#something or other about cobra feeling a lot of things but not being very emotive

[moonsvillain]

something or other about both cobra and yamato projecting noboru onto chiharu but with yamato that manifests as him wanting to protect chiharu vs cobra avoiding him and not wanting to get involved (only for his real feelings to come out when he's drunk) (slapping chiharu for good luck the way he used to do noboru and hugging him after deciding he's fit for sannoh)

[anystalker707]

take a look at my girlfriend

Pairing: Nefertari Vivi x [gender-neutral] Reader Summary: SFW and NSFW headcanons about dating Vivi! Tags: very sweet ! / she's so lovely / vague but i can write oneshots if requested

requested by anon ["Could I request a Vivi relationship headcannon both sfw and nsfw for a male S/O Please and thank you"]

MASTERLIST

• Vivi is naturally overly protected, so it takes a while until her family finally accepts you and lets you go around without keeping an eye on you 24/7. She tries her best to reassure you it’s okay; she loves you so much and doesn’t want to see you get scared away just because of it, but you already knew that when you decided to date a princess

• Everyone (Cobra, Chaka, Pell, etc.) asks you a thousand questions, narrowing their eyes at you or side-eyeing you, but it’s just before they treat you like family as well. It also includes getting Karoo’s approval, of course. She’s a little nervous and awkward about it in the beginning, but she ends up getting annoyed after some point because they just don’t seem to accept you’re safe (even if she understands their point)

• Vivi’s a busy person, of course, but that doesn’t mean she won’t try to make time for you—she will make sure to keep free time in her schedule for dates or simply hanging out with you, sharing a meal in the castle, or resting together. She loves sweet dates like going for a walk while holding hands or picnics, so she isn’t exchanging that for anything

• Even if she can’t manage some free time for you, she will make sure to take you with her everywhere (being her partner is a full-time job), whether it’s for emotional support, help, or just to be there with her in general

• It also means you need to know how to fight or just improve what you already know (you need to protect yourself and Vivi), so you’ll have to train hard. It’s tiring and takes a lot of effort, but it’s needed and very rewarding. Vivi will always be waiting for you at the end of the day to say how she’s proud of you, cupping your face and kissing your lips. Sometimes, she lets you know that without saying it—curling up in your arms when she is apprehensive or glancing at you at the slightest risk of danger, showing how much she trusts your protection and cares about you, of course

• Vivi is extremely loving. She will always make sure she is giving you enough attention and love, always give you pecks on the cheek and hugs, even if she’s in a rush for something else because a little second with her partner is never lost

• She is the type to talk problems out, but you have to work for that. She won’t admit things in the beginning, just trying to bottle up feelings and push through the problems, but she will eventually learn how to deal with things better later on because she wants the relationship to be as healthy as possible

• Absolutely loves it when you praise her. Vivi will be all proud and mushy when you compliment her speech or even how nice she looked in some public event. She also loves knowing you enjoy her cuddles and the way she plays with your hair and takes care of you. It makes her proud of herself for being able to care for you in the right way

• Long night talks with Vivi when she finally returns to her bedroom. She will sit on her bed and let you brush her hair or rub her back while she tells you about her day or reasons with you about an ongoing problem

• She just loves the quality time in general, whether it be working alongside each other or playing with her hair while she reads. Either way, she is always melting in your arms whenever she gets the opportunity, clinging to you or sitting on your lap with her arms around your neck

• Matching jewelry with you. She will ask to have jewelry crafted with your initials engraved on the golden surface or keep lockets with pictures of you two inside it

• Vivi is quite possessive, as well. If she spots someone else flirting with you, she knows you won’t give them any attention, but it doesn’t avoid the inconvenience. She will be grabbing your hand and quickly introducing herself as your girlfriend, sticking to your side the whole time. She will be all proud when you wrap an arm around her waist and accept her actions

• Vivi might find it cute when you’re jealous, but seeing you jealous is a rare sight because she just doesn’t give you reasons to feel like that. Someone’s flirting with her? She will either dismiss them or rush to your side

• Vivi will always wear the stuff you give her, whether it is a new pen, a ring, or a hijab (also stick to your opinion about what she should wear). She demonstrates how much she values you by also valuing everything you give her, and also the things that are important to you (catch her making sure she can be there for you in your special moments no matter the appointment she has scheduled for the same time, and she will also ask the others to provide the best things for your needs or your hobbies)

• Supportive girlfriend 100%. Will be there for you no matter what

• Don’t try to decide things for her or anything—Vivi is very independent, and she will learn how to ask for help when she needs to, but the trick is not to make her feel like she isn’t self-sufficient. The mutual respect and recognition are some of the things she values the most

• Either way, Vivi will need support once in a while. She will get in a quieter mood, with a sad or longing expression on her face, and all she will need is long hugs and a comforting presence, not even words. Just looking after her will be just right for Vivi, helping her with whatever she is going through

• She’s not shy to admit she wishes to marry you as it becomes a more frequent subject in the castle, since she’s getting older and is the only heir to the crown. Of course, you’ll get a few side-eyes at first, but it’ll be acceptable; you’re part of the family already, anyway, they trust you

.𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟.

NSFW hcs

• You two probably have your first time with each other, having known each other since you were younger. The first times were laced with nervousness and insecurity, but you learn how to please each other. She’s all shy at first, but once she gets the hang of it…

• Sex with her either is all sweet and passionate love-making or deep into a kink. Vivi is usually the one who brings up new stuff that she is curious about and wants to try, and her favorite stuff usually involves bondage. There’s something about being tied up and to your mercy that turns Vivi on so much. Hands tied to the headboard as you please her or tied behind her back as her face presses to the mattress—she loves all of it

• Balance of dominance between you two, unless you’re doing something that requires the unbalance

• She likes being praised and worshiped, having your hands run along her skin while you bathe her in praises, giving love to each inch of her skin. It makes her melt as her heart flutters, but also makes pride swell in her chest as she offers herself more to you. Kiss her hands, her collarbones, her breasts, her stomach, her thighs, calves, shoulders. Everywhere.

• Vivi enjoys giving as much as she receives, always ensuring you’re okay. If she can, she will pull you down for passionate kisses that aren’t just due to the urgency and seeking pleasure, but just wanting to touch you in general, to express her love through the slow make-out session

• Sometimes all Vivi needs after a long day dealing with Alabasta’s stuff is a relaxing shower and good sleep, but other times, what she really needs is your head between her legs: she also loves receiving and giving oral—she will play with your hair while you eat her out, praising you between moans, making sure to let you know how well you’re doing on pleasing her like that. The most delicious moans will come from her as she arches her back and rolls her hips on your tongue when you’re with her thighs over your shoulders, feasting on her. Sometimes, on the other hand, she will be pulling you with her into empty rooms in the castle to give you a little treat, wide eyes looking up at you as she wraps her lips around you and brushes a strand of hair behind her ear

.𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟.

[agent13thepretender]

I wrote this a loooooong time ago and just never posted it. Cobra Kai in general has always given me early 2000s Power Rangers vibes. Like I keep waiting for a monster or a Megazord to appear. Like imagine a Giant Kreese stomping all over the valley? Hilarious! Anyway, here’s my take on which character would be which Ranger, updated of course because of the new season.

Miguel - Red Ranger

The one who started it all. Confidence growing as his skills did. He’s a leader with a strong moral compass. Despite being mislead a few times he ultimately tries to do what’s right and just. Miguel is quick for action when something is going down. Others in his group look to him on how to proceed in any given situation. His fighting style is equal parts passion and discipline. He will not accept defeat but will extend mercy when it’s clear he’s won.

Eli - Blue Ranger to Indigo Ranger

Former bullied kid. Former baddie. Total badass. He started out as a Blue Ranger due to coming across as a second in command to Miguel. Due to being corrupted by Kreese, I think Blue is a little to clean for Eli. Indigo is one of the Ranger colors reserved for rangers who start at a dark place and eventually switch to fight for the light whilst staying true to who they are. Eli is an example and a cautionary tale. He’s proof that redemption is possible. He is a strong leader and passionate. His fighting style does have a brutality to it but in recent seasons has learned to restrain himself. He does well as a second in command to anyone he holds in high regard.

Demetri - Non Ranger to Blue Ranger

Probably loves being on this list until he realizes that Power Ranger stuff is dangerous. He’s on the edges of the karate drama but eventually gets pulled in. Feeling he has no choice, he involves himself fully to protect himself and to aid his friends. Whilst not being a strong fighter he has a strong heart and mind. He’s grounding in unbelievable situations. Loyal and faithful in his friends no matter which path they fall in. His philosophy for fighting is only when completely necessary.

Sam - Pink Ranger

Words to live by: Respect the Pink. Sam has the soft and graceful nature most Pink Rangers are known for whilst still having an unexpected strength to them. She is stubborn and it takes a lot to get her to budge on some things. Kind and compassionate but not easy to get over a grudge. Despite her shortcomings, she strives for understanding between her peers and within herself. She is open to new styles and combines them to maximize her chance for success. To the ones she loves, she will protect them til the end.

Tory - Yellow Ranger

Yellow Rangers are tenacious and hard working and Tory is no exception. Tory isn’t afforded softness and mercy, she must be sharp and hard. She is territorial and will protect what’s her’s with all the ferocity and power she has. She gives it her all. Her strong sense of integrity and struggle make her a hard worker and very skilled. She is not without a empathy or a sense of right and wrong. Her style is precise and devastating, with a great skill of resourcefulness. A great asset to anyone who has earned her trust and respect.

Robbie - Specialty Dark Ranger to Green Ranger

Now when I say Green Ranger, I mean Tommy Oliver level Green Ranger. Iykyk. Something about Robbie or maybe just Tanner Buchanan seems so silently powerful. A soft power almost. He’s patient, observant and rarely strikes first. He has wide knowledge of various styles due to being taught by various senseis. He’s strongly empathetic and is heavily guided by his emotions. His wondering from place to place and delinquency, previous seasons (especially season 1) and subsequent influence by Kreese and Silver gave him a darker energy. I think once he came to terms with himself at the end of season 4 (after witnessing how he negatively influenced Kenny Payne) his Green Ranger Era Began. His style was previously well disciplined but brutal. He now has a more controlled, even style of fighting with just as much passion but with plenty of hard earned restraint. And despite his history, you won’t find anyone with a purer heart.

Johnny - Veteran Red Ranger

Probably the most chaotic and irresponsible Red Ranger but definitely a Red Ranger. Johnny is a leader no matter how you look at it. More so a leader of action versus strategy but still a leader. His methods are questionable but he guarantees results. His intentions are not always clear but he undoubtedly cares for others deeply, including his students. He is passionate, protective, stubborn, and a bit unaware of himself. His fighting style is powerful, precise and brutal. Remember this man really loves the people he loves. You mess with one of his, he’ll mess you up worse.

Daniel - Veteran Blue Ranger

Yeah I feel this doesn’t need much explanation. Wise, discipline, strong moral compass, integrity, passion, lead by emotions, and a leader. His passion, moral compass, and emotions can sometimes blind him and carry him away. He fights not just for himself but for his students, friends, and his family. He is stubborn in his ideals but upon seeing reason is open to new ideologies. His fighting style is restrained with years of discipline but not lacking in power. He may not always get it right but you can count on him to mean well.

Chozen - Former Bad Guy to Veteran Black Ranger

Chozen was a bit difficult to decipher because he was a bad guy until he was brought back in Cobra Kai. He’s wise but also very silly with a young heart and soul. He was as bad as you could get and now he’s the first to offer a helping hand or fist. Despite his goofy antics, his presence can be very grounding in times of conflict. On the flip side he could also be the first to attack without being fully informed. He’s loyal and gracious to those who have given him a second chance. His fighting style is a mix between Johnny and Daniel - equal amounts brutality and hard earned discipline.

[valleykarate]

“ okay. time for a break, yeah? let’s stop for now, catch a breath, we can come back to it later. ” harper

harper sits cross-legged on the grass beside the little potted bonsai tree robby had placed in front of her, her small fingers gripping the pruning shears tightly with a grip strength that a five-year-old definitely shouldn't be able to exhibit—she's a bit nervous, & her eldritch side is ultimately helping her grip strength become a lot stronger. the sun filters through the leaves above their heads, casting shadows on her face. the sound of flowing water from the koi pond helps sooth her, just a little bit. she looks up at her dad, her brown eyes wide with worry, a suitably small pair of wings fluttering behind her, blowing the bonsai tree around a bit. this is the first time she's ever trying to cut a bonsai tree, so she's very much doubting her abilities. papa & dad & mommy & dada & mama make it look so super-duper easy! not to mention, all of her grandparents, aunts & uncles, too! they're, like, the best at it, but harper's not.

"what if i mess it up?" she asks softly, biting her lip. "what if the tree gets all... all funny looking?" she hesitates, glancing at the little tree, then back at robby. the fear of getting it "wrong" wraps around her like a heavy blanket. she's relieved that no one is here to make fun of her, it's just her & her dad at the dojo right now. papa could definitely beat up uncle hawk if he laughed at her—she had once overheard her uncle seth call him a "shithead" when uncle seth was in that bad dojo... cobra kai, or something like that? don't get her wrong, she likes her uncle hawk, but she's still a little shy around him. she also doesn't know what that "shithead" word means, but it sounds cruel. she'd heard some pretty dis... discon-art-ting... disconcerting stories.

"i don't want you to be mad at me if i mess up," she whispers, her voice quivering slightly. a tear forms in the corner of her eye. she really doesn't want to disappoint him. "but, um, if i do, i'm sorry..." she mumbles, nervously wiggling her legs a little bit, her pupils flashing an inhuman green color, signaling how nervous she is.

"okay. time for a break, yeah? let's stop for now, catch a breath; we can come back to it later," @taughtpain says gently.

harper nods, trying to hold back her tears as she places the tool down next to her. she begins to fidget with her fingers, avoiding eye contact with robby. she knows henry would be really sad to see her crying, & so would papa. she really loves spending time with robby & learning new things, but the thought of disappointing one of her parents—& one of her heroes—makes her heart ache. her emotional feedback loop that she'd inherited from papa makes her very sensitive to her own emotions as well as others. so maybe it is a good idea that they take a break.

with a soft whimper, & blinking back more tears, harper suddenly climbs into robby’s lap, curling up against her dad, her tiny arms wrapping around his body. she buries her face into his chest, sniffling softly as she tries to steady her breathing. her tears wet his shirt, & she feels bad about that.

"dad, is grandpa cobra gonna call me a crybaby for... being... nervous?" she asks quietly. grandpa cobra is, of course, johnny. she thinks he's intense, & the idea of him calling her names makes her even more anxious. "maybe..." she sniffles, her voice muffled by the material of his shirt, "maybe you can show that silly bon-say... ban-sai... bonsai tree who the bestest dad in the world is. can you?"

[keeneschoices]

I mean, maybe it's just the impression I got but this scene doesn't work PRECISELY because they're never there for each other. I find it incredibly difficult to believe that anyone who got emotional in this scene felt that way because of the team and not the headcanons or the show ending.

They are barely ever there for each other, save for when they took Silver's Cobra Kai down - and maybe Miguel, Hawk and Demetri in the first season and a half - and least of all this whole season, so that's, to me at least, why many didn't connect with this scene.

Robby went the entire season practically alone because EVERYONE was blaming him for having feelings and being heartbroken over his relationship being on a pause and truly had his whole TEAM against him.

Sam barely interacted with anyone aside from when they were arguing and a few small scenes with Robby, Devon, Miguel and Tory - and a lot of those were also when they were fighting.

Demetri and Hawk went THE ENTIRE SEASON fighting and didn't really talk much to anyone else for any good purposes.

Miguel's only actual scenes were with Robby and Johnny and most of them were also them arguing about something - and he is supposed to be one of the main characters.

Devon and Kenny, I'll not even talk about it, it's so clear to me they're not "part of the group" and not only because they're newer characters. Devon's only bonds are with Kenny and Tory - though they tried to make something there with Sam, but that also fell flat precisely because they got two good scenes, then argued, then NEVER TALKED AGAIN -, and Kenny's are with Devon and Robby - which were more explored and I definitely feel like they are the ones that feel more genuine. Maybe he also has some sort of bond with Anthony now, but that's way too new to consider and Anthony wasn't even there for the scene so it doesn't matter. Oh, and he too had some of the team against him WHILE HE WAS ALREADY ON THE TEAM (Hawk and Demetri, I'm glaring at you right now).

And like, writing and logically-wise, I'd say it also doesn't work because of the whole "one last fight together" sentence. Like ?????. They only did have one fight together - the end of s5 - because I don't feel like it would mean anything better If he were talking about the fights they had against each other (because what a terrible thing to remember in an attempt to try and motivate your team - "yeah, remember when we all fought one another at the school riot and my stepbrother got into a fucking coma?? good times😍😍"). The wr*ters were very much leaning towards the audience with that one, but it felt empty because they never take the chance to truly explore relationships besides the romantic ones on this show, and that's one of it's biggest weaknesses.

That scene where Miyagi-Do is coming back together in the locker room felt so empty. Like what. There's a lot of factors playing into that I'm sure but for me the most obvious one is that I don't buy that most of these people are even friends. Like obvi I think that they would be and I like to headcanon and write fic about it but that's never been shown to me. "Last time fighting together." Please, people of Tumblr elaborate on why this scene doesn't work. Or was I just not locked in?

[keeneschoices]

I'm begging the Cobra Kai writers to give us the fluffiest, corniest, most adorable and insufferably cute Keenry moments in s6!

they can still have badass moments, together and on their own, but take one look at them and tell me they don't deserve to just be happily in love for a moment (or a season)!

I want them flirting while sparring (like it was implied in that one scene in 4x10)!

I want them being protective over each other!

I want them calming each other down in stressful moments!

I want them to always be communicating after everything that happened between them!

I want them having lots of inner jokes (like probation or how easily they could kick each other's asses If they wanted to)!

I want Robby always complimenting Tory on something, both because he knows it gets her flustered and because he knows she deserves to know she's incredible (and her only response being "shut up, idiot" as she turns her head to keep him from seeing her blush)!

I want Tory being incredibly sweet and gentle with him in a way no one has seen her be before and everyone else be like ???? while Robby is just like "she's always been like that, you just haven't got to know her too well yet" while smiling at her!

I want them always finding a way to connect to each other whenever they are in the same room together, let that be a kiss, a hug, them holding hands, smiling at each other or just having a lot of eye contact because they can get each other just by looking at one another!!!

(look at the crumbles I'm willing to accept, yikes)

I want Robby calling Tory "Tor" but also pet names like "honey" and "my love" and Tory, not being a very pet-name kind of person, being the only one who can call him "Robs"!

I want their fucking "I love you" moment to either be something huge and breathtaking because they are each finally in relationship with someone that loves them for them and doesn't have eyes for anybody else but them, or just be the simplest, most natural thing in the world that just comes out at the right time because yes, they're in love, isn't that common knowledge by now? (even though they do get a little emotional with it still, because it is a big deal for both characters, knowing their relationship history, whether they like it or not)!

I want them having many family moments with Kenny and Devon and actually act like they're their parents ("these kids are gonna give me gray hair soon" "as long as you don't start a karate business to try and take over the world, I think that’s not too bad, Tor" "damn, that was exactly what I was thinking of doing" "naturally")!

I want Johnny annoying the living shit out of Tory in regards of her relationship with his son just to mess with her and Robby being like "holy shit, my girlfriend might murder my dad, who I just made up with" but she's actually only a bit annoyed and overall happy that she gets to have these interactions!

I want a fucking double date, alright? A double date that ends well and without any fights! While I don't really ship Samguel, I don't dislike them either and would love If the four of them could have a few hours to themselves without any jealousy, any insults and having them just be in love and happy their rivalries are mostly over (but pls don't let it be in Golf 'N Stuff! I love that place and I think it would be the perfect set-up for a double date with these four, but it's been overused and I'm kind of tired of it)!

I want to see Robby spending time at Tory's house and spending time with her brother, who loves him very much so, and maybe her mother!

I want the roller-skating/skateboarding date I talked about after s4 dropped (If you were here by then, you know what I'm talking about)!

I want them being domestic together! Like, have a scene where Tory wakes up without anyone by her side in bed and she gets a dreadful feeling that Robby just up and left, but then she smells something good coming from the kitchen and when she goes over there, she sees Robby in a cute little apron someone gave her as a gift (which she has barely even used), making them and Brandon breakfast! And then she has to go to work and he has to go to the dojo earlier but neither of them want to go so they just clinge to each other a little longer before parting! And to add the cherry on top of the cake, have a scene in which he gets to Tory's house before her and gets in (because he obviously has the keys), and when she gets home after work and after picking up her brother in school, she immediately says "honey, I'm home" as a joke and because she knows he would already be there. And he is! He is either on the couch, relentlessly scrolling through his phone, or talking to Tory's mom to spend more time with her and get a few good stories from his girlfriend's childhood, or cooking them all dinner!

I want a whole fucking fanfic of Keenry in s6! Is that too much to ask for?

(I know I won't get most, If any, of this but a girl can dream, right?)

(add onto the list If you'd like, all ideas are welcome)

[variousqueerthings]

a long text about something that some people have been able to say in simple sentences

or

Johnny may be a betrayal of character arc, but Daniel is a betrayal of themes

Okay, first thing here is that I said before that it was going to be hard for me to explain why I have such mixed feelings about Daniel’s arc in s5, because there’s so much tying into his story, and that’s sort of it, right? back to basics, this is Daniel’s story, because everything connects to him in the end -- which means that anything else that doesn’t work ties back to what I struggle with in his story.

So I will make the choice here to try and leave the other characters (except for Miyagi a bit) out of it as far as is possible for someone like me. Because otherwise this would end up becoming an essay about the whole flipping show and how all the characters mirror back at Daniel, who is the carrier of the Legacy (both in-show and out-of-show)

Secondly, apologies to @gjdraws I can no longer tell what you said and what I said, but just assume that these are not all entirely my words -- there is probably also a bunch I read on others’ posts, apologies for the repetition you’re very smart people! -- generally apologies for the repetition in the text, I try my best, I’m not being graded on this

Third thing is that while I may occasionally be talking character arc, a lot of what I’m speaking to here is what I think about theme. Technically there are character beats that on their own could be cool, but as a whole are incoherent, because they haven’t been earned and/or are couched in Cobra Kai’s issues with Theme

Fourth thing is to acknowledge (speaking of themes) that some people in this fandom called that the show doesn’t like Miyagi season/s ago, and I in my sweet naivety internally went “no, surely not – they may not completely understand the ethos that created Miyagi’s character, but they’re trying to grapple with it. Daniel’s whole story after all is figuring out how to handle the enormity of Miyagi’s legacy passed onto him and how to honour it and what his philosophy of pacifism and non-violence means for his own life, especially now he’s faced with a recurrence of the stories that led him to Miyagi in the first place” *takes deep breath*

So, at this point, I concede… the show really doesn’t like Miyagi, in the sense that it thinks his philosophy and the narrative that led to that philosophy is quaint and naive and silly (and not cool) at best... and I think once I get this out of my system, maybe I’ll be able to get back into the bits of it that I like playing with, the stuff it promised and set-up -- a lack of pay-off doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of interesting Stuff.

SO LET’S GET INTO SOME STUFF:

I’ve started calling it “The Tension of Daniel” – namely, how do white straight cis men of a certain Type who love the sports drama coming-of-age movie The Karate Kid come to terms with their main character being a skinny little mouthy kid who isn’t like Rocky or all those other guys who deserve to win because… well, look at those muscles! (Shhh, never mind that Rocky is about love, it’s his muscles!)

That Tension exists aaaaall the way through Cobra Kai, as many of us have called on numerous occasions. Daniel inhabits a role often given to female leads. His emotions are denied or made out to be ridiculous or hysterical. He “pretends” to have the moral high-ground, but he’s actually hypocritical as compared to the salt-of-the-earth direct talks-with-his-fists Johnny Lawrence. He’s just not quite as “cool” in his messiness and feelings. He is simply not as much of A Man in the “heroic lead of an American franchise type” as is comfortable. But of course he’s also not a woman (somethingsomething witness gender-essentialism in action).

Now the problem with Daniel not being as cool as Johnny (who has the decency to at least get blackout drunk and punch things when he feels things), is that he’s also one of the two heroes and he and Johnny are meant to find common ground. He’s the person with the most story backing him up (which means that in earlier seasons when his POV isn’t being respected by other characters we can fall back on the movies and remind ourselves why he’s reacting in xyz ways, even if the show itself doesn’t grace the audience with that perspective).

THE WRITERS DON’T LIKE DANIEL (YEAH YEAH WE KNOW):

-- Here’s where, instead of writing another 2000 words, I would redirect you to multiple posts written about how while Johnny’s narrative went from trying to deconstruct his story, Cobra Kai instead fell for how cool it was for everything to be solved with violence, provided it was at the right moment. (I have written several and I warrant you currently can’t spit in the Johnny Lawrence tag without coming across many more).

That ethos is the same for Daniel now, except rather than thinking he’s cool (they don’t) and that being the flaw in their writing him, they’re trying to “fix” him, to make him a more comfortable character for them.

Which means that by the end of this story Daniel isn’t trying to do what he seems to have been trying to do for the entire rest of it (including much of season 5!!!!) -- trying to understand Miyagi’s philosophy and reconstruct it for his own understanding of the world, while grieving him and honouring him, while also having the pain of the events that initially brought him to Miyagi dredged up, except this time without his help – it’s to see that what he really needs to solve his issues is to finally be a fucking man about them.

And for much of season five, this isn’t even the case: For the first half Terry Silver stalks and terrifies Daniel on multiple occasions. Several people have talked about the ways it appears sexual, like an abusive ex, like Daniel is framed in a way women often are – physically completely overwhelmed and disbelieved and/or minimized almost regardless of whom he goes to, and unable to speak about what he’s going through (almost like a survivor). @jenpsaki and @bobakick and @youandthemountains and @deputychairman (I’m sure there are others).

The difference between Daniel-now and Daniel-of-previous-seasons is that much of the menace is being shown onscreen (at last!) so Daniel is seemingly being validated by the narrative (at last!) -- here the obvious point that never is Daniel given the opportunity to really... talk about it. And he likely never will, because it’s all handled now, right?

Please let me know who pointed out the fascinating gendered role-reversal of Amanda disbelieving Daniel until Jessica backs up his narrative + actually gets to say a hell of a lot more than Daniel ever does.

But at the end of the story he wins against Terry in a fight, total role-reversal of episode 5, his wife and kids (family) watching on – no Johnny of course, not even Chozen. They weren’t important to Daniel’s journey I guess. They’re not “really” family in this context.

He’s risen above his original writing where he was wishy-washy and annoying and cared about complex conflict resolutions and he’s met Johnny halfway (which would be idk… still an alcoholic who’s trying to make it work I guess, but crucially correct when he thought that violence was the answer all along, even though that was what his story was meant to be deconstructing).

COOL DANIEL

I think this Very Cool Scene of Daniel finally winning comes at the cost of everything that makes him interesting to fans like us to begin with – all the unpalatably non-traditional-masculine traits that have made him up since day one: His pursuit of non-violence even when that’s a struggle, his complicated way of expressing his emotions, his lack of need to prove his masculinity in order to be worthy, and his past as a victim of others’ needs to prove the same, and a man who made him believe for a brief moment that he was special and how dealing with the aftermath of that + return of that man has sent him to some bad places that he’s trying to be honest about himself with. If anything he’s the character who is most self-aware (and most hyper-critical) of his own ability to make bad choices sometimes.

And despite Daniel’s new upgrade into masculinity-a-dude-audience-can-finally-root-for, the initial Tension is still there throughout most of the season: in the way that he’s never ever given a scene to properly talk about any of it in his own words (well, in s4 I guess but we never saw it so RIP -- sidenote I do want to know how many monologues Johnny gets vs Daniel) and in the way he doesn’t have the power to tell the story on his terms/drive the narrative (in the first half this makes sense – he’s on the back-foot, he doesn’t know how to defeat Silver, he wants to be protected, but in the last episode???):

In the last episode, Mike, Chozen, and Johnny decide to randomly attack Silver without Daniel’s consent (and don’t even end up bringing Daniel along). They set in motion the events that lead to the fight, not Daniel, not even Silver. There’s nothing that has happened thus far that suggests Daniel has recovered from what’s happened to him -- I acknowledge here the callback to Miyagi scene and getting to train with Johnny and Chozen, but none of that is about facing his fear. It’s a good step to something that could pay-off later, but it never does because Johnny and Chozen aren’t there in the final episode -- never mind come to the conclusion that the way to really take down Silver is to beat him up. He doesn’t have a say over where that confrontation happens.

On the surface he’s victorious, but narratively he’s really just following the beats set out by everyone else, right up until the last Moment when he magically defeats Terry, because now it’s decided he’s allowed to.

WHICH BRINGS ME TO MIYAGI:

I know some people made their peace seasons ago that whatever Miyagi mattered to the original narrative is almost entirely absent from this one, and maybe that’s what I need to do to start the process of doing surgery on this show to make it work for me.

But before I can do that, I have to ask what the hell is the point of Daniel’s journey? If it’s not about finding his way to Miyagi’s lessons? If it’s not to find a way to face the fears that have been haunting him for 35 years, which Miyagi was trying to help him with? If it’s not for Miyagi’s legacy to influence the whole darn narrative from beyond the grave, but most strongly through Daniel, his adopted son?

Taking the idea that “one day Daniel will do karate his way” is one thing, but it doesn’t apply to what’s happening in the final fight, because Daniel isn’t fighting to understand himself or what Miyagi meant or anything Miyagi-related. The story isn’t answering this conceit, it’s talking about something completely different with the fight, Miyagi-as-theme has looong abandoned the building.

So why does Daniel have to solve his problems this way? What is it thematically (not “deservedly” not “coolness-factor” but simply what questions does it answer?)

Is Miyagi-do too weak a philosophy for Daniel to find himself in? Is violence to solve your problems only wrong if it’s the bad guys doing it, but fine if practically the exact same things are done by the good guys at the right time? – and especially LaRusso who before this came off as a bit as a pansy, despite his (much more thematically interesting) fight against Kreese, but now he’s proved he’s just as good a fighter as Terry Silver, which was what he really always needed to get over his fear

At the end neither Johnny nor Chozen (and I would say it ought to have been Johnny, but I would have taken Chozen) were even there to support him in any meaningful way, so it’s not really about the family you make and their helping you stand up on your feet.

Nobody’s honking anyone’s noses anymore.

Nobody’s stepping out of the way to let the aggressor punch the glass in their own blind rage.

No mercy was in fact the correct philosophy, Kreese was right from the get-go, his problem was just that he was the bad guy. Thank goodness now the good guys are enacting it -- violence, if done by the right people, is good after all

CONCLUSION:

Daniel, to me, is the most embedded example of what Cobra Kai does over and over, which is taking a narrative that’s thematically pointing in a particular direction, and then veering last minute into a completely different conclusion, usually what they consider more visually spectacular – that is to say, a fight

Daniel was given so much to work with this season and the conclusion of his arc: beat the other man until he can’t get up again.

If anything this show is an ouroboros. It started eating its own themes in sacrifice of “badass fight scene after badass fight scene” until it could no longer write characters who don’t solve their problems with violence, because then it would have to admit that its growing reliance of violence as a tool to show any character growth was in direct opposition to its original themes of exploring and deconstructing the very violence it now presents without question… until all you’re left with is Daniel, who completes his character arc through violence

---

SOME NOTES

1. there’s also a separate thing pointed out to me by GJdraws, where Carmen is the only character who never enacts violence and is weak and Daniel is weak until he enacts violence, at which point he becomes badass

2. another point I loosely made about Sam on her post, which was that she wants to “leave karate” to find herself but the narrative pulls her back in, because if Sam wasn’t doing karate it wouldn’t be able to think of something for her to do at all (one symptom of the ouroboros).

3. funnily enough, despite overall hating far more of Johnny’s arc this season, he actually got to have the catharsis I was hoping for Daniel and for him: when he fought Kreese in s3 he did it out of rage and fear and oh so many mixed emotions and he lost (he lost because Robby was following right in his footsteps and he accidentally hurt him), and then later on he got beaten up again by Terry, in front of Kreese. His winning moment is telling Kreese in prison that he’s going to erase everything about him – and at that moment he’s supported by Daniel, just like he was during his fight with him – that’s some good subversion of the roles the two of them play

4. amazingly, I managed to stick to my guns and not bring Terry into this beyond certain bits, but it’s not lost on me that after episode five he does... basically nothing. He opens some dojos and hires a strict sensei and trains some kids, but he doesn’t actually enact any massively evil plans, he just waits around until some drunk guys break into his home. it would have been easy to run with what’s already there and have him spiral into his own maw (was that not what ouroboros was meant to be about????? violence eventually eats itself). Terry is ultimately self-destructive, just like Kreese when he punched the glass all those years ago. That’s... the themes are right there??????? Terry’s kind of flipping tragic, why not let him be that (at least TIG knows)

5. and I didn’t really speak to the pacing, because I was talking about themes, but while I can forgive rushed pacing if one isn’t sure of a renewal, why start introducing new characters and half-assed racist lore in the back-half of the season instead of concentrating all your energy on the core of the characters arcs?

sure, maybe Daniel could have fought Terry again and there be emotional resonance, I’m not saying the ability to write that didn’t exist, but there was no narrative build-up to it, which adds to the disconnectedness of it all. Why is he fighting Terry now? I don’t know. Was it a fight that made sense for either of their characters? No.

6. I think where I’m at is beginning to find the bits of shiny stuff that I want to play with -- if I know why something didn’t work for me, I can reconstruct it in a way that it does. the absence of something is what I want to make present. the flawed enacting of a genuinely intended theme is still giving the tools to continue to play with said theme.

The Tension of Daniel still remains in full force and that is interesting to work with

[miyagihawk]

hey! i don't know if you are still taking requests, but... can you pls write a very sweet miguel x reader? like, him getting all "grr" because of jealousy or something like that 🥺 i had a very difficult month nd i think it will cheer me up! love your account and everything you write is amazingg 🤍

ahh im sorry to hear that :( everything gets better love! i hope this helps, tysm for the support <3

jealous | miguel diaz x reader

warnings: swearing, that’s it :)

summary: your boyfriend miguel gets jealous because you’re so close with his best friend

“I just feel like... I want to change for her. But I don’t even know if it’s worth it, you know? She’s clearly moved on,” Hawk ranted to you, and you nodded in understanding.

You were both sitting on the curb outside the dojo because Hawk pulled you aside to talk after karate practice.

“I think that you shouldn’t change for anyone else. If you change for you, she’ll notice that. And you don’t know if she’s moved on,” you answered, giving your friend an assuring smile.

You never would’ve expected this little friendship you have with Hawk. When you first joined Cobra Kai, he honestly intimidated you. But after you bumped into him at the dojo when he had just broken with Moon, you found yourself being the person he confided in. He was in an emotional state, and for some reason he trusted you. After that, Hawk turned to you when he needed to talk, and you did your best to give him advice.

“I don’t know, Y/N, she seemed really happy with that girl at the part-” the sound of someone clearing their throat cut him off. You both turned around to see your boyfriend Miguel looking somewhat irritated.

“Hey man,” Hawk nodded at him, then gave you a look to tell you that it’s okay for you to go.

You stood up and awkwardly waved goodbye, before going up to Miguel and taking his hand. He seemed stiff, but he still interlocked his fingers with yours.

Once you walked to his car, there was a weird silence between you two, and it left you wondering if you did something wrong.

“Are you good?” you spoke, nervously tapping your fingers on your knees. Miguel kept his eyes on the road as he drove, and all he had was a blank look on his face.

“I’m fine. Why?” he answered shortly, not looking at you. You already knew something was up from his tone, and you racked your brain for any reasons as to why. School went fine, he got an A on his math test. During practice, he finally got the kick he’s been working on for weeks. So if anything, you thought he would be happy.

“I don’t know, you’re just acting strange,” you confessed.

He didn’t say anything for a minute, and it made you anxious. But finally he spoke, “So you and Hawk have been getting close?”

You weren’t expecting the question at all, and at first you had no idea where it was going. “Uh... yes?”

“You guys have been hanging out a lot,” Miguel commented, and you were beginning to understand his tone. He parked the car in front of his apartment complex, because you two always do your homework together after practice. But you both stayed in the car, not finished with the conversation.

“Yes? You know him, Miguel. He doesn’t have a lot of people to talk to about... things,” you trailed off, not wanting to spill anything that Hawk trusted you with.

“But it just has to be my (S/O) right?” he snapped, and you finally got it. You had to hold back your laugh at the sudden realization of why he was acting like this.

You pinched his cheek playfully, surprising him in his angry state. “Is someone jealous?” you teased.

He glared at you with his warm brown eyes, “Jealous? No. Why would I be jealous,” he scoffed, but you could tell he was hiding a smile.

“You are!” you let out your held giggle. The mood between you was a lot lighter, and you felt relieved that you didn’t do something seriously wrong that you weren’t aware of.

You reached over the center console to put your hands on his cheeks and pepper his face with kisses. Miguel groaned, but you know he loves it when you do that. After your shower of kisses, you placed the last one on his lips, letting him lift you up by your waist and carry you onto his lap.

After a long deep kiss, you kept your hands playing with his hair as you faced him. He hugged you close to his chest, and it made you happy that his guard was now down compared to earlier.

“Hey, you have nothing to be worried about, okay? I don’t want anyone but you, and it’s always gonna be like that. It’s always gonna be you and me. No one can take me away from you that easily,” you told him, butterflies taking over your own stomach at your profession.

“I’m sorry. I never want to be that guy, and it’s not that I don’t trust you... I just can’t help it. Everyone wants you, and I guess that makes me insecure sometimes. I’m sorry,” Miguel confessed, nervously scanning your face as you still straddled him.

Your heart warmed at his admission. You never really thought Miguel was the jealous type and you didn’t think too much about how he would feel about you and Hawk’s new friendship. But you weren’t mad that he was jealous; if anything you thought it was cute.

“Everyone wants me? I’m the one dating the All Valley champ,” you joked, nudging his shoulder playfully. “I get it though. I hate the mere thought of you with someone else. But we just have to trust each other, alright? No more of that passive aggressive shit.”

“No more of the passive aggressive shit,” he repeated in understanding, leaning in to kiss you again. You deepened it, humming in contentment.

“I love you,” you felt yourself say after pulling away. You weren’t even aware that you said it until you saw his mouth fall open in surprise. “Wait- I- I didn’t-”, you tried to save yourself, but you couldn’t deny your feelings and take it back.

You and Miguel have only been dating for a few months; you promised each other to take it slow after you both had just come from relationships that went too fast and failed. So for these past months you’ve danced around the forbidden “L” word, even though you’ve felt it since you met him.

Miguel’s shocked face turned into one of pure happiness, filling you with relief. “I love you too. So much. You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to say that,” he breathed, caressing your cheek softly with his hand.

“Me too,” you said.

[oryu404]

👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

YES. THANK YOU.

Well then, as you've unlocked the door to where my obsession is stashed when I'm supposed to be productive in other ways, I guess I'll add a few thoughts.

I'm sure that, in a way, f!Rogue killing Sting and took his powers. What I refuse to believe is that it's that simple and straightforward. You've raised a few excellent points regarding the different timelines and how they might have affected their mindsets and mental state. I'm 100% with you on the fact that the dragon fight after the games, fighting for their comrades and all that, cemented something very important for them, both internally and in the eyes of the other guilds. And even the grand banquet afterwards would have been huge. That was likely the first time they had decent socializing and started to forge bonds with others.

But let's look at the bond between them. While we don't know a lot about their pasts, how or when they met or joined saber, there's a few things we do know. Sabertooth wasn't a place where friendships were encouraged (understatement). Yet there they were, two boys of the same age, with the same type of magic, both having killed their dragon foster parent, both having or at some point acquiring an exceed, and both looking admiring an other dragon slayer. You can't convince me they wouldn't have bonded over that stuff, especially after Natsu and Gajeel (but also Laxus and Wendy) disappeared with the Tenrou crew, leaving Sting and Rogue as the last remaining dragon slayers. (Note that I'm not counting Erik/Cobra here as I'm not sure if they were aware of him and all that, and I'm not even touching the slayers from 100yq).

They've actually proven to have bonded over something. They were known and notorious as the twin dragons, the word twin here kind of implying that they are an inseparable duo. And you know what they say about twins having such a strong bond? Unison raids were said to be extremely difficult to master, and the wiki even mentioned that the participants have to be so close they could almost read each other's thoughts (or something like that. Apologies for not providing sources and pics, I'm at work and am supposed to be doing other stuff but the brainrot compels me). Now that's probably not to be taken literally, as Lucy and Juvia weren't THAT close when they pulled theirs off, but in that moment their hearts/spirits were "as one". And then we have Sting and Rogue, who have not just mastered the technique in the friendship-is-weakness environment of sabertooth; they can seemingly whip one out whenever they feel like. Like it's nothing. Part of their usual repertoire.

So yes, you're absolutely right about Sting being a pillar for Rogue as well, and the other way around.

As for whatever happened to f! rogue in his timeline when Frosch died...of course all any of us can do is speculate. Present Rogue was supposed to go on that avatar mission with Minerva, whom they'd brought back to Sabertooth after tartaros. Who knows if that would've happened in the other timeline? He might've gone with Sting, who would then have been forced to do damage control when Frosch was killed. If Gray was at fault for Frosch's death, then my guess is that Rogue would have unleashed his emotions on him first, like how Sting took out Jiemma after what he did to Lector. But Sting has shown to be pretty protective of Rogue (catching that arrow for him in their introduction scene was hardly necessary), and Rogue killing or trying kill Gray would have definitely put him in danger. So Sting could and I believe he likely would have intervened or joined in that fight (doing exactly what the present Rogue thought–the whole thing about if the darkness would consume him), Rogue lashed out in blind rage and grief, mortally wounding him, and then taking his powers. At that point, he'd lost both of his pillars, and taking Sting's powers would be like keeping a part of him with him. The grief would have driven him insane and bitter, so it's reasonable to think that after all these years he speaks about it so arrogantly. But again, it's a lot of speculation and what ifs, but that's the kind of scenario I'm thinking went down.

Aaaalllrighty then, now that I've once again rambled on for far too long about these two, I'm going to try my best and not stare blankly ahead foaming at the mouth about them, and do my actual job. Hopefully.

I made this post a few days ago and was asked for more input on Sting's character in regards to future Rogue so here's some more thoughts:

enjoy <3

Future Rogue explicitly says he killed Sting and took his power but I have my doubts about that:

f!Rogue said to Natsu that in one year from the games Frosch would be killed by Gray and thus his pillar would be gone and he would succumb to the shadow, meaning during Avatar Gray and Rogue would fight.

But Tartaros happened before Avatar, and during this arc we witness Sting and Rogue's first shown improvement after swearing change in the name of Sabertooth, which culminates in both of them killing Jienma and erasing Sabertooth's ugly past for good. also using a unique unison raid that only they can do <3

Which solidifies the fact that Rogue is no longer intimidated by his shadow because, as he said himself, Sting would be able to kill it. He no longer lives haunted by the thoughts of his shadow taking over him because he knows Sting will always be there to protect him.

But this obviously all happened in the good future where the world didn't end and now THIS is where the fun begins.

What happened in the bad future where f!Rogue is from?

If my memory serves correct f!Rogue later revealed that his plan was to open the gate of Eclipse to let dragons from the past in and rule them to overcome Acnologia, who would soon descend and raise the world into chaos.

Now I don't think he gave an exact date as to when would this be but, Acnologia did indeed appear later during Tartaros so we're going to assume that's when the apocalypse started in the bad timeline.

And let's rewind for a sec to what happened in the good timeline's Tartaros: Sting and Rogue helped Fairy Tail, saved Minerva and killed Jienma, which is a direct consequence of what f!Rogue did during Eclipse.

I explain:

What would have happened after the games ended in this bad timeline? Would Sting have accepted to become Sabertooth's new master? His resolution begins when he gives up before Erza and the rest during the final battle but I don't think he really makes up his mind about it until the dragons are attacking the city and he fights to protect his guild, both he and Rogue do.

It's not until both of them are fighting at the end of the world that they realise what made Fairy Tail the strongest guild, and even after having tecnically lost, this battle gave them something f!Rogue probably didn't expect.

It gave them hope.

So can we really assume they would've followed the same path had they not fought the dragons? I find it absolutely marvelous and poetic how f!Rogue, having lost all sense of compassion, hope and having nothing left but rage, wanting to cast his revenge in this new timeline indirectly saved him and his beloved from the horrors he had to endure.

Which brings me back to my first statement. In the bad timeline Sting was left with nothing after the games ended, sure Jienma was gone, he got Lector back and he had Rogue but what was he supossed to do from there on? Without the cataclysm of the Eclipse gate I assume he'd want nothing to do with Sabertooth again, or maybe he did, but then as Tartaros arrived maybe the guild had not yet gone through the experience of truly fighting along your peers to protect them, none of the guilds had. except, yknow, fairy tail but they're literally the mcs here

We can't forget that they were fighting literal demons here, plus Acnologia himself. -Again taking in mind the experience of fighting dragons had also not happened here-

You could also argue that the FACE project the Tartaros gates had planned might've actually worked in this timeline, which would result in over half of the population or more being left without magic to fight, it's understandable the world fell into chaos pretty quickly and a huge number of people died, as we saw in f!Lucy's timeline.

And Sting and Rogue were probably neither mentally nor physically prepared to fight all of this right after the magic games, they didn't have time to bond with their guildmates after Jienma died the same way they did in the good timeline, hell I'd even argue Sting was probably in a worse state because he got his emotional and physical strenght tested back then and there's no way he'd recover from that in such a short time with only Rogue's help.

Throughout the manga we see how Sting is the uplifting half of this duo, he's the one who constantly reassures Rogue and the rest of the guild, he's taken his admiration for Natsu and learned from it in that sense, but is bad future Sting like this? Is he able to smile and shine a path to the people he loves, is he able to fight for them?

In my head f!Rogue didn’t kill Sting because Sting likely gave up fighting or chose to sacrifice himself. that being to give Rogue another chance to live or because he knew one of them would die and he knew he wouldn't be able to live without Rogue is up to interpretation :)

And this proves to me that neither can live without the other, when Sting died f!Rogue either lost his mind and gave into grief not fully, he would after Frosch's death and took his powers in order to survive or to preserve a small part of Sting with him, which makes this shit sadder when his shadow fully takes over him and he's no longer concious of this, using his partner's power, the only power able to guide him and subdue him to kill without remorse.

f!Rogue said that Frosch was his pillar but I refuse to believe Sting is not a pillar for him as well, he may have fully lost against his shadow after losing Frosch but his relationship with Sting having ended simply with a "I killed him amd took his powers" I will not accept, Rogue lost half his heart when Sting died/was killed and Frosh was the last bit of sanity that remained of him after that, which was ultimately but not the only reason he wasn't strong enough to fight his shadow.

As you can see I have a lot to say about this arc and I would've given anything for it to be explored more but alas I've spent the last 6+ years rewritting the entirety of this manga in my head and I love to dive into the possibilities, like what could have happened if Sting had lost Rogue in that future? what happened to the rest of the Sabertooth's members? I can be here all day.

But anyways I feel I'm not good enough at expressing my thoughts in written form but I hope it's understandable enough? I'm growing more confident though so hopefully I can puke more nonsense about this two <33

[cobrakaisb]

hi bestie! i’ve had this idea for a while, but i haven’t seen it. can you do like a head cannon of what miguel, robby, and eli/hawk would be like as an older brother? it can be totally based off what you think :) thank you <3

of course! sorry it took me a while but i needed to to be perfect. i also added two bonus boys at the end (hope you don’t mind). little note: i wrote this with a fem reader in mind because of the mentions of periods. 

Having the Cobra Kai boys as older brothers

miguel:

you and miguel are so close

the age difference does not affect him at all

he is very protective of you before cobra kai

but once he joins cobra kai that over protectiveness 📈📈📈

let’s just say that this kid is bothering you

miguel definitely notices and scares them off

you act annoyed about it, but you’re highkey grateful that he did that

“my brother is the all valley champ so back the fuck off”

you were so excited for him at the all valley

you wore one of his cobra kai shirts and everything

miguel is so supportive of whatever extra curricular you do

karate? yes he stans, theater? you bet he’s at all your shows, dance? you know he’s bringing you some flowers, another sport? he’s at every game cheering for you

miguel knows about periods, and he has no shame in buying you tampons/pads

“hey y/n, i noticed you were running low so i got you some more” 🥺🥺 

you wear his hoodies all the time

they are very big on you, but very comfy

you help him with sam

“i punched her in the face” “what why?”

“y/n what do you think about this?” “it looks great miguel. sam will love it”

when he dates tory you're a little on edge about it

“miguel, weren’t you like trying to win sam back two days ago?” “i like tory now” “okayy” 

johnny loves you as much as he loves miguel

y’all hang out together

his friends are your friends and vice versa

your friends definitely think that miguel is cute but “eww that’s my brother”

when miguel is in the coma you blame johnny

“he showed mercy because of you! you did this!”

but then you cry into his chest

when miguel wakes up you’re at school

you don’t find out until after school when carmen picks you up

you hug him so tight, rambling about how much you love him

“i love you too y/n now get off me”

you can’t keep up with his love life

“y/n i’m with sam again” “what?” 

overall your bond is amazing and you couldn’t ask for a better brother

robby:

you and robby both live with your mother (because we aren’t basic here)

you’re the odd one out (your mom does drugs and robby sells them)

“you got caught with molly? i thought you and sara were hooking up?” “the drug y/n”

when robby starts being friends with those punk kids, the two of you start to drift

you actually go to school, unlike him

“just skip y/n” “no robby”

it isn’t until he gets back on track because of daniel that you two start getting close again

“i’m gonna get back on track y/n i promise” and you believe him

you go to the skatepark with him

he skates while you read or draw or skate (whatever you’re into tbh)

when you’re on your period robby will buy you stuff, but he doesn’t like to

he feels so awkward about it

“um are these the right ones?” “yes thank you”

robby gives the best hugs (idk why he just does)

i feel like robby is also really good at reading emotions

like he knows when you’ve had a bad day at school or when you’re stressed about something

he also knows how to cheer you up :)))

“i know you did not just eat cereal with water???” “and what about it?”

when your mom comes back after being gone for days robby pulls you behind him

because he really doesn’t want you to be exposed to that

you cry into robby’s chest once she leaves

“why can’t she just be our mom?”

when daniel asks robby to move in with him he denies

but quickly explains that he can’t leave you

daniel tells robby that you can come too

“thanks for helping my brother mr.larusso, i really appreciate it”

you definitely walk in on robby and sam making out at some point

“hey robby- oh my god i’m so sorry” slaps hand over eyes and immediately leaves the room

when robby pushes miguel off the balcony it's the first time you’re genuinely scared of him

you visit him in jail, but it takes awhile for you to go

“i’m sorry y/n” “i know robby”

you just understand each other

when robby joins cobra kai he tries to get you in too

you agree to one lesson, and know it’s not for you

you have many arguments about this

“he’s brainwashing you!” “he knows what’s best for me, for us!”

robby feels so betrayed when he finds out you’re staying with johnny

the two of you definitely drift after that, but you find your way back to each other, you always do

eli/hawk:

okay so before he flips the script you defend eli, no matter what

you cry with him about the bullies and definitely try to fight kyler more than once

you wear his sweaters (fight me on it)

you encourage him to do karate

when he flips the script you’re very happy for him he finally feels confident in himself and you love that for him

now the roles are reversed

hawk protects you now

no one even dares to look at you because they are scared of him

i feel like he has a tattoo for you, whether that's your name or your favorite flower idk but he gets one for you

“um wow okay we’re doing that now” “do you like it or not?” “yeah but i wasn’t expecting it”

sometimes he’ll let you pick his hair color “how about purple” “maybe” 😉

he definitely flirts with your friends “hello ladies!” “hi hawk!” “get out!”

you’re the only one that is allowed to call him eli

“eli i need ten dollars?” “for what?” “a snack” *hands over the money*

“eli can i have your sweatshirt? i’m cold” “yeah take it”

“i can’t, me and eli are going to the movies today”

one day you’re sitting with him and his minions (you refuse to call them friends) at lunch

“so eli” -one of the cobra kais “shut the fuck up! you can’t call him that!” -you

hawk has a proud brother moment

anything that you do hawk is like “fuck yeah that’s my sibling!”

his friends are not allowed to look at you, talk to you, have a crush on you, or even think about you

“woah dude she’s hot” “that’s my fucking sister! stay away from her!”

“eli who’s your friend-” “NO!” 

as eli he will buy you period products but is very shy about it

as hawk he will not be caught dead in that isle of cvs

“eli i need them!” “i don’t care! i’ll drive you there and you can run in and get them”

when hawk breaks demetri’s arm you don't speak to him for weeks

you confront him about his new behavior

“this is who i am!” “no it’s not! you’re not my brother!” 

you’re crying and then storm off to your room

that breaks him

is highkey the start of his redemption

when he’s at the fight at the larusso house, and he sees demetri about to get his arm broken, he thinks of your words: “you're not my brother!”

literally motivates him to fix things

you see hawk and demitri and just know that your brother is back

you hug him so tight

“you were right y/n. i’m sorry” “of course i was. i’m always right” “gee thanks” “love you”  

bonus demetri:

he is a nerd, you are a nerd

the two of you watch star wars, marvel, harry potter, etc. together 

“daddy anakin” “please shut the fuck up”

you want to punch him in the face because he is so sarcastic 

it gets on your nerves 

bust out laughing when johnny makes fun of his pi shirt 

“stop laughing” “if it’s funny i'm gonna laugh”

even though you’re a nerd you’re cool 

like you have a lot of friends in your grade 

“demetri if i don’t talk to you at the halloween party that’s why” gestures to his costume 

listen to his rants about how eli’s changed 

you try to give him advice, but it doesn’t work out

so proud of him when he joins miyagi-do

“i'm glad you’re stepping out of your comfort zone” 

demetri tries to get you to join miyagi-do

if you do join great more sibling bonding

if you don’t join no biggie y’all are still besties

y’all go to the comic book store together

its sibling bonding time

you threaten to fight hawk after the laser tag thing 

“hey asshole you leave my brother alone!” 

you sign his cast first

you definitely write some inside joke that only the two of you understand

you see him kissing yas and do a whole 🤮

“so you dating yas?” “idk why” “just checking”

very obvious about your distaste for her

when him and hawk become friends again you’re very wary

“he broke your arm” “he apologized” “he broke your arm!!!”

eventually you and hawk are on semi decent terms

“demetri forgave you and that’s fine but i’m still not over it”

your relationship = the perfect mix of love and teasing  

bonus bonus king bert 🙌🏻:

you are older than him by like a year

but you’re still besties for life 

you’re very proud of him when he joins cobra kai

“im joining a karate dojo” “period pop off”

you always ruffle his hair 

cheer for him at the all valley

“yeah bert!”

but also like you can’t watch 

when he gets eliminated you cringe 

he’s sad about it 

“i just wanted to impress you” “im very impressed bert, you did great” 

your opinion matters so much to him

he’s such a small cinnamon roll 🥺🥺

seeing him with the older cobra kai boys makes you soft

“y/n i’m going out with hawk and miguel can you drive me?” 

bert admires you a lot, like you are his hero

y’all are the best sibling duo and that’s on period

[diaphragmjellyfish]

What Did I Miss?

So this blog has grown a ton in the last couple of months. Going into this year, I had maybe 15 followers. Now, I’m at 100. That might not seem like a lot to some of you, but to me, that’s 100 people who love my writing. 100 people who find comfort and joy in the things I put out there. And it means so much to me <3 I always wanted to be a writer, but always felt like I got lost in the sea of content. I couldn’t come up with anything original or anything that would get noticed. And then I started writing for Cobra Kai. It’s a pretty small fandom so anything put out there gets seen. Then, I started writing what I wanted to read. Vaginismus smut/ general feminist fics are a niche that has almost no writers, but so many of you have sent me private messages saying how much those fics mean to you. So, to honor all 100 of my new followers, I have combined my two genres. I now present to you… Eli Moskowitz x vaginismus!reader. I hope you love it! 

You have been doing your physical therapy for about a year now. It was a long process, full of ups and downs, good days and bad days, but you were proud to say you were done! The biggest dilator could be easily inserted with the right amount of lube. It made you feel more...normal. Let’s just say, you weren’t exactly the most popular girl in school. People didn’t notice you. And when they did, it was “who’s that shy girl that hangs out with those losers?” Yup. Your best friends, Demitri and Eli, were the only people you really felt comfortable around at school. You found each other back in elementary school, because everyone else was making friends and running around on the playground, while you three just wanted to stay inside and play board games. So you weren’t cool, which you were okay with. But being diagnosed with vaginismus a year ago after almost passing out trying to put in a tampon had made you feel like even more of a freak. You couldn’t do the one thing girls were wanted for. You’d be alone forever. 

But it was over. You could have sex. At least, you thought you’d be able to. You never actually tried before. What if it put you right back to square one? What if you totally embarrassed yourself in front of a guy you liked? These thoughts zipped through your mind at the speed of light, faster than you could keep up with, when something snapped you back into reality. 

“Y/N?” Eli asked timidly. You guys were hanging out in his basement waiting for Demitri to show up so you could start your Lord Of The Rings marathon. Your head snapped up, eyes locking with his. 

“Yeah? Sorry,” you laughed awkwardly. You had been thinking about sex while hanging out with Eli. That wasn’t cool. 

He studied your face for a second. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah! Yeah, everything is fine. Is everything okay… with you?” You questioned back, trying to play it cool. 

“Umm, yeah. You’ve just been spacing out a lot today.” You were about to make up a reply when his phone buzzed on the coffee table in front of you guys. He reached over to pick it up, scanning the screen before letting out a soft sigh. “Demitri’s mom is making him repaint their kitchen. He’s not gonna be here until 9.” He looked at your face at this for a reaction. 9 o’clock.  It was 7 right now. That left you with 2 hours to be alone, here, with Eli. There weren’t many times where it had been just the two of you. Demitri was always there as a talkative icebreaker, and you hadn’t truly appreciated it until now. It was getting awkward. 

You both sat there quietly, staring at the black TV. Neither of you were very talkative people. This was probably what it was going to be like the first time you tried to have sex with someone. Awkward, quiet, and the guy would probably leave when he realized he had to be beyond gentle because of your vaginismus. Yeah, you were thinking about sex a lot lately. But you’d just finished your therapy, so of course you were wondering about all the possibilities now. 

“Y/N,” Eli spoke, this time making you jump a little. You had been spacing out again. “Are you sure you’re okay? Do you want me to drive you home?” 

“No! I mean, thanks, but I’m okay. Just have a lot on my mind today,” you laughed shyly. 

“Wanna talk about it?” he asked hesitantly. 

A pause. You definitely were not about to tell Eli about all your vagina problems, but you were itching to vent your concerns. Maybe you could just phrase it in a way so that he wouldn’t know what you were talking about. 

“I- I kind of have this thing.” You looked up at him, gaging his reaction. He was listening intently, no sign that he was about to say anything, so you kept going. “Basically, I’ve been doing physical therapy to fix it for the last year, and I’m finally done. So I’ve just been thinking about… all the things I can do now. I mean now that I’m… healed.”  

Sensing that you were done, he asked, “You seem nervous about it.” 

“I mean yeah. It kind of opens me up to a whole new world of experiences. But I still need to, I guess be careful? Take it slow. And I’m worried people might not want to… be a part of it.” 

He nodded, thinking about what you had just said. He was wildly confused, you had never seemed injured before, but he didn’t want to push you to talk.

So instead, he just said “Well I’ll always be here for you. Anything you want me to be a part of, I’m down.”

You thought about this. Eli was so understanding and supportive. He always had been. If you couldn’t tell him, you couldn’t tell any guy. Maybe this would be good practice for the conversation you’d inevitably have to have with someone. 

“Thanks. You kind of can’t be a part of it, though. I mean, it’s just really… personal.” He didn’t seem hurt by this, so you decided to let him in. “It’s kind of hard to talk about. Basically, it just causes me a lot of pain whenever I try to... “ you made some unintelligible hand gestures, hoping he would get what you meant without you having to say the word. He just shook his head no, showing that he didn’t understand. “Like, whenever I put something… inside.” You blushed deeply at this, giving Eli another hint about what you might mean. You were staring at the floor. He said nothing, and when you looked back up at him, he too was bright red. “Sorry. I’m probably making you really uncomfortable. I can just go and come back later when Demi-” 

“Y/N, it’s okay. You don’t have to go.” 

A pause. “Okay,” you replied. 

“You said that you were.... Healed. So does that mean you can, like, do stuff now?” he was still staring at the floor, fiddling with his hands as he said this. 

“Technically, yeah. I just still need to like… take it slow. And I guess I’m just nervous that no guy is gonna want to have to deal with that.”

“Well then they’re stupid,” he scoffed. You looked up at him, shocked at his little show of emotion. “Sorry. I just mean that, I know what it’s like to feel like no one will ever want you like that. And it’s dumb. You’re really cool. And smart, and funny… and pretty. And if there’s a guy that doesn’t want you just because he’s gonna have to be gentle, well he’s a grade-A asshole.” 

You laughed loudly at this, which made Eli smile at you. “Thanks. That’s really sweet of you to say,” you smiled. “And if you’re talking about your scar when you say you know what it feels like, don’t worry about that. You’re totally cute and any girl would be lucky to kiss you.” His earlier words had you feeling bold, so you figured you would compliment him back. Guys almost never got compliments, especially quiet guys like Eli, so you felt like it was important to give him the same kindness he had given you. He turned so red, he looked like he wasn’t breathing. 

“That’s not true. I mean, thanks for being nice, but no girl at school has ever wanted to kiss me.” 

Well, here’s your chance. You guys were in his basement alone, the lights were turned down, and you guys just had a super personal conversation. So you went for it. “I can think of one girl who would be honored,” you whispered into the dimly-lit room. 

You could feel his head snap up at this. You were staring at the TV again, but his gaze was piercing. The air was thick, so you turned your head to look at him. He was in awe, looking at you like you were the warm sun on the first day of spring. You guys had been sitting on opposite ends of the couch, but you scooted close to the middle. Eli looked panicked, but pushed it away, swallowing hard before scooting to meet you. He was practically shaking with nerves. Were you really about to kiss him? In answer, you looked down at his lips, then back up at his eyes. You slowly leaned in, Eli frozen in place, scared to ruin the moment. Your lips barely touched his, being sure to ghost over his scar, before you pulled away a few inches and opened your eyes. You smiled at him, and once he realized that you had just kissed him on purpose and liked it… 

You gasped as he brought his hand up to cup your cheek, leaning back in to kiss you again, slightly deeper this time. His lips were soft, but firm. He tasted like cherry chapstick and the coca cola he’d been drinking. This wasn’t your first kiss, but you knew it was his. You knew you would have to lead. So, you brought your hands up around his neck and swiped your tongue lightly over his bottom lip. You heard him sigh, and then felt him open his mouth as his tongue met yours. Sure, it was his first kiss, but damn he was a natural. Shortly after this, you pulled away again. 

“Woah,” he said, looking at you with a twinkle in his eye.

“Woah,” you parroted with a giggle. 

“Thanks,” he said awkwardly. You laughed at this, throwing your head back. 

“You don’t have to thank me, Eli. I wanted to.” There was a beat of silence as he rubbed his thumb over your cheek. 

He said honestly, “Well I kind of feel bad now. You helped me with my problem but I didn’t help you with yours.” Your smile dropped, thinking about what he was implying. “Wait, I didn’t mean it like that! I swear I’m not trying to like take advantage of you or something. I just meant that-” 

“I know what you meant. It’s fine.”  You smiled again. You knew Eli would never try to convince you to have sex with him like that. Seeing him flounder reminded you of how sweet he really was. The kind of guy you hoped you would be able to have sex with one day. “Honestly, I’ll probably just do it to get it over with. And if it hurts, I’ll just go back to therapy, and if not, great. But the anticipation is kind of killing me.” 

“Oh… well you should still do it with someone who cares about you. I mean, it’s your choice, but don’t just pick some random guy who’s not gonna care if he hurts you.” Eli was so heartfelt when he said this, you could have cried. He actually understood. And cared. And the moment was pretty intimate. 

“So you’re saying I should do it with a nice guy.”

“Well, yeah,” he responded as if it was obvious. 

“Are you a nice guy, Eli?”

He was quiet, thinking about all the meaning behind that simple sentence. After a few seconds, he nodded. You leaned back in to kiss him again, this time with much more passion. He took initiative this time, being the first to swipe his tongue over your lip and into your mouth. His hands moved from your face to your waist, supporting you when you moved to straddle his lap. You guys made out like this for a while, lost in the feeling of each other’s lips. When you finally pulled away, you were both breathing hard. 

“Wait, wait,” he stopped you from moving back in. “Are we doing this right now?” 

“Do you not want to?” you felt a pang of rejection at this. Making to move off his lap. He grabbed you firmly by the hips. 

“Are you seriously asking me that question? The girl I’ve had a crush on since 3rd grade is sitting in my lap making out with me right now. Of course I’m into it.” You smiled at this. “I guess I just feel like I want to know more about your… thing first. I don’t want to hurt you.” You were definitely making the right choice here. Eli was so genuinely kind, you knew for sure in that moment you wanted to do this with him. 

“Okay. It’s a condition called vaginismus. Basically, my pelvic muscles get super tight as like a reflex whenever I try to… do anything. And that makes it super painful,” you explained. 

He nodded in understanding before asking, “And the physical therapy? How does that work?”

“Well, there are these things called dilators,” you blushed at this. “They come in a bunch of different sizes. You start with the smallest one, and just condition your body to relax while you put it in. And when you can do it with no pain, you move up to the next size. The smallest one is like the size of my pinky, and the biggest one is like… you know.” 

“A dick?” He asked as you both laughed. 

“Yeah.” 

There was a beat of silence before he looked at you in a way that said he was completely committed. “What do you need me to do?” he asked. You felt yourself tear up a little at this. Ever since you got diagnosed, you always imagined perfect scenarios in your head in which the guy you were with asked you that question. Of course, you always believed it would stay a fantasy. No guy would realistically care this much. But it turns out there was a guy, and he was right in front of you your entire life. You leaned in and gave him a sweet kiss, which caught him a little off-guard. 

You then leaned back and began to explain. “Usually when I do my therapy, I’ll start with some breathing exercises. And then get my dilator and some lube and just kind of, sink down on it? And then I just stay there for as long as I can. Obviously sex involves a lot more movement, which is kind of the part I’m nervous about.” 

“We can go super slow. And if it ever hurts, even a little bit, I want you to tell me, okay?”

You nodded. “Are you sure you want to? I know you just had your first kiss and I want to make sure you’re ready, too.” 

“I’m ready. I hope this doesn’t make you uncomfortable, but I’ve actually imagined this situation before… a lot,” he murmured the last part. 

You laughed, and awe’d at his cuteness. “As long as you’re sure.” 

“I’m sure.” 

He leaned in to kiss you again, starting slow and building in intensity. Once the kiss got heated, you grabbed his hands that were still lightly gripping your hips, and moved them down to cup your ass. He inhaled sharply and squeezed. You moved your hands from his neck down to his chest, sliding lower and lower until they were at the hem of his shirt, and then under to his bare stomach. He shivered, and then kneaded your ass harder. 

“Can I take this off?” you asked, tugging at his shirt. He nodded and leaned forward so you could pull the hem up and over his head, his hands only leaving you for a second before they resumed their previous position. 

Your own hands roamed his chest, before he slid his hands under your shirt, silently asking for you to take it off as well. Wordlessly, you reached down, gripped the bottom and pulled it off, Eli’s eyes going straight to your bra. 

“I would have worn something a little cuter if I thought we’d-”

“You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen,” he cut you off. Your face turned bright red as you smiled down at your lap. “Hey,” he said as his thumb came to your chin to lift your face back up. And then he kissed you again, sucking lightly at your bottom lip, eliciting a soft sigh from you. You started to lightly grind your hips into his, and you could immediately feel that he was already hard. His hands gripped your ass firmly, helping to guide your movements. You felt a slight pleasure between your legs, so began to grind down harder, Eli moving his own hips back up into yours. His length brushed a certain spot that made you let out a small, involuntary moan. You slapped your hand over your mouth, eyes wide. He smiled, bringing his hand up to move yours off your mouth, and grinding into you even harder, with a new sense of excitement. He moved back in, but instead of bringing his lips to yours, he brought them to your neck, licking and sucking softly. You felt a rush of heat flow through you at this, never imagining that neck kisses would feel so good. 

“Oh, wow,” you whispered. You felt him smile- no, smirk, against your neck. Then, he moved one of his hands to your stomach, lightly brushing his knuckles across the skin, before untying your sweatpants. This excited you. He slowly brought his hand under the waistband, giving you plenty of time to tell him to stop. You didn’t, and he eventually felt the fabric of your underwear, opting to stay on top of them. He rubbed your center with one of his fingers clumsily. Eli obviously had never done this before, so you did your best to move your hips on his hand to try and give him the idea of what you wanted. He seemed nervous though, and didn’t really get the hint. 

“Small circles,” you instructed breathlessly. He brought his face out of your neck, furrowing his brows in concentration. He moved his fingers like you said in small circles on your left lip. You wanted to giggle, but didn’t want to hurt his feelings, opting for bringing your hand into your pants on top of his and guiding it to the right spot, moving his fingers in tight circles with slightly more pressure than he had been using right over your clit. You moaned softly at this, closing your eyes and furrowing your brows. Eli looked at you with an adorable excitement, proud that he was able to get you to make that sound, and knew that he wanted to hear it again. He got the hang of it pretty fast, and didn’t need your hand for guidance anymore, keeping the same pace and rhythm that you had shown him. 

“Oh my god, Eli,” you whispered softly in his ear, hips grinding against his hand once again. 

“Fuck,” he whispered back, more turned on than he had ever been just from watching you. At this, you brought one of your hands down to cup him through his pants. He hissed, sitting up straighter. His jeans made it hard for you to do much, though, so you said huskily, “Do you want to take them off?” He nodded, and you stood up and took your sweatpants off as he unbuttoned his jeans and slipped them off his legs. When he looked back at you, he saw that you were taking off your underwear too, so he did as well. 

Once he was naked and you were left in just a bra, he tentatively asked you, “Should I… get a condom?” 

You had completely forgotten about protection! That was pretty important, so you responded, “Yeah, do you have one?” 

“They handed them out in health class last month,” he said nervously, answering your implied question which was Why do you have one? He stood up, walking into his room through the doorway in the basement, returning shyly with a small silver packet. You were kneeling on the couch awkwardly, not really sure what to do, when he raked his eyes over your body. There was almost a predatory look in his eyes, one that you had never seen before in Eli. A sign of confidence hidden deep down. He suddenly stopped, as if realizing something, and said “I’ll be right back,” before running upstairs butt-naked. Thank God no one else was home! He returned with a jar of coconut oil in his hand. “I know you said you normally use lube, and I don’t really have any of that, so I thought we could use this? Or I can run to CVS and get some if you want, it’s up to you!” He added that last part hurriedly. 

You took the jar from him, opening it and gathering a small amount on your fingers before rubbing them together, testing the substance. “This should work just fine, thank you.” 

(Guys please don’t use oil as lube, it can break down the condom! Sorry for the 4th wall break!)

He looked at you for guidance, questioning, “So, how do you want to do this?” 

You looked around for a second, before deciding “You can sit down again. I think I want to be on top. Just so I have more control and stuff.” He nodded understandingly and went to sit back down on the couch, holding his hands out to you as you straddled his hips once more. 

“This?” he asked as he brought his hand up to your bra strap, slipping it down your shoulder in a wordless plea to take it off, which is exactly what you did. When your breasts were exposed, you thought Eli’s eyes were going to pop out of his head. He never thought he’d see actual boobs one day, and here they were, right in his face, attached to his naked crush who was sitting on his lap. What a day. He brought his hands up to gently cup them, making you smile at his softness.

“Having fun?” you joked. He just looked at you and giggled, nodding his head. You took the condom packet and opened it, sliding the slippery rubber out. “Do you have any idea how to use this?” You questioned with a laugh. 

“Yeah, here,” he took it from you, placing it on the tip of his dick and rolling it down the length, inhaling sharply at the feeling. He reached for the coconut oil once more and took a finger-full, melting it between his hands and spreading it all over the condom, before taking the remainder on his fingers and rubbing softly at your center. He watched your face intently for any signs of discomfort as he did so. When he found none, he brought his pointer and middle finger back to your clit, rubbing circles once again, making you let out a sigh and tip your head back. He did this for several more moments, until your hips began to writhe. 

“Okay,” you said to tell him you were ready to try. 

“Hey, I just wanted to say… please don’t be insecure about anything. Take all the time you need, and if it hurts, we can stop and I won’t be disappointed or anything. I promise. I want you to be comfortable.” 

You kissed him in response, smiling as you pulled away. “Thank you.”

You sat up on your knees, taking his dick in your hand and lining it up with your entrance, rubbing it back and forth to distribute the lubricant. You closed your eyes, taking some deep breaths to relax your muscles, and lightly sank down in his tip. You stopped about an inch in to adjust, before lifting off and sinking back down again, 2 inches this time, before stopping to adjust once more. You kept this up until you could take about half of him comfortably, realizing it was taking a long time. You opened your eyes to look at Eli, and noticed that he had his eyes closed, brows furrowed, jaw clenched, breathing labored. Jesus, he was probably dying right now. 

“I’m sorry,” you muttered, full of embarrassment. His eyes snapped open at this. 

“Hey, hey, hey,” he cooed as he wrapped his arms around your waist, embracing you. “Don’t you dare apologize.”

“It’s taking a long time and I can tell you’re not having fun,” you worried. 

“I’m having the time of my life right now, Y/N. Seriously. This is the most amazing feeling I’ve ever felt. Please don’t worry about me. This is about you.”

This was everything you really ever wanted. A guy who was giving you the time you needed to adjust and be comfortable. Why the heck were you questioning it??

You smiled lightly at his kind words, nodding your head in agreement, and then started your routine of up, down, pause, again. Several minutes later, you were fully seated on Eli’s cock. You didn’t move, instead saying “This is normally where I stop. I’m not really sure what to do now.” He brought his hands up to cup your face, kissing you softly. 

“I guess, you can stay like this for as long as you need? And then maybe we can try moving a little bit?” he answered. You nodded in response, and after a few moments, you lifted your hips and sank back down. The friction felt slightly uncomfortable, but you tried again nonetheless in an effort to power through it. This time, you felt a stinging sensation, wincing lightly but hoping Eli wouldn’t notice. He did. 

“Stop,” he muttered. 

“I can keep going,” you pleaded. 

“Y/N, I said stop.” You did. “You’re in pain,” he pointed out. 

“I’m fine,” you said, but avoided his gaze. 

“Why are you lying?” he questioned, sounding hurt, which made you finally look at him. 

“I- I… I don’t know. I want to be able to do this, but it stings,” you said sadly. 

“Well then we’ll stay just like this,” he said sweetly as he brought a hand up to pet your hair. You once again nodded, too mad at yourself to say anything. “You’re doing so good,” he added. 

Instead of answering, you leaned in to kiss him. Making out had been fun, but making out while Eli was inside you was a whole new level of intimacy. His hands wandered everywhere. First to cup your face, then down to squeeze your breasts, then to the small of your back and around to your ass. After a few minutes of this, he brought one of his hands back around and down to your center. And this boy was a fast learner. He had the exact right spot, rhythm, and pressure on the first try this time, making you moan softly into his mouth. He smiled into the kiss, proud that he got you feeling good again. He kept this up, careful not to change a thing. You felt a heat pool in your stomach, your center craving more, so you began to involuntarily grind your hips into his hand. 

You gasped as the tip of his dick put pressure on a certain spot inside you. He noticed your gasp, letting the hand that wasn’t on your clit go to your hip in an effort to guide you to grind against him some more. Once you realized this movement didn’t hurt, you rolled your hips over his. Not the up and down that you had tried before, but side to side, back and forth, and in circles. And it felt good. You began to let out small moans at the combination of the pressure inside you and the feeling of Eli’s fingers massaging you. His eyebrows began to furrow and his breathing labored. This was his first time, so the small movements you were making were enough to bring him to the edge. 

“Shit, Y/N,” he murmured. You moaned loudly in response, and the sound made Eli’s eyes roll back in his head. He had to think of the most un-sexy things just to keep himself from cumming. You guys kept at it for god knows how long, until you felt that heat in your stomach turn into a heavy knot about to unravel. 

“Eli, I think I’m gonna cum,” you gasped, almost surprised. You had not been expecting an orgasm during your first time. You kept grinding your hips at the same pace, hoping that he would keep doing exactly what he was doing with his fingers. And he did. Your moans got higher and higher in pitch as you got closer to the edge, your legs beginning to shake from the effort. Your stomach dropped, and you came hard, mouth open in a silent scream. 30 seconds later, you came down, finally opening your eyes to see Eli looking at you like you were an absolute goddess. You reached down to peel his fingers off you, the sensations becoming too much to handle. However, you kept grinding in an effort to get Eli to cum too. About a minute later, his eyes squeezed shut as his hips stuttered under you and he spilled into the condom.

As soon as he opened his eyes, the first thing he said was, “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”

You huffed a laugh, “I’m more than okay. That was awesome.”

He looked relieved that you had had a good time, and nodded, “Yeah, totally awesome.” 

You gave him one last kiss before sitting up and pulling off of him. As you stood, your legs shook, knees threatening to give out. “Woah,” you murmured under your breath. 

“Here,” Eli said as he guided you by the waist to lay on the couch. He went into the bathroom and came out with a clean, damp towel and wiped you off as best he could before handing it to you to finish up. He gathered both of your clothes, handing yours back to you, when his phone once again buzzed on the coffee table. He picked it up when his face suddenly dropped. 

“Shit. Demitri’s here.” 

You both shared a shocked look before scrambling to get dressed. Eli threw the coconut oil and condom wrapper into the bathroom, and turned to notice your neck covered in hickeys. He ran into his room, grabbing a hoodie and walking over to you, motioning for you to put your arms up. He put the hoodie on you, and pulled your hair up through the hood to cover the sides of your neck. Just then, you heard the front door open and Demitri yell “Hey guys! You better not have started without me!” He rounded the corner and came down the stairs, looking at both of you sitting on opposite sides of the couch, staring at the black TV screen just as you had been exactly 2 hours ago. He plopped down on the couch in between you guys and grabbed the remote, switching it on. When he went to put it back on the coffee table, he noticed a small scrap of fabric on the floor. He bent down, grabbed, and held up your underwear. 

“Ok, what the fuck did I miss?”

[cow-smells]

You’re Mine [Eli Hawk Moskowitz x Reader]

Requests: 1. there’s a new girl on miyagi-do, she’s classmates with sam, hawk, miguel, tory, robby, demetri, etc... for some reason, she and hawk didn’t like each other (he can be on cobra kai or eagle fangs, that’s your choice), and one day they make a bet, which this girl wins. hawk has to be her slave for a whole week. BONUS IDEA: a stolen kiss during a fight. maybe admitting feelings for each other? i’d love that! ( @berriewrites​ ) 2. love the hawk smut but i’d also love some fluffy hawk about him secretly liking the reader who’s in miyagido but he tries to act all tough and hide it (anon) 3. AHHH CAN WE GET SOME HAWK FLUFF!? I love the idea where you swear that you don’t like him and you guys make eye contact from a distance when he’s standing with his friend group and you’re standing with yours and you get flustered and he can tell and he smirks and just ahh (anon)

A/N: this took so longggg this came out longer than expected (and honestly i could go on, but i wanted to get this out already) + real life has come hitting all at once and its been overwhelming lol. thanks for being patient and sticking around <3 i enjoyed writing some fluff (amidst a flurry of smut reuests loool :)

Words: 2981

Warnings: none

Read this on AO3

Summary: You don't like Hawk. He's a bad person, that much you know for sure. You're ready to make his life miserable when he loses a bet with you, but then you actually have to spend time with him...

   You didn't like this.

Forgiveness seemed to be a virtue that evaded you. Eagle-fang and Miagi-Do were uniting and everyone seemed to be all for the union – except for you.

Some things were simply unforgivable. For you, Hawk breaking Demetri's arm was one of them.

You and Demetri became nearly inseparable friends when you both joined Miagi-Do. He had told you all about his former friend Eli and how he'd abandoned him in the favor of bullying him in any way he could come up with; that bullying taking a turn to the extreme when Hawk took to breaking bones.

    Demetri had since forgiven him, but you hadn't.

Demetri had a softer heart than he let on, and he missed Eli terribly, so when the latter suggested they work together he gladly accepted.

But you were more objective about the situation, as you weren't a part of it, and forgiving such cruelty was beyond you.

    The one good thing about the dojos coming together was the intense dedication that grew on everyone. Now that you had a common enemy, many participants would hang around in Miyagi-Do's dojo long after training sessions, training until you could hardly move your limbs.

     The sun had ago long fallen when you and the remaining students took places around a mat, ready for the sparring session to begin.

With Daniel and Sensei Lawrence gone, you had taken to writing down names and pulling them out of a bowl to decide on sparring partners.

    All the negative emotions you felt channeled in to great excitement when Miguel called your name – followed by Hawk's.

You could have sworn you saw a look of something you couldn't read – concern, perhaps, or fear? Before he seemed to share your excitement as he stepped on to the mat with a grin that was almost predatory.

    Two could play at that game.

    “You're as good as dead,” you said, your voice dripping venom. Hawk's smirk just grew.

    “Is that so, princess? I'd like to see you score as much as a point.”

A light bulb lit in your mind.

    “Yeah?” you taunted. “What if I get three?”

Hawk laughed. “You got a lot of confidence, don't you? I'll tell you what. If you can score three points on me and win, I'll...” He bit his lip as he thought. “I'll let you boss me around for a week. Whatever you want.”

The blood rushed through your veins, ready more than ever to fight. You were grateful for the lack of your sensei, knowing this nonsense wouldn't stand if he were here.

    “Deal.”

    “Are you guys done?” Miguel huffed, standing between you two, ready to referee. “Good. Bow.”

    You bowed without intent and got straight to attacking. Hawk didn't expect it; he came from the dojo that prides itself on strike first and yours cared mainly about defense. You earned your first point within seconds.

    That only served to throw Hawk off his game further. He dived in right away for the attack and was caught unprepared when you fell, sweeping his leg.

    You earned your second point.

By that point, Hawk might as well have been fuming out the ears. His brows furrowed in anger as he looked at you like you were the most vile thing he had ever seen; that satisfied something within you.

    The flurry of hits and misses was so rapid you were caught unprepared when you managed to land a punch on Hawk, Miguel's voice rising as he named you victor.

    Hawk huffed, clearly exerted. You smiled. “You're mine.”

You were fully intending to use this bet to its full potential.

The next day was Saturday, and Hawk, true to his word, showed up at your doorstep at 9 p.m sharp, just as you had ordered.

You paid him no kindness when you opened the door, not exchanging a word with him before demanding: “Helmet?”

Hawk handed you a helmet, not looking particularly pleased about the situation but not being able to stop himself from taking in an eyeful of you anyway.

You needed a ride to tonight's party – that's where Hawk came in, beginning his work for you as a personal valet. Accordingly for the event, you were dressed meticulously, showing off your best features – and if you were to judge by Hawks reaction, you were on your way to turn heads.

You climbed on the motorcycle after him, circling your arms around him loosely; but when he kicked off and started the ride, you couldn't help but tighten your hold.

    The party was overcrowded with people from the moment you got there; Yasmine's parties tended to get a bit... excessive.

You ditched Hawk the moment you got sight of your friends, ditching the helmet on his bike to run over to Sam, Moon and Yasmine.

Yasmine didn't hide the dirty look she sent at Hawk. “Ew. Who's the freak?”

You grinned proudly. “My valet. Ignore him. Actually...”

You looked over to the drinks table; someone had tapped a keg and it was being swarmed with people.

    “Hey, Hawk!”

Hawk turned to you, the slightest furrow in his brow as he had already joined his own friends. You pointed at the drinks table. “Vodka soda!” you ordered.

He rolled his eyes, but did it anyway. Your friends watched wide-eyed as he obeyed you wordlessly, bringing over the drink. “Anything else, princess?”

    “Yes,” you gave him a judging once-over. “Don't drink tonight. I want to get home in one piece.”

He bit his cheeks and glared at you before growling “Fine” and returning to his friends.

At some point you didn't even want a drink any more, it was just fun ordering Hawk to go fetch you another one; and so, you found yourself unintentionally drunk, laughing mindlessly at anything said and swaying on your feet.

You didn't even know how late it had gotten when Hawk came in the living room looking for you, ready to go home as most the others already had.

You had earlier made him promise to take you home as well, and – something you were quickly learning was, Hawk was definitely a man of his word. He spotted you half-sprawled on the couch, laughing with Yasmine at something you didn't fully register. Your cup was askew in your hand, contents about to spill over when Hawk grabbed it out of your hand, placing it on a table nearby.

    “Come on, Y/n. It's time to go.”

    “Not yet!” you grinned gleefully, taking hold of his wrist and shaking it dumbly as you spoke. “Later! We're having fun!”

Hawk placed his free hand on yours that held him. “It's four AM, Y/n, time to call it a night.”

    You didn't reply, instead resorting to pouting like a child.

His eyes softened (the puppy eyes never failed to work) – but his jaw clenched. “If you don't come now I'm leaving you here.”

    “Fine!” you hurriedly rose to your feet, using Hawk for balance. “Bye,” you pouted at Yasmine childishly as Hawk pulled you away from her and out of the house.

The sudden quiet of the outside was nearly overwhelming, Hawk's voice sounding too loud for you. “How am I supposed to get you home when you're this drunk?”

    “I'm not drunk,” you answered instinctively, knowing that you very well were.

    “If you can make it to the bike in a straight line, I'll believe you.” You look at his bike, ten feet ahead. You decide to keep holding on to him. “That's what I thought. Listen. You gotta stay awake, okay? I can't have you falling off in the middle of the road, or making me sway, because then we're both dead. Got it?”

    “Dead. Got it.”

Hawk didn't look convinced, but placed a helmet on you and buckled it anyway.

It was about ten minutes in to the ride when Hawk pulled over. He turned to you, his voice as serious as he could make it; you simply smiled, somewhat dazed. “This isn't going to work.”

    “Hm?”

    “Y/n!” Hawk called, trying to wake you up a little. “Don't fall asleep!”

    “Yes, sensei.” you slurred. Had you been any more awake, you might have noticed the way Hawk's eyes widened at that.

Hawk had to refocus himself to go on. “I'm serious. Look... My house is closer than yours. You can sleep it off at mine, and I'll take you wherever tomorrow. Okay?”

    “Okay,” you shrugged, your mind not caring about much other than regaining the warmth of Hawk's body pressed against yours.

Minutes later you pulled up at an unfamiliar house. Hawk unbuckled your helmet and set it aside, helping you off the bike and guiding you inside, motioning Shhh as he led you through the corridor of his darkened house until you reached his room.

The most natural thing for you to do the moment you saw a bed was to collapse on it. In the seconds Hawk turned his back on you to find you Pj's to wear, you had fallen asleep.

    Looking at you on his bed, Hawk exhaled heavily. He was very aware of your hatred of him; what he couldn't understand was, if everyone else forgave him, why not you?

It certainly didn't help that you looked the way you do, that you were talented, and that everyone loved you.

So Hawk undid your shoes and pulled them off, laying a blanket on you before leaving you to sleep.

    You woke up groggy, somewhat hungover and in a strangers room; an interesting start to the day.

You didn't really want to leave the comfort of your lonesome in the room but it was clear you would have to face the music at some point, so you womaned up and left the room.

Following the smell of food cooking, you walk down a hallway to find a red-haired man in the kitchen, his tattooed back to you, muscles flexing as he flipped a pancake.

With his hair down, it took you a moment to register who you're seeing; who's bed you spent the night in.

    Hawk.

Your first instinct was to groan, to cower in to yourself in regret; but then you remember how tenderly he treated you the night prior, making sure you got safely to a bed, letting you have his bed.

You swallowed your pride and stepped in to the kitchen. “Morning.”

Hawk's shoulders jumped in fright as you startled him; you couldn't help but giggle. He quickly rightened himself, straightening his back and flexing his abs as he turned to you.

    He was good looking and he knew it. You hated him.

However, you felt your power returning to you as he couldn't help but look you up and down, your disheveled clothes revealing a bit more than they had the night before. Hawk inhaled sharply, reminding himself of who he was, how he was supposed to act: unfazed.

    “Bout time you got up.”

You frowned, looking at the kitchen clock. “What do you mean about time? It isn't even noon yet.”

    “Yeah, well,” Hawk flipped a pancake on to a nearby plate. “You wanted me to take you to the mall today, right? I have practice later, so it's gotta be now.” The Eagle-fangs were holding weekend practices of their own, something you weren't a fan of.

    “Jeez, fine,” you sneered, allowing yourself to sit at the kitchen table. Amidst the chaos that was waking up in Hawks bed, you had totally forgot you previously asked him to take you out today. Yasmine's parents were making her take tutoring lessons, Moon was doing some spiritual healing thing and Sam was with Miguel, so you were left all alone – but you certainly didn't intend on spending Sunday at home, doing nothing.

    Hawk finally shut off the burner and joined you at the table with a stack of pancakes and two plates in tow. “Eat away your hangover. I'm not gonna hold your hair up if you hurl.”

Breakfast with Hawk ended up being a surprisingly civil affair; so was shopping. There was something exciting about dragging him along after you, shop after shop, having him carry your bags and modeling clothes for him. And honestly, you were loving the effect you had on him. You knew he was trying to hide it, but you could see the way he grew antsy when you tried on bikinis. You loved teasing him, knowing he couldn't have you.

    What also didn't hurt was the way you two turned heads walking down streets together. You were undeniably gorgeous, and he... While at first you thought it was the bright red mohawk that grabbed peoples eyes, after a close inspection you couldn't deny he had fair features, too. You had to look away whenever he tensed his jaw, accentuating his jawline, or if God forbid he smiled, you had to deny the way his smile made your stomach knot up.

    As though to top off the experience of him, by the time you finished shopping, Hawk would have been late if he was to take you home, so you suggested he take you to practice with him and just take you home once he was finished. And oh my... You did not need to see him fighting. Having a whole hour to see his biceps flexing as the threw punches was doing you no favors; when you were both practicing you were too busy with yourself to notice him, but right then you had a whole hour to do nothing but stare.

At the end of the practice you rose when Hawk approached you, ready to go. When his sensei understood you were waiting there for him, he asked Hawk, “Yours?”

Hawk didn't answer; he merely smirked that Hawk smirk of his. His sensei nodded proudly. “Nice.” Creep.

You had a couple more days to squeeze the most you could out of your bet, and by all means were you planning on using them.

Hawk was taking you to school and home every day on the back of his bike – to Miyagi-do, too. It became a regular thing to see you two together, and if anyone was expecting you, they expected Hawk, too.

Just as the previous mornings, you and Hawk walked in to school together. Seeing your friends, you bid him goodbye and went to join them, your eyes lingering on him a bit too long as he said hello to Miguel.

Yasmine's jaw dropped as she looked at you, her expression scandalized. “What?” you asked.

    “You're totally in to the freak!”

    “What? No,” you denied – but even as the words left your mouth, you could hear your lack of conviction. “No.”

You looked back to where Hawk and Miguel stood; this time, he caught your eye. Then, with total audacity, he winked at you.

You felt heat rush through your body.

The smirk that grew on him suggested he knew exactly what he was doing to you.

    You hated it.

Deciding to put an end to this madness, you wordlessly leave your friends and march up to Hawk, a new rage running though you.

He stopped talking with Miguel when you reached him; Miguel visibly tensed at what he felt was a dangerous situation for him to be in.

    “Sidebar,” you ordered. Hawk smirked.

    “After you, princess.”

You hoped no one would notice when you lured him in to an empty classroom, but in all honesty, it was you and Hawk. There were always eyes on you two.

You turned to him once you were engulfed in the silence of the room. “Listen. I don't know what you're playing at, but cut it out. I own you, got it? Don't go winking at me in the hallway like I'm your girlfriend or something.”

You expected to see him cower, blush, show any sign of intimidation – but there was no such emotion. The smirk he wore only grew in confidence. “You sure about that?” he asked cheekily. “Because it seems to me like you'll find any excuse to be around me.”

You couldn't believe the audacity of this boy. You were stunted for words; he went on. “Be honest with yourself. Once the week is up, you'll still find reasons to talk to me.”

You bit your cheeks; you hated how he was right, how he read you so easily. “And look, I'm done playing this game too.”

Your stomach dropped. Was he about to reject you, without you even confessing? “I'm not playing with you,” you tried to say intimidatingly, but your voice came out too small for comfort.

    “Me neither. So...” Hawk looked down at you; you could have drowned in his ocean eyes. You averted your gaze to the side, crossing your arms.

    “Fine. We can call it off early.”

Hawk chuckled. You wanted to punch him. “You still don't get it, do you?”

You returned your eyes to Hawk, ready to chew him out when he placed his hands on your cheeks, pulling you to him for a kiss.

You could feel yourself melting in to the kiss, feeling a rush of adrenaline run through you as you finally got to experience what you didn't want to admit to yourself that you craved so deeply.

When he finally pulled away, he kept his hands on you, your noses nearly touching. “I've wanted to do that for a long time,” Hawk admitted.

You half-smiled. “It's only been a week.”

Hawk had burst in laughter, his thumbs caressing your cheeks. “You still don't get it.” Before you could protest his words, his lips met your once more.

    Maybe you could find it in you to forgive him, after all.

[ursaminortarot]

I’m really fixated on romance right now for some reason, so here we are with a soulmate reading. I’m of the belief that we don’t just have romantic soulmates but platonic and familial ones as well. However, for this reading, I am choosing to focus solely on romance.

I’m experimenting with a new format. I linked each of the readings to a google doc, this is mostly because they ended up being way longer than I’d anticipated (story of my life). I also thought that it might be more organized to do it this way. I’d appreciate feedback on whether or not I should keep doing it.

Piles to choose from:

Pile 1 - Cobra

Pile 2 - Fish

Pile 3 - Cheetah

Pile 4 - Zebra

Pile 5 - Hawk

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[Decks Used: Modern Witch Tarot, Wild Unknown Tarot, Wild Unknown Animal Spirit oracle, Tarot Cats, standard playing cards, and a homemade oracle deck]

This took me 10-11 hours to do, spread out across 3 days. So, if you can support my shop or donate I’d be grateful. Also, please excuse any grammar/spelling mistakes and small incoherencies, by the time I got around to editing the readings I was kind of over it.

My Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/UrsaMinorTarot

CashApp: @UrsaMinorTarot

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Pile 1: Cobra

Who They Are:

Queen of Wands, 9 of Wands, 8 of Pentacles, King of Clubs

10 of Cups, 7 of Cups r, Justice r, 5 of Hearts

7 of Cups r, 9 of Pentacles r, 6 of Wands, 9 of Diamonds

Death r, 7 of Wands r, 8 of Wands r, Ace of Spades

The High Priestess, The Fool, The Hanged Man r, Ace of Hearts

Mother of Cups r

Winter+New Love

I’m getting some self-made energy here, they are likely a very hard worker who puts in a lot of time and energy. Their success, while appreciated, makes them feel very alone. There’s a lot of wands energy here, so they are generous with their money and it’s possible that other people take advantage of that. The Mother of Cups reversed reinforces this idea as she brings the message: “you give too much of yourself to others”.

The High Priestess, Fool, and Hanged Man being pulled together makes me think they function in two very different ways. Either, they overthink literally everything to the point of never making a decision, or they just do things very impulsively without a second thought.

They want a big, happy family, whatever that means to them. It could involve having children or just having a lot of pets. However, due to past relationships, they no longer feel as though they could trust anyone enough to live out that dream. 

They feel disillusioned with love, which gives them a lot of conflicting emotions. Because, again, there’s a lot of wands energy, so they’re a very passionate person. Their current belief that love isn’t real is a direct contradiction to who they are at their core. Winter and new love could be taken literally, like you’ll meet and fall in love with them in the winter. Or, if you wanted to look deeper at it, it could mean that you help them get out of this place of being unable to consider love.

How You Can Recognize Them:

8 of Cups r, Son of Wands, 7 of Wands r, King of Diamonds

5 of Pentacles, Father of Cups, 3 of Swords, Jack of Hearts

The Devil r, The Fool, The Devil, 2 of Spades

10 of Pentacles, The High Priestess r, Queen of Hearts

The Hermit, 7 of Pentacles r, 10 of Cups r, 7 of Diamonds

Hanged man, 4 of Cups r, 10 of Diamonds r

“You’re having trouble getting in touch with your emotions”

“You’re not seeing clearly”

Ex

This person has an unmistakable light about them. Being with them is like sitting outside on a nice day soaking up the sun. However, they are still holding on to the past, and this is to their detriment. When you meet them, if you haven’t already, they will be extremely hung up on their ex. They are going to be obsessing over what went wrong and whether or not they can fix it. I can’t tell if they want to fix it to get back together with their ex, because they think it will give them closure, or because they think it will help them avoid making the same mistakes in their next relationship. But, they also don’t actually want to fix anything because that would mean confronting their emotions and they would really rather not. They will likely seem to be existing outside of reality, they are going to be so distracted by this internal conflict that they aren’t going to notice the world around them.  

In all honesty, they will be very difficult for you to recognize. You’ll probably notice them because of their light, but you won’t (and shouldn’t) consider them a potential partner - at least not until they’ve dealt with their issues and moved on. I want to stress that while they are so focused on their past relationship(s), that’s not all they have going on. They are a 3 dimensional human being like the rest of us, but this is just the information I was able to get.

I also want to mention that their family is very important to them, they’re the type of person to call or text each member of their immediate family every day. I also get the impression that you two will be friends for a while before getting into a relationship. 

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Pile 2: Fish

Who They Are:

Queen of Swords, 9 of Wands, 9 of Cups r, The Tower r, Jack of Spades

King of Swords, Daughter of Wands, 3 of Pentacles, 8 of Diamonds

Judgment r, 2 of Cups r, Daughter of Swords r, The Chariot r, 3 of Spades

5 of Pentacles, Temperance, 7 of Wands, Jack of Hearts

The Emperor, 8 of Pentacles, The Magician r, Ace of Wands, 4 of Spades

“I’m sorry”

Best friends 

Between the Emperor and having all of the court cards of the Swords suit, this person has a very powerful presence. They’re almost the kind of person that makes people stop and stare, I say almost because they’re intimidating and people don’t want to be caught staring. Not intimidating in a scary way, they just - and I can’t stress this enough - exude power. They are also very ambitious and highly intelligent. So when they put their mind to something, they will execute it perfectly. Or, at least, they want people to think it was done perfectly. They have a very “everything’s under control” look to them, but they’re barely hanging on by a thread. I feel like one bad day would send them into an existential spiral, because they don’t know who they are if they’re not perfect. 

Nothing’s ever come easily to them and they’ve had to fight their whole life to get the things that they have now. They’ve never had the option of giving up. If they gave up, they were worthless, they were nothing - that’s how they’ve always seen it. I imagine there’s a lot of parental pressure at play here. It’s turned them into a workaholic, there’s no work-life balance to be found. I’m getting the impression that the “I’m sorry” card has to do with this aspect of their life. 

The “best friends” card speaks for itself. With the Jack of Hearts and Daughter of Wands, there’s a playful energy to them. But these are the only cards pointing this out, which tells me that they restrain this part of themself. I think that you being their friend, as well as their partner, will show them that they don’t need to be so serious all the time. This is something buried so deep it’ll need some time and energy to be coaxed out of them.  

This is pretty obvious, but this person’s biggest fear is failure.

How You Can Recognize Them:

Knight of Wands r, 4 of Wands r, 8 of Cups, 9 of Swords

King of Pentacles, The Moon r, 7 of Swords r, Queen of Spades

5 of Pentacles, Mother of Swords, Queen of Wands, 4 of Hearts

Queen of Cups, Daughter of Swords r, Knight of Wands

7 of Cups r, Son of Swords, 4 of Pentacle, 5 of Diamonds

The World r, 9 of Wands r, 8 of Hearts r

You feel as if you aren’t getting the recognition you deserve

Seperation

We’re definitely seeing their more sensitive, playful aspects. However, these are still vastly overpowered by their Swords energy as, once again, all the court cards are out - the Queen’s out twice. Seriously, this person has such powerful energy that it’s the first thing you notice.

I feel like you’ll meet either at work or at school, somewhere where you’re working on a group project together. The people you’re working with aren’t going to take your contributions seriously. But, once they realize you’re right, they’ll claim they were  their ideas all along. The Swords family is very fair-minded, so I think this person’s going to have a problem with that.  

They have this very detached, uninterested persona and once you’ve spent time around your soulmate, you’re going to pick up on the fact that they are deeper than they want people to think they are. When they’re more comfortable with you, which will take some time, you might catch glimpses of them being competitive/hot-headed or they’ll start making jokes around you. If you’re patient enough, they’ll eventually be vulnerable with you.

They have a fear of the unknown and love is foreign to them, so this is definitely a slow-burn. 

In both of these readings I got a wave of pretty interesting energy. It wasn’t anxiety or dizziness, but felt similar to both. I felt like I lost my balance, that’s probably how you'll make this person feel. They have a lot of plans for life and you’re not one of them, so they’ll be thrown for a loop. 

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Pile 3: Cheetah:

Who They Are:

Page of Swords r, Son of Cups, The Hierophant, 9 of Clubs

Page of Wands, Mother of Wands r, Page of Cups r, 4 of Hearts

9 of Cups, The Tower, 2 of Swords, 2 of Cups, Ace of Clubs

Queen of Wands r, The Chariot r, Queen of Pentacles, 4 of Spades

Knight of Pentacles, Ace of Wands, Emperor r,  6 of Clubs

8 of Cups, King of Wands

You can’t help everyone

Over-investment in work

Aries

The first thing that I’m seeing is that this person will probably have some self-esteem issues. It seems to be tied to their abilities more so than appearance.

They have a lot of ideas for projects that they want to work on, but they never seem to start anything, let alone finish. I think this is because they try to be everything to everyone and don’t prioritize themself. They find contentment in the idea that everybody likes them, but this can make them a people pleaser. This can lead to them taking on long hours at work to make their boss happy. It’s also unrealistic because there’s not a person on Earth that’s universally liked. I think this is something they’ll come to realize in their own time.

They may come across as indecisive at times, they aren’t. They always know exactly what they want, but can have a hard time asserting themself. 

There’s a fire that burns bright here, this person has a lot of drive and ambition. This is where that aries energy comes in, they don’t have to have aries placements so please don’t get fixated on that. But, like I said before, they hold themself back by prioritizing other people and neglecting their own needs. They have the potential to be really successful, however they need to start putting themself first. 

This seems like a very sensitive individual, just the thought of doing something under-handed stresses them out. Which is a good thing for other people, because your soulmate’s very charming and could probably talk themself out of anything.

For some reason I get the impression that they have a bit of a sweet tooth.

How You Can Recognize Them:

2 of Swords r, The Empress, Queen of Cups, 3 of Hearts

9 of Pentacles r, Judgment r, The Moon, 10 of Spades

The Fool, Mother of Wands r, Hierophant r, Jack of Diamonds

The Chariot r, The Hermit, 4 of Wands, Joker B&W r

3 of Pentacles, 4 of Wands r, Knight of Wands, 4 of Spades

King of Cups r, The Magician r

You’re having trouble getting in touch with your emotions

September

Think before you speak

Let’s start with the reinforcements of their self-esteem issues, as well as their people pleasing tendencies. It’s exhausting for them, emotionally and physically. They are well and truly holding themself back, and I think that by the time you meet them they’ll be starting to examine these aspects of themself. This will be something they struggle with for a while and there may be a period of time where they withdraw to think things through.  

The joker in black and white in standard decks is my fool reversed card, but it’s reversed so its the fool reversed reversed. The fool upright, I feel like there could have been a simpler way for my cards to get that message to me. But I also feel like it represents the way your person talks to themself, they make everything just a little bit more complicated than it needs to be. They think in circles, eventually getting to the point but it may take them a while. This may be a contributing factor to their perceived indecisiveness. 

 They want to make a home with you. I get the impression that when talking about it with you, they’ll appear to be cool and collected. Like it’s not a big deal to them. But then they’ll turn around and shout it from the rooftops. It won’t be possible for people to not know you’re together, they’ll just be so loud about it. 

Outside of the need to make everybody like them, they’re a pretty care-free individual. It will be important to them that you have fun together. I think this playfulness is their most defining feature and probably the first thing people notice about them.  

In the first two piles, it looked like they’d be friends for a while before getting into a relationship with their person. That’s not the case here, like I said before, when this person knows, they know. They’re not going to waste time with you.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pile 4: Zebra

Who They Are:

The Fool, The Hanged Man,  Queen of Swords, Ace of Clubs

6 of Swords r, 2 of Wands, The Hanged Man, Ace of Hearts

Ace of Cups, Mother of Pentacles r, 4 of Wands, Jack of Spades,

3 of Swords r, The Magician, 10 of Pentacles, Queen of Cups r, Jack of Diamonds

3 of Cups, The High Priestess, Strength, The Fool r, King of Spades

Soulmate 

Hostile

May

The first thing I’m picking up on is that your soulmate is someone who is very carefree. They also have a lot of romantic energy to them, so they are definitely a hopeless romantic.

The amount of Major Arcana here tells me that this person is likely very spiritually gifted, they might not be consciously aware of this.

This person is kind of a go-getter. Once they decide they want something, nothing’s getting in their way.

There are some conflicting energies here because as happy and carefree as they are, there’s an equal amount of pain and hardship. This is someone who’s faced a lot of hostility, so at first will be fairly guarded. They love the idea of being in love, but have difficulties opening themself up to the reality of love. It’s not all bad, they are making an active effort to heal and not let past heartbreak hold them back.

With the Magician and High Priestess facing each other, this is someone who is likely very in touch with their spirituality. Not only are they able to  trust their intuition, but they also have everything that they need to follow it. Once they have a gut feeling about something, whatever it is, they will trust it more than they’ll trust you, and be right 90% of the time.

 They are very compassionate and probably are used to giving more than they take, which gets them taken advantage of. Part of their growth is going to be finding a balance in this aspect of their life. 

This is someone who values family and most likely wants some kind of family unit, whether that be having children or pets. 

The month of May might be important, it could be when you meet or one of you could be a Taurus or a Gemini.

How You Can Recognize Them:

Ace of Cups, 3 of Pentacles r, 8 of Wands, 2 of Swords

Page of Cups, Justice r, 5 of Cups, 7 of Clubs

King of Pentacles, 10 of Cups, Strength r, 2 of Diamonds

2 of Pentacles r, 9 of Cups r, Queen of Wands, King of Diamonds

Death, The Hierophant, Page of Wands, 9 of Spades 

Sensitive

Peaceful

There’s still time to change your mind.

One of their prominent characteristics is their sensitivity. This doesn’t mean that they’re crybabies, they are just very mindful of everybody's feelings. This paired with what we learned about the painful parts of their past probably makes them a little insecure. This insecurity is only a problem when it comes to relationships. They may come across as very confident and flirty, but as soon as it moves past that they start clamming up and getting nervous. It could be bad enough that they have a hard time believing that you actually want to be with them.

They invest a lot of time into their projects, whether work related or personal. It’s likely that they struggle with finding a work-life balance. This is someone who needs to feel productive at every moment of the day. They keep themself busy so that they don’t need to be alone with their thoughts. This isn’t someone that knows peace. It is something they’d like to experience, but they don’t know how to. They have too many thoughts and can’t quiet their mind, their inner-demons get the best of them at times. This isn’t something they express outwardly though, everyone around them probably sees them as someone who, while busy, is fairly laid back. They need a lot of guidance here so if you’re someone who meditates, this could be something you help them with.

It’ll be easiest for you to recognize them based on their sensitivity and active lifestyle. They will be extremely helpful to their friends and family, and would drop everything to be there if needed. They are also, surprisingly down-to-earth. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pile 5: Hawk

Who They Are:

5 of Cups, Judgment, Queen of Wands, Queen of Spades

Knight of Wands r, 10 of Wands r, 5 of Pentacles r, 3 of Diamonds

7 of Cups r, The Fool r, 10 of Pentacles, King of Spades

2 of Swords r, 9 of Cups, 3 of Cups r, 3 of Spades

The High Priestess r, 3 of Pentacles, Magician r, 9 of Diamonds

“You’re my everything.”

You need to hold yourself to more reasonable standards.

This is someone with a lot of pain, they are overwhelmed and feel defeated. I’m getting the impression that it has to do primarily with work/co-workers. It could be that they put a lot of themself into their work and seem to always get passed up for promotions, or they could have even been recently laid off. They’re very ambitious and intelligent, so if they did get laid off, it would be a big hit to their ego. Alternatively, they could have almost reached a long-standing dream, only for it to fall apart at the last second. 

Your soulmate has a lot of fiery passion that they don’t always know what to do with, so they turn everything into a competition. The thing is, they’re only competing with themself. They’re always trying to be better than they were yesterday, even when it’s unrealistic. 

As passionate as they are, they can be very patient when it comes to getting what they want. They know that not everything can be rushed, even if that’s frustrating to them. They try to avoid making reckless mistakes, but sometimes this can lead to them not making decisions in a timely manner. 

They value family and friends greatly, this could be the most important part of their life to them. They’ll test you to see if you can gain the approval of their loved ones. If you don’t, they may begin to have second thoughts. This is a soulmate though, so you’ll likely be very compatible and win everyone over with relative ease. 

How You Can Recognize Them:

5 of Pentacles, The Moon, 4 of Swords, 5 of Clubs

King of Pentacles, Judgment, 5 of Swords r, King of Wands r, 7 of Diamonds

2 of Swords r, Daughter of Pentacles, 5 of Pentacles r, 3  of Clubs

Temperance r, Son of Wands r, High Priestess r, 7 of Swords r, Jack of Clubs 

6 of Swords r, The Tower r, Page of Pentacles r, 5 of Hearts

You are not seeing clearly

Hesitant

When You meet this person, they will be coming out of a very rough period of their life. They are going to be at the start of their healing journey and they won’t have a lot of time or energy for romance. They’re likely very hard on themself, they don’t want to be seen as weak so they don’t express negative emotions. This is something they have to confront in order to heal.

They are going to be in a complicated headspace, there’s going to be difficulty separating the past from the present, and there’s not a lot of balance between their spiritual and physical lives. They either reject the spiritual to embrace the material world, or neglect their physical well-being and focus solely on their spiritual self. 

You know how some people use their trauma as an excuse to inflict pain on others? This person’s the opposite of that, everything they’ve gone through has made them a patient, compassionate person. This will probably be one of the first things you notice about them, how kind they are. They are also very dependable, they’ve experienced going through hard times alone and don’t want anyone else to feel like they have to. 

Overall, they come across as a very good human being, but there’s an underlying tiredness to them. They might be dealing with a little bit of brain fog, so at times they’re slow to process the world around them.

[authenticmiya]

Alone - Johnny Lawrence x Reader

Summary - Based on the song Alone by Heart, reader doesn’t know how to cope with Johnny putting all of his time into the dojo, and not into his marriage.

Words - 1.7k

Warnings - angst

The sparkles on your wedding ring could just about be seen as the moon lit up the apartment. Letting out a shaky yet frustrated sigh, the clock was still ticking, except this time, two hours had gone by. Johnny wasn't back, when was he ever back?

As it neared 1am, the debate of going to bed was playing on your mind, but there was no way you were going to sleep without talking to your husband, if he was that anymore.

"Come on Johnny, pick up." You sighed, trying not only his telephone at work but the stupid cell phone that you should've known he couldn't answer.

But not being able to use technology wasn't an excuse. It wasn't hard to keep a promise, in fact it wasn't hard to just not make the promise in the beginning. A knock on the door pulled you straight from your wandering thoughts. Looking through the peep-hole, you realised it was Miguel.

"Seriously kid." You groaned before opening the door. You loved him like a son, you really did, but you were not in the mood to socialise with anyone.

"Hi Mrs Lawrence, Sensei told me to tell you-" He began but you cut him off.

"Don't worry Miguel, this is the fourth time you've had to tell me that he's gotta do all of the paperwork, I get it. Thank-you." The sadness in your tone made Miguel feel bad.

"He's in the Dojo Mrs Lawrence, it's not my place to say but instead of waiting around for him to come home, why don't you just go down there?" Miguel suggested.

"I appreciate that kid, but I don't wanna start a fight." You admitted to the teenage boy, and you couldn't quite believe it because he hardly knew love himself.

"Fight for this love, you're badass." He chuckled before heading back over to his place. 1am and Miguel had only just left the dojo, so who knows when Johnny will be home. After the brief conversation, the time just went by extremely slow, but that didn't stop you from staying awake.

"I’m not having another night end with me being alone." You muttered, and it was as if god answered your prayers, because the keys jangled in the front door, and in stepped Johnny.

"Jesus Christ why are you sat in the dark babe?" Johnny laughed as he flipped the switch to the lights on.

"Till the moment I saw you them years ago, I had always got by on my own." You told him, twiddling your fingers as you sat on the couch. Johnny looked at you strangely, as he grabbed a beer from the refrigerator.

"I never really cared until I met you Johnny. Nobody cared for me, and I never cared for anybody. I spent years upon years, dreaming I'd marry a guy like you, and I got him in the end." There was no way you could cry in front of him.

"Listen if this is about me and the dojo, I really wanna spare that fight." Johnny sighed as he stood a distance away from you.

"Sometimes I reminisce on the good times we had. Before Larusso, before the alcohol, before this goddamn dojo Johnny." Now the words were just falling from your mouth.

"Don't mention that name under this roof again." He suddenly snapped, and now you had hit the nerve.

"How do I get you alone Johnny? Because I lost you the moment that asshole came back into your life. Don't try and sugarcoat it, please save me the bullshit. You're all I ever wanted and all I've ever had. Ever since Cobra Kai reopened, I don't see you. I wake up, you're not there, I go to sleep and you're still not there." It took a lot of courage to talk to him without getting mad, for nearly every argument that was made, was because of your attitude.

"You will always have me Y/N, but I have a business to run, I'm protecting these kids." Johnny swigged on his drink, also trying not to give you a nasty reaction.

"They're relying on me, they have nothing but karate to help them with their confidence, you would know if you were there." He suddenly came out with when you didn't reply.

"I'm relying on you too Johnny, you know your wife?" You began.

"And here she goes with the whole emotional card. Whatever." He rolled his eyes and turned towards the bedroom.

"'No I refuse to let you do this to me again. We need to talk about this." You grabbed his bicep.

"Every-time we try and talk, a certain somebody turns it into something that could've been avoided." Johnny said sarcastically.

"Yeah and you shrug it off like it's nothing." You pinched the bridge of your nose.

"That's bullshit and you know it Y/N, I don't need to be constantly reminded of shit that you get insecure about." Oh he had finally cracked into his frustrated and angry mode.

"So me missing you is being insecure? Sorry for committing a crime jackass." You crossed your arms over your chest.

"Here she is, little miss childish, once again." Johnny slammed the door to your shared bedroom, now leaving you to decide whether to follow after him.

"Oh for fuck sake." You grumbled, opening the door. He was getting some clothes ready for what you presumed was for after he had showered.

"We have neighbours, you don't need to slam the door so loud." You finally spoke up again.

"I didn't know you could slam a door quietly." Johnny didn't look at you.

"What's going on with you? Please just talk to me Johnny." You felt like begging for a life time. You just wanted your husband back, even if it was just the extra kiss in the morning. But he wasn't talking to you.

"This is getting ridiculous Y/N." He groaned.

"No what's getting ridiculous is that you gradually built a dojo, but gradually pushed me to the side and I'm sorry if you think I'm childish, and that I start a fight with you for no reason. I don't mean to fight with you, we're meant to fight together for crying out loud." Johnny was listening to you but he wasn't responding.

"I never asked for this, I don't deserve this." Johnny stood up, grabbing a towel from the drawers.

"And you think I do? When was the last time you actually checked if I was okay?" Johnny didn't know what to say, he knew he hadn't been the best of husbands.

"Miguel stopped by today, actually ever since the dojo opened he's come by quiet frequently, telling me the usual that you're doing paperwork." You began.

"Also told me I was a badass who needed to fight for this love, but it takes two to fight, and right now, it's pretty clear that I'm the only one even fending for this marriage." A single tear dropped down your cheek but you refused to let him see it.

"I'll leave you to shower." You left the bedroom and decided that maybe tonight you should just keep your space from him. Deciding that sitting around doing nothing wasn't an option, you just decided to take the trash out. It wasn't really a normal thing to do in the earliest of hours in the morning, but it was something.

Johnny felt his heart stop when he heard the front door shut, something telling him that you were going to leave for the night and just not come back to him.

"Shit." He scrambled off the bed, completely throwing the thought of a shower out of his head.

"Y/N? Babe?" He called out, but he didn't know you were only just outside.

"Shit!" He shouted, grabbing his keys, ready to drive all lengths of the country just to bring you back. As he opened the front door, you were just heading back in.

"Please, just don't leave. We can talk this through, you can't leave me Y/N, I need you. God dammit I'm an asshole, I deserved everything you said to me just please come inside and we can talk it out, no arguing, no nothing." Johnny had his hands firmly on your shoulders.

"Why the hell would I leave you? I took the trash out." You told him, he glanced around back to the trash-can noticing how it was now empty, and had a huge sigh of relief.

"And besides don't you think I'd have been gone a long time ago if an argument was the reason we ever broke up?" You questioned him.

"Yeah I suppose you're right, you put up with a lot of shit huh?" Johnny took in your appearance for the first time, in such a long time.

The way your hair was just in a messy bun, the fact you were in one of his shirts and a pair of sweats. The Y/N he had fallen in love with, had been waiting for the affection she deserved and he simply hadn't realised how long she had gone without it.

"I'm sorry." He began.

"This isn't gonna happen again. You're not just gonna apologise and I'll melt into you. Johnny you've gotta mean it, you've seriously gotta mean it." You pleaded.

"Shall we order-" You cut him off.

"It's literally 2am and all I want right now, is to relax. We're both hotheaded and we need to be able to talk about things without getting riled up with each-other." You could tell he was listening to you very intently and without hesitation he lifted you up in a bridal fashioned way.

"This isn't what I expected but I'm not complaining." You chuckled as he shut the door with his foot. The two of you settled down on the bed together. 

"I love you." You told him, the argument slowly floating out of the window.

"I don't think you have any idea how much I love you." He sighed, pressing a firm, passionate kiss to your lips.

"We'll be okay won't we Y/N?" Johnny sighed, draping an arm across your waist.

"We'll be okay Johnny."

[retvenkos]

No, I am not done talking about aging up the characters of the Grishaverse, thank you very much...

(Spoilers for pretty much all of the Grishaverse!)

I’m going to come right out and say it - I don’t think aging up all of the characters was the smartest move. I think the Grishaverse is compelling, and the characters can be very complex, and part of that leans on the ages of the characters. I’m going to be talking about why I think (at least some) of the characters should have retained their same age, or at the very least, shouldn’t have been quite so aged up.

But first, I understand some reasons as to why they aged up characters, so I’m going to state them outright, to advocate on their behalf (but also, I can try my hand at debunking some of these. For funsies):

1. Mass audiences will be less interested if the main story feels too Y.A. - most adult audiences won’t want to watch that genre.

(This is a very fair argument! However, when comparing Shadow and Bone to other popular (non Y.A.) fantasies, Shadow and Bone is very Y.A. Compare Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings to Shadow and Bone, and you can see how the Y.A. genre permeates the text. There are character moments and story beats that Shadow and Bone utilizes that are characteristic of the Y.A. genre. It was created with that audience and expectation in mind. No matter how hard the show tries to divorce the source material from it’s Y.A. roots, it is still very much a Y.A. story. The second most important plot line is a romance and not the implications of how society created the Darkling and how society Must Be Fixed if we ever want to move on and win the war. Those problems of the wider Grishaverse are better tackled in the Nikolai Duology (which still stumbles), and the Nikolai Duology feels like a different story/genre because it’s tackling something different. Shadow and Bone is an inherently Y.A. story, and really, it is the later books in the Grishaverse that deviate from the tropes and traps of the genre.  No matter how you dice it, the original trilogy is very much a Y.A. story. Lean into it, and you might be better able to mess around with the fluidity of the genre, all while your audience knows what the story is, and what will come of it. Alternatively, the writers could have gotten deep into the text and tried to bring up the deeper problems of the story (most of those grey areas) to make it less trope-like, but that would require an almost complete retelling, which we did not get. Too often, Y.A. stories are divorced from the genre when they are adapted, but it’s not done in an organic way that looks at the text itself, and it feels very off when viewing. Just let Shadow and Bone be what it is. If you want a longer rant on this, hmu.)

2. Some very serious things happen to these characters! To write about it is one thing, but to watch a 17 year old Alina be manipulated in this way or to watch a 19 year old Genya be used in this way is dark and very much Not Okay!

(Yes! Watching all of the terrible, terrible things happen is bad enough on it’s own, and when you de-age Alina from 25 to 17 and Genya from 30 to 19, there are some very big consequences! It’s not nearly as inviting or Okay to view! Anyone would be rightly horrified! Especially older audiences! Well, forgive me for being so blunt, but that is part of The Point. Part of what makes all of this so cruel and so unfair is that these characters are young - they are barely no longer children - and that is what heightens the injustice of it all. Alina is a teenager who is tasked with saving the world and freeing an oppressed people! And she doesn’t want to do it! That’s a lot to handle, right? Arguably, by keeping their young ages, you are better breaking out of the Y.A. adaptation trap because you are making a statement about how young these characters are and how unfair all of this is. Y.A. adaptations always age up the characters for palatability, but by keeping them young, you are making it more grungy and more frightening without even changing the source material!)

3. Okay, but adult audiences don’t want to ship teenagers. How will we get them to watch?

(This argument is probably the most sound, and it makes the most sense! Netflix wants to get the widest audience they can - they know teenagers who read the book are going to watch it anyway, so they need to get the older crowd invested. An easy way to get people invested is to get them hooked on a romance plotline. Then you have to watch the show to see how it progresses! It would be hard to do that if adults feel uncomfortable telling 16 year olds to kiss already. Another problem is that Shadow and Bone doesn’t have an adult cast - they have the young ones and that’s about it. Compare that to Game of Thrones (or, if you want me to stop with GOT references, shows like Cobra Kai) where there are 2+ generations - fans have the older group to ship, and the younger group to wish the best for. This is a trap of the Y.A. genre. They are Kids, but they are Not. In the book, this works fine, as their ages aren’t mentioned often. In fact, in the books, they read like competent 25 year olds, except for key moments when they show their age, which usually feels bittersweet (the Six of Crows Duology is much better at this than Shadow and Bone, but I digress). So what do we do? Well, D*rklina fans aren’t going to like this, but I would argue that we keep Alina and Mal aged down, and the story subliminally changes from “the love triangle” to “coming of age while dealing with abusive relationships”. In fact, this is another great way to divorce it from the Y.A. genre, which was already a goal we had in mind.)

✧ *:･ﾟ

Now, let’s move onto character analyses... everyone’s favorite.

In this section, I’m going to break down some main characters from the Shadow and Bone Netflix show (and some upcoming characters, just for the hell of it) and I’m going to advocate for changing their ages. At the end, I’ll give you a rough ballpark estimate for what I think they should have been.

(Also, I just want to address that I loved the actors chosen for the Netflix show, and this is in no way an attack on them. They did great, and they’re performances were amazing. This is me talking about an issue the showrunners made, not the actors.)

Alina Starkov

First, we get to talk about the lovely Alina Starkov. Jessie Mei Li is 25 years old. Her book counterpart is 17. That’s a whopping 8 year difference where a lot of growth happens. Alina Starkov in the books is doing her best for a girl who is told that she is going to save the world. She doesn’t have a lot of experience outside of the orphanage and the army, and so her knowledge of how Grisha are treated is ignorant at best, and malicious at worst. She doesn’t see nearly all of the suffering that is happening in the world, and for the most part, it stays that way. She knows the Fjerdans don’t like them, she knows the Shu are bad too, but she doesn’t really know the extent. She really gets a good look at it in the 3rd book, but for a large part of the series, Alina doesn’t really know what she’s up against, and her age is an easy explanation for her ignorance. A 17 year old growing up in a remote orphanage hasn’t had the greatest education. A 25 year old Alina has less excuses.

(There’s also a lot to be said about how Alina mostly... doesn’t care about the wider issues plaguing Grisha. This is decidedly Bad. I’m going to say this once, and I will say it many times again, but generally, audiences are more okay when a younger character does Bad Things because they reason they’ll learn in time. Thus, for a show, it’s strategically better to make these characters younger. Saying this doesn’t mean I support Alina’s disregard, it just means I recognize how it is utilized in storytelling.)

But why is her ignorance important, you ask? Because, Alina misses a key point of why the Darkling does what he does. To her, his actions of expanding the Fold are very black and white. Even when she’s with him, she refuses to see how it’s justified. Thus, a younger Alina is a little more understandable.

If Netflix was planning on focusing on how the Darklings desires are good but his methods are wrong, keeping Alina aged up is fine because she could be the voice of those concerns. However, I don’t really see that happening, so aging her up seems cheap.

Furthermore, part of the injustice of Alina’s character is that she is a child tasked with saving the world. She is a teenager who is being worshipped as a Saint, and who is going to have to martyr herself for the good of the world. It’s unfair. It’s cruel. Alina being 25 doesn’t somehow change this injustice, but to the average viewer, seeing a 17 year old child dying for the good of Ravka - dying because she’s the only one who can stop the villain - is more emotional and more disturbing.  There’s your grit, Netflix. It was already handed to you.

And I know, Ben Barnes (who plays the Darkling) is 39! It would be extremely uncomfortable to watch him fall in love and manipulate Alina! Again, I’m apologizing to the D*rklina shippers, because that is The Point. The Darkling is hundreds (perhaps thousands) of years old. That is why his talk of “eternity” is so compelling. He has felt it. He has lived it. When he tells Alina that he will break her, it should be greatly disturbing!  It would change the feeling of the story completely if Alina looks like a teenager. It would be a story about survival - not of romance. And while survival is definitely a Y.A. dystopian or fantasy trope, depending on how it’s handled, it could be markedly different from its predecessors.

However, book Alina is a minor, and that doesn’t sit right with me. Thus, I would make Alina 18, or 19 at the most. She should still very much be a teenager.

Malyen Oretsev

Mal is the next character we get to talk about, and I’m sure you have an idea about what I’m going to say. Archie Renaux is 23 and his book counterpart is 18. That’s only a five year difference, which isn’t that damning, but still leaves some problems.

One thing a lot of people disliked about Mal in the books was his temper and the way he expressed his frustrations. Now, while it’s true that viewers tend to be more forgiving with male characters having bad attitudes, this attitude problem could still be something that viewers will dislike in later seasons. This problem is only larger when you factor in an older age. Already, I expect people to complain about Mal’s temper and his inability to vent his frustrations in a healthy way (avoiding talking to Alina, blowing up, having a sour mood, having violent or explosive tendencies). This is only going to get worse when another argument added is “he is a grown man. He should have learned how to cope by now.” This argument isn’t completely nullified by a younger age, but it is made a little more understandable to the audience. (Again, in no way am I justifying these unhealthy behaviors, nor am I saying it’s okay when younger men do it, I’m just saying that viewers on a whole are more likely to excuse this behavior from a younger man - a sad reality, but a reality nonetheless.)

And as for his tracking ability, which is the best out of everyone in the world, he is gifted primarily because he’s an amplifier. At the end of Ruin and Rising, it’s noted that he can’t track nearly as well as he could because the world doesn’t hum with life in the way it used to. The in-world explanation probably also explains the ease with which he can pick up new skills. Thus, Mal doesn’t need to be aged up for skill reasons.

So, I would make Mal 19-21 in the series. He can be the slightly older than Alina, and everything works out how it should.

The Darkling

This one is going to be really quick - I think the age they made the Darkling was fine. Ben Barnes is 39 and we really don’t get an answer as to how old the Darkling is in the book (although he’s older than 400 years old, because the Fold was created 400 years ago). 

It’s worth noting that in the books, the Darkling isn’t described as being much older than (a 17 year old) Alina, but having him be markedly older than Alina was a smart move for subtext, but also for the presence that the Darkling has, and the reverence with which people regard him. The Darkling has power - I can’t imagine a 17 year old boy having the same effect as a grown man.

I have no beef with a 39 year old Darkling. I wouldn’t age him down much more, but I also wouldn’t make him much older, either.

Genya Safin

Genya Safin is another character I feel like should be addressed. Daisy Head is 30 years old. In the books, Genya is 19. Now, Genya’s character is an interesting one, because arguably either age suits her character. Throughout the series she’s shown to be more mature and capable than Alina, and while she places importance on the cliques of the Little Palace (which was poorly shown in the show, imo), she was raised in this environment from very young, and she’s at the bottom of the ranking. Her investment in it is justified. Sadly, I think more viewers would be moved by her story of sexual abuse if she were younger, but what happened is a tragedy and it was wrong no matter how you dice it.

Her age is one of the few I’m neutral on.

However, she and Alina are shown to be very close in the book, and while that doesn’t carry over as easily in the show, I think it would be nice to place her at least a little closer in age to Alina, but still keep her a little older so that she can offer her advice and it doesn’t feel preachy or unearned.

I would place her around 19-26. She has a lot of room for her age, because it’s not vital that she be any specific age. 

David Kostyk

I’m very briefly talking about David because Luke Pasqualino is 31 and David in the books is 19-20. I aged down Genya, and since they are love interests, I would like them to be in a little closer range of each other.

However, David is a very gifted Fabrikator - so much so that he changes the war considerably in later books - so I still want him to be older than the average cast.

I would place him around 24-29, and mostly, it would be based around the age of Genya. I wouldn’t want him to be 29 if Genya is 19. That’s just the ballpark range.

Zoya Nazyalensky

The final Shadow and Bone character I’m going to talk about is Zoya because she’s really important later in the Grishaverse. Online, I could not determine exactly what Sujaya Dasgupta’s age is, but the two ages most commonly given are 19 or 21. Zoya in the books is 19-20, so Sujaya is one of the most faithful castings in terms of age. 

I think it’s important that Zoya is around the age of Alina. Not only do they have a shared love interest in the form of Nikolai (and the Darkling in the show, which I absolutely hate), but they also have a rivalry for the Darkling’s favor (which isn’t romantic, but about sTATUS), and having her be markedly older than a teenage Alina would be weird, in my opinion.

Furthermore, Zoya’s character is pretty closed off and (dare I say) one-dimensional in the original Shadow and Bone trilogy, so keeping her younger isn’t going to make her any less believable. She’s not particularly wise, so keeping her young won’t be an issue.

Finally, she has a romantic plotline with Mal (even if it doesn’t go anywhere), so we want to keep her within range of Mal’s age, too.

I would place Zoya at 19-22. Thus, I am in agreement with the showrunners!

Nikolai Lantsov

A character that has yet to make an appearance in the show is Nikolai Lantsov, who is stated as being 20-21 in Siege and Storm, and the rest of the Shadow and Bone trilogy. Nikolai hasn’t been casted yet, but I decided to put him here because why not?

Nikolai, interestingly enough, is a character I would like to age up, however, only slightly. Nikolai is a very accomplished character, as anyone who has read the series knows, and while he does have the grooming to be that smart and accomplished, he is able to outsmart the Darkling and other older characters on multiple occasions, and him being so young just seems off. Of course, I understand why he is young - his love interests are, and he certainly has his moments where he’s boyish and unprepared - but these reasons pale in comparison to all of his talents and accomplishments.

Taking all of this into consideration, I would put Nikolai at 23 or 24. It’s a minor age change, and it would really just make him more apt to grow into his role. He’s still young enough to where people can underestimate him, but he’s old enough to justify having such smarts and charm. The only argument I can see going against this is his love story with Alina, seeing as she’s 18/19, but I think there was a lot that went into his pursuit of Alina. At first it was political, but after that, it became about how Alina was someone who challenged him and knew him for all that he was. It was less of a romance and more of a friendship that lended itself to a nice opportunity. It could have been more. It wasn’t. Plus, the age gap isn’t egregious.

Tamar Kir-Bataar and Tolya Yul-Bataar

I’m briefly talking about these twins, because they are originally 18-19 in the Shadow and Bone Trilogy, and I would like them to be older overall. Tamar and Tolya are some of the most competent characters in the Grishaverse, and having them be the same age as Mal and Alina is off, in my mind.

I would like them to be at least Nikolai’s age or older, so 23-27.

✧ *:･ﾟ

Finally, we’re on to the crows....

Kaz Brekker

Ah, yes. The Bastard of the Barrel. His is a character I was actually really glad to see aged up, before watching the show. Afterwards, I have some more complex thoughts. Freddy Carter is 28 years old and Kaz, in the books, is 17. 

Kaz in the books is very competent. So much so that he outsmarts everyone he comes up against - characters who are older than him and often have military strategy. Furthermore, he is ruthless. He is probably one of the darkest characters in all of the Grishaverse, and all of that is placed on the shoulders of a 17 year old. To make a comparison, he and Alina are the same age when their stories take place (Shadow and Bone for Alina, and Six of Crows for Kaz). I don’t know a lot of young celebrities to make the comparison, but he’s a teenager. He’s a child. Aging up Kaz in the show was something I was very much on board for. Kaz is a ruthless killer and an expert thief, and making him older was a smart move, imo. A Kaz in his 20′s made more sense.

However, when we meet Kaz in season one of Shadow and Bone, he’s very much in his fledgling state. Not a single plan of his goes as planned. He is foiled at every step, and the most gruesome thing he did in the show wasn’t bad, when you compare it to thing Kaz has canonically done. Rumors say that the Six of Crows arc is going to pick up in season two, and while I hope it doesn’t, I covered that particular argument far more in depth in another post and won’t address it here. Whether or not I think show Kaz is up to snuff, I think they aged him up too much and they depowered him too much.

Part of Kaz’ secret weapon was that he was wicked smart and crazy competent, but people underestimated him because of his age. They figured he didn’t have nearly enough experience to be as ruthless and cunning as he was. They were clearly wrong.

I think that Kaz in his 20′s makes sense, but Kaz in his late 20′s does not. Especially when you factor in the fact that he was so epically unsuccessful in the show, the extent to which they made him older wasn’t doing him any favors. It made him less “Dirtyhands” than he is.

So, final say, I would have made Kaz 20 or 21 in Shadow and Bone. We’re de-aging him so he still has time to grow, but he’s not crazy overpowered at 17. Furthermore, in a perfect world, he has time to age between Shadow and Bone and the events of Six of Crows.

Inej Ghafa

Inej is played by Amita Suman who is 23 years old. In the books, Inej is 16. In an interesting turn of events, I don’t find Inej in the books to be terribly overpowered so much as she is just really talented. 

Inej in Six of Crows is hesitant to kill. She’s smart and watchful, and she’s a really great spider. She’s given backstory to explain all of this, and it makes sense. At most, she is mature for her age, but that is also given a pretty damn good reason. She has to be. 

The few reasons I could see as to aging up her character is to make it less awkward for the romance between her and Kaz, as well as make the crows group more cohesive in age, with fewer outliers, both of which I am not against. 

I would make Inej around 18 or 19 and call it a day.

Jesper Fahey

Jesper is another character that I largely have no problems with. Jesper is played by Kit Young who is 26 years old, and in the books, Jesper is 17. 

In the books, Jesper is an extremely talented marksman, but part of that (even if he doesn’t know it or doesn’t want to acknowledge it in the books) is because he is a Grisha Fabrikator and he is using his gifts to bend the bullets he shoots and aims them where they need to go. His character wasn’t particularly overpowered in the books, and as for his personality, in the books he acted the most “teenage-like,” but in the show, he retained his same youthfulness without it seeming out of place, so that isn’t particularly damning.

For Jesper, I don’t mind aging him up or making him younger. Both work. 

However, he has a romantic plotline with Wylan (who I will get to eventually), so we wan’t to keep that in mind.

Final say, I would make Jesper 18. He’s the same age as (or slightly younger than) Inej, and that sits well with me.

Matthias Helvar

Oh, boy. If you’ve been on my blog long, you know this is the character that started this whole rant. Because here’s the thing: Matthias is an incredibly complex character. And part of that complexity comes from the fact that Matthias doesn’t know about anything beyond what Fjerda has taught him. He is heavily indoctrinated and heavily ignorant, and his struggle is what makes him such an interesting character.

Matthias is played by Calahan Skogman who is 28 (in my other meta, he was 27, but birthdays, y’know?). In the books, Matthias is 18 when Six of Crows takes place. That’s a whopping 10 year age gap. As you can imagine, so much happens in 10 years time. Now, with Matthias, we’re going to look at his life a little more in depth so that you can really understand how this 10 year gap affects his ignorance.

Matthias’ family were killed by Grisha when he was a child. We don’t know how young, but that doesn’t really matter, because either way it’s traumatic. Soon afterward, he starts training to become a soldier. Now, just when drüskelle are allowed to be fully initiated at Hringkälla is unknown, but I’m guessing the age would be at youngest, 14 (although, it’s probably closer to 16, but I’m not arguing about that right now). Grisha are supposed to be the most dangerous type of person. The Fjerdans are not going to put 12 year olds out there to fight them. So, a roughly 14 year old Matthias is going on expeditions to catch Grisha. When he is 17, Matthias meets Nina. At this point, he has only been a full drüskelle for 3-ish years. Regardless of how many Grisha Matthias has captured, 3 years is a vast difference from his show counterpart, who is 28 and therefore (as a drüskelle since he was 14) has been capturing Grisha for 14 years. In fact, in the show, they give Matthias props for having been the one with the clever ideas for capturing Nina, which shows he has done this often.  After that, Matthias spends one year in Hellgate, making in 18 in the books and (eventually) 29 in the show.

So, why was it so important that I detail that for you? Matthias’ change of heart is prompted by Nina, a pretty Grisha. I’m not saying their bond is shallow, but if you are a man who has a nasty past with Grisha and has been hunting them for 14 years, having a pretty Grisha change your mind is a little shallow and a little unbelievable. Even though Nina saved his life, I think it’s a little hard to sell the substantial change of heart he has. On the other hand, if Matthias is 18-19, he’s still a hormonal teenager, and his feelings for Nina prompting some critical thinking makes more sense. Furthermore, Matthias is younger and more impressionable. It would be much easier to change his worldview, if he were younger.

All in all, I would de age Matthias to be 19-20. Slightly older than in the books to allow for Nina to be a little older than her book counterpart (which I’m about to get to.) 

Nina Zenik

Almost finished with my rant, we’re talking about Nina. Nina is played by Danielle Galligan who is 28 years old, and in the books, Nina is 17. 

Now, Nina Zenik is a capable character. She is a spy. She speaks multiple languages, she’s a talented Grisha, and she’s quite self-assured. All of that advocates for an older Nina, so that she may have time to hone these impressive skills. Furthermore, Nina is the most sexualized of the Crows. I wouldn’t mind her being older, and I’m sure general audiences would be in favor of her not being a teenager.

Nina is also a soldier and she has a very complex storyline in Six of Crows, and later. By all accounts, aging her up is not a bad idea. In fact, I quite like the idea that Nina is older. I agree that she should be aged up, just not to the extent she was.

If this were my world, I would make Nina 20-22. That would make her the oldest out of all of the crows, and I quite like that.

Wylan Van Eck

Wylan has yet to be casted, but he is 16 in the books, and pretty damn smart. He’s not street smart, mind you, but he’s a chemistry nerd and demolitionist, so he’s very competent. He’s still under his father’s thumb, but I don’t take that to mean he has to be young - abuse can affect you well into your life. He’s definitely a character more naive to the realities of the Barrel, but that can easily be played off as “the rich boy is out of depth.”

There’s nothing that explicitly needs him to be younger than an adult, although the argument for making him young amongst the crows is strong and still stands.

He has a love story with Jesper, so we want to keep in mind the fact that Jesper is an adult.

Wylan also has the tricky little storyline of him being tailored into being Kuwei, so in determining his age, we want to keep him in the ballpark of Kuwei. Luckily, he was tailored from a Grisha on parem, so truly, anything is possible.

For his smarts, his competence, and his love story, I think we should age him up.

All in all, I would make Wylan 18. It’s not far from his book counterpart, and I think it makes sense.

Kuwei Yul-Bo

Kuwei is another character who was yet to be casted. He is 16 in Six of Crows, and I would say he is the character who most shows his age. Kuwei may be wicked smart, but he’s a chaos gremlin who doodles in his notebook, pretends to not understand Kerch, and also renames himself to be nhaban - “rising phoenix” in Shu. He doesn’t scheme the way the rest of the crows do, and while this can be explained away by the fact that he’s not a criminal, there still seems to be something hopeful and youthful about his character.

He’s still a boy in mourning over the death of his father, and he’s currently one of the world’s most wanted. In Crooked Kingdom, he’s vibing in a tomb for the majority of the book. Kuwei is honestly such a fun character that I hope gets more complexity in coming Grishaverse content.

Kuwei is very similar to Wylan in that he’s wicked smart (although his dad is a scientist and they have worked together, so there is some in-world explanation) and he has a crush on Jesper (don’t we all?).

Taking this into account, I would make Kuwei 17 or 18.

✧ *:･ﾟ

TL;DR, the characters of the Grishaverse were aged up and I’m a little miffed about it. The reasons for aging them up are to detract from the source material being a Y.A. story, but you cannot separate a story from it’s genre. The story is inherently Y.A. because it uses story beats that are typical of a Y.A. story. It’s not just viewer expectation - the story is Y.A. The ages of the characters in the books are very young in some cases, but in the show they were aged up too much, imo. It detracts from the tragedy of them being young and forced to survive, and it adds very little in most cases.

✧ *:･ﾟ tagging @missumaru

[beneathstarryskies]

Could I request a fluff alphabet for young and older Johnny Lawrence?

Thank you so much for the request! I’m sorry it took me so damn long! ❤️

Answers for older/current Johnny are in italics!

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

    Johnny is pretty affectionate, but there are two sides to him. On one hand, he tends to seem more possessive in public. Always has an arm around your shoulders or waist, and makes it a point to kiss you in front of people so they know who you belong to. It takes him some time to show you the more tender side of himself, and it is truly reserved just for you. He likes to pepper soft kisses on your face, and whispers about how beautiful he thinks you are. He tends to shy away a bit from receiving the same amount of affection though, thinking it makes him look weak.

    Having faced a great deal of rejection and heartache, he is really slow with showing affection. It takes him a while to even admit he has feelings for you, and then from there even longer for him to act on it. However, the possessive nature of his youth has faded into a need to just be loved. He’s more open now to letting himself just sink into your touch. He loves it when you play with his hair and kiss his nose. In return he’ll shower you with compliments, and kisses you every chance he gets. He proudly holds your hand everywhere you go.

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

Most of Johnny’s friends at this point are connected to Cobra Kai, so chances are if you weren’t in Cobra Kai there probably isn’t much of a friendship. However, he might just “accidentally” become best friends with you after being forced to work on an assignment together. He’d expect you to do all the work, but after realizing you won’t stand for that he begrudgingly works with you on it. An unexpected friendship blossoms.

    At this point his friends are his family. So he is fiercely protective and loyal. However, he’s not much for emotional support because he just doesn’t know how. He’s been taught to more or less repress it, so that tends to be his offered solution. His attitude can sometimes be a bit flippant.

    Probably met at the bar, maybe you were a bartender or something. Most likely he’d deny you were his best friend because of the whole “I don’t need anyone” attitude. However, if you needed him he’d drop everything to be there and he knows you’d do the same for him. He’s still not great at emotional support, but he does try at least. Or rather he tries to keep you distracted from whatever emotional thing is bothering you, because that’s truly the only way he knows how to deal with emotions.

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

He loves to cuddle, but good luck getting him to admit it. You usually have to initiate it, but you will have to deal with him pretending he’s only doing it to make you happy. His favorite thing is when you fall asleep with your head on his chest, and he can just play with your hair while listening to your steady breathing. It’s in these moments that he truly experiences peace. That is until you wake up and he has to pretend he didn’t like it.

He loves to cuddle, and he’s really not afraid to admit it anymore. He just wants to hold you and be held by you. Closeness is what he’s been craving his whole life, and he’s just really tired of pretending it’s not. He’s tried getting through life on his own, and he hated it. He just wants to come home and curl up with you after a long day. He wants to snuggle against you while you twirl his locks between your fingers.

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

It’s definitely in the cards to settle down one day, but he’s not particularly in a hurry about it. He’d assumed he would end up settling down with Ali, but since that didn’t go the way he planned he’s a bit unsure of where he’ll end up. There’s a whole big world out there, and he thinks it’s his for the taking, so why worry? He’s a bit useless when it comes to cooking and cleaning. Honestly, he doesn’t even try. Pretty much a typical teenager in that regard.

He’d be open to settling down, although more it feels out of reach to him at this point. It’s certainly something he is a bit afraid of, having already failed at the task. Johnny would have to feel completely secure and confident in a relationship before he’d consider marriage. He’s still somewhat useless at cooking and cleaning, but he is willing to give it more of an honest effort.

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

He might be a little bit cold about it, since at this point he’s fully immersed in the “no mercy” teachings of Kreese. Once he’s decided it’s over, he just tells you as such. He doesn’t really provide any explanations, and if he cares at all he doesn’t show it.

    He’s terrible at break ups. Especially since for him to be in a relationship at all takes a bit of time, and he’s found it’s not easy for him to just carelessly break hearts anymore. That being said, he will be an accidental asshole in the process. It’d take a lot of effort for him to build up the confidence, and then he just goes for it like ripping off a bandaid.

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

    After Ali, he becomes pretty commitment phobic. He tries to form meaningful relationships, but always pushes people away when they get too close. He’s just not sure if he can ever open himself up again.  If he wants to get married at all, it would take a long time. Most likely, he has no real interest in it.

Pretty much the same, although as he’s gotten older he’s opened up more to the idea of getting married. He likes the idea of having a partner to get through this life with. Someone to always have his back, and for him to support as well. While he doesn’t feel marriage is necessarily a required commitment, he’d be more open to it if you wanted to get married.

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

Gentle is not a word you could use to describe Johnny Lawrence at any age. Emotionally he is about as gentle as a hammer to the head. He just doesn’t understand at all. Occasionally he may muster up some gentleness, but it’s very rare since he associates it with weakness. 

Physically, he’s generally not gentle. He likes to pick you up and spin you around. Sometimes even enjoying to play fight a bit. However, sometimes he can surprise you with little spells of gentleness. Especially if something has happened to make him worry about losing you.

The above is the answer for Johnny of all ages, except he no longer thinks of having gentle emotions as as weakness. 

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

Johnny loves hugs and will hug you all the time if he can. He’s very handsy with it, often cupping your butt while he hugs you-if you’re okay with that kind of thing of course- and will often sneak a kiss on your cheek.

He still loves hugging and he still tends to get a bit cheeky with it. One difference is that he takes more time to savor the moment; feeling your heartbeat and really breathing you in. Usually he holds you for as long as you’ll let him, insisting on a kiss before he’ll release you.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

He doesn’t. It’s not something he’s super comfortable with, but he will express it in other ways. Usually by reminding you to be safe when you leave him and wanting you to call him when you get home so he knows you made it safely. He’ll also do little thoughtful things like bring you coffee or remind you to eat if he thinks you’re not taking care of yourself. There’s a nurturing side to Johnny he often hides, but he’ll open up a bit to show you how much he cares.

Like his younger self Johnny tends to take to being somewhat nurturing in order to express his feelings for you. Once he gets a cell phone, he even takes to texting you throughout the day to tell you he’s thinking about you. He tries to make sure you know he loves you and you’re on his mind. He will eventually say the words. It just takes him a very long time to come around to it.

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

Oh boy, is he ever jealous. Seeing someone else flirt with you drives him crazy, and he has gotten into many fights over it. He’ll jump right in between you, ready to fight before you’ve even had a chance to handle the situation yourself. If you express disliking this behavior, he will attempt to hold back. It’s still written all over his face, and sometimes it can lead him to making accusations.

There’s still some jealousy, but he’s less likely to jump in unless someone is being particularly pushy after you’ve expressed disinterest. One thing he no longer does is accuse you of flirting/cheating. He wouldn’t be with you if he didn’t trust you, and he wants you to know that.

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

He’s surprisingly tender with his kisses. Early on in your relationship, it’s the one tell of how insecure he feels deep down. Often times not deepening the kiss until you’ve given some indication you want him to. He likes giving kisses on your cheeks and neck. He really likes when you kiss his forehead, although he’s a little sheepish with admitting this. He also likes it when you kiss his neck and shoulders.

He’s tender and takes his time teasing out reactions from you. Overall he’s more confident in his abilities, which just came naturally with age and experience. He still is prone to giving cheek and neck kisses, and really enjoys that. However, he’s also learned that he likes the way you react when he kisses you behind the ear. His own favorite places to get kissed haven’t changed.

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

Terrible, and no interest in getting better.

Slightly better and more willing to learn. He’s still pretty useless with any kid under the age of about 10. And really the only way he knows to relate is through karate.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

He’s usually up somewhat early to go train or work out. So if you don’t want to do those things, he’s usually not around much in the mornings. However, he will come in all sweaty and give you a kiss before raising his arm up with a smirk and teasing you about smelling how sweaty he is. Usually resulting in you rolling your eyes and saying, “I smelled you as soon as you walked in the room.”

Mornings now are more laid back. Usually there’s about an hour of cuddling and complaining about having to get up before you finally drag him out of bed. Then one of you cooks breakfast while the other makes coffee and pours cups for you both. You eat breakfast together and talk about what you’re each planning for the day before getting started. Johnny is always running a bit behind schedule. It never stops him from kissing you a dozen times before leaving the apartment.

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

The average night contains lots of making out, brief intermission of a random activity, then probably more making out. Occasionally you guys go out to parties with friends. Johnny likes spending quality time with you. So more often than not you end up doing something just the two of you. He likes to take you out riding, usually ending up at the beach.

At least once a week you guys go out to have drinks, but usually he prefers low-key nights in. There’s still usually lots of making out and cuddling, but usually it’s on the couch while a movie plays in the background. You might have a drink to unwind, and talk a bit about your days.

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

The thing about Johnny at both ages though is that he actually wears his heart on his sleeve way more than he realizes. If you asked him he’d probably say he’s the strong silent type. He takes a long time to purposely reveal his feelings. However, considering how much his feelings show through his actions and demeanor, you’re definitely already aware of his insecurity. You just pretend you haven’t already caught on, because you don’t want him to retreat again. Him actually opening up is much better than having to infer it, and he’ll begin to work through why he feels the way he does deep down.

The answer is the same for adult Johnny.

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

There is no patience in Johnny at all. He is very hotheaded and quick to anger. It’s probably the biggest issue in your relationship. Truthfully it’s his biggest issue in general.

He is still pretty quick to anger but much better at controlling it-especially with you. He gets hotheaded and acts stupid, but it takes a bit longer for him to get to that point. It is still a big problem he’s having to work on. Johnny is slowly starting to realize he can’t punch or kick his way through every problem.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

Johnny remembers the really important stuff, but doesn’t remember the little details at all. If it doesn’t involve partying, fooling around, or karate he kind of tends to ignore it.

He has definitely done a lot of growing in this area. Johnny still remembers the really important stuff, and has gotten better at holding onto the little details. He won’t remember everything you ever talk about, but he doesn’t file it away just because it doesn’t involve his main interests anymore.

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

Probably the first moment he saw you, and realized he wanted to win you over. He just loves remembering the way the electricity between the two of you was so strong.

The moment he realized he was in love with you and it didn’t scare him. He felt so open and safe in your relationship. It was the first time in ages he didn’t feel the need to keep his walls up high. It might be the warmest feeling he’s ever had.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

He is super protective. He will fight anyone who messes with you, and will always put himself between you and potential physical danger. Other types of potential protection (like emotionally) he’s not great at. He doesn’t particularly feel like you need to protect him. Once you try to jump in and defend him when Sid is bullying him, which of course results in further chastising from Sid. Johnny gets kind of upset with you over it.

Johnny still has no problem jumping in to protect you physically. Except he has gotten a bit better at the emotional side of it. He is protective of you when it comes to people who may hurt you emotionally. If he gets a bad vibe from someone he will usually try to persuade you to steer clear of them, but this can be a bit misconstrued as jealousy or him trying to be controlling. He also now feels warm and fuzzy inside when you take up for him instead of getting mad. He now understands it’s a sign of your love for him and not an attempt to emasculate him.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

Sometimes he gets so distracted by karate and stuff that he can be sort of a bad boyfriend. So he puts the most effort in dates and gifts to make amends for not always being the best at remembering things like anniversaries.

Johnny puts a lot more effort into being around for the everyday tasks. He can’t afford to take you on many dates, so when he can take you out he puts a lot of effort into it. Same with gifts. Usually he saves up for a long time to buy you something really nice for anniversaries/birthdays/holidays because he just refuses to buy you something he thinks is crappy. Also, he struggles with the fact that you’d love anything he gives you because it’s from him. He still thinks he’s gotta give everything he’s got just to get some sort of love and acceptance in return.

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

Let’s see fighting, partying and generally just being extremely arrogant. Taking too much care of his car and his looks, but not much else. In most ways he’s just a normal teenager in this respect.

Still fighting, but now he just generally drinks too much without the partying-which in a way is worse. He doesn’t always take care of himself. He puts blame on himself over everything that goes wrong.

A/N: I think I went a little too deep for this one?

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

He is secretly very concerned despite his overly confident demeanor. He puts a lot of effort into seeming effortless. For him it is maddeningly effortless, so really he puts in too much effort.

He doesn’t really care at all anymore. Occasionally he gives himself a once over in the mirror. He’s more comfortable with himself overall, and realizes he’s a pretty handsome guy without having to try so hard.

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

Absolutely, but it’s not always a good thing. In general, He can tend to lean a little too hard on his significant other. It was a bit of an issue with Ali as well. It’s not something he does on purpose, and if you mentioned it to him he’d be embarrassed. He just doesn’t feel as comfortable with that many other people. Even with his pals, he’s still putting on a bit of an act. With you he’s totally comfortable, and it makes him a bit too dependent on you.

To an extent, but he handles it better overall. He doesn’t want to be too overbearing, so he will give you a bit more space than when he was younger. Not to mention he’s not completely dependent on you for comfort. He’s gotten to a point where his attitude is more, “This is who I am. Take it or leave it.” And you’ve proven more times than he can count that you won’t leave (just maybe give him a metaphorical kick in the ass when he needs it).

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

 He was still a virgin when he graduated high school, and he lied about it to keep up his cool appearance. The truth is, Ali didn’t want to have sex when they were together, and he wasn’t going to pressure her.

Johnny absolutely tears up a bit at heart tugging films in general. However, he avoids watching anything dealing with father and son relationships. It’s a reminder of not only what he missed out on, but what he was unable to give Robby.

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

In general he doesn’t like things he considers nerdy or uncool. That’s about as far as it goes. He’s not super deep about things he doesn’t like. You’re either cool or you’re not. He doesn’t like it when his partner is too picky or finicky. 


This is the same for both eras.

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habits of theirs?)

He generally just tends to sleep on his stomach without a shirt. He’s warm natured so he pretty much always ends up kicking the blankets off.

There’s no real habit to be had. He just kind of falls into bed, and whatever happens then just happens.