got the presence of Anime!Giovanni, he’s as deluded as Game!Cyrus, and he’s almost as vile as Ghetsis, but he’s also very tragic and pitiable without it feeling forced. He may be the worst villain in the games, but he’s the anime’s second greatest fiend.

Number 10. Nemona - Nemona is basically the player resetting the game because they already beat EVERYTHING. That and she’s kinda funny.

[leonardhoee]

A Rant About Ikesen’s Treatment of Motonari

I’ve been away from tumblr for a while but I had to come back for this.

So something I’ve noticed throughout playing Ikesen is the way that the game is very biased agains Motonari and I think it needs to be addressed because he is the only brown character and his portrayal is full of harmful stereotypes against brown men. I love this game but I haven't seen a single person acknowledge how badly Motonari is treated by the creators and the fandom as a result of that.

Also any racist comments will be blocked.

Possible route spoilers under the cut…

So lets start with the obvious, he is the only dark skinned character in Ikesen and when I first started playing I was so happy about that because finally (regardless of his ethnicity which honestly in this portrayal of him can be up for debate, I HC him as south East Asian) we are getting some representation. Throughout the game though I started noticing a lot of harmful stereotypes being thrown onto him that none of the other characters face.

Both him and Nobunaga are relatively misogynistic, I’m not denying that at all. However the way it is portrayed in their routes is very different. Nobunaga should in fact have sexual harassment charges, yet its romanticized repeatedly throughout his route. Motonari on the other hand treated MC as a possession the same way Nobunaga did, however he is shown as aggressive and scary as opposed to Nobunaga being shown as sexy and romantic.

There is also a difference in their respective CG’s 

Motonari’s CG is shown much more threatening and aggressive than Nobunaga’s

That brings me to my next point. Every other antagonist so far is shown to have a gentle and redeemable side. Kenshin threatened to wage war on the whole country while keeping MC locked in a cell yet he is still shown to be gentle and romantic. Kennyo repeatedly kidnaps and threatens MC’s life in other routes yet he is shown as a gentle monk who just wants revenge for his fallen brethren. Why doesn't Motonari get that level of consideration and empathy? Why is he, the only brown man, shown as an aggressive two-dimensional brute in every single route that isn’t his own? And this is a harmful stereotype that shows itself in all kinds of media. Brown men are depicted as predatory and aggressive both in fiction and real life.

This leads me to his ethnicity (I’m only talking about Ikesen’s portrayal of Motonari, I am well aware he was a Japanese warlord irl). In his route there is a part where he is talking about slavery and colonialism. As a South Asian woman I completely understand his perspective and its what got me thinking about this subject in the first place.

This subject is clearly personal to him. These lines, the way he looks as opposed to the other characters, and the fact that he speaks Spanish (around this time period the Philippines were being colonized by Spain), leads me to head cannon him as South East Asian, specifically Filipino. However, historically, Motonari comes from a region of Southern Japan, which is known as Hiroshima today. Cybird meant to market him as Okinawan. A large part of the reason Motonari is being treated this way by Cybird stems from the fact that people from Okinawa face racism from mainland Japan. Considering the fact that this game was made in Japan, and knowing what we know about their history of colonization, racism, and east asian beauty standards revolving around colorism, I am honestly not surprised that Motonari is being portrayed like this.

Until now they just showed his reason for fighting the Oda to be “oh I just want to watch the world burn for no reason”. But no that’s not the reason. These lines. That’s the reason. A lot of the context behind those lines comes from the fact that comes from because people from mainland Japan treated Okinawan people as slaves. He doesn’t want to see another colonizer come into power. Sure he’s a bit of an extremist but historically people who have this ideology have always been portrayed as savage and barbaric and “against the betterment of society” (think Jet from atla or even Malcom x). It’s no different in ikesen. The devs are clearly villainizing this ideology. Let’s not forget the fact that irl Hideyoshi invaded Korea. And the fact that anime and otome games are part of Japan’s way of erasing their war crimes and rebranding themselves to the rest of the world. It’s blatantly obvious here with the way they’re villainizing Motonari for having a perfectly valid reason to fight the Oda. If Japan stays divided they can’t invade and colonize other countries like the Philippines can they? Anti-colonialism = bad. 

Lastly I want to talk about how they downplayed his abilities as a leader and a warlord in his own right. In all the other routes he is depicted as less educated and frankly “dumb”, and it shows itself in his speech patterns too. Compared to Nobunaga and Mitsuhide, Motonari’s speech is stereotypically “less educated” and “lower class”. Yet he is just as much of a leader as any of the other warlords. However instead of acknowledging that, the game chooses to focus on his crimes and behavior as a pirate, instead of his role as the head of the Mouri clan.

At one point Kicho even compares his intelligence to a fifth grader which just rubs me the wrong way because lets take a moment to actually look at Motonari’s abilities. He is multilingual, has knowledge of global politics and economics, is an amazing businessman, and extremely analytical. He is literally known as the God of Decit, yet I did not hear that name once until his route came out. His strategies are good enough to be called a god, yet that is completely buried in the other routes in order to simplify his character into a trigger happy psychopath and a violent brute. He is just as smart as Nobunaga yet he is not given the credit he deserves.

Both Motonari and Nobunaga are extremely similar yet because of the horribly biased portrayals, Motonari is one of the least popular characters whereas Nobunaga is the second most popular. It makes me angry to see people in the fandom choosing to blindly hate Motonari without recognizing the fact that this stems from a frankly racist portrayal of an extremely intelligent and powerful character. Although truthfully, I blame the devs because if they had given his character even half the consideration and depth the others got, this would not be the case. 

You can disagree with me if you want. I am simply bringing attention to something I haven’t seen being addressed.

I hope in future routes, events, and sequels he is treated better by the devs and and the fandom. Please stop projecting racist stereotypes onto brown men.

[all-might-can-smash-me]

Dad/Family headconons

Masterlist

Aizawa, Taishiro, Toshinori, Sir Nighteye, and Hawks

Aizawa Shouta/Eraserhead

Despite him being that kind of nonchalant, I don’t give a shit about anything kind of person.....he’s a family guy

Loves kids

He just wants you to have a huge army of kids following alongside you hand in hand to visit him at work.

Looks forward to being able to relate to someone else with his quirk

Doesn’t care if they are all girls, all boys, a mixture of both, or even fostering or adopting, he’s for everything

Was kind of afraid to open up about that side of himself when you two got married, but you are all for it too

Feels that he can handle it with your help thanks to having some experience with dealing with his students

Is slapped in the face with shock when you two have your first 2 or 3 kids because infants are, you guessed it, nothing like teens who are all emotional about becoming a prohero

Guess he would be prepared for whenever they would get to their teenage years

Except for periods because he didn’t know anything about them but he’ll probably take the time to learn about it from you

Still happy over his growing army though

Still loves the chaos of it all, plus it’s good to have Aizawa to control their quirks when they start to develop

The chaos also reminds him of his own time in school with his few friends he had....they were always so vibrant and loud unlike him and he kind of envied it (secretly)

Yamada and Kayama (Present Mic and Midnight) loves to visit his little army and spoil them with toys and snacks even if Aizawa disapproved of it

You helped hand out the toys and snacks.....Aizawa could suck it up

Napping piles are normal in this household, so don’t be freaked when you see all of your children curled up or around Aizawa under a pillow fort in the living room.

It breaks his heart everytime though when his kids beg to take a stray cat home and he has to say no....but he’ll end up going back on patrol to feed it and then probably cave in and bring it home anyway

He’ll just shrug off his children’s accusations of him being a ‘hypocrite’ for saying no to their pleas earlier and say something like ‘Well I said you couldn’t do it, nothing about me though’

The tea parties are lit and he’ll crush anyone at a video game

Taishiro Toyomistu/Fatgum

Really never thought about having his own kids until meeting Kirishima and Tamaki

Life was changed FOREVER since meeting them, now he would like to have his own family

It was kind of confusing to finally have the talk of having kids a couple of years into your marriage, but your views on having kids were changed too after meeting the two UA students

He let you on thinking just one or two kids were great, but you didn’t know if you should have been surprised that you were in the hospital room pushing out your 5th child

It was kind of funny to see Taishiro freaking out even if it was his 5th time next to you in labor

Your kids were so use to it they just sat out in the hallway doing their schoolwork or playing games on their iPads as Kirishima and Tamaki watched over them (your labor would always catch them while they were out on patrol)

I picture that all his kids are girls

He uses the excuse “just one more kid, maybe this time it’ll be a boy”, It’s NEVER a boy

I feel that he’s the dad to sneak home McDonald’s fries or ice cream to his kids despite you not liking it

Will take the blame when you catch one of your daughters munching on fries on the way back to her room (daughters will also try to take the blame, but how the heck could girls 13 and younger sneak out all the way to McDonalds)

He’ll also get all his daughters together to bake a cake and also decorate it. The creativity shown by his daughters will always amaze him.

He and his daughters would even clean up the kitchen together...mostly so that you wouldn’t get mad upon seeing the kitchen as a disaster

Gets way into watching Barbie’s Life in the Dream House and secretly really loves our queen Raquelle

All Might/Toshinori Yagi

Just wants one little girl

To spoil her ROTTEN!

Seeing his friend David Sheild’s daughter Melissa grow up and look so happy always made him envious. Young Midoriya also played a huge role in his desire for at least one kid

One child was enough for the two of you and thankfully your first and only child was a girl

Gran Torino will also spoil her rotten along with Sir Nighteye

Will not be embarrassed to be caught sprawled out on the ground with your daughter playing with dolls

He’s actually quite proud of the fact that he doesn’t mind getting down and dirty when it comes to playing with ‘girly’ things with his young daughter unlike other dads

Loves to play Studio Ghibli movies for your daughter.....but Yagi is way more into it

I say this because Toshinori will try to hide his tears while watching My Neighbor Totoro as your daughter is fast asleep on his lap.

He will also sneak in a rated pg-13 hero movie from the United States in when your gone too....and then he’ll act surprise when your daughter would repeat the fowl language she heard in the movie

He would and WILL spend hours on YouTube to learn how to braid hair and put bows in and ribbons

He would bring her to work a lot too to see class 1A in action

Daughter will forever be his ‘baby’, so he HATES the thought of her starting to date and get married.

So when she admitted that the boy ‘Todoroki’ in his class was handsome while heading home one day from his work, he swore off boys....

He wasn’t surprised though, she was always managing to get Todoroki to hold her hand while Toshinori would have class 1A doing scenarios in teams and showing off her hair to him and asking if he noticed anything different.

Todoroki is a good sport, he held her hand and always complimented her hair...

Yeah she was mad at Toshinori and you made him unswear off boys, especially Todoroki

Brings your daughter to work just to brag about how he did her hair to EVERYONE

Mirai Sasaki/Sir Nighteye

Eh....he didn’t want kids, never had the desire tbh

Though something about UA students’ charming personalities making these heroes want families. Mirio got him thinking one kid couldn’t be so bad

You were shocked when he asked to have a kid, but you agreed....after discussing it for awhile to make sure he wanted this

I picture him having one cute, little shy boy

Like the cute little boy with glasses who wears those cute shorts with a bug related shirt that just wants to search for roly-poly in the dirt and grass in the back yard

Very quiet and a bit shy around new people, but is literally the most polite little boy in the WORLD

Nighteye will use his quirk on his son when out looking for bugs to just see if he missed something in the grass or dirt, but that’s as far as he’ll use it

The reason why Nighteye thinks he’s so funny is because your son (and you of course along with mirio) are the only ones who laugh at his jokes, especially your son

Your son finds ANYTHING his dad says or does hilarious. His dad made a gasp of excitement along side his son upon finding a millipede? Instant laughter will follow

Those bouts of laughter from his son is the best feeling in the world to him

Tried to make your son an expert on All Might, but gave up when he came to his conclusion that your son just wasn’t into it.

It was kind of weird at first to find out his son was just simply NOT into heroes, but now he just loves the fact that his son likes what he likes and doesn’t let himself get swayed by others, even his own mom and dad

If you can’t make his little boy, his pride and joy, laugh? Sorry, but don’t talk to Nighteye or his son ever again

He will sit and listen to his little boy go on and on and on and ON about anything and never get bored (or show it). He will sit and listen intently about the cool facts about the bug he found or a plant.

He’d even listen to the longest explanation about a tiny little squiggle on a piece of paper that he drew on if it was being told by his little boy.

Will even put a meeting on hold just to answer a FaceTime from his son from your phone just to listen to him talk about a leaf he made a pressing of....and will sit there with the volume all the way up on his phone too so the others in the room can hear as well.

Will spend all night pinning bugs to a board to frame and label just for your son

Keigo Takami/Hawks

He didn’t even want to date tbh

Though when he met you? The cliche ‘love at first sight’ happened and soon the two of you were married pretty quickly and boy was he a happy man

He didn’t really even want kids either. He just didn’t want to have kids and somehow they end up with a childhood like his that’s not the greatest or most normal, plus he was happy with the little domestic life with you.

But then IT happened. You know, when a mommy and daddy love each other very much and poof, a baby? Yeah....

He was TERRIFIED, but once your first child came into the world, a new sense of happiness sparked within him, like his own eyes opened for the first time to the world

This happened twice more, ending up with his happy family consisting of you, his two boys, and his little girl.

He’s the kind of dad to have his wallet FILLED with pictures of his kids and you. He will shamelessly show them off to fans while on patrol and also to Endeavor....even if he’s seen them a trillion times. Also his office is filled with framed pictures too

He also gets in trouble a lot along with his two boys for playing to rough and loudly within the house by you, especially for flying and being too competitive with video games and ANY activity he would take part in with them.

What can he say? His sons were like the best friends he was never able to have as a kid, he wanted to take in the beauties of having an energetic family

He doesn’t play favorites, but when it comes to his little girl? Sometimes he’ll catch a feeling of her feeling like she’s the odd one out when it comes to her two older brothers and he can relate to that feeling.

So he’ll set aside some dad and daughter time to do the things she likes, like read, color, and draw

He would even let her do his hair with tiny braids and color pieces of clip in hair and many butterfly clips. Keigo would also then wear it out proudly on patrol and check his reflection MULTIPLE times to make sure everything was in place.

He would then shout to the press and paparazzi that his daughter did his hair, showing it off in the process

When the picture would come out with the headliner ‘Hawks’ New Look Thanks to Daughter’ for the news the next day, the look of pride and awe on your daughters face upon looking at the front cover of the magazines and newspapers at the store you and his family would shop at would absolutely melt his heart melt

He’s the first one to pull back the covers to let his children climb in when scared by a thunderstorm or the spooky shadow in their room even if they may be getting ‘too old’ to be doing that...according to Endeavor however, so that information might be wrong

Bribes his kids not to tell you that he entered the house through the window and not the front door

[balaroo]

Why did Bakugou see Deku as worthless?

Short answer: He didn’t.

“But doesn’t ‘Deku’ literally mean useless?! Of course Bakugou thought he was a quirkless loser!” I hear you cry but please give my rushed analysis a chance and see if I can convince you of something real quick.

This is mainly focusing on their relationship in the earlier manga but there will be references to newer chapters so spoilers if you’re not caught up!

I’m going to go in a vaguely chronological order and remind you of these panels:

So the first part of this with Bakugou already starting to pick on Deku happens before his quirk manifested and even longer before he finds out Deku is quirkless. It makes me think of when Deku said Bakugou only 'started down a bad path' once he got his quirk but it looks like he was being a little shit before even that.

Why does this fit into it at all, doesn’t this just confirm Bakugou has always seen him as a loser? Well, yes and no. With Bakugou having a squadron of children he thought were lower himself that followed him around everywhere, why did he only ever pick on Deku?

That’s something I’ll come back to soon but a few more moments I wanted to remind you of along these same lines are:

When he learns Deku is applying to UA

In middle school, Deku’s classmates finding out that the quirkless kid applying to the prestigious hero school is hilarious and they think that there’s no way he can get in. But the one person who does take is seriously is Bakugou.

He claims it’s because he wants to be the only person from their school to make it to UA but by saying this isn’t he admitting that on some level he thinks Deku has a chance to get in, even without a quirk?

When he sees Deku has a quirk

Now, up until this point, Bakugou has apparently accepted Deku actually is in UA, even without a quirk. In fact, he’s more shocked to learn that Deku does have one but lied to him about it (which only reinforced the belief Deku was intentionally trying to undermine him) and leads me right back to the point that Bakugou absolutely believed Deku made it to UA with no quirk.

He never saw Deku as worthless because he didn't have a quirk, there was something else at play, hence the meta.

Just to hammer that in further, something interesting I remember from the earlier chapters is Bakugou constantly referring to Deku as ‘a pebble in my path’

That specifically made me wonder why would someone who’s always seen everyone else as ‘extras’ and even went out of his way to remind his teacher ‘don’t lump me in with these losers’ refer to a kid he’s deemed to be useless as having any effect on his path to becoming a hero? It just doesn’t add up.

Though we get a lot of closer looks at Bakugou's pride and it's downfall after All Might loses his power, the reason as to why Bakugou was always so quick to hate on Deku is pretty ambiguous until we get to the newer chapters (spoilers for 285+ beyond this point) and we get this amazing piece of insight into Bakugou’s character:

‘I ignored my own weaknesses so I ended up bullying him.' Not only is he speaking candidly about how messed up his relationship with Deku used to be but he's admitting that he cares about him.

It’s by no means a rousing declaration of guilt but it does put the blame entirely on Bakugou himself which was honestly very refreshing to see. People aren’t black and white, not every mean character has a tragic backstory to explain their actions.

Bakugou may have just been a kid with way too many expectations put on him but that gives no excuse for what he did and he knows that and then he decides to make it right which is why his character is so interesting.

So why would Bakugou pick on Deku in the first place? It’s because he was scared of him.

Deku didn't believe that just because someone has a strong quirk means they should be treated like they're invincible (hence the famous river scene) and he treated Bakugou as he would anyone else which terrified Bakugou.

Bakugou is meant to be a strong hero with a powerful quirk but here's this kid who's quirkless, and so by society's standards should be weak and feeble, showing much more strength and tenacity than he should. It goes against the narrative of the world they live in and Bakugou is worried it'll effect how he's meant to be a hero.

Deku excels in every way that Bakugou hasn’t been able to. He’s kind but never hesitates to stand up for what he believes in, he has the uncanny ability to analyse villains and heroes alike in a way that allowed him to beat Bakugou in their training exercise, and to top it all off he has a strength of will that is honestly just scary.

Poetically, it’s only once Bakugou accepts that Deku has always been stronger than him in this way and they start their ‘Save to win, win to save’ dynamic does he manage to overcome those obstacles and start on the path to becoming a more rounded and stronger hero, as well as atoning for what he’s done.

He’s never going to stop being foul-mouthed or aggressive because that’s part of who he is, but he is a much better person than he was at the beginning of the manga. Saying he isn’t is blatantly disregarding so much of the story and just very, very incorrect.

Whether or not he'll outright say “I’m Sorry.” To Deku has yet to be seen but this route feels a lot more genuine to be quite honest. Not to mention, if he did confront Deku with it the most likely outcome would be Deku saying he’s already forgiven because it’s true but Bakugou wants to earn that forgiveness which is so much better.

Seeing how far their relationship has come since that realisation has been amazing and I can only hope we get to see even more development between the two of them.

This was just meant to focus on how Bakugou never saw Deku as worthless but I’ve already gone off topic. I could write essays on this pair’s dynamic but it’s already long enough so I think I’ll leave it here.

I would love to hear other people’s thoughts on it and thank you very much if you read this far!

[itsatoyboat]

i finished true colors and i’m having a lot of thoughts that i NEED to talk about.

(if this is gonna be long idk, i apologize for your eyeballs)

1. i honestly didn’t like alex at all when i saw the trailer, i was thinking “hmm idk about this one” but as soon as i started to play the game i fell so in love with her, she is so freaking smart and funny, she genuinely cares about the people around her and her story it’s very different from the other characters from LIS anthology. i truly enjoyed seeing alex’s development throughout the game especially her realizing that her powers can actually help the people around her and not harm anyone, the way she controls it after her conversation with gabe was such an awesome upgrade from the alex who was so ashamed of her power to alex superwoman. i liked how the game explored her emotions and her mind about the past, the mine part where alex was struggling to feel everything she felt in those days and then embracing everything was one of my favorite parts. it shows a lot of growth.

2. this game has AMAZING CHARACTERS, every single one of the characters was well written, they had life, they had problems, they had their own emotions with private stuff that was going on in their lives and you could actually talk to them and meet their “layers”. mac for an example was an asshole but i couldn’t pretend i didn’t felt his concern and fear around typhon, the way he was terrified about everyone hating him, he was scared for his life and being very paranoid, i was concerned about him and the game giving you the choice to speak to him or leaving him was a tricking decision cause you could leave him alone suffering or try to help him out, maybe saving his life and this is a lot but he’s alive. the game makes him real and that’s what makes me INSANE about the characters. i know, i’m talking about a game where you’re supposed to feel the characters’ feelings but that could possibly go wrong as well if the characters were shallow and poorly explored and that’s not the case with true colors. they had purpose.

3. alex’s power it’s probably my favorite power. the choices in this game was way harder than the first two games, the craziest thing is you can choose if you want to take someone else’s feeling so they can stop feeling that way, saving them from themselves making alex suffer instead and that's selfish. don’t get me wrong, i’m not calling alex a selfish person but taking someone else’s feeling doesn’t make anything better, you’re taking their right to heal, to be alive and that is so fucking awesome. you have this power to help someone, to “take their pain away” and you will learn that people need to feel what they are supposed to feel so they can move forward cause if we don’t, we are never going to learn. we see that charlotte is pretty angry about gabe’s death, she blames everyone but mostly ethan, she is miserable. alex can choose between taking charlotte’s anger or leave her. if alex takes charlotte’s anger, charlotte is left completely empty, she doesn’t feel anything and when i say anything it’s anything. she is left emotionless and bitter, she doesn’t pass through her way of mourning for gabe and she doesn’t have alex’s back when alex confronts jed. if alex leave charlotte to her anger we have a nice moment between them on the festival, talking about what happened and charlotte gets alex’s back on the black lantern and that’s what i mean from being selfish, if we take someone else’s feelings we are being unfair to them, we are choosing for them and people are supposed to feel, heal in their own time or overcome. by taking charlotte’s anger we deprived her from healing, we are not helping her, we are just making an natural process even more difficult and slower. alex being able to hear what someone is thinking and enter that person’s world from what they are feeling at that moment it’s the best detail for me, everything changes, we get to see the world through that person’s eyes, we can understand them but we decide what to do with that, we can be selfish or actually help. of course, we can take pike’s situation for an example also, if we take his fear we can help him overcome typhon and we get to expose jed but pike’s fear was necessary to take and charlotte was not necessary, pike at least had the pendrive with the recorded calls on it so we had a chance for things to get better.

4. chapter 5 was an amazing ending. finding out the truth about typhon, jed was never a hero, alex confronting her past, the confrontation and seeing who was going to be on your side, alex’s final conversation with gabe and the end, it was better than i thought it could be. i truly loved seeing alex’s past, even with everything that went down she turned to be a good person who wanted to be loved (her passion for music being the thing that helped her connected to me in a lot of levels, that creep cover though i screamed so hard when she started to sing). the mine part was absolutely insane not just alex surviving that fall discovering that gabe was looking for his dad for so long, jed knowing it and all of this time his dad actually died because of jed, alex finding the truth by taking her mom’s necklace back from what was left of that accident it’s so heartbreaking, the confrontation was crazy, i thought no one was going to believe alex because jed was so loved by everyone there it would be so easy to doubt alex and just be on jed’s side which was what ryan did but it’s understandable, jed was his dad, his hero. alex’s speech on jed exposing him after everything was one of the best monologues on that game and man this game had AMAZING dialogues and monologues, everything felt so real and beautiful, the best part of it it’s to forgive jed that’s where alex break him, he regrets everything even more cause when we find out the truth. we find out why jed never enjoyed talking about being the hero of haven springs. at the end jed wasn’t entirely a bad person cause when we forgive him he gives back alex her dad’s jacket talking about how he wanted to give it to gabe but couldn’t, that’s something that made me love even more the characters even jed that was the “villain”, which i don’t think he is. what he did was terrible and he knew that, he tried to pretend nothing happened when alex started to talk but at the end he broke, that always haunted him and that’s the difference between him and jefferson who was actually the villain in life is strange he wasn’t forced to do those things, he killed rachel, he killed chloe, he manipulated nathan, he was going to kill max and if max didn't stopped him on the arcadia bay ending he would kill even more students at blackwell.

5. alex and steph relationship was the purest thing on this game, it was smooth, it was organic, it wasn’t something out of the blue, steph liked alex since the beginning. the plan to pick someone to flirt with diane and get her pendrive i chose ryan and afterwards steph started to feel something, she was so upset that alex used to think ryan was “hotter than her” (i only chose ryan cause i didn’t want to see steph flirting with diane but i saw the scene where we pick steph and omg i should’ve chosen steph cause that scene it’s hilarious), steph was happier around alex, every time she had an opportunity to flirt with alex she took it. seeing their love grow through the chapters was beautiful, i know we can choose ryan over steph but i don’t believe ryan liked alex the way steph did, you can literally see that no matter what alex did steph was going to support her and look at her with so much love and respect and that’s why i think alex and steph’s relationship it’s so pure and right. also they looked so good playing together it’s so cute that they have the same passion for music and THAT LARP SCENE FOR GOD’S SAKE MY HEART MELTED!

6. this part is exclusively to talk about LARP and the fight scenes, it reminded me so much of final fantasy it was so COOL, well thought and so fun. it was awesome to see everyone taking care of ethan and doing their best to make him happy.

7. talking about ethan, this game opened a conversation in my head about charlotte and ethan, i started to think a lot about what charlotte said about ethan how she felt happier when gabe was around and now she was stuck with only ethan again, it made me think that maybe charlotte didn’t want to have a child or if she didn’t had ethan she could have gabe again. that could open a conversation about women who didn’t want to become a mom but it doesn’t mean that charlotte would hurt ethan which makes total sense to decide to leave her alone and not take her anger, she would never hurt ethan. it was again another tricking decision cause we get concerned about ethan when charlotte starts to talk but we know deep down she cares so much about her son, she does everything for him.

life is strange true colors became my favorite life is strange, the story it’s different and great, it’s literally finding the truth about everything, when we understand people’s feelings we discover the truth about them and situations, we understand everything. this game actually made me cry harder and think so much even more than the first one and boy i love the first one so badly. it talks a lot about empathy and how we react to people’s emotions, your choices in this game are way harder than messing with time or moving things with your mind, it’s choices about things that could happen in real life eventually and that is what makes this game so important to me, it’s real.

and also it's the first life is strange to have happy endings like.. ok big steps for my non depression finally

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 315: I Didn’t Expect This to Blow Up

Previously on BnHA: Horikoshi was all “guess which plot that you thought was dead is actually not dead and is making a comeback!” and we were all “EVIL HPSC??” and he was all “girl you know it,” and that’s the story of how we got a sexy Lady Nagant flashback with lots of guns and murder. Flashback!Lady was all “gotta murder peeps to preserve the people’s trust,” but then a little while later she was like “actually wait that makes no sense,” and so she shot her evil boss and they sent her to jail. Back in the present, Deku was all “okay fair, the hero system might in fact be a little fucked up, but hear me out... have you considered not helping AFO take over the world so he can murder like a bazillion more innocent people??” The chapter ended with the not-all-there Overhaul finally revealing himself to Deku, and I honestly have no idea where this is gonna go.

Today on BnHA: In what is unfortunately the single worst plan ever concocted by anyone in BnHA, Nagant is all “I’m going to try and get this Deku kid to panic and freeze up by putting someone in mortal danger.” Deku is all, “[doesn’t panic and freeze up at the sight of someone in mortal danger].” Nagant is all “omg no way.” Deku, who is now all of a sudden being so OP that even I have to acknowledge that it’s OP lol, is all “[smashes Nagant’s gun arm to bits]”, which sucks but is also really cool, and which also apparently makes Nagant decide that she actually likes this kid after all. Deku is all “NAGANT I REALLY LIKE YOU AND THINK YOU’RE GREAT SO PLEASE JOIN UP WITH ME AND STOP BEING EVIL.” Nagant is all “aw shucks (✿ •͈ᴗ•͈) well okay then” and everyone is all “( ･◡･) ✰ ( ˆᴗˆ ) ( ᵘ ᵕ ᵘ ⁎)” and then Nagant FUCKING EXPLODES LIKE AN EGG IN THE MICROWAVE AND FALLS TO HER DEATH!!!! except not really because Hawks saves her??? In conclusion, (a) THE FUCK, and (b) AFO TURN ON YOUR LOCATION I JUST WANT TO TALK.

so I have to tell you guys something, which is that barely ten minutes after I made that “please don’t send me spoilers” post the other day, someone replied to the comments in a stunning fit of “tell me that you’re twelve without actually telling me you’re twelve” energy and posted what seemed to be the copy-pasted spoiler summary from reddit or twitter or whatever lol. so here is my good news/bad news rundown of all that

good news: I have very well-conditioned ABORT!! reflexes and have trained myself to immediately look away from the screen (usually in dramatic fashion) as soon as I realize that whatever I’m reading is a spoiler

bad news: unfortunately as I was subsequently deleting said comments, I accidentally read the very last one

good news??: said spoiler was so unbelievably, absurdly over-the-top that I’m almost positive this person was just trolling. like, there’s just no way lmao

bad news: but in the unlikely event that it is true I will absolutely lose my shit I swear to god

(ETA: “NAGANT DIES.” that was the spoiler I read lol. like, literally all I read from the person’s comments was “My Hero Academia Chapter 315 Title: “Beautiful Words.” Chapter starts with...” and then I noped out of there, and then of all the comments to read as I was deleting, it had to be that one lol. I seriously was just like “SURE, JAN.” all “just how gullible do you think I am” sob. but I was wrong. a troll, but an honest troll they remain.

but anyways like I’m pretty sure Nagant isn’t even actually dead lol, so in the end this whole little adventure doesn’t even have a point to it, but for me it was a journey!)

anyway, so there are apparently two versions of the chapter today?? no idea what the difference is, but I’m going to go with the Bean version, because it’s the one at the top and I don’t feel like making decisions today

huh, so Overhaul is actually more coherent than Horikoshi was letting on

look at him having a whole back and forth conversation with her. side note, how is he still this jacked when he’s been sitting in a cell doing absolutely nothing for the past six months

anyway so he says he’ll go with her on one condition. I wonder what that condition could possibly be. do you think it could be the thing he literally hasn’t shut up about ever since he reappeared lol

yep! and damn -- maybe this guy will surprise me after all

still would be nice if you also felt a bit sorry for the little girl you tortured and traumatized, but this is something at least. maybe Deku will yell at him for that other stuff lol

(ETA: also can’t help but wonder if he wants to make amends because he put him in a coma, or because his plan was a failure and ended up destroying the family. just hoping you’ve finally had that “hurting other people is bad” epiphany dude.)

anyways so now Nagant’s arm is transforming again, and this particular transformation happens to be the only truly unsexy thing that Nagant has done thus far so I’m just gonna skip right on ahead lol

aaaaand we’re back to the delirious ranting

buddy. just. read the fucking room, guy

wow she really is aiming at Overhaul, then. those theories were spot-on

damn she’s really out here all “it really fucks with kids’ heads when you kill people right in front of them and make them blame themselves” like yo

I’m picturing her saying all this in a very loud stage-whispery tone while making very significant eye contact with Deku lol

uh oh but wait

um. okay. who’s gonna tell her. Nagant I might have some bad news for you about the kid you’re trying to capture here. specifically about the way he tends to do the opposite of what you’re thinking that he’s about to do

holy shit

so it’s basically just “tap x repeatedly to charge up your attack” lol

and okay, so that’s cool and all, but is anyone else wincing at the thought of what that must be like on his knees. oh to be young

anyway, but so to the surprise of basically no one, Deku did not, in fact, freeze. I am very sorry, Nagant. he’s just like this

LMAO

someone wanna tell me how getting yoloed in the fucking ribs by this fucking slingshot kid moving at literal sniper bullet speed is in any way even remotely better than getting hit by the bullet itself lol

(ETA: this is 10x funnier now that we know the bullet wasn’t even gonna hit him lmao.)

anyway so now Nagant is having an extended “!?!?!?” reaction about how Deku just moved with no hesitation, and I’m starting to get an inkling of fear that the rest of this fight isn’t going to go very well for her and maybe that’s what all the “hoo boy” is about

oh my god Deku are you about to Gomu Gomu no Rocket yourself at her you insane little man

now Three is popping up again and he’s all “I see you’ve learned your lesson and are now only using three quirks at once instead of five” like with all this effusive praise about how great and badass Deku is and sob, okay, yeah. this chapter is basically one of those machines that shoots tennis balls at people, except instead of tennis balls it shoots hot piping discourse

OH MY GOD

YOOOOOOOOOO but also, NOOOOOOOOOOO

lol oh my god it’s literally two opposing reactions at once wtf. do I love this or hate this. like just for once can Horikoshi actually let a badass lady character win their fucking fight without getting their arm ripped off, BUT ALSO fucking look at that absurdly cool “SMASH” onomatopoeia though. it looks like it’s about to float right off the page holy shit that’s some seriously good art

anyway so is this really the end?? do I need to break out my ಠ_ಠ faces

lmao okay yeah I can definitely see how this would piss a lot of people off

he basically one-shotted her and she’s all “damn this kid is so amazing that I’m about to do a complete 180 turn on all of my previous angst” lmao. Horikoshi is really shounening it up today

on the plus side though, maybe this means there’s still a chance for her to join up with him after all? unless that spoiler was true lmao, then all hell is gonna break loose

YESSSSSSS

OH MY GOD AND HE SAYS THE BULLET WOULDN’T HAVE DONE MORE THAN GRAZE OVERHAUL ANYWAY, wow, I’m actually more relieved by that than I would have expected. I mean I would have forgiven her either way, but it means that there was still more hero in her than she was letting on

YES!!! FUCKING YES, THANK YOU

lol but I mean, it’s also like, “oh so today they get to have brain cells”, thank you so much lol. sometimes it’s really hard to tell which times we’re supposed to question these character decisions that seem dumb, and which times we’re just supposed to full on embrace them and switch off our critical thinking

but okay, so in this case it really was Nagant going easy on him on purpose, and not just her fucking up for no good reason even though she used to do this for a living and was the best in the game. and I know in this case it’s probably just Horikoshi giving us some consolation headpats to soften the blow of her losing so abruptly, but you know what, shit. I’ll take it

also you guys the light is coming back into Deku’s eyes again for just a moment here and I’m having feels about it?? the way it still comes back when he’s reaching out to save someone, and following his own hero path instead of the much darker and lonelier Christopher Nolan path that’s been laid out for him instead that he never wanted?? it’s both reassuring and also very sad

YESSSSSSSSSSS

DO IT LADY OMG PLEASE?? PLEASE COME BE HIS NEW IRRESPONSIBLE ADULT SUPERVISION YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO

AHHHHHHH SHE’S GONNA DO IT AHHHH

p.s. I am now absolutely scared shitless that that spoiler was actually true sob. swear to god, I will throw this manga into a fucking volcano. but we’re almost at the end of the chapter and this seems just WAY TOO GOOD to be true fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck f

UCK

NOPE NAH SEND IT BACK, NOPE, NUH UH, DIDN’T ORDER THIS. “GULLIBLE” OKAY FUCK YOU?? “COUNTERMEASURES” NOPE, DON’T NEED ‘EM, WE’RE ALL FINE HERE. WE’RE ACTUALLY GOOD SO YOU CAN JUST GO, OKAY. PLEASE

fuck, lol, I don’t wanna do it. I don’t wanna scroll down what have I ever done to deserve this oh my god

WHAT THE HONEY-ROASTED FUCK

WHERE THE FUCK IS THAT FUCKING VOLCANO IN ICELAND THAT I KEEP SEEING ALL THESE PICTURES OF. WHERE THE FUCK IS THAT SHIT. LET’S GO

ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW

can someone please give AFO a really good, sharpish kick in the balls. just really let him have it. I’m so tired, what the fuck

-- ARE YOU KIDDING ME LOL WHAT

bro. I was literally going through my Excel folders to find the spreadsheet about female characters in BnHA that I made back when Midnight died. was gearing myself up for a wholeass rant. and honestly I might just let all of that continue simmering on low to keep it warm just in case lol, because to tell you the truth I have absolutely no idea what’s happening right now

my girl straight up does not have a face. she used to have a face. people usually need those, idk. like, even if she’s alive, her gorgeous eyebrows are definitely not making it out of this and I’m gonna throw a funeral just for them

how the fuck did AFO just blow her up?? how did he know what was going on?? and if he had a quirk that could explode people at will, why is this the first we’re hearing of it?? you’d think that might have come in handy at Kamino or Jakku, like what

(ETA: present!me, who’s had more than three hours of sleep and can now actually remember facts about the series, would like to remind past!me that AFO gave Nagant a quirk, and so this is probably just more Vestige shenanigans now on his part. that’s also probably why Air Walk suddenly stopped working out of nowhere. still doesn’t explain why he doesn’t go around blowing people up more often though but maybe he thinks it’s gauche.)

Hawks just straight up out of nowhere. just Mirioed his way straight into the chapter just in time to be too late sob. here I was looking forward to seeing your face when Deku showed up with his new best friend. can’t believe Horikoshi deprived us of that moment

on the plus side, WELCOME BACK, HAWKS’S FEATHERS. I have no doubt that in this chapter of Deku being an almighty threequirk-mastering god, and Nagant losing anticlimactically only to be immediately blown up because girl characters in BnHA can only be cool for one fight and one fight only, there are still some people who are focusing solely on the “how dare Hawks get his wings back when he is a MURDERER this is an outrage what about CONSEQUENCES” discourse, and to hell with all the other discourses lmao

anyway, so yeah. wow. and now it’s just occurring to me that maybe the real reason why Overhaul is there is so he can get a head start on that amend-making by actually doing a good thing for once in his life, and using his quirk to heal Nagant. assuming he can still do that

and so now Horikoshi has got me out here actually rooting for Overhaul. you know what, on that note I think I’m just gonna go ahead and call it a day sob

[angelkurenai]

Beautifully reckless - Dean Winchester x Reader

Title: Beautifully reckless

Pairing: Michael!Dean Winchester x Reader

Warnings: None

Prompt: lately i just felt like reading a michael!dean fic, and since you're an amazing writer, I'd love to see you write a one shot/imagine with him. so here you go, reader is sam's and dean's friend who is a psychic, and after michael possesses dean, he starts feeling something for her that he never felt before? just some soft michael!dean, please? i love ur fics, they are truly unique and awesome to read

“Took you long enough, you bastard.”

The voice tone, to some extent, took Michael by surprise, to the point he jumped on the spot. Though he would never admit to that. He was used to respect, well, fear actually and he was used to hearing calculated and careful words. It wasn't like he had not been called that many more times before, but that was mostly in his face, and not behind his back (literally) and in such a tone. Not when everyone around him knew better than to push their luck. The fact that he really wasn't still around the people who used to tremble in fear when he was facing them, or not actually, and that he, Michael himself, wasn't entirely the same person as when he was in the Apocalypse world.

“I- Excuse me?” he couldn't stop the words from leaving his lips before he stopped in his steps and turned around to face the source of the voice that was so bold.

Within barely the span of a minute, he found himself being stunned twice... or maybe thrice, but there was barely any time to duel on that. Not in those first few seconds. Not when the sudden giddiness overwhelmed him and his breath came out shakily, as if somebody had just knocked it out of him. What was it that had just happened to him made him frown but his attention was instantly back on you.

The smile on the face of the person standing before him was not a surprise on it's own, seeing how much the sparkling and warm eyes told him that smiling was not a rare occurrence, but rather the fact that he had not expected such a friendly and caring, if the words were even enough to explain it, smile on your face after the way the words had sounded. Or perhaps it had indeed been all him and there had not been a real threat behind those words. He, after all, still kept forgetting that things had changed drastically.

“Let me guess-” the smile turned into a smirk, the teasing kind, the friendly and familiar kind of teasing he had truthfully never been on the receiving end and that sent him off balance “This is payback for those three weeks I stood you up in a row huh? Fair enough, fair enough. You had the right to not show up today either so I suppose I should be grateful you're here. And we're perfectly timed too.”

“Perfectly timed?” he repeated “I actually-” but before he could get to complete his sentence, he felt a pair of arms wrapping around him in what could clearly and very easily be described as a quick hug. It wasn't the long, tight and longing one he might have expected, probably because it hadn't been long since you had last been in touch, however that was not what he really dueled on at that moment. Not something he could duel on that is, not when he had to stop himself from returning the hug himself.

It was an impulse which he could again easily recognize, and even more easily blame on you. Because you had to be the one to blame, there was no other explanation. There was no other way to describe the way his body had just straight up frozen, not in shock but rather eager no less than a puppy (he could never admit to that) to turn to face you, eager to close the distance and eager to take everything in, whether it be by just getting to look at you or by, hopefully (why really?), getting to have you melt in his arms. Though shockingly enough he found himself doing the latter, feelings his muscles relax and a soft breath leave his lips when you were wrapped around him. It was strange, in a frightening way, and he had to push back all those feelings despite how he realized that it was easier to breathe with you there, without any weight resting on his chest. It was you who was responsible, that was easy to understand. What wasn't easy was the why. Why all of a sudden he felt this way with you?

“Gosh, Winchester-” ah yes, how did he not realize it? He was indeed the reason why and Michael hadn't even given his vessel a second thought, not until your eyes locked with his and his heart skipped a beat or two “I'll be able to see an angel's true form before you ever get rid of the green plaid huh?”

“I-” he looked down at himself, well aware that he hadn't had the chance to change Dean's clothes just yet “Funny enough, it was exactly what I had in mind too. Was actually planning on it.”

“Oh finally ready to dress to impress? Hm I wonder how I will be able to spot you next in the crowd. Was lucky this time I suppose.” you pulled away, playful smile ever present.

His eyes narrowed slightly in a way that must have scared his enemies in the past but that held no real threat this time, and maybe that was the most scary part: that he didn't meant it to be, especially to you “And... what makes you think I was actually heading this way?”

“Oh I see.” you placed your hand on your hips, nodding your head with a growing smirk “Feeling bold today. We haven't seen each other in quiet some time and here you come, ready to take me by surprise. I must warn you, though you already know, so I better say remind you-” you took a step closer to him and although he didn't let it show on his face, well, on Dean's face (or so he hoped) that didn't mean he didn't feel the flutter in his chest and the sudden weakness of his knees “You-” you poked his chest with your pointer and he could swear he felt the skin of his vessel start burning there, as if a fire was there that was only spreading “Would find it hard to surprise me, Dean. Not many people can, it's a tough challenge.”

“Well, you might have just done it there. It's time you finally found the right person because I was never one to say no to a challenge.” he felt his own lips form into a smirk, even though he was unable to believe how much he enjoyed seeing the sparkle of excitement in your eyes. Soon followed by the very familiar playfulness he could grow used to. And why shouldn't he? He had his sword, his perfect vessel, and nobody could take that away. He was in full control over Deans body and you clearly had not realized any difference, because apparently for what it mattered, maybe he was a lot like Dean after all- or at least could be, and that was more than enough.

“Bold of you to assume-” you pulled away and he had to stop himself- his vessel from taking a step forward to still be close with you “That it's a game with only one player. Let's see just how easily surprise you can be, Winchester. Feels like after years of friendship I might still be able to learn something new about you.”

“Then it would only be right to warn you I am not that easily taken by su-”

His words would have certainly held more value and determination, if not a chance at convincing you, if his voice had not wavered and, halfway through the sentence, they hadn't been cut off by a far-from-manly yelp that broke through his lips.

Well, if that wasn't a first. Again.

“Yeah, I get it. I get it. You macho man.” you scoffed, but the smirk on your lips was so playful that it almost made him forget what had just happened. Almost. Or maybe just for the moment, because he was sure he had a lot of thinking to do afterwards and maybe a much-needed conversation with his vessel about it.

“I- I didn't-” he blinked, more stunned with himself for reacting this way than anything else.

“'S alright-” you grinned at him in the end “Just, enough talking. Come on, this is no place for that kind of stuff.” you giggled and he got the impression that this wasn't a first for you, so really he ought to be prepared to be surprised in more ways than he could ever imagine.

“Wha- what a-are you-” it was so unlike him but everything about this situation was unlike anything he'd experienced before, he didn't really know what he should consider a normal reaction at this point.

“Wha- what?” you teased, mimicking him “Cat got your tongue, Winchester? Come on, move your pretty ass before they give our table away if we keep talking here.”

And just because he was such a fool for you already, or perhaps out of some inexplicable fear that your table would indeed be given away and you would have to part ways before he got enough of it, he didn't need to be told twice. He followed after you no better than a lost puppy, even if he'd deny it for the rest of his existence, not paying an ounce of attention as he should to the rest of his surroundings. And so, he didn't know what should alarm him more out of the two. The fact that it was easy to let go and relax so easily around you or the fact that he couldn't bring himself to be too far away from you.

Michael was confused. And whenever he was confused, as with anything in his entire existence ever since he was in heaven, he was intrigued. And whenever he was intrigued, he followed the one that interested him. Admittedly it had been centuries, if not ever before in his life, since the one to interest him in this way had been a person, and no less a woman like you.

“Feels like forever, doesn't it?” you breathed out as you both settled into your seats “I shouldn't tell you this but gosh... You're making me so sentimental and weak, Winchester, I'll have to change that somehow. But I have no idea how you do it in the first place, so...” you huffed with, narrowing your eyes at him.

“Good to know.” the easy smile on his lips felt both like his own and not “So I have to keep it up then.” and when he realized he too too much pleasure in your being playful with him, rolling your eyes, he didn't feel like questioning whose pleasure it was.

Your lips parted, and truth was he would have loved nothing more than to hear you tease him again, but he was also thankful for the interruption from the waitress and the moment of silence that followed afterwards, because at least then he had some time to gather his own thoughts, replay any moments that should have struck more than how beautiful your smile was or the way you looked at him.

Well, not him, Dean. But maybe-

“You said...” he started just as you'd given your orders, though he had barely cared about that when the thought crossed his mind “See an angel's true form?”

“Wha- Oh that.” you laughed, shaking your head “I'm not even close to that yet, I'm afraid. Not as much as I'd like but that's only because you're to blame, Winchester. I'm being as careful as I can so as expected things are going slow.”

“You've been... trying?” the confusion, if not the worry, was evident on his face much as he tried to hide it.

“If you say one more time that us psychics are too curious for our own good then I will kick you.” you said and proceeded to do just that under the table with your foot, managing to earn a small groan followed by a warm laugh from Dean.

“You said if. But I didn't say a damn thing!” he protested, still laughing and enjoying (far too much) the innocent shrug you gave him.

“Just taking precautions.” you grinned before you paused for a second too long and looked back up at him again with a softer smile, if he could even call it that, because it didn't reach your eyes not the way it should as he had observed the past couple minutes “I just...” you let a soft sigh “I'm sorry. I've- I know I've made you worry far too many times in the past. Scared you even. And well, you're no better sure, but I'm supposed to be the friend who has the functioning brain cells here and I haven't really lived up to that. I know-” another sigh and he was really starting to feel bothered by how much this seemed to stress you out, more than it stressed him out to keep up the act “I know how much you worry you. I really do. So I promise, even if it's hard for me, that I will hold back if I see things getting out of hand and I'm in danger again.”

The words rang in his ears louder than actual sirens ever could.

“Again?” he repeated with a raised eyebrow. He knew he probably looking more accusing than concerned, if not what he felt even more deep down: terrified. And he didn't even know what was more alarming anymore. The way his heart squeezed inside his chest or his palms clenched in order for his body to cope with the fact that his blood had ran cold and the shivers were far too unpleasant.

He didn't like it, he didn't like it one bit and he knew something had to be done about it.

“Figure of speech, I promise. There haven't been any close calls. At least- You know, ever since we last saw each other that is. But that too has been quiet some time. Speaking of which-” the smile returned on your lips and he had almost not realized it was not there until he understood how the uneasiness in his chest was also due to how you looked so distraught “How have things been for you hm? I haven't the slightest idea about what my two idiots have been up to lately. Is Sam alright?”

“Well, he's been... keeping busy, to say the least. Same goes for me. I wouldn't even know where to begin. Think of it as... a multiverse of madness being out there that needs the Winchesters to deal with.” he forced a small smile on his lips but he barely felt it to begin with, even if you were trying to stir the conversation away from any dangerous endeavors you might's recently had. And, truth be told, he couldn't even begin to think of all the times you might've gotten in trouble that weren't because of your own actions. The mere realization of that fact brought another unpleasant shiver down his spine.

“Ah, makes sense. We've been meeting up in this place at least once every week. 'S good though, I suppose, to take a break once in a while.” you gave a soft shrug, resting your chin on your palm and looked at him through your lashes “I am afraid we were both turning into two very sentimental fools, after all. Coming here, in the place we first met, after all these years.” a small laugh escaped your lips but he could hear the nervousness behind it, see how shy you were about it and deep down he loved seeing this side of you as well, if not wonder what else he could possibly do to evoke it “What are we anyway?”

The question did something to him and he soon realized it wasn't really him, but Dean. He couldn't always tell the difference, what with the Winchester being his perfect vessel, but in that moment he could, crystal clear. And once again it piqued his interest.

“Well, I don't know about you but I for one-” he paused to look into your eyes, to try and read some sort of emotion on your eyes that he might miss otherwise “Don't think I mind so much. Hell, I'll take pride in being always a fool for you.”

To see the way your eyes widened and your back straightened in surprise. Surprise that the words were said out loud or that they were said and were straight to the point, he couldn't tell. What he could tell was that you were not used to this and it was a good thing because things were changing and in a way this should too.

“Ah Dean, whatever happened to you these past months?” you looked away from him when you snapped out of the shock you were in, not that the small forced laugh was any indicator but the fact that you still felt stunned if not shy. You shook your head “Have some mercy on my poor heart, will you? Don't say things like that so carelessly.”

“I'm not being careless. If anything... I'm being honest.” and doing an incredible job at not showing how much that scares me but he couldn't really say that out loud and he knew “Besides, you were the one who started it.”

“Well, yes but actually no. This is what we do, Dean, you can't just go and- and be so... open about it. We-” a nervous laugh that he found too adorable for his poor heart's sake, well Dean's actually but it felt all the same at that moment “What was it that Sam called it? Uh yes, we're both too emotionally constipated to function like proper humans.”

“We don't talk about it remember?” you added in almost a whisper voice, making Michael wonder what was really there more than your playful banter and the way his vessel's heart couldn't rest for a minute “Besides, I know you're not as cool about it as you'd like to think. I can see it all over your face, so stop pretending Winchester.” you huffed, leaning back in your seat with your arms crossed over your chest, and he realized maybe he had underestimated you.

“And that is supposed to mean... what exactly?” he couldn't help the edge his voice took, too many years, centuries that felt an eternity, had taken their toll on him.

“Well, many things actually. But what matters most right now is one...” you tilted your head to the side, a soft expression on your face which stunned him momentarily “There's something on your mind.” it was a statement the left no room for debate “Wanna talk about it?”

The mere sincerity and care in your words were too much to believe in this entirely unprecedented event, and so it was no surprise when the words got stuck in his throat and his mind went entirely bank. Despite the lump that was stuck in his throat, despite how hard it was to swallow it over, the words in the very end formed before he could even comprehend it. And they were some of the most honest ones he'd spoke in a long time “Do I?” he questioned, mostly himself without any expectations for an answer “Funny...”

“What's funny about it?” naturally, though, you didn't hold back. It was clear that no matter how well you could read him, no matter how he was an open book to you, you wanted to know more of him. But which him was the real question.

Michael couldn't even remember when it was the last time that someone cared to know about him. Him, and not whoever had granted him access to wear around. Him, and not whatever face he had. Him, and how he felt. Him, and how he he thought. Him, and why he had done everything he did, what had led him to it and how he felt about it. It was a scary thought and feeling. Scary to hope there could be someone that would look past all of those layers, all that the eyes could see, and try to understand him. Scary that he wanted it, even more. Scary that after all this time, at the most tumultuous time and as he was in the right path to his goals, he felt the need for something so deep. Scary that it could lead him away from said path.

Who was even that reckless to try any of it though? Who could so carelessly approach him and-

“Nothing.” the question answered itself “It's just amusing how... strange it sounds to hear someone ask me if I wanna talk about what troubles me, after all this time. But-” he said as fast as he could, the second he saw you frown in worry “We have plenty of time to talk about that and I promise we will. Later. For now-” he grinned, leaning back in his seat “Seeing an angel's true form huh? That's quiet reckless, you know. If not stupid and careless...”

“Yeah, I know, I was just throwing out the idea that I might-”

“But also fun.” he added before you could get to complete your sentence, enjoying the way that after your frown a smile light up your face once he added with a smirk “Want any help with that?”

[scenefox2003]

No, Camila is not a good mother. And here’s why.

Yes, this sounds like a very harsh statement, but hear me out. Camila, on the surface, seems like a decent and loving mother, especially when compared to say, the Blights, who are much more obviously and stereotypically terrible. But from the very beginning she displays some VERY toxic and harmful behaviors towards her daughter Luz. Her sort of parenting, even though she has good intentions, can do some horrifying and long lasting damage to the mental health and self esteem of a child. How do I know? My mother was exactly like Camila. And like Luz, I still loved her. But that doesn’t mean she didn’t do some serious harm. And those same things are happening to Luz right now.

First up, let’s state the obvious. Luz is neurodivergent. This isn’t even just coding, either. Dana Terrace has outright stated this is her intention. And like many neurodivergent kids and teens, she often gets in trouble in school without realizing why. The things she does are still bad, of course, and she still needs to face the consequences of her actions and learn why they’re not okay. The first two things she does (going a bit too far in the school play and doing that freaky eye thing at cheer tryouts) aren’t even that bad, but her bringing spiders, snakes, and fireworks to school are obviously huge issues. Those last three are obviously cartoonishly crazy acts that have been played up by the writers for humor and to get the idea across, but even if we take this all at face value Camila’s handling of the situation is STILL HORRIBLE. Notice what she criticizes here. Not the fact that her daughter brought dangerous animals and explosives to school, but her love of fantasy. Yes, they’re related, but Luz’s love of fantasy can still exist without her breaking school rules. Not only that, but taking Luz’s neurodivergency into account here, The Good Witch Azura and other fantasy tales are clearly a special interest or hyperfixation of hers. Her love of Azura goes much farther than that of a normal neurotypical fangirl, she uses this character to help navigate through her life. She chooses to stay on the boiling aisles because Eda and King remind her of characters from the book. She chooses to take the risk and try to befriend her rival, Amity, because that’s what Azura did. Even in season two, when she’s talking about her future, she states Eda and Azura as her role models. Not to infantilize Luz (trust me, that’s the last thing I want to do) but this level of connection to a fictional character is unusual for a fourteen year old who just really likes something. Luz clearly uses this character as guidance in a world she doesn’t understand (which funny enough, is both the boiling aisles and earth) and what does Camila do?

She forces her to LITERALLY throw it away. Right before she has to go to a scary and uncomfortable place for THREE MONTHS, that SHE FORCED HER TO GO TO. That’s the time when Luz would need that special interest the most. It isn’t just a book she loves. It’s a coping mechanism, a genuinely harmless and positive part of her life, that she is shamed for. Being shamed for an interest or hyperfixation is such a terrible feeling I can’t even begin to describe it. But if you’re neurodivergent, you know what I’m talking about. What makes it even worse is that Luz literally cannot control what she loves. She can’t just find a new hobby, not that she should even have to, because when you have a special interest or hyperfixation, that thing becomes such a huge part of your life. And most of the time, it’s such an amazing and wonderful thing. And for Luz, it clearly is. Azura LITERALLY LED HER TO FORMING THE STRONGEST RELATIONSHIPS IN HER LIFE, with Eda, King, and Amity. That’s huge, considering Luz clearly has a lot of trouble forming friendships back in the human world. Luz’s love of fantasy is not a problem. Her “weirdness” is not a problem. But that’s what Camila sends her to camp for. To change her interests, her personality, not her actions. That, and for something even worse.

This line hurts my soul. I don’t even have to explain why this is an awful thing for a mother to say to her daughter, it speaks for itself. But I’m gonna explain anyway. Luz doesn’t have any friends. But that’s clearly not her fault. Just look at what happens when she goes to the boiling aisles and FINALLY meets like minded people. She makes tons of friends without changing at all, because Luz is a genuinely good person with a great personality. She’s kind, excitable, and always eager to help others. This is INCLUDED with her “weirdness”, and often directly related to it. Luz is not the only weird person that exists, even in the human world. I had pretty much no close friends as a kid, then I switched to a school full of open minded (and many queer and neurodivergent) people, and now I have TONS of friends who are just like me, who like the same things, that I didn’t have to change myself at all for. This is how real healthy friendships work. And the sad thing is, Luz wouldn’t even HAVE to go to the boiling aisles for this to happen! If Camila really wanted Luz to make friends, all she would have to do is send her to some sort of fantasy or roleplaying camp full of people like her who share her interests. But instead of blaming the judgy bullies for why Luz doesn’t have any friends, she blames Luz for just. Being herself and liking some unconventional stuff. This is so, SO disgusting and harmful. It can lead to so many problems, destroy yourself esteem, and ironically enough it makes it HARDER TO MAKE FRIENDS. Forcing yourself to be someone else to make someone you’re not really compatible with like you just doesn’t work. Believe me, I’ve tried. This is LITERALLY HAPPENING TO LUZ RIGHT NOW. IN THE MOST RECENT EPISODE SHE NEARLY RUINED HER CHANCE WITH AMITY BECAUSE PEOPLE HAD MADE HER FEEL WEIRD ABOUT HER INTERESTS AND PERSONALITY IN THE PAST. That’s why I’m making this post, even though I’ve thought this for a long time. The damage the human world has done to Luz is starting to show. Even after all these months of being loved for being herself and proudly being an advocate for being weird, that instinct is still there. And it lasts. For years. I’m eighteen years old, I’ve been in a supportive environment for six years now, and my parents have been fully supportive of me and my interests and quirks for two. But that instinct doesn’t go away. The deep rooted shame whenever you do something harmless that’s outside the norm, something you were directly told not to by the people who are supposed to love you unconditionally doesn’t go away. And Camila, the only person Luz truly cares about, perpetuated that. And that’s truly awful. I get it. Parents aren’t always perfect. But this is beyond imperfect. It reminds me of a line from Gwendolyn in Keeping Up A-fear-ances. “Your curse is a part of you, and I love every part of you.” Camila clearly loves Luz, but she doesn’t love every part of Luz. And in order to truly love someone, you must fully love them, quirks and all. I hope we get to see Camila learn this before the show ends, but most of all I hope that the show openly states that her parenting is awful. It could save so many kids from so many years of pain and an inferiority complex.

[rainy-day-coffee]

hi... how about head cannons about the dorm leaders with a magical girl mc from either the puella magi magica madoka, magical girl site, magical girl raising project or princess tutu universe please?

I'll be doing Magical Girl Raising Project for this one! I’ll be using the abilities found in the anime since I’m not creative enough to think of any myself. The personalities of the characters themselves have nothing to do with the abilities I chose, they’re their own person! This is written as platonic! I hope this is alright!

As an extra note, this was a really interesting topic to write about. I enjoyed it! I actually just binge watched this anime for this request! It was quite good, I might pick up the light novels!

Warning: Mild mentions of gore; spoilers for Magical Girl Raising Project(?)

Dorm leaders reacting to a Magical Girl Mc

A new game has been released! Customize your own Magical Girl and work hard to defeat monsters!

Granted a 1-in-10,000 chance to be a real-life Magical Girl, the unfortunate souls who agree to the contract are unknowingly pulled into a world of bloodshed. All Magical Girls are expected to collect Magical candies through acts of helpfulness. Whomever is at the bottom of the ranking list by the end of the week is greeted by death. That is, if they can even make it that far.

Magic: Swimming through objects as if they were water - the objects do not affect the user as they pass through them.

He’s never heard of an ability quite like yours! It isn’t teleportation--it’s literally going through objects, ignoring any kind of barrier. It sounds impossible. Understandably, he doesn’t believe you until you show him.

Please refrain from popping out of random places in an attempt to scare him. He doesn’t want to be on edge everyday, the stress he has now is more than enough.

He’s curious about the whole situation. Just how and why did these “people” wrap you (and others) into such a terrible contract? How is it possible to grant these special abilities onto otherwise magicless people? Unfortunately, you most likely don’t have answers for those questions.

Sadly, Riddle doesn’t know of a way to help you out of this. The library may have some information, but the chances are slim nonetheless. He can offer assistance in candy collecting instead!

Something always seems to be going on at his dorm, it would help him greatly if you were to keep an eye on everything and everyone. He knows it isn’t much, but every little bit counts. You have his full support.

Magic: Entering the dreams of others - the ability to pass through the Dream World, granting access to the dreams of those who are currently sleeping.

He’s extremely annoyed. He doesn’t understand what’s happening. He’s only seen you a couple times before, so why do you seem to plague all of his dreams?

In his dreams, you move so vividly and in-character, it baffles him. Dream versions of people can be accurate, but never to such an extent each time. He’ll confront you about it soon enough. He has no evidence of what you’re doing, however vivid memories of dream-you push him to demand answers anyways.

Highly uncomfortable to know his dreams, his usual safe place, can be invaded by a person. He demands that you stop. You can go bother someone else, he doesn’t need that kind of help. If he sees you in there one more time, he may have to resort to other methods to get you to stop.

In regards to earning candies, unless you ask him specifically for help, there isn’t much he can do. You can always help Ruggie out with chores around Savanaclaw and you’ll be set. It’s a good deal for both sides, you can earn some candies and Leona can finally sleep comfortably again.

He finds the system you’re stuck in deplorable. Unfortunately, he can’t get you out of it, but if you ever need extra help he can always have Ruggie find one or two ways to get you those extra candies you need.

Magic: Hearing the thoughts of those in need - with enough training, the user can pinpoint the location of a person. Additionally, they can hear thoughts apart from cries for help.

Your special magic interests him greatly. He already has a good pool of information of all the students, but being able to hear their most inner thoughts is something truly amazing. No amount of research could easily give him those kinds of details.

He has the twins watch over you for a bit, gathering as much information as they can about your situation and what you go about doing.

Given the circumstances, he doubts he can rob this ability of yours through a contract. This does however present an amazing opportunity.

This could blossom into a wonderful partnership. You need to collect candies, and he’s always willing to accept requests from those “poor” souls who need help. By helping him, you can meet your quota! The rules never did mention what kind of help you were limited to offer after all.

He pities you, nothing can be done about your situation at the moment. You can rest assured though, you’ll never be at the bottom of the leaderboard with him around!

When time allows it, Floyd and Jade will be busy poking their noses where they don’t belong. The mascot that appears when you’re around seems to come from that phone you use. If they can see it, then that means these beings have made a mistake somehow. Is it possible to find a way to free you from this through that?

Magic: Transforming into any biologically living being - the size and shape of the creature do not matter, anything is fair game.

When he first discovers your special magic, he’ll be amazed! Transformation magic isn’t exactly easy, so being able to turn into whatever creature you want sounds like a lot of fun!

He’ll be begging you to turn into a wide variety of animals. Can you please turn into a tiger? How about an elephant? Maybe an alpaca? This could go on for hours if you don’t stop him.

Upon learning the darker side of the Magical Girl world, he starts to cry. He knows the world isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, but this is too cruel. You didn’t know you would suffer this way. They should have at least given you all the information beforehand. Better yet, they shouldn’t be doing something so awful in the first place.

Because he finds it hard to keep secrets from Jamil, he ends up telling him about you. He then needs to convince Jamil that you aren’t trying to get him killed.

He goes around asking if people need help. He wants to do everything he can to ensure you survive. Money can’t get you out of this game, he’s tried to use it but that mascot that follows you around always refuses it.

Kalim doesn’t want you to die. Just thinking about it makes his head spin and worry bubble. It wouldn’t be his fault if you died in the first place, but the guilt would consume him entirely.

Magic: Freely manipulating sound - the user can generate sound from anywhere and even recreate the voices of others. As an added result of this ability, the user has enhanced hearing.

Vil won’t forgive you if you decide to mimic Epel’s voice so he can escape. He may be evading his lessons for now, but Vil will find a way to drill them into him later on.

He never would have thought such a thing was possible. This terrible fate you’ve had forced onto you makes no sense. The beautiful power you’ve been given is nothing compared to the price. He doesn’t blame you, he blames whatever is doing this. 

If such a game exists in the world of Twisted Wonderland, he’ll use his influence to dissuade people from playing. Vil will do this behind the scenes of course, his public image has to remain intact.

He actively requests your assistance. For example, helping his dorm improve their instrument playing--your impressive hearing can detect small mistakes they need to work on. Apart from this, he regrettably can’t offer more help.

Hone your abilities and work with what you have. He knows you can prevail. Please take care of yourself as you move forward.

Magic: Receiving one futuristic tool a day - the ability to randomly pick one useful tool out of 444,444,444. The tool breaks down and is no longer of use after a day passes.

He’s in awe. A real life Magical Girl! To think they could really exist outside of anime! Just what kind of world did you come from? Forget living in a world where magic is common, Magical Girls are on a different level entirely! Curiosity gnaws at him, but given how shy he is he won’t approach you with questions himself. Ortho is more than happy to ask any questions for him in his place though!

Once he finds out you’re one of those Magical Girls, he feels a tad sympathetic. You really got the short end of the stick in life didn’t you? He knew the possibility was there, that trope is not uncommon, but a small piece of him wished it wasn’t the case.

He supposes your special magic can be compared to gacha luck. You never really know what you’re going to get. Unfortunately, in your case you can’t even calculate rates for good rolls.

If you’re willing to let him, he’ll happily take apart the tools and gadgets you get from your daily pull. One of those future items should help him create even better machines than he can now! And even they can’t, disassembling and reassembling objects he’s never seen is a thrill in and of itself

If you happen to hear a small tip from Ortho or someone else about an issue occurring around campus, it may or may not have been Idia. He has eyes all around the school, spotting problems is quite easy.

He’ll be rooting for you from the sidelines. You’re a protagonist in this story, he hopes you can make it through to the end.

Magic: Extreme regeneration - being able to recover from any wound so long as a portion of the user’s body is left.

Mortified when he finds your body all mangled and bruised after a rough “accident.” Malleus is ready to destroy whoever or whatever did this to you. He cares about you greatly, the very thought of seeing you in such a state makes his stomach churn and pure rage wash over him.

Once you explain your situation, he can grasp enough to understand the major gist of it. He doesn’t quite know what a “Magical Girl” is but obviously it isn’t something good. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be in such a terrible situation.

To know that you can take care of yourself in the face of danger, makes him relieved. Although he doesn’t like the idea of you getting hurt at all, a healing ability is always wonderful to possess.

While you earn candies, Malleus will be working on a way to free you.

Even if these beings who granted you this ability are “all-powerful,” his magical capabilities are among the top in all the world. Perhaps, he can start by politely asking for answers from the leader of this group. If that seems to fail, killing off that mascot seems like a good place to start instead.

[pinkoptics]

AU-gust 2021 Prompts

3. Hipsters / 16. Hippies

Erik detests hipsters and hippies and, to be honest, isn’t even sure what the difference is, nor does he particularly care. The things he will do for Charles…

Modern AU. Still have powers. Grumpy Erik. Adorable Charles. Meet Cute. Silliness.

3392 Words

*

Erik hated everything about this place.

Absolutely everything.

He could write a dissertation on its failings, which were abundant.

Its first sin was being directly across from his apartment building. When he looked out his window, he saw it. When he stepped out of the lobby doors, he saw it. When he pulled his car out of the parking garage, he saw it. It was an unavoidable part of every single day of his life.

Its second sin was what it had replaced. Previously, there had been a diner. A kosher diner. A diner that had tasted like his childhood. It had been a hole in the wall, never looked quite clean, but the coffee had been strong enough to caffeinate an elephant and the food almost as good as his mama’s. Most people had passed it by. Just another slightly dingy New York eatery that you didn’t give a second thought. Quiet. A refuge for those in the know. Then came the hipster gentrification, ruining not only his precious diner, but the neighbourhood in general.

Its third sin was its name. Plant. In and of itself the name ‘Plant’ was harmless, inoffensive. Just a word. It conjured images of a vegan eatery, bistro, restaurant, or maybe if taken 100% literally, a store that sold plants. All of which would have been fine. He had nothing against plants and, sure, he ate meat (kosher meat), but happily ate vegetarian dishes as well. But no, it was not a plant store or even a vegan eatery, it was a vegan coffeehouse. Coffee came from plants, Erik knew this, so the name passed on that technicality, but it did not scream ‘coffee.’ Why not ‘Bean’ if it needed to conform to the trendy one-word-naming that had for reasons unknown come with the gentrification. It was couched between ‘Table’ (a restaurant) and ‘Sweat’ (a boutique gym). Plant did not equal coffee, and that knowledge crawled under his skin every time he saw the stylized lettering.

Its fourth sin was the coffee. Erik wasn’t particularly picky about his brew, whether at home or out. Cheap diner swill, the finest Italian espresso, the Keurig at the office, the ridiculously expensive machine that produced the perfect cappuccino at Emma’s apartment, whatever. Plant’s beans were fine as beans went, the roast satisfactory, but then ruined with its accompaniments. They carried a variety of ‘mylks.’ Yes, with a ‘y’. He preferred lattes, and would have been fine with oat or almond— if only it was spelled with a fucking ‘i’. Every time he saw the pretentious letter, he felt the urge to take a sharpie and commit as many acts of misdemeanour graffiti as necessary until all the ‘y’s were gone.

Its fifth sin was its staff. He could have tolerated their always sunny dispositions (even if it were literally impossible for any customer service employee to be that happy all the time). He could have tolerated their ridiculous hipster (or was it hippy?) apparel, moustaches, beards and hairstyles (what was even the difference between the two?). What he could not handle was the way they called him ‘friend.’ Every. Single. Time. He could count his friends on one hand and none of them worked at Plant. Their ‘peace, love and joy’ vibe made him grind his teeth and wish he had a mutation that would allow him to send them back to the 1960s.

And yet…

“Good morning friend! Amazing day, right?” It was, in fact, pouring so hard the streets were borderline flooding. “Usual? Or do you want to try—”

Erik had long ago learned to immediately tune out the suggestions, but was sure he caught the word ‘sage.’ Who in their right fucking mind wanted sage in their coffee? Yes, he was inside the loathed establishment wasting precious brain cells wondering why anyone felt the need to mess with the simple perfection that was coffee and milk. Yes, he was there often enough that the employees knew him on sight. Yes, he had a usual order.

It wasn’t his fault.

It really wasn’t.

It was the fault of a pair of the bluest eyes he had ever seen.

This shouldn’t have been the case. The whole thing was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. The entire story more at home on the W Network or Hallmark, than in his very real, not-a-rom-com, life. And yet, here he was, having his 24th latte with mylk in a row and questioning his very sanity.

It had all started, just over a month ago, directly in front of Plant. To this day, Erik wasn’t sure whose fault it had been. He’d been on his phone, eviscerating a junior partner for a monstrous fuck up, and so livid that he was not at all paying attention to his surroundings. The blue-eyed man he’d run into, however, had claimed equal distraction, so perhaps the blame rested on both of their shoulders.

They had crashed into each other— papers flew, his phone flipped through the air and they ended up in a heap on the sidewalk, Erik atop the smaller frame beneath him. Already late for work, already pissed off with the junior partner beyond reason, Erik had been ready to re-direct his anger and tear whoever it was a new one, when the aforementioned blue eyes had arrested the words in his throat. He had admitted this to no one. Hell, he barely admitted it in the sanctity of his own mind because he was not a 12 year old girl, but a senior partner in one of the most prestigious architecture firms in New York. He did not go soft over a pair of gorgeous eyes (except, apparently, that he did), particularly when he hadn’t even seen the face that went with the eyes, which could have been grotesquely unattractive (it wasn’t).

The mouth that went with the eyes was absurdly red and absurdly kissable. The face angelic. To his eternal, internal embarrassment he had thought that exact word— angelic. He wished he could have blamed his temporary insanity on hitting his head, but having fallen on top, he couldn’t. If anyone had a concussion it was the ocean-eyed, ruby-lipped angel man. The ruby lips had spluttered apologies in a gorgeous British accent (not something Erik had until now found to be a turn on) as they scrambled off each other, righting clothes and belongings.

“Your phone!” the man had moaned. “Is it all right?”

The screen did appear to have a crack, but in another moment of lunacy, Erik pocketed it before the Angel could see and muttered something about it being fine. Instead, Erik helped him to collect the papers that had fluttered every which way, including the road, where they were already being demolished by a steady stream of vehicles.

“I hope those weren’t important.”

The man laughed, it was a very nice sound. “Not as such, no. I’m sure my students will be delighted to hear that their papers were torn asunder. They already mock me for printing them at all. I could mark them on my laptop like a proper 21st century individual, but there’s something about the feel of paper and pen that I just cannot let go of. It’s— and, as I go on and see your expression, I realize a simple ‘no’ likely would have sufficed.”

What did he see in Erik’s expression? A man besotted? Enamoured? Smitten? Any other number of words he had never used in regard to himself or anyone else in his entire life? Fuck. Erik tried to school has face into its usual disdain for the world and ninety-nine percent of the people in it, but if he was as in control of his facial muscles as he was of his thoughts, he knew he was failing miserably.

Erik handed him the last of the papers they could possibly retrieve. “I agree— about the pen and paper, I mean.” He did. As incredible as design software was these days, he always started on paper. The precision needed to draw the perfect straight lines and angles of a new building gave him a feeling of immense satisfaction in a way little else did.

“Oh, well, glad I’m not the only one who hasn’t forsaken the old ways.”

His smile.

Fuck fuck fuck.

Erik cleared his throat. “Let me buy you a coffee.”

Had he just said that?

Traitorous voice.

Was he gesturing at Plant?

Traitorous body.

He’d never been inside. On principle. Apparently, principle flew out the window for charming British men with cornflower (cornflower?!) blue eyes. The man blinked those eyes, as though not expecting the kindness.

Erik gestured at the papers. “I’ve clearly set your work back and I’ve ruined your—” cardigan. Erik blinked as his clothes came into focus. The man he was suddenly, desperately, attracted to was wearing a baggy, grandpa cardigan. Erik began to wonder if he had never woken up that morning. Maybe he was still in bed, across the street. Maybe this was a fever dream.

“Oh! I’ve dozens more just like it. It’s nothing.” He swatted ineffectually at the dirt covering one sleeve.

“Please.”

The man cocked his head. “Well… all right.”

So Erik had. In the end it had been a tea, not coffee. Earl grey with mylk. The interaction had ended there, awkwardly. Most likely his own fault. He didn’t do flirting with random strangers he’d just plowed into on the street. He didn’t generally do flirting at all. Moreover, he was now very late and had the junior partner’s fuck ups to fix before this afternoon’s meeting with their client. So, he’d left, stumbling over his goodbyes.

The day that followed hadn’t afforded much opportunity to think on the chance encounter. Not with employees to castrate and clients to placate. It wasn’t until he was home, looking out the bank of front windows at Plant that his thoughts drifted back to Blue Eyes. Which was, unfortunately, what he had christened him in his head because he’d never gotten the man’s name. Erik had gone to bed, mind clouded with thoughts, dreamt of him, and woken up with those same thoughts. Emma had always said his was one of the most disciplined minds she had ever encountered.

So much for that.

It was only a complete loss of that discipline that could possibly explain why he’d unnecessarily crossed the street the next morning and entered the obnoxious establishment for a second time, without even a moment’s hesitation. His eyes had immediately scanned for a mop of just overlong brown hair (yes, he’d noted that too, as well as just how much he wanted to run his hands through it). When they’d landed upon said hair, curling delightfully upon Blue Eyes’ forehead, Erik had been genuinely surprised. This clearly made the man a Plant regular, which should have been a point against him — a massive point — yet here Erik was, seeking him out regardless. Blue Eyes had looked up at him then, gifting him with a smile and acknowledging him with a nod, before returning to a set of what Erik had to guess were re-printed term papers.

Such was the story of how Erik had become a regular customer with a regular order.

Most days Blue Eyes was there before he came in, sometimes working on laptop or in a notebook, other times reading a book or a journal. Erik had caught a title once — The Oxford Journal of Genetics — which led him to conclude, that along with clearly being a professor, this proved the man must have a brain to back up the looks. Another point in his favour, as Erik had no patience for stupidity, no matter how pretty a package it came in.

Erik’s day was such that he usually needed to take his order to go. The few days where he could scrape together a few extra minutes, he grabbed his own table. He hadn’t once attempted to kid himself that it was because he enjoyed the ambience— that level of denial would have been absurd. No, it was clearly so he could spend a few extra minutes trying to stare, in a way that wasn’t blatantly obvious, at his… crush. Crush. He might as well think the word because that’s what it was. Only days after meeting him, Erik had caught himself, pen poised, about to doodle hearts on his notepad at a meeting. The mental pinch and knowing look Emma had sent his way had made him extra testy for the rest of the day. The wide berth everyone but Emma had given him was a testament to that.

And yet…

He never approached Blue Eyes. They exchanged nods, occasional hellos, but never anything more. Out of all of his out of character behaviour — and there was a lot of it at this point — this rattled him most. Erik had a reputation in professional and personal circles. He was confident, forbidding, occasionally arrogant, and brazen in pursuing designs no one else thought possible to execute. Erik went after what he wanted in life with borderline fanaticism.

He did not sit and observe from afar, mentally warring with himself, while also berating himself, for not having the balls to ask to join him, or buy him another tea, or inquire as to what he was reading. There were any number of conversational openings, but 24th latte in, he still hadn’t taken any of them. With each passing day the side of him that decided against it (or ‘chickened out’ as the nastier part of his mind supplied) became stronger and stronger. Blue Eyes hadn’t engaged with him either. Maybe he wasn’t gay. Maybe Erik wasn’t his type. Maybe he was already in a relationship. The chances that he was being just as melodramatic as Erik was being in his own head seemed slim. So, Erik continued to act foolish — alternately wondering how long he would continue to do so and how good a kisser Blue Eyes might be with lips like that.

It was on latte #26 that everything changed— no thanks to Erik.

He had decided to sit at a table that day and engage in his usual ‘I’m staring but I’m not staring’ routine. He was in the ‘not-staring’ portion, scrolling through his emails without really paying attention to any of them, when he was startled out of it by the chair across from him suddenly becoming occupied.

Blue Eyes.

“I can’t take it anymore.”

“Wha—”

“You come in here every day. Every day. Sometimes you stay, sometimes you don’t. It’s baffling because there is one thing I know for certain— you hate it here. No, you loathe it. And, there are literally dozens of other coffee houses within walking distance. You clearly don’t belong—” Blue Eyes gestured up and down at what was likely Erik’s three piece suit, then at Plant in general, where there wasn’t a single person so much as sporting dress pants. Erik counted at least two man buns, one head of dreadlocks and a form of baggy pants Erik didn’t even have a name for. “—and I am fascinated by things that don’t belong. Things that don’t make sense. Puzzles. You don’t make sense. There is no way the coffee is that good. And yet, here you are. Oh! Where are my manners? I’m Charles.”

Blue Eyes — no, Charles — extended his hand across the table and, reflexively, Erik took it, shaking it gingerly.

Charles laughed. “I don’t bite. I entirely talk too much, ask anyone, but I don’t bite.”

Erik rather wished that he did.

“How did you— my suit?”

Thankfully, Charles seemed to follow his meaning. “Oh no, the suit is only corroborating evidence. As is the way you look down your nose at everything in here. It’s your mind.” Charles tapped his temple. “Telepath. I swear to you I haven’t dug any deeper than the surface swirl of utter distaste for this establishment. Then I’d know, wouldn’t I? Wouldn’t be here asking.”

Telepath. Blue E— Charles was a mutant. Erik was fairly certain his knees went a little weak. Good thing they were sitting. However… what on earth could he say? ‘I’ve essentially been stalking you’ hardly seemed like an opener that was going to get him where he wanted to be. Erik cleared his throat, buying time, as those keen eyes continued to look at him expectantly. While Erik wasn’t verbose, he also never found himself at a loss for words, except for here and now, where the truth was exceptionally embarrassing.

His pause, it seemed, went on too long because Charles jumped back into the fray. “Good lord, I’ve ambushed you, haven’t I? Clearly, you don’t have to answer the mad man who mowed you down on the sidewalk and then ambushed the peaceful solitude of your morning coffee. I apologize and will bugger right off if you tell me to. However, if it helps any, I don’t like it here either. It’s trying too bloody hard to be ‘on trend,’ isn’t it? For a cultural subset who pride themselves on not being pretentious they’ve entirely failed, haven’t they? And, I’m English, I know pretentious.” He laughed self-depreciatingly at that.

A beat for his mind to catch up to the second verbal barrage and Erik finally had a response. “If you like it as little as I do, then why are you here?”

Charles’ mouth formed a perfect little ‘o’ of surprise. He scratched the back of his neck and, for a moment, looked everywhere but Erik. “Blast. I’m caught, aren’t I?”

His cheeks reddened adorably. Since when did Erik find anything adorable? Since now, apparently. This man broke all of his rules.

Charles gave an adorable (christ) little shrug of his shoulders. “I suppose I best come clean.” He looked Erik squarely in the eye. “You’re gorgeous. You bought me tea. I came back thinking I’d ask you out. But you’re so… I lost my nerve. Have been doing the same daily ever since.”

“I’m so… ?”

The cheeks reddened further.

“Entirely too gorgeous for me.” Charles gestured at today’s grandfatherly cardigan. “Besides that—”

“You’re perfect.”

Fucking hell. When had his mind decided to say things without his permission?

It produced another, adorable, surprised little ‘o’. “I’m sorry— What?”

In for a penny…

“I had never set foot in Plant before we crashed into each other. Never would have because I do hate everything about it. Everything except you, who I thought were a regular—”

“I thought you were a regular.”

“— and wanted to ask you out.”

“I’d never been here before ei— you wanted to ask me out?”

They stopped, collective words sinking into respective minds.

Charles threw his head back, laughing. “If I didn’t know better—“ He tapped his temple again. “— I’d think you’re having me on.”

His laughter was infectious and Erik found he was smiling despite himself. He gave his own little shrug. “I don’t lie.”

“No, you don’t, do you? I can’t believe we both—”

“Me either.”

“This is too much. Wait… Why are we still here?”

“I’m sorry?”

Charles leaned forward and plucked Erik’s latte with oat mylk from his hand. “Can I buy you a coffee? A real coffee? Where they know how to spell the word milk? At the cafe I actually frequented before I began co-starring with you in a romcom so terrible my sister wouldn’t even watch it?”

He was already standing up, as if assured Erik would say yes, which every single bone in his body was blaring loudly for him to do. It didn’t seem to matter to any part of him that he would be blowing off work, a thought he discarded as quickly as it appeared. Just another out of character thing to add to the list. He followed. “I’m Erik, by the way.”

Charles looked back, as he collected his belongings, and grinned sheepishly. “I know.”

That was the last time Erik set foot in Plant until exactly a year later. He ordered latte #27 with Blue-Eyed Charles on his arm, after having crossed the street from their apartment, to celebrate their first anniversary. As Charles smiled at him over his Earl Gray with mylk, Erik found he couldn’t quite hate the damned coffee shop as much as he had before.