#soft surprise at the end

[philyuri]

i've said before that they were leaning more and more into the "plausible" half of the plausible deniability scale but like. this is It. genuinely this is It for me. spending an entire video creating stories that are NOT explicitly romantic or sexual, do not feature kissing or traditional love declarations, but ARE about dan and phil self inserts committing to living and dying together no matter what.... AND QUALIFYING THESE STORIES AS STEAMY ROMANCE? CALLING THESE SELF INSERTS PRINCE LOVERS? yeah. yeah. that's it. that's genuinely it for me. insisting that these stories are love stories is just. yeah man lmao there's nothing else to say!!!

[breezycheezyart]

"Rest..."

Soft kisses for her paladin~

Please do not repost

[delicourse]

most wonderful girl named mold

[wispurring-moss]

alright. i have held my tongue long enough but i can do it no longer.

i'm gonna something that the whippersnappers aren't going to understand & the veterans will probably take psychic damage from reading. but. consider, if you will:

Husk♦️Angel

...that's it, that's the post x'3c

[fallloverfic]

Almost 10 years later and we still FEASTIN.

I remember when this page dropped on Tuesday, July 16, 2013, and Blackenloin/Goldenheart/Goldheart/w/e shippers all collectively lost our minds. Yes, Ballister and Ambrosius are very shippable from the get-go (their hand placement on p.13, Ambrosius on p.21 to Ballister "Are you trying to make me jealous" and his otherwise flirty dialogue, Ambrosius holding Ballister's hand at the bar on p.102, plus little hints and things by Nate on Nate's tumblr), but p.126 was an outright confirmation that it wasn't just angsty and close platonic stuff (with very clingy Ambrosius) that's fun to ship but not exactly canon in the text itself (like you can read it as "oh these two had something" from the get-go but it's not exactly explicit up until this point, and it's a different experience reading the completed comic all in one go versus reading it page by page over the course of a couple years as pages release). The Director's wording, Ambrosius' little blush. Ahh, these beans.

So excited to see the movieeeee

[shunin-gumis]

Nagi On Stage SR Story Translation

Reeling in Childhood Memories (Part 1)

Thank you aca @/463ce6, myun @/myuntachis Niri @/Niri_riri and Dimi @/taatsums for helping proofread this!

Kafka: Up we go… 

Nagi: Ohh… That’s a lot of fish.

Kafka: I caught a lot more than I’d expected. I was thinking it might be a good idea to have it for dinner tonight. 

Nagi: How will you prep all these…?

Kafka: I can leave that up to the pro. Right, Ten?

Ten: Wow~ Totally saw that coming. 

Kafka: I knew I could count on you, being the son of a sushi chef~

Ten: No right to refuse, huh~ Well, it’s not like I mind. 

Nagi: …… 

Nagi: (I thought I could lend a hand, but I’ve never dealt with so many fish at once…)

Nagi: (I don’t have the chops for this… Not to mention, I’d probably just cause more trouble if I butt in. I should just sit this one out.)

Ten: …… 

Nagi: (What a beautiful cutting technique… The fish are being turned into sashimi so fast they probably don't even realize they're being filleted…) 

Kafka: Your handiwork is as impressive as always.

Ten: Well, I am the son of a sushi chef after all~

Kafka: I doubt you’d encounter any problems even if you somehow got washed up on a deserted island, so long as you’re able to catch fish there.

Ten: Ah, well, I guess? But I’d probably get sick of eating so much fish.

Nagi: (I think it’s more than enough if you can eat fish…)

Nagi: (But, a deserted island, huh… I’ve never washed up on one yet, but I can’t say it won’t happen in the future…) 

Nagi: Kafka, please teach me how to fish.

Kafka: Where did that come from?

Nagi: If I learn how to fish, then I won’t have to worry about starving to death on a deserted island, at least.

Nagi: And just like Ten-san said, I might get tired of– Well, not fish, in my case it’d be weeds. But anyways, I’d probably get sick of eating all those weeds, so it’d make a good alternative. Though honestly that’s more of a luxury to consider… 

Ten: That’s what you’re worried about?

Kafka: Ahaha! It’s a bit of a sudden request, but sounds like it could be fun, so sure! I’ll teach you. 

Kafka: I usually fish at Ooguro Hospital's pier, so how about we go there?

Nagi: Yes please. I humbly request your guidance. 

Ten: I’m done filleting them. Whatever comes next is not my problem~

Kafka: Thank you, Ten.

Nagi: And thank you for helping me come to a realization, Ten.

Ten: I don’t really get it, but good luck~

Notes:

The title has a pun hidden in it: 釣りあげたのは童心の想い出 where 童心 (doushin) means childhood/childlike innocence and 同心 (doushin) refers to people who are of the same mind (on a certain topic, etc) which could refer to them enjoying fishing together but also refer to Nagi fishing up a memory of Kafka's, literally.

Part 2

[chappellrroan]

i am my mom's daughter through & through i have her facial features her smile her tendency to never be able to say no to people if they ask for anything nicely her trait of crying when angry honestly i couldn't care less about myself or anyone at all as long as she's happy & healthy

[xlmibby]

'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger' except xiao doesn't feel like anything he went through - that endless agony and suffering that sill haunts him in the middle of the night when he closes his eyes - made him any stronger. if anything, it made him wrecked. broken. tainted with blood and pain that he doesn't seem to be able to erase.

as he's panting heavily after defeating monsters full of bad karmic energy, he can feel it, almost. that disgusting sensation etching its way deep into his bones - so deep that he slowly starts to think it's impossible to erase it. to erase all the ugliness of this pain and karma and his own past actions from the depths of his shattering heart.

darkness only sinks in, deeper and deeper. wrapping around his heart, choking his throat until he can't breathe, can't think about anything other than how much easier it would be to be erased from this world. or better, die while protecting mortals. this way, he will fulfill his oath but also erase another dangerous being full of karma from the world - himself.

lumine is nothing like him, he thinks.

after losing everything - her wings, her only family - she held closely to her heart, and going through all the pain this world has to offer, she still hopes. her eyes gleam when she helps people, the corners of her lips curl upwards at the sight of pretty sunsets. she skips a few steps when she's excited and she acts like happy small bunny who is happy to explore the world and it's mysteries (recklessly, sometimes. or at least xiao thinks she is a bit foolish - in an endearing way but still, it makes him a bit worried sometimes. it makes him want to be better so he can stay by her side and fiercely protect her heart with all his might as it was more his than his own.).

in the pale moonlight, in xiao's eyes–in the spaces bettwen his racing heartbeat and trembling exhales, she looks almost like the personification of love herself.

....how can she be so soft despite it all?

xiao knows he shouldn't dare to get closer to her, to long for any semblance of her light and presence around him... to yearn for her love, for her... he isn't sure whether he deserves it, anyway... the closure he's able to offer her might hurt her in the end, he's all too aware of that possibility and it's scaring him - just like the want for her does... lumine deserves better than to deal with someone who's more akin to a monster than to human, so unlike her...

and yet, his heart lingers there; with a girl as gentle as the moonlight and as radiant as the sunlight, whose heart is pure gold and her smile lights up his world just a little bit and makes him wish he, too, could be soft. just like her love is.

[talentforlying]

priest: i don't, ah, quite know what to say to you. if you are in such terrible danger, why are you taking it all so calmly? constantine: hmh! i dunno, father. i had a bloke beaten to a pulp earlier this evening. that sound calm to you? priest: you did what...? constantine: i must've been off me bleedin' rocker. i've never done anything like it before in me life, y'know?

constantine: but there's header gets his guts blown out, and george is stickin' his head in the noose, and helen gets ... jesus, then friggin' sarah bites me head off — ! everything's coming to bits in me hands and it's so easy to just see red and now, shit, they could've killed the tosser for all i know! and now i'm just like the bastards i've hated all me life! kill him! fire him! close them down! piss all over him! screw you, i can do whatever i want! i so much as blink and you're dead, pal! i'm in charge!! ...

constantine: 'scuse me, father. i'm always like this when i don't get me own way. — hellblazer #81, "rake at the gates of hell pt. 4"

babygirl you are just....so, sooooo offputting. (and grieving, and guilty, and terrified, but yeah: offputting.)

anyway, it's issues like this one that remind me why i kind of hesitate over some of the retcons in the recent spurrier runs, like the one with him now having opened dream's pouch of sand and stolen some before they even met. because like, it's easy enough to look at john constantine now — with 70 years of worst possible choices and unresolved trauma crystallizing underneath his skin to cover up all the soft, hopeful bits where he's used to getting hit — and assign him arbiter of ill intentions, magus of wasted potential, saint of shit choices, but man . . . he was new to this, once. he was still new to this 80 issues in.

80 issues in, and he's not used to losing friends yet; he even has time enough between catastrophes to grieve each individual one. still has enough left to live for at this stage to necessitate running and hiding, instead of bodily throwing himself at the problem like he learns to later, or sitting apathetically by to do nothing except smoke and watch the world fall apart when he finally gives up. fuck, he still apologizes.

and you're telling me this guy, this soppy wet cat motherfucker hiding from the devil in a church basement, so guilty over not knowing what happened to the guy that he paid people (paid chas, so chas could pay people) to attack that the bottle he's holding in this scene isn't even his second or third........this guy's past, more innocent self lied right to the face of DREAM OF THE ENDLESS and got away with it?

hm. i just don't know about all that.

[aheckinmess]

Elysium [Hawks] (Angst)

(One-shot 22/? in a collection of My Hero Academia one-shots posted regularly on Saturdays - and sometimes Sundays.)

Read on AO3.

Tags: Keigo Takami, Tamaki Keigo, Hawks, Original Female Character(s), Ichijiku Aoki, Tigress, Angst, Well I Say Angst But it Ended Up Fluffier Than Expected, Protective Hawks, Hawks Saves the Day, Soft Hawks, OC Falls from the Sky, I Know it Sounds Weird, But You'll Understand in Time, Hawks Has to Save Her, Also There's a Coffee Shop Involved, A Bookstore is Mentioned, Hawks Needs a Hug, OC Needs a Jacket, Hawks is a Casual Flirt, And This Surprises No One

Word Count: 1,611 words

Summary: When Ichijiku goes from reading her favorite book to falling off a building, it's obvious her day is a little topsy turvy. After being saved by Hawks, she can't get the winged wonder out of her mind. A chance encounter in a coffee shop tells her that he can't stop thinking about her, either.

Ichijiku (Tigress)

There is no doubt about how the sun felt dripping liquid serenity into my veins. Nor is there any doubt about the way I’d dove into my book to taste the delectable tale on the pages.

So it is only natural that when I open my eyes and see the bustling streets below me that I’m a little confused. Why is my body so heavy? Why am I at the top of a skyscraper? 

The questions send me into a sort of vertigo. When I lift my head from the sights below, my equilibrium swirls out of balance. One moment I’m sitting up on the ledge and the next my body tilts forward, my heart left behind as I fall over the edge.

Time seems to stall as the world whips past my line of sight. Nothing stops the twisted feeling of sludge crawling through my mind as I watch the pavement coming closer and closer, not fully comprehending the gravity of its approach. 

When a familiar red feather whips past me, the first threads of hope ripple through my limbs until Hawks' figure comes into view. This foreign yet familiar man is a sight for sore eyes as the certainty of my death abruptly slaps me in the face. 

My arms already instinctively reach for him as he stretches for me, capturing me into his arms and then smiling with such a sweet smile. A smile that often captivated the hearts of women and journalist cameras alike. His eyes hide behind a visor as I drink him in, likening him to a heavenly protector as he pulls me against his chest and banks a hard right while he redirects my fatal projection.

Whenever it's clear my life will not end - at least not today - I focus on soothing my heart rate.

"I've got you! Just hold on tight and I'll get you to safety!" He promises, the vow sinking deep into my bones and offering me respite. "Focus on breathing for me, alright? You're going to be okay!" 

His voice somehow still holds its honey-like quality even as he fights to be heard over the wind. My eyes fight against the desire to be closed again, rolling around in my head as a pair of gloved hands keeps my head steady when it’s obvious I can’t. 

We’re on the ground for a minute-long eternity before I realize it.

“Hey, come back to me, cutie pie. Focus here.” His voice and those golden-brown eyes keep my attention, and it’s obvious he clocks the moment I’m responsive again. “Good. There you are. Talk to me; does anything hurt? What’s your name?”

A soft whimper makes it past my lips. My limbs still fight to move through their slimy slumber, and dammit, I just want him to keep talking to me.

“Keep…talk…” I plead, head flopping back until he readjusts me and his other question registers. “Ichijiku.”

He chuckles and it feels like we’re in the air again, his laughter elevating me right up into the clouds. 

“I can keep talking, but you try loosening this death grip you’ve got on me in the meantime, okay?” He teases, a smirk pulling at the edges of his lips.

I blink and look at his chest, where a pair of hands clutch his aviator jacket. No, not just hands, my hands. While he calls the paramedics and coaxes me with soothing words, I work on regaining control of my fingers and extracting them from my hero’s jacket.

“Sorry.” I finally mutter, interrupting his reassurances. “I don’t know what’s wrong. My…my head.” 

“What’s wrong with your head, honey?”

“Everything feels fuzzy.” I start, opening and closing my hands agonizingly slowly. “My body is moving through sludge, it feels like.”

“Sounds like she might have been drugged.” A new voice enters the fray, and it’s not nearly as pleasant.

A tall woman approaches in a EMT uniform and shines a light in my eyes, making me wince. Electricity crackles through my skull until I’m leaning closer to Hawks again.

“I found her falling off of the Honshii building. She was barely able to hold her head up by herself when we landed.” Hawks reports, before giving a little smile and a wave to me. “I’ll leave you in these fine peoples’ capable hands, cutie. Got more people to rescue. See you on the flip side!”

“Don’t go…”

But he’s gone before the words finish leaving my mouth.

. . . . .

My physical recovery doesn’t take long, but sleeping becomes nearly impossible. I’m reassured that it’ll pass, but that seems a little silly considering the circumstances. One moment I’m reading and falling asleep, the next I’m falling off a 20-story building. 

So, the next morning I head to the coffee shop down the street.

The blast of warmth as I step inside helps soothe my tired bones. Bustling bodies clamber together in a line as order after order is placed at the counter.

When I accidentally step back into a familiar, golden-haired angel, I think I’m dreaming.

“Fancy running into you here, honey. Glad to see you’re not falling out of the sky again.” Hawks winks at my bewildered expression before his gaze softens. “How have you been?”

I’d thought that my delirious state might have accounted for the amount of comfort I felt from his voice, but even now his dulcet tones warm me more than any cup of coffee could.

“It’s been hard to sleep, but I’m alive and well.” I chuckle, stepping forward and looking up at the menu. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable that day.”

“Uncomfortable? I had a cute girl clinging to me the whole time. Can’t be more comfortable than that.” He smiles, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “If anything, I should be making sure I didn’t make you uncomfortable. Casual flirting isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s a habit of mine.”

“Oh, haha, no. If anything it helps my self-esteem coming from someone resembling an actual angel.” I rub the back of my neck and step forward to order my drink. “Can I get a large caramel frappuccino?”

“Sure thing!” The cashier replies, eyes locked on Hawks as she waves me down. “We’ll let you know when it’s ready. Hi, Hawks!”

“Hey, hey! How’s it going?” Hawks grins at the fangirling barista.

I smile and head down to the end to wait for my drink, wondering how it must feel to be recognized everywhere you go. I wonder if he ever gets tired or feels like taking a break from it all. He seems fine, but it has to be draining. 

“So, do you have any plans for the day?” He asks as he waits for his order with me.

“I’m not sure. It’s been hard to focus on much since I haven’t been sleeping well. I’m lucky my job is so fulfilling to me or I’d never get through the day.” I admit, chewing on my lip.

“I see. Where do you work?”

“I work at a local bookstore in town.”

“Ah, bookworm, I presume?”

“Guilty as charged.” I grab my drink as the barista hands it over. “I love reading and writing.”

“Think you’d like going to the pond with me? It’s the perfect reading nook.” Hawks leans against the counter on his elbow, eyes captivating behind his sunglasses.

“With…with you?” My eyes widen. “I’m not sure I’m worth the time, especially on your day off.”

“On the contrary, you’re a breath of fresh air.” He takes a sip of his coffee once it’s handed to him and tilts his head. “So, what do you say?”

“I could use some company.”

. . . . .

We’re both quiet as we crunch the autumn leaves on our way to the pond. Ducks greet us with noisy quacks as their companions loop around the pond with them. 

Between the windy breeze and my cold drink, goosebumps raise on my arms and I shiver. A moment later, the soft lining of Hawks’ aviator jacket envelops my shoulders.

“Oh, you don’t have to–”

“I insist.” Hawks says, guiding us to the edge of the dock spanning the circumference of the pond. “You seemed rather intent on stealing it when I saved you, anyway.”

I laugh at that.

“Okay, but to be fair, I wasn’t in my right mind at the time.”

“That only proves to me that you must have really wanted it. Without your inhibitions you were so eager to have me close.” He continues his taunting before he pauses at the wooden railing overlooking the lily pads. He glances at me and then over the water. “I can’t stop thinking about you, ya know? I’ve saved hundreds of people, but I’ve never had such a hard time getting someone off my mind as you.”

Blood rushes up my neck and into my cheeks, now burning from his attention.

“I, um, I’m flattered. I don’t know why you’d be so interested, but it feels good.” I manage to say, wringing my hands together as I try not to freak out. Am I still not sure I’m hallucinating because of sleep deprivation? “I’m sure you’re not surprised to know that I’ve been thinking about you, too. But honestly, it’s been more so because I cringe every time I think about how I must have looked at you when you saved me.”

“Ha! Why would you cringe about that?”

“Because when I saw you, I thought you were sent straight from heaven.” I shake my head, taking another slurp of my drink. “I must have looked so dumb.”

“No. You looked like you’d reached Elysium. And honestly?” Hawks tilts my face towards him. “I thought I had, too.”

Want More Hawks? Try: Hide & Seek Pt. 1

[bl-inkstone]

traveler, wait! it's dangerous to go alone, so have some zhongli thoughts for company!

i think life with zhongli as your significant other would be best described as the love behind every little action and gesture the two of you make. even with all the years you've spent at each other's side (either married or just simply together), the romance never dies. but it shifts and goes through changes, like stone giving way to the gentle embrace of time.

one such example is when the love shared between you calms into something that can blend in with the walls of your home. it matches the color of your curtains, the painted flowers on cups left on your tea table, the clothbound books and scrolls tucked away into the red cedar scroll shelf you had diligently sought after and haggled for when your lover had mentioned it once in passing. it's in the crinkle of your eyes in the morning when you sit at your table together and eat. it's in the shape of his smile when he returns from his work in the funeral parlor to you and the home you've made together.

when you grind ink for him while he works beside you, or comb and tie his hair for him in the morning when sleep still clings to the edges of his eyes. when he combs and washes your hair for you in soothing baths, or leans down to massage the stress of the day away from your tense shoulders when you come back home to him.

acts of service that don't really feel like acts of service — not to zhongli or you. gestures of devotion seem like a more apt term, now, when love is so ingrained in your lives that the word can no longer be used to describe it. you've turned the word from noun to adjective, from adjective to action. love is such a small word for such a boundless concept, but you manage to fit it in every word, every action, and every day leaves zhongli helpless and wondering in the dead of night of what to do with all the love he holds in his hands, specially made just for you.

it's a song and dance he can never quite stray from. even when his heart calms in the daytime and he can look at you with all the assuredness of a lover that loves and knows he is loved in return, all five thousand years of wisdom leaves him when night comes and you're asleep in his arms. he has loved plenty in his long lifetime. friends, family, even past lovers that he can only maybe recall when he can recognize a quirk or quality present in you. but it's in your presence that zhongli remembers that even an archon can become just a man weak to the war between heart and mind. what good is five thousand years of wisdom when it can't tell him what to do with all the love he has for you? how can he show it without scaring you away? you know who he is and you've said time and time before that it doesn't scare you, that you love him no matter what form or identity he takes but what if —

you shift in your sleep and all thoughts cease as he swiftly readjusts his hold as to not disturb you any further. in the dark of your room, zhongli counts each breath and beat of your heart and wills his own to match the tempo of yours. in the morning, he'll reprimand himself for entertaining such foolish thoughts while you hum and converse in front of your shared vanity. he'll share these thoughts with you as he always has, and you'll put down your comb and grace his face with crystalfly kisses as you always have in return. your routine shifts to make room for assurance during the times when he needs it, and the same goes for him when you speak your own fears and doubts as well.

it's part of the comfort of your life together, as strange as it may sound, that you live with all the joys and lows your love brings. sometimes, he wishes he can give you more and do away with all his mortal doubts completely, but a moment of contemplation reveals that it is exactly these doubts that make the softer aspects your lives shine all the more brighter. is this why you allow yourself to feel all your emotions, rather than push back and try to reason them away? is this why you've always placed so much importance in letting him know that should he ever need it, your shoulder is his to lean on? zhongli understands the rationale behind it and has given similar advice to mortals he's met before, of course, but it seems that even he is not immune to the irrationality of the heart. there is much wisdom to still be learned, he concedes. five thousand years is no match for an emotion that has existed since the dawn of teyvat, after all.

time doesn't completely erase all the insecurities of a man who has loved and lost so many in his long lifetime, but zhongli finds that he doesn't entirely mind. come trials and tribulations, he'll stand firm and weather it so long as he can keep holding your hand through it all.

[sysig]

Introducing Spinster Pepper!! 💕

I got a few pictures of him eating as well, under the cut if you’d rather not see!

You can see just how tiny he is here lol - he’s in his food enclosure, aka a salt/pepper shaker hehe ♥

I don’t know why he pulled the mealworm up the wall with him, he caught it on the floor of the shaker lol

Probably the best shot I have of his abdomen - look at those beautiful markings! 💖

World’s most wonderful little hunter <3

[maudlxne]

I would also like to add to that post.

I am SO WEAK for angry asshole muses that are weak and soft for one ( 1 ) whole person. Especially the unexpected shy / awkward sweetheart or loud obnoxious human being.

Wonderful for fiction - horrible irl .

[hua-fei-hua]

today i learned that we weebs are responsible for the existence of the .ass file type. #heritage

[alongtidesoflight]

.

[waywardsalt]

there is undeniable opportunity to make bellum x linebeck fucked up but i dont have it in me. im a sucker for it just being fine with a side of like. light nautical crimes against nature but i cant make it toxic or w/e after a certain point. theyre chilling