#plus like most of the romance options are literally meant to be off in some way
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frankenjoly · 7 months ago
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bram and aya +
“I think they’re staring at you.”
“What do you recommend?”
or the word ‘royal’! up to you how many to do alsjfkfj
aaaanddd i combined them :3
“What do you recommend?” Bram asked, letting Aya lead him to a table she had called her usual spot upon entering the cafe. It was a small and colorful place near her school, mostly filled by other students with their friends, but in some cases their parents too. Would that mean no one would deem him as out of place? Unlikely, given how a handful of heads had turned to follow them with little to no regard for acting inconspicuous.
Most of them thought twice when meeting Bram’s best ‘mind your own business’ gaze, though.
“Hm.” Aya tapped her chin with her index finger, clearly considering all the options, since there was apparently nothing the vampire couldn’t straight up tolerate from the place’s menu. Sure, it wouldn’t feed him either, but that had been a given since the start. Not like it bothered Bram much, not when he could still taste food. “All the cakes are absolutely wonderful, but if I had to pick just one, maybe the apple pie? Or ditch those and go for the mochis. And for drinkin’...” She stopped for a second, glancing in the same way Bram was proceeding to look at. “Oh, yeah. I think they’re looking at you.”
“Have I not done enough to…” It was now his own turn to make a pause, properly choosing the words. “... appear fairly common-looking by modern standards?” 
The clothes he was currently wearing, if maybe more fancy than the usual while looking at everyone else, were appropriate to the times and weather. He had styled his hair so his pointy ears wouldn’t stand out much. And there wasn’t much he could do about the scars crossing his cheeks but those weren’t that strange either.
So what was the issue? Was it simply because he was a newcomer there? Would people who were familiar with Aya’s presence find off-putting that she wasn’t accompanied by her actual, biological father? Or--?
Speaking about Aya, her first reaction towards the question was giggling.
“I think they don’t have any problem with your looks, but the other way around.” The giggle turned into a big, amused smile. “Don’t be too obvious if you wanna take a peek, but for example… one of the ladies over there’s downright blushin’ and all.”
“Excuse me?” To be completely honest, Bram had understood what she meant. He just needed a few minutes to process the whole situation. Or hours.
“What? Bet they’re gushin’ as if they just found one of their fave romance novel main dudes just turned out to be true. Which kinda checks out, since you’re from ages ago and have that royal vibe thing goin’ on.”
Bram opened his mouth for a second, then closed it, then opened it again.
“You know I am no literal royalty.” Plus, calling her his princess was more about devotion and endearment and… yes, maybe a bit based on fantasy stories too, like the ones he had told another certain little girl back then. But still.
“I doubt they think that either.” Aya shrugged. “Anyway, whatcha gonna do with that sudden wave of popularity?”
“I--” Bram, meanwhile, let out a brief sigh. “Honestly, I have no interest in acknowledging those.”
“Why? Already got a sweetheart and whatnot?”
“You could say so.” He had barely finished speaking, when Aya’s jaw dropped.
(Also on ao3.)
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hecksupremechips · 1 year ago
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But really, it’s like. I don’t want to be so obsessive over something so trivial cuz it really just causes shitty discourse at the end of the day. I’m just really really into queer analysis of shit I like and put waaaaay too much thought into it so when it seems like others don’t do the same, or that they’ve done it completely differently than me, it’s like. I get way too hurt by it agdjskl
I think I get way too like. Obsessive when it comes to gender/sexuality hcs for queer characters and I think it all started with people saying Marvin from falsettos is bisexual representation
#theres also an entire issue on when theres an objective canon way a characters orientation is shown and people treat it ignorable#like with my falsettos example its pretty clear that marvin is gay but ig since they never say the words HE IS GAY BTW#people think they can just interpret it however they want and its always something that irks me#and so often ppls interpretations are just coming from like. seeing a man and woman interact in a semi interesting way#like idk i get too heated about ryuki as a queer character and how so many people think that he MUST be attracted to tama because idk#they are close and he cares about her#even when you can see a very obvious difference in the way he thinks of tama and the way he thinks of date#a person he is actually attracted to#or ppl saying marianne mccollough is bi because she has sex with men and can romance luke#but the actual text is pretty clear with itself when she says that she only has sex with men as punishment#and that she uses it as a way of fantasizing about having sex with women without actually having to sin#because shes hardcore Catholic Traumatized and was raised to hate herself for being gay#and while i think the luke/marianne romance option is stupid and unnecessary#i think it still works well in showing her true feelings because uh. they are not even kinda happy together lol#plus like most of the romance options are literally meant to be off in some way#which is why the true ending doesnt allow for any romances to exist in the end#like this one is kinda just here to be like wow. these two are miserable together!#but idk I feel weird about all this cuz i feel like im always upset about specifically bi hcs when i think a character is actually gay#i feel like i shouldnt think this way particularly because im bi and i should want more bi characters so i should like#always hc characters as bi whenever i possibly fucking can#but idk it just feels like people get too lazy with bi headcanons like theyre never not lazy to me#like people are going ‘ugh i was gonna say this guy was gay but he dated a woman once i guess he HAS to be bi now 🙄’#or its the opposite they like a m/f pairing but dont like straight characters so the characters are actually bi now just cuz#i wish it was done differently and like. that people put actual thought into it#but i cant control that shit and this stuff just really doesnt mean as much to some people as it does me#i really gotta learn to be more like. casual and not so nitpicky#or like i guess its like. queer analysis is my biggest passion In fandom and i always feel like im right and everyone else is wrong#hnnnghhh whatever whatever
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realcube · 3 years ago
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ONCE YOU’RE GONE
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rq ♥ hello!! can i please request miya twins, sakusa, suna, akaashi x fem!reader an angst one. like they got into a heated argument each other. reader just had enough, maybe take a stroll and got into a deadly accident that cost her life/ memory loss or something. and the hq char regrets it
tw ♥ angst, hurt/comfort, breakups, disappearances, very vague implications of kidnapping, memory loss & injury 
a/n ♥ sorry i couldn’t think of anything for suna </3 
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ATSUMU MIYA
♡ he’s never really been an overly religious guy
♡ yet everyday, he finds himself praying that you’ll come back 
♡ and before now, he considered himself a rather patient person, but every second you were gone was filled with anguish
♡ mostly because he knew it was all his fault
♡ nobody blamed it on him though, which only made him feel more guilty
♡ it was late, so he decided to walk you home from his house. hardly with your safety in mind though, just because he wanted to spend more time with you
♡ that was his first mistake
♡ his second was getting so defensive over his volleyball team
♡ he was talking about their recent loss to karasuno high, and how they were all devastated since they had been training for ages
♡ yet instead of comforting him, you simply replied, ��maybe you should do things besides volleyball, if you’re getting so worked up about it.”
♡ but all he heard was you being condescending (though that genuinely wasn’t your intention) and telling him to give up something he is passionate about because of one little defeat
♡ you tried to explain that you honestly meant no harm by your statement but atsumu argued that the damage had already been done, hence your apology meant nothing to him
♡ realising that atsumu was just being pissy and taking his frustration at the game out on you, you distanced yourself; walking a few paces in front of him and plugging in your earbuds to tune him out
♡ after marching behind you for a few more yards, atsumu eventually decided that he was finished 
♡ in one swift motion, he turned on his heels and stomped back his house, leaving you to walk the rest of the distance yourself; that was his third mistake
♡ however, after walking for about half a mile, he got a newsfeed notification on his phone titled, ‘four people reported missing in hyōgo prefecture, in the last week.’
♡ it only took one headline for all atsumu’s previous emotions to be swept away and replaced with one that left him motionless; guilt
♡ he continued walking back to his home, reasoning that you clearing didn’t want him near you — anyone could tell by the way you walked in front of him and ignored him— so he must’ve made the right choice to leave you, since it’s what you wanted, after all
♡ and it’s not like y’all broke up or anything, he still loves you and hopes you are safe and to prove that, he apologised and texted you first 
♡ ‘hey, i’m so sorry i was i bit of a jerk earlier.’
♡ followed by ‘text me once you’re home.’  
♡ no response, simply read at 21:45 
♡ that was a week ago, yet he still wholehearted believed that you were going to come back
♡ though, deep down he knew he was just feeding himself the same line over and over again, just so that he wouldn’t feel guilty, and so that the sight of a volleyball stopped making him feel so sick and distressed
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OSAMU MIYA
♡ he’s never felt such a sea of emotions at once before
♡ on one hand, he was just happy to see you alive and well; isn’t that all a lover should want?
♡ however, he didn’t have the honour of calling himself your lover anymore
♡ you didn’t remember anything from before the crash, which initially brought him a small tinge of relief, since you wouldn’t blame him for what happened
♡ however, you didn’t remember him at all
♡ so when he knelt by your bed and started apologising profusely, all you did which raise a brow and turn to the nurse, quietly — yet not discreetly — asking who the guy by your bed was
♡ he felt his hear tear apart at such a simple inquiry 
♡ however, instead of explaining himself, he got up and left, “nobody.”
♡ wanting to get it all off of his chest, he told atsumu about what happened, as if he didn’t know that his brother had the biggest crush on you during your whole relationship with osamu 
♡ and of course, upon hearing the news, atsumu ‘snuck out’ later to go visit you in hospital and presumably try to win your heart 
♡ though, there was nothing ‘sneaky’ about the way he loudly fumbled around with the car keys, or the way he tended to slam the door behind him — atsumu knew exactly what his brother was trying to do and although it pained him to even think of losing you, he let his brother pursue you anyway 
♡ he tried to protect you once and it resulted in you losing your memory, so god knows what would happen if he tried again
♡ plus, you were no longer his to protect, or at least that is what he tried to convince himself
♡ after months of daily visits from atsumu —and none from osamu — you were somewhat starting to gain your memory back 
♡ atsumu just seemed so.. familiar, and that was the single best feeling when you are so isolated 
♡ though, there was something off about him that you couldn’t exactly put your finger on, but he reassured you that it was because ‘seeing you hurt changed him as a man’ so of course he’s different from the way you ‘remember’ him
♡ years passed, and you continued dating atsumu in blissful ignorance of the events that happened before the accident
♡ you feel deeper in love with the atsumu you thought you knew and were forced away from osamu (who chose to remain single, he claimed it was to focus on his studies but he truly couldn’t find a second soulmate)
♡ it was only at your own wedding day were you finally able to see osamu once more, though you didn’t really interact with him much..
♡ until he objected during your vows, then, it was pretty hard to ignore him, especially since he appeared sober yet was claiming that you are his one true love, and he regrets ever leaving you 
♡ needless to say, the rest of the wedding definitely did not go as planned
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KIYOOMI SAKUSA 
♡ he loved you; and he wished he had showed it more, now that it’s too late
♡ “sakusa,” you cooed, resting your head on his shoulder and offering him a plate of apple slices you cut yourself, while browsing the shows on TV, “what shall we watch tonight?” you inquired, but mostly to yourself since dating sakusa nowadays was similar to dating a literal rock 
♡ no response, as per usual
♡ well, on the bright-side, that just meant you’d get to watch whatever you wanted, unless sakusa spoke up, which he most likely would not 
♡ scanning through all your options, you decided to select some teen romance, coming-of-age movie that you knew sakusa would most definitely not enjoy, hence forcing him to say thing 
♡ however, instead of him reacting in accordance to your plan, he simply got up and left without another word
♡ something about the sight of him with his back turned to you, headed out of your house and back home with even a goodbye cleared your fogged mind and left one fact undoubtedly clear; you didn’t want to be with him anymore 
♡ and although you didn’t want to make assumptions, you surmised that he felt the same way; it was almost a certainty considering how distant he acted 
♡ so of course you cut it off that same night; yet when you proposed the idea of breaking up, sakusa became surprisingly defensive
♡ it was as if all of a sudden he realised how shitty he had been acting this whole time, and how his actions had effected you 
♡ you both yelled over the phone for hours, though it was hardly an ‘argument’, more like sakusa apologising profusely and making — what you believed to be — false promises, while you explained that you had just had enough 
♡ it ended with him almost screaming ‘i love you’, but you hung up on him too soon 
♡ he would never admit it, but he cried himself to sleep that night
♡ there was a part of him saying that he was just being overdramatic and you were nothing more than another lover that will enter and exit his life with the wind, but four years later, he still found himself getting butterflies upon catching a glimpse of you in the stands at one of games 
♡ despite the fact you were cheering for opposite team 
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KEIJI AKAASHI 
♡ you two were the perfect couple
♡ study dates, sliding notes to each other during class, midnight strolls, endless support, dancing in the rain; it was like you were both living in your very own slice-of-life romance movie
♡ however, as they say, all good things must come to an end
♡ but for akaashi, that ending came too quickly
♡ “you can do it, i know you can!” that must’ve been the tenth time you’ve said that today, it was like your own inspirational mantra, yet akaashi didn’t seem to be endeared by it 
♡ “no, (y/n).” he repeated with a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose as he began to guide you to the door, “it’s a silly dream. i probably shouldn’t have even mentioned it.”
♡ “it’s not silly!” you argued, throwing on your jacket as he made it increasingly clear that he didn’t want to continue this conversation, “it’s your dream! you can’t just keep complaining about school if you aren’t even going to try to pursue your passion.” 
♡ akaashi silently shook his head, “go.” it was harsh, but he could only deal with speaking about his work life for so long
♡ “you go.” you snapped, though knowing it wasn’t exactly the comeback of the century, but it summarised your feelings well enough, “i’ve honestly had enough of you. i hope--” 
♡ you cut yourself off at that; storming off before saying something you might regret 
♡ though furious, you really didn’t want things to end with him, you just hoped that maybe one day you’ll be able to have a civil conversation with him about what he wants to do in life 
♡ because he hides it well, but the more you got to know him, the more you noticed that he truly wasn’t happy in his studies, and you just wished he would do something about it or at the very least, let you help 
♡ and he knew this too; he knew it all too well yet still couldn’t bring himself to better his life, even once you were gone
♡ you were critically injured after the accident, and during your time in the hospital, you let akaashi see you once
♡ one visit was his chance to redeem himself, to apologise and help you both align your futures together 
♡ but all he could do was sit with you in radio silence
♡ thirty minutes passed and his mind was running on overdrive, yet he couldn’t think of anything to utter after ‘hello.’
♡ so he left 
♡ no apology, no redemption, to attempt, nothing.
♡ all he could say was that he left with a heavy heart, a heart filled with hope that one day he could return to you despite all the wrong he has done; though that seemed more unrealistic than his dream of playing profession volleyball
♡ he had truly lost his soulmate 
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plus-size-reader · 4 years ago
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Worth Dying For
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Emmett Cullen x Plus size!reader
Word Count: 2007 words
Warnings: none 
Summary: Emmett falls in love with a member of the Uley pack, even though the two shouldn’t have any contact at all. 
——————————————————————————————————
Historically Emmett didn’t have the most tolerance for werewolves.
He thought what most people thought, he thought that the two species had no reason or chance at being anything more than enemies but that changed rather quickly when you two met.
For whatever reason, he didn’t have the same urge to challenge you like the others.
There was just something about you.
He couldn’t put his finger on it. Luckily for him though, you seemed to share the same confused opinion of him, which led to a very complicated romance.
The two of you frequently broke the treaty to see each other in secret. It was more than dangerous, but neither of you had much of a choice in the matter.
After all, it was like you’d thought before. Vampires and werewolves were very different creatures and you had nothing in common, except for the fact that you both navigated completely off of instinct.
You couldn’t help but do what felt right and being with Emmett felt right, even if every thought you had told you to get as far away from him as humanly possible.
It wasn’t up to you, clearly.
You both knew the consequences for breaking the treaty, and what could happen if either of you families found out about this, but here you were, crossing the slippery stones of the river under the cover of the night.
“You better be careful, wouldn’t want to fall” you heard finally, that cocky tone evident in his voice even in a whisper.
All you could do was sigh in reply. He had a point. It would be hard to explain coming home all wet, but it would be harder to explain why you’d been out there in the first place.
Still, you weren’t going to let him know that, so you only shrugged. “I think I got it handled”
You didn’t, not really.
In fact, you had been so preoccupied now knowing he was watching you, making his snide comments about everything you were doing that you didn’t realize that the rock in front of you was covered in algae.
As soon as you step down on it, resting all your weight on one wobbly foot, you did just as he’d warned you about, falling into the river.
Initially you had been worried about the cold water and having to explain your damp clothes but you hadn’t actually thought it was going to happen. As it would turn out, there was more than that at stake.
You crawled out of the lake on the Cullen’s side of the barrier, taking the hand Emmett had offered you to catch your bearings but before you could, he stopped you.
“You’re bleeding”
There was a cautiousness in his voice as he helped up onto the grass, though it wasn’t because he was worried about him. More than anything, he was just worried for you.
After all, he only knew that you were bleeding but he didn’t know how bad the damage was or what had happened when you came down on the riverbed. Not that he took much time at all to wonder before he tore at the pant leg of your jeans, ruining them.
“Emmett! What are you doing?” you asked, swatting away at his hand, taking a look at the damage.
He had completely shredded the fabric all the way up to your knee, which was now freely bleeding around the curve of your kneecap. The damage wasn’t too bad but now you’d have to explain how you ruined your pants.
This was just getting more and more complicated as the minutes ticked by.
“There’s rocks and gravel stuck in the cut. Carlisle can get it out” he explained, immediately standing from his crouched position at your side, not even noticing that he was talking crazy.
What he was suggesting could start a war.
“We can’t do that! I’ll be fine” you tried, not even attempting to stand to your feet. You knew that if you did, he would know just how badly it hurt, and that would make this all worse.
For now, you would just have to sit tight and wait for that stinging pain to die down.
“It isn’t fine Y/N. Just trust me” he urged. Had he been thinking clearly he may not have suggested it, but right now, all he could think about was taking you to have that looked at.
There was all kinds of scum and bacteria down there and your body wouldn’t heal itself nearly as effectively as his would. It would just make him feel a lot better if Carlisle told him it would be alright.
As soon as Emmett heard it from him, he would lay off but not a minute before.
“You really aren’t going to let this go, are you?” you asked, knowing for a fact that he wouldn’t. If there was one thing Emmett was more than anything else, it was stubborn.
...And unfortunately he was also immortal.
That meant that if you didn’t do as he asked right now, you knew that you’d be hearing about it for the next hundred years.
“Fine, but if we die, it’s your fault” you grumbled, securing your arms around his neck to let him pick you up from the dirt. If he had been anyone else, you would have panicked slightly over your weight but not with Emmett.
Not only did he have superhuman vampire strength but even if he didn’t, you were sure that he’d be able to handle you. All things considered, he wasn’t some frail, lanky thing.
“We aren’t going to die. You need to just trust me for once” he scoffed, that grin on his face that forced you to roll your eyes. He really believed that, you could tell, but you weren't so sure.
After all, this was his family you were talking about. He wasn’t the outside breaking the treaty on the wrong side of the stream. The only thing that saved it was that you knew he did have something to lose in all this.
...You.
He wouldn’t have even suggested it if he didn’t think it would be okay and as much as you hated it, you just had to trust that he knew what he was doing.
It wasn’t until you neared the Cullen house that Emmett really noticed a change in you. Your heart was hammering against your rib cage with nerves and he swore that you would break his skin with how tightly you were holding him.
It was strange for him to see you like that.
Usually between the two of you, all you ever did was throw jokes and teasing jabs his ways, arms folded across your chest and a roll of your eyes. He didn’t think he’d ever actually seen you afraid.
“Hey, relax. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I promise” he promised, pressing a gentle kiss to your forehead. It wasn’t really something he could promise, but it would be a lie to say it didn’t make you feel better.
Emmett didn’t even bother to knock as he entered the house, immediately attracting the attention of the rest of his family, who had been waiting for him to come home.
They weren’t sure what he was doing but that fell away pretty quickly when they saw you.
“What are you doing? She can’t be here” Rosalie spoke first, unafraid to insert her opinion when no one else could. Though, everyone else paid her no mind as Carlisle emerged.
The first thing he took notice of was the blood, now mostly dried around the edge of your wound, and the various stones and things peppering the open cut.
Something had happened out there, and while you being here was a problem they would have to deal with, his first instinct was to take care of that. He couldn’t help it.
Carlisle had been a doctor since before that was a term frequently used and it was in his nature to help people, no matter who or what they were.
“Come with me, we’ll talk about this after” he decided finally, beckoning Emmett alongside him to his office, making it clear that this conversation was far from over but had been moved to the back burner.
At least as far as the rest of the Cullens were concerned.  
Though, it was a whole different story as soon as the three of you were alone behind closed doors. You expected the third degree almost immediately, even wondering if Carlisle would make Emmett leave the room.
...But he didn't
Instead, he instructed Emmett to set you down on his desk so he could get a better look at the cut. “How did this happen?” he wondered, naturally assuming that the two of you would tell him the truth.
By coming here, you had already outed your biggest secret so anything else would pale in comparison to whatever it was you had been doing out there in the woods.
“It was my fault” Emmett started, knowing that he would be far more lenient with the pair of you if he shouldered the blame and honestly, it wasn’t a stretch.
You had been trying to convince Emmett that meeting up like that was too dangerous but he couldn’t help it. The idea of not being able to see you was too much for him, and he didn’t even entertain it as an option.
“We’ve been meeting out there, by the river” you piped up, hoping that would better explain how it had happened. There was no point in hiding it now.
Whatever consequences there were, they were coming for the pair of you no matter what happened now. Keeping it a secret wasn’t going to change that and if Carlisle was going to kill you, he wouldn’t be bothering with bandages.
“Why?”
There was no emotion at all on Carlisle's face as he spoke, not to you or Emmett singularly, his attention completely on the task at hand. He could have guessed, of course, but he didn’t want to devalue what you two had.
He knew better than anyone that love could be complicated and as difficult and dangerous as it could have been, he didn’t presume to know just what you shared.
It would be much simpler to hear it from your own lips. After all, if he was going to face a literal war for this little rondeavu, he had to know what he was fighting for.
Clearly Emmett was willing to fight for whatever it was you two had, and that was enough for Carlisle to be on board, not that he was going to admit that now.
“I love her” Emmett allowed, his words filling the small space almost immediately. He had never told you that to your face but if there was ever a time to admit it, it was now.
You were in shock, rightfully so, over what he’d just admitted but more than anything, you were just trying to juggle everything you were feeling right now.
Part of you wanted to tell Emmett that you loved him too, but the other part was too concerned with the perilous situation that you were currently in to process something so intimate.
You did love him, of course you did, but it just wasn’t the right time to have that conversation.
“And is that something you’re willing to die for? Surely you must have thought about what you were risking by doing this” Carlisle questioned then, shocking you both.
He wasn’t pulling any punches in that department but he couldn’t be. This was a serious situation and it didn’t just affect the two of you. This was going to change both your lives and the lives of both your families.
...But again, Emmett didn’t even hesitate.
It didn’t matter what he had to do, or who it affected as long as you two could be together and that he knew you were safe. To Emmett, you were worth dying for.
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Top 5 Characters in ANF Who Would’ve Made Better Love Interests Than Kate
There are a lot of mixed opinions on TWDG: A New Frontier. Some people like it, some don’t, and some people hate it so much that they refuse to accept as canon in the series. Extreme? Yeah, but hey, to each their own. 
One thing that always bothers me when I do my replay of the series and this game is how much Kate is forced on us and even kinda punishes us for not romancing her. Like, no offense, but I’m not really interested in dating my sister-in-law, especially when her husband is actually alive, and even if she wasn’t my brother’s wife, she’s still not a character I have chemistry with, y’know? 
And every time I play, I can’t help but think that almost anyone else in ANF would’ve been a better romantic interest for Javi over Kate, so I decided to make that the list for this week. 
I would’ve loved more choices and for the game to actually show Javi’s canon bisexuality outside of a flirty line with Jesus that most players didn’t even pick. Just sayin’.
I do want to note that if you enjoy the romance with Kate and the relationship between her and Javi, that’s totally cool. Just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean you can’t ship them, y’know? I’m not here to try to change your mind or tell you you’re bad for shipping something I don’t because I’m not a dingus. You do what makes you happy, friend. :)
Besides, going off the stats, a majority of players romanced her so if anything, I’m the weirdo. This list is just for fun! 
Before we start, just wanna say a big thank you to @pi-creates​ for helping out with this one! Really appreciate it! Now, here are my top 5 characters who, in my opinion, would’ve made better love interests for Javier than Kate.
5. Jane if the writers didn’t turn her into a dead potato
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Oh man, you should see your face right now. 
Wait, wait, stop! Before you click outta here in a huff with your “Kenny good Jane bad” grunts and come yell at me, just hear me out-- this entry is mostly a joke and the other four on this list are serious, okay? 
I needed someone to put at #5 and after talking over some options and going back and forth.... Jane came up as a joke and then kind of made the list. Because really, I thought about it. I was like, “Would I really rather have dingdong “whatever happens stay out of it” potato face Jane as a love interest over Kate? Do I dislike Kate as an option that much?” and Pi and I talked about this for a while and yeah.... yeah I would actually. 
When I said anyone but Kate, I guess I really meant anyone. 
Trust me, I know, I’m just as surprised. I guess this really says a lot about my feelings for Kate. I didn’t know I disliked her this much either.
But for fun, let’s entertain this idea of the writers NOT pulling the ol’ character assassination on Jane and she made it to Richmond with Clementine and AJ because--
Jane: "One time I ate glass because I was drunk and thought it was sugar."
Javier: "I gambled on my own baseball matches and disgraced myself for money."
Jane: “Well, I dragged my little sister around with me after everything went to shit until I finally gave her what she wanted and left her to die.”
Javier: “I wasn’t there when my dad was fighting cancer and when I finally showed up, I was too late and he was already dead, then he turned and I bashed his skull in with a piece of wood.” 
Jane: “I shot a dude’s dick off once.”
Javier: “Oof. I insulted an old lady’s cake and then shot her eye out.”
Jane: “I screwed a guy when I was supposed to be securing a place for some lady to have her baby and it resulted in the death of a teenage girl.”
Javier: “I screwed my brother’s wife.” 
Jane: “...”
Javier: “In my defense, I thought he was dead.” 
Jane: “That’s fair.”
Clementine, exasperated and emo: “Oh my god.” 
....I mean... we might be onto something here, c’mon--
Okay, now onto the more legit entries. 
4. Conrad
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Now listen... I know, okay? I know. I know this one can be seen as a bit problematic considering the fact that Conrad, in his grief and anger over Francine’s death, held a gun to Gabe’s head and threatened Javi and Clementine.... plus Javi can literally murder him.
...and if you don’t do anything, Conrad with murder both Gabe and Javi and you’ll get a “YOU ARE DEAD” screen...
But we don’t talk about that because it’s not canon.
I know, but listen... I’m allowed to have ships that are difficult, as are you, and this is my list so... there.
If Conrad was a love interest that’s the route I’d take because I love him and I think a relationship between him and Javi could’ve been so damn good if properly done.
I just find Conrad to be an interesting character with a great arc that you only get to see if you don’t shoot him... which is what most people did, so they missed out. And like, I get it, I get why y’all shot him but maybe next time you play, you could consider not doing that?
So here’s the thing, Javi and Conrad share something-- they both lost loved ones because of shithead Badger. Javi is heartbroken after Mariana’s death, Conrad is devastated after Francine’s death, and they both handle that in different ways. Conrad becomes so focused on revenge and getting into Richmond, that he’s willing to threaten two kids in order to get what he wants but the thing is... that’s not him.
He even says so himself when you keep him alive-- he genuinely apologizes for what happened and will end up coming back to save Javi’s life in ep4. The potential for this to work as a relationship? It’s there... the only problem is that my confidence in the writers handling something like this is low, but let’s pretend they used their time and brains wisely-- ya got yourself a classic slow-burn friends to enemies to friends again to lovers romance and I’m here for it. 
3. Paul “Jesus” Monroe
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A lot of people really like the idea of Javi and Jesus and wanted him to be a romantic option, and I don’t blame them. They have chemistry in the scenes they share, and Javi can straight up flirt with him at the end of the season, and it’s super cute... of course, I wish we had more but Telltale was too scared to actually show Javi’s bisexuality outside of that one line, I guess.
But, anyway, this ship has a lot of sweet fanart that we love to see.
The only real reason he isn’t higher on the list is that Jesus is apparently already in a relationship at this point? I guess? From what I’ve been told? Listen, I don’t read the comics, I don’t watch the show, I just go off what y’all tell me. Plus, I believe Kent joked about Jesus having someone in each community during the commentaries so like... that’s a thing?
But let’s pretend that we throw that all out and Jesus is single and ready to be in a committed relationship with our boy Javier here. Like I mentioned above, these characters have a believable chemistry from the moment they meet and I think that has a lot to do with how charming they are by themselves. Those different charms work well together.
I also enjoy how much of a badass Jesus is when it comes to fighting off walkers. Javi has a lot of force that you feel with each hit, while Jesus almost has a lighter but just as impactful hit? I dunno if I’m explaining that well-- basically, Javi strong but Jesus can bounce off walls and do cool shit with weapons that feels effortless.
It’s a combo of fighting styles that I love, so these two fighting together? *chef kiss*
There’s also Jesus’ morality and how he wants to see Javier make “good” decisions, y’know? Sure, he gets pissy if you murder the shit outta Badger, which is mostly just Telltale showing you consequences, but I get it. He sees a lot of potential in Javi, more than Javi himself sees. And unlike certain characters, Jesus doesn’t completely hate you for doing something he doesn’t agree with to a frustrating degree.
If the game gave us the option to pursue Jesus as a love interest, he and Javier would’ve been such a badass couple with a sweet romance.
2. Eleanor
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This one might come as a surprise to those of you who know my feelings about Eleanor... as in, I don’t like her. I never forgave her for the shit she pulled in ep4/ep5, and now every time I replay ANF and she shows up? Well, all I really hear is the hissing of a snake.
But, putting those feelings aside and looking at her from a different perspective, I do believe that she would’ve made for a better love interest than Kate assuming that if you romanced her, she wouldn’t rat everyone out to Joan, y’know?
Hell, most people believed that Eleanor was going to be the second option with Kate back when the episodes were coming out, and for good reason. The chemistry is there in the flirting, and their relationship could’ve been super cute.
Of course, Eleanor being a love interest also comes with things becoming awkward with Tripp, but c’mon-- as awkward as pursuing a relationship with your sister-in-law and never telling your brother after finding out he’s alive? Nah, I don’t think so.
Plus, for the first three episodes, Eleanor’s not a bad character. In fact, she’s pretty damn likable, she deeply cares for the group and wants to use her medical skills for good.
And you can tell through the dialogue that she and Javi are fond of one another... well, I guess until they shove the Kate thing in our faces and suddenly Eleanor’s like “oh, I thought you two were a thing??” like... Eleanor, we were flirting and I totally rejected all of Kate’s advances last episode I mean??
If she were a love interest, instead of turning on us, she would... y’know, not do that and instead help us out. We have a couple cute moments like back in ep1 where she’s patching Javi up but this time with a smooch? Super cute.
1. Tripp
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Okay but seriously, why wasn’t Tripp a love interest? 
He’s the perfect option. I just-- uuuughhhhh. 
They already have a great believable bromance, so why not take it a step further and make it an official romance? Oh wait, that’s right, ya gotta kill off 95% of your determinant characters, I forgot. Sorry Tripp. 
Well, fuck that. Out of all the other adult characters, Javi has the most chemistry with this man. I believe them more than I believe him and Kate. Sure, they got off to a rocky start the progression of their relationship felt natural with every episode. 
That scene where Tripp is confiding in Javi about his feelings for Eleanor? And in turn, Javi can confide in him about Kate? One of my favorite scenes. I only wish there was an option to tell Tripp he can do much better and set the path for the romance. 
Seriously, I’d probably feel more okay about the romance with Kate if Tripp were the second option. That way, Kate wouldn’t be so forced onto the player, the writers confirming Javi’s bisexuality on Twitter or whatever wouldn’t feel like they were trying to earn points without actually showing representation, and we would’ve gotten the beauty that is Javier and Tripp. 
Also, then Tripp could make it to the end without dying that dumb death of his that no one likes. 
And if I haven’t convinced you yet, then look at these swaps Pi did--
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--and tell me they aren’t fucking perfect?? You can’t, because look at them. 
Where’s my Tripp route, Telltale??
---
Honorable Mentions
-If I wasn’t sticking to just ANF characters, Luke probably would’ve made the list because that’s apparently a popular combo and I dig it.  -Pudding... because Javi fucking loves pudding.  -Honestly Max probably would’ve been a better love interest than Kate oof--
---
So, whattya think? Do you agree with this top 5 or nah? Do you have a favorite Javi ship? Let me know, I’d love to hear from you. :D
Next week’s T5F Top 5 Times Lee was the Absolute Best
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welllpthisishappening · 4 years ago
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Welllp These Are Books: the March 2021 Edition
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There aren’t even any pictures! Except in that one book where there were pictures! It was weird! This was a weird book month! Back at it again with thoughts and opinions about a whole mess of books that no one explicitly asked for, but I’ve got lots of thoughts and opinions and they only count if I share them on the internet. Seriously, someone let me go to a baseball game soon. Obligatory warning for spoilers and vaguely unhinged rants under the cut. As always, feel free to come tell me what else I should be reading at literally any time ever.
Best Book of the Month Honors Goes to This Book, Even Though They Called It Halftime at a Hockey Game. A Hockey Game!
The Dating Plan by Sara Desai
Daisy Patel is a software engineer who understands lists and logic better than bosses and boyfriends. With her life all planned out, and no interest in love, the one thing she can't give her family is the marriage they expect. Left with few options, she asks her childhood crush to be her decoy fiancé. Liam Murphy is a venture capitalist with something to prove. When he learns that his inheritance is contingent on being married, he realizes his best friend's little sister has the perfect solution to his problem. A marriage of convenience will get Daisy's matchmaking relatives off her back and fulfill the terms of his late grandfather's will. If only he hadn’t broken her tender teenage heart nine years ago… Sparks fly when Daisy and Liam go on a series of dates to legitimize their fake relationship. Too late, they realize that very little is convenient about their arrangement. History and chemistry aren't about to follow the rules of this engagement.
— Ok, it’s important to know that I really did love this book. It hit all my trope-wants. Childhood friends, incredibly stupid misunderstandings, pining, seriously God the pining, fake engagement, BANTER. It was all going great. I was occasionally swooning. They kept making out! And then! THEN. They went to a hockey game. On a date. A fake date. Cool, cool, cool. All tropes, all the time right? Not so fast, internet! Because these self-proclaimed Sharks SUPER FANS referred to intermission as “halftime was coming up.” Halftime! At a hockey game! That’s—that’s not how hockey works! If this hadn’t been “traditionally” published, I probably could have let it slide. But that was not the case. This was a “real” book with, I can only assume, real editors. All of whom saw the words halftime and hockey near each other and we’re like YEAH, PRINT THAT SHIT. I read that at nearly one in the morning and seriously considered waking Justin up to be like CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS IS IN A REAL BOOK? Anyway, it was still real cute. Everyone lived happily ever after. It made want to eat samosas.
This Book Had Pictures, It Was Weird
Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews
On the outside, Dina Demille is the epitome of normal. She runs a quaint Victorian Bed and Breakfast in a small Texas town, owns a Shih Tzu named Beast, and is a perfect neighbor, whose biggest problem should be what to serve her guests for breakfast. But Dina is...different:  Her broom is a deadly weapon; her Inn is magic and thinks for itself. Meant to be a lodging for otherworldly visitors, the only permanent guest is a retired Galactic aristocrat who can’t leave the grounds because she’s responsible for the deaths of millions and someone might shoot her on sight. Under the circumstances, "normal" is a bit of a stretch for Dina.
And now, something with wicked claws and deepwater teeth has begun to hunt at night...Feeling responsible for her neighbors, Dina decides to get involved. Before long, she has to juggle dealing with the annoyingly attractive, ex-military, new neighbor, Sean Evans—an alpha-strain werewolf—and the equally arresting cosmic vampire soldier, Arland, while trying to keep her inn and its guests safe. But the enemy she’s facing is unlike anything she’s ever encountered before. It’s smart, vicious, and lethal, and putting herself between this creature and her neighbors might just cost her everything.
— So, Ilona Andrews is a name that keeps coming up because when I borrow a book from the library I have to go through Kindle and Amazon is like...here are some other absurd fantasy romances you’d enjoy. Also, one of her other series had been recc’ed to me. Only problem? The first book in that series is the only book in that series not available at my library. So, I was like, ok, I’ll start this one instead. It was...weird. Honestly, it felt like I’d been dropped in the middle of the story and the narrator was like, well why don’t you already know what’s going on? In theory the world building was cool. (I was not expecting alien werewolves, lemme tell you that!) But also it all felt very rushed and the end just sorta happened.
In Which I Continue to Love “Same Verse” Books & No One Else Had Sex in the Port Jeff High School Dugout. For Which I Was Grateful
Love Her or Lose Her by Tessa Bailey
Rosie and Dominic Vega are the perfect couple: high school sweethearts, best friends, madly in love. Well, they used to be anyway. Now Rosie’s lucky to get a caveman grunt from the ex-soldier every time she walks in the door. Dom is faithful and a great provider, but the man she fell in love with ten years ago is nowhere to be found. When her girlfriends encourage Rosie to demand more out of life and pursue her dream of opening a restaurant, she decides to demand more out of love, too. Three words: marriage boot camp.
Never in a million years did Rosie believe her stoic, too-manly-to-emote husband would actually agree to relationship rehab with a weed-smoking hippie. Dom talking about feelings? Sitting on pillows? Communing with nature? Learning love languages? Nope. But to her surprise, he’s all in, and it forces her to admit her own role in their cracked foundation. As they complete one ridiculous—yet surprisingly helpful—assignment after another, their remodeled relationship gets stronger than ever. Except just as they’re getting back on track, Rosie discovers Dom has a secret... and it could demolish everything.
— Listen, one of my absolutely favorite tropes that I do not think gets enough love in the world is COMMITTED LONG-LASTING RELATIONSHIPS. And, like, ok, sure the premise of this was that they were separating in that long-lasting relationship. But no one really believed that, did they? Rosie and Dominic were real cute and their banter was good and I wasn’t totally skeeved out when they literally fucked on the kitchen floor. So, I think that’s saying something. Also, also! I seriously appreciated the realism of this book because no one on Long Island would ever call Manhattan Manhattan. It’s the city. Every other borough gets a name, but Manhattan is just the city and I nearly cheered when they said that. But also, no one’s taking a cab from Port Jeff to the Meatpacking District. You know what that would cost? God.
Tools of Engagement by Tessa Bailey
Hair, makeup, clothing, decor... everything in Bethany Castle's world is organized, planned, and styled to perfection. Which is why the homes she designs for her family's real estate business are the most coveted in town. The only thing not perfect? Her track record with men. She's on a dating hiatus and after helping her friends achieve their dreams, Bethany finally has time to focus on her own: flip a house, from framework to furnishings, all by herself. Except her older brother runs the company and refuses to take her seriously.
When a television producer gets wind of the Castle sibling rivalry, they’re invited on Flip Off, a competition to see who can do the best renovation. Bethany wants bragging rights, but she needs a crew and the only member of her brother's construction team willing to jump ship is Wes Daniels, the new guy in town. His Texas drawl and handsome face got under Bethany's skin on day one, and the last thing she needs is some cocky young cowboy in her way.
As the race to renovate heats up, Wes and Bethany are forced into close quarters, trading barbs and biting banter as they remodel the ugliest house on the block. It's a labor of love, hate, and everything in between, and soon sparks are flying. But Bethany's perfectly structured life is one kiss away from going up in smoke and she knows falling for a guy like Wes would be a flipping disaster.
— It should first be noted that in the three books of this series, I could not and cannot understand why Bethany’s brother was such a monumental dick. He was just...he was a dick. His marriage was awful. How long was his wife pregnant without him knowing???? I digress. This continued to be cute, Bethany was a legit heroine as far as those rom-com things go, Wes was very Texas and that got a little over the top, but they had sex in a bed like normal people so that helped. Oh, except that one time on the construction site. Whatever, this book was cute. This whole series was cute, really, and I was a big fan of the happy little wrap-everything-up with a bow ending.
Romance That Happens In Point Two Seconds Is...Unbelievable
Too Hot to Handle by Tessa Bailey
The road trip was definitely a bad idea. Having already flambéed her culinary career beyond recognition, Rita Clarkson is now stranded in God-Knows-Where, New Mexico, with a busted-ass car and her three temperamental siblings, who she hasn't seen in years. When rescue shows up---six-feet-plus of hot, charming sex on a motorcycle---Rita's pretty certain she's gone from the frying pan right into the fire . . . Jasper Ellis has a bad boy reputation in this town, and he loathes it. The moment he sees Rita, though, Jasper knows he's about to be sorely tempted. There's something real between them. Something raw. And Jasper has only a few days to show Rita that he isn't just for tonight---he's forever.
— For as much as I loved the Port Jeff series by my new pal Tessa, this one was...oof. Too much, guys. Too much. Fucking in trucks. Fucking in back offices. The whole book lasted, like, three days. And keep in mind this is coming from someone who has written like two million words about Killian Jones, self-loathing champ 250 years running, but Jasper’s self-loathing was a little over the top. Like, let’s not objectify dudes, but also...I don’t know guys. Maybe the other books in the series are better? I was mostly just annoyed by Rita.
What the Hell Happened at the End of This Book?? Seriously, I Have No Idea
The Queen’s Assassin by Melissa de la Cruz
Caledon Holt is the kingdom's deadliest weapon. No one alive can best him in speed, strength, or brains, which is why he's the Hearthstone Guild's most dangerous member. Cal is also the Queen's Assassin, bound to her by magic and unable to leave her service until the task she's set for him is fulfilled. Shadow of the Honey Glade has been training all her life to join the Guild, hoping that one day she'll become an assassin as feared and revered as Cal. But Shadow's mother and aunts expect her to serve the crown as a lady of the Renovian Court. When a surprise attack brings Shadow and Cal together, they're forced to team up as assassin and apprentice. Even though Shadow's life belongs to the court and Cal's belongs to the queen, they cannot deny their attraction to each other. But now, with war on the horizon and true love at risk, Shadow and Cal will uncover a shocking web of lies that will change their paths forever.
—WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED AT THE END OF THIS BOOK??? I figured out the so-called twist like...two chapters in. Fine, ok, whatever. It’s YA, this is not rocket science and I was interested enough in Cale and Shadow to see how it all played out. Only it didn’t really play out! Because the whole end was just this like four chapter retcon of basically EVERYTHING ELSE THAT HAPPENED and I genuinely could not believe it was happening. It didn’t make sense?!? Like with the plot? Also, spoiler, good thing Shadow and the other king haven’t consummated their marriage yet since she and Cale totally fucked after her wedding? What is YA? Why is Amazon telling me this is a Teacher’s Pick? Why hasn’t my hold come through on the sequel yet so I know what happens next?
Low-Stakes Romance Was Real Boring and All The People Were Boring In It
The Ten Rules for Faking It by Sophie Sullivan
As birthdays go, this year’s for radio producer Everly Dean hit rock-bottom. Worse than the “tonsillectomy birthday.” Worse than the birthday her parents decided to split (the first time). But catching your boyfriend cheating on you with his assistant? Even clichés sting. But this is Everly’s year! She won’t let her anxiety hold her back. She’ll pitch her podcast idea to her boss. There’s just one problem. Her boss, Chris, is very cute. (Of course). Also, he's extremely distant (which means he hates her, right? Or is that the anxiety talking)? And, Stacey the DJ didn’t mute the mic during Everly’s rant about Simon the Snake (syn: Cheating Ex). That’s three problems. Suddenly, people are lining up to date her, Bachelorette-style, fans are voting (Reminder: never leave house again), and her interest in Chris might be a two-way street. It’s a lot for a woman who could gold medal in people-avoidance. She’s going to have to fake it ‘till she makes it to get through all of this. Perhaps she’ll make a list: The Ten Rules for Faking It. 
— I am a broken record. Shouting. From the highest hilltop. Just because you think someone is cute when you’re technically not supposed to be dating them does not mean you get to be anything less than nice around them! It’s not cute! And part two, which often goes with part one: rom com dudes have GOT to stop lying or hiding or otherwise avoiding telling people who they really are. It’s a convoluted, passably lazy way of writing and dropping a third-act bomb on the story. Don’t do it. Stop doing it. We’ve moved past the need for hidden identities. Unless he’s, like, a spy or something. Um...this was a weird book. I know Everly had anxiety and that became a PLOT POINT, patent pending, but she was also not super relatable? Which is crazy considering my very real, rather undiagnosed anxiety. Chris was boring. The whole plot, as this title suggests, was very low stakes and no one actually  seemed to remember that their jobs were ever on the line? Did Everly and Chris have a conversation before they decided they liked each other? Who can say, really.
Shipped by Angie Hockman
Between taking night classes for her MBA and her demanding day job at a cruise line, marketing manager Henley Evans barely has time for herself, let alone family, friends, or dating. But when she’s shortlisted for the promotion of her dreams, all her sacrifices finally seem worth it. The only problem? Graeme Crawford-Collins, the remote social media manager and the bane of her existence, is also up for the position. Although they’ve never met in person, their epic email battles are the stuff of office legend. Their boss tasks each of them with drafting a proposal on how to boost bookings in the Galápagos—best proposal wins the promotion. There’s just one catch: they have to go on a company cruise to the Galápagos Islands...together. But when the two meet on the ship, Henley is shocked to discover that the real Graeme is nothing like she imagined. As they explore the Islands together, she soon finds the line between loathing and liking thinner than a postcard. With her career dreams in her sights and a growing attraction to the competition, Henley begins questioning her life choices. Because what’s the point of working all the time if you never actually live?
— YOU NEED TO HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH SOMEONE TO DECIDE YOU LIKE THEM. AUTHORS REALLY REALLY NEED TO LEARN HOW TO BUILD ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS. IF THEY ONLY LIKE EACH OTHER BECAUSE THEY KISS WELL IT’S NOT A GOOD RELATIONSHIP. AND THIS IS COMING FROM ME. Back at it again with the annoying so-called heroine who was just...occasionally real mean to Graem for no reason at all? Also her name was Henley. Which is not a great reason to dislike her, but here we are.
Apparently I Read These Books Out Of Order. Who Knew?
Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev
It is a truth universally acknowledged that only in an overachieving Indian American family can a genius daughter be considered a black sheep.
Dr. Trisha Raje is San Francisco’s most acclaimed neurosurgeon. But that’s not enough for the Rajes, her influential immigrant family who’s achieved power by making its own non-negotiable rules:
·       Never trust an outsider
·       Never do anything to jeopardize your brother’s political aspirations
·       And never, ever, defy your family
Trisha is guilty of breaking all three rules. But now she has a chance to redeem herself. So long as she doesn’t repeat old mistakes.
Up-and-coming chef DJ Caine has known people like Trisha before, people who judge him by his rough beginnings and place pedigree above character. He needs the lucrative job the Rajes offer, but he values his pride too much to indulge Trisha’s arrogance. And then he discovers that she’s the only surgeon who can save his sister’s life.
As the two clash, their assumptions crumble like the spun sugar on one of DJ’s stunning desserts. But before a future can be savored there’s a past to be reckoned with...
A family trying to build home in a new land.
A man who has never felt at home anywhere.
And a choice to be made between the two.
— Surprise, apparently this was the first book in the series. I did not know. It didn’t affect my enjoyment of the Persuasion version in this same ‘verse, which is also strange because I liked the Persuasion one way better. There was a lot of medical in this. And not super uplifting medical, either. This was like...oh the Jane character (I guess???) has cancer and either she’s going to go blind after having a surgery (also she was an artist, so you see how this was a problem) or she’s just going to decide to die. Wait, what? That came out of left field, really. Also DJ and Trisha were not nice to each other. Like, I know this is Pride and Prejudice so there has to be some of that at the start, but it wasn’t like Trisha ever really went through the Darcy-required time at Pemberly. She just decided she liked DJ and told him and it was as awkward as Jane Austen intended it, but then we got more medical and everything was cool. It felt very rushed and shoehorned into a modern setting and the Persuasion one was better. You can’t have Darcy’s growth without the Pemberly stuff. You just can’t.
In Which I Didn’t Like a Nickname??? Is the World Ending??
Crazy Stupid Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams
Alexis Carlisle and her cat café, ToeBeans, have shot to fame after she came forward as a victim of a celebrity chef’s sexual harassment. When a new customer approaches to confide in her, the last thing Alexis expects is for the woman to claim they’re sisters. Unsure what to do, Alexis turns to the only man she trusts—her best friend, Noah Logan.   Computer genius Noah left his rebellious teenage hacker past behind to become a computer security expert. Now he only uses his old skills for the right cause. But Noah’s got a secret: He’s madly in love with Alexis. When she asks for his help, he wonders if the timing will ever be right to confess his crush.   Noah’s pals in The Bromance Book Club are more than willing to share their beloved “manuals” to help him go from bud to boyfriend. But he must decide if telling the truth is worth risking the best friendship he’s ever had.
— If Noah was going to call her Lexa, then her name should have been Alexa and not Alexis. That’s it and that’s all. Also, the story was n u t s. Estranged dads and kidney failure and they got together so fast in this book. Which usually is cool by me, but I really could not get over the nickname and the estranged family was mean to Alexis. Lexa. HER NAME SHOULD HAVE BEEN ALEXA, IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE. Also Noah was a former hacker? The estranged family accused him corporate espionage or something? A lot happened in this book, guys. Her name should have been Alexa.
Dumb Brother Was Dumb™ Everyone Else Was Real Cute
The Off Limits Rule by Sarah Adams
I have found rock bottom. It's here, moving in with my older brother because I'm too broke to afford to live on my own. It's okay though, because we've always been close and I think I'm going to have fun living with him again.

 That is until I meet Cooper...

 Turns out, my brother has very strong opinions on the idea of me dating his best friend and is dead set against it. According to him, Cooper is everything I should stay away from: flirtatious, adventurous, non-committal, and freaking hot. (I added that last part because I feel like you need the whole picture.) My brother is right--I should stay away from Cooper James and his pretty blue eyes. He's the opposite of what I need right now.

 Nah--who am I kidding? I'm going for it.
— This was cute, mostly mindless fluff. Hit some trope high points, including, obviously, best friends sister. Only the brother in question was a Neanderthal and I really thought people were going to make out more while said brother was on his business trip. I got it for free off Amazon. Which I think should explain a lot. Like, story-wise. Sorry, free Amazon books. Don’t be insulted.
Prose, Prose, Prose, Please Someone Have a Conversation
Trick by Natalia Jaster
In the Kingdom of Spring, Poet is renowned. He's young and pretty, a lover of men and women. He performs for the court, kisses like a scoundrel, and mocks with a silver tongue. Yet allow him this: It's only the most cunning and manipulative soul who can play the fool. For beyond the castle walls, Poet guards a secret. One the Crown would shackle him for. One that he'll risk everything to protect. Alas, it will take more than clever words to deceive Princess Briar. Convinced that he's juggling lies as well as verse, this righteous nuisance of a girl is determined to expose him. But not all falsehoods are fiendish. Poet's secret is delicate, binding the jester and princess in an unlikely alliance—and kindling a breathless attraction, as alluring as it is forbidden.
— The purplest of prose. Mauve prose. Royal purple prose. Lavender prose. There was so much writing here. So much. Too much, some might say. I say. Actually. If we want to get specific. And that was a shame, really, because when Briar and Poet actually had a conversation, they were interesting to read about. Also, the world building here? Yeeeesh. The so-called, wait for it, FOOL TRADE played a prominent role and that was...super cringe. Super Cringe. That being said, I asked Justin what I should read next and he thought it was funny that a book was just called...
Dare by Natalia Jaster
In the Kingdom of Summer, they say she's wild. Locked in a cage by the sea, Flare dreams of escape. She dreams of a lost world, known only in legends. The island is calling to her. And she won't let anyone keep her from it. Especially not him. They say he's cruel. Jeryn has crossed the ocean for the Trade, to bargain for those fierce, imprisoned creatures that make his skin crawl. By law, they're subjects meant for experimentation. And easy to despise. One girl in particular. But on the cusp of transport, the tide rages. That hidden island awaits. Stranded, the prince and prisoner must fight to survive. In a mysterious rainforest, they must band together...if they don't slay one another first. Or become something more to each other.  Something just as dangerous.
— This was Justin’s fault. He could not believe this book was just called Dare. It should have been called “We’re going to weirdly force what is basically slavery into this story and then a prince is going to fall in love with an escaped slave and we’re also going to call that ROMANCE.” y i k e s. Remember that one story that took place over three days? This was the complete opposite. Years! They were shipwrecked for years! They got saved, spoilers, the DAY they started having sex. What are the odds, right?? And then MORE YEARS passed. Multiple years! Five years! They couldn’t actually be together because of that aforementioned slave trade. What the shit, man? Natalia, ya gotta be kidding me with this. The internet claimed Trick was good and a solid follow to reading ACOTAR and that there was this whole verse and it was also good. The internet was wrong.
Nothing Happened, Everything Happened, I...Hated It
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Kristin Cashore’s bestselling, award-winning fantasy Graceling tells the story of the vulnerable-yet-strong Katsa, a smart, beautiful teenager who lives in a world where selected people are given a Grace, a special talent that can be anything from dancing to swimming. Katsa’s is killing. As the king’s niece, she is forced to use her extreme skills as his thug. Along the way, Katsa must learn to decipher the true nature of her Grace… and how to put it to good use. A thrilling, action-packed fantasy adventure (and steamy romance!) that will resonate deeply with adolescents trying to find their way in the world.
— I can’t believe this was a book. Katsa was so annoying! Like, listen, I know her life was sad. And she was a pawn being used against her will. Blah, blah, blah. Whatever. The tone of the whole book was so strangely formal and Poe was strangely in love with Katsa? Who obviously didn’t want to get married because she was WOMAN HEAR ME ROAR. Or kill people, as the case may be. Only she wanted to make out with Poe? Only ONLY they didn’t even really get together at the end? I could not believe the end of this book. I nearly threw my Kindle across the room. Once again, no apologies for spoilers because do not read this book, but HE WAS BLIND? Katsa had to leave him behind to save his cousin and he just ENDED UP BEING BLIND? AND THEY NEVER GOT TOGETHER REALLY?? What the fuck? Seriously. Steamy romance, my ass. Nothing happened. The villain got defeated in point two seconds. There are other books in this universe? No, thanks.
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zhuilingyizhen · 4 years ago
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Tsundre Jin Ling who has no idea how to deal with his feelings for his (only) 3 friends
Side Note: Wow this ended up long- & thank you anon!! I really loved this ask.
At first he thinks that he’s supposed to feel like that towards all his friends. I mean, the three juniors are the only expieriences with friendship he’s had so far. So of course he loves likes them! Thankfully, he’s not as oblivious as Jingyi or as self-sacrificing as Sizhui. He is possibly more afflicted with dumb bitch disease than Zizhen, though. Very, very possibly.
But once the feelings of “I wanna hold his hand.” and “How would it feel to kiss him?” and “I never noticed how attractive he is.” start settling in, he realises two things. One, he’s a cutsleeve, and two, holy shit he’s in love with his friends.
There’s some major problems with this revelation. Of the 4 juniors, barely one and a half of them can healthily express their feelings, and I can guarantee that Jin Ling is not a part of that minority, being the tsundere he is. His mommy/daddy issues (rather, the lack of having living parents) also play a part in his not being able to successfully process or display his feelings. Plus, he’s not stupid just blind. He only has three friends. He’s in love with all three of them. In the scenario that they all reject his feelings and decide leave him, he would be alone again.
Imagine how he’d feel. Though his parents both left, that was due to their deaths, not them wanting to leave (though there is the fact that his mother was willing to give up her life for her brother possibly knowing that she would be leaving her son behind, but even then her main concern at the time was her brother’s life so it isn’t exactly a fair comparison and oops I’m rambling-). Jin Ling wouldn’t be able to live with himself knowing that his only friends (the ones that he loved & cared about) had willingly left him. Not that they would ever do that, but he doesn’t know that yet.
Another problem with his feelings is that he really doesn’t have anyone to talk to. The only parental figures in his life are his three uncles (JGY, WWX, and JC) and possibly WN? I’m not too sure about their canon relationship but them having a nice uncle-nephew like relationship would be nice. JL, seeing his uncle’s past experiences in romance, immediately crosses out JC from the list of possible confidants. We all know what happened with JGY (though assuming this was before everything went down, I would say that JL isn’t as close to JGY, & asking romance advice from him wasn’t exactly an appealing solution). WWX & WN both have strong familial connections with LSZ, so it would definitely be awkward talking to them about JL’s feelings for him (and almost worse having to tell them he also liked LJY & OYZZ). Plus, he wasn’t very much interested from getting a shovel talk from LWJ, who would most certainly hear about it from WWX. His friends weren’t exactly an option either, unless he went to them talking about his feelings for their mutual friends. And the idea of that was so mortifying that JL almost puked from embarrassment. Almost.
Plus, even if he asked in a hypothetical context, his friends know that he wouldn’t have a crush on anyone outside his tiny group of close knit juniors. Well, Sizhui and Zizhen know that. Jingyi is too dense to realize that Jin Ling is 1. Gay and 2. Desperately in love with them. The other two assume that JL likes one of them, but for the life of them can’t figure it out. JL is just too tsundere-y around them.
He has several options on how to deal with his quickly progressing feelings.
A: He confesses to them, and hopes that they don’t end their friendship.
B: He could slowly distance himself from his current friends, and possibly make some other friends. Leave them before they can leave him.
C: (similar to B) He could throw himself into his sect leader duties and use it as an excuse to not spend as much time with his friends, and brush them off whenever they ask about him. Become a bratty JC.
D: He hides his feelings for all three of them. Lets the feelings build up inside him, push his friends away whenever they ask, and accidentally act extremely suspicious and moodier than usual towards them.
He obviously picks a combination of the last three. Also probably has vehemently denied having feelings for any of them whenever the mere mention of romance is brought up, which has led to many awkward silences.
At this point, Zizhen is sure that JL has a crush on one of them (he’s betting on Sizhui). Sizhui himself is still trying to figure out who it is that JL likes (but he’s a bit closer to the truth than Zizhen) and Jingyi... Jingyi is questioning the odd behavior that’s going on between his three besties.
Sizhui is the first to figure it out. The juniors excluding JL (who’s busy on so-called sect stuff) are hanging out. LJY & OYZZ are discussing a romance novel that OYZZ read, and LSZ is just listening in. The gist of the novel is that a warrior falls in love with a young maiden from his hometown and the prince of a neighboring kingdom, who they are soon going to war against. The warrior has to choose what’s best for his home, and ends up slaying his male lover. Though he goes back to the young maiden and his family, the warrior ends up drowning himself in despair and guilt at having to kill the prince.
(The next part was kinda written as a fic, cause I didn’t wanna do like a screenplay of what happened.)
The two chat about it, with Sizhui occasionally offering his opinion, before Jingyi interjects. “Why couldn’t the warrior have just been with them both?”
Zizhen asks what both Sizhui and he were wondering. “What do you mean?”
“Well, he clearly loved them both. There had to be some way for him to date both of them.”
(End short dialogue fic thingy.)
It got Sizhui thinking about their situation. It was clear that Jin Ling had feelings for at least one of them, if his defensive behavior and blushing were any clue. But he hadn’t really considered the idea of him liking more than one of them, or even all three of them. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. LSZ could never exactly pinpoint who JL likes because JL had always acted the same (tsundere-y, blushing, & defensive) around all three of them. The different behavior most likely meant that...
Jin Ling liked all three of them.
Discovering this had left Sizhui reeling. The fact that he was on a picnic with the other two people one of his closest friends had a crush on didn’t exactly help, so he quickly excused himself (though this suspicious behavior went noticed by Zizhen and Jingyi, and they vowed to figure out what was afflicting the usually calm member of their group).
For one thing, Sizhui wasn’t completely sure how he felt about his friends. He was certainly fond of all three of them, but in love with them? That was quite a revelation. But it made sense. He was already close to the other three juniors, and he certainly loved them. However, the question was whether or not it was platonic or romantic love. Most of the physical contact he had with people were with his friends (mostly Jingyi, since they live at the same place & are usually together). So it would make sense that he would seek more romantic touches from them, right? Sizhui wasn’t quite sure about this all. The first thing to do was to confront Jin Ling about his feelings. Maybe they would figure it out together, all four of them.
Turns out, Jin Ling doesn’t want to talk about his feelings (seriously Sizhui, what were you expecting? Emotional maturity?). Sizhui quite literally had to chase him around Lotus Pier. Eventually he catches him, and gets Jin Ling to sit down with him for tea. (Sizhui didn’t even have to restrain him! That went better than expected.)
Not one to beat around the bush, Sizhui is pretty blunt with his questions.
“Do you like a zhen, a yi, and I romantically?”
Jin Ling was only half expecting that and chokes on his tea.
At first he denies it, but Sizhui refuses to let him leave until he tells him the truth. Which means JL either has to go with option A, or wait until Sizhui let’s him leave.
They sit there for almost an hour before the owner kicks them out. After that, they just kinda... chill. Jin Ling won’t say anything, and Sizhui won’t leave until he gets an answer, so they’re stuck in a deadlock.
Meanwhile, Jingyi and Zizhen are looking all over the Cloud Reccesses for Sizhui, but he is nowhere to be found.
Eventually, Jin Ling breaks first (he really needed to get this off his chest) and tells Sizhui that he likes them. After that, he immediately kicks Sizhui out the door and goes to mope around somewhere. Preferably with Fairy.
Sizhui finally returns and Jingyi breaks both the the no running and making loud noises rule once he sees him. Zizhen has to go back home, because by now it was pretty late. Thankfully, they got back before curfew.
The next step in Sizhui’s plan to get Jin Ling, Zizhen, and Jingyi together (he still wasn’t sure how he felt about it all himself, but he could at least make his best friends happy, right?) was to talk to Jingyi and figure out if Jingyi liked the Young Mistress & Zizhen.
This was easier than expected, cause though Jingyi is oblivious, he isn’t oblivious to his own feelin- oh wait. Well, at least he won’t deny his own feelings after figuring out that he has them. He and Sizhui have a very long talk, and yup he has feelings. He also holds Sizhui’s hand a little because feelings.
Meanwhile Jin Ling is freaking out back at Lotus Pier because he just remembered that there is a night hunt that week (and everyone will be suspicious if he doesn’t attend).
(Jiang Cheng is moderately concerned so he follows Jin Ling on the night hunt decides to visit Xichen on the day of the night hunt. On business, of course.)
The night hunt happens as usual, though Jin Ling is suspiciously quiet. Sizhui and Jingyi are more attached by the hip than usual.
They kill a few fierce corpses. Woohoo. But then Zizhen gets attacked from behind and Jin Ling pushes him out of the way. The two Lans deal with the corpse and Zizhen smiles and thanks Jin Ling, which leads to an incredibly blushy Jin Ling. Which makes Zizhen think. Because blushing + close proximity = signs of a crush. And currently Jin Ling is almost on top of him from tackling him earlier. So...
“Oh my god, you have a crush on me?”
Which was not the response Jin Ling was looking for. It also almost gives Sizhui a heart attack because oop this isn’t gonna go well. At this point, Jingyi can’t be fazed by the disaster that is his friends. Until Zizhen straight up kisses Jin Ling on the mouth, which makes him do a double take cause really guys? Right in front of his salad chicken wings?
Jin Ling is confused, Jingyi is confused, Zizhen is kinda confused and a bit dazed cause kisses sometimes do that, so Sizhui has to deal with this clusterfuck of emotions.
He gets everyone to sit in a circle (crisscross apple sauce) which, looking back on it, probably wasn’t the best idea considering they were on a night hunt. Sizhui, now knowing that at most of them have feelings for each other (still isn’t sure about Zizhen), decides to go first.
“I like all of you romantically.”
Yay confession! Jingyi isn’t surprised since he knew from their talk, so he just kinda smiles. Jin Ling, having never figured this out, would have spit out his tea again had he had tea. Zizhen just accepts it, because yeah, it makes sense.
They sit in awkward silence as Jin Ling tries to not choke on the air, Jingyi moves a bit closer to Sizhui, and Zizhen & Jingyi eventually breaks it.
“I like you all, too.”
“Same here.”
Which leaves Jin Ling, who has been attempting to find an excuse to get out of here at. It’s one thing to have feelings and another to find out that they’re returned. This wasn’t one of the outcomes he had prepared for. So he sits there until he realizes that his friends are waiting for a response.
“What’re you all looking at me for?! You can’t expect me to say it after you guys already went.”
Jingyi silently threatens to tickle him, which is somehow worse than having to spill his feelings?
“Fine, fine. I like you guys too. Can I leave now?”
Sadly for Jin Ling, Jingyi forces him & the others into a hug, because feelings.
They all just kinda sit there for a while, before Jin Ling realizes that it’s time for them to get the heck out of there because he has to get home before his uncle yells at him.
Little did he know, Jiang Cheng had been watching him from the bushes and his new boyfriends would be getting the shovel talk very, very soon...
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elyreywrites · 4 years ago
Text
so tell me what you want to hear
a gift for @bionerd2point0 for the Capes & Coffee Discord server’s gift exchange!! a huge thank you to my betas for this fic: Oceans and Tasteofpaint!!
title is from One Republic’s “Secrets”!
please REBLOG - DO NOT REPOST
AO3 Link
Teen 3,714 words Tim Drake/Jason Todd
Summary:
And here Tim was, about to ask his goddamn crush to be his fake boyfriend.
He couldn’t do this, he absolutely, positively, could not—
This was a huge mistake.
- - - - -
Tim stared at the phone, at the contact pulled up, and wished for some sign to either call or suffer through the whole situation. He could suffer through it, but… Tim was fed up with being asked the same question every time he was out in public.
“Are you seeing anyone?”
“Who are you dating?”
“Is there anyone special in your life right now?”
Ever since he turned eighteen, the vicious sharks that made up the press were desperate for the details of his romantic life. Bruce had said it would blow over soon enough, once some new sensational story came about, but four months later they were still going strong. Tim was at the end of his rope with them.
There were only so many times he could say, “No comment.” It hadn’t made any difference at all in four months. Apparently, being the youngest CEO in history and of such a huge company made him very eligible. While the chatter had calmed down a bit over time, it was still present enough that something had to be done. Something drastic.
Something he was dreading.
All he needed for a few weeks was a fake date, a partner that would get the vultures off his back. It had to be someone he knew because it had to seem authentic. That was a short list though. Dick wasn’t an option. Kon, Bart, and Cassie were all out because they were all busy and they’d have to be in Gotham. Stephanie and Tam were just… no. He wasn’t doing that. That really only left the first and last person Tim would ever want to pick.
Jason.
Once upon a time, Jason had been his Robin, his hero, the person he wanted to make proud almost as much as his parents. The hero-worship had died when Tim nearly did. Tim’s crush did too, but that didn’t stay gone. It took a few years, Jason apologizing, and the Reds working a few cases together, but it returned with a vengeance.
And here he was, about to ask his goddamn crush to be his fake boyfriend. Tim would be lucky if this didn’t break the shaky… truce? Friendship? Whatever it was they had. Tim would like to call them friends, but did Jason think they were friends? Oh god, Jason probably didn’t think they were friends.
He couldn’t do this, he absolutely, positively, could not—
The soft chime of his phone’s reminder tone broke him out of the downward spiral of his thoughts. The notification popped up, dragging his attention from Jason’s contact. Right, he was supposed to appear on some talk show tomorrow. Youngest and most eligible CEO and all. He just knew they’d try to pry into his love life.
Tim had to do this. Before he could rethink it, he pressed dial. At the first ring, he almost panicked and chucked it across the room instinctively. This was a terrible idea, but it was the lesser of the two evils. He was just about ready to snap and really tear into the press. Physically, verbally, he wasn’t even sure at this point.
Jason answered on the third ring. “What’s up, Timbo? You don’t call very often.”
This was a huge mistake.
“I need you to do me a big favor.”
“That depends,” Jason drawled, “on what the favor is.”
Wincing, Tim said in a rush, “I need you to be my fake boyfriend for a little while so the press will stop hounding me for details on a love life I don’t have.”
Silence. Every moment without a response made it harder for Tim to breathe. He had fucked up, he had fucked up, abort, abort—
Jason snorted. “You know, I was wondering how you were holding up with that. I’ve seen the news about it. Guess this answers my question, huh?”
“Guess it does. Any chance you could answer mine?” Nerves and stress made him snarky, okay? The past few months were rough, Tim thought he could be forgiven.
“Yeah, Timmy, I can help you get them out of your hair for a little while,” Jason said. “Alright, do you want to figure out our epic love story right now, or is there something you need to do?”
Tim sighed, relaxing bonelessly into the couch. “Now please. I have to be on some morning talk show tomorrow, and they’re going to ask.”
The next hour and a half, Tim swung wildly between excitement over getting to date his crush and hopeless misery that it was fake. They both gave the okay for holding hands, going on dates, even kissing to sell this charade. He would get to do all of that with Jason, which kind of made him want to bury his face in a pillow and scream like a complete cliche. As soon as they were out of the public eye, though? There wouldn’t be anyone to pretend for. All bets would be off.
The next few months were going to be amazing and terrible all at once.
Tim didn’t sleep much that night.
- - - - -
This was absolutely a mistake and Tim should have just suffered through the continual questioning about his non-existent love life. What the hell had he been thinking?! Sleep-Deprived Tim made terrible choices, honestly. Sure, he could totally fake-date his sort of long-time crush! That wouldn’t end in disaster and heartbreak at all ! 
Real and fake heartbreak, even, because they had a messy break-up planned. It was going to happen in two months in public, and he would cry – that probably wouldn’t be fake – and the press would hopefully feel sorry enough for him to not pester him about romance for a while.
Tim was absolutely doomed. He literally set himself up for failure.
“Mr. Drake-Wayne?”
Tim startled, staring at the assistant that had called his name.
“You go on in 5 minutes,” the assistant said.
This whole situation was messing him up. He was usually more aware of his surroundings, but he kept getting lost in thought because he was fake-dating his crush and one-time hero. Oh god.
Focus. Talk show. They’ll inevitably ask, and then he has to get to work on selling this whole… thing.
He heard clapping and then the assistant gave him a nod. “That’s your cue,” they said. Tim walked out, his CEO-Drake Heir smile firmly in place.
To his surprise, the host, a woman in her mid-thirties, stayed on script and didn’t ask if he was dating anyone until halfway through the show. When the question did come, Tim coughed and glanced away. The flush on his face wasn’t fake because for a couple months everyone would think that someone like Jason would date Tim, of all people. Jason Todd was legally dead, but he was handsome and kind and he would publicly be dating Tim. No, his blushing was very real, but that only worked to help sell the act even more. 
“Oh,” the host teased, “that look says you are. Who’s the lucky lady? Or maybe you haven’t asked her out yet?”
His head snapped towards her with a very real scowl on his face. “He and I only started dating recently. It’s still pretty new, and I’m not willing to share more at this time. We would like to figure out our relationship before we face the scrutiny of the public.”
He almost smirked at her stiffly pleasant smile. She was trying to hide her shock, and to the inexperienced eye, she succeeded. However, Tim was a detective on a different level altogether. Plus, with Cass for a sister, he was bound to pick up something from the master of reading body language and expressions.
“‘He’, huh?” she said cheerfully for the camera. “That’s quite a surprise – you’ve had multiple girlfriends in the past.”
Tim hummed, “Yes, I’m bisexual, though I recently realized that I lean more towards men than women. See, something a lot of people don’t understand is that it’s like a scale and everyone has their own preferences. It took me a long time to come to terms with that because of the heteronormativity in our society and the compulsory heterosexuality that many of us in the LGBTQ+ community have to work through.” He smiled back at her, projecting as much innocence as he could as he derailed her interview.
“Ah. Congratulations on finding yourself, then,” the host grinned. Tim saw the panic in her eyes. Her interview with the young, eligible CEO had gone in an unexpected direction and she had no idea what to do.
Meanwhile, he was having the time of his life, and he was fairly sure Jason would be howling when he watched it. If Tim had to suffer through pretending to date Jason, he was going to enjoy any suffering others went through along the way. This woman was the first.
Tim sure as hell wasn’t going to regret coming out very publicly and speaking out about some of the problems in their society. He wasn’t even worried that much about how this would affect Wayne Enterprises – Bruce would back him up. He’d probably even be proud of Tim.
The rest of the show went very smoothly. All personal questions disappeared completely as the host stuck to discussing the various community projects that Wayne Enterprises had. It was rather frustrating that it took a fake-boyfriend and shocking the host of a morning talk show to actually be asked about his work, though.
- - - - -
His phone was blowing up with notifications by the time he was free from the cameras. Oh the joys of a live show and a family that either really supported him or wanted to find something to taunt him about – it was difficult to tell. All he knew was that Bruce, Dick, Alfred, Stephanie, and Cass usually tried to watch any time he appeared on TV. Which meant they all heard that he had a boyfriend, and he was about to be pestered to the ends of the earth.
He sighed but accepted the call coming in. “Hey Dick,” he greeted, projecting as much innocence as he could into his voice. It worked a lot better when he was younger and happier. Now he was a bit too tired and jaded to sell it.
“Timmy! I just wanted to check in,” Dick said pointedly. “You know, see if there’s anything new in your life. Maybe something you neglected to tell me?”
Humming, Tim pretended to think it over. “Nope, can’t think of anything,” he said finally as he continued to his car and climbed in.
On the other end of the line there was a quiet squawk and a scuffling sound, then a click. “Tim,” Bruce cut in and oh, he was definitely on speaker now. That meant they were ganging up on him, instead of letting him deal with them one by one. “You have a boyfriend.”
Tim didn’t answer – it hadn’t been a question, after all.
“Master Timothy, I do believe all of us feel hurt that you neglected to inform us of this development,” Alfred reprimanded.
Oh shit, now Alfred was in on this. Dammit, he really preferred dealing with them one at a time. “Alfred, it’s… complicated, but I promise that it’s a very new development! I haven’t been hiding it for days or anything, I swear. How about I come to the manor for lunch today and I’ll explain?”
“Very good Master Timothy,” Alfred sniffed. “I shall set out a place setting for you.”
Alfred hung up the phone, cutting off Dick and Bruce’s protesting.
Tim stared at his phone for a second and then hurried home. He needed to talk to Jason. He also needed to grab something for the inevitable headache. Any lunch with the whole family resulted in a headache, but at least this one might prove somewhat entertaining as well.
Tim collapsed carelessly across his couch, and dug his phone out of his pocket. With a resigned sigh, he dialed Jason.
When he picked up, Tim didn’t bother offering or waiting for a greeting. “You have to come to the manor for lunch.”
There was a long silence on the other end of the line. Then, Jason asked, “Why the hell should I do that?”
Tim groaned and sunk deeper into his couch. “Bruce, Dick, and Alfred watched the talk show this morning—” Tim waited for Jason to stop snickering. So he did watch it then. At least he enjoyed it, apparently. “Yeah. They weren’t happy that they hadn’t been informed. It was fine when it was just Bruce and Dick, but then Alfred spoke up. Jay, he used the Disappointed In You voice. I had to say something!”
“Yeah,” Jason sighed, “that would do it. So, what did you say? That it’s fake or that we’re dating? Or both.”
“I said it was complicated and very recent.” Tim smirked and added, “I also said I would go to the manor for lunch and explain. If you come with me, you can see Dick and Bruce’s reactions first-hand and we can troll them a little more. Alfred will get the truth out of us pretty quick, but we can have some fun with this before he does.”
“You sneaky bastard.” He knew Jason well enough that he could almost feel Jason’s glare. “Alright fine, you little shit. I’ll be there for lunch so we can mess with those fuckers.”
Tim refrained from cheering – that would only make Jason change his mind. Well, he didn’t cheer out loud. Cheering internally was perfectly acceptable. Though this was going to be his first test at acting like Jason’s boyfriend for a little while. Why did Tim keep putting himself in these situations?
“Alright, see you there,” he said before hanging up. Tim hauled himself off the couch and headed for the kitchen. Coffee was imperative and he still needed to grab some medicine. After today, he’d know for sure whether fake-dating Jason would be amazing or painful.
An hour later, Jason was just climbing off his motorcycle when Tim pulled up to the manor. He waited for Tim to climb off his own bike and then murmured, “How do we want to do this?”
Tim paused. “What are you comfortable with?”
“I can put my arm around your shoulders, if you’re cool with that?” he offered. “Feel free to wrap your arm around my waist.”
Snickering, Tim walked over close enough for Jason to get his arm around him, and Jason pulled him into his side. He tried not to lean into the warmth, but if Jason did notice, hopefully Tim could pass it off as his usual touch-starvation.
Trolling Dick and Bruce was going to be hilarious.
Dick threw open the door just as they were walking up. When he did, his hands were on his hips and he looked ready to scold Tim for all his secret-keeping – something that never went over well in a family of detectives. Then it registered what he was seeing and the only way Tim could describe it was that Dick blue-screened. His face went blank and Tim could almost see an error message pop up.
Dick.exe has stopped working.
“Hey Dick,” Tim said casually, jumping right into it, “Jason’s my boyfriend.” As soon as he said it, he wondered if this was really the best plan. Jason was definitely on better terms with the family now, but there was still a chance that they’d react badly, and that might hurt Jason because as much as he tried to hide it, he still wanted their approval at times and oh god—
Dick grinned, and just – what? Yeah, Tim was glad that this was apparently being received well, but that… wasn’t the response he was expecting. At all. He was expecting shock, stuttering and stumbling and confusion ! Not… this.
“Finally!” Dick burst out. “Oh my god, we’ve all been waiting for you two to get together for ages! I guess this means Bruce wins the bet, then.” He mock-scowled at them. “Really, you two? You couldn’t have waited until one of you was in danger and then confessed? Or is that what happened? Oh my god, if that happened and none of us heard about one of you being in serious danger then the lecture on keeping secrets is going to be so much worse.”
“What.” Jason said.
Tim, however, was well on his way to panicking and fleeing Gotham entirely. Apparently, everyone else had picked up on his crush. Okay, sure, he wasn’t really surprised Dick knew after all the times he gushed about Jason to Dick, but enough people for a betting pool? How did everyone else find out? He’d been subtle! Of all the possible ways this could end terribly that had run through his head, he never thought Jason would find out because Dick couldn’t keep his mouth shut.
Dick shrugged, “Yeah, we were betting on you two. I’m not sure why you’re so surprised. I mean, really, after all the other bets we make? I’m just glad you two finally got your shit together.”
He huffed, looking reproachfully at Jason. “Little Wing, I love you, but if I had to listen to one more phone call about how much you wish you had never attacked Tim because he’s wonderful and amazing and he didn’t deserve what you did to him – I was going to scream. And Tim, Baby Bird…” Dick looked at him, raising an eyebrow, “I really don’t need to listen to another twenty minute rant about how incredible Jay is and how you’re so happy he’s doing better now. I mean, you two were ridiculous. Bruce had to listen to me whine about it.”
Tim.exe has stopped working, Tim thought, trying to process all of that with his brain moving at a snail’s pace. Because it sounded like Jason liked him too, but that – that couldn’t possibly be right. There was absolutely no way his feelings were reciprocated. Tim risked a glance at Jason, half-terrified of what he’d see, but Jason didn’t seem confused or disgusted or anything like that. No, he was just as utterly gobsmacked as Tim was, but that didn’t mean he felt the same.
“Man, you have no idea how heartbroken I was when I thought you had started dating someone else,” Dick continued, oblivious to their reactions. “I knew you thought Jason probably thought you were an annoying pest at best, so I thought you’d given up and started dating someone new. Meanwhile, Jason was absolutely convinced that you couldn’t like him after the whole Pit Madness thing. But I am so glad you two worked it all out!”
“We’re fake-dating to get the press off my back,” Tim blurted.
Jason’s head snapped to look at Tim. “You think that I think you’re an annoying pest?”
“Okay , so uh,” Dick rocked back on his heels, “it looks like you two have some things to discuss. I’m just… going to go inside now. Lunch will be ready in ten minutes, so try to have it sorted by then? Come in once you do. Uh. Good luck?” He slipped inside and closed the door.
Tim stared at the closed door, trying not to stare at his… at Jason. Oh god. What even were they now? He was still pressed up against Jason’s side. Why was he pressed up against Jason’s side? He really should not be—
As Tim tried to slide his hand away, the arm wrapped around his shoulders tightened, holding him in place. Then, Jason was in front of him, tucking Tim’s face into his chest and resting his chin on top of Tim’s head. Tim would forever deny that he squeaked.
“For the record, I don’t think you’re an annoying pest at all. The Demon Brat, sure, but I think you’re actually pretty fucking incredible,” Jason said.
“Oh,” Tim whispered. “I think you’re really awesome too. And I forgave you a while ago for what happened while you were still dealing with the Pit Madness. I promise I don’t hold it against you.”
“I don’t deserve that, Baby Bird. I tried to kill you, multiple times. I know for a fact that you’ve got scars from my attempts, so why would you—”
“That wasn’t you,” Tim cut in firmly, dislodging Jason to glare up at him. “That wasn’t you acting as yourself. I mean, it was the Pit influencing you and twisting things. Then on top of that, you were dealing with the trauma of dying and digging yourself out of your grave! It wasn’t you, Jay, and you’re not like that anymore. You’re so much better now, and I’m so glad because you’re happier. I just like seeing you happy.” Tim’s cheeks burned as he realized what he said. He groaned, hiding his face back against Jason’s chest.
Tim felt Jason’s chuckle. “Shut up,” he muttered.
“I like seeing you happy too,” Jason admitted. “Since Dick spilled everything already, I’ll go ahead and say that I like you, Tim. It’s why I agreed to be your fake-boyfriend. I wasn’t sure whether I was dreading or looking forward to the next couple of months. How would you feel about dating for real?”
Tim pulled away, eyes wide. “Yes, please, oh my god I was so not looking forward to the staged break-up. I was going to actually cry without needing to pretend at all.”
Jason laughed louder that time. “I would have probably held it together until I got back to my apartment. I already decided that I was going to be eating a lot more ice cream.” Tim tried to bury his grin in Jason’s chest, but Jason huffed and pulled back. “As fucking adorable as that is, didn’t I just say that I liked seeing you happy? Come on, don’t hide that pretty smile from me.”
“Oh my god, stop. We’re about to have lunch with our entire family, can you please not make me look like a tomato,” he groaned.
“Alright, alright, I’ll lay off for now. Let’s get inside, Baby Bird.”
“How much do you want to bet that they’ve been watching us through the windows?” Tim grumbled.
Jason shook his head as he started leading him towards the door. “I’m sure as fuck not taking that bet.”
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cirex101 · 4 years ago
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SWTOR Species/Class/Gender/Romance Headcanons
When it comes to SWTOR, I prefer my Toons’ species stay in their faction lane so to speak.  Nothing wrong with having a Chiss Jedi or Miraluka Sith, but that’s just not my thing, I just prefer my choices and headcanons to have some basis in the lore.
So without further ado, my Class/Species/Gender preferences for SWTOR
Jedi Knight: AH the Knight, my favorite class in both tone, and gameplay.  It’s also has the most traditional “Star Wars” story; young hero thrust into adventure, goes off to defeat the evil overlord.  Overall, it was designed to evoke Luke, Anakin, and all Jedi of action that followed them.  It was for this reason that my main Jedi Knight is a human male; can’t beat the classics in that regard.  Plus, it allowed us (before Onslaught) to romance Kira Carsen, who I consider to be a better romance option than Doc, and she has a larger role in the Knight storyline.
Jedi Consular: The wise mystic to the Knight’s brave warrior, the Consular is meant to evoke mentor Jedi from throughout the franchise, your Ben Kenobis, Qui-Gon Jins, Yodas, etc.  For this class, I like the Miraluka, who are a naturally Force Sensitive race of near-humans without eyes, but who see through the Force instead.  The blind sage archetype is an old one in fiction, and it seems fitting for the Consular.  As for gender, I have no strong preference, but I lean towards male for the beard.  Also Nadia’s romance is very sweet, and she has a large role in the overall story.  Felix meanwhile is just really boring.
Smuggler: Hoo boy, here’s where we start getting conflicted, since overall, everything about the Smuggler is great.  I’m torn between making a male human who romances the tough as nails and incredibly witty Risha for maximum Han Solo, or making a female Twi’lek who falls for Corso’s endearing country boy charms.  The struggle is real.  I don’t suppose I can headcanon two co-captains who are foster siblings can I?
Trooper: Cathar female, because Jennifer Hale is basically playing Commander Shepard again.  I chose Cathar to get some variety for my Republic Toons; after all, there’s supposed to be countless species  represented in the Senate, might as well play as one that isn’t human/near-human.  Plus, the romance with resident grumpy cat Jorgan is incredibly sweet, and beats out Elara by just this much.
Sith Warrior: The Sith Warrior is described to be the scion of an old Sith family.  Now, when I hear “old Sith family” my mind immediately goes to Sith Pureblood; humans are too common, zabraks are only an option because of Darth Maul, and everything else is just cheating.  Now a Pureblood, one of the descendants of the 12 Dark Jedi Exiles, brings a certain level of arrogance, and undeniable power (Force-sensitive bloodlines are a major them in Star Wars).  Now, for maximum Darth Vader, I go with male, body-type 3, so I can literally look down on 95% of all NPCs.  As for romance options, Vette blows Jaesa out of the water.  Vette’s with the Warrior for longer, and after Jaesa’s recruited, she just stopes being important, plus there’s her whole widely different personalties based on if she’s Light or Dark.
Sith Inquisitor: the Inquisitor is a bit of an odd duck, in that as a slave, every species is a contender save, ironically, for the Pureblood.  Now that being said, I’d limit myself to near-human species, as the Inquisitor is a descendant of Lord Kallig, whose species is unknown, but was probably Pureblood, whose descendants probably married into a near-human bloodline, and lost the pureblood traits.  Now then, as for the Inquisitor, I feel like Ratattaki is a good pick, due to many of that species being enslaved by the Empire previously, plus they just look intimidating as hell.  As for gender, I’m going with female over male, partly because Andronikos is more interesting than Ashara (Girl, you’re traveling with a Sith Lord and fighting against the Republic; you’re definitely not a Jedi anymore), and partly to have an even ratio of male/female for both factions.  
Bounty Hunter: Another tough one for gender, as both male and female romance options have strong arcs.  Ultimately, it’s first come, first serve, so I’m going with a male Hunter that romances Mako.  As for species, this is a tough one.  As both a member of the criminal underworld and later the Mandalorians, any species is justified save for perhaps a Pureblood.  For me, I’m torn between the classic human or a fierce zabrak.  I suppose that in this case the Hunter will have the be the Empire’s token human, which is rather ironic.
Imperial Agent: This class is a bit of an oddball in that there’s no iconic Star Wars character that fits the mold of a secret agent.  I’d describe it as a cross between the various Imperial officers from the movies and James Bond.  In any case, there’s only one choice in species for a class this suave, smooth, cool, and deadly; the Chiss, and that’s entirely because of Grand Admiral Thrawn.  Now, for the Agent I choose female, because Vector’s romance blows both Kaliyo and Raina’s out of the water, rather easily.  
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sparrellow · 4 years ago
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oops
Rin realised with absolute terror, that by some cursed oddity, the quite-revealing, most definitely embarrassing selfie she had just taken had been sent to Len.
rating: T genre: humour, romance pairing: rinlen words:  2,477
It was a balmy Tuesday afternoon, and Rin was bored, so she went window shopping.
Her favourite thing to do was try on cute outfits, take selfies in them, and then not buy anything at all. It wasn’t like she could afford to buy any of the things she tried, anyway—she was a broke university student, barely scraping by weekly on nutritious meals of cup ramen. 
This day, she felt particularly ambitious. A little sexy, even. So she went to her favourite lingerie store and tried on a bunch of cute, expensive underwear.
Alas, it did not go exactly as planned.
When she unlocked her phone to take a selfie, it did some weird glitch thing, but she simply shrugged it off and went to snap a photo of herself in the pastel, frilly, mermaid-themed underwear she’d picked out. Hmm. Cute. She clicked the confirm button, and went to take another picture, except— 
Except the screen didn’t return to the camera option.
Oh, no.
It didn’t.
It had, in fact, opened up her message with Len. Her uni friend. The cute guy from her Psychology class.
But that wasn’t it.
Because, Rin realised with absolute terror, that by some cursed oddity, the quite-revealing , most definitely embarrassing selfie she had just taken had been sent to him.
The final hit was the little: Read at 2:36 .
“Fuck!”
.
It was a balmy Tuesday afternoon, and Len was struggling to stay awake during his Introduction to Molecular Chemistry lecture. He kept nodding off every few minutes, the lecturer’s voice oddly soothing—both a blessing and a curse in his case.
But then his phone buzzed, and his eyes popped open to read the notification.
(1) Message from Rin Kagamine.
Huh. Wonder why Rin was texting him. They didn’t really talk much outside of their class together, but she was pretty cool. Pretty and cool, that was. He didn’t really think they were on that level for casual conversations yet, so perhaps it was uni-related, or something.
He reached over to unlock his phone to read the message. 
And promptly turned off his screen again.
What… what was that .
His eyes had almost fallen out of his sockets. Had he just seen correctly? Or was his mind playing tricks on him? He wasn’t even entirely sure.
Reluctantly, he opened the message back up.
And confirmed, it was, indeed, not a mistake of his eyes. 
She had, in fact, just sent him a picture of her in underwear. (Very nice underwear, might he add! But also, what the fuck was going on here .)
Before he could even form some degree of coherent message in response to the picture, Rin had begun spamming him in a flurry of panic.
FUCK
I’M SO SORRY
I
I’M SO FUCKING EMBARRASSED OH MY FUCKING GOD
FUCK!!!!
I SWEAR THIS WAS AN ACCIDENT I
I DON’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED MY PHONE GLITCHED I’M SO SORRY LEN FUCK
He raised an eyebrow at the messages, amused. So it was… an accident? How does one send a sexy selfie as an accident? How does one’s phone glitch to the degree of accidentally sending someone a sexy selfie? Had she been meaning to send it to someone else?
There were so many questions. 
Well, the good thing was that Len was definitely awake now.
.
Rin was crouching on the floor of the dressing room, half-naked and freaking out because he still hadn’t replied. But he had read all the messages. Oh god. What happens if he, like, posted the picture to some Facebook group to shame her? What if he used it for blackmail?
Was Len that sort of person? Did he like blackmail?
But before she could jump to any more conclusions, he’d responded with:
Thanks. I needed something to make this lecture a little bit more bearable.
He was at school? Had he opened the message in front of everyone? Had everyone else seen her in the cute little frilly mermaid underwear with her unshaven legs and pot-belly from eating two servings of instant yakisoba for lunch????
Rin sunk further down onto the ground, clutching her head, texting back rapid-fire. 
I swear it was an accident I don’t know why it was sent to you I was literally just taking pics of myself and AHHHHH
Did she really just admit that she had been taking photos of herself, half-naked, in the dressing room of an expensive lingerie store?
Yes. Yes she did.
And Len had the audacity to send back a crying-laughing face.
Well idk if you wanted an opinion, but it looks cute. You should buy it.
Rin buried her face into her knees, utterly humiliated . This wasn’t what she was expecting her boring Tuesday afternoon to be like. Maybe she should’ve just stayed home and studied like a good student.
Well. It was too late to go back now.
I wish I could but it’s way out of my price range
Thanks, tho
She closed her phone and stood up, taking a breath to calm herself. At that moment, the dressing room assistant knocked on her door and asked, “Do you need any help?”
“I’m fine!” she croaked, scrambling to change into her next outfit. God forbid she let anyone else look at her body today.
.
Len couldn’t help but be a little disappointed at the fact that she’d stop replying after that last message.
Of course, it was normal , given that this was all apparently an accident , but he was hoping she’d send another picture or two.
You know.
That sounded dirty of him. But she was cute. And that first picture was—although very much a surprise—somewhat eye candy for him. Plus he was super bored. He still had another hour left of his lecture and his soul was slowly being leached from his body.
So, like the little disgusting man he was, he sent another message.
Is that all?
About a minute passed, before Rin responded with, What?
He internally winced. Was he really going to make himself sound like a major creep?
Yes. Yes he was.
(This was going to make his Psychology class super awkward and he knew it.)
You’re not trying any others on?
Rin’s reply came almost immediately after that. Of COURSE I’m trying others on
What, do you want more pictures of an underdeveloped adult woman with hairy legs and a bloated stomach in your phone?
Len snorted. The picture she’d sent was fine. It was a body. A very nice body he liked to look at.
So he said, I can give you a second opinion?
It was radio static silent from Rin. She’d read his message, but no answer. He waited about five minutes, before he put down his phone with a sigh and tried to tune into his class.
She’d probably blocked his number. With good reason.
God. How was he going to meet her eyes in Psychology class on Thursday?
Providing she didn’t like, sock him in the jaw for being a pervert.
But he couldn’t help it! He needed the thrill! The entertainment! Also the pictures of a cute girl in cute underwear on his phone!
Len was going to hell but he didn’t even care.
.
Rin had stared at her phone for an incredibly long time, not sure how to respond to her classmate.
Look, she got it. It was her fault for being a dumbass and not checking before taking the picture. She technically asked for this roundabout method of torture. 
And yet. He had the audacity to ask for more.
She didn’t know whether to be mad or impressed. Madpressed, maybe.
So she left it to stew on, finished taking selfies of all the cute underwear in her naked glory, and went home very pensive. She thought very hard about it all on the bus, and glared hard at his little, stupid face in his icon on the message app.
Len was a good-looking guy. And , from the few conversations they had in class, he had a good sense of humour. And judging by his messages, he was also a cheeky asshole.
But she could’ve done worse. A whole lot worse. She could’ve sent that picture to her grandfather, or better yet, one of her creepy great uncles. Perhaps it was a good thing she’d sent it to some random (hot) guy from university.
Yeah.
So Rin decided to send the rest of her photos to him, and die gracefully in a puddle of shame. 
He’d already seen one, so he might as well see them all.
.
Len almost tripped and fell flat on his face when Rin suddenly bulk-sent five more pictures of her in various, adorable lingerie.
He wasn’t even in his lecture anymore. He was walking home, feeling sorry for his little perverted self, and the fact that he accidentally slept through the remainder of his class. How on earth was he even going to pass that class.
The blood rushing to his head (and to the south pole), he managed to type out a response that read a lot more underwhelmingly compared to what was really going on in his mind.
Very nice.
Was it something a girl wanted to read after sending multiple pictures of herself in a vulnerable state? No, probably not. But his brain had turned to mush and was starting to seep out of his ears. 
Rin wasn’t impressed.
You could’ve at least said thank you
Len fumbled for his dorm key, hands sweaty. Look, he was inexperienced. No one had ever sent him sexy pictures—or the equivalent of them, at least, whatever these were. He didn’t know how to handle it! Besides, she wasn’t even, like, a girl he was dating. He couldn’t just go full-mcCreep and tell her that he had a boner.
Could he?
No. He couldn’t.
Thank you , he responded, upon letting himself into his dorm room. I like the lavender one btw. It goes well with your hair colour
Was that too… much? He didn’t know if what he was doing was right. What did she expect him to say? He had no idea what on earth this entire situation was meant to be.
Oh really? That was my favourite
Cost like half a kidney tho
Len sank down onto his bed, relieved at her response. Okay. Okay. He was doing better. But now … he had a very important question he wanted to ask.
What’s the name of the store?
.
Rin blinked at his message, wondering why he was asking.
But she decided it was better not to ask. Maybe he had a girlfriend, or something. (Which, if he did, she would be incredibly pissed, because wouldn’t this classify as cheating? If he did, she was going to make sure he couldn’t walk straight ever again.)
She sent him back the store name. And left it there.
Thanks!
I’ll see you on Thursday ;)
Rin stared at his messages. Why did he send that winky face. What did it mean. What did it mean.
She didn’t respond, just tossed her phone aside and flopped back against her couch. She’d find out soon enough if she’d regret her actions.
.
Come Thursday, Rin had all but mentally prepared for her encounter with Len.
He pulled out the chair beside her in their lecture hall, and she stiffened, reluctantly dragging her eyes up to meet his gaze.
“Morning,” he said, acting way too casual given the circumstances. He plopped a familiar bag down on the desk in front of her and winked. Winked.
She felt her breakfast come up a little as it dawned on her, with absolute horror, that the bag donned the logo of the exact same store she’d been trying on underwear in the other day.
“What… is this,” she asked, gesturing at the bag like it was a severed toe.
Len looked smug, resting his chin on his hand. “I don’t know. Take a peek.”
“You don’t know,” Rin muttered to herself, unconvinced. She leaned forward, peering into the bag, catching a glimpse of something the shade of lavender. Uhhhh. She’d seen that shade of lavender somewhere. On her body. In the dressing room.
Hm.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Len said, shifting his gaze away so that he was facing forward. “No, I don’t know your size. I guessed.”
She wanted to send her face forward into the surface of the desk. 
“But if it doesn’t fit,” he added, lips turning up into a smirk, “you can always take it in to swap it for your size. The receipt is in the bag.”
God. What on earth. What the even. What?
“Is this… are you going to like… blackmail me or something, or,” Rin spluttered, eyeing him with suspicion. “What are you going to have me do in return for… this? This brand isn’t… cheap.”
Len glanced back at her, shrugged his shoulders. “Well, you technically don’t have to do anything , but…” He licked his lips. What the fuck? Ew. Gross. “I wouldn’t mind some more pictures.”
She gawked at him, heat rushing to her cheeks. “ Re ally?” She didn’t trust him. She didn’t trust this pretty-faced man-boy at all. “So, you want to be my sugar daddy?”
He choked. After recovering from his coughing fit, he sat up straight, made direct eye-contact and said smoothly, “Yeah, if that’s how you want to see it.”
So, he gave her expensive lingerie. In exchange for. Pictures of her. In said lingerie.
Wow.
Rin wasn’t sure whether she was awake anymore, or just dreaming. Maybe she had passed out or something, and was having a fever dream. This was just too weird to even be real. She pinched her thigh under the desk, but nothing happened (alas).
“I mean, you could just go on a date with me instead, and maybe you’ll get to see the real thing,” her mouth said, without any mental input. It just came out. 
It was real clown hours in this Psychology lecture, huh.
Len’s mouth popped open. Then closed. Then opened again. “That could work, too.”
It was silent. No one knew how to handle this situation, apparently. They were both staring awkwardly at the bag of lingerie on the desk between them, like it might eat them at any moment.
Eventually, Rin’s hand reached out and snatched it off the desk, stuffing it down into her shoulder bag on the ground. She cleared her throat, tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Well, I’ll try it on tonight and see how it fits.”
Len tried not to look too pleased. And failed. “Cool.” He hesitated, side-glancing her. “If it does… ”
“I’ll meet you at Crypton's at seven.”
He blinked, surprised, before leaning back in his seat and grinning with satisfaction. “Sounds good.”
(Spoiler alert: Rin’s underwear didn’t fit, but they still went on the date anyway.)
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kendrixtermina · 5 years ago
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The "waifu bait" criticism of Edelgard is so dumb given that most of the cast is technically waifu/husbando bait in one way or another, they're all meant to appeal to players as romance options, and she's the only one getting flack for it. (Well, not the only one, there were some people giving Dimitri shit too for being "wish fullfillment for stupid teenage girls who think they can fix a man," but I see the complaint most often with Edelgard.)
Yeah. I mean, you can boink Rhea and Jeritza!
It’s not like satelite love interests aren’t a plague onto anime and fiction in general, but I only ever hear this “you only like them because they’re waifu/bishie” thing directed at characters who very much DO have personality, unique compelling features and plot relevance. 
I’ve also seen this thrown at, say, Evangelion’s Miss Ayanami, as if all the fascinating sci-fi concept stuff and compelling narrative about finding your own worth and making a connection in a cruel lonely world wasn’t there - and at least we do see her through a “main character’s love interest” sorta lens. (I was thinking about how Byleth is actually quite similar, except more proactive with more of a dorky side, and less philosophical/reflective, but because Byleth is the MC we come off with a fairly different impression. )
Meanwhile with Edelgard they really didn’t pull any punches, the whole story is set in motion and dominated by her active choices, most the unique designs/outfits she gets are geared to look elegant/powerful.  (Apart from the usual ‘individually wrapped boob armor would break your sternum’ thing but you’d really have to know physics for that/ could be fixed easily by making the fit more sweater-like), she has a specific discernable philosophy and makes impactful choices, that can genuinely be agreed or disagreed with.
You can’t swag her into your way of thinking - you can only ally with her under the presupposition that you already actively agree. (See all the people complaining that you cant “criticise her more”, expecting her to be like Dimitri basically even though they are exact opposites. You can only get on her route by making two deliberate choices. I mean they wrote this with your first playthrough in mind, in-universe you’re not there because you wanna complete all aroutes but because you actively chose to join her after she spent a year unsubtly trying to recruit you to her cause)
You don’t talk Claude out of his tactics either. (and forcing it all into this comparision often leads ppl to overlook that he has ambiguities or character development at all, maybe he isn’t vilified but he gets simplified and therefore wronged just as much in the end. They’re not all Dimitri. The whole point of having three or four different potential deuteragonists to choose from is that they’re different)… heck, even if you look at Dimitri, you only get him back to what he really wanted to do back in part I before his black-and-white thinking and exaggerated sense of duty got the better of him. 
With all three, joining them eventually just enables them to get closer to their actual vision. Back when you meet her in Remire, Edelgard outright tells you that “with your power on my side, we could courttail the slitherer’s atrocities much more efficiently”. You don’t change her mind at all; You enable her to use “Plan A”. Same with Claude, who otherwise plains much more defensively both because he has less support and because he’s more jaded. And Dimitri essentially pulls a Sayaka, ie being unable to live up to his own unrealistic standards drive him to lose all hope and become the very opposite of the hero he wanted to be, but you do help him get back to that, or to a more balanced mature understanding of that. 
The best proof of that is that the popularity poll numbers actually went down after the release, ie a lot of ppl who liked her just bc they liked her design were turned off that there’s a specific personality there that isn’t necessarily their type/ a MO they don’t necessarily agree with. Or all those peeps complaining that the S-support was too understated for them. Claude got that too - They’re just not the most open/expressive people in the world, one would think that after playing through their routes you would know and understand that. Whereas Dimitri has been super emotional from day one (which is both his greatest strength and greatest weakness), so it figures that he’d be more conventionally romantic. 
- Hardly things that would happen if she were written to be “blandly pleasant”.  I mean generally speaking she’s not the best as showing her feelings and when she does she’s often pretty blunt at it even with her closest friends (El: ”Hubert! I order you to tell me what it is you’re not telling me!” Hubert: [elegantly weasels out of answering] El: [after he’s left the room] I’m worried about him tho. )
Seems senseless to claim that she’s blandly pleasant when she’s absolutely gotten a love-it-or-hate-it-marmite-reaction all across the board. It also seems to go along with the implicit idea that everyone who likes her is heterosexual boys. I’m neither, and it’s not like heterosexual boys aren’t ever interested in “plot” or “writing” I mean geez. Though I would resist the temptation to fully ascribe it to things like that. 
To an extent it’s simply confusion. “How can they like this thing that obviously sucks? Must be an ulterior motive”, whereas in reality ppl who like her have probably parsed what happened here differently to begin with (It depends greatly on how powerful you concluded Rhea was, ie, wether what Edelgard is doing is a conquest or a revolt. She certainly sees it as a revolt. Even today in the modern day most of us see revolts as legitimate, or at least, if they get overly destructive, as a fault of the bad government. Heck, there are many on this very site who would label all revolts legit by default (”eat the rich”, the more ‘original sin-like’ variants of privilege theory) which is further than I would go )
There certainly are a bunch of ‘cute’ scenes post holy-tomb scene and under the assumption that Edelgard is this my-way-or-the-highway type of person that many have her pegged as I can see how they might think that it “makes no sense” but that’s really down to wanting her not tp step outside of that idea they have of her. I mean even supervillains have silly everyday situations. Bin Laden loved Disney Movies, Hitler loved his dogs. By itself that has nothing to do with morality or likeability. It’s just being human. Supervillains blush, not because they’re not villains, but because they have blood vessels in their faces. It’s only logical that once you get close to someone and get them to trust you, you get to see more of their silly or vulnerable sides. It’s the same with Rhea. (except that the same people argue that having personable vulnerable sides at all makes Rhea good s of course it causes some cognitive dissonance when Edelgard also has them. I’ve yet to see ppl calling “waifuism” on Rhea (whom I would consider a full-fledged villain), and they shouldn’t - it’s characterization.) Same with ppl calling Edelgard a “manchild” for liking stuffed animals and sweets. She’s actually very mature and adult for her age, having some interests that aren’t super high-minded is just realistic and if you looked at her as a full 3D person who can have more than one trait you’d see that. 
This also goes with that tendency of holding up AM as the gold standard complaining about the lack of AM-like plot that they completely miss the different but equally compelling character arcs in VW and CF. That’s not a lack of arc, that IS the arc, it’s just a different arc: We get to see this tough, in-control high-minded character who’d completely given up on the normal life she wanted so much and resigned herself to never being understood finding out that she is very much still capable of normalcy and humanity and finding friendship and love and I think that’s beautiful. It’s my jam. 
And it’s meaningful precisely because it’s a change from only seeing the tough leader guise otherwise. Complaining about that is like complaining about getting to see Claude’s more wistful, dreamy, benevolent, not-entirely self-interest side in VW or claiming that the writing would be better if he were just a straight-up selfish trickster. Actually, if you removed their heroic traits you’d end up with a lot more generic characters. You’d simply get every wild card trickster ever, and every “Nietzschean” villain ever.  It’s the fact that they’re unconventional heroes that makes Claude and Edelgard so unique, compelling and interesting. If you like conventional heroes, Dimitri is right here. Your basic heroic fantasy ‘rightful king returns/ soft peace loving hero’, plus your basic jrpg guilt-ridden angsty protagonist. I mean there’s good reason that these character archetypes are popular. Plus he’s especially well-executed and recontextualized by the contrast to the others, but there he is, enjoy him! We’re not stopping you. 
It’s really Seteth who came up short arc wise. You could have given him an arc, the potential was there, he essentially transistions from protecting himself and his family to taking on his family’s heroic quest and rising up to that, but he doesn’t get like, a scene reflecting on that. Or you could’ve sent them on some mission to actually curb some corrupt cardinals etc, shown them actually reforming the church and realizing that it wasn’t all perfect, after all he very much knows that Rhea herself wasn’t all perfect. 
For all that much of media is obsessed with making characters “hot”, the truth is that if people like them for any reason, they will find them hot anyways, regardless of whether that was the intention. (unless the people in question are aroace, or the character is a literal, realistic prepubescent child)
You don’t have to “make”  a character hot for ppl to find them so.
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simptasia · 4 years ago
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for the ask thingy 1) fandom: futurama? (i recently watched the first episode bc i faintly remember u talking abt it - should i keep watching?) but if u dont wanna get into it or my mind was playing tricks on me we can always go for the classic lost :D 2) ship: kateclaire? i miss the GIRLS 3) character: daniel faraday (disclaimer as always u dont have to do all u can pick n choose :D)
thank you thank you thank you!
also i ADORE futurama, it’s one of my fave cartoons, yes keep watching! it’s so funny, i love the characters, it has great (and silly) sci fi concepts, and happens to have just really great tear inducing episodes/moments. so yes!! watch it!!
not just you, everybody, please watch futurama
annnnyways
Send me a fandom and I will tell you my:
Futurama
Favorite character: Fry. Bender is without a doubt the funniest character but Fry is my fave. He’s so endearingly stupid and I love how nice he is. He could have been the bland straight man protag for wackier personalities to play off but he’s a huge goofus. And he’s a trekkie! And neurodivergent! And pansexual! He’s a good boy, love that Fry
Least Favorite character: I’ve never really thought about it, like as far as I recall, I don’t remember anybody showing up and I’m like “oh geez this guy”. Oh wait. Fry’s ex girlfriend Michelle is a bitch but she’s meant to be. But like, she’s not even a funny bitch. Like Mom or Zapp.
5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Fry/Leela (this is a ship I’ve had since i was a kid, an original flavour OTP right there, I loooove Fry/Leela), Fry/Bender, Fry/Leela/Bender, Amy/Kif, Bender/Amy
Character I find most attractive: Leela. Even when I was a kid I found her attractive. Hot + the Matt Groening style doesn’t normally go together very well (even he’s admitted this) but it just works with Leela. Amy is cute too! And Fry is cute but that’s mainly his personality (and fan-art) doing that. I also happen to enjoy purple and orange a lot so Leela and Fry are inherently nice for me to look at. Yeah, Futurama pulls off attractive women better than The Simpsons does. (diff times, diff genres...)
Character I would marry: Aww, Fry
Character I would be best friends with: Oh, all of them really (tho Zoidberg’s smell could be a problem). Especially Fry, Leela & Bender
A random thought: Now I’m wondering if there’s a Futurama style Create A Character thing online, I’ll look later. Also, I know Jurassic Bark makes everybody cry but I just wanna say it made 10 year old me sob and I didn’t cry at fictional things as a kid. Like, very very rarely. Me being a big cryer kicked in later. So that’s a helluva thing. Power of dogs
An unpopular opinion: I don’t know... oh a lot of people don’t like the later seasons but I really like them! There’s some stinkers here and there (attack of the killer app and the butterjunk effect come to mind) but overall it’s still Futurama goodness. Oh and The Beast With The Billion Backs gives me a bad feeling in my tummy because it has this “polyamory is gross and creepy” vibe to it. Whether it’s intended or not, it just makes me uncomfortable. Other than that, it’s a good movie. Fry saying “Robots don’t go to heaven” makes me tear up.
My Canon OTP: Fry and Leela, number one cartoon OTP!!!
My Non-canon OTP: Fry and Bender, babey!!!
Most Badass Character: Well, Leela, obviously
Most Epic Villain: Hmm... I looked up “Futurama Villians” and Bender is on the list jajafklafkjs I love that. I wouldn’t call anybody epic, tho Mom is pretty powerful and malevolent. I’ll pick my fave villain: The Robot Devil
Pairing I am not a fan of: Zapp gets nothing, good day sir! I don’t know any ships I’m like Against tho. Some I’m squicked by, like involving The Professor or Zoidberg but like that shit is for laughs anyways
Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): They picked the ball up later on but Hermes was a flat character for a while there. And remember how they forgot Amy is smart for like,,, ages. Again they fixed this later. It’s sometime I appreciate about the later seasons, they gave more focus for characters who were less explored in the original run (this show has like 4 finales, to be clear)
Favourite Friendship: Fry & Bender is Iconic and I adore them
Character I most identify with: Fry. Brainweird trekkie who loves TV/movies and has feminist tendencies. Love him
Character I wish I could be: I mean, if I had to... Bender? I mean, if I had to live in the super dangerous world of Futurama, I’d like to be a robot. Plus Fry and Leela’s lives are pretty sad :(
You gave me the option of LOST as well, so I’m doing that too
Favorite character: Hurley is my favourite. Indeed he’s one of my fave characters in fiction in general. (Daniel is just who I talk about the Most)
Least Favorite character: [insert abusive parent here], tho Anthony Cooper and Roger Linus are on top of the loathing pile. And y’all know I hate Christian Shephard so much. Keamy is also utter scum.
5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): This fluctuates so much but at this point who would I be fooling if I didn’t put Dan/Char first. Yes, I know there are bigger meals available, I’ll still lick the chocolate flakes off the floor. Anyways. Daniel/Charlotte, Daniel/Charlotte/Miles, Kate/Claire. After this point I wobble all over the place... because I ship so much. And it depends on my mood. Sometimes I’m just really in a Desmond/Charlie mood, other times i’m uwu for Jack/Kate. And so on. Just, take my top three. Tho honorable mentions to Sayid/Shannon and Miles/Richard, I’m very fond of them. And Desmond and Penny! Jin & Sun and aaahhh!! Basically most things canon and a shitton of noncanon. You guys know what I’m like with shipping and LOST!!! I’m posting the chart
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Character I find most attractive: Bruh, this show is a bi & pan dream. I’m not good at picking favourites but Desmond, Charlie, Ana lucia, Charlotte are really “holy fuck” hot to me. And Sayid. And Miles. And Kate. Aahhh!! I’ll just end up listing almost everybody. If I had to pick one (1) LOST character to deem the Hottest, I’d pick Desmond. He makes my eyes glaze over. Desmond transcends all sexuality. Desmond is a living romance novel love interest. Desmond’s body is shown off a LOT... also he’s scottish. But man, I came to LOST because of one crush and left with at least 20 more. It’s a great investment!
Character I would marry: Sayid. He would make a wonderful husband. Just,,, just such a loving, gentle, respectful person........ and you KNOW he’s good with his hands. Daniel is a close second for much the same reasons, actually
Character I would be best friends with: HURLEY!!!!
A random thought: “Random Thoughts About LOST” could be a title for my blog, buddy. All the men are subs. There ya go.
An unpopular opinion: Oof, here we go. I love Jack Shephard! Though I have noticed we’ve gotten to a point where liking Jack isn’t a ridiculous concept in this fandom anymore. I don’t find myself defending myself/him as much as I used to. Also Hurley/Libby was really really cute. Yeah, I know she wasn’t around much before she died, I still believe in their love. Oh wait I forgot the big one: I fucking ADORE the LOST finale. It’s one of my favourite episodes and it’s not only not a bad finale, it’s an amazing finale, one of the best I’ve seen. It’s great television. The problems people have with it have never made sense to me, I personally love it!
My Canon OTP: Daniel/Charlotte (they count, they’re not an Official Couple but they’re in love! they count amongst the lost romances!)
My Non-canon OTP: Kate/Claire (i sometimes forget it isn’t canon because holy GOSH does this fire have a lot of fuel)
Most Badass Character: Sayid can fuck you up. That ankle thing
Most Epic Villain: Uhhh, Ben was a villain for a bit there
Pairing I am not a fan of: Kate/Sawyer springs to mind for being a very popular ship that I’m just not into. Like, it’s okay, they’re just better for each other as friends
Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Michael, Walt and Sayid due to poor and/or racist writing. Libby, Charlotte, Miles just for missed opportunities. Actually I don’t think they screwed up Miles, he was mostly great, just he could have been used more. Like his powers, or delving into his trauma, his budding friendships with other people. it ticks me off that Miles doesn’t get given Reactions to Char & Dan’s deaths. The Science Team in general were underused and they barely felt like a Team. Anyways Michael Dawson deserved better. Season 2 just fucked up a lot of characters but it really did not treat Michael with respect. I can’t even explain how it’s bad, it just is.
Favourite Friendship: Everybody/Vincent. Hehehe, actually, here's what comes to mind, can’t pick a fave: Hurley/Charlie, Hurley/Everyone Kate/Every Woman She Meets, Jack/Claire is cute when it happens. Jin/Michael was A+. Thinking about it, I like every friendship in this show. Does Ben/Locke count? Are they friends? Well, their scenes are enthralling so there's that. I also appreciate all the lady friendships on this show. And with people who didn’t start as friends, so with everybody it had to grow in front of us and that’s nice.
Character I most identify with: Hurley, Jack, Daniel, Kate and Claire all hit. But Hurley the most, absolutely. Also I find Jack endearing because his emotional instability reminds me of my own.
Character I wish I could be: Claire. Not much would change but I’d get to fuck Charlie and Kate
Send me a ship and I will tell you:
Kate/Claire
When I started shipping them: I literally don’t remember anymore
My thoughts: The last third of Kate’s character arc (of not running anymore, of being responsible, etc) is dedicated to Claire. Kate went back to that island for Claire, not Jack or Sawyer. Kate and Claire remembered together and it was played with as much emotional resonance as the Charlie/Claire and Jack/Kate soulmate scenes. These two are gonna raise sons together. Restless, passionate!!! Honestly, these two make so much sense and get so many Moments, I forget this isn’t canon. Their actresses have amazing chemistry and just. Gosh, I love them
What makes me happy about them: They would be so good for each other! They’ll take care of each other and support each other and give each other kisses, etc. Also also I love their height difference. Oh, I enjoy the contrast of Kate who is more experienced and badass, and Claire who I feel is more naive and is very very sweet & sunshiney. (don’t take me for thinking Kate ain’t sweet and Claire can’t go off, though). I also enjoy how Kate legit looks/holds herself butcher whenever Claire is around
What makes me sad about them: Mr. LOST writers, how comes you had no canon bi people in ur show? Come back here, I’m talking to you-
Things done in fanfic that annoys me: where fic
Things I look for in fanfic: [looks around] h-hewwoo? ladies falling in love and fucking?? pwease?? i’m a fan of mutual pining. i like the idea of claire not realising she’s bi until kate makes her feel things and claire confessing her feelings to kate in a big ol’ cute ramble and then they kiiiisss, and then they fuuuuck. spare fuck, ma’am? femslash is very underdone in fandoms and lost is an old fandom so [pleading emoji]
My wishlist: oh i think i just made it. just content for kate/claire in general is a lovely thing. and makes me progressively stronger
Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: Jack for Kate, Charlie for Claire. Obviously
My happily ever after for them: Oh, I think I’ve made that clear. But overall? They’re married (emotionally, not legally. because Kate isn’t into that for personal reasons), they have two sons Aaron and David. Kate is a professional photographer, Claire does illustrations for children’s books. They have a nice house, they have lotsa friends, they are content
Give me a character & I will tell you:
Daniel Faraday
How I feel about this character: [mildly] Oh, I like him........ HOW DO YA THINK I FEEL ABOUT DANIEL FARADAY?? I’ve only gushed about him, analysed his character back to front, and frequently highlight his scenes and such for like a bagillion years now. But I do admit, I am just too subtle. It’s a real problem I have. ;) Anyways, that aside. Like they didn’t utilise his character as much as they should’ve/could’ve and he’s still perfect. With just 23 episodes (which makes me salty that Char is so underdeveloped in 20 episodes.) The writing is great, like in just The Variable they get a TON about Daniel across. Tho, we all know what really makes Daniel so great, the reason everybody loves him so much, is Jeremy Davies’ performance. Just. So good. I love Daniel, I adore Daniel. He’s that The Smart Guy science nerd archetype but he turns out to be way more than that too. He’s soft spoken and polite but with subtle hints of sass and bitterness for some extra flavour. I love how tactile he is and his constant hand gestures, it’s just great to watch this guy talk. And his life and backstory is very sad, like he has one of the most tragic backstories/storylines in LOST and thats. saying a lot. And I love good angst. I mean, I love LOST, so of course I do. But yeah, summing up: he’s cute, he’s smart, he’s a little funny, he’s tragic, he’s gentle and he just,,, wants to love and to make music. And he gets to have the life he deserves by the end!! Oh and the inherent value of a canonically neurodivergent character being well written, getting a good storyline and shown as being liked and loved, is just very precious to me
Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: Charlotte, Miles, Desmond, Charlie and Theresa (last one by way of canon and I’ve certainly put way more thought into it than the writers did. she’s part of his life so I won’t ignore her). Wow, five people. I’ve made Daniel the demisexual equivalent of a slut. [snorts]
My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: Daniel and Penny getting to be brother and sisterly in limbo is such a cute thought, I love it. I also pay extra attention to Daniel and Richard scenes because of my theory. There’s also hintettes of a Daniel & Kate friendship in canon, it’s not much but I like it. I think if Dan lived he could have made easy friends with most of the characters but as it is, he really doesn’t get to interact with many people. He’s a rather insular character
My unpopular opinion about this character: i’ve picked up that some people think he doesn’t get jokes or that he’s naive. and i personally give him some naivety here and there due to a lack of experience but i also think he’s quick learner and he can be pretty adaptable 
One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: i really like how daniel’s story is already (thus my brain instantly jumps to dan/char kiss!!!) tho it does feel a bit like theres pieces missing. this would be due to that lovely writer’s strike that happened around seasons 4 and 5. there was meant to be more sci team content but then that happened. sigh. still, gaps and loose threads in the story isn’t a story breaker for daniel specifically. and i don’t mind things being left in implication or to the imagination. i don’t need to see everything. if it was handled badly with dan, i’d be annoyed, but it wasn’t. so... dan/char kiss!!!
Favorite friendship for this character: it occurs to me that the people dan is friends with,, are people i ship him with. hey, it doesn’t cancel each other out: char and miles. also we don’t get much, or we get nothing but the implication of dan’s friendships with frank and naomi is also cute. also also daniel and desmond aren’t exactly friends (it’s weird, they meet a few times and it Means A lot) but the des and dan running thing is a fave
My crossover ship: i don’t really think of it like that...
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serendipitous-magic · 5 years ago
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what’s the evidence el might be a lesbian you were referring to in the milevill post? i’m genuinely curious, since i haven’t really seen anyone talking about it. sorry if i’m being annoying!
(Referring to this post)
The flannel.
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...
That’s it, that’s the post.
Kidding.
I’ve seen a couple posts before that detail it in a much more comprehensive and thorough way, but to sum up:
I wouldn’t say there’s any “hard evidence,” but there are several coding things that might support El being a lesbian. (That being said, El’s orientation is vague enough that I pretty much see all HCs as valid, whether you see her as a lesbian or bi or ace or nonbinary or what-have-you - plus, she knows little enough about the world and about herself that El herself probably has no clue how she’d identify, either, but that’s a slightly different tangent.) 
The basic reasoning: as said above, El is in a place where she knows very little about herself, and even less about the world. Her only real source of information about anything to do with love or romance comes from a) TV and soap operas (yikes (TM)), and b) what she’s observed of the world around her in her brief time out in public / with the Party. So, heteronormativity would be fairly inescapable. Not only that, but imitation is kind of what El does right at the moment, as she’s getting a feel for the world and her own personality. We’ve seen her imitate Dustin and Lucas (in S1 when they’re in the school), Hop (in the cabin, kicking mud off their shoes), Kali (like... that whole episode), the TV (repeating lines from soap operas - again, Yikes (TM)), Max (most of that-one-season-that-never-happened), etc. She’s like a small child, basically, imitating what she sees around her as a way to test out her own personality and learn about the world. So if all she’s seeing is heteronormativity all around her, it makes perfect sense to me that she would look at her friendship with Mike (as established in S1) and say, “Oh, well, I’m a girl and Mike is a boy, and everything around me has taught me that girls and boys are supposed to fall in love and kiss and date each other, so that’s what we’re “supposed” to do then.” 
Anyway, that got off on a slight tangent - now to explain the actual reasons I think it’s possible El could be a lesbian.
Some examples of coding or “soft evidence” off the top of my head, in a fairly random order:
(Also, a note: I included some stuff from S3 even though S3 isn’t canon, but still.)
1) El didn’t show any particular interest in being romantic with Mike until S2, after she had been exposed to the TV for a year (as discussed above) - their friendship was strong, but Mike was the one who initiated the kiss, and I don’t think El really understood what it meant (she didn’t know what “friend” was a few days ago; how was she supposed to understand all the meanings and implications and nuances of what a kiss meant?).
2) When Mike is showing El around the Wheeler house in S1, she goes straight to a picture of Nancy and whispers, “Pretty.”
3) El also wanders around Nancy’s room later, admiring pictures of Nancy and Barb
4) El repeatedly admires girls and women, calling them “pretty” - Nancy being a main example, but to use another example from the non-canonical season, Billy’s mother. We never see her do this with boys (at least, not that I can remember). To me, that seems important - because even if El just kind of assumes that she’s supposed to like boys, and doesn’t realize there’s any alternative, she still is only shown admiring girls (at least, as far as I can remember - again, if there’s an instance of her doing this to a boy, I don’t remember it). We never see El look at a picture of a boy and say, “Pretty” (or “handsome” or “cute” or whatever - but El’s vocabulary for “this person is attractive” seems mainly limited to “pretty” atm); we never see her commenting that a boy is attractive (even Mike).
This ^ is especially telling to me, because as someone who fell for the heteronormativity trap myself for liiiiike most of my life (I assumed I was bi for like my whole life because I knew I liked girls but it never occurred to me to question whether or not I was actually attracted to guys at all - spoiler alert, I never was, I just assumed I must be because Society Is That Way), this looks very familiar. Because like El, growing up I would always admire girls and women, and I never really seemed to do that with guys - and yet it never occurred to me that I might not like guys, because that was never really an option I knew about, so I ended up getting into a relationship with a guy because it was what I was “supposed” to do, etc., etc. - I’m not here to tell my life’s story, I’m just saying: if El was a lesbian who didn’t realize it because being straight is the only “option” she’s aware of, that would make perfect sense to me because a very very similar thing happened to me. (You could also make the argument that my own experiences make me biased towards this HC, which is totally valid   ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.)
5) After El breaks up with Mike, she immediately flops down on the bus with Max and laughs. I’ve seen some people suggesting that it sounds like a relieved laugh, which is open to interpretation, but still - she breaks up with her boyfriend and laughs, and does not seem broken up about it at all afterwards. 
6) This is slightly more elmax than lesbian!el (and it’s from S3 again), but El and Max are both coded with rainbows multiple times - especially the scene at the sleepover, after the breakup, where Max shows El the Wonder Woman comic book as they’re literally curled up on Max’s bed cuddling on rainbow sheets.
7) The flannel. (That’s literally it; that’s the evidence.)
There’s more, but that’s what I can think of just at the moment! Again, none of this is really “hard evidence,” a lot of it is just coding and HCs, but those are my thoughts!
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theobsessor1 · 5 years ago
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Soulmate au
A soulmate au idea if you will indulge me
Im just ramble on about the idea because I feel like I would suck actually writing the fic or probably won’t ever get around to actually attempting to write it. Warning this is long Do with this what you will. Write your own if ya want, just wanted to share my thoughts. So! Soulmate au, your chest glows when your close to your soulmate. Maybe they glow in different colors, maybe it just white light ((idea from this post (link)))
The possibility of glowing starts from age 12, and so begins your optional search for your soulmate.
Not everyone takes it seriously, it's like the universe is giving you a suggestion. Saying hey your a really good match for each other, most people listen to it, but not all.
In comes our boys under the cut
Roman:
He’s a radio show host, does a range of things on his show. Playing music by queer artists or their allies. Talks to listeners and giving them advice the best he can and just a safe space to talk for the queer community. Cause even tho the universe will say that two men are meant to be, there are those who still are disgusted.
After all no one knows how or why the chest glowing is a thing, it just is. So who’s to say it is good or bad?
Roman is a strong believer in soulmates, after all he does love his fiance more than just about anything. He still can’t help this small feeling that something is missing tho.
Roman loves to go see plays during his free time, sometimes he accidentally rambles on about them on his radio show. Has gotten into a few debates with his listeners and even got his fiance riled up into joining one such debate.
Lives in a nicely sized homemade for two, plus a guest room at the insistence from Logan that they must have one, even tho neither of them really invite friends over opting to head to friends houses instead.
Logan:
Roman’s fiance. They don’t plan to get married any time soon, really just got the rings for people to leave them alone and stop asking if they were dating because their chests glowed.
Logan is the co-owner of the radio show with Roman. He rarely ever goes on air, he works mainly with their equipment and making sure they keep to a relatively to the same schedule every day.
He writes in his spare time, hasn’t really published anything yet. He’s more content to just share it freely online at the moment. 
Insisted that they have the guest room just in case anyone does ever come over, because he will not allow anyone to sleep on the couch like a heathen.
Has a large bookshelf in their living room stuffed with books, most are his.
Patton:
I was thinking baker at first cause why fix whats not broken but then a better idea struck!!
A childcare assistant! He works at a children’s daycare, keeping an eye kiddos while there parents are at work.
He’s the kiddos favorite but ssssh, don’t tell any one. 
He sneaks them extra snacks if they behave, or read them bed time stories during nap time to help them snooze. 
Patton of course bakes and knits in his free time. 
He lives in a relatively nice one bedroom apartment, with his plants. 
Patton stumbles upon Logan, quite literally, in the library when he’s looking for a book to help him with his knitting.  Several flustered apologies later as they dust each other off from the fall Patton realizes their chests are glowing!!!
It’s so exciting!! Patton practically squealed, with a startled Logan trying to wrap his head around what was happening. Let’s just say Logan panics and it takes some time for Patton to calm him down. 
Once calmed down Logan tries to politely excuse himself and takes off. He of course goes crying to Roman, how could it be possible. He’s heard rumors of course of rare cases where people have glowed around more than one person but he never really thought it was possible. 
This causes them both to freak out some. Later on of course Roman will get Logan to warm up to the idea, I mean its twice the amount of love come on. He can shower even more people in affecton! And this stranger sounds down right adorable so why would he complain.
Poor Patton isn’t sure what to do, so what’s he do well. He calls for advice to that wonderful Radio show of course!
Shenanigans ensue!
Virgil: 
Virgil works with a small animation studio, making art and costume clothes in his free time. He made his patched hoodie after all.
Virgil isn’t all that confident in soul mates, just isn’t his thing. 
He lives in a dingy apartment, makes magic work with just noodles and some left over meat. Is kinda broke if ya couldn’t tell. That’s why he has taken to a talent of recycling clothes and making something new out of them. Plus it fits his aesthetic. 
Only ever leaves his house to visit his best friend Remy’s cafe. He’s allergic to the outside he likes to say while hissing at the sun.
Has Roman’s radio show playing as background noise most of the time. Found that one with the poor guy tripping in the library interesting. Poor guy didn’t get such a great first impression.
Virgil is visiting the cafe one day with his bro Thomas, chilling at one of the tables when Patton comes in dragging Roman and Logan in with him happily talking their ears off to try the stuff there. 
Virgil definitely didn't stare for along time observing them, with all their own different attractive assets. He’s just people watching shut up Thomas. 
It isn’t until later when the group sit down at a table that Thomas points out that Virgil may be glowing under his thick hoodie. Causing the emo to panic and off course hide that fact as the group seems to take notice of themselves glowing. 
Let’s just say its one hell of a first meeting. Virgil could hardly talk through his gay panic when the guys finally realize he was the last one. Luckily Thomas is there to help him out, that little shit.
Deceit: 
I like giving him the name Dean. 
Surprisingly he’s soulmate’s with Thomas. Tho he doesn’t really do much about it, they’ve become QPPs.
Dee has known Virgil and Thomas since highschool, he was much more of a delinquent back than. The two, mostly Thomas has help keep him out of trouble for the most part. 
He lives with Thomas, they have their own bedrooms. No one is sure what his job is. 
(He’s a police detective, mainly works in homicide usually, but shoosh don’t tell it’ll ruin his reputation of being a heathen)
Just because he works with the police doesn’t mean he cares for the law, you wanna break a few rules you go right ahead child, here have a lolipop too. 
He has a dark sense of humor, Oh you have a problem with some one just murder them! 
Thomas- No!      Dee- fine, a light stabbing then  Thomas- NO!
He is protective of his cinnamon roll Thomas, and takes great pleasure in rilling him up. 
Was able to convince Thomas to allow him to have two pet snakes, two ball pythons his precious babies. 
Him and Remy can go on flirting with each other for hours those dorks. Its like a contest who can get the other to fall flat first.
Remy:
The man that embodies sass. 
He opened a cafe, encouraging other people’s coffee addictions and satisfying those with a sweet tooth. 
Knows every single one of these poor gay idiots and is watching with a bag of popcorn at their horrible attempts at romancing one another. 
He an Emile are just betting one who does what and enjoy the chaos of the oblivious pinning. 
The one to introduce Dee to Thomas.
Emile:
Of course he still is a therapist, what else would he be.Still obsessed with cartoons.
Is best friends with Virgil and Thomas. Is a bit weary of Dee, but what can ya do.
Absolutely adores Remy, that’s his sass man. They’ve known each other since childhood, practically declaring to mary each other with candy rings.
Remy and him are happily soulmates, living in a nice quite home. 
They have a cute mainecoon named pumpkin spice, pumpkin for short.she sleeps with Emile’s stitch plush on their couch.
Emile is ecstatic to hear that Virgil found his soulmates when he tells him. Or even that he was talking to people in general that weren’t Remy, Dee, Thomas or himself for once.
Hopefully these new guys can get Virgil out of his house more often, he’s a little concerned about his vitamin D intake. Don’t tell me that mister, your not allergic to the sun!
Don’t know if I’ll actually write this at any point in time, feel free to use with credit i guess. Idk just sharing my ramblings.
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metalforhands · 6 years ago
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okay I know Danse says stuff like he hasn’t been that close to someone before with Sole but does that necessarily translate to he’s a virgin? Like I just have a hard time believing that.
oooh boy. i had a feeling this ask would come. i’ve gotten some people angry with me over this topic in the past… but you know what! who cares! i’m going to tackle it anyway!
so here are the voice lines i’m basing most of my thoughts on:
-  I’ve never had anyone who actually cared how I felt, so I have a difficult time opening up.
- It’s strange. I’ve been alone for so long, I don’t even know how to act around you.
- When you revealed how you felt about me, I have to admit… I was caught off guard. Don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t pleased to hear it. I just never had anyone profess their feelings towards me that way.
- I never thought there was room for anything in my life besides the Brotherhood. I’m glad I was wrong.
these voice lines, along with danse’s personality in general, i think, answer your question. but i’m gonna write an essay anyway! here we go.
so, danse isn’t the type of guy to sleep around; he doesn’t get involved with casual relationships. he’s not a flirt, nor is he silver tongued. he’s the kind of guy who’s genuinely shocked to find out someone’s interested in him. he gets incredibly flustered when the sole survivor says they care about him. i think we can all agree on that.
cait, maccready, and danse are the only three characters who have their final affinity conversation, and by extension, their romance, blocked off by a personal quest. this fits in with all three of their personalities, but that’s an essay for another day.
danse has the added hurdle of his personal quest being a main quest that’s in the final act of the game. not to mention, the sole survivor quite literally has to defy direct orders, refuse to execute him, convince him not to kill himself, and argue with elder maxson (and pass multiple speech checks that decide if danse’ll live or die) before even having the option to romance him.
so you could say fallout 4 is… very particular about the sole survivor not being able to romance danse right off the bat.
which brings me back to your ask. at the very least, i think nothing intimate, with anyone, happened while he was in the brotherhood. why? he would find it highly inappropriate. danse has this desperate need to be a part of something, so he’s really… really invested in the brotherhood, and in following the rules and setting a good example. he’s so focused on duty and responsibility that he puts no time for anything else.
not to mention, danse actively avoids becoming close with others because he’s afraid of losing them. he mentions this to the sole survivor numerous times. if we consider this, plus danse not being the kind of guy to sleep with someone he isn’t close to, PLUS the voicelines above, where he mentions having been lonely a long time then… yeah. i really, really don’t think he got any action in the brotherhood. sorry.
as for before the brotherhood, and in rivet city, that’s a bit more fuzzy. however, i personally still think he wasn’t involved with anyone. his voicelines, and personality, are all so damning… if he banged someone, then they must have at least meant something to him. then… why does he tell the sole survivor no one’s ever liked him like that before? that he’s never been that close to someone before? he’s not a liar. he’s painfully honest 24/7, so we know we can take him at his word.
and let’s say this relationship ended badly, so he doesn’t mention them. then… like… wouldn’t that still effect him? wouldn’t he mention having been hurt in an intimate relationship before?
i dunno. all signs lead to him being a virgin, or at the very least, inexperienced. which like. who cares? people get so angry whenever i say this… but like, it’s not a bad thing. at all. if anything, i find it endearing. 
but that’s just my own take. people are completely, 100% free to disagree with me.
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uraberika · 6 years ago
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Kissing Booth
Title: Kissing Booth Characters: Urabe Rika, Aphrodi, Mutou Satoshi Pairing: SatoTeru Rated: T  Genres: Humor, Romance Words: 4300 words Summary: Rika drags Aphrodi into organising a kissing booth at the upcoming school fair and things don't go as smoothly as Aphrodi had excpected them to.  On other platforms: ff.net / ao3  Author’s note: This started as a silly headcanon of mine but after months and months that it haunted me, I finally had written it. I screamed about this to @zafiro-satoshi who drew an amazingly adorable art of if too which you can check out here.
Afuro Terumi was screwed. Yet again. He huffed in annoyance as he ran a hand through his blond locks for what felt like the billionth time.  He couldn’t believe that he let himself be fooled like that! He really should have seen it coming, after all the years he had spent being Rika’s friend (and, well, occasional lab rat for her crazy ideas).  Urabe Rika was a girl who he could only describe as batshit crazy. However, she was one of Aphrodi’s closest friends and the boy wasn’t sure if he should be glad or terrified by the fact. Rika was loud, annoyingly girly, and had the most absurd ideas in the world. Like this one, for instance, when she convinced Aphrodi to organise a kissing booth for the school fair. A kissing booth for a school fair, like in some idiotic American high school romcom! The girl had guts, that’s for sure. And, apparently, had the brains too, since she managed to get the school board to actually give their blessing to it. So that’s how Aphrodi ended up with a really enthusiastic Rika behind a stall with a sign “kissing booth” and a price for a kiss which was way too low for Aphrodi’s liking. But that wasn’t the thing that bothered the blond boy the most. What really got on his nerves was Rika’s “sense of time” as the girl liked to call it. When Rika reeled Aphrodi into this whole mess, they had agreed to man the booth in equal amounts, just to be fair. The first round would be Rika’s, then after an hour Aphrodi would take over, then Rika again after another hour, then Aphrodi again and so on, until the event would arrive to its end. It was such a simple plan; even an ape would have understood it. But of course plans are meant to be ruined even though everything started off smoothly at first. Rika started her first hour, smiling charmingly at people passing by and shouting after them something on the lines of “This is a chance not to miss/’cause you get to kiss/this beautiful miss!” which immediately caused Aphrodi to mentally cringe at the awkward poem. She was jumping up and down in excitement while making weird gestures with her hands. No wonder she was a cheerleader, Aphrodi thought. With that voice of hers, she could rouse the dead from their eternal slumber and make them win a game even against the national team. So the first hour passed in loud shouting while Rika distributed kisses to every poor soul who dared to approach the stall within two meters. They had a moderate amount of success; their shoe box of coins was still only full about to a quarter. Aphrodi snickered as he remembered that this definitely wasn’t what the principal was expecting. Even though Rika managed to get his approval, it was on the condition of donating the raised money to the school’s rather empty foundation.  The gym needed new equipment, the library needed faster computers, and the canteen was waiting for a big renewal as well. But with this amount of money, the school would be able to buy a few second-hand textbooks the most. However, it was none of Aphrodi’s concern; he just hoped that the principal wouldn’t make a big scandal about it. So when the time arrived, he took over the booth with little worry. In retrospect, he should have been worried.
He wasn’t even manning the booth for what felt like fifteen minutes when Aphrodi had to realize that people were clearly more interested in him than they were in Rika. At another time, he sure would have appreciated the attention, but in this particular case, he just wanted to get over with it. He checked his watch for the fiftieth time, took a sharp breath and let his eyes wander over the small crowd gathering in front of the DIY cardboard structure decorated with plenty of glitter and paper hearts (courtesy of Rika). Oh boy, this was going to be a long hour!
And in fact, it was one hell of an hour. Aphrodi kissed more people than he could care to count and now all he wished for was a break. Luckily, he didn’t have to wait any longer for it. He turned his head to the side and looked down at Rika. The blue haired girl was crouched next to Aphrodi, her back leaning against the wall with phone in one hand. She seemed greatly immersed in her phone and was typing so furiously, Aphrodi thought the screen would crack any minute. Rika suddenly realized Aphrodi was staring at her, and she looked up at him.
“Hey, guess what! My Darling had a match yesterday, and a video of it got uploaded, so of course, I had to check it to see my man play again but then I scrolled down and you wouldn’t believe what I saw!” she ignored the sarcastic-faked horrified gasp coming from Aphrodi and put one hand to her heart in a dramatic pose. “Someone was writing trash about PA!” PA was short for Pegasus Academy, the top-notch prissy American private school Rika’s boyfriend went to. They were exclusive and super strict when it came to rules. The school of course, not Rika and her boyfriend. To be honest, Aphrodi knew very little of Rika’s One True Love, he had only met him twice while he was staying at Rika’s for a short time. The guy seemed nice enough if not a bit anxious at times. Or maybe it was just due to Rika, to whose random outbursts the poor boy usually ducked his head in an automatic defence measure.
“Rika!” Aphrodi pinched the bridge of his nose. “People talk trash all the time on the internet. They are called trolls for a reason. Don’t waste your time with them. Come and man the booth instead, it’s your turn.”
“I can’t right now. A bitch is waiting to be roasted,” the cheerleader said and her attention was immediately focused back onto the screen. “Plus, with you, the business is booming!” Aphrodi sighed in exasperation but decided against arguing with her. Starting a fight with Rika was almost pointless since she wouldn’t even care to listen. Whenever her Darling was involved in something, her hearing and vision became quite selective.  So he chose the next best option instead.
“Ten minutes max,” he said in a threatening voice and turned back to the slowly dissipating crowd in front of the booth. He could manage ten more minutes, Aphrodi assured himself. The only problem was that Rika’s dictionary didn’t actually contain the expression “ten minutes”. Because suddenly, ten minutes turned into fifteen, then into twenty and then into twenty-five minutes, and Rika still hadn’t looked up from her phone. After an hour had passed, Aphrodi was seriously on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
“What the hell takes you so damn long?” the blond boy hissed through gritted teeth. And at last, Rika finally lifted her gaze off the screen.
“Hey, look!” she said cheerfully, as if nothing had happened. “Touko has been transferred back here, she sent a pic from the base!” and indeed, in the picture was a girl with a grin as wide as the Grand Canyon with messy shoulder-length red hair, dressed in a khaki uniform and hat. Zaizen Touko was a former upperclassman of Rika’s and her best friend before Aphrodi transferred here. When she graduated, she joined the army and now worked as a general at a small military unit, but in the picture, she was smiling as if she had never gone through the worst of hell at the army. She was way too young to serve in the military in Aphrodi’s opinion, but the girl was a tough one, he could tell, even if just from Rika’s anecdotes. “We can finally meet again!” Rika turned back excitedly to her phone and Aphrodi could literally feel the veins starting to pulse in his head. So, he changed tactics.
“Girl, I’m really happy for you. Really, I am. But we agreed on switching, and I swear to the Gods, if you don’t stand up and take my place in the next three seconds, I’ll go and dump this shoebox of cash into the dumpsters, and I don’t care if we get expelled for it.” This new plan turned out to be more effective, since Rika quickly rose to her feet, her face wrinkled up in a pout as she begrudgingly changed places with Aphrodi while murmuring something along the lines of “no need the unleash that divine wrath of yours”, but Aphrodi just rolled his eyes.  The divine or god jokes were really nothing new to him. People always made teasing remarks about him or his appearance or his love for Ancient Greek culture and mythology, so he was used to people making jokes about him being a god and all that. Actually, that was the reason why he got the nickname “Aphrodi”. Almost everyone in school called him that because he was clearly and openly a mythology nerd and, well, his appearance did seem to resemble in some way that of the Goddess of Love with his long, blond hair and delicate frame.
So, Aphrodi could finally sit back and relax. He leaned against the wall with a contended sigh and closed his eyes, letting the relaxing feel of his muscles unclenching surge through his body. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes and looked around. It was clear that the school fair was slowly but surely coming to an end. Even though there was still almost an hour left of the event, a lot of stalls had closed shop already due to selling out or simply because of the exhausted students.  Aphrodi himself wished to pack up and just leave, but that would be admitting defeat. Rika finally took her turn, and she would work for all that money that Aphrodi had raised. Because by the looks of it, Rika wasn’t getting many customers. It was not her fault though, the corridor was almost empty, and most of the students have already sneaked out of the building. It was an extra-curricular event, so no one really bothered to check whether everyone was staying until the last hour.  Occasionally, one or two students walked by, but none of them spared even a glance at the stall.
As he heard the sound of footsteps growing louder and louder in the acoustic corridor, Aphrodi cracked one eye open, and it immediately went wide. He quickly opened his other eye, because he had to double check to make it sure, but indeed, his eyes weren’t deceiving him. The one crossing the corridor was none other than Mutou Satoshi. The boy had long, purple hair, reaching way down past his shoulder blades and the warmest hazel eyes Aphrodi has ever seen. He had a white towel around his neck and was taking quick breaths as he dabbed his damp hair with the end of the towel. He must have come from practice, the sane part of Aphrodi observed. Mutou played as a striker in the school’s football team, and no, the fact didn’t make him any less attractive. Aphrodi has been crushing on him for almost a year now. He met the boy through Rika, at one of the parties that were thrown after a big victory (or an unfair lose) at some player’s house. Rika dragged Aphrodi along because her Darling wasn’t free that night, and Rika needed supervision when it came to partying. That was when Rika introduced him to the whole football team (and, well, to the cheerleader team as well, but that didn’t really grasp Aphrodi’s interest), and that was when Aphrodi first saw Mutou. After a brief handshake, neither of them really spoke to each other (due to the fact that Aphrodi was so stunned by the boy’s handsomeness that he suddenly forgot all the communication skills he used to have, and, because, as he came to know later on, Mutou wasn’t really the one for small talk. Or for talk, in general. As from what information Aphrodi gathered within several months, Mutou was a calm and collected boy with a solid moral compass but with few social abilities, and his comportment had a certain distinctness to it. His moves were delicate but calculated. His speech was always polite but at the same time somewhat reserved. So, Mutou was everything the hot headed blond wasn’t; but that didn’t stop Aphrodi from falling head over heels for the poor boy who must have had no idea about the whole situation.  Despite their first awkward meeting, Aphrodi and Mutou remained good acquaintances. They would wave at each other while passing in the hallway and, sometimes, they would eventually make small talk after practice, while both of them were waiting for their friends to change and finally be able to be off. So it was no surprise that the purple-haired striker waved and headed towards them when he spotted the duo behind the stall. Nevertheless, Aphrodi’s heart skipped a beat while he tried to get his knees to cooperate in standing up and moving his body next to Rika.
As soon as the cheerleader spotted Mutou, her face lit up. While Aphrodi was still contemplating on which form of greeting to choose (“good day” sounded so formal, while a casual “hello” made Aphrodi think that he would seem careless), Rika had no such qualms about it.
“Hey, Mutou-kun!” she shouted enthusiastically, letting everyone know even on the third floor that, indeed, Urabe Rika has spotted a friend. She waved towards him in an over exaggerated manner while a small smile spread across the boy’s lips.
“Hello, Rika-san!” he said and turned his head towards Aphrodi and nodded slightly, his gaze never meeting the blonde’s. “Aphrodi-san.”
Suddenly, Aphrodi was too aware of how the temperature in the corridor seemed to rise. This was absolutely abnormal. It was May, for the Gods, who would ever think of turning the heating on in here?! No wonder the school needed money, if they heat away all of their funds!
“How are you doing, Mutou-kun?” the blue haired girl asked. “How was practice?”
“It was fine,” the boy said, and even though he wasn’t actually smiling anymore, Aphrodi could hear the delight in his voice. “We still got a lot to work on, but I’m actually quite optimistic this time,” the boy said, and that was when Aphrodi knew that that football team must be really something. Mutou was the most realistic guy he had ever met; he had a real down-to-earth mentality and he didn’t throw around praises in the air just for nothing. Aphrodi couldn’t help but let a goofy smile loom its way to his expression. He really liked when Mutou was optimistic.  “And you, guys?” came the question, and Aphrodi was shaken out of his daydreaming in an instant. Somehow he actually realised that they were indeed doing a kissing booth, and oh boy, if this wasn’t his luckiest day in years!
“Actually,” the blond boy cleared his throat. “I was about to take over the booth, since Rika-chan’s shift was just about to end.” He tried to smile as innocently as he could while he also prayed that Rika would get the hint being a self-proclaimed love expert and all.
“You what now?” Rika asked incredulously. “C’mon man, you’ve been whining for a whole hour wanting me switch you out, and now that I’ve taken over, you actually want to switch back?” she asked in pure confusion. Looks like Aphrodi overestimated Rika’s expertise in the domain of love and subtle hints. Oh well, there’s nothing that a good shove in the ribs wouldn’t solve.  
While Rika was trying to grasp her side and catch her breath not too obviously, Aphrodi put on his most charming smile and turned to the boy at the other end of the booth who watched the events with a mildly confused expression and a raised brow. A couple of seconds passed while Rika regained her composure. She stared at the duo warily, her gaze darting from one to another with incredible speed. And finally, after what felt like an eternity to Aphrodi, the penny dropped. Her face lit up as the realisation hit her, and she sent a rather smug smirk towards Aphrodi spiced with a weird suggestive lift of her blue eyebrows (an expression which was sure to haunt Aphrodi in his future nightmares).
“Of course!” she slapped a hand across her forehead. “I was just about to head for the…” her voice seemed the waver for a minute. “Toilets,” she finished with absolute conviction. Well, Rika wasn’t the best at improvisation, but Aphrodi had to give her kudos for the dramatic vehemence. “I’ll trust you can take care of things while I’m away?” she said as she was clearly fighting to be able to keep the amusement and mockery out of her voice. “Good luck, make sure he pays just as much as any customer would!” she shouted over her shoulder, then all Aphrodi could make out was a blue blur, and suddenly the ever-enthusiastic cheerleader was gone.
As soon as Rika disappeared out of sight, a slightly awkward silence settled between the two boys. Aphrodi still couldn’t believe his luck that he actually managed to get into this situation with Mutou of all people! Just like in some idiotic American high school romcom, he smiled to himself. He must have done something really noble for the Gods to provide him such a lucky situation, he amused as he stared at the purple-haired striker with a rather starstruck expression. On the other hand, Mutou’s expression wasn’t as trusting. He eyed the blond boy warily as one would scrutinize a wildcat in its cage: fascinated but ready to bolt at any minute in case something bad happened. So, Aphrodi decided to step up his game. After all, he wasn’t nicknamed after the goddess of love for nothing!
He flashed his brightest smile and looked the boy right into the eyes, determined to say something flirty.
“So, you come here often?” Aphrodi wanted to mentally slap his own face for the slip-up. Way to go, Casanova, just barge down that damn door, wouldn’t you?!
Mutou looked around the area with furrowed brows and asked: “You mean… the corridor?” Well, there’s no turning back now, so Aphrodi just slightly nodded. Mutou’s expression didn’t soften, but he shrugged. “I guess,” he replied. “Though I have classes more frequently on the third floor.”
Aphrodi quickly swallowed back the laughter threatening to burst through his mouth. The boy took his question literally!
“I see,” Aphrodi replied to gain some time to think. “So, care to help us out in raising funds for the school?” he asked next. This time Aphrodi mentally patted himself on the back. That was so subtle that even he wasn’t sure where he wanted this conversation to go.
“Sure. The gym could use a few new soccer balls. What you guys doing?” the striker asked, his distrust slowly dissolving. Aphrodi pointed upwards, to the huge sign with “kissing booth” written all over in pink and filled with so many drawn red hearts that Aphrodi was pretty sure that it was unhealthy. Mutou followed the motion with his gaze, finally settling onto the ominous carton board. What happened next was absolutely unexpected: the ever-collected boy, who was always polite and whose expression rarely betrayed his thoughts, turned to a curious shade of beet.
“Ah I see…” he murmured to himself as he was clearly trying to recompose himself. Aphrodi knew that a lot of people were against their idea and some of them (like Nagumo) even cared to voice their displeasure. Maybe Mutou was one of those people who found a kissing booth on a school fair scandalous. Aphrodi decided it was time to backtrack before Mutou gave a piece of his mind too on the matter, just like Nagumo did.
“Of course, if you’re against the idea, I absolutely understand, the thought is what counts,” the blond boy said quickly.
“No-no, of course not,” Mutou quickly reassured him. “It’s a really… hmm…” he coughed. “Creative way of raising funds. And everything for a better equipped school, right?” he asked and fished out a few coins of the pocket of his shorts. He laughed, but the sound was strained as if he was trying to convince himself to put the money into the box. Finally, he dropped the coins into the makeshift bank. He then stared at Aphrodi expectantly with the colour not fading a bit on his face. Aphrodi was glad that even though he had a pale complexion, he wasn’t the one to easily blush. And on the few occasions when he felt insecure or embarrassed or overjoyed, only his earns turned red. Thus the long hair, and he thanked the Gods that this time his ears were safely tucked behind his blond locks because he could feel that they were almost flaming.
Aphrodi looked back at Mutou as he listened to the pounding of his heart in his ears. Should he make the first move? Should he be the one to lean in? Or should he just wait until Mutou feels comfortable enough to come closer? As he looked at the boy, he could clearly see the hesitation on his face. Does he not like him? Funny enough, this thought had never crossed Aphrodi’s mind before. Everyone is always so swept away by his appearance and manners and his whole charm that the thought has never actually occurred to him. But what if Mutou only liked him as a friend?
However, before Aphrodi could fall into an endless cycle of overthinking, the purple-haired boy suddenly moved towards him and put his lips to Aphrodi’s. Immediately, all coherent thoughts stopped coursing through Aphrodi’s brain while he felt the strength escaping his legs.  He quickly braced himself on the top of the counter as he tried not to get lost in the kiss too much. It was really the sweetest and most innocent kiss Aphrodi had today, hell, even his whole life, and he didn’t want this moment to ever end. But this time, the Gods decided that this was enough luck for today and the next thing Aphrodi knew was that Mutou had drawn back and was face to face again with him. His whole face was burning and Aphrodi could also feel that the heat had finally spread across his own cheeks as well. They stared at each other for a few seconds; both not quite comprehending what they had just done. Finally, after an eternity, Mutou coughed in embarrassment and turned away.
“Well, good luck to the rest of the fair,” he croaked and repositioned a strand of hair behind his ear. He was clearly going, and Aphrodi started to panic. No, this can’t end like this! After a whole year of pining that’s it? Maybe Mutuo didn’t get the message that he likes him? Nah, that can’t be it, Aphrodi literally kissed him on the lips! Well, as part of a kissing booth project where they were raising funds by kissing people, and Aphrodi had kissed a lot of people, and oh for the love of the Gods, Mutou had no idea! Aphrodi had to think of something quickly before Mutou’s retreating back disappeared completely out of sight. So, he decided to act upon instinct.
“Wait!” he didn’t really even think through what he was going to say, but Mutou immediately turned around and raised a questioning eyebrow at his direction. “Are you free on Sunday?” There goes nothing!
“Uhm… I guess?” the purple-haired boy scratched his neck; feeling embarrassed at the sudden attention Aphrodi gave him as his cheeks turned yet again a faint shade of red. “I’ll have practice in the morning but after that I’m mostly free. Why?” he asked suspiciously as if he was waiting for Aphrodi to take back what he said at any moment.
“You see…”Aphrodi started. “Rika’s boyfriend is having a match, a super elite one, that is. And of course, Rika, being her girlfriend, got a couple of extra tickets. Of course she would get, why wouldn’t she, right?” oh for the Gods’ sake, now he was rambling! He should have been named after the goddess of nonsense, not the goddess of love! “And you see, I actually got a plus one, and since you are a striker and everything I thought you’d be interested, and maybe we could go there together so I could show you the place, it’s an amazingly huge stadium really, one of the best, and you see…” Aphrodi was tripping on his words and he saw Mutuo’s lips curving into small smile at his struggling.
“Thank you for thinking of me,” the boy replied, his voice more measured than ever and for a moment Aphrodi’s heart skipped a beat as he became sure that Mutou was going to decline his sort-of-clumsy-date-proposal. “I would love to watch Ichinose-san’s match with you,” he said.
“Oh, great,” Aphrodi let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “So how about we meet half an hour before the match at the park next to the school? Around six? “
“Sounds great,” Mutou smiled amicably, blush fading on his face. And the next moment, the purple-haired boy was gone just like an illusion, but Aphrodi knew that it was anything but an illusion. He placed his head in the palm of his hands as he grinned at the empty corridor like some idiot. Oh boy, Rika was going to freak out so much!
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