#the did something similar this week where he accidentally catches someone changing but his reaction is just

[ofdreamsanddoodles]

the iceblade sorcerer who will rule the world has an admittedly high ass quotient on the weird ass shit meter but they also made the mc the least horny teenage boy in the world so instead of feeling like fanservice it just feels like one of those jokes about being a normal person stuck in a harem anime. like there was a bit in last weeks episode where a girl drags him along while she goes shopping & accidentally runs out from the dressing room in her underwear bc she saw a spider & his only reaction is “omg are you ok i know you werent planning to flash me, doing something like that on accident must have felt very embarrassing” LIKE WHY DID YOU WRITE IT INTO THE STORY THEN

[alinastracker]

If you’re still doing the prompts I have oneeeee hehe

" i mean... i-i'm cool with sharing the bed if you are. "

you got it baby 🥰

but i know something’s starting right now

It’s a sweltering Ravkan summer day, but nothing brings heat to her body like watching Mal in the pool, water droplets racing down his chest. His shaggy hair is a mop on his head, and she realizes this is what he must look like in the shower.

This is exactly why she didn’t want to bring him on the trip.

It’s the first week of July, and for the past three years, that’s meant a trip to the Os Alta Resort with Genya and Zoya. It’s a way for them to relax after exams and catch up now that they all attend different schools. But at the end of May, the two of them had FaceTimed her about a change for this year.  

“We were thinking of taking the boys with,” Genya says gently, nervous for her reaction.

Zoya is frank as ever. “It’s cheaper that way. Besides, after all this long distance, I could use a week of uninterrupted fuc—”

“Zoya!”

“Relax, Starkov. We’re all adults here.”

“Anyway,” Genya cuts in. “We’re just telling you in case you wanted to bring someone, too. Maybe Mal?”

“Mal and I aren’t dating.”

Only in her dreams.

“Might as well be,” Zoya mutters.

So in the choice between bringing Mal on what has basically turned into a couple’s retreat and going to said couple’s retreat alone, she’s chosen the former. It would be fine. Mal knows her friends. Him and Nikolai like to talk sports. Maybe it’ll be a little weird, being the only non-couple, but they could deal.

It would have been fine, if it weren’t for this morning’s check in.

"So it looks like we have you booked for three single rooms," the concierge says.

Alina frowns. "One of those should be a double."

The concierge checks again, each click of his mouse making her anxiety rise. He frowns. "Sorry, miss. It's showing me all singles."

"It's fine," Mal says. "Could we just upgrade it to a double, then?"

"Er, I'm afraid we're all booked, sir."

Nikolai claps his hands together, cheerful as ever at Zoya's side. "Well, I'll just switch with Alina, and Mal and I can — shit, Zoy!"

Zoya had stomped on his foot.

"We are not switching shit," she hisses under her breath.

Nikolai sighs. "My deadly dearest, certainly it's no big deal—"

"I bought us a new toy for this trip. We are not switching."

There is a brief moment where everyone freezes, then Genya groans, shaking her head as she murmurs apologies to the concierge, who is trying hard to pretend he hasn’t heard a thing. The tips of Mal's ears go red, and Alina is sure hers match. David, lost in his audiobook, is oblivious to all of it.

Nikolai clears his throat and turns to the two of them with a sheepish grin. "Sorry, mate. You're on your own."

The concierge slowly raises a finger and says, "We might be able to supply a cot?"

Alina can feel everyone's eyes on her, which is the last thing she ever wants. She has the strong desire to curl in on herself, but that only really works in the winter when she dons large coats and sweaters. But it’s summer, and she is in only a mustard yellow crop top and jean shorts, though she suddenly feels as exposed as if she were completely naked.

Mal takes one look at her and gently nudges his foot against hers. "I mean . . . I'm cool with sharing the bed if you are?"

Her brain is looking for anyway out of this whole conversation, so she nods.

So far, they have been in their room once to drop off their things and change into bathing suits, both of them dancing around the bed without ever touching it. The air in the room feels charged even with sunlight still pouring in. What would tonight be like?

More importantly, how was she supposed to handle sleeping beside him when she can’t even handle watching him in the pool?

Genya climbs on Mal’s shoulders for a game of chicken — David is, unsurprisingly, not in the pool, but sitting beside Alina on a lounge chair. She feels a pang of something like jealousy as she watches the game commence, which cannot be more ridiculous.

They can’t avoid the night forever, and it comes much too quickly despite how long they spend mingling at the resort bar. In their room, Mal lets Alina use the bathroom first. A kind offer, she thinks, until she realizes it leaves her to stake out a spot on the bed first. No more dancing.

Left side or right? Does Mal have a preference? Does she? How long until Mal finishes in the bathroom and comes out to see her staring at the bed like a mental person?

Right side, she chooses finally. She curls up on the left side of her body usually, so this way, she doesn’t have to face him as they sleep. Good call. As she untucks the covers from the bed, she secretly hopes to find something horrifying, like blood or bugs, so they can get a refund and leave. Sadly, it is a perfectly fine bed. Alina plops onto it and tucks herself in.

Mal finishes in the bathroom a few minutes later, and if he’s as rattled about their sleeping arrangement as she is, he does not show it. There’s plenty of space between them as he settles into bed. Maybe this won’t be as bad as she feared.

“Well, goodnight,” Mal says through a yawn.

“Goodnight,” Alina replies.

They each turn off their bedside lamps. Mal is softly snoring soon after, but Alina stays awake much too long for her liking, thinking of how close he is.

They fall into a similar routine for the next couple nights. During the day, all is fine. Their little group meshes well. Genya and Nikolai are often off together, both of them on a mission, it seems, to try every flavor of ice cream from Os Alta's ice cream bar. Or sometimes it’s Nikolai and Mal running off, joining a game of pool volleyball, both of them stupidly competitive. When Zoya gets annoyed with the overload of children at the waterpark, she joins David on one of the lounge chairs to read for a while — Zoya a smutty historical romance and David a nonfiction on modern space travel. We just shouldn't let Jeff Bezos come back, he argues to Genya later, while Zoya murmurs to Nikolai something she wants him to do to her that night.

Alina thanks the saints her room isn’t next to Zoya’s.

The trip is going so smoothly that she doesn’t realize what trouble Sunday brings with it. It’s always their favorite part of the trip: bottomless margarita night. They all have absolutely horrific, hilarious pictures and videos of themselves from the past three years thanks to bottomless margarita night at Os Alta. But the thought of being drunk like that while she’s sharing a bed with Mal?

Okay, so she just won’t drink tonight. Problem solved.

“You can’t not drink!” Zoya says, personally offended.

“Come on, it’s tradition!” Genya agrees.

But she’s determined to hold out. Only when she sees the others with their drinks, she decides one sip won’t hurt. One sip becomes one drink, and one drink becomes a couple. Soon enough, she’s drunk enough to sign herself up for karaoke, another Os Alta tradition.

“I dunno what I should siiiing,” she slurs, swaying lightly on her feet.

“I have the perfect song for you!” Genya cheers excitedly.

So that’s how she ends up on stage, drunk off her ass, horridly singing Taylor Swift’s We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together. She really gets into it, jumping and nailing the talking parts a little too well. But she can hear Genya and Zoya screaming the lyrics along with her, and it only encourages her.

Genya records a Snapchat of her performance, snickering to Mal and David about how she’s going to accidentally send it to the asshole Alina dated last year who’s still entirely too obsessed with her.

Nikolai is the only one of the boys drunk enough to sign up, taking the stage after Alina to perform a disgustingly off-key version of Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now. They all agree that Freddie Mercury is rolling in his grave.

By the end of the night, the four of them are totally wasted. David, who had spent the night nursing one drink, his focus on getting Genya her drinks and ensuring that she didn’t trip over herself, has to help the aforementioned redhead up to their room. Nikolai and Zoya are a sight, both wickedly drunk, trying to help each other stay upright. Mal had only downed a couple drinks and is mostly sober, which Alina is very thankful for, as she can’t hold herself up to save her life. She nearly trips on absolutely nothing so many times that Mal finally scoops her into his arms, carrying her the rest of the way to the room. Alina giggles the whole way. 

There’s no getting ready for bed that night. Mal sets her on the bed, and she resigns to sleeping in her red summer dress. When Mal joins her after having a shower, drunk Alina has no qualms curling up against him and sniffing him.

“Mm, you smell good,” she hums.

Mal chuckles even as he tenses. Alina has her arm around him and her face pressed into his side. He’s not sure he can breathe. She’s too drunk to notice the blush on his face.

“That’s probably just because you smell like alcohol,” he hedges.

Alina giggles and shakes her head. “No, you always smell good.”

He doesn’t know what to do with this information, but he does a lot of thinking instead of sleeping as Alina passes out next to him.

Monday morning brings with it a pounding headache for Alina. She prepares for the bright sunlight streaming through the window, but the room is dark when she opens her eyes. Mal isn’t beside her, but he left aspirin and a glass of water on the nightstand in addition to pulling out the blackout curtains. She falls in love with him a little bit more. 

The day is a quiet one. The girls and Nikolai spend their time at the spa, Mal and David off doing saints know what. She gets the best massage of her life, and while her head still aches despite the pain pill, seeing Nikolai get his toenails painted bright red makes every sip she had last night worth it.

When they’re in the room again after dinner, tucking themselves into bed, Mal says, “You told me I smell good last night.”

Alina pauses. “I did?”

The night comes back to her. She totally told him he smelled good, and she had closed the space between them on the bed, curling up right next to him. She remembers all of it, suddenly and painfully.

“Oh, saints. Mal, I’m so sorry. I didn’t . . . I shouldn’t have—”

He cuts her off. “It’s okay, ‘Lina. You don’t have to apologize.”

“I don’t?”

Mal smiles an amused smile and leans over, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “No, you don’t. Not you. Never you.”

Alina is almost positive she can hear her heart pounding as Mal reaches for something tucked in the drawer of his nightstand.

“For you,” he says, handing her a long rectangular box. “Saw it today when I was out with David and I just— I thought of you.”

She can’t even process the image of Mal and David out shopping together, needing to open this damn box. With shaky fingers, she lifts the lid. Waiting for her inside is a dainty necklace with a gorgeous gold sun charm.

“Oh,” she says softly.

Mal blushes, and this time, Alina notices. “Do you like it?” he asks. “I just thought of you singing last night when I saw it. You’re so bright, Alina. All the time. Just like the sun.”

She has no idea what this confession means, or how she earned it from drunkenly telling him how good he smells — which his really quite good — but her heart has kicked into overdrive. She isn’t sure what, or how, but she knows something’s starting right now.

“I love it, Mal.” She turns so her back is facing him and hands over the necklace. “Will you help me put it on?”

He wraps the chain around her neck. The sun rests perfectly against her heart. She notices every little brush of his fingers against the back of her neck as Mal works the clasp.

When the necklace is secure, they both lay back down, noticeably closer this time. Not as close as last night, but close enough that their arms occasionally brush, close enough that she’ll end up kicking him during the night. Alina sleeps on her right side. 

Their trip might be ending tomorrow, but something better was beginning tonight.

[rebornthestage]

[2021.08.22] Kitamura Kento (Hibari) 17LIVE livestream

(I live translated his stream, so there may be details I'm missing/misheard.)

Starting remarks:

He wants to play Hibari more

He usually has great memories of the plays he's worked on, but not quite for this one; It doesn't feel like it ended yet.

He feels like they can do the play again, do the future arc again

His little bro is a big fan of Amano's works, especially KHR, so he's very familiar with this series

His brother is babysitting in the US, so he sends him clips of the play lol

It's only been half a year since he started Twitter and he appreciates all the support (likes, RTs, replies)

His faves are Dino and Primo in the manga. He loves their visuals. He thinks they look cool.

He actually wants to play as Primo lmao

Was excited when he heard James was playing Dino; he's worked with him in at least 3 plays (?, Hakuouki SSL, Hataraki Saibou); Met the first time in a while thanks to this stage

Q&A Section:

Q: Why do you have so many Hibird photos in your makeup area?

A: They're from Yamamoto Ryosuke! Ryosuke receives a Hibird photo from the production team every performance, so he gives them all to Kento since he's Hibari after all. He has around 8 of them. Sometimes Ryosuke forgets to give it to him and he feels unnecessarily disappointed lmao

Q: Thoughts on receiving Hibari's role A: First he wondered a lot about how he'd portray Hibari's fighting style, and tried to portray his cloud-like, untouchable feeling. Kento was set on fighting with "pauses" and "urgency" for Hibari. Hibari's the fastest in thinking and acting, like that time when everyone was panicking about Byakuran's attack, while Hibari immediately left to check on Namimori since that's where the attack landed.

Hibari can also be misleading. When the Real 6 Funeral wreaths landed at Namimori, he was first to speak. However, just when you think he was going to propose a plan, he just states that one of them landed in Namimori, which makes you wonder just how much he loves the place haha.

That unexpectedness makes him interesting to the viewers. He tends to speak, pause in the middle, and then change his tone/aura when he continues his sentence.

Q: Thoughts on Hibari before and after playing him A: He talked about this in his blog post. After playing him, he thinks of other people more than you'd expect. He acts to protect Namimori, and as a result, saves people.

Q: Have you planned the curtain call interactions with Ryohei and Lambo beforehand? A: Nope. That was all thanks to Kimeru adlibbing, and Kento has no idea when Ryohei will jump in lol.

On a tangent, but he very much admires Kimeru for perfectly playing his role. He has already perfected the role even when they just started rehearsing. He has the formula for Lambo down pat. This makes it easy for someone to copy and stand in for him during rehearsals.

Q: Can you share more info on the action parts? A: Every week he gets the stunts instructor to teach him something new, then he practices it on his own for the rest of the week.

Apparently, he practiced while facing a tree at the park, haha. A lot of people commented, saying they want to be the tree. He was like, "No way lol". There were so many people wanting to become trees that he said they were going to turn into a forest lol.

He then talks in detail about how to do a roundhouse kick properly lmao. The left leg/standing leg is important apparently lmao. He repeats this sentence a couple of times and demonstrates it with his fingers.

Sometimes he got tired after doing it so many times. However, when he started doing 1 hour stretches everyday, it became a lot easier.

Does aftercare? (Is that the right term to use here? haha) after practice because it's a lot of strain on his left leg and arm.

Q: What are your similarities with Hibari? A: He likes to do things on his own. Hyperfocused on what he likes. Is stubborn.

He likes to have a lot of preparation before taking something on...

He'll leave when he feels like leaving, lol

Q: Thoughts on Tsuna and Hibari's relationship, and your relationship with Takenaka Ryohei A: Tsuna is an important person in Present and Future Hibari's life.

Takenaka Ryohei is amazing. He has a different reaction to Present Hibari and TYL Hibari and he can really see and feel it... Ryohei's act really contributes to Kento's own acting. It's because Ryohei reacted that way that Hibari seems even more fearsome.

Ryohei can portray Tsuna's fear of TYL!Hibari, but then also show a different reaction when he stops Present!Hibari during Choice.

Usually, it should be the protagonist who would do something proactively while everyone else reacts. As the protagonist, but it's hard to give large reactions. However, in KHR, it's often Tsuna who reacts. It's because Tsuna reacts in a certain way that you can figure out what type of person the other character is. Ryohei is amazing for being able to do that role.

Q: Was it you playing as Alaude's silhouette? A: Yes. Yamamoto also played as Ugetsu.

Random tidbit: At the part where Deisy gets caught with the huge handcuffs, they didn't have those huge handcuffs until they were at the venue lol. So they've been practicing without it until then.

That's why his actions during that scene slowly started to change, since he began to have ideas on what else he could do at that scene.

Q: Thoughts on the Hibari switch scene A: He asked viewers when they realized it wasn't Kento as Hibari onstage? On their first watch? During the stream?

Daiki tried really hard to copy Kento's Hibari, like his walk so people wouldn't catch on. Was really happy when it was decided Daiki was the one who'll be his body double. He actually thought it would be an ensemble doing it, until 2 weeks (?) into rehearsals

Q: Happenings onstage? A: He doesn't really want to talk about it... However, after he turned 25, he's become more open to his mistakes so he can talk about this now haha.

When wearing suits, he wants to look suave and used to wearing them. Having the box in his pants pocket ruins the silhouette of the suit, and so would placing it in his chest pocket, even though the latter seems cool. He talked with the costume designers to add some sort of leather pouch (?) at his waist.

However, after putting the box in and out of the pouch so many times, the leather pouch worse out and became looser. In one performance, the box dropped to the floor sometime without his notice. ("Roll rolled." LOL)

During his fight with Genkishi, he stuck his hand in the pouch while talking and realized it wasn't there. He was like, Oh Shit, lmao. Then clumsily tried to hide the fact that he has no box by taking out his hand and only showing the back of it to the audience, lmao.

He watched a clip of that performance afterwards and learned that the box fell while he did a roundhouse kick.

Also, during the fight with Deisy, he can't see anything. The lights were so bright. When he twirls the handcuffs, it has to face a certain side so that the cuff would close, but sometimes it ends up facing the wrong side, so he has to twirl it back. However, it's hard to figure out if it's facing the right side or not because of the light, so he accidentally dropped the handcuffs once.

(There were actually a few fan reports saying that Kento seemed to drop his props often lol)

Q: Thoughts on Hibari unbuttoning his suit before fighting A: When raising your arm while wearing suits, the middle part scrunches open and he doesn't like that. He wants Hibari to look flawless, so he tried to make it part of the act to unbutton the suit.

He doesn't do this for the part where he trains Tsuna, since he doesn't want to make it like Hibari's doing it for appearances. He tries to make it seem like it's an act Hibari does when he expects a good fight.

Q: Any special training? A: He has a lower center of gravity because he played ice hockey seriously for 9 years. He's jealous of actors who took karate and dance since they are useful skills as an actor. He believes that playing ice hockey and balancing on ice skates really contributed to doing action scenes.

Q: Do you do any weight/muscle training? A: He used to go to the gym, but stopped because of covid. He apparently started classic ballet recently. He likes gaining strength without getting too bulked up. Before he hated wearing tight clothes, but now he has embraced it lmao

Q: Any KHR weapons he would like to try? A: He likes Japanese swords, so he likes Yamamoto's sword style.

When Chrome was handed the Devil Lens, he wondered how one would fight with it? How do you make it look like you use it often? Do you twirl it like a pen?

He's seen James' whip skills live during Secret Bullet and was very impressed that James was able to use them to the fullest. It's a weapon you can more easily hurt yourself with after all.

During rehearsals, there wasn't a center door to come out from, so he had to wait at the sides while Dino and Deisy were fighting. Hibari often comes out from the center door, so he calls Hibari a "Center Door Guy", lol.

Q: Judging from how fast you changed into the yukata during curtain call, are you the type of person who changes clothes fast? A: He has to change from suit to yukata in 1 minute and 30 seconds and be careful not to make Hibari look sloppy, so he was really worried about it... That's why you'd see him touching his collar from time to time.

Final Words

He asks fans to answer the Reborn! The Stage questionnaire and request for a rerun of the Future arc stage plays. They were able to change the future in Future arc, so he believes we can change the future in real life as well. A rerun isn't impossible in his opinion.

He'd love to livestream again sometime with others, like Daiki-kun (Glo Xinia/Dino), and Daiki-kun, and Daiki-kun.😂

[nonstoplover]

accidental reunion ~ joe liebgott (band of brothers)

my masterlist  |  my hbo war masterlist

pairing: joe liebgott x female reader

short summary: they met in Austria on V-J Day, it was just one night, they still can't forget the other

words: 2.4K

a/n: not gonna say much just that i'd do anything for joe liebgott, even if it includes giving up my whole life

taglist: @how-are-those-nuts-sarge @50svibes @pennyllanne @liebgotttme @nowinnablewar

One fun night on one of Easy's last nights in Austria. With lots of drinks, games, and the company of residents of the small village that was Kaprun who were willing to spend some celebratory time now that the war was actually, finally over.

It was undoubtedly one of the best nights the soldiers had in the past couple years - at least for Liebgott it definitely was. He accidentally bumped into a girl about his age in the small pub when on his way to get a new round of alcohol and then spent the rest of the night with her.

They never shared full names or addresses with each other, all they got to know were mentions of small things dropped by accident. Now Joe's back in San Francisco, back to life in peace and he can't get the girl out of his head. There's nothing he regrets more than not asking for only these basic pieces of information. He let the possibly only good thing that war gave him slip through his fingers.

There's not a day he doesn't think of her. He sees the sparkle of her eyes in the street lights, the colour of her hair in the polychrome autumn leaves, hears her giggle in a random girl's voice on the street that makes him do a hopeful double take only to be left disappointed a moment later. When he's in a pub on a night out, the swirling booze in his glass reminds him of her and that one night they got to spend together. When a young woman gets in his cab with hair similar to hers, his heart always skips a beat as he looks back over his shoulder with sudden high hopes, his eyes always connecting with a pair of orbs that are clearly not hers.

He doesn't even know why he feels this way - he truly doesn't know her after all. Still, it's like in a matter of only a couple hours a connection has been created, one that's about impossible to break. If he believed in soulmates, maybe he'd say that it is just that. But he doesn't.

So he just lets the days pass with the occasional but somehow still almost constant thoughts of the girl. Every other week or when he just has the next day off, he might try to forget about her, find some inner peace with another woman, even though he knows that the next morning he'll wake up with her first name on the tip of his tongue just the same.

(y/n), on the other side of the planet tries to go on with her life after the war - she truly does. But still, it feels like there's nothing left for her in Austria anymore. Everything's changed. The village, the people living there, even her own perspective and thoughts on life has changed. Enough to help her make the decision of moving to the United States.

To her family she says it's only because of the seemingly endless opportunities there, in the process trying to convince even herself that it's not because of the fluffy brown haired paratrooper she met on the night of V-J Day.

Of course it's not because of him, all she knows about the young man is that his first name is Joe, that his fellow soldiers called him Lieb or something like that once or twice throughout the night, that he wanted to be a cab driver back in America, and that he was from San Francisco. It's nowhere enough information to give up her whole life and start a completely new one on the opposite side of the world.

Still, somehow it is enough for her, and it also gives her a starting point when six months after they first - and by far last - met she appears in the enormous American city all by herself, all her life packed up in two suitcases she drags behind herself, heart beating frantically as she eyes the buildings and hears the unimaginable street noise around her. To say she's anxious is an understatement - hell, she doesn't even speak English that good.

After the first and most important things are settled - a place to live in, a job to earn money with -, she's unable to stop herself and flips the telephone book up and calls a few of the cab companies around the city, trying to ask about him. But seemingly there are too many Joe's around who are driving taxis, and after the fourth or fifth unsuccessful try that leaves her feeling all stupid and naive she gives up.

She tries hard to fit in, makes friends at work and with the two girls she's rented the room she's now living in from, spends every evening improving her knowledge of the language. The more time passes, the better she feels - and the more she feels like she belongs -, though the feeling of missing something from her life never goes away. The feeling of missing somebody, to be more precise.

About two months later one day she oversleeps and is in a hurry to get to work in time so she decides to catch a cab instead of her usual choice of travelling by public transport. Almost practically falling down to the seat as she scrambles inside, she's already saying the address whilst also trying hard to catch her breath - she can only hope the driver can understand her panting words.

She closes her eyes, pressing her palm to her forehead and focusing on slowing her heartbeat back down to normal. Only half a minute passes though before she leans back in her seat and lets her eyelids open again, and her glance subconsciously falls on the cab driver.

Silently examining his features from diagonally and behind she can't help but feel a weird feeling tingle in her chest, as if her whole existence has suddenly found something familiar. Her eyes move back up on his profile, on the elegant line of his nose and the way a strand of brown hair has delicately fallen in front of his forehead.

"Joe," the name she still hears in her sleep every night leaves her lips in an almost breathless, subconscious whisper.

Then the next moment his head whips around - so fast that she can't help but worry he'll have whiplash - and the oh so familiar eyes connect with hers.

"(y/n)?" Comes the equally disbelieving, quietly muttered answer from him.

He remembers her.

Suddenly all the frustration of leaving her home behind and moving across the world, all the frustration of trying to find him feels worth it. She's found him. Or has he found her? It was most likely fate bringing the two back together, giving them one last chance to see what they would do.

"What are you doing here?" Joe exclaims excitedly, his glance moving back and forth frantically between the road in front of him and her face.

"I moved here," (y/n) shrugs.

"You what?"

She only giggles in response to his reaction - she's too overwhelmed with happiness to actually say something.

"It's good to see you," he admits, mentally adding that it's not only good, more like the best thing that has ever happened to him. He knows he can't just attack her like that, she probably didn't move here because of him anyway so he keeps his mouth shut to keep these thougths in.

"You too," she beams at him in the rear-view mirror before quietly adding one more thought, mainly to herself. "By now I thought I'll never find you."

And just like that the previous thought almost fully disappears from his mind, his breath hitching in his throat. "You tried to find me?" Joe asks with a smug grin on his face, one that's supposed to hide the swirl of his true and not at all like him emotions.

"Well, yeah, of course," the girl shrugs sheepishly, earning a joyous hum from him as a wordless reply.

For a couple long seconds they stay in silence, both of them deep in their thoughts as their minds try to process the sudden emergence of the other. Some previously never felt tension rises slowly in the air of the car, suddenly neither knows what to say or what to do. What they've been dreaming about for more than half a year now has just come true - and they weren't ready for it.

"Where're you going?" Joe speaks up again to break the quiet. "I mean, why are going there, 'cause I know where you're going."

This earns him a mental slaps from himself for behaving so stupid. What is he doing? Why is he like this? Where's his usual confident cockiness?

"Work."

Maybe it was worth it, coming here just to see him again, but there's no guarantee that he hasn't found someone else by now - even if he does remember her - or that he would even want to see her again after today. Doubt reappears in her mind, keeping her from speaking her mind and ask him about all the things she's been dying to ask him ever since that night back in Austria.

"When did you arrive here?"

"Two months ago."

"Sorry if I'm asking too much, I'll stop," Joe glances at her in the mirror, taking her reserved, short answers wrong, thinking that she just doesn't want to talk with him.

"No, no, it's fine!" (y/n)'s quick to reassure, eyes opened wide. "I should be the one apologising for not answering more or asking back. I'm just- ugh, I don't know. I've been thinking about this moment for so long that now I'm scared it's just a dream again. I don't want to get too empathized in case I'll only wake up in my bed again."

"This is real life, I swear," Joe chuckles - her words have managed to calm him down again. He lets go of the steering wheel with one hand and reaches back above the car seat - nothing but a simple signal towards her.

Mindlessly holding back her breath she raises a hand of her own and lets her skin bump into his for a short moment before daringly fully wrapping her fingers around his. An immediate smile takes over his features as he loosens into her touch.

"See? It's not a dream," he grins to himself, thumb moving over the back of her hand in soft small caresses.

"I'm glad it isn't," (y/n) giggles and Joe lets out a chuckle himself.

Before they could truly let go and enjoy the drive to the fullest, he pulls over outside a building that (y/n) realises as her work place when finally looking out the window.

Swiftly letting go of his hand she starts rummaging through her reticule to find her purse. When she pulls out the proper banknotes and tries to push them in his palm, he just shakes his head and moves his hand back to the steering wheel.

"You don't have to," he shrugs. "Take it as a welcome in San Francisco gift."

"Thank you," she mumbles with flushing cheeks before collecting her things and moving to get out of the cab.

She closes the door already when the sudden realisation hits her - she still doesn't know either his full name or his address, or anything for real.

Her hand rises almost on its own and her knuckles rap a fast rhythm against the glass next to the front seat. Joe's eyes are already on her as he scoots closer to roll down the window.

"I just wondered if I could have your phone number," she blurts out before she could think twice leaning down so her head pops back into the car.

With a raise of an eyebrow and a teasing smirk sitting upon his lips he nods in acknowledgement. "For the better part of this past minute I've been trying to find the courage to ask for your number."

(y/n) can feel the blood rush to her cheeks as she realises how truly straight-forward she's acted, but before she can raise a hand to hide her face in utter embarrassment, Joe starts moving around inside the car, and only a second or two later he retrieves his hand with a pen in-between his fingers. With his free hand he reaches out to gently grab her wrist and pulls it fully inside, pushing the material of her coat and long-sleeved blouse up towards her elbow.

Then he scribbles something on her soft skin, hissing whenever the pen doesn't want to write and he has to press the point of it deeper into her arm even though he really wouldn't want to hurt her even the slightest bit.

"There you go," his glance moves back up to her face when he finishes, winking at her.

(y/n) bites back a giggle before straightening back up, pulling out of the cab fully.

"See you later, Joe," she smiles at him one last time before turning around and rushing inside the building - the pinkness of her cheeks and the not erasable, wide smile on her face being true proofs of her emotions.

Later, when she's finally at her desk, coat removed and body gently slumping into the chair, her eyes catch sight of the writing again and she finally takes a better look at it. There's a phone number, completed with a simple Joe Liebgott and a don't you dare not call me under it.

A soft giggle escapes (y/n)'s lungs as she reads the last line, shaking her head in happy disbelief whilst also wondering how he could write so much in such a short time and without her even noticing. She must've been too entranced by the sparkling of his eyes, the way that one strand of hair fell and bounced in the air and how he - probably subconsciously - stuck the tip of his tongue out past his lips in concentration.

Then with a blissful sigh she lowers her arm again, eyes staring out of her head, looking at nothing in particular - instead picturing his face again inside her mind.

"Liebgott," she mutters to herself, tasting the name rolling down her tongue. She finally knows his name.

.::the end::.

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Give and Take

This one's for you @genevievedarcygranger

I couldn't even tell you what this is about but it's something? Like about Hotch? I'm pretty sure there is no plot so just buckle in or whatever. I don't know, this is weird

The key to building a profile, to standing before someone and piecing together the important parts of their character, is to figure which parts of themselves they give to you and which parts they accidentally show. Most people are fairly easy to read (which is the optimal word, really. No one wants to be profiled but most people don’t mind a little reading on them. Makes them feel special, understood). The thing about secrets, about people, is that they always carry their burdens. It’s like any wound, you naturally lean to protect what hurts. And when once you figure out what hurts, when you can spot the source of the blood you’ll find no matter how advanced a species humans pretend to be, we still have the look of a wounded animal. A dog backed into the corner of an alley. A lame cat waiting to see if swift justice will rain down.

And the wound being protected speaks measures but more importantly…

It’s the reaction-- what happens when the wounds been found and what they anticipate the reaction will be to it.

But, hey, that’s all complicated nonsense. Take it with a grain of salt. Honestly, people always tell you everything that you need to know about them. Especially when they have something to hide.

The first time that Aaron Hotchner ever saw a dead body he was twelve.

The river is unforgiving. That May had brought treacherous storms. Drops of rain that fell so hard, so roughly they’d leave welts on exposed skin. Children still marched to school with the threat of their umbrellas being snapped out of small hands and the wind pushing back clothing, trying to disrobe them as they fought against its pushing hand.

Two days of hard rainfall had the river spewing over the bridge in town. Spitting up its murky water like a well-fed newborn, leaving the fallen limbs of trees and dead fish to rot in the sun. By the time the storm blew over the children were as unsettled as the river itself. Jittery with energy, begging for release. So, out they went. Mothers called from their front porches, father’s leveled threatening fingers-- stay away from the river.

It’ll suck you in and it’ll never let you go.

Johnny Martin was three years older than Hotch. He’d failed kindergarten, first grade, and the seventh grade and was generally regarded as a pointless child, someone to look over. Nobody worth a damn fails that many grades, you know? Nobody worth giving a second chance to let alone a third and a fourth. Except it wasn’t that Johnny was intellectually any different than the other kids. It was just as simple as his father was a nobody, a heavy drinker, and his mother was a weak, dreadful sight. So no one ever tried. His teachers didn’t pay him any attention. No one did, really.

That’s probably why he drowned.

He was bloated, Hotch didn’t even know what he was looking at for a moment. There was a cut across his face, the skin raised around the edges that nearly made it look like pursed lips. A panting mouth. Then he’d seen the eyes, bulging and red. He hadn’t screamed, wasn’t even afraid. No point in wasting the energy on something like that. The real things worth fearing lived at home.

He never told anyone about Johnny Martin.

They found his body a little while after Hotch did. A group of twenty-somethings trampling through the woods with their artfully rolled joints wedged in cigarette cartons and the cheapest beer they could afford. He climbed up a tree, watched them call the cops, and take Johnny Martin away.

For a week, he watched everyone pretend like they gave a shit about Johnny Martin. Heard his English teacher profess some make-believe story and saw the tears glimmer in her eyes. In death, Johnny Martin became a whole person. For the first time in Johnny Martin’s entire life, he wasn’t a ghost, he was a boy. A living thing for which people felt remorse, for which people mourned.

When they’d never looked at him before.

Hotch wanted to know if that’s all it took. Is death really all he needed to become a whole person? For someone to notice the cigarette burns on his arms or to look at him? To notice him? Is absence the only way to be known?

He’s only told the general outline of that story twice. Once while drunk at a college party, one of the few places that sort of talk is welcome. “What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever seen?” And they circle around to him. Expectant eyes filled with the reflection of the flames of the fire dancing. He’d been thinking about his father’s office. The sound of the gunshot filling the house. Walking slowly down the hall, still stepping around the weak points in the floor so that he wouldn’t make a sound. Standing there looking at the blood splattered on the roof.

They put heart attack on the official death certificate. Illegal, sure, but not as ugly as suicide. Besides, a man like Richard Hotchner’s reputation would be ruined by his final actions. That couldn’t happen. So he’d been given a hero’s goodbye. A veteran of the Korean war sent off to the sound of his widow’s sobs, his two sons standing like little soldiers.

But that sort of thing ruins the mood. Kills the vibe so artfully created by the warmth of the dying fire and the joints being passed around.

So he tells them about Johnny Martin.

They hang onto his every word.

When he tells Dave it’s a diversion.

He’s laying in a hospital bed, the morphine has him slurring a bit but he’s talking more than Dave’s ever heard out of him. The kid hardly makes a peep for the three months he’s been working with them and he gets tossed down a few sets of stairs and he’s suddenly impossible to shut up. Dave was just trying to fret over him, expressing some concern until Haley could get here to do the heavy lifting. He ends up with more than he bargained for.

“No, s’okay. I’ve seen dead bodies, sir. Promise.”

Hotch tells him about Johnny Martin, curates a similar story to the one he told that night around the fire.

He’s a good storyteller and, though Dave can tell which elements of the story have been shifted for his enjoyment there are truths in all lies. Dave wants to ask what Hotch means when he mumbles out that part about ghosts, he doesn’t catch the exact wording but the implication. His dismissiveness towards Johnny Martin “some people you never notice, they’re just ghosts and there’s nothing you can do to change, to be seen”. Dave doesn’t ask what Hotch means by that and he still manages to find his answer.

Hotch has this tendency to step back. All his manners and smiles are for flourish, Southern hospitality that allows him to nimbly work his way through a crowd. Secretly, he’s an introvert. He always finds his way to the corner of the room, back facing the wall and watching. It’s where he’s most relaxed, where he’s unnoticed.

A ghost.

But even ghosts can be found out.

Even ghosts give a little bump in the night.

Aaron Hotchner doesn’t actually believe in ghosts but for a week he thinks he might. It freaks him out so bad that he tells Derek but he’s lost so much sleep freaking out over this that he mostly just sounds a little crazy. The fact that he tells Derek speaks measures but before everyone else, Derek was who he relied on and Derek is who he falls back on.

There was a broken plate in the kitchen, a plate that he didn’t break because he’d only gone to the living room. He couldn’t tell what it was but there had been this strange scratching. Then the plate fell. Honestly, he tore off. Ran to his bedroom and to Haley and when she asked what that sound was he said he hadn’t heard anything. Though he didn’t tell Derek that part, he more or less crawled into Haley’s arms and laid there until he felt safe again. Until her half-conscious rubbing at his back lulled him back to sleep.

They didn’t die so at least it wasn’t a serial killer.

It’s a cat.

Hotch’s ghost is a cat.

An old mangy orange thing that Hotch reluctantly takes into the house, Haley names him Casper. Naturally, she can’t let it go. Her husband the bravely trained, frequently praised federal agent tucking and running because an elderly cat had managed to let itself into their home.

Derek asks her about it, the ghost, the next time they all go out for drinks and she makes him swear to secrecy but he tells the others.

Not that day, nearly a year or more later.

After New York.

Penelope Garcia stays up all night watching what she thinks is going to be her friend’s last hours. Watches Hotch get tossed like a rag doll by a car bomb, and land discarded out of the view of the cameras. Just gone and she’s torn between not wanting to know and knowing she has to look. No matter what she’s going to see, she has to go on. They sift through the recording, speeding up the time-lapse. She watches him slowly gain consciousness over a stretch of twenty minutes, all taking place in less than a minute for her. Sees him stumble as he tries to stand, sagging against a street lamp and gagging up nothing. His stomach was too empty.

He’s disoriented, limping around the road.

Then came Sam.

The kid who tried to kill Hotch standing over his shoulder, touching his arm, and so close, so dangerously close. She cries, sits there and cries as she urges Derek to be faster. What if he has to finish the job? Kate was moving around, they were both alive, but Hotch can’t protect her. He can hardly stand.

He screams himself hoarse.

As Derek runs up on them all he can smell is burning rubber and blood. He’s breathing oddly, too quickly and his ribs aren’t moving the right way but Derek can see Hotch. He’s right there coherently speaking, words clear. So it doesn’t matter, the blood-splattered out on the road and running down Hotch’s collar.

And then Sam…

And the ambulance.

And Kate.

Reid, Prentiss, and Rossi are waiting for Hotch when he steps away from Kate. Reid had seen how immobile Hotch’s right shoulder had been, how stiffly it had moved as Hotch struggled into his kevlar. Rossi had seen his poor coloring, the bruises under his eyes from his lack of sleep. The way the cuts looked against his face. Prentiss had been behind him. She always is, creepily just a step behind. She’d seen how awkwardly his right leg had taken his weight. She even rolled her eyes when she noticed he forced himself to stop limping once she saw.

But what they all knew, what they’d all seen was a clock.

Another timer dangerously close to zero.

You know what they say. The bigger the man, the harder the fall.

Emily can’t get the sound of his body hitting the ground out of her head.

Hotch gets a room, courtesy of the entire hospital still being cleared out, to sleep off the drugs they give him. Groggily he groans, wakes up enough to look around him and falls back to sleep.

JJ gets sick, it’s too early in the pregnancy to be morning sickness but they’ve all just had an awful night and she’s filled with this senseless guit. Can’t stop thinking about Hotch’s soft, sheepish congratulations. Why didn’t she just tell him? What did she think was going to happen?

9/11 left New York hypervigilant and even with the threat eliminated the team is asked to stay in one place. So they stay with Hotch, all crammed up on top of each other. Legs thrown over laps and blankets jerked like children, a group of adults afraid to fall asleep. It’s impossible to sleep so Derek tells them about Hotch’s ghost, filling the dark room with noise. Better than sitting here just watching Hotch breathe, waiting for each inhale. He exaggerates it, of course. Hotch is asleep and can't exactly defend himself. Not that there’s all that much he could say-- he spent three sleepless nights ghost-hunting a cat.

“He ever tell you about that ghost haunting him?”

The next morning, still groggy and his presence of mind making it impossible to not feel the pain but too heavy to really care, he doesn’t fight with Derek nearly as much as he should.

They take the case of The Angel Maker Part 2 and, for once, Hotch does what’s best for him. He takes time off, drives home to save his ears from the trouble of the jet climbing to proper altitude. He gets back on a Wednesday, the others are waiting (Garcia may or may not have tracked his phone). Climbs slowly out of the car, the shrapnel wound on his leg hasn’t healed yet, and doesn’t look nearly that scary standing in jeans he’s had to roll the bottoms of and a patchy beard.

Which is why he doesn’t wear jeans. Suit pants he can have tailored to fit both his waist and the length of his legs. The problem with Levi's or a pair of Wranglers is that one of those measurements is always wrong. So the waist is small enough but the length isn’t long enough. He has to compromise one of them and he typically caves in the length.

Garcia knits him a hat that winter. It’s black to match the rest of his clothes with a red little fuzzy ball at the top. He thinks he can accept the gift and forget it-- like the gloves Reid got him or the cigars from Rossi. That’s not the case. He wears the hat. In a mix-up, a crowd of suits, he’s much easier to catch with his little red fuzz ball sticking out over the crowd.

And he isn’t allowed to forget about Reid’s gloves. He’s guilted into those too and finds himself being ushered into cases where the weather will be chilly with his only access being that hat and a pair of gloves.

The parts of Aaron Hotchner that he gives without prompting aren’t necessarily not him. He is decently grumpy and a workaholic. The man can not take a compliment, a fact that Morgan and Prentiss love to exploit. He’s boring, repetitive. Anyone who has spent more than a week with him can testify to that. He just likes to eat the same foods over and over and isn’t too picky but he won’t touch uncooked cauliflower because it’s texture is weird. Like a bouncy ball. As far as spending time with him goes, another weird thing to learn is that he’s messy. Methodical, yes. Messy… at the same time. He does have a bookshelf and his books are organized but he’s also really bad for leaving his unfinished books out on tables like decorations.

The parts that don’t come readily, the parts that require reading or profiling or just generally bugging the shit out of him are decent too. He’s an optimist. He wants to believe everyone is good, redeemable. Partially because he needs himself to be and because he’s a hopeless romantic and an optimist and that’s an impossible thing to be in this line of work. But some people are just good and some people are worth a second chance (and a third and fourth). He thinks that one-day people will forget he exists-- what happens when the team doesn’t need him to be around? When there’s no reason he has to be invited out?

And then what?

Aaron Hotchner is afraid of becoming a ghost again.

[goris-m]

snippet of a marauders fic I'm working on

(6th year) Remus Potions class was going to kill him. Not literally, but maybe Snape would since he started partnering up with lilly, every now and then he would catch him staring at them with that annoying face of him showing jealousy all over it.   this was kind of funny to Remus actually, he could understand being jealous of James, he had never been shy about his unreciprocated feelings for Lilly, but him and Lilly had always been just friends and pretty much everyone knew that. Lilly was good at potions class (way better than Remus, who still couldn't bring himself to care about it as much as he did for the other subjects), and they had always been a great match when it came to academic stuff. Before they started working together she used to partner up with Mary, and Remus  with Peter, this itself was fine, Peter was decent enough at the subject and could maintain a certain level of concentration that the other two marauders lacked. The trouble arrived when the professor got fed up with James and Sirius' antics and decided they weren't allowed to work together anymore, this brought a series of different tryouts within the friend group to accommodate these new rules. The most chaotic one was when they tried to partnered up Remus and Sirius (who “accidentally” managed to exploit their cauldron into a series of fireworks), LIly  and James (the later one was too distracted to actually get any job done) and Mary and peter (who for reasons unknown to everyone ended  up in a huge fight and didn't talk to anyone for a propper week). At the end they settled to accommodate him and Lilly, James and Peter and Sirius and Mary. Remus had to admit that despite Severus' bitterness he was quite pleased with this arrangement. today's lesson was on Amortentia, they had been studying love potions for the last weeks, and Remus was quite honestly baffled by the fact they were actually going to teach them how to make one. it seemed like a terrible idea to teach a bunch of hormonal fucks how to make something that could trick someone into falling in love with you, but when he aired his concerns to the rest they all laughed at him and told him he was just bitter that now somebody may actually trick him into a romantic relationship (this comment annoyed remus so much that he decided to shut up about the subject). while they were making it, the professor explained that It had a different aroma for everyone who smelt it, reminding each person of the things that they found most attractive, even if the person did not acknowledge or was unaware of their fondness for the object of their affection themselves; this comment made so that every single student in the class payed more attention than ever into making this potion right, even Sirius and Mary where taking the job seriously, which was a miracle in it of itself. After some time of careful mixing and brewing, his and Lily's potion was almost complete, looking quite similar to the one that the professor had prepared as demonstration. -so?- Remus asked with a mischievous smile- what do you smell?- Lilly leaned in and took a deep breath closing her eyes to take it all in, after a few seconds her cheeks turned a shade of red of which the brightness Remus had never seen. -what?- he asked, smiling at her partner's reaction- does it smell like werewolf?- he teased in a lower voice. -you wish- she answered rolling her eyes, but still not giving further explication- what does it smell like to you?- she asked, changing the subject. -oh come on lils! What can be so embarrassing that not even I can know?- he asked -nothing!- she answered defensively - you tell me first and then I'll tell you-. Remus rolled his eyes at her and leaned in, convinced it would probably smell like the food from the dining room or something, as his only true love so far were books and food. He closed his eyes and waited for the smell to fill his senses, taking in the steam as it went up from the potion in spirals. The first scent hit him. -it smells like… woods?- he said hesitantly- like amber- he concluded without opening his eyes. he focused again, intrigued by what could come next… -leather- this was unmistakable. By this point Remus has forgotten where he was, completely absorbed by the sensations he was feeling. -smoke… like cigarette smoke, and …- then the final scent hit him. It was so distinctive that Remus had to stop himself from gasping. it was cologne… men's cologne… Sirius Black cologne.

[anonymousbaev]

aaa i loved how you wrote the coming out one!! it made me smile so much :’) could i request the rfa and v and saeran and when they knew that mc was the one? like the one they wanna spend the rest of their life with

RFA+V and Saeran reaction when they realize Mc is the one

Aww thank you so much!!! ＼（＾○＾）人（＾○＾）／ I’m glad it made you smile! Thank you for the request, I hope I wrote this the way you wanted it, or at least similar :)! I hope this one makes you smile too! (Working on two other lovely requests as well! Check my Masterlist regularly to see what I’m working on!)  (｡♥‿♥｡)  

                                                      !!WARNING!!

                              !!PROFANITY AND TRIGGERING SCENES!!

☆ Yoosung ☆ 

☆ Since day one of you joining the RFA, he definitely had his guards up against you but, ended up always somehow taking an interest towards you. That interest grew to an attraction and soon into love. Yoosung just knew you were the one. You understood him so much and you had a deep connection with him no soul could break it. You loved him too, you also felt like he was the one for you. The person to marry, to have kids with, the person to hold hands and grow old with till death did you apart. However, it wasn’t really that simple. Every time he tried to express his love to you he gave you rather aggravating compliments as he compared you to Rika.  It made you doubt yourself, did he really love you? Or did he see you as a substitute for someone that couldn’t be with him anymore. All you wanted was for him to see you as you. It hurt you everyday and even if you have never mentioned it, he could take the hint and he regretted it every time he compared you. But it was like a habit, it was almost like he was programmed to say it.

☆ One day you had been sitting against the bedpost as you read a book before going to bed. Yoosung came in as he took a seat next to you, he suddenly apologized to you. Out of the blue he says, “Mc...I’m so sorry.” This was so random but his voice was so gentle and he had such a guilty expression on his face. You were a little scared as you replied, “Why?” You place your book down on the nightstand.

☆ He held your hands together, as he began to tear up. You only had a baffled expression before gently swiping his tears with your hands. You tried to calm him down but he only continued to apologize, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I always compare you to Rika but I don’t mean to. You’re so sweet, understanding, lovable, supportive, and...and so much more! But I don’t tell you that...I always only tell you that you’re like Rika. And that’s not true. You’re, you.” Your heart stings at his last words. They were exactly the words you wanted to hear. Either way, you continue to hear him out still a bit baffled, where was this all coming from?  He takes a while to breathe in to continue, “It was never my intention to hurt you, but it doesn’t change the fact that I did. So you don’t have to forgive me. I’d understand.” He begins to sob as you hug him. “Yoosung, It’s okay. We’ll get over this, I know.” He continues to cry as he barely screams out, “Don’t...act like you’re fine when you’re not! You’ve been hurting yourself!” You let go of his hands, now he’d just doubled your confusion. “Babe what do you mean?” He leads you to the bathroom, he points to the trash can. In the can there's Toilet papers soaked in blood. Did he think you were harming yourself? But that wasn’t true in fact... Your face blushes red, they were from wiping blood from your ass. “Babe...IM ON MY PERIOD!” (┛ｏ`皿′ｏ)┛彡┻━┻

☕️ Jaehee ☕️ 

☕️ After moving in with Jaehee, you would notice the two of you getting into arguments quite often, but they always ended up in fluff. You've always thought Jaehee was the one for you. You wanted to get married and start a family of your own with her. However Jaehee didn’t really mind, she just lived in the moment. Just happy you were her girlfriend and she was your girlfriend. This is what she thought, until one day, you were invited to your friends wedding. You offered Jaehee to come with you, and she gladly accepted.

☕️ The ride to the hotel where the wedding would take place did not take long to get to. You linked arms with Baehee as you greeted your friend. Your friend looked beautiful in her glamorous white bridal gown. Jaehee had never been invited to a wedding before. She thought everything was cool as she explored with awe in her eyes. 

☕️ When it was time for the main event you and Jaehee took a seat at your table. The lights went off, the only light in the giant ballroom were the spotlights that flashed the charming groom. The music started playing as the beautiful bride entered with another spotlight flashing at her. The Processional had started. The bride slowly walked down the aisle, linked arms with her dad and a flower girl throwing flowers along the sidelines. Jaehee just imagined it for a moment. She imagined she’d be standing waiting for you down the aisle. She imagined Seven proceeding the speech for both of you, as you walked down the aisle in a alluring white gown. You would mesmerize everyone in the room, but you’d only walk down that aisle for Jaehee, and Jaehee only. Her heart thumped so fast at the thought. 

☕️ It made her realize that in fact, yes she did care. She did care if you got married to her, and she had exactly wanted to start a family of her own with you. And when she looked at your twinkling eyes as you watched your friend. She just knew you were the one. (◡ω◡✿)

🎤 Hyun/Zen🎤 

🎤 Like Yoosung, Zen just knew you were the one. When you first joined the RFA his lighthearted flirts may have just been a simple interest towards you. But as time went on he was so curious about you. You were always patient and kind hearted. You gave him so much support, and he saw that. You were the only one to know his inner scars, the pain he had never told anyone before. Even with the RFA members he’d spent years with, you were the first he told. You felt the same, and it was like you were both meant for each other.

🎤 However, it had never crossed his mind to be married with you. It wasn’t because he didn’t love you though, it was because he had never thought about it. He was always just focused on you, like Jaehee he just lived in the moment, treasuring every second he got with you.

🎤 It wasn’t until one day you had been over at his house. You both drank until your heart desires. Soon you became drunk and started feeling light headed before collapsing on Zen. He sweetly smiles as he helps you sit back up before kneeling in front of you. He places his hand against your cheeks, “Are you sleepy?” You nod, still drunk. He blushes as he quietly mutters ‘cute’. He helps you walk to the bathroom as he guides you to brush your teeth. Half awake with the help of his hands you’re able to use the spare toothbrush he had kept. 

🎤 He places you in his bed and lays down on the floor right next to the bed. He tries to fall asleep but every 10 minutes he’s awakened with the sound of a loud crash. He feels something heavy on him as he notices that you keep falling out of bed into his warmth. How’d you manage to fall out of his king sized bed every time? You’d whisper to him about how you wanted to feel his warmth. He had to calm his inner beast several times after hearing that. After it happened over and over again he was not having it. 

🎤 He laid you down on his bed again but this time he got in with you. He spooned you with his arms around you. You finally stopped wriggling and stayed to fall asleep. The next morning he jumps up to see your adorable sleeping face first thing in the morning.

🎤 He blushes seeing you in his bed, sleeping so soundly, not even a earthquake would wake you up. His mornings have always been boring, he got up and everyday it was always lonely and empty in his apartment. Then having to wake up by you he felt something. He felt so warm and relaxed. He realized how much he had wanted you to be the one to wake up with every morning. He just instantly knew you were the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. (◡△◡✿)

♛ Jumin ♛ 

♛ After everything you both had gone through, Jumin just gradually came to know he wanted you to be the one he would be with. Nobody else but only you, could ever fill that desire of his. 

♛ The small things you would do for him, or the small things you would say to him, they just all piled up into an emotion he was unaware of, love. Even after marrying you so soon he never stops finding even more reasons to love you.

♛ There had been one day when the two of you had been visiting Jaehee at her café. The place was so busy Jaehee didn’t even notice the two of you come in. Jumin hated how the place was so loud and cramped, but you’d begged for the two of you to come and if you wanted or needed something he would do anything to get it for you, so here the both of you were.

♛ “Sweetie what should we get? I came here with Saeyoung last week, everything tastes so good!” You lean over to him as you share a menu with him to look at the category of appetizing drinks and desserts on the list.

♛ “You came here with Saeyoung? You could’ve always brought me-” You place the menu down before crossing your arms, “That’s not important right now!” You giggle as you hold the menu back up to continue looking for what to eat.

♛ Suddenly, a child with a tray of drinks in her hands accidentally trips spilling the liquid all over your black pencil dress. Jumin is in a hurry to help you get napkins for you, he doesn’t want you to catch a cold.

♛ Yet, you give him a quick smile before proceeding to crouch on the floor to make sure the child is okay. Jumin’s angry at the situation but he would never be angry at the child, he knew it was an accident. He crouched next to you as he kept a arm around your shoulder. You help the child up as you say, “Are you okay, little one?” The child nods with a apologetic look. You assure her it’s okay and she returns to her parents. They apologize to you as they are in panic not knowing what to do before telling them you’re fine. He’s surprised at how good you’re with kids. It makes him wonder what’d be like to have a child with you. Especially one that resembled you. 

♛ “We can come back in the future, let’s get you some new clothes darling.” You nod as you both leave after waving at Jaehee who finally noticed you two when the child spilled her drink on you. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

👓 Saeyoung 👓 

👓 Saeyoung became more busy by day, he was tasked in a pile of work but weirdly, you felt like he was just overworking himself in a excuse to push you away. With the help of Saeran and Vanderwood you successfully took Saeyoung out with you to a park for a date.

👓When you got there, the fresh smell of flowers were the first thing you noticed. There were not a lot of people, but it was better this way. You were also glad you wore jeans because the grass was untrimmed it looked like a jungle.

👓 You laid down on the grass near a river as he reluctantly followed you and sat down. It was quiet for a while before you pointed out at the clouds that had funny shapes. You pointed one particular cloud out implying they looked like Saeyoung glasses. He chuckled a little before noticing it. He looked away embarrassed as he tried to act like he did not just laugh.

👓 You laugh...a little too loud it makes him refuse to look at you. You pout as you push his shoulders to make him lay down. You smile a little mischievously as you block his view from the sky. You place a small peck on his lips and holds his chin, “I know what you’re afraid of, but I won’t leave. I’m here to stay, unless you continue pushing me away. Or... is that not why you’re avoiding me? Have you...lost interest in me?”

👓 His eyes widen at your words as he furiously pushes you to switch positions. Now he’s on top of you. “No! That’s... that’s not true. I love you. I’ve always wanted you to be my little 606 from day one till the day death would do us apart.”

👓 “Then you need to show me that. You need to stop pushing me away because that will do us no good. Cause...I’ll always be here for you and you will always be here for me in the end.” He nods with a grin ear to ear before leaning in to kiss you. (◕‿-)

🌚 Saeran 🌚 

🌚 Let’s be honest, Saeran just knew you were the one when you showed him love and sincerely cared for him. But if there was one thing stopping the both of you from happiness, it was that he kept pushing you away like Saeyoung because he thought he wasn’t good enough for you. He thought you deserved so much more than a “mess” like him. But you knew that wasn’t true. He was more than what you wanted. He just didn’t have the confidence to see it though. 

🌚 It was another chilly day, the house felt so hard to breathe in. Maybe it was because of the rain that came overnight, or the silent treatment and cold shoulder Saeran gave you. Saeran had been in the bathroom for so long it had started to make you worry.

🌚 “Saeran? You okay darling?” You knock on the door, but you don’t want to barge in because you know he’s having a hard time. You want to respect that and give him space. He yells back at you, “JUST LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE! UGH...” You hear his groan at the end and feel something is terribly wrong.

🌚 You rush in and thankfully the door is not locked. You see him on the floor with a razor in his hands. His arm is bleeding and you fall weak on the floor in front of him. You hold his hand gently before hurriedly trying to get napkins only to end up ripping them by how quickly you are trying to rip them. You continue to sob as Saeran sits not knowing what to do. He instantly feels bad, he wouldn’t have done it if he knew it would hurt you this much. He knew you were always usually a happy person. And you rarely cried. But for you to be crying it meant that you were painfully sad. 

🌚 You press down on the wound to stop the bleeding. You place your other hand against his cheeks as you cry out, Saeyoung rushes in with Vanderwood. They immediately take Saeran to treat his wounds. It takes a bit but after noticing the therapy sessions Saeran went to weren’t helping him he stayed home with you. At first everyone worried because he was so clingy to be with you, he wouldn’t even let you go anywhere. 

🌚 Later, that got better when he came to realize that he didn’t need to change for him to deserve you because you always reminded him that he was already perfect. \m/(>.<)\m/

♧ Jihyun ♧ (In reference to his song “The Compass” ●´ω｀● )

♧ It was the day before V would leave to travel around the world so he could learn to love himself before rushing into another relationship with you. You wanted to give him something before you left so you went over to his house. You ringed the doorbell but there was no answer. You found it strange because Jumin had told you Jihyun would be home. Worried, you peak in the window. Yes its kind of creepy but for the sake of this headcanon... You see that he’s home but he’s going over his pictures with Rika, pictures he’d taken of Rika, and her belongings. A unknown wave of emotions rushed over you. Why were you crying? You knew that what Rika and he had was just obsession not true love. But you still understood that he needed to recover and forget about Rika. So... why were you were crying? You calmed yourself down reminding yourself that you needed to give him time to heal.

♧ You look up when you notice Jihyun, he’s crouching down in front of you, a hand on your shoulder with a concerned face. “Mc? What’s wrong? I didn’t know you were coming. Sorry for leaving you out here in the cold. Since when were you here?” You are in a hurry to wipe your tears as you refuse to look at his eyes your gaze somehow ends up on the box of Rika’s belongings. 

♧ He glances down at the box before looking back up at you with a smile. He places the box down as he places his hands on your cheeks, “I’m sorry I never made it clear to you. I don’t love her. In fact I never did and I only realize it now with your help.” You place your hands on top of his as you feel how cold they are. “I didn’t mean to stare...sorry.”

♧ He shakes his head, “Please. Don’t apologize.” He soon then looks down at his wrist watch, “Ah...my cab will be coming soon. It would break my heart to leave you here in tears...” Before he says more, you cut him off. “It’s fine, I only came to give you this.” You hand him a small brooch shaped as a sun. You smile, “To remind you, that you're like the sun.”

♧ He stares at you baffled for a minute, before he returns a sweet smile, “Thank you. Ah, that reminds me...I also have something to give you.” He rummages through his pocket to take out a small compass. “Please see it when I leave. Oh, sorry. Of course you could see it right now...but that would rather be...embarrassing. So please, I would appreciate it for you to read it when I’m gone.” You nod and he smiles to pick up Rika’s belongings. “I’m going to leave this at where it should go. It would do no good for me to keep it.” You don’t quite know where he’s exactly bringing the box. But regardless, you nod as he walks you back home. He promises you that he will often call and text you as before he leaves for his cab.

♧ When you’re back on your bed after a warm bath, you fiddle with V’s gift before opening it. It’s a vintage compass with a small sun in the East heading West. You find a note with it and it says, “The sun always sets in the West. In the West, you’ve always waited for me. You were always the one for me.”

HBADBJADGADBJAB KILL ME V’s is so cringe...T.T Please listen to his song “The Compass” if you want to understand it better because I suck at explaining...heh...

[mrsmalfoymagic]

Card Three

“S. Black”

Great, just what we needed, more fuel to add to the fire of rumours and speculations about us.

Sirius and I were close. Too close, many of our classmates would argue. And I got it, there was no denying there was a… tension about us – I’d always catch him staring up at me in the great hall, but that’s only because I’d be looking in the first place. But we were best friends. Always hung out and studied together, spent all of our weekends with the rest of the Marauders (although somehow it would result in just the two of us heading off together as we’d have lost track from our conversations and torments). We were an unrivalled duo. Every year we’d rig the system so that we’d be on the same timetable, even at desperate times he’d used Polyjuice potion just so that he could be in the same classes as me when he had free periods.

But no. Just friends. At least, that’s what I liked to convince myself, and had done for the entirety of our time at Hogwarts.

So, this was going to be totally fine if I kept my composure.

With that, trying to cast any unruly thoughts aside, I approached the door to the closet. James Potter was stood there, and with a friendly greet and wink, he allowed me in.

Damn, this room is small.

It wasn’t even a solid minute before the door opened again, allowing a small glimpse of light into the room. I held my breath as I could sense Sirius was now behind me knocking shelves, kicking supplies and cursing as he ran his hands through the empty space ahead trying to find his bearings in the swallowing darkness.

“Where the hell are you?” Sirius laughed in defeat, before accidentally snagging at my hand.

Accidentally, I was sure. So why was he not letting go?

I felt the pressure of being issued closer to him, sliding against his forearm until I was directly in front, his wild curls reaching to my shoulders.

“Might want to keep your distance, Sirius. Don’t want them to talk.” I insinuated about our classmates.

“They already talk.” His voice was tired.

“Right. Just like the rumour about the library.”

“And Hogsmeade.”

“During Divinations class.”

“- Under the whomping willow. My personal favourite.” I could hear his trademark smirk.

“- Only because you started that one.”

“You never complained though, did you?” He now webbed his fingers between mine. I didn’t reply, instead took a long, broken breath, and gulped as I considered what he was doing. He was never this way with me, never handsy or intimate. His voice was melting me, but I could never show it.

He continued with a changing tone. It was darker, laced with temptation as his grip tightened.

“You know, come to think of it, part of me has thought for a while you wouldn’t mind if the rumours were true.”

“Strange,” I responded with a similar overdosing charm, “I get the same sense from you.”

He laughed cheekily, and I could feel myself coming undone with the hot breath now fanning my face, made worse by the concept of the pair of us flirting. It could be brushed off as banter and teasing in any other setting. But here? We were seducing each other.

“Maybe you’re right. We have to tolerate the whispers already, why not get something out of it?”

His other hand now found its way towards my side and seized me into him. My chest was in direct contact with his and I could feel the rumble of his heartbeat over me.

“You sure you want to?” I asked, feeling a chill slither up my spine.

“It’s just me. What’s the worst that could happen?” he reassured. His lips were closer now that I could practically taste him - an inebriating burn of black coffee and wet grass.

My fingertips relaxed onto his knuckles as I found hold of several locks of his shaggy brown hair with my other hand. I was lost in the moment, forgetting the reality that I was stood in front of Sirius, someone I had considered my best friend. Granted, I clearly had feelings for him, but for him to feel the same? Surely, I was going mad and would soon find myself waking back up from this dream.

“Tell me,” he whispered, his breath skimming mine, “How you really feel.”

I had to be honest with him; admit to the secret even I had tried to convince myself of otherwise. He needed to know. Maybe he was waiting for me to admit my truth before he could admit his.

Either way, trapped here, for however many more minutes - there was no escape from it.

“I want this, Sirius.” I at long last confessed.

Suddenly his hand outlined my form until finding my face. His thumb pinched my cheek as his palm held my face up to align with his. This was it. The moment I had tried desperately to block out of my conscience – had fought so hard to dismiss.

“You want me to kiss you?” His voice was serious. I nodded against his grasp and leant in an inch; enchanted into total submission.

But just as my lip touched his, my knees gave in, feeling an imbalance below my feet and began to sink. I looked down but found I was perfectly still. Sirius was still as calm as he had been, but suddenly his eyes were hollow and clouded, as if he were no longer there.

I could feel myself disappearing from him, my soul sinking in my body, like melting chocolate inside a shelled candy. Without the roar in my throat, I could still hear myself scream, then in a blinding jolt of light, I was back at my seat in the room of requirement, where I had been before I had drawn Sirius’ card.

 Coming to, I found Sirius kneeling on the floor ahead of me. He had a look of sincerity and concern.

“You dick.” I cursed, realising what he had done - that I hadn’t almost kissed Sirius, never had that conversation, never entered the closet, was never even given a card initially.

Shoving him away as he stared cautiously towards me, I got up from my seat and left with haste, bypassing the choir of wolf whistles as per our usual encounters.

“Y/n!” he called as I brushed past him. But this wasn’t a game to me. This wasn’t just a stupid prank.

 “Why didn’t you tell me?” Sirius’ voice came from behind as he continued to follow me out of the room of requirement, all the while my whole body seized with shame and disgust.

“I don’t suppose I need to.” My voice was breaking through the forming tears, “You did a brilliant job finding out yourself. Legilimency Spell, how clever of you!”

“You don’t understand.”

I spun on my heel and, with gritted teeth, confronted him. As he made his way to me, surprisingly his nose was flared in a desperate concealment of a smirk.

“Find it funny, do you?” I scorned.

“Not at all.” He said serenely, locking his cedar eyes in mine and taking my hand while the other wiped away the still budding tears at my waterline.

“I need to show you something.” He snatched my hand and directed me hurriedly through all manner of corridors - some guarded by Prefects which meant our usual stealthy escapades, which seemed to alleviate some hostility I had towards him, until at long last we made it to a forbidden section of the grounds. Or more, an area we had yet to have ventured together.

 “Where are we?” I snapped in hushed tones as we made way through the labyrinth of unfamiliar doors and unused classrooms.

“Shush,” he hissed, now weaving his fingers between mine to guide me further, “Filch will catch us.”

 We made it to the end of the hall – which showcased a grand, towering oak door.

“Lupin and I found this place last week.” He informed, bringing out his wand to perform an unlocking spell.

“Outstanding.” I replied coldly, mostly from the embarrassment of his knowledge of my feelings towards him, “But what does that have to do with me?”

“You’ll see.” He opened the door and allowed me in. The stale neglected space was like any other disused classroom – chipped, richly detailed stone columns, smashed stained glass pains, cracked stone floor, and deteriorating, humming pipes overhead.

The only remaining furniture was a spectacle all unto its own. A royal gold mirror standing proudly in the centre of the room. The reflection seemed to showcase clouds of rust. On its head were three tiers, like a crown, with transcribable text just below.

“Is that why we’re here?” I pointed at the vintage accessory as Sirius play safely locked the door before approaching me slowly.  

“When he and I left, Remus did a little research. It’s called the Mirror of Erised.”

I was still unsettled by his actions, so raised a brow at him to insinuate my disregard.

“According to Remus,” he continued on in exasperation of my reactions, “It shows you your deepest desires.”

My stomach lurched.

“So, you want me to stand in front of this, too? To prove what point exactly? You know how I feel. You can stop mocking me about it now -”

“- You don’t know how I feel, y/n.”

Sirius tucked his hands into his pockets, stretching his arms uncomfortably.

“We were toying around with it. Lupin… saw a full moon with him stood under it – as a human.” He gave a suggestive look. We both knew about Remus’ condition, and I crinkled my lips in pity.

“I, on the other hand,” he continued sadly, failing to look me in the eyes. Instead, cupping my hands in his once more, much like he did in my reverie.

“I saw you.” He turned to face his reflection in the mirror. His expression was profound as he acknowledged it, “I still see you.”

I flinched, and instinctively clasped onto Sirius’ wrists. My chest pulsed heavily in shock.

“Seeing your reflection next to mine, it made me realise something I’d always tried to ignore, because I never fully understood it. Until now.”

He paused, and I could now see the fight in the creases of his face, down to the twitch in his lips – he was trying to brave looking at me, admitting his own truth aloud to both himself and to me.

“I don’t want to be just friends with you, y/n. I don’t want rumours and gossip. I don’t want missed opportunities and wasted moments. And I’m sorry – really, I am – for tonight, for not telling you last week, for not telling you years ago. That you are my deepest desire.”

He finally found me and trapped me in his sights - confirming his place in my eyes with a solemn half grin.

“That’s why I charmed you. I was too much of a coward to tell you, too worried I’d ruin our friendship. I’d tried before to see how you felt – the rumour about the whomping willow. You didn’t react. So, when I heard about the game tonight, I took my opportunity to finally see if you felt the same.”

He took an adrenaline filled trembling breath.

“So, no charms, no spells, no Polyjuice potion. Just me and you. After everything. Do you still want this?”

[rivalsforlife]

I DIDNT KNOW YOU WERE DOING COMMENTARY hope it's not too late to ask for The Scene at the end of chapter 5 of the catch up game?? if no one else has asked?

It is never too late to ask!! Genuinely you could probably ask me six months from now and I’ll ramble on about all this, I’m generally down to talk about my writing all the time. (And I’m actually a little surprised nobody asked about The Scene yet... oh well haha)

First though: have you seen this art yet? If you haven’t you should. It was going around twitter again lately and I love it a lot so I wanted to advertise it while I had the chance.

Anyways, keeping under a “keep reading” here:

So. The Scene. First I’ll present my notes from the outline when I was trying to figure out this fic:

Miles lets his feelings slip, Phoenix doesn’t take it too well, they part on a kind of awkward note.

Somehow “kind of an awkward note” ended up being uhhh that!

Anyways before we get into this I want to say that I really did not think it would have that much of an emotional impact? I got a much bigger reaction than I thought and that’s around when people really started talking about it on the narumitsu discord and stuff, so I ended up for the rest of the week soooo stressed out that I’d accidentally gone in a completely different direction than I’d planned and set people’s expectations too high and they would be COMPLETELY DISAPPOINTED IN THE REST OF THE FIC but uh luckily that didn’t happen! I think. At least if anyone was super disappointed they didn’t tell me about it!

And it was probably partially that I am not very uhh good with emotions and also probably that I got pretty desensitized to my work but I genuinely did not think it was that bad until I saw Ro’s art and then went “ohhh suddenly I am consumed with so much guilt...” (and also doubted how in character this scene was. how can ANYONE say no to that face --)

Most critically though, this scene distracted everyone from whatever the hell was going on with the casefic earlier in the chapter, so overall I think it’s a success.

Sorry it’s taking a while to get to the actual scene, but I wrote a few drafts of this thing beforehand and modified it a lot trying to get it right. I needed it to be sufficiently dramatic but I didn’t want it to seem like... I was just adding it in there for extra conflict? Like you know sometimes you read stuff and you’re like “where the hell did this sudden argument come from” yeah. I wanted to avoid that if I could, so partially this was supported by the weight of chapter 4 to explain Phoenix’s reasons for the rejection and then chapter 6 is supposed to elaborate more, but I still needed this to stand fairly well on its own.

The overall theme of this chapter was “Opposites”, and again, here’s what I had in my fic notes:

I want to contrast how Phoenix sees Miles and how Miles sees Phoenix. Because they both kind of see each other as an amazing person while seeing themselves as failures. Maybe at the end Phoenix is kind of putting himself down and Miles argues about it and then they have a slight argument. Miles lets his feelings slip, Phoenix doesn’t take it too well, they part on a kind of awkward note.

I couldn’t really find a way to integrate this conversation in naturally, so I could only get Phoenix’s perspective in there a little bit. Originally Miles’ confession wasn’t supposed to be planned, just a spur of the moment in the middle of an argument where Phoenix kind of goes “I don’t understand why you keep hanging out with me, why are you spending so much time with me, I’m not struggling, I don’t need you worrying about me” and Miles interrupts with a “Because I love you, you idiot!” ... But I couldn’t get that to work because the buildup into the argument felt too abrupt. 

Last little bit of something just before the argument (some of the dialogue here went into the chapter 4 dinner conversation instead):

Miles: (quietly) I’ve spent most of my life trying to climb higher in my career, in order to fight corruption as best I could. And I have, and every day my mission is growing closer to completion, or at least as much as it can. But after that… (staring at some kids’ toy) what’s left for me? I’ve taken a rather unconventional path through life. I’m starting to wonder about opportunities I’ve missed.

Phoenix: (jokingly) Is that some long-winded way of telling me you’re planning on settling down?

Miles: I’d never settle. But in some sense, I suppose so.

Phoenix: (stopping in his tracks) You’re kidding. L-Like, what, in a year or so I’m gonna walk in to your office one day and find you with a wife and kids?

Miles: (rolling his eyes) You do know that I’m gay, don’t you? And why would I keep them in my office? There’s no need to be so melodramatic, Wright.

Again couldn’t fit it in I just found it funny. ANYWAYS FINALLY MOVING AWAY FROM THE DRAFTS AND TO THE ACTUAL THING, I’ll skip ahead a bit to just before the confession:

“How long has it been since I came here?” 

“I dunno… since before I got my badge back, probably.”

“That sounds about right.” Edgeworth sighed and leaned against Phoenix’s desk. “I’ve barely gotten the chance to see you, since you got your badge back and I took my new position. I’ve missed going up against you in court.”

“I don’t,” Phoenix teased, slipping his case notes into his desk drawer. “You’re a nightmare.”

“You’re one to talk.” The corners of Edgeworth’s eyes crinkled as he looked over at him. “You can be so infuriating, but I do like working with you. I had fun today.”

Phoenix raised an eyebrow. “Fun? You?”

“I suppose age has softened me up.”

“I didn’t think anything could soften you up.”

“You’d be surprised. I often have fun when I’m with you. I always…” He trailed off, averting his eyes and gripping his elbow. “I’ve been… thinking, a bit. On our earlier conversation.”

So basically... Miles got preeetty close to confessing during their dinner in chapter 4, but kinda backed out at the last moment, and he’s been agonizing over this ever since. Because the way he interpreted their conversation was sort of “We both want to move forward into a relationship but don’t know how to take the steps to do so”, whereas Phoenix interpreted more as a consensus that “We could probably start a relationship and there are feelings there but it wouldn’t really work out so we just won’t ever talk about it”.

And Miles throughout this fic assumed that Phoenix has been in love with him for a while and only holding back for Miles’ own sake, and waiting for Miles to signal that he’s actually ready to move into a romantic relationship. ... Which is very much not the case. What makes today different though is that Miles got to watch Phoenix solve mysteries, and I’m of the opinion that Miles considers Phoenix at his most attractive when he is uncovering the truth!! so Miles pretty much just saw him solve this case and go “I must kiss this man on the lips Right Now” but thought he should clear some things up before he did that.

which is good because if he just walked up to Phoenix and kissed him without preamble I’m pretty sure Phoenix would have died, so.

Something imperceptibly changed in the atmosphere. It made Phoenix’s heart race faster in anticipation. “Oh? Which one?”

“The one we had during the last dinner we shared.”

“O-Oh.” That had been weeks ago. Surely Phoenix had forgotten something.

“Everything has changed so much, over the course of my career, between us.” Edgeworth’s eyes flickered up to him briefly before settling back down on the desk. “I’ve never been afraid of moving forward, but this, I want…” He exhaled, shakily. “Give me a minute. This is… difficult.”

Phoenix kind of... knows, subconsciously, where this is going, but he’s trying to deny it until the last minute because he’s very unprepared and has no idea how to deal with this... which will become very clear by the end of the scene.

Miles is tricky to write in a confession scene because he can be kind of weird with emotions? Sometimes he’ll give these Grand Speeches about how much That Man means to him but at the same time he struggled a lot with talking about his feelings during the trilogy and I think he’d still struggle with it now. Especially something as raw and vulnerable as a love confession.

And Miles is also someone who is, at least by the Investigations duology, determined to pursue what is Right and what is the Truth without any sort of hesitation. However pursuing Wright is different. (insert horrible forced laugh track)

“W-Well, don’t strain yourself,” Phoenix insisted. “We can talk another day. I-It’s getting late, after all, we should —”

“We should stop dancing around the issue.” Edgeworth’s eyes snapped up and locked with Phoenix’s, pinning him in place. “Don’t go easy on me now, of all times.”

oh man I have to admit I got really into Persona 5 Royal for like a few weeks around the time I was writing this and that “don’t go easy on me now of all times” is looosely inspired by a similar line in there that’s like “do you think I’d be happy with being shown mercy now, of all times?” because although it’s a different dynamic than narumitsu I was uh. intrigued.

... sorry it’s so vague I wanted to avoid spoilers anyways, moving on,

Phoenix’s mouth ran dry. Edgeworth couldn’t possibly be planning to —

“Everything has changed between us,” continued Edgeworth. “I want things to — to continue to change, I-I want to be closer, is—” He sucked a breath in through his teeth “— is it not obvious?”

Hadn’t they agreed, in that way they could agree without saying a word, that they were never going to talk about this?

Phoenix broke his gaze. “No. It’s not. I— I don’t want to argue with you. It’s late.”

Pretty much same as previous notes: Phoenix in extreme denial that this is actually happening whereas Miles is just trying to force it all out.

Phoenix is kind of trying to talk Miles down from confessing; Miles is sort of interpreting it as “Wright isn’t going to let me get away with not actually saying this so I need to be more direct.” 

I’m sure that later when Miles is curled up on his bed wondering where he went wrong he’ll think of that :)

“Phoenix.”

The use of his first name forced Phoenix to look up again.

Edgeworth stared at him for a long time. There was something impossible swimming just under the surface of his grey eyes.

“Phoenix Wright,” he said. “I am in love with you.”

HE DID IT!! He’s so brave I’m sure that nothing can go wrong!!

Gossip was one thing. Lingering touches and stolen glances, Phoenix could deal with those. The knowledge that Edgeworth was interested in him in a not-so-platonic way… that was more than enough.

This, hearing Edgeworth say the words out loud, was another thing entirely. Even if Phoenix already knew. Nothing could have prepared him for — for whatever this was, for Edgeworth, looking at him all open and vulnerable, and — and saying —

“Wh… What…?”

Edgeworth tilted his head slightly to the side, causing his bangs to fall into his face. “Surely you’ve figured it out already?”

“I-I don’t understand…”

At first there was a line right after “Even if Phoenix already knew” that was “Even if he felt the same”, but then I decided to make it so Phoenix can’t even admit his feelings to himself, so I cut that one out.

Anyways this is shocking to Phoenix partially because of Denial but also because he didn’t expect Miles to actually come out and say something like this. He’s used to Miles being closed off with his emotions and doesn’t think him the type to ever directly acknowledge them, so it’s got him totally off guard, too. It’s unpredictable for someone who is supposed to know Miles so well so it’s very unnerving for him.

“I… I think you are incredible,” said Edgeworth. “Your single-minded dedication to truth and justice. Your compassion. Your mercy. The way you… brought light, brought life, back into my world. You can be so frustrating, and stubborn, but that’s part of why I have always admired you so much.” The corners of his eyes softened. “You saved me a thousand times over, and I want to spend the rest of my life by your side… however you want me.”

Miles generally people go on at least one date before proposing marriage but okay.

One thing I find interesting about Miles as a character is that he’s very much an all-or-nothing kind of person... he doesn’t ever really half-ass things and he doesn’t know how to do things gradually haha. He won’t allow the truth to be covered in darkness for even a moment even if it makes things easier for him in the long run. Saying “I think you’re great, maybe we should go on a few dates and see how things end up?” is probably the SENSIBLE thing to say, but Miles puts 100% of himself into everything that he does post-character development; and he’s secure enough in his relationship with Phoenix that he doesn’t really feel the need to test the waters. Plus Miles is allergic to uncertainty, so by the time he confesses he’d need to be absolutely certain that he loved Phoenix Wright and was prepared to pretty much go all in with him.

after all Phoenix feels the same way right!!

Phoenix stared. His heartbeat was reverberating in his ears. “I don’t know what to say. … Me.”

“Who else?”

“Who — a-anyone else. God, Edgeworth, what even is that shit, about me being i-intelligent, and dedicated, and compassionate, and — and — incredible, geez, I’m a wreck! I—” His voice wavered into a fit of near hysteria. “The only reason I’ve gotten this far is ‘cause I’ve always had amazing people by my side, and — and once they’re gone I’m back to whatever I usually am, I-I only have this one suit, I still haven’t got my freaking driver’s license, I don’t think I’ve eaten anything but instant meals in a month—”

(And he looked to Edgeworth, desperately, but Edgeworth was still gazing at him, expression gentle, gentle yet unyielding, not taking back his words or expressing an ounce of regret — why wasn’t he changing his mind —)

“You’re describing yourself more than me,” said Phoenix weakly. “Really, I’m not — I’m not like that, okay, I’m not…” He forced himself to take a deep breath. “Why are you telling me this?”

This is the one part that stayed consistent throughout all drafts of this scene haha. Some of it is echoes from what Godot told him back in Bridge to the Turnabout about him always needing someone to swoop in at the last minute to the rescue; others are sort of a loose refence to his behaviour during the beginning of RFTA and Reunion and Turnabout where he couldn’t really function without Maya there to look after.

This part sort of ties more into that objective I had with this chapter of contrasting how they see themselves; they both see each other as incredible people, because they don’t really get to see inside each other and see how much of a wreck they feel.

Also the very first sort of script of this confession had Phoenix saying “I thought you knew me better than this!” but that just seemed way too cruel for this haha.

“I know that I… that I have difficulty with these things,” said Edgeworth, fingers gripping the edge of the desk. “I’ve never been the most open of people and we’ve — we’ve always been so distant, for so long. I wasn’t there for you when I should have been, and I want that to change. Because, ever since we met… you’ve been such a major part of my life. I never thought I would live to be older than my father. I never thought I would be happy with myself. But you, you came into my life, and you changed all that.”

(That wasn’t you,) a voice in Phoenix’s heart whispered. (You only started it. The rest was all him.)

“But I don’t want to be satisfied with what I have right now. I still want more. There’s still a part of life I want to explore, and… I want to do it with you.”

(He’s always been fine without you. One day he’s going to realize it too, and then…)

“I’m tired of hiding my emotions and being too afraid to upset the status quo when it comes to relationships. I refuse to be scared of that anymore.”

(Why isn’t he scared, too?)

ugh this was the hardest part to write I think...? Trying to figure out a way to get Phoenix’s internal feelings across where it doesn’t come out of nowhere. I settled with a lot of internal thoughts that are just like... self-loathing, pretty much.

Meanwhile Miles has prepared this whole emotional monologue that Phoenix is only half listening to, basically about what a huge impact Phoenix has had in his life and how he’s sort of... now that he’s presumably made large steps to fixing the justice system he’s turning to more personal goals in life, and one of those goals is spending his life with Phoenix, if he can be brave enough to do it.

Phoenix isn’t paying attention though because he’s too busy panicking...

“Most of all, I… I couldn’t hide anything from you for long. I’d trust you with the world. You’re my equal, and my opposite.” Something resembling a shaky smile crossed Edgeworth’s face. “And I love you.”

me shoving the “theme of the day” in there awkwardly

But he smiles!! This is one of the rare occasions where Miles kind of does smile... there’s a lot of “almost-smile”s or brief smiles and Miles is scared out of his wits here but he’s happy. he finally got that off his chest. he was brave and he told Phoenix how he felt and they’ll be so, so happy together, nothing can possibly go wrong,

The words knocked out any breath Phoenix had managed to regain. His skin suddenly felt cold and clammy, and he was faced with vertigo more intense than standing on rooftops. What was happening to him?

There was something he was supposed to say to this. He should react to this normally. His mouth was drier than a desert. His tongue felt unsightly and awkward in his mouth.

“I shouldn’t have to tell you that if I have somehow misinterpreted, I won’t mention this again.” Unease and uncertainty flickered behind Edgeworth’s eyes. “And I would never be upset, as long as you tell me the truth. I want to take the next steps of my life with you. … Do you feel the same way?”

oh yeah this part was a little tricky too. Pretty much Phoenix is on the verge of a full-blown panic attack and cannot think of a response, even a nice polite rejection... and finally Miles starts realizing that something’s off, because before he was just running on adrenaline to try and get his feelings out that he didn’t stop to examine Phoenix’s reactions, otherwise he would’ve started overthinking and psyched himself out. But now that he got it out and seeing Phoenix pretty much in shock he’s starting to worry he’d made a mistake.

Also “unease and uncertainty” is definitely an “unnecessary feelings” reference because I’m shameless.

Yes, Phoenix wanted to say, yes, I do, and say what he felt, what he wanted. But the words wouldn’t come.

Why couldn’t he say it? It should be easy. If he truly wanted this, it should be as easy as breathing.

His vision swam with pink butterflies, he ran his tongue over the scars in his mouth, his breath caught jagged on the edges of chains —

Aaaand if either one of them had the magatama right now there would be the psyche-locks! I was gonna elaborate on this a lot but this is so far waaay longer than I intended so I’ll spare you and give a brief summary.

Essentially there are three locks. I wrote them as sort of representing each issue that Phoenix needs to acknowledge for them to break -- not necessarily fix, because that would be a super tricky thing, but acknowledging they’re there is a start. They’re pretty much “Trust”, “Abandonment”, and “Vulnerability”. Later I realized those issues are pretty much tied up in each other so instead I just made it so that each one is set by a traumatic event, and then acknowledging those events is what breaks them.

The first is an obvious “Dahlia and Iris really screwed up Phoenix’s ability to trust a partner romantically”. I love Iris but she really did mess him up as well. Phoenix kind of convinced himself he’s over this issue now since Iris was a good person! but really he’s still messed up about it. (And that’s where the butterflies + scars in his mouth sort of come from). Talking to Iris and acknowledging that he’s still hurting over it is what breaks this one.

The second is more directly related to all the times Miles himself has abandoned him particularly throughout the series. Some of the hurt when Miles prosecuted him in Turnabout Sisters, and definitely a lot regarding “Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth Chooses Death”, it’s pretty much him being scared to get /too/ attached to Miles because he fears Miles might abandon him again. This one breaks in chapter 7 when he has the whole realization that Miles might die and leave him regardless, and acknowledges how afraid he is of Miles leaving again.

And the last is more of acknowledging his need to be needed by people and help people but they move on without him and not don’t really him in their lives. This built up more gradually... with littler things like Apollo leaving the Agency and Maya not being around as much and Trucy moving out. Neither of these are Big Bad Traumatic Events like the other two but it’s still an issue Phoenix has that he needs to acknowledge. Trucy’s letter breaks this one by telling him he’s never going to be alone and they all love him and are there for him. And that’s why right after reading the letter he can tell Miles that he loves him.

So that’s that. Moving back to the actual story now...

“Phoenix?”

Edgeworth still stood so close, too close, and when Phoenix breathed his senses were assaulted by the scent of his cologne and — and he was too close, and his words were too much, Edgeworth couldn’t be in love with him. Attracted, sure, but love — how could he so easily say love?

This wasn’t like Edgeworth. This wasn’t how things were before, this wasn’t how things had always been, every time things changed too fast something would go wrong, every time things changed too fast Edgeworth would leave again —

(— and right now Edgeworth’s body was coiled tight with tension, like a spring, ready to take off at any sudden movement —)

— and Phoenix couldn’t say a word.

Fairly self-explanatory I think: basically acknowledging that fear that Miles is going to leave again.

Phoenix was standing on the edge of a turnabout. Somewhere he’d have to take the plunge for victory, for the truth. He’d never shied from them before. He’d always accepted the risks. And they’d (almost always) paid off.

But something had Phoenix in a vice. Dark chains that wrapped around his chest and constricted his lungs. Something that would drown him if he took the plunge. Something that whispered that he could not risk this, his heart and his life in one. There was too much to lose. It was all too much.

That little (almost always) there is referencing that one time he presented the critical case-changing evidence and got disbarred for it; his disbarment messed him up pretty bad too, I guess it’d fit in the category of the third psyche-lock.

And of course the second paragraph references the psyche-locks more directly before they actually show up.

The words came. They weren’t the ones he wanted.

“No,” said Phoenix. “No, I don’t.”

The rattling in Phoenix’s head cut out. Silence fell over the room.

Pretty much once Phoenix stops pressing the issue the psyche-locks stop shaking. I imagine they’re a pretty terrible thing to break directly; he can’t do it on his own like this.

“... I see,” said Edgeworth, and something snapped shut, drew tight, rigid, back to a statue. “I thought… nevermind.”

Miles kind of draws back into himself all tightly-controlled, less open than before, because that really hurt him a lot. He’d probably prefer it than Phoenix being all evasive and sort of reassuring because he prefers people just cut straight to the facts, but that was direct even for him.

And of course he thought that Phoenix did feel that way about him. He was certain of it. So hearing Phoenix didn’t and he was completely wrong is... not good.

He’d gone so still. At the sight of it, whatever spell was holding Phoenix in its grasp broke, and he came back to reality — this wasn’t right, this wasn’t good, he had to fix this, somehow, bring things back to the way they were, “Edgeworth—”

And the sight of Miles completely freezing up and closing himself off is enough to break Phoenix free of the initial panic, because he does care a lot about Miles, and seeing him withdraw worries him.

“It’s getting late,” said Edgeworth, and only someone as experienced as Phoenix could detect the waver in his voice. “Thank you for being honest with me, Wright. I’ll talk to you later.”

The remark stung worse than a knife would, he couldn’t let it end like this. “I—”

The office door shut, none too gently. Phoenix was alone.

“... I’m sorry.”

That “thank you for being honest with me” wasn’t SUPPOSED to be a jab, of course, because Miles would prefer that Phoenix was honest than lie to him. But Phoenix did lie and that’s what bothers Phoenix the most throughout the next couple of chapters; they both value the truth so highly that lying to each other is inconceivable.

And Miles probably should have stuck around for a bit and heard Phoenix out and maybe Phoenix could have managed a half-decent explanation of “okay I don’t know what that was but this was very sudden and I’m panicking, can you give me time to process?” but if Miles stayed for much longer he probably would have started breaking down and that’s the last thing he wants to do right now, especially in front of Phoenix, so he left as soon as possible.

I think he managed to repress enough that he could get home safely, but the moment he crossed the threshold into privacy he probably had himself a good cry... curled up on the couch and watched some Steel Samurai with a tub of ice cream... but he was pretty emotionally devastated by this. It took a lot of effort for him to open up and be honest about his feelings so just being shut down like that... hurt a lot. He’d never admit it though.

anyways I also have this short bit of writing I posted a while back about Miles actually getting a hug after all this, because he really needs one.

And that’s the scene!! I think I said more than enough so I’ll end it here haha.

[precuredaily]

Precure Day 150

Episode: Yes! Precure 5 02 - “Full Throttle Passion, Cure Rouge!” Date watched: 2 October 2019 Original air date: 11 February 2007 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/xjAlUBg Project info and master list of posts: http://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

Ah, man, what a good episode. We learn a bit more about Nozmi and Rin’s bond, about Coco’s past, and about the villains. Plus there’s some great character beats. It’s still kind of a dense episode like last time but since it’s not introducing everything there’s some room to enjoy the moment. Let’s start!

The Plot

Nozomi can’t wait to tell Rin about becoming a superhero but Rin thinks she’s just playing around and is a little concerned at how spacey she’s being. Nozomi continues to insist that she’s telling the truth as they wait for class when Coco, in his human form, walks in, introduces himself as Kokoda Kouji, and announces he’ll be their homeroom teacher for a while.

(Notably, his family name basically amounts to “It’s Coco”, or you can derive “Coco” from the first syllable of each name)

After class, Nozomi drags him outside, and he explains that he wanted to stay close to her for the sake of Precure. Rin overhears this and asks what’s going on, so Coco explains to both of them about his homeland which has been devastated by the Nightmare Corporation, and how he needs the Dream Collet to restore it. Rin is understandably skeptical, but after Coco accidentally transforms back into his true form in front of her, she begins to believe his story. Nozomi asks her to become a Precure with her but Rin declines.

At the same time as this is happening, we get to see Nightmare headquarters for the first time: a giant, spooky skyscraper. Girinma announces to his boss that he’s found the Dream Collet but it slipped through his hands. The boss, Bunbee, mocks him and tells him that he needs to find the Collet for the sake of their boss, Despariah. 

Back in the classroom, Komachi and Karen come looking for Nozomi to ask her what happened in the library the other day, but Rin tells them she isn’t around. Later Rin flashes back to a time when she and Nozomi were young children, and Nozomi got hurt. Her worry is that Nozomi is impulsive and will hurt herself without Rin’s help. Nozomi also recounts the event to Coco, explaining that with Rin’s help she was able to forget the pain and keep moving forward. Coco segues this into an explanation that his best friend is trapped in the Dream Collet, and they need all 5 Precures gathered to release him, as well as to gather all 55 Pinkies to make a wish and restore the Palmier Kingdom. A Pinky happens to show up right there, but Girinma has been antagonizing Rin, chasing her to where the pair are, and Rin begs Nozomi to stay out of this Precure business, it’s too dangerous and she’ll get more than just hurt. Nozomi, however, is confident now, and tells Rin to watch her as she fights for Coco’s dream. She transforms into Cure Dream and begins to fight Girinma,

At the same time, Urara is sitting on a bench, practicing her lines: “I don’t want to put my friend in danger.” At that moment, a red butterfly flies past her, and her curiosity gets the better of her, so she follows it.

On the battlefield, Girinma has turned a lamppost into a Kowaina and uses it to grab Dream while taunting Rin for being scared, as he says that this is what happens to the fearless. Rin flashes back to her childhood again, this time she and Nozomi were walking down the street at night when a large bird flew in front of them and spooked Rin. Nozomi wishes the fear away and helps Rin stand up and keep walking. Rin says that of course she’s scared of the monsters, but what she’s most afraid of is losing Nozomi, her best friend, and she wants to do anything to help her now! At that moment, the butterfly appears and lands on Rin’s wrist, transforming into another Pinky Catch and allowing Rin to transform into Cure Rouge! Rouge battles Girinma, insisting that she and Nozomi have always been together, and will be together forever, and then launches her special attack at him: Precure Rouge Fire. This takes the form of a butterfly trailing a rope of fire, and it knocks Girinma into the Kowaina, freeing Nozomi and allowing her to use her finisher to destroy it.

Girinma retreats, the girls reconcile, and Rin says being Precure was too dangerous to let Nozomi do it alone. The Pinky is still around and Coco instructs Nozomi in how to catch it in great detail.

DX Pinky Catch in stores now, only ¥2000

As the two girls and Coco celebrate their victory, we see that Urara was spying on them from behind some bushes, and she asks out loud to herself “What’s a ‘Precure’?” DUN DUN DUN.

The Analysis

Rin is my favorite character in Yes 5, which is why she’s my avatar while I work through this series. This episode really demonstrates what I like about her: she’s very down-to-earth, kind of snarky, and gives Nozomi a lot of crap, but it’s because she truly cares about her and Nozomi isn’t exactly a clear thinker. She worries about her friend, and worries that she’s overstepped herself. Rin was surprised to see how Nozomi had matured without her realizing it, because she met Coco and found something to work towards, but she was still getting into trouble, so when Rin saw the extent of the danger she was in, she couldn’t do anything but to save her friend. Remember this down the road.

This is our first proper introduction to the Nightmare Corporation in their natural setting. Unlike the ANCIENT EVIL of the last three seasons, Nightmare is just a business, and their business model includes opportunities for advancement and presumably higher pay. Instead of being destroyed, failure means termination. Their secret base isn’t a cave in an alternate dimension, it’s a conference room in an office building, and the board is made of a bunch of people with Kowaina masks on.

Since the major theme presented so far is finding and chasing your dreams, having an oppressive corporation as the villain faction makes an interesting foil and a very interesting commentary on Japanese society, where conformity is everything and corporate employees are often expected to work brutally long hours at the detriment of their health.

We get to see just how much of a dreamer Nozomi really is in this episode. As soon as Coco says he wanted to watch over her at school, she blushes and assumes he means he wants to date her, which she’s certainly amenable to. Then, in a gag that results in him falling on top of her in a compromising position, she blushes deeply before pushing him off and declaring that she has a very specific plan for her first kiss: under a Christmas tree with her boyfriend. (remember this!)

Another good gag is that Urara has a penchant for reading scripts that tie in quite nicely to whatever is happening at that time. In episode 1 she reads “You have to find your own path yourself!” right as Nozomi is running by wondering what she should do with her life, and in this episode she says “I don’t want to put my friend in danger” at precisely the moment Rin is thinking that about Nozomi. I don’t remember this gag from my previous viewings of the show so I’ll be eager to see how frequently it happens. 

Speaking of her, I really like how they keep the other cures-to-be involved in the show before they actually get to transform. Urara is usually sitting alone, practicing her lines when someone or something comes along that grabs her attention. This is how she wound up spying on Nozomi and Rin’s fight, and will play into her becoming a cure. Komachi and Karen are also fun. They were baffled by the magically restoring library the previous day and want to ask Nozomi for an explanation. Their slightly different reactions betray their personalities: Karen is concerned about the wellbeing of the school and students with unexplained phenomena occurring, while Komachi views supernatural events as an exciting change of pace. Karen calls her “curious” for that, but Komachi says she prefers the term “inquisitive”. She’s similar to Honoka in that regard. Anyway, since it’s still a few episodes before either of them gets to transform, I’m glad that the writers thought up a natural way to have them around and incorporate them into the story, which makes it more natural when they do finally get to go. There have been shows that basically introduced the new cure the same week as her first transformation, not counting pinks for obvious reasons, so going back and seeing a show where they laid the groundwork is retroactively refreshing.

It’s interesting to me that despite being nearly 20 years old the first time I watched Yes 5, I didn’t really recognize how blatant the product placement was. The Dream Collet is clearly a toy, although unlike some artifacts from the previous seasons it at least looks like it could reasonably be a sacred artifact from a mystical civilization. The Pinky Catches are fairly small toys compared to the phones of the last three shows, being essentially large digital watches, or wrist-mounted v-pets. I always thought the fact that you have to open the glass cover to transform was a little weird but it’s not the end of the world. What really gets me, in the sense of “how did I not realize they were peddling toys”, is the bit at the end where Coco gives Nozomi a very detailed lesson on how to catch a Pinky, which for all intents and purposes is just opening the lid to the watch, shaking her wrist around, and then closing the lid. I assume there were some interactive elements in the toy where you could play with the captured Pinky but I don’t really know. Within the show, opening the lid gives Coco an instrument to lure the Pinky over to the Precure catching it. For Nozomi, this episode, it’s a bell. I don’t remember if it changes by cure or by Pinky or what so we’ll find out together.

Catching 55 Pinkies constitutes our Macguffin quest of the year, but since there are so many of them, each individual one isn’t a major event like the Prism Stones, Heartiels, or getting seven Miracle Drops and I’m pretty sure a lot of them get caught offscreen after a while. So far they’ve done a good job of not making it seem like the Pinkies are the be-all end-all of the plot.

I would be remiss if I neglected to mention that Rin’s seiyuu is Takeuchi Junko, who notably voiced Kenta in Splash Star immediately preceding this, but is probably most notable for being the voice of Naruto. Rin’s voice is a little higher pitched than in those other roles, which I assume is closer to Takeuchi’s natural speaking voice.

Additionally, Girinma is voiced by legendary seiyuu Nobuyuki Hiyama. His list of credits is extraordinarily long but he’s recognizable for his high-pitched voice. Notable other parts include Freezen in the second Max Heart film, Viral in Gurren Lagann, and Ikkaku in Bleach. Something I like about Girinma that I almost forgot to discuss is how he sounds very sly and confident when speaking to the girls, but pitiful when facing Bunbee. He stammers a lot in the office because he’s afraid. Also, his name is derived from kamakiri, the word for a praying mantis. Now you know!

Also there was a funny Kamen Rider reference near the beginning and that pleases my toku-loving heart.

I do want to talk about the music, and the clothes: both school uniforms and Precure outfits, but I will save those for a later post. Next time, things are going to get lively and lemon-scented as Urara takes center stage. Look forward to it!

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 1 kettei!

[raendown]

Chapter: 5/9 Pairing: MadaraTobirama Word count: 3534 Rated: M Summary: Walking patrol around a university for mages probably sounded like a wild time but Tobirama has never found it all that exciting. He’s not even technically supposed to be here. When responding to a tripped alarm becomes a desperate attempt to stay alive, however, excitement is the last thing on his mind. All he’s ever wanted is a quiet life alone with his books until he finds himself bound to Uchiha Madara in the most impossible way and finally learns to think about more than just himself - in a way.

Follow the link or read it under the cut!

KO-FI and commission info in the header!

Chapter 5

“Can you brush my hair for me?”

Tobirama paused in buttoning up his shirt to give the man on his bed a flat look. “What?”

“I said can you brush my hair for me? I want to look at least halfway presentable and it always looks better when you do it. If I pretend to be polite and say please will you do it?”

“One of these days I’m going to invent a spell that will brush your hair for you. Levitation or something. No, wait, I hate levitation spells. They’re so finicky.” Snatching the brush being wiggling enticingly under his nose, he asked, “Why do you even care what you look like? They’re just dumb adolescents.”

With a satisfied smile Madara turned away from him and settled in to a cross-legged position.

“It doesn’t hurt to take a little extra care with one’s appearance,” he said. “You should try it sometime.”

“Are you calling me a mess?” Tobirama demanded. Just for that he made sure to catch a knot in the thick chuck of locks within his grasp and pull hard. Madara gurgled out a protest.

“Careful with that! I was not calling you a mess!”

Scowling, Tobirama let it slide. He wondered if Madara had noticed the same thing he did when they woke up that morning. The longer they were able to stay apart the less he seemed to be able to sense what the other was thinking and that bothered him more than it should. If anything he should have been celebrating getting a little more privacy back but somehow he just felt oddly alone. It was, embarrassingly, a relief every time they had to touch again and he could once more feel Madara just on the other side of that thin wall between their thoughts.

Pulling the brush a little more carefully – he didn’t really enjoy the echoes of pain their bond fed through to him, after all – Tobirama sat quietly and listened to Madara rambling on about his lesson plans for the day. He didn’t have a lot of opinions to give other than admitting that a lot of it sounded quite boring to him. But then anything that involved sitting still and being lectured on a subject he had already studied would always sound boring to him.

When Madara finally announced that he was satisfied with his own appearance Tobirama nodded and stood up.

“Finally. Now turn around so I can change out of my sleep pants.”

“At least I down have to hold your hand and close my eyes anymore.” Madara turned away as asked and pulled the notes Hashirama had sent over in to his lap.

Tobirama scoffed. Now that was a bit of separation he actually didn’t mind. His partner was right that those first couple of days learning how to function when they had to stay attached were mortifying. Tossing on a pair of pants to match the button down shirt he’d already changed in to, he paused and looked down at himself with a frown.

“I look fine, right?” he asked. Madara was smirking when he turned around.

“Who’s worrying about their appearances now?”

“You got in to my head!” Tobirama reached over to tug on a lock of that perfectly brushed hair. “I can’t help it! We’re rubbing off on each other more and more with every day. Next thing you know we’ll show up somewhere in matching outfits talking in unison. Actually, can we do that? I want to freak out Hashirama.”

Madara rolled his eyes and didn’t answer, though when Tobirama dropped a hand on his shoulder he could feel that the man was at least a little intrigued by the idea.

Since it was well past breakfast by the time they left home there weren’t actually many people around for the first few minutes of their walk. The residential areas were barren, anyone not currently sitting in their first period class probably still sleeping or just getting up, so the two of them held hands with the assurance that there was no one there to see and start rumors from it. It wasn’t until they passed the residential hallways and turned in to the wing where the classrooms began that they let go, instead walking so closely their arms brushed on nearly every step. Still a bit suspicious looking but not enough to confirm any of the ridiculous rumors that neither of them had been seen in days because they were on their honeymoon.

As if that would ever happen.

The twenty minutes it took to get to the right classroom were mostly spent in silence, both of them trying their hardest not to make eye contact with anyone wearing that weird hunger in their face people get when they’re trying to confirm something they think they already know. Madara did nod to some of the students that called out to him. Tobirama didn’t much bother looking around; the only people who ever waved to him were Hashirama, Mito, or his cousin Touka who had left the university after one year of classes, declaring them much too boring. He would have been bothered except that he much preferred it that way. Socializing had never been his strong suit.

Despite knowing intellectually that Madara’s students had missed him, they were both startled to open the door and find several dozen faces staring back at them with brilliant smiles and neatly folded hands, every one of them with their textbooks out and placed at the top left corner of their desks. It was nothing short of surreal.

“Students or thralls?” Tobirama muttered out the corner of his mouth, shrinking away from all the creepy eyes focused on them. Madara grunted and turned to scowl at him.

“They are not thralls,” he hissed quietly. “A bit odd, though, they’re not usually this well behaved.”

One of the nearby students overheard them, apparently.

“We thought we’d surprise you, Uchiha-sensei! Everyone knows how much you like it when things are neat and tidy.” The young man smiled proudly, teeth stretching from ear to ear, and Tobirama tried his best not to think about how cute he looked with all that curly hair and those cheekbones that so closely resembled the man at his side. “I like your new shirt, too!”

“Flattery will get you nothing, Kagami,” Madara told the kid with a note of suspicious in his voice.

“Aw come on, we were just trying to do something nice for you!”

“Do your homework on time for once,” Madara snorted. “That would be nice.”

Kagami, as was apparently his name, wilted and turned away to sulk in the other direction. While his appearance was undoubtedly similar to Madara’s his personality seemed to be uncomfortably reminiscent of Hashirama instead. Tobirama really wasn’t sure what he thought of that. It was a relief to follow his partner towards the front of the room and slip behind the ancient desk covered in perfectly neat little stacks of paper and pens all sorted by color.

If there was one invention he would always be grateful to the non-magical community for it was pens. Sometimes Tobirama still came across an old ink pot in one of his closets and he always shoved it right back in to the mess with a shudder of memory. Normal folk were almost lucky not to live half as long as anyone with magic, saving them the trouble of remembering such dark times as the days when homework was done with quill and scrolls. Keeping track of it all had been a nightmare no matter how many extra pockets he sewed in to his clothing.

Settling himself in to the very center of the staging area at the front of the room, Madara swept his eyes over the class before him with an expression that Tobirama had come to realize meant he was looking for something specific.

“There’s a few faces missing,” he noted eventually.

“Uh, I think the Transformative Spells class last period had an accident,” Kagami piped up from his seat. “So anyone who was there is probably in the infirmary right now.”

“Ah.” Madara frowned, worry flashing through him so strongly that Tobirama felt it even from several feet away, although he let nothing of it show on his face. Without saying anything more on the subject he launched right in to a recap of what they should have been learning over the week while he’d been gone.

While he spoke he moved back and forth across the empty space at the front, stopping at the desk every couple of minutes to reach for a random object or tidy something that Tobirama had fiddled with, anything to use as an excuse for their arms to brush together and reestablish their connection. When he wasn’t getting smacked on the shoulder for messing with stuff Tobirama explored whatever items had been left out in easy reach. He passed over the homework assignments that someone else seemed to have graded – Madara just didn’t seem like a happy face sticker kind of guy – and instead pulled a binder towards himself that had no label at all. In his experience the things that went unlabeled usually had the most interesting things inside.

Generally they were also forbidden or taboo but that only made them more interesting.

First making certain that Madara was focused on his lecture, Tobirama flipped the binder open. His first reaction upon finding nothing inside but lesson plans was of irritated disappointment. Upon taking a closer look, however, he realized that he had accidentally stumbled on to something beautiful after all: Madara’s handwriting.

There hadn’t really been any need for his partner to write anything down over the past few days and suddenly Tobirama mourned that fact. He’d never seen more elegant script in his life. Each letter was a masterpiece, perfectly crafted with a patience he would never have himself. His own writing was usually cramped and rushed as he tried to get as many words on to the page as he could and as quickly as humanly possible. Not once in his life had he taken the time to make anything half as pretty as the lettering in front of him now. Madara’s writing was so nice just to look at that it took a couple of minutes for Tobirama to actually read what was written on the pages.

When he’d seen the title ‘Lesson Plan’ and a date from nearly a week ago he had assumed it would be nothing but a general outline of the material they were expected to cover. He was surprised to see the level of detail this plan included, complete with notes in the margins about which subjects his students were doing well on and could advance quicker as opposed to which they seemed to be struggling with and needed to have covered in more detail.

In all the years he’d spent here at the university – and despite still enjoying his earlier centuries it had already been a lot of years – he’d never known any of the teachers put this much effort in to planning their classes. Although to be fair he had no evidence that anyone other than Madara made their plans so detailed but that only worked as a point in the man’s favor. Tobirama had always assumed that lesson plans were no more than a rough outline, lazy and thoughtless, copy and pasted from all the years before. Knowing they were more than that gave him a little more respect for the position and it only got better as he kept reading down the page.

Underneath all of the technical details was a small section where Madara had penned in a few notes about specific students, who seemed to be having trouble with what and how to help them work through those issues, sometimes a personal reminder that this student or that one had reacted a certain way to his teachings and even suggestions to himself about how to tweak his lecture for the future. It was thoughtful.

Tobirama closed the binder and pushed it away from himself, uncomfortable suddenly and unable to pinpoint why. It was interesting having everything he thought he knew about someone slowly flipped upside down, there was no denying that, but it was also jarring and brought up a lot of introspective questions he wasn’t at all prepared to deal with.

No one liked to think they were so self-involved that they could judge someone else so wrongly.

Madara trundled over to brush against his arm a few moments later and Tobirama tensed, eyes darting up to make sure he’d replaced the binder of lesson plans exactly where it had been before. With the obsessive organization system it would be all too obvious he had touched something if it were even an inch out of place. Luckily for him Madara wasn’t even looking at the desk. He stopped at Tobirama’s side to put a hand on his shoulder and look down at him with an expectant expression.

“I wasn’t listening,” he admitted quietly. Oddly, Madara didn’t even look annoyed. He turned back to the class without removing his hand.

“Take Tobirama here as an example. His natural element is water, the complete opposite of mine, but I have seen him both invoke fire and use fire runes. Can anyone tell me why that’s possible for him?”

“Because I’m just that good.” Tobirama smirked when a handful of students tittered.

“No,” a quiet voice piped up from the back. “It is because fire runes channel raw magic from the closest ley line and do not rely on a caster’s abilities while invocation begs power from the spirits themselves with no magic passing through the one invoking them at all.”

Madara squinted around the room until he found the one who had spoken and then nodded once in satisfaction. “Very good Shino, that’s exactly correct.”

“Good to know they have their basics down,” Tobirama muttered under his breath. “They’re only, what, fifth year students?” He grunted when the hand still resting on his shoulder clamped down extra hard in retaliation.

The lesson went on to a discussion of when it was best to use fire runes over any other options, always easier than invocations though they were also less powerful, and Tobirama let his attention wander off again. He considered going through the desk drawers when he ran out of things to inspect on the top of it but one look from Madara had his hands curling together in his lap. As much as he did enjoy riling the man up he wasn’t looking to become a visual aid by having his hair set on fire. Madara wore sparks much better than he did.

Boredom had set in again long before one of the students casually asked whether fire or water was stronger since the two elements were considered natural opposites. He was in the process of opening his mouth to gleefully suggest they make a demonstration of it when a bell began to chime to signify the end of the period, Madara’s eyes rolling back with visible relief.

His partner called out homework assignments over the sounds of everyone packing up their things and warned them that he probably still wasn’t back on a permanent basis so they should expect their substitute again. While he was busy shouting Kagami made a point of stopping by the front.

“It was nice to meet you,” he said, leaning over the desk to smile at Tobirama.

“Probably. I’m an absolute delight.”

The boy laughed at his joke, peeked over at Madara, then covered his mouth to laugh a bit more. “I’m sure you are.”

He was gone a moment later, joining the flood of bodies rushing off to their next class. Luckily for Tobirama’s attention span it was Thursday and Madara only happened to teach one period of class on Thursdays. For years his only social interactions had been the rare occasion he made it down to the dining hall at proper meal times or when Hashirama deigned to stop by his rooms. Even the librarian had stopped trying to pull him in for a chat when he went down to check out more books. He understood that his partner needed to get out more often than once a week but personally his own quota for human interaction had more than been met.

Madara didn’t count as company, not with their minds so closely intertwined that they couldn’t bear to be apart.

When the room was empty and the door snapped shut behind the last student Tobirama eyed the binder of lesson plans before standing up to watch his partner clear off the various things he’d written on the whiteboard. Yet another invention to be grateful to the non-magical community for. Chalkboards were so messy. It had actually taken Mito several years to convince her husband to install them in all the classrooms; not because of any budget concerns but simply because he stubbornly clung to the aesthetic of chalkboard classrooms in the castle which housed the university. Sometimes Tobirama wondered if Hashirama had only taken the job of Headmaster so he could pretend he was still living four centuries ago.

“Learn anything new?” Madara asked after the whiteboard was clean.

“Yes, actually, although I didn’t listen to a word you were saying.” Tobirama dragged his eyes away from the binder of treasures and pulled as innocent of an expression as he could manage. It had exactly the desired effect of making the other man roll his eyes.

“How–? No, never mind. I don’t think I want to know what you think you learned if it wasn’t anything from the class.”

Tobirama cocked his head to one side and noted that it seemed Madara was getting to know him as well as he was getting to know Madara. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing but it wasn’t really something he could stop so he simply allowed the thought to pass him by.

Standing up from the desk at last, he made his way over to stand next to his partner and weave their hands together with a sigh of relief that Madara immediately echoed. All the small excuses for brushing together had been the only thing that kept him sane throughout the past hour and they had another twenty minute walk ahead of them until to make it back home. It was good to know they could separate now but it was still better when they didn’t have to.

“I used to hate you,” Tobirama grumbled, personally offended that he couldn’t say he still did.

“Yes and I still have no idea why.” Madara lifted one arm like he meant to cross them and then awkwardly aborted the motion after he realized he couldn’t with his other hand occupied. “I’m lovable! Your brother always says so!”

“Hashirama’s opinion doesn’t count, he loves everything that breathes in his general direction.”

Madara puffed his chest up to argue back and then deflated almost immediately. “Or things that don’t breathe. I caught him naming all the flagstones in the front courtyard once,” he admitted. Tobirama closed his eyes to block out the exasperated shame.

Together they puttered around cleaning up the classroom and putting away all the things Madara had used to demonstrate whatever he’d been talking about. As much as Tobirama normally couldn’t care less for having everything put away so long as he remembered where to go find it again later – laughable considering he never remembered where anything was – he found himself pointing out things that were still out of place and dragging Madara along behind him as he popped over to put something else away.

Once everything was back where it was supposed to be and all the books on Madara’s desk had been set at right angles again they were free to head on back home at last. Madara spent most of the walk making a case for why they would go back to class again the next day, whining that Fridays he only taught two classes and that it wouldn’t be too much different than just one class, especially since they were hours apart. Tobirama mostly let his wrinkled nose make his opinions on that known. It wasn’t the classes he objected to in particular, just the upset to his daily routine. Ever since this whole thing began his life had been steadily changing bit by bit, again and again, and all he wanted was to find a little equilibrium again.

Finally turning down the hallway where their rooms were located and finding Uchiha Izuna leaning against the wall with both hands in his pockets certainly was not a path towards finding his equilibrium. The mental connection between him and his partner lit up with startled happiness at almost the exact same moment Izuna looked down to see that they had once again linked hands as soon as they were out of the public eye.

“What the fuck Aniki!?”

Tobirama closed his eyes and prayed for patience. Hopefully the gods would see fit to send enough for both of them.

[nellie-elizabeth]

Supernatural: Ouroboros (14x14)

Well, that was just great!

Cons:

This is an odd thing to comment on, but sometimes I feel like the acting in the pain reactions is sort of... off. Like there's this big moment towards the end of the episode where Jack is doing his cool power surge thing on Michael, and Sam, Dean, and Cas all cringe because of a high ringing noise. Their reactions were not simultaneous - Dean did his a beat after Sam and Cas, and I feel like I could almost hear someone off-camera cuing them when to react to the sound that was added in post. It's actually not the first time I've noticed something like that in Supernatural. Just thought I'd mention it here.

If that's the end of Michael, then I've got to say... he was not nearly as cool of a villain as I was hoping for. The final showdown being between Jack and Michael didn't feel earned, since Dean is the one who has been struggling with him all this time. On a similar note, why did all of the hunters have to die? We didn't spend enough time developing them to make their deaths have impact. I feel like some very, very, slight scriptural changes could have been made to justify keeping this larger ensemble in the wings... we almost had the perfect system! Just a throw-away line about Sam calling in to check on various hunts, or someone mentioning that a few of the hunters have moved to different cities to set up their own headquarters... that's all I would have needed. Why undo the idea of Sam as the new Bobby, running a network of hunters? That was a great concept that was thrown away because the extra people were somewhat inconvenient to explain away.

Pros:

But for the most part? This episode was amazing! Let's start with the case-of-the-week aspect. The Gorgon was actually properly sinister, and the imagery was really gory. It was kind of old-school Supernatural in a way I appreciated, even though it put me off a little bit to see the Gorgon reach into his victim's chest cavity. I also liked how creative the case was, with the bad guy able to stay one step ahead by eating his victim's eyes and seeing the future. I like starting cases in medias res. We know that the Winchester crew has been on this guy's trail for a while now, which only heightens the danger and tension when they finally start to catch up. The Gorgon's performance was just the right amount of actually scary and totally camp. I appreciated that he was going after male victims because recently women have started to be too cautious about strangers.

Rowena was an unexpected delight this week. I love her banter with Sam, the fact that she's not-so-secretly worried about Jack, her willingness to let Michael in so she can protect her friends... it was all excellent. I'm also pleasantly surprised that she survived the hour. The moment she was possessed by Michael, I thought Sam was going to be able to kill Michael by killing Rowena, thus fulfilling Rowena's prophesied death. That would have been pretty brutal, but also predictable, and I'm really glad we didn't go that route.

The scene where Rowena and Sam pretend to be concerned dog owners was hilarious, and the punchline of the dog actually being Jack worked great. I love that Rowena plays up the camp of it all, and although Sam is a bit exasperated, he plays along and pretends that they really are a couple. Rowena's right - pretending to be FBI agents isn't the only way to get things done when working a case!

Everybody knows about Supernatural's famous "power creep" problem, and it's also common among fans to make fun of the way the boys are always tossed around during fights with monsters without ever seeming to suffer any lasting harm. Some of my favorite C-plot episodes are ones that break this pattern. This wasn't exactly a C-plot, of course, but it had a basic monster-of-the-week setup for a lot of it, and then suddenly Dean gets a head injury and nobody can wake him up. I loved this, because it reminded everyone of the mortality of these characters. More specifically, the fact that they don't know they're on a TV show, and are never going to die going after a one-episode monster. Sam's worry for Dean was enormously touching. He asks Rowena desperately what he should do. It's all so... mundane. Obviously everyone's worried about Michael trapped in Dean's head, but more than that, it's just the same worry anyone would have when dealing with a serious head injury. I loved how simple it was, while still tying in to the A-plot.

Let's talk about Cas. This was a great episode for him. Seeing him on the hunt with the rest of the team was obviously a lot of fun, especially since he does a good job and seems to be a competent hunter. The scene with Cas and Dean at the restaurant is obviously one that people are going to be talking a lot about. Dean is always so careful with Cas, sort of gentle with him like he doesn't want to upset him, but also doesn't want to accidentally fall into the trap of Cas' concern, because he's afraid it'll break him. I love that Cas can see through Dean's nonchalance, and I especially love that Cas tells Dean how impressive he's being by keeping Michael at bay. Obviously there's not a lot Cas can do in the moment to help Dean, but I do think it's important for Dean to understand his own strength, and know that his family believes in him.

And then there's the delightful Destiel angst - the look on Cas' face when he woke up and realized that Dean was in trouble, the crack in his voice when he told Sam he couldn't heal him... just murder me now. In particular, the conversation between Jack and Cas was just so precious and important. Whatever happens in the future of this show, I will always maintain that Cas is in love with Dean - Misha seems to be playing to that specifically. And yet he lives with a great burden: Dean and Sam, his family, are mortal. Even if they keep defying the odds and live to an old age, Cas will likely lose them before they lose him. Jack is still so new to the world, and he's still learning that loving mortals is a curse as well as a gift. I liked having a conversation between these two immortal beings, to contextualize the journey of these characters in a new way.

So... Jack. I'm of two minds about what happens at the end of this episode. Is it really as easy as that? Is Jack fully back to power, restored, and no longer using his soul to keep himself going? Did we just kill two birds with one stone, and clear the slate for different problems moving forward? Or... does Jack have his powers back, but at the expense of a piece of his humanity? I like not knowing. I'm pretty okay with anything that lets Jack stick around, honestly. And that moment? Calling himself a Winchester? My heart grew three sizes, I swear. I love that kid.

I think that's where I'll stop for now. There was a lot of stuff that I really, really enjoyed in this episode. It made me stop thinking about the shape of the season, or what's going to happen next, or how all of the pieces will fit together. While I was watching it, I was totally engrossed, and I can't wait for next week!

9/10

[dontcallmecarrie]

Blurred Lines

aka the incredibly niche and self-indulgent AU that spawns alternative timelines every time I so much as blink

Fandoms: Doctor Who [I haven’t been caught up since it got removed from Netflix; 10′s era and some fixits for 11′s run, too], Sherlock [playing fast and loose with canon here, and goes wildly AU after the end of Season 2]

Warnings: canon-typical violence, mental health issues at least partially stemming from an incredibly traumatic period, relationship problems, writer’s salt about Martha Jones being underappreciated

With how much the universe had been making and remaking itself, a chaotic and tangled mess, was it really that hard to believe that several wires had gotten crossed? 

In this particular case, the line between fiction and reality got...smudged, and Martha’s journey didn’t end when she left the TARDIS. 

However, this particular universe is even more convoluted than that— after all, this is also a universe where Moriarty and Mycroft exist alongside the Doctor and UNIT, but that’s a story for another day. [Mostly, anyway.]

This particular story, however, begins and ends with Martha Jones. 

Martha Jones, the medical student who had hoped for an adventure and got a war zone during her travels with the Doctor, whose steadfast loyalty had her walking the Earth. Martha Jones, who entered the TARDIS a doctor in training and left it a battle-hardened soldier who’d faced down Weeping Angels and madmen alike. Martha Jones, who, alongside her family, had experienced an incredibly traumatic event—the Year that Never Was—and now, all she could do was carry on with her life, burdened with the knowledge of a could-have-been that wasn’t.

Suffice it is to say, Martha’s not exactly in a good place. 

The aftermath of the Year was ugly, on a number of levels, and it affected her relationship with her family—but that’s not it. Her time with the Doctor’s changed her on a fundamental level, and everyone who ever knew her can see it. Martha has a very hard time wrapping up medical school, because of it, but in the end becomes a doctor.

She joins UNIT mostly as a way to get an excuse for some of said changes, because right now everyone’s just seeing a medical student with shadowed eyes and a habit of checking for exits and—well. Being able to say she’s a reservist neatly explains several questions Martha wouldn’t know how to answer otherwise. That she went on several intense and highly-classified missions just prior to re-entering as a civilian is just par for course, really.

[aka Afghanistan still happens, only things went to hell in a different way]

Martha goes back to life as a mostly-civilian doctor, with the conditional that she’d be on-call for if UNIT needed a discreet presence to look into things, and is just generally trying to carry on with her life despite the severe PTSD she’s got going on.

Incidentally, she’s also looking for a flatshare.

Meeting Mike Stamford was a happy accident; he’s a friend from medical school, and as they’re catching up her living situation gets mentioned, and...huh. Apparently Martha’s not the only one looking for a flatmate. 

Mike ever-so-helpfully volunteers to introduce them, and here’s where things diverge.

See, if it’d been John Watson, he'd take one look at Sherlock—at the man whose wit was sharper than his cheekbones, who’d gotten a read on him in the span of five minutes and was basically a force of nature—and he’d be enthralled.

However, in this universe, Martha Jones is filling his shoes, and she takes one look at Sherlock—at the tall, dark-haired man who burned so, very brightly, who effortlessly commanded the attention of everyone in the room—and all she can think is: ‘oh, no. Not again.’

Here, everything that drew John to Sherlock is everything that’s pushing Martha away; the parallels are so, so blatant it’s ridiculous. 

Every shred of common sense tells Martha to run. And yet.

Martha can’t help but be drawn in. He’s so, so brilliant, and he’s so similar and yet not to the Doctor, and...it’s been a while, since she left the TARDIS, since she last had an adventure like the one this man is promising. 

But Martha’s still on the fence, because of obvious reasons. Her biggest issue is that Sherlock doesn’t seem to be human, [because last time that happened she’d ended up seeing her world burn] and it’s not until she’s pinning a murderous cabbie and talking about the pills that she finally lowers her guard because it turns out that for all that he pretends otherwise, Sherlock isn’t that bad.

And once Martha’s guard is down, the two get along like a house on fire. 

No, really, it’s actually pretty unnerving, especially for the crew at NSY, or just anyone who’s ever known Sherlock. In the days and weeks and months that follow, it quickly becomes evident that one of the mysteries of the universe is, “just where on Earth did Sherlock find this woman?” because...well. 

At first, the confusion had been of the general “who the hell can stand living with this guy?!” variety, and more than a few people, up to and including Mycroft, are actually slightly concerned by the fact that Martha Jones can listen to even the fiercest of Sherlock’s diatribes and not even blink before shoving the grocery list at him as she heads off to work, and whose only reaction to Sherlock’s most gruesome experiments had been to yell at him for using the good saucepan for it. [Really, it’s almost like Martha’s dealt with someone like Sherlock before.]

It’s not until later on that things really start piling up, however, and here’s where things get...interesting. 

It’s not just the way Martha so easily falls into step at Sherlock’s right side, anymore; it’s the way Sherlock’s actually slightly less standoffish at crime scenes, and the first time he actually thanked someone for something Lestrade nearly spilled his coffee down his shirt while everyone else gaped, and that’s also right around the time the rumors start. 

Ah, yes. The rumors. 

Because apparently, a man and a woman moving in together automatically means they’re a couple to some people. Martha and Sherlock quickly develop a routine of saying, “we’re not together”, thanks in no small part to Mycroft’s smirking after bringing up how fast they were moving in their ‘relationship’.

Martha, who’s just been recovering from being the rebound from last time [hi, Rose], and Sherlock, who’s on the asexual spectrum [I’m leaning towards demi, for this particular AU, but really it depends] do not appreciate these rumors. Well, tough, because the more time goes on the more everyone around them ships it, because these two are very clearly good influences on each other: Sherlock has yet to pass out of malnutrition [a new record, by Mycroft's standards], and the shadows in Martha’s eyes recede as time goes on, and she makes friends among the NSY crew. [She makes an effort to befriend Molly Hooper, and helps her get over her crush.]

The more time goes on, the more annoying the rumors get. Martha’s irritated because she’s finally starting to look into dating again [and also because she’s self-aware enough to know that pursuing a relationship with Sherlock, especially at the moment, would be a Bad Idea because of the parallels she’s still occasionally seeing—plus he’s not interested anyway, so]. 

Meanwhile, on Sherlock’s end, he may or may not be starting to quietly panic as he’s starting to experience his first crush in god-knows-how-many years because he did not sign up for this crap, nope, where can he uninstall this weird feeling he gets when Martha smiles at him? 

Also because he thinks she’s not interested in him, and he doesn’t want to ruin their friendship.

Other than that, though, things are going great: Sherlock and Martha make one hell of a team, and Mycroft’s teasing [...and basically everyone else’s, for that matter] just get more ammunition as time goes on as they’re photographed tiredly leaning into each other after particularly long cases, etc. 

Bits and pieces of Martha’s past come up every so often: some rather niche trivia here, a textbook takedown of an armed suspect there, the way her bag seems to hold everything from granola bars to the better part of a pharmacy. However, they’re few and far between, and typically only end up raising more questions than answers. Sherlock’s taken it as a challenge, but even he ends up stumped sometimes because really, where the hell did his flatmate learn to handle a knife like a Black Ops commando? He’d be very annoyed at not having figured Martha out sooner, except it looks like Mycroft’s stumped too.

But for the most part, canon ensues, as the continue with their daily lives. They go on cases, fight crime, and try to ignore the increasingly-annoying rumors.

The appearance of Jim Moriarty marks the beginning of the end.

Martha’s at the of her rope, trying to hold it together when she’s seeing this huge, epic showdown between genii. She’s trying not to lose it, doing her best to carry on when Sherlock’s acting differently, and people are dying, and...well.

Suffice it is to say, Martha’s not a happy camper, even before she gets kidnapped as the last hostage. Incidentally, she also accidentally got Moriarty’s interest because of the way she reacted to said hostage situation; the way she stoically deals with the vest is a marked contrast with the way she’d viciously fought a squad of armed personnel not an hour before, and that? Is just intriguing. 

...and canon marches on. 

They escape, and Sherlock’s not the only one who’s alarmed by the way Martha just. Breaks down laughing, after the fact, after having seen two genii facing off against each other and having faced certain death.

Time goes on, things proceed as per canon. Everyone’s starting to suspect Martha’s an unconfirmed living saint, and the rumors only get worse and there’s now a betting pool as to when they’ll get together—and then Irene shows up.

Which, awkward. Everyone expects Martha to be jealous but really she’s just protective about boundaries, and that she’s unruffled by Irene’s blatant flirting is just raising more and more questions, even after the Woman sauntered out of the picture.

Time passes, and canon ensues. They have more adventures, Martha’s journal [because she’s too private to have a blog, in this one] gets more and more pages filled in, and things are looking up. 

Cue Reichenbach.

Martha’s guard skyrockets after Moriarty’s reappearance, and trying not to panic even as the fiasco feels exactly like a deja vu of the showdown she’d seen between the Doctor and the Master. She’s scrambling for a peaceful resolution, scrambling not to lose it but it’s so, so hard because the parallels are right there and as if that’s not enough, there’s Weeping Angels running around. The entire time she’s at the end of her rope, things are looking bleak and in so many ways it’s just like last time and—and then, Sherlock dies.

Sherlock dies, and she had to watch him fall. 

And with his fall, she backslides like never before, every last scrap of progress she’s made with her PTSD erased in one fell swoop, and [just like last time,] Martha Jones walks away.

Ices over, packs up her things, and only sticks around long enough for the funeral before shipping out for a UNIT mission. Only keeps in touch with a few people, whenever she has the time—a phone call here, a quick visit when she’s on leave there.

Martha throws herself into her work, to forget. And with time and distance, she starts to pick up the pieces. [Again.] 

Her career is going places, and things start to settle down again. There’s been an effort to clear Sherlock’s name, but she doesn’t follow what’s going on because she’s not sure her heart would be able to take it. Besides—she’s got other things on her mind, what with the whole mess with the Sontarans and all. 

cue Doctor Who canon and fixits

Somewhere along the way, Martha meets Tom Milligan [again, outside of a time that would never happen], and they hit it off. Slowly, because Martha’s still quietly grieving for her best friend and they both travel a lot for work, but...they click. 

aka yep Tom’s kinda filling in Mary Morstan’s role

...and then the Earth gets stolen, and a lot of things end up going down very fast.

Using a highly-experimental device that had a good chance of killing her? Okay, came with the territory. Meeting the Doctor again? Sure, why not, this type of mess was right up his alley. Having Sherlock show up as they’re trying to figure out how to fix it, though? 

Let’s just say the reunion’s...interesting, and the only silver lining in all this is the face the Doctor made when he heard her ex-flatmate’s name. 

Cue fixit that doesn’t end up with Donna’s memories erased, manages to take care of the Daleks, and also manages to explain just why Sherlock Holmes is running around in 2013. Things get squared away, and there’s a happy ending for everyone as they all head off to their next adventure.

.

.

.

Here’s my main issue: there’s just so many ways this AU can go, so many potential spinoffs and ships possible that finding one ending is next to impossible. 

The Moriarty AU is a personal favorite, for instance, but even just the original has me torn between Martha/Sherlock, or Martha/Tom Milligan [aka yep he’s kinda filling in Mary Morstan’s role in this, or Sarah], or a mix of both via queerplatonic relationships—and then there’s the fixits, because there’s some things I had an issue with in the original [the way Irene got handled by the writers, for instance] and the list just goes on. 

Just—expect varying levels of crack and self-indulgence, because of Reasons. And the odd ship, too, because why not.

Also: for those curious about what happened to John—his deployment was unusually quiet. It didn’t help that troops got recalled after something went down with the new Prime Minister [hi, Mr. Saxon] which meant his convoy didn’t get ambushed and he didn’t get shot and sent home. Sure, he still has some PTSD, but not as bad as he might have otherwise, and that his hand doesn’t have a tremor means he quickly gets a job as a surgeon once his deployment’s up, and he settles back in as a civilian without having too hard a time of it. Along the way he meets and falls for Mary Morstan, and they have a happy ending living a quiet life because this is supposed to be a fixit AU and if I can minimize the angst and body count, I will. 

[valeriemperez]

Any other asks about the latest fandom incident are going under this cut, and I will not be making another post about it:

Just kinda feels like you're placing more of the blame on GG then you are on the actual media that could do better. I feel that GG has a right to stand up for himself. And it's suddenly his fault and his responsibility to shield CP from racism.

Though it may feel that way, it’s not what is happening. This is why I retweeted and liked tweets directed at media outlets, whereas all I did to Grant was like his post and say “no one deserves to be body shamed.”

Honestly no a week won't a difference in a long run imo. I don't think as racists keep piling on her she'll think "oh well I had that one week that wasn't so bad so I guess this is fine " I guess for me what GG does for CP behind the scenes has more of a long term effect then making things a little less worse for one week.

I am sure that Grant and Candice’s actions BTS have more of a long term effect on the show, I never suggested otherwise. On fandom behavior? Not at all.

I think you're giving the uglier side of the fandom way too much credit. When GG supported the "run iris run" it only inspired parts of the fandom to be against it. Take a browse through the comment section of the iris poster that's on his IG. I legit argued with a GG Stan on Instagram that they should be kinder CP cause she's GG's friend and the response was "I don't care if GG likes her I'm still going to hate her." At most they'll pretend to be nice for a week then go back to being horrible

G supporting RIR inspired some people to comment negatively, sure. But him making a post after that saying, “If you are hateful and racist towards my friend and costar, I will block you” probably would not cause that same reaction. But we will never know.

I actually disagree if you think public support is more important than the private support he's given her. I think a lot of you have some unreasonable expectations of GG making a post and the fandom going "guess we won't be racist anymore". GG is not enough to make someone give up that kind of hate in their heart I'm sorry if you thought he'd be the one to solve that problem. What he's done for her BTS and to the producers has a much longer effect then maybe the fandom playing nice for a day

I don’t think public support is more important, and I don’t think it’ll stop racism. This sounds similar to the ask above, so I think the same answer stands.

Yeah he'll shut haters up for a day. Then the SB fans who hate when GG does something nice for CP will get more jealous and aggressive. The fanboys who hate CP and will always hate her will continue to attack her. I'm not saying him publicly saying it won't be nice but if it does happen I think a lot of you will be disappointed in that it probably won't change anything.

We’ll never know.

Honest I feel like GG could publicly speak out but when it doesn't fix anything the fandom will continue to blame GG for everything. Especially since to me it makes more sense to confront media sites for not doing more for CP then to blame GG for having the gall to stand up for himself.

We have been confronting the media sites about it, don’t worry.

So Grant is only allowed to publicly defend himself if he defends other people? Also at some point it became his sole responsibility to defend everyone else? Maybe I'm reading you wrong but you're coming across as saying "Since he's not showing the support I want him to show that means he's not supportive to Candice".

I never said that, he is very welcome to defend himself. And yes, you are reading it wrong, because I have specifically stated that he is supportive of Candice and that she receives and appreciates that support.

Your stance on this seriously is that the reason CP continues to get racist attacks is because GG never made a public statement. I think you have this idea that GG is willfully denying CP any relief from being attacked. Even with GG's case the people who supported him are the ones who always supported him. The people who attacked him were pretty much laughing at him saying they won't stop because he made a post. GG got some press for sure but it won't change anything in the long run.

No, that is not my stance. My stance is that Grant has the power to make more people aware of the situation, and to make some people feel shame for their actions, but he hasn’t used it. Several people who attacked him beforehand apologized in the comments and said they hadn’t thought about it that way.

Several of his coworkers commented on the post he made supporting him and Shethority reposted his statement on their IG story to show love. Whereas when he accidentally liked the comment saying Iris should be killed off, he did not make a comment on Candice’s insta saying “I love working with you and can’t wait to continue!” or whatever, he merely went to the IGs of people claiming he wanted her killed off to say he never meant to like that comment. Whether things will change in the long run or not, all I said is that Grant doesn’t make videos or posts or leave comments when it comes to the hatred his co-stars have been sent. That’s it, that’s the whole point.

I know you're not saying more but I want to say this last thing. You're actually not simply saying he's doesn't publicly support her you're twisting it into a thing where GG is the reason CP gets racial attacks everyday and assuming you know what the outcome will be if he supports her the way you want her to be supported. You're more accusing GG of something that's not his fault.

You’re twisting it into that, I’m specifically not saying that. I already said we don’t know the outcome if he were to speak out publicly.

I mean he gave a lot of support for Candice for the Run Iris Run episode. He actually did say how great she was in it which goes along with the "I love working with you" comment that you want him to do. I guess I'm confused cause he has given that kind of public support you want him to give her but you don't want to recognize it?

I already acknowledged that he’s given her support. I’m specifically talking about pushing back against the hatred, as opposed to “I don’t see that in my mentions” or whatever. I don’t know what else you want me to say, because I still enjoy Grant as an actor and their dynamic as costars. 

But lets be real here no matter what GG does he ain't changing anyone's mind. Him making a post might make you feel better about things but I doubt it'll actually making any difference to how the fandom treats CP. It just sucks that to you none of the previous support GG has given CP matters because to you the only thing that matters is that he give a public statement that would maybe have the fandom behave for no more than a week.

I already said that we will never know what would happen, and that it isn’t the only thing that matters. You’re the one twisting my words.

I don't get it tho wouldn't GG's actions having more of a long term effect on the show be more important and useful to CP? I certainly find it more important. I'd rather GG stick up for CP and WA behind the scenes and ensure their place of importance on the show then him making this grand public statement you want that might (and this is a big MIGHT) make the fandom play nice to CP for a short period.

I’m very happy with the support Grant has shown Candice behind the scenes, and I know she is happy with it as well. It’s not an either/or situation.

You're kind of sounding like Candice hasn't received support from Coworkers, producers, and shethority. Yes for one day they showed support to Grant but that doesn't erase the support they've given Candice in the past and will continue to do so in the future. It feels like you're mad people showed GG support, are they not allowed to do that?

I have already explained several times that Candice is not without support or friendship. My original statements were as they stand. Grant supports Candice and presumably others in private and in a way that satisfies her. Grant has not publicly spoken up about fandom racism or the misogyny directed against his costars. CNN and TIME etc. would need a lot more than a post from Candice or Anna to write up pieces meant to shame the racists. 

Well, reading all of that was draining. I'm glad CP doesn't require the support of others to stand up for herself. I'm disappointed that she is so often there alone fending for herself (on social media). I don't know what goes on BTS and don't care. It's like having your racist grandma around a POC..."she'll call you n-word but she's old and you know I'm not like that." "Can you just tell her not to call me that?" "Huh, oh no, she won't change, just ignore her, but I like you so its ok."

I’m sorry it was difficult to read. :( And I definitely understand that feeling of helplessness.

(1)Wow. I’m really srry ppl keep misconstruing what you were saying about the GG incident. Some fans seem to be getting VERY sensitive about this situation on his behalf. You were literally just stating facts. He has never publicly defended CP from the negativity she receives from fandom. He’s not obligated to do it, but it would be nice if he did. She clearly has his support BTS but that has little to no effect on negative fandom behavior. (2)GG publicly defending CP wouldn’t automatically make the racist misogynistic haters like her, but them knowing they would potentially catch a block from him would definitely curb the negativity thrown her way, & anyone who doesn’t think so really underestimates GG’s power in this fandom.

Thank you, love. And yes, that’s pretty much all I’m saying.

What was the AV club incident ? And the dm grant sent ? :)

Grant accidentally retweeted an article praising Flash S1 that said Candice’s Iris was the weak link and she should then be recast. He picked one fan to follow and DM his apology that he hadn’t actually read the whole thing and that he loves his whole cast, then deleted his retweet. AJK kept his retweet up despite backlash, meanwhile.

I think the wording is what's throwing some Anons off. You're not saying GG has never publicly supported CP cause we all know he has The support he gave RIR being one example. I think what's being said here is people wished he "called out" that racist part of the fandom. Like you said it's not an either/or situation. GG has shown CP support both publicly and BTS but in this one area some wished he did more. Doesn't make GG a bad person nor does it remove the love and support between him and CP

You’re probably right. And yes to everything you said!

[jynxwriter]

Deflowered

Lotus and Goth// @nekophy

Take this oneshot owo

   Desolate and cold was what the day had been, but Lotus didn’t seem to mind. He just kept strolling down the sidewalk, keeping his head down and refusing to look at anything else besides the ground and nearby objects like rocks and sticks that occasionally popped up on the concrete. Tripping over those wouldn’t make this state of his any better and the last things he wanted right now was attention being drawn to himself.    Small drops of water had started to hit the sidewalk, leaving small darkened specks on the concrete. The speed had begun to pick up and before Lotus knew it, it was pouring. He had completely forgotten that it was predicted to rain so he hadn’t remembered to bring an umbrella, not like he could anyway. He had never bothered to buy one since Rurik and him had always gone out together so Rurik always took care of that. He tried his best to push that thought away, not wanting to dwell on it any longer than he had did the day prior. As he tried to get his mind off him, he couldn’t focus on where he was going and accidentally bumped into someone.    He felt himself internally scream at himself, feeling immediate anxiety consume him. “Ah! Sorry! I wasn’t paying attention!” The other person apologized quickly. Lotus felt his eyes widen and he looked up, his suspicions having been confirmed. “Goth?” Lotus questioned. He looked to his doppleganger, who seemed to be out of breath. “Were you running?” “Ah...Yeah...I forgot my umbrella today.” Goth replied. “Me too…” Lotus lied, wanting to run away. The last thing he wanted was to end up in a conversation right now. Not when he was at his lowest point. He didn’t need this. “Heh, guess we’re in the same boat here.” Goth laughed softly. He looked at Lotus and frowned. He looked horrible, like he hadn’t slept in weeks. “Hey, Lotus? Are you ok?” He asked, worry suddenly lacing his tone, which made Lotus know he had to get out of here. “I’m fine. I need to go now.” Lotus replied quickly, trying to get away but he felt Goth suddenly grab his wrist. Lotus tried to pull away from him but Goth’s grip was stronger than he thought. “You think I’m gonna fall for that?” Goth laughed lightly, but his smile faltered straight after. “Seriously, what happened?”    “It’s nothing! Let me go!” Lotus snapped, trying to pull his wrist away but Goth wouldn’t let go. “Not until you tell me the truth.” Goth replied. Lotus groaned at how persistent he was being. Goth saw how he kept struggling to get loose, and how upset he seemed. He decided to just hold his hand instead, moving closer to him and also trying to grab his other hand. Lotus felt himself blush softly and looked down, sighing, he might as well get it over with, so Goth would let him go. Frankly, he didn’t enjoy the sudden hand holding, it felt too intimate. “Fine! I had a bit of a messy break up, are you happy?!” He snapped and felt Goth release his hands. He looked a bit saddened which is what compelled Lotus to stay in place. “You did? Oh my gosh, are you ok?” Goth asked quickly, concerned for the other’s wellbeing. Lotus felt confused at his reaction. “I’m f-fine…” Lotus’ voice cracked which made him want to scream at himself. He knew Goth wouldn’t leave him alone now, so he might as well accept his fate. “Clearly you’re not! C’mon back to my place, we’re both going to catch a cold out here.” Lotus realized they were still out in the pouring rain and shivered. He was about to object but he realized two things at the same time. One, that Goth wouldn’t let him leave anyway and two, he knew he’d feel better with at least someone to help him cope. He sighed. “Fine…” He mumbled begrudgingly, feeling Goth grab his wrist again. “Hey! I can just follow you, y’know?” He felt a bit agitated and Goth quickly apologized.

It didn’t take that long for the two to arrive at Goth’s house. When they entered, they were both completely soaked and shivering like mad. Goth coaxed Lotus upstairs to his room, which made Lotus a bit apprehensive for a second but he convinced himself it wasn’t going to go in that direction. “Alright Lotus, I’m gonna let you borrow some clothes for now, ok?” Goth said, going over to his closet and picked out some clothes for himself and ones he thought would suit Lotus. “You can change here, I’ll change in the bathroom and then I’ll make some tea for us both, or do you prefer coffee?” Goth asked, handing the clothes to Lotus. “Tea is fine.” Lotus replied. He saw Goth nod then head out of the room. Lotus looked at the clothes Goth had given him, surprised at how much they fit his style. Goth had picked out a dark purple shirt, a hood hat to match, and some black pants.. He also had given him some brightly colored socks which were violet. He felt himself smile a bit before he started to get undressed. He felt his smile fall as he looked down at his body which was decorated with cluttered scars, he couldn’t even spot his birthmark anymore. He sighed and slipped into the clothes, trying to push the toxic memories of his abuser away. Lotus strode over to Goth’s bed and sat down after he finished getting dressed. He noticed that the blanket was extremely soft. Without thinking, he wrapped it around himself, loving how comforting it was.. He felt like someone was hugging him. Soon enough, Goth had come back into the room, now with two cups in his hands. Goth had been dressed in a very long shirt, which looked like a dress on him. It was violet in color. Under it he had some dark purple shorts and to top it off, he was wearing a hood hat similar to Lotus’. He sat down next to Lotus. “You like it?” Goth said suddenly, referring to the blanket that Lotus had wrapped around himself. Lotus jumped slightly, surprised. “Ah! I d-didn’t know you were there…” Lotus replied softly. “And, yeah, it’s soft…” Goth smiled and handed Lotus one of the cups of tea. “It might be a bit hot, so be careful.” Goth stated as he gave him the cup and Lotus nodded slowly sipping it. Goth suddenly pulled the blanket back so he could slip under it as well, which surprised Lotus. Goth had pressed his shoulder up against Lotus and took a small sip of his tea. He seemed calm about all of this while Lotus was a bit scared of how close he was. “U-Um Goth?” Lotus stuttered softly. “Hmm?” Goth looked back to Lotus who seemed uneasy. He realized how close he was to him. “Oh! Sorry…” He moved away so they weren’t as close. Lotus seemed a bit relieved and exhaled slowly. “So…” Goth had begun to speak again. “How are you feeling?” He asked. Lotus suddenly remembered why Goth had brought him here in the first place. “Fine?” Lotus replied, taking another sip from his cup. He heard Goth scoff. “Yeah right, you think I can’t tell that your break up is hurting you? C’mon, it's easier for both of us if you just tell me.” Goth was right, he would crack eventually but keeping it hidden wouldn’t do anything but waste time. Lotus sighed. “I’ve just been losing so much sleep because of it, I miss him…” He admitted finally. “Well, why did he break up with you? Did he give you a reason?” Goth asked and Lotus paused for a second. “I was the one who broke up with him, Goth…” Lotus said quietly and Goth’s eyes widened “Then...Why do you miss him?” Goth asked. “He basically took care of me, I feel so lost!” Lotus had started to yell. “Even though basically everything to him came with a price, he was everything to me…” Goth paused looking very concerned. “Lotus? What do you mean by, ‘everything came with a price?’” Goth moved a bit closer to him. Lotus sighed softly before trying his best to respond. “I had to give something to him if I wanted to be taken care of...I-It happened to b-be my body…” Lotus looked away from Goth “He would constantly cut me...and sometimes, he would just…” Lotus trailed off, not wanting to say what had happened “Lotus..? What did he do to you?” Goth asked quietly, not getting that Lotus didn’t want to talk about it. Lotus shakily sighed. “I think he just...saw m-me as a sex toy of s-sorts?” He stuttered. “Sometimes I c-couldn't even f-feel my lower half...I was scared half to death…” Lotus had placed his cup down on a nearby table, suddenly not feeling like drinking it. Goth had felt like something stabbed him in the chest. The thought of Lotus having to endure that to be “taken care of” disgusted Goth. He put his tea down on the table as well. Goth suddenly hugged Lotus, wrapping the blanket around them both even more. “What are you doing?” Lotus asked. “Hugging you. Isn’t it obvious?” Goth said back. “Why though?” Lotus and asked and Goth scoffed. “Right now, I think you need one.” He continued to hug Lotus. To Goth’s surprise, he heard Lotus start to sniffle and before he knew it, he was hugging Goth back. He was now crying into him. “Oh, Lotus…” Goth patted his back “It’s alright, he can’t hurt you any more.” “Why do I-I miss it t-though, Goth?” Lotus said softly. “Why d-do I want to go back?!” “Maybe it's because, you’ve just been so used to it. You’ve lived like that for so long it's normal for you. But in reality, Lotus, it isn’t” Goth petted his head, and Lotus didn’t seem to mind. “M-Maybe… I’m just a b-bit scared.” Lotus whimpered. “I don’t really have anywhere t-to go, Rurik also kept a roof over my head.” Goth felt his heart broke. Lotus had basically lost everything, he had to do something for him. “You could stay here!” Goth offered. Lotus sat on the thought for a moment. “Are you going to ‘take care of me?’” Lotus asked, a bit skeptical. “Look, I’m not gonna ‘take care of you’ like Rurik, you could just stay here until you feel ready to leave..” Goth reassured him, smiling at him. Lotus still was a bit skeptical, but being here would be better than sleeping outside on a bench or something. “Fine… I’ll stay….” Lotus sighed and Goth smiled. Lotus paused for a moment but eventually spoke again. “Thank you…” “You’re welcome, Lotus!” Goth smiled. “Now, should we continue drinking our tea? They’re going to get cold soon.” Lotus nodded and took the cup in his hands. He took a small sip and smiled.

[the-shitposter-within]

Soulmate AU Polyship LesRuSteSebJo Christmas Headcanons

Alternatively- A list of incredibly specific holiday-themed AU headcanons made for a gift exchange! EDIT: Putting this under a cut since it’s really long and I wasn’t thinking about it earlier.

SET-UP - Everyone is born with a small counter(s) on their left wrist, displaying the amount of time they have left before they meet their soulmate. It displays the number of years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds until they met them.- When someone meets their soulmate, the counter disappears and is replaced by a heart - and the shift can be physically felt, so it's difficult (if not impossible) to miss having met your soulmate for the first time.

- Officially 'meeting' a soulmate tends to manifest as either eye contact or direct physical contact with one's soulmate, but either way the contact has to be direct. Meeting them over the internet or through a penpal program doesn't count (though there're various websites designed to help people find their soulmates based on the times left on their counters).

- If someone's soulmate hasn't been born yet, the counter is replaced with a string of dots, similar to an ellipses.

- Some people think 'soulmates' are limited to just two people, but there're actually many Soulmate Groups, where three or more people are soulmates with each other. Members of Soulmate Groups have multiple counters (one for each soulmate they're destined to meet) arranged from soonest to farthest away. Polygamous marriages are legal and fairly common as a result of this.

- If someone's soulmate(s) dies before they meet them, the counter grays out and becomes only zeros. If they die after having met them, the heart becomes a broken heart.

ACTUAL HEADCANONS - First off, alternate universe where Leslie and Ruben aren't sharing a body or something because... reasons. Okay, now onto the headcanons.

- The group is gearing up to have their first Christmas together as a proper group.

- Juli was invited (by Seb and Joseph) to stay over for the holidays, and despite being reluctant, Lily's relentless puppy-dog eyes got her to cave and agree to come.

- Ruben was initially a little sour about the whole affair, having a distinct disdain for anything remotely related to religion, but ended up mellowing out a little when he saw how excited some (read: Leslie and Lily) got in the weeks leading up to it.

- Stefano was openly and inexplicably bitter toward the entire concept of the holiday from the very first of the month. He outright ignored any attempts to get an explanation, but when his attitude suspiciously does a 180 immediately after the 22nd (i.e. his birthday) passes, the rest of the group suddenly realizes what was going on and groans/rolls their eyes at how unbelievably petty he is.

- He claims to have no idea what they're talking about. He's lying, of course.

- Everyone in the group is hard to shop for, since most of the things relating to their interests are things they'd rather get themselves/things they already own.

- The only exception is Lily, she'll be happy with almost anything they get her. She does, however, have a neat little Christmas wish list, with things like 'colored pencils' and 'a pet' written in multi-colored crayon.

- Seb and Joseph shop for Christmas gifts together (except what they get for each other, obviously).

- When asked who they're buying the kids stuff for at the store, everyone in the Dad Squad says its for their daughter - they all consider themselves as Lily's dads, even though Sebastian's the only biological parent in the group.

- The downside to this is that they all have very different ways they think Lily should be raised, and those ways often conflict.

-It took the combined efforts of Seb, Joseph, and Juli to keep Ruben from telling Lily that Santa Claus isn't real.

- Lily already knows. She's known for over a year now, but she's pretending not to because she doesn't want to make her dad(s) sad.

- Ruben has no interest in decorating the tree and Stefano gets banned from helping after trying to put what looked suspiciously like human remains up as decorations, so the bulk of the decorating falls on Seb, Joseph, Lily, and Juli.

- Lily, however, manages to get Ruben to join in and put exactly one (1) ornament on the tree. He goes back into the shared bedroom to read immediately after, but she's still so happy about it.

- Leslie's never messed with Christmas decorations before and the others are nervous about leaving him alone with so many sharp and/or breakable objects, especially with his history of panic attacks, so any decorating he does is closely supervised. He doesn't mind (or rather, doesn't really notice the distinction), and he and Lily end up having a lot of fun wrapping colorful lights and garland around the tree.

- Joseph put an Elf on the Shelf in the living room to encourage Lily to be good. The next morning it was found hanging from the ceiling fan with a note stapled to its chest.

- 'Put it back up. I dare you.'

- No one ever figured out who did it, but there was a strong suspicion that the culprit was either Ruben or Stefano.

- It was Juli. She saw it out of the corner of her eye when she was headed to the bathroom in the middle of the night and almost pissed herself. And then she got revenge. And the Elf on the Shelf was no more.

- On the night of the 23rd, it starts snowing, and it doesn't stop until nearly 10 AM the next morning.

- Everyone bundles up and they all go outside to have some fun in the snow (with varying degrees of willingness). It's kind of a disaster.

- Lily tries to build a snowman, but then Stefano steps in and tries to get her to be more creative with it. Which is sweet, until he starts trying to make it look like its head is half cut off, at which point Sebastian and Joseph intervene.

- Seb viciously lobs a snowball starts a snowball fight with Stefano, and in the end Joseph, Juli, Ruben, and Lily end up getting dragged into it. Seb, Joseph, and Juli end up on one team while Ruben, Stefano, and Lily are on the other.

- Leslie stays on the sidelines, keeping himself out of trouble and also making little mini-snowmen to line the back porch with. They're all a little lopsided but that somehow makes it even more adorable.

- Joseph and Ruben are the strategists for their respective teams, and end up taking the whole thing way too seriously as they try to out-calculate each other.

- Team KCPD try to take down Stefano first, thinking that he'd get annoyed and give up after enough snowballs to the face, but it just makes him better at dodging.

- For the most part, no one bothers Lily, even as she pelts Team KCPD with lumpy little snowballs.

- Ruben spends almost five whole minutes sitting behind a tree and packing a single snowball together for maximum damage 'aerodynamic quality.' It ends up hitting Seb square in the jaw. He accuses Ruben of trying to break his nose, something Ruben doesn't directly deny.

- "What're you talking about, Seb?"

- Juli 'accidentally' hits Stefano in the crotch, and while Sebastian's laughing at the face he makes Ruben hits /him/ directly in the face with a huge snowball. Literally makes him eat snow.

- All things considered, the fight gets out of hand and some muttered apologies are exchanged after the fact.

- Ruben mostly stays inside after the fight, since he has trouble with temperature control due to his burns and doesn't want to risk catching something. He got so caught up in what was going on that he forgot to take his body's limitations into consideration, and immediately goes to correct that (mainly by changing into warm, dry clothes). He still watches the others from the window, though.

- Lily, Leslie, and Juli (whom was dragged into it) make snow angels together and then help each other up so there aren't any hand/footprints ruining them.

- After a few hours out in the snow, the whole group ends up going back inside, to avoid getting sick.

- Joseph, as the designated Team Mom of the Dad Squad, makes hot cocoa for everyone.

- Later that night, all seven of them sit down and have a Christmas movie marathon. Ruben isn't really interested in any of them and mostly reads through the movies, but the others are glad he's there.

- Leslie falls asleep in the middle of one of them and ends up slumped over against Joseph. Stefano takes a picture of it when they aren't looking.

- Lily ends up falling asleep too, and at that point they all quietly agree that it's time to wrap it up.

- On Christmas day, Lily woke up at 6:30 in the morning and immediately ran to go wake up the Dad Squad.

- Joseph had been up for half an hour already and was in the kitchen making red and green pancakes (food coloring), bacon, and eggs

.- Ruben was also up, and was sitting in the living room, watching a show about medical anomalies.

- The three remaining dads were promptly woken up by Lily and dragged downstairs to where the gifts sat under the tree.

- Joseph tried to insist that they have breakfast before opening presents, but Seb tells him they may as well do it now since Lily won't be able to sit still until the gifts are open.

- The gift opening is only about 13% disaster.

- There're two unsigned gifts under the tree - the first is addressed to everyone in the Dad Squad, and upon unwrapping it they find a large bottle of cranberry-scented lube. No one asks who put it there but everyone has their own suspicions. Most of them suspect Stefano.

- They're right. He thought it'd be hilarious to see everyone's reactions and he was right. Lily's too busy with her own presents to notice all her dads silently imploding.

- The second unsigned gift is addressed specifically to Ruben, and inside is a little tube of burn cream. There's a long moment of uncomfortable silence before Ruben says something.

- "You're about thirty years too late, but thanks anyway." It's the most sarcastic tone they've ever heard him use, and that's saying something.

- Seb was behind that one. He thought it'd be a lot funnier than it turned out to be.- Lily made little arts and crafts things for all of them. Origami flowers, little dolls and animals made from clay and/or popsicle sticks, drawings etc. It's adorable.

- Leslie made everyone sugar cookies (with a lot of help from Juli), which turned out a little misshapen but still tasted good.

- In an unexpectedly sentimental gesture, Stefano made a photo album full of pictures he'd taken of their little family over the past few months and addressed it to everyone. Many of the pictures are candids none of them realized he'd taken at the time, like a picture of Joseph, Lily, and Leslie baking together or one of Seb and Ruben curled up together on the couch. There are even a few from the past week or so, indicating he'd been adding to it right up until Christmas.

- Everyone gets really sentimental about it and they spend a good ten minutes flipping through it.

- The only one who got an individual gift from Stefano is Lily, whom received a sketchbook and a set of high-end colored pencils. She's already putting them to good use by lunchtime.

- Juli wasn't 100% sure what to get anyone, so she mostly just got them clothes - sweaters, scarves, etc. Seb ends up with an ugly sweater with reindeer and snowmen on the front, which everyone immediately pressures him into changing into. Even he admits that it's hilarious.

- Ruben gets almost everyone practical items he knows they'll get a lot of use out of; a trench coat for Seb, a glasses cleaning kit for Joseph, photo development chemicals for Stefano, a sweater for Leslie, and a pair of gloves for Juli. Lily, by contrast, gets a junior science kit that no one quite knows how to feel about.

- Joseph does much of the same, getting everyone things he feels they'll be able to use.- Lily put 'a pet' on her Christmas wish list, and The Dads deliver - they get her a hamster, complete with a cage and hamster food. Joseph gives her a mini-lecture on responsibility and how she'll have to be the one to clean the cage, feed it, etc. She only half listens, mostly just excited to have a pet.

- The hamster is a Teddy Bear hamster, and Lily names him Yogurt. It's adorable.

- After the present unwrapping is over, Joseph drags them all into the kitchen for breakfast, which has gotten cold and has to be reheated. Lily sneaks bits of pancake into her pockets to give to Yogurt later.

- When everyone gets through with breakfast they all occupy themselves with their presents, trying on gifted clothes, and in Lily's case playing with toys (and Yogurt).

- Joseph and Stefano drop a few hints to Juli during lunch, and she ultimately gets what they're trying to communicate.

- After lunch, Juli takes Lily to see a movie under the guise of 'girl time', so that the Dad Squad can spend some 'dad time' together. Immediately after the car pulls out of the driveway, they all head to the bedroom and give that new cranberry lube a test drive.

- By the time the girls get back, the Dad Squad has already gotten cleaned up, though they all still smell suspiciously like cranberries.

- This is also the point where they realize the entire living room is an utter mess of torn wrapping paper and empty cardboard boxes which they can no longer ignore.

- ~Cleaning Time with Joseph and Stefano~

- Lily, Seb, and Juli get roped into cleaning, too. Leslie falls asleep on the couch and Ruben picks up exactly what part of the mess is his fault before walking away to read the dense medical text he got. They do get it done, though.

- Dinner goes much better than anyone expected. Seb, Joseph, and Juli all work together to get the actual food made and nothing gets burnt. Other than Lily sneaking more food into her pockets for Yogurt, things pass relatively uneventfully, and after some precarious and slightly questionable stacking methods, all the leftovers get put away.

- The whole group ends up falling asleep on the couch together at 10:30 while watching a made-for-TV Christmas special, with the photo album left open on the table.

BONUS: I was gonna add a set of images (made in XNALara) to go with the headcanons, but I ran out of time and only got two done out of the 4-5 I was planning :’) But here they are anyway, since I didn’t want them to go to waste!

Enjoy!