#she’s honestly still in early development but i just….. Love her so much u know?????

[birindale]

I've mentioned the so-called "U-Matic tapes" before, but had tabled finding footage of them bc the next step was going to involve a lot more hacking than I'm capable of. But on my most recent research quest, I got a bootleg DVD which contained an unlisted feature: my personal white whale.

So what is this? Why did I want a copy so bad?

The U-Matic tapes were found in Filmation archives, and we believe this was part of the collaborative process between Mattel and Filmation's development of the characters.

It's easy to look at the Filmation designs and see where the studio's common practices are put into effect. Hordak was changed from gray-skinned to blue so that he would pop out against the backgrounds better. She-Ra's spiraling chest emblem was made symmetrical, because they'd learned that asymmetry and stock footage do not get along during their Superman cartoon.

But this--these designs, this singular tape--this is our missing link. The common ancestor between the first wave toys and the Filmation designs. And yes, I had still images, but not in the original resolution! Not with the clapperboard! This is an entirely unexpected windfall and I'm downright gleeful. Buckle in, folks, I'm breaking it all down:

Castaspella

Ah, Castaspella. She started out with really vibrant colors actually, Justine Dantzer designed her with this whole psychedelic vibe. Her magic wheel was originally super bright, primary colors that imo would have served the toy really well. Instead of 'look at this cool hypno disk' it would be 'look at this cool rainbow hypno disk'. Kids love rainbows! I'm not biased at all!

Obviously the biggest difference aside from her color scheme is the wheel. They did have it in early Filmation passes, but like... it's a giant wheel. I imagine it's kind of a pain to animate.

Double Trouble

Double Trouble, too, had a bit of a color scheme journey. She began with magenta and red, then apparently moved into this violet-and-blue combo, before finally settling on green. And like, the first wave did need more green imo. If they'd stuck with the red for Catra and that lilac for Glimmer they could have had a whole rainbow. And like, gay bias aside, that would be lovely for collectors, or kids that like to arrange stuff by color.

Anyway they kind of stole prototype DT's color scheme for Filmation Glimmer, probably because of the aforementioned 'pop' blue brings against their standard backgrounds. And speaking of...

Glimmer

The guide who lights the way! Filmation pushed her hair much pinker than the toy's (although it's dyed purple in one episode), but otherwise yeah, that's pretty much just Double Trouble's proto-outfit, sans tulle. I should note that the leotards and so on are likely also a 'reduce the number of frames we have to draw' measure. Lou Scheimer had a very, very strict policy that She-Ra's underwear never be showed, which made a number of shots incredibly difficult to animate (the spin-kick towards the camera comes to mind). Honestly it's probably the reason for our She-Ra's shorts. But it's where things like leotards come in handy, because you can animate the action without working around modesty or fabric physics.

Catra

Catra's the biggest downgrade, in my opinion. Like I know, toys marketing being what it is, that they had to push pink. But the red looked so cool! And I know it's difficult to see in the video, but her mask used to have fur like in the prelims. That I think was more of a practical decision, since it's harder to slip a fur-lined mask over rooted hair than a smooth plastic one, but I'd kill to see some test shots with it.

We're not sure what that flocked red Battle Cat mold is--if it's an early Clawdeen/late Tinx, or a shapeshifted Catra. I'm inclined to think the former, both because the play pattern is 'this one toy can be two forms' and because they appear to have added a silver collar in place of Battle Cat's helmet. It seems to have been scrapped for her winged horse Storm, at least for this wave, which is kind of a shame. I think a red velvet Panthor would have had a lot of crossover appeal with the MOTU market (and just been awesome in general).

She-Ra

She-Ra is pretty far along conceptually on both sides of the equation. Naturally, she was the first to be designed--you can see where Mattel was leaning into a tulle and reflective sticker thing and Filmation was like "we reeeeeally want to give her a winged opera-viking-helm thing though". You can see the mask, instead of hard plastic, is like, shiny foil.

Bow

The top of Bow's cape, too--shiny foil. His bow was shaped more like a traditional longbow, and his quiver appears to have been hollow instead of a single cast piece. His outfit is actually the least changed, both in the toy's production and in developing it for Filmation. Like the only things different in the cartoon are that he doesn't have a breastplate covering his heart & abs, and that they gave him a mustache. They tried to do a full beard initially so like. Hey. Could have been hairier!

The figure on the left, under proto-Enchanta, seems to be proto-Kowl. How quickly Justine Dantzer's concept was lost. Koala, plus owl--it's not that complicated!

but Mattel wanted to make a little guy with butterfly wings instead. Explains some of the Filmation concept art, at least.

Angella

Angella was probably changed the most for Filmation. Like they kept the pink and the wing-influenced sigil on her chest (and the actual wings), but they added that blue--almost certainly for contrast--and turned her blonde. Meanwhile the toy just refined the chest design and switched from opaque white to a semi-transparent pink for the wings. 'Cause you know, toy marketing.

Frosta

Frosta, too, was relatively unchanged. Both companies opted for a lighter shade of blueon the hair, and Filmation replaced the reflective elements with white & the sheer with a different shade of blue, but other than that it was pretty much just the same process they applied with Catra's fabrics. Mattel went for texture, Filmation went for an easy-to-animate silhouette.

Other

I've talked about Justine Dantzer's original vision for the Crystal Castle even more than the U-Matics themselves at this point. She loves eagles, she was really excited about the beak elevator thing, it didn't test well & Mattel decided it was too edgy. Thus, the eventual pink situation.

Speaking of eventual pink sitatuations--did somebody say Swift Wind?

That blurry, indistinct horse shape is everyone's favorite equine, in the flesh. Guys, look! He's white! There's a blue ombre on his wings! Suddenly the dichotomy of Toy! and Filmation!Swifties seems less extreme, no?

That bird-thing on the left seems to be a proto-Enchanta, albeit very different from the final product (which was basically just a swan with a mane, not this sick ass dragon-influenced version).

The shields were just round shields, but they may have been placeholders to show off colors/materials, because we know Noreen Porter had refined She-Ra's at least by this point.

The video quality is too poor to say for certain who had a weapon and who had a comb at this point, but Catra's little item there looks significantly pointier than the comb she wound up with. Maybe a comb-ination with a knife? I for one think she should get a blade or two. As a treat. They didn't even give her a sword until wave 3, and that wasn't even her main weapon [side-eyes the Shower Squirter judgmentally]

Man I still can't believe this just turned up. Who would have thought that trying to get cleaner footage of the 1985 Duck Soup commercial could lead to this. Thank you bootleggers you are doing god's work (media preservation). If anybody wants some Rainbow Brite or the live action Japanese Spider-Man or something, I had a pretty great experience with these guys. Only complaint is that their list of included features should be way more specific. I took a gamble on finding some footage anyway & while it didn't turn up I'm far happier with this result. Also if an officially licensed version of any of their titles comes out they take it off the store, which is like, weirdly honorable? But good for them, tbh. Good for them.

[noroi1000]

Could I request a reader x gojo oneshot where reader is in her early 30s so around the same age as utahime and she was a married woman but her husband who was a military soldier,died in a mission while she's a powerful sorcerer ever since her youth. Reader doesn't teach at either of the jujutsu high schools but has trained maki and megumi a few times ( and she's a very intense trainer 👹). Despite being sociable and friendly she's a very private woman and is rather cold hearted even though she doesn't outwardly express it but this is not because of any trauma response or whatsoever,she's just like that but that doesn't mean she didn't love her husband,in fact she did very much so and her husband was basically huge golden retriever prince charming who's a simp to sum his character up lmao.

Now giving some attention gojo ehm,he knows reader for quite some many years but doesn't know her privately despite that they even hung out with each other quite a lot of times ( where they've been mistaken as a couple 👁👁) and he basically developed a crush on her somewhat lol but she doesn't have any feelings for him because she's very hard to get n impress n almost impossible to be charmed(and honestly very rightfully so) even though she had a husband,yea. a few personal things i'd wanna add is pls make very tall 🤲🤲 and not someone who blushes 🥹. a specific scenario i'd like as well is for where reader n gojo are returning from a date and while coming back,reader says she wants to go back home walking in the night because she loves how windy and moonlit it is which is very much ok w gojo but bothered that she might catch a cold (jacket lending moment 🫣??) and then it starts raining quite heavy after a while but reader doesn't give a damn and enjoys it even more and persuades to not shield her or himself with his infinity so he gives in to her and they just enjoy themselves a lot in the rain lol and when the rain finally stops,he carries her her while holding her heels ( yes ik this is cute 🤭) and when they reach gojo's penthouse or whatever bcs he lives closer compared to her penthouse,a nsfw moment begins ehm ( pls don't invited bl*wjobs and i'd like reader to be more dom despite what position or whatever ) and next day he's cuddled to her chest and hugging her 🥹🥹♥️.soon,she finally gives him a chance and quite a while later,she's married w him after he proposes bcs manz RE-realises he's so in love w her n never getting escaping it but only fall deeper (that lovers of everytime to eternity n do anything for u kinda love simp n girlboss sexy n dangerous wife 🙏🙏🙏) but no one finds out abt their marriage because she's a private woman n also bcs she doesn't change her last name nor does have/want kids.

lol this is quite long,have a good day !

love ur writings n art 🌟

Life-fairy tale

paring: Gojo x reader

warnings: smut, angst, mentioned death

words: 3.4k

You still remember your husband's hair. His eyes. His smile. He was such a nice man. He was always able to help anyone. He was like a prince from a fairy tale. Friendly, brave and also handsome. He had almost no flaws.

But the only fault with him was that he was a soldier. This has ruined your relationship.

One moment turned three years of your marriage into hell. It changed your life so far…

Your life stopped the moment you went to check something out.

You loved your husband so much. And you regretted that when he left the house that day…

You wished you'd sent him a beaming smile the moment you said goodbye to him.

Your emotions have always been cold. Even though you truly loved him, and you showed it. You're not crazy like the others. You live at peace. Even though you don't show as much emotion as others still do, you're fine. Everything that was bothering you just stayed inside of you. You didn't show it. You didn't want to, and you can't cry in front of someone. You left your emotions to yourself.

You were not afraid to enter the hospital where many people were lying.

It was so cold there…

You've been watching people die for as long as you can remember.

Being a sorcerer doesn't add anything nice to your life. But the sight of a dead man or other creature doesn't bother you.

You've been practically learning about killing for years…

You were sad when you saw your husband's closed eyes, which always shone with a cheerful brown. His eyelids lay over his eyes, so you couldn't see the color.

You saw the hole in his hair where his skull was split open. A fragment where his golden hair was not at all. It was taped over for the appearance of his body.

You didn't cry looking at his dream.

You were sad. But you couldn't cry. It can happen to you too. Anytime. You'll join him someday. Someday you too will sleep peacefully and not worry about anything.

Your husband was killed during the intervention of the squad when the terrorists took over the building. Armed robbery they needed a military squad to help with.

There weren't many casualties.

One of them was your husband. Whose smile you'll never see again.

You got Prince Charming, but unfortunately you lost him.

It's because he wanted to help people…

He died to save someone's life…

But now he won't help your life…

You have lost someone close to you.

You are a Jujutsu sorcerer. And jujutsu sorcerers always lose something…

You are 30 years old.

You planned to start a family with your husband. For three years of marriage, you've thought about it. You were supposed to quit your dangerous job. To start a family.

You have a husband who was like a prince charming.

Or rather, you had a husband…

You are 30 years old, and you are a Jujutsu sorcerer. You are the widow of your husband, an army soldier. You have no family, no one has feelings for you.

For people you are emotionless, even though you can love and want to be loved.

You want someone to be next to you. You don't like being alone. When you're lonely, it's cold.

You have a cold heart, but you are a loving person.

A heart of ice can be warmed, but it can also warm.

You just need to hold your heart to another heart that beats for you.

"I heard what happened. I'm sorry, (y/n)-san."

You heard a voice behind you.

You turned around to see the tall white haired man.

"Gojo."

"Hi." He smiled at you. "Your face always reminds me of Megumi and Maki. As for them too, they told me you gave them a good workout. A day later, their muscles were hell." He chuckled as he stepped closer.

You looked at him with the same expression on your face. Ordinary face.

"You know, I'm here now to tell you my condolences… You must have taken the loss of your husband very hard."

"It's the same funeral as anyone else. Even though I will miss him… I can't help it. At least he died doing what he always wanted to do…"

"If you want, I'm always there for comfort. I'm good at hugging." He extended his hands towards you.

He moved closer to you and placed his hands on your shoulders, bringing you closer to his chest.

You looked at him questioningly, raising your eyebrows slightly.

"Uuh. Just like Megumi…" He laughed. "We don't know each other very well, but I think it's enough to invite you to something, for example? Would you like a drink? Or eat something? You know… Just like we used to go out as a group…"

"Gojo, that's why Utahime-chan hates you. Because you still wanted to spend time with us…" You pulled away from him.

"…It's not my fault that it was even fun to hear others consider us a couple…" He murmured softly, scratching his chin.

"Was it fun for you? You know that wasn't true." You replied to him.

You don't mind talking to him. It's not that you don't like him. You just don't feel any affection for him other than friendship. Maybe not even friendship. You are friends from work who spent time together for the sake of other friends. Utahime would like to see Shoko.

"It was cool for me because I might like you." He said with a small smile as he rubbed the back of his head. "I just find you an admirable person and I like you."

Your face was completely different from what he wanted. He wanted you to blush. To show you're a little embarrassed.

"uh? No enchantment in your eyes…" he muttered sadly.

"I'm not impressed with you coming up to me and telling me you like me. It's not something I like."

"Should I do something else to win your heart?" he asked calmly.

"Impress me in some way. Be what you think you can impress me." You said looking at his face.

"That is?"

"It depends on you. You don't know me that much, but I think enough to guess anything." You looked at your phone. "I'm sorry. I have to go."

You turned around and walked forward, feeling his energy the same. This flow does not change. He is neither happy nor sad. He's acting normal. As always.

Standing and looking at the back of your head, he thought about what you said.

Until he finally got an idea.

Since life for you has never been like a fairy tale to read, maybe he can make you feel like you're living in a fairy tale for at least one evening.

You can smile too. And he knows it.

You are the person who deserves a good life.

There has never been a fairy tale for you in life. It was just ordinary life.

Even though Gojo didn't know your husband, he knew that this man made you happy.

Maybe your husband made you feel special.

And if Gojo At least once makes you feel like in a fairy tale with him too?

Will you feel enchanted then? Will he impress you to look at him in a different way??

"I want to invite you to go out together today."

"Fine… I'll go out with you."

"Did you like the movie? Did you like the food?"

You looked at Gojo who was walking next to you, happy like a child.

You went to the cinema, then he took you to a restaurant. Could this evening have been better?

At least you escaped from sitting alone at home in front of the TV.

You left the house, and you had a nice time with him, even if you're just co-workers.

What are you supposed to do when he says he likes you?

It's his opinion who he likes. You can't forbid him, but you also don't want to hurt him.

For as many years as you've known him, she felt nothing for him. You don't want him to go through what you're going through with your loss. And he had a crush on you even though you were married… Who would have thought.

He is 2 years younger than you, Gojo already knows life. You knew he had been through as much as you. As much as you've been through. The loss of all loved ones.

Life for him was not a fairy tale. And you know he's a nice guy, just a little annoying.

If you cut out a few features, Gojo Satoru resembles your husband…

Like a prince charming, he lives in the world smiling.

Even though Gojo has a dark side that you can easily say doesn't belong to the prince.

"Hey, (y/n)? Can I talk to you like that? Just your name?" he asked, suddenly focusing your attention on his face.

"…Yeah… You can say that. And sorry, I thought…"

"That's fine. Let's hurry. Fooooo… It's getting cold."

"Are you cold?" You asked as you walked over to him.

"No. But I'm afraid the weather will be bad on my first date with you."

"Date? Is this a date for you?" You asked.

"Sure. I consider it a date. Don't you like that?" He murmured, waiting for your reply with patience.

"I do not mind." you smiled slightly.

And that was the moment he was so glad to see your smile. He was so happy.

You just smiled at him.

"And I don't mind the weather either. If you want to know what I liked most about this evening…" You looked at the moon floating in the sky. "…this is the walk. I missed night walks. Especially when it was a bit windy and moonlit night. I missed it so much…"

"It's okay. I like this evening. It's so beautiful right now." He said looking directly at you.

It was beautiful not only because the moon was shining so brightly.

It was beautiful because you were standing there next to him. Looking at the moon.

"Aren't you cold? You can catch a cold. You don't have a warm jacket." said Gojo, pointing at you.

"It's okay. I'll bear it. It's not far from my house yet." You said watching the clouds go by.

When you heard a shuffling next to you, you looked sideways at him.

You saw him pull his jacket off his body, adjust the sleeves and everything, then he stepped closer to you.

"…Gojo?"

You were silent as you felt the light weight of a warm jacket on your shoulders.

You felt warm right away. The cold didn't touch you.

It was very nice of him. Even if he didn't have to.

You remember how your husband warmed you during your evening walks together. When it got cold.

He was always there to give you some warmth. If not with clothes, then with his arm or even warming you with words.

Gojo didn't even know your husband, so why are they acting so similar to you?

Because to both of them, you deserve a fairy tale life.

Life like a fairy tale, only for you. They both show that you deserve the best good that can be.

Even though the two of them had never met, they were compatible.

They both loved you and wanted to bring a smile to your face.

They both wanted to see you smile at them lovingly.

The only difference is that you loved your husband.

But you don't love Gojo.

Even if he wanted it.

Your heart cries. There are overcast clouds in your mind that sometimes release rain.

Your husband has been dead for a month.

Would it really be good for him that you dated someone after he died?

Your husband only wanted happiness for you.

But you don't know if he would like that.

"As long as you're happy, nothing else matters to me. I care about your happiness (y/n)."

Those were your husband's words

So if he wanted it, maybe he wouldn't be angry about it…

Maybe he won't be angry with you for giving Gojo a chance to lighten your heart.

Would you like your life to become a fairy tale? As it was before. Where every time you woke up there was some love next to you.

Even if you had your last name, not your husband's. Even if you didn't have children. You still felt very loved. He gave it to you.

If you gave Gojo a chance, would he do the same?

It won't hurt you to try…

You don't want to break his heart.

And you don't want to be heartbroken when all of this turns out not to be true either.

You want to give him a chance.

"Oh, come closer to me. It's starting to rain and we don't have an umbrella." He said suddenly, seeing drops of water starting to fall from the sky. More and more.

You looked at the puddles forming in front of you, thinking how cool it would be to feel the water on your skin.

You suddenly grabbed his hand and pulled him closer as you walked briskly.

He pulled you to his chest, giving you a smile.

He was smiling because he saw your smile.

Pushing him slightly away from you, you stepped away from him and started walking under the rain.

Watching the drops fall in front of you.

Feeling the cool drops hit your skin. They get into your clothes.

Every time you walked away from him, moments later he would reappear behind you, holding you by the waist. Hugging you lightly.

You got tangled in his hands. And as you twirled around laughing, it felt like you were both dancing.

Looking into his eyes, you saw nothing like your husband.

And that's what it was all about.

You were supposed to write a life fairy tale together.

Your fairy tale.

You never knew Gojo lived so close to you.

One street away.

However, from where you came from, it was better to go to him. His house was a little closer than yours.

That's why when he carried you down the sidewalk with your shoes in his hand, he completely forgot that he could turn on infinity so he wouldn't have to get wet with you.

But what is it for? Your clothes stuck together as your bodies kept each other warm that evening.

He didn't care that his hair was flat and stuck to his face. He didn't care that his clothes were so soaked with water that no more water was soaking in.

He was only focused on you being in his arms. Holding his neck tight as you look at him.

When you hug him to keep from falling to the ground. Staring into his eyes with a smile. In his whole face. Looking at every line of his face. Memorizing every shape.

Even white eyelashes with little drops of water on them.

Just as a writer starts a story with something, you start yours with something.

You started inconspicuously.

And now you two end up together, close.

Gojo is different than your husband.

They differ in appearance.

They differ in height, slightly body shape.

And also that Gojo's penis is bigger.

You neither expected nor wanted your first date to turn into an adventure in bed.

Even if it could look like that, it won't.

You don't want a fleeting partner.

Now you want Gojo to give you some love.

He will be your springboard from losing love.

He will help you bounce back and then he will hold you. You will bounce back from this together.

Holding each other in their arms.

You're not a one-night stand. And that's what you're showing him.

You want to feel good.

Just like him.

So you clung to his thighs, gasping back as you started bouncing on his cock. Giving him a view of your bouncing breasts in front of him.

Giving him the opportunity to moan.

You never expected that someone who is such a strong sorcerer would allow someone to control him.

To you, Gojo was a guy who needed direction.

No doubt he knows what to do.

But you know that you can do it better for him.

Make him more submissive. And he'll let you fuck him.

Make you use his cock for your pleasure and his.

And he, like a good boy, will let you. And he will moan for you too.

Quiet moans and grunts every time your loins meet his hips.

Standing in a crouch above him, you wiggled your ass so that he would come in and out of you. You took him deep to feel him as deeply as possible. Feeling the long cock kissing your insides so deep.

As he placed his hands on your thighs, he placed one hand on his wrist. Holding him as you purred as you rode him.

You ran your hand over his balls, feeling his length quiver.

As he began to push his hips up, you pulled him out of you and left him unwrapped and warm.

As you massaged your clitoris, you ran your other hand very slowly along the base of it, causing him to have a sudden orgasm as you slid your hand up, taking your fingers off of his..

You watched as his cum leaked out in short spurts.

You lowered yourself and laid your breasts against his quivering length. Making more of his white fluid shoot out when touched, staining your skin. As he moaned out of his orgasm, you didn't stop touching yourself. Feeling your orgasm approaching, you looked at his cock as it slowly snuggled more and more into the softness of your tits.

While he was hard, you got up and sat on top of him, hearing him choke out as your pussy sucked him inside.

Running your fingers over your sensitive bud, you came, crushing his cock with your orgasm. Watching his stomach muscles quiver with sensitivity to your action.

You're not a one-night stand.

You found out a few weeks ago.

Especially when you heard that he's inviting you on another, fourth date this week. That was the moment when that date was the most important thing in your life with him. Changing your life.

Your dates often ended like the first one. Nice evening, then sex.

No matter where you spend your time, you're fine. Cinema, restaurant, amusement park, even just a walk.

It made you feel so special.

He was showing you that he really loves you, that you can feel loved. It doesn't matter at what point.

Nobody found out about anything. Maybe they knew you were a couple.

But no one knew that you became the wife of a man named Gojo Satoru.

You don't have his name. You are not planning to have children yet.

You live as you lived with your last, late husband.

Happy in love.

They both don't care who you are.

They both loved you for it.

Your fairy tale ended when your husband died.

But your fairytale life started when you said a few words to Gojo at your wedding.

Life has never been perfect. Life can never be a fairy tale.

But love can make you feel like you're living in a fairy tale.

Everyone deserves love, and everyone can start feeling like life is a fairy tale too.

All you need is the right person who you love and who won't leave you.

Everyone can find a life-fairy tale. All you have to do is follow your heart and do what you want. So that you don't listen to anyone who thinks they know what's good for you.

You gave Gojo a chance to impress you. And thus began your story in a fairy tale. Even if not everything can be perfect, the only thing that matters is that you will be together.

Gojo captivated you with how much he cared

His words could also be captivating. Those were words you've heard before. From the man who gave you your first fairytale life, with happiness.

Satoru repeated this, showing that he knew what you needed.

You don't need an ideal because ideals don't exist.

The moment he proposed to you.

"I know I'm not perfect… But I love you. Tell me what I can change to become that ideal for you."

All you could do at that moment was silence him because you couldn't listen to what he was saying.

And kiss him, accepting his love.

[its-all-papaya]

10?

(Truly not a pity ask, I love love love your work and am interested in what your fav lit is :) )

get to know me

ty :,) srry i was dramatic i know u guys care sometimes :,)

10. What's your favorite book?

gOD. this is an impossible question because i personally don't really have "favorite" anythings. perhaps i take the word too literally, but i'm like... different things for different times, yk? my favorite song driving to work is different from my favorite song laying in bed is different from my favorite song while walking. and idk if you were around when i used to yap incessantly on here about this, but i was an english lit major at a university with honestly a FANTASTIC lit curriculum, so i have read A Lot of things all across the board. aNYWAY. giving you two edit: three. sorry.

the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series truly transformed me as a youth. I read them (probably too early) the summer before sixth grade, and the memories of reading specifically bridget's and tibby's storylines while laying in the grass in the front yard of my parents' house... are really important to me. I've done two partial rereads since then and i honestly just... LOVE. still. the way Ann Brashares portrays friendships as they develop and people change. i need to reread again, but that series is very dear to me. "comfort" favorite book.

the BEST book i've ever read is Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin. there were literally ten to twelve times during the read that i had to stop and stare at a wall because the descriptions of guilt and religion were so extremely on-point for me as a functional pastor's kid who was Going Through It with the concept of god at the time i read it. i also need to reread this but truly truly truly this book made me who i am. i take so much of my writing inspo from Baldwin because his descriptions are SO FUCKING GOOD.

"And he feared to make a vow before Heaven until he had the strength to keep it. And yet he knew that until he made the vow he would never find the strength." GODDDD IT MAKES ME WANT TO TEAR MY OWN LIMBS OFF

honorable mention to The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith (the book the movie Carol is based on) which i read in the same class that assigned me Baldwin. the descriptions of having sex with a man while not being attracted to men are SOOOOOO poignant as well.

"Now she felt miserable and ashamed, sorry for herself and for him, because it was so impossible, and so embarrassing because she didn't want it. There was always that tremendous block of not even wanting to try it, which reduced it all to a kind of wretched embarrassment and nothing more, each time he asked her." like YES. THAT IS WHAT THAT FEELS LIKE. this class had me by the mf throat, i truly owe that professor my life.

thank you thank you thank you for asking, i looooove talking about literature. i always tell ppl that i think my true calling in life is to be an english professor, but sadly i can't rlly afford a PhD, so. yapping on the internet will have to do.

[cielospeaks]

game stuff

compiled bc im tired lol

f-h:

archanea banner is actually not bad imo. yumina is cool and i actually kinda like the character development she has from being separated from her twin. i think her being somewhat younger than like. miranda/etc/ other young-ish royalty kept as prisoners of war is compelling, like shes trying to be responsible and act mature despite being a kid and also has the advantage of no love story angle like the others

castor/kashim is cool too, ive seen him around recently and im glad he got in. something abt somewhat pathetic/cowardly yet extremely understandable/relatable ghb archanea bois i am totally digging, w matthis last yr too. caeda and merric are by no means bad choices for the special variants, and im partial to those two + marth as a trio (main lord + soft mage boi + pegasus princess is so peak f e trio content honestly. my original f e parody thingy has that same dynamic as well), esp since the other banner characters are related to them (castor -> caeda and arlen -> merric). and arlennnn elreannnn im screaming in the club congrats on getting in!!! and thank u for coming home to me too. since yumina also came home and castor is ghb ive gotten everyone i remotely want from this banner lol. time to save for the next one

as far as the story chapter i want hresvelger and nidhoggr to prosper and thrive. esp loving nidhoggr for calling out the main characters on their bs. i know were supposed to side w them but honestly im siding w nidhoggr. this fucking child got away with torturing and killing people for years, and just bc she decides she wants to be buddies with her much-older crush from the country she invaded and slaughtered for years means thats all in the past if she believes or whatever. idk they just do not make these protagonists likeable in my opinion. like idk i think theres three basic tiers to protagonists. 1. i love them i want them to succeed. 2. i dont love them but i realize that they should morally overcome whatever they need to, or rather its the better outcome if they do. and 3. i hate them and the story would be better off if these shitheads were just defeated or whatever. and honestly a lot of gacha games are the third category.

for actual plot not to be that guy but i feel like it could be the first step in kasumiverse. for the first few real time months kasumiverse lays low, but in the wake of elanor's resignment from writing publicity for the royal family, in order to fill that void and assert askr/embla dominance for the masses, kasumi and a small squad are sent to embla. they accidentally meet nidhoggr, and kasumi realizes abt the healing power of yggdrassilians.

possibly it starts when the squad first run into eadgyth, a young askran whose parents were emblians, and is being treated like a figurepiece by the order of heroes' supporters. but shes just such a one track absolutely beethovinian classicaloid mind that she doesnt care, for she wants to solve every mystery and uncover the true secret of the worldtree.

kasumi and the others are sent, along with the still figurehead-treated eadgyth, to embla for the ceremony or whatever- eadgyth for publicity and kasumisquad as bodyguards for the order. the chapter 5/6? events happen and they run into nidhoggr? kasumi also learns abt hresvelger and the rest of the worldtree, which like. eadgyth pumps her fist like "i knew it!!!" kasumisquad book 5/6/8 be like "we picked up a weird child" whereas 7 is like "my sexy femme fatale friend got killed offscreen and im having a breakdown"

-dv:

like considering her backstory is not completely revealed im still not 100 percent sure but honestly ivy is cementing herself really early as a contender for at least like a geisha/wuwu level "yea they cool" character. i like that (so far) her family in her backstory are actually loving and caring, and doesnt have a gender bias pitting one gender parent as evil and the other as a saint like other characters. i also like her past/present/future time theme too (tho after b7 i am wary. like it could be cool but it could be incredibly disappointing :/ ) but more to the point she brought the return of the king b skin antonio with her!!! b skin antonio + cn anni shop package ricky!!!!!! we eatin good bois. looks like music bois are back on the (metaphorical) menu. and with ricky finally getting non coa/mary related content in that like. postcard goods im rlly happy. also ricky seems like he could be a ghost too, considering his skin seems to be called ghost sail. posthumous anniv ricky is the dream honestly.

-go:

cyrano please come home. that is all also the event was baller thank you for saving fictional magus cinema cyrano from real history

g-f:

gacha is not good to me but i really want studra so pls come home. i dont rlly think i care abt anything else lol

[bongkillua]

im SUPER late to the ask game however. 5 & 9 for all of them

anon you are never too late i love talking abt these guys and these r rly good questions

5. How did you figure out your oc’s identity?

TUCKER - Tucker's has definitely ebbed and flowed with my own identity! He initially had a very different backstory that was explicitly about him being a stealth and closeted gay trans man. the way i played him made it so that it didnt really work for him to be trans but i hate playing cis characters so there was some weird magic and memory shit involved to make it work. but it just didnt make sense with the reworked story. took it as an opportunity to make him more openly trans but he was still an exclusive gay man for a while. and well then xander came around and i realized i was bisexual so now tucker is unlabeled because i just know hes going to keep changing with me. but like i truly dont think his character can wholly by separated from Gay Trans Man because so much of his personality and identity was built around that in the beginning.

XANDER - i made xander for the sole purpose of having fun with him. like seriously i made him for a school assignment because i didnt have a "cunty, whorish enough" character for the assignment and then she just stuck around so like... her identity has always just been "whatever is fun!" in the beginning he was like explicitly transmasc but i was playing around with using she/her pronouns for myself again so i gave them to xander to see if it would help me gain more confidence and it did! as i fleshed her out more tho her backstory started to rly revolve around changing identity and like specifically masculinity vs. femininity and how she performs both, and wuth that came the idea of transitioning back and forth over periods of time. because of THAT i wanted her to be really into drag because thats what drag is all about... and because shes rly into drag i wanted to explore her relationship to the transFEMININE experience because drag really cant be separated from that. so ive rly focused on embodying binary identities as performance for her gender. and because she sleeps around a lot ive just made her super fluid in terms of sexuality. shes not picky!

JORDAN - jordan was a he/they from the jump but i struggled a lot with their design and development for like YEARS but once i finally started fleshing them out i was immediately like "nah this guy prefers they/them and tacks he on for normies" and it genuinely helped me solidify his perception of not only their own identity but also life in general? theyre very "go with the flow because theyre extremely confident in themself and dont care how others perceive them". and then bisexual just seemed Right. idk. he sorta embodies "cool bisexual kid in high school that helps u realize ur also queer" and i just kinda went with the stereotype lol. also he seems like a Megan Fox Enjoyer.

KONAMI - i designed konami at a time where i was rly interested in the intersection of neurodivergence and queerness so his identity was def informed by that! along with queerness in childhood as a theme. ive always associated aesthetics like his with the rise in usage of neopronouns (in a good way!) so it just made sense to have them use it/its. if i wasnt a coward id throw some more fun pronouns on there but konami is also just a little guy so i honestly default to he/him a lot in the same way that you'd refer to like. a dog. and once again bisexual just made sense. i established pretty early on that his parents were super accepting of him being trans (konami was a binary trans guy when he was alive!) so i feel like sexuality just wasnt a huge concern for him.

9. Are there cultural or lore specific aspects to their identity? If applicable, does their species affect it?

OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD THIS IS LITERALLY THE ENTIRE UNDERLYING PREMISE OF WOLFSBANE SO HERE WE GO LOL

TUCKER- ok so the more independent tucker became as a character the more i really leaned into how lycanthropy influences his identity and specifically his queerness. its always been a big part of his story but i rly got to Focus on it once he was mine and mine alone. so in wolfsbane lycanthropy is like. almost directly a metaphor for neurodivergence and like. how do i say this. Being Weird And Feeling Wrong As A Child. which you could argue also makes it a metaphor for transness but like i feel like his lycanthropy makes him trans in other separate ways? like lycanthropy in wolfsbane canonically causes an increase in testosterone production so tucker naturally has facial hair and body hair and a rly deep voice and "male-aligned" body fat distribution. despite being afab. and thats like a big struggle in the story bc his father wants him to Hide that but tucker is very Confident in that, both because he wants to embrace being a werewolf but ALSO because it gives him gender euphoria. and it takes him a LONG time to figure out that those are simultaneously separate things ("im not trans i just look like this!" (you are. you are trans)) and also intrinsically tied (transness as a feeling of Other as opposed to a distinct Gender Identity). AUGH idk if that makes sense. sexuality works pretty similarly. tucker has to repress a lot of himself because his family is scared that his lycanthropy will make him unruly and uncontrollable, and that he will hurt WHOEVER he loves. and in trying to control him they want him to Assimilate (aka Be Heterosexual). so he faces a similar struggle where he spends a long time trying to figure out if hes queer because he Likes Men or if hes queer because he Likes People, BOTH of which have been withheld from him.

XANDER- xander is an energy vampire and relies a lot on the balance between Taking and Giving. this means that he has to hide his true identity and give people a false one in order to get what he needs from them. and when you are performing an identity day in and day out is it really a performance anymore? or is it such a performance that it cant possibly be who you are? so thats like the Central struggle that vampirism invokes onto his identity. sexuality works similarly (can you tell that i have a hard time distancing gender from sexuality?) where he spends so much time forging these fake bonds and hooking up with anyone who will give him the time of day that he really doesnt have the time, energy, or maturity to figure out who he's Truly attracted to. her constant need to perform makes it nearly impossible for her to feel authentic in any way.

JORDAN- im gonna start sounding like a broken record at this point but my understanding of transness and queerness is so far removed from the idea of gender itself that i have no choice but to talk about identity as a whole. SORRY. anyways jordan's identity is heavily influenced by his schizophrenia and his dad. and the way THAT influences him is that he wants to Minimize his body because they do not feel attached to their body at all. and Maximize his ability to Reflect his Father because those experiences were the most important to him. so like. really thinking about it now i feel like a big reason why they even identify as transmasc is a. They Need To Remove Any Unnecessary Part Of Their Body NOW And That Means The Tits Have Got to Go amd b. he can distance himself from who he was as a child and align himself with his FATHER who is like the most important and influential figure in his life. in terms of sexuality they're kind of similar to xander but like the reverse side of the coin? They are so authentically themself that its hard for them to find room in their life for another person. so like while jordan identifies as bisexual i often say they also align themself with aromanticism because romance is just very difficult for him to figure out. a lot of the times it boils down to utility over attraction. which works for some people! (tucker) and not for others (all of his ex's).

KONAMI- konami died and forgot what gender and sexuality were. i explain this more HERE but because of konami's history it doesnt have a reference point for what gender Is. so a lot of his identity boils down to concepts as opposed to things like masculinity and femininity. i really want to do more deep exploration into how tucker, xander, and jordan's queerness influences konami's own identity as well as his perception of gender and identity but i guess for a quick answer he latches onto Connecting Words before he latches onto Individual Labels. so things like "dad" and "aunt" make more sense to him than "man" and "woman" because they have a purpose and a role attached to them. but then again those roles have been defined by queer people who don't perfectly fit into the Status Quo of that role but enact/perform it in unique and nuanced ways. this is also why he more quickly latches onto "son" and "boy" (and specifically how boy fits into a Family structure) than any other gendered labels. again like ive stated before, bisexual came pretty easily because with a lack of gender awareness just came an understanding that gender wasn't a factor in regards to attraction. hence bisexual.

this is so long omfg but what it all boils down to is um. my relationship to queerness is founded on experience, intersectionality, and bodily autonomy, not gender as its own concept. so nonhuman identities (and sometimes just Different Human identities) are always going to influence identity and Be A Metaphor for HOW experience influences identity and vis versa.

[legobatjoker]

BTW OMGG been meaning to for agess and had heard a few songs of it but finally earlier this week i listened to swayama in its full !!! its rly good but like. tbh thee first time i listening to it in fully i was a littlee bit disapointed for reasons entirely unfair to the album GHDHDF bc okay for context a while back i saw a post and like. in highsight it def wasnt in regards to sawayama bc that was released too early for it and was prob abt the album she released in like 2021? which i need to listen to tht too but i didnt know that at the time this happened DFHDFHD but the post was like. basically a fan of both rina and taylor posting a bit from an interview w rina basically saying she got motivated to write music during covid bc she saw taylor release folklore and thought if taylor was releasing an album thats about these fictional situations she could release an album about her real life but even tho it was like. about her being inspired by taylor there was still manyy ppl in the notes who where fans of rina but didnt like taylor seeing it as like a dig against her? and being like "omg yess rina taylor sucks ur sm better than her !!!" (which was kinda funny bc the person who posted it responded to that and im p sure they were like "yk rina is a taylor fan right" (but i dont fully remember that so that cld j not be true) but like. okay now i know better than to assume someones whose like. that Weird abt disliking taylor swift knows anything abt her actual music and its quality but i think i developed an attitude of like. if this is the kind of music that people who hate taylor swift base their superiority complex over taylors fans on then it has to be like. at least comparable to her music (and not j her music in general but FOLKLORE !! like im not a huge folklore girlie compared to some of her other albums but thats absolutely some of her best work ever cmon) and maybe this is a bit mean and im the only one who thinks this but like. it was really really really fucking good but like. imo specifically w like the lyricism it was again really really good but nottt as good as taylor esp folklore SORRY !!!!! but bc i had the comparison at the back of my mind i was a bit confused/disappointed when it wasnt (even tho again i had heard some of the album before i tihnk i j assumed that those where some of the weaker songs but theyre some of my faves tbh 😭😭) but then i lsitenied to ita but more spereatly and was like. wait this is really really fucking good like the whole album i was jsut unfairly comparing it to fucking folklore bc other ppl set up a whole rina >> taylor sepcfically folklore thing in my mind 😭😭😭😭 anyway id say my fave songs of the album as bad friend, chosen family, and tokyo love hotel but i also rly love whos gonna save u now, paradisin and dynasty (the last two more from an outsider pov than a relatabilty one bc i also got annoyed listening to dynasty the first time bc ppl made it out to be a fucked up relationship w ur parents song and yk part of that is on me for like. not assuming that "fucked up" means they dont think it relates to um. the much more accurate and intense term id (and u wld i just dont feel like using it Publicly yet yk) use to describe them FGFHGDFGFSD but still i was annoyed a bit at that but in hidnsight that was perhaps a lil dumb FHDFHDF)

NO THATS SO VALID there have def been times i did nottt like music for reasons like that which like may be theyre petty reasons but also theyre so real like. idk just ur so valid for that shnsbsdjsjs BUT YES chosen family and bad friend are 2 of my absoluteeee faves of that album and id also say i rlly like comme des garcons and stfu !!!!! but yesss honestly i shld relisten to the whole album soemtime:00

[pinkfey]

here are some jael fun facts because i cannot stop thinking abt her !!

is a half-elf blood kineticist!! i’m playing her as a rogue because that is my one talent in rpgs but from an rp perspective it fits her better and makes her sexier 😈 though for a long while she wasn’t using her magic at all because it was taking a huge toll on her and she made her living burglarizing aristocratic homes with her dhampir friend selkie. that actually led to meeting their other friend, a halfling named sienna, whom they were robbing. girl power ! 🦋🌼🧚🏻‍♀️

speaking of burglary 👀 girlie has the kind of Muscular Definition that comes from basically living in an assassins creed simulator for a few years. queen of parkour. bench pressing her friends has won her more than a few bets.

she’s chaotic neutral and the chaos part comes first lmao she is just a silly little guy :-] being chaotically funny is her number one priority. she didn’t set out to have such immoral tendencies but her nature itself as a blood kineticist almost required it of her. it’s a fucked up gift. but she isn’t ruthless, she’s certain. she does have a heart.

azata path lol my lil mariposa my papillon my nabi 🦋 but in seriousness something shifted in her when she went to elysium. the freedom and the ethereality—it gave her this sense of surety. she finally understood where she’s supposed to fall into place on this strange little journey of hers.

did not receive a formal education for very long so when daeran uses big fancy words she has no idea what he’s saying. but if there’s one thing she’s knows it’s fake it till you make it so she pretends she understands completely lmao just smile and wave boys just smile and wave <3

has terminal resting bitch face but she’s actually quite spontaneous and confident. she seizes every opportunity for a joke and has a charisma that surprises most because on the outside she just looks Shallow and Angry and Beautiful. but she’s rlly inspirational and a natural leader !! just looks cunty 🥴

on the topic of her appearance, she’s between 5’8”-5’10” and she is/would be indian !! also a v important detail!!!!! she wears two small braids in her hair and yes she’s braided daeran’s hair the exact same way. and ember’s. and arue’s. she’s on a mission to braid everyone’s hair (she’ll get regill one day, she swears it)

i’ve mentioned a couple times she loves a good joke a good jab a good jest but god she is so committed to the bit. she loves lying she loves manipulating she loves acting—all for the sake of being a cheeky little shit. of course, it’s gotten her into bad situations just as much as it’s gotten her out of them 😌

aivu is her BABY. respect the dragon or die by her sword 🗡

being on the azata path, she values freedom a lot, something she and daeran share!! it stems from childhood and being rejected and scorned for her penchant for unsettling magic. her family forbade her from using her talents but secretly she would experiment and :/ while she had a morbid fascination with her kinesis’ increasingly improving outcomes, none of her memories of the time are pretty.

when she got caught, her parents had a wizard come to their small village and examine her. she was sent with them to an academy where she was given a bit more magical leeway but was still discouraged from using her kinesis the way she felt most comfortable and was confined to a box. but she did meet selkie there!! selkie was like an assistant to jael’s fucked up little experiments until they were discovered and both expelled D: rip

[ijwrsmff]

yooo can i plz request strawhats hcs with a dumb/humorous and energetic f reader? if u have characters limit then ignore!

Of course! My character limit is 9 so you can request aaaaaall of the strawhats! I love writing for these babies XD I hope you enjoy!

Luffy:

He absolutely loves...LOVES when you match his energy

He’s a very hyper boy, so finding you and seeing that you can be just as hyper as him if not more?

He loves it

He always invites you to play on the deck with Chopper and Usopp

He especially loves playing tag

You better run fast…

He’ll catch you in a tackle and have you both rolling across the deck

Sanji will scold him for being too rough with you, but you eat it up

You catch him similarly

You know he can take it when you tackle him

With his devil fruit you know nothing you do could hurt him

Every once in a while you’ll take his breath away...literally

But other than that, he loves when you both can play off each other’s energy

If you’re worried about seeming dumb to him...don’t even think about it

He’s not the brightest himself so he doesn’t even notice if you seem dumb

He also loves that you can make him laugh

“Tell another joke y/n!”

He will listen to your jokes day and night

Zoro:

At first...he found you annoying

He thought you were just as dumb as Luffy

But you were nakama

He would still come to your aid if ever you needed it

But after a while...he starts to see past the intellect

Your kindness, your humor, your drive

He falls for you fast once he starts to pay attention to you

His love language is quality time

So often he’ll have you sit in the room with him while he trains

He often won’t say anything, but he will often look your way to make sure you’re watching him train

If you wanted to train with him...he can barely contain his excitement

“I’m not going to go easy on you.”

Except he does

Every...single...time

He likes to laugh, so hearing your jokes is always a good time for him

He likes to nap with you, but you’re often too energetic for that

He understands, but he’ll nap close to you

Even if you can only cuddle and sit still for a few minutes

It doesn’t take him long to fall asleep, so a few minutes is all he needs

He doesn’t care that you leave to play with the crew

Just being around you for a short period of time is enough for him

Nami:

She didn’t pay much attention to you at first, since intellect is something she looked for in a partner

She’d befriend you, but didn’t think it would go anywhere

But she slowly fell for you as she watched you and the crew play

She didn’t participate, more than content to just watch with Robin

But every once in a while she’ll play with you guys

The crew noticed immediately

She never played with them…

But that all changed once you came around

You asked her so sweetly to join and she couldn’t say no to that face…

She gets a bit frustrated when she just wants to relax and cuddle but you can’t sit still

Eventually, she learns to cope with it

After all, your energy is something that had her fall in love with you to begin with

Still, she would often try to cuddle you

Luckily you get to sleep in the same room, so she usually keeps cuddling reserved for bedtime

Though most nights you stay up later than her, always trying to use up all your energy for the day before turning in for the night

Once you’re ready to sleep, you know she’ll always be there to cuddle each other to sleep

“Silly y/n...you’ve worn yourself out, huh? Come here...let me cuddle you to sleep.”

Usopp:

Honestly...you exhaust him sometimes

You’re more energetic than he is, but he tries to match your energy which leaves him exhausted

It’s nothing against you, he just needs a break sometimes

He likes to play with the others on the crew, but he has his limits

Once he starts getting to exhausted he breaks away for a nap

If you wanted to nap with him...that’d be nice

But he knows you might not be ready to take a nap when he is

He knows chances are, no matter how long his nap is, you’ll be back to playing with the crew when he wakes up

And then starts the whole process again

He likes to fish as well, but oftentimes you have too much energy for it

You like to tell jokes, and Usopp will always laugh at them

“Haha, that was a really good one y/n! Now how do you like THIS one?”

Will swap jokes with you for days

His arsenal of jokes never seems to run out, so you better have a lot prepared

Sanji:

He adores that you’re so energetic

Intelligence doesn’t matter to him, he’ll flirt with any girl so at first you had no idea he had feelings for you

You can be rather oblivious...so you didn’t notice when he stopped flirting with Nami and Robin

They pointed it out to you

That’s when he confessed

He would love if you would help him cook, he thinks it will be a good outlet for your energy

And besides, you both loved spending time with each other

Why not while doing something you both can enjoy?

He can be energetic, but much less so than you or Luffy

Your jokes always make him laugh

“Y/n-swan, that was hilarious! You’re so good at making people laugh. I really enjoy that about you.”

He will pout if he wants to cuddle but you can’t sit still, but he understands you need to get that energy out first

He’ll take up sitting and watching you play on the deck

He won’t participate unless you asked him veeeeery sweetly

When he does play with you guys...he gives it his all

But he always...always lets you win

Chopper:

He plays off your energy...and you play off his

Creating an endless circle of hype

He loves that you’ll play games with him, Usopp, and Luffy

You bond as friends that way

Sometimes you’ll play teams, Luffy always gets Usopp and you have Chopper

It’s an unspoken agreement

Though if you and Chopper win too much...the other two will accuse you of cheating

Somehow

He hops around in excitement when you begin to play

Equally...you hop around seeing him hop around

You always sit next to each other a dinner

While you’re all nakama...you’re his best friend, and he’s yours

While playing hide and seek, you find Chopper first

Always seeming to know where he’ll be

You find him under a gurney in his office, and you find him asleep

Seems like he was really tired after all

You smile and pick him up, taking him to his room

“I’ll always protect you, Chopper.”

He mumbles softly in his sleep “I’ll always protect you...I love you y/n”

“I love you too buddy.”

Robin:

Opposites attract much?

Where you come across as dumb...she radiates an air of intellect

Where you’re always bouncing with energy...she’s calm and collected

She didn’t believe in opposites attract until she met you

You contrast each other well, and she adores getting to see you play with her crew, the people that mean the most to her in the world

You become part of that, becoming someone special to her heart

She knows very early on that she’s developing feelings for you

She’s not only booksmart...but emotionally intelligent as well

It might catch you off guard when she confesses, but when you reply with a smile and affirmation that the feelings were returned she gives you the biggest smile you’ve ever seen on her

She enjoys watching you play with her crew

Though she would never join in, content to watch from the sidelines

She honestly likes that you aren’t knowledgeable about some of her favorite topics

It means she gets to teach it to you

She’ll sit down with you, books in hand

If you expressed not wanting to learn, she wouldn’t push it

However it makes her happy to teach you, even if you are pretty slow to learn

Franky:

Oh boy...oooooh boy

He returns your energy 10 fold

He’ll start by telling you jokes, and you return with your own

Overall some of the jokes are...terrible

But you both laugh until you cry

It’s good to have a connection like yours

He doesn’t care if you’re smart or not, he just enjoys spending time with you

You’ll find him either repairing the ship, or inventing something new

You’re always his tester

“Hey look y/n! I made something new, care to try it out with me?”

It ranges from new weapons for the crew to new games he made on the fly

He loves to spend time with you, it’s always filled with laughter and smiles

Every once in a while you’ll convince him to take a break to play with the crew

He gives it his all, and shows no mercy

Despite the fact that he loves you

It makes you laugh knowing you never have to worry about him holding back

Brook:

He can’t match your energy. He just can’t

He’ll often find himself watching you play while sitting with Nami and Robin

He’ll play music to set the mood when you play, knowing a wide variety of songs

Some are upbeat, some are intense

He’s become your designated mood-setter

Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper LOVE this

It makes the games you play even more fun!

He also likes to play you quiet songs to help you fall asleep

He loves that he can express himself to you via music

“Oh y/n, I love watching you play with my own eyes! Ah! I have no eyes! Ahaha.”

He likes to teach you songs on his violin, and doesn’t care if it takes you a while to learn them

He had plenty of time to practice on his old ship, so he knows how much work you need to put in to master a craft

Quite frankly...he lost count of how many hours he spent on that ship

But it was...a lot

Many years he worked

He plans to spend the rest of his undead life with you, so in his eyes he doesn’t mind spending hours upon hours teaching you

It’s something he loves, so he enjoys that he gets to spend time practicing with you

[edelegs]

black eagles relationships i like but don’t see talked about enough

Ferdinand and Petra - I adore their supports. You see a lot of Ferdinand’s dorky side with his reading about historic weapons, and you see that he is genuinely curious about Petra’s culture. He admits that he initially didn’t realize how sophisticated Brigidian techniques are and I just adore his vulnerability with her. And then there’s Petra in their A support, admitting she found a second home in Fòdlan, and the two discuss their loneliness? It’s such interesting insight into both characters (especially Ferdie; I’d say these are some of his most well-rounded supports)

Hubert and Dorothea - Dorothea sees right through Hubert’s edgy theatre kid persona. She approaches him like she would any friend right from the beginning and teases him about his love life. She also respects and believes him when he says that unrequited love isn’t his motivation. I would’ve liked a conclusion that wasn’t Dorothea suggesting they marry, but it is really funny that she did that. I love their paired ending too--completely platonic espionage opera! What could be better?

Hubert and Byleth - in my head they have a quirky sitcom where Byleth keeps trying to arrange Edeleth/Ferdibert double dates and Hubert has to attend them. (but seriously, the appeal of Hubert is looking at this man and saying “I’m gonna make you like me”, and then you do it). Outside of my shipping biases, his threats to you are funny as shit considering that he has no power over you and he’s always dying in battle, but once you win his trust he admits that despite looking Blatantly Evil, he truly abhors TWSTID and is already planning their follow-up war. I could easily see him and Byleth co-leading the war in the shadows (and that’s where the dialogue of the aforementioned platonic Huleth workplace comedy takes place). Also my friend who played as m!Byleth told me the “we could be a couplet of birds” line in the A-support still exists regardless of gender. Hubert is demiromantic bi and you CANNOT change my mind 

Edelgard and Petra - “Don’t settle for being the bird. Be the arrow instead” Both have a great deal of mutual respect for each other, even though Edelgard is heir to the nation that has kept Petra’s country down for years. You see the same beliefs Petra holds in her supports with Caspar here--that being, “we are not our parents, we can make different choices”. It’s a shame they only have 2 supports. I think it would’ve been cool to see Petra asking Edelgard for Brigidian independence or otherwise talking about how she can achieve her goal. 

Edelgard and Linhardt - I actually think people talk about this a bit, but it’s one of my favourite Black Eagles support chains so I have to mention it. This one is the key to understanding that Edelgard’s better world is only possible in her route, when she has the support and opportunity to trust others enough to learn how to listen to them and consider their perspectives. I advise anyone who thinks Edelgard would be a brutal dictator to watch these supports, because they so blatantly contradict that idea? Linhardt initially frustrates her because she knows he’s talented and smart but he doesn’t want to do anything to help the world with that. Characters like Linhardt are usually given an arc in which they overcome an initial selfishness to help others. This is not that. These supports are about Edelgard learning to understand Linhardt and accommodate him. Edelgard agonizes over finding the perfect way to allow him to do his research in a way that suits him--and when she senses his hesitation at her initial plan, she presses him for the problem and reconfigures the idea because she won’t put him in a situation he’s not fully content in. This is astounding character growth (from both of them, but mostly Edelgard). Also the struggle depicted in this chain is just something that spoke to me when I first saw it--”be useful” versus “learn for knowledge’s sake” is pretty much my exact struggle in life 😂 Seeing two of my favourite characters reach a resolution that satisfied both of them was hopeful, to say the least. 

Caspar and Ferdinand - What strikes me about their supports is that it compares and contrasts these characters’ ideas of justice against each other. Honestly, the Black Eagles as a whole have takes on morality that are just slightly skewed, and these characters’ arguments about it exemplify it. Caspar just thinks that people who hurt others should be hit right away, head empty no thoughts but j u s t i c e. Ferdinand initially believes that all sense of justice comes from being nobility, and with that comes an obligation to be morally superior. Having Caspar just go “uh yeah, what does nobility have to do with it? I just had to hit that guy” is one way in which Ferdinand’s ideals are challenged. It’s a cool contrast that I think highlights an interesting aspect of the Black Eagles and what they were taught. 

Dorothea and Bernie - I love everything about their interaction. If Dorothea were a lesser character, she’d be the mean popular girl who shames Bernie for her messy hair and her anxiety. Instead, Dorothea is patient and Bernie is like “oh no she’s Too Cool for me”. Dorothea also makes note of what Bernie says as she gets too anxious to continue the interaction and aims to comfort her in their next support. We get a good Bernie character moment in their B-support, where she mentions her father ruining her friendship with a commoner boy--and a cathartic moment where Dorothea tells her that her father’s an asshole and that they’re going to be friends anyway. Bernie cries in Dorothea’s arms and AHHHH why didn’t we get MORE of this???

Bernie and Petra - If I could add any support and ending to the game, it would be Bernie/Petra. They have such a good starting point--because of Bernie’s anxiety and Petra being a second language speaker of Fòdlandish, they are prone to miscommunications (which is the general theme of early Bleagles supports). They had a nice 2-support arc where they understand each other a little better--but then there’s the paralogue, where Petra encourages Bernie to come to her homeland with her and Bernie realizes she wants to travel and see amazing things like carnivorous plants. This is fantastic character development for her and is a satisfying conclusion to her arc. I feel like most of Bernie’s endings involve her just reverting back to her hermit self instead of developing a balance between who she was at the beginning and who she’s grown into. I think Petra would offer to let her come to Brigid again, where she helps her navigate a new language and culture. Bernie’s anxiety is still bad but Petra has been in her position and can offer advise and reassurance. Petra is also patient and would give Bernie a safe little house near the carnivorous plants for her to retreat to when overwhelmed. It becomes both of their refuge, with Petra taking time away from her regal duties to spend time with Bernie and her art and her stories. Whether it’s romantic or platonic is up to preference but I low-key ship them 😏

[dreamwritesimagines]

“But the aftermath of the dispute? That you had not known about, until now.” yeah.....nope, that’s not common either you effin rabbits LMAO. i’m kidding, good on them but now TALK! “You were sleeping very heavily.” OH SHUT UP LAKSLKAS stop he’s so smug i hate him. NOT THE SCRATCH MARKS ALSKALKS. these Obsessed Harlots™️ oh my gosh they really did Get It On™️ last night huh jfc. they need a jug of holy water if i’m honest.  “I am very much pleased with myself,” of course you are. you’re not called Anthony Whore™️ Bridgerton for nothing lmao. “I won’t mind fights if they end the way they did last night.” further proves my precious statement akslaks he’s still so smug about it even paragraphs later lmao. but gosh, the latest Whistledown honestly just annoyed me but lol gossip is gossip and never had it ever been the truth.

“Until then there is something we must talk of, now that you mentioned implications.” THANK U. FINALLY. “There’s not a fight in the world that can make me stop loving you.” SEE WHAT I MEAN WHEN THEY WOULD JUST TALK. good things comes to those who Communicate™️ !!! and also, i’m actually so impressed with Anthony here alskaslk i mean it’s the bare minimum i know and i know he’s always been mature, he had to grow up early unfortunately. but he’s being so open and patient and reassuring and just very Adult™️ like he’s the one instigating that they should talk about it instead of sweeping it under the rug. and he doesn’t mind reminding Cherie that he loves her, and that night was just one mistake that will never happen again AND i’m sure he won’t hesitate to remind her over and over until it sticks.

“I will never break your heart again. No matter how many arguments or fights we have. Your heart is in good hands my love. I will make sure of that every day for the rest of my life.” MY HEAAAAAAART “I’m sorry.” i’m so fucking happy i actually could cry. THE BABIES ARE GROWING UP. MATURITY & CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT WE LOVE TO SEE IT <;3 “That will never happen to us. You will never even hear the word divorce from me.” awwww look at them <333 who knew all they needed was to let out that steam with some Good Angry Sex™️ so they can have that sweet sweet talk afterwards <3 alskalsk

“Do you need Lucie right now?” aaah Iona you precious bean. she deserves to have her moment with Lucie. they’re so cute <;3 “They both spent the night at the Trenlove household.” i am both worried and intrigued. “Seething in anger, and yet he remains quiet about it as if nothing happened.” i can’t explain it, but this really really sounds soooo much like Percy lmao. it’s Percycore™️ to act unbothered even if he’s not.

“Asked not to be disturbed, but that does not apply to us. Go ahead.” LMAO I LOVE THAT. i love Aunt Lavinia so much, she literally kicks ass and takes no shit and she lets her brother know that he might be a duke or whatever, but she’s still in charge. ALSO THE WAY CHERIE AND PERCY GREETED EACH OTHER WAS SO CUTE. i’m so happy that their father-daughter bond is growing strong <;3 “You’ve read Whistledown.” omg lol i keep forgetting that Percy is always ALWAYS in with the gossip too lmao. add secret gossiper in the Percycore™️ list

“Yesterday morning. When he came here for Elias.” AWWW PERCY AND ANTHONY BOND <3 i need more of this duo i swear they’d be so powerful together.

“That was the reason why she danced with me for the first time, she wanted to see what made me tick.” awww :// my Perssandra heart </3 they would’ve been so so good together. “She knew more about me than I care to admit by the time the dance was over.” or perhaps you immediately felt intrigued and Enamored™️ by her from the very start, prolly even safe that it made you open up without realizing maybeeee??? tbh i’d read a whole novel of Perssandra even if it ends in tragedy alkslkas

“Do you want to guess what he would do to the person he hates?” thank u Percy. always my voice of reason aslkaslakls. you and Elias are really helping my sanity here LMAO. “Perhaps you and Anthony should go back to Aubrey Hall, finish the season earlier.” but we want the juicy drama Percy! come on! imagine if Cherie told him that if they did do that, he’d have a grandchild before the season ends. he’d have a heart attack lakslaks

“But you’re not alone in this, do you hear me? Whatever we do, we do it as a family and we will make sure we’re unharmed in this.” *clears throat* we’re all in this together sorry sorry alskalska but he’s so right and he should say it. they’re such a powerful family if you really think about it. like their skills and knowledge just go together so well.

“But he didn’t force me to apply the parliament for divorce, did he? That was all my doing.” AW NO PERCY stop this is making me sad :(((( he’s still living with that guilt after all these years. and it hurts to think that he probably always will until the end of his days. bc he’s not really wrong either. it was the lack in trust he had with Cassie that broke her at the end of the day. sure, Frederick was Cassie’s childhood friend i think it was, of course it hurt that he’d started all those rumors. but i don’t think it would’ve compared to just how painful it was when Percy himself started believing it. “It was my actions that put your mother through hell at the end of the day.” see what i meaaan. ugh we love a man who takes responsibility of his own actions. “She didn’t blame you.” // “She should have.” STOP MY HEART UGH. but Cherie is so sweet about it tho. and she’s also right, Percy doesn’t need to be so hard on himself. he did try to make it right, he realized and learned from his mistakes. he’s still a good man and a good father. “My mother was very adamant in not giving the past enough power to drown you. I’m following that advice, so should you.” hear hear!!

“It almost sounded like a business deal.” well, it is, to be honest. especially to most. Cherie and Cece are one of the lucky ones bc of the love marriage and that they managed to have husbands who wouldn’t care about it. “I want whatever you’ll give me my love.” UGH THEY’RE SO CUTE.

“No one is to even enter the hallway, we must be alone.” OOH IT’S ABOUT TO GET JUICY. “My father lost all our money to Frederick.” Oh? “Fred*rick committed fraud.” OH?? “And both fraud and forgery are capital crimes.” YES GET HIS ASS IN FUCKING JAIL!!! i knew he was a silmey piece of shit. fucking hell he didn’t even have honest money??? “Elias doesn’t like it, and neither will you two but I think you should hear it nonetheless.” oh god....right, let’s hear this then. “and the best way to hurt you is through Anthony.” Cece....i’m with you and i’m still staying with u (barely) but i’m frickin worried. “He was saying how you had a temper like your mother, and how that would be an issue down the road.” the fucking gall of this man. and he claims he loves Cassie when he’s speaking ill of her when she’s already dead? jfc.

“If he believed you were on the verge of a divorce.” WAIT WHAT. “No. That’s not happening. We’re not even discussing that.” // “Exactly!” Thank you! I’m trying to—” i’m sorry but i’m with the boys here !!!! “But it would make Frederick suffer and die.” of course she’s up for it ugh. this is not going to end well. “it was the perfect plan.” NO IT’S NOT. it’s a plan, a decent one, no dangerous one. BUT IT’S NOT PERFECT. IT’S STILL BAD. “Just like what your mother would have wanted.” oof, i’m not too sure about that.

“Mother would never want you to go through that hell. You’re fooling yourself if you believe otherwise.” I AM WITH YOU ELIAS I AM SO SO WITH YOU. i sure as hell know that Cassie would never ever approve of this. like she’s spent all her life protecting Cherie, she took Cherie AWAY to France so she could preserve her innocence and keep her safe and so she didn’t have to deal with the scrutiny of the ton growing up and they’re going to do this?? which is the exact same thing Cassie worked so hard to prevent and shield Cherie from?? do we really think she would put revenge above the safety, security, mental and emotional health of her own daughter? 

“Great, then it’ll be my fault.” oh god, oh no. UGH HE’S SO PROTECTIVE IT HURTS. Anthony your hero complex is showing alkslask but he might be onto something here. on one hand, it will keep Cherie away from ruin. they never blame the man as heavily when it comes to infidelity unfortunately. but not quite thooooo bc that won’t erase the fact that the ton will still blame the woman in this. i mean hello, it’s the 18th century, misogyny at it’s peak. they will still gossip about her, say things like 'something must be wrong with her' etc. or ‘she’s not as strong as she is to hold down a rake’ yada yada and hello?? the in the first scene alone Cherie was the one who cared so much about the Whistledown paper and what the ton thinks, are we really sure she can brave this on without crumbling under the pressure??? i know she’s thick skinned, she’s been raised that way. and i know she can take this with her head high especially if she knows the full truth. but people still have limits and when they’re going to be the talk of the town day after day after day, negative comments after the other, saying bad things about your marriage, your husband, about you, someone’s going to break at some point. WHICH IS WHY I STILL DON’T THINK THIS IS A GOOD IDEA.

I HAVEN’T EVEN MENTIONED CHERIE’S INSECURITIES !!!! I mean they JUST talked about it at the start and ugh. I CAN POKE SO MANY HOLES INTO THIS PLANS. miscommunication? misunderstanding? insecurities??? what if the problem will stem from inside the house a.k.a. Cherie and Anthony having an actual quarrel??? what if Cherie starts thinking that Anthony is actually starting to regret the marriage for real??? and this is the perfect excuse for him to be a “rake” in the guise as a ruse???? i know she trusts him and everything but ugggh INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS CAN BE SO CRUEL. Cherie i am keeping a heavy eye on you here. You know this is part of the plan. i swear if you start not being able to separate fact from fiction, i swear if you start villainizing Anthony again I SWEAR.

“You’re the devil incarnated, that’s what you are. Every time I see you I have the urge to throw holy water at you.” ELIAS LMAAAAAOO I LOVE THIS LINE SO MUCH. “Yeah Cece, he needs to know because I need to stay alive for this plan to work.” THAT’S WHAT I WAS THINKING LMAO. do we really think Percy won’t run straight to Anthony with a fucking shotgun in hand when he finds out about him being unfaithful and doesn’t know it’s a ruse??? “No, Anthony makes a good point for once.” FOR ONCE. I CACKLED. he HAD to get that in there to balance out his compliment LMAO. he can’t show love to his boy unless it’s a bit backhanded. i love these two so much.

“Very well then. Let’s pretend to hate each other.” ugh, it’s fake enemies now huh. i can’t believe Elias is the only one who at least had a bit of braincell in this. the plan COULD work, but it also could go wrong on so many levels i caaan’t. but sigh, they’re going to pretend they don’t like each other behind close doors too for the staff. i wonder how that’s going to affect their nightly activities when they can’t even be a foot near each other with out jumping each other’s bones LMAO. maybe this is a good lesson for them, a moment of celibacy bc they’ve been going at it like rabbits. BUT AH. i want this plan to work so that Fuckwad™️ can finally die very unpeacefully, but i’m also so scared this would blow up in their facessss. but gosh, we’re almost near the end, bittersweet but i can’t wait!!!

– TM Anon™️

Omg darliiing hiiii! 😱😍❤ Oh I’m so exciteeeed! ❤

Loll Cherie probably feels like she unlocked a hidden aspect of fighting 😂 And they really did!😈

Holy water omg😂

Anthony Whore™ Bridgerton YOU ARE RIGHT AND YOU SHOULD SAY IT😂 I think he was smug for the whole day 😂

Exactlyyy! I think it changed a lot of things that Anthony wanted to talk to her that morning ❤ Like, he actually assured her that he would never cheat on her and that fights/arguments don’t mean a relationship is doomed, and she needed to hear that ❤

Character development is so much fuuun, I love it! ❤

Iona and Lucie miss each other a lot now that Cherie is living in Bridgerton house! ❤

Percycore™ I AM SCREAMING AT THIS YES! 😂 Percy would never let anyone see how he really feels about Frederick’s return💔

Aunt Lavinia and Cherie are so similar in that aspect! ❤ Like, I’m sure when Elias becomes the duke, Cherie will still not care about his title at all😂 She can come and go to his study as she wishes 😂

Percy and Cherie are on much better terms and they’re growing closer ❤

Percy and Anthony as a duo, that would be amazing! ❤ They’d make quite the team😂

Awww Percy was enamored by Cassie for sure, even when they first danced❤ He was head over heels by the time the dance was over ❤

tbh i’d read a whole novel of Perssandra even if it ends in tragedy alkslkas Honeeey, this is incredibly sweet of you to say! 😍❤

Lolll if Percy heard he’d have a grandchild…😂 He’d get so emotional! ❤

🎶We’re all in this together🎶

They do make a very powerful family❤ If only Cassie were there too, they’d be unstoppable❤

Oh yes, Percy will feel guilty about what happened until his last breath 💔 Cassie was the love of his life, and she actually loved him and trusted him only for him to believe Frederick and stab her in the back with that whole divorce thing💔 He will try his hardest to make everything perfect for Elias and Cherie but deep down, that guilt will never go away ❤

Yesss exactly! Like, normally Elias and Anthony were supposed to care about “having heirs” and all that but they’re both so in love with Cece and Cherie that they couldn’t care less about the gender of the baby, which was quite uncommon back in those days ❤

He deserves jail for all the pain he caused Cassie alone, and fraud and forgery were like, unforgivable crimes back in Georgian and Victorian era 😈 I feel like Frederick thinks he was the only one who could “handle” Cassie’s temper and they’d have a happier marriage than Cassie and Percy….he’s that delusional 😏

i sure as hell know that Cassie would never ever approve of this. like she’s spent all her life protecting Cherie, she took Cherie AWAY to France so she could preserve her innocence and keep her safe and so she didn’t have to deal with the scrutiny of the ton growing up and they’re going to do this?? which is the exact same thing Cassie worked so hard to prevent and shield Cherie from?? THIS! THIIIIS!

This is so so true! 😍❤  This whole plan goes against everything Cassie tried to keep her away from; Frederick, the ton’s relentless criticism and all those rumors 💔 And the difference is that, Cassie knew exactly what all that could do to a person, Cherie might think she knows but she has no idea yet 😏

Like, all those rumors surrounding her when she first arrived in London? They would be nothing compared to what’s about to happen 😈

Yessss! The way ton would talk about Anthony’s infidelity is sooo so different than the rumors that would happen if Cherie’s loyalty was in question 😱 No one would ever outcast Anthony from the ton, there wouldn’t be any backlash at all –it would be seen as something normal even, considering the era— there would even be people supporting it 💔

If Cherie did it, on the other hand? She could never go back from that, ever 💔

in the first scene alone Cherie was the one who cared so much about the Whistledown paper and what the ton thinks, are we really sure she can brave this on without crumbling under the pressure??? Oh this is a really good question😏

I mean they JUST talked about it at the start and ugh. I CAN POKE SO MANY HOLES INTO THIS PLANS. miscommunication? misunderstanding? insecurities??? what if the problem will stem from inside the house a.k.a. Cherie and Anthony having an actual quarrel??? what if Cherie starts thinking that Anthony is actually starting to regret the marriage for real???

I’m so glad you brought that up love! 😱 So for now, Cherie thinks she can totally handle it but it’s definitely not going to be as easy as she thinks, especially when the insecurities hit her ❤ Cassie wasn’t nearly as coddled or sheltered from bad things as her, and even she found it so difficult to handle it, so both Anthony and Cherie will have to be very careful with this, they’re playing with fire there❤

Loll Anthonias brotp is so fuuun!❤ If they didn’t let Percy know about the plan though, that would go really bad for Anthony for sure 😂

Fake dating is out, fake enemies is in 😂

Oh that’s going to affect their nightly activities, especially because they can’t be seen in the same room so they’ll have to sneak around and they can’t be heard having fun either 😏 

Last 3 chapters! It’ll be a rollercoaster, I hope you will like it! ❤

Darling, thank you so so much for this, you’re absolutely amazing! ❤❤ You’ve made my day with this, ILYSM! ❤❤❤

[buckys-black-dress]

inked

a/n: here she is!!! while i work on afl, here is my crackfic on tattoo artist bucky!! if u haven’t caught on yet, most of my writing is au’s because of all the possibilites in terms of scenarios and storylines. anyways, i hope you enjoy, lovies!!! xoxo, ali <3

wc: 2.8k 

[tattoo artist!bucky x fem!reader]

-

It was like an addiction. 

Your first tattoo you got was simple. It was a dainty, small one on your wrist.

But now, it was slowly developing into a sleeve.

Not that you minded, though. Your forearm was slowly becoming filled with designs that you kept going back and getting here and there.

And at the tattoo parlor near your apartment in Brooklyn, you had become a regular at this point.

It was called B&R Tattoo Shop, and it was run by two of the kindest, but most attractive men you’ve ever met. 

You’ve come to find out after getting to know the owners, that they opened the shop a bit after they returned from their second tour in the army and wanted to settle back in their hometown.  

Steve and James were hospitable to you, especially when they first met you. Steve was the one to meet you and speak with you at first, but he handed you off to James, or Bucky as he asked you to call him, because he was the artist at their shop that specialized in more of what you were looking for in terms of style. 

As far as first tattoo conversations go, you and Bucky got to know each other pretty well in one session. The tattoo itself took less than an hour, but it felt like Bucky was... prolonging it in a way, like he wanted to keep you there longer.

As you swung open the door of the shop, you were greeted by their piercer, Natasha. 

“Hey, back for another already?” She smirks from her spot behind the desk. While she wasn’t piercing, she usually worked the front if there was no one else free.

Your first tattoo had been done by Bucky, and you instantly fell in love.

With the tattoo. 

Well, Bucky too. Just a little bit.

He was extremely soothing and eased you into the process of tattooing you. He told you when something was going to happen, and as soon as you got used to the feeling of the needle against your skin. 

The more he talked to you, the less pain you felt. It was already not that painful, but you almost forgot about it with him talking to you. When he looked up to you as he finished, you looked like a confused puppy.

“Okay, all done, doll.” Bucky looked up at you, moving to turn off his machine.

“Oh... that was fast.” You furrowed your brows.

“Well, yeah, we moved pretty fast since it was a pretty small piece.” He explains, grabbing a paper towel and the anti-bacterial spray.

“Do you mind if I take a quick picture of it? I usually do, for my portfolio.” Bucky asks, inspecting the tattoo closely once again.

“Oh, yeah, that’s fine.” You wait for him to pull out his camera, take the picture, and he comes back with a piece of plastic film in his hand.

“Okay, so this saniderm has to stay on for about three days. This is how it’ll heal, and when you take it off just wash it up with a gentle soap and use a cream without any fragrance or any of that crap. I can give you a little of that spray if you wanna use it to clean it up if you ever feel like it’s dirty.” Bucky explains, giving you a mini bottle of the antibacterial spray.

“Thank you,” you say, moving to sit up in the chair. “How much do I owe you?”

“Uh, just about $40.” Bucky says without eye contact, heading to the computer at the front counter.

“$40? That’s it? When I signed the waiver it said the shop minimum was $75...?” You wonder out loud.

“Let’s just say you get a special discount, doll.” He smirks, typing something into the computer and only sparing you a glance.

“O-Oh. Alright.” You say sheepishly, handing him your credit card.

“Okay, you’re all set. Hopefully I’ll see you again soon.” He tells you with a gentle smile. It really contrasted his aura; a big, beefy guy with a metal prosthetic arm, covered in probably hundreds of tattoos. But here he was, smiling like sunshine.

“I think I will be. Have a nice day, Bucky.” 

“You too, sweetheart.” He gives you that smirk again, making you feel like you might actually pass out. And not because you just had a needle jabbed into your skin for almost an hour.

“Uh, I already talked to Bucky for my session today. I know I’m a bit early, I can wait if he’s still working on someone else.” You tell Natasha with a smile.

“Sure, let me get you your waiver.” She says, and you plop down into one of the chairs at the front and pulling out your book to pass time after filling out the form.

After a few minutes, Bucky emerges with a girl from his little tattooing corner.

You hear his voice first, looking up from the book while he talks to her.

“Okay, since this was your first piece and pretty small, I’ll only charge ya $55 for it, doll.” Bucky tells the girl with a smile, and you immediately feel a pang in your chest.

You didn’t want to say you were jealous, but goddamn it, your breathing became just a little more shallow at the sight you were currently witnessing.

Even Natasha and Steve turned their heads to him, confused looks on both of their faces.

“Oh! Y/N, you’re here! C’mon back, I’m sure Nat already set you up with your waiver.” You nod, not saying a word as you follow him to the familiar chair.

“So, are we still doing what we discussed on the phone?” Bucky asks, setting up his area to tattoo you.

“Actually, I was thinking something different.” You say sharply.

“Different?” The shock is evident on his features. 

“Yeah. Different. Just want a little something on my collarbone.” You say, sitting down. 

“O-Okay... what were you thinking of?” He asks, pulling out his sketchbook.

“I want an olive branch, going from here to here.” You show him where you want it to start and end. It was a bit of a stretch right across the left side of your chest. “Something simple and minimal. I’ve been thinking of starting the top of my sleeve, this might be a good way to transition into it.” You say nonchalantly.

“Uhm... alright. How does this look?” Bucky asks, showing you his sketch. “I would, of course, add more detail to your liking, just let me know.” 

“Yeah, I want some more shading, please.” You say shortly. You honestly weren’t trying to be mean, but you were irritated.

But in the end, you really had no right to be. 

After almost ten sessions with Bucky, he hasn’t made any indication that he likes you the way you like him.

Sure, he calls you pet names, but he does that to everyone. Even discounts. You weren’t special. He was just being nice and doing his job.

So honestly, you had to cut the act here.

“Are you sure this is what you want? Are you saving the other design for our next session?” Bucky asks, growing more and more concerned with your odd behavior. Usually you would talk to him about your day, how work was, really anything. 

“I don’t know. I think I might ask Steve to do that one instead.” You say out of spite, more than anything. You would never take a design that Bucky made specially for you to another person to tattoo on you, even if it was his own business partner.

“Wha- Why? Did I do something? You’ve been acting really weird today...” Bucky questions you carefully. “Talk to me, doll. Did you have a bad day at work?”

But that, that right there, was your breaking point. Doll. 

“No, I’m fine. Let’s just get this done.” You huff, laying down after nodding to the sketch that Bucky drew out. 

Bucky’s brows furrowed even further, but didn’t ask any more questions. He laid down the stencil and asked if the placement was alright. You looked in the mirror he handed you and nodded briefly. 

The entire time Bucky had the machine in his hand, neither of you spoke a word. He tried to make brief conversation, but you only responded with a hum or nod. 

When he finally finished up, you got up and headed to the counter without a word after looking at the finished tattoo in the mirror. 

Your face was blank, emotionless, and Bucky was truly lost. 

After you paid the full price of your piece, you walked out of the shop, not even sparing anyone a glance. 

Once you left, the shop was dead silent. Everyone either just finished up with a client or didn’t have any at the moment, and the shop was blanketed in an extremely uncomfortable silence.

“What the hell was that, man?” Sam’s voice broke the silence, making Bucky’s head snap towards him. 

“I-I... I have no idea. She was acting so...so weird today.” Bucky looked more confused than ever.

“You’re an idiot, you know that?” Natasha’s voice cuts through the palpable silence.

“Wh- What the hell did I do? I asked her too, and she didn’t give me an answer...” Bucky mumbles.

“Do you like her?” She fires back with a fire in her eyes.

“W-Well, yeah. She’s a regular.” Bucky answers, looking at his fiddling hands.

“Not like that, you dunce. You know what I mean, don’t act dumb.” Natasha rolls her eyes.

Bucky sighs, not making eye contact yet again.

“I-... I do like her.” He says. “But I don’t think she feels the same.” 

“Jesus fucking Christ... You really are a dumbass.” Sam sighs out.

Steve snorts at his words, nodding in agreement.

“Buck, she got jealous.” He explains, shaking his head at his best friend’s obliviousness.

“J-Jealous? Of what?” Bucky scoffs in shock.

“That girl you had right before her. Gave her a discount, called her pet names. The whole shabang.” Natasha points out to him. “Also, you gotta stop giving out discounts like that. You’ll lose more money than you’re makin’.” Natasha scoffs. 

“Wh- But... She never said anything...?” Bucky thinks back to all the times you’ve sat in his chair. You never made any indication that you were outwardly interested in him.

“I think she said enough today without actually saying much.” Steve laughs. His friend was a real idiot.

“I... But, why didn’t she say anything before?” Bucky asked.

“Buck, you never said anything either. I guess that when she heard you talk to that girl like that, she thought you really didn’t like her like that at all. You treated that girl the same way you treat her.” Natasha explains to Bucky, who had a look of realization on his face.

“But... I was just... being nice...” He says with his head in his hands. 

“Well, now she thinks you do that with all you clients, so...” Sam says, making the brunet’s head shoot up.

“Fuck. Fuck. I fucked up everything!” He exclaims. “I-I do like her!” 

“Well, don’t tell us that, tell her!” Sam shouts back to him, and before Bucky can process, he’s pulling out his phone and dialing your phone number.

“C’mon, pick up, pick up,” He mumbles repeatedly, but the call goes to voicemail. “Fuck.”

“Not pickin’ up?” Steve questions, coming to the front and picking up the shop phone. “Gimme her number, she’s doesn’t have to shop saved to her phone, right?” 

“No, I don’t think she does.” Bucky says, watching as Steve dials your number.

“Hello?” Your voice sounds annoyed as it filters through the phone. “Who’s this?” 

“Uh, Y/N! Hi!” Steve speaks, looking at Bucky in a panic, his facial expression screaming, ‘talk to her!’ 

“Steve? What’s up?” You ask, wondering what he needed. 

“You uhh... you forgot your book here!” He blurts out, trying to find an excuse, but quickly found one upon seeing your book resting on the seat where you were waiting. 

“O-Oh... I guess I’ll just turn around. I’ll be there in a few. Thanks, Steve.” You say, ready to hang up.

“O-Okay. Bye, Y/N.” He clears his throat, hanging up. “You have like, ten minutes to get your shit together and talk to her when she gets here. Good luck.” Steve pats Bucky on the shoulder, ready to haul Natasha and Sam to the back to give you two some privacy.

Bucky thought that this was the longest ten minutes of his life, and he was trying to conjure up a speech in his head to confess to you.

Finally, when you did appear through the doors, you looked lost. You only saw Bucky, which made you even more aggravated from the fact that you had to turn back around.

You were ready to head home and wallow in peace, but alas, you wanted your book. 

Bucky just watched as you picked up the book from his grasp across the desk, your eyes not meeting his while he kept his gaze on you very intently. 

Just as you turned around to leave, Bucky’s voice cut through the unbearable silence.

“Y/N?” He simply asks, and you feel like the wind’s been knocked out of your lungs at the sound of his small voice. This wasn’t the Bucky you knew and... loved.

“Yes, James?” You simply respond, and Bucky cringes at the sound of his first name being used. 

“Can I talk to you for a second?”

“...Why? Is everything alright?” And although your voice didn’t give it away, you felt your heart drop to your stomach. Any possible scenario popped into your head. He has a girlfriend. He’s gonna tell you he doesn’t wanna see you anymore. He-

“E-Everything’s fine, doll. Just wanted to tell you that... That I...” Bucky’s voice sounded strained, like there was something caught in his throat.

“Bucky, just spit it out.” You say, wanting to leave already.

“It’s just- I like you. A lot. And I’m so sorry for earlier with that other client. I was just trying to be nice, but I realized how that looked to you, and I never thought anything of it because I didn’t know if you liked me back or-” Bucky was rambling, and your eyes were wide as saucers.

“Bucky, Bucky stop. Let me talk before you drive your own head in with conclusions,” you say, resting your hand on top of his on the desk.

“I like you a lot, too. I didn’t think you like me either because of that girl before me. You just- you treated her the same way you treated me, and I got jealous. I know I didn’t have the right to be, but it just made me think that... that you didn’t feel the same way about me, that I was just another client to you. I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions, and also for being kind of a bitch to you...” Now you were the one rambling, your hands flying all over the place in explanation.

“D-Doll, I never wanted to make you feel that way. I’m sorry, too. I should’ve told you before, before I almost blew everything with you that we’ve been building these past months.” He says placing one large tattooed hand and one metal hand on the sides of your face. “But I’m not gonna miss my chance again. Y/N, would you like to go on a date with me?”

“I-I would love to, Bucky. Took you long enough to ask me.” You giggle, holding onto the hands on your face.

“Yeah, well, I’m kind of an idiot, if you haven’t already noticed.” He laughs, gazing into your eyes with a look that almost turned you to mush in his hands. 

“Do... do ya wanna go now?” You ask, nodding your head to the door.

“Sure, let me go grab my jacket from the back.” He tells you, and you nod, watching as he keeps his eyes on you until he disappears to the back.

“My man, who would’ve thought you’d finally man up?” Sam ridicules him as soon as Bucky appears.

“Dude, shut up. I got a date to get to, see you losers later.” He rolls his eyes, moving back out where you’re smiling at him.

“Ready, angel?” Bucky asks, slipping his hand into yours.

“Ready, handsome.” You reply, and as soon as you step out into the fall air, you plant a kiss on his cheek. “Where to, lover boy?”

[satorinni]

𝕞𝕦𝕥𝕖

track 18: feelings?

Kenma has never really been a people person. Yeah, over the years he’s gotten better with ‘human interaction’ , but he would still prefer to be alone. There were very few people whose company he didn’t mind, and recently he had been contemplating whether you should be added to the list. Though that idea has been teetering in and out of his mind given the fact you two hadn’t actually hung out in person.  Actually, save for the one pants-less interaction, neither of you had ever been in the same room together. But still, he kinda likes you. More than a friend, he’d like to think. Though the idea scared the fuck out of him, he would actually like to take you on a real date. One that didn’t result in your dinner being up in flames. 

Maybe he’d even take you to a cutesy café in Tokyo. Like the one he was currently sitting in. Eating apple pie. Across from a girl. A girl who definitely wasn’t you. 

“Honestly, I don’t know why you didn’t just become a model.” After the photoshoot, Etsuko insisted on getting a bite to eat. Something about wanting to catch up because it’s been a whole year. He didn’t really understand why, he knew for a fact Kuroo called her every time something juicy happened to him. Whatever that meant. Besides, he couldn’t turn down a slice of his favorite food.

“Because wearing stupid clothes and standing in front of a camera for hours is not my ideal career, ‘Tsuko.” He took another bite of what was left of his slice. He’s glad he chose to sit in a booth away from the windows, he had already been recognized twice on the way here. It’s why he did his best to avoid walking through the city. Especially dressed like this.

“C’mon, Kenmaaaa, the button up is cute. You look like a businessman.” She snorts through her smoothie straw. 

“I am a businessman. I’m quite literally a CEO.” He gives her a deadpan stare before taking a sip from his own milkshake. “I don’t know how your rooster boy manages to wear this stupid getup 24/7. I’m suffocating in these slacks.” He’d been pulling at the tight-fitting pants all day, but the magazine suggested he look professional for the shoot.

“What’s the matter, Kenma? Too much junk in the front?” Etsuko wiggles her eyebrows at him. She always did have the dirtiest mind. 

“Gross, ‘tsuko.” He squints at her and shakes his head. 

“Speaking of your little fella, when was the last time you got laid, baby boy?” Despite her suggestive tone, Kenma knew she was genuinely curious. She was the one who told him what sex was anyway. Gross, he shudders at the memory. 

“Is that an offer, ‘Tsuko?” He knew it wasn’t, and he knew even if it was the answer would be no, but he was deflecting. 

“Only if you let me post it on the hub.” She winks at him and slurps at her empty cup for emphasis. “Quit deflecting, Kenma, I heard about your lil boo thang.” She cracks up at her own joke and asks the waiter for a refill. 

Kenma scrunches his nose in disgust. “Don’t call her that.” Yeah, you guys weren’t dating, and yeah, you probably didn’t even know he liked you, but still. 

“Look at you, defending her honor, how sweet.” She mockingly shakes her head at every word. “I heard you stole her from little rooster boy.” She leans in towards him, like it was some big secret.

“Of course he exaggerated that, he’s the one who set her food on fire. Besides, she texted me first.” He recounts the way he freaked the fuck out when he saw you texted him. His demeanor was always more calm over the internet, probably why he had millions of fans, but he was still an antisocial wreck IRL.

“Ahh, so she’s ballsy, huh. Who knew little Kenma liked bold girls? Tell me about her.” She leans her head into her palm. To anyone else she would’ve dropped it already, losing interest. But this was Kenma, she was always poking her nose into his business. 

“She’s a med student, same age as me. Friend of a friend, I guess. “ He shrugs. He figured that would keep her dormant enough to change the subject. 

“You got yourself a smarty pants. Cute, but that’s not what I wanted to know.” She raises her eyebrow at him. “Do you like her? Is this just a hump and dump? You gonna marry her?” Her eyes got wider with every question, it kinda freaked him out. 

Damn, he thought he could dodge it, but Etsie has always been super pushy. “I don’t know. I mean I'm definitely not gonna hit it & quit it. I haven’t even hung out with her for real.  And dude, I’m 23, m’not thinking about marrying anyone at the moment.” He held his breath and figured that was enough. He was not ready to admit it out loud yet.

“Ah ah ah, you skipped a question, baby boy.” She gives him a devilish grin and leans in even closer. “I won’t tell a soul.”

Okay, even if she was a bit much, Etsuko never spilled Kenma’s secrets. To anyone. Not even Kuroo. But it wasn’t that he didn’t trust her. It was just... Was he ready to admit he had feelings? It's only been a few months, and he hadn’t even spoken to you in person. So what if he texted and called you 24/7? Wouldn’t it be too early? You’d probably be freaked out if he went ahead and confessed his feelings so early on. 

Ah, fuck it. 

“Yeah, ‘Tsuko. I like her. Like a lot. She’s funny as hell, smart as shit, and she gets me. Plus she’s the prettiest girl I’ve ever met. Like, prettier than you.” He knows that would probably offend any other girl, but he was only ever straight up with ‘Tsuko.

“EEK!” Etsuko lets out a pig squeal that has other customers staring in confusion. She balls her fists up and starts shaking aggressively. “My baby boy has a crush! EEK! I’m so proud of you.” She leans over the whole table and grabs Kenma’s face, placing a loud kiss on his forehead. 

He flicks her forehead and smiles. “Shut up, it’s not like this is the first crush I’ve ever had.”

“I take pride in being your first crush, little bro.” She places her hand on her chest in mock pain, but the grin on her face exposes itself. 

“When you put it like that it sounds like incest. I was 8, you weirdo. ” Both were true, when Kenma first met Etsuko he developed a crush on her. (Mostly because she was the only girl who he’d ever interacted with.) It only lasted a month anyway; he eventually got annoyed with how much her and her brother were at his house. Now, after 15 years of being stuck with Kuroo, Kenma could only ever see them both as the siblings he never had. 

“Still, I was your first love, Kenma.” She looks off dramatically into the distance, as if she was having a flashback.

“You’re gay.” The smirk on his face gives off his slight amusement with her stupidly dramatic antics. 

“Now, “ She slams her hands on the table, causing more people to stare and the silverware to rattle, “Aren’t you going to ask me about my lovelife?” 

“No, I don’t care.” He snorts at the hurt look on her face. 

“Well, my girlfriend is doing WONDERFUL, Kozume Kenma, thanks for asking.” She crosses her arms and sticks her nose in the air.

“Yeah, whatever, you’re paying.” He pulls out his phone to see if there are any texts from you. On cue, the notification on his phone displays your name. He grins down at the unopened text, not even bothering to hide his happiness from Etsuko. 

Mid-rant about how he should pay because he’s got all the money, she stops and stares at him. A soft smile appears on her face, a swell of pride shoots through her. She only ever saw Kenma as a baby brother, and was genuinely happy for his growth over the years. 

Suddenly, Kenma’s phone flashes with your contact, a facetime call from you. 

“I gotta take this.” He moves to sit up, but looks up at Etsuko at the last second. 

She grins and nods towards the door. 

“Go get em, tiger.”

𝕡𝕒𝕚𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘: kozume kenma x medstudent!f!reader

𝕥𝕒𝕘𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥: send an ask to be added!

𝕤𝕪𝕟𝕠𝕡𝕤𝕚𝕤: enroute to being a neurosurgeon, y/n l/n doesn’t have time for fun, let alone dating. after her friends set her up on a blind date gone wrong, she comes face 2 face with none other than her date’s best friend. her world flips on axis, and suddenly she has no idea how her brain works, or love-at-first-sight.

𝕒/𝕟: this was probably rlly poorly written LMFOAD

taglist!

@katsuki-bakuhoee @sirachano0dles @qwir-0 @sailorstrawberi @calumsfringe @oppositesunchild @akioaly @aikochan4859 @drownedbytears @buttermasterbillie @vvenusblue @bluefaeriefury @ktzuki @mirikusashes @tsukibaby @toaster-stick @woohoney @just-snog-already @adorable-punk-superheroes @nikanikabitch @starrywriteshaikyuu @acabbaybee @theblueslytherin @sakusasupremacist @waywardcowboyllamavoid @rintaoreo @immxnty @noliamallpayne @sadcosmicdoggie @aizumii @c-o-n-q-u-e-r @sunahyejin @zaedynnn @triskoof @bakugouswh0r3 @ilauvcoldpizza @tina-98 @izzy28901 @kookie-doughs @black-rose-29 @moonlightaangel @kakamihasatmblr

[whattheheehaw]

Hi! I’m sorry you’re getting shitty anons about this and you’re probably sick of it so I apologise for asking this but I’m genuinely curious what made you start actively disliking zutara? Like, considering how much excellent and insightful content/meta you yourself used to make/write? I get that interests change over time and you’re totally valid!! the anons sending you hate over it are really dumb, but if you’d be ok with sharing, I’d be really interested in hearing why you’ve done almost a complete 180 on the ship? Was is just burnout/end of a hyper-obsession? Or was it some of us in the rest of the fandom that turned you off? Or was it even something about the ship/characters themselves that you changed your mind about? xx

In short, it was a combination of burnout, dissatisfaction with fandom, and disappointment in myself that caused my disinterest for Zvtara.

I got asks similar to this one a couple of times before, but I never gave a comprehensive answer, mainly because I didn't know how to articulate my reasons why I don't like it anymore. But now that I've been out of ZK fandom for a month and have had some time to reflect, I think I can give a much more thorough response. Beware, this is long and I heavily critique the Zvtara fandom, so if you're a ZK shipper, keep reading at your own risk.

My first minor annoyance with Zvtara is that the fandom has a tendency to idolize certain fics and creators. And while there’s certainly nothing inherently wrong about that, I feel like the Zvtara fandom does it to such an extent that it influences the type of content that content creators make in order to get recognition. And to illustrate my point, I’m going to talk about one of the most famous Zvtara fics of all time: Once Around The Sun by eleventy7.

Don’t get me wrong, I love OATS. I think it’s a great fanfic and I think the author devoted a lot of time and effort to make it such an excellent fic. The plot, the development of the characters and their relationships to one other, and the messages about family and love were all brilliantly written. I mean, there is a reason why it’s regarded as the “Zvtara Bible”. This one fanfic had such a profound impact upon the ZK fandom, and I think the biggest impact that came from it is the dramatic influx of post-war Zvtara AU fanfiction. 

Because so many people kept reading OATS and recommending it to others, I think there was an overall interest in ZK fics that take place in a post-war setting. And I think that all of the high praise towards OATS made more fic writers start to write post-war fanfics because of this demand for post-war AU.* I normally wouldn't complain about it because more content is more content, but in my opinion, 99% of ZK post-war fics are the same fic but in different fonts.

Like, there's at least 3 of these elements in every ZK post-war fanfic:

Ambassador Katara

An assassination attempt (usually on Zuko's life)

A healing scene between Zuko and Katara (usually Katara heals Zuko)

Aang and/or Mai is pushed to the side or vilified to some extent in order to make ZK happen

A private journey between Zuko and Katara to facilitate #6

S L O W B U R N (that's not really slowburn and more like "I love you and I very much want to be vocal about my feelings but #7 is in this fic" but the love story takes up like 30 chapters so I guess it's a slowburn?)

Zuko's advisers don't want him to get married to Katara because ✨racism✨

Ursa is found

Azula is in the fic because a) she's going to get a healing arc ft. Zuko and Katara and thereby helps them get together or b) she's the villain and thereby helps them get together

ZK wedding happens in the FN

After reading multiple post-war fics back to back, I could tell that the format was pretty much the same across the board, which isn't very interesting for me to read. My only other fic options in the Zvtara tag on AO3 are canon divergence fics which almost always take place during The Crossroads of Destiny or after The Southern Raiders. And to some extent, those stories are pretty much the same too. There's nothing really new or creative going on in the ZK fandom fic-wise, and because of that, my interest in ZK fandom started to dwindle.

My second issue with Zvtara is that it's a very old ship from a very old show. Because there's been 10+ years since the end of A:TLA, every nuanced point about shipping and the show itself have been talked to death.** There's just nothing new to say. It's the same arguments being rehashed over and over again in the tag because there's no other interpretation one can come up with.

For example, there's so many people who talk about why Zvtara as depicted in The Southern Raiders is not toxic and that's great and all, but I (and most likely many others) have read those same points about five times already. And for some reason, each time this happens, people act like someone just discovered the lost city of Atlantis when they bring up their new-but-not-new argument in defense of Zvtara. Honestly, I'm ashamed to say that I'm not exempt from being part of the group of people that reiterate old arguments. I've done it with one of my posts about The Southern Raiders and I've done it again with my Zutara/Omashu parallels post.

There's no new content to really dissect and analyze (especially considering Zuko and Katara are rarely in the same panel in any of the post-war comics), and because of this, people are just restating points that someone else made several years ago.*** And even if someone did have a different interpretation of an episode, their ideas would most likely be shut down because for the past several years, the same interpretation has been recycled through the fandom repeatedly and people are resistant to new perspectives.

This brings me to the third thing that I dislike about Zvtara: the insistence that there can only be one way to interpret The Southern Raiders. For the longest time, I've read take after take that said if Katara decided to kill Yon Rha, it would be ok because that's her grief to deal with and if she thinks that's the best way to mete out justice, then good for her. And again, I'm ashamed to say that I perpetuated that idea in a few of my own posts. I have always thought that "Katara killing Yon Rha is ok" is just a bad take in general, but I didn't want to vocalize that opinion when so many people—so many of the nice mutuals that I made—all shared that same opinion. Taking down a popular opinion of your own ship is completely different from taking down a popular opinion of a ship that you dislike. The Zvtara fandom is the first fandom that I was actually active in and I wanted to fit in so badly with everyone else that I just parroted whatever other people said, even if I didn't agree with those sentiments.

This leads me to my final reason why I don't want to be a part of ZK fandom anymore. I think I established myself as a "meta" person pretty early on and because of that, I constantly felt pressured to come up with new takes on the ship. And when people started flooding my ask box with stuff like "Can you write a meta about your thoughts on the idea that 'Zuko only took Katara on that field trip in TSR because he wanted her to forgive him'?" and "What are your thoughts about antis saying Zuko and Katara are toxic because of TSR?", I realized that I don't need to come up with new takes. People just want me to paraphrase something that 10 other people said about the same exact topic, because if I said what I actually thought about the subject (i.e. there is some truth in what antis say about TSR and it's not as much of a "Zvtara episode" that most people make it out to be), I'd probably get ZK shippers in the replies telling me that I'm wrong because x, y, and z or "you shouldn't tag this as Zvtara".

And that was pretty much how my love for ZK turned into disinterest. I was and still am disappointed that I didn't stick to my personal opinions. For as much as I talk about herd mentality on Twitter, I certainly don't practice what I preach. In all honesty, the only reason why I held on so long to ZK fandom was because I had so many nice mutuals there and we all shared this collective distaste for antis. I think I started to become more anti-Zvkka and anti-Kataang than pro-Zvtara, which isn't what I wanted to do when I made this Tumblr blog.

The thing that made me joke about becoming anti-Zvtara was the fact that some ZK shippers just like to send shitty anons to people whom they've reblogged countless different metas from. Sending shitty anons to people in the first place is wrong, but sending them to people who tagged their posts correctly and did nothing wrong is just disgusting.

*I'm not a fic writer and can't speak for fic writers, but it definitely feels like a lot of ZK fic authors are pushing themselves to write the next OATS, and by doing so, they are proliferating the tag with post-war fics that have very similar aspects to OATS.

**I think that as more people point out the same nuanced points about Zvtara, it diminishes the actual significance of those points. Like, it's hard to explain but the more people talk about the subtleties of the ship, the more those parts become glaringly obvious and I become numb to their actual impact on the characters and the show.

***At this point, if someone wanted to make a new argument about Zvtara, I think they would have to look very closely at every little detail in every single one of their scenes together to find a crumb of new meta material. And speaking from experience, it's not very fun trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. Whenever I post a "meta" like that, I feel like I'm reaching to make a point that doesn't exist.

[zai-doodles]

Juvia is a lesbian post 

So I was going to post this after I redesigned juvia but I have a headache and can't draw so that's not gonna happen for another day or two but I want to get these thoughts out now 

Disclaimer that this is just my headcanon, no I don't hate gruvia, yes I'm aware I'm taking this too seriously, yes I'm aware Juvia’s behavior is meant as a joke, no I don't care if u ship gruvia or disagree with me bc its an anime and u can like whatever u want and ur valid ok? Ok. 

This isn't gonna be like a formal fic or something bc I'm a bad writer so this is me just verbal barfing and I figured I'd put it somewhere 

ON TO THE TED TALK 

Juvia as a kid was v isolated from her peers due to her magic, she was constantly bullied no matter how hard she tried to fit in. And she really did try ya know? She couldn't help the rain but she tried. I think because of Juvia's lack of interaction with other kids she only understands human interaction in extremes, maybe from stories she would read or something along those lines, she would read romances bc romance is in everything of course. And the story would always end with the boy and the girl falling in love. Maybe she noticed how other girls would talk about boys they liked and wanted to join in, except,,, when juvia thought abt it, she didn't really feel the things described in stories for boys. 

That can't be right. Can it?

No, it can’t be. Juvia wants to fit in. Juvia wants to talk to girls about boys. Juvia likes boys. 

Juvia from an early age figures with kid logic that if a boy is nice to her, juvia is supposed to like that boy. Bc, that's how it works obviously. 

That's how it's supposed to be. 

I think juvia's behavior is a side-effect of overcorrection. Deep down juvia knows something isn't quite right with how she feels so she does everything she can to make it overtly clear that she likes boys. Juvia works in extremes, the kids at school didn't like her rain so they hated her, in stories boys saved girls so they fell in love. Over time juvia developed her specific form of affection, an all-or-nothing approach where she would give her everything bc isn't that what girls are supposed to do for boys they like? It's only natural she hates other girls because they were competitors. Plus hate was a much easier way of explaining that some girls made her feel different.

Of course, the build-up of all of this led to her meeting gray. At that moment juvia did fall in love, she felt seen, for the first time in her life she felt like someone cared about her, he saved her life after all. Of course, she fell in love. It was still different though. It wasn't quite what stories described even though this was a textbook setup for that sort of thing. 

Wasn't it?

Of course, juvia continues expressing her love the only way she knows how in her extreme sort of way but somehow even more so than she ever had in the past.

She threw everything into this bc if she was ever EVER going to fall in love the way she's been hoping for her whole life it HAS to be him, he saved her life and he CARED, he was perfect. 

There's one problem though, gray is uncomfortable.

Ok, so my biggest problem with the writing of this ship is that Gray is painted to be an asshole most of the time for not liking juvia or returning her feelings which feels icky to me bc no one is entitled to someone else's feelings just bc they like u? (Yes im aware that u could argue gray was just in hard-core denial about his feelings,or that he fell in love over time,  no I don't care if u ship gruvia or interpret their feelings differently this is my hc u don't have to agree ur opinion is valid plz let me have this). 

It's different with gray than other guys Juvia has "fallen in love" with. It's different bc he cares about her and juvia genuinely does care, she's honestly never felt this strongly about a boy, and making him uncomfortable doesn't make her feel good? 

Juvia has friends who aren't a boy she's pursuing for the first time. And they're all so nice. She notices first with gajeel, a man of course but bc juvia is so focused on gray she doesn't even entertain the thought that she would feel anything romantic for gajeel. She barely notices that she loves him too. She doesn't notice how she falls in love with the entire guild bc they r her family. Her home. And they love her. 

Maybe gray and her finally have a talk about boundaries, maybe it's the build up of her guild mates, while supportive still trying to explain to juvia that she shouldn't stalk gray or hate other women just cuz. 

But juvia learns.

And Juvia realizes something about herself.

I think juvia loves gray and gray loves juvia but I think it's platonic. They make each other better and build each other up so well and Juvia doesn't want to make Gray uncomfortable and she realizes that Gray rejecting her feelings doesn't hurt as much as she thought it would? Isn't being rejected by someone the worst kind of pain there is? So y is she so calm? Y is she happy just knowing he's still going to be her friend? 

And above all else she feels

Relieved 

I think it takes juvia a while to process this new information.

From the outside however, it looks like Gray rejected her and now she has been in quiet thought for like 2 days and everyone is waiting for her to explode. 

Gajeel sits with her a lot I think, a form of solidarity (can u tell i love juvia and gajeel being best friends???). Lucy tries to engage her in conversation about nothing in particular and it works a few times and she gets juvia to laugh so she counts it as a win. 

This continues for another day or so, different members of the guild making sure to keep an eye on her, never really leaving her alone unless she asks, just being there for her without her even asking.

I don't think juvia realizes that they're doing this, she knows it's happening obviously but she doesn't fully process it until someone, maybe lucy or levy or another one of the girls, asks if she's ok. 

I think that's when juvia really realizes that the days after getting rejected by gray and just focusing on herself surrounded by her friends she realizes how much they all care.

How much they love her.

How much she loves them.

How she may have a special place for gray in her heart but it was never romantic, it wasn't about that. It was about how he made her feel safe.

About how she wasn't sad that Gray rejected her because he wasn't the ONLY one she felt safe with. 

Juvia probably starts crying at this realization, probably to the horror of whoever asked but juvia starts laughing and smiling and she realizes she's never felt so good just from being HONEST with herself.

I think it's awkward with her and gray for another few days but eventually they move past it, I think juvia is still overbearing at times but now it's more evenly spread out to other guildmates as well.

And now she finally allows herself to be friends with the other girls of fairy tail. It's like a veil is lifted ya know? 

She doesn't have to pretend to hate them to sell her story.

She can be friends with them.

They don't have to talk about boys to be friends.

Juvia doesn't have to like boys to be friends with them.

I think it takes longer for juvia to fully accept that she likes girls but she gets there eventually with her family by her side. 

I mainly like this idea bc it plays with juvia's themes of extremes and acknowledges the idea that too much of anything can be a bad thing, I don't like how juvia's stalkery behavior is treated as a joke or quirky bc she never actually learns from them and gray is treated as the one who needs to change when my man's literally??? Doesn't shouldn't be forced to accept someone's feelings just because she's nice and in love with him?? Bc that's not how real life works????  Again u can ship gruvia and like juvia as she is, ur valid and I love u im simply projecting😌😌. I also think this interpretation really shows the whole power of friendship thing fairy tail loves to preach and honestly im such a suckered for found family troupes so ye. 

I think gray and gajeel r the world's best wingman for juvia no I do not take constructive criticism.

This concludes zai projecting onto juvia for 50 pages im sure no one read this whole thing and if u did i'm sorry and I love u, plz ignore the typos I did not proof read this and just kinda typed oop

[hanawrites404]

Journey

@oc-growth-and-development

(trigger warning : smoking, mention of death)

Another day, another restorative morning, as if nothing else can motivate me enough to finally cut my laze and start the new day already.

I got off my bed and my eyes instinctively gazed out the window beside me at the wall. As usual, there wasn't much outside, just the same trees and lawns you would find in any other neighbourhood, yet I never seem to get tired of looking at them over and over every time I wake up. It was like a part of my everyday morning ritual which I definitely shouldn't miss, and honestly, I was fine with it. I was not the type of person to actively look for spices in my life after all, and even if I start to crave for it someday, I just wait for it to come to me.

Otherwise, everything just gotta be restful, that's all I want, to be honest.

The water was pleasantly chill to bathe in, too, and so was the dawn's sea breeze swishing through the balcony as soon as the curtains were tucked out and the windows were pulled open. If anything warm right now, it was the brisk sun and the brimming cup of steaming café au lait thawing my bare arms and fingers as I stepped out to lean onto the grill of my terrace. My feet were bare as well, touching the cool tiles beneath them as I felt the tingling sensation through my nerves.

I was still in my pyjamas, my hair up in a bun and it was still seven. Other than some elder citizens walking outside to get the minty air rushing and stray cats and dogs yawning and stretching, the scene in front of me was almost deserted.

It all felt quiet, but it wasn't prickly. The birds were still tweeting, the bulk of leaves rustled in a shimmer, and I could even hear my sigh as I blew the hot vapour from my cup, my lips slowly savouring the coffee bit by bit. It was very peaceful, I liked it.

But unfortunately, it wasn't real.

"미스......미스.....일어나 미스!"

I jolted up from the unfamiliar voice presumably calling out for me. So it was all a dream? I wasn't enjoying a utopian morning at my balcony back in Miami?? But it all felt so real....from the taste of coffee to the warmth I felt of the drink. So it was all my imagination? Wow huh....looks like the power of my mind is going to be a mystery to me for a while. I never knew that my brain could fool me into believing that I was relaxing at my home, and not dozing off in a Korean tourist bus.

"Ugghmm...Huh?" Still groggy from my sleep, I blinked twice before looking outside the window of the bus. By the look of it, I think we had come to the final stop. Before letting out anything else from my mouth, I silently turned my gaze onto the one who broke my slumber, namely the bus conductor.

He is looking right at me. Come on, say something....!!

"U-Ummm...." I stumbled, my index slowly moving to point at the complex the bus had stopped near at.

"역???" I cringed as I tried to pronounce the exotic word. Fuck. I didn't expect my voice to crack right in front of the bus conductor. And before anyone raises a question, no. I don't know Korean. I just happened to memorize only the important words I might need to communicate during my journey to Korea. But while I was still at home I felt pretty confident in myself, what happened to me now? It wasn't unusual of me, I am a human after all and I get nervous at times too. Yet it was.... surprising.

Hmm...it must be the anxiety of being in an alien country where everything is different from what I am aware of and what I have experienced so far. Different ambience, different language, and different people. Very strange and foreign, to be frank. But fresh and young, like a bite of a ripe green apple.

Nevertheless, the conductor just laughed at me and patted my shoulder very strongly. Ouch but Woah, now I could see why he was hired as the conductor. Strong arms, sharp eyes, along with a charm of his own to make people at ease. Even to a 'lost' newcomer like me.

"Yes yes! 역! Correct! Wanna come out??" With a grin twinkling on his bright face, he stepped away to let me through. I felt more relaxed than before as soon as I heard English from him, and it was pretty fluent too.

A small relieved smile broke on my lips too as I grab hold of my guitar case and my backpack and get up. My legs had gotten a bit numb inside my boots from not moving them much throughout the ride, and my jacket was almost off my shoulders.

"감사합니다" I quickly muttered before adjusting everything on me and stepping out of the bus. I didn't want to stammer again and, even if I wasn't in a hurry, I still wanted to make sure I reach where I was called to at an early hand.

"Have a safe journey!" The conductor waved at me, and I gladly turned around to return the gesture before entering the lobby. After I had made it inside, I left my belongings at a convenient place and went to the bathroom to fix my face and clothes.

I had been travelling for almost twenty hours; An eighteen-hour flight and a two-hour bus. It was back-to-back, and hardly I had the time to refresh myself properly and smoke a bit, but now was my chance to do so before I carry on to reach my destination.

With the help of the large mirror on the wall, I first removed my contact lenses and then washed my face and combed my hair. It had grown pretty long. But I wasn't planning on cutting them any sooner. I also dusted my jacket and jeans off and straightened my t-shirt inside.

After I was sure everything had been set, I put my lenses back on and vaguely looked around the room, and finding no one except me, I quickly stand near the ventilator above me and light my cigarette. What I was doing right now poses a threat to my health and is illegal, but this was a guilty pleasure of mine. I admit it shamelessly because why not. I have nothing to lose. We all are gonna die one day, so it's better we make the most of our lives and I was just doing that. Nothing more, nothing less.

Just because I said I don't seek adventure vigorously, does not mean I don't have any thrill in my life at all. I do have it. Everyone has it. You just gotta make it interesting in your way, and that's how you gotta roll, champ.

Anyways, after a couple of puffs, I got disposed of the cigar and shooed off the smoke around me. It was only after everything seemed clear that I washed my life hands and dried them, then left the restroom and grabbed my luggage back before I started to stride again, to the reception counter.

After all the formalities were taken care of, I finally breathed the outside air of Korean afternoon. The sun was luminous and overhead, but the heat wasn't as severe as back in Miami. The number of clouds here are much more than there, or was it just for this particular day? I had no idea.

I am not a tourist here. I came here for a business trip, you can say. A man from here, a freelancing musical artist, had personally requested and invited me for a musical collaboration. The deal itself sounded quite intriguing, also with the fact that I'm half-Korean thanks to my father's lineage, yet ironically I have neither ever seen Korea with my own eyes nor I have witnessed its culture. Until today, that is.

So here I am now, strolling in the middle of the bustling city surrounded by college students touring around, laughing and talking with their classmates and munching on unique dishes and snacks I had never seen before. And while I was busy observing them, someone bumped into me, breaking my contact.

"Oh! 실례합니다!" It was a young blond guy, wearing a light blue hoodie with a couple of smiley badges pinned to his chest. He quickly bowed after apologizing and for briefly taking a glance at my face, hastily trots in the opposite direction. I eyed him, judging by his clothes and the books he was carrying in his arms, he looked like a college student. Hmm...no wonder why he was in a hurry. He must be late to class or something.

But anyway, I continued walking. That musical man had told me to wait near the back alley of a coffee shop that was close to the station. Hmm, that would be easy to locate. The coffee shop was right in front of me! Hah, how easy.

And so, without wasting any time, I ambled towards the cafè. It was a cute little shop, in my opinion. The smell of roasted coffee beans and bubbling creamy milk was evident in the atmosphere, and the colour scheme of the shop had pallettes of vanilla and caramel. It was like I had entered not a shop but inside a nestling coffee cup! Pretty cool, especially for someone who loves coffee like me.

Also, a bunch of customers were inside too. This place was not lonely at all. Some couples were on a date, singles who just want peace of mind with a complimentary cup of coffee, and business workers too! To be honest, I liked one of the employee's suits too. It was of a short brunette woman with glasses. She was kind of cute too. And by how she was still typing away rapidly on her phone even while on her break, tells how much of a busy woman she must be. Damn, God forbid that I ever be this much busy in my career.

Working even at breaks. Scary, in my opinion.

Needless to say, that wasn't why I was here for. The city was new to me so naturally, I would be curious, but business comes first in such a case. And in this case, it's my case. So bringing myself back to schedule, I leave to the back alley, waiting for that man so we could finally meet after talking through emails and phone calls.

But......what was that man's name again?

Ah....Zen.....

Hmm, weird name. But as someone who prefers to be called CJ than Catherine Joseph, I am no one to say so. Or even judge so.

Zen......I wonder what kind of person he would be in flesh. Same friendly and confident as the impression of him in my mind? Or just some different personality I never saw coming? Well, only time will tell that. But right now, we wait.

[leiasfanaccount648]

The 3 Times Kenma Didn’t Get What You Wanted for Your Bday & the 1 Time He Did

(Kenma Kozume x Fem!Reader)

Summary: Like all friends, they remember what is most important to them, especially one another’s birthdays. However, Kenma seems to be struggling with finding you that perfect present year after year.

A/N: This is for the absolutely lovely @briswriting​!!! I’m so happy to call you my friend, that you got me into Animal Crossing, and I hope you have an amazing bday today <3 :)

Warnings/Contains: Fluff, birthdays, the tiniest amount of angst. Disclaimer, I did some research on the video games I mentioned in this but none of the release dates match up lol.

Word Count: 2033

Elementary School; 5th year

“Happy Birthday, (Y/N)!”

“Wait, what?”

Kenma looked up from his GameBoy as he heard people talking by the door of the classroom. He saw one of his neighbors that he had bet through Kuroo talking to some of her friends and receiving some gifts and snacks from them.

Kenma looked at the desk in front of him and saw a few more trinkets and such from people in other classes. They may not have known each other for that long, but (Y/N) was the first friend of his that actually wanted to play video games rather than volleyball like Kuroo.

(Y/N) was nice, and had great taste in games; he would gladly call her his friend. So what do friends of a couple months get one another for their birthdays?

“Good morning, Kenma!” (Y/N) brought him out from his thoughts as she walked over and sat down at her desk, facing him with a bright smile. “What’re you playing?” She peered over his desk to try and catch a glimpse at what game was on the screen.

“I, um,” Kenma glanced down at his GameBoy as Pokemon: Red and Blue was still playing. He didn’t get to answer as (Y/N) already saw the screen with a gasp.

“Are you about to play the battle against Professor Oak?”

Kenma couldn’t explain it, but he felt his heart jump at her knowledge of the game. He knew that she played it, but he thought that she had just gotten it a couple weeks ago. “Yeah, I am.” He smiled shyly and quickly paused the game so he could talk to her properly. “Happy birthday, by the way. I’m sorry, but I didn’t get you anything.”

(Y/N) shook her head, waving her hands in front of her as well. “No, no! It’s totally fine! Trust me, you didn’t have to get me anything.” She smiled, moving her hair out of her face shyly. “Honestly what I keep getting from my friends gets to be too much of a hassle.”

Kenma smiled a little, finding her reasoning quite amusing; however he could tell during lunch she definitely enjoyed eating the cookies that someone had made her. He tried to think of something he could do for her, but he trusted her word to not worry too much. Besides, there was always next year.

--------

Middle School; 3rd year

It was late, almost too late to Kenma’s liking as he had just finished volleyball practice and wanted to do nothing than go home and finally get some rest before the weekend started tomorrow. However, he had one last thing to do.

Kenma had been hearing (Y/N) raving about the game for weeks, and he had managed to get it pre-ordered and delivered the day that it came out. Now he stood outside her apartment, hoping that she would like it.

He texted her to come to her door, and it was obvious that she was confused, but did so nonetheless. She smiled as she saw him, about to greet him, but he beat her to it, holding out a small, wrapped box for her to take.

“Happy birthday, (Y/N).”

“Oh my god, Kenma you didn’t!” (Y/N) grinned wide as she noticed the shape of the wrapped box her friend had handed her. She opened it without hesitation, expecting to see Pokemon X and Y, but instead saw Animal Crossing: New Leaf. She felt touched that he remembered how much she wanted that game, but still looked up at Kenma with sorrow.

“Kenma, I am so sorry,” she laughed nervously, starting to feel guilty. “But my parents got me the game already along with a new 3DS.” (Y/N) knew that there was no way that he could have known, but she felt guilty nonetheless over the fact that Kenma had spent his money to get her the game.

Kenma on the other hand felt nothing but embarrassment. He realized his mistake and that he should have asked her parents if she was going to be getting the game. “I’m sorry. I should have asked if there was more than just that game that you wanted.”

Like she did back in elementary school, she shook her head. “No, you’re fine, Kenma.” She laughed softly to try and lighten the mood, but she could still tell that Kenma felt awkward about getting her a game that she had been gifted not 3 hours ago. Then she smiled. “Wait! Now that you have the game, we can play it together!”

Kenma tilted his head a little, confused. “I thought it wasn’t a multiplayer game.”

“It’s not, but we can still keep up with one another’s progress and stuff. It’ll be like when we play Pokemon and see who can defeat the boss quicker!”

Although it wasn’t Kenma’s ideal choice of game style, he still kept the game and played with (Y/N) both online and while they hung out together. Soon enough, he became addicted and got a whole level ahead of (Y/N) despite their agreement to build their islands and such together.

--------

High School; 2nd Year

It was raining after school, and Kuroo had decided to cancel practice due to the weather scheduled to get worse throughout the evening. Kenma felt grateful for two reasons. One, he could go home and finish his homework early before playing some more Animal Crossing. Two, he could see (Y/N) before she had her club and give her the batch of his mom’s homemade brownies that he promised her a few days ago.

Kenma was on his way towards the room where he knew she would be at, however he didn’t expect her to be sitting outside the door. He saw her phone in hand along with her backpack leaning against her. Then he caught sight of her face and rushed over as soon as he saw the tears in her eyes. “(Y/N)?”

(Y/N) looked up at the sound of her name, instinctively reaching up to wipe below her eyes before putting on the best smile she could muster at the last second. “Kenma!” She chuckled and stood up quickly to straighten herself out. “What’re you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at practice?”

“Kuroo cancelled it due to the weather planning to get worse. So I decided to bring you the brownies since you said you wanted them for your birthday.” Kenma reached into his bag and pulled out a small container that contained the sweets. (Y/N) didn’t say another word, just stepping forward and bringing him into a hug.

Kenma froze as she did so, not sure how to react. “(Y-Y/N)?”

“Just,” she took a deep breath to keep from letting out any tears. “Let me have this, please?”

Kenma looked at her, wondering what it was that was causing her to be so upset, but he knew that she would tell him on her own time. For now, all he did was hug her and he practically felt the tension and nerves in her body melt away, ignoring how his heart raced rapidly due to her being so close and for so long.

That year, Kenma was the only one who had remembered (Y/N)’s birthday.

--------

College; 1st year

It was a couple days before (Y/N)’s birthday and Kenma was stressing beyond belief. Ever since high school, Kuroo he had begun to realize that he had developed feelings for her and he never knew how to express them into words or actions. 

He remembered the day that Kuroo pointed it out to him because they were playing an online game together and Kenma had managed to lose against both him and Bokuto. Needless to say it was obvious that something was bothering him and Kuroo needed to know (even if he already did).

Either way, he wanted to do what he thought would make her happy for her birthday. Some had been flops while others he felt like haven’t been the right gift, but he still did what he could.

This year however, he wanted to know exactly what she wanted.

The two of them were in the middle of playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons when Kenma thought he’d just ask via the game while they were fishing on his island.

‘btw, what do u want 4 ur bday?’

Since they were at different universities and couldn’t physically see each other, (Y/N) assumed that he would just craft/give her something in the game.

‘a cat to cuddle & love 4ever’

Kenma chuckled at her reply, smiling to himself as he typed out one himself, but (Y/N) added another response.

‘even though it’s not in the game XD’

Oh.

Kenma froze for a moment as he realized how (Y/N) interpreted his question. But he still got an answer and wasn’t going to take it for granted. He quickly got on his laptop and pulled up Amazon. Lucky for him, he found a cat plushie that he knew (Y/N) would like that would arrive the day before her birthday.

On the fateful day, Kenma headed to her dorm as he knew she was spending her birthday on a different day with her family and would most likely be cooped up side playing games (much like himself). Once he messaged her to come outside and was met with a ‘read’ text, he knew she was on her way down to greet him. When (Y/N) saw him with the stuffed cat in his arms, she ran over and hugged him tightly as she could.

Kenma almost lost his footing and fell, but he managed to stay standing and hug her back. “I know what you said you wanted a cat, but I didn’t want you to get kicked out of your dorm.”

(Y/N) laughed, shaking her head at his words before pulling away. She also took the cat plushie from him to get a better look at it before holding it in her arms. She smiled shyly at him. “Kenma, I was talking about you.”

“Wait, what?” Kenma’s eyes widened, repeating the words she said a couple days ago in his head. He felt his cheeks start to turn pink as (Y/N) spoke up again.

“All I wanted was to spend my birthday with you.” She glanced to the side, starting to feel flustered. “You’ve been my best friend for years and you’re so nice and considerate, not to mention cute,” she giggled, pausing briefly. “It’s practically impossible for anyone not to be around you and,” she met his gaze again. “I like you, Kenma.”

Kenma didn’t know when he did or what made him think it was a good idea, but he reached out with one hand and held the back of her head as he pulled her in for a kiss, which she gladly returned a second later. Once he pulled away, he smiled shyly as though silently apologizing for being so straightforward and sudden.

“Uh,” Kenma cleared his throat, letting go of her so she could have some space. “Would you like to go get some dinner?” It was obvious that he wasn’t sure what to say or do at the moment.”

(Y/N) simply shook her head, reaching for his hand and leading him into the building in which she stayed at. “I’d much rather spend my birthday eating takeout and playing video games with you. How does that sound?”

“But, it’s your birthday.” Kenma followed her to the elevator, still holding her hand.

“Exactly, so that means we’re going to do what I want.” (Y/N) giggled and kissed his cheek before stepping inside the elevator with him and pressing the button for her floor. “And I want to cuddle you while we eat and play Animal Crossing together.”

Kenma smiled, squeezing her hand to let her know his thoughts on her plans for the rest of the evening. “Sounds like a plan.” He was thankful that he decided to bring his Nintendo Switch with him.

“Oh, and that means that I want all of the turnips you bought yesterday, too.”

“Wait what?”