#the canonical way these two behave around each other is fucking hilarious

[loud-whistling-yes]

I'm so sorry I have to Erm Actually this BUT

NO. YOURE RIGHT. THEY KINDA FORGAVE EACH OTHER AT THE END OF DOUBLE LIFE. KEYWORD IS KINDA.

Look I can't convey whatever dynamic they have going on rn with words but I sure fucking can pull out examples of their BIZARRE behaviour after dl. The entire "Scott this isn't fair" thing from limlife. The "Why is it always us two (derogatory)" "you can say it's destiny ;)" thing. Whatever the fuck the "you didn't say I love you back :(" was supposed to be about. AND FIRST AND FOREMOST THE WHOLE "A Real Challenge Would Be To Keep Your Teammate For An Entire Season" RANT BY PEARL IN SECRET LIFE.

It would be more accurate to say current galaxy duo has the dynamic of scott trying subtly not-so-subtly to win pearl back while pearl is still high-key bitter about everything and this is objectively the funniest way this all could've ended

[captnjacksparrow]

Hello!! Well this came to my mind and would be interesting to put into words.

Something that her fans were right is that she hadn't to accept Rock Lee's confession and love. For them a No was No, which is hilarious becase their princess didnt do this with sasuke lol but anyway. After Lee saves Sakura in Death Forest, she changes her attitude towards him and started to be nice , she even defends him when Naruto said something aboout bushy-eyebrows. Even more, i dont actually remember scenes where she is rude against him after that incident in the forest. She tried to encouraged him and most of the time she was "nice" with Lee. In the Hospital in part 1 she was going to visit Sasuke and she also thought of Lee, so she gifted him some flowers too.

-All of this I speak from the anime canon, manga i dont remember tbh. Also in movies I remember her being nice with Lee too- So, what's my point and question? Why is she so bitchy towards Naruto? While she is nice -or try to- with Lee (which he fucking deserves this treatment of course) , why she is still so ungraceful towards Naruto? Naruto saved her much more times than Lee, but still she can be nice with him. I get that when you are confident with someone, you tend to "insult" more lets say. But i get that feel when naruto is around of shikamaru or the other guys. We know how he and Sasuke treat each other ♥ But still, i dont get this with Sakura. Even more, did she ever defend Naruto? From other people I mean. If she could change her attitude for Lee, being almost a good friend.

I always think about this @melody-of-lost-souls 🤔🤔🤔.... Why is she bitchy towards Naruto alone??

There is this hard fact that every author with just half a braincell knows, that is, 'IF YOU WANT A CHARACTER TO BE LIKEABLE, MAKE IT BEHAVE NICER TOWARDS THE MAIN CHARACTER'.

To be honest, I started to like Sasuke because of that very fact 'He was extremely nice towards Naruto in his own way' and later I started to adore him because of his own backstory. But the first spark was because of Episode 3, Orphan insult scene.

It seems Kishi never had that intention to make Sakura be an honest friend with Naruto even in The Last movie. So, ummm.... Yup.

Like you said, Sakura changed her attitude towards Lee and she encouraged him when he was wounded after fighting Gaara. But anyways, she again went onto being a bitch in the Kage Summit Arc, by leaving Lee on the road without any care!!! So... That's what you can expect from her🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️ But that's not the point of this post. Is it??

Point to be noted : Sasuke and Naruto insulting each other shows their comfort level with each other. Sakura harassing Naruto is not the same thing. Never.

I think she spoke for Naruto before Sasuke twice. One, In the forest of the Death. Two, Under the Bridge. But it doesn't matter.

She should've defended Naruto from Sasuke's attacks in Orochimaru hideout like Sai.

She should've worried about Naruto's wounds after Naruto came back like an Egyptian Mummy from fighting in VoTE in part 1. Instead she was worried about Sasuke alone.

She should've fought Sasori for Naruto's safety sake instead of getting information about Sasuke.

She should’ve stayed with Naruto when he went with Karui to deal with Sasuke’s Akatsuki activities. 

She should've stood up for Naruto in her final confession like 'Sasuke-kun, if you touch Naruto, I'll have to kill you eventhough I love you'... Yeah, she wouldn't stand a chance against Sasuke. But her character would've shined a lot.

So, Nope. She defending Naruto couple of times but letting him down countless other times doesn't matter.

WHY SAKURA TREATS NARUTO BADLY ?

After thinking about all the possibilities,

SOCIAL STATUS OF NARUTO

Sakura is the reflection of the Villagers' mindset. That is, The object of Hatred who should be treated like pest.

She definitely gave me that vibe in Episode 3. She literally treated him like a plague and I wanted to slap her so hard ever since. But even after the Pain Arc, I mean after Naruto became a Hero by making peace with Nagato, she still behaved like a Worst Bitch.

If she truly represents the social dynamics of the Villagers, she should have become a good friend like Shikamaru or Neji long back. But she didn’t.

So, we can safely eliminate this possibility.

SAKURA THINKS NARUTO IS 'THIRDWHEELING'

Well, This is from Chapter 3. So, I think whenever Sakura makes a move on Sasuke, Naruto accidentally comes in between her one-sided ‘duck dreams’ and spoil her party. It seems this has been going on for a long time. So, she just hates him for that. 

I found this ‘coming between’ thing twice in part 1. The first time was when Naruto stole the ‘First Kiss’ of Sasuke.

Second time was when Naruto was about to fight Gaara.

Here, Sakura was fretting over Sasuke’s cursed Seal and when Naruto asked her a question, she responded with a ‘Devil Face’. I mean is there any need to get angry at this time? There’s a monster standing before them and all she worries about is her poor ‘Sasuke-Kun’ and not even bothered about her surroundings, because Naruto will do the dirty job. All she can do is touch and worry about Sasuke. 

Well, In reality she is the one coming between them and she never realized that. What a self-absorbed Trash!!!

SAKURA IS JEALOUS

Naruto receives something from Sasuke that she never got from him, not until the very end and even today. That is, Attention. 

I noticed this in the Manga. Surprisingly, I guess none of the SNS bloggers brought this very cute panel up for discussion. It’s not in the Anime though!! 

This is from Chapter 3 page 6. (Geez!!!! Chapter 3 is a Gold Mine for SNS)

As you see Sakura was watching Sasuke up close like a Fruit Cake. It seems, Sasuke doesn’t give 2 fucks about her or anyone!!!

Now Let’s go back to Page 5 and see what happened earlier.

Naruto has been intensely throwing knives from his eyes. And you know what!!! Sasuke noticed it and asked him ‘What?’. To which Naruto asks, ‘What do you mean what?’. LOLLLLLL.

This is their First official conversation in the Manga.😍😍😍😍😍

Sakura looking at him with love doesn’t get any reaction and Naruto’s angry stare get his attention. Well, this is not an one time occurrence!!

In the Same chapter, it occurred again

This panel screams, ‘Why pay attention to Naruto, when he is not here?’. Kishi established this dynamics in freaking Chapter 3 and it never changed towards the end. LOLLL.

Even during Chakra Training, Sakura climbed the tree very easily in the hopes that Sasuke would appreciate her or notice her with admiration. But he was never bothered about her achievements even by a bit, but he paid attention to Naruto when he found out he was slowly catching up to him🤭🤭🤭.

I always find this scene very funny and cute because just like before, Naruto throws Daggers at him visually and Sasuke was like, ‘What did I do this time?’. 😍😍😍

And this is after getting the pass to participate in Chunin Exams

Well, I don’t have to add the scenes from Orochimaru Hideout, Bridge scene and War Arc, Do I?

And the best part is Sakura knew that Naruto gets his attention. So, her jealousy is probably the reason for her to treat him so badly. Just like how she treats Ino. Since Naruto plays dunce in front of her, she takes advantage of it and used him like a Tooth Brush.

This is also one of the reason for her to treat him badly.

Because Lee never came in between Sakura and Sasuke. It was Naruto, the whole time. And that's why she was like a bitch to Naruto.

Kishimoto in his own words,

I mean, Come On!!!, Sakura is nothing compared to Naruto's power level, strength or jutsu varieties to consider him as a rival in these departments. Still she is considering Naruto as her rival.

In what????

The only thing that connects them is their obsession towards Sasuke's Acknowledgement. And Kishi himself is hinting at a love triangle with Sasuke as the central figure.

Does it means Naruto also loves Sasuke and Sakura was jealous of it???🤔🤔🤔🤭🤭🤭🤭.

Well, that makes more sense. 😂😂😂. Because I can think of no other reason for her to be a bitch towards Naruto.

Curse You, Kishimoto!!!!!!

[norgestan]

norandro, eva/nora, amiris 👀❣️

NORANDRO:

i mean, starting off pretty strong with my favorite eskam couple. oh god. THEM. as someone who cannot stomach season 2 and also skipped william's clip and william's clip only when season 4 of skam came to an end... i will ALWAYS love what eskam did for this couple. i think i explain it pretty well on my season 3 review, but to sum up those thoughts: i think this is what noorhelm was truly supposed to be, they're both pretty flawed characters with great arcs who make their get-together super interesting and organic, alejandro is my baby and the most developed william and i'll die on this hill, etc.

especially i think that norandro, for a ship that got way less screentime that all their other counterparts, is by FAR the most developed couple in all of them and up there in eskam too, and although they weren't the focus of most of the show, it's clear as day that the writers really tried to tell a compelling story with these two - and they succeeded. it's shocking to me that eskam actually got to link the "everyone is fighting a battle" motto that has become a meme for how poorly incorporated it is on the skamverse, as alejandro effectively behaved around that motto: during season 3 and onwards, which is where i believe he's fully reformed as a character and love interest, he never hurts nora - nor anyone - in any way. he struggles to tell nora how he doesn't want a relationship because he doesn't want to hurt her, and in the miscommunication fest that their first clip of s3 is, i've always LOVED that nora calls alejandro a "fuckboy" still, and he's clearly annoyed by this, but doesn't bite back. he's always so mindful of her feelings even though he's struggling himself, BECAUSE he understands that his suffering is not the center of the world! because treating people with kindness is a strength in itself! and it continues like that for the rest of the season. like, at his most petty, he just sends a text to nora calling her a "fuckboy", which is honestly hilarious. he deals with a lot of jealousy because of nora's new relationship, yet he values her friendship so much that he never snaps at her, he never lets it show when he's talking to her, and he's never passive-aggressive about it - you can tell that he's so genuinely glad that they're still friends after all. god, the clip where he realizes that miquel is a shit boyfriend while he's talking to nora... imagine the things any other william would've said there. imagine the ways alejandro could've been petty or overprotective and fuck everything up. instead, he recognizes nora needs space and even though it hurts to be away from her, he does it because he understands it's what she needs - and his own feelings and entitlement (that he previously showed, too!) aren't the most important thing. it's beautiful. UGH. what a great character eskam crafted, there.

i like them well enough in s4, too. i think, for what they had to work with, they took them in a good direction and their happy ending feels deserved. it's just that... personally, i wish there was more introspection of nora's aftermath in s3, which is also one of my complaints with season 3 - and where characters like emma could've been SO good. although i understand the intentions, a lot of nora's internal turmoil regarding her abusive relationship with miquel are only tied to her desire to be with alejandro. it's frustrating that it became so boy-focused when the girl squad was the center of the emotional climax of nora's season. to me, the solution is still in giving the pov's to the girl squad and not... random characters lol, but oh well. i think eskam did good there and i still love this couple the most!!! i just wish there was an universe where their story doesn't have to be wrapped up in one season and we can get actual glimpses of a beautiful slow burn where they can finally get together and make their relationship work - and this is where the fanfic part comes in, i guess! as someone who loves the couple, i liked seeing them lovey-dovey in the background of s4, but also i wouldn't have been too mad if they held off from making them completely canon and only hinted their status as endgame, kinda how they did with eva and jorge. oh, and speaking of eva, i guess...

NOREVA:

i guess, the main thing with them is that i love norandro so much that i can't really see nora with any other love interest??????? now, platonically. UGH. 12/10. anyone who's seen season 3 should know and i shouldn't even have to explain it tbh. i love the focus that is put on their friendship and how emotionally charged it is when it comes to miquel and the aftermath of all that. like, a similar thing is done with norandro - because at that point, nora and alejandro were exclusively friends, but it becomes even more relevant when it's about eva. eva who, you know, was in a toxic relationship herself. i love that she herself brings up her relationship with jorge when she's talking about miquel, and how wary she is of everything that happening. the fact that she's the first one to sense it feels so right!!! i love that eskam really made them close and gave them the window scene, which is both so powerful on its message and a true love letter to female friendships.

i think eva is a really underrated eskam character as it is, like... people really don't understand how great of a character she is and how much she's grown. they are quick to call her a boring, ooc party girl once s2 rolls around, like eskam didn't spend TIME making eva herself declare that hooking up with cristian (and cristian ONLY!) was something she did out of fun and she was decided to stop as soon as it stopped being fun for her. moreover, eva is such a perceptive person: she's been that way since s1 and it has only carried across for the entirety of the show since then. and when pairing two really good characters together, like eva and nora, you really can't go wrong. their friendship brings great things out of both of them and it goes through its own arc during nora's season, whereas other seasons either dump eva as noora's bff midway through or just make them really close to introduce character drama but don't really do anything to their dynamic as it is.

romantically... sigh. i'm sorry LOL as much as i love girls kissing and wlw romance done right... i don't see potential for this relationship outside their platonic dynamic. which is, btw, incredibly strong and beautiful. i'm super contented with how eskam handled their friendship and therefore i wouldn't want anything else from them, and it's not like nooreva where the chemistry was THERE. however! i'm always open to see people's interpretations of what romantic noreva could be. wasn't it you who wrote that beautiful fic of nora realizing she's bi and falling for eva after season 3? because now THAT'S the shit i'm looking for. i think there's a lot of potential there which i'd like to see explored in fic, but other than that, i love their relationship how it is and i've never felt a desire to see them as each other romantic interests.

AMIRIS:

first things first: why did eskam NEVER confirm cris having an embarrassing, sweet, confusing childhood crush on amira? i mean, it's my headcanon that she'll later realize it and she'll jolt awake and think "holy FUCK" but like... it's a thing that isaks are into their jonases. why didn't it happen here :(((((

being honest, childhood friends to lovers has never been my thing? a simple friends to lovers doesn't do it for me: i like my relationships rocky, with lots of character moments and whose survival and success depend only on the people involved making efforts to change and do better. if you've seen s4... yeah, that's not really the case. it's just disappointing because damn, amiris is the realest thing indeed, but also... what case are the writers doing for them? because it was only irene and hajar doing the intense gazing and bringing all the chemistry home. s4 cris is a mess and a half, and while i like the idea of the bench scene featuring both of them, and being more about cris reminding amira the reasons she's made it this far instead of lecturing her about sucking it up better... the result is still lackluster. there are SO many issues on their friendship that were introduced and then dropped, and it's really nice that cris finally is there to comfort amira when shit goes down, it truly is! but what else is there? it's just a small part of s4 being a bunch of missed potential. they could've REALLY done something great with their relationship and bring back and close cris' development in the show, but we only got... well, nothing. back to 0. amira has to live with those problems, now. things like that really make it seem like once amira broadens her horizons, she won't really go back to her friendship with the girls, and cris will be a lingering wound of the past. oh well.

ehem. romantically!!!!!!! as i said, cris was totally crushing on amira at some point. like... canon really makes a point at making cris' brother amira's love interest, where dani has nothing to offer to amira than cris hasn't done yet. iftar on a rooftop? ha, loser, cris did it first. admiring her passion and her faith? cris does it arguably way better than dani. longtime pining? dude. go home. okay, i'll cut dani soto some slack since it's not about him lol. point is, if amira was charmed by all of those things, then what tells me that the option of her and cris being a thing is off the table? at the end of the day, they're indeed a relationship that needs a lot of work and patience to last. the 500k slow burn is writing itself, really.

(regardless of amiris' future, i still think irene and hajar have to do a cute romcom romance at some point. their chemistry is off the charts.)

[magic-multicolored-miracle]

Law and Order: SVU - The Return of the Prodigal Son

I am MAD bro. Fucking pissed. I don’t even apologize for my language like I sometimes do on reaction posts, because it’s necessary to convey my feelings.

Abso-fucking-lutely everyone deserved better. Kathy. The Stabler children. Ed Tucker. I don’t even like him and I think Brian Cassidy deserved better than this shit. (I know the last two weren’t in the episode, but this whole mess relegated them to inconsequential footnotes in the Elliot and Olivia story and I hate that). 

And it wasn’t even a good episode. Or satisfyingly in any way. I’m guessing conclusions will come on the first episode of Organized Crime but that doesn’t make it acceptable.

Oh shit. I mean I knew. But shit. Poor Kathy.

I am not here for this dramatic, music swells moment (which the closed captions felt it was necessary to emphasize)

That's an interesting position for Elliot to have. I know its to tie in Organized Crime, but otherwise it makes no sense. Also, Fin, that's a lot of information for "called me out of the blue"

What the fuck is that beard, child? (I say to a man my age or possibly older)

Those kids were probably more confused than anyone by the sudden departure of Olivia from their lives a decade ago...and also their mom was just in a bombing. More emotion please

Yay, demonizing protestors... oh good, the guy caught is a right-winger conspiracy guy blaming Antifa. It feels hollow but a tiny bit better. And the Jan 6 line feels shoved in.

"Said the lawyer to the cop." What does that even mean Elliot? 

You don't even know the meaning of the word behave Elliot! You never have.

Liv this is a terrible idea. What are you doing?!

This guy is baiting you Elliot. But also has a point. Go be with your wife and let Liv handle it. You should know by now she can.

Other people rolling up their sleeves: v sexy, here for it. Elliot rolling up his sleeves: instant migraine

If you know this shit, why are you like this? Get it together Stabler.

Yes, he is, Fin. Elliot is a loose canon on the best of days and he is very likely to blow everything.

He should not be involved. Stop telling him anything you wouldn't tell a normal family member of a vic.

Fuck this. Fuck Kathy still having doubts about Liv and Elliot. Fuck her getting hurt just to bring them back together and give him development or whatever. Fuck expecting me to believe that through everything she's been through, Olivia pined for him for a fucking decade. She's not even the same person she was when he left. Fuck them having this conversation now, in a hospital, ten feet from where his wife is injured and probably dying. Fuck it. 

Why can she suddenly not find the exit? Hasn't she been to this hospital a million times?

I love Garland. Bless him for calling bullshit and for trying to set the record straight. Garland is everything I feel right now.

I love the idea that all the Unis are gossipy hens

Well at least she's hanging on for now...it's not going to last though, is it?

Stabler has been a busy, busy boy...

Rollins tiptoeing around the question of who they were to each other really is hilarious

When do we stop the "Sonny's just a cop playing pretend as an ADA" schtick. I'm beyond bored of it

That confirms it was family. Can't turn on someone who doesn't exist

Why do they always run?

No. You're not getting back in an interrogation room on this. Go be with your wife and fuckin kids you dick.

Carisi, that's shady. I love you.

Ok so he's being set up and hung out. Where'd they find this defense counselor?

Oops. Of course there's another attorney sweeping in. Because it would be too easy otherwise.

And now we drop the word Attempted. Have I mentioned FUCK THIS

"We were happy" since when?!?

I'm sorry what?! He called Olivia before he called their children?!

I'm into Carisi with the jacket off and his feet propped on the desk. That is the best thing to come out of this Episode From Hell

Sucks to suck, Yuri. Time to talk.

Now is really not the time for more swelling music and longing eye contact. His wife Literally JUST DIED.

[redxblueihateloveyou]

Hi! Was just reading your posts and all the harassment you had to endure from the hq!! fandom. I'm so sorry they would treat you like that, & I wish people would just respect other people's views. Just a quick question, plz don't take it badly, but, did you really NOT see anything at all btwn oikawa & iwaizumi? as someone who ALSO ONLY watched s1 and s2 first before delving into the manga, I fell in love with them, so did i misread them? also, did you by chance, read any of their fanfics??

Hi, I won’t take it badly haha. I can really gif every of their scene of them (which won’t be long xD) frame by frame, I legit was watching very attentively, and you know me, writing characters analysis is what I picked to do for a living, and chose to study in university cause I just always loved to argue about it in different kind of literature (and cinematography and anime too). So I love me some great deep characters and interesting relationships. And I always dig deep.

So I have actually a question.. did you by any chance read the fics before you watched it? (it just feels like it). Cause if so, I think you’re seeing not Oikawa and Iwaizumi, but other fictional characters, cause Idk about manga (though I’ve heard there’s nothing between them there too) there’s not enough info about them (actually there is no info about them at all) to write them the way they are. It’s probably OOC. It happens a lot in many fandoms, when they create something that’s not even there and people simply follow, cause the fandom is popular and many just need to ship something, so they create a ship, which sometimes literally has nothing to do with the actual thing.

I myself just don’t need it actually, cause ships I ship already has everything they need in the canon. And I mean, romantic love related stuff, Mika already confessed his love to Yuu before “dying”, Rin and Haru confessed I feel like 20 times already, Akashi confessed that he can’t imagine his life without Kuroko, Gareki confessed that his heart feels incredibly warm when he thinks of Nai and he can’t sleep without Nai’s plushy copy, they join couples contests, love touching each other, their heart decribed as “going doki-doki” when they’re together and they’re basically a canonical love story.

So I just don’t need to come up with stuff like two guys who are childhood friends, but they didn’t show anything about them except for standing next to each other are suddenly deeply in love, cause to me this doesn’t make anyone romantically involved. Like I might have thought about it if they were some amazing, interesting and mind-blowing characters, but they’re literally as dull as can be (you can always prove me wrong of course, but with this amount of material and the range of characters I’ve seen, I really don’t think you can).

And don’t get me wrong, I’m not judging or anything, people can imagine all they want if it makes them happy, I’m just personally not looking for this, I enjoy more of real couples stuff, than bros.

And what’s with childhood friends, I seriously do not get. Does Shion have to date Safu now? Cause I don’t wanna. Or is it only working for boyxboy couples? Wei Wuxian & Jiang Cheng were together since kids. Wei Wuxian is in love and married to Lan Wangji. Real life example.. Rhett & Link from GMM, been best friends since fucking forever, both happily married to their wives and have kids.

So far it was “stop talking to girls” like Kasamatsu/Kise scene and hitting him for trying to hit baby Kageyama, which is... maybe signs of an epic love story for some, idk, but also Oikawa is like.. not a good human being, like at all. So to me it’s basically... I don’t see whats to be passionate about. Not to mention the fact that Idk how you personally imagine relationships, but I can 100% say Oikawa is not ready for dating. Trying to imagine him saying “I love you” to someone is hilarious to me tbh. So you just have to write him OOC, cause he’s not mature enough to be there any time soon.

And watching him per se was honestly painful and embarrassing after watching how behave 15 years old Wei Wuxian, 8 years old Rin, 13 years old Todoroki, 15 years old Gareki, etc. I can name 100s of characters who deserve 10k fanfiction more than this.

You just gotta understand, to me love is not just playing sports together, to me love is “needing him more than air”, “going against the world for him”, “feeling him next to you even when you’re miles away”, “thinking about him is what keeps you going and do incredible things”, “you look at him and your heart makes a flip”, “he touches you and you're on cloud nine”, “he makes you feel like you can conquer the world and together you can do anything” idk how to describe this. I don’t ship “hey, they fist-bumped”.

And it’s not cause I have bad imagination, it’s cause I don’t know why even do it, when you have so many almost canon great gay ships flying around these days. Kuroko and Kagami also a good team, but I don’t wanna see them date, cause it doesn’t make sense, there’s nothing connecting them besides basketball and they never had any romantic feelings for each other. Not everyone has to date just cause they play sports together. I just feel like these days you can show 2 seconds of two guys walking together and the next day it would be 20k fics about them. Like who are they, doesn’t matter xD

So no, I haven’t read fics about them. I read fics only if I ship a couple, cannot do it the other way around. I’ve heard about ppl falling in love with arts and fics before ships, but I’m not this way. I prefer great characters to fics about a character who’s a prcatically a blank space so you can write whatever you want (that’s basically an original stuff already). Cause when I read fics about my ships, I know it’s 100% about them, and it cant be replaced with any other characters names. Like scratch volleyball and I don’t even know how you would’ve tell that the character in the fic you’re reading is Oikawa. For example, if I read an au and there was someone who’s sassy, into reading light novels and loved vanilla milkshakes I’d immediately said that it was Kuroko, but how do you know you’re reading about Oikawa? Like “a character is an asshole and hits ppl”? Cause I couldn’t see anything about his character or personality or anything even with a magnifying glass, cause it wasn’t there. Like... pretend he’s deep?

And people write all kind of stuff, I’ve once read a kiribaku fic where Bakugou (!!!!!!!!!!) has arranged a date of going to the mountains to watch at stars... I’m... I’m sorry guys but... LMFAO I personally can’t imagine that, this is not Bakugou to me).

Please, also don’t take this harshly, people are free to do whatever they want honestly. It’s just I personally don’t understand this and never will.

P.S. You guys, don’t feel like you have to apologize just cause some ppl in your fandom are like that, I think almost every fandom have those. Especially those animes who has a wide range of different audience (like bnha from 10 to 40). It’s not like you have anything to do with this. So it’s all okay. And I’m glad you love my blog :) It means a lot.

[harryandmolly]

Belated - A Compilation of Birthday!Shawn Blurbs

A/N: these are obviously late, hence the title. but fuck it, it’s still his birthday month. anyway, I love this mans even when he puts me through it. I started these as a fun way to disappear into my beloved fantasy worlds rather than dwell on his real life birthday content. special thanks to my @achinglyshawn for jumping in last second to help me with a couple 😉

warnings: language, slightly NSFW, breaking canon in a few places

WC: 4.7k

---------

Lilly

(from Like the Back of My Hand -- we’re breaking from canon a bit because Lilly and Shawn don’t get together until after his 21st birthday but shhhhh I make the rules around here)

He loves the little sound she makes when she’s tired. It’s a throaty little whimper, totally involuntary. It’s the only sound of near discontent she’s made all night, which he thinks is pretty impressive considering the circumstances.

His 21st birthday party was lunacy -- specialty cocktails with weird names, a cake shaped like fruit and tea that was hilarious but tasted like fondant, and more industry types and celebrities than Lilly is used to having around. He knows her. He knows this isn’t her jam. But you couldn’t tell by watching her tonight.

And as drunk as he got, finally, at long last legal on American soil where he spends so much time, he watched her. She was dancing and laughing with his family, his parents and sister, cousins and aunts and uncles, so many of whom flew to New York for the event. She stuck with them amidst the chaos, straying toward them rather than some of the star studded company.

When his cake came and his head was floating off his body, announcing he was too drunk to make a speech, he blew out his candles and gave her the sloppiest, drunkest kiss on record because he just couldn’t help himself and clung to her, yammering in her ear a little louder than he needed to about how much he loves her. She just grinned and kissed him back and assured him she loves him too.

They’re stumbling back to the hotel, trailing at the middle of the pack. Shawn takes her hand and gives it a squeeze. She squeezes back and makes the little noise. He lifts her swinging hand for a kiss and then rubs his itchy nose with the back of it, making her chuckle.

“Thank you, baby,” he murmurs, eyes growing heavy.

“Thank me tomorrow if you live through the night,” she laughs, swinging his arm around her shoulders as he grows a little unsteadier on his feet. He smiles and buries his face in his Lilly’s hair.

+

Emma

(from The Long Way Home)

“I’m gonna die,” Shawn moans, rolling over, sandwiching his head between the hotel mattress and a pillow. He can’t hear her amused chuckle, but he feels her little hand in the dip of his waist as she settles in behind him and starts kissing the back of his neck.

“I tried to stop you,” she purrs, close enough to his ear that he can hear. He winces and releases the pillow, reaching down to tug her closer, wrapping himself under her slender arm.

“The problem is that I stopped. If I just kept drinking all day, I’d be fine. But this party starts in four hours and I’m already hungover,” Shawn whines.

They got drunk at his birthday brunch. Well, he got drunk. She’s better behaved than he is and also not legal yet so she didn’t want to drink in front of his family. Emma’s too careful about his parents, Shawn thinks, probably as a result of her relationship with her own. But he knows his mum snuck her a mimosa or two.

Emma noses at the nape of his neck and slides one of her Pilaticardio toned legs between his. It always makes him feel better, no matter what’s wrong. He sighs heavily.

“You should take a little nap,” she advises with a nod, though he’s facing away from her, “The aspirin and water will help too.”

“But I’m gonna die,” he says weakly.

Emma rolls her eyes. “You can’t die before I play you your birthday song.”

She goes scarlet before he even turns all the way over to look at her.

“My what?”

“I wrote you a song. It’s your birthday present,” she explains quietly in her perfectly sweet, perfectly humble, perfectly Emma way.

He cradles her close and feels further from his own demise. “You’re my birthday present.”

He naps. She smiles.

+

Lydia - cowritten by @achinglyshawn

(from When the World Stops Turning - also breaks canon because Shawn was already 21 before he met Lydia but again ssssHHHHH)

Lydia stands in the doorway of his bedroom, sex haired and in his shirt from last night, watching him snore. It’s cute, light snoring because it’s morning and he’ll be waking up soon, not gross, heavy, middle-of-the-night boy snoring. He’s facedown in pillows, sleeping through the morning of his 21st birthday.

She can’t have that. She has too many plans. She already let him sleep late enough. He’ll be a little grumpy until he remembers how spoiled he’s getting today.

She crawls onto the bed and lays over him gently, plopping little kisses all over his shoulder blades, waiting for him to stir.

He wakes with a shiver that starts in his shoulder and spreads across his back. The world still feels heavy around him, like he’s not really awake, but simply becoming aware of another dream. But he shivers again and realizes there’s someone pressed into his back, a sweet pair of lips dusting across his shoulder and neck. That would explain the shivering. 

He can’t open his eyes. Isn’t still so early? Is the sun even up? But he’s definitely awake now, and he can’t resist the devil on his back. 

“Lydia,” he rasps, arms curling tightly around his pillow as he buries his face in the fluff. “Early.” 

“Shawn,” she mocks gently, “10am. Birthday.”

She punctuates each word with a little wet nibble on his sleep-warmed skin. Part of her wants to sink into him and let herself sleep through the day with him, too. 

But her plaaaaaaans.

She noses at his neck and starts working her kisses down his jaw and up over the cheek that isn’t smashed into pillows.

“Birthday kiss?” she tries, lifting a gingery eyebrow.

Shawn groans low in his throat, Lydia’s teeth on his skin calling an unnecessary amount of attention to the morning wood currently trapped between his stomach and the bed. Then he blinks, eyes finally opening, as he registers what she’s said. 

“Birthday,” he lifts his head, squinting blearily at the headboard in front of him, “My birthday.” 

He turns over, and there she is, freckled face centimeters from his as her nose nudges his cheek. 

“You give me the birthday kiss, Hamilton. I’ll wait here.” He rearranges himself, settles back into the pillows and tucks his arms up behind his head, biceps bulging but only because that’s just how big his arms are now, not cause he’s flexing or anything. “I’m the birthday boy.” 

As he turns over, she can feel that he’s hard beneath the sheet. She settles in around him, comfortably tucking him up between her thighs so when she leans her weight down, he can feel her.

“I’ll give you several,” she whispers, pecking the tip of his nose before skirting down to his lips to do the real work. She sinks her fingers into his hair and hums contentedly into his mouth, tickling his tongue with hers, ignoring their morning breath.

She spends longer there than planned, like she always does, because she fucking loves kissing him. But finally, she pecks along his jaw, counting under her breath as she goes, along his cheeks, down his arm over the swell of his bicep, along his collarbone, leaving the 21st kiss somewhere down the center of his chest.

“You have two choices,” she murmurs, finding her breath come out as a pant as she gets a little hot for him, “You can stay in bed and skip birthday brunch at the Himalayan place or come eat chocolate croissants with me.”

Lydia takes her time. Patience is one of her best qualities. Her patience with him during their relationship has been incredibly unfathomable. He sometimes still isn’t sure how she hasn’t broken up with him yet. He’s a lucky fucking bastard. He already knows his birthday wish is gonna be for more of that luck, as long as he can get it. 

A soft moan rumbles his chest when her lips find his ear. He untucks his arms from behind his head and settles his hands on her hips. He squeezes, turns his head to brush a kiss of his own over the apple of her cheek. 

“Why can’t we hang out in bed just a little longer,” he murmurs with a slow, lazy roll of his hips that presses his cock into the swell of her inner thigh, “Then do brunch? Can’t a man have both on his birthday?” 

Lydia takes the rocking of his hips with a little gasp. Her eyelashes flutter. Her resolve weakens. She narrows her eyes.

“We have a packed schedule,” she replies, wrinkling her brow, attempting to look stern, “We’re going to your parents’ after lunch and then you have your big birthday bash tonight and then I’m keeping you awake all night long with all the hot, hot birthday sex.”

She’s leaving out a couple things, like his birthday gift -- she conspired with Andrew and his parents to schedule a private cruise in the Caribbean in the fall when he has time off during recording. They’re announcing it together later. And the other birthday gift, the one he’s getting tonight after his party if he doesn’t get too drunk, a new toy to try out together during all the hot hot birthday sex.

Shawn laughs, reaching up to smooth the crease between Lydia’s eyebrows with his thumb. He doesn’t want to have such a strict schedule on his birthday. And he doesn’t think his parents will mind if they’re fifteen minutes late. Or thirty. 

He cups her cheek, using his best puppy-dog eyes on her as he looks down at her. “Please? I’ll be quick. You know I know how to make it good and quick and still within the confines of a Lydia Hamilton schedule.” 

A brow quirks, his lips twitching with a tease of a smirk. He knows he sounds greedy, because they have all night to have each other, but Shawn’s always been greedy with Lydia. Plus, it’s his birthday. 

Lydia heaves a falsely belabored sigh but she can’t quite fight the smile off her face. She sits up and raises her arms, pulling his shirt over her head. Her nipples are hard in the cool of his apartment. 

“Should’ve known I needed to work this into the schedule,” she grunts, dropping back against him with a laugh, rocking her hips and cradling his neck in her hands. She goes quiet, blinking up at him, overcome with gratitude.

She bumps her nose against his. “I love you, birthday boy.”

+

Val

(from I Could Write It Better Than You Ever Felt It)

In a perfect world, Shawn and Val would spend the morning of his birthday in bed, but in the real world, maybe the better world, their two month old is making her little pterodactyl noises and Shawn is on his feet to grab her before Val can sneak out of bed and quiet her to let the birthday boy sleep.

But if you had told Shawn on his 30th birthday that he’d be a dad on his 31st, he would hardly have believed it. He felt like a dad then, sort of, to Alice. But he wasn’t really yet.

He is now, in all the ways you can be. Before Daniela was born in June, they made sure to work out the adoption papers because they were the last thing they wanted to worry about after the baby was born. 

So what do dads do on their birthdays? Val ran through the list in her head while she was planning — golf? Fishing? Napping? Not really Shawn things. So she consults Alice who gleefully suggests the park because she’s 2 so she’s always going to suggest the park.

Val prepped the picnic basket in secret with fun treats from Waitrose, absolutely nothing they have to cook themselves, and put Daniela’s bottles in the diaper bag. A picnic with this kind of family is a whole affair — there’s the pram that resembles the Queen Mary, the diaper bag, the play bag, the picnic basket, Val’s purse and, Shawn insisted, his guitar case.

When they arrive in Regent’s Park, they look like they’re moving there permanently.

Alice sits in his lap and talks while she chews on a cheese sandwich and Val holds Daniela over her shoulder, patting her tiny little back to burp her.

Shawn just nods, too tired to really listen to Alice’s toddler ramblings, making murmuring noises of assent every so often as he finger combs the little girl’s hair. It looks just like her mother’s. In his other hand he holds a half eaten sandwich of his own.

Alice bolts upright suddenly, full of manic baby energy, ready to sprint around as much as her tiny little legs will allow. Shawn smiles and glances over at Val.

“Bloody hell,” Val grumbles, shaking her head. She squints and watches through the cool British sunlight as Alice starts skipping away before Shawn can unfold himself from their blanket and chase after her.

“Alice, wait for daddy, please!”

Shawn blinks. Val doesn’t seem like she realizes she’s said it. Daddy.

Shawn has been “Shawn” since he and Val reunited about a year and a half ago, before Alice was talking. By the time it was clear that he was sticking around, he was already “Shawn” (or “Sawn” because Alice couldn’t do her “sh” sound yet) and changing the toddler’s habit wasn’t high on the list of priorities with all the other integration and changes in their lives, especially once Val got pregnant with Daniela.

Shawn had thought about it but didn’t really know how to bring it up. He wanted to be Alice’s daddy, just like he’s Daniela’s daddy. To him, there’s no difference. They’re both his little girls.

Shawn watches as Alice toddles back over looking entranced. “Daddy?”

Shawn looks at Val. Val looks startled, like she finally realizes what she said. She looks back at Shawn.

“Daddy?” Alice repeats, pointing at Shawn.

“Daddy,” Shawn confirms with a nod and heat in his cheeks, grinning over at Val. Val’s face splits with the force of her smile. She laughs.

As Shawn stands, brushing Alice’s crumbs off his legs, Val hooks her fingers affectionately around his knee.

“You might be their daddy but you’re still my papi,” she reminds him with a playful squeeze.

+

Ginny

(from The Emancipation of Ginny)

Ginny twirls. And twirls and twirls and twirls and twirls.

Shawn follows close, spinning her by the hips, giggling wildly with her, watching her tight curls like a soft brown mist. 

The party may be for Shawn’s 21st birthday, but it’s been the Ginny and Shawn show all night. He’s barely stopped kissing her long enough for each of them to imbibe enough to get drunk. Everyone gets it, though. They don’t see each other as much as they’d like, what with Shawn’s tour schedule and Ginny’s artist management schedule, chasing Hannah around the globe as she prepares to release an album. But Ginny moved things, bumped things, even straight up dropped things to be in New York for Shawn’s birthday. He’s so grateful. He’s been grinning like an asshole all night. Or at least he has when his lips haven’t been attached to hers.

Shawn manages to catch her hips before she goes spinning into a table covered in shots of tequila. She laughs harder and tucks her face into his neck. As he holds her close, he figures now, when they’re both trashed and so stupid in love they wouldn’t be able to see straight even when sober, is a good time to dance with her.

He lifts both her arms up around his neck and sways them gently despite the fact that they can barely hear the music over the party noise and even if they could, it’s not a slow danceable song. They don’t care. Ginny tilts her forehead to his and coos, stroking through his curls with her long fingers.

“Good birthday so far, my love?”

He nods, careful not to dislodge her from against his forehead. “Pretty good. Only thing is the girl I love has to leave tomorrow morning.”

Ginny’s stomach lurches at the thought. She tilts her head so her eyelashes flutter against his cheek to make him smile. “She’s a lucky girl. Bet she’s counting the seconds until she sees you again.”

Shawn huffs gently. “Forty days, 6 hours and about… 19 minutes.” He glances down at his gold Rolex to verify.

Ginny snorts. “Excellent drunk maths skills.”

He cracks a grin. “I think I get better at math when I’m fucked up.”

She’s about to make another comment when the song changes. Again, it’s loud. Most people probably can’t really hear and aren’t paying attention. But Ginny would be able to hear this song any time it’s played in a 3 mile radius. Mariah Carey’s voice is like a dog whistle to her.

Her eyes pop wide. She gapes at Shawn until she sees his shit eating grin and gasps, squeezing him tighter into her. He goes willingly.

“You did this on purpose?”

He nods. “I asked Andrew to make sure there were a few Mimi songs on the playlist. I let him pick. I guess he knows you pretty well.”

Ginny doesn’t have the energy to glance around to try to find Andrew in the throngs of people. Instead she cuddles closer to her man and lets him kiss her through one of her all time favorite songs.

He breaks away suddenly. “This song is really sad.”

It’s “Always Be My Baby.” Ginny laughs. 

“Have you never noticed?”

He shakes his head. “It’s like… really sad.”

“‘S ok, love, it’ll be over soon.”

He nods and tucks his face into her neck, letting her sing softly to him until the rest of the party falls away.

+

Maya - cowritten by @achinglyshawn

(from Change of Pace)

Maya so, so sucks at keeping secrets from him. For at least a week, any time Shawn looks her in the eye, she’s been ready to scream it in his face.

“I’M THROWING YOU A SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY!”

It would make her breathe easier. But it would ruin it and Shawn deserves the sweet surprise. She chants it in her head. He deserves it, he deserves it.

They’ve been out all day running around Toronto doing cute stuff they never get to do during the school year when they’re in classes and Shawn thinks they’re heading back to her place to order pizza and pregame before they go out for his birthday. He doesn’t know all his friends, their friends, are waiting in her apartment, crouched behind her furniture, waiting to get him so drunk he doesn’t remember his name.

But he’s being a pain. Not intentionally. He’s having fun and wants to stay out, maybe grab dinner someplace, maybe go check out a bar. Steering him back to her place hasn’t been easy.

“We can check out the bar later,” she promises, fiddling with her bitten down fingernails, “Aren’t you hungry?”

Shawn’s staring at the bar across the street, a new place that’s just opened that Geoff keeps bugging him about because apparently it’s really good, decently cheap, and all of the waitresses are cute. Not that Shawn cares about that last bit. He’s also heard they do a Drunk Firework Ice Cream Surprise for birthdays. Shawn cares a lot more about that bit. 

He glances at Maya, reaching for her hand and tugging. “They have food there! Perfectly, deliciously, unhealthy birthday celebration food. Maybe even better than Pizza Gino.” 

He turns on the heel of his boot to face his restless girlfriend. He brushes his thumb across her knuckles as he bites his lip, one brow lifting towards his hairline. “Please? I’ll pay even though I’m supposed to let you treat me.” 

She hardly ever has to say no to him and when she does, she never wants to. She has to dig her heels in though. She just… doesn’t know how.

“First of all, how dare you, Pizza Gino is the best food on the planet. It’s culinary mastery,” she nearly stammers, her brain buzzing as she tries to come up with a real excuse that gets them home.

She doesn’t want to fake sick or he’ll feel terrible and get all cuddly and attentive. She doesn’t want to fake fight with him because in every rom com she’s ever seen, fake fights turn into real fights. She’s drawing a blank.

She blinks up at him and feels the familiar zing of her nerves when he brushes his finger over her knuckles. She gets an idea.

Maya sighs delicately and lifts her free hand to skim up his back, resting between his broad shoulders. She lets her eyes get heavy lidded and wets her lips.

“Why don’t you let me treat you? At my place?”

He’s still blinking across the street when Maya’s talented fingertips scale the length of his spine, her warm palm settling between his shoulder blades. Her pink tongue slides across her full lower lip and catches his eye. 

Shawn sucks in a soft breath, fingers tightening around hers. 

“What kind of treat, Lemon?” His voice is low, curious but husky, like he already knows the answer to his own question. Which, he thinks, maybe he does. He knows that look in her eye fairly well, at this point. His stomach flips. 

Maya can see she has him where she wants him. She feels a small pang of guilt, and her own regret, that when she gets him upstairs she won’t be treating him like he thinks she is. At least, not yet.

But she still has to get him to come with her, so she has to lay it on a little thicker.

Maya loosens their fingers and swings both her arms up around his neck, nudging his earlobe with her nose before kissing it, sucking it between her lips for a second.

“Any kind of treat you want, honey. Want you to choose.”

She leaves it kind of open ended so his brain can run wild, hopefully motivating him further. Plus she isn’t sure what kind of mood he could be in so she thinks letting him dictate is her best course of action.

Wanting to seal the deal, she kisses his ear again, tugging at the lobe with her teeth like she does when she wants to come.

“Maya,” he pants, her teeth sharp in that painfully sweet way he craves. His eyes fall shut as he momentarily forgets their very public location, standing across from a very busy bar. His arms wrap tightly around her waist and he scoops her into his chest, then drops his face into her neck. 

He kisses the soft skin he finds, nosing at the angle of her jaw. He doesn’t know how to resist temptation like this, despite the alluring call of the Drunk Firework Ice Cream Surprise from across the street. As with most things that tempt him, Maya manages to tempt him more.

Finally, he nods, lips finding her ear as he breathes, “Okay. Let’s go.” 

He drops her waist then finds one of her hands instead, leaving them only connected by their tangled fingers. He pulls her down the street, away from the lively bar and towards their quiet apartment, whilst considering all the ways he’ll make her come before they order pizza and maybe one of those giant brownie cake things Gino likes to make on special occasions.

“I think I want to eat you out, first,” he sighs when the reach the end of the block, glancing at Maya with a smile spread across his lips.  

She’s holding it together while he kisses her neck and starts dragging her down the street. While he focuses on navigating, she manages to type out a short text to Geoff on her little Nokia flip phone so the party is ready for the surprise.

She falters, though, at his request. Her body reacts as it always does for him -- he’s always getting her wet. But the eagerness with which he looks at her right now, like he’s determined to have her coming on his tongue again and again while they wait for the delivery guy, makes her seriously regret the 50 or so guests stuffed into her apartment.

“First?” she chokes, blinking at him. She stops herself from asking what the rest of his plan is because it can’t happen now anyway.

“Well, yeah. Since when do we stop after one?” Shawn smirks and decides the owlishly curious look on Maya’s face is the best birthday present he’s gotten. As if she doesn’t know how thoroughly he plans to love her tonight. She’s funny like that sometimes, surprised by how much he loves her even after two years together.

They reach her apartment building. She glances at him with a shaky grin. They ascend the stairs quickly, panting by the time they reach her door. He’s got his hands on her hips and his lips on her neck and she’s sort of trying to shrug him off without him really noticing and she opens the door and--

“SURPRISE!!!!”

Shawn’s heart nearly stops. His hands are on Maya’s stomach, his lips on the back of her neck as he nudges his semi-hard cock into the swell of her ass and-- what the fuck. He freezes, eyes going wide with his mouth still pressed to her skin. There’s a beat, then another, then he drops her like a hot potato. He takes a quick step back, pops his head up and blinks at the grinning crowd before him. 

He stays tucked behind her when he realizes she invited everyone. Everyone she could manage to squeeze into the apartment, anyway. At least he doesn’t see his parents. He and Maya have yet to be caught in a compromising position in front of them, and Shawn thinks he’d like to keep it that way. 

He finally manages to catch his breath. He laughs, head falling back as he tucks a hand into his curls. He reaches for Maya’s hand and tugs her fingers. “Maya,” he rasps, glancing down at her, “What did you do?” 

Shawn’s hiding in the back of her neck while his delighted guests cheer and laugh at them. Maya bears the brunt, going magenta and wishing she could hide behind him instead. She takes a deep breath as he lifts his head and grins.

She looks up at him, shrugging, “You mentioned a few months ago no one’s ever thrown you a surprise party. That seems so wrong to me. So I did it myself.”

She decides to let him linger behind her until his friends all start crowding them, clapping him on the back and handing him a beer and laughing at the shock on his face. Then she starts to slide away to let him enjoy himself while she flits around saying hi, half hoping they’ll all get bored and leave soon so she can go back to what they were about to get down to.

He loses Maya for a solid half hour. He gets passed around like a joint from friend to friend, hugging and laughing and taking shot after shot. He feels a bit like he’s walking on a cloud. He must’ve done something right, you know, to get himself a girlfriend like Maya. She’s always giving him so much, more than he ever asks for. 

He’s so fucking lucky. 

“I miss you,” he sniffs once he finds her again, puttering around in the kitchen, replenishing chip bowls and pulling another 12 pack of beer from the fridge. He lifts the beer from her arms, slides in onto the counter behind her. She’s trapped against his chest this way, just like he wanted. 

“You didn’t have to do all this,” he murmurs, lifting a gentle hand to her cheek, tilting her face back as he smiles lazily down at her. “But thank you, Lemon. You’re too fucking good to me.” 

He gets all warm and soft when he’s tipsy and soaking up the love and attention of his friends like a true Leo. He seeks her out to get close to her, to feel her warmth and see her smile for him like she always does. Maya lets herself get cradled between the counter and him, nuzzling into his warm hand.

His eyes are already a little bleary. He might not remember much past this point. That’s ok with her, that’s what your 21st birthday is for (even if they live in Canada). Plus, the way he’s looking at her right now, she’ll remember that for both of them.

She turns her face in to kiss his hand. “I just want you to have everything,” she answers earnestly, going pink at her own tendency to get cheesy when she’s sentimental like this and so in love with him she can’t see anything else.

She sweeps her hands up his arms and drapes herself easily around him, nosing at his ear.

“And I’ll give you everything else later tonight.”

----------

Taglist: @smallerinfinities @the-claire-bitch-project @achinglyshawn @infiniteshawn @mendesoft @singanddreamanyway @alone-in-madness @abigfatmess @shawnitsmutual @awkwardfangirl2014 @september-lace @grittyisaho @sinplisticshawn @rollingxstone @yslsaint @randi-eve @fallmoreinlove @heyits-claire @itrocksmysocks @parkerspicedlatte @simpledomain @abeautiful-and-cloudy-day @thecurlsofgod @magcon7280 @bensbuttercup @shawnsmusical @paigeasourous @tell-me-when-ur-ready @softmendesss @searchingunderthestars @buggy-blogs

[sometipsygnostalgic]

Assessing writing in homestuck: The difference between appealing characters and well-written character stories.

i was rambling about this to /u/cookiefonster in the discord earlier

theres a big difference between what qualifies as "good narrative" and "good character", even when the narrative youre discussing is focusing entirely on that character.

lets give you a couple of examples:

Terezi:

Terezi's a character who has a kind of fucked up storyline that just constantly loops back in on itself; she spends all of act 5 deciding whether to deal with Vriska or not, then gets in abusive relationships in act 6 after not being able to cope with her death. Terezi ends up with massive self esteem issues. Following from THIS, she dies, and retcons the story to undo her mistake and try to prevent the collapse of her self esteem. Sounds like an epic resolution to an arc, right?

Nope - post retcon, they brought Terezi's self esteem issues back but didn't give her the time of day to properly interact with other characters about it. She was unconfident around Vriska and insecure about her altself. Then she has a bit of a breakdown, unlocking some of the potential of her seer of mind abilities, and having a realisation of who truly is. You'd think, wow, Terezi after Remem8er is going to be interacting so much more with the other kids and FINALLY overcome her battle with depression, RIGHT?!?!

uhhh..... she doesnt say anything again until after the comic is over. then shes seen travelling through space.

When the epilogues drop she's interacting with John, they're building on top of their already amazing chemistry, they seem to understand each other like nobody else does in the entire fucking saga. Then Terezi nearly "dies" but another John finds her and they have a heart to heart before Terezi decides it's time go home.

WOOOOOW, you think, Terezi is FINALLY LEARNING TO LOVE HERSELF?!¬?!?!?! an interaction with a HEALTHY PERSON?!?!?!

Then John dies. Then Terezi hates Earth C so much and is so isolated from everybody she knows that she doesn't hesitate to join the villain in space. And it's implied Vriska texts her but she never reads those messages insofar as the canon material ends.

Overall, a rather anticlimactic story about a character whose arc is constantly recycled, not allowed to be given closure at any stage, falling into the same tragedy pit. It's like an art form of cockblocking.

So, why is Terezi as cherished as she is? How come even in the face of the ending, the epilogue, where it feels like Terezi has just been going round in circles, she is probably one of the most loved characters in homestuck?

There's a few factors:

Humor - Being able to make your audience laugh in a genuine way will put you in their favour. Terezi's dark humor, which works in tandem with her general naivete, has always been delightful.

Relevance - The part where Terezi's popularity might have actually struggled would be during Meteorstuck where she was pushed on the sidelines. Every moment she's been around after GAME OVER, however, she's been one of the most active character pushing the plot and generating excitement for whatever thing she's going to do next, even if it does become a loop. Killing John>Killing Vriska>Killing Gamzee>Retconquest>Remem8er>Finding Vriska>Finding John>Leaving with Dirk to save John>??? - she's always on some sort of mission which means if you're thinking about the plot then you might be thinking about something that ties into her storyline.

But most importantly, Authenticity - Terezi's dialogue is actually very well-written, in that she's one of the least wordy characters, but she gets exactly what she's feeling across whenever she talks about it. If you look at all the conversations she's had with Vriska or John or even Dave then you can tell Terezi feels very strongly about whatever she's feeling, and is either trying to disguise that feeling or is trying to put it to words she's struggling to find. Yet even when Terezi can't describe what she's feeling, the audience knows, because her condensed dialogue is expressive enough for us to be able to tell. It also helps that Terezi is one of the most invested in the other cast members, being - if not more righteous - then more analytical of her friends, taking in why they behave the way they do. It doesn't matter that arc-wise she goes in circles, because you can tell exactly how it keeps happening.

I feel like if Terezi didn't have that factor, if there wasn't so much weight to her emotional presentation and if the audience wasn't able to "feel" for her, then she would probably be significantly less popular. I guess that’s why many people feel it’s better for her to still be stuck in the “plot” of homestuck, to lack closure, because maybe closure would feel forced in this universe that’s taken so much from its kids? How can you “forget” what happened and just act like you never entered the game to begin with? Some of the other characters have this issue and it harms them deeply.

Let’s get into that!!!!!

Lord English and Calliope :

I feel so bad for Hussie. He clearly put a lot of thought into the relationship between Calliope and Caliborn, how their characters intertwine throughout this epic story. Yet despite them being the narrative fuel for the entirety of homestuck, and having an awesome thematic ending to their tales, it feels like the "cherub wars" part of homestuck never stuck its foot too deeply in the public consciousness.

Like, let's describe their narration: Two people born in the same body, one good, one evil. One is predestined to rule over the other.

In one universe the cherubs are left in their natural state. The Just cherub, Calliope, predominates... but because the universe is rigged, she is forced to be put into obscurity, residing for billions of years in a hidden dream bubble until the time is right. In another universe, there is intervention - Gamzee introduces the cherubs to humans, and they start to imitate their concepts and feelings. Because of this, Calliope becomes a softer being, engaging happily with the humans. She even wants to take mercy on her brother! But Caliborn takes on human ambition and grows determined to stop his sister from predominating, taking advantage of the human concept of “cheating” in order to beat her at their own game.

Caliborn defeats his sister, and is thrown into a session where he’s forced to overcome seemingly impossible challenges. He succeeds, and is given the ultimate power. Caliborn can will the universe to how he sees fit.

Caliborn’s given just desserts by getting trapped in the juju by the alpha kids but not before the monkey’s paw of trapping all the (alternate) beta kids for millenia, and in becoming trapped, he ends up becoming Lil Cal and Doc Scratch, who manipulate events so that he will rise again as an adult.

But the one thing that drives Caliborn more than anything is the desire to destroy his perfect sister - Calliope. A never ending thirst for her death. For predomination Caliborn never predominated normally so he never gets over it. This is part of why he’s so obsessed with showmanship and art too, to one-up her character. He circles the universe destroying all that is irrelevant, all that is obscure, in the hopes of demolishing all versions of his sister, having the primal fear that she will one day catch him out.

Our predominated calliope meets with the ghost of her alternate self, who tells her that her purpose as a softer human version is to just live her life. To be free. To appreciate all that humanity offers her. Whereas the Alternate Calliope’s role is to commit the ultimate sacrifice, to put an end to her brother’s ego. She absorbs the Green Itself into a catastrophic black hole that erases what is left of the universe.

You think that is the end, but Calliope is reborn in a new form, rewarded for her hard efforts, and becomes a full narrator for the story itself, protecting it from the evil of the Prince. She’s an active guide for the characters of Homestuck, wastching over them. She destroys her brother once and for all, absorping him inside herself.

Wasn’t all of that FUCKING AWESOME?!?!?!??! “Wow”, you think, “Calliope sounds so hardcore!!! I’m sure she’s an amazing character to have such a conclusive storyline like this!!”

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Literally nobody on the internet sees Calliope as their favourite character, except for maybe Past!Shelby Cragg who was her artist. And while Caliborn has his fans, nobody is a big fan of Lord English either. In fact most people tend to forget about the Lord English part of him because it’s just not that engaging!

Basing this on the above analysis about Terezi, what is lacking in terms of these characters?

Humor - Caliborn is a hilarious character, absolutetly no doubt about that. He’s so stupid and the way he sees the world is hilarious. It’s almost Terezi-ish even, except far more exaggerated in terms of his vulgarity and naivete, since he was locked in a fucking cage all his life. Caliborn makes us laugh pretty much every time we see him... but this character is lost entirely in Lord English, who does not wish to engage with the audience at all. Lord English is entirely a machine at this stage, just acting to destroy. As for CALLIOPE, she was never that great in the humor department. I’d be surprised if the original Callie knows what “jokes” are. Alt Calliope was also a stooge until the Epilogue where she trolls Dirk, and yes those parts are delightful and boost her in my eyes significantly, but in the core part of homestuck she is incredibly serious all the time.

Relevance - After reading me narrate the entire Cherub plot and how impactful it was on the entirety of homestuck you’d think I’m a fucking idiot for trying to argue that Calliope and Lord English are irrelevant, right? Well Too Bad!!! That’s exactly what I think. Doc Scratch was relevant to what was happening to our core cast of characters, manipulating them behind the scenes, taking advantage of them and fuelling their personal drama for his greater gain. This is why we love Doc Scratch so much and can even enjoy Ultimate Dirk for doing the same thing. Caliborn had a reduced impact on our main cast, but Lord English’s impact is pretty much nonexistent outside of the first time we see him in Caliborn: Enter. Once again, he’s literally only there to destroy the fucking universe, but when our main characters are either enjoying themselves in the new Alpha session or in Earth C, you have to ask why you or they should be interested in what LE is doing? Dave says so himself, that LE has not done anything wrong to him so he’s not hyped to go kill him. Calliope, meanwhile.... Her relevance is split in two, and neither is too substantial to what our main guys are doing.It “makes sense” as she’s such a passive character, but Calliope’s struggle with relevance doesn’t take me as impacting her too much, and I’ll get onto that in a second. Only one alpha kid ever thinks about her, she doesn’t think about anyone except herself, and while Jade has some kind of relationship with Alt!Callie, it isn’t a personal one by any means. Calliope’s impact on the emotional arcs of homestuck is so minimal that she was erased from the epilogues which she wrote herself. Even Calliope can’t think of anything to do with Calliope!!! How about that!!!

Oh, and of course, Authenticity - Caliborn feels like an authentic character because he deals with actual struggles. Caliborn finds it tremendously difficult to do things other characters might have an easy time with, like drawing, thinking in anything OTHER than straight lines... but he perseveres. Caliborn faces his impossible and brutal tasks head on to claim the Ultimate Reward. He’s fucking EARNED that ability to destroy everything in reality, and by god he’s let us know!!! This is why Caliborn is such a cherished character. Even though he’s evil as fuck, he feels like a real kid somehow. It goes without saying that although Doc Scratch has a different kind of authentic creepiness, Lord English has nothing on him that makes him feel real. He’s just a machine, as said before. CALLIOPE’s authenticity.... The alpha Calliope is a character who became “so nice” and so “perfect” that she ended up losing her fight against her evil brother just because she was that good a person as to let him get the better of her. Nothing that ever happens to her is her fault. She never gets in any conflicts with any character ever, except for that one time she yelled too loud in Candy but nobody told her off for it. Calliope is perfect at art, a fair enough writer. The closest thing to a “flaw” she’s ever had is getting so excited about her friends that she writes creepy fanfic about them, something that is parodied in Candy, which has been implied to be narrated (or at least retold) by Calliope herself in Meat. Simply put, Calliope is... a mary sue. A flawless character. There is absolutely no authenticity and no way to relate to her. Alt Calliope.... she’s a martyr? But why does she want to be a martyr? What does she care about the human characters? She’s even less authentic. It is badass to watch her tear down Dirk, and the story takes advantage of how unreadable she is by making her intimidating as fuck, an all knowing force to contest - no, overpower - that of Dirk or even Hussie himself. Alt Callie is more knowing in her fakeness, she has a better struggle as well what with having to escape from obscurity and overcome her brother, and therefore is a better character, at the end of the epilogues, than the original.

TL;DR: It’s not just about making interesting things happen to your characters. It’s making sure they have interesting reactions to what is going on. If your character becomes someone who things just “happen” to, and who does not respond to those things in an authentic way, then nobody is going to care for them no matter how important or existentially poetic their arc is.

[bracefacefreak]

Beware long post below. Just some thoughts I had whilst I was re-reading twilight...... 

1) Sarcastic Bella is love. Sarcastic Bella is life. 2)  No one can take away my headcanon black!Emmett with gorgeous tightly curled hair. Plus this means that he can totally teach Jasper about racism and why fighting for the Confederates was WRONG and they can support anti-racism charities together.  3) Jess’s little comment about Esme not being able to have children makes me so sad. 4) Ok, so Carlisle is a freaking surgeon. Like he spends his days elbows deep in people’s abdominal cavities. I have even more respect for him now if that’s possible.  5) Charlie’s lil crush on the Cullens is tots cute.  6) Wasted vampire trope #1 - the base instinctual fear that all human characters have around vampires, even though they can’t understand it.  7) Apparently Alice doesn’t give a shit about appearing human 8) Cute sibling moments-why didn’t we get these in the films? 9) What was the whole ‘electric current’ sensation that passed between Edward and Bella in science class? Is that ever explained? Do vampires conduct electricity now?  10) God damn it Charlie Swan, stop being precious. Also the fact Bella gets so choked up about her dad putting snow chains on her truck makes me so sad. Poor girl. 

11) “No blood, no foul.” Not even trying to subtle are you Edward.  12) “...the doctor was in on it.” Literally almost fell over laughing. Poor darling Carlisle.  13) God, I forget all the angry scowling and even angrier silences.  14) I fucking love Bella’s petty inner monologue about rear-ending Ed’s volvo. Girl after my own heart.  15) Sam Uley-totally forgot he was only 19!  20) So Carlisle has been coming to forks for centuries. Even before the first settlers reached there. Interesting little fact nugget.  21) Angela is GAY! FFS Smeyer.  22) Bella’s equally petty inner monologue about non-fatally wounding Tyler so he can’t take her to the dance. This girl is a mood.  23) You know Emmett absolutely rinsed Edward about all his mooning and pining during their hunting trip. I’m talking about made up ridiculous cringe-worthy joke poetry about Bella’s eyebrows and some rather grotesque smooching faces.  24) “We all like to drive fast.” I totally headcanon that Esme is a fucking terrifying driver, after all she has shit to do-crazy vamp kids to keep in check, houses to restore, a very pretty husband to bone.  25) So much unsubtle foreshadowing. 26) “Grizzly is Emmett’s favourite.” This is 100% Emmett’s revenge on bear-kind for his almost-demise.  27) Wasted vampire trope #2 - vampires are able to communicate in tones too low and too high for humans to hear. Other animals however are a different matter. It’s not unusual for private conversation to be interrupted by baying dogs and the irritated meows of cats.  28) Why can Bella see blue veins in Edward’s arms? He doesn’t have blood? Did you even proofread this Smeyer? 29) Edward’s fears about facing Esme - I can just imagine Carlisle coming home to find Esme holding Edward there in a headlock, before looking up and saying your father’s here now, lets talk. Also poor Carlisle having to face Esme that evening and tell her Ed’s gone.  30) Wasted vampire trope #3 - the what Edward talks about his human feelings being hidden deep beneath his stronger vampire ones. I don’t feel we get to see much of this except for a few episodes of over-protectiveness and growling. This could have been much more interesting.  31) I would pay good money to hear more about Carlisle and Esme’s increasingly ridiculous and disastrous plots to try and get Edward and Rosalie together.  I mean we think of them as the wise, mature adults but we all know that the Cullen children get some of their crazy from their parents.  32) I want an AU where Alice didn’t get her visions of Jasper and the Cullens and went absolutely feral, when the Cullens do run into her it’s as an enemy who they eventually persuade to their way of life.....or not.  33) Jasper’s gift is absolutely terrifying....I mean being able to manipulate people’s emotions, get them to feel what you want and by extension behave as you want. Ed even says he can use it on a crowd. That’s like supervillain level.  34) “You are mythical after all.” Ok so now I want an extended world of fantasy/horror/mythical beings. I’m talking mermaids/sirens, fay folk, ghosts etc. Make Forks like Gravity Falls or something. Please.  35) Edward whiny bitch Cullen repeatedly asking Bella if she’s going to tell her Dad that he’s her boyfriend. And if you think he stops doing this once their married, you’re wrong.  36) Edward’s forehead kisses are tots something he learned from watching Esme and Carlisle. I will die for this headcanon.  37) Edward tasting Bella’s tears. WTF!? WHY? WHAT AM I READING SMEYER!? 38) Carlisle found a real vampire nest at 23 years of age. He is canonically too clever for his own good. FFS sweety.  39) I forgot how much I enjoyed the part with Carlisle’s backstory. Also my poor bby boy suffered through his transformation without making a single noise. Even human!Carlisle had the self control of a saint.  40) Wasted vampire trope #4 - I know this has been mentioned before but the whole, vampires don’t need to breathe and get no relief from it but do it as habit. What other human habits and sensations do they have which have been altered by their transformation. 41) Aro and Carlisle playing tricks to try and get each other to drink from the other’s food source. It didn’t work cause of vamp smell obviously. I know I write this as if it’s playful, but we all knows Aro was a total bitch about it.  42) Edwin. Charlie Swan you are precious. Never change.  43) WHY DIDN’T WE GET TO SEE ALICE AND EMMETT HOLD HANDS IN THE FILMS! 44) “Occassionally Esme would call them to order.” I would pay good money to see this. Also does ‘ that include them’ include Carlisle? 45) Edward muttering a string of swear words both old and new, in multiple languages under his breath is a mood I recognise.  46) “Esme and Carlisle, they’ll have to leave, to hide forever!”.....”We’ve been there before.” I want this and every story of all the stupid reasons why the Cullens have had to flee the state/country in the past. Carlisle sometimes wonders whether all the trouble is worth it. This never happened when he was on his own. 47) I am unsurprisingly very much in favour of growling, snarling Alice Cullen.  48) Why does Bella have a secret cash hoard?  Is that normal? Is it in case Renee’s dealers turn up demanding money? (Can you tell I’m not a Renee fan.) 49) Of course Esme installed fucking bombproof shutters on their house. My girl is so freaking extra.  50) How many speeding tickets have the Cullens collected over the years?  51) “He seems to stay just far enough away that I can’t hear what he’s thinking..” Was this just coincidence or did James somehow know about Ed’s power? 52) Alice sketches her visions sometimes - it’s something Esme taught her because sometimes her visions are so weird or disturbing or exhausting that Alice can’t voice them herself. So Esme came up with this way to try and help her get it out.  53) Wasted vampire trope #5 - vampires can speak so fast that humans can’t understand them. Just imagine Bella wandering in on a family discussion at the Cullen house and all she can hear is a high pitched squeaking because everyone is talking super fast.  54) Alice’s backstory makes me so sad 55) “Alice had a bit too much fun fabricating the evidence.” Ok, so two things: one, I absolutely wish we could have seen Alice destroying shit and two, I still don’t understand how they managed to convince anyone Bella fell down a flight of stairs, like did they have to push her down the stairs to ensure it looked realistic, did Ed spend ages artistically placing her in a suitable position. How did this work? 56) Also love that everyone just accepted that Bella would fall down stairs and through a window, she’s just that much of a clutz.  57) Also they stole a car and burned down a dance studio. The Cullens should have started a crime family, they wouldn’t have been good at it but it would have been hilarious.  58) Bella should have grown up with Charlie. End of. Renee sucks.  59) Charlie is absolutely crushing on Carlisle and I love it. 

[doktorpeace]

Top 5 Games Of The Year #4

Yakuza 0 is a pretty special game both individually and as a part of its franchise. It’s the first time Yakuza has taken a step backwards chronologically, in order to better explore already established characters and what led them to the events of the first game. It gets a lot of praise already and I’m just here to heap a little more onto the pile because it well deserves it. Although the series at this point is no stranger to having multiple protagonists and Majima has technically been playable before the special feeling Yakuza 0 elicits by having two protagonists wasn’t really lost for it. Compared to the four in Yakuza 4, or the frankly over padded five protagonists in Yakuza 5, taking a step down to just two and placing an almost equal emphasis on each really does the game’s narrative and pacing wonders. Yakuza 0′s story is really good it is an excellent crime drama and among the best main plots the series has to offer. While some might argue other entries, usually 2 or 4, can stand up alongside it I feel 0′s has an edge in some areas. Largely in terms of pace, ambition, and intrigue. For instance, 2 doesn’t really mess around with plot twists, the entire game basically waves a giant flag over Ryuji saying he’s the final boss and the whole plot exists basically just to get to his and Kiryu’s legendary fight. And that’s fine, it doesn’t try to be more than it needs to be and that’s okay. 4 meanwhile has more intrigue and some good twists in there but its pace is much poorer in my opinion. Your mileage may vary on the bullets plot twist, too. 0 has some legitimate plot twists and it does a great job getting players engaged and interested in what’s going to happen next. To get back to 0 though, it doesn’t sacrifice characterization to achieve the quality of its plot either, far from it. It’s the first time we’ve seen a young, hot blooded, and frankly really stupid Kiryu. Kiryu’s never a smart guy but getting to see how he handles situations and behaves before 10 years in prison and subsequent stories smooth his edges and temper his personality is really a treat for fans of the character and newcomers alike. He’s fun, relatable, serious when he needs to be, and most importantly he’s still perfectly recognizable as Kiryu. He is still absolutely that amazing protagonist that you know and love, he’s just young, dumb, and full of.....well you know. On the other hand Majima is almost unrecognizable in this game, being calm, well dressed, a charismatic and professional showman, dissuading others from fighting, all while being openly depressed to boot. This take on Majima still feels fitting because the way he phrases himself is familiar, his gut reactions feel right for the characters, and ultimately this game contextualizes not just his transformation into the Mad Dog of Shimano fans know him as later but many of his actions through the rest of the series. Just ignore how his story here and how he’s written in Yakuza 5 violently contradict one another. We can all just pretend Y5′s Majima writing isn’t canon. The strength of characterization extends to the game’s side characters too, including ones who alongside Majima and Kiryu return from the main series. Nishiki, Kashiwagi, the Lieutenants, Tachibana, Lee, and more are all memorable and great characters. Just, uhh, don’t expect many women in the main plot is all. I don’t want to talk too in depth about the game’s story so as to avoid spoiling anything but it really is a treat. The script takes advantage of player’s expectations in a meta sense, that ultimately this will be Kiryu’s game because, well, Yakuza 4 and 5 were Kiryu’s games in spite of the other protagonists. Those guys all got good, moving stories too and they are all well worth experiencing and having around but ultimately Kiryu is still the most important guy on the block. Not so, here, as by the halfway point of the game players might notice that Majima’s ‘half’ of the game, his half of the game’s chapters, are quite a bit longer than Kiryu’s. Majima has a lot more legwork to do in the story because it is his story, and while Kiryu gets the true final boss fight and is very important to the events at hand as well it’s really Majima who’s the star here. This game is an excuse to explore his character and it does not beat around the bush on that intention. If you are a fan of this franchise you really do have to experience this story. All too often prequel games just end up softening or weakening the existing narratives they’re trying to pay homage to or trying to strengthen but Yakuza 0 expertly dodges that bullet by never missing a beat in terms of quality relative to standard Yakuza entires. My only real issue with the story, honestly, is that Makoto is about as much of a McGuffin as she is a person. The game does take time to develop her both directly and indirectly but ultimately she spends about as much time just being a plot device to be ferried around by one man or another as she does getting to talk and do things.  The gameplay is very refined compared to other games in the seires, I would argue it’s tighter and more fun than Yakuza 6′s, even, if only due to the sheer variety of Heat Actions (effectively super moves; ranging from the silly to the bombastic to the brutal to a handful that made me shout ‘HOLY SHIT HE DIDN’T DESERVE THAT!!!’ at my TV) present in 0. If you like beat ‘em ups you’ll like Yakuza’s playstyle; each character gets 4 fighting styles earning three through the story and a fourth through side content. The fourth fighting style for each one is essentially a bonus, letting them fight in their ‘iconic’ styles, Dragon and Mad Dog respectively. To be honest they’re both underwhelming, Mad Dog is maybe Majima’s weakest fighting style and Dragon, while strong, requires a lot more heat than what it naturally builds to stay competent. The fighting styles are still fun though, they add plenty of new and unique options to each character to justify getting them, they’re just not going to win you the game for free or anything. Of the character’s main fighting styles the only real issue I have is the disparity in strength between them, both internally and between each other. No mincing words here, Majima is obscenely overpowered compared to Kiryu. Breaker Style annihilates every challenge in the game with next to no effort besides Mr. Shakedown fights, which aren’t really fun anyway. That said Slugger easily bashes in Mr. Shakedown and even Jo Amon. Majima will breeze through all of his content even on higher difficulties. Comparatively Kiryu can have a pretty rough time in some fights. This is due in part by his fighting styles being really well balanced internally, they’re all useful and thus the player may actually feel like swapping between them mid battle or between encounters. Kiryu not really having an overwhelming option generally means he can be very expressive, my fiancé and I played him very differently for instance on our runs. Whether you most enjoy his fast, invulnerability frame heavy, dash cancelling Rush style which takes a very high amount of investment to become good but I would argue is maybe his best style once you get it there, his brutish item swinging, semi-grappler Beast style which absolutely decimates indoors fights, or the more well rounded, heat action heavy Brawler Kiryu’s got something for everyone. Each of his styles also get a great variety of unique heat actions, all three to environmental cues, and Beast and Brawler to equip-able and overworld items. While Majima’s fighting style are also expressive and a ton of fun to use they just feel too safe and too easy compared to Kiryu. He gets absolutely stellar results and gets them quickly for extremely little effort in the ridiculously fast, low profile attacks of Breaker. Not to say Breaker isn’t fun, because it is, breakdancing to beat people up is hilarious and fun and its heat actions are flavorful to boot, it’s just really overpowered is all. After some investment his Ballerina With A Baseball Bat fighting style, Slugger, also becomes nigh impossible to challenge for the AI thanks to it losing its primary weakness of the bat bouncing off of walls it hits after you put only moderate investment into it. While the least varied of Majima’s styles in terms of heat actions, Slugger is great fun if you ever wanted a proper weapon based fighting style in Yakuza. It feels like what Shinada should have played like. Majima’s starting style, Thug, is a fun grappling and street brawling style that requires a lot of precision to use well and is very well suited to one on one fights should the player be so inclined to not opt for his better options. It makes use of baroque kicks, eye pokes, strangles, and back turns. It’s also Majima’s only style that can make use of non-baseball bat items for heat actions as well as most of his environmental heat actions, and Majima has some GREAT heat actions under these conditions, helping Thug keep a niche compared to the other styles. Honestly, if you like Tekken you’ll probably like Thug. These great fighting styles would be pointless if the game didn’t have fun enemies and situations to pit you against and thankfully it does. Its ‘dungeons’ are a lot of fun and some of the boss fights really stand out. Thanks to the sheer myriad of context based Heat Actions even just fighting the random mooks in the street stays fun for dozens of hours as you experiment to see how you can fuck up some chumps today. It’s deeply gratifying and a lot of fun. While the optional Mr. Shakedown fights are a chore, they are all optional besides the first one so there’s no real reason to bother with them unless you’re doing a 100% substory completion run or REALLY need to grind money in a game where money is already free. Some of the boss fights are a bit mediocre, too, but overall they’re good fun. I do think Yakuza 0 is at its strongest though when it’s making the player fight room after room of enemies, dozens at a time, and just letting them feel like an absolute champion while doing so, really letting them revel in just how strong and cool Majima and Kiryu are. Yakuza 0′s side content is both one of its greatest strengths and in my opinion an area where it shows the most weakness. While Pocket Circuit, Karaoke, Cabaret Club, and the Sub-Stories are absolutely excellent and I truly cannot stress enough how fun they are the game also has a myriad of seemingly half baked minigames based off of real life activities for you to do, a lot of which have unnecessary RNG. Even Bowling has RNG...BOWLING, come on! The Pool, Darts, Bowling, Catfight Club, and other such minigames feel very rushed in execution and for all but the last of those feel like poor simulations compared to other games I have played. Catfight Club is just a really, really, shameless and sexist ‘Watch almost naked women ‘’’’wrestle’’’’’. Also, opposite Majima’s deeply flavorful, engaging, well written, and fun club management minigame Club Sunshine, the aforementioned cabaret club, Kiryu gets Real Estate Royale. Which is about as fun as you think. It’s literally standing around waiting for money to grind for you and then going out and investing it into properties. While the storyline attached to it is decent enough and has some good moments for Kiryu the minigame itself is just dreadful and grossly slow paced. Which is funny to say, because I think it takes less time to complete than Cabaret Club, but it feels like A Lot Longer because it just isn’t fun. There’s the Telephone Club, which uhhh, you can have Kiryu do to get laid. It’s funny in a tongue in cheek way but it’s also not my cup of tea besides laughing at Kiryu’s great dialogue and body language during the interactions. Basically, play Karaoke to hear Kiryu’s beautiful singing voice and also THE ONLY GAME IN THE SERIES WHERE MAJIMA’S SINGING ISN’T JUST AWFUL SCREECHING! 24 Hour Cinderella is a gift to the world and you need to play it. Cabaret Club is also where the vast majority of this game’s female characters exist, as hostesses. While the game could take this opportunity to be sexist (and one could argue it is, for sure) the writing present in Cabaret Club for the platinum hostesses and their story lines is just as good as anything else from the game. They’re worth talking to, learning about, and seeing their development. In all honesty they can almost fittingly serve as a nice break from the game’s intense story, giving the player a breather with some whole and comedic interactions. The Sub-Stories which make up this game’s version of side quests (because yes, this is a Beat ‘Em Up Japanese Crime Drama RPG) are also basically all amazing. The writing is heartfelt, funny, and just really good. They all have strong opening hooks without forcing the player to immediately get involved and despite being 100 of them they’re basically all really memorable. This is also where the game pays Kiryu back a bit for his lost story content relative to Majima, giving him 60 of the 100 sub stories. They’re all great ways to get to see more aspects of these characters and the citizens of Kamurocho, please give a bunch of them a try if you play this game. I also briefly want to talk about the settings of the game, Kamurocho and Sotenbori. They’re literally just the real life Japanese districts, Kabukicho and Dotenbori by SLIGHLY different names. If you play this game enough you’ll know some real life actual locations in actual real life Japan like you’ve been there. You’ll be able to navigate at least a few square blocks of Japan without a map, it’s amazing, and it’s really something special compared to other games. Also, I’m not exaggerating, the overworld(s) of this game are only a few square blocks large but the game plays that to its advantage. Navigating from one side to another of either one takes a minute or two at most and the streets are always PACKED with content. It’s impossible to wander around playing naturally without falling ass backwards into a dozen or more of the game’s sidestories and inevitably getting sucked into playing a few of them and seeing how good they are. I love this game’s map, it’s so brilliant in its design by simply being true to a real life location. Yakuza 0 also sports stellar sound design. The sound effects are BEEFY, hitting things feels amazing and nothing sounds out of place or off beat. The bombastic, over the top hit sounds really sell Majima and Kiryu’s overwhelming power and it just makes every fight satisfying. The soundtrack similarly is good, and while much of the soundtrack isn’t what I would call listening music, the Karaoke selections, specifically Bake Mitai, sure are. I’m not really the kind of guy who can tell you why the sound design is good, it just is, trust me.

All in all, Yakuza 0 is a stellar game and is exemplary of both what a modern beat ‘em up AND a modern RPG should strive to be like. It is a masterpiece in its own right and I’m glad that its success in the western market has secured this unique, beautiful series a future. Please play Yakuza 0, it’s regularly on sale on both PS4 and Steam and it deserves your attention. If you’re ever alone on a Friday night, just remember these Yakuza, and you’ll have a great time.

[twistedrunes]

Could you do a H/C of the peakys reactions to y/n playfully flirting(or being flirted with)another brother or an outsider please? Thank you!

Hi Friend,

Thanks for the request. I’ve covered this pretty well for Alfie:  Jealous Alfie head-canons. I have also done a jealous Arthur drabble. 

Warnings: some talk of sexy times and violence

Being flirted with:

Let’s be honest anyone dating these lot would probably be able to send people on their way fairly quickly. Well before the boys felt any need to get involved. 

Arthur: Has zero tolerance for anyone flirting with you. He used to just flog any man who came near you. But after you complained, pointing out that apart from anything else you kept getting blood on your dresses, he will now yell at them to fuck off, and then flog them if they don’t move fast enough. 

Tommy: Look, to be honest pretty much everyone would know you were Tommy’s and so no one would come near you. Like you could clear a room of men just by stepping into it. But if there happens to be someone who’s been living under a rock who tries to talk to you, he will just come and lay claim to you, taking your elbow and leading you away. He wouldn’t even acknowledge your suitor. He would just remove you. Keeping you at his side, a subtle hand you on your back or arm, holding you hand nothing overt.

John: Would think it was hilarious, and as long as you weren’t giving him the ‘come help me’ signal the two of you had worked out he would leave you be. He knows you’re his. But if someone was inappropriate with you and made you uncomfortable they would be shown the error of your ways. 

Finn: In all honesty, you are rarely alone long enough for anyone to flirt with you. Finn’s always there, arm around your shoulders or waist, fiddling your hair around his fingers, hand on your knee you know the drill. But again like John, he won’t tolerate anyone harassing you, but unlike his brothers, he’d rather talk it out rather than becoming violent. But he would if he needed to. 

Michael: He’d just come over and start talking to you something along the lines of “Hello darling,” then he’d kiss you, not just a peck either like fully tongue down the throat and if whoever had been flirting with you was still there he’d just put himself between the two of you and carry on your conversation.  Isaiah would have his back in case anyone couldn’t take a hint. 

You flirting

Arthur: Look Arthur’s idea of what constitutes as flirting is pretty much you talking to any other man. But he’s working on it and getting better but it still drives him near insane. So you pretty much avoid unnecessary contact when you can. But you still enjoying riling him up by bantering with his brothers, especially John, cause John loves stirring Arthur up too. But not Tommy, Arthur’s a bit sensitive about ‘losing’ to Tommy so no. 

Tommy: It just irritates him. He says nothing, but you can tell he’s getting annoyed because of the arched eyebrows and the muscle in his jaw twitching. He can generally cope for only so long before he takes you off somewhere and kissing you, demanding to know who exactly it is you think you’re with. Look let’s be honest making Tommy irritated and jealous leads to AMAZING sex later so, maybe sometimes you do it on purpose. 

John: He knows you’re flirty, he loves it, it’s the reason you got together. Each trying to out flirt the other. He enjoys watching you banter with people. He’s pretty comfortable in himself so he knows your coming home with him. Plus he kinda gets off on watching you turn someone on and then just leaving with him.

Finn: He doesn’t mind, he likes that you get along with his brothers, Michael and Isaiah and the two of you make fun of them later. He impersonates them all and has you in stitches. 

Michael: Loves that other men find you attractive. He likes pretty expensive things after all. You know it turns him and so you do it a lot. Initially, the other boys would step in on his behalf, defending your honour. Then they took Michael aside and tried to have a quiet word, telling him he needed to get you to behave or find someone else. At which Isaiah nearly died laughing, quickly pointing out it was foreplay. Michael nearly died of embarrassment and of course, then all the boys flirted with you mercilessly. 

Hope you liked this friend, would love to hear what you think.

Enjoy this? Agree? Disagree? Have a head-canon you want me to do? Send me an ask

Interested in my other work? Go to my MASTERLIST

[sanjuno]

I'm interested in that idea you mentioned where the Vongola brothers thaw Xanxus, pack up their followers, and go to Japan. (Tsuna getting four older brothers would be awesome.)

*slams back onto the blog* MY INTERNET IS BACK AND SANJUNO IS ONLINE AGAIN, BITCHES!

I call this one FIRE SHALL WAKEN and I straight up admit that I did not expect this much of a plot for something that was essentially an offhand comment I made because I thought it was funny but oh well.

Let’s begin!

So sixteen year old Xanxus discovers that he’s “adopted” before Enrico gets fatally shot in the back but instead of going to talk to his brothers he still goes through with the Cradle Affair tantrum.

>Enrico, Mas, and Fede are confined to the Iron Fort by Coyote because of paranoia about the Varia being more loyal to Xanxus than the Vongola overall.

>Squalo is bereaved because his Sky is frozen solid and proceeds to lose it on Enrico when confronted about why Xanxus went bonkers and now Enrico knows everything.

Enrico, of course, proceeds to tell Mas and Fede why Xanxus tried to kill Nono dead.

>Fede points out how interesting it is that Xanxus waited until all of his brothers were outside the Iron Fort before attacking.

>Enrico points out that Xan had been noticeably avoiding Nono but hadn’t cut his brothers out of his life.

>Mas digs up the security footage and notices that Xanxus said many nasty things about Nono but didn’t so much as mention his brothers during his ranting. (My how interesting…)

Enrico proceeds to move into the Iron Fort to “help Papa out” which translated into actual intent means “scope out the security system with an eye for breaking it and locate Xan’s iceberg.”

>Mas moves into the Varia mansion to “keep an eye on things”

>Fede invades the CEDEF on the regular to find out what they know and also to sow confusion because fuck you Nono is why

Consequences are suffered by those who took action without thinking! 

>Enrico also gets an up-close view of Nono’s bullshit in action, which he never saw in canon because it was never pointed out so blatantly until Nono (i) lied about matters of succession and (ii) froze Enrico’s littlest brother in ice.

>Mas gets to conspire with the Varia and has tons of fun pretending to be thick while plotting the demise of his enemies.

>Fede undermines Iemitsu in the CEDEF without actually joining that branch because Mas is the one who wanted to play spy games for a living and Fede is much better suited to being the Family troubleshooter. Also Mas and Fede poach several CEDEF agents because Sky Attraction and Iemitsu Doesn’t Deserve Nice Things bwahahaha~

Shortly after Nono’s sons finish “establishing order” after the Cradle Affair Nono and Iemitsu go on a trip to Japan (we all know what happens here) except this time:

>(i) Fede is keeping a close enough eye on the CEDEF to discover what the purpose behind the trip was and (ii) the Bros di Vongola are making plans to rescue their baby brother and leave the Vongola hanging without any Heirs at all because Nono certainly doesn’t care about the succession so why should they?

Instead of possessing people to arrange the deaths of the 10th Gen Vongola Heirs, Daemon Spade’s ghost is very much in favour of the boys rejecting their father because anarchy and Fuck Them All Very Much

>Daemon doesn’t approve of Nono, so the more the bros work against Nono the more Daemon likes them. The irony of them all packing up and moving to Japan to force Nono to clean up his own fucking mess is too brilliant to sabotage. He needs to know how this ends.

It takes two years for everything to be in place for the 10th Gen migration. Many changes from canon occur during this time.

(i) Enrico finally tracks down Xan’s Mama and Harmonizes her as his Mist.

>Goes to the Falco Heir’s piano recital and bonds Bianche as his Storm. Is horrified by Hayato’s treatment and frequent poisonings, draws emotionally driven parallels between Hayato’s treatment and Xanuxs’, and intercepts Hayato’s first attempt to run away to take Hayato in as his ward.

>Manages to Harmonize with Lal as his Rain over the course of several meetings with Fede for information exchanges.

>Visits the Bovino and finds Ottavia to be his Lightning, and she brings newborn Lambo with her because her sister died.

>Snags M.M. to be his Sun out of Paris’ Underworld Theatre District before she crosses the line and is arrested by the Vindice. (He’s there on business but yay new Element!)

>Enrico is somewhat disturbed by how much younger than him his Storm and Sun are and hopes that his Cloud will be closer to his own age or older.

(ii) Mas met Sparta (the OC I have as his Cloud) in his last year of the Mafia Academy. She gets along well with the Varia.

>Mas is being very careful and low-key about Courting Oregano and Tumeric into his Harmony because Iemitsu is a giant bag of dicks and also a toxic influence.

>Moretti the Murdered is Mas’ Mist and it’s hilarious because the Varia are So Offended.

Fede’s Lightning is Romeo Bovino who is ultimately distracted by finding HIS SKY!!!! and entirely forgets to flirt with Bianchi and thus survives yay

>Runs into Lancia while out shopping with Hayato and his Intuition says “Look it’s your Storm” and also Hayato is a vicious little savage who charms Mukuro and Co. and can sympathize with their experiences re. being tortured by your family. Frequent interaction with the Varia gives Mukuro and Co.s vengeance drive a constructive outlet so they don’t murderspree their way into Vindicare and also the plan to abscond will leave the Vongola Alliance in shambles and Mukuro wants to see that. So. Let’s be friends!

>Fede picks up Basil as his Rain while stalking the CEDEF because Iemitsu doesn’t deserve to have such a cute little minion and also the family resemblance is pretty obvious even if the kid isn’t a Sky.

>Accidentally Harmonizes Shamal as his Mist while tracking down Hayato and Bianchi’s medical records and lambasts Shamal for not treating Hayato’s poison damage just because he’s a boy (you irresponsible asshole) Shamal spends a significant amount of time repenting for that bullshit because Fede’s Not Having It.

Despite all the Harmonizing happening Nono continues to believe that the men he assigned to his sons are their actual Guardians.

>The bros let Nono think this because it a good distraction tactic and it gives them a guaranteed way to feed Nono misinformation about what they’re up to.

Two years is a long enough time for people to start noticing the shenanigans but the bros are good at being sneaky and also they all have Mists so good fucking luck getting a clear picture of what they’re getting up to. Then Nono goes to an Alliance Boss meting at Mafia Land and takes Iemitsu with him which means now’s our chance.

>As soon as Nono’s plane takes off the 10th gen defrosts Xan, rolls him into a blanket burrito, shoves him at his very confused Guardians, and packs the entirety of the Varia plus the Vongola 10th Gen’s personal following into a series of transport containers and take off for Japan.

>Enrico shoots Ottavio in the head execution style with one of Daniela’s crossbows before they leave because “fuck you, traitor” is why.

The Alliance is shook.

>Dino is still in training with Reborn (being around 16 or 17) and is high-key jealous that his Vongola counterparts got to fuck off and ditch their inheritance. Romario’s the one who digs up the old Tradition about “escaping” the Mafia by moving to Japan (which also includes a kind of “diplomatic immunity” agreement with the yakuza.) Dino wants to go to Japan too T-T

MEANWHILE IN JAPAN

>Xanxus is really fucking confused right now okay this is not how he was expecting his confrontation with Nono over his heritage to shake out (His bros picked Xanxus over Nono WTF)

>The Varia are honestly just happy to have their Sky back they don’t even care about technically being in hiding.

The Vongola 10th Gen buys a Japanese Mansion in Namimori and happily settle in.

>Of course their first order of business is to go see their baby cousin~ because “fuck you, Iemtisu, answer your wife’s phone calls” is why and also they need to get that Seal off Tsuna and also, also it’ll give Hayato, Mukuro, and co. a local guide in Namimori.

>Of course, the second Enrico peels the Seal off Tsuna’s Flames the kid goes into HDWM and Harmonizes with Hayato and Mukuro on reflex and also Hyper Intuition.

Nana is over the moon because her baby boy has friends now and also she 100% takes over as the 10th Gen’s Head of Housekeeping and before anyone really has time to think about it Nana and Tsuna have moved into the mansion

>Please take a moment to consider the repercussions of having five active Skies living in a single house who all love each other and want their family to be happy. The Harmony effect is soporific, wide spread, pervasive, and Namimori is a happy, peaceful town.

Hayato is once again Tsuna’s Right Hand but this time it’s Mukuro who is the Left Hand and the chaos is beautiful.

>TBH the way a less traumatized Hayato and a more rational Mukuro mesh and work together is surprisingly functional and cooperative. Also I’m pretty sure that the first thing they do is go track down Nagi for kidnapping purposes because of psychic links and Harmony is helpful for strengthening things like that.

>Which means that Chrome doesn’t get squished by a truck! Yay! Yes, they still change her name. It’s so her parents can’t find her neener-neener

Hayato and Mukuro are little assholes and are Not Pleased by the way Tsuna has been and is still being treated at school. They proceed to concoct a multi-layered, three tiered plan to take vengeance in Tsuna’s name. There are several lists, charts, graphs, and at least one Venn Diagram because Mukuro is artistic like that.

>Kyouya is angry at first because his territory but then notices how the herbivores have started to behave themselves and that means more time for uninterrupted naps and that’s beautiful. Tetsuya is torn between elation and terror because on one hand Kyou-san has friends but on the other, far more traumatizing to the citizenry hand they’re all amoral bloodthirsty monsters.

>Anyway Kyouya founds the DC, Mukuro sets up an informant network, and Hayato takes over the student council.

Tsuyoshi isn’t sure what to make of the Sudden Assassin Migration into Namimori but at least the Sword Emperor is too distracted by his Sky being on bedrest to be hunting down retired Swordsmen.

>Tsuyoshi should maybe think about starting Takeshi’s sword training because Tsuna’s gone and made friends with Takeshi now that he’s unSealed (Fuck Everything Tsuyoshi doesn’t deserve this sort of stress)

TBH Ken probably joins the Boxing Club and Ryohei’s so happy to the extreme.

>Kyoko will join the Mist Collective in Managing Everyone’s Lives because she’s nonviolent and also a bit of an emotional manipulator. Hana is the DC Secretary and gets along far too well with Hibari-sempai for anyones comfort.

>I honestly have no real idea what Haru is up to in this AU but she probably takes over Midori and has a very loudly dramatic rivalry with Hayato for brain-crush reasons.

Chikusa is getting roped in as Hayato’s VP and they rule Namimori Elementary with decidedly Iron Fists. With spikes on.

>TBH the fact that Tsuna becomes the Chairman of the Home Ec Club is the Best Thing because Tsuna loves his Mama and he’s only fifth in line to inherit still so he can do whatever he wants and that means fluffy homemaker comfort Sky who cheers on his Guardian’s shenanigans instead of a panicked stressed out punching bag.

>Tsuna’s favourite Vongola Head is the Fourth because FORKS! and everything is beautiful and nothing hurts.

TBH I have NO IDEA how long it takes Nono to find Ottavio’s body but it’s probably really gross by then because Italy’s a hot country and also between them Enrico and Mas and Fede stole all of the CEDEF’s upper management and Iemtisu is pants at sorting paperwork.

>Then there’s panic and anarchy and very strained Alliance politics until Reborn finishes training Dino and then Reborn is sent to Namimori to train the “last” Vongola heir only to find the entire Vongola 10th Gen

>Be aware that at no point did the Varia stop taking missions which drives the 9th Gen into frothing fits because they still can’t find where they’re hiding.

This time when Tsuna says he doesn’t want to be a Mafia Boss the actual heir is still alive, sitting right beside Tsuna at the table, and is laughing at Reborn.

>Enrico straight up tells Reborn not to waste his time and that when Nono dies/retires he’ll take the Rings but not a moment before then.

>Nono forced their hands when he lied to Xan, left him for dead in the ice, and tried to force his sons to accept ill-suited Guardians without ever admitting he’d fucked up or done something wrong.

>Oh yeah, Xan needed to be revived when Enrico defrosted him it was a damn good thing all three of his bros were there to help with that and GUESS WHAT HE DID TO TSUNAYOSHI?

Dino shows up and well now the Alliance knows where the Vongola 10th Gen are hiding out.

>Drama, politicking, shenanigans, IDEK at this point I mostly just want to see the FSW!AU Tsuna and co. get dragged into a canon!TYL adventure because that shit’s hilarious and is also an entirely new story all on it’s own if I want to handle it right.

>Because there’s no Varia Arc, although if Iemitsu shows up he’s gonna be hella surprised when the “weaker” Skies kick the shit out of him because the Vongola Bros have real bonds now plus their Five Sky Harmony and shit’s insane, friends.

Shit with the Arcobaleno will go down at some point and by now I’ve internalized a preference for Reborn being Aria’s Sun Guardian because “I’m my daughter’s Sun” is a glorious clusterfuck of pun combined with a Dad joke and Reborn would revel in that so much.

>Skull is Fede’s Cloud, which is fabulous and a match made with the intent of making the world a more interesting place and also I may indulge in my secret love for Reborn/Skull in this verse because Aria’s going to marry Fede. XP

>Consiquently, Verde is Mas’ Lightning, Collonello is Enrico’s Second Rain, Mammon is (of course) Xan’s Mist, and Fon’s going to be Tsuna’s Second Storm.

I kinda wanna see Spanner be Byakuran’s Lightning in this verse because reasons but also I think I’m done for the night.

Yay. XP

[blustersquall]

Awakenings // Gladio x OC nsfw

Here’s the thing i’ve been stressing over for a couple of weeks now. I’m rusty with writing, rusty with smut, but I had the idea and wanted to give it a shot. I’m writing a follow up piece which takes place immediately after this ends. So hopefully that will be easier. i’m honestly a bit worried. i don’t know how this fandom reacts to canon x oc pairings. so.... hm.

For context: Isla is a bar owner in Insomnia. She and Gladio meet about a year or so before the events of Kingsglaive and FFXV. They’ve been friends for pretty much that whole time, never going further than that, despite the two of them wanting to... though never mentioning it to the other.

Tagging: @ffxvhoe and @mp938368  (again, I hope that’s alright) Big shout outs to: @novemberocean, @thetimba, @razerathane, @queenofeire, @browncoatn7, @jediserenity82, @snowwhite638, @beccaboo8810, @iarinthel, @thornflo and @seraph-fighter for commenting/sending messages/words of encouragement on my rather dismal and dismaying post last night. I really needed to hear some of the lovely things you guys said. I appreciate it, and you, immensely. <3

It was never Isla’s intention for Gladio to stay the night.

She had a rule after all, no guys in her place. It meant she had a safe space to return to,  in case things went bad. Though, that rule was really only made to apply to men she was in a relationship with and she wasn’t in a relationship with Gladio. They were friends. If she was totally frank, he was probably her closest male friend, ever. So, him staying over when it got past midnight and with the rain utterly torrential was nothing. Just a friendly gesture to save him walking back to the Citadel and getting soaked.

It didn’t matter that they’d shared her bed. Or that she was attracted to him. That she had been attracted to him since the first time he walked into her bar. It didn’t matter that her attraction to him had only grown over time, and she was utterly frustrated with how oblivious he was to it. There were only so many signs a woman could throw out there, without making it fucking obvious or simply throwing herself at a man.

Which she had been tempted to do with Gladio on more than one occasion.

Still, there he was. Taking up three quarters of her bed with his height and size, all but crushing her against the wall. So-much-so she couldn’t even reach across to check the time on her phone because it would mean disturbing him.

She supposed there were worse places to be and worse people to be sharing a bed with and waking up beside. She would be lying if she said she hadn’t daydreamed about it. All-in-all, it wasn’t a terrible set of circumstances to find herself in. The pros far outweighed the cons.

Gladio was a heavy sleeper and he snored like a beast. More than once Isla was sure she felt the bed frame shake, but it was more hilarious than it was annoying. At last she had found something about him that was a flaw. Something she could tease him endlessly about. Though, she doubted something as stupid as snoring would bother him in the least. He was hot, too. Not just visually, but his body temperature was through the roof. Isla didn’t even need a blanket with him sleeping beside her. He was a human heater.

She leaned up from her position lying on her side and shifted to be able to lie on her front, perching up on her forearms. Her movement didn’t seem to disturb him and it gave her a moment to observe him from a different, higher angle.

Gladio knew how handsome he was, but Isla saw him more as beautiful – especially right at that moment. She had never really had the chance to examine him up close before. Not without him talking and ruining the moment. Now, she could, and she saw a softer side of him that she rarely saw. It made the odd, rare appearance: a small, gentle smile here, or a warm, affectionate gaze there, but those were few and far between. Now, as he slept, the softness was all across his face, in the smoothness of his brown and the relaxed parting of his full lips. In the way his eyes were closed and his eyelashes fanned across his cheeks. There were no furrow lines marring his forehead and no frown in his expression, no harshness.

His youth was more apparent when he slept. He was the next Shield of the King, and that came with an abundance of responsibilities, too many for someone not even twenty-five. But, Gladio shouldered them all and the expectations put upon him, and never complained. He was proud of the future laid out before him. Yet, here and now, he looked like any other young man, sleeping soundly and dreaming… Isla hoped he was dreaming something pleasant.

She examined the pattern of his tattoo, gingerly tracing the outline with the tip of her finger. She saw the way the feathers were so intricately layered and detailed over his arms and his shoulders before they disappeared onto his back. Each feather was individually inked, no single one the same as any other. The bird’s face on his chest moved with his breaths, making it seem as though the beak was opening and closing ever-so-subtly. Isla watched it for a while, watched him and listened, revelling in this sanctuary and the peace it provided. Peace that would soon be disturbed as they both needed to begin their respective days.

Gladio, especially, had to make a move. He was meant to be accompanying the Prince on a trip to Altissia for royal his wedding, and there was no way he could be late for that.

Isla knew she needed to wake him, and reluctantly set about the task. She picked up one of her small braids between her thumb and forefinger, gripping with the tuft of hair poking out from the hair tie. She tickled the end of Gladio’s nose, smirking as he grunted and wafted a hand over his face in a vague attempt to get rid of the annoyance.

“C’mon, Wonder Boy,” Isla murmured, brushing the tuft of hair over his top lip, “rise and shine, sleepy head. You can’t keep the Prince waiting…”

“Mmph,” Gladio waved his hand again, grunting and his voice rumbled an incoherent excuse that was simply a moan. He opened one eye a little, closed it, and rolled over, facing Isla. Without opening his eyes again, he took hold of her hand – the one gripping her small braid  – and led it back to drape over his shoulder and behind him. Isla toppled onto her side, giggling and allowing Gladio to puppet her arm where he wanted it. She began to twist her fingers around his hair, and he left his top arm lying lazily over her hip, the tips of his fingers drawing abstract shapes on her skin.

“Not a morning person?” Isla asked.

Another grunted response. Gladio moved closer. Instinctively Isla shifted her legs to accommodate his closeness, sliding her top leg between his and inching towards him. They were nose-to-nose. Isla could feel the breaths he expelled against her mouth. She didn’t think they’d ever been as close as this before. Her heart pulsed in her mouth.

“Gladiolus,” Isla pushed again, “you have to get up.”

“Tryin’ t’get rid of me?” grumbled Gladio, eyes half-opening. He looked at her blearily from beneath heavily hooded lids. His gaze took several seconds to focus, and when it did, his expression softened. The mild annoyance and discomfort caused by the sunlight and by waking, melted into warmth and genuine affection. Isla’s stomach twisted uncomfortably tight in her gut, and she was sure if she was standing her legs would have given way. “G’mornin’…” Gladio smiled, tilting his head back a little to press a peck to the end of her nose. He spread his hand across her back, guiding her closer to him so they were all but chest-to-chest – the only obstacle between them being Isla’s arm, curled up against her body and the mattress.

“Hey,” Isla smiled. She tried not to let the kiss on her nose break her focus. Nor the sweetness in his expression. The way he stroked her back was not in the least bit distracting. Neither was the smell of him now on her pillow, in her sheets, and so close she could taste it on her tongue.

“Hey…” mumbled Gladio, wearing a sleepy smile. Isla hated how he could be as adorable as he was, sometimes. Especially when she needed to be kicking him out of bed and starting the day. They both needed to start the day.

Exhaling deeply, Gladio closed his eyes and relaxed back into the tempting lull of sleep. He brushed his fingers along Isla’s spine and up towards the nape of her neck, tickling the bare flesh he found with a delicate touch she found surprising for a man with hands as large as his. Isla didn’t say anything in response, selfishly wanting to spend the time with her bedfellow. To be as close as possible before he left for… for however long he was leaving. After all, even he didn’t know. They could text, and call – but it wouldn’t be the same.

After a few minutes of soft touches and silence broken only by their breathing, the birds outside, and the occasional car chuntering passed, Gladio spoke again, “this is nice.” Isla looked at him quizzically, noticing his eyes were still shut, “I could get used to this.”

“Sleeping in?” asked Isla.

“Waking up. With you.” Gladio’s eyelids slipped open and his shining copper eyes met hers, “I could get used to waking up with you.”

Dozens of words and phrases jammed themselves onto Isla’s tongue and into her head, battling to be said. Several reactions of what she should do or how she should behave in response to a comment so touching and intimate flooded her senses, yet none of them took. Isla was frozen. Stunned and her voice was gone. Not that it mattered as Gladio grew closer, centimetre by centimetre, tilting his head as much as the pillows would allow, brushing the end of her nose with his as if questioning if she was alright, if his closeness was allowed, and if she was giving permission for him to kiss her; because that was what he was about to do. He was about to kiss her, and she was going to let him. She was going to let him, and kiss him back and possibly not allow him to leave her bed if he did.

She was going to—

Her thoughts stopped, broken by the loud, obnoxious tone of a phone alarm. Blinking away her confusion, Isla saw the source of the noise was coming from Gladio’s phone on her bedside table. Without a word – only an annoyed huff - Gladio rolled over to grab it, tapped a button, and threw his phone unceremoniously across her apartment in vague direction. The chiming stopped. Gladio rolled back into his previous position, facing her, and before Isla could question him for the time, his mouth was on hers.

Isla’s mind went blank and for a few moments, she forgot how to breathe.

Every thought, every word, every question, and every feeling fled and was replaced by one, all consuming thing: Gladio. He cupped her jaw, his thumb resting in the hollow under her chin, while his fingers gently nestled into her hair where it was loose from the ponytail she slept in.

His lips, rough on hers, moved in tandem, meeting every subtle change of her mouth, every little addition of pressure. A steady simmering in Isla’s chest and belly erupted into a bubbling, nervous heat and she suddenly didn’t care that they both had more important things and responsibilities to be focusing on.

She didn’t care that he needed to go to the Citadel to meet with the Prince and begin the trip to Altissia. She didn’t care that needed to get to her bar and start readying for the delivery when it arrived. She didn’t care that she was being selfish, and keeping him from his sacred duty. She didn’t care that this was coming out of nowhere, and probably the worst idea in the history of bad ideas. 

All that mattered was that he was there. He was with her, real, and present, and kissing her.

Or, he was. He had been. He’d stopped and Isla blinked her eyes open in a mixture of disappointment, confusion, and surprise, meeting Gladio’s unreadable gaze. Neither of them said a word, simply staring at the other, breathing in tandem while tension grew between them, growing heavier and more palpable with every passing second. Isla wondered what he was thinking. Perhaps the kiss had been a mistake, and he was trying to work out how to explain it to her. She wanted to say something, to reassure him, or to relieve the tension, but what could she say?

Gladio ran his thumb back and forth along her jaw bone. He furrowed his brow. The ease and softness of his expression as he slept nothing more than a memory. Isla hated that she was responsible for the troubled knit of his brow. Words to comfort him wouldn’t come. She was still too dumbfounded to find her voice.

What was only seconds, felt like hours. Isla was truly a little startled when Gladio moved, more so when it was closer to her, rather than away as she expected. In series of swift motions, his mouth claimed hers again, and he positioned them, so she lay beneath him and he knelt above. This kiss was deeper, no tentative touch, testing her boundaries or her acceptance. His tongue pushed passed her lips, and he cradled the back of her skull in his hand. His loose hand roamed downwards, dragging over her shoulder, skimming the curve of her breast, to her waist and lower still to her hip. He curved his hand around behind her, scraping his nails across the lower portion of her back.

Isla hissed, “Gladio—“

He laughed in response, repeating the action, rising his fingers further up her spine. Isla arched up into him, digging her fingers into the cloth of the sleeveless shirt he wore. One of her hands flew into his hair, pushing unkempt strands away from his face and knotting her fingers within unruly tangles. Gladio’s lips were rough, and his kisses rougher still. His mouth devouring hers, teeth nipping at her bottom lip when he pulled away – the need for oxygen outweighing his want for her.

Isla had not thought that this was how she would begin her morning – but she found she didn’t care. She didn’t care she’d be late to the bar. She didn’t care that Gladio was going to be late to meet Prince Noctis. Everything else, everything that once seemed important, faded. This mattered. Gladio mattered. Everything else seemed utterly without consequence.

His leg tucked between Isla’s nudged against the juncture of her thighs, grinding and creating a layer of friction, made more intense by the cloth between them. Isla sighed, curling her fingers tighter into his clothing. She arched her head back, a staggered gasp leaving her throat as he rubbed against her with more intent. The mattress shifted under Gladio’s weight, and Isla paid little attention to what he was doing or where he was moving. She paid less attention when he dragged his mouth from hers and began to press hard, open-mouthed kisses to her neck, skimming his teeth along her skin.

His fingers clenched into the shirt she wore to bed, pulling the material tight against her body and causing it to rumple and rise up, bunching beneath her breasts. His stubble raked along her flesh where he kissed, and Isla heard herself hissing again when he sank his teeth into the curve of her shoulder. He suckled, tongue lapping at her sweat, and Isla was half-tempted to chide him if he left a mark.

Only tempted.

She didn’t. The thought of the mark he would leave quickly fled from her mind when one of his hands skimmed down, over her torso and he flicked his thumb over a budding nipple through her shirt. Blood was pounding in Isla’s ears, her thoughts all flying above her, impossible to make sense of. She raked her fingers up Gladio’s back, watching his spine arch, and feeling a shudder run through his entire body. His muscles tensed, and in another few seconds, he had knelt up, pulled his own shirt off, deposited it on the floor and his mouth was back on hers.

His hand slipped under Isla’s top and the skin-to-skin contact made her shiver involuntarily. She broke the kiss to tug her top off over her head, resuming it with a fierce need that seemed to take Gladio by surprise. He laughed into her mouth again, rough hands and strong fingers rolling over her breasts. She could feel him smiling and she leaned away to better see him. He brushed his nose against hers again as he had before he kissed her. The tenderness took her by surprise. Isla pressed her forehead against his, smiling, a little chuff of laughter breaking past her lips as she ran her fingers through his hair.

“So…” Isla huffed as she dropped her head back into her pillows, “this is...”

Gladio laughed roughly. He lowered his head, continuing to brush his nose back-and-forth. Isla was beginning to think it was a method of reassurance. Not just for her, but for him. “Yeah…” He said, though Isla wasn’t sure he knew he was speaking, let alone what he was saying. His expression seemed almost drunk in his haziness. His eyes unfocused, flicking from the different aspects of her face.

“You have your hands on my boobs.” Said Isla, a grin breaking out across her face.

“I like your boobs.” Gladio jiggled them in his large hands for emphasis. “Perfect handful.”

“What a compliment.”

He pressed a surprisingly soft kiss to her lips, following that with further kisses down, over her chin, along her neck, her collarbone and lower. He squeezed her breasts together, kissing the swell doing so created. Then as he lowered himself further, he circled his tongue around a pert nipple. Another shiver rushed through Isla’s body, the warmth inside her growing to unbearable heat. Gladio suckled, grazing his teeth over her sensitive flesh, while pinching the opposing nipple between his thumb and forefinger. He dragged his tongue over her breasts, leaving a trail of hot kisses as he tended to her.

Isla wriggled underneath him, unsure what to do, or even where to put her hands as they grappled over his back for nothing but hard muscle. She pushed her fingers through his hair a few times, puffing her cheeks out every time he suckled or wound his tongue around her skin. She had imagined sex with Gladio before. That it would be fast and rough, and hard. This was different. This was slow, erotic, almost sensual in the way he treated her. And nothing could have prepared her for the animalistic hunger she saw in his eyes.

In response to her writhing, Gladio pressed his hips into hers, grinding against her pelvic bone.

“Oh!”Isla’s eyes went a little wide. She could feel him, his length, pressing against her through the loose tracksuit pants he’d borrowed. She could feel his cock, hot, and heavy, and… sizeable rubbing against her – the only barrier between them being the clothes they wore. Suddenly Isla thought they were both over dressed. She shimmied her legs further apart, and Gladio obliged, tucking himself between them. He moved against her, with purpose, a steady motion, a heavy grind, and a shock sped up Isla’s back, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

They continued rutting against each other, friction growing the faster they moved. Gladio abandoned her breasts, tucking his face into the curve of Isla’s neck and sliding his arms around her back as they moved together. She pressed her fingers into the top of his back, fisting a handful of hair as her lungs squeezed out heaving breath after heaving breath. Gladio’s lips pressed against her neck, then just her jaw, inching up until his lips were adjacent to her ear. He pressed his forehead to her temple, winding a hand down and grabbing at her backside. Isla lifted her leg to curve around his hip, pulling him closer with each grind.

“Isla,” Gladio groaned into her ear, a deep, primal rumbling sound that shook her right down to the core. “Fuck, Isla—“

Isla clung to him. Tight coils in her belly were winding tighter and tighter caused by the increasing friction of clothing between the two of them. “Gladio,” she moaned, “Astrals, Gladio—“

His hands grabbed at her pyjama pants, fingers curling into fists and beginning to pull and yank at the fabric. Isla followed suit, pulling at his own loose clothing, determined to get to the bare skin underneath. Gladio captured her lips again, tongue winding around hers, claiming her mouth for his own. He panted against her lips, his rutting rhythm never faltering as he gazed down at her. He supported himself on one arm, shaking with the effort it took to stay aloft. Isla wound her hands down his body, marvelling at the hard muscle and the burning hot skin now free for her to explore. She reached down as far as she could, almost to his hips and gripped. Pushing her weight onto him, Gladio followed her hinting and rolled onto his back, bringing her with him until she knelt over him.

Isla shifted for comfort, grinning down at him playfully when he hissed. She could feel the hardness of his cock positioned almost perfectly against her. She felt him enough that when she rocked her hips experimentally both she and Gladio gasped. He grabbed her arms and pulled her down on top of him. Winding one hand into her hair, he pressed a harsh kiss to her mouth, reaching lower with the other and pawing at her bed clothes.

“You got a sword in your pocket,” Isla teased, pulling away from the kiss, “or are you just pleased to see me?

A laugh rumbled in Gladio’s chest, “that was so bad, babe.” His hand in her hair reached down, his fingers spreading wide over the bare expanse of Isla’s back between her shoulder blades. As she wound her way down his body, leaving kisses in her wake, he scratched his nails over her skin and she arched into the sensation.

“You laughed.” Isla shot back with a mischievous wink.

She explored his body, bare to her and wonderful to behold, running her fingers over toned, tanned skin. She relished the sensation of every earned muscle twitching and jumping excitedly in response to her touch. The way his breathing hitched slightly as she circled one of his nipples with her tongue, as he had done to her. She lifted her eyes to watch him, moving further down, dragging her tongue over the dips in his abdomen, pausing to nip at his hip bone.

Blinking up at him slowly, Isla gauged Gladio’s reaction as she wound her fingers down through the trail of gradually thickening hair from his navel and lower. His hips bucked, and Gladio propped himself up on an elbow, eyes blazing. He licked his bottom lip, his gaze fixed on hers. Isla watched him, gently grasping the length of his cock through his pants and stroking. Gladio’s nostrils flared again. Isla bit the hem of his pants with her teeth, inching them lower, and lower, beyond his hips and pelvis, over his backside and down his thighs, freeing his cock from the confines.

She bit her lip, seeing his length for the first time, and fully erect at that. She’d been under no illusion of Gladio’s size – wearing leather trousers didn’t leave much to the imagination after all. Seeing it before her, though, she felt a shudder of excitement run through her and gently ran the tips of her fingers up from the base of his shaft to the head of his cock. Gladio’s chest rose and fell on uneven breaths. Each time Isla touched him, or caressed his skin with her lips – close to his cock, but not touching him – his hips jerked almost of their own accord.

Kissing his hip bone again, she wrapped her fingers around him beginning to stroke a long, languid rhythm. From the base of his cock to the head, circling the swollen tip with her thumb smearing precum, and down again. She nuzzled his belly, inhaling the deep, musky scent of him, and buried her face in the coarse hair leading from his navel. She blew air from between her lips, as if whistling without the sound, along his length, enjoying the impatient grunts that came as a response.

“Isla—“ panted Gladio. When she took a good look at him, she could see his face was flush and there was a thin sheen of sweat beginning to cover his body.

“Yes, Gladio?” She replied conversationally. She continued to stroke him, tightening her fingers slightly with every down stroke, and twisting her hand for friction. Leaning over him, she offered respite, dragging her tongue up the full length of his cock. Gladio gasped, his hips bucking again.

“You’re a fuckin’ tease.” He hissed. Isla noticed one of his hands clenching the bed sheets in a fist.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing…” murmured Isla, “I can always sto—“

“Don’t. You. Dare.” He growled, teeth clenched in a snarl.

Giggling to herself, Isla blew soft puffs off air onto the head of his cock, relishing how he seemed to twitch in her hand. She continued to stroke him steadily, squeezing her fingers and rotating her hand a little on every up-and-down motion. Still watching him, she circled the tip of her tongue over the swollen, reddened head of his cock. Gladio’s reaction was instant, a sharp inhale, eyes snapping shut.

“Isla,” he huffed, fisting his hands into the sheets again.

She circled a few more times, the taste of him a salty tang in her mouth. As she paused her stroking, she gently took him, closing her lips around his girth. Gladio let out a low moan. Hollowing her cheeks, she suckled, bobbing her head as she worked him. She held his cock in one hand for ease, the other she used to tuck her hair behind her ear. More groans, broken with quick inhales came from above her. Gladio’s head arched back when Isla looked at him again, and she could see his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat whenever he gasped or swallowed. A sight which only encouraged her.

Isla continued to stroke him slowly. She released his cock from her mouth, pressing her lips down the length of his shaft. She breathed close and hard so every exhale landed on Gladio’s sensitive flesh. His cock throbbed. Isla circled the extra sensitive spot just beneath its head and Gladio’s hips jerked.

“Fuck."

“How y’doin’ big guy?” Isla asked, licking her way up Gladio’s shaft again. He leaned back on his hands, eyes barely staying open as he looked down at her.

“G-good.” He hissed when she squeezed him tighter.

“Y’sure?”

“Y-yeah--“ Gladio swallowed thickly. As Isla licked the slit of his cock, he jerked, smacking his hand over his mouth, “ohfuck!”

Laughing softly, she returned to his shaft, licking her way up from the base to just beneath the head a few more times.

Gladio watched her, focusing on her, eyes dark and shining hungrily. He smiled, managing to breathe deep and lifted one hand to push it through that was loose of Isla’s hair clearing it away from her face. He brushed his thumb over her eyebrow, and dabbed the corner of her eye causing her to look up at him. She grinned, blowing cool air against the head of his cock again while reaching with her free hand to cup and caress his balls. She fondled him, dexterous fingers gently massaging while she continued to stroke him, pausing only to leave a teasing kiss on his shaft. Gladio’s hand tightened in her hair and Isla stopped. She stopped her hand, stopped moving, simply hovering her face above him, her open mouth around the head of his cock. She simply breathed, keeping her tongue and lips at bay, letting her breath do the work of tormenting him

“I’m really gonna lose it in a minute, babe.” The growl in Gladio’s voice was back – or maybe it had always been there. Isla shivered to hear it, the sound shooting right through her.

A few more seconds, and she closed her mouth around him once more. Gladio’s grip in her hair loosened somewhat, giving her freedom to move. Isla began to suck in earnest, squeezing him on all sides, hollowing her cheeks and pressing against him with her tongue. She held his cock steady with her left hand, wiggling her head a little each time to take him deeper into her mouth. Her saliva coated him, and what she couldn’t take, she stroked. Bobbing her head up and down steadily, she swirled and wrapped her tongue around him, focusing on the tip of his cock. She swallowed, tightening her cheeks around him, and moaned, the low sound reverberating in her throat and – she hoped – into him.

She slurped noisily on each up stroke, saliva dripping from her chin. Gladio didn’t seem to notice, or if he did he didn’t care. He still had his eyes on her, watching her pleasure him with an almost feral look. Each time she licked him, or moved her tongue he groaned and Isla admitted to herself it was one of the sexiest things she’d ever heard. To know he was enjoying himself, that he was so full of unbridled pleasure that he was losing control of his volume – and it was because of her.

Sliding his cock from her mouth to give her jaw a break, she pumped him, her spit leaving a trail to her lips and she quickly wiped her chin. Without warning and surprising her with his swiftness, Gladio lurched forward, slipping his hands around Isla’s face to tilt her head up and kissing her soundly, lips crushing hers. He breathed hard, puffing and panting against her mouth. Isla noticed his brow was sweaty, and could taste the salt from his lips.

“On your back. Now.” Gladio ordered, voice lower and rougher than Isla had ever heard it. She complied, sliding passed him and flopping down onto her back. She watched as Gladio yanked his pants off the rest of the way down his legs leaving him deliciously naked. He turned his attention to hers, plucking at the hem around her hips. “These need to go.” He stated, before starting to pull them roughly down her legs. Isla laughed, loud and unconfined, kicking to make things harder. Once Gladio had her free, he prowled towards her and lay above, sliding one hand underneath her back. The mattress shifted under his weight, and Isla welcomed the slow, deep kiss he gave, winding her arms up around his neck. She could feel the weight of his length pressing into her hip bone and rocked her hips, hinting.

Gladio chuckled through his nose, his lips curved into the typical not-quite-a-smirk-but-not-quite-a-smile expression she was used to. “In a minute.” Gladio said. He dropped down onto his side, taking Isla with him, and pulled her closer, using the hand he had behind her back, to lift and guide her top leg up over his hip.

Isla swallowed hard at a lump in her throat. She twisted her fingers into Gladio’s hair, biting her top lip at the sensation of his fingertips brushing along her bare flesh between her thighs. Gladio kept his gaze on her, running his fingers back and forth several times, teasing her with how close he was to her sex, but never touching her there. She wanted him to. Astrals, she was desperate for him to touch her. Her insides was burning, and wound tighter than a spring, and she knew she was going to snap if he didn’t touch her or fuck her in the next two minutes.

She got her wish. As if hearing her need, Gladio gently slid his fingers along her slit, pushing deeper with his middle and ring finger. He stroked, forwards and back, a languid rhythm, pausing to circle her clit. Isla shivered, biting down on her bottom lip, the sensation rocketing through her like a shock of lightning.

Gladio lifted his head, moving until his lips were next to Isla’s ear. “You’re so wet for me.” He rumbled, gradually beginning to ease his fingers inside her. Isla tensed a little, grunting and gripping to the top of his back. “I love it.”

“Glads…” whined Isla, burying her face into his chest. She wasn’t usually shy, but Gladio’s brazen words somehow brought out that side of her.

“Are you always wet whenever I’m around? Drenched like this? And dripping through your underwear for me?” He began to draw his fingers out of her, pushing back in again deeper each time, until he was inside her up to the knuckle. He circled the hard nub at the hood of her sex, flicking with his thumb making her jerk and writhe. “Have you fantasised about me fucking you, Isla?”

“N-now who’s—“ Isla gasped, her back arching and her hips rolling forwards taking his probing fingers deeper, in and up where he began to move them in a ‘come hither’ motion.

“Mhm?” Gladio laughed, returning his head to the pillows, and pressing his forehead to Isla’s. “I didn’t catch that.”

“TEase!” spat Isla. She reached down with her top hand and grasped his cock. She pumped him again, curling her leg at his hip further over drawing him closer. He sped up the movement of his fingers, pushing into her, withdrawing all the way and entering her again, harder and faster with each thrust. “Gladio—“ Isla mewled, “Gods, Gladio—umh—please—“

“Please what?” he inquired, in a voice lilted with amusement.

Isla wanted to wipe the smirk she knew was on his face off, but was in no state to do so. She could barely remember her name as everything inside her grew tighter and hotter. He was pushing her to her peak. She could feel it, cresting inside her, every inch of her skin, every nerve ending tingling and fizzing, desperate for release.

“G-Gladio--”

“You want me to make you come, Isles?”

“Y-yes,” she whined, “I wa-want you, please.” She grappled for his hip, raking her fingers over his skin and rocking into the rhythm set by his hand. “Th-there’s condoms in-- inthedrawer--”

Gladio gave a grunt of confirmation. He slid his fingers out of her and rolled over to her bedside table. Isla heard him open the drawer, the rustle of a box, the tear of a packet. She kneeled up, pressing herself to his bare back and draping her arms around his shoulders. She kissed the back of his neck, nuzzling his hair, reaching down between his legs to assist. Gladio hummed a soft contented noise, and tilted his head back, claiming Isla’s mouth again.

After a few moments and everything securely in place, Gladio turned, took her into his arms and moved them together until Isla was lying back on her bed with him above her. He brushed his nose against hers as he had before all this began, a soft expression on his face. He eased Isla’s hair away from her face with his fingers, kissing her again. She was not adverse to his display of tenderness, parting her lips and winding her hands down the broad plain of his back. She felt the muscles reacting to every inhalation, every tiny movement. He was a marvel. Massive, towering, and powerfully built, yet able to be gentle, and soft.

When he shifted, reaching between them to grasp his cock, Isla bent her legs and parted them further. She felt him nudge the crown of his length against her entrance, rubbing back and forth, coating it in her slickness. She breathed in deeply, bracing herself. Gladio pressed his forehead to hers and in one motion sheathed himself inside her.

“FucktheSixGladio--!” Simultaneously she arched her back, dug her nails into his shoulders and her toes into the covers. Her heart was in her ears, and she couldn’t form a coherent thought beyond how full he made her feel.

Gladio chuckled, and the noise seem to vibrate through his entire body and through hers. “That’s blasphemy.”

“Wha?” Isla blinked hard. He wasn’t moving and for that she was grateful. It gave her a moment to adjust to his size.

“What you just said. I’m pretty sure it counts as blasphemy.”

Isla half-sighed and half-laughed, “have I been smited?”

“Not yet.” Gladio replied, shifting. As he did he withdrew a little and then thrust slowly back into her. Isla dug her fingers into his muscles again, a groan ripping from her throat. Gladio littered kisses over her lips, “you’re so tight.” he murmured, warmth in his voice. “You feel so good, taking me the way you are.” He thrust again, still slow, deliberate, gentle. Isla’s hips moved almost without her bidding, welcoming him. “That’s it, babe,” he murmured against her lips, “relax for me.”

Isla ran her fingers up into his hair and began to meet him with each rock of his hips. She squeezed her thighs around him, relishing the feel of his cock inside her, and the way it filled her. Gladio buried his head beside hers into the pillows, and her hands ghosted over his sweat slicked back, reaching further down to his backside. He grabbed her right thigh in one large hand, angling her leg up off the bed to wrap around him.

“Astrals, fuck- that’s so deep.” Isla panted out, biting down onto the juncture of his neck and shoulder.

Another low rumbling laugh ebbed from Gladio’s chest and through Isla. She huffed against his skin, grappling with blind hands for purchase. He increased his speed, thrusting faster, and harder until the meeting of their skin made a slapping sound. Isla smothered him into her arms, grinding her pelvis against his with each thrust, feeling the budding tension in her belly all over again. She felt one of Gladio’s hand slide behind her, spreading his fingers over her back. She arched into him and then yelped, tightening her grip as he moved.

He shifted to a sitting position, holding Isla to him easily as he stretched his legs out in front of him. Isla knelt over him, and sank down into his lap. With the change in position, he touched her deeper, right to the core. Holding her hips in a bruising grip, Gladio began to guide her to move, rocking on him slowly. Isla’s head fell back on a gasp.

“Why didn’t we do this sooner?” she moaned, welcoming the feel of his lips on her throat. She leaned back, pressing her hands down onto his thighs for support beginning to move her hips in a rotation.

Gladio’s lips ventured downwards, his tongue dragging over her collar and clavicle. “I have no idea—“ he rasped back and scratched his nails along her thighs to her knees, “fuck me, Isles—you feel so good...” He latched onto a nipple, biting down.

She ran her fingers through his hair, curling unruly locks into her fist. Her heart was hammering against her ribs, deafening and drowning out anything else. She began to move faster, increasing the speed she ground herself against him. He hit, deep, every time. Each time a shock burst through her from her pelvis upwards, a fantastic tingling sensation she chased each time she felt it. Gladio spread his hands over her back, dragging his fingers down from her shoulder blades. Isla gasped, arching further towards him against the sharp, pleasant pain.

He pulled his lips from her breasts, kissing her rib cage, and licking his way back up to her neck. He kissed her jaw, her chin, and her mouth, crushing her lips with his, pulling her flush against him. The rhythm they set never faltered with every movement. Isla slid her arms around Gladio’s shoulders burying her face into his hair, while he nestled in the crook of her neck. He held her hips and led her again. She followed his hands willingly, feeling him drive into her with shallow thrusts from below, with each grind of her hips she felt him deeper, her body clenching and squeezing around him involuntarily.

A coil in Isla’s belly tightened, her release cresting again, so close she could almost reach out and grasp it. Gladio held her to him and was moving again, laying her back while he stayed on his knees. She wrapped her legs around his hips, crossing her ankles and pulling him deeper with each thrust. His movements slowed drawing out their encounter, and he grabbed Isla’s hands, pinning them down at her sides. He wore a wolfish grin, sweat shining on his forehead, causing his hair to stick roguishly across his brow. He squeezed Isla’s fingers between his when he thrust, hard, and she swore, arching up off the bed.

“Blaspheming again.” He teased between heaving breaths.

“Shut up!” Isla groaned in response, wriggling her hands to try and free them.

Gladio released one, only to reach down between them and begin to circle her clit with his thumb. Isla gasped, and shuddered, her toes curling, and fingers grabbing fruitlessly into the sheets and into the back of Gladio’s hand. His thumb moved in tandem with his hips, and Isla’s brain was too hazed and misty to know which to focus on. Her stomach felt heavy, and the heat inside her was fit to burst. She reached up with her free hand, running her nails down Gladio’s arm to his wrist. “Gladio—“ she panted, pleaded, moaned, hearing her voice not quite her own. She propped herself up on her elbow, “Gladio, ohGods, Gladio—“

He loomed over her, pushing her down onto her back and nipped the curve of her jaw towards her ear. “You gonna come for me, Isles?”

“Mhm—“ Isla bit her bottom lip, nostrils flaring, chest tightening uncomfortably.

“You gonna come all over my cock while its inside you?” Gladio bit down on the cuff of her ear, skimming his teeth down towards the lobe, “you gonna scream my name?”

Isla whined, reaching for him and gripping to his back with her free hand. He shifted, adjusting the angle he entered her causing their hips to meet in sharp strokes. The sensation of him hitting her core with each connection of their hips sent a rush up her spine like a bolt of lightning. She flailed with her free hand before grabbing a handful of sheets and pressing her feet flat into the bed for purchase. Her toes curled. Her vision grew hazy at the corners and she clenched her eyes closed until she could see brightly coloured spots on the inside of her eyelids. All at once the heat of her body boiled over and went crashing through her veins. The tightness in her core snapped and she shattered. Isla was sure she cried out, but over the throb of her blood pulsing in her ears, she couldn’t hear herself.

Gladio lurched forwards, releasing Isla’s hand to slide an arm beneath her and crush her to him. “That’s a girl,” he moaned against her mouth, kissing her soundly and nipping her bottom lip. “I can feel your cunt squeezing my cock--” He buried his face into the crook of her neck, driving his hips furtively. “Feelssogood--” Isla slipped her arms around his shoulders, holding him closer. She could feel his breath landing on her shoulder, his heartbeat thundering against her breasts. She nuzzled his hair, watching his body move.

He squeezed the inside of her thigh, spreading her legs a little wider and Isla could feel the muscles in his thighs and his haunches clenching with every move. His body slick against hers, she dug her nails into the muscles of his back, clumsily rocking up to meet his thrusts to bring his climax closer.

“Ohfuck—Isles—unf--Isla---!” In a rush of movement, Gladio buried himself inside her and she heard him groan into her pillows and her shoulder. He went still, utterly stiff for a few moments. Isla felt his chest expanding and contracting on quick breaths, and she could still feel the rapid beat of his heart reverberating into her chest. When he moved again, it was slowly, his hips rocking in gentle thrusts and he slipped out of her. He wound his hands down Isla’s back, softer touches after the grabbing and grasping of before.

Before she could speak, his lips were on hers, a soft, satisfied moan passing between them. Gladio slid his fingers through her loosening hair and flopped onto his side. He quickly rid himself of the condom, dropping it unceremoniously to the floor. Then, he wrapped her into his arms and drew her closer to his chest, nestling his chin atop her head. Isla was surprised, but pleasantly. She never expected Gladio to be one for cuddling after sex. Never thought of him as someone who would relish the afterglow. She was wrong.

He drew his fingers down her spine gently creating abstract shapes in her sweat. She inched closer to him, burying her face into his chest. She traced his tattoo with her fingers, watching how his skin reacting to such a delicate touch. She wasn’t sure what to say. Gladio was the person she considered her best friend, and they had crossed a line. Possibly one that should not have been crossed. She didn’t want this to affect their friendship. She didn’t want to lose his friendship to a moment of giving into desire. She knew it would be best to clear the air now, to settle things and know where they stood, before they parted and could over think.

“G—“

“It’s smote, by the way.”

Isla frowned, and tilted her head back, confused. “Huh?”

“Earlier, you said smited.” Gladio explained, grinning, “it’s smote.”

“Smote.” Isla replied, flatly.

“Smote.”

She sighed, and flicked his nose. “I can’t believe you’re correcting my grammar right now.”

“I could have corrected it at the time!” He laughed, grabbing her hand as she went to flick his nose again. “Luckily,” he rolled and pinned her beneath him, “having sex with you proves an excellent distraction.”

Isla rolled her eyes, but still welcomed the kiss he pressed to her mouth. She hummed, happy, and warm from the top of her head to the tips of her fingers. Gladio slipped his arms underneath her and lay down, resting his cheek on her clavicle. She toyed with tufts of his hair, breathing more easily and staring up at the ceiling. They needed to move. They both had places to be, jobs to do. Responsibilities. But moving meant this sanctuary, this moment in their lives would be disturbed. It would mean that what was between them at that second would be done, and gone. And they would never be able to recapture it.

Isla wanted to be selfish, just a little longer… and Gladio allowed her that, without complaint.

Fun fact: never written a character as dominant as Gladio. It was weird. I might need to write more of him, to get comfortable with it. Anyway. And, apologies if anyone was offended by the use of the c**t word there. I know some people aren’t comfortable with it, but it fit the scene, and it was either that, or pussy. And I, personally, cannot stand the latter.

Okay, this is long enough. I hope you enjoyed. Please let me know in comments/reblog/tags etc. Please, please let me know what you think. I am crazy nervous about this for some reason. ><

Reblogs make me stupidly happy. <3