#then he hears what it is and is like

[softquietsteadylove]

Gil has a sexy water shooting in boxers and a white dress shirt 😏

"This is dumb."

"Come on," Thena smiled as Gil fussed with his 'wardrobe', "you know how these shoots are."

"I wish I didn't," he grumbled, visibly embarrassed.

"Stop it," Thena laughed faintly. She had seen him plenty of times like this--shy and flustered at the wardrobe picked for him. "You look good. And that is the whole point of this."

"I still don't know whose big idea it was to even nominate me," he practically pouted as the lighting for the set was finalised."

"It's based on general consensus, Gilgamesh," she chided him, tugging at the front of his shirt for him one last time. "And Sprite says there has been a bit of a resurgence for you online as of late."

Gil had stumbled into a nomination for sexiest man of the year (or alive, or whatever they were calling it these days). And he wasn't overly pleased with it, especially when he found out that he had won. And furthermore, that they wanted to do a sexy photo shoot for the occasion.

He had initially wanted to decline, but his manager practically frothed at the mouth at the idea. One did not simply decline the title, nor the publicity that came with it.

King had said, verbatim, "go on and slut it up, big guy", so...that was helpful.

"Okay," Gil gulped, stiffly walking towards the set.

He had fussed and fussed, saying that plenty of options were just not him, or they wouldn't be believable that it was something he did regularly. At first he had suggested they just follow him around at the gym for the interview.

But the editor had gotten a tip off that Gil was a great cook.

Thena watched from the sidelines as they directed him. He was wearing a white button up shirt, and absolutely nothing else. Well, a pair of black boxer-briefs. Gil had said he looked completely ridiculous. Thena had told him not to argue with the producers.

He did look sexy.

Gil slouched over to the stove, grasping the handle of the pan just to really sell that he was doing some casual and lazy home cooking (in his underwear). "Y'know, I can't help but feel it's kinda dangerous to advertise this. Cooking without protection can-"

"Okay, big guy," the photographer murmured, obviously not listening to him. "Tug those sleeves up a little more?"

He did have great forearms.

"And," they adjusted the lens, "lean back a little, like you're talking with someone behind you?"

Gil was still terribly stiff. For all his acting prowess, photo shoots were not something into which his talent could translate naturally. He was too shy, too uncomfortable showing off his body.

"Think about who you're making these eggs for!"

Gil looked at the spatula in his other hand, "you really wouldn't need this just to scramble some eggs."

The producer sighed, rubbing their forehead. "Okay, let's try...something else."

"Gladly," Gil sighed, dropping himself from the unnatural pose.

"You!"

Thena blinked as she found a finger pointed at her, "me?"

The producer nodded, wagging a finger until she came closer to the set, "you came with him."

Yes, Gil had both been mortified at the idea of her seeing him like this, but also too shy to come all by himself for what could have been anything from a sports shoot to a total fanservice scene.

"What about her?" She was grasped by the shoulders to indicate to Gil that she could be the subject. "We put her at the other side of the island, out of frame, you just talk to her for a little. Think you can do that?"

Gil sighed at the grating and patronising tone. But he understood that his discomfort was primarily the cause of it. He looked at her, "are you okay with this?"

"It's not a problem," she answered, mostly for Gil's sake. Although she was all but shoved into the seat by the producer who obviously thought this would be quick and easy.

"Okay," Gil sighed as he resumed his place in the best lighting for the shot. "So, uh-"

"Well, you're right, you wouldn't use that thing to scramble eggs."

Gil did glance over his shoulder partially at her, pretending to make the vague gestures of cooking.

"You always just use chopsticks when I watch you," she tilted her head, although saying that was possibly more incriminating than she intended it to be. She just meant that he cooked a lot when he was over at her house (a lot).

"I mean, it's not like it's bad for making eggs," he shrugged, moving the spatula as stirring something around in his empty pan. "But it kinda cuts through them rather than keeps them airy and fluffy."

Thena smiled, happy just to watch him loosen up somewhat. "You could be making pancakes, I suppose."

"Huh," Gil mused, examining his pan at the suggestion. "I wouldn't really recommend a stainless steel nonstick for it, but I guess it's not impossible."

"You make delicious pancakes."

Thena continued to chat with him lightly and causally. It did actually seem to help him loosen up and forget about the cameras and the lights and the lack of pants on him. He would turn towards her every once in a while and then go back to staring at his imaginary dish.

"I think we got it!"

Gil blinked, "really?"

"Yep," the photographer declared happily, with the producer nodding enthusiastically in relief. "We're all good."

"Oh, uh," Gil set the pan and spatula down on the set stove and stepped back, "great."

Thena smiled at him; he was immediately back to being self-conscious and shy. She stood from her seat, "come on."

Gil started tugging at the shirt immediately, rolling down the sleeves to keep his hands busy. "Thank god, let's get outta here."

"Get some pants on, you mean?" she couldn't resist a little tease, which made him turn scarlet right to his ears. "Oh, come on, Gil. Your backside looked quite fantastic, I thought."

"Thanks," he snarked, eagerly heading right for the changing room to put his normal clothes back on. He looked over his shoulder before disappearing completely, "should I be concerned about you looking when I'm cooking at home, now?"

She shrugged with a faint grin, "what would you prefer I look at?"

Gil never did come up with a reply, retreating from her flirting.

She also needed to recover, actually. He did look good in the shirt and underwear they had selected for him. And while it wouldn't show up on the page, she had actually seen that it wasn't specially lined just for the shoot. She hadn't seen everything but she felt that she had seen...enough.

She twisted her hair over her shoulder, running her fingers through it, although making sure that the tips of her ears were covered.

[noelledeltarune]

EVERY SINGLE DAY there are MILLIONS of characters in their late 20s who get falsely accused of being father figures to teenagers when in reality the description of "weird older cousin" or "step-sibling that moved out before you were born" is 1000000x more apt

[fairsweetlonging]

truth serum / system reveal au where shen qingqiu gets hit with an uncloaking spell that reveals the system in the reflection of his eyes every time it pops up.

during one of his missions, in the treasure hoard of some dragon-like creature, he finds a golden, oval shaped hand mirror, its gaudy style more victorian based than anything (airplane you hack!), that doesn't seem to do anything when he looks into it. but when he does, it reveals the system's screen in his eyes.

he doesn't notice this, of course, because he can't see it, and the system, surprisingly, stays quiet.

the peak lords think he's cursed.

maybe mu qingfang is the first to notice, during the mandatory post mission check-up, when shen qingqiu is scrolling through his most recently accumulated points and mu qingfang can see the strange vividly-blue lines reflected in his pupils. it's gone when shen qingqiu blinks, like it was nothing but a trick of the light.

it comes out when yue qingyuan is visiting and, just as he's done laying out the plans for a new mission, shen qingqiu's eyes glaze over and a bright blue box takes over the whole of his iris. shen qingqiu goes quiet; the thing in his eyes moves, shifts, pulses for a second, like static worms crawling all over his pupils. then he blinks, and it's gone, and shen qingqiu accepts the mission that yue qingyuan was almost sure he would decline.

maybe there is an intervention, when the peak lords corner shen qingqiu at qian cao peak and try to figure out what's wrong, subjecting him to all kinds of treatments and curse-finding spells that turn up empty, they can't find anything.

of course, the silencing threat is still very much up and running. at first shen qingqiu was kind of confused by the whole ordeal, but when the peak lords start describing a "strange blue box", he realizes, with sickening suddenty, that they're describing the system. and he can't say anything.

this only makes everything worse, because their fellow peak lord now keeps evading every question and acts like he doesn't understand. liu qingge points right at his face and asks, "that blue box, what is it?" and shen qingqiu laughs nervously and starts talking about how bright the weather is and surely it's the sky and nothing to worry about!

even worse, during the intervention the system thought it was a good idea to start talking to him, so now even the peak lords who hadn't seen it and who might have been persuaded by light tricks and reflections, get a first row view that no, that definitely isn't a trick of the light.

they try to do the whole thing of "are you in danger, blink twice" but shen qingqiu can't even do that because it's still a direct admittance!

maybe eventually he starts saying vague confirmations that don't actually confirm anything, like "this master hears what you're saying", or maybe he goes with a classic "this master can neither confirm nor deny that." but the system starts warning him for that too and eventually he stops saying anything, which worries the others more.

luckily mu qingfang catches on that every time they ask a direct question about the box or shen qingqiu says anything vaguely confirming, it appears. it doesn't appear when they ask about curses or demons, so it must not see that as a threat.

for a little extra angst: maybe the peak lords keep pressuring him for answers, and at some point shen qingqiu gets fed up and snaps out something like, "why don't you understand that i'm not allowed to answer that!" the system counts this as a direct admittance, threatening it's existence. so it punishes. shen qingqiu has a qi deviation so bad it lasts two weeks and takes two people every day to cleanse his meridians. the system doesn't appear in that time. it doesn't appear for a long while after that, either. the peak lords stop asking, mainly because shen qingqiu will instantly leave the room if they do. they don't stop searching for a cure, though.

shang qinghua returns from a business trip and catches on the second someone mentions a blue box and forced silencing.

[neapenning]

It'd be so embarrassing to join a group after trying to kill their members and losing

[chloesimaginationthings]

Michael Afton is so fucking old in FNAF..

[redsray]

I love the hc that Tim never really stopped taking pictures of heroes and vigilantes even after he became Robin. Not even out of hero worship or anything-- he just found it fun. In fact, being Robin just made this hobby easier to do. He has them separated in folders and definitely has blackmail photos included.

The first time Tim met the Justice League one of his first reactions was to sneakily take at least one picture of each of them. Clark vaguely heard a camera shutter but he could never find any cameras or camera owners.

Sometimes Bruce comes to him and asks for specific pictures of members of the JL doing things they shouldn't be doing i.e Barry ditching a meeting cause he was eating Chipotle in the Watchtower kitchen. No one knows how Bruce gets the pictures except for the other Batfam members.

Tim is the god of blackmail right behind Babs. You need older blackmail or videos? Go to Babs. But Good quality blackmail photos? Tim is your guy.

He has at least 4 folders full of pictures of Dick specifically. One for his time as Robin, one for Nightwing, one for Discowing and one for just Dick.

He also manages to have pictures he definitely should not have because how did you get into the cave before you were Robin, Tim, but he refuses to elaborate on those. i.e Robin Jason out of costume, cozily reading at the batcomputer ("seriously, Tim, that's creepy"), Dick when he first adopted Haley ("were you there when I rescued her?!"), Damian training with the League of Assassins ("how the hell did you get that"), Duke back during the We Are Robin movement ("I do not remember you pulling out any cameras what the hell")

[jjkyaoi]

the headcanon of regulus just being able to cry on command is horrifying but also the funniest thing i’ve ever fucking heard. like i imagine regulus is hanging out with the marauders, post black brothers reconciliation, and him and sirius are bickering and sirius JOKINGLY goes “well it’s not MY fault it’s impossible for you to show any emotion” and regulus blinks. and then just fully starts sobbing.

and james and remus and peter are all like ?!?!?! what the FUCK . RIGHTFULLY SO. and james’ heart is hurting so bad because he’s never seen regulus cry before and he’s trying to comfort him and hold him and regulus, (who is gay and a little shit) is just letting himself be hugged and letting james pet his hair or whatever and remus is like. sirius what the fuck apologize to your brother??????? because sirius has been sitting there the entire time unmoving and he just raises his eyebrows, completely unimpressed and deadpan when he goes, “you guys do know he’s faking right”. and then when remus and james both are like HUH??? torn between bewildered and angry with this reaction, regulus just extracts himself from james, face completely neutral but with tears drying on his cheeks, no sign of the heaving, hyperventilating sobs he’d fallen into literally a second ago and says “i win”. it terrifies peter so bad that he can’t look him in the eyes for a week

[egguv]

no reflection needed.

[beebfreeb]

Wait I just found drawings of Resetti I did like, last year, and never posted because I got horribly sick for 2 weeks.

[wasabi-gumdrop]

Kabru has a secret admirer in the castle!

[technically-human]

Edwin after the confession is a menace

Bonus Charles being normal about it:

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Conceal, don't feel, don't let it show.

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[venduri]

Only you could accomplish such art, Celebrimbor

Assad Zaman as Celebrimbor from JRR Tolkien's The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales

[cuntylouis]

I feel like many people have a fundamental misconception of what unreliable narrator means. It's simply a narrative vehicle not a character flaw or a sign that the character is a bad person. There are also many different types of unreliable narrators in fiction. Being an unreliable narrator doesn't necessarily mean that the character is 'wrong', it definitely doesn't mean that they're wrong about everything even if some aspects in their story are inaccurate, and only some unreliable narrators actively and consciously lie. Stories that have unreliable narrators also tend to deal with perception and memory and they often don't even have one objective truth, just different versions. It reflects real life where we know human memory is highly unreliable and vague and people can interpret same events very differently

[kensatou]

you think YOU had a bad day at work?

bonus: sid shrieking "no!!!! NO!!!!!" loud enough to be heard in the stands and on camera

[chloesimaginationthings]

You think William has heard Ballora’s FNAF song?..