#sometimes i baby all of my pseudo-siblings

[smallkindofdisaster]

Eldest siblings don't know how to un-eldest sibling

[katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Do you have a favorite Bridgerton book/storyline?

Favorite/Least Favorite changes book to show?

So let me start this answer by saying that I haven’t watched any of season 3 yet. 🫣 Part of that is money reasons. We pared down our streaming services to the minimum when money was tight and I just haven’t gotten around to renewing my Netflix. Probably will once the rest of season 3 drops because… (book spoilers below the cut)

My 3 favorite books/storylines are:

1) When He Was Wicked (Francesca & Michael Stirling) because holy damn and hell and everything holy in between. Michael Stirling is the epitome of making consent sexy. That's all I'm gonna say about that, but I've seen enough talk and gif's floating around here to know that they've introduced John Stirling already and I am HERE for them laying the groundwork for a season five or six focused on Francesca and Michael Stirling.

2) Romancing Mr. Bridgerton (Colin & Penelope) asfklsjfksanfs. I loved how sweet their story is, enough that I am mildly concerned about how they're going to deal with the massive change on the show, i.e. the fact that book!Lady Whistledown didn't nearly bring ruin and humiliation down on the Bridgerton family at all, let alone twice. On the one hand, I understand why show!Penelope did this and I kind of love that they've given her this massive mistake, this huge flaw for her and Colin to work through. But also 🫣 I don't have an excessive amount of faith in them handling these kinds of changes well on the show because the show is all about The Drama. Which brings me to...

3) The Viscount Who Loved Me (Anthony & Kate) Look. I absolutely love some of the changes they've made while translating the books to screen. And I don't even care all that much for the historical accuracy of the show. They threw it out the window with season one and made it a brilliant alternate universe that allows them the freedom to not only give us a diverse cast but also give the middle finger to anyone who says "that' never would've happened." So I'm willing to forgive a lot of changes. Buuuuutttt.... having Anthony actually propose to Edwina, having Edwina actually believing she wanted to marry Anthony, changed the characters in a way that didn't sit very well with me. At least not with the way it was handled on the show.

So that covers my least favorite change they've made on the show so far, now for my two favorite changes.

Benedict. Gah he's so much better, such a more interesting and fleshed out character on the show than he is in the book. They've maintained his fantastic sense of humor and relationships with his siblings and somehow made it better by bringing in the pseudo underground culture of artists, the introduction of queer characters, and his cravats! I could write an ode to show Benedict's wardrobe it is FABULOUS. And while I know I said above that I don't really care for the changes made to Anthony's story, I'm kind of hoping they flip book!Benedict's story on it's head and see where they can take it. Because that book was one of my least favorites. Give him a man. Or give him a woman built like Luisa Madrigal but who sometimes dresses as a man and can pull it off. I don't care but do SOMETHING ELSE besides the nonsense that happens in his book and GIVE HIS PARTNER SOME FUCKING AGENCY.

Queen Charlotte. Look. She's not even in the books, but she's one of my favorite characters on the show. She and Lady Danbury own my whole heart, okay? And her spinoff show... I've only been able to watch it once because (other than the money issue mentioned above), I was crying literal buckets starting somewhere around episode five until the end and I binge watched that shit so what is that like six hours straight crying???? Also, having her as a character gave us Brimsley and Reynolds. (*whispers my poor overworked and beleaguered babies*) I wasn't overly fond of the role she played in dragging out the drama surrounding Anthony and Edwina, but that could've been avoided entirely if you'd given show!Edwina even an ounce of book!Edwina's compassion and understanding of her sister and had her do something equally dramatic like, oh I don't know... TURN HIM DOWN?!?!? (Can you tell I'm still salty about this?)

Alright, that's enough of that. I have a job interview to prepare for, but this was a nice distraction from my inevitable nerves.

Love,

kdnfb

[duck-short-depressed-king]

So whats yours and Charlie's relationship like with the sins?

I know you and mammon have a bit of a 'problem' as it were over the whole loo loo land thing which by the way got burned down so you got the last laugh there.

I ask because bee said she saw Satan as a pseudo brother so obviously she sees the other sins like yourself as siblings and I was curious if you reciprocate (I believe that's the right word) and see them as all be it annoying siblings as well and Charlie's aunts and uncles

🍎🪽"Their great together actually!"🪽🍎

★{Satan: Despite him being pissed off most of the time, he's Alot softer around Charlie. Saw this comic where baby Charlie put pink bows on him it was adorable! 🥰

To Lucifer, they get along pretty well. I mean...aren't they technically irl the same person? So I can imagine them getting along real well. Have a few drinks with each other.

★{Mammon: Not the..er..best person for Charlie. Mostly because...you know. He's Mammon...but Charlie says he's fun to be around to say the least.

To Lucifer, a total jackass, but at the end of the day they still hang out together and talk.

★{Queen Bee is like those cool aunties you'd like to be around. She lets Charlie have any type of candy when she was little. Which Charlie would also return home with a full-blown sugar rush.

To Lucifer, she's like a party girl that loves to be around him. He kind of sees her as a fun yet annoying sometimes sister.

★{Asmodeus, since he is the sin of Lust, there are Alot of things he has to hide in order for Charlie not to see when she comes over. With Fizz around they 3 have Alot of fun together.

To Lucifer, despite all the lustful shit around around the Lust ring, they rather get along just fine.

★{Guys, I don't know if this is canon or not! But take it as my AU a bit.}★

[mermaidsirennikita]

What are your favorite saddest historical romances? The books that make you want to cry and not pretty cry like actually ugly sob

Oooh publishing because good question! I find it kinda hard to cry with books (and movies, TV) because of my weird compartmentalization thing, but! These made me cry, or at least made me *want* to. Not all of them are like, wholly sad, but they do have a good chunk of sadness at min.

The Scoundrel in Her Bed by Lorraine Heath. This has one of the only scenes that made me cry without having to sit and think about it; like, I didn't realize I was crying until I was crying, and it was a full, "breathe out and wipe at your eyes" situation. The situation in this book does hit home for me personally, but I also found it to be one of those horrible things where it's like... the only solution is to basically undo something that can't be undone. And it sucks because the thing wasn't done by the characters but to them--but it doesn't mean they can make it so that it didn't happen. OOF.

Waking Up with the Duke by Lorraine Heath. I always get really emotional when Ainsley and Jayne part as he brings her back to her husband, because it really has that like.... kind of cinematic, "the movie is ending and they're giving up" feeling. The way Lorraine wrote it feels so final, even though you know you have like 40% of the book left or something. It's rough.

A Rose at Midnight by Anne Stuart. This book is quite intense, and quite dark, and it really vividly describes the pain the heroine suffered in her past. I mean--just true horrors. It's that, and this really intimate catharsis she has with the hero, who she's hated for most of the book, at the end. This is a book about trauma and guilt and the parts of yourself you won't ever get back after something horrible happens, and what you do with what's left.

The Duke's Perfect Wife by Jennifer Ashley. The scene where Hart and Eleanor go to the tombs of his wife and baby son, oof. Like, the emotion over the baby really gets me. I also love a scene where the heroine like fully embraces the hero's love for people who came before her--romance can be kinda meh on that front sometimes, but this book does it very effectively. There's also a scene later in the book where Ian and Hart reunite and it's like--Ian never though they wouldn't find each other, and he's so upfront about it, and it's because their bond is so strong??? Truly I'm a sucker for a sibling bond.

In general, I really like that those core four Mackenzie brother books deal with some pretty heavy shit? Like they're funny, they're adventurous, they're super sexy. But you have Ian in his book struggling to communicate in a world that won't listen to him, and these gestures of love between the brothers that don't do what they need to, and Cameron's intense trauma from his marriage and him doing his best to be a good father while being imperfect; and Mac and Isabella dealing with the reality of being truly in love but not truly right for each other at the time. It's GREAT.

Thief of Shadows by Elizabeth Hoyt. Dude, everything to do with Isabel's infertility in this novel. Like, her trying to shake Winter off by dropping that bomb on him, and Winter being like "no it is a loss, I would've loved to have had babies with you, but I want you more than imaginary babies"--like, the acknowledgment that he loves her more than hypothetical kids, but IT DOES SUCK THAT THEY CAN'T HAVE BIOLOGICAL KIDS. Like, it's so real for him to acknowledge that they will be okay but this situation sucks and it's not okay. Her breaking down over her inability to have a baby, her bond with her husband's illegitimate child that is just so tenuous, the big scene at the end, the fact that there is no magic baby. It's a lot.

OH DUDE. And there's a scene where Winter has to make a really tough call for this kid who he has like, pseudo-adopted... and he's making the right decision for the kid, but it's very painful for Winter personally, ESPECIALLY when set against the backdrop of a plot that basically is about how Winter and Isabel won't be able to have a baby together. Lol so much of this book is hammering home how Winter and Isabel are such good parents, essentially, but they can't have a biological child. It is ROUGH. When Winter says goodbye to that kid, I CRY.

When the Duke Was Wicked by Lorraine Heath. Dude, when Lovingdon uncovered Grace's secret... And the way it makes him confront his trauma over losing his wife and child and his fear of loving someone and losing them??? GOD.

Lorraine Heath is also really good at writing a book that's like "life isn't guaranteed, you've gotta just love and live boldly despite that" which is a complete callout.

A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall. The moment when Gracewood recognizes Viola by her freckles. That is a fucking LOT, dude. Overall this is a lighter, romp of a book, which I think is important because it's basically meant to give us an old school adventurous historical with a trans heroine... But it luxuriates in a type of sorrow at points that isn't at all about Viola being trans, but about the time she lost with Gracewood, the survivor's guilt and physical and metaphorical pain he's suffered from since they last saw each other. It's a lot, dude.

The Dragon and The Pearl by Jeannie Lin. There's a despairing love confession following a very intimate scene, and everything feels like it's just not going to be resolved? (And they discussed this a lot in a recent episode of Fated Mates, but--to me, a lot of the best romance novels give you a "how is this going to end in an HEA???" moment.) And it's so quiet and intense and I love it.

Indigo by Beverly Jenkins. The grand gesture at the end of this book. It's so meaningful. It did have me crying a good bit. Don't wanna spoil, it's too good. I mean, this book is about a woman who was born into slavery working with the Underground Railroad.... it's sad. But it's also so optimistic and full of joy.

[arcadekitten]

There’s a question that’s been keeping me up at night… well, a few, actually. Is it alright if you answer them? I would be very grateful! <3

Are star witches born *before* they get baseballed into space, or is the shooting star like… an egg, that gives “birth” to a fully grown, mature adult? Or do they have a baby-to-grownup stage, where they just stay that way for eternity? Is there a common space where recently-born stars are kept and taught a basic education until they’re old enough for a “ceremony” to get launched into the stratosphere?

If so, what was Stella and Corona’s life like before they got thrown into space?

How are star witches MADE, anyways? Are they just like… born inside of violent supernovas, or something? Where do they get their clothes? Is it like… a two-for-one deal?

What kinds of “culture” and “traditions do they have? Is it for languages, foods, ceremonies, stories, clothing… or something more intricate?

Are there any star witches that are siblings or twins? Is each star witch unique and different, or are there some similar ones depending on how they were born? Also, are there any star witches with ‘imperfections’ and birth defects?

Are star witches lonely sometimes? I don’t mean lonely in a physical sense, but do star witches ever get lonely when there’s no one to talk to and truly understand them?

If two star witches get together, is there a special ceremony? And do they ‘merge’ or ‘join’ their respective planets together?

Other than Lambchop, have there been cases of other ‘subjects’ being disillusioned on other planets? What do the star witches normally do about it?

And finally… why do none of the other star witches share Stella’s belief that her “subjects” are just as real as she is? Is Stella unique in that aspect? Why does only she think that when no one else does? And also, why doesn’t she have the urge or desire to spread her control across the entirety of the planet? I know that she’s not controlling OR ambitious, but WHY? Is there some lore there, or is it just in her nature?

Thank you for taking the time to read this whole thing, I absolutely love your games and all that you do. :) Have a good day! (Or…. Night…. Idk 🤷‍♀️)

I will do my best!!

I can't answer much about their origins, at least not at the moment, but maybe one day! ===

'Culture' is subjective. Star Witches are so independent that I don't think they even have much culture outside of what we've seen. They don't have foods, or special cultural dances, clothing always changes...I'd say the most culture they have is what's in their nature and this pseudo-competitive society they've built for each other. That and of course, t the Batting of Stars, as well as the ceremony they hold when two Star Witches officially get together. ===

I don't imagine Star Witches to have siblings at all. Some might be similar, but that's probably just coincidence. Imperfections are definitely possible, though! ===

I think this is also a way in which Stella differs from (most) Star Witches, because she does get lonely. I don't imagine a classic Star Witch like Corona even knows the feeling. ===

There is a ceremony for when two Star Witches get together!! It is seen as a big cosmic event and a ceremony takes place if the couple wants it. Many Star Witches show up to this "wedding" of sorts where they use as much magic power as they can muster to bring the planets of the Witch couple together so they can orbit around each other, so they never have to be far from one another (even if traveling isn't that much of a hassle) ===

I imagine that there's been cases like Lambchop on other planets. The difference is that they're dealt with at the first sign of trouble, unlike he was. ===

Stella was just born that way. Perhaps in some ways it could even be considered one of those "defects" you mentioned earlier. She has an extremely caring nature and enjoys the idea of creating and having friends. Perhaps the reason she feels so in tune with her "subjects" is because she feels like they are much more like her than other Star Witches are. Stella's nature is definitely why she didn't go after the whole planet, but I don't think she did it on purpose, if that makes sense? I feel like some part of her subconscious knew that if she were to go after the whole planet, she wouldn't be able to be a standard friend to others so much as just a helpful figure constantly passing through. I think she likes the idea of having a regular friendly community where the people in it regularly see her.

[heartlurch]

Can you tell more about your cannibal shaymin OC who hates being in land forme? idk her name but she seemed cool... I like pokémon OCs and she had a really neat look and vibe about her... any other poké OCs you have would be neat to learn more about too!

(Under the cut for courtesy.)

Whoa, so interesting for her to be remembered, I made her years ago... (2019 mayb?) She wasn't as developed as some other concepts of mine, I never settled on a name proper, but I think of her as named something kind of severe. Like 'Clarity'... in contrast with her very sick, hazy mind.

She's genuinely just a vvvvery very ill, disordered individual, I imagined her very troubled when developing as a baby, put-off and violent towards any littermates or parent figure. She's not very old... young adolescent? And her diet is 'improper', as shaymin aren't meant to predate on other pokes, so she is underweight as her body isn't absorbing nutrients properly. Though I think unlike our world, pokemon are magical, enough that there is some wiggle room, esp as a pseudo-legendary... so her diet won't kill her, just hobble her, maybe further her unwellness. It's not exactly a hunger like a normal predator, it is something possessing her to do this, I would say almost like a delusion (that this is her 'destiny' in some manner, that's why it 'feels so good'.)

Eventually she was slated to have a mate that was a very overweight vaporeon my wife developed, one that got really good at hunting in its own habitat ww... I knew my wife was thinking about her being drowned, pulled into the lake by him.

As for OCs, I have several, many were made during a particular winter in 2017 where me and my wife sat down to design several pkmn to pair with one another. :3 Most of them compiled here & most didn't get a name. I think only the zigzagoon had one, 'Dart'... His mate, the persian with a blue gem, is named Lapis. I remember their narrative was one where her owner desperately wishes to breed her for her rare color mutation, but she is so persnickety and will not deign any proposed sires... The owner isn't cruel so doesn't force anything into her. But then she becomes charmed by a dirty little stray zigzagoon and instead obsessively wants to groom, cuddle, mate with him lol, and the owner just has to be like sigh, if this is what she wants....

I believe the chinchou was paired with a goreabyss that was very saturated (from her successful diet, much bloodsucking done ww), they meet oneday and she decides to not... kill him, for now. (?) The shuppet paired with a swirlix that is repulsed by sweets, thus suffers from a poor diet also. When the swirlix is unwell, the shuppet is able to feed on her negative emotions, and when the swirlix gets nursed back to health by shuppet, then it is his turn to become lethargic and unwell (no longer able to feed from her.)

Butterfree, electrike etc. were all just design pitches, not developed.

Since I really like the 'chu line, I had various sonas of them also. I had a 'set' of 2 pichu which were 'composite sonas' to represent myself, born from the same egg but instead of recognizing one another as siblings, saw each other as halves of the same whole. Technically they have defects effecting their development, improper tails and one has lop ears (cartilage issue?) Their egg was abandoned, so they have no troupe, and they're unable to be kind to one another actually... so they're sort of doomed to die if no one takes care of them. There's alternate timelines where, if they're somehow very lucky, they are able to evolve into pikachu/raichu... but then just become absolute monsters like that. Like I mean flat out going to become rapists kfkfkf

The pikachu, Muka, was an exploration of if those pichu weren't born separately, instead combining into 1 being. In this case, the lop-eared one would be melanistic (which I sometimes think of 'shadow' pokemon as being that in this world) ; the result is Muka is very visibly a chimera. He is still abandoned as an egg, and development was very difficult, but he has a 'more complete mind', less fractured.

One of my most recent sonas was Hondew, I made him like, early ~2021 or something... another chimera. (This concept stuck w/ me for a sec...) I have a write-up of him still:

"As a trapinch (and vibrava) he was a very simple minded creature, highly food motivated. would overeat if he could. but he was just getting by in the desert and could only do so much. Surviving to his final evolution was good fortune. The resulting intelligence and stats boost... are used all towards his high food drive. but now he also has the ability to enjoy playing with his food, and devise ways to hurt things.

his moveset is focused on paralysis (mean look, thunder fang) to slow things down and avoid giving chase(or being chased). he's not a fast flier, nor can he fly very high. as he gets fatter and less mobile, it means he problem solves how to work around these things. enabling him further..

he delights in eating baby pokemon and eggs, there's a sick enjoyment in doing so. and he clears the area of unwanted competition by making an inhospitable environment where there's a dirty rotten baby eater on the loose ! :(

He'll never pick a fight directly with a pokemon as high leveled as him. he has patience and tenacity on his side. he will play the long con of harassing you, tormenting you, and evading you with a tricky moveset. and most pokemon just would rather live elsewhere, where the competition is more manageable and there isn't a huge jerk nipping at your heels every second.

he likes to manipulate things in his hands, and the frequent use makes them more dextrous than most flygons. he can often be seen holding something. meticulously running his claws over it. in the case of avvy's shinx, he loves to touch her fur and carries her around everywhere. she's very novel, as shinx are not native to his deserts. he keeps her on a whim, but grows very attached to her over time"

Aside from him I think my most recent exploits were these other unnamed ones, a salandit and a togekiss. The togekiss is there to love and fuss and chuff over the little archen that nips at it, and the salandit is endlessly consuming cutiefly. I have a liepard and nidorino in the works, but they're indistinct in my mind still...

(Often I suppose naming the pokemon doesn't always come to mind bc they are equivalent to wild animals & sometimes it just doesn't really feel important or cross the mind.)

My only other OCs I belieeeve are in PMD verse, compiled here. Their narratives are not very different from the plot of their respective games. I think only the PMD sky set of phanpy (Vvyrd) and vulpix (Vivi) deviate, as Vivi evolves and her nature changes as a ninetales, she eventually steals Vvyrd away into the mountains to live in isolation. The skitty/mudkip were only from playing the demo fr DX so I don't think they had proper names... The super team was of a bulbasaur (Periwinkle) and fennekin (Wish) !

That's!!!!!!!!! Everything I think...........

[downybirbs]

4 some reason I started thinking about my pkmn au and katakuri’s team I made for him, and realizing that piers is a character that exists and then walking back to totally revise kat’s team 😭 piers even stole kat’s entire color scheme too.

I think I am much happier with the revised version now!! i have the urge to get all my charlotte family!pokemon thoughts out so the rest will be under the cut 😇

Idk much about Pokémon meta so idk if giving him a tyranitar is too much for a gym leader, but I thought it was fitting since kat is like a pseudo legendary himself- not really a villain but still the boss fight of wci 😭

Starting with Perospero! In this AU, I imagine that when he was younger, Perospero was a contest master, then taking over the role as leader at the family gym when big mom leaves (either retired or became an elite four member🤔). After many years as leader, Perospero finally retires to go back to contests as a judge. Retiring from the gym, he dumps it on Katakuri to take over.

Katakuri doesn't really want the responsibility of being gym leader, but pressure from his family and the high expectations put on him makes him accept. Katakuri is a strong trainer though, all his siblings think he is the best and believe he would make the perfect gym leader, so he doesn't want to disappoint them. The gym converts from a normal type gym to a dark type gym, but Kat doesn't bother redecorating the gym from Perospero's tea time theme, just paints over it with his own signature colors ahdfdhkgfadkfjhkgjlgfh.

I have thoughts about Brulee too!! Moreso if she was an actual game NPC and what role she would have :^3c She lives a bit separated from everyone else, a cottage near the woods outside of town. She gets called a witch by local children and puts up an unpleasant front🥺 But if you befriend her, she will let you battle her despite her believing that she isn't any good at it. She would operate similarly to the battle cafes in SWSH, always being a double battle and awarding you random but valuable goodies if you win. But the twist being that she pulls two random pokemon from her team of six for every battle, so sometimes it could be a very easy battle, sometimes pretty difficult! Just to keep the player on their toes :^)

And some thoughts about the pokemon selection!!!

I started out with lickilicky with perospero, and just created a team of what I thought was fitting- which turned out to be a lot of normal types!! I had haunter on his roster for a long time, but then I though to just commit to the normal typing.

(EDIT: I was about to go to bed when I decided to replaced kecleon with indeedee! Honestly I might keep pivoting between these two, but indeedee fits with the tea time theme for peros’ gym :^))

The shellos came from perospero making the candy sea slugs,, I imagine him treating them like little purse dogs,, his special slimy babies,,😭 🥺 And the ducklett was inspired by a twitter post! Came wandering into his house one day and would not leave,, a little marspero goodie for me,,

Before committing to dark type for Kat, it was half dark and half fairy!! But now the fairy types are just his lil buddies along side his gym team,, they watch his gym battles🥺

(EDIT: I’m crying, kat can be easily swept by fighting types 😭 I might go back to the drawing board and switch someone out! even though I really liked what I picked 😔) I think kat would combat the weakness by having absol and sneasel use psychic type moves.

I also do think kat would get a weavile and a kingambit, but I’m not sure when !

Snubbull is the pokemon that he has had the longest. As children, perospero found snubbull, gifting it to Kat and insisting that they looked alike. Baby kat denied this heavily at first, but eventually Kat and snubbull became the closest of friends. Ever since Kat became gym leader, snubbull has the dream of fighting in a gym battle with him 🥺

Brulee didn't really catch her team in the traditional sense! They just kind of gravitated towards her over the years. She has known her rapidash and morgrem since she was a little girl, back when they were just a ponyta and impidimp. When impidimp was wild, he used to tease and play tricks on her, when one day he spotted her in the woods crying, the day after she was attacked and got her face slashed open 🥺 that's when the wild ponyta appeared to comfort her 🥺 And instead of teasing like normal, impidimp ran over to comfort her too!!

thank you for enjoying my psuedo fanfic ramblings,, maybe i will add more later to this, who knows!! i just wanted to get this all out of my head asksjbfdlh;hlj

[coochiequeens]

Chinese men: “Why aren’t women having kids?” Chinese women: “Aren’t we getting poorer with each child we have?”

28-year-old Joy Yu’s parents each had three siblings. As they were growing up in the 1970s, the Chinese government started to limit the number of babies born.

Government statistics show on average a woman in China went from having about three babies in the late 1970s to just one.

Four decades on, China’s leaders are asking women to have three children again, which doesn’t sit well for Yu, an only child.

“For me to give birth to three children, my future husband must be rich enough to make sure I can live well without a job. This is a big challenge,” Yu said.

Last year, China’s population dropped for the first time in six decades by 850,000. That still leaves the country with 1.41 billion people but if the decline continues, there will be multiple impacts on the economy.

One-child policy

China began enforcing birth limits in the late 1970s when the country was poor and there were too many mouths to feed.

In a Chinese propaganda film called the Disturbance of Gan Quan Village, the birth restrictions were justified on economic grounds.

“We should put our energy into getting rich rather than keep having children,” says one woman in the film.

She’s sitting among a group of women picking corn kernels off the cob. “Aren’t we getting poorer with each child we have,” she says. The rest of the group nods in agreement.

Chinese leaders enforced, sometimes brutally, the so-called one-child policy in 1979, just as the country was coming out of the tumultuous Cultural Revolution.

“The post-[Chairman] Mao leadership thought that economic development would be the new basis for the party’s political legitimacy and based on pseudo-scientific and demographic projections, limiting birth to one child per married heterosexual couple,” said Yun Zhou, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Michigan.

There were exceptions. Some ethnic minority groups could have up to three children. People from rural areas could try for a second child if their first-born was not a boy. Later, if both parents had no siblings they could have two children. Starting in 2016, China raised the birth limit for everyone to two children, but there was no sustained baby bump.

Obstacles

Yu said she had opportunities her parents never had because she grew up without siblings. She attended one of China’s top colleges and her parents are able to help her with a down payment on a pricey property in Shanghai if she so desires.

Still, Yu said over an Italian meal in Shanghai, she is not even sure she wants to get married or have children.

Raising children in China is expensive. Also, the work of raising children, like in many countries, falls disproportionately on women. Those demands would be hard to juggle with China’s long work hours. A six-day work week is standard in many sectors.

Other people have complained of being penalized in the workplace for being mothers.

“Women are being forced back to the home to increase births. It is like my body isn’t mine.”

Only-child, Joy Yu

Global impact

Fewer people might mean slower growth in China, which will be felt by the U.S. and beyond.

“They’ve now become, you know, the center of the global manufacturing superhighway and are typically the largest contributor to growth every year,” said Scott Kennedy with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C.

Chinese officials often credit the so-called one-child policy for preventing over 400 million births, but some analysts say China’s population would have declined regardless.

“It’s just simply a rule across all countries, that as you urbanize, and as you get a more educated female population that enters the workforce, fertility numbers fall,” Kennedy said.

China’s birth restrictions merely sped up that trend and made the fertility rate drop dramatically and unevenly. The traditional preference for boys in Chinese families combined with the birth limits and ease of access to abortion has led to a massive gender imbalance.

Chinese government statistics show in 2020 for every 100 women there are 105 men, whereas the global ratio is one-to-one. 

Attempted incentives

To encourage more births, the Chinese government has dangled a mix of carrots and sticks — cash incentives, tax breaks, pledging to lower the cost of children’s education, and making it harder for couples to divorce.

“Now, the government organizes matchmaking events, and it’s a mission just like when it enforced the one-child policy. This is so terrifying,” Yu said. “Women are being forced back to the home to increase births. It is like my body isn’t mine.”

A backdrop of gendered violence

Sometimes, the government is asked to step in, but officials are instead accused of a cover up.

For example, when a woman was found chained up in a far-flung village after having given birth to eight children, it triggered a discussion on human trafficking. But efforts by local journalists and concerned citizens to verify the details of this woman’s life independently have been repeatedly blocked by local officials. That includes an attempt by pioneering lawyer Li Zhuang earlier this year. He wrote a post about the difficulties he encountered, which was later deleted.

In northern China’s Tangshan city, a group of men savagely beat some women at a restaurant. The incident provoked a public outcry and while officials have punished the men and dismissed some police officers, the women have not been seen in public since. Officials were accused of suppressing the discussion about violence against women.

Even women in wealthy cities like Shanghai said they could identify with the victims in the reports.

“Those reports encapsulate a sense of gendered precarity that speaks to women in [a] deeply patriarchal and gender unequal society,” social demographer Zhou said.

Economic costs

The number of Chinese workers is already declining; according to the World Bank, in 2001, China had 10 workers to support one retiree.

“In 2020, that was down to five working folks for each retiree and by 2050 it’ll be down to two,” Kennedy said.

He believes China still has time to offset the effects of population decline, including by boosting productivity, increasing the retirement age and lifting restrictions on people from rural areas to freely settle in cities with their families.

“I don’t think the problem has become so severe that demography is destiny, and China is destined to radically slow down and its chances of becoming an economic superpower breaking out of the middle income trap have been dashed,” Kennedy said.

“[But] these are pretty significant challenges.”

[highlifeboat]

I don't have all of those emojis on my phone, so... all of them. Whoever you want lmao

Y'know what, I'mma give my boy Salvatore Moreau some love. Cause I don't talk about him a lot but he's one of my top 5 characters.

🏳️‍🌈lgbt+ headcanon

Straight cis man, but definitely asexual. Very supportive of his siblings/nieces in general.

💌fluffy headcanon

Moreau loves all of his family members, and tries really hard to find stuff to give them as gifts. Unfortunately, Daniela is really the only one who will keep anything he gives.

💔angsty headcanon

Miranda hates Moreau specifically because he was such a massive failure of an experiment. He tries so hard to do right and impress her, he literally created the Lycans as a way to get praise, but everytime she looks at him she’s reminded that he’s probably the worst thing to come out of her lab and she cannot physically bring herself to recognize his accomplishments

As hard as he might try, and as much as he might love and adore his “mother”, he’s never going to impress her or earn that praise that Heisenberg or Alcina get. Whether he knows that or not isn’t stopping him from trying, though. 

🧸 hurt/comfort headcanon

He’s painfully lonely. Like, to a point any kind of physical touch would probably put him to tears. But his movies make him feel a little less alone. It’s the main reason he likes RomComs.  He enjoys the feel-goodness of a movie. It makes him feel less alone.

Even if he is just sitting in some dreary room by himself with a wheel of cheese(?). He’s content.

🪀silly headcanon

Boy talks to fish. I don’t think they ever talk back to him (because they can’t) but he makes up conversations with them and other wildlife in the reservoir. (He then sometimes eats them but we won’t talk about that)

💤sleep headcanon

I’m pretty sure it was an anon that mentioned this a while ago, but when Moreau snores he croaks like a frog. Which is adorable, but incredibly annoying for anyone who has to sleep next to/around him.

✨a ship i like with this character

Do… Do people actually ship Moreau with anyone? I don’t think I know any ships with him tbh.

🔪a ship i Don't like with this character

I mean… the pseudo incest ships, if he’s even part of those.

🎃something i think they're afraid of

Dolls. Like, Moreau loves Donna as his baby sister and everything, but can’t stand her dolls. He’s mildly okay with Angie (Even though she yells at him all the time), but that's mostly because he literally has to tolerate her if he wants to speak with Donna.

📦overall feelings about them

I love Moreau a lot and I want to be his friend so badly. Like I would suffer through romcoms for this man. I don't know why. He just seems kinda sad and lonely.

📢favorite thing about them in canon

I love his mutated design. I know he’s a gross fish monster, and his thing is just Alcina’s dragon with extra back eyeballs, but goddamn it’s a great design for him imo. Though I don’t get the random tentacles.

🧨least favorite thing about them in canon

I don’t think there’s anything I really dislike about him, honestly. Except the random vomiting on everything I guess. And his lack of screen time.

💬favorite line they've said

"I'll make you proud, Mother. Watch me!" (Or literally any line that highlights his mommy issues. Which is most of them)

🔔unpopular opinion

The Moreau fight felt very unnecessary and Ethan’s an asshole for causing it. If it was a case of “He cut you off after you tried sneaking away with the flask” I might feel a little different, but Ethan literally grabbed the flask and WAITED to taunt Moreau. Just take the flask and go, my dude, what the fuck are you doing taunting this poor guy? Like I get they took his daughter and Capcom needed all the Lord’s dead for reasons but like… come on. (Donna’s death is also in this boat.)

🔊a song that reminds me of them

Fish In a Birdcage (by Fish in a Birdcage) feels like a very Moreau song.

📝misc thoughts/headcanons (you can specify something not on this list or i can say whatever comes to mind first!)

Moreau deserves more love, honestly. I understand he isn’t an attractive dude or has as much character development as Heisenberg, but he seems like he’d be a nice guy to hang out with. And Ethan just kinda bullies him which doesn’t feel fair.

[hjellacott]

Having actual women tell me that gay men buying poor women to buy a baby is a good thing because “well she can go to university because capitalism”

It's horrible isn't it? I look at this world and I am appalled. All women have become in this world is some sort of ambiguous, undefined concept to use and manipulate as men please, pieces of flesh to buy or rent.

Men wanted free access to women's breasts and vaginas. So they created a narrative of positive prostitution, pseudo vaginas and breasts for sexual desire, and trans surgeries, reframed as "gender reaffirming" for positiveness.

Men wanted biological babies even if they're single or gay, because "oh it is so important to be able to pass on my genes before I die!", so they convinced struggling women and brainwashed women to rent their bodies for it, framing it as "there's no greater gift than being able to give the gift of life to others!" and with no concern to those children.

And don't even get me started on the narrative of donating sperm/eggs. I had friends doing it, and I too got excited with the narrative of "well if you're not using it and you don't want it you might as well make someone else's dreams come true!". Thank God my Mum opened my eyes just before I was going to do it, and said to me "but you don't understand, your eggs aren't a book you no longer want. They are the possibility of life that has been trusted upon you, a gift you have been given, and you are responsible of each and every offspring that comes from that. If you just give it away like that, that's a part of you you'll never get back, a being you were responsible for and neglected. Even if you don't want children, you cannot just give that away to God knows who! And furthermore, how would you feel if I'd given away eggs, and you knew you had half-siblings somewhere, that you'll never meet? or how would you feel if you knew you came from a donated egg, and have family out there you'll never know? knowing you were given away just like that, like an egg or sperm are no more than a pen?"

And before anyone comes at me with like "you sound like US American super religious people" WE ARE NOT. We are an European family of mixed ancestry, and we are non religious, but highly academic. Both my parents and both of my grandfathers, all of my uncles, all of my aunts, my siblings, myself, and my cousins, we all went to university, we all have at the very least a 4 year degree (free education system, so it doesn't take being posh, as we're not), sometimes postgraduate studies as well, and although some people might believe in God or have some faith, and even enjoy church, none of us is affiliated to any church or religion in any firm way. We're just very educated people, who travel a lot, and have lived a lot, and who have worked in all sorts of fields.

And we are HORRIFIED to see how much women have been reduced to body parts for men to buy or rent as they please, and even the vocabulary for women is disappearing thanks to the fucking gender ideology.

[zipwriting]

I put body swaps as one of Kouragra's powers it has unfettered access too and now they WOn'T stop playing musical chairs!

Kouragra < > Ocelotl

Kouragre > some random made up lady

Ocelotl < > wife of Ocelotl (breifly)

random lady Kouragra < > Enalore

Enalore (Kouragra) < > Ocelotl

It keeps ending with Kouragra back as Kouragra which seems boring but I think it's interesting to ponder if Enalore would give up her elf longevity to be some random made up lady. But I think it's a no brainer. Also she's the one who's always trying to get people to drink from the fountain of life or whatever. And of course, well Ocelotl would run off with her body

Do you guys think we're allowed to ship Rain and Merald and if not then who are they dating? Heeeeello? Somebody's wife? Oh no I remember. Merald is too plain, that Rain isn't attracted to them, but I still think they would probably end up together, and be like, well we settled. Those are the best relationships, though, like, "you rejected me, when we were teenagers" you've known each other for 10 years?

Do you think they're even friends? Do you think they have enough to do all day, that they can avoid each other for 10 years?

Rain and Merald, they hate each other, but then they swap bodies for sexual reasons only but then, like, actually fall in love, but they hate each other's responsibilities because either of them hates the other one's favorite parent, and they won't tell anyone that they've switched because 1. it's embarrassing 2. Kouragra would say it's pseudo-incest (it's not pseudo if it's gerald and ciri!!!!!!!!! parents can adopt you. step siblings can't adopt each other. except the moment in time when I was like "Enalore and Kouragra are aro4aro, that Kouragra calls her its business partner and roomate and co-parent, and Enalore is like well that's my little sister" it's so funny and I think it's less awkward for Enalore to be like "I adopted Wilda as my little sister, and then after that, or obviously not after that, but it was unspoken until now, dating Wilda's dad" wrong order Enalore. But it's different, possibly worse, to adopt a teenager and then be sneaking around with her dad but NOT being romantic with him.) The point I'm at is they unswap to do their housework and possibly unionize (the eldest daughtex union) (in medieval fantasy) to get regular hours.

Funny (evil) to give Enalore some biological urge once she becomes cis but more along the lines of baby fever than something more transphobic and also. She sometimes does end up with babies, probably half are babies and half are 2-17 and by contrasting babies with 2 year olds I MEAN babies

I call monsters it/its cis becuase all supernatural creatures are it/its. Kouragra. But then Sarah I had to fix its pronouns (in my notes I made them both have neos of K/K's and S/S's, lord help me edit th) (it's funny because no one gets mad about 2 she's (anymore) but) what was I saying, Sarah is that binary trasn women and sh--it transistioned AS a werewolf. I made up the it/its rule when I Was working with Mason, okay, I made Sarah--and her name was Lisa--and its name was Lisa, anyways, and then I tried to give Kouragra the random made up lady (when they turned Kouragra into Ocelotl it couldn't/wouldn't change back, so they took it to a wizard that turns animals into. All the same body type of brunette lady, which is obviously bad, it's very sussy, but yeah it didn't stick plus ALL of its magic is back in its old body. AND the tiger is a feminine form. But also a strong form.

Well that's what I have to say

[inkykeiji]

all she want is payback for the way i always play that shit

characters: dabi | todoroki touya

genre: smut + angst

notes: aaaah yikes, sorry it’s so long???? the first part of a companion piece to i can take you there but baby you wont make it back; touya + reader have been fooling around for just under six months, our innocent lil good girl reader is the teeniest, tiniest bit more firm now. jealousy makes people crazy, yk how it is. touya is marginally softer for like, a second or two. | title credit: save that shit by lil peep

warnings: 18+, pseudo-incest (stepcest), public sex, cheating, drug use, generally toxic relationship (possessiveness, jealousy), size difference, dubcon if u squint i guess???, the tiniest bit of cumplay

words: 11k

synopsis:

Why can’t you just be mine? You want to ask, the words searing into your tongue, refusing to leave your lips.

“You’re gonna make yourself sick, angel,” he chastises softly, brushing your hair away from your clammy forehead as another shuddery sob rips through your chest.

“I want you,” you say instead, words garbled.

“You have me, baby,”

“All of you,”

His chest heaves with an exasperated sigh, head turning away and gazing up at the ceiling. “You have all of me, princess,”

      ✰          ✰          ✰          ✰          ✰          ✰          ✰         

In early February, your parents finally tie the knot.

“Now it’ll be official,” you remember Touya whispering in your ear, the night before. “I will officially be your niichan,”

The wedding is gorgeous—elegant and classy, just like Rei herself. A wintertime wedding is so beautiful, you tell Rei as she’s busy being fawned over by several stylists, adding the finishing touches to her hair and make up. She’s absolutely stunning, a lacy ivory dress clinging delicately to her small frame, accentuating her natural curves. It glitters gracefully in the pale sunshine streaming through the large bay windows, sparkling any time she moves.

Touya doesn’t sit with his family. Their eyes sear into your flesh, although Touya keeps his stare pointedly in front of him, glaring at the alter. But you can feel their gaze on your skin, can feel their eyes travelling up your body slowly, critically, sending shivers skittering up your spine. It makes your skin crawl, both of your hands curling around Touya’s, a tangled knot of fingers resting in your lap.

You’ve never seen his other siblings before. Rei talks about them sometimes, but never when Touya’s around. You know that once every month, the three of them join Rei and your father for a family dinner, but you’ve never had the pleasure of attending.

You’d missed the first family dinner by fluke, held up late at the library studying for midterms. But every occasion after that, Touya had made absolute certain that you weren’t there. You hadn’t thought much of it the first time it happened, too enraptured and tangled up in Touya to care, grinding desperately against him in the backseat of his car as his tongue forced its way down your throat. But then it happens again, and again, and it becomes too coincidental to ignore.

“Why do we never go to those dinners with your siblings?” you’d tried to bring it up subtly the third time you guys skipped out on dinner, heart thudding in your chest and gentle voice quivering slightly.

Touya sighed, raking a hand through his hair roughly, eyes not straying from the road ahead of him. It’s complicated, he told you in a quiet voice, and you were so startled, so shocked by his sheer, unadulterated honesty, that you couldn’t find your voice, rendering you incapable of replying. Touya didn’t bother looking over at you, didn’t need to, to know that his response surprised you.

The other Todoroki’s are all strikingly beautiful—not that you expected any less. The one with pure snow-white hair and gunmetal grey eyes captures your attention the most, looking as if he’s around your age. He smirks at you when he catches your stare, giving you a small, polite nod—though you can see that tiny glint of mischief in his eye, the same glint you’ve seen in Touya’s a thousand times before. Choking on a surprised gasp, you rapidly avert your gaze, eyes snapping back to the pile of hands in your lap.

Touya notices, of course, because Touya notices everything. He doesn’t say anything, but his hand squeezes yours tightly, just a little too tight to be comforting, as his eyes dart to his siblings across the aisle, glare losing most of its heat when it meets his brother’s stare.

Tense shoulders relax, falling slowly with the measured breath he exhales as he turns back to glower at the alter.

You know other guests are staring at you—you can feel their eyes, too. You know the pair of you look more like a couple than siblings, know you should both probably put some distance between yourselves, at least try to keep some semblance of normalcy, some masquerade of a typical sibling relationship.

But Touya’s knee is bouncing, and he seems…unsure. It’s unsettling, really—Touya always seems so confident in himself—and you can almost feel the tense anxiety rolling off of him in heavy waves. So instead of scooting away from him or untangling your hands, your other palm finds a spot high on the thigh pressed tightly against yours, small fingers beginning to knead the flesh.

Sapphire eyes find yours, and he gazes down at you with an odd sense of fondness in his stare, the tiniest smile ghosting across his lips. It makes your chest swell with pride, makes you want to grab his face and crash his lips against yours, forces a tingling warmth to spread through your veins. It shouldn’t, but it does.

He barely lets you leave his side that day, keeps you glued to his body, an arm wrapped tightly around you. He’s a constant, looming, protective presence, glaring at anyone who dares to look at you for more than a second.

“Touya-nii,” you laugh a little while leaving the ceremony, watching as one of your cousins immediately averts their eyes. “That’s my cousin,”

“And I’m your brother,” he says flatly.

You suppose he has a point.

The two of you find your parents and the rest of Touya’s siblings—yours too, now, you guess—standing around a limousine, beckoning you over.

Rei begins to explain their protocol for pictures—and yes, you both have to come—but you aren’t listening. Their eyes are on you again, you can feel them, gliding up your skin, taking sharp note of the way Touya has you pressed flush against him, the way your arm is wrapped firmly around his waist, little fingers twisting in his suit jacket as your heart begins to speed up.

Touya can feel it, too, and he looks down at you in concern, his thumb caressing your shoulder, before he meets the stares of his siblings with a glare so ferocious you’re surprised it doesn’t turn them to ash on the spot.

They offer for you to ride in the limo with the rest of them, Touya cutting them off as he curtly declines their offer—no thanks, you’ll take his car instead and meet them there.

Rei tries to reason with him, but the pointed look he gives her causes her to trail off mid-sentence, holding his eyes for a moment before a sad smile settles on her face, nodding once.

       ✰          ✰          ✰

Shinjuku Gyoen is nothing short of stunning in the wintertime. It had snowed this morning, around six AM, blanketing the garden in a soft layer of pure white powder, glittering delicately in the early afternoon sun.

Wide eyes drink it in as your face presses against the glass of the car window, your breath fogging it up. There’s something so whimsical and dreamy about snow, you think, about the way it softens even the sharpest of edges, the way it makes everything look prettier.

“You’re so cute,” Touya remarks, watching you from the corner of his eye, a hint of teasing in his voice.

“I’ve never been here during the winter,” you murmur in response, still captivated by the grounds.

Rei and your father are immediately whisked away by several photographers to do their photos alone, leaving the rest of you to litter the parking lot.

But the moment they disappear from view, Touya’s got you trapped between his body and the cold metal of his car, lips moving against the shell of your ear as he whispers filthy promises, things that force soft whimpers from your lips, things that make your legs feel like they’re about to give out as heat pools deep in your belly. He knows, of course, smirks and teases you even more when he feels you squeeze your thighs together helplessly, tells you you’re his perfect little slut and vows to reward you for being so good as soon as he can.

His other siblings are staring, you try to tell him in a quiet, broken whine.

“Oh yeah?” he breathes, pushing his hips harder into yours, practically grinding his hard cock against your waist. “Let ‘em. I bet they’d love to watch me fuck you stupid, huh? What do you think about that, baby? You want them to watch?”

A pathetic sound hitches in your throat and you bury your burning face in his neck, a low, wicked laugh rumbling deep in his chest.

He doesn’t let up on the absolute filth spilling from his mouth until he can hear your father hollering in the distance, calling for the kids and waving the five of you over.

       ✰          ✰          ✰

Pictures take too long, and Touya’s antsy by the end of it, picking anxiously at his cuticles as his knee bounces. He’s hauling you out of there the moment you’re officially released, a strong hand wrapped tightly around your wrist. You can hear his mother calling for him, and you look back at her desperately, mirroring her worried frown.

He doesn’t even wait for the rest of them to pile into the limo and leave, immediately rooting through his pockets the moment he’s in the safety of his own car, pulling out a little baggie of white powder. He can feel your wide eyes on him, watching his every movement, but his hands are beginning to shake, and panic is starting to rip viciously at his throat, and he just needs it all to fucking stop.

“There’s no way I could endure this shit sober,” he explains as he searches for something in the powder, cursing when he doesn’t find whatever it is he’s looking for. Frantic cobalt eyes dart around the car, landing on the glovebox, and he leans over you, hastily pulling a reflective object from the compartment.

It’s a mirror.

A tiny, circular mirror that he uses to tap out a line, fingers unsteady and breathing slightly laboured. The gentle sounds of his platinum credit card colliding with glass echo throughout the car.

Hovering over the small mirror, he pauses, a finger pressed to his nostril. He almost wants to tell you to look away, almost does, but he knows you’d disobey either way.

He doesn’t like doing drugs in front of you—you’re too precious, too pure and innocent and he doesn’t want you around anything that could potentially tarnish that. But he also can’t stand that look you get in your eyes, almost like you’re scared of him, on the rare occasions that you have caught him.

He nearly snaps at you when you quietly ask if you can help, if he needs someone to hold the mirror steady, currently balancing on the center console compartment, but you’ve got that goddamn look in your eyes, wide and terrified.

No, he says sternly, telling you that he doesn’t even want you near this stuff, much less touching it.

But cocaine highs don’t last long, he explains to you when you ask about the little round white pills clacking together in his pocket. You’re positive he shouldn’t be mixing drugs like that, positive that your apprehension and disapproval are written clearly across your face, based on the simmering look he shoots at you.

Don’t fucking start.

So you don’t. You swallow down your worries and sit nice and pretty and good for him, just like you’re supposed to.

       ✰          ✰          ✰

He only leaves you twice, briefly, throughout the entire night. The first is almost immediately after you enter the reception venue.

Depositing you near the head table, he tells you to stay put before he hurries away. You know where he’s going, what he’s about to do, an odd ache taking root and throbbing deep in your chest.

He’d scold you if he could see you, able to read your expressions like a fucking book, would tell you not to cry for him—he doesn’t need your pity. The words cut through your mind in a snarl, and you work hard to rid your face of the frown marring it; he’s already having such a difficult time today, and the last thing you want to do is upset him more with your concern.

Distraction, you need a distraction. Wide eyes scan the extravagant ballroom, all shimmering golds and beiges and crystal chandeliers, searching in a frenzy for something—anything—to rid your mind of images of pretty boys with inky hair and white, white, white.

You swear you hear your name, then Touya’s, hissed out in a sharp whisper, and your gaze lands on a small group of people not too far from you, with snow and fire for hair—the other Todoroki’s, huddled in a loose circle.

The air around you just feels off, you catch his sister saying in a low but frantic voice, eyes darting between her brothers. She sounds worried about you, you think, and it makes you feel weird. She shouldn’t be worried about you; Touya takes fantastic care of you. It isn’t any of their business anyway, you can almost hear Touya sneering in your head, and he’s right. You know he’s right.

Her brothers don’t look too keen on discussing the subject, especially the youngest, who keeps pulling at his collar and fidgeting with his cufflinks.

“Well, why don’t you go and tell her that yourself,” the one with white hair says, grey eyes connecting with yours. She whirls around quickly, mouth snapping shut when she finds your face. Her lips morph into a smile half a second later, and she waves you over.

You avert your eyes, hands tangling nervously in front of you. No. You shouldn’t go. You really, really shouldn’t go. Touya told you to stay put, and you can’t bear to think—don’t even want to consider—how furious he’d be if he found that not only had you moved, but you had moved to talk to his siblings.

You must spend too much time deliberating, though, looking back up to find them advancing towards you, only a few feet away. Your heart’s pounding almost violently in your chest, breath accelerating with each step closer.

“Hi,” she’s saying warmly as she reaches you, causing you to subconsciously take a step back. “We haven’t had a chance to meet. I’m Fuyumi,”

You want to say your name, to introduce yourself politely, but your lips are sealed shut, only able to manage a small sound of affirmation.

“Shouto,” the youngest says, cold heterochromatic eyes glancing at you for a moment before looking away. “M’Shouto,”

“I’m Natsuo,” the man with white hair smirks down at you, eyes burning into yours.

Some of your anxiety melts away as you meet his stone eyes; there’s something comforting about the way that he has Touya’s smirk, Touya’s mischievous glint to his gaze, Touya’s playful lilt to his voice.

You feel like you can breathe again when you’re looking at Natsuo, so you keep your stare directed at him as you stutter out your name, gazing up at him through your lashes.

“You always miss the family dinners,” Natsuo accuses with a knowing smirk, raising his eyebrows suggestively. “Y’know, eventually, our parents are going to catch on,”

Your blood turns to ice in your veins, chills crawling on your skin. He knows?

And he says it so nonchalantly, so casually, as if he’s discussing the weather and not the fact that Touya deliberately kidnaps you to fuck your brains out in his car every single time they gather for one of those dinners. Fuyumi and Shouto look over at him with brows furrowed in confusion, but you choke on a gasp, coughing a little and nodding.

Touya returns then, saving you from having to respond.

“What’s wrong?” he’s asking immediately as his hands find purchase on your hips, pulling you back against his chest and wrapping his arms around you. A soft sigh leaves your lips as you lean on him, heart finally beginning to slow.

“N-Nothing, niichan,” you wrap your arms around his, hugging them to your chest, and he squeezes you in reassurance.

“You sure, baby?” Sapphire eyes search your face as you tilt your head back to look up at him, scanning for any sign of distress.

He shouldn’t be using that pet name here, not in front of his blood siblings, not loud enough that any of the passing guests can hear him with ease.

He shouldn’t.

But that doesn’t stop it from sending sparks skittering up your spine, heat beginning to coil in your tummy. You’d be lying if you said you didn’t love it, if you said you didn’t get some sort of twisted satisfaction at the loud gasp that leaves Fuyumi’s chest, or the sharp intake of breath Shouto chokes on, coughing as he tries to cover it up, all at the drop of that one, simple, four letter word.

Touya loves it, too—you can see it in the way his smirk grows into a full smile, a grin big enough to crinkle the edges of his eyes, can see it in his gaze, in the way his cobalt eyes almost sparkle at their reactions.

Your gaze flits back to the three people standing in front of you—your step-siblings, your mind corrects—eyes gliding over their faces slowly.

Natsuo looks thoroughly entertained, a stupid little grin stretched across his face, amusement dancing in his eyes. Fuyumi and Shouto, on the other hand, look thoroughly uncomfortable, shifting a little in place, their faces screwed up with poorly masked disgust.

Touya’s smile drops the moment he looks back at them. Azure eyes scan the faces of his siblings cautiously, giving Natsuo one quick, sharp nod of acknowledgment before his gaze lands on the youngest. And the glare Touya gives him is nothing short of terrifying, practically snarling at the boy, a rough, dangerous sound that gets lodged deep in his chest. It makes the boy cower away, shuffling ever-so-slightly closer to his sister, who shakily glares back.

Lips tugging down into a frown, you look up at Touya, forehead creasing in confusion. He’s still glowering at the kid, eyes narrowing just a little before he huffs and turns away, leaving without speaking a word to any of them.

“Don’t you ever talk to them again,” he’s murmuring as he whisks you away, something malicious in his voice. “You’re my little sister,”

You nod obediently, promising him that you won’t, reassuring him that you didn’t even want to as you relay the entire situation. But he can see it, the curiosity swirling in your eyes, a question dancing on your tongue.

Because although Touya appears to be on seriously awful terms with his younger siblings, Natsuo seems to be some sort of exception. From the interaction you just witnessed, you’re able to deduce that something, some line of communication, must be present between Touya and Natsuo, evident in their shared looks and swift, discreet nods.

He sighs, irritation coating his voice as he demands that you spit it out already.

It makes you jump a little, but the words come tumbling out of your mouth the moment he commands them to, powerless to disobey a direct order.

“Does that include Natsuo?”

Your voice is so tiny that he barely hears you, brows knitting together. There’s an odd look in his eye as he observes you—something that isn’t quite jealousy, but close to it—nose twitching a little as he considers.

“Alone, yes,” he finally says. “With me around it’s fine, I guess. But you are not to speak to him alone, do you hear me?”

Yes, niichan, of course, niichan.

       ✰          ✰          ✰

Dinner is absolute torture, and the two of you can barely keep your hands off of each other. It starts innocently enough, discreetly enough, with palms on thighs, fingers brushing down arms, hands interlaced under the table. But the need to touch grows, and grows, and grows, these simple actions too teasing to satisfy that dull burning in the pit of your stomach, flaring a little more each time his fingers press into your thigh, or his thumb runs across your knuckles.

And you shouldn’t, you really shouldn’t start acting up now, not while the two of you are seated at the head table, looking out amongst the guests—a few months ago, you would’ve never thought to do something so indecent, so dangerous, in such a public place. But you just can’t help it, you’re getting restless now, brain going hazy with thoughts of him as your fingers trail up his thigh and ghost over his lap.

“Getting bold, are we, princess?” his hand catches your wrist, holding your palm in place and grinding up into it. His voice is low, head tipped towards you, sapphire eyes dark. A breath catches in your throat and he smirks, an evil little quirk up of his lips, raising an eyebrow at you in expectation.

You’re lucky they’re seated in a straight line instead of a circle, he murmurs in your ear, Natsuo snickering beside him. “Imagine what your daddy would think if he could see you, acting like such a desperate little slut in front of all of these people,”

A soft, broken moan escapes your lips without your permission, thighs squeezing together in an attempt to combat the heat pooling in your panties. Someone down the line of the table says something, but you’re too enticed by Touya to hear them, your father writing off whatever the remark was with an easygoing smile.

“Oh, those two are always in their own little world,” you hear him dismiss, voice sounding muddled and distant.  

“Be a good girl and sit still,” Touya growls in your ear, grip tightening to near bruising.

“But niichan,” you whine, much too loud, gazing at him with glazed, blown eyes. “Niichan,” you repeat, leaning forward to whimper in his ear, fingers flexing around the bulge in his trousers. “N-Need you,”

“If you can’t behave, niichan won’t let you cum later,” he breathes, though his voice is stern, heavy with the weight of the threat.

A pout forms on your lips as he releases your wrist, firmly placing your hand back in your lap and holding it there for a moment, a silent warning for your wandering fingers to stay put.

But he’s up and out of his chair the instant dinner’s over, moving so quick his seat wobbles a little as he grasps your hand tightly in his, practically yanking you up and dragging you along behind him.

The best thing about these fancy venues, he’s telling you as he strides through the halls, cerulean eyes searching for something, is that they have single person washrooms.

The granite is cold on your cheek as Touya shoves you up against the wall, head bouncing a little as it whacks against it.

You whine and he laughs, a cruel, piercing sound echoing off the walls.

“Aw, baby,” he coos contemptuously. “Did that hurt?”

“Y-Yes,” you whimper, eyes squeezing shut against the throbbing pain radiating through your cheek.

“Poor little thing,” he hisses, lips against your ear as his hands begin to bunch up your dress, gliding over your silk covered thighs, hands fisting in the material as he goes. Pushing it up around your waist, he leans back, hands travelling over the globes of your ass and kneading hard enough to make you cry out.

“You’re a slutty little brat, y’know that?”

Deft fingers hook in the waistband of your thong, all delicate baby pink lace, Touya snickering about how much of a whore you are, wearing such skimpy, slutty panties, as he lets the elastic snap back against your skin.

A little shocked gasp escapes your lips as he begins tugging the dainty fabric down your thighs—you had expected him to merely push them to the side, but he forces you to take them off entirely, stuffing the soaked material in his pocket.

“You think you can just tease niichan like that and get away with it?”

“No,” you whisper, shaking your head against the wall.

“No,” he murmurs, hips grinding against your bare ass. “Good girls don’t tease their niichans without delivering, do they?”

“No,”

“On your knees,” he orders, spinning you around and stepping back just enough to allow you to sink to the floor. “Get my cock wet,”

Little fingers work quickly, eager to obey, as they undo his pants, practically salivating as you free his cock from its confines.

“Your cock’s so pretty, niichan,” you breathe, eyes glittering with pure, potent desire as you take it in your hands, tongue darting out to trace the prominent veins.

“No teasing,” he growls, a hand knotting in your hair. “I wanna see you choke on it,”

You nod as best you can, mouth instantly falling open, reduced to nothing more than a wet, warm little hole for him to stuff.

And then he’s shoving it down your throat, the hand fisted in your hair holding your head still, and you gag around it almost immediately, working to force you jaw open even more.

“That’s it, that’s my good girl,” he rasps out, voice echoing off the walls of the washroom.

The praise has your heart soaring, has you sucking hard around him as he thrusts into your mouth, coating his cock in thick saliva and desperate to hear more. It’s intoxicating, every quiet moan you manage to pull from him, every breathless good girl that falls from his lips, makes you feel lightheaded and heady and dizzy for more.

His hips pump a few more times before he’s pulling you off his cock completely, devious smirk forming on his lips at your whine of protest, and commanding you to go bend over the sink.

Calloused hands are bunching your dress up around your waist again, toe of his shoe kicking at your inner ankles and forcing your feet further apart.

He doesn’t bother stretching you out, not because he doesn’t have the time to, but because he simply doesn’t want to. It’s truly one of his favourite things, to see tears fill your eyes while his cock stretches your cute little pussy, and he knows you love it too, don’t you?

Yes, niichan, of course you do.

His cock glistens with your saliva, sufficiently wet that it slides in easily enough, with minimal pain for him. And the soft groan he lets out as he watches your little hole struggle to take him, paired with your sweet little whimpers of his name, is nothing short of gorgeous.

It has your pussy fluttering around him, pulling a breathless chuckle from his lips as he fills you to the hilt, hips pressed against your ass.

And then doesn’t fucking move.

Your brow furrows, eyes meeting his in the mirror. You try to fuck yourself back on him, but he’s too quick, hands stilling your hips immediately and tutting in disapproval.

“Niichan,” you whimper. “N-Niichan, please fuck me,”  

“Do you think you deserve it?” he’s asking, tongue tracing the shell of your ear as he holds your gaze through the mirror. “After the way you behaved at dinner?”

“M’sorry,” you whine, wiggling back against him, his fingers digging into your flesh as he stops them, grip tightening. “Couldn’t help it, wanted you so bad,”

“Of course you couldn’t,” he smirks, hips starting to move slowly, teasingly, stilling after only three simple thrusts. A hand reaches down and finds your clit, forcing a gasp from you as his thumb brushes over it, back and forth, back and forth, featherlight grazes that have you arching back into him, trying to press further into his touch.

“Think you can cum just like this for me?” he asks, beginning to thrust shallowly again, just enough to have the head of his cock dragging against that spot buried deep inside your cunt, that spot he knows so well, then nudging your cervix. “Hmm?”

“Mhmm,” you nod, breath starting to come out in short little pants.

“Then do it,” he demands in a whisper, eyes still holding yours. “Show niichan how pretty you look, cumming all over his cock,”

And the combination of his deep, rough voice rumbling against your back as praises tumble from his lips, his thumb and cock, and the fact that anyone within a fifteen foot radius of this washroom could probably hear you, has you cumming within minutes with a sharp cry of Touya-nii!  

Touya laughs at how pathetically quickly you came, about how easy it is to have you creaming on his cock, heat seeping into your cheeks as you try to look away.

“My turn,” he breathes, yanking your head back up by your hair, fingers finding root in the intricate updo that has begun to fall apart. “And I wanna see your face as I fuck you, so keep your damn head up,”

And then he’s slamming into you with enough vigour to propel you forward, face pressed against the mirror, toes barely touching the ground. Every moan and whimper and mewl he forces from your throat fogs up the glass, leaving tiny glistening drops of condensation as they fade.

You’re trying so hard to keep your eyes open, to watch him as he fucks you, because he always looks so damn pretty.  

He’s stupidly attractive, with his shirtsleeves rolled halfway up his forearms, first few buttons undone and collar popped, revealing his sharp collarbone, smooth ivory skin stretched taut across it. Ebony hair clings to his forehead and neck delicately, coated in sweat, and he’s emitting the most glorious noises, heavy pants and little broken whines, peppered with praise.

Nails bite into your flesh as he holds you in place, hips snapping relentlessly, your fingers curling around the porcelain sink.

“You want niichan’s cum?” he growls in your ear, eyes burning into yours. You whimper in response, nodding against the mirror. “Yeah? Then fucking beg for it.”

Pleads are spilling from your lips immediately, nothing but senseless babbling as he pounds into you.

“Please, niichan, please, need it, your cum, stuff me with your cum,”

“That’s it,” he gasps, voice hoarse. “I want every single person in this godforsaken hall to hear you, I want every single person to know how much of—” he cuts himself off with a shuddery curse. “—How much of a slut my baby sister is,”

“Pretty please,” you whine out the words, eyes rolling back in your head. “Fill me up with your cum, niichan, I-I want it,”

His hips still just as your cunt clenches around him, cockhead pressed tightly against your cervix as he fills you with hot, thick ropes of cum.

He pulls out a few moments later, and you uncurl your fingers from around the rim of the sink, wincing at your appearance; lips bitten raw, hair beginning to fall from it’s elegant style, body covered in a thin layer of sweat.

You look back at him to find him already staring at you, expectantly, impatiently, hands jittery as he quirks his head towards the door.

“We can’t leave together,” he says, as if it’s obvious, even though you stumbled into the washroom together twenty minutes ago.

He needs more.

You nod, slow and dumb, staggering a little on your trembling legs. Grasping the doorknob you pause, turning to look at him again.

“What?” he asks as he searches through his pockets, not bothering to glance at you. He can feel your eyes on him.

“Um...” you shift nervously from foot to foot, lip caught between your teeth.

He looks over at you sharply, brows rising as if to ask why are you still here?

“M-My panties, niichan,”

Oh.

A wicked smirk spreads across his face, eyes twinkling, brows relaxing.

“What about them?”

“Well, I—I can’t return to the reception without them,”

“Oh, and why not?”

You pause, blinking a few times, at a loss for words. Why not? Because you can feel his cum beginning to trickle out of you, mixing with your juices and dribbling down your inner thigh?

“Exactly,” he says, when you take too long to reply. “Now be a good little girl and go. I’ll be out soon,”

       ✰          ✰          ✰

You don’t go back into the ballroom, terrified that you’ll be ambushed by his—your—siblings again. Collapsing in one of the plush chairs, you cross your quivering legs tightly in a desperate attempt to keep the cum oozing out of you from getting on your dress.

People are looking again, probably think you’re drunk based on the way you teetered over to the seat, or the way your hair’s begun to come undone from it’s intricate updo, wispy strands framing your face.

He returns from the washroom only a few minutes later, eyes finding you immediately. There’s a stupid, smug smirk on his face, thinks it’s so cute that he fucked you so good you can’t walk, can’t even get up, that you need your niichan to help you.

A pout forms on your lips, eyebrows furrowing. “Not funny,”

“Very funny,” he chuckles as his hands snake under your armpits, hauling you to your feet. You stumble a little, bumping into him and he laughs again, wrapping a sturdy arm around your waist and propping you up against him.

“Alright, let’s get this over with,”

“Oh, niichan,” you murmur and he pauses, glancing over at you. You reach up, your thumb swiping across his nose to collect excess white powder.

“Thanks,” he breathes, winking at you. You hum noncommittally, about to rub your thumb across his white dress shirt to clean it when he catches your hand, bringing your thumb to his lips and licking it instead.

It isn’t discreet. It’s slow and deliberate, tongue sticking out of his mouth, flattening it against your thumb and dragging it up, from base to tip. You’re sure someone saw that, but you can’t be bothered to care, not when another bout of intense heat rushes to your core, forcing you to squeeze your legs together, trying in vain to keep Touya’s cum from seeping out, from your juices traveling down your leg. A soft whimper leaves your lips, breathing beginning to accelerate as your eyes bore into his, now half-lidded and dark. He holds your gaze for a moment before something snaps.

“We need to go,” he says, voice firm with no room for negotiation. “Now.”

And, God, his voice is rough and raw and fucking dripping with desire. It’s got you nodding before he’s even finished speaking, a flock of butterflies invading your stomach at the downright sinful grin he gives you in response. Such a good girl for him.

Despite the fact that you’ve barely recovered from your previous orgasm, you nearly moan at his look alone, the urge to kiss him burning through your veins and alighting your entire body in direct juxtaposition to the shivers his eyes just sent rippling across your skin. The insatiable need overwhelms your senses, and it’s dangerous. It’s dangerous, how captivated he has you, entirely wrapped around his slim finger and hanging on his every word, how you’re positive that, in that moment, you’d do anything he asked.

You wobble awkwardly in your heels, legs still shaking and having trouble keeping up with Touya’s swift pace. You’re about to ask him to slow down just a little so you don’t break an ankle, when you bump into your father.

Who just so happens to provide you with the perfect excuse to leave early. You can practically see the gears clicking into place in Touya’s mind, sapphire eyes glittering as a sinister smirk spreads across his face.

Your father’s eyes widen as he observes your appearance, strands of hair sticking to your clammy face and eyes half-lidded, chapped lips beginning to crack, leaning heavily against Touya and seemingly too weak to stand on your own.

“Hi dad,” you greet hoarsely, wincing a little at how grating your voice sounds.

He frowns immediately. “Jesus, sweetheart, are you feeling alright? You look…” he trails off, forehead wrinkling with worry.

“Oh, she’s not feeling too good,” Touya says softly, smoothly, just the right amount of concern and compassion in his tone.

“Oh no,” your father breathes, frown deepening. “That’s terrible,” he clicks his tongue with a shake of his head. “Do you think you’ll be able to tough out the rest of the reception?”

You begin to croak out an answer, but Touya speaks over you.

“She’s burning up, sir,” he informs him, and it isn’t a lie—not exactly, anyway. Technically, if your father were to feel your forehead, your body temperature would be above average, a result of Touya fucking the absolute life out of you a mere ten minutes ago.

Touya looks down at you with painfully sympathetic eyes, but you can still see that little glint of mischief, buried under all of that artificial benevolence.

“Maybe I should take her home?” Touya muses, looking back at your father, mimicking his anxiety effortlessly.

“Mm,” he hums in agreement. “I think that’s the best thing to do,” his eyes dart to yours. “You really don’t look well,”

Oh, you’re sure you don’t. Resting a little more against Touya, you play up the symptoms a bit, whimpering quietly as little fingers twist in his shirt, nuzzling your face against his side. A soft noise of endearment sounds at the back of his throat, large hands readjusting your body to support you better.

Another whimper falls from your lips, but this time it isn’t from pretending you’re ill. You can feel his cum leaking out of you, slimy and cool as it drips down your inner thigh, and a sick thrill shoots through your body, abused cunt throbbing greedily.

Rei comes up behind your father then, wrapping her arms around his midsection and resting her chin on his shoulder, eyes flitting between the two of you carefully.

“What’s going on? Is everything okay?”

“I’m gonna bring this little princess home,” Touya explains, nodding his head at you in indication as he speaks. “She isn’t feeling very well, poor thing,”

And it’s scary, scary how terrific he is at lying, how easily he slips into that niichan role, the one painstakingly crafted and flawlessly maintained around your parents, the one he’s perfected at this point.

Rei doesn’t say much, only cooing in sympathy, remarking that it’s such a shame, but your father’s eyes soften. “Such a good big brother,” he praises, clapping a hand on Touya’s shoulder.

Touya has to consciously work to smother the smirk playing at the corners of his lips as he responds.

“You have no idea,”  

       ✰          ✰          ✰

Your parents don’t come home that night, opting to go straight to the airport from the venue, embarking on their honeymoon immediately.

It’s nice, playing house with Touya, having the entire place completely to yourselves. He’s been home an awful lot these past few weeks, more than he ever has in the past, and you get to experience things you never could before.

Every morning and every night, you cook breakfast and dinner together. You go grocery shopping together, wash the dishes together, fold the laundry together, all while stealing kisses in between; little domestic things you didn’t really do with your parents around.

You spend every night that they’re away in his bed, being fucked into his mattress, surrounded by the smell of him—campfire and Marlboros and expensive cologne—absolutely full of him in every sense.

You wake up in the mornings with his hand between your legs, playing with your cute little clit, or his cock pressed against your ass, grinding until you wake up. You have sleepy, slow morning sex while you’re both still half asleep, and it’s the most gentle he’s ever been. It consists of lazy, sloppy, messy thrusts against each other, hips meeting halfway—just grinding until he gets too impatient, though he usually lets you cum two or three times before he finally flips you over, trapping you under his body and slamming his hips into you, growling and grunting, your legs pushed up and folded on either side of you.

You get to fuck in the kitchen—not that you hadn’t before, but this time you get to take it slow. He eats you out while you sit on the counter and then fucks you into oblivion and it’s nasty, it’s disgusting, it’s so good. He cums so much that it’s leaking out of you, onto the counter, his chest heaving as he observes it with an odd little smile and a soft “fuck,”

And you get to fuck in the bathtub, that big jacuzzi in your parents room, water and bubbles sloshing around as you bounce on his cock, loud cries echoing off the walls.

It’s going great, until the last weekend of the honeymoon, a mere few days before your parents are supposed to return.

       ✰          ✰          ✰

A party.

Keigo tries to talk him out of it, tries to at least talk him out of letting you stay.

“She shouldn’t be here,” you hear Keigo hiss under his breath as guests begin to fill the house, Touya snorting in retort.

Keigo doesn’t think you should be around any of this at all—there’s no reason you should have to witness this shit, you catch him growling, gold eyes blazing. No, not a poor innocent babygirl like you, this isn’t the place for you.

But Touya’s too stubborn, too selfish to let Keigo take you out for the night. He knows he’s right, would rather not have you around these people, but he doesn’t have a fucking choice. The thought of you being out of his sight, out with another man, has anxiety rising in his throat, panic clawing at his chest.

As a result, you spend the entirety of the party being passed between Touya and Keigo. There are so many girls here, so many people you don’t know, wide eyes scanning the living room as your fingers twist in Keigo’s hoodie.

Niichan’s busy, Touya tells you, when you ask why you can’t just stay with him, when you ask where he keeps disappearing off to. Niichan’s working, don’t you know? Be a good girl and stay with Kei.

You can tell that Keigo isn’t happy about it. He coos softly when you timidly ask if he’s upset that he’s stuck babysitting you all night, in the middle of an apology when he cuts you off.

“It isn’t your fault, songbird,” he murmurs, gentle fingers tracing the curve of your face.

He’s even angrier at Touya when he takes that first girl back to his room, because the look on your face—the way it crumples accompanied by a soft, hurt sound caught at the back of your throat—kills him.

And it isn’t like you don’t know about his side whores. You do. They’re customers, he had snapped at you, the only time you had ever asked about it. But it’s an entirely different thing to actually have to witness it with your own eyes.

You can’t help the flare of jealousy that rises in your chest every time he takes a girl by the hand and leads them to his bedroom. It stings, burns, feels like a fire’s been lit in your chest, filling your lungs with dense smoke and making it hard for you to breathe.

Keigo tries his best to distract you, gentle fingers on your cheeks turning your face towards him, golden eyes softening in sympathy. He keeps you as preoccupied as he can, but it still isn’t enough. Your eyes are drawn to Touya every time he’s in the room—an automatic, instinctual reaction you couldn’t control even if you wanted to.

And every time you watch a girl giggle into his ear, or hop up with him, that fire smoldering in your chest blazes, rages, has you wheezing and hissing and pressing a palm flat against yourself, a desperate attempt to get the pain to stop.

Tomura’s here, too, though he’s sitting in a shrouded corner on his phone, the light from the screen reflected on his pale face, colours flashing intermittently. He looks absorbed with whatever he’s doing on there—probably playing a game, Keigo tells you, but why are you interested, anyway?

You don’t know, you aren’t sure, you can’t exactly put it into words. He terrifies you, but he sparks a morbid curiosity in you, too. He’s so silent, private, almost inobtrusive; and yet Touya never lets you anywhere near him. Your eyes keep flitting his way, as if trying to will something to happen, staring at him longingly and hoping he’ll look up from his phone for a split second and catch your gaze, that he’ll somehow magically get the hint that you’re desperate and dying to talk to him, and take the first step.

But it doesn’t happen.

Touya is thoroughly unimpressed each and every time he finds you sitting on Keigo’s knee or lap, leaning back against his chest as he speaks with that easygoing lilt that is so distinctly him, but there isn’t much he can do. The third time he returns to take you from his friend he can tell you’re beginning to get tired, can see it in your eyes, in the way you’re cuddling into a warm chest. He debates sending you to bed right then and there, but you protest, little hands tangling in Keigo’s hoodie.

“Aw, she’s alright for a little more, isn’t she?”

Touya’s sharp jaw clenches twice and he exhales slowly through his nose, eyes darting between your faces.

“Fine,” he says, although it doesn’t seem fine.

And you are exhausted, straddling Keigo’s hips, face pressed into his shoulder and hot breath evening out softly against his neck. Fingers ghost up and down your spine nonchalantly as Keigo talks softly to the people around him, his laugh vibrating against your chest and filling you with an odd, tingly sensation, a warmth that seeps through your body. You snuggle a little closer to him and he coos, readjusting you in his lap and wrapping an arm around your waist, holding you tightly to him.

“Don’t wanna go to bed with him,” you whisper, words muffled by his skin.

Keigo hums in question, squeezing you once. “Who, songbird?” he presses his lips to your ear as inconspicuously as he can, lidded gold eyes lazily scanning the room for your brother. “Touya?”

You nod sluggishly, little fingers curling in his hoodie, a silent plea not to let you go.

“Aw, don’t be like that,” Keigo says softly with a small chuckle, but it sounds off to your ears—sad, even.

“Don’t wanna,” you repeat, pout evident in your voice. “Wanna stay with you,”

You wouldn’t have noticed the way his chest hitches at those four words if you weren’t pressed flush against it. But you feel it, feel his breath getting caught in his throat, reverberating against you as he clears it quietly. Unexpected guilt sours your mouth, makes your stomach turn to a block of heavy lead, weighting your body down.

“You know you can’t, sweetheart,” he finally responds, voice cracking just a bit, right on that last word. “Don’t hurt your niichan like that, he loves you,”

No he doesn’t, you want to say, but you can’t seem to force the words from your mouth, opting to shake your head instead, eyes shutting tightly against the burn of tears.

“He does,” Keigo says, more sternly this time. “Don’t doubt that,”

But you’re not so sure. If Touya loved you—really loved you—would he have disappeared no less than three times tonight, each with a different girl, leading them into his bedroom with those dark glittering sapphire eyes while they gaze up at him like he hung the fucking moon himself?

Honestly, is that even a question you want answered?

You keep your face buried in Keigo’s chest to block it out, to keep yourself from watching your big brother as he flits around the room, handing out discreet baggies in exchange for ridiculous wads of cash and talking in hushed voices, in code, to men who look much too old to be at a house party.

Eventually, Touya returns to retrieve you, bending down and speaking softly.

“It’s time for bed, princess,” A hand pets your head, and you flinch away.

“Hey,” you feel the couch dip beside you as he sits down. “Look at me,”

You’re shaking your head, trying in vain to press even closer to Keigo, but that doesn’t stop Touya from reaching out and gripping your chin, forcing you to face him.

Crystal eyes search your face carefully, wide and alert—he always works sober, you found out. He can tell you’re upset, can see it written plain as day across your face, eyes glassy with your lips set in a deep pout, eyebrows pushed together. Exhaling harshly, he closes his eyes, fingers rubbing at his eyes in exasperation.

“C’mon,” he says lowly, wrapping a hand around your bicep and tugging as he stands.

“No,” you nearly growl, shaking your head and viciously pulling your arm from his grip.

Touya stares at you for a moment, like he cannot believe you just had the audacity to tell him no, before he speaks, an incredulous laugh bubbling up from his chest. “What did you just say?”

Keigo’s sitting up straighter now, more alert as your body subconsciously curls into his chest, cowering away from your big brother. “Y-You heard me,”

Snorting in disbelief, Touya raises his eyebrows as his tongue runs along the front of his teeth, huffing out the remnants of a chuckle before his smile drops completely, blue fire blazing in his dark eyes.

“Get up,” he snarls, hand in a vice grip around your arm as he yanks harshly. The force of it has you practically falling off Keigo’s lap, though Touya catches you roughly before your knees hit the hardwood, hoisting you up by your arm to stand on unsteady feet.

“Move.” He instructs, giving you a shove in the vague direction of his bedroom. “Now.”

His chest bumps into your back and you stumble forward, yelping softly. He keeps pushing like this, strong hand clasping your shoulder so tightly you’re sure you’ll have five little bruises in the shape of his fingerprints in the morning, driving you to walk with the sheer force of his body.

“No,” your whispering, trying desperately to turn back and look at him as you approach his door, tears flooding your eyes, frantically shaking your head and trying your damnedest to plant your feet, heels digging into the floor in an attempt to stop him from pushing you forward.

“You really gonna say no to me a second time tonight? In less than fifteen minutes? You think that’s wise, baby?”

You don’t—of course you don’t. It’s probably one of the stupidest things you could do, in this situation.

But even though you know, know this isn’t a smart move, know you shouldn’t be testing him like this—challenging him like this, especially in front of so many people—you’re powerless to control the words that tumble from your lips next.

“I don’t want to sleep in a bed that’s been infested by your whores,”

They come out as a hiss—you don’t mean for them to, but they do, voice quivering under the combined weight of your fury and fear.

That gets him to stop, entire body going rigid. Icy dread rushes through your veins, panic clawing its way up your throat, forcing uneven breaths through your parted lips. Squeezing your eyes shut tightly, you brace yourself for the impact of his bellowing voice, shoulders tensing in anticipation for the blow, for him to really snap.

Except then he starts laughing, his hand relaxing around your shoulder, spinning you around to face him as he backs you up against his bedroom door, caging you in with his body.

“That’s what this is about?”

Eyebrows furrowing, you blink twice in disbelief, prompting hot tears to finally spill over. “I—Wh-Why are you laughing?”

“Because you’re being silly, princess,”

It hurts, stings like three massive spikes just shot through your heart, causes a tiny whimper to sound from deep in your throat, chest hiccupping with pathetic little half-sobs.

“Sil…Silly?” Time feels as if it’s slowed, your sluggish brain having trouble comprehending the situation unfolding.

His lips pull down into a frown, eyes narrowing slightly as he regards you with extreme precision. “Yeah,” he says, but his voice sounds far away, muffled, like you’re underwater and he’s speaking to you from above the surface. “Hey—”

Your head’s shaking again, in slow, delayed motions from side to side. “No,” you whisper. “No.”

You feel nauseous, and the proximity of his presence is only making it worse, making you feel like you could hurl at any moment. Little hands find purchase on his chest and push, stomach lurching painfully as your head spins.

He catches your wrists easily, holding them together in one large hand, his other coming to grip your chin and force you to look at him.

Thick silence settles between the two of you as Touya’s eyes study your face slowly, noting the tears flowing steadily down your face, the way your breath stutters with sobs you’re so desperately trying to hold back, the way your entire body trembles.

“Are you seriously upset over this?” he asks, laughing a little.

Your gaze holds his, tears casting a thick, gleaming screen across your eyes.

“Yes, Touya,” you whisper, wishing your voice didn’t sound as small and weak as it does. “I’m seriously upset,”

That’s the first time you’ve used his first name—just his first name, void of any honorific—in a long, long time.

It gets him to pause again, his usual and well-worn mask of passivity melting away for just a second as shock crosses his face. Then his features are hardening again, brows knitting together and creasing his forehead, eyes narrowing into near slits.

“Don’t be fucking stupid,” he spits harshly, the words cutting into your flesh. “You know none of them mean a thing,”

“Then why do you fuck around with them?” you shoot back almost immediately, voice fading into a whisper.

He glares at you, as if you’re wasting his precious time with such childish questions when he’s told you this already, and you can see the blue fire simmering in his eyes.

“It’s late,” he says curtly, voice sounding off to you. “You need sleep.”

You try to fight him on it, but he’s too quick, reflexes too swift, and he shoves you into his room, door slamming shut less than a second later.

Tears obstruct your vision as you stumble around, finally finding his desk chair and collapsing heavily. You don’t even bother trying to open the door, know it’s locked without having to hear that soft click! as the lock turns into place.

He’s right—it is late, well past three in the morning, and you are utterly exhausted, drawing your knees up to your chest and curling up in the plush chair.

But no matter how tired you are, you absolutely refuse to sleep in his bed. The party’s dying down, you can hear Touya’s muffled farewells as guests begin to leave while you fade in and out of consciousness.

You think you might’ve heard Keigo say something, might’ve caught the word stay, might’ve detected the annoyance laced in Touya’s voice as he responds, but you’re too worn out to reflect on it.

At some point in the night, Touya reenters his room, chuckling a little at your antics and carrying you to his bed.

The move wakes you, and you weakly protest—no, you don’t want to be in this bed, please, just let you go sleep in your own bed—but Touya ignores you entirely, wrapping an arm around you and pulling you tightly to his chest.

It’s then that the tears start up again, salt staining your puffy cheeks, head beginning to throb from dehydration.

“Shh, baby, shh,” he hushes you, nimble fingers combing through your hair. “I’m here, right here,”

If there’s one thing you’ve learned about Touya over these past few weeks, it’s that he becomes marginally softer in the middle of the night. Your fingers twist in his t-shirt, trying in vain to pull yourself impossibly closer, Touya making a soft noise akin to a coo in the back of his throat.

“I’ve got you, niichan’s got you,”

You hate it. You hate that he’s the only person you want comforting you right now, as you lay in his bed, surrounded by the smell of cheap perfume and clinging in desperation to him, needing him close, needing his body heat warming you and his hands on you. You hate the way your sobs come harder the more he soothes you, the heavy ache in your chest almost bruising, crushing your lungs and making it near impossible to breathe.

But you crave his comfort nonetheless. It’s a special kind of comfort, one that’s difficult to describe, one that only comes from the love and adoration and protection of a big brother.

Why can’t you just be mine? You want to ask, the words searing into your tongue, refusing to leave your lips.

“You’re gonna make yourself sick, angel,” he chastises softly, brushing your hair away from your clammy forehead as another shuddery sob rips through your chest.

“I want you,” you say instead, words garbled.

“You have me, baby,”

“All of you,”

His chest heaves with an exasperated sigh, head turning away and gazing up at the ceiling. “You have all of me, princess,”

There’s something in his voice that makes you stop, pause, his words reverberating in your mind. He sounds almost like…like he’s upset over this fact, like he wishes that you didn’t have all of him.

You want to press for more, to probe and prod and pick away at it, but exhaustion finally claims you, rendering you incapable of speech, your tongue moving sluggishly in your mouth as you desperately try to form words.

       ✰          ✰          ✰

It’s grey when you wake, only a few hours later, eyes sticky and dry from lack of sleep. Your head is pounding, feels like it’s been stuffed full of cotton, lips cracked and dry from dehydration, and a painful lump forms almost immediately in your throat when you get a whiff of sickly sweet artificial vanilla, then another of intense, synthetic citrus.

The tears are starting up again, collecting in your eyes and clouding your vision. It makes you nauseous, makes your skin crawl and your chest burn as your throat fills with acid. The tears sting, but you blink hard to keep them at bay. You will not cry, not in front of him, not in his bed surrounded by the remnants of those other girls, not again. You refuse to give them the satisfaction.

You spring up quickly, halfway through climbing over Touya’s body when a strong hand latches onto your wrist.

“No,” Touya mumbles, face half buried in his pillow. “Stay,”

“No,” you whisper, pulling yourself free from his grasp and hurrying out of his room. You can smell them on your clothes, on your skin, and it makes you want to scrub your body under scalding water until it’s raw.

Everything hurts—it hurts so much it feels like your chest is collapsing in on itself, like you can’t breathe, gasping for air as you stumble onto the porch, nearly tripping over your own feet as you stop and realize you have nowhere to go.

Touya has cut you off from all of your friends at this point; any spare time you had was now claimed by him.

And that’s exactly why he doesn’t bother rolling out of bed to follow after you, isn’t worried about you going anywhere, knows you can’t leave him, no matter how badly you want to. No, not a precious little girl like you, with nowhere to find refuge.

You sit down heavily on one of the front steps, vision so blurry with tears you’re barely able to make out the figure advancing towards you. They’re finally escaping your eyes, rolling down your cheeks as you blink twice, trying to clear them. Your chest stutters under the force of a sob you’re desperately trying to hold back, clapping both hands over your mouth in an attempt to silence it.

“Hey—oh no,” Keigo breathes the moment your watery eyes look up at him. You squeeze your eyes shut, causing more tears to leak out as your shoulders shake, whole body trembling from the force of your sobs, poorly muffled by your palms.

“No, no, no, sweetheart,” he’s saying as he rushes to sit down next to you, wrapping an arm around your shoulders tightly.

Keigo’s the closest thing you have to a friend now. And really, you should be embarrassed by the way you practically fling yourself into his arms, burying your face in his chest as your hands form fists in his t-shirt. He’s a little startled by your borderline violent reaction, but he recovers quickly, arms encircling your body and pulling you against him.

“It’s okay,” he says softly, one hand rubbing your back while the other pets your hair. “Hey, it’s alright, I’m here,”

And you hate the way his words almost directly mirror Touya’s, the way his low sultry voice turned gentle and soft as he carded deft fingers through your hair echoing almost painfully in your head. But Keigo lets you cry, lets you stain his t-shirt with salty tears and saliva until you’ve got nothing left, never stopping his compassionate motions.

“You…Stayed the night?” you pull back a little, the fact that he’s still here, blonde hair all mussed up from sleep, finally dawning on you.

“Well, yeah,” he says, a little bashful as he looks away and ducks his head. “Wanted to make sure you were alright, s’all. Last night was…” he trails off, frowning. “What happened?”

Golden eyes search your face, his forehead crinkling in concern. A beat of silence passes.

“I mean, you don’t have to tell me, but…” kind fingers move to tuck a strand of hair behind your ear. “You’ll feel better if you let it out, promise. And, not to brag or anything, but I’m preee-tty good at this kind’a stuff,” he chuckles a little.

“Got in a fight,” you whisper, eyes staring intently at the brick wall behind his shoulder as your chin trembles slightly, memories of last night flashing through your mind.

“A fight? With Touya?” Keigo moves his head a little, forcing his face into your field of vision and catching your face with tender fingers when you try to look away.

“Yeah,” tears are beginning to well up in your eyes as you think about it, the sheer fact that you’re in a fight making your heart feel like it’s ripping itself to shreds. A chaotic storm of emotions brews in your chest, switching mercilessly and swirling together so quickly that you can’t even tell what they are. Your insides feel all jumbled up, and trying to decipher what the heck’s going on only makes your head ache more.

They torment you, a deep sense of anguish finally settling at the core. You’re confused, livid at Touya for being such a jackass; jealous, because you want him all to yourself; heartbroken, because you want—need—his approval, desperate to hear him tell you that you’re his good little baby girl.

You want to be his good little baby girl.

But it isn’t fair. Life isn’t fair, sweetheart. Get used to it, he had told you once, when you had complained about something so silly, so simple as him eating the last ice cream cookie sandwich (he made it up to you, of course, telling you he wanted to taste your cream—such a cheeseball—and making you cum three times before taking you out to buy more).

No, it isn’t fair, but you don’t care. You want him to be yours, too.

Keigo tsks, bringing your attention back to him, mouth set in a hard line as sad eyes watch you. “What was it about?”

“I-It…H-He—” a shuddery breath cuts you off, and Keigo draws you into his arms, holding you against his chest as the sobs start up again, sobs that make it feel like your body’s about to tear apart, desperately clutching Keigo to try and keep yourself together.

“Oh, songbird,” he coos, rocking you gently. “Is it…Um, the other girls?”

“Yes,”

“But you know you’re his favourite, right?”

“D-Does it even matter, if he’s still fucking them anyway?” you ask, pulling back suddenly as hot anger flashes through you. “Why does he need them? Am I—” a sob cuts you off, but you swallow it, persevering. “Am I not good enough?” your voice breaks on the last word, fading into a whisper, big teary eyes scanning his face almost frantically, seeking an answer in his expression.

Keigo blinks, surprised by your sudden brashness, then gives you a small, sad smile. “Only he can answer that, sugarplum,” he whispers, using the pad of his thumb to catch a stray tear and wipe it across your cheekbone. “But just because he’s fucking around, doesn’t mean that you can’t, too,”

Your head tilts to the side, brow furrowing. “What do you mean?”

“Give him a taste of his own medicine,” Keigo shrugs, leaning back a little. “He definitely deserves it, for making an angel such as yourself so upset,”

You sniffle a little, wiping at your nose with the paw of your sweater as you consider the prospect.

“Y’know, it technically isn’t cheating, since you guys aren’t in any sort of official relationship to begin with,” Keigo reminds you gently, nudging just a tiny bit more.

It isn’t right—you know it isn’t. You’ve never been one to fight fire with fire, often preferring to avoid conflict and drama, but you’re so hurt; you’re so angry at him—angry at the way he reacted, as if it was you in the wrong, angry at the fact that he doesn’t even seen to care about your feelings on the issue, because he knows you’ll come running back either way, angry because he’s right, as evident in the way pathetically clung to him last night—that all you want to do in that moment is cause him a shred of the pain he’s causing you.

It’s an impulsive decision that has you pulling out your phone, quickly scrolling through your contacts, thumb jabbing at Tomura’s name—Touya had given you his number for emergencies only—before you have time to think it through, before you have time to regret it.

Tiny thumbs fly across the keyboard, your heart pounding in your chest as adrenaline accelerates your breathing.

Hey. Let’s hang out.

Keigo inhales through his teeth next to you, and your eyes dart to him in surprise, as if you had forgotten he was there.

“Well,” he begins, though his voice sounds odd to you—unlike his usually nonchalant, happy-go-lucky manner. “That’s, uh, definitely one that’s gonna hurt him, songbird,”

You look back down at your phone to see Tomura typing a response.

Yeah, definitely. Pick a day.

“Good.”

[jayswing103-blog]

Gravity Falls AU Idea

I just wanna go ahead and throw this idea for an AU that I've had for a while out there. You know, just in case even a single person finds it slightly interesting.

The story starts in little Piedmont California where one Mabel Pines lives. She was an only child, always wishing for a sibling to bond with, or so she thought. One day she happens to overhear a conversation her parents have on the phone with someone called 'Stanford Pines' and asking about their 'son'.

When confronted her parents refuse to elaborate so instead Mabel begins planning. She starts saving up money and looking into 'Gravity Falls' and, then, when Summer came around and school was out, she packed her bags, took her money, and secreted away to find her long lost twin brother.

Once there she starts asking around until she finds a strange tourist trap out in the woods, the 'Mystery Shack'. She goes inside to find Wendy manning the counter and asks for Stan. When Stan comes out and asks who she is she tells him, "My name is Mabel Pines, and I'm here to find my brother."

That is where the story starts, but not where it ends. In this AU there are many differences, however most of them center around Mason 'Dipper' Pines and the people he interacts with.

Being raised by Grunkle Stan Dipper is almost nothing like his canon counterpart, except in his desire to study all things weird. Physically he is a lot more in shape due to constantly running around on his adventures and some boxing lessons from Stan.

He also curses like a sailor because while Stan tried to keep things clean, living with him for over a decade means that there are going to be slip ups so after the fifth or so time he just stopped caring and started letting Dipper swear too. It doesn't help that he's also friends with Wendy and pseudo-friends with her own group of friends who, being teenagers, all take any chance they can get to curse.

Having been raised in Gravity Falls, Dipper knows most people, but doesn't particularly have any kind of relationship with most of them due to his introverted nature. The people closest to him are Stan, Wendy, Soos, and Abuelita.

Stan is a pseudo-father figure to him having raised him, but also kind of like a really cool grandpa who lets him get away with almost anything and teaches him how to con people.

Soos is his weird, but lovable, older brother figure that he can always go to for help, even if it sometimes makes things worse. Because of Dipper, Soos doesn't hate his birthdays in this AU. He did at first, of course, but trying to explain to a sad four year old why you don't like your birthday and don't want to celebrate it even though they got you a present is kinda hard.

Abuelita is his pseudo-grandma who dotes on him as if he were her own grandchild. Stan loves Dipper to death, but trying to raise a baby all by yourself is hell so every now and then he'd ask her to watch him for a day or two so he could get some rest and so the Ramirez's are like a second family to him.

Wendy is like his cool older sister who'll go on adventures with him and won't hesitate to punch someone in the face if they're picking on her 'little bro'. They met while Dipper was out on an adventure and stumbled across the place she likes to hang out when she needs to get away from her family for a bit. They hit it off and never looked back since. Part of the reason why Wendy got a job at the shack was just so she and Dipper could hang out more often. She's the one who gave him the nickname 'Dipper', but also sometimes refers to him as 'Lil' Dip'

Dipper and Pacifica have a weird love/hate thing going on between them. They've been in the same class since kindergarten and have a rivalry. Dipper's a genius, and without a hyperactive sibling dragging him everywhere he has plenty of time to study, so he's always been top of the class. He dislikes Pacifica because of her belief that being a 'Northwest' makes her better than everyone else, but also thinks that she's absolutely gorgeous and admires her intelligence and drive. Pacifica, being rather smart herself, and also having private tutors, is often tied with Dipper for top of the class. She hates how Dipper keeps one-upping her, but she also thinks that he's actually kinda cute. Every now and then the two actually end up having a civil conversation and enjoy each other's company.

Mabel herself is in a rather strange place. She's his sister, but also not. She's his twin, but they're little more than strangers to each other. Dipper feels awkward around her because it feels like some stranger is trying to forcefully insert themselves into his happy life and family, but she is his family. Mabel, herself, is sad that all her fantasies of a tearful reunion and instant connection were shattered by the reality of trying to get along with someone so vastly opposite of herself. Dipper and Stan also decide that it's best to try and keep her away from all of Gravity Fall's 'weirdness' since they know that she'll eventually have to go back home to her normal life.

Finally the last thing to address are the changes to the plot. Dipper found Journal #3 early on in his life. He's always had a thing for weirdness and mysteries, but finding the Journal was a massive turning point for him. He started actively seeking out the paranormal and keeping a Journal of his own with his own new findings.

After one too many scrapes and close calls Grunkle Stan finally had enough and sat Dipper down for a talk. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to talk Dipper out of going on adventures he did the next best thing, he helped him. He told Dipper everything, showed him Journal #1, and started teaching him how to box.

That's all I got. Hopefully someone enjoys this.

[emixion]

School Dance - Day 25 - Maribat March

here’s some fluff after making you all cry yesterday. @maribatmarch-2k21 ao3 link To say that Mme Bustier’s class was excited was an understatement. The students were absolutely ecstatic.

Their class trip to Gotham and tour of Gotham Academy led to an invitation to the school’s upcoming dance while they visited. A school dance at Gotham Academy was no laughing matter, and everyone in Bustier’s class knew it. They’d all packed their very best clothes and accessories, eager to fit in at the fancy affair.

Marinette was excited to wear the new dress she’d designed, but that was about it.

Don’t get her wrong, she loved visiting Gotham and she loved the dress that she made, a baby pink ruffled gown with her signature floral design embroidered on the bodice, but she didn’t anticipate having much fun at this dance.

She didn’t know anyone in Gotham, and her whole class was still enamored by Lila, they barely had any time for her. The only person not hanging onto the liar’s every word was Chloe, and she wasn’t exactly the company Marinette wanted to keep.

Nevertheless, when the night of the dance arrived, Marinette put her dress on and got ready alone.

The other girls were all getting ready together, but she really didn’t want to be around Lila. Besides, she was sure she wasn’t welcome after Lila had tried to frame her for spilling her coffee the other day.

After getting dressed, she had Tikki help her put her hair in a low messy bun, letting a few wavy locks of midnight hair stick around to frame her face.

She applied her makeup, a neutral brown smokey eye and peachy pink lip gloss, as well as her accessories, a rose gold headband and a bracelet to match.

After slipping on her heels, she was ready to go.

Tikki smiled at her chosen as she stood before her.

“Oh, Marinette! You look so beautiful! And so grown up!” The tiny goddess wiped a small tear from her eye.

Marinette giggled, pulling Tikki close to nuzzle her against her cheek. “Thank you, Tikki. I hope tonight goes well.”

“Anything can happen in a new city. Keep an open mind tonight!” Tikki advised.

“Thanks, I will.” Marinette replied, opening her small cross body for Tikki to fly into.

With a sigh, she turned off the light and left her hotel room.

The hotel lobby was full of hustle and bustle as the students of Francis Dupont chattered excitedly about the dance, all dressed in their very best.

Marinette stayed towards the back and kept to herself, waiting patiently for the transportation to arrive.

Suddenly, yells of surprise rang out from her classmates as a stretch limo pulled up in front of the hotel.

Marinette strained a bit to see it, shocked as her class that an actual limo was picking them up instead of a bus.

“Courtesy of the Waynes.” The driver announced as the students stepped into the limo.

“I can’t believe the Waynes did this for us!”

“That’s so cool!”

“We get to ride in a limo?”

Marinette got in last, wondering who these Waynes were that everyone was talking about.

-

The hall rented for the dance was, in a word, big.

It was decorated to the nines and full of Gotham Academy students, all dressed for the occasion.

Music was already playing and tables were already full of refreshments.

The ecstatic class practically skipped into the hall, all except Marinette.

The miraculous wielder stuck behind, slowly walking in as opposed to her eager peers. She was nervous to be here.

While the rest of her friends stuck close to Lila or danced with their partners, Marinette stayed at one of the tables on the outer edge of the hall, sitting by herself.

She smiled as she watched Nino spin Alya around as the couple laughed. She was glad at least they were having fun.

She was so focused on watching her friends, she didn’t notice the boy walking up to her until he sat down in the chair next to her.

“Excuse me?” The boy called, nearly startling her. She whipped her head over to look at him. He had dark hair, tan skin and the greenest eyes she’d ever seen.

“Yes?” Her voice was a little hoarse as it came out. Clearly she wasn’t expecting to use it.

“I normally don’t approach strangers, but it didn’t sit right with me to watch you sit here all alone. May I keep you company?” The boy asked. Marinette blinked at him.

“Oh, um, sure!” She gave him a smile. “That’s very nice of you. I’m Marinette.” She offered her hand for a shake.

“Damian.” He introduced himself, taking her offered hand and pulling it to his lips. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

“Y-you too!” She squeaked, her face tinting pink. Damian smiled at her.

“May I ask what a beautiful young lady like yourself is doing by herself at a dance?” He asked, gently putting her hand down.

“Oh, well…” Marinette trailed off, glancing downward. “Um, my class and I aren’t as close as we used to be, and most of my friends are with their partners, so I didn’t want to bother them.”

Damian frowned. “I’m sure you wouldn’t be bothering them if you are their friend, but I understand wanting to sit away from all of the action.”

“Are you not a fan of dances?” She asked.

“More the crowd. I try not to draw too much attention to myself. I find it unamusing.” His face twisted in distaste.

Marinette giggled. “I get that. I try to stay under the radar too.”

“Well, I’m glad I decided to stick to the shadows tonight. I got to meet you.” His face softened when he looked back at her.

Marinette flushed deeper, bowing her head shyly. “Yeah, I-I’m glad I did too.”

The two spent a while talking to each other, staying in their own bubble away from the noise of their peers. Eventually they walked over to the refreshments to get themselves some punch and continued to talk over there.

“What’s your favorite piece that you’ve designed?” Damian asked, continuing their conversation about hobbies.

Marinette pointed sheepishly as her gown.

Damian’s eyes widened. “You made this?”

She nodded. “From scratch.”

“That is..quite impressive.” He mused, admiring the dress for the millionth time that night. “My brother would lose his mind over you. He is always keeping track of up and coming designers.”

“Oh yeah?” She smiled. “I’d love to meet him sometime. Is he your only brother?”

Damian snorted. “Hardly. I have three brothers and a sister. And on top of that, two pseudo sisters and a pseudo brother.”

“Wow,” Marinette laughed. “That’s such a big family.”

“Tell me about it.” Damian muttered. “Do you have any siblings?”

She shook her head. “No, just me. I’d love to have some, though. You’re very lucky.”

“You haven’t tried living with them, Angel.”

She laughed again, taking a small sip of punch.

She’d nearly finished her cup when the music slowed down and the students on the dance floor either stepped back or grabbed partners to dance with.

Marinette watched as Nino and Alya, Juleka and Rose, and Ivan and Mylene all paired up on the floor.

“Marinette,” Damian’s voice pulled her attention back.

“Yes?”

He extended his hand to her. “May I have this dance?”

Marinette stared at him a moment, a smile slowly working its way to her face. “I would love to.” And with that she set down her cup and took the boy’s hand, letting him lead her to the dance floor.

Once on the floor, Damian placed his free hand on her waist, his other still grasping hers. Marinette moved her free hand to his shoulder.

“I might step on your feet.” She whispered guiltily. Damian chuckled softly.

“That’s fine by me.” He pulled her a bit closer.

Unbeknownst to the pair, who were too wrapped up in each other, they had formed quite an audience.

“Is that Marinette with Damian Wayne..?”

“Oh my gosh, look at the way he’s looking at her.”

“The Ice Prince has a girlfriend?”

“Who is that girl? Her dress is stunning.”

Whispers from both of their peers filled the hall, as the other couples stepped back to watch Damian and Marinette.

“You’re beautiful.” Damian murmured, momentarily moving his hand from her waist to brush her bangs out of her eyes.

Marinette gazed back at him, completely captivated. “Thank you.” She breathed.

The slow song played its final cords and the tempo sped up again.

Spell broken, Marinette finally noticed all of the staring, looking around self consciously. “Damian..?” She said his name cautiously.

“C’mon.” Damian said, taking her hand and leading her off the dance floor.

“Why were they staring at us?” She asked once they were in a quieter part of the hall. Damian sighed.

“Because I’m a Wayne.” His voice sounded dejected.

“A..Wayne?” She asked, tilting her head to the side.

“Yes, as in Bruce Wayne’s son, The CEO of Wayne Enterprises? The biggest sponsor of Gotham Academy? Any of that sound familiar?”

Marinette just shook her head.

Damian stared at her for a long moment before he began to chuckle.

“Wait, so, you don’t know who I am?” He asked.

She shook her head again, shrugging. “Sorry?”

“No, no, don’t be.” He quickly took her hands. “I just thought that was the only reason you kept my company tonight. Because of who my family is.”

“Of course not.” She said softly, squeezing his hands in her own. “I spent all this time with you because I like you…” Her voice went quiet and shy near the end.

“I like you, too..” He murmured, squeezing her hands back. “Would you, erm, like to do something while you’re here? Maybe on your free day?”

Marinette smiled, leaning in to kiss his cheek. “I would be glad to.”

-

Once the dance was over and the pair bid farewell for the night, Marinette made her way out front to the waiting limo.

Her class, suddenly having more than enough time for her, swarmed her as she approached, asking her various questions about Damian.

Marinette just grinned and brushed them off.

[ufvincent]

hello friends ( lets choose to ignore how late this is. punctuality is not one of my strong suits hahehe ) excited to be here & write ! fun facts abt me before we get started: i work fulltime & tend to knock out as soon as im home thus the lack of activity + i luv fe3h but have yet to finish a single playthru ... #badgamerthings. wiki is my best friend 4ever.  here is his portfolio page & read on to find more :^)

cue rambling & hoping it makes some semblance of sense:

second born (but heir) of the duke of vessalius (a state within gleerium), thus holds the title of ‘marquess’ (which is for the first son of a duke, but he inherited at a young age from his older brother after his death)

early childhood has him loved as the family’s baby but has since been forced to adapt to a certain loneliness as per life’s circumstances 

(the turning point being the aforementioned brother’s death @ the hands of a protester, a grief his parents basically never got over, and in turn is the start of his loneliness, worsens after his mother died a few years back)

anger @ the circumstances leads to many bad decisions, inclination towards self ruination, a lack of respect for both himself and the world at large. (violence Is the key)

father has him oblige to using an alternative outlet for his anger, reminds him of the good his mother represented (as a former star champion for his ppl & known for her warrior prowess, which she put on the backburner to build a family but continued supporting in more of a figurehead position)

pledges to follow in her footsteps and become a good soldier, thus begins his post-grad fixation with training

mostly devotes himself to his training simply bc he feels he no longer has any other purpose in life, there is no passion, its his competitive behavior & need to prove himself that enables him to work hard; moves up the ranks until recently, when a form of self sabotage (re: physical brawling) leaves him injured.  knee takes time to recover, and by then his peers have rushed ahead and begun making names for themselves within the ranks. 

re: aforementioned injury; sometimes u can see him limping around, tho he tries to mask any discomfort. while the pain is real as his injury isnt too old, it is also psychogenic (when fixated on how much hes failed, the pain flares up more)

simply existing. accepted he’s a good for nothing, but reluctant to admit he’s miserable.  pretends he can accept anything that comes his way b/c he has lost the energy to care any further. adopts an  ‘it is what it is’ philosophy to hide behind

(but is also moody, like the type to say ‘lol ok’ b/c he thinks theres no point arguing and then approach u again in 2 min like ‘ok but actually. wtf’.) 

currently on a (forced) journey of a self discovery to 1) figure out what he Can Do before 2) hes subjected to his father’s responsibilities evermore as the role of the dutiful son requires of him. currently favors charity work / going into town to see what needs to be done in order to be helpful (also b/c it keeps him out of their home)

tense r/s with father now, as he essentially hasnt been given the time of day since he became his heir & believes hes his fathers biggest disappointment. 

has no will to care for his own life, exists to date b/c he cares more for his baby sister than anything else/his own self

tl;dr he’s waiting to die

idk what else to put here im crossing fingers ive mentioned all i need to!

plot wise! 

honestly open to anything, i feel there’s more room for antagonism generally considering his family’s position but also. he is slated to be a little infuriating. 

specifically open to filling the younger sister slot since that would be fun! overprotective vincent + family trauma. what a fun time 

pseudo siblings are so imp and so fun. found family is beautiful

in a similar vein, ppl that have known him all his life (whether it means a positive or negative r/s)

he went to lotus academy until he was 18, so possibilities for meeting there! 

or someone he met during/closely trained with during the last 4 years before injury, comrades haha... heart_emoji (open possibilities, with re: training = moving around a lot so ability to meet more ppl (& with or w/o the pretense of his title))

or during his random escapades into town where he can typically get away w/o being noticed. he adopts a new name each time - u know him as like.... nick.,....... subin, ...... bobby.

besties keep u sane. vincent will be the exception 2 the rule (befriend him. its fun!)

i am the worst at jotting down plots but genuinely open to anything, lmk if smth comes to mind and we will make it work!

if u got this far. my liege ... i applaud u  (bowing_person_emoji)

[sleeping-lilies]

robin era jason, dick, and babs headcanons because there’s too much comedic potential to ignore

- dick and babs were the ultimate gossip buddies. whenever dick was with the titans for long periods of time, babs always filled him in on everything

babs: dick you’ll never believe what hal said to bruce last night, i even have videos. dick, the look on his face please—

dick, immediately locking doors so his teammates don’t hear the mad shit about to be dropped on main: tell me everything

- vice versa too, dick filled babs in on everything going on with the titans and all they can say is thank god those lines are bat secured with no villains being able to listen in, imagine deathstroke hearing through bat gossip that joey’s dating who?!?! 😳

- batkids have been and always will be the holder of superhero gossip. it’s a business, you see, but we’re getting off topic 😡

- lmfao anyways this is literally how dick finds out about jason

babs: anyways, jason—

dick: who the fuck is jason

babs: ....

dick: barbara?!?!

babs: ok promise you won’t freak out

- babs and dick’s first reaction upon meeting jason being “why is he so small i wasnt that small” “dick you were literally nine when you were robin—“ “he’s tiny” it’s like those two share the same braincell

- i’m making it so that dick gave jason his number earlier because i feel like it 😡😡😡 (not that it changes much other than the fact that i want more gossip dropped in dm’s)

- when dick gave jason his number, he went to babs like “give me jason’s number” “didn’t you literally just give him your’s?” “ya but i’m gonna make sure he texts me” “ya ok that’s fair”

- whenever jason didn’t want to be in the manor (fight with bruce, boredom, etc) he went to wherever the fuck babs lived and they would facetime dick and talk mad shit. it was a thing.

- despite them all being able to drive, babs was the only one during this time with an actual, legitimate, legal license (jason was too young to have a license and dick is too lazy/busy/whatever-excuse-he-wants-to-use to take the permit and driving test) so babs drove them around everywhere and it was a mess™ consisting of a bunch of backseat drivers

- “dick omg look at this video i found from the batcave” “omg he said robin gives him magic” “robin gives him magic” they both cry about it for years to come

- babs sometimes kidnapped jason after school after telling the head of wayne manor (alfred) and took him to get ice cream, then to the library while she worked. jason was the greatest kid in the library, he even had his own throne special chair just for him whenever he came provided by library staff who adored this absolute angel.

- jason 🤝 babs 🤝 dick -> i believe in annoying yet endearing nicknames supremacy

- nicknames include (some used by some more than others or just one, or by both equally because they’re annoying pick and choose my good people)

little wing (iconic, we all know this one fellas and who uses it)

red (used for babs, absolutely fantastic, but in the future it gets confusing because some people with their goddamn hero names 😡)

boy wonder (classic, babs calls them both that)

barbie (for babs, jason uses this one and he’s the only one able to get away with it)

dickie (jason just really gets away with everything huh)

dickhead (jason’s lucky he’s cute)

baba black sheep (jeez i’m on a roll with babs’ nicknames she’s so nickname-able and that’s very cool and sexy of her)

jay z

jay allen

jay jay jay (shut up, dickhead—)

big bird

and a bunch more i’m too tired to look for them in canon or make new ones up, but you get the idea

- dick can totally bake, and babs and jason keep bugging him when he’s baking and add more chocolate chips while pretending to not notice that he can see them 😡😡😡

- headcanon that jason had hero worship for babs and dick because they’re so cool in and out of costume and it never really went away when he got older listen his older brother and pseudo sister are so cool and that’s not his fault but he’ll never admit it

- barbie movie marathons because barbie is an iconic legend and they all recognize it. they have the fucking “she’s the queen of the WA-A-A-AVES” song memorized along with all other barbie movie songs, they sing it on patrol.

- dick and jason’s sibling dynamic was and is basically “ur a little shit and i hate you but i will literally kill for you”

- dick had tension with bruce while jason was just a little shit who would totally cause drama for the sake of it, and people never take advantage of this absolute power duo for destroying bruce

- dick sending cryptid texts to jason through a burner phone because he’s dramatic jason totally knew it was him about things that drive bruce mad, like leaving the shower turned to the coldest setting before bruce got there, leaving the lights in the batcave on, etc. jason, a wise little child, totally took advantage of this. bruce came to accept his fate

- the gc names, guys the group chat names

- jason crashing into titans tower whenever he wants and dick doesn’t bat (hAH) an eye, occasionally he very sweetly asks babs to come with him and she agrees but only sometimes because some people have jobs, jason—wait dick is being flirted with by who?!?! i’ll leave it up to your imagination ;) and they totally crashed titans missions too

- one time bruce was busy with the league while alfred was on vacation and bruce absolutely could not dip (i’m imagining bruce getting a call from the headmaster during an honest to god fight and bruce just picking up while punching the daylights out of some asshole) (“mr wayne, what is that noise in the background?” “sorry, headmaster, the cat is having a seizure”), so when jason got into a “fight” (read: some jackass picking on jason before he snapped and yelled at him and the bitchass kid tried to punch him and jason’s no quitter) bruce called dick who was an adult and legally family (yes dick is adopted sometime after jason was, stay mad) like “son... son please” and dick was like “oh no need to plead with me, this is too good” but of course this bitchass doesn’t have an actual lisence yet and he was hanging out with babs anyways so he and babs rolled up to gotham academy and the kids stared at them like “holy shit they’re so cool” ya dick and babs are those power couple, whether romantic or not, that turn heads, they’re just that powerful strolled into the office, bailed jason out while intimidating the headmaster because the altercation was the result of school staff negligence of actual bullying like those cliche tropes, said “ayyy you got that brat good” and get him chili dogs or whatever the fandom made robin jason’s favorite food. omg i just made an entire fanfic in rough draft form someone please steal it and write it in full form and send me the link

- jason is very very tiny, you see. babs and dick pick him up and move him for any reason, whether because they want to sit on that chair or to just throw him out of harm’s way and take the bullet for themselves.

- jason and dick both get adorable blushes on their faces it’s genetic yes that’s how genetics work shut up meanwhile babs’ ears turn red when she’s embarrassed and all three of them clown each other for it

- i yelled about this to my mutual (cough cough @littlespaceboii) who also added to this absolute dogshit headcanon and then in the discord full of mutuals, but the basement of wayne manor is haunted. dick found it when he was a little gremlin (i stand by that dick was the original demon child) (“you see damian, before there was you there was me” the real reason he was good with damian lmfao) and was like “omg this is so cool” @littlespaceboii came up with that it was just alfred fucking with bruce and so when jason first came and dick was comfy around him he was like “so have you been in the basement” and jason was like “im literally robin i’ve been in the batcave?!?!” and dick goes “no the basement, the haunted one” and jason’s like “hAUNTED?!?!” cuz jason has at least some self preservations and knows not to fuck with the spookies until he too became a spooky and bruce was like “there’s no ghost it’s not haunted” because he’s a skeptic and a party pooper and babs is like “no go on let him finish” even though she knows full well there are no ghosts or does she? and uhhhh basically they becomes ghostbusters 2.0 but cooler and funnier

- this trio is basically baby pan/bisexual jason and two resident expert pan/bisexuals solidarity but that’s literally canon. they go to pride every year that jason’s alive what who said that?

- they all tease each other for their crushes like all siblings/family friends do, i don’t need to say it but it’s important that’s emphasized for my well being

- yelled about this in the discord to the mutuals who added onto this absolute train wreck too, but jason used to play baseball during his robin days, and dick never showed up to those games with being busy as an excuse, but babs always showed up with bruce and alfred and took pictures for dick so dick could be like “mlb players are jobless now that little wing is on the scene” babs (and sometimes bruce) always shouted loudest for jason whether he was in the field or in the dugout and jason would get this extremely adorable blush on his face (jason finds out in the future why dick never showed up (cough cough ptsd from two face’s massive baseball bat which led to everything that came after including being fired and veangance academy and nearly killing two face and omg that’s a ride) and is like oh my god my childhood is even more ruined—)

- remember when i said dick got adopted after jason did in this new absolutely fabulous canon i just created? bruce did that because “ahhh fuck that’s my kid and i want him to know i love him through every means possible since i have the ability to do so” i believe in good dad bruce supremacy and made a whole thing where he invited dick to dinner for like a week to work up the courage and bonding to ask him and show him the adoption papers and then everyone cried :) bruce decided to finally adopt dick after jason referred to dick as his brother and bruce was like “...oh” and alfred was like 👀

- dick, as the first child hero and one of the first heroes period like at least a year or two before babs, holds the “back in my day” card over literally everyone in the hero community in general and pulls it out to annoy babs and jason even tho babs literally joined the scene only a year or two after dick

jason, shaking in his panties: it’s so fucking cold

dick, standing strong in his tits out outfit, who had to wear the panties on his own decision: oh, you’re cold? back in my day—

babs, throwing her boot at his face: god shut the fuck up—

and then dick doesn’t give back her boot and it becomes a whole thing with lots of tackling and play fighting and someone nearly gets thrown off they rooftop for funsies but anyways

also on a side note, babs would take off her cape and wrap it around jason whenever she noticed his discomfort with the weather, or use the weather as an excuse whenever she saw him uneasy for whatever reason and they never mention it to each other

- yelled about this in the discord to the mutuals at some point too holy shit i have friends, but those three are team rocket. they went out as team rocket for halloween one year after bullying bruce to let jason out only jason because he can’t tell dick and babs what to do and jason is under his care and when they do convince him, dick and babs bully jason into being meowth. manifesting jason in a meowth onesie ARTISTS PLEASE—

- dick finally took his license seriously and took his driver’s test after babs became paralyzed.

- those were a rough few months for those three. and then another rough few months for those two

- yikes, sorry to throw angst at you (sorry (unfeeling)) anyways, in the future alfred finds those old photos and shows the rest of the fam, so dick and babs bully jason, 6’2 jason that towers way above both of them, and once again bullies him into being meowth “for tradition, little wing!” “shut up, dickhead” the rest of the batkids lose their shit over this, naturally. bruce and alfred stand in the back teary eyed reminiscing the old days when things were a little more simple.

- discowing walked so terrifying handsome squidward red hood helmet could run (even tho the ugly helmet tripped and fell and missed the mark because discowing wasn’t ugly and will always remain superior, i feel i have committed a terrible crime comparing the two)

dick: jason what the fuck is that

jason: it’s fashion

dick: it’s terrifying

jason: i’m only following in my older brother’s footsteps 😔

dick: listen here, you little shit strangles him haha just kidding that illegal wait theyre vigilantes they don’t follow the law—

- these three and cass refer to the rest of the batkids as “the kids” (if she’s older than jason, sometimes she is and sometimes she isn’t and i’m really confused but whatever)

- babs and dick’s relationship with jason pre death literally shaped how jason treats his siblings post pit madness like he literally goes “what would red and big bird do?!??” when he needs to go into big brother mode over the “little ones” (“little” because tim and steph are adults and duke is nearly an adult himself oh my god he’ll graduate from high school soon and jason never got to do that himself he’s totally going to the ceremony legally dead or not) 🥺

- holy trinity continue hanging out with each other, whether lunch or games or whatever, and just enjoy each other’s company after long, rough years