#that being said the other reason why it better be a long song is I'm really looking forward to it

[asofterepilogue]

the epic version of odysseus is such a wet cat of a man to me that I cannot wrap my mind around the idea that he'll be badassly murdering 100+ suitors. that song better be 2 hours long because that's how long it'll take me to start believing the poorest little meow meow is capable of something that doesn't involve crying for his wife.

[gor3sigil]

Trans drag performers deserve better.

Okay so since y'all seem interested, here we go.

[This is about MY experience as a “former” transmasc drag king, in my local scene. This isn't representative of the drag scene as a whole because drag is a wide, huge scene with pretty much any type of people in it. I have never done paid gig. I only performed a couple of times before deciding to stop.]

I discovered drag with RuPaul like a lot of people, and for a long time, I only knew about drag queens. It’s when I learned about an initiation to drag king happening in my town that I decided to try it. I did a bit of research before the event took place and that's how I learned that drag king is widely undocumented, compared to drag queen. A bit disheartening but I was excited to do something new and especially to get back in my local queer community after 2 years or so of “no contact” with it because trauma (see my post about my first T4T relationship to understand why).

First surprise when I got there, I was the only transmasc present as an attendee. The organiser and person who teached us is agender and go by he/him, and his at the time SO is a transmasc enby but appart from them, I was the only trans person. Most of the others were cis lesbian women. Makes sense. The initiation weekend went really well and we ended up performing in an open scene at the end. I can't count the amount of times I got misgendered by other kings during this weekend and I have to say, it pissed me off so fucking bad because I was the only one getting consistantly misgendered. But I brushed it off and had a blast.

My drag persona is more of a dragula king, really goth, and I did a lipsync performance on a Black Dresses song. I loved it and had a blast. A year or so later, we decided with other drag kings to do a little group to perform together.

Once again, I'm the only trans person.

And that's when the shitshow kinda happened. From all the drag kings present, I was also the only one who wasn't already part of a collective. So the group we had was composed of people from 2 collectives who would basically cheer each other out at every show, and it's great !! But I wasn't being integrated into the group, and I felt defeated. One of the main reasons why I didn't go to drag shows was because I was FLAT BROKE. I couldn't attend these events as they were always or in a bar so you have to at least buy a drink, or had a fee, and I couldn't afford that.

We started doing rehearsals and I set up a discord server for us all to use and organize the said rehearsals. It soon became apparent that they weren't really serious about this group, that they were more involved in their own collectives and it was HELL to have at least one rehearsal a month. But we had a show scheduled for september, and half of the kings weren't ready, didn't know their texts nor songs. I knew it was going to be bad. Also we were confirmed that the gig was going to actually happen 3 days only before, because the people who said they were going to do the visuals NEVER DID and we had to fumble something quick so the event was promoted very fucking late and we weren't sure we could even afford to do it, because not many tickets were sold.

During the rehearsals I got singled out for everything. My voice was dropping because of the T (I had started 8 months prior) and I tried to do my best with the singing parts but got told a few times that my low voice would sound “weird” amongst the sopranos. Also, one of the solo part a king was going to perform was on a very upbeat music and he said we could join IF WE WANTED.

I said I'd pass since it wasn't my style at all.

And when we got to the venue, the venue didn't have any backstage and I had my solo part just after that, so I couldn't just stand there on stage and do nothing. The others in my group KNEW IT as they had performed in this venue BEFORE but just told me “oh, too bad, improvise something” when they were the same ones who told me that taking part in the number was not mandatory.

Regarding the other artists, man, I hated everything. I got misgendered constantly IN KING LIKE - I'M A DRAG KING FFS. Even by others in my group.

When I corrected another performer, a cis gay dude, he laughed at my FACE and told me “but you're trans aren't you like, against gender or something ?”. As I was pre op and still early in my transition I was basically outing myself everytime I told my pronouns and I got so many cis performers ask me invasive questions about my sex life, or being like “yeah I have a trans friend who goes by X but I knew them as Y so it's Y to me but it's not in a disrespectful way you see”.

So yeah, I didn't have a great night. :)

The cis kings called me “girl” or “sis” because “I'm one of them” even after telling them time and time again that I wasn't comfortable with that.

And after this quite disastrous experience, the same ones who called me “girl” and me got into an argument because they wanted to change a song about forced toxic masculinity which is an INCREDIBLY POWERFUL AND BEAUTIFUL SONG into lyrics to talk about femininity. I said that we could use another song then, because there's so few cis men singers who sing about being forced into toxic masculinity and virility that I found that a bit disrespectful to take this important message and make it about women and femininity. There's plenty of songs about that that we could use.

And now guess what ? I was a MEAN MAN who wanted women to NOT TALK ABOUT THEIR ISSUES because I was a very MANLY DUDE DISGUSTING MALE.

The same people who couldn't gender me correctly and called me “sis” a WEEK BEFORE.

So yeah, I got the fuck out and gave up.

I really wish I can perform again one day, but it'll be in another scene.

So PSA: book drag kings, because they are so underrepresented it's disheartening, RESPECT trans drag performers, don't but bioessentialism in drag for the LOVE OF GOD IT'S DRAG. Like imagine being transphobic as a DRAG PERFORMER. Learn the history. And fucking do better.

[tea-cat-arts]

Ranking mxtx couples by whether or not I think they'd be good parents

(I'm 90% sure I'm forgetting someone)

Yep, next question (S)-

Wangxian: tried and tested good dads. I wish them luck with the whole “trying to get wwx pregnant” thing 

They have some shit to work through, but after that I think they'd be fine (A)-

Ling Wen/ Bai Jin: if we're just going off the original publication, I would put them in a much lower tier, but since the revised edition added that thing about them raising orphans together and said orphans turning out alright before unfortunate circumstances, I'm putting them up here. I think they'll be alright once they work through the miscommunication

Xiao Xingchen/ Song Lan: They obviously have a lot of trauma they're working through, but I'd like to think they and A-Qing will be a loving family in the long run 

One of them would be a good parent, the other wouldn't be a bad parent (B)-

Jiang Yanli/ Jin Zixuan: there's no canon reason for me putting them this low. Jin Zixuan just gives off a mediocre parent vibe to me (and we all know Jiang Yanli is the best)

Yushipei: Yushi Huang has good mom energy, and Pei Ming has been shown to be a not terrible mentor. I'd want the misogyny fully beaten out of him with a mace before I'd think he should have kids of his own though 

Lang Qianqiu/ Little Guy: at the very least, they're making sure Guzi is fed, clothed, washed, vaccinated, and has access to education. Neither of them know what they're doing, but I think Little Guy is good at faking it. I wish them luck in their upcoming custody battle  

You know what, surprise me/ I'll hear you out (C)-

Bingqiu: My first instinct is “no, do not bring kids into this,” but then I remembered tharnShen Qingqiu has a surprisingly decent track record? Like, Ning Yingying and Ming Fan both turned out a lot more health than they did in the original novel, and though I wouldn't call him in a good place, Binghe is doing a lot better than Bingge. The wild card for me here is Luo Binghe because I have no idea how he'd be with kids

Quanyin: Yin Yu had a decent track record until he was pushed into snapping. I think rn, he needs a couple centuries of being a babygirl before he's ready to parent again. No idea how Quan Yizhen would do though 

Born to “dual income, no kids, rich uncles/aunts” (D)-

Fengqing: Feng Xin is canonically a bad dad. I know he's working on it, but it is what it is. Mu Qing has been shown to be decent with kids, but I think he’d have a melt down if he had to deal with the mess constantly. 

Hualian: I mean, Xie Lian has raised three kids at this point and one of them became a god, another became state preceptor and then sorta complicit in a genocide, and one became god AND committed genocide + he babysat a ghost king for months and didn't even realize that's what he was because it was a miracle if he remembered to feed him… so, a mixed bag. Hua Cheng may be schrodinger’s child hater, but I'm intrigued by the idea of him raising kids just because I want to know how his own childhood would influence his parenting abilities. They should probably just stick to babysitting for now though 

Mingling: Liu Mingyan is too busy writing gay porn to be dealing with kids, and I just can't imagine Sha Hualing as a mom

Please don't bring a kid into this mess (F)-

Beefleaf: Do I need to explain this one?

Mobeishang: Shang Qinghua should not be put in any position where he has to teach someone about consent (Binghe’s early attempts at flirting being a prime example of why that's a bad idea). I also think Mobei Jun is still working on the whole “why hitting people is not cool” thing. 

QiJiu: I think the original timeline is a prime example of how they're just not in a place to be raising kids 

Jun Wu/ Mei Nianqing: Xie Lian would like a refund on his adopted father figures. They had one kid and he only made it to age 20 because he was cursed to not die

[steddieas-shegoes]

shit talkin' up all night

for @steddiesongfics song 'for the first time' by the script

rated m | 1,469 words | cw: alcohol, arguing | tags: angst with a happy ending, established relationship, robin buckley deserves an award for saving their relationship everyone say thank you robin, they're in love, eddie is just dumb for a bit

◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️◼️

The arguing started when Steve suggested they move back in with Wayne.

They were struggling; Eddie wasn't an idiot, he could see the told his unemployment was taking on their financial situation. They were able to cover rent from Steve's paycheck, but they had to cut back on literally everything else. No more date nights, no more trips to visit Dustin, no more buying the good bacon for breakfast.

It wasn't for lack of trying, it's just that Eddie only had a GED and no marketable skills outside of playing music. Any job he could get would make miserable.

"I just think if we take some time to save up, maybe you'll be able to find something you like and then it'll be better," Steve shrugged.

"I'm not moving back in with Wayne. He did enough for me already."

"Then I'll get another job."

"No, you're not working two jobs. I'll just...go work at the McDonald's."

"Eds, you would hate it there."

"Well, it's a paycheck."

Steve sighed and walked away.

And then it got worse.

Eddie did find a job. He worked part time at the music lesson school. It didn't pay nearly enough, but it was something.

Until one of the parents found out he was working there and threw a fit and he got fired. The owner apologized, but said if it came down to his business and Eddie, he had to let Eddie go.

Back to square one.

Steve was too understanding. It was frustrating.

Eddie started arguments just to make him mad.

Whatever would push him: leaving all the dirty dishes in the sink, staying out late without letting him know, buying the good bacon for breakfast when it wasn't in the budget.

It did start to work eventually.

"Why are you doing this?" Steve asked eventually, after two nights of Eddie coming home late for no other reason than to make Steve upset. He hadn't even done anything, just walked around downtown for a couple hours and thought about how much of a failure he'd been.

"I'm not doing anything," he'd say back.

Steve would push.

Eddie would push back.

Little things turned into big things.

And then Eddie came home drunk.

He hadn't even been to a bar, he hadn't been with anyone else. He'd gotten one six pack of beer and realized halfway through it that he hadn't eaten all day and kept drinking anyway.

The buzz was great until he was stumbling through the front door, waking Steve up from his half-slumber on the couch of the apartment.

Steve didn't even argue. He just shook his head and went to their bedroom, closing the door and making it clear he didn't want to be around Eddie.

The next morning, Steve was already gone when Eddie managed to roll off the couch.

"Steve's not gonna say it, so I will," Robin's voice made him trip over his boots on the floor. She was sitting in the armchair, glaring at him. "You're pushing him away because you don't think you deserve someone who is patient and loving. He used to try that shit with me, with the kids, with Hopper. Started shit just to see if we'd leave. Pretended he was the only one who could deal with his problems."

Eddie blinked back at her, vision blurry from sleep and unshed tears. He wasn't gonna cry in front of Robin.

"I could understand why he did it. He had shitty parents and shitty friends before all of us. Took him some time to get used to being cared for." Robin leaned forward. "But you've had Wayne for a long time. Us. Steve. So what is it that's causing this? Why are you hurting Steve? Why are you hurting yourself?"

Eddie had been to therapy for a month or so after everything. The government insisted on it. He'd even done what they asked of him. Talked about everything that happened, talked about his childhood, talked about being gay in a town that thought being gay was bad enough to send you to hell, but somehow still the least of Eddie's crimes.

The therapist told him it seemed like he was always preparing himself to get hurt, even with the people that he did trust. That was the last time he went to the therapist.

"Because this is all I'll ever be, Robin! Steve should get out while he can, find someone who isn't fuckin' useless. Someone who can get a real job or go to school or something."

"Is this because you can't be on your feet for more than a couple hours?"

Eddie was silent.

"Do you think that means you can't do things? Do you think Steve wants to watch you suffer more than you already have?"

Eddie shook his head once.

"Then here's what you're gonna do. You're gonna shower and clean up the house a little. You're gonna cook that chicken dish Steve loves so much because I went to the deli to get fresh ingredients for you. You're gonna open that bottle of wine I did not steal from Chrissy's restaurant. You're gonna talk to him."

"Okay."

"And then tomorrow, you're gonna come interview for a job at the museum. They're opening a new exhibit called Rock Through The Ages and they're looking for someone to do tours. It's four hours a day, five days a week. Pay is more than you made anywhere else plus tips. Interview is a formality, they already know you're qualified."

"Robin, I-"

"And you're gonna shut up. I love you, too, Eddie. And I love that dingus who loves you. So get your shit together so you can both be as happy as I know you can be."

Eddie hugged her for a long time, probably much longer than Robin would have ever allowed him to if it weren't for the circumstances.

He cleaned himself up, he cleaned up the apartment, he cooked dinner, and he opened the bottle of wine.

Neither of them were big fans of wine, but this was a $100 bottle. Eddie would drink every last drop.

When Steve came through the door at 4:39 on the dot, just like he did every week day, Eddie was holding a glass of wine out to him with a small smile.

"Eds? What's this?"

"Been a while since we've had a date night. Thought maybe we deserved it."

Steve stared back at him blankly, then let out a sob and walked over to him, burying his face in his neck.

"Sh, it's okay, sweetheart. I'm right here," Eddie wrapped him up in his arms, kissing his head. "I'm here."

"You promise?" Steve's broken voice nearly tore Eddie in two. How had he let it get this bad?

"I promise, Stevie. I'm sorry I've been somewhere else in my head."

Steve pulled away, sniffling and looking around the room as he realized that dinner was already set out on the bar and the dishes were done.

"You did all this for me?"

"For us."

"Is that chicken cacciatore?" Steve walked to the plate in his usual spot and smiled. "You made this?"

"I did. Hopefully it's edible. If not, I already have the menu for the Italian place down the road by the phone," Eddie pulled Steve's chair out for him and then sat down next to him.

They talked through dinner, mostly about Steve's day, and then about Eddie's. He brought up the interview and Steve beamed like the sun.

"That sounds perfect for you, Eds."

"I know. I think it'll be great."

The bottle of wine went down easy. Maybe a little too easy.

By the time they realized it was gone, they were giggling and leaning on each other, cheeks red and eyes glazed over with a buzz that was more than just the high alcohol content.

Steve leaned in to kiss him.

Eddie leaned in to kiss him back.

And for the first time in a long time, they stayed up all night, talking, kissing, touching in ways they'd nearly forgotten how to do.

When Eddie got the job, he sent Robin flowers. Nothing fancy, the pay wasn't that good. But he had to thank her for getting his head out of his ass and his ass in shape.

Steve didn't ask when he saw the bill for it, just smiled and kissed the top of Eddie's head while he got ready for his first day of work.

"I love you. Good luck today," Steve said as he fixed his glasses before grabbing his keys to head to his job at the youth center downtown.

"Love you too. Pizza tonight?"

"Sounds good, love. Wine?"

Eddie nodded towards the bottle of $3 wine from the liquor store.

Steve laughed. "I'll grab some Tylenol on my way home."

[jjoongstar]

𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆, 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔

pairing: student!wooyoung x student!reader (college au)

genre: smut, humor, angst, pwp, fwb

rating: nsfw

warnings: protective sex, humping, grinding, fingering, blowjob, cunninglingus, spiting, petnames (lmk if i missed any!)

wc: 4.1k

synopsis: started off being fuck buddies with wooyoung just because. then you started to develop feelings when you shouldn't have so it ended tragically since it was one sided and after a huge mistake wooyoung made.

a/n: i'm not a great writer but i had to get this out of my head, its annoying me by day, sorry if its not that good. feedbacks are very much appreciated! (tags are at the end)

"did you mean it, wooyoung?"

"mean what?"

"what you said earlier,"

"y/n, i said a lot of things when i fuck you. which one?"

"your feelings for me woo..."

"my feelings for you? i never said that,"

"then why did you said you love me?"

"i did? sorry, it kinda slipped off my tongue. so, no, i don't have feelings for you,"

seeing your silent state.

"wait, do you-"

"not me either, don't worry." you give him a bitter smile, pick up your clothes and left his dorm room.

that was it. it always has been that way. you and wooyoung were nothing more than just friends who enjoys fucking each other for fun. with no actual feelings attached. that's what he had in mind, but not you.

wooyoung was a friend of friend. you started to make conversations when the three of you hung out at a college frat party. somehow you and wooyoung exchanged contacts after you both were laughing so much over silly jokes you two made. he likes talking to you very much since you enjoyed joking around with his stupid jokes.

the second time you met was at the lecture hall when you two, coincidentally, have the same class to attend. you and your seatmate were stifling giggles bout making dirty jokes. though you thought no one heard your whispers, wooyoung, who sat behind you, heard most of it and he was amused.

"yea i think mr. song is packing too." you've never turned around so quickly before up till that moment. wooyoung was leaning down a bit to your seat and he has a smirk on his face.

you were a bit surprised of his presence, but not his words. knowing him before, you weren't that shocked with his jokes. you give him a sly smile and you focus back on the ongoing lecture.

the next hangout was at another house party. celebrating some jock's birthday, well not that you cared whoever he was, as long as there's free drinks. wooyoung sat beside you, close but not enough to touch each other. he rests his elbow on the headrest of the couch while the other hand has a cup of liquor. you on the other hand, also have the same cup as the person beside you but with a different type of alcohol and you put your feet up on the coffee table in front. you two enjoy sitting down and talk to each other through the loud music rather than dancing on the sticky dirty floors.

"why don't you have a partner y/n?"

"i dislike sloppy small dicks."

"pfftt are you for real?!" wooyoung who almost choked on his drink, sat up straight to face you better. you giggled out at his reaction. dirty jokes and vulgar words are just and every day thing between you two, and it always made you two laugh, never ever felt offended or uncomfortable.

"yea, base on past relationships that is. but that's not the actual reason why i chose to be single right now,"

"then what is? you dislike monster cocks too?"

"NO NOT THAT!"

"haha then what?"

"commitment issues."

wooyoung only replied with a silent hum.

"very understandable tho, cause me too. like I'm down to fuck someone but i don't want to have any strings attached after," he broke the silence first while twirling around his empty cup in his hands.

"like holding hands in public, kissing at the hallways, go on silly dates, the need to remember every stupid unnecessary dates, overly saying 'i love you', 'i love you too' then-"

"YEAA THAT I GET IT! you get it, ew please stop, it's disgusting," he smacks your shoulder telling you to stop with the excessive description of being in a 'relationship'. after your laughter subsided, it went back to another silent moment. until he spoke up first, again.

"you wanna fuck?" you looked straight into his eyes. there was no hint of a joke in it.

"like right now?" he quickly nod at you and you didn't bother thinking twice. there's no reason for you to do that either way.

"yea sure, why not." you added and he took the cup away from your hands and threw it away somewhere. whoever person got splashed with the drink, not that he cares, not his problem.

wooyoung grabbed your wrist and dragged you upstairs. his grip was firm but not enough to hurt you, just to not let you get lost in the sea of drunk humans. he twist on every doorknobs to find an empty room. once he found it he pulled you inside, lets you go and locks the door.

"woah…whoever this room belongs too, i like his bed, its so soft," wooyoung turned around and saw you laying down on your back at the queen size bed in the room.

"distracted already? i didn't bring you here to snooze y'know…" he stood by the door with his hands on his waist.

"i know, come here already if you want to do it so bad," you spread out your legs a bit for him when you saw the bulge in his pants.

the man quickly made his way and tops over you. he place his hand on the underside of your jaw, tilting your head to the side as he dives his face in and starts to kiss your neck. it started off slow, but after he inhaled your scent more, he begins to lick and suck your skin from under your ear to you collarbones.

his hands fiddles the hem of your shirt and you help him fully took it off by lifting your body up a bit. he gasped closing his mouth with one hand. you wondered why he stopped. till you follow his gaze on your covered breast.

"wahh y/n, i never imagined your boobs with such a pretty bra…" he fiddles with the silver heart charm in the middle of your bra.

"look who's more distracted now," you chuckled and pulled him closer by tugging his shirt.

he sat up and took his shirt off. you were ogling at his well built body. he chuckles proudly, knowing he hit the gym well to make you drool over him like this.

he leans back in and continue his wet kisses all over you exposed chest. his hands wanders all over your upper body and found its way to your back to unclip your bra. you sigh in relief after feeling the little freedom. wooyoung tossed it across the room somewhere as he was still busy feeling your body. his lips went to swirl around your tits while his hand plays with the other one, not wanting it to feel left out.

the slight feeling made your body shudder and wetness started to pool in your undies. the more you hear sucking noises from him, you feel more hornier. you pull his hips closer to yours and grinds your needy sex to his groin.

he detached his mouth from your wet tits as he moans and grinds along with you. you started to feel the buildup in your stomach and you grip his shoulder. you stutter out his name as he continues to dry hump your both clothed girth. he pulls away after your your legs twitched around him. you saw a wet patch on his bulge. wonder if it was from you or his.

he walks over to all the tables, going through every drawers till he found a pack of condom. he sets it aside while he unbuckles his pants and you took off the last piece of clothing on your body. he slips his finger to the waistband of his boxers but he didn't pulled it down just yet.

"though mine isn't a sloppy small dick or a huge monstrous size one, are you ok with that?" you blinked a few times at the man standing by the side of the bed with nothing but his boxers while you're there, fully naked on the bed.

"hahahah woo please…i really don't care, as long as it can fit my mouth," he took your amusement as a sign to continue and he pulls down his boxers and left his hard member spring up till the tip reach under his belly button.

he walks over to you as you position yourself and rubs his member a bit before putting it inside your mouth. you took it out and pumps it, twisting your hands all over it, feeling it getting harder by every movement. you spit on the tip and squeeze it with your thumb making the the man in front of you whines out your name.

you take that as a sign to start suck him off. he sighs in pleasure upon feeling the warmth of your mouth. you lick and suck in every angle you could. he grips your shoulder and pushes you off after you felt a hint of saltiness from him.

"i don't wanna cum yet," he swipes away the drool on your chin while your eyes never left his leaking member.

he drags you and lets you lay down on your back while he makes his place in between your legs. he licks a stripe of your wet hole before he went to suck on the bundle of nerve. his way of sucking and twisting his tongue on your clit made you feel your head in a daze. never before has someone eat you out at this speed.

he plunges two of his fingers in you hole making you squirm. he roams it around till he found the exact soft spot that made you gasp and arch your back. you kept on moaning when he pumps his fingers and scissors you open. you beg for his dick as your needy cunt can't take it anymore, you need him to fill you up.

"patience baby, i still need to stretch you up at least." he pulls his mouth away and sat on his heels while he slips on the rubber to his thick dick. why does it look a bit bigger than before? he angles his tip to your hole and moves along your folds.

"you sure bout this?" you nodded quickly at him.

"use your words babe," he slaps the tip at your sensitive clit making your thighs twitch.

"yes, I'm sure. please put it in already woo,"

"safe word?"

"shark." your eyes stumbled upon a little shark plushie on the desk in the room. wooyoung followed your gaze to the toy and he looks back at you.

"shark it is." he plunges his dick right in you. the stretch stings a bit but it felt good. so good it already made you squirm and begs him to move.

he started at a slow pace until he found the right angle that made you moan louder. he rams into you harder and faster. every thrust made you lose your breath. his grip on your hips might leave bruises on the next day.

he leans his body down and suck down the skin of your chest, leaving red spots. you felt the same feeling in your stomach and you grip onto his arms. he wraps his hand around your neck just enough to make you roll your eyes back at the high feeling.

you wrap you legs around his waist, pulling him closer as you felt the waves crash in.

"w-wooyoung," was all you could mutter as your head felt in a haze.

"shh i know," he slows down his pace and presses his pelvis down on your clit, letting you ride out your high.

after you let him go, he topples down on you. few minutes went by as you both tried to calm down. his hand brushes away the hair that stuck to your face so he could see your fucked out expression better.

"you good?" he propped up on his elbow beside you.

"yea so good i- WAIT! you didn't come yet!"

"says who," wooyoung sat up and pulled out slowly from you. he slips off the used condom and showed the white liquid in it.

the smirk on his face made you roll your eyes and huff out annoyingly. you're worried for nothing. he grabbed some tissues and helps wipe you off. he went to grab your clothes and tossed them over to you then he dresses himself back.

"no strings attached?"

"no strings attached."

you grab his hand that he held up to you and helps you get off the bed. he gives you a firm hug as to seal the contract you both made.

there you have it. that's how this friends with benefits relationship started with wooyoung. nothing weird happened after. everything was just normal. friends in public, fuck buddies in private.

he would call you up whenever he needed a release and you're always down for it. so does you. whenever you feel horny, he'll be quick to help you with it and you both go on with your days like nothing ever happened under the sheets.

wooyoung waved at you when you passed by the hallway and you waved him back with a friendly smile. afterwards, he went back to chat with his friends while you also went your way to your next class. just a simple wave with no conversations like as if he didn't rail you so hard last night till your head almost hit the wall.

somedays, you didn't even think bout him at all and so did he. not seeing each other for weeks was also fine. hanging out as friends again, going to parties, bars, clubbing. those days doesn't necessarily need for you two to fuck. just as friends like before hanging out together with your circle of friends.

being fuck buddies with wooyoung was fun. when there's no strings attached, you could tease and play with what's happening to him currently. that is when he told you someone had a crush on him and just confessed.

knowing him, he's obviously not into relationship and doesn't even like the girl back. so when you guys fuck, you bring the girl up.

"ahh woo, please, i have a crush on you," you moan in a mocking manner as you ride his dick.

"i don't like you. i don't even know who you are," he bucks his hips upwards in between.

"but you're so handsome and pretty, and soooo extremely hot," you tease him more and grabs a fistful of his hair and yanks his head back. he lets out a long moan as he really loves it whenever you go rough on him too.

"i…nghh wanna be your girlfriend!"

"EWW NO!" he lifts you by the waist and slams you on your back.

his thrusts became faster and he grunts every time you squeeze his dick. you love teasing him and it riles him up to fuck you even harder. in the end, you both enjoyed it.

on the next day, you saw wooyoung talking with the girl with a smirk on his face. the girl doesn't have a chance. poor girl, he's just toying with her feelings.

another thing you love being fuck buddies with him is the roleplay. he lets you roleplay into any of your fantasies. one of them is your adoration to your smoking hot professor.

"he's so deliciously hot woo, you don't understand," you rant out to the man as he was cooking dinner and you sat by the kitchen bar.

"then go eat him out, if you want to taste him that bad,"

"if i could, i would. heard rumours he's gay,"

"he is?" wooyoung turned around to face you after turning off the stove.

"yea, people always saw him hanging around with mr. jeon, and its ALWAYS mr. jeon. never have anyone seen him with a woman." the man with an apron burst out laughing while smacking the counter top, its a laughing habit of his, as long as he doesn't smack you, its fine.

"well none for you, so there's a chance for me then,"

"wooyoung, you're not helping!" you cross your arms over your chest and sigh in frustration. he walks over to you and your gaze never left his.

"well, i can help you in another way," he graze his fingertips along your exposed thighs and slips under your short.

he found your clit and presses it down making you gasp and grip his wrist. he moves his fingers in a slow circular motion and you spread your legs wider.

"p-please…" you beg in a low whisper and he quickly retracts his hand and place them on your hips.

he lifts you up and sits you down on top of the kitchen bar. he made sure the surface was clear before pushing you down by your shoulders. he takes off your short along with your panties and he tossed them away.

he spreads your legs wider and grips tightly the inside of your thighs as he admires the view of your clenching cunt, begging for attention.

"you really like your professor that much huh?" he teases and feel more aroused thinking bout the man of your dreams.

he leans down and nudge his nose to your clit while his tongue busies itself at your hole. he stuck his tongue in and slurps every drop of your juice. his tongue felt so soft and velvety. you love it. but you need more. you want his fingers in you.

"woo please-"

"it's mr. song to you." he lifts his head up and gives you a sharp glare before stuffing your mouth with his fingers.

the feeling of imagining its your professor that you have a crush on, that's pleasing you right now. a whimper came from you as you suck and cover wooyoung's thick fingers with your saliva before he takes it out of your mouth.

"be a good girl for me," the man in between your legs slides his fingers along your folds making you shudder.

he bent over to the side and picks up a pack of condom from the drawer and slips in on. without another word, he pushes his protected dick in and bottoms out.

you cried out at the stretch feeling and your hands tries to grip down on anything you can reach. noticing your helpless reaction, he lends out his hand and you intertwine your fingers with his.

he starts to move when you squeeze his hand. his other hand made its place on your thigh and he pulls you closer while he thrust into you, wanting to feel you deeper. he felt your pussy clenching, he knows that you're close to your orgasm so he thrust in harder and deeper. letting his tip touch your soft spot.

"yea… mr. song, sir ahh…please…" you don't know what you're begging for, but for all you know, you want it. you need it.

after a final thrust you came creaming down all over his hard dick. you legs twitched over the sensitivity of your sex.

"such a good girl," wooyoung praises you as he caresses your thighs, calming you down.

it was wooyoung that's in between your legs and has his dick still stuffed in you, but your mind is filled with another man, your professor, mr. song mingi.

though college isn't just about going to classes, then partying, then the hookups. there's the extra other activities that does require a friend or two, but its definitely not the same friend. that was when you realised that you and wooyoung were really just friends.

thought you have upgraded to best friends by now, but your dreams faded away when you sat down one day and reflected back where you stood. you wanted to spend your college years with him. not just fucking, but other curricular activities. you would want to choose him first in any events but its not the same situation to him. though you would put him first, but he would not put you as his first option.

summer camp. he went with san while you had to go with your other friends.

sports day. he had his training with san.

fundraising events. he volunteered with san.

literature competition. he had paired up with san.

community service. again, with san.

talent show. san.

explore race. san.

career fair. san

san san san san san san san san san san san.

its always him but never you. for once you felt like a loner. you somewhat felt the urge to need him. you yearn for him. no just in a way he stuffs his dick in you. but in ways you want him to embrace you. for once, more than a friend.

that's how you ended up at his dorm in the middle of the night when the accident happened.

he was gripping on to your hips, spanking your ass to leave his handprints. your arms were too weak to handle the overwhelming feeling of his dick in your wet hole, you shove your head down on wooyoung's mattress and your hands kept on clawing at his sheets.

he felt his high coming and he leans down, pressing his bare chest to you back. burying his face in your neck. his thrusts getting sloppier.

"f-fuck y/n, you pussy always feels so good. i really love it, so so much, i love you."

hearing the last words your body jolted and you squeezed his dick way tighter than before. he groans out loud as his cum spurts out into the condom. he puts you down gently as he pulls out, hissing slightly as his member is still a bit sensitive.

he went to grab some towels and a drink while you laid there still in utter shock of his words. did you misheard him? no, it can't be. even when you try to deny what you heard, your heart felt the urge to believe it was true.

"did you mean it, wooyoung?" you finally speak up while he wipes down your legs.

"mean what?"

"what you said earlier,"

"y/n, i said a lot of things when i fuck you. which one?"

"your feelings for me woo..."

"my feelings for you? i never said that," your breathe hitched and your heart sink at the word never. silence fills the air in a few seconds before you speak up again.

"then why did you said you love me?"

"i did? sorry, it kinda slipped off my tongue. so, no, i don't have feelings for you,"

seeing your silent state.

"wait, do you-"

"not me either, don't worry." you give him a bitter smile and get off his bed after he puts your panties on.

you pick up your clothes and left his dorm room while wearing them one by one. fuck who cares if someone sees your tits, you can't stand being in the same space with wooyoung. the tears that welled up in your eyes might actually break.

you found yourself sitting on a bench by the pond with nothing but a heavy heart. he's not wrong. why would he even have feelings for you. you're just friends. friends who fulfills their lustful desires. there's no need for him to look out for you. he shouldn't hang out with you all the time, like he has other friends too. you can't control him or keep him to yourself. he's not your boyfriend.

"y/n?" the voice of the person you least wanted to see. he puts a jacket over your shoulders and sat beside you.

"what do you want," you said nonchalantly, trying to hold back your tears and your gaze still looking down on your hands above your lap.

"well i couldn't just let you leave without sending you off properly. its also in the middle of the night, its cold and-"

"stop it wooyoung," you push him away from you. he was taken aback by your behavior but it didn't stop him. he kept on asking the obvious.

"what's wrong? did something happen? was is something that i said?"

silence fills in the air as you remembered back what he said. i love you. he said that. that was the problem. he shouldn't say that if its not real. then again, nothing was ever real whenever you guys fuck.

"I'm really sorry i said those words. i really do love you but as a friend. not as lovers. if i were, i would've kiss you already."

he was right. his shot up truth hurts even more than the silence. never once you both kiss each other on the lips. that was because you're not lovers. you've made the promise to not have any feelings at all, yet here you are. crying over a stupid relationship with your friend.

"let's end this, I'm tired." you shot up from your seat and walks towards your place. you kept shoving wooyoung off whenever he tugs at your arm. you ignored all of his yelling and screaming of your name like a child. you let the tears in your eyes stream down your face.

"you were my friend y/n!!" he yelled out from behind you.

friend. always a friend. nothing more, nothing less.

dividers

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[hamliet]

Hazbin Hotel Has Better Theology Than Most Modern "Christian" Stories

As a Christian who was raised in a fundie cult and escaped to now have a far healthier and vital faith, I genuinely really like this show. The songs are bops. The characters are well crafted and interesting, and likable too. The art design is bizarre but appealing.

And, as a theology nerd who studied theology as part leaving said cult and also has since gotten papers published in theology, I'm actually fairly impressed by the show's handling of theology.

No, I'm not expecting the story to preach or even like, be explicitly Christian in a lot of ways. But it's taking a lot of the really beautiful aspects of Christian theology and re-contextualizing them in a way designed to provoke thought: by juxtaposing them with the antithesis of what you would think, by making demons heroes. In my opinion, this makes the beauty shine brighter.

Yeah, yeah, it's designed to be offensive and obscene in a lot of ways. Yet, it's never (thus far) mean-spirited. On the contrary, it seems to have a big, beating heart at its core that is perhaps best embodied by Charlie Morningstar, its protagonist and the daughter of Lucifer and Lilith.

Critique of the Church, with Caveats

The story works best with an interpretation that heaven isn't actually heaven or God (who has been conspicuously absent), but instead as a critique of the church. Specifically, the evangelical American church, and specifically, white evangelicals. (Same as She-Ra's premise, actually).

God's absence therefore makes sense, because while Christians do believe God is present as a living reality among us, we also can't like, see him physically now. So, God being not even mentioned in HH makes it seem more like a mortal reality rather than an immortal one. Honestly I kinda hope God doesn't appear in the story, not only because I think it could cross some lines (which is admittedly personal), but also because I don't see that the story really needs it.

Adam in particular reminds me of every "theobro" on Twitter (I'm not calling it what you want me to, El*n). Basically a dudebro coopting his supposed salvation to flex in an often misogynistic way, who doesn't realize that he has absolutely no love in him and therefore is actually a worse human being than everyone he condemns on the regular.

(Which is kind of why I'm expecting Adam to wake up in hell next season...)

Think red hats. And Mark Driscoll. And, I have a list of pastors. Sigh. They advocate for how "simple" Christianity is, except they themselves make it ridiculously complicated and don't even examine what they suppose is "simple" if it requires them to take the planks out of their own eyes. "Shallow" is a better description of what they actually preach.

But what sends people to hell or heaven anyways?

Eschatology and Atonement Theory

Hazbin Hotel combines a lot of theories, throwing not only the idea of a physical hell (albeit mixed with Dante's idea of what hell is the Inferno, but to be fair a lot of the church has adopted that idea too) but the idea of annihilation, which HH calls "extermination."

See, in Christianity, there's a lot of debate about hell. Like, since 2000 years ago. The reason is because a lot of Bible verses seem to indicate hell, but others indicate the eventual redemption and salvation of absolutely everything in the universe, so you have Christian universalism tracing itself back just as long. But, setting aside universalism, people who do believe in hell tend to fall into one of two camps:

Physical hell, aka suffering for eternity, or annihilation: the idea that souls that aren't saved end up annihilated, or snuffed from existence. HH combines both of them, wherein everyone lives in hell but then every so often heaven "exterminates" a certain number of sinners.

And then you also have Catholic purgatory, which is also adapted in HH in that... for most Christians, physical hell doesn't offer the ability to redeem yourself. Chance over, you're dead. But, Catholic Christianity, which draws on ideas of praying for the dead, has the idea that people can improve themselves or be prayed out of it and into heaven. This seems to be somewhat similar to the idea of Charlie's hotel, in that sinners can improve, redeem themselves, and rise to heaven.

And, I mean, it's already kinda worked. Sir Pentious acted out Jesus' words: Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).

But anyways, the branch of theology that deals with the afterlife is eschatology. And Hazbin Hotel takes on a related form of theology as well, a type of theology I've only seen covered in stories once before (The House in Fata Morgana): atonement theory.

Atonement theory is something I remember well from my theology 101 class, as in I remember sitting with a friend and her turning to me and being like, "okay, so we know Jesus' death and resurrection give us eternal life, but we have no idea how or why?" To which the answer was "basically, yeah."

Most of the white, American evangelical church is very "penal substitutionary atonement," but the reality is that this theory has only been popular for the past few hundred years. It's also, imo, somewhat scripturally unsound. But there are a lot of other theories, and sometimes the theories overlap. Here's a fairly decent summary. (I'm in general a believer in Christus Victor.)

So how does atonement theory tie into Hazbin Hotel? Well, essentially the scene where Charlie and Vaggie are debating with Emily, Sera, Adam, Lute, and others in heaven is them going over various atonement theories and realizing that they actually know nothing at all. How does one get to heaven? How is one saved? They don't know.

Sera criticizing Emily for asking questions was also very relatable, and I feel for Sera. She's genuinely scared but the truth will set you free, Sera. John 8:32. Anyways, the point is like... the angels are an organized religion, an evangelical church, that preaches about simplicity but mistakes shallowness for simplicity and discourages depth and discovery.

Anyways, the whole crux of theological study and atonement theories is that they should promote humility. We don't know for certain on this side of the curtain. That's okay. So what do we have to guide us?

Love. After all, God is love (1 John 4:8).

Charlie is Jesus

"Why would you endanger your immortal life for these sinners?" 

Adam, the absolute worst, says the above to Charlie in the finale.

I mean... look. That's literally the premise of Christianity. That the immortal son of God comes down to earth, lives with sinners, loves us, and dies to save us. However that happens. Charlie even responds:

"They're my family!"

In other words, she loves them. Yeah, sure, they're destined for extermination, but they are going to be exterminated over her dead body.

In a lot of branches of Christianity, and even in some creeds--though I'm going to give into my pet peeves here and state that it is NOT Scriptural and relies on the faulty assumption that God is bound by time, when I think God exists outside of it--state that Jesus descended into hell after his death and took all the souls of people who were saved prior to his coming to earth to heaven. Again, I think that's small-minded at best. But, the idea that Charlie is working among them to bring them to heaven is pretty reminiscent of this idea. And I don't hate it lol.

Charlie sees worth inherent in everyone, and no matter what they've done, thinks there's a future for them. Honestly we need people like her on this earth.

Angel Dust

Angel Dust is clearly my favorite character. Bite back your shock, I know (I have a type). But his name is also a fascinating multi-layered pun.

Angel is clearly foreshadowing his endgame. Let's be real, we all know Angel is ending up as an angel. And "angeldust" is of course a name for PCP, and considering Angel's drug habits, yeah.

But, dust also has another meaning to it. See, when Adam was created in Genesis 2:7, the words in Hebrew are "apar min ha'adamah," which is translated literally as "dust of the ground." So the dust is what creates Adam, literally "ground."

In other words, I very much expect Angel Dust to end up being foiled with Adam even more so. Adam might be the first man, but Angel is the first sinner working towards redemption. And let's be real, for all Angel's flaws, he's already a better person than Adam. And if there's any hope for Adam (not that I particularly care if there is but) it'd be through realizing that he and Angel aren't actually different after all. Conversely (and not necessarily mutually exclusively), Angel might serve as a more symbolic "adam" in that he becomes the person all sinners look to for hope. Which, y'know, since "the last Adam" is also a Scriptural term for Jesus...

And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. (1 Corinthians 15:45).

I fully expect Angel's arc, alongside Charlie's, to bring life and redemption for everyone around them. Maybe, maybe even the dramatic "all" of Colossians 1:20 (which means, literally, all, everything, everywhere, in the entire universe).

Closing Thoughts

But honestly, regardless of how the story ends--besides that it will presumably end happily because HH is at its core feel-good despite being profane--season one at least has got good theology. Why? Because it's digging into the questions that theology is concerned with. It's digging into the ideas of human nature, of what it means to be a good person, of what it means to redeem oneself, of affirming how precious each individual human soul is.

It doesn't offer cheap answers, and it specifically calls out the white American evangelical church for how it purports to be simple but actually just confuses people and punishes them for things they can't help, that creates more stumbling blocks than it does shine a light. And it does it in a way that is scandalous. Offensive to many religious people.

But, y'know, Jesus was pretty scandalous too.

So I really love the story so far because it emphasizes what I find so beautiful about my religion, and criticizes the parts that have also hurt me. I don't think it's remotely aiming to be a Christian allegory or anything like that, and I don't at all think anyone has to be religious to enjoy it or gain the core message of it, but I do think that it's doing a hell of a lot more good in the world message-wise than most evangelical movies of the past 30 years.

[undreaming-fanfiction]

Thinking of a modern AU when the kids get to be kids after it's all over and they go to the movies, they play games, hang out, all that. And of course, Steve drives them everywhere. He vouches for them in front of their parents, watches them like a hawk, tries to tell them about the adult stuff he's learned so far and chases Robin and Nancy to give them info on uni application and the things he feels he's too dumb for. Still, when Robin and Nancy are away and one of his kids needs something, he'll grab that legal document and either stare at it long enough to get a migraine or begins hounding the smart people who stayed in Hawkins (Mr. Clarke is Steve's go-to person and Mr. Clarke won't say it, but he's so proud of Harrington's progress).

So, Steve's life is basically nonstop work and babysitting (with lots of complaints and grumbling from the teens), they ask him to drive them somewhere and he'll bitch about it, sure, but he will get up after 4 hours of sleep and do it anyways. Dustin often reprimands Steve for not taking care of his health, but he doesn't see why.

When Encanto comes out, El really, really wants to see it, and how can Steve say no to her? He drives the whole gang to the movie theatre (some of them stacked on top of each other, some in the trunk on a pile of blankets) and decides to join them. He doesn't really like animated stuff, but Robin loves these movies and he wants yet another reason to call her and talk through the night.

He didn't expect to enjoy the movie so much, but it's colorful and catchy. The songs are nice and the characters are relatable. He makes a lot of mental notes to discuss with Robin. He thinks she will love Mirabel.

And then "Surface Pressure" starts playing and Steve wonders why he suddenly feels like crying. "I'm pretty sure I'm worthless if I can't be of service" hits especially hard. He's just sitting there and feeling incredibly stupid for tearing up at flying glitter-covered donkeys.

When they leave the movie theater, everyone is pretty excited and discussing which characters and songs they liked the most (even if some feel like rolling their eyes at a kids' movie, El's excitement stops them from doing that). They all start discussing to who they relate the most, El feels with Mirabel for being left out and different, even if she actually is the only one who has a gift, Will dares to utter that he really sympathizes with Dolores, Dustin loves Bruno for trying to fix the cracks in Casita.

And then they turn to Steve and someone makes a jab at him, saying he resembles Mariano the most. Steve is ready to shrug it off, there's some truth in that with what happened to his relationship with Nancy, but El just shakes her head and says: "No. Steve is our Luisa."

Everyone goes silent. There's a lot of hmmming and "well, he did get up to drive us when he had a night shift..." and "we could have just biked...". Steve tries to make them feel better about it, joking that he really has nothing better to do, but the drive home is full of whispering, and the party actually diligently thank him when they leave his car.

The next day is Sunday and Steve is ready for his usual routine, making himself busy until someone needs something. But there's a knock on the door to his small apartment and when he opens it, he sees his group of kids, proudly presenting a tray of muffins and two cartons of orange juice.

Out of all of them, it's Mike who speaks up. "Nancy said you often forget to eat breakfast," he states in his usual annoyed tone. "She also said that you like chocolate muffins, so we are here to ensure you don't die from hunger. Now move, I'll get the glasses and plates."

Steve just watches in awe as they swarm his flat, Will smiling at him and producing a DVD of the latest Spider-man movie. "This one was a tip from Robin, she says you haven't seen it yet."

Max is standing in the kitchenette with her cane, watching the pile of meds Steve has to take after his injuries with disdain. "This has to take forever for you to find what you need. Don't argue, I remember how shitty it was for me. Let me help you build a chart and thank me later."

El and Lucas are rearranging Steve's couch and placing pillows in front of the TV so everyone can sit comfortably. El also ensures the blinds are closed so Steve's eyes don't have to fight against the light.

And if that all wasn't more care than Steve has known in years, Dustin grabs his elbow and sits him down, threatening him with violence if he even thinks about working on Sunday.

As the opening titles start, Steve is surrounded by six teenagers in his tiny and cheap flat, chewing on a subpar muffin with an orange juice that probably never saw the actual fruit, and he thinks that there's no greater happiness than this.

[stellamancer]

hey lonely stranger (won't you meet my eye?) — reader x satoru gojo

notes: yes, hello, here it is, the infamous lonely stranger fic. i mentioned the idea a couple months back to @willowser i thought i'd write it after finishing shine on the sea, but as usual, where gojo is concerned i'm eating my words. title comes from this song. i apologize for me love of weeb music. anyway. i hope you enjoy.

contains: fem!reader (no pronouns, no physical description), typical annoying satoru gojo antics, the faintest hint of possessive/jealous gojo, unresolved romantic tension, allusions to canon typical violence

wc: 6.4k [ao3 link; account required]

There are a lot of places where you’d expect to run into Satoru Gojo.

A match-making party is most definitely not one of them.

First of all, why is he even here? You have no doubt that the world’s strongest sorcerer has much more important things to do than attend a match-making party. Not that he even needs to in the first place. Even without the status and the prestige that his family name brings, his looks alone are more than enough to get people to throw themselves at his feet. That being said, his personality is definitely off-putting enough to make some marriage candidates run the other way. So, who knows, maybe he does need help finding a spouse after all.

You grimace, watching in real time as some of the bolder participants make a beeline toward him, eager to mingle with objectively the most attractive man in the room before the event officially begins. Even from your spot across the hotel ballroom you can see him basking in all the attention. Maybe that’s the real reason why he’s here.

After all, there’s no one who owns the limelight like Satoru Gojo.

Even though it is nothing new to you, there’s something about watching all these people fawn over him that makes you sick to your stomach. You tell yourself it’s because they’re being fooled by him and his offensively handsome face and not because you’re upset that he’s here.

You were actually kind of looking forward to this match-making party, but now you’re annoyed and it's all Gojo’s fault. You’ll have to avoid him as much as you can. It shouldn’t be too hard later on when everyone is free to converse with whoever they want, but before that is the speed dating portion. It’s an unfortunate inevitability that you will have to sit across from Satoru Gojo for two minutes of the hour-long speed-dating session, but maybe you’ll be lucky and maybe he’ll be one of the last, if not the last person for you.

In hindsight, you feel like you should have known better than to hope that luck would have your back when it’s always, always favored Satoru Gojo.

At first, you think it's merciful, sparing you from having to deal with him first. It would have really sucked for you to go through all your speed-dates in a Gojo-induced bad mood. But as he comes closer and closer one two minute interval at a time, you start to wish that you'd started with him first, and just gotten it out of the way.

Despite the threat of Satoru Gojo looming over your head, you do your best to focus on the people who come to your table. Two minutes is not a lot of time at all. Some seem to realize that and try to squeeze as much talking as they can in that amount of time. Some are paralyzed by it; awkwardly floundering for the hundred twenty seconds given to them. There are a couple people that you manage to enjoy a nice, albeit short, conversation with. Despite that, you still find yourself sneaking glances in Gojo's direction, hyper aware of the dwindling number of people sitting between you.

The man sitting before you now, Tasuke Tomoda, you think his name is, leans in toward you and gestures for you to do the same. He's the last person separating you from Gojo and he's been pretty pleasant so far, so you do as he asks and move a little bit closer to him.

"So, uh, I've noticed that you keep looking over there." His voice is barely audible as he inclines his head just slightly in Gojo's direction. “At him.”

You inhale sharply. This guy is the first one who’s noticed, or, at least, the first who's decided to say anything about it. You feel a bit ashamed to have been caught, especially when you thought you’d been discreet.

Just as you’re about to offer an apology, Tomoda adds, “I’m not mad or anything. I mean… he’s quite the looker, isn’t he?”

Before you can stop it, you grimace and Tomoda catches it, his eyes widening in obvious surprise. “You don’t think so?”

You don’t need to think so; you know so— for as long as you have been unfortunate to know him, Satoru Gojo has taken great pleasure in flaunting his good looks whenever possible. You scowl and admit, your voice an annoyed sort of murmur, “His looks are fine, I guess, but his personality…”

You don't know where to begin and you don't know if you should.

Tomoda’s gaze flits toward Gojo and he moves even closer, whispering so quiet that nobody else can hear. “...yeah, he does kinda look like an asshole, doesn’t he?”

You reel backwards, laughing so loud that everyone else can hear. Embarrassment flashes throughout your entire body when you realize that both couples on either side of you have gone completely silent and four pairs of eyes are now on you and Tomoda. Oops. Immediately, the both of you bow your heads in unison to one couple, then the next (with you taking great care to not look at Gojo).

Once their conversations resume, you give Tomoda an apologetic smile. “Sorry ‘bout that."

"It's fine!" Tomoda gives you a good natured sort of chuckle. "I'm just glad to have gotten a laugh out of you."

You blink, confused. "Why?"

His cheeks turn a light shade of pink and you think it’s kind of cute. “Well, it’s just that I think—"

You lean in.

"—that you're really—"

The bell signifying to change partners echoes throughout the event hall, startling Tomoda out of whatever he was going to say.

Has it really been two minutes already?

Tomoda starts to rise to switch seats, but he looks conflicted, like he still wants to say his piece.

"Wait," you tell him and you're not sure if it's because you want to delay Gojo's inevitable arrival or because you actually want to know what Tomoda was going to say.

He stops, his mouth half open. Tomoda stares and you see the hesitation swimming in his eyes. It only lasts a second though and his mouth shuts as he makes his decision. He takes a deep breath and—

"Excuse me!"

Your stomach lurches at the sound of the playful voice you know far, far too well. Tomoda looks like his soul is about to leave his body rather than his words. Slowly, reluctantly, you both turn your heads to look at the interloper.

You’d tried not to pay too close attention to Gojo when he’d walked in, but with him practically in your face right now, your eyes can’t seem to help but be drawn in. It feels like he really went all out tonight. His suit fits him perfectly, accentuating his long legs and slender yet built figure. The colors compliment his pale, flawless skin, his snow white hair and his infamous sky blue eyes. Gojo’s entire look is completed with a pair of sunglasses, over which he’s peering down at you and Tomoda.

There’s something about the amused glow in those dumb eyes of his that manages to royally pisses you off. You scowl at him, but he ignores you, his expression unchanging as he directs his attention to Tomoda.

"It's my turn now, you know," Gojo points out and while his tone is friendly enough, both you and Tomoda can clearly hear what Gojo is actually saying.

Leave.

"Right! I'm really sorry about that!" Tomoda exclaims as he basically leaps out of his seat and scrambles over to the next table. His table mate stares— not just at Tomoda, but at you and Gojo as well. You can feel the pair on the other side staring too.

Fucking Gojo.

He is completely and unwholly unbothered as he plops down in the seat opposite you, a self-satisfying smile plastered to his face. Annoyed, you cross your arms over your chest and huff, “Did you really need to cause a scene?”

“Hey, you started it,” Gojo says with a chuckle. “Actually, I think you were so loud that everyone heard.”

“Shut up,” you hiss, throwing your most venomous glare in Gojo’s direction, hoping that, for once in his damn life he listens.

Naturally, he doesn’t.

“So, what’d that guy say that was so funny?” Gojo’s tone is casual, almost nonchalant as he leans in your direction. He reaches up with one hand to adjust his glasses, pulling them down just enough to reveal the shocking blue of his eyes staring you down.

You know he means to disarm you this way, to make you spill, but you manage to hold your ground. “Who knows? That’s between me and him.”

Gojo tilts his head to the side, still smiling as he responds. “Oh? You into that guy?”

“And if I was?” you ask, your words nearly a challenge. In all honesty, you don’t know if you can say if you’re into Tomoda or not. He’s certainly made the biggest impression out of everyone you’ve talked to so far and you wouldn’t be against hitting him up during the free talk section of the event. Who knows? Maybe you just need to talk to him a little more to find out.

“Hate to break it to you, but it’s not going to work out.”

“You don’t know that,” you shoot back, feeling defensive because Gojo doesn’t know. There’s no way he could. His stupid Six Eyes can see a lot of things, but the future is not one of them.

“I do actually,” Gojo responds simply. His voice is even, with none of his characteristic smugness woven in. That being said, you think you catch the meaning in his words and it angers you even more. Just because you’re a sorcerer that doesn’t mean your dating pool needs to be confined to the members of jujutsu society. You know a few sorcerers who have dated, and even married non-sorcerers.

“Wrong! You don’t know anything,” you insist viciously and if you were anywhere else you’d be just about ready to start throwing punches. You’ve never beaten Gojo in a fight (except maybe once, but you don’t count that because you know he threw that fight), but he’s always down to brawl with you.

“I happen to know plenty of things,” Gojo grins at you, pleased and you watch, in real time, as his delight turns devious. “Like I know that you were checkin’ me out earlier.”

Your entire body heats up and you’re not quite sure if it’s from rage or embarrassment. Another eyeful of the smirk on Gojo’s face is enough for you to decide that it must be rage. “I was not.”

“You so were,” Gojo teases, infuriatingly gleeful in his retort. “I totally get it, and it’s completely okay if you want to tell me how sexy I look tonight.”

“Hell no!” you almost yell, ignoring the growing heat in your stomach. Has it been two minutes yet? There’s no way that this clown’s time isn’t up yet. You glance at the big timer the event’s organizers have set up and… you still have half a minute with this fool.

It’s going to be the longest thirty seconds of your goddamn life.

“Come on,” Gojo nudges at you in that playful tone of his, seemingly determined to use every second he has to annoy you. “Don’t you want to tell me?”

“For someone as confident as you claim to be, you sure are desperate for validation,” you dead pan.

He ignores you. “Okay, okay, since you're feeling shy, I'll go ahead and say it: Satoru Gojo is the hottest guy here!"

You think you're going to hurl from all the second hand embarrassment. It's not like it's unnatural for Gojo to be so unashamedly confident but at an event like this you think it's probably a big no-no. "Gojo?"

“Yes?” He sounds chipper, like he thinks you’re going to compliment him after all, but when it comes to Gojo, you live to disappoint.

“Why the hell are you even here?” you ask in exasperation. Gojo has fifteen or so seconds left but you figure you might as well get something out of this exchange with him, “I doubt someone like you has a need to come to things like this, so why?”

A surprised look flashes across Gojo’s features, but he quickly conceals it behind a mischievous smirk. "You jealous?"

He punctuates his question with a wink and you roll your eyes. "As if.”

“Uh huh.”

Five seconds left. “Maybe the jealous one here is actually you.”

You don’t entirely mean it when you say it; you really intend to make one last dig at Gojo before he moves on to the next person. Plus, you don’t even really think it’ll affect him all that much, things like that never really do. At least, you’ll get the last word here.

Or that’s what you think. You should have known better.

Gojo flashes a smile at you and for a few seconds you completely forget what breathing is. You’re used to playful smiles and teasing smiles, but the look that he’s giving you right now is different somehow. There’s something about the curve of his lips, about the borderline gentle glimmer of his crystalline eyes that sets your heartbeat into a frenzy.

Just as you remember how to breathe, he speaks, stealing your breath away all over again, “Who knows. Maybe I am.”

The bell finally rings, telling you that your two minutes with Satoru Gojo are now over, but you barely even register it— your eyes fixed on the man before you.

Just like Tomoda, before him, Gojo lingers, and he looks almost a little pleased with himself. The familiar expression snaps you out of your stupor and you glower at him, shooing him away like he’s unwanted.

Like you don’t want him to stay.

Like you don’t want to ask him what in the world was all that about.

Because you don’t, you really don’t. There’s no need to, you tell yourself. It’s just another one of the whacky mind games Gojo likes to play with you.

But even as the next person sits down across from you, you can’t get the look on Gojo’s face out of your mind. Even as they introduce themselves, the only thing you hear are Gojo’s last words.

“Who knows. Maybe I am.”

That’s crazy talk. He had to be fucking with you because there’s no way. No way that Satoru Gojo, of all people, would feel jealous.

Even though you know that, you can’t get what he said out of your mind and before you know it, the speed dating section of the match-making event is over and you don’t remember a damn thing about anyone who came after Gojo.

You’re annoyed. You’re so fucking annoyed that you wasted so much damn time thinking about that stupid blue eyed bastard, but it’s fine. It’s completely and totally fine, because you still have the free talk session. If you’re lucky, one of the people who came to you after Gojo will be interested enough to come chat you up and give you the chance to make up for the fact you had temporarily lost your mind thanks to one Satoru Gojo.

And if you’re unlucky… Well, you’re confident in the thought that it should be fine to seek out Tomoda. In fact, you decide to do that first. Better to just go for it than wait around. You survey the ballroom that you’re all in and you catch sight of the man off to the side, looking around somewhat shyly.

Is he looking for you?

You don’t want to get ahead of yourself, but it’s a nice thought. Nice, but… You shake your head; you don’t want to think about him right now. Before the traitorous thoughts can sneak back into your mind, you march over to where Tomoda is standing, tightly gripping the cards in your hand. At the beginning of the event, the staff had handed these cards out, instructing everyone to fill them out so that you could easily exchange contact information with anyone who caught your interest. And since Tomoda’s the only one who qualifies, it’s only natural that you give him one.

A relieved smile spreads across his features when he notices you and it makes you think that he really was looking for you after all.

You offer him a small smile of your own. “Hey.”

“Hi!” he squeaks and his expression turns a little sheepish.

You tilt your head in confusion. "What's up?"

"Just… a little surprised that you came to find me.”

"Huh? Why?"

Tomoda frowns, looking conflicted and, finally, he answers in a slow voice. "Well, that really handsome looking asshole seemed like he was really into you."

You blink.

Huh.

Huh?

Huh!?

You nearly double over in laughter. No offense to Tomoda but the thought is just flat out ridiculous. Satoru Gojo is into you? No way. Absolutely no way in hell. Not in a thousand, no, a million years would Gojo seriously—

"Who knows. Maybe I am."

Suddenly, your mouth is dry, your laughter dying in your throat as Gojo's words echo in your head yet again. There's no way he was serious then, right? He only said that to mess with you, to get the last word in, because there's no way, definitely no way…

You take a deep breath to compose yourself. Tomoda is still there and you're grateful that he hasn’t walked away thinking that you’re completely out of your mind. You take another breath, just in case, before you attempt to say anything. "What makes you think that?"

"Other than the obvious?" Tomoda asks, his tone a touch dry, and you frown, remembering how Gojo had made a scene earlier.

"...yes," you finally grumble when you realize that Tomoda is actually looking for an answer. "Other than that."

For some unknown reason, he seems hesitant to say anything further, but you gesture at him, urging him to speak. "Well, he… I noticed that he kept looking over at you after his turn.”

"That's because—" you start but then stop short when you realize that you actually have no answer. Your brain goes into overdrive trying to think of some kind of explanation, some kind of reason as to why Gojo would possibly…

"Who knows. Maybe I am."

The words are louder now. Almost deafening.

Still, you try to block them out.

"That's because he said something before we switched," you say desperately, like you’re grasping at straws. "I think he was just trying to fuck with me for the hell of it and, I don't know, maybe he kept looking to see how good of a job he did?"

Your lame explanation doesn’t seem to convince Tomoda. It doesn’t really convince you either. You rifle through your thoughts, trying to find some other possible reason, but everything you find seems to support Tomoda’s claim that, somehow, some way, Satoru Gojo is into you.

Tomoda looks like he’s trying to figure it out too, his expression contemplative. "...do you mind if I ask you a question?”

"...go ahead, shoot."

"You two knew each other before this, right?”

"Unfortunately," you admit begrudgingly. "But I didn't know he'd be here tonight."

Tomoda hums and nods his head slowly as he takes your words into consideration. He pauses, and then starts nodding again, quicker this time and you wonder if he’s figured something out. His expression shifts and you recognize this look; it’s the same as earlier when he was leaving your table. There’s something he wants to say, but he’s not sure if he should.

You have the distinct feeling that you're not going to like whatever it is, but still you push him to say it all the same. "What is it?"

Tomoda stares at you. Given the fact that this is a match-making event, you would expect some level of agitation or annoyance on his part, but the only thing you see in his bright, kind eyes is a curious glint. "Are you into that guy?”

No.

That's what you expect to say because that’s what you always say, but when your lips part to answer Tomoda's seemingly innocuous question nothing comes out. Yet the word remains there, stuck to the tip of your tongue and you don't understand why.

Maybe it’s the earnest look in Tomoda’s eyes or the strange and irritating feeling that’s been lurking in your chest ever since Gojo spoke to you earlier, but something, something is holding your denial at bay. More than that, it’s bidding you to actually be honest with yourself.

Because deep down you know the answer, and, worse than that, you know it isn’t no.

The truth fills your mouth, the shape of it uncomfortable and heavy in your jaw. It’s almost too much to handle, to keep in; one slip of the tongue and you’ll end up spilling it everywhere. If that happens— when that happens, you won’t be able to take it back.

When that happens, you won’t be able to deny Satoru Gojo any more.

And truthfully, the thought of it frightens you. That’s why you’ve kept your feelings buried deep inside you. That’s why you’re here at this match-making event, seeking a love that doesn’t scare you shitless. That’s why you keep denying Satoru Gojo’s presence in your heart.

Are you into him? Do you have feelings for him? Do you love him? You think the more important question here is are you truly prepared to answer these questions? Are you honestly ready to confront the feelings you’ve kept deep in your heart and the reality that comes with that?

When it comes down to it… you’re not.

Not here and not now.

You clamp your jaw down and forcefully swallow your feelings, condemning them back to the confines of your heart. They settle there, still uncomfortable, still heavy, but you’ll deal with them later, when they are not threatening to free themselves from the cage of your mouth.

Decision made, you look Tomoda in the eye and declare, “No, I’m not.”

He stares back at you and you can tell that he doesn’t believe you. Not one bit. But if anything, you are stubborn, persistent even. You swing one arm toward him, thrusting one of your contact cards in his direction as an offering, a prayer that, even for just a little bit, he’ll indulge your delusions.

Tomoda looks conflicted, like he’s biting his tongue and his gaze flickers between the card and your face. Finally, it stops on your face. His eyebrows furrow together in what is clearly concern, “Listen, you don’t—”

He stops short when you throw up your other arm, presenting the rest of your contact cards to him. You mean to send a message in the gesture, though honestly, at this point it’s probably futile. Still, you have to try.

Tomoda’s eyes ease down to the three cards fanned out before him, but he makes no move to take any of them. Instead, he sighs, clearly sympathetic when he looks at you directly. You see yourself reflected in his eyes and you look more desperate than determined.

Once again, he opens his mouth to speak, but this time you beat him to the punch, and you plead, “Please.”

Tomoda doesn’t move.

“Please,” you insist.

He continues to hold your gaze before, eventually, his shoulders slump, a clear sign that he’s given into you. You smile wryly; this man is truly too kind for his own good. Hopefully, he lives a long, happy life, free from the curses that plague your day-to-day life.

“...it’s not going to work out.”

Gojo’s voice echoes in your head once more, almost mocking you, and your hands waver just a tiny bit. You didn’t need him to tell you because deep down you already knew. It’s still annoying, but you manage to keep the disdain off your face for Tomoda’s sake.

Besides, it doesn’t mean that you can’t be friends. You think that, at least, that much should be fine.

Having finally given into your demands, Tomoda starts to reach for your cards. Just as he’s about to grasp them, another hand, pale with long, slender fingers shoots out and swipes all three cards from your grasp. Your head whips up to look at the interloper and, of course, who else do you find but Satoru Gojo, his trademark grin plastered to his face.

“I’ll be taking these,” he announces casually, slipping your cards into his shirt pocket.

You gape wordlessly at him and he continues to smile at you like some sort of angelic devil. Then, as swiftly as he appeared, he turns on his heel and walks off into the crowd.

Slowly, you turn to look back at Tomoda, who turns to look at you. He seems as stunned as you feel, but you think he recovers first. The man gives you a gentle smile and you think that he truly deserves the world— a world you can’t and could never give him.

“You want to go after him, don’t you?” he asks. You can’t even begin to comprehend why, but he sounds almost amused. Is whatever’s going on between you and Gojo entertaining or something?

Scowling, you answer, “If only to beat his stupid handsome face in.”

This time you’re the one who’s made Tomoda laugh and it alleviates your annoyance just a bit. “Go on, then, I’ll be cheering for you.”

“It’s not like that,” you say automatically.

“If you say so.”

You sigh, ready to follow after that damn idiot, but before you do, you bow in Tomoda’s direction and tell him, earnestly, “I’m really sorry.”

He chuckles again and gestures for you to go. “Get going then, you don’t want to lose him.”

You feel like there’s some kind of double meaning in his words, but he’s right; if you linger too long you might not be able to catch up to Gojo. For good measure, you bow once more before taking your leave.

It’s lucky that Gojo is so damn tall— you spot him almost immediately, at the entrance to the ballroom. You trail after him, expertly weaving through everyone else in the room, but by the time you reach the ballroom doors he’s already gone.

Damn that man and his long legs.

“Excuse me.”

You turn to face whoever is speaking to you, actually hoping that it’s not a potential suitor. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, it’s one of the event staff.

“Yes?” you answer carefully, praying that they’re not about to reprimand you for the outburst you had earlier.

“If you’re looking for that handsome gentleman, he headed that way,” the staff member informs you, pointing down the hallway. At the other end you see a large sign indicating the hotel’s garden is in that direction. It’s a weird place for Gojo to go, but then again he’s just like that sometimes. Grateful, you bow to thank the event staffer before heading in the direction they indicated.

When you walk out into the garden, it feels almost as if you’ve been transported to another world entirely. The night air is cool on your face, and the loud chatter of the ballroom is completely gone, replaced with the gentle sound of running water. Maybe there’s some sort of fountain nearby. Looking around, you step further into the garden. You’re surrounded by a canopy of trees, their branches adorn with fairy lights that illuminate the area in a soft, warm glow. You remember reading that this hotel is a popular wedding venue and you wonder if this garden is where they hold the ceremonies. It would make sense, but it appears that no one is getting married here tonight.

There’s no sign of Gojo though.

The garden is pretty big, so you keep searching. As you walk, the sound of water grows louder and soon enough you find yourself at what has to be the center of the garden. Your entire body stills, your jaw nearly dropping as you take in the sight before you. The fountain you had speculated about turns out to be much, much larger than you thought. It’s really more like a stone pool than a fountain. It’s surrounded by decorative stone structures, which seem to be fountains themselves, feeding water into the pool. Finally, you take a step closer, and you notice the fountain is illuminated, giving the water a soft, ethereal glow. Running through the center of the pool, bisecting it, is a disjointed stone pathway, the steps spaced enough to reveal the water beneath, but close enough to prevent a bridal train or anyone paying attention to where they’re stepping from taking an unwanted dip.

At the end of the pathway is a small landing, a small, square island in the middle of the pool. The edges are decorated in flowers and decorative stone lanterns. It’s picturesque and you think that this must be where people exchange their vows and promises of everlasting love.

It’s here where you find Satoru Gojo.

His back is to you, and you could, if you wanted, turn back around and leave him here.

But you don’t.

You make your way toward him, carefully stepping onto the stone pathway as if you might slip or sink into the water beneath. When you’re sure of your footing you take a step forward, then another, and another. Just as you’re about to make it to the landing, Gojo turns around to face you. He smiles, and your entire body goes still at the sight. The look on his face is far softer, far sweeter than you’re used to. If you were crazy, you’d go so far as to say that it looks almost loving.

He takes a step toward you, and then another and another. With each step he takes, your heartbeat grows louder and more erratic, the sound of it filling your ears. Your eyes are fixed on Gojo as he approaches and you wonder if his infinity is up because it almost feels like the closer he gets the slower he goes.

But eventually, he does reach you.

Gojo looks down at you and you can see that amused sparkle in his eyes as he says, “Look who decided to join me tonight.”

The sound of his voice frees you from your daze and you glare at him. “Cut the crap, Gojo.”

His lips curve, forming an expression you’re more familiar with, one you’re used to wrangling. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb; it’s not cute,” you hiss, earning you the smallest pout from him. You ignore it. “Why’d you take my cards earlier?”

“I—” he begins, enunciating dramatically, “was saving you from a world of heartbreak.”

“Were you?” you ask, your voice less of a challenge than it was before.You can tell Gojo notices from the shift in his expression.

He doesn’t say anything about it though, and he continues, his voice dropping to something more somber, more serious. “It wouldn’t work out.”

You look into his eyes, staring at the endless sparkling blue sky within them and consider arguing with him, disagreeing with him because it’s like second nature to you.

But you decide not to.

Instead, you look away as you admit, “I know.”

Gojo doesn’t laugh or gloat and it makes you wonder if your confession surprises him. You don’t check though, and continue speaking, your voice low, “Tomoda's a nice guy. He deserves a happy, normal love and that's… not something I can promise him."

For as long as you are a jujutsu sorcerer, your life will always be in danger. Every mission carries not only the risk of death, but the chance that you won't even make it home in a body bag. The stress of that, the fear of it, isn't something you can carelessly give to someone else, especially not someone you’d want to spend the rest of your life with. You’d like to think it’d be different with another jujutsu sorcerer, someone who knows the reality of the world you’re part of, but even then you have your doubts.

"So," Gojo's voice is strangely quiet and you notice there's something, some emotion you don't recognize saturating his tone, "you into that guy?"

You sigh as you answer, honestly this time, "No. I'm not."

Gojo doesn't say anything in response— no wiseass quip, no pompous remark, nothing. You don't mind, but it's very odd for him to be silent.

Naturally, it doesn't last for long.

"You know," he drawls, his tone suddenly playful. "Even though I was obviously the hottest person in the room, you looked pretty good yourself."

It feels like all the air has been knocked out of you. The compliment, on its own, is strange because you can't even remember the last time Gojo complimented you, if he ever has, but more than that, where in the world did that come from? You know Gojo has a penchant for unpredictable behavior, but this is something else.

In your shock, you turn to face him, and you realize that the compliment was just the tip of the iceberg. He's leaning down, his gaze fixed on you, the blue glow of his eyes wiping the knowledge of how to breathe from your mind. His palm ghosts over your cheek, and though he's not touching you, you can still feel the warmth emanating off it. You are hyper aware of him coming closer, his face, his lips approaching yours.

No, no, no.

It has to be some illusion, some trick of the mind, because there's no way that Satoru Gojo actually wants to—

Bewildered, you take a step back and your foot manages to wedge itself in one of the gaps of the stone pathway. You wobble, thrown entirely off balance. Seconds later, you're falling sideways straight into the water.

Gojo stares down at you, actually looking shocked for once and you wish you had your phone out to take a picture. It doesn't take long for him to get over it and he starts to laugh uncontrollably.

You glare at him like a drenched cat and raise your hand to splash at him. Weirdly enough, he lets the water hit him, his infinity remaining inactive.

"Don't laugh!" you snap at him.

Of course, he keeps laughing.

You try to lift yourself out of the water, but the river stones beneath you are too slippery for you to get a good grip. If you reposition yourself you think you could do it, but if you do your clothes will be completely drenched and that's the last thing you want right now.

With an exasperated sigh, you ask, "Gojo, will you please help me?"

He snickers, "Wow. Didn't think you'd actually ask."

You glare at him.

"Okay, okay," he steps toward you and outstretches one of his hands for you to take. For once, you don't hesitate to take it and Gojo pulls you from the water with ease, but you think that maybe he uses a little too much force as you collide with the expanse of his chest.

This is too close! You try to take another step back, but Gojo is faster, wrapping his arms around you to keep you from moving.

"Careful," he warns and you think he's teasing you. Is it just you, or is his voice just a touch deeper than normal? Regardless, the sound manages to scramble your thoughts a little. "Or you'll end up taking another dip."

"...right," you mumble, trying to straighten your thoughts. "Thanks."

You think Gojo will let you go.

But he doesn't, and the two of you remain there, pressed close. You're sure the wetness of your clothes is spreading to his, slowly messing up that expensive suit of his. Gojo doesn't seem to care though, but maybe that's because it's just water.

"...you could do it, if you wanted," Gojo's voice is barely audible.

"Huh?"

When he speaks again, it's louder this time, "Give someone a normal, happy love. It's not like you're completely broken or anything like that."

You blink, confused. What is he talking about? Then it clicks and you explain, "That's not it."

Now it seems like Gojo’s confused for once. "Huh?"

"I meant… he’s a non-sorcerer, so…" you trail off, not wanting to explain. Gojo should be able to catch your drift.

He does. “Right, right. It’d suck for your non-sorcerer boyfriend if you were to just suddenly die a terrible and horrific death, huh.”

A little too well. “I think it’d suck for my sorcerer boyfriend too, if I had one.”

“That’s probably true, but if your boyfriend was a sorcerer, then maybe you’d die cruel and unusual deaths together. That’s romantic, isn’t it?”

“Actually, I think it’s kind of morbid.”

You think you feel Gojo’s arms shift, as if his grip is tightening ever so slightly around you. But then he starts to laugh and you figure it must have just been your imagination. You don’t really get why he’s laughing, though.

"What's so funny?" You ask when his laughter finally dies down.

"Nothing!"

You sigh. Should have known better than to think he’d give you a straight answer.

Gojo finally steps away from you, taking the warmth of his body with him and you dismally realize that you rather enjoyed him being so close. Desperately, you try to tell yourself that it’s because with him gone you’re remembering how cold and wet your clothes are right now and not for any other reason.

It's going to suck going all the way home like this.

You hear the sound of rustling cloth and as you look up you catch Gojo draping his giant blazer over your shoulders. It's warm and before you realize what you're doing you're tugging it closer around you, the scent of Gojo's cologne filling your nostrils. It’s nice you think, definitely expensive, but nice.

He stares at you, the expression on his face the strangest one yet.

"What?" you ask.

Gojo merely shakes his head again and it's obvious he plans to keep this to himself too. "Come on, let's go. Can't have you catching a cold now, hm?"

He grabs you by the wrist and starts to pull you toward the garden exit. And, maybe you're imagining it, but you think you might see the palest shade pink dusting the tips of his ears.

extra scene can be found here. :3c

[coolyiooo]

BSD Men Dealing With Your Mood Swings

parings: Dazai, Fyodor, and Chuuya

First time writing something other than smut 😶🔫

🖤DAZAI🖤

You were having a bad day, not only because you started your period but also some drama was happening between some friends of yours, so you were ranting to your boyfriend while driving. He was being the passenger princess.

"And then she was all like ' that's none of your business ' "

"Oh shit-" he said with a hand over his mouth, actually invested with your tea

"I know! And I was like-"

You suddenly heard one of your favorite songs playing on the radio

"Hold on- babe, this song is my jammm"

You started to vibe with the music and sing long with it, completely forgetting about your drama you had earlier in the day.

Dazai was a bit baffled but he started to laugh at how your mood just did a whole 360. He actually started to vibe with the music with you.

Another day, another pain of suffering of cramps, hormones, and blood 🤢 you were mad, annoyed, disgusted, and sad all at once. You literally just arrived at the ADA office and immediately said, in a monotoned voice

"I'm going to hang myself" And sat down

Everybody in the office was a bit worried and confused, they all faced Dazai to see if he'll comfort you and be a good bf but all he said was

"I'd never thought I'd hear you say those words" he had stars in his eyes.

Everybody gave him a disgusted look and he could feel it. He chuckled nervously and said

"I- I mean why don't I go to the store to buy all the snacks you want!"

" Aweeee thanks babe!"your mood immediately changed.

Dazai mentally gave himself a high five.

When work was over you were comfortable in the couch, covered in blankets, heat pad on your stomach, and reading your book. Everything was perfect when suddenly your boyfriend came in. You gave him an intense side eye and he immediately noticed.

"Uh- what's wrong, princess?"

"I need you to leave" you said straight up with no remorse.

For a second he looked a bit shocked, wondering if he did something. You felt bad but suddenly saw how pretty he was, so you used that as an excuse to let him down easy.

"your distracting me with your beauty" You went back to reading your book

He was baffled once again but then was flattered and smiling to himself. He left the room to yourself. He was a bit taken aback by the aggressive, flirting comment but a win is a win.

He'll try his best to comfort you during these times. I feel like sometimes he's the reason your mood is just sky rocketing all over the place, but he'll make up for it.

💜FYODOR💜

You were literally being a couch potato. Covered in blankets but also chips, crumbs, and snacks.Fyodor came in the room and saw the mess you surrounded yourself in.

"My dear, is it too much to ask for you to clean up after yourself?"

"Shut up your anemic" you retorted back with no sympathy.

Nikolai was in the same room as you two were in and tried his best not to burst out laughing . You realized what you just said and immediately began laughing. Fyodor was slightly taken by surprise by your bold comment but his face showed no emotions except for 'you better stop if you know what's good for you'.When you noticed his face, you immediately stopped laughing. Fyodor then walked towards you, you were starting to get scared

"w-wait! I'm on my period I'm sorry!"

He stopped in front of you "yes, I can see my love"

"I- ...I'm sorry" you said timidly

He looked back at you with dark eyes "just clean up after yourself, darling" he kissed your forehead and left the room.

"Your lucky he loves you" Nikolai commented

Later that same day you were laying your head on Fyodor's lap as he was petting your hair, reading a book. You were staring at his legs and randomly said

"You have very pretty legs, they look like they belong to a woman"

He immediately stopped what he was reading and looked at you. You stared back at him.

"I meant that as a compliment of course. I mean your just very beautiful"

He stared back at you with a hint of concern, but then reverted back to a straight face

"My dear, just go back to sleep" he said, gently scratching your head

Next day you were sitting on the bed, late at night, reading a book. Fyodor came in and stared at you. He was just surprised you were still awake but you felt judged.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" You said in a bratty tone

"Am I... Really that ugly?" You asked with curiosity and started to feel a bit down

He closed his eyes and deeply sighed "of course not, my love. Your more than beautiful" he sat next to you on the bed

"How so?" You pouted

He gently stared into your eyes "Your captivating, enchanting, and even pulchritudinous"

(Yes, that's a real word)

You didnt even know what that last word meant but since it sounded pretty, you felt flattered. You hugged his arm and kissed his cheek.

"Ugh thanks, Fedya. I love you" you had a smile on your face and snuggled close to his chest.

He smiled slightly "I love you more" he said, kissing the top of your head.

He usually doesn't take whatever you say seriously during these days just because of your mood swings and how this isn't what you'd normally do or say, but he'll still try to make it bearable for you and a little for him as well. You should definitely give him a thank you for dealing with your bs.

🧡CHUUYA🧡

He already knew you started you period. He low-key seems like the guy to track it down and stuff so he bought you a bunch of snacks. Usually when your on your period he cuddles with you so when he arrived at your shared place he went to go look for you. He found you laying flat on your face on the bed.

"Hey babe, how are you feeling?"

You responded by soft groaning

"Awe I'm sorry baby, I got you your favorite snacks. I hope that makes you feel better" he laid the bag down on the night stand.

He saw that you weren't moving, and out of sympathy, he touched your head.

"Don't touch me" you mumble in a strict tone

Normally he would probably be concerned but he understands that it's just your period talking and understands you probably just want to be alone.

"I'm sorry, let me know if you need anything" He said before making his way out the room

You lifted your head up looking back at him "wait, where are you going?" Your tone sounding sad "don't go"

He was confused but then you reached your arms out to him.

"I change my mind please cuddle with me" you said almost as an order

Your change in tone and mood startled him. He didn't want to make it worse by disobeying your order so he cuddled with you. You started playing with his hair and scratching his head. His thoughts were that he's the one supposed to help you relax not the other way around but the more you looked at him the more you realized just how literally gorgeous the man was.

"Chuuya, your so prettyyy" you said while kissing his cheek

He was starting to blush "the more I look at you the more breath taking you get" you then smothered him with kisses.

A moment ago you were literally not wanting any physical touch and now look at you, you can't keep your hands off him. Not like he's complaining though, but he's definitely struggling to keep up with your mood swings.He was about to respond back to you with compliments, but you then stopped your kissing and said

"now let me sleep I'm tired" you patted his chest gently and rolled out of his arms. Now he was just dazed.

He'll try to make you the happiest he can during your days of the month overall and you should definitely give him your gratitude for being a good bf

[lovelytsunoda]

spill the wine // lance stroll

summary: honeymooning with the hutchence-strolls. capri will always hold a special place in y/n's heart.

pairing: lance stroll x hutchence!reader

part two of the welcome to wherever you are verse

author's note: i'm so glad that you guys loved the first part of the welcome to wherever you are verse! i was so excited to make this into a series, combining two of my current hyperfixations. i hope that the first part was enough to make some of you curious about the life and times of my favourite aussie rock band. for people who are looking to learn more, i recommend watching the channel seven drama 'never tear us apart', starring luke arnold as micheal hutchence. it's two episodes, each of them an hour and a half that takes a look into the rise and fall of inxs. arnold's protrayal of micheal was beautifully done (and i love alex williams as kirk).

y/n.hutchence just posted to her private story!

y/n.hutchence just posted (private)

island of capri, italy.

tagged: lancestroll

liked by lancestroll, officialinxs, yourbestie and 130 others.

y/n.hutchence as my father once said, 'spill the wine, kiss that girl."

see all comments

jonfarriss first of all those aren't the real words, and your father didn't actually write spill the wine

-> y/n.hutchence jon why do you have to be right all the time huh?

-> jonfarriss you also know that song is about being on five different kinds of illegal drugs?

-> andrewfarriss he's being annoying because he cares. make smart choices, kiddo!

-> y/n.hutchence andrew have you ever known me not to make the smart choice? i'm living the sober girlie lifestyle here

yourbestie looking good sunshine!!!remember to send me pics, I need to pretend I don’t work a nine to five!

lancestroll wow I can’t decide what’s more beautiful: the scenery or my wife (jokes on you guys, it’s my wife)

-> y/n.hutchence 🥺🥺

kirkpengilly nice to see alcatraz hasn’t changed

-> y/n.hutchence of course you hated it...you hate the beach, the sand, the water, the sun

-> kirkpengilly i do not

-> laynebeachley sweetie she is right.

lancestroll just added to his story

lancestroll just posted!

island of capri, italy

tagged: y/n.hutchence

liked by y.n/hutchence, kirkpengilly, astonmartinf1 and 4,567 others

lancestroll honeymooning with the hutchence-strolls

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astonmartinf1 are lemons supposed to be that big?

-> y/n.hutchence arent they awesome?

estebanocon why do you have to add 'with the hutchence-strolls' to everything?? 'easter with the hutchence-strolls' 'cook chicken gyros with the hutchence strolls' its EXHAUSTING. watch you guys make a sex tape and call it 'making babies with the hutchence-strolls'

-> kirkpengilly they'd better not! y/n i will resurrect your father and have him talk some sense into you

-> y/n.hutchence kirky calm down!! there is NO sex tape!

user y/n is so stunning! europe looks good on her

yourbestie i held my tongue at the wedding but she has been so fucking happy since you guys got married and if you hurt her i will give you HELL to PAY

-> lancestroll don't worry, she's in good hands. she's my reason to get up every morning, my reason to smile. i have never felt more alive than i do when she is next to me

garrygarybeers huh i actually think capri has gotten nicer since 1993

mickschumacher why do your legs look so long in the first picture

-> lancestroll thanks mick, now that you've pointed it out i can never unsee it smh

y/n.hutchence just posted (private)

liked by yourbestie, yourmom, lancestroll and 278 others

y/n.hutchence take my breath away

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lancestroll it was an honor to experience the grotto with you, my wife

-> y/n.hutchence the view was pretty, but you were prettier, my husband

yourbestie consider my mind BLOWN. things like these just exist in nature???

timfarriss now why didn't we go here when we were recording the album again? this place would have inspired the crap out of us. your dad would have loved it.

fernandoalonso ah yes, the grotto. fond memories of skinny dipping there

-> lancestroll ew why did you think i needed to know that

-> y/n.hutchence i second that

(next part)

TAGS:

@magnummagnussen @libraryofloveletters @clemswrld @httpiastri @cartierre @lorarri @thatsdemko @sidcrosbyspuck

[lowkeycasanova]

you ain't my boyfriend, i ain't your girlfriend

Based on the song "Boyfriend" by Ariana Grande & Social House

masterlist

——————————————————————————

“Do you think anyone in the friend group is dating?” Lydia inquired while you threw on an oversized shirt over your swimsuit.

You raised a brow. “I mean, Jett and Samantha.”

“I already know about them.”

"Well...no? Why?" you asked.

"I don't know why, but I feel like Vinnie and Julia have something going on."

That got your attention.

"Huh?"

"I mean, I could be wrong. I just see them together a lot it seems, so I wondered." She shrugged.

"Well-" you started. "They haven't even known each other that long."

"True. Just a thought."

You both went from your spot in the guest room across the hallway to Vinnie's room to call him downstairs.

Upon arriving, you hear laughing from two people. You didn't think anything of it until you saw Vinnie and Julia side by side on the bed, him showing her a something on his phone and she's the main one laughing.

"Hey!" Lydia greeted. "We were just trying to get everyone downstairs. Jett is firing up the grill as we speak."

"Cool, I'm sure my sister is looking for me anyways." Julia stated and got up from the foot of the bed."

She made eye contact with you and you gave her a closed mouth smile. She walked away with a little attitude in her hips and you felt your chest twist up when you saw Vinnie's eyes follow her out the room.

Why would Lydia put that thought in your head? If you hadn't already disliked the idea of them together, you surely did now.

Vinnie followed you both downstairs. Jack had planned a get together with all the friends... just because. There was even a water slide in the backyard.

These people could be so extra, but they were fun regardless.

You mingled around, talking to friends and saying hello to any new people. Every once in a while, you'd see Julia standing next to Vinnie, recording him for whatever reason. You felt yourself getting hot and didn't even realized you eyed her up and down until after.

Anyways.

A few minutes later, you met up with Evan in the backyard by the pool, a friend you met through Vinnie, but didn't know all too well yet.

"Hey!" you greeted him and brought him into a hug. "How have you been?"

"I've been good." he smiled.

"You just had a birthday right?"

"Yeah!" he smiled wider like he was happy you remembered.

"Well happy belated." you said and gave him another hug. "Sorry I couldn't be there."

"Thanks. It's cool though." he hugged you back.

You two began to catch up on things that recently happened in your lives since the last time you saw each other. Which was a while ago. He's so nice and easy to talk to. You wonder why you never really talked that much to each other before.

What you didn't know, was that Vinnie was observing the entire interaction.

He was sitting on top of the table a few feet away, talking to Jordan when seeing you with Evan started to distract him. He was looking past Jordan and subtly leaning forward to get a better look, nearly missing every other word he was saying but trying not to seem obvious.

(Refer to the picture I used)

And if looks could kill, Evan would be done for.

****

You were in the kitchen sipping on your drink when Vinnie approached you, and leaned against the counter with his arms causally across his chest.

“Hey.”

You gave him a nod back.

"What are you doing over here by yourself?"

"Got me a drink." you gestured to your glass. Sometimes you got so nervous around him that you couldn't even look him in the eye.

Vinnie glances over at the people in his line of sight and he gets a glimpse of Evan walking across the room.

"There go your boyfriend." he uttered, trying to hide that proud smirk on his face knowing he probably hit a nerve.

"Huh?" you quickly turned in his direction.

He dipped his head down by your ear and you swore you could feel his lips graze it. "Evan." he simply stated as if he wasn't annoyed by the idea.

You hated how cheeky he was being. You heard him perfectly fine.

"We're not dating." you revealed in defense.

"Well it's obvious that he wants to hit. It's embarrassing actually."

You rolled your eyes. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

Then you remembered a someone who'd been by Vinnie's side since she got here.

"Why are you talking about me? What about you and Julia?"

Now it was his turn to get defensive.

"Me and Julia?? Who told you that?"

"A little birdie told me." you shrugged.

"We don't have anything going on. I mean, she's cool and all but I don't know her like that. And she's more of Payton's friend than mine."

"Hmm," you said in response as if you weren't convinced.

Vinnie scoffed. "Whatever. It's not like you and I are dating anyway."

"Yeah, so lets just drop it." you agreed.

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Good."

"Good."

He was about to say something else but your stubborn ass wasn't about to let him have the last word.

You finished your drink in one swing before stating, "excuse me" as you put the glass to his chest and he grabbed in on instinct to not let it fall as you let go of it before making your way to the backyard again.

You both smirked behind each other's backs as the bickering made you like each other even more.

[powerpuffobsession]

Am I the only one who feels that Hazbin Hotel's overall vibe is far too naive and upbeat for an adult cartoon about hell and redemption of sinners?

I feel like before writing this cartoon, Vivzie and the other writers should have made a trip to unfortunate areas of the world and watch how the lifestyle there rolls. Because hell is said to be a place of misery, where there is no trust and a lot of hate, both internal and external... Adam is an object of pure unfiltered hartred (both from writers and fandom) because he dares to live in heaven, such a safe and friendly-natured place...

And yet the sinners who happen to be main characters act more like school kids on a field trip (even more carefree than those, lol) - their selfish and sinful motives are so artificial and are brought up only when these characters need to look like a victim, not like criminals who somehow deserved a place in hell

Obviously, it's a manipulative trope to put them in a better light than Heaven and Adam (who is forever silenced by the writers and not allowed to voice any thoughts and reflections other than "hurr durr murder I luuuv murdering and being evil because that's what I was since I was born, even though Lilith and Eve, born literally the same way as me, were innocent victims from the get go, and no logical explanation for that will be provided whatsoever - men bad, women good")

In the light of all that, the sinners are too eager to trust each other and form "da epic powar of friendship" mlp-sonic-style

In a society built on terror, anarchy and survival instincts, no one would ever bother wasting vital power on noticing someone's problems and helping them out. Everyone is focused on their own problems and desires, and that's what drives them to act. Well, the exception may be family members, and even that varies

That's why Husk's intent to comfort Angel after the later attacks him over nothing at the bar, looks really fake, considering the setting. At first I thought that "loser baby" where Husk insults Angel, was some sort of revenge and Husk laughing in the spider's face. But no, it actually turned out to be a comforting song that started their friendship. Husk literally had no motivation to want to help Angel, because he was annoyed by him all the time prior. If there was some kind of basis for their bonding, I would have believed it. But not like this.

And Angel had no reason to actually like that sort of comfort. I get it when your best friend or a family member cheers you up in a harsh way - you know them. And even when coming from people you trust that can hurt. Now imagine a complete stranger doing that to you. That's actually something that shouldn't be done - trying to playfully insult or jester a person you haven't communicated with for a long enough time to gain their trust. And to make this even more strange, Angel at first reacts negatively, but then suddenly snaps to liking that disrespectful way of comforting for no reason at all.

And why did Angel even vent his problems to Husk, a stranger bartender who he'd hurt before. Wasn't he actually afraid of being laughed at and of Husk using his trauma to spread gossip around or something?

Next, Sir Pentious. In the pilot (which is officially part of canon, mind you), he already felt like a joke sunday cartoon villain, but at least he had some edge to him that made him look like a sinner with some dark history. In the series however, he gets nerfed the very moment he steps into the hotel to the point where it's painful to look at

His tendency to abuse his henchmen, his physopathic demeanor, his hartred for Cherri (instead of embarrassing attempts to get blue balled by her), his sincere power hunger - where did all that go? Vanished in a blink of an eye. All that's left of a promising snake demon is a pile of fanservice. So morally unchallenging and harmless that a viewer theoretically simply cannot resist loving him

Well i'm kind disappointed. We don't even know in what way Sir Pentious had to improve, because the plot never focused on his past, his life goals, whatever made him want to lead turf wars and whatever awful things he did in life, what was the point where he started degrading... none of that. He just became a better person after one "sorry song" and acted perfectly innocent ever since and didnt put any effort into getting ready to sacrifice himself for other main characters

The sacrifice... to me it's baffling how fast the sinners, over the course of just 6 months, actually became Charlie's family figures and risked their lives for her hotel. Such pure child-cartoon-styled power of friendship, built in hell, with the aid of a princess who cant even think through her project of helping sinners without bringing them more trouble... realistically, Charlie would have had to fight angels alone (how convenient it is that no main characters died in that chaotic brawl, right?)

And Charlie herself is far too naiive and soft-natured for someone who is free to walk along the streets of hell looking at all the muder, rape and othe horrible stuff that's happening there. Given that she's 200, Charlie had more than enough time to built up her street smarts and guts and learn to be more practical and mindful, instead of staying with the mind of a 12 year old who needs other characters to do everything for her (Lucifer, Vaggie, Alastor) and then get praised for THEIR efforts. That's hell's royalty and our main character?

Aaand since sinners are portrayed as Charlie's "people" (as if they are a nationality), sweet babies who all deserve redemption and are called innocent by Emily (I can't believe how dumb the writers made angels be) - the true essence of exterminatons is never focused on. Adam and his exterminator army are seen in the wrong, like some kind of monsters who terrorize poor souls. However, think about this - child molesters, rapists, torturers, bullies, nazists, actual racists etc died in those exterminations. Doesnt that seem like something a lot of us would want? To have scum like this disappear as revenge for people they have hurt/driven to suicide?

Exterminations are not really an act of racism, bigotry or something like that. They are an excecution of criminals, which a lot of sinners are.

But the black and white writing is trying to conceal that rather prominent highlight of the rotten part of Charlie's plan (not all sinners deserve mercy or redemption). All that was needed was to make exterminators these icky "villains" who luuuv killing and are never willing to listen

All in all, a cartoon that has an ambitious premise that should be driven by psychological reasearch/analysis and dark serious themes... makes me roll my eyes with its cliche use of "power of friendship" and " strictly good main characters, strictly bad villains" tropes. Too bad such beautiful animation was wasted on such juvenile writing that never had any effort put into it

There shouldn't even be any villains or heroes in a setting like this. Allow the lead roles (sinners in hell) do something actually questionable and be unlikable, don't coddle the viewer in fear of making them even the slightest bit uncomfortable. Allow those, who opposes sinmers, have personalities and reasons, not cliche sociopathy for sociopathy's sake to cause forced sympathy for the main characters

Pristine "safe" writing should not have a place in adult cartoons. Or else they will stay a product that'd rather be watched by 7-14 year olds instead of adults (I can't picture a single adult over 22 who would unironically call hazbin hotel a show that tackles realistic issues in an observant way)

[deathbxnny]

Soo do you remember when Boothill came out, so many people (me included) compared him to Arlechinno and say that he’s “genderbent Arlechinno” despite being literally the opposite of her?

:)

Can i request Boothill with an Arlechinno!reader as a twin sibling?

Context:

Boothill and the reader are twins and they are the absolute opposites despite they’re similar appearances. One is loud and brash while the other is quiet and stoic, one is a normal kid while the other is for some reason cursed? No one in their little family knew why or how the reader have a curse but there wasnt much they can really do about it. Regardless, Boothill and the reader are as thick as thieves, never seen without the other. But then the IPC came and blew up their planet which finally seperated the two twins. The reader somehow survived bc of their curse but now they sometimes glitch (like how Arle does in her idle animation). Now the reader nor Boothill knows that the other survived for a while but then they bumped into each other and you can take the reins from here

Hope you have a lovely day/night!

(Somehow im in a Boothill fever.. i blame Nicholas (DanHeng’s VA) for his damn Boothill song)

- Flower Anon 🌸

Oooh, I really love this idea, Flower Anon!! I have to admit, though, that I struggled writing this so bad, so I'm sorry if it turned out horribly.

Thank you otherwise for your request and sorry it took so long!!<3

Content: Platonic relationships, twin sibling reader, angst, vague mentions of Boothills past, sfw

Reader has no set pronouns!

((Not proofread))

The summer we died in. (Boothill x Twin!Reader)

"If I didn't know yer so well, I would've maybe been shocked to see you alive." Your brother's southern drawl shook memories awake in your mind. Memories that had been left slumbering in the fields of your old home, under the warm sun and in the tall grass. And yet... you didn't feel anything.

"... I suppose I could say the same thing about you -" "-Boothill. That's the name now." You hum dully as you crossed your arms and turned your head away from the confused Trailblazer in front of you to look at him. You had come to Penacony for business, or rather revenge, only to be dragged into its mess on accident. You therefore didn't expect to see the remnants of your formerly dead brother standing before you.

But could you even consider him alive in the state he was in now? A blurry image of what he looked like once came to mind, yet melted away just as fast. You didn't actually remember how he looked like anymore.

"Boothill then."

Silence filled the air, the tension thick and suffocating, yet neither of your gazes faltered. You just... didn't know what to say. There was a time in which you'd childishly dream of seeing him again, the way you'd throw yourself into his arms and then return with him to your families farmhouse. You'd act like nothing happened, become the siblings again that you always were.

But the realisation that it was all just that, a dream, made you press your lips together in the near... disappointment? You should've known better than to become so disillusioned from everything, and yet the reality still hurt you deep, deep down, under the endless layers of your curse.

"Uhm... my apologies, but you know eachother?" Robin asked carefully, seemingly saying exactly what your other companions had been thinking. Your gaze thoughtfully shifted around the twisted yet nostalgic landscape of the dreamscape, not knowing how to answer. You knew eachother once. But now? You weren't sure. You had never met "Boothill". And your brother, therefore remains dead.

Said man scratched his head awkwardly. "Uh yeah, that's my twin -" "-Reallyyy??? You guys don't look nor act alike at all!" March gasped out, only to be quickly hushed by Dan Heng and the Trailblazer. "... Hah, did ya hear that? Things never change!" Boothill grinned at you the way he used to, another memory of pranks and mischief under the moonlight filling your head again, which you just waved away. "Some things don't. But most do... How did you make it?" "Always so straight to the point." Your brother's grin widened as his relief and excitement began seeping through at last. His shoulders relaxed, eyes crinkling with a familiar spark you found yourself nearly stepping away from.

"But let's just say I'm after the same man you are." Ofcourse he'd know exactly what you were in Penacony for. You were one in the same when it came to your wrath. You wanted revenge for your lost family and for eachother, unknowing of the others' fate beyond death. You would've found it funny if you could have felt anything at all.

"Right." You didn't want to know more than that yet. "How'd you get in? Doubt you swam in that lil' pool all the way here." He hummed, which made you tilt your head. Why was he so casual? Why was he acting like neither of you had died? That both of you were together all along throughout the years you missed? It was bizarre and yet so awfully fitting. "... Remember the curse?" You held up a clawed hand that glitched through the force of the dreamscape. You couldn't remember what made you gain this ability, having woken up this way after the catastrophe. But it came in handy in moments like these.

Robin raised a hand to her chin. "You... were able to bypass the dreamscape and just enter it?" "Yes." You replied, and Boothill chuckled at that. "Wish you got that sweet ability sooner. Would've helped us out lots during the ol' days." You stared ahead, nearly through him. Was he trying to cope with your appearance before him this way? Was he trying to deflect the realisation that he wasn't totally alone after all? You didn't know what to think.

"... Let's go together. I overheard your part of the plan from the Trailblazer, and time is running out. If we want to defeat Mr. Sunday, then we have to get going." You said, voice as intimidating and cold as it used to be. It seemed to snap everyone out of their confused daze as they proceeded with the plan. Boothill met your gaze amongst the general commotion of your companions quickly speaking over eachother before taking their own respective leaves.

You stood there, seemingly stuck on how to proceed, which felt so out of character for you. You were used to ordering people around, intimidating them, and demanding the near impossible. But here you were now, speechless and hesitant. Did this perhaps hit you harder than previously expected? Boothill just tipped his hat and led the way automatically, another memory flickering of him doing the same during your nightly pranks. You'd sneak out and hop over the wooden fence surrounding your home to bother your old, grumpy neighbor. Those days were always so warm, the summer heat seeping into the night that began to cool off on your skins.

Those days never seemed to end. It was never cold. Always warm, scorching warm. Burning, flames, smoke filling your lungs and then total destruction.

"-Remember that day? The last one." Yes, you did. It's all you thought about during your travels. It's what fueled your revenge. You said nothing in reply, but he didn't mind. "It was warm. Last day of summer they said but it didn't feel like it to us." The false night sky of the dreamscape stretched out over the extravagant city. You looked down on the dreamers who decided to live a lie rather than face reality. There was a time in which you'd find them pathetic, but now you see yourself in their crowd, gazing right up at you with an equally as unreadable face.

"It was the summer we died in. So I guess they were right. It was our last day." He loaded his gun and raised it to the sky, his body turned away from you. The bright lights below illuminated his sides, hair flowing in the wind whilst the hat covered his eyes. It was a foreign image, one you couldn't recognize. "Why... are you like this?" You asked after a moment of consideration, but what you really meant was why he didn't even feel affected by you being alive all along.

Yet then again... you didn't know if you felt anything either.

Despite your differences, you were the same deep down, he was right there too. And deep down, you realized too late that you weren't the same you used to be either. Death had taken you both. You weren't siblings here. You weren't related at all. The only thing connecting you was his shadow you stood in. But even that did little to shake you physically.

"Because it doesn't matter anymore who died that summer." He shot the flare into the air, hundreds of lights beginning to fill the night sky soon after. He looked back at you with a wild, unrestrained grin. "What matters is that we get the revenge we need for the dead, ain't that right? That's something your serious behind would say, at least."

You couldn't help but dully chuckle then. It was barely heard, so weak he could've nearly missed it, but he didn't. Stepping up next to him, out of his shadow, you gave him the faintest smile.

"You're right, Boothill... Let's get revenge for those who died that summer."

[cheapshrimpysheep]

When Can I See You Again?

SUMMARY: After classes you go with Ortho to Ignihyde to play with Idia. You end up eating noodles with him for dinner, and before you leave is when your conversation warms up a bit.

CHARACTERS: Pairing with Idia. Ortho and other characters as secondary.

TAGS: Fluff; GN Reader; Flirting; Kissing

WARNING: Spoilers from: Book 6; The Phantom Bride; Twisted Halloween (1st and 2nd parts); The Harveston Sledathon; Camp Vargas 2: The Art of Survival.

WORD COUNT: 2.640

COMMENTS: This is for the @briarvalleyarchives “Anthems of Old” event. I was invited to join this twst writers network and this is the first thing I write for it. I took this more as a challenge to myself. I was happy with the result and I hope you like it too. And it wasn't until later that I realized that I chose a song from a movie about villains not really being villains.

Check out the Song I chose -> Owl City - When Can I See You Again? (From Wreck it Ralph)

You and Grim were having lunch with Ace and Deuce. Until Ortho showed up and asked if he could sit with you. He wasn't carrying a tray.

“We can arrange a sit for you on one condition.” Grim said “You don't eat because you're a robot, right?” Ortho confirms. "But now you're a student right? Aren't you entitled to a meal too?"

“Aaah, I think I know what Grim is getting at.” Ace comments.

“I think I know too.” Ortho says. “You want me to go get my meal and give it to you, correct?”

“Yah! If you do, you can sit with us.”

You tell Ortho he doesn't have to do that and Grim starts to protest.

“Ha ha. It's okay, prefect. As far as I know, the necessary amount of food is prepared for all students. If they do it with me as one of the students who will consume the food, that means at least one meal will be wasted. So maybe giving it to Grim is the best thing to do.”

Everyone approves of his point of view. Some for better reasons than others. He goes to get his meal to give to Grim and sits down with you.

You start chatting and, eventually, Ortho starts talking about a new game that Idia and him started to play and that a lot of people say it’s good. It was a cute and fun co-op game about a couple. And when you see some parts of the gameplay that he shows you, you show interest in playing too.

“So why don't you play with my brother? I'm sure he will enjoy playing with you.”

“Don't you want to play?” You ask.

“Hmm... yes, but I would like him to play in real life with someone else besides me. You know?” You do. “Why don't you come with me to Ignihyde after school to play? We can reset the game for you. We haven't made that much progress anyway, don’t worry.” he was clearly very happy about it.

“I pass.” Grim says with his mouth full.

“Hum? WHY?” Ortho asks.

“Because this guy always wants to treat me and pet me like I'm a cat! I'd rather take a long nap in Ramshackle Dorm with the ghosts.”

Ortho sighs, but he says it's okay. The truth he won't reveal is that it will even be better that way.

After school, Ortho accompany you to the Ramshackle Dorm to drop Grim off. And then, you two go to the Hall of Mirrors to go to Ignihyde.

When you arrive at the door of Idia's room, upon recognizing Ortho, the door opens without any problems and you two enter. Idia was sitting in the desk chair with his back to you at the door, with headphones in his ears. Ortho chuckles mischievously.

“Hey, (Y/N)?” he whispers to you. “Do you want to surprise him?” And you do! He gives you an idea and you execute it.

Idia was focused on the screen. You approach slowly, lean in beside him, and give him a quick peck on the cheek. He jumps off the chair and lands on the ground. And as soon as he sees you, the ends of his hair turn pink.

“WHAT? WHEN... W-when did you spaun here?”

You laugh. "Didn't Ortho tell you I was coming to play with you?"

He looks at his younger brother.

“Surprise!” Nope, Ortho didn't tell him. But now he tells him about your lunchtime conversation. And about you two playing from the beginning.

“But I like to play on hard mode.” Idia mutters, thinking you can't hear him. “In that case I'll have to beat the game on easy mode.”

“If this is so painful for you then why don't you just tell me you only play with pros?” You say, crossing your arms and raising an eyebrow.

“Hep!” he genuinely hoped you hadn't heard. “No! That's not- I didn't- I wasn't-” he seems unable to finish a single sentence.

Seeing him so flustered is so funny to you, to the point of being a little cute. You can't hide the urge to laugh and that makes him revert to his gloomy self. And sulking a little bit that you're laughing at him.

“So... you're not upset?”

“Oh, I am. But seeing you panicking is revenge enough for now.”

“Oh yeah? Let's see who panics when we're playing.” he smirks evilly.

You turn serious all of a sudden and worn him: “Don't put it on-”

“I'm not putting it on hard mode.” he answers you slightly intimidated. One of the sides he likes most about you and something that he will never admit.

It's a co-op puzzle game. Which means he becomes a cocky bastard for solving puzzles in seconds. He annoys you with his arrogance and you annoy him by messing things up in the game. While you're playing, Ortho left you two alone and none of you noticed.

You were having so much fun that it wasn't until your bellies rumbled that you realized you hadn't eaten yet and it was past dinnertime. You start to worry about Grim. Not because you think he would have been starving without you, but because he could eat who knows what without you around.

“It’s been fun but now I’ve got to go.” you say and your belly growls again.

“It's still going to be a long time before you get to your dorm and still have to cook dinner.” He says “If you are as hungry as I am, you should eat as soon as possible.”

“I know. That's why you should go now.”

“I have a lot of instant noodles. And I would say your best strategy right now would be to make yourself a cup of them and eat before you go. If you leave now with your hunger bar that low you could collapse halfway through.”

“Thank you for showing me the worst case scenario.”

“Oh, believe me, this isn't the worst I can imagine.” he smiles in a slightly creepy way, like someone who prides himself on predicting the worst. But then it goes back to normal. “Hey, it's just an offer. I'm going to make myself a cup now. If you'd like to come.”

You accept his offer and follow him into the kitchen. He asks you what kind of noodles you like best. If you ask him what kind of noodles he has, he will reply: "All kinds. Meh heh heh... Take a shot!" You say which one is your favourite. “IN STOCK NOW!” He says in his best Sam impersonation. It was so good that it surprised you and made you laugh.

He takes out two cups of your favourite noodles, one for you and one for him. He places them on the table where you sit while he goes to prepare the water in the electric kettle. He starts talking about the game you were playing together, but you're paying more attention to his small gesture of "making dinner" for you.

When he turns to you and sees your face, he shuts up and then says: “W-why are you looking at me like that? Has my hair turned a weird colour?” You chuckle but say no. “Then why that look?”

“Cause I think you're cute.” His hair does a PUFF in surprise and the ends of his hair turn pink and his face a little flushed. “Now yes, your hair is in a funny colour.” And you keep smiling at him.

“Meh heh... I may be a noob at this game but I still know how to play it.” He says, with a smirk and that confidence you only see once in a while.

“What do you mean?”

He puts his hands behind his back and slowly walks towards you while smirking. And you feel yourself blushing a little. When he gets in front of you he leans in, his face so close to yours that you almost feel hypnotized by his strong yellow eyes.

“Heh heh, looks like we're both cute when we're flattered.” He's speaking in that deep voice of his. “What's the matter? Not so confident when it's my turn?” He takes one of his hands to your face, thumb on one cheek, three fingers on the other and pinky under your chin, because his hand is relatively big compared to you. He's not hurting you, but he manages to gently get you to form your lips into a kiss pose. “(Y/N), dear, hon, you know very well at this point on a PvP between the both of us, I win. He he he...” he whispers, as he gets even closer “...cute...”

POP! He jumps and straightens up when startled by the electric kettle's signal that the water is already hot. And you laugh. He sulks, but turns and goes to get the water to put in your noodle cups.

Meanwhile, other Ignihyde students started to enter the kitchen to also prepare their dinners and eat. So, you couldn't continue your "little game".

You finish eating and he walks you out of the dorm.

“When can we do this again?” You ask before you leave.

“Well, that depends.” He answers. “When can I see you again?” and then he starts talking very fast. “I mean, I'm always at my room. In the best case scenario. You're the one who's always busy solving the problems of an incompetent headmage. And having fun with those two single brain celled of friends. And having meeting and stuff with the other housewordens. So, hey, you're the one who should text me whenever your free.”

That sounded a little suspicious, didn't it? You look around. You don't see anyone else but you two.

“Idia?... Was that a jealous speech?”

“What? Jealous? No, of course not.” He's still speaking quickly “This is just the speed up speech I use to spit facts and vent in someone's face with the expectation that even if they hear me they won't understand what I say and will just be confused and think I'm weird enough to leave me alone.”

“You want me to leave you alone?”

“W-wha- NO! I-I-I-...” He sees you start to lift the corners of your mouth. In fact, it's funny to see him flustered. “*Sigh*... It's a blessing and a curse to have a weirdo who can understand me even when I speak in my turbo speech mode.”

“I'll take that "weirdo" as a compliment.” you say, smirking.

“As you should.” He says, a little lower and with that sweet little smile. You cherish that smile until you remember what you two were talking about.

“I wish you would go out more often. Ortho too. Wouldn't you like to take a walk with me one day?”

“Surrounded by normies who wouldn't take their eyes off us? No thanks.” He says and you sulk. “Oh, come on. You know very well I'm not saying I don't want to be with you. I will not continue to fall on your sulking face.”

“But you didn't like the other times you left Ignihyde?”

“Oh yes. Being kidnapped by ghosts into a forced marriage was the most romantic experience I've ever had. Getting kidnapped to a Halloween party in the Spectral Realm and being possessed? What an adrenaline rush! Go to a camp and get kidnapped by Couch Vargas and forced to squad until my legs are in agony? The outdoor exercise I've been needing. I just realized I have a problem with being serial kidnapped.”

Even his sarcasm makes you laugh. “Can't say you don't have a point there. But what about the Halloween before you were kidnapped? For example?”

“Ah, what delightful visitors Magical Monsters are.”

“First, what about the normal visitors? Wasn't it good to see them appreciate your work? And second, you're not going to tell me you didn't enjoy terrorizing Magicam Monsters, are you?” He answers you with his smug smile. “And what about that gaming afternoon at Ramshackle Dorm? Everyone was so impressed with your gaming skills.” his sweet smile comes back. “Aaaaand...” you were going to play your trump card and you tried to imitate him in his fanboy mode “Epel's grandma is the inspiration for the team leader os the show I'm obsessed about? DUUUDE. SHE'S BEST GIRL BY FAR! Would you autograph my guidebook? And can I take a picture with you?!”

“OKAY OKAY, I GOT IT!” He was so embarrassed, for both of you. Fortunately, no one was there to see it. “And BTW, the show is called Sled Over Heels, the team is called Beauties Sleeping and the character is called Ai. Thank you very much.”

“Did you regret leaving the dorm that time?” you ask, knowing the answer. But he doesn't answer, he doesn't like to give the other person reason so soon. “Would you regret taking a walk with me one day?”

“Maybe.” He says, you sulk. “Not because of you, because of everyone and everything else. Can't we take this getting me out of the room thing slowly?”

“That reminds me of a phrase. Life is way too short to take it slow. But in your case, yes, we can take it slow. What if you come to Ramshackle Dorm and play together then? Maybe you can pet Grim.”

“That's very appealing. You're good with deal, I must say. Perhaps you can compete with Azul.”

“So, is that an yes?”

“*Sigh* Fine, I will... try.”

“Just try? What if i buy some candy?”

“Damn, you really are persistent. But since you're raising the offer” he smirks “what if I try to see how far it goes?”

“Do you want a kiss?” your cheekiness makes his hair explode in pink, and he blushes a lot.

“I-i-i-is that an a-actual offer?”

“Perhaps. But with such a high offer, do you really think just going to my dorm is enough?”

“Hum...” he thinks for a second. “How about that walk with you? There are not many people on the beach at this time of year.”

“But don't you need permission to leave college?”

“Heh heh heh. You remember who my family is right? Do you really think I can't bribe the headmage? As if it were difficult.”

You two were smiling like partners in crime.

“We have a deal then.” you say “so... what kind of kiss would you like?”

“Any one I want?”

“Any one you want.”

He looks around again, there's no one there, but he still pulls you into a corner. Lift your chin with his fingers and bring his face closer to yours. You were lit by blue and pink fire lights.

“Then why don't we finish what we started in the kitchen?”

You kiss him as your answer. You feel the warm his hair emits and his delicate but passionate lips on yours. You just broke away from the kiss early, because you were in a place where someone could show up at any moment.

When you get to Ramshackle Dorm, you find Grim and Ortho sleeping on the couch in the Lounge. The ghosts tell you that Ortho showed up there to keep Grim company and feed him dinner. He got some cans of tuna for himself. They also say that Ortho commented that his batteries were running low when he went into sleep or economy mode.

You wake Ortho up gently. And asks if he wants to spend the night there. You can arrange a place for him.

“It's ok. I was saving my energies to have enough to go back to Ignihyde anyway.”

He really wants to ask how the afternoon went with his brother, but it's late and he can ask you the next day. Or simply see in what mood Idia is in when he gets to their bedroom.

If you would like to read more from me, you can find it in my pinned post: INDEX

ABOUT THE SONG: "When Can I See You Again?" is one of the 3 theme songs from Disney's 2012 animated feature film, Wreck-It Ralph. It is an uptempo dance-pop and synthpop song written and performed by Owl City.

The song is played during the credits showing Ralph, Felix, Vanellope, and Calhoun's game-jumping adventures.

The song is the main theme of the Paint the Night parade at Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland, and is played at the end of Move It! Shake It! Dance and Play It!.

SOURCE

[restinslices]

How do you think the long haired men of Mk (Bi-Han, Kuai, Liu Kang, Raiden, and Kung Lao) would feel if their partner did or played with their hair? You can choose of its paragraphs or bullet points

We’re finishing these requests bit by bit!

Off topic but I downloaded Spotify after not having it for years and why tf do I have to listen to 5 unskippable ads to listen to music? Who decided this? And y’all adding songs I didn’t ask for to my playlists. Go deep down to hell.

Bi-Han

I’ve always said that Bi-Han isn’t fond of physical touch but I don’t think he’d be against his partner playing with his hair 

I feel like his reflex reaction is to hit whatever touches him unexpectedly so warn him beforehand 

Or get hit

It’s all on you 

Any sort of affection he prefers to do in private. Same goes for this 

Idk why but I think when Bi-Han is stressed, he takes his hair out of a bun then puts it back into a bun

If his partner wanted to do that for him instead, he’d appreciate it 

He’d mainly enjoy it when you two are alone and not really doing anything 

His mind is always moving 60+ miles a minute. Running your fingers through his hair or taking his bun out and putting it back in will slow his mind a bit 

It's calming but I don't think he'd ever ask for it himself 

He doesn't really ask for affection at all tbh 

When it comes to doing his hair, it's either a bun or straight down. He doesn't really do anything else and he's a party pooper 

He'd arguably enjoy this more than typical affection, like kissing and cuddling 

Kuai Liang

Honestly I think all the guys would enjoy it 

Kuai Liang specifically enjoys his partner helping him wash his hair 

Could he do it himself? Yeah. 

But he enjoys spending time together and it helps him relax 

I'm pretty sure Kuai Liang’s hair is only long enough for a bun or a weak ass ponytail

He has his pride so that ponytail shit is not happening 

A nice shoulder massage and running your fingers through his hair is ideal relaxation after doing whatever bullshit the day brought 

I don't think he has any complaints against it

He sees affection as a positive and since this is a way of showing affection, he's ok with it 

Plus it relaxes him like I said 

You can possibly get away with putting accessories in his hair 

If you did it when he was asleep, I don't see him immediately taking it out. He'd humor it

This man has a wife for a reason y'all! He's a lover! He's enjoying any sort of affection and he's playing with your hair as well 

You guys can do each others hair as a way to spend time together 

Unless you're bald 

Maybe he'll rub your bald head. idfk 

Liu Kang 

Another lover 

This man just wants to live his life and have a special someone and they will not let this man have either. His life is nothing but tragedy 

So with that being said, he’s accepting any kind of affection 

Doing his hair would be more fun than doing Kuai Liang or Bi-Han’s hair because his is longer 

His default style is the top knot but he’d be alright with you doing his hair in different styles 

Multiple buns, braids, ponytail(s), ect

And when I say braids, I do not mean fucking box braids. Do not piss me off

He wouldn’t keep it in for long but he wouldn’t take it out immediately 

He thinks it’s cute 

When it comes to playing with his hair aimlessly, he also wouldn’t mind 

As long as you’re not twirling his hair while he’s tryna fight or focus, he won’t mind 

Did I mention this man is touch starved?

Everytime his life looks like it’s starting to get better, some bullshit happens 

So please love on him

Twirl his hair with your fingers, run your fingers through his hair, randomly start braiding his hair, offer to help wash his hair, do all that lovey shit 

Raiden 

Raiden only has enough hair for a mini bun and idk how long his hair is when it’s down 

So he doesn’t have inches like Liu Kang does 

When it comes to doing his hair the options are limited 

I think he’d be neutral on it 

He’d prefer other ways to show affection but he doesn’t dislike you playing with his hair 

He’d prefer hand holding or sitting close to each other. Stuff like that. So he doesn’t dislike someone playing with his hair, it’s just not his favorite 

Prefers it in short doses 

Idk why but I feel like at some point the feeling of fingers in his hair would drive him a bit nuts

Y’all gotta take halftime 

As for doing his hair, you’re more than welcome to put it back in its usual bun but that’s all he got 

Him, Liu Kang and Kuai Liang I think are lovers fr so I think they appreciate affection the most. Especially physical affection.

If you wanted to do the accessorizing thing, you could give him a special ponytail holder and he’d use it 

That’s all the main thoughts I have about him tbh. He likes affection so he’s not against playing with or doing his hair, but he has other preferred methods of affection 

Kung Lao

I need us to be fr just for a second-

Kung Lao has the shaved sides and undercut. The only hair he really has is that mini ponytail

He has SOME hair but I can assume he probably has the shortest out of everyone on this list 

And so I must say, he would feel mixed 

Because on one hand he’s like “what are you even playing with? This is kinda weird. Can’t we do anything else?”

And on other days when he’s feeling it (why the change? Depends on the day) he’s like “make it enough”

Majority of the times he’d feel like the first scenario I brought up 

Idk, I feel like someone toying with your little pony would throw anyone off 

Maybe there’s a skin and his hair is down and I haven’t seen it, but I’m assuming his hair is pretty short. Out of the ponytail it’s maybe just reaching his shoulders?

Another situation where if you wanna put it in the usual pony, you’re more than welcome to 

Will also wear any ponytail holders you give him 

Will wear any little accessories but doesn’t keep them in for a long time 

If you wanna put his hair in a little bun, he won’t protest, but you’ll look away and he’ll put it back in his default style 

It’s not that he doesn’t like it. He’s just used to that specific style. When it’s changed, it makes him feel off 

Also multiple other characters have buns. He doesn’t wanna be like these other hoes

I am now realizing how short this is-

[dragonshoardofworks]

DannyMerMay 2024

Day 1: Insect/Anchor

The return of Little Baby Moth! (From last year DannyMay)

Something happened since last time the two of them met, so LBMo is reasonably surprised to see Little Baby Man Mer's new form... or is this just an alternative dimension iteration of LBM (by @tourettesdog)? 🤔

(Keep reading to find the answer!)

@pikakaistudios Little Baby Mer inspired me in doing my own, so Kudos and credits where are due!

More fanarts and lore under the cut because it was getting long...

(^～^;)ゞ

Prompt for DannyMay by @dannymayevent and MerMay by @vladdyissues.

〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜

Since I'm a serial procrastinator and I wanted to be sure the art pieces were at least decent/accurate, I was almost late (but thank CW that I did, because some of them had the wrong orca-pattern and I would have brought disgrace upon myself if I published anything not done right since orcas are one of my favorite animals).

That being said, let's continue the DannyMerMay journey!

Day 12: Time Travel/Seafood

My poor Mer-boy got yoinked temporalily into the past when he was still Danny (so even before the "normal" LBM-fication) and he's feeling reeeaaally distressed at the act of practically cannibalism that his past-self is committing...

(≧∇≦)

Day 2+4+29: Wish/Starfish + Wander/Night + Fireworks/Bioluminescence

Wandering in the night, some interesting encounters are bound to happen...

I wonder what would happen if you wish upon a(n alien) star(fish)...

(≧∇≦)

Day 19+20: Iron/Pearl + Pitch AU/Abyss

LBMer found a his rightful Crown (of Fire) sunk into the depths of the ocean!

But since it was rusty and forgotten, what better way to restore it than ghostly mother pearl?

(Works like ghostly ice, but it's an exclusive power of LBMer.)

(The Crown got bigger than canon, but he smol!)

Day 26: Shoes/Camouflage

They say that imitation is one of the best form of flattery, but when you don't want to get caught by a certain dimensional hopper (and be mistaken for one of his foes), it's the best way to blend in!

(Octopi can camouflage in ways that make you think that magic is real...)

ฅ^≧ﻌ≦^ฅ

(Little Baby Terror unfortunately got caught in the same "accident" that LBM did, so they generally prefer to stick together-ish in case they need help.)

Day 16+22: Glowing Veins/Courtship + Song Lyrics/Songs

I couldn't help myself and sneaked in some Everlasting Trio for the soul.

After all, LBM (and therefore LBMer) is still Danny, even if he has new form(s) and instincts.

They do incarnate the "Would you still love me if I was a worm?", don't they?

(◡̀_◡́)

Song: A Sky Full of Stars by Coldplay

(It feels such a Danny song to use, plus I checked how orcas court and while there's some posturing, they also sing! It felt only natural from there... >:3c)

Day 11: Mutation/Shell(s)

And finally: the answer!

LBM found this weird shell on the beach while they were on vacation, but when he checked it (read: nibbed it), it reacted and tooted a magical cloud that mutated our Little Baby Man into a Mer!

(The same fate happened to Dani/Little Baby Menace and Dan/Little Baby Terror, changing them into a Seahorse Mer and Octopus Mer respectively.

I've got a lineart done of them for another prompt, but I didn't manage in time to clean and color it yet, along with a couple of others... ( ≧Д≦) )

This has two versions because I couldn't decide which was better. @teacupsandstarlight suggested the first because of the transforming smoke around our boi, but since I saved both, I told myself: why not upload both?

For now, that's all! (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

I still have some linearts to finish/digitalize/color, but at least I contributed to these two fantastic events, hope y'all enjoyed them and my works!

Hope to type ya soon! ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ