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missskzbiased · 4 years

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I Hate That I’m Afraid to Love You

Genre: Romance , Friendship, Angst, Hurt /Confort , Suggestive, College Au, Enemies to Friends to Lovers Au, REALLY Slow burn, Love Square (?)

Pairing: Hyunjin X Fem!Reader X Han X OC

WC: ~ 4,1K

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Masterlist

Warnings (general*): Language, Mentions of (Physical abuse, Death/ Loss of Loved One, Child Abandonment/Neglect, Divorce, Toxic Parents, Cancer, Mental disorder, Anxiety Attack, Alcohol, Food), Suggestiveness (?)

*Not all chapters have these but I’m letting this like general because as a series I think it’s better if I warn all of them at once instead of warning out of nowhere since I’ve already written some chapters*

Notes: The “Angst/Hurt/Confort” is related to the plot and how the characters will build their relationship, therefore it’ll be mentioned more than once through the chapters. Although I don’t think I made it really distressing nor anything like that, please be aware of the Warnings if you don’t feel comfortable with the themes <3

This is an EXTREMELY slow burn, if you don’t like those, I don’t think you’ll enjoy the fanfic :’(

Updates: I’ll update it once a week because I still have to write the chapters to come and review the ones I already wrote

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Hate: a) To feel extreme enmity towards something or someone: Regard with active hostility; b) To have a strong aversion: Find very distasteful.

Regarding all emotions someone could ever feel, you didn’t think something could be more powerful than hatred.

What in the world could be more powerful than disliking someone to the point you couldn’t even stand their presence? It meant you would prefer to leave rather than stay. Nothing could ever beat that. Nothing. People could do insane things moved by it. Things no one should ever think about doing nor do at all for that matter. Things that could hurt and destroy everything around someone’s life.

Even though common sense stated love was blind, you thought that maybe hate was blinder… Maybe hate was the one who blinded love. Who knew? You were sure hatred moved people to do the undoable. So what could be a better answer to your professor’s question? What was the most powerful feeling in the world?

“Fear” You couldn’t help but roll your eyes at him. You didn’t know if it was the black hair, the dark eyes, or that pretty face everyone felt the urge to ogle but somehow Hyunjin had that funny effect on people around him. It was like people needed to hear him, like he held some kind of mesmerizing voice that made people believe he was a wise man on a young body.

He wasn’t.

“How is fear greater than hate?” You scoffed, wondering why people looked at him like he knew what he was talking about “I never saw someone actively doing something because of fear but people actually make decisions based on hatred” You pointed out, smirking at him. Hyunjin couldn’t possibly retort you because you were right, and sooner or later he would have to admit it.

“I believe you didn’t quite understand the professor’s question, my dear” He had this ridiculous accent like he was British when he clearly wasn’t, and you couldn’t help but grimace at him before he continued “He asked what is the most powerful emotion not what emotion prompt people to do something… I must say that if an emotion paralyzes you to the point you can’t make a decision ─ as you pointed out yourself─ it must be quite powerful, don’t you agree?” He had that smug look on his face, suggesting he thought he had won your argument, and you would gladly wipe that smug grin out of there if Paris didn’t interrupt you.

“Excuse me but I think it’s love” Her voice sounded polite even though you knew she thought Hyunjin was being dumb “If fear is something that paralyzes someone and that is your argument for power, I think love can beat fear, so it’s obviously more powerful” She stated, not bothering to defend her arguments.

Typical Paris.

“In what world love beats fear?” He jeered, looking at her as if she was growing a third head “I’m sorry to disappoint you, darling, but life isn’t a fairy-tale” He pouted mockingly.

What a despicable guy.

“It’s well known that love can make someone so eager to protect another thing that you could simply ignore your fears and get stronger. Mothers can lift a car to free their child, soldiers can fight harder if they have someone to go back to! And if you consider the paralyzing feeling, knowing love can beat this would mean it’s stronger than fear… When you love you can do or give up on doing things just to be able to protect something you love” She stated proudly before you looked at your professor expecting his verdict.

Like on cue, the bell rang, announcing your class was over.

And so did he, waving dismissively to all of you to go.

Great, so it was a kind of philosophical game for him.

Your pointless argument ended up with nothing but a bunch of opinions you couldn’t say was right; and when it came to insisting on being right there was just one person in this world you could say you almost hated… Hyunjin. He came to you with his signature─ a smug grin that made you want to punch his face every day─, getting in your way to pack your things as he picked up one of your pencils, spinning it between his fingers. You didn’t even make the effort to ask it back, settling for extending your palm up, so he would give it back to you.

“Paris may have a point but I beat you” Should you punch his face for real someday? Probably not. You should keep good grades and a perfect image so you could keep your scholarship. What a pity. You shook your hand once, a silent ask for your pencil again, and this time he put it on your palm, leaning closer as he braced himself on the desk, trying to be seductive or something “What? Are you so upset you lost to me you don’t even want to talk anymore?” He said in a mocking tone that made you glare at him.

“Even when I’m right I don’t want to talk to you” You reminded him, throwing your bag’s strap on your shoulder “Let’s go, Paris, Chan said He was going to have lunch with us today” You took her hand and guided her to the door, walking fast so you could leave Hyunjin behind but he, unfortunately, was right on your tail.

“It’s funny because I recall you bragging every time you’re right and I’m not hearing it now” He said, easily picking up your pass, since his legs were way longer than yours “I guess you don’t want to talk to me because you lost again” Oh god, how could he be so insufferable?! You trailed your eyes around the stairs, looking for Chan on the crowd.

Thankfully, there he was.

Chan was a fine guy, as anyone with two functioning eyes could see or at least guess since a lot of girls were staring at him. He was waiting in the corner, his arms crossed on his chest and his bored eyes looking at the floor while he waited for you, his dark hair falling on his eyes, obliging him to run his fingers into his locks, looking charming in the eyes of the girls ogling him. You chuckled as you saw him eyeing them disgusted, clearly bothered by people looking at him doing nothing like he was some kind of idol or something.

“Hey, Sweety!” You shouted, making him roll his eyes at the nickname that symbolized your friendship. It was the first name you ever called him, a sarcastic remark for the typical rich guy he was, a pretty and spoiled bastard.

The circumstances you met weren’t the best ones but somehow they worked in your favor.

You were working hard on pilling some boxes ─ all of them with a “fragile” sticker that made you very aware about the possibility of losing your job if you dropped one of them─, so it was only natural you were pissed as hell when someone dropped all of them at once. As if he didn’t have anything better to do, Chan stood with his right hand raised to blame, a smirk plastered on his face as he said “Ops! Sorry, Sweety” making his dumb friends laugh at you.

You couldn’t say you were a typical rich girl especially because you were, in fact, quite poor, so your antics were totally justified by the need you had to keep your job on your hands and change your paradigm.

It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone with a brain but he had to pay for the losses.

So you shot him a tight smile when you saw him walking to the exit and said “Don’t forget to pay for those, Sweety”, making him shot a brow at you. You remembered clearly the way he got close to you, declaring with that cocky attitude you hated “Do you know who I am?” as if it would make any difference. You shoved him on the wall, losing your composure, and hissing at him that you didn’t care, and he should pay for it unless he was some kind of hallucination of your head.

He came back every day after that.

It has been four years since you two became friends against all the odds; and as a rich kid himself, Chan often paid for your meals, claiming your sorry ass should be thanking him instead of scoffing. You couldn’t help but nudge him with your elbow as soon as you got next to him, making him nudge you back as Paris clasped her hands together, her eyes beaming at your interaction.

“It’s so beautiful how you guys love each other!” Paris couldn’t see you interacting with another human being without believing you were in love, and although it kinda annoyed you, you tried to overlook it since she didn’t have much more to hold a grudge against. She had been your roommate for the past three years at the dorms, and even though she was a hopeless romantic and annoyed the hell out of you to get together with someone, that was pretty much her only great flaw.

You remembered perfectly how you thought your life was over once you met her.

Your first impression of the dorm was awful as you got there and saw the overly pink and cute stuff hanging all around the place as she tried to organize everything in her room. She didn’t have much stuff but all her stuff was vibrant and girly to the point it hurt your eyes.

You didn’t complain.

You put your bag on the floor, looking at her with a grimace as she beamed to meet her new friend. You could say you hated to live with her in the beginning, her carefree self was annoying and her overly friendly antics pissed you off as she always asked you to do things together, watch movies, and eat, and talk and... Well, anything you didn’t want to do with someone you just met. On top of all, she was somewhat lazy and didn’t do much, which ended up with you doing all the chores.

If you were to be fair, you were the one wearing out yourself, really.

Everything changed on a particularly exhausting day.

You had to be a damn good juggler on that week, working yourself until you couldn’t even think about anything clearly. You were like a zombie. A workaholic zombie. You had to go to classes, get your work done, do your assignments, clean up the dorm, study your ass off for the exams, pretend to be a normal human being by socializing with people… Well, basically you were pretty busy on being perfect as you expected you to be. It was obvious that after all your exams were finally done and you got out of work you needed to relax as soon as you got home.

You fixed yourself something to eat, turned on the TV, crashed on the couch to watch something, and just blacked out right there.

When you woke up on the next day’s afternoon, you got a cozy feeling above you, some fluffy blanket was thrown around your body, making you warm and peaceful. You shot your body up, sitting on the couch and looking around, alarmed, just to see the TV turned off, the dishes cleaned, the dorm tidy, and your bubbly roommate folding the clothes. You got up from the couch quickly and made a bow, apologizing profusely for being a mess and letting everything out of place on the night before. She scoffed, shrugging it off by waving her hand and said something around “I know you like to do the chores but you wore out yourself this week, you should take a break! You’re not being a burden! Isn’t helping each other out what friends do?” and it made you gasp before smiling.

You didn’t think of her as a friend back then but it did change that day.

“It would be even more beautiful if you didn’t try to make us swallow up your need to a nonexistent love between us every time I take you guys out” Chan pointed out, grimacing at her. You couldn’t say Chan and Paris got along even though you tried to make them friendly towards each other but you couldn’t blame Chan for being an ass since you weren’t any better to his friend.

“So you’re taking us out to lunch? Wonderful!” Hyunjin beamed in sarcasm, knowing too well you would complain. You rolled your eyes and looked at Chan as you guys started to walk, getting on your way to his car so he could take you wherever he was planning to go.

“It’s called a friendly gathering for a reason, Hyunjin… It means only friends can come” You feigned sympathy, pressing your lips together and looking at him with apologetic eyes. He scoffed at you and nudged Chan on the shoulder, resting his hand there as you walked.

“I’m his friend too! He’s paying so I can go as a friend unless you want to pay for everyone, then I will have to retreat” He argued, an almost unnoticeable smirk on his lips. You pouted, turning to Chan to complain but he seemed to not pay attention to your childish argument, ignoring you as he looked straight ahead, unbothered.

“He’s right” He stated before you could whine, showing that he was indeed hearing your conversation. Chan had this habit of pretending not to pay attention to you just to state something that showed he was tuned with everything even though he looked bored, and it always seemed to amaze you. He was a sneak little prick. You whined at him, complaining randomly so he would give up on his idea but he wasn’t buying it, pretty much ignoring you.

“You’re rich! You don’t even need him to pay for you” You decided to complain to Hyunjin, who just shot you an amused look, scoffing.

“You work! You don’t need it either” He pointed out, making you sigh. You looked at Paris for support but she was watching the world absent-mindedly, humming something she probably had come up with on the walk, testing over and over again some tune she seemed to like and picking up her phone quickly, recording it and sending it to you so she could save it. You felt your phone buzz in your pocket and sighed.

What great friends you had.

“Oh! Are you going to come to Han’s game?” She asked suddenly, looking at you excited “He even said if he couldn’t score a point for us this time he would treat us afterward!” You laughed at her enthusiasm, shaking your head in disbelief.

“Was he laughing when you took the deal?” You asked and she seemed to think hard about it, her fingers gripping her chin as she frowned, trying to recall her conversation with your mutual friend. As soon as she remembered it, she smiled and nodded, making you snort “That’s because he’s a Líbero, Paris, they can’t score any points… He was hitting on you” You explained, her eyes shining in realization.

“He pranked me!” She uttered, laughing.

“If you actually paid attention to his explanations you would have guessed it” You pointed out, making Chan snort “Are you coming?” You asked him but Chan shot you a pointed look.

“Do I look like the kind of guy who would go to a volleyball match?” He asked mockingly, making you shrug.

“You don’t look like the kind of guy who spends your time with dumbasses but here we are going to eat with one” You retorted, glancing over your shoulders so Hyunjin knew you were talking about him. You finally made it to the car. Chan clicked his key’s button, unlocking his car from afar before you got there, opening the door, and getting inside with a cool motion that made you laugh. He was so playboyish!

“I wasn’t even doing anything right now” Hyunjin complained as he got himself on the front seat in the same way Chan did, trying to look cool. You snorted at him, getting in the car and sliding to the side so Paris could get in beside you “Is it just to get my attention?” He teased, looking over his shoulder, getting startled at your face so close to his, your arms were resting on Chan’s sit, your chin resting on your arm as you looked ahead, watching as your friend backed up.

You didn’t hate Hyunjin or something like this, you both just teased each other every time you could. You weren’t really fond of his antics since he was just a playboy that didn’t care about anything apart from him ─ and you weren’t really the kind to feel comfortable around dickheads─, so your friendship just wasn’t meant to happen. You could tolerate him well enough when he wasn’t pissing you off at classes though. You could say you both were academic rivals, extremely smart students that liked to overcome the other by doing witty remarks and good work…

It wasn’t about being the best student, you didn’t believe in such a thing, it was about being better than him, and he wanted to be better than you.

You could remember clearly the first time you met.

He was a cocky guy back then too.

He sat right next to you even though there were tons of available seats, his smirk suggesting he wasn’t really the friendly type, so he could only be there flirting. You rolled your eyes. He tried to chat with you, talking about him and how he was taking that psychology elective because the other ones seemed too easy for him. You nodded, not really listening to his monologue, and opened your notebook as soon as the Professor came in, presenting himself and giving you a deep question that made you contemplate in silence before you answered it proudly. He scoffed. He scoffed right on your face as he retorted you, and you retorted him back, and then he retorted you again… Your endless arguing conquered a proud clap from your Professor.

You, on the other hand, conquered a rival.

Later that week Chan invited you to see his new place, an apartment he rented with a friend even though both of them could easily live by themselves… You could never understand them. You arrived ranting about your classes, bringing the “smartass” issue as soon as you remember, and complaining about that guy that would seat beside you twice a week.

You regret till this very day the way you said he was a hot and annoying guy because at this very moment he showed up on his sweatpants, using a towel to dry his hair as some drops fell onto his shirtless chest. He smirked at you, teasing you by saying “Hot, hm? So you were just playing hard to get. I like it” as he leaned on the wall, hanging the towel on his shoulder and making fun of you about it till this very day.

“Hello? Earth to Y/N?” Paris was waving her hand right in front of your eyes, trying to get your attention. You shot your eyes to her, startled, smiling apologetically “We’re here” She announced, making you realize Chan was parking, a huge and presumably expensive restaurant standing there in all its glory.

You would need to work at least to your death to be able to pay for breathing the air inside it.

“Holy shit, are you rich?” You asked in disbelief, shock getting the better of you as you completely forgot who you were talking about. Chan grimaced at you like you were his dumb but lovingly friend, and you shot him a glare as soon as you composed yourself.

Let Chan spend his money mindlessly and he would bankrupt his family.

////

You weren’t exactly the sport type but being on the grandstand together with a bunch of people you never talked to, all of you gathering by the same will to defeat the enemy… It just made its way to your mind somehow. You cheered loudly, booing at the opponents' team and their fans while clapping hard at your own team, shouting your lungs out every time Han made a good play, which was pretty often if you were fair.

If anyone asked you when you made it to college if you would be going to games and cheering for your team, you would laugh on their faces… In fact, that was exactly what you did the first time Han asked you if you were going to his game, amused by his innocence. You two met because Paris was majoring in Music and He decided to take some music classes, which got him an invitation to a party Paris decided to throw on a Friday night.

It was kind of cute how he was so flustered there, taking your offer for a glass of whatever Paris had mixed to serve as a drink with trembling hands. He was one of the first guys you had the pleasure to analyze as an aspiring psychologist, the clear signals of an awkward guy around the girl he had a crush all over his face: Pink cheeks, stuttering, exaggerated gesticulation, high pitched voice, inability to stay still as he swift his weight side to side, nervous eyes looking around the room…

The poor boy was on edge, his eyes resting on Paris from time to time as if he wanted to say something but didn’t know the right words.

Although he was a player in the court, he was far from that on real life and you found it cute.

You remembered how he winced startled as you patted his shoulder, he looked like a little squirrel stocking his cheeks with alcohol just so he could gulp it down and choke, confused at your knowing look. He ended up being Paris’ partner for most of their projects, obviously trying to get some alone time with her, even though she always called you to listen to their compositions, blowing his plans. All that hanging out and his friendly behavior began a loose friendship, where you went to watch his games with Paris and you two went to watch Paris’s performances, your little alliance being settled so you wouldn’t feel excluded.

That was how thoughtful he was.

Paris screamed, hyped by your team score, and you followed her, standing up and cupping your mouth to scream his name, his eyes searching for both of you in the crowd, a bright smile when his eyes connected to yours. You waved at his way, getting a wave as an answer before he had to focus again on his match.

As soon as the game ended, you both waited as the sea of people made their way out of the grandstand, mostly hyped for some afterward party that certainly would be happening somewhere. You and Paris made your way to the court, waiting for Han to come back from the locker room while chatting about the game. It took him some time to take his bath and get ready, and he came out of the locker room along with some friends that patted his back and complimented his plays, waving him goodbye as soon as they saw us waiting, knowing you wouldn’t go to the party.

“Y/N told me you can’t score a point as a Libero” Was the first thing Paris said, chuckling, making Han cackle up.

“You should know it by now! You came to literally every game I played for… Two years? It’s insane! What did you think? That I was a terrible player?” Paris grinned sheepishly and this time you cackled up.

“It seems like your partner doesn’t believe in your abilities” You pointed out, making him snort “Anyway, I heard you would be paying if you didn’t score anything, so it’s on you today, loser” Han grinned, throwing his arms around your shoulders, pulling both of you closer as he guided you.

“I can offer you the best hot dog in town” He agreed “Maybe even a soda if we all share it” Paris laughed, holding his wrist as she walked along with him, you took the hint to take his arm off your shoulders and let them have their moment, missing the way he pouted when you broke away the contact.

“I can pay for our drinks” You offered, making Han gasp in mock chock.

“Rich, aren’t we?” He joked, getting a light push on the shoulder as an answer.

“I work for a reason, moron” You rolled your eyes “Now let’s split that bill” You smiled as the three of you made your way to your favorite hot-dog stand on campus.

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jackidy · 3 years

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To Be Struck

Rating: T Pairings: EnnoTana Characters: Various, focus on Karasuno and Ennoshita. Universe: Canon Summary: “He has no idea, does he.” Yamaguchi states, having waited with the third years and Tsukishima for the captain to show up only to bare witness to him be accosted by a group of boys. They can’t tell for sure what’s being said only that Ennoshita seems to be surprised, hands up in mock surrender before a relaxed, more apologetic pose takes over, the tell-tale sign of nervousness as he scratches the back of his neck.

“Oh no, theres not a single thought of how handsome he actually is behind those big old brown eyes.” Narita states, earning a grunt of agreement from the other third years and something akin to a laugh from Tsukishima. “The boy is oblivious to how handsome he is.”

AO3

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The shirt fits better than he thought it would, taking the quiet moments before the rest of the team would show up to simply get used to the new found feeling of confidence that he had gained over the school break but also seemed to multiply as soon as he’d donned the number 1 shirt. Would Daichi be proud of his progress? Probably, Sugawara? Definitely, smile tugging at his lips in memory of this morning’s phone call, the former Karasuno setter clearly running late for university but still making time to give Ennoshita a fairly out of breath pep talk about he’s got this.

He offers good mornings to Ukai as their coach yawns past, followed by the team who seem to be either the same level of tired or overly excited to either be back with the team after the long break or the potential new players who would be joining. More had signed up this year than ever before, the team’s success at nationals having attracted more attention than Ennoshita had, truthfully, expected, hating that this would happen during his tenure as captain and not to another.

But then, would he really want to inflict this on anyone else?

“We missed you at lunch today, not avoiding us now that you’re captain, are ya?” Kinoshita teases, Ennoshita laughing at the over dramatics as the tawny haired man launched into an over dramatic spiel, leaning against Narita as he lamented over being left behind on the benches, beckoning Yamaguchi in to join him only to be rejected by the second year. “Our boy gets promoted and now he’s too good for us mere bench warmers.”

“No, no, I had to go see Takeda senpai and sort out club stuff, more so since they’re planning a Miyagi based training camp this year.” Ennoshita laughs out more than speaks, pulling the team fleece on, pushing his locker closed only to pause as everything goes quiet. Staring at the team in mild confusion, they just stare back, a few slacked jaws and even a few rosy cheeks amongst them, turning to Kinoshita and Narita for help only to find them in a similar state.

“What?” He asks the silent room, looking with increasing confusion and anxiety between his teammates, hoping one of them would give in and explain just why everyone had gone quiet only to find nothing to cure his nervous curiosity. “Alright then, I need to talk to coach so I guess I’ll see you in the gym.” Ennoshita adds after a few more moments of silence, sighing and dismissing himself from the locker room.

He’s only somewhat confused and mostly annoyed when the talking almost immediately picks up again after he leaves, the team speaking in hushed whispers over something that would undoubtedly cause trouble for him later.

---

The constant giggling confuses him more than anything, Ennoshita frowning as another group of first years pass him in the corridor, the group breaking into hushed whispers, giggles with one or more cheeks flushed a pale pink. He’d assumed it was in response to one of the others, his fellow third years nothing short of attractive, his thoughts lingering on the teams ace a little too long before sighing and shaking his head.

Tanaka Ryuunosuke was a subject best not dwelled on, least he end up losing himself to a train of thought best not considered. The ace wasn’t interested in him beyond friendship, Tanaka’s romantic interests focused on cute dark-haired girls with striking features, the only part of that list Ennoshita could be associated with was the dark hair.

“Hi, Ennoshita.”

“Umm…hi?” He’s confused, more giggling before the group of third years is gone, Ennoshita’s frown deepening as he headed for the back of the class where everyone was waiting for him, food in various stages of being eaten. They hadn’t waited for him and he’s thankful for it, sliding into the chair between Kinoshita and Tanaka with a groan, sliding further into the seat as hands fumbled with his bag for his lunch, still frowning as he dug in without a word.

“You keep frowning like that and your face’ll stick.” Noya speaks around a mouthful of food, both Narita and Kinoshita grimacing before Narita smacks his arm with a comment to stop being gross. It works for the most part, the libero chewing and swallowing with such vigour the rest of the group is surprised he doesn’t choke. “What’s bothering you, cap?”

Ennoshita pauses, trying to find the words to accurately describe his issue before sighing. “People keep giggling when I walk past them, I have no idea why though.” He replies honestly, oblivious to the looks the others were giving him as he continued his train of thought. “At first I thought it was because I was with one of you guys but they continued even when it was just me.”

The shared look between Kinoshita, Narita and Nishinoya only adds to his ever growing confusion, head turning to the left with hope of getting an answer from Tanaka only to be met with a flushed yet mystified look. Why was he looking at him like that? What was he missing that everyone else was apparently so clearly aware of? Snapping his fingers in front of the others face, Ennoshita bites back a laugh as Tanaka jumps, nearly spilling his drink on himself.

“Wait, why did you think the giggling was down to one of us four?” Narita pipes up after a moment, Ennoshita looking over to him whilst the group focused on the captain once more. Ennoshita shrugs, faking a thoughtful look before grinning lazily, something teasing and mischievous in his tone.

“Because you’re all a bunch of clowns.”

---

The trip to Johzenji is by no means quiet but the din of Nishinoya and Hinata hyping up the nervous first years isn’t enough to break him from his thoughts of the incident a mere thirty minutes ago. A second year, from Yamaguchi’s class if memory serves, had confessed to him. Face flushed, voice stammering and a love letter clutched so tightly in her hands Ennoshita was surprised she hadn’t ripped the letter by accident.

He wasn’t going to return her feelings, he only just recognised her never mind the fact he didn’t know her name, but he didn’t even get a chance to politely reject her before Tanaka had come from seemingly nowhere, taken his wrist and dragged him away with a gruff comment of how they were going to be late. The girl had just seen the look on Tanaka’s fae, looked at the tan hand clamped around his wrist and just profusely apologised saying she’d misunderstood.

What had she misunderstood? There wasn’t anything to misunderstand! Sure, Tanaka had perhaps been a little more gruff than usual but hadn’t his last class of the day been maths? It wasn’t one of his stronger subjects, maybe it had just put the vice-captain into an irritable mood. But doubts had only began to settle in when the other had spent the majority of the ride sat next to Haruka, the team’s new libero, who had made it his life mission to cheer the Ace up.

“Gummy for your thoughts?” Yachi asks, voice a hushed whisper as she offers the bag of gummies to Ennoshita, looking around the seat as she checked to see if the rest of the team had heard her at all. He takes one, mulling over if he would tell her anyway, the team manager hastily shoving the sweets back into her bag as Kageyama stalked past to ask Coach Ukai something.

“This is the part where you tell me what’s troubling you.” Yachi teased when Ennoshita remained silent, Ennoshita laughing before shrugging. He’d grown close to Yachi since she’d joined the team, more so after Daichi announced him as the next captain and they started working together more frequently once the year began. It had earned no short amount of teasing over his ability to talk to girls easily from Kinoshita and the question of if they were dating from one of the overly curious first years.

“It’s nothing, I’m just a little confused about somethings is all.”

“Such as?”

Ennoshita clicks his tongue, elbow against the window frame and jaw resting in his palm, silently wishing the vibrations caused by bad suspension would perhaps shake the thoughts out so he could finally focus on things more important than everyone’s new reactions to him. “People keep paying attention to me and, just now, had a girl confess her feelings for me. Only to apologise when Tanaka grabbed me and dragged me off so we could go, saying she’d misunderstood.”

“I don’t get what there was to misunderstand.” Other than the fact she had feelings for me, he adds silently, a troubled look on his face, accepting another gummy when Yachi offered it to him, the younger blonde seemingly lost in her thoughts as he continued. “He just took my wrist and said we were running late.”

He doesn’t confess as to how he can still feel the ghost of that touch on his wrist, that he humoured the idea that Tanaka was so annoyed about the interaction because he was jealous and not because they were going to be late. That the concept of her misunderstanding was that they were dating any not something else that was more trivial than the idea of them dating.

“Maybe she thought you two were, you know, together.”

He chokes, wheezing and waving off the hand of Narita dangerously close to hitting him in the back, waiting for the middle blocker to sit back down and resume conversation with Kinoshita before turning his attention to Yachi. She looks concerned for the most part, a hint of underlying smugness so reminiscent of Kiyoko when she made an all too correct assumption about something that, for a brief moment, Ennoshita feels like he’s sat with her instead.

“Okay, even if she did think that, it doesn’t explain everything else.”

“No but I’m sure you’ll figure it out, captain.”

---

It takes only five seconds of knowing Terushima Yuuji for Ennoshita to realise the man is tenacious if not a little bit odd, leaning away as the fellow captain leaned in, the feeling of being observed by a predator becoming increasingly more present. Pregame handshakes weren’t supposed to last this long, remembering how even the tense ones between Daichi and Kuroo the year before had never seemed to be endless.

Should he be the one to let go first? The want for the contact to be over already battling against his will to not be seen as weak, the handshake finally coming to an end when one of the coaches, the Johzenji one, shouts for Terushima to stop antagonising him. Was it still antagonising someone if it felt like Terushima was wanting a reaction from him that wasn’t annoyance? Ennoshita didn’t know and wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to find out either.

“I look forward to see you play, Ennoshita.”

Hand finally free, Ennoshita wipes it on his shorts leg with theatrical disdain, snorting in vague amusement at the just as dramatic gasp from behind him as he walked back to his team. What game was he playing at? Why had he pronounced his name like that, too much emphasis on the shi that he’d drawled out for far too long for it to be anything short of annoying.

He hates that his mind goes immediately to how it would be less annoying coming from Tanaka.

The practise match goes better than expected, the boost of adrenaline in his veins from being on the court only seemingly nullified during breaks when Narita and Kinoshita began their lament of being Ennoshita leaving on the benches, managing to drag Yamaguchi into joining in, even if the second year could not keep a straight face throughout the entire thing. They win, by no means a crushing victory but enough to know what needs to be improved upon with the new team dynamic, thinking over ideas he could go over with the Coach when they got back to school when feels the arms slink over his shoulder, smells the marker and feels the hand over his shoulders take hold of his forearm almost too gently.

Strong body spray and an obnoxious shade of yellow. The feel of a sharpie against his skin as it scrawled ink and numbers across his skin, Ennoshita stood like a deer in the head lights at the hum in his ear, the pop of lips as the writing was finally done. “Call me whenever, it would be a shame to not know you better, Chikara.” His arm is released, Terushima leaving without any further contact, Ennoshita only breaking out of his stunned state when someone yells at the Johzenji captain.

What…what just happened?

His state of being is nothing short of catatonic, walking in his bemused stupor to where the rest of the team are waiting, staring at the number signed with a heart scrawled across his skin. Why had he said his name like that?! A low drawl, the rolled and extended a at the end of his name, the fact it had made his face flush rosy like he was a first year. He had no interest in the other captain in both terms of friendship and relationship. So why, why was he reacting like that?

Forgetting to pull down his sleeve has never had such dire consequences, helping Takeda to gather the team and attendance to make sure nobody was left behind, most having the wherewithal to stay quiet at the number scrawled on his arm. All bar Kendo, the would-be wing spiker’s eyes lightning up before practically yelling. “Yo, Captain! Whose number did you get?”

The drive home is too rowdy, Ennoshita wishing Ukai would wake up and bellow at them all to shut up as question after question is fired at him. Whose number is it? Terushima’s. Are you dating? No. Do you like him? Not really. Would you date him if he asked you? No. Does Tanaka become captain if you fall for another captain and die? No, Haruka, but thank you for the concern.

Perhaps it’s the sap in him but Ennoshita finds he doesn’t mind the questions so much anymore, when he notices Tanaka is no longer in a mood but laughing along with the fellow third years as Ennoshita wilts under the sheer number of questions thrown at him about his supposed affair with Terushima.

---

“He has no idea, does he.” Yamaguchi states, having waited with the third years and Tsukishima for the captain to show up only to bare witness to him be accosted by a group of boys. They can’t tell for sure what’s being said only that Ennoshita seems to be surprised, hands up in mock surrender before a relaxed, more apologetic pose takes over, the tell-tale sign of nervousness as he scratches the back of his neck.

He’d always been handsome, Tanaka thinks, it just became more obvious over the end of year break, bewildered as to how in the span of a month he had seemed to bloom in confidence and lose the stubborn bit of baby fat that clung to his cheeks and body. It’s bothersome, annoying really, how Ennoshita believed through this metamorphosis that he’s still something not worth looking twice at, Ennoshita haven’t never stated it but it was all too clear from the way he confusedly pointed out how he couldn’t understand why their fellow students seemed to linger on him.

“Also oblivious to Tanaka’s pining.” Nishinoya adds on a little too cheerfully, the libero cackling with laughter as he used Tsukishima as a shield as Tanaka attempted to grab him before running behind Ennoshita as the captain finally joined them with a humoured confused look. “Save me, captain! He’s gone feral.”

“Oh please, Noya, he’s a big puppy at worst.” Ennoshita remarks, giving the vice captain a pat on the head as he passed by, ducking past Narita to get to the gym doors before unlocking them, throwing Yamaguchi the keys so he could unlock the changing rooms with a smile. “Go get changed and help me set up the gym before the actually feral children get here.”

Tanaka is the first one back, finding Ennoshita in the middle of setting up the nets, silently thankful that the rest of the team had shown up just as he was leaving the locker room, giving him a good 5 minutes alone with Ennoshita before they were interrupted by each coach, Yachi or someone from the team announcing their arrival with utter dramatics and a slammed open door. “So, what did they want?” He asks, holding the net steady for Ennoshita as he tied it, somewhat distracted by the look of concentration on the others face. Furrowed brows and a slightly screwed mouth, he’d be ridiculous if he thought, even for a moment, that it was adorable.

“I think he was trying to confess his feelings but it came out sounding like he was asking me to marry him.” Ennoshita mused, checking how secure the knots were before moving to the other side and repeating the process there. “Rejected him, was informed he would win my heart before I graduated and his friends were very enthusiastic about this prospect.” Ennoshita seems strangely fond over this, though as to why Tanaka did not know.

“Do we have a name for your future beloved?”

“Oh, heavens no, never told me it in the time it took him to propose to me and declare he’d win me over.” Ennoshita laughed, Tanaka finding himself unable to not join in, finishing with the first net before starting work on the second one. “I named him mini Ryuu though, he reminded me of you with Kiyoko during the majority of first year.”

He flushes at that, muttering shut up under his breath and earning another laugh, wishing he had the confidence he had with Kiyoko to approach Ennoshita with the same enthusiasm. But they’re different, the same yet different. Kiyoko was an obsession, an undignified act of teenage love that he never bothered to subdue, taking some form of pleasure out of every rejection. He had the same thing with Ennoshita but he kept it close, kept it more subtle, for no other reason than the uncertainty of what would happen when he ultimately got rejected because, for the first time, he sees no weird joy in it.

“Are you planning on growing your hair out?” He ask, tying the last knot, the first few members of the team stumbling into the gym, Kageyama snapping something at Hinata and the first years as the setter is more or less shoved into the gym by the rowdy bunch. Tanaka blinks, reaching up to touch his hair, feeling fluff instead of the usual buzzcut, wondering when the last time he’d asked Saeko to cut it for him even was.

“Nah, I keep forgetting to ask Saeko to cut it for me.” Tanaka shrugs in his response, tugging at his hair gently and contemplating if he should cut it off or not, the thought of Ennoshita’s hand on it earlier halting his train of thought far too quickly for his liking. He knows it’s a crush but it was just a touch, an innocent if not somewhat patronising pat to the head, it shouldn’t have this affect on him. Shouldn’t make him wonder how it would feel if they were running through it instead.

No.

He wasn’t dwelling on the thought of calloused hands weaving through it when he’s had a stressful day, it being ruffled with amused affection whenever he was sulking over something trivial. Of fingers gripping it tight and pulling when he…

NO.

“Sorry, what was that?”

“I said you should keep it longer; it looks good on you.”

He was never cutting his hair again.

---

If Tanaka sits closer to him during the study session, neither of them mention it, Ennoshita leaning in to Tanaka’s side to read over what he’d written and smiling. “You got them all right, Ryuu.” He’s not sure when he switched to using just his first name to refer to him, believing it to be around the time the member of the baseball team more or less vowed to win his heart by years end. It seemed to make sense to do as much, he had referred to the kid as mini Ryuu as opposed to mini Tanaka after all.

“It just makes more sense when you explain it.” Tanaka mumbles, scratching the back of his head bashfully, Ennoshita letting out a hum in response before looking up and at the ace when he feels eyes on him. Oh, how had he not realised how close they were? His lips were so painfully close and if he were a stronger man he’d lean forward and kiss him but, for all the confidence he had gained between the end of his second year and the start of his third, he’s not confident enough to close that gap and find out just how unrequited his crush was.

He’s all too happy to let Tanaka take the lead as he takes the initiative, warm fingers sliding between his perpetually cold ones, eyes flicking down to their linked hands before back up to the ace, swallowing thickly. Maybe he should, maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t as unreachable as he first thought, so close to kissing him when a door slams open.

The distance feels like miles, the lingering warmth on his hand from where Tanaka was holding offering only little comfort when the ace refused to look at him. He wants to ask, wants to ask what it meant, why he’d looked at him like that, if what he was feeling and what he assumed Tanaka was feeling actually aligned and it wasn’t just a fool’s folly to long for something more than friendship.

“Hey, Ryuu! Did you-” Saeko makes her presence known with a shout and the door opening, looking between the pair and going silent. Did she know? He knew Tanaka’s shared everything. Meals, food, lesser secrets about crushes and friendship dramas. Was she aware of whatever was going on between the pair of them? The panic begins to build up in his chest as he continues to overthink the situation only to let out a choked noise as he’s grabbed by the elder Tanaka and pulled to his feet.

It’s a similar situation to Terushima, Ennoshita feeling more and more like he’s being stared down by a predator only it’s welcomed this time, Saeko gripping his chin and observing his face before she turns to look at Ryuunosuke who seems to be on edge more than Ennoshita was. “I know you said he got hot over break but damn, Chika, you’re fuckin gorgeous.”

“Umm…thank you?” He doesn’t take compliments well, he never has, laughing nervously as he’s spun, her hands gripping his shoulders, feeling like he’s being presented to Ryuunosuke as a prize that he had just won. I know you said he got hot over break. What did that mean? Was that a Ennoshita thing or a Tanaka thing? Ennoshita focusing on his teammates face, noticing the familiar look he got whenever he felt Saeko was about to embarrass him.

“You gotta snap him up before someone else does, look at those cheek bones.” He feels the nails of Saeko’s right hand brush against his skin and he shudders despite himself, face still enflamed from the shared moment before and the endless compliments. “That jaw line, those sleepy brown eyes of yours. You are still single, right?”

“I…yeah?”

He chooses to not mention the plethora of confessions he had received the past few months, looking at Ryuu in hopes of a rescue only to find him shooting a look brimming with annoyed daring, baiting Saeko into continuing her commentary. Ennoshita knows the look well, one he’s been on the receiving end of from his own little brother whenever he learnt something he shouldn’t and threatened to hold it over him for the foreseeable future.

Saeko just grins, dangerous, like she is aware of something Ennoshita should be, hands clapping his shoulders, giving them a firm squeeze before she lets go and leaves. He watches he go, a thumbs up thrown in as a goodbye before she closes the door much softer than she had when she opened it. There’s a tension in the room, Ennoshita fumbling with his fingers as the silence leaves him to focus on those words.

I know you said he got hot over break. You’re fucking gorgeous.

You said he got hot. You’re fucking gorgeous.

You’re hot. You’re fucking gorgeous.

He’s ashamed as the voice morphs from Saeko’s to Ryuunosuke’s, the constant repetition of ‘you’re fucking gorgeous’ setting his cheeks aflame and his heart beating faster than a drum. He should leave, shouldn’t he? His confidence having melted away, Ennoshita feeling once again like a first year, unable to find his voice and on the brink of panicking as he over thought every possibility now laid out before him.

“Chikara,” his voice is soft, all to calming to hear, Ennoshita looking down at the other only to be met with a face of mild confusion and concern. “I’m stuck with problem ten.” Settling back down, Ennoshita goes back to helping, hoping for any distraction from the thought of Tanaka finding him attractive and the growing disappointment that he wasn’t brave enough to take Tanaka’s hand is his own again.

---

Its never brought up again but it changes their dynamic, Tanaka meeting him at lunch time, the welcome relief from being bothered by strangers with confessions. The hilarious moment of Tanaka fighting with his miniature self until Ennoshita dragged Tanaka away by the hand, the younger boy by someone Ennoshita guessed to also be on his team. It’s never brought up again but Tanaka doesn’t shake off his hand until its time to eat, despite the teasing looks sent his way by the other third years.

They sit together on the coach to practice matches, Ennoshita almost always waking up with his head on Tanaka’s shoulder, Tanaka’s head leaning against his and hands not quite touching but it always feels a little too intimate for just friends. Its how they end up travelling to the Miyagi summer camp, waking up as they pull onto the Shiratorizawa grounds only to find their fingers linked this time, it making up for the lack of head resting against his.

It’s three days before something snaps. Ennoshita in the middle of talking rotation with coach Ukai, mentioning his own anxiety in suddenly being thrust onto the court during an important match, making a joke at both Tanaka’s and Daichi’s expense as he brings up the Wakutani South match the year before. He excuses himself as he hears the arguing behind him, sighing at the sight of Tanaka and Noya shouting at a group of younger players, Karasuno’s own first years seeming to only encourage their behaviour.

Daichi had made this seem too easy, Yamaguchi was going to despise him for leaving this team in his capable hands when the year was through, Ennoshita feeling a migraine beginning to build as he made his way over. Where was Yahaba or Shirabu? He’d pray for even Futakuchi to show up to offer at least some form of assistance in dealing with the would be fight between their teams.

He more than well aware he’s not as intimidating as Daichi, Kenma having pointed this out when the teams met for a practise match a month prior, Ennoshita having simply laughed in response and returned the favour by pointing out that Kenma didn’t quite carry the same presence that Kuroo did. Any remaining tension between them had dissipated as soon as they had spotted Tanaka and Taketora, both huddled in a corner whispering conspiratorially, matching statements of “idiots” slipping out as sighs.

He’s not as intimidating but he can still command presence, hands clamping down on the shoulders of Tanaka and Nishinoya, squeezing tightly as he smiled a little too softly at the gathering who seemed to slowly sink under the weight of it. “I believe you were all returning to your teams, yes?” His tone leaves no room for argument, at least that’s what he hopes, watching with baited breath as they disperse, waiting until they had gone before finally allowing himself to relax.

“They were-”

“You don’t need to tell me.” Ennoshita sighs, cutting off Noya, already knowing that whatever reason they had to get into the fight was, it didn’t need explaining. He trusted his team enough for that. “Just…Just try not to do it again, please.”

---

It’s late on a Tuesday when everything is finally addressed, thirteen days since the incident in Tanaka’s home and thirteen days since they’ve danced around the subject, Ennoshita looking up when he feels someone sit next to him on the bench, surprised to find Tanaka sat there but not at all finding it unwelcomed. “What brings you out here?” Ennoshita asks, dog earring the page he was on and closing his book, cheek resting against his brought up knees and his hand on offer on the chance the Ace wanted to hold it.

“Was looking for the love of my life.” Tanaka states, voice subdued and its unsettling, too used to the confident and boisterous side of him that bellowed across courts and ripped his shirt off in victory. Tanaka is loud, headstrong, a focal point made flesh, he didn’t do quiet moments often, didn’t let his voice drop so low in volume it could barely be considered a whisper. It’s strange but he loves it all the same, a small selfish part of him wishing he’d be the only one to ever here the other like this.

“Did you find them?” He doesn’t try to hide the hope on his voice, too wrapped up in the idea that he might just be what Tanaka was into, be good enough to be the object of his affections even if just for a brief time. He had gained confidence since becoming the Captain, had grown into himself and learnt to become more assertive but the other was able to reduce him back to the shy mess he had been when he was younger like Tanaka was flames and he was made of matches.

Hands find each other, cold and pale meeting warm and tan, the grip loose enough to be comfortable yet firm enough to know it couldn’t be broken that easily. He would have been happy with that, cheeks flushing pink as a hand gently pried his cheek from his knees, calloused thumb brushing over his cheek before lips meet.

It’s brief but that’s all it needs to be, first kiss pressed to the corner of his lips before the second one captures them, the grip on his hand tightening briefly as they pull apart, Ennoshita admiring the flustered look of Tanaka’s cheeks, knowing full well he was in a similar state if not worse.

In his fantasies, he’d pictured Tanaka making any confession into a big affair, loud and unabashed, proclaiming his love for all of Japan to hear like he had with Kiyoko at any given moment. He’d thoroughly embarrass Ennoshita, grinning proudly without a care in the world. He hadn’t pictured it would be quietly, sat on a bench by the school gardens at Shiratorizawa, a fond smile tugging at his lips as he realises that he wouldn’t have had it any other way.

“Yeah, I think I did.”

#ennotana #ennoshita chikara #tanaka ryuunosuke #haikyuu #tanaenno #karasuno #narita kazuhito #kinoshita hisashi #nishinoya yu #tanaka saeko #terushima yuuji #rating: T #yachi hitoka

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needs-to-stop-looking-at-yigas · 3 years

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Wait, Kohga's got a thing for Daruk? Can I request/lovingly demand to see that? Or you know what, Kohga and any other Goron? Because I would PAY to see Kohga trying to take Goron dick and being like "... I may be in over my head here" 😂

One, Kohga ABSOLUTELY has a thing for Daruk. Big body, LOTS of pretty hair, and does more or less whatever he’s told. Granted I have no clue how much they’d have in common, but it’s smut, so here we go. Two, don’t you underestimate how much dick this man can take. Old Yiga techniques in this bitch.

“You know what, I can KINDA see where you’re coming from with this!”

“RIGHT?!”

Kohga and Daruk had decided to spend time together, upon Mipha’s instance (she was all about that sort of ‘unity’ and shit), and the ONE thing they could bond over? Food. It was why they were by a nearby stable, throwing stuff into a cooking pot. Turns out Daruk was a DAMN good cook, and with their combined ingredients, they were eating their fat asses off. Right now they were eating poultry pilaf, topped with goron spice, AND sliced bananas. Daruk wasn’t for it at the start, but he was now all about it, tucking into his bowl happily. Daruk damn near licked the bowl, nodding in content.

“I didn’t think bananas worked. I’ve had them with apples, but bananas? Somehow works.”

“Bananas go well with EVERYTHING. Add that with the goron spice, AND the way you cook that chicken? Beautiful. Nice skin by the way, crunchy.”

“Prime rock roasts are crunchier, but I don’t exactly think you can eat that.”

“I’ve THOUGHT about it, Link makes it look good.”

They both had a chuckle at that. They liked Link, and his insatiable hunger was one of those factors. Daruk looked through his ingredients, rubbing his chin for a second.

“How about...ooh, mushroom saute?”

“Only if you have Hylian mushrooms.”

“I got sunshrooms, but those are better.”

“Not for mushroom saute!”

Daruk shot him a look as if he was crazy.

“Okay, explain it to me, because sunshrooms are the best mushrooms.”

“Hylian mushrooms absorb the spices better. Sunshrooms are full of heat as is, it’s overkill.”

“Alright, let’s test it, powder puff.”

Kohga handed him the mushrooms, but not before raising a brow.

“I’m sorry, 'powder puff'?”

“Yeah, the hair. It’s like those little makeup puff things.”

“I’m OFFENDED! This is a traditional yiga hairstyle!”

“Is that why EVERYONE has their hair up like that?”

“Look,not everyone can have fucking lynel maned hair like you, don’t rub it in.”

Daruk laughed at that, rubbing the back of his head.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I was just pokin’ fun. Didn’t know people actually liked my hair that much.”

“Course everyone does! Look at this shit!”

Kohga dug his hand in his hair, helping it get only messier. God how pretty, all that hair was. What Kohga would give to pull it. Daruk laughed, cheeks getting rosey as he was getting flustered. Honestly, it was easy to charm Daruk.

“Aw, Kohga, thanks! Really, nice of ya. I’m glad Mipha made us spend time together. I’m not gonna lie, I wasn’t sure how to feel about you when you first joined.”

Kohga shrugged, helping Daruk mix the food, mainly to check if it was done.

“I mean I can’t totally blame you, I DID try to kill you guys. Multiple times.”

“AND get Sooga to kill us a few times. Speaking of, where is the guy? Thought he was always glued to you?”

“Eh, I made him spend some time with Teba. Figured YOU were strong enough to protect little ol’ me.”

“Course I can! Ain’t nothin’ happening to you, even if there WAS something to be scared of!”

Daruk patted his head, and Kohga could swoon. Kohga, ever since he was a young man, had a thing for the big, strong Gorons. Hell, one of his first crushes was a Goron traveller (god did he LAY the flirts on that poor guy). Daruk served them their own bowls of the different sautees, and Daruk nodded thoughtfully.

“You know what, you’re right, actually. Huh, I always thought nothing could taste better than sunshrooms.”

Kohga nodded, swapping bowls with him for a minute.

“I mean the sunshrooms aren’t bad, not dissing your tastes. You like flavors as big as you, can’t say I blame you. Better than Sooga’s cooking anyway.”

Daruk laughed again, smacking his knee.

“Oh he can’t be THAT bad!”

“He doesn’t even LIKE Goron spice! I like the guy, a lot, but he needs to learn how to actually cook. Speaking of, how did YOU learn how to cook?”

“All Goron’s like to teach one another how to cook. I learned from a bunch of Gorons. You?”

“My mother. She was a great cook, taught me everything I know. She loved Goron spice too, always put it on meat. Especially during the holidays. Loved that woman.”

Kohga finished his bowl, about to decide just what they should eat next, when he felt something drop onto his head. He held his hand out, and felt it again. Rain. It then started to sprinkle, and in a manner of seconds, started to pour. They both scurried on inside (with Daruk being a gentleman and using his arm to protect Kohga), and Kohga went to the stablehand at the counter.

“Can we get a room for the night?”

Daruk, lost in his mess of wet hair, shook his head.

“I don’t mind sitting out with everyone, really-”

“I’m not asking. We need a room for this big guy, the biggest one you got.”

Daruk clearly had complaints about Kohga paying, but he wouldn’t let him get a word in edgewise. Kohga helped him to his room, and right after getting him to bed, Kohga grabbed a towel, and smacked it on his face, trying to try his hair. Daruk chuckled, clearly not used to someone fussing over him like this.

“Hey, what’s your deal? It’s just some rain!”

“Sooga’s not here, ergo I’m your problem big guy. Now hold still, you’re almost dry.”

Daruk chuckled, sitting still as Kohga got the water out of his hair. Most of it anyway, he was mainly concerned of Daruk being able to see.

“I think I know why Mipha talks so much about you. You’re nice.”

“Hey. Hey. Don’t make me sound all sugar and sweet, rock man. Mipha likes everyone.”

Kohga was being a bit aggressive with the towel, mainly in hopes of getting him to shut the hell up.

“Not like you. She talks about you and Link a LOT. It’s kinda why I agreed to hang out with you, because you mean a lot to her.”

“Bah, it’s just because I set her up with Link.”

“You just don’t wanna admit you’re good.”

Kohga lifted his towel from Daruk’s face, seeing that big, stupid, grinning face of his. He was way different from Sooga, plenty expressive, ALWAYS smiling and chuckling. Not to mention he had the GALL to be so snarky with him.

“God bless your future wife, she needs the patience of a saint to deal with you. Lucky the face saves it.”

Kohga threw the towel at him, choosing to sit next to him and pout. He damn near fell off the bed as Daruk ‘patted’ him on his back.

“I know you meant that as an insult, but that’s super sweet.”

“How?”

Kohga groaned, rubbing his shoulder as the ache reached the rest of his body. Daruk shrugged, cleaning the rest of the rain water off of him.

“You said ‘bless your future wife’. Dunno if I’ll ever have one, but that’s super sweet. You try to be a big, scary guy, but you’re super sweet.”

“You’re lucky you’re not Sooga, HE gets slapped for calling me sweet. But yeah, you’ll have one. You’re tolerable. Something about the way you said that though...thinking about someone?”

Kohga was suddenly in his lap, on his back, looking right up at Daruk. Daruk grinned, giving a shake of his head.

“I mean...can you keep a secret?”

“Course, course! Unless you include my diary. I tell my diary everything.”

“Fair enough. Uh, yeah. Urbosa. I REALLY like Urbosa.”

“URBOSA? Really?”

Daruk nodded, digging into his ear in hopes of getting water out of it.

“Yeah. She’s super strong, she’s smart, she’s fearless, we’ve known each other for a LONG time.”

“So what’s stopping you? You two fight well together, I’d say that’s just as good of a date.”

Daruk shrugged, lifting his arm up to even dry his armpits. Not that Kohga was looking.

“I dunno. Feel like she’d be interested in some other guy. Feels like she’d like someone like Kass. You know, romantic like. I dunno the first thing about girls, much less a woman like her.”

“What is there to know? Women just like a guy who tries.”

“...really?”

“I actually don’t know, I’m gay as shit.”

Daruk sighed a bit, actually feeling a twinge of hope for a second. He seemed to have finished with the towel, wiping his hands, mainly as a means to do something with his sudden bout of nervous energy.

“I dunno. I guess it’s not something that’s gonna happen. Which is fine, I appreciate just knowing her. She deserved better anyway, what’s she want from someone who can’t woo her?”

Kohga shouldn’t be thinking what he was thinking. But Daruk was so vulnerable. So easily persuaded. Big, cute, eager to know how to love. Not to mention being locked in a room with him, all alone. A nice prey for a predator like himself. He sat up, trying not to grin too much.

“I can teach you.”

“What?”

Daruk clearly was confused. But that’s exactly what Kohga was hoping for.

“I’m not like Urbosa, but I know her VERY well. We’ve been fighting for a long, long time, you get to know someone pretty damn well. So, why don’t you try some stuff on me?”

“Uh…”

“What? Don’t do dudes?”

“No, it’s not that, I’ve been with guys before. It’s just...didn’t expect this, I guess?”

“That’s what love is! Spontaneous stuff! Full of surprises! I’m gay, but I know that’s ONE thing girls love. Plus, when has Urbosa ever shied away from any inconvenience, including in the battlefield?”

Daruk thought about it, and as Kohga suspected, it worked. He rubbed his head for a second, before nodding.

“I mean...kinda makes sense, actually.”

Kohga held onto his face, giving it a light squish.

“Of course I make sense! I’m THE Master Kohga! I’ll even be a nice guy and help you get started.”

Daruk seemed surprised by the way Kohga pushed him flat on his back (the power of cock made Kohga a VERY strong man), and crawled down to...whatever the hell it is that Gorons wore. Kohga always called it a thong, but he was pretty sure that wasn’t the official name for the garment. Either way, he pulled it away, and nearly choked on air. Holy. Fucking. Shit. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it sure as shit wasn’t this goddamn lynel crusher of a dick. It was huge, scaley (Gorons were more or less rock creatures with some parts of lizards), and as Kohga cupped it in his palm, he realized it wasn’t even hard. It was this big, as it was SOFT. The rather coarse texture was because of big, thick scales it was covered in. Daruk sat there for a moment, clearly confused as to why Kohga was just sitting there, gawking at him like that.

“I uh...you okay-”

“I’m JUST now figuring out you’re hung like a Lynel, I’m VERY okay.”

Don’t get Kohga wrong, this guy was a goddamn BEAST, but Kohga liked a big, thick challenge. Daruk was about to speak, clearly about to tell him he could call this off, but then he felt Kohga’s hand slide down his girth. Now that he actually touched it like this, he realized it wasn’t exactly rough as he thought, as it seemed to bend with a firm hold. Good, so it wouldn’t be like fucking a giant pinecone, but rather a cock with thick ridges. Yeah, he could work with this. Daruk chuckled, combing his hands through his messy hair.

“You uh...done this before, I take it?”

“Not with a Goron, but definitely done it before. Sneaking guys into stable rooms and getting my fill is...a hobby of mine, guess you could say. You’re not used to this though, you’re really liking how I’m holding you.”

“You have REALLY soft hands.”

“Funny, been told that a lot.”

Kohga chuckled. It was nice, getting to feel something bigger than his entire arm in his hand. The way it seemed to radiate heat, the way the flesh started to get harder as his hand roamed up nice and down. Kohga’s hand roamed, trying to find just what he liked, when he noticed just the spot close to the head. It made Daruk grunt a bit, and from a Goron, that was just as good as a moan.

“You’re REALLY good at finding that spot, Kohga.”

“Thank you. It helps that you aren’t fighting me on this.”

“Why would I? We both agreed to this, and this is...for Urbosa, right?”

“For who?”

“Urbosa.”

“Ah, right right right. Yes, totally for her.”

Daruk opened his mouth to ask of his true intentions, when he realized that wasn't very important, given the fact that Kohga's mouth wrapped itself around the head. Kohga’s soft lips never failed to make any cock feel good, and Daruk's was no exception. Kohga knew he couldn't swallow the whole thing (least not without some practice), but that didn't mean anything when you sucked as good as he did. He took a decent amount of him, and he felt Daruk get into it, so far as to put his hand on his head, gently prompting to take him further. If Kohga couldn’t breathe, he could stay down here all damn day. Unfortunately, air was a thing, so he had to pull away, softly gasping as drool still connected his mouth to his cock. Daruk lightly poked him in the shoulder.

"Sorry, I push too hard?"

Kohga shook his head, grinning as he used his hand to spread his spit along his cock.

"No, not at all. You're a big guy Daruk, but don't treat me so delicately. I can handle you, in the battlefield, and in the bedroom."

"Please don't tell me that means you're gonna take me without lube."

"Oh dear god no. I'm brave, but that'd be a suicide mission."

Kohga sat up, and dug into his inventory, pulling out a bottle of lube. Daruk gestured to it as he tried to catch his breath. Poor Daruk was holding himself pretty well up until now. Big, strong man he was. He removed his clothes (nothing more than needed of course), and was about to do some self prep, really put on a show, when suddenly Daruk pinned him down on his back, big, heavy palm on his chest.

"Hey, let me handle that. You shouldn't be doing all that work."

"I'd say 'fuck you, I do things how I want', but I do like doing no work. Almost gentlemanly, big and brawn. "

"Women like that stuff, right?"

"Course! Granted Urbosa is clearly not someone to flop over, but she's gotta appreciate you offering to do most of the...handiwork. I mean I know I do."

Kohga chuckled. He wasn’t Sooga by any means, but he was a big, handsome meathead. Most Gorons were. Full of gusto and big, stupid muscle. Was it any wonder Kohga had SUCH a crush on their species? It helped that Daruk wasn’t a total newbie about this, and didn't seem to be shy at all. Caring, but not shy. He lubed up his big, strong hands, and lathered up Kohga’s ass and legs, really getting him comfortable to his touch. Goron’s hands were...hot. Kohga was damn near swooning.

"You're gonna tell me if it hurts, right?"

"Pfft. If I didn't like it, trust me, you'd be on the floor."

"You wanna bet, boss man?"

Oh. Oh the way Daruk grabbed his ass as he said that. The way he leaned into him, looking at him with big, challenging eyes. The way he SAID that nickname. It took so much of Kohga not to just melt like butter, and giggle like a bunch of giddy school girls. Kohga may be a top, but if a man was big enough, strong enough, COCKY enough, that could change in an absolute flash. He gulped, forcing his inner whore to keep his composure. Even as Daruk dug a big, oiled finger inside of him, Kohga forced himself to keep his composure.

"Yeah, I do mean it. Bigger doesn't mean stronger. You wanna see it, I'm down."

"Ha! You got attitude, just like she does. Maybe this IS good practice."

"Practice my ass. No seriously, push it further, I can take it."

Daruk didn't seem convinced, but he was at LEAST smart enough to do as he said, and shoved his finger well knuckle deep. It made Kohga tremble a bit from it's size. It was so nice, so big, so slow and steady, Kohga knew he could cum with this, if given enough time. But he wanted more. He wanted to get fucking DESTROYED by that giant weapon on his. Daruk seemed to take the hint, and taunted Kohga's hole with another finger.

"Let's make a deal. If you can handle two fingers, right to the knuckle, we’ll do the real deal.”

“I could handle your whole fist if I wanted to!”

“You wanna bet?”

Daruk made the motion to move further when Kohga panicked, holding his hands out to stop him, and yelling at him to NOT. Don’t get Kohga wrong, he loved a good fisting, he just didn’t like it with a side of death. Daruk threw his head back in laughter, clearly he was kidding.

“I was just calling on your bluff, boss man! You’re fun to mess with. Sooga treats you like this, don’t he?”

Kohga was about to bark at him for talking to him like that, when Daruk introduced a second finger, and god dammit did it kill Kohga. A damn, good stretch, no hesitation on his end. He swore a bit under his breath, before shaking his head.

“I treat HIM like this. I’m much better with my hands. And he usually respects me enough to NOT talk back to me.”

“But you kinda like it. I can tell, because you aren’t stopping me.”

Kohga wanted to have a good comeback for that, but YOU try having something to say when fingers that big were pumping into your oiled up ass. Kohga stammered for a response, before he resorted to punching his shoulder.

“God just shut up and fuck me, rock man.”

Daruk wanted to keep using his fingers, but something told him that if he kept delaying it, Kohga was going to just kill him. So he slowly pulled his fingers out, before grabbing a hold of his thighs, and yanked him closer, till his own dick was brushed up against him. Suffice to say, Kohga was a BIT intimidated. His grip on Kohga was tight as he leaned down to his face.

“I can usually tell by someone’s face if they don’t want this. But uh...with the mask and all, I gotta ask, you sure you wanna do this? We can stop, or do something else. I don’t mind doing something...safer, I guess. No shame if you wanna back out.”

Kohga was distracted for a second. The thing was huge, and it was right up against his stomach. He could feel it, hot and thick against him. He wanted it, and he wanted it BAD. Kohga grabbed him by his stupid blue sash thing, and pulled, wanting to show just how serious he was.

“Fuck. Me. Daruk.”

That was as much of a sign as any. Daruk was so easy on those he found who needed a delicate touch, but if they wanted to go all out against him, he was NOT one to hold back. So he pushed his tip against him, before finally going inside of him. Kohga’s extra hand dug into the sheets. Now don’t get him wrong, he’s had some pretty damn good cock, but this? JUST having the tip in? Kohga already wanted to cum. It stretched his ass, and holy shit did Kohga love it. So much so, he was JUST now noticing Daruk was snapping his fingers in front of his face.

“You okay? You weren’t saying anything, thought I broke you.”

“I’m good. SO good, honestly. You could do more, a LOT more, half at least.”

Daruk learned quickly it seemed, choosing not to question him, and slowly, ever so slowly, started to push more into him. Daruk had one hand onto the wall, the other was used to hold Kohga down, as if he was worried Kohga would run from him. Kohga stayed right there, drooling right behind his mask. Daruk was being careful, but wasn’t sweet. His cock was filling him up, stretching him. As if that wasn’t enough, Daruk was letting him run his hand through that absolute mane of hair. So soft, so warm, it somehow made his cock twitch even harder. But that was nothing compared to how well it felt, having HALF of him inside. Daruk moved his hand right to ass, helping himself to a nice, big handful of Kohga’s absolute dump truck of an ass. No permission, no shyness. Just a big, hot hand. Holy shit.

“Gotta give you credit, you’re handling yourself pretty damn well. I’d ask if you were liking it, but uh, something tells me you are.”

Daruk’s stomach pressed up against his dick, and it was SO close to being enough to make him cum. Kohga prided himself in stamina, but dammit he wanted to bust one here and now. Kohga swallowed, somehow finding his voice as he panted something fierce.

“Y-yeah. I am. Don’t get cocky though, I can outlast you.”

“You wanna bet, bossman?”

Daruk was putting his full weight on him, really pushing himself against him, and holy fuck Kohga was so close that time. But that big, stupid face on Daruk forced him to not cum.

“Yeah. You wanna act smug, let’s bet. If YOU cum first, you gotta ask Urbosa out on a date.”

Daruk’s smirk shrunk a bit, definitely not liking that idea. His brows furrowed in determination.

“Alright. If I win, YOU gotta give Sooga a romantic date. No work on his end.”

Neither wanted to do either of these things, but both knew one of them HAD to be done. So, they both nodded in silent agreement. And that’s when things got crazy. The idea of a contest ignited that Goron fire in him, and Daruk started to finally move. Not just move, but actual rough, rhythmic thrusts, right into Kohga’s ass, He never went anymore than halfway into him, but that was more than enough for Kohga’s greedy ass. Daruk’s cock was not only big, not only thick, but those scales seemed to just brush against every sensitive little part of him. Kohga, in the midst of getting his ass PLOWED into, made the mental note to get a dildo that was JUST like the cock he was getting right now. Kohga thought he was doomed. But then he saw Daruk’s face.

Daruk was panting, he was groaning, he looked like he hadn’t gotten a piece of ass in a long, long time. Then Kohga recalled; HE was the top. He was going to MAKE Daruk lose this bet, even if it killed him. Despite the fact that his ass was being stretched to the size of a goddamn manhole, he dug his hand in that big mess of chest hair, and pulled. Just like Sooga’s long hair, Daruk liked his being pulled, forcing him to rest his forehead against his fist as he tried to pick up his pace. Daruk wasn’t faring too well, and it gave Kohga a fuck ton of confidence.

“You’re gonna fucking lose. You’re gonna lose because you LIKE fucking up my ass. You got a smart mouth, and nice, big hands, with lots of pretty hair. But you just can’t hold yourself when it comes to fucking a body like mine. You JUST started to plow me, and you’re already twitching.”

Kohga gave his chest hair another sharp pull, making him groan loudly at the firm grip from the otherwise soft, delicate hands.

“AND you even like your hair being pulled. You act like you’re rough and rowdy, but you really just like a nice, plump ass to stick that monster cock into. And it’s gonna feel even better when you FUCKING cum in it. Go on, give me that fucking Goron cum.”

Kohga had a way with words. Had a way with his greedy hands and plump ass. Such a way, that Daruk came. He came, with a loud, shameless growl in his voice. Immediately Kohga felt his ass stuffed in cum. However, given the fact that it was occupied with damn near a whole foot of Goron cock, it spilled down his ass, and into the bed below. Kohga was grateful for it, and used the chance to pump his own cock. It helped that Goron cum felt...different from normal cum. It felt much thicker, much HOTTER than usual cum. It didn’t burn, but holy hell did it feel good to have it shoved in his insides. Not to mention him cumming right after, being full of so much big, sexy Goron, felt SO much better than any personal wank session. He didn’t even care that he came, all over his chest, and even his own mask. It was a good, hard, fast fuck that Kohga wanted, and deserved.

They sat there for a moment, bathed in sweat and cum. Kohga couldn’t remember when he last felt so full, and Daruk couldn’t remember when he last felt so empty. Kohga chuckled, leaning up a bit to poke Daruk on the forehead.

“I win. YOU gotta ask Urbosa out now!”

Daruk groaned, rubbing his forehead as if he had a headache.

“I...guess you’re right. A bet is a bet, boss man. Can’t believe you beat me to the punch.”

Kohga folded his arms over his chest, smug as could be.

“Course I did! I’m THE Master Kohga! Now, help me get out of bed. I feel absolutely NOTHING below the waist.”

#asks #kohga #daruk #lemon #lesson of the day; kohga is not shy of any dick #and he REALLY liked gorons #especially ones with a lot of hair and attitude #kohga and sooga went to goron city ONCE #kohga would not leave anyone alone #literally ever since Kohga was a young man he found gorons SO cute

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readerinsertfanfiction · 4 years

Text

The Bae’st of All

Fandom: Ikemen Sengoku

Character: Kyubae the bae’st bae of all aka Kyubei

Prompt: Seeing how Kyubei is named after an alias that the real Mitsuhide Akechi used (Juubei) the chances of fans getting a Kyubei route from Cybird are slim. However, it is simply impossible not to fall for this man. He is too good. So here have my attempt at writing a route.

A/N: Longer chapter this month and no, that isn’t the reason why I’m not back on my weekly nonsense.

The key of the previous chapter was (Romantic/Dramatic):

+2/+4

+4/+4

+4/+2

Chapters:

1.1| 1.2 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 3.1 | 3.2 | 4.1

Avatar Challenge 1| 3.1 Gacha POV | 1st Letter

Keiji wore an impish smile as he smiled down at me, his eyes crinkling into half moons.

“Well? I know that Kyubei went back to work already.”

Shifting in my seat I wondered if Keiji had been watching me, as he flashed me another bright smile, a hand reaching out to me as he pulled me up.

“Come on, let’s go. Knowing Mitsuhide he really didn’t bother having you shown around properly so far, and knowing Kyubei he has been far too busy to take you out properly. Let me fix that!”

Excited Keiji bounded off, my hand tightly held in his as I flash a look of regret at the sweets and tea I had barely started on.

“Ah, Keiji!”

A friendly old man calls out to us, seated cross legged on the ground he has a drum in his lap, dressed in decorative robes as he waves us over.

“Old man!”

Keiji responds with a beaming grin, earning the look of similarly dressed people, some holding instruments, others in the middle of some warmup poses.

“Is that the new princess the castle town has been talking about? She is much prettier than our princess.”

The ‘old man’ gestures at me, letting go of a dry laugh at my blush. Somewhere in the back a girl dressed in brighter and bolder colours than the rest gives the man a playful push, a huff escaping her lips.

“I just need to dance like one, not look the part.”

Her answer earns her another round of taunts from the rest as they push and pull between their teases as I watch them with some envy.

(They’re all so comfortable with each other, like a bunch of childhood friends, or one big family.)

“They’re not much different from our antics, you know?”

Keiji’s words pull me out of my thoughts as I blink at him, wondering how he managed to read my thoughts so easily.

“Everyone wants to get to know the chatelaine better, but as long as she remains afraid there is little we can do.”

Keiji’s words struck me as I blink up at him, confusion settling over my expression as I wordlessly sounded my question.

“I don’t think Kyubei minds your company, but there is no need for you to actually study so hard. Nobunaga would be just as pleased to have you lean back and indulge in the luxuries provided.”

A bad feeling rises over me, clambering around my heart as I eye Keiji, trying to discern the true meaning of his words.

(I thought I was brought to the Akechi manor to teach me proper manners, but are they saying that I have been sheltered instead? That they were worried that I would be uncomfortable and hence let me stay outside of the castle?)

“Ah, no need to look guilty. No one thinks you are a burden, or a nuisance. We just want you to be comfortable, even Mitsuhide.”

Letting the words sink in I realise the consideration everyone has ever had for me. The presents that the warlords kept on sending me, their occasional visits, and the kindness in which Kyubei taught me despite his own work.

(They have been nothing but kind to me.)

“Hey, cheer up. There is no time to lament, dance!”

Keiji’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts once more as he leads me into a circle where the rest of the troupe is as well. When the old man hits the drum I realise that they are about to start their performance, expectant eyes from the crowd slowly coming to a stop as they eye me.

“I can’t dance!”

(I need to get out of here!)

“No!”

No matter the protests I’m already brought into the crowd before I know it, stringed along to dance with Keiji as the crowd cheers.

(This is actually kinda fun?)

The sound of music slowly takes away my embarrassment and before I know it I’m immersed into their music, enjoying my time here.

“Told ya, there is nothing much to fear, princess.”

Keiji smiles brightly at me afterwards, his cheeks slightly flushed from the exercise, but content.

“Next time I will play an instrument for you, old man!”

His energy seems endless as he continues to banter with the troupe, an instrument pushed into his hands as he plays a little tune each time. I realise that Keiji is familiar with all of the instruments introduced.

In awe I look upon him in amazement, not noticing the rough shoulder that pushes me to the side as the crowd disperses itself, a mean looking man stepping forward.

“What are you low-lives doing here?”

(Yikes, we got a bully there.)

The man and his friend surround the troupe, hands settled upon their swords as they glower down the group, aiming for the old man specifically.

“You are hinin, return to your rightful place outside of the castle-town.”

The man spoke sternly as he kicked out the drum from the old man’s hands. The troupe stilled, their expressions taut as they glower the man down.

“We are at the border of the castle-town. Surely we can play music here?”

The response of the old man is calm and unflinching, as if he has experienced this on a daily basis. It hurts to think that he might.

“Didn’t you hear me? You vile people should leave at once before we cut you up!”

The threat rings through the air as my eyes widen. Without another thought I rush in, spreading my arms out as I stand between them.

“H-hey now, there is no reason to treat people like that. They’re making an honest living, not?”

To this Keiji steps into view as well, slinging an arm around the man with the sword as he smiles gingerly.

“Listen to the lady, she is right, they aren’t bothering anyone, but you are bothering them, not?”

“Lord Keiji!”

The man’s lofty attitude instantly crumbles at the sight of Keiji as the other shrugs his shoulders.

“Wish you could keep that attitude up, scram off and don’t let me hear of this again.”

The words Keiji spoke are unlike the bright bubbly character that I have come to know so far. His expression now severe as he watched the men scramble off, clearly not ready for a confrontation with the real authority.

“You have guts, princess. I knew I didn’t misjudge you. After all, you saved Nobunaga.”

Keiji addresses me once more, his expression back to the bright and bubbly persona from earlier, though I can still see the traces of his earlier irritation.

“Now, you just have to reach out for that courage and I’m sure you'll fit right in with the rest of us.”

(Is he comforting me?)

Confused I turn my eyes to the rest of the troupe, the dancers and musicians looking dejected as they gather their things again.

“Thank you. You shouldn’t have to. You know how common it is for us to face such discrimination.”

The old man addresses the both of us as he slowly gets up from his place.

(Common? That is awful, why would they…)

“Common or not, it shouldn’t be tolerated. Not as long as Nobunaga rules here.”

Keiji’s tone is clipped as he says this, but his smile returns soon enough as he pats the old man on his shoulder.

“We shouldn’t punish you for losing your original home. Not when we are the cause of it.”

I’m still not quite following as I watch Keiji interact. It is only after that the troupe has left to return to their homes outside of the castle town that I dare to ask.

“What are hinin?”

Keiji eyes me with surprise as he grimaces ruefully at me, a hand reaching out to pet my head.

“Under which stone did you crawl from?”

His tone is teasing, though sad as he retreats his hand, a sigh escaping him. For once Keiji’s expression is serious, though more out of respect for the topic than true sadness or pity.

“You know that there are classes, right? Though Nobunaga has abolished them now. Hinin are outcasts, so to say. Foreigners from other lands that have followed warlords in the hopes for a better future.”

I turn to look at the retreating figures of the troupe with a new understanding of their situation.

(How awful. To be discriminated against like that because of the place of birth.)

“Nobunaga values his people by merit. It helps people like them to climb up in ranks, fortunately. It isn’t much now, but hopefully in the future we can all stand equal.”

Keiji’s voice sounds hopeful as he expresses himself and I as well feel my heart lurch up, nodding in enthusiasm back at him.

(I can’t say anything now. But it will be better in the future.)

With that said Keiji returns me to the Akechi manor, his demeanour once more slipping back into his cheery self as he grins at me.

“I hope to see you back in Azuchi soon, princess. Everyone is looking forward to befriending you.”

Though I find it hard to imagine I’m starting to see the sense of it all as I nod in response. Keiji’s eyes crinkling into mischievous slits as he leans over.

“However, I think you will make a certain foxling lonely if you left so soon, so be sure to visit him often?”

I blink a few times as I wonder who Keiji is referring to, earning a boisterous laugh from the male as he pulls away, leaving me at the gate.

“Say hi to the two of them. I will skip by again when I feel like it.”

Raising up a hand he waves himself off without ever turning back.

#ikesen kyubei #kyubei x reader #ikesen #kyubei's route #ikesen x reader #ikemen sengoku #ikemen sengoku x reader #ikemen sengoku kyubei #kyubae

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popculturebuffet · 4 years

Text

Darkwing Duck Reviews Halloween Special: Fungus Amongus and Ghoul of My Dream

Happy Halloween! Halloween Havoc races to the finish with another Darkwing Double Feature! Love is kinda crazy with a spooky girl like Morgana, and in this case “kinda crazy” means a board of ghouls stealing pizza, sentient mushrooms, grumpy spiders, student lone debt, and a gremlin who somehow sees himself as a valid romantic option. It’s a Darkwing Duck Halloween under the cut.+

We’ve made it! While I got less Halloween reviews done than I would’ve liked, I’m still happy with the ones done and there’s still two more to get in the pocket before the day’s up. So with Halloween today it seemed fitting to talk about the Justice Ducks resident sorcerer and Darkwing’s Girlfriend, Morgana Macawber. Morgana was the only one of the four to stick around as a recurring character out of the four Justice Ducks: Gizmoduck would show up once more after the four parter, and sadly Neptunia and Stegamutt just seemed to vanish but the crew clearly liked Morg a lot and her relationship with Darkwing, so she stuck around for the rest of the series, and is even the focus of the final episode “Malice’s Restaurant”, as well as a sizeable part of the comics. And it’s easy to see why as Kathie Sourcie had great chemistry with Jim Cummings and Morgana’s very presence, being a sorceress raised by the munsters and living in a creepy mansion, allowed for diffrent stories than what Darkwing usually dealt with. While magic didn’t feel like it contrasted with the world, as Darkwing’s world feels like your standard superhero fantasy kitchen sink where anything is possible, most of his foes were either super villains or the kinds of super spies you’d find in a comic book. So fighting ghoouls, goblins, and Satan himself, yes that’s an episode that actually happened, no it’s sadly not on Disney plus, and yes I will be covering it eventually, was a nice out of genre experience and a nice way to put our daring duck of mystery out of his element.

She brought something diffrent to the table, both forcing Darkwing to grapple with letting someone into his life, and with having something to focus on other than Gosalyn or crime. So I wanted to see how this plays out, so expect me to cover all her episodes and not just the Satan one or the Valentine’s Day one, though like my Tom Lucitor retrospective, expect this one to also take some time. So with that all set up, Halloween is the perfect time to begin our journey with her first two episodes.. and Morgana’s Villian Career. Yeah while she only had about 9 episodes to her name, 2 of them are as a Catwoman or Black Cat style antagonist, someone whose likeable and who are hero is attracted to, but is on the wrong side of the law.

She eventually came around, but it’s still an intresting way to start things and an intresting dilema for our hero I wish stuck around for just a smidge longer. These aren’t bad episodes with Ghoul of My Dreams being a pretty good one. If I had to guess though the reason the dynamic fizzled out.. is they simply didn’t have a lot of ideas of how to use her as a bad guy. Part of the reason i’m covering these two episodes together is that they follow basically the same plot beat, the only differences being Darkwing meets Morgana in the first one and they know each other in the second, and that the evil entity who ends up turning against her she works with is different for both. The third act is also entirely unique to each episode, so it feels less like them lazily repeating themselves on an episode and more like they genuinely realized they didn’t have a ton of ideas for Morgana as a villain and thus had her reform with the Justice Ducks two parter. And I can’t blame them: fan would get annoyed if basically every Morgana plot played out the same, and this way she could know Drake’s secret identity, and thus allow the stories to use Gosalyn, though I do wish she’d shown up in one of the villian ones just to see how that played out. But still her time as a Villian is there, and is even a plot point in the valentine’s episode, so let’s see how it played out and see what I think.

Fungus Amongus

The plot here is fairly simple: there’s been a rash of mysterious thefts in St. Canard, and Darkwing is stumped.. until Launchpad asks if they can go for pizza, because he’s hungry and Darkwing is the terrible kind of boss that doesn’t’t care about meal breaks. It makes our hungry hero realize that each of the thefts are connected to PIzza Toppings, and after thwarting the bats and spiders stealing some anchovies, figures there’s only two left: Green Peppers and Mushrooms, and so he decides it’s time to split up gang and while Launchpad guards the peppers, Darkwing goes to visit the head of the mushrom company, who naturally turns out to be Morgana. The two end up taken with one another, to the board’s annoyance as Darkwing is onto them and could stop their whole evil plan and they want to just murder his ass and be done with it. But Morgana proves seduction’s a bit more useful as she sweetalks our hero into leaving, and points out given he’s also a creature of the night in a sense, she plans to turn him.. or kill him if she has to. More on that in our next episode. The facade dosen’t last long as Darkwing goes to help launchpad at the pepper place, and ends up finding out oh no the hot lady he met five minutes ago is bad! While the board plans to feed Launchpad to mutant mushrooms, while Morgana seemingly turns Darkwing into her mindless slave.. but really just played the board and switched sides, not wanting to hurt the guy she just met because he’s cute, they defeat the mushrooms and the board who turn into mushrooms in the light because....

The day is saved though we do get the one standout bit of the episode. Darkwing despite his attraction to her, wants to turn her in, while Morgana simply teleports her house away. And thus the dance begins. As for the episode... as you can tell by how brief I was... for one i’m not doing my usual died in wool recapping for these two to get them out on time. And i’m also not because this one.. is pretty thin. The mutant mushroom and boards’d esigns are cool and Morgana is intresting.. but having seen Ghoul of my Dreams first.. it’s just not as fun, funny or good on the Morgana Darkwing dynamic. Morgana just decides because she wants to ride that dick she’ll be good for a moment, and throw away her hard worked scheme, and the board is turned into mushrooms because.. well see the lex luger pic above. It’s not a TERRIBLE episode, just not a terribly intresting one. It has good elements, but they just don’t come together well and the pizza scheme isn’t as funny as the episode thinks it is. I can kinda see why this one was buried deeper into the series and Ghoul of My Dreams is where they put focus. I just don’t have a lot to say about this one, it’s just bland and uninteresting. It’s kind of why I just sorta plopped it next to Ghoul, I needed to review it for completion’s sake, but lord if I can think of a lot to say about it that isn’t tied into the next one. So since I can’t...

Ghoul of my Dreams:

Now this is better. The basic plot is still simple but allows for a lot more intresting set pieces: It’s a slow night in St. Canard, to Darkwing’s natural annoyance, until a bunch of fire fighters start sleepwalking and throwing gold to some spiders and bats. Something is afoot and since the bats belong to Morgana, Darkwing goes to investigate her. Granted we just MET eek and squeak, but it’s easy enough to assume Morgana struck again off screen and some time has passed. And i’ts honestly what makes this episode more interesting: now it’s more of a cat and mouse game, with Morgana using their chemistry against him, but still being genuinely drawn to him and not wanting to hurt him. It’s better than “I met you five minutes ago might as well throw away my money for you”. Instead Morg truly likes Drake, but wants to keep doing crimes to, in easily the best joke of the entire series “Finally pay off my student loans”.. which makes her already not really a bad guy. I may not haves em but I know people who do. Those loan people do not play around. It’s investing and Sourcie and Cumming’s chemstiry really makes it pop. Sourcie really is what makes the character, giving her energy, sedcutivness when called for and a really sympathetic quality that makes her face turn, sudden as it is, believable. It’s why I really like the character. And I get why some don’t: Her romance with darkwing is sudden, her face turn is even more sudden, and she gets in the way of Drakepad shippers. The first two are valid criticisms, while the last one is understandable.. depending on motive. If your just bummed this relationship you don’t like is forced into the show and gets in the way of the one you actually enjoy.. trust me...

BEEN THERE. And far far worse.. I didn’t start up an entire retrospective on the guy who DIDN’T get the girl here for nothing. But if you say “oh well it’s homophobic or you hate gays” if you don’t ship drakepad, which I have actually heard for both this ship and delpad.. kindly go fuck yourself and stay away from my posts. It’s NOT homophobic to ship a character who is CANOCIALLY into women, with a woman. Launchpad had a girl of the week or two in ducktales, Drake’s attraction to morgana is canon and he also had some ship tease with Neptunia. They both like women.. but there’s nothing saying they DON’T like men, don’t want to date men, or aren’t attracted to them.

Been waiting to reference Schitt’s Creek at some point here now i’ve started watching it. It’s biphobic to say this sort of harmful shit, and it doesn’t’t help there are plenty of gay people who genuinely believe bi and pan aren’t sexualities and harm their own community by doing so. Saying this kind of shit just fuels their fire and bi people like me and pan people like my firend have a hard enough time with straight people being dicks about this. You should know and be better. Don’t bring that shit into this fandom. We’ve already ridden incest out on a rail we don’t need this. I already put up with enough bullshit being a loud house fan and having to deal with ACTUAL homophobic ships like Sam/Lincoln, aka setting up a character you don’t know to be anything but gay, versus her girlfriend whose canocially been shown to be bi if preferring women, whose the proment and well like love interest of a woman, and pair her with her younger brother to clearly troll people. Now that’s a homophobic ship and that you shoudl be angry about, not “oh no the person who likes women in canon.. LIKES A WOMAN IN FANON”. It’s part of what made shiping delpad hard at times because people got really dumb about it to the point someone drew some very horrible fanart just to clog up the tag. Knock. it off.

And if your curious for my actual thoughts on Drakepad: in the classic series.. i’m not a fan, but I get it, and I do think they could work... it’s just. that Drake treats Launchpad really bad, including throwing him out of the house for a year without telling him why over something that really wasn’t his fault, not feeding him, not treating him as an equal after a while. This would have to change for them to work but I could see it happening, as the comics and one of the peisodes make a point that Drake can be a pretty shitty partner to Morgana too.

And just to show i’m equal opprtunity, despite shipping Delpad in the past, i’ve moved on to Penpad and Drakepad , ironcially enough, i’m not as big a fan anymore. LIke the above, Della just dosen’t respect launchpad as a human being. She was willing to keep the Halloween thing up JUST to scare children, looks down on him, and whie is his friend, is not all that close. I could see them happening, and do still think it’d be cute, it’d just take a ton of work and there are better ships for both. And yes I do ship Drakepad in the reboot, but there the two aren’t employer and employee, but equals who genuinely love and respect one another, listen to one another, and value each other. In the Reboot they have genuine chemistry and I could see them together, while in the original Launchpad and Morgana both really deserve better.

Now that’s settled, we get a fun scene of the two primping for each other. then flirting a bit, though Morgana, in AWFUL looking black lipstick wins with the move above and has her spider web launchpad, who hates morgana.. which is one part common sense given how darkwing gets around her and one part ho yay. But yeah this is pretty much Launchpad for both these episodes.

And darkwing dick is calling the shots so fair enough. But Morgana is once again nto wokring alone and is working with a creepy, well designed gremlin, named Nodoff... eh i’ve heard worse, whose giving her sleeping dust to knock out her targets and hits on her constnatly. Naturally he plans to betray her as soon as he can, and is likely only tolerating her because he wants to hit that. There dynamic boils down to this.

There’s also tons of fun dream sequences including one at the top with darkwing being confronted by his enitre Rogue’s gallery before seeing morgana, NOdoff using baseball on Morg’s next target and some great ones at the climax. It’s part of hwy I like this episode better: While someone using dreams for stuff has been done a lot, it’s given a creative spin here as instead of killing them, Morgana’s simply using them to steal. Good stuff.

Darkwing foils their first attempt, though gets blamed for it because St. Canard is about as grateful as New York when it comes to superheroes. Morgana knocks darkwing out with some dust via Eeka and Squeak and admits Nodoff is working for her, though fobids him to harm Darkwing. This.. dosen’t last and we get another great setpiece, of sarkwing on a high dive. Thankfully, Launchpad finds him, and they find Morgana, who gives off the student loans comment. But in the struggle to stop her, Darkwing accidently puts her and the city to sleep.. and Nodoff is now super powerful and imprisons morgana. Darkwing i s back at her house, wondering what to do, but the bats give him a clue.. by flying him thorugh the door to fight Nodoff. It goes about as well as you’d expect with him freeing Morgana.. then trying to murder them both. Darkwing however pulls an Elm Streett 3 and says to think happy thoughts and take control of the dream.. which ends up at Darkwing’s Wedding to Morgana to his horror..... remind me whose the hero again. The woman who, while doing crimes is trying to pay off unfair debts, or the guy who finds the idea of commitment horrifying.

Anyways we get some more great bits, I brush over them so I don’t ahve to talk about them conantly, including darkwing getting a cake on him, before Darkwing turns the tables by finding the hourglass full of the dust.. and in a clever finale, loading it into his gun and firing it on nodoff. This puts him to sleep.. which puts him in the real world, while Launchpad uses a giant alarm clock to wake everyone. They throw NOdoff back into the dream world.. for some reason.. and the episode ends iwth morgana kissing darkwing and the episode possibly having been all a dream.

This one, while I was again breif, is a classic, with a much more interesting dynamic. Instead of a morgana who goes from willing to kill we get one whose conflicted over things, who clearly wants to be a crook but may like darkwing more than that, as evidenced when he talks her out of taking Nodoff’s offer of riches. It’s good stuff and the gags are back to the show’s usual top notch level. It’s a creative, fun episode that really helps Morgana come into her own and I look forward to more of her. Overall i’d recommend skipping fungus amongus, but DEFINTELY check out ghoul of my dreams, as it’s throughly fantastic. I’ll be back in a bit for one last Halloween review and as always you can find my backlog on my blog. i recently covered Tiff of the Titans and there’s regular ducktales coverage every monday. Until then make sure to vote, wear a mask and check your house for gary busey till we meet again! Play us out Gerard Way!

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#darkwing duck #drake mallard #disney afternoon #morgana macawber #launchpad mcquack #halloween #drakepad #drakegana

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thenovelartist · 5 years

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The only one who ordered a set of Mystic Messenger headcanons revolving around the trope of “Two people who haven’t confessed getting drunk together that leads to them getting married, only to wake up in the morning in the same bed and have to put the pieces together” is me.

It’s my Happy Trash.

And I’m dumping it here, so... do whatever with it. XD

Yoosung

· It’s a college party. Of course, there’s alcohol.

· All the more so when it’s being thrown at bar near campus.

· Yoosung’s friend was throwing a birthday party for his girlfriend, which only reminded Yoosung of how he wished he had a girlfriend.

· Though he had a girl in mind, he had been repeatedly told MC was way out of his league and to stop dreaming.

· That alone had convinced him to pull his act together. He had eased up on his gaming and started focusing back on his studies.

· However, his efforts hadn’t been noticed.

· Maybe it drove him to drink a little more than he should.

· Er… a lot more.

· Cue sad drunk Yoosung.

· He ended up blubbering to a random girl who had approached him earlier about how much he loved MC and wanted to be with her, which was why he changed everything about him but to no avail.

· “Aww, Yoosung!”

· As the beers kept coming, the girl beside him was looking more and more like MC as time went on.

· And soon, he forgot she wasn’t. She couldn’t be here, after all. It was just a bunch of college kids throwing the party. She hadn’t been invited.

· “I just wanna be with you, MC! I wanna marry you and be a good husband and have a family and be a good daddy!”

· “Oh, Yoosung. I wanna marry you, too.”

· Flash forward about 10 hours, and Yoosung found himself fast asleep, dreaming about weddings and MC and him taking her home to live with him forever.

· Forever

· “Yoosung.”

· Something shook him, but he didn’t want to wake up. It was a sweet dream. He was so happy. He didn’t want to leave it.

· “Yoosung!”

· That dream faded, and he was left with a pulsing in his head. He went back to snuggling against his pillow, burying his face against it.

· But his pillow squeaked and kicked him in the shin.

· His brow furrowed, and he forced his eyes open.

· It was so bright he slammed them back shut.

· “Yoosung!”

· He groaned. “What?” He whined, opening his eyes again.

· His gaze locked on another set of eyes.

· Processing… Processing…

· Wait…

· With a yelp, Yoosung released his death grip on MC and flailed backwards, only to fall out of bed and crash to the floor.

· “Oh my gosh! Are you okay?” she cried, looking down at him from the bed.

· He could only gape up at her. Taking in her long brown hair and concerned gaze and the way his tee-shirt hung off her shoulder.

· … wait.

· Yoosung.exe has crashed. Reboot?

· “Wha… you… huh?”

· She snorted, an awkward half smile crossing her lips. “Uh… hi?”

· Is that what you say to people you didn’t realize you slept with? Because he sure as heck didn’t know.

· And did he really sleep with her? Because for the life of him, he couldn’t remember what happened last night.

· “Wha… what are you doing here?”

· “You don’t remember?”

· “N-not really.”

· She’d been at the bar enjoying some time with her friends. But then her friends had had to leave. However, seeing him across the bar, she decided to go say hi.

· And he was clearly already drunk. While she’d been on the verge.

· “And then you started telling me you loved me.”

· “I wha?”

· Yoosung.exe was running slowly due to large file

· “And then…” MC flashed her hand forward, where a ring was now sitting on her finger. “I think you made good on your promise to marry me.”

· Yoosung.exe has crashed. Please wait to restart.

· Processing

· Processing…

· He looked down at his hand. Where a wedding ring now sat.

· Cue freak out.

· After a lot of screaming and yelling, he eventually offered to make breakfast. It allowed him some time to process everything.

· Particularly, what they were going to do about their… situation.

· “You said you wanted to marry me.”

· “Y-yeah,” he stuttered, his cheeks heating up again.

· He was permanently red at this poing.

· “So, why can’t we stay married?”

· Yoosung dropped the egg he was holding.

· Boy is shook

· He heard her right, right?

· “You… you really want to marry me?”

· MC shot him a smile, nodding. “I do, Yoosung.”

· The next twenty minutes are filled with Yoosung’s happy tears as he kneels in front of MC, clinging to his wife.

· He’s so happy.

Zen

· It’s after the final night of his latest play.

· He’s out celebrating at a bar with some of his coworkers. The rest weren’t joining them because they either had other things planned or were with their SO.

· He wished he could be with his SO.

· Problem is, he didn’t have one.

· Not that he didn’t want one. He had a girl in mind. He just hadn’t confessed.

· Never thought it would be hard to.

· He thought he was hallucinating when he saw the girl of his dreams across the bar.

· He wasn’t hallucinating.

· “Zen!” MC called out. “You did so well!”

· “Didn’t you already come opening night?”

· “I couldn’t help but want to see it again.”

· He offered her a drink; she accepted.

· And they drank well into the evening.

· “I loved your character,” she slurred. “He was so romantic. And his proposal…” She pretended to swoon and nearly fell out of her chair in the process. “If I were that girl, I’d marry you in a heartbeat!”

· “You should!” Zen cried. “Totally. Marry me.”

· MC pouted. “But you didn’t propose like in the play!”

· Zen could barely remember his lines, nor could he manage staying balanced on one knee. He collapsed to both of them and recited a botched version of his part.

· Next thing he knew, Zen was waking up with a slamming headache.

· He grunted, shifting his head deeper into the pillow to avoid the sunlight. “So bright,” he muttered.

· “Make it go away.”

· It took a moment for Zen to realize he did not say that.

· It sounded like MC’s voice.

· Geez, even hungover, he hears her.

· He shifted again, but this time, he realized…

· That’s skin.

· There was someone with him in bed.

· Shocked, he opened his eyes before immediately regretting it

· After taking a moment to adjust to the light and ignoring the throbbing it caused in his head, he learned just who was in bed with him.

· holy shit, holy shit, holy shit—

· He rubbed his hands down his face, shocked out of his mind.

· But then he felt something funny on his hand.

· He glanced down.

· Was that a wedding ring?

· It’s a wedding ring.

· Holy shit, it’s a wedding ring.

· His head was spinning at this point. What the hell happened last night?

· When he found MC’s hand under the covers, he learned she was sporting a band, too.

· They got hitched last night.

· Crinkling her nose, MC pulled her hand back and opened her eyes.

· They’re hazy, but they lock on Zen’s.

· Que MC’s internal freak out.

· “What happened last night?” she squeaked, face bright red as she held the covered against her. “Did we…?”

· “Uhh… I think we did a little more than that.”

· He flashed her his ring before pointing to the one on her hand.

· Cue MC freak out #2.

· After they both got dressed and Zen made coffee, they sat down in the kitchen.

· They’d found the legal document in Zen’s pant’s pocket.

· “We have to turn that in for it to be legal, right?” MC said.

· Zen nodded. “I think so.”

· MC just stared at her coffee. “Then, all we have to do is not turn it in, right?” she asked. “And then we can pretend this whole thing never happened and hope none of your fangirls saw.”

· Zen’s gut dropped.

· His fangirls.

· Oh sh—

· He instantly checked social media on his phone.

· But no need, because Jaehee already saw everything and left a ton of messages scolding him.

· MC’s phone probably had similar messages.

· “So, what are we gonna do about this now?” MC asked.

· Now was probably not the right time for a love confession, but Zen chucked all caution to the wind. “We could stay married.”

· Her eyes widened in surprise, and Zen was quick to prattle on. “I like you!”

· Que confession that he’s been writing and practicing in the mirror on the daily for the last three weeks finding just the right time to confess.

· Whether now was the right time or not was debatable.

· By the end, MC had tears in her eyes.

· Zen hoped they were good ones.

· “Yes, I’ll stay married to you!”

· That day easily shot up to one of the best days of Zen’s life.

Jumin

· Jumin does not get drunk often.

· Except when his father is having a party for his fourth engagement.

· Then Jumin makes an exception.

· MC came with him for moral support.

· They toasted to the terrible evening.

· The wine was sweet. The company was sweeter.

· Company as in each other, at least. Everyone else was just short of a pain in the rear.

· “Jumin, you must be so happy for your father.”

· “Jumin, what do you think of your father’s new fiancée?”

· “Jumin, when are you going to get married?”

· “Jumin, you’re young and handsome? How are you not taken yet?”

· “Jumin, don’t you want to meet someone like your father has?”

· Jumin escaped to the bar with MC in tow.

· “You okay?” MC asked.

· “I’ve been through this enough times to know how to get by.”

· But that all went out the window when his father came by.

· “Jumin, I want to see you happily settled down, too. I can find you the perfect girl if you’ll let me.”

· “I can find a wife on my own, thank you.”

· And he meant it. After all, the one he wanted was right by his side. He just hadn’t discussed that with her yet.

· It never seemed to be the right time.

· He wanted to take her on an actual, proper outing where he could admit he’d harbored feelings for her for a while and hope she harbored similar ones.

· But with this whole ‘father getting married again’ business and then his father slacking at work because of it which forced Jumin to work overtime to pick up the slack, he simply never had time.

· “Are you certain, Jumin, because you’ve been saying that for years yet—”

· “Father, I will say this once,” Jumin interrupted. “I will find the right woman in time.”

· “I just want you to be happy.”

· “I am happy.”

· “Happy with a woman.”

· “In. Time.”

· His father sighed. “There is no talking sense into you, is there, Jumin?”

· “There is no sense you can talk into me. I already told you my position on the matter. End of conversation.”

· His father was soon pulled away, and Jumin slumped heavily in one of the barstools.

· “Bartender,” MC called out, patting Jumin’s shoulder all the while. “Another wine over here, please.”

· Jumin was normally good at pacing his drinks. But not tonight.

· And come morning, he was paying for it.

· He grunted at the loud, obnoxious noise coming from somewhere in the room.

· It was his cellphone, he somehow knew.

· And he needed to answer it.

· But he really didn’t want to.

· Eventually, he did get his eyes open as the phone continued to ring. However, everything else faded away when he noticed MC laying on top of him.

· Wait…

· Why was she here.

· He should wake her, but she was sleeping so peacefully, her face serene.

· He could have enjoyed that view forever had he been allowed. However, by the fifth time his phone rang, her expression was crumpling in irritation.

· He shifted, holding her close a moment before carefully sliding out from under her. He’d get answers later

· By the time he found his phone, he realized he was shirtless.

· And that MC’s clothes were on the floor.

· Then what had she been wearing?

· “Assistant Kang.”

· “Finally,” she huffed. “I’ve been calling for ages trying to figure out where you were.”

· He grunted. “Home. Hungover.”

· There was a short pause on the other end. “The party was that bad?”

· “Yes.”

· “Are you coming into work at all? Please say ‘yes’.”

· “I’ll try to make it in the afternoon.”

· “Thank you.” The relief in her tone was palpable. “I already have enough on my plate with not only work but trying to locate MC—”

· “She’s here with me.”

· There was a long silence over the phone, one that allowed Jumin a moment to spy a lone document on the counter.

· “With you?”

· He reached over to slide the paper towards him. “Yes.”

· “Why?”

· That’s when he saw it. Marriage License

· “I’ll get back to you on that.”

· “What?”

· Unceremoniously, he hung up, all while staring at the document.

· He then looked at his left hand.

· Where did he get a ring?

· “Jumin?”

· He spun around to face MC, who was dwarfed by his button-up shirt.

· So that’s where it went.

· “What happened last night?”

· That was the question, wasn’t it? “Apparently, we got married.”

· “What?”

· Turns out, she had a ring, too.

· Just a wedding band. He’d have to remedy that with a nicer ring.

· “So, we’re married,” MC said, looking at the document.

· “Apparently.”

· “You don’t seem to have a problem with that.”

· “Well, I don’t, considering I love you and wanted to marry you anyway. But if you take issue, we can remedy this.”

· Her eyes quickly turned misty.

· “Really?” she said, voice shaky. “You love me?”

· He smiled. Well, seems like that license became a non-issue rather quickly.

· “Yes.”

· The rest of the morning was spent cuddled in bed and talking about their new life together.

· Come noon, neither wanted to get out of bed, which resulted in exactly one frazzled assistant blowing up Jumin’s phone again.

Saeyoung

· It was called “Mission Escape Vanderwood”

· Actually, that’s was just a guise.

· It was actually called “Mission: Forget All About MC”

· He was getting too attached.

· He was useful because he didn’t have attachments.

· He couldn’t get attached to MC because that meant dragging an angel into hell, and being catholic as he was, he knew how big a sin that was.

· So, he cursed her out on the messenger app and immediately got scolded by all the members.

· Except for MC.

· She just disappeared.

· And when he got off the app, he felt like crap.

· Rum and Ph. D Pepper it was.

· After the fourth one, he was still thinking of MC.

· Actually, the plan backfired completely because he’s forgotten everything BUT MC.

· And when he spotted her across the bar, he decided he needed a fifth drink

· And sixth

· And seventh

· He’d drink as many as he needed to to stop seeing her.

· But she was still there, at a table in the bar staring out the window.

· So, while wabbly, he decided he was gonna make her go away.

· “Why are you here!” he yelled, nearly tripping and collapsing into the table. “You’re not supposed to be here. I’m supposed to be forgetting all about you and how amazing you are and how pretty your smile is and how supportive you are…”

· Que impassioned rant about all the things he loves hates her.

· “And I’m supposed to be reminding myself that I’m not allowed to kidnap you and marry you and hide you in a space station far away to keep you safe!” He slammed the table. “So go away!”

· Next thing he knew, MC was kissing him.

· And he was kissing back.

· “No!” he realized, shoving her away and nearly stumbling to the floor. “You… you’re supposed to hate me.”

· “Let me love you, dammit!”

· She grabbed his hoodie and yanked him close.

· Game Over.

· He woke up in his bunker with jackhammer in his brain.

· What the heck happened last night? His memories were fuzzy at best.

· All he could remember was that last night’s attempt at forgetting MC was a spectacular fail.

· He could imagine making out with MC. Heck, he could imagine him marrying her, then throwing her over his shoulder like a prize and bringing her home.

· Stupid alcohol, getting his hopes up like that.

· He sighed, rolling over before realizing he rolled onto something uncomfortable.

· Wait…

· Not something. Someone.

· Oh…

· Ohhhh…

· He looked down on his hand.

· Yup. There’s a ring.

· He looked on MC’s hand.

· Ring.

· Wait, was that the ring he made for her?

· Yup. Yup it was.

· Vanderwood had nearly strangled him when he caught him tinkering with that thing.

· So… the question now was how on earth did he fix this.

· He supposed he should take back that ring.

· He reached for MC’s hand, but she pulled it back in her sleep, tucking her hand close to her chest in response.

· Was he really going to have to pry that ring away from her?

· Yes. Yes he was.

· Too bad it woke her up.

· “What are you doing?”

· After an eventful five minutes of MC realizing where she was—aka, NOT in her own bed—and then realizing there were rings on their fingers, MC was following Saeyoung around the bunker while he looked for the marriage license.

· She was determined to find it first.

· And she did.

· “Give that!” Saeyoung yelled.

· “Why?”

· “Because I’ll destroy it. This whole event will be like it never happened.”

· “No!”

· “What do you mean ‘no’? You actually think being married to me is a good thing?”

· “Yes! And at this point, I don’t care if we had to be drunk for you to agree to it because I’m not leaving you, Seven!”

· That got him to pause. “I was horrible to you on the server—”

· “Yeah, like you haven’t been trying to make me think you’re a horrible person for days now,” she cried. “You overplayed your hand; I know all your tricks. You are not getting this marriage license. You are stuck with me whether you like it or not, so don’t you dare keep pushing me away, Saeyoung!”

· He froze at that.

· “And I don’t care how long I have to fight you, I’m not leaving you!”

· There was a long stretch of silence before Saeyoung stumbled a step back, his heart already breaking to pieces. “MC,” he whispered. “I can’t… I can’t be with you. You know that.”

· “Why not.”

· “I’m dangerous.”

· “No, you’re not.”

· “And I sure as hell don’t deserve you.”

· She sighed, her posture relaxing. “I’ll be the judge of that,” she said. “And I judge… you’re an idiot.”

· His eyes widened.

· “I’m staying with you, Saeyoung. I love you. Let me love you. Don’t you think you deserve that?”

· Something he wanted more than anything? Yes. Something he deserved? No.

· His gaze fell to the floor as he ran his hands through his hair.

· Next thing he knew, she was hugging him.

· Suddenly, she was the only thing keeping him from falling apart.

· “Let me love you,” she whispered. “Even more than that, let me be your wife.”

· His head became heavy, and he couldn’t help but give up, resting it on top of hers.

· Program Seven.exe restarting in 3… 2… 1…

· “Okay.”

· He strives to be Super Stellar Husband after that.

· No one’s gonna take his happiness away from him.

· No one.

#Mystic Messenger #Headcanons #I normally don't do these #I don't care #yoosung kim #zen #jumin han #saeyoung choi #fluff

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ranma-rewatch · 4 years

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Episode 23: Enter Mousse! The Fist of the White Swan

*yawn* Wow, I finally got some good sleep. Back to the Ranma Rewatch, then. Hey there, long time no see, going to try and get back on track. This week we’re still in the middle of the season 2’s opening story arc, and another main character shall be introduced to us. Will I like him better than I did ten years ago? Only way to find out is to look at the next paragraph, from when I’ve watched the episode.

This episode raised my hopes and then gently lowered them a little, but on the whole I’m happier than I thought I would have been.

The story starts with Akane taking Ranma to see Dr. Tofu, under the assumption that as someone with lots of experience with Chinese medicine, he’d be able to fix what Cologne did to Ranma. Sadly, the technique used is something only a master could do, far outside of his wheelhouse. However, there is one thing he could do.

To counteract the Full Body Cat Tongue, Tofu hits a different pressure point in Ranma, one named after old men from Tokyo. Why? Because apparently they’re well known for being able to stand even the most scalding heat in their baths, and this technique gives the user that same ability. Sure enough, it let’s Ranma return to his uncursed state, but there’s a catch. Kasumi calls, turning Dr. Tofu into a bumbler before he can give the warning, so Ranma and Akane just head to school.

After class, Akane harangues Ranma into taking her out for food, which their classmates immediately notice has a lot of romantic energy to it. Then Shampoo and Cologne appear, amazed that Ranma somehow found a way around the elderly amazon’s strategy, but Cologne seems sure anyway that this won’t be an issue.

But wait! Out of nowhere, someone new appears. His name is Mousse, and he’s a man from the amazon village who has been in love with Shampoo since they were kids. He has terrible eyesight, so bad that he frequently mistakes people for the love of his life, and after a series of confusions he learns that Shampoo is dead set on marrying Ranma.

Mousse attacks Ranma, and challenges him to a manly duel for Shampoo. But she refuses that, so instead makes the duel over Akane for seemingly no reason, which Ranma agrees to. Oh, and he’s known for using ‘dark magic’ which is in practice more sleight of hand and weapon-based techniques.

That evening, Akane is doing what she frequently does when pissed off, namely training in the dojo. Ranma shows up, clearly aware he really stepped in it and wanting to make amends by making it clear there’s no way he’s going to lose to Mousse.

But Akane makes it clear that isn’t why she’s mad. The reason she’s upset is that she doesn’t belong to Ranma, and she won’t belong to Mousse. She’s her own person, and this duel doesn’t respect that. Hell, if he loses that’s fine with her, she’ll just beat up Mousse herself. The entire family shows up, interpreting this as kind of a romantic confession to Ranma.

The next morning, it Dr. Tofu calls and gives the warning he’d meant to tell them earlier: the technique he used is a one-use, so if Ranma gets splashed, he’s stuck again. Akane only finds this out after Ranma takes a dip in the pond while sparring with his dad, and they all freak out over what he’s going to do. Why none of them think to just tell Mousse that Ranma has a Jusenkyo curse, I have no clue.

Someone, Cologne probably, turned the match into a huge spectacle, with food carts and seating around the arena and everything, there’s a huge crowd. Ranma’s late, but that’s only because he made a disguise to hide his cursed body. He clowns around a little at first, having prepared a bunch of lame magic tricks, but then ‘does a trick’ by ‘turning into a girl’, giving him an excuse for how he looks.

Mousse buys it, but he’s angry that Ranma’s not taking it seriously. He takes of his...robe? Tunic? Whatever, either way he’s buff as hell under there, and an attack from his barbed footwear ruins the front of Ranma’s stage assistant outfit, bearing his boobies to everyone. This causes a bunch of men in the audience to storm the fighting area so they can sexually assault Ranma and then I paused Hulu and stared at my computer screen for three full minutes before continuing the episode.

*sigh* Anyway, the Kuno siblings show up, interfere with the fight, Mousse gets deadly series, then Akane reminds Ranma he can use his new technique in battle, which he does to win. Then a bunch of his admirers crowd Ranma, and Akane is annoyed. Done.

Let me get into the stuff I found really interesting with this episode, to start with.

The first half was honestly just really enjoyable. Akane and Ranma had a really good chemistry going on, it reminded me a lot of the episode where Shampoo first showed up. There was a casual closeness to them, still tempered with occasional arguments, that was just cute.

I also liked that they thought to try asking Dr. Tofu for help, since his expertise has helped so often in the past. Making it clear this was a problem he could only barely help out with, and only one time, sold how Cologne and what she’s done to Ranma isn’t something that’s going to be solved easily.

What was a bit odd in that scene was we actually got to see the curse take effect, as Ranma’s torso changed, something I’m fairly sure we’ve never gotten that much detail on. It’s usually either off-screen or a cutaway. But I like we saw it with the curse turning him back to his uncursed form, since it emphasized this was Ranma regaining the body that felt right to him.

I’ve talked about this before, but I also couldn’t help noticing throughout this episode the weird dichotomy in who uses Ranma’s preferred pronouns and who doesn’t. Akane, Shampoo, and Cologne all call Ranma ‘he’ even when he’s in a feminine form, but Akane’s siblings call him ‘she’ instead.

The dojo scene was also a treat for me. I just kind of love how it put the focus on how this whole arrangement devalues Akane. Both the engagement from their parents and the terms of this duel take away her say in what she does with her life, and she isn’t having it. It almost sounded like she was comforting Ranma, taking a burden off his shoulders, when she told him he didn’t have to stress over the fight because she’d be fine either way. I am here for Akane stressing her independence and making it clear that no matter what happens in the fight, she is her own person.

That was a lot of nice stuff, but sadly the second half of the episode didn’t really carry it through. It wasn’t terrible, but the fight wasn’t really anything special, and the whole bit with the guys storming Ranma...yeah. Didn’t care for that. But hey! It’s finally time to do another Character Spotlight!

Unlike Cologne, who I am still holding off on doing a Spotlight for since I don’t feel like we’ve gotten to really see enough of her yet, this one episode basically gave us most of what we need to know about Mousse, so let’s just do it.

In terms of voice acting, his English performer is Brad Swaile. He’s done quite a few things, but he’s most well known for being the voice of Light in Death Note, which is quite a funny comparison. Both characters have huge egos, that’s to be sure, but Light is usually taken seriously, while at least in the dub Mousse is basically just a joke the entire time. Swaile plays him very comedically, which does fit the generally goofy tone of his character.

It is in contrast, however, to his original Japanese voice actor, Toshihiko Seki. Like a lot of the seiyuu, he has done a million things, but of particular note are his roles as Legato Bluesummers from Trigun, another anime I love quite a bit, and as the Japanese Dub actor for the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who. Honestly, finding out the Japanese dub castings is a treat every time I do a Spotlight. But anyway, Seki largely plays Mousse more seriously, as a confident warrior, only going for comedy with how over-the-top some of his attacks get, considering how silly they are. I’m going to tentatively say this is another performance I think works than the dub, which is fairly rare for me as far as anime go.

So, who exactly is Mousse? Well, like I said before, Mousse is Shampoo’s childhood friend, and the first member of their tribe we’ve met who is a guy. His character motivation is literally just that he wants to be with Shampoo, and will beat up/kill Ranma to get her. Pretty simple.

What makes him silly is the combination of his terrible eyesight, a fairly common trope that now that I think about it is kinda ableist, and how he fights. He’s a master of hidden weapons, but more often than not the items he’s fighting with are silly things, like a toilet or a yoyo. Combined with his high self-confidence, and Mousse is fairly Kuno-like, only quite a bit sillier.

Only enough though, he’s more similar to Kodachi than to Tatewaki. Why? Well, because he’s deadly. Of all of Ranma’s primary rivals/reoccurring antagonists, Mousse is easily the one most ready to kill, not unlike Shampoo. When he gets serious, he trades in the silly weapons for genuinely dangerous weapons. He started choking Ranma with his bare hands in their first encounter, then tried doing it again with rope not long afterwards. Ryoga might talk a lot about killing Ranma, but Mousse has done a lot more to actually attempt that.

All of that said, I’m pretty ambivalent on Mousse. I don’t hate him, but of all of Ranma’s primary rivals, he’s easily the most boring. He doesn’t have the je ne sais quoi of Ryoga or the pompous elitism of Kuno, he’s just a deadly joke character who’s obsessed with Shampoo. Maybe my opinions will change over the course of the rewatch, but for right now I’m still pretty meh on him.

But you know what I’m not meh on? This episode! Even with the weaker second half, the first ten minutes or so were good enough that I’m overall pretty sunny on it. Listen, I’m an easy mark, give me some Ranma/Akane fuel and some decent drama, and I’m happy. I’ll put this in the top half of episodes so far between the ending of the fight between Ranma and Kodachi and the climax to Shampoo’s introductory arc.

Episode 7: Enter Ryoga, the Eternal ‘Lost Boy’

Episode 12: A Woman's Love is War! The Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

Episode 15: Enter Shampoo, the Gung-Ho Girl! I Put My Life in Your Hands

Episode 9: True Confessions! A Girl's Hair is Her Life!

Episode 2: School is No Place for Horsing Around

Episode 19: Clash of the Delivery Girls! The Martial Arts Takeout Race

Episode 6: Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen, You Know

Episode 13: A Tear in a Girl-Delinquent's Eye? The End of the Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

Episode 23: Enter Mousse! The Fist of the White Swan

Episode 17: I Love You, Ranma! Please Don’t Say Goodbye

Episode 20: You Really Do Hate Cats!

Episode 16: Shampoo's Revenge! The Shiatsu Technique That Steals Heart and Soul

Episode 8: School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga

Episode 11: Ranma Meets Love Head-On! Enter the Delinquent Juvenile Gymnast!

Episode 4: Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

Episode 5: Love Me to the Bone! The Compound Fracture of Akane's Heart

Episode 1: Here’s Ranma

Episode 22: Behold! The 'Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire' Technique

Episode 3: A Sudden Storm of Love

Episode 21: This Ol' Gal's the Leader of the Amazon Tribe!

Episode 10: P-P-P-Chan! He's Good For Nothin'

Episode 14: Pelvic Fortune-Telling? Ranma is the No. One Bride in Japan

Episode 18: I Am a Man! Ranma's Going Back to China!?

But once again, this arc still! Isn’t! Done! No, the end of the Phoenix Pill Arc, if you want to call it that, comes next week with “Cool Runnings! The Race of the Snowmen". Most of my memories of this episode come from a YouTuber I used to follow hating on it, but I’m ready to give it a fair shot. See you then!

#episode 23 #Enter Mousse! The Fist of the White Swan #ranma 1/2 #ranma saotome #akane tendo #mousse #anime analysis #anime rewatch

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irinapaleolog · 5 years

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The Rise of Skywalker Does a Terrible Disservice to the Women of Star Wars

Besides Reylo, one of the great marketing tools of the Star Wars sequel trilogy was its emphasis on girl power, as well its subversion of class dynamics. The films showed that women -- even poor, destitute women with no connections to powerful men -- could play the same role in the franchise as every cocky flyboy or adopted son of a moisture farmer. Unfortunately, and despite the press tour assurances from the cast and crew that Rey and her gal pals are here to lead a new generation of fans into the new world of gender equality, The Rise of Skywalker makes sure that none of the women of the franchise gets to live happily ever after nor establish any lasting romantic connection.

Instead, Episode IX leans heavily into the tired trope of the "strong female character" that has to resign from silly notions like love and family to live up to her full potential. Adding insult to injury, the film removes all agency from the women, and instead thrusts them onto a straight-and-narrow path of contrived choices foisted upon them by male characters or by the Force -- which, in J.J. Abrams' movie, acts not as the power that propels life in the universe, but like the mean Catherine de Bourgh of Pride and Prejudice.

Let's start with Leia Organa, whose call for help in The Last Jedi was ignored by the entire galaxy. However, Lando Calrissian, who has been hanging around on Pasaana doing who knows what, just has to say the word for an entire legacy fleet to appear out of nowhere. Then there's the handling of her Jedi training, which she gave up because she felt the Force might corrupt her unborn son -- a narrative choice that comes out of left field but that mirrors the real-world dilemma of women giving up promotions for fear that their careers might get in the way of parenting.

But we could argue that Leia's arc in Episode IX is clunky because Abrams had limited footage of the late Carrie Fisher. But what about the characters portrayed by living actresses?

There's Rose Tico, played by Kelly Marie Tran, who had a major role in The Last Jedi with an interesting arc of her own. Unfortunately, a vocal segment of Star Warsfans loathed the character and harassed the actress until she left social media. Things looked brighter when Abrams announced Tran would rejoin the cast in The Rise of Skywalker and that her role would be even better. She was billed as a general, an essential part of the Resistance; Tran went on a press tour and talked about the great feminine energy of the set. The comes The Rise of Skywalker, where Rose appears three times, speaks four lines, and is sidelined to the "really important job" of tech support, with her connection with Finn never addressed. In The Rise of Skywalker, Rose doesn't get romance, connections, friendship, a job, or a story of her own -- something that should please the most toxic fans.

Then there's Jannah, played by Naomi Ackie, another "strong female character." The twist this time is that, like Finn, she's a former Stormtrooper who mutinied and defied an order to kill a bunch of villagers. For a few seconds, her story is hopeful and fascinating, and teases the line from the trailer that "good people will fight if we lead them," that free will and the power of the individual are concepts that exist in Abrams' Star Wars.

How foolish of the audience to hold such hope. Jannah and Finn explain theyweren't the ones who decided to spare the innocent villagers; it was a feeling. The Force takes care of silly dramatic concepts like agency, choice and heroism. Jannah is not a good person because of her actions, but because the Force willedher to be one. The only funny thing about this depressing predeterministic twist is that it also works as an apt metaphor for the actions of the characters in The Rise of Skywalker, who do things not because they make sense, but because the script -- the Force -- says so. To add another nail to the coffin, The Rise of Skywalker Visual Dictionary hints at Lando being Jannah's father, yet another woman of Star Wars whose story doesn't matter unless she's related to a legacy male character.

Moving on, Keri Russell plays Zorii Bliss, a spice runner from Kijimi who essentially wears Leia's slave outfit, only with thermal underwear. Zorii's only purpose in the story is to provide a tragic background for Poe Dameron, as well as a potential love interest. She's also a glorified MacGuffin holder (twice!), and one of the many characters that Abrams fake-kills to ignite an emotional response from the viewer in a desperate effort to make Poe sympathetic. Zorii's role could have easily been filled by Rose, who was an actual tech whiz with a questionable past and a potential massive beef against Poe. After all, he's directly responsible for her sister's death.

Let's move on to Rey (Daisy Ridley), who is retconned from being a resilient orphan scavenger strong in the Force... to receiving her powers from a male bloodline. Now, to be perfectly clear, there's nothing wrong with overly dramatic space operas where everyone is related to a royal family, but this "reveal" goes against the premise of The Force Awakens and the heart of The Last Jedi, which proposes that anyone can be a hero.

There were no hints at all about this "twist" -- not in the movies, in the animated series or in the ancillary material, which makes it feel like a last-minute decision designed to appease those fans who accused Rey of being an overpowered Mary Sue, overlooking one of the most common Mary Sue tropes: their tendency to be secretly related to important canon characters.

Another Mary Sue trope exploited in The Rise of Skywalker, but that wasn't even touched in the previous two movies, is the female character sacrificing herself for the greater good, only to be saved at the last minute by a man, which is exactly what happens here. This double-whammy of "being powerful because of grandad" and "getting to live because of a man" is particularly egregious, and caters to no one, because of what happens right after Ben Solo sacrifices himself. We'll get to that in a moment.

Then there's the Force vision scene. Rey already had a trippy Force vision in The Last Jedi, a deep dive into an array of feminine symbology that she wasn't afraid to confront, from which she emerged heartbroken but stronger. In The Rise of Skywalker, this moment is undercut and shows Rey terrified of the darker, sexier, powerful version of herself, which is a hard pill to swallow. Rey explicitly says that she has nightmare visions where she and Kylo Ren are the evil Empress and Emperor of the Galaxy, linking the fulfillment of her desires to the galaxy's apocalypse. In Episode IX, romantic love is a flaw that the "strong female character" should overcome, but sex is pure evil.

Her visceral rejection of her dark side is also a 180 turn on her chill acceptance of her darkness in The Last Jedi. In the real world, women are taught from a young age to hide their negative feelings, to smile and live to be pleasant to everyone, to not be loud or angry or intense. That mentality only makes things easier for everyone in the world who is not a woman, and runs contrary to the quickly angered but enthusiastic scavenger of the previous two movies. However, by the end of The Rise of Skywalker, Rey has transformed into this Cool Girl version of Ideal Femininity/Strong Woman Character.

Ben Solo's death right after his redemption and first kiss should have been treated like a tragedy at least by Rey, and at least for one minute... but she does not react at all. The camera cuts from Ben's clothes folding as he disappears to Rey's neutral expression as she flies back to the Resistance. His death, and any emotional reaction that it might have caused in the protagonist, is not mentioned at all, which is baffling, to say the least. After a brief reunion with Finn and Poe, Rey immediately regresses on-screen to a lonely child on a desert planet, sliding down a Tatooine sand dune and negating her evolution for the last two movies, just so Abrams could throw in a homage to himself.

For the sake of argument, let's take Rey's reveal of her villainous ancestry at face value, and let's imagine that Disney had prepared this reveal from The Force Awakens: Her ending is still insulting, because it forces her to pay for the actions of her grandfather, despite having suffered as much as anyone from his evil ways. Palpatine's murderous pursuit of his son's family was what caused Rey to grow up heartbroken and abandoned on Jakku.

Rey longed for family and love her entire life; she jumped at the opportunity to establish a real connection with Han Solo, Maz Kanata, Finn, Leia, Luke and Kylo Ren, and in The Rise of Skywalker she looks longingly at the Pasaana children, clearly wanting a family of her own. Rey marveled at the green of Takodana in The Force Awakens and at the water of Ahch-To in The Last Jedi. Just like Anakin, she hated the desert. So why does the plot force her to go back to Tatooine to take on the Skywalker name, a planet where none of the Skywalkers, Organas or Solos were born; that Anakin and Luke longed to escape; where Shmi Skywalker was enslaved twice and then killed; and where Leia became Jabba's sex doll? Wouldn't it make more sense for her to head to verdant, watery Naboo, where both Palpatine and Padmé came from, the place where the latter wanted to raise her Skywalker twins?

But, no, Rey doesn't get to live where she would be logically happier, or where it makes sense; she goes where the fan service is stronger, and the twin suns of Tatooine were unparalleled -- until now. When an old woman asks Rey her family name, she answers "Skywalker," which doesn't hold up to close examination. Luke Skywalker refused to train her, Leia's name was Organa, Ben and Han were Solos, and she's standing on the Lars' buried homestead. And although it makes sense that she would lie about her true ancestry, denying the Palpatine name still reeks of burying her darker side, which worked really well for the Jedi Order.

Compare this ending of a lonely girl on a barren planet lying to strangers about her family name to the ending of The Return of the Jedi, where Luke, Han, and Leia are surrounded by life and celebration, and everyone is radiant with love and living family. Or compare it to the ending of The Last Jedi, where a Force-sensitive boy is looking up at shooting star. Or even the final scene of Revenge of the Sith, which takes place in the same spot after the fall of the Republic, the death of Padmé and the rise of Darth Vader -- but at least in that little spot there's love, family, life and hope.

Directed and co-written by J.J. Abrams, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker stars Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly Marie Tran, Joonas Suotamo, Billie Lourd, Keri Russell, Anthony Daniels, Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams, and Carrie Fisher, with Naomi Ackie and Richard E. Grant.

#the rise of skywalker #reylo

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skz222 · 4 years

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5.55 (han jisung)

contains: fluff, scenario, full length chaptered story, sfw, jisung x oc, lee know x oc, changbin x oc, jisung pov

word count: 2.8k

Previous chapter

Chapter 1.3

July 13th, 2022

12:12 am.

I can’t sleep.

Let me just go on Twitter or something I guess.

Scrolling, scrolling. It makes me feel better to see what Stays post about us, and it’s almost like going through a scrapbook of memories and it makes me feel better about being awake in a completely dark room right now. It almost feels like I’m ignoring something. The whole room...really is this dark huh..

I’m not going to wake up Hyunjin or Chan right now just because I’m scared of the dark.

Hah.

Maybe if I listen to some music I can sleep peacefully this time.

I don’t know why I keep having the same dream over and over, it’s almost every night at this point. I don’t even know if it’s something I don’t want to happen anymore.

A warm and familiar hand starts rubbing my back gently.

“Why are you up so early baby?”

“I had a bad dream again...”

Her back rubs comforted me but I felt agitated, like I wanted to go somewhere. How long have I even been up for? What time is it? I swear it’s only been 20 minutes but I can see the sky turning dark blue from black.

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

“Not now Eunji, baby. I just want to kind of be by myself right now.”

“Is it something about me?”

“No, I just need some time alone right now.”

“Okay...I have to go to work soon so I’ll be leaving first.”

“Alright. Have a good day. I love you.”

“I love you too!”

Leaning over, she puts her hand on my face for a kiss. It’s sloppy and full of morning breath, and for once I actually feel a bit grossed out. I’ve never felt that way before, not even about any of the members or anybody before. I just don’t think I want to kiss her anymore.

I’ll just wait until she leaves to write it down in my dream journal.

I watch her carefully as she silently changes into her work clothes in the dark, grabs her bag and shoes, phone and charger, and silently heads out the door with a wave and a smile. I smile back, but I’m not sure if I even wanted to or if it was just out of habit.

One, two, three, four.... beep beep beep.

She’s fully gone now.

I grab my journal from under the mattress, between the bed and the nightstand so it never peeks out. Flipping through the pages, I guess this one is the same as the last, like what, 15 dreams I’ve had but I can’t just not record it down right?

------------

June 6th, 2022

She’s late again huh....

5:55 pm

Two slices of cheesecake on my table, one for me and one for someone else.

Eunji walks in finally, and she looks hurried, like she just came from work - a bunch of bags in her hands.

“I’m sorry I’m late baby! The stores were being difficult with your gifts so it made me late.”

“No don’t worry, I wasn’t waiting long.”

I hand her the bag on the floor next to me, just one big bag but it’s heavy. All of her bags are designer brands and mine was just a big mauve paper bag.

“I know you really like these colors so I made sure to get one of each style in your best colors!”

“Thank you Eunji, that’s sweet.”

“What is this? Oh my god are these the shoes I’ve been wanting for years? Hannie baby...that’s so thoughtful.”

“I’m glad you like it. I’m sorry it’s not as much as you got me, I just am more of a one, thoughtful gift kind of person, I guess.”

“I feel....bad Jisung....I feel like I wasn’t as thoughtful with my gifts.”

“It’s okay, I understand. I know sometimes, when you’re with someone for a long time, you do things that are easier because you have an understanding or a felling that that person will stay with you forever regardless or will love you the same regardless. I think a lot of people start treating the ones around them with less care and like they’re less precious as time goes on, because a lot of people only treat things that aren’t easily obtainable or accessible as precious or valuable rather than the things right in front of them. I understand that we all have “easy versus thoughtful” moments in our day to day life. It’s hard to ask you to be thoughtful for me in moments like this when I haven’t always been. It’s not a competition, but I understand it’s just hard sometimes.”

“You only talk like this, very touching and carefully, when you’re deciding on something big. Are you deciding on something important to you?”

“I guess I was just thinking out loud I guess.”

We sat and ate in silence. Well, I ate my slice, she just played around with it for a while. Sometimes I wish she’d just admit she doesn’t actually like cheesecake as much as me or nearly at all anymore, if she ever did.

Sometimes I wish she would just eat it at least a little bit just to humor me, if she’s not going to be honest with me about it.

I guess this is how our relationship is these days. Aren’t things supposed to be better and bubbly at least a little bit longer than a few months? I feel like things haven’t been genuinely the same for a while now. It just feels like the girl I used to think about wasn’t even real, or she changed so much that she’s like a different person now.

I feel strange saying I loved her, or that I do love her. The girl I used to love isn’t the same and not even in a normal way that people change. I was always hesitant to say I love you because it never felt natural, even though I felt that way when she wasn’t around.

It’s like she was really good at portraying an image of herself that she knew I would love and adore and cherish, but could never keep it up long enough for me to be completely fooled.

I’m not necessarily an owner, or a possessive lover. I value loyalty in my interpersonal relationships the most, and to me that means no flirting at all or anything past that.

Today is our 200 day anniversary. I never made it this far in any of my younger relationships, which I think were just puppy love at best. I thought this would be something to look forward to, but I feel like I was actually dreading it for the past 100 days.

On our 100 day, she was late also. I prepared a really nice picnic date at our favorite park, one close to her parents house. I waited for 2 hours, I even called a few times and she never answered. Call me a fool, a puppy, whatever you have to, but I just ignored the feeling.

I went home, decided to take a shower instead. I try my best to be understanding and was worried that there was an emergency. After I showered, I went to her place and she was busy, on a phone call, with her guy friend.

I didn’t really ask more than that, I just entered, heard them laughing and talking, and left. She apologized later, said she was caught up with an important conversation. I think that was the moment I knew she wasn’t the one for me.

I think I’m a stubborn person. I’m stubborn about love because I don’t want to fail, with friends I love or with people I love in general.

I don’t think I give my heart away easily, but I think I’m the kind of person that loves entirely and really trusts my instinct and intuition. If I feel something is right, I go for it and don’t hold back, so I think that is why I’m stubborn because I don’t want to think I was wrong.

I know these last 100 days weren’t spent in vain though, I just spent it figuring out myself. I was too excited to be able to date. Once the dating ban was up I think I just...became too hopeful and excited, I wanted to be with someone in that way so badly.

I wanted to have a romantic love and do all of those things I had been waiting to do. It was hard because I hadn’t been able to since I was a teenager, so I just kind of disregarded most of my logic and thoughts about waiting.

It’s not that I needed to love myself, because I got to spend those years doing that instead and I’m grateful, but I didn’t understand myself well enough. I didn’t understand why I was feeling that way, like I was “behind” everyone else. In my career, I’m ahead and I’m successful and I’m grateful.

I felt behind in life, like I had been too focused on my career and myself and finally I was able to give and receive this amazing new love. I was so excited that I didn’t take the time to see if it was actually something I needed or if she was the person for me.

I think that’s one of my faults. I rush things sometimes and stick to it, but what these past 100 days have taught me is that I shouldn’t be that way anymore. I have hindsight now, and I can see that sometimes things are karmic.

Sometimes things are a result of my haste. It’s okay to make mistakes in choosing people. It’s okay to be wrong. It’s okay to change once you’ve seen the situation change or have new information about a person.

You can’t know everything off of a first meeting, and sometimes people make you see what you want to see.

________________________

July 13th, 2022

5:01 am

How is it already so late? I tried to write quickly...

I should read over it I guess, it kind of bothers me to have lots of errors-

Click.

?????????

Who is up right now?

Hyunjin beat me to it.

He got off the top bunk so fast I was almost sure he’d already been awake. Just casually getting off the bed, turning on the lights and opening the door.

I see someone leaving quickly, it’s another member? Right now? It’s barely light out...

Beep beep beep.

“Where is Minho going?”

“Huh...I don’t know, I didn’t think we had any schedules until at least 8 am?”

“We don’t....”

He looked confused but just shut off the light and climbed back to the top bunk.

I’ll quickly reread my journal before we have to start getting ready.

I had the same dream again last night. I was walking to the cafe, it was mid day but there were barely any people out for some reason. I was wearing a jacket even though it was hot, a cap and a mask. I went in and got my usual drink but wanted to grab a slice of cheesecake again.

There were only 3 other people in there, all girls. They were all minding their business, but were clearly friends. I look at the clock...

12:12 pm

I’m in no rush, but I can’t stop staring at the cheesecakes and pastries. I take off my hat and leave the mask. One of the girls came up to order another drink at the counter and another slice of cheesecake, she gets the strawberry one with extra strawberries. I look at her, but I can only see her chin and below.

She’s wearing her hair down, it falls just past her shoulders and is straight and black with a hint of purple. She has on a black tank top with an unbuttoned button up shirt over it, the shirt is white and short sleeved. She’s wearing light wash blue jeans and white tennis shoes.

She’s laughing with the cashier, she said “Another one? You’ll never get tired of these huh?” and they laugh.

I smile at her, and I ask her for her name. She tells me but I can never remember it when I wak wake up. My drink and cheesecake are ready right afterwards, and I take them in both hands. She taps me on the shoulder and I turn around, I still can’t see above her chin, the dream will never let me.

The light coming in from the windows is hitting her in the most beautiful way.

She asks me what kind of cheesecake I got, and I tell her mulberry.

“Oh! That makes sense. My Korean isn’t fluent yet so I couldn’t tell what that one was, thank you!”

I smile and laugh, her voice and laugh, they make me feel something.

She turns around and sits back with her friends, at the table right in front of the register. She turns away as she sits down so I still can’t see her face, but I see the faces of her friends. They start laughing and this whole part is in slow motion.

Then I wake up.

Why do I keep having this dream?

I used to feel bad that I kept having this dream when I started meeting Eunji, but then I remembered that I’ve been having this dream long before I knew her. Since when?

Flipping, flipping.

No way...

Since July 13th, 2020?

Exactly two years ago?

Beep beep.

지금 바쁘니? 카페 빨리 와 <3 (Are you busy right now? Come to the cafe rn <3)

지금 왜???? 새벽엔??? (Right now? It’s early as hell??)

지금 다른 일을 있어...??? (U got something better to do?)

없어 (Nah)

그럼 빨리 와<3 <3 (Alrighty then get that ass over here <3)

아라써 (Yeah fine)

Why right now? Did he have an emergency and that’s why he left so early? I guess I do need a coffee..

-----------

Do I subconsciously dress this way to the cafe hoping I’ll meet her now? These past 100 days have been really sad for me just because I have that dream almost every night, especially since July started it’s literally every time.

I feel kind of silly to be honest, maybe she isn’t even real.

I don’t know why I’d dream of an imaginary girl, was I just that lonely? I don’t understand.

The sun is coming out already, it feels so good to be in the sunlight right now. I feel so cold for some reason.

Beep beep.

자기! 저녁식사!!!!! 같이 먹을래? 누나 사줄게 <3 (Babe do you want to get dinner tonight? My treat <3)

아, 스케줄 한이써, 미안. 보상해줄겡 (I actually have a schedule today I’m sorry, I’ll make it up to you though.)

괜차나, 누나가 응원할게! (It’s okay, I’ll be cheering you on!)

I don’t even want to reply honestly..

Well I’m here finally.

I can see Minho and Changbin inside already..? With some random girls as well? They’re lucky it’s even too early for Dispatch to be out because there’s literally no one else here???

“Hey guys! Good morning!”

“Jisung! Come here come sit!”

“Ah thank you, I’m gonna order first!”

“Alright alright!”

“Can I get a hot milk chocolate with vanilla syrup and a slice of mulberry cheesecake please? Yes, thank you!”

“Hi, can I get another iced milk tea with a slice of cheesecake?”

“Of course ma’am, you don’t even have to order at this point.”

They’re laughing.

I look over, just not even thinking properly. I like her outfit, a black tank top with a white over shirt, jeans and some white shoes. Very pretty.

“Your food is ready sir!”

“Thank you very much! Hey scoot over so I can put my drink!””

Minho scooches over for me.

“Hey! I’m Ahyeon! Binnie told us a lot about you! This is Hyesoo and this is Hyojin!”

...Hyojin...

“Park Hyojin?”

“Oh? Do you two know each other?”

“No, I was just...guessing...”

The clothes, the barista interaction, this whole situation is almost exactly the same the time is off, the people, are you serious?

Did I only remember her name because Ahyeon said it out loud...

She’s still at the counter, her back turned and she’s just waiting, talking with the barista. She didn’t hear...

I should go home right now, I’m stinky I haven’t showered since yesterday, I’m wearing old clothes, I’m painfully nervous right now I feel like I’m not ready for this I don’t think I’ve ever felt my heart beating this loudly before am I going to pass out?

I get up abruptly and walk outside, ignoring everyone.

I should get ready for our schedule anyways, I’ll text them on the way back-

5:55 am.

“Hey hey hey wait up! Where are you going?”

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redxblueihateloveyou · 5 years

Note

Thank you so much for answering my question! It is really kind of you. I have 2 more if it is not a bother: Do you know Haikyuu? I have seen lots of ships on your tumblr and considering what kinds of ships you like, Haikyuu has SO MANY potential for you. :) And the second question is, what do you think about Mikoto and Reisi from K? I only saw Sarumi posts, so I am curious.

Oh heHE, let’s start with k project. Honestly Sarumi is the only ship I care about in this anime, I mean every other couple there for me is very undeveloped for me. Sarumi is like true love shit, I wasn’t expecting them to even go there, and when Misaki said to him “I want you to have a real home you can come back to and that’s me” my jaw was on the floor. I mean, they’ve seen each other at their worst and still loved each other (honestly the whole Fushimi’s father storyline and Misaki holding him through it was just too much for my heart). So they’re the only romantic ship for me in this anime.

Mikoto... wasn’t he in love with that guy who he took into their clan to protect? Who was killed? The one who lalala played the guitar whatever was his name? And that’s why he didn’t want to live after that, only wanted revenge and then finita? No?

Red king and blue king did have a sexual tension in that lighting a cigarette scene, other than that... they just “fought” with each other lots and I don’t even see much relationships or like anything that would make them a good romantic couple. And even if I pretend that they loved each other... Mikoto asked him to help him killing himself? That’s like assholishness level 200 to me. I never got this idea of asking your loved one to finish your ass... like bitch, maybe it sounds good for you but did your selfish ass think about how your other half is going to live with that? So that’s a huge no for me.

But seriously I like don’t know what to look for there, I don’t see it. I hope he’s in heavens with that other guy, but also I don’t really care, cause Fushimi was like the only thing why I sat through the whole thing, cause lord that hour of watching that girls watermelons I could’ve spent more productive (like man I was trying not to fall asleep during some useless episodes, I don’t even know why and what for some characters were even there), BUT but it was all worth it, cause there is one character who was written so good and so complex and he’s so well done that I don’t even mind.

Now before I go to Haikyuu... I think my problem is that unlike many I don’t ship every bromance just bc it’s a good bromance. Because sometimes there are some great bromances but they give out like zero romantic vibes. For example, Stiles and Scott: would totally die for each other, hug each other a lot, have no problem with saying I love you, but they’re like best bros, there is nothing romantic there. Like Stiles can ask Danny or Scott if they find him attractive, but he would never ask Derek about this, you know what I mean? They’re like me and my sister.

So for me there is a huge difference between bro things and gay things (like I only partly joked while making that rinharu post). And some couples are clearly crossed that line in some weird moments. Because things like high fiving each other and hugging each other don’t make anyone gay. I don’t know if that makes sense for anybody else... but those who have siblings or bffs will get what I mean.

Like classical example is Rin Matsuoka. When it come to Sousuke he easily writes him letters and calls him like I feel with my best friend. I can call anytime and be like “bro, I’ve missed you”. Cue the 3x03 weirdest scene when Rin misses Haru and is afraid to call and tell him that. That’s the proof here that they’re clearly something weird there, cause if they were just friends he would be like “hey, bro, missed you” which will never be the case here.

Or can you imagine Rin and Haru seeing each other and being like “yo man” and fist bumping and hitting each other? I’ll bet 1000$ that you can’t. Rin can hit Sousuke in the shins, and ruffle Nagisa’s hair, but Haru would never get this from him. And spoiler: it’s not cause he hates him xD

Also I think the easiest example is Kuroko. (and please, don’t think I’m judging ppl for shipping stuff, I mean to each their own, it’s just my opinion). It’s the anime where people ship everyone with everyone just because of hey... bromances, while in my opinion most of them have seriously nothing gay about them and most of them just do normal bro things. Like how can Kuroko and Kagami be seen as smth romantic I still don’t get. Or like Aomine and Kagami thing??? They are like freaking twins. Same with Kise and Kasamatsu, Midorima and Akashi ships and many others.

Like we see Kuroko and how he behaves with everyone. Firstly he was shadow for everybody: Kise, Aomine, Kagami and he was good with every one of them. Kuroko is a people’s person, he is caring, he thinks about others a lot, he cares about everyone including Haizaki who is an ass tbh, so it’s also nothing special (I mean that way you can ship him even with Kyoshi xD). Aomine is special for Kuroko bc he understands him the most on the field, Kise is his main rival, Kagami is his least problematic light, Murasakibara is his favorite as a person... etc, this way you can ship Kuroko with anyone.

But... someone gets what none of them get. Like Kuroko never checked anybody out or said compliments... but he did think Akashi looked yummy in his kimono at the festival. Kuroko never told anybody a zillion words “it’s all because of you” speech... except for one person. None of them made his heart crack and cry rivers when they left him... except one. And I just loved how we get this with everyone:

And then suddenly this happens:

Lol okay, blue-shems. He gives him his food and asks questions about “who’s his type and his special one”, like... you know he doesn’t do that with anyone else. And Akashi is not his bestie. So yeah, explain this as “bromance”.

Same with Akashi. He forms the new team. He actually misses Kuroko so much that he goes and finds a copy of him. The ONLY GOM member he can’t go without and it’s proved after Kuroko asked him on the interview “who is the person you scared to lose the most” and Akashi answers “you.. it’s you, Kuroko”. Now... hold the horses. We all know that Midorima is his bestie, there’s no contest there, which brings us to the fact that he places Kuroko higher than his best friend which makes Kuroko his... what exactly?

It’s just some things can’t be BRO things.

Like when you cover your eyes and going “dude, don’t show your package in public, zip it, no one wants to see that”, that’s what I’m like when I accidentally see my sister’s boob. That’s how Makoto behaves when he sees naked Nagisa and Haru who’s undressing.

Opposite to Rin oggling Haru half naked and Haru shaking before touching Rin. That’s clearly not how you feel about your “just friend”. Everyone who has bffs must confirm that they don’t get nervous about touching them or them touching you cause you’re comfortable with that. Does this make any sense? I hope, it does. I’m not very good at explaining.

Now about Haikyuu. Haha I’ve been avoiding this so much, cause I didn’t want ppl to throw stones at me. I’ve tried.. I really tried to watch it twice. Once I got to ep8, 2nd time I asked my sister to watch with me (cause it’s funnier that way, that’s how we got through durarara without dying xD) and I still gave up after ep14.

It’s not only just that I was bored and I thought it’s gonna get exciting but it didn’t (bc I’m more of an interesting characters > an interesting plot person), it’s just.. it was episode 14 and I didn’t even find any character who would interest me cause they were so cliche. Especially Hinata. He’s like that super typical main from what I called the “never give up it’s such a wonderful life” bunch that I really deeply respect, but kinda so very tired of them lol. But he’s also from the loud bunch.. and I think I still hear Asta’s voice sometimes, even though I’ve dropped Black Clover after ep10 like a year ago xD

Now I can’t make judgements about the whole thing cause I didn’t watch it, but from what I saw (I mean “shipping scenes” from tumblr) and asked from ppl who has seen the whole thing (one huge fan and another one - not a huge fan, my sister), I got the idea that this anime is more bromancy that romancy. And there are no couples there like “without you I have nothing to aim for and I want a future with you” or “you made my life a dream and you’re the light of my life and I’m scared to lose you the most” like there are in free or knb.

Now my sister has finished it 4 months later and said that it was just okay. And I was like “okay, but what about ships?” because I’m willing to close my eyes on the plot of the ships are good. And she went “well... two mains, I guess” and she was so apathetic about it that I was like “If she who ships much more than me is like that then I won’t see anything there” xD

But... like if you have anything to say to convince me or interest me in it, I’m willing to listen. If you have smth that would make wanna try for the 3rd time, I’ll even record how did it go xD.

#answered #saku0015 #Sarumi #k project #rinharu #Free!#KNB #akakuro

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sugarandspice-games · 4 years

Text

I guess this is becoming a trend... I’m popping in before the actual intro to clarify-- if the text is in italic, it is me (Sugar) talking and regular is Spice. Alright? Cool. And so--

So, one night I’m going through youtube and I come upon this one shitposty video about some random anime that I’ve never even heard of. After doing some research, I discover that it’s actually based on a dating sim that I’ve also never heard of. As a joke I was like “Hey Sugar wanna watch this as a joke, it might be funny” and so we did. And uhm. Well.

Today we’re gonna be reviewing Brothers Conflict, aka Sweet Home Alabama 2: Electric Anime Boogaloo aka the anime that ruined our lives. [Again, disclaimer: neither Sugar nor I condone incest and/or pedophilia, two themes which are uh, very rampant in this anime which is why I cannot recommend it in good faith. It’s not good, don’t get me wrong. I can’t really say that I liked it even if watching it and ragging on it was kind of enjoyable, and I did get attached to some of the characters because that’s the kind of idiot I am. Also, we’re not shirking our duties to write I swear please don’t kill me--] Anyway, an obligatory SPOILER WARNING though this probably isn’t going in the main tag bc I do not want the fans to publicly stone me. Why are we reviewing this? Bc we need to talk about it somewhere. Though I say review lightly bc this... is really more of a critique.

ALSO we only watched the anime, idk if things are different in the game. There is no full english translation for the games and most of the LP channels have been copyright striked, so please don’t come at us for not knowing anything. I also know that otome games and dating sims don’t tend to translate well to anime, and I will be addressing this later.

So, dear god, where do I begin.

Where do we begin indeed? How about the fact that her name is Ema and I had to google to remember the heroine’s name? Also, she is seventeen.

Our plot, or well... what you COULD call a plot, I guess, if you REALLY wanted to give this anime that much credit, focuses on the aforementioned seventeen year old Hinata Ema, who has an absent father who apparently FOUND THE TIME TO FALL IN LOVE AND GET MARRIED BUT NEVER HAS A SECOND TO SPARE FOR HIS ONLY CHILD, RINTARO I SWEAR TO GOD I AM TAKING CUSTODY OF YOUR CHILD. HAND HER OVER-- Anyway. He’s getting married to a woman who has 13 sons (jesus christ ma’am have you ever heard of a condom?) and he decides to move her in with them because... I guess he has less braincells than I have balls, which is to say, zero. Hi, I’m trans.

So, Ema moves in with them... along with her talking grey squirrel, Juli. Juli is... interesting and by interesting, I mean-- ABSOLUTELY PUZZLING. He, apparently, has seen the majority of Ema’s life from babyhood to teenagerhood and can talk but is only understood by Ema (who he calls Chii) and Louis, the eighth son in the Asahina family. It is never explained why, or how Chii came across him or how in an episode, a single episode, he becomes human because why the hell not, I guess??? (Also, he is pretty. YES. I said it. Fight me.) [Quick Spice intervention, this squirrel can talk to people, transform into a human, enter dreams, and live way longer than a squirrel should since the average lifespan of a squirrel is like 6 years in the wild. Juli is apparently a god as none of this is EVER explained.]

And when she meets the Asahina family, it’s pretty much immediately chaos because these heterosexual (I guess? They look like a bunch of twinks to me but there goes anime trying to convince me that straight people are real and not a lie made up by Trump) men have NEVER and I mean NEVER known a woman in their entire lives, since they seem to want to bang their stepsister immediately. And most of them are GROWN ASS ADULTS. Only three of them are actually minors (though Iori is 18 and only one year older so I guess??? It’s okay??? But still weird) and one of them is a 13 year old who looks and acts like he’s 8.

Oh, and did I mention that out of these boys, only the adult triplets and the abusive asshole 16 year old get any kind of characterization AND character development? I mean, Subaru gets an “arc” if you can call it that, but really, they don’t give him much... personality. You could replace him with a cardboard cutout and it’d be the same. I feel bad for him (but not really because dude you are 20 and she is your sister, what the fuck--)

But if there’s anything good about this anime, it is the characters themselves. Several of the boys have redeeming qualities and interesting personalities and quirks, as well as interesting relationships and dynamics with each other. Yes, some of them are lacking in the plotline department while others may have decent plotlines and lack personality, and then some of them are just given absolutely nothing (COUGH Masaomi COUGH Ukyo COUGHCOUGHCOUGH Iori, and by the way, what the fuck is that game plotline bc I read the wiki since I wanted to know more about him. We don’t have time to unpack the mento illness luv. But you’re telling me they had all this meat to work with and they threw it in the trash and gave him nothing? What the hell?) And if anything, I feel as if the characters themselves are crippled by the plotline. If given a different story, perhaps, they may have room to shine, because a lot of them are compelling if not lovable (though some may not be... lovable. COUGHFuuto, at least not for me.) If you want to see our review on the characters, we’ll put out another post.

Iori... Iori has a hell of a plot in the game, according to the Wiki but I can’t blame the writers for not exploring all of it because whoa. It is dark and not in a good way. But back to the subject at hand... I agree with Spice. I do/did like quite a lot of the characters... provided the entire romantic plot is taken away but we will go into more of why the plot is problematic below. All I can really add is: There is a baby in this dumpster and canon has been taken out back to be shot like a lame horse.

This brings me to a point in which I would like to pause the character discussion and bring up a glaring flaw with this anime in general (aside from the... plot. Look, I’m not a huge fan of weird stepsibling stuff but I think that if you want to do something like that, there are ways to do it and ways not to do it. This was the way not to do it, which I’m getting to). The biggest thing that made this anime so uncomfortable was the imbalance of power dynamics. Why is the protagonist 17 when most of the love interests are 18 and older, and I mean much, much older? And she’s not any 17 year old... she’s a lonely, neglected girl who is starved for the love of a family. This makes her easily manipulated by the brothers, who clearly desire her for less than wholesome reasons, and that makes it skeevy. I’m not sure why there’s such a fetishization of nonconsent in media, as if it’s fine for as many men to lust after female protagonists as the writer desires BUT the woman can’t want a single one of them in return. It’s creepy, and quite frankly, I am very much over it. I also get that the age thing is probably a product of the protagonist of a teenager oriented dating sim not translating well to an anime (because really, all otome game MCs are meant to be a neat little pair of shoes for the player to imagine themselves in), but why are we fetishizing a teenager being groomed by adults anyway? Especially adults who have this much power over her to begin with? The power dynamics bring this plot from “Oh, this might be kinda trashy but it could be entertaining” to “This is extremely creepy and rapey and kind of a dumpster fire.”

This is also true. If we were to take age into consideration, Fuuto, Yusuke, and Iori would be the three candidates left for Chii. This is taking out the youngest as well, who is... thirteen, I think? But anyway, (I know I am probably going to get some hate for this but go for it), I am into stories that explore the stepsibling thing and it can make a good narrative-- but before everyone gets uppity: There is a line between FICTION and REALITY and I do not condone real life incest but a story is a story and there are ways to frame it that make it clear that it is not a romantic thing, or acceptable. This anime does not do that in it’s dynamics because some of the brothers do start off in that very firm caregiving, family role and it is a sharp turn into romance that makes you go, “?” or in Fuuto case, a blending that does lean into fetishization.

All in all I think the plot maybe could have been okay? I’m not saying it isn’t problematic, because we all know it is, who are we kidding? But I don’t think it’s wrong per se to explore family dynamics with romance and to understand where the line should be drawn, and maybe exploring the definition of family itself. I have seen fanfictions with similar tropes ask those questions and explore the concept beautifully without romanticizing or fetishizing incest and unhealthy power dynamics. It could have been good, and I get that perhaps I’m barking up the wrong tree by expecting mature themes in an anime based on an otome game, but it also could have been a lot less... creepy (I have used that word so much that it looks wrong now) even if it wasn’t the greatest thing ever. But again, what was I expecting? I watched this whole thing as a joke and ended up attached to the characters like a fool... That tends to be a trend here, and this is why we are so salty all the time. So anyway, stay tuned for our review of the characters! We may not cover all of them since some of them don’t really get anything, but we’ll cover what we found interesting.

#spice talks #sugar speaks #anime and game reviews #sweet home alabama: the anime #not putting this in main tag

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skzhabibi · 4 years

Text

An Old Crush (A Long, Bittersweet Personal Storytime/Rant)

When I was in Junior High, I had really, REALLY low self esteem. I was still very much in the awkward phase of puberty and all of those hormones paired with the fact I was having lots of problems at home resulted in some pretty severe mental health issues (which I won’t get too much into, because I don’t wanna trigger anyone). Not only that, but I’m naturally pretty sensitive, so any negative comments people had made about my appearance in the past, whether they were trash talking my hand-me-down clothes, pale ass skin, acne, big nose, etc., it really stuck with me. I was a mess, basically. And I’m part Arab on my mom’s side, so seeing a psychiatrist was never really an option.

Anyways, I was 13 or 14 (8th grade) when I took my 1st Spanish class. This had a bunch of the more “popular” kids in it, because they were trying to get the credit out of the way before High School and there were only 2 teachers who taught Spanish at my school, so it was bound to happen. There was a popular boy in my class, called T for the sake of the story, who sat a seat in front and to the left. I don’t know how we first started talking, but it was probably because of many factors. I laughed at his jokes, he sat near me in Spanish and English which we had right after, I was pretty solid academically at the time and he wasn’t, we had a couple mutual friends/acquaintances, etc... I guess it’s also good to mention he was known for his good looks and the fact he was A-string quarterback on our shitty little football team while I was kind of a social floater; a decent amount of people knew of me, but not many people actually knew me well, if at all.

I didn’t really pay him any mind in a romantic way at first, to be honest. I just thought he was reasonably attractive, but I figured he’d think himself “too cool” to be associated with me since that’s the vibe a lot of the other popular boys in the class had given me if I ever tried making friends with them. People really just gave me the cold shoulder in general, which hurt my feelings, so I wasn’t gonna risk it anymore. But what really made that first little crush for him start was when one day as I was rushing to get out the door first after the bell rang (which I always did because I’m impatient as fUCK and hate that huge ass crowd you had to shove through or come out last), he rushed forward, squeezing through the door around the other jocks and practically pushing them out of the way, to catch up to me and ask me to walk to English together. As an inexperienced little simp, that shit really looked like something out of a movie. It gave me such a needed boost of confidence that I actually started beaming, which was REALLY out of character for me (I’ve always been known for my “resting bitch face”).

So this became such a regular thing, walking to English, that we actually began waiting for each other by our desks to pack our stuff up, and we were usually around the last 2 to leave the room. At some point I finally plucked up the courage to ask him for his number, which was TERRIFYING because I’d never done anything like that. I think I made some excuse that since we had 2 classes together if we forgot about the homework we could remind each other (holy shit I was such a nerd). We texted a few times, but it never got super deep that I remember. I never really initiated the conversations because I didn’t want to make it seem like I liked him even though at this point I REALLY did; I even told a couple of my friends, which I didn’t normally do either. I was always someone to bottle up that shit and bury it so it never saw the light of day because I was so fucking afraid of rejection (Fragile Ass Self Esteem wants to know your location).

I literally thought that I was unlikeable in every sense of the word, so a bunch of the signs that he liked me back at the time never dawned on me. He could’ve literally screamed in my face that he liked me and I’d probably be like “As a Friend, right???”

I guess I’ll just take this moment to tell you about a bunch of the things that should’ve bee HUGE ASS signs he liked me:

1.) This girl on the volleyball team at our table in English that T knew would make passes about how he was really sought-after by a shit ton of girls and then look at me. He also looked at me afterwards like he was shy but gauging my reaction. She had a sort of Jade from Victorious vibe to her so I figured she saw through me and was trying to embarrass me by getting a reaction, so I kept my face straight.

2.) He would compliment me more than anyone else I spoke to (which was uhhhh never. I never got complimented.) For example: He was always calling me smart or a “try hard” to joke with me. I took it as an expression of friendly jealousy. When I curled my hair one day he noticed and literally said, “Can we all take a moment to appreciate (my name)’s hair?” It made me blush so hard, but I thought he was making fun of me. He would also insist on reading my shit or me reading his when the English teacher made us peer review/journal check and would compliment the work I did or my handwriting or how organized it looked. Living that emotionally stunted Y/N life.

3.) The Spanish teacher made us partner up any time there was group work, and she moved his seat to right next to mine every routine seat change. I was gullible as shit thinking that that was coincidental when he had other friends in class. I figured it was cuz I was good and he sucked at Spanish lmaooo. I’ve since read posts on reddit where teachers have confirmed that they can tell when kids have crushes on each other and they’ll play wingman/woman. When I read that I was like WAIT A DAMN MINUTE. Mrs. G was a real one and I was so fucking oblivious to it.

4.) Another girl on the volleyball team asked if he and I were dating. I was taken aback and said no, we weren’t (conveniently leaving out the “I wish”) and asked why she would think that. The reason she gave was that since people saw us walk together between classes, a lot of people figured we were together. I chalked it up to stupid gossip that had no roots in anything he said, so I laughed it off to keep from getting my hopes up.

5.) A similar thing happened AGAIN with a guy who was also on the football team. When he learned my name, he was like, “Wait, (my first and last)?” And I was like yeah wtf how did you know my last without me telling you? And he’s straight up like, “Oh, you’re the girl T has a thing for.” AND I WAS SO FUCKING BLIND OMFG I was just like well he’s never told me he likes me so even though multiple people at this point have said something I think that is completely baseless fake news.

6.) One of the MOST telling signs: he would always say hi to me outside of classes when I was alone. He found me outside my locker one day and started talking to me. The coaches would make the kids on sports teams run back to locker room, and one day he was doing that when he saw me at my locker (which was right by the sport locker rooms since I was in girls’ athletics). His teammates would glance at me while they ran by, and he told me to wait for him while he changed so we could walk to Spanish (1st period) together. Ngl, this really sealed the nail in the coffin for my huge ass crush on this kid. I was taken aback because I thought our friendship was just for convenience and he didn’t actually see me as a real friend he would be seen outside of class with. But in the end I still psyched myself out by saying I was just something to entertain him.

7.) One time in the library, I was working on printing out some paper. An annoying ass kid who was overly friendly and rode the bus with me was talking to me a lot, and I was pretty clearly not interested in my mind at least. T walked in for some reason and smiled and said “Hey, (my name)” pretty loudly. I wasn’t expecting to see him, so I was just like “Oh, hey, T,” because I lack social skills. He glanced at the kid and back at me and his face kinda dropped before he kept walking. I think the kid asked me to hang out with him and our mutual friend and I was basically like no thanks man I’m kinda busy.

8.) Other times he would do this as well. One time my girl friend and I were sitting across from each other at a lunch table in the morning after getting off the bus. Out of LITERALLY NOWHERE he just swoops in and sits next to my friend across from me and starts talking to me about some project in Spanish he finished, showing me excitedly what he wrote and asking if it was right. He pretty much ignored my friend, and she was hella socially anxious and knew about my crush on him so she kinda got huge eyes and shut down socially. He and I talked for a bit before it got awkward because we ran out of shit to say and it was awkward now that we had an extra person and we pretty much only talked to each other without anyone else in the conversation. He left after that and my friend and I freaked tf out.

9.) One time while I was waiting for the bus in the cafeteria after school, I was alone because my friends were taking too long. I was on my phone when he comes up and starts talking to me. I was hella fucking awkward because for some reason I‘m always a fucking stiff around the person I like. Then my guy friend who rode the same bus came up and cock blocked the shit out of T because he’s super fucking loud and just starts fucking around. He and I are super close even to this day and I guess T got intimidated by how easily we were joking around and kinda saw himself out before I could say anything.

10.) THIS LIST IS GETTING TOO LONG SKDJDJASKDJDJ BUT I FUCKIN FORGOT whenever we would walk between classes we would sometimes not even talk. Like whenever the conversation died we would just kinda stare into each other’s eyes 😂 I thought I was just being creepy, but he fucking smiled at me when it happened why am I so dUmB fUUUCK. Also sometimes the popular kids would run up behind us and fuck with him like make fun of him or make some sort of awkward pass that I wouldn’t react to before running down the hall ahead of us. My guess now is that he was meaning to make a move but my neutral reaction to whatever dumbass thing they said made it impossible to tell if I felt the same so he chickened out.

ANYWAYS I think our little friendship/mutual pining fizzled our after one time he made a more up front attempt because at this point he was probably fed up with waiting for me to get the hint but this exchange really fucking backfired:

Basically he got a girlfriend, this girl on GUESS WHAT??! THE VOLLEYBALL TEAM. I heard about it straight from him while we’re walking to English together and that shit hurted but I was like whatever I still want him as a friend and this pretty much confirmed in my mind that he NEVER liked me. So basically he’s talking about how he’s been seeing her to pass the time but he doesn’t actually like her. And I was like why not? She’s really cool/nice and REALLY pretty. But if you don’t like her then why date her? Seems like a waste of time. He’s like yeah well basically she said she liked me so I asked her out but tbh I think she’s annoying. And I’m like what did she do something on a date that was annoying? STILL UTTERLY CLUELESS AND HES DEADASS LIKE what are you jealous like in a flirty way and my DUMB. ASS. Is like.... WHATTTT PSHHH NO I MEAN WE’RE JUST BROSSS AHAHA.

Can I get an F in the chat pls?

Basically we just stopped talking after a while. I think my friend texting his brother officially knifed the shit out of that ship’s sail. Years later I confessed that I liked him back then and asked if he liked me back back then so I could stop worrying about gaslighting myself and he’s basically like yeah I would’ve tried something with you (came across really unenthusiastic). And then one time in like my freshman year of community college I was with my bio study group in the library going to where we were meeting up for a project when I felt eyes on me from the computers and literally LOCKED EYES WITH HIM AND HES JUST LIKE 👁👄👁

LMAO I PRETENDED LIKE I DIDNT KNOW THAT BITCH

OH TO SEE WITHOUT MY EYES

1 like = 1 smash of your head against the wall at my fucking idiocy

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lucycaitlin13 · 4 years

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Manipulation and Gaslighting

Do you ever just hear a song and instantly feel sad? That song tonight was Can’t Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley. I’m going to take a break from my journals this evening. I’d like to talk about unhealthy relationships I think.

Most days I am happy or at least content with my life, but other days I hit some lows. They never last too long, but these are the days that I reflect on my past “relationships” and current lack thereof.

I used quotes around relationships because 99% of them weren’t more than a man disappointing me and the other 1% was a mentally abusive relationship. I mean I’ve had one serious relationship in my entire life and it was fucking terrible. I have never been treated like a lady worth someone’s time and that really gets to me sometimes.

Do you wanna know what I get to reflect on when I look at the men I’ve “talked to”? I get to think about scumbags from high school who were just looking to get their dick wet. Every single guy I did something with in high school took advantage of me because they knew I wanted a relationship.

See, I am someone who wants to actually find someone to spend my life with. I enjoy simple things like cooking dinner together and watching a movie. I want to go to a museum and look at art. I want to go to a bookstore and find a book and read together. I want easy and romantic.

I gave my heart away too easily thinking, “Maybe this one will be good. Maybe they actually like me this time.” So I allow someone to smooth talk their way into my DM’s and I meet up and go on a “date” if that’s what you want to call it.

Let me tell you about some of the “dates” I’ve been on because I clearly didn’t value my self worth. The Walmart parking lot, nature trail behind the school, driving around in a truck and ending up in the back, dugouts at football games, Lake Junaluska, Blue Ridge Parkway, and many other similar situations.

Now, obviously I take some responsibility for allowing things to escalate. However, I was a teenage girl who just was hoping to find that “high school sweetheart” that every girl wants. So of course I let my hopes and feelings take charge because surely one of these boys would be “the one’. WRONG.

Not one boy in high school was anything more than a hookup. Some not even that. As far as I’m concerned, every boy lied to me to get what they wanted and then exited stage left. Poof. Never had a boyfriend in high school. Just a bunch of mistakes. You could say that I was easily manipulated because I was blinded by the lies I was being told.

(By the way, I’m using the term hookup loosely. It doesn’t necessarily mean I slept with them. Could’ve just been a make-out session. But I digress.)

So I graduate high school and go to college. I have a fresh start where not everyone knows me. Surely someone will want to take me out! Nope. Nothing changed during that first semester.

I moved home and sure enough, I started dating someone who I had known for a while previously. This person was much older than me (BIG mistake at age 18). Sure I was mature for my age, which a lot of people say that, but I wasn’t the normal 18 year old. I was just ready to settle. I’m an old soul and like I said, I like simple and easy.

This was my first and only real relationship and at first it was okay. I didn’t really have anything to base it off of as I mentioned previously that all the guys in my past were scumbags. So, to me, this is surely how relationships should be!

But lets just look at some red flags that I should have noticed and probably did, but I ignored because I “fell” for this person. First off, when you catch someone in a lie, you should probably take it more seriously than how I did. I just blew it off because they were “sorry” and promised it wouldn’t happen again.

I was kicked out in the middle of the night because another woman had called.. I’m sorry, what? Yeah, you heard that right. So I stormed out of the house and went home. But did I forgive him when he apologized a week later. YUP! This was a month into seeing this person and looking back, this was the point I should have ran! But I didn’t.

I ended up moving in with this person; moving several times during our relationship. In the beginning I knew there was baggage and I thought I was okay with it. I clearly wasn’t.

Was I a perfect girlfriend? NOPE. I’m sure I wasn’t. I went through his phone and didn’t trust him. How could I fully trust someone who I repeatedly caught talking to other people etc? Guess I shouldn’t have been in a relationship if that was how I felt, but I was young and dumb.

Over the 3 years, maybe a little less, that we were together, there were WAY more lows than there were highs. I was told yelled at that I was a “horrible, rotten cunt” while they were driving. He yelled so loud I thought the windows in the car would shatter. I was terrified, yet I apologized. Sex was rare. A month or so would go by without anything. Any time I tried to initiate anything, I was yelled at for bothering him. So, it was always on his terms. Yet I apologized for being a nuisance.

I probably was annoying at times. I mean, I’m not perfect as I mentioned before. But things just got worse and worse. He would go out with his friends and drink, but I wasn’t old enough, so I stayed home. This was fine until I found out from people that he was flirting at the bars. Of course there was more fighting when this was brought up. And denial. So I apologized and dropped it.

An old fling had Facebook messaged me one time just asking how I had been. I told him I was happy and about my boyfriend. I left this open on the desktop and was screamed at when he picked me up from class that night. I was forced to message him and tell him that I wasn’t allowed to talk to him anymore and to block him. I was then thrown on the floor. Yet I kept apologizing repeatedly for how sorry I was.

So many little things happened in between all of this. From his junkie friend moving in with us because he was “helping her get back on her feet” and trying to help her stay clean. This wasn’t a choice I had any say in. I was told it was happening. To him calling one of my best friends a bitch and tried to fight with her. But every time we fought, I apologized because it was my fault, right?

Then the beginning of the end.. I started finding things in our home that didn’t belong there. Items that belonged to a mutual friend. I questioned this and of course here came a bunch of lies. “She came over with her kid and we went running.” “She came by with her kid to have dinner with us.” Etc etc. I started bagging all the shit I found and threw it in the fucking trash.

I of course was going through his phone, tablet, and anything else I could at this point. How could I not? I don’t have any regrets in doing this because fuck him! And guess what I found? NOTHING. But how could I find nothing if I knew they texted? Why was he deleting an entire thread if there was nothing to hide? But I had no concrete proof of anything.

UNTIL one night when I decided to go through everything again only to come up with nada. So I rolled back over and tried to go back to sleep, but something was telling me to look again. So I checked his email.. Email that I was given access to to begin with to help print documents and such. Surely he wasn’t that dumb right? Sooo wrong! He was that dumb. I found pictures and videos of this bitch who was supposed to be a mutual friend!

And so we broke up. I moved out. And for the next 9 months I TRIED TO FIX THIS ABUSIVE AS FUCK RELATIONSHIP. What the actual fuck! I was fed lie after lie. I was told this was all my fault. It was my fault he cheated. It was my fault that he kept seeing her again and again when I was being told he wanted to work on things.

I was accused of sleeping with one of my good friends over and over again. I had my phone thrown out of a moving car. I was never allowed to hang out with friends. I was made to get out of the car on the interstate. I was brought into the middle of nowhere and literally texted a friend to call 911 because I was fearing for my life.

So when I say I don’t trust men easily, I have my fucking reasons. That relationship was over 4 years ago at this point and I have been single since. And guess what? Every guy since that relationship has also been a waste of my time because not one of them gave a fuck about me. Just sex.

So I have to wonder? What is wrong with me? Am I not pretty enough? Am I not skinny enough? Not funny enough? Or do they just realize there’s something better around the corner?

I’ve never really had someone actually love me or even like me for that matter. That relationship was not love and never was. I know now what I didn’t at the time. I was taken advantage of as I always have been. I was manipulated and gaslighted. I was embarrassed and made fun of by my own boyfriend and apologized for everything.

So yeah, this post all started out with a song making you feel sad. But what that song made me feel was actually longing. Longing for someone to love me the way I know I deserve. Longing for someone to spend my life with that actually enjoys being with me. That’s really all I want, but all I can get is a DM from fuckboys for a one night stand. So I just don’t reply to anyone ever because what’s the point?

I just want all of you to know that it was okay to leave someone before they leave you. It is okay to throw in the towel because they are mentally or physically abusing you. Sometimes you feel like you have to make it work because you’ve spent X amount of years in your relationship and you don’t want to have wasted all that time. IT’S OKAY!

If there is one piece of advice I could give my younger self, it would be to listen to your friends! Listen to them when they tell you what is happening is wrong. Many of my close friends told me time and time again and I never listened to a word because I was so blinded by the bullshit.

I am much happier now and obviously haven’t let many people in since because I have some HIGH fucking standards now. And that is okay too! Sure I get sad sometimes, but I’m still much happier than I was.

To all the boys who fucked me over and made me feel used - *middle finger emoji*.

I’m ending this here because I don’t know what else to say.

Xoxo

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inmyarmswrappedin · 5 years

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Narrative framing, Subtext and Audience Expectations

In the past week, I’ve come across a fair amount of discourse about wtFOCK, Robbe and Noor. There are some who think that Robbe is attracted to Noor and could be bisexual. Others are very resolute in their position that, because Isak used Emma and didn’t care for her as a person otherwise, wtFOCK would be missing the point if Robbe felt any sort of kinship towards Noor.

Here’s what I think: wtFOCK is not telling a story in which a male character, who has a same gender relationship in all other versions of his season, finds love with a female character. But that doesn’t mean people who think wtFOCK is doing that are dumb or wrong, because wtFOCK introduced Noor very much like shows introduce love interests.

In Skam, Isak is hanging out with his squad at a party. The boys want to know who Isak has his eyes on. After a bit of prodding, Isak describes a beautiful girl they all have noticed before, one that his friends think is out of his league. Surprisingly, that very same girl walks into the bathroom. What’s Isak to do, when he just said that’s the girl he likes? He deliberately negs her. Emma is confused because Isak keeps insulting and then complimenting her. That piques her interest, and the boys take that as their cue to leave. Isak watches the boys leave with some trepidation. When Emma twice attempts to give him a blowjob, Isak twice shakes her off. Emma leaves the bathroom and the audience sees Isak slump against the wall. The night ends when the cops break the party, and Isak is rescued by Jonas.

Nothing about the way Skam narratively frames Emma makes Emma seem cool, exciting or even a reprieve in Isak’s life.

In wtFOCK, Robbe is hanging out with his squad at a party. The boys want to know who Robbe has his eyes on. Robbe demurs. He doesn’t have a type. He doesn’t have a top five. And then Noor walks in. Suddenly, as Noor is peeing, Robbe starts very specifically describing her. Dark hair, bangs, tattoos, her red dress, her small boobs. He’s challenging her, and Noor challenges him right back. She kisses Robbe… And leaves with Robbe’s joint. The next time we see them, they are making out. Since Noor left, Robbe was the one to seek her out again. The cops arrive to break the party. Robbe leans his head against Noor’s in dismay at said cops.

Aaron dumps his weed on Robbe, and Robbe protests. But then Noor takes charge of the situation. She tells Robbe where to go, not to think, and promises to see him outside. It’s not Robbe’s best friend Jens who rescues Robbe, nor does the night end there.

Robbe is having a great time. Much like Isak did with his good friend Jonas, he records his great escape with his cellphone. The guy who was clearly uncomfortable being questioned by his friends (about girls, to be clear) is now having fun and smiling.

Noor has a motorbike and a Fuck Trump helmet. She has tattoos and a piercing. She disregards traffic laws. She takes Robbe to a mysterious location, where masks and a special knock are required to be allowed entry. She still has control over the situation, as she tells Robbe to calm down. A bunch of teens are spray painting a garbage truck. Robbe has never done something like this before, but he smiles while being handed a can and a kiss, and there we go! Robbe has now participated in the defiling of the garbage truck.

Viewers are not being misled by their personal romantic and sexual interest in girls. This Is how wtFOCK frames Noor:

She is cool. She has a motorbike and a Fuck Trump helmet. She easily takes control when Robbe is afraid or nervous.

She is exciting. She steals Robbe’s joint and leaves the bathroom. She has access to secret activities taking place in the city.

She is a reprieve in Robbe’s life. She not only rescues Robbe, but Robbe is presented as having fun with her because he actually records their escape out of his own volition.

These are all the ways in which a piece of media would choose to introduce a love interest. Not the interloper and not a platonic friend. A character who comes into the character’s life like a hurricane, and immediately rescues him from the cops and his own misery, only to invite him to a secret place, so he can do something cool for the first time, is a classic romance trope.

Now, to berate a viewer who has grown up with the same kind of romance tropes as everyone else has, for correctly interpreting Noor’s narrative framing as romantic, and even worse, to suggest that they aren’t repelled by Noor because the viewers are themselves wlw who can’t help but be attracted to a character whose original version wasn’t attractive to Isak in a romantic, sexual or platonic sense, is headassery, and low key homophobic in the latter case, tbh.

If anyone is to be blamed for that reaction, it’s wtFOCK’s team for either:

Misleading viewers by introducing Noor with the classic makings of a love interest for the purpose of straight baiting viewers (which would be hilarious);

Misleading viewers by introducing Noor with the classic making of a love interest for a purpose that will become clearer at a later point.

Either way, I believe that wtFOCK has been messy for introducing Noor in this manner. Neither Skam nor the remakes introduced Emma or her expy in this manner, because this is not Isak and Emma (or their expies’) love story. It is Isak and Even’s (and their corresponding expies). It’s messy to mislead the audience, but the audience didn’t choose to headcanon Noor as cool, exciting and a source of fun for Robbe; in short, they didn’t choose to see Noor as likable. wtFOCK gave Noor those traits.

However, wtFOCK could’ve chosen to subvert Noor’s introduction through the use of subtext. For instance, Emma Covitti in SKAM Italia seemed like a perfectly cool chick initially. However, through the use of subtext, Martino is shown not to be comfortable around her or making out with her. Martino is, however, relatively comfortable with his friends, as long as the subject of girls or homosexuality doesn’t come up.

This is not so with Robbe. Robbe is shown to be plenty comfortable around Noor and making out with Noor in the first three clips. He is definitely more comfortable with Noor than with his own friends. When wtFOCK starts introducing the idea that Robbe might not be as comfortable around Noor (such as in ep 1 clip 5), there’s nothing to suggest that Robbe’s discomfort with Noor is different from the discomfort he shows around his own best friends, who Robbe often tells off and asks to leave him alone. The only reason it is unexpected is because Noor was, again, a reprieve in ep 1 clips 1-3. If anything, it makes sense that Robbe isn’t immediately comfortable opening up to Noor about his family issues, since they barely know each other.

(Note: As I’m writing this, wtFOCK is finally weaving in the idea that Robbe is not actually attracted to Noor sexually or romantically. However, it needs to be asked, shouldn’t Robbe be past this point? Isak attempted to fake a relationship with Sara. Once he realizes he can’t keep up the charade long term, he settles for picking up girls and hooking up with them. He doesn’t intend on faking another relationship with Emma. In fact, he doesn’t acknowledge her texts and tries to turn her down when she invites him to hang out. The only reason Isak is supposed to meet Emma in Mekke Øl is because Mahdi has pressured Isak into agreeing.

Compare with Matteo, a remake Isak, who attempts to have a relationship with his Emma, Sara Adamczyk. This is Matteo’s first attempt at a heterosexual relationship, and it happens in s3, not s2. Sara is Matteo’s age, and has known Matteo for a long time before they start dating. Matteo does his best to redirect her attempts at physical intimacy towards companionship, whether by watching a movie, talking about Sara’s problems or, when he runs out of options, literally fleeing her room. We know Matteo isn’t interested in Sara as a girlfriend, and barely even as a friend, because whenever Sara texts him, Matteo seems at a loss as to how to answer her in a way that doesn’t lead to further flirtation, or outright fails to text back.

Robbe already attempted to fake a heterosexual relationship in s2, with Maud. Shouldn’t Robbe know by now to either not attempt to fake a relationship long term, or, failing that, to fend Noor’s advances more successfully? Shouldn’t we as viewers have more of an insight into how Robbe feels about this relationship? Yes, we have seen that Noor tried to have sex with him in ep 1 clip 11, and Robbe was visibly uncomfortable with that. Yes, Robbe does not want to have sex with Noor, and, given the option, he would probably prefer not to make out with her either—although, once again, he looks far more comfortable making out with Noor than Isak or other remake Isaks did with their respective Emmas. But there are other other ways to show discomfort with the proceedings. We could see Robbe being disinclined to invite Noor to his housewarming party, and being pressured to do so. We could see Robbe being disinclined to meet Noor when she’s done with her shift. We are not shown these scenes. Instead, we see Robbe and Noor making out in semi-private settings, again and again. It would be a good idea to show how Robbe gets stuck in these situations when his relationship with Maud should’ve helped him come up with some strategies to avoid them. In the end, these scenes are repetitive and say nothing about Robbe or Noor as characters, whereas showing Robbe in a variety of situations in which a person with a relationship might find themselves in, would add nuance to the character.)

As I mentioned earlier, while some people feel that Robbe could be attracted to Noor based on what wtFOCK released earlier last week, other people feel wtFOCK (and other remakes) miss the point by making Robbe feel anything other than total disinterest in Noor. And this is the part where wtFOCK being a remake of Skam, and particularly a season as well-loved as Isak’s, really comes into play. There’s plenty of discourse on whether the remakes should attempt to fix whatever viewers felt was wrong with Skam, whether the remakes should copy the original storyline word for word or beat for beat, whether introducing changes to the storyline means the remake teams are implicitly agreeing with the fandom that the original needed to be fixed on those specific aspects, and more.

In this specific case, I will talk about Matteo and Sara, and Robbe and Noor. Neither Martino, nor Lucas Lallemant, nor Cris Soto felt much of anything for Emma Covitti, Chloé or Rubén, respectively. When “remakes” are accused of trying to “fix” the Isak/Emma relationship, the remakes alluded to are Druck and now wtFOCK. I don’t believe either Druck nor wtFOCK were trying to fix the Isak/Emma relationship.

In the case of Druck, it was more convenient for the story they were trying to tell that Sara took on Emma’s role. First off, it’s much easier on a production to use actors who already know how the production works. Second, Matteo’s longing for companionship and general passivity led him into am unwanted relationship with Sara. Third, Sara is narratively useful because of the Leonie/David storyline (Sara’s social media and dialogue give the viewers insight into how it’s developing) and also because of the Sara/Leonie friendship (since Sara and Leonie are friends, Sara can invite Leonie to Abdi’s birthday party, and she, in turn, can invite David). By the end of the season, it’s fair to say Matteo and Sara are not friends, and their connection is through David, rather than to each other.

When it comes to wtFOCK, their goal is less clear, though I would still argue their intention is not to “fix” the original. As I’ve mentioned before, regardless of their intentions when it comes to framing Noor as a love interest, it’s messy and narratively misleading, because Noor is not the love interest. wtFOCK, also, has a bad habit of ramping up certain aspects of the original, seemingly without realizing that this creates expectations in the viewer.

For instance, wtFOCK chose to make a season-long joke of Milan having an interest in Robbe, with Zoë pointing out that Robbe is a minor and Milan making light of it. In the season finale, Milan goes to grab Robbe’s chin, which led viewers to believe he was going to kiss Robbe. Viewers expect the Eskild expy to behave a certain way, and when Milan failed to do so, other expectations were created. Namely, that Milan should apologize before a mentor relationship moved forward. Instead, it appears as if the wtFOCK team did not intend to portray Milan as predatory, as he laughs off (with some self-deprecation?) the idea that he would ever kiss Robbe.

Another instance is the wtFOCK girl squad. In the original, Eva and Noora gossip about Isak’s sexuality among themselves and to Eskild. At one point, Eva gets so drunk she can barely stand straight, and tries to kiss Isak, who pushes her off. At another point, and under the suspicion that Penetrator Chris is sexually involved with Isak, Eva decides to try and hook up with Penetrator Chris to resolve this mystery (since, in Eva’s mind, people are only straight or gay). In wtFOCK, this interaction is ramped up. Jana and Zoë tell the entire girl squad about Robbe’s possible homosexuality, and Jana resolves to sleep with Robbe to find out the answer. Jana, while sober, approaches Robbe and tries to kiss him. When he gets startled, Jana and the girls laugh at him. For her part, Zoë has an exchange with Senne in which she says that it’s weird that Robbe might be gay. Again, since these changes make Robbe a laughing stock for the girl squad, viewers expect the outcome of the storyline to be different. As of ep 2 clip 2, it looks as if all those scenes simply existed to remind the viewer that Robbe is gay, and Jana, Zoë and Luca’s obsession with Robbe’s sexuality in s2 will not be acknowledged again.

Viewers expected there to be differences in the Milan and Robbe mentor relationship, as well as for the girls to be held accountable for their actions in s2, because wtFOCK created these expectations in the viewers by introducing changes in the interactions between all these characters. For now, it appears as though there will be no changes in the Milan and Robbe relationship, nor the relationship between Robbe and Jana, Zoë or Luca. Therefore, I don’t think the wtFOCK team thought the Isak/Emma relationship needed to be “fixed,” either. While Noor has indeed been given the narrative framing of a love interest, past evidence (at least when it comes to the Robbe storyline) doesn’t point towards an interest in “fixing” Skam, but rather, an interest in raising the stakes. Perhaps in an effort to show how much harder gay teens have it (it is crucial that straight viewers don’t forget that to be gay is to live in relentless misery!). Perhaps because that is simply the way of teen shows.

#wtfock #robbe ijzermans #noor bauwens #milan hendrickx #brain vomit

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