#so he is 100% capable of telling me to calm the fuck down

[hairenya]

“Don’t do nutmeg to get high you’ll have a bad trip”

Me: immediately adds nutmeg to my Instacart order

[wake-me-up-inside-imagines]

OMG hi I love your writing sooo much. I kinda have 2 requests if you don't mind, there both for Charlie. One would be like the ABC thing (idk what there called 😭) the other maybe like reader is pregnant. I feel like Charlie would go ballistic and like crazy protective.

Awe thank you so much, and dw, I can do both! I did the pregnancy one for this post since it took less time, but once I get around to writing the abc one, I'll definitely tag you in it so you can see when it's out! I hope you enjoy!

Charlie Craven when reader is pregnant

Afab reader because you know, pregnancy, but no pronouns are used so technically gn! reader.

Warnings: Technically yandere character but he doesn't really do anything yandere-esc here besides be overprotective, pregnancy, the vague idea of abortion is mentioned, somewhat abusive parent mention (not reader or Charlie dw), mentions of vomiting.

Also-the idea of a Charlie having sex with a kidnapped darling makes me feel gross, so for the sake of my sanity, reader is with willingly with Charlie, he's just kind of yandere for different reasons.

Divider credit goes to @kyejiz

-Charlie wasn't planning on having kids, he really wasn't. His childhood was fucked up enough, courtesy of his father being the previous leader of his mafia, and he really had no desire to put a different child through that, no matter how aware he is of his shortcomings. So he always tries to be careful when getting intimate with you, just to be on the safe side.

-But no precaution is 100% affective, and eventually, you end up beating the odds and becoming pregnant.

-When you tell Charlie, he's...stunned, to say the least. How could this have happened? You two were so careful, how did you still end up pregnant? Holy shit, what were you gonna do? Did you want to keep it? How could he possibly be a father? Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit-

-He tries to appear calm and collected, keeping a brave, stoic face on, but from the way he's clasping his hands, and the way his leg's bouncing up and down rapidly, you can tell he's freaking out. You can't blame him, especially with his job, but his nervousness is starting to make you nervous. What if he's upset? What if he wants you to get rid of it? Will the kid ever have a normal childhood? What are you going to do?

-He's fully prepared to ask you what you want to do about it, but before he can, you whisper out that you want to keep it, and he feels a strange rush of relief flood his system. he's not sure why, keeping the kid will be much more difficult than simply getting rid of it, and besides, how could he possibly be a good father when he's never had a good example of one, or when his job is...well, what it is?

-Still, as soon as the initial shock is over, he's over the moon. He's gonna have a kid! He's gonna have a kid with you! He's gonna have a kid with you now! He can't believe it!

-His immediate reaction is to pick you up (gently) and twirl you around, smiling uncontrollably as your new life together flashes through his brain. He can worry about his job and all the little things later, for now, he just wants to celebrate this new milestone with you, and only you.

-Immediately begins preparations for the kid. he's buying everything you two could possibly need in bulk, regardless of how soon you'll need it. A crib, clothes, toys, diapers, blankets, anything that comes to mind, he'll buy. He'd rather be overprepared than underprepared, and besides, he's practically rolling in money, so spending too much isn't really a concern for him. Only the best for his child!

-On top of preparing, he becomes 10x more protective of you. It doesn't matter how early you are in your pregnancy, or how capable you normally are, he is not letting you do anything, no matter how low-effort the task is. He's following you around the house, helicoptering around you every second he can, picking things up for you, cleaning literally any sort of mess or disturbance you've made regardless of how capable you are, anything that could possibly be considered taxing on you is no longer something you're able to do. He doesn't mean to stress you out, that's the opposite of what he wants, he's just super nervous about your wellbeing throughout your pregnancy.

-Nobody's allowed to touch you besides him. Nobody. Not that they could before, but especially so now. On the rare occasion you're out of the house, he's always by your side, glaring at anyone who dares stare at you for too long.

-Speaking of his protectiveness, he's amping up the house's security as much as possible, if he hasn't done so already. He refuses to let anything bad happen to you in general, but he double refuses to let anything happen to you while you're pregnant, or to the kid once it's born. He's a powerful man, and with the job he has, he knows what attention he attracts and what his enemies are capable of. He can't let them hurt you or the kid, he can't even risk them knowing he has a kid. If he lost either of you...he wouldn't be able to cope.

-His fears are exactly why he doesn't let anyone besides your personal bodyguards know you're pregnant. Even them knowing stresses him out, but he still has a job to do, and leaving the house is inevitable, no matter how much he tries to put going out off. He just has to trust that the bodyguards will take care of you while he's gone, but he'll definitely be stressing when he has to leave you behind for a bit.

-He can't keep his hands off of you, even before the bump starts showing. He's constantly holding your stomach, cuddling up to you, picking you up and carrying you around, any form of physical touch he'll be doing regularly. If you're stressed and need him to back off he will, but he'll be very twitchy while parting for you.

-Lord help you when your bump does show, his hands are gonna find a new home on your stomach. He loves the feeling of your child kicking at your stomach, it calms him down whenever he has doubts about having a kid. It makes him feel like everything will turn out alright.

-He refuses to be like his father, he refuses. His dad wasn't necessarily unloving, but he was a mafia boss, and Charlie was meant to be an heir, so most of Charlie's childhood was stripped from him in preparation for his future career. Instead of being able to play with kids his own age, he trained to fight, to kill, to do business. He was taught to trust no one, to never show his emotions to a living soul, and to utilize his anger for furthering business. Pair all of that with his parent's constant fighting, and boom, ruined childhood.

-So needless to say, he's scared. He loves the kid already, and he's sure he always will, but what if love isn't enough to make him a good parent? What if he still ends up being hard on the kid, just like his dad was on him? He doesn't want to shove this life onto an innocent child, especially his child, but what if he does? How could he be a good father when violence is all he's ever known?

-You'll have to reassure him a lot during your pregnancy, even if he never explicitly tells you his fears. It's kind of obvious based on all the parenting books he's bought, or all the blogs he's scanned giving advice on how to be a loving dad. Sources he'd normally never turn to, but right now, he's desperate. He just needs you to remind him that it'll be ok, that the thought he's putting into all this is enough proof that he'll be a good father.

-He's the best comfort you have when pregnancy symptoms start to kick in. Pregnancy cravings? he's got everything you could possibly want stocked in your ridiculously large kitchen. Morning sickness? He's up with you, holding your hair back as you do what you have to. Sore? he's massaging whichever part of your body needs soothing. Tired/grumpy? He's doing whatever you need, no matter how stupid or ridiculous your requests may be. You're carrying his child after all, it's the least he could do.

-Pampers you to high heaven. Whatever you want, you'll get, no matter how expensive. It doesn't even have to be something you need for your pregnancy specifically, literally anything you want he's providing. Your happiness has always been key to him, and he's not about to let you feel unloved or neglected during your pregnancy.

-He won't ever tell you this, but it pains him to see how uncomfortable you are at moments. He's less ballistic about it than he would be if it was literally anything else causing you distress because he knows that this is natural and just how pregnancy works, but he's still very on edge, especially when you're showing visible signs of being uncomfortable. He abhors seeing you in pain, even when he knows he can't help you the way he feels he needs to. He doesn't want to make you feel bad about yourself though, so he'll keep his worries to himself, watching over you carefully as you go through your day to day life.

-Once moving around becomes more difficult for you, he'll do whatever he can to get you from place to place without letting you strain yourself. This usually ends with him carrying you around himself, but on the off chance he can't or you won't let him, he'll try to bring whatever you need closer to you, so you don't have to walk as far. It can seem a little overbearing, but he means well.

-He's constantly chattering about your kid, what they'll be like, how they'll turn out, what they'll be interested in, the big moments he can't wait for, all that good stuff. He'll love the kid no matter how they turn out (for the most part), but he still enjoys speculating with you.

-He's so excited to be a dad, and he's especially excited to be a parent alongside you!

-...Let's just hope he doesn't pass out when the baby comes, he's desensitized to a lot but childbirth isn't really something he's seen a lot of (or at all).

Hope you enjoyed!

[emycantconsentrate]

solitaire Ranttttt

I love this book and I've read it at least 30 times. i just want to say before I start that these are my personal opinions about the book.

I know i said I've read it a lot but i still don't know everything so please don't get mad if i get any facts incorrect.

Solitaire starts as Victoria (tori) Spring is starting school after x-mas or winter break. Tori lives with her mom, dad, and two brothers, Charlie and Oliver. Charlie, who is also in the heartstopper comics, struggles with an ED. I truly think that this effects Tori's life a lot. I know its not Charlies fault but I'm sure tori is almost constantly worrying about him. Tori and her mother don't get along very well. I'm not entirely sure why they don't but i think they touch more on that fact in This Winter. I've read it but it was a long time ago and i really need a reread.

on a different note. I've been needed to talk about this but none of my friends care enough. This is a controversial opinion but i hate Becky. she is such a bitch to tori and i just can't stand her. i know most of the time when tori and her would fight it would be when Becky is drunk but that doesn't make anything she has done right. she dated Ben Hope, one of the worst people in the universe of solitaire. i guess i don't really have a true reason to hate her accept for the fact that i have had friends like Becky. its all fine and its a beautiful friendship, then out of nowhere they go behind you and become friends or start dating someone that isn't a good person. they don't know they are a bad person and you do. and if you try to tell them that they are a bad person they either don't care or they don't believe you. I truly don't get why people like Becky. this is way too much but I'm going to do it any way. I'm going to analyze one of their fights.

pages 226-228 Solitaire

Becky was kissing Ben Hope after 100% knowing how awful of a person he was and still is to her best friends little brother. Tori sees this happening at the Solitaire party and is furious. which is completely reasonable because of how actually nasty he is.

after ben walks off Becky asks tori what she's looking at. in the next bit tori just goes off on her saying stuff like "you are a nasty bitch," and "you just don't care, do you?"

"that's it isn't it? I'm you naive little friend whose sad little life makes you feel better about yourself. well, you're absolutely spot-on there. I haven't got a single clue about anything. But you know what i do know? I know when someone is being a nasty bitch. Go ahead and cry your little crocodile tears if you want to. You don't fucking care at all do you?" this is a rant Tori goes on while arguing. This leaves Becky absolutely speechless.

"well- you- you're the one being a nasty bitch! Jesus Christ just calm down." After Becky says this Tori tells the reader that, i quote, "this is bad. I need to stop. I can't" Tori is now aware that she can't help was she says anymore. She no longer trust Becky. She no longer has a "BFF". Becky has betrayed her.

Tori continues to yell at Becky. "I'm sorry - do you have any comprehension of the level of betrayal you have just reached? Do you have any concept of friendship? I didn't think it was possible for someone to be that selfish, but clearly i've been wrong all this time" Tori is very very upset now and then says " You've killed me. You've literally killed me."

Becky has single handedly DESTORYED Tori. Becky is awful, and of course she just tells her to calm down. she literally was just making out with a boy that SA'd HER BEST FRIENDS BROTHER! and she knew he did it. which is ACTUALLY INSANE!!!!!

just the amount of betrayal and shit she caused makes be fucking sick to my stomach. yeah i do know that its a fake story and they aren't real people. it's just the fact that people like Becky do really do shit like this. I can't believe people are actually capable of stuff like this.

i really need to shut up but i have two more quotes from Tori then I'll stop.

"You have solidly proven that everyone and everything is shit. well done. Gold star. please delete yourself from my life."

" i am gone. I am gone. I guess everyone is like this. Smiles, hugs, years together, holidays, late night confessions, tears, phone calls, one million words - they don't mean anything. Becky doesn't care. No one really cares."

thank you for listening/reading

[atlasscrumpit]

Platonic Steve Rogers x Reader

Not my choice

(Steve realises the ex Hydra agent they've just taken in, isn't exactly the scary villain he expected)

Bucky was eating breakfast when Steve entered the main room of the tower.

"Hey, Buck. We have someone coming here today, Shield is sending her to us to determine if we can help her or she's too far gone and she has to be sent to prison. She was a doctor in Hydra, that's why I wanted to warn you. We don't know much about her or even if you two were ever in the same place. But, I still wanted to warn you." Steve said as Bucky nodded.

"Thanks for telling me, Steve. I don't really remember any doctors so I think it should be fine. Is she evil?" Bucky asked as Steve sighed and sat next to him.

"Well, Shield said she's cooperative. But, that's all we know." Steve replied as Bucky nodded again.

"I guess we'll see how this goes."

--

You were in the elevator with Steve as you kept quiet.

Suddenly you leapt forward and pressed the stop button, causing the elevator to halt.

He looked at you ready to fight before you backed away.

"I don't want to hurt you. I need to tell you something... And I know... I know you'll listen." You muttered as he looked at you in confusion.

"It's okay, you can be honest with me." He said as you felt tears in your eyes and nodded.

"It was me... I was the one who made the winter soldier." You whispered as he looked at you in shock.

"What?" He whispered as you wrapped your arms around yourself.

"I was the one that attached the arm, the one that would torture him with different serums and..." You trail off as you start to cry.

"I never wanted to! I never wanted to... They made me hurt so many people, I was so young when they kidnapped me..." You stuttered out as you cried and sunk to the floor.

"I was eighteen when they took me, they pumped me full of chemicals so I wouldn't age or die and..." You break down and cover your eyes as you sob.

"If I told shield they would've just locked me away! But I knew you would listen, please believe me." You cried out as Steve walked over to you and sat beside you.

"Y/N, it's okay. I beleive you. I know what Hydra is capable of and I can see how much you torture yourself for what you did back then." Steve whispered as you cried softly.

"I never wanted to hurt anyone, I wanted to finish university, become a doctor and maybe settle down with a husband. But, one day I went to my class and I heard screaming and gunshots, so many people and students were dying around me. They let three of us live... They needed young talented minds that they could use. They took me and two other students. I was so scared... And then when Shield took down Hydra I was so afraid they would see me as another criminal and lock me away for eternity." You cried out as Steve looked at you sadly.

Maybe you had lived for 100 years but he could see you were still just a kid, Hydra took you when you were so young that he knew your mind wouldn't have matured as much.

"Well, you're in a good place, sweetheart. We can help you here, you can have a home and anything else you need. I'll make sure I talk to Bucky okay?" He replied as you smiled a little and nodded.

"Thank you so much." You whispered, suddenly there was a loud noise and you saw the elevator doors being ripped open by a familiar metal arm.

Bucky ripped the doors open and looked in.

"You guys okay? Friday said the elevator was stuck." He said as you looked up at him in fear.

His eyes landed on you and you could see the recognition in his eyes.

"No..." He whispered before he backed away.

Steve quickly helped you up and you got out of the elevator together.

"Bucky, it's okay. I know you know who she is, but I can promise she won't hurt you." Steve said as Bucky glared at you.

"You're a fucking monster. You're the one that made me this way." He growled as he stalked towards you, Steve quickly shoved you behind him and shielded you.

"Bucky, enough. You need to calm down and we can talk about this." Steve said before he was shoved out of the way by Bucky.

The soldier grabbed you by your throat and threw you against the wall, knocking the wind out of you.

"I'm going to show you how much fucking pain you put me through, you little slut." He growled as he grabbed you by the throat and pinned you against the wall, you gripped at his metal wrist as he choked you.

"I love seeing that fear in your eyes." He growled as you felt yourself begining to black out.

Steve tackled Bucky to the ground as you fell down and gasped for air.

Steve put Bucky into a headlock as you watch him slowly pass out.

Steve sighed and placed Bucky down onto the floor gently before coming over to you.

"I'm so sorry, Y/N. Are you okay?" He asked as you cried softly and rubbed at your sore neck.

He helped you stand up and you suddenly lunged forward and hugged him tightly.

"I'm sorry!" You sobbed out as he gently wrapped his arms around you.

"Shhh, it's okay. You didn't do anything wrong." Steve reassured you as he softly rubbed your back.

"What in the fuck happened here?" He heard Tony say as he looked behind to see Tony entering.

"Steve, did you have a kid while I was sleeping?" Tony asked making Steve roll his eyes.

"Tony, this is Y/N. The ex hydra agent that Shield sent to us." Steve said as Tony looked at you in shock.

"What! You're just a damn kid!" He shouted as you stared at him in shock.

"Easy, Tony." Steve said as Tony walked up to you and held out his hand.

"I apologise, it's nice to meet you." He said as you smiled and shook his hand.

"We had a slight alteration..." You muttered looking at Bucky.

"Look, it's not that rare around here." He said making you chuckle softly.

Steve picked Bucky up and placed him onto the couch.

"We just want to go through a few things, Y/N. And I know you're not a prisoner so we can just go up to my office and talk if you want? Instead of an interrogation room." He said as you smiled and nodded.

--

After you had done your best to answer all of Steve's questions you felt exhausted.

You sighed and rested against the office chair you sat in.

"Just stay here, I'll go get something to drink." He said as you smiled and nodded.

You sat and enjoyed the silence for a little while before you heard the door open.

"That was quick." You muttered before you turned around to see Bucky entering.

You paled and looked at him.

"Bucky... What are you doing here?" You muttered as you stood up and backed away.

"I love that you're afraid of what you created." He growled as you looked at him in fear.

"Please, Bucky. I'm so sorry." You whispered as he chuckled, the tpye of laugh that made you feel like you were about to be killed.

"Oh, she's sorry is she? Sweet little girl is sorry? That whole puppy eyes might work on everyone else, but everyone else hasn't seen the monster you are." He growled as he stalked forward slowly, you continued backing away until you hit the desk behind you.

You felt tears in his eyes as he stepped forward and held your cheek in his hands.

"Look at you, darlin'. Tears? All for me?" He taunted, you couldn't help a dear that ran down your cheek.

He chuckled and wiped it away before he reached up and grabbed your throat, you grabbed his wrist as more tears fell.

"Listen to me, sweetheart." He spat out as you looked up into his eyes.

"I do not fucking trust you, and as long as you're here I'm going to make your life hell, just like you did to me." He growled before you heard the door open again.

"Bucky!" Steve shouted as he grabbed him off you.

You choked and quickly scattered away from him as Bucky chuckled.

"See you soon, doll." He whispered before leaving.

Steve came over to you as you began to cry.

"Please, please never leave my side, h-he'll take any chance he gets to hurt me... He'll... He's going to..." You stuttered out as Steve wrapped his arms around you tightly.

"Hey, it's okay. I won't leave you, sweetheart. I'm going to sort all of this out, I'll make sure he doesn't hurt you." He whispered as you cried softly and enjoyed the affection and safety Steve was giving you.

"You're safe, love."

[botanicallyinclinednerd]

Episode 0 of LMK:

Oh wow, the animation is really pretty

Did he briefly turn into a bird???

Oh look, a water color painting of a peach! I'm sure that will never be relevant in any way (seriously, why is it a peach?)

Bro, unionize to spite this man (calm down sir, he's your employee, not a soldier)

Aren't you not supposed to drive a vehicle with headphones on? I thought that was a Thing in certain places, cause you can't hear what's going on around you as you drive

Ngl, for a second there, I thought Spider Lady's comment of finally was because of the guy's arrival? The way it was framed made it look like they were able to see him

Oh hey, it's a bird! A bird that looks a bit like the bird I thought he turned into...

This Red Sun guy seems really full of himself, I'm either going to find him extremely obnoxious or extremely amusing, it's too early to tell which yet

The bird has chosen violence

Red sun is just so cartoony in his "evilness" like calm down buddy (yes, I am aware that I am watching a cartoon)

Okay I have a really funny theory which Im sure is wrong: the staff can literally be picked up by anyone if they truly need it, he's just a ordinary guy that needed to defend himself

Okay, him blowing them all away while shouting "I'm supposed to be on my break!" Made me burst out laughing, that's such a mood

Why do I get the feeling the bird is more than just a bird?

This guy is getting terrorized by that staff

Dude, worst break ever

How old is this guy? Is he just a teenager? He reads like a teenager

Oh dude, never say you think you've lost them

Who da fuck is this?

Okay, this girl gives off the vibe of being totally down to kill a guy for her friends at the slightest provocation

Oh Sandy is great, I already like this guy

Bug...

Nope, MK is definitely totally 100% dead, I know it, mhm mhm (this show does not at all give me the impression of killing off its characters, not even it's villains, but hey, I could be wrong!)

Oh yeah, Mei(?) is capable of murder

Omg a monkey

So this guy has just fully been a menace to this kid. Also, shape-shifting! Very cool

Does he just really love peaches? Is that it?

Egg??

Property damage!

And that's that!

[httpdabi]

Break up

Summary: After having a messed up break up, your best friend Dabi is there to comfort you, and give even more than you asked for.

Word count: 5,2k

Genre: romance, smut, no quirks haha

Warnings: 18+, creampie, public sex, spitting, choking..

,, I fucking hate him’’ you cried loudly, mouth full of ice cream as you talked to your cousin over the phone. At this point you didn’t care of how loud you were, and you didn’t care about the fact that your cousin had a hard time understanding you since you were a crying mess. Sobbing loudly, you ignored the words coming from the other line.

,, That bitch cheated on me with Toga, can you believe that?’’ you sobbed, tears rolling down your cheeks as you wrapped yourself with your favorite comfort blanket.

,, The girlie with weird hair ?’’ your cousin asked in shock.

,,YES, the fuck she thinking she’s the fifth element with that hairstyle?’’ you choked out, throwing the empty package across the room, as your cousin giggled because of your remark. She wished she was closer so she could pay you a visit, but sadly miles and miles were separating the two of you.

Sure, the first person you wanted to inform about your breakup was Touya, but you couldn’t force yourself to bother him, knowing he’s probably on work. You knew very well that he would drop everything and come over, saying how he doesn’t feel well or some other shit, and you didn’t want that.

After the call ended, you stood up, ignoring your reflection on the window, knowing very well that you look like shit right now with all the smudged mascara over your face. Tears started rolling down your cheeks even more when you saw that there’s no ice cram anymore. What did you do to deserve such a torture.

Wearing your hoodie, you made your way toward the nearest store, ignoring the people that were giving you weird stares because of your silly Sailor Moon pajama shorts. You couldn’t care less of what anyone thought in that moment.

You went to the store with the intention to buy ice cream, only to end up in the part of it with variant different choices of hairdye. So many ideas were going thru your mind, as you looked all over it. You almost ended up buying the pink dye and some bleach, until you saw scissors hanging beside the bleach.

Grabbing the scissors only, you hurried up to pay everything you chose, rolling your eyes shamelessly as you saw Rumi, the cashier of the fucking day. For some weird reason, you almost hated the muscular bitch. Maybe it was because she never had the exchange to give you back, giving you a pack of gums instead. Maybe it was because of her attitude, always giving you some smart comments, how your skirt is too short, how there are kids here, or even because she always rolled her eyes when she saw you coming in.

,, Looks like someone had a rough day’’ she commented sarcastically, as you gave your best to keep calm and ignore her. After the comment, she shut her mouth and did her job.

,, Sweetie, can you help?’’ she asked, suddenly with a cute tone, when her co-worker asked her to bring him few paper bags that were beside her.

,, No, you are doing great’’ you spat, grabbing all of the items as you hurried out of the store. The fuck would you help her? She’s getting paid for it, not you. Stupid bitch.

Placing the ice cream into the freezer, you immediately made your way to the toilet as you unpacked the scissors almost aggressively. Why would you dye and ruin your hair with bleach, when you could just cut off a bit of your hair, which meant the exact length of his dick.

Your hair was already long, and the fact that his dick wasn’t that big meant that you would only cut few inches. After short calculating, you grabbed the scissors, as you turned some silly tutorial on Youtube. Watching yourself in the mirror, you cried even harder, not because you regretted your decision. It was more because you looked like a lunatic.

After you finished, you immediately washed your face, cleaning all the ruined make up. Sure it didn’t look like a professional person did your hairstyle, but it didn’t look bad either, in fact, you liked it.

Since you weren’t in the mood to do your make up, you only put a bit of face cream over your face, and bit of mascara to make your eyes pop up a bit, before you took few selfies to post on instagram.

You were too lazy to do it, all you wanted to do in the moment was cry some more and eat ice cream you just bought, while watching something on Netflix. But you had to do it, you had to embarrass him as much he embarrassed you.

,, Not gonna miss those 5 inches, Kai.’’

You wrote, laughing ironically at the caption under your selfie. It wasn’t the best selfie you ever took, but at least you didn’t look like you were suffering because of the breakup, and the much shorter hair was visible on it.

[cyxnaf] Touya Todoroki

,, What happened?’’

It wasn’t even a minute since you posted your photo on the instagram, and your best friend already messaged you there.

Bitch cheated on me

You replied, sending him a crying selfie, with a spoon in your mouth.

[cyxnaf] Touya Todoroki

I’ll be there in 15 mins

A smile crept on your face, as you read his message. You loved him more than anyone or anything else on the whole word. If it was someone else coming over, you would probably force yourself and clean the apartment. But since it was Dabi, you didn’t give a shit.

The moment he arrived, you started bawling your eyes out. Having a face to face conversation with someone, talking about the break up made your feelings awake again. Dabi in other hand tried to make you feel better, bringing you your favorite snacks, and trying to put Kai down.

,, I’ve never had drama, unless it’s with my inner self’’ you cried loudly. ,, And all of sudden, I’m being cheated on.’’ Adding you grabbed the chips from the paper bag and opened it almost aggressively. Touya laughed you out, pointing every drama you’ve been connected to.

,, Stop it, you’re supposed to make me feel better’’ you slapped his arm lightly, as he talked about the drama that happened back in high school, when you got into a huge fight with a girl that called your dog a rat.

Once Touya realized that your mood was only getting worse, he turned some documentary on Netlfix that he started watching few days ago, explaining everything about it to you. You couldn’t help but smile, as you listened to him explaining every small thing, making sure you won’t be confused once he plays the episode.

,, You only watched few episodes of one murder documentary and you think you’re Mr. worldwide intellectual.’’ You laughed, as he tried to explain professionally.

,, The fuck you talking about ? The only documentary you watch is Keeping up with the Kardashians, so shut the fuck up’’ he spat, rolling his eyes playfully as he played the documentary.

The thing he played was about some murder, nothing you would watch on your own, but you didn’t mind. Seeing him talk about it so excitedly made your heart warm and in that moment you didn’t care if you won’t be able to sleep next few days.

You always loved spending your time with Touya, you simply loved how even when none of you had something to say, the silence was never uncomfortable. Even just sitting with him was making you feel safe.

,, You really choped your hair’’ he said, as he started to play with your hair. Being tired from all the crying and with his gentle movements, you were not capable of replying, simply nodding your head in response.

,, It looks good on you’’ Touya complimented you, placing a soft kiss on top of your head. He noticed that you were zooming out, so he just continued to caress your, helping you fall asleep.

All the horrible thoughts he had washed away, once he saw your sleeping face. He could only smile to himself as he noticed how puffy your face got from all the crying. Sure, it wasn’t that visible, but he simply noticed it and found it more then cute.

He tried to act calm and suppress his feelings, he tried to be there for you, but when you talked about what happened, all he wanted to do was find that piece of shit of your ex and simply kill him. He couldn’t understand how did you always manage to find some weird boyfriends that didn’t appreciate and treat you as you deserved.

If you only gave him a chance, he would always be there for you, he would simply give you anything you wished for. Touya never understood how could you be so blind, never once did you notice his feelings for you. Never once did you question his behavior.

Every time you called him over, he would ditch all his plans and run to you. Every time you needed something, you knew very well that only Touya will help you 100%.

You woke up in your bedroom, a little bit confused about what time it was and if your best friend was still there. Taking your phone to check what time it is, your eyes widened when you saw a Instagram notification from Kai. That piece of shit had balls to like your photo.

Throwing your phone away, you started crying again, wishing the day you met him never happened. You wished you listened to your best friend when he told you that Chisaki ain’t the one for you.

,, You ok?’’ you heard Touya’s voice under the loud TV noise. In just a second he was beside you, warming your body with his own and wrapping his arms around you, telling you how everything is ok and how he’s there for you.

,, Come on, stand up’’ Touya commanded suddenly, forcing your upper body up. ,, We are leaving’’ he added, forcing you out of the bed. You were too confused to even think at that very moment, but you found yourself following his lead. Wearing one of your very oversized shirt that covered more than enough, you hurried out of your bedroom to Toyua who was waiting for you already all ready.

You didn’t know what was happening, and the pack of eggs in his hand was confusing the shit out of you, yet you found yourself in the passenger seat, doing whatever Touya planned at that moment.

,, Where are we going ?’’ you asked, tears long gone.

,, We’re egging his car’’ he said, as your eyes widened in shock.

,, Is that even legal?’’ you asked again, already all excited about it.

,, Nope’’ Touya laughed out, focused on the road. You were sure that Kai would know it was you, definitely. But he also won’t have balls to call the police on you, since you knew about all his dirty deeds, you knew about all the drugs he’s taking and having hidden somewhere in his house.

Kai didn’t live far away from you, so in only few minutes of drive the two of you found yourself in front of his car. Lighting one cigarette, Dabi took the paper that was placed on the windshield.

,, Stop perking on my spot’’ Dabi read out loud, pointing out the word he wrote wrongly. You laughed loudly as you remembered about Kai telling you about some dude parking his Motorcycle in front of his car, making it hard to get out of the spot for him.

,, He can’t write, but he can do meth I guess’’ you laughed, as Touya puffed on his cigarette.

You stood there close to Kai’s car, as you waited for your best friend to finish his cigarette. It was a quiet night, with no people around at all. Maybe it was the adrenaline that was rushing in your blood, or the fact that you spent all day crying like a mad person, but in that very moment all you felt was anger as you thought about your ex.

,,Here’’ Touya gave you the package, still smoking that cigarette. You weren’t sure if he took his time with cigarette or if the time was simply passing so slow for you, since he was a pretty fast smoker.

To his surprise, you grabbed one egg and immediately threw it on his car, making him rise his eyebrows and laugh in shock. You never did something like that before, so you didn’t really understand why the alarm didn’t go on. Was your throw too weak?

A huge grin formed on your lips as you threw another egg, you couldn’t stop the evil laugh as you watched the egg yolk all over the window and in that moment you wished you had rotten eggs instead. Watching you happy like that, Touya couldn’t hide his smile. He was almost sure that everyone could read his emotions, he was sure that everyone could say how much in love he was with you.

You were on your fourth egg when Touya took one from the package and threw it. You weren’t sure if he threw it with much more force, or if he already did this before, but when the egg hit the car, loud alarm took over the peaceful night.

,, Shit, we have to hurry’’ Touya said under his breath as both of you threw one more egg. Sure, Kai won’t call the police, but if someone else saw you, they sure will.

You were laughing loudly, as you took your last egg, ready to throw it while Touya explained to you at what you should aim for.

,, HEY’’ you heard a familiar voice, coming from the building you used to spend so much time in. Not even turning around, you threw the egg and rushed to Toyua’s car, hopping fast into passenger seat. The moment Kai got out, everything happened too fast.

You wished you could take a photo of his upset face as he looked over your car. You were sure that you never saw him mad like that.

,, YOU FUCKING SUCK’’ he yelled once he turned the alarm off, while Dabi was ready to drive off, laughing loudly with you.

,, AND YOU SWALLOW BITCH’’ you yelled, popping your head thru the window. Touya gave you a bit time to flip him a bird, before he drove fast off, leaving your ex boyfriend pissed on the road. Laughing loudly, you leaned back into the seat, satisfied with the little event your best friend thought of.

,, You are seriously the best’’ you said, still smiling widely. Touya nodded his head, focused on the road. Every time he took a look of you, his heart would skip a beat. He was so fucking glad that you weren’t sad anymore, at least not for now.

You weren’t sure what had he planned next, since he wasn’t driving back home, but you didn’t care. You enjoyed his company, and you enjoyed the fact that you felt nothing else beside happiness in the moment. It was weird how fast emotions were taking over you. Just one hour ago you were a crying mess, and all of sudden you found yourself enjoying the night with your best friend.

You didn’t even realize how hungry you were, until Touya stopped by McDonalds to buy some food. Once he came back, placing the milkshakes and paper bag into your lap, you almost started drooling from the delicious smell.

He parked on the spot beside lake, where the two of you usually come to chill a bit. The music played on the low as the two of you ate slowly and talked about casual stuff. The moment a song from the famous tiktoker started playing in the background, you wished your hands weren’t so oily from the food. You wanted to change the song, but you didn’t want to make your phone oily, you weren’t even sure why you had that song in your playlist after all.

,, Does this song bother you?’’ he asked, taking a sip from his milkshake.

,, Yeah there’s a word that’s pissing me off’’ you rolled your eyes in annoyance.

,,Which one?’’ he asked confused.

,,When she says This ain’t build a bitch, you don’t get to pick or choose, what she should have said is nothing and just never release that stupid song’’ you hissed, wiping your hands as you changed the song that was pissing you off so much.

,, You are so cute’’ he complimented you, as both of you placed the rest of the food in the paper bag. Everything you did was cute to him, the was you sneeze is cute to him, the way you rise your brows when you are surprised, the way you laugh at your own jokes sometimes. Everything.

,,Did you know that Yumi got pregnant ?’’He asked you suddenly. Your eyes widened in shock, as you heard him ask, not because it was weird or anything like that, the two of you always gossip, but because you knew Yumi so well. You weren’t best friends with her, but the two of you would casually meet up.

,, Wasn’t she on the pills?’’ you asked, covering your mouth with your left hand. ,, Oh fuck no, I don’t claim this negative energy’’ you gasped shaking your head as Dabi laughed at your sudden reaction.

Talking about pregnancy and sex, you found yourself thinking about the last time you slept with your ex. You didn’t feel any sadness, all you felt was disappointment and anger. Just the thought that he was the last one inside you was making you mad, and the fact that only god knows when will you sleep with someone again was making you mad even more.

It’s not that you were a prude, or that you had something against one night stands. Sure, you could install Tinder and just find a quick fuck, knowing very well that the thought will bother you until the problem in your head is solved. But you weren’t the one to jump under the covers with a complete stranger.

,, What’s up?’’ Dabi asked once he saw you confused and lost in your thoughts. Hearing his voice, a sudden idea popped up in your head. You shook your head, trying to not think about it. He is your best friend for fucks sake, you can’t use him for something like that.

,, Nothing’’ you shook your head once again, trying to avoid his eyes.

,, Oh come on, tell me’’ he said stubbornly, as he placed his cigarette between his lips.

,, You know, the fact that Kai was the last person I had sex with, and the fact that I don’t know how long it will stay that way is bothering me’’ you confessed, skipping the part with the rest of your thoughts.

,, and you thought I could help you with it’’ Touya joked, as he puffed on his cigarette.

,, How did you know?’’ You asked way too fast, regretting it almost immediately once he almost choked onto the air and the smoke of his cigarette.

,, You can’t be serious’’ Touya said under his breath, closing his eyes as he spoke those words out. You weren’t sure why, but your heart sank a bit once you heard him say that.

,, Ah come on, it can be a quick fuck, it won’t change anything between us’’ he whined, turning your body to his direction. Once you said that, Touya grabbed you and forced you into his lap. You were more then shocked by his action, but you still positioned yourself comfortably in his lap, not sure if you should say anything or just wait..

,, You think I’ll be able to go back after it ?’’ he asked, one hand holding your waist firmly, and other holding his cigarette. ,, Doll, you should know better than anyone that I don’t do quick fucks’’ he added, as his grip got stronger. You weren’t sure if you should be embarrassed or not, but you felt uneasy at that moment, not sure where this all is leading.

,, If we do it now, there’s no going back doll, you’ll belong to me’’ he added again, as you sat in his lap confused. It was weird to hear him talk like that.

,, Touya, that can fuck up our friendship’’ you whispered. You were way too confused, not sure if he was talking about a relationship with you or just about you not sleeping with anyone else beside him.

,, And a quick fuck won’t do it?’’ he hissed, throwing the finished cigarette out of his window. He was right, both of it could fuck it up, and your idea was probably the worse option. The problem you had just few minutes ago was long gone, as new thoughts took over your mind. The fact that he was slowly placing soft kisses all over your neck didn’t help the situation, and the fact that you tiled your head to the side to give him more access to it didn’t help either.

You weren’t sure if you were simply too horny in the moment and if emotions took over you, but one part of you wanted to give it a try, yet another part of you was simply too scared of losing him. You did think about it before, how lucky can a girl be to call herself his girlfriend!? He’s not like other guys, at least not to you. He was always so caring, so gentle and so loving with you. He was the one who was always there for you, and in fact, you were more than sure that if you two start something, you won’t end up being hurt. But the fact that your friendship was under a question because of it was making you scared. Touya is the only person you never want to lose, and he knew that very well.

,, What do you say doll? Wanna try?’’ he asked, as he kissed your jaw softly. You weren’t sure how were you even capable of thinking at all in that moment.

,, Yes’’ you breathed out, closing your eyes shut as you enjoyed his soft kisses. Could you really lose him? If you had to worry about it so much, you should worry about the very exact moment. Why wouldn’t the current event ruin your friendship, now that you know that he doesn’t really see you as a friend as much as you thought. If you start some kind of a relationship with him, and if it doesn’t work, the two of you could talk it out.

The moment you said yes, Touya grabbed your yaw with his right hand, brushing his nose with your own before he connected his lips with yours. Once you placed your hands on his cheeks, trying to get closer to him, he couldn’t help but smile into the kiss.

What really drove him crazy was you rolling your hips on him. The fact that you had nothing else under your oversized shirt than your favorite panties almost made him cum in that very moment. Breaking the kiss, he leaned back into the seat, as you tried to catch your breath. Touya pulled your shirt up, exposing your naked chest. Not wasting any time, he placed his left on your right boob, pinching and twisting your already hard nipple, while sucking the other one.

Just the feeling of his hot breath made you throw your head back, enjoying the sucking and squeezing he was giving you. You placed your hands on his shoulders, finding support in it. Every roll you did with your hips, was met with his own one, making you feel his hard erection under his sweatpants. A quiet moan escaped your lips when you felt him bite on your nipple few times before he got back onto sucking it again.

Touya pulled your hips up a bit, giving you a sign to stay in that position as he pulled his sweatpants and boxers down, just enough for his dick to spring up. You knew that he had a dick piercing, in fact, you were in the waiting room when he decided to get it, but you still were shocked. It looked so good, so attractive.

You wanted to get out of his lap, you wanted to taste him, but his hands stopped you. Pushing you back onto his lap once again.

,, You have no idea how much I love you’’ he said, brushing his lips on your own, as he pushed your panties to the side and rubbed the tip of his dick around your hole.

,, I love you too, so much’’ you confessed, kissing him softly, as the pink head of his dick slowly entered you, hands on your hips slowly leading you down onto his length, until he was all in.

,, I know’’ Touya smirked into the kiss, enjoying the warmth of your walls hugging his dick. The hands on your hips slowly started to lead your hips up and down. The pace was so slow you could feel every inch of his dick rubbing against your velvety walls. Touya wasn’t one to enjoy the slow pace that much, but with you it was something else. He wanted to feel you as much as possible, and pushing his dick so slow into you gave him that possibility.

Just thinking about how it finally happened almost made him cream inside you. Closing his eyes, he let you move up and down his dick on your own. When you nuzzled your head into his neck he almost lost it, holding your hips down for few seconds just to calm his dick down. The small I love you that you whispered into his neck all over again didn’t help either, making it hard for him to control himself.

His hand found its way under your shirt, while his lips were all over your neck now, leaving sloppy marks all over it. You weren’t sure what did you enjoy more, his lips and hot breath over your neck, sucking and biting it, his hand squeezing your left breast or his dick deep inside you rubbing against your cervix.

Even tho you were moving your hips so slow, every time you were pushing your hips down, his would move upward, snapping against you with a little force and hitting your cervix perfectly. The both of you were breathing heavily, enjoying every second of the slow sex you had.

Wrapping his arms around you, he pulled your body closer to his, as he started moving just a little bit faster. You squeezed your eyes shut, as you realized that your climax was getting closer and closer with every move. Touya noticed your breathing getting faster, and your walls hugging his dick tighter then before, as he pulled your body up a bit, pushing you against the steering wheel and giving himself more access to move and fuck you a bit faster and stronger then before.

Moaning loudly, you wrapped your arms around him as you came all over his dick, almost shocked that you came without any clit stimulation. Dabi didn’t stop fucking you, helping you ride off the hard orgasm that just hit you.

Once he was sure you were done, he sat down. He lowered his seat, as he changed the position, locking you under him. Without giving you a chance to understand anything, he pushed his dick inside you.

,, I’m not done with you’’ he groaned, as he started moving his hips at much faster pace then before. Instead of saying anything, you wrapped your legs around him, placing your hands around his neck and just kissing him again. You couldn’t get enough of him, and luckily he felt the same. Accepting everything you had to offer, gladly.

The slow and steady pace was long forgotten, as he fucked you into the seat of his car with much more force and at one ungodly speed. You were pretty sure that the car was moving with every move he did, and you were sure if someone happened to be near, they would know what’s going on, but that was the last thing you cared of.

You were a moaning mess under him, and he was no better than you. You were surprised when you felt his hand around your throat, holding you in one place and playing with your breath. Open your mouth for me was all he said, before you felt thick saliva in your mouth. When it started, you thought it would be only some vanilla sex, the last thing you thought was that he would end up choking you and spitting in your mouth.

If it was someone else, you would probably freak out, but since it was him, you only obeyed, mouth open and tongue out, giving him approval for more.

,,That’s my good girl’’ he said, as he spat into your mouth one more time, while his grip around your neck only grew stronger. He was moving at rapidly speed, his skin slapping against your own was louder than the music that was playing in the background.

You closed your eyes as you started catching your breath once his hand moved away from your neck. Touya couldn’t control himself anymore, grabbing the edges of the seat, as he fucked into you. The pain mixed with pleasure was too intense for you, but you are his good girl, and you are doing so great for him, he made sure you understood that, as he repeated it all over again, while fucking into you.

The moment you felt his fingers rubbing your clit in circles, all you could do was squeeze your eyes shut, moaning loudly, as he told you to cum all over his dick, so you did as you were told and that was enough for him to reach his own high. Few harsh moves and he found himself cuming deep inside you. Even Toyua doesn’t know how did he find the energy to tell you how good you are milking his dick, but he did.

Collapsing on top of you, he fucked his seed inside of you, making sure not a single drop will get outside of your tight little out, making sure none of it will go to waste.

,, You’re mine’’ he said, placing soft kisses all over your face, and you were his. You were always his and he was always yours.

You weren’t sure how long would it take you to get over your stupid ex, but you were sure that Touya will be there for you and help you out in every way he can. Starting from the moment the two of you left your apartment, to the very moment the two of you cuddled inside of his car, after one steamy sex. All you could think of was your best friend and what would future bring you.

[zhongster]

What are your top 5 male characters when it comes to burp headcanon and your reasoning?

okay i’m gonna assume you mean my favorites but if i misunderstood the prompt and you want me to do who among them are able to let out the biggest burps just let me know :)

THIS IS KINK CONTENT, DON’T READ IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT

5.

Kaoru Sakurayashiki/Cherry Blossom (Sk8 The Infinity)

i love cherry so much. he’s one one of my favorite characters of all time. he plays into that “prim and proper character who is quietly capable of earth-shattering belches” trope that gets me every time. i feel like he learned how to burp on command back in his high school punk days with joe and he retains the ability to this day. i also think that he swallows his burps in front of everyone except for joe nowadays. in front of joe, cherry doesn’t give a single fuck. they’ve known each other for so long and despite the bickering they are 100% each other’s person. however if joe were to tell shadow and the kids about just how loud cherry can burp he’d 100% unleash the bitchiest side of himself on joe in two seconds flat.

4.

Loid Forger/Twilight (Spy x Family)

i am a total sucker for dilfs and this man is most definitely a dilf. i love the idea of him trying not to belch in front of his family so he doesn’t disgust them/teach anya bad habits. i also love the idea of him absolutely not being able to hold them in. i’ve touched on this before but i think he’s another one who can burp on command. i love the idea of anya essentially using it as a party trick. he does that throat-opening thing where he sucks in air, puts a few fingers over his lips to send it down to his stomach, and then signals to anya who will press into his tummy and force out a massive belch. she breaks into fits of giggles every time and that makes loid think it’s worth the tummyache he’ll inevitably have later. also i think he’ll occasionally have to burp during WISE missions and when that happens he mutes it as best as possible however when he does that it just makes it longer. so sometimes sylvia will look at him and see him with a fist to his mouth as a low, slow, and drawn out growl emanates from his chest.

3.

Diluc Ragnvindr (Genshin Impact)

i feel like diluc has really long and steady burps. like they never explode out of him like some of the others on this list, rather they slowly roll out. this sucks major ass for mr diluc because he’s the type of person to hate burping in front of other people. he’s usually pretty good at holding his burps in until he gets a moment alone. however when they do come out around other people they’re LONG to the point where he starts to feel embarrassed before the burp has even ended. poor dude hates it. i think he’s definitely burped in front of both kaeya and jean at some point.

2.

Malleus Draconia (Twisted Wonderland)

dear sweet sweet malleus my love. i’ve both written and consumed so much kink content of this mf. i absolutely love some of the eructo content out there for him. his burps are absolutely MASSIVE. i mean he’s part dragon so it makes sense. i’ve also seen other blogs on this app say that sometimes he burps fire and/or smoke i wholeheartedly agree. mal’s so sweet he’d absolutely hate burping in front of others. especially if a really big one came out (complete with the fire) and scared a little kid. bro would start crying. he just needs a hug and someone to rub his tummy. (i volunteer)

1.

Zhongli/Morax/Rex Lapis (Genshin Impact)

i’m sure y’all are so surprised he’s my number one, it’s not like my blog name is dedicated to him or anything. he’s my absolute favorite to kink-ify. he’s so calm, collected, and wise that the idea of him having absolute massive-rockslide-earth-shattering belches is absolutely exquisite. like they’re so DEEP and LOW ugh so good. i like to think that him being a god has something to do with how big his burps are. he’s not used to having a human digestive system so he sometimes has trouble regulating what will and what won’t upset his stomach/make him gassy. for example: he loves spicy food but it gives him indigestion every single time. he tries not to burp in front of other people of course (those are my favorite type of characters) but he’s not very good at holding them in. as soon as he lets his guard down they just come out whether he likes it or not. childe and hu tao think it’s absolutely hilarious.

i’d like to point out the irony of my favorite fictional character ever (illumi zoldyck from hxh) not being included in this list

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Floyd and Epel?

Leona Character Opinion Bingo here!

Rook Character Opinion Bingo here!

***Standard disclaimer: These are just my personal opinions of the character(s); regardless of what I may think of them, sharing my thoughts is NOT meant to offend or to shame anyone that thinks differently.***

I think I’m speaking for almost everyone when I say that Floyd has one of the most unique character designs I’ve ever seen before (I mean, the same applies to Jade, just flip Floyd’s face horizontally and change the eye shape). It’s very bold and eye-catching in both the colors and the shapes; the earring, the black stripe of hair, and the heterochromia should make him look like a non-cohesive mess, but instead it really help the look pop. Floyd’s laidback attitude is reflected in how he dresses—loose, without paying much attention to fully buttoning up. Little details like that are the cherry on top 👌

Floyd is an extremely difficult character to comment on because he’s so finicky and hard to pinpoint. I generally really like him; his unpredictability makes Floyd a real wild card in any scenario or interactions he ends up in. I’m unsure of where he’ll lead the situation, but it’s sure to cause chaos and being me a good amount of entertainment. This wouldn’t be the case if he were real; it’s a nightmare to deal with a person that’s so moody and flippant with their desires and motivation... and worse yet, no clear or consistent way to tame or to calm him! I get a migraine just thinking of that mess 😔 But even with all of that in mind, I can’t help but love how free-spirited he is. Floyd doesn’t let anyone or anything tell him how he should live. He doesn’t let other’s opinions of him or their judgement deter him from having a good time. Yeah, it definitely means he gets out of hand sometimes, but there’s still something so cool about being free of everything but your own whims. Floyd doesn’t even want to be tied down by his relationship with Jade as a twin, he wants to be seen as a separate entity, not just someone “similar” to Jade.

Funnily enough, I think Floyd is the least insidious of the Octatrio. He’s not 100% innocent, he’s still capable of inflicting harm, but at the very least Floyd is open about it and will give you super blatant signs that you’re About to Die. With Azul and Jade, it’s much more of a slow burn, or like... the build-up to a jump scare in a horror movie. You never know what to expect or what they will knock you out; meanwhile, Floyd will give a ton of signals via his facial expression or body language (or outright announcing that he’s coming after you).

There’s two big misconceptions about Floyd in the fandom, and quite frankly, both of them can get on my nerves 🤡 because those misconceptions grossly contradict the canon information we are presented with in TWST. The first of these is that people seem to think Floyd is... dumb??? I’ve seen people straight up and unironically call him a himbo????? Which simply isn’t true; Floyd is “all or nothing”, he runs extremely hot or cold. If he feels like it, he can ace anything. If he doesn’t, then he fucks off to do something else or just doesn’t put in the effort. Floyd is extremely brilliant, but he doesn’t feel the need to put his talents to use all of the time if it doesn’t hold his interest and/or attention. Just because a character is spontaneous and “lolz so random” doesn’t always correlate with low intelligence, and I think it would be unwise to conflate those traits.

Now, the other big thing that the fandom tends to do with Floyd is 🤡 infantilizing him to a sometimes uncomfortable degree, and then often romanticizing that very childish and simple version of him. I totally agree that Floyd can be really cute (especially when he’s in his better moods), but to believe that he can do no wrong, that he is incapable of harming others, that he feels bad when he does it, or that his “squeezes” only amount to bear hugs is just incorrect. Episode 3 literally opens with Floyd “squeezing” a mob student until that mob student passes out. Note that Floyd appeared to be even eager to do it, asking Azul if they’re done talking and if he can finally start squeezing. When Azul prompts him to “squeeze to [his] heart’s content”, Floyd does it hard. There’s so many other instances of Floyd terrorizing his classmates (to varying degrees, it’s not all extremely violent, like when he teases Riddle about his height or ill-intentioned, like when he keeps chasing Jamil after he’s already out in a game because he wants to have more fun), but the fact is that Floyd isn’t sorry about anything that he does, he actively enjoys being a shit. Another thing I see a lot (that’s related to this take) is that???? People believe that somehow his mood swings can be controlled????? That isn’t true; even Azul and Jade, the people closest to Floyd, have a difficult time reining him in because Floyd HATES being controlled or being told how he should act. No one--not figures of authority, not his friends, not his significant other (in fanon), not even his family--can take charge of Floyd. Only Floyd can take charge of Floyd.

One headcanon that I’m very adamant about when it comes to Floyd is that I believe his nicknames aren’t meant to be cute or affectionate (especially Koebi-chan/Shrimp). I’m honestly shocked that so much of the fandom thinks otherwise???? Yes, he nicknames people based on the traits they have that remind him of corresponding sea creatures, but nicknames don’t inherently mean that Floyd likes everyone. The biggest example of this is Azul. When Floyd first met him in middle school, he had called Azul “Tako-chan” (Octopus). In modern day, Floyd only ever addresses Azul by his NAME. The same goes with Jade. What this says to me is that Floyd will actually drop the nickname if he likes someone enough. Now, that doesn’t mean that Floyd will necessarily always obey them, but it confers a degree of respect that’s rare for him to demonstrate in anyone else.

It’s so easy to just take Floyd at face value and not look any deeper into the things he says and does. He’s simple in that he just wants to chill and do whatever he feels like doing, but he’s complex in that he’s a lot more skilled than people take him for. He’s carefree, but that doesn’t mean he’s entirely childish or dumb--and he definitely can be cruel when he wants to be. I won’t claim Floyd is Super Deep, but I still wish the fandom wouldn’t lean into such extremes (whether it’s the soft takes, the harsh takes, or the ones that make him out to be just “random XD”) when it comes to him. It disregards the subtle nuances of his character 😔

With most characters, I can at least list a few redeeming qualities, but that doesn’t really hold true for Epel. He hasn’t done anything to offend me to the point where I’d actively dislike him, though! I just... find Epel to be blander than a slice of heavily processed white bread (and yes, that’s taking the other characters I think are boring into consideration). I guess he looks kind of cute cool? I really like the lace collar of his school uniform, his dainty lashes, and how his lilac bangs form delicate wisps around his face. Maybe I’d cut Epel some more slack if he didn’t look like he was 10 and constantly worrying about coming across as cool and stereotypically masculine 😅

He doesn’t have anything going for him personality-wise other than being a country boy that’s forced to act like a proper high society gentleman (which just so happens to be a trope that I don’t like), and his accent only makes it harder for me to understand him 😔 I don’t even find any of the little things he does cute or charming, I just stare at Epel and see your usual “fish out of water” character with kind of inconsistent writing. Like... in-universe, is there a clear reason for Epel keeping up his shy, timid facade whenever Vil’s not within view or within earshot? I thought the whole point of Epel was that he wanted to be more of a wild child, so why isn’t he breaking free more, because he’s scared Vil will catch him? What about when he’s back in his hometown, why does Epel keep up his polite and well-spoken act up then and only occasionally break out into his dialect?

There’s honestly not a lot of interesting lore about him 💦 I found myself paying more attention to the local foods of Harveston more than I paid attention to Epel’s family tree or to his childhood stories. There’s not a lot happening to keep me engaged, and everything seems to go by so much slower when Epel’s involved. I can’t even explain why I feel this way, it just is.

This is a personal peeve of mine (since I didn’t like Epel to begin with), but I think he took up WAY too much screen time in episode 5. It felt like he and Vil were fighting for dominance, being equally as unreasonable to each other, while pushing everyone else out of the spotlight, including his own vice dorm leader. The back and forth between his cheekiness and his moments of timidity were NOT cute to me. Perhaps I would be more forgiving if I actually cared about Epel, but I don’t :/ so the entirety of episode 5 was mildly irritating to sit through.

In spite of everything I’ve just said, I’m not going to completely write Epel off; he does have something to offer in how he engages with other characters (most notably Pomefiore). He has kind of a found family dynamic with Vil as his stricter parent and Rook as the more lax one. It’s also nice to see Epel cut loose and be himself around the other first years! I think what bothers me about Epel is that most of the time he’s pretending to be something he’s not??? It feels forced on his part and like he’s not enjoying it, so I feel like I can’t get invested in it either.

[writteninkat]

Wrath | Yuji x Reader x Megumi

summary: "Come on, Megumi." Yuji presses his fingers inside your mouth, "This mouth isn't gonna fuck itself."

word count: 3k

warnings: bondage, master kink, threesome, name calling, degradation, anal

a/n: not proofread, sorry for any grammatical/spelling mistakes

• 100 follower event

Your husband, Yuji, has always been a gentle soul. Ever since you started dating in highschool a decade ago, he always kissed you so passionately, he held you with such care and gentleness, as if you were a porcelain doll that could break at any second.

Even during your first time when the two of you werenin college, he always placed your pleasure before and over his. He always made sure you felt good, he always peppered you with compliments and praises.

As you think back on how much your husband has done for you, you thought you should pay him back just as much. As the two of you were talking in the phone earlier, you listened as he ranted to you about how Megumi took his curse to exorcise.

He sounded pissed.

What other way to calm him down than to let him have his way with you? You let him be rough with you once or twice, what another time gonna hurt?

You dash to your closet, looking for your hidden stash of lingerie, taking out a black and red one. You put it on, scanning your eyes up and down your reflection on the body length mirror, running your hands up your thighs.

The set had matching black garters and sheer thigh highs with it, the panties a deep dark wine red, the laces all over it colored black. Same went for the push up bras, a small ruby glistening in the middle of the two cups.

Your head snaps to the sound of the front door opening, causing you to quickly run to the bed. You climb on the soft mattress, giving yourself a pat on the back for choosing a deep red color.

You sit on your heels, thighs spread wide open as you patiently wait for your husband, listening as he calls out for you, doors opening and closing as he does so. Finally, the door to your bedroom swings open, revealing your strawberry-headed husband.

His eyes widen at the lewd sight of you in lingerie, sitting on the bed, ready for him to take you. Yuji grips tightly on his jacket, jaw clenching as his eyes rake down your body, taking every inch of you in his greedy gaze.

"You sounded upset a while ago during our call..." You place your hand in the space in between your thighs, arms pressing your breasts together to make them look much bigger, giving your husband a better view.

"What about it?" Yuji's tone sounds calm, too calm for your liking. It causes a shiver to run down your spine. You trap your lower lip in between your teeth, cunt oozing with your slick at the tone of his voice.

"Do you... Do you need me? My help? To calm you down?" You look to your side, avoiding his gaze. "You don't seem like you've calmed down about it so-"

You return your gaze back to the front, eyes widening and heart thumping on your chest at the sight of your husband's face a few inches away from yours. "And how exactly do you plan on helping me, my dear?"

You lift your hand, placing it on the side of his face. Yuji closes his eyes, pressing his face even more onto your palm. "You can do whatever you want with my body tonight."

Yuji's eyes snap open, completely taken aback by your answer.

"I'm yours to play with, to use, to free of all your troubles... You're my master tonight."

It all happens in a flash. One moment you're caressing your husband's face lovingly, the next he has your hands pinned above your head, thigh pressing against your soaking panties as he looks at you with lust-filled eyes.

"Don't say things you don't mean, sweetheart. You don't know what I'm capable of." Yuji growls into your ear, he nips and nibbles at your helix, whimpers slipping past your lips at the feeling.

"I mean it." You whisper, "Why don't you show me what you're capable of? Master."

Yuji pulls away, his hands making nimble work of undoing his necktie. He wraps it around your wrists, tying it tight enough for you to be unable to let loose, but not tight enough for it to hurt. "Keep your arms up." His tone is dark and deep, it sends tingles down your thighs and you feel your cunt flutter.

He lets out a deep breath, you feel your body tingle as you watch his eyes take you in. His hands hover right above your skin, making your hair stand.

He's panting. Hard.

Finally, he presses his hands onto your skin, a satisfied breath leaving your lips as you feel him drag his calloused palms run down both sides of your thighs. He squeezes them, pulling them up and pulling your body towards him. You feel him press his clothed member against your damp panties, he grinds against you, making you moan loudly. "Mmmmmhhhh- fuck Yuji!"

He looks down at you, his jaw hanging as you watch his chest rise and fall heavily. Your hips begin doing circles on their own, desperate for any sort of friction just to ease your cunt's desire to be filled. Yuji squeezes your thighs, giving you the idea that you may or may not find bruises there by tomorrow.

"Don't move. You said you're mine to ruin tonight..." Yuji slowly lowers himself, crawling backwards to the foot of the bed. He brings his face down, hot breath fanning over your deipping cunt. "...No take backs."

He presses a finger- two fingers, onto your clothed cunt. His eyes snap up, watching as your face contorts into an expression of pleasure. Yuji begins creating circles with the tips of his fingers, massaging your folds and running them up and down your slit. He presses on your clit, making you mewl loudly.

"Haven't even touched you properly..." He hooks a finger to the side of your underwear, pushing it aside. "...But you're already so wet for me. How needy are you for me, my love?". You begin rocking your hips up and down to ease the neediness of your cunt, "Very..."

Yuji pushes two of his fingers inside your hole, the feeling having you sucking in your breath. You can feel his slender fingers against your tight walls, moving and scissoring to loosen you up. "Fuck, Yuji..." His name comes out in a whisper, your eyes rolling to the back of your head as he hits your g-spot multiple times without fail.

Yuji smirks, knowing full well he's hit that particular spot. He continues pushing and rubbing on it with the tips of his fingers, pushing you over the edge of overstimulation. Your legs open even wider instinctively, wanting more of your husband.

Before you can even tell him what you want, your walls flutter arounf his fingers, soaking them up as you rock your hips back and forth to ride out your orgasm. Yuji smirks, pulling his fingers out and taking them inside his mouth, his tongue lapping up your juices and cleaning his fingers.

"Tasty... I wonder how it tastes right out of your cunt." He lowers his head in between your thighs, eyes still on you. Yuji takes out his tongue, the tip licking a long strip up your wet folds, teasing you.

"Hnnngg- Yuji..." You throw your head back, digging your head onto the soft pillows. Yuji's tongue begins pressing against your folds, thrusting in and out. His mouth starts doing quick work of sucking on your soft and soaked cunt, the slick that he isn't able to lap up come dripping down his chin messily.

Just as you feel an orgasm forming once more inside you, you hear the front door open and then shut close. The two of you still, quieting down to listening to whoever trespassed.

"Itadori?" The two of you let out a breath of relief at the sound of Megumi's voice and not some random stranger's. "Look man, I came to apologize. I know you wanted to exorcise that curse and I took the chance from you. Can we please talk this out?" Megumi yells, his voice loud enough to resonate all throughout the apartment.

Yuji looks at you with his brow raised slightly, eyes glimmering in mischief. "You said I could do whatever i wanted with your tonight, right?" He asks and you nod your head, heart thumping in anticipation of whatever plan he has in his head.

"Bedroom." Yuji yells, your eyes widening as he smirks mischievously at you. He returns back to his meal, thrusting his tongue inside your velvety walls as you feel your orgasm slowly creep towards you.

The bedroom door flies open and there, Megumi stands, shocked. Yuji turns around, "You may have done a better job than me at work, but I can do better in bed." He sticks three fingers inside your cunt, stretching you out even more.

"Yuji-"

"What about it, Megumi? Prove me wrong. If you can pleasure my wife better than I can tonight, I'll let our problem pass." Yuji offers, fingers still pumping inside your walls.

"That doesn't make any sense-" You're cut off when Yuji presses against your g-spot, a moan ripping from your throat instead. Yuji turns back around at Megumi, tilting his head to the side. "Come on man, stop being a pussy and fuck my wife the way you want to. I see how you look at her."

Your eyes widen, Megumi has been looking at you?. The thought of his hungry eyes running up and down your body, wild thoughts invading his head and the possibility of being able to get him hard... "Oh, fuck!" You moan loudly as an orgasm rips through you, the thought of being able to be such a vixen for Megumi pushing you off.

Yuji's eyes widen at you cumming suddenly. It takes a moment for him to piece the two together but as soon as he does, he's grinning like a madman. "You saw that 'Gumi? She came just from the thought of you fucking her." Yuji laughs, pulling his fingers out of your cunt, manhandling you so your head was now on the foot of the bed, hanging as your glassy eyes looked over at Megumi. He looked hungry.

You hear Yuji unbuckle his belt and undo his pants. He pumps himself a few times, taking some slick from your wet folds to serve as lubricant. He pushes his length inside you, making sure you take every single inch of him until your cunt is pressed against his pelvis.

"Come on, Megumi." Yuji presses his fingers inside your mouth, "This mouth isn't gonna fuck itself."

Yuji begins thrusting inside you and you let out loud moansas your eyes roll back, your whole body feeling like it's on cloud9 given that you just finished two orgasms. By the time you open your eyes back, they widen as you're greeted by the sight of Megumi holding his cock out right in front of you. You feel your mouth water at the sight, your tongue lolling out instinctively, silently asking for it.

"See? She wants this. Such a fucking slut." Yuji thrusts deeply and roughly at every word, making you moan loudly. Megumi pushes his cock against your tongue, sucking in a breath as you wrap your lips around the tip, tasting his precum.

You suck on the tip, tongue doing sloppy work of the blowjob since your hands are immobilized. Megumi takes you by the back of your head, pushing his length inside you. You're barely taken half of him and your mouth is already so full. You want more.

"She likes it when you go down her throat. Don't you, whore?" You feel yourself getting closer at every degrading name Yuji calls you. Megumi pushes himself even deeper, you feel his cock reaching your throat. The dark haired man watches as his cock go deeper down your throat. His breath hitches and he stays in there for a moment, completely mesmerized by the sight of his cock protruding under your skin. You swallow around him, the contractions pushing him over the edge, causing him to release inside your throat.

He pulls away quickly and you gasp for air, panting heavily. "Show him your mouth, doll." You open your mouth at Yuji's command, showing Megumi no trace of his cum inside you.

"Y/n..." Megumi whispers under his breath, watching as Yuji pulls you towards him. He sits you on his lap, your head dizzy from giving Megumi head. Yuji thrusts inside you, the new position causing him to go even deeper than before. "Why don't you invite our good friend over there?" Yuji whispers into your ear and you turn your head to the side, giving Megumi a sight of your fucked-out expression. Glass eyes, a flushed face and glistening lips from his cum.

You point at him, your palm facing up. You curl your finger a few times, motioning for him to 'come here'. He does as told, quietly crawling behind you. Megumi presses his dick against your cheeks, squeezing them both and letting out a moan.

"She has two holes for a reason, no?" Yuji smirks, pressing his lips against yours, tasting Megumi in your tongue. As the two of your tongue slide against each other, Megumi creeps his hand in between your thighs, gathering slick from where you and Yuji are connected.

He pushes a lubricated finger inside your hole, the new sensation making you moan loudly. You've done it with your husband one or two times from behind, but you've never gotten used at the feeling.

Megumi wastes no time in adding another finger, stretching out your hole before pumping himself once more, using his precum as lubricant. He aligns himself on your hole, slowly pushing himself inside as you moan loudly.

Yuji takes your legs by the bottom of your thighs, easily carrying you off the bed as he thrusts himself inside you. Megumi's face contirts into something of pleasure and annoyance, his hands grabbing the underside of your thighs as well to get a better grip of you.

Your head spins at the feeling of two large cocks thrusting inside you, using your two holes greedily. You look up, thanking the heavens for letting you feel this new type of pleasure.

You place one hand on your husband's shoulder as the other hooks around Megumi's neck, your palm on his nape as you rest your head on his shoulder. You let your tongue hang out your mouth, spit dripping from your tongue as your eyes cross, your mouth pulled into a wide, open smile as you feel yourself nearing yet another orgasm.

Yuji looks at your fucked-out expression, eyes widening. "Such a fucking slut, making such a face. You like it when my best friend fucks you in the ass?" Yuji growls, his thrusts becoming even more brutal.

"You're taking my best friend's cock so well. Are you that greedy for it?" Megumi's tone sounds deep, dangerous and cold as he pounds into your ass, the pleasure becoming overwhelming for you.

"You gonna cum on this cock you slut?" The two of them yell at the same time, causing your head to grow foggy as your orgasm slowly reach you. You can't help but nod, not able to find the right words to answer them.

"You're being fucked dumb by two men right now, you like it so much don't you?" Yuji has the widest grin you've ever seen on him. "I think she does, Yuj. She's just /that/ greedy for cock." Megumi smirks licking your ear.

"Cum..." You whimper, "I wanna... wanna cum..." You say, your energy slowly melting away. "Alright then," Yuji mutters, angling himself so he'll be pushing against your g-spot as he thrusts into you.

"Cum." Their voices together causes a shiver down your spine, your holes greedily milking their cocks as you moan loudly, voice resonating around the apartment. Megumi's eyebrows knit together as Yuji's face contorts into pleasure, their thrusts never stopping, letting you ride out your orgasm. Once you finish, the two of them shoot their cum inside you, your insides feeling heavily hot with their releases.

The three of you stay quiet for a moment, catching your breaths before you feel yourself slowly submit to the darkness. The last thing you see is Yuji leaning in to press a kiss against your lips as Megumi's lips press against your neck.

You wake up with a tshirt on, too big for you so your mind immediately thinks of Yuji. You smile, turning to your right, only for it to fall as you see a shirtless Megumi sleeping there. You begin to panic- did you cheat on your husband? Where the hell is Yuji?

You turn to your left, eyebrows raising at the sight of also a shirtless Yuji there, sleeping soundly. Your eyebrows furrow and you try to recollect the events of last night.

Yuji's anger.

Yuji eating you out.

Megumi's apology.

Yuji sharing you with Megumi.

Yuji fucking your cunt.

Megumi fucking your ass.

A deep shade of red litters your face as you bury it in your blanket, your shuffling causing for the two men to wake up. They sit up, rubbing their sleepy eyes as they look at you.

"Good morning." They greet together with a bright smile.

Oh God, these boys will be the cause of your insanity.

Navigation

[danses-with-dogmeat]

romanced hancock reacting to pregnant sole? (obviously not his baby, but a donor's haha)

Hancock x Pregnant! F!Sole Headcannons:

Oh look! I've been enabled yet again! No, but this is great though, I love thinking about happy companions starting a family with Sole ❤

Also, if y'all want any headcannons or anything for companions as parents please hmu, cuz my brain just naturally seems to consider that after doing these pregnancy prompts anyway 😅

Anyway, thanks for the ask, I hope you enjoy!

The ghoul always wondered whether or not his tear ducts would still work after his whole ordeal, and the news that the love of his life was ready and willing to start a family with him would certainly seek to find out. As soon as she gave the word that the donorship had worked, Hancock would be grinning wide and tearfully, with upturned brows and a trembling lip. Unable to speak at first, he would pull an equally tearful Sole into the tightest hug he could muster, their bodies flush, his arms enveloping his love as his roughened cheek pressed insistently against her smooth one. “You just made me the happiest ghoul in the whole damn world, you know that, sunshine?” He’d say just before touching his lips to her cheek in a long, drawn out, tender kiss. (The action may or may not escalate into a long trail of kisses spanning across Sole's entire face as mirthful giggles escape her lips.)

Who would've thought that this was in the cards for him? Certainly not Hancock. He thought he was lucky enough just to be in the presence of someone like Sole, but for her to return the feelings he had for her? To enthusiastically agree to being in a relationship with him? To want to start a family together? Hancock was sure he was dead, or riding the wildest high of his life, for how could this be reality for someone like him? A junkie, a bachelor, a coward, a ghoul, a flimsy torn page with "bad news" written all over it. Nah, he didn't deserve this, but damn was he overjoyed at the fact that Sole thought he did, and who was he to question her judgement?

Hancock had never thought this would be possible, the whole "baby" thing… even though he knew about donors and such, he always thought it would be too painful for Sole to consider having a family again. And with him? Of all the folks in the Commonwealth and beyond, she wanted the infamous ghoulified mayor of Goodneighbor to be a father? To her kid? He was fucking ecstatic. He didn’t quite understand why she wanted to raise a baby with him, why she thought he’d be any good at it, if she thought that. He knew he wouldn’t be the perfect fit for this kinda lifestyle; that he knew for certain, but the fact that she wanted him to try… that shit made his whole body tingle with warm gratitude from the inside out.

He would try to be calm, collected, and altogether nonchalant about the whole process in order to keep Sole relaxed. From finding the donor, to the fertilization, to the pregnancy, and all the way through to Sole going into labor, he would try to be as calm and cool as a November night. And on the outside, he'd do a damn good job, but inside? Nah, inside, this ghoul's worried sick. If anything went wrong with his sunshine, he wouldn't know what to do, he's not sure he could take a blow like that.

So, he’d try not to think too much about what could go wrong, since he knew that would only make it harder for him to be there for Sole in the way that she needed, but occasionally he’d just have those kinda days. A bad trip, a fitful night fraught with horrific dreams, a bout of horrifying overthinking as Sole uttered a pained sound from one little thing or another, or a stint of morning sickness that seemed to last just a bit too long for his liking. All of these would have the poor mayor on edge. Normally, when he was stressed, Hancock would try to chill out with some jet, or calmex, but he really was trying to give up the junkie life to the best of his irradiated abilities. It was a vicious cycle of anxiety every once in a while, but Sole was always there to help him through it. To remind him that this wasn’t her first experience with having a baby, to tell him that he was doing a wonderful job, despite his anxieties, and to remind him that they were the Sole Survivor and the Mayor of fucking Goodneighbor, and that they could face damn near anything when they were together.

Those were only the bad days though. On the good days, oh, hon... Hancock was simply blissful. Sole really is in for a treat, as she is absolutely 100% pampered and loved on, coddled and looked after for 9 months straight, and then some (minus the couple of bad days, where she has to be the one doing the coddling, but really, how could she mind?). As soon as the pair finds out that Sole really is going to have this baby, Hancock is already offering her anything she may need in order to stay safe and comfortable for the next 9 months.

Hancock’s chill personality really shines when it comes to any mood swings Sole may have, and a lifetime of chem and alcohol use has rendered the ghoul particularly skilled at cooking foods that are comforting and easy to make/eat that come in handy after bouts of morning sickness. Who knew that all of his hangover experience would come in handy like this?

While Hancock loves nothing more than going on adventures in the Commonwealth alongside his beloved, he wouldn’t say it in so many words, but would be more reluctant than usual to leave Goodneighbor or Sole’s house. When, before, he would have leapt up at the prospect of hunting down some goons and making the world a better place through some good ole fashioned violence, Hancock couldn’t think of anything worse than having Sole get injured, or potentially losing the one he loves more than anything in the world, and the possibility of a future family with her if some shit went wrong. So, while he absolutely knows she is capable and an complete beast in combat, and he recognizes that Sole can’t stay cooped up indoors for the whole 9 months, (and let’s face it, he certainly doesn’t want to either, but he’s not about to leave his love behind so he can get outta the house once in a while) he definitely steers the pair away from the areas he knows to be more sketchy than others.

Hancock just loves showing Sole off. He did this before the pregnancy as well, but man, now if anyone comes up to the pair when she starts showing, you know Hancock is already beaming as he tells the inquiring stranger just how far along she is, whether it’s a boy or a girl (if they know), or even what they think the baby’s gender is if they don’t want to know/can’t find out, how often the baby has been kicking, and he may even ask for opinions on baby names from certain kind folks who come up to chat with the parents-to-be. It’s also quite likely that he uses these passer-byes as an indirect way to further compliment Sole, saying things to them like, “Doesn’t she look gorgeous?,” “Just look at how she glows,” or “It’s just incredible how you/these ladies do this, isn’t it? Damn it if she's not the strongest person I know,” just to showcase his admiration for her. Does it sometimes result in strange looks from the strangers? Of course. Does Hancock care, or even seem to notice? Not remotely. He's too busy gawking at the love of his life and her blushing, embarrassed glory.

The mayor tends not to be rude about it unless the person ignores him, but if he notices someone smoking nearby, he will ask them to put out whatever it is, or to simply move if he and Sole were there first. In addition to that, he will make quite the lifestyle change for himself, voluntarily giving up chems to the best of his abilities so long as withdrawals don't prevent him from caring for Sole, and when he does partake, Hancock won’t do it around her, he’ll move outside or to another room. He would also offer to give up alcohol, since he knows that she won’t be able to drink with him anyway, and leave it up to her if she wants him to go cold turkey like her. Even if she doesn’t mind, he still won’t drink in excess around her during her pregnancy. It's kind of a respect thing for him, and there ain't no one he respects more than the future mother of his child.

(little bit of NSFW content here) When it comes to sex, Hancock is even more generous than usual in the bedroom (if you can believe it's possible). His every movement acts as a tribute to his appreciation for the woman he loves more than life itself. He’d be sure to be gentle, but in all honesty, Hancock wouldn’t change anything too much (no need to fix what ain't broken, ya know?). He has always paid particular attention to Sole beneath the sheets, since he’s quite experimental, and comfortable with most kinks and things himself, so he tends to let her choose positions, location, duration, and pacing, and would definitely keep it this way during the pregnancy. You think this man used to really get into body worship before, this is just a whole nuther level. As Sole puts on weight later into her pregnancy, he takes full advantage of her swelling plushness, running his hands over her body, taking the time to squeeze and palm every bit of her growing softness, constantly complimenting every bit of her as his starving eyes eat up every inch of her beauty. Especially if Sole is self-conscious about any of the changes in her body, Hancock will be sure to constantly remind her that she’s the most captivating and gorgeous person he’s ever met. No stretch mark appears on her body without being lovingly kissed, no soreness will develop without the offer of a nice, long massage (this perhaps is just another excuse to get his hands on her), no tenderness will go unnoticed and will be accounted for when his hands are roaming her body. In general, he’s as loving and doting as ever, but he's also on high alert for any signs of pain or discomfort coming from his other half.

He’d be SO excited every time the baby kicked. For some reason, the babe seems to wait until he’s around to do it, and he’s thrilled. Sole is a little weirded out by it, but she honestly takes it as a good sign. But oh man, Hancock's hands will be all up in that shit, not wanting to miss a thing as Sole smiles at him like this isn't the fourth time this has happened in one evening (does he use this as yet another excuse to touch Sole? Hmm, who knows [the answer is yes]). Sometimes he forgets to be sympathetic when Sole can't sleep due to the fluttering in her belly, but his roughened hands smoothing rhythmically over her stomach throughout the night might just help her catch a few Zzs after all.

He’s admittedly quite nervous as she approaches labor, becoming ever more protective as her belly swells to its largest point, ensuring she avoids any kinda gun fight, crazy high heights or unneeded stress, and he would be adamant about Sole sitting out any outings, missions, or other activities in the dangers of the Commonwealth. But man, would he make an environment she didn’t want to leave. Pillows, snacks, dim lighting, good conversation, music, soft touches, compliments galore, and a man who is at her constant beck and call, willing and happy to do anything and everything she might need or want? Yeah, here’s to say, Sole didn’t really want to leave anyway.

By the end of the pregnancy, Hancock has a strange mix of apprehension and denial going on. He’s used to Sole being pregnant now, he knows how to deal with everything, how to take care of her, what makes her uncomfortable and how to fix it. But a kid? An infant? He doesn’t know how babies work, doesn’t know how to tell what they want from him. He’s excited beyond belief at the thought of being a father, but he just doesn’t know how to do it. He tries to think back to his own dad, and the way that he was brought up as a kid, (though, he's not sure that's a great frame of reference given the way he turned out) and definitely goes off of Sole’s judgement, but he can’t shake the feeling that he was never meant for this. To settle down and have a family. He isn’t his dad, he’s Hancock. He’s not a “family man,” not a picturesque pre-war looking man with a normal job and a cookie-cutter backstory; he’s a self-made ghoul, a junkie, a deadbeat whose earned his position of power by bathing in the blood of tyrants who died by his own hand, and shooting his veins up with every kinda poison the wastes have to offer. How do you explain that to a kid? That he made himself the way he is, cuz he couldn’t stand the man he’d grown up to be? What the hell kinda example is that? He wouldn't doubt for a second that his baby would be the center of his world from the moment he sees it, but if anything, that only ups the anxiety that he'll do something to mess the kid up. Hancock would be nervous as shit, but if Sole had confidence in him, well… he trusts her judgement more than he does his own, so if she thinks he’s "daddy" material, he ain’t gonna argue with that. All he can do is hope she’s right, follow her lead, take it one day at a time, and hope that him trying his absolute hardest will be enough.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 311: Hand Gun

Previously on BnHA: Horikoshi was all “thinkin’ about dropping in some woke analogies of the very real and very presently relevant issue of racial profiling idk what do you guys think” and then shrugged and did it without waiting for an answer, and ngl it was a bit sudden, but I’m here for it. All Might was all “DEKU YOU NEED TO EAT” and Deku was all “OKAY” and took his hero bento and went to go stand dramatically on a tower in the rain whilst having some highly anticipated Vestige flashbacks. OFA II was all, “sup, I guess I’m not Kacchan... OR AM I,” and ngl I think he is?? Alternate universes anybody?? Hello??? But anyway, so OFA the First a.k.a. Yoichi was all “remember that time you guys rescued me from my evil brother and Two took my hand and we Had A Moment?”, and Two and Three were all “ahh yeah good times”, and it was very nice and very, very gay. The chapter ended with it being very unclear if Two and Three have actually lent their power to Deku yet or not lmao. Y’all need to get your shit together dudes.

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi is all “what if I gave a random bad guy a fucking tommy gun that shoots nails” and jesus christ calm down son. The Hawksquad, a.k.a. SQUAWK as per @hotchocolatier​, are all “time to drive aimlessly around town acting like Deku has a restraining order on us because that’s literally the best plan to combat the League we could come up with,” and I have no further comment. Hawks is all “idk about you guys but I want to know more about AFO and Tomura’s whole deal” and I can’t remember the last time I identified so strongly with one of these characters. All Might is all, “[EXPLODES???]”, and the chapter ends with that mysterious hot girl from the Tartarus breakout being all “HELLO I CAN TURN INTO A GUN AND I LITERALLY DON’T GIVE A FUCK” and (1) WOW, and (2) IT’S TRUE, SHE CAN, AND SHE REALLY DOESN’T. GODDAMN.

(ETA: so this wholly escaped my notice on the first go, and also has nothing to do with the chapter itself, but I only just realized that this chapter was scanlated by a new group, TCB Scans. they actually did a very good job, and I’m curious if they’ve found a new RAW provider, because the quality this week is actually crazy good in comparison to what we’ve been dealing with for the past few months. I’m gonna have to get caught up on what exactly happened here lol.)

so what will it be this week? more Vestige antics? more of Sad Nomad Deku standing on buildings and pretending like he’s some cool aloof antihero, as if he could fool us when we all know his hero backpack is secretly stuffed full with his nerd diaries and the remnants of all the hero bentos that All Might keeps giving him?? or, just putting it out there, just a crazy thought, but you don’t suppose we might actually cut back to U.A.? mmm. side-eyes emoji

maaaaaan I’m starting to get tired of this trend of beginning chapters by dropping in on random power-tripping civilians and/or Shindou lol. just once can we get a chapter that opens with someone I actually give a fuck about

oh at least Endeavor is here

A WHAT SUPPORT ITEM!??! HOLY SHIT DDLKJSLFKJL

lol somehow that’s more terrifying than bullets for me?? like I’m fully aware that bullets will fuck you up way worse and that in real life nail guns probably don’t work like this AT ALL and only have a range of like... hold up let me just google... up to 100 to 150 m/s and distances of up to 500m wait WHAT

okay wait. hold up. like I was expecting google to tell me nail guns only shoot a few feet at most, and instead the first search result is some CDC blog article that’s “dispelling” the “””myth””” -- please note my repeated sarcastic quotation marks -- that nail guns can fire 1400 feet per second, by explaining that actually they can fire anywhere from 315 ft/sec to 1,295 ft/sec, and that “it is in the pneumatic nail gun user’s best interest to handle these tools as if they were a firearm despite having a lower velocity” dlkjdslkjflkl

SO THAT SCENE IN IRON MAN 3 WHERE TONY RAIDS A HOME DEPOT AND BUYS A BUNCH OF RANDOM TOOLS AND SHIT AND GOES ON TO STAGE A ONE-MAN INVASION OF AN INTERNATIONAL TERRORIST’S FLORIDA MANSION HQ IS ACTUALLY TRUE. YOU’RE TELLING ME THAT THE FILM “HOME ALONE” IS ACTUALLY A DOCUMENTARY. “the Discovery Channel television program “Mythbusters” compared the penetration capacity of an airborne projectile shot from a pneumatic framing nail gun to that of a 9mm hand gun” HELLO YES AND A MERRY “WHAT THE FUCK” TO YOU AS WELL

anyway, so. there’s apparently a reason why the Number One hero, who can burn people with the intensity of a sun going supernova, is hiding here behind this concrete support column making frowny faces. nope. nuh uh. he ain’t about that. I don’t blame you buddy

so now he’s barrel rolling out of his hiding place and setting this dude THE FUCK ON FIRE because HELL NO. BAD ENOUGH I HAD TO WATCH THAT FUCKING MUSHROOM EPISODE LAST WEEK! YOU TAKE THAT SHIT SOMEWHERE ELSE

LOL look at his face

I know the context is actually him being all “I know I’m responsible for basically everything that happened and so that’s why I’m so grim and serious about this mission to set things right piece by piece,” but in my mind this pissed-off face is 100% all because this dude tried to shoot his eye out with a nail gun. look at that. you made him go full flame face again. beard and all. protecting his face so that it can hopefully melt any stray nails that get too close. nope nope nope

good lord. so what’s up next. let me guess the guy fighting Best Jeanist has like an atomic chainsaw or some shit

lol nope we’re just cutting back to Hawks and Jeanist chilling in the Jesla after they’ve wrapped things up

Jeanist has got some serious Groot energy you guys jesus christ he’s like 12 feet tall

oh snap someone threw a pipe at him now

today is just the chapter of Endeavor being assaulted by random DIY tools I guess

I mean, I get why they’re pissed at him obviously; I would be too lol. but tbh I also don’t really understand the “get out of here we don’t want your help” attitude that all of these people suddenly seem to have?? like it if were me, I would be fucking DEMANDING for him and the other heroes to be working round the clock to fix their stupid mess. I mean who else is gonna do it?? it’s their mess, I sure don’t want to be the one to clean it up instead. anyways but whatever lol

oh shit?

so they haven’t dropped the whole “OFA secret potentially gets revealed to the world” thing yet after all. that makes sense I suppose, it did seem like that whole thing wound up playing out a bit too easily

anyway so yeah

the locals are definitely none too happy. well at least Dabi’s got something to be cheerful about I guess

so now we’re cutting to the interior of the Jesla and they’re chitchatting about the current investigation

oh wow this actually makes a bit of sense now. so there was a reason they were keeping their distance from Deku

please note that even in this abstract Endeavor’s-Mental-Image-Of-Him panel, Deku’s eyes still don’t have the light in them anymore :( my poor son

also ftr I still think using Deku as bait in this particular sense is the shittiest idea ever ngl. like sure, let’s let the sixteen-year-old run around battling miscellaneous escaped prison convicts while we stay several kilometers away ON PURPOSE despite the fact that you’re using him as bait to draw out the Big Bad, who just a reminder can destroy anything with a mere touch and who you were all basically helpless against. what exactly are you all planning to do if Tomura or one of the other League VIPs actually shows up to retrieve him?? are you even keeping tabs on him at all in real time?? jesus

(ETA: well that escalated quickly lol.)

Horikoshi is all of a sudden dropping whole pages of exposition here and I can’t be bothered to summarize this lol so just,

a big fat YES to what Jeanist said, though. that’s why imo they would have been better off laying a trap at U.A. rather than just wandering around out in the open. I assume they’re trying to cut their potential losses because U.A. is full of students (and civilians), but those students also happen to be more capable than pretty much anyone else in the manga at this point. and tbh they’re already in life-threatening danger regardless of how things play out from here on, so they might as well at least try to use the few advantages they have right now. U.A. is almost certainly going to come under siege at some point anyway, so they might as well prepare for it

lol I don’t think I’m explaining this very well because I don’t have the patience right now to break it down point by point like it really ought to be, so for now I’ll just say that imo “U.A. siege” stands a good chance of being the eventual endgame even now, and so this whole “Deku runs around being bait” arc is really just killing time until then lol. like and subscribe for more rambling nonsensical takes such as this. maybe next time I’ll even put it all into one single sentence for maximum meandering senior citizen rant value

well it’s nice that they’re finally talking about all of this I guess

we readers have known all of this for months now but this confirms the heroes are finally caught up. ALSO, Hawks is so fucking smart, as always. kinda wonder if things would have played out differently if All Might had let him in on the secret a bit earlier. probably that’s why Horikoshi made damn sure they didn’t find out until after the War arc lol

OH MY GOD YOOOOOO HAWKS OUT HERE ASKING THE REAL QUESTIONS

“anyone else wondering why AFO bothered to raise Tomura as his fake heir for fifteen years when he was secretly planning on taking over his body the whole time” YES, [raises hand] lmao Hawks where the hell were you when I was debating this “AFO is the final villain and Tomura is just his pawn” thing on multiple occasions over the past several years lol

lmao seeing them debate the metaphysics of OFA and all of its mystical bullshit is seriously surreal you guys

JEANIST HAVE YOU CHECKED OUT MY META TAG I HAVE WRITTEN SO MANY ESSAYS. I ACTUALLY WAS PLANNING ON WRITING ANOTHER ESSAY ABOUT THE THING THAT I’M PRETTY SURE HAWKS IS ABOUT TO BRING UP, BUT I NEVER GOT AROUND TO IT WHOOPS, BUT MAYBE I WILL NOW LOL LET’S SEE HOW IT GOES

yes!!

WHICH AFO FUCKING ENSURED HE WOULD BE BY LITERALLY PLANNING OUT EVERY LAST DETAIL OF HIS FAMILY TRAGEDY, FROM SECRETLY GIVING TENKO THE QUIRK TO MAKING SURE NO CIVILIANS OR HEROES WOULD HELP HIM UNTIL AFO FINALLY STEPPED IN. I’M 1000% CONVINCED THIS IS THE CASE YOU GUYS. NOT JUST BECAUSE I’M NOT A FAN OF “THE WORLD IS A FUNDAMENTALLY SHITTY PLACE, ACTUALLY” TAKES BECAUSE MISTER ROGERS TOLD ME TO ALWAYS LOOK FOR THE HELPERS, BUT ALSO BECAUSE IT LITERALLY JUST DOESN’T MAKE A LICK OF SENSE OTHERWISE. THEIR ENTIRE HOUSE CAVED IN FFS, YOU’RE TELLING ME NONE OF THE NEIGHBORS FUCKING OVERHEARD THAT SHIT AND WENT “UMMMMMMMMM” AND WENT TO SEE WHAT WAS GOING ON?? “DIDN’T THERE USED TO BE A HOUSE HERE, AND LIKE A WHOLE FAMILY, AND SHIT?”

LIKE I’M SORRY, BUT IT’S ONE THING TO SAY IT’S REALISTIC THAT NOT A SINGLE PERSON WOULD ATTEMPT TO HELP THE WANDERING TRAUMATIZED CHILD AFTERWARDS (WHICH I DISAGREE WITH AS WELL BUT AT LEAST THAT’S MORE SUBJECTIVE), AND IT’S A WHOLE OTHER THING TO ARGUE THAT IT’S REALISTIC THAT NO ONE WOULD BE FUCKING NOSY. LIKE THAT’S A WHOLE DIFFERENT LEVEL OF “THAT’S NOT HOW ANY OF THIS WORKS” ENTIRELY LOL. anyway tl;dr AFO is a piece of shit and Tomura’s entire worldview is based on a magnificently intricate and savagely cruel lie more at 11

anyway so after all that ranting it looks like that wasn’t even what Hawks was talking about after all lol. I just went off for absolutely no reason lol oh well. instead it seems that Hawks is suggesting that Tomura’s carefully cultivated hatred might not yet have actually reached “can defeat OFA” levels even after all of that trauma. interesting!

don’t mind me, I’m just sitting here while my brain furiously scrambles to put together all the parallels between Hawks and Tomura that it never noticed before until exactly this second. like I’m not even sure that was the intent here at all (I need to check out another translation or two lol), but regardless my mind decided that now would be the perfect time to make the connection between these two twenty-somethings who both had horrific childhoods and spent years being molded by their respective manipulative guardians, and developed eerily similar “laugh at everything because what else can you do” coping mechanisms to deal with it all hmmmmm

anyway so they were talking more about their strategy, but now all of a sudden Jeanist’s phone is beeping??

AND NOW WE’RE CUTTING AWAY TO ALL MIGHT AND HIS MIGHTMOBILE DAMMIT so that means the call to Jeanist was actually something important then!! WAS IT BAKUGOU OMG. DOES YOUR INTERN WANT A WORD FFFKLFSJK please it’s been so long I just need a little crumb or two to tide me over lmao have mercy

anyway so All Might’s following the GPS tracking device he’s apparently got planted on Deku (which in my conspiracy headcanons he’s actually had for a long time now, like since before DvK2 lol because HOW ELSE WOULD HAVE HAVE KNOWN THAT THEY WERE FIGHTING EACH OTHER IN GROUND BETA, PEOPLE) and thinking angsty thoughts about Deku’s sucky life

AND NOW ALL MIGHT’S PHONE IS RINGING TOO?? BAKUGOU HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE YOU CALLING. “WHERE ARE YOU HIDING THE NERD GODDAMMIT”

OMG

lol is he under attack or is he just finally giving All Might the slip like we all know he SECRETLY PLANNED TO ALL ALONG oh my poor dumb angstmuffin

OMG AHHHHHHH WHAT

DID ALL MIGHT JUST FUCKING DIE LMAO NO OF COURSE NOT, BUT WHAT

WHAT IS HAPPENING OMG

THE FUCK IS THAT. AT LEAST IT’S NOT A NAIL

OH IT’S A SPEAKER!! OMG DID THEY TAKE ALL MIGHT HOSTAGE

“THEY’RE HERE” WELP, TIME TO SEE JUST HOW SHITTY THIS SHITTY PLAN REALLY IS LOL

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

SHE!!!!

omg. AND OVERHAUL JUST CHILLING THERE IN THE BACKGROUND ALL “WHAT DO YOU EVEN WANT ME TO DO I’VE GOT NO FUCKING ARMS” YEAH GOOD RIDDANCE LOL

DOES THIS GIRL HAVE ONE GIANT LEG OR WHAT, LIKE WHAT’S THE DEAL HERE

-- HOLD UP WAIT, THE GUN IS HER ARM, HOLY SHIT SHE CAN TURN INTO A GUN -- OKAY HOLD UP BECAUSE I NEED TO SAY THAT IN BIGGER TEXT BECAUSE !!!!

YOU GUYS, THE COOL TARTARUS GIRL IS BACK AND HER QUIRK IS “CAN TURN INTO A FUCKING GUN.” THIS IS NOT A DRILL!! MY BEST GIRL MT. GUN IS FINALLY BACK ON THE SCENE WITH HER QUIRK “CAN DO ANYTHING A GUN CAN DO.” “I HEARD Y’ALL WENT AND NAMED ONE OF YOUR HEROES ‘GUNHEAD’ EVEN THOUGH HIS HEAD ISN’T EVEN A GUN, LIKE WTF IS UP WITH THAT LET ME SHOW YOU HOW IT’S DONE” DANG OKAY

lmao only fifteen pages this week, and STILL NO KACCHAN (THEN WHO WAS PHONE!!!), but man I don’t even care because finally we’ve got a cliffhanger that’s actually deserving of being a cliffhanger! hot dog. okay then

[biderboy]

marauders raising the weasleys part 7 !!!!! (long awaited i’m so sorry but here it is)

- james has gotten each of the kids their own stuffie and they’ve all absolutely adored it , charlie got a dragon (“actually, i think it’s a lizard dad”) percy got a lion, fred and george both got cats, ron got a turtle, and ginny got a giraffe !! they all treasure them, yes even bill, who takes his stuffed cow to hogwarts with him

- lily has a habit of taking pictures and videos of the kids for memories, and so for mother’s day or her birthday, bill takes her camera and films all the kids rambling things about her that they love !!! (ron; “i love mommy’s hair!!” , fred; “mom dances with me around the kitchen!!” )

- when bill was little, he’d get anxious around people and they had to commute to get to his school, so sirius would let him trace words and stars on his arms to help him calm down !! even as a teenager, bill still gets anxious and you can 100% find him seated next to sirius, tracing words and sirius rambling off “did you just trace fuck on my arm you menace”

- the “baby star” charlie has never ever ever been embarrassed of his nickname and one day went to school with tiny star stickers pressed on his cheeks and refused to take them off all day

- ^ he wanted to go as a star for halloween one year but settled on being a cowboy

- percy had to do a project on the solar system one year, but the kids kept bother him when he tried to work on it, so he made them the solar system. charlie was the sun, ron was earth, harry was mercury, ginny was pluto, fred was uranus, george was jupiter, bill was mars! (and yes, the boys joined in james was saturn, sirius was venus, and peter was neptune)

- percy got a 100% simply because remus talked to his teacher before hand and honestly, the project was what was asked of him

- uncle regulus steals a kid for a day !! he does steal one quite often, and they always come back sun kissed and candy filled and they ramble on and on about how “uncle reggie took me to the beach !! we made shell necklaces look mom look !!!”

- speaking of, regulus 100% has pictures of each kid in his wallet because he loves them and shows off his niece and nephews to anyone who listens !! and he takes them whenever he can and teaches them about the stars and wishes and shows them pranks to pull on sirius

- peter got roped into being the parent to go to parent-teacher night for all the kids (bet gone wrong) and he had to explain to fred’s, bills, and ron’s teacher that he was not a single parent and he did not need advice, he was perfectly capable despite the fact that george switched places with fred on the way there

- GEORGE HAS A FLOWER COLLECTION AND A FLOWER FOR EACH OF HIS PARENTS !! everytime he sees that specific flower he has to pick it and rush home to give it to them !! “daddy look look ! i got you a flower!”

- charlie and james do infact what the sunrise every morning because they’re the first people up !!! james makes charlie some hot chocolate (“extra mallows please!!”) and they wrap up in a blanket on the porch !! james tells charlie stories , or sometimes they sit silence, but it’s one of their favorite times of day !! (sometimes remus wakes up and joins them !)

- peter broke his arm once and ginny and percy decorated his cast and would get super mad if anyone else tried to write on it !

- ron really likes to act like he’s a zombie, for some reason (it’s sirius’ fault) ans makes james run around the house so ron can try to catch him

- fred at some point picked up an american accent and talked with it for weeks , lily has no idea where he got it but she 100% joins in because it irritates the boys and puts a huge smile on fred’s face

- JAMES TEACHES BILL AND GINNY HOW TO PLAY THE GUITAR AND GETTS TRHEM GUITARS FOR THEIR BIRTHDAYS AND AT SOME POINT THEY START PLAYING HIM SONGS AND HE DOESNT CRY (yes he does)

- as ron gets older, the nickname “jellybean” doesn’t stick, but lily is the only person that is allowed to call him “bean” ; “bean, come here let me fix your hair” , “james stops thats bean’s book!!”

- ginny takes a little too much after remus , and her “anger issues” are very much present from an early age, so remus himself works with her on how to properly calm down and convey her emotions !! he finds that taking her on broom rides helps a lot, so despite not liking flying, he still does for his little girl !!

- charlie only eats grape flavored candies and so peter has a tiny pouch full of grape flavored suckers and candy labeled with “star’s sweets” that he takes everywhere

- peter is also the one you can see most with the bay carrier, as he almost always has ron or ginny strapped to his chest , and he looks like a suburban dad but he’s the absolute greatest with the babies (better then james and remus atleast)

- the marauders have “dad #1 , #2, #3 , and #4” sweaters that they wear at any school event and when lily can’t make it they look like stressed gay parents trying to cope with 8 kids and they never correct the assumptions

[slasherhaven]

hi there!! if it interests you and you'd like to write it, may I request reader getting hurt and/or taken by visitors and Bo Sinclair kind of losing it?? (i picture it as before they get together possibly? and it can turn into either nsfw or stay sfw and fluffy)

Bo reacting to his future S/O getting hurt:

You had seen Bo angry before, of course you had, it was a common occurrence in Ambrose. Sometimes he just had a bad day and was in a bad mood, meaning that he had to put you all in a bad mood as well. But it was worse when a group of visitors had come into town and things hadn’t gone his way, that’s when you would all avoid him because it wasn’t worth the trouble.

But this...this was nothing like those times.

You had never seen Bo this furious. A group had come into town, which you were used too now, and things had gotten out of hand. One of the men had escaped and ran right into you when he was trying to find a way out of town. When he saw that Bo was catching up with him, he panicked, grabbing you and holding you in front of him, a blade pressed to your throat. 

“Bo...” you couldn’t even be sure that Bo liked you all that much, but you hoped that he wasn’t about to let you die. Your gaze flickered down to the shotgun in his hands, surely you would be fine...right?

“Let her go” Bo demanded lowly, giving the man a chance to do this the easy way. 

“Let me leave and I won’t hurt her” the man bargained, making your eyes widen some more. There was no way Bo was about to let a victim go, no matter what.  

“You know I can’t do that” Bo was acting completely unfazed, and you hoped it was just an act. He could be difficult to be around but surely you grown on him just a little during your time here. 

“Bo, please” you pleaded, getting his attention back on you. 

He looked over you, seeing how you were grabbing at the mans arm and trying to pull the blade away from your neck. You were looking at him with panicked eyes, silently pleading with him to help you. He could feel the rage burning in his chest. The thought of this man hurting you, or touching you at all for that matter, made Bo furious. 

“Let go of her. Now” Bo demanded more sternly, but the victim only tightened his hold on you and pressed the knife harder against your neck, making your breath hitch. 

“I-I’ll kill her!” the man threatened, making your eyes tear up. 

Bo looked between you both before letting out a breath, slowly lowering the gun and placing it down on the ground. “It’s down, alright?” he stood back up, raising his hands in surrender. 

Bo stepped forward but that only made your attacker panic. “D-don’t come any closer!” he warned, adjusting his hold on you. 

“Just making sure my friend here is alright” Bo suddenly sounded calmer as he continued to approach. He was a good actor, you could give him that. 

Once he was close enough, Bo grabbed the man’s arm and pulled it away from you, while simultaneously grabbing your arm and pulling you towards him. You let out a sharp yelp when the blade of the victim’s knife cut into your shoulder, the sudden movements resulting in a painful accidently. Still, it was better than the alternative. 

Bo had pushed you behind him, quickly overpowering the man and grappling him to the floor. The two of them struggled but he was clearly no match for Bo, since he was landing blow after blow, making you cringe. If you hadn’t just been threatening to kill you, you would have felt bad about the beating he was getting. 

You couldn’t be completely sure about what happened next because Bo had snapped at you to go back to the house while he took the man to wherever it was that he took victims. That unpleasant basement of his. 

Now it was late, all of the victims having been thoroughly dealt with, and you were back at the house. When Vincent had gotten back to the house, seeing you holding your bleeding shoulder, he kindly offered to help patch you up. 

You both instantly knew when Bo got home, he had alerted you to his return when he slammed the front door shut behind him.  

“Y/n! Where are-” Bo began to call for you but cut himself off when he stepped into the kitchen, finding you and his brother there. 

You were sitting on one of the kitchen chairs with your shirt unbuttoned just enough to reveal your wounded shoulder, while Vincent stood in front of you, cleaning your wound. 

“Get to work, Vincent. I’ve got this” Bo ordered but Vincent seemed hesitant, he was clearly angry and Vincent wasn’t sure if he should leave you with him. “I’ll take care of it” he snapped, annoyed that his twin wasn’t listening. 

Vincent looked at you and you just nodded, assuring him that you would be fine, before he left the room. Probably heading to his workroom. 

Without saying another word, Bo walked up to you, grabbing the cloth that Vincent had been using and took over cleaning the blood away from your shoulder. 

“Ow!” you exclaimed at his rough-handedness. “Could you be a little gentler?...please?” you asked quietly. He gave you an annoyed look but his touch did soften. 

“Why didn’t you do something about this earlier?” Bo questioned but it sounded like he was scolding you. 

“Tried, couldn’t really do it by myself and it wasn’t bleeding that bad. Vincent offered to help when he got home, though” you explained. “Did you deal with that guy?” you asked after a moment of him not saying anything. 

“Yeah” he answered shortly, focusing on cleaning up the dried blood that had dripped down from your shoulder. 

“What did you do?” you weren’t really sure if you wanted to know but you were curious. 

“Nothing for you to worry about” Bo muttered, dropping the cloth down onto the kitchen table and grabbing a bandage. “Why where you down there anyway?” he asked, securing the bandage to your shoulder. 

“I thought you all had it handled” you shrugged, wincing at the way it made your shoulder sting. 

“Well, we didn’t and you almost got yourself killed” okay, now he was definitely scolding you. 

“You’re mad at me for this?” you asked in disbelief. 

“How many times do I have to tell you to just stay at the house?” he asked, snapping at you, frustration clear in his voice. You knew you had to tread carefully around him now. 

“Bo-” you started but instantly shut up when he grabbed your jaw in one hand, forcing you to look up at his face. 

“This is your own fucking fault” he accused you. Why was it always 1-100 with this man? 

“...surprised he was even alive after that beating you gave him” you commented casually, hoping to calm him down a little. He just squinted at you. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so mad...and I’ve seen you mad plenty of times” you continued and he released your jaw. “Did you take him to Vincent?” you asked, now that it seemed like he was more open to talking. 

“...no, he...wasn’t in any state for Vincent to work with. I had Lester take care of him” Bo told you.

“...you really were mad at him, weren’t you?” you asked rhetorically. You couldn’t imagine the state Bo must have left him in, you were happy not knowing. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were worried about me” you smiled a little. 

You really hadn’t been sure if Bo cared for you at all, he never acted like it did, but this whole thing was making you change your mind. 

“But you do know better” he scoffed before turning around to leave. 

“Sure do” you nodded to yourself. “Hey, Bo?” you spoke up, standing from your chair, and stopping him before he could walk away. “Thank you for helping me out” you finally thanked him. He did save your life after all. 

“Didn’t do it for you” Bo assured you but you just smiled. 

“Sure you didn’t. You didn’t beat that guy up so badly because he was threatening to hurt me, and you didn’t insist on helping me with my shoulder when Vincent was perfectly capable of it” you sarcastically agreed. 

“...remember to change the bandage” he mumbled under his breath before turning to leave again. You were getting under his skin, but you didn’t want to stop. 

“Wow, you really do care” you chuckled. 

“Stop it” he warned, turning back to you with a stern expression. 

“I never thought I’d see the day. Bo Sinclair, caring about somebody other than-OW!” you were harshly interrupted when Bo grabbed your arm, pulling you towards him. 

Okay, so maybe he grabbed the wrong arm but he wasn’t about to admit to that mistake. 

You firmly planted your free hand on his chest to stop yourself from colliding with him too hard. You looked up at him with widened eyes, surprised by the sudden gesture. 

“You need to watch your mouth” Bo warned you lowly. 

“Yeah...wouldn’t want me to get into any trouble” you breathed, attempting to joke but it came off weakly. You hated just how fond of Bo you had become, it took longer for him to grow on you than it did his brothers, but you had developed some feelings for him. 

Bo’s gaze flickered over your face, like he was trying to figure out what you were thinking. Raising the hand that wasn’t still holding onto your arm, he placed it on the back of your head, fingers curling in your hair as he pulled you forward again, meeting your lips with his own. 

The kiss certainly caught you off guard, the hand on his chest gabbing a fist full of his tee-shirt, but you returned it. The kiss started heated, but you had never expected any different from Bo. 

Bo walked you backwards, and you moved through the kitchen willingly, foolishly trusting him to guide you. When your back hit one of the kitchen counters, Bo lent down and lifted you up with each, sitting you on top of it. 

“Watch the shoulder” you chastised, hissing a little at the stringing in your shoulder. 

“Shit” Bo cursed, pulling away to look down at your bandaged shoulder. “You’ll be fine” he assured you dismissively. 

“Oh, so now I’ll be fine?” you cocked an eyebrow at him. Wasn’t he just scolding you about being more careful and about how you nearly got yourself killed? 

“Shut up” Bo sneered before pulling you into another kiss.

Well...at least now you knew why he had gotten so worked up about you being in danger.

[sk1fanfiction]

the many faces of tom riddle, part 4

-attachment, orphanages, and yet more child psych: time to add yet another voice to the void-

FULL DISCLAIMER THAT THIS IS JUST MY OPINION OF A CHARACTER WHO DOESN’T HAVE THE STRONGEST CANON CHARACTERIZATION, AND THUS ALL THIS IS BASED ON MY CONCEPTUALIZATION.

I'm going to be super biased, because my favorite portrayal of Tom Riddle is actually Hero Fiennes-Tiffin as eleven-year-old Tom Riddle, in HBP and I get to chat about child psych in this one, sooo here we go.

First of all, I’m just so impressed that a kid could bring that much depth to such a complex character.

This is the portrayal, I feel, that brings us closest to Tom’s character. Yes, Coulson’s brought us pretty close, but by fifth year, the mask was on.

We don't really get to see Tom looking afraid very often, but it's fear that rules his life, so it's really poignant in our first (chronologically) introduction, he looks absolutely terrified.

The void being the fandom's loud opinions on a certain headmaster. I wouldn't call myself pro-Dumbledore, but I'm certainly not anti-Dumbledore, either. (Agnostic-Dumbledore??)

Since I'm not of the anti-Dumbledore persuasion, I decided to poke around in the tags and see what the arguments were, so I don't make comments out of ignorance.

Most of the tag seems to be more directed towards his treatment of Harry and Sirius, but a few people mentioned that Dumbledore should have treated Tom with ‘exceptional kindness’ and tried to ‘rehabilitate’ him.

As I said in Parts 2 and 3, I am 100% in favor of helping a traumatized kid learn to cope, and I don’t think Tom Riddle was solidly on the Path to Evil (TM) at birth, or even at eleven. Not even at fifteen.

Could unconditional love and kindness have helped Tom Riddle enough for the rise of Lord Voldemort to never happen? Possibly, but...

Yes, I'm about to drag up that Carl Jung quote, again.

“I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.”

The problem with this is that if you’re going to blame Dumbledore for this, you also have to blame every other adult in Tom’s life: his headmaster, Dippet, his Head of House, Slughorn, his ‘caretakers’ at the orphanage, Mrs. Cole and Martha, and possibly more. In fact, if we're going to blame any adult, let's blame Merope for r*ping and abusing Tom Riddle Senior, and having a kid she wasn't intending to take care of.

Furthermore, you cannot possibly hold anyone but Tom accountable for the murders he committed. (I should not have to sit here and explain why cold-blooded murder is wrong.) And if you like Tom Riddle's character, insinuating that his actions are completely at the whim of others is just a bit condescending towards him. He's not an automaton or a marionette, he's a very intelligent human being with a functioning brain, and at sixteen is fully capable of moral reasoning and critical analysis.

I've heard the theories about Dumbledore setting the Potters up to die, and I'm not going to discuss their validity right now; but he didn't put a wand in Tom's hand and force him to kill anyone. Tom did it all of his own accord.

And while yes, I have enormous sympathy for what happened to Tom as a child, at some point, he decided to murder Myrtle Warren, and that is where I lose my sympathy. Experiencing trauma does not give you the right to inflict harm on others. Yes, Tom was failed, but then, he spectacularly failed himself.

We also have no idea how Dumbledore treated Tom as a student.

In the movies, it’s Dumbledore who tells Tom he has to go back to the orphanage, but in the books, it’s Dippet. We know that Slughorn spent a lot of time around Tom at Slug Club and such, yet I don’t really see people clamoring for his head.

I regard the sentiment that Dumbledore turned Tom Riddle into Lord Voldemort with a lot of skepticism.

But let's hear from the character himself -- his impression of eleven-year-old Tom Riddle.

“Did I know that I had just met the most dangerous Dark wizard of all time?” said Dumbledore. “No, I had no idea that he was to grow up to be what he is. However, I was certainly intrigued by him. I returned to Hogwarts intending to keep an eye upon him, something I should have done in any case, given that he was alone and friendless, but which, already, I felt I ought to do for others’ sake as much as his."

Now, assuming that Dumbledore's telling the truth, I'm not seeing something glaringly wrong with this. No, he hasn't pigeonholed Tom as evil, yes, I'd be intrigued, too, and it's a very good idea to keep an eye on Tom, for his own sake.

“At Hogwarts,” Dumbledore went on, “we teach you not only to use magic, but to control it. You have — inadvertently, I am sure — been using your powers in a way that is neither taught nor tolerated at our school."

Again, it seems like he's at least somewhat sympathetic towards Tom, and is willing to at least give him a chance.

More evidence (again, assuming Dumbledore is a reliable narrator):

Harry: “Didn’t you tell them [the other professors], sir, what he’d been like when you met him at the orphanage?” Dumbledore: “No, I did not. Though he had shown no hint of remorse, it was possible that he felt sorry for how he had behaved before and was resolved to turn over a fresh leaf. I chose to give him that chance.”

Now, I think Dumbledore is pretty awful with kids, but I don't think that's malicious. Yeah, it's a flaw, but perfect people don't exist, and perfect characters are dead boring. I am not saying that he definitely handled Tom's case well, I'm just saying that there's little evidence that Dumbledore, however shaken and scandalized, wrote him off as 'evil snake boy.'

It's also worth taking into account that it's 1938, and the attitudes towards mental health back then.

Why is Tom looking at Dumbledore like that, anyway? Why is he so scared? What has he possibly been threatened with or heard whispers of?

"'Professor'?" repeated Riddle. He looked wary. "Is that like 'doctor'? What are you here for? Did she get you in to have a look at me?"

"I don't believe you," said Riddle. "She wants me looked at, doesn't she? Tell the truth!"

"You can't kid me! The asylum, that's where you're from, isn't it? 'Professor,' yes, of course -- well, I'm not going, see? That old cat's the one who should be in the asylum. I never did anything to little Amy Benson or Dennis Bishop, and you can ask them, they'll tell you!

Tom keeps insisting he's not mad until Dumbledore finally manages to calm him down.

I'm really upset this wasn't in the movie, because it's important context. Instead we got these throwaway cutscenes of some knick-knacks relating to the Cave he's got lying around, but I just would have preferred to see him freaking out like he does in the book.

There was extreme stigma and prejudice towards mental illness.

'Lunatic asylums,' as they were called in Tom's time, were terrible places. In the 1930s and 40s, he could look forward to being 'treated' with induced convulsions, via metrazol, insulin, electroshock, and malaria injections. And if he stuck around long enough, he could even look forward to a lobotomy!

So, if you think Dumbledore was judgmental towards Tom, imagine how flat-out prejudiced whatever doctors or 'experts' Mrs. Cole might have gotten in to 'look at him' must have been!

Moving on to the next few shots, he is sitting down and hunched over as if expecting punishment or at least some kind of bad news, Dumbledore is mostly out of the frame. He’s trapped visually, by Dumbledore on one side, and a wall on the other, because he’s still very much afraid. uncomfortable, as he tells Dumbledore a secret that he fears could get him committed to an asylum (which were fucking horrible places, as I said).

It brings to the scene that miserable sense of isolation and loneliness to that has defined Tom’s entire life up to that point (and, partially due to his own bad choices, continues to define it).

And, when Dumbledore accepts it, his posture changes. he becomes more confident and more at ease, as he describes the... utilities of his magical abilities. 

"All sorts," breathed Riddle. A flush of excitement was rising up his neck into his hollow cheeks; he looked fevered. "I can make things move without touching them. I can make animals do what I want them to do, without training them. I can make bad things happen to people who annoy me. I can make them hurt if I want to."

Riddle lifted his head. His face was transfigured: There was a wild happiness upon it, yet for some reason it did not make him better looking; on the contrary, his finely carved features seemed somehow rougher, his expression almost bestial.

I do think Harry, our narrator, is being a tad bit judgmental here. Magic is probably the only thing that brings Tom happiness in his grey, lonely world, and when I was Tom's age and being bullied, if I had magic powers, you'd better believe that I'd (a) be bloody ecstatic about it (b) use them. And, like Tom, I can't honestly say that I can't imagine getting a bit carried-away with it. Unfortunately, we can't all be as inherently good and kindhearted as Harry.

Reading HBP again, as a 'mature' person, it almost seems like the reader is being prompted to see Tom as evil just because he's got 'weird' facial expressions.

So... uh...

Nope, let's judge Tom on his actions, not looks of 'wild happiness.'

To his great surprise, however, Dumbledore drew his wand from an inside pocket of his suit jacket, pointed it at the shabby wardrobe in the corner, and gave the wand a casual flick. The wardrobe burst into flames. Riddle jumped to his feet; Harry could hardly blame him for howling in shock and rage; all his worldly possessions must be in there. But even as Riddle rounded on Dumbledore, the flames vanished, leaving the wardrobe completely undamaged.

Okay, one thing I dislike is Tom's lack of emotional affect when Dumbledore burned the wardrobe, in the books, he jumped up and started screaming, instead of looking passively (in shock, perhaps?) at the fire. Incidentally, I can't really tell if he's impressed or in shock, to be honest. I think they really tried to make Tom 'creepier' in the movie.

This is one of the incidents where Dumbledore's inability to deal with children crops up.

I think he was trying to teach Tom that magic can be dangerous, and he wouldn't like it to be used against him, but burning the wardrobe that contains everything he owns was a terrible move on Dumbledore's part. Tom already has very limited trust in other people, and now, he's not going to trust Dumbledore at all -- now, he's put Tom on the defensive/offensive for the rest of their interaction, and perhaps for the rest of their teacher-student relationship.

Riddle stared from the wardrobe to Dumbledore; then, his expression greedy, he pointed at the wand. "Where can I get one of them?"

"Where do you buy spellbooks?" interrupted Riddle, who had taken the heavy money bag without thanking Dumbledore, and was now examining a fat gold Galleon.

But I'm not surprised Tom is 'greedy.' He's grown up in an environment where if he wants something, whether that's affection, food, money, toys, he's got to take it. There's no one looking after his needs specifically. I'm not surprised that he's a thief and a hoarder, and I don't think that counts as a moral failing necessarily, and more of a maladaptive way of seeking comfort. It would be bizarre if he came out of Wool's Orphanage a complete saint.

Additionally, I think given that the Gaunt family has a history of 'mental instability,' Tom is a sensitive child, and the trauma of growing up institutionalized and possibly being treated badly due to his magical abilities or personality disorder deeply affected him.

And there are points where it seems that Dumbledore is quick to judge Tom.

"He was already using magic against other people, to frighten, to punish, to control."

"Yes, indeed; a rare ability, and one supposedly connected with the Dark Arts, although as we know, there are Parselmouths among the great and the good too. In fact, his ability to speak to serpents did not make me nearly as uneasy as his obvious instincts for cruelty, secrecy, and domination."

"I trust that you also noticed that Tom Riddle was already highly self-sufficient, secretive, and, apparently, friendless?..."

And while this is all empirically true, these are (a) a product of Tom's harsh environment, and (b) do not necessarily make him evil. But the point remains that child psych didn't exist as a field of its own, and psychology as a proper science was in its infancy, so I'd be shocked if Dumbledore was insightful about Tom's situation.

But I've gone a ton of paragraphs without citing anything, so I've got to rectify that.

Let's talk about Harry Harlow's monkey experiments in the 1950-70s.

If you're not a fan of animal research, since I know some people are uncomfortable with it, feel free to scroll past.

Here's the TL;DR: Children need to be hugged and shown affection too, not just fed and clothed, please don't leave babies to 'cry out' and ignore their needs because it's backwards and fucking inhumane. HUG AND COMFORT AND CODDLE CHILDREN AND SPOIL THEM WITH AFFECTION!

I will put more red writing when the section is over.

This is still an interesting experiment to have in mind while we explore the whole 'no one taught Tom Riddle how to love' thing and whether or not it's actually a good argument.

Andddd let's go all the way back to the initial 1958 experiment, featured in Harlow's paper, the Nature of Love. (If you're familiar with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, him and Harlow actually collaborated for a time).

To give you an idea of our starting point, until Harlow's experiment, which happened twenty years after Dumbledore meets Tom for the first time, no one in science had really been interested in studying love and affection.

"Psychologists, at least psychologists who write textbooks, not only show no interest in the origin and development of love or affection, but they seem to be unaware of its very existence."

I'm going to link some videos of Harry Harlow showing the actual experiment, which animal rights activists would probably consider 'horrifying.' It's nothing gory or anything, but if you are particularly soft-hearted (and I do not mean that as an insult), be warned. It's mostly just baby monkeys being very upset and Harlow discussing it in a callous manner. Yes, today it would be considered unethical, but it's still incredibly important work and if you think you can handle it, I would recommend watching at least the first one to get an idea of how dramatic this effect is.

Dependency when frightened

The full experiment

The TL;DW:

This experiment was conducted with rhesus macaques; they're still used in psychology/neuroscience research when you want very human-like subjects, because they are very intelligent (unnervingly so, actually). I'd say that adult ones remind me of a three-year old child.

Harlow separated newborn monkeys from their mothers, and cared for their physical needs. They had ample nutrition, bedding, warmth, et cetera. However, the researchers noticed that the monkeys:

(a) were absolutely miserable. And not just that, but although all their physical needs were taken care of, they weren't surviving well past the first few days of life. (This has also been documented in human babies, and it's called failure to thrive and I'll talk about it a bit later).

(b) showed a strong attachment to the gauze pads used to cover the floor, and decided to investigate.

So, they decided to provide a surrogate 'mother.' Two, actually. Mother #1 was basically a heated fuzzy doll that was nice for the monkeys to cuddle with. Mother #2 was the same, but not fuzzy and made of wire. Both provided milk. The result? The monkeys spent all their time cuddling and feeding from the fuzzy 'mother.' Perhaps not surprising.

What Harlow decided next, is that one of the hallmarks being attached to your caregiver is seeking hugs and reassurance from them when frightened. So, when the monkeys were presented with something scary, they'd go straight to the cloth mother and ignore the wire one. Not only that, but when placed in an unfamiliar environment, if the cloth mother was present, the monkeys would be much calmer.

In a follow-up experiment, Harlow decided to see if there was some sort of sensitive period by introducing both 'mothers' to monkeys who had been raised in isolation for 250 days. Guess what?

The initial reaction of the monkeys to the alterations was one of extreme disturbance. All the infants screamed violently and made repeated attempts to escape the cage whenever the door was opened. They kept a maximum distance from the mother surrogates and exhibited a considerable amount of rocking and crouching behavior, indicative of emotionality.

Yikes. So, at first Harlow thought that they'd passed some kind of sensitive period for socialization. But after a day or two they calmed down and started chilling out with the cloth mother like the other monkeys did. But here's a weird thing:

That the control monkeys develop affection or love for the cloth mother when she is introduced into the cage at 250 days of age cannot be questioned. There is every reason to believe, however, that this interval of delay depresses the intensity of the affectional response below that of the infant monkeys that were surrogate-mothered from birth onward

All these things... attachment, affection, love, seeking comfort ... are mostly learned behaviours.

Over.

Orphanages, institutionalized childcare, and why affection is a need, not an extra.

His face is lit the exact same was as Coulson’s was in COS (half-light, half-dark), and I said I was going to talk about this in Part 3. I think perhaps it's intended to make Fiennes-Tiffin look more evil or menacing, but I'm going to quite deliberately misinterpret it.

Now, for some context, Dumbledore has just (kind of) burned his wardrobe, ratted out his stealing habit, and (in the books only, they really took a pair of scissors to this scene) told him he needs to go apologize and return everything and Dumbledore will know if he doesn't, and, well, Tom's not exactly a happy bugger about it.

But interestingly, in the books, this is when we start to see Tom's 'persona,' aka his mask, start to come into play. Whereas before, he was screaming, howling, and generally freaking out, here, he starts to hide his emotions -- in essence, obscure his true self under a shadow. So this scene is really the reverse of Coulson's in COS.

And perhaps I'm reading wayyy too much into this, but I can't help but notice that Coulson's hair is parted opposite to Fiennes-Tiffin's, and the opposite sides of their faces are shadowed, too.

Riddle threw Dumbledore a long, clear, calculating look. "Yes, I suppose so, sir," he said finally, in an expressionless voice.

Riddle did not look remotely abashed; he was still staring coldly and appraisingly at Dumbledore. At last he said in a colorless voice, "Yes, sir."

Here's an article from The Atlantic on Romanian orphanages in the 1980s, when the dictator, Ceausescu, basically forced people to have as many children as possible and funnel them into institutionalized 'childcare', and it's absolutely heartbreaking.

There's not a whole lot of information out there on British orphanages in the 30s' and 40s', but given that people back then thought you just had to keep children on a strict schedule and feed them, it wouldn't have a whole lot better.

The only thing I've found is this, and it's not super promising.

The most important study informing the criteria for contemporary nosologies, was a study by Barbara Tizard and her colleagues of young children being raised in residential nurseries in London (Tizard, 1977). These nurseries had lower child to caregiver ratios than many previous studies of institutionalized children. Also, the children were raised in mixed aged groups and had adequate books and toys available. Nevertheless, caregivers were explicitly discouraged from forming attachments to the children in their care.

Here's a fairly recent paper that I think gives a good summary: Link

Here, they describe the responses to the Strange Situation test (which tests a child's attachment to their caregiver).

We found that 100% of the community sample received a score of “5,” indicating fully formed attachments, whereas only 3% of the infants living in institutions demonstrated fully formed attachments. The remaining 97% showed absent, incomplete, or odd and abnormal attachment behaviors.

Bowlby and Ainsworth, who did the initial study, thought that children would always attach to their caregivers, regardless of neglect or abuse. But some infants don't attach (discussed along with RAD in Part 2).

Here's a really good review paper on attachment disorders in currently or formerly institutionalized children : Link

Core features of RAD in young children include the absence of focused attachment behaviors directed towards a preferred caregiver, failure to seek and respond to comforting when distressed, reduced social and emotional reciprocity, and disturbances of emotion regulation, including reduced positive affect and unexplained fearfulness or irritability.

Which all sounds a lot like Tom in this scene. The paper also discusses neurological effects, like atypical EEG power distribution (aka brain waves), which can correlate with 'indiscriminate' behavior and poor inhibitory control; which makes sense for a kid who, oh, I don't know, hung another kid's rabbit because they were angry.

Furthermore...

...those children with more prolonged institutional rearing showed reduced amygdala discrimination and more indiscriminate behavior.

This again, makes a ton of sense for Tom's psychological profile, because the amygdala (which is part of the limbic system, which regulates emotions) plays a major role in fear, anger, anxiety, and aggression, especially with respect to learning, motivation and memory.

So, I agree completely that Tom needed a lot of help, especially given the fact that he spent eleven years in an orphanage (longer than the Bucharest study I was referring to), and Dumbledore wasn't exactly understanding of his situation, and probably didn't realise what a dramatic effect the orphanage had on Tom, and given the way he talks to Tom, probably treated him as if he were a kid who grew up in a healthy environment.

In case you are still unconvinced that hugging is that important, there's a famous 1944 study conducted on 40 newborn human infants to see what would happen if their physical needs (fed, bathed, diapers changed) were provided for with no affection. The study had to be stopped because half the babies died after four months. Affection leads to the production of hormones and boosts the immune system, which increases survival, and that is why we hug children and babies should not be in orphanages. They are supposed to be hugged, all the time. I can't find the citation right now, I'll add it later if I find it.

But I think it's vastly unrealistic to say that Dumbledore, who grew up during the Victorian Era, would have any grasp of this and I don't think he was actively malicious towards Tom.

Was Tom Riddle failed by institutional childcare? Absolutely.

Were the adults in his life oblivious to his situation? Probably.

Do the shitty things that happened to Tom excuse the murders he committed, and are they anyone's fault but his own? No. At the end of the day, Tom made all the wrong choices.

And, for what it's worth, I think (film) Dumbledore (although he expresses the same sentiment in more words in the books) wishes he could go back in time and have helped Tom.

"Draco. Years ago, I knew a boy, who made all the wrong choices. Please, let me help you."

[idreamtofmanderleyagain]

Five years ago, the women on this site who treated me like trash over loving Labyrinth and shipping Jareth/Sarah were almost always obliviously consuming Radfem propaganda, or were out and out Radfems/Terfs themselves.

They were the types of people who casually threw the word “pedophile” around against grown women who shipped an adult Sarah with Jareth, aka literally one of the most popular ships for women in fandom for 30 years.

Pretty much invariably, these women had serious sex-negative anxieties, which included a severe paranoia about any and all kink and fetish, and porn in general. I saw a lot of shocking, fear-mongering propaganda surrounding sexual expression. Pretty much invariably, their method of approach involved immediate personal shock-value attacks on anyone they perceived to be “bad.”

Today, you can look at the way some people react to other popular so-called “problematic” ships and recognize the same toxic, fear-mongering rhetoric coming from women who consider themselves regular, trans-inclusive feminists. Sometimes it even manifests in the words of very well-meaning people (including myself here), who feel the need to talk about specific issues that pertain to their own experiences of trauma and oppression.

The people who shit on Labyrinth often seem to not really be able to comprehend that the Goblin King, like the film itself, is canonically a representation of a teen girl’s psyche, a soup of fears and anxieties and desires and dreams. He’s not a literal human adult preying on a literal child, and to read the film that way seriously undermines the entire point of the film. 

When I (and people of many fandoms) say “This is fiction, calm down,” I’m not just saying it’s not real so it cant hurt you and you can’t criticize me. I’m trying to call attention to what fiction actually is - artistic representations of feelings and experiences. The Goblin King is Sarah’s fiction. Therefore, he can be anything she or any woman who identifies with her wants him to be, including her lover when she’s grown and ready for such a thing.

I once took an alarming dive into Beetlejuice fandom to see what content was there (the cartoon was a favorite when I was little). Chillingly, what you’ll find is an extremely wounded fanbase, with a sharp divide between the older women who had long been shipping BJ/Lydia because of their love for the cartoon series (and whom were previously the vast majority of the Beetlejuice fandom), and a massive amount of young people riding the wave of the musical fad who had decided that the entire old school Beetlejuice fandom was populated by literal pedophiles. 

I saw death threats. Suicide baiting. Constant, constant toxic discourse. It did not matter how the BJ/Lydia fandom dealt with any particular issues that would exist in their ship, in fact I’m certain that the people abusing them cared very little to even consider if they were trying to handle it at all. The only thing that mattered was that they were disgusting subhuman scum asking for abuse. If you have at any time reblogged recent Beetlejuice fan art or content from fans of the musical, you have more than likely been engaging positively with the content of someone participating in toxic fandom behavior.

Nobody is really sticking up for them, either, as far as I saw. It’s really hard to imagine how painful it must be to have such a large group of people explode into into your relatively private fandom space to tell you that you are evil, vile, and deserve constant abuse, and also you are no longer allowed into the fandom space to engage in it’s content. But I think there’s something very alarming indeed about this happening specifically to the BJ fandom, and I’ll explain why. 

The pop-culture characterization of Beetlejuice, which is heavily influenced by the cartoon series to be clear, has always in my mind been a vaguely ageless being who matches with the psychological maturity of whatever age Lydia is supposed to be. He’s more or less like an imaginary friend, a manifestation of Lydia’s psyche. In fact, I would argue that i think most of us who grew up with the cartoon or it’s subsequent merchandizing before the musical ever existed probably internalized the idea as BJ and Lydia as this ageless, salt-and-pepper-shaker couple beloved by the goth community, similar to Gomez and Morticia. In each version of canon he may be a creepy ghost in the literal sense, but any adult who is capable of identifying literary tropes (even just subconciously) would read cartoon!BJ as an artistic representation of a socially awkward outcast girl’s inner world. Lydia’s darker dispositions and interests, which alienate her from most others, are freely accepted and embraced by her spooky magical friend. BJ/Lydia in the cartoon were depicted as best friends, but to my memory there was always an underlying sense that they had secret feelings for each other, which I identified easily even as a small child. In fact, their dynamic and behavior perfectly reflected the psychological development of the show’s target demographic. They are best friends who get into adventures and learning experiences together, who have delicate feelings for each other but lack any true adult romantic/sexual understanding to acknowledge those feelings, let alone pursue them.

Though I haven’t seen the Musical yet, I’ve read the wiki and I would argue that it embodies this exact same concept even more so for it’s own version of the characters, in that Beetlejuice specifically exists to help Lydia process her mother’s death.

This is not a complicated thing to recognize and comprehend whatsoever. In fact, it looks downright blatant. It’s also a clear indicator of what BJ/Lydia means to the women who have long loved it. It was a story about a spooky wierd girl being loved and accepted and understood for who she was, and it gave them a sense of solidarity. It makes perfect sense why those women would stick with those characters, and create a safe little space for themselves to and imagine their beloved characters growing and having adult lives and experiencing adult drama, in just the same ways that the women of the Labyrinth fandom do. That’s all these women were doing. And now, they can’t do it without facing intense verbal violence. That safe space is poisoned now.

Having grown up with the cartoon as one of my favorites and been around goth subculture stuff for decades, I was actually shocked and squicked at the original Beetlejuice film’s narrative once I actually saw it, because it was extremely divorced from what these two characters had evolved into for goth subculture and what they meant to me. It’s not telling the same story, and is in fact about the Maitland's specifically. In pretty much exactly the same way two different versions of Little Red Riding Hood can be extremely different from each other, the film is a different animal. While I imagine that the film version has been at the heart of a lot of this confused fear-mongering around all other versions of the characters, I would no more judge different adaptations of these characters any more than I would condemn a version of Little Red in which Red and the Wolf are best friends or lovers just because the very first iteration of LRRH was about protecting yourself from predators.

I would even argue that the people who have engaged in Anti-shipper behavior over BJ/Lydia are in intense denial over the fact that BJ being interested in Lydia, either as blatant predatory behavior a la the film or on a peer level as in the cartoon (and musical?) is an inextricable part of canon. Beetlejuice was always attracted to Lydia, and it was not always cute or amusing. Beetlejuice was not always a beloved buddy character, an in fact was originally written as a gross scumbag. That’s just what he was. Even people engaging with him now by writing OC girlfriends for him (as stand-ins for the salt-and-pepper-shaker space Lydia used to take up, because obviously that was part of the core fun of the characters), or just loving him as a character, are erasing parts of his character’s history in order to do so. They are actively refusing to be held responsible for being fans of new version of him despite the fact that he engaged in overt predatory behavior in the original film. In fact, I would venture to say that they are actively erasing the fact that Musical Beetliejuice tried to marry a teenager and as far as I’m aware, seemed to like the idea (because he’s probably a fucking figment of her imagination but go off I guess). The only reason they can have a version of this character who could be perceived as “buddy” material is because...the cartoon had an impact on our pop cultural perception of what the character and his dynamic with Lydia is. 

We can have a version of the Big Bad Wolf who’s a creepy monster. We can have a version who’s sweet and lovable. We can have a version that lives in the middle. We can have a version who’s a hybrid between Red and the Wolf (a la Ruby in OUAT). All of these things can exist in the same world, and can even be loved for different reasons by the same people.

I’ve been using Beetlejuice as an example here because it’s kind of perfect for my overall point regarding the toxic ideologies in fandom right now across many different spaces, including ones for progressive and queer media, and how much so many people don’t recognize how deeply they’ve been radicalized into literalist and sex-negative radfem rhetoric, to the point where we aren’t allowed to have difficult, messy explorations of imperfect, flawed humans, and that art is never going to be 100% pure and without flaw in it’s ability to convey what it wants to convey.

This includes the rhetoric I’ve seen across the board, from She-Ra to A:TLA to Star Wars to Lovecraft Country. We don’t talk about the inherent malleable, subjective, or charmingly imperfect nature of fiction any more. Transformation and reclamation are myths in this space. Everything is in rigid categories. It is seemingly very difficult for some of these people to engage with anything that is not able to be clearly labeled as one thing or another (see the inherent transphobic and biphobic elements of the most intense rhetoric). They destroy anything they cannot filter through their ideology. When women act in a way that breaks from their narrative of womanhood (like...not having a vagina), then those women must be condemned instead of understood. Anything that challenges them or makes them uncomfortable is a mortal sin. There is an extraordinary level of both hypocrisy and repressive denial that is underlying the behavior I’m seeing now. Much like toxic Christian conservatism, these people often are discovered engaging in the same behaviors and interests that they condemn behind closed doors (or just out of sheer cognitive dissonance). As an example, one of the people who talked shit to me about Labyrinth was a huge fan of Kill La Kill, which to my knowledge was an anime about a teenage girl in like, superpowered lingere (hence why I stayed the fuck away from that shit myself). Indeed, they even allow themselves plenty of leeway for behavior far worse than they condemn others for, and create support systems for the worst of their own abusers. 

Quite frankly, I’m tired. Instead of talking about theoretical problematic shit, we need to start talking about quantifiable harm. Because as far as I can tell, the most real, immediate, and quantifiable harm done because of anybody’s favorite ships or pieces of media seems to consistently be the kind that’s done to the people who experience verbal violence and abuse and manipulation and suicide baiting and death threats from the people who have a problem.

[meher-sumedha]

Gwynriel Headcanon : Does it even matter?

Over the last few months, Azriel and Gwyn had grown close to each other. So close, that now they were literally roommates. Gwyn had been living with Azriel in his room since 2 months now, and they enjoyed each other's company.

Even the Valkyries had grown. There were three legions of 100 valkyries each.

This was mainly due to the reason, that even before these months, Gwyn had been sleeping with Azriel. Because they had made this a routine, that whenever she had a nightmare, she would knock on his door. Neither would say anything.

Gwyn would just come in, lie on his bed along with him, and hold his hand. No one spoke anything as during these moments, silence was Gwyn's best friend.

But the cause wasn't just her nightmares. Some weeks later she simply came in Azriel's room for a sleepover, or just because she couldn't sleep. This was like 3 nights in a week. One day, Gwyn had forgotten her night suit in her room in the library :

"ughhh" Gwyn groaned while lying on Azriel's bed and Azriel chuckled. He put down his book and moved from his couch to sit on the edge of her-their bed.

Azriel smiled and asked, "What happened now Berdara? Don't like the book?" Gwyn had really weird positions while reading, sometimes with her legs on the floor at the back of the bed, sometimes reading while lying down, sometimes reading with her head dangling from the edge of the bed and her feet on the bed. "Well no, the book is actually very good. It's just that-I forgot my night suit"

And as soon as she said this, Azriel chuckled, a sound that had become quite common, "Well that's the third time this week Berdara, you really need to jog up that memory" He said and Gwyn got up, her hair a mess. And instinctively Azriel started playing with her hair, something that was a muscle memory, other times just to annoy her.

He started playing with her hair even more, now just to annoy her and Gwyn huffed and put down his hands with her own. He didn't fail to notice that her hand was on his, but at this moment, he didn't care.

Gwyn rolled her eyes and got off the bed. She was just gonna leave when an idea hit Azriel, "Why don't you move in with me?" And Gwyn froze in her tracks. She then turned around, and looked at him with an eyebrow raised, asking to explain further.

"Well you already stay here most nights of the week, why not move in?", "Cause then we'd be seeing each other all the damn time and we'd get bored of each other" Azriel then got up dramatically, bowed, took her hand in his and said.

"Gwyneth Berdara, I, Azriel, the spymaster of the night court, assure you, that I will never get bored of you, and that, is a promise," "And what if you do get bored shadowsinger?" "Then I assure you, you can do whatever you please with me" Azriel said, as a joke.

But apparantly Gwyn had gotten clever in the last few months, so she proudly shook his hand, and said, "Alright shadowsinger, it's a bargain". And Gwyn could've sworn she saw Azriel smile after he muttered "fuck" under his breath.

And that was that, now they were roommates, according to Gwyn. But for Azriel, they had grown to be much much more. He knew, he knew what his shadows told him everyday, and he knew, he knew what was happening. He was slowly falling in love with her, and there was not a damn thing in the world, that could stop him from falling in love with her.

And that was what worried him, that he was gonna fall in love with her, maybe he had already fallen, but he was scared that he won't do anything about it, and just keep pining after her for another 500 years.

Anyways that didn't matter at the moment. Right now, he had just been healed after he had returned from the human lands, apparantly one of the queens' gaurds had cornered him. Now he would have been alright, but there were a thousand of them. But that didn't matter right now. All that mattered was that he desperately needed to see Gwyn.

He walked in their room all cheery, only to see Gwyn staring at the ceiling with an ashen face, and a tear in her eye.

As soon as he entered the room, Gwyn rushed to him and hugged him tightly. She wrapped her fingers around his neck and hid her face in his neck. Azriel didn't know what to do, for a few moments he just stood there. But then when Gwyn was about to pull away, he hugged her back.

He smiled into her hair, taking in the scent. He then tried to memorize how this feeling felt, how her soft necks around his neck felt and how her soft tears on his shoulder felt. He then pulled away and looked at her with a big grin. He asked smugly, trying to change the topic, "Miss me?"

Gwyn squatted him on the arm, but then chuckled through her tears and nodded. They just stood there looking at each other for a while, smiling like little kids. Just happy to see each other.

That is until Gwyn realized she needed to talk to him. "We need to talk" She said and looked away from his intense gaze. "Is something wrong?" Azriel then asked, worry clear in his eyes.

"You tell me" Said Gwyn and Azriel got confused. But then Gwyn shook her head and smiled a sad smile, "it's fine. It's just that I-" Gwyn stopped and took a long breath and Azriel looked at her, asking her to continue with his eyes. Gwyn took another long breath and said, "I-I'm moving out".

Azriel didn't know what to say. He was hurt but he couldn't let that show on his face. Was it me? Was it something I did? It is always something I did.

Azriel cleared his throat and tried to fight back the tears forming in his eyes and asked, "May-may I ask why?" And this time, Gwyn actually chuckled.

"Yes, you may. Rhysand asked me to lead the Valkyrie legions in the spring court! " She said cheerfully and yet, Azriel's expression didn't change.

Azriel couldn't believe it. It was something he hoped that would never happen. He knew how dangerous the things at the spring court were, and how dangerous they could get. If Koschei decided to attack Prythian, he would move from the south. Moving his way up North. But the first court that would get destroyed, was the spring court.

"No" Azriel said and started shaking his head. He could feel a panic attack coming on but he shook that feeling. Not right now, not in front of Gwyn, not right now.

"What" Gwyn asked, confused. "You can't go to the spring court" "Why not?" "It's dangerous, " "I know that Az but Rhysand needs someone to lead the valkyrie troops there", "NO" Azriel shouted trying to calm his racing heart, and his mind thinking all the ways it could harm Gwyn.

Gwyn backed away, clearly hurt. "Az someone needs to lead the legions there. My training is complete, I need to do this".

And this time, Azriel couldn't control himself and shouted on Gwyn, "NO GWYN! YOU DO NOT NEED THIS! DO YOU EVEN KNOW THAT THE SPRING COURT IS THE FIRST COURT THAT KOSCHEI WILL ATTACK. THE SPRING COURT DOESN'T EVEN HAVE IT'S OWN ARMY!"

"WELL THAT'S WHY THEY NEED THE VALKYRIES THERE AZ!" Gwyn shouted back, tired of his shit, not understanding why he couldn't simply be happy for her.

After a few minutes of complete silence, Gwyn said, her voice almost breaking "Az, why can't you just be happy for me, " Azriel calmed himself down, and looked at her. After he didn't speak anything, Gwyn continued, "Do you not think I'll be able to do it?" And her voice broke this time, which broke Azriel's heart into a million more pieces.

"It-it's not that Gwyn. Of course I think you're capable. It's- just that, you could be hurt Gwyn, and I-I don't really don't want you to get hurt Gwyn cause I care about you, more than anything. I don't want you to get hurt Gwyn. So, I am so sorry for making you choose but it's either me, or you leading the legion at the spring court"

And at that moment, an unrecongnizable expression shone in his eyes. One which Gwyn could not place. Gwyn shook her head , "No that's not fair az. You can't-you can't manipulate me like that",

"I am not trying to manipulate you Gwyn. Why-how could you even think that", "Cause I've seen you get hurt Az, and it breaks my heart everytime I see you in those bandages, yet I never say anything I never try to manipulate you like that. It hurts Az, It hurts that you would do such a thing-"

"You need to choose Gwyn, either me, or the legion". "Why are you making me choose?" Gwyn asked, her face stained with tears and when Azriel didn't say anything, didn't take back what he said, she was hurt more than ever. "Well then, it really doesn't matter now does it? Cause I choose my legion" And Gwyn walked out of their room.