#just so I can keep all the miscellaneous stuff together though

[egginfroggin]

Imagine...

Emmet is transported to Hisui.

He became five or six years old.

When he comes back, Ingo learns that he will now become a father.

Extremely late answer, sorry, Anon.

I feel that Arceus would get punched by a very irate Subway Boss in that scenario, I love it.

This has spawned many words in the master document, as my brain has decided to positively gnaw on this idea, and alas, nothing is finished yet, so have a bit of worldbuilding and some drawings in the meantime.

Worldbuilding and close-ups under the cut, and please click on the images for better quality.

And again, thank you so much for the ask, Anon, this was really fun! ^^

Pencil sketches:

first doodle of the Little Guy

height comparisons to further emphasize the "Little" part of the Little Guy

a) Akari and Rei making the mistake of turning their backs on Emmet for 0.5 seconds as he notices something off-camera b) the twins continuing to talk, oblivious to Emmet's act of absconding c) the twins turning around to talk to their teeny charge d) swift baseball bat of Realization at the Emmet-shaped absence in their immediate vicinity

Pen sketches (part of a page of sketches that were otherwise unrelated, hence the numbering):

3. a very happy lil man, despite the oversized hat 4. he skrungle scribble 5. who's he looking at? who knows

Digital art:

Emmet craves violence. Akari and Rei are used to this (featuring: probably the best expressions I've ever drawn)

he's a bit older now, but still smaller than his evolved starter; Typhlosion can tell his soul is older, but he is physically small, so she abuses his lack of height to shower him in affection

an internal mess of conflicting instincts, thoughts, and emotional maturity, but Arceus's plan is set in motion, and there's nothing Emmet can do about it

Worldbuilding:

Emmet got shrunk on his way to Hisui, due to the Rift's distorted power affecting him on the way out; he lands on Prelude Beach, drowning in his Depot Agent uniform now that he is teeny tiny

Arceus, panicking a little bit, communicates more directly with Emmet, urging him along on his mission

Emmet's memories are messed up, and his conduct is an odd combination of a child and an adult. By which I mean he can be disconcertingly clever and mature, but also the poutiest little guy with a habit of crying

Young age plus being overwhelmed plus stress equals one mute boi; this does not change his penchant for causing Problems

Jubilife is a lot more lenient with him because of how young he is, but Laventon, Cyllene, and Kamado suspect that he isn't supposed to be like this due to how he was found

Emmet is in an awkward position as far as finding living conditions go, being too odd for most parents to want to take in but also much too young to live on his own

Akari and Rei are assigned babysitters. Let the stressing and development of gray hairs commence

Emmet is Perfectly Behaved and causes no Problems at all, of course, why would he? Why would he?

(He bolts for the gates the moment Akari opens the door in the morning) (Ress caught him)

After sending Emmet home, Arceus shortly feels a distinct feeling of being in danger

After finding out that his brother has been shrunk and not fixed, Ingo fixes metaphorical (and perhaps literal) crosshairs on the back of Arceus's head

Arceus may be in danger

Close-ups of the digital art:

(Program used for the digital sketches: Krita; time taken: about 90 minutes)

Thank you for reading all of this! I hope you have a wonderful, blessed day. :>

[em1e]

⠀ ⠀ ༝ i had all and then most of you, some and now none of you. take me back to the night we met.

⠀ ⠀バジ // THE NIGHT WE MET ⠀ ༝ ༝ baji keisuke ⠀ ༝ ༝ 3.5k words ⠀ ༝ ༝ angst xp things were looking a little to happy here ⠀ — baji hasn’t changed. won’t. not for you, not for anyone else.

     ༝ march 16, 2011

moving his stuff into boxes shouldn’t sting as much as it does. 

old t-shirts, framed pictures, small gifts exchanged for anniversaries . . . a stupid necklace that took weeks for you to take off after you initiated the no-contact. 

it all goes into cardboard boxes, taped shut and shoved into the farthest corner of your apartment waiting to be picked up. you leave a text to the now unsaved number saying everything was packed, and sit on your couch anxiously waiting for a reply. 

the ding of your phone makes you jump, realizing your apartment was much quieter than you thought. you pull your lip between your teeth, unsure if it’s worth it to actually check it. it’s been over a month, your previous message ingrained in your memory. 

please don’t message me again.         read 2/10/11 

you hold your breath and quickly flip your phone face-up. like ripping off a band-aid, you remind yourself, though your eyes are screwed shut. it’s not like the message would even be marked as read through your homescreen, but the anxiety coursing through your veins is relentless. 

forcing yourself to exhale, you tap the screen twice to wake it up, and read the message as quickly as your eyes allow. it’s easy, given all it reads is an “Okay.” followed by a thumbs up. 

that itself leaves you with a pit in your stomach, bunching your shirt in your fists and taking a minute to just sit and breath. nothing bad would come out of this, right? no arguments, no reviving the flame, nothing that shouldn’t be allowed. he’ll grab the boxes, pile them some way onto his bike, and leave without a word. 

you’re trying to convince yourself baji could have changed, in some way, in the last month. that he’d finally learned when to shut his big mouth and keep it that way. 

a small part of you nags yourself. it’s a stupid thing to think. baji hasn’t changed. won’t. not for you, not for anyone else. but that part of you still hopes, prays that maybe he has. 

the knock that follows a few hours later startles you, well aware he was coming at some point, but not when. you wipe your hands on your sweats, pausing your prep for dinner to go unlock the door. you close your eyes for a second, take in a small breath and exhale. like ripping off a band-aid. you twist the knob and pull the door open. 

a mop of black hair fills your vision, and the sight of him leaves your chest twisting with an ache. you stare at each other for a second, before you’re taking a step back wordlessly, suddenly very awkward in your own home. 

he comes in and looks around, eyes scanning over the little changes he can notice - the framed pictures you guys took are missing from your walls and it makes the room look so much emptier. they snap to you when you reach to anxiously play with the necklace he gave, very aware of any movement your figure seems to make, and a ghost of a frown falls onto his lips when your fingers find nothing to grab. you try to play it off as scratching at your chest, but he knows just as well as you do. 

he’s always been good at reading you. 

you clear your throat, nodding to the corner where three boxes sit neatly stacked together, “everything’s over there.” 

your own voice sounds foreign to you. so soft, quiet, as if you breaking the silence would be the end of anything and everything you’ve been building back up since things ended. 

he’s almost surprised, seeing that he left so much behind when he thought he’d packed everything he had. part of him supposes it’s other miscellaneous things the two of you have gathered over the years, and he’s glad chifuyu at the very least let him bring the van from the pet shop so he wouldn’t have to make multiple trips back on his bike. 

he grabs two of the boxes, stacking them on top of one another, and looks to the third, then to you, as a silent request for assistance. you pull your lip between your teeth, ultimately deciding the quicker they’re out of your apartment, the quicker he will be, too. the quicker you can go back to trying to forget about him. 

with one box in hand, you pull open the door and shut it behind you while he leads the way down your apartment’s steps and out to the parking lot. he opens the vans door by himself, pushing the boxes into the floorboard, then takes the one in your hands. his fingers brush against yours when he does it, and the action has you pulling your hand back faster than intended, leaving him to readjust his grip quickly or risk the box falling completely out of his grasp. 

the look he sends you has you shrinking in on yourself, despite there being no hostility in it. just disappointment, followed by sadness from the way his lip turns down. he shoves that box on top of the other two, and turns to face you. 

“listen,-” he starts, but you're quick to stop whatever rabbit hole he plans to go down. 

“don’t. please don’t.” 

“you don’t even know what i'm gonna say.” 

“i don’t need to.” your arms curl in around yourself, not looking at him. like you’re trying to make yourself smaller. trying to disappear on him. he frowns at the thought. 

“don’t do that.” he says quietly, nails digging into the palm of his hand. 

you shouldn’t ask. you know how it’ll end, but you can’t help but want some form of interaction with him for the last time, even if it means it ends with you far more hurt than before. “do what?”

“act like you don’t give a fuck, or like you don’t want to try and fix this or like you don’t-” he stops when you push him back by his shoulders, shaking your head, and despite it barely moving him, it has his teeth clenching and eyes narrowing. he grabs your wrists when you go in for a second shove, ignoring the way you try to pull yourself away. 

“i’m not the one who didn’t give a fuck, keisuke,” you snap, lip quivering, “and i’m not the one who didn’t try to fix everything. don’t you dare put this on me when it was you who made it so clear how much i meant to you.” 

the reply is enough to leave his grip wavering, and you take the opportunity to pull yourself from his grasp, cradling your arms to yourself as if you’re afraid he’ll go for a second grab. 

he opens his mouth to say something, anything, but he can’t seem to find the proper words to mend this, and that itself is enough to leave you turning on your heel, ignoring the way calls you to come back, ignoring the way him saying your name makes your chest ache, and when you stumble back into your apartment with tears welling in your eyes, you’re left with that sick bitter reminder. 

baji hasn’t changed. won’t. not for you, not for anyone else.

      ༝ december 23, 2010

you check the time for the fifth time of the night, tapping your foot anxiously as if that could somehow make him appear in front of you. 

by some miracle, it seems to work, the lock to your shared apartment turning. it’s followed by the door pushing open, and your disheveled boyfriend stumbling in, clumsily closing it behind him while he kicks off his shoes. 

two hours. that’s what you’d waited for him to show up. two hours, and he comes in drunk, with the smell of alcohol wafting off of him in waves. 

“hey baby,” he grins when he sees you, coming towards the couch to give you a kiss, but frowning when you stand and step away from him, “s’wrong?” 

“you are unbelievable,” you can’t help but scoff, and he has the audacity to look surprised. 

“what’re you talkin’ about?” he moves to pull you towards him, but you’re all too aware of this, taking a step away to keep your distance. 

“our anniversary!” it’s then baji takes in the way you're dressed- hair done neatly, your favorite going-out attire hugging your figure nicely, with the necklace he gave you last year sitting pretty around your neck. 

by the time he’s fully processed it, you’re moving past him to your shared bedroom. 

“whatever, fucking forget it.” you’re undoing all your work while walking down the hall, already in the process of discarding all your clothes in favor of pajamas when he stumbles behind you into the room. 

“hang on a sec,” he hiccups, “we can still go out, s’not too late.” he’s pulling the shirt you’re trying to change into out of your hands and trying to give you back the one you’d previously had, but you pull the former back with a glare. 

“i waited two hours, keisuke! i texted you all day about it, i left reminders on the fridge, and at the pet shop! and you’re already too drunk to go do anything.” you add the last part with a whisper, bitter taste coming up from your stomach and settling in your mouth, “there’s no point.” 

three years. three years you’d been with him, and still the importance of one fucking day is lost on him. 

“‘m sorry baby,” he frowns, reaching for you. the frown grows when you pull away, tugging on shorts, “‘fuyu and i jus’ had a good day in sales today, kazutora said we should drink to celebrate and i lost track of time.”

more like forgot altogether. 

“whatever.” you say dismissively, dejected, and part of you wishes you’d gone out with hina like she invited you to. at least then, you’d be drunk too and could laugh it off. 

“really am sorry.” he’s reaching for you again, and you can’t find it in yourself to pull away, “make it up to you tomorrow.” 

he presses a kiss to your forehead, then pulls you towards the bed, discarding his own clothes until he’s in just his boxers, and clambers under the blankets, patting the spot beside him. you follow without complaint, and he’s out cold in less than ten minutes. 

you find yourself unable to sleep like that, gently shimmying out from the covers and grabbing the blanket on the back of the couch before deciding to settle there for the night. left alone with your thoughts swarming, your sadness soon being replaced by anger. you fall asleep there with fire on your tongue. 

when baji wakes up, he has a killer headache. you aren’t beside him, he notes dully, and one glance to the alarm clock by the bed tells him it should be too early for you to be awake. 

the smell of coffee hits his nose, and he finds himself pulling on sweatpants and following the smell. you’re in the kitchen, blanket usually on the couch draped around your shoulders, and you don’t acknowledge him while you sip on your cup. 

he’s grabbing some tylenol from the cabinet when you finally open your mouth. 

“have fun last night?” 

he doesn’t miss the way the words fall bitterly from your lips, or the way your fingers absentmindedly grip your mug a little tighter. 

“we’ll go out today,” he says instead of answering, “just need to shower and-” he’s cut off by you slamming the cup down, surprised it doesn’t shatter in your grasp from the force. 

“i don’t want to go out today, keisuke. today isn’t our anniversary.” 

his lips twitch to a scowl. no way you’re still bitter, right? 

“well yesterday is already over. so you have today or next year.” 

he doesn’t miss the way you scoff, or the way your hands clench the blanket around your shoulders. 

“what was so important?” you find yourself asking, unable to look at him. 

“the hell are you talking about?” he chugs a glass of water with the pills he previously grabbed. 

“what could’ve been so important you get shitfaced two hours after your shift knowing we had plans?” you clarify, and his jaw clenches at what you could be implicating. his head just seems to throb more, and the thought of an argument does not help. 

“i told you last night, we had good sales and the boys wanted to celebrate-”

“we had these plans for three weeks,” you ration desperately, “three!.” you hold up that number of fingers as if it will help emphasize, and baji shoves your hand from his face with his brow twitching. 

“stop talking to me like i’m an idiot.” and the fact that he’s derailing the issue to that makes you angrier.

“it’s like you don’t even care,” you scoff, retreating from the kitchen and to the living room. he notes the displacement of some pillows as he follows you, how the cushions aren’t exactly how they should be. 

“you sleep out here last night?” 

“does it matter?” you sit on the couch, exhausted from the conversation and from being treated so poorly, but the idea of mentioning it brings more pain than you’d like to think about. 

“yes,” he sits beside you and wraps an arm around your shoulders, pulling you towards him with little resistance. he presses a kiss to your hair, whispering apology after apology, “‘m sorry for being such a shitty boyfriend,” he starts, “and ‘m sorry for not taking things as seriously as i should. i’ll be better, i promise.” 

you’re fine with that, you think. despite knowing his promises are empty, you’re fine with thinking right now they aren’t. if it means the tension will leave your body, you’ll believe anything he’d say. 

      ༝ july 07, 2009

the air is warm around you, humid, when baji picks you up from your apartment for your date. 

he grins when he sees you come down the steps, two at a time to throw yourself into his arms, and almost loses his balance if not for him leaning against his bike for support. 

“you look cute,” his grin widens when you flush, pinching his cheek with a smile, “miss me?”

“always.” you hum, standing on your toes to press a kiss to his lips. he accepts it greedily, hands finding your waist to pull you closer to him and keep you there, but you’re pulling away before he can get too carried away. 

“we’re gonna be late for the movie,” you laugh, offering him a quick peck when he pouts. 

“just the previews,” he argues, chasing you when you pull away from him, “maybe the opening credits too,” his lips press against yours, “and the beginning scenes.” another kiss. 

“no way,” you break away from the curse he has on you with a smile, “i’ve been wanting to see this since i read the book.” just one more kiss, then you’re pushing him to climb onto the bike, following behind him once he’s settled. 

in hindsight, you could’ve skipped the movie altogether. the book was far better, and they didn’t even film your favorite part! but you’re happy you still decided to come out with baji, elated to spend whatever time you can with him. 

though things haven’t been super busy at his shop, chifuyu has been running him ragged to get things in top shape, and most of your own time has been taken by exams and work. it’s a nice break, when you’re with him, and the comfort he brings you spreads warmth from your chest and into the deepest parts of your bones. 

darkness came a while ago, but neither of you can find it in yourself to care when in the deepest parts of roppongi. the cool night air nips at your skin while on baji’s bike, and you find yourself tucking your hands under his shirt in an effort to keep warm while he drives aimlessly through the streets. 

soon you find yourselves on a bridge, and baji stops at the very top and helps you off of the bike when your legs are too shaky with adrenaline to step off on your own.  you giggle when he pulls you towards the railing, pushing your back into the cool bars with him standing in front of you. 

“got you somethin’.” he leans down, lips ghosting over your own.

“oh yeah?” you hum, standing on your toes to meet him halfway, but missing when he pulls back. he grins at the way you pout, arms wrapping around his shoulders as if it would help keep him in place. 

“yeah.” he confirms, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small box. you eye him, then the box warily, before he’s gesturing for you to take it. 

you do so gently, nimble fingers opening the box and gasping when you see the pretty necklace inside. a silver chain, with a small B at the center. 

“for me?” you can’t help but tease, and baji’s smile widens when he sees you like it. 

“only you,” he kisses your forehead and plucks the box from your grasp, in the process of removing the necklace from it when you open your mouth to complain, “let me put it on ya.” 

you turn, holding your hair out of the way so he can easily clasp it, and he presses a kiss at the nape of your neck once he’s done. it falls nicely at the center of your chest, and baji spins you around with either hand on your shoulders to fully take it in. 

“pretty.” 

you wrap your arms around his torso to pull him closer to you, kissing his nose, “thank you.”  

and the night is settled in each other’s embrace, coming back to your apartment much later than either of you could have anticipated. 

      ༝ april 19, 2008

you’re almost certain you’re at the wrong place. 

the address should be correct, based on what you looked up on google, but the noise from inside the garage has you hesitating from continuing forward. 

with a bit of hyping yourself up, you're stepping past the door and into the garage. inside are three boys, making much more noise than you expected them to be. not one of them notices you as their argument grows heated. 

“-just saying that if she wanted to be with you, she would’ve made a move by now!” argues one with long dark hair, narrowly dodging a wrench that gets thrown his way. 

“and i’m saying she’s shy!” the wrench thrower argues, notably oldest of the three and brushing his shorter black hair out of his face, “it’s been a month! i’m just giving it time to work itself out.” 

“more like losing it altogether,” smallest of the three, the blond hums out, “you’ve never been good with romance shinichiro.” 

‘shinichiro’ visibly deflates, “would it kill you to support me for once mikey?”

“mikey’s just a realist,” the long-haired boy grins, all teeth, “and what kind of friendship would this be if it was built on lies?” 

“a happy one.” shinichiro grumbles, turning to grab something and finally taking you in. “oh . . . um, hi, can i help you?” 

“hi,” you breath out, very aware of the three pairs of eyes now on you, “i um . . . i’m looking for a baji? baji keisuke?” 

two sets of eyes move from you to the boy with long hair, and his own eyes widen for a second before that toothy grin returns. 

“s’me, what can i help you with?”

“left your bag in class,” you offer it when he walks towards you, “i didn’t want it to get stolen or anything. . .” you look away from him, and his head tilts slightly, before he snaps and points at you. 

“you’re in my english class! thought i recognized you.” he opens the bag, digging through it for a second, then pauses, “how’d you know to come here?” 

you flush, bowing your head, “i went through the bag to see if your wallet was it in it -” then straighten yourself, “-for your address! but there was like a bajillion cards for this place in the bottom of the bag and honestly you should probably clean it out because it’s very messy-” you’re talking far quicker than necessary, anxiety increasing when he just smiles at you. 

“you’re cute.” 

you feel your face heat further, turning away from him, “t-that’s all i came for! see you in class!” before you’re walking out of the garage all too quickly and cursing yourself when you’re about a block down the street at how fucking awkward you are. 

“see shinichiro, that’s how you flirt with someone.” 

mikey does not dodge the wrench thrown his way, whining about how mean his big brother is and how he can’t be mean and not know how to flirt, while baji smiles dumbly at the number left on his english notebook. 

[fisherrprince]

wanted to ask, could we get a look in to how you put together your animatics?? I've been toying with the idea of trying to make one of my own, but I've got no idea where to start

oh yeah totally

though to be fair, a HUGE chunk of my time is spent listening to about 20 seconds of a song and imagining how the images move around like a little movie, and I refine a ton of stuff in my head before starting to actually put scenes down on paper. This happens with non-music boarding too, imagining different versions of how the scenes line up with dialogue/music. So step one: put a song on repeat and daydream for at least two hours. But, if you aren’t sure how to do this, I’d suggest looking at animatics, MAP projects, AMVs, animated musicals, fight scenes, etc. what do they do that’s cool? Imitate them.

after that, I have most of the main images with some blank spots im not sure how to fill until I put them down. I make something like this and get the compositions of each main image looking more or less okay in this form. This is also the stage I figure out the in between blank spots. I try not to have weird camera moves or other storyboarding don’ts, but some storyboarding donts are completely valid to break if you know what you want aesthetically. As usual. This one was actually pretty clean, but check out all the framing edits. i always have to make the frame bigger

If you really don’t know what goes in between things, don’t be afraid to focus on some little details of the scene, pull out and show us the setting, put some flowery symbolism on screen, give us some fun little comedic anime inserts, or do what cowboy standoffs do and build tension. What we used to do was draw paws stepping across the screen or eyes blinking, lol

next comes audio sync! I like to get the timing extant on copies of these rough thumbnails before moving on. It helps my brain work through smaller more animated movements + testing if the things I came up with for the blank spots work. and also just makes it happy. And also, most importantly, it tests if the compositions work. If you can see it, the whole sequence with mom was a blank spot until I sketched it. I usually do this step in roughanimator even if i don’t finish it in roughanimator. Keeps it very rough.

after this is just a lot of polishing and layers! For lots of small animatics, I just use roughanimator and leave it like that. It’s surprisingly good for a very basic program. But, for things that need tweens or lots of camera movement, I use toon boom harmony. It’s more powerful and is actually supposed to be used for animation, which. Yknow. I do. I tried storyboard pro, it wasn’t my favorite.

Here are some, I guess, miscellaneous more technical tips for making your animatics feel nice!

If you’re going for lots of movement, try out timing it so big movements or scene transitions line up with the spikes in the audio WAV. If it doesn’t feel right, move it a few frames BEFORE the spike/audio beat. Your brain usually wants to see something move barely before it hears it - this works for dialogue especially. BUT! Don’t feel like you have to do this for every beat. unless you want to feel like Wes Anderson, which you can do and I will not stop you.

If you’re going for something slower with not that much movement, try motion tweening! or adjusting something very slowly so we don’t linger on one still image for forever.

you don’t need crazy camera angles for everything, but put a few in there for spice. This all depends on your mood you want to cultivate. Slow = flatter, spacious, details; fast = lots of moves, weird angles, perspective; disorienting = slow/jerky weird angles etc etc. the camera has emotions built into it. Because the camera is you! surprise!

watch storyboarding tutorials. lots of people zoom in too much when they draw and I am not excluded. Also, keep in mind the eyesight rule. It’s hard for me to explain concisely but… you as the artist are always leading the viewers eye somewhere, with every shot you make. Don’t make them dizzy by having the center of attention jump around to six different spots for six shots straight - if you find yourself unhappy with a sequence, especially a fast one, see if your line of sight is going all over the place and try moving the subject of a shot or two somewhere else or having them move/gesture towards the new shot’s focal point so the viewers eye moves there naturally. I’m actually not great at doing this when words/lyrics are involved, pmv makers have my respect.

contrast is your friend. If you want to emphasize a big fast move or big bright image, put little slow moves or simple images right before/after it. and vice versa! this counts for camera too!

easy camera shakes are just 3-4 frames of cam down/up/down less/up less, a blank tween or two (easing back into normal), and then a key for your desired normal camera location. Or left/right, whichever.

your brain needs about six frames to fully register an object as being an object. If you want someone to see and really See it, rather than just get a glimpse of it and go "What was that!" It needs more than six frames.

don’t be afraid to experiment!!!!!! And don’t get overwhelmed! Everything I just described I MOSTLY do off instinct, which you’ll get a sense for after you make one. Or like…. Ten. Does it feel good in your heart? Then that’s what’s important. Find an idea you want to make move, figure out your limits (programs, attention span, drawing capability, make sure not to commit to a minute long amv if you dont KNOW you wanna do a minute long amv), and plan around that. When I was A Child, people on youtube were just making like three amvs per second and cringe hadn’t been invented yet so they were all mostly untrained unpolished and so so important and based to me. Stop thinking so hard about it. You gotta get that animatic out there into the world or it’ll start fermenting in your brain and make you sick. So what if it doesn’t turn out exactly the way you imagined it? You’ll have another idea tomorrow. And if it matters that much, you can always do it again. Go make! Good luck!

[leviackermanscleaningbuddy]

okay i have a question for the pack, bear with me-

what do everyone's beds look like? now hear me out, i know this probably sounds silly but i have good questions!

what kind of bed do the omegas have? a king? custom made to be really big? since they all sleep together, do they sleep squished or hsve enough space to not have to cuddle all the time?

also, do they have lots of teddies and pillows and blankets, on the bed? if so who has the most?

it's the same questions for the other members of the pack, what type of bed, how is it when it comes to multiple people sleeping in the bed? what extra things do they usually keep on their bed -if they do- like teddies or extra pillows?

here's an additional question: who has the most teddies out of all the members? my guess is felix or jisung!

"I love this question." You say genuinely, glancing around at your pack mates. "Because I really think someone's room can tell you so much about who they are as a person."

"Absolutely." Chan nods in agreement. "My studio space tells a lot about who I am as a producer, and it's the same with my room, although it's more personal."

"So." You grin. "Get ready to learn a whole lot about us that you probably didn't need to know."

"Let's get it." Jisung claps his hands and rubs his palms together, voice excited, expression determined.

Chan glances to Jeongin. "Let's start with the omegas' room, yeah? Cause you guys share with the most members."

"Okay!" Felix agrees excitedly, and Jeongin grins wide, his eyes crinkling.

Both the omegas look to Hyunjin, who takes it as his sign to start them off.

"We have a king bed. It's the biggest bed in the house currently cause, you know." He shrugs with a smile. "Three of us."

"Gives us enough space to spread out if we want or need, but we usually sleep cuddled up anyway in the middle, so it's not utilized probably as often as it could be." Felix laughs.

"Hey, it's nice when we all gather for a cuddle pile or movie night though." You point out, and the omegas nod. "We always use your room as a central gathering point if we don't wanna come to the living room."

"Basically, the bed is just a free for all?" Jeongin muses, looking thoughtful. "We don't like split it into three sections or anything. Everyone can just kinda input and put their stuff wherever."

"Jinnie-hyung picked out most of our decor and bedding and stuff." Felix continues, nodding now. "Because he loves decorating and he's awesome at it."

"Not like you can see the bedspread anyway." Hyunjin snorts in amusement. "The bed is always piled so high with blankets and stuffies and pillows that I don't know why I even bothered."

"Felix does indeed have the most stuffies."

Felix raises his hand shyly and everyone coos at how cute he is.

Hyunjin continues. "As far as personal space, we have our own dressers and share the big walk in closet equally. Everybody kinda has their own space in their own corner of the room, the bed is the only central part with everyone's shit really."

"We do however," Felix points out. "Keep a tote of used clothes from all the other pack mates in the back of our closet, easily accessible, in case one of us feels the need to nest and the blankets and stuffies aren't getting the job done."

"Oh yeah." Jeongin nods. "That's come in handy a few times."

"Jinnie-hyung's dresser is just overflowing with miscellaneous art stuff and skin and hair products. Plus all of his perfumes."

"Lixie-hyung's is covered in more stuffies, and some cute little statues the other member's of the pack have brought him from various trips. He also can't even use his mirror because there's pictures of all of us literally plastered all over it."

"Cute." You hear Chan say under his breath beside you.

"And mine," Jeongin thinks for a minute. "Mine is just a catch all for any shit I don't know what to do with-stray papers, accessories, stuff like that."

"It's a nightmare." Hyunjin shudders, and Felix chuckles.

"You guys have a really nice ambiance in your room though." You add, glancing between the omegas. "Like you always have a candle lit and soft mood lighting and the little canopy over the bed with the twinkle lights."

"Yeah, it's cozy." Jisung nods.

"Speaking of," Chan motions to the beta now. "Why don't you and Minnie go next, Sung?"

Jisung claps his hands and grins. "Cool. Beta Bros. Let's go."

Seungmin rolls his eyes.

"We have a queen bed, which is also what all the alphas' have in their rooms too. Basically gives us enough space for visitors and each other without feeling squished."

"Our room is dark, modern, sleek." Seungmin adds, and Jisung nods his head in agreement. "I don't like a lot of clutter, so the decor we do have is limited and purposeful."

"Yep." Jisung agrees again, before grinning. "Though my half of the room-"

Seungmin shakes his head in horror. "It's a pigsty. I can't even look at it."

"It's not that bad."

"It really is."

"We have a lot of books, because Seungmin is a nerd, and I love anime and comics." Jisung continues, ignoring the other beta now, even as he rolls his eyes once more. "Channie-hyung and Binnie-hyung built us modern, custom bookshelves a few years ago that line pretty much all the walls."

"We also have a lot of recessed lighting above the bed so that we can read at night without straining our eyes."

"Ooh, ooh!" Jisung gets excited again. "We also have snacks in the night stands, just in case, and I have a giant bean bag chair filled with soft cozy blankets and my KAWS stuffed animal collection. Perfect reading nook."

"And of course-" Jisung looks smug now. "We've got those cool remote controlled LED lights all along the ceiling that match to music and can be changed to any color. Usually red." He winks at Seungmin, who flips him off.

"I'll go next." You offer, once it's clear the betas' are done, and everyone looks to you. You shrug. "I don't know if I have a clear style really, but my bedroom is very minimalistic. I have some reading shelves and a desk area and it's all light natural woods and calming colors. I don't really keep anything on my bed, besides a few throw pillows and an extra blanket at the foot. The only thing I really collect is house plants, I have a bunch hanging from a corner of the ceiling, right above the desk, and a bunch in the bathroom and last year, the boys gave me a little plant shelf to sit in front of my big window, and I've slowly been filling that up too."

"Incense." Chan points out, glancing at you, and you nod.

"Oh yeah. I really like smells? So I burn incense quite a bit for different occasions and have a bunch of candles all over for different moods."

"Tell them about the wall above your desk." Jisung says gleefully, and you sigh, already feeling yourself blush.

"God, but it's embarrassing."

"It's cute." Chan reassures you, reaching out to cover your hand with his own.

"Fine." You sigh and roll your eyes. "The wall above my desk is covered in a kind of wallpaper that I designed myself. It has all of the members' scents listed out in their individual, complex chemical compounds in script. It's like nerdy and personal and fun at the same time."

"My turn." Changbin announces, throwing his arm over the back of the couch behind Seungmin. "My room is industrial. Lot of exposed metals in the decor, dark colors, low lighting. I like it to feel relaxing when I get home from school or work or the gym."

"I taught him the word industrial." Hyunjin points out proudly, and Changbin chuckles.

"Yeah, you did." He considers. "I have a work corner, that's like a mini studio at home for me to write and work on stuff when I have the time or inspiration? It's separated from the rest of the room by like this metal grate wall and the space is really cool. It's probably my favorite place to hang out by myself."

"He looks neat." You point out, and Changbin shoots you a glare. "But don't look in his closet cause he just shoves all his mess in there and it's a warzone."

"Oooh, he also has this really cool expensive sound machine!" Felix adds excitedly. "And he hides it in the corner behind this like little desk, room fountain thing, and so his room just always sounds like running water or rain or something else soothing."

"Yeah, I love having noise in there all the time, even when I sleep. Helps me focus."

"My room is Scandinavian, which I also learned from Hyunjin." Chan winks at the omega, who gives him a big grin and a thumbs up. "It's dark, exposed woods and metals and very simple. I love the look of wrought iron and untreated wood and so I've used that a lot in my shelves and bed frame and personal style."

"His closet is a black hole though." You chuckle, and Chan looks at you in betrayal. You shrug. "Not that it's a bad thing. It's exceptionally organized, just all one color."

"And he's a huge sap. He keeps every picture and every letter or note every member of the pack has ever given him in a drawer by his bed." Minho rolls his eyes and once again, Chan looks betrayed.

"It's cute." You bump his side and he rolls his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah." He goes on. "I also have a mini studio space in my room, but it's in a little loft area above the main room, above my bed. There's like a wooden ladder that goes up there and a wood and iron railing and it's super nice to just go up there when I need to work at home or clear my head."

"As far as my room goes-" Minho shrugs blankly. "A room is a room, a bed is a bed. I like my things put away where they go and everything kept simple."

"Hear, hear." Changbin nods, and Minho sighs.

"I allow two exceptions to this rule when it comes to my room. One," He holds up a finger sternly. "Recipe books. I keep an entire corner shelf for them. And two," He holds up a second finger. "Pictures of my cats that my parent's send me monthly. I frame all the new ones when they get here and add them to the gallery wall across from the bed."

"It's huge." Jisung nods reverently. "I've never seen so many cat pictures in my life."

"I also-" Minho adds. "-allow two orchids to inhabit the space of my windowsill. They're good for prosperity."

"Plus they're pretty." Jeongin chirps helpfully, and Minho sighs, but rustles the baby's hair regardless.

"Yes, they are very pretty."

"You have that little glass plant terrarium in your bathroom that holds your super old bonsai tree too." You point out, and Minho nods.

"Yes. Because I enjoy taking care of something so fickle, yet knowing that in the end, it will ultimately outlive me."

"Deep." Jisung nods appreciatively. "Is now a bad time to tell you that I used your little spray bottle to slick my hair the other day?"

"-My bonsai mister?"

"Is that what it was? Oops."

Hyunjin grins wickedly as Minho glares at his moonmate murderously.

"Looks like your bonsai tree is not only gonna outlive you, hyung, but now it's gonna way outlive Jisung too."

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

Keep scrolling to see example pictures of the pack members' individual room styles! 😘

Chan

(Y/N)

Minho

Changbin

Omegas

Betas

[kokitschi]

For dorm ask: Angie & Tenko? Maki & Miu?

Tenko and Angie:

We never really get to see any like.. subdued moments of Angie so I find her a bit hard to characterize to be quite honest.

At the very start Tenko would probably be kinda excited like uwahh sharing a room with another girl?? and then she would very quickly realizes that Angie's.. a bit off-putting.

She would probably wake up to Angie staring at her like this

in the middle of night more than once.

Angie doesn't really seem to have strong feelings on anyone (but her god) so she wouldn't mind Tenko and her antics. But I wonder about the possibility of her being atleast a bit exhausted from her smiling and being "on" all the time.. Would she maybe get a bit mean? She can be quite "cold hearted" after all.

So if Tenko were to start a fight because of either Himiko or her cult leader-ish behavior, I think Angie could get quite scathing towards her.

However that might also just be thing that could make Tenko see the possibility of communicating normally with her as she sees that Angie is also just a girl her age with feelings and thoughts like everyone else too.

I think we could get a sort of Kaito-Maki dynamic with these two? Like, after the necessary fight, Tenko would believe in Angie and that she's just trying to help in her own way and Angie might slowly warm up to idea to slightly opening her heart..

Miscellaneous stuff:

Their room would be a mess not because they're very messy people but because their ideas of where (and what kind of) things should go is entirely at odds.

They'd probably have sleepovers with the student council™.

I know Angie prefers to do her art while she's alone but I think Tenko could somehow convince her to be her model.

-

Maki And Miu

I think both of them would be very unhappy with this situation. They'd insult eachother a lot. Maki would probably be able to death stare Miu into submission quite effectively, however, Miu never keeps her mouth shut for very long so she would still call her out a lot. Makis burn game is also not to be underestimated so they'd just fuel eachother.

I think the vitriol between them could lend the possibility of them being kind of more honest to eachother?

I don't think Miu would manage to sleep for quite a while once Makis actual talent gets revealed but after a few more fights I think she could sorta judge that Maki most likely won't kill her (unless she tries something first). Maki is probably very exhausted with Miu the entire time tbh. She's probably able to tell that Miu has got some Issues and wouldn't take her digs that personally but that doesn't mean it's not hard to deal with. But she'd probably be able to tell the difference between normal Miu and when she's really fucking losing it and might even make her talk about it? Maybe? Like, forcefully and not very kindly but still.

Idk, it's not a happy dorm life for them...

But... maybe they could have some Girl Talks sometime...

Remember that one time in Ch.4 when Maki said smth like "Boys only think about that one thing...", well, I imagine Miu would pounce on that kind of comment and after some back and forth maybe they could even like gossip or something? I think Maki could come to appreciate Mius openness to certain topics and also her knowledge/talent in general.

I think their trash talk put together would be devastating lmao.

Also, their room would be a huge mess. Mostly because of Miu though. She'd make it a mess faster than Maki can tell her off again.

[broken-clover]

Since it doesn’t look like I’m gonna be finishing this year’s Mermay fic on time as I had hoped (still working on it though! Just gonna be late) and I still wanted to do something, I’m gonna just toss some miscellaneous bullets and whatnot for Illyria Aquarium that I either are so small haven’t found a way to bring them up in a plot yet or have changed because of Strive’s continuing narrative (esp regarding Asuka being released). Just a little fun grab bag of stuff!

-Asuka still visits Henry (Happy) in prison from time to time. Part of him genuinely still believes they can come to an understanding someday, but Henry only mocks him for his sentimentality. 

-It doesn’t help that as the years pass Henry only seems to become more unhinged from his time in jail. He happily embraces it, and Asuka can only reflect upon how his old friend and mentor could have turned into something like this

-Asuka has also started to try reaching out to Aria again as a friend after taking in Elphelt and Ramlethal. She has been very hesitant so far, but she can at least stand a short phone call every once in a while.

-Faust, like many seahorses, can make popping sounds by rubbing together parts of his skull. It is very good he wears the hats because watching him do it makes children cry

-Sin loves Dizzy, and nobody has any idea why. Sure, Dizzy loves and cares for all the mer, and some return that affection in varying ways, but as soon as Sin sees her visit he’ll swim headfirst into his tank wall and not even care that he gave himself a concussion. Her visits have to be carefully scheduled to keep him from doing it again

-Bedman was recently renamed as part of a fundraiser/charity drive for the aquarium. People who donated were allowed to submit and vote for name ideas, with the winning name being ‘Romeo.’ I-no assumes it was picked for irony’s sake.

-Despite his disdain for most other mer, Sol doesn’t seem to mind Bridget as much 

-Asuka’s main method of attempting to work through his problems is talking to himself in a mirror and pretending it’s a conversation. Raven has walked in on his doing it several times now.

-Mer can’t speak in the same way that humans can, nor can most fully understand human language, but May has the ability to make sounds that are very close to words.

-Needless to say, this has caused problems.

-Technically she didn’t say ‘fuck’ right in front of a middle school field trip, but it sure as hell sounded like it, and the parent chaperones were very unhappy.

-Sol, May, Millia, Baiken and Leo have all almost accidentally killed the staff members at least once, however Answer and Romeo are the only ones with the prestigious honor of trying to do so on purpose

-I-no became a marine biologist entirely out of spite

-Raven has been declared clinically dead seven times and legally dead twice. If you ask him about it he just shrugs and says he has ‘overdramatic organs.’

[epicfranb]

WHO'S READY TO HEAR A NEW AU?? FROM ME????? WOOHOOOOO

Anyway remember a post i made about assigning hermits superpowers. No worries if you didn't see it btw. Basically, i talked about how i looove coming up with superpowers, but usually have no idea how to tie the plot together... The last concept i had was pretty boring (hermits get isekai'd into the real world. Blegh), but i think i got something here. Take my hand and let's go.... Into the read more

Bdubs comes home from work to find his girlfriend, who he lives with, Cleo, murdered. And the murderer, still at the scene! The murderer disappears right before Bdubs's eyes, and leaves shards of glass behind. The investigation obviously takes place, and, after long questioning and everything, Bdubs is forced to spend the night at a hotel, exhausted. Strange things continue to happen, as everything becomes strangely quiet, as though the entire world had stopped. There is knocking on the door, but no answer; until a tall woman, mysterious but strangely normal looking, enters the room. She introduces herself as Pearl and gives Bdubs a clock, saying he lost it. Bdubs doesn't recognize it, until Pearl shows that his name is engraved on the backside. That's when Bdubs remembers that it was his former friend, Etho, who made this clock for him. They haven't talked in such a long time, but Bdubs was still devastated that he lost such as precious item. Pearl doesn't even hint at where she found it or how she has it, but she says that it's been away, quietly collecting magical power. Turns out, the clock can stop time - Pearl shows him how, and after Bdubs puts the palm of his hand on the face of the clock, the time resumes, the ambient noises are back and Pearl just... Disappears, with no answers.

As if Bdubs wasn't stressed enough already, Cleo's body also goes missing. One of those days, Bdubs walks by his house and sees a familiar silhouette... It speaks with a familiar voice, though horribly distorted. The person is Cleo, a walking corpse. She calms Bdubs down to the best of her ability and they try to catch up on what's going on. Turns out, Cleo woke up with a strange woman looking at her; it was the same woman that Bdubs met, Pearl! Cleo thinks she probably was given a little time to finish her business, and decides that the last thing she has to do in this world... Is to take revenge on her killer. Bdubs thinks it's uncharacteristic of them; he thought they'd say something like, "to spend my last days doing what i love, with someone i love". But Cleo says they have a specific reason why they want to take revenge. It's because they know the killer! They don't tell Bdubs who it is though.

Now, i haven't figured out what happens next yet. Here's some miscellaneous stuff ig

Some people may have guessed that "person disappears before your eyes and leaves glass shards behind" sounds like a specific power i have for a specific someone... It's Etho, actually. But also, writing this, i thought how cool would that be... If they meet Etho and find out about his power, and think oh it's so obviously him. But he swears it's not. And plot twist it's actually someone else who framed him ghhhhgghh do i wanna say who i have in mind. Do i wanna say. Um. I was thinking Lizzie. Idk. Idk. I think it's cool tho

There's gonna be other peepos in this AU too!! I'm thinking it's gonna be groups of people who start off seeming unconnected, but gradually your realize they're all part of one story (i love this sort of thing!!). The other group will be the Magic Mountains bros (or whatever they're called). So far I have thought of powers for Scar and Joel, and i have ideas but am undecided on Gem, Grian and Skizz, and haven't even began thinking about Impulse.. And mumbo (i keep forgetting he exists)

I thought it'd be funny if Grian had to throw a dice for everything he does and let luck decide if he succeeds or fails. No particular reason for it, other than sort of? adapting a curse i had for him in another AU but for a different setting. In that other AU, he had a curse where, when he would involve himself in someone else's business, the result of his involvement would be the opposite of what he intended. Here, i adapted the basic idea of this, which is: Grian's actions are not under his control, and are independent from his intentions. The only thing is... The rest of them have actual powers, but Grian is stuck with a curse again LMAO i will keep thinking about this.

For Scar, it's a power that i talked about and, in fact, also headcanon for his Hermitcraft character. It's that he has (pretty limited) shapeshifting abilities. Essentially, he can change a few basic things about himself, but he can't, like, turn into a tiger or into a rock. So he has to remain human basically. I think.

For Joel i wanted something crazy. I remembered an AU i had for another fandom, so i gave him a power based on that. Whenever Joel has a bleeding open wound, he goes berserk.. he has increased strength, but can hardly control himself. He ends up being covered in scars, poor boy.

For Gem, i initially had nature powers in mind. Her talent and love for building organics could translate very well into something like controlling plants. But then i remembered, if I'm (sort of) basing this group on season 10, should i give her water powers instead? Hm.

For Skizz, uh, I'm like. I REALLY want something that's kind of like... It SCREAMS that it's Skizz's power, or maybe it enhances his already present character traits. But so far the only thing i came up with is... Super duper eyesight. He can see ridiculously far, with all the detail, but also ridiculously close. What do you think. I think it's a cool power but I'm not sure it fits.

As for Pearl, i think she's kind of like... Not the "mastermind", but something like an outside force who has more powers and information than everybody else. Perhaps she isn't even human. I thought it'd be neat if she only appeared during a full moon.

Oh, and on Etho, of course. His power is to go fully non-existent for short times, but he leaves glass shards behind. In addition to that, he needs to keep a strong grip on his consciousness in this state, or it will disappear as well and he will forever remain this weird type of ghost.

That is all i have for now (i think)! I just like thinking, guys. I guess i should really get into a habit of finishing stuff though... It definitely won't be this time lmao sorry. Please do talk to me about this though UwU

[bvannn]

Weekly Update March 29, 2024

I’m pretty volatile in terms of mood, but I did get a good amount of actual work done on projects. I’m exhausted, I haven’t fixed my sleep schedule yet because I’m addicted to working. Like I’ve genuinely tried to stop and go to be early or sleep in and I just always ‘just one more drawing, just one more verse, just one more thumbnail, it’s let me find this one perfect instrument, just let me finish these four bars, just let me-‘ and before you know it it’s two hours past bedtime and you haven’t even brushed your teeth yet. Or eaten dinner. On the bright side all the stuff I’ve done has gone pretty well!

First big exciting point, that little pitch comic I’ve been working on? Thumbnailing/writing is done. Done enough anyway. I might still go back to edit some pages but I can get going on others now, which is great because even though I’ll only post the full thing once I have the whole comic complete, I might post individual panels, so there will be stuff to see! I’m also going to try to keep writing at night, so I can let other episodes and stories play out a bit, but Art priority will be shifting more to the comic. It will be 30 pages so it will likely take a while, but I’m hoping I’ll be able to do 3 or so panels a week while I’m finishing up this semester and switch to a page a day once I have more time.

Music is also going very well. I’m putting the final mixing touches on a vocaloid cover song (unless I decide to go back and redo the guitar, which I might), which I’ll try to start putting visuals to soon, although that’ll likely be pretty slow since I finally got past the thing that was bottlenecking me on the comic project. I’ll also have to get licensing settled, although that currently looks to be affordable. The whole project has given me a taste for blood and now I want to do a bunch of other cover stuff, but good news: I also found a nearly finished cover of another song that I had put aside in favor of the Green Day one. That’ll probably take a while before I can call it ‘done’, though, whereas I could probably release the first cover song today if I really wanted. I have some time tonight where I’ll try to throw some music together, maybe I’ll work on that.

There’s a few smaller nearly-finished songs I dug up from the depths of my WIPs too, one I need to redo a melody line, one I was bottlenecked on finding a specific instrument for, which I did the other day in lab, and a few others that also either need structure or Melodies. Plus there’s those two that are waiting on lyrics still but I’m still chugging at that, just slowly. I might also try that one tonight too, if I finish or can’t do the vocal cover for whatever reason. There’s also a couple character themes that haven’t really been priorities but I did re-outline one that I’ve been working on, so once I have recording time I can go try that one. That one is on its third draft so I really hope this one will stick.

Other miscellaneous projects haven’t seen much progress this week. I’m still thinking things through for that epithet TTRPG campaign, but I’m having a bit of trouble outlining the third chapter. I just need more brain power for that though, so earlier bedtimes would do it. A couple other art things keep coming to mind but I’ve been focusing more on big projects, so that’ll probably continue if I can. This next week I want to focus on keeping my body as healthy as I can, and then comic, second cover song, and visuals for first cover song, in that order of priority. Passive projects I can work on while doing other activities will be epithet TTRPG planning, song lyrics, and outlining future comic stuff, in that order of priority. If I come up with any song Melodies or ideas for visuals for the song I’m finishing up those priorities might shift, but right now I want to stick to more of a plan, since it worked out well this week.

[waywardxrhea]

Part Fourteen - The Battle of Sokovia part 1

[slow burn romance between you, a SHIELD investigative journalist, and Steve Rogers]

Warnings: 18+, contains humor, fluff, mental health, family trauma, romance, angst, language, violence, friends to lovers trope, smut later on.

installment list

Word count: 5.2k

You join the Avengers on their first mission in Sokovia and face some mental health challenges along the way.

Early one morning, you were woken up by a call from your work phone. When you answered the phone, you were greeted by Stark's voice on the other end saying, "We're following up on a lead today. Biggest mission yet, are you in?" He paused and then continued, telling you, "Wait, no, not a question. I don't pay you for nothing. We have a mission today, the jet takes off for Sokovia in an hour. Be there."

You couldn't even say a word before the line went dead. "Okay, guess it's time for a mission," you mumbled to yourself as you stretched your limbs. After dragging yourself out of bed, you quickly showered and threw on a comfy outfit for the mission. On the way out the door, you tossed a few snacks and other miscellaneous items into your bag that you may need throughout the day.

Upon arrival at Avengers Tower, you gathered your drone and computer for documentation, throwing extra body cams and headsets into the bag for good measure. You took a survey of your items and started making your way to the jet where the others were.

As you set up in the jet, you stayed scarce and tried to not be seen so you wouldn't disturb the team dynamic. Trying as you might to stay unseen, Bruce made his way over to you. "Hey," he said quietly.

"Hey Bruce," you greeted him. "Are you ready for the mission?"

He nodded and fiddled with his hands a little, saying, "We're bringing out the other guy today, and I know Nat can calm him down, but afterward I may need a bit more help. Did you bring the stuff?"

You nodded and pulled out the herbal tea from your bag, telling him, "Right here. Let me just run and get an electric kettle from the break room and it'll be ready to go when you get back on the jet post-mission."

"Thank you," Bruce told you with a soft smile.

Ever since the two of you had gone to the coffee shop a few times together after missions, you began providing Bruce with tea from the shop for when you wouldn't be able to get back there soon enough post-mission. The tea helped both of your nerves, and it helped you feel more connected with Bruce.

You hustled to the break room and unplugged the kettle from the wall, tucking it under your arm before grabbing some water bottles to use to brew the tea later. You ran back to the jet and hopped onto the ramp just as it began to close. "Are you always going to cut it so close getting onto jets for missions?" Steve asked with a chuckle as you put the kettle with your stuff in the corner of the jet.

Out of breath from running, you didn't respond for a second, which allowed Thor to say, "The lady just knows how to make an entrance. I could give you a few pointers, but I'm afraid many of them won't work for a mere mortal like yourself."

"I appreciate it though, thanks, Thor," you told him. You looked toward Steve and said, "I just needed to get a few more things. Always have to be prepared."

You turned away and continued to set up in the corner, and while you did, Stark commented, "She's just the mother hen for all of us."

"Maybe being the mother hen, she can keep that ego in check," Romanoff called from her seat with a smirk.

There were a few more witty remarks from the others and Steve added to you, "It's really good that you're looking out for Banner after missions. I'm glad you both found a way to stay grounded after the fact."

"Just trying to be helpful," you told him with a smile.

Soon enough, the jet landed in the small country of Sokovia, and the team made their way off the jet. "Be safe out there," you called as they make their exit.

"Yes, Mom," Stark called over his shoulder with a laugh.

You weren't sure how you ended up being called the mother of the group, but you brushed it off every time. You weren't doing anything special, just trying your best to fit in with this group of heroes. Some days you felt like you were failing miserably though. Sure, you joined them on missions and helped track down the bases they were taking, but you couldn't escape the feeling that you didn't deserve the position you were given at Stark Industries.

You shook your head and tried distracting yourself from your thoughts. After a few seconds, you began to focus your attention on the images that were coming onto your computer from the team's body cams. You ensured that all of them were in working order before sending out your drone via the control tablet.

Not too long after you got the drone out onto the field, the battle quickly became hot with HYDRA agents using large arsenals of guns to deter the team. While you captured the footage, you clicked a few buttons on your computer so the feed was connected with Maria back in New York. "Are you getting this, Maria?"

"Affirmative," Maria replied from her desk back in Avengers Tower.

After this, you activated your headset, connecting yourself to the team. Not even two seconds into being on the line, Stark quipped, "Nice of you to join the party."

Sighing inwardly, you laughed good naturedly before saying, "You guys are doing great out there, keep it up. HYDRA doesn't stand a chance."

"Of course they don't, we're the Avengers," Stark said as he took out a few armored trucks.

The battle raged on for a few minutes more, and Stark finally got what he thought was a clean shot at entering the building. You turned the drone in his direction and captured him flying towards it, but then being deflected by an invisible armor field the structure had surrounding it. "Shit!" he cursed as he bounced off of the shield.

"Language!" Steve shouted at him. You instantly began to laugh, turning your side of the headset on mute, but not before everyone heard it. Getting back to the mission quickly, Steve asked, "JARVIS, what's the view like from upstairs?"

In response, JARVIS told him, "The technology in this HYDRA base is nothing like we have seen before."

"Then Loki's scepter must be here," Thor announced while fighting. "They couldn't mount these defenses without it. At long last..."

You finally contained your laughter and focused the drone on Romanoff taking down a group of HYDRA agents. Even though you had stealth on, you still had to dodge a lot of bullets and blasts from the onslaught coming from the enemy. Romanoff finished off the men she was fighting and told Thor, "At long last is lasting a little long boys."

"Yeah, I think we lost the element of surprise," Barton said as he took down a turret in the distance.

After a few more seconds of no one commenting on the incident with Steve, Stark asked, "Wait a second, is no one going to deal with the fact that Cap just said language? Spangles even your girlfriend was laughing at you." This comment ignited a furious blush onto your cheeks and you were very happy that no one could see you.

"Focus on the mission, Stark," Steve called out, brushing off the comment that made his heart skip a beat. He didn't have time to be distracted by the teasing.

At the same time that he told Stark this, Steve threw his motorcycle at some of the HYDRA agents attacking him. Seeing this from his body cam, you turned your side of the coms back on and laughed while asking, "Steven Grant, did you just throw your bike?"

"Uh oh, Mom and Dad are fighting," Stark quipped.

"Stark!" you and Steve shouted at the same time, both flustered and slightly frustrated at his persistence on the subject during a mission.

Wanting to focus on the task at hand, Romanoff called out, "Mission now, witty banter later boys."

After a few more minutes of intense battle, you called to Stark, "Hey Stark, the city is starting to take fire."

"You're just about a millisecond behind JARVIS," he replied. "I'm sending in the Iron Legion, better get that on video. The news stations will eat that up."

"On it," you said, flying the drone upwards to capture the Iron Legion departing the jet and going into the city. As you filmed the Legion, you also saw a blur coming from the base. Just in case it could be of importance, you informed the team, "You guys have incoming. I couldn't catch what it was, but whatever it was was fast." Your warning goes unnoticed by the team through their fighting though, because on the other end of the headsets was radio silence in response.

After a few seconds more of silence, Steve's voice came over the headsets, calling, "Stark, we need to get inside!"

"I'm closing in," Stark told him. As he began his fight with some more HYDRA troops, he told you, "I think I'm gonna want your eyes over on me in a second, I'm breaching soon."

"Aye," you replied and began maneuvering towards the building.

"Any way you can hack in and get ears inside? Maybe even get this barrier down?" Stark asked as he flew through the base. "I would do it myself but I'm a bit distracted right now."

"I can try, their tech is really good though," you told him. You turned to the second set of computers and put your drone up in standby mode, hovering above the building while waiting on Stark. You went through as many different codes to hack in as you could, but the system was changing too quickly. You sighed and said, "I can keep trying but the base keeps changing its coding and encryption as I go. When I get one wall down they put up three more. Any advice Romanoff?"

She replied quickly, telling you, "If their base is powered by the scepter there probably isn't any way to get in."

"She's right, you have no clue what you're up against here," Thor told you. "That scepter is one of the strongest power sources in the universe. It will always be one step ahead."

You nodded despondently even though he couldn't see it, but continued to try hacking in despite his warning. As you did this though, Stark ended up taking down the barrier himself. "Drawbridge is down, people," he announced. You sighed to yourself, but tried to keep your disheartened thoughts at bay for the time being. After all, what were you going to do, be mad that Tony Stark did something before you could?

Further down the battlefield, Steve and Thor stood together, discussing the enhanced kid you had spotted earlier. "Can you see him right now?" Steve asked you.

You turned back to your drone laptop and flipped through the camera angles and told him, "Negative. He's a blur even with Stark's tech."

Steve sighed and said, "Of everyone we've faced, I haven't seen anything like this... Actually, I don't think I have seen it yet."

Before anyone could respond to Cap's words, Romanoff announced, "Clint's been hit really badly, he needs back on the jet ASAP."

"Things look to have quieted down, I can come to get him," you told her, about to stand up and go out to get Barton.

Before you could even stand up, Steve stopped you by saying, "You aren't equipped to come out here. Whoever this kid is could hurt you easily." You knew that he was only looking out for you, but you still felt your heart sink and you body deflate at the order, feeling like nothing you were doing today was help at all to the team.

"Don't worry, I will get Barton back to the ship. The sooner we're gone, the better," Thor told Romanoff.

As he said this, a group of soldiers came to try and attack him and Cap, but they took them down easily. After their takedown, he turned to Steve and said, "Find that scepter."

Stark took the moment to quip, "And for gosh sake, watch your language!"

Even through your jumbled thoughts, the comment made you smile as Steve mumbled, "That's not going away any time soon."

After the moment ended, you turned your attention back to your drone for a second to follow Stark's path of the breach before trying to hack into the base again to get any sort of information you could. You typed furiously into the system, almost getting in but ultimately failing once more. "Well, you're doing something right, they're shouting about someone trying to get into the database," Stark told you as he landed in the building after breaking in through a window. "But I am in, JARVIS can take over now."

"Copy," you replied flatly. To add insult to injury, some of the stragglers that Stark didn't take down walked out to the building's platforms, and before you could register what was happening, one aimed his weapon at the drone and shot it down. "Son of a bitch!" you cursed in frustration, hot tears pricking the back of her eyes.

"Everything okay?" Barton asked through gritted teeth as Thor loaded him into the jet and onto a cot.

You jumped at the sudden voice behind you and quickly brushed away your tears, telling him, "They had tech that could detect my drone despite the stealth mode. It was shot down."

"That shouldn't be possible..." Stark muttered as he worked in the building.

"Could someone get the drone on their way back?" you asked quietly.

"Not with that filthy mouth of yours, Missy," Stark joked.

"Don't worry, I can get it before I head back," Steve told you as he made his way to the building.

"Thanks, Cap," you mumbles.

After a few more minutes, Romanoff announced, "Things are locked down out here."

"Get to Banner then, it's time for a lullaby," Steve told her. At this cue, you got up from your chair and started to brew the tea for yourself and Bruce. You barely noticed when he and the rest of the team got into the jet a little while later because your mind was so crowded by your anxious thoughts.

After everyone got back onto the jet and Barton's injury was being tended to, you sat at your station picking debris off of your drone absentmindedly. Your tea sat untouched and got colder as the minutes went on. Seeing your state, Steve approached and asked, "Penny for your thoughts?"

You shrugged and didn't make eye contact with him. He sat beside you, and after a few seconds, you knew he wasn't leaving without an answer, so you sighed and admitted, "I just feel...useless. You guys are out here quite literally saving the world and then here I am not able to crack their firewalls and then getting my drone shot down... Some days I just feel like the team would be better off without me here."

"Hey, don't let those thoughts get to you," Steve said, placing a hand on your knee. "Everyone has their part to play. Without you we wouldn't know what we could improve on in the next mission, that's very important."

"I guess..." you replied quietly.

"Everything'll be okay," Steve told you and squeezed your knee a bit before walking off to debrief the rest of the team. He hated seeing you so upset, but he couldn't take you off of missions, because even though he was the Captain, it was Stark's call as your boss to have you come along.

Wanting to be alone, you put on headphones and started playing some soft piano music to try and calm down as you sipped the tea that had by then gone ice cold. A few minutes later, Stark put the jet into autopilot and approaches you. You took your headphones off upon seeing him coming to talk with you. You weren't able to read his expression as he approached, so you braced for a verbal punishment for being so reckless and...useless on the mission.

"You know I can just make another right, Newsie?" he asked, shocking you for a few seconds.

When you finally were able to process what he said, you looked up at him with a slight smile. The nickname reminded you of when you first met Steve and you saw Newsies on Broadway. When you broke eye contact with Stark to look at the debris laying on the table though, your smile fell as you admitted, "I just feel like I failed."

"We all do sometimes," Stark said. "I'm making a new one when we get back home. It'll be faster, more agile, better tech. This one's on me as much as it is on you, so I'm using it as a learning opportunity and upgrading all the stealth tech I can. When we get back to the tower we're starting on the new drone after I make some progress with this scepter."

"Okay..." you replied softly.

He saw a part of himself in you, seeing your reaction to the trauma you have experienced, so he told you, "Remember, you're an asset to this team. Don't get too down on yourself. And remember I don't pay you for nothing."

You laughed a bit at the comment and nodded, saying, "When we get back I'll give you a few hours, and then we can get started."

The team got back to the tower and everyone went their own ways for a little bit. Although you had some tea on the jet, you still went to the coffee shop for an hour or so to relax. While there, you called up Sam to see if he could meet you there to chat for a little bit. After Sam arrived and ordered a drink, he say down across from you. He smiled in greeting and said, "What's up? How'd the mission go?"

"That's what I wanted to talk with you about," you told him. You gathered your thoughts for a moment and said, "I was just wondering if you had any tips on how I can feel...more adequate and useful on missions? Because lately I just feel like no matter what I do, it doesn't help the team at all or I just get in the way."

"Man, I'm sorry you're feeling like that. Have you talked to Steve about it? Maybe there's something he can do to help."

You shook your head, telling him, "No, not extensively at least. I mentioned it on the jet back home but..."

"But...?"

"But I just feel like even if I did mention something to him, there wouldn't be much he could do. All of this mess is inside my head and I can't escape it," you told him quietly.

"Well, do you know why you feel this way? Because you've worked with the Avengers before right? Did you feel like this then?"

"Last time I worked with the Avengers it was a one-off type of deal and it was pretty spontaneous. I didn't have time to think about my lack of skills because I just needed to stay alive to tell the tale."

"Well, if it wasn't then, what about when you were on the STRIKE team?" Sam asked. "I know that day I met you you seemed a bit down about yourself on the team."

You thought for a second and then replied, "That was around the time my Grammie died. Before she passed, I was fine for the most part. I would always video chat with her and she would tell me how proud of me she was for doing good for the world and that she was happy I was following my dreams. There was always stress in my life, but she always knew how to calm me down..."

"Do you think there's any reason that would have caused this...inferiority complex of sorts? Besides the obvious not having one of your biggest fans right there whenever you want to chat?"

Thinking again, you realized why. It was because Grammie always kept you positive from the day you went into their custody. She kept your mind off of your parents, and now that she was gone, all the feelings you had while being raised by your parents were resurfacing. Not wanting to remember those times though, you pushed them away from your mind and simply told Sam, "I think I know, yeah."

Sam opened his mouth to ask another question to further the discussion but decided not to after how long it took you to come up with your simple response, coupled with the sad look in your eyes. "I can tell you don't want to talk about it, so how about we talk about something else? Like... what game we should show to Steve next. I vote Just Dance because...well, just imagine it." Sam couldn't help but laugh at the end of his sentence which made you finally crack a smile and laugh too.

"I imagine he would be really good or really bad at that one," you told him. "Oh, no, imagine Thor playing Just Dance!" At this thought, you lost yourself into a fit of giggles, the mental image temporarily distracting you from your previous thoughts.

Sam laughed with you and egged it on with more banter about each of the other Avengers playing the game. The two of you chatted for a little while longer, and the thoughts of the past faded away from your mind and you became relaxed once more.

At one point, you checked your phone and saw that you had already been there for two hours, and told Sam that you had to excuse yourself. "Well it was nice," Sam told you on the way out. "Call me if you want to talk later, okay?"

"Will do," you told him as you turned to walk to Avengers Tower.

When you arrived, you found Stark with Bruce in the lab, knocking gently on the glass door as you entered. "You went to the coffee shop without me?" Bruce asked teasingly, seeing the cup in your hand.

"I assumed you would be pretty busy, so I just got you something to-go instead."

"I appreciate it," Bruce replied, taking the cup graciously.

Stark told JARVIS to take control of his tasks for a little bit while he set you up in another lab. "Walk with me, Newsie."

"You know, I'm digging the nickname," you said, a new energy radiating off of you after taking a while to relax with Sam.

"I know," he said with an arrogant smirk. "Ties into your job here plus that musical. Speaking of music. Banner tells me that, much like him, music calms you down when things get bad in here." He ended the statement with a gentle knock on your head with his knuckle.

After shaking away the unexpected touch, you nodded, telling him, "That would be correct."

"Now, I don't mean to be that guy, but I know how you felt during the mission. You felt like you couldn't do anything, that nothing you did was right, and that you were useless to the team."

"Wow, don't hold back or anything..." you mumbled, your thoughts going back to what you felt as your drone was shot down.

"I'm just being realistic here. I had an idea when I saw you and Banner listening to music on the jet. What if with this new drone, I make it like a mini JARVIS? I could add in some tech where it can sense your vitals and if you're stressed out it helps you get grounded again so you can continue on the mission as efficiently as possible. I'll also add in smarter stealth, voice commands along with the tablet controls, some weapons for self-defense. That way you can also help save our asses if you need to. Sometimes taking a bit of initiative in battle can help ease those feelings you've been having."

While he was telling you this and showing the schematics, your jaw dropped slightly. "Stark, you really don't have to do this. I couldn't ask so much of you."

"Well good thing you don't have to. You're a good agent. You have skills that just need a little more honing at this level, but you also have anxiety that impairs you. In the heat of a mission, a split second makes all the difference, so we need you on top of your game. I hired you because I saw your resume and potential. All that needs to be done now is some fine-tuning."

"So where do we start?" you asked with a smile.

"Well, I already started on the intelligence chip while you were sipping tea at that shop. All I need you to do is sit in that chair." You cocked an eyebrow at the direction, but followed the instructions anyway.

A few seconds later, a woman in scrubs came into the lab and introduced herself, "I'm Helen Cho, I don't believe we've met."

You gave her your name as you eyed the set of electrodes on her cart, raising your eyebrows as you asked, "What are we gonna be doing here, Miss Cho?"

"These will just measure your heart rate and rhythm via EKG. I'm also going to be monitoring your blood pressure and respirations while Mr. Stark shows you-"

Suddenly Stark interrupts her, saying, "Ah, ah, ah. I haven't told her yet."

"Told me what?" you asks hesitantly.

"For this tech to work the way I want it to, we need to expose you to a particularly stressful experience or memory. Preferably both if I'm honest, the tech needs to know how you react to both."

"Oh..." you breathed. But then you remembered how you felt during the mission earlier and how you could have done a lot more if you had been able to get yourself grounded and thinking rationally. With that in mind, you quickly changed your tone and said, "I'm in."

"Knew you would be," Stark said while typing out some programming. "All of this really started after that last mission at SHIELD right?"

"That was the one yeah," you replied quietly as Helen got you hooked up to the equipment. It wasn't a complete lie...it was just after that mission that everything got worse.

"Then we start there. I'll get Hill to get the files from your old drone. Are there any other sorts of things you can think of that cause bad thoughts? Those you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but you'll need to think of them for the reads."

You nodded and took a deep breath to try and calm yourself down from sense of impending doom that was already creeping up your spine. Helen finished hooking you up, and you leaned back into the chair as you tried to prepare yourself for what was to come. A sound rang out into the silence of the room, signaling the incoming transmission from Maria, indicating that the files were ready to go. "You ready?" Stark asked.

"Probably not," you replied and forced a laugh.

"Well it's now or never," he told you, starting the footage and headset audio.

The images from that week surrounded you, and the coms audio filled the room when he hit play. The footage started off with the capture of Sitwell which did not affect you much, but when that footage cut off, what played next showed you crouching behind a car and then the Winter Soldier holding the knife to your throat. Your heart jumped and you closed your eyes for a second. You couldn't have a panic attack. Not here. Not now. So, you blew out a breath to control your breathing, but despite your best efforts, your hands began to shake as you got flashes of memories from that week. The ones standing out were always with those damn knives he had...

Just out of sight and earshot, Tony rubbed his chin while programming and mumbled, "This is good...this is gonna work." He clicked a few buttons and different images of the final battle surround you, ones of Sam getting knocked down, planes exploding, Steve getting shot. The overwhelming amount of footage set you over the edge and tears began to fall from your eyes while your heart raced. You had to fight the urge to just run from it all.

From the hall, Steve, who was walking to a different lab to check on Barton, heard the sounds of the mission, and his ears perked up. He looked into the room and saw you hooked up to a machine and Tony programming something. His mind instantly went to the worst case scenario at the sight, and enraged, he stormed into the room and shouted, "Stark! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I'm working, Spangles," Stark told him while continuing to program. He then smirked and said, "I'm offended by the language by the way."

Steve looked to your shaking form and noticed you wiping away your tears tears, your racing heart slowing down a little bit in his presence. A wave of protectiveness washed over him at the sight, so he said in a low voice, "Oh I can give you something to be offended about, Stark. Take that shit off of her right now."

When Stark didn't stop, Steve made a move toward you to get the wires off himself. Stark quickly blocked his path and puts his hand out, stopping him as he asked, "Would you rather this reaction happen in the middle of a battle? Huh? Because with the tech I'm programming for her right now, that won't have to happen."

"Do you not see how upset she is? Do you ever even think of what you do affecting others?" Steve snapped.

"Actually, yes. I do, Rogers, as surprising as that sounds."

The arguing triggered a series of memories from your childhood that you had repressed up until this moment to resurface. They were the same ones you started to remember earlier but had pushed away. You tried to control your breathing and concentrated on that rather than the bickering and the memories flooding your brain. You were so focused on that, that you didn't even realize that the arguing had finally stopped until there was a hand on your back trying to comfort you. "Are you okay?" Steve asked, his eyes and voice soft.

You nodded and forced a laugh as you said, "That was just a bit intense."

"You did great, Newsie," Stark told you a few seconds later. Steve threw him a glare, and Stark put his hands up in mock surrender. He avoided Steve by tossing you something and said, "Here, take this drive. Plug the chip into your computer at home and upload any music that calms you down. When I finish up the programming after you get that back to me, you shouldn't have to worry about attacks on the battlefield."

"Battlefield?" Steve asked, crossing his arms.

"She can still stay in the jet, Spangles, but now she'll be able to aid in the fight."

"Thank you, Tony," you told him softly, pocketing the small drive.

"Take the next few days off and work on that music setup. I assume I'll see you at the party on Saturday?"

"I'll be there. I'll bring this back with me then," you replied with a nod.

With that, you and Steve walked out of the lab together. After a few seconds, you broke the silence, saying, "I'm sorry you had to see that, Steve."

"It's not your fault. Why'd you let him do that to you though? We both know how that week hurt you..."

This protective side of Steve made your heart flutter, and a small smile set onto your lips. After a few seconds you told him, "I know what you were probably thinking when you saw that set up, and I just want to reassure you that it wasn't anything like that."

"I just wasn't thinking there for a second. You can't blame me for being concerned," Steve replied, scratching the back of his neck. "I can't lose someone else to that hell."

"I don't blame you at all, Steve. Tony was telling the truth though. With this new tech he's making for me, if I get too stressed out on a mission, I'll have a way to stay grounded. He knows how it is to have an attack like I do and just wants to help."

Steve sighed and nodded, saying, "Okay. I trust your judgment. You know what's best for you."

You smiled as you said, "It'll all be okay. Thank you for caring, though."

"Always," Steve replied with a smile in her direction.

link to the next part

[yomiurinikei]

Ahhhh holiday asks! If it’s okay, how about the survivor trio? Do they celebrate with the others at the foundation? Does kinjo still hate parties? Who buys terrible jumpers/decorates the office?

holiday asks 🥳!!!!!!! and ofc it’s okay!!!

cuz this was specifically for the survivor trio, this post will have them survivor trio-ing, instead of like… non despair au!

~*~

so. i think that teruya would be the one who’s most in the festive mood, it’s fairly obvious, but i think that’s the obvious conclusion for good reason? rei strikes me as being the most into new year’s celebrations though, i think it’d be important to her to find a temple in a safe area which she could visit around new year’s day; she won’t admit it, but it’s important to her that she goes to a shrine early on in the year. she’s very dedicated to her work, and views it as like… a trivial desire, but i really think that it’s a tradition that’s important to her, and brings her a sense of peace.

i tried to think of something to say about tsurugi on this topic but. now i’m just really sad about him and kouhei. like… i completely see all of his holiday memories reminding him of kouhei and juu. do we really think he’s excited to celebrate… anyways tho. tldr for this, i think teruya is the biggest on more christmas-esque/western traditions, as well as the most festive, the one who’s most likely to engage in silly traditions, while rei finds a lot of value in new years, and tsurugi just. isn’t in the mood

this being said tho! like hell if teruya isn’t dragging them into celebrating. lord knows what the economy is like post despair if it even exists…. but i imagine teruya would get gifts for rei and tsurugi, and that he’d find. some way to pester them into buying gifts as well,, i see them hanging out fairly often, not necessarily doing things together, but just sharing space? parallel play aksksksksk,, so i can see teruya decorating the office- HED TOTALLY MAKE LIKE. yk the paper chain garlands? he makes one of those and it’s so crazy long it’s just one consistent chain and it goes all around the whole room

i can see like.. not a survivor, but midori inviting the trio to a lil party she’s throwing with the 6.5 squad and some other foundation members.. bless her heart it’s probably the most awkward thing in the world. 70% of the reason it’s so stiff is the survivor trio (aka rei and tsurugi), but.. yk. teruya gets them to go in ugly sweaters but the survivor trio r the only ones to show up wearing ugly sweaters 😭.. i can see them playing white elephant at midoris party and it goes… Interestingly because rei and tsurugi would rather die than get along, but would also rather die than act immature?? so they’re simultaneously trying to get under each other’s skin while swapping gifts, and trying to act like they have no emotional stakes in the game 

gifts keep being a fairly common theme here, i think like… rei would get fairly practical, but nice gifts for the others? ie, she gets them each a nice winter scarf, a new pair of gloves for tsurugi, and new boots for teruya, that kinda thing! teruya i feel would get the other two like… small little gifts, but ones with a lot of thought? like, he’ll take note of the candies that rei always looks at in the store, and he’ll pick up a bunch of whiteboard markers in tons of colors because most of reis have gone dry; he notices that tsurugi bites the ends of his pens so he’ll get tsurugi some sticks of chewing gum, and will gift him some post-it notes because tsurugis almost out. just an assortment of miscellaneous stuff, but things that show he pays attention. which, speaking of tsurugi. he’s either “teruya, i got you a guide on how to care for leather materials and the tools necessary for upkeep, and i got the contact information of multiple people who used to work with leather before the tragedy, so u can keep kobashikawas goggles in good condition and repair any damage that comes with wearing them so frequently.” or he’s “rei i gave you the holidays off that was my gift”. it’s one or the other with him, it’s either about something which is incredibly dear to rei/teruyas heart, or it’s him being a fucking dolt who thinks a end of year bonus is a good gift for ur friends. 

they’re. weirdo’s, 2/3 of which weren’t even normal before the game, but they’re beloved weirdo’s <333… teruyas going to drag them into holiday celebrations and only 25% of it is going to go right but. i think at the end of the day, it’s good for them to hang out with one another, and they do appreciate spending time with one another during the season. reis never been one for gift giving and time with others, and tsurugi has a hard time letting go of his overly professional tendencies, but it’s still important to them, even if they don’t always show it. …even if teruya is going to make them watch hallmark movies. the three of them r still important to each other <333

(*the camera cuts to rei and tsurugi, january second, already bickering to hell and back…*)

[talenlee]

Story Pile: My Hero Academia, Season 3

Story Pile: My Hero Academia, Season 3

Finally I’m having a good time

After two seasons of finding its feet underneath it, and also burning through a positively unnecessary amount of tournament head-to-head nonsense, My Hero Academia has finally set up a season that left me with an overall positive impression. It’s very clearly a show for little kids – recaps and previews can make up about six minutes of a 26 minute run-time, and wishing it did things differently is a bit of a fool’s errand.

What this season did have that I liked was three distinct story arcs, none of which were too long or dragged out their worst elements too long. I mean it’d be nice if they didn’t have the boring bits at all, but I understand that some people see the way that Deku and All Might both solve problems by Punching The Best Way as heroically important, and therefore, my desire for them to develop more than that is not happening.

This also seems to be the point where the story tries to grapple with having villains that are more than just a vaguely cryptic shape. I like the way the new villains are shaping up here, and I especially like the way they’re used sparingly.

First up we have the woodland training arc. It’s got a good setup, something the students want to do, and where the nature of the experience keeps students spread out, gives them a lot of stuff to do and lots of different ways to express who they are. Then you throw into that training experience, which is largely fun stuff that looks at the characters and asks ‘hey, how do your powers work and how do we make them better,’ like the quirks as lived components of a character’s experience. That’s good! Then to complicate that, instead of a tournament of the characters slapfighting with one another, the story introduces some real tension in the form of an attack from villains who have a specific plan.

This is good! It’s remote, so you can have an excuse for where the support structure is, it’s reasonably safe so there’s no need for a primary focus on collateral damage and it’s big enough that people can get lost and have chunked up conflicts that give them opportunities to express themselves in a lot of different ways. The story introduces a bunch of villains ranging from the fun and interesting (Toga, Twice, Mr Compress, Magne) to the miscellaneous (everyone else). With a lot of villains spread over a lot of territory coralling a lot of students, you have a ready made opportunity for lots of different characters to try and deal with different things in different ways. This can lead to some great fights where characters work together in interesting ways – I really liked Tetsutetsu and Kendo fighting Mustard, for example, and the use of Twice to extend the reach of villains was also great!

Tell you what though this arc really reminded me that I will put up with a lot of bullshit from a character in this world if they look like they’re having a good time. This did mean that the stuff that the story thinks of as important – Midoriya vs Muscular for example – was an absolute dead end for me. It’s anti-interest; it’s not like Deku’s going to die, and he’s also not going to do anything interesting. The fight is about a dude who wins vs a dude who wins, and the dude wins until suddenly the other dude wins. The hopeful outline of it – a story where Deku learns to rescue someone, fight for them, and to think of the world around him in a fight? It’s completely dismissed in favour of but what if we punch each other really hard.

This artist has a vision of combat violence that is embarrassingly basic.

The next story arc teeters on the edge of more of that frustrating ‘I can see a better way to do this’ narrative. On the one hand, a big slugfest between two really powerful dudes who hate each other while the story flicks out to flashbacks is extremely standard, and this doesn’t elevate the form at all. Seeing some of All Might’s backstory is interesting, but it’s also done to introduce a fridged lady mentor figure, which feels a bit basic at this point? And that’s kind of everything that there is going on in this chunk of the story; it’s potential for more, but it’s very basic.

It obviously has to set up the loss of All Might; the departure of the powerhouse version of the character from the story is obviously important, and that’s a good thing to do here, and spending all the last measure of his strength on a great villain is a good way to do it. But there are … weird elements to it.

First of all, the villain has this big reserve of interesting powers, just based on what we’ve seen, and most of what he does is just ‘hit All Might harder.’ Now, I have no doubt that this is meant to chain into a later plot where this is all part of his plan, but be honest: if he beat All Might to death in this fight, it’s probably a big opportunity for a major supervilain. The idea that he fought in this really basic way for some greater, later plot is just kicking the can down the road, because if he could have killed All Might and didn’t, then whatever plan he has has to be incredibly and stupidly elaborate.

Bleh!

On the other hand, the story shows the importance of protecting and rescuing people. Deku’s ability to understand how people think, including Bakugo, is instrumental to getting them all safe and clear. Mount Lady even has an excellent moment that serves to cut the tension and give a laugh. The villains get away in an interesting (though creepy!) way. In the aftermath, All Might makes a point of now trying to make things better for Deku by teaching him things, and that’s super important too!

Then again, do you remember how I said that the sign of a shonen is how quickly it broke out a tournament arc? Well, it feels like the license exam is another tournament arc. It’s especially annoying because it’s not a good example of what a license is meant to do – you want to make sure that people are registered for the task, contactable, and have accepted public responsibility, it seems that this filtering system designed to only permit a hundred at a time would just encourage more vigilantism.

Still, despite this, there’s still two things I really enjoyed here. Another round of interesting bit-part characters get introduced – I like Tatami for example – and we’re once again introduced to an antagonist who is, at the very least, having a good bloody time. I thought Camie was interesting, but the way her character seemed to be just a repeat of Toga’s ‘hey, what about blood?’ personality seemed like a failure on the story’s part. But then that paid out, and that was pretty cool.

I also liked that a whole chunk of this license program is dedicated to explaining and demonstrating that heroes need to know how to rescue people. I’d have liked it more if this showed up beforehand, where, like, teachers might be involved, to make sure the students are prepared for this conversation, but that’s running the risk of presenting this hero high school story as featuring some high school. I have already accepted that this story just isn’t about that – it’s an ordinary superpowered shounen anime that sometimes remembers that superheroes are a genre with their own language and storytelling ideas.

This season also introduces us to a pair of trans characters, in Tiger and Magne. It’s an interesting thing because Magne is a trans woman who somehow manages to skirt a lot of tropes that I’m used to seeing with that kind of character; oh, sure, she’s not presented as attractive or desireable, and her place in the world is a villain in an underclass, but it does this without bringing up the normal things that make me go ‘oh, god, no.’ There’s a whole conversation about her, about the way that trans women who don’t pass get treated as a different category to trans people who do pass, and the whole narrative around passing privilege (and when it’s withdrawn) is a complicated, interesting topic that is well above my pay grade.

Mostly, you can tell My Hero Academia thinks of Magne as a woman because it can’t think of anything to do with her.

Tiger is a much more neutral, natural zero-point though. He’s a big buff trans dude with a shapeshifting power that lets him look how he wants and he’s part of a successful hero group that lets him take care of other elements that he may want dealt with. Basically, I suspect he got top surgery but can use his power to do anything, so I don’t know what the difference is meant to be. Still, we have it confirmed that he did go ‘to Thailand’ for that, and that’s…

Yeah, that’s one of those things that sounds like a punchline.

I am a little tired by the way that Deku’s primary power is to eat shit with regularity, but he used it to good ends in the Bakugo fight. That fight presented a great kind of emotional payoff but still without an explanation. I don’t get it, I don’t get why Bakugo’s ego is so fragile and brittle. I don’t know how someone who has been praised non-stop and has superpowers and all that can still have such an inferiority complex unless there’s something about himself that he’s hiding, that doesn’t reconcile with the rest of who he is. Maybe like if he was trans or gay, that’d make sense.

I thought for a few days there that Muscle might be Bakugo’s real dad, and that might be the tension in his family that gave him this masculine fragility, but nope, it seems that Bakugo’s just a turd. Still, we got a moment of him getting a reassuring hug from All Might, and it being the limits of what he could handle, and that’s pretty good.

There are also some great episodes of the characters just messing around! That’s great! That’s stuff that gives characters room to express themselves and show more dimensions to how they work as characters. Great stuff there. Overall, I think this is a good season to start with because it explains most of everything (most characters get explained too many times honestly) and you don’t miss much of anything in the previous stories.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

#Media #StoryPile #Anime #MyHeroAcademia

[chickensoup1025]

I'm just gonna answer all of these rn even tho that's not the point

1. Comfort character? Leslie Knope, Kirishima Eijirou, Adrien Agreste, Iko from tlc, Kyle Broflovski, Tweek Tweak, Willow Park... and a lot more lol

2. If I had to pick between a lighter and matches I guess I'd say matches

3. No I don't leave the window open at night cause of the AC

4. I don't believe any cryptid exist/I don't really care about that stuff

5. Brown 🤎

6. Why what

7. Hair ties over scrunchies. Tighter.

8. Zero water bottles in my room right now. I have one metal one I keep on me all the time (that I've painted on) and I'm at work rn so

9. I don't drink coffee. Couple reasons. Arfid said no to trying new things, smells weird, and if I got into caffeine I'm positive I'd get addicted so. Stopping that at the source thank you.

10. I wouldn't slaughter anyone. If I was in a very specific position and situation, there's a chance I'd KILL someone maybe but slaughter is much too much. Also I don't care about the rich part

11. I like reading a lot!!

12. It's a tired, cloudy, woke up late but I have stuff to do kind of day.

13. I ate a chocolate chip muffin this morning (at noon)

14. I guess I like the smell of after it rains. Doesn't rain a lot at ALL where I live so it is a luxury

15. No, I'm not a parent

16. Yes, I can drive! Got my license around 4 years ago

17. I have pretty damn great vision. Not far or near sighted.

18. Uh. I use Costco brand stuff in the shower

19. Of COURSE I'd paint your nails! I'm gonna get paint all over your skin though, that's a promise

20. I say "soda"

21. I still have a lot of things from childhood as I still live with my parents but I'd say the main thing is a ladybug pillow pet I got in 2010 I still sleep with

22. I'm an awesome person, thank you very much.

23. Chilly weather is alright I guess

24. If we were together on a rooftop... well. I might stand up and start belting show tunes so watch out.

25. Shower soap bar lol

26. A scenario I've replayed multiple times would have to be... leaving my first job

27. All in one go hours of sleep? 3 average :(

28. I don't regularly wear a mask, no

29. Hot water!! Very hot!!

30. I don't think there are dishes in my room

31. Pretty lyrics and a soft guitar- think "Victory" by the Avett Brothers

32. Nah, I don't have a favorite towel

33. I went on a mini adventure last night where I just kept driving till there was no "forward" at an intersection and then took a right. Kept doing this for almost two hours.

34. Oh course! I know a LOT of songs' every lyric by heart. Example off the top of my head: Anthem Of Mr Dark by the Arcadian Wild

35. PDT zone

36. I only changed my url once I think. Can't remember exactly what it was before this

37. Yeah, I've known my friend Nikki for maybe 14 years

38. Scent-free please

39. No, I don't use lip balm

40. Nah, I haven't had any snacks today

41. I don't drink coffee

42. Google for ao3 and miscellaneous, Pinterest for fan art, ibis Paint x for art and editing, YouTube, Spotify, Google maps, DROPOUT, Discord, gmail. In no particular order

43. Can't really handle any spice

44. A free pass to kill anyone? I guess Donald Trump idk

45. Yeah yesterday was a waste

46. My favorite holiday film is... uh. Well I really like Elf.

47. Last message I sent was a discord server emoji of demon Kokichi sprite lol

48. I accidentally had a sip of my granddad's wine which I thought was my apple juice. But I don't drink as I am 20. I don't plan on drinking when I'm of age either. See^ I'm sure I'll get addicted among many other reasons to not start

49. I've never tried skipping rocks, I don't think!

50. Please do tag me in random stuff!!

here’s weirder asks

who is/are your comfort character(s)?

lighter or matches?

do you leave the window open at night?

which cryptyd being do you believe in?

what color are your eyes?

why did you do that?

hair-ties or scrunchies?

how many water bottles are in your room right now?

which do you prefer, hot coffee or cold coffee?

would you slaughter the rich?

favorite extracurricular activity?

what kind of day is it?

when was the last time you ate?

do you love the smell of earth after it rains?

are you a parent? (all answers qualify)

can you drive?

are you farsighted or nearsighted?

what hair products do you use?

imagine we’re at a sleepover, would you paint my nails?

do you say soda or pop?

something you’ve kept since childhood?

what type of person are you?

how do you feel about chilly weather?

if we were together on a rooftop, what would we be doing?

perfume/body spray or lotion?

a scenario that you’ve replayed multiple times?

about how many hours of sleep did you get?

do you wear a mask?

how do you like your shower water?

is there dishes in your room?

what type of music keeps you grounded?

do you have a favorite towel?

the last adventure you’ve been on?

is there a song you know every word to by heart?

what’s your timezone?

how many times have you changed your url?

someone in your life, other than a relative, you’ve known for 10+ years?

a soap bar that smells good?

do you use lip balm?

did you have any snacks today?

how do you take your coffee?

an app you frequently use besides this godforsaken site?

what’s your take on spicy foods?

you get a free pass to kill anyone, who is it?

can you remember what happened yesterday?

favorite holiday film?

what was the last message you sent?

when did you first try an alcohol beverage?

can you skip rocks?

can i tag you in random stuff?

[kiss-dumbbunnies]

inktober prompt 1 — backpack

extremely late start but at least it's getting me to draw.

writing under cut >>

"Earbuds! Count 'em, four!" The tan lop rabbit neatly folded four pairs of wrapped earbuds into a small pocket in her backpack. "You guys will have to bring your own music players, though. I can't fit everything in here," she mumbled, zipping it back up.

"Nice," Avery snorted casually. "Will come in handy for when we all want to play Roblox together and don't want to disturb the trees or something," her feet tapped rhythmically against the concrete steps she sat on. "Or when Dev starts crying because he saw a spider."

"I will not cry because of a spider," objected the ferret boy, packing his own bag. "Spiders are cool. But I won't hesitate to stomp any mean ones. Or put them in your sleeping bag," he turned to cast a glare at her. In response she merely scoffed, smiling, "you wanna bet on that?"

"And a little sketchbook we can all share whenever we feel inspired to doodle!" Kess pushed some stuff in the backpack around to make room for a little spiral notebook. "But we only get one. And we all have to take turns, okay?" She zipped up the pocket again.

"Why keep opening and closing if you're not done yet?" Devon leaned forward to get a better look as she was reaching for the zipper yet again. "Well, it's windy out," Kess looked up and around, "and we don't want anything flying in 'n out or up and about. That takes a lot of zip-zappin'," she put a flashlight into another pocket. "Even the bear?" Devon squinted his eyes in confusion. "Yip!" Kess beamed a smile up at him. "Mr. Bear is important to the adventure. Without him, we're all doomed. And this knife!" She squeaked as she pulled a knife out of her pile of miscellaneous objects. "I take the knife and Mr. Bear, because I never know when I will need them." "That's very wise," Avery chimed in, resting elbows onto her folded knees.

"Yup," nodded Benjie, "always have to have Mr. Bear and his knife, Deb. Them's the rules." "That's right, Benny! He'll keep us safe all night... with his super-sharp bear knife!" Kess giggled, holding the pocket knife in the stuffed bear's paw and waving it at him. He snickered through a half-grin and waved back. He caught Devon's gaze after Kess had gone back to organizing her bag. "She loves her bear, Debbie. He'll keep her safe," he shrugged. "No," Devon groaned, now speaking in a whisper: "We will have to keep her safe. Remember? Scary trip to the woods?"

Benjie leaned his head to the other side of his shoulders and half-closed his eyes. "Yeah, of course I know that. Her bear just makes her feel secure. I wanna make sure Mr. Bear stays safe, too," he put his hands in the pockets of his jacket.

Exhaling through his nose, Devon gripped onto the strap over his shoulder. "I just wish she'd focus more on bringing things we're definitely, for sure, really gonna need."

"Oh, trust me, we're fine there," Benjie waved an open palm. Feeling a smirk creep across his face he coughed and crossed his arms. "I think she is really good at packing stuff, though."

"Everything but the stuff we actually need, Ben."

"...Yup."

"Ooii!" Kess called them back to her attention. "Do you guys think I should bring my Nintendo?"

Sun barely risen, the group finally started collecting themselves. They'd woken up extra early, per Kess' request, so that they'd have plently of time to be on the road. Everyone was still tired and had barely gotten themselves up for the day, but they'd all agreed that a little hiking trip would be fun.

"Are you gonna be going in that?" Devon stepped back out of the front door to his house, pulling his arm through the sleeve of his jacket. "Like, just the oversized hoodie?"

"You're at least wearing something under it, yeah?" Benjie joked, half curious. Avery gave him a quick, light slap on the arm.

"Shoot!!" Kess whined. "I forgot to get changed into my own outfit! And to pack extras! I'll have to bring a whole 'nother bag!" She repeatedly thumped her foot on the ground and set down her backpack. "Can you guys wait me a minute?" She looked over her shoulder at her friends, eyelashes fluttering pleadingly. Before anyone could answer, she shook her fluffy little tail and dashed off towards her own house.

The sound of Kess' footsteps running across the sidewalk grew fainter until they could no longer be heard. Only the sound of cars distantly driving over the puddle-covered road filled the silence now.

"That girl, huh?" Benjie rested his head atop his wrist. "Punctual in everything but the last second," he closed his eyes, smiling.

Devon fidgeted with his hands. "Maybe I should go see if there's anything I'm missing, too. I'll go check with Del." The door shut behind him as he went back inside.

"Wouldn't have her any other way, right?" Avery spoke softly, gazing out in the direction the sun was rising, starting to zone out. "We're going out on this thing for her, right?"

"...So I can find a big branch to poke her with, right?" Her tired, drooping eyes shot back open, glancing back over at Benjie who still sat with his head down.

"Mhm," he nodded. "Anything to see her eyes light up." His hands clasped together on his lap and he blinked slowly. His tail curled around his ankles and he let his ears fall in relaxation.

"5:17 in the A.M. morning. That's only five ones past the quadruple zero," Avery looked down at her phone and just as quickly shut it back off. "She'd do the same for us," she flopped backwards onto the grass. "For me, at least. She thinks you guys are lame."

"You really think you're up for this?" Delila yawned, setting her coffee cup down on the counter. Her hair was a fluffy mess and she'd still been wearing her oversized night-shirt from bed— it was certainly a sight to behold that she was even awake at this hour.

"Yeah, I think so," Devon leaned forward, resting his elbows and arms on the counter. He wanted to speak confidently, but truth be told he was quite nervous about the whole ordeal. He knew more than anyone that impulsive plans made on a whim were never good news, and he didn't want Kess to end up getting herself hurt. But he just couldn't say no to her.

"You don't sound too sure," Delila mirrored his posture. Her eyes could barely keep open, only been able to bear the weight of her own head by tilting it onto her shoulders. "You packed band-aids, pain pills, deoxy—... deodor—..." Her words barely stumbled out. "Peroxide?"

"Yeah, I think I've got everything. Basic first-aid, at least," he shrugged.

"Del," speaking in a gentle voice, he asked her, "if I need you to come pick us up, you promise you'll be there, right?"

Delila lifted her head only to give him a half-open deadpan stare. "Has there ever been a time I haven't gotten you out of trouble?"

Devon held onto his upper arms sheepishly. "I know, I know. It's just that it's really cold and rainy this time of year, and, I don't want anyone to get hurt, and—"

"Yes, Devon, I know," Delila yawned again. "You want to have fun, though, don't you? I'll be there, Dev. At the house, I mean. But I'll live in your phone for the time being." She extended a hand to hold one of his. "Go out with your buddies and scrape your knees a bit, okay? It'll only be the million-and-tenth time. You'll be fine."

Devon looked down nervously at her hand atop his, then up to her gaze and smiled. "Yeah, we will. Thanks. I just hope—"

"Devi!" A familiar girl's voice called from outside. "I'm back and I brought even more hoodies!"

"...Get out there and put on your best tough-guy face, champ," Delila gave a monotonous thumbs-up.

"Um, So I did my best to pack as much as I could, y'know," Kess shuffled her feet and held her hands behind her back. "I'm sorry if I missed anything..."

"What? You'll need at least six more bags, Key," teased Benjie, raising an eyebrow with hands on hips. "Unless you want us all to die out in the woods, I guess," he shrugged, followed by another quick slap to the arm from Avery.

"No, I can double che—" "Oy, we're good, chickie!" Avery playfully interrupted with a laugh. "You've got your cute boots, all we're waiting on is Professor Dook McGoof."

"Ooi," Devon called from outside his front door, "That's Prof. McGoof to you, miss Cheesebrain. Or I'll have you sitting at the back of the class today." He lightly bonked the top of her head with a water bottle.

"Yes sir, McGoof sir," Avery mocked in an unserious tone.

"Is it time to go yet?" Kess lightly hopped from the toes of her feet. "The sun's getting up and we're gonna miss the best part of the morning!" She squeaked, her head turning to follow her darting gaze.

"Is everyone ready?" Benjie stood at her side to calm her down, and looked on at the other two. Avery shrugged, and Devon smiled, nodding vigorously.

"Good enough," he turned to Kess, covering with his hand a light chuckle as he could sense the boundless energy emanating from her eyes alone. Her beaming smile spoke a thousand words—a couple of which were "Let's go!!!!"

And off they were. No matter the situation, at least they'd all feel safer together.

[softgrungeprophet]

obviously i did choose to use the backstory from SM and Power-Pack #1 for my AU but that was largely for plot parallel reasons and tying together, basically, Peter, Gwen, Janine and Kaine all as parallel characters in a small way (though gwen will be spared for the most part but obvs still shaken by being attacked), but I'm ngl the more I have read of various comics, as well as screenshots of various scenes i haven't gotten to quite yet, the more it dooooes feel kind of believable as a backstory from a character standpoint

obviously peter has always been a fighter even as a child and got in 6v1 fistfights and so on, and that's something i always keep in mind cause his anger etc. is really so key to his personality including as a kid, but (and i don't mean in a shy quiet way but rather an inability to say "no" way) he seems to struggle a lot with asserting himself/his boundaries in unwanted romantic/sexual situations like... on a recurring basis (at least in the 80s but i wanna say it was other eras too), so the notion that an older boy who he thought was his friend would be able to coerce him that way doesn't feel like much of a stretch at all really, esp for a small kid who looked to be somewhere around 10 or 12 at the time

i guess it depends on what comics you look at though and how much weight you give to issues from specific years. i'm realizing a lot of the examples i can think of ARE from the 80s lmao

i have like screenshots and notes in my timeline doc lol but i'm just musing, not trying to make a like, Rebloggable Meta Post. just something i was thinking about recently after reading some miscellaneous comics including more of Jenkins' which arguably has at least two instances of (attempted) sexual assault if you count the symbiote bonding with Peter against his will (which considering the blatant domestic abuse subtext for venom in the comic, i think it's fair to count that as a parallel to sexual assault even if it's not exactly that), as well as, of course, the Spider Queen kissing him against his will while he's immobilized (though peter did manage to fight back)

of course that comic is from the early 2000s so it postdates SM&PP #1 by like. 20 years.—idk if Jenkins was thinking about that comic (but who knows, I'M using it almost 40 years after the fact so...) or if it's just that peter is sexually harassed kind of often enough in minor ways throughout regular-ass spidey comics for situations like that to just fall into place

for jenkins though it does make sense because the really strongly recurring throughline in his runs on spider-man just based on what i have read (piecemeal, randomly, probably about half of both?) have been peter's sense of being adrift, uncertain and in many cases helpless, and he explores that a lot via both current events in both his PPSM and TSSM runs (including the plot with flash's coma), as well as flashbacks to like, Peter's stage fright as a child—whether or not you consider that in-character (i don't think it's wildly ooc cause it does seem like peter's confidence is strongly situational but i'm never quite sure whether i think it fits or not. i'm certainly not opposed to it), it's definitely part of an ongoing theme in his Spectacular run specifically, juxtaposing his sense of being lost and confused with his anger and love and stuff like that (the contrasts between the gentle way he touches his loved ones vs. the vicious way he fights Otto... chef kiss, ty ramos). i thought the scenes in the final issue were also interesting cause it has the stage fright stuff but it also has the nightmare scene where peter is naked (again, helpless and vulnerable) and the villains all around him are threatening to do awful things to him which they refuse to tell him.

idk if i'd say it's fully at sexual assault symbolism but there does feel like a hint of that there just because of the lack of specificity and peter's nudity in the dream plus the earlier stuff i mentioned w/ venom and the spider queen. i do like the stage bow at the end cause there's this strong sense of spider-man being peter's shield against the world and the symbolism of him basically existing to protect his child self (also a theme with several of the supporting cast members, in other comics by other writers, namely flash and harry)

of course that's just one author (in case you can't tell i am a little bit into Jenkins' writing 😂😂😂 he does whiff sometimes (more than sometimes) but when he hits he just really gets it for me, personally)

other earlier comics like ASM #230 and issues relevant to that plot/its characters (from 1982, so pre-dating the child molestation PSA/backstory issue by a couple years in this case) are more lighthearted or humorous in their approach but i do think they take on some kind of discomfort in the greater context of spidey, tbh... the way peter struggles to refuse amy's advances is like, a little notable to me.

i'm sure there are other examples but anyway i was just rambling idk why i suddenly was thinking of this 😂

[4dtk]

jaehyun as a bf

anon: “your writing brings me butterflies i love it you are so underrated!!!!! would love to request a jaehyun bf headcanons (like the one you did of mark <3)” thank you for the kind words anon <333 hope you enjoy this one!

(a bit of a plug lol but check out NCT 127's ideal r/s headcanons in this post!! i appreciate you checking it out! <3)

brief mentions of sex, but nothing explicitly nsfw!

likes to talk about music with you

especially jazz. there’s a plethora of songs out there with different renditions and sometimes he likes to ramble about who’s rendition he likes best

would play the piano for you if you asked, just maybe not after schedules or something. but usually when you’re free or alone together in the room, he likes you to sit beside him to listen to him play

you guys like to play a little game where he’ll play the chords and you play like a random note to create blobs of music

even if you don’t know how, the way the session always dissolves into giggles is his favourite thing in the world

if you know how to play the piano that’s great too!! jaehyun just likes the unexpected notes that come out since there’s no set melody in his mind

jaehyun needs to have some part of his body on yours at all times. like he has to hold your hand all the time, or a finger hooked around your backpack, or an arm around your waist.

at least when you’re together he does it very often and he’s just. obsessed with you lmfao

it’s also the reason he buys a promise ring when he’s sure of you as a significant other so you always have a part of him with you (his love)

would buy you those lockets for you to put pictures inside. he doesn’t care where you wear it though, around your neck, wrist, ankle, as long as the locket is on your person

he clings onto you like crazy in the mornings. jaehyun’s a heavy sleeper and likes to hug you on his side, so you’re always having trouble trying to pry him off of you in the morning

a bit nsfw: he likes morning lazy sex lol, ngl. jaehyun adores the rawness of your relationship in the morning and the sleepiness in your eyes when you’re gently pushing him away. he knows you don’t mean it but he makes sure you really want it first

loves the sunlight kissing your skin and the slow, gentle movements

so so intimate, he prefers it to the rougher forms of sex, but sometimes he doesn’t have that luxury since they leave for schedules quite often in the wee hours of dawn

for cuddling sense, jaehyun likes it when you’re under his arm and cuddled into his side. classic position but he dies every time inside when you look up at him and there’s this clueless look you have. has the biggest smile on his face after and you have to repeat the stuff you said bc he’s too distracted by how your eyes shine

second hot favourite (more of when you’re making out) is when you’re straddling him. nothing sexual, just like you on top of him when you’re kissing and stuff. he digs it when you’re pulling away for oxygen and he has to lift his body to reach for your lips again

gets flustered from kissing, but doesn’t show it. if he’s found a way to suppress the crazy crimson on his ears (which i doubt) then he will but his words will always contradict his expression

jaehyun can say “are you nervous, y/n?” with a smirk but his ears keep giving him away!!!!

mfer’s hands are shaking too when he trails it over your body. in disbelief you’re his.

sometimes shamelessly moans into the kiss LOL, not too loud but he whines when you pull away, and has to kiss you breathless again

when you kiss him, expect like a long-lasting kiss. doesn’t mind small pecks and stuff but he’ll want to savour your lips a little longer than a mere peck

jaehyun likes your neck too. when you’re hugging his face is always in your neck, placing small little butterfly kisses

you need to look out for him, always. mans always tripping over something at some point. it’s become more frequent now that he has you and my god he’s so unable to keep his eyes off of you that he trips over simple things. he once tripped over nothing

on the daily when he’s not tripping over you, he’s clumsy in a sense where he drops food on the table. he once struggled to tie up his growing hair into a mini ponytail bc it was just too little hair. the hair tie slipped from his fingers and shot itself into your face - those kinds of small small mishaps

it’s endearing but sometimes you can’t help but laugh at him

likes to take you out on impromptu dates. dates that are close by and easy to plan (?) i guess.

not saying jaehyun is a lazy boyfriend but he likes the more candid dates where you decide what to do as you go along. of course if it’s a big day like your anniversary or birthdays then he’d want to plan something out.

other than that, he just either lets you choose the places to go there or you two decide along the way. he doesn’t want to impose options for you and pressure you. if he’s being honest, he wouldn’t know where to go either lol so he just follows wherever you bring him

laughs so much when he’s with you. giggles, deep laugh, whatever you name it. your relationship is very light-hearted and he finds that he’s the one laughing more when you deliver jokes even tho he wants to make you laugh too

i can’t lie… his jokes can be dry sometimes i’m sorry jaehyun 😭 so he backs it up with laughter and has to catch his breath sometimes bc he finds it really funny

you’re not laughing at the joke, rather at his laugh so you might have to tell him that some way or another bc he’ll just keep making bad jokes i’m sorry y’all

he can’t handle the suuuuuper cheesy physically affectionate films or series (with shitty plot) but i feel like if the story’s interesting enough he’ll pay attention. likes bittersweet films too, i feel, gets him thinking

doesn’t mind cliched plots (fake dating / idealist girl meets realist boy / idk any others lol) but would propose something at the end that he thinks will make the movie/series more interesting

jaehyun likes to share his theories with you

unironically wants to learn the la la land tap dance scene with you. he ALWAYS hums city of stars too, no matter what. idk why but it sticks to him, in bed, in breakfast, when he’s doing something random

he did it once on the radio and he received a text from you in break that told him he was humming along to the song

with that said, jaehyun wants to try out the stuff in the rain quite a bit. making out, dancing, lying down, running, he likes that fascination that society has with doing things in the rain

doesn’t like it too much that he’ll get soaked, but as long as you’re with him and willing to do it, he’s all for it

jaehyun would def want kids in the future. wants to dote on them and buy them stuff and whatnot. wants to see them running around the house with laughter while you both struggle to contain the bursts of excitement they have

doesn’t care for the dynamic much. if he’s the one to stay at home to take care of them while you work, he can work with it. if it’s the other way round, he’s okay too

he just worries that if he’s still involved with the entertainment industry, you might have to take a back seat since he’ll be the one earning the money, and he doesn’t want babysitters either.

heart is so so full when he comes back home and you’re just playing with the kids, or singing them to sleep. any sight of you with him is enough to make him melt into a puddle

HAS to hold them even if they’re asleep. wants to always have them close to him while he nudges you to shower or get the food ready.

like jaehyun, he would wanna meet someone in a vinyl shop or bookstore. he knows it’s cliched but the thought of meeting someone when you’re buying something is exciting. anything unexpected for him, he welcomes it

the next few are just random, miscellaneous headcanons: he likes to see you in his clothes, preferably with nothing underneath. just his shirt lol. cheeky man

jaehyun likes it when you shower together (again, nothing sexual, just likes the domesticity)

likes it when you fall asleep on him

will never stop gushing about you to his parents, first time you met them they’re like “he’s told us so much about you!” and he really did

feels comfortable in your presence, no makeup, messy hair, no need for a perfect bod. he’s just jaehyun. jung yuno if you will

adores it when you call him “lover” i mean boyfriend is good, significant other is good, but lover is just chef’s kiss

it is a bit cheesy if you think about it, so it’s not often that you say it. when you do say it in songs when you’re singing it to him, he can’t stop smiling

plays lover, you should’ve come over when he’s on tour bc it’s the closest thing he can get to a replica of how he feels for you

and when jaehyun falls asleep to the song, all he can remember is your honey voice singing it to him. he’ll just have to hold onto it before he can see you again

<3

[rek1s-headband]

hi! figured i’d drop a request for you :))! Maybe some general bf hcs for reki and langa? Just in general how they would be as a boyfriend or how they would act in a relationship?

Hi!! Thank you so much for your request, I’ve been excited to do one of these. I hope you enjoy it!

➯ random boyfriend headcannons

➯ characters: Reki Kyan and Langa Hasegawa x gn reader

➯ warnings: none! Just some fluff for these two boys:)

Reki:

-Literally the most enthusiastic person you’ve ever seen. He’d be happy to just sit in silence with you because come on, it’s YOU. There’s no one he’d rather be wasting the hours away with.

-Your biggest hype man, EVER. You post something on Instagram? Get ready for a flood of comments, all from him. You could put your phone down for two minutes after posting, and you’ll come back to 99+ notifications of just reki commenting along the lines of “woah suddenly I’m on one knee” “DAMNNNN” and many, many more.

-Never leave your phone unattended around him. He won’t snoop, but be prepared to come back to your camera roll flooded with just zoomed in pictures of his face, his mouth, his eye, ANYWHERE. Mf is spamming your whole phone with pictures of him for you to come back to.

-He has to always be touching you in some way. Whether it’s holding your hand, your waist, a casual arm around your shoulder, there has to be something. He’ll put his hand on your ass sometimes while you walk in public.

-Honestly doesn’t even think PDA is anything out of the ordinary. Like, you’re his s/o??? Yes you’re in his lap, yes you’re in the middle of the skatepark, so what? You’re his, and he’s happy he can make everyone aware of that.

-I saw a post on here that said he would peel stickers off fruit and stick them to peoples’ foreheads, and I fully stand by this. However, it doesn’t just stop at fruit stickers. Anything remotely sticky, whether it’s tags from clothes, tape from a food box, even random sequins and bits of glitter he finds around, it’s immediately being stuck to some part of your face.

-Loves casual dates. Stopping by food stalls, browsing in clothes and game stores for a few hours, and skating around with you until it’s time to go home is a dream for him. Be prepared for day-long dates, because he will clear his entire schedule just to spend the day with you.

-His family adores you. His mother is always goading him to bring you over more, complaining that she misses her "honorary son/daughter/child". His sisters love you too. Any time you come over there’s immediately three tiny bodies shooting at you, grabbing you by the waist and dragging you over to wherever they’re playing. Reki tries to drag you away, wanting to have you for himself, but you always try and stay for at least five or ten minutes. Secretly, he loves that you get along so well with his siblings, going soft at the thought of how you would act with children of your own.

-He loves playing video games with you. Sitting in his lap, the two of you could spend hours switching from game to game. One minute you could be burning down a village in Minecraft, the next complaining while Reki whoops your ass in Mario Kart. His mom brings you food for your breaks between games, and she’ll even stay for a few minutes to talk to you while Reki shifts underneath you, glowing red from embarassment.

-If you can’t skate, he would beg to teach you. If you accept, he goes all out. He’ll make you your own customised board just for practicing, making sure it’s absolutely perfert for you to learn on. But if you can skate, get ready for endless races and competitions to see who can nail a new trick the quickest.

-Adores when you come to S to support him. He loves looking into the crowd and seeing you there cheering him on before he goes into a beef. If he wins, he’ll race over to where you are in the crowd, picking you up and spinning you around, kissing you without a care in the world. However, if he loses he’s thankful you’re always there to pick him back up and make him feel better afterwards.

-Loves cleaning you up after a big fall, kissing your bruises and cuts better. He’ll carefully wrap each injury with care, telling you how brave you are, no matter how small the cut. Secretly, he loves when you baby him after he falls himself. Seeing you wipe away the blood from a new cut and place a small plaster on it with such tenderness melts his heart in a way only you could.

-Speaking of plasters, this man has one for every occasion. Princesses, pirates, aliens, cats, dogs, sparkles, stripes, you name it, he’s got it.

-The type to sneak you out at two in the morning to get a slushee with him. Honestly, he’s up so late making boards for people he just has no perception of time.

-Spams your phone with TikToks or other funny things that reminds him of you. It could be a very specific thing, or a flower or cloud. If he thinks of you when he sees it(which is fairly often), it gets sent to you.

-Talks with his hands a lot. He’s a very expressive talker, so when he’s telling you a story it feels like you’re right there in the story with him.

-Please just kiss him. His cheeks, his forehead, his hand, his shoulder, his temples, his lips. Anywhere, he’ll melt under you. Mf is touch starved to the max.

-Always knows how to make you laugh. His laugh is infectious, it could get you out of your darkest moods.

-Sleeps with his head on your chest, and one hand in your shirt little perv.

-His social media is like a SHRINE for you. His highlights, his posts, his stories, EVERYWHERE. He’s just so proud to be able to call you his that he wants the whole world to know.

-Kisses in the rain while you run home, skateboards in your hands after the weather forecast failed you once again. He’s just so happy in the moment that he can’t contain himself, so he’s pulling you into him in the pouring rain, kissing you hard while your hair gets drenched.

-You don’t need to steal his clothes, he will literally give them to you because “you just look so cute wearing them”. Occasionally, he’ll take one of your hoodies, and even if it doesn’t exactly fit him, he’ll still keep it near him while he sleeps so he can keep your scent close to him.

Langa:

-This man is so oblivious to obvious hints, but still manages to pick up on the smallest of details? It’s incredible, honestly. He could describe the exact colour of your eyes with the most insane detail, but he still won’t notice when you try and hint that you like him in the first place!

-You two have a bit more of a low-key relationship, but you’ll make your usual appearance in his Instagram posts, or on his Snapchat story with a casual caption like a simple heart, or “my love<3”

-Not very big on PDA, not because he doesn’t like it, but because he doesn’t think of it. However, when he does feel like he’s being too physically distant, he’ll link pinkies with you as you walk along, or rest his head on your shoulder while you watch a video on your phone.

-His mom adores you, which is why Langa despises bringing you to his house. You always seem to leave with seven of his baby photos from his time snowboarding in Canada, a new recipe from his mother that you complimented, another one of his hoodies, and more miscellaneous stuff that you don’t even know how it ended up in your bag. He has a little shelf in your room specifically for this random stuff, and he always adds to the collection when he comes to your house. He’ll leave a keyring, a small toy, a Polaroid, anything honestly.

-Loves dates that you can experience. The movies, aquariums, museums and the zoo are common dates for the two of you to go on, but other than that, he adores going skateboarding with you. He’s been improving, and he loves when you notice little things he’s been picking up on, whether it be a new trick or simply how he balances himself on the board.

-Adores old Disney movies. Yall will binge a ton of them in one day, having full-blown musicals in Langa’s living room. When any of the romantic songs come on, like “So this is Love” from Cinderella, Langa will stand up and offer his hand to you, as the two of you waltz around his sitting room, humming the tune of the song.

-Study dates are frequent with the two of you. If you happen to stay up late studying and fall asleep on each other, his mother will cover the two of you with a blanket, tidying some of your books and leaving with a smile, happy with the knowledge you were making her son the happiest he’s been in quite a while.

-Slow dancing in the kitchen while you cook is a regular. When a particularly sappy love song comes on while he stirs the pot, he’ll turn around and hold you close to him, twirling you around the kitchen.

-Reki constantly jokes that he is a third wheel, poking fun at the two of you, Cherry and Joe, and Shadow and “his little girlfriend back at the flower shop”. He’ll hang out of Miya, whining about them having to stick together since they’re the only two “lone wolves”. He’ll usually get a well-earned thump into the back of the head from Miya, but it’s still funny to watch the whole thing go down.

-Tends to be shy when giving you clothes, so instead of asking you to wear them he’ll leave them out in places he knows you’ll find them, or he’ll come up behind you and plop it in your lap, murmuring about how cute it would look on you.

-Please do this man’s makeup. He will sit so still for you, waiting patiently while you dab eyeshadow at his eyes, trying not to blink so you don’t mess up his mascara. He’ll sit there mesmerised for a few minutes, taking in how he looks, and simply whisper “you do this every day?”

-Evem though he’s not a very openly affectionate person, he is stuck to your hip behind closed doors. He’ll lie in your lap for hours, staring up at you while you mess with his hair, pulling it into little plaits and pigtails.

-I can’t even describe how the two of you sleep. It’s simply a mass of limbs, and no one knows exactly what belongs to who. Somehow one of yall will end up upside down, and-why is Langa on the floor??

-He could talk about his time in Canada for hours, and you’d just lie on his chest and listen to him. Every once in a while he’ll look down at you to see if you’re still listening, and his heart will melt a little every time he sees you staring back up at him, eyes wide with interest.

-This man NEVER gets jealous. You’d literally have to cling to another man for it to click in his brain that Oh. He doesn’t like that.

-He’s not big on texting, but if you call him he will stay on that call with you for hours, even after the two of you fall asleep.

-Whenever he falls(which is quite often), you’ll always have plasters on hand to help fix him up. He always flushes bright red when you kiss his cuts better, and never knows just what to do with himself afterwards.

-When he skates against tough opponents, you’ll always give him a kiss for good luck. Of course, this doesn’t stop you worrying, but you know Langa wouldn’t go out of his way to get injured. And if he does, well, at least he’ll have you there to kiss his bruises better.