#like lmao it’s not anyone else’s decision and also it’s really not a funny situation to me but okay.....

[realcube]

YOU GOT: DENKI KAMINARI

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ matchup for @saikoucorps

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ if you would like a matchup, read this!

'I love laughing and making people laugh as well. I usually cope with humor but I'm able to be serious if needed.'

𓆩♡𓆪 kami can be funny and spontaneous so he can defo make you laugh

𓆩♡𓆪 BUT he is gonna be so charmed by the fact he finally has someone to match his energy and that can make HIM laugh too

𓆩♡𓆪 that's something he never knew he needed in a partner until you are up in this room at like midnight and y'all have tears in your eyes from a joke you told, but you're trying not to laugh too loud otherwise you'll get in trouble since everyone else is trying to sleep

𓆩♡𓆪 but trying to suppress the laughter only makes it even more funny

𓆩♡𓆪 literally a core memory for denki and also the moment he fell hard for you

𓆩♡𓆪 so yeah he likes that you can make him laugh too

𓆩♡𓆪 y'all probably have a friends to lovers sorta romance

𓆩♡𓆪 anyway, he is the king of coping with humour and de-escalating situations with jokes lol

𓆩♡𓆪 so he's glad that you're the same way

𓆩♡𓆪 bc most people (aka bakugo) get really frustrated with him if he tries to make a joke in a tense moment

𓆩♡𓆪 but you just GET him so he's so relieved by that

𓆩♡𓆪 he can be serious too but for the most part he doesn't enjoy it and would rather stay light-hearted, which is why fights between you two are virtually non-existent and when they do happen, they only last a couple minutes before one of you tries to make light of it and move on

𓆩♡𓆪 like he just can't stay mad at you , even if you were to mow down his entire family, steal all his belongings and shred his brith certificate, he'd still be like 'baby i forgive you pls let's not fightttt 😩'

𓆩♡𓆪 (that's a bit of a hyperbole but you know what i mean lol)

𓆩♡𓆪 he can be serious too though, like if you want to have a sombre convo about something meaningful or important, he can defo sit down and listen

𓆩♡𓆪 can't promise he'll give the most expert advice, but he definitely tries

𓆩♡𓆪 you mention having a strong sense of justice too which is good bc .. kami is literally hero / hero in training lmao

𓆩♡𓆪 fighting bad guys and saving lives on the daily, what's more justice than that???

𓆩♡𓆪 he can still make some questionable decisions sometimes but i'm sure having s/o will put him on the straight and narrow

𓆩♡𓆪 additionally, you mention being very loyal and ik he kinda shown to be a simp who will fawn for basically anybody that will give him a lick of attention

𓆩♡𓆪 BUT i so hc that as soon as he gets a s/o he will lock in and not even THINK about other ppl romantically anymore

𓆩♡𓆪 just you , 24/7 , 365

𓆩♡𓆪 bc he thinks what he has with you is just so perfect and it's everything he's been trying to get to he's not gonna let ANYONE ruin it

𓆩♡𓆪 so like even if someone tries to confess ot him by putting a note in his locker, that piece of paper will be incinerated expeditiously

𓆩♡𓆪 he no longer gaf about anybody but you 🤷‍♂️ (in a romantic way)

𓆩♡𓆪 even when he is sent on a mission where he needs to save someone super famous or very attractive , he'll return to you like 'they made me do it 😥'

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

'I also love playing games with other people, my favorite game is yandere simulator.'

𓆩♡𓆪 your love of video games is a big reason i chose kami for you bc he is defo an enthusiast too

𓆩♡𓆪 he'll be down to play all sorts of games with you

𓆩♡𓆪 i can imagine his favourite games are probably gta or rdr where there is kinda a story but for the most part you get to run around and cause chaos and terror

𓆩♡𓆪 (which is ironic since he is a pro-hero and all but shhhh haha)

𓆩♡𓆪 so if you would be down to play those games together with him and rob banks and burn down strip clubs togehter (#couple bonding activities) then he would so love that

𓆩♡𓆪 and seeing you run over your first pedestrian would be another core memory and falling moment for him LMAO

𓆩♡𓆪 the way he looks at you afterwards 🥺

𓆩♡𓆪 but he would also be down to play whatever you want as well

𓆩♡𓆪 OMG so he probably hasn't heard of yan sim before BUT (iirc) it's kinda just like GTA LMAO

𓆩♡𓆪 hear me outttt plsss

𓆩♡𓆪 like in a sense that they both have a main plot that you are supposed to follow but you don't have to follow it if you don't want to , and instead you can treat it like a sandbox world where you get to run around and cause trouble and kill a bunch of ppl

𓆩♡𓆪 so when you introduce it to him, he is forever in your debt LOL and it starts a short term obsession

𓆩♡𓆪 but as i just said , he will NOT be playing the game the way the dev intended , he has no interest in winning senpai or whatever, he just wants to instill fear into the npc and run a gang and drag ppl into pools by their ponytails lol

𓆩♡𓆪 which i realise as i'm writing this, is technically the point of the game

𓆩♡𓆪 but the difference is that denki won't focus on killing the 'main enemies' , and instead will do whatever he wants. if the game allowed him to, he'd probably torture senpai too

𓆩♡𓆪 so yeah he plays it like a maniac and would love to take turns playing with you (bc iirc it's a single player??)

𓆩♡𓆪 if you want to play the game the proper way and try to win, he would definitely try that too

𓆩♡𓆪 in fact , he is actually quite helpful and lowkey strategic with his plans and ways to off people (it makes you relieved that he chose heroism, bc if he chose to be a villain....... society would be screwed...)

𓆩♡𓆪 when you are good at it too, he is soo impressed by that and he loves watching you play bc of it

𓆩♡𓆪 although while you're playing, he would definitely make sarcastic jokes about being jealous of senpai bc you're doing all this for him and not for denki lol

𓆩♡𓆪 'what does he have that i don't, zero ??? 😢' (fake tears)

𓆩♡𓆪 oh but if you make the same jokes back at him when it's his turn to play, outwardly he would roll his eyes but inwardly he is kickin his feet and blushing at how you match his energy

𓆩♡𓆪 and besides yan sim, there are plenty of other games he'd love to play with you too , probably mc or fps if you are into those

𓆩♡𓆪 but also he'd just play whatever you wanna , even if they are single player and y'all have to take turns

𓆩♡𓆪 he's so the type to say 'one more round before we head off' or 'we'll end on a win!' but then you end up playing tonnssss more rounds until you've been up all night and the sun is coming out

𓆩♡𓆪 but then, that just means y'all can sleep through the day 😋

𓆩♡𓆪 OR if you fall asleep while playing kami would think that is SO cute

𓆩♡𓆪 he would not know what to do in that situation though

𓆩♡𓆪 like whether to wake you up so you can move yourself to the bed or if it's okay for him to pick you up and move you himself

𓆩♡𓆪 in the end he probably ends up trying to pick you up but falls backwards and you land on top of him

𓆩♡𓆪 and you end up waking up anyway lol

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

'My ideal first date is probably a theme park that we basically spend the whole day at!'

𓆩♡𓆪 denki would so love this !!

𓆩♡𓆪 he would probably even be the one to suggest something like this then get so hype when you are like 'that's my dream date!!'

𓆩♡𓆪 he'd think you are literally his soulmate in that moment tbh

𓆩♡𓆪 denki sparkle eyes 🤩

𓆩♡𓆪 he's also the type to go on all the rides with you

𓆩♡𓆪 i can think of quite a few UA characters that, despite being really brave, would NOT be down for rollercoasters. or at least, have a very short tolerance for them and be the type to go on one or two then claim their 'done'. (*cough* midoriya *cough* todoroki *cough*)

𓆩♡𓆪 anywaayyy denki is so not that kinda guy and could go on rollercoasters all day

𓆩♡𓆪 obviously he is a bit dizzy after each one but firstly he knows how to cope with that from his quirk, secondly, having to wait ~30 minutes in line between each ride gives him time to recover anyway

𓆩♡𓆪 omg he is so the type to let you hold onto his shirt or hold hands while waiting in line for the rollercoaster

𓆩♡𓆪 like maybe not full on cuddling but he does let you idly play with his hands

𓆩♡𓆪 OMG and it just occured to me that when he thinks you are looking extra cute he might accidentally zap you while holding your hand bc he's so flustered he starts to overcharge/ lose control of his power a bit

𓆩♡𓆪 nothing crazy like not a power electrical shock but just a tiny little zap

𓆩♡𓆪 but he would still apologise profusely for it

𓆩♡𓆪 only when he does it by accident , when he playfully zaps you on purpose, all you get is him snickering and teasing you

𓆩♡𓆪 he would also love to try all the carnival food with you

𓆩♡𓆪 you mentioned you like to try new foods and i think denki would so want to as well

𓆩♡𓆪 and the amusement park is great for that bc in my experience they always have the most cursed food haha

𓆩♡𓆪 deep fried EVERYTHING

𓆩♡𓆪 deep fried oreo??? deep fried pickles??? deep fried hawks ???

𓆩♡𓆪 and he'd love to try it all with you (bar that last one) and gush about how awesome or awful it tastes

𓆩♡𓆪 giving each other bites of your food?? getting platters to share?? that's a love language in and of itself

𓆩♡𓆪 omg and he'd find it so funny if you were to record / take pics of his dramatic reactions to bad-tasting food and he'd do the same for you

𓆩♡𓆪 and i can't imagine him being a fan of spicy food on his own but he LOVES a challenge

𓆩♡𓆪 so if there are one of spice challenges, where they give you something like fries or nachoes and they put this extra spicy sauce on it and they're like 'if you can eat the whole portion you get a prize'

𓆩♡𓆪 he would sign you both up at the speed of light bc he wants to win and he knows you like spice

𓆩♡𓆪 but your spice tolerance is probably wayyy better than his so he is like stuffing his face, convinced he can do it but then like five bites in he turns bright red and starts breathing fire and screaming for help

𓆩♡𓆪 'ALL MIGHT !!! ALL MIGHT SAVE ME!'

𓆩♡𓆪 but the only pro hero nearby is endeavor and he just makes it worse

𓆩♡𓆪 don't ask what endeavor is doing at the amusement park.. probs there for the deep fried hawks icl

𓆩♡𓆪 meanwhile you are just watching him while laughing your ass off and still eating the fries, completely unfazed yet

𓆩♡𓆪 and if you win he is so going to (jokingly) take partial credit like 'omg we did it babe 😤 !!!' when in reality he had five bites lol

𓆩♡𓆪 but really in your heart you know he's proud of you

𓆩♡𓆪 he will also try to win you those big stuffies but i can't imagine his quirk would be helpful for that .. like at all??

𓆩♡𓆪 like for the carnival games there are like.. knock the milk bottles over with a ball.. throw the bean bag into the hole

𓆩♡𓆪 the only one where i can imagine his quirk would be helpful for is hook-a-duck bc he could charge the water to flip over the ducks

𓆩♡𓆪 OR using his quirk to charge a dart in balloon darts but again, the attendant would see the sparks flying and know he used it

𓆩♡𓆪 so he is just going to have to get you a plushie the old-fashioned way 😤 with perseverance and commitment

𓆩♡𓆪 and he does not rest until you walk out of that theme park with a big massive plushie over your shoulders!!!!!

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

for @saikoucorps: i thought izuku maybe but your interests match denki a bit more , imo

[keepyourpantsongohan]

Ayesha Liveblogs Jujutsu Kaisen S2

Based on people's foreboding comments I have rarely been so certain a show was about to hurt my feelings. But here we are, ready to be hurt again LMAO

"No one else understands what cursed spirits taste like." Do you think Geto is obsessed with converting Yuji because he's the only other person in the world who eats curses

I wasn't expecting the Utahime and Mei flashback but I do enjoy it

"I don't need that, but you do, right?" Is the implication here that Mei's technique give her impeccable night vision. What is with all these Jujutsu Eyes

Are we going to see ALL the teachers' generation as kids? I have never been listening more in my life. TELL ME MORE:

However, the fact the subtitle of this arc is "Premature Death" probably doesn't bode well for my feelings

"Satoru, it's not nice to pick on the weak." "What kind of idiot picks on the strong?" A terrible but fair point, Gojo

I didn't really recognize Ieiri in the intro so I'm really, really glad to hear that the Female Teammate of Gojo and Geto is not Super Dead LMAO

"Jujutsu exists to protect non-jujutsu sorcerers." I know they're just playing basketball but I am giggling and kicking my feet. I loooove a backstory. Also: Geto you certainly had quite a turn, didn't you?

"You should be more polite and humble," said Geto to Gojo, in a lesson that the latter would never learn, ever, in his life

Given that someone has to die, I'm placing my bets on Star-Vessel-Gal-That-I-Bet-You-$5-Someone's-Going-To-Fall-in-Love-With

"I'm not a Zen'in anymore. I took my wife's name. It's Fushiguro now." YOU MEAN THAT GUY PEOPLE KEEP LUSTING AFTER IS MEGUMI'S DAD????? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA. OH NOOOOOOOO. THAT'S SO FUNNY FOR MEGUMI, HAVING AN EVIL, FUCKABLE DAD

"How's Megumi doing?" "Who's that?" ISN'T HE A TODDLER RN? What a terrible father kjnhgghg. We knew, but wow

"Tengen-sama is me, and I am Tengen-sama." I love that Tengen, Mysterious Keeper of Jujutsu Barriers, is in his mini-skirt era

"I wish I could share my senses with [cursed spirits] like Mei-san does." Well, that explains her impeccable night vision. I sort of forgot that she's also a human surveillance camera

Ahhhh so I guess Riko's like 13 to their 16? Maybe they won't fall in love after all

"Riko, you have a boyfriend?" HAHAHAHA this is the school drama shenanigans I was hoping for

"I failed!" There something endearing about Gojo learning how to control his techniques

HAHAHAHA they're not going to explain the cutaway to the beach????? Hello???????

"I still don't have much recollection of being attacked." Ah, so it was to resolve the kidnapping situation for Kuroi with immediate success

OH MY GOD, I DIDN'T RECOGNIZE NANAMI EITHER. LOOK AT HIIMMMMMMMMM. I did not peg him as a long-hair boy:

Also also also. Just based on his place in the OP, I like Nanami's little friend. I do think he must be Super Dead though

"You haven't released your technique since yesterday, have you? You haven't slept either. And you don't plan to sleep tonight, do you? Are you sure we don't need to go back to Jujutsu High?" This arc is I think what is going to make me love Gojo. I like him well enough, but there's a sincerity here that's getting me. Gojo who tries and fails at new techniques and runs himself ragged to give a dying girl her beach day

"Have we met before?" said Gojo, like Megumi's evil DILF father did not have a sword through his chest

"Never before or after that, had anyone noticed me standing behind them." Hey quick question. What the fuck does that mean?

Ohhhh, Maki and Megumi's Dad have the same No Cursed Energy Condition. It's like a reverse Kekkei Genkai

HOW DID BEING SLASHED THROUGH HIS WHOLE TORSO FROM THE NECK ON NOT KILL GOJO DEAD?

"No matter what decision you make, we will guarantee your future." Geto and Gojo deciding before even meeting her they'll fight Curse Wizard God to give Riko her autonomy!!!! That's the Jujutsu High spirit I know 😭😭😭😭😭😭

Update from two minutes later: Rest in pieces, Riko-chan

Geto said: You have actually activated my trauma response, which is unrestrained manslaughter

Ggjkglgjlgkjg Megumi's Dad said: Looks like you brought curses to a gun fight!

Not to poke holes in this monologue, but doesn't changing the size of a cursed spirit require cursed energy?? I feel like this is such a loosey-goosey structure for what is and isn't cursed energy

"I've already decided I'll only see you either for work or in Hell." I want this to be my email signature

Megumi 🤝 His Dad: Accusing your opponent of being high when they act weird

"One, the power to stop: The neutral application of the Limitless technique. Two, the power to attract: the amplified application of the Limitless technique, Blue. And three, the power to repel: the reversal of his cursed technique, Red." Thank you for laying it all out Mr. Megumi's Dad because I would've taken a long time to get there myself. Also does this mean Gojo is like a giant magnet

"Two or three years from now, my kid will be sold off to the Zen'in clan. Do what you will with that." RIP Megumi's Hot, Evil Dad, who I guess didn't sell him? Or pre-sold him? That part's unclear. Also I can't believe Gojo killed Megumi's Dad and then adopted him. And then DIDN'T TELL HIM HE WAS DEAD. GOJO, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?

(Assuming this actually killed him, that is. He is missing like, a third of his body. Seems pretty fatal.)

Also, after all that, I have finally learned from the episode description his name is (was?) Toji. If they said it, I missed it!

"Does there really need to be any point to [killing people]?" "It's very important that there is. Especially for a jujutsu sorcerer." Geto being the constant voice of reason implies something incredibly drastic must happen to him

Also: I guess GOJO's trauma response is unrestrained manslaughter

"Are you Geto-kun? What kind of woman is your type?" You mean to tell me that the lady who turned Todo into whatever he is has been menacing people for generations??? LMAO

"Rather than hunt down cursed spirits, I want to create a world where cursed spirits aren't born." Tsukumo coming in with some hot takes on Jujutsu Society it seems

"If all of mankind were jujutsu sorcerers, curses wouldn't be born." Is Geto in the present trying to, force all of society to become jujutsu sorcerers by making a curse-dominant society, thereby eventually making everyone equipped to deal with cursed energy, and eventually starving the curses out? What a weird, terrible, backwards plan. Incredible. Tell me more!!!

"Just keep culling non-sorcerers and force them to adapt into sorcerers as a survival strategy." Why do all anime roads lead to metaphors for geno-[LOUD FOGHORN NOISE]

"But unfortunately, I'm not crazy enough to do that." Geto said: No problem, I am!!!!

I was correct, Nanami's Nice Friend Haibara is in fact Super Dead

It is funny that they make out Geto's descent into madness and [GUNSHOT NOISE] being triggered by people being violent towards the youth, considering he spent the whole first season plotting ways to torture teenagers

"So, you're just going to kill everyone who's not a sorcerer? Even your parents?!" "I can't allow my parents to be a special exception." Alright, Anti-Establishment Itachi, chill out

Ahhhhhhh, poor Gojo, unable to kill or reason with his friend:

Geto said: I will raise you adopting Megumi and ADOPT TWO TRAUMATIZED CHILDREN, GOJO. BEAT THAT!

"About this dad of yours. I ki--" "I don't care." OH MY GOD MEGUMI. ALSO. GOJO. HE'S FIVE, YOU COULD'VE TRIED A LITTLE HARDER TO TELL HIM

"If I go [to the Zen'in clan] will Tsumiki be able to find happiness? It all depends on that." MEGUMI HAS BEEN SELFLESS HIS WHOLE LIFE

I do love the very normal but realistic dialogue of Nobara and Yuji talking past each other to convince the other to do an activity the other isn't interested in (shopping and a movie respectively). Also Megumi the Homebody!

OH NOOOOOOOO NOT THE SHIBUYA ARC. THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE WARNED WOULD HURT MY FEELINGS

Ohhhhhhh my god. Nobara being asked advice from this gal about asking Yuji out and immediately bringing Megumi back to the restaurant. I LOVE SCHOOL DRAMA

"Someone who knows Itadori well is on his way here now." Megumi Fushiguro: Yuji Dating Consultant

"Did my heart skip a beat?" Nobara!! What does that mean!!!

Megumi takes his role incredibly seriously. Beautiful. Perfect. Beyoncé:

Also. I know it was just an omake, but the implication that it is understood on Team Gojo that Yuji is allowed to date but Megumi isn't is SO FUNNY. They're like, 'He's OUR special boy, leave him alone!'

"But the way she eats and her handwriting and stuff are super nice." Yuji, my sweet boy, who loves girls for their hearts AND their asses

The slice of life parts of this are really getting my heart <3 Give me fifteen more episodes of Team Gojo's dating troubles and going to see Worm Man movies

Jujutsu Kaisen said: Hey Mechamaru have you considered not being disabled, and being evil instead? It's a fresh new look!!

"I have to use any means necessary to get in contact with Gojo Satoru and tell him about the Shibuya plot." Muta-maru said he's only a pragmatic amount of evil, a means to an end

"I'll be able to see everyone," said Muta-maru, in what I'm sure wasn't foreshadowing of him immediately about to die

"But I want to be even closer to you, Mechamaru. So, one day, I will come see you." Oh, Miwa, I don't think you will

Team Nanami!!! While I am glad to see them, I don't like this for Megumi. That he's here, in Shibuya. Be safe, baby boy!

"Everyone who came up running up to the edge of the veil to escape cried the same thing: Bring Gojo Satoru!" How about we don't do that!

Are they making Maki go on a mission with her grandpa? LMAO

They have made this as OMINOUS as possible. I don't like it. I don't like it at all. STAY AWAY, GOJO!!

"They're making Gojo-sensei do this alone?" MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY!

Mei giving Yuji the option not to fight the people 😭😭😭 The teachers try so very hard to protect them in the ways that they can

"Mankind has long feared, hated and cursed such demonic pests." I am like the opposite of a bug person but I didn't have a specific fear of locusts going into this episode. They're doing their best to give me one though

"Are you clever? Or not clever? I'm clever." "Clever people wouldn't really go around calling themselves clever." There's something very Imperfect Cell about locust's vibes, and it does make me laugh

Yuji praying over the person who was killed 😭💞 HIM!!

"Nee-sama is praising you! Just accept it!" [Yelling] "Thank you! I'm honoured!" Yuji is very willing to accept constructive criticism

"Domain Amplification. It's the same principle as the New Shadow School's simple domain. They envelope themselves with the domain. While it reduces its guaranteed-hit effect, it ensures they neutralize any technique used. That would allow their attacks to hit me." Then why would people not use domain amplification and simple domain all the time?

The way Geto has thought of so many different ways to make sure there are civilian casualties to anything Gojo does!! GET GOT, GETO!

Them starting this horrifying scenario with an I Love Gojo video!!

"Technically, he's my benefactor," said Megumi, which meant, My Really Annoying Older Brother or Uncle or Dad Whom I Love

I do kind of love seeing Gojo go insane on these Cursed Spirits and reducing Hanami to smithereens. He can be a little vengeful, as a treat

"I'm sorry. I can't save everyone. So I promise to exorcise them instead." Oh, Gojoooo 😭😭😭😭

I KNOW THAT GETO KNOWS GETTING HIM TO STAND STILL FOR A MINUTE WILL BE EASY BECAUSE HE MISSES HIS DEAD FRIEND. I HATE THIS. I HATE IT! I WANT TO CRY AND THROW UP.

HEY! HEY! WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"I can pass from one body to another by replacing its brain with myself." WHAT DO YOU MEAN?????????????

It's NOT EVEN HIS FRIEND? IT'S A CURSE WEARING HIS DEAD FRIEND'S FACE? WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT THE HELL. WHAT ON EARTH!

"But it's time for you to wake up. How long will you keep letting it have its way with you, Suguru?" Geto's hand trying to kill the thing possessing him. For his own sake, or for Gojo's, I don't know

"I was killed on October 19th by the special-grade cursed spirit called Mahito." Rest in pieces, Mechamaru. Good of you to help!

"Well, it'll all work out somehow. I'm counting on you, everyone." Gojo thinking of his team of first years to save him!!!!!!!

OH IJICHI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT'D HE DO TO ANYONE!!!!

Yuji dealing with the cell phone issue by yelling to all Shibuya a message for Nanamin ❣️ He is clever, and loud!

"Don't toy with Geto-sama any further." Mimiko and Nanako trying to get their surrogate dad's body back. Extremely fucked up and sad

Nanami asking Ino to look after Megumi and Yuji 🥺🥺

"The Gojo clan is currently a one-man team of Satoru Gojo himself." Where are all the other Gojos??????

Gojo being the one person who is safe-guarding specific people in jujutsu society with his existence 🥺😭 I do love him!!!

I do miss the omake instead of this end-of-ep character commentary but the fact that someone insults Gojo with the phrase, "Acting like he was nothing but leg below his nipples," does entertain me 1) Because it really doesn't translate to me culturally as an insult jnghkghg and 2) It confirms Gojo has nipples, which is a real rarity in anime

"They won't be able to climb up here that fast." [Immediate cut to Megumi and Yuji dropping in via Megumi's giant shadow bird] I love physical comedy

"So, whenever I'm at a loss, I think to myself, 'What would Nanami-san do?'" Oh, Ino, that's very sweet

"I thought this wouldn't take long?" "No comment." Yuji and Megumi's friendship is my whole heart and soul

OH MY GOD??????????????????????????????????? THEY'RE POSSESSING MEGUMI'S FATHER???? WHAT IS THIS, THE MAKE TEAM GOJO SEE A BUNCH OF ASSHOLES WEARING THEIR DEAD LOVED ONES FACES ARC????????

Setting aside the egregious body horror, I love that Gojo has been a menace from birth. Good for him!

"If you're a man, be clear and decisive." [Megumi points at Yuji about to throw a car] "That stuff's not my role." Megumi said: Yuji is my man, actually 💖

Megumi's so smart!!!!!! Figuring out how to be both weak and strong at the same time to combat the Inverse technique

Nanami flashing back to Haibara's body when he sees Ijichi's. Ahhhhhhhhhh.

"Who the hell do you think you're ordering around, old hag?" I KNEW that Toji was not going to be silent. Even dead, he's just. A Very Big Presence. Also, poor Megumi's feelings when he sees him. And subsequently, mine

"I guess it just means that this guy's soul couldn't win against my body." "A soul losing to a body?! No! That's impossible!" There is some interesting world-building between the body and the soul with Geto and Toji having consciousness through body alone. I'd be so thoughtful if it weren't so fucked up

"If I die, you'll kill me, right?" Megumi said: Stay Safe, Love You The Sequel 🌸

Nobara trying to protect Nitta while fully concussed!!!

NANAMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII WIZARD ACCOUNTANT DAD'S HERE TO THE RESCUE!!!

I now have a new appreciation and understanding for everyone's lustful feelings for Nanami. I get it:

Ijichi's alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh thank god. Stay alive!!!!!!!!!!!

"You would hinder me, and be in the way." A harsh but fair verdict for Nobara

Of all the people fighting on the side of curses, Choso is the one whose motivations are most understandable

"This guy has beaten my brothers before. They wouldn't lose to some idiot." Lot of confidence in that statement, Choso. I'm not saying Yuji's an idiot, but he learns best on the job and with advice. Benefit of Mechamaru's wisdom, in this case

It's fun that when the sorcerers don't know what's going on, they have an omniscient narrator/mission reporter cut in with an explanation

Also, if I were Choso, I would simply leave the bathroom LMAO

"So even if I die, I'm taking this guy out! I don't have to be the one to rescue Gojo-sensei!" YUJIIIIIIIII

UNBELIEVABLE, IS YUJI, LIVERLESS, UNCONSCIOUS AND FULL OF HOLES, GOING TO WIN THIS BATTLE ON THE BASIS OF A FRIENDSHIP MONTAGE?

Are they suggesting Yuji is ALSO the manifestation of a cursed womb. Because I hope the fuck not!!!

It seems Nanako and Mimiko are going to save Yuji because they share a purpose: Getting-Sensei-Dad-Released-From-Horrors

"Ui Ui? Will you die for me?" "Are you sure that's alright? May I die for you?" This sibling relationship has unsettled me from the moment it appeared on screen LMAO

"I guess there's never been a case where I've been better off alone." Nanami's hard line for co-combatants is that he will not intentionally put first years at risk (fair, given his history)

It's interesting how the ocean spirit seems the least aware and battle-hungry, given that The Ocean Has Many Things to Fear

I said this, and the Ocean immediately exploded into a taller, buffer cursed spirit

"Projection Sorcery. The cursed technique of Naobito Zen'in. It splits one second into 24 frames from his field of view, and allows him to trace the actions created in those frames at the start." Do you think it's fun for the animators to animate a power that's based on animation?

So THIS is where the beach domain came from! What a throwback!

Shikigami really do make sense for the Ocean as an attack

MEGUMMMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!! He said: Hey Maki, I heard you were fighting shadows and hating old Zen'in men without me! What gives?

"The other two?" "Ino-san tapped out. Itadori's acting on his own." Nanami's first words to Megumi being about the other kids!!! I LOVE U

WHAT AN ABSOLUTELY HORRIFIC WAY FOR TOJI TO REAPPEAR

I guess that answers the question of if Megumi would be able to recognize his dad. The answer is no!

"His fangs were constantly directed towards the strongest." That doesn't bode well for Megumi later on

Update from 8 minutes later: I WAS RIGHT, IT DIDN'T BODE WELL

PLEASE TELL ME THAT NANAMI AND MAKI ARE FIREPROOF???

"Now there should be at least 15 fingers inside Itadori." Oh. Oh no Yuji. This is NOT good for Yuji!

Also also. Is that the BEST way to say it? Is it?

"Below us, there's a man in monk's robes with a suture across his forehead. Please kill him." I feel like Nanako and Mimiko's request will go over well, purely because they're deferential and they're women and Sukuna seems like the type to be entertained by women. Plus, they're asking him to kill, which he loves doing. Although he does hate being told what to do, so it's a toss-up

Well, I think holding the finger above Sukuna's head (metaphorically) turned the tables against them

Rest in pieces, Nanako and Mimiko (literally, unfortunately)

"You're true to your word, yes?" I thought the pact with Yuji involved Sukuna NOT killing any humans while he's running his body? I feel like that constitutes not being true to your word

Fhkjhkjhgkjhggh you know, fair on what's-his-face for just stalling. He's not strong enough to help Gojo, clearly!

I wonder at what point during getting his ass beat will Megumi learn that it is his father doing the beating

"What's your name?" "Fushiguro?" "It's not Zen'in? I'm glad." Evil Dilf wins one (1) dad point by killing himself in front of his son to prevent his evil instincts from murdering him????

Jogo said: My real desire was the very human experience of wishing for Daddy (Sukuna) to say he was proud

UNWILLING TO BELIEVE THAT SUKUNA HAS A FRIEND. UNREALISTIC. BLOCKED!

"Wake up, you shitty sorcerer!" said Blond Bitch, as if he were not wholly responsible for Megumi being unconscious by attacking him from behind

Ahhh Megumi thinking of Gojo, who has always believed in his strength, and who disapproved of his fallback of giving up his life

"Urgent business." Sukuna said: Team Gojo is incorrect. Megumi is MY special little man 💞🗡️👅 Bye Uraume!

Until Sukuna actively does something to Megumi. I am kind of obsessed with how obsessed he is. He's evil, but he's got weird crush, it feels like. Grimdark Greedl!ngfan until proven otherwise

NOT MEGUMI MENTALLY APOLOGIZING TO YUJI FOR DYING!!!!!!!!! THEY ARE SO 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

"Don't die on me. There are things I need you to do for me." He is healing him! They make no effort to make this sound NOT like a weird crush:

Yuji is not going to be well when he finds out how many mass causalities Sukuna has caused in his body

"You might have defeated me, in the state I was in back then. Now you've fascinated me, Fushiguro Megumi!" OBSESSED

I suppose the implication of Shigemo not knowing of his miracle power is that he has been riding through life on luck alone

Sukuna dropping off Megumi to his teachers. What must they think?!

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YUJI. Throwing up is an incredibly fair response to speed-running the memories of mass murder

I don't know how Yuji will ever be able to live any kind of normal life after this:

THANK GOD Nanami's alive. It's like they give you just enough to hope for that you won't stop watching completely

Oh god. If Nanami dies now, I will lose it. WHY ARE YOU STILL FIGHTING!! I mean, I know why, BUT WHY

"I've been here the whole time." Mahito, I swear to FUCK

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Yuji cannot witness whatever Mahito is about to do to Nanami, he is already in the throes of PTSD

"You take it from here." NO, NO, NO NANAMI :(((((((((((((((((((((

I HATE THIS SHOW!!!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU ALL

You know, I just don't know what to do with this show. Like I don't see the benefit of continuing. A lot of shows have put me through a lot, but this is the one that I think is hardest to watch, because the deaths mean nothing. It helps nothing. You learn nothing. It's just like, "Enjoy getting to know these people and watch them die in extremely violent circumstances." What am I supposed to root for? That Nobara doesn't die in front of Yuji, like Nanami did? That Gojo gets out of his prison soon enough to see what hell on earth has happened without him? That Yuji doesn't completely fall to Sukuna? That Megumi doesn't end up with all of his friends dead and/or gone? WHAT DO VIEWERS GET FROM THIS

"Itadori Yuji wasn't my only natural enemy?" Honestly. Hard to do commentary now. But good for Nobara:

"You've let me believe that I'm not alone." Yuji <3

I'm back to hopeless. Unless Nobara has some sort of 'you didn't touch my soul, you touched my hammer's soul' trap card

Megumi 🤝 Nobara: Being a menace to bullies as a child

Ah yes, menstrual rice, the tradition we all know about

"Nobara-chan changed after she met Saori-chan." Awww, baby's first role model

Nobara crying for leaving her friend Fumi!!! Sweet girl

"I hope Nobara-chan's doing well," said Saori, before it cut to Nobara definitely not doing well

The visualization of Nobara's previous metaphor of the people with seats in her life, and the way Nobara also has a seat for her younger self. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH:

"Itadori. Tell everyone for me: Life wasn't so bad." NOBARA 😭

The way they all try to fix the shirt together 😭😭😭 Team Gojo

Megumi my boy always ready to take the hit for his friends 💕 Also LMAO @ Gojo, "What's the matter, Megumi?"

I don't blame Yuji for straight up giving up. Me too Yuji

"This is a war to determine which of those will be left standing a century from now." Call me crazy, Mahito, but I don't think people whose main life purpose is torturing people is a legitimate side. Like jujutsu sorcerers exorcise curses BECAUSE of what they do. If a curse's purpose were to make people play baseball or go to the movies, who would kill that?

Even if we buy into the premise of curses fighting for their own existence, it's sort of like, "Team A and Team B are fighting. Team A has killed a lot of Team B over many years. Team B has also done that, but also needs to kick eleven hospitalized children in the face for their enjoyment every day to keep going. What a dilemma!"

We interrupt this programming to say: Never in my life I have been happier to see Todo

"Sukuna killed so many. So I have to save... that many more people." Yuji 😟

"This is not a matter of sins or punishments. The moment we chose to live as jujutsu sorcerers, our lives were no longer bound by such karma." Todo said: Jujutsu sorcerers can do no wrong actually, and that is how I've decided to live my life

Todo said: The greatest punishment is being alive ❤️ Hope that helps!

"Todo-san's little brother doesn't look like him at all." Todo said: Who needs context! Bros for life

"I'm just saying that the chance [that Nobara survived] isn't zero. Please don't get your hopes up too high." Blond Kyoto First Year Baby Brother Nitta sums up energy of this show in a single sentence:

"I'll make sure I take on your share of suffering too, Nanamin." 😨

Ohhhhhhhh I'm glad Mechamaru and Miwa have their chance to talk. Poor Miwa

I honestly fully support Mechamaru manipulating his friends to not be in Shibuya. I wish nobody was in Shibuya, and I'm going through Shibuya this week

"Whatever shape it takes, as long as you're happy, my wish has come true." Romantic Bastard Behaviour

"And that's all thanks to that woman." Wild that Mahito is the first person to acknowledge Nobara's full strength

I appreciate how silly Todo's animations are. They're like, "Here, as a treat."

Back from my vacation in Japan after a couple of weeks and returning to to finish this season, and let me tell you, watching this show in the hours leading up to leaving made for a very harrowing first time at the train station. They use incredibly accurate building modelling in this show. Also, I did get a little Nanami keychain. In any case, I have returned to finish hurting my feelings

Opposite to my prior point, they make all of Mahito's animation as gross as possible

"Forgive me, you pitiful souls." Ahhh, Todo

Mahito using Gojo's split second domain technique to attack his student. GET GOT, MAHITO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Props to Todo for immediately getting rid of his own arm to prevent dying?????????????????????

"And he can't clap his hands anymore." I did wonder how long it would take for the clapping thing to come up. Mahito would probably have won this fight if curses (Hanami, specifically) bothered to tell each other anything. Maybe the real technique everyone needed was communication

Absolute, extreme regret to ever echo Mahito, but: Huh?

Todo touching Mahito just so Yuji could get an opening!!! 😭😭😭

"Instant Spirit of Distorted Killing." Why does the average special cursed spirit form simply look like a particularly sadistic, anthropomorphized tree?

[Narration slide] "There is no sorcerer who can unleash Black Flash at will." Then what's the attack chanting for? Just hoping it'll work?

I don't think I enjoy Yuji's smile being slashed open Joker Style

"I'll just kill you. And if you're ever reborn as another curse, I'll kill you then, too. You can change your name and change your appearance, but I'll still kill you again and again. I don't need meaning or a reason for it anymore. Maybe there will be some meaning to be found from my actions several centuries after I'm dead. But I'm sure I'm just one big cog in the wheel. And I'll keep on killing curses until I rust away." Yuji said: New life philosophy unlocked: Murder your problems until you die 💖

I'm not sure I'm comfortable with HOW Yuji has found inner peace, but he does seem like he has an achievable goal

Fake Geto said: I haven't caused problems in a while! Hope you didn't gain any hope while I was gone.

"No matter what judgment gets doled out to Itadori later now that Gojo is gone, I won't be taking your side. I'm in favour of Itadori Yuji's execution." I can't say I blame Kusakabe for his position

I do wish they'd stop doing this with Mei Mei. Whoever wrote this said: I have feelings for my family that should only be discussed with a psychiatrist 😀

Choso said: Where one brother of Yuji's (Todo) falls, another one rises up (me) like a fucked up little tag team of camaraderie

I also should've known better than to think Mahito might actually die. That's hope! Stupid.

I have never been LESS happy to see the Kyoto School. GO HOME

The payoff for the forced pregnancy storyline they dropped last season is that Fake Geto is Choso's DAD? Disgusting. Terrible. Leave. Kick rocks. You will NEVER be the Evil DILF that Toji is!!!

Alright. Alright. I will allow the Kyoto students to be here for one moment, if only for the comedy of Choso yelling "KAMO NORITOSHI" and Blood-bending Teen Kamo pointing and going, "Watashi? (Me?)" It WAS funny.

"How dare you make me try to kill Itadori? My little brother!" said Choso, like he had nothing to do with that decision

If the payoff for Choso calling Yuji his little brother that Fake Geto is also his dad. I don't want it. I would rather just disintegrate.

"I strongly sensed the death of Itadori Yuji, right before my eyes. Which means that Yuji must also be my blood-related younger brother." 😷😷😷 I don't have words strong enough for how much I wish this episode had ended with 16 minutes ago (it's been 15:55 minutes)

I truly, truly don't want to believe this but does this mean that Kamo and Sukuna had a terrible threesome with Yuji's poor mother to create Yuji? I don't want that. I keep saying it. It's not helping

"Just asking, but you two are strangers, right?" "Worse than strangers. He nearly killed me once already." I like that Todo has set the premise for Yuji simply being called siblings by strangers who have beat the crap out of him, so he's just like, 'Well. It happens.'

"First it was Todo. Are you sure you aren't emitting dangerous pheromones or something?" Panda said: Maybe you just stink of brotherly love, Yuji

Tsukumo said: Me and Choso together will fill the void of Todo being gone

"Japan would practically have a monopoly on cursed energy. Other nations, especially that superpower, wouldn't stand by and allow that." HFFHFJHFKJJH the clouds and angle make the geography a little hazy, but I can only assume this is a shot at the U.S. Yeah, Tsukumo, the U.S. would be the problem with killing everyone who's not a sorcerer! Not anything else!

JJK really said: You thought Megumi was safe just cause he wasn't on screen? SURPRISE. WE ARE GOING TO KILL HIS SISTER:

They are going to elaborate on how the rest of Japan is doing, but NOT on how the Kyoto students get out of this situation

OKKOTSU!!!!!!!!! Resident Nice Little Guy coming to save the day

"That's bad, Rika-chan. Don't overdo it." Hey. Hey. What?

"He cut off Inumaki's arms in Shibuya." WHAT!!!!!!!!! WHEN!!!!!!!

"Satoru Gojo has been deemed an accomplice to the Shibuya incident and is hereby expelled from Jujutsu Society. In addition, any attempt to free him from his seal will be deemed a crime." This is most extreme form of victim-blaming for any one person in anime I've seen

Resident Nice Little Guy Okkotsu is now Resident Yuji Executioner

I can't imagine Megumi will tolerate any of this. He's going self-expel from Jujutsu Society

[Yuji claps] [Numerous cursed spirits emerge out of the water like he's now trying out a Cursed Manipulation Kekkei Genkai] HEY. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

I don't know what to say about this show anymore. I don't know what this was, except exhausting. However, that was more than enough for me. Goodnight.

[quetzalpapalotl]

Tf eu #5 rambles under the cut

Obviously, the most important thing is that MY WIFE IS HEEEERE YEAAAAAH. Love how they lettered her name here omg

She's wonderful!!!! Her bait and switch intro was funny (but please don't actually corner The Girl One into a love interest) and her stunt saving Carly was so cool, I'm glad we're establishing her right. I wish she didn't look so much Like That, but at least DWJ is as willing to deform her for action as anyone else. Her buccal fat removal look makes her look like a skull, which would be cool if it were on puporse, but it's not so. I like the shade they picked for her, is more of a lilac but it looks pink with the rest of the color palette and meshes well with the setting.

This series is really good at the appel to the inner child thing, because I'm like genuinely excited to see the Autobots have the advantage for once!! But ofc, they can't really because the arc ends next issue and they're not gonna have a decisive win until that.

Tho, Optimus and Cliffjumper are carrying the Autobots in regards to being the heroes we root for. I mean, Arcee and Jazz are very cool and that has their appeal, but I do wish once things have settled and they can interact in more situations that aren't just life and death, because so far I feel like we only get a good grasp of who Optimus and Cliffjumper are as individuals, their personalities. I want to see what makes each Autobot unique.

Speaking of, still absolutely eating the Carly and CJ dynamic. She is great and when she said that what does if matter if she's at risk when her family is dead and Spike is in a coma, that reallly got to me. It's unwise, but Cliffjumper relating to her and bringing her to give her a sense of closure it's really good. I think that this kind of bringing the kid character into danger would be because Carly sneaked her way, or because Cliffjumper would disregard orders for the hell of it. But like this feeeling of "I know how she feels and I would want come in her place too" works really well.

Also, I care about Sparky now, lol. Not that at hated him before. I'm not a fan of the first page, as cool at it look, because comparing OP to the US military like the later are the good guy is mmmm... but I'm loving his rapport with Optimus. And also there's how he looks when he's told the generator will give them a decade of power. It's not like "amazing tech woaaah!" It's softer like... this isn't an affluent town, these are people who are used to struggle and they just lost their power source. Ten years of power like that is a godsend that he can hardly believe that will do the whole town a lot of good and he cares about that. Maybe I'm reading too much into it but you know.

And ooooh dear, I was already unwell over Optimus getting his Megatron's canon arm grafted, but I understimated what seein him actually shoot the canon would do to me. I need... several moments.... the fight scenes are pretty gone but this one was particulary brutal. Optimus is really fearsome. And given how he has been so carefully characterized as this bleeding heart figure, seeing him decimating his enemies so efficient is quite something. And by something I mean gap moe. We love to see it.

RIP Reflector, your camera jokes will be missed, but that sequence was amazing lmao

Love seeing Optimus hit Starscream where it hurts. But OP saying that last time Starscream was cowering from Megatron's canon brings a lot of questions about the sequence of events in the Ark (which we'll get to see in teh special it seems). And I've been wondering if Starscream had something to do with Megatron falling or dissapearing or whatever, this does make it seem more like it and well, if that's the case I wonder how the rest of the Cons will react.

Man, the Autobots really shined this time and I already forgot what I was thinking about the Decepticons!! But hey!!! Thundercracker is here!!!!!!!! My guy!!! Given that his characterization as per toy bio is the guy that's not so sure about the cause, I wonder how he'll take it when he find out what really happened to Skywarp.

Also, are the Constructicons newly made??

Anyway, good stuff.

[caliconimbus]

tbh I kinda feel like I should be asking you if you played the same vn as me if you can’t see Cassius’s better qualities. An important part of the developing story is that you realize Amicus is NOT the only one who is suffering from all sides in this family. He, Virginia, and Cassius are just handling it differently

Yeah Cassius has some abhorrent policies and does some awful things, but he’s also just deeply miserable and being played from lots of angles. Cato is leveraging him to stay in power. Alex is manipulating him to tear the empire apart. He’s deeply frustrated with how society is neglecting people in need, people who he would certainly be among if not for the circumstances of his birth. He’s just as wracked with grief about his father’s recent passing as anyone. As emperor he’s trying desperately to figure out what he’s doing wrong and how to fix it, but god won’t even talk to him when he KNOWS that’s supposed to happen for the emperor. The higher the man climbs the more miserable he gets, and choosing to step back down nearly kills him. And still that’s arguably the best thing to happen to him in months

Marco does kind of struggle to forgive Cassius after everything, but DOES acknowledge that he was just as under Cato’s thumb as everyone else, and that once Cassius is given a more focused role doing the things he’s passionate about, he’s really good at it. They built a lot of sympathy for each other while Cass was emperor, because they could both see how low they both were. Not to mention their experience together with somni! The first time Cass meets Marco, the wolf is screaming in fear of Marco and hiding behind anyone else. And then on their trip, Cassius is hiding behind Marco from the “someone else”. It’s a parallel that points to how the experience will get them to start trusting each other

As it turns out, they’re both scared, fragile, in way over their heads, and their singular goal is to escape this awful situation and find some real happiness, of which they’ve both been deprived. And all it took was a little bit of space drugs to help them both see that. Why would Cassius ever let Marco visit Amicus, if not because he understands how the human feels and figures that it’s SOMETHING good he can do in this position? If he didn’t feel for Marco it’d be an insane decision. Cassius is on the throne illegitimately, and he KNOWS letting his brother communicate with Virginia and Neferu endangers him, because he’s well aware they were on his brother’s side. But that’s just it. Cassius is beginning to agree with them, and he’s finally starting to see Marco as a person who’s a lot like him. And if he can’t be happy, maybe he can at least give that to someone else

Hell, the attempted theft of Amicus’s ship isn’t even something Marco really blames on Cassius! The man was explicitly WAY too drunk, entirely by Alex’s doing. That wasn’t Cassius being a shitty person, it was him being used by his conniving lil shit of a boyfriend (I do love Alex too but that’s bc I love awful messy gay bitches. Sabotage the empire some more king it’d be soooo funny <3). Ultimately Marco seems more mad that they’re trying to take the ship literally the night before he leaves, rather than waiting until after Amicus returns. It’s troubling behavior, and he doesn’t fully get their relationship, but he can at least see that Cassius clearly does love Alex, well beyond reason. And with Amicus in the picture Marco certainly doesn’t have room to judge lmao

what do you see in this man

did we play the same vn

The shortest answer I can give is that I see a reflection of my past self in him as well as being able to relate to him in some senses currently [Dead Parent Bc Of Disease Club WOO!]. I can clearly see where he came from, how he got to where he is, and what he *actually* wants for himself. He deserves to be happy and be better, as well as own up for his actions to move forward.

Also his 2nd scene is him being a pathetic wet rag screaming in fear at Marco (who was standing still) before hiding behind someone. I love when a man is a pathetic wet rag <3

I can go into more detail and will be glad to chat in DMs as well, but my lunch break is nearly over so itll be a bit later!

[passionbruise]

it’s almost the one year anniversary of the era where my cat made me wanna kms and it’s happening again ouo

[lunarticxenia]

The Sun Signs

Hi guys! So I decided to make a series. I’m going to do: each sign in each planet, each house placement for every planet, and the aspects for all the planets. This of course is going to be over the course of a month; it’s going to take a while to cover everything LMAO. I’m thinking of doing this and alternating between asteroids, “placements that make people ____”, and astrology observations. Without further ado, here’s my take on the sun signs based off of people I know: 

🪁 Aries: These people are go-getters and know what they want when they want it. I feel like a lot of people associate Aries with being extroverts because they’re a fire sign, but I know ALOT of Aries and 95% of them have been shy. It’s more of the Aries moons that I’ve noticed that have been more extroverted. However other aspects in your chart can determine this. They’re also extremely competitive and very hard workers. Every Aries I’ve ever met has worked their ass off, and they keep working their asses off until they perfect everything. Some negatives are that Aries people can be super dramatic as well, and don’t take other people’s advice. Even when they ask for it, if their mind is set on something, there’s no going back. 

🪁 Taurus: Boy oh boy, do these people just want to go on a 10 year vacation and not have to deal with anyone ever again. These people love the finer things in life; they most likely have a creative hobby or have a creative streak. They also love good food and they love a good nap. Now everyone says Tauruses are super chill, and honestly, it depends on other aspects in their chart. I’ve known super chill Tauruses and super chaotic Tauruses. I’ve noticed the chaotic Tauruses have a lot of Aries energy in their chart i.e. Aries Mercury and Aries Mars (no offense Aries). I’d say a downside of Tauruses is that they can be lazy because they love to relax (however this depends on other aspects) and they can be apathetic a lot. I’ve found that Tauruses can very much disconnect themselves from a situation when they have to, so they can keep calm and grounded. 

🪁 Gemini: These people are social and will talk for hours. I don’t mean this in a bad way. Even the more introverted Geminis, once you get to know them they will talk for days especially about things they’re passionate about. I think it’s a cute and endearing trait. A lot of people hate on Geminis, but I don’t get it. One of my best friends is a Gemini, and she’s the most genuine person I’ve ever met. In fact, most Geminis I’ve met have not been two-faced, at least from my experience. I think that Geminis are also very funny, every Gemini I’ve met has made me laugh my ass off. Every single one. They have a great sense of humor and a very engaging personality. You can see this with Gemini politicians, they’re very charismatic and know how to entertain a crowd. I’d say the more negative side of Gemini is that they can be very flighty about what they want and while they’re social, they’re not always the best communicators when it comes to interpersonal relationships. 

🪁 Cancer: I’ve found that Cancers are either extremely extroverted or extremely introverted; and this can change depending on their mood LMAO. I can speak from experience; I am a Cancer. Sometimes I feel like being social and talking; other times I hate people and I just don’t wanna deal with them. Cancers also always have a softness to them; even if they have a lot of fire energy. I don’t know how to describe it other than they just look like water itself. I’d say some obvious downsides of Cancer are that they can be extremely moody and they can be snippy. If you catch them in the wrong mood, they’ll snap at you. I’m guilty of this as well. 

🪁 Leo: Again, a lot of people don’t like Leos but I love them. The Leos I’ve met have not been self centered at all- in fact they’re the exact opposite. Perhaps it’s the underdeveloped Leo suns who are self-centered, but all the ones I’ve met have always put others before themselves. They’re not cocky at all. I’ve also found that Leos all have really nice hair; this is a stereotype that’s definitely true. I’ve never met a Leo with bad hair. I’ve also found that they’re super creative and even if they don’t have a creative hobby, they have a creative flair. They’re also REALLY funny. I feel like they’re definitely slept on in terms of funny placements. This is the sign that rules “performing” in a way, so of course they’re going to be entertaining. 

🪁 Virgo: My favorite sign. I love all the signs in their own way, but Virgo is my favorite. Every single Virgo I’ve met I’ve loved. I get along so well with them. Virgos are shit on for being critical but it’s because they know that the people in question can achieve so much. Virgos also save that critical energy for themselves and can tear themselves apart if they’re not perfect. These people are also always putting others before themselves and always try to help everyone. Remember the 6th house rules one’s sense of usefulness. They feel that if they’re not being useful in some way to people that they’re not good enough. I literally just want to hug every Virgo. Also they’re not boring at all. FOH. Virgos are literally so much fun. 

🪁 Libra: These people are just so likable. No matter what they do, you just tend to like them for some reason. They can adapt to any type of personality and they have a way of making everyone like them. This is why Libra suns tend to be popular; they’re very bubbly and sociable. Even if they’re not popular, they’re well-liked. However, this can be their downfall as well. They can be superficial and fake. They tend to flip flop in arguments alot, and they try to play on both sides which can create more tension between two people. Also, have you ever seen a Libra try to make a decision? LMAO. Love them though. 

🪁 Scorpio: Your eyes. Holy fuck. You can tell if someone is a Scorpio just by the gaze in their eyes. They stare into your fucking soul. Even if their eyes are a light color, there’s always a sense of mystery and darkness to them. Despite this sense of power they give off, once you get to know them they’re literally the biggest teddy bears. Literally just go up to one and talk to them, they’ll talk to you and be all nice and happy. I’ve noticed that Scorpios just don’t like to talk about their emotions or what goes on in their heads either. They like to look strong and they don’t show their vulnerable side to just anybody. This would be one of their downfalls. They have a hard time being vulnerable and letting people in. They look fierce, but they’re sweet and just want a hug. 

🪁 Sagittarius: The funniest people ever. I’ve never met a non-funny Sagittarius. I work with two of them and they have me in tears laughing. They’re also very smart and you can talk to them about anything. Even if they don’t get the best grades in school (which I rarely see, the Valedictorian and the Salutatorian were both Sagittariuses) they always have a base knowledge about everything. They’re also extremely chill and try not to take life too seriously. I’ve found that a downside of this placement is that they can be very flighty in love. They have a hard time settling down which can be difficult for someone who wants to date them. Sagittariuses crave independence and they’re usually not the relationship types. Also they have a hard time taking things seriously. 

🪁 Capricorns: My guilty pleasure. I’ve dated two of them and 75% of the people I’ve liked were Capricorn suns. I feel like people overlook the appeal of Capricorns. Scorpios are the “sexy” ones, but have you seen how attractive Capricorns can be? Remember, in Tarot, the Devil rules Capricorn, so they can be devilishly handsome or darkly beautiful. Even if they’re not the most attractive person in the room, they have an aura to them that’s intriguing. They speak softly and carry a big stick. They don’t have to impress anyone; they know that they’re powerful. I’d say some downsides to Capricorns are that they have a hard time expressing their emotions and they tend to shove them down; which can result in them exploding later on. They also have a tendency to be arrogant, and can dish it out, but they can’t take it. 

🪁 Aquariuses: My second guilty pleasure. I just love the Saturn energy, what can I say? Aquariuses are such lovable weirdos. I don’t know how else to describe them. Every single one I’ve met has been unique in some way and they don’t try to fit in either. They’re proud of being different. My boss is an Aquarius and I felt self conscious one day because I had a different color shirt on than everyone else and he told me “Why would you want to fit in when you could stand out?”. They’re those types of people. They’re also really funny as well, their minds just work so differently from everyone else. They’ll say the most outlandish things and you’ll die laughing. Some downsides? You could know them for years and you’ll just find out things about them. They don’t share things about themselves and it’s hard to get to know them. They also can be very emotionally cold. They don’t like emotions. 

🪁 Pisces: Softies. They’re literally soft teddy bears. No matter how big or tall or muscular they could get, you just look into their eyes and that softness is there. They’re really sweet and tend to be more introverted. They aren’t the types who go out of their way to talk to strangers at a party. They love comfort and they like to feel secure. They’re also very dreamy if that makes sense. They always look like they came out of a fantasy world. I’d say a major downside would be that they’re overly sensitive. They cannot take a joke. I remember I was telling my co worker who’s a Pisces about the negative traits of Pisces and one of them was lazy; and he got SO offended. He was like “I am NOT lazy.” LMAO. 

Also guys, as I’ve said, other things in your natal chart can affect these traits. For the next asteroid by the way, I’m between asteroid Bellona and Lilith. Which one would you guys want to see? I’ve been getting a lot of questions about those two. :) 

[unfortunate-songbird]

WHY LEO DIDNT DESERVE ANY OF WHAT HE WENT THROUGH: an essay by me

movie spoilers :)

ok so at the beginning of the movie he’s shown screwing around when he should be training, yeah?

okay, yes, arguably irresponsible, but considering it’s been 2 years since shredder and there’s no mention of any other formidable foes besides your typical Large Pig, Married Couple, and Bug Man, it’s understandable that he’s pretty lax about everything. Dont get me wrong, I totally get Ralph’s side! He’s constantly worried about a new threat appearing when they least expect it, plus even their regular missions can be life threatening if they aren’t careful

but dude Leo’s just goofing off and having a funky time, he doesn’t deserve the Epic Emotional Beatdown he gets in the movie

“Oh, but he’s just in general egotistical and braggy”

yeah. he’s 16. Donnie has probably broken the Geneva convention at least twice man idk. He’s a dumbass turtle doing dumbass things.

Then we get to the argument. What really gets me here is that Leo is visibly listening and taking what Raph says to heart- until the moment it gets too dark for him. Saw this pointed out somewhere else, but man really does use humor to cope. of course, in doing so he brushed off Ralph’s very real and important concerns, frustrating him

the fight over the key? Yeah, not his best work.

in his defense tho, if he actually knew the severity of the situation, he’s proven before that he can be completely serious (even while keeping his jokey persona) when things get more drastic. I truly believe after they meet Casey, things stop being about straight overconfidence. Leo goes into the fight jokey, but it’s been proven many times that he will often quip while putting his all into his battles, so that’s not the best judge of how seriously he’s actually taking it. he doesn’t insist everyone stays behind to get the key. he goes out himself, taking the risk because Casey is desperate to get it for really good reasons! I think his actions there- while somewhat reckless- would’ve been seen in a positive manner in most other movies. He’s taking the risk to grab the literal World-Destroying object.

then Raph gets taken

Leo has a panic attack, and he’s more visibly distraught than we’ve ever seen him, to the point where he gets actually, genuinely, dangerously angry for the first time in the entire franchise. He’s probably blaming himself for getting Raph caught.

His stubbornness next isn’t because he’s overconfident. He’s just so focused on getting Raph back, no matter what. He HAS to get his big brother back. Leo doesn’t consider waiting to plan, or retreating, not when it would feel like giving up on his brother. He’s blindly consumed by his fear and desperation. He makes a lot of bad decisions because of it, don’t get me wrong! They were Bad Decisions! But I really think they weren’t about ego, not really.

I’m glad he learned a lot of valuable lessons but I’m also worried about the like

MASS amount of trauma he has now. Like, that’s some Heavy stuff. The trade off of character development vs whatever all this new trauma and greatly worsened self-sacrificial tendencies (bc they already existed in the show and are probably going to get concerningly worse) might not be the best. worried about that guy

anyway I really want to see what they do there because that was a roller coaster and the long term effects could be really interesting to watch

Also does anyone else see a lot of parallels between Leo and c!Tommy from the dream smp or is that just me? Like:

-cocky/confident persona to cope and also bc it’s funny

-self worth issues lmao

-the amount of character development needed could’ve easily happened with like,, some minor trauma but no they get the whole sha bang

-ping pongs between overconfident and low self esteem and also “nothing is ever my fault” vs “everything is my fault”

-16 y/old brutally beaten by an unbeatable foe in an inescapable prison only to eventually get out alive despite all odds

This post is kind of a mess lmao

[hintsofhoney]

alright, *cracks fingers*. so. I’ve written up a transcript just to lay it all out for myself and get the most important parts. listen, everyone. for all intents and purposes and legal reasons, THIS WAS A DREAM. alright? I dreamt this. and he is literally the nicest human being ever so I don’t want to just like... put our whole convo out there like that, but I think he said some stuff that was important for people to hear so... here we go

my *dreamt* zoom call with thee crowley below the cut

The first five minutes (of my dream) was just a bunch of introduction stuff and talking about my favorite Supernatural seasons which eventually led to him telling me how they filmed the Season 8 finale (which they did over the span of three days, and in between takes the crew members were like dead silent, as to keep the moment going, which Mark thought was really cool. Said it was one of his favorite things they did on Supernatural.) Anyways, he eventually asked me if I had any questions, so, I’ll start there.

MARK: So, do you have any questions you want to ask me about aaaaaannyyyythingggg? 

ME: Um, I guess the number one thing I wanna know… um, so, I know you can’t speak for Dean and I don’t want to talk about Dean because you’re not Jensen, but, there’s like a lot of questions I guess or subtext or whatever concerning Dean’s sexuality and what not, but I want to know about demon Dean and Crowley’s relationship and if there was, I don’t know, anything like, any implied –

MARK: Well I think – I think you’re talking about… there’s a massive difference between sex and love. There’s a massive difference between, um, well, they can intertwine perfectly, that’s not the issue, but I mean you would believe with all the things that Crowley did for the Winchesters, that he was – that he very much loved Sam and Dean or loved who they are or what they are. To reduce it to, you know, a crush, or to something that – I mean, I don’t know, I think Crowley is very probably pansexual more than anything else; I don’t think anything phased him. I think, that’s why the whole stuff with Lucifer and licking the floor was kind of really stupidly boring for me because Crowley did weirder and crazier things on his own. I mean, it became this joke of trying to humiliate somebody who can’t be humiliated. There’s nothing you can humiliate Crowley with. So, that never sort of made sense, that was just a sort of writer’s glitch of thinking, “oooh, this would be funny to knock him down into subservience” and that’s what he does on a Wednesday, I mean it’s like the most un-inspiring thing. I think so much is projected onto the relationship between, certainly the four main characters, um, and, you know, look, getting comfortable with one’s sexuality and one’s identity is a massively complicated things, and if you want to live vicariously through what you believe people’s identity is and you can relate to that, great!  Who cares? I mean, can I be absolutely honest? Apart from – what I do care about, you know, don’t ever take this and piece me or misquote it, because it’s very, very specific – um, somebody stopping somebody being able to express their own identity or whatever is an issue for me. That will always be an issue for me. Um, we should all be treated equally, and we all have the rights to believe and follow those things that we wish to follow, but to project relationships onto characters is an odd thing to do. I mean, it’s wishful thinking in a lot of ways, I mean, actually it’s quite… it’s quite reasonable because in the past if you think about it, if you ask your parents or anyone else, the only way sexuality was used was to, uh, literally demonize somebody. It was only ever used to say somebody was bad because this who they’re in love with. You know, that’s, that’s the thing. And it’s a massive change in the world that we’re moving towards, I should say, uh – a lack of consequence for who one loves, apart from the obvious consequences of human nature. You know, political consequences for who one loves – I’ve just watched Pete Butteigieg being, you know, sitting in congress with his husband there with him; that’s the first time that’s ever happened in United States congress and I’m so proud of that. Not just because the man is gay and happily married – that’s not even the issue for me, it’s because he’s the best man for the job and one of the smartest people on the planet. You know, it’s like using sexual templates, as they were, or gender templates as they are, or orientation templates as they are, we always use to disclude people from things. They were always used to discriminate. You know, labeling somebody was a way of discrimination. And where as labels are very important, to ones self, and they’re very important politically and they’re very important socio-economically and they’re very important in all those aspects, I yearn for a time when nobody gives a damn. I really do. But I mean, we have to go through so much to get there. I mean, let’s be honest, you can’t, you know, right the wrongs of hundreds of years of oppression in 20 minutes by saying, “let’s all move forward”. It just doesn’t work that way, it never has. But there’s a responsibility there, that if you’re going to represent, that you represent all. That you don’t just represent you. So, one has to be careful with a television program or, or, you know, Misha or myself, or, not speaking for the boys, but just generally, um, you have to be careful that what you advocate is inclusive, not disinclusive. Not excluding people... and it’s so hard to frame these conversations, that they’re equitable, it’s so hard to do that. And so, you know, we spend years pointing out the inequity and the injustice and the unfairness of the whole situation, and… I don’t know if the trick is to rise above, or, uh, maybe it’s as simple as love and coming together as a human race and make it very difficult for people to discriminate and exclude based on gender, race, color, religion, any of the subsets of humanity that we’ve decided we have. So, I think personal responsibility is the most important thing, but if one is in a position of power on a TV show, you got to remember what you’re representing, that you have a, you know, you have to cover all or cover none. So, you know, but if you stick to a story and you have a story about a person or two people and their journey, that’s shining light on things. If you try to advocate for all, I think it becomes a little more complicated. Does that make sense?

so, i just feel like he said some important things there, but like I also don’t really understand what he’s getting at really, y’know? oh! also, he didn’t watch the finale lmao 

also! there’s this:

MARK: Because if you come down on one side or another, you’re admitting the sides, and that has its own political ramifications. If you push the ball up in the air and say, “you decide”, I don’t think that’s copping out. I think that’s, maybe not fulfilling everybody’s expectations, or not fulfilling everybody’s hopes, but at least you’re getting the question asked. You know, at least you’re getting the question asked. At least people are relating to it and going, “well, what if?”. Because it’s all “what if”, I mean, it’s a TV show, so it’s “what if”, you know? It’s not Misha being in love with Jensen, I mean as much as he loves Jensen, I don’t think that’s his thing – I mean you never know – but I’m saying yet again, I don’t exclude anything from anybody (I LITERALLY CAN’T BELIEVE HE SAID THIS LMAO). But to force my opinion or my identity belief upon a situation has a cost. It may be right, it may be absolutely right, and it may be necessary in many, many cases. But, in that circumstance, I think… there are a lot of people in the world that say that Jesus, for example, was anti-homosexual and that he was – and none of that is true, and none of that is provable in the New Testament, and I’m not talking about Leviticus and I’m not talking about early Bible and I’m not talking about the fact that more than 25,000 words have been changed in the King James edition and all of this stuff, but these things that people hold so sacred, the confusion that arises from that is being told that a man loving a man or a woman loving a woman or a man loving a man and a woman or whatever combination being there is either right or wrong because you’re being told by a pastor or the leaders of your church, is a very difficult thing to break down. I think what you have to do is at least put it out there so it’s visible, and so it becomes less and less deniable. And you know, people change over years, that’s the trouble with youth, is shit doesn’t move fast enough. “I need a decision now!”, and unfortunately, when you’re dealing with centuries of prejudice and centuries of un-enlightenment, I think that sometimes the best thing to do is reach as many people as possible and pose the question. And sometimes it’s essential to make a statement, absolutely, no question. It is essential to make a stand, in some circumstances. But to polarize a TV show, can be very disingenuous to those who need to go ask their own questions, who need to go say, “well, where does Jesus say this is wrong?” you know, if that’s your beliefs.

he also said, when we went off on a tangent about doom patrol:

MARK: There are issues that are being addressed here [on Doom Patrol] that are not being addressed on other shows, and yet again, we have the format, and I don’t know that Supernatural ever had the format because it was on the CW.

anywho, in conclusion, fuck the cw.

also, again, for all intents and purposes this was a dream I had :)))))))

[glamfellens]

5, 22, 32 and 39 if you’re doin the shep questions!

5. How well does Shepard know their crew? Not just the companions, but the folks making up the Normandy

In ME1, Audrey is striving to be a model Alliance officer, so while she's not the most emotionally in-touch or available person she does try her best to be approachable and offer support when needed, but at the same time maintain the kind of appropriate distance you'd expect between an officer and their crew. This gets a bit confused with Kaidan (because hehe hoho, there's a spark there, just waiting to be ignited by the rising tensions of their current mission to stop Saren), but generally I think Audrey knows everyone at a base level and knows of some intimate details. In ME2 this changes a lot. Audrey is not only struggling with coming back to life, but processing the loss of two years and the damning implications of the Cerberus connection. This causing a lack of emotional availability means, for the majority of the crew, she takes a step back and creates a bigger distance between herself and them. There's still some degree of support being offered like before, but in general Audrey is more content to let the crew and squad make their own personal decisions. Audrey is also more wary of the more Cerberus-positive crew. However there is a disparity between her distance with certain squad/crew members and a closeness with others. While Audrey draws away from the majority, she becomes closer to Garrus, Miranda, Chakwas and Gabby. ME3 has Audrey trying to find a balance. There is definitely more of her ME1 attitude and values present, and I think perhaps the stress of the reaper invasion probably means she pulls a bit closer once again, if only to keep people motivated and keep their spirits as high as possible. That’s not to say she doesn’t care about the crew or have any personal or emotional investment in them, but I think by this point the deification of Commander Shepard is at its strongest and she doesn’t have the time or energy to dissuade anyone from it.

22. What’s the last thing Shepard ate before the final reaper showdown?

I think due to stress and anxiety levels that Audrey wouldn't have much mind for eating, but obviously you can't fight on an empty stomach - so probably something simple and unexciting like toast or...cereal. Nutrient paste maybe? She doesn't have the most exciting food palette thanks to being brought up on star ships and therefore more used to dehydrated space food than anything else!

32. What do they do when they have hit their limit angry, just incandescent with rage

It would really depend on the situation... though it generally takes a lot for Audrey to become truly angry and she wouldn’t want anyone else to see her in that kind of emotional state. I think it’s kind of funny because generally she is a reckless person who has no regard for her own well-being whatsoever, but wouldn’t let rage blind her and cause her to be reckless.

39. Do they keep around any sentimental items?

Lmao the crusty n7 helmet is definitely one, though I think it’s less for sentimental reasons and more, “Wow this really survived getting blown out into space? Guess it’s worth keeping!”. Though I suppose it’s grounding in some ways? A reminder of your mortality... totally cool and normal. Her old dog tags might have some sentimental value, especially as the trilogy progresses... a token of who she used to be and what she used to stand for, kept around to remind her that getting back to who she used to be isn’t impossible, even during her darkest and most self-destructive moments.

Fifty Questions for Commander Shepard

[danthropologie]

I watched the podcast and daniel def tries to deflect from those questions and is (imo) very uncomfortable and laughing in awkwardness - def not excusing it tho!

immediately putting it under a cut so people that don't want the discourse can ignore 😭

a couple things i want to say before i say anything else:

these are just my opinions about it. i don't expect anyone else to agree with me, and honestly, i would encourage other people to form their own thoughts and opinions, cause everyone is going to respond differently.

i'm just gonna say it once for the record and then i'm moving on. we're not dwelling on it, i'm not open to further discourse about it, please don't send me anything else about the situation or about anything i've said here because i will be ignoring and deleting it.

now on to the asks themselves:

ok so here's the thing: yes he did deflect to a certain extent, but to me it read more like someone that's been pr trained out the ass and knew that certain jokes or topics were toeing a line they shouldn't touch than actual genuine discomfort, especially as the podcast went on and the jokes kept being circled back to. there were multiple instances where, in the midst of these long misogynist bits from the hosts, he'd sit back and joke about how he's getting a free comedy show. there was the way that after they'd finally moved on from that first, long ass bit and started asking him genuine questions, before answering, he brought it back up to jokingly ask if they're done with that topic now, which of course brought on another round of the joke. and then add to that the comments about bringing them out to a race and wanting to hire them as his personal shit talkers on the grid and things like that...it just felt like there was a constant stream of, like, endorsement of what was happening from him (which of course there was cause he's literally the one that chose to go on there in the first place!!)

i do still like him, but it's also a lot more complicated for me than it was before. like on one hand, it’s been acknowledged over and over that this sport is literally garbage from top to bottom, these men are not the place to look for moral guidance, etc., and so i’m not necessarily surprised by any means when something like this happens, especially considering the fact that this is not the first time he’s said or done something stupid and it probably won’t be the last either. but on the other hand, when it comes to this situation specifically, for me there’s just something so visceral about watching a man in his position—someone with a largely female fanbase that he’s actively and directly profiting off of through his merch—finding that sort of shit funny. it’s gross, it’s shitty, it doesn’t feel good to me, and it’s one of those things where if i knew someone personally that had done the exact same thing, i’d be reevaluating where i stand with them yk? so right now, i’m kind of at the point where i’m still working through those feelings and trying to figure out if this whole situation is something i can personally move past. but either way, i think i’m definitely gonna start thinking twice before giving him quite so much of my money 🤷‍♀️

nothing to add! the whole thing is genuinely just so stupid to me on every level and i can’t imagine what he or anyone on his team was thinking booking it. like you said, even if they agree with it or find it funny or whatever the fuck, you’d think there’d be at least one person with enough of a brain cell to say ‘hey maybe it’s actually NOT a good idea to endorse this publicly.’ but as i said in that post, not surprising that this happened (and that it’s not the first time he’s been on a questionable podcast in the first place) when he’s surrounded by such a homogenous group of yes men 24/7 lmao

i’m saying this with all the love in the world: i really REALLY think that’s a decision you need to be able to make for yourself, rather than be told by someone else. everyone’s going to have their own perspective and their own feelings about it—some people are going to say he deserves to be cancelled, some are going to find ways to excuse it or justify it or explain it away, and others will fall somewhere in between—so the most important thing is figuring out what you feel based on your perspective, rather than just following some herd opinion about who qualifies as a Good Person on tumblr dot edu yk?

[carrotmakar]

here’s to us

Pairing: Harry Styles x Reader

Genre: Enemies To Lovers (with a twist)

Word Count: 5.3k

Summary: You hate Harry more than you’ve ever hated anyone else, and he feels the same (or does he?). The people around you see the interactions that the two of you have and believe that you’re a match made in heaven, but you can’t see it, and you doubt he can either. When he’s the last option to help you with a project that you’re working on, things are either going to go very well, or they're going to crash and burn.

Warning(s): alcohol, cursing, kink talk, angst, sadness, innuendos, tension, a set of lovers trying to convince two people that they’re meant for one another, fluff

A/N: this was originally a piece written for a writing challenge but that’s been cancelled (i love u liv take your time i will still participate in any and every wc you ever do bb) so this is now just another piece haha!! Thank you to @tbslenthusiast​ and @harrysclementines​ for letting me know that this piece wasn’t as bad as i thought it was (literally forever ago like.... i wrote this a long time ago lmao)!!! Also thank you to @kiwismoon​ for letting me send you parts of the fic and scream about how much i hate myself for writing things like i did!!!

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*

Relaxing.

That’s what you were supposed to be doing tonight. You’ve been stressed out about the article that was due in less than a week and you were in need of a night out with your friends. No matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t find the inspiration to write the piece. Plus, you had been completely swamped with your school work. Even though you were still in college, you had gotten a job as a writer and chosen to take online classes. 

Sarah had suggested that you and her go out and have a few drinks. That had quickly developed into you, her, and Mitch. Then your ‘friend’ Michelle was added into the mix.

Now, you’re standing at the bar, waiting for your next shot of tequila and wondering how you let Sarah talk you into this. You hate bars. In all honesty, you only hate them because someone always seemed to mess up your nights when they were drunk. Luckily, that someone isn’t here tonight. You had made it abundantly clear to Sarah that if she were to invite anyone, it better not include him. 

As the bartender hands you your shot, you down it and place the glass down on the bar. You wait for him to retrieve it before turning to walk back to the table that Sarah, Mitch, and Michelle are occupying. Right before you sit down next to Sarah, you catch a glimpse of a very particular head of curls. Your stomach drops at the sight, and you immediately feel the urge to exit the building. There’s no way that you could mistake that for anyone else but Harry. He’s the only person that has curls as seemingly perfect as that. Plus, he’s the only broad shouldered, muscular, tattooed man that you’d ever seen around here with hair that’s grown out to the point where it passes his shoulders. 

Fighting the instinct to be as far away from him as possible, you sit down next to Sarah and do your best to ignore his presence.

That lasts all of three seconds. It’s as if something is pulling your focus towards him, and you can’t stand that, so you quickly tell Sarah that you’re going to head out. Grabbing your coat, you give her a story about suddenly having inspiration and not wanting to lose it before offering to take her almost empty cup back to the bar. She nods, wishing you a farewell.

As you’re making your way over to the bar, someone knocks into you and the small amount of liquid left in Sarah’s cup splashes onto your chest. You scoff, turning to tell whoever bumped into you to watch where they’re going. You’re met with a pair of piercing green eyes, and suddenly your words get caught in your throat. All you manage is a scoff and a quick “fuck you” before handing him the cup and walking out. 

You stand outside of the bar, leaning up against the brick wall of the building as you order an Uber for the ride home. The stench of alcohol is radiating from your shirt, and you almost gag at the smell. Beer has never been your favorite, and you have absolutely no clue how Sarah can drink it.

You place the order and go to stand on the sidewalk to wait for the car to pull up. 

“Fancy seeing you here.” The voice seems to carry through the entire street.

“What the fuck do you want, Harry?” you snap. The chuckle that he releases at your words makes your blood boil.

“Just wondering why you’re avoiding me, love.” You don’t have to turn to know that he has a smirk plastered on his face.

“Do you have a degradation kink or something?” Your words have their desired effect as he all but chokes on the air. 

“Um, no. Why? You trying to turn me on, darling?” You roll your eyes.

“Absolutely not.” How can he be so fucking annoying all the time? “I’m just wondering why you continuously pester me after I tell you how much of a dick you are and that I absolutely cannot fucking stand you.”

“Because normally when you do that, you find some way to compliment me. And I think it’s funny how flustered you get when you realize what you said.” You hear him walk closer to you, but you keep your eyes locked straight ahead of you.

“So you have a praise kink.”

When he speaks, his breath hits your ear. Fuck, you didn’t know he had gotten that close. You have to fight the shiver that’s threatening to run down your spine. You can’t give him the satisfaction of knowing that he’s having any kind of effect on you. “Do you want to test it out?”

You scoff, stepping away from him. “You fucking wish, Harry.”

He hums. “Maybe, maybe not.”

You finally turn to him. After seeing him, though, you begin to regret your decision. Seeing him like this, in a white t-shirt and black skinny jeans, hair forming his face in the most perfect way, isn’t doing you any good.

“I’m not going to be your temporary fix, Harry. Go find someone else to give you a good time.” He puts on an exaggerated pout. “I don’t even like you as a friend, so stop fucking around like that. It pisses me off.”

Before he can say anything else, your Uber arrives and you check the plates before getting in the backseat and shutting the door, effectively blocking him out.

What he would have said if your Uber hadn’t pulled up, though, is something that Harry decides you’ll never get to know. Because just when he was about to say, “I’d want you to be more than temporary,” you found a way to break his heart yet again.

*

The Uber driver has continuously given you looks since you got into the car. His nose scrunched up the moment that you closed the door, and honestly, you can’t blame him. You smell like cheap beer and probably look like an absolute mess. He’s most likely just checking to make sure that you don’t look like you’re about to throw up all over his backseat. 

You roll your eyes, trying your best to ignore him. It’s not even your fault that you’re like this right now, it’s Harry’s.

Harry, who you absolutely despise with every bit of your being. He’s been an arrogant, selfish dick since the very day that you met. He only cares about things when they include them,  constantly dropping comments about his success, and always finding a way to insert himself into any and every situation. You can’t seem to get away from him. He seems to be around no matter what you try (at first, you thought it was a coincidence, but now you’re convinced that he just does it to get on your nerves).

Harry, who’s so fucking annoying and unbearable but also so hot that he makes your mouth all but water. He can draw a reaction from you without even trying. Harry, who you’re so fucking attracted to despite hating him, and that fact makes you hate him even more.

It shouldn’t be like this. You shouldn’t be attracted to someone that makes your blood boil. 

I’m just drunk, you repeat to yourself as you push the thought of Harry as far out of your mind as you possibly can.

*

You groan as you walk out of the kitchen. 

“Y/N you know I’m right!” Sarah yells after you. “Stop trying to avoid it.”

Plopping down on Sarah’s black faux leather couch, you roll your eyes even though she can’t see it. “You’re delusional, Sarah!”

She doesn’t say anything until she comes into the living room and sits on the couch next to you. She has a bowl of chips in her hands. When you go to grab one, she pulls the bowl from your reach. 

“Admit it, you and Harry would be absolutely great together.” You could scream. She’s so adamant about the idea, but there’s no way that she could be right.

“Dude, we hate each other. What do you mean? What do you expect from us in a relationship if we can’t even be in the same room together for more than a few minutes without arguing.” She sighs, running a hand through her hair.

“I know, I know! But Y/N, come on. The two of you are so compatible.” You laugh at her words. How could she possibly think that when she sees the way the two of you interact.

“How so?” you ask, just to entertain her theory and let her get her thoughts out.

“Okay, hear me out. You both like music, right? He sings, you write songs. That’s literally perfect right there, even if you were just friends.” You nod, not saying anything. “You’re always talking about how you want to do hair and nails and stuff for your friends and I know that he’d let you paint his nails and play with his hair.” You had in fact been telling her these things, but you weren’t aware that she would choose to use them to try and set you up with Harry. “You’re both really funny and smart. You guys talk about a lot of the same things, too. It’s just never when you’re around each other.”

“Alright, yeah, that makes some sense.” She perks up slightly but you hold a finger up, motioning for her to wait a moment before getting her hopes up. “It makes sense, but you’re forgetting a few things. I couldn’t write songs for, or even with, Harry. He’d find something wrong with him just like he does now. He’d nitpick them until there was nothing that I could find about the song that he didn’t hate.” You sigh, thinking back to what she had just said. “We’d have to be too close to each other for me to mess around with his hair or nails and you know that every time we get within a few feet of each other, there’s some kind of fight that always gets started,” you trail off, giving her a chance to speak.

“Are you going to give me a reason why the last example of why you’re perfect for each other is incorrect?” She groans when you nod.

“Yeah, actually. We may like the same things and be funny and smart or whatever, but there’s no way that we’d be able to talk to each other.” 

“Why?” 

“His communication issues.” She throws her head back and obnoxiously groans.

“He doesn’t have communication issues.”

You burst out laughing. “He’s an Aquarius. Of course he does, right on top of those commitment issues.”

She rolls her eyes at you. “Whatever, Y/N. One of these days you’re going to understand that the two of you are quite literally a match made in Heaven.”

“Not likely,” you mumble before reaching for the remote and finding a movie to put on.

*

“Wait, what?” Mitch is looking at Harry like he’s grown a second head.

“You guys were right. Always have been, really, I just couldn’t say it before now.” Harry gulps, waiting for the ‘I told you so.’ It doesn’t come, though.

“Fuck, dude, I’m so sorry.” Harry shrugs it off.

“Not letting it get to me anymore. I’m tired of letting her break my heart.” He curses himself when tears begin to line his eyes.

“If I had known you really felt that way I would have backed off.” Harry nods at his words. “Sarah would’ve too.”

“It’s fine, Mitch, really. I just, I’m just tired, you know? It’s like there’s a magnetic force pulling me to her but every time I try to get close she shows me, yet again, that she can’t stand me.” He’s never been ashamed to show his feelings, and right now isn’t when he’s going to start. He lets his tears fall down his face as he leans back against the chair he’s sitting in.

“I really didn’t know, H. Normally I can tell when you like someone but it wasn’t like that this time.” Harry nods at him.

“You get pretty good at hiding your feelings when you’re hiding heartbreak after heartbreak.” He’s silent for a moment. “Should I cut off my hair?”

“If you want. But don’t do it just because you’re sad or you’ll regret it.” Harry closes his eyes as he debates the decision. A part of him wants to do it anyway, make the sadness go away for a moment as the exhilaration of a new haircut sinks in, but the rational part of him knows that Mitch is right.

As he sits there with tear stained cheeks, new droplets wetting his face every few seconds, he really wishes that he could hate you. He wishes that he could find anything to hate about you. But when he searches his brain for a reason to dislike you, he comes up empty. It’s frustrating, really. You seem to hate everything about him while he can’t hate a single thing when it comes to you.

He hears Mitch get up, presumably to go get something to eat, but he doesn’t open his eyes. There are a million memories with you flashing through his mind and it hurts him even more to know that every single one of them have been bad.

*

“What do you mean you can’t do it?” Your voice is high pitched, some would even say a little whiny. “Sarah, you promised me that you’d sing the song for me.”

“I know, Y/N. But something urgent came up with Mitch’s family and I have to be there.” Even over the phone, you can hear how worried that she is, so you can’t really bring yourself to be upset with her.

“It’s fine, Sarah. Really, I understand.” You hear her sigh of relief and a small smile graces your face, glad that she now has one less thing to worry about. “I’ll just find someone else to do it.”

“Ask Harry.” She suggests.

“Why would I do that?” The way your mood changed was immediate and it’s almost sad, how fast he gets you worked up.

“Because, Y/N, this project is due in like two days and he’s available.” She says in her duh voice. “Plus, he can sing really well, so just ask him. The worst thing he can say is no.”

“That’s a lie. The worst thing he can say is yes.” Sarah laughs before wishing you good luck and hanging up.

You groan, thinking about what Sarah said. She’s right, honestly. There’s nobody else that you’re going to find on such short notice, especially not one that can sing as good as Harry can. Admitting to yourself that you need him (which is something you never thought you’d say), you pick up your phone and click on his contact.

“Y/N?” His voice sounds deeper than usual, a little raspier, too. Almost like he just got out of bed. You’d be lying if you said it didn’t have an effect on you, the way your name sounds coming out of his mouth when he sounds like that.

“I need your help.” You grimace at the words.

“Alright. What do you need.” Your mind races, trying to figure out why he didn’t have a sarcastic comment or a snarky remark to throw at you. You ignore it for now, though.

“I need you to sing a song that I wrote for a project.” He hums, and you can picture him pulling his bottom lip between his fingers and then running his hand through his curls.

“Okay, when do you need me?” 

“Does tomorrow work? Around noon?” You hold your breath as you hope for the best.

“Yeah, I’ll be at your place then.”

You thank him and hang up, letting your phone fall from your hand down onto the couch. Harry Styles, the man that you swear you hate, is coming to your house tomorrow. 

*

When he arrives the next day, you almost immediately hand him the song and let him read over it, not necessarily wanting to spend any more time with him than needed. When he says he has a few suggestions, you’re terrified that he’s going to tell you how awful he is, but he actually only has a few suggestions to help with the flow of things. Besides that, he promises that it’s a really good song. 

You go to grab your camera and set it up while he strums on the guitar that he brought. Once you’re ready to begin filming, he sets the paper with the lyrics on it to the side and nods.

He begins singing after the camera has started recording and you get entranced by him almost immediately. His eyes close as soon as the first word leaves him mouth and with them shut you feel much more comfortable while looking at him. His hair is flowing all around him and you have the intense urge to tuck the strands behind his ears. There’s a small crease between his brows, that of which she wants to smooth out with a kiss to his forehead. He seems so concentrated, and something about it pulls at her heartstrings.

You shake your head. He’s your enemy, remember? you think to yourself as you divert your eyes to somewhere else in the room. 

After you’ve looked away you find yourself wondering why. Why do you hate Harry so much, really? Yeah he can be arrogant and cocky and rude but who isn’t? Yeah he talks about his famous life and his awards and chart placements a lot, but you would do the same in his shoes.

Plus, he really is pretty funny now that you stop to really think about it. He’s all the things that Sarah had told you over the past few months, and you can’t believe that you didn’t realize until now. You don’t hate Harry, you’ve been convincing yourself that you do to hide the way that you really feel about him.

You’re broken from your thoughts when he clears his throat. Once you turn to him, there’s a smirk on his face. “Could feel you watching me, love.”

Your cheeks burn at the statement. Regardless of the truth in it, you’re still not very keen on admitting that you were ogling him only minutes prior. 

“It’s alright, I find myself looking at you sometimes, too.” You don’t say anything to that, and the room falls quiet. 

With that stupid smirk, that’s way too hot for it to natural and fair, he picks up his keys and his coat and walks to your front door. “See you later, sweetheart.”

You raise your hand in a pathetic half wave goodbye and try your best to smile. As he opens the door, cold air sweeps through the room and you can see the snowflakes falling outside. “Great, there’s a storm.” He groans, but still continues to walk out the door.

“Harry, wait!” He stops, turning to face you. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Um… leaving?” He gestures towards his car that’s most likely covered in snow by now.

“Not in this weather you’re not.” Your voice grows hard as you glare at him. You know that he’d most likely rather not be around you, but there’s not a chance in hell that you’re going to allow him to risk his life by driving home.

Surprisingly, he doesn’t put up a fight, he just shuts the door and shrugs his coat back off. He hesitantly comes back over to take a seat on the couch. You stay silent, struggling to find the words to say.

“So, um, do you want to watch something?” He asks after a few minutes of nearly unbearable silence.

“Yeah, I’ve been watching Lucifer on Netflix, but if you don’t want to watch that, we can watch a movie or something.” You offer, looking over at him.

“Yeah, we can watch that.” You grab the remote from the table and walk over to sit next to him on the couch. 

Pulling up Netflix and starting Lucifer, you let your eyes wander to Harry for a split second before noticing that he’s already looking at you. You immediately divert your gaze. Your cheeks begin to heat up, but you try your best to ignore it.

*

After watching almost an entire season of Lucifer, you’re just about ready to go to bed. You’ve gotten increasingly more comfortable beside Harry and you’ve even started to lean into him slightly. Not a single part of your body is touching yours, but you can tell that you’ve gotten closer.

You’re about to get up and brush your teeth when the lights go out. You groan, throwing your head back against the back of the couch. “Great, power’s out.”

He doesn’t say anything, just hums in response. 

“Stay where you are. I know where the candles and the flashlight is, and I don’t want you to hurt yourself trying to get around.” You stand up, feeling your way through the living room towards the kitchen. Opening the cabinet closest to the wall, you pull out the three candles and the flashlight. Fuck, you forgot that there are only two candles. That’s not enough for there to be one in the hallway on the table, in the bathroom, and in the living room for Harry. And fuck, your extra blankets are in the washer.

You shake your head, lighting the candles and walking to the bathroom to place one down, and then through to the hallway to do the same. Making your way back to the kitchen, you pick up the flashlight and switch it on.

Once you reach the living room again, you clear your throat. “Okay, bad news. There were only two candles, and they need to be in the hallway and the bathroom.” You cough awkwardly. “Also, my extra blankets are dirty and I don’t want you to lay out here in the dark and freeze to death so,” your voice gets quieter, “do you maybe wanna come lay with me?”

He chokes on his spit and then clears his throat. “Um, yeah, yeah, sure. If that’s okay with you, of course. Remember, I can always go home.” You shake your head as his words.

“Nonsense, come on.”

Once the two of you are in your room, you climb into your bed and wait for Harry to do the same. Neither of you say a word as you get comfortable as you try to get to sleep. Without the heater working and there only being one blanket, though, it’s a little hard to stay warm and comfortable. “Um, Harry, I- can I- you- can we maybe… fuck I don’t know.”

You feel him turn towards you. “Are you cold, love?”

“Yeah.”

He wraps his arm around your waist and pulls you closer to him, letting you lay your head on his chest and wrap yourself up in his embrace. His arms come to wrap around you and one hand finds its way to your hair as the other rests on your hip.

As you bask in his warmth, you try your best to not let yourself think about the way that you feel so perfectly comfortable in his arms. About how he smells so divine and he’s so warm that you’d be content with never leaving his embrace. About how, without even realizing it, you’ve been letting yourself believe that you hate Harry when really you’re in love with him. However, you’ll never tell him that. Not a chance. If there’s one thing that you absolutely will not do, it’s let Harry Styles break your heart.

*

When you open your eyes the next morning, you’re still in Harry’s arms. He isn’t awake yet, so you let yourself appreciate the way that his hair is tickling your face and the way that his arms are holding you tightly to his body. You let yourself enjoy the way that he’s got ahold of you like he can’t bear to lose you. 

You know that when he opens his eyes, everything is going to go back to normal. You’ll have to hate him again and he’ll pretend that none of this ever happened. That thought shouldn’t hurt you as much as it does.

You’re broken out of your thoughts by his voice. “Mornin’, love. Did you sleep well?”

You nod, all but entranced in the way that his voice is so much raspier when he first wakes up. “Sorry for being all over you, it was cold last night.” 

You go to move away from him, but he keeps you hugged to him. “Don’t apologize, like having you here, dove.” The words confuse you, but you don’t question them. Instead, you let yourself relax back into him.

Everything is silent for a few minutes, but the air is comfortable this time. “Do you wanna go get some coffee if the roads aren’t bad?” Harry whispers.

“Yeah, sure.”

The two of you climb out of bed and get ready for the day. You let him use an extra toothbrush and once you brush through your hair, you hand the tool to him. He gives a small “thanks” and gets to work on taming his hair as you walk out of the bathroom.

A few minutes later, he’s walking towards the living room with his keys and then he’s leading you out the door to his car.

The ride to the coffee shop is silent besides the hum of the radio, neither of you really knowing what to say.

Once the two of you slide into a booth at the little diner that he drove you to, you order a coffee and something as he does the same.

“So, tell me about yourself, Y/N. I don’t really know much about you.”

You hesitate for a moment, trying to figure out what to tell him.

“I write. My job is to write articles for this company. But I’m still in school technically, so I’m taking online classes to finish getting my degree. I like songwriting. Um, I think that’s about it.” Your cheeks heat up as you tell him about yourself, although none of the things that you’re listing are embarrassing.

“Why haven’t you ever talked about your songwriting before?” He ponders, placing his elbow on the table and resting his chin on his hand.

“Um, you hate me. Or.. hated me? I don’t know. I don’t want you to tear it apart just because you’re some hotshot writer. Or because you hate me.”

He pulls back, looking down. “Never hated you.”

“What?” You had to have heard that wrong.

“Ever stop to think why I was only rude when you got rude first?”

Your jaw drops as you think it over. “No, um, I didn’t.”

“Yeah, well. I never hated you.”

“So, you’re telling me that I hated you and you just… never hated me?” He grimaces.

“Yeah.”

“Fuck, I’m sorry.”

He offers you a soft smile. “It’s fine.”

Throughout the next few hours, you sit there with Harry and talk about any and everything that comes to your mind. He pays for the bill, although you insist on letting you help. As you’re walking out to his car and he’s about to drive you home, he stops. “Um, hey would you maybe want to hang out some more?”

The question takes you by surprise, but you agree nonetheless. “Yeah, I actually would really like that.”

He nods, climbing into the car as you smile to yourself.

*

It’s been six months since you made Harry stay over at your house because of that pesky snowstorm, and you’ve never been more thankful for the weather.

You’ve spent the majority of your time together, going out to eat when possible and staying over at your house most nights. His is too big, as you’ve always said, so for the simple sleepovers, you insisted that he came over to yours. You’ve grown closer and closer to him, and now you can confidently say that he’s your best friend.

Along with the growing friendship, your feelings have gotten deeper. There’s not a single part of you can deny that you’re absolutely, head over heels in love with Harry. And you don’t want to anymore. You still don’t want to tell him, but you’re no longer lying to yourself in the slightest.

Today is the only day thus far that you’ve even slightly regretted how close that you’ve become with Harry. And that’s because you’re currently standing at the airport, head buried into his chest as you try to find a way to say goodbye for the next six months. 

“Don’t want you to go.” You whine as you hold him as close as you possibly can.

He murmurs a “fuck it” before pulling away from you.

“Come with me.” Your eyebrows raise in surprise. “I know, it sounds crazy. Absolutely ridiculous. But listen, we’ll go home, back to your place and we’ll pack your bags and then we’ll go. I’ll reschedule my flight. I- I can’t do this without you, Y/N.” He reaches up and runs a hand through his curls (which you’d begged him to let you braid, but he said it was easier to have it down for flights). “Listen, you’re my rock. I- I feel like I can breathe when you’re around me. Fuck, Y/N, I’m in love with you.” 

You freeze, completely shocked by the words that fell from his mouth.

“Fuck, I didn’t mean to say that. That was stupid. Forget I ever said anything.” He’s rambling because he thinks there’s no way that you can feel the same but you do.

“I’m in love with you, H. Have been for a long time.” Before he can respond, you surge forward and grab his face in your hands. Bringing his face closer, you slot your lips with his and allow the kiss to envelop you. After a few moments, you pull back. “Let’s go home and get my bags packed.”

*

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 309: Gotta Go My Own Way

Previously on BnHA: Muscular was all “well if it isn’t the protagonist on his solo journey of self-discovery, for some reason I’m unironically glad I get to fight you!” Deku was all “hey Muscular before I finish kicking your ass would you please take a moment to answer these two survey questions? Question one, do you regret being a total piece of shit? And question two, if you could do anything at all in the world other than being a total piece of shit, would you?” Muscular was all, “pfft, no and no.” Deku was all, “thanks buddy, your feedback helps make me a better hero, here’s a coupon for fifteen percent off your next ass-whooping.” Then he whooped his ass.

Today on BnHA: Deku is all “what up All Might can you believe you’ve been here this entire time?” All Might is all “I sure can since that’s literally my catch phrase, anyway how are your magic movie 1 gauntlets holding up?” Deku is all “they’re holding up fine, how are Hawks, Endeavor, and Best Jeanist doing?” Hawks, Endeavor, and Best Jeanist are all “we, your fellow co-conspirators, are also doing fine, thanks for asking!” Flashback!Deku is all “anyway so I secretly have All Might’s quirk and the most dangerous people in the world are after me, so sorry mom but that’s why I’m dropping out of school.” Inko is all “I CAN’T ACCEPT THAT” while totally accepting it. All Might is all “I GUESS WE’LL JUST HAVE TO GO ALONG WITH IT SINCE I DON’T FEEL LIKE TRYING TO STOP HIM.” Hawks, Jeanist, and Endeavor, as previously mentioned, are all “yeah that sounds like a good plan”, and Gran is all “see ya kid, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” So basically everyone in the entire world has suddenly teamed up with Deku to defeat AFO, except for the one person whose entire foreshadowed endgame is “teaming up with Deku to defeat AFO.” O Kacchan where art thou.

dear tumblr image limit: okay look. you don’t like me, and I don’t like you. but just as an experiment, I’m gonna try writing this recap with as few images as possible and we’ll see how it goes

(ETA: spoilers for how it went: it didn’t, lol.)

oh my god WHY ARE WE OPENING WITH MORE KETSUBUTSU ACADEMY KIDS.ffs we’d better at least finally get some Ms. Joke content out of this

(ETA: seriously who do I have to bribe.)

so these two KB kids who no one cares about are watching Deku leap away from the scene after dispatching Muscular. but more importantly wtf is this chapter title omg. “I can’t stay being a child” so that’s how it is huh. we’re gonna have feels and we’re going to like them. well then

oh my god he’s hauling Muscular away dhfksklfkh okay this is gonna have to be our first image because I can’t fucking help myself. look at this

just. Deku is so tiny and he’s carting away this massive unconscious lump of a man like it’s nothing why is this so funny to me. it’s like when people buy furniture, and they don’t want to pay extra for delivery and so they’re like, “I can definitely fit this king-sized mattress in the back of my compact sedan if I fold the fucking seat down, idk.” and they refuse to be talked out of it, and the next thing you know you’re watching them drive home with their open trunk door haphazardly tied down with bungee cords, and somehow it fucking works. because it turns out the compact sedan has super strength

anyway for SOME REASON now Horikoshi is all “have fun with that Deku, meanwhile we now return you to your regularly scheduled SHINDOU CONTENT” whyyyyyy

look at this. we’re really using up a whole fucking entire page on everyone arguing over who gets the honor of carrying Shindou

love how the civilians are all, “shit lol is this actually our fault?? quick, how do we play this off all casual like we were the reasonable parties here all along”

turns out all it took to finally get them to listen was making them watch while a kid got his insides ground into a pulp because of their stupidity!! what a heartwarming conclusion to this little standoff

anyways THANK GOD we’re cutting back to Deku now!! well actually we’re cutting back to Muscular who is being dropped off at the police precinct, good bye and good riddance lol

so Deku’s leaving him there and bounding away and okjdlSKFJLKJDSL OH MY GOD

no fucking way. no fucking way this little jaunt is All Might-sanctioned and approved. are you serious?? then who else is in on this?? what the hell is going on

so All Might is just WAITING FOR HIM IN AN ALLEY FFF WHO ARE YOU, JIM GORDON. or would Alfred be a better analogy here?? but like, Alfred if he ditched the suit for a moto jacket and shades

this new ensemble of All Might’s may or may not severely impact my ability to take this forthcoming conversation seriously; please stand by

also, quite the spectacular landing there, Deku. seriously lol what was that

“HOW ARE YOUR LIMBS” “THANKS TO YOU THEY’RE COMPLETELY FINE” I’M SORRY WHAT

LOL WHAT. “THANKS TO THE POWER OF THESE MAGIC GLOVES” OH I SEE THAT EXPLAINS IT

are these the same gauntlets from the first movie, then? well that’s all well and good, except that now there’s going to be more Deku Discourse than fucking ever lol. so if it’s all the same to you guys, I’m gonna once again go ahead and declare this week’s post a discourse-free zone, at least when it comes to the specific discourse of Deku’s merits as a MC, and the impact that him kicking ass and having working arms has on said merits. this has been something of a low mental energy week for me, so I’d rather reserve the energy I do have for more fun topics, such as All Might’s bitchin’ leather jacket

anyway so All Might’s saying that the gauntlets will help reinforce Deku’s arms, but they can’t withstand OFA at 100%. so basically it’s a support item designed to maintain the status quo lol. we’re basically in the same situation we were before, arm-capability-wise

homg All Might’s getting a call. time to see who else is in on Operation: Deku Alone?? or not so alone for that matter

omg

HI HAWKS, WHERE ARE YOUR WINGS

(ETA: seriously are they really gone for good?? why would he even be back on active duty then?? does he have his own American ex-boyfriend who can hook him up with exclusive support items?? dammit Horikoshi we want answers.)

looks like Jeanist and Endeavor are teaming up as well, just like they said they would. I would gladly follow this trio around all day long tbh

is this the same giant villain from the very first chapter??

looks like it to me, and it would tie in with that callback from the end of chapter 306. we all thought that was Muscular, but maybe it was this guy, and Deku left these three to deal with him while he ran off to take Muscular down

oh my god now Deku is running off again just like that

kids these days

ffffff I have not had nearly enough sleep to follow along with whatever tf Hawks is talking about here sob

like, is he trying to say that All Might is keeping Deku’s whereabouts unknown to anyone except for him?? in order to keep him safe?? but Hawks is pointing out that that’s a bad strategy and probably won’t do shit against AFO and it’s better if he lets Deku work with the rest of them?

(ETA: so @hanashimas​’ translation makes a lot more sense -- it’s not All Might who’s being overprotective, but Deku. in other words he’s trying not to drag All Might into his battles. and in addition Hawks is saying that their strategy is to take the offensive and go after AFO themselves rather than wait for him to come to them. which I’m not too sure about myself, but that’s another topic for another day.)

btw I can’t help thinking how much better this entire conversation would be if All Might was still wearing his sunglasses. put them back on my dude. it’s not too late. embrace your inner badass

DKLJSLDKFJL FLASHBACK ALERT, FUCKING FINALLY

“turns out, we were just trying to scare you straight. fuck lot of good that did though lol”

also what is this. one true love: the hospital bed. is that a scanlator joke or is Horikoshi actually that funny omg

SKLJDFLJLK

ITSA ME!! omg I love this hospital so much. though it’s sure not helping me in my quest to try and keep this post below ten images. I’m already up to eleven haha r.i.p. to me if tumblr doesn’t get its shit together

whaaaaaat, so he’s saying that Deku’s injuries were external (i.e. Tomura beating the shit out of him) rather than internal this time?? whaaaaat. excuse me but that’s some bullshit lmao. believe me, I was there

okay now he’s going on to explain that Deku’s “internal structure” seems to have been protected from the inside and out, and the corresponding panel seems to be implying that using Blackwhip as a brace paid off. huh

and also that his body is just stronger now?? so I guess he’s better able to withstand the quirk after an additional year of training?? I’M NOT SURE IF I BUY ANY OF THIS LOL but I’m willing to suspend my disbelief

OH MY GOD RED ALERT, INKO IS ASKING ALL MIGHT TO EXPLAIN WTAF DEKU’S QUIRK IS, IS IT FINALLY THAT TIME OMGGGG

SO HE’S EXPLAINING IT TO HER OFF-SCREEN, AND INKO IS JUST LIKE

I GUESS THAT’S FAIR LOL. IT’S TRUE INKO I’M SO SORRY, YOUR SON IS A PROGATONIST R.I.P.

AHHKKJH DEKU ANGST IS IT FINALLY THAT TIME OMGGGGGG

what is this soft pop beat that’s suddenly being pumped in over the speakers. I’VE GOT TO MOVE ON~ AND BE WHO~ I~ AM~~~, I JUST DON’T BELONG HERE, I HOPE YOU UNDERSTAAAAAAAND. also, follow-up question, when is Kacchan finally going to come back so he can jump in with the “WHAT ABOUT US~~~” bridge, huh. come the fuck on, Horikoshi

lmao All Might jesus christ

but given that it’s a stupid-ass decision...

anyway, yes!! finally that sweet, sweet “I don’t want to put anyone else in danger” angst!!

mmm that’s good angst Brent. Kacchan with center panel honors as usual, you love to see it. anyways though who do I have to yell at to get Deku a goddamn HUG around here seriously

so Inko is of course reacting with panic, and sensibly saying that she doesn’t approve of Deku’s “RUN AWAY AND FIGHT THE BAD GUYS ALL ON MY OWN, DON’T WORRY MOM I’LL JUST GET STRONGER, EASY AS PIE, IT’S A FOOLPROOF STRATEGY” plan

son of a bitch this manipulative green asshole is really gonna sit here and smile fondly at his mom and try to convince her that he’s Not A Little Kid Anymore. the hell you’re not mister

y'all are really just gonna sit there and let him talk you into this?? surely it can’t be that easy??

OH MY GOD

THE FEELS oh my god oh my god. BUT ALSO YOU’RE SERIOUSLY JUST GOING TO COLLAPSE INTO HIS ARMS SOBBING AND LET HIM DO WHATEVER THE FUCK HE WANTS LKJLJLFK. WHERE ARE ALL THE STRICT PARENTS AT?? AIZAWA, GANG ORCA, MITSUKI, SOMEONE PLEASE COME AND TELL DEKU TO SIT HIS ASS THE FUCK DOWN. NOW LISTEN HERE YOUNG MAN!!

“EVEN IF I TRY TO STOP YOU YOU’LL STILL LEAVE” WELL SURE, IF BY “TRY TO STOP HIM” YOU MEAN POLITELY TRY TO TALK HIM OUT OF IT FOR THREE SECONDS. HE’S SIXTEEN WTF WHEN DID HE BECOME THE BOSS OF YOU ALL. SOMEONE NEEDS TO COME AND TELL HIM HE’S GROUNDED

anyway sob so that’s the story of how Deku talked his parents into letting him drop out of school, and even convinced All Might to be his own personal Guy In The Chair. holy shit. this kid really went and rolled a nat 20 and the rest of them had no choice but to fold without argument

meanwhile here’s a panel of Best Jeanist trying to braid his phone into his hair just cuz

I’m dying to know which part of his language he considers to be crude here. you literally didn’t even use a contraction my guy

so now flashback!Deku is talking to Gran in the dark, and Gran is all “can you believe I’m not fucking dead yet lol that’s too funny. anyway, you sure I can’t interest you in killing Tomura after all?? no?? okay then here’s my cape.” truly a heartwarming scene

I’m kind of torn here tbh. on the one hand, my adhd ass wasn’t all that interested in sitting down and having an extended scene between these two when there’s so much else that I want to get to. but on the other hand, even I can admit that cramming this entire reunion into a single page seems just a BIT rushed. idk. like maybe someone can let Horikoshi know it’s a marathon and not a race. Deku didn’t even get any dialogue here, some of us want to know his thoughts!! but anyway

AND JUST LIKE THAT?!

how did all four of them let him con them into this. I literally just watched it happen and I still can’t figure out how. “I GUESS THIS SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT IS OUR LEADER NOW” ffflfjf. when Aizawa finds out he’s gonna go apeshit. AND DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON BAKUGOU KATSUKI, WHO I HAVE BEEN ASSURED DOES IN FACT STILL EXIST. WHAT ABOUT USSSSS, WHAT ABOUT EVERYTHING WE’VE BEEN THROUGH. WHAT ABOUT TRUST???! YOU KNOW I NEVER WANTED TO HURT YOUUUUU

btw lol don’t get me wrong, I am enjoying this, and I’m honestly glad Deku’s not alone because that would suck for him! but that said, Hawks and Jeanist have lost any credibility they might have once had as far as being The Responsible Ones, and as for All Might and Endeavor, fucking hell lol. everyone just deposited all of their fucks in a bank somewhere for safekeeping and decided to never look back. godspeed you mad lads

[flodaya]

I think I read that you had experience with toxic friendships and I just wanted to ask this, i feel like people are already simplifying the topic a lot? Like it feels like they believe if constantin was kicked out that the instas would immediately be the best friendgroup ever, and idk but there's a reason why all of them became friends in the 1st place aside from constantins alleged problems and that is imo that all of them are/were a bit toxic themselves, I feel like some people think that constantin was forcing them and dragging them to things with him and especially for him from the beginning, and while there's no doubt constantin is the most toxic right now, its just because the others already acknowledged their (past) toxicity, like zoe on NYE, kieu my with the ava bullying, and ismail partly aswell with expressing that constantin is a bad influence, and imo now many took that statement and ran with it, as if the others can't make their own decisions anymore. And also imo if they kick constantin out, their whole dynamic is going to change aswell, because for a quite amount of time it was to appease constantin, but now they have to build up a new one if that makes sense. I have zero experience with toxic friendships so idk if what I'm saying makes sense or is valid so I'd hoped you'd be able to give your own view on it

Also what i forgot to add, fatou really did a great job to make the instas likable, without her I wouldn't want to know anything about them

you're lucky that you have no experience with toxic friendships!! i hope you never will, but yes i do have quite some experience with it, tbh since the moment we've met the instas they reminded me eerily of my own friend group in like 8th through 10th grade, i've had a friend who is a lot like consti and another one who is (and looks!!) a lot like ismail, and then there was me and my bestie and her on and off boyfriend (who was the most unproblematic and most quiet one lmao)

and yeah i definitely think people are oversimplifying the situation but at the same time i don't know if i want them to make it more nuanced? because in reality even the most toxic friends can be the kindest and most caring people towards you. my c-equivalent friend was at times my favourite person to hang out with, he cared for me, he made me feel safe, he was funny; but other times he would become controlling possessive and a literal bully, either towards me and our friends, or a random "victim", yet we never really stopped him, we were more glad he wasn't directing his viciousness towards one of us on that day. tbh we never really tried to cut him out, it didn't really ever cross our minds, we just accepted him as part of our friends - not just accepted we loved him as part of our group because it isn't as simple as to say he was a horrible person all of the time, honestly, most of the time he was awesome, and even 5 years later i still miss him and his friendship while also getting anxious by the mere thought of ever hanging out with him, you just never knew what you were going to get: kind caring friend or bully

in my case we all just drifted apart, after i left the school their friend group kind of crumbled because i was the glue who held him inside our group in a way, i'm glad it happened like that, i think if we had "broken up" in a traditional sense it would have been a lot harder on all of us

so TLDR, this got long and personal lmao, basically toxic friendships are very individual experience, no two will be the same, and while i do think some nuance is needed and contrary to what everyone else seems to want i don't think it would help anyone if they just portray c-man as a pure villain or if he simply vanished by the end of the season, but i also don't think druck should make the situation too complex because the message should still be clear enough for everyone to understand

[everythingsinred]

Let's Talk About NatsuMikan: Natsume (pt. 6)

Last time, we talked about Natsume's growing crush on Mikan. As the festival continues, his feelings will only grow. Today we'll discuss how these new feelings will affect him, and particularly how they have the potential to create tension in his friendship with Ruka.

Chapter Twenty-One

Mikan is guilty for not having already gone to Iinchou’s haunted house in the latent ability class area. So they end up going together. Although Mikan is easily distracted and wants to try everything in the latent area, Natsume is strict on going straight to the destination with no tangents.

Iinchou lets them in right away without having to wait in the hour-long line. Mikan puts on airs about being a country girl and, just like she’s unafraid of bugs, she’s also not afraid of ghosts. Except she totally is.

Ruka and Natsume don’t seem particularly scared of the haunted house so far, but Mikan is, and she clings to Ruka, desperate not to be left behind, even if it means she hurts him with her grasp.

The person who posted these TokyoPop scans forgot a couple pages so for the longest time the beginning of the chapter was so confusing to me...

Natsume looks behind to see them and is jealous, yet again. Just like with Tsubasa, Natsume is unhappy with his fate to be the bad guy in general. He goes out of his way to look bad to protect people and as a result will not be the one clung to. It’s different from Tsubasa though, because this isn’t some nameless middle schooler that Natsume can take his anger out on: this is his best friend, somebody he’s never felt anything but affection for. Natsume doesn’t want to hurt Ruka; he’s just sad that the situation is so messed up.

Lucky for Ruka, Natsume gives up before there can even be a competition.

It’s for the best this way, after all. For Ruka to be happy, for Mikan to be with somebody kind who deserves her, and even for him, because maybe this way Mikan won’t be used against him like everybody else he cares about.

Natsume makes this decision without talking to anybody and before anyone can even figure out that there’s a choice to be made in the first place.

Then they run into a crawling hag and nobody’s immune to the terror that being chased after by that demon brings. All three of them run for it, but they end up in a new spooky room, which freaks Mikan out so much she screams and faints, foaming at the mouth, causing Natsume to fall and twist his ankle and for Ruka’s rabbit to run off. He chases after it, leaving Natsume and Mikan alone. Iinchou breaks whatever causes the electricity to run in the building and now they’re trapped alone in the dark, unable to get out.

Mikan tries to figure out a way for them to escape, but climbing the wall is out of the question since Natsume’s ankle is twisted. He suggests that he blow up the wall, but Mikan is adamantly against that idea because the latent students worked hard to make the mansion. Natsume acquiesces. That’s fine. He doesn’t mind spending more time with her. It just means she’ll have to stay in the dark for longer.

She is very clingy when she’s scared, and although he complains he doesn’t really make any moves to get her off. I mean, why would he? This is exactly what he wanted, though he did only get it because he was the only person around that she could cling to. There’s a moment where he spooks her, perhaps so she would hug him more, but then she whines for him to stop scaring her and the panels are quite sparkly. Natsume is distressed about his new crush and the effect it has on him. Really her whining and puppy-dog eyes are not any less powerful on Natsume than they are on Ruka. He’s just better at hiding it.

He looks at her softly and then has a moment where he looks almost peeved to have felt so fond at all... but it won't last. These days he has more affection for her than irritation.

Mikan tries apologizing about getting angry with him at Anna’s cafe, but he pretends like he has no idea what she’s talking about. To me, this cements that Natsume wants to look bad to her in particular. He doesn’t really want her to figure out that he’s kind deep down or that he’s selfless 99% of the time. He doesn’t want her to think he cares at all because it’s best for him to continue being the same jerk he has been for the past twenty chapters. He’s okay with her hating him, because that way she won’t become the new Ruka, used by the academy as a pawn to get him to jump through more hoops.

She tries to make him smile and that’s another big deal. Most people think Natsume is cool for being so unaffected. His fans think he’s the man, a tough guy who frowns all the time. Even Ruka’s approach to this issue was to stop smiling too.

Mikan’s approach is to tell jokes.

Of course, it doesn’t work, and the jokes aren’t any good, but Mikan is trying something nobody else has done: instead of looking up to him or going down to his level of misery, Mikan’s trying to lift him up. She wants him to smile and be happy and that sets her apart. She’s immature and childish and that brings out the childishness in him too. And like I mentioned a while ago, childishness in Natsume is a good thing. With her, he can bicker and argue and tease like he used to before he came to the academy. She has no idea what he’s going through and her mood changes so quickly she can’t even stay mad or upset. She’s just a joyful and loud girl who rubs off on everyone she meets and Natsume is far from being an exception.

He can just mess around like a kid for once. He doesn't have to be serious around her all the time.

Thus, the next important thing in regards to analyzing their relationship is that the last page of the chapter has him teasing her and then smiling at her reaction. We’ve only seen Natsume smile twice before: with Youichi for a brief moment, and then with Ruka on the cover for Chapter Sixteen (Natsume's evil smile when Mikan gets bullied by middle schoolers doesn't count as a real smile). This officially adds Mikan to the incredibly short list of people who can make Natsume smile. She’s angry with him, arguing, but being able to let go of all his darkness and just tease a girl and have her act with such strong emotions is enough to make him happy. And that’s what this is: Natsume is happy.

Chapter Twenty-Three

The musical creates some tension between Natsume and Ruka, as expected, because liking the same girl can make rifts between friends. On the other hand, this isn’t your typical love triangle. Usually in love triangles, the two guys are already positioned against each other. Though Natsume and Ruka may be opposites in many ways, they are not rivals at all. They love each other, and that love is not at all damaged by the conflict of falling for the same girl; it just becomes tense between them.

In fact, the beginning of the chapter has some Class B pals eagerly going backstage to find Ruka before the somatic ability class musical. When they find him, Natsume is the only one to not laugh at or tease him, and seems to be the only one really concerned with Ruka’s feelings about being cast as Snow White.

When the sticky ball incident occurs, there’s a lot more damage done than there is in the anime. In the anime, some cast and crew get stuck, but ultimately nobody was in any real danger of being hurt. In the manga, there were potentially catastrophic consequences for the blast and a lot of equipment got damaged in the process. A somatic child playing one of the seven dwarves is about to be hit by a stagelight when Natsume rushes to get him out of the way, resulting in them getting stuck together. If Natsume hadn’t stepped in, that kid could have gotten really injured, at least.

As a result of Natsume’s heroism, Narumi suggests that he dress up as a forest friend. When Natsume refuses, the child is to be kicked out of the play, and the seven dwarves will be changed to six. Natsume sees the kid pout and with absolutely no more need for convincing he goes to get changed into a cat outfit.

This is noteworthy because the cat outfit is humiliating (not that Natsume hasn’t worn similar things in official art… just saying) and it’s something he truly does not want to do, but he does it, even though he doesn’t even know the kid. It’s some random somatic kid, not Ruka or Youichi or even Mikan, and yet he goes out of his way to do something truly selfless so that the kid can perform what he’s practiced. Natsume is kind in quiet ways, and not just with the people he cares about. Like with Anna, Natsume puts the needs of someone he isn’t close to in front of his own reputation.

Now, Natsume is in a horrible mood, embarrassed to be seen in the costume, and Ruka is confused why he’d even bother, until he sees the smile on the little kid and everything snaps into place for him. Mikan is a very intuitive and emotional girl who can sense things about all sorts of people, but when it comes to Natsume, nobody knows him better than Ruka, who can tell right away the motives for any of his actions.

I work at a restaurant and kids Natsume's age will be like, "I don't want a kids' menu" and act all grown up and then see how big the adult portions are, so they end up eating the Cub Pancake anyway LMAO. Do you want extra whipped cream and chocolate chips, Natsume?

Onto the actual NatsuMikan portion of this analysis, at long last, Mikan is overjoyed to see how adorable he is in his costume and she is the only one who won’t hold back from saying so because she’s not scared of him. I’ve seen someone complaining that Natsume says “Don’t call men cute,” but I always found that line funny because Natsume is a literal ten-year-old boy… He is not a man at all. It’s the sort of thing you’d expect a kid to say, especially one who wants to be a grown-up as soon as possible, which makes the line endearing to me, but that’s my personal feelings about it. (Like the above caption, I find it very amusing when little kids pretend they're all grown up.)

Anyway, Natsume is as much an idiot as he is in the anime, volunteering Mikan to be the prince, even using one of his three wishes to make it happen. This is all motivated by his feelings of humiliation, and he’s taking it out on her, arguing that he doesn’t want to wear the outfit for no reason so the show has to go on no matter the cost--but this will bite him in the ass sooner rather than later.

Chapter Twenty-Four

The chapter begins and Mikan is very nervous about playing the prince, particularly about looking the part as she is very uncomfortable with her hair down.

This is actually the first time we see Natsume’s feelings about it, but he’ll only make it more clear in about ten more chapters. Here, Mikan wonders if she should put her hair back up and Natsume snaps, “No!” before walking away in a huff. It’s a small scene, and it’s even told through tiny text, but it’s enough to let any reader paying attention know that Natsume also thinks Mikan looks cute with her hair down. Yes, he’s embarrassed to have said anything, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t say it.

Don't worry about him, he's just in a bad mood.

Natsume mainly observes, and nothing noteworthy happens. He eventually goes and gives his line and his aura alone is threatening enough to discourage anyone from laughing or “aww”ing.

The next important moment is when Mikan sees the stage direction to kiss the princess directly on the lips. Narumi says it’s because he’s trying to make up for the loss of sizzle due to the accident, but knowing him, there’s probably more to it. Naru likes stirring the pot and causing drama, although I can hardly tell what his motives are half the time. Truly, I believe he is the most mysterious character in the whole story.

Natsume does not allow this to happen, so he throws something at Mikan’s head--some random box thing--and Hotaru shuts off the lights.

Natsume does something kind of selfish here. He didn’t want them to kiss, so he stopped it. The fact that he grabbed the first thing he saw meant it was a sudden choice to chuck it. I wonder if he had any intentions of just toughing it out and dealing with it, but eventually jealousy won out and he did the selfish thing.

When I say selfish, I don’t mean “bad”. I just mean that for once Natsume is acting based on what he wants, rather than what will make somebody else happy. When it comes to this kid in particular, I actually want him to do selfish things more often, because he very rarely does. He’s been selfless and heroic enough for one day, having saved a kid from getting injured and then wearing that embarrassing costume. He’s allowed to have done this one thing for selfish reasons.

It’s not like it was a bad thing to do either. It would have only benefited Narumi, and possibly the somatic class to have a spicy musical kiss, but it wouldn’t have been good for Ruka or Mikan. Having their first kiss under such conditions, especially when Mikan was just doing the class a favor by acting in the play to begin with, would have been sad. Natsume essentially saved her from the consequences of his own actions, because it would have been his fault if they’d had no choice but to go through with it.

Moreover, like I said earlier, Ruka can simply tell what Natsume’s motives are from a single look. It’s more obvious in the anime, of course, but I still think manga!Ruka is aware that Natsume intervened. He knows Natsume better than anybody, and he’s too smart to think that box came out of nowhere.

This is just the beginning of a long-standing tension between them, one that they will dance around and pretend isn’t happening for quite a while before actually addressing it properly. For now, they have undiscussed feelings and jealousies that will go unchecked and unresolved for some time, building an even deeper divide between them. After all, Natsume and Ruka have enough of a gap on account of Natsume’s missions and his general feelings of not being able to fit in with anybody. This only broadens the gap.

Chapter Twenty-Six

The dance will be very fun to analyze from Mikan’s perspective, but we’re not nearly finished with Natsume’s, so that will have to wait.

For now, we’ll discuss Natsume’s softening, which Permy points out bitterly on account of being surrounded by closet fans. Previously, she says, they were terrified of him, and why wouldn’t they be? We talked ad nauseam about Natsume’s first thirteen chapters of misery and coldness. He was a scary and unkind guy, definitely unapproachable. Even his admirers in Class B were scared of him, equal parts affection and terror. In a very short time, Natsume has softened and it’s obvious. He even dressed as a cat for the somatic musical! His reputation for being cold and dangerous is softening and the girls who used to fear him are now flocking to him to ask if he’s willing to accept their last dance proposals.

But with all this talk about romance and dancing, Mikan feels left out and can’t relate. Her frustrations only grow when some girls start gossiping about her and she ends up taking it out on Natsume, saying she would never ever wanna dance with Natsume for the last dance. He brushes this off, but he still pouts, obviously affected and a little hurt. Their relationship was on the rise, after all. They were starting to hang out more and were bickering often, something Natsume doesn’t make a habit of doing with most people. But just because Natsume is feeling more fondness for her, that doesn't mean she feels the same way.

He expects this in some way, of course, because it's partially his intention. He expects that she would only tolerate him after everything that happened with them, but that doesn't mean he likes the feeling of rejection.

They're so cute when they pout!

Having a crush is bad enough, but hearing that girl shout that she’d never wanna go out with you is even harder, even if you were maybe purposefully making her angry with you to try and protect her. It would be a tough emotion to bear, especially for a kid unversed in romance. He proceeds to be just as huffy as her.

And as twisted as it is, I’m happy for him.

Natsume was cold and mean and difficult to talk to before he fell for Mikan. Now he’s way more approachable and expressive, willing on occasion to show an emotion that isn’t rage, like hurt or grumpiness or amusement. He can now sit at his desk and pout, something he wasn’t doing before, like a kid throwing a fit.

At the actual dance, Natsume is still hurt, still pouting. It doesn’t help that Mikan glares at him upon spotting him. It’s interesting to see how much this affects him. One girl said something harsh in the heat of the moment and he is taking it so personally. Of course, he gets hurt or angered by many things. Upperclassmen bully him and call him a murderer and he simply uses his alice on them to shut them up. He keeps his face straight, moves on, and forgets it. Naturally, the hurt and resentment sit there in his gut to torment him, because he’s a kid and they’re awful things for anyone to hear, but he’s not acting like that here. Here, he’s grumpy and pouty. His feelings are hurt but they don’t come with urges to punish like being called a murderer does.

And it’s obvious he has no genuine hard feelings because Natsume then shoves Ruka onto Mikan, since Ruka was being transparent about his gaze. He goes on to dance with someone else, anyone else, because Mikan made it clear that she too would rather dance with anyone else, just as long as it wasn’t him. He’s clearly still in a bad mood, though.

He's so used to not getting what he wants that he will do all of Ruka's work for him, so that Ruka can get what he wants.

Later, when Mikan and Natsume are singletons in the middle of the dance floor, they notice each other. Here would be a perfect opportunity to dance, but she made it clear she hated the idea, and he’s not about to embarrass himself to ask. Hence, he huffs again, pouting because there’s no way he’ll ask her to dance once she’s said such harsh things. They stand in silence for just a moment, until he finds some other girl to dance with and leaves Mikan all alone.

They’re both grumpy over the way they’re being treated by the other. Natsume is being immature and petty with his feelings, almost childish (heehee it's all I want for him!). With all the dark and depressing divide between Mikan’s academy life of fun and laughs and Natsume’s life of secret missions and physical abuse, he’s somehow found a way to wedge himself into hers. He’s taking something so minor so seriously. He’s been on the front lines, used his alice to hurt enemies and been hurt by enemies and dangerous ability types alike. He is literally dying and he’s aware of it! But he’s still pouting because the girl he likes was a little mean to him.

But the dance with the girl obviously wasn’t much fun, because Mikan quickly finds him again, away from the party, along a secluded path by some trees. He’s in a pouty mood and obviously needs some time alone with his thoughts.

It shows that he’s done some thinking because he doesn’t even mention her angry words from earlier.

Instead, he just calls the whole festival stupid.

We’re reminded here of a scene from way before they liked each other, when the festival was first announced. Then, she also found him playing with a dog, all on his own, using anger to mask his feelings of hurt. He said the same thing back then, that the whole thing was stupid and it was dumb to get all worked up about it. He’s doing it again now, but it’s a little different this time. Their relationship has changed, improved. They actually care about each other now, and although Natsume starts off just talking through his anger, he eventually turns honest.

The truth is that these periods of childishness will always have to end. It’s just an extended version of the dodgeball game. No matter how much emotion he puts into these experiences, they will be overshadowed by his real life. Now matter how much fun he has, he will always have to stop smiling and go kill himself on Persona’s orders. And even more honestly, the more fun he has, the harder it will be on the people he has fun with. It’s not enough for the ESP and Persona that Natsume completes his missions and does all his work; they find pleasure and relief in his constant misery. The second he cares about something, they use it against him. His joy is never meant to last and will always have consequences for the people he loves.

I hate tumblr's 10 image limit. I hate it. I despise it. I abhor it. I cannot come up with a caption. So instead I'll say again. I hate the 10 image limit.

And so he explains, for once, that he’s simply different from everyone else. The festival is something that doesn’t belong to him. He’s merely been an observer this whole time. He’s never actually been a part of it. And then he tells her that she should stay in the light, stay out of the dark. He calls her naive, but it’s not as much an insult as it used to be.

She is childish and loud and optimistic and annoying and a little sweet and even though he hated all these things about her before, he now realizes that these traits are things to be protected. The more she mingles with him, the darker her life will be. After all, her light is not the only thing that’s contagious: his darkness rubs off on people too, and in his mind it will only hurt her to be involved with him. She should stay in the light--in the shiny, sparkly side of the manga, where everyone is concerned with sports and coming up with ideas for the festival--and keep out of the dark--where there’s murder and blackmail and danger and death. It’s bad enough he can’t keep Youichi or Ruka out of it: Youichi is already in the DA class and Ruka came running after him. He can’t distance himself from them. The most he can do is protect them and raise their star ranks or keep them off of dangerous missions. But with Mikan he has a chance to really protect her, prevent her from being used against him at all. Ideally, she’ll stay away and he won’t need to worry about her as much.

And he wants her to be safe and gone, so when she asks what he means, he changes tactics and decides to be rude and mean instead, telling her to get lost and insulting her. She gets angry and it almost seems like it’ll be another bickering match, where they will both be childish and hurl insults at each other, but he doesn’t take that path.

She is complaining about how he doesn’t seem to know that she has a name, thank you very much--and then he calls her Mikan. He concedes to her demands. He does what he perceives to be the mature, adult thing, ending the argument so she will leave for good. When she has nothing left to argue about, she will have no choice but to walk away, and she does, once he makes it clear that his last command is for her to stop complaining about what he calls her.

Natsume chooses to do the selfless thing again, and gives up the first thing in a long time that made him happy. He barely had any time with her at all, but he lets her go, because she can only continue to be sunny and cheerful away from him. He’s giving up before anyone can tell that something was around for him to give up.

He has no idea how much one word has affected her.

Conclusion

Natsume is a selfless kid. He gives up on what he wants very easily, but especially because he knows that the second he gets what he wants, those things could be destroyed, just by association with him. He just wants the people he loves to be happy, even if it means he could never be.

In the next segment, we'll talk about what Natsume is willing to do to protect Mikan, even if it means being cruel and hurting her. NatsuMikan is the living embodiment of the "break her heart to save her" trope, and I very much adore that trope with my whole heart, so we're going to be having a LOT of fun with the next essay!

Also, disclaimer: I'm not smart. I refuse to take responsibility for any mistakes I make in these essays. There also are no mistakes. I've never misspelled a word in my life.

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[mazekingdom]

Yes I’m very interested in Hyuse and Yuma. Hyuse grew up auctioned off as a slave and has been taken in on the black market by thankfully a good family. He’s been fighting since he was at least 8. He’s cold and detached but plenty emotional and caring.

Yuma has been fighting since at least 8 as well. He died at 11 and has been fighting in a dead body since. Now he has things to live for but he literally found them too late.

I often wonder if B ranks know about yuma being a neighbor but they didn’t say anything about their suspicions. These 2 newbies who fight with a viciousness and no hesitation to kill. I often wonder how the border agents feel about the ongoing nei conflict.

Yeah they both have a lot going on that’s very interesting to think about! I’m excited to see Hyuse's fights be animated.

here’s a readmore cause it got long

I do remember that --spoilers for the manga/upcoming events in s3-- after Hyuse first officially joins Tamakoma 2 Osamu starts to get concerned because of how he’s standing out due to his skill + fighting style, and is worried that he’s attracting too much attention/potential suspicion so they have him tone it down a bit. But it’s been a long time since I’ve read that part, so I don’t remember if anyone in border was actually suspicious of Hyuse or if it was a purely preventative measure on Osamu’s part. Hyuse kinda seems like he puts the barest amount of effort necessary into blending in lmao, so I wouldn’t be surprised if some agents in border were confused or suspicious about him but didn’t mention it.

I think Yuma’s situation in general is so interesting. Like it’s easy to forget that he’s on the verge of death and has been that way for like four years?? Because the series doesn’t bring it up that often, and he seems to mask some of his more negative emotions behind a positive/casual outward facing attitude. But I feel like there’s no way that doesn’t weigh on him constantly even if it’s subconscious, and it just makes me wonder how it affects the decisions he makes and how he thinks about things (which incidentally was what my fan-comic was about lol). I wasn’t expecting the OP and ED for s3 to be so focused on him but I’m definitely here for it!

Yeah I wouldn’t be surprised if people knew about Yuma either (well. more than the ones who already do I guess?), especially since he interacts w/ a lot of Border agents regularly. Honestly both him and Hyuse are just so attention grabbing in general (not to mention that they’re both really talented newbies who ended up on the same team somehow, I wonder if anybody thought that was suspicious lol). I think the idea that there’s a rumor circulating at HQ about Yuma and/or Hyuse being neighbors that Tamakoma just has to kind of wave off every time they hear about it is kinda funny lol.

Honestly for me it’s a bit hard to get a grasp on the agents feelings about neighbors at all because for a lot of them their motivation for being Border agents seems to be “I want to protect my city and also have a good time hanging out and doing cool fights”. Out of the three ideological factions in Border, HQ seems to be? the biggest? And they’re the neutral party, so I guess that’s why a lot of agents seem indifferent to the earth/neighborhood conflict beyond how it affects them directly.

But then I would also imagine that there’s a difference in opinion/perspective between B-rank agents who work only on defense-duty, and A-rank agents who have actually been on away missions and have personal experience with the neighborhood. Like you would think that the people who have actually been there have Some sort of opinion about all of this but I guess we’ve only seen what a few of them think. Not to mention Tamakoma agents like Konami, Reiji, and Jin who have been with Border since its inception and likely have perspectives that are VERY different from everybody else’s since they actually know about Border’s original formation and goals.

Honestly trying to sift through all that makes my brain turn into a pretzel. There’s way too much going on in this series hahaha.

Thank you for the ask! I hope you don’t mind me typing Way Too Much in response lmfao

[lizacstuff]

Your thoughts on the epi? I thought it was a good episode overall. Serkan is acting the way I thought he would: he wants to be the perfect Dad, is scared she won't love him, is spoiling her but also teaching her things. I'm not quite sure why Kiraz isn't calling him Baba, maybe she needs time to adjust to calling him that. I have mixed emotions when it comes to the way Eda spied on Serkan. I understand she's worried but trust the man a little. No comments on Aydan and Ayfer! They are too much!

Hello! I liked the episode. It felt very light, very romcom-y and I thought it was very enjoyable to watch. Loved every minute of Serkan trying to be the ideal dad and I'm here for the Edser UST this ep brought. They want each other sooooo much. And, yes, Eda wants him, she wants him bad. I thought the custody thing at the end was silly and convoluted, but, hey, I'm totally here for the "they're not together and fighting their feelings, but forced to live together" trope so I will just ignore how unbelievable it would be for Edser to be drowning in hearteyes for each other all ep, getting along in regards to Kiraz, AND seemingly aware that Aydan/Ayfer were up to something and still allow a misunderstanding over their shenanigans to spiral to that nonsense degree.

Maybe the folks that think that Serkan & Eda were playing all the meddling family and friends are right, and they set it up beforehand, it's just that I've thought things were a fake out on this show so many times, only for them to be real, so at this point I'm operating under the assumption that this is just a romcom plot point to throw our romantic leads together and it's not worth examining it too closely.

I'll give my thoughts on the "Baba" vs "Serkan Bolat" thing and Eda's actions after we talk a bit about the B, C and D players... Thankfully we had plenty of Edser and Kiraz screen time this ep so the supporting stories didn't overwhelm the episode too much.

(much more under the cut)

That being said, who can we pay to get these people to mind their own f-cking business? LMAO. At least Engin and Piril weren't annoying and were actually trying to be helpful. I mean, Piril is still cancelled, but if she's not causing trouble now then she's not at the top of my shit list. However, I did laugh at her when she's sort of pleading with Serkan: "We've been friends for a long time, you'll understand why I did this." Um... what, Piril? You're sitting there approximately 72 hours after Serkan found out he has a child and he's already proven that he's ALL IN on being a father, and you expect Serkan to think you were right for hiding it from him? Cause why? He has already proven that any concerns you had about him rejecting Kiraz were invalid. The only thing wrong with Serkan's anger at Piril is that it will probably only last for that scene.

Anyone else think Kerem the assistant is an ass? Seriously, do they really want us to root for sweet Pina to be with this dickweasel? He's insecure, he thinks he knows it all, he's snarky and lashes out, he's vindictive. No thanks.

As for Aydan and Ayfer. Ooph. As punishment for their unprecedented assery this episode they both need to be stranded on a desert island with only each other. Only then maybe they'll learn not to insert themselves by such underhanded means. They're both giant pains in the ass, but Ayfer still annoys me more than Aydan. Because here's the thing, once Edser is back together and Serkan is happy, Aydan will fully embrace Eda again, but I don't think the same can be said for Ayfer. Did you see some of the bitchy, sour faces Ayfer was making, taunting Eda about her soft spot for Serkan. She's insufferable.

Turning to the nonsense meddling custody plot line, Kemal and Seyfi were just following orders, but what is Melo's excuse? It's unfortunate that the narrative pulled her into this. Ayfer may have her head in the sand, and not really care what Eda wants, but Melo does and she knew that Eda wanted to cooperate with Serkan and bring him into Kiraz's life, she knew that Eda was about 2 seconds from melting every time she was near Serkan, and that they were likely on the cusp of rekindling their relationship. There is no way she should have been complicit in trying to get evidence against Serkan or visiting lawyers behind Eda's back.

However, even after being complicit in Ayfer's nonsense, she still deserves a helluva lot better than Burak. That guy was annoying af this episode. What exactly does he think he's doing? I'm sorry, in that situation you step back and give the people going through such a monumental life change some space. Again, it's not like it needs to be forever, but you don't try and monopolize the kid's time the night of and 2 days after she meets her long-lost father. He needs to fuck all he way off.

Also since Eda had no interest in this guy, why is he coming over to tuck in the kid EVERY night? I get that he's been good to Kiraz and they have a nice relationship, but that's soooo overkill, it's just not normal. Especially since they've said they've only been living there a year. The only reason for a dude to revolve his entire life around a kid like that is because he's actively trying to get in the mom's pants. So when it comes to Burak's intentions, Eda is as dense as Serkan used to be with Balca/Selin/Actress. Burak only took that level of interest and inserted himself into their lives because he wanted Eda, and Eda should realize that and have a frank conversation with him. Eda doesn't even have to be cognizant that she will inevitably get back together with Serkan, she already knows she has no interest in Burak. She should tell him. And if she's already told him (which it seems she might have from her comments to Ayfer and Melo) she should put some boundaries in place because his presence was ridiculous.

It still blows my mind that this sad sack thinks he has a shot with Eda. Seriously, while the dude isn't hideous, he's also not attractive and he has the personality of dead grass coupled with the charisma of warm mayonnaise. He's not worthy of either Eda or Melo. The scene of Melo and Burak walking on the beach made me a bit uncomfortable. They're totally setting that relationship up, but so far all we see is Melo obviously harboring feelings for him as Burak broods over his Eda delusions. We'll have to see how this plays out, but I feel like Burak didn't need to be this upset over Eda for the story to work, and it would be a lot easier to root for him with Melo if by episode 5 if he wasn't still actively trying, as Engin said, to take over Serkan's family.

On to Edser and the newly forming Bolat family unit. It's funny, I'm not someone who thinks a woman needs to take her husband's last name, I think people should do whatever they want, but for whatever reason I really, really want Eda and Kiraz to have his name. Maybe because I think they all crave having people to belong to in a sense. Serkan because he was unloved and sent overseas alone at such a young age, Eda because she was an orphan, Kiraz because she didn't have a dad in early childhood. So for that reason, I really do feel like it will be meaningful to have them tied together that way as a family unit. They belong to each other now (or they will soon).

Along those lines, you say you're not sure why Kiraz isn't calling him Baba, narratively, I think it's because that will be a big milestone in their relationship. When she feels comfortable enough, connected enough, and secure enough with him to do that, it's going to melt all of our hearts right out of our chests. If she'd done it right away it wouldn't feel as special as it's going to feel when it eventually happens because she feels it (not just because it's a fact).

As for her calling him Serkan Bolat, I think it's adorable. That's how she knew him before, it would be weird if she called him anything other than that or Baba, (like Serkan or Abi) because then it would be like she was settling on that, but calling him by his full name, which is such a part of his identity, is cute and charming and pays tribute to the interactions they had before they knew of their relationship, and it's a signal that it's only temporary. Baba is coming, don't worry.

Loved Kiraz showing Serkan her room and all of her things, and really loved Eda standing there, smiling, soaking it in. I've seen a lot of criticism of Eda in this episode and she did have a few moments that were unnecessarily harsh, but I think it's also valid to give her a minute to adjust because this is a lot of change in just a couple of days. While she now knows Serkan had understandable, and even noble, reasons for what he did and said, that still doesn't erase the heartbreak and pain he put her through, or the 5 years of being a single mother and not having anyone to consult or needing to consult anyone on decisions regarding Kiraz.

I do think, though, that we didn't see Eda give him enough credit when he covered for her lies to Kiraz. When Kiraz asked her why she didn't tell her Serkan Bolat was her father and then asked him when mom didn't answer, he could have easily told the truth and thrown Eda under the bus, big time, but instead he comes up with something that passes as an explanation, doesn't make anyone a villain, but also doesn't make him look great. I wish we'd seen Eda recognize that. It was a magnanimous gesture on his part, since he and Kiraz were the ones who were lied to for 5 years.

However, her running a bit hot and cold this episode makes sense. On one hand when she's around him her heart feels that strong orbital pull towards him. She loves him. She always has loved him, she always will love him. Just like with Serkan, that will not change, and obviously didn't after heartbreak and separation. But it also makes sense that at times her head takes over and with it the fear and the memory of the pain and she freezes up a bit. It doesn't ding her or their love, she just needs time to let herself believe that this is really happening. That Serkan is back, that he still loves her, that he loves their daughter and wants to be a father and form a family. From the way she recorded those videos, how many times do we think she dreamed of them being a happy family together? I'm guessing a lot. Now it's within her grasp and I think she just needs to be sure that Serkan is for real before she fully succumbs to this dream.

She also needs to get over her pride, I'm sure there's a part of her (Ayfer's voice) telling her a woman doesn't go back to a man who hurt her that badly. But as we saw, girlfriend was snuggling with his shirt, she still has it so bad for him. But, pro tip, Eda, he wanted to stay the night, wouldn't it be so much more fulfilling to snuggle with the real thing? I promise it would... just let him in. The lawn scene was hilarious. Kerem is really and truly a gifted physical comedian. We know how tight the timelines are on this show and they don't get to do a lot of takes, but his stumbling over the furniture and falling was flawlessly done. Hande was great too... that bat! Of course the sexual tension in the robes and towel scene was magnificent. When she first walked in wearing that towell I thought my man was going to combust. That look on his face, priceless.

Speaking of priceless, what first-day Baba makes his little girl's dreams come true like Serkan Bolat does? Staying up all night to build her flying house? MY HEART!

What a fantastic first gift. It was incredibly thoughtful, it was meaningful to the two of them, and it was also Serkan giving a piece of himself (using his skills in what he does best as an architect) to her.

Absolute perfection.

And how sweet that Serkan wanted to spend the day with her alone!?! I really liked that because we all know he loves Eda, he wants Eda back, and he will use any excuse to spend time with Eda. And he could have done that here, but he doesn't. So the fact that he wanted to spend the day alone with Kiraz, clearly illustrates that his interest in Kiraz, his desire to be her father stands on it's own. Kiraz is not just an excuse to get close to Eda, he is pursuing both relationships, and they are both important to him.

Also you said that you have mixed emotions on the way Eda spied on Serkan, that she doesn't trust him, but honestly I really don't think it's about that. She might have been a little discombobulated by the idea because the man has never really spent any time with children and here he's thrust into fatherhood, but she trusts him and knows Kiraz is safe with him. Honestly, I think her biggest driving factor in following them is FOMO.

She doesn't want to miss this! She has wondered what kind of father he might be for years, and now she wants to witness it. She wants to be there and see what he's like when he's spending time with her. She also wants to be a part of it, and a part of her might be a little jealous. For years she's been the only parent, and now another parental bond is forming and it's natural she is curious what that's going to look like.

Melo even sees through her during their conversations while they're out spying. Eda pretends it's because she's worried that Serkan doesn't know what he's doing, but Melo susses out that it's really because she missed Serkan. I think she really just wanted to be a part of it.

And her ulterior motives are exposed when she reacts with jealousy over the park moms and then with Hulya. She's jealous over Serkan, but also over what it might mean if Serkan had a woman in his life that's not Eda. (Real simple way to ensure that doesn't happen, Eda, just saying). On first watch it was a little frustrating to watch Eda be upset about Huyla and not have it cleared up immediately. However, on the second time through I found it incredibly enjoyable to watch. Hilarious even. Knowing that Serkan is going to let her off the hook just a few minutes later, and it's not going to be a drawn out misunderstanding, it's very fun to watch him just totally bask in her jealousy. The way he sits there and giggles and is just so chuffed at her display was very endearing. Since he's been celibate for 5 years, I suppose he's earned an incrediulous laugh at her thinking he has all these women on the line.

Eda is not wrong to be concerned about the Bolat's ability to spoil Kiraz with material things, Aydan can get out of control, however I can't be mad at the pony. The girl asked him if he had horses the first day they met, she said she wanted a dad like Serkan who had horses, he HAD to get her one she could actually ride! The girl was deprived of her father for 5 years because both of her parents are stubborn, so, let's be real, she kinda deserves a pony. Besides Eda should be more worried about the "spoiling" she gets from her camp, where she, Ayfer, Melo and Burak let her get away with constantly running away/running wild, eating ice cream whenever she wants, being rude to strangers etc. The fact that she's taught it's okay to knock a customer's water over without apologizing is more damaging to a forming personality than a pony. (Yes, that was another dig at Burak.) The point is, spoiling isn't only about material things, and from the glimpses we've seen of Baba Serkan he's already taught her about taking responsibility (confessing to breaking the window and apologizing), being self sufficient (tying shoelaces, putting pjs on herself), and setting behavioral boundaries (don't shoot arrows at people in hotels, you shouldn't hug strangers). He's going to be a very good influence in her life, because despite growing up with material privilege the man believes in hard work, effort and personal accountability.

Anyway, loved that when Serkan told Eda about dinner with Engin/Piril/Can she looked so secretly pleased when she casually agreed to go. I think that goes hand in hand with why she was spying, she won't let herself admit it, but she so badly wants them to do things as a family. That was part of her tug o' war this episode. Wanting that, but then suddenly worrying that maybe she shouldn't want that after everything that's happened, those feelings are helped along by Ayfer's judgemental looks and comments, and Burak trying to assert his place and Eda maybe feeling guilty.

Eda's behavior at dinner perfectly summarized the war going on between her head and heart this episode. First she fights with Serkan, going so far as to tell him she hates him, but the second she gets good news she flings herself into his arms. He's the person she wants to celebrate with, he's the person she wants congratulations from. So even if she was mad at him, she can't help herself. Also thank you Engin for telling Eda how Serkan lost weight and didn't come to work for months after she left. Those are important things for her to know. Also reinforced later by Aydan.

And thank you, Jan, for planting that fear of her dad leaving again with Kiraz, because it gave us sleep over at the Bolat house. It also gave us Kiraz asking Serkan if he will leave her. A good question and I'm glad we have Serkan's promise to never leave her. Just with the way tragedy (and meddling family members and obsessed stalkers) seems to find both Eda and Serkan, it's good he's made that promise. And it's good that he knows she needs that promise.

Now onto the secret room. I suppose if you're going to keep all of that and you have a large house, then you might as well keep it in a special room. This was a huge missing piece for Eda. Something tangible that she can see with her own two eyes that proves that he never forgot her and has been pining for her since the day they parted. I thought Eda was suitably touched by it all, and the fact that he got her gifts for every birthday. Anyone else think that they're going to get married on the beach and she's going to wear those flip-flops, that white dress, and the locket when they do? That's what sprung to my mind. The Neslihan scarf product placement made me roll my eyes, though.

To be honest I really didn't care what the gifts were, all I cared about was that thank you cheek kiss. I DIE. The birthday-present-thank-you cheek kiss he gave her in 7 is one of my all time favorite scenes and this parallel was a long time coming and wonderfully executed. And then they delivered on the USTy stare off where they clearly want to make out, but they're not quite there yet. It was going to have to be Eda that broke them out of it, because up to Serkan they either kiss or he stares at her for the rest of time.

Did anyone else feel a crick in their back, neck, legs at how Eda slept on that couch? Serkan was as comfy as can be, stretched out using her legs as a pillow and her torso as a blanket, lol. I wish the editors would have given us a couple of more seconds lingering on them all contorted like that. It was too precious. It would have been sweet if they'd had Kiraz find them and watch them for a minute before waking them up. Show the parent-trapping gears turning in her mind.

Buba absolutely deserved Serkan showing up to spoil his outing. And of course both ladies instantly gravitated to Serkan. I liked this scene because it gave us over-the-top BDE Serkan, a whiff of "Drain the pool" Serkan, the comedy of Engin and Serkan doing the Cyrano thing, and the obvious little "fish" measuring metaphor. But what I really liked was Eda telling him that he didn't need to try so hard to win Kiraz, that he just had to be himself. That was important and lovely, and illustrated to him that she really did want him to develop a good relationship with Kiraz.

The best moments of the episode for them, though, came during their family stargazing outing. Loved Serkan's extra safety precautions, including the mirror just so he can see her in the backseat. Though, if he's that concerned about it, maybe a larger car, lmao? Kiraz tricking them into kissing was an auspicious start to the evening, hopefully that's a taste of things to come. I'm here for her forcing the two of them into intimate situations.

The way Serkan was looking at the two of them throughout the stargazing was something else. He was looking at them with such longing. Like he couldn't believe they were so close, but he wanted them so badly. DUDE, they are right there, continue to play your cards right (and not let Ayfer and Aydan spoil things, spoiler alert, they do) and you're just days away from having everything you want. Loved that he changed the Apollo story to give it the happy ending he wants. Hopefully, that gave hope to any doomsdayers out there that think this show is going to end in tragedy. (Spoiler alert, it's not).

The only shame is that they have that nice (if not detached from reality conversation since they pretend they're not going to be together raising Kiraz) adult conversation about cooperating and working out how they're going to deal with Aydan and Ayfer, only for things to go totally off the rails during said conversations. As I said off the top of this marathon post, it was totally unbelievable in the context of the rest of the episode, but as I always say you can't take this show too seriously, and I prefer to just enjoy the situations as they come and not get too annoyed when they take these writing shortcuts to drive the plot. I plan on very much enjoying Eda and Serkan forced to live together while they're (or at least she) is still pretending they're not going to end up together. Looks like next week is another fun romcom romp, and I'm here for it!