#she's actually Joy's height but it's okay

[rorydrawsandwrites]

HAPPY (BELATED) BIRTHDAY RORY‼️🎉 ive been having a hectic week and couldn't deliver anything in time 😭

i did manage to doodle the mental illness polycule!!! they're taking a selfie 💞

OH MY GAHGJFSGHLKFDSJGKDSFLGH

SCREAMING???? ISAAC YOU. YOUUU /pos /vpos

They're so cute thisissocute I love it thank you so much mwah mwah

[the-head-ancho-chilli]

The Hashira’s Favourite Hugs

Happy Valentines day everyone! Enjoy some lovin from your favourite Hashira ^^

Requests and asks are still open :)

Word count: 4k~

Mitsuri Kanroji

Mmmm

Prepare to be swept off your feet (literally)

Approaching our very own love Hashira and requesting a hug will be met with the same excitement no matter what

“Huh? Do you want a hug? Of course! Come here sweetie, let me hold you for a bit!”

She will be SO HAPPY if you asked ^^

Mitsuri may squeeze you a little, but never too much

Her goal is to get you as close to her as possible, no gap spared between you two

She’s honestly one of the best huggers here

Depending on your height, she’ll either prop her chin on either your head or shoulder

She’s a little warm from her flustering, but still enthusiastic nonetheless

If your head is tucked away, she’ll focus on swaying you both side to side in a rocking motion

Almost as if you two were dancing

But if you face is out in the open, Mitsuri will not waste a second before peppering your entire face in kisses

She tries her best to make you feel loved

Mitsuri absolutely adores hugs so she’ll never turn you down

She likes cooing about how much she loves you while the two of you hold each other

“Oh you make my heart skip a beat! I love you so much!!!”

Compliments will not be held back here, Mitsuri will go above and beyond

SHE MEANS EVERY SINGLE ONE, DONT YOU DARE DOUBT YOURSELF

But even the love Hashira has a favourite hug

Mitsuri was once gone for more than a week on some business that she had to attend to

You missed her terribly, and you grew more worried as time passed by

While lounging in your shared bedroom, you heard the door open and close as your love cheered “Honey, I’m home!”

You sprinted across the house, found Mitsuri and leapt into her arms, yours pulling her in by her neck

Seizing momentum while she had it, Mitsuri spun the two of you around while you were still in the air

But when the two of you had spun enough and she tried to put you down, she realized that your legs were around her waist

You were almost clinging onto her like a koala, and something inside of her melted

She was internally squealing at how affectionate you were :)

Mitsuri’s favourite hugs are ones where she can use her strength, often by lifting you up into her arms

“Sweetie it’s late, let me carry you to bed, okay?”

It just makes her feel strong and cherished

Would absolutely carry you around like this all the time if you let her

Obanai Iguro

He acts like he hates them

Do not underestimate him and the complete unadulterated adoration he has for you and the few people he lets near his heart

Obanai is just not used to that kind of thing, and it really stresses him out

If you asked him for a hug he would just shoot you a critical stare before groaning out an "Ughhh, fine. Come here"

You would be doing all the work here

Even if you have both your arms wrapped around him, your head resting on his shoulder, he still won't move

Obanai is really stiff about it

If you're lucky, he'll MAYBE pat your back unenthusiastically

Truth be told, Obanai doesn't let people touch him often so he wouldn't have much experience in it by far

Now if you ASKED him what is favourite hug is, he would say the side squeeze he gives you in public

Obanai can get overprotective easily, but he doesn't like showing it

He rarely misunderstands when someone is just being nice or affectionate in a platonic manner and when someone is actually hitting on you

If he sees someone making moves on you or just making you uncomfortable in general, he will glide over there and put his hand in your back pocket

Effectively pulling you into a very tense side hug

Obanai wouldn't say anything, but his main line of protection is his very judgmental look at his target

He wants you to believe that he's tough and all, that guarding you from danger is his greatest joy

But Obanai is really soft

His actual favourite hugs are what he refers to as "Sweater Time"

If you have larger sweaters than he does, he will pull the bottom hem of it up for a minute and pull it over his head

If he's taller than you then he just tucks you underneath the hem of his

Basically the two of you are wearing the same, spacious sweater

He's close enough that just fitting into it doesn't make you feel like you need to wrap your arms around him

But Obanai might pull you in if he just really needs your touch

He absolutely loves holding your face and resting his forehead on yours, absentmindedly tracing your jaw

Takes the opportunity to look into your eyes but Obanai doesn’t hold eye contact for long

So very warm :)

Tengen Uzui

Ohohoho

You’re in for a ride, that’s for sure

If you ask Tengen for a hug, he’s gonna be so snarky about it

He’ll make you confirm it like 5 times

“Hmm? You want a hug from the God of Festivals? Ahhh, of course, anyone would want to be in my arms! Come closer and claim you prize from yours truly~”

Tengen will motion you towards him, hinting to put your arms around him

Most of the time he’ll tease you about it, but sometimes Tengen will just flash a smile and pull you in

He’s pretty strong so his hugs are pretty tight by default

You can smell a hint of the cologne he uses, which is never too strong in the first place

Loves pressing you in by the small of your back, he can’t explain why though

Tengen’s hands just gravitate there, no lower or higher

Even when you two are already hugging, Tengen will not be able to resist teasing you

He is RELENTLESS about it too

Even if Tengen gets annoying with how affectionate you can be, he doesn't really mean it

Because every now and then, he just needs you there with him for a bit

It doesn't happen often but Tengen does have nights where he just can't sleep

You wouldn't know if its stress, repetitive thoughts or nightmares simply because he refuses to tell you

When he just lies there in the early hours of the morning, he'll carefully drag whoever is nearest towards him

This particular instance, you barely stirred awake as Tengen lifted your body to lie atop of his

Sensing your arousal from slumber, Tengen already hushes you back to sleep

"It's okay baby," he coos. "Just needed you a little closer. Get some rest"

If you happen to stay awake, he'll continue his attempts to get you to fall asleep again as he would honestly prefer for you to stay asleep when he's like this

Because when Tengen feels the worst of himself haunt his thoughts with all the memories and pain that he carries everywhere, nothing soothes him more than you pulling him closer whilst dreaming

This unconscious "I love you" of yours never fails to bring a sad smile and a few tears of love rolling down his cheeks

Pulls you even closer as he feels joy spread throughout his chest like fireworks

Yes, this is his favourite, and he will reward your efforts with forehead kisses and gently stroking your spine

Sanemi Shinazugawa

Either he has rabies or he just snarled at you

“Why the fuck are your arms like that? Are you looking for a fight?”

If you ask Sanemi for a hug, expect some backlash

See, all you wanted was some affection and somehow he's looking at you like you have two heads or something

"No you jerk, I just want a hug..."

Sanemi is pretty circumstantial with hugs, but he's not like Obanai where he's hiding how soft he really is

In reality, he would prefer that you got a hug from someone else

"Isn't it Mitsuri's day off? She should be in the garden at Shinobu's place"

Due to his workaholic nature, Sanemi doesn't think that he would be the best person for when you want affection

And its not because he hates affection nor does he find you annoying

Sanemi just think that because he's sweaty, covered in a bit of blood and is exhausted beyond belief, that maybe someone else's hug may bring more comfort than he could

But if there's no one else around...

"Mitsuri took a trip to a resort in the mountains, and you're already here"

With a roll of his eyes, Sanemi will acquiesce

"Get over here, you dork"

I will advise you however, that hug will not last more than three seconds

He will be firm in the hug, and maybe he'll give you a few pats on the back, but that's all you're getting

"There, now no more distractions. I've got some unfinished buisness..."

He will immediately turn away and go back to whatever he was doing

Honestly, he's trying to hide how (minorly) flustered he is by your sudden request for affection, but it's not surprising enough for him to let up a little on his unspoken self-consciousness

No, that would take at least a decade of attempts to make any progress

Just take his huffiness with a bit of grace; Sanemi just isn't the best person to go to when you want a hug

But if you come to him with tears dribbling down your cheeks, and a pained expression on your face

If you come to him with opened arms and a few sobs choked in your throat

If you push aside your dignity to allow Sanemi to see you at your worst, and a look in your eyes that shows that he's the only one who can alleviate the pain

"I've got you, I'm not going anywhere. I've got you"

He won't hesitate to immediately pull you in

There's something in the way you hold onto him that makes him believe that maybe, just maybe, he's not as bad as he thought

Hugs like these are his favourite, when he can push out his insecurities and hug you just for the sake of hugging you

Yeah, he's no good for hugging you when you want it

But he's perfect at it when you need it

Shinobu Kocho

She’s kinda iffy with them, but she does have her own preferences

If you approach Shinobu and you ask for a hug, she’ll open her arms to you and motion you toward her

“Oh my, my dear do you need a hug? No need to worry Angel, I’m right here”

She’s definitely shorter than you so she’ll normally press her face into your chest while the two of you embrace

Shinobu likes listening to your heartbeat, and sometimes seizes the opportunity to check your health

Usually she does it because she finds it soothing

Other times, Shinobu just worries even if she knows she has no reason to

Believe it or not but she doesn’t like being held

Shinobu will never breathe a word of it, especially if you’re really affectionate

Would never ask you to stop, she just wouldn’t go out of her way to ask you to hold her

You would think after learning this that Shinobu just doesn’t like physical affection

While cooking some dinner for the two of you, your mind will start to wander about Shinobu

She spends so much time studying medicine that you hardly saw her all day today

You missed her dearly

But then you feel two arms snake around your waist, and someone pressing into your back

The smell of wisteria and rubbing alcohol wafting around you

Yes, it’s true that Shinobu doesn’t like being held

But she LOVES holding you close

In bed she’s the big spoon, she hangs onto you when you share showers, her arms will wrap around your neck when she checks up on you working at your desk

But right now?

You cooking and talking about your day, while she hums along?

Feeling you relax into her touch as she hops up on her toes to press her forehead into your neck?

Yes, this is Shinobu’s favourite

There is no place she would rather be

PLEASE LET HER HYG YOU AS YOU DO STUFF

Shinobu is the type of person where she just loves existing in the same space as you, but with her chest pressed against your back

Overall, back hugs enthusiast

Kyojuro Rengoku

CUDDLE MANNNN

Look me in my eyes and tell me that he isn’t the best hugger here

If you ask Kyojuro for a hug, he would be so honoured to give you one

“But of course my love! Please allow me to give you a proper embrace!”

He’s so soft and warm you could melt away

Depending on how you are when you asked, he will either ask you about your day or stay very quiet for you

Our sunshine boy can brighten even the stormiest days

Kyojuro’s very versatile with affection, so if he knows you have a preference he will heed to it at once

Head scratches, back rubs, shoulder pats, you name it

He’ll do it all for you

If it’s possible in the moment, he will give you a loving kiss on the forehead

With how affectionate Kyojuro is, you would think maybe he doesn’t have a favourite hug but that’s not true

“My love! I have finished my project, sit down with me so I may share it with you!”

You had just came back from the kitchen with two cups of tea, setting them on the coffee table

Kyojuro sat on the floor with his legs crossed, arms open and motioning you towards him

Initially you were confused with how close you stood near him, but Kyojuro still hurriedly motioned you towards him

He softly held onto your hips, turning you away from him, and pulled you down so you sat on the floor with him

You were basically sitting in Kyojuro’s lap

He had one arm around your waist, using the other hand to pull the box he was working on for the past couple weeks across the table towards the both of you

It was a time capsule of various items and mementos of time spent with you and his friends

Although the two of you were reminiscing on the memories made , Kyojuro’s focus lied in how comfortable you were to hold in his lap

He fantasizes of turning you around to face him so he could be all romantic and look into your eyes

But yes, Kyojuro’s favourite hugs are the ones where you are seated in his lap

If you want to hug him as well, Kyojuro will spin you around so you can cuddle all you’d like :)

Big or small, he can handle you no problem

Don’t ever worry about being too heavy ^^

Giyu Tomioka

Also iffy but for different reasons

To be completely honest Giyu has no idea what he’s doing

And he doesn’t know if he should tell you

The last thing he would want is to come off as unapproachable (even if he’s aware that most of his peers don’t like him)

If you ask Giyu for a hug, he’ll just nod and open his arms slightly

When you close in on the hug though, his arms aren’t even touching you

They just stay there… hovering…

Good grief help this man

“Giyu, what are you doing…” “Hugging you?” He mumbled

HE DOESN’T EVEN SOUND SURE

There’s no way around it, you have to show him how it’s done

“Let me show you Giyu, put your arms like this-“

He’s still learning so please be patient with him

Even after you two practice a couple times, he’s still awkward about it

Very light grip on his end, he feels like if he were to actually put pressure in his hugging it might disturb you somehow

Like what if he's hugging too tight? What if you want to escape his hold earlier than you thought??? What if he's doing this wrong?????

After you two have hugged in a couple other ways, he starts developing preferences

For an example, he likes draping his arms on your shoulders in a way that they fall down your back

Giyu feels like he’s not bothering you too much this way, and it’s natural enough for him to not overthink it

His first natural instinct isn’t usually physical affection, and Giyu wouldn’t even be able to firmly place what his favourite hug would be due to his lack of experience

But one time you greeted him after he came back from a particularly rough mission

Idk he was just standing in the middle of his yard looking lost and worn out

You tried to talk to him but he was unresponsive, so you just pulled him in

His arms still rested at his sides but from the way that his chin rested on your shoulder, you couldn't have seen it but there was a twinkle in his eye

When you pulled away with a smile and bade him goodbye, you genuinely restored something in him

This is Giyu's favourite hug; ones where you just hold him close without an expectation that he has to reciprocate something

Next time you saw him seated at his desk and writing in his journal you noticed it

You almost missed it but it was most definitely there

A tiny smile was on his face as he printed his thoughts onto the paper

Gyomei Himejima

You wouldn’t notice right away, but he’s actually awkward with hugs

This gentle giant is so huge and you’re so small in comparison he doesn’t know what to do

So if you ask Gyomei for a hug, you're gonna have to be more specific

"You want a hug? Of course. May you please elaborate on your preferences?"

Boundaries are very important to Gyomei

He would prefer if you could have a discussion before you need a hug where you list the things you are and are not okay with when it comes to touch

But if neither of you have had that discussion, just describe what you need from this specific case and that'll suffice for Gyomei

Once that's done, Gyomei will only then allow you to wrap your arms around him

The most common tendencies he tends to gravitate to is petting your head and rubbing your back gently

I will warn you that unless you specify that you don't like getting picked up, Gyomei may unintentionally lift you off the ground by a couple inches

Honestly, he forgot how huge he is and he thought you were taller

If you want to return some level of affection to Gyomei, I would suggest singing some praises for him or making generally happy noises :)

He particularly likes it if you coo a small "Dawwwwwww" or let out a pleased hum, it just pulls a wide grin out of him

When you two eventually pull away, he will without a doubt rustle your hair or pat your head

"Are you feeling better? I'm always here for you, remember that"

His biggest priority whilst showing you affection is ensuring that he leaves you in a better state than he found you

Be it physically, mentally, or emotionally, Gyomei will always be ready to take care of you

Even if he's oddly stiff about it

You see, Gyomei is hyperaware of his size and it sometimes conflicts with his confidence in coming off as passive and kind

It's really hard to be perceived as non-threatening when you're 7'2 and one of the strongest Hashira

So he tries to establish boundaries with you not just to respect you and ensure he's not crossing any lines, but also to make him feel safe and comfortable in being affectionate with you

I will add however, Gyomei doesn't have any physical boundaries with you (except killing another living thing without full disclosure)

So imagine his surprise when you ask if you can try lifting him

"You can certainly try- ouf!"

He was interrupted with your efforts to pick him up

Regardless if you manage to get him an inch off the ground, your determination still has him flustered

Gyomei finds your strength and playfulness endearing, letting a soft chuckle at your smaller stature trying to lift his gigantic self

But he'll heartily tell you to put him down before you start to over exert yourself

Gyomei will hold onto you for a little longer in thanks though :)

Because Gyomei's favourite hugs are the ones that make him feel small and cared for, rather than large and nurturing

He appreciates how you remind him of that side of him

Muichiro Tokito (Platonic)

Muichiro needs a good measure of caution if you're going to be affectionate with him

Initially most people would think that it's because you would have to try a couple times to get his attention with the amount of times that he spaces out

But honestly, if you hug him without warning he gets scared

If you ever did pull him into your arms whilst his mind was elsewhere, you can see Muichiro start to panic

He won't say anything about it, just standing very very still

But Muichiro is visibly uncomfortable

I mean think about it, imagine how startling it could be if you were just minding your own business and out of nowhere, someone's in your personal bubble

It makes Muichiro feel like he missed out on something important :/

His shoulders will be shaking as he looks around the person who's hugging him, trying to gauge what kind of situation he's in and what would be the appropriate reaction

Muichiro doesn't really like hugs in general so I wouldn't recommend hugging him in the first place

If anything, Muichiro feels bad because everyone just assumes that because he's a kid that he likes hugs and being coddled

So if you ask him for a hug, he'll politely turn you down

"A hug? Sorry, I'm not a hugger..."

He really doesn't mean it maliciously so please don't hold any hard feelings about it

It's only a personal boundary, he just hopes that you'll respect it

If you want to be affectionate with him, then I would suggest handshakes :)

But I will also raise that there may be a time where Muichiro may want to give you a hug

It's usually when someone accomplishes some kind of feat, and Muichiro just feels really proud of them

So his favourite hugs are the ones that he initiates (usually out of pride)

Muichiro will always do it with his arms wrapped around your waist and pressing his face into your middle

Hugging him back isn't his favourite, but now would be a great opportunity for head pats ^^

Muichiro loves those

Overall you just need to be patient and understanding with Muichiro, and just trust that he will come to you

And you know what, if you really need that hug then Muichiro will at least go out of his way to cheer you up

It just might not be the way that you would expect

꒷꒦˚︶︶꒦꒷︶꒷꒦˚ ꒷꒦˚︶︶꒦꒷︶꒷꒦˚ ꒷꒦˚︶︶꒦꒷︶꒷꒦˚

Let me know if I should do this prompt for the Demons too!

Reminder to read the rules before submitting any asks or requests ^^

[chelleztjs18]

The Scene (E.O)

Elizabeth Olsen x Fem!ActressReader ; Rachel McAdams, Benedict Cumberbatch (Platonic)

Summary: Something unexpected happened while you were filming a movie with Lizzie which leads more things out of it.

Warning: None. Just some fluff.

A/n: Hello! I'm back. This fic is from two request that I combined together. This is a made up Kamar Taj scene is being filmed with Rachel McAdams and Benedict Cumberbatch in it. I apologize in advance for any inaccuracies in the scene and golden globes part. Happy reading!

Here are the requests for this fic:

Main Masterlist

What’s better than playing a superhero role in the movie industry? Well, nothing can top the joy and the fun of filming in one of the Marvel movies with your beloved wife, Elizabeth Olsen. You and Lizzie have been married for five months now. It was a very small intimate wedding with family and close friends, just like how you and Lizzie wanted. There was no media nor paparazzi craziness. Both of you try to keep your relationships for two years and the wedding under the radar to enjoy and cherish each other more privately in between busy schedules.

“You did a great job, Lizzie. I can’t believe that you did that scene in one shot. That was pretty hard to do with all the wires and stuff.” Benedict compliments her as he takes a seat next to her, taking a break.

“Aww thanks, Ben. I was actually nervous. You know me with heights, never a fan of it.” Lizzie lets out her little laugh.

“Oh yeah, I see what you mean. They pull you up pretty high.I bet it can be uncomfortable sometimes, especially with your Scarlet Witch costume right now.” The Wizard cast responds.

“Sometimes but I love this costume. So, I won’t complain.” She laughs again after trying to let out a joke.

Lizzie and Benedict have a great time talking for a little while until she sees something that makes her stomach turn. Anger thundered through her. Her heart aches and she crumbles inside. All emotions mix up in a split second. Lizzie stands up furiously. She can’t believe what she just saw. Seeing Rachel kiss your lips and you don’t even do anything to avoid it, makes her want to get to you right away.

“Liz? Are you okay?” The British man asks confusedly after taking notice of Lizzie's displeased facial expression.

“Yeah. Excuse me. I’ll be right back.” That was all Lizzie said shortly before she rushed her steps with her full Wanda’s costume and barged into the set where you and Rachel are.

“What’s going on here?” Lizzie asks in such anger. You and Rachel look at Lizzie in surprise that neither of you say anything for a few seconds.

The silence from the both of you upset Lizzie even more. Her glossy hurtful eyes look at you in disappointment as she continues telling you how she feels in gritted teeth slowly walking closer to you and Rachel. “After everything we’ve been through, this is what I get in return? Was it a game for you? And to think I would go through the ends of the world for you. Just explain to me why?!” she demands. Her voice gets shaky.

Rachel slowly moves to get to behind you, trying not to get involved between you and Lizzie. Noticing what Rachel is doing, you naturally take a stand in front of her. You were about to tackle everything she said but she didn’t let you. “How could you do this to me?” She added as she spread her palms then clenched them to fists with fury.

Then all of sudden, a familiar voice struck Lizzie’s attention. “Cut! That surprisingly fits perfectly!”

Lizzie quickly turns her head to where the voice came from. She came to realize what was actually going on. She looks at you, Rachel and surroundings. The filming crews are looking at the three of you. Sam, the director smiles satisfiedly.

Her cheeks slowly turn crimson. “Oh my god. I’m so sorry. I–I–I didn’t know that you were filming a scene. Oh my gosh.” She covers her face with her hands for a few seconds and then uncover it. She tries to laugh her embarrassment off. Her cheeks feel warmer from blushing.

“It’s okay but yes, love. I was filming a scene with Rachel.” You replied.

“I’m sorry, Lizzie. It was totally a professional kiss.” Rachel explains in a light joking tone to make your wife feel better.

“No. No, you are totally fine. I’m sorry. I-I just didn’t know that there’s a kissing scene.” Everybody in the room heard what she just said in awe.

“Yes, babe. I told you about it the other night, remember?” you explain yourself as you grab both of her hands to give her the reassurance and comfort she needs. Lizzie tries to recall. “Oooohh yeah. Gosh, I was probably distracted when I was cooking dinner. So embarass–”

You and Lizzie notice that Sam came to talk.

“I’m so sorry, Sam. I totally forgot that there was a kissing scene and I got—” Lizzie awkwardly apologizes but Sam finishes her sentence.

“Jealous? First of all, it was cute. Second of all, it was a brilliant spontaneous scene! I love it. You should see your facial expression on the whole thing.”

“Oh yeah, I could see that, Sam. I thought the Scarlet Witch existed for real for that whole minute.” you joke more as you gently squeeze her hand as your way to let her know that you are with her to comfort her.

“Yeah, but I apologize for ruining the scene.”

“Oh no, you didn’t at all, Lizzie. As a matter of fact, I will change the script and we will use it in the movie. We just need to add some visual effects in it and it’s good to go.” Sam lays out his idea and plan in a thrill.

Hearing his plan, Lizzie’s face slowly shows some relief. “Oh, uh– wow. Okay.” The four of you laugh. “Okay, then. Let’s take a lunch break and we’ll continue in an hour?” Sam announced.

Everybody walks away to take their break but you grab Lizzie’s hand before she turns around. “Feel better, babe?” you try to make sure.

“It was so embarrassing but yes, I feel better.” She smiles then laughs.

“No, I meant that the kiss was just one of the scenes.”

“Uh-y-yes.” She admits and covers her face once again. You pull her hands away and look at her lovingly.

“I would never do that to you nor hurt you like that. I’m all yours I love you.” You kiss her forehead then look at her again.

“Aw. I love you too, y/n. Thank you.”

“You were cute and sexy at the same time when you get jealous though.” You tease her and both of you laugh.

“Oh yeah? Well, you better watch out.” She teases you back.

“Oh, really?” your lips form a teasing smirk. She playfully hits your arm and rolls her eyes.

“You are silly. Let’s go have lunch babe. I’m hungry after all that jealousy I felt.” she grabs your hand and walks with you.

“You are cute.” you follow where Lizzie leads you.

_____

It has been two weeks since the latest Marvel movie came out. It was a hit. People love you and Lizzie in it. You are happy with how positive the public's reaction was. There was a rumor going around that Lizzie improvised on the jealous Scarlet Witch scene after your character kisses Rachel’s. Neither you, Lizzie nor other casts know how the words spread. Lizzie is happy with the fact that people love your acting in the movies. That’s all that matters to her.

Today, you, Lizzie, Rachel and Benedict are invited to the Jimmy Fallon show to talk about the viral movie. Before you got to the location, both you and Lizzie had a talk and decided to be ready if Jimmy asked about your love life. You both think it’s time to let the cats out of the bag about your relationship.

“Welcome everybody! Wow, I feel so safe right now with some of the Marvel superheroes around us.” said the host followed by the cheer and applause from the thrilled audiences.

“Thank you for having us, Jimmy. So good to be back here.” Lizzie expresses her gratitude from where she sits next to the beautiful older actress, Rachel. You adore her beauty from the seat across from her as the dark haired actor next to you chimes in.

Everything went well and it was really fun for everybody. All the casts get their questions.The studio is filled with laughter and excitement.

“Okay, Y/n Y/LN. It’s your turn right now for questions.” Jimmy slightly turns his head to you.

“Oh lord.” you joke as you pretend to look nervous. The audiences and Jimmy laugh at your antics. “I love your character. You have a cool super power in it and as you know a lot of fans are simping your character with the one and only Scarlet Witch.” The crowd can’t hold back themselves with such thrill as soon as Jimmy mentioned the both of you.

You hear Lizzie’s lovely laugh and you glanced at her to see her smile.

“Ah yes, yes. I heard about it.” you respond as you shift the way you sit a little and smile.

“Let’s just go straight to everybody’s favorite scene after you kiss Rachel’s character.” Benedict and Rachel playfully do a hand gesture as if they are locking their mouth. Rachel even throws the imaginary key of the lock to you.

“What? What is it? Are we missing something?” puzzled with what he just saw, Jimmy asked. His gaze bouncing back and forth between the four of you.

“Oh no. Nothing. Nothing.” Benedict denies the question and laughs. Jimmy then looks at Rachel, hoping he will get an answer and Rachel pretends jokingly to look around with a smile.

“Ah, I see. We’ll get back to you two later.” Jimmy adds.

“So, back to you, Y/n.” Jimmy looks at you and with that he interviews you some questions regarding the movie. Three questions and some jokes later, you thought he was done asking you but you were wrong.

“As the newcomer in MCU, fans are dying to know about your current love —” Jimmy was interrupted by the cheering women fans in the studio. He smiles as he slightly lifts up his hand asking for some silence to continue.

You laugh as your cheek blush and you tap your hands gently multiple times on your thighs nervously. You and Lizzie knew sooner or later that this question would come.

“Are you seeing someone now?”

“As in dating or hallucinating?” Once more you joke around and everybody instantly laughs.

“Good one. Good one. Nice try on stalling to answer the question.” Jimmy responds humorously in between laughs.

You sneaked another quick glance to Lizzie then looked at Jimmy. “Well, I’m taken, married actually.” you finally answered and you subtly show the wedding ring on your ring finger and awkwardly laugh.

“Wait.. Wait.. Wait.. What?? When did this all happen? Last time you were here, you were single.” Jimmy exclaimed.

“Yes I was but now I’m happily married.” The audiences are in awe with your answer.

“Okay, okay. Congratulations! Wow. What an exciting surprise. Is your husband from the movie industry as well?” Jimmy asks curiously.

“Wife.” You corrected it with an excited smile. Surely, Jimmy looks surprised yet excited for you. A huge cloud of curiosity flows over Jimmy and all of the audiences instantly.

“Awww! Who is this lucky woman?” Jimmy asks and shortly after people start to chant “Who is she? Who is she?”

The four of you laugh. Rachel and Benedict try to keep their expression that they know the truth. Nobody notices that Lizzie looks at you and gives you a subtle small wink and you take that as your cue that it’s time to let people know.

“Okay. Okay. My wife is a very lovely woman. She is the sweetest so I’m the lucky one. We have been friends since the first time I came to this industry. She helps me and teaches what she knows in acting.”

“Oh?! So she is an actress?” Jimmy tries harder to dig more.

“Yes she is. Lizzie and I have been married for five months now.” In a split second, everybody in their seats cheers, applauses and goes crazy.

“Oh my god! I knew it! I knew it!” Jimmy exclaimed with a huge smile, raising his fists as if he just won a jackpot.

A few minutes later silence slowly covers up the cheerings.

“Okay, since the tea has been spilled, Lizzie, let’s switch seats so you can sit next to your wife.” Benedict stands up and gives up his seat to Lizzie. Everybody looks at you and Lizzie in awe as soon as she sits next to you and holds your hands.

Jimmy quickly connects the dots and asks one unexpected question.

“Wait, so does it mean that the improvised jealous Scarlet Witch was actually real?” An image of the scene shows up on the giant screen as Jimmy’s hand points at it. “I meant Wanda’s expression looks so real that I can even feel it when I watch it. Were you really jealous, Elizabeth?” he continues.

“Uh oh.” Benedict's short remark lures some laugh from you and Lizzie.

“Tell him, Lizzie.” Rachel joins in jokingly.

Lizzie laughs awkwardly, blush creeps up on her cheeks. “Oh my gosh. This was embarrassing. So, in my defense, I didn’t know— well actually I forgot that there was a kissing scene between Y/n and Rachel. I was just taking a break and chilling with Benedict then I saw them kissing, I didn’t know they were filming. So yeah and then that happened. Eeeeend scene.” Lizzie explained.

Jimmy lets out a pretend gasp and looks at Benedicts. “Why didn’t you stop her?” Everybody laughs.

“Oh I was just so puzzled because she just suddenly stood up, excused herself and told me she would be right back. I tried to stop her, I wish I had the time stone with me at that time.” The  dark haired man responded with some laughs.

“Rachel, you were hiding behind Y/n’s back.” Jimmy examines the giant picture.

“Yes, yes I was. To be honest, I was so bamboozled and my mind tried to think if Lizzie was really mad with me because I don’t want her to be mad at me or if it was just Wanda’s part in the scene. My mind starts to question in those short minutes if Wanda will push me with her wiggly woo in it because I have all the wire around me and I wasn’t ready if they were gonna do a sudden pull on me with them.” Rachel smiles at Lizzie and you.

Jimmy nods at Rachel’s answer then looks at you. “I was as confused as Rachel was but I tried to calm her down because I knew it was all a misunderstanding. Lizzie never really shows jealousy but I’m not gonna lie she actually looked so cute and adorable.”  You look at her in adoration and rub your thumb in the back of her hand. Lizzie gives you a smile back.

“Wow, I never knew behind that iconic scene was actually a funny moment. So Sam, the director, decided to use that scene for the movie?” Jimmy lets out his thoughts.

“Yes, he did.” Another shy laugh followed Lizzie’s answer. With that, the show continues with a little more questions and everything goes well.

You and Lizzie are happy with people’s positive reaction at the show about your relationship until some comments you read on social media a few days after.

_____

You and Lizzie are having a relaxing week before the Golden Globe award event this weekend. You are sitting in the backyard scrolling on the internet while Lizzie is doing her gardening vlog.

“Hi babe. What you doin’ there?” Lizzie asks as she grabs a glass of iced tea you made for her and sits next to you once she is done with her plants.

“Oh nothing. Jimmy’s show that we were in is up on the channel and internet. So I was just reading people’s comments.” you answer while your gaze is glued to the screen of your tablet.

“Oh? I hope they are all good comments?” she responds after a sip. “Hm yeah, they are.” you mindlessly answer but she notices your facial expression. You squint a little as you read more. Your eyebrow knitting together and your lips pressing in a straight line without even realizing it.

“What’s wrong, babe?” Lizzie’s tone sounds a little concerned.

“Ah nothing to be worried about, Liz. Some people are just funny with their comments and really need to find something else to do.” your hand did an air quote on the word funny and you laughed.

“What did you mean? What comment? Let me see.” Lizzie's curiosity takes over and she opens her palm, waiting for you to hand her the tablet.

“Just promise me, don’t worry about the comments and ignore them, okay, love. They really don’t bother me.” you subtly demand shortly before you let her read them.

“I can’t believe that Lizzie married Y/n Y/L/N. I hope it was just a lie.”

“Y/n is a new actress, she probably just wanted fame from being with Lizzie.”

“I think this whole thing was a skit to gain more fans attention, she probably lied about being married to Lizzie.”

“Even though IF it was true that they are married, she just uses Lizzie as her ride to fame. I’m sure as soon as she gets enough fame or movies, Y/n will leave her.”

The more she reads the comments, the more upset she looks. “I’m not happy with this, Y/n. We gotta do something about this.”

“No, I don’t think we have to do anything about it. I’m sure the comments will soon be old news and people will forget about it. I don’t really care what people say about me, Lizzie.” you express your point of view.

“I do. I will do something about it.”

“Wait, what are you going to do?”

“We’ll see. Don’t worry, darling. Everything is under control.” She kisses your cheeks and smiles, not giving you any clue what’s on her mind. You try to shrug it off and not to worry about it.

Few days later, there are more comments, both positive and negative about you and Lizzie’s. There are even videos in the media from the influencers or fans talking about them and going viral.

_____

Today is the Golden Globe award day. It’s the first big event since you got married. After hours of getting ready, you and Lizzie finally arrived at the venue. As soon as both of you got out of the car and walked to the red carpet spot, fans went all hyped up and so did the paparazzi and the media. You and Lizzie sometimes stop to sign some autographs.

You hear a bunch of voices calling Lizzie’s and your name. It’s your and Lizzie’s turn to be on the red carpet, camera flashes start to show up from every direction. Lizzie holds your hand as she poses with a smile and her eyes look at the camera.

The photographers caught some cute moments of you and Lizzie smiling at each other with the look of love.

Suddenly, Lizzie pulls you closer to her and kisses you on the lips to show the world how much she loves you and how happily married she is to you. She wanted to show all the internet trolls who said bad things about you to just mind their own business.

After the kiss, Lizzie smiles and says “I love you.” and without a doubt you say it back to her and it all caught on camera.

At the end of the red carpet, Lavern Cox is already waiting for you two to come and interview you.

“Oh my god, here comes the newlywed. One of the IT couples. Hi you guys. Both of you look amazing tonight!” She greets you and Lizzie.

“Hello, Lavern. Thank you. So glad to see you again.” you replied after you and Lizzie gave her friendly kiss on the cheeks.

“Me too, Y/n! Congratulations on the wedding! You both make a perfect couple and Lizzie, that kiss just now, I was in awe when I saw it. That was a pretty strong statement you made after things went viral about you two.” Lavern said shortly before she directed her microphone to Lizzie and you to respond.

You start with an awkward laugh. “I really didn’t expect the kiss, Lizzie always surprises me with her lovely and sweet gesture. I really appreciate her ways of showing her love and I’m really proud to show up as her wife tonight.” You can’t hold back a smile as soon as you are done saying your part and Lizzie takes her turn. Lizzie’s eyes are drinking the view of your smile in awe.

“Nice to see you again, Lavern. Thank you. It’s always nice to see our friends here and I think tonight is the perfect time for us to openly come out as being married to each other. I thank all the fans for their support and I would also like to tell some of the people who spread bad words or lies about Y/n to just leave her alone. We are happily married, we love each other sincerely. Y/n has been a great partner for me and she loves me for who I am. She could be famous even without me because she is a very talented actress and amazing person.” Her gentle smile looks totally opposite from her subtle firm tone as she expresses her thoughts towards the end of her statement.

“I couldn’t agree more with you, Lizzie. Wow, I love you so much for standing up for Y/n.” Lavern compliments her and continues with a few more questions about the outfits you and Lizzie wear tonight before the usher leads the two of you to the ballroom.

After having a little small talk with the others on the table, you gently hold Lizzie’s hand under the table and whisper to her “Thank you so much for standing up for me. I’m so lucky to have you.”

Lizzie’s gaze gently locks on yours and she replies with a loving smile. “Of course, babe. Like I said, everything is under control.” she gives you a quick peck on your lips then tonight’s host starts the event.

Everybody had a great time. At the end of the night, the crowd cheers even more positively as you and Lizzie walk out.

A/n: Welp, that's all from me for today, peeps! I hope you enjoy this. Let me know what you think. Reblogs and comments are highly appreciated. Follow me for more and see you in next!

Cheerio!

Taglist: @madamevirgo @musicinourlips @unstable-sapphic-hoe @fanboy7794 @chloe7076 @b0mbdotc0m @trikruismybitch @ichala @californianwhiterabbit @honey-sweet-hiraeth @imfuckinggenius @sxfwap @chaekhan @daenerys713 @luvmcgrath @stupidsapphicsstuff @pattypavo @savethefbees @frvny @imdoingsortagay @marvelwoman-sugarbaby @franfineashell @heyyoweveryone @ygtft-chen @yaaskasey @sweeet-likeeee-cinnamonn @paumxmff @dopeyouth @beaniejennie @ineedafinghug @idkwhatimwriting @lucydiibi @mainly-rebloging-fics-i-like @gloriousfoxruins @grxvitye @mcubreakdown101 @aos22 @wandanatstan @paulawand @yeeterthekeeper @femalehomosexual666 @snowdrop1026 @modernmonalisa @nothingisrealanyway @idamaemann @sweeterlust @royalityofmultifandom @playboysaleen @peabrain112 @gwhaley127 @harleyswanda @bodhi-j @darth-rain @cristin-rjd

[kelppsstuff]

Reading your recent post actually made me tear up, in public of all places, I want to give the two of em some.. uh.. comfort

New resident in Charlie's hotel! Who might it be?

Well, since sir pentious can rise, another can go down, right?

Let's say that the reader might've killed one demon before when she joined them in their exterminations

It makes me wonder so damn bad what'll lute and Adam react when they see this demon, the painstakingly similar in body, height, physique darling who, even when damned to hell, still kept her sweetheart personality

This is to soothe the sadness I felt from reading that

“I’m so fucking sorry!” Part two

Part One | Part Two

Masterlist

Warnings: mentions of death.

Summery: After you die for Lute and Adam they find how your reborn a sinner.

Taglist: @lutesb1tch @strawberryclumsy @fandomsbookclub @adamsfavoritesinner @mimmieme

When you died you didn’t expect for you to be reborn a sinner. You had lived an after-life of pure righteousness. The only thing you had ever done was defend yourself and accidentally killed a sinner. So to say you were shocked was an understatement.

You wanted to see Adam and Lute again, but you knew how they felt about sinners. Would they just toss you aside?

You knocked of the newly build hotel, nervous. The door opened and the Princess opened the door. She immediately knew who you were. You looked the same besides slightly larger black wings and the horns on your head. “I had no where else to go.” You voice small and timid.

You waited for her to slam the door in your face but instead she smiled brightly. “I’m so happy you’re okay! I felt so sorry about you death. And some how I even felt sorry for Adam.” She mumbled the last sentence but I still caught it. Adam.

He hated sinners the most. Sure Lute could maybe get behind the fact your one now but she had known Adam longer. Would she choose him over you. If it came down to a choice you’d want her to choose him, so neither of them stayed alone.

“Can I stay for a bit?”

The princess hugged you and showed you around.

—

You had spent the next month getting situated. You found it hard to look in the mirror. You looked so different. A new feature that you had was fangs. They slightly stuck out every now and then. But you noticed when you got mad they’d grow along with your horns.

Today was the same as every other. Wake up, clean around the bar, show sinners to there rooms, go to sleep. Though as you were looking down at the room booking book you heard a voice. A very familiar voice.

“Room for two.”

Adam. You looked up in shock and saw him there Lute right by him. You could see the glare in his eyes.

Adam hadn’t recognized you. But the woman beside him did immediately. Lute felt a sense of happiness wash over her as she saw you. She didn’t care about your new look. All she cared about was that you were here.

The two originally came to completely destroy the hotel and every time they’d rebuild it they wanted to tear it down again.

“A-Adam.” You turned your head to Lute tears of joy and shock in your eyes. “Lute.” Lute gave you the brightest smile you ever saw and was quick to jump over the desk, hugging you.

Adam at first was about to question the hell out of Lute. But when your voice replayed in his head he felt the weight on his chest lift. Was it really you? Did god hear his pleas? “Y/N?” Adam asked, he had to be sure, if this was some joke he’d tear down heaven and hell both.

You looked up over Lutes shoulder and smiled nervous at him. “Hi Adam.” He could hear the nerves in your voice but he didn’t give a shit.

He — just like Lute — jumped over the table and hugged you both. You could feel the breath leaving your body as they started to held you too tight. But you didn’t pull away, finally happy, finally with them. Your heaven. “I missed you guys.” You said to the two. Voice full of love.

“Fuck, I can’t believe you died on us. That totally did not rock.” Leave it to Adam to make his two girls laugh.

Adam felt joy, it had been the first time Lute laughed since the incident. Adam always tried to crack a joke to make her smile, but it was always dimmed.

“I’m a sinner now.” You were scared. This was the moment you were prepared for them to turn their backs on you. But you should have known better, they’d never turn their backs on their sun.

“We couldn’t care less.” Lute pulled away from the hug and cupped you cheek, leaving a friendly kiss on your lips. “Yeah listen to her hot stuff.” Adam spoke and he kissed your other cheek.

Finally with the people who you belonged with.

—

Over the next course of months Adam and Lute would visit you. They talked to Sera and gave the okay on the Hotel. But even if Sera said no, they’d still visit you and every now and then bring a certain snake occasionally.

They two angels had started to noticed you avoiding mirrors and when you saw one you’d just stare at yourself until someone pulled you away.

They watch you look at you reflection out the window. The two sat on your bed, staring at you worried.

Adam was the first to speak, filling the silence in the room. “You okay babe?”

We’re you okay? You didn’t know.

Nothing about you was okay anymore, so you thought. Your white pure angelic wings were now tarnished in black. You’d lost your halo. Nothing about that was okay. But you’d put on a show for them.

“I’m okay, Adam.” You’d never really called Adam and Lute by their names unless you were worried. You’d call Adam, apple and Lute, wild girl. “No your not.” Lute said in her knowing voice. You sighed, you can’t really hide anything from them can you?

“I’m hideous. I’m a sinner, I should be holy and yet I’m a monster.” You could feel the tears looking at your words.

“Your not a monster.” Lute tried to comfort you.

“LOOK AT ME!” You turned to them, horns bigger than normal, fangs longer, eyes glowing red. “This is who I am now!” “And I love you just the same.” She spoke as she made her way to you. Adam unusually quiet.

“How could you love me, when I don’t even love myself?”

Adam shook his head in disbelief at your words. He got off the bed and made his way to you. Cupping your cheeks and looking tenderly into your eyes he spoke. “You should know better than anyone that loving someone isn’t a choice, it’s a gift. You loved me at my worse, of course we would love you through hell and back.” He leaned down and placed a familiar kiss onto your lips. He wrapped an arm around your neck and his other around Lute, pulling you all into a comforting hug.

Maybe, maybe everything would be okay. And maybe Adam and Lute really did love you still.

Who are we kidding, let’s stop with the maybes. They loved you more than ever.

—

HI I’m sorry if this was a bit short, but i hope it brought you the comfort you wanted! Thank you for liking this little journey with Adam, Lute, and Reader. Have a great day! 💛

And a little extra!

You smiled as you squeezed Lutes hand. She had done so good bringing a little girl into the world.

Adam cut the umbilical cord while you took care for of Lute. Adam looked up to you smiling and gestured for you to come to him. “I’ll be right back you wild girl.” You whispered to Lite and walked over to Adam. You looked at the crying baby, she looked just like her dad ironically. “Hold her.” Adam whispered to you. You turned to him in shock. What? You would have thought Adam would want to be the first person to hold his daughter. “Go on.”

You picked her up and started to rock her, bringing her over to Lute, Adam putting his hands on your shoulders lovingly, before giving a kiss to Lute.

Lute cried while she held her baby. Adam crying as well, and gosh you were practically sobbing in happiness.

Some would think you’d be jealous over the two, but that wasn’t the case. You all loved each other equally and you would love that kid as if she were your own. “What’s her name?” The only thing the two had held off on telling you. You didn’t know why, but you were excited to hear what to call the little chipmunk.

Adam and Lute looked to each-other smiling before turning there heads to you.

“Y/N.” The two spoke together and you swore your heart stopped. ���What?”

“Y/N. After the person to show us what heaven really is.” Tears flew down your face as you all FOUR hugged.

When little Y/N turned 1, you had been pregnant with two twins on the way. This is what a happy ever after really is. You all three though as you watched Little Y/N playing in the sand. Adam and Lute holding your belly.

—

THANK YOU FOR THE IDEA! This was such a cute scene to write! 💛

Taglist

[theyhavetakenovermylife]

How will the boys (if they have kids with the reader) react to their kid’s favouriting their s/o, like always wanting her for bedtime stories or comfort stuff like that.

This can be one kid who only does that or all I don’t mind

!IF YOU FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE PLS IGNORE!

Btw this can be for 2007, 2016 or 2003

Your Kid Wants You Instead Of Him (Fluff)

Bayverse!Turtles x reader

A/N: I’m actually studying to become a pedagogue, so this is right up my alley😂💚 It is not uncommon for children between the age of 1 - 3 to show or have parental preferences at times. It’s part of them becoming independent and understanding they have options, so they will start reaching out for these said options.

---------

Warnings: Kids and parental stuff. (and spelling. Mama here is tired after crying during her last tmnt x reader😭😂)

---------

Leonardo:

“You know what time it is, big boy”, Leo said to your son, as he sat on the floor, playing with the train track he had gotten for his three year birthday. “It’s time to get ready for bed”.

“No”, Romeo said, picking his train up from the track, never once looking up at his father. Well that was new. Normally Romeo was all ears whenever Leo told him anything, doing whatever his parents wanted to be called a good boy. A little angel he was. Even now as he tried to ignore his father, he was still as could be, calmly playing on the floor.

“C’mon champ”, Leo said with a warm smile, crouching down so he could get closer to the toddler's height. “We’ll do what we always do! We pick out a cool pajama, and then we brush your teeth, making sure there’s no Karius and Baktus in there, and then I’ll read you a bedtime story”

“Nooo, daddy”, Romeo said, slightly agitated, wiggling his feet as he looked down on the train in his head, rocking himself back and furth, his tongue poking out of his mouth. Leo knew that tone and those movements way too well. His son was getting fussy. Leo knew Romeo was tired. But he stayed cool. He knew better than to stress, causing Romeo to be stressed in turn.

“Why not?”, Leo asked, patiently waiting for Romeo to make an answer, his toy train being his main interest.

“I want mommy to do it”, the toddler mumbled, rubbing his tired eyes.

At first Leo wasn’t sure what to think of that. He was always the one that put Romeo to bed before patrol, and then you would be the one to wake him up the next day, while Leo got some much needed sleep. That was one of the many ways he was sure to get some calm one on one time with his son, just like Leo used to crave from Master Splinter.

But Leo knew not to freak out over it. Who knew why Romeo wanted you to put him to bed today. It could very easily just be a one time thing, so why not let him do it?

“Okay, little ninja”, Leo said, standing up straight once more, reaching out a hand for his toddler. “Come, let’s go find mom”.

Romeo nodded with a tired smile, standing up so he could take Leo’s hand, before the two of them went looking for you in the lair.

Raphael:

“What ya got there, sweetpea?”, Raph asked, taking a seat next to his playing daughter, amongst all her many different dolls. “G. I. Jane?”, he asked, picking up the nearest doll.

“Daddy! No!”, Joan screeched. “Put it down!”

To say that Raph was shocked was an understatement. Joan had never screeched at him. Sure, she had something of a temper, but never has she screeched at him. On the contrary, she was usually the true version of a daddy’s girl, always hanging around him, wanting his attention. Raph’s little bundle of joy. So this had him frozen in place, still having the action figure in hand. And Joan did not like that.

“I said, put it down daddy!”, the three year old yelled, getting up so she could stomp on the ground.

“Joan, babygirl, what’s wrong?-”

That was when the screaming and crying started. Raph had still not let go of her action figure. Poor Raph had not intended to make her cry. He was simply just so shocked that he locked up, not sure what to do.

“It’s okay, princess”, Raph said, putting the action figure down so he could reach out for her so he could bring her in for a comforting hug. But Joan was not having it, yelling even louder, causing Raph to back up slightly.

“What’s going on here?”, you asked, hurrying into the room as soon as you heard your daughter cry.

“I’m not sure”, Raph said, a little scared. But as soon as Joan saw you, she ran straight for you with open arms, calming down the moment you sat down with her.

“It’s okay, Raph”, you comforted him as you saw his sad expression, as you rubbed Joan’s back. “It just happens sometimes with children”.

“Yeah, but I don’t like when she cries”, he said, with a small concerned frown on his face.

“Don’t worry”, you said. “She’ll be good in no time. Just give her a moment”.

And true to your words, she did just that. A few hours later, she was all good again, wanting to play with dolls with her father.

Donatello:

Gali had always been a sweet child, with a need to explore his surroundings. Kind of like how his father always had to explore the possibilities of his work in his lab. Therefore it wasn’t strange that Gali often turned to Donnie whenever experiencing something new. He learned a new sound? He had to say it to Donnie. He learned to stand? He had to show Donnie. He got a kitchen playset as a gift from his uncles? He had shown Donnie. And that was exactly what Gali was playing with, while you and Donnie sat by him, watching the one year old play, smashing his small kitchen utensils against the cabinets, in a way he had seen uncle Mikey do when he found out uncle Leo tried to cook.

“Hey, look at this”, Donnie said, opening one of the small empty kitchen cabinets. Gali looked up, pushed Donnie’s hand away from the cabinet, before slamming it shut, turning back to his work of smashing whatever he had in his hands against the counter. You laughed at this, causing your son to smile at you, before turning back to the kitchen with a happy screech.

Donnie chuckled at this, once again turning his attention toward the cabinet. Out of curiosity he opened it, just wanting to see how it was set up. But your son did not like this.

“No!”, Gali said, pushing Donnies hand away from the kitchen playset. He then fully turned to Donnie, holding up a hand, determination in his eyes, letting out another “no”, before turning back towards the pink kitchen stove.

“O-kay”, Donnie said, slightly surprised. You could not help but smile a little at that too. Who would have thought your sound would have so much attitude hidden inside of him.

“Mommy”, Gali spoke, grabbing onto your hand, pulling you closer to the kitchen. Here he placed your hand upon the cabinet, motioning for you to open it. Once you did, he started putting his kitchen utensils into the open room, seeing how much there was space for.

Donnie let out a fake gasp acting hurt, causing Gali to look at him, making it very hard for you to not laugh. “Have you replaced me, Gali? You don’t want to play with your dad anymore?”

Gali just stared at him before turning back towards his kitchen set, making sounds of excitement as his kitchen utensils started falling out of the cabin and one to the floor.

“Well”, Donnie chuckled. “Can’t argue with that. He got a point”.

You couldn’t stop yourself from roaring out in laughter.

Michelangelo:

Sunny was a sweet and wonderful girl, with a smile as bright as the sun. The two of you counted yourself lucky for giving her such a fitting name, seeing every time you called out her name, she would come to you with a famous big smile, arms wide open asking for a hug. Especially from Mikey.

Sunny had always been a daddy’s girl. She always wanted to hug him, and she always wanted to cuddle up to him whenever she got tired. And whenever she had a nightmare, it was always him she called out for. But then one day, as all three of you sat in the living area of the lair, watching television, something different happened.

Like usual, whenever the time started getting close to Sunny’s bedtime, she would start to doze off. Her eyes slowly falling shut and her head slowly falling forward. At this point, she would normally just crawl over to Mikey and start cuddling up against his side, a sign that he had to get up and get her ready for bed. But tonight she was fighting it. Forcing her heavy eyes awake and snapping her head up, before slowly dozing off again, only to force herself awake again.

Mikey smiled at this before wrapping an arm around her, pulling her close to his side. But surprisingly, Sunny resisted that, letting out a few sounds of displeasure, pushing herself out from under his arm, before sitting at the same spot she sat in before. You and Mikey looked surprised at each other, neither of you really sure what was going on.

“What’s up, Sunny?”, Mikey asked your fussy toddler in concern. “You don’t wanna cuddle with daddy?”

“No”, she mumbled, not even looking at him before she crawled straight into your arms, trying to sooth herself by playing with her own fingers, staring off into the distance, resting her head against your chest.

Mikey was taken back. Where did his little cuddle bug go? He was confused for a moment, wondering if he had done something wrong. He hated the thought that he might have made his precious little girl sad without knowing it.

Sensing Mikey’s uneasiness, you leaned down to Sunny. “Do you just wanna cuddle with mommy for a bit?” She tiredly nodded her head. “Will you let daddy put you to bed afterwards?” She nodded again, before sighing, letting her head rest against you, her small eyes closing as she fell asleep. You and Mikey exchanged amused glances. How had you managed to get so lucky with a wonderful girl like her?

[starstruckmoony]

so high school.

masterlist

pairing - james potter x reader

summary - that one cute nerdy guy from your lectures gives you a follow and you end up actually falling for him.

trope/tags - modern!au, uni/college!au, instagram/social media!au, fluff, terrible humor

word count - 578

warnings - language, drinking, smoking

part 1 / part 2

yourusername

❤ liked by prongsypotter, bartyyy, ev.rosier and 166 others

yourusername vogue

tagged vance_emm

8 comments

bartyyy screaming without the s

ev.rosier y'all are so hot ugh

marymacdonald MY GIRLFRIEND MY GIRLFRIEND MY GIRLFRIEND

casmeadowes i fucking love women

r.a.black first post of yours that ate

yourusername you're like soooo nice, thank you!

pandoras_box i'm SWOONING

xeno_lovegood covergirls

yourusername

❤ liked by r.a.black, pandorasbox, ev.rosier and 133 others

yourusername spider girl?

10 comments

r.a.black fucking mutant

yourusername aren't you just a little bundle of joy!

bartyyy that's what your mum said when she birthed you

starmanblack someone had to say it.

r.a.black okay glass older child 🙄

prongsyboy she's just like me fr

yourusername you get it

xeno_lovegood she DEVOURED that

vance_emm god wish i was the ground she walked on

marymacdonald my second wife actually

prongsyboy

❤ liked by yourusername, vance_emm, pandorasbox and 132 others

prongsyboy gloden hour

11 comments

yourusername gloden

prongsyboy DUCK

yourusername HAHAHA

mmmckinnon  ARE THOSE FUCKING CROCS

pete__ fuckin elite is what they are 💯💯💯

starmanblack so hot

starmanblack pop off queen

starmanblack UGH MARRY ME

rjlupin mf what

marymacdonald he's so cute chat

prongsyboy hehe

prongsyboy

❤ liked by yourusername, casmeadowes, rjlupin and 144 others

prongsyboy girl dinner

11 comments

yourusername what three hours of linguistics does to you

prongsyboy i fucken forgor how to english omfg

yourusername stroke?

prongsyboy i'm discovering a new colour

yourusername lana coded

prongsyboy oh that's hot fhshdjwhd

yourusername 😏

starmanblack bf material

starmanblack tell them king

starmanblack smash

reg_black what is it doing?

pete__ IT HELP ME 

yourusername added to their story

‼️ prongsyboy liked your story

yourusername

❤ liked by pete__, marymacdonald, starmanblack and 140 others

yourusername girlhood

tagged lily_evans

10 comments

prongsyboy are you making those for me?

yourusername no 

lily_evans no

prongsyboy whatever have i done to you

prongsyboy the height difference 😭

yourusername average booktok novel am i right

bartyyy not them actually turning out fine

yourusername that was backhanded af

marymacdonald GIRLHOOD I REPEAT

vance_emm that's so cute i love it when women

prongsyboy

❤ liked by vance_emm, pandorasbox, mmmckinnon and 139 others

prongsyboy spider boy?

13 comments

yourusername this might be spiderman

prongsyboy noooooo

yourusername can you teach me how to shoot webs

prongsyboy yesssssss

starmanblack ATE

starmanblack CARRIED

starmanblack that fucks cause i bought it

prongsyboy i know right

marymacdonald he's so spidey

rjlupin you look like you're about to ask me if i've got games on my phone

prongsyboy but have you got games on your phone?

rjlupin does the calculator count?

prongsypotter no it calculates

yourusername

❤ liked by pete__, marymacdonald, starmanblack and 147 others

yourusername the fuck

tagged prongsyboy

14 comments

prongsyboy me

yourusername you

mmmckinnon that's a cute pussy

yourusername which one?

prongsyboy BRUH

rjlupin caption ate

prongsyboy YOUR MUM HAHA

vance_emm why did you let him inside your home?

prongsyboy because he's so cool and hot and kind and funny and mmmm need that

yourusername yes

starmanblack HAHA SO CUTE

prongsyboy i love you too mate 

prongsyboy

❤ liked by mmmckinnon, casmeadowes, yourusername and 169 others

prongsyboy this gonna become a cat account fr

tagged yourusername

10 comments

yourusername that's so swiftie of you ewh

prongsyboy karma is a cat!!!!!!

yourusername fly high

prongsyboy LIKE TAYLORHDFSJSJH

pete__ what's her name?

prongsyboy it's a man...

mmmckinnon why he kinda look like remus

starmanblack JESUS FUCK YES HE DOES

prongsyboy because he's angy and eepy

mmmckinnon i just blocked you btw

prongsyboy added to their story

[whetstonefires]

So I was thinking about that passage where we hear about how Jiang Fengmian got so excited that Jiang Cheng was willing to be friends with Wei Wuxian that he hugged Wei Wuxian, and this broke 8-year-old Jiang Cheng's heart, because he loved to be held by his father, but his father almost never held him.

(Which led to Jiang Cheng kicking Wei Wuxian out and threatening to sic dogs on him, which made Wei Wuxian panic so badly he went and hid up a tree from these entirely hypothetical dogs, and Jiang Yanli went and found him, and then found Jiang Cheng in a hole and had to carry them both home, and their relationship was sealed by a mutual pact to hide the whole episode from both parents.)

Because the thing is, Jiang Cheng very much had something to be upset about! Wei Wuxian was a treasure and a joy to his father, something recovered beyond all hope, everything he could want in a disciple and the last remainder of the person or people he'd loved best.

And Jiang Cheng was a duty.

That was the entire reason for his existence: he was born out of his parents' obligation to produce a male heir for the Jiang.

Jiang Fengmian takes his duty seriously, but finds in it no joy, and that joylessness informed his relationship with his son at every turn.

And this is the same kind of tragedy as every other in this book. Because it's not that Jiang Cheng's father didn't love him, wasn't visibly fond of him; if there hadn't been this other person here he actually liked, the absence where he struggled to connect with him would have been felt, but it would have been less crushing.

...then, too, if his mother hadn't built that rivalry up the way she did, it would have hurt Jiang Cheng a lot less.

And been less of a thing! It's painfully obvious a lot of the aversion and distance between them is a product of Yu Ziyuan running in and screaming at her husband about how he's the worst and everything is about her at unpredictable intervals.

And of course, it's a lot harder to figure out how to compensate for your own partiality when you're also, simultaneously, trying to compensate for the partiality of another person who keeps insisting the only way to uphold the natural social order is to engage in systematic child abuse. The degree to which you cannot objectively handle a complex emotional situation while someone keeps yelling at you that you should do something morally repugnant or you're Bad cannot be overstated.

I really appreciate Yu Ziyuan as a character, but the heights of her incompetence and active malice as a parent are staggering.

But I was just reflecting on Jiang Fengmian's basic failure to grasp, right out the gate, that his eight year old was parched for affection and that giving more of it to someone else in front of him was going to hurt him. And I was like, haha that's only child behavior right there.

And then I was like. Holy shit. It is only child behavior! Like. Jiang Fengmian was an only child!

Like, duh, but that makes him a serious outlier! Most of the major characters in this story have siblings! It's an outrageously sibling-dynamic-driven book. Yu Ziyuan has at least two elder sisters, and could have any number of brothers or younger sisters--no shit she instinctively interpreted this situation through a lens of sibling rivalry!

Meanwhile that's going right over her husband's head because he's just like, okay going to vicariously live out my childhood fantasy where Changze got all the same advantages as me. 💖😊

[toweroftickles]

Inside Out 2: Riley's Tickle Trouble

Val's basement was not at all what Riley expected. It probably hadn't been touched since the late 90s…solid white walls, low ceiling, scratchy and thick cream carpet that look like it was made out of rope, a neglected Foosball table, and a really squishy toffee-colored leather couch almost thick enough to be a beanbag. It was nice and homey, but the ordinariness threw Riley off.

She figured that because Val was the coolest and most popular girl in school and such a successful hockey captain and so inspiring and pretty and (shut up, shut up) the Ortiz family must’ve been, like, uber-rich or something. But nope. Totally normal. It was kind of comforting, actually.

A friendly little spot on the carpet, next to the edge of the couch, invited Riley to sit down there, among the towering pizza boxes. So she did.

“Okay everyone, just relax and let’s all have some fun!” Joy was peppy as always. Game time. “But wait, why are we worried about this? We’ve hung out with the FireHawks plenty of times…” ��BECAUSE, Sadness: this isn’t our first time hanging out with the FireHawks, but it IS our first time hanging out with them as an OFFICIAL MEMBER OF THE TEAM,” Anxiety chimed in. “The importance of this event literally cannot be overstated,” the green girl grimaced, jabbing her finger. With one roll of his sleeve, Anger was ready to go. “I’ve been warmin’ up the swear button all day for this. Oh! Maybe we'll get to watch an R-rated movie!” "Uhhh, do you WANT Mom to kill us?"

“Alright,” Val announced to the team, with an uncharacteristically sly side-eyed smirk on. The game had been going for a while, and it was her turn. “Never have I ever…kissed a boy-band poster on my bedroom wall.”

Everyone’s hands stretched out into the air, all accompanied by varying degrees of smarm or giggliness, but Riley’s arm shot up to its full height much faster than the others’. Her lower lip curled up beneath her teeth, almost like it was trying to hide. Her eyes drifted around the room unfocused. And if she'd looked to her left, she would've noticed Nour's suspicious smile.

"Riley looks embarrassed," the latter teased. “You sure there isn't something you wanna tell us, Glow Girlie?” With her free hand, Nour reached out and playfully poked beneath Riley's raised arm.

What happened next, Riley couldn't stop. It was a reflex. She didn't even have time to think before she shrieked loudly, slapped her hand over her armpit, and scurried away on her knees. Her eyes were bulging out of their sockets and she was tingling all over.

“Nowaitpleasedonttickleme!” she begged. It all just blurted out in one rapid breath. By the time she realized what she’d said, it was too late.

A collective gasp echoed throughout the command center. Every head turned, each with a different expression. On the desk, the "Panic Button" was lit up, its soft glow blinking through the fingers of a single, orange hand. “....Oh no…was that bad? ...What did I do?!” “Hey…that reminds me…” the visage of Ally chuckled on the big Jumbotron screen, and tugged with malice of forethought on the edge of her beanie. All the emotions swiveled again to look at her. “We haven’t put Riley through the official FireHawks initiation yet.” Suddenly, five pairs of eyes were staring right in at them. At Riley. Gulp.

Gulp.

Riley yanked her feet behind her and clumsily tried to sit on them. “W-wait, wait,” she stammered. Except for Val (who was just enjoying the show), the rest of her team were all crawling toward her with their hands outstretched, twisted smiles on their faces, their fingers dancing like spider legs. Riley's shyness overcame her, and she felt herself blushing, only to be distracted when old white plaster bumped against her shoulder. She'd backed into the wall...there was nowhere to run. And her puppy-dog eyes weren't dissuading the others. “Wait, guys!”

The eight terrible arms that hovered over her descended in sync like a hungry swarm, and smothered her until all light was blotted out.

“AHHH!!”

Dogpiled on the floor. Enveloped on all sides. Riley quickly hugged herself tight and curled into a defensive armadillo ball, but the wriggly hands of her teammates all fought and shoved and tunneled their way into every nook & cranny between her arms and her torso. They scuttled like crabs at her waist, and her belly, and her armpits, and her neck, until she crumbled into screaming, helpless laughter.

Side thought: I'm guessing that Riley’s tickle laugh probably sounds a lot like her overdone “pretend I get the joke and fit in” laugh.

“Hihih HA-Heh! *heave* HA-Ha Ha-Ha Ha!! AHH!! *gasp* Gai…G-huys, stop!” (So much for ever keeping any future secrets from these girls.)

“We all had to do it, Michigan; now it's your turn…” Dani, always the bully among them, did not lie convincingly. But she did tickle very well.

"Andersen, two minutes in the Penalty Booooox!!" Ally's voice dropped several pitches in a goofy pantomime of their Coach. Her pinching claws electrified Riley’s sides and made her jump like a popped corn kernel.

“Oho my g-hahawd, I barely touched you.” Sofia, clearly having the time of her life, tucked her glasses into her pocket (for safety) and moved down to grab Riley's ankles.

"Ha-HA!!! Dohon't!" Everything went hot. Riley couldn’t breathe or see straight. Her blue hoodie held her snug in its warm cotton folds, but even its extra layer wasn’t thick enough to protect her from the barrage of poking FireHawk fingers. She was used to being wrestled and tummy-tickled practically to death by Bree & Grace...that was normal, sometimes even a little exciting. But her new friends were older girls: bigger, stronger, better at holding her down, and way meaner.

"NO! Nnnnn-NO!! Thisisnothappening!!!" Disgust was mortified. "Stop fidgeting; I can't tell what kind of looks they're giving us!!" Underneath the table, Embarrassment held his entire body in a death-grip bear hug around the central pedestal, and the fuchsia on its surface rapidly emanated from him like an inky stain. In a fit of panic, Fear followed suit and threw his four limbs around the nearest sturdy object he could find... which just so happened to be Ennui's entire face. "Wait! I-I can fix this!" Anxiety hadn't moved this fast since Hockey Camp. Joy, though? She was over the moon. Giddy, buzzing, practically levitating off the floor. "Awww, remember when Dad used to tickle us all the time? Heheheh...Riley's our little monkey!" "No! Stop it! This is not cute!" "Wait a minute; Val! Val will save us! We have-togettamessageto-er somehow!" The faster Fear talked, the tighter and tighter he squeezed Ennui's head, until both of them crashed to the floor. Anxiety gasped. "You're right! She's always stuck up for Riley! How do we signal her?!" "Guys look she's looking! She's looking at us!!" squeaked Envy. It was then, as if in answer to their prayers, that Val pushed herself up off the couch and spoke. All the others on the hockey team heeded her call. “A’ight, girls..." She was smiling warmly, practically moving in slow motion, like a knight in shining armor. Time ground to a standstill. All the emotions held their breaths in anticipation… "...let me get in on this."

At their leader's command, the four minions happily parted like the Red Sea. Dazed, Riley suddenly felt two rough hands clasping her wrists, and then two more closing around her ankles, and then her head sliding up into someone's lap. Dani's. Carpet burns stung her back. She was breathing hard. Someone had been using her diaphragm as a trampoline. By the time she got her wits about her, her limbs were stretched out like rubber bands, and Val was sauntering toward her.

No. No no no not Val. Please not her!!

“Uh-oh…awwww, yeah; get ‘er good, Val,” Ally teased.

Riley desperately squirmed and wiggled to escape, hoping to hide in a fetal position, but the hockey captain plopped right down on top of her jittery knees. She was pinned.

Say something. What are you doing; SAY SOMETHING!!!

She opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was a squeaky, low-decibel croak, like a leaking balloon. Crud. And as Val smiled down at her, one eyebrow raised, Riley noticed something else that made her even more nervous: her hoodie had hitched up from all her writhing around, and her bare belly was peeking out.

Oh no. Her earlobes had a heartbeat. Could the others tell how red her cheeks were?! Oh no.

"Heheh…What’s this? What’ve we got here?" Snickering, Val slowly reached her left hand forward, making sure to drag each movement out for as long as possible…and then…just as the tension reached its agonizing limit…she scratched her fingernail right in the freshman FireHawk's belly button.

The scream that burst out of Riley could've killed a Symbiote.

BANG!! BANG!! BANG!! Embarrassment’s massive schnoz pummeled the keyboard like a whack-a-mole hammer, engulfed by the machine's belches of sparks and smoke. Sirens blared, red lights strobed. “Fight BACK already!” Anger dove for the controls, but a hyperactive orange fist sent him flying into the ceiling. “No! We CAN’T!! Just retreat! Submit! Roll over! O-or something!” Anxiety no longer knew what buttons she was pressing on the neon-pink-and-orange console, or if they even functioned. She just desperately pounded whatever wasn't currently blocked by Embarrassment's flailing body. “She’s right; what if we sock one of them in the face like we did to Bree during the slumber party?!” Fear whimpered. “That was YOUR fault!” Joy, meanwhile, rolled around on the floor in wild hysterics, laughing and snorting and totally oblivious to the surrounding office chaos. Beside her, Envy bounced up and down in tandem. The apocalypse was here.

“HA-HA Ha-Ha Ha-Heh…Ah-HEHH!! *cough* HHA-Haw HA!!” Riley wailed through cracking and creaking pipes. She hated how crooked her braces-wearing grin looked, how wide her nostrils flared. It was too much: Val squeezing her tummy like a marshmallow, Sofia scratching and tickling her foot through her sock, Nour prodding her in the ribs with a big toe…she was going to cry from laughing if they didn’t quit. She wanted to die - to lock herself in her room and never come out again.

“Ok, girls, I think she’s had enough,” Val declared. Her word was law…the torment immediately stopped. With one last flourish, the captain gave her youngest subordinate’s achy belly a gentle, affectionate little pat, and even sweetly pulled her shirt back down again. Aw. How helpful.

It had only been a minute or two, but Riley felt like she’d been tickled for hours. Free at last, and totally exhausted, she groaned and wiped her eyes and conked her head on the carpet, still trembling and giggling like a baby. Oh thank God.

“Haha-Ha! You’re fun, Andersen.”

"Nah, Val, I know that look; you think we were too 'mean' to her," Ally mocked as the five returned to their original seats. Val hopped onto the couch once again and crossed one leg over her knee.

"Oh, I don’t know; everyone loves tickle fights, right?"

“Uh-uh. No. Not me. I hhhate being tickled,” Dani shuddered.

“It depends; it’s not THAT bad,” interjected Sofia. “Well, except like when I’m getting my nails done, and they start going for my feet…”

“Oh, yeah, I hate that feeling,” Val laughed in agreement, resting her cheek in her left palm. “In the mall? Oh my gosh, this is so embarrassing…one time, I was getting a mani pedi, and I legit accidentally kicked this Chinese lady in the face.”

That cracked the rest of them up. "Girl, the criiiiinge," Ally snickered.

“I couldn't help it! Heh-Heh…hey, you ok over there, Ri?”

Clearly upset, the largest and pinkest retreated into his sweater. The control console was still sputtering in pain. "Not ok. Not ok. We were JUST making an impression!" "Ok, let's everybody just cool your jets," Joy smiled. “Wait she called us ‘Ri;’ does that mean something?” queried Envy. “Are we super-friends now?” “What are we even supposed to say?!” But as usual, whenever the group got stuck filibustering, it was up to Ennui to save the day. "S'cuse moi." BOOP.

Still splayed out on the floor like a snow angel, still sucking in air by the gallon, Riley weakly raised a single thumbs-up, high above her head. Do. Not. Make. Eye contact.

“Hiiiiieeee…….yaah….*gasp*...’mokay…*gasp* …neverbetter,” she squeaked.

“Well that couldn’t POSSIBLY have gone worse. So help me those girls are gonna GET it!” “Oh I messed up…Imessedupsobad…” Anxiety yanked down on her wiry hair to the point where she appeared to be wearing suspenders. “I don’t know,” Sadness mused. For the first time all evening, her cheeks raised up in a tiny smile. “I think…I think they like us.”

Riley wheezed and sighed and blew a bang out of her reddened face while the others laughed playfully. They were way too happy about this…the kind of happy that girls only get when they discover a piece of juicy gossip. Deep down, in the pit of her stomach, she had a feeling…this wouldn’t be the last time her new gal-pals punished her for the crime of being unbearably ticklish.

…somehow, she didn’t really mind all that much.

**********

I wasn't originally planning to write an Inside Out 2 fic, but got a lot of positive feedback on my headcanons and my prompt ideas, so this is ‘sort of’ a reader request. Now, I am not a teenage girl. I have never been one. I don't plan on being one in the future. So, I’m not entirely sure how ‘believable’ this is. My hope was that this fic would feel authentic and familiar to some of you, and maybe drag up some high school memories (or fantasies) of those warm, squiggly, flustery feelings that come with a tickle attack from your BFFs. Just something cute and silly.

I don’t ship Riley & Val, I’m not super comfortable with that, and this fic was not intended to be interpreted that way. But, some people who read this are probably going to anyhow, and that’s fine I guess as long as you don’t push it. Lol

Also I don't actually know if the Muslim girl's name is Nour. I read on some dubbing wiki that it was, but that was the only reference to her name I could find, anywhere, online. So if I get different info I'll fix that.

[ccycloneblogging]

I'm seeing age differences in those relationship charts-

But are those Real age differences, or are they part of their "Character" and not when they were actually made.

I'm assuming the latter because of them "remembering" the cartoon as you've put it- but the idea that they actually had real childhoods (one not just written up on some script) and were kids is both adorable and also very depressing.

Thinking about it, realizing you're an artificial being that was made directly into an teen/adult with only fake memories and stories from a tv show is some prime existential dread. I mean that seem like it could be one of the few things that could truly break the critters- especially for Catnap who seem adamant that there is a world to go back to, only to be faced with "that world- those memories were never real".

That kind of angst seems ripe for picking!

Alright - Combining these together.

Let's start off with a height chart and ages for the Critters! (Plus Angel), and this would be in feet - and yes these are the heights I am trying to keep consistent.

Find the original here.

Okay, more under the cut!

So

Let's start with our Anon. You are so right. I really want to make these guys have varied bodies, just like I did whenever I draw the FNAF animatronics. So it makes it tricky for me to keep the cartoon proportions, as I just want to lean into anthro proportions. But I strongly agree with you!

Okay. Moving on.

The ages for the Critters are based off of two things. My preference for having some older style toons - and I imagine these are based on their creation and not their ages on the show. I imagine the show kept them ageless, but around the same year. DogDay is our oldest, because I believe whoever created them in universe first thought of him before the other critters. I think the creator of the show originally meant to just have a small show with just DogDay, Bubba, and Picky - for whatever reasons. (She just gives off older vibes to me). Over time, the others were added in for various reasons. Hoppy is our youngest, as I like to think she was a last minute addition to the team to balance them out.

These ages are just what I have listed, but I think none of the critters really view themselves having the same age. I think if you were to ask any of them, their first answer would be at least twenty five. Five years working in PlayCare, ten after the Hour of Joy, and they would simply shrug off the rest.

Then there's Angel, who started working for the company at the age of twenty three. Stayed for three years, then left.

As for childhoods? They have a false one written into each of their characters. Excuse me while I ramble on about what the backgrounds they were "programmed" with.

DogDay was an only child and rather lonely. He decided to take that loneliness and work that much harder to befriend others and create meaningful relationships. He approached each critter one-on-one, and after that? He'd try to hold on to anyone he clicked with. He has so many false memories of his family and his time with his friends before the show's "start". Though... If he actually thinks about it, he starts to question why he never had any pictures of these memories. However, once brought into the "real" world, he adjusted to this realization.

Bubba was the first to be approached, though he knew DogDay when they were children. They grew up together, and DogDay really helped him get past his awkward phase. He spent so much time trying to focus on learning, fascinated by everything he could read about. DogDay helped him come out of his shell and befriend others. He was the first to realize his memories were fake and adjusted incredibly well. As far as he saw it - yes. They weren't "real" creatures in the show, but existing in PlayCare? They were alive. Did the past really matter when the present was far more important?

Picky grew up with a massive family. She is the eldest of her siblings and had always taken on a caretaker kind of role. She happened to meet DogDay towards the end of their childhood, an was confused when this excited dog insisted on dragging her over to meet a rather shy elephant. She found them both to be weird, but she warmed up to them quickly. She struggled with the realization that her memories were fake. After all, this meant that the family she had, the siblings she loved so deeply and cared for... None of that existed. To cope, she ended up taking care of the kids that much more. She was going to heal her sorrows by making new memories.

CatNap happened to wander in to town on their own, deciding to make a life for themselves - despite their young age. They was probably three days into their solitude when DogDay discovered them in a tree. CatNap was confused and insisted that DogDay leave them be, but the pup wasn't backing down. Eventually, he convinced them to come down and join him and Bubba for a picnic. Though CatNap and Bubba didn't get along at first, CatNap and DogDay were inseparable after that day. They discovered their memories were false due to their recall. They poked their head around the councilor's office and discovered too much, and CatNap just couldn't handle it. They still don't believe all of those memories were fake, and they just want to cling to those nonexistent days.

Bobby moved into town with her family, a middle child with three older siblings and one younger adopted sibling. She happened to run into DogDay during a Valentine's Day celebration. She had taken charge of the decorating, and was impressed that DogDay not only wanted to help, but enlisted his friends to help too! This is how she met Bubba, Picky, Kickin and CatNap in their teen years. She couldn't thank them enough and was the first to suggest a weekly meetup for them. She still has not realized these memories are fake, but she is suspicious of some details and has her doubts.

Kickin is the youngest child in his family, adopting a cool persona to help his self esteem issues. He didn't meet the others until later on, in the end on their childhood and the start of their teen years. He met CatNap first on accident, catching the cat being cornered by some larger critters. Despite being so tiny, Kickin' jumped in to defend the cat, and though the two didn't fair well, they immediately bonded. CatNap soon introduced him to DogDay. Though they liked each other, Kickin' always felt the need to one-up him. A rival. He has not realized the memories are fake, but he has no idea.

Crafty was an only child, but incredibly gifted. She happened to find herself in town to study, though she had a small desire to follow her art. She often spent time alone, finding a quiet spot to occasionally doodle between her studies. It was during one of these days when she met DogDay - who had no concept of personal space and leaned on her, asking her what she was drawing. Of course, this scared the hell out of her. Afterwards, DogDay apologized and insisted that he make it up to her by inviting her to the group's weekly hang-out. When Crafty met the others, she was amazed by how welcoming the other Critters were. She then began to start coming up with ideas on friendship charms and was the one to propose the idea. Everyone voted on what type of charm best suited the others. She is deep in denial that her memories are false, but deep down? She thinks she's always known.

Hoppy was the last to join the group. She met DogDay during a sporting event - as he was there to root for Kickin' (and CatNap, though CatNap spent the game sleeping on the benches). He was impressed by her sportsmanship, and she found his sunshine behavior pretty funny. They clicked almost immediately, so he grabbed her hand and quite literally dragged her to the others. While Hoppy didn't get along with the others that quickly, she stuck around. Because Hoppy was a last minute addition to the show, her memories are the most fragmented. It stresses her out if she dwells on it, so she ignores it.

CatNap's insistence on returning to their cartoon is probably the one thing that deeply angers DogDay as well. In the cartoon, they didn't have freewill. They could not feel things outside of their script - at least, not to the same extent. In the "real" world, DogDay felt they could finally be themselves. That they could truly be alive, even though they were technically prisoners to Playtime Co. DogDay couldn't express his love for the others in the cartoon. His friends couldn't be as happy - like Bobby and Hoppy. They could never be together in that world.

So, hearing CatNap demand that they just give up their freedom? Yeah. This is probably one of the only things that they fought about.

[f4iry-bell]

𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐄 | 2

pairing: jameson hawthorne x nerd/good girl reader

summary: summary: who would have guessed taking an unwanted picture of her could lead to that tense moment? more than that, who would have thought it would get his attention to make a deal? and guys like him drain a person inside out when are interested in you.

series taglist: @clarissaweasley-10 @whatsamongus @sheisntyou @emelia07 @elysianwayy77 @lyra-kane @bewitchingkisses @zenikswaffleshop @off-to-the-r4ces @jamcarven

permanent taglist (for jameson): @clarissaweasley-10 @whatsamongus @sheisntyou @emelia07 @elysianwayy77

warning: edges????

word count: 1.5k

a/n: I'm so sorry, i wrote half of it during my exam week. next part will be better!!!😞

masterlist | series masterlist

← part 1

After making their deal official by shaking their hands, Jameson immediately asked for her number. She was hesitant to give it to him, even suggesting that he'd accept her email address instead. Jameson made fun of her, and convinced her to give her number. She felt insulted when he made fun of her. She knows people do make fun of her behind her back but none of them really did it in front of her face.

“Is that what you're going to save me?” She rolled her eyes, and pushed back her glasses.

It read; Front Row Princess.

“I’m not wrong, am I?” She wished she took boxing lessons so she knew how to throw an actual punch. Because his smirk was annoying to the point she actually wanted to punch him.

“Well then, I'll save you as The Most Privileged White Boy of the Century.” She raised both her eyebrows, and added. “I'm late for my next class, so bye.”

Jameson just laughed at her comment. “Wait. Talk to me.”

“I just said I'm late. Are you deaf?” She looked pissed, she hates it when people act like one's words matter nothing.

“No. I did hear you. That's why I'm asking you to talk to me. Let's start from now, you go late to class. It'll be a different experience to enter a room full of students, or walking in the hallway with barely any students.” Instead of smirking he gave her a friendly smile this time.

“No, I'll start tomorrow.”

“You won't. Start today. Right now.”

“I don't want to be late to class. Everybody will stare at me, and God the whispers. I don't want my professor to be disappointed.” She blinked rapidly when she was talking.

“Your professor won't be disappointed. You still have time, just be 5 minutes late. Won't hurt a fly. And who cares what those whispers say? Don't you have a project you have to work on?”

She was quiet, Jameson had a victory smile. She can't accept that she is wrong, especially when she's with him.

“Let's chat. I'll go first. I like insane rides and speed because of the adrenaline rush. It gives me pure joy.” Jameson sat down on the floor.

“Uh…cool.” What she really wanted to say was ‘freak’ or ‘weirdo’.

“Now tell me something about you.”

“Uh…I don't like heights.” She confessed. “Ironic, I know.” She pointed at the edge of the rooftop.

“No wonder you got so scared when I came. You probably thought you were about to fall.” He chuckled at the memory of her jerking up.

“I could have fallen. Don't do that to me or anyone, it's not safe.”

“Okay, miss right.” He rolled his eyes.

“I’m serious.”

“Alright, change of topic, what's your favourite pizza topping!?” He asked.

She sighed, this boy can never take anything seriously, why did she let him help her? Maybe it's his face, and how pervasive he was, or his charm. She wonders how she is going to keep up with him, because they are two different species.

“I don't like this.” She said on the other side of the call while sitting on her dorm bed. “I could get in serious trouble if I sneak out. New rule; you help me but without getting me into trouble.” She told him.

“You’re not sneaking out, just get a gate pass saying you have to meet a family member for dinner and you'll be late tonight.”

“I’m not good at lying.”

“Then I'll lie for you.”

“How will you do that, genius?”

“I'll tell the dormitory incharge that I'm your boyfriend, and we both are meeting your parents so my dear girlfriend might be late by just half an hour.”

“No! You're not saying that.”

“Then the first option is.”

“Fine. But will you at least tell me ‘Out of the Bubble Experience’ am I going to have?” She asked.

“Why? So you can either be mentally prepared or say ‘I’m not going to do it’? No way. Second lesson; Live in the moment.”

“I- I wasn't going to do either of those.” She frowned at how he was quick to read her mind from kilometres away.

“Sure. I'll meet you outside where I told you at 8:30PM. Don't be late, princess.”

“Now what?” She asked. She was wearing a normal red shirt, and a cardigan over it paired with flared jeans.

“We're going on a mini drive, mini that will only take an hour.”

“An hour?!”

“Just an hour.”

Most of the car ride was “where are we going?”, “are we there yet?”, “just tell me where!” and some music, Jameson asked her if she wanted to play any music of her choice but she knows that he'll judge her music taste so she listens to his stupid fuckboy music.

After an hour exactly he stopped a little away from their destination, he got out of the car to open the door for her but she was already out, and neither of them commented on it. Jameson thought she wasn't aware that he came to her side to open the door, and just let it be.

“What now?” She asked him, raising her shoulders.

“This is the part where you say “Is this the part where you kill me?”” She can see his cheeky smile through the moonlight, and just glared at him. “Alright, so we're walking half a kilometre, is that okay?”

“Yeah, but why?”

“What's the point of coming out on a night like this if not to take a walk?” He said as he started walking in reverse.

They were at the top of a hill, it was high, and the side Jameson was walking in reverse had an edge. He took slow steps towards the edge, there was a foot tall cement railing that was there at the edge, which he could easily trip over. It was about a foot thick as well.

“Stop.” She demanded but he kept going.

“I won't fall, princess. Relax, there's a railing.”

“You could trip over it.”

“Nah, my plan was to walk on it but seeing the fear in your eyes I think only I'll be doing it.”

“You what?!” She rushed over to him to make him stop walking backwards. Her hands reached for him to stop, as soon as they made physical contact, Jameson paused for a moment, and only a moment because he knew if he stopped she'd stop touching him. Like he predicted she tried to stop him by tugging his arms. Although there was a barrier of fabrics between them, Jameson still felt the electric touch that they write about. He finally stopped once he reached the railing, he turned away, and then sat on it then put his legs to the other side where they were dangling down.

“Jameson!” She let go of his hand once he stopped but boy did she not expect him to do that.

“Join me, we are about 90 feet high.”

“90? No way I'm sitting there! God, can you just get off of it please?” When Jameson looked at her she was genuinely worried.

“Are you worried that I'm going to fall?”

“Yes!”

“I won't. Now join me. You're missing out, seriously. If you want I'll hold your hands.” He was teasing her about holding her hand but a part of him actually wanted to hold her hand. “Come on. YOLO, right?”

She rolled her eyes but took a step forward, and hesitated to say something. “Will you actually hold my hand?”

He paused. “To keep you safe.”

She nodded, and sat. He put his hands behind her back to make her feel safe. She didn't put her legs to the other side, she was sitting close to him, he turned to her to see that she was looking down on her thighs but with her eyes closed. When he spoke the hair at the back of her neck rose as his breath fanned over her neck.

“If you're scared to face your fear, you'll never outgrow it. I won't let you fall.” He promised. “Just put your legs over, or not. But at least turn and look at the view. You are seriously missing out. And I really want you to see this.” It was true, Jameson was so excited to show her this small view from this high. He is actually a bit sad that she's not experiencing it like he wanted her to.

She sighed with a nod, and turned back to look, her eyes sparked.

“Woah.”

Jameson smiled at her reaction although it was just whisper he heard it crystal clear, maybe it's the distance but a part of him told him that he would hear her from kilometres away as well. He didn't want to call it infatuation, because he knew that they are binary opposites.

And would never work.

So he called it an experiment, a challenge, anything but infatuation. He was determined to make it stay that way, even if felt a little tug on his heart the way her eyes twinkled, and when she smiled looking at the view.

It doesn't matter, they'll never work.

part 3 →

[pinkestmenace]

Edit: Expanded reference sheet

WOOOO! Done just in time! @kirbyoctournament

Name: Olympea, the Pummeling Peacekeeper

Gender: She-himbo, She/Her

Age: Never ask a woman her age! (She's an adult.)

Occupation: Warrior/Hero of Yore

Species: Puffball/Starborn/Star Child/whatever the Kirby species is called.

Uh-oh, due to a temporal anomaly the Hero of Yore Olympea suddenly finds herself transported alive and well from Ancient Halcandra to the Kirby OC tournament! She doesn't know what's going on, but she'll roll with the punches and treat it like a fun dream vacation of sorts. She does like meeting all sorts of new people and trying new foods, weapons and technology. She'll have so many stories to tell her friends when she returns! It's probably for the best if she doesn't learn what disaster befell the four heroes in the regular timeline, though...

Some ground rules, just in case:

I would love seeing people's OC's interact with her! Asking Olympea questions is okay, but this is not an ask blog/rp blog and I'm not looking for extended roleplay. I may not answer your question. If I see potential for an interesting interaction I may draw it, but I can't promise anything. (Keep in mind if I don't respond right away -> 1: I'm timid and get anxious easily. 2: I may not have figured out that part of her story/the history of Ancient Halcandra yet. 3: The answer would have contained a spoiler for my fics. 4: I'm very slow at drawing.)

I'm joining this tournament for fun, so thank you for understanding!

Propaganda and Answered Asks:

Arrival

Found cupcake!

Ask (Giant upcake): quanblovk

Ask (Kettlebell): graycoin

Ask (Pet rock): anonymous

Ask (Punching): anonymous

Bonus: Punch!

Ask (Green bean): maybeher0

Ask (Fic canonicity): anonymous

Propaganda/gift art for my competitor: zeros-witness and Rimuri

Ask (Unexpected cursed hands): morp

Off to the loser's bracket

'Tis pride month! Thou knowest what that meaneth.

Bonus: Rock Rider Olympea

Weatherproof outfits

Grillmeisters

Ask (The Gospel Of The Lamp™): the-chaos-axolotl

So Moth It Be

Olympea's Space Gauntlet

Ask (Grip strength): cauli-flawa

Wanya-fication

Noddyfication

Ask game: Graycoin 💫🥘☀️🐛

Ask game: Anonymous ⚔️🧋⚙️

Ask game: Anonymous 🥀 (Asks about Soul forms so CW: discussion of body horror and death!)

Propaganda/gift art for my competitors: Inufaiya and Cauliarty

Star Allies icon

Bonus: Keigo's P.E.T.R.O.C.K. interface

Fake Dream Buffet Costume

Paper Mario style emulation

Starstruck 🤝 Olympea

Expression Practice

Mirror counterpart Olivia

Halloween Outfits (Olympea & Olivia)

===Post Kirby OC tournament===

Masquerade Outfits (Olympea & Olivia)

Christmas Confusion (Olympea & Olivia)

Shell-shot (Featuring Sir Uther...kinda.)

New Apron, forging a poffertjespan

Blizzard Hammer

Overview:

While she's not very big, intellectual or attuned to magic, she is unbeatably chipper and physically strong. She loves fighting and gleefully uses a variety of lovely accessories/weapons like a giant club, enchanted glaive, magitech gauntlets, etc. Her left glove allows her to access a dimensional storage. Teases hard, punches even harder. Actually quite feminine when off the clock. Loves magitech gadgets a lot. Doesn't think science or magic is better, because their society needs both. She's definitely not insecure about her height. She'd also never conjure a giant squeaky hammer to bop you over the head if you call her short.

Likes: Vegetables, Nectar, Trying new foods, The colour green, Flowers, Butterflies and moths, Pretty/cool/badass women, Her club, Brass knuckles, Tinkering, New gadgets, Teasing her friends, Seeing a certain winged magenta knight open up and feel genuine joy

Dislikes: Being mistaken for a child, Being called stupid, Stuck-up people, Seeing her friends being hurt, Strangers flicking her antennae, How much dust and scales her wings leave behind

Abilities: Able to fly. Very physically strong. Innately has access to Suplex and Hammer, but mainly uses her trusty club. Her boots and gauntlets let her emulate elements of Hi-jump, Laser and Mecha. (The boosted jump, laser finger guns and palm blasts, respectively.)

Weaknesses: Can't fly quickly. Stubby little arms limit her great strength with little reach. Distractable and a little naive. Can't resist eating strange and exotic snacks no matter the source. Seeing cute girls (she HAS to show off).

Fighting Style:

Her gauntlets are good for punching and the palms can release blasts of energy as well. They're mainly so she can hold large weapons well, since her actual hands aren't very big.

Her moth wings aren't very big either, so while she can normally fly and can still break her fall when she's armoured, she prefers to zip around close to the ground. It's often faster and easier to run and jump when she's fighting. Especially when she's wielding her heavy club. Her boots help her boost and maneuver quickly.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that because she prefers close range combat and isn't proficient with magic she can't attack at a distance. Her gauntlets possess finger laser guns and she can use her left glove (which she also wears under her gauntlet) to access her weapon hoard at all times. Who knows what else she keeps in there?

Even her civilian outfit isn't harmless. She still has access to her innate Suplex and Hammer abilities, after all. And those shoes have steel toes! Of course, the platform heels are just to keep her delicate wings from scraping across the ground when folded. No other reasons. (Like being taller.)

Design Thoughts:

Olympea is the first of the Heroes of Yore who came to me. I was thinking about how to describe the Heroes of Yore and knew I wanted at least one to be a woman. Suddenly her name resounded through my head! Then I just started associating. Olympea sounds like Olympics, so she must be strong. Pea calls to mind small, round and green, so what if she's (mostly) the same species as Galacta Knight? Peas are famous for research on genetics and alleles, so what if she was born, not formed like him? Maybe she doesn't have a lot of magical affinity. Then she needs weapons. Pea, peace, pea shooters, peas in a pod, peacemaker, pea-smacker. Let's give her a hammer, no, a club! She's strong, so what if she packs a punch? How about some gauntlets for punching? She can have a gun, wait, let's put the gun (pea shooter!) in her gauntlet's finger! She needs storage for her weapon hoard (girl needs to accessorise!) so what if her enchanted gauntlets let her access dimensional storage (peas in a pod)? Hmmm, does she have wings? There's a bug called a pea moth, so she has moth wings now. Her ponytail is twisted like a dried pea pod and not-so-coincidentally looks a bit like a cocoon when down and a boxing glove while up in a bun.

I maaay have gone completely overboard with the whole pea thing, but such is life. Although there is a bit of Hammer Lord in there as well. She doesn't hate magic, she just doesn't have a lot of affinity for it. She does enjoy tinkering and building weapons. This is how she ended up relying mostly on technology instead of magic.

She's not a knight and has no mask, because while many people depict all adult puffballs as masked knights (probably influenced by the Star Warriors from the K:RBAY anime) I personally don't think this has to be universal for their kind. How sad it would be if all they were destined for was fighting! ...And then I made her a warrior anyway. Oh well.

[johntayjinf]

take me on

rrthiel - athletic (ym2151 + ymz280b)

i was inspired so i wrote a vocal mix! ack

for anyone who wants the commentary:

the pain of vocal production on a tracker with simple detuning controls

no, genuinely i can't tell you how frustrating the vocals were to tune; first i set the entire project to 435hz (440 is the default tuning that every single daw in existence uses), but the consequence of that is that it also lightly detuned every single sample, making timing very difficult to manage. i felt like the devil having to artificially extend my vocals to fit both the timing and get the tuning right, but you win some you lose some i guess.

on top of that i feel very unsure about my own vocal performance and there'd be a few noticeable tuning mistakes, i think? i mean before i tuned them again tonight they were even worse, but apparently the trick to that is just to listen to them outside my headphones; because listening to the lower frequencies to tune vocals isn't going to give great results. or maybe that's just me and my habits. my shit phone audio that exposed the mid frequencies did a good job at telling me that, "hey, you tune terrible for a gal that likes to say she does music production to people when you like silly video games and music that came out before you were even conceived"

venus theory made a very good point about having a "shitbox" (like, a boombox that is shit) so it exposes frequencies you would've never heard otherwise, and that was quite the enlightening experience to say the least. i wouldn't say my tuning is terrible; frankly i think it's fairly okay for someone with informal training and practice, but i genuinely didn't expect to go so out of tune in my one (yes, one) take of the main vocals... and then i learnt that way that the voice that you think you're singing varies widely with what's actually produced from your vocal cords, your mouth shape, and how much air you put into it. needless to say this was a really good, and *horrifying* learning experience, and hopefully this means more vocal covers and originals in the future.

as for the lyrics, i was going for the "mindless 80s love song" cheesy lovey dovey kind, and was inspired slowly after a few listens of the og song. it's not my first time writing english lyrics, but it's fair to say that it's really rare coming from me.

Lyrics

sometimes i feel like i'm afraid of heights

(don't look down now)

sometimes i feel like i wanna hold you tight

oh you would never know the sight,

because right now we're so high we could almost die

but now you're here with me, i'm like on ecstasy

if anything ever happens i won't mind

'cause with the two of us, our hearts combined

we'll always have our time to shine

together we can find a place or run away

it's okay

you could pretend that we would be so far

but i will find my way 'cause you're my north star

i hope that you and i are on par

i don't wanna put my feelings in a jar

is it just my mind that is pacing, my chest that is aching

the things i wanna say could be said everyday

is it just my heart that is racing, the love we'll be sharing

and we will never say goodbye

you see that all is fine,

now put your worries all aside

[guitar solo]

'cause with the two of us, our hearts combined

we'll always have our time to shine

together we can find a place or run away

it's okay

you could pretend that we would be so far

but i will find my way 'cause you're my north star

i hope that you and i are on par

i don't wanna put my feelings in a jar

is it just my mind that is pacing, my chest that is aching

the memories we'll make will never fade

is it just my heart that is racing, the love we'll be sharing

and i will always play my part

we should take on the charts,

or maybe begin from the start

[writeforfandoms]

Warrior Song 9

Find the series masterlist

In which we learn that old adages still hold true. Or, medic is a terrible patient. Fortunately, she has good friends to help her. 

Warnings: mention of blood, mention of injury, swearing, Spartan cuddles. 

Word count: 2.8k

The next 48 hours proved to you and everyone around you that those old stories about medics being awful patients were all true. 

You scowled up at John, impatient with your own limits and frustrated with the sheer lack of anything to do. “I’ll keep off my leg,” you promised.

“No.”

“Just let me go sit and snark with the team! That won’t impact my healing at all.” 

“No.” 

“John–” You sucked in a breath when he sank to his knees next to your bed, putting you two closer to the same height. 

“You need to rest.” He frowned ever so slightly at you. “The team is not restful.” 

Well. You couldn’t actually argue that, much as you wanted to. “John. I’m losing my mind.” 

“No. You’re just bored.” He moved slowly, one hand cupping your cheek, his other covering one of yours. “You’ll be fine.”

You blew out a breath but nodded, a little grudgingly. “I could be better,” you muttered, half-hopeful. 

His lips twitched minutely. “If there’s something else you want…” He trailed off, almost teasingly. 

“Kiss me?” You tipped your head a little, watching him to make sure you hadn’t overstepped. 

Instead he complied, leaning in the rest of the way to kiss you, gently at first but with slowly building heat between you. For someone who you would bet had very little experience kissing, he sure learned fast. It took almost no time for you to reach up, scratching lightly at his stubble. The soft noise he made against your lips was entirely worth it.

Eventually, though, he pulled back. Far too soon for your liking, and possibly his, based on the way his gaze dipped down to your lips. 

“You are trouble,” he rumbled, though the way his fingers brushed over your cheek belied his words. “I have things I need to do. I’ll come back at dinner.” 

You pouted. “Since you can’t stay, can Joy share whatever information you’ve gathered with me? Maybe a fresh set of eyes will help.”

John hesitated, thinking it through. You gave him time - pushing wouldn’t help, not with him. Not with this. Then he nodded. “Behave,” he murmured, almost teasingly. And he was gone. 

You gave yourself a minute to just grin stupidly at your own hands, which were still tingling a little. And your lips. And… other parts of you.

Then you picked up your tablet. “Okay, Joy. Let’s go over everything from the top.”

“From the top?” She sounded faintly confused, shimmering blue hologram peering up at you from the tablet. 

“From the beginning, basically. We’re going to go over everything.” You smiled and shrugged. “I don’t know that I’ll have anything useful to contribute, but it’ll keep me in bed.” 

Joy grinned at you and started, as requested, from the beginning. You were not at all surprised that she had more information than Fernando did, as well as a deeper understanding of the Halo itself. 

“So this Harbinger knew what was on this Halo,” you murmured, tapping your fingers against your good thigh. “And she was looking for them, too.” 

“Right.” Joy shrugged. “We never found whatever she was looking for, though.” 

“The Endless.” You tipped your head back, frowning up at the ceiling. “The way she talked about them is… It sounds like the Forerunners were scared of them. They locked the Endless away, but why? What did they do that was so bad?” You huffed out a breath. 

“That’s what I’ve been wondering, too!” Joy perked up at having someone share her curiosity. 

“Unfortunately, I doubt we’ll get any answers without finding these people first,” you grumbled. “And that sounds like a bad idea, honestly.” 

Joy sighed. “You’re probably right. Despondent Pyre tried to tell us more, but…” 

“Right.” You hummed a little. “But we know that the Harbinger wanted to get to the, uh, what was it called?”

“Silent Auditorium,” Joy provided helpfully.

“Yes, that. But we don’t know exactly where that is.”

“Right.”

“And at this point we just have to assume that nobody else is trying to release the Endless.”

“Also right!”

You sighed. “No wonder command wants answers,” you grumbled. “Do you think there’s actually enough information in the Halo to help you find all of this?” 

“Probably. Somewhere.” Joy shrugged.

“Well. No pressure, then.” You snorted quietly. 

“Something like that.”

You jumped and then swore when your thigh pulled tight with the motion. John was next to you a moment later, moving your tablet to the side. 

“I apologize,” he murmured, one hand landing on your knee. 

“It’s fine.” You breathed slowly, willing the ache to go away. “Just didn’t hear you coming.” 

“Let me see.” John pushed up the hem of the loose shorts you were wearing until he could examine the bandages for himself. There was no blood, fortunately. (Yesterday he’d very calmly freaked out when he discovered you nearly bled through a gauze pad because you tried stretching out your leg.) 

“I’m fine,” you told him, warmly exasperated. “No need to fuss.” 

He gave you a look that very clearly disagreed with that statement, but he smoothed your shorts back into place anyway. “Are you hungry?” 

You shrugged. You’d been too busy to think about food, and your appetite had been… finicky while you were stuck in bed. “I could eat,” you hedged. 

“Fernando is bringing food.” 

“Oh so you finally decided I’m well enough for some company?” You smiled at him to take the sting out of your words, putting a hand over his.

“I was overruled.” The words were completely deadpan, but you could see the humor in his eyes. 

“Ah, he finally staged a rebellion.” You nodded wisely, fighting to keep your expression neutral. “Good man.” 

John huffed his soft laugh, fingers tickling your thigh just under the hem of your shorts. “Behave.”

You squeaked and batted at his hand, but it was too late. He’d already noted your reaction. “Don’t you dare,” you threatened, pointing a finger sternly at him. 

“Hm.” He left you guessing for a few moments before he carefully eased his hand back. “Not until you’re healed.” 

A knock on the door interrupted things from devolving any further, and Fernando stepped inside carrying three trays carefully balanced in his arms. 

“A little help, big guy?” he asked, stepping forward carefully. John stood to take two of the trays from him, and Fernando heaved an exaggerated sigh of relief. “How are you feeling?”

“Better.” You shrugged, taking your tray from John and carefully settling it across your lap. “Still going stir-crazy, but less so since Joy and I talked.” 

“When are you going back to medical?” Fernando snagged the chair before John could, sitting at the little table. 

“Tomorrow.” You huffed out a breath and pushed your food around. “I’m not sure if they’ll clear me to go yet.” You swallowed around the lump in your throat, the weight of words you couldn’t say lodging there for a moment. You should go without me. You need to keep working on this, before something else happens. It’s not worth waiting for me.

Fernando waved a hand. “Not everybody heals like these guys,” he said, nodding to Chief. “Not a bad thing. He’s too quick to throw himself off things.”

“Off things?” you repeated, raising your eyebrows. A quick glance at John showed him eating mechanically, refusing to rise to the teasing. 

“Oh yeah. Called me for an extraction once and just threw himself off the tower. Had to catch him in the back of the Pelican.” 

“Seriously?” You looked at John, incredulous.

He shrugged. “It was falling apart.” 

You shook your head, snorting. “Well. I guess that’s one way to evac.” 

Fernando smirked, mischievous and amused. “We could always find something to throw you off of,” he teased.

“I can still go find more cuddle pollen,” you threatened. “Don’t think I won’t.” 

“That was an experience,” Fred said from the doorway. “Definitely worked on Chief.”

John shot the other Spartan a quelling look, but Fred merely smirked and found an open space on the floor to sit. Kelly and Linda followed him in, leaving your room absolutely crowded. Linda ended up perched cross-legged on the end of your bed. 

“What, are we having a sleepover party?” you asked, grinning. “I can probably find a good movie, but I’m afraid I’m fresh out of nail polish and gossip rags.” 

“I’m not explaining why we’re hauling blankets in here,” Fernando immediately said. “One of you can do it.” 

“Dinner first.” Linda gently jostled your foot on your uninjured leg. 

“Yes ma’am.” You rolled your eyes but obediently started eating. You almost missed Fernando snickering and nudging John with his foot. Almost. But you didn’t press for now, just watching with a smile as everyone relaxed and ate their dinners. 

You’d been joking with the sleepover comment, but Linda and Kelly gathered up all the empty trays and left, while Fred and Fernando (mostly Fred) moved the table and chair to make a tiny bit more room on the floor. John only moved to gently nudge you a little further up and then sit behind you on the bed. Confused but more than willing to roll with it, you leaned back into his warmth. 

It didn’t take long for Kelly and Linda to return with arms full of blankets and pillows. Linda just threw her whole armful at Fred, and for a moment you wondered if your room was about to become a warzone. But John cleared his throat, rather pointedly, and they settled down. 

“So, what’re we watching?” Fernando eyed the Spartans for a moment before he shrugged and sprawled across the floor, taking up as much room as physically possible. 

“I’m torn between a terrible old sci-fi movie and a terrible old romcom,” you drawled, subtly snuggling back into John. One of his hands landed on your hip, warm and comforting. 

“Is the terrible old sci-fi something I can laugh at?” Kelly asked, shoving one of Fernando’s legs out of her way. 

“Sure, go for it.” 

“Then we’re watching sci-fi.”

“Kelly, you are the only person here who has not been in charge of Blue Team,” Fred grumbled, casually manhandling Fernando into behaving like a normal person and sitting up with the others. 

“Guess I’m in charge tonight.” Kelly shrugged, looking pleased with herself. 

You ignored the minor squabble breaking out on the floor to take your tablet, picking an old sci-fi movie you knew Kelly would have fun making fun of. It took a bit of doing, but you got it projecting up where everyone could see it. 

You paid attention to the movie… for about the first five minutes. Then John tucked his nose behind your ear, nuzzling gently against your skin, and you were lost. A gentle kiss pressed to the skin there made you melt, eyes closing in near-bliss. 

And, really, you were warm and comfortable, with the familiar sounds of the movie in the background. The gentle kisses were soothing more than anything, the weight of John’s hands reassuring. 

What else could you do but fall asleep?

You woke over-warm to a very full room. Fred, Linda, Kelly, and Fernando were all sleeping on the floor, and you were still reclining against John… who had fallen asleep sitting up against the wall to keep you comfortable. 

Your heart absolutely melted and you very carefully started to wiggle your way out of his arms. 

“Where are you going?” His voice was extra rumbly first thing in the morning, and his arms tightened around you, just a little. 

“Bathroom,” you muttered, patting one of his hands. 

He grunted softly but helped you stand, holding out one arm to help you hold steady while he stood. 

“I’ll try walking on it,” you murmured. “Just. Carefully.”

John nodded but still boosted you over the pile of snoozing bodies on the floor so you wouldn’t have to navigate that on your own. Which, admittedly, was probably a good idea.

But you were able to do a hop-shuffle down to the bathroom and back, which you counted as a win. And very definite progress.

“When are you going down to medical?” John asked as he helped you back to bed. 

You sighed, rubbing a hand over your face. “Any time, I suppose,” you grumbled. “Doesn’t matter too much.” 

John nodded, giving you a few moments to get situated again. “I’ll go with you.”

That earned him a smile. “Thank you.” 

Fernando groaned from the floor. “Too early for this,” he grumbled, even as he pushed himself upright. 

“You are in my room,” you pointed out mildly. 

“Shared property now,” he grunted back. “Think they still have coffee?” 

“Probably.” You grinned at the way he perked up almost immediately. “Go on, go get some. Shoo.”

Fernando gave you a mock salute while the other three Spartans got up, and all of them trooped out together. Too cute. You tried to hide your grin, probably unsuccessfully. You couldn’t help it - all of these people had made room for themselves in your heart. 

“John?” 

He blinked at you, one hand resting on your knee. 

“Don’t delay the mission for me.” You swallowed hard. 

“I’m not.” He squeezed your knee gently. “We’re still assessing the best way to proceed.” 

You eyed him for a moment, worried he was stretching things. But he met your gaze steadily, so you nodded. 

“Okay. Good.” You let out a slow breath, battling back the low-key anxiety. 

“Ready to go?” John asked quietly, watching you closely.

“As I’ll ever be,” you agreed with forced cheer. “Let’s get this over with.”

John nodded and helped you to medbay, making sure you didn’t injure yourself further. But the biofoam had done its job, as far as you could tell. 

At least, your thigh hurt less than it had after you’d gotten shot, so you were figuring that was a good sign. 

Of course, that didn’t stop the chief medical officer from scowling at you when you came limping in, using John as a crutch. 

“Sit, in there.” She pointed down the hall to a room, and you wrinkled your nose at her tone but obeyed. John stayed quiet and out of the way as you got settled. 

It took no time to get the bandages off, and you breathed a sigh of relief to see almost no blood on them. The wound was still tender but it was healing fast. One of the benefits of biofoam - it helped to get tissue rebuilding faster than it would on its own. 

“Well, you’re in luck,” she told you, sounding only a little sour. “Looks like you’re healing well. Keep weight off of it for another couple days if you can, and you’ll be fine.” She stripped her gloves off and tossed them. “You know where we are if you need more help.”

You clenched your jaw at the subtle dig but managed to not respond, instead focusing on getting to your feet. Well. Foot. You happened to agree with the assessment of keeping weight off of your leg for a little longer if you could. More time to heal could only be a good thing in this case. 

Wordlessly, John offered you his arm again, and you squeezed his forearm gently in thanks. 

“That was about as close to an all clear as I’ll get from her,” you said, walking carefully back towards your room. “I was planning to keep off my leg as much as possible anyway, at least until it’s more healed.”

John nodded, looking thoughtful. Something about that look caused you some concern. 

“You know, if you were happening to be thinking anything along the lines of leaving me behind because this is dangerous…” You let your words trail off into a vaguely threatening silence. 

He huffed softly. “Wouldn’t dream of it,” he murmured, dry as dust.

“Good.” You nodded your satisfaction, tightening your grip on his arm as you very nearly tripped over some bits of rubble. “Because otherwise I’d have to figure out how to kick your ass with one working leg.” 

He huffed again and wordlessly scooped you up into his arms. Ignoring your soft swearing, he carried you the rest of the way to your room. 

“Joy will update you after today’s meeting,” he promised. His lips twitched, gaze warm as he lowered you into bed. “Behave.” 

A quick kiss and he was gone, striding out of your room again like a man on a mission. And, well, he kind of was. He kind of always was. Or. Almost always. 

Maybe you could get him to relax more, give him more nights like last night. Some times where the mission wasn’t the only thing on his mind.

[nct-charlee]

Jaemin + Charlee (CharMin)

“Charming. That’s what we are. ”

masterlist // NCT DREAM

(korean, english)

warning: NONE.

a/n: but hi everyone !!! so sorry for literally disappearing from the face of the earth for almost a year (yikes!). when i first started writing and thinking up Charlee i had the time and energy to finally write something. but the more i wrote and the less i saw people actually engage in my work was extremely disheartening. it was a really hard thing to consider but i just couldn’t write without thinking of what people would think of my work (if they would even read it LOL). at that same time i started falling out of love with kpop and kpop content and so it made no sense to keep doing something i found no joy in doing. BUTTTT i finally gained that spark and started following NCT and RIIZE!! writing charlee and her story was one of my favorite things to do and i really missed it i think. so her story lives on!! and there’s someone on the way, coming very very soon 😉

WC:

First Meeting

“She was and is so-” (all the members start groaning, Chenle and Haechan start saying ‘la la la I can’t hear you’)

“-pretty” (Staff coo while all the members starts booing causing Jaemin to just smile wider)

It was right after the meeting to reveal that Charlotte would in fact join NCT dream

Charlotte was the last in the room, still trying to rack her brain. she was going to debut

Not just that she was going to debut in a boy group, all different things going on in her head

Jaemin had seen her around, in passing. They had not once said anything to each other though

“She was still bawling in the office and I felt so bad. I don’t even remember what I said exactly, but I remember comforting her.”

Jaemin had realized he hadn’t seen her and decided to go see where she was

He had just been put on hiatus for his back and had a feeling Charlotte was probably feeling horrible, she probably thought she was replacing him

When he came in she had her head in her hands and was sobbing. He quickly walked inside and closed the door, coughing slightly so she could hear him

She quickly tried to wipe her tears, before sniffing out “Sorry, I’ll get out soon…”

“No, no, You’re fine. I was actually looking for you,” He smiles softly. “I just wondered if you wanted to go and get some snacks with me?”

“Um, okay. Sure?”

Jaemin laughed a little and held his hand, taking hers and leading her to the nearest convenience store

Fan Favorite Moment

During “Boom” it was obvious that Dream was going in a darker and more mature era

Slowly her clothes got short and tighter until she all she could do was place her hands around her to at least have a little modesty off stage

It was also when staff realized she was in fact the same height as multiple members, if not taller

When people would bring up her height, he often would often try to change the subject, knowing she was uncomfortable with talking about it

He was also silently helping her with her clothes

Covering her with blankets or towels during variety or awards shows. If nothing was around he would use his own jacket, not caring that he was going to get a earful from the stylists

One time, the camera man started zooming in on her. He immediately jumped into frame and started smiling and waving his finger ‘no’.

When Charlee finally notices the camera she waves and they both start joking around

It’s still unclear if the camera persons intentions were bad or good

On Screen

“We are very charming so Charmin is us!”

Popularity: 9/10

Nicknames: Baby, Honey, Jagiya…that’s it, only endearing names

Best couple right here (I mean whatttt??)

They are so loved that even the biggest scandals that have come from DREAM was because of them, but they got cleared immediately when people realized it was about them

Clingyyyyy

Again one of the few members to show affection on screen

Jaemin while being the perceived “loudest” in variety content, Charlee is perceived the “loudest” during vlogs and trip content. In both occasions they balance each other out

Either calming each other or bringing the other out of their shell. A slight graze of each others arm is all they need to know that they’re either doing “too much” or “too little”

Off Screen

Still touchy, if not more so

Off camera Charlee is quite unserious and is seriously the joker AND a big yapper

Being the same but total opposites at the same time translates even off screen

Charlee is not shy to run up to him and hug him randomly, or call him randomly to say “I have to pee”

There’s no such thing as TMI between them and she makes sure he remembers that

One of the first tattoos she had gotten was dedicated to 8dream, each member had a little doodle she drew that reminded her of them

His was a cup of coffee in a ying and yang-esque way. One half being darker (his namericano) and one half being a milk-coffee (her 70:30 creamer and milk to coffee ratio)

[iridescentdove]

Okay, but like Imagine Akutagawa x Shinobu! Reader (demon slayer) where like it’s just some of the other characters reactions to him having a lover that they somehow did not know about, not even Dazai, they just question how 2 completely polar opposites get together and why Reader would even want to be with some like Akutagawa and Reader’s response is, "His anger brings me joy☺️" no but really because his introverted cold ass reminds Reader of someone Giyuu.

(The reader is mostly based on Shinobu's personality and height, Chuuya lowkey dancing now that someone is shorter than him.)

FLY HIGH, BUTTERFLY.

akutagawa ryunosuke x shinobu!reader

A/N: I love this request! I worked on it immediately. And you're so right, haha. Chuuya must be so happy rn.

Many things in the world happen for a reason, and despite how strange it is, we'd collectively agree that's just how utterly unexpected life is.

But nobody was prepared enough,

To hear AKUTAGAWA himself has a girlfriend. Okay, well maybe she and him just relate to a lot of things by heart.

But to make things even more shocking, you are both absolute polar opposites. Holy shit. Was this a fever dream or is the world actually ending right now? The one who refuses to believe it the most is DAZAI himself obviously.

He will not believe it. Nope, never. This is all a big nightmare. Plus! You were suuuper pretty ... ? Holy shit. He has no idea how it came to this, and how he never even knew.

Obviously, the Port Mafia found out about it first. CHUUYA had met you for the first time – and you will not believe,

But he was the happiest human being alive.

Omg. Like. Someone ...

*sniffs* ... was shorter .. than him ... 🥺🥺🥺

Of course, you and CHUUYA got along really well. And you even made fun of and insulted Dazai with him. Now, you two are known for being the 'Fuck Dazai' duo in the mafia.

whether it mean a figure of speech or literally hoho

AKUTAGAWA doesn't even know why he fell for you. Dude's heart is set on Dazai and the mafia, but suddenly you just flutter yourself (pun intended) into his life and now he can't seem to stop thinking about you.

Plus, you strong and pretty as hell. Girlboss right there. Although you two seem more of rivaled siblings than an actual couple sometimes – it do be kinda funny. EVERY TIME

EVERY TIME he even speaks you come up with the most hellbent and insulting comeback. People begin to question whether ya'll a couple or forced to be one 😭

This bitch Aku reminds you of a certain eyebrowless boy ...

"That weretiger is ridiculous!" - akutagawa

"Yes~ just like your face <3" - you

"If I jump onto that building–" - akutagawa

"Who do you aspire to be, spiderman?" - you

"What? You failed?" - akutagawa

"Yes! Just like your dad's condom." - you

DAZAI literally was just spying on both of yall's for fun, he did not expect that last one. IT WAS FOUL. But then again he's the one that brought popcorn tbh. A free ticket to the drama show for free. And by that, I mean stalking

When AKUTAGAWA is saying something dark or melancholic, you literally just call out the bs and name him spiteful. All of that with a smile on your face.

Once, someone asked you dazai why you'd evem want to be with someone like that emo guy. Much to the surprise of everyone, you just respond

"Cause his anger makes me feel joy 😊"

Um ok?? Like chile-

The mafia lowkey terrified of you. You'll spit out any form of comebacks or insults with such a sweet smile and aura, it was scary to even know what happened behind close doors.

ATSUSHI is questioning his life. Second to the suicidal detective, he refuses to believe someone like YOU is together with him.

Well, until you show your terrifyingly gruesome side.

"I can slash open your stomach rip out your organs. Or gauge out your eyeballs. Choke you with your intenstines or wrap them around your dead body like a necklace."

Whenever he and AKUTAGAWA are forced to fight together, this little white tiger will ask so many questions. He's just so curious about how you and that emo ass got together.

... Uhm well- bombastic side eye

Okay DAZAI is an unhinged dude back in his mafia days but even he is lowkey terrified of you. He likes death, but not the idea of pain or suffering – so the fact you'd be doing all that without batting an eye makes him wanna bury himself 6ft under.

MORI also begins to regret his choices, but hey you and your boyfriend do some amazing teamwork so to hell with it ig

Of course, showing your angrier side is a surprise. You're always so sweet looking with that calm aura and smile. But then ayy full 360, who is this gruesome serial killer woman??

Eh ... well, let's say no one wants to know. Simply, you and AKUTAGAWA are a sweet duo when you're not being petty and insulting him ykyk

He doesn't really snap back at your insults. Dude just tries to deny it with a straight face.

"I'm not depressed. I'm not emo. I have eyebrows."

Last one is not true but ok

Rest assured, you and him are still a good couple. He loves you, might never admit it out loud – but you already know it so you don't need to hear it from him. Just a love life of teasing, insulting, but still pure and genuine love from each other.

[notexactlyrocketscience]

Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood: a critically kind review from a femme acespec physicist <3

> scroll to the next section for my review on the physics academia content in this book!

First, a quick romance novel review!

spoiler: it wasn’t my favorite but I gave it a ⭐️⭐️⭐️.75 because being a writer has made me a generally more appreciative reader + I am so starved of woman in physics rep.

the good

It just felt good to read about a woman physicist, who are still incredibly underrepresented in fiction, especially as protagonists. (I’ll go off about that in a minute.)

The romance is so swoony with shoujo manga vibes, I haven’t read straight M/F adult romance novels in a while and I just loved the flutteriness of it.

A couple of chapters were so soft with excellent pillowtalk. There was something about the ambience of the snow, the hypnotic sadness of failure, the prescence of a comforting person.

I enjoyed identifying the relatable parts about physics academia. Hazelwood clearly did a lot of research, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. It definitely kept me reading!

the bad

The academia issues are so over-simplified it’s almost juvenile. For an adult novel, even one marketed as a romcom, I expect more nuance, more explanations, more explicit lingering in tight positions.

And then the romance tries to be complex (and has a lot of potential!) but not a lot of conflict really happens.

A fictional physics fued between theorists and experimentalists is a really fun (and actually not far off) concept, but I would have expected some things to be the other way around. (More on that later!)

Okay this is personal but the main couple both have terrible taste in movies. Twilight vs white male rage movies??? There is no lesser evil here

Elsie’s hardships aren’t put in a very serious light. Her diabetes and lack of access to health insurance is used as a plot device to engineer romantic momentum between the characters and/or comic relief.

Just overall, the book tried so hard to remain “light” that I think it fails to garner depth. Because adult lives really aren’t that light all the time, and a book can bring relaxation and joy whilst including real worldly negative experiences.

There were aroace and sapphic side characters, but I wanted so bad for Elsie to be demisexual. It's set up so perfectly only for it to be averted—As a demisexual person myself, Elsie’s feelings about attraction felt acutely familiar to me, and every other reader I've spoken to has agreed that the book took a dissapointing and unexpected turn. I understand Hazelwood may not feel equipped to write queer protagonists but if I were her editor, I would have flagged that and recommended she make it canon. It would have added so much more context and dimension to Elsie, and would’ve put hetero demisexuals on the map. </3

Following up on the above: The smut tries so hard to be meaningful but it ... really is icky, stereotypical, unrealistic allocishetero stuff. Think: the shy inexperienced girl vs the man who knows exactly how to advise her. The characters try to subvert the trope by calling it out, but it feels performative because all is forgotten in the next second. The PiV sex is weirdly conventionally idealistic considering the pairing’s size difference. I’m picky about smut but also forgiving when I do like the dynamic. I just didn’t here.

Following up once again: I was ready to ignore all the repetitive comments about how sexy Jack’s height and muscles were, because sure, I guess Elsie has a type. But the sex scenes solidified the redundancy of it all. I've read this same dynamic in countless smutty heteronormative M/F paperbacks. And I have also been made aware by every Hazelwood reader that all her books focus on this kind of physical build pairing. I just want more diversity, you know?

IDK, I just wanted more physics in here than complaining about teaching, glossed over toxic mentors, and using some quirky physics term in every other sentence. (More on that below!)

I just wanted ... more? It’s not an extremely short novel, but both the plot and the character development fell flat. The ups and downs were too fast and easy, and the placement felt off. I finished the book and wondered, “That’s it? That’s all that happened?” It just wasn’t fulfilling. The side characters aren't expanded upon, and don’t get enough pagetime. My other romance reads this year were Bellefleur's The Fiancee Farce and Mcquiston’s One Last Stop. In both of those novels, the drama was fleshed out with so much care and detail. In comparison, Love, Theoretically may mention similar social difficulties in passing, but failed to really, really show us.

Overall ... the novel was fun for being about physicists but I really don’t see myself picking up another Hazelwood book, especially considering this isn’t even a debut novel. The conventional white steminist vibe and the particular allocishetero M/F dynamic just isn’t my thing.

But perhaps a reader wanting more of a novel and its characters is a good problem to have. Never say never, I guess! I look forward to keeping tabs on what Hazelwood publishes in the future!

Now, onto the physics!

First, most physicists, as good scientists, understand that theory and experimentation are fundamentally linked. It’s true that we each are often biased towards our own methods of research, but it is quite a stretch to imagine full professors so blatantly feud against others solely because of theory vs experimentation. Regardless, I was happy to suspend my disbelief for the sake of the plot that was framed in a genre-specific, lighthearted, humorous way.

Secondly, both theory and experimentation have sources of funding that are motivated in different ways, and Hazelwood's decision to have the theorists struggle with funding cuts due to declining interest in pop culture/the general public is actually quite credible. Experimentation garners a lot more interest from the application and engineering end of society, parts that are easily fueled by capitalism.

However, I think experimentalists in general are far less likely to be mean to theorists than the reverse scenario. Dr Fatima Abdurrahman has a great video essay about that called on her YouTube channel called “Quantum Physics, Feminism, and Objective Reality: What Physicists Don’t Want You to Know About Quantum Mechanics.” Dr Fatima outlines how old white men in physics have maintained this image of unwavering scientific objectivity in the name of rigor, despite studying a field that fundamentally is barely fathomable for humans. In simpler terms: Men, even in theory, pretend to be better, smarter, and more valid as physicists despite being in an infamously iffy field. And I would have liked to see that represented. It was just really hard for me to buy narcissistic grad students mansplaining Elsie about her field, and Elsie’s righteous feminine rage, when the field in question is … physics theory? It just didn’t make sense to me, when all of my personal experiences point to the opposite.

But every cloud has a silver lining, and having a woman theorist in a physics field that’s less popsci-oriented is actually … really cool. And having her love interest be a man in experimentation … sort of subverts gender roles and conventional media expectations.

Let me explain. The reality is that when women are represented in STEM, media prefers to put them in biology, like a nurse to a doctor, a people-oriented nurturer, a mere sidekick to the real “objective” scientist—often a mathematician or an astrophysicist who is always a man. And when women are placed in physics, they are automatically assigned to observational astronomy, which is dismissed as passive and easy. (This is wildly untrue—though styles of research in astronomy has interestingly allowed a somewhat more diverse array of researchers in history. Even today, you’ll see a higher frequency of women and queer people in every astronomy department.)

I think my ideal version of this novel would be retaining Elsie in theory, while also making theorists the overall bad guys in the feud. I would love to have her talk about the unique sexism she faces as a theorist. I would kill for a scene in which Jack gets gobsmacked by how fucking good at math she really is, compared to him (instead of, like, only making fun of it like it’s easy). I would love to read about her getting a tour of his lab, and just more physics content. But maybe I’m the only one saying that, because I’m a physicist. Maybe Hazelwood simplified it all to keep the book appealing to the general masses.

Still, it all read more like a girlpower!!! chant rather than a real commitment to represent a woman in STEM. I savored every moment Elsie or George would go off about physics. I loved Elsie’s conversations with Olive, a different STEM academic. (Monica was more complicated and actually quite interesting, and I wish we could have seen more of her. Heck, I wish we had actually been given any tangible info about Jack’s mom, even.) But I genuinely felt these instances were rare. Elsie referred to being a physicist a lot (and frankly, her mind is more physics-y than any IRL physicist considering the sheer number of physics-inspired figures of speech she uses … but I excused that as silly comic relief, a quirk in Hazelwood’s writing style). But she didn’t tangibly do physics on page. It was disappointing, considering women characters in STEM is what Hazelwood is known for.

And there are physicists who love teaching—even physicists who solely want to teach. Physicists who do pedagogy research. I know the book was mainly trying to criticise the adjunctification and dismissal of physics higher education, and it’s actually quite accurate in representing that most physicists in academia would prefer not to teach. But the excecution also ends up erasing physicists who aren’t in academia just for research. And I say this especially because the validity of teaching physicists as physicists is dismissed in real life. It’s used as justification to further force all physics academics to try to juggle between both research and teaching, whether they want to or not.

Which leads us to bad mentors. I’ve had a bunch of those. As Olive pointed out in an excellent quote, “Academia is so hierarchical, you know? There are all these people who have power over you, who are supposed to guide you and help you become the best possible scientist, but . . . sometimes they don’t know what’s best. Sometimes they don’t care. Sometimes they have their own agenda. […] Sometimes they’re total shitbuckets who deserve to step on a pitchfork and die.” And the thing is, the novel really doesn’t show us any of that (perhaps other than in Monica). We don’t fully get to know what happened to Jack’s mom, or Olive. We are not shown what Dr L’s agenda really was. Their final confrontation was so quick, when in reality shitty mentors are often sticky and entwined with your work, hard to cut off and scarier to talk back to even after you’ve finally realized they’re toxic.

Which isn’t to say the novel is just inadequate about everything. It’s correct in how goofy physics faculty are, and how white man-dominated the field is, how students try to mansplain women profs, how theorists madly work on their computers (as an experimentalist, I could never understand), how publishing is finicky (to put it kindly), and how tenured faculty fail to understand the reality of the job market in academia today. There are certain parts (like the quote above!) where I felt incredibly seen as part of a minoritized identity group in STEM academia. It’s rare to have a book written from this PoV, and as a first I think this novel will always be special for me!

If you’re interested in reading about more fictional women physicists, I would highly recommend skimming through this list I made on GoodReads (and feel free to add more!).

And if you’d like to support memoirs and science communication books by IRL women physicists, then look to further than this other list I’ve also made. (We’re actually currently seeing a boom in these which is inanely exciting to me, so again, contributions are always welcome!)