#the next comic might take a bit so here art that's been in my head

[ask-the-rag-dolly]

losing streak

[bluginkgo]

"Nice Corpse House My Guy" Remastered Behind Scenes!

The most glaring and obviously annoying thing that's evident in this comic- if you even wanna call it that- are the god forsaken BACKGROUNDS. There was a lot of experimentation going on for backgrounds here. Because the first couple pictures, THAT is what I used to draw backgrounds as. Trees are sticks and grass is flat. I realized that wasn't gonna cut it. I didn't like it at all. So I started experimenting and boy was it messy. It finally sorta settled on the style by the end of the comic. I'm still unhappy with it, but it'll have to do for now.

Here's a small comparison

One thing that I ran into was how I was gonna show that N was in his "killer mode." I could have placed the X's over the pupils, but found it unnatural looking in my style. So instead, it was settled to a concentrated light in the pupils.

Best seen between these two. The second N snaps out of it, the X/light in his pupils disappears, and the normal light returns to his eyes, which is similar to Uzi's.

Another thing I started slowly including was Uzi's little tooth on her beak.

The jutting out portion on her beak is a personal touch. Although it doesn't really matter, I included it to separate her from the rest of the "worker drones." Seen as she's an absolute solver host and has a solver form, something was going to creep up in her crow design, hence the little teeth. Doll would have them too, given I draw her in the form I've been thinking about.

Another thing I ran into, was WHAT WAS UZI GONNA TAKE N DOWN WITH?! This is a bird vs. a dog! No way was a bird gonna decommission a whole dog! Then this scene came up in my recent rewatch of Murder Drones.

And it clicked. Loooong long time ago, I had a very specific hyperfixation: birds. One thing I learned that some pigeons do, was they're capable of doing a somersault. And in mid-air, too!

I was finally set. The SICK AS HELL RAILGUN was downgraded to a simple piece of shiny glass/pebble that attracted Uzi- and crows love shiny things. And the same pebble will be used to launch at N's sensor that made him trip over. Because I was also not going to draw N doggo losing his head. I love gorey and bloody shows and art- hence why I watched Murder Drones- but I honestly had no idea how to recreate that, and I suck at drawing gore in general, I mean, did you SEE the crow N was chewing on? That was my best try honestly.

Here are some progress shots and how the layers worked in the scene where N is bonked with a stick.

As per usual, start with a sketch, this is actually 2nd sketch. The first is much rougher, just some circles and random shapes to outline his body form.

Then, this is all outlined and rendered. Along with some additions like the stick and the little rock.

The background was the hardest, aside from some weird angles I picked to draw Uzi and N at. I suck at backgrounds, like I've mentioned many times before. So, this needed a lot of testing and experimenting. Most of this works because I found some cool brushes to use. But aside from that, I honestly still don't like how it looks. It's slightly better than my stick trees and flat grass though, I guess.

Put it all together, add a black layer to simulate nighttime, put some lights to show moonlight through trees and voila, you've got an N doggo that got bonked by a stick! I see this project/comic mostly as practice and testing. Background testing mostly, and some brushes. The background/brush testing actually spilled over into another post of the solver Uzi I made a bit back. I'd say I was pretty happy how it turned out, but brush wise, I was going to test around a little more.

NUzi comic 'Sleep' is my next project. Uhhh, don't ask me when I'm gonna have it out, I have no idea. I'm guessing sometime end of Jan and beginning of Feb. But that might be delayed seeing as Murder Drones ep7 should be out sometime soon too, so I'll need to go crazy about that for a bit and then I'll go back to my usual thing ^_^ 'Sleep' will take place still between the Pilot and Heartbeat.

P.S. I have all 26 pages story boarded... good god what happened to the 'mini' part of the comic 😭

Anyways, why are you still here?! Have a cookie ^_^ you made it! Have a nice day now, bye bye <3

[beesmygod]

hmmm. was olga more "respectable" than maxine, for lack of a better word? we know she was the head of the coven, but would that mean respect from people outside of magic practitioners? or because of the way the world is set, there is not really a sharp divide between people that meddle with magic and spirits and people who dont? im asking bc i find the theme of legacy super interesting when it comes up (do people think that maxine is dragging the gottwin name through the mud? or do they shrug their shoulders bc who gives a damn about what an exterminator does and doesnt do?)

this is a good question and warranted a good answer, sorry for the delay.

there are a couple things at play here:

the position of "town witch"/coven leader was once significantly more prestigious than it is today. what used to be a position as essential as the fire or police chief has been worn away by technological advancements; her position was essentially replaced with extermination as a global business model after the rise of the cheap, electronic anti-ghost devices. maxine inherited a defunct position and failing business.

the divide between those who practice magic and those who don't is, funnily enough, the same as my view on why people make art and others don't: they don't enjoy doing the process. its messy, its complicated, it takes a long time, doesn't have guaranteed results, and it involves dead things in one way or another. sometimes it's just easier to call someone to do the process for you when you can't be bothered to work on your pronunciation of magic words. in this way, a witch is sort of like a plumber or a mural artist. explicitly for hire to do something you don't want to deal with yourself because it might be out of your skill range/take too long to learn the skills. so olga's reputation did suffer a little bit from the irrational public assessment of extermination as a "messy" business.

there's also an unfortunate stain on the gottwin name that maxine inherited long before her grandmother died: her father ran away from home in his teens because he and olga fought viciously and publicly. no one heard anything else about him until he died, and it was a surprise to everyone (including olga) that maxine even existed at all. so the rumor mill started churning: what did olga do that upset her son so badly? by the time olga died, people seemed to understand that the family was cracked beyond repair; behaviors that were more acceptable in the decades before the events of the comic were looked at in hindsight as painful and cruel. and since maxine, public nuisance, was the end result of olga's work it's hard for the public not to lay the blame at her feet.

so, maxine is caught in a sort of weird nostalgic hell where people can simultaneously tut-tut her for not being enough like her grandmother or for being too much like her. lol. this was a ramble but i hope it was interesting. im folding most of this into the comic but a lot of it i just try to keep in my brain when writing and thinking about them both.

ive been thinking more and more about olga as we approach parts where we're be flashing back to maxine's childhood and approach the next (final?) book. "books" are the huge overarching storylines as opposed to individual chapters, so there's still a lot of AGS to go. i want to explore character motivations so much i just need the power and energy to do so again.

[kaithonks]

So I’ve had some Thoughts about Juni Ba’s The Boy Wonder

There are a few points I feel the need to point out before I dig into this, as I feel that I might end up sounding, for lack of a better term, fangirlie. I do genuinely love The Boy Wonder, and part of that comes from it being a comic about the Robins. So, that does give me a bit of a bias. Especially as lately, there hasn’t been a ton of good (in my opinion) Jason Todd comics, who is my personal favorite. And Juni Ba has a really good take on the character. But, outside of that, he genuinely has a good take on all the Robins and even on Talia. But again, because of my love for these all these character I’m gonna keep away from talking too much about the story and character development to focus on the art. Because Juni Ba’s writing is great, but what makes the story is how he uses his art to tell the story in a rather fun way. 

The Boy Wonder is made of 5 issues, each having a different focus. Dick, Jason, Tim, Talia, and then Ra’s Al Ghul. The story still centers around Damian, but through comparing these characters to Damian. There is also a different feel between each comic, and this is done through different paneling. Dick’s issue has a lot of dynamic angled panels. There is also a moment of comparison with the young Dick, showing him being Dick and Robin in the same panel. Starting a theme of paralleling. Two pages later, you also get a young Dick catching his mom and then a current Dick catching Barbara. The paralleling between past and present will come back in the Ra’s issue, but it's particular to the start of Damian’s growth. It’s also the start of the story’s style being set to show Damian’s feelings, like how after Damian cuts the man’s head off, there is a panel with Damian’s demon mask growing.

Jason’s issue is mostly made of 3 long panels per page, building out the scenery and honestly showing Jason as a part of the world.  He sticks out with the Red Hood, but he’s casually greeting others and still moves through like he belongs. The paralleling isn’t as strong in Jason’s issue, but the stylistic feeling is particularly strong. It’s used less to show difference here, but rather more similarities. Like with Jason and Damian both having horns. And while this is a little off my point, this issue has some of the best page turn moments, particularly at the end with the opened red door. Which, while it feels like a moment for Jason, it also feels like Damian’s. While Dick was a point for Damian to compare himself and grow, Jason was a point of empathy and connection.

Jason’s issue was defined with longer panels, Tim’s is smaller to show the little details. A lot of it used to show the waste of the wealthy, but it’s also used for the Wayne Enterprises gadgets. So, while not like the direct paralleling in Dick’s issues, it shows Tim’s use of wealth to help rather than the for greed and is another lesson for Damian.

Talia’s issue has the biggest shift with the style with the paneling being quite different. Starting with the tan and clean panels of her backstory, shifting to thick dark lines boarding each pane. Then the green boards of the cave before settling for the more typical for a few pages. While it’s easy to say this is a choice for building the climax of the story, it does more, and visually helps to set apart Damian’s two lives.  That of the one with his mother and the League of Assassin, versus the one of his life with his father and his brothers.

The first notable thing is that Ra’s issue doesn't’ really start with Merle and Joe’s story, rather it ends with it being a good closing for the story as a whole. But the key moment is Bruce facing of Ra’s and the panel taking up 2 pages. With them being connected but broken up by the page itself. It’s really a unification for Damian, and it’s the next page where we see what he’s learned from Ra’s to stop him, unifying Ra’s and Bruce’s ideals within Damian himself. Bringing back the paralleling between past and present, in Dick’s issues, but doing it more with the style of Talia’s issue.

The Boy Wonder was one of those wonderful moments where I remember that this story wouldn't work in another medium other than a comic. While the writing is good, what makes it great is Ba’s style and knowledge of paneling to tell the story. Particularly, a story of unification, and balancing the present and past for a better future.

[practically-an-x-man]

1, 6, 13, 21 for Katherine, I, K, L, Q for Quinn and Billy, and 💀🕷️🤖 for you

Thank you so much!!!

OC/Ship Ask Game: Firsts

Katherine:

First big aspiration (i.e. what did they want to be when they grew up?)

She knew since she was little that she wanted to be an artist, though what type of artist varied throughout different stages of her life. Being a comic artist was a big one for a while, at one point she thought about going into tattooing, and she never really recognized museum work as a venue until she was in it.

6. First time they realized their "calling" in life

Similar to the first answer, she'd wanted to be an artist since she was little and never really wavered in that being her "calling". Or, if you want to get more spiritual with it with the whole connection to the Egyptian pantheon, it was when she first learned that she could access the tablet's magic in ways the others (like Larry or the other night guards) couldn't, and she began to realize that she might have more of a connection to it than she knew.

13. First time being drunk/high

She's never been completely drunk or high in her life. She tends to be a little cautious about that sort of thing, and while she's been to a few parties with fellow art students that ended with her a little tipsy or a little buzzed, she's never done enough to be profoundly affected.

21. First major change in their life, and how they dealt with it

I think the first really dramatic change was her moving to NYC for art school - it was her first time living on her own, and she didn't have relatives nearby (though she quickly found a community of friends to support her), and there were a lot of things she had to adapt to that she'd never had to consider after living her whole life in the same town.

____

Four of Hearts (Quinn x Billy)

I. First time sleeping together (sexual)

It's actually mentioned in one of the Desert Song chapters, but it was the morning before the Oslo mission. This was about a week after the prior mission (and official confession of love between them), and really the main reason they hadn't done it earlier was because of Quinn's physical health - she had gotten injured during that prior mission and needed to heal up a bit.

K. First fight

First fight ever? Eh, who even knows. They're both pretty strong-willed people, and while most of the time they were able to talk things through without it turning into a fight, there were still plenty of times where they butted heads while planning their next gig.

First fight as a couple? Actually, that same morning before the Oslo mission - or, technically, the day after. I'll spare you the details of that because I'd rather you find out by reading the chapter itself (it's intense and very fun to read!), but a lot happened very quickly.

L. ....And the first time they had to make up

See above: after what happened with the Oslo mission. The good news is that they're pretty good about communicating with each other and were able to work through it instead of just simmering in resentment, but it was a hell of a fight.

Q. First act of non-sexual intimacy (e.g. washing the other's hair, taking a bath together, sharing food)

Speaking in general, they've patched each other up after gigs for years, long before they were ever officially in a relationship. But as a couple, Billy's very good about the non-sexual intimacy, especially when it's tied to caring for Quinn through her disabilities - that mission where she got injured? I mean, he stayed with her the whole way, helped her get comfortable, made sure she had food and painkillers and anything else she needed. Again, really fun, really lovely chapter, highly recommend.

____

💀 - First time writing character death, and how you felt about it

I feel like I've answered this one a few times before, but I think it was in a chapter of I'll Be Here to Catch You, my first fic! It was leading into the DOFP plot, a flash-forward to that "bad timeline" in which we see both Hank and Mira die incredibly painful, violent deaths. I really didn't hold back with the whump, since... I mean, anyone who's seen DOFP knows it'll all get reversed in the end, and I wasn't one for much canon divergence at the time.

I've never really been concerned about writing character death, you know I like whump and even as an inexperienced writer I liked trying to draw that strong emotion out of my writing. My only issue with character death is when it just doesn't make sense, either for the character themself or for the story they service, but I'm fine with character death when it has significant, logical impact.

🕷️ - First time writing something that scared you, and how it went

Idk, I really don't think there was anything about writing that really scared me. I love exploring new ideas, I always have, and if I was uncomfortable with something I knew the only way to get more comfortable was to practice.

Posting my writing, however, gave me a lot of anxiety for a while. I didn't have a very high opinion of my own skill or the stories I created, especially surrounded by so many more talented writers in the fandoms I wrote for, and I was worried someone might trash my story in some way or another. Nobody did, and gradually I got more comfortable with posting, but that was what really worried me rather than the act of writing itself.

🤖 - First nonhuman character you wrote

I mean, if mutants count as "nonhuman", my first OC EVER was nonhuman! And really, as mutants go, Mira's is more on the nonhuman side in general, given her mutations include a lot of various animal traits.

[ask-de-writer]

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THE FISHERMAN'S LEG (Part 12 of 20)

A sequel to Dee 1/2 Demon

by

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

13269 words (work in progress)

© 2023 by Glen Ten-Eyck

All rights reserved. This document may not be copied or distributed on or to any medium or placed in any mass storage system except by the express written consent of the author.

TUMBLR EXEMPTION

Blog holding members of Tumblr.com may freely reblog this story provided that the title, author and copyright information remain intact, unaltered, and are displayed at the head of the story.

Fan art, stories, music, cosplay and other fan activity is actively encouraged.

~~ ~~ ~~ ~~

New to the story? Read from the beginning HERE.

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Things went quietly and happily for the next few days. Besides fish sales, the whole Fish Market gang, Minara, Takahara, Tanira, and Ichuru, would take out one of the Shop of Repairs' larger boats to fish for crabs and sand sharks. Besides those, they often took snappers, flounders, sea bass and rock cod to liven their sales displays.

At their now almost “traditional” dinners with the Shop of Repairs gang, which included all of those working for the Shop of Repairs, the Chiasu Estate, and Sabo's Better Fish Market, Miko suggested, “Tanira san, Minara has told me that since Magistrate Lim separated your debits and Minami's you are no longer in debit. Rather, you have caught up those that are properly yours and are making cash beyond what you owe.”

Tanira, a little worried at where Miko was going with this, nodded a bow and replied, “That is so, Miko san. Why have you brought this up?”

Dee, at the long table's head answered, “Minara san and Takahara san have asked us if they can be released to work for you, that is why!” Pulling a comic frown, she went on, “They like you better than us!”

Smiling now, Tanira bowed deeply to both girls and replied, “I shall be most happy to have them, but on two conditions. First, my house is so empty without Minami's boasting and bluster, that I wish them to live there with me, as a family with Ichuru san. It will be good to have friends and peace in the house for a change.

“Secondly, they must be willing to accept at least five more of copper cash daily, making a full ten. It has been wonderful to have them but their help is worth far more than I have been able to pay before this.”

Ichuru, eyes alight, clapped his hands and exclaimed, “That is wonderful, Mother san! They are as sisters to me already!”

Tanira smiled happily and hugged her son as she said fondly, “Ichuru san, they have not yet accepted my conditions.”

Takahara simply whooped and pounded Minara on the back! “She does want us! Yes, Tanira sanma! When we asked, we were afraid that you might not want us underfoot all the time!”

Tanira nodded a deep bow to them both. “You are indeed most welcome to work with me and share my home.”

Turning to the head of the table again, she asked, “Dee san, how will this affect our agreements, which are only oral and made in conversation? Especially about ice? But other things too, like using your boats to fish for crabs?”

Dee nodded thoughtfully, “Tanira san, I can see no reason to make any changes to our present practices, including having you all here for dinner.”

Patsu took up, “Got an offer for you. I will soon have three new girls that I need to train. Would you accept as a training project a boat of twelve paces length? It will be equipped with fan like lateen sails, like some of our larger boats and set up for sail, oars, and to fish how you would like.”

Instead of temporizing, because she well knew her hosts, she bowed deeply and inquired, “Could it be set up for trolling but have space to install nets later if it seems wise?”

Patsu simply nodded a bit of a bow as she replied, “I will see to it.”

Ichuru, forgetting his manners in his excitement, waived his arms and called, “Can I help to make it, Patsu?”

Tanira corralled her offspring and remonstrated gently, “She can answer you, Ichuru san, as soon as you ask politely.”

Abashed, but still eager, he bowed deeply and offered, “Patsu san, apologies for my unruly eagerness. May I please be allowed to assist in the making of mother Tanira san's fishing boat?”

Patsu returned his bow and replied, “When your other work, which includes some lessons in reading, writing and figuring, is done, you may help us to build that boat.”

One of the young ladies bowed to him and asked, “Do you still have that toy boat that I gave to you?”

“I love it, Ontara san! I keep it and my floats at the Fish Market. Mother, um, Tanira san lets me take it down to the shingle beach to play with it, as long as I wear my floats and Takahara san is there too, in case I fall into the water. She can swim really well.”

Looking about, he felt secure enough in this company to confess, “Sometimes I fall in on purpose so that Takahara san will pull me back to shore.”

A giggling Takahara grinned, “I can always tell when he's going to do it, too! He pushes the boat over to the shore, so that the wind can't take it away. As soon as he does, I get ready!”

The whole table, including his mother, had a good laugh at the whole idea.

After the friendly and actually productive meal, Takahara and Minara happily called, “Wait for us, Tanira san! We don't have a lot to pack!”

When they came down with their first arm loads, Patsu had an odd looking cart waiting for them. Seeing both Tanira and Ichuru's interest, she explained, “We use this cart to bring our boats up to the boat house when we are done for the day. Its shape has room for a keel under the boats with sails. Beats dragging them up that boat ramp.”

Tanira tilted her head quizzically as she asked, “You bring them up each night? Why? Other fishers only bring their boats out once a week or so.”

Patsu jerked a rude thumb at the door and the street beyond as she spat, “Minami. If we leave them out, he will try to ruin them somehow. It has happened three times already.”

Nodding slowly, Tanira nearly whispered, “I can see how that might be, Patsu san.”

The cart loaded, they pulled it out of the Chiasu Warehouse.

Minami was waiting, but across the street from them as required by Magistrate Lim's order, and the Constable who stood patiently beside him. He sneered loudly, gloatingly, “So, thrown out by the Demon spawn for helping another? Where will you go now, worthless ones? Nobody wants orphans like you!”

To everyone's surprise, it was Ichuru who snapped back, “Silence, Foul One! They are coming home to be my sisters! You are not a father to me! I turn my back to you!”

The enraged Minami started to charge across the street to strike the boy! Takahara dropped the pull bar of the cart and slid into a dangerous karate combat stance. Unneeded this time! A fast swipe with the handle end of the constable's ceremonial but very functional naginata had him down face first in a tangle of tripped legs! Before could catch his breath, his arms were bound behind his back!

As he was being led away, they all overheard, “Didn't you hear what my insolent son called me?”

“I did. I also heard your provocation. Why do you always assume the worst of others without the bother of asking what is happening?”

The next morning was a happy one in Tanira's suddenly busy household! The girls had taken Ichuru out to clean, weed and harvest the fairly extensive but much neglected kitchen garden!

To be Continued

<==PREVIOUS ~~ NEXT==>

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[vdragon-creations]

Spring Stars! (Part 1) The Cheetah, The Turtle, and The Awkward Hurdle!

(2003 Donatello x Sasha Fic)

✨💛💜✨

Authors Note: Heyo everyone! It’s been a bit, but it’s finally here! I’ve been working on this for a bit (I think about three months now) and it’s finally done! I've been through this and edited what I could so it's not a complete mess. Be warned, this is an OCxCC story, and my writing is, pretty cringe, to put it nicely. (Though I have a nice Art piece in here for you, so that's something!) If those two things turn you off, you’re free to leave, but for those of you who choose to stay…thank you. And I’m sorry! XD Without further ado, let’s get this Fluff Fest rolling!

✨💛💜✨

Donnie wasn’t sure when it had happened, but it didn’t really matter anymore. Ever since Mikey brought it up, it was all he could really think about. Once seemingly innocent words and actions had now become so confusing, and as “The Smart One” it was honestly a little frustrating.

“Another Nerd Date Night with your Girlfriend?” His brother in orange shouted from the couch, all while not taking his eyes off his comic book. Donnie had been heading out of The Liar, duffle bag over his shoulder and tools in hand. He was going to the part of the sewers where Leatherhead and Sasha lived, so that the two of them could work on a project involving some new blueprints they received from The Professor the last time they went digging through the junkyards. But the words of his brother made his brain freeze. This wasn’t the first time his brothers or friends had made a comment about how close he and Sasha were to each other, but it was the first time someone had outright called her his “Girlfriend”. Quickly shaking off his surprise, Donnie just shouted back, “Can it, Chucklehead!” And left The Lair.

But little did he know, that he wasn’t the only one dealing with these kinds of thoughts.

Sasha had only known the Turtles for a few months by now, and loved every moment she got to hang out with them! She had lived by herself for so long in the middle of the dessert, that she didn’t realize just how lonely she was. Until she met Leatherhead, Honeycutt, and The Turtles. And especially Donnie. She really didn’t know why. Maybe it was his smarts that made them click together? Or maybe it was his softer nature that made him so likable? Just, something about him felt so comfortable. She felt like she could be open about her interests around him, at least most of them. And these little late night lab sessions with him really just felt like it as “their time”, even if they didn’t have complete privacy. Getting some time alone with Donnie would’ve honestly been one of Sasha’s biggest dreams! But….at the same time, for some reason she didn’t understand, it also made her nervous and fidgety. She noticed how her heart rate would spike up every time he got close! How good his voice sounded as they talked about their work! How she'd catch herself staring at him from across the room! This feeling was so beyond anything she had ever felt before, and it was both exciting…but scary. She had started to fear that is was part of her “Predatory Instincts” wanting to kick in.

Sasha had gone to Leatherhead and Honeycutt about this feeling, hoping that at least one of them might be able to give her an answer! She didn’t wanna spend another Lab Session with Donnie feeling this way, and just not understanding it anymore. But, genuinely wasn’t expecting the two of them to say what they did.

“Perhaps you’re experiencing what you earthlings call the “Birds and Bees”? You are a teenager after all.” Honeycutt suggested, him and Leatherhead sharing a look and snickering a little. Sasha raised an eyebrow and sat up from her position on the couch. “The birds and what-now?” She asked, having never heard that phrase before. Leatherhead chuckled and walked over to the couch and sat next to her, “What I think he’s trying to say Sasha, is that you’re starting to gain an attraction to Donatello. As more then a friend, and are starting to see him more like a potential partner. Or Mate if you will.” The second the word ‘mate’ left Leatherhead’s mouth, Sasha’s face went hotter then the sun, redness on her cheeks could almost be seen through her fur. She swiftly got up, “What? Are you serious?? Don’t play around with words like that! Besides, how would that even work?” Leatherhead was about to open his mouth to answer that last part before Sasha quickly shut it down, “Don’t you even start with me!” “Sasha, we’re merely just speculating on the possibility. And it makes perfect sense if you think about it. You're both teenagers, share lots of interests, and spend an ample amount of time together. And having seen the way you two get along…. I can’t help but see it.” Honeycutt said.

The words they said, bounced around in her head all day till the time came for Donnie and her to start their Lab Session. She HAD to know what these feelings were, and she was gunna be keeping a very close eye on her behavior. If there was any truth to Leatherhead and Honeycutt’s words, she needed to know before herself or Donnie got hurt! Besides…..would he even feel the same way?

✨💛💜✨

“Uhhh, Sasha? You in here?” Donnie asked, sticking his head into the archway of Leatherhead’s Lair, looking around for his spotted friend. Sasha was over by the small half kitchen just out of view, and after hearing Donnie’s voice, her heart leaped a bit. “Yep! Just getting some coffee ready so we can start!” She called out, sticking her head out to greet him, giving him her ever friendly grin. Donnie’s lips curled into an unstoppable smile after seeing her face. Feeling better about the day already. When Mikey’s words filled his head again, he quickly felt butterflies bouncing around in his stomach. “Ah, ok! I’ll go ahead and get us set up!” he chirped as he made his way over to the lab set up across the room. Leatherhead, Honeycutt, and himself had built this small workstation a long time ago, and ever since Sasha came to New York, it only got bigger. She had so much energy about learning and building new things, and with Donnie being a big influence and teacher, the workplace only became bigger as the two of them seemed to feed off each other's enthusiasm.

Sasha poured them both a mug of coffee, taking a very deep breath before sighing. With all the shaking she could feel her nerves doing, she wasn’t really sure the coffee was necessary to keep her alert. “Come on, tonight is no different then any other night! Get your act together you Scaredy Cat!” She growled at herself. Finally grabbing the Coffee and turning around to join Donnie. “Two cups of dirty bean water! Coming right up!” She chirped as she walked over to him, setting up his own tools on the work desk. Donnie looked up, giving an amused smile and chuckle before walking up to her and taking one of the mugs, “That’s a colorful thing to call it! True though.” He said, before taking a sip of the warm beverage. It helped soothe his own jitters but it wouldn’t last, and he knew that. Sasha took a sip of her own mug and took a seat, getting straight to work on reading one of the blueprints. That’s when Donnie noticed how quiet it was in the room.

“Where are Leatherhead and Honeycutt?” Donnie asked, looking around the room. Sasha’s stomach balled itself into a knot hearing him ask that. She had totally forgotten that they weren’t there for once. That fact didn’t help with her jitters, but she did her best to swallow it and not let her feelings show. “I think they left a little while ago. Out looking for supplies I think.” She answered, not looking back up at him. “Oh…” Donnie said, realizing that he and Sasha were actually going to have a night alone to work. His olive green cheeks starting to turn dark as that thought ran through his head. “W-well that’s good, no distractions or random noises right?” Donnie said taking his seat next to her, grabbing a few of his tools and parts, letting a nervous chuckle leave his chest. Sasha only responded with a small hum, continuing to “read” the blueprint in front of her.

About an hour passed with the two of them working in silence, until finally Sasha let out a small grumble. The sound caught Donnie’s attention quickly, “What’s wrong?” Sasha’s face was contorted into a confused and irritated expression, head resting on her hand as her other hand started tapping one of her nails on the table. Donnie got up and loomed over her shoulder to look at what she was glaring at. “Whatcha' working on there?” He asked. “Just having a hard time reading these blueprints we found…” she answered, still not looking up at him. It was like she had finally forgotten all about those nerves she had before and went back into her own little world. “Want some help?” Donnie asked bending down a bit more to see exactly where she was on the page. His head very very close to hers, though she didn’t seem to notice or care. “Sure, it’s just this little bit right here that has me stumped.” Sasha said, her clawed finger tapping at the part of the blueprint in question. “It talks about a special part being needed-” she began speaking, but Donnie’s attention began to quickly fade as he listened to her words. He’s eyes slowly traveling from the page she was pointing to, up her arm, then shoulder, finally landing on her eyes.

They had spared a few times, worked together, and even enjoyed movie nights with his bros, but this was the closest he had ever been to her. Getting to see her eyes this close was so breathtaking, their beautiful blue color contrasting with her golden fur. “Her eyes look like gems this close…” he thought to himself. “Hmmmm, I see…” he said softly, thoughtlessly responding to the things Sasha was saying. “Maybe there’s a missing page…” Sasha said, still focused on the blueprint, paying Donnie’s closeness no mind. “So pretty…” he thought to himself again, his eyes traveling again, fallowing the tear stripes on Sasha’s eyes. Right to the corners of her mouth, with her dark colored lips, as a thought crossed his mind that hadn’t before…

“How soft…are they?”

He’s eyes stayed trained on them for a bit, just watching them as they moved. Sasha’s voice being only an echo in his head. Saying things, but not really clear enough to make anything out. “What do you think Don?” Sasha asked, still staring at the blueprints. She waited a second to hear his reply, but she heard nothing. So her eyes left the paper for a moment to glance up at him, “Don?” What she saw almost made her heart stop as Donnie wasn’t looking at the prints at all, but rather his eyes seemed to be fixed on her! With him this close it was a lot easier to see the darker shade of green dusting his cheeks, which Sasha thought was impossible for a reptile to blush. Being this close it was hard to tell exactly where he was fixed on, as that mask of his always seemed to hide what his eyes actually looked like. “Uh, Donnie?” She asked, now turning her face a bit to look at him directly. Heat now crawling it's way onto her cheeks too. The movement of her face made Donnie snap out of his daze, quickly blinking only to be met with Sasha’s eye’s staring at him in confusion and surprise.

There was a brief second of awkward silence where the two just stared back at one another, till Donnie realized just how close he was to her and practically leaped out of his shell and relied back, letting a surprised yelp slip out! Causing Sasha to also flinch and let out a panicked cheetah chirp! “Oh shell! I-I’m so so sorry! I-I don’t know what-“ Donnie was starting to say when Sasha also started panic talking too, “It’s ok! It’s ok! I just…wasn’t expecting that!” The two of them just caught their breath or a moment before Sasha continued, “I was asking what you thought about my theory that we’re missing a page of the Blueprints?” Donnie hyperventilated a bit more before shakily responding, “O-Oh R-right…uhhhhh. That, well…uh… y-yeah, that would make sense. If it talks about a part that’s not included in the plans we have, they must be on another page.” His words where coming out unfocused and unsure, something that was so unlike him. Sasha’s eyes farrowed at him slightly, like trying to read a poem for the hidden meaning behind it. The look made Donnie even more nervous and he quickly tried to bounce back, “Yeah, I-I guess the next time we go to the Junkyard, we’ll start looking for a missing page! M-Maybe The Professor has seen it!”

“Agreed...” Sasha trailed off, still looking at him quizzically. Donnie’s lip quivered into a shaken quick smile, as he started to feel incredibly embarrassed by his actions. His shame burning bright on his cheeks as he could feel the butterflies in his stomach dancing around again. He nervously laughed to hopefully get some of them out, but it did him no good as he just felt like he wanted to cry. Holding it back as to not upset her more. “I-I guess I’ll start m-making more of the pieces we need!” He said, tying to sound chipper despite the crack in his voice. Sasha was about to say something, but Donnie didn’t give her the chance before Don put his head down and went back to his seat. This time, scooting his chair a bit further away from her so he wouldn’t be in her way. Sasha just stared at him in utter confusion, “Uh…o-okey. Let me know if you need anything from me.” She said, trying to sound soothing, as if to not sound harsh or offended by what just happened.

Donnie didn’t really respond to that, and just slouched in his seat and started working. Sasha just looked at him for a moment before returning to her own work in silence, except for the sound of her heart pounding away in her ears. She placed her hand on her chest, her ears drooping a bit. That moment with Donnie so close, looking at her with eyes so earnest, and his half parted lips, it was… like a dream. But that really happened, and from the looks of it, he seemed like he wanted to…

Sasha shook her head and forced herself back to work. It was a preposterous thought to have! There’s no way he as feeling that way about her! Not in the slightest! She was just reading too much into it, not helped by Leatherhead and Honeycutt’s words! There was no way on earth the two of them could be having such romantic feelings towards each other! Sure they were capable of human emotions, but they were of different species and attraction seemed pointless from a biological standpoint! Attraction and partnerships are meant for the evolutionary purpose of reproduction, and that was impossible between the two of them! So… why was she feeling this way towards him? Was it just strong friendship? Predatory instincts to hunt him being screwed in her mind? Or was it actually love?

With a small sigh, Sasha let the thoughts wash over her as she got back to reading the prints. Meanwhile Donnie was having his own inner struggle. Practically beating himself over the head for not thinking for once! Usually he’s the only one out of his brothers to stop and think about a situation before doing something so fucking stupid! But no! This time his teenager brain just had to have hormones take over for once and let him make a complete fool of himself! Forget her personal boundaries, he might as well have just grabbed her and started kissing her when she looked his way! So much for making this night not feel awkward! Now she probably thinks he’s a fucking nutcase and wants nothing to do with him! Besides, even if he had kissed her… who’s to say she’d even go for it? He and his brothers aren’t exactly the most handsome guys on the planet, maybe better looking as far as mutants go, but Sasha was… stunning. Her fur shone like gold, her eyes looked like sapphires, and her voice was like an angel! She was brilliant, and witty, and gentle and kind to all around her. Basically everything Donnie could ask for. But, far far out of his league. And now, he probably screwed his friendship up with her just because of his brother’s stupid words...

It was gunna be a long night in the lab...

✨💛💜✨

Hours had passed by, and while some of the nervous tension had dissipated, the two mutants still hadn’t spoke a word. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t be too out of the norm. They had many nights in the lab together where the two wouldn’t speak at all, and rather enjoy each other’s company in silence. But this? This was just…awkward and heavy.

Sasha was hard at work, reading and taking notes on some of the plans. Meanwhile Donnie was nearly finished with one of the parts needed for their project. Absentmindedly, the two had been grabbing things around the desk to continue their tasks without looking at what they where reaching for. Sasha was searching the desk with her hand to find the highlighter, while Donnie was also feeling around for a pair of wire cutters, only to find themselves feeling something else. They both paused and finally looked up to find their hands resting together.

They looked at their hands and then quickly whipped them away from one another. “S-sorry, I was looking for my Highlighter…” Sasha muttered meekly, feeling the knot in her stomach tightening again. “No no, it’s my bad. I was getting distracted. I was looking for my wire cutters…” Donnie said, bashfully rubbing the back of his neck. Sasha’s ears perked up, and turned to reach somewhere behind her on the desk, holding up the wire cutters, “Oh! Here you go! My bad, have no idea how they ended up on my side.” She handed him the cutters, making sure that her hands where as far from where Donnie would grab them as possible. Donnie noted this before taking them, “T-Thanks.” He said, before turning back to his work. That was something Sasha would do a lot. Not just with himself either, but his brothers too. Anytime it wasn’t absolutely necessary, Sasha would avoid touching them with her hands at all. And whenever contact did happen, Sasha would always subtly rub her hands like they were in pain.

But, Donnie decided it would be best to ignore it for now, but he still felt like the air was a bit too awkward. So, it was about time to break the silence up and try to get the night to feel more “normal” again. “Sooo uhhhh, how’s Plato doing? I didn’t see him when I came in.” Donnie asked. Sasha stopped what she was doing and looked at him with a raised brow. “Huh?” Sasha hadn’t really been listening to what he had said. Donnie looked back at her and smiled softly, cocking an eyebrow up as well, “The last time you came to The Lair, you said Plato had gotten sick. I didn’t see him when I came in. I wanted to know how he was doing.” Donnie clarified, letting out a soft chuckle. “OH! Y-yeah! That! He’s fine now. He just had a minor respiratory infection, nothing too serious. He’s resting right now over in his little tent.” Sasha said, pointing over her shoulder with her thumb to an area of the room where Sasha had set up an old child’s play tent. Pillows and blankets covered the floor around it, along with food and water bowls. “Well that’s good, I was pretty worried about the little guy.” Donnie said, pretty relieved to hear he was ok. “Oh yeah! He’s a tough little tortoise! Much like a few other turtles I know!” Sasha said with a smile. Donnie looked at her a bit surprised by that comment, which she ended off with a little wink.

Donnie gulped and started stammering, “C-come on now! W-we aren’t that little!” Sasha couldn’t help it, and just started snickering at him. Donnie was glad the heaviness had finally lifted and it seemed like Sasha held no issues with him, letting a smile spread on his face. Enjoying the sight of her giggling away at him.

“She’s just too cute…”

Donnie rolled his eyes, smile still on his face as he did so. “Well, if you’re just gunna just sit there and laugh at me all day, one of us should be getting some work done on this thing!” Donnie retorted, getting up from his seat and picking up the part he had been working on, turning his back to her as he walked over to the wall next to the desk.

Attached to the wall was a robotic project, intended to be a mech of some kind. The plans for this small mech where on some Blueprints Sasha and Donnie found, and the two fingered they’d at least try to make a working one! So far it seemed to be going great, minus a few hiccups here or there with finding certain parts or having missing pages of the Blueprints. The two of them where pretty smart though, so little things like that were nothing they couldn’t work their way around. Donnie started opening up a hatch on the back of the mech and crawled inside, shimmying his way down till only his legs were poking out. “Well, while you’re in there, I’ll go ahead and get another pot of coffee ready for us! Didn’t think we’d drink the other one so fast…” Sasha said wondering over to the kitchen. “WE ALREADY DRANK THE WHOLE POT!?” Donnie yelled from inside the mech. “Afraid so my friend.” Sasha chirped back over her shoulder. “Oh man! No idea how I’m gunna sleep tonight then! I’ll be so wired I’ll probably be up for a week!” Donnie replied, the sounds of him knocking around inside the mech echoing through the lab. “Donnie I’ve seen you stay up for weeks on projects before. WITHOUT caffeine might I add. Don’t go blaming the coffee.” Sasha playfully scolded him. “Hey! Who’s side are you on!?” Donnie whined. Sasha just giggled, pressing the brew button on the machine.

Soon, the coffee machine was humming away as a nice hot dark brew came from the spout. Sasha breathed in the smell, enjoying it quite a bit. When you live with huge Crocodile Mutant in the sewers, few good smelling things are so easy to come by. Sasha’s ears and tail wiggled softly with contentment, until her trance was broken by Donnie’s voice from inside the mech. “Oh shell!” He said, sounding a bit annoyed. Sasha hurried over to him a little worried, “What’s wrong Don?” She asked, leaning over the entrance to the mech to try and see inside as Donnie started crawling out of the hatch, “I forgot a piece I need back at The Lair! I’ll have to go grab it!” Donnie said, getting back onto his feet, dusting off his plastron. “If you want I’ll run and grab it for you! I am a cheetah after all! Speed do be my thing.” Sasha offered. “A kind offer, but my deck isn’t the most organized. Wouldn’t want you to get lost trying to find it.” Donnie said, honestly a little embarrassed. Sasha always seemed to keep her workspace pretty organized, and the thought of her having to sift through all of the junk on his desk was unbearable. That, and he kept a small photo of the two of them together on his deck, and always hid it from her when she’d come over. He’d never be able to show his face to her again if she found it. “Well, if you’re sure. Is there anything you’d like me to do then?” Sasha asked, still wanting to at least get some work done while he was gone.

Donnie thought it over and then snapped his finger, “Oh! There’s a box of wires in there under the control panel! My fingers are bit too big to fit in there with the wire cutters, and I need to get the power working in there! Think you could do that?” Sasha nodded and saluted to him, “Aye Aye Sir!” Donnie couldn’t help the little grin on his face seeing her do stuff like that. “Well then, the wire cutters are in there already! So you should be set!” Donnie said, heading around her to leave. “Won’t be needing them!” Sasha said, looking over her shoulder at him with a sly grin. Holding up her hand, showing off her non-retractable claws. “I come pre-equipped with better tools.” She quipped, giving him a playful wink before hopping into the mech’s hatch. “Alright! I’ll be back in two shakes of a turtle’s tail!” Donnie said as he took off. Sasha snickered before shouting after him from inside the mech, “You don’t even have a tail!”

Sasha sat in that mech for a moment, waiting till she could no longer hear Donnie’s footsteps, and then breathed a sigh of relief when finally alone. She was very happy that the night was no longer so damn awkward, but it was still a lot to happen all at once. But, she couldn’t slack off now! Donnie needed her, and she was gunna be useful to him! So she crawled her way to the front part of the mech with the control panel. “Lucky for me cats are flexible! This thing is so cramped I’m surprised Donnie could fit in here with his shell intact…” Sasha muttered to herself, noting all the pointy bits of metal and wiring all around her. “Now…if I where a wire box where would…Oh! There you are!” Sasha scooted over to a small metal box under the control panel and opened it, revealing tangled, frayed, and unconnected wires! “Oh man, this is a mess…” She sighed, “Well, better get to work…”

✨💛💜✨

Donnie came running into The Lair quickly, heading straight for his desk. “Woah! You’re back pretty early Donnie! Your hot nerd date go well?” Mikey quipped, looking over his shoulder from his spot on the couch. “I told you it’s not a date Mikey! And no, I’m not back. I’m just looking for something I left behind!” Donnie snapped back, digging through the junk and loose blueprints on his desk. “Suuuuure, whatever you say Don!” Mikey snarked before turning his attention back to the TV. Raph wasn’t too far from Donnie’s workspace, currently beating the stuffing out a practice dummy. “Hey bro, you know, not to agree with Mikey or nothin’ but uhhh…don’t you think you outta give it a rest?” Raph said, his tone sounding concerned despite being preoccupied with his opponent. “Give what a rest?” Donnie asked, honestly a little annoyed, this interruption from his brother’s was wasting time when he could be finding that part he needed and getting back to Sasha. At the same time, Splinter and Leo came out of Splinter’s room, wanting to hear what was going on. Raph stopped punching his dummy for a bit and looked at Don with an almost bewildered expression, “You seriously need to ask that? I’m talkin’ about this whole ‘We’re just friends’ thing you keep spoutin’! I mean, I know we aren’t nearly as smart as you, but none of us were born yesterday Brainiac.”

Mikey muted the TV and quickly sat backwards on the couch to peek over the top of the seat to watch the bullets that were about to fly. Even Splinter and Leo seemed a bit interested, if not also on guard. “Is your shell on too tight, or do you just have too much of your practice dummy’s stuffing lodged in your ears?! I’m not putting on an act! We’re JUST FRIENDS. End of story.” Donnie argued. “Oh for fuck’s sake Donnie! Do you hear yourself? There’s no denying how you feel about her, we see it all the time! You two ain’t exactly very slick.” Raph growled. “And why should you care about it?! What our relationship status is doesn’t effect you or anyone else! And what we decide to call it matters only to us!” Donnie snapped back, he and Raph now squaring up to one another. “Maybe, but I do know that the more you say something, the more true it can become! What happens when you say that ��Just Friends’ garbage a few too many times Donnie? I see the way Sasha looks at you, we all do! What if you say that so much that one day Sasha will just stop being the way she is with you now? All because you kept playing Chicken with your own feelings?” Raph said, jabbing Don in the plastron with his finger. “You’re stupid if you actually think Sasha would end up thinking such a thing!” Donnie growled, honestly the idea that Raph would think this little of her was a bit irritating. Though, he did have a point...

“Oh really? Then I don’t see why you don’t just come out and tell her how you feel already!”

“It’s not that simple Raph!”

“Nah nah, you’re right Donnie! It’s not, especially when you’ve got more Brains then Guts! Sounds like a chicken’s excuse to me!”

“And what would you know about relationships like ours!?”

“I know enough to see when a girl likes a guy, but is holdin’ back cause she’s scared! You’d think that after all the crazy shell backward things we’ve been through you’d pick up on that and swoop in! But nah, Mr. Smarty Shell is too selfish to think about other’s feelings. Let me guess, the whole genius thing makin’ you think feelings are too beneath you? Again, just sounds like being chicken to me.”

“Ooooooo! You just got told Donnie!” Mikey shouted from the couch. Donnie huffed and muttered under his breath as he turned his back in anger and snatched the part he needed from his desk. He started to stomp his way out of The Lair when a small fuzzy hand grabbed him by the shoulder to stop him. “My son please. Take pause and consider your brother’s words. Fear is a natural thing, and it’s ok to feel it. But you can not let it control you.” Splinter said, the soothing way he spoke instantly making Don feel more guilty. He glanced back at his father, who wore a concerned but understanding expression. “A life without balance is hardly worth living. And if you ignore parts of your heart that yearn, then you will surely find life a harsh and painful place. And I would hope Sasha knows this too. But perhaps, if you learn this lesson together, you two will forge a bond stronger then any fear.” Donnie was silent, and just looked down at the floor. “Please, heed my words, my son…” Splinter pleaded with him. Donnie sighed and nodded his head, “Yes, Sensei…” he said softly, pulling his arm away from his father’s grip and continuing to walk out of The Lair.

“Do you think he’s gunna actually go through with it Master Splinter?” Leo asked, walking up to his father and placing a hand on his shoulder. Splinter sighed, “Only time will tell my son.”

✨💛💜✨

Donnie mulled over what Raph and Splinter said while he walked back to Leatherhead’s place. What if Raph was actually right and Sasha was afraid to tell him anything cause of how he kept calling them “Just Friends” this whole time. What if we was just being a coward for not being honest with her about his feelings. It was eating him up inside and he just had to put an end to it! Confess his feelings and let her make her own choice. But…how? When?

His train of thought was interrupted by what sounded like… singing…

The closer he got to Leatherhead’s Lair, the louder and more clear it got. And now he was able to make out the voice. It was Sasha! He quietly entered and looked over at the Mech, another grin growing on his face. He couldn’t see her, but he sure could hear her. The song she was singing didn’t sound familiar, and was mostly something self composed. He never said anything about it, but he had seen loose papers on her desk before that looked like poems or possible songs. She always seemed to get nervous when she noticed them on her desk and would hide them quickly.

Donnie continued listening to her voice for a bit longer, before finally letting his presence be known. He cleared his throat, “Sasha, I’m back!” He chirped. Sasha’s singing stopped instantly with a loud and startled chirp, fallowed by a metallic thud and a few whines in pain. Donnie winced, dropped the part he had in his hands and ran over to the mech’s hatch. “Oh shell! Sasha! You ok!?” Sasha crawled out of the hatch, rubbing the top of her head, “Yeah! J-just surprised me and I…bumped my head!” She muttered. She started to stagger a little as she tried to lift herself up from the floor, and Donnie quickly took action. He wrapped his arm around her back, with her arm around his shoulders, helping her up to her feet. “Must’ve been a lot more then a bump, you’re hardly walking right!” Donnie fussed, leading her over to the deck and setting her gently into a chair. “No, no, no! I’m fine Donnie! Really!” She said, taking her hand off her head and looking up with a smile that…didn’t convince him at all.

That’s when he noticed what looked like…a red color in her light blonde hair. This made him panic, “No! You’re not Sasha! It looks like your bleeding!” He said. Sasha cocked and eyebrow at him, before looking down at her hand and sure enough, small smears of blood where on the palms of her gauntlets. “Oh, well that explains it…” She grimaced, now with a tinge of worry in her voice. “Hold on one second, and let me get the First Aid Kit!” Donnie ordered, taking off into the kitchen and opening the cabinets. “O-okay…” Sasha muttered back. Her eyes were stinging as uncontrollable tears of pain and embarrassment were starting to bead up. She looked towards the entrance, noticing the part Donnie had brought back was now in pieces on the ground. Her ears dropped, “Oh no! Donnie, your part! It’s Broken! All that work-” she whimpered, trying to get up and grab it. But she was quickly stopped by Donnie's hand pressing down gently on her shoulder, “Can be done again, and doesn’t matter right now. But you do! So just relax and let me take a look.” Donnie ordered again, his soft voice sounding less panicked then before, but definitely still worried.

Sasha begrudgingly sat back down, and Donnie got right to work. First by gently placing his hand on the top of her head to feel around for a bump, Sasha winced in pain when he hit it, a few tears breaking loose and running down her cheeks. He parted her hair to take a look at the damage, and found a small bump with a slight gash in it. “Oh shell…you hit whatever it was pretty good. Any deeper and stitches would’ve been needed.” Donnie exclaimed. “Yeah, I…uhhh…couldn’t hear you when you came in. Made me jump quite a bit…” Sasha admitted, clearly embarrassed, and not explaining her little solo concert she was having. “Well, we’re gunna patch you up. Don’t you worry!” Donnie said, a bit more chipper now, comforted by the fact that the damage wasn’t as bad as he originally feared. He bent down in front of her, placing the First Aid Kit on the floor beside him and opened it. “Alright, firstly, we need to clean it.” He said, digging through the kit and finding a few wipes. He tore them open and pulled them out using a pair of tweezers, and then looked back at Sasha. “This will sting just a bit. Is that gunna be ok?” Donnie asked. He sounded apologetic, but it was more or less a rhetorical question, as despite any argument she could make, this needed to be done anyway. Sasha sniffled and nodded softly.

Donnie got in close to her and cupped her chin gently, tilting her head down a bit so he could see the bump again. Using his other hand to gently dab the wipe on the cut with the tweezers. As soon as the wipe make contact, Sasha hissed in pain, a small growl bubbling up from her chest. “Sorry…” Donnie muttered gently, continuing to clean the wound. Sasha sniffed, “It’s ok, I’m just sorry about the hisses and the growls. It just hurts like- OUCH!” Quickly cut off by more stinging pain. “Sorry again…”

He made a few more dabs with the wipes, swapping out the tools for some bandages, “Ok, I’m just about done! Now to wrap it up!” He said. “Got it doc!” Sasha chirped weakly. The bump on her head still made her feel a bit dizzy, but she’s had worse in fights along side the Turtles. Donnie gently placed a gauze pad on the bump, before securing it with some medical tape. “Sorry about the tape. I know it’s not gunna be the most comfortable to wear, or…take off. But it should still work for now.” Donnie said, finishing up his handy work and putting the items back inside the kit. “I’m sure I’ll manage.” Sasha said, gently placing her hand on the bump to feel of it herself. Donnie looked back at her, it had been the first time he had actually paid attention to her face since the bump. He noticed the wetness on her cheeks, and it broke his heart. He didn’t like to see her in pain, much less crying.

Sasha took her hand off the top of her head and then felt something brush against her cheek, her eyes flew up to look at Donnie who was much closer then she expected! He had that same deep and thoughtful stare he had earlier that night, only now his eyebrows where turned upwards. Giving him a mildly concerned look. And if this stare wasn’t enough to make Sasha’s heart nearly leap out of her chest, Donnie was now cupping her cheek. His calloused thumb just lazily wiping at the tracks her tears made on her fur. “Are you sure you’re ok?” Donnie asked, in a daze but focused at the same time. Sasha was taken off guard by his question, “Huh? Y-yeah, of course Donnie. N-no need to get so worked up over it! I’ve had worse you know. Remember my leg? It ain’t exactly very pretty!” “Yeah…I know…” Donnie responded, still staring at her. “But…I don’t want anything else to happen to you. Not while I’m around…” he added softly. Sasha’s eyes grew wide, the heck was he on about!? It was one bump on the head, and now he was talking to her like she was on her deathbed or something!

Sasha gulped, now even more painfully aware of how close they where, and the knot in her stomach now doing backflips to the rhythm of her racing heart. “Don, are you sure YOU’RE ok? You’ve been kinda-“ Sasha tried to argue, but she trailed off after her eyes rested on his. It’s not fair! That mask of his always shielded his eyes, so she could never tell where exactly he was staring. Yet her eyes where so big that trying to hide where she was looking was all but impossible! Sasha’s lips tucked in for a moment, only to see Don’s lips do the same. “So…he is staring at them…” Sasha thought to herself. She felt the heat from her body rush to her face, her breathing start to quicken. This wasn’t good, and this feeling was starting to scare her a little. “Donnie…” She tried to bring words to her lip’s but couldn’t think of any.

It was like the room got so much hotter and Sasha was quickly loosing control of her restraint, but that’s when she noticed his eyes flicker up a little and he blinked. “Oh shell…” He said, now seemingly snapped out of he previous daze. Sasha rolled her eyes, “Donnie I told you I’ve had worse-” “Not that! DUCK!” It was more obvious now, and she turned. The generator that had been sitting next to the mech, was now beet red, sparking, and steaming up like crazy! Rattling like it was about to blow! Before Sasha could get to her feet, Don quickly scooped her up into his arms, and leaped across the room just as it exploded, sending metal shards, smoke, and heat everywhere. The boom echoing all over the sewers.

The resulting sounds from the blast made Sasha’s ears ring, and the bump on her head pound. She tried to move to cover her ears but quickly found that she really couldn’t move at all, something heavy was on top of her. She opened her eyes slowly, the smoke and daze from her pain making it hard to see much at first. But after blinking a bit, her eyes flew open at the sight of Donnie looming over her, holding her to his chest, back facing the blast. He shielded her. Donnie’s eyes were clamped shut till he felt the explosion had finished causing damage. He peeked one eye open, and then asked through heavy breaths, “You ok?” Sasha stared at him, with a look that could only be described as both ‘Awe’ and ‘Shock’. She genuinely felt like she had lost control of her mind and body over the last few hours and it scared her! But…somewhere deep down inside her loved every little moment of it!

It was Exciting! Electrifying! Euphoric!

“I-I…don’t know anymore…” her words came out like a whisper, as she continued to stare at him. Donnie had never seen her like this, but her words, while concerning, for some reason made his butterflies come back in full force. He gulped, “Do you…n-need any water? Or something for your hea-” His words were cut short after Sasha gently started making a shushing noise. He stopped talking and felt his whole body shiver when Sasha brought up her hand to rest on his cheek! Donnie froze in place, more out of fear that she would pull away if he moved. Her touch was like a feather, soft and gentle. Her sharp claws just barely brushing along his olive green skin, now darker stained thanks to the blush that crawled it’s way to his cheeks. This touch felt so electric! Donnie had been zapped a good number of times in the past, but this was so much more different! And yet his body shivered all that same! Like a million little shockwaves going off in every little nerve.

But, it was her eyes! Those ever bright blue orbs of her’s that really made his heart sing! She was staring at him with the same kind of mindless concentration she would have working on machinery. But something was definitely different, a kind of wonder in her eyes that made every part of Donnie’s body feel warm and fuzzy, despite being cold blooded. And unlike his own, Sasha’s eye’s weren’t hidden behind some mask. They trailed from his own eyes, to the place on his cheek where her fingers rested. Then both her fingers and eyes trailed down to his mouth, her fingers stopping just short of his lips…

Sasha’s eye’s where fixated there for what seemed like an eternity, Donnie really tried to not move at all! Being a man of science, he just had to know what she was going to do, and if his hypothesis was correct...

But, Donnie absentmindedly tucking his lips in a little made a tingle of movement shoot through the nerves in Sasha’s fingers. Sasha’s eyes finally blinked and it looked like she had seen a ghost! She saw her fingers, her claws, resting just short of Donnie’s lips! And her stomach dropped like a sack of flower and she slid away from him, pulling back like he was gunna bite her! Her speed alone made Donnie flinch as well!

What Sasha did next could only be described as a panic-filled barrage of words that almost made no sense due to how fast she was speaking! Sasha was always a fast talker, being a cheetah, most things she did were done quickly. But it was especially obvious when she was embarrassed, stressed, or excited. She was curled up into a small ball, babbling on about being sorry for something, rubbing her hand that had touched him vigorously. She had pure fear in her eyes, and a very dark shade of red on her face showing through her fur. And just as it seemed like she was about to cry, a couple of voices could be heard coming from the entrance, calling out for Donnie and Sasha in concern! Donnie looked up to see Leatherhead and Honeycutt running through the doorway looking terrified.

“Oh heavens! Donatello! Sasha! Are you two alright!?” Honeycutt called out as they ran inside. “We heard a loud blast!” Leatherhead added. “We’re fine! Now anyways!” Donnie answered, but then looked back at Sasha, “But-“ Before he could finish his words, Leatherhead saw Sasha shivering and curled up, muttering to herself still. Leatherhead bent down to check on her, noting that she was rubbing at her hand. He grumbled, then looked back at Donatello, “What caused the blast?” He asked. “The Generator! If I had to guess, Sasha must’ve mixed up the wiring work for the power.” Leatherhead said nothing, but nodded, before Honeycutt walked around Donnie. “Oh dear! What a mess! And your Shell!” He said. Sasha snapped out of her quivering state hearing Honeycutt mention Don’s shell! Based on how he sounded, he made it sound like Don was in bad shape. The thought of him saving her like he did, only to have his shell damaged made her worry. “O-oh my spots! Don, a-are you ok!?” Sasha asked, trying to left herself up to see the damage! But as soon as she moved, her eyes rolled back and she went limp. Leatherhead caught her before she hit the ground, “Easy! Easy there my feline friend!” “W-what’s wrong with her Leatherhead!? Is she gunna be ok!?” “Take her to her room and look her over with my scanners!” Honeycutt suggested. “Good idea!” Leatherhead replied, standing up and holding Sasha in his arms. “I’ll help you clean up in a moment my friend.” He said, looking at Donnie, who seemed really shook up by Sasha’s condition. “She’ll be fine, I promise…” he assured, giving his turtle friend a small smile before following Honeycutt to Sasha's room.

✨💛💜✨

After a small bit, Leatherhead came back out of Sasha’s room to see Donnie half heartedly cleaning up the mess made after the blast. His Shell was covered with small bits of debris and soot, along with a few assorted scratches. “Allow me to help you clean your shell my friend…” Leatherhead offered, approaching Donnie as he softly swept the floor, staring at the ground in a daze. When he didn’t answer, Leatherhead simply placed his hand on Donnie’s shoulder, making the young turtle jolt and look up at him, “Oh! S-sorry Leatherhead! I was…just thinking…” he muttered apologetically. “You do that a lot.” Leatherhead joked, a small chuckle escaped from his throat. Donnie didn’t laugh back, and just looked back down at the ground, his eye’s fallowing the trail of dust he was sweeping. “I’m sorry for the mess…” Donnie apologized, not really knowing what else to say. “It is part of the job. Normal for us men of science, correct?” Donnie said nothing once more. Leatherhead sighed, patting Donnie on the back before walking away and grabbing a wash cloth, running it under some water, “Don’t you worry about Sasha. According to Honeycutt, she had a Panic Attack and overheated. Something pretty common with Cheetahs actually. Though that nasty lump on her head probably didn’t help things.” Leatherhead explained as he ringed out the extra water from the cloth and turned to look back at Donnie, who was now looking a little more relieved.

Leatherhead lead Donnie to one of the chairs and had him sit down while he started to clean off his shell. “So, wanna tell me what happened exactly?” Leatherhead asked, trying his best to not sound too nosy. But after some of the things Honeycutt told him about the scans he did on Sasha’s condition, he couldn’t help but ask. Though, he was sure he already knew what happened, he just wanted to hear it from Donnie first. “I-I don’t really know Leatherhead. I just…don’t think either of us were quite ‘ourselves’ tonight. That’s really it…” Donnie responded, trying to put everything that had happened into words, but it was hard to describe something this...new. Leatherhead nodded his head, “Hmmmmm, I see…” It was clear to him that Donnie wasn’t gunna come clean with anything, especially not right now. So he left it be, intending to ask Sasha about it later when she was back to normal.

After cleaning up his shell, Donnie and Leatherhead went back to cleaning up the mess. And after a few minutes, stopped when they saw Honeycutt walk out of Sasha’s room. Donnie ran over to him, “I-Is she gunna be ok?” Honeycutt nodded, “Oh she’ll be just fine. Seems she just had a bit of an anxiety attack, and passed out when the heat from her body got to her. Nothing she can’t bounce back from.” Donnie let out a sigh of relief, hand to his chest to keep his heart from escaping out of his throat, “Thank goodness…” Honeycutt continued however, “And then, there’s the matter of that bump on her head. Nothing too serious, but how did she get it? Did that explosion injure her?” Donnie rubbed the back of his neck, “Well, see, I left something back at the lair and when I came back with it, I think I startled her while she was in the mech. She must’ve hit her head somewhere inside of it…” “Oh, I see! I’ll go and check it out, make sure she didn’t hit anything too sharp.” Honeycutt said, walking over to the mech, before stopping and looking at Donnie again, “And…perhaps you should go back home Donatello. Sasha won’t be wake for a few more hours. But I promise, she’s in good hands.” Donnie looked unhappy and worried, but nodded and left.

Donnie came through the entrance to the lair, and just as his brothers turned to welcome Donnie back, they noticed the absolutely miserable look on his face! Watching as he just wondered his way back to his own room and shut the door behind him. Splinter sighed, shaking his head and went back to his own room. Leo, Mikey, and Raph just looked at one another, giving each other a grimace.

✨💛💜✨

The following evening, Sasha finally awoke from her rest to find Plato laying on her stomach. As she shifted to set back up in bed, the tortoise’s head poked out of his shell and looked up at her, letting out a small happy hiss. “Heeey little man, what are you doing in here?” Sasha said, sounding a little dazed. Just as she asked this, Leatherhead opened the bedroom door and walked in, carrying a small tray with a glass of water and a sandwich. He froze for a moment, then smiled. “Morning my friend! I see Plato has been doing a good job of keeping an eye on you. Poor thing was worried sick when he finally woke up and didn’t see you in the lab.” He said as he pulled up a chair from the corner of the room to her bedside, placing the tray down on Sasha’s lap. Sasha rubbed her head, looking at the tray and then back at Plato, who was now waddling his way to her side to snuggle, “No doubt. Sorry about that little man!” Sasha said, gently using the back of her hand to pet Plato’s shell. The tortoise letting out a happy churring sound in response. “He’s not the only turtle who was worried about you either…” Leatherhead said, in a casual and yet very coy tone. Sasha froze, about to bite into her food and looked over at Leatherhead a bit spooked. “Wanna tell me what happened?” He asked, a small smile on his toothy face, but it was a soft one. Like a friend wanting to comfort rather than just wanting be nosy.

Sasha let out a nervous giggle, trying to play it cool, and failing miserably. “What? N-Nothing happened. What would give you that idea?” Leather raised his brows as his coy smile got just a bit bigger, “Oh you know, aside from you passing out due to stress, Donatello telling me you both weren’t ‘Yourselves’, and Honeycutt telling me that when he scanned you for a health check he noticed your pheromone levels where going through the roof. You know…those things…” Sasha felt heat rush back to her face as she grabbed at her blanket and pulled it up to her chest. She looked irritated, shocked, and obviously embarrassed by that. “So…wanna fill me in?” Sasha shook her head and went back to her sandwich, taking bite, “Thought you said that Donnie told you already…” she said, glaring at him. Leatherhead shook his head, “Nope, I merely said he had stated you two weren’t yourselves. Nothing more then that.”

She glared at him a bit longer, he wouldn’t lie to her like this. And he’s always been there to try and help with her feelings before, be they romantic towards Donnie or otherwise. So, reluctantly, Sasha sighed, her head hung low and she stared at the sandwich on her plate. Suddenly feeling the butterflies coming back, remembering everything that happened the previous night. Losing her appetite in the process. “Truthfully, I really don’t know what happened. It was a lot of little things. Nothing that hadn’t happened before between us. You know? A stare that lasted too long, grabbing for the same item and our hands meeting…” Sasha said wistfully, trailing off a bit, holding one of her hands to her chest. “But, there was definitely something different in the air…” her face contorted into an uncomfortable expression. Leatherhead raised an eyebrow, staying silent and just listening intently. “I really have no idea what it was, but…he was right when he said we weren’t ourselves. There were moments when we got close, it felt…intoxicating…” Sasha added, her breath getting a bit heavier as she spoke. She closed her eyes to calm down a little, her insides doing flips. “I see…and what happened just before Honeycutt and I arrived?” Leatherhead asked, getting up and sitting at the end of the bed. Sasha’s eyes opens slowly as she looked back down at her hand on her chest. She opened it to look at the palm, and her face grimaced a bit.

“After he saved me from the explosion…I just couldn’t stop myself…” Sasha said, staring at her hands, ashamed. “The second my eyes met his I felt my body loose control. My hand just…moved. First it was his cheek and then his…lips…” Leatherhead blinked a bit surprised. Sasha let out a grunt of embarrassment and she slammed her hands over her face. Hearing herself recalling it all out loud was just too much. Leatherhead was at a loss for words, but tried to press on, “D-Did you…” before he could finish asking, Sasha looked up at him with a glare, “No! I didn’t kiss him…” “Oh, good…” he said, relieved he didn’t have to actually say it. Sasha looked back down at her hands, “Luckily I was able to stop myself. But it was…euphoric…” she trailed off, balling her fits up “…and terrifying.” Leatherhead sighed, his low voice creating a deep growl in his throat. “Well, what had you so afraid?” Sasha, opened her hands again, then looked back up at Leatherhead, “You know what did!” She said flatly. Leatherhead nodded. ��Well, as much as I understand your feelings about this matter, I’m afraid you’ll have to face them someday sooner rather then later. If you hope too keep working with myself and Honeycutt, and Donatello by extension, you’re going to need to tell him the truth one day. The whole truth…” He said getting up and heading for the door. He placed his claws on the knob before turning around to look at her. She looked like was gunna be sick, he was right after all. If she hoped to remain friends with the turtles, she’d have to be honest with Donnie about her feelings. Sooner rather then later.

“If you need me, I’ll be outside…” Leatherhead added, before walking out of the room.

✨💛💜✨

Another day went by, and Donnie still hadn’t stopped sulking. The poor thing was so distracted and deep in his own thoughts that he barely spoke or ate much of anything since that night in the lab. And his family definitely noticed. His brothers would try to engage him in chit-chat, but aside from one sentence responses, it was like talking to a brick wall. Splinter wasn’t even able to get much out of him other then that he was confused and worried. About what? He wouldn’t say. Donnie had been constantly texting Leatherhead and Honeycutt, asking if it was a good idea to go by and see Sasha now that she had recovered a bit. But, they refused to give their opinions on the matter. Which was fair he guessed, getting them involved in his and Sasha’s confusing relationship wasn’t really gunna solve anything. They needed to be honest with each other about their feelings. And that wasn’t gunna happen by staying apart from each other.

So, with butterflies in his stomach and a box of mini donuts, Donnie headed over to Leatherhead’s place. When he entered, he saw Leatherhead and Honeycutt hard at work. Things still looked a bit banged up from the blast, but no real damage was done. Donnie approached them, a little curious to see what they were up to and to ask where their feline friend was at. Before he could ask, Leatherhead just wordlessly looked over at Don and pointed over to Sasha’s room. Donnie froze in place and looked over to the room, then back at Leatherhead, who grinned at him. Winked, then when back to his business. “Guess they already knew what I wanted…” Donnie thought to himself, now walking over to her room. Every step closer to her door felt like he was walking underwater, and this heavy feeling was coming back. The butterflies in his chest starting to go ballistic, and his body tensed. And now, he was staring at the doorknob, and all he had to do was just…knock and turn it…

He froze in place, looking at his own reflection in the metal, hating himself for being such a coward. He was about to turn and walk away, but then he heard a familiar voice just behind the door.

“Donnie? That you?”

It was so surreal, hearing her voice again in his ears after not speaking to her. For pretty much the whole time they had known each other, they spent every waking hour together. It was strange to have one in the room without the other not being too far behind. And when they were apart, it was like a puzzle with a missing piece. A sky with no clouds. A heart with no beat. And suddenly that super heavy feeling went away. Sure, he still felt awkward, but it was more manageable now that he could hear her.

“U-Uhh, yeah! May I come in?” Donnie asked. “Yes, please.” Her voice sounded like an angel to him, and why would he stay away from such a beautiful voice. He peeked into the room. It was pretty dark in there, but thanks to the light pouring in through the door, Sasha could be seen sitting up in her bed, looking over at him. A soft and sweet smile on her face. Donnie chuckled a bit as he stepped into the room, leaving the door open a crack to provide some light, “How did you know it was me?” Donnie asked, a smile creeping onto his face as he approached her. Sasha giggled a bit, and looked up at him with a raised eyebrow, “I could smell you on the other side of the door. I’m slowly getting better at telling you all apart without looking.” Donnie took a seat on the end of her bed, laughing now, “Oh come on, we don’t smell THAT bad! Right?” Sasha joined in on the laughs too, “Oh come on, you know I didn’t mean it like that.” “I know, I know! I’m just teasing.” Donnie said, letting the giggles die down.

The air fell silent for a second before Donnie handed the Mini Donuts to her, “I just…dropped by to see you. Leatherhead said you were doing much better.” He said, giving her a soft smile. Sasha smiled back and took the box, “Oh yeah, I’m fine now.” She pointed to the top of her head, “Healed up pretty good, thanks to you.” Don felt a heat start to grow on his cheeks, “It was no problem really. I mean, I couldn’t have you bleeding all over the lab. And it was my fault for scaring you after all.” Sasha could feel a little heat rushing to her face now as well, remembering why hearing him had spooked her. She looked down at the donut box in her lap, “I guess you…heard it then?” Her voice was just barely above a whisper, but Donnie understood her perfectly. “Admittedly…yes. I-I did.” He said, a bit worried this might upset her. Sasha felt her stomach drop and all she wanted to do was crawl under the sheets and hide from him. Don could hear her whine a little under her breath, and tried to put her mind at ease, “But don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me!” Sasha didn’t look up at him, but muttered back a soft “Thanks…” Before finally opening the donut box and eating one.

Sasha started munching on the donut while at the same time Donnie was trying to work up the courage to say what he had come to say. But, he still couldn’t make out the words, “This is pathetic! I’ve fought alien armies, evil ninja gangs, crime bosses, and even a literal demon dragon! And…I can’t even tell a girl how I feel about her! What the shell is wrong with me!?” A couple of chews in and Sasha stopped when she saw that Donnie was staring at the floor in frustration. Sasha raised an eyebrow, swallowed, and spoke up, “Uhhh, Don?” He twitched hearing her voice again and snapped his head up in her direction. “Y-Yeah?” He asked. Sasha didn’t feel like beating around the bush on this, after all, Leatherhead said they needed to talk about what happened. So she asked, “I don’t suppose you came here for the donuts…right?” Donnie seemed to go pale, that feeling of anxiety coming back like a battering ram. “I-I uhhhh…well…” Donnie tried speaking, trying his best to think of the words he needed to say. Sasha’s eyes seemed to glow in the dark, and looked like they could see right through him. Her face contorted in mild frustration as she picked up on his hesitation. She understood too well how uncomfortable this was, for both of them.

Donnie noticed her show some discontent with his silence, and he swallowed hard, hoping his mouth could just speak. Cause his brain damn sure wasn’t making any progress. “I-I was just w-wanting to say that…I’m sorry for the other night…” Sasha blinked for a second, honestly not expecting him to apologize. And her silence was deafening to Don, getting more and more anxious the longer she stayed silent. “W-Wah…huh?” Sasha managed to sputter out, honestly a bit confused. Now, Donnie was starting to get confused, thinking that the bump on her head could’ve made her memory foggy, “Well I-I said I was sorry about-” Sasha butted in, “No No, I heard what you said. I’m confused about…why YOU'RE sorry!?” Donnie nervously chuckled, “W-well you know, because of how…weird things were…” There was a moment of silence, then he continued, “I know I’m not the only one who felt it…” Sasha’s ears drooped a little as her eyes wandered to the floor, but they looked back at him, her soft smile was back, “Yeah…but that…wasn’t all your fault. There was definitely something in the air that day, but I highly doubt it was because of you.” She said softly.

“Fair point, I suppose…” Feeling a little bit silly for having the obvious stated out loud. “But still, that night’s events were a bit weird for both of us. A-And I just…just don’t wanna have this weird air to keep happening or…keep us from being close...” Sasha was quite, more then willing to listen to him. She had only known The Turtles for a few months by now, and Donnie was one to keep his emotions under wraps. But had a problem knowing when to start letting them out so things didn’t fester. And it was clear by the way he was talking, this was getting to him. “I was just worried that I had made you uncomfortable, and…I honestly don’t know what got into me. I just, wanted to say I’m sorry. A-And I understand if you don't want to work with me anymore.” Those last words coming out with a little hitch in his voice. And even in the dark, Sasha could see small tears building in his eyes. It broke her heart. Donnie tried, he really did, to keep from crying. But it wasn’t enough. The tears started too flow out, and he held back any sobs, only being replaced by the sounds of sniffling. He felt pathetic and stupid all at once. On the one hand, his logical and scientific brain was telling him his fears of her hating him and never working with him again were completely unfounded! Sasha had shown no evidence of being that kind of person at all in the few month he had known her! However, his emotional teenaged heart overflowed with so many confusing emotions, that it was hard to understand them all at once. Or at all!

Suddenly, Don felt something touch his hand and he stopped, looking down to see Sasha using the back of her hand to gently pet his own. He looked up at her, the look on her face was comforting and soft. “Don, I wouldn’t dream of just throwing away my relationship with you or any of your brothers over one…awkward night. You guys mean more to me then that. You really think I’d do that to you?” Donnie froze and felt himself wanting to shrivel up into a ball. The feeling of guilt growing in his stomach. “N-No, I mean…well, I know you’re not cruel, I was just…” Sasha shook her head, “You don’t gotta explain. I got it.” She softly pulled her hand away from him, rubbing the back of it. There was silence once again in the room, until Don cleared his throat, “Look uhhhh, let’s just say it’s all water under the bridge! No one got hurt, and uhhhh I’m sure we were both just feeling a bit off due to the seasons starting to change.” It was obvious in his voice. Donnie was so bad at bullshitting and they both knew that. He didn’t want to be a coward anymore about his feelings, but without the right words, there was no way in hell he was gunna be able to go through with his confession. For now, it was time to try and calm the situation. So the two of them could just, go back to the way things were. Sasha picked up on this tone, and while she didn’t believe him, she wasn’t having the easiest time knowing what she was feeling either. So she agreed.

“Yeah, I suppose that’s a good point.” She said, her smile ever there. “Let’s not let one awkward night throw us off, okey? It’s all going to turn out good in the end. Right?” Donnie reassured her, though part of him was just saying this out loud to try and fool himself. Sasha nodded her head, “Yeah, I’m sure it will.”

✨💛💜✨

Oh how wrong they were…

The next week proved that all they had done was just make things worse! The two of them continued to work together on projects, hang out with the others, and go out on missions. But, it seemed like the awkwardness between them had only continued to escalate. It went from sneaking glances at one another to being caught outright staring. Accidentally touching each other became a cue for them to just ignore each other’s existence! Even being left alone together for any amount of time filled any room or area they where in with so much tension that you could feel it crawling on your skin. The others had thoughts of stepping in and trying to help them, but to The Turtles and Splinter, they had already tried that and Donnie didn’t listen. And, to Leatherhead and Honeycutt, either of them knew how to approach Sasha about it either. They could only really see it from a male's point of view. Neither of them could fully understand the issues that Sasha had with her feelings, and neither have had a relationship before. It seemed like, Sasha and Donnie were going to be doing this alone.

That was until one night, Don had finally had enough of feeling this way, and finally decided to go and speak to Master Splinter. One on One.

He felt so guilty. His master already tried to help him once, but he was too stubborn and cowardly to listen. Would he even be willing to help him this time? He was feeling desperate, and didn’t wanna loose one of the best things in his life to something so stupid as a crush. If that’s all he was feeling for her after all. Just as he reached his master’s room and was about to knock, he heard Splinter’s voice from behind it, “Come in my son. It’s quite late.” Donnie flinched, before slowly cracking the door open. Splinter was sitting on the ground meditating, facing away from the door. Donnie swallowed hard and walked into the room, closing the door behind him. He walked over and took a seat next to his master. The room was lit only by candles, the golden light danced all around the room. It was always calming in there, but despite that, Donnie was still feeling nervous. He glanced at his master, who had his eyes closed and was still seemingly meditating. “Are you ready to finally speak about your feelings my son?” Donnie nodded softly, “I tried Splinter. I really did! But, I... froze up again. My words wouldn’t come out.” “Fear often freezes the blood of even the strongest warrior. You shouldn’t punish yourself for feeling it’s grip.” “But I do Master, I can’t shake it. Of all the things I’ve been able to do for the world, I still can’t tell a girl how I feel…” Splinter let out a small hum, as if he were thinking, “I unfortunately can’t tell you what words your heart wishes to say, my son. Nor do I have any experience with these matters. But perhaps, you could ask someone else about how to proceed. Perhaps a change in perspective and environment is what will put you on the right path.” Donnie let out a frustrated sigh, he wasn’t one hundred percent sure what he was expecting from his master, though he did have a point.

“But what on earth did any of-“

A stray thought barged it’s way into his brain and let a huge smile grow on his face. The first one he had in days! He shot up from the floor next to his master and ran out of the room while shouting back, “Thanks Sensei!”. Splinter opened his eyes and looked out the room, a small smile growing on his face. “Good Luck to you my son.” He whispered to himself before going back to meditating

✨💛💜✨

April was brewing a fresh cup of coffee in her kitchen before she heard a small knock on her windowsill. She smiled and ran over to it. “Come on in! I made some coffee!” She greeted her purple wearing terrapin friend as he perched on the edge of the building. Don swooped into the window and walked over to the couch as April ran to get the coffee. “Thanks April! I appreciate it! And uhhhhh-” He was about to ask before April answered, carrying a mug for him and taking a seat next to him. “Don’t worry, Casey isn’t here right now. I sent him out with a small shopping list to keep him busy.” Don let out a sigh of relief, knowing that they wouldn’t be disturbed. Donnie took the coffee when April decided to start. “Sooooo, wanna tell me what’s so important that you had to text me for an 'Emergancy Meeting' in the middle of the night?” Donnie looked down at the floor, putting his mug back down on the table. “I uhhhhh…well…need some advice.”

At this she raised an eyebrow, “Advice for what exactly? Why not ask Splinter?” “I went to him already and he can’t help me with this problem.” He looked up at her with pleading eyes, “You’re the only one I can talk to about this. My brother’s haven’t been the best help, and I’d die of embarrassment if Casey was involved.” His cheeks turned a bit dark at the thought, and that’s when it clicked. “Ohhhhh, I get it. This is about Sasha, right?” She concluded, a slight teasing tone escaping her voice. Don’s cheeks became even darker and he softly nodded, looking back down at the floor. April had to fight back the urge to let out an “Awwwwwww”! This was just too cute to her. She always enjoyed watching the two of them interact, it was young love at it's purest. It was just a matter of time before Donnie told someone about it outright. “So…what’s up?” Donnie sighed, “I wanna confess my feelings to Sasha, but…every time I try, I just freeze. It’s like my brain just stops and all that comes out of my mouth becomes mush.” He then started to rub the bridge of his nose with his fingers, “And to make matters worse, we had a…moment the other night. And ever since then there’s been this very uncomfortable feeling between us. And I know she knows it’s there too!” “What happened with this ‘moment’ if you don’t mind me asking?” April was intrigued now, and her romance novel loving side was showing a bit. Donnie shook his head, “It doesn’t really matter honestly. I’m not even one hundred percent sure what happened myself. We both just…weren’t ourselves. And now we can’t be in the same room together without having this weird feeling hanging around in the air!”

“Well, maybe you just need to bite the bullet and ask her out on a date!” Donnie felt his brain screech to a halt! His eyes were huge and it looked like April had just told him that the Earth was flat and the Moon Landing never happened! “WHAT? WHY WOULD THAT HELP ANYTHING?” “If thinking about it too much makes your brain freeze, maybe charging in head first is what you need to do instead. And if going on a date helps you two get to know each other more, it could help you find the words too!” April explained. “How though? And besides, even if I did do that, and by some miracle she agreed to it, where would we go? Don’t know if you’ve noticed April, but we both don’t exactly…” Donnie paused, gesturing to his appearance. “You know…blend in very well!” She nodded and put her hand to her chin. “You do raise a good point.” There was more silence, before April snapped her fingers and jumped up. “I’ve got it! Why not take her out to Casey’s Farmhouse? There’s plenty of space for the two of you to be alone, it’s relaxing! And you know how much Sasha likes to run! Bet you she’s been feeling cooped up being in the sewers and only able to run on rooftops around here!” Donnie thought for a second and grinned a little, “That does sound like a good idea. But…I mean, I can’t just bring her out there without something to do…”

He mumbled to himself for a second, then an idea popped into his head. “I GOT IT!” April got excited too, “What? What?” Donnie started for the window, “Sorry April, I can’t say for sure, but I’ll call you back in a bit to let you know my idea!” He said, sliding open the window. “Oh come on! Could you at least give me a hint!?” Don crawled out of the window, “Only that I need to speak to someone else about it! I need to check something!” Before running off, he stopped and looked back at April, and smiled bashfully, “And, thanks for your help. I really needed it…” April smiled, shrugging, “What is family for Donnie?” And with that, Donnie disappeared into the night. Running full speed to the harbor.

✨💛💜✨

“Of course Donatello! I’m honored to share my books with you anytime you wish!” The professor beamed, taking Donnie over to one of the many piles of garbage on in the landfill. At the base of it was a tent that seemed to be made of old rags and bedsheets. “Thanks so much Professor!” “What book are you interested in?” The professor asked as he got down on all fours and crawled into the tent. “Do you happen to have that book on Star Charts and Constellations still?” “I sure do! One moment!” The professor answered, as he dug around inside the tent. A few more sounds of cloth being moved around could be heard before he let out a triumphant “Ahaaaa!” The professor climbed back out of the tent with a small dark blue book with golden faded stars on the front of it. Despite being a little worn down, The Professor had clearly been taking good care of it! “Here you go my friend! Your map to The Heavens!” He chortled, getting up off the ground, and handing the book to Donnie. “Thank you so much Professor! You have no idea how much this means to me! If there’s anything you need from me and my brothers, you just say the word!” Donnie said, taking the book and shaking his hand. “Your friendship is more then enough Donatello!” The Professor smiled warmly. “I’m just a little surprised you didn’t bring your Cheetah friend with you this time around! I was looking forward to getting to speak to her again! Such a bright young mind she has! I’m sure she’d love this book too!”

At the mention of Sasha, Donnie's cheeks warmed a bit. He opened the book and looked down quickly at it, turning his back on The Professor in an attempt to hide his face. “Y-Yeah, she’s been a bit busy lately, and I didn’t wanna bother her.” He lied. The Professor had a knowing grin on his face, as he raised an eyebrow, “I see.” He muttered, just watching his turtle friend flip through the book, before clearing his throat. “Though, if you don’t mind me asking, why were you interested in this book in particular? I know you’ve read it already, and you still have more books from me that you have yet to read.” Donnie froze, and thought about it. The Professor likely already knew about his crush on Sasha, in fact he alluded to knowing something about it before getting to meet her in person. As Donnie had talked almost endlessly about her to The Professor for weeks after they met. So Donnie sighed a little and looked over his shoulder at The Professor with a bashful smile, “I uhhhh, was planning on asking Sasha out soon. And I just wanted to see if we couldn’t do some Stargazing…” “Ahhhh, I see! A very romantic idea my friend! I truly hope all goes well for you both!” Donnie nodded, looking up at the sky and thinking about how weird things had gotten between them, the stars looking back at him.

“Yeah… I hope so too…”

✨💛💜✨

A few days pasted since Don’s little visit to April’s and The Professor's, and he had been planning the perfect few days with Sasha! But now it was time to ask her out! Which, for once, he had a pretty good idea about how he was going to do it! It was getting some time alone with her without running the risk of being interrupted or spayed on that was the problem! But he fingered tonight was gunna be the best time to do it, as he and his family had invited Sasha, Honeycutt, Leatherhead, April, and Casey over for a movie night sleepover! And since Sasha was in charge of snacks, he was going to offer to help get everything ready with her. And hopefully, have the time he needed to ask her.

“Hey everyone!” Sasha chirped happily, carrying a huge load of snacks and cold drinks in her arms. Leatherhead was close behind, lugginng along his own load of pillows and blankets. Honeycutt fallowed in soon after with a small box of DVD’s in his arms. “I’m sorry if my collection of films aren’t too everyone’s liking. You’re Earth movies are a far cry from the movies I enjoyed back on D’Hoonib.” “No worries Professor! We’ve got tons of movies here! I have our first one already picked out!” Mikey cheered, running over to Sasha to help her set out the snacks on the coffee table in front of the TV. “Shouldn’t we, ya know, vote to pick what we watch first?” Casey asked, a little annoyed. “And what did you bring for us to watch Casey?” Leo asked. “Only the best horror movie ever made! The Mummy!” “The Mummy?” Raph scoffed.

As the others started to bicker about movies, Donnie came out of his lab hesitantly, his eyes instantly landing on Sasha and Mikey over by the coffee table, picking through the snacks and choosing what they should eat first. Donnie took a deep breath. “Ok Don! You can do this!” He whispered to himself before walking over and greating her. “Hey Sasha! Glad you decided to join us!” Donnie said cheerfully. Sasha stopped what she was saying to Mikey to turn her attention to Donnie. She smiled kindly and nodded. “Of course! Wouldn’t miss it for the world! I mean, it IS my first time seeing a movie!” Mikey piped up, “Still can’t believe you’ve never seen one! Not even the classics!” Sasha turned to glare at him, “Well being alone in the desert for several years doesn’t exactly give you many opportunities for cinema going!” Mikey rolled his eyes, “Well, that changes tonight! Cause we’ll being starting off with some horror movies! Hope they’re not too scawy for the itty bitty kitty cat!” He teased. “I’m quite sure I’ve seen a lot scarier things in person then any movie monster on a screen..” She remarked. “No need to play tough Sasha! I’m sure Don would gladly keep you safe!” Mikey jabbed again, laughing harder now. Sasha and Don both glanced at one another for a second, both of them blushing a bit before Don huffed, “Can it Mikey! Besides, Shouldn’t you be getting the chips ready?” Mikey looked at Don a little confused, before noticing what Donnie was up to. A Cheshire like grin spreading over the orange cladded turtle's lips!

“Oooooh, yeah! Right! Thanks bro!” Mikey said, winking at his brother before taking off to go and grab a few bowls for the chips. Leaving the two of them alone for a moment. “What was that about?” Sasha asked, confused by Mikey’s reaction. Donnie nervously shook his head, “N-no idea! Hehe, but y-you know Mikey. Always being a bit…odd.” Sasha raised an eyebrow at him, “Suuuuure…” she muttered, before going back to digging through the snacks and pulling out some bags of popcorn. “Well, I suppose I better get started on cooking these!” Sasha said, starting toward the kitchen, before Donnie followed her. “You want any help with that? I can make the toppings!” He offered. Sasha smirked a bit, her ears tilted back a little, “Donnie my dear friend, do you remember the last time you tried to HELP me with cooking something?” She asked. Donnie froze, the memory flooding back to him, “Oh…uhhh…k-kinda..” he mumbled. “Good, cause I sure do! It takes a special kind of person to set water on fire.” Sasha jabbed a little. Donnie winced at that, him getting more embarrassed now, “I’m sorry! I was just trying to help fix the recipe!”

“By that do you mean only add half of the sugar needed?” Sasha asked, raising an eyebrow at him, snickering a little. “Too much sugar is bad for you!” “So is eating a burnt cake!”. Donnie grumbled a bit, and Sasha rolled her eyes at him, before offering to let him melt the butter needed for the popcorn. Donnie, still wanting to try and be alone with her long enough to ask her out, agreed despite the blow to his pride. The two got settled in the kitchen to start making the popcorn while the others were by the TV still trying to figure out what to watch first. Donnie figured this would be the only chance he would get, so, he took a deep breath.

“So S-Sasha, I uhhhhh…have something kinda important to talk to you about.” Sasha froze in her tracks, and looked over at him with a grimace, “Do you need introductions on how to melt butter too?” She asked, thinking that he couldn’t possibly be THIS incompetent when it came to food. Donnie whipped his head to look at her, cheeks super dark. “No! No, not that at all!” He rubbed the back of his neck “It was actually about our last conversation…you know, about that night…”

Silence…

“I…don’t know if we can keep this up. The way things are going right now…”

Sasha felt her stomach drop, as if her worst fear was coming true right before her eyes. Don looked a bit unsure, keeping his distance from her on the other side of the kitchen. His arm’s were crossed in front of him, but his eyes stayed fixed on her. Despite feeling like she wanted to faint, she steeled herself for what was coming. “And I know you’ve felt it too. Things are still weird between us. And…we can’t keep working together if every time we’re put in the same room, we just start avoiding one another.” Sasha’s ears drooped and her eyes traveled to the floor. He was right, they couldn’t keep working together like this. And her cowardly behavior wasn’t gunna help anything. But the way Donnie, suddenly gave her a bit of strange hope and intrigue. It was like he was pointing out a problem with an experiment, and it sounded like he was on the verge of a solution. Sasha’s eyes traveled back up to meet his, hoping that she was right, so she prodded a little. “Fair. But…I’m assuming you’re not just bringing this up for no reason…” Don slightly nodded, looking a little more bashful now, but still staying determined to fix this situation. Sasha smirked a little, now getting more curious about what his solution was. “Well then, what do you propose?”

Don took a moment to rack his nerves together, taking a deep breath before talking “So, there’s this meteor shower that’s supposed to be a once in every ten years kind of event. It’s gunna be passing right over all of New York in about a week from now.” Sasha was taken aback a little by this sudden 180 in topic and tone, but that just made her more intrigued. The grin on her lips grew a tad, she folded her arms and snickered. “Alright. But…what are you getting at?” She stepped a bit closer to him, her tail starting to sway. A good sign that she wasn’t angry at him or upset, so Don braced himself for his next point that was sure to either make or break this.

“W-well, I just thought that, since it is an outdoor thing, and we have been cooped up in the sewers for a bit longer then I know you’d like, I figured we could could both use a little fresh air and some time alone. J-just the two of us…” Sasha stopped inching closer to him, and her smiled vanished. Slowly turning into a slight frown. Her ears and tail drooped, as her eyes grew wide, and then narrowed at him. It was like she was going through her own thoughts to try and put together what he had said. Donnie stayed silent, wanting to give her time to process her thoughts. But the longer she stared at him, the more his confidence wavered. The only other sound in the room was the hum from the stove, and the muffled voices from the others in the living room.

After a bit more silence, Sasha finally found her voice, “A-A meteor shower? And y-you wanna watch it together? Like, just the two of us?” She asked, trying to confirm what he was asking for. “Y-yeah. I figured with it just being us, w-we could relax and…maybe get to know each other more…” Donnie said, trying explain his logic, though the hitch in his voice made him sound a lot more unsure then he wanted to. Sasha blinked a bit, before her eyes changed, like she was starting to get lost in her thoughts. She crossed her arms, her tail now twitching pensively behind her. She was thinking hard about this, and Don scrambled to try and come up with something, anything else to say! “I-It’s just that, I know that you know that we have some…thing between us, but we really don’t k-know all THAT much about each other yet. A-and I just thought that we could, yah know, in theory, try and reach some kind of middle ground?”

Sasha still said nothing, but based on her ear flicking in his direction, he knew she was listening to him. He held his breath a bit, then Sasha finally spoke. “But…the lights from the city make the stars dimmer here? And, you said a week from now…that’s early Spring. W-won’t it be a bit cold for you?” Donnie was dumbfounded, before stumbling over his words to answer her questions. “O-oh yeah! T-that’s true. But we won’t be staying in the city for this. A-Actually April has offered to let us stay at her and Casey’s Farmhouse! Plenty of nature to enjoy! No city lights to worry about!” Sasha’s ears perked up more at this, “And what about the cold? It’s colder up here during this time of year. I have fur, but…what about you?” She asked, her sapphire eyes filled with concern and intrigue.

“Is she really considering my offer?”

The thought ran through his head before he quickly stammered out, “Oh! No need to worry about that! We can camp out and I plan on bringing plenty of food and some blankets for the two of us!” She stood there silently, eyes locked on him, trying to read him like a book. Donnie felt vulnerable just standing there, and then he heard Sasha hum a little in thought, “Sounds like you’ve put a lot of thought into this…” she said softly. “W-Well, yeah. You’re a really cool person and friend, and I don’t wanna keep going on like this with…” he rocked back and forth a little on his feet, his face starting to burn “…someone that I care a lot about…” he continued, his voice lower then before. Sasha let his words sink in a bit, as her heart fluttered and her cheeks started to burn as well. “I see…” she said, looking at the ground. “Then, if that’s the case, I have just one more question…” Don looked up at her. “What is it?”

Sasha sighed a bit, before looking back up at him...

“Is this a…date?”

(To be continued…)

[nuclearjacks]

12 for the fandom ask game !!

What's the funniest or craziest AU idea you've ever come up with?

Apologies for taking a bit to get around to this- had a very busy weekend and needed a day or two to recoup jdjdjddj

But Ouughghghgh you’re making me think here cause I’ve got so many in my head that have never seen the light of day djhfdjdjdj

It’ll all be under the cut cause I *will* be unapologetically neurodiverse about this vvv

A bit suggestive but nothing explicit - and not one of mine but is far more entertaining than anything I’ve come up with since I’m an angst whore™️ jdhdhdhr was probably a silly strip club au that an old mutual of mine back in 2020 brainstormed. If I remember correctly it was something like the autobots and deceptions ran competing strip clubs and of course the deceptions wore bedazzled and glittery speedos and booty shorts and were slay as fuck sjdhdhdh

There wasn’t much to it other than that, the deceptions slayed and that’s what I cared about most iedniencein

Otherwise-

My craziest (crazy in the sense that, this-is-the-thing-I’ve-thought-most-about-and-put-the-most-effort-in-because-holy-shit-everything-fits-so-perfectly-and-you-can-tell-this-is-peak-fandom-crossover-indulgence djnfjeehbd) is my TarnMaRat Phantom of the Opera inspired AU. Spoilers ahead for mtmte and Lost light just in case too.

I’m not the first person to see the parallels between the Phantom and Tarn absolutely not (there’s actually a gorgeous Tarn print I’ve found on eBay of him as Phantom that I will put the link to here), but I *might* be the first (still highly unlikely with how old this fan base is sjchdjdj) to see the parallels between Christine and Pharma and Raoul and Ratchet (and many other characters who I’ve found a way to weave them into for the sake of this AU jdjxjd)

For example, Christine is stuck in a ‘no-good-way-out’ situation due to the manipulation of a man who threatens those she loves if his terms aren’t obeyed. Very easy to see the parallels between Pharma’s situation on Delphi and how he had to steal t-cogs in order to keep him and his staff safe from the DJD. But even Christine’s deteriorating mental state throughout the musical is very similar to Pharma’s through out the Delphi arc. She’s a fairly isolated individual whose mainly only known the Opera for most of her life, she’s been trained to be the next big star by the Phantom and is pretty suddenly thrust into said position to the point she becomes very overwhelmed when things begin to get more and more complicated and terrifying with her understanding of her ‘angel of music’ and the world in turn. Just like how Pharma suddenly found the DJD on his doorstep one day and was suddenly a t-cog supplier to one of the most deadly decepticons and had to start managing how to keep supplies coming in, keep his staff safe AND possibly find a way out of said situation that might get him and the others out as safely as possible. Which causes him to isolate the Delphi station from everyone until First Aid calls for Ratchet. Also very similar to Christine, they both latched onto people from their past who they felt safe with, possibly thinking they could protect them or help them.

That’s only a taste of the analysis I’ve done of these characters cause I didn’t even get onto Ratchet and Raouls ego complex’s or Tarn’s obsessive behaviours over Megatron, that, for the sake of the AU, I switched up to an obsession over Pharma to better suit the parrells between Phantoms obsession with Christine eunceicheuhc

Instead of this au being a ‘I just put these characters in the other characters place so yay! The robots do opera now lol’, I instead took the same storyline and applied it to the Delphi arc and mish mashed things in from the Lost Light comics too. Honestly this would probably make a really good psychological thriller fic the more I think about it iendiencein

Some of this is still pretty wibbly-wobbly but the basic gist is that Pharma is still running the Delphi site but for a much longer indeterminate amount of time so he’s kinda known as the Doctor who runs Delphi. He was thrust into the position straight after graduating med school (cybertronians still have to go to med school for this shit right??? DJXJDJDJ) to match the overwhelming nature of Christine’s position as Diva. Delphi is also a much larger hospital in this AU with a reputation for 50% of its patients going missing/dying/etc, causing it to be severely underfunded, but somehow still able to run and operate. Which later when Ratchet pops around (since I’d like to think this whole AU would be from Ratchet’s perspective, again, very similarly to the Delphi arc in the comics, to increase the level of horror and mystique around Delphi) learns it’s due to the DJD’s involvement who have been uncharacteristically generous to the hospital. Which later Ratchet learns is because Pharma treated a mech by the name of Damus back in the day when the hospital’s mortality rate was much lower. A mech who mysteriously keeps appearing in hospital records for coming in for treatment of seemingly superficial injuries, notes specifying that he’d always request for Pharma, until these appearances just stop one day out of the blue. And the mortality suddenly spikes a few months later.

The rest of the AU is basically ratchet figuring out the mysterys of Delphi while also trying to find a way to get Pharma and co out of this situation as more and more important characters (sorry, Ambulon doesn’t make it in this universe either jcjdjdjd) are killed off by Tarn. With background Pharat and a one-sided Tarnma.

I’d love to do more with this AU in the future whenever my next bout of creativity is, I have so many feelings about them all🥺🥺🥺💞💞💞

[alunclewe]

So, I participated in the @sequentialartistsworkshop Friday Night Comics workshop again today—actually, I still have some comics from previous weeks I haven't posted which I really ought to get to, but at least I'll get this one up so I don't fall further behind.

The project for today's workshop, hosted this week by Ellen O'Grady (@ellenogradyart on Instagram) was to make four cards that represented different aspects of yourself—positive and negative—through mythological or archetypal figures. First, participants answered four questions to guide their thinking of what aspects to represent. I'm heavily paraphrasing, but I think the questions were more or less as follows: 1. If someone who knew you well were to introduce you to a community intended to make the world a better place, what positive quality of yours would they name? 2. What other quality would you like to bring to the community? 3. What quality might interfere with your contribution to the community? 4. What is something you would do if you could do it with no societal disapproval?

Anyway, I wasn't completely sure of the distinction between #1 and #2, so the first two panels are just more or less positive qualities. The first panel, representing my drive to create things, is the Demiurge, which was sometimes represented as a snake with a lion's head. (Of course, in Gnostic philosophy, the Demiurge wasn't exactly a positive figure, so I guess maybe there's a bit of self-deprecation going on here.) The second panel represents the fact that I like to share knowledge, I guess? I mean, I work as a teacher (well, currently as a studio teacher most of my actual worktime is taken up just keeping an eye on things and making sure the minor on set is being treated well rather than actual teaching, but I'm still nominally a teacher), but I also like sharing knowledge through other means that are less direct and obvious, so I went with Mimir, a figure from Norse mythology who advised Odin; after Mimir was beheaded in a war, Odin continued to carry around Mimir's severed head, which continued to surreptitiously counsel him.

Panel three is the negative aspect, the poor time management that prevents me from getting anything done—and which I'm pretty sure is because I have ADHD. (I haven't been formally diagnosed, but the descriptions and diagnostic criteria I've read seem to be a really good fit.) I tried to think of any mythological figures who tried to do too much and didn't get much done or who otherwise showed symptoms of ADHD, and then I finally decided to go with the Tumblr-famous ADHD creature, BTW, bending perhaps the definition of mythological or archetypal a bit, but what the hey.

And finally panel four... well, despite my reliance on technology and constant computer use, I guess there's a part of me that wants to just... have nothing, and be part of nature. So I thought of the näcken, a figure from Swedish mythology who (at least according to some versions) just sits naked in rivers and waterfalls and plays the violin. (Okay, the violin isn't exactly natural, and I don't play the violin (I did take violin lessons as a young child, but that was a long time ago), but I could chalk it down to just representing the production of art in a natural setting or something.)

So yeah, I don't know if these were the best choices I could have made for these representations, but the time was limited for the workshop, so I went with whatever I came up with in the time.

(Why did I write "The Näcken" but just "Demiurge" without the article? For no good reason; I just didn't notice the inconsistency until it was finished.)

Anyway, I'll try to finally get some of the past Friday Night Comics workshop comics up within the next few days. I also was planning on participating in Art Fight again this year, but I went to sign in and the site seems to be down? Hopefully it'll be back up tomorrow...

[astroblimp]

It's been a bit since I last posted. I swear I need to be more active about this!

So a lot has happened since my last post.

My mom passed away last month. We all knew it was coming but still hit like a ton of irradiated bricks. I'm still processing various emotions when dealing with the loss. I was very close to her.

I might elaborate more on that at a later date...

I'm still at the sober living house

BringIng here is starting to get to me. The near constant god talk is exhausting. I had to get a sponsor recently to stay in the program or else end up being kicked out and homeless.

He seems alright. Into animation like me so can't be that bad. However I have to watch what I say in case anyone in the upper levels takes offense.

So I've been looking for a job still, been harder than I thought. Had a very promising lead with the local museum,however I think that fizzled.

What's not helping in the job hunt; is the lack of an active phone. ( Yes I've tried government phones but there's a problem It's a long and stupidly complicated story) as well as having to make time for the rules of the house.

One thing I have been able to do is focus a bit on my art and health.

Health wise I'm doing great just waiting for my teeth to finish being fixed.

Art wise I'm being productive! So here's the art part of my post! I'm not posting everything I just dumped on Instagram on here just a couple of my favorites!

First up some crazy aliens I've been drawing!

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I haven't named them yet! I've been having fun with them though.

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I have been looking for a comic to start while working on my self here. And I think I've found it...though I've said things like that before. My problem is making sure that when I draw them on paper the size looks good on Instagram and other platforms.

Next up some random drawings!

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The first two were some fun ideas that I had in my head. Decided to focus on the fonts too!

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And of course Humpty Dumpty! Where I focused a bit more on the perspective.

Here some character studies. One is the Flintstones. The other bert the turtle from the 1950s

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And finally for this post, two color pencils drawings. One is a character study I kinda went nuts with. It's from Alice in wonderland after all.

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Well that's all for now. I'm going to try and post more soon!

[corvussnakee]

I really need to feed yall. Uhh.

Here, take this little bit of art I made.

Hehe, I like stars :3

Anyywayyy,

So I'm planning on working on the next Rottenberry post. I have the idea in my head, it's just getting it down right will be the main thing.

I'm also wanting to drag in another skele. Which one shall it be? Who knows, who knows. (I know)

This is probably gonna be one of the longest response comics I'll be making. I'm guessing maybe 7-10 panels?

Yall get to see a glimpse of Rottenberry's past so, hehe. Gotta make this the big one!!

This probably though might be put on a back burner because I'm currently dealing with a bunch of school projects, final projects, final preparation. I'll probably get the sketches and scenes down.

Oh and I've been fiddling around with my artstyle (as seen from the silly little star thingy above)

I will be taking my time.

Quality over quantity as they say.

[natehackett]

"literally, it was all because of family. my dad owned his own appliance repair business before he retired," he explained, his hands waving through the air as he weaved the story. "now, both of my older brothers and my younger sister have taken it over. brian, the oldest of us hackett kids, does all the appliance work; james, the next one in line, is the electrician of the family; my baby sister, beth, is currently apprenticing under jamie." the only other hackett kid who hadn't gotten involved in their family business was heather, his older sister. "my other sister, she lives in new york now and writes for the new yorker. but, even heather had to apprentice under my dad at some point. you can't say the man didn't have dedication trying to get every single one of us into the business," nate shrugged. if it had been up to him, he would have pursued a career in the arts. but, it really hadn't been. heather had been put on blast by not only their father, but his mother, and his two eldest brothers, when she decided to break the mold. he had decided that the stress of all that wasn't worth it. so, he also had gone into his family's line of work, but at least he had done it on his own terms. while the rest of his siblings had gone to tech school close to home, nate at least got a whole state away. he still had yet to work directly for the family company, since he hadn't moved back to reno after receiving his certifications.

"i mean, i'll be here for a while..." he leaned forward, whispering as his eyes opened wide, "did you drink someone's piss?" there were plenty of things nate had done that were bold, or, some might even say, downright stupid. those things still didn't include drinking urine, human or otherwise. "oh, no worries. the beer is nice! i probably wouldn't clock the difference between one that's bad and one that's good. so, i'll take whatever you've got in your fridge this time or the next." he felt a bit bad, thinking that he might have offended her with the beer tasting like piss comment. he shook his head vigorously, and took an extra big swig to show that he appreciated just being given some beer in the first place.

"your high school experience was just a wee bit different than mine," he squinted as he held his pointer finger and thumb just slightly apart. a measurement of that "wee bit" he had said. "i was rarely invited to parties, even the ones which were lame. if you can believe it, i was what the kids might call a 'nerd.'" meanwhile, nate had watched his two older brothers basically peak in their younger years. both brian and jamie snuck out every night to do god knows what with their other jock friends. "what were your go-to mixes when you first started? do you still play those songs?" he asked, setting his half-empty beer bottle down on the coffee table. in a few short strides he was back by the decks, looking at her set up and imaging how much it must of all cost. money meant nothing when there were years of dedication and interest involved in a hobby. nate could absolutely understand that when it came to his comic book and memorabilia collection.

“ how did you start working with appliances? like, is it something that interested you beforehand or? ” the blonde questions curiously, and taking a slight sip from her wine. fixing household appliances is not something scarlett would ever envision herself doing, and finds it hard to think how someone else could find enjoyment out of such task. although she is able to understand the technical side of djing, the software and such, the engineering and mechanics behind anything else would drive her bonkers. scarlett cannot help her snicker at nate’s comment at comparing beer and ’ piss ’, and she’s covering her mouth as to not spit out her drink. “ trust me, you’d know the difference. i have a few stories, which i’ll share at another date, but … you’d know. i’ll get some nicer beer next time you come around. ”

a stern look washes over scarlett’s features, almost like she is giving nate one last warning not to spill his drink. upon his promise, however, brown eyes soften and the rim of her glass raises to her lips. “ good, glad we have that settled. ” she almost smirks before taking a swig, as scaring men seems to be a favourite pastime of hers. not that she’s intentionally trying to scare nate, by any means.

“ oh god, it’s not even that exciting. ” scarlett chuckles, setting her glass down away from her decks and leaning her backside against her deck. “ i was in high school, and friends with this much older crowd that snorted lines and drank, and smoked, so you could imagine the kind of house party i was invited back to. ” simply recalling her high school experiences makes scarlett somewhat nostalgic, and the corner of her lips rise into a soft grin. “ one of the guys had a set up — nothing like this. ” she pauses, gesturing to her equipment. “ i was being a flirty little brat, and asked how he was able to mix so good and he showed me how to do it. it’s been love ever since. i found it daunting the first few times i played in front of people, but i practiced to hell and back. no one was going to hear me fuck up. ”

[mickules]

ASK DUMP

But first:

OOPS [for context]

My hand slipped.

Yous all ready for a MAMMOTH ask post? I mean it this is LONG

[edit: completely forgot to add the ‘read more’ rip your dash this is L O N G]

(next set of asks are [here]! in smaller bites this time)

Honestly I’m kinda boring when it comes to headcanons, they’re mostly canon compliant or I end up floating about on the general consensus of popular fanon. Here, however, is a bunch of little titbits!

~Hifumi draws like Boichi. The idea he has a super detail oriented style and not a cutesy one cracks me up.

~The difference between Taeko and Celeste; those colour contacts are prescription. (Taeko doesn’t look too dissimilar to Toko and she hates that)

~Likewise, Gundham takes forever to get ready as he re-applies the “wards necessary to allow mere mortals to withstand the presence of The Supreme Overlord of Ice”

~Kazuichi on the other hand is au naturale. He just looks like that.

~Hiro is right, where do you think his clairvoyant abilities came from?

~Taka has had to shave every morning since he was 13, (he looks like Masaaki Sakai from Monkey if he grows it out) Mondo will never be able to grow any facial hair, and he’s salty about it. His hair is naturally curly but he straightens the back for that Pomp Aesthetic

~Taka is a very restless sleeper, never wakes up in the same position as he went to sleep. At Hope’s Peak he usually finds himself waking up across the room, on the floor.

~Additionally, He eats like a gannet - maximum efficiency (until he gets indigestion) [more on this]

~Red eyes and a diabolical resting bitch face is the dominant trait of the Ishimaru Bloodline. (POV trying to have a casual conversation)

~Takaaki is a divorcee not a widower; his marriage was an arranged one organised by Toranosuke, and when the scandal went down the marriage was dissolved by the bride’s family. [more on this]

She was 5′3′’

Takaaki just wants someone tall enough so he can take a nice photo (I had to google ‘no homo with socks’, I hope you’re happy)

---

30% of Takaaki’s intimidation is his height, the rest is his Glare™

Ah! I can understand the confusion! That was actually an older Mondo, as the anon had asked about Kaito being Mondo and Taka’s kid. I’m easy going when it comes to pairing characters together, I don’t mind answering questions along that vein! I love to see other people’s interpretations, and how they imagine a relationship develops. I’ve seen some absolutely adorable art of them as a couple! Personally however, I don’t have a good idea of their chemistry in my head, so I don’t think of them as being together. At the very least not in this weird AU thing I’ve got going on. 

---

Bold of you to assume Takemichi hasn’t been keeping it a secret. Not out of fear or shame, but rather because Michi would do anything to keep nosy, overbearing, meddling Daiya out of his love-life. He’s seen how Daiya absolutely ROASTS Mondo every-time he strikes out, and Michi ain’t about to open himself up to that. I imagine Daiya finds out whilst frequenting a gay bar- like that Doctor/Donna Doctor Who scene:

He is then resolutely recruited as a Gay Consultant™ 

They become very popular regulars. (tags got me creasing)

@hawklanthebard

You’re not wrong - that’s a fabulous concept, but they’re gonna have to catch him first. Surviving middle school gave Taka an unusually highly developed intuition for trouble and an excellent default flight or fight response

Mondo having to deal with his gang associations negatively effecting his ‘civilian’ life and friends? *Chef’s Kiss*

---

Taka with his wooden sword would be a sight to behold. Unfortunately, I doubt brandishing a sword would be welcome in a school environment - so he’d unlikely use it for anything other than exercise. ISHIDA ON THE OTHERHAND

Hifumi might have had a bit more trouble

@emiefaunwrites

(Thank you so much! That’s so very sweet! I’m glad you like! :D) SO I didn’t originally have a timeline when I started making the comics, but NOW I do, so it’s a bit of a mess lol! BASICALLY: ~Daiya survived the bike crash  ~Mondo & Taka go to Hope’s Peak  ~They become friends (I have a comic planned for this, and it’s NOT a sauna scene *wiggles eyebrows*) ~[The Yakuza Incident] this is when Mondo catches feelings, but chalks it up to the adrenaline of the situation ~[Mondo meets Takaaki] and [makes a great impression] ~Daiya is introduced to Taka, and gives him “The Shirt” unbeknownst to Mondo  ~Taka has his own Gay Panic™ (this is another comic comin’ in the pipeline!) but he doesn’t recognise it for what it is. ~[Takaaki finds The Shirt, and him and Daiya make their plan] ~[The Hershey’s Kiss Incident] Mondo has to ask himself some PRETTY SEARCHING questions after this, whilst Taka has to wrestle with the revelation that if Mondo asked for a kiss, Taka would not hesitate to do it. ~ and Finally, eventually, a Confession (this is another comic, but it’ll deffo be a while before this one is done)

---

@crackinwise

Takemichi sees the Oowada brothers as a single unit - he is 'second’ to both of them. So, whilst Mondo is at Hope’s Peak, Takemichi defaults to keeping an eye on Daiya to give Mondo some piece of mind, since Daiya still a target for rival gangs. Takemichi’s title of ‘second’ is just a formality of the gang. Daiya doesn’t really go in for the hierarchy stuff, but it’s the gang that insists on it and Mondo unfortunately really internalised it. From the gang’s perspective, you have the suave leader, his sharp, loyal 2nd in command and his volatile brother he has to reign in, when in reality Daiya delegated a lot of his responsibilities to Mondo and Michi over time, and was more a figurehead than an actual leader by his retirement.

(I’ve got some more Leon in a future comic - have a peek, he’s got such a cheeky face) [this comic is now done!]

Mondo’s unsuccessful romantic attempts are the favourite gossip topic of a surprising amount of class 78 tho’ not within earshot of Mondo obviously - They’re secretly cheering him on but they also have a betting pool based on how quickly he’ll scare the girl away. Celeste has made a very tidy profit.

---

Taka is 100% the type who’d inform the mcdonald’s cashier that they gave him too many nuggets and try to pay the extra. He’s IMPOSSIBLE to do a favour for.

[persona ref here]

@chinchillasinunison

I agree, Mondo in specs is A+, but yes, ‘tis a persona reference.  I FULLY recommend Persona 4 if you get the chance! It’s a JRPG, but the ‘dungeons’ are people’s psyches, and when they’re inside they have to confront a ‘shadow’ which is basically some aspect of themselves they’ve repressed or heavily dislike. The stress of being in the dungeons causes people to get dizzy and confused, and the glasses stop that- it suggests Mondo has already confronted his own shadow, before Taka had to confront his. . .

---

That’s some excellent analysis right there! Taka 100% has some deep seated issues to do with his relationship with control. I think his new friendship with someone so far outside his understood norm of ‘acceptable’ would have rattled some of those insecurities loose.  There would be an inherent need for Taka to try to ‘improve’ Mondo’s behaviour - to try to make Mondo more “acceptable to society”, the way Taka was taught to be. But by doing so, he would be removing something that makes Mondo who he is. It would come down to an internal fight of being a hypocrite for overlooking Mondo’s anti-social behaviour, or trying to control Mondo and making him into something he’s not. Taka would hate himself for not being able to accept Mondo wholesale, the way he wishes people would accept himself, and the way he knows friends SHOULD do - basically a microcosm of the wider span of his anxiety with his chosen path and future.

(ahhhh! !Thank-you! That’s supremely kind! I’m still really enjoying the Dangan stuff, and if I move on to other things and folk don’t vibe with it - It’s all good! No worries! My only goal on this tumble is to enjoy myself, and so far that ain’t changed :D)

---

NOICE! Excellent recommendations I’m lovin’ them! Always happy to get more! 👀

Also, from that DR chatfic:

“TAIL ‘EM NAEGGI”

I have been outdone.

---

(AH! You flatter me! I’ll keep on tryna be cool!) [pic is here!] Daiya and Takaaki being casual allies is definitely a dynamic I really enjoy; Crazy Crafters is such an enjoyable fic! All the little interactions and character chemistry works so well together! Chasml’s fics are ones that I keep coming back to - I ADORE Their characterisations.

@rc-hetalia-mun

Dang you right, Honestly I needed a kid and his mum for the Crazy Crafters [pic] and Hiro has such a fun design; it was inevitable.

---

(AH! Thanks!! What a compliment!! :-0 !! ) Normally, someone as jacked as Mondo would have a craggier face, not unlike Sakura’s sharp nose and defined cheekbones - but he’s got surprisingly soft features, I think those big eyes and long tapered eyelashes really add to it.

---

(!!!!!THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!) Taka doesn’t even smile that much in his in game sprites but I CANNOT HELP IT! He has such a wide, welcoming smile and I LOVE DRAWING IT!!

---

(Thank you! I loved doin’ it!) All credit 100% goes to @monikamarkovova They have the most SUPREMELY FLUFFY MOTHMEN art and I am in AWE, I cannot compare. I do not know how they do it. [here for ref]

---

(ahh! <3 thanks very much!) Here’s a bit of a behind the scenes! I do all my sketches in colour ‘cos I find it easier on my eyes. I have trouble telling the difference between colours of a close tone, so it’s easier to see when distinguishing between the sketch and the black lines when I’m doing lineart. Red just happens to be my go to since it’s quickest to get to on the colour slider and I’m lazy. The sketches you see are pretty much 1 to 1 what I use for lineart, minus the half tones. If I have multiple sketch layers, I’ll use multiple colours so I can see easier, but usually I do all my sketches directly on my guideline layer because I’m a madman. Here’s a coupla examples:

here’s a rare one where I didn’t draw directly onto my messy af guidelines- but I always start with red, then blue, then green and very occasionally purple if I need a fourth.

I keep the mini-comic sketches in red since I think it looks better. Black is harsh and can be unforgiving and I think it makes it easier to see how rough my sketches are. In colour it’s a little softer - and to me - more pleasing to the eye! (and even when I do use black- it’s usually at partial opacity to soften it out)

---

AND cos I’ve been watching too much Natsume Yuujincho (FULLY RECOMMEND it’s delightful) Have a quick redraw: 

As my brother described it “Kiyotaka and his Fat Biker Cat”

And that’s it for now! The ask box is nice and empty, thanks for so many brilliant asks and sorry it took so long! I’m working on ‘Taka and Mondo becoming friends’ comic and ‘Taka gets a clue’ (edit: this one is [done]) comic, and I hope neither will take too long! :)

[purplekiwis]

OMG YES! Damaged goods blurb! Can you do a fluff one where one of them is sick with seasonal flu and the other has to take care of them, but they're being stubborn about it because that's just what they do and how they are 🤧

Okay, okay... here she is! It's a bit meh I think, but I hope you like it! 🥰

*

Harry is sick and grumpy, and Y/N takes care of him (from the Damaged Goods AU)

Harry feels miserable.

He’s worse than miserable, really,

because he has a cold… or is it the flu?! He has never known to spot the differences between the two, but he recognized all of the early signs, of course...

As per usual, it started with nothing but a sore throat one morning when he woke up, that ended up lingering throughout the whole day, then came a headache, and the tiredness, and the chills…

It wasn’t so unbearable at first… but the symptoms only kept getting worse and worse as the hours went by, to the point of leaving him with no choice but to skip his classes in favor of staying in bed… suffering.

The worst part about it? He wasn’t even suffering at home – where his mom could be taking her lips to his forehead every so often to see if he had a fever, and bringing him bowls of soup and fruit cubes on that same familiar bedtray that had accompanied him throughout all his periods of sickness.

Mom would also be making sure he stayed hydrated and took his medicine in time... which by the way, he wasn’t taking any. Logically speaking, Harry knew he should have gone to a pharmacy by now, to get something to make him feel better, but how? When he couldn't even muster the will to get up and go downstairs to fill the empty water bottle perched on his nightstand.

He couldn’t move.

Every single inch of his body hurt.

And now he was starting to get shivery under his bedclothes... for fucks sake.

If only he had Pepper, his spaniel mutt puppy, around to snuggle and keep his body cozy and warm like a hot water bag... then perhaps Harry would've been in a better mood. Yeah, definitely. Pepper would've let him bury his snotty face into its soft fur, and not even think to complain if its owner left a puddle of guck all over said fur.

But well, Pepper isn't there.

And being sick sucks.

Especially because Harry really wants some cuddles... and it hasn't been helping his case whatsoever that in this trying day of illness, his mind has done nothing but think of Y/N.

Pondering over what outfit she must have worn that day and what she might be up to while he’s laying there on his deathbed. He also wonders if she has noticed his absence, and if so… if she’s worried about him.

He huffs once he checks his phone again and realizes there are still no messages from her. She doesn’t have to check on him. He knows that, but he can't help that he likes to be cared for sometimes… and as it turns out illness has a tendency to turn him into a big, needy baby... who really wants to have Y/N taking care of him. It would be so good. She could play with his hair the way he likes, give him forehead kisses, hold his hand…

Harry sighs out loud. Her company would be even better than Pepper's, he believes... although Harry isn't so sure Y/N would enjoy having his snot on her as much as his trusty pup would, but that’s beside the point.

It’s even more beside the point because he knows she's not coming to see him.

She’s mad at him, he recalls now. Stupidly so, if he's allowed to think that - he did nothing wrong, after all. She asked him for a “brutally honest opinion” on a design work she was doing for one of her classes, and he simply gave her what she asked for, plain as that. But of course, then she didn’t like what he had to say and got sulky. Just girls being girls, he guesses…

Harry should've known better than to think that would stop her from coming to see him, though. His girl was a little box of surprises, after all... a true master in the art of keeping him on his toes.

She showed up only half an hour after she was done with her classes... softly knocking on his door before poking her head inside with a smile, only for her jaw to drop in shock at the absolute misery that oozed from his pores.

“Y/N…” His voice cracked sickly, almost comically. Harry could have laughed at it if he wasn't so utterly lethargic. “What- what are you doing here?”

“Well, what do you think?” The girl huffed, shutting the bedroom door behind her and heading towards the end of the bed to get a good look at him, hands on her hips. “Why didn't you tell me you were sick? Here I was, going about my day thinking you had slept in for being a bum, only to find out through your friends that you were unwell.”

Harry bit the inside of his cheek, trying to hide his downright amusement at her worried state. Y/N was worried about him? Well then, perhaps her irritation had passed and she had forgiven him… which meant maybe he’d get to have those cuddles he wanted so bad. “I thought you were mad at me?” He poked, eyebrows arching teasingly the best they could with the little energy the muscles on his face could muster.

“Well, I was and am now even more.” She punctuated. “But I still care, obviously. How am I supposed to leave you by yourself when you look like that?” She put down the bag she was holding at the edge of the bed and kneeled next to it on the floor.

“Look like what?” He frowned again. “All snotty and gross?”

“Precisely… and an awful lot like Rudolph the reindeer as well.” Y/N added, with a soft pat to the tip of his swollen, red nose.

Harry smiled at that, right before his eyes fell on the bag over his bed. “Did you go to the store to get those creepy sheet masks you wanted?”

“Huh?” She muttured confused, before noticing where he was looking at. “Oh no, um… these are just some things I got for you. Just vitamins and those gummies for when you have a sore throat, and also uh…” Y/N's cheeks went a little hot. “I got some chicken soup from the buffet restaurant as well, you know… the one next to the drug store. I thought it might do you good…”

“You went to get all that stuff for me?” Harry asked, Y/N hummed happily in confirmation, her eyes gleaming with tenderness. “Y/N... you shouldn't have. That shit is so expensive, and I'm fine, really. It's just a cold. You dont have to worry, let alone take care of me.”

“No offence, but I think I do.” The girl challenged his statement, picking up the halfway used toilet paper roll placed on his nightstand. “For a start, you shouldn’t even be using this to blow your nose. It’ll only irritate your skin and make it more sore.”

Harry rolled his eyes playfully. “That’s such a mum thing to say…” He grumbled in attempt to mask the fact that the secret big, needy baby in him was loving every single bit of the mom talk, and the same applies to when Y/N clicked her tongue chastisingly once he stubbornly snatched the roll off her hand and pulled out some more paper.

She took the chance that he had moved his arm to move a bit closer, sitting on the edge of the bed next to his pillow. “Is there anything else I can do to make you feel better?” She asked, lovingly running her digits through his unwashed curls. They felt a little waxy and knotty in her hands, but she didn’t mind it in the slightest. She just wanted to make him feel better in any way she could. So she kept playing with his hair, scratching at the roots and combing her fingers through his strands just the way she knew he reveled in - only breaking contact once she was almost certain that he had fallen asleep on her... However, as soon as Y/N began to pull her hand away to check her phone, Harry let out a whine and bumped his forehead against her wrist, in a silent request for her to keep going. “You're such a baby sometimes…” Y/N whispered, proceeding to fulfill his wish.

“Mhm... your baby.” He sighed happily.

Y/N smiled to herself at the state of pure bliss Harry was in. So utterly distracted by the slow puffy nature of his breaths, that she almost didnt notice that his droopy eyes had opened and were now fixed on her. He cleared his throat painfully. “Y/N... can I have one of those gummies you got? My throat hurts and I really want to try one.”

Y/N let out a tiny chuckle at the pleading tone he'd used, nodding as she got up to grab the bottle from the bag. She threw it at him playfully to catch midair, knowing that his reflexes were outstanding. “Ohh these seem nice. I love lemon and honey flavored shit.” He told her whilst inspecting the label.

“Yeah?” Y/N couldn’t help but to grin, feeling quite proud of herself for picking the right flavor. But her smile quickly melted into an expression of concern once she watched Harry crack open the bottle and carelessly throw a bunch of gummies into his mouth. “Harry! What are you- that’s not candy! You can’t eat them by the handful!”

“Oi, chill out… it’s just gummies. What wrong could it do?” He asked as he blithely chewed them. Words coming out garbled since he was speaking in between a mouthful.

“Oh, I don't know, perhaps there could be anesthetics in them... but who knows? It was just a thought.” Y/N ironized.

“Really?” He made a wry face similar to hers, inspecting the label closer. “Do you think we can get high on this shit?” He smirked, still chewing as he rolled the container around to check the ingredients in the back. “Cause I'm not gonna lie, that sounds like a pretty good afternoon plan to me...” He half joked, cracking the bottle open again and dropping a couple more gummies in his palm.

Y/N heaved at the suggestion. “I think it’s more likely that you get a terrible bellyache, and we end up in the ER...”

“You really think so?” Harry asked teasingly, taking another gummy to his mouth.

“Okay, that's enough. Give me that.” Y/N demanded, pushing for him to pass the container, but all he did was shake his head with a mischievous, defiant smirk. The girl rolled her eyes at him. “You know what? Fine.” She shrugged. “Eat as many as you want. Can't wait to watch you shit the bed once those anesthetics give you a loose bottom.”

He chuckled at the warning, amused. “If you’re so bothered, why don’t you come get them from me?” He questioned, but before he could prepare himself Y/N jumped on the bed to try and take the bottle away from his hands, what forced him to abruptly sit up and hold it over his head just so she couldn’t reach it from where she sat. “That was... real cute. Is that all you got, hm?”

Y/N huffed and crawled over his legs until she was practically on his lap. Seeing right through his facade once he happily handed off the gummies without putting up a fight and wrapped his arms around her middle to pull her in for a hug instead. “You must think you're so sly, don't you?” She mumbled in question, going back to petting his hair. “If you wanted a cuddle, you could’ve just said so… I don't mind your germs.”

“I was trying to behave to avoid getting you sick, actually…”

“Yeah right...” Y/N grumbled, dropping her head on his shoulder for a moment. “But I guess, since you've already passed me the germs and all... might as well just give me a kiss, no?” She proposed shyly, waiting for Harry to make the move. He did, pulling away slightly and placing his lips in hers softly. “Mm, more.” She pouted.

“Greedy.” He joshed, pecking the girl's lips again, and again... and once more for good measure. The damage was already done, after all... they might as well just keep doing it. “I feel disgusting, though. If I knew you were coming, I would’ve at least taken a shower and brushed my teeth. Can’t believe you still want to kiss me when I am like this.”

Y/N scratched at the frizzy hairs of his nape. “I promise you don't smell or look nearly as bad as you think you do… and you taste like lemon and honey so, that’s nice.” Harry distrustfully scrunched up his nose at her allegation, sniffing up some in the process before his digits rushed to grab some more toilet paper. He took it to his nose, blowing noisily. “Alright, snotty boy…” Y/N laughed, swiftly crawling off his lap. “How about I go downstairs to plate up our soup while you pick a movie for us to watch as we eat? It can be one of those “guy movies” and all, I promise I won't complain... today only, cause I'm giving you privilege for being sick.”

His eyes strayed towards you with interest, the lower half of his face still covered behind the poorly ripped toilet paper sheets. “I was actually thinking more like a musical or a pixar movie, maybe?”

“God, Harry.” Y/N gasped in awe. “I swear I've never felt more attracted to you in my life. Snot and everything.”

[psychewritesbs]

Chapter 160: How much of Yuji’s life has been orchestrated? + Megumi the stage-five clinger

Happy JJK-Sunday!

If I had to describe chapter 160 with as few words as possible, I would say: Oh f*ck...

My favorite moment was, of course, Megumi acting like a stage-five clinger. His interaction with Yuji in this chapter is especially ominous in light of Yuji being adamant of protecting Megumi from Sukuna.

A second favorite was Sasaki showing up in this chapter because of the implications moving forward.

Let’s jump right in. 

How much of Yuji’s life has been orchestrated by Kenjaku?

We start the chapter with Kenjaku talking to none other than Sasaki, one of the members of the Occult Club at the high school in Sendai that Yuji used to attend.

Of course, the bomb that Gege dropped on us in this chapter is when Kenjaku thanks Sasaki “for getting along with my son”. 

Like... excuse you?

Not only does this 100% confirm that Kenjaku used Yuji’s mother’s body to give birth to him, but this specific moment + some foreshadowing from previous chapters also opens an interesting can of worms about Yuji’s life: just how much of Yuji’s life has Kenjaku orchestrated?

For me, the implication is that Sasaki had an assigned role to play in Yuji’s life that would inevitably lead to him eating Sukuna’s finger. 

I am assuming this because although we don’t see Kenjaku’s interactions with the other people in Sendai, we get to see that, in addition for thanking her for getting along with Yuji, Kenjaku is incredibly kind to Sasaki. We also learn that she’s the only one who has received a special message from him (thanking her).

Ready to make this whole interaction more ominous? Someone pointed out that the kanji in Sasaki’s name means assistant. 

All of this brings us right back to Yuji’s free will--or lack thereof?

We already know that Kenjaku claims he made Yuji “ingest” Sukuna’s finger and that Megumi is rightfully concerned with this idea because he witnessed Yuji eat Sukuna’s finger “of his own free will.”

It’s also becoming increasingly obvious that Yuji was "created” solely for the purpose of becoming Sukuna’s vessel. 

What this new reveal about Sasaki does is that it makes everything feel like certain events have been part of Kenjaku’s master plan all along. While this still feels a little farfetched, it will come down to how Gege works this idea into the story moving forward.

Come to think of it, even Yuji’s grandfather’s dying words to Yuji take on a new meaning since we know Wasuke knew something was definitively up with Yuji’s mother.

Another possible bit of foreshadowing all the way in chapter 1: While the intersection in the second panel below could be ANY intersection in Japan, it sure looks like the Shibuya crossing:

A quick note on the importance of kanji meanings in JJK before moving onto the next section: knowing the meaning of Sasaki’s name tells us that names are important in JJK. If you haven’t, I recommend you read my break down on the meaning of Megumi’s FULL NAME. His first name is important, but so is his last name.

The plans moving forward

Going off to Tokyo Colony #2 are Panda and Hakari. 

As the strongest, Hakari feels like he should take on Hajime. As for Panda, it looks like his focus will be on hunting down Angel.

Side note: I love that Hakari is still calling Megumi names. Guess Senpai can’t help himself.

I must admit I was disappointed to find that Kirara will stay behind to report, but it is what it is. I am assuming Gege could see no use for Kirara and decided to leave the character out of the action for the time being. 

As for Megumi and Yuji, they’ll be heading to Tokyo Colony #1 to target Higuruma, everybody’s new favorite Law & Order boss. 

This brings us to Megumi’s current state of mind...

Megumi the stage-five clinger

I had a hard time coming up with the title for this section because what I see happening is that Megumi is starting to feel the pressure of the looming deadline for Tsumiki joining the Culling Game. What his behavior shows, however, is that he needs Yuji with him and is clinging onto him but won’t come out and say it--opting instead for aggression towards Yuji, the very same person he needs most. 

His behavior reminded me of how Megumi could be mean to Tsumiki even though he clearly adores her. Apparently that’s the meaning of being tsundere. I’ve read about the term tsundere before but it never “clicked” until this moment and I just love Gege’s interpretation of the trope through Megumi’s character. 

It goes without saying that it was REALLY interesting to me to see Megumi’s dynamic and interaction with Yuji in this chapter because it looks like Gege is letting us know Megumi’s state of mind continues to be one of desperation--remember that dogeza bow from chapter 157?

The thing about Megumi is that he looks stoic on the outside, but he’s actually an incredibly emotional person who doesn’t often show how he’s feeling. 

I hadn’t caught on, but in chatting with @justafrenchlondoner​ about the chapter, they pointed out Megumi’s behavior in his dynamic with Yuji appears nervous and aggressive.

Upon a second look I have to agree that Megumi is acting out of character and aggressive with Yuji when all that Yuji really wants is to protect Megumi from Sukuna.

And yes, let me go ahead and sound like a broken record as I remind you of Yuji’s rather ominous words from chapter 143 yet again:

And this is the part of the chapter that knocked the air out of me: Megumi telling Yuji to stfu about Sukuna but Yuji thinking to himself “as long as I’m around you will suffer” back in ch143 is so damn ominous.

Oh f*ck...

But this is what REALLY gets me about this whole interaction and why I’m calling Megumi a stage-five clinger...

Even though Megumi is calling Yuji selfish, in reality, the one being selfish is Megumi.

This is, of course, my own interpretation of the situation, but to me it feels as though Megumi is clinging onto Yuji’s strength for dear life. 

It’s almost like Megumi needs not just Yuji’s physical strength, but also his unwavering conviction or mental strength.

If you think about it, Megumi has only recently started fighting to win. Remember how unsure he was of himself when fighting Sukuna for the first time? It wasn’t until he went up against the Cursed Spirit from the Yasohachi bridge that he let go of his inhibitions.

Megumi’s battles during Shibuya were the pinnacle of his growth as a character in that moment. If I remember correctly, according to the timeline of events, the Shibuya incident happened around two weeks prior to the current chapter. You could say that although he is more comfortable in his strength than before, Megumi is still growing into his strength at this point.

The thing about Megumi is that everybody and their Divine Dog believes in him and sees his potential except for him. As Gojo tells him “you undervalue yourself.”

Looking back, the way Megumi asks begs Yuji for help in chapter 143 is very enlightening of how Megumi needs Yuji’s strength: 

I initially had read this to mean Megumi needed Yuji’s physical strength. Upon second look, however, Megumi has always seemed to have admiration for Yuji’s conviction.

With the looming deadline for Tsumiki’s vow to join the Culling Game, as Megumi starts to feel the pressure to make his plan work, who better to keep around than the person who will always go for the home run and whose strength he admires?

In other words, like hell he’s going to let Yuji leave his side. Which, again, only makes it more heartbreaking to think Sukuna is up to no good regarding Megumi and Yuji wants to protect him from that.

Oh f*ck.......

The panel below feels like a bit of a lighthearted and comical moment, but it’s also interesting to note that this is the second time they “fight”.

The first “fight” having taken place during the Cursed Womb Arc.

If you will remember, Gege used the Cursed Womb Arc and the Origin of Obedience Arc to show us how much our favorite trio had grown. 

Not sure Gege is going to parallel something here again, but just interesting to note.

Oh f*ck...

Ya, please excuse the French.

Despite the many words I’ve shared here, this chapter left me mostly speechless. 

I feel like I’ve been trapped in Gojo’s limitless domain expansion and all I can think is “oh f*ck” or “halloween” (if you catch my drift).

Chapter 160 was incredible because it looks like Gege has finally finished putting all his pieces into place and is ready to go for the kill by: 

Starting to unravel the story bit by bit, giving us all of the twists we both saw and did not see coming, and

Ramping up the stakes. Taking into consideration the estimates that JJK is somewhere around 60-70% done at this point, It’s not a matter of whether some of our beloved characters will die, but about who, when and how they will die

One last detail

I love the last four panels of the chapter showing Panda, Hakari, Yuji and Megumi all wearing their uniforms (barring Panda) and getting ready to become official participants of the Culling Game by entering their respective barriers.

Knowing that Gege is a very talented artist capable of showing and expressing emotions through his art, I feel like these panels tell us a lot about what the characters might be thinking and I thought I’d expand on that. 

Bear in mind this is my personal interpretation as an artist:

Panda looks excited and ready to fight, perhaps even confident. Panda is saying “bring it!” with his body language

There’s a hint of something I can’t describe in Hakari’s face. It’s almost like he’s coming face to face against how big of a challenge this is going to be and yet he’s resolved to walk straight into “the depths of hell itself”

Yuji looks focused, determined to go in and give it his best no matter what comes his way--that’s just who he is

And then there’s Megumi. I’ve been drawing Megumi recently, and one thing I noticed is that he has very specific micro-expressions. In his panel, he’s warming up his wrists as though he’s getting ready to fight, he has a focused look on his face, but the shadows around his eyes say he might be feeling like he is carrying the heavy burden of the uncertainty surrounding the situation he’s going through

With all that being said... the Culling Game is officially starting and we’re in for a one-way ride straight to hell.

Thank you for reading and happy JJK-Sunday!

What about you? What did you enjoy most about chapter 160?

[soulmate-game]

Well, here is the stupid thing I was alluding to. It’s mostly a filler chapter, but yeah.

Harley’s Plea for Help, Chapter 3

“Well, that took a while,” a relatively deep female voice smoothly drawled. The plants placed right next to the window pulled away, no longer blocking the pathway inside. The two figures who were perched right outside the windowsill took the invitation and climbed inside, the shorter of the two looking at the woman who had spoken and smiling widely.

“Auntie Ivy!” Marinette happily exclaimed, making the redhead across from her grin back.

“That’s me. It sure is nice to actually see you in person, little Marigold,” she held out her arms for a hug, which Marinette instantly ran in to accept. “Video calls are never quite enough, are they? You’re so tiny! Are you sure you eat alright?”

“Auntie Ivyyyyyy,” Marinette whined, knowing full well that Ivy was just teasing her.

“So, what took you all so long?” Ivy asked Red Hood, even as she kept her arms wrapped around her soon-to-be daughter in law. “Usually you bats are all about getting back on the streets to punch people, we didn’t think you’d be bringing her in at almost one in the morning.”

Hood shrugged, thumbs hooked in his pockets. “Your little garden fairy nearly gave us the slip. Went straight out the back exit instead of doin’ anything showy like we half expected and we almost missed her.”

“I stopped as soon as I noticed who they were, I swear!” Marinette pulled away from Ivy, holding her hands up in mock surrender. “I didn’t expect Momma to send them to babysit me before our first full day being in Gotham. In hindsight, though, I really should have.”

“Yeah, you should’ve,” Ivy agreed with a smirk, ruffling Marinette’s hair and making her pigtails go a little crooked. “And I know for a fact that you’ve done some stunts off your balcony back in Paris, so at least I know you can be responsible and hold yourself back from doing the same here. Must get that from me, because we both know it doesn’t come from Harley.”

Marinette and Hood both had to laugh at that. Being responsible was definitely not a trait that Marinette could have inherited from anybody in her family tree, that was for sure.

“Are ya makin’ fun of me in front of my daughter?” the comically scandalized voice announced the arrival of one Harley Quinn, who walked into the room in white onesie pajamas with a poker print on them. All of the “joker” cards were crossed out heavily with red sharpie, and a few of them had black-sharpie devil horns and handlebar mustaches vandalizing them. Marinette even caught one such card with a googly eye on it, the matching eye having fallen off and leaving only a small circle of since-dried hot glue where it used to be. “If you guys are gonna be that way, fine! Ivy dyes her hair!”

“No she doesn’t,” Marinette deadpanned, clearly fighting against a giant grin. The corners of her lips gave her away, they never stopped twitching with repressed mirth. “But you do. I got the pictures to prove—- aah!” Harley tackled her daughter to the ground, attacking her with tickles immediately.

“Take it back! My hair is naturally blond!”

“Yeah, naturally— hahahahaha! Sandy blonde! You— hahaha! Have just as much brown— stop I can’t breathe! hahahaha!— as yellow!”

“Hmph,” Harley finally backed off, crossing her eyes and looking away from Marinette with an exaggerated pout. “How dare you reveal my darkest secret?”

“I was a natural redhead even before I got my powers,” was all Ivy had to say, looking all too amused at this turn of events. “Your original costume completely covered your hair.”

“Don’t worry, Harley,” Red Hood butted in, reminding the three girls that he was still here. His tone suggested that he was definitely smiling under his helmet. “We found out about your hair dye years ago.”

“I just cover up the brown parts! It’s not like I’m changin’ much,” she argued before standing up again. “Thanks for gettin’ my cupcake back safely, little birdie. Oh, that's right! I made cupcakes! Hang on, lemme grab one for your trip back!” with that, she span on her heels and ran back further into the apartment. Marinette dashed over to Hood, immediately shoving him to the window.

“Quick, save yourself! Momma can’t bake for her life!” she whispered urgently. “I’ll say you were called away for an emergency, just hurry!”

“It’s not even a lie, getting away from Harley’s baking is an emergency,” Ivy agreed, waving as the vigilante took their advice and fled. It was only three seconds later that Harley slid back into the room, nearly falling due to the feet of her onesie having pretty much zero friction. Her face immediately fell when she saw that her victim was gone, leaving her standing there with a cupcake that was about twice as much frosting as actual cake, covered in sprinkles like a kid’s craft project that was smothered in glitter. The frosting was also shapeless, just heaped on the cake like a half-melted scoop of ice cream. She sighed in despair.

“There goes my chance of giving a bat diabetes. You guys warned him, didn’t ya?”

They both nodded shamelessly. “We’re not that cruel, Harley,” Ivy defended, getting up from her spot on her cushioned armchair and wrapping an arm around her fiance’s waist before she kissed the top of her head gently. “Hood got our little Marigold back safe and sound, and he’s even started a garden at his apartment. He doesn’t deserve to be poisoned by you.”

“I thought you said he got a single cactus at the flea market last month,” Harley deadpanned, making Ivy shrug.

“Might as well be a garden for him, and it’s something he’s not likely to kill so that’s a plus to me. He’s actually taking really good care of the little baby.”

“Speaking of garden!” Marinette gently took the sad excuse of a pastry away from her mom and sat it down on a side table before ushering both of them over to the living room and onto the sofa. “My garden back home is growing so big, I don’t think I can keep everything much longer. I barely have room to walk on the terrace, with all the vines and leaves and branches. Got any ideas of what I can do?”

“Of course! Do you have pictures, Marigold?”

—*—*—*—*—*

Slipping back through her hotel window at six in the morning was risky, since it involved climbing the wall and hoping nobody saw, but her classmates were so unpredictable that it was the only way she could be sure nobody would find out that she had violated curfew and snuck out. Of course, having Red Robin waiting outside her mom’s apartment’s terrace to escort her back helped. At least she knew that no street cams would record her comings or goings, and his grappling hook made the whole scale-the-hotel-wall business much more efficient.

Once she was inside, she sighed happily. “Thanks, now—“ her apology was cut off as Red Robin held up a finger to tell her to wait.

“Hold that thought, be right back. Don’t move.”

Thinking, rightfully, that something was wrong, Marinette obeyed. She watched Red Robin leap off of her hotel balcony and disappear into the streets. Immediately, she began a search to make sure her room had been left untampered— everything important had been packed in the backpack that she had taken to her mom’s place, but still. Could never be too careful. By the time she finished checking for bugs or any signs of snooping, Red Robin landed back on her balcony.

“Here we go.”

Turning to face him, Marinette opened her mouth to ask what the problem had been— only to tear up a little and walk over to the vigilante.

“Oh, my hero. Truly, my one and only savior. Knight in shining red Kevlar. I’m running on two hours of sleep and you have read my mind!” The pigtailed drama queen eagerly took the coffee that he offered her, and he sipped from a larger cup that looked like he had grabbed it from the same place. Marinette almost instantly sighed in gratitude when the hot drink lightly scalded her tongue. This. This was the elixir of life.

To his credit, Red Robin was able to restrain himself to merely an amused smirk. Probably because he was running on just as little sleep as she was. “Sorry it’s only a small, I figured it was best to have something you could finish quickly and easily hide the evidence for. If you need more caffeine, I happen to know that Wayne Enterprises has a very good coffee shop in their main hall. You’ll be touring there today, right?” He asked, taking another sip as he waited for the answer that he already knew.

Marinette nodded absently, drinking in the euphoria of her coffee as she tried to both savor it yet finish it as quickly as safely possible. When she came up for air, she said; “Yeah, that’s right. We’re touring Wayne Enterprises for most of the day, having lunch there, and leaving for dinner after the tour. Then we have a visit to the Gotham Museum of Fine Art, and we’ll stay there until about eight-thirty before heading back to the hotel.”

Red Robin nodded, then turned and looked out the window at the slowly rising sun. Sunrise was always a bit later in Gotham, partly because of the abundance of high-rises and partly because of the thick cloud cover and ever-present fog on the edges of the city making everything seem darker than it should have been. He had to be at work soon himself, which is why he had been chosen to escort her to the hotel in the first place, but that meant that he had to be heading off.

“Alright. We arranged for a bodyguard we trust to keep an eye on your class during the WE tour, but he doesn't know who you are or that we’re the ones who asked. We’re still in the process of arranging someone to shadow you after the tour, but we’ll tell you about that once it’s solidified. Until then, follow the usual self-defense procedures if you suspect anyone of following you. You have the panic button we gave you?”

Marinette nodded, gulping down the last of her coffee and carefully putting it in her room’s tiny trash can. “Got it. Thanks, again. Seriously,” she met his eyes— or, probably did since they were hidden behind that weird white film that the whole Batfam had covering the eyeholes of their masks. “I mean it. For listening to me, for listening to Mom. It means a lot. I’ll keep the panic button on me, and I’ll use it if I think I can’t handle a situation on my own. I’ll cooperate with the people you get to watch over the class, and I’ll do my best to not get into any trouble. No promises, but I’ll do my best,” she maintained eye contact until Red Robin nodded, hiding his expression behind his coffee cup. After a second, he cleared his throat.

“Well then. We’ll contact you once we have anything to say about your intel. Until then, I gotta go. And by the way?”

Marinette tilted her head curiously as Red Robin paused for just a moment on her balcony railing, aiming a smirk back at her. “Yeah?”

“Welcome to Gotham.”

And if she couldn’t help but smile widely as he grappled off into the fog-veiled sunrise? Well, only she had to know. She wasted no time closing and locking the glass balcony door, and pulling the curtains over it completely. Once that was done, she couldn’t help but do a little shimmy of Joy. She was caffeinated, she met Auntie Ivy in person for the first time, she got to sleep next to her momma— and she was in Gotham! Technically her hometown— or town she was conceived in? Didn’t matter. Point was, even with the chaos and dark energy clouding the very air, she couldn’t help but feel like she belonged in that city. Like that was where she was always meant to end up, where she could thrive and the environment that she was made to thrive in. The environment that she was born to start fixing.

She beamed at herself in her bathroom mirror as she gave herself one more once-over. Yeah, so far her visit to Gotham was going much better than she could have hoped. Now, she just had to make sure it stayed that way.

Three businesslike raps sounded against the door to her room, just in time for Marinette to feed Tikki one more cookie and straighten her purse on her shoulder. Madame Mendelieve’s voice called out from the other side of the door in her usual no-nonsense bark;

“Dupain-Cheng! Room check! It’s time to get up, we’re meeting down in the lobby in ten minutes.”

Marinette ran up to the door, not quite able to contain her energy, and swung it open with her trademark large, beaming smile.

“Way ahead of you, Madame Mendelieve!”

Her science teacher blinked, adjusting her glasses on her nose as if she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing.

“Ah. You’re already awake and ready?”

Marinette giggled and nodded. “Yup! I was so excited for the tour that I could barely sleep! Does the hotel breakfast include free coffee?”

—*—*—*—*—*

The hotel breakfast did, in fact, include coffee. What it did not include, however, was free coffee that Marinette could reasonably stomach. Especially after the heaven in a cup that Red Robin had gotten for her earlier, the watered down motor oil in the hotel lobby had been unbearable. She had barely managed two sips before regretfully throwing the rest away. Which is what brought her to stand in line at the very same coffee shop that Red Robin had mentioned was in the main hall of Wayne Enterprises, as the rest of her class mingled and waited for their teachers to check their tour group in and their tour guide to arrive.

“Hmm. Sorry, this is my first time ordering here,” she apologized when she reached the counter, gaining a slight lopsided grin from the barista at the register. “Um, I usually like strong coffee, with a lot of caffeine, but I also like something sweet. I don’t need anything too complicated though, do you have any recommendations?”

The barista gave her a customer service smile that seemed just a tad softer at the edges than usual. “Sure! So, we can add an extra shot or two of espresso to any of our drinks, to make it stronger and give it an extra kick. If you’re looking for good sweet flavors, the classics are our white chocolate or caramel. But we also have a seasonal syrup right now that I personally love, which is our cinnamon butterscotch. Did you wanna try that?”

Marinette smiled widely. “That sounds delicious! Then, if I could have your largest size café latte, hot, with… two extra shots and that syrup? Does that sound good?”

The barista actually let loose a soft laugh, already keying in the order. “If you’re a coffee lover and a sweet tooth at the same time, then you’ll love it. If not, come back during your tour’s lunch break and I’ll make you something else.”

Marinette made a little more small talk as she handed over the proper cash for the order, and grabbed her drink after just another minute’s wait. She turned around, taking a sip of the unsurprisingly heavenly coffee and started off to join her class.

Only to realize none of them were where she had left them. She sighed, starting to reach into her purse to see if anyone had texted her about where they were going, but a heavy presence stopped her. She could feel him approaching from in front of her, slightly to her right, but she couldn’t hear him at all. On guard, she straightened up and turned to observe the potential threat.

A security guard. Marinette blinked, running over what she had been told earlier that morning. Was he..?

He seemed to notice her instinctually defensive posture because he raised his hands to show he meant no harm. “Sorry, didn’t mean to catch you off guard,” he apologized. “I’m the guard that was assigned to your tour group. I offered to stay behind until you got your coffee while the rest of your group went ahead and got the run-down on all the boring rules and whatnot of the tour. Figured you’d already know everything they had to say anyway, you’re the class president right?”

Marinette relaxed her posture, nodding and sending the man a relieved smile. “Yeah, that’s right. Well, that explains why they left without me then. Usually Madame Mendelieve is strict about following rules though, how’d you convince her to go on without me?”

The man chuckled, jerking his head to show that she should follow him as he began to lead the way to a side door. Marinette kept her guard up just in case, but wasn’t too worried. If nothing else, she was still in the middle of a super crowded building and the other security guards around didn’t seem concerned. She could easily yell for help if she needed to.

“Well, can’t you tell it was my devilish charm?” He teased, grinning. He waited until she rolled her eyes to continue; “but really, I’m like a second tour guide. She made me show a lotta proof that I’m actually assigned to you guys and not just faking it, not that I can blame her. Eventually she saw the logic in my suggestion and agreed. See, there they are,” he pointed casually ahead of them in the large side hallway they had entered. Sure enough, near the end of the hallway was her class at what looked to be the tail-end of a standard rules-and-guidelines speech from the tour guide. “By the way,” the guard spoke up again, holding his hand out. “My name’s Jason. You’ll be seeing me more often, since I’m supposed to guard you guys for all of your visits to the Tower. Call me if you need help with anything, ‘kay kid?”

Marinette grinned, now positive that this guy really was the guard that Red Robin had said was assigned to her class. She switched the hand she was holding her coffee in so that she could properly grab Jason’s hand for a shake.

“Got it, Monsieur Jason. Let’s both hope I don’t end up needing your help though, I think that would be easier on both of us,” she joked, earning a chuckle from the large man. And— yeah, now that she was relaxed, he really was big, wasn’t he? Then again, Marinette didn’t always realize when people were a bit larger or more buff than they should be. Living with her dad had seriously skewed her perception of the normal size of an adult male (which, she learned when she was seven, most definitely was not almost seven feet tall and muscled enough to make a pro wrestler jealous). But she would like to think she had gotten better in that aspect, and Jason was definitely a big guy. A little over six feet tall, she thought, and though the guard outfit hid a good portion of his physique, she could tell he carried enough muscle to do serious damage if he wanted to.

With a wave, she left him to join her class and sipped at her latte. She had figured that the Bat Clan’s criteria for civilians that they would put to guard her class had to be high, but now she had to wonder just how high. Most police officers or security guards were fit, sure, but not like Jason. Casting a quick glance back at him, she confirmed that he had quite a few faded but visible scars. Again, more than your average officer even for Gotham. Who had they tasked with her class’ safety, exactly?

An elbow in her side distracted her from her thoughts, forcing her to blink and stop her cup from going back to her lips. The grin of none other than Adrien Agreste greeted her when she snapped out of her own head long enough to pay attention to her surroundings. He jerked his head to indicate that the class was already starting to move off.

“Come on, Mari or you’ll get left behind again,” he teased. She grinned back at him, rolling her eyes but falling into step beside him as they followed at the back of their class. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were gonna marry that coffee. You haven’t zoned out that badly in years,” his tone was light and cheery, but Marinette didn’t miss the concern in his emerald eyes. She sighed, gently bumping her shoulders against his in silent reassurance.

“I’m fine. Just didn’t get much sleep last night, that’s all. But this really is good coffee. Elixir of the gods,” then, just to provoke him, she took a giant gulp of the still steaming hot drink. Adrien grimaced in pained sympathy even though Marinette didn’t seem affected at all.

“Oww, Marineeeeeeeeeette,” he whined. “Don’t do that, my throat hurts just watching you guzzle hot coffee like that,” he complained, rubbing at his neck to make his point clear.

“Wimp,” she teased, unrepentant. Adrien just groaned dramatically.

“I’m not a wimp, you’re just concerningly used to burning your throat from the inside out,” he accused. “Anyway, how’d it go?” He was being deliberately vague, but it was obvious to her what he meant. He was only one she had told about visiting her mom, after all, just in case she needed a quick getaway.

In fact, he was the only one of her friends that she had even told about her biological parents. Alix knew too, but only because of time shenanigans. Marinette was fine with it now, but still.

“It went great,” she smiled widely at him, keeping her voice low but casual. “If I have a chance, I’ll introduce you sometime during the trip. I have a feeling you’ll love Auntie Selina, but I have to meet her first. All I have so far are stories.”

“Fair enough,” Adrien agreed easily. “But you don’t have to, you know that right? I’d love to meet your family, but I’m also fine just being your pseudo-brother like I have been up until now. I know it might be a bit… uncomfortable, for you.”

“Nah,” Marinette shrugged. “Nerve wracking, maybe. But that’s also about half the things that I do in my life period, anxiety is no joke. I’ll catastrophize for a while, but I know you’ll love them and they’ll love you.”

“Sounds like they have paw-some taste,” he didn’t even miss a beat with his puns, earning a playful glare for his efforts.

“Never mind. You’re a heathen. Disowned. Who are you?”

“Mariiiiii,” he whined, causing them both to laugh for a while before focusing on the tour.

So far, so good, Marinette thought.

—*—*—*—*—*

Part 1 Part 2

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