#that would make the download time a whole day shorter

[dravidious]

Yesterday I finally found a download of an old game from my childhood. I went to download it and it was like "support the site with a donation for a faster download speed!" you know, the usual, so I clicked download.

That was yesterday. This is from today:

[burrcapts]

Puffing Past Your Prime

Oh man, Zach just loved whenever this happened! Ever since their social media app took off and reached top 5 most downloaded in the whole country people started inviting him to spots like this all the time. Was this one some posh restaurant? Cafe? Gentleman's club? Honestly, he had no idea, he simply received an email the other day from one of their investors that the people here asked about him and would like him to become a regular member. 

Naturally Zach had zero real interest in bougie crap like that, but usually he actually found it kind of funny to see the reactions of all those stuck up old men in suits whenever they saw him strutting into their elite clubs wearing nothing other than a t-shirt and a pair of old jeans with holes in them. More than once some of those pricks even tried to have him kicked out. But the staff at establishments like this seemed to be quite good at keeping tabs on the guests’ net worth so often they ended up sucking up to him rather than the old farts.

The waiters here were giving off a somewhat different vibe though… If Zach hadn't noticed that those few men who were always on the move, carrying trays around were wearing bow ties rather than neckties, he definitely wouldn't have been able to tell them apart from the regular guests! Places like this often looked kind of samey with everyone being old and wearing boring suits, but this was like a whole next level!

Zach had only just realized, but holy crap, there hasn't been a single person in the entire room who didn't have a ridiculously huge beard! He hadn't shaved since last week so technically maybe he was included in this, but his definitely wasn't as grey or white as theirs! The shades of their beards, the levels of baldness and the colors of their suits was pretty much the only thing that differentiated each one of them!

But one other interesting thing was that they were all smoking pipes! Even the waiters were having a puff while moving around and chatting with the guests. Did Mike forget to mention that this was some super exclusive spot for pipe smokers? Whatever… honestly, the thing that Zach found the most annoying was how nobody seemed to be paying much attention to him here. He purposely tried to be as loud and obnoxious as possible, unmuting his phone and playing that dumb farming video game that was right ahead of them in most app stores. Yet even then, the best reaction he got was some of them briefly looking at him with amused faces for a moment before returning to their previous activities and conversations.

“Good day, I sincerely apologize for the delay in attending to you Mr Bennett. My name is Theodore and I am the director of hospitality at our establishment. We are so delighted that you could pay us a visit today. I assure you that our staff will do everything in our power to make your induction to the club a truly exceptional experience!”

Just when Zach was starting to consider bailing out of here those two guys appeared right in front of him seemingly out of nowhere! The one speaking in an eloquent and surprisingly resonant voice was ridiculously huge, tall as hell, with a colossal belly like pretty much all of them. While somewhat shorter yet definitely still quite decently overweight one, standing a few steps behind him must have been a subordinate of his. 

Zach began to explain that this was a misunderstanding because he had no interest whatsoever  in joining their club or anything, but despite the very hospitable and eloquent welcome neither of them seemed to be paying much attention to whatever he said as they talked between each other.

“Shall I fetch one of the pipes, Sir?”

“Oh, naturally Sebastian, forthwith!”

“What kind, Sir?”

“Mmm… I surmise that one of the sluttier variety might be the most suitable for Mr Bennett, then he will naturally feel inclined to introduce numerous new, virile members to our association so they could fuck his slutty hole on the regular. Oh… one moment… yes, while I would certainly prefer him on the heavyset side so that ass of his grows truly colossal, why don't we also make him into a bit of a cum guzzling cock whore while we’re at it? Let's ensure that he always has either the stem of a pipe or a huge, turgid fuckstick between his lips! Do you think you can find a suitable one Sebastian?”

“Certainly Sir, I will return with one promptly!”

Hearing this guy say all those perverted, ridiculous things in the exact, same cultivated and graceful Männer as if he was some kind of a sommelier talking about an expensive bottle of wine would have been quite hilarious if his body language didn't make it immediately obvious that he wasn't planning on letting Zach leave until the other waiter was back. It was only now that all those old farts who were sitting all around were finally turning their heads towards him, watching the scene with utmost fascination.

Zach shouted at them to get the security because this guy was totally crazy but nobody budged at all. Rather than being concerned they seemed to find him freaking out so much more endearing than anything. When it became clear that they were all in on it too, Zach pulled out his phone and warned that huge guy that if he didn't let him go, he would call the cops.

Only then, something that temporarily broke Zach's brain proceeded to take place. Theodore took a deep puff from his pipe and then exhaled a tiny cloud of smoke towards Zach's hand that was holding the phone. It was just small enough to completely obscure it and even though Zach knew it was merely just smoke he instinctively tried to clutch the phone tighter within his fingers, only to find them clenching into fist! What the hell?! He waved the smoke away but his hand was completely empty!!!

“What the fuck?! How did you do that?!”

“Please Mr Bennett, turning a cellphone into a puff of smoke is merely a small parlor trick. Very soon you will have a chance to witness a far more impressive metamorphosis… Oh, would you look at that, Sebastian is already approaching with your pipe right on time!”

At that moment Zach remembered thinking it was kind of strange how this guy phrased it as ‘his pipe’ but as he caught a glimpse of what the other waiter was carrying on a tray, he understood straight away. It stood there, right on top of a highly adorned, golden stand, his pipe! It was like love at first sight. He never even thought about smoking one before but now they were going to be, no, they already were, completely inseparable! Its stem was placed between his teeth first thing in the morning and only left its rightful spot when he was ready to fall asleep!

A jovial, cheerful laughter spread across the room at the immediate change in Zach's demeanor as though all those men were now recalling some very fond memory of their own. On some level he understood that what was going on right now was totally crazy, but as if under some kind of a magical spell, he couldn't help himself when Theodore offered the pipe to him. 

Even thanking the man when he offered him a lit match so he could puff the pipe to life. Which Zach proceeded to do without a slightest hitch like a seasoned smoker. That also surprised him, but there wasn't much of a chance to ask himself why he knew how to do it so expertly because as soon as it was lit, he found himself greedily sucking on the stem and moaning in blissful pleasure. 

Oh gosh, he knew that this was his first time ever, but he felt like a drug addict getting his fix. It was just delightful, such a rich flavor! Sebastian always picked out only the finest tobacco! Zach moaned again, he was in heaven, his head was swimming as he started feeling warm and so… profoundly turned on! If he hadn't been in public, he would have already been reaching for his cock, but then again, so many of the men sitting around them already had theirs out and were merrily stroking while laying back in their big, leather armchairs and puffing along.

Sebastian was pitching a huge tent in his slacks and even Theodore was fondling himself with a satisfied smile. Zach noticed that, the first thought that popped into his head was how much he hoped they would pull them out soon so he could suck them both dry the moment he was finished with this bowl. Mmm, he just loved sucking off the other sexy gents at the club, he was such a cum guzzling cock whore and absolutely proud of it! 

Zach was just about to ask them to stop teasing him and whip them out next when he suddenly realized that he'd heard those words before. ‘Cum guzzling cock whore', that's what Theodore had said when he was instructing Sebastian what pipe he should fetch! Holy shit!

Now that the shivers started running down his spine at the terrifying, unbelievable implications of all of this and the abrupt shock partially outweighed the still persisting horniness flooding his head. Zach had the chance to take notice of just how uncomfortably tight his clothes were feeling right now. He'd managed to peel his eyes away from the bearded waiters’ sizable bulges, only to immediately regret it as he discovered a massive  gut sticking out from underneath his shirt.

Not only was it extremely hirsute, but all of the body fur was completely white! It made him look like some ridiculously fat grandpa! His shirt was rolling up so much that it could be mistaken for the top half of a bikini, which seemed awfully suitable because Zach could see it stretching over a pair of absolutely enormous man boobs!

As his eyes grew wide in disbelief, he instinctively took a deep puff from the pipe to calm his nerves, only to find the belly instantaneously swelling even further in size. The shirt splitting at the front and letting his huge, chubby tits to flop down on it like on top of a wide, spacious shelf. God… he was so fucking hot! Those were the first words that appeared in Zach's head, and for the life of him, he couldn't bring himself to deny them.

Somehow in mere moments since putting this pipe in his mouth, an old, fat, bearded man became his absolute ideal of beauty. Zach saw how wonderfully chubby his fingers were now and after admiring the soft, white hairs growing on each knuckle, brought them closer to his mouth. Much to his delight he discovered it surrounded by copious amounts of silky, delicate facial fur. He took a deep inhale and then began gently blowing the smoke into his palm, as if trying to catch it and massage it into his beard. Loving the feeling of it growing longer and more luxuriant between his fingers. Oh god… what was happening to him?! Why couldn't he stop?!

“What the fuck have you done to me?!”

Zach cried out before inevitably returning to exploring his growing and expanding body practically right away. One hand caressing his belly while the other reached for his swollen cock, completely overcome by pleasure.

“Nothing that any of us hadn't experienced when we were first initiated into the club, Mr Bennett. It is quite an honor, while our plans are to ideally connect all men worldwide to their destined pipes one day, understandably we first needed to prioritize those with the means to help us achieve that goal…”

He instantly understood why those bastards had invited him here. It was about his social media site! They wanted to use it to spread this shit… and make more sexy, pipe smoking gents… Zach felt a sinking feeling in his stomach when he realized that he was already thinking of all the different features they could implement in the future to spark an interest in their pipes in every single man who had ever registered. And he knew that once they had their first puff, it would then remain as their habit forever.

No… he couldn’t… and yet he was tugging on his cock even faster now, taking deeper and deeper puffs of smoke, finding it so marvelous how those big, hazy plumes were slowly escaping from between his lips whenever he parted them. He was sure that his users were going to find it just as enchanting too once he tweaks the algorithm a little and makes sure that their feeds are filled with nothing but videos and pictures of sexy, bearded gents having a puff as they play with their meat.

The temptation to join them soon becoming truly irresistible, but for that they will of course need a pipe of their own. Zachary moaned in profound arousal, knowing full well that even if a few were to, by some miracle manage to keep themselves from outright ordering one free of charge from their special internet store, they still had collected enough metadata on all of them to ensure that one would be waiting at their doorstep the following day anyway.

Mmm… Zachary couldn’t take this… he began picturing all those mesmerizing, big bellied, bearded gentlemen with their pipes! First filling the feeds of his website, then the streets of the cities all around the globe… introducing everyone they knew into this lovely habit… the biggest cloud of smoke yet had erupted from his mouth as he moaned deeply, his stubby cock twitching and spraying his massive, hairy thighs with creamy, white seed. And he simply could not wait to suck them all off one by one!

***

Zachary was quite amused to find himself back right in his personal office. Of course nobody from among his colleagues had recognized him, but when he suddenly stepped out of the elevator wearing this expensive looking, extravagant suit and holding a heavy suitcase, they must have assumed he was an important investor and asked him to wait for someone right here since, as he very well knew, that one room was still by far the most presentable part of the entire workplace that hadn’t changed much from the days when they were only a small start up.

Naturally nobody could get ahold of ‘Zach’ as his cell phone had vanished and all calls were going straight to voicemail, so the honor of entertaining him fell on Aaron, their CTO. Zachary was actually quite impressed by just how quickly his friend had managed to catch on to everything after he began recounting the events of the previous day. But fortunately Zachary had a chance to personally assist Sebastian and Theodore with picking out just the perfect pipe for him. Even though Aaron knew just what was coming, he couldn't possibly resist his invitation to have a small puff together. Or for that matter to later allow Zachary to wrap his lips around his engorged, stubby cock as they pondered about this exciting new direction for their company, and even more importantly, the best way to introduce their colleagues to all those pipes waiting for them in his suitcase.

If you liked the story and would like to read more bear themed transformation fiction, consider subscribing to my Patreon! I post captions like this and longer stories there regularly!

I have also set up two extra accounts on twitter and bluesky for caption purposes! https://x.com/burrcapts https://burrcapts.bsky.social/

[donutsupremacy]

Faceless

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Summary:

"Finding yourself back in your hometown, you not only find out that everyone had disappeared without a trace, but another surprise as you stared up at the Anemo Archon's statue."

Warning

Angst to fluff

Yes there's comfort.

Horribly written description of a jumpscare

Nightmares

Stalking? Kinda? With eyes only I think?

Established relationship

Reader is not traveller

Reader does not have a vision

GN!Reader

Reader is a shrine maiden but thas not important lol

A/N: I can't think of anymore warnings— Faceless Ayato still haunts me. Don't randomly download Genshin off random websites kids. Lord knows what happens when you see faceless Timmie. Also this is a bit shorter than usual.

(Somewhat of a spoiler section here)

For a bit of context, idk the whole thing but from what I read; It's a creepy pasta (It's still real I think, ah but it's a download something glitchy from a website thing y'know) where a player downloaded Genshin from a random website because they couldn't download it on their device properly. While playing with Diona, the player noticed someone standing on Venti's statue. It was Ayato, but his entire face was black, void, empty but his eyes. Hence, faceless Ayato. Addition; Faceless Ayato killing Diona in the end— Genshin you now have creepypastas, congrats.

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Your terror begins here

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"...Mondstat?..."

It has been a while since you last remembered being in the city of freedom. Nostalgia took over your senses, barely anything changed after you moved to Inazuma. You were sure everything looked the same, even the air reeks of the old days.

It was the place you were born and raised in before moving to the land of eternity, where you became the very first shrine maiden from Mondstat and formed a special relationship that would never sever.

However, something felt off.

Usually, the city had citizens roaming around, idle chatter and joyous laughter hanging in the air while the bells from the church ringing all across the city. It's the city of freedom, a homey and lively region that easily helps anyone get settled in comfortably.

This isn't Mondstat.

This is a complete ghost town.

You glanced everywhere as you walked around, too afraid to call out for any of your familiar's names. Not a single living being in sight, save for yourself. While you haven't returned to Mondstat for a very long time, you occasionally got some news about any events happening there, in a form of a letter written to you from your friends and family.

Did something disastrous happen? Or was it coincidentally the day where everyone has clocked in for the day? No, that wouldn't make any sense... there would always be a few guards patrolling at night, bless those tired souls.

Even the cold breeze brushing against your exposed delicate skin made you anxious, it felt as if someone was watching your every move.

You walked around, wondering where everyone was. Actually, you don't even remember how you got here? Was this a dream? Actually, no, being in Mondstat with no people wouldn't be a dream.

Despite the place being deserted, you could feel eyes staring at you from afar. Yet, no matter where you looked, you were the only one in the area. Was it paranoia stemming from the lack of people? Possibly.

Fear began bubbling in your chest, the air in your lungs slowly depleting when you slowly picked up your pace. You wanted to run, run away from wherever you are. This isn't the Mondstat you knew and grew up in. Where in the world were you?

That's when you felt something cold brush against the skin of your neck.

Biting your tongue to prevent yourself from screaming, you began running. Your mind was as hazy as your sight, sprinting away in your shoes to who knows where. You weren't sure where you are, you don't remember Mondstat being a full-on maze of houses. Where was Good Hunter? Or Angel Shares? You don't even see Katheryne's Adventurers Guild stand anywhere.

But all you could think of was running. Run. Keep running until you find a way out of this place. The houses pass by you like a blur, no one seemed to be inside any of them, confirming your thoughts that the city was completely deserted. Your legs were starting to burn, your heart pounding against your chest, begging you to stop and take a rest.

You kept on running regardless, gut instinct or not, you knew you were in danger. You didn't even know where you wanted to go, just running away from whatever was following you. No matter how many times you checked behind you, there was no one there.

Still, that lingering stare remained on the back of your head.

Were you going in a loop? It feels like you've seen the same building over and over again, or were you going insane? Perhaps, you were.

Adrenaline coursed through your blood, taking a left turn, then a right, going in random directions in hopes of finding the gate that would lead you out of here. However, instead of finding the large gates, you found yourself running up a flight if stairs.

Those stairs had lead you straight to the plaza by the church, and you were now standing in front of the Anemo Archon's statue. At the very least, you were somewhat free from the maze of houses now.

You glanced around, it was still empty and quiet. You could even hear your heart beating rapidly loud and clear. Out of breath, you had your hands on your knees, panting heavily and drinking in as much oxygen as you could.

"Hah... So... tired..." You whimpered, wiping the sweat off your forehead. You were close to collapsing, you've never ran this fast nor this long in your entire life, you envy those travellers who have high stamina to run for a long period of time.

Your eyes scan the area once more, thinking of entering the church in hopes to end whatever nightmare you're going through. However, as you gazed at the statue that stood tall and proud, your eyes slowly moving upwards. Your heart had dropped as soon as you saw the familiar figure standing on the palm of the statue.

"...Ayato?..."

Frozen in place, you stared at the man whom you had fell in love with on the first day you arrived in Inazuma. Your relationship was like a fairytale, fictional and sweet, yet, it came true in the end. But this was not the same Ayato you knew and love.

He was faceless.

His whole face was black, like a void. Save for the pair of calm purple eyes that were staring right back at you. Those eyes didn't hold any love for you, they seem to have... a malicious glint in them.

Your heart began picking up in speed when you continued to stare at him, your hands trembling while the both of you stared at eachother for who knows how long. Was he the one chasing you before?

You took a step back, blinking while you do so— and he appears right in front of you.

A scream erupted from your throat, stumbling backwards only to realize he was holding your hand with an iron grip. You tried to slip out of his grasp, but your attempts were futile, his arm holding your hand wasn't even budging the slightest when you tried to pull back with all your might.

With every pull, you grow desperate to escape from the imposter. But his grip slowly grew stronger, drawing a pained cry out of you as you could feel your bones start to break underneath his hand. "A-AYATO! PLEASE!"

Your plea fell into deaf ears, glacing up with teary eyes at the faceless man who stared back at you with no emotion. "PLEASE! LET ME GO!" You sobbed, your knees bucking when you could feel his fingernails digging into your skin, dangerously close to grazing your veins.

"P-Please..." Tears formed in your eyes, your vision blurry as you stared at Ayat— no, he wasn't Ayato. He would never hurt you like this. This... faceless 'Ayato' was not planning to let you free anytime soon.

Then, he lunges at you.

"NO!"

You sat up quick as lightning, your heartbeat pounding loudly in your ears as cold sweat formed on your head. Your loud breathing filled the room, before the sound of fabric shuffling could be heard right beside you. "[Name]? Love, what's wrong?" You almost slapped away the hand that gently held onto your shoulder, your wide frantic eyes gazing to the side to see your beloved partner who has now regained his beautiful features.

He was no longer faceless.

"A-Ayato..." You sobbed, your hand reaching out to cup his cheek, his eyes filled with worry and confusion. "Y-You're..." You couldn't finish your sentence, relief washing over you to see that you had escaped your nightmare. Sensing your distress, his slim yet muscular arms held your waist, gently tugging you towards him. His hold on you was careful and gentle, holding you as though he was afraid of breaking you if he had used any strength.

"Shh... You must've had a nightmare. You're safe now, love. I'm here... I won't let anything hurt you." Ayato's calm voice filled your ears, his tender touches aiding you in slowing down your heartbeat.

You melted in his arms, matching your breathing pattern to the sound of his soothing heartbeat. "...I-I'm sorry for waking you up..." You whispered in a hoarse voice, gazing up into his purple eyes that were full of emotion. Guilt repleaced the relieving feeling you felt before, realizing that you might've made some trouble for him by waking him up in the middle of the night.

"Worry not about me, love. Your safety and comfort will always my number one priority." He chuckled, planting a kiss on your forehead after wiping away your tears.

"I'll stay awake with you as long as you'd like."

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A/N: I rushed the ending cause I got scared, cause like I was typing this while entering the room and the lights coincidentally starting flashing for a few seconds ;—;

[inconsideratekidney]

9/11/24

oop. that title is a date. i don't hold any strong opinions towards that, but also won't try to say anything that would be appropriate just cause it's a certain date. whatever. idk what to say. ok um moving on.

walking home thoughts:

my hair is definitely hairing the way i want it to. i like the length more than a longer or shorter length, but it is also what is considered the awkward length. i only really hate it when it hasn't been washed in a bit, which is often, but today i was happy with it.

what is up with mongo pushing? like just use your front foot. why are you making yourself do more work and look goofy (but not in the right way) doing so?

while i say that i am also holding my fist firmly in the air, upset and regretful that i left my skateboard at home

i really love the way the algae over the pond looks and it definitely makes me feel really excited and warm inside. idk why.

also i hate the walk home. i wish i had my skateboard because why does it take so long. i used to walk so fast like 4 years ago and i've just slowed down for some reason since 3 years ago. wtf.

everyone needs a freakin dpiel in their life. i thought this a couple days ago, but thought about it again today on my walk home. he has such good music taste and makes me listen to artists i wouldn't have thought of on my own and would be like "eh" before, but since he played it in front of me i was like "oh, i'm a dumbass. i have been missing out on some fantastic music" this includes childish gambino, tame impala, and steve lacey, but there are so many songs that he plays that i also love from varying different artists. i also silently add these songs to my library, but i think they're really cool. shoutout to dpiel. striptease, kilby girl, dang!, hey lover, and les were all songs from one drive that i downloaded i believe. keep doing ur thing, man, love to see it.

related, but not from my walking home thoughts, from my now thoughts, i am currently loving music i hear from gabriel like a lot, and starting to like music from miles and obviously dpiel. i've been heavily into arctic monkeys, glass animals, childish gambino, some songs from kevin abstract (i need to explore that avenue further), some from megan thee stallion honestly, some steve lacey, really into tory lanez (controversial cuz he shot megan thee stallion in the foot and wouldn't admit it, but okay.....i really like his music even if he steals it without credit......but i hate who he is as a person), some future, heavy on the weeknd, the whole metro boomin spiderman album, machine gun kelly, some cage the elephant, then some various gabriel songs as i will call them. super loving music rn.

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i super duper hate pimples. especially this one in my ear that just finally decided to fuck off. hate them with a vengeance. especially since it fucked with my every day life and hurt like hell when i kept accidentally scratching it. anyway.

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i finally put my string lights up. still haven't gone to the store for a rug or finished my shelf journey. we got wood tho so yeehaw. gotta figure out the machinery and how tf to get started. i really want to make my bed space more comfy and inviting. especially when i am here way too often, i want to make it super duper comfy. but like not too comfy to where i never leave, but less springy as it is right now. i want to put my mattress topper back on, but my fitted sheets keep coming off of it and make me want to kill something every time they pop off a corner. also it is a little wrong, it sinks in a bit and feels kind of weird. my mom spent money on it so i should use it tho. ugh.

I want to go back to playing the sims. i keep seeing really cool ideas on youtube, i really want to be more creative, so i think i'll go and try some that i've had saved for some time. i kept losing at wii sports tennis for some reason emily and akira are really good :| makin me wanna throw the controller into the tv (i didn't, it's not my controller or tv, and i would never do that if it was pff..).

my throat hurts and i could be getting sick >:( i hate getting sick, especially the sore throat kind. i am going to gargle that cpc mouthwash before that shit decides to go down my entire throat and up my sinuses. fuck you u stupid shit. i'm not staying sick this time, bitch.

anyway, lemme worsen my oncoming headache by playing the sims instead of winding down for bed.

goodnight, good afternoon, good morning, good day,

kD

[rubykgrant]

Hey, I can put all my pin-up pictures in one post now!

I spent a couple of weeks drawing these, sometimes trying multiple poses until finally they looked right, and then I had to travel to scan the pictures... and the scanner was really wonky. It washed out certain colors, while over-saturating others. It was just really weird. So, the only solution was to try to edit and fix the scanned images on my computer, and since I only have MS Paint with no layers, this was a challenge. I basically had to add the colors, then go over my lines so they would be clear, and finally erase around the edges. It took another few days to fix them all, but I did it!

(some descriptions for each character design below)

Church gave me the most trouble… and why wouldn’t he? This CHURCH, after all. He lives to be difficult. I knew I wanted him to have the “mud-flap babe pose”, but I kept messing up his face, and didn’t realize how bad I messed up until after I inked and colored it in… at one point, I tried to re-draw the face and cut out the one that didn’t work, and paste the two pieces of paper together. It wasn’t worker, so I finally just traced over my own lines, did the face all over again, and he looked half-way decent. SO, I’m done with Church! Look at that smug expression, he knows he’s a jerk. Seriously though, I love how he turned out!

When it comes to his design, I have my whole RVB story-line with a scenario in which Church and Tex get to come back with synthetic human bodies (specifically, when the Epsilon AI was deconstructed, all of the data from his memories WENT somewhere; it was downloaded back into the original AI units, which weren’t “dead” after the EMP, just deactivated. revived by Epsilon’s data, all the AI were able to reactivate, including Alpha! now HE is the one who is carrying on with the memories another part of him left behind… whoops, that’s sad, but don’t worry! he now also has the chance to feel better~). His was based on the DNA of the Director, but he’s not a clone, exactly. There’s a similarity for sure, but they’d probably look more like brothers. Church is considerably shorter, and even when he was “fresh out of the oven”, he’s more chunky too. As time goes on and he’s able to eat REAL FOOD, Church gets nice and chubby. He also wanted to be strong enough to actually pick Tex up, so that was his whole motivation for muscles. He has fairly long hair at first, and later cuts and styles it to this (imagine it feels like a silky-soft hedgehog). He wound up with some face-fuzz, and wasn’t sure of he should keep it or not… he doesn’t want to seem like he intentionally looks like the Director, but also? If he tries to avoid looking like him on purpose, he’s still letting that dude influence his decisions. Church finally asked Carolina (only fair, because she has to look at him), and she said it kinda suits him, especially since he has a squared jaw. So, the face-fuzz stayed~

*

The first rule of face-designs for RVB characters; Tucker is the prettiest. This is law. He definitely is really into the whole romantic-pose thing, so he’s both flirty and totally relaxed. “Yeah, I know, you want me. Don’t worry, plenty of Tucker for everybody!”. I like imagining his features as being a little aquiline, but still soft (he’s one of those people who looks about 10 years younger than he actually is, and even when he’s an old man, he’ll barely look 40).

He is indeed a manlet short king, thank you very much. He wasn’t always so muscular, but after training with Wash, Tucker has some definition going on (glorious calves, after all). I think the main thing with him that I keep in mind, is; yeah, in the beginning, he definitely wasn’t an “ideal fighter”, but he’s proven to not only be capable, but FANTASTIC… and it isn’t just about fighting. It isn’t just flirting, either. Tucker genuinely has so much depth, and a thoughtful side that makes him really care about people. So, even when I draw him looking strong, or confident, I want him to have a gentle touch in there~

*

When I thought about what kinda pose I wanted for Tex, I knew she had to be FLEXING, obviously. For the rest of the body, I used reference for some drawings I did many years ago in a Human Figure class, with models who posed while we sketched. I always liked the way this one sketch I did showed the line in the back follow all the way down the leg, so I elaborated on this for Tex. I really wanted something to show the full body, and standing up so you get the feel for how imposing/intimidating she is. I think she’d approve~

Like Church, I imagined a scenario in which she gets to return in a synthetic human body, hers being based on the DNA of Allison (rather than turning out identical, they simply share similarities). Ironically, Tex looks more like Carolina than Allison did (I like to think Carolina takes after a great-grandmother on her mom’s side, and Tex just kinda wound up inheriting those traits in her new body, too). Tex is very TALL, and once she was able to, she was determined to get BUFF. Tex is a built like a brick house, heck yeah!

*

I wanted to do another full-standing pose for Caboose to really show how tall he is. For a while, I wasn’t sure what to do with his hands... like, him holding them up over his head didn’t seem to work, on his hips didn’t look right... finally, I sketched them clasped behind his back, and it was perfect! Nice and casual, but also really cute. It also show’s off his arms REALLY good~

Like a lot of people, I imagine Caboose as being BIG. It just kinda fits with how strong he is, and since I made Tucker and Church both tiny, Caboose can totally life them both up on his shoulders! Little boy blue? Nah, big boy blue! Sarge is tiny too, so I love the idea of him standing next to Caboose, who is his favorite Blue (Caboose is son-boy). Caboose is also pretty comfortable with himself, so I just wanted him to calm and happy. He deserves it~

*

We never got a good look at Wash back in Project Freelancer, but at some point, somebody came up with blonde-freckle-man, and a lot of us latched onto it. I am no exception… and I really went all-out with his freckles! It was once mentioned that he grew a beard, so I decided to keep that. It is a little more full and fluffy than I usually draw it, but hey- maybe he’s growing it out a bit. That foot ticked me off, but whatever, I’m done with it. Also, yes; I gave him a catboy pose~

I imagine Wash also being tall, and fairly lean. Certainly athletic, but also agile. The dude has also been all over the map in terms of his character arc; Freelancer Dork, Mr Serious Recovery One, Villain Guy, Church Impersonator, and finally- a dork yet again, but now he’s more comfortable to be one! After living with the Reds and Blues, he’s found a way to sort of… not feel awkward about being awkward? It makes sense when you know this group. Also, I’m not sure how much I would elaborate on it in my story-line… but I kinda lean toward trans Wash~

* 

Kai was actually the first one I did (originally, the only one... but then I kept going haha). I had this specific pose in mind for her that I thought was really cute. Somehow, the sketch turned out alright on the first try, and after I added all the ink and color, it was still good! The process I used to draw her was repeated for each picture; pencil sketch, then go over the lines I like with this one almost-dry brown marker (honestly, it looks like drawing with charcoal, but thankfully it WORKS like a felt pen. charcoal is so tricky), erase unneeded pencil lines, add more defined lines with the colors I want to use for the character (for Kai, this one goldenrod pen I have), and continue with the details, mixing different pens and colored pencils for the shading. It was a WHOLE thing.

I love how her pose turned out, she really looks like she has actual form. I wanted to express the fact that she is beautiful, and she’s also chubby with stretch-marks, thank you very much. I also imagine she and her bro have like... very fine body hair that you can barely see (seriously, they have baby hair on their arms and legs). As for the hair on her head, man- I LOVE drawing hair, and hers is so pretty! I like how it almost looks like gold~

*

Sweet Caroline, bah-bah-bah! She’s one of the few characters who shows us her face, so I know what she looks like, but I still wanted to play around with my design of her. I decided short hair works for her (and although I’m just using the aqua-blue here, I imagine that she starts dying it a darker red). She’s usually very tense and tough, so I wanted to let he show a slightly more dainty side with the pose. When I finally figured out how to make legs sort of over-lap in different ways, I started having fun doing poses like this. You can still see her impressive arm muscles, though~

Carolina has definitely taken some battle-damage over the years, with a few scars here and there… also, I think she just doesn’t care about shaving, so enjoy the leg hair! She was arguably the easiest to draw. Thank you for that, Carolina~

*

I struggled with this pose for quite a while… my fault for deciding on something difficult, but come on! I had to go with a push-up. Also, a one-handed push-up at that, because Sarge has to show off. I actually showed my mom all these pictures as I finished them (and she cracked me up, she’d say “That’s a very cute naked person, honey. Now, go color another one” like I’m drawing unicorns or something haha). When she saw Sarge, she said “He looks like a big silver back gorilla”, and she had no idea how ironic and hilarious that actually is.

I imagine Sarge being the shortest of the group, very beefy and very boxy. He’s also got the most body hair of the group. Plenty of scars as well (the ones on his knuckles are from punching so hard while wearing older armor, his hands would get scraped on the inside. newer armor has better padding). I wanted his face to look smug, like he’s saying “Yes, I know you’re looking at me, I can’t blame you”. As you can see, he doesn’t have much of a butt… and what is there is a tight little brick haha~

*

Grif obviously needed to have a very chill pose, so he’s kicked-back, relaxing with his legs crossed, and arms folded behind his head. I’m so happy I’ve gotten better at drawing soft mass, because fat characters are beautiful (and as a chubby person myself, I want to do different body-types justice). Grif is indeed a big guy, and although he’s very calm here, I hope you can kinda tell he’s got some strength in that body too.

Like Simmons’ prosthetics, I wanted Grif’s limbs with the skin-grafts to be clear and easy to see. Over the years, his body has sort of “absorbed” the organic tissue Simmons donated, so Grif has evened-out (though you can kinda tell, his lighter foot doesn’t quite match the one he “grew” himself, but he’s not as lop-sided as when the surgery first happened.) Just like Kai, I loved doing the curls in his wavy hair~

*

Donut was the second one I made after Kai, because he pretty much took over my brain and DEMANDED to be drawn in a pin-up pose. What kind of pose was easy enough to figure out (imagine him spread out on a bead). I totally screwed up on his feet, and didn’t want to re-draw the whole thing… but I also didn’t have white-out, or even white paint. I wound up using this craftwork enamel stuff… which is OK, but really tacky (I don’t mean like it looks bad, but tacky as in it takes forever to dry and stays sticky for too long).

I imagine Donut is what you get if Barbie had a baby with GI Joe; totally adorable, and also impressively buff (especially his arms). His face has the scar from the grenade incident, and after having his hair lop-sided for a while, he started styling with a side-cut and letting the rest grow out. He also has a scar on one of his hands (from when he got hurt from the vehicle). His face naturally makes the cutesy kitty mouth~

*

If you want to imagine these pin-ups as being for like… and actual calendar that exists within the RVB universe, the only way they could get Simmons to be part of it was by intentionally acting like they weren’t going to include him. This would kick his fears of being ignored into high-gear, so he would INSIST on doing it too. He’s still a little uncertain… so, a shy pose for the shy nakey boy~

I wanted to make sure we could clearly see his cybernetics (and I’m so happy with how the foot turned out). Like a lot of people, I imagine red-head Simmons, and I think he probably had short hair most of his life… but around Chorus he didn’t have time to keep trimming it, and after Iris it totally got away from him. One day he pulls it back, to figure out how much needs to cut off, but instead he went “Oh, pony-tail?”. So yeah, long hair Simmons! He used to be a string-bean too, but years of running around and trying not to die helped him put on some weight (he totally doesn’t even realize he has actual muscles~)

*

When I decided to do sort of leaned-over pose with Doc, it was hard to make it work… but finally, I had something that looked decent. I also wanted to show a wink and smirk, because O’Malley is there too! He probably would have rather done some kind of pose in a graveyard to look all creepy, but Doc won with the cute pose.

I like the idea of him having really thick, fluffy, and curly hair. Also, a very defined nose. His legs are really strong (being a former track runner and all), but he not as muscular as some of the others. In fact, Grif is the tallest of the short group, with Doc just a little shorter than him (after that is Church, Tucker, Kai, and Sarge). I’m really happy with how all the shapes of his forms turned out, his tummy, his shoulders, his legs~

*

I really wanted to do an especially cute pose for Locus, because he deserves to feel pretty~ He’s probably about as shy and awkward as Simmons in certain ways (certainly confident when it comes to fighting, but social situations? he’s a dork). So, he’s sort of closed-off here, but hey- popping that leg up, because yes! Locus can have fun, too! His legs turned out really nice too~

We know what he looks like in the show, or at least, what he looked like working with Felix before Chorus. So, I had that to bas his design on. I feel like while Chorus stuff was going on, Locus actually lost a lot of weight, being so stressed-out and not even recognizing how unhappy he was. He’s always been beefy and buff, but now that he has some new friends that actually give a heck, he’s put on some weight, and is just a bit more chubby than he used to be (which is a good thing~)

[callingsergeantbarnes]

Maybe my door is always open with bucky and it end all fluffy and fun

Thank you for the ask Nonnie 💜💜, I hope you enjoy this...

My Door Is Always Open

Pairing:- Bucky Barnes & Reader

Word Count:- 1223 

Warnings:-  Fluff. Insomnia. Comfort. Hinted at past hurts and violence and PTSD

A/N - I should probably work on making these drabbles shorter, but for now my writing is running away from me. 

Divider by @firefly-graphics banners by @maysdigitalarts

 Any mistakes are mine - checked over with ProWritingAid, but still one or two things are going to have slipped through. 

Summary:-  A sleepless night has you remembering offered words to you by a friend. 

My door is always open. 

Five words shouldn’t have such a hold of you, yet they did. 

My door is always open. 

They churned around and around as you stared up at your bedroom ceiling, watching the shadows dance across as the moon moved through the night sky. You rarely slept with your curtains closed. Wanting, no needing to see the outside world, even in the dead of night. You had spent too long trapped in a windowless room for you to ever feel comfortable in a space that you couldn’t at least glimpse the outside world from.

Often that was enough to soothe you to sleep. Some nights it wasn’t enough. Tonight was one of those nights. 

You had lost track of how long you had stared at the ceiling above you. Thoughts spinning and spinning, unable to switch off all the noise. You’d counted sheep, in the hopes it would make you fall asleep. It hadn’t. You had listened to the monotone voice of a hypnosis download, hoping it would work. It hadn’t. The man’s voice was not soothing and grated on every single nerve you had. You’d drank your herbal tea that Wanda swore helped her mind relax, but all it did was leave your mouth dry as a desert and in desperate need of water. 

My door is always open.

It was probably why his words were playing on a loop. You remembered the night he had uttered them to you, as clear as day. Another sleepless night, where you had inevitably given up the pretence of sleeping and got up, making your way to the communal area. You hadn’t been the only one awake that night with that same thought. 

Bucky Barnes.

You both sat there in silence, sipping on your hot chocolate in the early hours until the sun rose, where you parted ways. It was the first of many. A ritual between the two of you. 

Two hot chocolates, followed by a comforting silence and side glances, for nights at a time until eventually you had plucked up the nerve to speak to him. 

Bucky. 

The man more lost out of time than Steve had been. 

Both of you nightmare filled and trying to put back the pieces together into something new and whole that wasn’t so tainted by your pasts. 

It had surprised you at how easy it had been to talk to him, or that fact that he seemed interested enough to talk back to you. And as the sun slowly rose, casting the communal area in warm orange and golden rays, you had bid each other goodbye. 

But not before he had uttered those words. My door is always open.

He did offer, that pushy niggly voice in your mind reminded you. You could go to him. 

What if he is asleep? Doubt countered, because the idea of being a burden to the man who had fast become your friend was not something you ever wanted to be. 

Because, friend or not, you could admit in the shadow filled room of your bedroom, that you had developed a crush on Bucky, and it would crush your heart for him to think of you as a burden. 

He wouldn’t have offered it if he didn’t mean it.

Another truth you couldn’t quite deny as you chewed on the inside of your cheek. Bucky wasn’t the type of man to offer things he wasn’t prepared to give or follow through with, and outside of Steve, Sam and Natasha, you were the only one he seemed to interact with regularly or even talk to. 

With a frustrated huff and a new found bravado, and before you could change your mind if you thought about it for too long, you pushed the covers off you and slipped out of bed. The cold floor had your toes curling, but you didn’t stop to put socks on your feet. If you didn’t keep moving, you were certain you would back out and get back into bed to continue to stare at the ceiling. 

The halls in the Compound were silent and still, dim lights switching on as you approached lighting the way. It was nice walking around the Compound in the dead of night, when no one else was around. Either asleep or away on missions. Sometimes it could all get a bit too much for you in the light of day. Agents, scientists, doctors all coming and going, as the Avengers went about their day to day. You preferred the night, and the quiet and the stillness. Even on the nights where your past wouldn’t leave you alone.  

It didn’t take you long to reach Bucky’s room. But it took you longer than it should to actually knock. You didn’t like to think what you would have done had he opened the door to find you standing outside like an idiot, not having the courage to knock now you had brought yourself to his door. 

He was wearing a loose t-shirt and sweatpants when he answered. His gaze was awake and alert and not showing any sign that you had woken him. 

“Y/N.”

Your pulse fluttered at the way he said your name. It shouldn’t have had that much of an impact on you, you had heard it called enough times in your lifetime, but the way Bucky said it differed from how other people said it. You just weren’t sure how. 

Hesitation tied your tongue as you swallowed up the sight of him.

Understanding filled his gaze, as though he was reading your mind, and silently opened his door a little wider for you to step inside. 

“You want to watch a Disney film?” he asked, not voicing the question why you were here. As though one look at you had been all he needed to know what you needed. Even if you didn’t know what it was yourself. 

“Treasure Planet?” You asked, twisting your fingers in the hem of your pyjama top.   

Bucky gave you a warm smile. “Sure, I know it’s one of your favourites. Get yourself tucked in.”

And it was. There was something about the idea of flying amongst the stars that always brought a smile to your lips. Even though the reality of aliens had turned out to be one filled with invasions, death and bloodshed.

Neither of you spoke as Bucky put the film on, and you curled up on one side of his bed, waiting for him to join you moments later. He pulled the covers over both of you, and lifted his arm up so you could nestle into his side, head resting on his shoulder. 

You had done this more often than not on the couch in the communal area, but it was the first time you had done it in his bed. The warm scent of him wrapped around you, teasing at your senses, and you couldn’t help but move closer to him. Soaking up his warmth and the comfort he was offering. 

He pressed his lips to the crown of your head. 

“Ready?” he asked. 

“Ready,” you said. 

He pressed play to the film, and the tension that had coiled within your shoulders, and the whirling thoughts and noise that rattled in your mind stilled. Finding a peace with Bucky you hadn’t felt all night. A small smile crossed your lips, soothed by the steady rhythm of Bucky’s heartbeat, as you both turned your attention to the film on the screen.  

[wwaverlygibson]

You guys might’ve noticed I’m moving away from R/BY AMVs and yes that’s totally true but there was one I’ve been wanting to do for a while and I was trying to download the vol 5 episodes from YouTube to do it and episodes 12 and 14 just will not download oh my god

[biddemo]

Meana wolf family secret

It's pretty hot, strongly recommended, especially since it's 100% free.

On top of that, this site also has a whole section dedicated to its MV Mag, you can download issues for free. Over 10k chicks putting out fetish/fantasy/kinky videos every single day, remember? If she's not on Many Vids, chances are – she doesn't exist at all. To make a long story slightly shorter: you WILL find your fantasy girl. No matter how kinky you think you are, there's a girl shamelessly doing stuff ten times kinkier and ten times weirder. No matter how weird you think your kink is, there's a girl on that website pumping out videos catering to your exact fetish. While the girl's looks are the very first thing that you should pay attention to… Her kinks come second. The most perfect girl one could hope for, right? Well, there's more to it, actually.

You know that Many Vids has someone that's 100% your type. To make it even easier for you to find the perfect one, you can pick the age, ethnicity, location, occupation, hair color, eye color, body type, breast type, breast size, tattoos, piercings, etc. Everybody has different tastes, some love them short, tall, redheaded, bimbo-looking, European, Asian, left-wing, barely legal, etc.….and MV has thousands of MV girls on there, over 10k, to be exact. It's not like you're going to wife her, you're just looking for a perfect-looking chick. Let's start from the beginning – the girl's appearance is crucial. It's a pretty bold claim, but it's complete true. How could you not? This a website that boasts about helping you "connect with your fantasy girl". Featuring Nathan Bronson.Meana wolf couplesmassage120316 – meana wolf – clips4sale | Size – 1,4 GBĮveryone loves Dirty Cunts. Meana demands that her Dad and Brother both fuck her together. Dad watches the siblings fuck in the bathroom. Now that everything is out in the open your daughter want’s you both to fuck her. Now everything is out in the open and you can both fuck her whenever she wants.Ĭlip Contains: When your son catches you in the act with your daughter, his feelings will erupt to reveal his own lust for his sister. Your dick throbbed as you watched them, you always knew they would start fucking eventually. Meana got on top of him and started grinding on his cock. Deep down nobody wanted to pretend anymore that things were the same as other families. The next night the sexual tension is palpable in the air as the three of you sit on the couch. You watched as they passionately kissed for the first time and your son in his rage, confusion and lust bent his sister over the kitchen sink and fucked her, just as you were about to do before he walked in on the two of you. Your son and daughter were always so close. As she tried to calm him down in the bathroom, his feelings overwhelmed him. You were ashamed of what you’d done, but at the same time the relief of him knowing was so freeing. It was only a matter of time before your son found out. But she made your cock so hard… your daughter owned you. Flashing you her naked pussy under her little skirt while the three of you watched tv was going to far. After a few months of your secret relationship, Meana started getting too bold around her brother. A father’s resolve can only go so far, and she was so mature…so hyper sexual. You tried everything to stop your daughter’s advances.

[onebizarrekai]

v3′s art is comically terrible for a professionally distributed game in a series: a compilation

in this not-essay I will list all of the mistakes and problems I have spotted in v3′s art. don’t worry, it’s entirely for fun and I’m doing this on a whim, so please feel free to not take this seriously but also it’s hilarious and embarrassing how ridiculous this is like what happened did they speedrun the whole production or what

see, there are some things you can take as meta like “they made it bad on purpose to allude to the downfall of tv shows that have been on air for much too long” but I have a very strong feeling this is not the case due to the nature of some of these errors

disclaimer, the more I study this art, the more I fear that the artists were underpaid and underslept, so if this is in fact the case, I am so sorry to all of them but also I’m going to make fun of the art anyway

anyway let’s get started!

if you study this image for longer than 5 seconds, you will see that kaede is the only one fully shaded and keebo is literally just his normal sprite pasted into the image. every other character is just an ordinary ref, hence most of them facing the exact same direction with neutral expressions on their faces. it looks like a bad edit, and is probably one of the worst pieces of art in the game. it kind of gets better from here on, but my roasting will not.

with that out of the way, here’s the problem that officially bothers me the most and clarifies my viewpoint of “this is not meta and an actual lack of company communication”

this freaking cg, which seems normal at a glance, but some wiseass was like “oh, kaede is a girl, so obviously she’s going to be shorter than the Male Protagonist™” ah, that’s funny. because if you look at the character bios, kaede is, in fact, one inch taller than shuichi and not like 6 inches shorter as she is shown here.

also shuichi’s shoulder is disproportionate and horrendous and he looks vaguely like a jojo character, but I wasn’t even thinking about that until right now.

thanks guys, 50% of the fandom who has never bothered to check these bios thinks that kaede is like 5′3 (did the developers really put so little thought into her to the point where drawing her correctly in the game didn’t even matter??)

also I would like to point out that, even though this isn’t related to the art itself, yes, a character kaede’s size being only 117 lbs is unfeasible, but this applies to literally every character in danganronpa ever and it’s not new news that it’s unrealistic

update: someone in the tags informed me that in versions of the game that use centimeters, like the japanese version, kaede is actually shorter than shuichi, which just adds another thing to the list of weird decisions the localization team made for no reason. that said, after confirming this, kaede is 167 cm in the original, while shuichi is 171 cm, which are approximately 5′6 and 5′7 respectively, but one inch is still nowhere near as drastic as it is depicted above. (in spite of this, I would rather depict kaede as slightly taller, so I’m probably going to keep doing that.)

the journey continues!

bro if you want kaede to have shoulder length hair then stick to it to begin with

you can pretend this is at an angle all you want but they definitely committed the shorter kaede sin a second time

wait a goddamn second.

DO YOU SEE THIS

no………… it wasn’t kaede who shrank. it was shuichi who got taller

speaking of which, can we talk about how shady the perspective is in this elevator pic? look at shuichi and kokichi in comparison to kaede. kokichi, who is canonically 7 inches (edit: or 5, if you’re loyal to the original) shorter than kaede, looks taller than kaede. he’s growing too. what steroids are these gays taking

running into the room, electric boogaloo: I don’t think tsumugi is supposed to be the same height as kokichi

gonta… gonta you’re lookin a bit like a jojo character there

I love how kaito’s head looks kind of like it was pasted onto his body. why is he the same size as shuichi? shouldn’t he be high school bully size or something? his torso is teensy

ah yes, white angie.

I love this cg but why is shuichi’s right hand so much bigger than his left hand

I also love how this cg looks like they literally took pictures of trees and pasted them into the background, especially on the left. the shadows are so weird, especially closer to the ceiling, it’s difficult for me to believe they didn’t do exactly that.

return of Enlarged shuichi

puberty update: kokichi is now taller than shuichi in spite of shuichi never missing leg day. what crimes will he commit

I have to mention it, guys. this has to be one of the worst danganronpa cgs. kokichi’s facial proportions look atrocious. look at the way his face sticks out like his jaw is in the wrong place. his scarf is a pasted texture. that’s it. this moment was so iconic but the cg just looks so… so… off. like something is terribly wrong, but you can’t put your finger on it.

you know what? let’s get into that ‘pasted texture’ thing.

let’s imagine you’re an artist working on a professional game. you’re assigned to draw cgs of kokichi ouma, who has a checkered scarf from hell. sure, it will be terrible to draw, but you only have to draw it once at a time! plus, perspective is pretty important, right? can you be bothered? nah, actually. let’s just copy paste a checkered pattern into the cg, because I’m sure nobody will notice. it’ll blend right in with the other cgs that someone actually put effort into drawing his scarf in, right?

no. the answer is no and I very much noticed. this genuinely looks terrible and I would understand taking a shortcut like that in fanart or even an indie game but this is a full price pc and console distributed game

(an addition: look at kokichi’s TINY HANDS in that last one)

meanwhile, they straight up forgot to color in kokichi’s scarf in this cg.

dude. I forgot about whatever the hell this cg was. anyway look at keebo please just look at him

lovin kaito’s baby arms

real talk, maybe you could argue that he’s missing muscle because he’s deathly sick, but most of his cgs don’t line up with this, and his arms just look disproportionate to his torso size (granted this is a consistent problem across all danganronpa games and a lot of characters have this weird problem, like hajime, but also kaito is bigger than hajime so I kind of have higher expectations of him) maybe it’s his stupid goatee and the way he reminds me of yasuhiro?? it creates this illusion that he’s older than he is and so I keep expecting him to look more like an adult

oh, also rantaro is missing some of his accessories in that video he made–you know the one–but I don’t wanna go back and screenshot it

also you may have noticed that I’m skipping all of the monokub cgs because I literally do not care about them and I’m not even bothering to check and see if they have artistic mistakes in them

JIMMY NEUTRON???

hey um uh kaito you seem to be missing your neck

hey guys do you like my pregame fanart

so, that done, the sprites are also pretty terrible at times. they’re not as interesting to go through, however, and downloading the full sprite sets for every character and studying every single one of them will drive me insane, so I’ll just sum some of the ones I noticed up. I made things for kaede and shuichi before deciding I wasn’t going to get into it, so here are these.

that said, other mistakes include kokichi missing his purple highlights in all of the sprites encompassing a specific pose, stray pixels all over the place on everyone, and everyone also has heavily inconsistent shading, but literally all I think about is how pregame shuichi is unshaded and two of kaede’s pregame sprites have glaring outfit change mistakes in them

anyway, thank you for taking the time to read my ridiculous ramble. in all seriousness, there’s this looming presence of some lack of communication in the development team, like with all the art and design inconsistencies, pieces and sprites that look rushed, stray pixels, and missing basic proportional stuff. these are the kinds of things that you supposedly have to pretty much have in the bag in order to get jobs in professional businesses, so it’s really weird to me that this game suffers from so many of these problems. it’s like they tried to make the art so much more crisp than the other games, but it fell on its face as they realized it was going to take longer to draw everything and they started to rush. it’s weird, because the coloring itself looks normal–it’s just sloppily drawn, and the proportions are a mess once put into the context of perspective. many of the cgs look like they were drawn by different people, and I’m still not over the fact that half of kokichi’s cgs have his scarf pasted in as a texture.

the moral of the story is that if you’re selling a game at full price that also happens to be in a series that has had 3 very good games in it already the stakes should probably be higher than this. v3 has been out for more than 3 years and it’s still $40 (did it cost more than that before? I sure hope not), and the overarching quality of the game is just not as high as the other games. I’m not saying that the other games don’t have any problems with their art at all, they’re just not as glaringly obvious and every artistic choice in those games feels intentional.

regardless, I had a blast roasting the art at 2am, so maybe you got a kick out of all this chaos.

[myassbrokethefall]

Did you create Mulder and Scully on the sim creator yourself? Their likeness is very good!

Thank you! Yes, I did — I made them when I first got the game (as I have done for previous sims games going back to the distant past) and I keep tweaking them. Last time I got into this game (I'm very on and off with it) I apparently modified both their cheekbones, as I have a household saved called "M&S new cheekbones."

I find it frustrating (yet satisfying) to try to make sims who look like existing people, because you think you have it nailed in the close view in CAS and then once they move they start making goofy sims faces and their eyes go into their forehead or something. They look more or less like they're supposed to in those screencaps, but I definitely resign myself to living with them looking somewhat ok most of the time at best.

Funnily enough, the last time I played my M&S sims, I made them a whole house and put them on secret agent career paths and spent a long time "shopping" for a decent revival-era hair for Scully and tried to make it all very accurate, but then I petered out before too long. This time I just threw Mulder in a random trailer with a bunch of cats and so far it is more fun. I think sometimes the amount of setup I do is inverse to my enjoyment once I actually start playing.

One thing that was fun though when I was changing their outfits to try and get them more early-seasons M&S: I wanted to make some silk PJs for Scully, and the game doesn't really have anything close (and it's not something I care about enough to search for appropriate custom content). BUT, one of the somewhat more recent (and very welcome) game developments is that you can use any gender clothing for any sim, and they've put everything on a tag system so you can just untag any filter you don't want. So you can be making the pajamas of a female sim and basically you can use any top and any bottom from any category. I found her a baggy button-down from somewhere that looked reasonably pajama-y and a pair of pj pants that matched and now she has cute, plausibly silk pjs.

(I would never use that hair for baby Scully but it is one I sometimes use for current-day Scully [as I reject the short bob, haha]. Maybe I will look for some shorter hairs today.)

Isn't she cute? I love that ponytail too but it looks glitchy in actual gameplay. And I do really like that skin despite the load of eye makeup, which at least looks nice (and reasonably Scullyish).

(to be clear I don't/can't skin! any custom content I have is downloaded)

Here's a Muldo for fairness:

I don't love his face skin, but there is a real lack of male skins that I've found that stay within the general palette that I want (lots of super pale or ethereal-looking ones, but I like ones that don't look totally out of place in a Maxis universe but also are a little more refined). Sometimes I just use a female one and as long as their shirt stays on, you don't notice that they have painted-on boobs, haha.

[gallavictorious]

What staple fics of the fandom would you recommend for someone just starting to read gallavich fic?

Hiya there, nonnie – and welcome to the glorious world of Gallavich fic, if you're new to it!

On the one hand, I'm very much the wrong person to ask because staple fics tend to be AU:s and that's not really my cup of tea. On the other hand, I am a librarian, so never let it be said I balk at giving recommendations about stuff I haven't actually read or isn't necessarily to my personal liking. 😉

To make this list, I sorted Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich fics by bookmarks on AO3 and selected the first ten that I've either seen talked about a lot or have had at least a look at myself. This is admittely not a great way to curate a rec list, so for better and more initiated recommendations, maybe check in with the the amazing ladies of @gallavichfanficlibrary? They'll have you covered! If anyone else feels like chiming in with fandom classics for nonnie, I'm sure they'd be grateful. 🙂

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace by shamlessquestions

AO3 Summary: Mickey just needs to keep his head down and stay out of trouble at his new job. Still trouble always manages to find him and when it takes the form of his red haired boss, Mickey's not sure he can resist even if he wanted to.

Comment: The Gallvich fic with the most bookmarks and the most kudos on AO3. You’ll hear this one mentioned a lot! Fair bit of explicit sex scenes.

The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Ian Gallagher by shamlessquestions

AO3 Summary: "It's fuck all about heat or chemistry or any such shit, Gallagher. You and me...it's just a thing that cannot happen. The sooner we both accept that, the better off we'll be."

Comment: Mickey's the right hand man of a Chicago mobster. Club dancer (and college student) Ian starts ”dating” said mobster. Gallavich sparks fly. High stakes and quite a bit of action in this one. Explicit sex scenes.

Take Me In by MintSauce

AO3 Summary: Mickey's Dad finds out about Mickey being gay and even though Ian's not there, but he finds the Gallaghers are still willing to take Mickey in.

Comment: If you enjoy Mickey becoming friends with all the Gallaghers and bettering himself/beginning to heal from the abuse at Terry's hands, this might work for you. Heavy focus on Mickey, as Ian isn't actually there for most of the fic (though he's never far from Mickey's thoughts).

Like Real People Do by grayola

AO3 Summary: At the age of 26, Mickey Milkovich gets his first apartment, his first wifi connection, and his first kiss. How he gets from wifi to kissing is a complicated story. Mickey is socially anxious. Ian is a frustratingly lovable escort working through an app. Mickey downloads said app. The rest is history.

Comment: Fan favourite from last year. Very soft. Not a lot of plot, just Ian and Mickey falling very, very deeply in love (and dealing with their mental health issues in a lowkey, everyday sort of way). Heavy use of texts and messaging, making for something of an old-school fic feel. Explicit. A companion piece, told from Ian's POV is currently being published: Everything About You.

eighty-four by kissteethstainedred

AO3 Summary: “I slept with Mickey Milkovich last night,” Ian whispers.

“So?”

“So—” Ian stares at his phone for a second. “I slept with Mandy’s fucking brother.”

“Ian, what do you want me to say? Congratulations? You’ve been dating Mickey for almost a year,” Lip says, sounding confused as fuck. Ian blinks. That can’t be right. Ian’s only seen Mickey in pictures with Mandy. He’s never even met the fucking guy. How can he be dating him?

Comment: College fic. Time loop, so great if you’re a fan of that! Mandy plays a prominent role. At 13k words this one is way shorter than any other fic on this list.

Our Stubborn Love by TheWaywardBride

AO3 Summary: In which, after years of being separated by more than just prison walls, Ian and Mickey try to find their way back to each other.

Comment: Canon-divergent slow burn told from a bunch of different POV:s. Something of an ensemble piece, although Ian and Mickey are the focus. Doesn't shy away from Ian being in a very bad place post-5x12.

None the Wiser by loftec

AO3 Summary: AU. Slow burn. The real time accounts of Ian visiting Mickey's dingy diner and slowly becoming his friend.

Comment: WIP, with irregular but still happening updates. Domestic, with strong focus on the character's emotional lives. Mickey's a father to Yev, even though him and Svet are long since divorced. They're not kidding about the slow burn.

This is the Road To Ruin by bricoleur10

AO3 Summary: The day Ned asks Ian to rob his house the redhead almost says yes – why shouldn’t he, after all? Ned seems nonchalant enough about the whole thing, he’ll get some free expensive shit out of the deal, and if he plays his cards right maybe he can even convince Mickey to be his accomplice – but something stops him from going through with it.

The third-eldest Gallagher has never been much of a believer in fate or divine intervention or destiny or anything like that – can’t be, with the life he’s led – but he just might have become one, had he only known how that one seemingly insignificant decision had changed the course of his entire life.

Comment: Straight up canon divergence, capturing the early season Gallavich feels before hurtling down the road not taken. Some angst, but with a happy ending. Mandy and Lip play prominent parts.

Cooperative Gameplay by grayola

AO3 Summary: At nineteen years old, Ian Gallagher’s stuck. Stuck in a minimum-wage job he hates. Stuck in the same boring routine--sleep, wake, work, take your meds, Ian!, try not to lose it day after day after day. But after his little brother introduces him to MICK MILK, a frustratingly hot horror gamer he watches on YouTube, Ian's life will never be the same. ♥️

Comment: WIP (but with regular updates). Darker than Like Real People Do, but with a similarly emotional focus. Depicts online fandom on Twitter and Instagram in a rather knowing way. Explicit sex scenes. This fic, and these versions of Ian and Mickey, currently has its own fandom.

The Boyfriend Experience by anomalously

AO3 Summary: The Prompt: Ian: sex worker (male escort, explicit videos: stripping, masturbation, etc) Mickey: client who's an avid fan who gets up the courage to hire ian for "the boyfriend experience" I saw a porn star who said she only sleeps with 1 client & it inspired me.

Comment: WIP, last updated in 2017. Commonly held to be worth reading in spite of not being finished. Quite a bit of explicit sex, occasionally with a bit of BDSM thrown in.

[heyitsyn]

Manager!Seijoh IWA ROUTE

a/n: uwuwuwuwuwu my mans iwa chan :’)

IM A SIMP FOR IWAIZUMI HAJIME (27) ATHLETE TRAINER

uwu filo!iwa in this :)

and also, listen to lauv while reading this since i wrote this and that song was playing on repeat O_O and also this song

this is my self-request uwu

HES SUCH A POUTY BABIE BLS LOVE ON HIM

onwards we goooo

hihihihihihi yey im so excited for this yall dont even know

ANYWAYS

so,,,,

when iwa first saw you, he thought you were just a cute little thing

your shorter height, your puffy cheeks, and the wide eyes you had whenever you saw someone, or him, do a really cool spiking move

he initially thought of you as a cute little sister hes never had

ehehe that finna change

then the,,,, bullying thing happened

if youd like to read this part, its right here

when he saw you bloodied, all battered,

dear lordie he was finna break some ankles

ONG I WAS JUST TALKING ABOUT SANGWOO YET HERE I AM

like that image of you will probably stay in his memory until he dies of the ripe age of 200

ngl it kinda traumatized him a little bit of how tired and pained you look with the tears rolling down your face and the blood that was escaping your body through your wounds

god you didnt deserve any of that

you deserved the world and the universe yet some people dared to take away your worth

ooo he was so mad

miyo was,,,, hurt??

can i say that??

i dont wanna,,,, explain bara arms iwa hurting a girl so youre gonna have to imagine that for yourselves

but at the end when they said slap, he didnt just ✨S L A P ✨ her

he ✨ B R O K E   S O M E   A N K L E S ✨

oiks is actually scared of him after that

like oiks had to peel him off of her and towards the infirmary where you and the team were

‘IWAIZUMI HAJIME, STOP!’

oof the first and last time oikawa tooru ever said that full name

he was breathing heavy and he was so ✨ A N G R Y ✨ with what she did to you yet he hears your soft scoldings, telling him off for hurting a girl

he wanted to see you

like right now

iwa tore himself from oikawa’s grasp and ✨ N Y O O M E D ✨ himself to the nurse’s office

there, you sat on the bed with the others scattered either on other beds or on the floor 

you smiled at the sight of him and he walked towards you and engulfed you in his arms

‘youre okay now. im here’

he whispered and you buried your face into his chest, breathing in his unique scent

lavender mixed with peppermint

he refused to leave your side so he ✨ M A D E ✨ some room on the bed beside you to sit and he wrapped his arm around your waist, holding you close

you held his hand while oikawa talked to you and as you shamefully bowed your head

but you were forgiven and everything was all good until the third years really got into plan

makki and mattsun promised to handle it all as they had family in the justice field while oikawa would go and get the girl suspended

‘but what about me?! i want-’

‘iwaizumi, you literally hit her. it’d be best if you’re not involved right now as you were the only one who physically touched her in a harmful manner like that’

ong when it come to y/n, the meme team is replaced by the assassin team

he tried to fight but in the end, 3 overpowered 1 and he was forced to sit back and opted to comfort you instead

he made sure you were safe to walk home but that day, you were the one who asked him to spend time with him

just you two

like after seeing him seethingly enter back into the room, you reached out and held his hand in yours, eyes trained on your fingers fiddling with his

‘iwa-san,,,, you said you downloaded the new godzilla movie?’

you whispered but he could still hear you and his heart swelled at your meek voice

‘yea, i did. and my mom bought those chips you like’

your eyes flitted up to meet his eyes and a soft smile spread on your lips and there was this thumping in his heart

maybe that was the first time that iwaizumi hajime felt differently towards you

a smile that seemed to be differently perceived than the rest

and it wasnt for the whole team

it was for him

and him alone

the trek to his house was quiet but you would hum nursery rhymes or the songs you heard earlier in the radio while skipping every few steps and tightly holding on to his hand

iwaizumi’s olive eyes watched you still radiate energy despite being so hurt for a long time

they then trailed to your linked hands and he unintentionally squeezed it, only figuring out he did it when you looked up to him and squeezed it back with a smile

he wanted to do something to make you forget of what happened

he didnt want you to think about the cruelty and pain so he was going to make sure you would continue smiling 

thankfully, his parents werent home so he wouldnt have to explain why he has a bandage-covered girl with him 

iwa led you upstairs to where his room was and your eyes widened when you saw what was inside

tiny action figurines of animes like bakugo from boku no hero academia or a tiny pikachu on his desk

there was a large country flag that you didnt recognize and a few godzilla posters and volleyball players decorating beside it

however, besides those normal things you wouldve expected,

there were many polaroids

polaroid pictures that were everywhere with no specific layout pattern and just placed anywhere that had room

iwa watched as you dazedly walked forward and entered the room to move towards the wall by his desk that had the most pictures against it

from pictures of him and oikawa to the third years to him and his parents or just the sunrise and human silhouettes

your fingers reached forward and traced the picture of him and the third years when they were still first years and took a spontaneous trip to the beach

‘mattsun stole his dad’s car and drove us to the beach without a license’

iwaizumi’s voice answered your questions and you looked back, shimmering eyes

this room,,, wasnt just a normal, teenage boy’s room

this was a room that represented iwaizumi hajime

from his natural character description like his love for volleyball evident in the volleyball player posters to the underneath description that was hidden like his love for godzilla and his love of taking pictures of the people he cares about the most

it was all that made up iwaizumi hajime

your feet took you to stand in front of him, still standing at the doorway, and you stood on your toes to try and be eye-level with him

‘youre really cool, iwa-san’

you whispered and his ears turned red, not from the compliment, but by the close distance between you two

iwa clearedhis throat and ruffled your hair roughly, pushing you down slightly back to the balls of your feet

‘i already knew that, brat. now go and sit over there and be comfortable or whatever while i go get the food’

he hurriedly turned to hide his growing red face but you stopped him

‘iwa-san,,, ano,,, can,, i borrow a hoodie?’

you mumbled, nervously thinking he might refuse 

but he grunted a response, not bothering to turn around

‘take your pick’

you smiled and thanked him before bounding over to the wardrobe that was pushed against the wall across his bed that was against the corner by his window

inside had so many hoodies and there were also shirts that were hung up on the other half

they were all graphic tees that either had american bands or anime or game references

opting for a mint green hoodie that says ‘SONIC NYOOM’, you had an undershirt under your button up and as you slipped the bloodied long sleeve off, he swung the door open, eyes focused on the tray of coke filled glasses

then he looked up and almost dropped it at the sight of you,,, like that

‘OH MY GOD SORRY’

he shrieked and carefully but hurriedly backtracked back to the hallway

ofc you were shocked too but you quickly put the hoodie on and went to get him

iwaizumi’s heart was hammering in his chest and he was VERY red with embarrassment 

how could he see you like that?!

a girl who wasnt his shouldnt be seen like that by his eyes!

a touch on his arm reminded him of his position and he was still holding the tray but it was clear from the liquid in the cups that he was shaking slightly

‘iwa-san, its okay. i still had a shirt on so dont misunderstand’

you reasoned and he nodded, still not looking at you

the beginning of the movie was quite awkward as you both were sitting next to each other on the floor, backs against his mattress while the laptop played godzilla in front of yall

but it seems it was just him who was feeling this way bc you were intrigued at this weird monster that was squshing building under its foot and you continued munching on the food

iwa stood up and coughed

‘im going to take a shower’

you paused it and stared up at him, a chip halfway in your mouth

‘oh? you want me to wait for you?’

he agressively shook his head

‘no! its okay i watched it already. just,,,, watch it’

at the end, his words came out jumbled in his hurry to go and calm his heart down

you shrugged and unpaused the movie to continue watching

iwa spent his time in the shower, thinking and trying to think of stupid thoughts like the time oikawa almost choked on a peanut when they were in middle school to distract him of thoughts of how adorable you were

ONG HE WAS JUST SHOWERING AND INNOCENTLY DOING SHOWER THINGS

‘no, i said she was like a sister to me. and a sister she’ll remain’

okay ngl even though theyre not related, im worried yall would be like ‘iNcESt’ but bls a lot of people have tried to sibling-zoned people yet realized they liked them in THAT way

as he wrapped himself with a towel, he then realized

oh my god he didnt bring clothes

LMAO NOOOO IWAAAAA

iwa frantically looked around and he saw his mother’s sakura themed robe and he paused, arguing silently with him if he should wear it

well, it was either that or he went back into the room and showed you,,,,,, this

sucking in a sharp breath, he kept the towel around his waist and slipped his arms through the tight arm holes and he awkwardly tried to keep it tied since he was so much bigger than his tiny mom

what is happening

you saw the door opening and excitedly turned to tell him about this one scene when your voice died down in your throat at the sight of him 

here was iwaizumi hajime, ultra muscle buff man who gets abs with a simple glance of the gym, wearing an all too-tight pink, cherry blossom print robe that was so tight the tie around it was shaking to keep it together

‘dont’

he whispered and that snapped your remaining surprise to double over in laughter

‘its so cute! iwa-san, youre so cute!’

you shrieked and he growled and hurriedly went to to grab grey sweatpants and a shirt before running straight back to the bathroom

when he finally came back out, his face was still red and he was pouting as he sat next to you back to his seat

he could feel you staring at him while looking constipated as you held your laugh in and the second your eyes met, your giggles fell out

iwa rolled his eyes

‘yes yes let it out’

‘hehe, iwa-san, i didnt know you had that style’

‘it isnt! i didnt want to walk in here practically naked with you in the room!’

he growled and you nodded, still not quite believing it

‘hai hai. just say you like pink, i wont tell’

you waved and iwa felt offended

‘what do you mean ‘hai hai’?! its really not!’

your lips pursed to keep more giggles in and iwa growled again before lunging to grab your sides and tickling you 

of course being careful to not touch your wounds

you shrieked at the ticklish feeling and iwa laughed as you made weak attempts to push him off

‘huh? what was that? whatd you say? cant talk anymore, can ya?’

he teased

‘NO!!!! IWA-SAAAAN!!!!!’

you shouted in between your laughter and he finally let up when you squealed out your apologies and promised to never say it again

you breathed air into your lungs and sat back up to recollect yourselves 

iwa saw the strands that escaped your bun and they were scattered everywhere looking messy with your flushed cheeks and teary eyes

oh my god you were beautiful

he was so happy that you still kept that smile despite what happened and he was going to fight to keep it there

forever

it was about nearly the end when you finally realized how different iwaizumi’s hair looked

‘oi, iwa-san, your hair is not naturally spiky?’

he continued eating the chips while still watching the movie

‘what would you expect? even shittykawa’s hair is like this. did ya know that he wakes up extra early to curl it into that shitty mess?’

your jaw dropped

‘EEEHHHH???!!!!!!!’

later, you asked him how he does his hair for school and he blindly reached for the gel that was resting on his desk before tossing it to you

‘here’

you looked at it and flickered over to his hair and then you had the greatest realization

‘GODZILLA-SAMA!’

you pointed and he stopped eating, turning to give you a confused look

‘ha?’

you shrieked in an another round of laughter

‘IWA-SAN LIKES GODZILLA-SAMA SO MUCH HE DOES HIS HAIR AFTER HIM!!!!’

you doubled over to the floor, clutching your stomach and iwaizumi’s flustered expression made you laugh harder

he knew you were smart but,,, not this smart

you figured out his secret

the secret he’s hidden since he was practically a toddler

even his best friend, the guy hes known since he was born, never made the connection

yet here you are, figuring it out not even a year of knowing him

was this part of the many reasons he,, felt his heart beat for you?

oikawa was relieved that you had the bright twinkle in your eyes the next time he saw you and you were actively talking to iwaizumi in that early morning practice

‘oh? y/n-chan, is iwa-chan your best friend now?’

he tried not to sound jealous for his own best friend’s closeness to you and he added a teasing smile for extra measure

okay that hurted me a bit

iwaizumi snarled and blasted the volleyball towards his face before he could even yell or shout

‘iwa-san, dont do that’

you chided softly, small hands wrapping around his muscly arm

but iwa patted your head

‘deserving people deserve things to happen to them’

you rolled your eyes but smiled at him

‘hai hai’

the next week, iwa still kept a close eye on you in case someone else decided to mess with you 

but you told him that you swear youd tell him if someone did and he trusts you so he backed off a little

one day, he was eating lunch with the other third years in their classroom when you busted through the door, excitedly holding your phone

‘iwa-san! i figured out what country your flag was!’

he was halfway of shoving rice in his mouth when iwa looked at you

‘oh? you couldve just asked me though?’

you pouted and went to pull a chair from another desk to sit beside him

‘nooo. i wanted to work for that information. so you’re from the philippines, iwa-san?’

he nodded proudly

‘yep’

your eyes shone with interest

‘really?! you look japanese so it must be one of your parents. hey, iwa-san, which island are you from? i read about them and they have like 7641 islands-’

the others watched as you read through the article in your phone and iwa wasnt even following your words, instead staring at you with a dazed look and a lovesick smile

mattsun, makki, and oikawa exchanged looks of surprise because in all the years theyve known him especially oikawa, iwa was never interested in girls and such

he was a straight forward man with goals and straight sight to get them done with no distractions like relationships or love

yet here he was

slowly falling in love with you without even knowing he is

he continued to fall with the simplest things about you

from the perfume that you wore everyday to the way you would tuck your hair behind your ear when you were talking to someone

little quirks he used to miss was now being noticed even if you were right behind him and not in his line of vision

now, the boys were starting to see the difference of their precious ace

it was as if when he started to like you, they knew immediately by how he was acting

then one day during practice, you were late and they were all looking around for you and when they couldnt find you, they met back in the gym with nervous looks

iwa was already pacing around, a scary aura radiating off of him, and kindaichi, who went with him to look around the school, warned the others of iwaizumi’s worry

‘he was slamming doors open and he was walking so fast i had to run to even keep up with him’

then you busted through the gym door

you were actually picking up food for the team and sweets and you were held up when makki’s puffs were still being cooked

they rallied around you to make sure you werent hurt and you assured them but iwa pulled them away like picked them up and threw them off to the side and took you in his arms

iwa thought you were hurt and he was so worried something happened to you again

the hug was bone-crushing with how hard he was squeezing you but you felt his worry though and you freed your arms to wrap them around his neck

‘im okay, iwa-san’

you whispered in his ear and he nodded

‘let me hold you for a second’

he mumbled and you nodded

‘oi, theres food in the bags so make sure you eat it all. coach paid for it all so dont leave behind anything’

the mention of the food distracted them from you and iwa and they piled on top of each other to reach their food first

iwa was grateful that you distracted the others from seeing him being vulnerable towards you

‘i thought-’

‘shh,,, you have me right here, right now. safe and sound’

you knew how much seeing you all battered messed him up and his attempt of making you forget about it has been

and his worry of you being gone without no sign of where you went will forever be there and he will always have that thought in the back ofhis mind

the next time you came over, you actually met his parents

since you went home early before, you didnt catch his parents when they came home around 10 minutes after you left

but this time, they were already home with his mom cooking dinner while his father was sitting on the dining chair reading a newspaper

iwa walked through the door, shouting he was home, and you did the same thing to be customary

oof his parents were surprised

his mom turned around to share a look of surprise with her husband

sure they havent seen tooru in a while but they were pretty sure his voice wasnt that high pitched

right?

‘hajime, did you hit tooru so much you ruined his-’

then his mother stopped talking at the sight of you holding iwa’s hand tightly when yall stepped around the corner

you sheepishly smiled at them and bowed your head in greeting

oh my

so this was why iwaizumi hajime-san was really really really handsome

his parents were freaking good looking

like his mother was aphrodite with her flawless melanin skin and doe shaped eyes with a mole under her left eye

and his father was like ares, so handsome yet still manly and his appearance was a special type of good-looking with his buffness and ruffed appearance

‘iwa-san, i didnt know your parents were gods’

you mumbled, still staring at them

iwaizumi choked and coughed, flustered

‘oh my!’

his mother placed a hand over her mouth

‘hello’

his father stood up to walk in front of you and held his hand out

‘i’m hajime’s father’

you let go of hajime’s hand to shake his own with both of your hands

‘really nice to meet you! i’m l/n y/n! seijoh volleyball manager! first year!’

you introduced then stepped aside to fully bow 90 degrees

iwaizumi thought it was so cute of how flustered you were at meeting his parents

‘ay nako! nak, i didnt know you had such a beautiful girlfriend!’

she squealed and hurriedly went to stand in front of you and gently grasped your arms to stand you back straight and took a good look at you

‘youre so beautiful, iha. nice skin, pretty eyes, ang ganda!’

even with your research of tagalog, you didnt quite understand what she was saying

iwa noticed your slightly confused expression and he laughed, tucking his hands in his pockets

‘sorry, my nay speaks in taganese when she gets excited’

‘t-taganese?’

‘tagalog and japanese’

you nodded in understanding

it was time to put your basic reserach to test

‘hello po’

you greeted her and nervously took her hand and pressed the back of it to your forehead before slowly lowering it down and letting go

her wide eyes made you think you did something bad or even offensive!

‘i-i’

‘HAY NAKO, HAJIMEE~!’

she shrieked 

‘YUNG-!!! YUNG-!!!’

okay im terrified

iwa noticed his mother’s malfunction and gently wrapped his arm around her shoulder and veered her back to her kitchen

‘sorry about her, l/n-chan. its just,,,, hajime hasnt brought home a girl before. and you doing that mustve done it in for her’

you worriedly watched hajime calm his mom down with a smile and talking to her hushed

in their perspective,,,

‘shes so nice, nak! marry her, okay? shes very pretty and she made an effort to please your nanay, so go and marry her!’

ohmylord im nervous

initially, iwa only wanted to go and hang out with you and watch a movie

not have a full dinner with his family

lmao i shouldve told you that youve been friends for months now

his mother cooked sinigang and adobo and more filipino dishes, adding even more when she saw you were joining them

the dining table was covered with a large plate full of food and you were so fascinated because this was a side of iwa that you wanted to know more about

‘wow!’

you said, not thinking, at the deep-fried fish that still had its eyeballs intact

iwa genuinely thought you would’ve shyed away from it in disgust but your eyes were glistening with genuine interest

‘iwa-san! youre so lucky you get to eat this stuff!’

you told him, looking over at his direction

while mrs iwaizumi was lading in the soup into the big bowl, mr iwaizumi was sitting at the dining table, watching your interaction and hajime telling you what each food was and your noises of surprise

he watched his son laugh when you said the palabok reminded you of the orange boy hinata 

and he also watched his son look at you so lovestruck and exactly like how he looks at his wife

soon, his mother finished and they rounded the table before saying a quick prayer to bless the food and digging in

‘so, what do you want to start with, iha?’

mrs iwaizumi asked and your wide eyes looked around

‘hm, im not sure. whats your favorite iwa-san?’

you looked to your right towards hajime who was busy eating and stopped before pointing his lips towards a direction

‘that one’

‘hah?’

you asked 

mrs iwaizumi laughed at her son’s actions

‘sorry, l/n-chan, my son has adapted my traits. he was pointing to this, adobo. do you want some?’

‘yes please’

the smell made your mouth water and you started to tuck in

maybe it was your managerial instincts, but you used your napkin to wipe hajime’s lips and he was also used to this and turned his head to make it easier for you then he went to grab the water jug and re-fill your glass

once it was done, you both silently went back to eating

his parents watched his exchange and it was like watching a married couple taking care of each other

‘so, l/n-chan, you said you were their manager’

mr iwaizumi started and you nodded, wiping your lips

‘yes. i have been for a while now and please, call me y/n’

‘hajime actually told us he had a new manager for his team and tooru told us too. but we didnt know you were a girl. its just so interesting for hajime to bring you home as he has never really had any female friends’

mrs iwaizumi’s comment made you chuckle and iwa’s eyes widened in embarassment

‘nay! of course ive had female friends! ive had friends from all genders!’

he reasoned but you teasingly smiled at him

‘ah, im not really surprised. iwa-san doesnt exactly have the appearance that girls are brave enough to approach’

he sent you a betrayed glance

‘hah?! what’s that supposed to mean?!’

you shrugged, going back to your food

‘im just saying that you always have this intense look in your eyes and youre always frowning. but its cute so its fine. and besides, i dont think theyve seen you laugh since you dont really smile a lot, iwa-san’

‘but you’ve seen me smile!’

‘eung. but its only to me. if they knew the stuff i knew like you being a godzilla fan or your collection of succelents, theyd see you like oikawa-san’

‘HAH?! YOU SEE ME LIKE SHITTYKAWA?!’

mrs iwaizumi held her husband’s hand on the table as they watched you both bicker and tease each other with a smile

hajime has always been on the rougher side of things and he doesnt really have many close friends other than the team and even then, tooru is the only one he can really be himself around

yet here you are, bringing out the boy hajime really is and making him laugh, a sound his parents dont really hear outside the house

and your eyes

god, your eyes held admiration, life,,,, and you might not know this yet,, but love

her eyes trailed her son who teasingly headbutted you and you faking a surprise and doing the same

then you heard his father’s cough which brought you back to where you were and the situation and the people that were there

you felt embarrassment creeping up inside you and you bowed

‘im sorry for acting like that, iwaizumi-san. i-’

‘no, dont apologize, darling. please, dont’

her soft smile made the nerves in you ease and hajime’s father winked at him and he knew exactly what his father was trying to say

after dinner, you volunteered to wash the plates but they veered you away from there and towards the living room 

‘oh my god, pops! stop her!’

hajime whined because he knows what his mother was going to do

she was going to show him his baby pictures

you sat on the beige couch and watched as she reached under the coffee table and revealed a few albums that had iwaizumi hajime written on the cover

‘now, y/n-chan, hajime wasnt always this pouty. in fact, he used to always have a smile on his face and laughed at the littlest things! like right here! a leaf fell on him and he-’

stories of his childhood was exchanged throughout the night and you were laughing so hard that tears were falling out of your eyes while hajime wrapped your shoulders with his arm and he would squeeze you tightly whenever you made fun of him

‘oh dear! iwa-san! you-!’

you didnt finished as you continued to laugh and he sighed

‘nay, can we go eat dessert now?’

he asked his mother and she was beginning to feel sorry for him so she smiled and nodded

‘okay. hajime, come help me’

‘iwaizumi-san, i can-’

‘no, y/n-chan. dont you worry your pretty little head about anything and just look through more of these pictures’

hajime followed his mother to their kitchen before she stopped and turned around

his mother’s height was around 5′1 so she had to look up to meet his eyes and her hands were clasped around his biceps

she is definitely beautiful and he cursed at how little he got from his mother other than her skin color

mrs iwaizumi married her husband and immigrated to japan to have a family and your polite action from earlier moved her as she hasnt experienced that in nearly 2 decades

‘nay, shes,,,, just a friend’

he reasoned, a wobbly smile to cover up his want for that title to change

yet mothers def knows best and saw right through it

she gave him a firm look with furrowed eyebrows and pursed lips

‘nak, dont lie to yourself. i raised you to never tell a lie and lying to yourself is considered lying to someone. she’s not your KAibigan, shes your kaIBIGan’

now, hajime knew a little bit of tagalog as his mother made sure he was able to at least speak to his relatives back home

so he got a hint of what she was saying yet was confused 

then he realized it

his blush creeped up his neck and he chuckled, ducking his head low to avoid his mother’s eyes

‘nak, listen to me. papunta ka pa lang, pabalik na ako. youre still growing and you may be confused right now, but make sure to think wisely and dont live with regrets. nanay doesnt want you to go through it all by yourself since she knows how hard it was. so please, listen to me and pursue her. shes special, hajime. she makes you so, so happy. i see it in your eyes, her eyes, god has fated you together. i feel it’

now if a filipino mother actually tells their son to go after a girl, thats a pretty big thing as its known that mothers are the hardest to convince and are fiercely protective of their sons, especially if its an only son, but mrs iwaizumi literally tells hajime to go court you because she sees how happy you make him and is willing to let hajime go to you 

definitely his mother’s words stuck to him and as he walked you home, he was busy thinking that he was quiet and you were worried as he would be talking right now

‘iwa-san? you okay?’

you asked and he blinked, taken back to reality from his daydream

‘hm, yea’

he answered to look at you

hes been pining for months now and he slipped his hand into yours, holding it tightly

uwu if you want to see iwa moments with y/n, read through the seijoh manager series as theres a lot of them in there

he wanted you yet, he knew it would be selfish of him to keep you in the future

he would be a college student while you’re in your 2nd year

would you want to be so far away from him?

could you handle it?

‘yanno, iwa-san, your dad told me something interesting’

you suddenly said, squeezing his hand and kicking rocks while looking up at the night sky

‘what was it? something embarrassing?’

he immediately feared that they told you that story when he was still potty training and he fell straight into the toilet 

‘hmm,,, no. he told me that he met your nanay when she was a high school student and he was a in an intern at your lolo’s company’

iwa listened and he had a smile at how you said the tagalog word for grandfather

‘he said she almost ran him over by her bike and she fled but they met again when she visited your lolo. through that, they became friends and then she confessed to him. apparently, he declined because she was younger than him, although just 3 years, and he was leaving for his own country in a few months so he didnt know if she would wait for him’

were,,,, you reading his mind?

iwa knew of his parents story yet with you telling it, it sounded a million times more interesting

‘yet she promised him. thats it, just a promise. that she would remain faithful to him, she would keep herself for him and when she finally graduates, she would go and find him and they could be happy together. he said it was the longest 3 years of his life yet when he saw in the airport, he felt like the wait was worth it. because he gets to hold the embodiment of happiness in his arms for the rest of his life’

you finished and he hummed

‘times have changed, y/n’

‘even you?’

you stopped walking and he naturally stopped too

‘would you wait for me like he did if i promised myself to you? if i promised you that despite the few years of waiting, i would still be yours and remain yours until we’re ready to be together?’

WHAT IS HAPPENING!!!!!!!

iwa’s heart was drumming in his chest and he wanted so desparately to look at you in the eyes but you were making that impossible as your head was bowed and your eyes were fixed on the concrete you both stood on

‘of course, i would’

your head snapped up and e/c clashed with olive eyes 

‘i would wait for you. we may,,, be young right now. and they might think we’re,,, being impulsive. but i dont care. because right now, all that matters, is you and me. we can think about the consequences later, but right now, i just want to kiss you’

he admitted, red ears seen by the moonlight

your body shook

‘do it, no balls’

well,,,, he has the balls

and under the moon, at 8:34 pm, iwaizumi hajime kissed you

OML THIS REMINDS ME OF THAT SEIJOH SHORT WHEN HE WAS TALKING TO OIKAWA AND HIS NEIGHBORS ARE LIKE ‘AH SHITE HERE WE GO AGAIN’

it didnt come as a surprise to the team when yall announced your relationship

well,, you both actually didnt tell them outright until like weeks later

what can you say?

you and iwa are very private people and you dont really like to show off in public

even though yall lit rally are stuck to the hip and he does things that he doesnt even think hes doing but he is totally doing

you were only caught by,,, guess who

mrs iwaizumi

it was weeks when she met up with mrs oikawa bc theyre totally best friends and thats why their sons are best friends

she told her of her son’s girlfriend and how sweet you were and how mrs oikawa should be jealous that her son doesnt have a girlfriend like that and the standards for oikawa’s future girlfriend was raised just by that teasing

oikawa literally came into after school practice after a phone call with his mother, fuming

you were talking to kindaichi and yahaba with iwa beside you, arm around your waist totally not obvious guys

and yall just saw an angry oikawa stomping towards yall

‘y/n-chan, iwa-chan, why the hell did my mom just call me and tell me that im not allowed to bring home a girl if she doesnt have h/c with s/c (skin color) and e/c and h/m (height measurement)?’

you shrugged

‘oikawa-san, i’ve never even met your mom before’

but iwa had a hunch

‘ahh,,,, my mom mustve been bragging to your mom. yanno how they are’

oikawa shot him a disbelieving look

‘IWA-CHAN! ITS BAD ENOUGH THAT YOU GOT A GIRLFRIEND AND I DONT! BUT ITS WORSE THAT YOUR RELATIONSHIP IS AFFECTING MY FUTURE ONE!’

he ranted, completely unaware that he just outed your entire relationship to the team

tbh they werent even surprised

like they were all ‘damn now shes taken. but cant say i didnt see that coming’

they took it pretty well too

they know how iwa is and they literally respect this mans and if anything, out of the whole team, he is the best candidate for your boyfriend

dating iwa is totally normal and yall just have increased touches?? like i dont know how to explain like he’s constantly holding your hand or arm around your waist or shoulder etc

literally nothing changed

you still have dinners at his house and iwa also knows your family and all that

and the most important thing is,

he kept that promise

even when he was literally at the other side of the world,

he still remained yours and you kept your own promise and waited patiently for his return

OOOOO TIMESKIP IWAIZUMI HAJIME (27) ATHLETE TRAINER

a little girl with bouncing dark brown hair was giggling as she maneuvered herself around the tall people

a shout from her parents and little sister was only making her run faster until she crashed into the legs of the person she’s been looking for

his blue jersey was similar to hers and she raised her arms up with a bright smile

‘uncle!’

she yelled and he chuckled before hoisting her up to his arms

‘ah, reyna-chan, didnt mom and dad tell you to wait for them? look! tala-chan is crying because you left her’

she followed his finger to her little sister, who was in her father’s arms, crying and reaching out for her

‘nee-chan!’

she screeched

finally, her parents were there and you were scolding her for running off

‘reyna, just dont do that again’

you said and she nodded, pouting and holding her uncle’s thumb

‘thank you, tooru-san. i dont know what i would do if she got lost’

oikawa grinned then gently patted the hat-covered head of the newborn baby girl that was strapped to your chest

‘hehe, its okay, y/n-chan. after all! uncle is always there to save reyna-chan!’

she shrieked when he held her up and hajime shook his head in his antics

‘where’s the others? i saw them in the stands but-’

he was cut off when he heard the shouts and yells from the other side that could only belong to your boys

‘woooo!!!!’

kindaichi’s voice echoed through the place and mattsuhana were rushing to greet their goddaughters

tala shyly accepted the arms of mattsun while makki was squealing quietly when darna was holding his finger tightly as she slept

‘taka-san, wanna hold her? she’s easier to hold when she’s sleeping’

‘oh can i?’

his eyes held the stars as the 11-month-old raised her fist then lowered it back down, sleep still heavy on her

‘waaa~ darna-chan is growing really quickly’

kunimi whispered, peering over his senpai to look at the baby whos eyes kept fluttering

you chuckled while looking at oikawa and him playfully bouncing reyna

‘tooru-san, congratulations on your win. it seems you’ve beaten hajime this time’

you complimented and the brunette smiled brightly at you, adjusting the little girls in his arms

‘ei, y/n-chan, i’ll beat him next time, and next time and the next time!’

every time he said ‘next’ he gave his goddaughter a kiss on her cheek making her giggle

your husband was pouting at the reminder of japan’s loss and you reached over to wrap your arms around him causing hajime to turn his head away from you

‘aww, my 4th baby is sad now’

you cooed and cupped his face delicately on your hands making him sulk and whine

the others, watching the scene, continue to be surprised at this side of their captain that remains to only be caused by you

‘ugh, nearly a decade later and theyre still sappy’

yahaba gagged and watari slapped his back

‘let them be happy’

‘come on! im in the mood for spaghetti! you like spaghetti, tala-chan?’

‘eung!’

mattsun cheered with kindaichi and she raised her hands to share the same energy

once everyone was situated in a restaurant and ordered, small talks were shared around the table of the past

‘haha, spaghetti is how your baba found out about you, tala-chan’

yahaba’s comment made the walking group laugh at the memory of seeing the video you sent in the seijoh group chat

‘i wanted to be creative with my second child since my firstborn was revealed by this loudmouth’

oikawa winced at the indirect diss at him

‘y/n-chan! i was really excited to find out i was going to be an uncle!’

‘youre already an uncle, bakakawa!’

hajime has toned down the insults to keep it pg for the children

‘but-!’

they started to argue, the oldest daughter looking disinterested as she sees this happening or hearing it whenever her dad and uncle video chat

‘it took me forever to find a ‘prego’ pasta sauce in the grocery store like i dont know why. was there a shortage?’

you complained, remembering the frustration

your fellow first years snickered at you and kindaichi prodded fun at you

‘is that why you just outright told him you were pregnant the day you found out?’

you rolled your eyes and watched makki and mattsun and tala watch the youngest as she wiggled her fists in the air and was awake enough to babble ‘makki’ over and over again

that was her first word and although she is now able to say a few words, she still repeats her first word over and over again

‘we had a fight and it just came out so of course i didnt have time to prepare!’

you defended and hajime finished his antics with oikawa just as you said that

‘what-what was your words again? ‘i really want to push you off the roof right now but i want my baby to meet their bastard father first?’‘

you gasped at that regretful statement and punched him in the arm

‘hajime! stop!’

you whined and covered your face with the sleeves of your his hoodie

‘hehe, y/n, you should do that again’

kyotani teased and you glared at him

‘shut up kyotani’

eyebrows were raised

‘eh? are you more hormonal?’

‘do you realize you already have 3 daughters?’

‘iwaizumi-san really wants to have a volleyball team family’

‘at least wait a year and a half, you animals’

‘so,, like hes that good huh?’

hajime growled and leaned over to intimidate but you snarled and jumped on your feet, being held back by the arms by kindaichi and hajime to stop yourself from leaping across the table to kill yahaba

‘keep talking like shite and i’ll make sure none of you become the godfather of this baby’

okay what

one, did you just curse

and two, this baby?!

‘im big sister again?!’

reyna ruined the surprised silence and then chaos ensued

‘WHAT!’

‘BABY?!’

‘THIS BABY?!’

you just realized what you said and smirked at the chaos you created and sat back down, leaning on the back of the chair and smugly taking a sip of your water

‘oh the power i hold in my hands’

you teased and oikawa pointed at you

‘when! how long!’

you looked at hajime who was so shocked that his eyes glazed over and a passerby wouldve thought he was dead

‘apparently 3 months’

oikawa started counting and his eyes widened at that thought

‘you-! you stayed in argentina! in my house! my house-!’

‘yep. both of them created under your house’

what 

!!!!!

hajime fainted 

oikawa screamed

a/n: okay i admit i got a little too carried away with this one. i just love filo!iwa and this was mostly written in his pov bc cmon we all know we love iwa and fell in love w him the moment we saw him

[lala-ladybug]

Healing Hands: Chapter 1

Hello hello! First fic here, it’s a Maribat AU with a side of Sword Art Online. Or what I remember from having watched the show once about five years ago. We’ve got Marinette and minimal class salt, Young Justice but only the good parts, and primarily Jasonette. Please spread the word (I am a tiny sideblog) and let me know what you think <3

Read here on AO3

Next

Chapter 1: You have no idea how many baddies I’m going to blow up because of you

Friday, at long last. Marinette could not have exhaled a bigger sigh of relief. It was mid-way through the school term, her commissions were ramping up, and Hawkmoth had become frustratingly active. Her duties as class president had only increased as she and her friends neared the end of lycée, not to mention all the studying she was doing for the baccalauréat on top of her regular school work. Commissions were booming now that her popularity as the anonymous designer MDC was soaring worldwide. She wouldn’t give any of it up for the world, but she might enjoy getting more than three or four hours of sleep for once.

There was only part of her life that had gotten easier since that day three years ago when she was entrusted with a pair of spotted earrings and an old god to match. Ladybug started out with one partner, but she now had a whole team to share the responsibilities of keeping their city safe. Ryuko and Viperion became permanent fixtures of the Parisian rooftops, and Bourdonne replaced Queen Bee after the infamous (albeit self-inflicted) unmasking of Chloe Bourgeois. The people of Paris looked to these heroes with pride and trust.

And Marinette Dupain-Cheng, now the Guardian of the Miraculous, looked to her partners with trust as well. She had decided that with her in charge, she could no longer keep secrets from her friends, from her new Order of the Guardians. She discussed it with Chat Noir, and he had smiled and agreed that it was time. And one day, when Ladybug gathered her teammates on a remote rooftop in the dead of night, she said only “I trust you,” before allowing her transformation to fall.

She wasn’t nervous, not really. She knew Kagami and Luka had good hearts, and she had seen firsthand how much Chloe had grown. Those three accepted her civilian self, her true self, without half a thought, and followed their leader in dropping their transformations as well. Chloe got her quips in while Ladybug looked to Chat Noir.

He passed his gaze over the faces of their friends and smirked like he was holding in a laugh. As he said “Claws in,” Marinette could hear the laugh in his voice, an intonation that sounded so very familiar, and oh. Of course.

Adrien Agreste beamed at his friends, both in the mask and out, and said fondly, “I’m so glad it’s you.”

The rest, of course, was history. For the year and a half since then, the five heroes of Paris had kept the city safe from threats magical and mundane alike. Hawkmoth had, of course, gotten craftier and more vicious with his attacks, sometimes choosing to send bursts of weaker akumas over the span of a week, sometimes waiting a month before sending an especially brutal villain their way.

But it was nothing that the Order of the Guardians couldn’t handle. Even though it could get exhausting after a while, which is why the incoming weekend was a welcome reprieve. There was another reason why this particular weekend was so exciting, which was that a new video game, Mindscape, was debuting. It would be released at midnight EST, which was 6:00 in the morning for Paris.

“Today’s the day, girl!” Alya squealed as she flagged Marinette down on their way to the classroom. “We are so lucky that our class won that raffle to get these exclusive passes. I bet I’ll be the first blog to get the scoop on this new tech they’re using!”

Marinette giggled and started to reply, “Super lucky, right? I’m excited too, I heard--”

“You know,” Lila cut her off as she sidled up to Alya. “I’m not saying that I didn’t enter us to get those downloads, but I was a big help with beta testing.”

How she managed to time that comment just as the three girls crossed the threshold of the classroom, and how she managed to know that nearly the whole class would already be there to hear it, Marinette would never understand. She only had to wait a moment before the rest of their friends rushed to the door to thank Lila.

“This opportunity is amazing, we are incredibly grateful!” Max was first in line, ever the technology-enthusiast.

Kim pushed his shorter friend out of the way and vigorously shook Lila’s hand. “You have no idea how many baddies I’m going to blow up because of you.” Lila looked a little overwhelmed as he continued to shake her hand all the while, and she gave him a nervous smile.

He was soon pushed out of the way as Alix muscled her way to the front next. “I definitely owe you for giving me the chance to kick his ass in a brand new way!” She jerked her head to where Kim had landed on the floor, pouting at her.

As the rest of the class who would be joining them in the game’s premiere expressed their thanks, Alya looked on with an affectionate smile. She was so very happy that she now had two kind, selfless best friends. Her smile fell a little as she noticed Marinette stoically edging her way around the crowd and up to her seat, not having said a word to Lila. Alya just wished that her two besties would get along.

Alya put a hand on Lila’s shoulder and smiled her thanks before following Marinette to what was once their shared desk. “You really should thank her, you know,” Alya implored hopefully.

Without turning around to face Alya, Marinette paused and shared an incredulous look with Adrien, who was already seated at his shared desk with Nino. She then shrugged and replied, “Lila never actually said that she got us the passes,” before continuing up the steps to her seat at the back of the class. Alya shook her head and sat down. It was always like this, a cool indifference from Marinette whenever Lila came up. They were both such incredible people, Alya couldn’t understand why they didn’t get along.

As for Marinette, she was semi-content to let Lila be as long as her lies didn’t hurt anybody. Her unrealistic promise to take away all of Marinette’s friends was never fulfilled, and honestly the amount of emotional energy it used to sap from her just wasn’t worth it anymore. Marinette had no idea how Lila was going to get her hands on a copy of the game when Mari was, of course, the one who had won the raffle. She distributed the special access passes herself, and Lila certainly hadn’t gotten one. If this was the way that she wanted to make friends, she would eventually have to face the consequences.

But for now, Lila was basking in her praise. That is, until she glanced at her phone and gave a small gasp of dismay.

“What’s wrong?” Rose asked, concern already etched on her face.

Lila covered her mouth with one hand and started rapidly blinking back tears. “It’s my VIP copy of the game. There was a mixup in the mail and it won’t get here in time for tomorrow morning! I’m so sorry everyone, it looks like you’ll have to do it without me....” She buried her face in her hands and her shoulders trembled with barely restrained sobs.

The class shared a worried look, and Sabrina piped up, “It’s okay Lila, you can borrow my copy.” Lila immediately looked up and surged forward to clasp the hands of her friend.

“Really? But won’t it have the same problem?” Sabrina smiled and shook her head. “Nope, it’s a digital download! I don’t mind, you can always trade it back when your VIP pass arrives later.”

Lila gave her a brilliant smile, any tears long-since dried. “Oh, thank you so much Sabrina! I’ll see what I can do about getting you a VIP pass too once mine gets here.”

At that moment, Chloe walked in, and one look at the scene displayed in front of her had her rolling her eyes at her former best friend. She gracefully swept up the steps to join Marinette at the back of the classroom and whispered to her, “Aren’t they all digital downloads?”

Marinette, who had started unpacking her bag to prepare for class, inclined her head and gave the blonde a meaningful look that indicated yes, they were indeed all digital downloads. Chloe snickered and started preparing her own side of the desk.

After the fiasco of outing herself as Queen Bee, Chloe had lost the minimal support and tolerances she had been allowed before. It gave her time to truly reflect on how she acted and treated other people. She had since been quietly making amends with those she’d wronged, and the person on the top of that list was Marinette Dupain-Cheng. It took time and a lot of effort on Chloe’s part, but she mellowed out and did a lot of growing up. She still spoke her mind, though.

“Huh that’s strange, I got the VIP package too, but mine was a digital pass,” Chloe loudly proclaimed, studying her nails nonchalantly as the rest of the class turned to look up at her.

Lila grit her teeth into a forced smile and replied sweetly, “Well that’s because mine was an original beta testing copy that they had to update for the full game.” She turned her attention to Marinette and a note of false concern crept into her voice. “Oh Marinette, I hope you’ll still have time to come too! I know you’ll be busy this weekend with planning the spring class field trip. It would be such a shame if it didn’t happen because you were too busy playing a video game.”

Marinette suddenly felt very warm under the gazes of the entire class. She stammered out, “Oh-of course we’ll get to go! Don’t worry, I have a meeting with the school board on Monday.” Trust Lila to sniff out the one thing that had slipped below her radar.

Lila’s eyes lit up with an opportunistic gleam. “That’s great! Where will it be?”

“Well, uh, the school board has to review the location, so I don’t want to get your hopes up, but I can tell you that it will be in, um,” her eyes flicked around wildly and landed on the posterboard of different flags from the prior week’s lessons. “America!”

The class burst into excited chatter moments before Madame Bustier arrived and the late bell rang. Marinette released a breath and sagged in her seat. Saved by the bell.

Chloe gave her a sidelong glance and murmured, “America, huh?”

“Shut up,” Marinette shot back.

* * *

Madame Bustier tried to get the class to pay attention, she really did. They struggled through their lessons before lunch, the volume of side conversations between deskmates swelling all the while. The moment the bell for lunch dismissal rang, the students exploded into conversation as they left the classroom.

Marinette waved as Chloe and Adrien walked off to go meet Kagami and Luka at a nearby cafe. She breezed into the patisserie across the street from Francois Dupont and gave her surprised Maman a kiss on the cheek.

“I thought you were going out with your friends for lunch?” Sabine asked, balancing a tray of eclairs on her hip. “I forgot I have to plan our class trip!” Marinette replied cheerfully as she hurried into the kitchen to quickly fix herself a croque-monsieur. She gave her Papa a hug as she finished preparing her meal. He shouted up at her to not make a mess as she retreated into her room to eat at her desk.

She gave a small snort at that. It was nearly impossible for her to make a mess of food when she had over a dozen Kwami there to clean up after her, but he didn’t know that. She greeted said Kwami with a delighted grin and a wave as she set her plate down by her desktop computer.

“Marinette, why are you back so early?” Tikki asked, “is everything okay?” The other Kwami swarmed around her as she woke her computer up and logged in.

The girl waved one hand nonchalantly and opened up a web browser with the other. “Everything’s fine, I just forgot about planning the class trip!” She took a huge bite of the sandwich and started typing furiously. Several Kwami dove after the crumbs that sprayed everywhere.

“Ohhh, I see! Do you have an idea of where to start?” Tikki zoomed around Marinette’s shoulder to hover next to the monitor screen.

Marinette had the same determined gleam in her eye as when she finally found the perfect fabric for a design. She said confidently around a mouth full of ham, “America.”

* * *

By the time the lunch break had finished, Marinette had a preliminary list of cities on the East Coast of the United States. She had researched Gotham first, but it looked far too dangerous and gloomy. Next was New York City, which she determined was too big. Philadelphia was historic, but in a way that would definitely bore her classmates. Boston was too cold despite its excitement. Which left Metropolis as the perfect candidate. It was also protected by the perfect superheroes, Superman and his family, so she was absolutely confident the school board would approve of the city.

Of course, the meeting on Monday would need more specifics than just the city, but she was pleased with her progress so far. Marinette shut down her monitor, grabbed her backpack and plate from lunch, and went downstairs to the kitchen. She quickly scrubbed and dried her plate in the sink before waving to her parents as they bustled around, accommodating the tail end of the mid-day rush.

Marinette walked across the street with a spring in her step and, spotting a tall flash of blue hair, half-jogged up to her group of friends.

“Hey guys, sorry I couldn’t make it to lunch!” She grinned apologetically at Kagami and Luka.

“That’s alright Melody,” Luka gave her a side hug, “Chloe told us you were busy planning your class trip.”

Adrien slung an arm around Kagami’s shoulder and pulled his girlfriend closer to whisper conspiratorially to her, “I hear we’re going to America.” She laughed softly at his antics and at Marinette who stuck her tongue out at him. Kagami then said to Marinette, “That sounds delightful, Marihime. I trust you will still be joining us tomorrow morning?”

Marinette’s eyes lit up with excitement at the prospect of playing the game with her friends all weekend long. “Definitely! I’m going to finish preparing for the school board meeting tonight so that we can play the second it comes out.”

“If you can wake up on time,” Chloe teased.

Marinette crossed her arms defensively and stated with pride, “I already set three alarms, thank you very much!”

Adrien burst out laughing at that. “Leave it to our everyday Ladybug,” he winked. Her face flushed as she pouted. He chuckled again and kissed Kagami on the top of her head. “See you later, mon coeur.”

She and Luka waved to the rest of the group as they left to return to their own schools. The three Francois Dupont students watched them go for a moment before returning inside.

“So, you and Kagami have plans?” Chloe asked.

“Yeah! Our parents gave special permission for a sleepover at my place tonight so we can play the game right when it comes out tomorrow.” Adrien rubbed the back of his neck, a nervous habit he had never quite abandoned. “But I’m not sure how often we’ll be able to be online with you guys after this weekend. You know how busy our schedules are....”

Marinette elbowed him lightly as they walked. “It’s a blessing you both managed to convince your dad and her mom to let you come to the launch at all! We’ll play together when we can, it’s no big deal.”

Adrien smiled gratefully at her and held the door open for both Marinette and Chloe as they entered the classroom. Alya was already there, and once she spotted her best friend (well, one of them), she skidded down the steps with a huge grin and held an invisible microphone up to Marinette.

“Thank you Nadja, and good afternoon Paris! This is Alya Cesaire, and today I am joined by young fashion designer Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Mlle. Dupain-Cheng, can you give us an exclusive scoop on the trip you’re planning for your class?”

“Good afternoon Mlle. Cesaire,” Marinette giggled, “Unfortunately, the trip has yet to be approved by the school board so no details just yet. But I can tell you with certainty that we will be visiting the resident city of some popular American superheroes.” She winked as she finished in her best interview voice.

Alya gasped and dropped her pretend microphone as she hugged her best friend. “Really!? Oh my gosh girl, you are the best!”

Marinette laughed and hugged her back as Alya jumped and spun them around. Once they pulled apart, she told the brunette, “As soon as the school board gives me the green light, you’ll be the first to know.”

The late bell rang and the girls practically skipped to their respective seats as Madame Bustier called the class to attention. Well, “attention” in the loosest sense of the word. They struggled once more through the majority of their lessons, but Madame Bustier seemed to sense defeat and she let them chatter excitedly for the last twenty minutes before dismissal.

Kim and Alix were boasting about how they were going to stay up all night, while Max encouraged them to maximize the time they would be able to play the next day by getting a full night’s sleep in before the launch time.

Lila bragged about her role in the creation of the game from its conception to even having suggested the highly anticipated date of release. Adrien pointedly ignored Lila in the row behind his and discussed the music they had recorded and mixed for the game with a very enthusiastic Nino.

Sabrina looked on a little sadly until Mylene, Ivan, Rose, and Juleka invited her to join their Disney movie marathon double-date instead. Mylene was too nervous to play the game so Ivan chose to sit out to support her, and video games weren’t really Rose and Juleka’s style. Sabrina’s face softened as she gratefully accepted their invitation.

Nathaniel turned around in his seat to talk to Marinette about the art rendering and the programs they used while Chloe scrolled aimlessly on her phone.

By the time the bell finally rang, the class was beyond excited to go prepare for the launch the next morning.

Marinette, to her credit, swallowed her enthusiasm and sat down to fully plan out their trip to Metropolis. It was grueling work, researching the safest hotel that was still in a central location. It had to be affordable but not shabby, too, because they had a limited budget. She eventually settled on the reputable Wayne Hotel, apparently part of an enormous corporation called Wayne Enterprises, and then began to build an itinerary with different events from there.

She worked nonstop the rest of the night, with the exception of a brief dinner break, and it was nearly 11:00 at night by the time she finished. Marinette sat up from her desk chair and stretched, then double-checked that her alarms were set before finally heading to bed.

[tommosupport]

We get some asks from time to time about where to get data from. Of course, we want to preface this by saying that you need proper context in order to be able to use the data fully and build on it. Nevertheless, there are a bunch of platforms available for you to use - we’ve added caveats where necessary.

1.       Kworb (http://kworb.net) 

a.   Provides realtime iTunes chart updates for both singles and albums, as well as iTunes popularity updates for both singles and albums. You can sort by country or get worldwide data, and the platform also offers some data on YouTube and other metrics, such as Artist Popularity.

b.   Drawbacks: Keep in mind that even though it’s realtime, there is a lag in Kworb’s data nonetheless. Popularity is updated only every four hours or so. iTunes charts will update more regularly, but will lag behind what people may already be able to see in their own iTunes stores.

2.       DigitalSalesData (http://digitalsalesdata.com) 

a.   This website used to be able to provide you with the sales numbers for singles on iTunes charts.

b.   Drawbacks: It no longer gives accurate data, because this is no longer included in the iTunes Store API. Nonetheless, it does give you an indication of the market as a whole in a country – are the margins to get into the Top 10 close or not, and what’s the sales velocity like? Keep in mind that these numbers therefore should be interpreted, and not just blankly copied or taken as reflective of the actual sales numbers.

3.   Chartmetric (http://chartmetric.com) 

a.   Probably one of the most elaborate websites that lets you collect many KPIs from various platforms – TikTok, Shazam, Spotify, AppleMusic, YouTube, etc. They have over 25 different data sources.  It also shows you things like fan conversion rate (the ratio of monthly listeners vs artist followers on Spotify, for example), and lets you sort playlists on whether they are editorial, personalized or both. They provide data on trends and give you updates in percentages as well when it comes to relative change in subscribers, views, etc. There’s a separate section on social insights, too. They also developed their own cross-platform index which is a useful tool to see if an artist is able to really create a robust fan foundation across all various social platforms. Chartmetric regularly publishes interesting pieces on their latest finds and data analysis. Reading them will help you understand the data they offer, and will let you know how to interpret it all.

b.   Drawbacks: You can only follow up to 5 tracks/items and get email notifications for the free version. And most importantly, you need to actually put in some work to understand how you can interpret their data points. Otherwise it can be overwhelming, or you may just copy-paste the numbers without contextualizing them, which isn’t going to help anyone. It’s great for trends, but you need to be able to identify those and explain them, supported by the numbers. You also don’t have as much insight into radio on the free platform.

4.   Songstats

a.   Similar to Chartmetric, SongStats offers data on an artist and their discography, using various inputs (Spotify, Beatport, AppleMusic, Deezer, Shazam, SoundCloud, Amazon, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, TraxSource, 1001 Tracklists, YouTube, iTunes). It can also provide you with an overview of the top current playlists where any music by Louis is playlisted. You can customise what data inputs you want to see.

b.   Drawbacks: The data they provide for the free version is very limited, and while they do provide some analytics for free – those are all cumulative data. For example, they’ll say Defenceless is on 114 playlists and has a reach of 2,04M. This is in total, across time. It is not always current, so again you have to be very careful with reading the data they give you in analytics, and how you need to interpret it. It also depends per input source. iTunes & AppleMusic do offer a distinction between current or total/cumulative.

5.   Soundcharts (http://soundcharts.com) 

a.   Similar to Chartmetric and Songstats (more like Songstats in how it’s formatted, but more like Chartmetric in the data it lets you see). Very useful specifically if you want to see a breakdown of radio play per country.

b.   Drawbacks: This is only free for two weeks, then plans start at 41$ a month. Moreover, again, be careful in how you interpret data. They don’t properly account for syndicated shows, and they use a questionable metric to track audiences. It also makes no distinction between internet/terrestrial radio. (There’s a difference, because internet radio is traditionally not counted for charting, whereas airplay on ‘terrestrial’ radio does count if radio is tracked for charting purposes like in the US). When you look at e.g. radio play, make sure to use the function to filter out plays shorter than 30 seconds!

6.   SpotifyCharts (http://spotifycharts.com) 

a.   The official site of Spotify that updates on Viral and Top 200 playlists. You may find that there’s a difference between the numbers shown here and on an artist’s own profile. It’s because these numbers have been audited extra carefully to filter out any sort of artificial inflation or fraudulent streaming activities. These update daily around 3PM EST, usually a bit earlier than the song specific numbers.

b.   Drawbacks: While they do update daily, the time thereof is incredibly irregular.

7.   Chartmasters (http://chartmasters.org) 

a.   A site that allows you to quickly see an artist’s overall Spotify streams in a table. You can sort based on popular songs or on discography.

b.   Drawback: You need an account and only get to use it 3 times a day. Make sure you use them wisely.

8.   Billboard (http://billboard.com) 

a.   Billboard offers a variety of charts – aside from the most well known Hot 100 and Album 200 (and the Social 50 in the past). It also used to offer artist-specific overviews of peak chart positions.

b.   Drawbacks: We said ‘used to’, because they technically still offer it – you just need to have a paid subscription to be able to access that data, as well as the other charts they have. Think of split-out charts on digital download sales or streaming, as well as radio airplay or genre-specific charts.

9.   NextBigSound (http://nextbigsound.com) 

a.   NBS is monitored and used by Nielsen to compile the Social 50 for Billboard. It provides you a good overview of social media clout and activity. It also gives margins as to whether or not an artist’s activity and engagement are on par with what you’d expect of an artist what x amount of followers, for example. Also unique: It gives you insights in Pandora. Pandora is part of SiriusXM, as well as its own streaming service and is therefore influential in US radio play as well.

b.   Drawbacks: It only tracks a limited amount of data sources (Facebook, Pandora, Twitter, Wikipedia), and used to provide more insights as to e.g. gender & country demographics. It no longer will do that, unless you have access to an artist’s AMP on Pandora.

10.   Radio Airplay Chart UK (http://ukairplaychart.com/)

a.   Gives you an overview of Top 40 songs being played on UK radio. You can also choose whether you want a rolling overview or see last chart week.

b.   Drawbacks: It doesn’t tell you how often a song needs to be played and if this is based on audience or amount of plays (or when songs were most often played)

11.   AllAccess (http://allaccess.com) 

a.   This is the database that is most often used by radio in the US to find new songs to play and to track radioplay across the country. It’s also a great platform to keep updated with the latest changes in terms of program directors or hosts at particular radio stations (which is useful when requesting). It will show you when a song was played and how often, and the estimated audience that was reached. All these things factor in airplay charting, so it’s nice to have a breakdown of it. It’ll also tell you which radio stations are giving support.

b.   Drawbacks: You need to have an existing account with them and you need to know how to navigate their platform, which can be quite tricky. Moreover, they use the callsigns of radio stations, which can further complicate finding the data you need, because you’re most likely not going to be familiar with those.

12.   SpotonTrack (http://spotontrack.com) 

a.   Sends you daily reports of Spotify and AppleMusic tracking data for a song. Useful for playlist updates!

b.   Drawbacks: Only lets you track one song for two weeks in the free trial, after that you’ll have to pay for the service. You could technically also monitor radioplay, but this is not available for free trial users.

13.   RadioMonitor (http://radiomonitor.com) 

a.   This site shows you radio charts around the world, but can also provide aggregate data for particular regions.

b.   Drawbacks: Only useful once a song has started charting in airplay Top 10s.

14.   WARM Music (https://warmmusic.net/) 

a.   Allows you to track radio play starting from 3E per month

b.    Drawbacks: Not sure how accurate their data is, though they monitor over 28000 stations around the world. When using the free trial from time to time, it always seemed somewhat limited and not in step with what other sites would say (i.e., currently it says Defenceless was only played 49 times in total over the past two weeks. We know this is not correct.). 

[turning-dreams-into-chaos]

You Over Her

Request: Hello. I was hoping I could request a Peter Parker imagine where Peter goes to Y/N to ask for her help to tell M.J how he feels in FFH. Y/N has a crush on Peter but helps him but instead Peter falls for Y/N? Angsty to happy fluffy ending?

Requested by: @mintynapalm-blog

Paring: Peter Parker x reader

Word Count: 5.6K (this was longer and still shorter than I imagined?)

~Master~

~Marvel Master~

Peter had no idea how to tell a girl he liked her. He knew it, Ned knew it, you knew it, hell even May knew it. He somehow always managed to embarrass himself and never get the job done. Like right now as you sat in class next to Peter and Ned as they went over Peter’s plan to ask out MJ.

You were flipping through your book, barely reading it as you listened to Peter. “Okay, first I sit next to MJ on the flight.” He began as Ned and you nodded, humming a yes. “Second, I’m gonna buy a dual headphone adapter and watch movies with her the whole time.”

“Okay.” Ned said, prompting him to continue.

“Three, when we go to Venice, Venice is super famous for making stuff out of glass, right? So, I’m gonna buy her a Black Dahlia necklace, because her favorite flower is the Black Dahlia, because of, well...”

“The murder.” Ned filled in, you looked up just in time to see Peter with a lovesick smile. Your eyes shot back to your book as fast as they’d risen.

“Right. And four, when we go to Paris, I’m gonna take her to the top of the Eiffel Tower, give her the necklace. Five, I’m gonna tell her how I feel. And then six, hopefully she’ll tell me she feels the same way.” He finished with a satisfied smile on his face as he looked between you and Ned. Your focus was still on the book and Peter felt a little less successful.

“Oh!” Ned shouted, getting Peter’s attention. “Don’t forget step seven.”

Peter furrowed his brows as looked at you and Ned wondering if he was forgetting something. “Step seven?” he asked. Ned glanced at you briefly with a smirk as you quirked a brow.

“Don’t do any of that.” You let out a snort at Ned’s words, bringing a hand up to cover your mouth and prevent another from coming through. Peter’s whole face dropped at Ned’s words and you couldn’t help but feel bad for him. He must really like MJ.

So, you might’ve been crushing on Peter. Crushing putting in lightly.

“Y/NNN!!” Peter called at you, snapping you out of your slight daydream. You played if off and luckily neither Peter or Ned caught on. “I need your help.”

“My help? What the hell with?” you were already unnerved by the smile Peter was giving you and you weren’t looking forward to finding out what he wanted.

“Well you’re a girl.”

You blinked at him, your lips falling into a thin line. “Astute observation Pete.” You closed your book, moving to stand up and shove it into your backpack before Peter grabbed your arm.

“No! I just mean- I meant, you’re a girl. You’re good at these things, right?” He sounded desperate and with a sigh you sat down, slouching in your seat a little.

“Good at what? Asking someone out? Peter you know I’ve never asked someone out right?” You didn’t really want to have this conversation, but you knew Peter was going to keep asking.

“Well, you know how girls want to be asked out. You could help me, you know, ask out MJ.” Peter smiled at you and you groaned, closing your eyes.

Well shit, he had a point there.

“Please Y/N, you know I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t desperate. Please?” He gave you his puppy dog eyes, the ones you knew you could never say no to as you groaned, throwing your head back.

“Fine! Fine, I’ll help you.”

“No Y/N you can’t.” Ned said. Mentally you were relieved, but you didn’t understand and neither did Peter. “We were going to be bachelors in Europe Peter!” You had to laugh at his statement, both boys looking at you before Ned carried on. “Look, I may not know much, but I do know this: Europeans love Americans and more than half of them are woman.”

“Yeah I’m pretty sure that’s not true.” You told him, patting his back.

“Less than half are woman?” Ned clarified as you rolled your eyes, giving up.

“Sure Neddie. Sure.”

Peter groaned, getting your attentions again. “I really like MJ, Okay? She’s awesome, she’s funny in a sort of dark way, and sometimes I catch her looking at me.” He glanced over your shoulder, seeing MJ coming your way as his eyes widened. “Guys, she’s coming. Just don’t say anything.” You rolled your eyes, turning in your seat momentarily to send your friend a smile.

“What up, dorks? Excited about the science trip?” She asked, leaning into the table to stand next to you.

“Yeah, and Peter’s plan.” Ned said as Peter and you both looked at him with wide eyes. He wouldn’t tell MJ, right?

“What plan?”

“I-I don’t have a plan.” Peter blurted out.

Ned tried to make things better, only to make things worse. “No, he’s just going to collect tiny spoons while we’re traveling to other countries.”

MJ scrunched her face up, looking at Peter like he was crazy. “Like a grandmother?”

“It’s for his Aunt May.” You interrupted them, sending Ned and Peter a look to play along. “All the ones she collected were lost after the blip. Peter was going to buy some new ones for her.” MJ looked almost taken back by your response, the boys surprise almost matching until you kicked them both under the table.

“Uh, Yeah. T-they’re for May.”

“Wow, Peter. That’s really cool.” Peter smiled nervously to her, making your stomach drop slightly. “By the way, travel tip: You should probably download a VPN on your phone, just so that the government can’t track you while we’re abroad.” MJ said returning to the girl you knew. Peter chuckled, telling her the idea was smart before watching her walk away.

He turned to Ned, glaring at him before looking at you. “Don’t mention it Peter.” You gave him a smile before grabbing your book and headed towards the door.

“Well, I think that went great.” Ned shrugged as Peter nodded, sending him another glare before watching you disappear.

You flipped through the channels on the news while sitting on your couch, seeing reporter after reporter talking about the blip. You were about to turn it off before you saw Peter dressed as Spider-Man at what seemed to be a support rally. You sat up and listened to the reporters attack him, asking him if he was going to be the next avenger or how he was supposed to fill Tony’s shoes. You hated listening, about to turn it off before seeing Peter start to get anxious, leaving the interview as fast as he could.

You sighed, reaching for your phone and shooting Peter a quick text asking if he was alright. You didn’t expect Peter to answer after moments like these, he needed space and you knew that. But you couldn’t help but wonder if MJ texted instead of you, would he have answered?

Peter ended up texting you that night before he went to bed, apologizing for not answering earlier. You were already in bed when you got his text, and the one following asking if he could FaceTime with you.

You groaned checking yourself out in your camera. Your hair was a mess and you looked like you haven’t slept in days, but you ignored it knowing Peter’s seen you looking this bad before.

You pressed the call button and the moment his face popped up on your screen, you had to laugh. He was holding the phone way to close to his face and the lights of the room were off, the only brightness coming from his screen.

“Pete, pull the phone away!” You giggled as he let out a groan, pulling the device from his face slightly. You felt yourself gasp when you realized he was shirtless, and you hoped he hadn’t heard it.

“Why are you up so late?” He grumbled out, turning to lay on his back and bunching his pillow into his chin.

You looked over to the clock in your bedside table, reading the bright letters telling you it was half passed one in the morning. You shrugged at the screen. “I don’t know. Couldn’t sleep. ‘Sides, we leave for Europe tomorrow.” Peter groaned, running a hand over his face making you chuckle again. “Were you on patrol?”

He nodded, shooting you a lazy smile. “Yeah, figured I get one more night in before we leave.” In the dark, Peter looked at his empty suitcase. “I’d ask if you’re packed yet, but knowing you, you’ve been packed since we got back.”

“Hey, I am an organized person, okay. But Peter, please tell me you haven’t put off packing.” He gave you a grin, one that told you he did in fact put off packing. You scoffed, smirking at him. “So, any progress on dating MJ?” You didn’t know why you brought it up, it hurt you to think about, but you knew it was important to him.

“What? O-oh, Uh Nope. Not since class.” You started to nod because letting out a yawn, him making chuckle. “Y/N?”

“Yeah?” You asked before another yawn took you over, your eyes droopy.

“Go to sleep.”

“I’m fine Peter.” You lied. Peter didn’t say anything, just watching you yawn a third time. “I swear I wasn’t yawning a minute ago.”

“Aw, Y/N am I putting you to sleep?”

“Shut up jerk. Maybe I wouldn’t have been so tired if you would’ve gotten off patrol earlier.” You laughed but Peter didn’t laugh with you, instead his brows furrowing.

“You were awake because you were waiting for me? I thought you said you couldn’t sleep.” You realized what you had just said, telling Peter the real reason you stay up until 1:30.

You didn’t have time to respond before your dad opened the door. “Come on Y/N. You promised last night you’d go to bed earlier.” He flickered your lights before Peter’s chuckle made its way through the phones speaker and your dad stopped. “Good to bed, Peter.” He called out, watching you turn the phone to him.

“Sorry Mr. Y/L/N!” Peter said over the phone, both of you trying to keep yourselves from laughing as your dad sent you a knowing smirk. Behind the camera your eyes widened, glaring at him and silently pleading that he would stop and shut the door. He finally relented, turning your light off on the way.

You face palmed as you spun the phone around again, seeing Peter’s teasing smile. “Ooh, you got in trouble.”

“Yeah, Yeah, I know.” You sighed, looking at Peter through the phone. “Night Petey.”

“Good night Y/N.” Peter watched as you pressed the end call button, your face lingered on his screen for an extra second before it disappeared and he turned off his phone, bathing him in darkness as he worried about this trip.

The airplane was exactly how you expected it to be. The kids from your class were creating chaos as people tried to board, making you laugh and shake your head. You took your seat next to Brad and looked around for your friends. Betty and MJ were sitting in the row behind you and Peter and Ned were sitting on the window a couple rows ahead. You could see Peter kept glancing at MJ before you remembered his plan.

Step 1: Sit next to MJ on the flight

You thought about how to do this, tapping Betty on the shoulder. “Hey Betts, would you mind switching seats with Peter? He’s a little allergic to the perfume of the lady in front of him.” Betty furrowed her brows but stood up none the less, climbing over MJ and heading to the row Peter and MJ sat.

“Hey guys.” She said as Peter and Ned just stared at her, making her more confused. “Peter, Y/N said you needed to switch seats? Something about allergies.” One look at the face you were giving Peter told him that this was all part of your plan as he quickly got to his feet.

“Oh yeah! Uh, thanks Betty.” Ned let him out of the row as Betty took Peter’s seat, giving Ned a shy smile. When Peter passed you, you gave him a thumbs up before settling into your own seat. You hadn’t realized Brad was watching you with a raised brow and a smirk of his own.

“What?” you asked him as he shrugged, the smirk never leaving his lips.

“Nothing. Just thought it was weird you couldn’t switch with Parker. Especially since in doing so, you could sit next to your friends. But instead you’re here, sitting next to me.” You bit the inside of your cheek, grinning a bit yourself because Brad had a point.

“Maybe I wanted to sit next to you.” He let out a chuckle, knowing you were just messing with him to drop the conversation. You reached into your bag, pulling out your earbuds and putting them on your table. Brad watched you, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a dual headphone connector he had bought for this exact reason.

“Wanna share?” He offered, getting your attention. You looked between him and the connector before snickering under your breath.

“Sure Davis, why not.” Peter watched between the cracks of the chair as you plug your earbuds into Brads, putting them into your ears. He couldn’t help but shift uncomfortably in his seat at the sight before MJ nudged him.

“Dude, you okay?” She asked as he nodded, pulling his attention away from you onto her.

Step 2: Watch movies with her the whole time

Peter offered MJ the dual headphone connector. She shrugged as she plugged her headphones in, and Peter put on a movie that was something MJ liked. But he couldn’t help but look through the cracks of the seats to see you snort at the movie you and Brad were watching before covering your mouth, hoping no one heard or saw. But Peter did because right now, his attention was solely focused on you. And the way you rested your head on Brad’s shoulder to see the movie better.

And the way his stomach felt to be on fire, lighting his heart along with it.

The first stop on your trip to Europe was Venice and you couldn’t be happier. Brad decided to stick by you since the flight, you didn’t really mind honestly, Peter was trying to get with MJ and Ned had forgone his entire Bachelor’s in Europe plan when he and Betty started to date during the 9-hour-flight. You were all headed to the Saint Marco Polo’s Square basking in the sunlight as it hit your face.

“Y/N!” Peter called after you as you set off with Brad who was going to take your pictures for you. You turned around to see Peter jogging up to you as you pulled your sunglasses off, giving him a soft smile.

“Hey Pete. What’s up?” you could’ve sworn Peter sent Brad a glare, but you shook the feeling off, believing it to just be in your head.

Brad on the other hand, caught Peter’s glare and threw his arm over your shoulder. You raised a teasing brow at him, but he wasn’t looking at you but at Peter. “I uh, I was hoping you’d come with me to buy the um,” He seemed to pause in his words when he saw Brads fingers placed delicately on your exposed shoulders thanks to your top that cut off just above your navel and came up to tie around your neck. You tilted your head at him. “To buy the thing.” It took you only a second to remember step 3 of the plan.

Step 3: Buy her a Black Dahlia necklace

You made an ‘o’ shape with your mouth before turning to Brad, giving him a sweet smile and putting your hand on his arm. “Sorry, I kind of promised him. Rain check?” Brad didn’t want to, but he nodded, feeling you pat his arm before walking away with Peter.

Peter didn’t say anything as you kept stealing glances at him. You were getting kind of tired of the silence as you bumped your arm with his. “So, where’s this glass necklace shop?” You asked looking around.

Peter looks around, seeing the sign just ahead as he points. “It’s just up there.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Peter was about to question you before you grabbed his hand, taking off running through the square. Peter laughed hard as he was forced to chase after you, seeing you glance back at him every so often with a wide smile that just made him more confused with his feelings.

The store came quicker than he hoped as you stopped running, dropping Peter’s hand from yours and panted slightly. You looked at the quaint store, marveling in its beauty before Peter held the door open you. Inside was even more lovely than the outside, every wall and case filled with glass designs as you began to look around.

“Buongiorno.” Peter told the older man behind the counter who repeated the saying, giving you both a warm smile. “Hi, I’m looking for a-“

The man stopped Peter before he could say anything else.

“No English.” He said as Peter’s face dropped. You grabbed Peter’s hand stepping up to the counter.

“il mio sta cercando una collana.” You spoke up as Peter looked at you with wide eyes. The man’s warm smile was back, directly pointed to you as you described the necklace to him. He made the necklace before holding it up for you and Peter.

“Fiore Nero.” Peter took the necklace into his hands.

“è perfetto.” You thanked the man for making it and Peter paid him before you both headed outside, Peter once again looking at you amazed.

“I didn’t know you knew Italian.”

You shrugged, pulling your sunglasses over your eyes when the sun hit them. “My mom loved Italy, she always promised to take my dad and here when I grew up. She started teaching me when I was young.” Peter’s smile fell a little when you mentioned your mom. He remembered the day 13-year-old you called him, crying over the phone and he had to beg May to drive him to your place just so he could comfort you. He knew how hard it was to lose your parents.

“Y/N-“

“What was step 4 again?” you interrupted him, not wanting to get into his conversation right now in the middle of Venice. Peter cleared his throat, looking straight ahead to where MJ was standing surrounded by birds.

“Give her the necklace on top of the Eiffel Tower.” He reminded you and you nodded, giving him a smile.

“Good, so now you have time to ensure she feels the same about you.”

“What are you talking about?” You rolled your eyes, looking around the square as you talked.

“Well, step 6 is hoping MJ feels the same and in order to for her to feel that way, you have to convince her.” You stopped Peter in his tracks, getting him to look at MJ playing with the birds. “Peter I’ve never had a boyfriend, okay? It’s pretty obvious that I don’t know how to get a guy to like me,” Peter wanted to object when you were too busy watching MJ to him as you kept talking, “but I know what a guy could do to get me to like him.”

It was pretty easy to figure out. It was everything Peter did.

Peter nodded his head, taking deep breaths as you laughed quietly, putting your hands on his shoulders to get him to look at you. “Peter, trust me, you’ll have no problems getting her to like you.” Peter’s lips curled up in a smile at your words, for a second you enjoyed the moment, but that moment was over as soon as you remembered you were trying to set him up with your friend. You cleared your throat, pulling your eyes back to MJ and taking your hands off his shoulder. “Just be honest with her. No one likes secrets, especially from a guy trying to ask her out.”

“Honest. Okay, I-I can do that.” He said as he bounced on his feet, getting his whole body in motion to hype himself up. You chuckled to yourself as you watched him, giving his shoulder a slight push in her direction. Peter stumbled as he started looking, turning back to you with wide eyes. You gave him a smile, one that Peter found to calm his nerves immensely as he inhaled, carrying on with the plan. You watched Peter walk away, literally right into MJ’s hands from yours. Your heart was drowning in your chest as you watched Peter and her talk, seeing the smiles he gave her and knowing they were nothing like the smiles he was giving you. You had to turn away at the sound of MJ’s laughter.

“Are you sure you should be helping him?” You jumped in your spot at the sound of Ned’s voice behind you. Your hand flew to your chest as you spun around to scowl at him, seeing Betty and him side by side. The smirk Ned wore made you glance over your shoulder briefly to Peter before shaking your head.

“And why shouldn’t I? I mean, he is my best friend.”

This time it was Betty’s turn to smirk at you. “Because you’re in love him.”

“Betty!” Your jaw dropped as she shrugged her shoulders, resting her head onto Ned. “I’m not in love with Peter.”

“Come on Y/N. Just be honest with him.” Ned mocked giving you a smile and you knew he overheard your conversation with Peter.

“It’s not that easy, Ned.” You sighed, feeling Ned’s arm around your shoulder as you walked away. “He likes MJ. I’m helping him ask out MJ. Not me.”

“So, you’re not gonna deny it?” Ned asked as he felt you chuckle in his arm.

“Would you believe me if I denied it again?” Betty and Ned shook their heads as you all snickered, moving on to visit Venice. You hadn’t realized that the moment you started walking away, Peter’s eyes were drawn to you, seeing you sulk with Ned and Betty. His brows were drawn together as he forgot about the girl who was playing with pigeons in front of him, focusing instead on you who was currently throwing your head back in laughter at something Ned or Betty had said.

Ned and Betty wanted to ride a gondola together and not wanting to be a third wheel or ruin their vacation, you opted out, telling them you just wanted to check out some of the shops. Your first trip to Venice wasn’t at all what you expected it to be, but you weren’t really complaining. It was a beautiful day out and the people were kind, always offering you smiles whenever they saw you. It wasn’t long after before you figured it was time to start finding your classmates. You were in a little boutique much like the one you were in with Peter before you started hearing screaming outside, you and the shop owner exchanging worried glances as you left the store. The moment you did, you regretted it, your jaw dropping at the sight of a huge water monster taking form in the canal. People ran by you shrieking, the woman you were with doing the same and grabbing your arm. The action snapped you out of your shock as your feet started running, trying to keep you from falling on your face.

The woman’s grip on you dropped when a piler landed between you, both of you jumping to the side to avoid being crushed. You had landed on the ground, your legs giving out under you before you felt someone pull you up. “Y/N!” He shouted, his hands cupping your face to make you realize it was Peter.

Your eyes couldn’t seem to focus before he started to pull you along, bringing you to an area that was semi clear. “Peter?” you cried out, getting him to look at you. He was soaked in his clothes, his hair draping in his face. “What is happening?” You looked at the water monster, buildings being broken as your heart raced. “What is that?!”

Peter didn’t know how to answer that, his wet hair flopping as he looked between you and the monster. “I don’t know. Just stay here.” He grabbed your hands, looking in your eyes. “Please tell me you’re staying here.” You mouth opened, trying to say something but nothing worked so you nodded, feeling Peter squeeze your hands before running away.

You didn’t know how long you stood there watching Peter battle the water monster attacking Venice. You were safe where Peter had left you. Keyword, were. A rush of water hit the building next to you, the wood cracking before it fell. You let out a scream, backing against the opposite wall. The wall connecting the two buildings together started to fall as well and you knew you had to get out of there.

You stepped out the store, dashing away as the building crumbled, sending you to the ground again. You groaned as you pushed yourself up, barely getting one foot flat on the ground before you let out a scream. Water fell atop you, knocking you over and slamming your head against the ground below you. A sharp pain went through the back of your head as the water cleared up. You coughed the water out of your lungs, clutching the back of your head and thanking the fact no blood had shown up but it didn’t last long before your eyes rolled to the back of your head and you passed out.

When the water monster was taken care of, thanks to some magical hero Peter had never met before, he immediately went back to where he left you. But when he saw the building you were last in collapsed on the ground; Peter felt his entire body give out. He took off running, ignoring the cries of his legs and his eyes as he jumped onto the rubble, pulling debris away left and right in hopes of finding you.

You couldn’t be gone. You had to be alright.

Peter’s cries turned into guttural screams as he neared the bottom, only seeing ground instead of you. He shouldn’t have left you there. He should’ve brought you to Ned or MJ. He was with MJ, just before the monster attacked but he left her with Brad, running off to find you as none of his classmates new about your whereabouts. Peter sucked in a breath, trying to keep from crying more as he grasped the fact if he hadn’t found you, maybe you were okay. Maybe you were with your friends. He felt around his pocket for his phone, pulling it out to find it waterlogged. He groaned, rubbing the palm of his hands to his eyes before he shoved the device into his pocket, stood onto his wobbly feet and started back to the crappy hotel you were hopefully in.

When he arrived, Mr. Harrington sighed in relief thanking the fact that Peter was alright. Ned was out of his seat, rushing to Peter’s side as Peter’s eyes scanned around the room for you, only to come up empty. The dread in his stomach only increased as he grabbed his friend’s shoulders, looking him in the eyes. “Ned. Where’s Y/N?”

Ned copied Peter’s stance, giving him a smile. “Calm down! Calm down. She’s fine. She’s in her room with MJ. She found her passed out on the ground and Brad helped carry her back here.” Ned was barely done with his sentence before Peter was running up the stairs three steps at a time, his classmates watching his frantic actions before turning back to the tv where Mysterio was being shown. Peter headed straight to your room, the door busting open to reveal you and MJ both jumping as you sat on the bed, MJ right next to you as you were wrapped in a blanket, holding an ice pack to your head.

Peter let out a shaky sigh, as soon as soon as he saw you, his lips turning into a smile when yours did. “Thank god.” He mumbled before making his way to the bed. You immediately jumped up, the ice pack and blanket falling off you as ran to Peter. His hands immediately went around your waist as you threw yours around his neck, letting him lift you into the air for a hug. His head nuzzled into the crook of your neck as he shook in your embrace.

MJ watched with a smirk before standing up from her chair, walking past you both and to the door. You pulled yourself from Peter to look at her. “I’ll leave you to it.” She winked at you as you gulped, looking to the floor before up to Peter. His eyes were locked on your face and watery, tears wanting to race down his puffy cheeks. He hadn’t even looked back at MJ, his sole focus on you as he brought a hand up to caress your cheek.

“Peter.” You whispered, feeling your voice crack.

“I thought I lost you.” He muttered, bringing his other hand up to your other cheek. You grabbed his wrists softly, gently rubbing your thumbs on his skin. “I thought I killed y-“

“No.” you stopped him, your hold on his wrists tightening briefly. “Don’t say that Peter. It wouldn’t have been your fault.”

“I’m so sorry.” He sobbed out, bringing you into his arms again. You held him close to you, letting yourself cry into his shoulder as he did yours. Peter knew you were right, but he was the one to tell you to stay there. And if you died without him telling you the truth…

Peter pulled away as fast as he could, startling you as your hands fell off him, both of you standing a few feet away. Peter didn’t say anything, making you nervous as he looked at you, just looking at you. You didn’t know if it was the concussion you were sure to have or the way Peter’s eyes glinted as he looked at you right now, his lips turning into the smile you grew fond of.

Peter knew the smile he’d given you was different than the one he gives everyone else, and much different than the ones he’d given MJ. The smiles he gave you were nowhere near the ones he gave her. The ones he gave you held emotions; it was Peter looking at you with a love he didn’t even know he had yet.

Step 5: Tell her how you feel

Just be honest with her

“Y/N I love you.” You froze under his gaze, your heart pounding through your ears, making you believe you heard him wrong.

“W-what?” You stuttered out. Peter’s confidence dropped, his smile dropping and making you realize you hadn’t heard him wrong. “Wait, you don’t mean that as ‘I love you, you’re my best friend’ right? I- I mean, what about MJ?”

Peter let out a light, airy chuckle, shaking his head and licking his lips. He didn’t say anything as he grabbed you by the waist, pulling you into him again and pressing his lips to yours. Your eyes closed, your hands slowly moving up to run your fingers through his hair. Peter feeling your fingers tug his locks, took the chance to deepen the kiss. When you pulled apart, your forehead rested onto his, noses nudging together. “Y/N, I’d choose you over her every day.” His breath fanned over you lips, making you giggle and bite your lip, looking into his eyes.

“I’m not just imagining this because of my head, am I?” you joked as Peter laughed and closed his eyes, crinkles lining the corners. When he opened them again, Peter was greeted with a sight that made him weak in the knees. Not from the way 20 minutes ago he was digging around in a collapsed building thinking you were underneath, or the way his legs ran him throughout the city when he had hope you were at the hotel. No, this weak in the knees started as a flutter in his heart, a warmth encasing his body, seeming to pinpoint the small places your fingers delicately touched his skin.

Step 6: Hope that she feels the same way

Peter took your hand in his, threading your fingers with his. “Peter.” You spoke softly, making Peter stop fidgeting with your fingers. “I love you too.” Peter didn’t know how much he needed to hear those words coming out of your mouth. He wrapped his arms around your waist again and hauled you in the air, spinning you around before laying another kiss on your lips.

A/N: I literally couldn’t figure out how to finish this piece, so I just did. Hope you like it and it’s what you wanted hon! Let me know what y’all think!

Tags open!

Permanent: @literal-fand0m-trash @just4muggles @saturn-aka-six @nathaliabakes @whyamihere-bro @colored-confetti @wiseeggspickleslime @btsiguess-kpop @galacticstxrdust @independentgirl @wellhellotherelovey @hollymac79 @delicately-important-trash @emcchi @rauwz @herondalescecilys @chewymoustachio @smilexcaptainx

Marvel: @hahaboop @laic2299

Peter: @danielabetancourth @darktwistydiamond @pastelsweaters-and-bubble-t @missmulti @sovereignparker

[takoyakitenchou]

masquerade ch.8

7? idk but this one isn’t on ff or ao3 yet i think

12:58 PM Nakiri Erina: Hi, it’s been a while. Are you free the day after tomorrow?

1:03 PM Yukihira Souma: how’d u get this #?

1:04 PM Nakiri Erina: Alice gave it to me. 

1:04 PM Yukihira Souma: sup

1:05 PM Nakiri Erina: I’m opening Kiralyno Haza. It’s not like I want you to show up or anything.

message opened

1:37 PM Nakiri Erina: Hello?

2:40 PM Yukihira Souma: hey sorry i just got on break. congrats nakiri!

2:41 PM Nakiri Erina: It was expected.

2:41 PM Yukihira Souma: surprised it took you so long to open. hurry up and get your 3 stars bubs then we’ll really see who’s the better chef

2:41 PM Yukihira Souma: and did you get tired of shinomiya or did he get tired of you?

2:42 PM Nakiri Erina: I got tired of him. Duh. Are you not coming?

2:42 PM Yukihira Souma: save 4 seats for me. i’ll be a balloon by the time im done w your food also i hope you have enough ingredients for a shokugeki after

“Ugh. You’re as shit at texting as ever,” Erina groaned, throwing down her phone, but then she picked it up again to stare at those four particular characters. Bubs. God, it had been so long since she’d seen that in her messages.

(under the cut to see souma and erina start to get their shit together lol)

To think that she had been the one to break the radio silence between them — good lord, that was fucking annoying. It was weird to think about. There had been plenty of opportunities for them to talk again, and yet they’d somehow managed to evade each other since they’d run into each other at Nakiri Mansion. Whether this was coincidence she had no idea, but Souma hadn’t been at the official Totsuki-sponsored 92nd gen alumni reunion, and Shinomiya had dragged Erina to some culinary conference that made her miss the freshman training camp where Souma threatened the living shits out of the poor first years but ended up not cutting anybody from the roster.

Erina had done her best not to linger on the fact that she had had to ask Alice for Souma’s new number, but goddamn would that remain at the forefront of her mind for the week following Kiralyno Haza’s debut until she got frustrated enough to the point where she damn near chucked her own phone out the window.

It was thanks to Alice that her condo was still in one piece.

The COO of the Nakiri-Totsuki Group was sitting next to her at a bar in Budapest, helping herself to her third shot of tequila, a few empty glasses and a growing tab between them. “Yukihira’s coming?”

Erina nodded, smiling despite herself. “Yeah. I guess he is.”

Taking sudden interest in her drink, Alice remained silent for a thoughtful moment before she said, “I haven’t seen you this happy since you two broke up.”

With a half-hearted huff, Erina scoffed, “Yeah, right.”

Alice gave her a long look. “I’m not kidding, Erina. Who was that other guy you were seeing? Darren?”

“Aaron. Darren was before him.”

“Doesn’t he have a 3000-seater concert hall named after him?”

“I couldn’t care less.” Erina said, and Alice knew it was 593% true. 

Whenever tolerating a guy got tedious, Erina had extinguished whatever spark he thought he had ignited, pretended to be hung up on it, and started over, systematically breaking hearts left and right, all the while building titanium defenses around her own.

And then, a year and half ago, she’d seen Yukihira Souma at Nakiri Mansion, and everything had changed. 

So. Much. Pining. Alice was more than a few years past sick of how long those two idiots were dragging their shit out.

Erina picked up her belongings. “We should probably stop day-drinking.”

“Sure,” Alice said, paying the tab before Erina could get her wallet out.

“I’ll pay you back for that,” Erina promised as they left the bar.

Alice put a hand on Erina’s shoulder. “You can pay me back by not fucking up your confession again.”

At this, Erina frowned. A withering counter should’ve been second nature, but she found herself incapable. She wanted to believe that whatever piece of her heart that had clung to the hope that Yukihira Souma would come back to her was nothing more than a memory. More than anything, she wished the voice at the back of her head telling her to move on and forget him and their past would finally win out, because there were people in her present waiting for her, and it would be a sin to ignore that.

But she couldn’t say the words; her heart belonged to Yukihira Souma — would always belong to him — and all broken promises and relationships notwithstanding, that was something she could not deny.

-

Although Souma technically hadn’t been invited to the kitchen for shift drinks when the front doors closed, he had taken the liberty of bringing a bottle of cab sauv that he and Erina finished in like ten seconds flat, to hell with sharing with staff, family, and friends.

The second she felt the words wanna come over? slip out of her atmosphere-drunk mouth, she knew it was going to take more self-control than she had not to demand he stay with her forever. 

“So, Yukihira,” she said like they hadn’t been catching up for the last two hours when they were sitting on the couch in her living room with pinot noir. “How’ve you been?”

The corners of Souma’s lips twitched. “Not bad,” he replied. “Mostly cooking. A few interviews and shit. I’ve been keeping up with all your stuff, by the way. Three tastings in twelve hours next Monday seems like too much, Nakiri.”

Erina frowned. “Even if you were as talented a stalker as Mimasaka Subaru, how the fuck would you know that?”

He held up his phone. “You were signed into my calendar app when I last downloaded a backup copy four years ago. So every time I get a new phone, I transfer all the old data.”

Erina stared at him, horrified. “Holy shit. You’ve seen everything?”

Shrugging, Souma said, “Not everything. Just… your dates with Darren. And Aaron. Also, I knew about Kiralyno opening before you texted me so I’d already cleared out my schedule by then.”

Erina had stopped listening halfway through. “Wait, Yukihira…”

“It’s okay, Nakiri.” Souma waved it off. “You’re here with me now. All that matters. Let’s not look too far into our past, yeah?”

“Don’t look into my future either, idiot! Sign out of my Google calendar right now!”

Souma shook his head seriously. “Sorry, Nakiri, I don’t think that’s possible.”

“Why the fuck not?”

He gazed at her intently and rested his chin on his fist. “I need to make sure I’ll still be in it.”

Erina rolled her eyes. “Don’t say sappy shit like that. It doesn’t suit you.”

“What if I just stayed?” he asked.

She sighed. “I think the question is, would I even let you? I thought we’re putting the past behind us? Don’t you want this back?” She pointed at the white cloth she was wearing on her wrist. His white cloth.

Souma ignored the second question and pulled Erina to him by her waist, close enough that she could feel his warm breath as he spoke, forehead brushing hers. “Another thing we both know is that you and I could never be just friends.”

“Take your hands off me or I swear I’m either going to spill my wine or kiss you, and I seriously do not care which.”

He leaned back with a sad smile. “You wouldn’t let me stay, would you, Nakiri?”

“I couldn’t,” she said helplessly. “We don’t even know where our lines are.”

“Do we need lines?” Souma asked, finishing his glass and balancing it on his knee. “You and I are beyond this dimension.”

Erina stared at him, memorizing every last square centimeter of his features — the way his hair seemed to get shorter every time they met until he somewhat resembled someone of his culinary pedigree; the way the creases formed on his sleeves along the contours of his toned arms.

“You know, Nakiri, if you let me stay, you wouldn’t have to stare so much.”

She tore her gaze from his collarbone, her whole face turning red. In all her twenty-one years, that had to be the most embarrassing moment of her life. “Shut up! I’m not staring!”

He was watching her with wistful eyes. “I wouldn’t mind if you were…” 

And they both heard it.

I wouldn’t mind if you were mine.