#sorry I didn’t have much to say about the latter ship I WILL be thinking about them from now on tho

[amemenojaku]

Akyuu/Reimu for the ship ask, please

hi I um. turned this into akyuurei manifesto. sorry

How differently do they think of each other now compared to when they first met?

I just reread Memorizable Gensokyo and some of the FS chapters where they interact (+the bit at the end of SoPM) back-to-back and it feels like they’ve come to really respect each other. When they first met properly in MG Akyuu tried so hard to impress Reimu, who looked amused by Akyuu’s work but didn’t seem to take her very seriously… I suppose that’s partly because they were younger then. I like that small panel in MG where Reimu introduces herself and Akyuu’s like “:O!!!”… By the time we see them together again in FS, they talk as equals. Reimu acknowledges Akyuu’s authority (she’s still super blunt about the chronicles but that’s Reimu for you lol), and Akyuu trusts Reimu to get the work done when it’s needed. They know they can rely on each other. I’d even go as far as to say Reimu treats Akyuu with a bit more softness than she does a lot of characters… She worries about Akyuu walking all the way up to the shrine in a latter FS chapter, she doesn’t chastise Akyuu for organizing the symposium in SoPM despite how pissed she is at the other participants (although I do think she was still hurt… more on that below), etc. As they are now they see each other as individuals more than roles I think, which is an important part of their dynamic (and also of Reimu pairings in general imo).

What do their friends/family think of their relationship?

They’d be the type to go in circles for a while before committing to something. Take their time with it. Past a certain point Marisa and Kosuzu start scheming to get them together (much to the concerned parties’ annoyance). When it finally happens they’d be teasing but supportive. I think the relationship would be kept secret for a time… Some people still manage to sniff it out though, Yukari for example; she’d be satisfied with it. Two people she has a weird close situationship with, together? That works. There might be some gossip about them… But if/when they make it official to everyone, I honestly think they’d be blessed by most of the village – it’s the Hakurei shrine maiden and the head of the Hieda clan after all! Might break a few nameless village women’s hearts though…

How do their personalities/skills complement or contrast with each other?

They have a ton of parallels (human but not quite; role directly tied to the survival of the world they live in; bridge between humans and youkai, etc) but also a few differences both symbolically (Akyuu doesn’t fly (she’s grounded to (a relative) reality), Reimu is literally the power to fly (transcends reality); Reimu is the “eternal shrine maiden”, Akyuu doesn’t live past 30 (but even that can be turned into a parallel with Akyuu’s reincarnations*), etc) and in terms of personality (Akyuu being calmer in general and displaying better social skills). Imo it’s one of the relationships with the most interesting balance between contrast and similarities… They’re the same girl but they’re also on two different sides of the same coin and the pining that comes out of it is SO good.

*if you look too hard into this like I do you’ll see the child of Miare’s reincarnation gimmick as a parallel to how it’s implied that the past Hakurei shrine maidens were replaced often (died quickly?)

What is their favorite aspect of each other?

In canon, I’d say it’s how reliable they find each other. They’ve worked together/consulted one another a few times in FS for matters related to the human village, and despite some differences in opinion they’re on the same wavelength on a lot of issues. Now, with my yuri goggles on…. I think it’d be really sweet if they could make each other feel normal. If their similarities brought them together on a level different from their other friendships, where they can understand the weight of each other’s role and that whole “human but not quite” thing they share, and be able to completely treat each other as ordinary. I really really like it when a character with a lot of obligations gets to just be themselves, and I also love it when two characters who’re both special or generally “apart” from everyone else grow close thanks to that, so I’m just mashing things I enjoy lol

Do either of them have pet peeves about each other?

I like to think Akyuu has a healthy lifestyle and her days go like clockwork (except when she’s close to a writing deadline), so she’d probably find some of the situations Reimu ends up in very frustrating. I think that fits well with the fact that Akyuu doesn’t always realize how high her quality of life is and can sometimes act a bit inconsiderate towards people who aren’t as rich as her. Meanwhile Reimu’s a very honest, very blunt person who struggles with keeping secrets for long (see Forbidden Scrollery’s ending), so she probably wouldn’t like some of the secrets Akyuu keeps at times. But Akyuu’s an important figure to the human villagers and she does take her role as a chronicler seriously, so there must be moments she has to prioritize her obligations over honesty. I think that kind of contrast is very interesting.

How would each reconcile with each other after a fight?

They’re both stubborn… But I see Reimu as the first to try to reconcile most of the time. Her soft spot for Akyuu would take over her natural pride imo. So she makes the first move. Akyuu takes longer, but her apologies are sincere.

Buuut there’s one time I can imagine Reimu completely withdrawing into her shell and refusing to even acknowledge that she’s really upset at Akyuu until confronted about it: SoPM. I won’t ever be able to explain it better than que-de-metal did right here so I recommend reading it!!

What would be their ideal vacation getaway together?

Hot spring resort. Quiet, relaxing and good for Akyuu’s health! And plenty of time for Reimu to laze around and read mystery novels. (I’m projecting… I miss onsens…….)

Think of a new way (AU, different situation, etc.) they could have met for the first time.

I’m honestly a bit upset that Memorizable Gensokyo is when they first met proper, even though there’s no way the Hieda family isn’t regularly in contact with the Hakurei shrine maiden. I think it’d be cute if they met when they were both kids and Reimu was in training with her predecessor and they were both called at the Hieda mansion for something. Extra points if Akyuu was intrigued by Reimu’s natural powers and that’s where her desire to impress her in MG comes from, and if Reimu barely remembers that meeting (like with Alice in PCB).

[toki-toro]

if your still doing ship asks, Skimble x asparagus and uhmm demeter x munkustrap :D

SORRY I forgot about this ask until just now ahhdrbvd

The old guys first ! :)

Btw when I say ‘Asparagus’ I’m specifically referring to the ensemble kitty. Not Gus the theatre cat, don’t get it twisted lol.

I don’t read fanfiction very often, but when I do it’s typically fluff involving these doofuses. I BELIEVE the user that writes the most about them is @ the-cat-at-the-theatre-door. And anything that author writes I will eat up for breakfast, luncheon and dinner. It’s so good.

Personally for me, I see Asparagus being in kind of a polyamory love triangle thing involving Skimble and Jennyany (and Bomba too but whatever this isn’t about her). Asparagus doesn’t have any strong relations with Jenny, but has always been very close to Skimble. Stuck together like flex glue or whatever that brand is called idk. The two will always be head over heels for one another no matter how long they’re separated for when Skrimble is on his train duties.

The two old guys share some moments that are equivalent of an old married couple that are still very much in love after all these years and hardships. And grgrgah. I love that. I love them. I need to come up with and write down more hcs about them. Mayybe they are the funnest to ramble on about imo ❤️

Demeter and Munk! I haven’t really obsessed over Demeter ever, so I don’t think about these two very often ;(

But they are genuinely cute.. I like how Munk has the natural urge to protect anyone and everyone in the tribe, and Demeter is completely smitten by it. Hey I would be too if I was in her cat shoes.

[verosikastrikerstellaexcuser]

Vivizepop hates women so much to where she have a woman who suffered a position that many women did in history as a total bitch just because she needs drama to have her precious yaoi ship to happen

Literally… and seeing the misogyny has St*las stan clowns crying that you must just be homophobic. As if so many of us who are critical of how Stella was portrayed don’t also like characters like Angel Dust and don’t love ships like Bl*tzfizz and Bl*tziker, non canon m/m ships. There is nothing wrong with media that portrays and yes even focuses heavily on m/m. The problem arises when the writing is misogynistic and actively hostile to female characters for no good reason. You can’t just make female characters one dimensional devices that only exist for the male characters’ pain, drama etc and expect people not to see that for what it is. Just don’t write a load of misogynistic tropes straight out of a yaoi fanfic in which women are mindlessly villainized for things male characters wouldn’t be everywhere in your work. It’s that simple. Female characters in HB either act as support or angst devices (Octavia is a big one in that latter category) if they’re on our protagonist male character’s side, or they’re one note as fuck if they at all oppose the male characters. They exist for the male characters stories not their own. It sucks.

There is plenty of other media I’ve liked personally where there are male abuse victims and female abusers and I had no issues with them portraying it because men absolutely can be abuse victims of women. The Alador/Odalia relationship in TOH is a great example. Odalia actually had a choice in marrying for starters. And she wouldn’t be fucked over by an unfair divorce that leaves her with no home. She has clear motivations related to her business but they don’t change that she’s a POS.

The problem with Stella is that she didn’t choose to marry St*las. She’s in a horrific situation with so many reasons to justifiably be upset - but they ignore all of those and try to sneakily hide them and say “don’t think about it too hard” and “no she was just born a POS anyway so those horrors don’t matter”. Wasn’t the point of these shows supposed to be that people who are messy and fucked up can be so for understandable reasons and their flaws don’t mean they’re entirely worthless, even if the flaws are still bad? Why are you giving grace to all these male characters including fucking immortal overlords with vast wealth that they directly own, but a woman in an arranged marriage forced by her own family to get pregnant as soon as she hit 18, she isn’t given that same grace? She doesn’t get to be messy? Like what the actual fuck. I love Ozzie but the fact he’s allowed to be a straight up lovable good guy while Stella isn’t allowed to even just be grey says it all really.

Only certain characters are allowed to be complex and messy despite having the exact same circumstances as other ones like St*las Vs. Stella and to me that’s bad writing. Stella so obviously exists not to be a character but only to be drama for St*las’ story and turning a victim of an arranged marriage into just that, into a Val tier character, yeah sorry lie and call me homophobic then because that kind of writing leaves a horrible taste in my mouth.

[leewritestoomuch]

hi hi!!! could i request something for hyoga akatsuki? with a sickly but extremely helpful s/o; reader works very hard for hyoga, but ends up passing out while they are training together due to not taking care of their health and hyoga gets a biiiiit worried. just a bit. (he cares about them but he'll rather be dead than saying it)

have a nice day!!! c:

Sorry I got carried away… made it romantic. Hope that’s okay… I just love this man too much.

Hyoga Caring about Sick Reader

You know he’s tired of having to train with you, or rather, train you. He’s so skilled compared to you, and even though you can’t keep up, he’s very willing to teach his technique to someone willing.

You’re, admittedly, so self conscious that Hyoga doesn’t like you as a person, and that you don’t measure up to his standards. You try to prove yourself, but your body can’t keep up. A man like him would never get sick, or at least you would never know he was sick.

He would scoff and look down on you if you asked for a break because you don’t feel well, so you continue on without a word. You don’t remember exactly where everything went dark, but soon it did.

Hyoga would never admit it, but he definitely put in a bit of effort into making it to you to catch you, and he was definitely gentler than he would ever be with another as he lowered you to the ground. By the time you woke, he was sitting against the wall across the ship. You figured you’d fallen out and he walked away at first, but you lacked soreness or bruises to show for that.

You didn’t realize he was watching you as you stood up, and you certainly didn’t notice the way he held himself back from rushing over to you. How could you? He seems stoic and unbothered.

He closes his eyes because part of him fears there would be a newfound softness in his eyes, one put there by you.

When you approach, he tells you he doesn’t want to spare with you if you aren’t at your best. He makes it sound like it’s about his interests, and you believe as much. He tells himself it’ll pass, this whole giddy, nervous feeling he gets when you are around, but it’s pissing him off that he cared at all.

Why should he care if you hit your head? Why should he care if you bruise from the fall? Why should he wait up for you?

You’re driving him crazy, and he doesn’t know if he’s gonna snap and kill you to stop his erratic heartbeat or forget himself with those lips he bets are soft as clouds. The latter is the least likely, he reasons. The thought was sickening anyways.

Hyoga Akatsuki might be in love, but he won’t even think that word up in a million years.

[welldonekhushi]

Womp womp. “Positive place” “no hate” my ass. If we looked into your past we’d see a different story. 

You likely don’t care to address it but you gravely hurt one of my dearest friends. I doubt you realise anything you did, before or after they broke it off. And with reason. You took so much interest in everyone’s characters and stories but theirs, instead devaluing their opinions, spamming their inbox with shit they didn’t ask for without bothering to send them even one question or prompt in return. 

I want to laugh that only after he cut you off did you start asking others even a bit more about their projects. Only after it was too late did you bother to make a change. It’s pathetic, really, that you must have been trying so hard to cover up your true habits, that falling into your blatant disinterest in him. He’s better off without you. 

Speaking of your covering shit up, don’t think your queerphobia has been forgotten. Don’t think he and I didn’t see you delete a reply saying your OC “wouldn’t really get along” with his, when meanwhile your stoic, guarded military man is out there making friends with literally everyone else. The difference being everyone else who isn’t openly gay. Don’t think we’ve forgotten when your muse cried and tried to guilt-trip my friend’s when the latter came out to her. 

You prop up Scarlet as a friendly-to-all but Strong™ Female Character but I know she’s not. She’s a homophobic, insensitive, spineless little bitch - sounds like someone, doesn’t it? 

Who I am doesn’t matter. What matters is that there’s a third party who knows the truth. You’re fucking horrible. You might have other friends now but I hope one day all this comes to light, no matter how much you might have tried to change. Whether or not this letter ends up posted, I want you to read it once, twice, three times over. They say to forgive and forget but some of us never forgive and always remember. There is someone out there haunted by what you did to them and you can’t keep running from it.

Okay, anon. After reading your message, I would first like to mention that I don't know who you are, or the friend that you're talking about. So let's put the points together of what you said that you and the "he" you're mentioning feel.

First, you said that I'm queerphobic because I said that my OC wouldn't get along with your friend's OC because their character was "openly gay". It's the same meaning as saying "You hate me because I belong here." by directly coming to a conclusion, instead of not understanding the mindset they belong to or their indulgence in something that could be disagreeable to others. I don’t know who or which OC you’re mentioning, but If I said my OC would not get along with them, it doesn't mean I directly hate their OC (whoever they are). This doesn't make sense when I never disrespected or showed hatred towards anyone who presents their OC as queer. I have friends here who have queer ships with their OCs and canon characters and I support them fully by heart. I even had their OCs interact with them.

Second, you proceeded by saying that I never bothered to send your friend an ask, a question or a prompt. Can I be honest, anon? I have a life. I've always been busy with my uni and now I have finals on my head. I can’t even find time to draw, academic pressure is already stressing me out, and I don't even have inspo at times to be here and publish stuff here. If I happened to miss out on your friend (whoever they are), then I'll say sorry. Because it feels that they were only relying on ME to send them the prompts and asks, and not “the shit which they asked for” as you nicely mentioned. It seemed to me that they (whoever they are) don't really see the rest but me and me only, right? I'm sorry, I think their 'friend' got so busy that they tend to forget that the friend they have has a life out there, too.

Third, you proceeded to call my OC Scarlet a “spineless little bitch, homophobic, and insensitive". Huh. Seems like while proving your point, you thought to add some more spice to your heartfelt thoughts by shitting on my OC as well. You thought you cooked anon, but turns out your dish got rejected. Sorry, you are eliminated from the MasterChef Competition. (Talking about ‘spineless’ while hiding behind anon. The irony.)

Fourth, you thought I guilt-tripped your friend when they came out. Huh. I don't remember a day when I insulted or ridiculed someone for coming out when originally I'd be happy that they finally had the courage to represent themselves for who they are. If you're saying I guilt-tripped them, be a good anon, reveal yourself in the public to me and give me proof. If you're confident enough, then do it. I'll have no hesitation. I'll admit it was my fault. But show yourself first. It "doesn't matter who I am" but it does, because even if you're a person typing that, you're just an anon with no personality to me. No appearance. Nothing. Just blank. I explained who you are. Hope you're happy with that.

Fifth, you said that some forgive and forget, but some don't forgive and remember. Honestly, I understand how disturbed and angry you feel inside because of me, anon. Well, even if you say that I acted like that with your friend (whoever they are), so, here's the third time I'm saying this. If it makes you feel better. I am sorry. Instead, I feel pity that you might be feeling so frustrated because of my presence. If you don't want to forgive me, I'm okay with it. You have a right to do so.

In the end, sorry for you and for your friend. But I hope one day, you'll learn too that to 'forgive and forget', means to move on, letting go of the people who hurt you so you'd be happy as well. If I hurt you and your friend, you can block me, and move on. Be happy without me. I understand I wasn't a good friend to them, I don't refute you at all. Besides, you have every right to be angry. I'll not even say that you're all at fault here. I made a mistake? I'd fully admit it. But you accusing me for what I did while hiding behind anon is… unsettling for me. I don't know what else to say.

You thought you were making me scared and afraid by saying “Read it once, twice, three times over”, but no, you’re completely dismissed out of my mind when you come at me out of nowhere, attacking me with baseless accusations, and insults me and my OC. You’re just another hate anon to me. “You’re a horrible person.” Look in the mirror. I’m not the one sending someone a whole essay of a hate anon.

Have a good day anyway, anon.

[irondad-defensesquad]

A/N: touch starvation strikes again!!!!!! Blame my insomnia.

I'm so sorry for being unoriginal, lmao.

EDIT: now posted on AO3!

DO NOT SHIP PETER AND TONY. P/ROSHIP DNI.

--

“H-Hey, Mr. Stark, what’s up?”

“Oh, hey, kid.”

Tony is working on Iron Man. He doesn’t completely ignore Peter, but the latter isn’t the focus right now, clearly.

Peter pretends his eyes aren’t tearing up.

He feels so childish or it.

What was he expecting? That Tony would hug him to welcome him back in the workshop? Or at least pat his shoulder? Anything physical?

They’re not there yet.

Peter rushes to the most distant counter in the lab, so Tony doesn’t realize how upset he is. Maybe Peter just needs to focus on homework right now.

His skin feels odd. It feels itchy. But not like mosquito bites or allergies. It’s asking for something, and he doesn’t know what it is. Peter has tried to hug himself several times lately and it never works. His shoulders and back are tense, and his leg is shaking but moving it or walking doesn’t make it stop.

Tony is still there working, apparently not noticing that Peter is far away.

And Peter hates that. Even though he wanted to sit there to avoid questions.

What does he want, then? For Tony to notice? Shouldn’t he just ask him? No, no that would be too obvious, and he doesn’t want to get in the way of his mentor’s work.

Peter just feels like weeping pathetically. He couldn’t sleep well last night, wanting someone there with him. Aunt May got home too late, and he knew she needed all the time to rest before starting another day.

Then Ned didn’t go to school today because he got sick. MJ wasn’t around either, but Peter has no idea why. She never talks to him.

The arachnid stares at the blank homework paper. Peter can’t think straight.

Gulping, he stands up and quickly tries to come up with an excuse.

“I’ll, uh… g-get something to drink…” Peter says it rather lowly. So, obviously, Tony doesn’t quite mind it. The man hums, but it could be at the Iron Man projection in front of him.

Peter tries to silence the childish urge to run away to his room to cry. He just walks away miserably to the kitchen.

He opens the huge fridge. There’s literally everything there. Water, juice, soda, wine (probably Pepper’s), and then in the freezer there’s ice cream. Tony mostly buys them for Peter, but the man might eat them every now and then.

Once again, he stands there frozen.

Staring at everything but seeing nothing that could soothe him.

Peter takes a can of soda, but once he opens it, it spills all over the floor because of the gas.

“No, no, NO- goddammit!” He curses. He has to clean that.

But he can’t, either.

Peter just starts crying because of some stupid soda. He tries holding it in, to no avail.

Come on, I have to clean this and go back to the lab, he thinks. But Mr. Stark is too busy for me. He doesn’t want to hug me. Why would he? He’s just my…

… What is Tony to him, really?

“Peter? Where are you—”

Someone freezes.

“Oh my god, Peter, are you okay? Are you hurt?” Tony rushes to him, expecting the worst.

“N-No, I’m so sorry, Mr. Stark.”

“Oh, it’s okay,” Tony reassures him, seeing that it’s just spilled drink on the floor that can easily be handled. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“N-Nothing.”

“Come on, get up, let’s sit for a bit.”

Peter might flinch at the hands rubbing his shoulders like it’s a small massage. Tony stops and Peter hates him for it.

Either way, he obeys Tony, and he sits on the nearest chair. The latter takes less than five minutes to clean the soda off the floor. Then, he sits in front of Peter.

“You can talk to me, bud. Is it school? Patrol? Something else?”

“N-No, you don’t have to worry about it…”

“Well, I do. I’m not gonna let you suffer like this.”

Peter clutches his own sleeves.

“… You didn’t even notice me when I arrived.”

“What?”

Oh, shit. Now what?

“Y-You didn’t even look at me or- or- I dunno!” Peter keeps talking without much filter. “Like me being there wouldn’t have made a difference. But like… y-you don’t have to pay attention to me 24/7, Mr. Stark, I’m sorry I got mad about that, it’s just, something is wrong with me, I didn’t sleep well last night, school has been bad but it was worse today, I haven’t actually talked to anyone in… days? I think? But not just that, I…”

Peter sheds tears again, the anger being more towards himself, not Tony.

“I thought you’d at least… welcome me.” Hug me. Hug me after a horrible day. After so many bad days. “B-But- it’s not your fault, I’m just being stupid.”

“Oh, kiddo… I’m so sorry.” Tony looks so guilty.

Peter regrets saying anything. “No, you don’t have to—”

“No, you’re right, I didn’t pay attention to you. I’m sorry.”

“Like I said, you don’t have to—”

“Yeah, but dang it, I should’ve asked. I should’ve noticed something at least.”

“Maybe I should’ve said something, too. But I was scared you’d get annoyed.”

“See, I didn’t mean for you to think that way. You’re not going to annoy me. Sorry I didn’t make that clear to you.”

Peter would’ve protested, but they might be here forever, so he sighs in defeat. “Okay.”

He’s staring at his own lap, his jeans stained with several teardrops.

In the meantime, Tony looks at him. Maybe trying to figure out what Peter needs right now.

It doesn’t take long, really.

Tony stands up and offers a hand. Peter expects him to just help him get on his feet again.

Only for Tony to immediately pull him in his arms.

And he says nothing else.

Just breathes with Peter.

The boy is frozen for a good time before he returns the hug with some desperation. Please, don’t let go, don’t let go.

Tony automatically squeezes him in response. I’ve got you, you’re safe.

Yeah, Tony makes him feel safe. Whether in the armor or not… he’s a hero.

He keeps rubbing Peter’s back, trying to relax his tense muscles. It always makes Peter flinch inside, which is, weirdly… soothing. The itching is dispersing, calming down.

He might cry again, but it’s out of relief.

The teen pretty much lies down on the other. Tony might be smiling. Soon, he nuzzles Peter’s head.

“Kid?” He calls.

“Hmm?”

“You know you’re adorable, right?”

“Shhhut up…” Peter whines.

Tony snorts. He hasn’t released Peter even if he might have loosened his grip a bit.

“Come on,” the man instructs. Peter almost thinks they’re going back in the lab, but they’re going the other way.

At first, Peter thinks it’s his room. And he doesn’t want Tony to leave him alone in there. Not yet. But Tony knows, so they go to the latter’s room instead. To Tony’s huge bed.

“Wait… what about your work, Mr. Stark?” Peter remembers.

“It can wait. You’re my top priority right now.”

Peter blushes. “Oh.”

Tony’s bed feels like paradise. It’s so comfortable.

“Thanks, Mr. Stark.”

“Of course, Peter.”

This last morning was so cold and lonely. The whole apartment was empty and depressing to be in. And now, Peter is warm again.

“Mr. Stark?”

“Yeah?”

…

“I love you…”

Peter is rather sleepy, so he doesn’t have to worry about these words until later.

He does faintly get to hear the response.

“I love you too, buddy.”

And just that is enough for Peter to fall asleep in peace.

[quantumripple]

Figured it might be neat to give post-mortems of fics I’ve written (in no particular order)

Gonna call this Quantum’s Post-Moretem Mondays even though I’m almost certain I’m never going to post this again on a Monday (work was just suuuuper slow)

So to start off we’ve got Pen Pals: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51609454

Premise: in early 2010 Taylor and Sveta become pen pals (hence the name).

Very much the definition of a rarepair since there’s only one other Taylor/Sveta fic that I’m aware of and it’s not even tagged.

And honestly hot take: the reason it’s a rarepair is that it lowkey just does not work as a ship. Taylor and Sveta are just not compatible, Taylor is far too… her. Sveta deserves better honestly.

What I like about the fic:

The bits of humour always blindside me when I do a reread. This one definitely leans on the sort of online humour you sometimes get with lesbians. Particularly the meme of two girls commiserating you each other that they “wish they could get a gf frfr”

I also just stole some funny bits from worm and adapted them but idk if I should count those bc they were just yoinked from worm.

I’m pretty proud of the background plot that’s happening in the fic. It’s pretty fun to explore those through only the lens of texts between two people. Things diverge a little bit and we end up with Echidna happening early, but the fight goes a lot differently. Ends up being a much longer fight/conflict but upside is case 53 stuff didn’t get leaked. Taylor eventually ended it by tag-teaming with a few heroes, getting the right power combo. S9 shows up after and a while after they’re there Amy takes Victoria. Taylor, thinking the s9 did it went on the warpath, she broke into the prt hq and stole the Bakuda bombs which she used to take out a few members before she found Amy and Victoria, made Amy fix her, then just fully executed her.

What I don’t like:

Taylor is extremely out of character. She’s too like… it’s hard to explain but she’s too cutesy, or dorky in a way that doesn’t really fit with how she is in canon. Triple especially anytime they’re discussing feelings. Honestly the only parts of her that feels in character is latter on in the fic when it starts getting into the broader hero plot stuff.

Sveta is also pretty ooc but not quite as bad as Taylor. She’s a hard character to write because while yea she’s got a lot going on at the end of the day she’s just a really nice person and that’s hard to write out unless you want something super fluffy.

And speaking of: the fic is just way too fluffy for my tastes these days. Like I had to skim the final scene where they’re being all sappy and confessional bc it made me feel ill lmao.

What I would do if I were to redo/re-explore:

Honestly this might be one of my few fics where I’d just cop it and say that it kinda doesn’t work conceptually. Taylor and Sveta just aren’t really compatible without changing one or the other.

Honestly if I were returning to it I’d probably drop Sveta (sorry) and actually just focus on the Brockton Bay plot stuff. So it’d be Taylor joining the wards, getting frustrated and then leaving and teaming up w Victoria and the focus is more in them becoming friends. And the other changes with Echidna and the s9 could be fun to explore.

Or alternatively I keep Sveta and lean into the doomed nature of the relationship, have it be a much more deep exploration of their characters and how they could interact. Follow Sveta as she makes an online friend but slowly realise that this friend of hers is weirdly violent as a cape. Have that introduce a lot more friction with Sveta judging Taylors methods more and more and Taylor just getting really defensive etc. and like…. It wouldn’t even need to have a bad ending per se. It would just be them realising that they’re really not compatible and that getting this invested in each other was a bad idea. Or the super good ending where Sveta comes around to Taylor’s way of thinking and they wage bloody war against evil, that could also be p fun. And not entirely impossible especially if Taylor is literally Svetas only friend.

Final thoughts:

This is one of those fics that still gets the odd random comment on ao3 which makes me remember it more often than other fics despite the fact that I don’t really have much to say/think about the fic beyond what I’ve already thrown up. It sits in my mind as a firm “basically ok, has its moments”

Curious to know what others think of it because honestly I barely do. I think I just picked it bc it was one of my shorter fics and sfw so I could read it between waiting for stuff to happen at work.

[better-call-mau1]

Congratulations! You’re being smothered with a completely random headcanon about Mandalorian marriage customs rescued! Please do not resist.

The Rite of Riduurok Akaanir, aka “Lover’s Quarrel”

Alright…so I gotta be honest and say that even though I can’t remember how exactly this headcanon came to me, I’ve been carrying it around for years, ever since first watching Rebels and shipping Sabezra 😅 …and at this point, I feel like it’s burning a hole in my head, trying desperately to get out, so I’m gonna save myself the expense of reconstructive cranial surgery and just share it:

Mandalorians like to fight. Actually, they don’t just like to fight, “weapons are a part of [their] religion,” or at least their culture—and for many, their entire lives are built around that. In the case of the Children of the Watch, strict adherence to a No-Living-Being-Can-See-You-With-Your-Helmet-Off orthodoxy even gets in the way of basic interpersonal behavior, like eating a meal together. The implications of that are…interesting…and not in a “wow that’s cool!” way…more like a “kark, that’s depressing” way.

Basically, I started to wonder how the “BAM! BOOM! BAM! BOOM! BLOW STUFF UP AND KILL THOSE FORCE-WIELDING MANIACS!” portion of Mandalorian culture (so…most of it?) intersects with intrinsic parts of human…wait, nope, sorry Grogu sentient life—namely romantic intimacy. (Paz Vizsla has, presumably, not taken his helmet off in decades…and he has a son who’s probably 12ish years old, tops…so do you think he ever stares at his kid and tries parsing out his own features to get an idea of what his wife looks like?) It’s an extreme example from an extreme sect, but there’s application to Mandalorian society as a whole. Where does love fit into a worldview or galaxy-view, I guess where conflict is a core tenet? When do individuals stop existing as warriors and start existing as people? Do they ever?

Anyway, the point is that on its face, the cultural dogma doesn’t seem to leave much room for authentic social and romantic intimacy, especially the latter since, ya know, the beskar has to come off both literally and figuratively in order to procreate. It’s difficult for me to see how the necessity of physical and emotional vulnerability can coexist with the rest of Mando culture—so let’s just leave it at that.

But for a civilization to survive as long as Mandalore has without totally disintegrating, those intimate relationships have to exist, and there’s plain evidence that they do. For all their problems, the Wren family clearly loves each other, and we even get a glimpse of some soft Alrich/Ursa PDA in “Heroes of Mandalore.” Then there’s Bo-Katan, who still cares deeply for her sister despite…well…joining a terrorist faction to help overthrow her. That says something, right?

Wrapping my mind around how authentic love can exist in a fictional warrior society really got me thinking—so much so that I headcanoned a ritual (Riduurok Akaanir, “Lover’s Quarrel”) to help myself work it all out.

The general idea? On Mandalorian wedding nights, the bride and groom have a private duel. A duel to the death? Maybe if it’s an arranged marriage and one party really wants out and I’m gonna speculate that Bo-Katan widowed herself at least four times before running off to join Death Watch.

More commonly, though, it’s just a playful act to embody love transcending conflict. Alrich Wren, for example, isn’t a traditional warrior, but Ursa didn’t assert her superior combat prowess on their wedding night by firing a wrist rocket at his face something Bo-Katan probably did to a few of the short-lived husbands Satine picked out for her. (“Parry this, you kriffing casual.”) Instead, I’d like to think Alrich and Ursa went through the basic motions of a hand-to-hand duel, not necessarily to prove who’s the better warrior, but as an intimate prelude to the actual consummation of their marriage—almost like a mutually disarming dance. (Could it be light-heartedly competitive? Sure! As the first Mando to perform the Riduurok Akaanir with a Jedi, Sabine would go all-out to make sure she doesn’t lose to Ezra! 😆) When the dance-duel ends, they set aside their warrior identities to become something more: husband and wife. It’s like a way of saying, “As Mandalorians, what we do is fight, but we’re more than mere weapons. We fight so we can love. We wear armor to protect ourselves, our homes, and our families. It’s an important part of who we are, but we’re ultimately made of flesh and blood, not cold beskar.”

So that’s the point of Riduurok Akaanir, a term I came up with using this nifty English to Mando’a online translator (before I just called it “Wedding Night Fight” in my head). It’s not supposed to be a blanket explanation—but intimacy and vulnerability don’t have clear utility in a warrior culture, and this is my best attempt at bridging that perceived gap.

If you made it down this far without dozing off, enjoy this Sabezra incorrect quote! 😁

Fenn Rau: I trust that Sabine briefed you on Mandalorian wedding customs?

Ezra: Yep! I know exactly how not to get myself killed before officially becoming a married man.

Rau: The trick is not getting yourself killed *after* becoming a married man. Did she explain what happens on the wedding night?

Ezra: Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

Rau:

Ezra:...yeahthatsnotreallysomethingIneedorwantSabinetoexplaintomeandKanankindofgavemethelowdownbackduringmyJeditrainingdayssoIthinkIknowwhattodobutthanksanyway.

Rau: Kanan taught you about the Mandalorian ‘lover’s quarrel,’ then? His instruction was even more thorough that I imagined. Or maybe he always knew you and Sabine would end up together.

Ezra: Sorry, did you say...?

Rau: The Rite of Riduurok Akaanir is usually non-fatal. Sabine seems to be genuinely fond of you, so I’m sure you’ll survive to see the sunrise.

Ezra:

Ezra:

Ezra: Oh kriff.

[lgbtqasacrew]

Frenchie x Izzy, Frenchie taking care of Izzy after the storm in 2x02 while Izzy doesn't feel like doing anything because now that he protected his crew (which is too little too late in his mind but at least Fang, Jim, Archie and Frenchie survived) and that Edward is dead, he's got no purpose and thinks of himself as already gone... needless to say, Frenchie has other ideas?

Summary: After the crew kill Ed during the storm, Izzy has a hard time coming to terms with everything that’s happened. Frenchie helps him see that moving on is an option

Relationships: Pre-ouizzy

Word count: 1.1k+

Warnings: Brief mentions of attempted suicide, excessive alcohol consumption, mentions of death

A/N: apologies for how long this took to write and post, these past few months have been a lot, I hope y’all enjoy

Izzy sits on his bed, staring at the space where his leg should be, taking another swig from the bottle of rum that’s been permanently stuck to his hand. He never thought it would end like this, never thought he would help kill Blackbeard. As first mate, his loyalty had always been with his captain, he would’ve done anything for him, but it was also with the crew. If it had been just him and Edward, he would’ve been honoured to go down with the ship, but the crew didn’t deserve that.

So he had done what he had to do to protect the crew, even though a part of him had died that night alongside his captain. What was he now? First Mate to a ghost? There had even been suggestions of ‘Captain Hands’ from the crew, did he even deserve that title? He’s been horrible to them since joining The Revenge, almost getting thrown overboard at his previous attempt as captain. He’s the one that awoke The Kraken, a chain of events that have led him right here.

He didn’t deserve to be captain, didn’t deserve the loyalty of a crew he’s let down several times over. He’s tired and his head is pounding, how is he meant to think of a plan in this state, he’ll only let everyone down again.

He continues to wallow in self pity and booze until there’s a knock on his door. “Fuck off” he growls, scared for anyone to see him in such a state. The door opens anyway, Frenchie’s head poking through the gap, he doesn’t speak, probably waiting for Izzy to shout at him to get out. But he doesn’t, something about seeing Frenchie’s face makes him soften just a tiny bit. He watches as Frenchie tentatively enters the room, closing the door behind him. At first, the man doesn’t say anything, just looks at him, studies him, as if he’s working out whether Izzy’s more likely to fight him or burst into tears. Right now in this state, it’s more likely the latter.

Izzy can’t stand the silence anymore, the uneasy feeling that he’s being judged. “What d’you want?” he growls.

“I- I just wanted to check up on you, you’ve been through a lot” Izzy scoffs at that, what an understatement. In the past few weeks he’s had his toes fed to him, confessed his love, lost his leg, tried to kill himself, and killed the man that he loves. He may be a pirate, but even all that is a bit much for the famed Izzy Hands to deal with.

He takes a swig of rum, ready to go off on Frenchie, but he looks at the man again, really looks at him, the sadness that resides in his eyes. None of this is Frenchie’s fault, he doesn’t need Izzy shouting at him, no, if this is anyone’s fault it’s his. “I’m sorry” Passes his lips instead, taking both him and the other man by surprise.

“Sorry? For what?”

“I let you and the rest of the crew down, if anyone should be the new captain it’s you, no one wants this as their captain'' gesturing to his current dishevelled state.

He expects Frenchie to agree, to tell him all the ways he has hated him ever since they joined The Revenge. He definitely doesn’t expect a hug. He wants to push him away, to deny himself of the comfort that he doesn’t deserve, but he’s weak, emotionally and physically. So instead he allows himself to sink into the man’s embrace, and if a few tears fall, Frenchie was good enough not to mention it. He can’t recall the last time he felt so warm, safe, it’s so different to anything he’s used to, for the first time since the incident he feels a tiny glimmer of hope.

Frenchie doesn’t let go, letting Izzy choose when he wants to stop, when Izzy does finally let go it was more to relieve the other man than because he wanted it to end. “Thank you” He whispers, staring into his lap.

“How about I make you a bath?” Frenchie offers.

Izzy shakes his head, not wanting to be a bother. “I’m fine”

“It might help” Izzy knows he’s right and relents easily, the thought of the warm water soothing his aches and pains, it was too enticing, even if he didn’t feel worthy.

Frenchie helps him to the tub, he should be embarrassed to need assistance but he finds he doesn’t really care. He allows the man to help him into the tub, sighing with relief when the warm water caresses his weary body. “Should I wait outside or?” Frenchie asks.

“Stay. Please” Izzy has spent enough time alone recently, well for most of his life if he’s being honest with himself.

He allows Frenchie to talk whilst he relaxes in the warm water, even allowing the man to wash his hair. It’s a comfort he didn’t even know he needed until it actually happened, the feeling of Frenchie’s long fingers carding through his hair.

“Why are you doing this?” his voice a lot smaller than he’d intended.

“What?”

“This” He gestures to the bath “Taking care of me, it’s not like I’ve ever done anything to deserve it. You and the others could easily chuck me off the ship, I’m too weak to fight back”

“Why would we do that? We all care about you, in fact we’ve all agreed that you should be captain” Frenchie says as he rinses Izzy’s hair. He doesn’t know how to react to that, these were people that hated him, crew members that he’d let down time and time again, and yet they cared about him.

“Why? Why do you all care about me?”

Frenchie seems shocked that he’s even asking. “Izzy, you saved us, yeah you’ve been a dick in the past, but you’re our dick, we love you” Izzy laughs, a genuine laugh, something he thought he’d never do again, it felt nice. Maybe it would all be okay.

“You really care about me, all of you?”

“Mhm, so what do you say, Captain Hands?”

He has to admit that it does have a nice ring to it “Captain Hands” he thinks back to the few minutes he tried to be captain before, but things were different then. He has something he didn’t have the last time, genuine respect, maybe even some sort of dysfunctional family. “I’ll think about it” he couldn’t rush into this, although there were a lot of positives about this new Izzy, there were some negatives too.

“If you’re worried about your leg” ahh was he really that easy to read “we’ll help you, you’re too stubborn to let it stop you anyway”

Izzy laughs again, he’s laughed more in the past ten minutes then he has in years, he tries not to dwell on that too much. “Fine, but on one condition”

“What is it?”

“You’ll be my first mate”

“Me?”

“Yes you, you twat” but it doesn’t have any bite to it “So?”

“Um ok then, yes, Captain Hands”

Frenchie helps him out of the bath, passing him a towel. He sits on the stool smiling to himself as drying himself off.

“Thank you Frenchie”

Frenchie offers him a warm smile in return “So Captain, what’s the plan?”

Make your own fanfic request

[bitty-bits]

The First and the Last of the Year

And possibly last ever... on Tumblr at least.

Where did I go?

Nowhere in particular... if you've seen my socials all year, that is. This blog/newsletter however, took an extended vacation, not just from a lack of interest (and personal real life stuff getting in the way) but also from a technical standpoint - I really wanted the email newsletter aspect of this to work, but I still couldn't. I was considering using TinyLetter ...until they announced that was shutting down. If I had a nickel for every time a newsletter service shut down out of nowhere I'd have two... you know the rest. And with Tumblr getting worse as the year went by, maintaining this wasn't exactly motivating enough.

That said, it was a less than ideal year for my productivity, inconsistent pace, money issues, the lowest amount of notable dreams to write down on my dream journal to date... you get the idea.

So I can only hope for things to be better. For me to be less lazy... and work not only on stuff I make, but on myself. And I do have a bit of optimism, since a lot has, so let's see a couple of stuff, although everything else you should expect to see in a "rebooted" version of this blog...

Also, Free Palestine!

What I've Been Playing / Watching

So while I haven't fully completed a LOT of things this year, this will be going back to the beginning of the year, essentially, so strap yourselves. (Some of it I'll be grabbing from my media thread that I've made on Twitter as well)

Lucky Star (Finished)

I have posted about Lucky Star in another issue, but I was still in the middle of watching it. Now that I've actually finished watching it (in February) I can say more about it: When it comes to this anime, it was either pretty ahead of its time, or we just have Regressed as a species since then. Maybe the latter.

And sorry folkz, Lucky Star is pro-ship/pro-fic culture and there’s nothing you can do about it. I watched the entire series including the OVA, and while I’m definitely still not sure I’m exactly the "target demographic" what I saw was still very enjoyable. it really just is whatever the fuck and I'm all for it.

At first my kin™ was Konata pretty quickly because of course. That was until Minami showed up and like, she’s basically the weeb version of Ongo Jelly Jamm™!!! I actually can say I got attached to and care about most of the characters, even if just a little.

Like I said in a previous issue, in 2015 I had watched part of an episode of it english dubbed and it didn’t click with me at all. Turns out the dub just sucks as I should’ve expected lol (And I really wasn’t used to segmented "several short stories in one" type anime and stuff to be fair - that and I was dumber too of course so I couldnt properly appreciate the ART........)

My rating is Timotei/10 - and Nichijou is next!

Pizza Tower

Easily the biggest loss for gaming this year was this game not winning "Best Debut Indie" at the Game Awards. Oh well.

I was already highly anticipating this game - having first heard of it when it had a demo at SAGE 2019 I’m glad the game turned out great and is getting the recognition it deserves. I pretty much finished the game in early March. P/10

The Owl House (Finished)

Well... it’s over... for better or worse. I do think they managed to deliver a satisfactory ending all things considered. This was definitely a great cartoon to kick off the new decade.

And of course, fuck Disney as always.

This show got me to break out of, I guess an habit, you could say, or a superstition, or whatever the hell it is, when it came to media with too much ""occultism"" in them. You know the drill. I guess it opened up the little my mind had left that was still a bit closed. Even if it’s mostly involuntary.

But this isn’t even new. As a child I’d actually have an "imaginary friend" that i made (that kinda just Existed, didn’t really "interact" much with them whatsoever cuz i was Dumb™) that their backstory was literally that they were a demon in hell "gone rogue" so they were "not an evil one". Again, I was a kid. I never thought too much about the implications of me thinking about stuff like that already at that age. But it is interesting to think about now.

Anyways, been gay, did witchcraft. ⛥/5

Invader ZIM (Series + Enter The Florpus)

Well I did it. I finally watched the funny hot topic show™ (Finished in late May)

What can I even say about it that hasn’t been already said by everyone else? ...well maybe I have one thing: for some reason I didn’t find That One Episode that people always bring up the MOST disturbing one. I thought the one with a literal character flatlining and Zim being ":)" about it got to me a bit more.

Anyways yeah it’s Cool I liked the characters especially Gaz, and GIR obviously Why Wouldn’t He Be Here. The show can be stupid and end episodes in Whatever The Fuck ways that leave you like "That's it? That's the episode???" but I think that’s one of the unique aspects of it that I Enjoy - also the movie is cool. ☮️>🐔+🍚/10

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

So I watched it first when we only had shitty cinema bootleg recordings (that aren’t even that shitty anymore at this point in terms of quality, the Shit comes in the form of godawful intrusive illegal casino ads™ placed.) even though a bit later the raw movie would sometimes be uploaded in full to YouTube with no consequence for days. And at this point I’ve rewatched it plenty of times in proper HD (though only once in English cuz I’ll be honest, the Brazilian dub really is phenomenal really and blows the original "star talent cast" out of the water in my opinion, where it falls short is the voice for Luigi, as I know the dude’s voice too well and he’s just doing his normal voice with an accent, not to mention he’s the brazilian Sonic voice already!!!)

I think Charlie Day is the superior Loogy here but I’d still say the dub is better, not only for the fact there are "real voice actors" cuz you know, that’s Their Job, but also like, Charles Martinet is still in there cuz in case you didn't know, he voiced that jumpman dude’s only line in pretty much every language possible which is absurd/admirable.

It’s a fun movie if not mostly for looking at Mario Things happening that you know and recognize, because otherwise the story is pretty ridiculously basic, though even for "Mario game story" standards it’s definitely refreshing to see Luigi as the one to be rescued... though that Also sucks because Luigi deserved more screentime. The main Toad too. Oh well. Also disappointed that the "wise Toad" in the movie isn’t Toadsworth… or maybe he is but hasn’t aged yet and maybe in a sequel we’ll see him get older and then main Toad becomes Captain Toad. Who knows 🍄/10

Honorable Mentions - Stuff I've Watched That I've Yet To Write My Thoughts About, I Don't Have The Time Now

Spy × Family (Season 1) - Not the type of anime I'd see myself watching, but I was forced roped into it by one of my partners and found it to be VERY enjoyable.

Sparkle On, Raven: The Life of Drillgirl - Charming, shitpost-y, but genuine and fun

The Amazing Digital Circus - A very promising series with unexpected popularity, and equally unexpected high quality Brazilian dub with recognizable talent.

Murder Drones (Season 1 - 6/8) - A series I've been cautiously optimistic about since its pilot - it has endearing, enjoyable characters and settings, but flawed writing and pacing - more on that at a future date.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off - An amazing take on a series that I'm not so familiar with (haven't seen the movie or read the comics, only really knew that the franchise "exists") and judging from what I've heard from others, it probably is the best take on the main storyline. Especially when it comes to the representation of who turned out to be my fave - Roxie. Watching the live action now is... probably gonna be very weird. Not sure if I want to.

Kunshikter (Күншіктер) - A new, yet very obscure cartoon from Kazakhstan. It's cute. It's for children but at this point I don't think y'all care. It's still ongoing and there are not many episodes so far. I recommend giving it a watch. Now!

Future YouTube Updates

As some of you saw in a xeet tweet from early October I was planning to do something significant on my main YouTube channel which has been stagnant for a while now, only for that to, surprise, not happen. I do have a set goal now: In very early January, a video to explain exactly what happened and what was the video I wanted to make, and... why it's hard for me to get a video like that out in the first place. The short answer (that doesn't actually account for Everything) is autism. The long answer is... stay tuned for it, lol

Song of the Issue

Although this section was supposed to be for sharing music that isn't mine, I thought I'd share snippets of music stuff I've been making since the beginning of 2023 until now, that you can look forward to!

Conclusion

I dunno. All I can say is... happy new year! It's been a tradition to make a stupid amateurish collage at the end of the year with the highlights, but this year there's been... less of them, that I took note of at least. But that won't stop me I think. Once I have that done, I may edit this to include it.

No comment on anything related to Twitter (which I'll never call "X") and the billionaire that happened this year as you all probably already know by now, and by the way you can now follow me on the social butterfly of bluesky. See you next year!

[chronicsyd]

Sapphics: I want an enemies to lovers arc

Sapphics when the characters act like enemies: no not like that!

Like seriously, the hells wrong with some of y’all? Catradora were literally at war with one another and with the current power dynamics in the show Catra couldn’t just drop whatever she was doing and play for the other team. Especially once s3 happens and Shadow Weaver ends up in Brightmoon. How do I know this? Cause we already got our answer once she popped back up in s5. The only plus side would be Catra seeing through the bs that was Glimmers behavior in s4 (speaking of which, “Glimmradora was healthier” people need to get off your high horse cause she treated Adora JUST as poorly in s4 basically saying “hey you’re only here cause you’re sometimes useful to us” ok I can’t start talking about this cause I’ll get sidetracked by getting angry. Moving on)

And it’s outright boggling to me that sapphics will cry out “we want enemies to lovers” until they ACT like Actual Enemies. Cause the truth is you don’t want enemies, you never did. And the reblogs on my last post only prove my point on the matter cause while Amity and the others of the Boiling Isles grew up under strickt rule by Belos and their parents it wasn’t War. That’s what we gotta keep in mind here. Catra and Adora grew up as child soldiers in an army however Adoras mind want fully loyal so when she saw what the Horde was doing and needed to ditch her ideologies she abandoned them. However, Catra saw that as a “Im leaving because of you” kinda deal no matter how the latter claimed the opposite.

Another thing i find Absolutely Hysterical is that y’all will bash Catra then immediately turn around and praise Zuko’s character even though they had practically the same character arc “Zuko didn’t do things as bad” eh did we Forget he helped Azula take over the Earth kingdom at the end of s2 and Aang would have died if it weren’t for Katara’s magic water (plus Several other things?all I’m saying is that Y’all don’t remember pre-redemption Zuko as well as ya think ya do) but I’m getting sidetracked here. Im probably gonna talk more about this comparison later hell I might go rewatch ATLA and take notes on this.

If you don’t like “enemies to lovers” Whatever. Don’t ship it. I honestly don’t care it’s Your shipping preferences. But for gods sake don’t get pissy when enemies act like enemies cause it’s exhausting for those of us who do enjoy it watching your little screaming matches while trying to find content. 🤦‍♀️

(Im probably gonna also bring up Caitvi at some point cause even they don’t truly fall into enemies to lovers but that’s for another time)

(And one more thing: a lot of people claim Glimmers “I love you” came out of nowhere but it was in very much the same vein as Catra’s “Im sorry for everything” as in “I may never see you again, so make this last meeting count”. Yk? Ok NOW I’m done)

[letteredlettered]

i just wanted to say that you are one of my favorites h/d writers and one of the reasons, except your brilliant writing of course, is the fact that you also believe it is bullshit that Harry could love Draco before he changes for the better and hates the whole “he was rapidly becoming obsessed with Malfoy” thing. I honestly think that a lot of writes and fans of h/d have Draco as their favorite character and because of that they tend to be more biased towards him. But if Harry could like Draco when he was a jerk to Hermione and Ron, laughed at Cedric’s death and treated everyone that Harry loved badly, then why does he has to change at all you know? I think that people get so fixated in the “he was a child pressured by his father” and all the other arguments they use to excuse Draco of his behavior that they forget that Harry and the others were children as well who didn’t deserve to be treated this way especially when they were already suffering. Like, just because you can understand the circumstances of why someone hurt you doesn’t mean it’s going to hurt less, plus Draco actually believe in those things he said, he only changed his mind latter but for some reason people like to pretend he didn’t. I just think that this defeats the purpose of the ship for me cause I like h/d because i believe that people can change and that we can learn to accept them not in spite of what they did but because of the fact that they work to change for the better everyday. Sorry for the long text but i get a little upset about this and also english isn’t my first language so sorry for any mistakes and thank you for reading it ❤️💚

I'm glad you like my writing!

I'd just like to clarify that I don't believe it's bullshit that Harry could love Draco without Draco changing. I believe a) it's possible for people to fall in love with people they don't agree with morally or ethically, and that's not bullshit, b) it's not bullshit to want to see that kind of love in your fantasies or your fanfics.

I just don't prefer to write (or read) fic in which Draco doesn't make significant changes. Redemption is what interests me about Draco; he didn't get it in canon, and I like to see him work for it in fic. Interestingly, I also like fic in which Harry has to change significantly to see Draco's humanity; I like it best when both of them grow beyond the scope of their childhood ethics (and not coincidentally, the ethics of the canon itself).

I do quite often get the impression that many people do like Draco "better," or care about him more. I think this is fine. I'm often more interested in a character than another character I ship them with, I am just personally uninterested in writing or reading fic that doesn't treat both characters as humans that deserve empathy and understanding.

And I think that you're right, that a lot of people seem to focus their empathy on Draco without extending much to Harry or his friends. Extending empathy does not have to be an either/or scenario! You can feel bad about how Draco was indoctrinated and the things Draco was forced to do while still also feeling bad that Harry was bullied by Draco; you can still feel that it's horrible that Harry's life was threatened by Draco and ideals Draco espoused.

As you say, just because someone hurt you for understandable reasons doesn't mean you're not allowed to be hurt. Similarly, even if you never intended that harm, you still have to deal with the consequences of having caused harm. Like, people will still be hurt, whether you meant for them to be or not. I think that this was a really formative realization for me growing up, and something that seems lost in a lot of discussions about purity or goodness or morality. Your motives can be pure as the driven snow, and you can still hurt someone. A child can be innocent and cause pain. I have been hurt by children plenty of times--they don't necessarily have to apologize to me, but I'm still allowed to feel hurt.

But I will wrap by saying that people ship Harry/Draco for many reasons, and it's okay to want fic that focuses solely on Draco getting love and support with Harry a mere vessel for that love and support. I do not demand that anyone else cater to my specific desires for the ship. What you want from the ship and what you like about it are not a test of virtue; it can be about what makes you feel good. The way I like the ship happens to make me feel good, and I write what I want to read.

[sweetwhispersofchaos]

Eject Chapter 5

Story Summary: Ejecting from your plane in the face of danger? Expected. Forbidden love amongst pilots? Not so much. Will they bond or will this break them for good?

Chapter Summary: a plane hangar, a lot of emotions, and an injury

Pairing: Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw x Natasha “Phoenix” Trace All the Daggers, Mav x Penny, Amelia, OC’s

Warnings: Language, Assault (not by a major character), Injury, Eventual smut, Alcohol consumption, smoking, discussions of mental health. (It’s a rollercoaster. You’ve been warned.)

Chapter Word Count: 3538

Eject Masterlist

I do not own anything except the original characters.

The night sky over the ocean was Roosters favorite. Absolutely nothing beat floating on a carrier with the waves crashing below you and a never-ending blanket of stars sprinkled across the dark sky above. He could always count on the motion of the ship, the smell of the sea breeze, and the calming sky to help him do his best thinking. Or not think if he needed to let his mind go blank. Tonight, he was choosing the latter.

He was cleared from medical after a few stitches. No major damage, miraculously. Lots of bruises and small cuts and he was going to feel all of this in the days to come, but he survived. Physically at least.

Maverick stayed with him through the whole exam but no matter how much he coaxed Bradley, he refused to talk to the old man. They had so much they needed to discuss and work through but the pain he felt in his heart was too distracting in that moment to open old wounds. The new ones were too fresh. Sometimes, it was better to just let a sleeping dog lie. He needed to be alone, in open space, without noise or lights or talking.

As soon as medical cleared him he made a beeline for the showers. The only person in his room was Bob, but bless the bespeckled man, he said nothing to Rooster as he entered their quarters. Bob looked up from his magazine long enough to nod to Rooster, then went back to reading. Rooster threw on shorts and a NAVY t-shirt along with his running shoes and made his way up to the top deck. The moment he stepped out into the windy night he felt a huge weight lifted from his body. The claustrophobia of his own mind releasing on the whisper of the blowing wind. He inhaled the sea breeze and winced at the pain in his rib cage. Damn bruises.

The deck was quiet for the most part. He could see some crew about 20 yards away rolling lines but otherwise it was deserted. Rooster began walking slowly towards the back of the ship. He stopped just a few feet from the end of the runway, contemplating going the rest of the distance to put his legs over the edge, but someone might find that startling if they saw him, so decided against it. Rooster sat down then laid back flat to the tarmac, his hands coming to rest on his chest, fingers interlaced. He stared at the sky, counting the stars, and sending silent thanks to his parents for looking over him today.

How he wished in that moment he could hop on a computer and video chat with Carole Bradshaw. She was always so wise when it came to matters of the heart. Her over the top personality always snapped him out of his funks as well. She would have known exactly what to say in this moment. His eyes closed as single tears escaped out of his eyes and trailed slowly down his face towards his hair line. God, he missed that woman.

Lost in thought, he missed the sound of footsteps approaching him. Suddenly a throat was cleared from behind him, and Rooster shot up to a seated position and turned to see Bobs slim figure standing in the dark. He wiped his face quickly with the back of his hand and saw the shine of glasses in the dark.

“Uh, sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you. I can go?” Bob stuttered out as he picked at the hem of his t-shirt.

“No man, its ok. No worries. What’s up?”

“Mind if I sit?” Bob asked and Rooster waved a hand in the air next to him as an invitation. Bob came to sit beside him, tucking his knees up and wrapping his arms around them. He stared out to the endless dark in front of them and for a while neither said anything.

Finally, Rooster decided to break the silence. “I fucked up big, didn’t I?”

Bob dropped his head, obviously at war with himself and whether to answer the question or not. Finally, he huffed out a ragged breath and nodded his head yes. He looked over at Rooster with the saddest puppy dog eyes and spoke “She was terrified.” And Bradley’s heart sank.

“I don’t pretend to know her that well. We just met three weeks ago. You obviously have a strong history with her. But” Bob drew in a long breath and adjusted his glasses, “Ejecting from a crashing plane forced us to get to know each other quickly. I’ve talked to her enough in the last three weeks to figure out that all of her trust is based on what happens in the air. That bird strike really shook her trust in herself. I did some quick talking to bring her down off the ledge after that.”

“I knew she was just fronting that she was fine.” Rooster said into the wind.

“Oh for sure. She’s a very stubborn woman. However, I’ve also figured out that down here on earth, she trusts nothing and no one. She told me about her mom leaving, her brother’s murder, and her Dad being a deadbeat. She’s never relied on anyone for anything, just herself. When she’s in the air she trusts her plane, her skill and training, and luckily for me, the person in the back seat. She also has to trust the other pilots around her. If they’re competent at their job. She told me about a few duds she’s had over the years.”

Rooster nodded his head in agreement. He knew some of those fuck ups.

Bob continued shaking his head as he spoke. “Today though. Shew. You abused her trust. At least in her eyes. And it damn near unraveled her after we landed back here on the carrier. I didn’t think ‘Nix could be anything other than steadfast. Strong. But the fear I saw in her eyes, the shaking of her hands. The sheer rage that radiated off her body was something else. She was a woman at complete war. It was,” he paused, and Rooster looked over at Bob, watching him search for the word he was looking for.

“Rooster. It was heart breaking to watch. I felt helpless. Because I know, at least to some degree, how she feels for you. She gave me the Readers Digest version of your past lives together. I’m not a worldly man, my experiences with love involve parking at a creek in high school or bar flies once I joined the Navy.” He snorted at this, and Rooster looked over at Bob with a quirked expression of mild shock on his face. He could see Bob’s slight blush as he stammered “Uh, yeah. That’s discussion for another time. Anyways.” Rooster just let out a soft chuckle and turned his gaze back to the abyss.

Bob’s smile dropped as he went on. “So, what I mean is. She may put up this hard front, but she needs you man. I can tell by the way she talks, the way she looks at you. You are her center of gravity and today she came close to losing that, and it scared the shit out of her. For the first time in what I’m guessing is a long time, someone she truly loves almost left her, again. And it damn near knocked her off her axis.”

Bob stood then, putting his hands in his pants pockets, and turning to face Rooster. Rooster looked up at him, noticing Bob pull out a hand and offer it to him. He took it and stood, facing the WSO and his searing eyes.

“My advice? Go. Find her. Hash it out. I don’t care how hard she may come across; she’s falling apart inside and you’re the only one I think can fully fix it. Don’t sit out here and let her tear herself apart over this. It may not work out the way you want, but she needs someone else to come and rescue her for once.”

The men stood, staring at each other for a few moments, then Bob nodded his head and walked away, leaving Rooster standing alone, continuing to stare out into the dark. Then his body shuddered violently, and he put both hands on his knees. With a strained sob he began vomiting on the deck, which hurt like a bitch to his ribs and shoulders. Shit, he knew he needed Mav but going back for him was so dumb, and Bob tried to warn him with his head shake in the air. Rooster just assumed she would understand.

He stood and wiped his mouth with the inside of the neck of his shirt, his breath heavy and labored as he continued to spat the bile from his mouth. He folded his hands on top of his head and began to pace. Talk about a damn war. In the midst of being some real-life god-damned heroes, two people who had faced insurmountable odds in their fucked-up lives were now at war with each other even though they loved each other.

They were a fucking melodrama and it made him seethe. He was pissed at her past, pissed at his, pissed that this could be so different if they were completely stable people and not adrenaline junkies who faced their demons in a very dangerous manner.

Ok, he thought. Ok, we’re going to do this. He was going to face her and drag this out however long it took to work through. He wasn’t leaving this carrier in two days without some sort of resolve to their relationship, whatever that might be.

Rooster decided to go brush his teeth and find her. He turned on his heel and made way for the door back inside, a look of dark determination crossing his brow. It was time to fly or eject forever.

*****

Halo wasn’t sure where Phoenix was. She wasn’t in the exercise room or the ready room or the mess. Rooster wandered the halls, trying to think of different places she might be, asking a few along the way if they had seen her, to no avail. After half an hour of searching he leaned his back to the wall in a deserted hallway and blew a long, exasperated breath into the void.

Damn Bob for putting him on this trajectory. All that talk about trust had his heart racing now. He needed her to trust him again, no matter what it took.

Wait. Trust.

Suddenly Rooster knew where she was. What was the one constant that she always trusted? The thing that gave her control and power and strength.

Her plane.

He stood and began to jog down the empty corridor towards the stairs. He was racing up to the hangar in the middle of the ship. She was his center of gravity as well and he could feel her tugging him right to her.

*****

The hangar was dimly lit when he ascended the last set of steps. His stride never faltered as he knew right where her plane would be. The general vicinity at least. As he grew closer, he saw her. The canopy of her plane was raised, and she was sitting in the cockpit, staring straight ahead, not moving. He came to a halt under the nose of Paybacks plane, just across from hers, and stared at her, not knowing what his next move should be. He waited for what felt like an eternity before her gaze lowered to meet his. Nat’s eyes were red, her face dirty and wet, her hair a tangled mess. She was still in her flight suit. Had she been down here this whole time?

They continued to stare at each other, unmoving. Then Rooster nodded his head toward her plane, a questioning look on his face. She looked away, wiping her face, and nodded her affirmative without looking back at him.

Rooster walked to the ladder at the side of her jet and climbed quickly until he was kneeling on the wing next to her. She continued to look away from him as he caught his breath.

“Nat.” He barely whispered. She didn’t turn or respond.

“Please Nat. We need to talk about this.”

She wiped her face again and turned her head, her red eyes meeting his, the extreme pain written across her face.

She sniffed then spoke in a low and dark tone. “Talk about what? How you disobeyed orders? Left Payback and I to fend for ourselves? Got shot down? I had to focus on getting not just me, but the rest of our team back to this carrier while the sounds of you being blown out of the sky played in our ears.” He winced at her last statement.

“By the time I landed I could barely breath. I spent 45 agonizing minutes until you came back online wondering if they’d even be able to recover your body. I HATE feeling weak and for 45 damn minutes I was mortified at the rush of emotions that flooded out of my body in front of all those men. All the other pilots. Deck crew. Even the other women. I looked like a fool. After everything I’ve ever been through in my life you almost became another sob story in a long line of sob stories, and you CHOSE to behave that way. So PLEASE” she was practically spitting now “tell me what part of all of that we NEED to talk about?”

Rooster was clutching the side of her open plane with white knuckles, his head lowered chin to chest. He knew he deserved every bit of what she just gave him, and then some. He collapsed backwards and came to a seat on the wing, his legs swinging to hang over the side, his gaze on the ground below. She continued to sniff and breath heavily while looking at him.

“We can talk about all of that, if you want?” he said.

Then, silence. They sat, listening to each other’s breath heaving in and out for a very long time. No movement other than the swinging of Roosters feet. Eventually he pushed himself backwards to lean back against the open hatch, stretching his legs out in front of himself. He turned his head slightly in her direction and began to speak.

“I’ll sit here forever if that’s what it takes Natasha Trace. You are the first thing I thought of when I made the decision to turn back and the last thing I thought of just before I thought I was going to die. So I’m not moving until we get all this shit out and figure out what we do now.” Then he turned his head away from her and closed his eyes. Waiting on her to respond. She never spoke, but suddenly he felt a trembling hand on his shoulder.

His head jerked around to see her standing in her seat. “Move over.” She demanded and he obliged. She climbed out of the cockpit and came to rest next to him on the wing, stretching her legs out the way Rooster had his.

“I haven’t felt pain like that since my brother. And his death was quick. One gun shot and it was over. I was there. I knew he was gone. But this, this was different. The unknown. The uncertainty. I can’t explain how” she paused then let out in frustration “desperate the situation felt to me. I need to be in control. It’s how I feel safe and there was nothing I could do to control the situation once you turned back. When you crawled out of that shitty old plane I wanted, needed to touch you, and kill you all at the same time.”

He didn’t know what to say. The intensity with which she spoke resonated through his body and absolutely shattered him. He never wanted to be the cause of her pain, and even though there’s always that chance in their line of work, this time he made a conscious decision to hurt her.

He opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off. “Don’t say you’re sorry. Whatever the fuck you say, don’t say that. I know you feel remorse. I knew you would. What I need you to say is” she trailed off and he peered over to see fresh tears starting to spill on to her face. He decided to take a chance. He reached his right hand over and placed it on top of her left hand that was resting on her leg. She shuddered but didn’t remove her hand. He heard her exhale a ragged breath.

“You need me to say what, Nat?”

She continued to silently cry, using her right hand to wipe away tears from her face. Then she abruptly slid her hand out from under his and began to move towards the ladder of her jet.

“Please Nat! Don’t go.” He practically shouted as he reached for her, placing his hand on her back. She froze.

“Natasha Trace, I can’t justify what I did. I made a choice between two people I love. I needed Mav to be ok. But in my panic to don’t think just do, as he would say, I forgot your feelings. I disrespected you as a person, my person, but above and beyond that, as a pilot. So no, I’m not going to say I’m sorry. Because that would never begin to cover the betrayal and fear I unleashed on you today. I just hope someday, you can forgive me, because I need you. Flying planes and living this life means jack shit if you’re not on my side.” He was becoming overwhelmed by the rush of his words, all the emotions he had been holding rushing out with each word. His own tears beginning to fall.

“What I am going to say is I love you more than any plane or mission or promotion or any other thing I’ve clung to for years, hoping to replace the absence of my dad and the hopelessness I’ve felt in my life. Nat, look at me. Please?” He reached for her elbow, and she turned to face him. Her eyes seemed wild, the internal war she was fighting playing out for him in two small russet orbs.

“Nat, please stop running from me. Please? We’re both fucked up human beings but together. Together we make big things happen and I don’t want to lose that. I don’t want to lose you.” His hand was clutching at her elbow, and he gently shook her arm with each word. He needed her to understand. He needed her.

She began to sob, her whole body shaking aggressively. He stared in shock for just a split second then his hands were on her. He reached both arms around her waist and slid her to him, pulling her up into his lap into a tight hug. So tight. Afraid that if he slacked his grasp even a centimeter, she would try to run again. But she didn’t run. Her hands clung to his shirt, her nails digging into his chest, as she buried her face into his shoulder and cried. Wailed. Released all her emotions for 30-something years of pent-up anger, trust issues, lack of love. He felt every sob she released puncture his body like a knife. And his tears fell too.

Bradley Bradshaw ugly cried, resting his check to the top of her head, his body shook with each tear that fell from his eyes. How could he have been so stupid. How could he have almost thrown this beautiful human away. She had never let him down, so how the hell could he turn around and do something like that to her. She’s human, no amount of strength can hold off heart break forever. The guilt washed over him, and he squeezed her even tighter.

Her arms slid up his chest and wrapped around his neck, Phoenix pulling herself even closer to him. Their shanking bodies sinking with their sobs as they began to subside. Rooster rubbed his thumbs in circles over her back while Nat’s right hand rubbed smoothly across the hair at the nape of his neck. They sat in this way for minutes. Hours possibly. He wasn’t entirely sure.

They clung to each other until both went silent and unmoving.

Then her head moved ever so slightly, her lips coming to rest just outside of his ear, her breath tickling as she whispered, “How are we ever going to make something like this work?” and his body felt a bolt of lightning strike right through him, from the ear she rested dangerously close to all the way to his pinky toe. Was she offering up some sort of hope? What did he do? What should he say?

But he didn’t say anything. He just tightened his grip on her as an answer. And there they stayed, wrapped in each other for the rest of the night. No talking. No moving. Neither sleeping. Just holding and hoping the dawn would never come.

Chapter 6 ->

[lotusthewriter]

Don't Forget

Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist (2003)

Rating: G

Relationships: Alphonse & Edward

Characters: Alphonse Elric, Edward Elric

Summary: It's a special date for the Elrics.

Word count: 717

AO3

A/N: Technically for October 3rd, but it's FMA 2003's 20th anniversary today, so I guess it still counts.

This takes place after Conqueror of Shamballa.

DO NOT SHIP THE ELRIC BROTHERS. P/roship DNI.

--

Al shouldn’t be feeling nervous, really. He and Ed have known each other since forever. Still, Al can’t help shaking a little, mostly as he leaves everything ready.

Either way, Alphonse makes his way to Edward’s door, hoping he’s not going to bother him.

He takes a deep breath and knocks.

“Brother?” He calls.

“Oh, come in!”

Al slowly opens the door, finding Ed’s desk filled with papers – all from the rocket science course.

“Sorry, are you busy?” Al asks.

“No, no, don’t worry about it.” Ed takes off his reading glasses – and Al knows Ed would hate him if he ever told him that Ed looks like their father. “What’s up?”

Al blinks, distracting himself from the thought.

Ed suddenly starts smelling something.

“Did you bake something?” He raises an eyebrow.

“Oh, uh… yeah, I got the recipe from Ms. Gracia.”

“Oh,” Ed smiles, “that’s great, Al.”

The younger Elric shouldn’t be this nervous.

“I-I made it for you!” Al blurts out.

Ed softens. “For me? Why?”

It does hurt a little to hear him sound so surprised. Like Ed doesn’t deserve good things.

“Come on, let me just show you.” Al offers him a hand. His brother takes it, confused, so he lets Al pull him out of the chair and towards the dining table.

There lies a cherry pie fresh from the oven… and the handmade card Al made. He’s confident that the pie is good, but as for the latter… He hasn’t really drawn in ages, and has only picked it up again in times of boredom.

Much to his surprise, Ed seems more awestruck by the card than the pie. He takes it carefully in his hands.

Al rubs the back of his own neck, unsure what to do.

Dear Brother,

I know today is not a good date. I know it meant that we lost what we once had. But I wanted to celebrate that you’re still here with me. I would never trade it for anything in the world.

Thank you for always looking out for me. I love you.

Al

The cover itself is, well, a sketch of Ed smiling genuinely, even if sadly. Something Al wishes he could see more often – just his brother being happy.

When Al looks back…

“... Oh no, Brother! I didn’t mean to make you cry,” he apologizes, hating himself for ever thinking this stupid card could make this day easier. “I’m so sorry.”

Ed appears to only then realize that he’s indeed crying. He touches his wet face in shock, as if he hasn’t cried in years .

“I just- I wanted…” Al doesn’t know what to say.

Suddenly, he hears a laugh.

“Oh, Al.”

Then, he finds himself in his brother’s arms. Al freezes, not expecting the reaction. Ed hugs him tightly, burying his face in the other’s shoulder, seeking Al’s warmth. It sometimes surprises Al, remembering he can actually feel his brother’s touch now. That Al is finally here, back as a human being.

It didn’t happen as they wanted it to… but just the fact Al gets to hug Ed again is more than enough.

“I love you, too,” Ed whispers. “I love you so much.”

Al can’t help it. His eyes are filled with water.

“Thank you for being here,” Edward adds

Alphonse smiles. “Of course, Brother.”

Ed doesn’t let go for a while… not that Al is complaining. He does whine when his brother decides to kiss his cheek multiple times, though.

“I truly have one talented little brother,” Ed compliments. “An artist AND a baker?”

Al rolls his eyes. “Come on, you’re exaggerating.”

“No way, this is beautiful. I’m keeping this forever. And I’m putting all your art on the fridge.”

He laughs. “Ugh, Brother!”

Ed snorts, ruffling his darker blond hair.

With this, they finally decide to eat the pie together. Ed finds it a masterpiece, of course. Al can’t help blushing; his brother can be so embarrassing.

Since today is technically Ed’s day off, the Elric brothers decide to go out in town. After greeting their friends, they head out to the park. At one point, Ed wraps an arm around Al and pulls him close. Al smiles and leans against him.

On this day, they lost everything.

But today, they have each other.

They’re home.

[tickle-page]

“How long can ya last?”

A/N: Ok… but tickling should’ve been a challenge. Yes I ship Noah and Cody. (I am not proof reading allat).

⚠️: Some footer tickles

Summary: Chris thought of something that’ll make people drop like flies. One that’ll cure his ler mood, and pretty sure people are growing suspicious of it.

********

“We’re gonna have each team see how some of their players will last getting tickled…” Chris announced, cutting to the chase.

“Pfft, tickling? What does he have, some type of fetish?” Duncan scoffed, making his team laugh.

“Nope, thought it be a challenge nobody could pass. Anyways, we have… ‘Screaming Gophers’, and on that team is… Beth, Cody, Gwen, Heather, Justin, Leshawna, Noah, Lindsay, Owen, Trent, and Izzy, against ‘Killer Bass’, and on that team is… Bridgette, Courtney, DJ, Duncan, Eva, Ezekiel, Geoff, Harold, Sadie, Katie, and Tyler.” Chris was about to explain how it works before the writer thought they’re was too much typing in one dialogue, so here’s the other one, “Here’s how it works, You’re gonna choose two people on your team to get strapped up to this very convenient ‘x’ shape thing. One person get’s strapped up for an hour, while somebody from the opposing team tries to get the opposite contestant out then we’ll switch and they will have to stand an hour as well. And if the person getting tickled manages to last an hour w/o saying the safe word, which will be ‘Chris’, they win the challenge and get a reward, which is they’re very own spa treatment deluxe, but if you don’t… then you’ll meet me at the bonfire, and I’m sure you’ll know what will happen next.”

“Uh huh, uh.. Question?” Duncan raised his hand as if he was in school.

“Shoot.”

“Why is the safe word you’re name? Why can’t it be something cool like, Duncan, or murder, or vandalism.”

“A. They’re too hard to remember and B. I’m hot.”

“Ok… I have another question.”

“What…” Chris sighed.

“Why did you choose this challenge? Is there something you want to tell us?” Duncan tried to get under his skin and it didn’t work.

“Because… I just fricking explained it! You people are too good with these challenges, so I chose something that nobody in they’re right mind would pass.” Not because he had a tickle fetish, Ofc not. What kinda judge would put their contestants in a situation like this just to help their lee mood? If anyone thought Chris had a fetish, they’re wrong.

“Whatever you say….” Duncan was not buying it.

“Ok, ready? Talk over your team and see who will be their guinea pigs.” Chris stepped off his platform that was coincidentally placed on the dock.

(Meanwhile, with Screaming Gophers)

“So which two will get tickled?” Beth asked.

“I think it should be lazy dude over there.” Heather pointed to the latter before her.

“Who, Owen? Dude, I know your not very likable, but to call Owen lazy just because he doesn’t cut back on the snacks, is off the charts-“ Noah stocked up for his bestfriend, only to be shut down by Heather.

“Not him, you.”

“ME?! Why me?!” Noah was puzzled and scared, trying to change their minds, but it seems to go down stream for him.

“Well duh, isn’t it obvi? You don’t join in on any challenges, you just stick your face in that musty book. It’s about time you show team work.” Heather continued.

“What?! Come on guys, change her mind, please!”

“Sorry man, she’s right.” Owen agreed.

“Owen?! Your suppose to be my bsf!”

“I’m sorry, Noah.”

“Well… You are a big time slacker…” Beth joined in.

“YEAH! You’re always reading the book like, ‘ooohohoho~ I can read~’ and then I’m all like, ‘Dude, sub me in,’ and you’re all like, ‘Whahahat? Can’t hear you, dudette, too busy reading, yah…’ That’s basically how it goes.” Izzy chimed in.

“That’s not at all how it went! Guys please! Don’t make me do this.”

“Don’t worry, Noah, if you go, I’ll join you so you won’t be as scared anymore!” Noah’s secrete crush, Cody, replied.

As thankful as Noah is right now that Cody is trying to cheer him up, this doesn’t stop him from getting tickled.

“Awww, ain’t that cute? Your boyfriend is checking up on you!” Izzy cooed. Making the other’s but Heather coo as well.

“He’s not my boyfriend!!!”

“Alright, guess it’s settled. Noah and Cody will get tickled, and trust me Noah, if you flake out before it hit 20 minute mark, I’ll make sure the others will vote you off for being a bad team player.” Heather got close up to his face to make her more intimidating, and it worked.

“WHAT?!… omg!!” Noah gave up because it was useless fighting anymore, at least he’ll have his crush beside him, but it won’t make him less ticklish.

(Meanwhile, with Killer Bass)

“So… Who’s gonna volunteer?” Courtney asked.

“Not me!” Bridgette backed down.

“Yh… I’ll sit this one out.” DJ.

“THAT’S SO CHILDISH, COUNT ME OUT!” Eva.

“Nah, this will ruin my record.” Geoff.

“Well, it’s not gonna be-“ Duncan got interrupted by Sadie.

“I’m not doing this!” Sadie.

“If Sadie’s not doing it then I’m not doing it!” Katie.

“Uhhh…. Yh, I’m not doing this challenge.” Tyler.

No one likes Ezekiel.

“Guess it’s just Duncan and Harold.” Courtney said.

“Why?! No cool guy should get tied down and tickled for a challenge in front of an audience.” Duncan crosses his arms.

“So you rather get tied down and tickled if it wasn’t for a challenge?” Courtney smirked.

Duncan loves his girlfriend with all his heart, but sometimes she can drive him to sanity. “Wha- Absolutely not! I’ve been to juvy, my street cred would plum it if I even began to like tickling.”

“Uh-huhu.” Courtney giggled.

“So why do I have to do this? I don’t want to get tickled either.” Harold said.

“Yeah, you’re probably gonna have to clean the skid marks on your underwear after the challenge, haha.” Duncan made DJ, Geoff, and Trent laugh at his joke.

“So it’s settled then, each team members who were picked, come up so Chef can strap you guys in.” Now that Chris was saying those words, he just now realized how weird this challenge is.

The four of them complied, with Harold and Cody going first, and with Duncan tickling Cody and Noah tickling Harold.

“Your time starts when I start the timer.” Chris set an hour on his clock, and pushed start. “Go!”

And they began.

“Aww, crap, I don’t even want to do this…” Noah complained.

“DON’T THINK ABOUT IT NOAH!!! YOUR TIME IS RUNNING OUT!!” Gwen screamed from the sidelines, trying to reassure him, but it didn’t work.

Noah heard cute, bubbly laughter. It sounded as if an angle had dropped down from the sky… it was so majestic, and Noah wanted to hear it more after the challenge. He wanted to be the one to tickle his crush, but his priority isn’t the one on his team, it’s the one in front of him.

Noah decided to rip the bandaid off, and slowly skittered his blunt nails on Harold’s sides. It was so gross, but he didn’t want to be eliminated.

“Gahahahah, Thihihihis is so sthuhuhupid!!!” Cody laughed from Duncan’s skilled fingers on his knees.

“Wow, Duncan, you are skilled with this!” Courtney was astonish.

“Yeah, I would tickle my older brothers all the time.” Duncan replied, he then got flashbacks of them teaming up on him, and he shivered. Duncan will die twice before he ever tell them that he was always tickle punished as a kid by his older brothers.

Noah was flabbergasted by Cody’s laugh, that he stopped tickling Harold and looked over to his crush. Cody’s face was so cute right now, Noah wanted to die right then and there, until a familiar voice stopped him and his thoughts, “Hey, Romeo!!! Quit staring at Juliet and get to tickling, we want to win!” Leshawna called out from the sidelines.

“Stop calling me that!! I don’t even like Cody!!” Noah’s face says it all though.

“Ha! Your face is so red already, and you aren’t the one getting tickled.” Harold should’ve shut up.

“You know what? I’ll give you something to laugh about!” Noah skittered his fingers up and down Harold’s sides, stopping just barely under his armpits.

“GAHAHAHAH!!! I’M SOHOHOHORRY!!!!” Harold screamed out.

“It’s kinda too late for that one.” Noah teased and cooed the bonded lee, tickling his ribs and stomach, dipping his finger in the hollow and swirling it inside.

“Oh? U think u can out tickle me? I’ll show you who’s the real tickle monster.” If Duncan was the one in Cody’s place, his teases would’ve flustered him, but what can he say? He has experience. The Mohawk dude got dangerously close to the latter’s armpits, making Cody scream, which alerts the ler. “Oh?~ is someone ticklish hereeee?”

“No!!! NO PLEASE!!! NOT THERE!!! DUNCAN STOP, STOP, STOP-AHAHAHAHAHHA!!! PLEASE!!!” Cody went baserk, he totally lost it. His head was getting all foggy, he was getting breathy and panting, and to top it all of he was crying and his laughter grew silent. He had to gasp in between depths of chortles, trying so very hard to remember the safe word, let alone blurt it out, but he can’t manage to figure it out.

“What was that?~ I didn’t hear a safe word~. Maybe I should do this till you pass out… or… until you pee yourself, like glasses just did.” Duncan was insane, and yes Harold did piss himself due to the tickling, and Cody was on the verge of doing the same thing.

Noah didn’t notice the wet stain on Harold’s pants, he was way too focus on staring at his crush with widen eyes. Noah swear that if looks could kill, Cody would’ve been dead before the tickling killed him. He didn’t care how obvious he was being right now, he just thought that when will he ever get a chance to see Cody in this state again? All helpless and breathy, trying to say the safe word, but he couldn’t because of all the laughter he was doing. Noah swore to everything that he doesn’t like tickling…Cody is the only exception, tho. His trance was broken when Cody finally managed to say the safeword, “CHRIS!!! CHRIHIHIHIS!! STAHP NOW, PLEASE!!!”

Duncan stopped, and Chef went over to the two to unlock their tied up limbs, making them slump over to the ground in heaps of laughter. “Ok, Duncan and Noah, it’s your guys turn.” Chris said.

The both boys signed and was terrified of what’s in store for them, but they wouldn’t want to let their team down, so they got on the chair letting Chef tie them up. “Wait… can Harold change first? I don’t want him being that close to me when he smells like cats.” Noah looked down at his pants, Harold looked down as well and looked back up with a redden face, covering himself up when everyone started laughing.

He got back from changing, and got beside Noah waiting to tickle the shit out of him. Noah would’ve had so many more sarcastic things to say, but right now, he was so scared, like he doesn’t like being tickled at all, Duncan’s the same way, but he can hide it more. “You good, Noah? You’re sweating.” Harold mentioned.

“Y-yeah… I’m *gulp* fine… I just don’t like being tied down… or… t-tickled.”

Duncan noticed how nervous he was, “awwww, is someone scared of tickling?”

“Shut up!” Cody tweaked his side, making him twitch and have a startled laugh, “Listen Noah, don’t force yourself to continue if you don’t want to, ok? I know how it feels, being trapped and claustrophobic, so don’t be obligated to push yourself fowards, ok? Our team will still love how you were brave enough to do this.”

“Like heck we will, GO BIG OR GO HOME NOAH!!!” Heather yelled, getting slapped over the head by Leshawna.

“And… if our team does lose and u go home, I won’t forget you, bestie!!”

That’s right, Noah and Cody were just friends… nothing more, nothing less. It’s stupid of him to get so attached to a straight boy, so why can’t he get him out of his head?? It’s like a broken record, getting scratched over and over again. He was about to cry, but had to hold it in, so if he did cry, he could just blame it on how much it tickled. He can’t get so worked up anyways, once one of them goes home they’ll forget about the other, wether it be by elimination or by wining, no one will remember any one, they’re only there to make money, not friends. And that’s what he needs to focus more on, winning the dough. “Can we start already?”

Chris started the timer, and the boys went to work.

Cody didn’t hesitate on scribbling the life out of Duncan’s socked soles, teasing him about how ticklish they were.

Harold, on the other hand, started off lightly scratching Noah’s stomach, saying things like, “Come on Noah, u know u wanna laugh~” and it embarrasses the hell out of the other.

If it’s one thing Duncan hates, it’s getting tickled. He had older brothers he would tickle, but then they would get their revenge before he could blink. It didn’t help the fact that Duncan was so much more petite than the others. So this, this right here, would be hella embarrassing if he gave up due to a little tickling, but he was so damn ticklish, he doesn’t know how much longer he can go.

Now, Noah hates getting tickled and tickling as well, but if it’s one thing he absolutely hates, is getting tickled in front of the person he likes. His laugh is so annoying and obnoxious… and cute… but Cody don’t want to speak about that. They we’re just friends, it’s not like they loved each other… hahahe. So Noah will take it to his grave that he won’t laugh, that was… until Harold did the unthinkable.

“Come on. LAUGH FOR ME!!” He squeezed both sides of Noah, leaving a few red thumbprints on him.

“NO!!! GAHAHAHAHA!! St-Stahhahahap!!!” Noah had limited room left to squirm, so he tried to do anything that was mentally possible right there to stop the tickling, but nothing seemed to work, considering he was strapped down.

It was Cody’s turn to be fixated on his crush’s friend’s laugh. They way Noah would get all squeaky and loud, it was the best sound ever. Cody himself would think it would be weird to have a liking for someone’s laugh, but he just couldn’t help it, bro’s majestic. He was imagining him with his fingers tormenting Noah, zoning out while his fingers slowly drifted off his target’s feet, giving Duncan enough time to breathe. Until Leshawna broke his trance, “HEY!! JULIET!!! GET TO WORK!!”

He was finally brought back to reality, bringing his attention to the matter at hand. Cody wanted to get this over with, so he tickled the only most ticklish spot he knew, thanks to Courtney. Why did Courtney help him, u ask? She didn’t. Cody was just walking past his cabin, when he heard faint laughter, it was Duncan’s. “COHOHOHOURTNEY!! STAHAHAHAP!!!”

“Hahaha, it’s so funny, because your neck is so sensitive, it’s cute. Not to mention you’re extremely ticklish.”

Yes. They we’re having a tickle fight, and Duncan lost, he always does. Cody made sure to lock this core memory in his brain incase he ever needed this information. And now he does.

He shot his fingers in the crook of his neck, wriggling all ten fingers inside. “NOHOHOH!! STAHAHAP!! CHRIHIHIHIS!! PLEASE”

The timer stopped along with the two lers. Noah was having a hard time breathing, and Duncan was audibly gasping. Chef untied them both, while they slumped to the ground. Cody helped Noah up, while they locked eyes for a solid second, until they turned their heads out of embarrassment.

“I would give u guys another challenge bc it was a tie, but considering Duncan lost way too soon, I’ll give this one to the Screaming Gophers.”

Every one on their team cheered and celebrated, while everyone on the other team looked like they had sticks up their asses. “Oh, We know who we’re gonna vote off,” Courtney scowled.

“It wasn’t my fault, princess, how did he even know to tickle me there?” Courtney’s and Duncan’s arguing grew quieter the father they got from the cameras. Cody gave Noah subtle squeezes to his sides, earning him a few squeaks, Noah pledged that he would only tickle Cody back when they either get together or he gets more comfortable around him. Either way, they are a cute couple.

*

YES!! I’M FINALLY DONE😭

“Hahaha,

Now Noah also hates tickling, but he especially hates getting tickled infront of

[ran-orimoto]

I want to know you bettah. A favourite character and ship for each Digiseason

Funny, Anon!!!!!! ~~~~~ I don’t really have defined opinions on the series that come after the first four, with the exception of Appmon and Ghost Game. So, sorry if I will skip those other three!

Adventure 01

• Mimi: My princess💕. Along with Katara from ATLA, she’s my own definition of what a girl character should be written like, but I don’t think you want to read long explanations😂.

• Michi: Mimi was a second mc by Taichi’s side. I feel like she had a mirror role in comparison with Taichi’s, as if she’s some sort of girl icon for the franchise. I don’t know how to explain it, but she has got so much presence in the anime, in the merch, in posters; she is voiced by AIM which allowed her to have her own ending, and somehow it feels like this fact makes her omnipresent in the history of the Digimon anime. Wishful thinking, but I like them together because of so many other reasons. THEY JUST CLICK SO WELL.

-Adventure 02

•Miyako: I know I know, she’s not that jewel of character when it comes to her writing, bur her concept has always intrigued me even when I didn’t know Digimon that well. She’s funny, clever, she’s connected with Mimi, she’s also got such a cute design ngl. Can I say she’s my favourite because of these shallow reasons? I think I will find many others when I rewatch 02.

• Daiyako: MY GUILTY PLEASURE. They’re so precious in each other’s regards, always being in the middle of teasing sessions but eventually showing to care about each other so much ? They can work platonically too, and I love pairings that are amazing both platonically and romantically.

-Tamers

KINDA HARD, I will admit it. I like the characters from Tamers but I don’t feel that connected to them. I used to have a huge adoration for Jenrya but it faded somehow. I like Ruki and Hirokazu but not that excessively. I relate to Juri sometimes but she has got so many moments that make me cringe out. It’s … A complex relationship…

• Takato: Again, I’m not THAT attached to him but he is a huge cinnamoroll and a great new beginning for the franchise. I like he’s so ordinary and creative, because…I can relate🤣. And I admit people often call me a girl Takato, sooooo🤣. Like you can see, I don’t have anything to say ahahahha.

• Rukato: MY BBIES, my bbies who are so pleasant at the sight too, thanks to their matching palettes. I confess I come from being a huge Jenruki shipper. Then, I’ve grown bored of those two and I’ve started getting so attracted by Ryouki and Rukato, but the latter eventually won especially because of Runaway Locomon. How could I keep myself from shipping those two after that film? I know there’s Jurato, but the future dramas made me dislike the way things develop…

-Frontier

• Junpei: my only prince son💕

• Junzumi.

.

SHOULD I REALLY SAY SOMETHING, C’MON🤣💕💕💕💕💕

- Appmon

• Eri: I like how she finally brought back a kind of digigirl who could be considered a real character with an interesting story, a nice and quirky personality, meaningful relationships. I had got tired of so many sexualized and pretty uninspiring digigirls (starting from Frontier era SIGH).

Eeeeh I don’t know. I liked Eri and Torajirou but I’ve discovered he’s 11 and she’s 14, so ehmmmmm. Even if the anime pushed it a bit, maybe it’s not the case to ship them ahaha.

I’ll go with • Haru x Yuujin because they are a parallel Jurato✨.

-Ghost Game

• Emma: I KNOW SHE IS NOT PART OF THE TRIO AND SHE APPEARED FOR LESS THAN AN EPISODE, but she ensnared me and makes me salty whenever I see her, because she would have been a perfect four member. Leave me alone, I need to cry and mope.

• Ruri x Kiyoshiro: The total flop this shipping was because in GG the kids had 0 interesting interactions and I want to cry again, because why is that anime so unfair. Still, I ship them, I don’t care. Ruri had her small teasing moments with Kiyoshiro and their personalities CLASH. Idk Ruri would take him to the worst night trips in forests, parks and he would tag along because Jellymon’s and Ruri’s personalities are so perfectly aligned!

Thank you for the ask!💕