#so i guess we are doing method acting for this one bois

[bhaalsdeepbat]

i have sent some of the most unhinged messages on facebook while planning this number.

one being just

"if they take our pants off too quick, we can have a moment of stillness to eye fuck each other."

[coqhee]

HATE NISHIMURA !

IN WHICH ✷ prepping for the school's annual charity event, but with your #1 public enemy ∘ ∘ ∘ more

enemy riki x f!r ― one-sided e2l comedy angst(if you squint) fluff comedy cursing kissing menace!riki ⨯ 6334

em's note ★ this was supposed to be for riki's bday back in dec but I just never got around to proof reading, so theres' a lot of christmasy related themes,, hope its still fun n readable lawl. no joke it took so long to write cause when I was editing I kept adding scene after scene with more detail

it was hard being the class president, filing papers, being every single teacher’s errand runner, and always taking the beating when your class was just being so dumb. though, it wasn’t all bad. you enjoyed planning the school events, and having this sort of responsibility.

this winter, you were planning your school’s annual winter charity drive, your goal was to surpass any other year. 

every single school year, your school has fallen way behind their set goal, it was like people had no christmas spirit of giving. you had your mind set to change that. 

and what was better than having a little bit of help. when the school admins had notified you saying that you’d have a student ambassador voted by the student body to help you out and co-lead, you were elated.

until you found out, it was none other than nishimura riki.

you hated the way nishimura riki smirked whenever you scolded him for skipping class.

you hated the way he’d talk back to teachers.

you hated the way he laughed during truth or dare in 7th grade when someone else revealed your crush on him and he laughed. 

you hated nishimura riki. 

─── ♡

you were filing papers in the copy room when a tall figure loomed behind you.

“hey pres, when do we get started,” riki’s voice rang through your ears, startling you. you turned around, glaring at the boy, then went back to filing and stapling.

“you sure you’re not here to be a pain in my ass?” you questioned back with venom in your tone. some part of you wishes you were a little more shameful talking back to another student in front of the other teachers in the room, but you couldn’t find it in you to hold back.

the other teachers in the room exchanged amused glances but stayed quiet, clearly entertained by the exchange. riki had that effect on people—effortlessly charming, even when he was being an absolute menace.

“who says i can’t do both?” he grins back 

you sighed, setting the papers down with a little more force than necessary. “look, nishimura, if you’re here to joke around, the door’s that way.” you nodded toward the exit. “i have actual work to do.”

“oh, come on, y/n,” he said, leaning casually against the filing cabinet, his grin unwavering. “you act like you don’t secretly love having me around.”

“yeah and i’d love if you could’ve read the email i sent a week ago with what i need to have done before today,” you rolled your eyes, giving a mock smile to the boy. 

riki feigned a look of guilt, his hand flying to his chest. “ah, so that’s why you’re mad. you’re holding a grudge because I didn’t read your essay-length email?”

you crossed your arms, fixing him with a pointed stare. “it wasn’t an essay. it was three bullet points, nishimura. three. and if you had bothered to read it, we wouldn’t be behind schedule. i gave you a week of prep and we are running so far behind with vendors and financing.”

he shrugged, the grin never leaving his face. “guess I like living on the edge. keeps life interesting.”

“you know what’s really interesting?” you shot back, grabbing a stack of papers and thrusting them into his hands. “you doing your job for once. congratulations, you’ve been promoted to my assistant for the day.”

“not even co-pres,” he sighed, hoping to annoy you further, lucky for him, it did.

it only took a moment of fidgeting for riki to figure out how to use the copy machine, and while it was a simple thing, god you hated how he already found a more efficient method than what you were doing within 5 minutes. 

“impressed yet?” riki smirked, glancing at you as the copier whirred to life. “i think i’m a natural. maybe you should consider me for co-president after all.”

you rolled your eyes but couldn’t deny the pang of annoyance—and grudging admiration—that flared up. “don’t get too comfortable, nishimura. one productive moment doesn’t erase a weeks worth of slacking.”

“ah, but it’s a start,” he said, stacking the freshly printed papers with a flourish. “besides, you need me. who else is gonna keep you from working yourself into an early grave?”

“i don’t need you,” you retorted, grabbing a paper clip and aggressively fastening a stack together. “i just tolerate you because i don’t have a choice, the school admin assigned someone from the student body to help, and it just so happens the student body thinks you’re oh so funny.”

“tolerate, huh?” he leaned in, his voice dropping to that infuriatingly confident tone that always got under your skin. “clearly, it’s more if you trust me to copy fliers for..” he looks down at what he’s been copying all along. 

“‘Jinglin Bucks for Joy’ Holiday Auction” he trails off with a look of disgust.

“who named this charity auction?” he spewed out pure critique from his tone.

you rolled your eyes, snatching the top sheet from the stack in his hands. “does it matter who named it? it’s for a good cause. not everything needs your approval, riki.”

“oh, come on,” he said, leaning against the copy machine with an exaggerated pout. “you have to admit it’s a little... cringy. ‘Jinglin’ Bucks for Joy’?”

“it’s festive,” you countered, defending the name despite secretly agreeing it could’ve been better. “and unlike you, the rest of us are focused on making sure this event actually raises money instead of nitpicking the title.”

“just saying, i think you could be earning a lot more if you didn't have that as a name,” he put his hands up at your accusatory tone.

“well, too bad that’s what it is,”

“anyways, i’m done copying these, and i’d say i did a pretty damn good job,” he smugly said waving around the last stack of copied papers in his hand.

“congratulations,” you said dryly, grabbing the packet from him. “you’re officially the MVP of the copy room. want a medal or something?”

“actually, i was thinking more like dinner,” he said casually, tossing the suggestion out like it was no big deal.

your hand froze mid-motion, the papers suddenly feeling heavier than they should. “dinner?”

he shrugged, a playful grin still plastered on his face, but there was something softer in his eyes. “just to celebrate our hard work, of course. unless you’re scared i might make it fun.”

“you wish,” you muttered, turning away to hide the blush creeping up your neck. “finish your stack first, and then we’ll talk.”

he laughed, the sound warm and light. “deal. but don’t keep me waiting too long, pres.”

─── ♡

for the longest time ever, nishimrua riki could not figure out why you hated him so much. every glaring look you gave him when he greeted you. 

every sarcastic comment you threw his way—none of it made sense to him. sure, he liked to tease you, but he teased everyone. with you, though, it felt personal, like there was an invisible barrier between you two that he couldn’t break through no matter how hard he tried.

he wasn’t even sure when you had started hating him, let alone why. 

back in 6th grade when you were classmates and he swears thats the last time you’ve ever been nice to him in like, the history of ever. 

riki racked his brain, replaying every interaction the two of you had since sixth grade. back then, you’d actually smiled at him, even laughed at his dumb jokes about the teacher’s weird handwriting.

he even thought you were cute and might’ve been developing a crush at the time. that’s an understatement though.

actually, riki had been obsessed with you in sixth grade. the kind of crush that made him extra careful not to look like an idiot when you were around. he remembered trying to impress you during gym class, running just a little faster during laps or kicking the soccer ball a little harder, even if it meant face planting into the ground one too many times.

he was convinced that if he ever had the chance to tell you how he felt, you’d smile at him and say you liked him back and you’d live happily ever after. childish, sure, but he was a sixth grader—what did he know about anything?

now that you and him were finally working together on the school’s lame, and failing charity event, he was determined more than ever to get to the bottom of why you hated him so, so bad.

and of course, it starts with dinner. 

that, being the $6 after hours discount sushi at your grocery store. okay, so maybe it wasn’t the best dinner imaginable, but with riki’s limited budget and even more limited time, it was the best he could do on short notice. plus, he was convinced sushi was a universal icebreaker—who could resist a good spicy salmon roll with day-old rice and browning avocado? 

no wonder it was $6.

“dinner,” you deadpanned, staring at the plastic containers he held out. “this is your grand idea to fix whatever this disaster of a charity event is?”

“no,” he grinned, plopping the containers onto the nearest desk and pulling up a chair. “this is my grand idea to get you to talk to me without biting my head off.”

you raised a brow, unimpressed. “and why would i do that?”

“because,” he started, peeling the lid off a tray of salmon rolls, “you’ve gotta eat, and i’m not leaving until we clear the air.”

you rolled your eyes. there was no way you were going to be talking about your issues with riki. “i’m not talking about my issues with you, we’re gonna be talking plans for the charity event,”

riki sighed dramatically, picking up a piece of sushi with his chopsticks. “fine, fine, charity event it is. but I’m warning you, my feelings might get hurt if you keep ignoring me.”

“oh, cry me a river,” you muttered, flipping open your notebook and pulling out a list of tasks. “we need to finalize the vendor approvals, confirm the auction items, and—”

“kinda cold out no?” he asked absent mindedly looking at his phone. you groaned in disapproval, how many more reasons could he give you for hating him?

“can you focus for 2 seconds nishimura?” you questioned with annoying radiating strongly from your tone. “you’re the reason we’re behind right now, and we need to get a move on, except no, you’re on your phone, and get to take credit for the work, i’m doing,” 

riki slowly put his phone down, his lips twitching like he was holding back a laugh. “you done, boss?”

“no, i’m not done,” you snapped, glaring at him. “you’re insufferable, nishimura. do you even care about this event?”

he leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms with an easy smirk. “of course i care. i’m here, aren’t i?”

“barely,” you shot back, flipping through your notebook aggressively. “you’re here, but you’re not actually helping. if you cared even a little, you’d—”

“relax,” he interrupted, his tone unusually calm. “you’re gonna give yourself a stress headache. i already checked in with the admins about the vendors, they’re all approved, and i sorted through part of the auction items already,”

you were skeptical to say the least, unsure of the quality of work riki would put in. he turned his phone around and handed it to you, letting you look through all the documents and files he’d pulled up.

you scanned the screen, flipping through the emails and spreadsheets he’d meticulously organized. it was... surprising. everything looked in order, maybe even more thorough than what you’d expected.

“don’t stress yourself out, kay? i’ve can handle stuff too. that’s why they put two of us up to this,”

you narrowed your eyes at him, still not entirely convinced. “you’re way too relaxed about this. it’s weird. are you trying to mess with me?”

“y/n,” he put his hand around your wrist forcing you to set your chopsticks down for a second, “put some faith into me, let me help,” 

you hesitated, staring at where his hand rested lightly on your wrist. his touch wasn’t overbearing, just steady enough to get your attention. his words lingered in the air longer than you cared to admit.

“fine,” you muttered, pulling your hand back and avoiding his gaze. “but if you screw this up, it’s on you.”

─── ♡

one week had gone by since nishimura riki had started being useful. you were surprised with the quality of work he put into the project, not ever once worrying about any finance emails as he was quick to take care of it.

not only that, but he had started showing up to your study sessions, popping by with snacks or making sure you were eating at least once a day.

it was��� weird to say the least. you couldn’t say you didn’t like it though. it felt nice to not be entirely alone, worrying about yourself and everyone else constantly.

riki even brought coffee to your early morning meetings with the district board, handing it to you with a teasing smirk, "you looked like you were about to fall asleep in your notes, so I thought I'd help."

you tried not to smile too much at the gesture, but it was hard to ignore the small spark of fondness that began to grow inside you. his thoughtfulness was... unexpected, especially given how much you had believed him to be nothing more than a lazy troublemaker.

you kept trying to find reason after reason to nitpick at riki, yet none came up. you could’ve sworn it was easier to find so much fault in everything he’d do before you had started working together, but all of a sudden they’ve faded.

at first, it had been so easy to be irritated by him. the way he’d walk into a room like he owned it, his stupid grin that seemed to always be a little too smug, the way he’d talk as if everything was a joke.

 you'd spent years loathing his presence, convinced he was just some annoying, carefree guy who only cared about himself and was out to make your life more difficult. that’s what you’d told yourself. that’s what you believed.

but now? now, it was different. working side by side on the charity event, you began to notice things you’d never seen before. the way he cared about the details. the way he would take over when you got overwhelmed, quietly working to fix things before you could even ask for help. the way he showed up on time every day, doing everything he could to make sure things ran smoothly.

it was... disorienting, to say the least.

it was late one evening, the two of you sprawled across the desks, working on the final details of the charity event.

"you’re the only one who would still be working at this hour," riki said, leaning back in his chair and watching you from across the room. his gaze softened for a moment, but you didn't notice. you were too busy finishing a set of final emails. "can I help with anything else?" he asked casually, but you could hear the underlying sincerity in his voice.

“guess you can take a break you bum, go grab a snack from the vending machine or something, grab me a sprite while you’re at it,” you say, digging out a $5 bill from your pocket and holding it out behind you, while focused on the screen in front of you.

he raised an eyebrow, but there was no hesitation as he stood up and took a step toward the door. "i got it," he said with a grin, slipping the bill back into your hand before you could protest. "this one’s on me." 

a few minutes later, riki returns, the sound of the vending machine bag crinkling in his hands. he places a can of sprite on the corner of your desk with a flourish. "your highness," he says dramatically, "your drink, as requested."

“mm thanks,” you hum, cracking open the can and taking a sip out of the cold refreshing drink, the fizz laying dormant on your tongue.

“you don’t need to keep doing all this nice stuff to win me over, just cause we’re working on the auction, you know that right?” you comment after taking another sip.

“ah, so I’m starting to win you over,” riki grinned, a playful glint in his eyes. “told you I’d be useful.”

you rolled your eyes, but your lips were tugging into a small smile. "don’t get ahead of yourself, nishimura," you muttered, though it was clear you were no longer bothered. in fact, you kind of... liked having him around.

you didn’t hate nishimura riki.

─── ♡

the day before the auction rolls around faster than you thought it would. 

while you and riki should be meeting with the vendors in person and getting other important work done, the two of you found yourselves putting up the last batch of fliers for the event, your hands full of paper and tape.

“ugh, why do we have to be the ones doing this?” you muttered, sticking another flier to the wall, your fingers lightly brushing against the cool surface. "we should be overseeing the auction, not putting up fliers like we're in charge of the school play's promo team."

riki chuckled from beside you, holding a stack of fliers in his hand as he adjusted his baseball cap. "hey, someone’s gotta do it. besides, you’re the one who wanted these ridiculous posters," he teased, pointing at the flyer in your hand, which featured a picture of a reindeer in a santa hat with overly saturated colors.

“i’ll have you know, these posters are actually art,” you shot back with a grin, tapping the paper to the wall a little more forcefully than necessary. “besides, i’d like to think they’re festive.”

“sure, sure,” riki said, his grin spreading wider as he glanced at the flier you were working on. “if by festive you mean blinding.”

you laughed, feeling a warmth spread through you. riki’s teasing had become a lot easier to tolerate, maybe even fun. he was good at making you laugh, something you never thought he could do before.

 the playful banter you’d shared over the past week was slowly chipping away at the character of riki you’d spent years building up in your mind.

“you tryna go out and get hot chocolate after we wrap this up?” he asked, cocking his head gauging your reaction.

“in this weather?” you asked, glancing outside where the wind whipped against the window and the sky was an icy gray. “are you out of your mind?”

“maybe,” he grinned. “but hot chocolate makes everything better, right?”

you couldn’t help the smile that tugged at your lips. riki was right, in his own annoying way. hot chocolate did sound nice, especially on a day like today. the thought of sitting down somewhere, just the two of you, without the weight of the charity event hanging over you... it felt strangely appealing.

“fine,” you sighed, rolling your eyes dramatically. “but if you make me walk to the corner shop in this cold, i'm blaming you.”

“deal,” he said, not missing a beat. “we’ll take my car.”

he flashed a grin at you, and for a second, you almost felt like it wasn’t just about the hot chocolate. there was something more in his eyes, something that made the conversation feel different, lighter, almost... comforting.

you quickly pushed that thought aside. no, you weren’t about to go down that path. but you couldn’t deny that riki was making it harder to keep your walls up. every little interaction, every small smile, made you rethink the way you’d viewed him for years.

it was as if the years of tension, of seeing him as nothing more than an annoying, reckless guy, were slowly fading into something else.

yet, in the back of your mind, that old familiar voice crept in—the one that told you to be careful, to guard your heart because you knew exactly what happened when you let your guard down.

you’d been there before. back in seventh grade, when you’d caught feelings for him and let yourself believe maybe—just maybe—he could feel the same. but that was before the truth or dare game, before he laughed it off like it was a joke, like it was nothing worth taking seriously. 

he’d been so carefree, so effortlessly charming in front of everyone, and you’d been so embarrassed. you’d sworn to yourself you’d never let yourself fall for him again.

and yet, here you were. laughing with him, sharing these moments like you were the closest of friends. it was easy to forget the hurt, easy to ignore the part of you that still flinched at the memory of his laughter.

you wanted to be able to move past though, and believe he wouldn’t be the same boy who’d laugh if you told him you liked him

he stood up, pulling his jacket on and offering you a hand as if he had all the time in the world. “you ready?”

you hesitated for a moment, then grabbed your own coat and stood up. “mhm, yeah.”

“you won’t regret it,” he said with that same confident grin, and for the first time in a long time, you believed him.

you shook your head, trying to push those thoughts away. there was no way he would do that to you again, right? no, he’d changed. he had to have changed.

but even as you smiled back at him, as the two of you walked out into the cold night together, the doubt gnawed at you like a constant shadow, just waiting for the perfect moment to remind you of all the reasons you had to keep your distance.

─── ♡

nishimura riki could feel himself falling. again. though it’s not like actually every fell out liking you to begin with. 

and now, as he sat across from you, trying to figure out how to navigate this new territory—where the walls you’d built between you were finally starting to crumble—he couldn’t help but feel that same pull toward you, that same feeling of wanting to be close.

he felt himself feel like he was back in middle school with you all over again.

then it hit him what had gone wrong, and he knew he had to set the record straight.

“so... seventh grade,” he started, turning back to you, handing you your cup.

you froze mid-sip, the mention of that year, let alone night, sending a jolt of embarrassment through you. “what about it?”

he set his chopsticks down, his expression unusually serious. “is that when you started hating me?”

you scoffed, crossing your arms as the words slipped out before you could stop them. “sure.”

you felt your walls building back up, stronger this time, higher than before. that night had been the catalyst for everything that followed—your reason for hating nishimura riki.

riki watched you carefully, his eyes softening. there was no sign of mockery in his gaze, no hint of teasing—just the same quiet sincerity you had seen over the past few weeks. but you weren’t sure you could let yourself fall for it again.

“i’m serious,” he said quietly, his voice lacking the usual playful edge. “was it really that night? or... was it just easier to keep hating me after?”

your chest tightened at his words, a mixture of frustration and confusion swirling within you. “i don’t want to talk about it,” you muttered, finally meeting his gaze. you couldn’t read the expression on his face, but it only made you more anxious.

“if it brings you any peace of mind, i laughed because i liked you, okay?” the words tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them, and his cheeks flushed pink. “i liked you, and you blurting out that you had a crush on me... it threw me off.”

your jaw dropped, the confession catching you completely off guard.

“you... what?”

“i liked you,” he repeated, quieter this time, his gaze dropping to the table. “but i handled it like an idiot, and i’m sorry. i should’ve stood up for you, if you wanna keep hating me, go ahead.”

“i’m sorry for holding it against you all this time,” you mumbled.

riki didn’t look up at you immediately, but you could see the tension in his shoulders ease just a little. you had no idea what to say after that. the words you’d carried with you for so long—the reasons you hated him, the reasons you pushed him away—suddenly felt like nothing more than old wounds that had started to heal on their own, without you realizing it.

you sat in silence for a moment, both of you unsure how to move forward. it was almost as if the confession had left you both vulnerable, unprotected.

“you really liked me?” you asked, half laughing at how ridiculous it sounded now that it was out in the open.

riki’s eyes flickered with an unreadable emotion, and he shrugged, the teasing tone returning to his voice. “yeah. shocking, right?”

the playful comment was like a breath of fresh air, and for a second, the tension between you both was broken. but you couldn’t ignore the way your heart was racing, the fluttering feeling you hadn’t experienced in so long.

“i think, i like you too nishimura,”

“good, keep it that way,” he smiled, reaching out his free hand not surrounding his cup to clasp yours.

you felt your heart skip a beat at the sincerity in his eyes. "you know, you’ve actually been pretty decent lately," you said with a teasing smile, hoping to lighten the moment a bit. "maybe you’ve actually grown up, or maybe i have"

me chuckled, leaning back in his chair, but his hand remained near yours, his fingers lightly grazing the back of your hand. "maybe I have. but I’m still the same guy who likes you. just... trying to be better about it."

you bit your lip, your smile softening as you took in his words. for once, you didn’t feel like you had to keep your guard up. "i think I like this version of you."

"good," riki said, his voice barely above a whisper. "because this version of me likes you too."

a silence fell upon the two of you as you took in the atmosphere around you, looking around awkwardly.

“well,” you said after a beat, not sure where this was headed, but feeling oddly at ease. “you really know how to make things awkward.”

riki grinned, the corners of his lips curling into that familiar mischievous smile. “you’re the one who’s been holding a grudge for, what—years?”

“rightfully so, you’re the one who laughed. you’re lucky the student body voted you to work on the auction with me,” you shot back, the edge of your tone softening just a bit. It was hard to keep being mad when he was being so... well, riki.

“hey, don’t act like you could’ve done this with anyone else,” he teased, nudging your arm lightly with his own. “i mean, look at us. we’ve made a pretty good team, right?”

you rolled your eyes, but a smile tugged at your lips despite yourself. "yeah, a pretty good team that almost got yelled at and kicked off the project because you were too busy texting during the planning meetings."

“hey, i was checking in with the vendors,” he said defensively, holding his hands up in mock surrender. “i’m a multitasker.”

“you mean you’re just a distraction,” you replied, your voice laced with playful sarcasm.

“uh huh,” he rolled his eyes, grinning afterwards. 

─── ♡

the day of the auction soon came and you found yourself getting ready with a hopeful mind of what was to come. 

the last few weeks of you and riki’s hard work would finally be tested, and hopefully you could bring back some holiday cheer for charity, though a layer of uncertainty was still in your mind.

as you stood in front of the mirror, adjusting your dress, you couldn’t help but feel a little more at ease than usual. the nerves had faded, replaced with something lighter. maybe it was the fact that you and riki had finally talked things out, or maybe it was just the comfort of knowing you weren’t doing this alone anymore. you still didn’t have everything figured out between the two of you, but for the first time, it felt like you were both on the same page.

you met riki backstage before the event started. his hair was perfectly styled, and the suit he wore fit him just right. there was something about him in that moment—calm, collected, yet still as mischievous as ever—that made your heart do a little flip.

“you look good,” you said, trying to sound casual, though there was a softness to your voice that you couldn’t hide.

riki turned to you with a teasing grin, but his eyes softened when he took you in. “you look amazing,” he said, the sincerity in his tone making you feel a little shy. “i mean it.”

your heart skipped, and you brushed your hair back, trying to play it off. “well, don’t get used to it. you’re the one who’s been doing most of the work,” you joked, nudging his arm playfully.

“true, true,” he agreed, a smile tugging at his lips as he adjusted his cufflinks. “but you’ve been the brains behind it. i’m just the pretty face.”

you rolled your eyes but couldn’t suppress the small smile creeping up on your face. “right, the ‘pretty face’ who kept texting during all the important meetings.”

he chuckled, the sound light and easy. “hey, it was multitasking. get it right.”

before you could respond, someone called your names, signaling that the event was about to start. riki offered you his arm with a grin, the moment feeling a little more like a date than anything else.

as you walked into the venue together, the lights dimmed, and the guests filled the room. the auction was about to begin, but in the chaos of people and students gathering around and the rush of excitement, you found yourself standing next to riki, feeling surprisingly calm.

“you ready for this?” he asked, his voice low, just for you.

you gave a small nod. “i think so. let’s just hope we don’t screw anything up.”

he grinned, his hand brushing yours briefly. “even if we do, we’ve got each other’s backs.”

you took your seat in the front row with your bid paddle in hand as you watched riki announce each item.

the first few items went smoothly, and you found yourself glancing over at riki every now and then, catching his eye, and feeling his radiating confidence.

you glanced back at the screen over and over, watching the donation reach close to the school goal of $2000, feeling hopeful you might actually hit it for once.

the auction had been a smooth ride so far, with everything going according to plan. the excitement in the air was palpable, and you could feel the buzz of anticipation from both the audience and the team behind the scenes. each item was going for more than expected, and the donations were rolling in steadily. everything was shaping up to be a success.

then came the final item.

riki stepped up to the microphone, his usual teasing grin plastered on his face. “alright, folks,” he began, his voice smooth and confident, “we’ve got one last item up for grabs. it’s the grand finale, the cherry on top of this entire event. it’s... a date with yours truly.” a cocky smile formed on his face, as he nodded smugly, pointing to himself.

you froze, the surprise hitting you a second too late. the audience erupted into laughter and applause, but you couldn’t help but roll your eyes at riki’s ridiculousness. he gave a mock bow, and the laughter grew louder.

“that’s right, ladies and even gents,” he continued, his eyes scanning the crowd. “you get to spend an evening with the one and only nishimura riki. dinner, a walk in the park, maybe even a movie if you're lucky. the best date of your life. no need to thank me.” he shrugged, clearly enjoying himself.

you couldn’t help but chuckle, shaking your head. “seriously, riki?” you mouthed towards him watching as he smiled smugly back.

“alright we’re starting this bid at $1, any takers?” his eyes scanned the crowd jokingly as he continued on, watching as people egged each other on to bid.

but before you could stop yourself, you found your hand reaching for your bid paddle. your eyes flickered to riki, who was watching you with an amused expression.

“come on, y/n,” he teased, “you know you want to.”

you hesitated for a moment, but the playful glint in his eyes, the way he looked at you as if daring you to do it, pushed you forward. with a mischievous grin of your own, you raised your paddle, calling out “$100!” with a cheerful smile.

the crowd’s reaction was instantaneous—there were gasps, followed by bursts of laughter, as the bid sheet was raised for all to see. the final bid was noticeably higher than the previous ones, and you could feel your face flush with the attention.

“going once, going twice, and sold!” he announced, slamming the gavel with a strong bang.

“well, well,” riki said, stepping back to to take the microphone from the stand to hand it to you, his expression one of mock shock. “looks like someone’s feeling bold tonight. looks like y/n just won a date with me, someone’s got a crush, i don’t blame her.”

you shot him a look, trying to keep your cool. “you better be prepared, riki,” you said, your voice just loud enough for the mic to catch as he handed you the mic to give your statement.

he raised an eyebrow, looking both impressed and slightly nervous. “oh, it’s on. and just like that lady and gents, we just hit our goal too,” he added, glancing at the screen where the total amount had just surpassed the $2000 mark.

the room erupted into applause, and you felt a mix of satisfaction and embarrassment settle over you. riki’s grin softened into something a little more sincere.

as the applause continued and the event slowly came to a close, you found yourself standing beside riki, the noise of the crowd fading into the background as the two of you shared a quiet moment. there was something unspoken between you now, something that went beyond the playful teasing and jokes.

“you know,” riki said, glancing at you out of the corner of his eye, “this whole thing—working together, laughing, making this auction happen—it’s been... nice. really nice.”

you turned to him, catching the genuine warmth in his gaze. “yeah,” you agreed, feeling a sense of contentment you hadn’t realized you’d been missing. “it’s been good.”

the awkwardness from earlier had melted away, replaced by a sense of ease you hadn’t felt in a long time. you could see riki in a new light now, not just the careless, teasing guy from your past, but someone who actually cared, who had grown alongside you.

“so,” riki said, breaking the silence, “now that the auction’s done, what do we do next?”

you raised an eyebrow, a playful smile tugging at your lips. “well, since you owe me a date, we could start with that,” you said, unable to resist.

riki smirked, his usual confidence returning. “oh, i’m looking forward to it.”

riki’s smirk softened as he took a small step closer to you, his gaze lingering on yours in a way that made your heart race. the space between you felt different now—more intimate, charged with a new energy that neither of you had quite acknowledged until now.

“yeah?” he asked softly, his voice almost a whisper as his hand brushed against yours, just a touch, but it was enough to send a jolt through you.

you nodded, feeling your breath catch. “yeah,” you replied, your voice steady, though your heart was anything but.

he was so close now, his presence overwhelming in the best way, and for a moment, neither of you spoke. the noise of the event faded away, leaving just the two of you standing in the soft glow of the lights.

without another word, riki leaned in, his eyes flickering down to your lips before meeting your gaze again, seeking permission. you could feel the warmth radiating from him, the same warmth that had been growing between you both over the last few weeks.

you couldn’t help but smile, a little breathless, before you leaned in, closing the gap. the kiss was soft at first, tentative, but the moment your lips met, something shifted. it was like a weight had been lifted, like all the years of misunderstandings, teasing, and distance finally melted away.

riki’s hand found its way to the back of your neck, pulling you just a little closer as the kiss deepened, slow and gentle. it was everything—everything you’d both been waiting for, without even realizing it.

he pulled away smiling, wiping the small bit of lipgloss that had smudged, looking into your eyes.

the two of you shared a look, the kind that spoke volumes, and for the first time, you weren’t worried about the future. you didn’t know where this would go, but for once, it didn’t matter. what mattered was that you were here, together, and that was enough for now.

@ coqhee 2025. all rights reserved.

[jazeswhbhaven]

The Most Profane & The Most Beautiful | Leviathan Torture Card | React | Spoilers

So, from my understanding the week of all Saints Day (after Halloween) the devils get weak and the angels are stronger (this lasts for seven days)

Prior to MC being summoned Levi was having hallucinations of his old peers that were with him in the Devil Camps in heaven

Levi's condition is getting worse, and the nobles talk about it. A funny thing is Glas assuming Foras tends to Levi's bed (meaning he's instigating that they bump uglies) and I was like….Glas pls. It's almost like you're jealous

So his final dream before his disappearance, is of Orias and the other devil children from the past during the fire at the camps, Orias doubting that Levi would save them and Levi is convinced he can

A note I wanted to add is maybe MC forgot or this story is different from the Bloodshed Card lore, because if ya'll remember Barbatos explained that each devil would hang themselves if something happened to Levi and I'm sure this is mentioned in other cards too (his Bath one iirc) but them being thrown off by Glas reminding them of that and why they can't reveal he's not in Hades atm had me shaking my head but yeah I guess the devs don't carry over certain details from the other cards for MC to remember and treats each card story as if MC is hearing it for the first time.

Us finding out Levi doesn't sleep well because he's too busy thinking about who MC is fucking is wild. Pls sleep Levi.

SO we get some Selaphiel content! He went after Orias to lure Levi to Heaven. Odd, since I figured Orias could handle a cherubim but I guess not.

Oh he's hot.  (sry, Levi)

So Selaphiel here is literally getting off on the thought of tormenting Levi. His strategy is to keep him there and eventually Hell will crumble due to his absence. Why? Because Levi is the most strict when it comes to the rules of Hell, without that structure everyone else is doomed. (Huh. Never thought of it that way but I guess Levi is in fact the glue that holds everyone together strategy wise. He did train Sitri after all)

Beleth calls Foras "Cotton Candy boy" btw and I think that's funny as hell

So we're in Niflheim meeting up with Beleth because MC and Foras need his help. They're discussing the details in Belphie's room is knocked the fuck out lmao. Ofc they are nervous that he'd overhear but yeah nah he out out. Ni ni.

Two things: Beleth likes snacks if you come to him with something to do, Second…apparently he claims Lucifer wouldn't of been able to help. Now that's interesting. The fact that Foras and MC didn't go to Lucifer either was probably for "avoiding the kings" reason. But this leans into my "Lucifer is an anti-hero" theory. Stayed in Hell because he didn't agree with his brother's methods, but doesn't go out of his way to mess up Heaven either. Some of us saw this in the preview for the new area of Dark Sanctuary where the Kings were explaining that Lucifer wouldn't show up to help them take care of the Seraphim.

Now with Beleth's help, MC can learn how to act like an angel and infiltrate Heaven to rescue Levi. He is unable to do it himself and any other devil for that matter because of their weakened powers. Apparently MC ain't getting' no sleep either.

Important thing to mentioned about what I said about certain lore carrying over. They did in fact mention Levi's bath story and that MC remembers that. I guess it slipped their mind about the other details. This leads me to believe that this Torture card happens right after his Bath Card > Bloodshed > Torture. I say Bloodshed because that event happens on Halloween.

????????!!!!!!??!?!??!!?!??!??!?!?!??!

I would so be down to swallow Foras cock and take backshots from Beleth a n y d a y (Foras ofc is very possessive he ain't sharing it seems. Not nicely anyway)

B e l e t h

*screams, throws something, punches the air* S TO PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP he call me sugar.

So sweet.

(that is a reference to a song…a song probably I only listen to in this fandom lmaoooo)

Something is purring, and it ain't Beleth.

So after some training, dang it MC you and your one track brain memorizing porn stars…(idk what that's for tbh but if Beleth said it's good enough it is) we meet one of the 72 which I can't wait to get a formal introduction to him. Zepar! He's going to turn MC into an angel as a disguise

Zepar has rules: Don't take off the talisman on his forehead. Don't ask questions about where he's from. Don't use the word master around him. Don't touch any joints on his body. He has more rules but it's too long to recite them lmaoooo I hope we get the full list later cause I wanna know the rules of interacting with him.

Funny thing again: Beleth cut open his skin to give angel's blood for the ritual needed for MC's disguise. Zepar said one drop was enough and Beleth is like "damn you should have said that" and then Foras does the same, knowing a drop is enough but he just wanted to one up Beleth. (he's been acting catty this entire time lmaooooo he really is such a diva when it comes to impressing MC)

It took goddamn 14 hours to complete the ritual with Zepar and he made Beleth and Foras stick around. Not because they were needed but because he didn't want to be alone. I would kick his ass lmaoooooo (Beleth was about to)

So they mentioned MC's skintone changing…..I don't like that LMAO ya'll ain't taking my melanin hell nah. It better stay there during the transformation.

Damn. Hold up let me slide in your DMs….

This angel's name is Jophiel. Due to the sprite placement next to Beleth it was assumed that he's either floating or flying but in the CG he looks shorter than Beleth so idk what his height is. I just know he's fine too like hey hey quick threesome before I go? Yeah? In the open is fineeeee

No threesome though. Apparently there's a thin barrier between Heaven and Hell where either can't cross. Sitri explained it to MC  once.

MC is rank 9, the lowest angel that no one remembers. I wonder if that means the little creature lookin' ones are part of that lowest rank or just familiars that help the humanoid angels

And Jophiel caught MC btw fucking up already. They walked instead of using their wings. Angels don't make a sound when they walk, ONLY using their wings. The fact that he let it slide and whispered this to MC means that he knows what's up and is doing Beleth a solid. It's intriguing how Heaven bends rules like that. This would be considered double-crossing. But I mean he came down to Hell to speak to Beleth anyway so….YOLO

MC manages to find Levi before the execution ceremony but seeing him in anguish and hung up by chains on display as he replayed his traumatic past in his head made them rage with jealousy. Their disguise drops, feathers and all. All Saint's Day is over…so devil powers are back in full throttle! But it's not enough….Michael shows up.

But it's Orias to the rescue! Yeah the path to Heaven for him wasn't easy but he got two angel souls out of it so let's go.

Orias attacking Michael wasn't enough though, it takes MC enticing Levi to snap him out of his state. Ya'll…this part was just me being like "Ah classic MC." Nothing too out of the ordinary just them being themselves as per usual.

So a personal thing for me is the transition from deep angst lore to horny. I was in the zone seeing action and thrill and then suddenly "Damn I'm getting wet from looking at that outfit Levi is in." Which…idk to me maybe that transition makes sense for MC but for me since I was in the moment I was like ?????? Why are we horny? Oh yeah this is a 18+ game okay ._. LOL

All this damn commotion and MC just lickin' and suckin' on Levi.  I'm not sure if I'm allowed to show his nips on here full monty but phew they were something else….it's because of the chain and nip rings not sure if that would trigger anything for the flagging bot.

I'm sorry ya'll but something throbbed.

Anyways.

A new monster Levi can summon btw. New to us but most likely not new to the powers he has. I hope we get more lore on this monster in the future.

Yay Levi is saved, takes MC home and fucks them for hours. Let me tell ya'll a little secret about my thing with Levi….

I like it when he gets mad and puts us through the mattress asking if we're going to do things with other men and being possessive during. Because antagonizing him makes him more rough and I personally call myself a theoretical brat. The way I'd tell him "Yeah I'm gonna shake my tits and ass for everyone even if you've fucked me to mush" and see what he does. That's when I don't mind that envious attitude of his.

BUT YEAH that's it ya'll. For the story. Those are the summarized parts without giving the entire thing away. These were the important points for me. Personally the story being 90% angst, training, and lore with a dab of sex at the end was really what I personally think is worth paying $60-$75 dollars for in terms of a exclusive card. Yes, it's the Kings…and it sucks that good stuff like this is paywalled…but at least they gave us something different other than 5% story and sex sex sex sex. I know ya'll were here for that but phew does it get tiring after it being so one dimensional, ya know what I mean?

MC does a thing for X King, they meet, they fuck, MC is either dominating or dominants at first then switches. Cum everywhere. End. I'm sorry LMAO that's how I've been seeing most of the sex with the L cards so far…like at least with this card I had plot with porn. Finally…

Story rating: 9.5/10!!!

I didn't give a full 10 because the abrupt transition to horny and the mention of MC's skintone changing to what I assume is a paler tone when there's literally Beleth and Jophiel that have at least some melanin to them.

 I'm now wanting Satan's Torture card story to see how they write that one. Which I am HOPING TO FUCKING ALL IS GOOD IN THE UNIVERSE that we get some more in depth Satan lore. Like please. 

Small tidbits from his chats and date story btw:

Levi kept the disguise outfit that MC wore to heaven, MC is only allowed to wear it for him, vise versa with his outfit he got from Heaven

Levi was upset that he was "lied to" because MC told him they'd sleep in the other kings beds and he's been waiting for them to do that (okay??? LMAO)

Foras reports everything to him.  E v e r y t h I n g. You can't even take a piss without Foras reporting it.

There's dildoes weren't originally called that in Hell/Heaven which is why no one knew what MC meant by the word dildo (HA I WAS RIGHT)

109+ is considered an adult in Hell and is a valid age restriction apparently for sex websites in hell….

I think Levi's threats are mostly empty based on how he speaks with everyone. Because if he truly wanted to kill anyone for sleeping with MC he would have done by now. Lol

He actually thanks MC and made them custom sex toys to remember the event by…we got a whole thank you from him. Praise be.

MC and Levi discuss jealousy, especially when they are particularly jealous of how whenever someone looks at them they see Solomon, their ancestral grandfather instead of them. They feel Levi is amongst the few who truly see them separate from that. Also, apparently MC can't even look at the ceiling without Levi accusing them of thinking about someone else. I find that hilarious.

And fin~

Now if Levi isn't your fave, I think Satan is next? So I'd stay tuned and expect the story format to be the same! I ofc didn't share the full story here as per PB's warning so there are things I intentionally didn't bring up that someone else may reveal or share. (shoutout to my mootie moot for sharing this story with me!!)

As always, thank you for reading, stay awesome and lovely. -your lovely adminnn ♡´･ᴗ･`♡

Oh to be taken to pound town by these two.

[livelaughlovesubs]

Nini!!! I have an idea, if ur still busy making that fic then take ur time with this ask. Soooo this might be a lil bit inappropriate butttt how abt cockwarming dazai while he tries to work?? Again if ur still busy with that fic u mentioned on ur last post then don’t mind me! (=^ ◡ ^=)

Sorry if I bothered u!!! (ᗒᗣᗕ)՞

- 🎀

Dw, you aren’t bothering me, you’d never bother me with your lovely asks ☺️ (sorry that I took so long, I literally have to force myself to feed ya’ll) and it’s a little short, sorry for that

Dom!reader x sub!dazai

Warning: cockwarming, strap or dick - you can interpret it however you want, reader is gender neutral

He sighed when he glanced over the mountains of paperwork on his desk, you could even say he whined. Slumping down and pouting, throwing the led in his hand onto the table. “What’s with all this work?” The boy complained, before he leaned back against his seat, cuddling up against you. “Do we really have to wait until I’m finished?”

Today was like any other day, with dazai refusing to do any of his assignments. Mori wanted you to do something about it, and as much as you’d like to protest, he was your boss after all. Which is why you decided to make it fun for you as well. That led to your current situation, with dazai sitting in your lap and diligently working, all while your dick was buried deep inside him.

Your hands fit perfectly on his slim waist, holding him and making sure that he stays still. The feeling of his smooth skin was nice to the touch, and you rested your head on his shoulder. Sometimes when you exhaled, the hot air would tickled his ears. If you weren’t easing him, then he doesn’t know what it was. How can you expect him to do all of this while you are touching him like you are about to bend him over? Not that he minds, he desperately wants you to do so. How long has he waited for any action to happen? Maybe hours now.

He felt full and filled, it was a very erotic experience. Every once in a while his insides would clench around you, and he’d squeeze his thighs together. This was worse than any torture methods he learned, much worse. The words on the paper in front of him started to blur, it was like he forgot how to read. Yet again he slumped back against you, biting his bottom lip at the small yet delicious friction that gave him. “Hmm..! God, y/n, can’t you just fuck me?”

Dazai really couldn’t wait any longer. He already worked for more than an hour, can’t you do him a small favour? Subconsciously, or maybe he knew what he was doing, he rocked his hips. The boy moved so slow, like a ship sailing on a calm ocean, he thought you wouldn’t notice. In contrary you did saw it, and grabbed his chin to make him face you, then you whispered your answer, “no.”

Without giving him any reasoning, only a cold and commanding refusal. For some reasons it made him even more wet, he felt his body shake and his dick twitch at your voice. His precum was dripping down his shaft and coating his soft thighs, you’d even dare say he looked like a girl with all those fluids he let out. “If you want to get fucked so bad, finish your work sooner.” You suggested, though he knew you weren’t giving him an inch. It was an order and you weren’t going to show him mercy. Fine, guess he will have to use his trump card.

Suddenly, he raised his shoulders, they were now reaching his ears. Then he slowly started to sob, small delicate tears rolled down his rosy cheeks. Afterwards he did a dramatic turn, staring back at you with the most pitiful and vulnerable expression he could muster. The way desire and need blended perfectly in his eyes was seductive, though the pose he did was the one of an innocent maiden. Some strands of his bangs stuck to his forehead, and his lips were slightly parted. In that moment, he looked straight out of a painting, like an angel that descended upon the moral realm.

“Please..” Dazai began his act, mumbling in a meek tone, as if he was embarrassed of himself. “Fuck me.. I want it so bad.” The way he stressed the last two words was the peak of acting, he could win an Oscar with that one. It took you every resolve and self control you had to not throw him onto the table and fuck him. If you were to wait any longer, it was going to be a torture for you too. More tears flowed down his pretty face, those water droplets were like diamond shining in the sun light, emphasising his helplessness even more.

That man knew what he was doing and did it with passion, if he wants something he will get it, that’s what his body language told you. Which is why you especially want to go against it. “No is no, osamu, if you don’t finish this until dawn I’ll just leave and go drinking with chuuya.” You warned him, but it was more like a threat. He gasped a little, now crying a little louder than before. “Oh.. how cruel of you..! Can chuuya give you the things I can offer?” There was no answer to that question, you didn’t want to because you knew he could use it against you. Instead you gave him a little trust, enough to make his back arch. “AhHHh~ m-mhm..” the male moaned out, he did not hold back at all.

“go back to work.” You chuckled as you said, resting your chin on his shoulder again. “Hm.. mean..” and now he was pouting again, oh well, let’s see how long he can still play this game until he breaks. You weren’t going to be the first one to crumble. All you had to do was lay back and watch the play unfold. “Do as you wish, dazai, you have time until dawn.”

[mary-lotf]

hey mary! what do you think of the choirboys? merridew, roger, maurice, that one popular kid with green eyes or something, and the blond kid with petty issues or whatever i forgot

I'm not really too fond of the choir boys…And I believe the feeling is mutual. 

Jack’s quite frankly a stuck up prick who thinks so above everyone just because he hunts  and all the other choir boys follow him like a bunch of brainless sheeps,when half of them don’t even like him, everyone can tell. I bet he doesn’t even know how to tie his own shoes.

Roger and Maurice are also pricks, they keep bothering the littluns, and who’s the one who has to calm them down after? yes Me. At least Maurice says sorry after, which I guess is something…Roger on the other hand doesn’t care, he even throws rocks at littluns! Can you believe it! He is heartless and creepy. I tend to stay as far away from him as possible.

I haven’t interacted with Everette much but it pisses me off how I feel he is always looking at me as if judging what I do. If you don’t like my methods then come and do it yourself Buddy!

The guy with green eyes I guess is norman, there’s kids with green eyes in the choir but his are green green you know, there’s not much to say about him, I believe we haven’t interacted but his smugs smile makes me want to approach him even less, and i’m sorry to say it but he is not as cute as i’ve heard girls say he is, i don’t see the appeal sorry not sorry.

There’s also Michael, not to mistake Micheal, who doesn’t seem like a bad guy but he is not trustworthy if he goes around doing errands for Jack.

I guess not all of them are that bad. Nat is a lovely kid, he is so sweet and cheerful and has a huge imagination, a bit naive but he is still young so i can’t blame him,  real shame who he associates himself with.

And with Simon is complicated, we have barely spoken a word to one another but he always likes to sit down for a while and listen every time I tell a little tail to the littluns, he is a little peculiar but he is not a bad kid, and he always brings me fruit whenever i’m casted out. So I like him

Asa is also a peculiar case, I think he wants me around and seems he likes to chat but suddenly I says something he doesn’t like and he get’s all pissy and defensive, and even says some really nasty things that anger me, so I constantly feel like I have to be walking on my tippy toes which leads me to believe maybe he doesn’t like me as much as I thought. There's also the fact that he is part of the hunters ....Maybe he acts friendly with me because he just doesn’t want to be on bad terms since we both have to work together when a littluns get’s hurt. Despite that I think he is lots nicer than what he lets people see and he is also super smart, he knows lots of stuff.

I think that’s all the ones I know off...

-🎀

Norman belongs to @msfisherot

Everette belogs to @everettes-requiem

Miike is quite literally @ashenmxs

Nat belongs to @vampiric-kitty

And Asa belongs to @feathery-bastard

the guy of @mikeru-funzies also get's mentioned ig

And of course Mary belongs to moi <3

-🐝

[yallthemwitches]

Chapter 6: Sixth Year

“Do you trust me?” It has to be the weed, there is no other possible explanation for it. Some flirty, suggestive version of her takes over and suddenly she is crawling towards him, the joint wedged between her lips. Again, there’s that look on his face, but this time it stays.

Read on AO3 Or under the Cut!

That summer, the letters start—though calling them letters would be a bit hyperbolic. 

The first arrives on her sill a week after holiday begins: a surprisingly accurate drawing of an airplane with a red haired girl looking out the window. Flying beside her is what she can only assume is supposed to be him—a bespectacled boy on a broom with scribble for hair and a smile that touches either side of his face. There is no note, but there is a caption: ' Hoping these holidays ‘soar’ by.' 

It takes her an entire day to decide to write back, then another to think of a response: a very crude interpretation of a beater’s bat smashing into the top of her head. The caption reads: Beating myself with boredom. 

It opens the floodgates so to speak and the letters begin to come almost daily.

“What are you doing?” Petunia spits, leering up behind the newspaper.

Lily looks up. In her lap, a parchment lays open with a drawing of a bucket with words leaking onto a paper. In the corner, a doodle James cries: ‘Pouring over this bloody homework (take me out of my misery).’ 

“What d’you mean?” 

“You’ve been reading those stupid freak scrolls and smiling to yourself like a complete nut. It’s exhausting to watch.”

Lily takes a gulp of tea to hide her blush. Cartoon James stares up at her.

“If it exhausts you, go back to bed.” 

They all follow the same formula: a drawing, a caption; no pressure. Sending silly doodles was easy because it didn’t involve being around each other— didn’t involve feelings, but as September loomed closer, she wished he would offer her at least something to know where they stood.

A sort of answer arrives late August: a drawing of a bucket full of flobberworms that writhe like a single mass. A human hand holds two in the foreground, one with square lenses and signature scribbled hair and another sporting red fridge. In his unmistakable scrawl the caption reads: I’ll always pick you! 

She doesn’t know what to make of it, but she catches herself keeping it in her pocket for the rest of the summer.

It’s then she realizes she has a problem—A big one. And it makes finding him in her usual spot at the welcome feast that much more difficult.

“Er, what are you doing?”

He’d gotten tanner over the summer, more lean. It definitely doesn’t make it hard to focus.

“Uh, sitting?” James cocks his head to the side. Meanwhile, the flobberworm note burns a hole in her pocket. 

Don’t expect anything. Be cool.  

“You usually sit over there.”

“Oh? I didn’t realize you were keeping track..”

She sighs. “Of course I’m not but—-”

“Godric Evans,” Sirius exclaims, pointing his fork in her direction,“Friends sit with friends. Do we need to spell it out for you?”

Friends.  

She looks back at James and his eyes twinkle, an arched eyebrow speaking for him: So, are we doing this, Evans? 

She takes a seat. “No, Black—I got it.” 

Yes, I guess we are. 

Turns out, it is infuriatingly easy to fall into their vortex. At first they make even less sense up close: Peter is too meek, Remus too self-deprecating, Sirius too haughty, and James…well, James is a universe of issues, each as frustrating as the next.

But nothing compares to her defining fault in the group, one that she hopes she hides a lot better than the rest of their flaws. She fancies him again—she fancies him bad. 

It’s something that haunts her at night: what she actually is to him. ‘Friends’ seemed like the perfect word; he had long given up asking her out for a laugh and everything she did with him she would just as naturally do with any other friend. So why then did her heart stutter the moment he entered the room? And why couldn’t she just bloody forget about it?

“You seem cozy with Potter and gang these days,” Mary croons on the first warm day of the season. Nearby, they watch James and Sirius splash knee deep in the lake, pulling up gillyweed and sticking it to each other’s backs. 

“We’re friends—he’s…mellowed out since last year,” Lily retorts. She hopes to sound convincing, but the words falter in her mouth at the sight of James, his white shirt sticky and see-through on his taut build.

“Remus is also your friend and you have never stared at him like that.”  

Of course it's true. She hates that it’s true.

“—And to be fair, Remus has also never stared at you like James does.”

Lily whips her head around, ignoring Mary’s snickers. Two wide, golden eyes catch hers and the world falls away, making him a shining beacon in a sea of nothingness.

“Care for a swim Evans?” He waves his arm and his muscles contract under the soaked sleeve. Immediately, the million snitches that have found permanent residence in her stomach explode with activity, her heart swelling to burst…

'I’ll always pick you!’ 

She knows him well enough to not get her hopes up—but it couldn’t hurt to dream.

* * * *

Mary questioning their relationship was to be expected, but the rest of the student body is another story. 

“Hey Lily, do you have a second?

It’s a shame she dropped divination early on because before Elodie even says anything, she knows what she is going to ask. 

“This is so bloody awkward but—are you and James Potter…like, dating?”

Even correctly predicting it doesn’t lessen the blow, the words making the room grow around her until she feels no bigger than a bug. 

“Uhm, no. He’s–”

The happiest bloody thing in my life. Infuriatingly, begrudgingly wonderful. All I think about. 

“—just a friend.”

Elodie lets out a sigh of relief and swishes her feathered blonde hair over her shoulder. Lily feels like she’s been hit with a blunt object.

“Oh, whew,” Elodie giggles. “It’s so embarrassing but I’ve nursed a crush on him for ages—I’m like a sad little puppy, you know…”

No, I don’t know. Definitely can’t relate. Not one bit. 

“—But it’s my last year and I figured if he was available…now or never I guess!”

Suffocating. She’s suffocating and there is nothing to save her. She doesn’t even have the ability to respond—just wishes someone would be kind and put her out of her misery.

Of course he notices. 

“Am I boring you, Evans?” James asks during their study period together. He gives her a playful kick under the table, wiggling his trainer against her foot. 

“No, I’m just—feeling off.”

All day, she’s tortured herself about the conversation with Elodie. It wasn’t a lie, James and her were just friends— but even Elodie had noticed they were close now…that they seemed romantic. 

She never thought the day would come where she would envy third year Lily. At least then they weren’t friends—weren’t spending all of their free hours interacting within each other’s orbit. Now, not only could she not have him, but she had to smile and continue on like nothing was going on—like every waking moment wasn’t plagued with the desire to recreate what the boggart had shown them in fourth and then some…

“Evans,” James whines, giving a frown. “Let me in—you look like you’re going to combust.”

She doesn’t know how it happens, but it slips out. 

“Were you invited to Slughorn’s party?” 

Something flashes across his face, something she doesn’t recognize. It leaves a soft blush behind. 

“I’ve been invited,” he says, articulating each syllable with care, “but it doesn’t mean I will grace him with my appearance…unless of course I have a reason to.”

So Elodie hasn’t asked.  

With a smug grin, he gives her another kick under the desk, his foot hooking around her ankle and giving it a playful tug. 

It’s just a friend thing. Nothing to overthink. Definitely not flirty or cute. 

“Why do you ask?”

A blush, hot and blotchy crawls up her neck. 

“I was just thinking that you should go,” she says, trying her best to keep her voice steady. Inside, a warning bell rings at full volume, red lights flash. 

“I mean— it’d mean a lot to him. You haven’t been back since second and obviously you’d be well received which would be great for your ego...”

A smile continues to grow on his lips. The foot that is hooked on her calf slides up and down.

“I think you and I both know my ego needs no extra support.”

She pretends to look at her notes but he continues to stare, waiting for a rebuttal. You rotten coward.Tuney’s right, you’re an absolute nutter. 

“Are you asking for you or are you asking for him,” James says finally, breaking the silence.

“I don’t understand—”

“I mean,” he interrupts, “Do you think I should go because Slughorn wants me to or because you want me to.”

It’s a trap. A great big James Potter Rube Goldberg machine of hellish proportions.

“I’m just saying it would be fun.”

He closes his book with a sharp thunk and rises, rounding to her side of the table. Just the proximity alone makes her body go into overdrive—alarms and flashing lights and soaring snitches and zapping electricity all making her wonder if this is it: death by stupid boy. 

He leans to grasp the edges of the desk and his chest presses against her back. When his breath tickles her ear she almost goes into cardiac arrest.

“Well, Evans. How about you think about your answer and then I’ll consider my response.”

Before she can even think to rebuttal— to maybe even gain the courage to turn her head a millimeter and slot her lips against his— he is gone.

Her hesitation makes the news that afternoon even harder to swallow. 

“Elodie asked James to Sluggy’s party. She’s got some guts asking him hours before, eh?”

Lily doesn’t respond, tears already stinging her eyes.

Yeah, guts you will never have. 

* * * * *

It’s childish really, but she asks to take the evening patrol.

“Didn’t you have Slughorn's thing?” asks Remus. He must have been trying to muster the courage to say something—they’d walked the last two floors in complete silence. 

“I wasn’t feeling social.”

What she means is she doesn’t feel like being social around them. By the end of dinner she had visualized it all like watching some horrific highlight reel:  Elodie curling her fingers through his hair while they talked to Slughorn’s guests…him making a joke and her grabbing his arm, laughing harder than she should…him pulling her close as they twirl on the dancefloor, refined and elegant as two purebloods should be…Unlike her, Elodie will have no hesitation when it’s time to give a kiss goodnight and James will reciprocate happily. Why wouldn’t he? They are the perfect match in every way. A perfect, pureblood, pretty match. 

Just thinking about it makes bile sting at the back of her throat. 

“Well get ready, Slug Club patrol nights are the worst.” When Remus’ voice pulls her back to reality she doesn’t even remember turning up towards the fourth floor.

“Why would they be any different from any other night?” 

He shakes his head.“Think about it: a party, free alcohol, a bunch of ladder climbing pricks—no offense—who are looking for a job or someone with a job to marry…there isn’t a broom closet in any direction from the common rooms that aren't full on Sluggy nights.”

Not just a sting of bile, but real bile threatening to make an appearance. A new, worse image appears—one she’s been staving off since Elodie first approached her: boggart James frantic and loving and hungry but no longer for her.  

“Remus—do you have the map?”

He stops in his tracks, pointing his lit wand in her direction. Since she has known about all their little secrets, she has never once asked to use them, but tonight she’s just desperate enough to inquire.

“James has it—why?” 

So I can torture myself with their names on top of each other in some broom cupboard. Can watch in real time as my ‘friend’ moves on when I clearly can’t. 

“No nevermind, it's dumb,” she says, waving a hand. “Just thought it would make it easier to bust students out of bed…that’s all.”

* * * * *

They don’t see James and Elodie but, as Remus’ predicted, they do find a good bit of couples out before their shift is up.

After, she waits in the common room, watching as the fire dies in the grate. Looking down in her lap the crumpled and torn parchment is smoothed open.

‘I’ll always pick you!’ 

She has half the mind to watch it burn. 

When she eventually slogs herself up to the dorm, she has even less luck forgetting things. She falls in and out of sleep and her dreams do her no favors— images contorting like a hellish metamorphosis: her mum’s medications on the table, flobberworms in a bucket, one of the many faceless boys from fifth writhing against her, a snake pouring from Severus’ mouth, James with his antlers now full grown, twisting wildly and closing in…

Before she is even fully aware of her choice, she is standing in front of the boys’ dorm, feeling more pathetic than she’s ever felt in her life.

And what do you plan to do if he isn’t there, hm? For all you know he decided to take Elodie to one of his many hiding places—Christ knows he had the map on him. What if she’s in there with him right now… 

The thought alone should stop her, but it doesn’t. She silences the creak on the door and peers in, half expecting to be greeted by a knowing, accusatory grin from any or all of the boys. Instead, all the bed curtains are pulled shut and silent.

She dodges the books and candy wrappers that line the floor towards the bed flanked with posters of Quidditch players hovering asleep on their brooms. Reaching the curtains she stalls and realization crawls up her spine. She’s in his room, at his bed, and worst of all, she is uninvited. 

“James—” she whispers, her voice cutting through the cold air. She gives a slight rattle to the curtain and waits. Nothing. 

I knew it. He’s out starting his perfect life with his perfect pureblood girlfriend. 

“Hey, James…”

Finding a break in the drapes she pulls back the fabric. A sigh of relief tumbles out— he’s alone and asleep on his back, one arm angled above his head as though in mid-throw. Light streams in and catches the outline of his chest, making her heart thrum.

She’d spent so long considering the implications of him not being there that it never occurred to her to think about what she would do if he was. Suddenly a whole new barrage of questions start pouring in, muddying her vision. 

What if he gets angry? What if he wakes up all the lads and they take the piss? What if he’s bloody fucking naked? 

She’s sure the sound of her breathing alone will wake up the entire room. 

“James…”

Taking in a gulp of air, she presses a hesitant finger into his side. His eyes flash open, pupils dilating as they focus on her face in the dark.

“Merlin— Lily?”

He shoots up in the bed, running a hand through his ruffled curls while the duvet slips down, flashing her a peek at the top of his pants. 

Oh thank Christ.  

“What’s wrong—did something happen? Why are you—”

She shushes him, not wanting to disturb the rest of the boys. She can feel her knuckles going white as she grips the bed curtain for support.

“Lily, are you ok? When Remus was here I just assumed—-”

“ Shhhh–” she hisses, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. He leans up and shoves the curtains closed, an act that should be harmless but she’s only ever imagined him doing it when something else follows after…

“There’s a silencing charm— they won’t wake up,” he says sharply. All the sleep has left his voice and his jaw clicks in what little light still reaches through the topmost part of the curtains. 

“Are you hurt? Merlin Evans, talk to me.”

But what is she supposed to say?

“It's–I’m fine, I promise,” she starts, voice shaky. “It was just…a shit night. I wanted some company, but now I see this is–well–crazy so I’ll just…”

She makes to get up, tears threatening to pour out but a hot hand folds over her forearm and holds her in place. When she meets his gaze, his eyes are soft but drip with concern. 

“No, wait Lils. Do you want to talk about it?

Lils. Only her mum has ever called her that and he knows it. She’s told him. 

His other hand reaches out of the curtain and comes back with his glasses and wand. Casting a quick lumos the space lights up and she can see his features more clearly: confusion and worry riddle his face but something else too—something she can’t quite place. 

“I had a bad dream,” she says, knowing how childish it sounds. “About my mum and…some other stuff. It just became a bit much, you know?”

Again, his eyes roam her face. He has every reason to be unconvinced—normal sane people don’t usually climb into their mate’s beds when they have a bad dream. But a smile pulls at his lips.

“Yeah, I get it,” he murmurs and the hand on her forearm gives a light, reassuring squeeze. 

“What do you need? You want to go get some food? A little distraction? I can get the lads up in seconds and we can–”

“No—thanks,” she stammers, a blush billowing on her cheeks. “Honestly, I don’t know what I want. I just—”

Wanted to see you. Wanted to make sure you weren’t still with Elodie. Wanted to prove to myself how much of a horrid, cowardly person I am.  

“Didn’t want to be alone,” he finishes for her, giving a doting smile. It fills her with warmth.

“So, again, how can I help? You say the word and I’ll do it—you know I’m good for it.”

Yes, she does and that’s the problem. That’s why the words come out before she can even have the common sense to stop. 

“Can I stay here?”

He blinks, mouth opening and shutting with a quick snap. The feeling she couldn’t place before now spreads like wildfire onto his face, still mysterious but objectively warm. A sprinkle of blush lines his cheeks.

“Uh—yeah. Yeah of course.”

The dorm beds are notoriously small but he makes enough room for her to crawl over and slide under the blankets.Immediately, the weight of his arm drapes loose over her waist and the pressure feels good– like it’s protecting her from whatever might be lurking outside of the curtains. Settling in, she turns to press against his chest but he shuffles back, creating a small space between them.

“This alright?”

She looks up to see him peering back at her, a blush still lingering. She wiggles a bit closer, yearning to tuck herself into him and feel his skin on her back. A sharp intake of breath stops her. 

Maybe it is like third year all over again. Rejection slices right to her core. 

See? He doesn’t want you here–he’s just being kind. Tuney is right, you are a freak. A delusional, unlovable freak. 

Tears sting hot at her eyes and she blinks them away, afraid to let them fall and land on his skin. Minutes pass and she hears his breath slow, his fingers naturally curling up against her stomach in sleep. For a fleeting second she relishes the touch, but the damage is done. 

This is it. No more. He doesn’t want you—not the way you want him. If anything this just proves how disgusting you are…. 

She never gets to sleep, feeling his chest rise and fall and counting the seconds when she can peel his arm away to creep back out the way she came—hopefully like she was never there at all.

* * * * *

They don’t talk about it and to be honest, she isn’t quite sure he even remembers it. 

“You excited for the party tonight?” Marlene leans against Lily’s bed post, sporting a smug grin she knows doesn’t mean anything good. 

“You’re mistaken. The Quidditch Cup was last week—perhaps you don’t remember on account of being pissed all night.”

Marlene just gives a sharp laugh, flopping herself on the bed beside her. 

“Not pissed enough to shag Black.”

Lily gives her the side-eye. “Marls, that’s the definition of pissed behav—”

“ What I was saying–” Marlene interrupts with a cough, “ –is that the aforementioned Black and company are planning a little soirée for the end of the year tonight. I’m honestly shocked you don’t know seeing as you have buddied up to that lot.”

Maybe she would have known if she hadn’t been avoiding every one of them since the night of Slughorn’s party. 

“Ok—well, good for them I guess.”

Marlene, huffs like something is obvious which clearly isn’t.

“I am telling you this, because it might be a good time to try your luck with Aubrey—you know, the fit seventh year who gives you bedroom eyes all day.”

The image of James laying next to her flashes through her mind, shirtless and still. It sears like a hot knife into her chest. She already knows that if she had climbed into Bertram Aubrey’s bed, he would have probably done something about it.

But James didn’t.  

“Yeah, maybe I’ll see what his plans are,” Lily hears herself saying. 

Marlene just snorts.“ Honey—for you, his plans are wide open.”

*******

All night long, Sirius’ doles out shots, hovering them into the air so thirsty guests can reach up and pluck them like apples. Lily dodges them as they go past; Bertram’s on his third.

“To happy endings,” he says, holding up his glass with a wink. Like James, he is also all smiles but his feel predatory, like if she turns her back even for a second he will pounce. 

It’s fine. He’s fine. You’re fine. This is FINE. 

“You know, I’ve always been curious about what it’s like being with a muggleborn. I hear you lot get filthy.” 

It snaps her back real quick. 

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just fucking say that,” she hisses, reeling backwards. Either he is drunk or dumb or both because he doesn’t take the hint. 

“Oh c’mon Lily, I was just—”

But she doesn’t wait for him to finish, storming off into a random direction.

“I’m going to the loo. Do not follow me.”

She fights through throngs of party goers until a voice rises out from the fray.

“Trouble in the Aubrey hellscape?”

Sirius gives her a knowing grin, cocking his head towards where she left Bertram to bother some other unsuspecting girl. Lily just lets out a grunt, grabbing at a shot from midair.

“Apparently, he expects me to pop his muggleborn cherry.”

“Yikes,” Sirius whistles, wrinkling his nose.

“Well—if you want a life raft, our ickle Prongsy ducked out to have some of his ‘big feelings’ somewhere else. You could be a doll and give him a shot for me?”

He holds out two shots that are deftly juggled between his fingers and she eyes them warily. 

“What d’you mean ‘big feelings?’”

Sirius eyebrow arches, smile turning lethal. 

“I think you know the answer to that, Evans. Even if you are incredibly thick sometimes.”

She knows it’s a trap–him and James have that particular talent in common–but she takes the shots anyways. She didn’t want to, but she had noticed that James was at the party alone, hardly talking to anyone other than his usual pack of mates. Every so often she would turn around and catch him staring back at her—harboring a soft, sad sort of smile that she knows all too well…

It’s that same smile that convinces her to become face to face with his dorm room door for the second time that week. 

This is a friend thing. Sirius sent you here—nothing weird. 

He lays stretched out in the middle of the room, hands crossed behind his head. In a sad attempt to make the stone floor more comfortable, his pillow and blanket lay next to him, clearly abandoned as soon as they touched the ground. Remus’ charmed record player turns out a melodic, heady tune that wafts faintly through the air, skipping every so often with a static jolt.

“Anyone alive in here?”

She approaches slowly, holding up the shots with her most convincing smile. He continues to stare at the ceiling, eyes unblinking. 

Look–even now he doesn’t want you here. 

But she forces herself to try anyway.

“Is this a flobberworm impression? Because if so you should be doing a bit more wiggling.”

She knows it will get him and it does—a small smile curves on his lips.

“You don’t want to see my flobberworm impression,” he murmurs. “The mucus alone takes ages to clean.”

Ah, there he is. 

She snorts and mutters disgusting under her breath and it rewards her with a bit more smile. Setting his shot next to his forehead, she takes a seat on the other side of the space and waits. It’s still new to her to see him like this—pensive and calm. It had jarred her last year when they were in the forest and even after a whole school years’ worth of getting to know him, it still seems odd—like looking at the underbelly of a glittering jewel. 

“Sirius told me you were having some big feelings—his words, not mine.”

“Sounds like him.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really.”

It sends cold water down her spine. When did James ever not want to talk about something?

It’s worrisome, but what worries her most is that despite all the signs saying leave him alone, she still wants to be near him.

“Alright Potter, you win. If it gets you out of this state,” she gestures at his full form, “then I’ll do some mischief with you.”

At the very least, it gets his attention.

“I’m listening.”

She fishes into her pockets, pulling out a joint that she had been saving for emergencies. At the sight of it, James’ nose scrunches.

“A fag? No thanks, Evans. I’m watching my girlish figure.”

Lily snorts, giving his leg a soft kick. 

“No, you git. A joint—you know, Marijuana? Weed? That muggle stuff that makes you feel good?”

That same look from when she was in his bed skitters across his features, red blooming on his jaw. 

“How good are we talking?”

She straightens up, busying herself with pulling her wand out of her hair so as not to linger on the fact that the last time she was in this room with him, he had pushed her away.

“It’s not quite like smoking a fag. You have to hold it in a bit to really feel it.”

She uses her wand to light the end. When it sparks up, James’ face does too.

“Got to admit it, Evans. I’m pretty wary of the whole inhaling smoke bit but I like this side of you.”

It shouldn’t make her heart feel like it’s going to explode out of her chest. 

She takes a small hit to show him, holding the smoke in the back of her throat and feeling the cool, calm of the weed start to take hold. James watches intently, eyes sweeping across her face as though reading a particularly interesting novel. She knows she must be blushing, but as the weed sets in, she no longer cares.

“Here, you try,” she says, holding out the joint. 

He blinks at it, eyes drifting from the weed to her face, a blush forming under the rims of his glasses. When he finally takes it, he brings it to his lips and takes a big drag, immediately sputtering into coughs. 

“Fucking hell, Evans. This is disgusting.” 

She falls back from laughing, holding onto her stomach like it will burst. At first he looks bashful, but then a grin begins to grow, her joy infectious. 

“Here–,” She says after getting a hold of herself. Like some sort of tiny miracle, every self deprecating thought has quieted. No sirens, no chants of mudblood, no Petunia calling her a freak. Just her and James with no effort whatsoever. Completely limitless.

“Do you trust me?”

It has to be the weed, there is no other possible explanation for it. Some flirty, suggestive version of her takes over and suddenly she is crawling towards him, the joint wedged between her lips. Again, there’s that look on his face, but this time it stays.

“Let me help you. Open your mouth.”

She sits back on her heels, taking a long drag. Grabbing at the side of his cheek, his unruly curls tickle at the ends of her fingers as she pulls him closer to her, their bodies moving in slow motion. Hovering her mouth right above his, she exhales, his face becoming obscured in smoke. When it subsides, he reappears as though becoming boggart James—his eyes glassy and wide and hungry.  

He reaches out his hand and she expects him to grasp the joint, but instead his fingers curl around her wrist, thumb pressing against her pulse. 

“James, you alright?”

What the boggart showed them can’t even compare to how it actually happens. He tips her backwards, pressing his body against her even before her back meets the floor. It feels as though his hands are everywhere at once: twisting through her hair, cupping her face, caressing down her back. It feels so overwhelming and yet she wants more—more rabid and frantic than she has ever felt in her life. His mouth twists with hers, tongues drifting against lips and open mouth kisses finding sensitive spots all along her neck and collar.

“You are my dream, ” he breathes while his nose traces the side of her cheek. 

“You are…so lovely.”

Later, she will realize that she took the lead. Grabbing his chin, she guides his mouth back to hers, nipping at his lower lip. He makes a broken, whimpering gasp and it’s everything she’s ever wanted in a single sound. It feels as though the room could catch on fire and they still wouldn’t let go—years, years! worth of tension building up to this singular moment. 

Her legs part and he takes up the space, tugging on her thigh to give him more room to press deeper. The sensation is instant and they both let out a gasp, their hips rolling instinctively in ways that she’s only seen in muggle dance halls.

“Tell me what you want and I’ll do it,” he says against her neck. “Anything Lils— anything.” 

She pulls him back to crash their lips together and it all becomes one big blur, the urgency making every touch not enough, every sweep of his tongue too short, the feel of him against her still so far away. 

“Take off my skirt.”

He doesn’t hesitate, hands moving quickly to find the zipper. In return, she finds the front of his belt-–taking the pressure that pushes into her hip as confirmation that he is exactly on the same page— so hungry that it hurts…

“PRONGS! We’re out of drinks—get your arse down here and help me with another run.” 

Sirius’ voice breaks the seal and everything rushes back, hitting harder and stronger than ever. 

What are you doing? He rejected you! He went on a date with Elodie! All he has ever done is toy with you and leave you to pick up the pieces… 

But then why does it feel so good? Why would he keep trying again and again—offering her anything she wanted?

“No, no, no, no,” he hisses against her skin, clutching her to him like Sirius might barge in at any minute and physically rip her from him.

“PRONGS! What are you doing!” 

She tries to pull away and he lets her, his fingers sliding against the patch of skin where, if he had gotten any farther, would have grazed the band of her knickers. 

“This was a mistake. I should go—” she pants. It feels like she has just come to from an incredible sickness, her inner monologue screaming louder than she’s ever allowed. 

You stupid, pathetic idiot. You know what happens when you let him in. 

“No.”

He looks absolutely mad, his lips swollen and his hair pushed out from where her fingers had teased it.

“Just— please. Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

He’s going to use you…trick you like he always does…make you a cog in his little games… 

“James–” 

“Please, Please.” He isn’t asking, he’s begging. Putting a hand on her cheek, he pulls her back and she lets him, their foreheads pressing together. 

“I don’t know what those muggle drugs do but Merlin, if this is just some hallucination I don’t want it to end, so please, Lils. Stay here.”

It feels cruel for him to use her nickname now, of all times. 

Still, she can’t help but consider it: waiting for him to come back so they can climb into his bed again and let everything fall away until it is just them. She wants it so bad it hurts—wants to believe that a world like that exists: where they haven’t made these kinds of mistakes with each other over and over and over again…

He presses his lips into her forehead, then her nose, then her mouth, sliding his palms all the way down until they reach for her hands. 

“One second— I swear.” 

With great effort he picks himself up and bounds out of the room—and moments later she does too. They never found out back in third, but as she descends the stairs she wonders if her and Severus’ boggarts would have been the same: her in love with someone who would never work. 

Slipping into her four poster bed, she tries to picture his face when he enters back into the dorm and finds her gone. It’s a small, sad sort of smile that she knows better than she knows herself at this point. A smile she can’t seem to shake.

[pukanavis]

Kiroku Kinugawa SSR "Cosplaying With Love" Track 1

Location: Living Room

Nanaki: Thanks for waiting on this page for me, Kiroku. You can turn to the next one now.

Kiroku: Okay…

Momiji: (Huh? Everyone except Ushio-kun is crowded onto the sofa around Kiroku-kun…)

Ushio: …

Akuta: Umm~? “Indeed…I have come to–” …Re…rejahvenate?

Muneuji: Rejuvenate.

Akuta: Thanks! Rejuvenate! “I have come to rejuvenate this school. To carry out my plan, I have traveled from the future” —

WHAAATTTTTT!? HINOMIYA IS FROM THE FUTURE!?

Nanaki: Woah, chill out.

Kiroku: Isotake…my ears…

Akuta: Oops, my bad.

Ushio: The shrieks of a first-time reader never gets old.

Momiji: You boys look like you’re having fun. What’re you up to?

Nanaki: Oh, it's Chief.

Muneuji: We’re reading the new volume of Patibato together.

Akuta: None of us could wait for our turn with the book, so we ended up putting Kiroku in charge of holding it while the rest of us read over his shoulder!

Momiji: That's nice…Patibato is Ushio-kun’s favourite manga, right?

Kiroku: You…know it…too?

Momiji: Mhm, I remember it from a heated café conquest that me and Ushio-kun took on together…!

Nanaki: What’s that all about…?

Ushio: Let’s not talk about that, Chief-san.

Akuta: Do you wanna join our read-along then? Come sit, there’s a spot next to Kiroku with your name on it!

Akuta: I’ll watch from back here—

Kiroku: …Isotake…stop clanking your jaw…against my head…

Momiji: Ahaha, thank you! I’ll squeeze in here then…

Nanaki: gh…

Kiroku: …?

Muneuji: Let’s carry on from the scene where Reito obtains a new spatula and challenges Hinomiya to a rematch.

Kiroku: Okay…

…Ah.

(The paneling on this page is…incredible. It communicates Reito’s resolve and his relationship with Hinomiya, all in just a single drawing…)

I want…to try drawing this…

Ushio: …!

Momiji: I’d love to see this scene in your artstyle!

Kiroku: Nanamegi, could you…help me again…

Ushio: Buddha Statue~? Drawing is one thing, but you’re not going to ask him to model for you again, are you now?

Kiroku: uh…

Nanaki: Wellー

Akuta: Did someone ask for a model!?

Hold that thought! To the kitchen!!!

Akuta: Here, hold this spatula! 

Nanaki: You’re zipping around like a hummingbird.

Akuta: I, the great Akuta Isotake, will provide you with the perfect poses for you to draw to your heart’s content!

One. Two. Three—

Kiroku: This…feels more like a croquis…than a sketch…[1]

Muneuji: This is the scene you’re trying to replicate, yes? Why don’t we dress Nanamegi in an apron as well then?

Akuta: You’re a genius! I’ll change up his hair style with a hair tie while I’m at it.

Momiji: Ahaha, that’s perfect. Wait, isn't this type of thing called cosplaying..?

Ushio: As if. This is way too scuffed to be cosplay.

Kiroku: Cos…play…

Nanaki: Aren't you good at that type of thing, Akuta? I remember you showing me a horseshoe crab outfit once.

Akuta: Oh, the magic horseshoe crab! I wouldn’t call that a cosplay, it’s more of a costume for making films with.

Cosplay is like, something too sexy for me to even directly look at…I’m not ready for that yet…

Momiji: I definitely see a lot of those type of cosplays during Halloween…

Ushio: …

Don’t talk about—

Sakujiro: —Cosplay in such a manner!

Akuta & Momiji: AAH!?

Momiji: Sakujiro-san!?

Kiroku: W-Where did you…come from…

Sakujiro: Pardon me. I heard mention of my area of expertise and had to intervene.

Nanaki: So it’s not just dressing up in an outfit you like?

Ushio: *sigh*…Allow me to offer a simple explanation that even a casual like yourself can understand. 

Cosplay is about using your understanding of a character’s personality and lore to embody them.

Sakujiro: Likewise, it is just as much a way of expressing your love for a character. It would be disrespectful to describe cosplay as anything short of a distinguished art form!

Akuta: Ohh, I get it. It’s kinda like those super dedicated actors that do method acting! I guess I can manage to look directly at something like that!

Kiroku: Cosplay…is an art too…

Ushio: If you still want to do it, then I’ll be putting your love of Patibato to the test.

Momiji: Huh? Do…what?

Akuta: He's gotta be talking about a modelling contest, right?

Muneuji: I believe he’s saying that we should all try embodying the Patibato characters. I will do my best not to disappoint. 

Kiroku: ah…

Sakujiro: Allow me to join you as a judge, if I may.

Nanaki: Even Sakuchan-sensei got roped into this…

Kiroku: (All I did was say I wanted to draw something…how did we end up here…?)

(But…this’ll help me draw a sketch so…it’s fine…right?)

Next

Notes 1. Croquis is a french word that refers to a rough sketch of a live model before they change poses.

[scrumptiousstuffs]

i dont think FK used to really do fanservice the way were used to seeing it but they are now and it makes me wonder what has changed.

Hemm…I’m not sure what you mean. We only have these 2 as CP officially from 2022. Don’t quote me on this, cause I’m now just speculating, but I got the impression when they first got partnered up the boys (esp Khao) were trying to find the dynamics on what they want to show to the fans on-screen (so, if that’s what you meant by fanservice - then yes, it seems the boys are more comfortable with just showing how clingy they are together).

However, I mention previously on another asked, it’s the off-screen behaviour that strikes me the most. Even before they were partnered officially, First and Khao were already flirting on Twitter (it’s amusing to see this on Twitter now - cause as FK are slowly gaining more traction internationally, we have Thai fans kindly translating their posts from 2020 - WAY before they were officially a CP. Plus, from what I could gather - they used to be even more unhinged before they were official. The boys did live IGs where they called each other handsome/cute to the point we have fans from both camp wanting them to be CP even back in 2020. Not to mention we have First wanting so badly to act with Khao, he even auditioned in Tonhon Chonlatee).

Also, when Khaotung was officially promoting with Pond (during TC area) - we have First basically turning up to their events, happily third wheeling. And if you recall the infamous BTS video, where we have First back hugging Khaotung while Pond is next to him, P’Som and Pond just shrug 🤷🏽‍♀️ it off, saying that these are common behaviour for these 2!

I also recall during a promo of one of the concert (I think LOLfanfest?), when CPs were asked to describe each other - and we have PondPhuwin describing FirstKhao: Pond bluntly said “P’First, there is not much to say. He just follows P’Khaotung everywhere.”

I guess, what I’m trying to say is that it seems off-screen they are just as clingy and sticky on screen (but they are now just more comfortable showing them?). Everyone in GMMTV knows this - we have people like Ploy, Book, Jojo and Joong showing us wonderfully unhinged content of our boys BTS (but notice it’s never our boys doing the photos/videos themselves - so I can’t even call it fanservice when they seem just to act them subconsciously/naturally and it’s other people around them that amusingly clocks on how close the boys are!)

After saying all the above though, both FirstKhaotung are method actors. And some Thai fans from Twitter did wonder whether the off-screen clinginess we are currently seeing maybe stemming from their characters (of KantBison in The Heart Killers). Either way, I think even taking that into account, these 2 are just so codependent on each other. FK went into mini-meltdown when Khao was away for GMMTV Musicon (that’s the only way I could describe them with Khao calling First at least twice? before the show and then we have First joining Khao’s gym 😂 permanently…or when Khao was hosting GMMTV Live House, he could not helped but mentioning his bestie 13 times (someone calculated) during the entire run of a show that lasted for approx 1 hr - that’s like 1 per 5 mins 🫣. Or Khao shyly mentioning he wants to bring First during his solo events next time.

Anyway, the boys can flirt and be clingy all they want on my social media. I will happily lapped it up.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

"gave Snape a stable job....despite being abusive to children (though he probably didn't perceive himself as such)"

I am a tad confused about this. How could Severus not possibly understand that he was being abusive to the kids under his care- especially Harry? Did he feel threatened by the children under his care to the point of viewing them as equals and thus justifying his behaviour to himself (why didn't the other teachers call him out on his shit)

Anonymous: am curious. You mentioned Snape likely doesn't realise that he is abusing the children under his care and mimicking his father. Does he actually feel powerless enough to justify his behaviours to himself? When he sees James in Harry and blames Neville does he see the boys as his equals/ someone above him in power that needs to be put down- thus allowing himself to continue acting the way he does? It's ironic all things considered. For all that Harry looks like James, he takes more after Lily.

Okay, so, I just wrote a post about Snape, but I'll cover here what I'm thinking about this specifically in more detail.

I'm not sure where the quote you mentioned is from, but I can say what I think about the way Snape treats Harry and his students and how he sees it.

So, Severus was abused by his father. From his behavior, what I guess is that a lot of his treatment of his students is him mimicking what he saw from his father.

Like, Severus became a professor at 21. It means his older students knew him as a student. Not to mention he was a terrorist, known Death Eater, who was saved by Dumbledore from being sent to Azkaban. And his students knew this.

So Severus felt like he needed a way to make sure his students would take him seriously. The main example he decided to draw from — his father, Tobias.

We don't know what exactly Tobias Snape did, he was a poor, working-class man who abused his wife and son. And I think when Tobias wanted to be taken seriously, he used fear, insults, and force. So this is what Severus knows.

Severus sees what he does as the only way students would treat him seriously, he doesn't really see it as abuse, as I believe he doesn't really see his father's mistreatment of him as abuse.

Severus always struck me as a character who doesn't want to get better.

I think Severus is one of the abused kids who rationalized his own abuse as something he deserved. He clearly wants to beat himself up about his mistakes. He wants to feel the guilt over pushing Lily away and then over killing her (in his mind). So, to him, in his mind, it's not abuse, it's what they deserve.

Is it good that's what he thinks? No, not at all, it actually sucks. Snape needed therapy.

Now, with Harry specifically, his treatment is different. With Harry, he really does see him as an equal and he needs Harry to treat him seriously. Like, Snape projects James on Harry way more than Sirius does. And Snape can't show anything resembling weakness to Mini-James Potter, so he goes back to his father's methods to be taken seriously. It's about Harry not seeing him as weak like James did.

And revenge, a little bit. Snape is very petty.

He still doesn't see his vengeance as abuse, because, as much as Severus wants to believe he's the one in power, he's scared of Harry more than he's willing to confess. He doesn't see a power imbalance between him and Harry, he doesn't actually see himself in a position of power, because he sees James in Harry. Harry doesn't treat Severus with the respect usually given to professors, which strengthens the way Severus doesn't really see him as a student.

Like, the fact Severus felt the need to remove memories he didn't want Harry to see when teaching him Occlumancy shows how much he fears Harry. Fears the possibility of Harry getting this information and using it against him.

Harry sat there staring at Snape as the lesson began, picturing horrific things happening to him. . . . If only he knew how to do the Cruciatus Curse . . . he’d have Snape flat on his back like that spider, jerking and twitching. . . . “Antidotes!” said Snape, looking around at them all, his cold black eyes glittering unpleasantly. “You should all have prepared your recipes now. I want you to brew them carefully, and then, we will be selecting someone on whom to test one. . . .” Snape’s eyes met Harry’s, and Harry knew what was coming. Snape was going to poison him. Harry imagined picking up his cauldron, and sprinting to the front of the class, and bringing it down on Snape’s greasy head —

(GoF, 300-301)

In the above quote, Harry has these thoughts while Snape is reading his mind — there's eye contact. So Severus sees these thoughts from Harry and doesn't separate this from James, he sees it and thinks that Harry very much might actually spill his entire cauldron on him — like James might've done. So, Severus is taking every instance like this to justify his fear of Harry and his need to keep him down.

With Neville it's different. He doesn't fear Neville the way he fears Harry, I think he does see Neville as someone weaker. In the case of Neville, Severus is, I think, doing what a lot of bullies do, picking on a weaker link to feel better about himself. More in control, more capable. Neville being next to Harry is kinda part of it, I don't think Snape would've been as harsh with Neville if he wasn't near Harry, who makes Snape kinda lose it and feel unbalanced and insecure in his position because he sees him as James more than as Harry.

And I agree with you second Anon, personality-wise, I think Harry isn't very similar to James at all. And he definitely has some of Lily's traits in him, but he's not her either, he's his own person. Something Snape willfully chooses not to see. It's easier for him not to see it, so he chooses not to, so he can keep up with his petty vengeance towards a dead man.

As for why other teachers didn't call him out, well, I think the Wizarding World has a very different approach to child care than the modern western world does.

We know corporal punishment was allowed at Hogwarts and the Wizarding World at large. One of the good things Dumbledore did as a headmaster was stop the use of it at the castle, but it was socially acceptable in the WW even in the 1990s. Actually, even in the muggle UK in the 1990s caning was still allowed in private schools, and Harry is clearly aware of this fact:

“Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment?” Wood? thought Harry, bewildered; was Wood a cane she was going to use on him? But Wood turned out to be a person, a burly fifth-year boy who came out of Flitwick’s class looking confused.

(PS, 109)

Because this is something that was still practiced in the UK. Harry actually had to lie to Aunt Marge that he was getting canned at St. Brutus school since that's something that happened there.

And it also happened in the Wizarding World until very recently, Molly says Arthur still has marks from what was most likely a caning when he was at Hogwarts:

Mrs. Weasley grinned, her eyes twinkling. “Your father and I had been for a nighttime stroll,” she said. “He got caught by Apollyon Pringle — he was the caretaker in those days — your father’s still got the marks.”

(GoF, 616)

Umbridge (and the Carrows) later returns corporeal punishment to Hogwarts, and it's quite clear there is no law against it in the WW:

“Approval for Whipping . . . Approval for Whipping . . . I can do it at last. . . . They’ve had it coming to them for years. . . .” He [Filch] pulled out a piece of parchment, kissed it, then shuffled rapidly back out of the door, clutching it to his chest.

(OotP, 673)

Molly actually beat Fred with a broom (or at least attempted to) and it's considered fine and legal and not abuse:

“Seen the Fizzing Whizbees, Harry?” said Ron, grabbing him and leading him over to their barrel. “And the Jelly Slugs? And the Acid Pops? Fred gave me one of those when I was seven — it burnt a hole right through my tongue. I remember Mum walloping him with her broomstick.” Ron stared broodingly into the Acid Pop box.

(PoA, 200)

Because the Wizarding World (and the UK) in the 1990s had a very different view on abuse and domestic violence. So, yeah, I don't think Severus considered what he did abuse, he considered it harsh discipline, like he himself received as a child. The way everyone ignores Harry's (and Snape's as a child) very clear signs of being abused is also telling. A rough hand and insults with disobedient children is just considered what you do, and not horrifyingly gross behavior like we see it today.

And the other teachers don't step in, because they consider it just as legal and acceptable as Snape. Because it is in the Wizarding World.

[stupidiocy-somewhere-else]

Hong Lu: The Vessel Theory

(disclaimer; true to form, long as shit)

Yep. I’m back. This is happening.

I just wanna say first and foremost, I have to give the MOTHER of all shoutouts to Netz (@beanie0bird) for both helping with the theory as a whole and hearing me out throughout its gradual development. He's my Hong Lu expert and I absolutely would not have gotten here without him. ily bestie 🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂 /p

I should also probably shout out one @lu-is-not-ok, their own Hong Lu theories were a pretty big inspiration for this one and I encourage y’all to check out their posts, they go way more in-depth than I think I’ll ever be capable of lol

OK, theory time. The Vessel Theory at its core is that Hong Lu is, in actuality, some kind of body double or clone of either his original Jia Baoyu 1.0 body, but with 1.0's trademark Jade incorporated into his eye. The idea was essentially brought around so the Jia family could keep their Most Specialest Lil Boy™️ around for forever, and every time a Baoyu 1.0 dies, they make another vessel for his Jade, take the Jade out, put it back in the new vessel, and act like nothing ever happened because they're rich and rich people can just get away with shit like that. My guess as to what Xichun and Wei are doing out and about is that the method used to bring Hong Lu into the world is faulty in some way, which would explain why it goes dim in C7, that's probably a hardware bug of sorts. Either that, or maybe Baoyu 1.0 is starting to deteriorate himself after so many body replacements. It also explains why Hermann roped Jia Huan into her endeavors; the Human Dough from Canto 6 definitely shows Hermann's interest in tampering with the boundaries of mortality in some sense.

The catch is, though, Baoyu 1.0 – his consciousness trapped in the Jade, at least – is still aware of all of this, even though he can't control the bodies he gets inserted into; though I can imagine his vessels can at least feel his presence or thoughts in some quantifiable shape or form. Explains that little "am I the dreamer" monologue from Hong Lu, and why the name of his Canto in other languages can be translated as "All I can do is watch it"; that's all Baoyu 1.0 can do while his consciousness is stuck in the Jade.

Speaking of which, Hong Lu, when he's starting out as the new Baoyu 1.0 vessel, isn't really adjusting super well to the expectations of being the new prodigal son, not to mention the abusive siblings, but Granny's a little nicer to him and reckons "Ah he probably needs to get to know his surroundings a little bit first, tell ya what sonny, you go out and see the world then come back and we'll see how you fare then" and sends the lad on his way. He bumps into Faust at some point. The rest is history. At least, I *think* it's his grandma who gives him the whole sightseeing mission; could be wrong.

Now then, as for what I think this all means for Hong Lu is going, Netz and I had some hiccups piecing this together, I don't think either of us have a concrete grip on the overarching theme of the book ourselves. My prevailing theory is that because the book itself ends with Jia Baoyu 1.0 becoming a monk and isolating himself, and OUR Baoyu 1.0 is already doing that to some degree in the Jade, Hong Lu's arc will be coming more out of his shell and opening up to the Sinners more about his emotions and opinions. He stops living in a dream world where he doesn't have to worry about anything, and can now utilize his experiences in The City to live life beyond the boundaries of what his family wants for him. I also really hope he pushes back against his abusers some, just to bring it all home. Maybe we get the actual Baoyu 1.0 out of his Jade and he takes over for Hong Lu? Maybe Hong Lu has to move on without Baoyu 1.0? Guess we'll just have to find out.

Again, I can't say I have a whole lot of evidence from, say, in-game dialogue or cross-referencing DOTRC to back me up, but then again, I have a Hong Lu expert on speed dial, it's not like I *can't* find anything.

What I *DO* have, however, is EGOs.

Starting with the big one; Land Of Illusion. My hypothesis is that the EGO art is a hyperbolic depiction of Baoyu 1.0 languishing in the Jade, with the rest of the world lying just outside with him now unable to affect it in any way. It also doesn't help that the walls of the room pictured are red; he's literally trapped in a Red Chamber. That's his dream world in the book supposedly; Baoyu 1.0's retreating to his happy place to escape the pressure of always having to be the Most Specialest Jia Ever:tm:. Five Gloom for wallowing in his melancholic solitude, and a Sloth on the side for willfully ignoring his forced responsibilities.

Either that, or it could be depicting Baoyu 1.0 at some point during his FIRST life, before all the body double shenanigans.

The rest of these will be shorter, I promise.

I've seen analyses for Ambling Pearl that describe the Abno as representing "a place made by you and for you," so there's a dead-on hint right there. Can't say I have much else, but at the very least I like how a common theme with the Abno is that it often just gets bored and walks away if you don't directly do anything to it. More on that in a second.

Netz helped me out with Soda; it's escapism for one, and apparently in LobCorp, Wellcheers rewards you for getting good research results on it. That definitely lines up with having to maintain the prodigal son image, at least to me.

Dimension Shredder represents a lot of things, but chief among them to me is a feeling of being lost. It's a little vague, sure, but I can definitely see Baoyu 1.0 not knowing what to do with his life given how he's not in control of it anymore. That, and Hong Lu was *literally* sent to wander around The City to get more used to it. Netz also tells me it represents not being able to keep up a facade, which DEFINITELY scans, although I couldn't tell you how the Abno represents that lol.

Roseate Desire — Rosie, as Netz and I call it — represents Baoyu 1.0's repressed and locked-away emotions, especially given that his mouth is tied up in the EGO art.

Lasso is… fairly loose, all things considered, though I do think there are some ties specifically to the apple from Rose Hunter's encounter. I'm sure we all know what it's implied that apple will become later, and Rose Hunter is actively enforcing that prophecy. An aspect of the EGO is being willing to let bad things happen so long as you feel it's what is best. Granted, in Baoyu 1.0's case, him letting the siblings treat his vessels like shit is beyond his volition, but a clue's a clue. Plus, if nothing else, we can always tie it back to Hong Lu and how nonchalant he seems to be regarding his family and the abuse they put him through in the past.

Lastly there's my personal favorite, Frog Lu (AKA Cavernous Wailing). There's… a lot, lmao.

One: Disobedience. I mean, I reckon getting sent off by your gramgram might go against the family grain some if they had no idea about it. That, and as we've established, Baoyu 1.0 is getting a little tired of the pressure to be perfect all the time.

Two: Obeying the wishes of family after said disobedience. This one I'm a tiny bit fuzzier on, but you could say that Baoyu 1.0 still does feel love for his family, or at least his elders, despite all he's been through, the hangup is he wants to express it in his own way without being forced into it.

Three: Wanting space to tackle your emotions yourself. This is where I was going with that thing about Ambling Pearl wandering off. Leave it alone, it leaves you alone. Let the toad cry, and you get an EGO gift. Baoyu 1.0 stays in the Jade and is thus the only person who can actually grapple with his feelings. Hell, he gets sent out into The City *alone* in an attempt to better his understanding. This man just wants a safe space to cry, goddamn it.

I’ll definitely be developing this further along as we go through the next two Intervallos.

[velvetvexations]

The dots... I've connected them and revealed your dastardly schemes. the letters TR and F are all contained in the word [tr]ans[f]em, which proves that everytime you talk abt TRFs, you akshully mean all transfems ever 🤔 checkmate atheists. 🤔🤔 /s

It's a funny thing because transfeminism and radical feminism are (supposed to be!) two different things, but transfems are called transfems because they're transfeminine, not necessarily transfeminist, so transradfem is awkwardly close to transfem because of this linguistic convergent evolution shit lmao. If I could be persuaded to not call TRFs "TRFs" it would be on that basis.

A non-kink confession: sometimes I mistype urls and, if pronounceable enough, they turn into an unwanted vocal stim. I have been beset by one for so long. If I say another tormentous fucking "vevlet" I will [insert cartoonishly over the top violent act here] for real this time

Vevlet is my Eastern European cousin.

oh yeah a friend of mine uses twitter a lot and apparently the birthday boy thing is kinda big over there. fuckin annoying.

aggravating

"but of the two times I've said that one was explicitly about a something a self-identified TME said, so it's really hard for me to agree that TRF=transfem unless you're predisposed to reading what I say in the worst way possible." I am actually genuinely upset at how deliberately and maliciously people are taking you out of context, this is literal bad faith readings!!! Oh my fucking God!!!!! How devoted do people have to be to this exclusionary rhetoric to keep saying that you're saying the exact OPPOSITE of what you're saying??? B.I.T.E. method jfc

People are like. "Velvet just uses the idea of TME TRFs to excuse hating trans women," and it's like.

No, I fucking viscerally hate guys like the one from yesterday who said he'd fight any "transandrophobia chud" and then blocked me when I said I was game, not to mention all the ones who've said something like "I know trans men have male privilege because I've socially ostracized trans women."

i fucking love ur aesthetic posts

Thank you!

This is out of pocket but like, ive been thinking abt those posts that are all "why are you transitioning to be a man? Do we really need More white men?" Hit me as crazy cause like Could you imagine if someone was like "Do we really need More White Women?" People would flip their shit Its crazy how the answer is "mind yer own fucking business when it comes to others gender journeys"

and White women are truly not any fucking better than White men lmao

I guess complaining about TME genderfuck trenders fagdykes didn't get the TRFs far enough so now all trans women are nonbinary? for fuck's sake. like what is up with the cope here?

it's like yeah what IF the moon were made of pudding

are you into VTM &, if so, do you have a clan you enjoy playing?

I loved Bloodlines but not having a consistent gaming group until this year I've never been able to fully get into it as a TTRPG fan. Which I align with varies because we're a system but I'd say that of those of who are connected to vampires, Aleph is a Brujah and Kuroko is Nosforatu. Agatha isn't a vampire but they are very Malkavian.

[moxie-girl]

DRDT EP 13/14 ANALYSIS/THEORIES

I said I'd do this once I collected my thoughts! haha Warning! This is super long…

To start, I'm going to pick apart all the stuff I predicted for ep. 13 (I'll try not to make it too long…)

Levi's Secret

Well. Levi sure did admit to. All that! I think this eliminates any last doubts I personally had about him being the killer… (your honor just because I'm a serial killer doesn't mean I killed that specific person /ref) I really like that he isn't shown as a bad person just because he lacks empathy, and he's actually actively trying to be a good person… the fact that he just admitted his secret because he thought it was the right thing to do is so funny though, there go all my theories lol! (I'm still a little worried about rule 14 though…)

Ace's (Almost) Murder

Yeah!! This is probably what we're gonna spend episode 14 talking about, with murder method and alibis, etc. I still don't think it was Nico though! (I want to say I called that it'd be relevant, but it felt a little obvious…)

The Murder Method

I think we can say this has been all figured out, with the method being exactly what several people much smarter than me all figured out.

The Possible Culprits

Rose was still acting a little odd, but I think Whit on the other hand, despite whatever all that was, is off the hook for now, so my number 1 suspect is still Hu! I'm like 90% sure she was the one who tried to kill Ace, at least, and that's become very important now!

Secrets

Well, we got all the secrets figured out! (Hu :( ) The fandom interpretation was pretty much correct, except for Teruko's (we'll get to that later…) I do hope that after this trial, some of the secrets that are not relevant/haven't really been discussed do get adressed, because I could even see them becoming motives for murder again. But also, I just want the characters to talk about them! (gimme that juicy juicy angst…)

Ace

He didn't re-open his injury or really freak out like I expected, but we got some vulnerability (and a new sprite!) from Ace, and considering next episode is probably gonna focus a ton on him, I'm still expecting at least one of the two to happen…

Teruko

Luckily for Teruko, we didn't have anything unlucky happen to her this episode! But she sure did get her time in the protag spotlight anyway, I'm glad she didn't let the mistake from last episode get her down!

☆ ☆ ☆

Also, my bingo card! I got a bingo!! (ft. my messy tiny notes if you want to read them)

A few of my other bingo predictions I'm still going to hold on to for the next (few) episodes, but now, onto some new stuff!

Final Arei Flashback

Whoooah boy was that scene a doozy. I'm starting to think David's murderous rage towards the blackened at the start of the trial was genuine, because me too, man. I'm really glad Arei got at least a little bit of closure before she died, though! She also had an interesting take on the "good person" role, something that has been very important to this trial thus far and will likely continue to be. (I'm thinking that the killer may have had a "good person"-related motivation for killing, which is why it's the chapter's overarching theme?)

Also, to adress the elephant in the room… EDEN??? Well, no wonder Xander "didn't expect her to attack [him] like that" - and from her expression I wonder if she expected it either - I'm really looking forward to learning more about what, exactly, happened before the killing game that involved them! I didn't really believe in Mastermind!Eden before this, but it's starting to look pretty plausible... (Also Xander is the king of haunting the narrative oh my god lol)

Teruko's Secret

Many of us, myself included, were hoping/guessing/assuming that when all the secrets were figured out, David would reveal that he actually had Teruko's, not Xander's. While that didn't happen, the way he reacted after she claimed "her" secret essentially confirms it, as does a lot of other evidence:

That secret being hers would complete a secret circle of Teruko -> Rose -> Whit -> David -> Teruko and a secret pair of Xander <--> Min, which makes sense considering all other secret swaps are either circles of four or in pairs.

Xander and Min would have each other's secrets logically since neither of them can receive secrets, so theirs would probably be separated from the rest.

MonoTV's line about not knowing whether they're all correct feels like a reminder/a hint that some of the secrets are incorrect, and those two feel like the most likely options.

Teruko apparently has no idea which secret is actually hers, so may have just guessed the one that sounded more like her, except we know she never knew her parents and only had one sibling (as does Charles… I wonder if he'll notice)

EDIT: I cant believe I almost forgot, but I feel like David’s attitude towards Xander (and Teruko) makes more sense with these secrets, because why would he idolize Xander if the killing game was his fault, but he would idolize him if he thought Xander was trying to end the killing game by killing Teruko, the person David now thinks/knows is at fault.

However, since David didn't claim out loud that Teruko was lying, it's likely that this piece of information will become relevant much later in the series, and he'll be keeping it to himself for now.

Veronika and Hu

When did Veronika and Hu make their pact? And how did Hu, presumably the one who wanted to make the pact, know that Veronika had her secret? Also, what on earth do you mean, Veronika, that your secret isn't the worst thing you've done???? This little section with the two of them could just be entirely innocent and a way for the dev to get the rest of the secrets on the board, and let Veronika be a little unhinged as she tends to be, but I get the feeling at least some of this is relevant. (I'm betting on either Accomplice!Veronika or Veronika's actual "worst thing" being important to a later trial…)

David

Ohhhhh, David. I feel like Veronika with how much I want to psychoalanize this guy. He is on the verge of a breakdown, and I can feel it! The question being, of course, whether Arei's death was enough to make it happen this chapter, or whether this is something that's gonna last another chapter or two before coming to a head. My money's on the second option, because I think this trial is about to be about Ace and his impending breakdown :)

I do hope after this trial we do get to see a little more of what David's actually like beyond his facades/the roles he's been playing! Also, as much as I'd like to see David survive and have to deal with the consequences of revealing his "true" personality on live television, I think it's more likely he'll go the way of DR antags trying to end the killing game via self-sacrifice.

(We also better keep a close eye on anyone who tries to befriend or help David in Ch3, because they're gonna die next! /j)

J's Morality

This is a short one, but I just wanted to comment on another analysis I saw point out that J has been one of the most vocal people anytime murder has been brought up. I think that behind her rougher personality, J is a more empathetic person, and/or has very strong morals, making her a narrative foil to Levi now, so I do hope the two of them interact in Ch3!

Whit??

Whit. Whit why do you know so much about hanging??? Being serious though, I saw someone else bring up that his mother might have died by hanging and he researched it afterwards as a coping mechanism or something? That's the saddest possible explanation, but it does make the most sense by far… I honestly don't think that Whit is the killer, because then why would he be being so helpful in figuring out the murder method, but he's still so weird and suspicious sometimes.

Nico!

Even though I still don't think it was Nico (crime scene makes more sense if seen as Nico trying to help Ace, they may have just admitted to it because it was the less confrontational option, next ep is def not the last one and I think it'll be about proving who it was other than Nico, and if you look at Nico's secret quote…) I still do hope they get the chance to get mad! Get mad at Ace! Get mad at David! Get mad at whoever the (attempted) killer was for putting the blame on them! Idk I just want them to have their moment.

☆ ☆ ☆

And finally, here are my new bingo cards for the next episode:

(I can't believe ep14 is gonna be 40 mins + there's a "non-spoiler" thumbnail rn oooooh I'm so nervous)

[changingplumbob]

Nishidake: Chapter 6, Part 2

Guess who's coming to dinner?

The doorbell was Luna!

Charlie: Luna! Hey, what are you doing here?

Luna: We agreed that we would move flat fam catch ups to your Monday so your work shift  didn’t get in the way

Charlie: We did?

Luna: Sorry, I keep forgetting you’re not a phone person. Kaori responded that it was fine

Charlie: Well come in, I guess I better find something to cook

Luna: Where’s Kaori?

Charlie: Did she not put in the… what do you call it

Luna: Group chat

Charlie: Right, that, she’s at work. She’s an astronaut now

Luna and Charlie head inside and Charlie shows Luna their new set up. Sensing it may be a while until food is ready Clover goes and has a nap on the dog bed. Rahul and Cassandra get here only slightly late. Lavina is still refusing to babysit Mercedes, Savannah and Viola at the same time since the three don’t get along so they had to drop Viola with Uncle Alexander. Devin of course was here fashionably early and is super happy about… something. I’m going to guess she’s super happy about her look because I still am.

Charlie: But why get your nails painted if they’re just going to be skin colour?

Luna: It’s about the experience Charlie, some of us prefer pampering to peddling

Charlie: I actually can’t ride a bike

Devin: *sing song voice* I’m here! Please, please, hold your applause

Clover: *barks* Shinny

Devin: Thank you Clover, you’re too kind. Hey Char, love what the watcher has done with the place

Charlie: It was rebate day so I guess Kaori ordered some stuff

Luna: Don’t mind her, she’s on a “let’s all believe in the watcher” crusade

Devin: I just think it’ll be easier for the bambinos if we’re on the same page

Charlie: Wait, did I add that spice already?

Devin: Please tell me this is going to be good, all they had on set today was chocolate cake so I starved

Luna: Schatz! Why didn’t you eat the cake

Devin: *sighs dramatically* If you eat the cake then you get frosting on your face and have to go back to make up and Rudolphus gets mad and gives you a lecture and then you have to recentre to get back into confident “I can totally kick bugs butt” mode. The whole thing is exhausting, far easier to get your sugar from leftover toddler dessert

Luna: I knew it wasn’t Joey who raided the cupboard

Devin: I was just trying some method acting for my pirate role in case this one gets good reviews. Clover gets it, sometime you just have to steal some good food right?

Clover: *barks* Right!

Kaori: How is the pregnancy going

Cassandra: It’s going slowly. I am getting more nauseous than normal though

Kaori: Do you think that could mean a boy? Or maybe triplets?

Rahul: *sighs* Triplets would be great

Cassandra: And how would I feed three babies with two breasts

Rahul: You always get engorged easy, you’d have plenty of milk

Kaori: Engorgement sounds painful

Cassandra: It is for a bit but so long as I don’t stop pumping cold turkey I seem to survive the pain

Devin: So this is… what

Luna: Tajine. Coming from North Africa the word itself comes from Arabic and further back Ancient Greece. Although some scholars believe the word itself is of Persian origin. It’s normally cooked in special pottery with a hat type piece that keeps the moisture in

Devin: *blinks* So this is… what? Cheat tajine?

Charlie: I resent that accusation

Devin: But Char you’ve got no hat piece

Charlie: Our matching hats are enough, trust the process. It’s a simple dish, I promise, it’ll be excellent. Totally befitting your hoity toity taste buds

Devin: *fake coughs* Refined *fake cough*

Charlie: That was the worst acting I have ever seen

Devin: Grazie

Charlie: Done! Now out of my kitchen

Charlie shepherds Devin and Luna to the table where everyone grabs a plate of food and sits down to catch up. They all saw each other recently at the Villareals but there are some topics you can talk about with children around, and others that you can’t talk about.

Rahul: I mean we already have some name ideas from the last pregnancies but we’re waiting for the ultrasound to tell us how many to expect

Devin: Luna and I have news actually. We’re going to look into getting a science baby

Charlie: Yeah? I think my sister is thinking of that to, but she’s not sure how safe it is yet

Devin: Well we can’t exactly use a plain old surrogate, the papers would lampoon me. And news would be bound to get out about Luna’s postpartum being the reason she wasn’t carrying

Cassandra: It wouldn’t get out from us

Devin: Emisia would probably leak it

Luna: You say that but you know if it got out she and Max would likely commit murder

Charlie: I forgot evil runs in both your families, you two are such a match. So Devin, how’d I do

Devin: With the cheat tajine?

Kaori: Cheat tajine?

Rahul: How do you cheat tajine?

Devin: You deny it its hat. But Char I will concede, this does taste excellent

When the meal is finished Kaori clears the plates.

Cassandra: I hope you don’t mind that I didn’t finish

Charlie: Don’t worry about it, I made far too much

Kaori: You’re pregnant so you’re allowed to be weird about food

The group laughs and begins to get up and sort out heading to their own homes. Cassandra is a bit wobbly though so Rahul makes sure to check on her.

Rahul: Are you okay my darling?

Cassandra: I think it was a bit spicy for me at the moment

Rahul: If you want on the way back to Henford we could swing by the donut place with Viola

Cassandra: If we go without them the twins will sulk for days

Rahul: I’m willing to suffer their pouting to keep you well, remember, you’re meant to be eating for at least two

Rahul goes to take another look at the indoor garden and Luna checks in with Cassandra.

Luna: Will you find out the sex of this one

Cassandra: We don’t usually, we like the surprise. Whoever is in here should find no pushback from Viola for sharing a room either

Luna: I mean… were your girls really that bothered by a third kid?

Cassandra: Yes. They hated the idea of her and disliked her when she arrived. Truth be told I'm still not sure if they like her. But that doesn’t mean your twins will be mad! Please don’t change your mind on my account, I couldn’t stand the scolding from Devin

Luna: *laughs* Don’t worry, I think Alfred and Rilian would like a baby sibling, they seem more independent than your girls were

Cassandra: I think I still have bruises on my leg from Mercedes holding on so tight

The women laugh and Charlie and Kaori see everyone out. All in all, a good catch up.

Previous ... Next

[tyguy275]

Chromebook Tech Literacy Masterpost

I've seen a lot of posts about the systemic death of tech literacy in schools with the advent of ChromeOS, and instead of responding to them one by one, I want to create a masterpost to destroy the system. First: FUCK CIPA. The Children's Internet Protection Act is a United States FCC act that standardizes internet safety across the country. Public schools are not required to comply with this act, but they will lose discounts offered for the E-rate program. In short, if you don't want to put up web filters, then you don't get government grants for technology and Internet. Fuck that. Many of these workarounds bank on my personal experiences, so some solutions may not work with your web filters, but they definitely are a step in the right direction. For talking with friends: chat rooms are your friend. Many chat rooms for professional use act just like Discord, and many are just a single text channel. Several I've used include: Google Messages, Rumbletalk, Slack, Element, ClickUp, Pumble, and... in a pinch, Google Docs can give you a shared document that's practically impossible to block. For watching videos: some chat rooms, especially Rumbletalk, allow you to directly embed a YouTube video. This is rare, however, so we found some workarounds. Canva has a video search and embed function that allows you to play YouTube videos straight from the editing page of their slideshows. For anime, a website that I don't think is maintained as well but should still work is AnimeTribes. It is a .ru site but it is perfectly safe, as long as you don't click on ads. I've never seen it redirect you otherwise, and the owner used to be commonly found on the chat page. Another piracy site is 9Anime, which doesn't work on Chromebooks but is an infinitely better source in general. A non-anime video piracy site is Arc018, which is my favorite. It does redirect you decently commonly, but just take care to avoid those redirects and follow piracy suggestions that I will lay out further down. For adblocking: the easiest method is to use uBlock Origin. Though, with all the stuff that Google has been doing, I'm not entirely sure if it works anymore. I gave up on Chrome the second I could get away from it and I suggest you all do the same. For playing games: so. I'm a nerd. I play Pokemon games. SO if you do too you're in luck. The only thing I could come up with was to download GPemu, a ChromeOS based emulator. Unfortunately it's pretty bad, but apparently there's an alternative called EmulatorJS. I never used it myself, but if someone wants to try it and let me know how it goes, that would be appreciated. HOWEVER, none of these work without the games to play them with. I'm going to detail piracy safety later, but for now: Vimm's Lair recently got axed by Nintendo's DMCA, but some ROMs may still be available. Another source (which is admittedly undergoing some major changes) is The Internet Archive. I haven't done a lot of searching on the Archive, and I don't know if it works on Chromebooks, but try it and let me know :).

Circumventing the web filter: While those solutions work for specific things you can do online, these present a general solution, capable of multitasking and providing you much more extended freedom. The first is CroxyProxy, a completely free proxy service that can be added through the Chrome Web Store. If the Web Store is blocked, it can be accessed via the direct website or through specific IP addresses. These change frequently, and I’m absolutely positive the ones that I have access to are blocked or simply go nowhere useful. The other option, assuming you have a home computer connected to the Internet at all times, is Chrome Remote Desktop. It will work as long as both computers are signed in to one shared Google account and both are connected to the Internet.

But Ty... none of this works for me: Oh boy. I guess it's time for my trump card. The pinnacle of my Chromebook workaround career has culminated in this. The ultimate destruction of ChromeOS, all without jailbreaking the computer and getting in a LOT of trouble (don't do that please). My magnum opus came from my blossoming understanding of emulation and, specifically, Windows images. During my senior year, I successfully used a trusted and necessary source (unblockable) to emulate a Windows computer entirely through a single Chrome tab. This source… Microsoft Azure. This cloud computing service allows the creation of a remote desktop that will save data when offline. The biggest hurdle with Azure is that… it costs money. However, when I did it, I got 200 hours of emulation FREE, and I would highly recommend you find the same deal, if it still works. Things to note: you can make multiple accounts, but you will need to also have separate payment cards, as multiple accounts with the same card will flag and not be usable. The frame rate is decently shit, and there is no physical graphics card, so the vast majority of games will not run. I mostly used it for Discord. However, feel free to experiment and make it your own. Use this knowledge wisely, and run free, my friends. Fuck CIPA, and fuck ChromeOS!

Please feel free to reblog or comment with more suggestions, because I would love to add them!

[moonybelgug]

warnings: !MDNI! fem!reader, no nsfw, reader is a virgin i guess from how i wrote her can you tell i grew up with no sensual experience?? not too much happens. also!! cute heart border cause im using the computer smirk wc: 1083 this is the fourth part to the little fic i wrote in 22… mostly posting here to archive it but i was very proud of myself at the time. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4,

The sound of the front door opening is what woke you up. Shooting up, your groggy eyes searched the room for the intruder while Kunikuzushi snored away on the opposite end of the couch, by your feet.

Booted footsteps sounded through the room and you quickly rubbed your eyes, nudging the boy by your feet in an attempt to wake him up, but all he did was shove you and turn over. You opened your eyes and were met with two blue ones peering down at you from above. Ajax grinned at you. Your puffy from sleep face was something he'd never get enough of, not to mention how red and delirious you look. His fingers acted on their own, tilting your chin up enough for him to graze his lips against the corner of your mouth. His name quietly escaped you.

"Morning, girlie," he said as he planted a rough kiss against your sleep warm cheek. "Feels like forever since I've seen you."

"How did you get in?" Your hands felt for something to hold on to, desperately trying to ground yourself after the scare of his sudden appearance.

"Door was unlocked. Were you not expecting me?"

Your eyes widened at the realization it had been unlocked the entire night. "You didn't lock the door last night!?" You woke up Kuniku with a pillow directly to the head. His fists were balled as he jerked awake, swinging wildly. Ajax wrapped his arms around your torso and pulled you over the couch before the other man punched you in his surprise, merely laughing as he set you gently on your feet.

"Probably should've stopped you before you did that. He's a fighter."

Kunikuzushi blinked at the two of you before laying back down and flipping until he faced away from you both.

"So, how was your night?" Ajax asked as he directed you towards the kitchen. He was wearing different clothes today, a black turtle neck and dress pants, paired with boots that you'd seen lying around his apartment. He looked as if he had thrown together the first thing he could.

"It was good," You lied. "We played go fish."

He opened your fridge and took out a carton of eggs and milk, before turning to you, smiling. "That was a lie. What happened?"

He stared at you until you finally broke. You explained everything. The princess book, the creepy train men, your keys disappearing, Regrator being overly friendly and then Kuniku showing up magically with your keys. You were breathless by the end of it.

Ajax pushed the eggs around the pan as he listened, nodding along.

"How did you know I left my keys at the office?" You asked, watching him methodically stir the raw eggs.

He spared you a nervous glance before inhaling deeply. "I didn't. When you got on the train, I saw someone dip their hand in your purse right before the doors shut." He turned to pour the cooked eggs into three different bowls. "I followed him, got them back and then sent Kunikuzuhi to get them back to you and bribed him to stay the night since I couldn't."

"Ajax-"

"I know." He handed you your bowl. "I want to move you somewhere safer. Away from from Regrator and closer to me."

"I'm scared, Ajax. Why is this happening? Why do so many people want to hurt you?" You gripped his arms to finally capture his full attention.

"Because he's a self important bastard that lives with a giant target on his back," Kunikuzushi said as he wandered over and took a bowl of eggs from the counter.

"Please let me move you." Ajax said, taking back your attention. "I'll have it guarded all the time and I'll even-"

Your hands trembled as you held him, amidst his own thoughts of how he how could keep you as safe as possible, he failed to notice how your eyes watered and voice shook as you recounted what happened last night. But as he looked at you now, he saw your desperate expression, begging for comfort. Begging to know that you were safe with him and he finally realized.

He finally realized that this was not a normal day for you. He realized that he was actively putting you in danger with every second he spent in your presence and that no matter how much he's infatuated with you, he can't keep you in this lifestyle.

Ajax closed his eyes and sighed. "Let's go on a date to get your mind off things for a while, yeah?"

~

Even though he said this excursion was to distract you from the constant feeling of watchful eyes, what was really distracting you from it was Ajax's nervous behavior. His presence by your side was constant and protective. Anytime anyone even looked at you, his arm would find its place around your waist, tugging you closer.

He wanted to avoid taking you on the train again, so the two of you took to the sidewalk and boarded the bus. On the ride to the mall, the two of you hid away in the corner as he called the office to let them know you wouldn't be coming in today.

"Have you ever been on the bus?" He asked as you observed the people standing and sitting around. You shook your head and he laughed as you wrinkled your nose at someone smashing their chewing gum against the seat in front of them.

"So, plan is I'm going to take you to a bunch of my favorite shops and you are required to choose an item or a set from each. No buts allowed!"

You opened your mouth to argue but he placed a finger against your lips and grinned. "Let me spoil my princess, alright?"

And so you were dragged to a shoe store first. It was a shop you were familiar with, and you had been inside to admire the expensive footwear but you'd never bought anything due to some of the stock costing a month's rent. You made a bee-line to the cheapest (and ugliest by admission) pumps you could find and began to walk past him towards the registers, but Ajax stopped you.

He opened the box and visibly winced at the sight of the brightly colored heels. "No way."

"Ajax! I picked them out, you have to get them."

He set them on top of a shelf that was taller than you. "I made the rules and I'm making a new one that says you have pick something you actually like."

Sighing, you gave up and went to find the pair of heels that you've had your eyes on since the day you set foot in the store. They were expensive. Ajax happily paid for them while a grimace stretched across your face. "What's wrong, girlie?"

He held your hand as the two of you left the shop and he directed you towards the next high end store. By the end of the day, your arms were filled with bags and bags of clothes. "There's one last shop," Ajax said, directing you by the waist. He stopped in front of a window filled with mannequins and it was only until you squinted that you realized it was a lingerie store. You gasped, dropping a few bags and punched Ajax in the arm, shouting his name in disbelief. He only laughed and bent down to hold the bags that you lost. "That blue one would look so beautiful on you."

You rolled your eyes. His constant teasing becoming expected at this point. "Why is that?"

There were straps that wrapped around the waist of the mannequin, lace caressed its fabric curves. You would have looked beautiful in it- anyone would. You took a step toward it, gazing at it through the window as Ajax watched you curiously. "Blue's my favorite color." Is all he said.

The two of you locked gazes and a grin slowly spread across his features. "You want it, princess?"

When you didn't answer right away, he quickly walked into the store, leaving you to stand alone outside.

[remusbutfemale]

Just other Dps hcs because idk I like doing them:3

TODD IS ACTUALKY ME so

Todd hcs…where do I start

He definitely plays some sort of instrument, maybe the piano. But he was forced into it and doesn’t associate himself with it unless it’s brought up.

“My mom was thinking of buying a piano” Charlie would probably say and Todd would be like; “oh cool, I play the piano” and everyone’s like ‘what the fuck? You play the piano????’

He’s queer. Do I really have to elaborate here?

He def wasn’t entirely sure on his whole sexuality for a while, but he knows he isn’t straight. So that makes me wanna say he’s unlabeled, he is just a silly guy!

holds stuff off until last minute

“Did you do the Latin homework?” Neil would ask, and Todd would be like 😨 bc he didn’t really forget but he also just forgot it was due the next morning

Neil

he definitely does method acting, especially for puck

He would act like his character in the play during the school days, just for fun; maybe even when he was in his dorm with Todd. (Im gonna pretend he’s alive to not want to die) when he got a bigger role he would go out of his way to put himself in that character’s shoes until he had to film.

He has a collection of rocks I just know it dawg

“Neil what the fuck,” Charlie would say and Neil would turn confused as hell obvi, and Charlie found his little trinket drawer, like yeah he collects other stuff but bros entranced by rocks. “Oh yeah my rocks! Do you like them?” He would ask and Charlie would be like “yeah, I guess.”

His favorite season is summer.

He would LOVE summer, he definitely swims and is outside the entire time. He would probably be deathly afraid of bees tho, would scream and cry when he seen one. He loves summer but hates bugs, he loves butterflies.

steven :3

I have a strong feeling when he was playing soccer he broke his glasses, this happened at least twice.

He would be like ??!?? And stare blindly at his broken glasses on the ground, squinting HIGHKEY. And wouldn’t get a replacement for a day and just be extremely blind trying to see the board in his classes.

doesn’t know how to cook, like at all. OR BAKE he cannot be in a kitchen without fucking it up.

“How the hell did you mix up 1 ½ cups of milk with just half??? Now we have to restart!” Gerard would say; I feel like they’d just be baking at his house during winter break because they have nothing better to do. And Meeks somehow fucked up the bread by adding too much milk and pitts is just like ?!!? How the hell?????

a piece of shit tbh LMAO like in a humorous way

“Cameron you fucking dumbass how did you fuck that problem up? It’s literally sooo easy— don't be mad at me you’re an idiot!” Or like “couldn’t be me, I would never be that down bad especially for a girl— with a fucking boyfriend you weirdo” to knox

SPEAKING OF now its Knox’ turn

we all know he’s a hopeless romantic but I wanna feed into it

He would be on about Chris to Charlie and he would just be like, “okay I genuinely couldn’t care less”. And then he would also read love poems, would be into Romeo and Juliet tbh, probably would imagine him as Romeo and Chris as Juliet.

I genuinely have no hcs for this man so all of these are probably ooc.. but he PROBABLY knows every type of bird to exist, he just looks like that.

“Is that an ancient murrelet!??” He would say looking at a bird sitting a couple feet away, and Neil would be like “how the fuck do you even know that”

Okay this one’s just for me to laugh at

When he was talking to Chris when they were on their way to Neil’s play, knox fell on his ass and it was a really awkward walk there; they didn’t talk and it was just really really awkward

Charlie dalton😈

Don’t get me started

This boy gets on every teacher's nerves like.. he’s just an arrogant piece of shit im sorry😭

“Mr dalton PLEASE sit down” the teacher would ask for the 15th time as Charlie would mess around, and then he would get sent to Nolan’s😭

So so bisexual like it’s insane

He flirts with Neil a lot— as a joke but he thinks Neil is attractive. He also thinks women are hot, I think he has a preference for women but will date a man without a thought. Todd definitely asked one time “are you gay?” And he would be like “I dunno— maybe for your boyfriend” and then Todd would be like “HES NOT MY BOYFRIEND I DON'T EVEN LIKE NEIL LIKE THAT” and Charlie would say “I never said Neil”

Never shuts thebfuck up

Yapper of the year award goes to Charles Dalton like im so fr, the poets love him but Jesus he talks too much😭