#like he notices fine details and makes quick connections but he's also just good at getting people to tell him stuff

[trans-xianxian]

I love that wei wuxians puzzle solving is as much thanks to his ability to question people successfully as it is thanks to his natural observation skills

[my-current-obsession]

My Next Life as a Villainess VN - Thoughts

Considering the source material, I was surprised at how good this game was! It's unsurprisingly light-hearted and comedic, but most of the CGs are still great and the romances mostly worked. I appreciated how despite Catarina's black-hole level of denseness causing issues in basically every route, everyone tackled it differently and every relationship felt unique.

My biggest complaint is just that we were robbed of routes with the girls outside a "normal/friendship" ending, since the girls canonically ALSO love Catarina. Getting three extra routes for Mary, Sophia, and Maria would have been SO GOOD. But Alas.

While this game and story is definitely meant for fans of the light novels and/or anime, I think there's plenty of information for people new to the series to still enjoy it. I also appreciate how much content is added to the common route as you complete the routes of love interests. Expect SPOILERS below the cut, as I go into detail on my thoughts for each route.

My play order was:

Alan -> Keith -> Geordo -> Rozy -> Nicol -> Silva

Common Route: I won't linger too long on this, since the common route in this case was pretty short. It did its job, setting up the plot and introducing us to all the important characters, both new and old. But in terms of notable interactions with the love interests or MAJOR plot points, there isn't much of notice yet. All the choices that give affection for the guys pre-route split lead to very brief tangents/conversations, nothing substantial.

We do meet and immediately befriend Rozy in the common route, which is nice. Silva by comparison barely features here, but he's ALL OVER basically every route, so his absence here is honestly fine.

I do like that we learn about the sachets and their connection to Ryle Werder, since that plays an important role in several routes. The Witch's Eye, by comparison, perhaps receives TOO MUCH attention in the common route. It's only relevant in NICOL'S route and yet we learn about it when meeting ROZY, which seems odd.

Alan: Not counting the girls, when I watched the anime, Alan was my favorite love interest. Hence, I decided to start with him. And I wasn't disappointed! I like that it's pretty clear under "normal" circumstances that despite his love for Catarina, Alan would never rock the boat and confess to her. He acknowledges and respects that she's engaged to Geordo, and he's engaged to Mary.

Thus, for this love to bloom, the pair kind of NEEDS to be separated from the group and spend some quality time together, which is just what we get. Interacting one-on-one, these two have a very casual and easy relationship that appeals to me. They get along well and Alan is mostly charmed by Catarina's eccentricities. His one real problem with her is that she is reckless to the point of endangering her own life, and that's a fair criticism I think.

Since Alan wasn't planning on confessing, his struggle to "get through" to Catarina is mostly about making her understand that being reckless hurts and upsets the people that care about her, which he finally inadvertently succeeds at by... getting hurt himself while protecting her, causing HER to be upset.

It's a very sweet and subtly romantic moment, which I liked a lot. I like how this route, particularly the "memory scenario" bits, seemed to imply that deep down, subconsciously, Catarina ALWAYS has liked and favored Alan. He's the one she likes to just... hang out and spend time with, and thus when they spend a certain amount of time alone and have some (mostly accidental) romantic moments, she's quick to Catch Feelings, even if she takes a bit to acknowledge them.

The cherry on top to this route was his confession and how it was handled. When Alan accidentally confesses his feelings while saving Catarina from Frederic, due to her hangups about the whole "I'm a villainess in an otome game and all the guys should love Maria" thing she initially wants to doubt or misinterpret it - but Silva (who had earlier called out and WEAPONIZED Alan's feelings for his own gain) is quick to correct her, forcing her to acknowledge it. But the pair don't get to talk it out right away, leaving them to be noticeably awkward around each other until they do.

Only then, when it's unavoidable and necessary, does Alan fully confess. Because he knows Catarina NEEDS to hear this in order to fix their current relationship. But he immediately follows it up by telling her to forget it all - because he's genuinely content with just being friends with her and doesn't want to ruin things between her and Geordo.

I appreciate how much Alan is selfless and trying to do the right thing - and I appreciate it even more, comparing it to other routes to come. And Catarina refuses to forget because simply finding out how he feels is enough to make her recognize her own feelings, but she similarly resolves to talk things out with Geordo and Mary before confessing. The respect paid to their "official" partners and trying to properly end things before starting anything together is mature and wonderful, to the point where in Alan's happy end Geordo (reluctantly, but still entirely of his own volition, without outside pressure) gives them his blessing. It's sweet and satisfying.

Also, sidenote - I genuinely liked Liliana a lot as a side character and was disappointed she wasn't in any other route. On the other hand, that means she got to witness and support JUST Alan's romance and none of the others, so...

Keith: I won't lie, this is my least favorite route from a plot AND relationship standpoint. While basically ALL the other love interests find Catarina charming and endearing, it bothers me how Keith is always criticizing her. He loves her, but he's constantly trying to get her to act like a "proper noblewoman" instead of embracing her as she is. And from the perspective of a SIBLING, that's fine. But I HATE it when you're actively trying to mold your love interest's behavior and personality.

Across all the routes Catarina must have dreaded Keith lecturing her (explicitly acting like her mother, at that) more times than I could count. That's just NOT romantic. At all. And isn't a dynamic that can/should be TURNED romantic, IMO.

Another big turnoff for me is that Keith is one of two love interests who has... let's say a sense of entitlement to Catarina. He's actively hidden his feelings for years, AND YET he hates the idea of her with anyone else and actively tries to keep her away from her more aggressive suitors like Geordo. Unlike Alan and Nicol, who acknowledge their feelings but WILL NOT act on them in usual circumstances, Keith monopolizes Catarina's attention when he can and actively WANTS to be with her romantically... all while excusing the time and attention he gets by saying it's his right as her BROTHER.

The underhanded nature of how he gets her attention and his ulterior motives bothers me. At least Geordo is UPFRONT with his possessiveness and intentions, even if Catarina is too dense to notice.

On Catarina's end... I just struggle to buy her suddenly falling in love with him. This route makes it clear Keith is "special" in that she's quick to notice if he's not feeling well physically or emotionally; Catarina likes to TAKE CARE OF and DOTE ON Keith. That's pretty in-line with her seeing him as her brother, and honestly that same care and attention comes across in other routes where she clearly loves him PLATONICALLY, so it's hard for me to accept that not only does she quickly fall in love with him here but she confesses FIRST before Keith makes his own feelings clear.

As for the rest of this route's plot, I barely remember it. I wasn't invested in the conflict here - and that's not the case in most routes. Alan's route interested me with the relationship drama of Ryle & Liliana, Silva and Rozy had big political issues, and Nicol's was supernatural. Only Geordo's route was similarly dull in terms of non-romance content. The main thing I took away from the conflict here is I was unhappy how Keith's conflict of feeling weak and unable to protect Catarina was handled.

Rather than learning he didn't HAVE to protect her, that he was important/valuable to her without that, or something along those lines (leading to a more mutual and open dynamic, theoretically), it's resolved by... him finally being able to protect her. He had a BAD personal arc on top of a BAD romance on top of a BORING overall route/conflict.

Geordo: Like Keith, Geordo is pretty possessive and "entitled" to Catarina. Unlike Keith, I can at least somewhat understand why. He's literally engaged to her and has been for years. Beyond just his own hopes/feelings, there is an expectation that he WILL marry her eventually. I also appreciate that while he's initially not that forward, he's still open and obvious about his romantic affections. It's just that Catarina is PARTICULARLY dense with him.

She struggles to believe anyone could fall for her when Maria is Right There, but Geordo in particular she struggled to win over "in game", and despite years to get used to the idea she still doesn't seem to realize how much people and relationships have changed due to her actions. Thus she can't envision him EVER loving her romantically and finds a way to misinterpret his every action.

Whereas Keith just kind of... snapped and wasn't able to hold back his feelings in his route after spending too much time alone with Catarina, Geordo by comparison is very DELIBERATE in making more aggressive moves. And again, I think it's narratively justified albeit kinda messed up. While he is used to the usual rivals and felt relatively secure that they wouldn't/couldn't steal Catarina out from under him... suddenly Silva enters the equation and NOW he feels threatened.

As a pirate, Silva wouldn't care about Geordo's title or his claim to Catarina. If he chooses to steal her away or if Catarina just comes to like him, there's NOTHING Geordo can really do. Thus, he couldn't afford to be patient anymore and he got desperate.

He thought he had time to win her over, but now he had to progress things FAST or risk losing her. His actions make sense, and by making his feelings clear earlier on in the route, Catarina has more time to think about it and figure out her own feelings.

I think it's notable that none of the other love interests, despite their own feelings for Catarina and their frustration for how Geordo handles things (since he says some nasty things and unintentionally hurts her while revealing his feelings), actually try to PREVENT Geordo from "winning" Catarina. The girls even come around to SUPPORTING him despite loving Catarina as well.

Geordo's "entitlement" to her is reasonable. He's not guaranteed her love, but he is the most justified in expecting it and acting possessive by virtue of their engagement. While Mary may plot to run away with her, while Keith might secretly want her for himself, while Sophia tries to push Nicol to pursue her... EVERYONE acknowledges on some level that unless Catarina actively falls for someone else (which looks increasingly unlikely as time goes by), Geordo IS her endgame by default. And they respect that. They are all prepared for this marriage to eventually happen; Geordo by comparison on other routes is typically NOT prepared for Catarina to suddenly fall for someone and want to break things off.

His crime is of being complacent and then poorly handling it when he realizes just that. I personally can forgive that a lot easier than Keith's... everything, and a lot of what happens in Rozy's route, too.

On Catarina's end, the extra time she got to think about Geordo's feelings and re-contextualize a lot of their earlier interactions while also being more aware of the romantic implications of later ones served her well. While I personally imagine Alan and Nicol as the two guys she's lowkey into "by default" judging from their routes, it was easy enough to see Geordo's efforts to win her over actually paying off near the end, and her accidentally acknowledging her realization of "maybe I love Geordo" out loud, TO HIS FACE, was great. The non-romance plot of this route was fairly dull, but I found the romance very engaging so it evens out!

Rozy: I was impatient and just had to give one of the new love interests a go before doing Nicol. I have very mixed feelings about this route. On the one hand, as a new character, I found Rozy very attractive in terms of his appearance and personality. And many of his interactions with Catarina were sweet and endearing. On the other hand I have two MAJOR issues that hampered my enjoyment of specifically his relationship with Catarina, A LOT.

Problem one is that, plain and simple, Rozy was TOO devoted and obsessed with her based off ONE, BRIEF interaction 8 years ago. I understand that she inspired him and changed his life without meaning to, but he just... takes it too far. I can rationalize him looking into her immediately afterwards to learn her name. I can get behind him thinking back to that moment and hoping to meet her again one day, to thank her.

But he went as far as HIRING people to check up on her and tell him all about her, years later. That's just STALKING. Through a proxy, yes, but stalking nonetheless. Which is not okay. Ever. It doesn't help that outside of this one "flaw" - being TOO devoted, to the point of clear obsession, which is noted in story to be a flaw his entire family has - he's basically perfect in a way NONE of the other love interests are. I'm genuinely not sure if I would have preferred a literally flawless Gary Stu love interest or... this, which was gross.

Problem two was Albert's interference and the DISRESPECT to Geordo this route had. In general I'm wary of other characters in a story "shipping" anyone together - passively rooting for something like Liliana did is typically fine, but very active matchmaking is grating - but WOW was Albert a busybody about getting Rozy and Catarina together. When he was talking politics I was engaged and enjoying him, but whenever he turned his attention to playing matchmaker, I just felt frustrated.

He's MEANT to be eccentric, but this is really how a king is spending his valuable time? In particular the way he outmaneuvered Geordo so that Catarina and Rozy could fake-date For Reasons, and even PULLED RANK on him, threatening to end his and Catarina's engagement BEFORE Rozy had even confessed, was infuriating.

What gets me is that his interference was ENTIRELY unnecessary. There were plenty of moments between Rozy and Catarina to justify their mutual feelings without him poking his nose in it, and despite being clearly unhappy about it Geordo HAS proven to be reasonable about letting Catarina go when she actually falls for someone else. It's not like Albert's actions prompted Rozy to confess; he was going to do so ANYWAY. All Albert did was piss off and disrespect Geordo. In theory his actions SHOULD cause political issues between Quid and Sorcier, which he wants to prevent, and yet...

This was the one route where I liked the plot outside the romance significantly more than the romance itself. The political drama and intrigue was engaging, and I loved seeing Rozy and Silva interact. They have a genuinely sweet dynamic. It was also cute seeing Rozy's dad gush over him - a more normal, healthy (yet embarrassing) way to express the family's overly-affectionate trait.

The conflict with the premier Cet Norden was... a bit sloppily handled though. It bothers me that like 90% of his backstory and motivation was in an optional "memory scenario". Was an optional exposition dump really the best they could do? No way to incorporate any of that into the story naturally? By comparison the conflicts are much better integrated in Alan, Nicol, and Silva's routes.

I have a third minor issue with this route (and to a lesser extent, Nicol and Silva's) - it's frustrating that even AFTER finding out Rozy is associated with the pirates, he continues to hide shit and only comes clean when he can't avoid it any longer. Silva's route fully explains WHY - they're trying to secretly handle this so they don't have to work with and be indebted to Sorcier. But the politics of that choice are, in itself, kind of disgusting. Thinking rationally, Rozy chose to endanger who knows how many Sorcier nobles by keeping things secret, and even if their lives are kept safe by the "pirates", they're still under extreme emotional stress due to the situation. They even go so far as to plan for ships from Quid to "rescue" the Sorcier nobles, making them feel indebted rather than the other way around! The entire plot/conflict of this game could have been avoided if saving lives mattered more than politics.

Nicol: This route took an interesting turn into the supernatural. There is an entirely unique conflict (on top of the existing ones, which... still exist and take up nearly half the route), and I quite enjoyed it. I do think it needed more time to shine, though. The witch is only properly introduced more than halfway through the route, and that conflict is resolved surprisingly fast and easily.

As for romance, this route actually worked way better than I expected going into it. I'm not typically into aloof love interests that don't emote much, but I think it helped that we got to spend a lot of time from Nicol's perspective so I could see what he was thinking and feeling, even if it wasn't clear from his expressions and voice.

I mentioned that I think Catarina is lowkey into Alan and Nicol "by default" earlier. Alan I explained in his section - she subconsciously seeks him out and pays him special attention, to the frustration of her other love interests.

Nicol by comparison she is more OVERTLY into, but it's initially shallow. Nicol has a "mysterious allure" that exists both in-game and out, and since canonically she hasn't played his route, AND she's the most distant from him out of all her love interests (he's more "my friend's brother" than "MY friend", initially), she's intrigued by and drawn to him in a way she isn't to her other friends. She is Not Immune to his good looks, and he's able to fluster her in a way no one else can, without even meaning to.

Thus, when they actually spend time together and get to know each other, it's actually very EASY for Nicol to win her affections. Lucky for everyone else that he's a good friend and is DETERMINED to keep his feelings to himself. Much like Alan, he has no intention of confessing and attempting to steal (ostensibly) Geordo's Girl, and I respect him for that.

I was honestly really into the tension between Geordo and Nicol this route, where out of respect and friendship Nicol was trying so hard to keep his distance from Catarina but he kept accidentally letting his feelings affect his actions in ways that stepped on Geordo's toes anyway. That said I think there was a missed opportunity regarding how that conflict ended. I think there was a lot of potential for either drama or wholesome friendship if he and Geordo had actually gotten to TALK about it, but they never did.

Nicol spent the entire route not wanting to confess and get between Catarina and Geordo, but then due to the witch's interference he ultimately confessed to Catarina anyway WITHOUT talking it out with Geordo first. Either Nicol needed to find the courage to confront Geordo and at least give him a heads-up that he was going to do this, or even better, Geordo could be a good friend and tell him to shoot his shot (but obviously Geordo himself wouldn't fully give up until it's clear Catarina has fully chosen someone else); either way making it a "may the best man win" situation would have been ideal. Instead Geordo tells Nicol they need to talk AFTER Nicol has confessed and stolen his girl after spending the whole route determined not to do literally just that, and we don't even see the confrontation.

This route is leagues better than Rozy's in "dealing with" Geordo, but not as good as Alan or Silva's. While I wanted Nicol to talk things out with him first, I at least am more accepting of the witch's interference than Albert's. Albert was playing matchmaker and screwing over Geordo in the process, while the witch was personally trying to upset Geordo due to his similarity to her lover that she wanted revenge on, and Nicol and Catarina getting together was more a byproduct of that.

She forced Nicol to spend time with and confess his love to her (in Catarina's body), which made him reconsider his feelings and his passivity, and when he ultimately confessed it was because he couldn't bear for his only confession have been to the witch. It was explicitly for the sake of closure rather than expecting reciprocation, which was a happy surprise.

Ultimately I think this route was very solid all around though it could have been improved in some ways. It also brings another point AGAINST Rozy, because I can't help but feel he WAS trying to pull a last minute Mr. Steal Your Girl despite claiming his confession was just for closure. If you only wanted closure... why did you not also confess in Silva's route, where you spent MORE time with Catarina and thus should have loved her there too? It comes across in hindsight like he cares too much about Silva to come between them but he's willing to try his luck with Catarina's other love interests.

Silva: It's rare for me to love the true/favored love interest in otome, but this is definitely an exception. His route was so good! I already liked Silva a fair amount from what I'd seen in other routes - not only is his design very appealing, but his Honorable Rogue shtick was right up my alley. So I went in with fairly high hopes and honestly still got way better than I expected.

I appreciated that while he and Catarina definitely get along right from the start, he WASN'T immediately into her. It was refreshing after literally all of her other love interests being in love with her from the start of the story (including new character Rozy, who either fell in love as a child or immediately fell for her upon reuniting). Silva's "romantic" scenes in the early parts of his route definitely felt like he was flirting more just because he's USED to getting women's attention and he was testing her reactions, rather than him genuinely trying to woo her. Instead, it's her complete trust and faith in him (despite him being a "pirate" and having a somewhat shady past that he initially tries to hide) that really warms him to her.

Either intentionally or accidentally, this pair kept stealing moments alone together, and almost every one served to bring them just a bit closer together. You could really feel their relationship shifting from strangers to acquaintances to friends to ultimately lovers. They were BOTH gradually getting to know and falling for the other, rather than it being largely one party trying to win over the other.

And while Geordo has a relatively small role in this route and isn't really addressed until the ending... I think that works. As I mentioned in Geordo's route, he was complacent and assumed his "victory" was secure. He might have been initially paranoid, but he took reassurance from Silva initially saying Catarina was like a little sister and didn't consider that those feelings might change. But then unbeknownst to him, Catarina ended up spending A LOT of time with Silva (and as I said, those moments often happened to be ALONE, so no one else truly knew just HOW close they were getting), and falling for him. Basically, Geordo was caught sleeping on the job in this route and by the time he considered Silva a threat, it was too late.

One aspect of this route I really loved was Silva's interactions and dynamic with Rozy and the Lindgren family. It's so clear how much Rozy and his father truly love Silva, and Silva loves them too but is reluctant to officially join their family because doing so would cause a minor scandal. He'd rather keep a wall between them than burden them in any way because he feels indebted and unworthy, while they WANT him in the family and would happily accept any trouble he brings.

Heck, Rozy loves Silva enough that he didn't hesitate to back off when he noticed Silva getting close to Catarina, despite presumably being in love with her himself! The subtle way he gave the pair his blessing through giving Silva the notebook that had her picture - something he had in the past told Silva he "couldn't give" him, despite Silva's curiosity - was honestly sublime. One of my favorite moments in the entire game.

I also adored Silva opening up about his family and culture to Catarina, and then how he used that unique culture to woo her. Even before the reveal, the ear kisses were SO GOOD and clearly affecting her. In the end, when he revealed it was actually a sign that he was courting her? Buddy, that's too smooth!

Speaking of his confession, I loved that initially it seemed he was going to just confess his feelings and then back off, leaving the ball in her court. He wanted her to know how he felt before she left, since it would be who knows how long before they saw each other again, if ever, but he didn't intend to pressure her. It was only AFTER she instinctively stopped and clung to him - after she'd given him some small indication that she reciprocated - that he made a move. And what a move it was! The way he warned her to stop him or leave if she didn't want this before kissing her, MULTIPLE TIMES, was just... very attractive. He was probably already my favorite before this, but even if he hadn't been, this scene would have pushed him to the top anyway.

And the epilogue is also very lovely, with him having finally been officially adopted by the Lindgren family. He found a reason worth troubling them - so he could have the status and education to "properly" be with her without society putting up a fuss. It's so cute to see her so thrilled to see him again and being so happy and excited at the prospect of marrying him.

Finally, the conflict and drama in this route was once again pretty good. I don't have much to say (mainly because while I DID enjoy the conflict, the romance was just astoundingly solid and stole most of my focus), but everything regarding human experimentation and how Silva was directly linked to it and the antagonist was good. I wish the villain wasn't a brand new character not even SEEN in other routes though (he might have been MENTIONED in one or two other routes, but that's it).

One thing I think this story does REALLY well is the Butterfly Effect of Catarina changing the game's canon (something she hilariously never seems to fully grasp). Her one meeting with Rozy changed his life. And even though she NEVER met Silva as a child, her chance meeting with Rozy also rippled outward and still positively affected Silva, making him radically different than the "in-game" Silva, who most likely WASN'T a romanceable character but a true villain (I find it hard to believe the game would let you romance someone who callously kills several people in his INTRODUCTION and who is part of a pirate crew that is legitimately threatening/evil. I like to imagine Rozy was the true "secret" romance in the fandisk, since he WAS still in the game and on the ship).

Overall I thought this game was great and it far exceeded my expectations. I expected (and got) comedy, but the romances were mostly good and there was more drama and intrigue to many of the plots/conflicts than I expected. I'll definitely be returning to this game to re-experience my favorites.

In terms of my feelings on the routes as a whole, best to worst: Silva > Alan > Nicol > Rozy > Geordo >>>>> Keith

My feelings on the romance/relationship with Catarina: Silva > Alan > Geordo > Nicol >>> Rozy >>>>> Keith

[mauesartetc]

Here's a lineup of characters from one of my personal projects. The concept was "vampire teenagers".

I want advice on how to enhance their personalities through their designs and if theres any room for improvement.

From left to right: 1. nerdy inventor/gamer 2. bookish deadpan-snarker 3. friendly and cheerful 4. mischevious and wild

Cool! The first thing I noticed is that these folks look really slanted, which might have been the product of drawing on a tablet at an angle. (Don't worry, this happens to me too.) I just transformed them real quick so their heads were over their feet. Also, it looks like you intended this to be a height chart sort of lineup, and in those cases it's best to make sure everyone's feet are planted on the same ground line, and that none of the characters overlap the others. I also noticed that gamer guy's femurs were a bit long, so I made them more proportional. Directed happy dude and wild child's gaze toward the viewer, as well, just so there's some connection there.

As for the brainy girl, you'll want to make sure that her hair strands don't form awkward tangents with her neck, and that her book doesn't obscure any important details of her design. How are her hips shaped? How far does her skirt come up? How is the skirt gathered at the upper edge? We don't know because the book is covering that entire area. But also, it's just good practice to have characters hold props away from their bodies so the props read clearly in silhouette. Gamer guy's a good example of this; it's obvious he's holding a drink with a straw.

Now that all that's out of the way, let's talk personality. Brainy girl and happy guy's personalities are coming across fine, but I'm not getting "nerdy" out of gamer guy. In fact, he came off as more "cool" than anything, probably because of his laid-back pose and the fact that I thought his goggles were sunglasses at first.

Or if the story takes place in the modern day, he could have more modern protective eyewear, like those clear plastic goggles that slip on and off like glasses. However, if you wanted to push the "gamer" angle, you could switch out the goggles for a VR headset, and make sure his drink more closely resembles G Fuel or something similar. And really, the type of "inventor" gear he has will depend on the types of inventions he creates. If you picture an average day for him, which kinds of accessories would help him the most?

Regarding the wild child, their clothes certainly convey a kind of wildness, but their pose and expression are much more mellow. Let's make things look a bit crazier.

And honestly, if I didn't know this character was a vampire, I would have thought they were a werewolf. Pointing their fangs down instead of up would probably help a lot with that.

Hope that helps!

[scribblestatic]

Been feelin kinda shit, so here's a stalker deku snippet.

--

All Might ends up catching up with Izuku and telling him he can be a hero and wants to train him. And, of course, Izuku would never give up on the chance to spend time with his most favorite hero ever.

So, Izuku starts going to the beach and working out, just like All Might says. He doesn't say a single thing about what he can and cannot do, because if All Might sees the potential in him, surely he can do what he's asking of him and more! All Might may not be perfect, but he's still his idol! He'll do everything he can to meet his expectations!

But also, being in close proximity to All Might allows Izuku to learn more about him than ever before.

And All Might just slightly notices something a little off about the boy the longer he's around him.

For example, one day, Izuku just randomly brings him his favorite soup--something easy on his stomach that he can eat completely. "It's good for your health to eat, All Might!" Izuku insists, giving him that wobbly smile of his.

That's fine and all, but it starts getting a bit weird when Izuku just so happens to always have soup ready for him on days he forgot to eat the night before. What interesting timing.

And then, there's the way Izuku can immediately recite information about a person if All Might asks about them.

All Might considers teaching Izuku about how to combat villains by figuring out quick weaknesses and exploiting them. And Izuku, of course, agrees with his assertion immediately. All Might opens his mouth, starting to talk about an old villain he fought--

And Izuku, eagerly, begins to say every pertinent detail about that villain.

How interesting! What a fanboy!

Once was quite interesting!

Twice, amazing! Three times, wow!

Five times!

Seven...! Nine... Twelve...

Fifteen...

The names, both real and villainous, ages, former occupations, quirks, immediate family members, criminal attachments, legal proceedings if any--

He knows it all off the top of his head with a single mention.

"I study these things a lot, All Might! I'm sure I can put it to good use!"

"...You know, you really could be quite the police officer!" All Might tries to joke, laughing off his discomfort.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that..."

"No, no, my boy, you really would--"

"Someone like Officer Kijiwaru and I would really not get along at all."

Kijiwaru Kensuke. 52 years old. District captain and senior officer. Cheating on his wife of 20 years for the last 12. Three daughters and one son. Used police connections to brush the fact his son assaulted a girl in one of his college classes under the rug. Embezzling money from business connections he's made to fund his family's lifestyle.

Izuku hates people like that, and despite the smile on his face, it shows just a bit in his eyes.

Though, to All Might, no regular 14-year-old would really pay attention to who the district captain is. And he's not a fool. He sees the sliver of shadow in the young boy's eyes.

Immediately, All Might stops ignoring the nagging feeling at the back of his mind and realizes that Izuku is not normal.

Even so, Izuku has not done anything wrong.

He's a good boy with good grades. He's kind to people and protective of those he loves. And he makes a damn good soup.

But after a few weeks at his side, All Might can tell that Izuku has potential for villainy.

He's very sweet to people in general, but Izuku still stares at the heroes who scolded him after saving his classmate with blank eyes and burning resentment. All Might's had to stop him from working so hard at cleaning the beach when he didn't slow down even after his hands started bleeding. Sometimes, Izuku knows too much about him, too, like how the boy somehow knew he'd forgotten his gloves one winter morning. He also knew he forgot them because he ran after some villains in the morning. And he knew the names of the villains he ran after.

All Might looks down at Izuku, who sits on a bench beside him, the lightly blushing boy twiddling his thumbs.

"...You know I'm not normal, right, All Might?"

"Well... I wouldn't say that."

"You know I know too much."

"Haha, perhaps a bit much for your age, yes."

They go quiet for a moment. Then, All Might opens his mouth, prepared to say something--

"Yagi-sensei."

--but it dies in his throat.

He's never once told the young boy his name.

Izuku peers up at him then, his gaze calculating and focused, wide-eyed, cheeks still ruddy from the cold and his own embarrassment. He chews on the skin of his bottom lip anxiously.

"I don't think I can change this about myself."

All Might... Yagi Toshinori gazes down at the boy.

"Is it... Do you still think I could become a hero?"

It's a request, Yagi realizes. A request for him to be as real with Izuku as when he told him he likely couldn't be a hero at first. He's asking him to reevaluate him now that he has more of an inkling of what kind of child Izuku is. Of the potential he has. Because it seems that Izuku knows it himself.

He could become a fantastic, fearsome villain. And if Yagi was to give him One For All--

Wait.

Yagi's gaze briefly sharpens, staring hard at the boy.

...He couldn't know, could he? That his quirk...

He couldn't know he's been planning on giving Izuku his quirk, could he? It's a secret he's kept amongst a very, very select few of people, even fewer than those who know he can only be active for a few hours a day. He can count the amount of people who know on his hands, and all of them are extremely tight-lipped.

So unless the boy somehow worked it out himself, he couldn't have learned it. But if he did somehow work it out himself, that would make him all the more fearsome.

...

Yagi reaches over, and Izuku closes his eyes tightly.

And Yagi's hands cup the boy's cheeks, causing him to blink his eyes back open, startled.

Instead of sneering at him in disgust or looking frustrated, Yagi has a kind smile on his face. It fascinates Izuku to the point his eyes sparkle.

"Everyone has the potential for good and evil, Young Midoriya. Even I do. However, I'm the kind of person who simply doesn't want to do evil things. And while you know a lot and perhaps don't get your information the most ethical ways...though I don't know how you get it... Well, you've used it for good so far. After all, these gloves on my hands now are from your kindness, aren't they?"

Izuku is speechless. He stays still as Yagi lets him go, though his hands quickly grab his before they can fall completely.

Aaah, Yagi realizes, This is something he's needed to hear.

Izuku has likely wondered how good he can actually be. He's a smart boy, perhaps too smart for his own good. And he's likely thought about his habits, his way of showing emotion, his differences from others.

Perhaps he's agonized over it more than anyone realizes.

"Some heroes have their oddities, their bad habits or tendencies. Despite them, or sometimes because of them, they strive to be the best person they can be. Even with your differences, I believe you can still be a hero."

They stare at each other for a moment.

Then, without warning, tears immediately start pouring from Izuku's eyes. It's so sudden, it actually startles Yagi, who quickly finds a handkerchief for him to use.

But eventually, they both start laughing at how ridiculous they're being.

As they laugh, Izuku can't help but feel like he's floating. He's so full of love at the moment, it's like he's sitting on clouds.

Yagi-sensei, he thinks.

Yagi-sensei...

Thank you for telling us both such a beautiful lie.

[itsdappleagain]

Here we go- on time, for once- with The French Connections Caper! As I mentioned, this is one of my favorite episodes from season one, because I am a little angst whore.

Alrighty- as always, notes are under the cut!

Who in the world reference. GET IT

The rotating pack of mints is so funny. Did acme have that on file?? Did she hack into his bank account??

The picture of julia just looking exhausted with chase is so funny

SIX MONTHS AGO?? THIS SEASON HAPPENED IN SIX MONTHS???

Chase is literally That Stupid

Man can you imagine the episode if PAPER STAR had kidnapped chase???? She would have just killed him

The standing up and saying “I will go” is theater kid level blocking i love that

I’m going to be yammering on about the lens of shadowsan’s double betrayal thing for probably the whole episode but goddd its so good. Severus snape and harry potter’s terf ass wish they had what shadowsan and carmen have

Shadowsan’s motif <333

YOU JOINING A KPOP BAND

Julia in her suit <3333333 YES YES YES part of the reason I love this episode is because its the first time julia sort of gets to stand on her own a little bit…sets up for next season, when she SLAYS

Also, ever notice that in this “virtual tailor” chase has gloves, but in s3 when he finally gets his suit he doesn’t have them? Interesting that some agents get them and some don’t

Chase getting so pissed off about julia saying she didn’t do it alone is SO FUNNY because he’s RIGHT she is NOT talking about him

Your SILENT partner yessir

I LOVE WHEN SHE GETS MAD AND YELLS AT HIM GO JULIA GET HIS ASS

DEFEND YOUR WIFE 💪

Chase’s ego is so large that it blinds him- jackie made a post on it already so I’ll just reference that, but its brilliant characterization

You can make yourself look like a law enforcement imbecile jusst fine

I love the way julia storms off. She cn’t take very large steps so its just very angry and quick heel clatters

She WANTS to be planning something nefarious but unfortunately she must be on the beach

Poor baby she looks so uncomfortable dsghfjda. Also another instance of a stellar outfit that we never get to see again </3

Ivy is actually weirdly talented at making gigantic detailed sand castles. That wave was so poorly timed her poor vile central

Also. wicked wicked

IVY YELLING AT ZACK IN THE BACKGROUND WHILE CARMEN JUST DOES NOT ACKNOWLEDGE ANYTHING

Yeahhh well you say you’re never going back to vile island. And technically you are right

FIELD TRIP!

THE SHOCK WHEN BRUNT SAYS THAT DJHDSFD

PLS SHE BUMPED BELLUM ON THE WAY UP WHY DID SHE DO THAT

I love the role reversal that shadowsan and brunt do here. Shadowsan is expected to be The Worst and Brunt is carmen’s closest thing to a mother. But in actuality….brunt is a murderous spiteful little bitch and shadwsan is evolving into dadowsan

Jsdfads the look on shadowsan’s face. He knows that everything just got a looot more complicated for him

At least he’s kind of self aware right

Chase only being nice to her because he knows she’s smarter than he is is so funny. He drinks the most vaguely mysoginistic respect women juice on the planet

You have no idea how much the line “wow, foamy” has impacted my daily life. I literally say it every single time i brush my teeth. I can’t stop

NOT THE VILE BRAND LOGO ON THE TOOTHPASTE AND EVERYTHING 

Chase lying on the floor looking like he just died of rabies is the funniest fucking thing

American outlets in france 👍

Carmen did a whole costume change between noon and sunset

Mesmerized by the way that top tuft of hair she has blows in the wind. Wow. could watch that all day

I love how the message goes “SURRENDER WE HAVE CHASE DEVINEAUX” and carmen is just like. Wait. partner??? Travel partner??? 😌😌😌

She’s kind of chill about mentioning that vile is definetely going to kill devineaux and then capture her in this little plan of theirs

“Which is why I’ll need to be careful” she says, walking into a closed off basement with no preparation at all

Why the hell would they put where they were keeping him in the Evil Email they sent her wouldn’t that just set her up to try a rescue mission

Props to raf for making the most diverse array of clueless grunting noises I have ever heard in my life

I cANT HELP BUT LAUGH WHEN BRUNT SAYS “BONJOUR” LIKE THAT. SHES TRYING SO HARD TO BE SINISTER BUT SHE’S JUST TEXAN

Wheeze acme set the expectation for him to be kidnapped for employment reasons

ASK YOU WHAT he’s so stupid i love him

“I’ve seen your keycard” said with the exact same tone as. Someting. I don’t know i love how she says that she’s just like Yeah. I’ve seen it. Hah

Shadowsan and that damn sword for intimidation tactics

Oogh that twisted little smile when brunt goes to get the brain scrambler 

Alternate episode where chase gets the hard way and carmen just walks in to a sad sack of broken bones on the floor

I love the almost impressed look on shadowsan’s face when he tells her that he’s singing the french national anthem. Like. of course he is

Interesting little detail that chase leans over and spits out the gag while carmen and company are just kind of making quips about him being tortured

I love he some good drunk but not drunk character tropes in cartoons. Drunk adora. Laughing gassed up anne. Sick luz. We didn’t get drunk carmen but we did get drunk chase and you know what I’m fine with that

THE WAY HIS EYES FLICK TO THEM WHEN HE SAYS BILE IS ALWAYS SO FUNNY TO ME

Love how shadowsan doesn’t care at all what happens to chase. He cares about carmen, but he’s still a VILE operative. She’s pretty much the only one he cares about until he’s spent a little while with TR

Mmm the music is so good in this ep as well

Thinking abt how if ivy was controlling red drone and carmen was sneaking off to rescue chase…that was zack in carmen cosplay who was dramatically standing ontop of the roof

The weird little petnames brunt uses for chase are also so funny

I have wanted to edit that shot of shadowsan running and jumping over chimneys onto the dinosaur game for SO LONG

Its cool how different the body types of the carmen decoys are. Its pretty easy to tell who’s who even with their faces not showing

IVYYYY

You can rock red, zack. I mean. You pick a devil costume out by yourself in s3 so clearly you know it too

I am shocked that she didn’t check the dumpster because. THATS WHERE I WOULD HAVE LOOKED. I guess she knows carmen’s style well enough- in s3 when they’re talking about catching carmen sandiego 101 zuko and luz mention that part of it was knowing that she always takes the high ground, anakin. And while this is zack the two of them are pretty well trained on carmen’s movements, clearly. They jump across the rooftops and everything just like she does to be convincing

JSHDGDS HE JUST GETS SLAMMED

BAIT N SWITCH…alright here we go

I like the little setup she has there. She brought the electrocuter thing because she had to get the cuffs off, but she uses it in the fight later too

Another little detail in the animation of chase’s sweat dripping to the floor when he falls

That little interaction between the two of them is so cool. Carmen doesn’t know what to expect, or how she can see or anything. OR that she knows exactly who she is

Pls its 4:30 in the morning the carmen team really do have a messed up sleep schedule

Sleepy julia in pajamas <3333

Me watching a france based murder mystery show: haha. Gendairme. I know how to pronounce that

It is a little inconsistent how carmen has so much difficulty dragging him out here…when these three meet again in mexico carmen just shoves him off the wrestling ring and into a chair with very little effort, although that may be evidence of her training and getting stronger over time.

Anyway, I’m exTREMELY excited for this fight. It is SO BRUTAL 

THE BENDNG THE METAL IS. GOD

She’s so. Like. hulking??? Its so creepy how she moves, especially when she uses all these little petnames at the same time as she’s cracking her neck 

THE CATCH OF HER FOOT IS SO GOOD GOD. brunt KNOWS her and even if she didn’t maybe expect her to have a gun she can catch her move pretty easily. This entire fight is full of brunt catching what carmen is going to do as she does it- except for the time with the taser

GOD the crashing into the chair augh that must have hurt so bad wheeze

Brunt is terrifying. She doesn’t slink around or do any acrobatics. She’s just like a final video game boss that has a tracker on your location and does not stop coming

GOD YEAH SEE. SHE CATCHES CARMEN’S KICK AND THEN JUST S L A M S HER INTO THAT SHELF

Carmen is again so used to the athletic, fast-moving operatives who usually match her in everything but cleverness, or use long distance weapons like paper star does. But brunt….it doesnt matter how smart carmen is when brunt can overpower her and fling her into the concrete like a bug

Goddd you can see carmen thinking about what the hell she can do. She knows strength isn’t going to work, so she has to find something else to distract brunt while she gets her baby taser

It makes sense actually now that the taser doesnt knock brunt out like a crackle rod would. Its meant for disabling hadcuff electronics, not seizing up the muscles of full grown woman

THE DESPERATION ON CARMEN’S FACE AS SHE ELECTROCUTES BRUNT IS SO GOOD. she knows this is not a good situation. She does. This is not her usual fighting style, obviously. She just wants to get out

The SMOKE when carmen gets electrocuted fuck

UNGH i love how different this fight is. Carmen stumbles on the run to the door and THAT is how you know she’s really in trouble. She’s just yanking on it trying to get out at this point. Its more instinct than battle- she’s just clawing at ANYTHING that could help her 

And then her coat gets ripped. Every time her coat is off in this show she is not in a good spot. Becauseeee COLOR THEORY!! That red is her sign she’s got a chance, but when it comes off and gets destroyed everything. Is. green. Same thing happens in hot rocks of rio, so look out for that next week. It’s really interesting to notice once you find the patterns

MMGH WHEN SHE CLUTCHES HER SIDE AND THEN HER HAND GETS CRUSHED AND HER EYES WIDEN AND SHE JUST KNOWS

That gasp when she’s down on thr ground will be the death of me. And then the rattling on the grate just. Trying to get away and do ANYTHING to save herself from this person she once called a mother figure its SO angsty god i love it

There were NO breaks in that fight scene until carmen was on the ground with absolutely no choices left. It keeps the emotion UP and TENSE and it is FANTASTIC. We get a break once we cut back to shadowsan and the gang…player telling carmen she just needs to make it a little longer, because the cops are better than being dead

Also. zack just waking up with the banana peel on his head.

Why does player have the individual tracking locations of all the cops in the city

Seaosn one and season two were written and made pretty much at the same time, which was SUCH a strong choice. THIS FINALE sets up ALL OF SEASON TWO and SEASON TWO’S FINALE. AUGH. it is such a fantastic end to the season

I love that carmen gets to learn that it wasn’t this woman who rescued her from “the side of the road” here. She doesn’t have to live with that idea in her head….that she could be saved by the same woman who was trying to kill her

Instead she’s saved again by the one who really cared all along- since the moment he saved her from the fire

Please carmen looks so small on the ground there its so scary to watch

God that returning to vile island is for carmen a fate worse than death is so. Its so

Ive always been frustrated with carmen for not. I dont know. Lying?? Saying ok sure ill go back fine to buy herself some time, so that the cops could come in and help her. But i get it. Yknow?? Carmen isn’t that person. But boy would that have prevented a lot of the rib breakage that is about to go down 

God. how limp carmen is in that moment. She flinched away when brunt goes to touch her face, but she just looks. Kind of regretful. She doesn’t really, i think, expect what is about to happen. She just thinks brunt is going to bat her around some more..

Also. how limp carmen is when brunt pulls her into the “hug” is also so scary. GOD i don’t know if its because she’s trying to prepare herself or if she’s in so much pain or if its because some part of her still trusts brunt

That tragic look almost into the camera when she realizes what brunt is doing is HAUNTING i love that sm

This is so dark btw. The foreshadowing way back in episode two for this when brunt hugs her so hard that she feels something crack to now, when that motherly role has twisted into. This

That last gasping breath carmen takes is another one thats just so. Augh. she is really and truly about to die

God the knowledge that at some point carmen just closed her eyes and let it happen because there was nothing else she could do is. What the fuck. Or maybe she just couldn’t breathe enough anymore to keep them open

SHADOWSAN!!

THE WAY SHE SCRAMBLES BACK AS SOON AS BRUNT GOES LIMP IS. god i love that shot. She’s so. Worn down at that point she’s more like a wild animal than anything ig. Just trying to get away get away get away

And then the way she, still gasping for breath and her voice choked with pain, insults shadowsan because her voice is the only defense she has against him right now

Pls i love shadowsan he doesn’t know how to not be intimidating. Running at her with a sword. “I did not come here to take you back.” this moment scared me SO BAD when i was 13 watching this for the first time. I expected it to cut back to her lying on the floor with some grevious injury, maybe to be narrowly saved by her team but frantically rushed to the hospital or something. 

The shadowsan twist is one of the best I think I’ve seen. Its set up and foreshadowed, enough that you could maybe see it coming on first and have all those little “ohh” moments on later watches. When you really step back and say, “what is the consequence of shadowsan doing all of this?” its carmen being able to escape and not becoming a vile operative. Its. yeah. I dont know. Its so good

AUGH the fear on her face. He steps over coach’s pretty much lifeless body, draws his sword. All she has is a fucking wrench

Player gripping his monitor and screaming her name is SO,, UNGH HE THINKS SHE’S DEAD

And the way they cut back with just the limp bodies around them, as shadowsan sheathes his blade. They knew what they were doing obviously

MM AND THEN THE LITTLE CHIME OF CARMEN’S MOTIF WHEN WE SEE THAT SHE’S ALIVE AND SAFE

THAT IS A QUESTION pls i’ve made fun of shadowsan here before because like. Yes. please do follow me into the dark hole no questions asked. I Will Not Stab You once we are at a more convenient and private location that you have moved yourself to. Or transport you back to VILE. just trust me okay carmen follow me right now

LOCK US UP,,, YEAH. REACH US. i love that little…its so small. The us and the little admission of how VILE works (hey- also sets up season THREE’s finale. wild). Yes yes yes. 

I love how shadowsan doesn’t want to admit it. But they have been in it together

GOD YEAH AND THEN. SHE DROPS THE WRENCH and THATS how you know she trusts him, and understands. Thats her last line of defense gone

“It was you….you were the one who found me.”

“YOU ARE IN NO CONDITION TO LEAVE HERE ON YOUR OWN” i love how shouty he is in this season he doesn’t have a gentle voice. He doesnt really. Know how to be vulnerable

But he tries. He tries so hard. He just. He says please and reaches out to her

DOOGY

Girlie im sorry but opening that grate wider would not have made brunt fit any better

That mass of flashing lights in the city is such a good way to show how far they went. Also. why did shadowsan make carmen walk like three miles with her fucked up ribs wheeze. He made her climb some stairs and everything

But he’s soooo gentle with her when they’re walking its so sweet. He lets her lean on him and helps her down to the ground so she can rest…makes sure she is safe before he says anything else and tries to get her medical attention. He is the dadowsan

Ungh gina. Gina gina please. Please put any kind of emotion into “argentina tell me everything now” like thats KIND of an emotional line..,, urgh. The problem i have with gina i think is that she is a fine ACTOR but being a VOICE ACTOR is a LOT DIFFERENT THAN THAT. she doesnt have all her little nice facial expressions and stuff she has carmen who is already inexpressive as is. So when she says that line it just sounds so flat 

He’s only lying about it a little bit, really honestly

Shadowsan: a jerk

“You knew what they���d do to me when I said no” is such an underrated line i love that one

THE COAT WAS EMPTY!! 

Carmen sounds so much like black sheep when she says “i knew it” and I love that so much. I don’t know if that was a directing choice given to gina but it was a good one. Also carmen forgetting her ribs are fucked up lmaoo

FIRST SHADOWSAN SMILE WHEN HE SAYS HE KNWS CARMEN WOULD ENJOY PROVING THAT TO HERRR that is the moment i think when he really becomes human :)))

She got my posture fr

That shot of shadowsan walking away from her as the police lights flash between them and the architecture frames everything is soo pretty

I guess i scare easy when i see a drawn sword is such a good line its so funny. i would too! Maybe he didnt have to extend the ruse all the way until he was a mile away from the school and no one was in sight except carmen herself but alright

IT WAS HIMMM WITH THE HELICOPTER I LOVE THAT REVEAL

NO WAY!!!! I love that its kind of a black sheepism

Shadowsan is like yeah i was happy you escaped but GIRLIE I DIDNT THINK YOU WOULD START FIGHTING CRIME LMAO???

The lug jsdfhds

Julia’s like not chief. Not chief with the random carmen accusations too

Used it to bait him?? How would she have done that?? She’s like in the cheese and breath mints store and she goes over the intercom like “chase devineaux please report to the shadowy death basement! We have your keycard <3”

AND LEFT WITH AN EVIL VILE MASTERMIND KSHGDFJGDS player is so right for that

That shot of her sitting and talking to player as the sun rises behind her is also beautiful i love that shot

Ahhh the way she gets up so carefully because of her injuries its so good

“A present” okay its okay you can tell him carmen

I HAVE A FEELING WE’RE GOING TO HAVE MORE CAPERS TO PLOT WOOHOO SEASON TWO BABYYYYY

ONCE MORE the shot of her standing there and the camera zooming way out is ALSO gorgeous its my blog header actually

YEAHH AND THEN THE CREDITS MUSICCC

God i cant believe we’re already done with season one!! I am SO EXCITED for season two- its my favorite out of all of the seasons and its where things REALLY get juicy. We’ve got the setup and standard formula out and we can start playing around with dynamics, backstories, history, new cast, lore, character development…yes yes yes yes yes i am so excited!!!

Love this episode, solid and fantastic end to a seaosn, which cs finales usually are. Alright- with the feeling that I’m going to have more capers to react to, this is me signing off of season 1 for cs weekly!!

[jessjustplay]

I finished Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age!

August 29, 2023

Game: Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age First Time/Replaying: First Time Game Time: 54 hours Console: PS4 Started: July 8, 2023 Finished: August 27, 2023

I feel like Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age took me a long time to finish, but not because it wasn't a good game. I was just having a hard time finding the motivation to play video games in general, but I found a ton of time this past weekend and finished it Sunday!

Exploring and leveling up was a lot of fun. Running around and finding treasure chests (or whatever they're called in this game) is great because they reappear with new things each time you re-enter a location. I also like that the world map tells you where to go next so I never felt lost.

Battles were great for a lot of different reasons. Your team leader dies? No problem, one of your other characters can take the lead. Your entire team dies!? NO PROBLEM, your other 3 back-up characters can take their spot!! You need to change equipment? Open the menu right there in the middle of a battle. You need Fran for just a quick minute to cast a certain spell? Open up the menu and switch her in. The whole battle system (and gambits) is super flexible and great. I'm really amazed by it!

The characters were another thing I loved. They were unique and meshed well with each other. Some were very serious and others were more laidback. I'm not sure how they did it, but the team is definitely well-balanced. My favorite character is Penelo, she is so cute and sweet.

I think the one other thing I absolutely LOVED was how pretty the world of Ivalice is. The locations are detailed with vibrant colors (when applicable, of course.) The world is visibly connected which is super cool. You could easily walk to different locations and I was amazed by that!

I did notice, though, that I didn't get the same feeling I got when I played and finished Final Fantasy XIII. Throughout my entire gameplay of XIII (and XIII-2), I was just ENAMORED with that world and experience. XII is a fun and good game, but it didn't top XIII for me. And that's okay!

• XII's story was fine but it didn't captivate me very much. The characters personalities make up for this though.

• The music was eh. There were only 2 songs that really stood out to me. Rabanastre's theme is one of them, and I'm not sure the name of the other one but it was the song that plays in the snowy mountain place.

That's really it for "negatives", I mean it's a solid game but it just didn't have the XIII flair and maybe no other game will... and like I said already, that's okay! XII was still a fun game and I think everyone should play it (and finish it, if you haven't).

Here are my endgame stats before entering the Bahamut area:

I wasn’t sure if I was ready-ready, but I made it to the end without getting a Game Over. So yay! I played the game as Vaan, Ashe, and Penelo as my white mage, and then my second group was Balthier, Basch, and Fran as my white mage. For some reason I decided Balthier was stronger so I went through the final dungeon with Balthier as the leader, but he died so in the end I beat the game with Vaan in his rightful spot as the leading man. Funny how that worked out!

[kmgkmg]

BACK TO US - BONUS. PLAYLIST BREAKDOWN

┊masterlist┊

for those that connect to music as deeply as i do, i thought it would be a good idea to make this post! diving deeper into my picks for the back to us playlist, all of the tracks are extremely intentional and you might not have even noticed their presence since i tried to weave them in naturally!

**below cut i give details about each track, spoilers included so i recommend reading once you've finished the series. long post (1.5k) since i included reasons + lyrics under the cut!**

first section: reuniting

✧ keeping tabs by niki: i can 100% see joshua listening to niki's music! her voice would match his really well imo and i could see him trying to harmonize with her voice as he was cleaning or smthn! while reader's emotions towards joshua aren't as strong as this song, it definitely has the same vibe!

you left without saying goodbye ---- i wish i never met you. you are the worst thing that i'm still keeping tabs on for some stupid reason. you were just being nice. now i fully believe you're out there somewhere also keeping tabs on how i might be feeling.

✧ sugarcoat (natty solo) by kiss of life: again this is veryyyyy joshua coded! when he recommended emotional oranges on summer vacation with vernon, i knew i had to add this track. the pop/rnb vibe is perfect. the lyric i included imo sums up how joshua came to his conclusions way too quick.

the image of me that you judged arbitrarily cannot be all

✧ haunt me by rini: this really describes the longing that they both felt for each other after joshua cut contact with reader.

thought i heard your voice, my favorite sound. was is somethin' there? ---- 'cause you haunt me, daily, nightly. get no peace of mind.

✧ still by jeff bernat: an artist that joshua has mentioned several times before! he's actually the person that got me into bernat's discography when i used to be a joshua/hoshi stan lol. another longing song (shocking to no one). goes over joshua's thoughts about getting past reader abandoning him :(

it's been a long time since we last spoke. i still wonder what you’re up to, after all that shit we've been through. ---- and there's probably people telling you that i’m doing fine, just taking my time. although it appears that i’m strong, it still hurts.

✧ not my job by flo: actually used lyrics of this song in 01. gentleman hong hahahaha. when reader asks joshua to tell the campers to knock it off with all the shipping, joshua says:

it's not my job to make you feel comfortable.

✧ summertime by flo: kinda inspired an interaction btwn reader and hoshi in 02. camper spirit when reader is like "i'm not going to let someone who deserted me ruin my summer."

second section: what are we?

✧ lemondrops by telana: the song that is behind it all!!!!!!!!!! i had no idea i was going to turn this into a series. it was originally going to be domestic fluff of reader giving joshua lemondrops so he could sing. but i mean hey, i gave credit where credits due, naming 06. popsicles and lemon drops after this song! just a very comforting song, one that definitely shows the dynamic between reader and joshua when they were close. the closeness that both of them miss.

✧ like i feel (feat. mereba) by xaiver omär: this song is LITERALLY about friends-to-lovers, i would be a fool to exclude it! kept this track on repeat while writing 11. taking inventory. joshua says to reader:

so, let me know if you feel how i feel. ---- also reader confesses with: i swear, i tried letting go of the feelings i had for you which is inspired by the song's lyrics of: swear i tried lettin' go ---- but i mean everything about this song is so good, esp this line: i feel a family of butterflies all in my gut, oh, and they're fluttering

✧ m.h. by yeek: just added this song for my own pleasure tbh, but one of the main repeating lines is definitely joshua's feelings towards reader when he starts hanging out with them more (around part 06/07)

i miss you when i see you no...(they) hit me with i love you.

✧ gotta get back (feat. pink sweat$) by p1harmony: another track i could see joshua singing along to

i know i'm not perfect, and i've hurt your heart before. so, i don't wanna make a promise i can't give. ---- never had someone make me feel all these ways before and now it seems that i can't get you out my mind. you got me hanging on to every word you say.

✧ all our time (feat. jae stephens) by xavier omär: summer breeeeze. perfect summertime song, could definitely see chan dancing to this for a dino danceology. and it would stick in reader's head after leaving pledis studios. would be the summer anthem for hoshi and reader.

✧ simple life by lexy panterra: nothing much lyrically, just a summertime vibes track.

✧ mornings (see you again) by alextbh: for the he/him readers! alextbh writes so many songs w a guy lover in mind, so i highly recommend checking his discography out.

been outta focus lately. all these images, playing in my head. i can't help it

✧ mess around by starchild & the new romantic: unable to think of a good description for this song so 👍

i know i shouldn't mess around, i shouldn't even hardly doubt you. i know i shouldn't fuss & fight, i shouldn't hardly run around you. all of these thoughts in my head...

✧ good life by otis kane x clay: this song is so smooth and incredibly joshua coded. kinda reminds me of niki's songs as well, vibe wise.

all the games aside then, i want you in my space. and now that you're in my world i'll never be the same.

✧ the chase by alextbh: no lyrics for this one, very sad if you listen to them but the vibe of the song regarding the instrumental and such fit the series!

✧ bamboo by ivy sole: another song in there for vibes, very much a summertime song!

✧ back to us (feat. julissa leilani) by jeremy passion: filo-american singer! idk if he's ever recommended his music, but i mean listen to it and it's just the embodiment of joshua's vibe into a song. obviously this song holds a lot of meaning for the series, it is literally the title! the song is more about a couple falling out of love, but this is based on vibessssssss! (it's a groovy little song, what can i say?)

✧ je t'adore (feat. ty senoj) by sylo: another song in the playlist for vibes. but again, very joshua coded imo! groovy pop is right up his alleyyyyy

third section: this is not a drill

✧ trust by thuy & rini: oh? rini makes a comeback? definitely a good song for explaining how reader and joshua slowly open up to each other, their need to build trust first.

baby, let your guard down. world's loud, we could shut it out. you can put ya trust in me if you choose. ---- how do i make you realize i'ma stick around if it's with you, you, you.

✧ ride with me by pink sweat$: a song joshua recommended in his 'beach drive' playlist on spotify! beach drive, perfect way to describe it. and when you think beach, you think summer, right? summer...summer camp? aha...

✧ blur by dhruv: joshua's double take cover remains iconic! and i really love dhruv's voice so i knew i wanted to add a song of his for sure! joshua's tweet in 08. another serious camper takes the first lyrics of the song:

the room tonight became a blur and all i could see was them you dancing.

✧ misfits' sunday by jooyoung: jooyoung's voice is perfect for a love story, i mean it fits all the moods. he usually does smooth rnb and although this is a newer sound he's been experimenting with, i thought the lyrics fit the series nicely!

we were young and naive nothing to worry. all the memories, fading with graphite scribbles. we grew too fast, a blink, slow talks.

✧ ore ore by sole: another track that i can't figure out how to describe...

love isn’t too far from us, love can handle everything.

✧ lucky by jason mraz & colbie caillat: tfw reader walks past joshua rehearsing with this song... (ahem, 10. what's your eta, anyone?)

lucky i'm in love with my best friend.

✧ angel 2 me (feat. jeff bernat) by mckay: jeff bernat feature, you know joshua would love this song and cover itttttt!

✧ ikaw lang by nobita: it's pretty established joshua loves filo artists, this would be a track he would play all the time. the title translates to only you.

oh, what a beautiful sight it is to look into your eyes. the way they sparkle, i cannot fathom. the way you look back at me, how brilliant they shine. heaven must be on earth. stars actually fall from the sky.

✧ 7pm (apple music home session) by joshua: joshua lulling reader to sleep with his guitar??? 🫠

at seven in my house, we'll sing both our lungs out and dance to the moonlight 'cause everything feels right.

✧ whether or not by gabe bondoc: the inclusion of gabe bondoc should be no surprise to a longtime carat! joshua loves his filo artists and i still remember this predebut vid of him singing some gabe bondoc!

i've dreamed a thousand dreams and still nothing compares to the feeling that you give me while you're standing here. i don't care if its fair.

[ama-kuu]

Alpha Hawks&Dabi X Omega Reader

You were walking back into the lobby of Hawks apartment building after making a quick snack run while he was at work. As an omega, since being claimed by Hawks and Dabi you rarely ever left the apartment on your own. More commonly being carried and flown by Hawks between their living spaces, it was easier to protect you that way. It wasn’t safe just yet to have everyone move in together since Dabi was a well known villain and constantly changing locations. Hawks kept one of his feather charms on both you and Dabi to be able to keep your little family together no matter the distances between you. Also making it easier to keep track of Dabi with him moving around so often.

As you moved through the lobby towards the elevator you noticed an unfamiliar male wandering around the room desperately trying to read a poorly drawn map. You weren’t far from your heat but felt pity for the male. He was far enough away that it was difficult to scent his secondary sex, if you keep this distance it you could probably help point him in the right direction without revealing that you were an omega. Even after being claimed, it was still dangerous for you to be out without either of your alphas at your side.

“Excuse me… Do you need any help with directions? You look lost?”

“Oh why yes, I’m sorry to trouble you, I’m looking for XXXXX apartment complex but I think I ended up at the wrong place” He perked up immediately, looking harmless.

“Oh yea, I know that place. It’s about 2 blocks down from here, large glass front doors you can’t miss.” You gestured in the direction and stepped back to the elevator buttons.

“Thank you so much little missy, there must be some way for me to return the favor.” He took a few steps forward, causing you to begin to panic. But there was no more space for you to step away with you back already against the wall.

You immediately declined his offer shrinking into yourself. “No it's fine, please…”

“No I insist, a coffee perhaps?” A few more steps and he stopped suddenly taking in a large breath. His pupils enlarge any you know you are in trouble! Fuck, he must be able to smell your heat.

The man lunges for you, reaching his arms out to latch onto your arm. You duck under him and race for the front doors. You don’t make it far before getting harshly yanked back. You yelp out loud, feeling your poor shoulder pop and strain against his rough treatment.

“NO! Let GO!” You twist and struggle against his grin on you. Your eyes begin to burn with tears as he grabs the collar of your shirt and shoves you down on the ground. The scent of your own distress chokes your senses, throwing you further into a state of panic. Thrashing and whimpering under him you scream for your alphas.

Your stomach lurches and bile rises up when the unfamiliar male forces his face down on your neck rubbing his filthy scent on you, his hands simultaneously pawing at your sex.

But in a second he is gone. Blasted back by a gust of a powerful wing. Thank god, your alpha must have been close by. Hawks was furious, crouching protectively over you with his wings widely spread out threatening the male. You were frozen in place, fear had seized your body and you were having trouble regaining control. Even with his reassuring presence

“Kei..” You whimpered. Slowly reaching up to him with trembling limbs.

Keigo reached down cradling you into his arms, he held your head to his neck allowing his scent to wash over you as he attempted to calm you down.

Keigo hushed and embraced your trembling form in his hold. He was seething, how dare that male even look at this omega! He was on the edge of giving into his anger when you spoke up.

“Please Kei, can we go… I.. I wanna be with both of my alphas.” Head buried into his jacket collar, inhaling his scent with undertones on Dabi.

Keigo took a deep breath to get better control of himself. Ready to rip the other male apart, but choosing to yield and soothe his terrified omega. “Shhh, it's gonna be okay baby bird.” He gently stroked the back of your head. Looking back at the frightened male, Hawks got a very good look at the man, taking in all the small details. He spun on his heels, holding you tighter to him as he took to the sky heading straight for Dabi.

Keigo knew you needed both of them right now, even with his embrace the tremors in your body persisted. He squeezed you tighter to him as he picked up speed, doing his best to protect you from the winds whipping around.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Keigo and you arrive at Dabi’s current run down apartment. Dabi could sense Hawks approaching fast with you. He stood suddenly to race to the windows, opening them up for Hawks to land.

Hawks’ boots connect hard with the floor, jostling you awake. Dabi quickly rushes over to you. “What the HELL happened?” His nostrils flare at the scent distress clouded around you. Quickly reaching to snatch you from Hawks’ arms.

Sensing your other alpha, you practically jump into his arms. Holding yourself against him, craving his scent to mingle with Keigo’s and erase the foreign male’s essence.

Dabi bristles at the unknown male he can smell all over you. A growl erupting from deep in his chest, “I SAID, what the HELL HAPPENED?!”. His anger redirected to Hawks standing a few steps away.

You visibly flinched from Dabi screaming at Keigo. Keigo was just as furious with himself that he wasn’t there for you to prevent it from happening at all. But seeing you become more distressed, the trembling getting worse with your alpha snarling at each other. Keigo slowly stalked up close to Dabi’s ear whispering something you couldn’t quite catch. Keigo’s wings surrounded everyone washing his calming scent throughout the room. Dabi’s shoulders relaxed.

Keigo was the next to speak up, “Dabi get Y/n into the shower, we can talk once they are taken care of”. A few feathers detaching to get the bathroom ready and lightly nudging Dabi towards that direction.

Dabi allowed the feathers to direct him as he breathed you in, using your scent to control his anger. You were safe now, he would make sure of that, both your alphas were here for you.

Keigo closed the window and then turned to follow after you and Dabi.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Dabi didn’t skip a beat, stripping both himself and you in an instance. Warm water washed over you as the shaking started to subside. Dabi gently nibbled on your neck, causing you to remember that your heat was nearly here. You groaned against him, your hands seductively running down his chest, slowing down to stoke the marred skin lined with piercings.

“Well well little mouse, what do we have here? Looks like your heat is happening ahead of schedule.” You wrapped your legs around his waist, his hard bulge rubbing against your rear. Dabi stepped forward to compress you against the bathroom wall. But to your surprise, it wasn’t the wall, instead the firm very naked body of Keigo.

Keigo’s hands embraced you from behind, purred into your ear, “ I guess you’ll be pretty busy for the next week.”

Dabi’s canines scraped against your skin, pulling a moan out of you. With the shower water washing away any and all evidence of the other male, your senses were now flooding with the pheromones being released from your alphas. You dropped your head back onto Keigo meeting his lips with your own as you lifted your hands up over your head to tangle into his damp blonde tresses.

You opened up for him allowing his tongue to tangle with your own. His hands rose up to grope and kneaded at your breasts. Dabi rutted against you, and bit down harder into your shoulder, causing you to whimper, only to be swallowed hungrily by Keigo.

Your heat was making it hard for you to think about anything other than the men embracing you. The shower steam wasn’t helping, your body felt like it was going to overheat, you broke from the kiss and began to pant. Keigo’s feathers rippled, sensing your discomfort and quickly shut the water off, pulling you from Dabi’s arms. Dabi growled at Keigo, Keigo unfazed blocked you from his view using his wings, taunting the other alpha. No words were exchanged as Keigo carried you to your shared bedroom.

You nuzzled into Keigo’s chest, listening to Dabi’s footsteps in tow. You were finally calm, your alphas here with you always.

[thelazyhermits]

I decided I wanna address the subject of my Yuu’s birthday, so I’ll be doing that underneath the cut.

Like how Fortune can’t remember her birthday in TABF, the same can be said about Yuu.

While Yuu doesn’t lose all her memories like Fortune did, Yuu does forget her birthday because she goes so long without ever celebrating it.

While Tokumei did erase Yuu’s painful memories of what happened to her deceased parents and how she ended up in the underworld, he didn’t erase all of her memories so she would have still known the date of her birthday when she came under the “care” of him and Mumei.

However, since she was so young at the time, around 4 years old, Yuu eventually forgot her birthday since the twins never celebrated it, and she just never had a reason to remember it. It just became another day of the year.

While it’s a sad thought, Yuu never let herself dwell on it, so she was fine with not having a birthday. She wasn’t going to make a big deal over it when it was such a small matter in her eyes.

That all changes, however, when one day, while she’s visiting Scarabia’s dorm, Mr. I Love To Party aka Kalim asks Yuu when her birthday is because he wants to be ready to celebrate it when the day comes.

Because his question completely catches her off guard, Yuu finds herself answering honestly without thinking about it. Kalim has that effect on her since she finds it hard to lie to him.

Of course, Yuu doesn’t go into details about the situation regarding her birthday. She just says she doesn’t remember it.

Kalim naturally is horrified at the idea of one of his friends not knowing their own birthday. How are they supposed to celebrate a day she can’t remember?!

It doesn’t help matters that, when Kalim presses the matter, Yuu also admits that she doesn’t have any memories related to her birthday, so she really has no idea how to figure out what day it might be.

Thankfully, when Kalim asks her what led to her forgetting such an important day, Jamil saves the day by saying that Yuu’s memory loss must be the result of her traveling between worlds. 

Jamil had always thought it was strange how there was no side effects to such a powerful magic being used on Yuu, so it makes sense that she suffered some kind of setback. Obviously, those memories she lost were the price she unwillingly had to pay to come to TW.

Of course, Jamil doesn’t really believe that. He knows about Yuu’s past, so he can put two and two together. He just came up with that excuse because he wanted to spare her from having to tell Kalim the truth.

(Jamil often does this kind of thing for Yuu. If she’s ever backed into a corner when he’s around, he’ll lend her a hand. Of course, he always says his help is the price he pays in exchange for her continuing to be his ally since he has deemed her as being useful to him because of her Quirk and all the connections she has made at NRC. Plus, she also promised to help him one day obtain his freedom, and he has every intention to ensure she makes good on that promise.

It’s totally not because he genuinely sees her as his friend and he finds himself wanting to look after her. Nope, not at all lol)

Fortunately, Kalim completely believes Jamil’s lie and doesn’t even think to question it. Instead, he’s too busy feeling sad about Yuu losing such precious memories.

Thankfully, Kalim is quick to rebound and promptly declares that they need to give Yuu a new birthday so they can celebrate it as soon as possible to make up for all the birthday memories she lost.

At first, Kalim tries to make it that very day, but Jamil makes him see reason since that’s too short notice. Plus, the other dorms wouldn’t be pleased if they didn’t get a heads up on Yuu’s birthday since they would want to be a part of the festivities as well.

Kalim obviously doesn’t want anyone to miss out on celebrating their shared friend’s birthday. That’s what leads to him coming up with what he thinks is a brilliant idea.

They’ll have a week of celebrations for Yuu’s birthday! For each day of that week, one of the dorms will be in charge of hosting a party to celebrate Yuu’s special day. This way she can get all the birthday fun and memories she deserves. As far as Kalim is concerned, the more parties, the better! 

While Yuu thinks this is too extreme, Jamil actually agrees with the idea since he knows that this would be the only way to appease all the dorms who would be trying to get the honor of hosting Yuu’s birthday party if only one was held.

Technically, it could just be held at Ramshackle, but considering this will basically be Yuu’s first birthday, Jamil is sure that all the dorms would want to host parties at their own dorms so they can all show off and do something extra special for her. 

Plus, this would lead to less arguing between dorms, who would all want to take charge of the party if it was held at Ramshackle, and the dorms could compete to see who could throw the best party lol

Since Yuu sees the reason behind Jamil’s words and can’t say no to Kalim’s puppy dog eyes, she finally agrees to Kalim’s idea but only if all the dorm leaders approve since she doesn’t wanna make any of them feel like they have to do it.

Kalim immediately pulls out his phone so he can text all the dorm leaders in a group chat to deliver the news. Just as Kalim and Jamil expected, the other dorm leaders approve of the idea of each dorm getting to throw a party for Yuu, and they all immediately start calling dibs on certain days haha

Poor Malleus wasn’t included in the group chat since he never uses his phone, and Kalim just forgot about him so Diasomnia gets stuck with the last day of the birthday week since that’s what was left lol 😂

Yuu is surprised that everyone so readily agreed to the idea, and that even Idia was in support of it.  She wonders if Ortho was using his brother’s phone for him while Idia was gaming lol

While Ortho was hovering over his shoulder the whole time, Idia was the one typing in the chat. He wasn’t fond of the party idea for obvious reasons, but Ortho was. Plus, Yuu is one of Idia’s only friends so he didn’t wanna be the one guy who didn’t want to do something for her birthday.

Honestly, though, it probably just turns out to be like a private party in Idia’s room with just Yuu and the Shroud brothers, which Yuu would be fine with. It’d probably be a nice reprieve if she has to go through multiple days of large parties beforehand haha

Anyway, all the dorm leaders wanna take a chance to do something nice for Yuu since she’s their friend. Obviously, most of them don’t wanna actually admit it outright and instead just say it’s all for showing up the other dorms and proving who’s superior when it comes to celebrating everyone’s favorite prefect lol

In regards to the explanation behind Yuu’s loss of memories, everyone for the most part believes the excuse since they can’t think of another explanation for why someone would forget their own birthday like that. 

The only ones who don’t believe that excuse are Leona and Ruggie because they’ve been suspicious of Yuu’s background for a while now. They know she didn’t come from a good place. After all, there’s no way someone who had forgotten how to smile and learned how to do it at NRC, of all places, had a good upbringing. 

However, neither of them bring up their suspicions since they both decided not to stick their noses in Yuu’s business. Well, it was mostly Leona’s decision since Ruggie really does wanna know the whole story. Leona just ordered him not to bother her about it lol

Malleus and Lilia probably also sense that there’s more to this than what meets the eye since they both have similar suspicions about Yuu.

Lilia can no doubt tell just from watching Yuu that she’s got the eyes of a warrior that has seen her fair share of battles. It’s a sad thought to him, considering how young she is.

However, neither of them would bring attention to her past. Instead, since he also forgot his actual birthday, I see Lilia making jokes about how he and Yuu are two birds of a feather and how they should help each other remember their birthdays from now on. 

I just love the idea of Yuu getting a whole week of birthday celebrations where each day she spends time hanging out with a different dorm, enjoying all these different ways everyone wants to celebrate her special day. 

In regards to what date gets chosen for her birthday, I like the idea of her birthday being in the spring since that’s the season of new beginnings, which seems very fitting for Yuu. Plus, on the timeline, this would be after Yuu has become good friends with the Twst cast, so I think any day in April would be a good choice for her. The last week of April would be ideal since that wouldn’t get in the way of Vil’s and Ruggie’s birthday celebrations. 

Going back to the dorm competition, I can see the dorms really getting into it since they’re always looking for an opportunity to prove themselves superior lol

Heartslabyul, Savanaclaw, Octanivelle, and Scarabia are especially confident in their ability to throw the best party because they each have the trump card of having at least one of Yuu’s favorite cooks in their dorm, which I talked about here.

Heartslabyul is also confident because Ace & Deuce are sure that any party that has Yuu’s best friends in it would obviously be her favorite. However, Riddle has some doubts about that considering how much trouble those two cause her on a daily basis lol That’s why he has every intention to whip them into shape so they will be on their best behavior during the party and the birthday week as a whole. RIP ADeuce 😂

Savanaclaw is confident because when is Leona ever not? lol Jokes aside, it’s a common fact that Yuu is close to the Savanclaw trio and spends a lot of time with them since she gets along so well with them, partly because Leona/Ruggie were two of the first people she became acquainted with since in my version of the story she meets them on the day she’s working as a janitor. That’s why she’s so comfortable around them and because they’re courteous toward women, which is something she was not used to prior to coming to TW. 

With the kind of personality she has, Yuu just fits in really well with the Savanaclaw group. Of course, it also helps that she loves animals, so the animal ears totally draw her in lol

Savanaclaw also has Jack whom Yuu is very biased toward because he’s her favorite son who never does anything wrong/never causes her any trouble. She absolutely adores him for that reason and because he’s so hardworking, much to his embarrassment and his upperclassmen’s amusement haha

That combined with Ruggie’s cooking and Leona’s charms (because of course Leona considers himself a key factor in why Yuu likes his dorm so much) makes it clear that their dorm is superior. Now, they just have to get that message across to all the other dorms.

Aside from having the Tweel’s cooking, Octanivelle believes they’re superior because the Octotrio and Yuu are coworkers at the Mostro Lounge. A bond forged through customer service cannot be easily broken 😂

Plus, it’s a well known fact that Yuu enjoys Floyd’s hugs. While a large part of that is because she’s touch starved, which is why she doesn’t fear his squeezes like everyone else, the other reason is because he really is good at giving hugs when he’s not trying to break any bones lol

The Octotrio consider themselves to be very knowledgeable about Yuu because of all the time they spend together at work, so they are confident that they can pull off a party that surpasses anything the other dorms can pull off. 

Scarabia is confident because Jamil is. Unlike everyone else, Jamil knows about Yuu’s past which makes him believe that he understands her the best out of everyone. (He’s totally smug about this, not that he’d ever admit it lol)

That combined with his cooking skills and the fact that Yuu adores the always sweet and cheerful Kalim, who reminds her of the heroes she admired back in her world, is a winning combination in Jamil’s eyes. 

However, there is one thing he has to worry about: Kalim going overboard. Kalim would totally want to make the party as extravagant as possible and spare no expense, which would overwhelm Yuu who’s not used to such attention and having a lot of money spent on her.

So the whole time during the party planning, Jamil is constantly having to keep Kalim under control so Yuu won’t suffer a heart attack because of their dorm’s party lol

Pomefiore is confident because Vil is always confident. Once he decides to do something, he makes it happen and won’t accept anything but the best possible results. He’ll pull off the kind of birthday party that’ll be just as impressive as he is.

Aside from having Vil, the other advantage Pomefiore would have is Epel because he’s another of Yuu’s sons who doesn’t cause her a lot of trouble. While he does occasionally get into trouble, he’s nowhere near as bad as ADeuce and Grim which Yuu is very grateful for.

Epel is bound and determined to do his part to make his dorm’s party a success since he doesn’t want to lose to the other dorms/first years. Plus, he wants to properly show his appreciation for Yuu since she’s a good friend whom he’s very grateful to have met because she’s always supporting him and he thinks she truly sees him for who he really is.

Rook would be another advantage of theirs because he is very knowledgeable about Yuu because he always pays such close attention to her. He finds her fascinating, so of course, he made sure to learn as much as possible about her. 

While Vil doesn’t necessarily approve of Rook’s methods to gain such information, he makes sure to make good use of it lol

Ignihyde is the only dorm that’s not enthusiastic about this competition since parties are just a nightmare for Idia. Yes, he would like to celebrate his friend’s birthday, but why does he have to throw a huge party to do that? Why must normies always make his life so difficult?

Thankfully, Ortho comes to the rescue by suggesting a private party with just the two of them, Yuu, and Grim in Idia’s room since he thinks that Yuu would enjoy a quiet, relaxing party after dealing with all the eventful parties all the other dorms will be throwing.

After all, Yuu is the type to appreciate the little things and has no interest in extravagance anyway, so why not just focus on ensuring she has an enjoyable time with them rather than all the party theatrics? Surely, that would be the kind of party Yuu would enjoy most of all. 

Idia is all for this plan and immediately takes a liking to the thought of getting to watch anime and play games with Yuu, Ortho, and Grim all day while eating lots of sweets. Now, that’s a kind of celebration he can get behind haha

Ortho is confident that Ignihyde will do well in the competition since they’ll be prioritizing Yuu’s comfort and ensuring she gets a completely stress free experience, which is exactly what someone as hardworking as her needs and deserves. 

Of course, it also helps that Yuu adores Ortho because he’s so cute and another of her sons that doesn’t cause trouble. He’s right on up there with Jack on her good son list haha

When he finds out about Yuu’s birthday situation, Malleus sulks at little at first over not being invited to the conversation the other dorm leaders had since that led to his dorm getting stuck with the last day of the birthday week. However, he does start to feel better when Lilia tells him that it’s always best to save the best for last anyway.

Diasomnia is very confident about throwing a successful/amazing birthday party. After all, Malleus is a dear friend of Yuu’s whom she likes very much, so she’ll obviously be very happy to spend a day with him and his dorm. 

Plus, Diasomnia has another of Yuu’s sons, Sebek, even though he still shows some resistance about that title despite Malleus and Lilia both giving Yuu their blessings on the adoption lol

Sebek’s another of Yuu’s sons that doesn’t cause her a lot of trouble, which she really appreciates, and she finds it cute how Sebek is never honest about his feelings. And they’re book buddies which Yuu really likes since she enjoys having someone to talk about books with. 

So Diasomnia definitely thinks they have an advantage. However, there is one major problem with this scenario which is that Lilia wants to cook for the party, so Malleus/Silver/Sebek are in for a tough battle 😂

All in all, all the dorms are very confident that they’ll win this competition. Hopefully, Yuu won’t have to decide on a winner; otherwise, she’ll be in trouble because she does not wanna have to deal with that kinda pressure on her birthday lol

[choibinn3]

GET IT TOGETHER, JUNGWON!!

[ nine. hehe ]

series masterlist

⋆·˚ ༘ * in which jungwon had meant for that love letter to go to yeri, and not you—her bff. for some reason though, he finds that with each moment he spends together with you he's closer and closer to forgetting all about that damn letter.

no song for this chapter!

WRITTEN PORTION. 2.1k

also partially unedited, sorry if some things don't make sense or are confusing T_T

—

The bell rang.

You made eye contact with Jungwon across the room, and yet his brown pools nervously flitted towards Yeri's direction instead. They were President and Vice President though, so you didn't question much. She was packing up her bag, and had sent you a small smile.

"I'll see you next class, ok?" she said, "Make sure you eat a full meal before work."

You grinned at her. "Got it! I hope you have a good time with whatever you said you were doing, sorry I couldn't eat with you today."

Being the only two people in your friend group with the same lunch period, you usually sat with her for it. Talking about classes, chatting mindlessly, idly looking around the cafeteria for people you knew was fun only when it was with her.

"It's fine," she replied, waving off your apology and placing her notebooks away. "It's your first day with a boyfriend, I want you to be happy."

You appreciated her genuine gladness for your own happiness so much, you could barely hold it in. You wrapped your arms around her, sending her stumbling a bit with your weight. "Woah, YN!"

Having someone so positive, so supportive, and so authentic as Yeri around you for so long had definitely brightened your outlook on life. Such a friend was a one in a lifetime chance, and yet you lucked out. You just hoped she thought the same of you too.

"Thank you! I love you so much!" you exclaimed into her shoulder.

She released a giggle, patting your back with one hand as if to ease you down. "It's the bare minimum of friendship, YN. I just hope that Jungwon doesn't hurt you."

The tone in which she said it felt more serious than it usually was, which was a bit odd. You understood her concern though, of course your friend wouldn't want you to be hurt! And yet, everyone and their mother knew that flower boy Yang Jungwon would be the least likely person to do such a thing.

You loosened your arms a bit, tilting your head at her confusedly. "Why would Jungwon hurt me..? You know he's too nice for that!"

You knew that Jungwon and Yeri had definitely gotten closer to each other since the Student Council elections, but your faith in Yeri had outshined any insecurities or suspicions that could've ever formed. She had definitely talked frequently to him, especially with all those times they've had to stay after school for paperwork, so you would've thought that she'd know Jungwon's personality by now.

She took ahold of your arms, smiling at you before wrapping her own limbs around your form. Gahh, hugs from Yeri! You giggled into her shoulder again, from where your face had buried itself into. "I know, I know. I'm just being worried, I think."

You nodded. "I get it, thank you."

Yeri and the rest had always been like this. Even though Niki would act disgusted towards your displays of affection, he loved it when you made time for him. Heeseung too, actually. Yeri and Heeseung were both equally protective of Niki and you, even though Yeri was your age.

Since the day you had became friends she was the one looking out for you. Not to say you were irresponsible, but because she was just naturally a protective person. It was a quality you and many others admired about her—her loyalty to her friends.

"Remember that guy that was obsessed with you? Back in middle school?" she muttered.

You hit her arm playfully, and she let you go. "He wasn't obssessed!" you insisted, "I thought the snacks were cute!"

Yeri laughed. "Ok, whatever you say, but he was always buying you stuff. Can't believe you turned him down, though."

Your eyes glanced towards Jungwon, who was waiting by the door with his hands in his pant pockets. The large mass of students filtering out of the opening had covered his figure at times, blocking your view when they did, and yet you knew you could point him out in any large crowd. He stood out in a way that had you nervous all over again.

"Yeah well," you started, looking away and instead down towards your shoes bashfully, "I told him I liked someone else, and now we're just buddies."

You slung your bag over your shoulder as Yeri decided to nudge it. "Wonder who that could've been," she teased, and you let out a indignant whine.

"You don't have to wonder!"

She pinched your cheek, and you pretended to attempt to bite at her finger playfully. As the both of you exited the doorway, you sent a smile towards Jungwon.

The brief eye contact made him look away again, for whatever reason, you didn't know. "I'll see you in the cafeteria, right?" you asked, a bit hopefully. Yeri stopped beside you.

He fidgeted a bit, nodding his head. "Yeah, I'll find you there."

You grinned at him, and went onto your tippy toes. Jungwon's large brown eyes widened, and he almost leaned back when you planted another chaste (burning) kiss onto his cheek. Again?! You're kidding!

Neither of you knew how relationships worked, but were you sure a kiss on the cheek could be considered the first step? He had to hold his breath, otherwise he would've made a noise.

"Ah—" Like the previous time, you moved away too quickly for him to have comprehended the situation fully—or to say anything.

Your bag slightly jostled as you promptly walked down the hallway. The figure of your back going further and further down, becoming smaller and smaller as he stood there once again. He held onto his cheek. The ghost of your lips were still there, faintly, but the touch was evidently still imprinted into his mind. He wasn't sure he'd ever be able to get used to that.

As you left, Yeri looked over towards him. Her smile was devoid, which was the first odd thing, and suddenly she grabbed his wrist—the one still tracing your kiss.

Jungwon looked after at her shocked, but she provided no explanation as she dragged him along with long, big strides. "What are you doing?"

"I said it'd be quick, you have to get to YN, right? Lunch with them?" She turned her head to the side, awaiting an answer.

"They told you?" he asked, but of course they told her. You were best friends. "I mean yeah, nevermind. I do."

He was going to tell you about the misplacement of the letter, too.

With how fast Yeri was rushing them both, they made it to the Student Council room much quicker than they would've if they had walked casually as they had done before. The windows of the Council room were open, the long curtains blowing with the passing wind.

The room was fairly old, not yet upgraded as the other classroom in the Hybe building were. They still had gray, cloth curtains connected to their windows, and Jungwon had found the curtains annoying when they decided to brush against his face while he was working.

Still, he found the sun and its brightness too pretty to try and close the windows. As he looked at them, Yeri had made a point to shut the door.

Jungwon glanced over in time to see her lock it, too. If he wasn't anxious before, he was now. "What did you want to talk about?" he inquired, placing his bag down.

No answer. He looked up, and blinked at her as she said nothing, just staring at him with her head tilted.

She took a step forward (he took one back, he had to), and another (his sneakers squeaked against the polished floor), and another, and another (Jungwon stumbled a bit, feet confused with his backwards direction), and more until—

Jungwon's back collided roughly with the wooden surface behind him, making an aching pain build upon the lower part of his body. Before he could even think about the spreading heat, Yeri had already slammed her hands on either side of the desk, shocking him into straightening back up.

She was close.

Not closer than you were, but close enough to where he was panicked on where to look. They had shared such a proximity before. Only once, but it was still near. He had leaned over to take a look at some paperwork on her desk, and her face was inches away.

He didn't notice her lashes though, nor her bright eyes like he did with you.

"I called you here today to speak to you," she began. Her voice was steady, calm, confident. Whatever she was planning to say, she had either rehearsed it or was steeled in her resolve.

"A-About what?" A stutter. Not good. He hadn't meant to stutter, so he just gulped down his next nervous words.

"About YN."

All of a sudden, Yeri had surged forward. Her stands of hair had flown with her, falling off her shoulders and hanging over Jungwon. Even though he was taller than her, he had to lean back to not come in contact with any part of her skin.

He held his breath again, like he did with you, but because he was terrified he'd accidentally breathe on her face.

Her eyes had narrowed. Yeri's eyes never narrowed. They had always been slightly curved from a smile, or fondly closed in thought, but never once had they even become close to those dangerous slits on her face.

Was this the same person he knew? What had initially drawn him to her was her sweetness, so how could she look so stone cold (read: terrifying) in this moment?

"Look, I know we're kind of close and all, but YN was my first friend and one of my only long-standing friendships since I was 9 years-old." Jungwon couldn't take her gaze, so he turned to look out the window as she spoke.

"They've been my rock ever since I started having trouble with my parents, and was always supportive of everything I did. YN is self-sacrificial and diligent in a way you'd only notice if you were friends with them, and observant to the small details, playful when you need them to be, and highly emotionally empathetic—"

She paused, as if finally noticing Jungwon's attempts to distract himself.

"—I'm talking to you here." His eyes snapped back towards her face at the harshness of the tone she used, and a bead of sweat formed at the back of his neck. Ok, never trying that again. "You're not a bad person, Jungwon. I know you're not the type to hurt someone like that, but I'm not taking that chance. YN is a very sensitive individual, ok?"

Yeri waited, long enough for the frightened boy in front of her to get the memo. Eventually, he nodded.

"Good. So don't you ever attempt to hurt them—actually, even if it was a mistake, I couldn't care less. I will make sure you won't live past the age of 30. You won't even be alive to see your grandchildren, Yang Jungwon."

To make her point clear, she turned her glare burning. He could feel it through his soul. Such a stare would generally leave his heart palpitating, and it was surely, but he'd be an idiot if he didn't know the difference between it beating in fear and from affection. Right then, it was fear.

As if she was finally satisfied, Yeri leaned back from the cornered Student Council President in front of her, and took several steps backwards.

"Take this as my blessing for your relationship," she offered, hand coming to give a small pat at his shoulder. It took every fibre of his being not to flinch. He did Taekwondo for God's sake, what was with him?

The words hadn't come out of her mouth, but it was silently spoken from one party to another. This wasn't just a blessing, this was a warning. A threat too, all in one.

Yeri took it upon herself to exit the room first, even making sure to close the door gently as to not disturb anyone around them, and Jungwon's legs took him to his Council President seat—because if he didn't take a seat, he was sure he'd faint somewhere along the way back.

Kim Yerim had just threatened him like an overprotective Mob Boss whose child had just gotten their first boyfriend. Kim Yerim, his crush, the girl he had been pining over since they had both been elected for Council positions, Kim Yerim—who he had apparently not known enough about.

Outside of the room, Yeri was making her way down the hallways, checking messages on her phone as she did so.

(10)! unread messages from Heeseung!

All with the same premise. What did you talk to Jungwon about? What did you say? Yeri? Where are you?

She should've known Jungwon would tell his other friends, it was only natural he would. I'll deal with that later.

She tucked her phone back into her skirt pocket, unaware of the frantic footfalls of someone running down the hallways in the opposite direction.

—

previous | next - series masterlist

TDLR: you kiss his cheek again, yeri drags jungwon to the stuco room, yeri will make sure jungwon wont live past the age of 30 :D

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i hope this was worth the wait you scoundrels

[mitsukui]

put your lips like this | f.w.

Pairing: Fred Weasley x reader.

Summary: there is a secret buried inside your heart that is keeping you from going to the Yule Ball. However, Fred decides to be the greatest of friends and  teach you one thing or two.

Word Count: 2.1k - oops...

Warnings: none! Just a whole lot of fluff! ✨ Oh, there is a curse word towards the ending.

Disclaimer: none of the pictures used in the edit below belong to me; I simply put them together.

A/N: HAPPY HOLIDAYS, BABIES! *aggressively listens to ‘My Boo’, by Usher and Alicia Keys*. Not to be dramatic, but James Phelps with long hair could punch me right in the face, and I would thank him. Please, leave me some feedback if you feel like it! My askbox is open for your opinions, thoughts and requests. Thank you so much for your time and attention!  ♡

Masterlist!

“You know I’m good at keeping secrets, so just tell me already! C’mon, tell me why you don’t want to go to the Yule Ball.”

A heavy and utterly annoyed sigh left your lips. Fred Weasley – that prick! – had been tormenting you the entire day. You knew he was a curious soul, but you had never imagined he would try so hard to make you spill one of your secrets out.

It was not something you fancied sharing; actually, it was something that made you feel rather pathetic and embarrassed. How could you tell your friend, whom you had unexpectedly developed feelings for, that you had never been kissed?

Curiosity and anticipation were emanating from his figure as he whispered soft ‘tell me’s, and moved anxiously on his chair. You fidgeted with the quill in your hand before you sighed once more. It did not seem like he was going to give up on solving that mystery any time soon. “Alright, fine. I will tell you. But only if you promise you will act as if nothing had ever happened.”

“Pinky promise!” He immediately dropped his own quill and extended his right hand towards you, his little finger waiting up to be intertwined with yours. Your eyes studied his hand, and you did not fail to notice how big and veiny they were.

Oh, Godric, the voice that took form of your consciousness echoed in your head, this boy is going to be the death of me.

Reluctantly, you closed your textbook and put your quill down on the wooden table, these two actions being followed by the connection between your fingers. His tongue poked the inside of his cheek, the similarity to a little boy that he carried in his behavior causing you to chuckle. However, your good spirits soon vanished away when you came to the realization you now had to tell him the truth. You had never been good at lying, for all it mattered.

He beamed widely at you, and he had his ears ready to capture all the words that were about to slip from your lips. But nothing was coming out of them, and a slight impatience resulted in his eyebrows being furrowed together. Fred went back to whispering words to hurry you into opening up, and the situation just overwhelmed your inexperienced heart.

It was all too much: you could not bear with the fact that he was staring so intensely at you, nor with the fact that you were about to tell him you saw yourself as a ridiculously stupid teenager who had never felt a pair of lips brushing against their own.

“I don’t really know how to do the whole…kissing thing. And I refuse to go to the Yule Ball because of it, given that chances of being kissed by your date are high.”

Your confession came out as a train losing its track – fast, unruly and through gritted teeth. Although you were deeply ashamed of that part of you, his face expressed the total opposite of any of your feelings.

His eyebrows were still furrowed together, but now scoff dripped from his words. “Yeah, right. And George is more handsome than me.”

You could swear your heart skipped a beat at that moment. Blinking in the rawest surprise your body could internally gather, you stared at him and waited for him to say anything else. You were lost for words. How could he not believe you?

“I mean, you’re incredibly beautiful. And I know you have a few people interested in you.” When you raised an eyebrow at his latter words, he was quick to snap back at you. “I’ve noticed how that Ravenclaw boy looks at you.”

Even though there was an inconspicuous blush tainting your face due to his compliments, you waved his words off and laughed shyly. He probably was just acting nice towards you. That was a huge characteristic of the Weasley family – being raised by an amazing woman like Molly herself made such a thing come out naturally.

You remained quiet for a few moments, your heart beating fast in your chest and your eyes staring out the library windows. You still had a hard time believing you had just confessed your deepest secret to your love interest, but it was of no use crying over spilt milk. If he were one to keep his promises, one of your rare studying sessions with Fred Weasley would soon return to normal.

But what if he started pitying you for it? Or what if he stopped talking to you, once he concluded your universes did not collide? He surely was vastly experienced when it came down to kissing. Kissing Fred Weasley would probably be the biggest honor of your life.

Unconsciously, your eyes left the windows and roamed the surroundings until they reached his lips. It was almost as if the whole world had stopped.

Fred had thin lips, but they seemed to be astonishingly soft for someone who caused as much trouble as he did. His upper lip was subtly curved, and you were mesmerized by every single little detail you could visually grasp. That moment would haunt your thoughts for a long time, once it was pure cruelty how you had fallen out of love – the one you loved did not love you back.

But you were terribly wrong about that. Fred had been experiencing some shifts on his feelings towards you lately. He had watched you blossom into a charming young girl, and there was something about you hitting hard on his heart. And, frankly speaking, after he caught you looking at his lips, he would be in heaven if he ever got the chance to kiss you.

“Come on. Let’s get out of here.” He helped you gather all of your belongings with a gentle smile hanging on his lips and, once more, you swore your heart was melting away over everything he did.

As you walked out of the library together, dipped in a somewhat agonizing silence, you felt his fingers brushing against yours, which caused you to instantly look at him. “Can I hold your hand while we walk?”

Holy moly, what did he just say? Your consciousness was again alarmed at the scenario taking place right in front of your eyes. Okay. Keep calm. Don’t freak out.

“Y-Yeah, I guess.”

He did not waste any time on ending the ridiculously small distance between your hands. However, he did not simply hold your hand in his; he intertwined your fingers together, and gave your hand a light squeeze. His eyes fell upon you, and his gorgeous smile grew wider. You could not help but smile along.

You continued on walking together in silence, the only tangible thing between you and Fred being the tiny circles his thumb drew on your skin. If it were possible to describe your feelings, one would choose the talk about fireworks, or waves violently crashing on rocks on a breathtaking beach.

He unquestionably would be the death of you.

He tugged on your hand once you stopped in a deserted hallway. There was something astounding about the fact that he was able to find a calm and quiet place on Hogwarts, but he had always been like a box full of surprises to you. And he was also really good at knowing all the best places in the castle.

You smiled at him, the riddle he was presenting filling your chest with amusement. “What are we doing here?” All of the terrors you felt earlier returned to you, and you felt like withdrawing. “Wait. We are not here so you can lecture me on kissing, right?! Because, if we are, I would very much like to lea-“

Fred abruptly shushed you, stepping closer to your body and gently pushing your back against a wall. His eyes darted up and down your face, and he grinned cunningly down at you. He was so much taller than you, and the sight of him towering over you was quite intimidating.

“I’m gonna be your kissing instructor.”

Bitch, said what?! Your eyes widened in shock, his fingers reached out to place a lock of hair behind your ear, and your biggest wish was to evaporate. With your head shaking vigorously, and your lips being pressed together in a disappearing line, you exclaimed you would never accept that.

You could never allow physical intimacy to destroy your friendship with Fred Weasley. It was better to have him as a friend than not having him at all.

He found your actions to be absolutely adorable, the desire to consume your innocence growing bigger and bigger each second. “I’m only trying to help you out, y’know. If that Ravenclaw boy is not willing to claim these luscious lips, I sure am.”

Your cheeks erupted in a dark red shade, and you looked away from him, unable to take it for any longer. He was now evidently playing with your feelings, and you did not know how to deal with his attitude.

You were torn apart between accepting his kiss and pushing him away. It could go two ways: you would either kiss him and dismiss all of your feelings and expectations, or you would fall even harder for him. You were not exactly leaning towards neither option.

“I’ve wanted to kiss you for a while now.” He murmured his confession as he briefly dodged his eyes from your face as well. It was unusual to see the great Fred Weasley embarrassed but, apparently, it was happening right in your face. “So, please, let me be your first kiss. I promise I’ll be gentle.”

Your gaze moved back to him and he also had a light pink flush on his cheeks. He looked painfully handsome at that moment, with his freckles splattered all over his skin, and his lips trembling slightly. Your eyes met, and both of you smiled timidly. You were swooning.

“Okay.”

“Okay.” He repeated your monosyllabic answer and nodded a bit, mostly to himself, assuring he would finally feel his lips on his. “I’m gonna put my hands on your hips now.”

And he did. Both of his hands ghosted over your body until they reached your hips. He pulled you a little bit closer to his chest, and his scent tickled your nose. You felt like electrical waves were rushing through your entire body, and you wondered how you had managed not to faint.

“Look, do what I’m doing.” Fred parted his lips slightly and tilted his head to his left side a bit, his eyelashes fluttering until he finally closed his eyes. He looked heavenly, but you could never admit that and put yourself into an even more vulnerable position.

An almost inaudible snicker rang in his ears, and he soon opened his eyes and looked at you. You confessed he looked quite silly like that, but he ignored your comment and ordered you to mimic him again. His voice was low and his warm breath hit your face gently. You finally obeyed, feeling all jittery and anxious.

You looked captivating in his eyes, and he was ready to show you how amazing a tad of intimacy could be.

He leaned down, bringing your lips together in an extremely slow brush against each other. “Put your lips like this.” And, a second time, you did as he told you to, copying all of his actions.

It did not take long for him to finally involve your uneasy lips with his own. He started out by giving small pecks onto your skin, but his hunger got too big and he demanded more.

Your small silhouette was pressed even harder to his body, and he touched your lower lip with his tongue, asking for permission to feel more of you. Your attempts to continue moving according to him went on, and you thought it was a good sign he had not stopped you yet.

Once the velvet-feeling of his tongue came in touch with yours, he groaned against your lips, which caused you to use both of your hands to hold onto his robes tightly.

The kiss went on for a few more moments until you and Fred were breathless, and you had to break away to learn how to cope with oxygen again.

It was difficult to find words to talk about whatever had just happened, but you mumbled a shy ‘thank you’, which he replied to with ‘don’t mention it’.

Kissing was not as horrible as you thought it would be. 

And, after all, maybe going to the Yule Ball could be quite nice if you had enough luck to get Fred Weasley to be your date and kiss you again.

[haikyuu-sins]

Hey!!

Ok, first of all I love your writing, it's just soooo good and second, since I saw the requests are opened I wanted to ask for a little scenario, ok here we go.

So it's Law x fem!Reader from the strawhats and both crews are fighting against some kind of enemy and their army, this enemy it's like a mad scientist and shots the reader with a strange sustance but nobody really notices because they are fighting and she doesn't want them to get preoccupied.

The things is, some days later strange white marks begin to appear on her skin and yes, it's the amber lead, she tries to hide it but at some point Law sees it and when I don't know, I will leave the rest to you.

Thank you so much ❤❤

Thank you! I loved how interesting this request was! I hope you enjoy :) (I realized too late into this thatI didn’t make them a strawhat so my apologies for that! I’ve been trying to work on this one for so long and it slipped my mind :( also I’m sorry that this kind of ends a little abruptly, I wasn’t sure where I really wanted it to go in the end

Warnings: Getting shot/blood

****Law x Reader

This was supposed to be quick. An in, out kind of deal. What was going to be a quick trade, ended up being a ruse. When Law was finished with his end of the deal, which was healing a member of this scientist’s crew and in return he’d give Law a medicine that he had been looking for that he would only be able to get from this island.

But things went south as soon as the deal was finished. It all started happening so quickly that you almost didn’t have time to react. Once the sound of a gunshot filled the air, Law was quick to act. He was already after the ringleader and was telling the rest of the crew to fight and stay alive until he got back from dealing with the scientist.

The once peaceful surroundings were now a small battlefield. You watched Bepo and the rest of the crew fighting with the others and you had your own hands full with a few of the men from the other crew. But what you didn’t notice was that there was a sniper off in the distance with a fresh batch of bullets that were coated and infused with different diseases; new and old.

His sights were set on you as you seemed to be giving his crewmates the most trouble. There was so much noise on the battlefield that you didn’t even know where the next gunshot came from. All you knew was that you felt a sharp pain in your thigh, then moments later, another right above your knee cap. Your mind went white for a moment. The searing pain made your head go blank before you felt a fist connect with your face that brought you back to reality.

You wanted to pass out but Law told you all to stay alive because he knew that you could handle yourselves. That meant you couldn’t afford to lose consciousness. Law put his trust in you and the rest of his crew so you needed to show him that you could be trusted.

Blood trickled down your left leg and your pants were sticking to you uncomfortably. You felt useless not being able to even use one of your legs. But no matter how much it hurt, you put your weight on it and continued to fight. Another bullet came your way but this time you sensed it. There was something different about this one. It almost seemed to have some sort of heavy aura around it.

You deflected it with the knife you held in your hand. The bullet ricocheted off and hit one of the men you were brawling with, and straight into his shoulder.

He hissed in pain, not knowing what exactly had happened, but when you saw what that bullet began doing to his body you realized why it was so different from the other two. His skin started to melt from where the bullet entered and he screamed in agony. Your eyes were wide with fear, hoping that that wouldn’t be your fate. While your skin wasn’t melting off like his, you knew that there had to have been something wrong with this bullet as well.

But you didn’t have much time to process what could happen to you because the fighting continued and now you had the added bonus of trying to figure out if there would be a bullet coming at you. In a moment there was a sharp stinging in your side. You heard no gun shots but there was a clear wound in your abdomen.

Within minutes though, everything suddenly stopped, you and the rest of the crew had taken notice that there was a slight blue tinge that covered the area. In that moment, you knew that you could finally relax. Your legs buckled under you and the next thing you knew, you were in the sub.

You ached. Your entire body ached and you heard a soft beeping noise right beside you. Slowly your eyes began to open and you squint. The bright lights nearly blinding you.

Law glanced over and heard the rustling of the bed sheets. “Don’t touch the IV, Y/n-ya.” he spoke as he watched you reaching for it. You sigh and your hand falls onto the bed. “And don’t even think about moving.” he stood from his chair next to you and gently pushed your shoulder down.

Your voice was hoarse when you spoke softly. “Is everyone okay?” glancing around the room, you noticed that there was no one else but you and Law.

“Everyone is fine. I was able to patch them up. You one the other hand were the one who had the most damage done. You were shot three times. I’m not sure why but I couldn’t find the bullets even though there wasn’t an exit wound.”

He had even used his Scan on you thanks to his Ope-Ope no mi but still wasn’t able to find anything wrong. For some reason, you thought it would be a good idea to omit the fact that a bullet that was aimed for you hit someone else and melting the man’s skin off. There wasn’t anything wrong with you now. But what you didn’t know was that the bullets were still inside you. They had dissolved and a deadly and what was thought to be an incurable disease was now making its way through your body.

“I’m going to run some tests-”

“Please, I’m fine! Will you just let me get back to work?”

The look on Law’s face said it all as he turned to you. ‘Absolutely not’ was plastered all over and you knew better than to argue with him, but you felt like a terrible burden.

“You should be doing Captain things, not treating me.” you slumped back into the bed.

“You seem to forget that your captain is also your doctor.”

Your lips made an ‘O’ and your cheeks flushed slightly. “I didn’t forget...It just slipped my mind for a second.”

“I’m going to run your tests tomorrow. You’ve lost a lot of blood and need rest, so I’ll leave you be for a few hours and come back to check on you. Let me know if you need anything. You shouldn’t be in too much pain but I can put more medicine in your IV-that you better not take out-if you need it.” With that, he left the room while you glared at the IV that was stuck in you. It was best that you left it in and you knew it, It soon didn’t worry you anymore and before you knew it, your eyelids fluttered close with the darkness of a promising sleep overcoming.

It was about a week before Law let you out of the infirmary. He made sure you were okay to walk on your own, and he wanted you to take antibiotics for another week in case of an infection. The tests he had taken all came back normal for now. Nothing was out of the ordinary, but he still wanted you to check in with him every so often.

Law was wary of letting you out of his site, something had been worrying him about the fact he couldn’t find the bullets but you spoke of nothing out of the ordinary no matter how much he knew tried to get the information out of you.

The next time Law saw you, you looked like a ghost. He noticed how your knees were trembling and quickly urged you to sit down, guiding you to a chair. “I told you to come by and see me if there was anything wrong, Y/N-ya.”

“I’m fine… really. I’m just a little tired.”

His grey eyes narrowed slightly at you then his brows furrowed. There was a spot in your hair that hadn’t been there before that was beginning to go white--not grey like a normal aging person, but white. Quickly, he grabbed your arm and shoved the material of your sleeve up. You had no strength to pull back and his eyes now widened when he noticed the white patches that were covering you.

“Law it hurts… Everything hurts. I ache all the time and it feels like there’s nothing I can do to make it stop.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about this?!” the taller man quickly scooped you out of the chair and rushed you into the infirmary.

“That bullet…I think there was something in it.” you managed to croak out. “One of their guys got shot with a bullet that I dodged and his skin, it started to melt off his body.” You knew that he’d be scolding you after this, not telling him all of the details the first time is one of Law’s pet peeves.

“This could have all been avoided if you told me this in the first place!” While this would be an easy fix for Law, he was still upset that you were putting yourself in unnecessary pain. You didn’t need to suffer and if you weren't stubborn then you wouldn’t be in this position. He knew exactly what it was like to have this incurable disease, but you were lucky enough to have a captain who could cure anything. Including Amber Lead.

He put you on the bed in the infirmary and it didn’t take him long to get this out of your body. On the way there you had passed out which did make it easier for Law work, but he was scared. This disease was supposed to be gone. So how did this scientist get a hold of something this deadly?

One thing he did know--he wasn’t going to lose anyone else to this forsaken illness. Not again. He had already lost his entire family to it and he would be damned if he’d let it happen to his crew.

It only took Law a few minutes to finish this up and make sure that all of the Amber Lead was out of your body. He ran tests on you all throughout the night, almost never leaving your side. It was comforting knowing that the first face you saw when you opened your eyes was him. Though you knew he probably wasn’t the happiest with you, you did know that he would always do his best to save you and that’s why your eyes were opening in the first place.

Besides the quiet beeps of the monitor, the next thing you heard was his gruff voice. “You sure do leave out some important information when it’s needed.”

You bit your lip. “Sorry…”

“I don’t think ‘sorry’ cuts it when you nearly had a death wish. You’d be dead if you weren’t here with me, you know that? What you were shot with was a bullet that had Amber Lead poisoning which is normally incurable.”

“Guess I’m really lucky then, huh?” you smile weakly over to him, hoping that maybe he’ll see the bright side. “I’m alive at least, that counts for something, right?”

“Yeah, you’re lucky enough to be alive so you can do all of the extra chores around the sub.”

“Oh come on!” you groaned out in protest. “This is what I get for pulling thought and making it out alive?!”

“No. This is what you get for nearly getting yourself killed for leaving out information that could have prevented this from getting as bad as it did. Maybe next time you should think twice about being as stubborn as you usually are.”

“But that’s my best quality!”

“Trust me, you have better qualities than that, Y/N-ya.” and with that, he left the room, leaving you with a pink tinted face.

[wildingrose]

spilt tea

dark alley help part 10

part 9: care

word count: 2.8k

》 ignored kink, cunnilingus, oral sex in office

- ✿ -

You sat on the desk in your office cabin while Cindy watched you hold the pile of documents. Your eyes scanned over the lengths of the legal sized papers that contained detailed information on the clients and their wishful properties. Flipping through them and resting the reviewed next to you, your heart froze when coming across the name of one particular client.

Facing the paper her way, you asked, "Him? He's our client?"

Cindy squinted her eyes to read the inked name and nodded. "Yes, it's your fiancé. He's been our loyal client for a long time."

You groaned at the unofficial title. "He's not my fiancé. Never was." That made sense as to how your mother found him and why she really liked him. "Doesn't he have a gazillion properties? Why does he need more?"

"He mentioned that this one was for... a reunion, I believe. It's a new property under construction and will be underway for closing soon."

Your head pounded painfully and your fingers went up to relieve it in circles. Raymond was purchasing a property just for a reunion instead of holding the event at one of his currently owned hotels. That guy was just flexing his money through property ownerships. "Whatever," you mumbled and took a quick glance at the company name that was responsible for the construction. Then, your eyes immediately fixed on where it was located.

It was the block where Taeyong mentioned that he was working at. You hadn't seen the structure yet, and now you were overjoyed to.

"Oh my God," you muttered and hopped off the table, your hand flying to your mouth in utter shock before your shoulders shook and a loud sinister laugh escaped from you.

Cindy watched you in concern as you jumped gleefully in your spot. "Um, Y/N, are you okay?"

While you weren't hundred percent positive for what his reaction was going to be, you couldn't wait to rub it in Raymond's face that he had purchased something where Taeyong had contributed to building. You waved Cindy off with an ecstatic smile. "Yeah, don't worry. I was just thinking about something."

She stared at you for a moment longer before letting it go.

Shortly, a knock on the door was heard, followed by a head popping in. "Can I come in? I have your tea," Chris smiled, shaking an acrylic tumbler with iced tea. "This should help with your headache and slight nausea."

"Thanks a lot. Of course, come in," you waved him in.

He nodded and strode over to you. You retrieved the drink and took a long sip of the tea, humming happily. "Perfect."

"Hope it helps. Also, there's someone waiting for you outside."

"Really? Who?" Your lips connected with the straw and sucked in another long sip.

His brows furrowed as he tried to recall the name. "I think his name is... Taeyong?"

You spurted out your tea in surprise that he came to your workplace in the middle of the day and set the tumbler down on the desk. "It's Taeyong? Bring him in!"

Chris nodded and went to fetch for your man while Cindy eyed you curiously.

Chris stepped into the main area where Taeyong stood by the desks, more specifically by Shannon's desk who wordlessly stared at him. "Hey man, come on in!"

Taeyong straightened his back and cleared his throat, avoiding the gaze of the young woman drilling a hole in his head. Her gaze remained on his retreating figure with a slight frown creasing her forehead.

Your colleague reappeared with the man that you were looking forward to trailing behind. Taeyong smiled subtly as you jogged over to him with a bright smile.

"Baby," you chirped and wrapped your arms around him. He faintly chuckled and held you close, pecking your forehead. You turned around in his arms and found Cindy's jaw hanging low and Chris whistling in amusement. "He's Taeyong, my fiancé-to-be," you introduced him, mainly for Cindy. Taeyong was stunned by the unexpected title but happily accepted it, wanting nothing more than to be bonded with you in the utmost ways possible.

Chris quirked an intrigued brow. "Now that's some real tea right there. Have fun now," he said and with a salute, he walked out the cabin.

Cindy closed her mouth and reminded you of an important task. "Mr. Riley is expecting a call in..." She glanced at her watch. "... about a few minutes. Should I stay here to help you?"

You shook your head. "It's pretty straight forward so I'll be fine. Thanks though."

She nodded and headed to exit the cabin, closing the door behind her to give you privacy.

You pulled away from Taeyong and asked, "I love seeing you here, but how? Don't you have work?"

He pointed to the window in your office. As if on cue, the light droplets shifted to pouring rain outside. "It started onsite, so we had to stop working. Thought I'd come here and see how you're doing."

You hummed. "Good thinking. But I have work to do, so no funny business," you warned with narrowed eyes.

He exhaled out of his nose and nodded, seeming disinterested by your words as he shuffled his feet towards your desk and hopped on. His eyes landed on your tea and picked it up, taking a huge sip and frowned at the bitter taste before setting it back down. Taeyong then scanned his eyes around the cabin, making observations of how clean and polished the walls were with modern design.

You arched an eyebrow at him to which he didn't catch. Was he really going to sit there and not do anything? Good for you. You strolled over to pick up your client's portfolio and cell phone from the desk. "I have an important call to make. Do not make a sound, and no distractions. Understood?"

Taeyong merely shrugged in response, and you began dialing your client's number. While you waited for the call to be answered, you glanced at Taeyong and noticed that he wasn't doing anything except for swinging his leg.

"Hello, this is Riley speaking."

Startled, you fumbled with your greeting. "Oh hi! Good afternoon, Mr. Riley. I'm Y/N L/N and am calling on behalf of my father regarding your interested properties. I'll be taking his place so it will be a pleasure to work with you," you spoke with politeness.

Taeyong huffed and mumbled, "Only I give you pleasure." You smacked his arm.

"I'm sorry? I didn't hear the last part well."

Your eyes widened. "Nothing!" You gave Taeyong a glare and moved away from him, balancing the folder on one hand. "So, I see your investments and interests..."

Taeyong watched you as the call droned on, getting immensely bored without your attention on him, and so he decided to make himself comfortable.

You took a sneak peak to see what Taeyong was up to and did a double take. "I'm sorry but could you please hold on for a moment, sir?" Pressing the mute button, you gritted your teeth. "Taeyong, why are you unbuttoning your shirt?"

He kept moving his fingers downward, undoing the buttons slowly and pushed the flaps to the side for his handsome torso to be on full display. "I'm feeling hot," he said with his voice laced in pure boredom.

You gave him a pointed look. The air conditioner was blasting in your cabin, therefore having no reason for him to feel uncomfortable. You ignored him, turning your back on him and resumed your call, but now you were partly distracted by replaying his beautiful skin in your head.

Taeyong sighed when seeing you ignore him again and hopped off. He rounded the desk and plopped down into the massive leather chair, putting his feet up on the table and rummaged through the drawers to look for anything that could entertain him.

Your ears picked up on the soft sounds of drawers sliding open and shut. There was a brief moment of silence followed by a container lid clicking open. The faint chewing sounds made you turn around and your heartbeat stilled before kicking into full racing mode. You were paying almost zero attention to your client as you watched Taeyong bite into a cherry, the juice spilling out of its flesh and past his lips, traveling down his chin. He made no efforts to wipe it off as he finished the fruit off, spitting out the seed and discarding the stem onto the lid. Picking up another one, he repeated the action, making more of the sweet red juice coat his chin.

You wanted nothing more than to lick his skin clean, and then straddle yourself on his lap to have a heated make out session with him. But you held yourself back and blinked a few times, shaking your head and focused on the reason why you were doing all of this.

When the cherries were all done, Taeyong huffed out in frustration from having nothing else to do, your phone call seeming to run way longer than anticipated.

Just then, his lips curled into a smirk as an idea hit him.

He stalked over to you with a mischievous glint in his eyes and you didn't notice his approaching presence from behind until he swiftly bent down to grab your waist from the front and hoisted you over his shoulder, holding you effortlessly by your legs. Your hand lost balance of the folder and it crashed to the floor, and your eyes bulged out as he carried you over to the desk.

He put you down on the table and shoved everything aside with his arm, not giving a glance as to what was being knocked over. Taeyong positioned you until you were laid flat on the sturdy desk and crawled on top of you, bringing his gaze to meet yours. With your mouth agape, you stared at his dark eyes as you were no longer processing a single word that your client spoke.

"Ignore me," he mouthed without a single sound and then he began.

He unbuttoned your shirt enough to expose your bra. Your heart crashed in your chest, fearing for what he had in mind when being in the office with a client on the phone and the door to your cabin left unlocked. But you were thrilled to see what Taeyong was going to do while you 'ignored' him.

His tongue poke out to coat saliva over his cherry-dried lips and dipped his head in between the valley of your breasts, sucking on the skin there with his soft lips sending excitement down to your core as you began producing your own sweet juice. Your hand came up to cover your mouth, stopping your sighs from reaching the speaker. You could have muted your voice and took full advantage of the situation, but this was 'ignore Taeyong' game and you were going through with it to see its end.

"Miss Y/N, are you still there?" Your client's voice snapped you back to your main responsibility.

"Oh sorry. Yes, I am." And with that, he resumed talking.

Taeyong pulled back and observed the faint colour of the fruit transferred onto your skin, and you nearly sighed aloud when he took long strides of his hot wet tongue to lick it clean, your grip on the phone tightening. When done, he pulled back with a smirk, and your eyes blew up when one of the most insane things happened next. Taeyong leveled his face with the zipper of your pants and grasped onto the small sliding piece with his teeth, pulling it down undone with such ease that you thought was not possible with the difficult task.

His hands yanked your pants down along with panties to midway. To prevent the hassle of taking your shoes and pants off completely, he crossed your legs, keeping enough space to dive his head into the opening from underneath. His hands firmly held your legs in place to stop you from squeezing around his head. His face leveled with your glistened core till you felt his hot breath fanning over it. Taeyong was amused to see you turned on and took a deep breath in with his nose touching your sweet flesh. "Smells nice, doll," he whispered ever so softly that you wouldn't have heard it if you weren't completely focused on him. Your legs quivered around his head as you spilled more juice out.

At last, his tongue strode over the length of your heat and your jaw hung open without a single sound parting from your lips. He repeated the action and after dipped his wet muscle in between your slick folds. You used every muscle in you to keep your hips grounded to the smooth surface of the table while your free hand clenched into a tight fist beside you. It would have been at his head gripping his hair, but you weren't sure if that counted as ignoring him.

Your walls hugged him as he began rolling his tongue. A small hum was felt against your flesh, causing your belly to tighten and spill more of your delicious juice onto his tongue. He hungrily lapped up every drop, his moist muscle flicking against your clit that resulted you to slip a mixture of moan and whine past your deep breathings.

"Is everything all right?"

Your blood ran cold when you had momentarily forgotten all about the phone call. Your ears had completely droned out your client's voice to focus on the squelching sounds that your man made in your cunt. Your brain quickly tried to come up with a sound excuse. "Oh um, I spilled something on my desk. I'm sorry about that. Please continue."

Taeyong snickered, sending sinful vibrations throughout your body and further tightened your belly for the incoming orgasm. Unfortunately, another desperate whine escaped from your mouth. Mr. Riley was silent for a moment before speaking up. "I do have another matter to attend. We can end our discussion here for now. I look forward to working with you, Y/N."

Finally! "I see. I will too. Have a great day-" and you quickly ended the call before a pathetic moan could travel through the speaker as Taeyong began having a make out session with your cunt, sucking your throbbing clit in between his lips. Chucking your phone aside, your hands lightly played with the wisps of his dark hair. "Oh Tae," you choked out a quiet sob. Your legs ached and trembled the longer it was forcefully kept open.

"Look at me, doll," he whispered.

You looked down at the sinful view of his head in between your legs. His gaze heavily burned into yours and gave a few harsh sucks, resulting in the final snap of the coil in your stomach. Your vision blurred as your back arched off the surface to generously cum into his mouth. He hummed as he sucked up every drop of your essence, still lapping over your heat even after it was over, and the sensitivity caused you to push his head away. "No more," you weakly whispered.

He kissed your cunt two times before completely pulling his head out, helping you put your pants back on. "You taste so good, doll," he drawled seductively he licked his lips clean.

You smacked his chest, feigning anger as you buttoned up your top. "We would have lost one of our biggest clients if he figured out what I was up to."

"But he didn't. You did a good job ignoring me... for the most part anyways," he snickered.

A series of knocks was heard and the door flew open, revealing an unsuspecting Cindy. Her eyes went on a tour as it scanned over the dropped portfolio on the floor, your shocked eyes on her, Taeyong's disheveled state and open shirt, and the mess on the desk.

She huffed out at the sight of drenched documents. "If you were going to have fun, couldn't you have done it without getting anything spilt on the documents?"

Your brows scrunched, confused with what she meant until you spotted the acrylic tumbler tipped onto its side with the tea no longer in its container as the papers soaked the liquid up. "Oh shit," you muttered and shot a look at Taeyong who simply shrugged and feigned innocence as if not his fault.

Cindy sighed. "We'll just have to prepare all those again."

"I'll prepare them myself. It's my fault anyway."

She shook her head. "It's fine. I'll help too. You owe me a drink for overtime," she cracked a smile and winked.

You breathed out in relief that she wasn't too mad at you. "Of course."

Taeyong turned to you with bright eyes. "I'll help too." Not only would he be able to spend more time with you, but also receive a free drink, your drink, while at it.

Your jaw slacked, aware of his underlying intention, and pushed him out the cabin with all your strength. "No! You're leaving, mister!"

tag list: @cosmiclatte28 @mel-yjh @johnnysuhisnotmyproblem @kttyongie @chantellsievert

[kekoma]

— semi as your boyfriend.

can’t imagine not crushing on this man. hope you enjoy.

many many thoughts with this man.

so many that it hurts in good way.

first of all, semi MOST LIKELY named one of his guitars after you.

and i’m not talking about some ordinary guitar that he may occasionally play or anything— nah, i’m talking about the most expensive one that’s gorgeous.

takes the utter most care of that guitar since he plays it often and no one is allowed to touch it.

def learns the songs you like and covers them because this man has bomb ass vocals. i said what i said and won’t take it back.

or he just plays the melody, asking that you sing instead (if you’re up to it)

when semi isn’t covering/playing songs for you then he’s writing them about you.

you’re his sole inspiration for most of the songs he ends up creating and you’re also the first one to hear it before anyone else too.

also something to point out— he creates most of those songs during the night when you’re around.

semi knows most late nights can pull out the strangest topics but it can also open you and him up at the same time when it comes to emotions.

so he’ll be staring at you from his computer chair with his guitar resting on his lap, listening precisely to every word that slip pass your lips as you laid on his bed; rambling about your emotions and how you’re thankful that the universe has put you two in the same timeline.

suddenly he starts strumming a soft tune that makes you feel like you’re floating and turning those words you said not too long ago into something lyrical, something that you two will understand but those that hear it would need to decipher (because there’s no way he’s making it easy for outsiders to understand)

AND if you know a few things about music, can sing well from taking lessons/taking a chorus class in school and/or play an instrument then semi is going AWOOGA 😍 

def can see him wanting to collab with you or asking if you could be his hidden vocals/use your voice in general (meaning he would ask you to record a fake voicemail or say his name a certain way so he can put it in the song)

although if you aren’t comfortable with that concept then he understands and won’t push you to do anything.

whew let me move on because i could literally go on and on about this man being musically talented.

anyways, semi def creates a bunch of playlist for you. 

each one having a description for why it was made and the feeling he wants to give off with it.

something i feel like he may also do is send over songs he currently listens to and says you should listen to it too so you both feel more connected.

BUT really stepping aside from music.

he’s extremely caring and respectful towards you.

truly studies you, making mental notes about everything and makes sure he avoids cause any discomfort.

when it comes to caring— semi semi here might go out his way to show you through his actions if he feels his words and physical touches may not be enough.

i’ll say he’s a bit clingy— dude loves being around you no matter what.

for sure invites you to his volleyball practices and games.

you’re his lucky charm and he enjoys the thought of knowing you’re supportive of him when it comes to volleyball.

also he’s supportive of anything you do as well, even shows up to your events too (but if it clashes with a volleyball then he won’t be able to go obviously but he makes it up by ordering food in and asking you to tell him all the details about what happened)

now i briefly brought pda earlier and its about that time to talk about it... does eita like it?

yeah he does but it’s not very common in public.

the best you’ll get from him is holding hands, small pecks on the lips/cheeks and ONCE in a blue moon will he wrap his arms around you from behind.

there’s no real reason for why he’s like that but hopefully you’re understanding.

now in private; he does a bit more pda. kisses become a bit more frequent, won’t pass up the chance to hold you in his arms through cuddling or whatever.

side fact: semi definitely likes when you’re in between his legs, your back pressed against his chest and the guitar would be settled on your legs— basically teaching you how to play (if you ever asked him to)

“where do i place my fingers next?”

“right here... you’ll bring your pinky up a bit but keep these two fingers on the the second fret.” he’ll carefully move one of your fingers just to put them in the correct place.

“then you’ll strum. i’ll let you try it without my help this time.”

literally would smile when you do it, finding himself falling deeper in love with you than before.

semi adores that you’re willing to learn something he’s very passionate about it and appreciates you for even taking the time for it when you could do other things.

vvv soft and we stan that here.

moving on— lets talk about nicknames really quick.

drumroll please 🥁🥁🥁 

top nicknames: my melody/melody, love, angel and occasionally he’ll toss in lotus along with bambi. 

had to keep it cute and interesting <3 semi isn’t going for the basics.

something to mention, we’ve all seen the way he dresses in casual clothes... now you can either a) hype him up about his clothes to the point he’s no longer concerned about how tendou says he looks uncool or b) help the boy out with his style just a bit. all up to you cutie.

heh now let me discuss dates right because whew~ dates with this cutie? hits deliciously.

of course most of the dates are music related so tickets to a concert is on there, going to certain places (such as a park with others and a little picnic set up) to see free performances from new/upcoming artists and etc.

“that last set was actually good, don’t you think so melody?”

“yeah~ i liked the emotions the singer had in her voice. it really connected with me but what do you think?”

“same thing as you. however, did you notice how they had a shift in the cords that created the perfect harmonic? and it wasn’t completely soft too.”

“now that i think about it, my ears didn’t catch on the first time but yeah. oh look! the next act is going up~!”

but when he isn’t dragging you out for that then he mainly takes you out for a drive/walk around the city, cafes, those karaoke places that also serves food, shopping and stay-at-home dates which he tries his best to make them fun (there’s probably more but im just naming a few here)

dates are normally chilled with him and always fun so we loving it.

bonus: semi FOR SURE has you as his lockscreen. no doubt about it.

he loves waking up to your picture in the morning or even checking the time because he gets to see how adorable his love is.

also on his sns (instagram mainly)— he has a highlight called ‘me and my melody 🎶🤍’ which is filled with a bunch of pictures of you two together.

the pictures are so cute that they end up on Pinterest and everyone starts  spamming your dms with “so 👀 does your boyfriend have any siblings?”, “can you drop a tutorial on how to get a fine boyfriend like yours?”, “ayo 😳 think i can have him on the weekends and you get him for the weekdays?” and much more crazier things we won’t mention here.

another bonus: probably sings you to sleep if you’re having trouble sleeping. don’t try fighting me on this because i won’t allow it.

ANYWAYS, to conclude this before i have complete semi brainrot— dating this man is a 10/10 and it’s worth it.

we love semi eita over here <333

© all content belongs to kekoma 2020. do not repost, modify or translate.

[serendipityjxmn]

Mr. President

Chapter 22

TW: None

Words Count: 2.4k

Link to Masterlist

Link to Chapter 23

The doctor lets you come home that Saturday. You notice your husband is home all the time and some days Taehyung or Hoseok or even Jungkook would drop by to send him some files. You tell him you’d be fine on your own but he just brushes you off. He doesn’t shut himself off in his study too, instead he does his work on the study table in the master bedroom near you.

It still feels weird that your husband has completely changed in the time span that you’re in the hospital. He really sticks to his word and tries a lot for you. He’s not being mean to you, he doesn’t snap at you all the time except perhaps when you’re trying to do houseworks because you’re starting to get bored now.

He tries to make it up by bringing in all sorts of art set, empty canvases or easels for you to paint, that the bedroom is starting to look like an art studio. But it’s all done under his immense scrutiny, in case you ‘use too much of your shoulder’ as he says.

You’re still a little afraid of him, not yet coming completely into terms with the mafia side of his, body instinctively jerking away when he’s doing something remotely triggering your sense of alarm. You feel guilty because he never says anything about it, like saying you’re overreacting. He simply understands the trauma he causes so he puts a lot of effort to make sure he doesn’t do more than what you can handle, doesn’t do things that make you jump or touch you in any ways more than necessary.

Sometimes he’d go out briefly to attend necessary business matters and comes home with bouquets of flowers, jewelleries or any sorts of gifts.

And then even though he’s bad at it, he tries to cook for you and little by little you try to embrace him wholly, just by seeing how much he tries to make up for his ‘dark side’. And you adore him for putting so much effort.

He also starts to bring you along when he has his regular sparring sessions while practicing self-defence and martial arts just so you could learn how to defend yourself- what with being the wife of a mafia leader and all. Although of course, you can’t do anything yet so you just sit through the whole two hour watching a bunch of half naked men throwing punches at each other.

As you sit through the sparring session between your husband and Taeseok one day, you can’t help but wonder if your husband has a hidden grudge against him from the way he throws his punches. Once they’re done, you approach Taeseok first without thinking, asking if he’s okay. He seems flustered at first and quickly mutters, “I’m fine, Mrs. Park,” before dismissing himself.

You follow your husband as he heads to the locker room to change.

“Do you really have to hit him that hard? It’s just a sparring session,” you say.

He suddenly stops in his tracks, making you almost bump into his back and then swiftly turns around, narrowing his eyes at you. “Mrs. Park. Are you seriously worrying about another man right now?”

Before you could process it, he pushes you against the locker but in a very careful way, holding your waist instead of your shoulders and a gasp escapes your lips. “Hmm.. how do I punish you for that?”

For a moment, you think he’s going to kiss your lips but then he dips down to your neck and lightly bit it, and your heartbeat rate went from 60 to 150 per minute real quick. You glare at him when he pulls back only to see him smirking at you before he turns on his heel towards the shower.

For the first time ever, you curse your husband.

“I’m gonna have to return to the office soon.” Jimin says while you both are having dinner at home.

You nod. You know it’s inevitable and he would have to return to the company soon. It’s just a matter of time.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay at home?” He asks and you roll your eyes.

“I have three helpers and six bodyguards now, what exactly can happen to me?” You shake your head with a smile. Since your return home, he’d increased the amount of staffs and bodyguards assigned to you.

He reaches for your hand and smiles apologetically. “It’s for your own safety.”

You nod at him. “I know.”

It’s silent after that until he puts down his cutleries. “I’ve been thinking.. perhaps it’s time for me to step down from being the mafia leader.. BTS.”

You swallow but doesn’t say anything.

“I just thought that.. if I want to have a proper marriage with you and start a real family.. well, it won’t help if the father’s constantly targeted by enemies.”

You take a deep breath. “I.. it’s up to you. I... I don’t really... know..”

He gives you a quick smile. “Of course I can’t just put my feet down and wash my hand completely but.. I’ll try to pull back and not step in unless it’s really needed.”

“What does.. you know, BTS do anyways?”

He smiles wickedly. “You wanna know?”

You suddenly think it’s a very bad idea. “I.. I don’t know.. Do you.. do you just- you know.. take people out for fun? Or..”

He chuckles. “No.. no we don’t do that. If it assures you, we don’t kill innocent people. We.. offer like a service, like a hired mercenary to take out people or do some work for the government when they don’t want their hands dirty but they’re all evil people. Those that we.. take out. And doing those kind of things inevitably give you enemies.. but we try not to engage in gang fights unless they start it first.”

You feel a shiver run down your spine. “O... kay..”

His lips quirk up at you. “And that’s it. The rest of the details.. let’s just say they’re unnecessary for you to know.” He stand up then and leans in to peck your forehead quickly. “I’ll be in the study.” He says. You stay in your seat for a moment longer, processing the details of your conversation with your husband. You appreciate that he’s being honest with you a lot more now and doesn’t keep things from you but you can’t help the goosebumps that start to form on your arms whenever he tells you things about the dark side.

It’s been about a week since Jimin has started working at the office again. You fork at your food, no longer having the appetite to finish it. Because you’re too nervous to say something to your husband. You keep glancing at him as he eats that one night, trying to gauge his mood and gathering your courage all at the same time.

Finally, you take a deep breath. “Can I go out with Jungkook tomorrow?”

He doesn’t answer immediately.

You want to go out with Jungkook. You and him had talked a lot about arts before. And this afternoon, he texted you about an art school he found that you’ve been searching for.

“What for?” He asks.

“What do you mean what for?”

He narrows his eyes. “Why do you want to go out with him?”

“I.. have something to.. buy?” You cock your head to one side.

“Isn’t Taeseok enough? You can take him or even Daniel with you. Are you even well enough to go out?”

“It’s been a month since I’ve been discharged..” you pout. “Please..?”

“I’ll come with you then.”

“No! I know you have an important meeting tomorrow. Besides, I’ll be fine with Jungkook.”

There’s a reason why you want Jungkook to come with you. And also because you want to buy your husband a gift. But you can’t tell him that.

He glares. “It’s dangerous to go out with a gang member. Jungkook’s a kid. I don’t trust him with you.”

You struggle not to roll your eyes. “Jimin, I’m literally the same age with him.”

“That makes two kids then.”

You sigh in exasperation. “Jimin please..”

He clenches his jaw. “Fine. If anything happens, I’m not gonna be there.” And with that, he storms out of the kitchen.

You feel like crying. You’ve been getting along so good with him lately and now you’ve ruined it. You have no idea why he’s being so irrelevant. If anything, Jungkook’s probably the best at hand combat, or second best to Jimim at least, you can’t compare due to their different combat style. But nevertheless, he’s highly skilled despite his young age.

You sigh.

“Hey Y/N?” Jungkook’s voice pulls you from your thoughts. “He’ll come around.”

You smile sadly.

“He’ll realize he’s being stupid so no worries okay?”

You smile at his words then nod. Alright, it’ll be very rude to Jungkook if you keep being out of it when you’re here with him.

“We’re here.” He says as the car pulls into the parking lot. You look out the window. It’s an art school for the special kids. You can’t believe he really found the place for it. You have to thank him or the BTS connections.

When you and Jungkook enters, you are both greeted by one of the school teacher. She brings you both for a tour around the place and you’ve never felt so fascinated with everything.

The reason why you’re searching for this kind of school is because you want to donate to the school. You received a huge sum of insurance money after being hospitalized which you’ve no idea when and how your husband registered for it.

You briefly mentioned about searching for the school to Jungkook because for some reason you feel like he can find anything. And he did.

You thought perhaps Jungkook may feel bored coming out with you. But he seems even more enthusiastic than you. You know he’s very much talented in arts because Jimin has one of his painting back at home and it’s super gorgeous. But you don’t know that he knows this much about arts. He also explains how the school operates from business perspective that leaves you in awe. He really is a businessman that does his research. You smile when you see him play with kids, he’s super kind with them. He bought art sets for a lot of the students which unfortunately was not enough for everyone so he promised he’ll send more for the rest of the kids. Jungkook’s a really nice kid, you think. You smile sheepishly thinking you didn’t bring anything for them.

When the tour with the art school is done, you drag Jungkook to do some shopping with you. For some reason, you feel like buying your husband a gift. Simply because he had been such a huge support ever since you were hospitalized. It’s the only way you could think of to repay him for all the amount of things he had made easier for you and the understanding he shows without having you to say a word.

It’s almost dark when you finally reach home that night. As soon as you step out of the car, you feel slightly disoriented and would’ve doubled over the ground if it wasn’t because of Taeseok, your bodyguard who was trailing from behind immediately holding you.

“Are you alright, Mrs. Park?”

You nod. “Just a little lightheaded.” You quickly dismiss it and enter the house.

Once you’ve finished showering, you set out to search for Jimin. He wasn’t in the bedroom. You head to his study. Still empty. You frown, wondering where he is. You set back downstairs and once again you almost lost balance completely, the stairs’ image doubling for a split second.

What’s with the sudden headache? You almost want to ask your head.

Head still spinning, you head towards the lounge room and from outside the room, you hear the muffled sound from the TV. When you enter, you see your husband in his pyjama pants and casual T-shirt. He’s watching TV, which is very rare, you think.

He briefly glances at you as you make your way towards him but makes no effort to say anything.

“Jimin..? Are you still mad at me?”

He doesn’t look up. You stand awkwardly beside him.

“I’m back in one piece.” You try to joke.

He glares at this. Oops, not funny it seems.

You hesitantly sit next to him. “Can I borrow your hand?” When he won’t look at you, you take his hand in yours. And suddenly his head snaps towards you when you’re about to reach for the gift behind you. You gasp when he clasped his fingers tighter. Then his other hand touches your forehead.

“Why are you so hot?” He asks.

“Am I?” You giggle. The question sounds a little funny.

He rolls his eyes then proceeds to touch your neck. “You’re having a fever.”

“Am I?”

He narrows his eyes at you, clearly not finding the situation funny. “I let you out with the kid for a day and you come home sick.”

“It’s not his fault..”

He narrows his eyes at you and you shut your mouth immediately. “Stay here. I’ll fetch the thermometer.” You reach for his hand immediately.

“Please sit down. I have something to give you.”

He frowns but does as he’s told.

Smiling, you reach for the gift. “I bought something for you today..” He stares as you open it and gently place it on his wrist. “It’s not that expensive like your other watches.. but um.. It’s a watch and a bracelet. With our name...”

He stares at the gift. Then he looks at you softly. “Thank you. I love it.” He leans forward very, very slowly and even though you can anticipate it, your heart is not ready. He plants a kiss on your forehead and you feel your own heart rate picking up. You think you’ll faint at any second. Your rapid heartbeat and a buzzing head, not a good combination.

“Are you still mad at me?” Your eyes almost flutter close.

He rolls his eyes. “I’m not mad, idiot. I’m just worried.” He puts a strand of hair behind your ear. “It’s very easy for you to be targeted if you’re out with the members.. I don’t want to put you through any of that ever again because of me..”

You shut your eyes. Because your husband’s soft voice is really like a lullaby. Also because you can’t hold it anymore. You fell into into his arms and he catches you easily.

He gently carries you in his arms to the bedroom. His heart full of adoration for you.

I’m bad at writing fluffs but I hope this is super sweet and smooth like butter to make you guys smile 🤣 also, thanks for the warm words in previous chapters 🥺 you guys are amazing!!!!!

Buy me a cup of coffee here! 💜

Link to Chapter 23

Posted on 210522 9:00PM

[crackinwise]

My pet AU is Kiyotaka and Mondo somehow out in the post-Tragedy Japan, surviving and saving people. Like either they didn't agree to stay locked in Hope's Peak for safety, or they survived the game and left with the others but didn't join Future Foundation. Major points up front, details divided into sections under the cut:

Mondo's objective would be to find his gang, and Taka's goal, besides finding his dad, would be repairing society while punishing those responsible for its destruction. But their direct task is keeping each other safe & helping victims along the way.

Mondo even stresses calling Taka "Ishimaru" instead of "bro" or his given name in front of others, so they might KNOW who's saving them. Taka caught on quick & is very grateful.

Taka would have kind of a breakdown reconciling who he is with what he has to do in a lawless world where every public moral is ignored. He keeps a small ledger of places they loot from, to compensate in the future.

At the start, Taka can only sleep burrowed against Mondo's chest or back, blocking out their damaged surroundings & pretending everything is as it was.

He cries in Mondo's arms one night after he couldn't avoid killing someone to save Mondo's life, and that's the tipping point. He thinks if he was better, stronger like his bro, he'd have noticed sooner & found a better option. Mondo is being so brave; he's Taka's rock and Taka wants to be as steady for him too. Their souls are already connected so obviously he just has to borrow more of Mondo's spirit, right?

That's how Ishida is created.

(In reality, Mondo just compartmentalizes and shoves down unhelpful feelings. You thought he needed therapy BEFORE all this, oh man-)

Ishida:

Taka ends up slipping into the Ishida facade for fight and flight; any time adrenaline kicks in and he feels he needs that boost. Sadly, that's most of their waking time. He guards Mondo and anyone they're saving like a fierce watchdog, and won't hesitate to bite.

He'll only come out of the role when he personally verifies it's safe and if Mondo can confirm it. Survivors are confused by the dual-sided Ishimaru switching right in front of them, but they're so grateful (and so much weird crap has happened) that it never phases them long.

Too many times, Ishida will go all day without a break. This means when their hideout for the night is absolutely safe, that it's okay to let go, Taka just collapses in exhaustion. But Mondo is there to catch him.

Mondo feels conflicted over the Ishida role because Taka is just a beast in it--it's very flattering and a little hot--but it also makes him worry more than before about Taka's health. He comforts Taka with a lot of praise and reassurances, and Taka sleeps lightly but otherwise fine.

Relationship: (slight mature warning)

When they touch, Taka swears he can feel the link between them flare to fuel them. Twin fires ignited. Mondo doesn't know about all that, but when their eyes meet it definitely makes him feel invincible, so, he can believe.

If they weren't already new boyfriends when The Tragedy hit, all this closeness makes sure of that soon after. Being together is their happiness and, for a while, their only link to pre-Tragedy lives. Vows not unlike marriage were exchanged one night. Where one goes, the other will follow. Anywhere. Always.

When they kiss, safe and alone, Mondo will ask what Taka wants; what he can handle that night. Sometimes it's just the kisses before passing out, sometimes it's more intimate touches to please them both after another hellish day.

Sometimes Taka will ask to be made love to, for obvious couple reasons, but also because Mondo inside him makes their tether feel stronger, more complete. Like going over the invisible line in bold marker. Taka believes any marks they can create with their mouths, any traces of themselves they can leave on or in each other, the easier they can find their bond and tap into it. (He had started a nervous habit of pressing in on lovebites to keep Ishida going when tired.)

Mondo tells him he doesn't need to find a poetic excuse for fetishes and Taka lovingly answers with a stomach punch.

Crazy Diamonds:

Mondo's gang members, the ones not dead or overcome with Despair, are slowly found and joined back up.

Any smaller and sturdier motorcycles are kept when found. If Mondo was able to keep his own in this version, it's a bit heavier than would be good for any off-roading--and much too loud for any stealth--but he refuses to part with it.

Every gang member respected Taka/Ishida the second they saw him fight beside their leader. Before Mondo says a word about him. They readily take orders from him in either form. The change in appearance was a surprise, but they're already used to some members wildly changing demeanor in or away from the gang, so it's easily accepted.

With the gang as backup to keep watch during downtime--after Ishida sized each one up and watched them for loyalty--the pair can feel a lot more relaxed. They joke about having a date in a blown-out restaurant they find, and they can finally enjoy a deep sleep.

When the group finds safehouses with more than one room, Mondo & Taka are given their privacy. Taka tries to insist everyone deserves a chance at privacy and they should rotate, but changing a gang's long-established hierarchy is a losing battle. And Mondo's not on his side because when they're alone he can be as sappy or touchy as he likes.

Legends:

Taka and Mondo save a lot of people over their journey and kinda become a legend that gets spread around and gives people Hope.

This area still needs work from me. Probably some research into Japanese myths and supernatural symbolism. A placeholder right now is something corny like "Two Men with burning eyes and thunderous voices will answer your cries for help. But if you're evil, the two will appear to you as One Demon and drag you down to the land of the dead."

There's also probably a need for costume changes since their color scheme is the same black & white of the Despair Remnants and monokumas killing people. Legend or not, it'd be easy for traumatized survivors to not know they're good guys at first.

Darker Moments: (blood, violence and vague attempted sexual assault)

After he killed a man to save Mondo, Taka luckily (he wouldn't use that word) doesn't have to again. Hurt? Yes. Beat unconscious? Yes. Maim? Yes, but some of the vile dregs of humanity are caught doing things that deserve worse--

--That deserve Mondo. Once when they were still traveling alone, a group of Remnants jumped them, managing to separate the two, and one knocked Taka out with a bad blow to the head. Mondo dispatched the others attacking him and got to Taka right as the Remnant was about to do something unforgivable.

Mondo snapped. He still doesn't remember what he did, he just remembers coming to in all the blood and dazedly picking Taka up to take him to a place he knew was safe.

Taka never finds out. He woke up a day later with a bandaged head and Mondo crying and kissing his hands. Mondo just told him he beat some and scared away the others.

Minor Details:

They try to always fight back-to-back and, to observers, seem to read each other's mind for where to move.

Taka/Ishida would use a sword or hand-to-hand. The pickaxe might just be a random pickaxe they find, if he uses it at all. Kinda hard to carry both a sword and a railroad pickaxe on your back, and I can't imagine it balances very well. (The size in official pics would be a 5lb head w/2-3lb handle.)

Mondo seems like he would use anything lying in debris to fight. Poles, pipes, chains. Aaaand maybe the knives he mentions in School Mode.

For any costume changes, Mondo would keep his jacket at least. A beacon for the Diamonds. Maybe a purple tank top, and different pants better for knife holsters. Unless the holster should wrap around his waist or hip instead?

Any changes to Taka's outfit would keep his armband. It's a reminder of his Talent and his goal to make Japan even better than before. Also wanna keep his boots or change to more rugged ones.

End Goal:

Obviously they'd end up in Towa, after the events of Ultra Despair Girls. They're reunited with Takaaki and Takemichi. Maybe they help set things right there a bit, or Makoto would get word to them about his plans vs Future Foundation's. Look at me, do I look like someone that knows how to end things?

There is no way you read all that. (I love you if you did.) But feel free to use all or any bits of it in your own works. Almost positive I'll never get to compose all this into a coherent fic format. I might update in short scenario posts under a 'Tragedy-survivor au' tag if I think of anything.

If you have a question or want something expanded upon, ask away.