#okay maybe I should've watched the entire show before this

[thedemoninme141]

Operation Oreo

Wrote this cause @ortegalvr and @cobaltperun inspired me a little. Never thought I would write fluff.

Summary: A jealous Wednesday buys you Oreos...

It had taken an hour of pleading, sweet-talking, and even a few light-hearted bribes, but you’d finally managed to get Wednesday to agree to go with you to the carnival. She was by your side now, looking as out of place as ever in her all-black attire, her expression one of deep displeasure.

Wednesday scanned the surroundings with a sharp gaze, her mind undoubtedly filled with thoughts of a million better things she could be doing. The only reason she hadn't slipped away into the shadows was because of you. Her loyalty, or perhaps something more, kept her grounded. Still, she was just about ready to tell you that she was leaving when a lanky boy from Ajax’s group approached.

"Hey, I got these for you," the boy said, holding out a open packet of Oreos. "I remember you mentioned these were your favorite."

You blinked in pleasant surprise, smiling as you accepted one from the packet. "Thank you! That's really thoughtful."

You laughed at something he said, and Wednesday's eyes narrowed. She wasn’t entirely sure if Oreos were your favorite, though she was mildly annoyed at herself for not knowing. But any regret she felt was quickly overshadowed by a surge of jealousy as she watched the boy inch closer to you, clearly enjoying your attention a bit too much for her liking.

Without a word, Wednesday turned on her heel and strode through the crowd, her eyes locking onto Enid, who was in line for food. The werewolf was balancing a tray of snacks when Wednesday grabbed her arm and yanked her out of the line.

“Wednesday! What gives? I’m going to lose my spot!” Enid complained, nearly dropping everything as she was dragged along.

“Where can I find a carton of Oreos?” Wednesday asked, her tone flat but her eyes flashing with an emotion Enid struggled to decipher.

Enid’s confusion only lasted a moment before she spotted the boy sharing his Oreos with you and your smile. A grin spread across her face as she pieced it together. “Ohhh, I see what this is about. Wednesday Addams, jealous? I never thought I’d see the day!”

“Enid.” Wednesday’s voice was a warning, cold enough to shut Enid up, but not before she couldn’t resist teasing her one last time.

"Don't worry, Ajax and I will help you with Operation Oreo."

The next thing you knew, you and Wednesday were sitting in the backseat of Ajax’s car as he drove, Enid beside him literally choking because it was too hard to hold the laughter inside.

Enid had practically shoved you inside. The car was crammed with packs of Oreos, a ridiculous amount, so many that there was barely any room for the two of you to sit. The sight was so absurd that it took everything you had not to burst out laughing.

Wednesday, on the other hand, was staring intently out the window, refusing to meet your gaze. Her shoulders were tense, and you could see the faintest hint of pink on her pale cheeks.

You knew this gesture, this utterly nonsensical yet endearing over-the-top display, had been her way of staking a claim, of showing that she cared in her own peculiar way.

You reached over and gently touched her hand. “Wednesday…”

She turned to you, her eyes softening just a fraction. “He shouldn’t have given you those Oreos. It should've been me. I should have known they were your favorite.”

You finally let the giggle escape, your heart swelling with affection. “It’s okay. You know now, and you didn’t have to do all this.”

Wednesday frowned, glancing around at the mountains of cookies surrounding you both. “Perhaps it was… excessive.”

“Maybe a little,” you teased lightly. “But it’s the thought that counts. I love that you’d do something like this for me, Wednesday. It means a lot.”

“Let’s never speak of this again,” she said, though the corner of her mouth twitched upward.

You nodded, still holding back your laughter. “Agreed.”

Some Oreos between you two crumbled in their packets as you moved closer to her to put your head on her shoulder, who cares about broken Oreos? You like KitKats more anyway.

[ Author's note: Its been exactly one year since Celine left. Its been a rough year old friend, I miss exploring the lands between with you.]

Our other works are here.

[heeliopheelia]

"i've missed you" (heeseung x reader)

genre: light angst, fluff word count: 1.3k requested by @probably-too-obssessed ♡

warnings: mentions of a break up, exes to lovers, crying

a/n: was the plan in my head perfect: yes. do i like the execution:... okay, ik this ain't technically a drabble but bear with me!! but anyways, we're officialy more than half done with the 1k event yayy!!

masterlist

Wiping the sleep out of your eyes, you make your way past the living room to answer the door. Knowing that only the closest people to you know the code to your apartment block's stairway, you can't help but worry as you approach the knocking on your door at such early hour. Has something happened? Did someone get hu-?

Suddenly more awake than a second before, you gape at ex-boyfriend in shock. Wide eyes scan his face, his brows slightly furrowed as he chews on his bottom lip, fingers twitching by his thighs. And you can't help but notice that he looks... the same. Yes, a little more mature now compared to the few years ago, features more defined than before but that's still most definitely Heeseung. Your Heeseung.

"What are you doing here?" You ask quietly, feet rooted into the floor as cold winter air sweeps from the stairway and engulfs your thinly-clothed body. You try to pretend that this sudden coolness is the cause of the shiver that runs down your spine but at the same time you know well that it's all because of Heeseung's relentless eyes placed on you.

"Hi," he breathes out and feels his heart coming up to his throat. Fuck, you're even prettier than he remembered. He clears his throat. "Can I come in?"

Somehow you muster the courage to nod your head and move back to open the door wider for him. As he sets his foot in your apartment, an instant wave of nostalgia and longing fills his heart to the brim and for the first time in three years Heeseung doesn't feel this void that's been constantly eating him from the inside. And it's all after spending only a minute with you again.

"I've missed you," he blurts out without wasting any more time, watching as your shoulders visibly tense. He takes a step closer and then one more, moving to stand right in front of you. "I'm sorry it took me so long to say it."

Pressing your lips together, you hide the trembling of your fingers by clenching them on the fabric of the shirt you've been sleeping in. His shirt which only now you seem to realize to be wearing and so does Heeseung as his eyes soften. And it makes him hope that maybe you too, after all this time, still keep a place in your heart for him.

Your heart pounds in your chest.

"You–," you stutter out, head full of running thoughts. Why is he here now? What's caused him to go against his manager and contract and show up at your door at 5 am? "Heeseung, where is this all coming from?"

"Ever since the night I broke up with you, there hasn't been a day without you on my mind." You can clearly see the distress and pain marring his soft features. "I'm sorry I fucked up, I never should've ended things with you back then."

And yes, you've missed him too. Yes, you've thought about him way too much for someone who's supposed to be over the relationship for at least two years now. But it's Heeseung after all. How does one simply move on from him?

But you keep a brave face and decide to be the more reasonable one out the two of you for once in your entire life. "There's nothing to apologize for, don't be ridiculous"

He scoffs, running his hand through his thick hair from frustration. "I was selfish. I dropped you for fame–"

"You left me for your dreams, Heeseung," you interrupt him with a scolding look. "And you did the right thing. I'd never want to be the one holding you back. Stop being so self-critical."

His eyes soften and he breathes out, all the tension leaving his body. "You could never hold me back, YN. I hate that only now I realized that you were the only thing that's kept me grounded. I'm no one without you."

Your heart stutters when his hands reach out and envelop your slightly trembling ones. "I don't know, Hee. There's just... There's so much happening right now, I can't think straight."

"I still love you." His words knock all the air out of your lungs and you swear you're falling. "After all this time, there's never been anyone else but you, love. I'd drop everything in an instant if you asked me to give my all to you right now. Everything loses its value when you're not there with me, I've learnt it the hard way."

"I–"

Your quiet stumbling gets cut off by his hands suddenly loosing their grip on yours. You watch as realization tinted with fear slowly creeps up on his beautiful face. All of sudden, Heeseung feels all of his muscles tensing as his heart drops down his chest, heavy and aching.

Already dreading your answer, he asks. "Do you... Do you have someone?"

"N-No!" You stutter out quickly, hands suddenly gaining a mind of their own as they desperately clutch on his again, heart wrenching as you already miss his touch even though he hasn't even fully pulled away. "I couldn't. Not after you."

"Then give us another try," he breathes out, chest feeling almost fifty pounds lighter at your quiet confession. His fingers quickly intertwine with yours as he pulls you closer with one tug. Your heart stalls when he leans down and starts kissing away the tears that you haven't even noticed started dropping down your cheeks. "All I want is you, YN. And there will never be anyone but you for me."

His lips trail down your cheeks, peppering kisses all over your jawline and chin and before you can even blink, your mouths are moving together in despair. The kiss is soaked and dripping with longing and love as you both pour all of the emotions from deep within into it. Even when your lips start to slightly burn from the saltiness of your tears and Heeseung's harsh sucks, you never even think of pulling away just for a second. It's only your muffled sob that makes the two of you part.

"I missed you so much," you cry out, trembling hand coming up to cover the bottom of your wet face. It doesn't take long for him to gently pull it away and bring it closer to him, pressing his warm lips to your knuckles. You sniffle, only to feel more tears following down your cheeks. "I've watched your every single performance, you know?" You chuckle shortly trough the sobs. The smile you sent him is wobbly and teary but so full of love it makes Heeseung feel the happiest he's been for the past couple years. "I'm so proud of you."

Your words impact him harder than he would ever admit, so before you can get the glimpse of his own eyes becoming glistening, he pulls you by your face and kisses you again, swallowing each one of your sobs and whimpers. Your hands tightly cling onto his hoodie as you find yourself becoming putty underneath his touch again. His slim fingers brush away the hair that got stuck onto your teary face, his caresses so gentle you can't help but feel your legs buckling slightly, so taking two steps backwards, you pull him on the couch along with you.

"I love you too," you whisper somewhere in between your ceasing cries and his kisses.

At that, Heeseung pulls himself up on his elbows to take in your pretty face. The face that he couldn't erase from his mind for all these years. The face that kept him awake every night until he passed out from exhaustion. The face that he loves more than anything else in this world.

And damn him if he ever found anything else that brought him as close to heaven as the sight of your swollen lips parted with a smile, blush spread over your cheeks as your eyes fill up with sparkles, looking at him as if he's collected all the stars from the sky and gave them to you. And fuck, if you really ever asked him to give you the entire moon itself, he knows that he would somehow find a way to make it happen. Because he would do absolutely anything and everything to make you happy. Even if it meant giving up his entire career – he will not make the same mistake twice and lose you again, now knowing that nothing is worth of the pain that being without you has put him through.

permanent taglist: @bambisgirl @arizejkt19 @luvmura @milisabunny @cathy-1997 @satoruskitchenrag @ramenoil @jenjnk @jaylaxies @yoongspi

[cmdrfupa]

Better Now

Nanami x Reader

Considering your husband's predictable habits, any deviation from the norm would raise some eyebrows.

So, being caught off guard is understandable as you spot Nanami standing in the hallway waiting to take his staff yearbook photo. Instead of his typical tan and blue outfit, he dawned a sharp black suit, which made an impression. 

"Christ." 

He wore his green-tinted glasses for the first time in a while, the black patch usually covering his eye now being held between his forefingers. The idle way he toyed with the string gave you your answer before even speaking up.

"You look very handsome, Nanami." the sound of your heels approaching brought him out of his head.

"Thank you, Mrs. Nanami." Flat. Flatter than usual. He wrapped the strings up, placing the patch in the inside pocket of his suit. "Did you get your first years settled? I heard talk of outfit offenders."

"It was the lack of clothes." you stood directly in front of Kento, considering straightening his tie. "2 boys tried taking their pictures shirtless, and one young lady snuck a Kaneki eye patch mask on last minute."

"Did you scold her?"

"Was just a mask. And it was Zenin, anyway. Her wanting to cover her face was understandable." 

Nanami huffed a laugh out, watching your hands work to fix his tie.

"Thank you."

You kissed his lips before stepping back, and your hand settled over his cheeks. It took a while, but Kento no longer flinched as you touched him.

His visible burn scars were about 90% healed. Thanks to compressive masks made via 3D printing, Kento could hide the facial wound while healing for the first eight months. 

The scars had matured with fine indentions and webbed patterns across his face. While they weren't incredibly fibrous or thick, they were noticeable. And he wasn't a vain man, but Kento was thankful they weren't a complete 'monstrosity' as this was the first time he'd be showing his entire face to the outside world since the incident; there was no concealing himself.

The light contact of your palm brought his stress levels down as always.

"I know you smelt the alcohol. It was a few sips before I got here."

"I know."

"It was with Ieiri."

"I know."

He took his glasses off, slipping them into his breast pocket.

"She called you."

Fiddling in your purse, you fished out the dark metal case. 

"Just to let me know you were on campus already and that you wanted your prosthetic."

The warmth of his fingers danced across your wrist as he took the case from your hand. "Thank you, love of my life."

"Anytime." His lips joined yours again like magnets as he brought you closer. "Are you gonna be okay if I go?"

A few reasons came to mind why he'd never be okay when you weren't next to him. But if Kento wanted to get his money's worth therapy-wise and get entirely into solo exposure therapy, he could get through this with a few camera clicks and a meeting without you. 

"Go ahead. I'll grab dinner on the way home once I finish here."

With a soft smile, you squeezed his arm before kissing his cheek. "See you at home."

    The evening wore on, and you hadn't heard from Kento. 

It's not entirely unusual, you thought. But it's almost 10 p.m., and surely his meeting wasn't that long. "I'll just call Shoko."

Six rings, no answer.

Gojo. Same thing.

"I'd hate to bother Itadori, but maybe he knows." As you dialed, a call from Ino popped up.

"Hello? Takuma?"

  "Sorry to call so late in the evening, Mrs. Nanami. But Gojo told me to give you a call."

That sick feeling waded through your thoughts. "What's wrong? Where are you?"

"Sorry. I should've started that better. Nanami is okay, and everything is okay."

"Has Nanami been drinking?"

"No, I promise. We left our meeting, and he just wanted to drive, so Gojo and I followed him until we lost him." The sound of Gojo talking about pineapple-flavored sorbet leaked into the speaker from the background.

  " Gojo guessed, and now we're at the Shibuya station. At the mart across from it."

Holding the phone, Ino mumbled something to someone nearby before talking to the receiver again. "Nanami says he'll be home soon and that he is sorry for worrying you and being forced to talk to me like I'm his handler."

"You just saved me from a heart attack, so no need for an apology in any way. Thank you.”

"Have a good night, Mrs. Nanami."

"Be Safe, Ino. Good night."

  When you and Kento went couch shopping, you were adamant about plush, oversized cushions. "Think about movie nights. Napping on our days off. OH! Or parallel play!" You tried upselling the cloud couch, as the cheery salesman said, was an absolute steal.

Always practical and only buying out of necessity, Kento agreed to the cloud couch as long as it made you happy and you kept the cushions plush.

Most late nights, like this one, were spent on said couch. Kentos' first five weeks out of the hospital were spent camping in the living room. Listening to his half-baked ideas while he fought sleep to avoid the impending traumatic night terrors of the worst day of his life.

  "Honey?" He wriggled his feet out of his shoes and entered the living room. The soft glow from reruns of Jeopardy cast a gentle light across the walls as you slept soundly.

"Darling. I'm home." smooth knuckles ran the length of your arm.

Sleep in your eyes as you bat your lashes, trying to focus. "Ken, what time is it." fatigue coated your voice.

"It's late; I'm sorry." With your eyes still not entirely focused, you could make out Kento taking his button-down off and lying next to you on the chaise section of the sofa. He rested his head near your chest, holding you like a kite on a windy spring afternoon.

Wrapping your arms around him as best you could, you rubbed his back. Silent except for Alex Trebek giving Pamela her 'Potpourri, it could be anything!' question for 600. Nothing was said, but everything was understood in the quietude.

  "I saw Yu that night. During the accident."

Your hold tensed, bringing Kento closer until it was impossible.

"It was like a figment of him. He was fading from me.." shakiness saturated his usual warm tone.

"Ken."

"Like he was there warding off death. I wasn't supposed to die, and Haibara ensured it."

A sniffle brought your face closer to his, remaining mute during the spewing emotions.

"So much time has passed that I am forgetting his face, and I have to live, slowly forgetting his youth. I can't. I- I don't want that."

Wiping the tears as they rushed Kento's cheeks, you kissed his forehead.

"Haibara is eternal. And we will keep his spirit and love alive in all that we do."

The emotions were discernible, and Kento leaned into them wholly. Moments passed before he huffed and took a deep breath attempting to shake whatever emotions hung back.

"Finding a way to celebrate him would be good. Maybe light candles, and I'll dig out those high school photos."

"An altar? We can do that. We can grab some flowers and candles tomorrow to properly memorialize him."

The TV's fluorescent lighting flicked off with the timer, allowing the silver sheen from the moon to blanket your joined bodies.

"Thank you. For life. For your love."

"You have me and my love forever, Ken."

  Kento rested his head on your chest, contentment flooding his mind, closing his eyes as your warmth brought him to slumber's door.

Love you and thank you for reading 💕

[megumisgirl]

nerd!megumi x fem reader part three ↝ feeding you horny ppl because this is one of my most liked and requested one! hope you enjoy <3

nerd!megumi who always tutors you before every major exam. teaches you in a more effective method. "listen, y/n," he grabbed your attention, spinning you around in your chair so you'd face him, his hands on both sides of your handrest, trapping you, "let's play a game, shall we? everytime you get an answer right, i take a particle of my clothes off. and if you're wrong, you take them off."

a sly smirk would be plastered on his face by how hard you were trying to get all the answers correctly. by now, you were just in your panties and matching bralette, and he was in his sweatpants, frurstrating tears welled up in your eyes from not being able to remember the simple math formulas that were so easy for you before, but now you need help to learn.

nerd!megumi who cooes you, strokes your hair and calms you down as you cry about your math struggles. you hugs you tightly and doesn't let go till your breathing and heart rate is normal again. but it's difficult to slow down your heart rate when you're on his lap, his large long hands under your hoodie calming you down as he whispered the softest, nicest compliments into your ear.

"shh..shh...it's okay, it's okay. it's just a math problem," he laughed airly, as he hugged you tighter, "your too smart for it, butterfly. come on, clean yourself up," he said, leaning back to look at your red swollen face, and puffy nose, your lips glossy from drool and your eyes bloodshot, "then we can cuddle, watch star wars, and have ice cream, hmm?" you shot him a small smile as you wiped your face with the back of your hand. "you look so pretty when you cry..."

nerd!megumi who sends you nudes in the middle of your lecture.

Megs <3

Attachment : 1 image. do you like it? sent 11:05am

him shirtless, with wet hair, his glasses fogged up and he's only covered by the thin towel that hangs lowly on his waist, showing his v-cut. your eyes trailed down to his abs, water droplets coat him and you hope it was you.

You

I'm in class!! sent 11:10am

Megs <3

you don't like it? Attachment : 5 new images. sent 11:25am

this time the towel was gone. his pink tip was wet and his cock huge. one of his large hand covered his cock and you closed your eyes, feeling the heat grow between your thighs.

"ms. y/n, can you repeat anything i just said, or is your entire syllabus written on your phone?"

nerd!megumi who goes to the dean demand that your teacher stop being so unprofessional and rude towards you. megumi who asks you to step outside, and threatens the dean, "i'm your top student, aren't i?" he pushed his glasses up, the dean shifted nervously on his seat. megumi stayed quiet, waiting for his answer.

"yes."

"then you know if i say something out in the public, how deeply it would effect your college. teachers would get fired, i wonder if you will even stay. especially with your affair with the assistant teacher of mrs. passwater." he smirked, the dean's eyes widened as he opened his mouth but megumi put his finger up, shushing him, "who is fifteen years younger than you. keep mr. suguro's gaze out of y/n, and i will keep my mouth shut." megumi, who comes out of the dean's office with the most unreadable of expression, "wanna get waffles, butterfly?"

nerd!megumi who is so nervous when he's metting your parents. "do you think they will like me?" he sighed, "maybe i should've worn the suit. maybe the hoodie was bit too casual." he mumbled, fixing unknown creases from his hoodie as you held his hand. "i love you so much, you know that?" you smiled at him, kissing his temple as he blushed furiously, "i hope you love me like the way i love you." he sighed, his deep blue eyes growing a little sad as you kissed his cheek.

"i love you, too, megs. you don't have to doubt my love, be like anakin." he smirked, as you smiled cheekily. your parents definately hit it off with megumi. they ate every joke, every observational comments, and they, of course, loved the fact that he was so good at his studies... and that he was rich. "they love youuuuu!" you said happily, hugging him, "we should get married." his eyes widened as you gasped, "after we graduate. and have our careers on the ground."

"i'd marry you any day." he said, mumbling against your lips, "i love you."

"i know."

[modelbus]

Mcyt’s when you’re toxic in a game

I’ve been playing valorant lately, so why not? When I say toxic I mean more of a fun toxic, not violently bullying if that makes sense.

Mcyt’s included: Tommy, Dream, Sapnap, Wilbur

Tommy

Flabbergasted

He’s never seen you be so creatively aggressive before, not towards others in a game.

He immediately starts laughing though, so hard that he pushes his chair back and nearly falls out of it. He does die in the game though, not even caring about that.

You laugh with him, the sound of his laughter infectious.

The second he’s back he’s jumping to insulting others with you, and the two of you start tag-teaming your (not so) innocent teammates.

"Go play fortnite" may or may not have been used, along with the classic "step on Legos."

“Wait, I’ve got this one, I’ve got it!” Tommy exclaims, and the sounds of him frantically typing can be heard over your call.

“Make it good, come on.” You urge.

“I’m typing! I’m typing!”

The second his typing noises stop, a message appears in chat for all players to see. “I’m about to build a bible and pray for better teammates” it reads.

There’s a moment of silence over the call before the both of you burst into loud laughter.

The two of you can’t be toxic together for long though, because by the end of one match you’re both laughing too hard to think.

Dream

Dream’s a lot like Tommy, definitely.

Laughing, a bit of surprise.

But years of Sapnap have prepared him for his toxic arc, he’s been secretly keeping his toxicity inside the entire game.

He barely needs a moment to read over your chat messages before sending his own, each getting more and more outlandish.

Let’s be honest, he’s trying to impress you with his creative insults that just barely manage to bypass the chat filter.

And let’s not get started when the other team is toxic back, your voice call quickly becomes shouts of wounded egos.

“They called you an idiot sandwich!” You yell, catching the message before Dream does.

“Who the fuck are they?! GORDAN FUCKING RAMSEY?!” He yells right back. “We have to kill them now. We HAVE to.”

“I’ll do it, they’re so bad that I can beat them with my eyes closed.”

And, true to your word, you kill them nearly instantly when the next round starts. Dream cheers you on the entire way before he dies.

Needless to say that the person who killed him starts the cycle again.

If either of you goes too far though, Dream would pull back and insist on finding a better game.

He's not looking to get banned, how else can the two of you be toxic again later?

Sapnap

This is the KING of toxicity

Okay, maybe not king, but Sapnap can be toxic when he wants to be.

He doesn’t need any time, not even a breath, before he’s down in the trenches with you, flying insults at the other team.

There’s a little bit of laughter, but creative toxicity is serious business between the two of you.

The call is full of yelling, and conferencing on the best insult to send at the other players.

While you are avoiding the swear-blocker and any chance of being reported, Sapnap simply does not give a fuck.

It barely takes five minutes before he’s kicked out of the game for his insults, leaving you alone.

You’re both so surprised at the suddenness of it that the call goes completely silent.

"...huh." You say after watching his icon vanish and a message appears showing he was taken out.

"I got- I was- I'm on a penalty." Sapnap groans, and you can imagine him slouching down in his chair.

After another moment you speak up again. "What do you think did it? Which message? The anteater one? The rotten milk one?"

"No fucking way, it was when I said I was going to pay them to delete their account." He laughs.

"I stand by that you should've done it."

You make sure to win the game for him, but not without one last message.

"Game so easy it might have been the tutorial."

Wilbur

Wilbur, oh Wilbur, he is afraid of the ban hammer.

When you start sending messages he finds it funny, but he doesn't join in. He doesn't tell you to stop, either, so it's a win for you and you keep going.

After a minute or so he'll join in, but only verbally in the call between you two.

Soon enough you're stealing his insults to send, and the reaction from others prompts the both of you to create new ones.

They aren't ever directly mean, either, which makes them so much better.

"Even your imaginary pets are ashamed of you :("

After a while the layers of the insults get so deep they're just a confusing mess to people who aren't you two.

And it's still the funniest thing in the world.

The other team is aware it's an insult, but they can't figure out how, meaning you can say whatever you want and not get reported.

"Here's one, they shoot worse than Hamilton." Wilbur suggests, and you quickly type it up.

"We're the Burr to their Hamilton." You laugh.

Wilbur dies seconds later, groaning. "My backup was a glob of snot, please inform them of that."

Hell if you have any idea what that means, but off it goes for his backup to figure out. This was the most fun you've had playing a game, your face starting to hurt from how hard you're grinning.

Most of the insults he inputs tend to be history related: "Someone is putting this game into their resume for the United Nations", and "he's roleplaying as JFK."

The insults are creative enough that they stick for days afterward, and the two of you exchange them in the company of others, leaving them all confused.

[abysshare]

Normally i don't do this because like. While I'm well aware i can have my own opinions, i still don't want to make anyone feel bad for me being a disliker ( maybe hater? ).

Spoilers / talking about the new Venom movie below. If you liked it I'm glad you did! If you want to explain in why in comments, feel free! /genuine

I'll start with: i had a bad-ish day so maybe everything soured my mood and i wasn't ready i. The end. I also picked the wrong ticket and had to watch it in 3D < not a 3D fan due to being sensitive to flashing lights.

What i did like:

Implications of being bonded since v1

Knull ( surprisingly, i hate the comic story though I'm gonna be so real. But its been awhile since i looked up the plot/story ).

Agony and the Christmas themed Symbiote

Horse.

Dancing.

The blue symboite and that fire symbiote ( so pretty?? I loved the different powers and such. I want to draw both of them ).

The symbiote hunter, shes gorgeous.

What i Did NOT like:

Toxin being erased entirely.

They killed of Carnage and Cletus in 2 so this whole thing flopped without them IMO

You can see where Disney or Sony whoever wanted this or that but when Tom or whoever didn't want it, it got scrapped and had messy left overs.

Too much action and too much comedy ( the dancing was fine, but the hippie family deal went on a bit too long imo ).

Why was Agony introduced but not the other three? Specifically Scream at least?

Knull having his own thanos moment for sony, a spin off or whatever they're doing.

Eddie's ENTIRE attitude.

That Montage was ASS. Hate that song too.

Too much going on imo

I would have loved to have a genuine queer moment, a kiss, a "i love you", literally anything. I can MAYBE understand if they tried but Sony or Disney said no ( fuck them ) but still. And no i was one of the few that hope there wasn't fucking or kiss with HARD tongue ( i am ace and also these two are my dads to me, it would've been awkward ). Yeah i see some people saying "Its textual" !!!

Yea sure thats nice but aren't you tired? It doesn't have to be queer baiting but like. I'm so tired.

Even if you remove that um? Its not.. that great.

I'm WILLING to watch it again and read positive sides. Because my mood just may have soured.

i think my biggest issue if i take everything away what i just said, is Eddie just going back to being annoyed at every little thing Venom does or wants. ITS OKAY to be concerned about being found by the hunter, but even before then hes just so done. And even during? He should've been concerned. Or Yeah he CAN be annoyed / irritated, but it should be with care. This felt like he was back to thinking of Venom as a tumor, something he just needs to get rid of.

It was vastly upsetting as someone who has partners. Like.. it would be okay if this was the second or first- but it isn't!!!!! And yeah couples fight, but they didn't even do that. Couples have disagreements! But they didn't even talk it out or anything.

Also like? One of my things that bugged me was, when Eddie was complaining about his feet, and we knew Venom couldn't fully take over..... why didn't Venom just yk. Cover his feet for him and walk? That would have been a subtle sweet gesture while they could've still been bantering and so on.

If they had like. Argued, fought, had an emotional moment at the end, Eddie was upset he never got to apologize- i could see it. But thats another thing- he wasn't even THAT upset...

Its fine to not be a super empathetic person, fuck i dont always cry appropriately either. But he didn't show Nothing and not in a "i'm a no empathy person" way.

Idk!!!!!!!! My brain is scrambled.

People have said a lot of what i have problems with already but idk i just!!! Feel the need to put it out there.

Also i missed the second end credit scene :,)

Note: I'm not angry or completely a hater. More so neutral and not a huge fan of some things.

[erabu-san]

I had a fremellei brainrot I need to share with someone (I WOULD JOIN THE DISCORD BUT IT WOULDN'T LET ME FOR SOME GOD FORSAKEN REASON😭)

So, I doubt Collei would be able to swim. Maybe Tighnari tried to teach her but it just didn't work out. So while visiting fontaine, she mentions this to Freminet and she talks about how she'd like to be able to dive and look at all the sea creatures and explore. And she says it with this longing in her eyes that Freminet just MELTS for. And he nervously says-

"Well....I could teach you how to swim.....if you wanted..."

(I think this would happen after Collei gets a bit more comfortable with touch)

Collei just lights up at the idea and gets really excited. Not only because she'd finally learn how to swim, but also because she would have an excuse to spend time with Freminet!!

So Freminet starts giving Collei swimming lessons, going step by step to make sure she's comfortable. I think this would also be Collei getting to see just how passionate Freminet is about diving, and that would like- make her even more attracted to the sweet boy🥺

Finally, the day comes where Collei is finally able to start diving. Freminet is with her the entire time, and makes sure nothing bad happens to her. While Freminet is keeping watch for her, Collei is just having the time of her life. Looking at all the sea creatures, getting close to them (stressing out Freminet I'm sure lol). And Freminet just looks in her eyes, seeing the wonder and curiosity she has. And just that look, makes him fall for her even harder

Eventually the pull up and take a breather. They sit near the water and talk about the experience. Collei is just talking about how she's so excited to show Cyno, Amber, and Tighnari that she can swim, and also tell them about the cool stuff she saw. And she's saying all this Freminet's looking at her with pure adoration in his eyes. Thinking about how pretty she looks when she's all excited. And at that moment, all his self consciousness just kinda goes away, and he gets lost in Collei's presence

Collei eventually realize she was rambling and gets embarrassed and apologizes. Freminet reassures her that it's okay and laughs

"....that was amazing for your first time diving Collei.."

"Ah...was it really??? I'm glad!! I felt a little nervous at first but I knew I was safe because you were with me Freminet!!"

Freminet smiles and continues to look at Collei adoringly

"....you're amazing, Collei..."

And somehow, his body acts without him thinking and he gives her a kiss on the cheek. Collei is stunned by the sudden action and just freezes in place, face flushing with red and brain just short circuiting. Freminet soon realizes what he did and just thinks "oh shit I messed up- what if she hates me now?? I should've gotten consent, did I just ruin our friendship?? oh no, oh no, oh no-"

He clears his throat and stands up, trying to compose himself, telling Collei that they should head back now before it gets dark, swiftly trying to change the subject. And Collei's mind is racing, and she feels like she should say or do something. As Freminet begins to starts walking away, she stands up and grabs him arm

"Freminet-!"

"Hm-?"

And she pulls him back a bit, and returns the kiss on the cheek. They just .....stare at each other for a little while before both clearing their throats and being like "um yeah so we should go back now"

And they are both left internally SCREAMING after that incident. And I think that would be the turning point in their relationship where they realize they both have feelings for each other.

THEY'RE SO SWEET I LOVE THEM

Wow, I typed a lot. Sorry for giving you a long ask, I just really wanted to tell someone about this and I feel like you're like the establisher of fremillei 😭<33

Love your art sm🥹 have a lovely day!!

OMG I AM BLUSHING THEY ARE SOSOSOSOSO CUTE 😭😭😭😭😭 THOSE SILLIES I--- *PUNCH THE WALL* I am normal

HAHAHAHA yeah I love how my blog become a Fremillei Confession or what, But !! I love to read everything concerning Fremillei feel free to share more ! Have a lovely day too ! Thank you so much 🥹🫶

Here the link ! Hope it works ! https://discord.gg/qDe2m9bVus

[ink4blotches]

Pavitr x reader angst please 🙏🙏

Everyone Loves Heroes(Pavitr Prabhakar x Reader)

I gotchu anon ;))

Got a little confused halfway with this one, so it's a bit confusing to read but bear with me because it's 1am and I'm running on Coca Cola and sour straws :D

Synopsis/Feels: Basically Y/N is this worlds Gwen Stacey, famous for a bit at the end because idk, imagine that press scene from ITSV when MJ was talking to the city after Blond Peter died, reader dies(obv), angst y ag but that's what they wanted, reader is a girl, yeah yeah you get it.

Word Ct.: 885

••••••••••

It was just a normal day. Fighting thugs, feeding stray dogs, eating vada pav, hanging out with the rare, the elusive, the literally famous, singer Y/N Singh, yknow. The norm for Spider-Man: India.

Everything was going normally. A little boring, but normally. Nobody was in a huge amount of danger, and Y/N had worn a lovely outfit, which showed she was in a good mood.

He wanted to spend the entire day with her, to not leave her side. But alas, his duties as Spider-Man prevented him from doing so.

He should've been more careful. He should've stopped and wondered why his Spidey-Sense had been going crazy all day.

But no, he made what seemed to be a tiny mistake leaving her alone.

5 hours later, he's saving a bus from falling off the bridge connecting two cities, after it unfortunately collapsed. Struggling and he can only balance one thing, since even Spider-Man can't balance a bus with one hand.

He thought everyone had gotten away. That everyone on the bridge was safe.

"Hey, look out!"

That's when his heart absolutely shattered. He'd recognize that voice from a billion miles away. It was Y/N Singh. HIS Y/N Singh.

And she was there.

He could barely keep the bus up as he tried desperately to get a look at where his love was.

"It's okay...here, I'll carry you." He watched helplessly, his arms aching from holding a bus up alone, and his eyes stinging from the wind blowing through his cracked lens.

As Y/N grabbed the kid's hand, she seemed to notice the same thing Pav did.

She didn't have enough time to carry that kid away.

So she turned, giving Pavitr a quick glance. And despite not knowing the Spider hero, she put her faith in him to save the kid.

And so, a split second before the bridge collapsed, Y/N Singh tossed the kid, then falling the the streets below.

And Pav was helpless to do anything.

•

•

•

•

Pavitr tapped one of the microphones once, then a second time, causing the feedback to ring throughout the ginormous speakers set up around town hall.

"Sorry- I've never done anything like this before. And I don't have anything prepared to say..." Pav trails off, glancing at all of the cameras and eyes on him.

Mumbattan had just lost it's most beloved singer, who was well known to be dating Pavitr Prabhakar. It was an absolute bomb dropped on the poor city.

So right now, they needed someone to tell them it was gonna be okay. That, with time, everything would go back to normal. And they would rely on her boyfriend to tell them that.

But alas, Pavitr had also lost a piece of himself. He wanted to go home and cry, maybe even beat himself up for failing to save her.

The only reason he's here is because Gayatri and Inspector Singh expressly asked him to be. So he took a big breath before just...speaking his mind.

"I'll be honest. Y/N and I have been dating for 4 years, as most of you know. And in those 4 years, I found myself more than I had in my entire life before I knew her. I was lucky to know her on such a personal level, and it's...hard. Knowing she's gone. At times she would go on tour for months, but I knew she'd be back. Now...she's gone. Forever." Pavitr paused, sniffing in to stop his nose from running.

"Y/N was an amazing person. She was an inspiration to many, a light in the darkness to some, a friend to all, as well as a daughter to Mr.Singh, and sister to Gayatri Singh. And, at the end of her life, she was a hero.."

Pav thought for a moment. He shouldn't say the next part, he really shouldn't.

But he did.

"But she was also my girlfriend. And I hate that the world took her away from me so soon. As much as it pains me to say it, I can't lie. I hate that she had to be the hero that saved that boy. We all love heroes, and we're all sad when they pass away. And that sadness passes in a few weeks for most. But to me, Gayatri, and Inspector Singh, we can't just turn off the channel and pretend it didn't happen."

Pav knew he should've just stopped there, and everyone else did too.

But in a way he was talking to Y/N as well, hoping that his message would get to her no matter where she was.

"In the end, everyone loves heroes. Until they're the people close to them. Then it's a completely different story."

Pav knew he was condescending himself. He knew he wasn't making any sense. He saw poor Gayatri burst into tears less than 10 feet away from him.

But he had to keep going.

"I just wish Y/N could've been selfish for once in her life. Prioritized herself over a kid she didn't even know so she could stay with me. But she couldn't. It wasn't like her."

Pav took a deep breath, leaning closer into the microphone for his final word.

"And that's what I loved about her."

[moon-alight]

Hiii, hope you’re doing well !!

your writing is so good!! may i please request something with Enhypen where reader comes out as asexual to them? (with a little extra fluff if you don’t mind? <3)

Ah! Okay! I'm excited to write for Enhypen!

Masterlist

Enhypen reaction to s/o coming out as asexual

Warnings: fluff, talk about sexuality

Word Count:

-Heeseung

You knew you should've told him before you started dating. It was unfair of you to keep this a secret but you were rightfully scared. You had been judged for being asexual by your previous partners so this did not make it easier to come out to your current boyfriend.

You were chilling on the couch next to Heeseung as you were both watching Heartstopper together. It was your idea, of course. You thought it would make it easier to confess but honestly, you were so nervous, you binged the entire show without talking about asexuality.

"You were right, I did really enjoy the show." Heeseung said when the last episode ended. "When does season three come out?"

"Hee?" He hummed at your call of his name. "I wanted to tell you something."

Now, Heeseung wasn't stupid. He could tell something was bothering you and indirectly it now bothered him as well. He sat up right and gave you his full undivided attention.

"I like this show so much because. . . well, I relate to Isaac." It wasn't the best way to say it but Heeseung (who had just binged the show with you) understood immediately.

"Were you scared I wouldn't support you?"

"I thought maybe you wanted to break up now--"

"Darling, I would never break up with you because of a minor difference between us."

-Jay

It was the third date and yes, you should've told him sooner but you just couldn't. You wanted to enjoy the little moments with him before he'd leave you after you told him your sexuality.

"I had fun tonight but I could see something is really bothering you." Jay begun as you two walked down the street towards your home. He would always drop you off which was the cutest thing ever. "Did I do something?"

"No! No, of course not." You replied, panicking a little. How could a guy as perfect as Park Jong-seong think he did something wrong?

"Then, please, talk to me." You two had stopped walking now and stood still on the pavement not far from your house. You could've ran and hid away but you really did not want to make Jay your enemy.

"I haven't told you about a small detail. . . a big one, actually." Jay frowned, unsure where you were going with this. He watched as you began to fiddle with the zipper of your jacket in your hands out of nervousness. He sighed and pulled you against him in a hug.

"I really hope I am not comforting a murderer right now." You chuckled at his words which made him smile as well. "I hope you know that you can tell me anything." You nodded, deciding to be brave for once.

"I am asexual." You uttered to which Jay simply stared at you.

"That's it? That's what has been bothering you all night?"

"It is a big deal for many people."

"Not for me." Jay stated. "I like you way too much, sweetheart."

-Jake

You were in the park watching Layla together as she was running around filled with energy. You had been dating Jake for about six months and always felt very attracted to him. . . just not sexually.

You had no idea what was wrong with you because you loved him, you just never understood yourself until you finally took the time to search it up and ended up in the asexual community. You were glad you knew what the problem was, you just didn't know how to voice it. Jake was a real horndog and you knew this.

"Y/N?!" He waved a hand in front of your face which snapped you out of your thoughts and made you realize he had already stood up. "Are you finally going to tell me what has been distracting you for the past weeks?" You knew it was unfair for him not to know but you also did not want to lose him.

"I love you, Jake."

"Oh no, that's how every breakup starts. Whatever I did, I'm sorry. I'm sure we can work it out--"

"I am not breaking up with you." You told your crazy boyfriend who sighed in relief. "I just. . . Jake I figured something out about myself recently and . . ." You looked down, unsure how to continue.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure it's nothing too bad, right?" A million things were going on in his head. Were you sick? Were you terminal? He wasn't ready to lose you yet.

"I'm think I'm asexual. Well, I'm pretty sure, actually." Jake stared at you before a big smile made its way onto his face.

"So serious! I thought you were gonna tell me you were dying!" He yelled as he wrapped his arms around you. "You're such a dramatic person! You know I love you forever. Regardless of things like these!"

-Sunghoon

Your friend was the one who convinced you to tell people about your sexuality before you started dating them. It was better that way as most people really cared about stuff like that but when you met Sunghoon and he seemed interested in you, you were so nervous.

He was easily the most handsome as well as kindest soul you have ever met. He was funny and sweet, loyal and caring and you were sure you'd never find anyone quite like him but he had to know. So, you met in a small coffee shop (where you met three weeks ago for the first time) to talk because he had asked you the previous night to be his partner.

"I read your text, it seemed urgent." Sunghoon said once the two of you sat down and got comfortable in a booth in the corner of the coffee shop you loved so much. "What's wrong?"

"Before we actually make things official, I have to tell you something." Sunghoon nodded, continuing to listen carefully to each word you said as he sensed this was important. "I am asexual."

"Asexual?" Sunghoon asked and you were sure you had never seen him so confused. "Elaborate, please."

"I do not feel sexual attraction to anyone." It wasn't that hard, you have had this conversation with many people before but they never stayed.

"Okay." Sunghoon said with a nod. "Now, do you want to be my partner or. . ."

"Okay? You're not. . . bothered?"

"By what? I must say, you're the first person ever who has not shown sexual attraction to me but I'm not here for the sex. I'm here because I like you, so. . . partner?"

-Sunoo

You had given yourself a pep-talk in front of the mirror in which you convinced yourself it would be as easy as ripping off a bandaid. Just tell your boyfriend you are asexual. Easy as that. . .

You walked out in the living room to see Sunoo waiting for you on the couch. When he saw you, he patted the spot next to him and took the remote control to continue the tv show you were watching together.

"Sunny? Can I ask you something?" You mumbled as you sat down next to your sunshine of a boyfriend. He looked at you with the biggest smile and nodded back at you as you sat down next to him. "I am asexual."

"That's alright, angel." Sunoo replied and kissed the top of your head as he took the remote control and wrapped an arm around you.

"I understand if you don't want to be with me anymore or need some time to think this over--"

"Hey, hey." He had dropped the remote and instead cupped your face with one hand as the other stayed around your waist. "I know what asexuality is and I am not bothered by it."

"How come? Aren't you supposed to tell me how we won't work and then you'll find a person who is better than me and--"

"As if I will ever find anyone better than you?" Sunoo told you with a grin. "I promise, angel, I do not care. I love you regardless."

-Jungwon

You had been friends with Jungwon for a while before you realized you had developed a crush on him. You had known about your sexuality for a long time but always kept it to yourself until he had come to you to confess how much he liked you.

You were thorn because on one hand you were so happy he felt the same way and he wanted to be with you but on the other hand you were terrified his feelings would change once you told him the truth even though Jungwon did not seem like that kind of guy.

"If my confession made anything weird between us, then I want you to know that you are completely free to reject me." Jungwon told you as you had not responded to his love confession from the previous day.

"It's not that, I really do like you back and I am happy you like me too I just. . ." How were you going to say this?

Jungwon lifted your chin up with his fingers so you would face him. His dark eyes showed nothing but admiration and softness. You felt yourself relax when you watched his dimpled smile grow.

"You can tell me anything."

"I am asexual." He seemed to think for a moment before looking back at you and nodded.

"Just to get this straight, asexuality is not feeling sexual attraction to anyone, right?" You nodded as reply. "Thank you for telling me."

"Do you still want to be my boyfriend?" You asked him hesitantly.

"Oh yes, no take-backs." He joked to which you chuckled.

-Ni-Ki

You had never felt so brave in your life. You had recently gotten together with Niki and you were so happy but there was one minor detail you hadn't told him yet so you picked up your phone and texted this to him. 'I am asexual btw'

Niki had stared at his phone for twenty whole minutes before he decided to look it up because in all honesty, he had never heard of it. Once he read the entire wikipedia and scattered around to look at tiktoks for about thirty minutes in which asexuality was explained, he showed up at your front door.

"Next time you have to tell me something important, please add an explanation because I have read and looked at so many different things that I still don't know what you texted me."

"Niki, it is midnight."

"I know, I just. . . I want to understand you and I want to make you feel safe and supported but I cannot do that whan I don't know what it is."

So, you let him enter your house and started explaining everything you knew and honestly, hearing it from you made it all suddenly click in his head. When you were done explaining he smiled at you.

"You are really brave for telling me this." Niki said to which you smiled sheepishly. He hugged you tightly. "Thank you for explaining."

[dragynkeep]

Out of curiosity I watched the video showing Adam and Ghira and oh my god y'all were right. This man really did just stand there with his arms up while him and other faunus are being SHOT AT 'Pls stop we're harmless :((((' and then has the flat out audacity to get mad at Adam for saving their lives. What were your plans if someone died, Ghira??? This guy sucks and I don't blame Adam for losing all respect for him.

no like what was that moment meant to serve for ghira? because adam was in the right. i know the show loathes to actually let the man have a point but adam was shot at, alongside other vulnerable faunus!, by a human supremacist & when he reacted in turn to defend himself: ghira admonishes him! like! ghira got hurt but adam is in the wrong for taking out the threat? what kinda fuck shit is that.

it's frustrating because before this, adam was fighting non-lethally. after being shot at repeatedly before that & with sienna's permission to do so.

ignore long adam okay there's nothing i can do about him smh.

but his attacks are mostly to knock them out via kicks / slams & his sword remains sheathed up, while getting shot at by supremacists, up until the human supremacist is shooting at ghira who has no aura. it is a last resort & one that i would not object to being the first when he, again, is being shot at with other faunus! considering this entire context with adam having been a former child slave, he is in no way for the wrong in this & i hate that it's ghira & later blake who are admonishing him for this action when they face none of the danger & the latter is a privileged, protected princess amongst her own people.

like is the point here from crwby that in the face of racialized violence, you shouldn't fight back or you're as bad as your aggressor? oh wait.

god i miss sienna.

& as an extra, fuck blake for this little comment she has about it. i know they used this moment to reinforce adam's "emotional abuse" of blake but in context: girl. you are one of the most privileged of your people alongside your father, were protected all your life as an island princess, meanwhile you're saying this to a former child slave.

"this isn't the first time humans have died" maybe they should stop? attacking the faunus? if this was the moment they wanted to show adam as in the wrong, then maybe they should've actually had him be in the wrong instead of showing their full white comfort, centrist ideals on display.

[taomyou]

The Romance of Reimbursements - Chapter 2

Pairing: Levi Ackerman x Reader Status: COMPLETED Summary: There’s a guy you see every Friday on bus 143, and you think he’s pretty hot. It wouldn't hurt to tell your best friend about him, would it? or, you and Levi take the same bus home from work every Friday, and you fall in love slowly, clumsily, and with all the time in the world to fold as many paper stars as your heart desires. Word Count: 6.3k Tags: slow burn, friends to lovers, modern au, office au, fluff, romance, meet-cute, matchmaking

(A/N: this fic is already completed and entirely available on ao3 here if you would like to read it. i am currently in the process of crossposting everything to tumblr, so please be patient!)

Chapter Navigation Accompanying Playlist

next time

That Friday, you do end up finishing those cookies for Hange.

After they were finished going off about the dinner they were dragging you to "no matter what," the two of you moved back over to the kitchen to roll out dough balls, cover them in cinnamon sugar, and shove them in the oven.

You both eased back into conversation about anything and everything, bar the guy from the bus, and things were smooth sailing for the rest of the day Hange spent at your place. After you were finished with business in the kitchen, Hange went back to their apartment to quickly grab some of last night's leftovers for the two of you to share as dinner, and you both decided to lay on the couch again to eat and watch random Shark Tank episodes on some probably illegal streaming site Hange found.

You swore they were uploaded to an official website somewhere, but they insisted that those episodes were probably really boring if they were free to watch. No matter, it was a great deal of fun even if neither of you really understood any of the entrepreneurial jargon they used on the show.

After you and Hange got tired of complaining for the hundredth time that none of the contestants would choose Lori as their investor, you sent Hange off with a smile, a hug, and a tupperware container of the snickerdoodle cookies. You had brought up teaching them the recipe so they could make it without you, but just like with every other recipe you tried teaching them, Hange insisted that coming over to your kitchen to bake with you was far more fun than doing it alone.

On the way out the door, Hange told you they'd text you the time and other important details once they got home, and, just like that, you were alone to stew in your thoughts again.

You dragged yourself to your bathroom, not having had a moment to change into your home clothes yet, and stripped yourself down to hop in the shower. The joyful expression that was on your face when you hugged Hange goodbye fell from your face and became replaced with a tight-lipped smile. You leaned down to turn the faucet on, tugged on the pullup knob, and let the water rain down on you.

Somehow, you missed the name Hange said belonged to him. Well, not somehow. You knew you weren't listening when they were rambling earlier, but you wished you had asked Hange at some point to put a name to a face. They had to have known you weren't listening, and you're sure they wouldn't have been offended if you did ask, but you didn't want to bring him up again for fear of them veering the conversation back to him.

Squeezing some shampoo into your hands, you rub them together to lather it up and bring them up to massage into your hair.

Oh well. No use really worrying about it now. You just needed to get through one dinner: how hard could it be?

✰

Okay, maybe you should've worried about this earlier.

Currently, you're standing in front of two outfits laid out on your bed. On the left is a nice black dress and a white coat, and on the right is a turtleneck, dress pants, and brown overcoat combo. You have another hour before you have to go, but here you are, trying to figure out what to wear to a dinner with who you thought to be the most beautiful man to set foot on this Earth.

You've been stood in front of your bed for a good 20 minutes already.

What were you even doing? Fussing over a man was one thing, but now you're acting like you're trying to dress yourself for a second grade class field trip to the zoo.

Actually, you wouldn't be wearing anything nearly as fancy to the zoo, but you get the point.

You're a grown, twenty-seven year old woman. You're an attorney, goddammit. You should be fine handling a measly dinner arrangement with someone you just happened to find absolutely gorgeous.

It's not like it'd be just the two of you either. Hange explained over text on Saturday that the "we" in "we're having dinner on Sunday" consisted of some of the people in their friend group, one of whom was your mystery bus stranger. They never really described any of their friends before in great detail, just assigning them nicknames so they could tell you stories about them from time to time.

You especially liked the ones about Shorty, a grumpy man Hange described as having a "perpetual stick up his ass."

He seemed like someone you'd want to be friends with, despite the obvious contrast his personality seemed to have to yours. Hange would talk sometimes about how much of a pain it was to hang out with him because he'd always complain about their driving or how sweet the tea he'd ordered was. Other times, they'd retell you his stupid jokes and let you laugh into the palm of your hand at how painfully sarcastic he seemed to be.

The only time you were ever tempted to actually come along with Hange and their friends was when they invited you to his birthday party (which was apparently disguised as a Christmas party, for whatever reason) a few years ago, but you already had a vacation back to your hometown planned that year.

Hopefully, Shorty's there at dinner. Maybe his presence would give you something to focus on instead of the handsome stranger Hange apparently knew and was going to bring with them.

Shaking your head to get out of your thoughts and back to the task at hand, you grab your phone from your shorts pocket to text Hange to ask what to wear. You get your answer seconds later when they reply, telling you to wear a dress.

"Dress it is, I guess," you mumble to yourself, grabbing the dress from your bed to change into it, as well as a pair of fleece-lined tights and safety shorts from your cabinet to help fight against the cold. Thank goodness you did your makeup before figuring out your outfit so you wouldn't have to rush that on your way out the door.

After putting on the dress and other garments, you head over to the bathroom with a small box of your accessories to use your mirror to put them on. It was convenient to have worn the dress, you decide, since choosing your jewelry would be easier than it would be if you wore the other outfit. After taking a quick look at all the trinkets you have in the box, you decide on a nice necklace with a single pearl pendant, purple wisteria drop earrings, and a decently large satin bow for your hair.

You take a good step away from your mirror to see how everything looks all put together, and you decide that you look... pretty. You hadn't really had the chance to dress up recently, and it was a nice change to be able to style yourself how you wanted. Of course, you had to look good at work, but it's not like you actually liked wearing pantsuits and heels all the time. Come to think of it, the last time you remember feeling so pretty was that first Friday, months back, when you first saw that stranger.

After checking your phone to see you had another 30-ish minutes to get to the restaurant, you shove your phone, wallet, and keys into your purse. Slipping on a pair of black flats, you make your way out the door and put on your coat as you walk downstairs to your car. Hange already left their apartment earlier in the morning, so they weren't able to carpool with you over to the restaurant, but they promised they'd be there a bit earlier than the scheduled meet-up time to make sure you'd have company while you waited. Somehow, you doubt that.

And you were right to doubt Hange's early appearance. When you get inside the restaurant, you see no sign of them anywhere. You take a quick glance at your phone to see that there's 10 minutes before the scheduled time everyone's supposed to arrive. The waiting area is quite large, but everyone looks already occupied with their own group, so you can't guess who is or isn't a part of Hange's circle.

To your surprise, you hear a familiar voice say your name behind you, and you turn around to see... Erwin?

"Erwin? What're you doing here?"

He seems almost as confused as you are to see him, especially since the two of you have never bumped into each other outside of work before, but he still answers nonetheless. "I'm meeting for dinner with some friends. I wasn't sure if it was you, but thank goodness it is and I don't have to make a fool out of myself greeting a complete stranger."

You nod in understanding, feeling a bit awkward seeing your work superior outside of... well, work. He's dressed in the same clothes he wore to the office, more or less, though, so you'll get over the initial shock soon enough.

He clears his throat, bringing attention back onto himself. "What brings you here tonight, if you don't mind me asking?"

You nervously laugh at his question, bringing up a finger to tap your cheek in embarrassment. "My friend's introducing me to a couple of their friends, which is quite a long time coming since I've gotten away with not meeting them for as long as I have. One of them is apparently this guy I've seen on the bus before though, so that should be fun," you answer, and despite the blistering cold blowing into the waiting area from the constantly swinging entrance doors, you can feel your face start to heat up like it always does when you think of him.

Erwin quirks an eyebrow at your answer, but before he can say anything, you hear Hange plowing into the space.

In tow is... oh, it really is him.

A large part of you, prior to this exact moment, wanted Hange to be wrong about knowing the stranger you told them about.

Some other part of you wanted it to be true, though.

He looks just as good as he did 2 days ago when you last saw him, maybe even more so now that you're under the extravagant lighting of the restaurant.

His suit's grey, just like his eyes, and it seems like he did his hair differently—maybe it's slicked back now, you can't tell from where you are in the room. You just barely take note of his height, which you never noticed before since you were too nervous to really look at him walk off the bus, but you jest that making him short was the universe's way of trying to make him "unattractive." As if that would even be possible; the man looks like he's topped the list of TC Chandler's Top 100 Faces every year since birth.

Even with the distance, however, there's no denying that that's him. The guy you see every Friday on bus 143 is across the room from you, standing underneath the same chandeliers you are.

The two of you accidentally make eye contact, and you think you're about to faint. Let's hope the host can seat you at one of those comically long tables so nobody can see the blush blooming on your face once again.

Hange skips over to you, giving you a hug and breaking you out of your momentary trance. Once you realize what's going on, you hug them back in earnest and give them a bashful smile. They most definitely take notice of your red face after leaning back a bit to get a good look at your face and pinching your cheek playfully, but they don't make any comment about it.

"You, hey, you! You look so cute!" They coo, refusing to let go of you. You awkwardly laugh, seeing Erwin over Hange's shoulder. If you thought he looked confused earlier, he looks completely and utterly taken aback now.

Hange pulls away from you and stands proudly between you and Erwin, that same shit-eating grin from Friday bright on their face once again. They motion for the other raven-haired man to come over, which he does with a quiet frown on his face. Somehow, even that gets you just a bit more red in the face.

"Levi! Erwin! This is my friend, Astraea!"

You nervously wave at both Erwin and who you now know as Levi, though you're quick to bring your hand back down to hold your other one behind your back.

You were sure Erwin wasn't who Hange was calling Shorty in their stories, and as much as you wanted to deny the possibility, Levi was probably Shorty given his obviously short stature. Curse you for wanting to meet Shorty and not considering that him and the bus stranger could've been the same person.

"Wait, your name isn't Astraea," Erwin says, quizzically looking between you and Hange.

Before you can explain, Hange butts in. "No, you wait! How do you know that? Are you stalking me and my dear friend?" They proposition, pointing an accusatory finger at Erwin.

Levi scoffs at that, and for the first time, you hear his voice. "Please, Four Eyes, as if anybody has the time to try and follow you around," he quips.

How is it possible for someone to sound so good? Dear lord.

You have to keep your eye on a decorative plant at the corner of the room to avoid making eye contact with anyone for fear of them getting a full view of your face.

"Erwin's my work senior. You know, the one that made me give up my parking spot," you tell them, eyes still locked on the plant.

At that, Hange laughs fully and puts their hand over their chest. "Small world! Well, good to know we can skip that introduction!"

"That still doesn't explain the fact that her name apparently isn't Astraea," Levi speaks up, probably rolling his eyes at Hange.

You can feel everyone's gaze shift to you, so you awkwardly choose to face Erwin as you answer. "Uh," you start. "When I was a kid, my younger brother was obsessed with Greek mythology. Astraea was one of the first names he learned and he insisted that I was 'just like her,' whatever that meant, so he'd always call me that. I ended up using it for all my usernames because I was so paranoid about people online finding my personal information. Eventually, I got so used to it that I usually just ask people to use Astraea instead of my real name."

Hange smiles and drapes an arm over your shoulder, trying to apparently get you less tense. You melt a bit into the embrace, but you're still too nervous to even look in Levi's direction.

"And your brother was right! I took a Greek mythology course in university, and you fit Astraea to a T!"

Erwin looks like he still has questions, so you nod at him to prompt him to ask them.

"How come nobody at work calls you that, then? You're close with quite a few people in the office—surely you've exchanged information with them by now."

You politely smile at that and answer.

"I ask them not to use it at work since I don't want other people in the office to look me up on social media, but they use it if we're out together."

Erwin seems content enough with your answer and offers you a calm smile. You still can't bring yourself to look at Levi, and you don't want to even begin to think about any of the possible things going through his head.

Does he even recognize you from the bus? Sure, you two have never talked or even made eye contact before this official introduction, but the bus wasn't really crowded at all. He has to at least know your face, right?

Before you can dwell on the thought, you hear Hange invite Erwin with them to go to the reservation desk to let the waitstaff know that your party has arrived, leaving you alone with Levi.

Before you can reach into your purse to try and make yourself look busy on your phone, Levi clears his throat and starts to speak. "So, you didn't know Hange and Erwin knew each other?" He asks, trying to make some conversation to fill the silence now that the other two were away.

You make no move to look at him, opting to keep your eyes on Hange's animated conversation with Erwin at the reservation desk. "No, Hange and I don't really talk about our friends all that much with each other. Just stories here and there, you know?"

Levi gives a hum in response as a signal he heard you.

God, you can already feel your palms start to get sweaty. The red on your face could probably be written off as sensitivity to the cold winter air outside, but you're done for if someone notices you wiping your hands on your coat too many times.

"Did you come with Hange?" You ask, eyes still on Hange in the distance.

"Yes. I was supposed to come with someone else, but he had a work emergency and sent Hange instead. They're probably trying to see if our reservation is still fine now that we're a person short. If I knew that Hange was going to be the one driving me, I would've just walked over here myself."

Okay, well, now you know for sure he's Shorty.

You laugh a little at his reply before tucking your hands into your coat pockets.

"That's Hange's driving for you," you start. "Have they ever talked about me before?" You question, deciding to try and gauge his opinion of you from Hange's stories of you. You see him nod from the corner of your eye.

"If you're the neighbor who lets them run around wild with a sugar rush practically every other day, then yeah, they've talked about you plenty," he remarks.

You laugh awkwardly, eyes shifting to the floor. "Good to know."

Definitely not good to know, but you weren't gonna let anyone but you know that.

Before either of you can try and save the conversation, Hange waves their arms high up in the air to get the two of you to the desk where the host is waiting with menus tucked under his arm. You and Levi walk towards them, not much distance between you and him, and the four of you are seated at a fancy booth. Hange and you sit on the same side while Erwin and Levi are seated across from you, with Levi right across from you.

There goes any chance of avoiding eye contact with him.

To buy yourself some time away from his steely gaze, you open the menu to look at the options.

Alright, you weren't actually looking at the menu. You looked it up online when Hange texted you where you were going, and you already picked out what you wanted before today. It seems that Erwin also knows what he wants, not bothering to even pick up his menu.

"Is it alright if we call you Astraea, then, seeing as we're not at work?" He asks.

You look across the table at him, glad to see that Levi brought the menu up over his face so you couldn't see each other, and nod. "Yeah, that's fine."

Hange bumps your shoulder with theirs and asks you to help them choose between the two dishes they want, and once they choose one of them, Erwin flags over the waiter.

You think it's weird that he doesn't wait for Levi to tell him he's finished looking at the menu, but you don't want to question it.

After everyone informs the waiter of what they want, he takes your menus away and comes back seconds later with napkins, both cloth and paper ones, and silverware. Out of habit, you immediately start tearing at the paper napkin to form a long strip.

"You still make those?" Erwin asks. 

You absentmindedly nod, starting to tie the small loop at one end to start the star.

"She does it everywhere we go! I have a vase of them at my place, it's a really cute decorative piece to have," Hange praises, looking over at you with their face leaned into their hand.

"I have a jar of them on my work desk, and I've gotten quite a few compliments from clients about it over the years," Erwin adds, now also watching you form the small trinket.

You finish rolling up the strip, tucking it into itself, and pinching the corners before handing it to Hange, just as you always do when the two of you are out together. This time, however, instead of putting it into their coat pocket as they usually do, they hold it in their palm and stick their arm out across the table in front of Levi, who blankly looks between the star and Hange.

"Why are you giving it to me?" He questions.

Hange groans and gets up a bit from their seat to get closer to him. "I have more than enough at home already, and Erwin seems like he does too. Just take it!"

Levi rolls his eyes but goes to grab the star from them, placing it down on the table. You didn't think he'd take it at all, but you were even more sure that he would just leave it there after dinner was over.

Hange turns their attention back to you, eager to get a conversation going at the table. "So now that I know you work with Erwin and I don't need to introduce the two of you to each other, let me tell you about Levi!" They start. "I don't know if you remember, but Levi's the one I call 'Shorty!'"

You nod at that, having figured that out already. You look back over at Levi who seems to just be looking outside a window across the restaurant.

Seeing as Levi and Shorty were the same person, you suppose it wouldn't be a bad idea to try and become acquainted with him.

Maybe becoming friends would help force your budding attraction to him down, and seeing him every week wouldn't be so stressful on your heart. The heat on your face has cooled down significantly now that you've had a moment to get settled into your environment, but there's probably still a light tint on your face that you'd probably never be able to get rid of with Levi around. If distance made the heart grow fonder, proximity should do the opposite, right?

"It's nice to meet you, Levi," you offer with a smile.

He lets his eyes trail back to you before scoffing and going back to looking outside the window. "Thanks, Four Eyes, for introducing me as a Shorty," he sarcastically says. There's a pause where nobody speaks before Levi opens his mouth again. "And is it really your first time meeting me if we see each other on the bus every week?"

You stop breathing momentarily, letting the question sink in. You awkwardly laugh for what feels like the hundredth time today.

So he does recognize you? Go figure.

"I guess not, but it's nice to finally know your name."

He nods and looks over at Erwin whose eyes were already on the raven-haired man.

"What are you looking at me like that for, fucker?"

Erwin chuckles at that, giving his friend a good-natured pat on his back. "C'mon, Levi. Be a bit nicer," he lightly scolds.

"Yeah, Levi! She's probably already terrified of you!" Hange adds.

Levi makes eye contact with you at that, seemingly trying to gauge your own opinion of him.

You raise your hands slightly up off the table in defense. "It's fine, guys! He's right, we do see each other every so often. And the client I had last week was far scarier than Levi, I think I can handle him," you joke, trying to lighten the mood.

Hange laughs at that, as does Erwin. Levi doesn't offer up any sign he thought your comment was funny, but you notice that his frown has been replaced with a neutral expression.

Until the food arrives, you and Erwin discuss some matters from work. You feel a bit guilty for having brought up that you had a bad experience with a client, since now Erwin is determined to get you to talk about it with upper management. You most definitely won't, but something tells you that he will, being who he is. Hange is listening along to your conversation, giving their own opinion or cracking a joke here and there while Levi remains quiet. Whether or not he's listening, you can't tell.

The food arrives just as you and Erwin finish talking about work. As the four of you eat, the conversation is shifted once again towards Levi.

"So, what do you do for work, Levi?" You ask cautiously, trying to find a way to include him.

His eyes don't come away from the plate of carbonara in front of him, which you're grateful for because it means you wouldn't be making eye contact again. "I'm a professor at the University downtown," he says monotonously.

"Levi, please! Give her something to work with! Astraea, he teaches architecture at Sina University on top of doing freelance work!" Hange praises.

Your eyebrows furrow as you try to put together the pieces of information you're receiving about the man.

You did your Juris Doctorate degree at Paradis Law School, but some of your professors held lecture at the Sina campus because it was further downtown and closer to their own law offices. You knew how hard it was to try and find parking at Sina, even with the parking pass you bought during your first term. You had to call the finance office several times to try and cancel it after realizing how useless it was.

He probably took the bus to and from Sina's main campus to avoid the hassle of parking.

After you were happy with the conclusion you came to, you stew a bit in the information again, this time thinking about how you would've loved to have a professor as gorgeous as Levi when you were a student. You were never one to skip class, even when you went through periods of extreme burnout, but you knew you never would've even considered ditching if lugging yourself to class meant you got to see him.

"It's really impressive that you're a professor. You probably take the bus because of how shit the parking is, right?"

At the mention of the parking conditions, Levi finally looks up from his food to scowl in your direction. You assume it's to show his disdain for the actual parking (because the other possibility is that he's annoyed at your question).

"The absolute fucking worst. I thought I was safe because I have a staff parking pass, but no. Those childish, good-for-nothing brats would even take the last parking spot right in front of my fucking eyes," he griefs. At the mental image of an unlucky student parking and running off to avoid the wrath of a random professor, you let a full, hearty laugh escape your mouth. You don't bother covering your mouth as you laugh, having already finished chewing before Levi even answered your question. Erwin and Hange join you in your jovial giggling, and they both chastise Levi for slandering the poor students.

You can't see whether Levi's smiling or not, seeing as he brought up his cloth napkin to cover the lower part of his face, but you're sure he's just doing that to hide his mouth while he chews his food.

The rest of the dinner went smoothly—much more smoothly than you anticipated.

Everyone contributed in some way or another to the steady conversation, and the anxious feeling Levi brought you over the course of the last couple of months dissipated the further into the night you got. You didn't get to learn much more about him, though. The conservation turned over to Hange, who mostly talked about work and their coworkers, but everyone at the table knew more than enough about their antics to be able to comment on the stories they were telling. Even Levi let a small smile slip onto his face every once in a while.

Hange suggests that the four of you let the waiter do a "credit card roulette" to end the night, and you assume that Erwin and Levi are used to this because they both reach into their wallets wordlessly to give their cards to Hange. Thankfully, they see your confusion and don't laugh at you for it.

"Whenever we hang out, we let the waiter blindly choose which card to pay the bill with. If you're not up for it, that's fine, but it's always a great deal of fun," Erwin says, explaining what the three of them are about to do.

"It's fun for you guys, I fucking hate doing this," Levi grumbles.

Hange laughs at that and hunches over, hand to their chest. "Good one, Levi! Astraea, don't listen to him! He's only salty because his card always gets chosen!"

You smile at Levi sympathetically and move to your purse to get your own card and hand it to Hange, deciding to join in on the "fun."

Hange cheers at your participation, and so Erwin again flags over the waiter to choose between your cards.

Hange probably coached the waiter into choosing the Chase Sapphire card when they left the table to go to the bathroom earlier, though, because it's Levi's card that gets chosen.

You see him sigh in frustration across from you, pinching the bridge of his nose, and Hange breaks out into yet another fit of laughter. You aren't really all that surprised that Levi's card gets chosen, but you join in on the moment and laugh with them, and Erwin soon also joins with a deep chuckle and some words of sympathy for Levi's bank account.

Before the receipt comes back and Levi is able to sign off on it, Hange suggests that the rest of you leave for the waiting area to avoid the guilt of seeing Levi cover such a large bill, but you decline and say you'll keep him company. Levi looks pretty confused, but he doesn't protest, and so Hange and Erwin scurry off to the front of the restaurant to wait while you and Levi sit in silence.

When the waiter comes back with the receipt and places it on the table, you grab it before Levi gets the chance to sign his name.

"What do you think you're doing?"

You hold out your pointer finger to him, effectively shushing him as you look at the total and dig into your purse to get your wallet. Your friends are usually quick to question you about why you even keep cash on you, but you always have it in case of situations such as this one. When you get enough money to cover just a little more than half the bill, you hold it out in front of Levi and give him a tight-lipped smile.

"I feel pretty bad about having you pay for my food when you don't really know me," you reason, still waiting for him to take the bills in your hand. He seems pretty caught off guard, but he makes no move to take it from you. "You and Erwin probably didn't know I was coming until a day or two ago anyway, so think of it as me apologizing for intruding on your plans."

He doesn't look offended, but he still doesn't do anything to indicate he's willing to take the money. Instead, he stands up and leans over to grab the receipt tray from you. Sitting back down, he signs his name and motions for a waiter to come over. The waiter looks a bit confused as to why you have so much money out when the bill was already paid, but he thanks you for dining with them and leaves.

Levi looks at you for what feels like an eternity before he speaks up. "There were no plans to intrude on. Hange texted us on Friday at damn near midnight to tell us we had to come to dinner with them and their friend on Sunday."

You blink slowly. And again. And again. You don't say anything, but as the silence grows, you're suddenly aware that he's been looking at you for a good while, and you can feel that all too familiar heat on your face again.

"My best guess is just as good as yours as to why they decided to introduce all of us so suddenly," he says, trying to ease your confusion.

Except he's wrong.

You know why Hange organized all this: it was to get you a chance to meet the handsome stranger you told them about just 2 days ago. 

You're finally able to gather the words you want to say after a good second, but not before you let yet another anxious laugh past your lips.

"Still, I feel pretty guilty that you're paying," you say softly, your cash still outstretched to the man in front of you. He sighs at your words.

"Don't feel bad about it, I don't mind," he starts. He sees that you're still unwavering in your resolve and continues. "But I appreciate the gesture. If you're so worried about it, let the waiter play roulette with your card again next time," and with that, he pushes your hand back towards you.

You're already too flustered for your face to get even more red than it already is, but his touch made it seem like it was possible. And what was it he said? Next time? Would you be meeting with him in this group again? Would you even be opposed to that?

No. No, you already thought to yourself it would be nice to befriend him, even before you knew who he was.

Desperate to get some air, you sheepishly shove your cash back into your purse, not bothering to put it back neatly into your wallet, and get up from the table.

"Alright, I'll do that then," you say.

He nods in return and starts getting up himself. Once he's up on his feet, you start heading over to where Hange and Erwin should be. You notice that Levi's eyes are lingering in the direction you just came from, so you tap his shoulder to get his attention.

"Did you forget something at the table?" You ask.

He hesitates a moment before nodding, saying a quick "go ahead" to you before walking back to where the lot of you just sat.

You, not wanting to be inconsiderate, stay put and wait for him to return. Soon enough, you see him come back with a hand in his pants pocket, and the two of you continue the trek over to your friends. You don't remember feeling like the walk was so far, but you could probably chalk that up to the fact you were completely stuck in a daze earlier. You still were, to some degree, but it was to a much lesser one now.

When you catch sight of each other, Hange gives you a huge smile just as they do every time they see you, and the four of you head out of the door, thanking the man holding it open. Everyone's car in different areas around the building, so you all have to exchange pleasantries before heading your separate ways.

You hug Hange goodbye first, and they thank you for coming along to dinner. You thank them for inviting you as well, and Hange immediately moves to say goodbye to Levi, leaving you to send off Erwin.

"I didn't expect you to be who Hange was bringing, but it was nice seeing you," he says, extending a hand out for you to shake.

You accept it firmly, and you smile up at him. "I didn't think I'd ever catch you outside of work either, but yeah. It was nice," you reply.

He returns the smile you give him, and Hange comes over to the two of you to nudge you over towards Levi and take your previous spot in front of Erwin.

You didn't think Levi seemed like the type to care for physical touch, despite the earlier exchange you had at the table, so you don't offer him a hand or hug. Instead, you bring your hand up to give him a wave. You get a nod in return, which you'll take as his own way of saying goodbye.

"You know Hange's gonna drag you around everywhere with us now, right?"

You chuckle at that and look up at the dark sky above you, your hands in your pockets. They're no longer as clammy as they were when you first made eye contact with Levi, thankfully, but the warm of your coat is still very much welcome.

"Yeah, but I think I'll manage."

Just barely out of your line of vision, Levi's expression gets just that tiny bit more peaceful, and he joins you in looking up at the sky. He mumbles something under his breath, but you don't quite catch it.

After one last goodbye to everyone, Erwin walks across the street, Hange and Levi head over to the valet area, and you walk over to your car parked a little bit down the road. As you sit down and position yourself to back out of your parking spot, you let out a breath you didn't realize you were holding.

There's a heat that creeps its way back to your ears and cheeks, just as it does every time you think of the handsome stranger from bus 143, but for the first time, you don't feel inclined to try and to get rid of it.

✰

Next Chapter

[juniperhillpatient]

Lake Laogai

It's not even remotely a secret that I'm incapable of being unbiased or objective about this episode. I love Jet, & I think killing him off was a huge mistake & a waste. I wrote a post explaining in more detail why I specifically think that Jet's death was a writing mistake HERE.

This re-watch has been interesting because it's really nice to re-watch a fave show & re-evaluate my opinions after spending a lot of time engaging with the fandom. I don't know, maybe it's just my annoyance with the fandom's pushing for a Katara/Aang/Zuko love triangle but this re-watch has made me take a firm stance that Jet should've lived, & become part of the Gaang, & dated Katara. "But Rose, don't you prefer Katara with girls?" I mean yeah, I like to write that more, but I'm talking about what I think should've happened in the actual show, which is entirely separate.

[ID: two pictures from different angles of Katara & Jet in the streets of Ba Sing Se]

Katara & Jet have the whole contentious complicated past & I'm always gonna be a sucker for the dynamic where the girl is violently angry & the guy is just like "I'm so sorry I've changed please accept me" like, I'm just being honest that's a good dynamic. Jet's already pretty strong redemption arc could've been concreted & we could've had a new, needed perspective in the Gaang from someone who was a victim of colonization in a similar way to Katara & Sokka but with a very different experience & reaction.

I will try not to spend this whole post being salty though, that's why I made a separate post. The brainwashing under Lake Laogai is very creepy, & it is one of the aspects of the show that stuck with me the most upon first viewing & for good reason. All the Joo Dees speaking in unison is genuinely terrifying. Long Feng is also a well-written villain. He's sly, manipulative, & just creeps me out.

The other thing that I wanted to ponder on with this episode is Zuko saving Appa, & Zuko & Iroh's discussion. I want to make it clear that I think Zuko's redemption arc is incredibly well-written overall. I only criticize Avatar because I love it so much & have thought about it so much. There are a lot of popular Avatar hot takes on Tumblr about how Zuko's redemption arc is poorly written, nonexistent, or whatever, & I simply strongly disagree. I have to get that out of the way & be clear about it or I'll worry I'm being misinterpreted. I also like Iroh, although I feel like I don't always understand what's going on with him & this episode is an example. That's another thing I wanted to clarify because I don't want to come across as anti-Iroh. I don't know, maybe I worry too much about how I come across lol but anyway -

Iroh: And then what!? You never think these things through! [Points at him.] This is exactly what happened when you captured the Avatar at the North Pole! You had him, and then you had nowhere to go!

Zuko: I would have figured something out!

Iroh: No! If his friends hadn't found you, you would have frozen to death! Zuko I know my own destiny, Uncle! Iroh Is it your own destiny, or is it a destiny someone else has tried to force on you? Zuko Stop it, Uncle! I have to do this!

This scene specifically & the entire framing of Zuko's unhappiness about the teashop is very interesting. I have said before that I dislike Zuko as Firelord in the end, but that's not necessarily a firm stance...I guess I just dislike the inconsistency with how it was built up. Others who are willing to be much harsher than I am have often pointed out that Zuko went from following his father's orders & vision to following Iroh's vision of his destiny, & I think there's some truth to that. But what bothers me more than that, is that we don't actually get firm foreshadowing on what Iroh's vision for Zuko's destiny even is.

This is the first time we see Iroh really yell at Zuko & go off on him but it's unclear what he wants from Zuko. I mean, okay, he wants Zuko to be happy serving tea. I guess that's fine, but it doesn't quite work knowing that later, Iroh completely does a 180 on this stance & it's sorta like...What happened? Ya know? It's just inconsistent. And characters can be inconsistent, people change their minds, but we're not really given much information about Iroh's internal struggle concerning what he wants from his nephew so it just comes across as confusing to me.

Zuko's character arc is all about discovering what it is that he wants & acting on it. I've said before that my issue with Zuko's ending on the show is that Zuko always wanted to be Firelord & then he....becomes Firelord. That's not really a change? This scene between Zuko & Iroh feels like it was building to something larger with Zuko's arc, but it really....isn't.

That said, I do love Appa's return! Aang & Appa's reunion & Appa getting to be a badass is just amazing.

[ID: two pictures of Aang & Appa hugging, one from up close & one from a bit of a distance.]

I definitely enjoyed Appa's reunion with the Gaang the most out of all the parts of this episode.

Well, I enjoyed Jet's parts up until his death too. I also wanted to point out that Sokka teases Katara about her thing with Jet, but doesn't seem that angry at Jet himself & is quite willing to give him another chance. And it's Aang who breaks Jet out of his brainwashing by reminding him that they are friends. So, Katara is not the only one in the Gaang with any connection with Jet. Again, they should've addressed --- ah, whatever, I'm done.

That's all I have for this episode.

[taoofshigeru]

Stage Fright Before the Finale (Agnea Bristarni x Giselle)

Giselle and Agnea share a few words on the deck of the Grand Terry prior to a major event. (500 words)

(Spoilers for the whole entire game.)

Part 2

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The island with its purple, lighthouse-like dark shine filled the sea in front of them. On the deck of the Grand Terry Giselle was having her twelfth round of second thoughts.

"I still can't believe that we're here." The entertainer clutched her forehead with one hand, trying to avoid facing up to reality. "I still can't believe that Tanzy…"

"I know." Agnea Bristarni stood beside her. After the confrontation with Arcanette at Flameschurch, the dancer had been the one to pick up Tanzy's journal, and to realize who it was from. She hadn't kept it from the rest of her group, but they had been in a hurry. However, when the travelers ran into Giselle and Rico and Coda, Agnea had been the one on insisting they take a minute to share the truth with the troupe to whom Tanzy had belonged.

Even if it was just a cover. Even if it was partially the anxious stage director's fault that they found themselves staring up at the lair of the dark god.

"I should've noticed, or asked, or something!" She pounded her fist against the railing. "I should've paid more attention to her, instead of spending all the time getting deep into my own panic attacks."

"Don't say that." Agnea put a hand on her shoulder. The dancer's touch was reassuring. "She was trying to keep her secret, and she did, to the end. I, I can't say that what she did was good, but if what she wrote in her journal was true, she did it because she was trusting someone she loved."

"Yeah, just that that someone turned out to be a cultist fanatic!" Giselle snapped back bitterly. "Sorry, I know it's not you I should be lashing out at." Her knees were shaking. She needed to get away from here, find a dark corner and hide.

"It's okay. We're going to bring smiles to people the world over, remember? That's what you said when you asked to come along?" Agnea took her hand and squeezed it. "This is just us protecting those smiles. No big deal, right?"

"Yes. Well, kinda." Giselle looked into Miss Bristarni's eyes. There was still innocence in that gaze, despite everything the young dancer had seen in the last two weeks. "When I heard you were going to fight for the dawn, there was this strength in your voice. You were so confident. And I know I might not be much help, but I wanted to be there with you. To make sure you wouldn't have to stand against it alone." She laughed "Well, not that the company you keep lacks in strength. But I'll try to provide moral support."

Agnea smiled and leaned against her shoulder. "Thanks, Giselle. When this is all over, maybe we can find somewhere nice and quiet to watch the sunrise together."

Giselle gripped the railing tighter, but squeezed the dancer's hand back. "Yes. Yes, I think I'd like that." She thought forward, past what was sure to be a harrowing fight, and imagined the two of them, together on a beach, embracing as the sun's golden rays broke over the horizon. And then she found that island of tranquility, the one she sometimes hit on before a good show, which made all those nerves seem like nothing. She placed one foot on the ship's railing and pointed right at that nexus of deep darkness. "Alright, let's get up on stage and knock 'em dead!"

~End~

[2x4plank]

Okay, yes. I know I wrote that entire thinkpiece about David and I should've stopped there. But I'm on Permadeath and keep having to replay the winter act, and I feel like I still have so many thoughts about not only David, but the entire act. I'm talking game-only, because I don't feel like watching the show, so spoilers for that if you want to play the game.

The more you acquaint yourself with David, the more you hate him. He is one of the only videogame characters that ever upset my stomach.

When you replay the game, his allyship and empty flattery just becomes that much more disgusting. Having to depend on him to fight enemies off of you (because on the higher difficulties especially, he's useless otherwise! Thanks for all those losses due to Ally Death, David!) and looking to him for help and helping him just feels terrible.

I notice that even James is surprised when David talks to him in that demanding tone. Part of me wonders if he used that tone to impress Ellie or something, like saying that he's the top dog around here. I hate it.

Sidenote: When Ellie calls David an "old man", I like to think she pulled that from Henry calling Joel that. I like to think. Henry and Sam are my favorite allies.

Paying more attention throughout the act, I noticed two kind of repetitive symbols: deer and fire.

The deer symbol is pretty obvious: Ellie starts out hunting a deer; she hides out in a hunting lodge; and all throughout the steakhouse, there are pictures of deer and deer mounts which I somehow didn't notice before.

But I never thought about the fire. How she starts out quite distant from the fire that David started, even though it is freezing cold in winter and she's rubbing underneath her nose because somebody needs to give this girl a scarf! But after they fight together, she gets closer and immediately regrets it because these two men she met aren't normal.

While navigating through the wintry hellscape that is David's town, fire lights your path as you crawl through buildings (I found the inclusion of an arcade interesting; it felt like a marker of childhood to me, and there's even a stuffed giraffe). And then of course, the Steakhouse is on fire, and that fire slowly spreads. The use of fire during this act sort of reminds me of the use of fire in Silent Hill 2, where Angela Orosco who experienced sexual abuse lived in this personal hell of narrow, fiery corridors.

And as I hear, "Ah, thank you, Lord!" for the millionth time, I realize that seeing David as similar to Joel still does not work for me. I just continue to contrast them. The only two things that allow for comparison is that David is an older man who also boosts her up to a higher platform. Otherwise, I don't see many similarities.

As I've said, Joel wants to protect Ellie--both mentally and physically. He doesn't want her to see the burning dead in Bill's town. He doesn't want to traumatize her by letting her shoot other people, or encourage her to jump on the frontlines by giving her a gun. He very much acts like a father who wants to take on all those burdens so his child doesn't have to.

David, on the other hand, exposes her to stuff as a weapon. He locks her in the cage in the same room they chop up bodies. He gleefully smiles as he almost cleaves off her head. He is more than happy to make everything worse for her.

And maybe it bears repeating: JOEL WOULD NEVER ABUSE A CHILD LIKE DAVID WOULD! Which is a vast land of difference when it comes to characterization.

Upon returning the steakhouse, it genuinely felt like going back to a place where something terrible happened, and you don't even want to think about it. It's so quiet, but you're collecting health kits to protect yourself because you know it's about to be something. It's this particular kind of dread. And then David bursts in, starts a fire, takes away your weapon, and you have to face him.

So come the next act, when I see Ellie staring at that deer like she can't pull away from it, it's very painful.

[amtrak12]

I'm going to do this ask meme that no one asked me for because I printed and filed about 100 CAD drawings today in the physical office building!!! so you can't stop me :P (Also we used to do this all the time back on LiveJournal without anyone asking first. It's called INFLICTING MY FAVORITES ONTO MY FRIENDS LIST 😆 and I'm bringing it back!)

Lucifer Ask Meme

Favorite Male Character:

🚨Error 404🚨 favorite not found -- but I suppose Lucifer by default??? Although, I have a big ol' soft spot for Amenadiel too. I named my second Chromecast after him 🥰 lol

Favorite Female Character:

EVE who should've been in far more episodes than she was. 😡 Who do I sue for that?

Least Favorite Character:

We're going main cast only here, because villains were never in the running. I'm gonna say.... Dan -- BUT I DON'T HATE HIM like I did during my initial watch! It's important to me that you know that! In fact, by this point, I genuinely love him.... I just love him the least out of everyone lol

(Although, if you go by who I want to explore in fic the least, I'd probably say Ella. Because I will happily write Dan/Dan related fic any day of the week. He has too much juicy stuff to explore in each of his relationships with Chloe, Trixie, and Charlotte.) (... yes, I know I haven't written any fic for him yet. But I would!!!)

Prettiest Character:

EVE! My answer is always Eve

My bb 🥰🥰🥰 ignore my unskilled photoshopping pls

Funniest Character:

Trixie 😂 Or do I have to pick an adult character? Because then I'll say Charlotte Richards because Tricia Helfer being a snarky asshole is always hilarious. Also she's prettier than Lucifer and I won't apologize for saying it 😜

Favorite Season:

SEASON TWO! The one where Chloe and Lucifer fell in love 😍😍😍 Unless you put season 4 in front of my face, in which case my favorite is season 4 because EVE (and also the God tier -- pun intended -- soap drama in the S4 plots. It's good shit XD)

(No I'm 100% serious, Chloe nearly poisoned Lucifer with the aim to perma-ban him to Hell!!! I don't understand why everyone is so mad about it still???? That's a true romance story to me. 😍 The epitome of the Third Act's Darkest Hour if I ever saw one LOLOLOL)

Favorite Episode:

2.13 A Good Day to Die -- that Unsteady scored montage tho!!!!! *swoons* (Yes, I put a YouTube link to watch it. No, I don't care if you've never seen the show before. It's good shit!!!!!) (probably not as good out of context, but again DON'T CARE! 🥰)

Favorite Romantic Ship:

Deckerstar (Lucifer/Chloe). Obviously, yes, Maze/Eve are prettier

Like even their (entirely unedited bc I'm lazy) silhouettes are prettier. I UNDERSTAND THE FACTS, YOU GUYS! However, Lucifer/Chloe are messier, and as a fic writer, I'm going to give the edge to messy. 👍

Favorite Family Ship:

Trixie with her parents (Chloe and Dan) T_T LOOK! The parent/child relationships are a big reason this show managed to sink its hooks into me. (Well... that and the S3 finale wing scene 👀 oops)

(Bonus category, my LEAST favorite family ship: God with each and every one of his children ROTFL 😆 Terrible father. Maybe an okay god idk! But a garbage father. 👎)

Favorite Friendship:

Maze & Linda! (But Maze & Chloe desperately needed to be explored more in later seasons. It's so RUDE how the writers basically dropped them after Maze moved out. Also there's a TOOOOOON of untapped potential in a Chloe-Eve friendship, I'm just saying 👀👀👀)

Worst Ship:

CHLOE/CAIN! 🤮🤮🤮 Obviously they post-date the term by a lot, but this is exactly the kind of ship the word 'squick' was coined for *shudders*

And because I can't leave this on such an icky note....

Funniest Unspoken Joke in the Entire Show:

Charlotte wearing a shirt with Chloe's face on it while Dan gives her the big 'all in' relationship speech. NO ONE POINTS IT OUT IN ANY WAY! But I am fucking dying. 🤣🤣🤣 It's impossible to convey why this is so funny to those of you who haven't seen the show, but here's a Powerpoint slide to try. (click to enlarge, alt text available)

@ Whoever wrote/staged this scene: I'm kissing you on the mouth. 12/10 no notes. 🤣👍👍

[jsaunderswrites]

Watching Jurassic World Dominion, hoping for it to be less bad than the others but ready for it to be the worst.

My various opinions pro and con:

Pros:

The cretaceous prologue was cool, if not entirely accurate.

Seeing dinos in the wider world is cool, the found footage in the newsreel is all reused from Battle at Big Rock but still rocks.

Poachers and breeding mills make perfect sense in this kind of world.

The apatosaurus at the lumber yard was kinda magical.

I never gave a shit about Blue, but dinosaurs building nests in the detritus of human industry is soooo cool!

Neil and Dean IMMEDIATELY have so much better chemistry than Pratt and Howard, it's night and day.

I wanna pet the baby dino too!

Grant being unhappy to learn the T. rex is at the sanctuary, and sarcastically deriding Malcolm's personality are references that feel organic, not forced.

Turning Henry Wu into a supervillain was stupid, so I'm glad they're backtracking that.

Okay Ramsay is cool!

Grant catching Malcolm was a nice moment, should've been built up to more, imagine a version of the movie where they're rocky relationship is the emotional throughline instead of Maisie's clone mum. But it was still nice.

Ian gives shitty directions.

Rexy framed in the water feature was cute.

I hope Rexy (being a very old gal at this point) gets to enjoy her new family in her last years. Apparently they're now theorising that tyrannosaurus was a social hunter too!

Cool shots of dinos in the world.

Cons:

The T. rex's appearance at the drive-in was filled with people acting pointlessly stupid for no reason. Why weren't they watching a monster movie so them assuming the screams and roars were from that, instead of an ad for the snack bar?

Owen is still in these movies.

The newsreel brings up Maisie for absolutely no reason as there was no connection to the topic she was discussing, it's just for bad exposition.

I am soooo sick of the clone question in fiction. DNA isn't your identity, identical twins and even natural clones already exist. It's a quirk, not a sign you're not "real". Stop whining about it already.

They got through literally 8 words of trying to be nice, and immediately went "Ew, sincerity? Gross! Better cover that up with a joke before people start to think our characters have souls!"

Maybe it's just me but I think hiding your child from the world is waaaay more suspicious than her sharing the face of a woman who died decades ago that no one has ever heard of. If I were a perfect clone of some 80s guy how would anyone who met me ever learn that?

Owen has a psychic raptor sense? What was that shot after Blue attacked the hunters trying to communicate?

Ellie shows up in the exact pink top and dramatically removes her sunglasses the same way as in '93. Did they think they were being too subtle?

Teenagers and phones jokes, gotta play to the septuagenarian crowd. And why is he giving a presentation to just two teenage girls who didn't care?

Owen being able to talk to Blue always feels unjustified, I bet when our ancestors were first domesticating wolves they had big sticks for when they didn't listen.

Hipster coffee jokes, the height of comedy is that young people suck.

The small feathery dinosaur does a chicken thing because we think it looks chicken like, despite all the therapods being just as genetically bird. Details like that pull me out of the film because you know they wouldn't have the velocoraptors or compys run around headless.

Claire sucks at investigating.

Owen's stupid hand thing isn't cool no matter how much they think it is.

Just interrogating a guy while he's being eaten, good guy things.

People just standing around watching while giant predators rampage behind them.

Every chase that relies on the heroes being faster and more agile than raptors feels so dumb.

Oh god two-person hand thing.

Evil smuggler lady signed up for a 1940s noire and doesn't know why no one is matching her lack of energy.

Raptor gets hit by a truck, no problem, because they aren't animals but super monsters.

The movie says "you the audience only care about what happens to Maisie, you have no concern for the people of Malta as they're eaten on screen. That's just fun spectacle."

In some movies having to jump a motorbike onto a plane before it lifts off would be cool, these movies have robbed me of the ability to enjoy that.

Owen shouting "ARE YOU HURT!?" at claire is the first sign he actually gives a shit about her, and it still feels douchey.

(looking back and seeing how long since I listed a pro, nothing in the Malta scenes!)

How are you cloning "pure" dinosaurs? The whole franchise is based around the idea you need to bridge the inevitable gaps!

Maisie's backstory is all retconned for more clone BS.

Figures miss "let's release all these incredibly dangerous creatures into society because I'm sad I share my genetic code with someone else" wouldn't care about stopping the apocalypse.

Quetzalcoatlus murders a plane because... <shrug>

That "I love you" felt fake, how are they so bad at being a couple?

Gotta make sure the new character is military like her parent, because what idiot would make a non-soldier hero!? I am so goddam sick of characters just having a military background for no fucking reason in movies, bring back unlikely heroes!

I'm sorry but I don't care about Maisie's mum and the movie is banking on me actually caring.

Genetic Power is a dumb term.

All the classic heroes met Rexy once and it changed cinema forever, Owen bumps into her every week and we couldn't care less!

There's no reason the bad guy had to be that random guy from JP1. That guy didn't read like evil Steve Jobs.

Dimetrodons do not read dangerous pack hunters to me.

Owen strangles a dilophosaurus because he is a Mary Sue. It's just to show how cool he is while undoing the actual threat of the scene.

When the chamber specifically built to contain and immolate the locusts fails without any kind of sabotage or outside interference. Because NOTHING just works.

And Ian just parks and suddenly they're teetering on the edge of a cliff!? Can't they put in reasons why things are going wrong!?

They try to parallel the old heroes with the new ones and I'm sorry but the old ones have actual fun personalities.

The LARGEST TERESTRIAL CARNIVORE OF ALL TIME eats single bug. Big scary entrance ruined.

Treverrow said the giganotosaurus is "like the joker" it's not in the movie but it's still stupid.

It's chasing them is so understated, where's the freaking music? It doesn't sound big at all!

Oh man this whole giganotosaurus sequence is so bad! So slow and clumsy!

Owen tries to explain how raptor training works, still doesn't work.

Ellie talking to Claire about regrets, why? What regrets is Ellie talking about?

Goddamit Maisie AND Grant double hand thing!? I do not like this movie!

The computers reboot and the bugs come back to life, so the scene communicates that the bugs were rebooted.

Dodgson getting Nedry'd to the extent of LITTERALY HAVING THE SHAVING CREAM. And the cream has no purpose in this film, it's ONLY a blatant reference.

From the dumbass motherhood stuff in World to the obsession with Maisie's biological mum in this, these movies have an incredibly basic and bland view on parenthood. (Goldilocks > Maisie Lockwood)

"It's always him!" Except those times it wasn't, including YOUR OWN movie!

At the start the giganotosaurus killed the T. rex, later they mention there can't be two alpha predators, and now they're fighting. But unlike HtTYD2 that alpha stuff has nothing to do with the rest of the film, so this "rivalry" feels meaningless.

Genetic dino memory.

Why should I care that giga is dead? The humans had already escaped, the fight was meaningless.

Every relationship that is being wrapped up in this ending wasn't built up adequately, Grant an Ellie were ready to get back together in scene one and Maisie ONLY sees that Owen and Claire come to find her and immediately gets over her mummy issues.

Kayla was such a nothing addition to the movie. I don't know why she's here.

"Life has existed for hundreds of millions of years" and "life existed 65 million years ago" dude life has existed for BILLIONS of years! Dinosaurs are our next door neighbours on the ocean of time!

The ending speech is about coexistence, unlike the entire rest of the film.

Neutral:

Atrociraptor is so fake sounding when I saw the toys I thought they would be the new hybrid dinos, not just an actual name some palaeontologists came up with. Honestly, that makes me chuckle.

Howard is shot weirdly, I looked up if she was pregnant during this film because I feel like she's always either wearing heavier coverings or just has her torso blocked behind something. (specifically I am about 1 1/4 hours in) Apparently she was dealing with weight shaming behind the scenes, I don't know if that has anything to do with it though.

So this is the Jurassic Park III; Alan Grant is asked to travel to a location full of free range dinos, and they're searching for a missing kid.

The gate code should've just been 1234 because no one bothered to change it from default.

Final opinion:

Probably the least bad of the three Jurassic Worlds, still an utter mess made up of disparate moments and meaningless speeches that do not add up to any thesis.

I hope Edwards' Jurassic Park 7 is ANYTHING of value, despite not caring for his Godzilla or Rogue One.

Now to get back to Camp Cretaceous.