#she got the judge on her side the year before she died tho and after that they didn't miss a goddamn payment

[imagineagreatadventure]

when i think of corporate greed i remember how the worker comp attorney for the insurance company told my mom's workers comp lawyer (bc they have known each other for years) that they were essentially waiting for her to die and that's why they didnt' pay her for months the amount she was owed

[blueflipflops]

Blessed is The Fruit of Thy Womb

tw: pregnancy, violence, dissociating

Inspired by @cyrwrites 's prompt which is just too good to not write about Talia being pregnant from the exposure from the Lazarus Pits. Saw the tag about "Damian having a complex due to danny's whole "Child of Lazarus" thing he's got going on" and ran with it. Also the religious allegations thing was inspired and I am so here for it. Ended up longer than i planned tho. Would probably add more to this. Enjoy.

Next

...

Damian Al Ghul was born a prince. An heir. The blood son of Batman and Talia Al-Ghul. The grandson of the Demon Head.

He is to have the world presented to him in a silver platter even before he reaches his majority.

And yet... that's not quite right, now, isn't it?

Because for all the gift of genes he has in his body, for all the training he has ever endure ever since he learned how to walk... that is all he'll ever be.

A genetic experiment on how to get all the appealing genetic material from both parents and make it into a child.

His mother did not even bear him!

Pregnancy is too much of a hassle, too restrictive, too dangerous for her line of work. She need not be bothered to undergo the burdens of pregnancy when she can create a perfect child in a test tube.

Yet for all her complaints and stilted explainations, why...

Why does it seem like she cared more for the Child that grew itself in her womb?The one that came out of nowhere. The one she birthed herself. The one that Damian seemed to keep losing everything to.

Ever since his mother's womb grew with child with a distinct energy only felt in the Lazarus Pits, she has became estatic and raving. She had claimed that the Lazarus Pits has Chosen her to bear the fruit of its power. The one true heir. The Incarnate of Immortality and Power.

She claims all the honor and the pains that came with it. She became obssessed with the Child even before it was born. Even more when it was born male and familliar feeling of power emanating the infant. The Child opened its eyes with glowing Lazarus green eyes and the scent of death clinging to its blood covered flesh. It did not cry when it was born but just opened its eyes seemingly judging the worth midwife's life in the mortal realm. It must have deemed it unworthy as it is said that the stare looked straight to her soul and drove her mad. Damian never really knew who did the final blow. Was it his mother, the midwife herself or if it was his... brother just as rumored. Damian did not care to know any of that only that the midwife and several other helpers did died that day screaming and bloodied. Their corpses dumped over to the Pits as an offering.

The first time Damian had looked upon those cursed eyes where the first he had ever felt real fear in his life. In the very young age of 10 was he formally introduced to the Child. It looked like a human but distinctly not at the same time. Like an entity thats trying too hard to appear human but forgets what humans look like half the time.

The Child unsettles Damian.

It began its training about the same age as Damian did and unsurprisingly took on the skills easily as breathing. With abilities that seems to only get stronger with time and added training. It is not as perfect as his Mother praise it to be as it is said to go off in bouts of mad rage that seemed to only calm after blood has been spilt. This stopped being a problem after they found out that constant baths in the Pits have a similar enough effect without thinning their forces from the whims of the Child.

Slowly, no matter how hard Damian trains, no matter how successful he is in each obstacles or tests thrown his way, he will never get that Honor he was raised to believe was rightfully his. He was put to the side. Once a future leader now in a role of a follower.

Damian Al-Ghul is a prince. A warrior. An assassin. A spare. A bargaining chip against his father.

For all that the Child is younger than him by a mere year, Damian, with his obvious superior combination of genes, is less than the Child of Lazarus himself.

No matter.

There is one thing the Child cannot claim over him.

He is the blood son of Batman. Not him. Never him. Batman has no claim to the Child either as his mother ravingly repeated over and over again. (As if to remind him of his place.)

He is the only blood son of Batman after all. Not him. Damian need not share what is rightfully his.

No. Of course not.

That is why when his mother told him that he is to pack up his belongings to live and train with his father, Damian did not hesitate nor did he looked back.

His father will be different, he knows this. He will value him more than some demon child from the pits, he is sure. Even if he has to prove himself for it.

...

Danny is dissociating most of the time and feels like this is a very detailed hallucination post vivisection and cannot (dont want to) accept to awknowledge what is happening. He doesn't know what to do with himself if this was real. He has killed people here and sometimes in blind rage too. His core is very fragmented which means his memories are all over the place. Add that to his willful ignorance of the development of his apparent reincanation, he is very Messed Up.

To him, he is Danyal Al Ghul. Heir to the Demon Head, son of Talia Al Ghul, and Child of the Lazarus. But he is more than that, isn't he? He sees flashes of life before this. Of flight and action. Of family and friends. But that can't be right, can it? He feels like something else. Like someone else. But how can that be?

He emanated death energy all over because he can't control his emotions and powers as much as his teenager self. The ectoplasm in the air in the LOA's lair comes from the Lazarus Pits which is so corrupted from the amount of death, corpses, and heavily concentrated emotions, that it messes with Danny's head. He tried to get as much distance from the Pits as possible but Danny can't survive without ambient ectoplasm especially with his core being fragmented like this. When the stress got too much (which was often) he ends up in blind rage that only stops when someone dies and he hungrily absorbs up the ectoplasm from the freshly new corpse. And it goes over and over again until Danny decides that enough is enough. He doesnt want to not have complete control of his body nor does he want to kill more than what his new family is already making him to. He just has to suck it up and get his ectoplasm from the nearest available source: the Lazarus Pits.

After that, he stopped randomly killing people whenever he gets pissed. Being so hungry all the time, the ectoplasm from the pits started to become delicious to Danny but still. He tries to limit his consumption to the very minimum because it messes his head a bit wheter he notices it or not. So like 2-3 times a month. He stopped being deathly hungry.

His apparent "skill/genius" is just a abnormal one up from a normal child who had not lived half a lifetime growing up with a black belt ghost hunter mom who trains them to fight as mother-son bonding time. He didn't really go about it easily either. (Damian is just an unreliable narrator) He just instictively knows the basics and the theory but had to relearn how to do it in his new body that the League just polishes and sharpens to the max blinded by the idea of Danny being the Child of Lazarus. (Them being a cult and all) His hair becoming flame-like wisps and glowing eyes when angered did not help this theory. Nor did his inhuman strength and ghostly powers or his sharp teeth either. He seems to be able to use his powers even in his human form but ra's pissed him off so much one time he reverted to his ghost form...which became so twisted as the years has passed from all the trauma he has experienced and turned into a giant eldritch monster with way too many eyes and teeth, a cloud-like expanse of space and stars, and an Aurora Borealis encircled above his head like a crown. Ra's learned some lines drawn in the sand that day. He is overcome with both fear and poorly contained greed. His eyes dilated from the show of sheer power from this Child. Oh, how he hungers for it.

Danny, despite his nonexistent efforts, became a momma's boy. How can he not when his new mother showers him with love and affection near obssessively? His core subconsciously purrs in satisfaction from the attention despite the overall creepiness of the situation. His core imprinted on the woman already. Who cares if she's a bit crazy? His mother has always been a bit crazy. His memories of past!Maddie (pre-discovery/vivesection thingy) get muddled over and mixes up with memories of Talia which makes him latch onto her more. (Which Talia definitely encourages.) Because his mom is finally paying attention to him again :) she says she loves him :) and she doesn't want to rip him apart molecule by molecule :)))

(He knows. He asked! Although the words may have got tied up on his tongue and the question may have sounded more like a threat than what was intending to ask. But its all good! Surely his mother understood what he was trying to say because she immedietely hugged him and told him that she loved him very much and asked very nicely not to kill her. He is sure that they became closer after that. Talia is just thankful that her Child continues to recognize her as his Mother/Bearer and spared her from his usual rages. She is, of course, worth more than these other lowly mortals. Danyal is hers and hers only after all.)

...

Damian, on baby's first crisis: I am the blood son of Batman. The ONLY son of Batman. Surely I don't have to share him with others :)

Me, nervously looking over my shoulder to see a line of robins and robin-adjacent children that had at one point dressed up as a caped traffic light or another: ...uhhh...

Me, looking at the other side seeing Terry Mcginnis and Helena Bertinelli/Wayne playing rock paper sissors : yeah... about that...

Damian is very biased here. Because how the fuck is he going to compete with a fucking demon pit incarnate??? He's got a lot of thoughts about being replaced here which ha! New flavor of trauma for my baby bird. :)

Love giving Damian a complex :) Wanna put him in a jar of pickles and shake it :)

Also would love to see Damian will arrive ready to prove his worth only to find out that Batman is dead/missing/stranded in the timestream and how it will affect his new flavors of complexes and issues. Lol Oh to be a fly on the wall of the batcave when that happens. Wait dont they have bats there? Flies would get eaten—

Lol someone calls Damian a demon child once and he gets geniunely offended. He hisses back that he is not a Lazarus Pit Baby and thats how the batfam finds out about danny. They all panic at first thinking that not only did Bruce have another secret child but said child is apparently still with LOA. And boy would that do wonders to Damian's buried insecurities. Damian is going going to experience some Emotions and he's going to make it everyone's problem.

Like mother like son.

Talia and possibly Ra's POV next

Anyways, here are them tags:

@emergentpanda-blog @skulld3mort-1fan @rosecinnamonbun @ver-444 @learning-to-fly-on-my-own @dannyphantomphan @yasminerd00 @blep-23

[pancake-kat]

Ninjago(Dragons rising included) headcanons

•Lloyd has an intense fear of snakes, like he and Arin were gardening around the monastery once and Lloyd started screaming and freaking out over a random orange garden snake

•Sora and Nya love to spar

•Zane is normally ice cold to the touch, not just because of his elemental power but also because he needs to keep his system cool

•PIXAL watches anime, her favorite one is sailor moon.

•nya, pixal, And skylor have girls nights. After crystallized when harumi got redeemed she joined in.

•Jay seems like the guy to have multiple hatsune miku figurines in his room in the monastery. When Lloyd was still physically a kid, he would play with them like action figures(he still does it after the merge since there’s no Jay to stop him)

•Cole is an excellent baker, but if you try to get him cooking… he’s trying tho!

•Jay exclusively listens to frank Sinatra and vocaloid.

•Lloyds been bleaching his hair since he was 9(close to when we first meet him in the show) and now can’t stop since it’s part of his look. The monastery bathroom is very messy because of it.

•Arin and Zane cook together and have cook-offs, and Sora watches and judges which one prepared a meal the best.

•Kai rocks in his seat or standing when he was nothing to do or is waiting for something.

•Cole is afraid of thunderstorms, but not of Jay’s lightning.

•Nya is unsurprisingly buff

•(projecting, but-) Cole is part Arab from Lilly’s side, and Lilly is Egyptian, he knows the language to an extent.

•on that note, Kai and Nya are spanish and can speak it very fluently, which they use to talk to eachother in secret.

•Jay sometimes shocks people by accident due to his element

•when Zane is angry, he’s angry. He will lash out and ice spikes will shoot out of the ground. Everything’s gonna get way more cold. He’s accidentally almost hurt more people than he’d like to admit.

•Kai is just…invincible to fire. He can and will just sit in fire.

•Kai also has an average temperature of like 112° Farenheit or 44° Celsius.

•I like the idea of one of the DR ninja checking on Kai when he has like a fever or something and are absolutely appalled when they see that this man has a fever temp of 128° F.

•Cole is very durable. he has been recorded breaking 3 pieces of wood by having them smacked on his head. No one is sure if its just the rocks in his elemental power letting him do this or just Cole being Cole.

•MiniPix7 loves circling around and playing with Riyu. She doesn’t have to Pixal to hang with or make big projects with after the merge, so she spends her time either keeping Lloyd company, tinkering with other minipixes, or playing with Riyu.

•Garmadon is somewhere in the world right now with Vinny going on adventures and having bonding experiences.

•Jay tried to learn Spanish so he could suprise Nya at their wedding reception by speaking it fluently. He now hears a lot of weird conversations between the two siblings.

•sometimes Kai fantasies about what it would’ve been like if his parents never got taken. Maybe he would’ve excelled in his Element with Ray’s help. Maybe he could’ve had mother-son bonding time with Maya. Maybe he wouldn’t have had to juggle 2 jobs and a 10 year old at the age of 12. It’s useless, he knows. You can’t take back what has already happened. but it helps him.

•when oni garmadon was taken back into the living world, his good dragon part stayed in the departed realm, so now there’s a random dragon running around the departed realm with half of god’s power and desperately trying to go back to the living world for his kid and to reconnect himself.

•Wu knew about this dragon counterpart before he died in the merge.

•Lloyd will never admit it, but he loves fnaf. Like an unhealthy amount.

[spongebobafettywap]

i'm happy to see more people criticizing the new version of nightcrawler's origins

i try to see both sides of the topic but the other one to this always and mostly brings up how great it is because "mystique and destiny dunk on azazel as the great couple they are"... not sure if you've seen it too ? for my part, i find that reason to be completely blindsided and untrue after this story cuz (in a shocking and annoying turn of event) it's quite the opposite. like hear me out

this story wants us to believe azazel is stronger than what ? apocalypse ? exodus ? phoenix ? doctor strange ? the scarlet witch ? franklin richards ? any reality bending mutant ? doctor effing doom ? that none of them could have put a stop to his plans if he were to take over ? because apparently only nightcrawler can do that (you know if he survived long enough until then). so the writer accidentally upped azazel's game a lot

also, even with her new gene-manipulation powers, mystique managed to remove none of the awful properties most of azazel's children had (soul tie to him, easy to mind control, ...) from kurt (he had all of them) even tho she only "imprinted azazel's dna" and kurt was supposed to be made to "trick azazel and counteract his plans". so azazel's imprint is apparently impossible to remove with her very advanced powers which... means something

moreover, ... mystique and destiny are using part of that guy's very genes for their dream child together after pulling the most complicated move ever on him, during all of which (being unaware of this) he still got to have the most fun in his life and a very good time, while they ended up with the murder charges, the secrecy, the stress, the overly complicated scheming, the complications, ... how is this dunking on azazel when he's the only one who got a w in this part of the new origins. he's literally the only one who didn't die or face immense betrayal and heartbreak in that 9 months period

another thing, mystique and destiny wanted to put an end to azazel's plans because "they wouldn't have been together anymore in that world due to his actions" but destiny dies years before any of azazel's plans come to fruition... always. and it's either because she got too old or the shadow king did his thing... also azazel's plans required a very specific thing to work which seems to have been the aspect this writer misunderstood most when making his oneshot (and believe me as a mid-wife, there was a hell lot of stuff this guy doesn't understand just by looking at the panels he approved) and that would be...

the vision destiny has of azazel taking over if nightcrawler didn't exist (the reason why they had to have kurt at all). cuz that's straight up false. the only reason azazel managed to break out of the brimstone dimension and be on his way to do his thing (and get to heaven that one time) is because nightcrawler exists : he needed a biological child of his with his teleportation powers to do any of these stuff. he needed someone who was specifically tied to the brimstone dimension he was sealed in like he was to be able to break out. he tried many many times but none of his biological kids ended up with them. nightcrawler was the only exception. to ever exist. all because of the person he had him with. if nightcrawler didn't exist, azazel would have remained trapped and he wouldn't be able to take over at all. so mystique and destiny having nightcrawler literally got things moving for his plan and would have made that future more plausible than ever. same with the taking over heaven bit and any other thing he'd do on earth when he stuck there for good after kurt anchored him to it

then there's mystique and destiny wanting nightcrawler to be the very being that would put a stop to azazel "time and time again". judging by how big of a threat they made the guy out to be and how recurring he was in his attacks in the future destiny saw in her vision, you'd think azazel and nightcrawler face off on a daily... when azazel fought against nightcrawler a total of two times. one back when nightcrawler was alive and one after he died... that's it. okay okay let's be nice, they faced against each other three times. i keep forgetting about that very important street brawl mystique unleashed (you have no idea how long it took for me to write this part cuz i couldn't top laughing). but fr, nightcrawler faced against mystique and destiny more times and busted more of their important plans than he ever did for azazel.

and finally, this comic showed us the most abusive thing destiny ever pulled on mystique ever (like hands down it tops all the things azazel ever did to her by a long shot because it took all that and made it 100 times worse) and all of it, with all the stuff I highlighted, was for nothing. it meant nothing. it served nothing to them and made everything worse with all things considered. their couple went from okay to the most abusive thing ever to the point where i personally feel uncomfortable rooting for them when together and want them as far away from each other as possible. all the previous stuff we've seen them do together are weighted down by this piece of information and downright cringe. the writer and fans use the love argument on why mystique acts like nothing is wrong at all but that doesn't cut it at all. mystique reads like less of the absolute loud beast she is and more like a victim in serious denial

that anon is right in saying this new origin story reads like a comedy. the more you know of what previously went down and how the lore went, the funnier it gets

Wait... people see this as Mystique and Destiny dunking on Azazel? What by mixing their genes with his and having his child that he has a soul link to and is able to manipulate? What exactly did Nighrcrawler do to Azazel that doesn't amount to just delaying him in the long run.

Wow people really will just read what they want to read huh? Honestly the other thing about this just makes me think about how inconsistently written Mystique and Destiny are, are they well intentioned extremists? Or Ruthless Supervillains? Because this origin story makes little sense as it is trying to use both characterisations. So they want Nightcrawler to be around to defeat Azazel okay thats the well intentioned extremist part but then they don't think about raising him to be the one to defeat him? But then that's excused by "They're Supervillains!" but at that point why do they care if Azazel does what he does, not like they really gave all that much of a shit any other time a world ending Mutant Supervillain did their thing. Unless you know as you said apparently Azazel is now the ultimate X-men Supervillain and he's so powerful and such a threat that even evil people like Mystique and Destiny want to stop him. Also quick question, wasn't it Abyss and Kiwi Black he also had a strong link to?

Also a male writer being unfamiliar with female biology is par for the course in Marvel comics LOL.

This retcon story is so confusing, and hilarious I can't believe people are really saying with a straight face that THIS is the origin that they prefer and how it should have been for Nightcrawler just seriously amazing levels of cope right there. I'm still laughing about how this story has now made Azazel even more powerful and by extension Nightcrawler too! Literally no one can stop them but each other apparently?

Well you know they will have all important Street Brawls as part of the next Marvel Crossover event I'm sure. Marvel: Secret Street Brawls.

[drawnaghht]

a reply to @freakova's tags on this post

#this would be a really nice ending honestly#cause YEAH why happened to his parents what gives they’re Usagi’s too#and the fact that auntie adopts the kids it shows how family can be found#+Yuichi know got lil sisters#He’s all about family (miyamoto and auntie) they could have explored it even further

same! would like to know more!!!

we never really touched on Usagi's backstory besides that his parents entrusted auntie with taking care of him, so I often wonder, if the show had been given a longer episode run, like maybe 30, 40, maybe even 26 instead of 20 - could we have seen more character backstories in general? Cuz there's also Kitsune, who's backstory we don't know at all, and then Gen and Toshiko, who we see explain their story a bit in bits and pieces through-out the 2 seasons. The fact that Usagi immediately goes back to his auntie, because he knows Hana would be safe from the ninja there, says a lot about how much he trusts his auntie. like the show makes it feel like he might actually be the most fleshed-out of all the characters, but his story is hidden almost as much as Kitsune's. I sorta get the reasoning there - their personalities already serve to tell their story a lot, Usagi is a big fan of his own ancestor and idolizes him, while Kitsune is a street-thief and grifter before we see Usagi bump into her puppet-cart and ruin her evening plans. The audience can get a lot of info out of just context-clues, but Kitsune and Usagi are also characters who are most easy to read at first, so we don't get their backstories really explored or opened the same way as Chizu or Gen, because, I can only guess, those stories don't seem to directly tie into the two larger arcs shown during the 10+10 episodes. But lol, would still like to know more, where are the activity books and character pages? a little side novel maybe? why did the age of flash games with extra info have to end before this show aired lol, if only Netflix spent money on that sort of stuff too, maybe we'd have more info besides just the shows on their own 😂😂😅

More theories and rambling below :D

My theory about Usagi's parents is that they died in one of the wars mentioned by some of the older characters in the show :) Cliche, I know! but it seems to sorta make sense. Could have been many other reasons too of course! Maybe they went to the city to find or do something related to the family business or history, but found their end somehow. One of my other theories is that there were gang wars in Neo Edo, around 10-14 years before the series starts. Maybe they found their end there? We don't even know how old his parents would have been, but judging by auntie's look and how she speaks and acts, maybe she's like, around 60-ish? she has raised her nephew for 15 years, meaning since she was around 45, so maybe her sister/brother would have been around 35-40 something when they died. I personally headcanon that it's his mom, who is the Miyamoto family member here, so maybe his dad really was a farmer by birth and thus, the family did not have a name anymore (they've always preferred staying in hiding after Miyamoto died) and that's why they gave him the name Yuichi Usagi with meaning... related to that earlier Senso-connected theory I had ^^;

The "big" wars, mentioned by Lady Fuwa and Armiral Nochi, being recent makes sense tho. bc even though a 1000 years have gone past and Edo (our real-world Tokyo) in this world has been able to embrace some more advanced tech (courtesy of the Ki-stone), perhaps even alien tech, depending on how you view what happened with Miyamoto Usagi in the show's past, some of the culture and tech has sort of stayed in the Edo period. This is mainly because the show creators and staff wanted to keep both Edo sensibilities as well as modern tech and create an interesting fusion on an artistic and story level. One of the older interviews from last year mentions that the crew was inspired by Stan's 2015 story Senso - that what if Edo got to take all that alien tech and use it for themselves? From one of Stan's answers in this 2022 Popverse interview:

"They took one of my stories – Senso, a miniseries I did where Martians invade feudal Japan – and wondered what if they took some of the technology they got from those Martians, how would it affect their society generations down the line?

That was the premise, with the story taking place in a city called Neo-Edo; with Edo being the old name for Tokyo, the capital of Japan. It also takes a lot from Japanese culture, such as vending machines, pachinko parlors, karaoke bars, and things like that. It integrated everything, the old and the new, and I’m quite happy about that."

So the wars would make sense to be more recent because to me, it seems that maybe with this tech, from a story-world level, they should be further along the line than having just flying cars and airships, right? But wars are one of those things that always and if Edo didn't have those outside influences that we had, maybe they wouldn't have some things, i.e. we don't see phones or trains on the show vs the phone boom we had in the 1980s in the real world and the hi-speed train rails japan is known for now. So they probably would have also missed out on the 60s Space Race between the US and the Soviet Union, which popularized the 1960s "space age aesthetic" for example, which is what we might think of when trying to remember 60s tech and fashion. So the show creates its own retrofuturism in trying to consider all these different elements.

(images from Flickr, Lehza Vintage)

(from The Rake, The Olympians)

I wonder if they even considered some cultural things that stuck and became popular before and after the US occupation, such as baseball Harley Davidsons and jazz - what would those be like in the world they created around the city of Neo Edo?

(from AnotherDesignBlog, Eiko Hanamura on League of Extraordinary Cosplayers, Sally the Witch on Wikipedia, 60s Vintage MENKO on eBay)

We see some semblances of what we could call western influences in how Gen installs new kitchenware in episode 5, how Kitsune looks like she could be a 1970s Harajuku girl, how Admiral Nochi and the Bat Squadron dress etc. It's an interesting balance throughout the show and thinking about it more just makes me more curious about it haha.

Maybe what happened with the Makkine a 1000 years ago is that a few sentries arrived with Kagehito's ship. Because of the surprise Kagehito expresses about the makkine warbotto self-replicating in the present (the s2 warbotto ep), we can surmise that they didn't back then, so they didn't replicate. Did they leave any ships? In the first season, Kagehito's ship is underground and covered by hundreds of years of rubble and rock. The Mogura Gang helping him then, actually find gold before they find his ship. So if any ships did come through with him those 1000 years ago, it seems that they did not "park" into the same place, or, likely that whatever happened, they were used up by locals.

The show is also quite fast-paced in reality, as we can see from how each episode jumps from POV to POV, or topic to topic and we get a lot of info in a short time, so to me it seems that the story crew REALLY crunched every bit of important info, story or jokes into the episodes, but just, didn't have more time to show or do anything about Usagi's parents.

lol what I'm doing to avoid more brainworms like this is to.... I guess continue writing my fanfic where I try to solve this (the main storyline from the comic i posted haha), but I also realized while writing this... I am waiting to see if I can get one of the new books coming out this or next year that bridges the stories/worlds between Yokai Hunter and Space Usagi, to see if there might be some new connections to be from there about Space Usagi in general, but maybe there could be something there nodding back to SR as well? maybe the new character is inspired by that or somehow bridges those things? lol a fan can hope ;D

[adamsart]

Fuck so I saved Shelby once again and took her in even tho I told mark I wouldn’t save her. Then I sent her back to stay with mark but we were in love at this point and I knew I was destined to be with her. I thought about her all the time. I always wanted her by my side and I made sure she was loved and taken care of. I got her car back from her mother only to lose it to the third impound in a month like 2 years later. These were the happiest years of my life. I don’t know if I’ll ever find that kind of love ever again. Shelby was with me thru thick and thin and stuck threw some pretty scary shit like gunpoint robberies, kidnappings, had her set up this guy we knew and she didn’t know until I mollywhopped his ass for stealing from me. Shelby was a beautiful person and her soul was so beautiful. After getting out of Sacramento county late one December I tried to call home and wish my family a merry Christmas and happy birthday to my brother. No one answered I figured it was because of me but what I didn’t know is my brother had just gone back to jail and my mother was left with no pain meds and a nasty infection in her bowls that she couldn’t fix cause she was allergic to antibiotics. My father tracked me down how I don’t know but he tracked me down and told me he couldn’t watch my mother die and the doctors gave her 24 hours she only actually lasted 3 hours and my father couldn’t watch his wife of over 25 years due infront of him and he felt like a coward. One of the most heartbreaking calls of my life. My mother died the 27th of December 2012. I decided I was going to go to a truck stop and someone would give me a ride in there truck and get me home. I was broke and my brothers wife had now stepped in and was in control of my fathers phone, bank account, vehicles everything and as soon as she showed up my father could no longer talk to me on the phone only thru Sarah over text message was the only way I was allowed to try to speak to my father. After 2 days of sitting at the truck stop with a pathetic sign that read MOTHER PASSED AWAY JUST NEED A RIDE TO SALT LAKE UTAH after 2 days I finally decided I was just going to have to steal a car and chance it my dad needed me and I needed to get there for my mothers funeral. So I preyed to god to help me and that night a girl I had just met her name was ANGEL came to where I was staying and she gave me a set of keys that she found in the laundry room of her building and I went to the apartments and found the car right away. I still have to make amends to those people. I was desperate and selfish. The car was empty when I stole it and the first person Shelby asked filled us up to full and we were on our way the next time we had to refuel it was the same thing first person filled us up and we were back on the road the last time I stoped for gas we were just outside of Utah and the first person filled up our tank again. And gave us a card with a bible quote on it. The last time I stopped it was right across the Utah border and A UHP officer pulled away from a stop to come after us and get us pulled over. After running our tags it took another 15 minutes before they shout down that side of the freeway and pulled me out of the car felony style. I went to jail and had to call and speak to my dad and tell him I wasn’t going to make it home for moms funeral. Maybe the hardest phone call of my life I can only think of one worst. Man I just wanted to give up and die. Missed my mothers funeral and on top of the new felony for a stolen car I was already wanted for 7 pounds of weed they busted me with just before my divorce as well as 4 prescription forgeries 4 insurance fraud and 1 commercial burglary. I was taken to toole county and somehow talked to he judge into releasing me to Davis county after 1 month. I went to Davis county jail and Shelby was released that day. I still had a 50,000$ bond to get out. Where there is a will there is a way cause I was only in Davis county jail 5 hours before I had found a bondsman to get me out on a signature and promise to pay in a week.

[ravysu]

Sannin headcanons and thoughts

The last thing I would like to post for the sannin week. It is still 24.04 here! :D @sannin-central

This is long. Spoiler alert. Mostly Orochimaru, some Tsunade, a little of Jiraiya (because his story is pretty clear and spoken and idk what I can add). Also I recommend to read this meta about Orochimaru, it has influenced me a lot and has some good points. Sorry for any posible grammar mistakes. Also I really should put here a lot of references to the manga or anime but it was something that was piling up for a year and I'm soooooooo lazy. After all, those are just headcanons. Also: Im not excusing Oro's bad stuff here, Im trying to understand the reasons.

Ive already posted some hcs, here, here and here.

1. First if all, the chronology pic of sannin lifetime based on the info i found on naruto wiki and also some statements about wars from this post. It was tough considering what a mess naruto’s chronology is.

2. Sannin story shows what it cost to be a legend. They're like Team 7 but more realistic. Tsunade literally carried the war but left with nothing and developed a ptsd and have problems to just live on. Also anger control issues. I think she can be pretty bossy and stubborn which is not always nice. Jiraiya is the hero of the day but also very idealistic and can ignore some important details in the real word whether its the fight (he always injured during flashbacks maybe because each time he took too much to handle and on the one hand it's heroistic but on the other is a mistake that can lead your team to situations like in that Iwa cave) or your friends issues (I bet he saw what's going on but thought it's fine until Oro actually got red handed and left). He lives in his world and may have problems to get out to see it through someone else's shoes. As for Orochimaru, it seems like he was a normal guy for 20+ years (I mean, he didn't do crazy criminal shit and had something good in him and it was stated somewhere that it was his teammates influence. It is obvious they considered him as a friend, I don't thinks it was for nothing) but we mostly know his darkest side. Despite being a moster he is a human that have empathy and some ordinary human traits (man just decorates every bit of an environment he is in lol).

3. Tsunade was the leader of team Hiruzen.

4. Tsunade sometimes hit Jiraiya for some stupid things he did or said but never touches Orochimaru even if he did something same. Jiraiya complained about it once and almost got another hit.

5. Jiraiya had problematic parents that didn't care about him much and a lot of time he was wandering in the streets.

6. Judging by the look of Oro bangs and hair, he sometimes cut it off. A stress relief huh? And the fact that he doesn't do it now in Boruto..

7. It was shown that Tsunade and Orochimaru was acknowledged before they become a team. Maybe they did just before, or maybe some longer time before. I prefer the second option and hc that they met because both had no real friends - Orochimaru seemed weird and scary for everyone and Tsunade was Senju so everyone wanted to hang out with her but didn't really care. They weren't seen as what they were - people put the labels on them. But they didn't care about each other's labels and actually saw each other in true lights.

8. Tsunade knew it was an accident and it's not right but still she blamed Orochimaru for Nawaki's death for some time. It was something that seriously damaged their friendship and the team. Orochimaru was mad but also guilty, after all, he was responsible at least as a shinobi since Nawaki was under his watch. So he started to act cold and emotionless and was trying to distance himself from his teammates.

9. Jiraiya was in Ame while Dan died.

10. The whole his orphans mission was a bit irresponsible tbh. They already fought Hanzo and as he stated the conflict between Konoha and Ame is going to an end with Konoha's win. It's weird to stay here for three years in the middle of the war while there were other lands to fight. He left his teammates for some idea. Maybe that caused another crack in their team friendship.

11. If Tsunade would have find a way to live on with her trauma and follow the will of fire and stuff it would affect Orochimaru as well just as her grief affected him. It's like he would get an example that you can live on with this pain. So death isn't above human capability and we are not just the slaves of mortality (sounds stupid but i dont know how else to describe sorry). But as we know what he actually saw is that it broke her crucially to the point she couldnt be herself again. And so the death is above everything.

12. Oro wasn’t just acting as a cold pragmatic bitch in that cave but also tried to save Tsunade. Jiraiya knew it and that’s why he showed this sign to him like "I see what youre doing here" and that stunned Oro because he would prefer to look rather like a cold pragmatic bitch hehe

13. Just a thought. People in the village probably treated Oro as a foreigner or just wouldnt accept him because he looked so differently and had a weird attitude. That's why he sometimes didn't feel that Konoha is his home. After the wars where people were treated as means and tools, even the children, he himself developed this view on people - he dehumanized them and used as the means to his goals, just as his village did. Funny thing some people were straightly dehumanizing him too like Ibiki thought that he was a demon (tho he was a child). And he probably weren't the only one. Anyways the point is that it's logical that Orochimaru don't care about anybody but some few people, he's the product of his era. He's like Naruto that would chose the hatred way. But naruto had some good and understanding people around him and.. Orochimaru had them too, but match how Iruka treated Naruto and this Hiruzen's "I sAw tHe mAliCe in This cHiLd fRoM tHe BegGinNinG". And oro didn't even have a big ass evil fox in him. sry i hate hiruzen

ANYWAYS the moral of the story is not "go criminal if they hurt you" but always treat people like people. Waving my hand to Kant.

14. The reason why Orochimaru didn't pick some good morals to stick with through the hard times no matter what (like, idk, Jiraiya or Naruto) is because 1) I think he is/was pretty depending on people around him 2) the war fucked him and his friends up too much (Nawaki incident + Tsunade) 3) twisted addictions (though I don't think he's that sadistic, we never saw him torturing randoms just for fun, it was always some science experimental shit. He tends to get fun out of cruelty only when it's personal) that maybe developed as a way to sublimate anger and sadness caused by his parents loss (that's what they share with sasuke - unlicke naruto, they knew their parents and it's other kind of pain. Sasuke developed a revenge issue and Orochimaru - cruelty pleasure which... is kinda the same but less epic and more occasional lol).

15. Speaking of that, Orochimaru cared for Sasuke because he saw himself in him.

16. Oro hold grudges against Hiruzen for not choosing him to be Hokage not only because he was ambitious and/or egoistic, but also because Hiruzen was some kind of a father figure for him and his approval was important tho i doubt he was aware of that. He also probably could tell that Hiruzen was suspicios about him when he was a child and that led to many conflicts and was hurting as well.

17. Tsunade knew things weren't pretty with Orochimaru after the wars but she never expected them to be this bad. During the week that she was given in her arc she thought not only about how much she wants to see Nawaki and Dan again despite how wrong would it be but also was trying to bury all the good memories she had left of Orochimaru so it would be easier to kill him.

18. She poisoned Jiraiya exactly because she knew he would not let her do it. Jiraiya was always hesitant to kill and inclined to forgiveness, while Tsunade, as mentioned by Orochimaru, could be merciless (so much so that he was not surprised when Kabuto suggested that she wanted to use Jira for Edo Tensei).

19. That was one of her traits that scared Jiraiya and fascinated Orochimaru.

20. Remember how Oro grabbed Jiraiya's neck when the latter was trying to cover with hair jutsu? On the snake, in Tsnade's arc. Orochimaru could have easily kill Jiraiya by pulling the sword out of the mouth (arteries are right there) but he didn't. As well as he could kill Tsunade when she was still shaking - just aim for the neck or the heart. Instead, he just injured her lung and kicked her which is not a big deal for the kind of shinoby like her at all.. Also he helped Anko not accidentally kill herself but it would be way much profitable to let her do it. "Orochimaru has no feelings".

21. The reason he suddenly wanted to kill Tsunade instead of forcing her to heal his arms as it was planned (which is weird since it will not going to get him heals and he kinda said that he wouldn't want to kill her just minutes ago) is that not only she refused to help him (he thought he could work it out) but she also prefered the village over him (from his point of view). Out if everyone she was the closest to being able to understand him since the village caused her painful losses too but nevertheless she agreed to be on it's side.

22. He wasn't fighting her back in the end partly because he thought he deserved that. Somewhere deep inside hahah.

23. Tsunade got a fear to develop deep bonds so they probably weren't very close with Shizune (also the way she knocked her down in this hotel.. oh).

24. Orochimaru will be here when she'll die.

25. Orochimaru's eng dub to Tsunade: "I often wondered what it would be like to ring that pretty neck yours". No comments.

26. Orochimaru is either bi/pan or ace. Anything or nothing lmao

27. Hiruzen knew about at least some of the Oro’s illegal experiments and was okay just as he was okay with the Foundation all the time. Because it’s useful. Then he has discovered he went too far OR he knew everything and oro just became too inconvenient because of his methods. The way Orochimaru tells Sasuke about reasons they are well treated as the criminals is based on in his experience with Hiruzen.

28. As you may know the lyrics in Orochimaru’s music theme goes “don’t talk with the silence of the heart”. It was taken from one Indian song that also had lines like “don’t question life too much”, ”pain arose somewhere in the chest”, “don’t speak to the wounds of the heart”. Though I’m not sure 100% because I was translating it with some hindi dictionary with like zero knowledge of hindi

29. I like to think that this “silence of the heart” theme and the fact that he called his village a hidden sound village are somehow connected. The hidden sound is the possible explanation of all things waiting to be listened to but the truth is silent and you know it deep in your heart and it bothers you. The world is silent just like the life is meaningless but people can only hear. *Sigh* anyways

30. Orochimaru’s journey is the one about accepting death. When he saw Karin released her chains while was trying to get to Sasuke he understood that the death is a part of human’s strength.

Can’t wait to feel that everything I wrote is wrong or not enough or stupid and obvious lol. Anyways, it’s something that I wanted to share until I move to some other fandom.

[jinpanman]

mai out here living her main character life 😌 we love to see it 😌

i am living vicariously through you and it’s bringing me so much joy to see your little updates every now and then

Ommgggg thanks;w; the mc life is so stressful tho omfg i am not built for this

should i tell you some cute things about vegan boy?<3

He let me take control of the music in the car 😍

He says "stooop" in this super cute whiny voice when i tease him about something

He walked around all new years eve day with me with a bloody ankle and never complained once (i didn't even know until the day after!😭 i felt so bad)

We shared all the food and all the drinks. Don't mind me as i go a lil delulu over all the indirect kisses hahaha (I FORGOT TO ADD BUT HIS BOTTOM LIP CAUGHT AGAINST MY FINGER WHEN HE WENT IN TO EAT THE BURGER I WAS HOLDING UP FOR HIM JSHDJSJDKS I ALMOST DIED)

He loves chocolate and hates seafood (didn't like it even before he became vegan) -- i chose the right man lol

HE LIKES TO DRIVE. Oh god. You have no idea how happy i am about this lol when i tell you liking to drive & not liking seafood are two of the top criteria for the man i end to marrying..... i got my eyes on him!!!🤣

He's super considerate of my fruit allergy 🥺 (which isn't even a big deal for me i just suffer through it bc people like fruit. HE SAID "I CAN LIVE WITHOUT FRUIT" UNPROMPTED (i'm sorry bby but i can't give up meat for u)

He thinks koi fish are cute (I do not)

He sucks at taking pictures lol

He joked about us & some friends going to hawaii for 2 weeks. I told him everyone's gonna leave him after week 1 and he said "You're staying with me!" (and then amended himself by adding on [friend here lol] 🤣)

He also sucks at singing but it's really cute when he sings lol

He sang me 2 seconds of this one hmong love song that translates to "pretty girl you're the one i like the most" AAAHHHHH

He's really easy to talk to. Like it's just so easy

He bought me this penguin pen case he saw me eyeing in a stationary shop 🥺🥺🥺

He let me shop in that store for however long i wanted to 🥺 and didn't mind waiting in line with me

He texts me about things we talked about. Like this hotel i told him i would not be able to afford bc it looked expensive. He actually looked it up a few days later and told me i was right (😍 love a man who knows when a woman is right)

He offered to take me to a shop across the street just for the bathroom bc the one in the restaurant we were eating in was really gross

He stole his cousin's clothes (bc his house was too far away) to come eat lunch with my family

Literally everyone i know loves him

He does this thing where he sniffs a lot

He's tall

He always offers to take me home after a hangout even though 1) my cousin's always around to take me home and 2)he lives on the complete opposite side of town where i was staying

Vegan pizza

He made sure to get me boba during our nye trip (i forgot all about it lol but he didn't 🥺)

He is so innocently optimistic about things that I'm so drained from. It's kind of refreshing

He gels his hair and it looks so good

He has a nice happy trail

He fed me a lot 🥺

He sat next to me at church 🥺🥺 apparently when i moved from my spot to talk with family and he didn't see me he sat somewhere else but when i moved back to my original spot so did he

(Story time: before service, some old lady behind us "whisper" asked a friend if we just got married lloooolllll and our friends being her usual self, she was all "oh nooo they just started talking! They're not married yet."💀💀 there is no way he didn't hear that either omfg and yes we both pretended we didn't hear that lol)

He also fed my family 🥺 like wtf 🥺 heart eyes 🥺

He's really cute

HE LIKES KPOP

HE DOESN'T JUDGE ME FOR KPOP bc he is also in this blackhole with me!!!!

Tbh I'm not used to having a guy "chase after" me. Bc I'm usually the one who initiates things. So him going for all these things (INCLUDING THE BTS CLUBBING EVENT OMG) to be with me makes me not know what to do with myself lololol

Ok. I should stop now lol this got really long oops

[script-nef]

I come for the interaction and the food | Miya Osamu

Category: crack, fluff

2k words; pseudo-reddit thread of Onigiri Miya

The owner of Onigiri Miya

Yo dudes. So my friend was raving about the onigiri shop for ages, and she was so damn relentless that I gave in. And I like onigiri in the first place, especially negitoro, so I went (is this TMI?). Anyway I was like???? So damn shook when I went in because the owner is like???? Damn??? He's so hot and I am simping for him, and the female population in the shop was as well like hearts were flying out of their eyes. I'm going to go there every day and ugh I know it’s cheesy and cliché but I hope he notices me or something like that DON’T JUDGE I’M LONELY OKAY??

Comments [Anon]: I KNOW RIGHT LIKE EVERYONE IS IN LOVE WITH HIM AND HIS ONIGIRI UGH FOOD FOR THE EYES AS WELL AS THE STOMACH

[Anon]: Y’all are simping for a real person and I just have to say: LMAO ME TOO UGH HE’S JUST REALLY HOT AND PATIENT AND HIS VOICE IS SO NICE  

[Anon]: YASSS HE REALLY IS AND HE ALWAYS COMES UP WITH NEW MENUS AND LETS SOME OF US TRY SAMPLES BUT IT’S ALWAYS. AMAZING. HE’S AN ONIGIRI GOD, I TELL YOU.

→ Continue thread

[Anon]: Um, OP? I don't know how to tell you this but… He has a girlfriend… like a really cute girlfriend who he’s been dating for years now.

[Anon]: Say what?

[Anon]: Hey what. What. I didn’t know this. I’ve been visiting his shop for like 3 months and I didn’t know this. What. 

[OP]: Oh. Great. My romance has died even before it started. ;^;

[Anon]: Well you can join us obsessing over their relationship! She visits a lot and they’re cute all the damn time so frequent customers made a small online group to share episodes. 

→ Continue thread

I just saw Hime and wow, damn

So I went to OM today—because wow it’s so delicious please open a second shop MyaSamu—and my eyes were blessed because WHO DID I SEE?? YEP, IT WAS HIME. 

Like y’all know how he calls her Hime as a nickname, which is so [censored] cute, and SHE LIVES UP TO THE NAME. There’s like, a graceful aura around her and it’s sort of blinding? As soon as you see her, it’s like “Ah, yep. That’s her. No one else can be called Hime other than her.” 

AND SHE GOT SO FLUSTERED WHEN I CALLED HER HIME BY ACCIDENT!! It just literally slipped out because I’m a [censored] idiot like that and she turned so red! And started hitting MyaSamu out of embarrassment! But her hits didn’t even look that painful and he was smiling so happily. My eyes were blessed that day.

Comments [Anon]: Oh my god you’re so lucky, I want to see him smile… I mean, he does, but apparently he smiles differently when he’s with Hime and I know that if I see that, my day will instantly become better.

[Anon]: Oh dude, you are not wrong. He somehow becomes more radiant. Just. How?

[Anon]: Imagine being that cute and beautiful together. What a power couple.

[Anon]: You know what happened once? I was really down while I was eating there because I got a bad grade, and she came over to talk to me!! Because apparently I looked way too sad and she was worried about me! UGH I’M FALLING FOR YOU HOW ARE YOU THIS KIND?! ARE YOU AN ACTUAL ANGEL?

[Anon]: This just confirmed, Hime was never human. She is the epitome of angelic grace here to save us and MyaSamu is so blessed for being with her.

Y’all are weird as [censored], why do you do this [censored]

Why are you guys obsessing over real people like that? I would be creeped out if I knew anyone does this, you guys are invading their privacy. Get a life and stop being so damn disturbing.

Comments [Anon]: ??? He knows about this. He literally checks up on this site a couple of times per week. He explicitly said to many customers “Thanks for liking me and my girlfriend so much. You guys are funny.” The [censored] are you on?

[Anon]: I asked Hime once before and she said it’s fine as well unless we’re stalking them or some [censored] like that. And we don’t. We’re just exchanging stories on our interactions with them inside the shop and how cute they are. He said it actually helps with his revenues and sales. 

[Anon]: Literally. They’re just really cute. Like you look at them and boom, you have diabetes, no exceptions.

[Anon]: I think he said like half of his new customers came after seeing this thread, so back off

Ignore that person, GUESS WHO I SAW

Y’all might be thinking Hime, and yes, I did see her as well. BUT I ALSO SAW ATSUMU! He was hanging with Hime and teasing her so much. Then MyaSamu got annoyed and they nearly brawled there lmao perfect representation of siblings.

Hime tried to stop them and when they kept on fighting, she slapped them both on the back and shouted for them to cool it. MyaSamu I guessed since they’re going out, but she tamed Atsumu. Atsumu. My heart thumped because she was so awesome. Like, you’re cool, kind, sweet, amazingly pretty and on top of that, badass as well? Lady, you should be designated as a national treasure.

Comments [Anon]: Bruh. I live super close to OM. I go there practically every week. I’ve filled out the coupon like, 5 times. I’ve never met Hime once. AND YOU’RE TELLING ME THAT YOU SAW HIME AS WELL AS ATSUMU???? WHY HAVE THE GODS FORSAKEN ME??

[Anon]: How cool was she? I can’t imagine Atsumu folding to anyone that’s not his parents.

[Anon]: I feel like he would be rude to his own parents tho lol

[Anon]: True true

[OP]: She was like, the epitome of cool. Based on the sound of the slap I would have been rolling on the floor while crying in pain but they kind of seem used to it or something? She just glowered at them and they immediately shut up. I wonder if she was like that when they started dating as well.

[Anon]: I find it funny that everyone is focusing on Hime while Miya Atsumu, division 1 volleyball player and one of the members of Japan’s national team, is right there.

[Anon]: Atsumu pales in comparison to Hime. This is a fact.

[Samu]: True

[Anon]: ??? The [censored]? Are my eyes working? Is that… actually Osamu? As in like, the Osamu that we’re talking about? Like the owner of OM?

[Samu]: Yes

[Anon]: Okay then bye I’m never coming here ever again. Goodbye y’all and watch me die haha [censored]

Friend of Samu and “Hime”

I can’t really believe this actually exists but it’s really funny and kinda cringey to see everyone fawn over Osamu and “Hime” like this. I've been their friend since high school and let me give you a fact: “Hime”’s nickname during her time in school was Janus like the two faced God. Because she’s really nice all the time but once she gets angry, it’s over for everyone. Everyone. 

So what do y’all do here, just share stories?

Comments [Anon]: Holy [censored] what. What. CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THEM?? WHAT WERE THEY LIKE IN SCHOOL? WERE THEY STILL CUTE AND SWEET LIKE THE BEST BRAND OF CHOCOLATE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD????

[Anon]: YEAH LIKE WHITE CHOCOLATE

[Anon]: I’m sorry, but if you think white “chocolate” is good then please keep that [censored] to yourself because that [censored] embarrassing.

[Anon]: White chocolate is good!

[Anon]: You’re an embarrassment to humankind.

→ Continue thread

[Anon]: As the person on the above thread has said, could you share little stories of how they were like in school? If they’re fine with it?

[OP]: Hmm… well I’ll ask first. 

I got the permission

Hm, I don’t really know what to say about their relationship though. I was friends with them for a long while but it wasn’t really surprising when they started dating. Osamu’s liked her for years. I heard they were childhood friends and were stuck at the hip with Atsumu as well, but she was closer to Osamu. Though that’s kind of a given, what with Atsumu’s [censored] personality.

She was one of the school council members and really popular as well. Always eager to help people, has a smile on her face and a complete disaster. She’s so damn clumsy and uncoordinated that I once saw her trip on air. On air. How. She’s terrible at cooking as well, like apocalyptic level. She somehow managed to burn rice in home economics class even with three other people keeping an eye on her. It was actually pretty impressive.

Anyway, Osamu was absolutely smitten with her and everyone with eyes or common sense could see it. Except for… you guessed it, her. He would literally be tripping over himself to help her and we were all like “boy, please be more subtle you are killing us”. Especially Atsumu since he had to deal with that even at home because they’re neighbours. I once took a photo of him making the most disgusted and annoyed face, but it got deleted when I changed my phone. An international loss.

Where was I going with this? Oh right, how they went out. I gotta go to sleep so I’ll post that later.

Comments [Anon]: ???? YOU’RE GOING TO LEAVE US HANGING LIKE THAT??? HOW ARE YOU SO CRUEL THIS ISN’T FAIR I CAN’T GO TO SLEEP BECAUSE I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED.

[Anon]: EXCUSE ME ARE YOU SKILLED IN TORTURE BECAUSE I AM LITERALLY DYING YOU CAN’T JUST BOUNCE AFTER TELLING US THAT. COME BACK!!!!

[Anon]: Dudes I have a good idea. Let’s spam them with comments.

[Anon]: Oh ho, smart, smart. 

[Anon]: Dude

[Anon]: Dude

[Anon]: Dude

[Anon]: Dude

[Anon]: Dude

[Anon]: Dude

[Anon]: Dude

[Anon]: Dude

LOAD MORE

Damn you guys are persistent

Chill, I need my sleep as well. 

Alright, this was a while ago so some facts might be inaccurate. Also she forbade anyone from commenting on it during school. It’s fine now though, and thankfully I was sitting next to them when it happened.

So Osamu always brings bentos and makes hers as well. He used to make them for Atsumu as well (unwillingly but had to since he complained about it so much) but stopped after like, the second time because they got into a fight. I think the reason was that Atsumu was whining too much about how he doesn’t like some of the side-dishes and Osamu snapped. That was a fun day.

We were eating in the classroom and enjoying our lunch when she blurted out something like “Osamu, you’re so good at cooking! You’d be a great chef. Your wife would want to let you cook for the entire time you’re together!” Which was fine because everyone knows he’s good at cooking. I think that’s what you guys call a gap moe or something, I dunno.

And Osamu just stared at her. You know what moment when you just feel something bad is going to happen? Like that chill in your back? Yeah, it was that. I sensed that from Osamu. Atsumu probably got it as well because our eyes locked and the red alarm of “STOP HIM” flashed in front of both our eyes.

But before we could interrupt, Osamu just smiled and said “I can cook for you like that if you want.” And I [censored] you not, everyone went quiet. We were staring at him like “??? Did you just propose before even asking her out on a date?” And her face, oh god I didn’t know her face could be that red or that her eyes could be so big. She was literally frozen while trying to eat like the rest of us watching them.

When she stayed frozen, it was like there was an error message saying “[Name].exe has stopped working. What the [censored] did you do.” above her head. Osamu eventually moved and dragged her out of the classroom. And they didn’t come back until the bell rang for the next class.

I don’t know what happened during the talk, but I guess he finally confessed because they were holding hands when they came back. 

Anyway, yeah. That’s the story of how they went out. I have to sleep again so bye.

Comments [Anon]: WHAT THE [censored]

[raziroo]

Chapter Four | I Take A Liking To Lilac All Of A Sudden

Pairing: Lotor x Reader (There you go)

Genre: Angst? I don't knowww

Warnings: Mentions of cancer, mild swearing

Word Count: 1,676

Author’s Note: This is kind of a filler? I can't write long shit in one sitting, so. It's important to reader and lotor's relationship, tho.

‘Good luck. Come back alive, all of you, alright?’ I asked, my eyes roving over the three people standing before me – Matt, Pidge, and Shiro. ‘It’s, like, one of the simplest things you could do. You give Lotor, you get Mr. Holt. Simple. Very simple and easily doable. Right?’ My gaze dragged over all of them once more as I picked at my nails nervously. As much as I was aware of the fact that this trade wasn’t simple and easily doable, I knew that I would legitimately have a nervous breakdown if I didn’t spew lies through my teeth.

Shiro smiled at me lightly. ‘Of course. I’ll make sure nothing goes wrong. You guys take care too.’

‘If, however, anything happens,’ Allura chided, ‘the other lions will arrive as soon as possible.’

‘Yeah,’ Pidge said with a wry smirk, ‘so try not to pass out.’

‘Okay,’ I nodded my head rapidly, ‘yeah, okay, I – I can do that.’

‘Good. Well, we’ll get going then,’ Shiro announced, and turned around, the others following him.

Hopefully, all would go well.

. . . . .

You know what? Everything actually went relatively well. Yes, my hunch turned out to be correct and Zarkon chose to go through with the ‘I was lying all along! Bwahahaha!’ route and ended up getting himself killed at the hands of his son, but overall, I’d say it was a win-win, seeing that we got Pidge’s father back (thank God, who knows what havoc she’d wreak if we ended up not getting Sam back) and the evil maniacal tyrant who’d been ruling over the universe for ten thousand years died.

The one downside was that now there needed to be a new Emperor, because following Zarkon’s death, not only the Galra empire, but simultaneously the entire universe had gone into a state of chaos too. There was no doubt that underlings and generals would try to take over smaller parts of the empire, and once that happened, Voltron being able to do anything would be a stretch.

And, according to Lotor, a ceremony to crown the new emperor, the Kral Zera, would now be taking place. Once he said that, he really didn’t need to say more – it was obvious what his implications were. A new emperor was to be crowned, and if Voltron was to achieve peace, Lotor would have to go and secure the throne. It was a sensible thought to be had, no problem. The thing was, to reach the Kral Zera, which was taking place in two days, in itself was a decision to be taken with utmost thought. The Paladins just didn’t have enough time to decide.

On the one hand, Shiro and Lotor were adamant that the latter be crowned emperor; the other Paladins, however, were justifiably hesitant. I had been standing there listening to them going back and forth, not saying a word myself, like always.

To be honest, I just wanted to go sleep. For some reason, I’d been feeling overly anxious these past few days. White was still not responding to me, I was having regular dreams about the day I woke up here. It was always that one day, that first conversation I had with Shiro. It was as if my subconsciousness too wanted me to reach out to Shiro because there was clearly something weird going on with him.

My suspicions only solidified when I heard Shiro’s voice boom through the room. My head snapped up. Lance with a look of shock and the slightest bit of fear on his face, Shiro’s visage twisted with uncharacteristic anger.

‘Shiro. I think you should just relax a little.’ The man turned to me, brows pinched.

‘I am relaxed -’

‘No, I really think you aren’t… so, like… take it easy, yeah?’ I asked, jumping my eyebrows, arms still folded in front of me, maintaining a calm yet defensive posture. I could feel the entire room’s gazes on me. After all, I almost never spoke in such discussions, or any discussions, really, and indirectly opposing Shiro, of all people, was way too brave a thing for me to do.

Shiro looked at me with slight disbelief, a glint in his eye challenging me to speak up. ‘You want me to take it easy? Take it easy? The fate of the universe depends on this, taking it easy is really not an option right now. I’ve put my foot down – as the Leader of Voltron, I’ve taken this decision. You aren’t someone befitted to oppose me.’

Ok, wow. Everyone shared the same opinion apparently, as now the silence seemed piercing. Clicking my tongue, I tilted my head. ‘Well, maybe not as a Paladin, which I’m not, or a member of the coalition. But as a friend, Shiro, you’ve been acting strange. Everyone realises this. You realise this. … Maybe, I don’t know… maybe all this reflecting on you’ve been doing, maybe the role of leader is taking a toll on you? I, heh,’ I chuckle, ‘I really am not sure. But you’re not relaxed, and you’re not acting yourself.’

‘Could you please not tell me how to be a Paladin?’

‘While you all waste time squabbling, sinister forces are conspiring to fill the Galra power void. If I don’t return to claim the throne, there’s no telling who will.’

Does being royalty instantly make you a hundred times more dramatic? Sinister forces? Deadass?

I walked out.

. . . . .

Shiro went behind our back.

Yeah.

Acting like a complete bitch, he took Lotor to the Kral Zera, where, for your information, he could’ve been blown up. By Keith.

I wanted to deck Shiro. Instead, I visited White. I had hopes she’d respond to me, since I’d been brave and spoken my mind. I prayed on all the Gods and Deities above that my expectations became reality.

Yeah, they didn’t. She didn’t budge. The whole entire two goddamned hours I sat in front of White, she ignored me. Frustrated, I ended up punching her, resulting in bleeding knuckles. Lotor saw that, by the way. He seemed to always be keeping an eye on White, regardless of me being there or not, which I admit is a little strange, but I wasn’t judging. These aliens seemed to worship the Lions.

Lotor also invited us to the Galra headquarters, and lord oh my lord, was it fancy. Allura had gone off to do research with Lotor (I’d been about to make a joke about what “research” those two were really about to do, if you catch my drift, but then I saw Lance looking at the pair glumly, and thought better of it. I’d lightly punched Lance on the shoulder, and raised my eyebrows so as to say ‘They’re gorgeous aliens who could give Bella Hadid and Harry Styles a run for their money, it can’t be helped.’ He laughed.) I accompanied Hunk, Lance and Pidge in their shenanigans for a while, but ended up wandering around the place.

Space was beautiful. Even through a window, I wanted to just stare at it for as long as I could, enjoying a show more realistic than ever before. It was really similar to all the Marvel movies I’d watched; I felt a weird sense of pride at that realization. I remembered how I’d cried at the end of Infinity War, my friends clinging to me and bawling as well; how loud I’d squealed at an absolutely steamy piece of Kakashi fanart Cory had drawn; how happy I’d been when Sasha, my neighbour and childhood friend, had come out victorious after battling cancer for years.

I hadn’t realized when the tears had started slipping down my cheeks. I wiped at them, but they wouldn’t go. Sniffling and wiping so furiously my skin would get burned when I heard footsteps, I turned to see Lotor approaching me.

��Hey -’ shit, my voice was so thick. Clearing my throat obnoxiously loud, I greeted him again. ‘Hey, uh… what… how’s yours and Allura’s research going?’

‘The research has been going quite smoothly.’

‘Hmm. Nice.’

Lotor was staring – no, correction - scrutinising me. I could feel it, his intense as hell eyes burning into the side of my face. I wasn’t going to give up, though. I stared at the window with as much concentration as he me.

He was the first to speak up. Ha.

‘You’re not of the Paladins.’

‘Really? I didn’t know, thanks,’ I still wasn’t looking at him.

‘Deepest apologies if I offended you -’

‘You didn’t, it’s okay.’

‘…’

‘…’

‘…If you wish to answer, why do you appear… distant, compared to the other Paladins? You say they are your friends, but there’s such scarce interaction… you seem acquaintances at best.’

‘… They are my friends. I like to think so, because, well… because I don’t have anyone to go back home to.’

‘Oh. My apologies, I didn’t mean to pry.’

‘You didn’t pry, chill. It’s not that my family’s dead or anything, it’s just that… no, well, my family is dead, but… like, they’ve been dead for around three hundred or so years…?’ I turned to Lotor, brows furrowed. He looked less confused than me.

‘Sorry, no, that’s – that’s shit explanation, um… you could say… I… I’ve lived past my time. I’m alive when I’m not supposed to be.’

I didn’t explicitly mention, as you can see, that I was a time traveller, because I wasn’t really one with that fact yet. I’d accepted it, yes, but that didn’t mean I was comfortable with it. It was still a foreign truth, something I didn’t take great joy in talking or thinking about.

When I turned to Lotor, I felt like he’d understood what he needed to already.

It was bizarre. A lilac alien was the last person I would expect to understand me so easily, but it was what it was.

[frogsoks]

Dancing

Hey friends! How long has it been? Probably quite a while lol. I kind of took a mental break after a little drama happened irl, but meanwhile I took up drawing! I'm obviously not a complete professional yet, but I might post a couple creations that I find worthy of share. But enough squabble. Here's a work in progress for you to read :)

-----

“Cole! Stop hiding under the table and put your pants on, please!”

Lou sighed. Today was… not going quite as he’d planned, to say the least. The dance lesson started in 10. Great. They’ve got some time before they had to leave. And besides, it’s the first day today, they couldn’t possibly get mad, right? Right. Nothing to worry about.

Lilly giggled as she tried to pry her 3 year old child out from under the table. “Cole,” she cooed. “If we don’t get these pants on you we’re going to be late for your first dance class!”

Cole looked up at her from under the table, wearing nothing but his underwear and T-shirt, staring at his mother innocently with his wide emerald eyes. Those eyes quickly turned VERY mischievous, and he gave her a wide grin, his baby teeth poking out here and there from underneath his gums. Lilly laughed at the sight.

Then,

Cole ran out from underneath the table, fast. Well, as fast as a three year old who just recently learned how to walk could.

Lilly chased after.

Chaos ensured.

Lou chuckled as he watched the love of his life chase their child around the house. Laughing and screaming could be heard as Lilly picked him up, playfully tackled little Cole to the ground, and tried to pry his pants onto him.

_______

Cole pouted as he sat in the car, hating the foreign feeling of pants on his legs. He decided he didn’t like it, not one bit.

The evil Madame Stone had won this time, but the totally awesome, super cool and dashingly handsome Captain Dangerbuff still had a couple tricks up his sleeve. First, he just had to escape this prison-chair… thing.

Where were they taking him, anyways?

He looked out the clear cell walls to see every tree and building speeding past him. And- was that..? Ooh! Look! A lollipop! Maybe this place wasn’t so bad after all. It was painfully close, just wedged in between the two seats next to him. Seems manageable, and looks delicious.

He tried to reach for the sweet treat, only to find his arm couldn’t quite get to it. Great. Cole sighed. How was he supposed to-

The moving prison stopped moving. And.. the walls were opening too! Yes! This was his chance. And.. oh, look! It’s- _______

“Here we are..” Lou sang as he put the car into park and pulled the key out of its slot, making the rumbling vehicle die down.

Lilly was already out of her seat, and opening the door to Cole’s. Said toddler was currently trying to reach for a… lollipop? How did that even get there?

She giggled, finding it quite adorable. She reached for the seatbelts and undid them, scooping the now whining boy into her arms.

Lou sighed, running a hand over his face. Taking care of a child is much more complicated than he’d initially thought. Although, if he did think more deeply into it, it did have its perks.

Cole was certainly one of a kind, and nothing beat waking up knowing that he had a future to look forward to. Both for him, and his family.

After all, Lou was a happy man. He had a loving wife, and a beautiful son. He wouldn’t trade them for a thing.

_____

If there was one thing Lou wanted right now, was to trade Cole away to some far away place where he’d learn manners so he could have some peace and quiet.

Okay, maybe he wasn’t 100% serious about the trading part, but it would make his life SO much easier if his son would stop doing embarrassing stuff day after day.

After they tangled their son out of the car seat and straightened him up a bit (much to Cole's condemn), the family decided to take in the beautiful view in front of them that was known as "Miss Ferns Dance Institute". The name itself had sprung seeds of doubt into Lilly's head, but Lou had assured her that Miss Fern was the best person to teach Cole the basics before he could be enrolled in a "proper" dance school.

The sight before them... well. It was certainly quite a sight. The building itself wasn't at all as pleasing to look at as the world renowned Marty Oppenheimer, with suspicious brick walls covered in graffitis saying some... unfriendly messages, and the broken windows, a couple window frames lacking the window itself...

Long story short, it looked questionable. For a dance school. For toddlers.

_____

Once stepping inside, the school didn't look quite as menacing. It was actually kind of cute, if you saw the little drawings made by kids on the wall, and the coloured wooden floorboards. It looked more like a place where little children could enjoy themselves. The name still sparked a couple questions to Lilly, but she'd have to put it aside for now. Who was she to judge a school based on it's name, after all?

Of course, upon entering, Cole ran straight to the drawings on the wall, admiring the messily scribbled animals and scenery. Lilly smiled at the sight. She looked around the room, spotting a couple other families huddled here and there, talking amongst themselves.

Lilly gathered her own family together, and they sat down on the right side of the room.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Lilly whispered to her husband once seated. "What if Cole doesn't even like dancing?"

"My love," Lou said, grabbing a hold of Lilly's hand a gently placing a kiss on it, making her giggle. "This is his first class. You don't even know how he'll like it. Besides, I'm sure Miss Fern is wonderful. I've only heard good things about her classes."

Lilly rolled her eyes and laughed. "The writings on the building say otherwise."

_____

Lou was about to say something when he noticed the chatter had died down in the room. Lilly had called Cole over to her lap by now, whispering sweet words into his ear and placing gentle kisses into his dark hair, making him giggle.

Lou smiled but turned his head to where the rest of the families were looking, and waited for the well known and so-called wonderful dance teacher to come out.

What he'd said to his wife earlier was true, after all. He'd heard of Miss Fern from a couple members of his quartet, the Royal Blacksmiths, and all they'd said was 'Oh, Lou! Miss Fern is an absolute delight! You should try out her class' and 'Oh, Lou! she's even got a class for toddlers! You should enroll Cole there!'

Naturally after those praises he had to see just how good a teacher this woman was.

His thoughts were interrupted when someone started talking at the far sight of the room. It wasn't a woman's voice, though. Maybe her assistant?

"Well hello everyone! So great to see you all here with the wee ones. Oh, Lou! So glad you could come, my man."

Lou's blood ran cold.

He'd recognize that voice anywhere.

"Unfortunately for you, Miss Fern was unable to make it to todays class. Fortunately for you, she has a wonderful -and dare I say handsome- substitute here in her place today. Let me introduce myself."

Ugh. Here we go.

"My name is Teyandro Moreno, but you can just call me Tey. No long boring names in this house. And yes- you're probably wondering what happened to my eye?"

Dear god.

"Well, believe it or not, an alligator ate it. More on that later though."

No, Please.

"Now! What do you say we do a little... dancing?"

sigh.

------

yes. that's that, then. I hope you enjoyed! I'll definitely continue this is some way, still have to finish the drama I started between Lou and a (kind of?) OC with my name, ironically enough. Well I think he's cool. Just wait til he starts teaching the class ;)

Anyways, thanks for reading! I'll try to be more active on here now, no promises tho :)

<3

[petersasteria]

💌- sam holland//mad hatter

I don’t write for Sam Holland, but I’ll make an exception.

𝐌𝐀𝐃 𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 - "𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐢'𝐦 𝐩𝐬𝐲𝐜𝐡𝐨, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐢'𝐦 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐬𝐲𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠"

Warning: it gets weirder and it’s not for the fainthearted. Probably not for minors as well. There’s no smut tho... only mentions of sex. You have been warned. Welcome to the weird side of my mind. 2.5k words

“Hello, Sam.” The psychiatrist greeted with a smile. Sam looked at her and only gave her a nod. “Is there any reason why you’re here today, Sam? A little birdie told me you needed some help. What happened?”

Sam looked at her with fear in his eyes as tears clouded his vision. He shakes his head and whimpered, “I’m not crazy. I’m normal! I swear, I am! I’m not crazy, but she is.”

“No one’s saying you’re crazy.” The psychiatrist smiled. She had a kind face and she was mother-like. The job suited her because her voice is calm and soothing. “Who is she?”

Sam closed his eyes as vivid flashbacks replayed on his mind. It flashed in his mind like it was being played on a projector and he was the only audience. He took a deep breath and said, “She lived two streets away...”

Sam never really went out a lot, but when he would go out, he’d stay out all day. The rest of the family wouldn’t question him as long as he got home safe and sound and unharmed. When he received a bike from his uncle, he thought it’d be best to try it out. After all, it’s been years since he rode a bike and this way, he’d be saving the Earth from pollution if he biked to work instead.

He popped his earphones on and got on his new bike and pedalled. He had no destination in mind and he was confident that he wouldn’t get lost because he grew up in the area and he knew a lot of places like this back of his hand. It was safe to say that he trusted himself and that was important.

He went through a few turns until he reached the other street. There wasn’t much to see, but he waved at a few of the neighbors he knew. When he turned again, he reached another street. It was at this time when he figured that he should go home. Instead of going back the way he came, he just biked straight ahead. He can’t possibly get lost. The streets have names and he knew what his street was and he knew how to get there from different ways.

He eyed at some of the house and inwardly judged at which house he liked best when suddenly he saw an abandoned house. He stopped in front of it and realized that not only was it abandoned, but it was also ruined.

The windows were no longer there and there were shards of glass on the ground. There was no grass and the steps of the front porch were broken. The second floor of the house was nonexistent, but two pillars were there. The walls on the ground floor were destroyed and it looked like the whole place was burned down.

Sam was in shock. He had never seen a house like that before. What he failed to notice was a girl about his age emerging from the bushes that had no leaves anymore.

“Hi there!” The girl grinned. Sam didn’t want to comment about her fashion sense and the way she grinned, so he gave her a small smile and said hello.

The girl moved and stood next to Sam as they faced the ruined house together. No one said anything for a while, but the girl broke it.

“What a shame.” The girl said. She was dressed in quite fancy yet eccentric clothing. She even had a fancy hat and laced gloves on her hands. She was wearing socks on top of her boots as well; another thing Sam failed to notice.

“Yeah, a shame indeed.” Sam nodded. “D’you know the person who lived here?” The girl nodded. Sam asked, “Who lived here?”

“Me.” The girl giggled. “I burned this place down because I’m having a party.”

“I’m sorry. WHAT?” Sam shrieked. He’s never met anyone who would burn the whole place down.

The girl laughed, “All this for a party. How extravagant!”

“What’s the occasion?” Sam asked.

“My whole family died in a tragic vacation accident. I felt the need to celebrate.” The girl grinned.

“Celebrate? Why would you celebrate? You lost your whole family! That must be so traum-”

“It’s the most tremendous news I’ve ever received. They think I’m crazy and I’m glad they’re all gone. That way, no one would judge me and my eccentric ways of living anymore.” The girl clapped happily.

“What’s your name?” Sam looked at her. Despite her weirdness, she was pretty.

“Y/N. What’s yours?”

“Sam.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Sam.” Y/N grinned. She shoved her hand in her pocket and fished out a crumpled card that had very fancy printing. Sam took it from her and he tried to read it, but failed. It was crumpled up really well.

“That’s an invitation to my party later tonight. Wear your BEST attire.” Y/N looked at him up and down, “Don’t wear any of that garbage.”

He was dressed casually. He wore khaki shorts, white sneakers, and a long sleeved shirt, the type of shirt Troy Bolton would wear. On top of that was an old jacket that never closed anymore because the zipper is missing.

Sam nodded and said, “I’ll, uh, do my best then.”

Night time came and he wore a button up and some pants and old sneakers. He hoped it was eccentric enough for the party. He told his family that he was invited by a friend and he went to the party.

Upon arriving at the house, he parked his new bike outside and saw fairy lights everywhere: on the trees, around the two pillars on the second floor, the grass-less ground, the wires and just- everywhere. The party also had balloons, streamers, 

He walked to the backyard because he saw that everyone was there. Y/N saw him and grinned, “Sam, you made it! You’re just in time for musical chairs.”

‘Musical chairs?’ He thought to himself. ‘The last time I played musical chairs, I was about 10 years old.’

Y/N grabbed his wrist and led him to the long table. She made him sit next to her and just when he got comfortable, Y/N and the person on his right grabbed his hands as they all got up and moved around the table as if playing “Ring Around The Rosie”. They all sang a song for about a minute and sat down again. Only this time, on different chairs.

Sam looked around the table and he saw everyone eating and talking. He figured he’d do the same, so he grabbed a cookie and took a bite. He hummed in delight as the sweet flavor of the cookie swirled on his taste buds. When he looked up from the cookie, he saw everyone looking at him.

“What’s going on?” Sam asked Y/N.

“You ate the cookie.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. It’s just that I saw everyone eating and I figured I should... eat as well.” Sam explained. He felt foolish and embarrassed.

“Only females who have the red tide can eat the breast cookie.” Y/N said.

‘Did she fucking say ‘breast cookie’?!’ Sam asked himself while maintaining a cool expression.

“What’s a breast cookie?”

“The one you just ate. It’s made of breast milk. Regular milk is overrated. We all thank Madame Amanda for providing us with such great breast milk.” Y/N smiled towards a lady who sat a few seats across from her.

“And because Y/N’s guest ate the wrong food, we must fix the curse. Move!” One of them said.

Before Sam knew it, his hands were grabbed and they moved around the table once more. When they got comfy on their new seats, Y/N handed him the food he’s allowed to eat. An hour and 5 more times of switching seats later, ‘musical chairs’ was done.

Everyone stood up from their seats and moved to the center of the backyard. Sam followed Y/N’s actions and was surprised to hear that it was time to drink.

‘Finally some alcohol!’ Sam thought.

He was wrong. He seemed to forget that the people around him weren’t like him.

“What are we drinking?” Sam asked.

“It’s actually a drinking game. We’re all split into three groups and whichever group finishes the fastest, wins.” Y/N grinned and clapped her hands excitedly causing Sam to be excited too.

While everything was being set up, Sam conversed with Y/N a bit and then Amanda, the breast milk lady, said, “Split yourselves into three groups! If you wish to not join, you may watch at the side.”

Sam looked around and saw a few people moving to the side. He saw them having a look of pure disgust. He was about to approach one of them when Y/N grabbed his attention, “Sam, it’s rude to stare. The cum shots are ready.”

‘The cum shots? What?!’ Sam inwardly said to himself. Surely, he heard his wrong.

“The what?” Sam asked.

“The cum shots. Alcohol is overrated and this solves over population. Besides, it’s not just anyone’s cum. They’re from the guys here and some of the girls. It’s a wild card.” Y/N said with a grin.

“I’ll pass, then.” Sam said with a tight-lipped smile.

“Pass? Why?”

“I’m, uh...” He thought of a lie quick. “I have a fatal cum allergy.” Sam said and pretended to be upset.

Y/N laughed and said, “A fatal cum allergy? I knew I liked you. Guys with that allergy are so rare to find. Go and stand over there, then. Have fun watching.”

Sam wanted to vomit as he watched everyone down the shots like there was no tomorrow. 

“Disgusting, innit?” A guy next to him said and Sam nodded.

“Very.” Sam said, looking away from it all.

“Run while you can before your mind gets ruined forever. Whatever you do, never come back here after this. People like you end up in The Pod.”

“The Pod?” Sam asked in confusion.

“That’s what we call a mental hospital.”

“Why would they end up in The Pod?” Sam asked, afraid.

“They told everyone what happens here and no one believed them. These people that you see right now? They’re not like this sometimes. They’re actually normal people. Sometimes too normal it becomes creepy.” The guy explained.

“You’ll go insane if you tell anyone because no one will believe you. Run while you can.” The guy said and walked away when he saw Y/N approaching.

“What did he say to you?” Y/N asked.

“Nothing.” Sam lied. “We just talked about my fatal cum allergy.”

“Ahh, yes.” Y/N nodded. “Anyway, it’s time for my favorite part. Popping the balloons.”

“Okay.” Sam said, thankful that there’s a normal activity. Sam went back to the center of the backyard with Y/N. She handed him a gun and said, “Since you’re a guest, it’s your job to pop the biggest balloon.”

Sam eyed the gun and the biggest pink balloon. ”The prize is inside.” Y/N giggled like a high school girl.

Sam nodded and gulped. He aimed at the biggest balloon and pulled the trigger. Lucky for him, the bullet went through the balloon and it popped causing the contents of the balloon to fall.

Inside the balloon were: confetti, condoms, tea bags, heart shaped candies, pregnancy tests, and a small flashlight.

“Go on and pick the ones you want, Sam. You’ll definitely need the flashlight later for another game.” Y/N said as she picked up a few things.

“What do I need the flashlight for?” Sam questioned.

“Us girls are hiding something inside us and you boys have to find it. That’s what the flashlight is for.” Y/N explained before leaning in to whisper, “I’m hiding a small ring inside me.” She winked and smiled.

“What happens after that?” Sam asked.

“Sex.” Y/N shrugged. “It’s not just any sex, though. All the fair light will be closed and we’ll all have sex out here in the dark. The best part is we wouldn’t know who we had sex with. It’s a wildcard.”

“Just like the cum shots?”

“Just like the cum shots.”

Sam never thought he’d say words like that. In fact, he knew he should’ve declined the invite in the first place, but he figured it’d be nice to meet new people. He knew Y/N was weird, but he didn’t know she was bonkers.

“I actually have to go home now. I’m not feeling well.” Sam said politely.

“Oh, what a shame.” Y/N pouted. “I hope you’ll join the orgy next time you’re back and healthy. We’ll be painting white roses with blood on the next party. See you there.”

Sam gave her a tight-lipped smile, bid her goodbye, and left. He never came back, but the thought of keeping everything to himself made him antsy. A few days later, he finally cracked and told everything to Harry.

Then Tom.

Then Harrison.

Then Tuwaine.

The 4 men were concerned about him. After all, who wouldn’t be concerned? Sam told them the most absurd thing. Sam went as far as taking them to the house and sure enough, it was still ruined just like the day he saw it.

The only difference is, Y/N is nowhere to be found.

“I swear she’s here! You have to believe me.” Sam pleaded.

Tom looked at him and asked, “Sam, are you on drugs? If you are, that’s so unlike you.”

“I’m not on drugs! I’m telling the truth!” Sam said. He looked around and he saw Y/N wearing normal clothes and she seemed to be walking her dog.

“That’s her!” Sam pointed.

“Excuse me, miss!” Harrison called out causing Y/N to look over. He motioned for her to walk closer and she obeyed.

“Yeah?”

“Do you know him?” Harrison nodded his head at Sam as Sam looked at Y/N with pleading eyes. “He claims that you drank cum shots and have orgies at your party the other day. He also claims that you threw a party because your family died in a tragic accident. And is it true that you burned your own house down just for the party to make it extravagant?”

Y/N smiled sadly and said, “It’s true that I lost my family, but I would never throw a party to celebrate such loss. I would also never burn down my only living space. It was an accident; I left the oven on and it burned everything.”

“I’m so sorry.” Harrison said. “You may go now.”

Y/N nodded and left without sparing Sam one more glance.

“Liar!” Sam screamed and lunged towards her. Before he could do anything, Tom held him back and nodded at Harry.

“We’re scheduling you with a psychiatrist. You need help, mate.” Harry said, tapping away on his phone.

“That’s why I’m here now.” Sam said and finished his story.

The psychiatrist nodded and told him that it could be a realistic dream or something that linked to his past. To Sam, the psychiatrist didn’t make sense. He nodded along nonetheless. He wasn’t prescribed with anything, but he was told to stay away from the ruined house.

When Sam got home, he checked their mailbox and saw nothing except for a note. He grabbed the note and it read: 

‘I hope you learned your lesson from silently judging people. Just because someone else’s normal isn’t your kind of normal, doesn’t mean it’s less normal.

- Y/N x’

* * * *

𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 (bc he’s the twin so why not): @sufwubi @abrielleholland @purplepizza-summerrain @euphorichxlland @marshxx @lizzyosterfield @justanamesstuff @croissantwriting @blueleatherbag @givebuckyhisplumsnow

𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓: @marvelousell @justasmisunderstoodasloki @rubberducky-jrr @allyz @osterfieldnholland @miraclesoflove @god-knows-what-am-i-doing @drie-the-derp @hollands-weasley @itstaskeen @call-me-baby-gir1 @the-panwitch @iamaunicorn4704 @geminiparkers @holland-styles @calltothewild @fancyxparker @whatthefuckimbisexual @justanothermarvelmaniac @unsaidholland @musicalkeys @lost-in-the-stars03 @hufflepuffprincess24 @hollanddolanfangirl @parkerpeter24 @bellelittleoff @agentnataliahofferson @aqiise @lexirv @blairscott @pearly-pisces @theonly1outof-a-billion @u-rrose @speedymaximoff @theliterarymess @beequeen8020 @justafangirlduh

add yourself to my taglist if you’re cool x

[smokahuntis]

Home

Home

Pairing: Obi-Wan Kenobi x reader

Warning: smut! Morning sex! Love?

Authors note: This is part of my ‘If The World Was Ending’ collection, this is a part 2 to Obi-Wan’s fluff, It can stand alone but I recommend reading the first one! I didn’t edit this!

Summery: After taking Luke to his grandfather obi-wan comes back to (y/n) to catch up.

Obi-Wan woke up to the sounds of a baby crying and (y/n) was gone, he sat up looking around the room as he I started to wake up more. Taking in his surroundings he remembered last night, How well she listened and took care of him. He was her best friend and he knew that, but after last night he was scared of where they are now. Where they friends still or more? Nothing really happened after the kiss other then they slept in the same bed but he couldn’t help but think about what could have happened. He wanted to betray the way of the Jedi so bad just to be with her but it wasn’t the way.

Plus it had been so long since he’s seen her she could have someone else, she could be married for all he knew. If she was he didn’t know what he would do with himself, he’d miss her to much. He’s missing being able to stop in and spend late nights with her, it’s bad enough he doesn’t get to have Anakin with them. He’d miss her with all his heart. He never wanted to forget seeing her happy, or seeing her when she’s fighting.

“Master, where are you going?” Anakin said as they entered the small town on tantoonie. They had came to see Anakin’s mother for the first time in a few years.

“I’m going to get a drink” he said looking at his Padawan who once again raised his eyebrows in more confusion.

“Are you aloud to drink master?” He asked calmly.

“On occasion.” His face gave him away, as his eyes darted towards the door to the cantina to see who was leaving. Disappointment skimmed over his features as it wasn’t who he was looking for, and Anakin knew it.

“You’re going to see (y/n) aren’t you?” He asked with a smug grin on his face.

“What makes you think that?” He asked looking at his Padawan again, eyebrows furrowing together.

“Every time we come to Tatoonie...” Anakin starts as he walks towards the cantina with his master. “You’re always excited to go to the cantina even tho you don’t drink, “ he looked at Obi-Wan “now the only reason that could be is because of a women, or a man I’m not judging master.” Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. “But your eyes light up when I say her name, and you try to look for her in every place of your mind on the way over here.”

“Stay out of my mind Anakin” Obi-Wan said as they entered the bar. Shock went over Kenobi’s face and pride over Anakin’s at what they saw.

(Y/n) had a man on the floor under her boot, and two at the end of her blasters in a stand off. She had more then two guns pointed at her but she was calm and collected, she was so calm she could mirror a Jedi. Her hair was much longer then Obi-Wan remembered and her lip was bleeding. Somehow she still looked good, but now she definitely looked good. Jabba the Hutt moved over towards them to settle the disagreement.

“Now now, everyone lower your weapons there is no need to kill anyone else.” Normally he wouldn’t care but two of the dead men were his. He truly adored (y/n) and the way she did things but if anyone else died it would cost him a lot of money. They all lowered there weapons and stepped away, calming down and going about there day like nothing happened.

Obi-Wan was still in shock when (y/n) noticed he was there, she ran over hugging him tightly. His arms wrapped around her and he smiled, Anakin couldn’t help but feel happy with how happy he looked in that moment.

“Obi-Wan!” She said smiling at him as she pulled away to see his face. Her smile was brighter then a thousand suns and he could never get enough of it. Somehow after everything she’s done he still found her to be a pure soul. “You didn’t tell me you were coming!” She smiled and looked over next to him.

“And Anakin...” she smiled moving over to him, grabbing his face to look over his features, they’d both grown up so much but so had Obi-Wan. “Look at you...Your mother would be so proud!” She said smiling.

“That’s actually why were here, well... why I’m here.” He said glancing over to Obi-Wan, it caused (y/n) to giggle.

“Well come on let’s not keep her waiting!” She said taking there hands and going to the Skywalker’s home.

He smiled in content as he remembered the memory like it was yesterday, it was like the two different sides of her were finally in the same room and it was because of him. But coming back to reality he realized that there was a baby crying, and it stopped.

Luke

He jumped out of bed and went into the living room to find him but was dumbfounded by the sight of (y/n) feeding him as she held him close to her. The child was calm as he ate in her arms and she slowly bounced him around the kitchen.

“What’s his name...” she asked quietly as her eyes didn’t leave the baby in her arms.

“Luke...” Obi-Wan said moving over to her, standing behind her as he looked over her shoulder at them. They were beautiful together, or maybe it was just her holding a child, either way he wished he didn’t have to destroy it. He wished he didn’t have to take Luke to his uncle, wished he could just sit here forever. As a family, an extremely dysfunctional family. He never knew he wanted that till now, he never knew he wanted a family.

“You should get going if you are taking him to his uncles...” she said looking over her shoulder at him.

“Will I be aloud to return?” He asked looking at her.

“Do you have other plans on where to live?” She asked raising an eyebrow and he smiled.

“You want me to live with you?” He asked and she sighed turning and placing the baby into his arms.

“Your entire life has been with the Jedi, and of what you say is true you have no where else to go... I’d give my life to protect you Obi-Wan.” She said softly as he looked down at the child in his arms. Her words melted his heart, and he knew she meant them.

“I never knew I wanted this until I saw you today...” he said looking at her.

“Well... maybe when everything is settled and I take care of the Hutt’s... we can have our own.” She said looking at him. His eyes lit up at her looked at her, warmth filled his chest and he leaned forward giving her a small kiss.

“I should get going, I’ll be back...”

—

Obi-wan woke up to the feeling of (y/n) move against him, her arms wrapped around him tightly in the bed as she slept. His eyes fluttered open and he smiled seeing her.

He’d been with her for a few months now and everything was just about calmed down. No one knew where he was and she was free of the Hutt’s, but Tatoonie was her home and she didn’t plan on leaving, specially not now since the Jedi order had fallen. She’d stay to help keep Obi-Wan safe, she’d stay to be with him. His hand moved down rubbing over her back, gliding over the scars she had from working for The Hutt’s. Someone else leaving marks on her made him sick honestly, anyone hurting her made his stomach turn.

She was an angel, and she deserved to be worshipped, and that’s what he was going to do, worship her.

He gently moved her onto her back, laying her against the soft sheets as his lips found her neck leaving gentle kisses. Being careful of his beard because he didn’t want to wake her just yet, he moved down to her exposed chest, smiling once he saw she was in one of his tunics. He couldn’t help but love the way it moved up her body exposing her soft skin, showing off the scars she had. His lips kissed over those too, gentle and loving.

Once he kissed all the way down to her panties and removed them slowly, it caused her to stir once she felt the cool air of the room on her core. He chuckled lightly when he finally got them off. He kissed over her clit gently as if to test the waters, once he could tell she wasn’t going to be waking up from it he sucked her clit into his mouth and held her thighs in his hands. He was easy and slow about it, yet he was passionate in it. He wanted to worship her being and he was going to, just like this. She was already dripping by the time he stuck his tongue into her, eating her core like she was his last meal. She could feel the coils in her tighten as she began to become close.

“Obi-Wan...” she moaned out quietly still asleep as she did. He groaned against her sending vibrations threw her core causing her to wake up slightly. Her hands subconsciously sliding down into his messy hair, tugging at the blonde strands. Her could feel how close she was but it didn’t stop him, he kept going, consuming her like she was wine from the gods as she cane to her orgasm. She moaned out loudly and her eyes shot up realizing what had happened.

“Obi-Wan!” She moaned out one last time, her breathing heavy as she threw the blanket off him and relaxed back into the sheets knowing it was indeed her lover. He chuckle and licked up all she had to offer before kissing back up her body and to her lips, letting her taste herself.

His hand gently pushed hair from her face as he looked down at her. “Hello there...” he said in his charming tone, causing her to roll her eyes and slap his bare chest playfully.

“What’s gotten into you this morning?” She asked as his lips cane back down to her jaw and chest before undoing the tunic so he could have access to her breasts.

“Am I not allowed to have breakfast, darling?” He asked kissing her ear. She let out a small giggle and pulled him back into a kiss, soft and passionate but quickly heating up. Her hands moved wrapping around his back pulling him closer. Grinding into her causing her to leave the kiss and moan softly, pleading with him.

“I’ll take care of you darling, I promise.” He said kissing her one last time before discarding the rest of their clothing, throwing them haphazardly around the bedroom floor. His hands found her body quickly and exploring like he was molding it, kneading and grasping at the flesh he loved. He kissed her one last time before pushing into her slowly.

They both moan out and her hands gripped his tightly, looking up at him as he sat up and slowly pumped into her core.

He felt like heaven inside her, stretching and bruising her insides. He was so careful and passionate with her, so loving.

Love.

That’s what this was, he wasn’t letting out anger or using her body as a toy, he was making love to her on this early Thursday morning. He was loving her every sound, movement, and scar. He was loving who she was, physically and mentally. He leaned down his lips finding the roughened skin under her left breast, a scar from a battle he was there for, a battle he saved her from. After that his lips moved over to the right side of her ribs, biting down on the deep line that settled between them from a punishment with The Hutt’s. She was to focused on his movements to hear the little.

“You’re so gorgeous, my darling.” But something in him changed after he said that, my darling, he thought. His hands quickly gripped her hips and he pulled all the way out of her before ramming back in, pulling a sharp gasp from her.

“Obi-!” She said pushing her head back into the pillows, he hit her g-spot right on the head sending pleasure she’d never felt threw her. He kept doing the motion over and over pulling moan after moan from her beautiful lips.

“You’re mine, Darling.” Her growled out as he held her and fucked into her with a bruising force, she nodded like her life depended on it as she felt herself coming to her second orgasm.

“Yes! I’m yours Obi-Wan, I’m all yours!” She moaned out, not able to control the rush of blinding heat that left her core, spasming and clenching around him as she came. He groaned feeling how close he was and he stuttered out.

“Wh-where...” he said as he kept going, leaning over her and kissing her neck.

“Inside me, p-please” she moaned out still falling from her own high. It was all the permission he needed, his hips stuttered and he plunged deep into her, his thick ropes of heat covered her insides, almost bringing her sensitive core to another orgasm.

After calming down from their fall from the stars he left the bed, leaving her a babbling mess as he went to get a rag and clean her. He cleaned her up and covered her back up as her head fell over towards him.

“Where are you going?” She asked tiredly.

“I was going to make you breakfast, you’ve done so much for me I just I-“

“Get back in bed, we can eat later...” she said pulling his sleeve and him back to the bed. She fell asleep pretty easily as she cuddled into his side. He loved laying with her like this, but he was distracted by the act they just committed, by the words she said just before he finished. He was right, everything is changing, but he now knew it wasn’t a bad thing.

“I love you...” he said as he kissed her head.

—

7 years had passed since that day, and he regretted nothing, specially since he could hear her voices right now, it made him fall in love over and over again anything she said that name.

“Ben Kenobi! Put down that lightsaber!”

Taglist: @muted-mayham @jediminddicks1000 @hxldmxdxwn @thisis-theway @blushingwueen

[ofrolysdogs]

HUGE HEADCANON & seven swordsman childhoods :0

bruh i have this REALLY huge idea, i really want to animate it but i have little 2 no experience with animation (i can draw tho thats like the least i can do) and i watched the S2 Glitchtale series and it gave me such a huge inspiration for something!!! (warning this post is *very* long)

so the seven ninja swordsmen weren't always ruthless, matter of fact, they were never ruthless, they were only trying to protect kirigakure from enemies, the reason why it started was because during the 1st mizukage's reign there was a huge human trafficking rumor going around which turned out to be true, enemy villages were kidnapping children from kiri & the seven ninja swordsman was formed, throughtout the years the seven ninja swordsman were labled as this ruthless group of people who killed just because they wanted to & that wasn't the case.

the swords have a mind of their own much like samehada and in most cases the blade's souls would take over their weilder and have them do ruthless & heartless shit.

the last generation (y'know ameyuri ringo mangetsu hozuki and those guys) were the best at keeping a distance between the swords souls & themselves, making them the strongest generation ever, but, why were they so ruthless during the 4th great ninja war?

kabuto had the help of a friend who terroized many of the last generation when they were younger (especially kushimaru for one sole reason: his power), and had extracted their original souls in replacement of the blade's souls.

during their lifetime, they were all branded as ruthless, heartless, coldblooded thugs outside of the village, but in kiri, they were known as heros, loving, and protective over their village, the fourth mizukage was not always ruthless, when obito had placed him under genjutsu and controlled him, thats when the "bloody mist era" began.

ameyuri ringo worked as a scientist alongside her lover, ace (an oc of mine :3) and specialized in lightning style which she had no effort in, her mother & father, alongside her elder brother had died around the end of the 2nd shinobi war, now homeless without a family, she was adopted and raised by them, a pretty decent childhood, she was playful & confident, can get a bit too overconfident at times but still, she was loved by everyone around her, ameyuri eventually met ace, and the two of them fell in love, as they were scientists, the two were responsible for the electricity in the mist, ameyuri was then drafted to fight in the third great ninja war, killing over 100 chunin and 50 jonin after kiba, her blade, had taken over her soul completely, ameyuri knew how to control kiba's soul, but kiba found other ways to take over ameyuri, eventually with the help of ace & kushimaru, ameyuri was finally feeling better, but was fatally ill, and soon, passed.

kushimaru kuriarare, being apart of this clan as the most strongest of all, despite having ptsd & major anxiety, still tried his best to make his life better after his traumatizing childhood, his clan was slaughtered at the hands of a shimogakure shinobi named mujōna which will later then start the war between kirigakure and shimogakure, in haunt for his soul, as it possessed an inhumane amount of dark chakra passed down by his mother, mujōna had created a sensei for him, which in turn had abused him constantly, his sensei and mujōna worked together to "power" him, having him tied down being bit by venomous spiders which gave him a huge amount of arachnophobia later, over the years he was staying with jinpachi's parents, and the two future swordsmen will later become like brothers, the two moved in together and kushimaru then later had a child out of wedlock which turned him into a single father, with the help of jinpachi, the two of them worked together to raise the child (don't judge me this is my favorite ship) in a household where there is no conflict & hatred. the third great ninja war had started and kushimaru was on the battlefield, while fighting might dai who was in his 8th gate form, kushimaru had a dark chakra sealed inside of him, whilst loosing control and also loosing control over nuibari's soul, inserting inside of kushimaru's body, he became a monster and killed everyone in his path, including jinpachi & jinin were were also fighting against might dai, kushimaru survived but was terribly injured, and for the rest of his life spent in a hospital bed, dying peacefully.

jinin akebino was known as a hero fighting in the 2nd shinobi war as a teen, deadly on the battlefield and showed no mercy, never letting kabutowari's soul take over him, a brave young man with a heart of steel. after the war had ended, he decided to settle down and become an academy teacher for a short period, while also taking care of his son & sick wife who was fatally ill with lung cancer, after his wife had died, he was now a single father taking care of his now 13 year old son, training him to become like him someday, his son grew older and eventually moved a new path, jinin now teaches young chunin how to control their jutsus and looks after the other swordsman on his team, the third great ninja war starts & jinin is fighting against might dai, noticing one of his teammates lost control of his soul in the process, being killed before might dai even makes a move on him

mangetsu was raised by the sea alongside his younger brother, the goddess of the sea had taken the young boys as her own after their parents had died in the 2nd war, they were then trained to fight to become one of the seven ninja swordsman, suigetsu had accidentally let his blade's soul take over his body, which had stayed attatched to him for the majority of his life, mangetsu on the other hand, had learned how to control his emotions and not let the sword's soul take over him, but mangetsu wasn't satisfied, he wanted to weild all 7 blades, in which he almost died while doing so, since the last person who wanted to weild all 7 swords had died in the process, while he tried to use shibuki, it would blow up out of nowhere, even when he wasn't even using it to train or fight, nuibari's wire would cut him deep & the other swords would even try to attack him on his own, hiramekarei (well, one half) was the only sword that didn't have an evil soul, which he kept by his side, eventually he got the ability to weild all 7 swords which also in the end, costed him his life.

[ im thinking of more headcanons soon so this is part 1 for now. ]

[akechicrimes]

7 or 71 for either shuake or yukamitsu [big eye emojis]

7. “I told you that I’d never leave you; I’m not going anywhere.”

On Goro’s thirty-fourth birthday at ten-thirty in the morning, Akira calls him at work and says, “Happy birthday, dear. I just got hit by a car, and I need to know what color bike you want.”

*

On Goro’s thirty-fourth birthday at ten-thirty in the morning, Akira calls him at work (which Goro dubiously eyeballs for a whole four seconds before picking up) and says, “Happy birthday, dear. I just got hit by a car, and I need to know what color bike you want.”

Well, neither Goro nor Akira own a car for Akira to drive, so that means Akira got hit on foot. Goro is very calm, and has no immediate panic response to that, because he’s a rational and responsible adult. “Are you dead?” Goro asks.

“Probably not.”

“And is there a reason you’re calling me instead of the ambulance?”

“Oh, I’m fine. I think I have a bruise on one of my legs, if that counts. But I was riding your bike when it happened, so the bike got totaled, so, you know. They’ve got the same model you had, but there’s tons of new colors, if you want pictures.”

Goro takes a very long, very deep breath. Goro is very, extremely calm. “Anything is fine,” he says. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, hundred percent. I even landed on my feet; you should’ve seen it.”

“You should go to the ER anyway,” says Goro, in a voice that is truly the epitome of calm.

“I mean, I guess I could, but that seems like a waste of time. And I don’t want to just leave your bike in the middle of the road.”

“Throw it away if it’s wrecked, then.”

“But it deserves a proper send-off.”

“You’re doing this to me on my birthday, Kurusu.”

“I’ll go to the ER if you go with me,” says Akira hopefully, who is a perennially bad influence who is of the opinion that Goro should have just said he’d be ‘working from home’ and spent the day with him.

Goro takes a look at his calendar, tallies up how many meeting he’d have to reschedule, and waits a whole five seconds before he lets himself say, “Fine,” because Akira just said that he’s fine and Goro isn’t upset and everything is so calm that Goro can wait five seconds before agreeing to leave work. “I’ll see you at Leblanc.”

“Wait, wait, which color for the bike? They’ve got green, blue, a red, a kind of fun rose-gold thing, which is a bit excessive considering it’s a bike, and teal, and a kind of blue and orange Naruto-y thing…”

“Anything is fine.” Goro stops. “Except the last one.”

“Red it is! See you in a bit.”

“Don’t ride that bike back to Leblanc,” says Goro, as if lightning might strike twice on the same day on the same man riding the same model bike of the same color, but Akira’s already hung up. Goro speed-drafts a rescheduling email, copy-pastes it to four different people, and then sprints out the office door without even a goodbye to his coworkers.

*

Friday, 11:16 AM

FUTABA: hey

FUTABA: hey goro

FUTABA: hey gorororororororororo

FUTABA: HEY MR AKECHI KURUSU

GORO: If it’s about the traffic accident, I heard about it.

GORO: I’m going back to Leblanc now.

FUTABA: no it’s smthg else

FUTABA: well it is about the accident but i got smthg else for u

FUTABA sent MOV19.mp4

FUTABA: ripped this from the traffic cam

GORO: Is this footage of the accident?

FUTABA: yeehaw

GORO: …Thank you for the offer, but I don’t know if I want to see this.

FUTABA: ok i hear u but i promise it’s hilarious

FUTABA: and also u might feel better if u see it

FUTABA: like idk what he told u on the phone but like

FUTABA: look the car even slowed down at the intersection

FUTABA: the dude was obeying traffic laws and everything he was doing something like ten under the speed limit

FUTABA: the car ENTIRELY missed akira

FUTABA: got the bike full on

FUTABA: and then he just rolls up across the hood and up the windshield like a looney toon

FUTABA: rip ur bike tho it just goes cronch

FUTABA: instant pretzel

FUTABA: ty bichael for ur sacrifice

FUTABA: also idk i figured you

FUTABA: might wanna see for urself that he’s okay

FUTABA: like u can see him stand up at the end and he’s not even confused or anything he’s super duper ok

FUTABA: he’s not bullshitting u over the phone and pretending he’s ok when he’s not ok

FUTABA: u know how he does lmao

GORO: …Huh.

GORO: He really did land on his feet for a whole second there, didn’t he?

FUTABA: yeah like a cat

FUTABA: it’s nuts tbh

FUTABA: and then he remembers he’s a human and falls on his ass LMAO

FUTABA: show it to morgana i want his professional kitty cat opinion on the matter

FUTABA: rate akira’s near death experience

FUTABA: also the driver was v nice and v apologetic and he gave akira his insurance

FUTABA: but i have his home address and work address and phone number and the name of his dog if you want it

GORO: Just the insurance will be fine.

FUTABA: kk

GORO: …And thanks for sending the video.

GORO: Even though I already knew he was fine.

FUTABA: you know those like

FUTABA: itty bitty teeny weeny micro dogs

FUTABA: that are like four and a half pounds

FUTABA: but they think they can take any mfer on the block out of sheer will alone

FUTABA: and theyve always got their eyeballs bulging out and they pick fights with 70 pound dogs

FUTABA: and they have only two emotions which are rage and anxiety and they shake constantly because theyre only four pounds and they have So Much Emotion and nowhere to put it so they vibrate at the speed of sound

GORO: Is this a metaphor about me.

FUTABA: it’s a metaphor about you

FUTABA: because i can hear your shaky angry anxious four pound vibrating all the way from the other side of tokyo

GORO: You are the smallest, angriest, most anxious person I know, who regularly picks fights with international hacking organizations and billion-dollar companies.

GORO: And I, somehow, am the angry shaky dog.

FUTABA: your husband got hit by a car on ur birthday

GORO: I know that.

GORO: I do not need to be reminded.

FUTABA: ah yeah

FUTABA: sorry

GORO: He’s fine.

GORO: He said he’s fine.

GORO: And from this footage, he’s more than fine.

FUTABA: he is super double extra fine with a side of fine

GORO: Unless this footage was in any way edited.

GORO: And unless he was faking his call, somehow.

GORO: In which case, I’m going to walk into Leblanc and find out that he was just pretending to be okay so he could hear my voice one last time and Leblanc will be swarming with police officers to break the news the newly bereaved.

GORO: But that’s not going to happen.

GORO: Because Akira is fine, and I’m perfectly fine.

FUTABA: im rly glad to hear my man

GORO: This footage isn’t edited, is it.

FUTABA: no

GORO: Are you very sure?

GORO: Videos are easily modified.

GORO: Would you even know if it was edited?

FUTABA: yes im a literal wizard of course i would know

FUTABA: where are u even getting this idea from

GORO: The entire series of events is unrealistic, isn’t it?

GORO: You said yourself that it was almost like something out of a cartoon.

GORO: The likelihood that someone gets hit by a car and comes out of it entirely no worse for wear is practically ridiculous.

FUTABA: i ripped that film straight from the cam it is entirely unedited

GORO: But how can you be sure? Did you see him in live camera?

FUTABA: i mean no but he texted me

GORO: What if that was his dying text.

FUTABA: i rly dont know if his dying text would have been the “i lived bitch” meme with the cat filter

FUTABA: he’s fine dude

FUTABA: that’s why i sent you the video

GORO: I KNOW he’s fine.

GORO: I’m asking if there’s any solid evidence.

FUTABA: THE VIDEO

GORO: I’m going to call him. Brb

FUTABA: so what he can tell you he’s fine AGAIN and you’ll be like

FUTABA: “oh but what if it was secretly a pod person who stole his body after he died tragically after calling me one last time to hear my voice”

FUTABA: he is FINE

FUTABA: like go ahead and call him if u want but

FUTABA: the only person who was gonna edit that footage was me

FUTABA: and if he were dead i would not be functioning enough to be doing any kinda photoshop like that

FUTABA: let alone LIE to you jesus christ!!!!!

FUTABA: god

FUTABA: i pronounce you King Shaky Dog

FUTABA: the tiniest and angriest and shakiest and most anxious four pound goblin

FUTABA: i will reclaim my title tomorrow

FUTABA: for now it’s my birthday gift to you

FUTABA: the title of Shaky Dog allows you to go absolutely apeshit and nobody will judge you

GORO: You know I hate birthday presents.

FUTABA: did you call akira

GORO: I hate birthday presents so much that I will be refusing my title as King Shaky Dog and will henceforth not be going ape shit.

FUTABA: ok so

FUTABA: i didnt mean to

FUTABA: get snippy with you or anything

GORO: It’s fine.

GORO: I wasn’t… exactly polite, myself.

GORO: So.

FUTABA: um

FUTABA: you really can call him if you want

FUTABA: there’s nothing wrong with that

FUTABA: between u and me……………………. i definitely did that more than once for a lot lesser reasons than someone getting hit by a car

GORO: My stop is in less than thirty seconds.

GORO: I will probably live.

FUTABA: lmao ok well

FUTABA: if u change ur mind about losing ur shit then please know i gave u that footage in the first place because i think if something like that happened to MY partner i would mcfreakin lose it

FUTABA: speaking of her

FUTABA: sumi says happy birth btw

FUTABA: but cuter because u know how she is

FUTABA: “happy birthday crow-senpai~~~~~~~~” in her shy voice that makes u wanna die

FUTABA: ofoogofhghhfoghfhhghfh g gh SUMI ur so cute ilysm

GORO: Tell her I said thanks.

GORO: And stop telling me how much you love her and use the ring you made me go ring shopping with you for.

FUTABA: HHHHH

FUTABA: im being cyberbullied for being a cowardly lesbian

GORO: I’m at my stop, by the way, so I’m going offline.

FUTABA: which tbh i probably deserve

FUTABA: oh kk see u

FUTABA: watch the video again mr shaky dog

FUTABA: akira is fine

FUTABA: everyone is alive

FUTABA: you are one year older

FUTABA: happy birthday goro

*

The bike is totaled.

Akira isn’t the sort of person to dump a piece of trash right in front of Leblanc, but it’s hard to miss sticking out of the nearby public trash bin. The back wheel has exploded into serrated wheel-spokes and limb rubber bits that Akira’s shoved into the trash as best as he could. The body of the bike is crushed in on itself, exposing its sharp hollow innards; the handlebars resemble a badly-tied knot. The front wheel is left to stick up and out, creaking gently, spinning overhead from half a hinge like a head not quite fully severed.

The cafe is empty except for its usual barista who, of course, is a very normal and mild-mannered barista, who has nothing to do with the several hundred millions worth of dollars of repatriated art hiding in the attic en route back to South Korea. That would be illegal, of course, and Akira Kurusu-Akechi has never once in his life done anything illegal in the name of what’s morally right. “Welcome back, dear,” says Akira, and hangs up a coffee mug to dry, and it’s so normal that Goro is convinced that either he’s experiencing yesterday, or maybe he’s re-experiencing the year 2016 all over again, or maybe Akira really is dead and this is just his ghost.

Goro sits in his usual spot at the bar. Same chair, sixteen years later. Unbelievable. Maybe Goro’s giving him a little bit of a dumbfounded look, because Akira tilts his head, leans across the bar, and pecks Goro on the cheek.

“Where’s Sakura?” Goro asks.

“Having his midday old man nap. So,” says Akira, looking pleased with himself, “either we can close Leblanc for an hour and raid the kitchen and make lunch, or we can close Leblanc and go out and have a fancy lunch. Your choice because I already made dinner reservations and we’re doing those no matter what.”

Goro really means to give him an answer, because Akira really does love Goro’s birthday every year and never fails to pick someplace nice for the day, but instead what comes out of his mouth is: “Did you ride the new bike back home?”

“Yeah, I did. Figured I might as well take it for a test drive. It’s a good bike.”

“Why didn’t you take the subway?” Goro says sharply.

“Didn’t have my card.”

“You just rode the bike all the way across Tokyo?”

“It wasn’t all the way across Tokyo, just a bit away and back… Goro?”

Ah, Goro’s going to become one of those people who has a meltdown any time their loved one gets on a plane or a train or ksomething else associated with heebie-jeebie nonsense magical thinking. Great. Fantastic. God dammit.

“Do you really want me to go to the ER?” Akira asks eventually.

Goro really wants Akira to have never gotten hit in the first place, but people don’t get what they want and sometimes the universe decides to send one bad fucking driver through a red light and take away Akira’s entire life in a split second—one mistake, a coincidence at the wrong place and time, and the boy who fought God and won is a smear of bones on the pavement.

This would be different if it were sixteen years ago, and Goro had the power to bend people’s minds in half until they broke, or dive into the deepest, bloodiest parts of the collective psyche and pummel the worst of them to a pulp—but what’s he going to do here? Lambast a guy who was going ten miles under the speed limit and just wasn’t looking the right way? Is he going to summon a new Persona from his soul and undo time itself?

Can he do anything if the universe decides, one day, that Akira’s time on this earth is up? He spent all those years desperate for power, and then abusing that power, and then desperately guilty for having abused that power, and then desperately trying to get up that power, and now here he is with the power to do jack shit when his husband almost gets run over and if the Metaverse were still around he swears he would have carved Loki from his own soul out of sheer fury alone—

“No,” says Goro sharply, and stands up. “It’s nothing. I’m not hungry, and I’m going for a walk. Please don’t text me unless it’s an emergency.”

“What—hey! Goro, wait, wait—”

“I’m getting some fresh air!”

Akira’s scrambling to get out from behind the bar. “Didn’t you just get here—?”

Goro spins around and points a finger at Akira like it’s his fault: “You were the one,” he snarls, “who promised, when we got married, that we’d always be together. And now you get hit on a bike, and then stand up like it’s nothing and—and get on another bike and go cycling around the exact same streets where you got hit—? Aren’t you scared? Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

Akira falls silent. “I didn’t go back to the same intersection,” he says at last.

Goro can’t take this. “I’m taking a walk.”

“Wait wait wait, Goro, just—” Akira grabs Goro’s hand and Goro has the sudden urge to yank his arm away, but Akira’s hand is also incredibly real, just like it felt this morning and yesterday and the day before that and all the days Goro ever took Akira’s living, breathing body for granted. “I didn’t think it was a big deal. He was going, I dunno, twenty miles per hour at most. It was an intersection. He’d slowed down beforehand and everything, and I didn’t even get hurt on the fall.”

Right, because Goro’s the one who’s just freaking out for no reason. Right. Okay. Because that’s how he is, isn’t he, always being dramatic over little things. Right. Of course. This is fine.

When Goro doesn’t turn around, Akira moves around to the front to look him in the eye. “Sorry if I made you worry,” says Akira. “But it was really nothing at all.”

“Maybe it was nothing this time,” says Goro forcefully. “But what about the next time—the next car—the next time you borrow my bike? What about tomorrow? Or the day after that? Literally any one of the hundreds and hundreds of days coming up where you could easily die just as easily as you died today.”

“Then I’ll escape death hundreds and hundreds of times,” says Akira.

Goro scoffs.

“I mean it. I was a Phantom Thief, wasn’t I? I escaped death more than once. Did it again today. I’ll do it as many times as it takes until we’re both old and grey.” Akira takes Goro’s hand, but it’s Goro who laces their fingers together.

“Sometimes it doesn’t work that way,” says Goro, like a bad echo of his ten-year-old self, trying to figure out what kind of world would let his mother die.

“I’m just keeping my promise,” says Akira. “I told you that I’d never leave you. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Sometimes that’s not your decision to make.”

“It is and I’ve decided I’m immortal until you die.”

Goro scoffs. “Don’t be arrogant.”

“Is it being arrogant? I didn’t let death steal you away from me. I’m not letting it steal me away from you, either.”

“Sometimes…” Goro begins.

“'Sometimes’ what?”

'Sometimes’ what?

Sometimes things get worse. People die early, and unfulfilled; they streak through the sky in a blaze and then wink out, without even a burst of fire to show for it. Sometimes nobody gets a say in what happens, and plans don’t pan out, and wishes aren’t granted, and everything happens for no good reason and no good end.

Today, Goro Akechi-Kurusu is thirty-four years old, about sixteen years older than he ever figured he was going to be. He has a career in a non-profit for maladjusted youth getting reacclimated to school systems and preparing for college, instead of the career in law he figured he’d have if he actually lived that long. He doesn’t just have one friend, but multiple friends. He has, unbelievably, a husband, which honestly still floors him to this day, considering that he was and maybe still is convinced that marriage is a scam devised by asshole men like his father to manipulate young women into a false sense of security. The other day, Akira mentioned that he wanted to get a cat to keep Morgana company, maybe in a few years when they moved into a pet-friendly apartment, and in Goro’s head, it made sense that they would both be alive and together entire years in the future for them to get a cat.

Today is already an impossible day, isn’t it?

“Sometimes,” says Goro flatly, “you say ridiculous things, and I think that you could actually pull it off.”

Akira grins. Akira leans in for their regular greeting kiss when one of them comes home, but this time, Goro closes his eyes, leans into it, really tries to memorize the feel of Akira’s lips on his. Every line and scar on his hands, the odd ends of his fingernails, that familiar way he waits for four beats, then takes a breath through his nose and kisses Goro again, and never can quite seem to avoid kissing him more on the bottom lip than the top. “I don’t make promises I can’t keep,” he says plainly not three inches from Goro’s face. “It’s bad form to leave a calling card and never show up.”

Goro smiles. “Then I won’t let you break your word.”

When Akira pulls away, he kisses the back of Goro’s hand, like a proper gentleman thief of old. “Happy birthday, dear,” he says, and surprisingly, despite the way this awful day started off, Goro thinks that Akira might be able to pull that promise off, too.

[amaranthprincess21]

As the Curtain Falls

Rating: M Fandom: Twisted Wonderland Pairing: Vil/Reader (Eventually >:3c) Synopsis: As summer approaches, you look for a job on El Capitan: Twisted Wonderland's version of Broadway. Getting into a show is the chance of a lifetime, but as rehearsals go on, the flaws of the show and its production team slowly come to light. The ship you're on is burning and there's no way of backing out. You will have to make the best of things and deal with the drama that comes your way. And here comes Vil, your co-star, making things more complicated as the two of you become closer during rehearsals.

A/N: okay so I need to make some things explicit: 1) Although this going to heavily riff on LND, a lot of experiences that are in this fic are experiences I had while acting and a lot of this fic is honestly just me trying to make sense of some of the weird shit I went through. A bad sequel musical is really just the setting and I doubt any of this stuff actually happened during LND production so don't like, look into too much? I just wanna bitch about acting drama I went through years ago and also make some jokes about LND. I'll most likely talk about those experiences more in author notes so I guess look forward to that? 2) also i'm sorry if you genuinely like LND bc I will be making fun of it a lot. And also Phantom like I'm a fan but I'm def gonna roast it 3) For reals tho, I don't know if this is going to be slow burn or not so alskjdfahsd

----

The moment I stepped into the large rehearsal space, a sense of dread and excitement washed over me. The space looked like a small warehouse more than anything else. Large props or set pieces (I couldn’t tell) were pushed towards the back of the room. One whole wall was full of mirrors. I wasn’t the first one here, thank God. But seeing just how many people were in the room was… not reassuring. Along one wall there was a long table set up and several people were seated behind it. It had to be the investors and the production team. 

Man, I was really in over my head, wasn’t I? My callback would be getting judged by ten people and I was up against so many people. But then again, I should’ve expected this. This wasn’t some school musical: this was the Broadway of Twisted Wonderland. Everything was bigger here and the stakes were higher. I needed to make sure I was perfect. I needed this job. I needed this role. 

A few people were already warming up, stretching on the ground. Okay, let’s be social. After all, these might be my new coworkers. I tried to exude friendliness and confidence as I went over to the group, saying hi and introducing myself, but I just wanted to throw up. More people trickled in and every time the door opened, I found myself looking over. Some joined us in warming up, others went behind the table. 

“So, what’s your background?” a tall redhead woman asked. My head whipped to look at the group to see everyone staring right at me, expectantly.

“Oh, uh, I don’t have much of one, to be honest. I did musical theater in school, but this is my first professional audition,” I told them.

“Really? Congrats on making it to callbacks, then!” someone said. I wasn’t sure if it was genuine or a snide remark. 

“T-Thanks.” Might as well err on the side of niceness. “What’s your guys’ backgrounds?”

“I’ve only ever done ensemble before, so this is my first time being called back for a principal role,” one said. As they all started talking about their backgrounds, the door opened again and I instinctively looked. I had to do a double take as Vil walked in, joining the others behind the table. 

“Am I seeing that right?!” the brunette next to me demanded, elbowing me. “Is that Vil Schoenheit?!”

“That, or we’re having the same hallucination,” I told her. It wasn’t like I was friends with him or anything, but I didn’t know he liked musical theater. I thought he was just a model with some TV guest star credits. But then again, I didn’t know him. We just saw each other during prefect meetings with Headmaster Crowley. But I think Jack mentioned one time he was wealthy. Maybe he’s investing in the show? I mean, it’s that or he’s a part of the production team.

“Well, this just got way more interesting,” she commented. I glanced back over to the table. Vil seemed deep in conversation with the other auditioners. Yeah, interesting seemed like a good fit. An older man with a bright teal tie stood up from behind the table and clapped his hands. All conversation died and we all looked at him.

“Welcome to the callbacks for Romance is Immortal. You’ve all done well to make it this far. But sadly, only a few of you will make it into the cast,” he said. Way to pile the pressure on. “We’ll start with the sides and song we emailed you. We’ll call you in as small groups. The holding room is through that door.” He pointed and wordlessly, a few actors got up and made their way over. 

Okay, this was happening. This was really happening. The callback was starting. The brunette helped me to my feet and as I walked to the holding, I stole another glance at the panel. Vil’s sharp amethyst eyes caught mine. He gave me a small nod. This was weird. This was so weird. To think Vil would be judging my audition was a strange one. Would things stay this weird if I got the role? Would it be weirder if I didn’t? 

The holding room was fairly spacious and I found a spot by the water cooler. One of the auditioners was at the door, calling a few names already. The auditioner and actors left and the door shut behind them. Quiet conversation started up, filling the room. I pulled my phone out of my bag and saw a few texts from Ace and Deuce, telling me to break a leg. Those poor guys. I’d dragged them along on this journey and sang so much in our hotel room that Ace left to get noise cancelling headphones at one point. It wasn’t the most reassuring thing, even if he told me he just got them because he couldn’t hear his video game audio. But I knew he wasn’t really into musical theater. Deuce wasn’t either, but his mom loved musicals so he at least was willing to try and sing opposite me for prepping this callback piece. That was awkward. I never want to act like we have sexual tension ever, ever again.

I texted them back, thanking them and asking how sightseeing was going. I opened Magicam to see if they posted anything. They hadn’t put anything up yet, but Vil did. He had some vague things on his story. Showing he clearly wasn’t at Night Raven College, getting a smoothie this morning, basic things like that. I started scrolling through his profile, wondering if I’d find any past work of his on there. Mostly it was just selfies and modeling pictures. He really was pretty. Beautiful, even. Unfairly so. A notification popped up on my phone; a text message from Deuce, saying they were at an observation tower taking in the views. I really wish I could’ve seen that with them, but I had a job to get. Maybe if I got this role and got a place here, I could go sometime.

I waited and waited and waited for what felt like hours, although my phone said it was just a half hour. The first group returned and the assistant called out a few more names. My stomach lurched as my name was called. Trying not to shake, I stood up and followed him and a few others out to the main audition space. The room looked so much bigger without all the actors there. The assistant motioned for us to sit on the sidelines against the mirrored wall. As I sat down, I glanced over to Vil again, only to see him getting up. Was he leaving?

“We’ll start with auditioning our potential Opera Ghosts and Carolines. We’ll be double-casting these roles,” the man in the teal tie told us. “We’ve already had Mr. Schoenheit sign on as our main Opera Ghost -” Huh?! He was already in the show?! Was there another audition session I missed? Something about this unnerved me and I couldn’t place my finger on it. Sure, it was unusual, but I couldn’t tell why it was bothering me so. 

The man in the teal tie called out a name and a woman stood up, joining Vil in front of the auditioner’s table. I looked down at my script, reading through the lines again. I didn’t really need to; I was a fast learner and Deuce and I had gone over this enough times for me to remember it. But it was nice to stare at something that wasn’t other people.

Nerves were starting to eat at my stomach. The other actress sounded so good. Was I really cut out for this? I mean, I’d be thankful for any role in this show, but what if I bombed this so badly I wasn’t cast at all? 

… No. I couldn’t think like that. I had to get this job. I had to. I just needed to put everything I had into this. Nerves or awkwardness be damned. If I didn’t get this job, I wouldn’t have the money to get a place to stay this summer. I’d be homeless. Grim would be homeless. If I blew it, it wouldn’t be just me that would suffer. I needed to get this role at any cost.

I breathed in and out, trying to calm myself as one by one, each actress went up and read with either Vil or another man. I listened to the notes the auditioners gave, watched the way each actress portrayed Caroline, decided what choices I could make. I needed to keep a level head. I needed to destroy the competition. 

Suddenly, my name was called out as someone returned to sit with us. A deep breath. I could do this. I could do this. I got up and walked to where Vil was standing. I wasn’t sure if reading with someone I was acquainted with was going to be the most comfortable, but whatever. 

“Are you off-book on the sides?” A woman from behind the table asked. 

“I am,” I replied. She grinned.

“Go ahead and stow your script under the chaise lounge, then,” she instructed me. I gently tossed it under the lavish chaise right behind Vil and I. She was writing something down when I looked up; a majority of them were. My stomach was starting to knot itself again as I waited for the go-ahead.

“Hey.” Vil’s voice in my ear made me flinch. I looked at him. Up close, he was ever more beautiful, more beautiful than any photo could capture. “Is it okay if I touch you?”

“Huh? Yeah, it’s totally fine. Is it all right if I touch you?” I asked back. 

“Don’t mess up my hair or makeup,” he replied. 

“If you set your makeup right, that shouldn’t be a problem,” I said, grinning. He raised an eyebrow and I couldn’t decipher the look on his face. He was amused or pissed. One of those.

“All right, places!” the man in the teal tie called. Vil and I hurried to our spots, him on the chaise lounge and me just off to the side. I tried to channel Caroline, the heroine of the show. “Begin scene!”

After the sudden disappearance of the Opera Ghost, my mentor, I’d found his hiding place. I barged in, breathless, relieved that I’d found him. Yet, despite my joy, I was unsure, no, in denial about the true reason I wanted to find him. He shot up from his seat, shock written on his face.

“I…” The situation was hitting me. What could I say to him after everything that had happened? “I’ve found you.”

“So you have.” Cautious. He moved behind the chaise, keeping it between us. “Why are you here? To bring a mob to me?”

“No,” I breathed. I couldn’t bear the thought of him being hurt. “I don’t want you to be hurt.”

“Even after everything I did?” he demanded. Slowly, I started to move toward him.

“Even then.” I reached out to grab his hand, but in a flash, he moved away from me. My hand slowly fell back to my side.

“You have always been too kind for your own good,” he said softly. “...  I am not worthy of your kindness.”

“Don’t say that!” I cupped his face with my hands, praying my touch could convey my feelings for him. “You are deserving of love…” He smirked, his fingers brushing against my cheek. The touch made my heart race. I leaned into him.

“Do you really believe so?” he asked with a smirk.

The music began, the keyboard blaring. The heavy notes filled my blood and I could only imagine how it would sound with a full orchestra. Vil’s honeyed voice filled the air and I had to fight back surprise. Who knew he could sing? His hand slipped into mine, leading me around the room. His words dripped with innuendo and the walls around my heart were falling. Although I was to be wed soon, I fell under the Ghost’s spell. 

Soon, he wasn’t just leading me. I grabbed at him, pulling him close, desperate to be closer to him. His fingers dug into my hips. In an instant, he twirled me around, body pressing into my back. Oh, he wasn’t kidding when he said he was going to touch me; his hand was right on top of my thigh. Our duet was becoming faster, heavier. All I wanted was him to take me, to ravage me, to make me his. I was tired of his teasing touches. I needed more.

Once again, his hands gripped my hips tightly, walking me back to the chaise. Carefully, he laid me down. My heart was racing as he climbed on top of me. This wasn’t the closest we’d been and yet my heart was thudding so loudly I worried other people could hear it. I reached out, hand resting on his back and bringing him closer to me. We sang our last notes together, voices melting together. His face got closer to mine, our lips practically touching. But he didn’t close the small gap. We froze, waiting for the auditioners to end the scene.

“End!” someone called. I breathed a sigh of relief as Vil got off of me. My heart was still racing in my chest and I hated to admit it, but I felt winded from that scene. Vil offered his hand to me and helped me get off the chaise lounge. Was it so obvious? 

Some auditioners were still jotting down notes, others looking up at us. Vil stood by me, waiting patiently to receive notes.

“Your chemistry is fantastic,” one person said to us. They turned to me. “Towards the end, you were losing a little bit of energy. Be sure to keep that up through the whole piece.”

“Thank you,” I replied.

“Your vocal performance didn’t suffer too much from it, but again, it wasn’t as confident as we’d like,” another added. It hurt, but I nodded.

“Thank you,” I replied again.

“Vil, come back here. We’ll audition for another Opera Ghost.” Vil didn’t spare me a single glance, heading back to the table to join the producers and creative team. It’s not that I wanted him to stay with me, but man, I needed a breather after doing an intense scene like that.

The rest of the audition went fine. No one was as intense as Vil was and I did my best to take the notes I’d been given and improve on it. As I sat on the sidelines, I watched after time and time again Vil be fairly aggressive with the other potential Carolines. Part of me wished they were intimidated by it, but no, they all did really well. As expected of professional actors. 

“Great job, everyone,” the man in the teal tie told us as callbacks wrapped up. “We’ll email you with the results. If you don’t hear back within the week, you haven’t been cast.” Why did we have to wait so long? I’d have to spend this whole week anxious and checking my emails every hour.

“Have a good evening, everyone,” one of the auditioners called out from behind the table. The tension in the air disappeared immediately. It was over. I pulled out my phone, ready to text Ace and Deuce that I was done. As I left, I glanced over to the table. Vil was deep discussion with the producers. Oh well. I could get away with not saying bye. 

---

“So, did you have to do anything other than the song and lines?” Deuce asked me as we sat in our hotel room, boxes of pizzas in front of us. 

“Yeah. We did a quick dance portion, but it was mostly the sides and singing,” I replied. Now the audition was done, I could indulge a little in junk food.

“Doesn’t sound too bad,” Ace said, mouth full.

“It wasn’t. It was tiring, though,” I admitted. “I started off intense so it was an uphill battle. Vil was pretty aggressive.”

“Vil? He auditioned too?” 

“Yeah. It was that seduction scene Deuce and I suffered through and he was going for it. A couple times I legit thought he was going to touch me. But he didn’t!” I added hurriedly as looks of rage came over both Ace and Deuce. “He asked if he could touch me and I said it was fine, don’t worry. He wasn’t going around just grabbing my thighs like a life preserver without consent.” Their bodies relaxed.

“Are you sure you want to do this show if the audition is like this?” Ace asked. 

“Of course I do! If I get into this show, it’s a job and I don’t have to rely on Headmaster Crowley for everything!” I fired back.

“Jeez, calm down.” Ace crossed his arms in front of his chest. “This just seems like a weird show.”

“You’re saying that as if the first musical wasn’t weird,” Deuce commented.

“I’ve never seen The Opera Ghost and I’m not going to. My grandma took me to see Dance of the Vampires when I was a kid and that’s the first and last musical I’ll ever see,” Ace said indignantly.

“You can’t base every musical off of one you saw,” Deuce argued. I just grabbed another slice of pizza and kept eating as they fought. As much as I hated it, Ace’s words stuck with me. Sure, I didn’t know the first musical, but this was a job. A job I needed. Right now, I was technically taking dorm funds for necessities and although I doubted Crowley cared, I needed some way of making my own money. Who knew how long I was going to be here? 

I needed to start trying to be independent.

… No. I’ve worked hard. I can worry about money later. I pushed the anxiety to the back of my mind, jumping back into the conversation Deuce and Ace were having. The night went on and despite my long day, I had a hard time sleeping. 

I lay awake in the stiff hotel bed, staring up at the ceiling. Deuce was sound asleep in the roll-away bed that was wedged between mine and Ace’s beds. I sighed, rolling over towards him and the night stand. I grabbed my phone and unlocked it. Instinctively, I double-checked I was on the hotel’s wifi before doing anything.

There was a notification bubble on my email app and my stomach did a backflip. I took a deep breath and opened it. I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but still, my insides were starting to vibrate. There were two emails, one from the school about something I didn’t care about and the other from the people who’d sent me the music and sides for the audition. My body was shaking as I opened the email. My eyes read over the words quickly and that bubbly feeling grew and grew.

They offered me the role of Caroline.

My phone fell onto the mattress with a soft thud. My heart was about to beat out of my chest yet again today. I did it. I got the part. I wouldn’t have to worry about money soon. I had a job. I had a paying job. 

I got up and went into the bathroom, shutting the door behind me. My body shook and I jumped up and down, trying to get the adrenaline out of my body. I did it! I had a job! Everything was going to be okay.

But as I tried to calm myself down, something came to mind. My audition with Vil. Who was already cast. … Was I going to have to do that scene again in front of more people?!