#it's just really nice bc it has prompted me to really think about gender in Good Omens

[prettyboykatsuki]

— ❈ YOU'RE SO PRETTY, BABY.

▸ prompt ; companions and their responses to being called pretty boy / pretty girl.

▸ a/n ; bit of a generic post im sorry forreal. while i was originally just going to write this for astarion i had ideas for. all the other companions.

most of the characters have a reader w a specific class or background, all varied! also spoilers for gale, shadowheart, karlach, and lae'zel.

reader / tav is always gender neutral!

▸ wc ; about 4.5k, about 700+ words per companion.

ft. astarion, wyll, gale, shadowheart, karlach, lae'zel

no minthara or halsin bc i could not bring myself to write it. but maybe later if enough people ask lol.

❈ ASTARION ;

Astarion tries his very best to find your affection for him trite, even when he knows it doesn't feel that way. It's an instinct for him, one you'll simply have to make peace with you if you're really planning on tailing him to the end of the world.

Truth be told though, he likes your generally affectionate nature. He hasn't reached a point he can admit this so openly, but the comfortable and easy way you reach for him is nice. He likes how your hands seem to stretch for him, the way you cling to his spine when you sleep in his tent and the likes.

And while he is not stranger to hypocrisy, he thinks it'd be amiss to try and bar you from calling him any pet names when he calls you so many. He's got quite a few handy. Darling is a favorite, followed by dear, and sometimes my love when he can muster up the courage to mean it instead of saying it like he's trying to perform.

You like to call Astarion by his name though, most often. He isn't exactly sure why you're so fond of it, and truthfully he's done little to consider his own name. You say it wonderfully though, tasteful and loving and soft.

Sometimes you gasp it in offense or horror or shock, other times in pleasure. Sometimes you whimper it in your sleep, groping around until your hands fist in the material of his shirt and you drag him back to you.

In any case, he's used to hearing his name. So hearing you utter the words pretty boy to him, he can't help but be a little shocked.

You're a little tipsy. A hard, arduous journey of fighting githyanki soldiers has taken a terrible toll on your normal inhibitions. You're quite flushed while you're drunk, and all the same sitting in his lap like you've not a care in the world.

Astarion doesn't mind holding you. In fact, he's thinking of all the terribly teasing things he can say to you come morning. So far, you've done nothing but mumble. It's a sudden movement, your hands clasped around his face.

"Feeling forward are we darling?" He says, like second nature. It's so reactionary it's banal, though he does have some enthusiasm since the flirtation is directed at you. Instead of your usual giggling, you stare at him with your lips parted.

"I suppose I am pretty boy," You reply, a completely foreign confidence in your voice that stops him dead in his tracks. Underneath the thick layer of flirtation is sincerity so unmistakable it almost proves to be too much "Could I ask you to keep me company?"

Astarion is, eternally grateful about the fact you don't get much more than that out of you. He spends the entire night thinking about it. You're certainly not the first to call him pretty, and that particular phrasing has been thrown to him more than once.

Yet it rings a little differently. The way you said it so tenderly, your hands stroking the nape of his neck and cupping his face. Well, it's not nothing. He can't decide if he hates it or not until the next morning comes.

Your eyes flutter open as light pours through the open part of his tent. You reach over to him with a deep sigh, engaging in some quiet morning affection when you repeat yesterdays sentiment.

"Good morning, my very pretty boy," You say - and this time Astarion is sure whatever he is feeling he has not ever felt previously "Sorry for the antics last night."

"So your memory hasn't failed you. Good to know." Astarion says back. You laugh lightly. "Your charming little pet name worried me quite a bit."

"Nothing to worry about my love." You say, warm and nuzzling into his neck likely to cool yourself from over-heating "I really do find you very pretty."

He can't help the feeling that floods his sense. He likes it even though he feels a little clingy, but perhaps there's no need to admit that.

"Oh, really, darling? How sweet you are. Tell me again, then. Just for kicks this time."

❈ WYLL ;

it's a matter of getting used to it for Wyll.

For the first month of your adventuring together, pretty boy, had been a somewhat condescending substitute for his name. Among other ones, like daddy's boy and prince. None of the pet names held any real affection.

You liked getting under his skin, after all.

You didn't get on at first, not for a long while. You're a rogue, a ratty street urchin turned mercenary who'd spent your youth climbing through the soil and mud of the Lower City's underbelly. Your words verbatim, not his. At first, your resentment for him caught him off guard, especially because Wyll prefers to keep the peace and get along with everyone. But, he had a difficult time understanding you, even with his people skills

Eventually it clicked that your resentment was less towards him, and more towards what he represents. You're a Baldurian, but one abandoned by the city and it's people. What else could the Ravengards represent if not the future you never had a chance to look towards.

It was easier after that. And Wyll had promised to himself to observe you closer. In that, he found to like you a great deal.

He's fond of pet names in general, but more fond of you lately. At the beginning of your adventure, it was a little difficult to get accustomed to your... roughness. You lack delicacy, but you're not exactly silver tongued.

Yet, you're not as cruel as you make yourself out to be. Contrarily, while you've traveled together, Wyll bore witness to only gentleness. Nothing more. The words you spoke about only doing things for coin had been clearly disproved by your countless acts of charity. Especially gentle and kind to children, and especially unforgiving to the rich and unhelpful.

Once he got used to it, there was something kind of...sweet about it. To see you say one thing and do another had it's own novelty that Wyll grew fond of you.

It was the night of tiefling party that roused his feelings. That night, he'd watched you play with the tiefling children all night, teaching them tricks of the trade.

And you'd started falling for him, too, judging by the way your usual snark was nowhere to be found.

Especially vivid is the change in your tone when you call him the same way you did before.

"We'll take a short rest for you, pretty boy." Your voice murmurs, looking carefully over his wounds while place down your own weapons "Get your spells back. Organize our things in the mean time."

He gives you look, examining your own worry before his smile stretches into one of fondness. It doesn't bother him at all, not anymore. No, lately - it sounds rather fond, and each time Wyll hears it, it does something for ego.

"No need for the concern, though I am appreciative," He says, not bothering to mask the smug quality in his voice at your change. He delights in it a little, admittedly . "I'll be alright soon enough."

You don't seem to notice, too busy wiping your blade of fresh blood, metal shiny as moonlight. "And there's no need for your heroism, Blade of Frontiers. Have some discernment about time and place."

You look up at him with your brows furrowed, and Wyll can barely help himself. "Are you worried I'll lose what's left in my appearances? I'm just telling you there's no need to trouble yourself over it."

It takes you a while to register to his words, but when it finally does - your eyes blow wide. The look of embarrassment on your face is well worth it.

"I thought you hated when I called you that." You say coolly.

"It's not so bad," He says back tenderly, staring at you "At least not anymore."

You pout a little. Wyll fights some unspoken urge to kiss you. A little longer.

"I prefer when you're acting oblivious,"

"Sorry to disappoint."

He lets his head lay on the wall behind him - reaching a hand for yours instead, trying to rest up as promised. He sees you smiling from the corner of his eye and affirms it to himself. You squeeze, soft, but otherwise say nothing about it.

Yes, lately, nothing you say could get under his skin. Even when you so obviously try.

❈ GALE ;

Gale is always the poet, never the muse.

He thought highly of his relationship with Mystra, and in many ways still does. He loved her. This much is true. He can't say for any certainty if she had loved him just as much, or at all. He wasn't the first mortal, and would hardly be the last.

But he loved her, enough to write about her and wax poetic about all that he'd lost.

When Gale examines any of his past relationship, he realizes this is some kind of pattern. Gale is good at being loving, but he does not know for certain if any of them loved him back. Or if he was loved in the way he loves - if it was anything near close. Gale had thought, at one point, it was just matter of destiny. Gale is after all, a man who bleeds with all he has.

He can't blame anyone for loving him less than when he is categorically too much. He thought that way for a long time, destined himself to never find love again or beg for Mystra's forgiveness for some new found purpose.

When you came into his life, he hadn't been sure what would come of your relationship. Certainly a brain parasite would make camp a difficult place for romance, but the two of you managed against all odds. Among all the things that Gale finds astonishing about your relationship - it's your affection for him that catches him the most off-guard.

It's a little sad, he can admit. But it's true. When you speak to Gale, your voice is always soft. It's never demanding. Before, always, there had been some kind of expectation. Gale had to be a certain way, to pour himself into someone else for the sake of it being returned.He loved. Surely he loved.

But now, lately, you love him back. Overwhelmingly. The easiness of your love makes him feel a little... spoiled. Which is embarrassing, at the stage of life he's in. He finds the whole thing tips him over the edge. The heat creeping up his neck every time he remembers. Your hand brushing against the back of his neck, cupping his face so gently.

Gale, perhaps unsurprisingly, is fond of your various pet names. All of them sound good. Make him feel important and desired. You like to call him a bookworm, sometimes you call him baby (which he really likes much more than he is ever willing to admit), and other times you settle on saying my love.

Pretty boy is new. Pretty boy is different, and makes heat crawl up the back of Gale's neck like a smitten school boy.

It has a special effect on Gale.

In between classes, spoken with your hands cupping his face as he leans on his desk. The sunlight is pouring through the large paneled windows, casting a warmth on your expression. Gale is sat on his desk, making you eye-level.

"I'm glad you've come to see me," Gale says to you first, breaking a period of comfortable silence. You're a busy person, given all the heroics. Gale finds it troublesome, despite the fact you've moved with him to Waterdeep. Your reputation precedes you "It's been ages,"

"Of course I'd come to see you, pretty boy," You hum, thumb brushing under his cheek - carefully drawing a line "You're very healing to look at."

The effect is rather immediate. As soon as the words leave your lips, spoken to him so lovingly - he unlocks a part of himself he always seems to forget about. Forgets himself in a fundamental way, the flurry of heat and euphoric sensation of adoration washing over him like water.

He gives you a look, and you laugh - pressing your thumb to his lower lip as you lean in for a kiss. "Stop pouting, will you?"

"I'm doing nothing of the sort," He insists, kissing you despite him. You laugh into, warm and bubbly. For a minute, he remembers all he might've lost had he done what Mystra told him.

He's glad he's alive. To feel you.

"You very much are," You reply back, once you've managed to pull away from each other "Don't be so surprised. You've always been very pretty to me."

He blushes again, deeper, and closes his eyes.

❈ SHADOWHEART ;

You don't often communicate your feelings to Shadowheart through words.

You're something of a stoic. Of the few people in Shadowheart's past who remain by her side, many of them communicate about how surprised they are about your partnership. Shadowheart is known to be a little snarky, witty. She used to be very prickly, at the start of your adventure together - so everyone questions how you were able to win her heart.

Truthfully, Shadowheart didn't know what to make of your personality at first. There's a silence to you. Maybe she should expect this of paladin so loyal. A Paladin of Torm, the unswerving enemy of injustice and corruption. You've always been a devout person, putting action and justice over everything. She hated it at first, a natural response for a Sharran, she figures.

Once she'd left it all behind, she could no longer use it as an excuse.

Truth be told, Shadowheart had always liked that aspect of you. Your devotion spoke to something greater than your oath or even your god. You had simply believed in the world, and inadvertently in her. You saved her from herself, her parents from her fate, and then some.

Your devotion to her as a lover isn't something so different. She often thinks you would swear yourself to her if you could. For Shadowheart, your affection is akin to worship. Every morning, the animals are tended and the flower bed is damp. You wake her mother up without a start, remind her of where she is without making her feel ashamed. You're good to her father, talk to him of worldly politics at the dinner table.

She has no complaints to make about you. Your love for her is tangible, something she can reach out and touch with her fingers.

She's unused to hearing your affections, though. Unused to hearing the words.

You lay together in the darkness. You're alone tonight, the entire cabin empty. Her mother and father have gone together on an outing together, after you accompanied them into the city. You've finally returned, put the horses up in the stable, and have to come to her side.

Shadowheart likes to lay in your arms. She lets herself curl into your weight, inhales the scent of your skin - earthy and rich as you let your arm fold around her waist. She lays ontop of you today, her whole body on yours like a blanket.

She looks up at you, her her tied loosely. She can practically feel how glowy her own expression is as she examines you - sees her reflection in your irises.

You let your hand lay over her back, reaching up underneath her nightwear to lay touch her skin. She gives you a look - her smile small, sincere. Your own expression is tired from travel, but fond. You insisted on taking her parents instead of letting them go alone.

She loves you more than she cares to admit.

"You're staring." She comments blithely "See something you like?"

Normally you'd flush a little at this, silent as you kiss her forehead or cheek. This time though, you use your fingers to brush the stray hairs from her face and nod.

"Yes, pretty girl," You hum, nonchalantly. Sagely. "I really do,"

She's so caught off guard, she can't help but gape. She lifts herself slightly to stare at you in shock.

"I've never heard you talk like that. Not once while we've been together. I mean.. you've called me beautiful but," Shadowheart stumbles, a fluttery feeling in her stomach she'd rather ignore "But it's never like that,"

"I think it more often that I say it,"

"And you always think to call me that?"

"Like I said, often," You look over he carefully, before your lips pull into an easy smile "You're pretty to the point I want to tell you all the time,"

Shadowheart is scarcely embarrassed by anything. She's a practiced woman at this point in her life. It's almost juvenile the way the words effect her. It's you saying it that makes all the difference. The way you've said it that makes her squirm. She lets out a little puff of air, silent as you laugh.

"Pretty girl," You repeat, warm and gentle and laced with exhaustion "You're the most beautiful girl I've ever met."

Shadowheart tucks her face into your neck, voice as soft a murmur as the sound of her own heart rings in her ears.

"Don't make a habit of talking like that," She huffs "I already know, but I suppose it doesn't hurt to hear."

You smile brightly. "I'm glad,"

❈ KARLACH ;

Karlach adores you, utterly and completely.

She's a little caught off-guard by it. Just when she'd convinced herself she couldn't love you more, you surprise her all over again. She'd probably harbored some sort of affection for you from the start of your adventure together, when you'd gone to bat for her and make sure Wyll didn't take her head as a trophy.

Since then, though - on your journey together, she'd taken careful notice of you. And gods, she likes you. You're very different she must admit. Where Karlach is strong and fiery, you're cool and calculated. She figured that's just what magic users are like, but Gale is pretty keen on correcting this assumption. You're a sorcerer, specifically, means the whole magic thing is in your composition and not your study.

Which explained why your head isn't the books like their local wizard. She does find you to be rather charming. You're good at talking your way in and out of almost everything, and you can outwit even the cleverest people on camp. You'd think it'd make you... annoying. Or cruel. And sure, you're a little calculating - but mostly, you're sweet.

Karlach's really never met anyone like you before. Her companionship is a little limited because before the Blood Wars, she was a rag-tag kid in the street of the city. But you grew up in a noble house, learned to charm and finesse your way through everything. You know how to read situations before they've even happened.

And you always explain them to her afterwards.

You make Karlach nervous, strangely. Which is wild! When it comes to socializing, she can get along with almost anyone. You though, you always see right through her. You know when she's using her own personality as a shield, and you always know just when to intervene. Or when to say nothing, and just let her sit with you.

The day she blew up at you, after defeating Gortash - you'd handled it better than she could've hoped. You were comforting, and kind, and let her feel it out without making her feel bad. With you, she felt hopeful despite knowing that the end was probably going to come for her eventually.

With you, she thinks she could endure even the end of the world.

You're in the city now, no longer sleeping in the woods. When everyone else has gone to bed, Karlach finds you in the study, a room attached to the main living quarters.

She knocks before entering. Your voice is soft as you tell her to come in. Dressed in your comfy night clothes, your hair damp from washing up. You're bent over the desk with a furrow in your brow that Karlach finds sweet.

"Hey, baby," She asks, her heart thumping soft "Hope I'm not disturbin' your research."

"Of course not," You reply back, encouraging her towards you "I'm actually due a break."

Wordlessly, you sit up from your chair, pointing for Karlach to sit. She follows through, a little confused as to what you're doing before you plop yourself back into her lap. She throws her head back in laughter.

"Don't know what I was expecting there," She giggles, arm curling around your waist "All cozy?"

"Mm," You melt yourself into her embrace, turning to look at her. Your eyes are soft, free hand cupping her face "I'm cozy. What's keeping you up, pretty girl?"

The words catch her off guard completely, her engine flaring from the heat.

"Shit, what's with that?" She glances down at you, smiling like the cheeky fucker you are "I can't get any redder, you know? It's making my engine burn."

"You like it, no?" Your voice is smooth, smug in a way that gets her hot "My pretty girl,"

Karlach stares at you as you say it. Traces the curve of your lips, the slight arch of your brow. Asses the weight and warmth of you as you lay your legs over her lap and feels her body start to react. She didn't think it was possible to feel so complete by someone, even among the impending doom at the end of the world.

With you it fades away to nothing. Permission to want freely, she had no idea she had wanted that so bad. She had no idea she could want more when you'd already given her so much.

It's nice to be greedy. A little greed is fine, after everything.

"If you keep talking to me like that, we're going to do a lot more than just sitting, you know?" She tells you seriously.

You smile and laugh but don't deny her "Only if you say please,"

❈ LAE'ZEL ;

The Githyanki do not fall in love.

It's a fact of the culture, a mark of their honor. Love is for the soft, tender fleshed species of the material planes. It does not suit warriors, not the ruthless githyanki who spend their entire lives training the sword and learning magic. Love had always been a flimsy concept to Lae'zel. To the point she'd never thought about it or cared too. For the gith, there is only pleasure and carnal desire. The foolishness of longing can only be harbored in the lesser existence of the outer-world. The world outside of her creche.

For a long time, this was true for Lae'zel. She had never intended her time in the material plane to weaken her in the ways in which it did. Or that the experience of a ghaik parasite trapped behind her eyes would will her into cooperation with lesser beings. In many ways egregious, unfathomable. In trying to rid herself of one parasite, she'd found herself another one - more intolerable and more consuming than the first.

You. What a foreign and remarkable bond. From the beginning she had told you the truth, that the gith do not love and she would not be able to love you. Though she could admit passion, admit admiration for your courage, admit possession - she could not admit love. She knew nothing of it.

Over the course of your journey, you'd managed to prove her wrong. Slowly stripped bare of the identity she'd made her life around, you stripped Lae'zel down to her soul. Her most honored solider, and most formidable ally. When the time came, you'd told her to do what she must, to liberate her people. That you'd be there when she returned.

That you'd wait for her.

Months apart with few visits in between meant that each time Lae'zel sees you must make every minute count. Enjoying your body and indulging in carnal pleasures is only so much of that. What Lae'zel looks forward too most, she must admit, is the gentleness of your touch whenever she comes back to Fae'run.

Soft warm whispers among the indulgent plush of bed sheets and candles. A room that smells like lavender and oak, prayer books and scripture littered on the desk. A cleric of Bahamut, and a soul strong as steel.

But this, her head resting in your lap as you stroke her hair so carefully, is what she's missed most of all. No doubt she's going soft.

"Chk. You are smitten by the text in front of you as if you have forgotten of my return,"

You look down at Lae-zel with a laugh, carefully placing said book down on the bedside table. The voice you speak with her is different from her own. Tender fleshed even in your speech, you let her curl herself into you.

A vulnerable position, open to whatever may come.

"I'm sorry, pretty girl," You hum. The words practically startle her "I don't mean to neglect you. It was an interesting passage."

"Pretty...It is true among the githyanki, I am among the finest of their ranks," She replies, turning herself towards you - getting comfortable "Yet still, something stirs."

"Are you embarrassed?" You reply, delighted as her frown deepens. Before she has a chance to argue with you, you lean down to press your lips against hers briefly "How sweet of you."

"I do not get embarrassed," She insists, scowling as you begin to giggle at her "It was merely unexpected."

"You're beautiful to me, Lae'zel." You hum, stroking her cheek gently as she continues to lay herself across. Your eyes are tender and lidded. That look of obsession she recalled from the months prior returned in full, and no longer hidden. Unlike your other mortal companions, or the pale elf - there is nothing hidden in your words. No agenda "More beautiful than anyone else. At least to me. Getting to look at you so closely is a gift."

She softens, her hand gripping yours resting on her chest

"When it is over," She says seriously, a solemness to her voice "I will return to you. This I swear. Without you, the liberation of my people would be no less then a dream,"

You return her smile in kind.

"My pretty, wonderful girl," You hum. She loves you. She thinks she understands it now "I know you'll return to me, nailo. You always keep your promises."

"Yes," She says, an unfamiliar emotion overwhelming her "I will not forsake all we have promised."

The affection in your voice shakes Lae'zel to her core. Initial abrasion fades only into warmth. It's not so bad to hear, even if it is tender fleshed.

▸ a/n ; the word reader uses for lae'zel is elvish for swift winds!! reader is meant to be sort of a book worm so you do not need to picture them as a elf and more of a linguist.

this is the most substantial thing i've written in the last few weeks so commentary is very appreciated. i'd be willing to do a minthara and halsin addition to this eventually if anyone is interested!!

anyways, baldurs gate companions i love u. reblogs so appreciated !

[ghostfacesvalentine]

HALLOWEEN DAY 14: Call me - Vampire!Hunter!JasonTodd x Fem!Reader

Pairing: Vampire!BountyHunter!Jason Todd x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Mentions of obsession (?) cursing, really just a makeout session

Type: Blurb

Request: “ Can you do a Jason Todd x reader where the reader doesn’t think she has a chance with Jason because “he’s a 10” and the reader has low self esteem “

Word Count: N/A

Prompt: Reader has low self esteem (and awareness) with Vampire!Hunter!Jason

Notes: oh anon, of course I can. My sincerest of apologies bc this took so long. Also, anon didn’t specify the gender, I tried to make it as GN as possible but it’s leaning more towards fem! :) <3 also I drew a loooot of inspiration from the song “Call me” by blondie!

Jason knew you like nothing else, he observed you like no other. Every detail, he’d make a mental note for. Was it healthy? Maybe not, you could say he was a little bit obsessed, but he loved you.

He always wanted to make sure you were safe from any harm, no matter where he was or what it was from. There was no price too high to make sure you were in good hands.

Somehow, he always had to pay the price of life to keep you safe, but you didn’t have to know that.

Jason always checked in on you, even when you were sleeping, there was too many times where he never even told you about his visits. He could never admit it to you, instead he tried to play it cool, making it seem like everything was falling into place between you both and you were none the wiser.

After a few months of chipping away at the ice, Jason admitted to the presence of vampires, dangerous bloodthirsty creatures and what harm they were capable of.

Misunderstandings slowly started to fall into place for you, understanding why the excessive protection and frustration with your carelessness at times.

You’d be lying to everyone around you if you didn’t admit you were in love with the bounty hunter. The way he towered over you, the way his stern face would crack with a laugh when you’d say something stupid. Not to mention his gorgeous green eyes that tied everything together, only appearing to glow from time to time. He was so handsome, you often found yourself staring at him, never noticing he was staring at you back, except he did notice.

It became a habit for him to visit you, even on nights he wouldn’t call.

What you didn’t know was that Jason Todd was at your beck and call. You never noticed, but there wasn’t a time he never picked up. No matter what trouble he was entangled in, he answered you.

You dreaded those lonesome nights, but never made mention of it. There was a thick brick wall of insecurity when it came to romance with you. You weren’t the best at deciphering when someone was flirting with you or they were just being nice… or felt bad for you. Sometimes you just opted for the latter.

The thought of Jason’s eyes being entertained by another little lady made your stomach turn into itself.

You laughed at the silly idea, what the hell were you thinking? This man was a full fledged vampire hunter, there were creatures running around Gotham taking the lives of innocents and not so innocents and yet here you were worried if the guy who hunts them liked you or not.

It didn’t help that any time you thought the bar was low, it only got lower. You had a great personality, sure. You were charming, you listened, always tried your best to make others smile. You were clean, creative, thoughtful and you were the last person to judge anyone else.

Yet somehow, to add on top of the list, you were always something else, overlooked.

The only thing that made you feel better was to get out. It was October, most of the bars and clubs were at their peak. It wasn’t a full moon anyway, an hour out wouldn’t kill anyone.

You turned your radio up, trying to muffle out the noise in your head.

Greeting your vanity with a defeated smile, you brought out all your tools and gadgets. Pinning your hair up, you got started on your face, taking your time. There was no rush to meet or see anyone anyway, it was just to make yourself feel better, selfishly.

After your makeup, here came the brief fashion show to your full length mirror, whatever felt most flattering and most comfortable. Flaring your hair with your fingertips, twirling along to the music.

“Who the hell needs him?” You lied to yourself.

You never even felt the figure crouching outside your window, observing your ritual of flinging pieces of clothing out of your closet.

Faint humming to “call me” joined the music in your room as you thought carefully of your outfit of the night.

You shuffled through the different tops as you reminded yourself of the meeting. Dazed away with TV playing hellraiser as background noise, you didn’t even notice the bounty hunter crawling through your window tonight.

“You’d be a terrible lookout” he joked as he pulled himself through the frame, closing the window behind him.

“Shit!” He didn’t even give you time to react accordingly to his abrupt decision to visit you, especially being half decent.

A nervous laugh escaped your lips as you grabbed a sweater to hoist over your figure. “You could knock. Or go ahead just let yourself right in.” A hint of sarcasm came with your comment. You shook your head as you pushed out the wrinkles in your skirt, walking over to your closet again to pick out a pair of shoes.

Jason turned to take off his helmet, he set it down next to your nightstand and plopped on the corner of your bed.

“What? Is patrol duty slow tonight?” You called form the closet as you made your choice of shoes.

Jason looked down to his lap with a big grin “What? Am I not welcome anymore?”

“Stop twisting my words-“

“Hey, what’s all that? Where are you going?” He asked as he inspected your outfit. Jason seemed more worried than anything, not that you couldn’t hold your own, but maybe not against a vampire.

“What? Oh. Yeah, I was just going to see what was playing tonight. I don’t know.” You admitted as you made your way back to your vanity in search of your jewelry.

There was a moment of silence between you both. Neither of you knowing what to say to the other.

“Wanna go?” You broke the silence. Turning your body to him as you clipped your earrings on. The music simultaneously playing along with the TV.

You knew how to follow Jason’s eyes, never thinking he was staring at you in any other way other than to take note of what you were wearing, kind of like a detective thing. However, this time felt uncomfortable, you felt self conscious for the first time with him. This time aware of it.

“It doesn’t look good?” You wondered out loud, looking down at yourself then back over to the body length mirror.

“What? No. I never said that.” Jason protested.

“I’ve been having some issues with my outfits lately, I don’t know if I just need to find something new maybe?” You asked yourself more than you were asking him. Shuffling through your hangers, you were looking for more options.

“You know, you could ask me for a second opinion.” Jason offered himself, this time looking at you with his lashes in the way of his green eyes.

You scoffed unwillingly, shaking your head.

“What?” He asked playfully offended.

You were already having a particularly difficult day, you spent hours trying to pinpoint the issue, where you went wrong, what triggered it but to no avail. It was just like your mood just dropped, your motivation vanished. You were trying to distract yourself from the issue and it seemed like tonight, Jason was no help.

Jason had known you long enough to know these situations. He knew when your mind started to rattle, sometimes it seemed like before you did.

“What is it Y/N?”

You didn’t respond, only watching the reflection of the half moon on your floor.

He let you stare in silence, only for a few moments before stepping forward towards you. His broad shoulders got in the way of your trance, causing you to look up to him.

Cape draped over him lazily, a burgundy color, thick and stained with the muddy streets of Gotham. Your eyes trickled down, observing him for every detail you never tried to pull together about him. The body suit clenching his muscles in order for him to move quickly when fighting. The bat wings flared in a reflective silver as his belt buckle, all of it matching the rest of his armor. His gun holsters treaded along his belt, readily available, brimming and bullets laced with holy water.

“Why haven’t you called?” He asked bravely.

It took you a moment to understand his question. Your eyebrows knit together in confusion, only to relax when you realize that you haven’t been the one to call him either. It was silly to expect Jason to be the one to constantly remind you that he was there.

“Well.. Jay, I wouldn’t be telling the truth if I didn’t tell you that I really liked you. Sometimes I feel like I get sick when you’re not around.” You avoided looking at his eyes, always avoiding them when you were telling the truth.

There was a silence that petrified only you, all while Jason was relishing in the way this was headed.

“Sick?” He was going to make the best out of this, making sure he wasn’t getting any mixed signals from you.

“Well, yeah. You know.”

“No I don’t. I’m all ears”

The sound of his armor clicked when it made contact with itself as he took a seat at the corner of your bed, his head tilted to face you, not having to look up even in his sitting position due to the size difference.

This didn’t help your situation, but he tried to make himself as small as possible to make you more confident in your ability to explain yourself.

Fuck.

“Uhm.” You choked out, confidence swirling down the drain now that all eyes were on you.

This was actually kind of embarrassing. You close your eyes to avoid the cringe you brought upon yourself.

“I can’t read minds doll.” He muttered, eyes still locked on you.

You wanted to give up, but it was obvious that Jason wasn’t going to anytime soon. He looked at you for another few moments before looking down to the floor, pressing his lips together. Instead he crossed his arms, looking towards the window, the dried up branches that have been there since fall began were still there, haunting your bedroom window.

“I really like you Jay, but you’re way out of my ballpark.” You laughed at yourself out loud when it finally slipped, better now than never. “If you’re here, it kills me, if you’re not- I don’t know. Somehow it feels worse. Is there something worse than death?” You were half joking. “Does that make sense?” You asked him, heart thumping away at your chest, hoping he couldn’t hear it nearly jump toward him.

The moment you choked out your first sentence, Jason’s eyes were on you again.

His answer came in the form of a tug. Pulling you against him, his hands almost fully wrapping around your forearm. His other hand pushing your hair back, he stared at you for a second before pressing his lips against yours.

Your body pressed against his chest plate, the cool material gave you goosebumps. His lips asked for more, kissing you again and again, secretly hoping you wouldn’t pull away. You were reciprocating, as you did his hands slithered to the small part of your back, fingertips caressing the curves of your body.

Those caresses then turning into passionate kisses, he was trying to restrain himself as much as possible when your hands traveled up to hold the back of his neck. Goosebumps formed on his body as your nails lazily trailed against his locks.

To have someone love him back the way he loved you, for the first time? Of course he was going to have such an animalistic grip on you, but you were the only one who could break from his grip. He’d let you go if you wanted to, but you didn’t want to. 

Jason’s arm slithered back down to your side, then down to the side of your thigh as the other held your jaw against his face, passionate kisses then turning into opened mouth ones.

His hand found the inner side of your thigh, hooking his arm around your figure pulling your leg over the side of his abdomen. It didn’t take long for the other hand to repeat the gesture. His kisses missed your lips, targeting the corner of them, then your cheek, then down to the crevices of your neck. “You can call me anytime.” He mumbled against your flush skin, teeth grazing your veins, your body involuntarily pumped against his while you were in his grip.

“Any time, any day or night, just call me.”

[villaincock]

ey yo seth! do you recommend the new fire emblem game? bc i ADORE FE but ive seen absolutely nobody talking about it so i have like. no reference from people who actually LIKE FE playing it, its just dudebros bitching bc "eww a new fire emblem and the protag is toothpaste lmaoooo" which is NOT helpful. also about your fic: dont feel bad, you write from PASSION as it SHOULD BE, grammar be DAMNED

thank you for your comment about my writing, it means a lot!! im glad u think so!

anyways, here is my Honest Opinion(tm) about Engage (under a cut bc its long):

yes, there are many unhelpful biased comments about the designs, the life sim aspects, and the story. ive seen the fucking "lolol toothpaste haha COLGATE heehee PEPSI lmao" joke over and over again with no end in sight. its not that funny anymore, guys.

BUT

to me, as a fire emblem fan (mind you, my first game was path of radiance when i was in ???middle school??? but the first fe game i FINISHED was awakening, when i was about 16 or 17), i think that Engage is fine as it is. :) the gameplay is what REALLY matters in a game, and the gameplay is VERY fun and challenging, so if nothing else, i'd recommend it for its unique playstyle. the story is kind of a rehash of awakening, with some details swapped out, and to me, the writing is actually sliiiiightly better here than in awakening. if you like awakening: great!!! you'll like the story in this game too! its a bit more in-depth, and the villains are focused on much more than in awakening, which i personally appreciate.

alear, the protagonist, reminds me a lot of robin, in that: they make their OWN choices, NOT the player's choice. for instance, in the first few minutes of the game, they decide to RUN from enemies instead of fight! they want to protect their stewards, vander and framme+clanne. i thought that was interesting. so far (and im almost finished with the game), i havent had a prompt about what i, the player, want to do in regards to a story beat. alear does the decision-making for you. even robin had a few player-driven choices to make, but not alear. alear is their own character. which is nice!!!

as for the life sim stuff, its very limited. the somniel is almost entirely optional. you can s support, but only alear can s support, and even then, NOT all of them are romantic in nature (see: pandreo and ivy, who both have romantic endings with alear regardless of their gender). if you choose, you can build and grind supports. the support convos arent always interesting, similar to awakening or fates, but they are cute and serve a purpose. but all that i just mentioned in this paragraph is not integral to the story AT ALL.

the story. the story is good, with some twists and turns here and there! we are supposed to get more characters and a new story option in wave 4 of the dlc (i am unsure when that is coming out!), and so the story might deepen with that dlc option. right now im doing a vanilla run with no dlc and ive been enjoying it thus far.

in short, im not DONE with the game, but i am REALLY enjoying myself so far. the battles are engaging (lol) and challenging (ive died on some skirmishes before :P), and i LOVE the characters, even if theyre not super deep. i hope the game has a satisfying ending and i suspect the replay value will be amazing, with all the unlockable classes there are :)!

id recommend you play it if youre a fan of fe, even if youre not crazy about the designs or the story. of course i cant dictate how others feel, but i actually enjoyed myself very much and remember to HAVE FUN and NOT CARE what ANYONE else thinks !!

[myfairkatiecat]

Hola everybody who has seen this post

So! little order of events thing

1. Anon ask sent to do-you-ship-this-book-couple saying that the people interacting with the blog were newer fans and “painfully cishet” and that if they want the “real” kotlc fandom lore they should talk to an older fan (bad taste ask if you ask me? It’s all real lore and that’s a ship blog. But I digress)

2. A (queer) friend of mine made a post about how that’s not a very nice way to describe a group of cishet people since they didn’t choose their own gender/sexuality

3. I reblogged that post cause I thought my friend was right

4. An anon asked me to stop acting like a victim, which was bs cause I never even said I was a victim of anything, I literally reblogged a post from my friend who is queer

5. A new anon stopped by with the ask detailed above which I didn’t really know how to respond to, hence the “hello” as the only response. I was hoping other people would have. Better thoughts than me. And a few of my friends came over to say that anon didn’t have a very good attitude about this subject, which I appreciated, especially since I feel odd addressing this stuff as someone who is in the historically privileged group regarding all of this, if you get what I mean?

6. One such response was the thing doodle said above, which was followed by semper’s reblog—which is a fantastic and very true reblog don’t get me wrong (cue the applause 👏👏👏 bc it’s well structured and written too), I just felt like I should clarify to everyone who sees this without context that no cishet people were claiming to be oppressed for being cishet anywhere before during or after this discussion. Nor was anyone offended by a person making jokes about someone being their own sexuality.

7. Whatever’s going on in my ask box right now

Anyway I just wanted to slap a few clarifications of context on this post since I think most people seeing it don’t know exactly what anon was responding to or what we were responding to in the first place that prompted the anon.

A n y w a y

Point is! Everyone should get to live peacefully, be their own sexuality whether that’s gay or straight or anything in between, project their sexuality onto characters when they feel like it, and just generally exist without people making problems out of their existing.

Hope everyone who sees this post has a wonderful day.

it’s like balancing a scale. Homophobic people treated people in the LGBTQ community as lesser and there was significantly less representation for us in media. So jokes about people being too straight or making all the characters in a book we like gay are to balance that out. Making it so there’s and equal number of gay and straight people in a book doesn’t cut it because for so long the books were dominated by straight people. That’s why I personally am annoyed with the new influx of straight shipping. (Not the original anon)

hello

[precurianswag]

i’ve been so gender euphoric since i saw that tweet today by neil confirming that crowley was female-presenting in the early parts of that 3rd episode cold open (also generally the fact that angels and demons are all sexless/genderless which has been known since the publication of the novel so I’M SO HAPPY)

[chihirolovebot]

Could I request the prompt one small kiss, pulling away for an instant, then devouring each other for Byakuya Togami

✫ pairing — byakuya togami / gender neutral reader

✫ word count — 1.6k

✫ content — fluff, light cursing, so much consent bc that is so sexy, flustered byakuya, light makeout, kissing, soft byakuya, future foundation arc, asahina cockblocking </3

because byakuya has never had this.

as rich and wealthy and connected as he was, he has rarely even really had anything just to himself. everything, every crumb of food and scrap of clothing and every yen was a mad scramble between him and his siblings.

plus, he's just never been interested. people were equally as boring as they were predictable, and you were among the worst. so holier-than-thou during the killing game, proclaiming your wishes for peace and friendship with tears in your doe eyes. it was almost laughable.

and now... well. he's grown up, he supposes.

"good morning," he intones as he walks into hq, just like every morning, and he thinks, just like every morning, that four years ago he wouldn't even deign to speak to you. he would miss that flash of recognition in your eyes, and the fondness that came after it, and he wouldn't even know how hollow he'd feel without it.

you're wearing a suit. violet. it offsets your eyes nicely, actually, not that he's noticing. your tie is slack around your throat, two buttons undone, and one side of your shirt is untucked. sloppy. he finds it doesn't bother him so much these days.

you blink up at him, surprised. predictable, but then you always have been. it's only recently that byakuya has begun to find it less than intolerable.

"are you sure you should be here already?" you chew your pen. disgusting habit - he makes a reminder never to borrow stationery from you as he sinks into his desk and switches his monitor on. "aoi thought you'd been resting for another couple days..."

he throws you a look. "you didn't?"

a hint of a smile. byakuya is disconcerted at how at-ease it makes him feel. "no, of course not. i know firsthand how stubborn you can be. you should be at home, though."

really, you're all making a big fuss out of nothing. he tells you as much, but you only shrug.

"just worried for you, you don't have to bite my head off." his expression must be shocked, because it flusters you a little. "what? i can't be worried for my friend?"

friend. the word still sends his heart skipping a beat. he's just not used to it, that's all, he tells himself. it has nothing to do with the fact that it's you saying it.

stop it.

stop thinking about it.

"togami?" you've got to your feet, hovering beside him uncertainly. "are you alright? are you in pain?"

your shoes are scuffed. he offered to buy you new ones last month, but you refused. he still puzzles over that.

"hm?" he finally dredges up. "fine, obviously."

you say nothing.

"stop looking at me like a wounded animal, would you?" he snaps. "i'm not in any pain."

your mouth sets into a frown. your eyes dart away from him. "i really was worried, you know."

is it hard to breathe for you, too? why are you telling him this? "i..."

he's struggling to speak. when has he ever struggled to speak?? he tries to make himself think, but his head is clouded by how close you are, the subtle sweetness of your shampoo, your hand hovering anxiously beside his arm. don't you know by now that you can touch him? don't you know that he looks forward to it?

no. you don't— stop thinking like that.

"i thought i told you," he finally chokes out, "to call me byakuya."

your eyelashes flutter in surprise. "seems... a little informal."

"we did survive a killing game together," he reminds you softly. "i think we broached informality a little while ago."

your face cracks into a weak smile. "i suppose so."

byakuya wants to kiss you. the thought sends him into a state of cold terror. he has never wanted to kiss anybody before, and so he never has. but then, he's never had anybody like you before. he thinks, by the way your eyes flick to his mouth, that you know he wants to kiss you.

he wants to hide. your eyes score right into him, peeling back every shadowy layer and bringing his deepest, most vulnerable and most stupid thoughts into the stinging light. and yet - if there's anybody he trusts to handle those, it's you.

your hands reach out, trace over the sharp vertices of his jaw. he chokes on a breath as your fingers come to rest on his face, your touch feather-light, giving him so much time and opportunity to pull away.

... he should pull away.

but he doesn't, for some demented reason. you've frozen him, rendered him immobile. pinned him to the chair with that blazing look in your eye.

"this okay?" you murmur. your voice is so soft he can barely hear it over the hum of the electric fan making lazy circles over his head. the question eludes him. why are you asking him? nobody has ever asked him. it makes him feel strangely, scarily young.

wordless, he nods.

you bring your face close to his. you don't have to lean down much to do it, because he's still tall even sitting. he remembers towering over you during the killing game, but oh, how the roles have reversed. it's a little scary, but the list of things byakuya togami is afraid of is very short, and you are the last thing that would ever be on there.

so he waits. the first brush of your lips on his shouldn't shock him as much as it does, but he barely holds back a bodily shudder at the contact. it's so light, tender, careful - like he's made of glass. he feels like he's cracking at the seams.

"okay?" you check, your mouth hovering over his. he's breathing your air; it smells like the fruit gum you always chew, the one you offer to him every day without fail even though he declines each and every time.

he swallows reflexively. and then he nods again.

you close the gap; your mouth is soft on his, and his eyes have barely begun to close before you pull back. immediately, he becomes defensive; if you don't want to kiss him after all, why all the performance? but you're still looking at him -- like that, like he's a thing worthy of being handled gently. like you want more. and then he realises you're holding back for him, that he hasn't said a word in almost two minutes and his face is hot and his hands are trembling where they rest on the armrests of his chair.

back in the killing game, he thought of you as a liability. loathe as he is to admit he, he can't stand the thought of you thinking of him in similar terms.

and so this time he surges forward and kisses you. your muffled yelp of surprise buzzes against his mouth and sends liquid lightning through his veins. you breathe into the kiss, like you're adapting to him already, like you were modelled for this. like you both were built for each other. you push forward, taking the lead again, your hands tightening on his jaw and wandering to the foam of his hairline. you grip, hard, and he released a choked gasp into your mouth.

he wants you closer. but his hands are suddenly clumsy, like his own sure ones have been hacked off and makoto's have been sewn on in their place. all he can do is grip desperate fistfuls of your clothing, hope you get the message, and lament the trembling mess you've reduced him to.

you stumble onto the chair, your legs on either side of his, squeezing his thighs like a vice, and his fingers tighten on your shirt.

"okay?" you gasp, pulling back for a split second. byakuya blinks, dazed, at the vision of you before him - flushed, clothing ruffled worse than before, hovering over him with your head encircled by a stark white office light overhead.

"yes," he groans, already pulling you back. "just—"

"okay," you whisper into his mouth. "got you."

you do. you do. you do. you have him. you always have.

and then—

"oh!"

you jump apart, eyes flying to the door which has just burst open. a glittering strand of saliva swings between your disconnected mouths, falls over your chin. togami longs to reach up and wipe it off.

asahina stands at the door, mouth agape, bright eyes bugging out of her head, dark cheeks beginning to flush wine-red in earnest. a loose sheaf of papers tumbles from her arms.

there's a second of frozen time, wherein byakuya feels every muscle in your body tense, wherein asahina's disbelieving eyes flick from him, to you, and back again, and wherein he resigns himself to the mortification that will surely follow with little more than a displeased sigh.

and then, the spell breaks.

"i - i'm so sorry!" asahina cries, and dives down to collect her papers. "i was just... makoto asked me to print something, b-but..."

you scramble off of his lap. "n-no, it's fine! i'm sorry! we - were just–"

byakuya prays you don't try to lie. not only because it would be fruitless and embarrassing, but - well. maybe he doesn't necessarily want you to rush to cover up the fact that you were kissing him. the tips of his ears burn.

"never mind!" asahina babbles. "i'll just - i'll go, um, you two, um, carry on. but make it quick, i guess, because kyoko will be here soon and, um, y-yeah. see you two later!" and with that, she charges straight back out of the door, letting it swing awkwardly shut behind her.

in the ringing silence, you wipe your chin and turn to look at byakuya with wide, embarrassed eyes. mouth pressed into a thin line, he shrugs. what can you do?

he tries not to feel too gratified when you duck your head to stifle a laugh. you really haven't changed that much, he reasons. you're all still children, really.

[journeytogallifrey]

Okay I read this just before I went to bed and absolutely bawled my eyes out (positive). I am so honored!!! I can't believe you wrote out such a long analysis of my fic! Especially since it is my longest fic and at times I feel my most dense, just in terms of how much is packed into each paragraph.

I'm very glad that you liked the footnotes! I appreciate that you pulled specific quotes - those always make for my favorite comments because it gives me a better sense of what's working for people. I'm also glad that you liked the flashbacks and the research. I had a lot of fun picking new historical periods and learning about holiday traditions.

I did enjoy messing a bit with gender, especially Crowley's! I wrote it before I realized I was genderfluid but I feel like some of those feelings seeped out onto the page. I also enjoyed expanding on the relationship with Warlock.

I love your description of the angst as "not ripping my heart to pieces, but just kind of tugging on it." The goal was to walk that line, keeping it cozy despite the angst, so I'm happy it worked!

"full of coziness and charm and silliness and tenderness and a lovingly crafted holiday vibe unlike no other fic I’ve read" - you're so nice!! Thank you so much!!! Also thank you for covering some of my other fics as well - your descriptions are fantastic and flattering, and I'm so glad you liked them!

Some bonus material under the cut:

In writing this fic, as with all my long fics, I relied on a massive PowerPoint document. Each day/chapter had its own slide, and there were other slides to keep track of things like miracle lore and characterization.

Here is the calendar I made to organize my prompts:

Here is the timeline I kept to keep track of events in the universe of the fic:

[CANON] 4004 BC: Earth created

[CR FLASHBACK] The FIRST time Cr cries is after witnessing Eve in pain birthing her firstborn

[CR FLASHBACK] Abel's wedding - fruitcake

The thing with Cain and Abel makes Az doubt God

[CR FLASHBACK] 3075 BC?: Somewhere, Az and Cr meet on Egyptian mastaba, first time Az puts his wings away, ends in their first real fight

[CR FLASHBACK] Egypt - fruitcake in the tomb

[CANON] 3004 BC: Noah's Ark

[CR FLASHBACK] 100 BC or so: (Mesopotamia) Cr meets fortune teller and gets clay tablet

[AZ FLASHBACK] 165 BC: Temple oil miracle

[CR FLASHBACK] 0 AD: birth of Christ

~32-33 AD?: Cr shows wonders of the world to Jesus, decides to change his name

[CANON] 33 AD: Crucifixion and name change

[CANON] 41 AD: Rome (Az thinks 'angel' became fond around here somewhere; Az realizes he has a physical attraction to Cr)

at some point Az brings back Abel's fruitcake recipe to Rome

242 AD: Cr & the tiger in Persia (Az kept a tooth)

~350 AD: Pope Julius I declares December 25th to be Christmas

[CANON] 537 AD: Wessex

Az's first 2 temptations are in here somewhere, and a few Cr blessings

[CR FLASHBACK] 701-814 AD: Viking mistletoe

[AZ FLASHBACK] 815 AD: Viking mead hall (start of Arrangement)

1050: Lady Godiva (Cr knows her)

Crusades - fruitcake on Az's long walk

[CANON MENTION] 14th century: Cr hates

[CR FLASHBACK] ~1400: Cr is Quetzalcoatl w/ Aztecs, injured, flees to Arizona, healed by Az

[CR FLASHBACK] ~1450 Dresden: partway thru Cr's 5 years, sees Az at the Christmas market

somewhere Cr really likes silk in the Ottoman Empire

1500s: Cr and Az convince Heaven&Hell to build continental travel system

[CR FLASHBACK] 1500s: Cr sees first Paradise tree at German church

[AZ FLASHBACK] ~1500: Dewsbury, Yorkshire - Devil's Knell, journal, rope human

[AZ FLASHBACK] mid-1500s: (Cr thinks second half) Austria - Krampus (first time they don't talk about work; Az has had a several-years-long streak of breathing)

late 1500s: Az's Dutch ice battle

[CANON] 1601: the Globe

[AZ FLASHBACK] 1649: wassailing

[CR FLASHBACK] 1650-~1658: Cr with Cromwell; Christmas ban party

[CANON] 1656: death of Agnes Nutter

[CR FLASHBACK] 1670: Cologne, Germany - candy canes

[CANON] 1793: Bastille

[CANON] 1800: bookshop opening

[AZ FLASHBACK] 1822: Constable Hall visit; Clement Clarke Moore composes A Visit From St. Nicholas w/ Az

[CR FLASHBACK] 1840s: pic of Victoria's tree

[CR FLASHBACK] Victorian era: fruitcake; Cr has been reviving dream legend

[CR FLASHBACK] late 1841: party w/ mistletoe

[AZ FLASHBACK] early 1842: dinner w/ Dickens and Irving (first party since mistletoe)

[AZ FLASHBACK] 1840s Russia: masquerade

[CR FLASHBACK] 1858: Hallé and Christmas crackers (the only 'my dear' of the 1850s)

[CR FLASHBACK] 1859: London - Cr learns to ice skate

[CR FLASHBACK] 1860: London - ice skating w/ Az (Cr's 'last happy thought' of Az before holy water argument)

[CANON] 1862: London - holy water argument

1862-1941: Cr sleeping mostly; Az sees him from afar on some assignments

[CANON] 1880s (late): gavotte

~1890: cracker jokes published in paper (Az sees)

[AZ FLASHBACK] 1905: Vienna - Az makes snake snowglobe and Cr sees it

[AZ FLASHBACK] 1906: last time Az sees snake snowglobe

[CANON] 1926: Bentley

[AZ FLASHBACK] 1939: Az sees sleeping Cr snake in Chicago (Az hasn't been there since Prohibition) (first time Az realizes he can sense Cr)

~1940s: Francis Poulenc gets Az to 'sing' opera

[CANON] 1941: Blitz (Az tends to Cr's feet, realizes he's in love with Cr)

1943 Poland: stay with the family with the hanukkiah

[AZ FLASHBACK] 1945: Az and Cr on assignments in Iceland during Jolabokaflod

[AZ FLASHBACK] 1946: Az&Cr to department store, ugly jumper

1947: Miracle on 34th Street filmed

[CR FLASHBACK] 1954: White Christmas film; Cr's heart breaks 6-year record of beating

1964: Az & Rudolph movie in Japan

[CANON] 1967: giving holy water

[AZ FLASHBACK] 1969: New York! Rockefeller Tree!

[CANON] 2008: Warlock born

[CANON] 2013: begin working for Dowlings

2013-2018: Christmases w/ Warlock

[CR FLASHBACK] 2014: Az dresses up as Santa

[AZ FLASHBACK] 2015: Warlock Disney vacation

[AZ FLASHBACK] ~2016: ballet at Sadler's Wells

[CANON] 2019: Armageddon't; 2 Warlock texts

2019 November: Cr texts Warlock again

2019 December: modern plotline!

I took notes for many holidays or ideas I didn't end up using, including Good King Wenceslas, Kwanzaa, Yalda, Las Posadas, Dongzhi, Nochebuena, Marshall Islands, Serbian Christmas traditions, the General Grant tree, the World War I Christmas ceasefire, exposition internationale du bicentenaire de Port-au-Prince, the Philippines Giant Lantern Festival, the origin of nutcrackers, Crowley trolling people with the first-footer tradition, the fact that poinsettias were originally cultivated by Aztecs... so much more material to work with! In the end, though, I'm satisfied with what I managed to fit in.

Hmm, other fun lore... oh, I was on the fence about using footnotes, but in chapter two I was really struggling with making it clear to United States readers that 'Jersey' didn't mean 'New Jersey'. There was no reason for Aziraphale to even think about New Jersey from his POV, but it was easy to throw it in a footnote, so I took the leap and the rest is history!

That's all the extras I can think of right now, but I'm happy to answer any questions. Still can't believe you wrote up a whole analysis. I ADORE it with every fiber of my being. Thank you so much! <3 <3 <3

Ello ello ello this is a rant about a Good Omens fic I like

(Pssst.... TL;DR: It’s One Miraculous December by @journeytogallifrey)

Just a while ago I was agonizing over what kind of post I should post (even though no one’s gonna read this and this accounts only purpose is to spitball all my thoughts at a rapid pace) and I suddenly realized: hey! I like fanfics! And good omens! And sometimes I finish fanfics and I have so much thought vomit stirring around inside me I need to write it down somewhere! Then BOOM this is that this is my ramble baby. This is just my poor excuse to talk and talk and talk for several paragraphs straight. Please do not enter if you don’t want to be bombarded by what is probably several thousand words sorted into 5 or 6 sections.

This will probably be part of a series where I talk uh *cough* extensively about different fanfics, different series for different fandoms probably because I don’t think the Good Omens fandom and Carry On fandom interact with each other very much at all (maybe I’ll do books in general later on down the line, but that’d be a separate series too)

Just to be safe I won’t talk about anything too spoilery, giving some minor spoilers that get talked about in the first chapters anyways. This is a pretty lighthearted fic anyways so nothing much to worry about this time!

Ok now actually let’s get started. Anyways this is a fic I read a while ago that I really really liked:

One Miraculous December (T)

By @journeytogallifrey

Ok so this was the first fic I read by journeytogallifrey, and I read it during a time over the summer where day in and day out I had nothing to do but walk and walk and walk and occasionally read on my phone (Doesn’t make sense to read a Christmas fic over the summer but whatever)

I thought this was just gonna be a casually good long fic to fill up the time but boy was I wrong I LOVED this

Let me tell you this fic was the love of my life for the week and a half or so I was reading it. I was SO INSANELY shocked and confused when I realized this fic was 187,00 WORDS after finishing

But anyways I’m getting off track again (this post is my ramble baby after all) so let’s start with what this fic is abt and then I’ll talk about my favorite things

Spiri Stfu Whats The Fic About Already

Summary (pulled from fic):

Candles. Mistletoe. An entire frozen lake. Festive memories from their past together keep appearing out of nowhere.

Crowley's sure he's manifesting them accidentally out of sheer romantic desperation. It's bad enough trying to hide his unrequited love as they grow closer post-Apocaloops - what if Aziraphale sees the objects for what they are, a window into his yearning soul? Unfortunately, the only way to banish the objects seems to be talking about each memory...

Meanwhile, Aziraphale is just trying to woo his demon boyfriend with big gestures, ready to prove his devotion. And if Crowley acts awkward about the miracles? Surely that's just his difficulty accepting affection. The solution: shower him with as much of it as possible...

Eventually these two will communicate, even if it takes 'til the end of the year. For now there will be cuddling, excuses for closeness, sappy words, flashbacks, nostalgia, bickering, and an obscene variety of holiday foods. Oh, and footnotes. That's right. We're doing those too.

Fills for the Ineffable Holiday 2020 prompt list by Caedmon. Updates every day through the end of December.

Basically TLDR: Sappy reminders of soft moments between Crowley and Aziraphale throughout history keep popping up. Crowley thinks he’s doing it subconsciously and is worried about his super duper secret feelings being revealed, meanwhile Aziraphale is executing the least subtle (but somehow still too subtle) seduction plan ever concocted (it will take these two sillies a WHILE to get sorted out)

Ok now let’s move on to all the lovely things I love about this lovely fic in special lovely little sections (Once again, I’m sorry for the sheer size of this behemoth)

Pt 1: Charming Little Footnotes, My True Love ❤︎❤︎❤︎

From the very first chapter, I was completely and utterly enchanted by one silly little thing: the footnotes!! Those who have read the Good Omens book will understand: footnotes are amazing!! They often offer absolutely ZERO important information, and you could go practically the entire book never reading the footnotes and get the same general ideas as someone who did. BUT, they’re just so charming, why would you NOT read them?? They’re often unnecessary, but in a perfect and wonderfully niche way. I don’t need to understand the backstory or fun fact behind this randomly selected instant, moment, or person, but it’s so stupidly heartwarming to that I love to do it anyway. It’s like I’m being let in on a secret between me and the author, like they leaned over while someone else is talking and made a somewhat silly comment into my ear that makes you try to suppress your little smile in response.

Journeytogallifrey does this AMAZINGLY. They offer heartwarming insight on the most mundane things, and I enjoy every second of it. One of my personal favorite instances is funnily enough in the very first chapter, the footnote that first captured my heart and that I remembered throughout the entire fic. In chapter one, Aziraphale miracles for the floor of the bookshop to become a frozen lake, and he convinces Crowley to ice skate with him, reminiscing on a time they skated together centuries before. And THIS was the footnote that followed midway through the chapter:

*In fairness to the skates, they’ve had an intense couple of hours.

Mere moments before they found themselves in a 2019 bookshop, they’d only just been set down by Crowley and Aziraphale in 1860 and were debating the finer points of their recent skating adventure. Two of them, having hosted a lovely angel with excellent manners, were of a firmly positive opinion. The other two, terrorized by a demon who had berated them for trembling with fear, were engaged in a thorough character assassination of not only their tormentor but also anyone who would willingly befriend him.

“But they’re desperately in love with each other,” posited the skates worn by the angel.

“That’s beside the point,” answered the others, and that was when a miracle scooped them up and catapulted them a century and a half into the future**.

**Aziraphale, somehow, picked out the same two skates to wear in 2019 as in 1860, despite shoe sizes being less a concrete number for him and more ‘something that automatically sets itself to rights upon entrance of the foot’, so further experience has offered little to settle the argument.

THIS FOOTNOTE, THIS MOMENT, was perfection in my eyes. The completely absurd idea of two pairs of ice skates having a conversation, this conversation being about their wearers, a judgement of their character, a silly argument and observation of their silly hemming and hawing romance, was all so charming. It’s so unnecessary but also just. Completely STEALS your heart. Then there’s the footnote-ception of a footnote within a footnote, a casual disregarding of order and professionalism for the sake of being novel and silly. Not to mention the double footnote commenting on Aziraphale’s incredibly charming naïveté on the more specific parts of human inventions, such as the concept of shoe sizes. As you may have noticed from my using the same exact word like 20 times, the only word that fits the entire charmingly unnecessary but delightful footnotes thing is silly. It’s perfect because it’s perfectly silly, and that just made my heart melt.

Journeytogallifrey keeps up these footnotes throughout the fic to a certain degree, and as a reader of the Good Omens book, it’s always such a joy to find fics that bother to use footnotes. And journeytogallifrey does this wonderfully, stuffing so much life and humor into them very similar to what I found great about the footnotes in the GO book. So that is reason one (in no particular order) that I love this fic

Moving on to reason 2!

Pt 2: YOU get a flashback, and YOU get a flashback

A large amount of this fic relies on the art of flashbacks, being directly tied to Aziraphale’s Plan of Seduction™︎, which just so you know goes as follows:

Every day of December, miracle up some kind of thingy (object, place, activity, etc)

Said thingy will function as the perfect reminder to reminisce about a not-a-date date you’ve had at some point throughout history

Really drive home how close you two are and absolutely drown him in affection

Keep seducing all through December

Confess at some point (exact date TBD)

Profit

As you might have noticed, the whole reminiscing thing works as an opening for truckloads of flashbacks. But let me tell you, these flashbacks are WORKS OF ART. Unfortunately, unlike the footnotes, I can’t single out a single FAVORITE flashback, because they’re practically ALL amazing.

Journeytogallifrey very obviously did a butt ton of research for this fic, something I find so incredibly amazing about the Good Omens fandom! Many GO authors will do extensive research for the sake of their Aziraphale and Crowley throughout history scenes, which is something I’ve always heavily admired within this fandom compared to others. And journeytogallifrey does this amazingly and extensively throughout this fic!

Each flashback had so much love, charm, and most interestingly historical depth in them. Each flashback acts as a charming little mini story of the various adventures the two had throughout history. The highs and lows of their relationships, the hidden affections, moments that were fun, stressful, intimate, scary, or just simply peacefully domestic, ALL of it was present in these flashbacks, and just utterly captured my heart. I managed to learn quite a decent amount through the little historical details mentioned throughout, especially if a specific detail caught my eye and I wanted to research further. (Because of this fic, my dream is to move to Iceland and celebrate Jólabókaflóðið every year)

I love the way these two act around each other throughout history, and the writing when describing everything from the setting around them to their clothes to their care for each other is phenomenal. Normally I don’t really use words like aesthetic, but the way the different places dotted around the world are described and how the two are described to fit into them, I feel like I’m transported TO that place in history. I can see the churches, deserts, orchards, streets, markets, or wherever they are right in front of me, and it’s frankly gorgeous.

I LOVE historical flashbacks like this in general in the Good Omens fandom, but this fic does this AMAZINGLY, and it does it A LOT, so that’s a serious win in my books.

Something I also found extremely lovely about the flashbacks, as well as the present day parts of the story, brings me to my next part:

Pt 3: Gender who? Gender what? Gender none, gender all!

The gender fluidity/fluidity of gender expression of both Aziraphale and Crowley makes my heart flutter like nothing else. Like seriously. This is one of the main reasons I love this fandom.

It has long been stated that angels and demons have no inherent gender, and within the show Crowley presents as male and female in varying instances. Neil Gaiman has heavily implied Crowley being gender fluid before. In response, the fandom has completely flourished into a beautiful thing of gender acceptance and flexibility.

The fanart of the Good Omens fandom makes me so happy, because people will draw Aziraphale and Crowley in any manner they choose without feeling the need to explain it or label it as an “alternate universe.” The simple casualness around the topic of gender in this fandom sets a precedent of tolerance for the rest of the world, and also just warms my heart in ways I can’t explain.

Journeytogallifrey embraces this part of the fandom with open arms, with both Aziraphale and Crowley taking on a variety of appearances and roles throughout the flashback. The detail of changing Crowley’s pronouns depending on the flashback whilst Aziraphale maintains he/him no matter his form is a wonderful touch, and made me stupidly happy. The same goes for Crowley changing appearances to fit the alias of Nanny Ashtoreth later on in the fic, as well as his discussion with Warlock that it is all still himself, no matter what form he takes.

In my opinion, the fluidity and ease in which gender, masculinity, and femininity is expressed by Aziraphale and Crowley, both through the flashbacks and in present day, is done wonderfully, and serves to demonstrate the reason why I love this fandom so incredibly much.

Pt 4: Stabbing me gently in the feels (that’s gotta be a song lyric somewhere)

Another thing is I thought the push and pull and tender misunderstandings of these two throughout the fic is AMAZING. The delicate handling of this relationship is super wonderful and feels so stupidly softly heart wrenching. Like you’re not ripping my heart to pieces, but just kind of tugging on it. Seriously, I just wanted to hold these two and hug them and explain all their misunderstandings and send them away holding hands. The angst is so soft and tender I really can’t complain too badly.

The setup conflict between the two is, like, absolutely genius. I love it. Aziraphale trying to woo Crowley with as many gifts and miracles as possible while also playing cutely dumb about it, meanwhile Crowley is freaking out because all these miracles his lovesick heart is creating subconsciously might expose his super special secret feelings to Aziraphale, and that’d be baaaad news huh?

It’s some wonderfully sweet irony that Aziraphale innocently playing dumb is convincing Crowley he’s conjuring little mini proclamations of his super confidential feelings, and that Crowley is desperately trying to hide signs of said super duper confidential feelings while Aziraphale is actively trying to woo said demon.

This creates a lovely pushing and pulling dynamic full of tenderness and love, and it KILLED ME SLOWLY. 10/10 high quality soft angst.

Side note: I really liked the way Aziraphale and Crowleys relationship with Warlock was covered in this fic, especially Crowley’s attachment to Warlock as his nanny who raised him ever since he was little. I thought the desire to reach out to Warlock post Apocalypse was really heartfelt and sweet, and it made me feel stupidly warm seeing Aziraphale help Crowley reach out and later on solidify that relationship with Warlock.

Pt 5: How are you still here?? If you are, here have this

So um…….. this ended up being really long. My bad. I mean no one’s gonna read this anyways but I still feel a little awkward standing at the end of this VERY long ramble baby.

I just wanted to end this off by saying that One Miraculous December was SUCH a great fic, full of coziness and charm and silliness and tenderness and a lovingly crafted holiday vibe unlike no other fic I’ve read. I will definitely be rereading this fic around Christmas time, the digital equivalent of snuggling up beside a warm fireplace with hot cocoa and a good book. I seriously loved this fic so much! Like, it was just good vibes the entire way through, and I have obviously been keeping up with journeytogallifrey’s works ever since I read this one. Please please please, read this fic and give it some serious love, because it deserves it so much. I don’t know how you did it mysterious person who probably doesn’t even exist, but you got to the end. Thank you for reading my dear little ramble baby about One Miraculous December by journeytogallifrey.

Now that was technically the end, but as an extra little thingy, here are some other recommendations of fics from journeytogallifrey, because they are a seriously talented author and have some amazing gems in there!

Here’s a list of my favorites:

Everything That’s Meant (T)

One of journeytogallifrey’s more recent and more popular works, this is an only slightly meta fic in which Aziraphale and Crowley are human actors playing the angel Raphael and the demon Asmodeus in the tv adaptation of Agnes Nutter’s novel Prophecies. The two actors have electrifying chemistry, but much stands in the way of the two of them, from Aziraphale’s complicated family to a haunted tv set to the things spread by the press about the two.

105,000 words (a big guy!), with 39 chapters, but such a joy to read! It’s a bit heavier in plot and emotions, and the romance is a little bit of higher stakes, but the soft moments between the two as they grow closer 100% makes up for it.

Scenes from an Italian Restaurant (T)

The shortest one of my favorites at 7,000 words in a single chapter and lightly inspired by the Billy Joel song of the same name, it tells the story of childhood friends Aziraphale and Crowley both from in their youth and reunited as adults as they dine together at (surprise surprise) their favorite Italian restaurant. There’s some hidden feelings, light angst, high school gossip, and a whole lot of stuff that happens at the tables of this Italian restaurant. In general though, it’s a wonderful, lighthearted, bite-sized time.

Infernal Escapes (T)

Roughly 37,000 words, this fic is a cute and lighthearted romance set in an escape room place. Crowley is the long suffering employee of an escape room, and is enamored by the intelligence and enthusiasm of escape room newbie, Aziraphale. The two strike up a friendship built on their love of escape rooms, and a cute and easy romance ensues. This was such a joy to read, and their easy chemistry based on their shared passion for escape rooms is infectiously sweet. There is very little to no conflict or angst in this story, so it’s a slightly lengthy but incredibly easy ride, entirely smooth sailing. If you just wanna watch two strangers meet and fall in love without all the extra things (because like, same honestly), please read this.

[ririsann]

Hi! I hope you're doing well~ I love the way you write and was hoping to get a request in!

But if it's okay, can I request the boys (Mikey, Draken, Chifuyu, Baji) finding out about a crossdressing reader? Specifically one where reader has been a part of the Toman Gang and doesn't speak too much. The guys assume her gender (Because of the way she dresses and her lack of speech) and one day she starts speaking and a rather feminine voice comes out from her mouth and the guys are just stunned.

I'm basing this scenario off of This Video! https://youtu.be/RJCFgnSkbP0

Anyways, take your time and make sure to stay safe and healthy ✌

「 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐚 」

the boys falling in love with a crossdresser.

𝐏𝐓 𝟏 ; 𝐏𝐓 𝟐 ; 𝐏𝐓 𝟑

𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫��𝐧𝐠... ryuuguuji “draken” ken, sano “mikey” manjirou x f!reader

𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 - SUPER LONG (wc: 1961), violence, spoilers- draken (after valhalla, not much tho), mikey (~190+/final arc/2008 IM SORRY)

𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒 - i split this into 2 parts bc it got rlly long!! pt2 coming soon HI ANON I LOVE U AND THIS PROMPT (and gin WOWIE) currently shaking im so excited I GOT THIS ON VACATION AND I ALMOST SCREAMED ON PUBLIC TRANSIT... all scenarios r diff bc i didnt know how to format it whoops haha long post but yes haha i loved writing this so much i want more of it  　⊳　tbh im pretty unsatisfied with mikey’s because its cheesy as hell and i just dont think it’s that great haha i might make a different one another time but for now its pretty bland :/

𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐍 thought that you were badass as hell. more or less you made more of the plans instead of fought, but when you did fight you kicked ass. smart AND strong, what a combo.

though you didn’t talk much, he started to take a liking to you. too much of a liking. let’s just say that he had too many sleepless nights of thinking about his sexuality.

“(y/n), why don’t you talk? it’s kinda boring, ya know,” mikey asks. you shrug, not really having a real reason for being silent. but honestly, being quiet was nice. you didn’t have to get into any real drama or fights because you said something wrong since you literally don’t say anything.

“well, whatever. kenchin, wanna go get dorayaki?” the taller blond grunts in agreement.

“seeya, (y/n). meeting’s at 10 tonight.” the duo wave at you while they leave to go to terrorize some store with the sheer amount of dorayaki they were gonna buy.

you sigh. finally, some alone time. outside of school and touman, you really liked to sing. not really a loud belt, but more of a hum. you really like humming, it was nice. and it allowed you to use your voice for once since you also didn’t talk much at school.

it was currently only 5 pm, so you had a good four and a half hours until you had to show up to the shrine for the meeting. not like there was much for there to discuss, since there shouldn’t have been any big fights going on any soon.

～　龍宮寺堅　～

9:45 pm. your fifth division was pretty boring, other than the fact that sanzu was being a little more talkative than usual, so you went over to the first division with chifuyu and hanagaki. they didn’t really care that you didn’t talk much, though they were curious about you.

“oh, (y/n)-san, hey! how are you?” you nod and smile, showing that you were in a better mood than usual. you point to him. most of touman knew your body language at this point.

“that’s good! i’m doing well too!” you charade a laugh and look over your shoulder to see your own captain looming over you. not menacingly, since he knew that you were unexplainably important to touman, but like he was calling you for a while and he was losing a bit of patience.

“(y/n), we have stuff to talk about; me, you, and haruchiyo.” you nod and wave a goodbye to the first divison while catching up with mucho.

“we need you to look into a few people, but that’ll be a physical job that haruchiyo’ll help you with.” you raise an eyebrow, skeptical of your captain’s plans. you wondered if mikey knew about this. nevertheless, you nodded along.

“show up at the warehouse near the convenience store oh the fifth block to the east from here. wednesday 9 pm sharp.” you nod along with your pink-haired vice-captain.

before you could get the chance to go back to chifuyu and hanagaki, the revving of motorbikes stopped you. everyone rushed into untidy lines by division. you spaced out for the majority of the meeting, safe to say.

～　龍宮寺堅　～

wednesday, 8:58 pm.

you and sanzu both showed up at the warehouse that was mentioned the other night from your captain, though he was still nowhere to be seen. you look at your vice-captain, questioning if he knew anything. he was also quite quiet, so he simply shook his head “no” and continued to be on the lookout.

you ruffle your hair. you cut your hair pretty often, and pretty short too. i guess it gave some kind of illusion that you were a dude, which you were pretty sure that everyone in touman was convinced that you were [a dude].

“well, well, well, who’s this?” you hear an unfamiliar voice from behind you. you spin around to see a masked man who felt like they were 10 times your height. sanzu was also on high alert, hearing the voice.

you would never admit it, but you were trembling. absolutely terrified. was this an ambush??

“not gonna reply? alright, we’ll play this the hard way.” the man grabs your wrist and holds onto it hard. you were sure that it was bruising right in that moment. you try to kick him, but he just catches your ankle with his other hand.

sanzu tried to help you, though he was now occupied with more men that had tried to jump him. sucks that the both of you weren’t vocal in the slightest, or a lot of screaming and shouting would’ve been happening.

a few shouts from the masked man and his lackeys seemed to reach a certain brothel nearby. it also happened to catch the attention of a certain vice-president. 

the aforementioned vice-president took off running from his place, because his sense of justice was really high that night for some reason. he found it kinda strange, since he technically didn’t care about what was happening but just had a really bad feeling about it.

“hey, say something, pussy. too scared to say anything?” the man smirks and throws you across the concrete, gaining a small grunt from you. you were thankful for the hoodie you were wearing, though it now had tears in the back.

he walks over to you, his face saying “you’re gonna have the biggest beatdown in your life right here.” you weren’t really scared of him anymore, but your physical attention was more on sanzu and thoughts went to where your captain went.

you got kicked, skidding across the ground again. and again, and again. you were pretty sure that you had a few broken ribs at this point. he kneels down to your beaten body, preparing to punch you, assumingly over and over again, but hesitates as you flinch. the smirk on his face fades.

“what a puny fifth division.” he lowers his fist. “wouldn’t hurt if i just killed you right here.” he stands up, raising his foot over your head.

“any last words?”

you were close to unconsciousness, but you look up and see a figure running towards your aggressor. they were blurry, but you could tell that it was your gang’s vice-president.

before the masked man could say anything else, a forceful punch hit him in the back of the skull.

your eyes felt like lead. but you wouldn’t dare close them, because who knows, you were on the verge of death at that moment. closing them meant that you gave up, and in turn you gave up your life.

the rest of the fight was a blur. you assumed when the noise died down draken won and sanzu was safe. a familiar head that was half shaven, half blond picked your limp body up.

“(y/n)!? can you hear me??”

“i hear ya, ken.” you barely vocalize. your entire body was sore, so your usual body language was out of the question.

he was shocked to hear your voice. he thought that it would be deeper, more masculine, and a bit breathy from the lack of exercise it got, but it happened to be really smooth and a much higher pitch than he expected.

“we’ll get you to the hospital, just hang on tight.”

“i’m not sure if i can hang on for that long, ken. my ribs are broken,” you explain. “i’m probably bleeding internally right now--”

“stop talking, you’ll make it. i’ll make you make it.”

the next thing you know, the feeling of wind flows through your freshly cut hair and your face was snuggled into the neck of your saviour as he dashed towards the nearest hospital.

“thank you for being here, ken,” you breathed out. “i love you.”

you fell limp on his back. he continued to run, tears obscuring his vision.

“i love you too, (y/n).”

𝐌𝐈𝐊𝐄𝐘 didn’t really care that you didn’t talk. if anything, he kinda appreciated it sometimes. touman could get really rowdy at the wrong time for him so he would go and confide in you.

he was one of the only people to be fully fluent in your body language, alongside the captains, draken, and you family and a few closer friends. many times he would communicate with you in class when he wasn’t sleeping like this. (not like the teachers could do anything - they were too scared to talk back to mikey.)

when he came up to you one day and asked “why don’t you speak?”, you simply shrugged your shoulders and headed off to your next class. there was no real reason for you to not talk, but also no real reason for you to talk either. why communicate when you could just exist? or be an enigma, either one work.

he never asked again since you were unwilling to share your deepest secret (aka your voice). 

　～　 佐野万次郎 　～

“how many years has it been since emma and izana died?”

you held up 2 fingers. it had been only 2 years since the disbandment of touman, and both you and mikey were executives of his new gang, kanto manjikai*.

*i believe it would be kanto manji gang, since the “kai” means gang but i’m not sure if people actually call it that so kanto manjikai it is!!

he puffed and laid back onto the roof of the building the two of you were on. despite it only being two years, it felt like forever ago.

making a new gang with who was at the previous top was easy, though going through the problems of every other gang was quite... annoying. it was no problem for mikey, of course, just a waste of time. 

as you ticked your tongue to the beat of a faint song from a club nearby, you watched the sky for anything special tonight. as per usual, nothing happens. you’re not sure what to expect to be in the sky, especially with all of the light pollution in tokyo.

“why do you stick with me?”

you turn your head to the boy and stop clicking your tongue.

“why do you stick with me, (y/n)? you willingly stay by my side when we both know that you’re gonna get hurt one day because of me.”

you sigh and look back up into the night.

“...because i love you,” you mumble. how embarrassing. your first words after not speaking for several years were “because i love you.”

mikey gave you a puzzled look. you couldn’t see it, but you could just tell. he was shocked, surprised, confused, and even more. 

for one, you talked to him for the first time in what? three or so years?

“are you--”

“yeah. i’m a girl.” you laugh. you’re not sure why, but you did. “surprised, are ya?”

your voice was sore even after speaking just a few words. i guess you should’ve been doing vocal exercises at home after all, huh. well, it wasn’t like you were planning on speaking more anyways.

a comfortable silence was welcomed as the blond processed all of the information and you quietly hummed to yourself.

you turned back when you heard the rustling of clothes behind you where mikey was.

“where are you going?”

“let’s go out for a ride. we can get dorayaki.” he starts to walk off to the stairway, leaving you.

you run to go catch up to him, almost tripping down the stairs.

“mikey, is this your way of asking me on a date?” your voice echoed throughout the hollow stairway.

you couldn’t hear a verbal answer, though you did hear his footsteps coming to a halt.

“take is as you will. afterall, you’re still my righthand girl (y/n).”

[reidyoulikeabook]

hi i saw that your requests are open for the night for that list and i feel like 15&35 with spencer might be all i need to survive

anyways i’m on anon bc i’m scared you’ll hate this request but just know your writing is my favorite i would read your grocery lists at this point

excuse me i love this request please do not disparage yourself ever again <3 that’s the loveliest thing anybody has ever said to me and i will now think of you and this compliment whenever i write a grocery list

Ship: GN! (wears a bra, no mention of gender other than this) Reader x Spencer Reid

Warnings: Mentions of canon-typical case things, pining, mild thievery.

Word count: 2.4k

Prompts: #15 - "You’ve just won one free pass to my bedroom.”

#35 - “Well fuck, didn’t expect to be announcing my undying love for you this early in the morning.”

A/N: This got so ungodly long I’m so sorry I don’t even know if I can call this a blurb at this point it’s a full fic but I loved this idea so much and it ran away from me.

PLEASE let me know what you think because I bashed this out in the span of an hour and I’m not sure if I love or hate it.

--

Rossi’s spitballing theories behind you. Your head lolls on the desk, feeling far too heavy to attempt lifting up at this time of night. The case was hard, you were sleeping in shifts, and somehow you, Rossi, and Reid had drawn the short straw. Your eyes are blearing a little too much to make out the exact time on the clock, it’s on the opposite side of the room and your eyes burn when you squint to look at the time; you’re fairly certain you’re somewhere on the wrong side of 3am.

23 hours awake.

Sighing, you push yourself up, looking around and only now noting that Spencer isn’t in the room. He must have made his exit while you were flicking through the files making notes, it was often easier to do that with your headphones in.

Thankfully, you'd set up shop in a conference room at the hotel, given the local PD was tiny and barely equipped to handle its own officers.

“What about the meat packing district?” Rossi muses.

It’s a rhetorical question but one you actually have an answer to, “I don’t think so. The busiest part of the city is between the meat packing district and where he’s dumping the bodies. Cops do random stop-and-searches sometimes, I don’t know if he’d risk it.”

“He could drive around.”

You frown, thinking, “He’d be crossing state lines. Hey, wait,” You stand up from your chair, walking to the board and starting drawing circles that illustrate your point, “Spencer thought there must be a pattern, right? But it died off here and we didn’t know about any more victims. If we expanded the search to outside of state lines it might connect here, here, and here,” You circle each here with a point, tapping the pen against the board triumphantly.

Rossi smiles, “Good thinking kid. I’ll call Garcia.”

Exhausted from your breakthrough, you flop back down into the chair. The clothes you’ve been wearing are icky, uncomfortable with sweat and flying and you’re strongly regretting your choice in underwear now too.

You hear the door swing open, looking up to see Spencer entering the room. Holding your go-bag. The one you’d left on the jet this morning. The jet that was a two hour drive from your current location.

“Where did you? When did you?” Your incoherency is related to both your tiredness, and his thoughtfulness.

He smiles, “It took some calling around but I found a cab driver willing to go and pick it up. It just got here.”

“Spencer I-,” You start, scrambling to your feet to accept the bag he’s offering to you, “Thank you. That’s so sweet of you. How much was the cab?”

“Don’t worry about it,” He says, handing it to you and heading over to the board, “What are these?”

Rossi - who was watching the exchange with some amusement - starts explaining the eureka moment you’d had. Spencer nods along, turning to smile at you when Rossi credits the thought to you. It’s something he does a lot, Rossi’s noticed. Not in a condescending way, Spencer knows more than anyone just how capable you are at your job. It’s as if he needs to channel his love for you somewhere, and chooses pride. It’s the easiest one to explain, after all, because who isn’t happy for their colleague making breakthroughs?

That’s how Spencer justifies it anyhow.

You leave the room, heading to the bathroom to change. You’re incredibly grateful to slip out of your dirty clothes and the bra that’s cutting into you, so much so that you decide to pop on a t-shirt under your blazer. The sports bra and t-shirt combo revitalises you more than you thought possible for this hour.

Digging through, you find an item that you didn’t pack. A pair of brown fluffy slippers. Attached to them, a note, ‘I thought the heels on your boots looked uncomfortable, and I didn’t want your feet to hurt. - Spencer.

He signed the note. Something about that, alongside the gift itself, sends a flush of warmth through you.

He gave you his slippers

So?

Is that something friends do?

Wracking your brain, you try to think up if he’d do this for anyone else. Hotch? The thought makes you laugh. Emily? Maybe, actually. If she didn’t make it so hard for others to take care of her. Penelope? Almost definitely.

Your heart sinks a little, and you distract yourself by fumbling to get your work boots off and the slippers on.

It doesn’t matter it isn’t romantic, it matters that he did it.

It matters to every other person you date

He sets an impossibly high bar

Thankfully, the late hour means that there aren’t many local PD still hanging around to see your interesting choice of shoe. You slip through to the conference room, where Spencer and Rossi are huddled over the phone talking to Garcia.

Spencer does a double-take. He knew the gift he’d given you, but he hadn’t expected to see you...wearing them? You look beautiful: hair mussed from fiddling with it, an old college t-shirt under your blazer, brown fluffy slippers on your feet. The mix of professional and homely attire does something to him that he can’t quite explain, and he has to clear his throat before making his next point to Garcia.

Did he just blush?

You try not to stare at him, try not to see if that’s a tinge of red creeping up under his turtleneck.

It is.

“Thanks Garcia,” Rossi clips, hanging up the phone, “I’m going to go and find some coffee. You two,” He points, looking knowingly between you, “Just keep doing what you’re doing.”

No sooner has Rossi left the room, you both try speaking at once.

“You look-” He starts.

“Thank you so-” You start.

You both tinge with warmth.

“You go first,” He says, gnawing at his plump lower lip, finger turning oer the pen in his hand.

You laugh, a little breathless, “Well fuck, I wasn’t expecting to be announcing my undying love for you this early in the morning.”

His eyebrows quirk, is that...hope?

No. Wishful thinking

It’s probably confusion, and you’re a little embarassed, so you quickly clarify, “I mean Spencer Reid this is the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me. I’m endebted to you forever, really.”

A look washes over him: disappointment? You can’t trust your eyes to see the clock, so you feel you can’t entrust them to analyse his micro-expressions right now either. Especially when you’re biased by personal desire.

“It’s no problem,” He says, voice cracking a little, “You look...” He trails off.

“Unprofessional?” You suggest, teasing.

He shakes his head, swallowing, “You look really nice.”

It’s your turn to swallow. You drop your gaze to the pen, feeling too flustered to continue looking your colleague in the eyes at this moment in time, “Thank you. Where did you get slippers at this time of night?”

He shifts, one hand settling over the wrist of the other and fingers nervously rubbing over the back of his hand, “They were uhm. They were mine.”

“Yours?”

“Yeah,” It comes out pitchy, a squeak, “I’m sorry, that’s probably weird I just thought-”

“No, Spence,” You say, looking up at him and giving him a genuine smile, “No, it’s really sweet. I’m really lucky to have you.”

He gives his signature tiny tight-lipped smile, the one he gives when he’s feeling awkward or suppressing something he wants to say but can’t.

Please let it be the latter.

You relinquish him of the obligation of responding, instead standing to join him at the board, “You think you’ve got enough to make a geographical profile out of this?”

He nods, tapping the board with his pen, “Your idea about crossing interstate lines was really smart.”

“I have my moments.”

He wants to tell you that everything you have is a moment. You want to step closer, to cup his face in your hands, to press a kiss to the lips that you swear are pouting, begging to be kissed. You don’t.

Namely, because Rossi chooses this moment to re-enter the room, clutching three cups of coffee, “A little help here?”

From the way you spring apart, despite not even being that close, he wishes he’d taken a little longer. Damn kids and their inability to express their feelings for one another.

***

It’s 4:30am when the alarm on your phone goes off. With the work of the four of you - Garcia sporadically included when she had genius updates - you’ve managed to uncover a pattern that arches across states. You’d called Hotch, who’d commended the good work and advised that you should head to bed at 4:30. The others would get up then, and start to head out to the different potential crime scenes. Local PD was already on it.

You’d been told under no uncertain terms that you were to rest until at least 10am. Unless there was a call from Hotch. You prayed there wouldn’t be.

Rossi’s off the minute the alarm rings, bustling out the door with a “See you later kids.”

You wait behind while Spencer packs his things into his satchel. Or rather, unpacks his things from his satchel, frantically tearing it apart.

“What are you looking for?” You ask.

“My key card,” He murmurs, “I swear it was in my wallet.”

“You were rooming with Morgan, right? Want me to call him?”

��Yes please,” He says, continuing to unearth the contents of his bag onto the desk, with an increasing degree of agitation every second that goes by.

You dial Morgan’s number, and he answers after two rings, “Hey kid.”

You put the phone on loudspeaker.

“Hey. I’m with Spencer, we’re about to head up to our rooms for the night, are you still here? He can’t find his keycard.”

He lets out a breath of air through his teeth, “Sorry, I’m already on my way to one of the crime scenes. Local PD found a body over the state line. Nobody’s at the hotel but you guys and Rossi.”

Spencer outwardly sighs.

“No problem, we’ll figure something out.”

“Alright, good work kid, get some rest.”

The phone line clicks. Spencer’s brow is pinched with frustration, and your heart breaks for him. You’ve all been awake well over 24 hours, and he looks exhausted. He’s more eyebag than man at this point.

“Do you want me to go to the front desk?” You ask.

He shakes his head, “Reception doesn’t open until 6am. I’ll just wait here until then.”

He starts packing the belongings back into his bag, a resigned look on his face. And you have an idea.

“Actually,” You say, pulling the keycard out of your pocket and sliding it across the table to him, “You’ve just won one free pass to my bedroom.”

He picks the card up, squinting in confusion.

“Me and Rossi both got put in single rooms. I mean, it might not be the most comfortable thing in the world, both of us in a single bed, but it’s better than nothing right?”

He opens his mouth to object, and you shake your head.

“Spence you look like you’re about to drop unconscious on the floor and I don’t want to be responsible for yet another injureid.”

You’re so tired that the pun seems hilarious to you, and it does elicit a small laugh from him.

“Come on, it’s either share a bed with me, share a bed with Rossi, or try to sleep in one of these chairs. And I’ll be honest, I’d be kind of offended if you’d rather either of the other two options.”

“I can sleep on the floor,” He says, obviously warming up to the offer but not wanting to push his luck. You can hear the hesitancy in his voice.

“You can. But you won’t,” You tell him, settling your go-bag on your shoulder, “And might I remind you that all this time you’re spending objecting are minutes we could be spending sleeping.”

That seems to win him over. He tucks everything back into his bag, zipping it up, “After you.”

“You have the keycard,” You smile, “After you.”

***

The bed is a single bed. It prompts another round of ‘No really, I can sleep on the floor’ from Spencer, your enquiries about if it’s too much for his germaphobia or issues with touching, and his blushy embarassed reassurance that he doesn’t mind if it’s you.

He doesn’t mind if it’s you.

Not as if you’ll spend the next year mulling over those words or anything.

When you get out of the bathroom from changing, Spencer is tucked up in bed. Well, you say tucked up, but he’s practically lay right on the edge. How he’s actually physically still being supported by the mattress at this point must be his physics magic.

“I thought I said I didn’t want you getting injured,” You say, crossing the room to him.

He opens his eyes, “I didn’t want to-”

“It’s okay Spence,” You tell him, huddling down into bed.

There’s about enough room for you both to fit in, with an inch between you, so you pull gently at his arms, urging him closer.

“There’s enough room for us both without you going flying in the night,” You tell him.

He nods, obviously still a little nervous. It’s odd, lying face to face with him, illuminated only by lamplight. He looks soft. He always does, but there’s something intimate about this. You can feel his breath fan across your cheek, can feel how heat radiates off his arms.

“Do you want me to turn the lamp off?” He asks.

It’s not your staring that implores him to ask, because he’s been staring at you too. The both of you, trapped in a perfect bubble of a moment. Lamplight a spotlight, highlighting all the features of the person you love most.

“Sure,” You whisper, breath catching in your throat.

He flicks it off, settling back down.

His breath brushes against your face when he asks, “Do you want me to turn around?”

“Do you want to?”

He hesitates for a moment, voice even softer when he answers, “No.”

It’s dark. You can hardly make out his outline. Yet somehow, you both just know. Shifting, infitismally closer. Breaching the tiniest gap between you somehow feels like crossing the Grand Canyon. Your heart thumps in your chest, and you can feel it in your fingers, the fingers that trace cautiously along his jaw.

His mouth finally, finally, slotting against yours in the most gentle of kisses. A blink and you’d miss it.

And yet, in the same blink, your life changes forever.

When Rossi makes a speech at your wedding, he admits to being the thief of the missing keycard, and intentional orchestrator of the greatest love story he’s ever known. His words.

---

Permanent tagslist: @reidingmelodies @takeyourleap-of-faith @sassiest-politician @calm-and-doctor @ssa-m-187  @seasonfivereid @averyhotchner @muffin-cup @purplewaterbottles082 @spencerreid9 @drspencerreidd @reidsnose

(message/reply to this to be added or removed!!)

[bunny-rambles]

i didn't write this to you yesterday bc i didn't wanna flood your inbox but before i forget: aside from the fact that i love the ideas you proposed for the genshin disney au so far general xiao and dumb buff greek hero itto??? like sign me up for some reason the first thought i had when i read disney and genshin in the same phrase was robin hood tighnari. like this thought has now obsessed me for two days with you as marion ofc

also you now have prompted me to write a beauty and the beast au with scara as the beast lol :3 it's gonna stay in my note app forever probably but it's nice to have a spark of inspo lol also i just love the idea of scara as the beast lol

with this i'll sign off, but if you needed a supporter for your idea, here i am :3

- 🍓

If it’s you, flood my inbox all you like my friend, I know you’d never push my boundaries with being overwhelmed 💞

But THIS IS SO GOOD?? Why didn’t I think of this;;;

At first I thought of the fox and the hound for cyno and tighnari, but I was stuck on how the hell a reader would fit in that-

But Tighnari as Robin Hood? Oh my god that makes perfect sense, it both fits into his morals and his aesthetic. He doesn’t exactly rob people but he doesn’t agree with the sages and actively goes against them to spite them, I could see him doing thing to benefit others even if he could get in trouble for it.

(I’m blushing so hard thinking about me as maid marion hvyfyguj /)////(\ I know you meant the reader but ohhh the thought of being rescued and held in his arms as he whisks me away from danger like in the movie? I’m swooning sigh;;;) I’ll have to think of a way to make this gender neutral but I’m in love with Robin Hood tighnari already;;;; sassy boy being best boy :,) he’d look so cute in the outfit too !!

I was toying with Scara in beauty and the beast, but Childe foul legacy was calling me OTL but personality wise, Scara fits almost perfectly for the beast??? He’s a spoilt brat with a temper who learns to care about others and falls madly in love with someone where he’ll then show a softer, sweeter side to himself. And if he really loves you, he’ll try his best to be better, if it would make you happy. And that means letting you go, too. (Who tf is Gaston? Childe probably lmfao)

I don’t know where Scara is going to fit, me and a friend thought of cinderella with him in her place, but it might be difficult to write, so I’m still thinking about it. He’ll be here !! Just unsure of where to put him. He’d make a pretty good scar lmfao

(scar… scar-a… I’ll see myself out)

[thedandelion-writer]

hi!! for the 600 followers milestone- congrats!! you deserve it so much 🥺 and could i request a matchup? i'm ok with both genders, i'm an INFP and my zodiac sign is cancer. i'm more on the shy / reserved side but honestly it depends on the company i have but i enjoy talking to people! honestly i don't have high expectations,, just someone loyal and trustworthy will do :3 boundary wise, i would rather not rush my first kiss bc pda to me is more of like a sign of affection than anything else

A/N: Aw thank you sm!! ^^ And I've got to be honest with you, even if this wasn't much info to go by, the second I read through it one character popped into my mind. I've tried to search for other possibilities but my mind went nope, this is the one, now WRITE IT.

(They have sent me a separate ask with additional information about Q.4)

But without further ado, you're going with...

Diluc!

My reasons!

Diluc is definitely someone loyal and trustworthy, let's get that out of the way. He's also quite reserved, and comfortable silences, I feel, would be a recurring thing between the two of you. I also find that he would be the rational person in the relationship, since you can tend to be the emotional counterpart. This is not to say he is cold though! Diluc cares about you deeply, but sometimes his troubled past can make him seem like he has a hard time expressing himself outwardly (he is touch starved and emotionally constipated please shower him with love). He is definitely one loosen up a bit over time, so I was thinking more long term when I matched you guys up! Even though he was my first choice, I had also thought about Jean or Keqing. But at the end, I felt like the two were lackluster in certain areas and so I chose fire daddy I mean Diluc- instead :)

The First Date:

It was a young night on a weekend, so in truth, you were disappointed but not surprised that this happened

"Is there anywhere else you'd like to go?" Diluc looked on the long, long line snaking out of the restaurant you really wanted to take him to

Because what better way than to know someone better than over some good food? Though that plan was utterly ruined due to the fact that waiting in line for hours on end was not very romantic

Your feet hurt, though if his did too he didn't show it one bit

"I will take you anywhere," he offered.

Sheepishly, you smiled. "Yeah, let's get out of here."

And so it was. But you still haven't answered his question, the two of you now wandering the emptying street. That was the only thing you had thought of this evening and your mind was blank as to where to go next

"Um, hey- I'm sorry," you blushed, a little embarassed, this was supposed to be his first impression and you totally blew it.

"Do not apologise," he said,"you couldn't have predicted this to happen."

"But I told you today was going to be fun, and it's been pretty sucky so far," you went on, feeling a little glum.

Times like these make Diluc wish he had a way with words, someone who could say something funny or 'cheesy' as he heard some people put it. But he always ended up sounding stiff, and you deserved him to be genuine before anything else.

Instead, he rubbed soothing circles on your back with his thumb, thinking of what other places he could take you to uplift your spirit.

"I do have another idea," you peered up at him tentatively,"oh, but I don't know..."

"What is it?" Diluc prompted you to continue.

After all, he wanted today to go well just as much as you do maybe even more so

"Well, we could go back to my place," you scuffed your foot along the pavement,"it's not going to be as fancy as a restaurant but I could whip up a mean honey ro-"

"Let's do that," he cut in. Your face must have looked somewhere in between a little surprised and amused because he cleared his throat and said,"that sounds nice."

Smiling at his approval, you tugged at his arm down the road to your humble abode, up the stairs and into the kitchen.

Setting up the table with a cloth and spare candles, you deemed it passable for a homemade candlelit dinner.

Now for the actual dinner part

Diluc insisted to help, and you agreed, but only if he would let you put a frilly apron on him (he begrudgingly lets you because he couldn't say no to the pleading, as long as you did not take a picture or breathe a word of this to Kaeya)

That was a small price to pay for the sight of the once stoic man who now looked like a housewife, ladle in hand.

Though you looked away for one second and he burned the carrots

You stifled your laughter, pushing the confused Diluc out of the kitchen, re-delegating him to making the drinks instead

Even though the evening had started out rocky, it definitely turned out better than you imagined.

After everything was cleaned up, Diluc folded his coat over an arm and you walked him to the door.

"I do hope we'll have another chance at sharing a meal," he said, halfway out the door,"if you'll have me, that is."

"O-of course Diluc, I'd love that," you looked down, suddenly feeling shy.

"Goodnight Y/N."

"Goodnight!"

As soon as he turned around you closed the door, heart racing, a goofy smile plastered across your face.

[yuthoe]

Day 6: Muse (MONSTA X: Lee Minhyuk)

REPOST BC IT DIDN'T SHOW UP IN THE TAGS LAST TIME

i was wondering when i'd finally miss a day of this challenge HAHAHA, but here it iiiisssss! today's prompt is

Day 6: Artist & Model

from this prompts list. i cheated a bit, using a short story i submitted to a creative writing class in college, but i edited quite a bit of it (in the original, the guy is bound and the artist is a woman) bc i wanted to make the reader as gender neutral as i could.

this story is kinda my baby, but at the same time im tired of looking at it by myself and letting it rot unseen in my college files lol. it's probably still horrible tho, even if i did get a relatively high grade for that class HAHAHAHA. i'm putting all of it under the cut bc we going RIGHT TO IT

PAIRING: Lee Minhyuk x reader. GENRE: smut (bc there's bondage and ~feelings~), fic. WARNINGS: bondage, ropes, gagging, mild suggestiveness. WORD COUNT: 1,501.

---

Minhyuk loops the rope one last time around your wrists, the white cotton startlingly bright against your skin. The series of crisscrosses start from your elbows down, secured with a small knot you can easily pull on if you want to unravel the whole thing. Your arms are pulled back behind you, looking almost suspended in movement; the rope gives no leeway, no space to move even an inch.

“How is it?” Minhyuk asks, moving on all fours on the bed to check for any signs of discomfort on his friend’s face. It’s almost a relief to be looking away from the ropes, if he’s being honest. If he weren’t so worried about this being your first time with bondage, he’d probably just sit there and stare at the intersecting lines and patterns the ropes make, the way they dig into the plush of your arms. “Are you good?” he asks again, swallowing.

You shift and squirm, the sheets rustling underneath you as you adjust your position. You open and close your hands, move your shoulders to try and dislodge the ropes, but they won’t budge. While Minhyuk was securing you in the bond, you didn’t feel a pull at all—he was very gentle, and you were even worried the ties would be a little loose.

Obviously, that isn’t the case now, as here you are—donning shorts and a tank top, a gag in your mouth, and your arms securely tied at your back.

Your eyes meet Minhyuk’s and you nod, impressed and a little scared that your friend group’s resident funny man is the kinkiest person you know because, with the way the ropes are tied, the way he walked you through the whole process… it’s like he’s done it before, and multiple times.

But while the sudden realization is scary, it is also very, very hot, so you’re not complaining.

“All right, just stay like that,” Minhyuk says, and you watch him hop off the bed and scurry to the corner of the room to drag the broken-in armchair across the floor. He shifts it this way and that, just out of your field of vision, miniscule adjustments that he insists helps him sketch better. It isn’t the first time you’ve modeled for your partner, so this is all familiar territory.

The ropes and the cloth between your teeth are new, though.

You inhale deeply. Exhale. You try to make yourself comfortable in the pose Minhyuk directed you into, sitting with one leg tucked underneath the other like a mermaid. You’re definitely gonna be sore later.

The springs squeak in the armchair, and you see Minhyuk tucking himself into the seat while flipping to an empty page on his sketchbook. You ground yourself on the familiar sight; he really is pretty, with the sharp jaw and piercing eyes. Sometimes you wonder what it would be like to have any artistic talents, so you could draw him too. Alas, the best you can do to replicate his image is a stick man.

“You still good, Y/N?” he asks, and without waiting for an answer, starts sketching. You hear the faint scratches of the pencil on paper, some light and long, some quick and short with a fuller sound.

It’s quiet, as Minhyuk is always quiet when he draws. He told you once that the silence is calming, the sounds of nature and graphite on paper helping him concentrate. You don’t know how long it’s been since he started sketching—your phone is on the desk at the opposite wall, and the clock’s batteries have run out.

The rhythmic scratching of Minhyuk’s sketching overtakes your senses, makes you doze off. You only notice when you start drooping forward, and you have to stop yourself from plummeting face-first into the mattress.

You shake your head, shift slightly to wake yourself up, and—oh.

Shivers wrack your body. Your arms, stiff with disuse, tingle as the ropes dig into your flesh, and you tense as if trying to break free of the bonds. You feel the resistance of the rope and try to breathe in deeply, keeping the oxygen in your lungs before breathing out slowly. Your back curves forward as you exhale and you struggle keeping in the moan that threatens to erupt from the feel of the rope.

Minhyuk notices the movement and pauses his sketching, moving his canvas out of the way to peek at you. “You okay there, Y/N?”

You take in another deep breath and nod frantically, still facing the direction of the desk, still sitting there how he wants, obedient and pliant.

The next thing you know, the hair that’s fallen into your face is brushed away, and you lift your head to meet Minhyuk’s concerned face. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

A shaky nod.

“Really?”

Another nod, more resolved.

“We can stop if you want.”

You shake your head.

Minhyuk purses his lips, weighing whether or not to continue, and you feel a little guilty for worrying him, but you’re overwhelmed!

Finally he sighs. “Think you can wait like, five minutes? I’m almost done, babe.”

You let out a muffled “mhm”.

As soon as Minhyuk steps off the bed, you take another deep breath to compose yourself.

God, his fingers in your hair felt nice. Has it really been that long since you had any physical contact? It took everything in you to not lean into his touch, to not let out a sound, to not disobey him and keep still.

You close your eyes and crack your stiff neck, trying to relax once again. You will your breathing to slow and your body to move back into position, long enough for Minhyuk to finish the sketch. But with each second that passes, with each scratch of graphite that reaches your ears, it gets harder and harder to keep composed.

You can feel yourself sweat, and your thighs are shaking and tired from keeping your position. The rope restricting you feels tighter, its fibers digging into your skin—or is that just your imagination? Has it been five minutes or five hours? You’re not sure.

You take another breath—Is Minhyuk done yet?

The bed dips and you open your eyes. Minhyuk’s dark brown eyes look back at you, satisfied and grateful.

“You were really good, baby, thank you,” he says softly. A hand cups the back of your head and the other pulls down the cloth gag, leaving it to hang around your neck. Minhyuk leans forward and quickly kisses you on the lips.

“Can I get out of these now?” you said, voice hoarse and scratchy from disuse. You try swallowing spit, but it only makes your mouth drier.

Minhyuk snorts. “The sketch looks great, thanks for asking,” he jokes and rolls his eyes. “No joke, though, you look really beautiful like this.” He slowly, gently lifts you up, giving your aching thighs a reprieve and settling you on his lap. You feel his warm hands rub and massage your tender flesh as he smiles at you. “Kinda wanna just have my way with you right now.”

You whine, “You’re killing me here!” and he just answers with a laugh. You squirm, trying to loosen the ropes, but your muscles are jelly. You’re still wound up from being in the ropes too long; you just want to get out of them and hold him again, press kisses into his face and run your hands through his silky hair.

Minhyuk isn’t helping either—his hands are everywhere, squeezing at your waist, running over your still trapped arms, cradling your neck, slipping under your shirt. His lips are at your neck, pressing kisses up your jaw and your ears, further amplifying your need to just touch with your own two hands.

Is this what the girls feel like in all those pornos? The heat, the haze, the feeling of feeling everything and nothing at the same time?

“Man, you knew what you were doing when you asked me to model for you,” you say, voice catching on a moan as he lightly nips at your ear.

Minhyuk chuckles and pulls away, smooths a thumb across your lip. You tremble in his hold. “So…? Wanna have a go? We can just try it out, but if you want to stop in the middle, we’ll stop.”

Would you even want to, though? In the event that you say yes and play out a scene, would you really, voluntarily choose to stop?

Do you want to get out of these ropes? Yes. But do you also want to see what Minhyuk is going to do with you in these ropes?

… Also yes.

There isn’t a doubt right now that you’re really, really absurdly curious as to what Minhyuk has planned for you.

You take a deep, shaky breath and lick your lips, anticipation clear in your eyes. “Okay,” you say, letting him take the reins. But still, you press closer and give him a kiss as you whisper, “I’m all yours.”

[plush-rabbit]

What headcanons you have in request box actually? I'm really curious lol. Have nice day btw, I love your work!!!!!

Okay, so usually I put some in a doc and then like figure it out from there so if you've sent one in and haven't seen it, don't worry, it'll be done and added once I make a dent lmao. These are also a mix of hc and fics. Some I'm like part way through so ye

There also might be some that I might not do because its vague, like I'm given just the prompt and I don't know what to do with it or there's just no ideas that come to mind so I really am sorry.

Upcoming ones:

Met with Dia and he said “how else will you please me?” And I think it awoke something in me?? Can I request Diavolo with a bashful innocent MC and him just laying back and letting her have his way with him? But of course he’s a total dom so he’s gonna take control but just has a little fun letting her take the reins to start with? Hi. I just found your stuff and you write so well for Obey Me. Could I request a fic with Barbatos and a female MC? Maybe she's staying at the palace for whatever reason and when he goes to his room he hears her moaning his name so he checks on her but she's sleeping. The next day he hints that she must've had a good dream much to her dismay. That night he goes to her room and she's awake and they end up sleeping together. With some praise and maybe even some tail action. Thank you! Can I please get a uuuhhh possessive/borderline yandere Leon please :3c maybe it’s after a big match for her and everyone’s fawning over her and he steals her away and reminds her that she’s his? 💕✨ I saw those headcanons where Jin and Shigaraki became parental or sibling figures to the reader sooooooo how about headcanons of a fem!reader being a mother figure to the league? Just an ordinary citizen in her late twenties until she met the LOV unexpectedly, during the time where the league had to hide and the reader's place is conveniently open (then again I'm sure they'd bust in if it wasn't) and she didn't rat them out. This happened quite a lot of times to the point where the reader is used to it by now and just lets them in, even if they weren't hiding from anyone and just wants to stay for the night. When she got closer to the league, she starts to show care and love for them in a way a mother would the reader isn't a member of the league, but they already consider her as family :'D I just really want them to get care and love since they've been through so much Last week I literally sat down and read your writing for like an hour and a half LOL It’s just really good and I love your characterization! I was wondering if I could request Twice and Shigaraki with an s/o who tries to be cute and surprise them by wearing their clothes when they return from a mission but maybe the clothes are a bit too snug cuz they’re a little pudgy :( could also be nsfw if you’re ok with that!! Thank you so much 💜💜 I like the Lucky!Cat!reader hc. Could you do some for the LOV, with a Male Cat s/o? Thank you! You're the best!! I've been obsessing about flowers and their meanings or what they symbolize soooooo. How would the LOV react to their s/o giving them a certain flower and then finding out what the flower means/symbolizes? Hope this passes! It's a request for OM. Can I have headcanons of the brothers + Diavolo (if you don't mind) of their s/o dancing "Paradise Lost" by GAIN? Provided you a link to the video for reference 😁: https://youtu.be/4i32ANEa5mk Headcanons where the LOV has an s/o whose like a literal ball of sunshine. Always happy and bubbly, smiling and laughing, they just seem to epitome of joy. Until one day, they just break down, being so emotionally drained from different factors that they can keep up the act of being happy anymore Last week I literally sat down and read your writing for like an hour and a half LOL It’s just really good and I love your characterization! I was wondering if I could request Twice and Shigaraki with an s/o who tries to be cute and surprise them by wearing their clothes when they return from a mission but maybe the clothes are a bit too snug cuz they’re a little pudgy :( could also be nsfw if you’re ok with that!! Thank you so much 💜💜 hey!! hru? i have a question do you think shigaraki would like a threesome? what if his s/o didn’t want one bc she’s like possessive of him (in a non toxic way) hey plush, can you do a reader x Shiggy and Dabi whos crying to them/grabbing their shirts and burring themselves into shiggy and dabi/ about their verbally abusive ex, how theyre so different from them, so much nicer and softer, how they(the reader) never thought they could be loved or deserved kindness? its been one of those days, i just need some comfort. thank you♡ heyy!! ^^ can i request some headcanons for hawks reacting to his female s/o belly dancing for him? :3 Heyo this is beetle juice anon idk if u remember me I’m the person who said shiggy sounds like beetle juice, I swear I couldn’t get that thought out of my head so can I request shiggy and reader getting hit by a quirk that forces them to do a musically ( idk I just want shiggy to sing honestly lmaoooo) idk maybe both of them being shocked that both of them can sing hey, i absolutely adore your writing! i love going through all your work, they’re my comfort fics! 💞 i was wondering if you would mind writing something for tomura with an s/o who is insecure about her body and how skinny she is? she feels too flat, like she doesn’t have enough curves or that she’s grown into her body enough and it makes her feel less of a woman, that tomura could do better. and it makes her anxious when it comes to initimacy and being exposed to him because in her eyes he’s so perfectly handsome and she just feels inadequate... it’s something i’ve had to deal with pretty much my entire life, getting called names like stick insect and coat hanger, but lately it’s been eating away at me more and more. you can totally ignore this if you feel uncomfortable writing about this stuff, though! 💕 So, like. Hear me out. What if, with Bakugou and Dabi (separate) : MC is super innocent and cute, blushes at the slightest flirt, and “doesn’t get” dirty jokes, but as soon as they’re alone with their s/o? They are the kinkiest most vulgar bottom they’ve ever seen. Nipples pierced, collar under the turtleneck, chain strung between the piercings and the collar, all out kinda slut. The duality of man. (Gender neutral) Hello so may i request shigaraki with a s.o whos warm loving and protective and very innocent basically a s.o whos like mitsuri kanroji both personality and look wise Female pronouns,maybe they are out on a date getting ice cream and the s.o is so happy shiggy came, they hold hands and people start giving him odd looks only for her to stand up to the bullies who are saying things about shigaraki, it ends with her kissing him infront of everyone to prove a point,and when the get home she tells him she doesnt care what people think and makes love to him topping hin while telling him all the reasons she fell inlove with him,(omg im so sorrry its so long if you have tpo many requests or dont like the idea please tell me) hey, i absolutely adore your writing! i love going through all your work, they’re my comfort fics! 💞 i was wondering if you would mind writing something for tomura with an s/o who is insecure about her body and how skinny she is? she feels too flat, like she doesn’t have enough curves or that she’s grown into her body enough and it makes her feel less of a woman, that tomura could do better. and it makes her anxious when it comes to initimacy and being exposed to him because in her eyes he’s so perfectly handsome and she just feels inadequate... it’s something i’ve had to deal with pretty much my entire life, getting called names like stick insect and coat hanger, but lately it’s been eating away at me more and more. you can totally ignore this if you feel uncomfortable writing about this stuff, though! 💕 could we get a fem reader cock warming Dabi throughout the night and get morning sex >//< // ik youre a busy bee so dont feel obligated to rush or anything, take ur time plushie!♡ can we please get a shiggy x reader and the reader asks him to teach her how to game and she ends up being better than him and whatnot (inspired by that “a simple wager”) fic (if you ever decide to make a sequel to that i will ve DECEASED Can I request a sub shigaraki with a mommy kink getting pegged by the reader ( I just want to make him beg and cry honestly) reader is a female Omh give us noncon/somno w scary eraserhead plsss / aizawa and aphrodisiac smut pwease ( ；∀；) Overhaul and Chrono punishing quirkless reader for being an undercover reporter/agent but like orgasm denial... (Idk if you write this stuff but anyways do it if you want have a nice night) Can I request something like “Peaches and Cream” but with Piers instead? I know you’re busy with other requests, so don’t worry if you don’t have time for this one! I love love your writing!!! Hello beautiful can I just say how amazing ur writing is loll, can I request shigaraki having a crush on the reader and she knows about it, like one day shiggy just goes to her room when there on a mission and just steals her stuff and humps her pillows, but she has cameras in her room so she saw everything, long story short she shows him the videos and humiliates him (shiggy of course a mess and is close to crying from how embarrassing that is, lowkey turned on ) the reader takes care of him ( sorry I’m really bad at endings 🙏🏻😅) the reader pegs him until he’s a crying mess. By the way the reader is a female and shigaraki is a sub has a mommy kink and the reader is dom of that’s ok of course I love your writing!! May I ask for Diavolo x F!Reader with borderline disorder? 👉👈.. Lately it has been very difficult for me to deal with this alone and Diavolo is mine comfort character.. (NSFW Talk, If your a minor..then why are you even reading this?? Get off this 18+ page?? Anyways-). I am a huge sucker for overstimulation, biting and crying, (many of my past partners have called me a sadist-) and I just 𝑎𝑑𝑜𝑟𝑒 the idea of Tamaki’s cute face streaming with tears and drool as Male Reader vigorously overstims the fuck out of him. And he would look so 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑦 with his mouth gaping open in a silent scream of overwhelming pleasure because M!Reader gave his sensitive dick a handjob while he roughly railed Tamaki’s pretty little ass. (While abusing the fuck out of his G Spot, of course). I can just imagine him squirming and begging for mercy while M!Reader lovingly wrecks his body, taking him hard & fast in multiple different positions with each one making Tamaki wail with pleasure. He’s just so adorable, I just wanna see him get 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑝~ Lusty ❤︎ -Anon. Bonus Points if you could have M!Reader be super fuckin tall, muscular, strong and also be absolutely PACKING. (This man has a godly dick, and it’s honestly a surprise Tamaki can take it so well without literally breaking in half) ahhhh hewwo could you maybe write something with dbd ghostface going full apotheosis for his crush? as in,, he starts to elevate her to a status of divinity and even when she's just cowering in fear in front of him or conversely stabbing him and causing him lots of pain he just keeps viewing her as some sort of deity and  can't stop obsessing over her and wanting more from her

Again. I deeply apologize for not doing some. I wish I could, but (and this is not to guilt trip any of yall or anything, I understand that it'll sound like that it but it ain't it) sometimes the work I put into something and the feedback I get is sometimes not it. Like I'll work hard and get nothing and listen, I get it, its fanfic, there's a bit more stigma to it rather than art but yeah. Its a ramble, and basically, I don't wanna put work into something that I'll only get a few likes on. So yeah. Agains this isn't guilt tripping, I get it. I'm a consumer of it and I get the gist of it but yeah. More thoughts later, when I can properly sit and write as I am currently in a home depot 

[katie-writes24]

Should’ve Asked For A Name

Pairing: John Laurens x reader

Warnings: Language, lots of confusion, innuendos, fluff, just bro’s being bro’s, but wait-there’s more

Request: Oh shit, sure! I'd love to see what you would do with this prompt :) I'm thinkin like John and Reader met each other through social media and they're just vibin. John wants to get to know Reader more but has always thought Reader was a dude bc they're typing and sending memes like the absolute homesicle HAHHAHAA Then they meet up irl and he's like "oh shit--" Lmk in dms if ya need more shit jajajajaja or want to talk, I'm down to talk You should totally listen to Anthony's music - @yes-this-account-is-dead

So this took WAY longer then I meant for it to, but ngl I was struggling a little bit. But I hope this is what you were looking for, I even played with the fake text messages! So...yeah, I got some more stuff on the way I’m excited to share. Hope you all enjoy, let me know if you wanna be tagged!

July, 1st

@ johnlaurens33

If I see one more god damn thread on why turtles are useless I’m going to SCREAM!

@ y/u/n

I got you bud *insert thread of why turtles are magnificent creatures”

@ johnlaurens33

you made my night 🥺

July 3rd

@ johnlaurens33

Another day, another hour of telling Alex that coffee is not considered acceptable as an actual meal. Fifty bucks for whoever volunteers to babysit. Must make sure he is fed regularly and is in bed by 9pm sharp!

@ y/u/n

Where can I apply? And a further question: is it acceptable to use forceful methods to keep him in place? 🤔

@ johnlaurens33

Despite the innuendo, yes, you can. I will send you an application immediately.

July 8th

Via Direct Message:

@ johnlaurens33- so I gotta ask, Marvel or DC

@ y/u/n- You GOTTA ask?

@ johnlaurens33- I meannn it’s an ice breaker, you gotta admit

@ y/u/n- captain america can surely make me patriotic

@ johnlaurens33 - Really? But what about the comics?

@ y/u/n - Marvel HAVE comics. They have a better plot, too. You’re gonna compare justice league to the avengers?? Seriously dude?!

@ johnlaurens33- you know what?

@ johnlaurens33- i don’t think this friendship is gonna last very long.

July 16th

July 19th

@ y/u/n

I would kill for a drink right now. Like not the type of drink that will have me forget my problems, but the kind that actually makes me fix my problems...or at least care about them?

@ johnlaurens33

Do you mean...like alcohol? Or coffee? Or DayQuil? Or....

@ y/u/n

All of the above yes

@ johnlaurens33

Well that’s not therapeutic, or like promising if you actually care about your life.

August 2nd

@ johnlaurens33

@ y/u/n is a real one, knows just how to make the night better.

@ y/u/n

Damn :,)

August 5th

August 23rd

John looked around as he entered the bar. It wasn’t that busy, but he still had a hard time trying to find the guy he was meeting up with. John texted him ten minutes upon arriving that he was dressed in purple shirt and a black jacket, so that he would know where to find him.

John went up to the counter and ordered a beer, sitting at a stool on the end and watched the screen above him.

Ten minutes pass and he starts to get anxious; he was so excited to finally meet the person he was talking to for the past four months. They’ve grown close, and John likes that he can be so open about anything when they talk. There was something comforting about telling someone who doesn’t know about your past. It was a fresh slate.

“John?” He turned to find a woman approaching him. She had a soft smile and hopeful, kind eyes. Despite her beauty, he didn’t recognize her.

“Yeah?” John raised a brow and watched as her smile grew.

“Hi, I’m Y/N, it’s nice to finally meet you!” She pulled up a chair next to him and waved down the bartender to order a drink.

Frozen in his seat, John looked around the bar, just checking to see if there was a guy looking for him. Because this...this wasn’t right.

He’s been talking to a girl; he was so focused on how casual the guy- girl was that he didn’t even think twice about their gender.

Not that it really mattered, it just...he was so care free about who he was talking to. If he had known he was talking to a girl, then he would’ve probably been his usual cocksure self, talking more sufficiently or maybe even flirting.

“Sorry I was late,” Y/N pulled off her jacket and set it over the back fo her chair. “There was lots of traffic and I don’t really know this place well enough to walk alone.”

“No, no worries,” John stumbled with his words and scratched his the back of his head. “Uh...how was your trip up here?”

“Ugh, long,” She chuckled and sipped on her beer as the waiter set it in front of her. “The plane ride was exhausting. And I forgot how annoying the whole airport system is. I showed up an hour early just for my flight to be delayed for three hours.”

“Damn, that sucks,” John winced and she shruggedhopelessly. “So, what are you in town for?”

“For work, there’s a position that’s opening in one of the branches and my manager thought it would be the perfect fit for me.” Her smile was bright, John noticed that right away. “So, you know if all goes well, maybe...you might see me around more often?”

“Well, that wouldn’t be a bad thing, now would it?” John laughed and clinked his bottle against hers.

They fell into easy conversation after that, talking about their jobs, their dreams. Y/N didn’t bring up John’s family, which he had recently told her that things weren’t good at the moment. John made sure to remind Y/N that it was awful that she didn’t appreciate sushi. They laughed as they told stories about college.

John realized that he liked taking to Y/N, he felt she understood him in a way. Now that he knows that she’s a she, it doesn’t really change anything. It’s still the same Y/N he talked to on the phone. And he was himself when he talked to her.

When they were walking out hours later, John sighed and realized he didn’t want the night to end.

“Hey, I know you’re quite busy when you’re in town, but...I don’t know, if you’re free, maybe we could go see a movie or something?” He glanced at the sidewalk, avoiding her gaze.

Y/N smirked at his shy attitude, but nodded nonetheless. “I’d like that. As long as it’s the new Marvel movie.”

John scoffed, finally looking up, “Well, then you’d have to come over and watch a decent superhero movie. Like...any DC movie.”

Y/N laughed and nodded, “I’m down for that.”

She’d rearrange her schedule ten different times if it meant that she’d spend more time with John.

Let me know if you want to be tagged!!!

@dontblinkumightmiss @etjt1821

[uwu-shinsou]

First,,,, CONGRATS ON 500 BB!! YOU DESERVED IT!! And uhhh if it's not much a bother can I request Shinsou Hitoshi with 6 and 13 (if it's alright! If youre not comfortable with doing it you can do whatever youre comfortable with, I care abt your well being more than the fic that Im requesting) and I dont really uh care if its hc or a drabble or smth cuz im inlove with anything and everything that you make! Again congrats! Have a nice day :))

Title: Whatever You Say

Prompt: Accidental Text, Hate-to-Love

Warning(s): Mild language

Pairing: Shinsou Hitoshi X Gender Neutral!Reader

Genre: Drabble, working through feelings

Word Count: 1.3K

A/N: THANK YOU ISSA!! 🥺💖I’m so glad you requested!! Bc I’m trying to keep these shorter like “drabbles” I had a hard time doing like,, full on hate to love so this is more like resentment to friends with implications of hidden feelings?? AHAHA but uhhh yeah, I hope you all enjoy 🥺and in case you missed it, my last year of college has started, so I will be updating less frequently, but I will still be around and writing and vibing!🤗

500 Event Masterlist

✿ .✿ .✿ .✿ .✿

Oh shit.

You flew down the hall, bursting into Kaminari’s bedroom without knocking. The blonde sat up quickly at your intrusion, but relaxed slightly upon seeing it was you.

“What’s up speed racer?” He joked, folding his legs up to make room for you on the bed. You walked up to the side of the bed, dropping your knees on the edge and falling forward face-down onto the covers.

“I messed up, Denki,” You groaned, rolling over onto your back and staring at the ceiling. “I sent a text to Shinsou-”

He let out a little snort. “Now that’s unusual.”

“Yeah,” You agreed. “Because it was a text that was not meant for him.” 

“It couldn’t have been that bad, right?” He asked, now a little nervous. You couldn’t blame him. You and Kaminari had clicked instantly at the beginning of your first year at U.A., and now you’d pretty much consider him your best friend, and you his. But come the end of first year, with the trial and following announcement that Shinsou Hitoshi, general ed student, would be transfering into the hero course- and more specifically- your class, Kaminari Denki had seemed to collect himself yet another best friend. 

And you had made your first rival.

You hadn’t wanted to. But when you had first heard about Shinsou’s quirk, people couldn’t help but compare it to yours. As long as you maintained skin to skin contact, you could command another person to do anything that you wanted. Paired with your athletic background (which started when you were young, at the insistence of your parents that it’d “prepare you for hero training”) you were clearly the superior “mind control” student. You didn’t understand why another one was needed in the hero course. Wasn’t he just fine being in the general course?

But of course he had to join class 2A, become Aizawa’s favorite, and start to steal the attention of your best friend.

But Kaminari was his own person, and he made his own choices about when he hung out with the two of you. It really wasn’t fair to put him in the middle of your mess of feelings. And even though he was Shinsou’s friend, you knew he would keep your secrets.

You turned onto your side to look at him. “Here just- read this.” You shoved your phone at him. He took it in his hand, his face contorting into a grimace as he read your mistake once, twice, three times.

“...Why the hell did you send him this?” You slapped your hands against your face in embarrassment and despair. He mockingly cleared his throat. “‘Can you believe purple hair beat me in today’s exercise? Why does he have to basically have my quirk? If he wasn’t so hot I’d be really pissed.’” Kaminari let out a whistle. “Wow, now there is a lot to unpack here, hun.”

You winced. “Yeah, that text was supposed to go to Mina, but I mean- fucking hell, I don’t know?” You ran your hands over your face. “I guess I somehow just clicked the wrong contact and instead it went to him! And it’s even worse that he hasn’t responded about it yet.” You’d never outright said to Shinsou that you disliked him, but you had to assume he knew, and felt the same way about you.

“I didn’t know you thought he was hot,” Kaminari said, wiggling his eyebrows. You launched a pillow at him that he ducked. 

“C’mon, anyone with a brain can see that he’s attractive,” You muttered. “It’s the same as Todoroki, or maybe Bakugou if you took away some of the attitude.”

He let out a sigh. “Yeah you’re right.” After a moment of silence he pressed your phone back into your hand. “Anyways, I think the best approach would be to sort it out face to face. Texting can make things too muddled sometimes.”

“Since when did you have so much wisdom?” 

He nudged you with a knee. “Hey, there’s a reason you came running to me.”

“I suppose you’re right.” It’ll probably be really awkward and not fun, but you should try to explain yourself in person.

Which is how you found yourself on the outskirts of the woods by the dorm buildings watching Shinsou workout, your presence still unnoticed as his back was turned to you. Kaminari had directed you here, knowing that his friend often trained here on his own. 

Suddenly he relaxed his stance, speaking without turning around. “What, you got more to say to me than what was in that text?”

You gritted your teeth at his words. What is up with his attitude!? “Yeah, well maybe I do.” You crossed your arms, shifting most of your weight onto one foot.

Shinsou glanced over his shoulder. “Sucks for you, I’m busy.” He reached down to the ground and slung his towel over his shoulder. “Since my quirk is clearly inferior to yours, I need to keep training.” You winced slightly at his words.

“Hey, I never said it like that-”

“Yeah, well you didn’t have to.” He sighed before turning to face you fully. “Look, I get it, you feel like I’m trying to take your spot here at U.A. Well just- don’t worry about it, okay? I’ll stay out of your way.”

As he began walking away, you found yourself stepping after him. “Shinsou, it’s not fair to phrase it that way.”

He stopped and turned to face you once more. “What do you know about ‘not fair’?” Shinsou took a step closer to you. “‘Not fair’ is getting into the general class, only to see someone just like me being praised for their power in the hero course. ‘Not fair’ is working as hard as I can to make my dreams come true, only to find out that I still have to compete against you. ‘Not fair’ is wanting to so desperately hate you for it all, but I can’t. Not when I see your strength, your power, your drive and ambition, and I can’t help but admire it. Admire you.” He let out a soft snort of mock amusement to himself. “I do kind of hate you for that, though.”

You stood there in silence. What do I even say to that? Shinsou watched you warily, waiting for a reaction.

“I don’t hate you, not really,” You said slowly. As good a place to start as any. “Resented you, yes, but hate is a strong word.” As you continued talking, your mouth let more and more words spill out, words you didn’t even know you had wanted to say. “And yeah, I was worried that you’d ‘take my spot’ or whatever, but I think that was the competitive nature of this school getting to me. They support friendly competition between students, but maybe I took that too much to heart.” You toed at the ground, slowly looking up to meet his eyes. “I was worried about you joining our class because I think you have amazing control over your quirk and you’re really talented. You really do have the potential to be an incredible hero. And I think… I’d like it better if we were friends, instead of pitting ourselves against each other.”

As you waited for Shinsou’s response, you started to get antsy. Why do I care so much about what he’s going to say?

Finally he answered. “Alright. Friends is a good place to start.” He held his hand out to you, as if to shake on it. Hesitatingly you reached out, your fingers firmly grasping his. He tightened his grip. “Should we also acknowledge that you said I was hot in your text?”

His words brought on a wave of nerves, and you yanked your hand back as if it were on fire. “That- That was a typo!” He began walking back towards the dorms with you hurrying to catch up to him.

As you matched his stride, he huffed out a laugh and sent you a knowing smile. “Sure, whatever you say.”

[exciting]

As requested, books / series I read in 2020 in the order I read them, with a few brief thoughts. (This took me a hot second because there are a few and also I moved cities) Should I keep a consistent goodreads? Yes I should but I didn’t think of that at the time, so bone apple teeth & sorry if I offend you abt your faves x

P.S. I can’t figure out how to do a read more on mobile so long post ahead!

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas - This is one of the most vivid published fantasy books I have ever read... I read it twice in rapid succession. The fandom POPS off. I must say I have issues with certain aspects e.g. fae lore completely ignored à la Twilight, all love interests 500+ years old and technically a different species, etc (I’m not going to deconstruct the entire series here but just know that I could... Nesta deserves better)

Cruel Prince by Holly Black - This fucking slaps, HB clearly has done her research, the lore is near immaculate, and it explores the Fae in such a unique way, tying it to the modern world subtly and seamlessly. My only qualm was that the books felt quite short; truly wish there had been more content.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas (6/7) - So basically I read this in one single, hyperfixated fit which meant I literally locked myself in my room for three days straight and read all six books back to back in a row from morning to the wee hours. Which is not to say it was spectacular; although it was a VERY rich world, sometimes it was too much... this felt like 6 stories in one. Ik she was young when she wrote this but it is my humble opinion that SJM needs a better editor & I personally think Rowan is a grade A asshole / straight up abusive (& personally think the ACOTAR Tamlin plot was born from that?). It’s good but not as good as ACOTAR. Skip-read the last book. 

Grishaverse (Shadow and Bone) by Leigh Bardugo (3) - This is essential to read before SOC but was very much simply a YA fantasy book, although the world was cool and the way the love plot played out was, imo, a subtle middle finger to the fantasy trope. Felt very much aimed at younger readers though? Really liked the sandwhich structure of the Proluge and Epilogue, especially in #2

Six of Crows series by Leigh Bardugo (2) - INCREDIBLE continuation of Grishaverse, better than the original series by a mile. It has the range, the diversity, the representation (the male lead is a disabled asexual and still the most cunning of the entire cast of characters), the plot is phenomenal, and it manages such a well rounded plot in only two books which means nothing is stretched out or squeezed in more than need be. Deserves all the praise it gets.

King of Scars series by Leigh Bardugo (0.5/1) - Personally I don’t consider this book canon, and while it’s nice to see the rest of Nina’s journey & the world again & everyone else, I don't like it. I will, however, be reading book 2 when it comes out, so shame on me, I suppose.

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo (1/1) - this was incredibly cool although it went off in a completely different direction than I thought it would based off the first few chapters? One of my favourite YA-author-debuts-New-Adult novels in 2020 though!

Crescent City by Sarah J Maas (1/1) - This was supposed to be SJM/s New Adult debut, although personally I would put her other series in New Adult, and I can’t say a remarkable amount was different with this except they said “fuck” and “ass” a lot. WHY is the romantic interest 500 years old AGAIN. I just... don’t... I just don’t think it was necessary... the world was cool though, and the last half of the book was riveting, but the beginning was quite slow and I thought the sword thing was predictable. I am interested to see where this goes though.

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab (3) - This world is so fucking cool... four Londons aka parallel universes & the one in ‘our’ world is set in industrial era London. Magic, girls dressing up as boys, thieves, pirates, royalty... it all just slaps. Schwab is an incredible writer & I was completely immersed.

Midnight Sun by SMeyer - I didn’t think anything could possibly detract even further from the Twilight story but I was sorely mistaken... seeing the stalking from Edward’s POV - and it was worse than depicted in Twilight, for the record - completely obliterated any sort of romance the first half of the original book may have portrayed. I still hold the opinion that the entire series would have been better if some kind of vampire lore had been abided by, if only to see all of the villains thwarted by someone dropping a bag of rice on the ground, forcing them to have to count them all.

An ember in the Ash by Sabaa Tahir  (3/4) - This was just a very stereotypical ya fantasy series, emphasis on the YOUNG... it wasn’t anything to write home about but I remember quite enjoying it at the time. 

The Power by Naomi Alderman - This book is FUCKING incredible and EXCEPTIONALLY thought provoking... essentially women alone develop a power of electric shock etc. and then take over the world from men, and it explores feminism and the balance between equality & tipping the scales in the other direction. Written by a friend of M.Atwood in a similar tone to handmaids tale, I would say? Content warning; there are some exceptionally graphic scenes in the latter half of the novel. 

Hamlet by Wllm Shksp - I can’t believe it took me this long to finally read it but Ophelia is my favourite name in the entire world & we love to see a woman go batshit (although she didn’t deserve that). 

Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas - this was unsettling in the best sense of the word... it was a little slow & honestly more of a concept than a big reveal, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it after I finished it? A Secret History vibes but make it blurry like the memory of all those dystopian novels you read when you were young?

The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue by V.E. Schwab - This is without a doubt my book of the year, and probably the best book I read in 2020? I stayed up all night on a friend’s couch reading it, got a book hangover and reread the ending, and then thrust it upon my mother who doesn’t usually read but read this, and loved it just as much. HIGHLY recommend and you HAVE to read it, it’s beautiful and endearing and just plain wonderful.

Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat (3/3) - I went into this knowing it was going to be terrible, because I had received a blow by blow telling me as much; although I must say that it did learn a remarkable amount of new words, the books did get better as the series went on, and it did have a rather charming ending? BIG content warning for almost everything.

Sapiens by Yuval Harari - mind-expanding & must recommend for everyone, there is everything in this and I daresay everyone should posses this kind of knowledge? I listened to it as an audiobook (which I recommend because it’s rather hearty) but will be buying this in hardcopy & rereading it with annotations. 

Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller - Without a doubt, one of the most beautiful novels I have ever read, and certainly the most beautiful portrayal of the story of Achilles and the battle of Troy I have ever seen. Patroclus deserved the justice that was given to him in this book; indeed, all of the characters were written with justice and grace. Highly recommend.

Trials of Apollo by Rick Riordan (3/5) - Apollo is my favourite Greek God, and the sexiest greek god, and Rick Riordan’s writing slaps, as always. It did pain me to see Apollo, the sexy immortal, have to be forced back into a 16 year old’s body but everything else? Whimsical & wonderful, as expected. 

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong - a retelling of Romeo and Juliette, except it’s set in Shanghai in the 1920′s, and the protagonists already have a history. Very well done, characters are incredibly diverse in race, sexual orientation, gender, and ability / disability (and honestly, representation has never appeared so effortless and elegant). Also it includes a monster and possible magic. Incredibly underrated and highly recommend.

The Once and Future Witches by Alix. E Harrow - this was such a unique concept, and truly captivating, the story was charming, and felt like the kind of beautiful fairytale you would read as children but with more grit? ABSOLUTELY recommend this one

The Pisces by Melissa Broder - I hated this so much, not my vibe at all. Mermaid smut x therapy but make it cynical and judgemental (I know there was a moral in there but that’s not my point) also the dog dies.

Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith (1/2) - really interesting & unique concept (all unwritten novels / ideas reside in a special library that is part of Hell and then sometimes the books can come to life) however, my first thought upon reading this was “this reads as if it’s stemmed from one of those writing prompt tumblr posts” bc of the tone and whatever and as it turns out I was somewhat correct, it did stem from a short story (not bad just obvious). It did kind of settle down as it went on but I found reading it kind of a drag, and I don’t think I will read the second one.

Abandon by Meg Cabot - 1. Meg Cabot’s writing always fucking slaps 2. Hades and Persephone but make it modern & very 2000′s & somehow kind of unique 3. I literally loved this, sue me

Medusa Girls (Sweet Venom) by Tera Childs - Like Percy Jackson except they are descendants of Medusa so they are Gorgons and have fangs & venom (hence the title). Gave me very 2000′s vibes? Quite cool but tbh I found the books quite short (like two hours each, if that)? Do NOT read the GoodReads description of the book before you read it, you will spoil it for yourself.

Bring me their Hearts by Sara Wolf - In my opinion, this is one of the most underrated YA series I read in 2020. The heroine is endearing, self aware, witty, and loves to look pretty even while kicking ass which in my opinion is an incredibly underrated trait. Also, immortality without being hundreds of years old? VERY sexy. HIGHLY recommend. 

A Deal with the Elf King by Elise Kova - High commendation to be given for the fact that it is a standalone and yet manages to fit in the plot of what would usually be a full fantasy trilogy without cutting corners or being a million miles long? Also sweet storyline & beautiful ending? If you liked ACOTAR you should read this as a “what would have / could have been had SJM had a different editor” (No shade I promise).

The Iron Fae by Julie Kagawa (4/4 + novellas) - Incredibly detailed faerie set around the modern world & our current use of technology & iron in it. Very neat adventure-style series, by the time I read the last novella I was well and truly done with the world (aka provided enough content to be fulfilling). Was definitely aimed at a younger audience though, NO smut / smut was brushed over.

The Modern Faerie Tales by Holly Black (3/3 SS) - This is technically the prequel to Cruel prince, set in the modern world, but with the fae world inside it as it traditional? All I have to say is that it is excellent & I highly recommend it.

Bridgerton series (The Duke and I) by Julia Quinn (9/9) - I read this after watching the Netflix show twice through and I am obsessed, although the books were not quite as elegant as the show, and some parts that made me cringe either by their portrayal (it is very firmly set in the 19th century and thus some things are not handled with tact or grace), the characters were exceptionally loveable and I am so excited to see where the show takes them! Lovely language & an abundance of words I had never seen before (always a plus).