#mostly because he seems like he had so much potential to be my favorite and tumblr’s little sadboy but just narrowly missed!!!

[pinep-ne]

I wrote a little brief analysis for this thing,, copy-pasted from messages I'd sent to a poor friend. I'm honestly not bothered enough to read through so if there are incoherent parts or mistakes I am very sorry. It was like midnight and I was spewing shit on the spot LMAO

Anyways. Just wanted to put this somewhere. Gave me a mad headache but it was very fun to delve into.

stardom in lapsing was made up kinda on the spot; more like a gut feeling. stardom being comparable to yk being loved and being able to love in general and how gripping the moment is. i found it fitting because of how like. fleeting their relationship was in general, like a shooting star. very bright very potent and then it's gone.

in lapsing this "stardom" is made insignificant, or at least, in the eyes of the world. the poem kinda holds and explores that bit of guilt charles holds that he is still clinging onto the feelings he held so briefly. "smallness" is just that— he believes he is weak for being unable to move on. for still being in love. and ofc the "small" feeling when one is loved, especially in a world that won't accept that vulnerability, it seems almost too simple for something portrayed so complicated, and it's terrifying. thus he is small

"Be sure to

Let your fingers buckle 'round the edge of

Our threadbare bed"

a lot of th poem is charles pleading for arthur and himself to do things. he's back and forth between acceptance and still holding onto the same notions. almost still bargaining, after eight years, interrogating and tracing every detail of arthur, and every detail of their love, to find some sort of green light to acceptance. one of my favorite things to write about is the stages of grief and i'm just a sucker for when it's so GREAT they all happen at once and it's just a cacophony of everything BUT acceptance.

anyways theselines kinda start to paint the pictures of this yearning. this particular one doesn't symbolize much but really more clinging to something domestic (threadbare bed)

"...and be sure to find my moon

When the Sun in Heaven gets too bright

Or the hellfire, unfair, swallowtail plume from

Your fluttering chest feels softer than

You had imagined"

more pleading, and a lot of charles pondering on arthur's own moral state. as if he's just checking up. charles requesting to arthur that, if he is in fact out there, to use him as an anchor, as he does arthur. the capitalization between moon and Sun was mostly unintentional but i also love distinct emphasis on random things anyways; so i guess it could represent the humbleness of the real world (where charles resides) and a more official, divine concept, as told in the scriptures. heaven's capitalized so ofc the Sun of heaven will be, if arthur is in fact there to see it. and when he gets too lost in that heavenly state, he may return to that humbleness charles asks him of.

of course, since charles isn't really religious himself, nor can he even determine arthur's fate after death. it's kind of a metaphor, or anchor i guess, for something completely unknown to him. but in imagining a single potential that arthur is safe and happy wherever he is, that is something to cling to. the closest tangible thing just happens to be both heaven and in some way, the soul soaking into the surrounding earth. with this unknown, charles kinda flips the coin to maybe a more LH arthur.

it's hellfire, and it is unfair to charles that arthur'd be subjected to that. but he still shows some sort of understanding, which is portrayed in "swallowtail plume".

swallowtails --> butterflies --> butterflies in your stomach. a softness unprepared for.... which to me i feel would strike and unsettle a LH a lot more. i changed it to "chest" bc of TB obviously and the symbolized deterioration thereof. the newfound vulnerably of illness. i suppose it could go with both honors; either way, in some way, i think there came an easiness in how he accepted love. and he loathed it all the while.

nothing in the poem is accusatory though and a lot of it is just charles knowing these things about arthur. knowing and accepting every flaw and simply wondering about it. at the same time he is falling over and over from this idle thought, and finding it still much too powerful to smoothen or ignore, so he resorts to bargaining. he resorts to the place in his mind he's crafted himself where arthur is still there.

In your youth; I hope they have wooden horses

For smaller curling palms and the

Creases in them.

the first line of this sentence has two uses: to continue the last stanza— "softer than you had imagined in your youth"— and as its own beginning.

charles wonders some more, almost peacefully delirious, how the afterlife is for arthur. like a friend who had just moved to the country. not strong enough to linger on how hell would be, he finds the origins of the wounds and flesh in childhood, and nostalgia. like he is reaching back into arthur's childhood, just within the perspective of heaven, to mend the pain from genesis. thus things like wooden toy horses and smaller palms (curling, like the fingers buckling around the bed in the first stanza, still following the theme of clinging.)

"And I hope you're allowed

To be the lilac grass and hay and

Be the pine and lumber

I helped your Brother nail down"

continuing that dream of what he'd imagine heaven like; lilac grass and hay, pine and lumber is just a metaphor for youngness and age. if arthur is allowed to be both vulnerable and wise there, as he had longed for so much in life, even if only known and recognized by charles.

"i helped your brother nail down" is just a direct connection to charles and john building beecher's hope. where a lot of people mention the blue jay in that scene, i wanted to further expand it in charles' perspective. that arthur is everything; arthur and his love reside everywhere charles looks.

"Be the breeze to breathe upon…

Did the riots in your mind still? The nape of my

Neck."

this one was more so creative formatting— the full thought is "be the breeze to breathe upon the nape of my neck", continuing those intimately human characteristics to nature, and as such everything surrounding charles and his life. butted between it though, "did the riots in your mind still" is really another fall-back in charles' thought process. constantly concerned and wondering of arthur's presence, juxtaposed for his seeming understanding that arthur resides everywhere, the itching ache of grief leeched upon him insists otherwise, or simply will not let him fully believe it and move on.

"Like Apollo and only him was I

Given imprints of the notions in swift charcoal;

Both the writhing chimera

And clearest matters; I had felt it melt

Under the heat of my shaking hands

Pages like November leaves

Engravings like midnight to

Dawn whispers"

Apollo represents john, handing charles arthur's journal to read through. just simply a messenger. "imprints of the notions in swift charcoal" is just arthur's writings.

"both the writhing chimera / and clearest matters" is everything encapsulated in that journal— from arthur's matter-of-fact entries, with not much substance, and those with striking depth to them. puzzling all together, charles has yet to decipher it, as he describes it as a "writhing chimera"— the many faces arthur pulls and tugs, even in the privacy of the pages.

it's overwhelming and reasonably so. it "melts" under the mere heat from his shaking hands as he holds it.

not literally of course, but it feels as so with how fragile every inch of this sort of. materialized fraction of arthur's inner self feels. it is one of the only things left, and he fears it to be as fleeting as the rest. "pages like november leaves" is a more physical example of that. just something brittle. "engravings like midnight to dawn whispers" is more the entries themselves, being compared to secretive and hushed talks beside each other under the night. allll fleetingggg...

"When your eyes were your lips

And your lips, your finding eyes,

And I could only laugh, I think,

And I could only listen"

continues that thought. "eyes were your lips" is eye-sex, basically. "your lips, your finding eye" i really love the trope of putting the flesh to memory by kissing every inch of it okay thank you.

"and i could only laugh, i think,

and i could only listen" is a bit of a softer sentiment. i think there's something really simple and tender about just lazy intimacy and late-night whispering and hushed things, which is what is described here. the substance of which is never remembered; but the feelings that were present, and as well the laughing and listening.

"I hope the longer pencil and the

Whiter paper do not bother you.

We are states away and

Bark stands taller. And the mountains, if you are not

Them."

"longer pencil, whiter paper" is just opposing to arthur's own penmanship and journal. i love the headcanon that arthur uses his pencils to a stub. it just emphasizes "new times" for charles, and how far he is from everything arthur was.

"we are states away and / bark stands taller" is just west elizabeth, tall trees. "and the mountains, if you are not / them" is further manifesting arthur as the nature around charles. the mountains, of course, look over a lot of the map wherever you are. feeling arthur as that manifestation is a comfort where he is in a more unfamiliar spot.

"I'm afraid

You press me to the crevice. The winter is not you,

never you,

It eclipses all of Canada and you should

Know I'm to find something there"

immediately, charles regrets that train of thought. "you press me to the crevice" is charles' knowledge that if arthur were here, he'd demand him to move on already. he fears the land here does not need nor want him here, which means to him that he must leave this crafted realization and actually, truly move on.

"the winter is not you, never you" is the little trait of arthur's that he hates the cold (grumpy colter arthur), it's basically charles reasoning why arthur's presence/spirit/manifestation wouldn't follow him to canada. but more metaphorically i suppose, the inevitable threat of moving on that lingers closer. charles is aware it is time. he just doesn't want to admit it.

"it eclipses all of canada and you should / know i'm to find something there" is more thoughtless talking to arthur, back and forth between bargaining and anger and pleading. searching for some sort of response i guess.

"Sincerely,

There are not enough of

Twined mornings

Beneath closed eyes, and not enough

Peeking sage. Never enough

Sketched skies, shied flesh of two

Ghosts, revered skin, and not enough

Soothing, under a burrowed night, you should know

I still enfold

To carry you"

im ngl this one is my least favorite. it kinda summarizes the fantasies charles holds, and folds the envelope with all of them inside. there is never enough of the memories he holds, the feelings he clings to. they didn't even know each other for a full year. so he searches, even in places he does not recognize, seizes every new thing of arthur, every new thing he can recall. the people he has met. the footprints he's left upon the earth.

"shied flesh of two / ghosts, revered skin" is the.. hah.. more ghosts than people reference. which i feel is applicable to charles as well. two ghosts loving each other.

"and not enough / soothing, under a burrowed night" im ngl i also love the headcanon that they aren't so consistently reluctant to be vulnerable, and to unravel some of the knots within them. ofc it'd be heavily messy and a frantic affair, but they both know they can trust one another to lean on in those moments. this comfort for charles is gone, now.

"you should know i still enfold to carry you" is sealing that envelope. whether he makes it to canada, and finds he is able to move on. or if he teeters on the edge of a new life and the past for the rest of his days. he will stay keeping the metaphorical letter in his pocket. he tells arthur this directly, maybe not necessarily wholly to be hopeful, but to simply tell him. if he may not ever know where arthur is, he may still accept the comfort that arthur will always know where he is.

Hhuhh wrote a quick little charthur poem last night,, first time posting anything of the sort on here so I hope it's. Adequate LMAO

I've never actually dedicated a poem to them in all of three years but after this I hope to write more in the near future.

[synarthrosis]

fuck it trauma team posting. collection of various thoughts I have about CR-S01

- CR-S01’s characterization and English voice drive me up a fucking wall because of how VASTLY they differ from his appearance and vibe. Come on. He’s got such a good setup. Emo sadboy twink with pretty eyes and a tragic backstory. Prodigal surgeon. Amnesiac prisoner accused of a horrible crime that he can’t remember if he did or not.

- And then he opens his mouth and it’s the most bland boring emotionless middle age sounding white man voice you’ve ever heard. I think it’s primarily jarring because the voice sounds much much older than he is

- Also his entire character arc being “Woah… what if… I saved lives???” Is kind of bland to begin with and gets even more bland once you figure out that he didn’t even kill anyone

- For a while I didn’t understand why everyone was calling him ‘kid’, since he doesn’t look particularly young compared to everyone else (though I think this is just a fault in the art style, kinda hard to differentiate ages with it). I don’t think they ever explicitly mention his age in TT but I did the math and he’s like 24. So them constantly talking about how young and skilled he is actually does make sense considering most surgeons are like 29-30 at the youngest. But this was not shown well either

- Maybe this is just fault of his sort of unclear/nonexistent personality but I do not understand WHYY he chose to continue taking the blame for Albert’s crime once he learned about what really happened. He seems to a have a lot of painful feelings towards being treated like a prisoner and a murderer so it seems bizarre that he’d choose to continue serving his sentence and doing the surgeries to lighten it just so that he could hide Albert’s involvement

- Like I get that he was fond of Albert obviously for treating him kindly when his birth parents considered him a monster but bro literally framed him and got him sentenced to 250 years in prison!!! Like the peak of your emotions towards that should not just be ‘disappointed’ Erhard!!!!

- I guess the main takeaway is that he feels like suuuuch wasted potential especially since the game makes him out to be such a prominent and important character

[corpocyborg]

You know, I think one of my favorite things about a super evil play through is actually how hard it is to net approval with even the most potentially evil-leaning companions.

Astarion talks a big game about how much he likes violence and evil, and he does often give you approval for those types of actions, but you get this distinct impression from interactions with him that he's just sort of put on a permanent mask. I saw this post going around that Astarion dislikes it when you are very benevolent and heroic because he's thinking "How can there be so much goodness in the world but none of it was ever for me? It's not fair." And I think that's true. And I think when you actually take him down the road he claims he wants to go down, he takes on this mentality of "Ah, yes. Of course. I knew it. The world is without love." And he tries to pretend that it doesn't bother him but there are moments you can see it breaking through that it does. That's why I'm at the end of Act 1 of nonstop evil and I can't get him past medium approval.

On the other hand, I can't even get Shadowheart past neutral approval. She goes back and forth on giving me approval and disapproval, and, in my experience, she does the same exact thing in a good play through. I always find it hardest to predict what Shadowheart will approve of or disapprove of because she's so inconsistent. I think this is because her whole story is about the fact that she doesn't know who she is. I mean, she literally can't remember much about her life, to begin with. But also, she's in a state of indecision, not only does she not remember who she is, but she hasn't decided yet who she wants to be. Or more precisely she feels like who she wants to be is not a real option. She is definitely the companion (of the ones I actually had) who reacted most poorly to raiding the Grove. She got drunk and she went off about how it's not a real victory if you're killing people who can't even defend themselves. But then the next day she acted totally different. She was sober, and she took on this mentality of "Goblins killed some people. They didn't kill us. Time to move on." So she reasserted this control over herself that she has on most of the time, that had mostly only slipped because she was so upset and because she was drunk.

Lae'zel has been the easiest for me to get approval with. She got up to high approval very quickly, and she's currently at very high approval and stays there consistently. I think this is because she's way more honest than either Astarion or Shadowheart. She really is what she says she is. She's ruthless. And I don't actually mean that she inherently has to be evil. It is very possible to take her down a good path and convince her to embrace ideals of freedom. But I do think that her persona is far more honest than either Astarion or Shadowheart's is. And I think this makes sense because she was raised in a whole society of believers in "might makes right" who have believed in that for many generations and she was given chances to excel in that society rather than completely victimized. This is very different from Astarion because he was always a victim and never had an opportunity to actually strive for power. It is likely more similar to what Shadowheart would have experienced, though I think her memory loss complicates this, but it also just seems like Shadowheart doesn't take to ruthlessness as naturally. They both had to adopt that mentality because it was the only way they could survive, but I think Lae'zel is just better at it because she's just a way more straight-forward person. I think it's also why if she does decide to go against Vlaakith, it's an instant 180-degree change in her allegiance. She doesn't have to waver like Shadowheart does in regards to Shar, she just goes "This is what I believe now." and just switches.

Anyway, yeah... you learn so much about them on an evil play through... can't wait to torture them some more.

[mysterialistic]

Review/Ramble on Yingdu and Overall Thoughts

Okay, first of all, I think the fandom needs to chill a bit, especially on Twitter/X, because some people are overdramatizing the criticism from others. Criticizing a piece of media doesn’t mean you hate it, nor does it mean it’s bad—it just means it didn’t fully meet your expectations, and you have a different opinion. It’s as simple as that. Of course, I believe criticism should always come from an objective standpoint, not just for the sake of complaining.

Having said, let’s start rambling!

Yingdu had an amazing start. Those first few minutes, transitioning from the basketball game straight into the scene of Cheng Xiaoshi’s death, were so well done. Overall, the first episode was fantastic—the perfect mix of drama and tension. It answered some of our lingering questions before bringing us back to the Season 1 format, where they tackled individual cases, only for it to all build up to the arc’s main conflict. I won’t go into every single episode since that would make this way too long, but I had to highlight episode 1 because it was my favorite.

There were several aspects of these episodes that I really enjoyed. Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang’s bond was portrayed so well—every little moment between them, every dialogue exchange—it perfectly showed why these two are so willing to risk their lives for each other. I looked forward to seeing their interactions every week, and I was never disappointed.

Xia Fei was also a great addition, and I’m glad they didn’t kill off his character like many people theorized, because he has so much potential. I really enjoyed his complexity—he’s a spy, but he has his own morals and values. He dislikes Liu Xiao, yet he has a close bond with Vein despite his odd personality. He’s clearly intelligent, and I think that will really shine in Season 3. He already seems to suspect something, and I have no doubt he’ll get to the bottom of it. Right now, he’s angry and confused about what happened to Vein, convinced that someone killed him. But how will he react if (or when) he finds out that Vein was the one who initially killed Cheng Xiaoshi—one of his other friends, and probably the only truly innocent one? And don’t even get me started on how he’ll react when he finds out that Lu Guang tried to kill Vein or that Vein is still alive. I’m excited to see where this goes.

That said, I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get to see much of Vein and Liu Xiao. We mostly just saw what we already knew—two shady guys with their own agenda, pretending to be friendly. As an introduction, it was fine, but considering how much attention the promotional material gave them, I really thought we’d see more. Still, I don’t have a huge issue with it since they’ll obviously play a bigger role in Season 3. Liu Xiao, Vein, Li Tianchen, and possibly Xia Fei—a group of unstable individuals as antagonists… well, good luck, Lu Guang!

Now, something that does bother me about Yingdu is the inconsistencies between its plot and what we’ve seen in Seasons 1 and 2. For me, this was the laziest part of the writing, because no, Link Click isn’t flawless. In fact, no piece of media is. But in Link Click’s case, some of the flaws were painfully obvious. With every episode that aired, I kept thinking, “okay, this has to be an alternate timeline”, because so many little details just didn’t fit with the main storyline. The most obvious one is how Cheng Xiaoshi awakened his powers—he did it on his own, yet in Season 1, it was shown that he didn’t know he could do this. That makes absolutely no sense unless he has selective amnesia, which is definitely not the case lol. As for the inconsistencies with his parents, that could at least be explained by the promise he made to his mother to “not get involved any further.” He clearly remembers that promise and is likely just keeping everything he learned a secret.

Speaking of parents… Damn, Cheng Xiaoshi’s parents are awful lmao. I hated how his father acted like he was the victim, justifying his actions with, “yes, I abandoned my child, but now I take care of other children to make up for my mistakes.” That’s just… bad parenting. I actually made a whole analysis about it in another post. And then there’s Cheng Xiaoshi’s mother. The way she dismissed her son’s feelings and abandonment issues with a casual “oh yeah, it was wrong of me not to say goodbye, but who cares? That’s in the past” felt so off. The entire scene with her was weird—the humor felt misplaced. I was expecting something more emotional, more dramatic—anything but this. But based on what I’ve seen, almost no one liked her, so if the creators were hoping we’d find her eccentricity endearing, this introduction definitely wasn’t the best. Since Season 1, we’ve been repeatedly shown how deeply this abandonment affected Cheng Xiaoshi, and this is the reunion we got? It was… underwhelming.

Now, something I really, really loved was how they handled Lu Guang in this arc. From start to finish, it was just so good—his reaction when he first saw Cheng Xiaoshi again, his nightmares and PTSD, the way he carefully planned everything to manipulate events and create change. But my absolute favorite part? How morally gray he is. He planned and actually succeeded in killing Vein, eliminating the threat (though he’s definitely going to freak out when he finds out Vein is still alive). That cold smile? The scene where his hands moved like he was pulling the strings of a puppet? The way he said, “I hope we’ll never see each other again”? PERFECT. I’ve always said I wanted Lu Guang’s motivations and actions to not be entirely good. He comes across as someone selfish, willing to sacrifice others if it means protecting the people he loves—because he has the power and the knowledge to do it, and he wants his happy ending. Such a good character, I swear.

Of course, I wasn’t expecting every single question to be answered in Yingdu—that would be ridiculous lol. But I’m satisfied that the plot is finally moving forward. They gave us a piece of the puzzle—Cheng Xiaoshi’s parents, the origin of his powers, the antagonists’ apparent goal (some sort of notebook?), and hints at what we can expect in Season 3. That said, my biggest fear is that Link Click will lose its essence—the powerful message from Season 1 about how they shouldn’t intervene in the natural flow of time, no matter how painful it is, because the past and future should be left alone. Based on what Lu Guang said about the butterfly effect, we can argue that time itself is like another character—a force that, no matter how much they try to change things, always corrects itself somehow, some way. Honestly, I’m not entirely sure what kind of ending I want for Link Click, but right now, I just hope it makes sense, that it isn’t forced, and that it unfolds naturally.

And… that’s all I have to say for now.

[peachy-cheeks]

Kusakabe Atsuya A to Z

warnings: nsfw... and didn’t proofread… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

a/n: ovulating, rewatching season 2, and kinda fixating on maybe my favorite minor male character in jjk... idk i know there are more atsuya stans out here in hiding and i'm sad that there's more fic for like... idk... naoya... than him... like stand up yall, he's excellent, relatable, has a decent backstory, and i kinda wanna give him a kiss. anyway....

Masterlist

A = Aftercare (What they’re like after sex)

Atsuya's disposition often reads as removed, cold, or unenthusiastic but I like to think of this in two ways: it's a defense mechanism and his job (unfortunately tied to his entire life) is conducive to him acting this way.

All of that to say he's likely the exact opposite one-on-one. Especially when he's completely disarmed by the comfort of his partner— he's the type to cradle and cuddle you, shower you in little pecks, gently move strands of hair out the way to get a better view of your face, and bury his face into your neck to breathe more of you in... You might have to kick him off of you to grab a towel before he falls asleep though.

B = Body part (Their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

For him, it’s his forearms. He’s grateful that they’re used to bearing a lot of weight and can still exert a good amount of strength. It also gives him a little endorphin rush to feel the palm of your hands grip onto his arms for leverage and support.

His favorite part of you is a 50/50 split between your breasts and the inner plush of your thighs. The sensation of rubbing against, gripping onto, pinching, and biting the delicate skin excites him, mostly because he knows that he can always get a rise out of you from those areas. Truly he's indecisive, but he knows that the soft warmth feels much better in his grasp than the stiff, weighty tsuka (the main source of the callouses on his fingertips) he's used to reaching for.

C = Cum (What it says on the tin...)

I mean there isn't anything really special about his cum (at least he thinks), but he does love seeing it streaked across your face, glistening in your mouth, running along your chin and down your neck. Guilty pleasure is seeing it in your hair, though he sympathizes with how annoying that can be to deal with so he tries to avoid it.

D = Dirty Secret (Pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

He absolutely loves when you boss him around. Not that he doesn't already listen to you or that he'd be combative, but he really can't help it if his pants feel just a little tighter every time you tell him what he "needs" to do or even get a little cross with him. Oof... and you potentially praising him for doing something right? Definitely a submissive side he has yet to unpack or even connect the behavior with, though he can totally acknowledge that you taking the reins gives him a chance to step back from the big brother/instructor role for once.

E = Experience (How experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?)

Decently experienced and while he wouldn't divulge his past escapades with you (unless you asked), you can definitely feel the experience in how he touches you. Attentive and confident in how his hands direct your body.

F = Favorite Position (This goes without saying.)

Indecisive on this as well but he takes deep pleasure in seeing you take control. If he had to list his favorite three, it would be cowgirl, reverse cowgirl, and missionary at the very top.

I mean, he loves seeing you on top but he's a traditionalist and, efficiency-wise, he can reach where you need him most at a faster and harder pace with you under him. Missionary is also the easiest position for him to hold your cheeks between his hand to keep your focus on him.

G = Goofy (Are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous, etc)

Again, someone who seems more serious than not. But when he's comfortable and in a non-life threatening situation between the legs of his lover, a tender side of Atsuya shows. Of course, it takes a bit of time... multiple sessions and hours really... of cutting through his reserved attitude, but after a while you find that both of your kisses, moans, and deep, vulnerable sighs are bookended by smiles and giggles. Maybe someone pulled a funny face or decided to give up prematurely on a strenuous position. Maybe you both have a moment of realization that the perfect person is fucking you and you can't help but laugh at your luck.

H = Hair (How well groomed are they, does the carpet match the drapes, etc.)

I have a personal soft-spot for this so walk with me a bit... chest, arms, legs... perfect sprinkle of hair... enough to give a very mature (ugh... dilf-esque) compliment to the toned muscles underneath. A very charming, dark happy trail dusts his lower abs and leads to a nicely trimmed yet fuller tuft of hair above his dick.

I = Intimacy (How are they during the moment, romantic aspect…) 

Recurring theme here... he's a secret sweetheart. Day-to-day and outside of a dangerous situation, he's a particularly dedicated, caring, and thoughtful person. There's still a reserved quality to how romantic he is PDA-wise. Hand-holding is fine, the occasional well-timed kiss— ideally away from students— is fine, he just prefers to be more chivalrous (acts of service) than overtly affectionate (touch). He's more-so worried about giving himself the ick from being a bit too forward and all over you in public (and in-turn giving you the ick.)

But... when he is all over you, the body worship makes you feel like the only person on earth. It's like he has an innate sense of how to nonverbally rectify anything you may have misread about his feelings for you (from a mix of cultivated experience and natural chemistry). Because he's constantly in minor disbelief about how you want him as much as he wants you, in bed he's very communicative, quick to learn all of your trigger points, and loves to hand out compliments:

"Mm... I remember. That spot's really sensitive... can I kiss you there?"

"Comfortable? Feel like my hands were made for holding you here..."

"Seriously don't get how someone can be as perfect as you..."

J = Jack Off (Masturbation headcanon)

Oh boy... rare now since he's not away from you too often. I think prior to shooting his shot with you he had a major moment of self-discovery where you slowly became the main subject of his spank-bank.

K = Kink (One or more of their kinks)

Something about Atsuya makes me think that he's generally vanilla but would be really into subtle power-play. Not committed to the full dom/sub relationship or BDSM as a practice, but loves a little touch of friendly roughness. A hand to his (or your) throat, hair tugging, a few loving slaps, maybe even a little spit-play.

I think shibari/kinbaku would be the furthest he'd go. He respects the beauty of it, the amount of trust and patience it takes to do it right, the learning process, and how much you look like you need him by the end.

L = Location (Favorite places to do the do)

Traditionalist... nothing can beat a bedroom. Though the shower is nice... keeping you from slipping gives him a great opportunity to lift. The kitchen table is great too since it offers the perfect leverage. The couch offers the same thing too for a few different positions. Well... I guess as long as it's at home...

M = Motivation (What turns them on, gets them going)

Your smile. It’s really that simple. Seeing you express any amount of joy, let alone share it with him fills him with a type of yearning that he can’t really verbalize. It just makes him want to be as close to you as possible.

N = NO (Something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Teacher kink... would indulge if you really enjoyed it but reminds him entirely too much of work 😭

O = Oral (Preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc)

He enjoys giving and isn't bad at it by any means but you swear something very repressed and primal unveils itself when he locks eyes with you on your knees, mouth open, and doe-eyed. He tries to be gentle about it at least.

P = Pace (Are they fast and rough? Slow and sensual? etc.)

This can vary since he enjoys almost any pace as long as it's with you. With setting a pace he really keeps an eye out for what he thinks you'd prefer at the moment. I think there's always a point where he can't hold back but he strategizes around and prioritizes getting you off... depends on how much time you both have. But hey, if the pace happens to start out needy and desperate...

Q = Quickie (Their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc.)

Not against a quickie, but as mentioned, defers to your mood on how to proceed. For him, the most likely scenario of needing a quickie (because he’d prefer to just be late or cancel whatever was cutting into your time) would be on campus; a taboo that he hates to admit actually excites him.

R = Risk (Are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc.)

He's willing to experiment with you and anyone he's had an extended relationship with, but frankly speaking the limits of his own risk-taking imagination run fairly short (apart from speculating on what places you two could get away with hooking up.) But if you can show him something new, he's likely game (though, nothing super bloody or violent... just not his thing.)

S = Stamina (How many rounds can they go for, how long do they last…)

He blames it on getting older but, normally, twice in one go is maybe the best he can do. Definitely exceptions to this... say someone feels particularly giving, there's a special occasion (anniversaries, birthdays, coming back from an assignment, a nice date night), or maybe you two lucked out and have a whole weekend, unbusy and unbothered, together.

T = Toy (Do they own toys? Do they use them? On a partner or themselves?)

He seems like a very simple, no-frills guy. But if you have any favorites to bring to the table, that'd likely pique his interest.

U = Unfair (How much they like to tease)

Atsuya aims to please so his teasing (just light petting, groping, and sweet whispers) is typically relegated to foreplay. Beyond this, he likes to give you very simple, sometimes curt, directions to follow while he’s fucking you. He doesn’t fully restrict you (most of the time) or prevent you from chasing your high but he likes to put small roadblocks and rules to bargain on in your way:

“Hey, look at me. Don’t touch. I’ll do it if you look at me. Mmhmm… keep your eyes here. Good... Feel good? That what you wanted?”

V = Volume (How loud they are, what sounds they make)

Not loud, per-say, but does have a habit of moaning into your mouth, against your ear, or just against your body in general. Maybe he’s a little too shy to moan aloud and feels safer relinquishing these rare sounds to you only.

W = Wild Card (Get a random headcanon for the character of your choice)

Atsuya definitely has an oral fixation. He deeply misses smoking– especially a post-sex cigarette– but he doesn’t mind if you indulge. Actually, he really looks forward to seeing you have one. Over the years he’s wisened up to the fact that smoke deteriorates the body but he still finds something enticing about the act of sucking on death itself. Especially the way you do it (of course, he does want you to live a long, prosperous life…)

You always offer him a hit but he’s principled enough to look and not touch… he also keeps a few candies in a couple of different drawers around the house, so he’s covered. On the more current end of his oral fixation, he loves sharing lollipops with you. Even better when you steal a kiss with the candy caught between both your lips.

X = X-Ray (Let’s see what’s going on in those pants, picture or words)

Tanned shaft (that he loves feeling you squeeze against), darker pink tip (that he loves feeling you suck on), wonderful shape with a few prominent veins and an upward tilt. Girth-y and not unbearably long, but even when he's not hard there's a decent chub.

Y = Yearning (How high is their sex drive?)

He would say he has a very unremarkably normal libido though you’d say otherwise. Again, he tries to reel back on PDA but when you’re both lounging around, cooking, doing chores around the house, getting dressed, and other regular daily activities he can get quite handsy and heart-eyed.

Z = ZZZ (… how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

Leaves a bit of space (let's say an hour... hour and thirty tops) for a sweet and short make-out, pillow-talk, and cleanup but otherwise ready to sleep like a swaddled baby and will most likely be the big spoon.

[avatar-anna]

would you ever write a curious gaze type of concept ? especially for young dad!h like maybe he’s seen with one of his babies and the fan is observing him from afar

Curious Gazes

Three separate instances where the Styles family is seen out in the wild.

Young dad!Harry x Young mom!Reader universe

The School Teacher

“Thank you so much for meeting with me today, Ms. Y/l/n. Will your husband be joining us today?” Mrs. Keating said.

“No, sorry, he's away for work.”

Y/n smiled at the middle-aged woman as she sat in the seat across from Mrs. Keating's desk. She was Simone’s kindergarten teacher. She hadn’t spoken to Y/n too much outside of the initial parent’s meeting at the beginning of the school year, and she didn't participate much in the school's extracurricular activities, and she often pulled Simone from school. But Simone was excelling doing well and on top of all her schoolwork, so Mrs. Keating didn't see any red flags. Y/n was young, very young, that much was clear, but she tried not to hold it against the girl.

However, Mrs. Keating eventually had to call Y/n in for a meeting after a couple recurring incidences the last few days. It was nothing major, but Mrs. Keating thought it would be wise to get ahead of it before the situation had the potential to escalate.

“That’s okay, dear. We can go ahead and get started.” Simone's mother motioned for Mrs. Keating to continue as she folded one leg over the other in her seat. The teacher eyed Y/n's sneakers curiously before saying, "It has come to my attention that Simone has been going around telling students that her father is a famous musician."

Mrs. Keating had overheard Simone telling her fellow students that her dad was Harry Styles, someone Mrs. Keating only knew because her niece was a big fan. She didn't know much about the celebrity, but she saw a magazine headline or the occasional photograph. There was no way Harry Styles was Simone's father or Y/n's husband.

"Right, um, I'll have a talk with her when I get home," Y/n said, sounding a little surprised.

Mrs. Keating smiled warmly at the girl. "Lovely. I just wanted you to be aware of the situation. Lying is frowned upon at this school."

"She's—My daughter isn't lying," Y/n said. "My husband is a musician. He’s—"

"It's okay if that's the story you want to give to Simone," Mrs. Keating said. Perhaps Y/n didn't know who Simone's father was and she just told her daughter offhandedly that her dad was a celebrity. "But it's started quite a few arguments in the classroom and on the playground."

Y/n mumbled some kind of reply, and Mrs. Keating found herself saying, "Sorry, what was that, dear?"

"I said, I will talk to Simone about being mindful of the things we say and how we say them," Y/n said, clearer this time.

"Wonderful. Have a good day, Y/n."

"It's Mrs.—Nevermind. Have a good day, Mrs. Keating.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

A few weeks after her meeting with Simone's teacher, everything seemed to be fine. She wasn't totally fond of Mrs. Keating's condescension, but there were no more incidences, and Harry and Y/n decided to wait to talk to the school's administration about everything. They wanted as little drama as possible.

And then it was Simone's turn for her class' "All About Me" presentation. She was supposed to make a poster that was, of course, all about her—favorite foods, favorite things to do at home, and of course, her family.

Y/n didn't think much of it, but that was mostly because Harry helped Simone with the project while he was on a brief break from touring. He and Simone had a lot of fun cutting out photographs with curvy patterned scissors, gluing on large bubbly letters that spelled out her name, and writing little paragraphs under each picture. And the glitter. Y/n knew she would be finding pink glitter around the house for years to come after this project.

Harry and Simone showed the finished project to Y/n, and she was thoroughly surprised by her husband's crafting skills. There were pictures of Simone in Holmes Chapel with Anne and Gemma, Simone's stuffed animals having a tea party (real china, because of course Uncle Louis thought Simone needed real china to have a proper tea party), Y/n and Simone at Disneyland with Mickey Mouse ears, and one of the whole family in the hospital when Collette was born. Harry was in a few pictures, obviously, but Y/n didn't think anyone in Simone's classmates would recognize him. It wasn't like there were pictures of him onstage or anything like that.

So she was surprised when a week after the project was turned in, Y/n was once again called into a meeting with her daughter's teacher.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

"No husband again?" Mrs. Keating asked Y/n. Really, though, that didn't come as a surprise.

"Actually, he's just running a little late. He should be here in a few minutes."

"Well, I'd just like to speak to you about the project Simone turned in last week," the woman said. "I thought we had squashed this whole 'dad is a rockstar bit' at school, but she had a picture of Harry Styles on her poster."

"Yeah, well—"

"Yes, well," Mrs. Keating interrupted. "You see, it's not right to fill a child's head with delusions about who her father is, and honestly, I feel like a good mother wouldn't let her child get her hopes up in such a way."

It was one thing to let children to believe in Santa Claus, but for a mother to lie to her daughter about the identity of her father, especially such an outlandish lie, it was downright irresponsible in the teacher's book.

Y/n looked shocked, but Mrs. Keating didn't know why. Surely, the girl knew why she was called for another meeting today. The woman expected to have a calm, reasonable discussion about Simone, but Y/n took her by surprise and said, "You—You, know what? I'm not comfortable having this conversation with just you. I think I'd like to speak to the principal as well."

She looked affronted, Mrs. Keating thought, though she didn't know why. Nothing she said to the girl was unreasonable. It was clear Y/n needed some assistance on how she should raise her daughter. She was just trying to help the poor girl.

"Y/n, there's no need to get hostile, dear—"

"Hostile? You haven't seen anything yet. I swear to God—"

"Hey, sorry I'm late—Woah. Everything okay, darling?"

Mrs. Keating's eyes flitted to the door of her classroom, and her eyes widened in shock. That was...that was Harry Styles. In her classroom.

"No, we're leaving," Y/n said, stalking over to Harry and gripping his hand when she reached him.

Harry immediately rested a hand on Y/n's shoulder, his face filled with concern. They mumbled to each other for a few seconds, and all Mrs. Keating could do was flounder at the fact that Harry Styles had a daughter, and she was in her kindergarten class.

"Right," Mrs. Keating heard Harry say. "I think we'll continue this discussion another day."

Harry's voice was thick with emotion. Anger, Mrs. Keating realized. She scrambled to think of something to say that would smooth things over. "Mr. Styles, I'm so sorry about this, I—"

"I think it's my wife you owe an apology to, but as I said, we'll talk about it another day."

The pair left without another word, harry's arm slung around Y/n's shoulders.

The following week, Mrs. Keating was written up and was informed that Simone had transferred to a different school.

The Production Assistant

Amy didn't want to make an ass out of herself and assume anything, but she was pretty sure her boss was in love with her.

Well, Harry technically wasn't her boss, but she was a PA on the set of Don't Worry Darling, and he had a leading role, so he was basically her boss.

If Amy told anyone what she thought, they would all think she was crazy, which was why she didn't say anything. She just got this vibe from Harry. He always went out of his way to say hello to her and ask how she was doing, he gave her a kind smile whenever she passed by him, and he once brought her coffee, even though her job was to bring coffee to him!

She just had this gut feeling like there was this unspoken thing between them, but neither of them acted on it because there were so many prying eyes. It was honestly admirable how professional Harry was about the whole thing.

"Good morning Harry," Amy said as she knocked on his trailer door. "They're almost ready for you on set."

Harry stepped out of his trailer. He was in costume—a crisp suit and hair styled to perfection. He was just so dreamy, Amy thought, and when he smiled at her stomach erupted into butterflies. "Thanks, Amy. Always makin' sure I'm on time."

Amy blushed. "Just doing my job, Harry."

"Call me H. Most people do," he told her.

A nickname? Harry said "most people" called him H, but she knew that was probably him just saving face. He really did like her.

"Good luck!" Amy called to him as he walked onto the set of his 1950s-era home.

Harry gave her a thumbs-up and winked at her over his shoulder, which only solidified Amy's suspicions.

Harry Styles was definitely into her.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Amy was going to make her move today, she had to.

Between all the flirty smiles and jokes and that one time Harry called her "Ames," she couldn't take it anymore. She didn't care if they had to keep their relationship a secret, she just wanted them to address the elephant in the room.

Harry was in his trailer while production filmed a couple scenes that he wasn't in. He usually watched to give his friends moral support, but today he only left when he was called to set.

Amy approached his trailer, a coffee just the way he liked it in her hands. She was so excited, she didn’t hear two voices laughing until she opened the trailer door.

“Shove off, H!”

“Shove off? That’s rude.”

“You’re crushing me, you big baby!”

“That’s exactly what I am. You know how hard it is to get your attention these days? I’ve got a small army between me and you. And it’s just gonna get worse.”

“Well you’re the one who doesn’t know how to pull ou—Oh. Hello.”

Amy was frozen on the steps of Harry’s trailer, unsure of the sight in front of her. Harry was sitting on the sofa, but around his broad shoulders, she could see he was actually sitting on a young woman’s lap. Amy couldn’t see much, just half of a face and hair tied up into a ponytail, but alarm bells immediately rang in her head.

Having noticed his friend stopped talking, Harry craned his neck to look over at Amy. He grinned at her, but made no move to stand up from where he was perched on the young woman’s lap.

“Oh. Hey, Amy! Am I being called onto set? I thought my call time was at seven.”

All Amy could look at was the way the young woman’s hand rested so casually on Harry’s knee, like she didn’t have to think twice about touching him. It was so simple yet affectionate, exactly how Amy imagined being with Harry would be like.

Somehow, she managed to wrench her gaze away. “No. No, uh, I just thought I’d check in because you’re usually, um, usually on set with the rest of us.”

“I know. Sorry about that. I just got a surprise visit from Y/n here, and she’s just desperate for my attention.”

She could be a friend, Amy thought. Friends had friendly banter and were close like that. Amy decided to still hold out hope. All the signs were there that Harry liked her.

Said random girl pinched Harry’s arm, but he swatted her hand away. They giggled with each other and kept pushing each other around like school children, and Amy was suddenly filled with immense jealousy. Who was this girl? Didn’t she have any respect for the fact that someone else was in the trailer?

“Honestly, Amy, you can have him. He’s being a pain in the ass,” the woman, Y/n, said.

Harry immediately pouted at Y/n. “I’ll remember that,” he said, but Y/n merely rolled her eyes at him.

They began bickering again, and Amy took that as her cue to leave. As she walked back to set, Harry’s coffee still in her hands, she didn’t know what to think.

Before long, it was time for Harry to shoot his scenes, and Y/n was nowhere to be found. Harry was as friendly and good natured as ever, he even asked Amy to wish him luck before a first take!

She wanted to watch Harry film his scenes, but she was unfortunately called away to tend to other things. Amy ran around the lot, carrying messages and running things back and forth for whoever saw her walking by. It was exhausting at times, but it was a foot in the door, and that was what mattered.

Between errands, Amy found Harry at the craft services table, and without even thinking about it, she made a beeline for him.

“Hey, H,” she said, trying to sound like she ran into him by chance. “How’s the shoot going?”

“Good, I think. Thank you for asking,” he said, smiling at her. “How are you? Working hard or hardly working?”

Amy blushed and let out a laugh. He was so endearingly dorky, and he always made a point to ask how she was doing. He was just so thoughtful.

“Nothing I can’t handle,” she said.

“Good. Well, if no one told you today, I really appreciate your hard work. I’m sure this place would be in shambles if it wasn’t for you and everyone else working behind the scenes.”

Amy swore she was going to swoon any second now. Thankfully, she managed to keep it together. “O—Of course. I’m happy to help.”

“Can I trust you?” he asked her, his voice dropping so only Amy could hear him.

Gulping, she asked. “Of course.”

Harry stepped just a little bit closer, and Amy had to hold her breath as she waited for him to say what she’d been fantasizing about for weeks. “Do you mind going to my trailer and checking on Y/n?

Amy felt like the floor had been ripped out from under her feet. “Check? On—On Y/n?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Sometimes she doesn’t tell me how she’s really feeling, and I worry something’s bothering her.”

“Uh...Yes! Of—Of course,” she stuttered, willing thoughts back into her head.

Harry squeezed Amy’s shoulder affectionate. “Thank you, really. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”

He was so endearing. His eyes, which were usually filled with something so warm and boyish and charming, so inherently Harry, but just then something flickered there, something softer.

But not for her, Amy realized. For Y/n.

With a couple more words shared with Harry, Amy set off for his trailer, mulling the last few weeks over in her head.

Could it all have been nothing? Did she really read into their interactions too much? Amy had never been in love before, but she was sure from that conversation with Harry that he was head over heels in love with Y/n. It sucked more than she wanted it to, though perhaps she should’ve known. Of course Harry would be in love with someone. Amy never stood a chance.

Knocking once on the trailer door, she popped her head in. Y/n was laying across the sofa, her arm draped over her eyes. When the door opened, though, she startled.

“Oh. Hey, Amy.”

She sounded kind but tired. “Hi. Harry wanted me to come by and ask if you need anything.”

She smiled, the kind of smile that said Y/n was familiar with this kind of treatment. “H is a bit of a mother hen, but I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” Amy asked, stepping into the trailer. “If you need water, a glass of wine, whatever you need, I can get it for you.”

“No wine for me, but a water would be nice, now that I think about it.”

Y/n stood up from the couch, but wobbled a bit. Amy rushed over and rested a hand on the young woman’s elbow. “Should I get Harry? If you’re sick, there’s a medical tent nearby—

“I’m fine, I promise. I know the symptoms by now,” she said. Y/n looked at Amy, almost as if she was assessing her. “I’m pregnant.”

Amy wasn’t sure she could handle much more today. “You’re...”

“Yep.”

“Does Harry...?”

“Know? No, but I think he suspects. He knows me pretty well by now.”

Y/n let Amy help her sit back down on the sofa. “It probably isn’t my place to pry, but you...you don’t sound excited.”

“Oh, I am, I’m just exhausted,” Y/n explained, and the smile on her face made Amy believe that. “It’s just...the pandemic. I’m worried about having the baby in conditions like this, you know?”

Amy didn’t have much to say to that. What could she say? She was twenty, there was no way she could be of any help to Y/n’s current situation.

“Sorry, you barely even know me. I think spending most of my time with children under ten years old makes me miss adult companionship,” she said, then her eyes widened. “I wasn’t supposed to say that.”

Amy understood the implication. She guessed from how unfazed Y/n seemed to be at being pregnant. She didn’t know how Y/n and Harry managed to keep so many secrets, though his little speech about trusting her earlier now made sense.

“You’re secret’s safe with me,” Amy promised, and meant it. “But I think you should see a doctor anyway.”

“You’re probably right, but I think I just need to sleep for a little. Thank you for checking in. Harry talks about you a lot. He was so nervous about jumping into acting, but you’ve been a friend to him when I couldn’t be here physically, so thank you.”

It was quite literally impossible to harbor any bitterness or ill will towards Y/n. She was so kind and genuine. Exactly the kind of person Harry Styles would have a baby with.

Smiling, Amy said, “Just doing my job.”

The Daycare Worker

The daycare Heather worked at was known to celebrities for its discretion. Everyone who worked there was hired with the most important rule being that they were not allowed to reveal the identities of the patrons or their children. No photos, which was a given at any daycare, no talking about who dropped children off, and definitely no selling stories. The daycare wanted to provide a place for celebrities to drop off their children without worrying about their children's photo appearing in a magazine or on social media.

Heather knew all of this and abided by all the rules. After working there for two years, she'd become desensitized to the people she worked for, and it wasn't like she saw them all that much anyways, it was the children she saw the most.

The only family she couldn't get her head around was Y/n's. As far as Heather knew, Y/n wasn't a celebrity, but she dropped off her kids, a mix of six, a couple days a week. Heather never asked, of course, but she assumed that whoever Y/n had her children with was the famous person. But her kids were cute, and very sweet and well-behaved, which could not be said for all the kids Heather took care of.

The next time Y/n dropped off her kids, Heather was at the check-in desk. She walked in with a baby carrier on her chest, little Natalia tucked in it as she pushed a stroller. Maeve ran ahead while Julian clung to the pair of jeans Y/n was wearing. He was often reluctant to leave his mom's side, but once he was playing with Maeve and the other children, he was happy as a clam.

"Good afternoon!" Heather chirped. "Dropping the four of them off?"

Y/n smiled at Heather, and she thought that while Y/n technically wasn't a celebrity, she was incredibly beautiful. "Good morning. Just the twins and Geneva today."

Heather helped get everyone checked in and let Maeve inside while Y/n got Geneva out of the stroller she was in. Julian made no move to go to the preschool room with his sister, but that was to be expected. Once Geneva and Maeve were settled in their proper rooms, Heather turned her focus on the little boy who was still clinging to his mother's leg.

"Your hair is getting so long, Julian!" she said, bending down to his level.

"I want it to look like Daddy's," he said, big green eyes looking back at her.

Y/n bent down to Julian then too. "Okay, JuJu. Mommy will be back in a little bit. I have to work and run a couple errands and then I'm gonna pick you up and we're gonna go see Daddy at work. How does that sound?"

Heather's ears perked at the mention of Julian's dad, who had yet to pick up from the daycare before, but she quickly focused back on Julian. "That sounds like a lot of fun!"

After a little more coaxing, Julian eventually let go of Y/n and joined Maeve in the daycare with only a little bit of sniffling. Y/n handed over the twins' lunch boxes and some snacks and diapers for GiGi. She left quickly, not wanting Julian to see her and start crying, thanking Heather over her shoulder on her way out.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Another day, another shift at the check-in desk.

Heather was currently manning the front on her own while holding Geneva in her arms. The room where the toddlers played was close to the desk, and sometimes Heather liked to lean over and pick up a baby just because it was always nice to cuddle a cute baby, and GiGi was definitely that.

As she held the toddler in her arms, Heather thought back on Y/n dropping off the kids earlier in the afternoon.

The mom had come in around the same time as she normally did, in the early afternoon once they were out of school, only the twins came in with pink and blue hair.

"Wow," Heather had said. "You guys look so cool! Who did your hair?"

"Daddy!" Maeve said, her cotton candy blue hair bouncing as she skipped over to show Heather her new hair.

"Yep. Dad died their hair. We're not very happy with Daddy right now," Y/n said through a smile.

Heather tried to hide her laugh, though the situation was a little funny. "I'm guessing the hair was a surprise?"

"Yep!" Y/n said, still smiling, probably so she didn't upset her kids. "After I explicitly told him to wait until the summer because they go to a private school, but did he listen? No." Seeming to realize she was ranting to a daycare employee, Y/n shook her head. "Sorry, that was unnecessary, but Dad is picking up today. He's on the approved pick-up list, so everything should be fine."

"Great! Have a good day!" Heather said, a little more excited than she normally was. It wasn't like she spent all of her time wondering who the kids' famous father was, but she also couldn't help but be curious.

A couple hours later, and Heather was holding Geneva while Maeve and Julian played with toy cars and Natalia slept soundly in the nap room. It was getting to be about that time when they went home, and Heather was slowly filling with anticipation.

"Do you want to go play, GiGi?" Heather asked, pinching the toddler's cheek. Geneva shook her head and tightened her little legs around Heather's waist. "Fine by me," she said, switching the toddler to her other arm.

Heather was happy to hold Geneva and play with her at the front of the daycare. She was, for all intents and purposes, a relatively easy baby. She was calm and babbling until she noticed someone come to the front desk. "Dada!"

"Hi, GiGi! Did you have fun today?"

Now, Heather didn't live under a rock, and perhaps it was embarrassing, but she didn't have to turn around to know who had come to pick up Geneva. She gave herself two seconds to get ahold of herself and turn around to face Harry Styles, the person who was quite literally her phone background.

"H—Hi. You must be here to pick up Geneva, Natalia, and the twins," Heather said, grateful that she sounded relatively normal. She had no intentions of freaking Harry out.

Harry's grin was wide as he took Geneva from Heather's arms. "I am. My wife said to be here at four thirty, so here I am."

Wife. Harry Styles had a wife. And children. Not just one baby, but multiple children, and the rest of the world was none the wiser. It was nearly impossible to wrap her head around—she wasn’t even going to think about the fact that Simone was almost ten years old and what that might mean—but she tried her best to save her freak out for after he and his kids left.

"Right. She said you'd be coming. I'll call for them."

Heather tried her best to ignore the way Harry freaking Styles was kissing Geneva's cheeks repeatedly and using a baby voice to talk to her, otherwise she would probably melt into a puddle in front of him, which was definitely against company policy. She called for the twins and collected a sleeping Natalia from the nap room, who fussed a little but eventually settled when she was in her father's arms.

"Daddy!"

Maeve and Julian ran up to Harry excitedly, whose grin only widened as they rushed over to him. "There are my little monkeys! How are you?"

"We colored a picture for you!" Maeve said.

"Yeah, so you can give it to Mommy and she won't be mad at you anymore," Julian added.

Harry laughed and marveled at the picture his kids handed to him, Natalia still sleeping soundly despite the commotion. "I would say don't worry about that, but I think this will do the trick."

In no time, Natalia was strapped into the baby carrier that Harry put on with ease and the twins were in their jackets. Heather thought seeing Harry Styles with a baby strapped to his chest and the twins hanging off his arms was about the cutest thing she would ever see.

With a kind smile, Harry thanked Heather and went over to where Geneva's stroller was so he could get her into it, and though she knew she shouldn't have, she strained her ears to hear what he said to the twins as he left the daycare.

"She's really mad at me?"

"She did that thing where she smiles even though she's not happy," Maeve told him.

"Worse than I thought," he said solemnly, though Heather was sure he was joking. Kind of. "Well, what do you think, monkeys? Flowers? Date night? Spa day?"

"I think just saying you're sorry will work," Julian said, looking at Harry with those big eyes of his, ones that he got from his father, Heather now realized.

Harry looked down at Julian with a start. "You know what, Jules? I think you might be the smartest man I know."

He hefted Julian onto his hip and kissed his cheek until Julian erupted into a fit of giggles. And as she saw Harry's eyes crinkle with joy, she realized that was the cutest thing she'd ever seen.

They eventually left, Harry saying something about stopping by the studio before heading home, which the twins cheered about. Once they were gone, Heather let out a huge breath, finally feeling like she could breathe normally again.

She didn't know the whole story. She didn't know how Harry and Y/n met or what it might have been like to keep such a monumental secret from the world. As far as the public knew, Harry had ended a public relationship, when in reality, it seems like he'd been in a private one for a very long time. And a happy one, at that.

For a moment, Heather's fingers itched for her phone so she could call her friend and tell her what happened today, but she couldn't. And she didn't want to, she realized. Not really. Harry's family was happy living in anonymity. Heather wasn't going to ruin that for them, and she realized just how much trust and faith he and Y/n must have put in this facility to have their children come here, and she was glad to be someone that (technically) Harry Styles trusted, and that was pretty fucking cool.

[ct-cactus]

Demon Slayer AU where everything is the same except Yoriichi is a ghost.

He’s corporal/people can see him, he can change his appearance from when he was a kid to when he was old.

He follows Tanjiro around. They met sometime before the Hashira Training Arc for sure, but how early depends on what the writer decides. Has he been there since pre-canon? Or did he show up after the Entertainment District Arc (would honestly make most sense since Tanjiro didn’t know about Sun Breathing until after Mugen Train, but again this is an AU).

He meets Muichiro, and after it clicks that he’s Michikatsu’s descendant Yoriichi follows him around too, eager to be close with the family he could never have.

Depending on when they met, Yoriichi could help Muichiro recover is missing memories earlier than in canon.

Other things about/to include in the AU:

Kamaboko Squad centric (Tanjiro, Nezuko, Inosuke, Zenitsu, Kanao, Genya, AND Aoi and Senjuro)

each member gets a one-on-one interaction with him at some point, which will add to their own personal character growth

Whether or not Yoriichi can physically interact with others is up to the writer

making him able to fight demons seems kinda OP, so unless the writer can find a way to make it make sense about how he can maybe don’t do that

maybe he can exude enough strength to stun demons, but not fully kill them

can he pick things up, or do they just pass through him?

He helps train Tanjiro, making him more proficient in Sun Breathing

this can give Tanjiro more time to hone is Water Breathing. It always irked me that Tanjiro didn’t practice Water Breathing as much when he discovered Sun Breathing (don’t quote me on that, I get my info from TikToks and reaction videos. But why learn two breathing styles and not increase your skill in both?)

this can allow a Giyuu training session in the Hashira Training Arc that we didn’t get to see

Expanding on Yoriichi changing his age: I feel like the older he presents himself, the more power he would have. So when he’s fighting, he’s somewhere between his 20s and 80s. However, because this takes up a lot of energy, when he’s not fighting he’s typically in the form of himself as a child or in his teens

whether or not his mentality/maturity is affected when he’s at different ages is up to the writer so long as it’s not portrayed in an erotic/kinky way

Yoriichi can give tips to the Hashiras that those in the Sengoku Era used (information always has the potential to be forgotten, so maybe there were some tricks that were forgotten about?)

can provide more information about Muzan and his weaknesses, since he was the only swordsman who came close to killing the Demon King

Interactions with Lady Tamayo and Yushiro!

Fluffy moments! Slice of Life, Found Family, all the tropes! Let him be the father to the Kamaboko Squad that they never had/lost (let him have the chance to be the father he never got to be)

Lots of interactions with Genya (is my favoritism showing?)

bonding over being the younger brother

bonding over their endless love for their older brothers

bonding over their older brothers who do so much to hurt them, but they just can’t stop admiring them

Let Yoriichi give Sanemi a talking to

yes, I understand why Sanemi acted towards Genya the way he did. He wanted to protect him, keep him out of danger. However. Good intentions DO NOT give you a free pass on bad actions.

the way that Sanemi treated Genya was cruel and frankly unacceptable; he could’ve gone about it in a much more mature manner

Interactions with Giyuu and Yoriichi!!

mostly bc Giyuu is my fav Hashira, but I notice a lot of similarities between them

Maybe Yoriichi can provide information about Kokushibo/Uppermoon 1?

Yoriichi has the flute that Michikatsu gave him with him in his ghost form

Additional weaknesses up to the writer (this goes for powers too)

Kamaboko Squad showing Yoriichi present-day things

A mix of fluff, angst, etc.

rating is up to the author

ANY SHIP is welcome so long as it is:

legal

not a pro-ship

treated respectfully/with some level of understanding

^^continuing from this, it doesn’t matter if you include SaneKane, SaneGiyuu, ShinoGiyuu, ShinoMitsu, SaneMitsu, ObaGiyuu, UzuRen, or any other pairing, polyamorous included. It doesn’t matter if there’s no ships at all. Everyone has there own preferences, and it’s up to both the reader and the writer to be respectful about it

This is all I’ve come up with for now! I’ll most likely come back and add more at some point, but if you have any ideas or suggestions let me know too!

If you end up using this idea, credit me with my Tumblr, and if you want to as well my AO3 which can be found in my profile :)

[mal3nko]

Some of my favorite instances that really highlights the difference between “Living World” vs “Dead World” Vinh for me is how the two versions of him react to Max telling him that she knows about his relationship with Safi.

Obviously the context behind Max bringing up this fact to “Living World” Vinh is because she’s trying to gain as much information from him as possible, and Vinh in this reality is being incredibly cagey and standoffish which leads to a lot of frustration on her part.

And of course Vinh at this point is getting pretty ticked off and irritated by Max, and utilizes his usual smug persona to not only downplay his reaction to her knowing this information, but also tries to subtlety fish for info himself on how she came to know about him and Safi in the process.

But in hindsight, we know Vinh actually cares a lot more about Max knowing this information then he’s initially letting on here considering the fact that he texts her later on in the day questioning where he and her stand after this relatively heated conversation and quietly nudges Max to not say anything about his relationship with Safi. This is also the only instance where Vinh will text Max at all in this reality.

And then we get to Max dropping this information on “Dead World” Vinh, and his reaction is obviously quite different.

The most obvious difference to me at least, is that he doesn’t even question how Max knows here. Doesn’t really seem to have the energy to, or maybe even just doesn’t think it matters if she knows since Safi is dead in this reality. I’ve wondered for a while now who Vinh in the “Living World” seems to be nervous about this info potentially bothering if it were to spread, and I know some people believe it’s Yasmin, or even Reggie (like myself initially), but looking at it from this angle I really think it’s just…Safi. The two of them hooking up was obviously a secret, most likely a mutual one, so I think Vinh fears that if this information became public knowledge it could potentially upset her, and he definitely can’t have that. Would it have actually upset her though? Maybe, maybe not, but either way he can’t be too careful. But this is just my interpretation, so I don’t want to enforce my take on this whole situation on anyone!

Another difference here is that Vinh actually laments how he should have told Max about him and Safi earlier. Obviously him and Max are much closer in this reality than in the other one, so he’s probably starting to really feel the…”wrongness” of pursuing his ex-“whatever’s” best friend, which is a feeling that is mostly bolstered by the fact that their sudden closeness is happening right after her death. It’s a lot to process, you know?

I can’t stress enough how much I really enjoy the differences in how the cast in DE behave based on which reality you’re in, and I honestly think some of the characters got really shafted in this department when it came to screentime. Loretta specifically in my opinion had so much potential as a whole, but it ultimately felt like her story just… kinda went nowhere? You interact with her “Dead World” counterpart in the first two chapters exclusively, than bump into her “Living World” version for the first time briefly in chapter 3, and then she’s just completely absent in chapter 4 for some reason??

But this is ultimately why I feel like Vinh is just…a cut above all the rest of the characters since we’re actually given a decent amount of time with both versions of him throughout chapters 1-4 to really see the differences in his behavior (even if I do still think we were robbed of actual time with his “Dead World” counterpart in Diptych, sue me).

[fallen-mario-bros-au]

Aight just a warning I'm pretty new to Tumblr and I'm DEFINITELY new to making AUs so I'm pretty nervous to post anything here but I figured I'd just rip the band-aid off.

FIRST POST HYPE!! :D

Anyways I love Mario and I love Undertale and I NEEDED TO COMBINE THEM LEGALLY so I decided to make an au about it! Dunno if I'm actually going to do anything serious with this, I mostly just want to imagine cute shenanigans with my favorite characters and whatnot, but who knows? Maybe I'll actually try to give this a proper plot

So here's the basic info:

- Mario and Luigi, in the midst of trying to chase down Bowser, who has just kidnapped the princess again, somehow wind up far away from the Mushroom Kingdom and on Mt. Ebott. Where, of course, they fall into the underground.

- All the monsters are pretty much their canon counterparts (at least, my best interpretation of them 💀)

- Mario ends up discovering he has the power to reset/load/save/etc, but Luigi does not. This is because Mario has the most determination to get out of here and save the princess

- Toriel isn't quite as overprotective of them as she would be if they were a literal child like Frisk, but she is still very motherly towards them because it's just kinda who she is. She would probably be concerned about them potentially attacking the monsters so she might make them promise not to hurt anyone. I still don't think she would want them to leave because Asgore would take their souls

- Honestly mostly this is just an excuse for the Mario Bros and the Skelebros to hang out XD

- the thing that is really interesting is that Mario and Luigi are not 1, but 2 humans, which means only one of their souls would be needed to break the barrier. This ends up becoming a real issue but I could see it being resolved in a few ways.

1. one of the bros self sacrifices so the underground goes free (much to the dismay of the other, and also my heart would break haha)

2. They decide to just stay in the underground instead of going home (but they would be pretty sad about it because oh no their kingdom is still in danger

3. ??? IDK tbh

- Since Mario can load saves, he's just constantly in this angsty cycle of trying to keep his bro from getting killed off ;;

- Not sure if Mario could keep the resets secret for long since Flowey would taunt them about it, but he definitely would be pretty closed off about it, especially to Luigi. He does NOT want Luigi to know about the horrible things he's seen

-ofc cut to Luigi being confused as heck as to why Mario seems to already know what's going to happen.

- they have cute sweaters because I said so

- not sure how omega fight would work, but either way Mario would have to fight to save both of them (probably all by himself :c)

- I want them to eventually do true pacifist but IDK how it would work so I'm not gonna think about it too hard rn

- Mario and Undyne having a friendly rivalry about who's the most heroic

- sans trying to convince them they could just stay in the underground and they're like "no we have to save the tiny mushroom people" and he's like "ur just like my bro fr"

- monster speculation about the purpose of mustaches

- It would be kinda funny if they had the firebrand and thunderhand since... Like... Humans aren't supposed to be able to do magic

- "are you sure you're humans? You're so small"

- *confused Italian noises*

Also here's some assorted doodles (I know the quality sucks 😭)

[dreaisgrayte]

With the new Love And Deepspace trailer coming out I've been thinking about childhood best friend turned villian...

So I have a couple options for you guys to decide on. My first thought was between two contenders of a single fic with friends to semi lovers to angsty enemies to then potential lovers again. Though with more thought put into it, I could make this idea into a series of turmoil to put not only myself through... but all of you 🥰🥰 without giving too much away here's the options

Kyojuro fic: YN and Kyo grew up together, suffered together, and became Hashira together. Everyone wants them to get married, to continue the Rengoku line. Just when everything seems more perfect than what it should be, Kyojuro boards the Mugen Train. [You can guess where this is going] the title of this fic would be BLAZING HEART

Giyu fic: Giyu and YN have grown up together under the tutelage of their master, but when her year older friends are sent to the selection and reported back dead, YN spirals into a training fury, eventually ending up at the headquarters of the corps. To her surprise, and anger, there stands the very man she thought was dead. Once through the explanation these two cannot be separated, until YN is mortally wounded in combat and Giyu, crazed out of his mind...goes searching for eternal life. This will be titled WEEPING BLADE

Sanemi fic: Sanemi meets yn during the selection, taking a liking to her attitude and spirited way of talking to him. They grow closer due to their shared trauma and become lovers. On the night before their wedding Sanemi ventures out to find one of your favorite flowers. He never returns. That is, the Sanemi you once knew never returns. This fic will be titled WILTED PETALS

Obanai fic: you've had a crush on the Snake Hashira ever since you both were younger. Following him around until the ends of the earth. You gained a few skills here and there to help watch over your beloved. Even some that eventually wore him down enough to beg you to stop following him into the bathhouse. It was permittable when you both were not of age, but it's unbecoming of a fine lady such as yourself to stick to the side of what most people would call a deformed monster. Little by little you convince the one you love to love himself...and you. But you must've angered the gods because he eventually does become the monster he so desperately despised. This fic will be called EONS OF DESPAIR (honestly kind of workshopping all the titles...)

If I were to write all four they would be completed in a series, but (mostly) completely different stories. They would be posted separately on completion.

[bots-and-cons]

Hopefully this hasn't been done before, but this is a request for headcanons. In a world where Cybertron eventually gets rebuilt, what would Knockout/Starscream/Soundwave be eager to show to their human S/O? Perhaps a potential date locations/activities or maybe just as thanks for being willing to share Earth culture with them now that they finally have the opportunity to do the same for them? A chance for S/O to see what they're like in their element, when they're not worried about an ongoing war?

This was a bit hard to write, since honestly I don’t know much about Cybertron itself or the places there, so I just kind of came up with my own things. I mostly focused on the whole “A chance for S/O to see what they're like in their element, when they're not worried about an ongoing war?”, because that struck me as most interesting about this ask. Also I elected to ignore the fact that humans can’t survive on Cybertron without a spacesuit, because I felt like it would be an extra hassle. I didn’t do Screamer, sorry, and I feel like I went off topic… There's also this post that's a bit similar

~Soundwave~

•You’d taught him so much during the time you spent together on earth and now he wanted to return the favor

•There were also a lot of places he wanted to show you on Cybertron, of course a lot of them were still in the process of being rebuilt or still in ruins

•One that was being rebuilt was the amphitheater that once served as the venue for the gladiator fights

•He has some fond memories of that place, but back when it was destroyed he didn’t really have much of a reaction to it, it seemed insignificant at the time

•But now that it was being rebuilt, he felt like it was a new beginning somehow, the place where he’d met Megatron and started his life as a decepticon, was now being made anew, and he had a chance to make a new life for himself too

•He of course doesn’t quite explain it to you like this, but you have an inkling about why he wanted to show it to you

•When the war was going on, you always felt like Soundwave was in this perpetual state of being tense

•It’s not like he had much time to relax after the war ended either, but he’s not as on edge all the time anymore

•He’s most relaxed when he’s with you and he has this new kind of peace now that he’s home

•You very quickly realize that he was never like this back on earth

•It’s not like he’s much different, but it’s like with the combination of having you and being home, he’s found himself again

~Knockout~

•Oh boy, Knockout has so many places he wants to show you

•He drives you around the ruins of the biggest cities and shows you the places where he used to race

•There’s a ton of rebuilding going on now that Cybertron has been rejuvenated, and the refugees are returning to their home

•Knockout is definitely the nostalgic type, and he wants to show you all of his favorite places

•But the sad fact is, those places don’t really exist anymore, they’re mostly in ruins

•Knockout does manage to find some old pictures on a datapad that he had stashed away, and he tells stories about all the places he can

•It’s so nice to see him reminiscing about how his life was before the war, especially now that it’s over, and he doesn’t have to be in survival mode anymore

•Knockout has also come to the realization that he might want to spend some more time on earth, instead of staying on Cybertron

•Now that the war is finally over, he has come to realize that his time with you is limited, since your lifespan is so much shorter than his and he doesn’t want to waste a second

•During the war it was just a fact that anyone could die at anytime, so while he loved you deeply then too, he was always prepared for the fact that he might lose you

•Now that there’s not that kind of threat anymore, he isn’t so mentally prepared for the possibility anymore

•Anyway, Knockout is happy that his home is back, but he isn't really ready to return yet

[fallstreakfeathers]

Hi hi!!! I love your headcanons so much, they're all well thought out. Even the funny ones! Do you have any headcanons for your pet au fanfics?

Oh?

Uh

Actually. I did not have any particular headcanons to be honest

But I'll throw these out for thoughts:

- demons are seen as high end pets and slaves (pretty usual for the au), but are usually shockingly affordable with the exception of 'pure' bloodlines that track directly back to Muzan (the kizuki in particular). A high end demon like Upper 6 could cost several grand to own.

- Muzan was defeated, permanently weakened, and given the option to release his demons from his will, kill them all, or be killed. He then went into hiding, hoping for a day when he's strong enough to gather his army again. He also altered the demons to give them the ability to reproduce with each other. Because many demons end up killed and can no longer be created via Muzans blood, they would go extinct otherwise and Muzan needs his demons to exist if he ever has hope of regaining power.

- demons have adapted to be able to handle a bit of sunlight, though prolonged or heavy exposure sickens them quickly, and kills them. They cannot regenerate in sunlight at all. Wisteria will still halt their regerative abilities and kill them.

- demons no longer eat human meat, unless it's given to them or they happen to be the extraordinarily rare 'wild' demon. 'Wild' demons, who have escaped human enslavement, are generally killed upon capture. 'Domesticated' demons can eat any variety of raw or lightly cooked meats, but human blood can be used for extra nutrition and is purchased from special donation markets where humans are paid quite well to give their blood

- because muzan was adamant about insuring the species survival, demons go into a 'rut' period of about a week to two weeks where they are much more likely to seek someone to mate with. Humans have figured out how to use hormone injections to stop it from happening or even to force a demon to enter their rut. This period is exclusively referred to as Rut, not heat.

Each of the clones handle it in different ways in my au.

For example. Sekido claims to be unable to go into rut, but the truth is that he is so stressed about his brothers and whether they're even alive that his hormones are imbalanced and prevent it. If he knows they're alive, or better yet, if they happen to be with him and safe, he may be able to enter this period but he's so good at hiding it that you're likely just gonna think he's particularly grumpy that week. At least until he's suddenly getting you involved with his needs.

- urogi is actually impressively in control of himself, at least until you give the ok to go further than snuggling in his nest. Then he's a beast. Lasts about a week but goes into rut the most. Please prepare to lose all the soft things in your home because he WILL steal them for his compulsory nesting. Aside from that, he seems affected the least. He's still a happy, sweet demon, and he mostly just wants to cuddle and be close to his favorite person.

- Karaku is terrified. He hasn't had a natural rut in a long time, so when he finally feels safe enough that his hormones level out and he enters one, he freaks out. He associates these feelings with horrific things thanks to his abusers, so he tends to get fearfully aggressive towards anyone who approaches him- even his own brothers. Do NOT try to touch him, he will panic and think he's right back 'THERE'. If he, by some miracle, comes to you for any physical attention, keep your hands strictly above his waist.

Eventually, he will allow Sekido close to guard him from any potential harm as he hides in his room. Bring him extra blankets. He likes being hidden in soft, warm things. The better he can hide, the less frightened he will be.

If you need to ask him something, have Sekido ask for you so that his poor brother doesn't feel like your presence is in the room.

How you treat Karaku during his rut will make or break the little trust he has in you.

- Aizetsu's previous owners always had these sessions blocked via drugs, so he's actually never gone into rut before and doesn't know how to handle it. Like Karaku, he hides. He is embarrassed easier than normal during his rut and honestly just needs a gentle hand.

[marshmallowprotection]

Mystictober Day 28

Mystictober 2024 | Day 28: JuminxMC/Elegance

"Jumin, you know the eloquent comments you post onto Elizabeth's Outstagram are public, right?"

Jumin paused, loosening his black tie, and glanced over his shoulder to meet your gaze, "Oh, they are?"

"Yes," you turned your phone over to show him the trending posts you'd noticed after checking her account for the day. "People are going wild over your comments now. It's turned into a meme since then, and people use it to talk about anything they love. It's mostly cat owners, but it's now bridged over into fandom spaces. I noticed a couple of the cat ones earlier, but Luciel just sent me examples of other ones."

"So, they're using my comments about Elizabeth and replacing her name to fit whatever they want to gush about?"

"Essentially, yes. That's exactly what they're doing. It's made your name trend on Tripter, too. People are pouring through your history to see what else you've said about Elizabeth the 3rd because they're amazed to see how much love you have for her. Honestly, she goes everywhere with you, I'm surprised people didn't know how dear she is to your heart," you shook your head with a sigh.

You let Jumin flip through your phone to read the memes people had made with his likeness. You weren't sure how he would feel about the comments, since it could get out of hand fast, but when he began to chuckle, you couldn't help but laugh yourself. It was silly, but it was a good thing. People often thought of him as no different than a robot in shut-down mode, so to see his name trending because of the love in his heart felt like...

A relief.

He didn't thrive on other people's attention, not by any means, but you knew how hard it was for him to see people call him cold and outright unfeeling when he was the kindest man you knew. He could have his moments, but his heart was pure.

"I believe I should learn more about fandom culture," he told you once he returned your phone. "It seems there's an online culture I'm not yet aware of outside of what I see on my phone from time to time. I think there's potential to reach people who are often unheard."

You cocked your head, "Oh? What brought you to that conclusion, honey?"

"Many of those comments alluded to their desire to have someone speak about them in that manner because they don't experience a single compliment in their daily life. I can presume that's what draws others to these spaces online, like-minded individuals always meet, whether they're jesting about cat photos or their favorite characters. It seems my words resonated for a reason. Not simply because they were amused by my love for Elizabeth the 3rd."

"You're always quick to think of the big picture," you cupped his cheek. "And you never forget the little details in between. That's something I love about you."

He smiled. "However, some of these edits to Elizabeth are silly. Why would one need text covered in glitter on their picture to express how cute they are? Elizabeth needs no banner. She speaks without a 'caution: cute!' label. What is there to be cautious about? Her cuteness? Is that a new OSHA regulation?"

[damned-punk]

Hello! Could you write more about Killer please😍😍😍 I've loved your first story about him😍😍😍😍

Thank you! ♡ I love Killer so much, I find myself mostly writing for either him or Kidd. Until the next story is finished, enjoy some of my Killer headcanons!

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

I feel like Killer, much like Kidd, wouldn’t have a specific preference when it comes to the physical appearance of potential romantic partners. The personality and values of the other person would have the most impact on whether or not he would become interested in them.

If he absolutely had to pick a physical component in regard to a partner, I could see him preferring a plush body as it is in stark contrast to his own but the emphasis would remain on who they are as a person.

Killer has some real issues with his own appearance and I feel that reassurance (as well as praise) during intimate moments would cause him to fall in love quickly.

While it would take some time for him to be able to unmask, you’ll know that you’ve got him wrapped around your finger when he finally allows himself to be vulnerable.

He’s so stoic when others are around but there is a side of playfulness that comes out when it’s just he, his crewmates, and Kidd.

If someone were to get along with Kidd, I could see Killer becoming interested in the person as he cares so deeply for his best friend and trusts his judgement wholeheartedly.

Killer seems like the type that would find pleasure in pleasing his partner and this absolutely manifests in the bedroom. I feel that he would be more satisfied touching his partner over his partner touching him simply because he’d maintain control and pace. It allows him to forget his insecurities for a while as he’s able to observe how good he makes you feel.

As far as music is concerned, I could see him being a complete nerd. He has t-shirts, CDs, posters, and various other memorabilia of his favorite bands. If you mentioned liking one of these bands, prepare to hear the most detailed lore that you couldn’t possibly hope to have known.

Once he’s formed a bond with someone, he’d absolutely love for them to paint his nails, do his makeup, and play with his hair. They’re such simple acts but they require he and the other person to be up-close and personal without the pressure of things being overtly romantic (which I feel would be stressful for him at times because he’d want things to be perfect and that can be hard when considering his self-image issues). It’s a moment to actually relax with someone he feels comfortable with which is limited to a very select number of people.

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[eternalchiyo]

Everlasting Spark ~MANIAC: Prologue~

A/N: Author's Note on top for once Hi I'm alive and back with the continuation of this storyyy~ It's been a hot minute, because it took me ages to find the energy for editing. As always, the general warnings of my blog apply, but I will also tag the chapters accordingly, please see the "tags in use" for more information. Thanks and have fun!

Masterpost here

The Mukami manor was different from the Sakamaki mansion.

For one, the people there seemed to actually like each other. They enjoyed their meals together and cooked together and they all did their separate chores too. To say that it made Chiyo feel uneasy was an understatement. It was so hard to believe that people could eat their lunch in perfect peace, without hating each other, the only disruption being the occasional whining from Kou that he would rather eat Vongole Bianco than whatever else the meal plan said. A meal plan! These people had a meal plan! And they followed it! Granted, most of the time it consisted of soup, and she really did not like soup that much, but the point was still standing.

Chiyo regretted stepping foot inside as soon as she found out she had to play along with all of that. She had never cleaned anything in her entire life. She also wasn’t talented at cooking, as her cooking sessions with Yui had proven previously. Having to be responsible for a house was such a pain, Chiyo wished she could just go back home to her father, and that had to mean something!

Oh, and there was also the case of Edgar walking among the living now, too. Only that his name wasn’t Edgar anymore; it was Yuma, and he was a Vampire! This had come to be yet another mystery she had to uncover if nobody else felt obligated to. She wondered how Reiji felt about it, how did he sleep at night knowing that what he had planned so meticulously all those years ago failed so miserably? Personally, Chiyo did not sleep that great, but that had been the case for a long time already. The things just kept on piling up like that.

Setting fire to that human village at the border to the demon world and killing Edgar was probably one of his prouder moments in life, being able to take away something so dear to Shuu. Something dearer to Shuu than she had ever been… or would ever be. Thinking back on it she had been a stupid child back then. Not only had she trusted Reiji with his top-secret lunatic plan, but she also had faith in him actually getting the job done, and now look where it got them! Everyone hated each other and Edgar was not even dead! She probably would have had more luck trying to assassinate the boy in his sleep herself, not that she would have ever done it. The thought of killing someone hadn’t exactly manifested itself in her mind before Reiji planted the seed for it in her brain. She hadn’t even been aware of him wanting to burn the village down until she arrived there herself and saw it with her very own eyes. Sometimes she still felt like she could smell the burned human flesh from afar. Needless to say, grilled meat was not exactly her favorite meal from that time on.

She sighed to herself as she attempted to clean some dishes. She had already broken a plate or two and had been scolded by Ruki for it. Luckily everyone agreed not to let her near a cooking pot anytime soon – for safety’s sake. Even with her semi-arsonist background she was not looking to burn a house down that had so many potential clues to the answers she was seeking. Chiyo chewed on her lip; she came here to find more information, not to play house! But Ruki did not cooperate and did not even give her an opening to dig deeper into the situation.

In general, Ruki seemed to have made a 180 in personality. He was extremely strict and demanding, and did not respect her personal space a lot. Just the other day he walked into the bathroom, not even bothering to knock, while she was getting ready for bed. Luckily, she had been mostly done by that time, so all he ended up seeing was her ugly face mask. Not to mention that he kept calling her guineapig without even offering an explanation to the weird nickname. She kept wondering whether his previous attempts at getting closer to her had been fake and only served as a means to an end. But she really had nothing of interest to offer, so either Ruki knew something about her she wasn’t aware of, or he was an idiot who liked to toy with women. At this point both options seemed valid to her. The man was an enigma and no amount of her thinking about him made it any easier to understand him.

She also was not allowed to attend school for the time being. The details were not quite clear to her, but she didn’t particularly care about going to school anyway, so she didn’t question it much. Although it did leave her quite isolated from everyone else, which on further thought was most likely the reason for it. Chiyo wondered how Yui was faring so far… and Shuu, did he miss her? Or was he glad she was finally gone? The last time she ‘spoke’ to him was back in his room, where they had kissed. She sometimes thought back on it, it was definitely better than when they ran into each other in the forest, but it still left her feeling empty and sad for the most part.

“Hey, Kitty, you’ve been rubbing that plate for a long while now, don’t you think?”

Surprised, she turned her head around, to see Kou standing next to her. Another person that did not value personal space. She did not really like the bubbly idol, because while he did bright up the place with his comments and overall personality somewhat, he still was way over the top for her. Not to mention that this shiny dazzling personality was but a persona he would put on for appearances.

“Huh? Oh…” she said, putting the plate down.

Kou let out a grumbling noise. “Seriously, when Ruki-kun brought home a stray I thought it would be more exciting. You’re so dull,” he said and eyed her critically. From the day he saw the inside of her wardrobe, he had been nothing but mean about it.

Chiyo rolled her eyes. What was it with those people always naming her after animals? And what did he mean ‘dull’? She wasn’t here as a circus attraction for him to throw peanuts at.

“In any case, I’d hurry up with this, if you don’t want him to get mad at you. But maybe you should break another plate, it’s kind of irritating that their number is uneven~”

Kou took off again and Chiyo was left alone in the kitchen. She didn’t really feel like she had a place in this house yet and it made her feel uneasy. At least back at the Sakamaki mansion she could walk around comfortably. Here she felt like a criminal for even daring to sit on a sofa, so she would spend most of her time in the room she was given upon her arrival. She liked the plant in it a lot.

She sighed when she finally put the last cup in the cupboard. Housework was dull, but at least she didn’t break anything this time. However, the plates really were at an uneven number and now that it got pointed out to her it started bothering her as well.

“Oh… Lilith… you’re still here…”

Azusa was standing in the doorway, looking a bit on edge. Chiyo would be lying if she said she wasn’t freaked out about most of his antics. She couldn’t be mean to him because he enjoyed it and asked for more. He even tried to get her to cut him with a knife once. What fun was there in bullying a person that wanted to be bullied?

“Lilith… say. Did you… see my knife laying around here… somewhere?”

Azusa for some reason had also taken a liking to calling her Lilith. This was the only hint Chiyo got that told her that these people knew more than they let on. Would she really have to seduce Ruki to find out his secrets? Would that even work? It did make her feel a little bit uneasy. At the same time, it seemed like he was the top guy in this house, calling himself master and inflicting punishment upon people if they failed to do their tasks properly, so if someone had valuable information it would be him. How utterly frustrating.

“I haven’t,” she said shaking her head slowly, focusing on the present situation again.

“If you see it… let me know...?”

“Sure…”

She watched him hurry off down the hallway. Letting out a defeated sigh she decided to exit this room as well. Just as she was about to round the corner in the opposite direction, she bumped into someone.

“Ack! Ruki—”

“Guineapig, do me a favor and do watch your step while walking,” he said. With how much she had messed up the household lately, she could hear it in his voice that he was slowly growing tired of it.

She rubbed her nose which stung a bit from where she bumped into Ruki’s chest. “Sorry…”

They stood there awkwardly for a second. She wasn’t sure how to act around him, ever since the situation on the staircase. No, actually she had never known. Only that now there was also the confusion of her own heart that made it hard for her. Who was Ruki Mukami anyway? He had called himself a snake before, but the snake tempted Eve, not Lilith, that much she gathered from her brief bible discourse. Whenever he looked at her it made her skin crawl, but for some strange reason she felt herself seeking it out more and more. Something was wrong with her for sure.

“I came to see whether you were done with the dishes, but I see that you are,” he said.

“Don’t worry, your plates are fine, I spared them my rough treatment,” she said, trying to sound casual or funny about it.

Ruki apparently did not find that very amusing since he didn’t react to the joke. And she always thought she had no sense of humor. Maybe she didn’t and that’s why he wouldn’t react to her attempt at defusing the tension. Though, Chiyo had not seen Ruki laugh genuinely even as much as once since she started living here, and that was a little bit unsettling. Shuu also wasn’t one to laugh often, but she had witnessed it in the past, at least.

“You broke enough as is, I hope this will not be a common occurrence or I will really have to punish you, until you learn your lesson,” he said.

Chiyo’s face contorted in distaste. He really was all about that master of the house thing. A little bit too intense for her taste. She wondered what a punishment from Ruki would entail, but then decided she’d rather not know. Although she was yet to find the Mukami torture chamber, if they even had one.

“You look like you are thinking up filth… or are you that disappointed you will not be getting a punishment?” he asked, slightly amused.

“W-what? No!” she protested.

Chiyo’s eyes widened in shock and her face felt like it was burning up. Being punished sounded bad enough as it was, and she wasn’t exactly into that type of play… was she? She hated how Ruki made her doubt herself in even the aspect of her life she thought she had figured out and under control!

Ruki eyed her with a curious look on his face, barely hiding his amusement. He looked as if he was thinking about something while he studied her face, though he didn’t voice any of those thoughts. As he made his way to the kitchen, Chiyo anxiously followed.

The tall Vampire investigated the cabinet that they used to store all the plates in. Then he looked back at her. Chiyo didn’t like the way this was going, and she was sure the look on her face was one of pure horror by now.

“Now that I think about it, this odd number of plates does irk me. You will be a good guineapig and make up for it.”

This man never failed to trigger the flight instinct in her. She took a step back and bumped into the kitchen counter, knocking over a box of sugar. Ruki sighed.

“Clean this up. I expect you to come straight to my room once you are done with that,” he said.

She wanted to protest, but something in the eyes of this man told her that it was best not to argue.

“Do not dawdle,” he said and left her alone with the mess she had made.

Chiyo watched him walk out of the kitchen and sighed. Just what was wrong with her? She wasn’t feeling like herself ever since she had left the Sakamaki mansion and started spending her time here.

She started to be increasingly jumpy and clumsy. That never used to happen to her before; was Ruki making her this nervous? Her heart sure was feeling as if it was going to jump out through her throat whenever she interacted with him. Or was it because she wasn’t used to doing housework? She really wanted to leave again, but she also really wanted to find out more about the mystery surrounding her, Yui and, apparently, both Vampire families. Lately she was starting to think that maybe Shuu was correct all along in saying that his father liked to spin fate however he pleased. Did he send her those dreams about Lilith? Was that even in his powers to do? How much power did the Vampire King have anyway? She never succeeded in grasping the extent of his powers.

She shook her head and sighed. What did it even matter? Maybe she should just give up and go back; she never had this strange dream again afterwards, so maybe it was just that? A simple weird dream? Pure coincidence that it was also strangely biblical and just like Yui’s dream proclaiming her as Eve?

No… these guys knew something she didn’t, and she wanted to find out what at least, since she already went through the trouble of coming here.

She tidied the counter from all the sugar and made her way to Ruki’s room reluctantly.

[thisbuildinghasfeelings]

How I Would Change 4x03

4x03 is my least favorite Lone Star episode. I struggle to enjoy any part of it because I think there were so many odd choices made, including places where, to me, Carlos seems wildly out of character. However, I don't think it's completely unsalvageable. In fact, I think the overall storyline is fine and some little adjustments would improve things immensely.

Here are the FOUR THINGS I would change about 4x03:

1.Give more context for why Carlos is upset

I think it makes a lot of sense for Carlos to be feeling intensely guilty about Iris in this episode. Presumably the main reason that Carlos went so long without contacting Iris was because he was afraid of upsetting her or setting back her progress. Then, when he finally does come back into her life, it's not for her benefit or to rekindle their friendship or to check up on her. Instead, it's because he needs something from her. Then, almost immediately, Iris goes missing again and is in danger. Carlos canonically blames himself for everything, so of course he would blame himself for this!

In that context, I can better understand why Carlos would react the way he did when he finds out that TK went to see Iris and potentially upset her enough to cause her to go missing again. But also, TK only did it because of Carlos' own failure to deal with the situation, and I think that's something Carlos would recognize. I think it makes sense for Carlos to be mostly angry with himself and feeling a lot of guilt, even though that may take the form of him lashing out a little at TK in a moment where he is very upset. Ultimately, I think it would have helped this episode out a lot if there had been a moment or two where it is made clear that Carlos is mostly angry at himself.

2. Fix Carlos in the cliff rescue scene

The cliff rescue scene, despite the hilarious moment of sex doll CPR, remains my absolute least favorite scene of the series. First, I hate the way Carlos uses his cop authority to intimidate a mentally ill man. To fix this, I would simply have the detective stop Carlos before he can really approach the man. She could tell Carlos that he's too close to the situation and to leave it to her.

Then I would also fix the way Carlos treats TK here. This is the most out of character moment to me. I understand that Carlos is very upset in this scene and thinking that Iris might be dead. It makes sense that he would be distant from TK. I'm ok with that. But when Carlos says the "can't let go of a bad relationship" line...I just hate it so much. Is Carlos supposed to be implying that his relationship with TK is a "bad relationship" here? If so, I do not for a second believe he really thinks that. Instead, he's just saying it to be a jerk to TK, which I do not like. TK is upset enough as it is! And I really don't think Carlos would act like that. Or is Carlos somehow talking about his relationship with Iris? That also doesn't make sense to me. At this moment, he thinks Iris might be dead. I don't think he'd reduce their history down to a "bad relationship." Ultimately, that line is terrible and confusing and I reject it. So what I would do with this scene would be to have Carlos just say nothing. He can be upset and anxious about Iris and distant from TK. That's enough.

3. Make the scene with Iris in the ambulance way less weird

I find this scene after Iris is rescued to be so strange. I think it's the lingering shots and the awkwardness, but I don't fully understand how I'm supposed to interpret what's going on. Is Carlos still really angry at TK? If so, why? It's clear now that someone abducted Iris and that TK wasn't the reason she went missing (and Carlos has not yet been given reason to doubt Iris's story). Is TK supposed to be jealous of Iris and Carlos? I'm not sure if that's what they're meaning to convey here, but the looks shared and the awkwardness just make it weird. Also, when Carlos tells Iris to "breathe," is that supposed to be a Tarlos Push reference? I don't think it was actually intended to be one, but I've seen many people interpret it that way.

To fix this scene, I would just remove the weird lingering awkwardness. Maybe let TK and Carlos share a worried look. Do they really need to be completely at odds here? I know they wanted to build the tension and raise the stakes for Carlos going missing in the next episode, but I truly don't feel like that was even necessary. The stakes are plenty high! And take out the "breathe" line...it's just confusing.

4. Have Carlos apologize (or at least start to apologize) during his phone call with TK

Finally, I think something that would go a long way towards improving the way I feel about this episode would be a bit of an apology to TK from Carlos. I already imagine all sorts of off-screen apologies happening in these first few season 4 episodes, but it would be so nice to actually see one! Even just a part of one! Maybe at the start of their phone conversation at the end of the episode. At this point, Carlos fully believes Iris, so he knows that TK wasn't the reason she went missing. He has absolutely no reason to still be mad at TK. He has also had enough time to reflect on his behavior and on how hurt and guilty TK is probably still feeling. Sure, Carlos has a lot of other things on his mind, including the stupid thing he's about to go do, but I think at least the beginning of an apology would fit into the phone call. Maybe TK would even cut him off and tell him he doesn't need to apologize. Ultimately, just the recognition from Carlos that he has something to apologize for here would do wonders for me.