#nothing genuine to say when he has to choose someone else to couple up with

[willowser]

love island bakugou, he'd be so pissed if someone else chose you before he had the chance at the recoupling 💀

[thesoftestpunk]

I want you, Baby I need you

Summary: your friend tells you someone may like you and so stupidly, you begin to think about them a little differently

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Reader

Word count: 5.2k

A/N: I feel like my brain fog made the pacing weird :/

Warnings: bullying, girls being mean :(, lots of fluff and pining!!

Main Masterlist

Pt.2

“Guess what?” One of your teammates, Christina, asks the second you place your tray down on the table, looking too smug for your liking. Before you can even ask, she’s talking over you. “The freak has a crush on you.”

“Who?” You genuinely forget who she’s referring to for a second, but her scoff seems to jog your memory. “Oh. Eddie Munson?” 

“Who else?” She sneers, and everyone else around you laughs like it’s some huge joke, but you’re certain she isn’t joking. “God, how embarrassing.”

Your cheeks burn as they laugh even harder. You let out a weak chuckle, feeling the world around you shrink and become suffocating. 

“Yeah,” you let out, trying to play along. “Could you imagine? Me and him?” 

You blatantly refuse to call him a freak. Since moving into town two years ago, you quickly learned city life and small town life were completely different worlds. Despite falling in with the semi-popular crowd by joining the swimming team, you understood the struggle Eddie and his friends had to go through. You weren’t freak status back home, but you weren’t popular either. Not always well known, but always well liked, and your new friends teasing him about the rumor makes you worry about it spreading. For your sake and not his. You don’t want to deal with any sort of teasing from anyone.

Guilt crawls up your throat as you steal a glance toward his table, catching his eye as he curiously looks on at the boisterous scene going on around you. You give a quick smile, which probably comes off as more of a wince, and turn back around. In all honesty, he hasn’t been on your radar. You don’t know much about him other than the fact that he’s loud, labeled The Freak of Hawkins High, and has made a scene or two in class. 

“Oh god,” Christina sighs out, wiping nonexistent tears from her eyes. “Pathetic.” 

Humming half heartedly, you focus on shoving your shitty school food around your tray instead of eating it, a sudden pit sitting heavy in your stomach. Because Eddie having a crush on you actually felt flattering. 

You choose to sit next to him in English, even give a small smile when you sit. There’s still time before the bell rings, and you find yourself glancing over at him. You open and close your mouth, uncertain of what to say until the words suddenly come tumbling out.

“How many tattoos do you have?”

For a second he doesn’t realize you’re talking to him until the silence makes him look up and realize you’re staring straight at him, expectantly. He points to himself as if asking ‘me?’ eyebrows raised and his already wide doe eyes getting even wider. And you nod while fighting off a smile. 

“Why d’you wanna know?” He eyes you suspiciously, certain that whatever information you’re about to get out of him is going to get back to your friends and fuel the constant fire over his head. 

“I dunno,” you shrug a shoulder, but you’re honest. What the fuck were you supposed to say to Eddie Munson anyway? He was intimidating as hell because he put himself in the spotlight like it was nothing. It isn’t like you hate attention, but too much makes you nauseous. “Thinking about getting one, I guess?”

“You guess?” His head tilts, causing his hair to cascade over his shoulder. Of course he would be defensive. Christina was just making fun of him less than an hour ago. 

“It’s- forget it,” you shake your head. You can’t believe you would trust your nasty, mean friends when they said he had a crush on you. 

Turning back to the front of the classroom, you wait painfully for the bell to ring, and once it does, the room fills quickly with slightly out of breath students. A couple of your teammates wave at you until you finally break and they gesture wildly, asking ‘what the fuck are you doing sitting next to him?’ All you can do is give an apologetic shrug and decide you’ll lie to them later and say it was the only seat you could find. They just roll their eyes and pull out their textbooks. 

“Five.” Eddie’s voice surprises you. 

Turning your head, you hope no one sees when you ask. “Did they hurt?”

“No, ‘course not.” He bites back a smile, trying to act all tough. 

“Liar.” Your nose scrunches and it makes him laugh at how cute it is. 

You don’t mean to, truly, but now you look out for Eddie in the halls, stare at him during class, and hope for one more conversation. One that’s less embarrassing, but you do hope. Despite your friend's relentless teasing after English class the other day, you give a small wave back anytime he gives you one. You never initiate first, too shy and afraid it’ll lead to more teasing. This way you can just say you’re being polite when you wave back and they see, but more often than not, they’re too caught up in their own little worlds. Even though you’re scared they’ll tease, you keep an eye out for him and you learn more than you ever knew before. He’s polite. He lets the cheerleaders walk ahead if they bump into each other at a corner in the hall. One arm is tucked behind his back as he sweeps the other out and he bows a little. They give him weird looks respectively, but he just smiles and moves on. He might joke around with his friends, but if you listen closely, you can hear the kindness and compliments hidden underneath the meaning of his words. The group is small, but he holds the same amount of care for each and every one of them. Including his ‘little sheepies’ which you don’t fully understand, but he used a lot of words you don’t understand, and you thought you were smart. After a little investigating, you learn some of them are made up, but you seem to like the fact that he’s nerdy and into this series called Lord of the Rings. 

You’re starting to like Eddie.

“Oh my God,” Christina moves in your line of sight, in front of him. You’d positioned yourself at the cafeteria table so you didn’t have to turn around to subtly watch him anymore. “Are you staring at the freaks?”

“Stop calling them that,” you roll your eyes. “You know I hate that.”

She crosses her arms defensively. “Just, you know, being honest. What’s so interesting about them anyway?”

“Nothing.” You mutter, going back to nibbling on the shitty cardboard pizza they served today. 

She turns around and gets the biggest shit eating grin you’ve ever seen from her when her eyes connect with Eddie’s. 

“Holy shit. You’ve got a crush on The freak!”

“Christina!” You swat at her, but it’s too late. Everyone else at your table already heard and is staring at you incredulously. “I- I do not.”

“Puh-lease. You’ve been making googly eyes at him for weeks at this point!”

“It hasn’t been weeks,” you mutter under your breath.

“Ew!” Another one of the girls scrunches her nose and jabs a thumb in his direction. “Him?”

“Better be careful, Y/N,” another taunts. “Don’t wanna find you in the woods. I heard he, like, sacrificed a girl out there last year. No one’s heard from her since.”

“Oh my god, me too!” Christina pretends to look concerned. “You think that’s what happened to Nancy’s friend too? What was her name? Bev?”

“Didn’t he like…” the girl to your left leans in and stage whispers, but she could be heard from across the room if you listened hard enough. None of them understood the concept of speaking at a normal volume. “Bite a bat's head off?” 

“That was actually Ozzy Ozbourne!” Eddie leans so far back in the chair that the two front legs don’t touch the ground, one of his legs lifted so the bottom of his dirty Reebok’s supports his weight against the table. 

You’re mortified at the idea that Eddie has heard every single word, but he was at the other end of the long table today. 

“Ugh,” Christina rolls her eyes again before turning to face him. “As if we know that freak either!”

“Tina,” you hiss, not wanting to start a scene over this nonsense. 

“Whatever. You don’t have a crush.” She fully faces the table again and starts talking about the party at Jason’s after the game on Friday. 

You go to throw an apologetic look at Eddie, but find him missing from the table, and a couple of his friends send glares your way, making you shrink in shame. 

Eddie isn’t in English, or History, and you find out through the grapevine he skips the rest of the day entirely. It wasn’t uncommon for him to do, but you feel like it’s your fault. The days leading up to the party, he seems to avoid you, eyes darting away quickly and showing up late enough to class that it’s guaranteed there’s no free seats around you. Christina seems to take notice of your sour mood, but only asks once. You lie and say you’re fine, but you feel sick to your stomach. You never actively partook in the bullying, but you never stopped it either. 

The day of the game finally rolls around, filled with school spirit and a pep rally, but once again Eddie is nowhere to be found. Not that he’d ever attended a pep rally in his whole high school career, but you at least expected to spot him at lunch. He’s even absent from your shared classes. After school, you hang around in the parking lot, wasting time before you all have to go home and get ready for the game. You frown as you observe his friends, chatting away aimlessly and occasionally throwing candy around. They hang around what you think is Eddie’s van, but if he skipped all day, why would he be here now? 

“Hey,” Christina’s voice surprises you, quiet and genuine. “Just us girls… you have a crush on Munson?”

“I…” you trail off, surprised she isn’t faking her valley girl voice, and you feel like you can trust her once again since you met her two years ago. She wasn’t your first friend in Hawkins, but you had been close when you first joined the team. “I dunno. He’s actually kinda sweet. Maybe?”

“Seriously?” And then she guffaws, catching you off guard once more. “Ugh, grody! Guys, Y/N actually has a crush on Munson!”

“I- I didn’t say that!” You can’t believe Christina would do something like that. As you watch them all laugh and tease, you wonder when they all got so mean and why you started letting them get away with it. 

“You said maybe. That’s, like, totally a yes!”

“Like it’s such a bad thing to have a crush on me?” 

Everyone quiets as you slowly turn around to find Eddie standing there, hands shoved in the pockets of his leather jacket. 

“Eddie, I…” you aren’t even sure what to say as he glares down at you. 

“I wouldn’t be caught dead hanging around you, Munson.” Christina’s voice makes you squeeze your eyes shut in frustrated embarrassment. “Even your parents couldn’t stand to stay around. Must be hard having a cultist son. Fucking embarrassing.”

The lot gets so quiet, you can hear the grinding of his teeth as he sets his jaw. He doesn’t even dignify her with a response, turning and walking away before anyone can see the red staining his cheeks. 

“Tina… that was major harsh.” One of the girls breaks the silence. 

“Oh, eat my shorts, Janice. Are we getting ready at my house or not?” 

Everyone seems to hesitate but Christina was captain of the team. No one was going to say no. Well, no one but you. 

“I’ve, um, got a thing. I’ll meet you guys at the game.” You glance over toward Eddie, watching as he harshly shoves his shoulder back to avoid one of his friends' hands. 

You shouldn’t go to the game, but you do.

Janice called you from Christina’s house, sounding hopeful. You promised to be there, despite your whole body screaming at you to just stay home. Janice promises the whole thing will blow over by Monday, and something else will come along. But it won’t just blow over with Eddie. You know that. He had looked so hurt when you turned around to face him. In all the years of getting bullied, that was the first time he showed anyone what their words did to him. And it was your fault. 

You had promised Janice you’d be there, but when you stand outside the gymnasium, you can’t make yourself go in. Can’t make yourself face who you thought were your friends. So, you walk down a path between the large building and the school and take out a key. The pool was somewhat separated, but you could still hear the muffled band playing when you entered the echoey room. You keep a spare swimsuit in your locker for this exact situation. The sport helped clear your mind and you needed to get rid of the image of Eddie’s broken look.

You swim even after the cheering and the band stops. You swim until you feel like your limbs are going to fall off, and even though you don’t want to, you shower off the chlorine. As you step out into the somewhat cool autumn air, a double door bursts open, and the kids that come spilling out make you stop. 

His little sheepies. Which means… 

Fuck. 

Eddie is the last one out, smile so wide you can’t help but wonder if it hurts. They all talk over each other, but Eddie just seems to watch over in pride. You take a step back into the shadows, hoping your bright multicolored windbreaker doesn’t give you away. 

“Hey!” Is that… Steve Harrington? “You guys were supposed to be done an hour ago.”

“The campaign ends when it ends, Steve!” One of them retorts back. 

“Yeah, well, I don’t have all night Henderson. Let’s go!” 

All three freshmen rush to Steve’s BMW and scramble inside. He and Eddie share a nod before he gets in and peels out of the lot, and you can still hear all of them shouting in excitement. The other three seniors exchange goodbyes before parting ways, but Eddie sticks behind. Neither of you move until all the cars are gone except for his van and yours. Why the fuck hasn’t he moved? 

“Is it just you?” Eddie finally speaks, turning toward your piss poor excuse of a hiding spot. “Or is the rest of the team waiting somewhere?”

“I’m- I’m alone.” It scares you once you realize you’re the only two on the property. Probably the only two within a few miles at this point. “Look, I’m really sorry about them. Christina especially. I don’t know when she got so…”

“Bitchy?”

That makes you breathe out a laugh, not realizing you were holding your breath. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

It’s quiet for a moment as he shifts his weight to his other leg, observing you and the whole situation. 

“Do you want to sit by the pool and talk?” It’s starting to feel pretty creepy outside, and the cold night wasn’t helping your wet hair.

“I thought it was locked after hours.” 

You hold up the bronze key, but offer up an explanation anyway. “My uncle is actually the coach. He got me into swimming competitively in the first place. Technically I’m not allowed to bring friends in but…”

“Good thing I’m not really a friend.” He walks past you and you’re a bit frozen in place, not believing he accepted. 

You’re nervous as you unlock the door once more and wave him inside like he would but you give an awkward curtsy. As he’s turning in a small circle to take in how the water reflects off the walls and ceiling, you slip off your shoes and roll up your jeans as far as you can go. He begins to do the same when he sees you sticking your feet in the water. 

“Jesus Chri-! That’s cold!” His voice bounces off the walls, and your laughter follows. 

“Well, yeah, most pools are.” You tuck your hands underneath your thighs and move your right leg around in small circles, disrupting the water. “Didn’t see you at the game.” 

“That kind of stuff is bullshit. Forced conformity.” Before he goes on a rant, he looks at the sly smile on your face, as if you were going to enjoy this topic of conversation. But he knew you’d react either of two ways if he kept on. Confused, or freaked out. So he leans back on his palms and tries to act casual. “And if I’m guessing right, you weren’t there either.”

“Didn’t feel like it.” You give a halfhearted shrug. “Christina really… what she said about your parents— I just don’t see her the same anymore. I don’t know how it happened, but she just got so mean, and everyone’s too scared to say anything because she's the captain. Sorry, I’m- ranting.”

“Christina wasn’t far off.” 

The admission bounces around as you look at him.

“Eddie…”

“It was forever ago.” He kicks the water, causing a small splash. “Aren’t you co-captain anyway?”

“Yeah? So?” You didn’t think he would know that, and it makes you feel all mushy inside that he knows something so simple about you. 

“So don’t you have us much say as her?”

“With her tyrannical rule? No way.” 

“No shame in running, but sometimes you gotta be the hero.”

“Yeah,” you scoff. “I’m sure getting to Mordor would be easier than standing up to Christina.” 

“You’ve read…?”

“No.” That’s a half lie. “Well, sorta. I haven’t gotten very far. I don’t know if it’s my thing, but you talk about it so much, I wanted to check out all the hype.”

Eddie looks taken aback, mouth hung open. 

“Is that what dungeons and dragons is?” You ask curiously, which seems to take him back even more. “I mean everybody says it’s bad, but it’s just nerd shit, right? Sorry, I didn’t mean—“

“It is nerd shit.” He straightens his back at the new topic of conversation. “All it is, is tabletop fantasy role play. Doesn’t have to be like Lord of the Rings. You could have a whole western fantasy campaign. Maybe even in space.” He’s ranting, and god does he know it, but you lean in instead of awkwardly looking away like everyone else does.

“Campaign…?” 

“Well, it’s…” Eddie thinks for a moment before explaining in the most simple of terms how a campaign works. You nod along, enthralled by every detail, even when he derails and starts rambling about character class and stats. He rambles on about their current campaign to help explain better, and he uses silly voices and moves animatedly. You laugh, but not at him. He continues to tease, loving your laugh and that you aren’t making fun of him. His arms flail a bit and he gives a few teasing nudges, but in his excitement he forgets his strength. 

“Wait, Eddie-!” You fall in the water, grabbing on to him in an attempt to stop, but end up pulling him down with you. The both of you come up spluttering, but you end up laughing at the mop of hair on his head. 

“Shit,” he laughs nervously. “It’s deep.”

“Wait. Can you swim?”

“Well, I’m no athlete, but yeah. I can swim.” 

“Well…” you swim forward, a sly smile creeping its way onto your face. “Might as well, right? We’re already in here. You’ll want your jacket off, though. It’s gonna be too much dead weight.”

“Right, I’ll uh…”

“Here, I’ll keep us afloat while you get it off.” 

Before he can understand what’s happening, you wrap your arms around his waist, your face entirely too close to his. With what little space you have, you can see freckles splashing across his face, and you chew on the inside of your cheek to keep your composure. He avoids eye contact as he struggles out of the leather, the tip of his tongue making a surprise appearance, before tossing the jacket aside and it lands with a loud wet slap. 

“Cool. Now good luck catching me!” You splash him a little harsher than you had intended, but you make a dash to escape.

“You’re gonna regret that!” 

You’re a lot better at swimming than he is, almost too fast to be caught, but you slow down after awhile on purpose. As his hand wraps around your ankle, making you squeal, you tell yourself you did it to not wear him out and frustrate him. That you didn’t want to anger him, as he’s pulling you into him and dunking both of you under water. You struggle against his arms, but he’s strong. You can feel the unexpected muscle against your hands, but he lets you go too soon and you both come up gasping for air. 

“Told ya.” water sprays a bit from his mouth as his chest heaves. 

“You cheated.” 

“I never cheat, sweetheart.” He wades toward you slowly, dropping down just until his mouth sinks into the water. 

“Eddie Munson, don’t you dare,” you warn but your tone is too light. “You dunk me again, I’ll- I’ll make sure you smell like chlorine for a week.” 

He doesn’t listen, and you swim backward until your back crashes into the tiled wall. The cold sends a shiver down your spine. Definitely not the way Eddie comes back up, water dripping from his chin and his arms blocking you in on either side of you. His eyes drop to your lips and you find yourself breathing heavily for a completely different reason, your chest brushing against his with every inhale. Neither of you make a move, just admiring every detail you can while breathing each other's air. Just when you think he might, a loud bang comes from one of the locker rooms, making you both jump and look around frantically. You find yourself gripping one of his forearms tightly in shock. 

“We should- we should probably get out.” No one else had access to the pool except your uncle, but you doubted he would come by at midnight. He trusted you to not fool around, and you really hadn’t let him down until now. “I swear the locker rooms are haunted.” 

Still, you don’t move until he does, and swim to the nearest ladder to get out. The only sound is the water from your clothes dripping on the floor, and suddenly you feel exhausted. Your clothes feel heavy as they cling to your skin. Without discussing it, you both start peeling your clothes off, slightly turned away to give each other privacy. As you’re wringing out your shirt, you can’t help but glance over your shoulder at Eddie, and catch the way his shoulder blades move while he does the same. His eyes catch yours and you smile sheepishly before turning back around. You’re both down to your underwear, unsure of how to proceed. 

“We should shower. Alone I mean. You can go to the boys’. There’s towels.” You speed walk away, too self conscious to hang around too long. 

“Wait!” He follows you quickly, careful not to slip. “You’re just gonna drop the fact that the locker rooms are haunted and then leave me alone to fend for myself?”

Your footsteps slow, and you let out a small huff because you know you know you’ll feel guilty until the end of time if you do that to him. 

“There’s going to be rules, Munson.”

“Oh, of course.” He agrees quietly.

“We go in at the same time and undress fully in our own shower. You’re not to come out until I have, and even then, you’re not to look anywhere but your own shower. When I say it’s okay, you can leave, got it?”

“I think you forgot the part about the towels.”

“Do not make me regret this.” 

You’ve never been so self conscious showering until now. Even with a zero percent chance of Eddie seeing you naked, you worry, but you also think about the fact that he’s in the same exact state you’re in right now. That somehow makes the whole thing feel way too intimate, and you can’t believe the first time you got to hang out with your -possible- crush, you both end up naked. If that basic, no detailed rumor got out, you’d surely die of embarrassment. Turning around, you place your face underneath the stream of water, trying so hard to not think about the small glimpse of his torso that you got. The dark patch of hair sneaking underneath his boxers that clung to his thighs from the water. 

“So, are you from Hawkins?” His voice brings you out of your wandering thoughts. You quickly turn the knob from hot to cold in hopes that it keeps you calm.

“My parents are.” Looking down, you watch the water swirl around at your feet. “My grandmother got sick and my uncle couldn’t take care of her by himself. So, we packed up and moved back here, but I can tell my parents are happy to be back home. It’s less demanding than the city.”

“The uncle being coach thing makes a lot more sense now.”

“Not a lot of people know actually.” You turn the water off completely, and wrap your arms around your torso self consciously. “I’m getting out now.”

It isn’t the easiest topic of conversation, but when she had first gotten sick two years ago, your mother went to stay with her for the three months she had been told she would live. When it was clear she was going to hang on longer than expected, they decided it would just be better to move permanently and the old lady was still sticking around. Despite being so sick, you liked hanging out with her most afternoons. Even if she forgot who you were.

You carefully walk out of the shower, towel wrapped around yourself tightly, and as you pass by the stall that Eddie is in, you catch a glimpse in the crack between the curtain and wall. All you manage to catch is the back of his head, arms extended upward to wash out whatever shampoo you’d let him borrow. He begins to turn and you look away with your cheeks burning. You attempt to dry your hair underneath one of the hand dryers, and it isn't long when Eddie comes out, damp boxers back on and using the towel you gave him to rub his hair dry. He pauses seeing you kneeled down, holding the towel to your chest so that nothing gets exposed and he realizes he forgot to wait for your okay, but you don’t seem to mind as you give a soft smile. 

“I’ll grab our clothes.” He says when the dryer finally turns off and leaves you to get somewhat decent. 

He’s suddenly so quiet as he hands over your clothes, no witty comment or joke as the two of you get dressed. All there is between you are stolen glances and nervous smiles. Once fully clothed again, you walk beside him, feeling a little stiff. Not from how your cold clothes stick to you, but from nerves. The soft lights from the pool make his face glow, and your stomach drops in the best way possible. He gets the door for you, and waits with his hands stuffed in his jacket as you lock up. The grass crunches underneath your footsteps, dry from the temperature and lack of rain. Neither of you speak, until you hit the parking lot, cars too far from each other to continue walking together.

“Were they right?” You ask before he gets a chance to escape, arms anxiously crossed over your chest. “My friends. ‘Cause if they were… I think I have one too.”

“Have what?”

Shit. You were too vague.

“A crush, dummy.” 

Realization dawns on his face as he absorbs your confession. He can’t believe it, and the worst smallest part of him thinks you’ve done this whole thing as a joke, and someone is going to pop out with a camera to capture how big of an idiot he’s been. All that happens is you chew on your bottom lip, anxiously waiting for an answer, and he's leaving your heart out in the open for too long. 

“Yes, yeah, they were right.” He watches how you smile and takes a mental image to last forever. “I’m not really quiet about anything.” 

“I just never expected…” you shake your head and look at your feet. “You. You’ve just so suddenly become this big thing in my life.” 

Eddie barely has to take a step to be close enough to take your face in his hands and lift your head up to pull you into a searing kiss. It’s so unexpected that you laugh in surprise against his lips, but he smiles at the sound. When you’ve settled down, you move your arms around his neck, pulling him closer, eager to feel his heartbeat slow to match the rhythm of your own. He kisses you so sweetly, you really do think he’s a gentleman. A quick slip of his tongue doesn’t change your mind either.

“If you don’t stop me,” he gets out between kisses. “We’ll be here all night sweetheart.”

“I like that idea,” you tease as his lips move along your jawline, and down your neck. Your eyelids flutter closed, and you focus on every feeling.

Eddie pulls back, showing some self restraint and you almost whine at the loss of contact.

“You’re gonna get a cold if you stay out here.”

“So will you!”

“I’m going to walk you to your car, and you’re going to go home and get all snuggled in bed, okay?” He traces your bottom lip with his thumb, the ghost of a smile ever present.

“Fine.”

Eddie takes your hand, intertwining your fingers together, and walks the short distance to your car. You make no move to enter, back pressed against the driver side door, and grab him by his jacket. He braces himself with one arm, looking down at you, his other hand stroking your cheek with the back of his pointer finger. The featherlight touch makes you shiver, and you find yourself getting lost in his almost pitch black eyes. Those eyes that are so beautiful and full of lashes, that a cow would be jealous. You pull him in for another kiss, arms wrapping underneath his jacket and around his small waist. He groans into your mouth, not wanting to leave if you were going to kiss him slowly like that.

“I’m personally thanking Christina on Monday.” He gives your knuckles a quick kiss before taking a few steps backwards, not wanting to look away, and turning for his own vehicle.

Christina’s head almost explodes when he does exactly that and plants a kiss on your lips in the cafeteria, but you just act innocent when you take his outstretched hand and move to sit with him at his table. It felt good, and it felt even better when you give her the finger when she wouldn’t stop staring.

[the-head-ancho-chilli]

The Hashira and their Sense of Humor

Apologies for the hiatus! A lot has happened over the last couple of months and I'm finally getting some of them (somewhat) resolved through therapy and A LOT of patience with myself. So here's a post that I written back in October that brings me so much joy! Thank you all for your patience ^^

Word count: 2k~

Mitsuri Kanroji

You know those types of people who want to tell you a really funny story but they need to stop laughing first?

And they've been laughing for the past fifteen minutes?

Yeah that's Mitsuri

I'm not entirely sure what to categorize this either than comedic storytelling

She could probably be a standup comedian too, she has some good stories to tell

But Mitsuri is really in her element when when someone else is telling a mildly amusing story

She will just keep adding onto it to somehow make it even more funnier than it was originally intended

Misturi could make an inside joke between you guys too, she is the designated funny friend of the Hashira

I also feel like she sometimes makes self-deprecating jokes, but not on any serious topics

Like she enjoys poking fun at the fact that she's still single

For an example, Mitsuri and Shinobu could be making an order at a restaurant for lunch

By the time Mitsuri finishes her first round of food and hands the dishes to the waiter, she accidentally drops them causing all the plates and bowls to shatter all over the floor

She tries to help clean up but the staff insists that she shouldn't worry about it

Sitting back down with Shinobu, cheeks red from embarrassment, Mitsuri will crack an awkward smile and say "Yeah, this is why I'm still single!"

Obanai Iguro

Obanai is the most sarcastic motherfucker on this list

I feel like his number one policy is "Don't ask me stupid questions"

He's already annoyed like 70% of the time, just don't annoy him even more

But then again...

"Hey Obanai, did you lose this?" "No I was just playing hide and seek with an inanimate object for fun, YES I fucking dropped it"

"You look really tired, are you doing okay?" "Hell yeah, nothing says healthy like eye bags as dark as my hair"

"Can I pet your snake?" "Yeah you just gotta let him nibble you first but don't worry, he's only venomous"

Usually he's kinda rude about it but he does have his nice moments

"Hey Obanai, can you pass me that?" Obanai will just say no but hand and just hand it to you anyways

Some people just don't understand sarcasm all the time and that's when he kinda runs into some trouble

Obanai and Kyojuro were walking to a meeting together, but Obanai had forgotten his jacket AND haori

It was quite chilly outside too, so poor Obanai was shivering while trying to keep Kaburamaru warm

Kyojuro asked Obanai "My friend, winter is coming! Aren't you cold?"

Obanai deadpanned and said "Of course not, I'm just practicing my acting. Glad to see that my shivering is that convincing"

"How interesting! Maybe you should audition for a play at the theatre!"

Obanai's annoyance kept him warm for the rest of the day

Tengen Uzui

Quite an obvious statement, but Tengen’s humor mainly comprises of sex jokes and innuendos

The man has three wives, of course he would find that shit funny

Like he will be in the middle of a meeting, and everyone will line up to receive some gifts from Kagaya

He will say "Come in a straight line, my students"

Tengen will chuckle and say "That's what she said"

Tengen is also the type to be "gay with the homies" and loves to embarrass Sanemi and Obanai by making jokes about being in love or hooking up with them

He chooses specifically those two because it felt awkward to make the jokes to Gyomei

Tengen once spent forty-five minutes explaining to Kyojuro that he didn't actually want to buy him dinner after Kyojuro gave him a genuinely offended look to the highest degree

"How deceitful of you, Tengen"

He pretty much wrote off saying jokes like that to Kyojuro following that incident, but he really can't help himself sometimes

I don't think that Tengen solely has generic innuendos he uses on everyone, he likes testing what SPECIFIC category of sex jokes makes people uncomfortable

Like if Giyu goes to the bathroom, Tengen will saunter up with a finger gun on his chin and ask "Pissing all by yourself, handsome?"

Everyone is throwing their shoes at him

Sanemi Shinazugawa

Of course this sadistic bastard likes slapstick, what we’re you thinking?

He may be good at holding in a laugh, but you can still see that stupid smirk on his face if anyone stumbles

One time Tengen's six foot ass fell face first while running late to a meeting

Sanemi actually struggled to keep his composure that day, he had to bite his lips together to hide the uncontrollable grin on his face

People getting smacked upside the head, tripping others, people getting violently angry, Sanemi loves it all

He refuses to admit that Zenitsu is funny

Now a regular civilian is one thing, but children getting roughed up is another

there was a particular incident where Sanemi had come across some kids swinging on a tree branch near a market he occasionally visited

This week ass branch definitely didn't have the strength to hold up any of those kids

So Sanemi did what any sane person would, and stuck around to watch this disaster happen

Well unfortunately for this one child, the branch snapped mid-swing and fell right on their face

And there was Sanemi, a hand over his stomach from laughing at these dumb kids

He didn't even stop to help them or anything, just calmed down from laughing so hard and walked away to continue shopping

Shinobu Kocho

An absolute queen of insult humor

Even Sanemi can’t beat Shinobu at her best

Do you even think she would stick with the basic ass jokes? Of course not

She can be an absolute menace if she really wants to

Shinobu is just tired of everyone's shit, and she can get even more exhausted from putting on that smile nearly as much as Kyojuro

She just can't keep up

Which brings me to my main point, which is that Shinobu's funny side usually comes out in rants or vents with the people closest to her

She and Mitsuri both express their humor by storytelling, Shinobu's just originates more from anger an annoyance rather than an effort to be entertaining

Regardless of who Shinobu's around, everyone can tell that when she walks through the door with steam coming out of her ears, everyone's gonna be laughing their asses off

As anyone can agree if they've worked in any form of customer service, there are some days where you are so damn close to breaking your cool

When Tengen got placed in the Butterfly Estate's infirmary, Shinobu was actually going to kill a patient instead of saving them for once

Like this man was just demanding shit and teasing his friend left and right, and Aoi had never been so afraid of her mentor in her entire life

Aoi tried to calm her down, "Sticks and stones Shinobu, don't let him get to you!"

Tengen only snickered

Ooooo, she lost her shit

"Sticks and stones may break my bones but PLEASE. FUCK. OFF"

Angy Shinobu is best Shinobu

Kyojuro Rengoku

Look me in the eyes and tell me Kyojuro doesn’t like puns

I know you can't do it

He will howl with laughter nearly every time you tell him a pun

"Hey Kyo, you're never gonna believe it! Remember my friend with a bakery? Well it just burned down!"

At first he'll show genuine concern, politely shouting "How unfortunate!"

"Don't worry about it, his business is toast"

Give him a minute...

"Ahahaha! Good one!"

Not only does he like being told puns, but if he has a good opportunity to tell a well timed pun he will not stop giggling until he tells it

One time you, Tengen, Mitsuri, and Kyojuro were all trying to decide where to eat after a long day of work

At one point Tengen suggested hotpot, even offering to take you all to one that Makio and Suma liked

Kyojuro tried muffling his laughing, but his attention was redirected when you asked him what he thought of the idea

Finally able to cease his giggles, Kyojuro proudly shouted "SOUPER"

It doesn't matter if you find the joke funny or not, Kyojuro's laughter is so contagious that you're dying at the silly pun

What a fucking dork <3

Giyu Tomioka

If there was a form of comedy that’s applicable at any given moment, Giyu would use it on a daily basis

Luckily for him, Giyu discovered it very quicky and refuses to let the tactic go

That's right, Giyu is physically incapable of stopping himself from making a "your mom" joke

Everyone can blame Obanai for that one

Quite literally at any opportunity, Giyu will mutter the phrase under his breath

Unfortunately, because it has become such an unconscious thing for Giyu, this bad habit of his ends up kicking his ass at the worst of times

with all due respect to Giyu's efforts, it just makes him unintentionally funny

in an awkward way

Giyu visited one of his favourite restaurants on his day off, the waiter asked "Is there anything else you would like, sir?" after giving his order

Now Giyu didn't mean it, he really didn't

It just slipped out of his mouth so easily

"Your mom"

Let me tell you, the silence was absolutely deafening

After the two stared at each other in mutual confusion, Giyu just wordlessly left due to the sheer embarrassment and awkwardness he had caused

He tried to go back, truly, Giyu made the effort and walked through the door

But he made uncomfortable eye contact with that same waiter and walked out

He hasn't gone back to that restaurant since ;,)

Gyomei Himijima

I have already established in my Gyomei Headcannons post that Gyomei is the dad friend of the Hashira (go check out that post if you haven’t btw ^^)

So of course he's going to make dad jokes, everyone saw this coming

God forbid you ever complain around him, he will see it as an opportunity (usually)

"Man, I'm really hungry" Gyomei will hand you a bento box and say "Hi hungry, I'm prepared

He is THAT GUY that makes "I haven't seen you since last year!" jokes

Every single year without fail

Shockingly, Gyomei and Kyojuro will bond over their mutual love for super corny jokes

One time while training Genya, Gyomei asked him "Child, what is long and sticky?"

Genya paused his routine to think for a moment, slightly disturbed by the question

"I don't know what you- fresh mochi?" Gyomei shook his head

Genya made a claw gesture with his hands, knowing Gyomei couldn't see it

"No idea, what's long and sticky?"

Gyomei gave a small, sly smile before responding

"A stick, little one"

To be honest, Gyomei's jokes do annoy some of the Hashira whenever he makes them (mainly Shinobu, Obanai and Tengen)

Normally because he's so calm about it

Tengen usually is one to lose his temper over it though

"You really got a joke for about everything, huh?" "Indeed I do, Tengen. I even have one about construction"

Tengen's eye will twitch as he taunts Gyomei "Oh yeah? Well let's hear it then!"

"I'm afraid I can't, my friend. I'm still working on it"

Kyojuro's laugh echoes throughout the meeting as Tengen realizes he most definitely walked into that one

Muichiro Tokito

His sense of humor is weird

That’s all I have, anything that Muichiro finds funny is actually kinda strange

He does this thing where he will go in with a fistbump, but change it to a high five last second

Muichiro can do it the other way around too, but regardless it results in this silly fist-five thing that makes him chuckle

He's a little bit of a devious child so his sense of humor kinda comes from whatever will annoy the other Hashira

Sometimes he will sit in the middle of a meeting and just blow raspberries while spacing out a little

It annoys the fuck out of Sanemi and Obanai because Muichiro's spit gets EVERYWHERE

Even Giyu thinks that kid comes with his own splash zone

He's not one for pranks per say, but he likes reaping a bit of terror amongst the other Hashira

One time Muichiro stole Tengen's red eyeliner one weekend purely for entertainment

the next day when everyone showed up to the meeting, people got to witness a very distressed Tengen

Holding up Sanemi and Obanai midair by the collar of their shirts, Tengen interrogated the both of them where they hid his shockingly expensive liner

Of course no one would suspect the slobbering kid, who was inconspicuously blowing raspberries

Had anyone asked Muichiro if he saw Tengen's liner, Muichiro would turn to the fuming man and giggle

Secretly, Aoi is Muichiro's unknowing accomplice in these scenarios

"Here Aoi, could you hold this for a while?" "Uhh, sure? What is it for?" "Hmm? Oh nothing..."

Don't underestimate this little shit

꒷꒦˚︶︶꒦꒷︶꒷꒦˚ ꒷꒦˚︶︶꒦꒷︶꒷꒦˚ ꒷꒦˚︶︶꒦꒷︶꒷꒦˚

Hey y’all! Hope you liked this post, it was such a pleasure to write it ^^

I’m hoping that now I’ll be able to write more for this blog now that I have more time, and I have more posts lined up in the future :)

Ask box and requests are still open, just please read the rules before submitting anything!

[acourtofthought]

hi, so.. i'm genuinely curious. why do you ship gwyn and azriel? because for me, i don't think gwyn has shown any romantic interest in azriel, and even he himself thinks they're not close enough to be friends. do you think sjm is going to throw all of elriel's moments away in previous books just for a ship built off of a spark in the chest and a private dagger lesson which happened off page?

because if she does, i think it will be fan service. major fan service.

thank you.

You say all the E/riel moments but if you really care about what I have to say (as you felt the need to message me) I hope you'll actually pay attention to the things I'm telling you.

It's not all the E/riel moments. It's all the E/riel moments that were almost instantly followed up by Az's fixation on someone else or lack of true interest on his part.

Az figured out Elain was a Seer? He then went on and agreed that they shouldn't bother following through on her visions.

Az announced he'd get Elain back only after Cassian first said they'd get her back? He went on to disobey Feyre's orders to get Elain to safety so he could stay behind and save Feyre, risking Elain's life in the process. He also said he'd be the one who could also take Briar though it was Elain who helped save her, something Az never acknowledged. Just like he never acknowledged her saving him too when kicking the hounds and Cassian, Nesta when she stabbed the king.

Az gave Elain TT? That's because Mor begged him to sit out of battle. He sat out of the one thing he's known for, being the first to throw himself into danger, because the female he in canon loved at the time had tears in her eyes and asked him not to enter the fight. Also, he didn't bother to check on Elain after the war or provide his condolences for the loss of her father.

Az was so sweet taking the potatoes from Elain's hand? Only a few chapters before he was relieved not to have to get her a gift to help her celebrate her first Solstice after being turned fae and he went on to stare at Mor with heat and yearning while Elain sat in the room with them.

He stared at Elain's headache powder for a year while he imagined what she'd look like during sex? He was pissy towards Helion because of Helion's question on where Mor was. He interrupted Nesta's question to Feyre on whether Elain knew about the pregnancy to ask if Mor knew. And because he STILL looks at Mor with longing glances. "Few and Far between" doesn't equal Zero. It means they still exist though to a much lesser degree......all while he's supposed to be so captivated by Elain. He didn't bother asking Elain how she was doing after her fights with Nesta, didn't bother saying he'd help her train her powers. You know, important things when it comes to endgame couples.

Not to mention Az wasn't remotely affected by Elain's catatonic state, where she was withering away. Lucien was DEVASTATED. Az drew straws so he didn't have to stay behind and guard her. THAT'S supposed to be who I want for Elain? The IC was not allowed to enter the Rite otherwise it would guarantee death to them all. Nothing prevented Az from staying with Elain to guard her.

Did you read the TOG series? Did you see how many moments existed between Dorian and Celeana? Beautiful moments too. Did you see what transpired between Celaena and Chaol? She literally tells Chaol that she'd always choose him, she says that he is her home.

Tell me how anything that happened between Az and Elain is any more poetic than what we witnessed between Celaena and Chaol yet Sarah had no problems chucking that out the window.

How about the buildup between Nesryn and Chaol? Sarah had her travel with him to the Torres Cesme, she was willing to accept him with his disability yet Sarah knocked down that house of cards in Tower of Dawn.

Dorian and Sorscha?

Feyre was engaged to Tamlin for gods sakes.

I truly don't understand how you think buildup means anything in Sarah's books. Unless two characters are mates, Sarah will easily tear down whatever buildup once existed between two non mates.

Theia and Fionn were forbidden lovers yet she went on to stand by impassioned as he was murdered only to later be willing to give up everything for Aidas, her mate.

And though you'll refuse to see it, I think Sarah already ended them on Solstice. Az and Elain were doomed from the start and there has now been 7 months that have passed from Solstice until the events of HOFAS. We are given absolutely no buildup for the E/riel ship in all that time, not since Elain returned his necklace. There has been no on page bantering between them, no longing glances, not even an indiscernible peak out of the corner of their eyes at one another.

"All the E/riel buildup" except it's already gone? E/riels entire buildup amounted to an almost kiss that never happened in a bonus chapter which makes it pretty easy for Sarah to move on from considering she tore down Feyre's engagement to Tamlin within the span of a few chapters. And Feyre and Tamlin had an entire book dedicated to them.

You can ship E/riel still, of course, but you can't honestly act like it would be difficult for an author like SJM to walk away from whatever they had going since she had no issues breaking apart multiple other characters who shared so much more.

Serious question for you.

How many books do you read where at the very start of the novel, the two characters instantly want one another?

Did Claire want Jamie at the start of Outlander? Pretty sure she was married to and in love with her husband. She also tried to escape back to said husband after marrying and sleeping with Jamie.

I just read a book where the guy ends up helping a girl who was homeless and she's worried that he'll expect sexual favors from her as she's seen happen on the streets and he says and thinks "she's not remotely my type" though of course they end up together and she's the most beautiful thing ever.

Off the top of your head I'm guessing you can't tell me 5 books where the endgame couple starts the book already in love or romantically interested in one another. So why would Az and Gwyn not being true friends yet be a problem at all?

As far as Gwyn's interest or lack thereof, I don't even need the bonus but if after 2 years and knowing what Elain did during the war he still doesn't think she's capable of handling the darkness of the trove but after a few months he believes in Gwyn's ability to make it through the Rite, it's pretty obvious who the author is setting up as his love interest. Sarah's writing and preferred behavior for her MMC with his endgame person is not difficult to spot at this point.

While we don't currently have confirmation of physical attraction (something that could easily change with a simple change of pov), we do have confirmation of curiousity on Gwyn's part. And a lot of admiration on Az's side.

How is that not a wonderful jumping off point for these two characters? Az is no stranger to lust for beautiful females but he doesn't often give them credit for standing on their own two feet. And Gwyn's curiousity about Az, a male, after what happened to her, is a huge step forward already.

Gwyn started SF not having left the library in 2 years but by the end she was fine being alone with Az on the top of the roof in the middle of the night. She was teasing him over his title, "Shadowsinger."

I'm not sure how you don't see that as being playful / flirtatious. Does that mean she's in love with Az and wants to jump his bones? No, it's just the first hints we're seeing. I'd rather only see hints of something before two characters are ready to bang one out on page before they've even had a POV and shared any sort of meaningful conversation (which Az and Elain have never done, they have never spoken about anything of true importance). That's the difference between a romance book with sex and a book with smut.

As for Az, I'd much rather wait for his romance to build on page, where he's only focused on one female, rather than the shit-show that has been the Mor / Elain situation. Where he can't even admit to his best friend that he's over Mor in the same chapter he thinks how he's not thought of a plan on how to be with Elain beyond his sexual fantasies.

Elain deserves a hell of a lot better than that. And so does Gwyn. Which is why I'm glad Az isn't romantically interested in her at this point in time. Have you ever liked a guy who was panting over you and another girl? It's really not the romance E/riels like to pretend it is and I'd rather Az truly come to terms with his past with Mor and letting her go (something that he has not fully done) before he shows any romantic interest for his endgame person. But with Gwynriel I see that future potential. The banter already exists, she's a bit bloodthirsty like Az, she's seen him slaughter which means she's seen a little what Az is capable of versus how he's behaved around Elain, and his shadows are happy around her (which is better than how Az notes they tend to vanish around Elain after telling us how they're his companions). Not to mention Az won't suffer being around someone who already has a mate and will forever have that mate.

Crying fanservice because you don't get your way rather than paying attention to the author you're reading is a copout and I hope you respect Sarah's writing more than that.

[sanscat0414]

Misunderstanding?!

Hawks x reader:

Synopsis: Hawks gets suspicious of you because you have been coming home later and your spend less time with him. He begins to suspect you of cheating but little did he know it was…

————————————————————————

Hawks have been noticing that you came from work later for the past month. Usually he tried to aim to get home by 10:30 or before midnight. Whenever he was home earlier he noticed you were not home which is strange as you always came home before 10 even in days you work overtime. You were almost always on your phone typing away texting someone. You would even laugh a couple of times when texted this mysterious person. What’s even more suspicious is when he asked you about it you just brush it off.

“Hm? Oh it’s nothing. It’s just some family stuff.”

Or

“Huh? It’s 11? I didn’t realize I was out so late. Why? Mmm? Just lost track.”

Or

“What do you mean? I’m just texted a friend.”

Now he trusted you so he let it be. He believed you but still he couldn’t help but feel a little hurt. You weren’t spending as much time as you used to with him. You spend majority of your precious time you had with him on checking on the phone when your not you seem distant. Like you were thinking of something else.

Last week, was even more weird to Hawks. He was lucky to have gotten out of work early that day and wanted to pick you up. Only to find you hanging out with another man. Sure he saw you from a far but you were laughing with the man. He just left thinking it was your friend or something but you never mentioned him before. All this combined the extra time gone, the texts, the times you were distant hawks started thinking you were cheating on him. Hawks gave the benefit of the doubt but his trust in you was waning.

The final straw was today. It was a long a waited day off for him. He wanted to spend it with you but when he asked if you wanted to spend time with him you said

“I’m sorry Keigo I can’t. I know it’s your day off and we haven’t spend much time together. I just have something to do.”

That “something” was hanging with that same man. He wanted to get some KFC for the both of you and by coincidence spotted you. Naturally he was furious and sad that you had chosen another man over him. He decided to wait for you to come home before confronting you.

When you finally got home, you could tell something was wrong. The atmosphere was as thick as butter and an Erie silence cause by the lack of “Baby bird your home!”

“Keigo? I’m home.” You said.

“I’m in the living room.” He said almost coldly.

“Baby?” You said as you walked in to the Living room only to see Hawks sitting there in a serious manner.

There was no funny business and hawks had a no emotion in his face. He just sat there watching you like a predator watching its prey. It unsettled you.

“ Sit, we need to talk,_____.” He said as he gestured to the other couch infront of him.

Now you know it’s serious. He never uses your name unless it’s serious, like taking about your safety or something.

“Is something wrong?” You asked confuse and nervous as you sat down.

“Be honest with me. Are you cheating on me?”

“What? Why would you think that?” You said with genuine confusion shown on your face.

“I mean you spend extra time away from home after work, those texts that you laugh at, and that man that you were hangout with. I saw you today! With him. You rather choose to be with him than me! If so just say so.”

You stared at him at disbelief, now to be fair when he laird it all out like that it make sence but you could help but think thsi situation was a bit ridiculous. After a few seconds you laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“It’s not what- you know what that’s to cliche. Let me try agian.” You said as you tried to stop laughing.

“Kei, first of all of course I’m not cheating on you. I love you with everything I have. I’m sorry I haven’t been spending as much time with you or paying attention to you. It’s just this month has been a bit hectic.” You said and you moved next to him.

You gave him a small kiss on the forehead and show him a picture. “Is this the man you saw?”

He nodded and you explained “that’s my sister’s boyfriend. He’s been asking me alll about what my sister likes. And what do for a proposal to her. I was helping him do a little shopping for the proposal plan. If I had known earlier that you had a day off today I wouldn’t have planed our outing today. He’s been planing it for months and kept changing the day he pop the question. I kept pushing him.”

Hawks looked at you dumb founded “Why didn’t you tell me.”

“It’s a secret that I have been helping him. Plus he wanted to forge his own ring for her, and I had a friend who does metal smithing. I been going to that. friend with him.”

“Why would you need to?”

You got up to go get something form your room. You came back with a small box and you handed it him. He open it and saw a beautiful metal feather with a gem on the stem of the feather. The feather was a little wanky but it was cute. It was attached to a leather string necklace.

“I took the opportunity to try to make something for you too. It was supposed to be a surprise for our anniversary but I wasn’t able to get it just right on time. I guess better late than never right.”

Hawks started it for a good 5 minutes in silence. It was beautiful and you made this by yourself (with help but still.) once he was finally done admiring it he hugged you. He warped his wings around you tight and nuzzled into your neck.

“I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions …. I love it thank you.”

“No no I should have said something sooner. I should have payed more attention I’m sorry too. I should have been more clear.”

That nught you guys cuddled for a bit. When your sister boyfriend called Hawks answered. He mildly scolded him for “stealing” his girlfriend and gave him some advice on being confidenace. Needless to say your sister said yes and you and hawks was invited to see them.

Hawks met your sister’s now husband on their wedding day. He apologized to Hawks after learning of what happened. Natural your just glad everything went well, and you where grateful that you and hawks were always upfront when it come to communication. Occasionally there will me moments when you suck at communicating but it all works out.

[luveline]

Hey jade!!!! I love your work ❤️❤️. I was wondering if you would do more of the kisses before dinner au? Maybe just some fluff of Steve and r taking care of the new baby?? Or anything you want with them—I just love that au so much. Thanks!!!

dad!steve and mom!reader finding a balance with the new baby<3 thank you for your request!

Steve Harrington was meant to be a dad. He’s wanted to have kids since he was young, twenty and broken-hearted thinking up futures he worried he might never have. And then he met you, and all too soon (somehow not soon enough) you were having his baby, and now he’s here. 

He can’t believe it. 

The baby sleeps in his arms. She’s three weeks old, so so small, and she looks a lot like you, in his opinion. You’d laughed fondly and exhausted into his shoulder when he told you his theory a couple of minutes ago, saying, Babies look like babies, Steve. 

Still, Steve looks at her and he can’t help hoping she’ll have your eyes, your nose, your big pretty smile. 

You’re dozing with your head propped against his shoulder, drooling down his arm. Avery’s in your lap, and she doesn’t seem disappointed that you’ve fallen asleep. Steve worried she might be, because with the new baby finally here and home, Avery’s not getting nearly as much attention as she should. Steve feels guilty but he knows everything will be back to normal soon. You can only do what you can. 

“What do you think, Ave?” he asks quietly. “She look like your mom?”

“I hope she looks like you so she looks like me,” Avery says. 

“But what about Bethie?” Steve asks. Avery is the oldest, Bethie her junior. 

“What about Beth?”

“If you look like me, and Dove looks like me,” —Dove, the former youngest, your two year old— “and then the baby looks like me, only Beth looks like your mom.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing,” he says genuinely. 

Steve never thought he was ugly, but seeing his face on someone else’s, seeing the brown of his eyes staring back at him through Avery’s gaze, it gave him an appreciation for his features that he never had before. But… you’re beautiful. The love of his life, before and after his children. He thinks it’s only fair that these sweethearts you made near enough by yourself would carry you with them in more than their actions. It’s the reason he finds himself so sweet on Bethie. (All his girls are gorgeous and loved, of course, but he looks at Beth and he sees you every now and then. He catches you in her unassuming smiles and hears you in her laugh and he can’t help it, he leans over to give her hair a good stroke.) 

But again, if the baby looks like Steve, it won’t matter. In the same way it didn’t matter that she was another girl. She’ll be just as loved as the rest of them, no matter what. She already is. 

Like she knows she’s being talked about, the baby coughs in his arms. Steve’s a pro at babies now, truly, he knows all the steps. He’s a great dad. And still his heart stops when he’s reminded of how new she is, how fragile.

How strong, too. Her little leg twitches against his chest. Steve beams down at her, relieved when she stays sleeping.

“Did you and mom pick a name yet?” Avery whispers. 

“Why? Do you have any ideas?” Steve asks back. 

“I don’t know.”

Steve tries to pour as much of his love and pride for her into his expression as he can. “Come on, Avery, tell me. I can’t promise we’ll choose one, but I wanna hear your ideas. What names do you like?”

“I liked Heather,” she says. That was one Steve suggested. You’d been unsure. 

“Yeah?”

“And Tiffany, too. We’d be Ave, Beth, Dove and Tiff.”

“You’d sound like a TV show,” Steve laughs. 

Avery giggles. “Okay, what about Sarah? Or Jessica?”

“I know too many Jessica’s,” Steve says, “but Sarah’s really nice.” 

Steve doesn’t know what you’ll choose. Three weeks is the longest one of his girls has gone without a name, because this time you just can’t pick. Avery had a name before she was born, and you got one look at Dove and knew, but Bethie hadn’t been so easy, and now this new baby is following suit. 

“Dad?”

“What?”

“She’s awake.”

Steve looks down, perplexed, and finds Avery’s right. The baby is awake in his arms, unmoving beside her slow sticky blinks. 

“Some babies don’t open their eyes for weeks,” Steve tells Avery. 

“Did I open mine?”

He nods. “You did.”

You rouse against Steve’s shoulder like you can tell the baby is alert. Maybe you can. You sit up with a little moan that makes his heartbreak in half for you, and your hand shoots to your hips. You’ve had a lot of pelvis pain, and some additional soreness where expected. 

“You okay?” he asks. 

You barely hear him, love and tenderness in every line and pore of your face. “My baby,” you say, with more emotions in your voice than there are words to describe. “Look, she’s looking at you.”

You pull Avery into your chest and she melts at the affection. She must be missing you more than she’ll say. You notice as Steve notices, tearing your gaze from the newborn against his chest to dot kisses in a bow over her forehead. “My first baby,” you say, delighted. “Sorry for falling asleep. Tell me about your day, honey, I promise I won’t fall asleep again.”

The baby starts crying eventually, and Avery’s face falls. You’re torn, Steve can tell, but you look at him with a smile that says, You have it, right?

Of course he does. Parenting is a balance you struck with one another a long time ago. He takes the baby into the kitchen to heat up a bottle of milk, and listens to you and Avery talking in the living room, hand pat pat patting the baby’s back. 

“Hi, daddy.”

Steve pauses. He holds the baby tight to his chest, before bending down to look under the kitchen table. 

“Oh, there my girls are. I thought you were upstairs watching Princess Polly.”

Dove and Bethie are under the table with a pack of crayons and a huge pad of paper. There’s paper scraps everywhere, and they couldn’t look happier in their mismatched pyjamas. Bethie’s the one who’d spoken, and she’s looking at him like he hung the moon.

Dove holds up her drawing. “Look!” she says. 

“I’m looking!” he promises. “Woah! So pretty!”

Bethie won’t show hers. “Mine’s for mommy.”

“I see. Sure I can’t have a little sneak peek?”

She shakes her head. Steve kneels down on the floor so he can watch them drawing, the baby against his chest, bottle held to her mouth. He stays there as the baby falls asleep and is overjoyed by the sound of wax on paper, Dove’s happy babbling, and your laughter echoing in from the living room. 

“Aw, baby,” you’re saying, like Avery’s told you something silly, “I love you.” 

Steve doesn’t know who he’s trying to say it to, but he mouths it after you anyhow. I love you. All his girls. 

The baby hiccups. 

Steve thinks it might be her first love you too. 

—

more of this universe <3 please consider reblogging if you enjoyed<3

[alexturne]

I'm having a lot of thoughts and idk if I've fully thought it all out, but I needed to get it down and try to work out how I feel about it all..

I genuinely don't think this whole "discourse" is what's happening. I'm sure they just really wanted to do the whole bit with the strings and that's all.

Nothing to do with Alex and Miles being less close than they once were. Nothing to do with their relationship being less profound than it has always been. They're super important people in each other's lives and there comes a point when you've been that for someone for so long that it no longer requires constant reconfirmation. Their friendship is so solid, so deeply rooted within them both, that they don't need to perform together to assure themselves that they're good. There's no question. They're friends, and they always will be, no matter how much time passes, they'll always be there for each other. I have no doubt about that.

And they asked Miles to come along, they knew they could count on him to make it and do an amazing show, even on short notice. And Miles was there watching, having fun, riding the high of his own show, and I bet it doesn't hurt him the slightest bit not playing 505 with them. And neither does Alex not joining him for a tlsp track. And it's just very fun to watch Miles do such a great job on such a massive stage and to watch Alex (maybe) send some inside jokes his way, and definitely acknowledge his presence more than he has for any other opening act.

Miles has enjoyed playing a couple of the more Miles centric tlsp tunes during the last year at his own shows, and he probably just took them off the setlist when they figured out they wouldn't have the time/energy to rehearse and work it all out. And to not lead anyone on and create false hope that Alex might show up. It's been a long time since they've done it. And Alex is the sort of guy who has probably forgotten his own lyrics, and would require more time and brain capacity to practice to get it in order. Or something else that is perfectly reasonable.

Like, I'm all for delusions but I guess I'm just saying that I don't think it's that deep. They're friends. Close friends. Very important to each other. (Maybe more if that's how you choose to view it). And I bet they don't even think about the shows in the same terms as we do, every little thing doesn't matter as much to them as it does to us. Not everything is a "sign" and there are so many pragmatic and logistical reasons that play into a tour like this that we know nothing about.

I bet Alex is exhausted, excited for the tour to be over and to get to go home and rest, I know I would be! Even if he has loved every bit of it, I would be completely worn out and just ready to go home. But I bet they were also so excited to have the strings and they wanted to really have them shine during the set. It was their show. The Monkey's show, and they finally had the chance to let the vision they had for the album come to life. What an amazing end of the tour.

I won't get too much into why they haven't utilized the strings sooner, because they obviously could've and I don't get why they didn't, and maybe they could've skipped the strings on 505 and had Miles up for it instead. It would've been incredible. So much potential. A lot of fans would've been pleased bout that, and I know they'd enjoy it and have fun playing together too.

But they didn't, and even if I would love to know the actual reason, I'm choosing to let it go and assume there is a very logical and reasonable explanation, and not some big dramatic fallout going on. I can be disappointed about not seeing them, but I don't think it "means" anything in the grander scheme of things.

Miles could've played with them (assuming he doesn't for the last one either), and I won't get into that discussion too much either, because ofc they could have done it together, but so many things had to work out and maybe Miles just wanted to do his own thing. Maybe they never got around to having the conversation, maybe something entirely different happened. We don't know.

And yes ofc I'm disappointed that we didn't get to see them together, I won't deny it. I would've loved it, both as a fan of their music and performances and as a tiny little happy milex lover, my shipper and fic writer heart would've been so so pleased about it. But we didn't get it this time around, and that doesn't mean that their friendship is over or that they hate each other or that they're not close anymore or that they don't love each other anymore. And it doesn't mean that we won't ever see them play together again.

I think they would love to perform together again, but I would assume they also have so many other things they love to do too. So many other things that require their energy. Even together, but also just their personal dreams and wants in life.

They're both into the idea of tlsp being back someday, but as it has always been with them, tlsp will return when the time is right, when it happens naturally. That's the beauty of it. It's something that just happens and that's why they both love and enjoy it so much, I think. It's about freedom and spontaneity, it's without boundaries, it can't be planned or controlled, it's a beautiful chaos between two close friends who love to make music together, and who are incredibly talented at it. But they're also artists who have other ambitions. Other projects they love.

And their friendship doesn't depend on tlsp releasing new music. It is a product of their beautiful friendship, but the friendship came first. Them not writing together right now actually says absolutely nothing about the current state of their friendship. Which we have seen signs of being as healthy and strong as ever, if a bit more private than it used to be. And that's fine. They're super private people, and honestly I would have much more reason to worry for their friendship if they suddenly started posting about it all the time and parading each other around. They're not like that and they never will be and that's fine.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.

Yes, they're being dumbasses - both the band and our dear milex boys, throughout the whole tour - with not utilizing the strings earlier on the tour, not playing more of The Car on the setlist, not skipping more of AM, not taking advantage of ALL THAT POTENTIAL. They could've done the strings for Glastonbury, it would've been perfect. They could've easily included Miles in a few more gigs (it was sooooo lovely when they did), these last ones in particular, and it would've been so beautiful and meaningful and they would've had so much fun with it - they could've made so many better decisions than they did. The whole tour came with some question marks. We can all agree on that. They're being stupid and they seem to not always think very far ahead, and sometimes forget to use their brains, and I assume that's why they end up not having time to rehearse and work things out sooner, and that is honestly just so dumb of them. They could be doing so much more and I hope some things will improve next time.

But either way - the tour is over and I've loved every second of it.

The new album is super gorgeous and it finally got the string section it deserved. What an amazing finish to the tour. I sincerely hope they will be bringing a lot of The Car back next time around.

Deeply in my own heart I wish we would see Alex and Miles on stage together again soon, but at the same time, I wish Miles the very best with his own work, he truly deserves all the success in the world. And I hope Alex will get some well-earned rest and time off. I hope he will go free of paparazzi and find peace and quiet after this insanely taxing year, and I hope he finds bunches and bunches of inspiration for new songs. I hope tlsp will be back sooner rather than later and I hope they're happy.

I've loved getting to follow the tour, I've loved being on here freaking out with you guys, and I will miss getting to see their little faces everyday. Truly.

But I think it's so well deserved for them to take a break and I hope they will be back soon.

[holymolyineedtherapy]

Would the Straw Hats be Swifities?

(I'm watching the Eras Tour movie rn and I got to thinking about it)

Luffy

No but not because he doesn't like her but because he doesn't know who she is. He would like a couple of her songs once he was introduced but I don't think he would consider himself a swiftie because he is a captain and a strawhat pirate, nothing else.

Zoro

Kinda the same as Luffy. No because he doesn't know who she is but he doesn't care for her music. There's maybe one or two songs he genuinely enjoys but he never listens to them unless someone else plays them.

Nami

Not at first because she used to be a hater but then she listened to the not so popular songs and fell in love with them. She's a secret swiftie in which she won't tell anyone she loves her music. Her favorite album is Reputation

Usopp

Of course he is a huge swiftie. He became a swiftie during the 1989 era when she became a pop icon. Ever since then he was hooked, especially when evermore came out, which is his favorite album.

Sanji

We all know the answer to this, of course he is. He has been a swiftie since 2006 when debut dropped. He knows all the chants and album lore. Lover is his favorite album and he will kick anyone who says it's the worst album and ME! is the worst song.

Chopper

Yes of course he is if you disagree you did not watch One Piece Film Red. He mainly admired her at first for her tenacity but it grew into a love for her and her music when she released Speak Now, which is his favorite album.

Robin

No. She admires her hard work and lyricism but that's about it. Until Folklore comes out. She doesn't consider herself a swiftie but there are a couple of songs (*cough cough* this is me trying and my tears ricochet *cough cough*) that she truly loves. (*cough cough* and yoyok when midnights releases *cough cough*)

Franky

He considers himself one but he's like a dad swiftie. He knows her popular songs and that's about it. He tries to keep up with the lore talk but he just gets so confused. His favorite album is 1989.

Brook

Is this even a question? Yes. Of course he is. Obviously once he hears her music after being trapped for 50 years. He overhears Usopp and Sanji talking about her and from that moment he was hooked. His favorite album is Speak Now because it's entirely self written.

Jinbei

No but just because he doesn't know her. He's like another dad swiftie but the type that doesn't consider himself a swiftie but if you play Shake It Off he will jam out to it.

-honorary straw hats-

Vivi

Yes yes yes, she is a huge swifite. She keeps up with all the lore and Easter eggs. It's her guilty pleasure as a princess give her a break. Her favorite albums are Folklore and Fearless.

Bon Clay

Again, is this even a question? 100 times yes he is the biggest swiftie of all. He collects all the merch. He fights in the trenches for the tickets. He pre orders all the cds and vinyls. Don't ask him to choose a favorite album because he cannot (although You Need To Calm Down is his favorite song ofc)

[itsjaywalkers]

hi hi! since you blessed us with some nothing happens headcanons would you maybe be able to give us some possessive insane nothing happens james headcanons too? i’m so obsessed with him

hi darling!! and yes, ofc i can!! i feel a lil repetitive bc . u guys already are more than aware of how unhinged he is but . here we go

there have been a few instances of . boys trying to bully reg or be mean to him bc he's, objectively, a bit of a freak. kinda has some unsettling vibes, and he's . very shy very quiet . but this never really turned into anything bc james always found out (thanks to evan) and then cornered the little shits and threatened them. one time he even actually kicked their asses a lil. reg doesn't know about this

james checks reg's social media accs semi-regularly. and i mean, he uses reg's password to get into his accs and check . chats or comments and shit like that . not so much when they're young but after reg starts dating yk

he physically fights two of reg's bfs, and the other one he comes close to, but others hold him back before he can get far

when they go out clubbing, james never loses sight of reg, not even when he's in the mood to flirt or get laid, and the second he sees someone asking to buy reg a drink or getting a lil too close, he interrupts and gets super touchy, straight up says he's reg's bf if the guy is too insistent

offers to drive reg absolutely everywhere as soon as he gets his license

actually gets mad when pandora or evan or even sirius know something about reg that he doesn't, and makes reg feel guilty for not telling him/not telling him first

already mentioned this one but . one of the times he's fucking reg he forces him to call his current bf and keep a conversation with him while he's litelly . inside him . fucking him into the mattress

covers reg in hickeys when they make out or fool around and gets all pouty if reg decides to cover them up afterwards

calls reg or comes up with fake emergencies or excuses to text reg when he knows he's out on a date or hanging out with his current bf

coaxes reg into sleeping with him the first time while he's still with barty even tho reg is . a bit reluctant at the beginning bc he really doesn't want to cheat on barty since they're friends. with his other bfs, reg's the one who initiates the cheating quite often, but james had to . do some convincing the first time they had sex simply bc reg was with barty

barty finds out about the cheating bc james can't keep his fucking mouth shut and can't stand barty saying that reg is his etc etc

genuinely can't go more than a couple of days without seeing reg

when he knows reg is interested in someone, or finds someone pretty, he always finds something wrong with them and talks reg into not giving them a chance (this doesn't always work ofc, since reg ends up having 3 bfs before he and james get together)

even after shit hits the fan, james can't keep his distance from reg (although it's definitely what they both need after what happens)

he chooses reg over pretty much everyone else in his life

he's so fucking insane about him that even tho there was a brief time when he was interested in lily and lily was also interested in him . she decided to reject him bc she did NOT want to be involved in what was bound to be an absolute trainwreck of a relationship. james doesn't find out about this until a few years later, when lily confirms what she already suspected back then

and that's enough for now i think !!

[snowyh2o]

Every Demon’s Rainbow AU

@redactedtimes

Oh 100000% she’d be horrified. Part of Charlie’s goal and reasoning with the hotel is that redemption should be a choice for the residents, not something that’s forced upon them. And (here’s where I get to talk about world building lol) it’s worse in this AU because the reason the Hotel’s got this influence is due to Charlie herself!

The Hotel’s Redemption Be Upon Thee! Powers come from Charlie’s own deep seated belief that there’s genuine good inside of every demon (hence the name Every Demon’s Rainbow). In this AU, she and Vaggie have been living inside the rundown hotel and working on her redemption plan for a couple of years now. And Charlie’s reality altering magic ends up seeped into every creak and crevice of the hotel. And since this is Charlie’s magic, and also because she isn’t consciously using it to cast a spell, the magic ends up taking a life of its own and latches onto Charlie’s greatest belief/desire. Which would be that every demon is capable of redemption and change and Charlie wants to create a place that can give those demons the opportunity to do so. (The end goal being that redemption means there would be no need for the yearly exterminations or at the very least the ones who ascend to heaven will be safe).

What the hotel actually does is bring out or amplifies the best/good traits in the souls who stay there for an extended period of time. Makes it easier for demons to choose to do good things— suppresses the hang ups someone might have for saying sorry, for example. Nothing the hotel makes people think or do are things that they haven’t thought about doing before. If I had to describe it, it’s like an enabler, but for good or more positive actions/thoughts/traits? And creates an atmosphere/environment that would make said souls more likely to act on their good/positive thoughts.

The effect is actually really subtle (and different for every resident), which is why no one else notices it aside from feeling more at ease and generally happier while staying at the hotel. Which can be explained away as just the hotel being a genuine relief to go back to compared to the rest of hell. And that the people there are also much more pleasant to be around, something that Charlie actively works to cultivate.

Alastor’s just a little bitch stupidly in tune with himself and who he is and when his thoughts and actions are his own that he notices the effect the hotel has (so he gets to deal with intrusive positive thoughts :P). And that’s not until he’s stayed at the hotel for a while (Still working on the timeline). But because he knows himself so well, and also because he’s arguably the worst of the people who’s staying at the hotel/has the most baggage and issues that he actively represses, he feels the Hotel’s magic affecting him all the more keenly. And it grates at him that this is now another part of his life he’s slowly losing control over, and it’s not even because he wouldn’t consider improving the quality of Husk’s bribe booze or put together something to celebrate the hotel’s (minimal) success— but that he’s actively considering it at all that makes him recoil and actively fight against/reject it. Especially when a big part of Alastor’s self image is the reputation he’s crafted for himself, the persona of the Radio Demon, a charming but cold heartless murderer who’s only ever out for himself and couldn’t care less about the people around him aside from the mild entertainment they could bring. Everyone knows who the Radio Demon is. Everyone is scared of the Radio Demon. (Even the Radio Demon’s friends are never sure of when he’ll turn on them <- complete lie that he likes to believe in, all his friends will say he’s actually quite pleasant to be around) He can’t have people thinking, seeing, the Radio Demon has a soft side. That he could care about people, that he is, at the end of the day, just another human soul stuck in hell.

This, however, is also why he’ll never on the threat of death tell Charlie about the Hotel’s magic. Because it’s a weakness and he’ll be damned if he ever reveals something as vulnerable as that about himself. So he just, deals with it as best he can.

If Charlie ever does find out about her inadvertent magical hotel, it’d probably be through Lucifer. And either only after they’ve rebuilt the new hotel, or right after Lucifer’s visit to the hotel. Which would be a whole thing that ends with the two of them undoing the spell on the hotel. And, if I ever get into after finale AU speculation, the new hotel also won’t have any magical compulsions tied to it— not that Alastor would know lol.

[becauseimanicequeen]

In Defense of Ji from To Be Continued

(Or “Let’s Look at Characters From a More Non-Binary Perspective”)

I’ve been thinking about writing a post like this since the 5th episode last week (but haven’t gotten around to it). But after reading a couple of comments with the general consensus that Ji’s actions were at the risk of becoming irredeemable, I felt like there was no time like the present. Better late than never, right? (This is a long one, so I’ll put most of it after a break with a TL;DR at the end.)

(Btw, that purple light between them is so well placed. They're clearly not communicating, symbolized by that line being drawn between them. And the purple, a mix of blue (trust and loyalty) and red (love and fate), symbolizes the mysterious and unresolved feelings they're both having (or are beginning to have) towards each other. )

The response to Ji and Achi that I’ve seen has been interesting. The little response I’ve seen (since I haven’t seen this series being talked about that much, or perhaps I’m just bad at searching for it) was utter annoyance with Achi the first few episodes until we were shown that Ji made Achi cry in the past and (mostly) everyone I’ve seen writing about this turned on Ji all of a sudden.

(It’s hilarious to see how easily viewers change their opinions. I mean that genuinely. Some of that is more entertaining than many QLs I’ve watched.)

My mindset isn’t that binary, though. (I don’t see things in either black or white because that’s too limiting for me.) That means that I’m neither for nor against either Achi or Ji. (I can definitely like one character more than another, but that doesn’t mean that character is “better” than any other. And in this particular case, I like Ji and Achi equally.) It just annoys me a bit when a character gets torn to shreds for an isolated scene or situation (akin to the whole Non vs Jin situation in DFF, which got waaaaay out of hand).

(Obviously, this is by no means a call for deep analysis of characters–essay style–every time anyone wants to say something about a character. But I do feel like taking an isolated situation out of context means that the meaning, however differently all of us interpret that meaning, gets lost.)

Based on what we’ve seen so far in To Be Continued, both Achi and Ji have made mistakes (in the past and present), they are both terrible at communicating, both are clearly confused and/or terrified of their feelings (especially towards each other), and it seems like no one wants to be the first to fess up. That’s the general situation of their relationship in the series so far.

A discussion on who’s at “fault” for Ji and Achi’s current situation based on what I just listed is pretty much unnecessary because they’re both equally responsible. However, since it’s so easy to play the blame game and spread it like wildfire on the internet just because there’s a character one doesn’t like or see eye to eye with, I thought it was a good idea to include it in this post anyway. Especially since my answer is based on my non-binary way of thinking. (Spoiler alert: it’s not either/or, it’s both/and.)

(I’m putting fault between quotation marks because I feel like its connotation is too negative when something like responsible would suit better. But since fault is often thrown around when playing the blame game, I’ll stick to that word.)

If we look at Ji and Achi’s actions (the ones we’ve seen so far), I feel like 3 moments stand out:

Achi pestering Ji in the first few episodes even though Ji said he wanted nothing to do with Achi. (Present)

Ji asked Achi to introduce him to Pear. (Past)

The mixed signals both of them are giving each other. (Past and present)

I’ve previously written a post about Achi choosing not to respect Ji’s boundaries (even when clearly stated), so I won’t go too deep into that. What I will mention here, however, is that it doesn’t matter how desperate Achi is in trying to keep Ji close. Breaking someone else’s boundaries is not okay. Whenever someone needs space, it should (ideally) be respected.

Achi is being way too pushy in the first couple of episodes, and he’s not even communicating why that is. I think he says once (or twice?) that he’s missed Ji all these 10 years they’ve been apart and that he wants to know how Ji's been, but that’s no excuse.

If you doubt that some space would make any difference, look at how Ji reacted during that whole montage of Ji finding those bags with food (or whatever it was) that Achi hung on his door in ep. 5. And those notes they write to each other when exchanging those bags is probably the best line of communication they’ve had since they got to know each other. That’s how much can change if a person’s boundaries are respected.

(Sure, you could argue that it was a result of Ji showing respect first when he thanked Achi for coming over with food in the scene before the montage. Sometimes you need to first give what you want to get, and that “thank you” to Achi might've made Achi realize he could back off without being terrified of losing Ji (or whatever his reason for being so persistent is).)

When it comes to my second point above (Ji asking Achi to introduce him to Pear), it’s very interwoven with the third point (the mixed signals both of them are giving).

In the whole montage of them going on that day trip and playing games and stuff in the past (ep. 3), you can clearly see that there are feelings involved from both of them (whatever that may be; friendship, fondness, curiosity, love, whatever). But every time Ji looked at Achi (especially when they were at one of those lookout points with a beautiful view), Achi turned away. I mean, if you look at that whole jacket scene, you can see that he literally steps back and avoids Ji’s gaze.

Ji doesn’t seem to mind though, it’s not like he’s surprised or worried about it. But it still doesn’t change the fact that Achi is giving him mixed signals. Achi is both hot (giving Ji his jacket when Ji’s cold) and cold (stepping away and avoiding Ji’s gaze when Ji is looking and smiling at him).

And then there’s the scene on the pier/jetty at the end of episode 4 (which is also from the past). This happens after Ji asked Achi to introduce him to Pear (which I still believe was very innocent at first because Ji seemed genuinely interested in her, and there’s nothing wrong with that).

On that pier/jetty, Ji is tentatively trying to figure out how Achi is feeling because he can sense the tension (at least that’s how I interpret it). Ji does so by first asking Achi if he has feelings for Pear (because that could be a logical explanation for the tension), but Achi says he doesn’t. That’s when Ji has this look on his face:

It’s like he’s trying to think of another reason for the tension, which I think is what leads to the moment when he says that Achi’s got pretty eyes, nose, and lips.

I feel like he’s being genuine here. At the same time as he’s trying to figure out what the tension is all about, he’s also giving Achi an opportunity to clear things up, to be honest with Ji, and for both of them to get closer.

Then Ji lays his head on Achi’s chest as if to listen to his heartbeat (perhaps listening for an answer rather than being told, because we already know that their m.o. isn’t communication).

Achi is swayed for a moment, but he still chooses to change the subject and ends up leaving the pier/jetty (once again giving Ji mixed signals, especially after looking at Ji with heart eyes only moments before).

Achi’s reaction is probably based on a fear of being rejected since he thinks that Ji is interested in Pear, so it makes sense. But, even though his actions make sense, he’s still choosing to participate in giving off mixed signals.

(I mean, if someone looked at me with hearts in their eyes and then avoided me like the plague when I wanted to get closer, I would ditch the bitch. But, this isn’t about me…)

What’s interesting (and something I think some viewers are forgetting) is that this scene from the past is mirrored in the scene in Ji’s bedroom earlier in the same episode (which is in the present). In the present, it’s Achi who says that he thinks Ji’s eyes, nose, and lips are pretty (confessing to Ji only when he thinks Ji is sleeping, which seems to be his m.o., btw).

But then he repeats it when Ji asks him what he said.

I feel like Achi is trying to bring back that moment from the past because he knows he missed an opportunity to be honest about his feelings at that moment on the pier/jetty. The difference is that this time it leads to them kissing (a kiss that should never have happened until they had cleared up their shit, btw, but who can stop these two confused, love-sick, adorable idiots? Well, the screenwriters can, but what would be the fun in that? I digress…).

This time, Ji is the one who breaks the moment. He knows just as well as Achi where those words came from. He remembers that moment on the pier/jetty in the past just as well as Achi. And I swear that he remembers the rejection too.

It’s possible those memories were too much for Ji. It’s also possible that he realized the kiss wasn’t a good idea (he has shown previously that he’s not okay with Achi just kissing him, like in ep. 2). And as we saw with the previous kiss, it takes Ji a moment or two before he realizes what happens an/or realizes the implications of what’s happening (it took him a moment before he pushed Achi away in ep. 2, and the same here in ep. 4 before he pulled back).

So, who’s at “fault” here? Who’s at “fault” for creating more tension (and hurt feelings) between them?

Is Achi at “fault” considering he brought up the past when mirroring that moment on the pier/jetty? Is he at “fault” considering he initiated the kiss in Ji's bedroom (he was the one who leaned forward first and the one who held onto Ji with both hands/arms)?

Is Ji at “fault” considering he rejected Achi? Is he at “fault” considering he told Achi to leave his bedroom after the kiss (clearly needing some space)?

And don’t come at me with the whole “but Ji hurt Achi’s feelings by hitting on Pear, not to mention taking her to the same movie that Achi took Ji to.”

First of all, was that a conscious choice of Ji’s? Possibly. Was this the best way to go about it? Debatable. But it should be said that Ji got interested in Pear before he started sensing the tension between him and Achi. It was all good feelings before that (and it could be that Ji didn’t think his relationship with Achi was beyond friendship, because delusion and confusion are every teenager’s middle names).

Secondly, on that same pier/jetty in that same scene in ep. 4, Ji mentions that he doesn’t like romantic movies, whereas Achi says that it might be because he’s never been in love. Is it then so far-fetched that he takes Pear to that same movie (which I assume is a romance) to test out if he sees the movie with new eyes now that he’s with Pear? Not really.

(Could he have chosen another romantic movie? Sure. Was there another romance playing at the time? I have no fucking idea because this is fiction and they didn’t tell us and we’re probably supposed to read between the lines that it was a romance and that Ji was influenced by Achi’s words and I’m totally getting off track here…)

Thirdly, and probably the most important point: Let’s not forget that there’s actually a possibility that Ji is bi (the same goes for Achi who had some sort of relationship with… what’s her name, Mona?).

I know it’s difficult in this generally binary-thinking world to understand there’s a possibility of something in the middle of black or white. You’re either gay or straight, right? Wrong! There’s such a thing as bi- and pansexuality. And since we’re living in such a binary-thinking world, it’s easy to be hella confused as bi- or pansexual.

(I won’t go into the bi-hate that viewers spew out in comments and reactions to QLs, especially when the lead roles are bi (and especially when they are together with or hook up with the opposite sex), but it’s so fucking annoying. I want to write a post about this one day, or reblog someone else's post who might’ve written about it better than I ever will, so if anyone knows a post on this, send it my way.)

If Ji is a bi character, can you blame him for being confused? If he’s not bi but is having his gay awakening, can you blame him for being confused?

Can you blame him for asking Achi to introduce him to Pear, especially since Achi has never expressed his romantic interest in Ji and Ji seems genuinely interested in Pear? Can you really blame Ji for trying to figure out what the fuck is going on with Achi when he notices the tension between them?

Can you really blame Ji for not being able to read between the lines (has anyone forgotten he’s a teenager?)?

And I’m not saying all this to say that it’s Achi’s “fault” either. He’s just as confused as Ji. And none of them are brave enough to take the first step to clear things up either.

Again, it’s both Ji and Achi’s “fault” that things are the way they are. They are both responsible for their situation.

There’s still much to be revealed in this series, so a lot of it is still up for speculation right now. Clearly, however, something happened that made them go their separate ways and be out of contact with each other for 10 years.

If I were to put my money on a bet, it would be that they split because of a misunderstanding on both their parts. What that misunderstanding is, though, remains to be seen.

(If I were to guess I think they hooked up, Ji was confused and needed some space to process, and Achi took it as a rejection and left the country (since we’ve seen that his mother lives in the US). But I'm probably wrong.)

Ji's actions, so far, are not irredeemable (he’s not even on the verge of being irredeemable). And if they were, Achi’s actions would be just as irredeemable.

It’s easy to play the blame game, especially in today’s world. It’s a lot more difficult to be open-minded. But the latter will always be more rewarding.

TL;DR: Both Achi and Ji have made mistakes, they are both terrible at communicating, and both are clearly confused and/or terrified of their feelings. No one is at “fault” for their current situation because they’re both responsible for it.

*stepping down from my soapbox*

[apphiarothowrites]

Ruffled Feathers v3

(as stated in a comment in the other thread, v2 would just be marco in his like 60s going back to before teach's betrayal and spending 20 minutes hugging people, so instead I present to you version 3: mid 20s marco, fresh off of a particularly harrowing period of his life, has firmly started his slut phase when shot forward in time a couple decades and sets his sights on Ace, much to Current Marco's amusement. The first couple paragraphs of this are exactly the same as version 1 for convenience because I don't want to write a brand new way to do this)

It's a purposefully quiet day on the Moby Dick when a flash of light and sound knocks the crew on their collective asses. That morning Pops had, after breakfast, planted himself in his chair with a thoughtful looking Marco seated on the arm and proclaimed he wanted the day to be as uneventful as possible. Ace had been just as confused as most everyone else.

Except, notably, the eldest members of the crew. Rakuyo, Jozu, Vista, Teach, and Izou all lingered on deck throughout the day with tiny smirks or shared looks of amusement. Every time they caught Marco's slight frown their own smirks got bigger. Something was going on, and Ace couldn't quite figure out what.

Then the flash happens, and someone drops into a heap on the deck from about ten feet up. They stagger upright with everyone who had been knocked down by the accompanying blast, rubbing a hand over their face and groaning.

Then Ace is knocked right back onto his ass when he gets a look at who the mysterious person is.

It's Marco. Only not.

Only different. He's shorter than Ace is used to, only a few inches over Ace's eyeline than the full head. Only dressed differently-a white shirt open to reveal a very fresh looking tattoo that couldn't be more than a year under the skin with black capris and slip-on shoes instead of strapped sandals. Only no sash, just the tailfeather belt trailing from the front of his pants.

It's Marco-only not. Only different. Only younger.

Distantly, over the strange ringing in his ears, Ace can hear Pops laughing.

The new Marco leaps back up to his feet before Ace really registers what's going on. When Ace looks up, it's to a hand in his face offering assistance. He takes it and is genuinely, pleasantly, surprised when the New Marco does all the work hoisting him upright.

Ace brushes himself off, patting dust off his pants and his hat, then looks up to meet the New Marco's eye. Instead of surprise or shock, which Ace expects, he's met with something else. Hooded eyes, a thoughtful downturn to the mouth, and something hot smouldering underneath. It honestly reminds him of something he'd seen late at night in Marco's bed and that thought has Ace blushing.

"Guararararara! Look at that!" Pops says, his voice suddenly breaking the moment.

New Marco immediately refocuses, eyes going wide. He takes off in a dead sprint past Ace, voice carrying, "Holy shit, Pops, what the hell happened to you-yoi?"

Ace turns around to follow the movement. Pops stoops down to catch the young man who throws himself into his arms. Immediately the New Marco settles himself into the crook of Pops' arm, shins tucked in against his massive chest. "You're an old man!"

Somewhere to the side, Izou and others are laughing. Comments about how cute, how darling, Marco looks are passed between gasps for air and wiped tears of mirth.

"An old man who can still kick your ass, little bird! Nothing's happened to me, you've taken a tumble forward is all."

Ace steps around Pops to look back at the man's chair. Marco, the older one, his Marco is still seated with his spine and shoulder propped against the chair back. Arms crossed, he watches the scene unfolding with a kind of passivity that's usually reserved for watching the deck work instead of such a strange situation.

But Ace takes his cues from the weirdly calm acceptance of the situation and chooses not to freak out. Up above, New Marco looks around the ship and takes everything in.

"A tumble forward...?"

Another second to scan the deck before his eyes settle on Ace again. That look comes back, the barely concealed bedroom eyes, and the tone of New Marco's question does not match it at all.

"Did I miss lunch-yoi?"

[itlearns]

 “...Because you’re so God damn perfect and you know everything and have everything under control and…”

“Under control?” Mitsurugi snaps back. “I’ve been trained to do this for as long as I remember myself and you just decided to appear here out of nowhere and immediately got to the same position that I tried to get to for years. And you just improvise! I’m nothing in the courtroom without a thorough plan and you- You have no idea what are you doing, do you? I swear to God you just walk up there and tell the jury the first thing to come to your mind. And you look so… effortless. Do you know how much work I have to do to predict everything you might say so I wouldn’t look absolutely pathetic while you stand there with this perfect-bright-million-dollars smile of yours? I haven’t won a single case against you since then! And I have nothing except this job. None of your… Found family bullshit or whatever it is you have going on. You make my entire life look like a joke!”

“I’ve spent six fucking years in law school just so I could see your angsty ass again and you think your life looks like a joke?”

         Mitsurugi stops just for a moment and that is enough for Ryuuichi to strike back.

“And you know what? I DO have no idea what I’m doing. It hasn’t been a day in nine years that I haven’t thought of quitting all that. But then I see you and… and I…”

 “Don’t. Do not.” Mitsurugi growls, way louder than he usually does, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “God, why you just have to make it more difficult than it already is”.

“Oh, I’m the one making it difficult? I thought you died!”

         Reiji looks taken aback for a moment, when opens his mouth to say something, but Ryuuichi’s already too deep in it to stop. He would probably shut up if he looked at Mitsurugi’s face, but he does not. Does not want to look.  

“You literally left a note about choosing death and I really, really thought I lost you for good this time! And it’s been more than a YEAR. I’ve mourned and I… tried to move on and I had to carry one with my life and NOW you just decide to appear and act like this whole year haven’t even happened?!”

         A pause takes place.

         “Why did you care?”

         Naruhodou opens his mouth to tell him to go fuck himself and closes it instantly. It’s too much of a change of pace. Mitsurugi looks genuinely confused.

“What the hell does that supposed to mean? Why wouldn’t I care?”

“I have seemed too misjudge… your perception of the… situation”. Mitsurugi frowns, looking down.

“Oh, please leave the fancy words for someone else”.

Reiji sighs.

“We- Me and Franziska, we ran away sometimes. When it has gotten… too much. We would have to come back, of course. He knew we would. We would get hungry eventually. Returning meant admitting you have wronged the family and all you could do was just working twice as hard. No one said anything about it out loud, of course. I… didn’t expect you to… Take my depart seriously.”

Silence falls once again.

“I… want to punch you in the face so much”, Ryuuichi says, finally. It’s an absolutely sincere statement.

“It would be… well deserved”, Mitsurugi answers really seriously and firmly, closing his eyes and taking his glasses of, his eyelashes quivering a little.

Ryuuichi panics. He wasn’t really going to hit anyone. Definitely not Reiji. Definitely not in his stupidly precious face.

Ryuuichi leans forward, takes his hand in his and kisses Mitsurugi. Mitsurugi shudders with his whole body. It’s just a couple of moments. He barely responds. When Naruhodou leans back to look at him, he looks… Defeated. Not like he usually does. He does not look angry, nor frustrated, just… Lost. Hurt. Sad. His empty stare directed past Ryuuichi. His hand still clenches Ryuuichis’.

“Do you wanna know the thing I hate the most in all that?” Naruhodou says, “No matter for how long I’m away from you and no matter how much it hurts me, every time I get to see you again it makes me so happy I feel like an idiot. And it turns out that everything was worth it. Every time I think I’ve managed to move on and then… I’m so glad to have you back, Reiji.”

Mitsurugi manages to raise his gaze to meet Ryuuichis’. That’s the moment he realizes he’s been gripping his hand so hard it probably hurt and lets go so fast as if it burnt him, clenching his hand into a fist, pressing to his chest.

“I… would return eventually anyway. I don’t have anyone else to be with”.

“That’s a very roundabout way to say ‘I’m glad to be back with you too’”, Ryuuichi smiles with his perfect-bright-million-dollars smile. Reiji Mitsurugi capitulates. Reiji Mitsurugi won’t win a single case against that smile. 

[taegularities]

hey rid, i was hoping i could vent/get ur advice on smt? u don't need to post this if u dont want to!

im an elementary education major and i rlly want to be a kindergarten teacher... like rlly bad. i still remember my first day of kindergarten and i knew from that moment that's exactly what i wanted to be. i changed my mind a couple of times (mainly because of family pressure) but i always came back to teaching. my dad is so not supportive about it and it usually doesnt get to me, but it rlly is rn. he's one of my favorite people in the world and i love him to bits, but it absolutely destroys me that he still cant be supportive of it. i want nothing more than to make him proud but i dont think i can as a teacher.

it's been getting to my head and now im uncertain if i wanna be a teacher or not.. like i cant see myself being anything but a teacher, but knowing all the cons (the low pay, the amount of people leaving the field) it scares me and is rlly discouraging me. i feel like i need to choose my head and be practical rather than choosing my heart and following my dreams, but i almost feel like i would be betraying myself if i did that. im genuinely so lost and dont know how to feel about it :( any advice would help!

- wife from war anon 💂‍♀️(side note, why do i feel so nervous signing my tag on this ask HAHA)

hey babe !! don't worry about it, you can vent anytime <3 i'm sorry it's been affecting you like that :(

it's a difficult situation you're in, and i understand how it must feel to not have someone's support on something so important, especially when that person means so incredibly much to you. but that said, in the end it'll be you who'll be stuck with a job for the foreseeable future.

the problem is that, in life, you can't always satisfy everyone, right? and if you keep trying to do just that, you might end up neglecting your own needs and desires and that might affect your mental health in the long run. so what i'm trying to say is – if you feel like that's the job for you and you really can't be happy anywhere else, then you should stay. ugh i know, the pay in this area is a full disappointment, the entire teacher body has been complaining for years lol i guess that's something that's a constant.

but are there perhaps courses or people you know that could go through opportunities that you might like? something or someone professional? oftentimes, there are jobs out there that cater to your interests, but you just don't know it yet. or perhaps you could be a tutor on the side, for some extra money?

it's a tough situation, but i hope you get through it and know that your stress is valid – still, please remember, that in the end it's your life, and it's you who you need to make happy. if your gut's telling you you'd betray yourself if you did something else, then that probably means something. i found a few links (i'm not sure if they're good, but maybe you could try?): 1, 2, 3.

i'm so sorry you've been feeling that way, love 🥺 vent anytime you need... i hope things get better soon 🤍

[josiebelladonna]

one of the reasons why i struggled during the trump era was that it felt like i was being forced to have an opinion rather than have it genuinely come from me. add to this, it felt like i was being yelled at and judged constantly simply because i felt like i had nothing to add—i still feel this way, too. not just in opinions about current events but opinions in general. my opinions, the ones that i have, do not matter, and most of them don’t belong to me anyway. when i was in a.p. english, and we had to participate in book reviews, i didn’t know what to add to the conversation that wasn’t already being said, and i just sat there, baffled and bored out of my wits (my teacher even noticed, too, i remember her pointing out this out to me and i basically said all of this. i want to talk but everyone is talking over me). plus, telling me to “speak up” doesn’t make me want to do it more: if anything, it doesn’t make me want to do it ever, period. for this reason, i hate being told to speak up. (it’s like when i call my dad and he complains that i don’t call him enough: it doesn’t make me want to do it more.)

it’s not because “i’m on the side of the oppressor”, no, that is extremely unfair and cruel. it was because all i wanted to say back then was already being said, i felt like i had nothing to add, and i was exhausted mere days into that godforsaken administration because everyone just wanted to scream and assume that we all know rather than educate. it’s like, what do you want me to say? what do you want me to do besides kiss your ass? what can i add to this? nothing? okay, well, what can i add to here? oh, also nothing. everyone gets a participation point but me. i’ve always been on the fence about politics, even with my dabbling in political cartoons in my early days of cartooning: i could never fully commit because i found it incredibly boring and there’s so much else that piques my interest anyway.

the opinions i do have are either weak, lame, will have me subject to ridicule, or will have some bullshit feud fired up against me in the form of forgettable fanfic. i really do feel like people just tell you to speak up under the pretense of “you being the oppressor” because they don’t want to be proven wrong, not because they actually stand for something or give a shit about what you have to say.

okay, you want a couple of political opinions from me? why do political or social posts and tweets have to be so elaborately worded? get to the point, i’m dumb, i don’t know what’s happening here or why i should care. why does pro-life feminism exist? like… who is this for? you think an abortion is “killing a baby” when the mother is a 12-year-old girl, and the only other option is for her to have it, i.e., the psychological, physical, mental, and emotional effects of having a child while she’s still a child, i.e., the real killing of a baby. it’s not feminism: it’s rape apology and control. it’s anti-science and antisemitic, too, as most of these holier-than-thou cunts tend to be “all about science” (when science has proven that life starts at birth numerous times) and it’s a part of jewish law for a woman to have an abortion if she chooses. we mustn’t base our laws off religion, absolutely, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that telling a jewish woman she can’t have one is a violation of her religion. we spend an ungodly amount of money on our military but once service is done, veterans are basically told to get lost. and all everyone can bitch about is the first thing. why is everyone vegan now? don’t get me wrong: vegan food is some of the most delicious i’ve ever eaten, but it’s like every time i turn around, someone talks about how they’re vegan. everyone famous is vegan. everyone goes on about how healthy they are ever since they went vegan and that’s all they can talk about. did i miss something here? this is another thing i feel is just another trend for people to seem important, not because they’re like linda mccartney and actually believe it’ll do any justice. some of you don’t look good, either: you look malnourished and tired, and you probably smell bad, too. where i draw the line is making your pets vegan (which is something some people really do): cats and dogs are carnivores, and depriving them of that is a form of cruelty. donald trump and that whole parade of republicans around him are such hot-button issues that they’re boring to talk and read about. they’re all sacks of shit who are trying to kill us, the end.

and that’s all i got. are you happy now? i sure as hell am not. if anything, i feel exposed, perhaps more so than i did when i wrote those sex journal prompts. take them or leave them, i don’t care and i’m not confident in these things anyway.

[roobylavender]

no bcs i cried too !!! the children thinking of the children :(( i started the sequel immediately after i finished beartown like it was so serious for me i had to return to that little town in the middle of nowhere 🫠 i love love benji amat bobo AND maya and ana ( SISTERS THEY R SISTERS 💖💖 “never again do you find friends like the ones you have when you’re friend” 😭) the way benji his mother and his sisters r with each other like omfg 🥲 how they tell him they love him always kiss him on the head and scold him too for wtv he’s done what if i died ?? how enduring and strong and wonderful fatima is too omg all the mothers of this book were so realistic i felt,,, kira and her whole “career woman” conflict and js EVERYTHING abt her how she feels like a bad mother somtimes for being away so much ,,, her relationship w peter was so good i love them !!! i esp was interested in the way the writing humanized kevin and the build up to it : we see him as the star of the town someone diligent who knows nothing else but hockey ( i will not lie i saw some kevin day parallels there LOL) and how distant his parents r and the way he spent more time at benjis home than his own !! the way the entire assault was handled w kevin and maya was rlly good to me even w the anger and disgust i felt for kevin i understood how scared he was and god the way maya became scared of the dark and the parallels to that w the end and what she did to kevin for herself i am SCREAMING !!!!!! the way the children of the hollow and more specifically amat and zacharias were picked on and the lingering racism too and later when amat chooses the team (briefly , he chooses them briefly, but nonetheless) how zacharias feels betrayed bcs amat gave him a reason for living ! the almost insane (v insane actually) way beartown devotes itself to hockey as a hockey town and how they blames peter and maya for the loss of the game oooh my heart (tfw ur wrong but don’t know it and the actually horribleness is ur behavior for the sake of a sport versus the well-being of one ur own town’s children) the love the players of the junior team hold for david and how he loves them in return the pucks w words THE PUCKS W WORDS [slams head against enclosure] how clinical david felt at the thought of getting sune’s job but also how jealous he was of the way peter and sune would spend time together in the office without inviting him ,,, i was so 💔 abt ramona and holge and how she hadn’t seen a hockey match since his death 😭 the way the ppl of beartown open their doors and offer coffee bcs they don’t speak much and the motto is ask simple questions w difficult answers and how everyone opened their doors and offered coffee for kevin’s mom but no one did for kira ,,, the viciousness of the children of beartown and how leo stood beside his sister and played games w her ,,, they’re everything actually . the way backman portrayed how many survivors end up having to be strong for those around them like maya was 💔 how benji fought for kevin bcs he was miskiin and he became his violence and kevin the genius but also how they both possssed the opposite in them more than they realized !! benjis violence and the way the ppl of beartown would say he’d end up going bad ,,, genuinely so sick to my stomach 😭 how ana felt free among animals and more comfortable versus being among her peers and feeling different and weird compared to them ,,,

sorry for the blab omg but this book has perhaps gotten me out of my reading slump ?? alx 🙏🙏

i feel so bad because i read the first two books a couple of years ago so a lot of the specific details escape me but i definitely remember feeling this crazy over it as well! the way fredrik backman weaves human connections together is so breathtaking i can't wait to reread these books and then finally read the third one!