#there's obviously other important boo

[funkle420]

UC Santa Cruz has a free PDF of Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire!

[somewhereincairparavel]

Annabeth Chase and Jason Grace - two sides of the same coin, an analysis post.

after a long wait, I've finally posted my analysis on jason/annabeth being similar, and mirroring eachother as rivals/potential sibling figures more than percy/jason's 'bro rivalry', based on this post of mine which has crossed over a THOUSAND notes in the last week alone, and I've been getting so many reblogs and comments asking me to expand on my tags in that post and do a full analysis. so here it is. I've been procrastinating this for quite a while now for some reason but I'm glad I'm over my writer's block and I got to articulate my post well enough.

annabeth and jason have had very minor interactions throughout hoo, but the parallels and similarities in their character is jarringly noticeable, which is why I hoped for a jason/annabeth rivalry and not a percy/jason rivalry. they've both been raised at their respective camps since they were literal kids, they were well versed in their respective fields of knowledge, and were well respected/intimidated in their camps.

let's start off with the lost hero

when jason first meets annabeth, he says that her eyes were really intimidating and fierce, so right off the bat, we have jason who's pretty put off by annabeth because she very obviously looked angry, especially since she was frustrated about jason's arrival instead of percy, and looked like she could kill jason to get percy back.

-----------------------------------------------

this parallels to a lot when hazel kept going on about how difficult it was to warm up to jason because his eyes were always calculating and cold, and he gave off an untrustworthy vibe, that he'd sacrifice anyone for the sake of the mission.

both annabeth and jason have a certain similar ‘look’ in their eyes, which have nothing to do with the color. they both have the tendency to make people nervous simply with their eyes, because they always look like they're thinking of new things every few seconds. Ironically, jason first perceived annabeth, the way everyone else perceived him. scary and intimidating with an icy glare and hardened eyes.

They were both said to be ‘studying’ each other in distrust many times throughout. A part of why they didn't trust each other, was, in my opinion, because they embodied their least favorite shared personality trait of each other, secretiveness and guardedness. which is why annabeth got on so well with percy, and jason with leo/piper.

they didn't admire the closed off-ish vibe that they gave eachother. they both needed people who were open and carefree.annabeth said that jason looked like he knew too much information, but chose to keep it all a secret, very similar to her own guardedness from time to time, keeping it a secret and wanting to deal with it silently.

we also know that annabeth and jason are extremely knowledgeable in greek/roman mythology, they both love debates and were quite passionate about history. they were both assigned architecture projects by the gods themselves as a mark of honor and favour.

moving on to the next most important point, they reminded eachother of the people they missed, causing them to feel resentful.

jason, barely met his sister after they reunited. he was bitter when thalia said he had to go look for percy to help out annabeth with the search. he was aware that thalia and annabeth were childhood friends, getting closer to eachother than jason and thalia ever did. she found a home in luke and annabeth, not even a few months after baby jason was thought to be ‘dead’, that knowledge would've weighed a lot on jason. annabeth became the sibling to thalia grace that jason could never be.

while annabeth? the only thing annabeth thought of, after jason had a face off with his mother's remnant in boo, was the fact that jason, who looks eerily similar to luke, could've experienced the exact same fate as him. luke was jason if he had more wrath and held grudges, jason was luke if he had less anger and resentment. annabeth could connect the dots so easily, and that was truly the moment where she gained immense respect for him.

and, when jason told annabeth that his sister was thalia? she had a very odd sort of expression on her face.

annabeth also quotes that looking at jason made her feel bitter, because he reminded her of heras exchange, and the fact that she lost percy for months. whenever she looked at jason, she would only see her two childhood friends, a found family that was broken, and a love that was challenged.

whenever jason looked at annabeth, he would be reminded that thalia had a closer contact to her than she did jason, and had to accept that he would never know thalia as much as annabeth does.

annabeth and jason also appear very confident and sure of themselves, but have second thoughts all the time. they had to put on a fake facade, to live up to their expectations and lineage.

they were both also sort of people pleasers, annabeth couldn't really say no to anyone who asked her for help with things, like carrying the sky for luke especially, because not only where they giving her a chance to execute her knowledge and skill, the thought of helping someone made her genuinely happy. jason also loved seeing people happy, always wanting to say the right thing to satisfy someone, even if it meant he had to sacrifice his own struggles to help them.

fatal flaws:

annabeth’s fatal flaw, is hubris. when you are confident and sure that you can do something, and have a sense of excessive self pride.

and jason's fatal flaw is the temptation to deliberate. hesitation and second guessing, to put it in simpler words.both fatal flaws are so different, yet so similar, and they have both flaws, just in a different viewpoint.

as a child of athena, annabeth appears super confident and even conceding at times because of her wisdom, but at the same time, annabeth had to make sure she was one step ahead of everyone. she had to rethink everything and had to have a plan in her mind all the time, fearing that things wouldn't go smoothly.

she had to hesitate and second guess herself alot, despite her knowledge, like she did when she knew she had to look for the mark of athena. piper and percy had to boost up her confidence with affirmations, to let her know she's on the right path and to just follow her gut. annabeth feels obligated to have a temptation to deliberate, because, as a child of athena, she has to be all knowing and wise, and most definitely cannot fail her mother.

and jason? despite having a very low sense of self esteem and hesitation, he was so used to leading the people who were considered slightly inferior to him in camp jupiter, and basically getting treated like a celebrity for 12 years of his life in camp jupiter, that often, he thought what he did was right, he had his own perception of what a hero should be, and I quote

[“No, no,” Jason said. “I made my choice. You’re not to blame. You don’t owe me anything except to remember what I said. Remember what’s important.” “You’re important,” I said. “Your life!”Jason tilted his head. “I mean… sure. But if a hero isn’t ready to lose everything for a greater cause, is that person really a hero?”He weighted the word person subtly, as if to stress it could mean a human, a faun, a dryad, a griffin, a pandos… even a god”- Tower of Nero]

which was normal, since he had everyone basically following his lead without question as a kid. he's expanded on this in his conversation with piper in mark of athena, where he said he felt weird to suddenly be around people who were either equal/or superior to him in power, and not being in the ‘lead’ particularly.

jason had hubris, but certainly not in a way that you would call it an ego or excessive pride. he was hardwired and brainwashed into having his own perception of what is right and what is wrong, that he thought he was always making good enough decisions, at least from a roman child soldier’s standpoint. [Like when he was okay with not saving nico because it might sabotage their mission, he genuinely didn't think what he said was insensitive until hazel called him out, because he was brought up that way. he thought he was doing the right thing, by prioritising the mission and the duty, first. Like the dutiful roman he was made to be].

both annabeth and jason, have hubris and a temptation to deliberate.

annabeth and jason, also had an extremely difficult time breaking free from the thoughts that their godly parents were always right. It took on alot of disappointments for both of them to stand up to their parents (and not just godly ones, mind you)

they've both had disappointing absent mortal and godly parents with a hostile stepmother involved and monitored with each and every one of their moves. annabeth has had to deal with her stepmother playing the ‘bad cop’ with her father not even coming to her defence, just the way hera came butting into jason's life and giving him terrible memories, taking him away from thalia, with zeus not even caring.

speaking of which, they are both the only demigods who have harboured the most amount of resentment for hera. just the sight of hera pisses them both off, as it hera, stripped off so much time away from annabeth and percy, and memories from jason, which he never permanently got back.

this is sort of irrelevant but I'll add this anyway, in boo, athena also immediately liked jason for calling out zeus's unfairness to apollo, saying something like 'the boy is right' and she gave him an approving/appreciative look for his wisdom, which is pretty rare for athena to say or do to literally any demigod ever. this makes me wonder if she ever saw jason as someone who had some sort of athena legacy in him, which is why she was so pleasantly surprised with him. ugh we could've so gotten jason and annabeth as potential sibling figures bc of how many parallels they have, too bad that the percy/jason rivalry narrative was pushed too hard.

I hope I've drawn enough parallels with their characters, as a lot of you have been looking forward to this post for a while, hopefully this analysis hasnt been underwhelming for you all to read!

@thevoidcaller @karmaajr @onestorytorulethemall @newlyfoundwren @thesummerstorms

[olderthannetfic]

Ok. Dumb question incoming, but I'd much have a 'conversation' than try to read fanlore or watch video essays or something because I want to hear individual people's contributions.

Why Star Trek?

Don't get me wrong - I like the franchise! I'm not super duper familiar with it, but I do enjoy the bits and pieces that I do know. But I am wondering why that in particular is hailed as the grandmother of all fandoms? Obviously people were fannish before Trek, but I don't think anyone can deny the impact that OG Trekkies had on fic, zines, and eventually on the internet.

I know that it's always been popular and well-liked, but it's not as if there was NO SUCH THING as popular culture/fan culture before that (I mean, come on, the term "parasocial" predates the first Star Trek episode by 10 years!) . Was it just a perfect mix of timing + popularity + etc? Is there something in particular about ST that "hit different" than other series at the time? Or is the fandom really really just that mighty and it's almost "luck" in a way? I guess I'm wondering what particular dominoes cascaded in a line in order for Star Trek to have the impact on fandom that it does today.

or am I wrong? were there just-as-big fandoms before and I simply overhype Trekkie power in my head / happen to see more talk of that than I do of other fandoms? It could definitely be a social circle bias thing.

Ugh. Asking OTNF why Star Trek is so important to fandom history feels very much like asking a Russian History major why War & Peace is so important to literature - hence why I warned you that it'd be a dumb question! But I am just so damn curious what sort of crack was in early ST fandom that made it SO widespread and SO strong.

Like, I guess the TLDR is: what was particularly 'different' about Star Trek, either as a fandom or as a franchise or both, that made it Theeeeee OG fandom, rather than something, like, i dunno, LOTR or the earliest versions of Marvel/DC comics or General Hospital or something else like that?

--

I await the hordes of angry Man from U.N.C.L.E. fans eager to prove that they were first.

And, no, it wasn't that popular. Hence the aggressive Save Our Show campaign and explosion of fan culture when it ended after three seasons.

Part of the answer to your question is that there were like three things on TV at the time. What big fandoms? 'Parasocial' was about non-subculture people feeling warmly towards news anchors or hosts of variety shows or something, wasn't it?

LOTR got rediscovered in the 60s or 70s from what I hear, but science fiction and fantasy books were for fringe weirdoes. SFF was not mainstream for the most part. There are a bunch of History of Book SF Fandom things on Youtube, and you should consult them on the complex role of LOTR in that space. LOTR wasn't a mainstream thing until there were live action movies a billion years later.

The key about Star Trek is that it was a hit with the pre-existing book SF crowd. They were an organized subculture. Some of their favorite writers wrote episodes. Other shit on TV was for people who did not form subcultures in that way. Other shit for SF fans had an audience 1/10,00th the size.

MFU was insanely popular. Illya Kuryakin was the heartthrob of a certain era of girl and inspired many a Russian major. (Seriously, there are soooo many Russia-boos of a certain age who probably still have a poster of him somewhere.) The actor set a record for fanmail. The show may have more influence on fandom history than we think now, but it also didn't rerun the way Trek did, at least in some eras, and it didn't have sequel series in a franchise. I'm always finding 2015 movie fans shocked that there's a still extant and semi-active fandom—or even shocked that the movie is based on something.

Starsky & Hutch was also hugely important and is the moment slash fandom and "Media Fandom" really split from book SF fandom. As Trek fans moved on to buddy cops, they were into a completely mainstream show but in a non-mainstream way. Trek was an awkward bedfellow at SF cons, but S&H just didn't fit at all.

Of course, while Trek is the grandma of AO3 type fandom, don't forget that a shitton of modern fans who are doing "research" just look at the same few sources. Enterprising Women is great and all, but even other fans of the same stuff are like "Oh, that was just X's friends. Where's [thing] and [thing] and [thing]?" Ditto Textual Poachers and the other scant early sources that people think have academic weight.

While Trek would still be central, the picture of what was going on in the late 60s-early 80s would look a bit different if you just found a bunch of 70-something nerds and asked them than if you regurgitate other people's research, you know?

If you want an idea of what else was going on in SF fandom back in the day, check out Galactic Journey, where they roleplay that it's 55 years ago and review SF things "as they come out".

If you want to understand MFU, here's a vid of Illya:

--

What say you, readers?

What have acafandom and fandom history and meta left out?

[danny-doodles]

Steve’s Hobby

This is a short 2k blurb about one of my Steve hcs, I am only really good at critical analysis writing so I’m sorry if this is bad!! Creative writing isn’t my strong suit but I felt like I couldn’t really explain this hc in a drawing as well as writing it could.

Growing up Steve was often taught the importance of words from his father, thinking it would be useful for his son’s future in the business. Steve was never the best reader, letters jumping around the page made it too difficult, so instead he listened to everyone around him. Teachers, his parent’s coworkers, older kids, all of them taught him the importance of the meaning of words.

How certain words would make someone a town pariah yet others a god among men. Steve was a more quiet kid but as he grew up he also grew confident in his words. He could tear someone down with one sentence, ensuring they knew he was not to be messed with. That’s why he was so confused when he struggled in his english class, he knew the power of words and the many meanings, but his teacher never understood. Sure he made grammar errors, how no one else struggled with the dancing letters he didn’t get, but how could the teachers not understand his connections? Steve shouldn’t have to explain why the red of the handmaid’s cloaks represented the ripping of humanity from the women, it was so clear to him. Obviously the boar head could be comparable to the church, how could his teachers not make the connection?

Even Nancy didn’t understand, someone he considered smarter than him. He knew she was trying to be nice when she critiqued his college paper but it still left him in the fog. Basketball was war to him, a fight that was pointless with one but possible with many. A challenge that called for leadership and a strict order. Everyone had the roles, knew where and when to shoot, needed the ability to think quickly on their feet and not struggle under the pressure. Uniforms to not only separate from the enemy but to show they are a unit reaching for a common goal. It was so clear leaving no need to explain, especially to Nancy.

But she didn’t get it, no one got it.

Maybe he wasn’t as good with words as he thought.

Steve from then on fumbled his words when he got nervous, scared he would say something that made him sound dumb and point out his weakness with words. The concussions didn’t help either, making him take longer to grasp concepts. Reading felt nearly impossible, the headaches were unbearable. Not to mention the kids' comments, judgmental and brutal as if Steve didn’t have a reason to struggle in the first place.

Everyone around him loved to put him in a sudden spotlight and when he didn’t say the right line he was booed off stage and dealt with the looks of disappointment from his co stars for messing up. So Steve stuck to what he knew, his quick remarks. Were they bitchy? Yes, but not coated in malice like they used to be. Piggybacking off others points with sarcastic comments so the other person kept talking, anything to get the attention off him.

But Steve had a secret hobby that he shared with no one, not even with his platonic soulmate with a capital P Robin.

Steve wrote poetry.

Years of horrors that by law he couldn’t share that caused vicious nightmares and a clammy grasp on reality at times tended to keep Steve up. Another gift bestowed by his father though was a feeling of shame when sharing his emotions. Didn’t help that those emotions were typically down played or outright ignored by others. Therefore a bottle filled with his emotions rested in Steve’s chest, which after Vecna he really realized probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do. So Steve took to writing them down, but he did it for himself.

No need to explain everything, he knew what he meant, he knew every context of every word. He wrote on his experiences, his emotions. He wrote when he was happy, he wrote when he was sad. Steve wrote and wrote and found his love for words again. And god did it feel good, it felt like taking back his voice from a world that underappreciated it. In a weird way it felt like revisiting a relative he had last seen as a child, that sense of freedom and the loss of expectation because in their eyes he was still that little kid. All they wanted was to see someone they loved and to Steve the words welcomed him back with a hug that rivaled his Nonna Maria’s.

Steve would ponder over lines at random intervals of the day, biting his pencil between his teeth during the quiet hours at work or simply jotting down a line right before picking the kids up. Steve wrote so often he kept his small little notebook on him at all times, usually accompanied by a pencil bound to it with a rubber band. (Turns out having hearing aids and glasses made it really difficult to put pencils behind one's ears). At this point everyone had seen his notebook, pale blue with some star stickers because he never had a shortage of them. Everyone assumed it was for something different. Some thought it was grocery lists, to-do lists, something productive. Others thought it was like a pocket calendar with all his plans listed so he didn’t forget. Dustin insisted it was meant to hold the definitions of anything D&D related so Steve never forgot, meanwhile Robin argued it was to hold all the wonderfully obscure movie recommendations she loved to give. All of them were wrong though and Steve kind of adored it that way. He didn’t have to explain himself that way, he could continue to hide under the blankets. Steve no longer held his tongue out of fear of others but because he had an outlet he much rather prefer.

Listening now felt less like a pop quiz, waiting for him to mess up his response, it felt like an actual conversation. Steve may not speak up as much as he would have before the Upside Down but he fell back in love with his own voice and maybe one day he would feel confident enough to share it with the Party, but for now it was all his.

No matter how much they wanted to prove who was right, the kids and older teenagers never touched the book when it was rarely separated from Steve. Well...after someone tried to grab it and they learned they really shouldn’t touch it.

While at the Harrington house the Party were preparing for a campaign session when the argument about the pale binded pages was brought up again. Steve had left it on the kitchen counter while he went to the bathroom, and Mike decided he was done with the bickering. He shot up and went to retrieve and open the book but before he could grab it the book flew through the air.

All the heads turned and landed on El holding it in her hand, “We are not Steve, this is his. It is rude to invade his privacy, would you like me to watch you without telling you,” everyone quietly shook their heads, “Then we do not watch Steve without him knowing.”

That’s exactly when Steve walked back in, it takes one look across the room at all the embarrassed faces and El holding his book with frustration painting her eyes to know what had occurred while he was gone. He walks up, kisses El on her head and softly thanks her while taking back his little literature.

After that incident no one dared touch the book or face the wrath of their favorite mage. They would find out when Steve was ready for them to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That damn little book haunted Eddie’s thoughts. He knew Steve was not what he assumed him to be so anything was on the table, he had been wrong about the guy before who's to say he won’t be this time?

Of course Eddie wanted to respect Steve’s privacy because Eddie personally would be mortified if Steve had seen any of his notebooks, mainly because of the pages of lyrics that not so subtly hinted at an itsy bitsy affection for the badass babysitter. If that didn’t give Eddie away the random ‘Eddie Harrington’ and ��Steve Munson’ with hearts all over would finish the job. So yeah, Eddie was not crazy to offer up any of his notebooks to venture into Steve’s book. He just had no idea the universe would present him with a much more favorable offer.

Steve and Eddie started hanging out a lot more after Vecna, no shocker considering they shared a hospital room, and soon the bat buddies would spend their time together outside of the hospital. That’s why it wasn’t surprising for Steve to let Eddie venture into Steve’s room while he went to pick up their lunch.

Eddie was somewhat of a curious cat, so when he spotted the notebook and some papers scattered on Steve’s desk he was like a moth to a flame. He softly glided his fingers over the blue cover and exhaled some breath in a soft laugh over the star stickers Steve oh so loved. It was the paper though that caught his eye when he finished observing the book. It looked like lyrics at first but then he realized some of the lines were too short to be lines, if anything they looked more like stanzas from a poem. Steve had poetry on his desk, did Steve read poetry? Thee Steve Harrington likes poetry? God his whole doctrine was garbage huh. Eddie moved the paper towards him and started to read.

Watchful gaze

Setules on the glass.

Wishful gaze

Silent pleas of escaping rolling in the mouth

Fingertips slipping through the veil,

Grasping for warm hands,

Receiving lukewarm.

Hesitant to grab.

Dependency clasping the palms

Such a feverish feeling

Poking at the appendages,

A coldness that numbs.

Gently gripping for the heat,

The balmy yields.

Smoke and simmers,

Arms rushing to sides

Frozen.

Yearning for ardor,

Turn not yet given,

Waiting for the impossible,

Waiting for the unobtainable,

So understanding.

So relieving.

So desperate.

So alone.

Standing for the calling.

So patient.

So pathetic.

Empty Hands by Steve H.

Eddie was staring at the very last line on the paper, utterly flabbergasted. Steve wrote this? Steve writes poetry?! Is that what resides in the little book? Before Eddie could even find the power to turn to the book to look, Steve walked into his room. Again a quick look is all Steve needed to take before he knew what happened in his absence.

“Oh! Uh..I’m guessing you read it.”

Eddie slowly looked back up while caressing the paper, “Yeah, you..um..you really wrote this? Is that…uh..what’s in your notebook? Cause I will admit I never would have guessed that.”

Steve started scratching his neck, “I don’t blame you,” he huffs, “But yeah I write poetry, helps to let some of the thoughts out considering our lives y'know?”

“I totally get it dude! Lord knows my lyrics are infected with the whole spring break bullhonkey. So..totally cool if you don’t want to tell me but, why is this one out of the book? Were you gonna write it into the book?” Eddie picked up the paper to place it next to the notebook and turned to face Steve.

“Actually I copied it from the notebook, I’m gonna, okay wait, you can’t tell anyone this-”

“Even Robin?” Eddie exaggerated his smile to look wild.

“Even Robin.” Steve nodded with his eyes shut.

Eddie put his hands together and swayed while standing, “Wowww look at me, lil old Eddie Munson getting to learn the secrets of the mysterious writer Steve Harrington.”

“Eddie, you want to know or not?” Steve sighed as he put his hands on his hips.

“Yes. Yes please,” Eddie eagerly replied, barely letting Steve finish his sentence.

“The last time I went to Indy with Robin to go shopping at their mall we went to a cafe. The bulletin board had a flier for a poetry night and I got curious I guess.”

“You gonna perform the poem there?”

“That’s the plan.”

Eddie could understand wanting a fresh slate when it came to having a reputation. “Craving anonymity? Must be tough considering you are Hawkin’s golden boy.”

Steve smiles brightly and Eddie sees his shoulders lose tension, tension Eddie didn’t even notice because he was so distracted by the fact that holy shit Steve is a poet. “Exactly.”

Honestly Eddie would give anything to hear more of Steve's hidden works, he grabs some of his hair and brings it to cover his mouth, “I know you don’t intend to tell the rest of the bunch, but uh..would you allow a humble bard to observe your lyrical performance?”

Eddie looks at Steve’s face for any hint of annoyance and finds none, instead he finds a look that he could hope to be correct in his guess is excitement.

“Really? You’d want to hear more, it's not confusing or stupid to you?” Steve softly smiled at Eddie, making him swoon inside.

“It's art! It doesn’t need to make sense, it just needs to make you feel good, who cares if others are confused. And for what its worth even if I’m not right on the money that poem made me feel Steve, I mean as the expert in self-expression it felt real and vulnerable, y’know.” Eddie had to shut himself up before he himself waxed poetry about just how much he is dying to hear more from Steve to learn more about him.

“Thanks Eddie.” Steve gazed at Eddie as if no one had ever told him that before. Which now that hes thinking about it that’s probably the truth. Guess Eddie needed to constantly remind him then.

Eddie smiled, mirroring Steves while bending at his waist, “Oh but of course my liege.”

“Oh my god okay Eddie cmon the food’s gonna get cold.”

Steve started to leave his room and Eddie rushed to follow him, “Now that I know what the book is filled with may I pretty please read it?” Rapidly blinking his eyelashes in an attempt to look innocent and pure but instead looking like a piece of dust got in his eyes.

“Nope.”

“Ugghhh c'mon Steve! Just imagine the look on the little hellions when they see me opening the book! God the jealousy! The feeling of betrayal when they see me reading Steve Harringtons’s treasure trove of text and they are none the wiser to what is inside. And the best part, I have permission! The power I would hold Steve! The possibility, I could use them like little puppets to do my bidding while they crave information I alone hold!”

“Eddie that sounds like a headache for me waiting to happen, they’re just gonna badger me to tell them because they would claim it’s unfair you know and they don’t.”

“Eh, their egos could take a little hit don’t you think?” Eddie was now resting his head on Steve’s shoulder as the younger started to bring the food out of the carry out bag.

“Can I read your lyric notebook?”

Eddie’s eyes went wide as his brain proceeded to remind him of every lyric he had written around his devotion to Steve. Red in the face Eddie responded quickly, “Nope! Mmm you smell that Stevie I’m so hungry, aren’t you?”

“Subtle Munson.”

“Tis my middle name.”

Steve fondly rolled his eyes, “Sure.”

As they settled down on the couch Eddie tracked Steve grabbing the remote, “So I can really watch you?”

Steve turned and looked at Eddie with a calmness on his face. “Yeah Eddie.”

Eddie grabbed his hair as Steve stared at him, “Cool, cool, it’s a date.” Eddie froze about to panic silently as he tried to fix his slip up.

“Yeah, it's a date.” The two looked at each other, neither wanting to look away. After a minute or so Steve turned on the TV and if the two fell asleep together it was their business.

[aurorawhisperz]

that’s what you get (e.l.)

contains: swearing, suggestive content, fluff, richie exists..

neighbor!ethan landry x fem!reader

a/n: THANK YOU GUYS FOR THE TROPES NOW IM GONNA BE POSTING MORE BY JULY ��🦅🦅 ethan is a bit of a meanie in this but he’s still little old him (maybe just gf ethan persona)

some tropes i used are: enemies to lovers, girl next door, forced proximity and best friend’s brother 🙏 (yk allat shit LOL) THERE WILL BE A PART 2!!

•

You knew for a fact that Quinn Bailey was your best friend—what made it even better is that you two could communicate through your windows, but one thing you also knew is that you didn’t like her brother, Ethan, he was your age, Quinn was older than you both. He would sometimes cut into your ‘girl talk’ since his room was right beside hers.

“Dammit!” You said as you banged on the door roughly. Your parents weren’t going to be home until tomorrow morning for something important, and you had left your keys inside the house. To make it even worse, it was raining.

A familiar voice startles you and has you snap out of all that stress. “(Name)?” says Quinn, covering herself with a blanket. I think it’s pretty obvious what she was doing just now.

“Quinn!” You called from below, your eyes widen at the sight of her covered body by the window. “I’ll..get back to you! Damn..” You hear her say something to an impatient guy, something about helping a friend—obviously that friend was you.

A few minutes later, she runs out in pink slip-ons and a purple nightgown with an umbrella. “Need help? Holy shit, you are soaking.” Quinn’s eyes widen at the sight of your outfit ruined. “And cold.” You add, then slamming your fist on the wall, “I left my keys inside.”

“Boo, it’s not that hard to knock on our door.” She chuckles, then you roll your eyes, “And deal with your brothers while you get to bang someone tonight? Yeah, right.” Her eyes then dart and she forces a smile out. “Ethan’s not that bad.”

You frown, “Yes, he is.”

“Baby, you’ll have to deal with it. I can’t stand Richie anymore.” Quinn complains, then she tugs on the sleeve of your wet cardigan to let you inside her ‘humble home.’

Grateful to be out of the pouring rain, the familiar smell of your best friend’s home fills your nostrils.

You both plop down on the plush couch, and she hands you a towel for your wet hair. Quinn then shoots you a playful smile, “Aside from our ‘interventions’, what did baby bro do this time to get on your nerves?” She asks.

“That’s about it, he wants to be the center of attention even when he’s not wanted.” You let out a sigh.

Quinn’s lips curl into a smirk, and she gently places a hand on your shoulder. “He's just trying to be a part of our bond, in his own misguided way. Ethan’s.. different, he’s fucking awkward and stuff but not around us because he’s more comfortable.”

You sigh, feeling a mix of frustration and understanding. “I guess I can try to tolerate him a bit more. For you. But he better stay out of our serious conversations.”

Quinn laughs and pulls you into a hug, the warmth of her embrace enveloping you. “That's the spirit! And don't worry, I'll make sure that jackass knows when to give us our space. Besties have their ways, you know.”

“What ways?” says Richie, holding an ‘I LOVE STAB’ coffee mug. You also know for a fact that you hated him more than Ethan—being the movie geek he is, not that it’s bad, it’s how he takes it too far and even gets touchy with others. “Ways to die.” You mutter, staring deep into his damned soul.

He nods nervously and heads back into his room. “Stay in there!” yells Quinn.

Once the silence has dissolved into thin air, she blurts out, “How about that tension?” Your eyes widen, eyebrows pinched together and lips parted in protest. “Sexual tension?” You repeat, your face going pale.

She nods cheekily, “SEXUAL?” You shriek. Quinn laughs at your reaction.

You then hear Quinn’s name from upstairs, “Ooh, priorities.” She avoids your gaze and then drags you back upstairs, “Q, don’t make me a third wheel tonight.” You roll your eyes as her grip on your arm tightens.

•

“What the hell?” is the first thing that comes out of Ethan’s mouth when Quinn pushes you into her room. “Quinn, and you. Get out!” He narrows his eyes. “E, I’ve got a guy waiting for me to go back.”

“Then tell him to fucking leave?” He shakes his head. “You’re a degenerate, you know that?” Ethan shoots back.

“Well, I’m not a virgin, so you don’t get a say in that.” Quinn lets out a corny smile and shakes her head, you can see Ethan gritting his teeth. “Do you want her to deal with Richie then?” She tilts her head slyly.

He sighs, “No.” she raises her hands and continues “That’s what I thought, love you both!” Quinn exits just as Ethan is about to flip her off.

You sit down on Ethan’s beanbag and all he does is stare.

He scoffs, “What brings you into my lair?” He crunches on a cheeto. You obviously refused to let his taunts get under your skin, “Spare me.” You retorted.

Ethan smirks, enjoying your discomfort, “Mighty (name) finds herself in a bit of a predicament, huh?”

“Unlike you, Eth, I don't have the luxury of living in a perfect little bubble where everything goes my way. So excuse me if I need a moment to think.” You tightly clench your fists.

“Can’t we just tolerate each other’s existence only for a little bit?” You complain, Ethan’s mouth turns into an “O” shape and he sarcastically remarks “Who can go the longest without being an asshole? You or me?”

“Me.” You pridefully chuckle. “This starts now.” He declares.

You have never heard silence quite this loud. The only thing you and Ethan have been doing for the past few minutes is stare at each other. Eye language perhaps?

His lips part at the sight of you.

While you did hate Ethan, there was always something telling you otherwise—you’d find yourself looking through his window, and if you timed it right, even got to see his muscles whenever he changes. (And it was hard to keep a straight face when you’d see it during your conversations with Quinn.)

What snaps you out of that thought is Ethan’s scoff, he then turns his head—then his gaze back to you. “It’s so dumb.”

“What do you mean?” Your eyebrows pinch together in the middle, and your lips purse. “You know how Quinn gets to show off her man all she wants and how she’s so freaked out over everything they do—even when she’s..done those things so many times.” says Ethan.

Ethan then shrugs, “It’s just stupid.”, your eyebrows raise in agreement as you bit the inside of your cheek.

While you did hate Ethan, part of you..or most of you was telling you that he wanted you to give in—but give in to what? Being the muscular little thing he is, it’s hard to maintain your sanity when you see him without a shirt through his window. Practically drooling, but of course, you couldn’t let Quinn know.

Mainly because she’s so ‘Quinn’, she would probably tell him.

Behind the thin walls of her bedroom were sounds quite pathetic, you two burst into laughter up to the point where you both were crying.

You put a hand over your heart and leaned back on the beanbag.

“Are they THAT loud?” You ask, “Very.” He chuckles in response, this might be the only conversation you two could call a genuine conversation.

“This is really pervy of us to do, but we don’t have a choice, not like we can tune them out.” says Ethan as he grabs a Marvel plush and sits next to the beanbag you were on.

“It’s not like me and Quinn could tune you out.” You joke. A genuine smile tugs on the corners of Ethan’s plush lips. “Gee, you’re really being nice right now.” Your words laced with sarcasm tumbled out.

You had spent your entire life making sure Ethan would never fall for you, nor would you fall for him—and you failed.

It was like there’s nobody in the world right now but you two.

“Well, it’s part of the game right?” Ethan said, his eyes, half-lidded, looking up at you. “It doesn’t seem that much of a game anymore.” You kept your eyes on him, and he kept his on you as well.

Silence. Just silence. That was how much reality hurt.

This is also the closest you have ever been. There is only inches between you both, and you are close to giving in. Breaking the silence, “Maybe I should leave now, I’m not cold-” Ethan then stops your lips with a kiss. He pulls away and you are left with the sight of him hovering over you on the beanbag.

You kissed him back even longer, yes, you were kissing your enemy. It felt so wrong—but at the same time, it felt so right.

The smell of lemon zest surrounded you, along with his intoxicating aura. The thought then entered your head.

Hey, what if I just pulled away and ran like crazy?

Just as you’re about to pull away, he insists against your mouth, “Stay.” Ethan said, you could tell from how hot his lips were—he felt the same way. Out of control.

Ethan then turns you both over so that he was on the beanbag and you were straddling him.

His hands were sneaky enough to slide under the back of your shirt. “Just calming your nerves.” says Ethan as he rubs soothing circles on your lower back.

It was his shuddering breath that made you think this was a dream. Being woken up was the last thing you needed. Ethan whines into the kiss, and you smiled against him.

You then pull away with a small gasp escaping your lips when his hips jolt up into yours, your fist slammed against the wall as he did it twice.

“Shit, shit, I’m sorry. It’s a reflex.” Ethan stammers as he sits up, moving you as well. “No, no! I just got startled. It’s fine, really.”

He sucks in a breath through his teeth then his hands grip the sides of your face. Ethan is kissing you once again.

Just kissing, this is the closest you’ll ever get. Maybe you’ll forget about it the next day, or maybe one day—you’ll look back and regret it. The kiss being hot and slow, and his arms wrapping around you.

Ethan slides his arms around you and pulls you closer.

The moment of bliss is then interrupted when Quinn knocks on the door. “Hello? Just making sure nobody’s dead yet.”

“Shit.” You whisper, and you get off Ethan and push him back to his bed.

She enters the room and looks around. “I’m surprised this hasn’t turned into a warzone yet.”

“Uh-huh.” Ethan nods, but he’s all shades of pink. “Why are you so red right now?” Quinn tilts her head and squints. His hands move to his face and he tries to think of an excuse.

“It’s hot in here, isn’t it?”

“Have some decency, we heard you in there.” You grumbled, she then chuckles and leans against the doorframe. “Sorry, if I..” Quinn twirls her red hair with her finger. “Cockblocked you.” She lets out an awful grin then locks the door—closing it.

Now you were definitely in some situation, I guess she’s getting suspicious now. There was nothing in the room aside from the kissing sounds..what else? Ethan’s whining, and your fist hitting the wall..

Wait a minute.

You were completely fucked. Do you and Ethan just forget about it now? Or do you have to keep up the strategy? You weren’t the type to forget such a heated kiss, but what about him?

[theskit]

Stickers AU

Important!!!

Direct linking gets rid of the readmore cuts!

If you came here via direct link, or wish to use the direct links to another part of the story, and DO NOT want to spoil the surprise stickers, please click on my blog name to go to the actual post after using the link.

Part 7

《Prev Next》

Sitting on the hotel roof as he tried to calm down from the high-speed flight away from Batman, Danny looked over his ill-gotten gains.

Ooh, candy! Why did Batman have candy? Did he have a problem with his blood sugar? Shrugging, Danny popped a sucker into his mouth. What else did he get?

Fiddling with one piece of a thin stack of black metal, he managed to click a concealed switch that caused the sides to expand from an unobtrusive oval to razor-sharp, wing shaped edges. Ow!

Shaking the sting from his left hand, Danny inspected the thin, shallow slice on his finger before holding it to the edge of his hoodie to keep his blood off things until he got back to the room for a band-aid.

Getting the now obviously a batarang to collapse back down, Danny beamed. Score! He'd gotten four of the things, one each for himself, Ellie, Sam, and Tucker. He didn't think Jazz would mind not getting a vigilante throwing weapon as a souvenir. She usually used the Fenton Anti-Creep Stick or the Boo-Staff, having been mostly banned from long-range weaponry on account of her inheriting Dad's aim...

Shuddering, Danny banished the memories accompanied by that thought in favor of the last item. Looking it over, it seemed like an airpod? Did he grab one half of Batman's headpho-... Oh, Ancients that was a communicator! Could they track it? Who was he kidding, of *course* they could track it!

Freaking out juuuust a little, Danny stuffed everything else into his pockets, grabbed the comm unit, and high tailed it, phasing through walls and floors in his hurry to get back to the room.

Once there he dove for his luggage, pulling out the Thermos he'd brought along just in case, and dumped the ear piece in before locking it down.

There. Heaving a sigh of relief, Danny slumped down against the side of the bed he'd claimed when they first checked in. The ecto-shielding on the Thermos should block any incoming or outgoing signals until he could get Tucker to look at it and make sure no one could trace the comm back to him.

Wincing against the light as the bedside lamp on the other side of the room flared to life, he saw Jazz squinting at him fuzzily, one hand on the Anti-Creep Stick propped up on wall beside the bed. "Danny? Izzat you?"

"Yeah, Jazz, it's just me. I just got back, sorry for waking you. I'm gunna wash up and head to bed. You can go back to sleep." Danny felt bad that he'd woken Jazz up after she'd had a long day helping set up the Fenton convention booth and gently riding herd on their parents' over enthusiastic responses to the other 'ghost hunters'.

"Okay Danny, glad you're back safe. Night," Jazz mumbled as she turned out the light and laid back down. Danny smiled at her softly before turning to gather his things. It had been a good night, if more eventful than he had planned when he first went out exploring.

Batman had traced the comm unit's signal to one of the larger, more popular hotels in the area before the strangely fluctuating signal had cut out entirely.

Inspecting the roof, he caught sight of a dim glow. Kneeling down, he collected what looked to be a few drops of fresh blood with a swab kit. It appeared that whoever had taken his gear had rested here for a bit before leaving again, possibly to check what all they had taken, then finding and disabling the comm unit. He hoped they hadn't injured themselves too badly, probably on the batarangs, if it was indeed their blood he'd found.

The dimly glowing sticker, still on its backing paper with a drop of blood on the corner, caught half under an air conditioning unit, pointed to it being the same person. Picking it up, Batman inspected it for a moment before dropping it into a separate evidence bag. He'd put both samples through analysis back at the cave.

@mygood-bitch99 @stargazer-luna @easily-broken-by-emotion @dolfay @britcision @cyber-geist @is-this-even-relatable @alcorbearson @fisticuffsatapplebees @thegatorsgoose @my-mom-calls-me-rat @some-rotten-nest @crystalqueertea @meira-3919 @wandererofthestars @seraphinedemort @bjurnberg @blep-23 @stargirl1331 @bianca-hooks123 @addie-lover-of-stories @pickleking8 @iconicanemone @sarina-elais @mur-ururu @sailor-goddess @dragonfirefeather @nutcase8691 @ravenpainter

[xvxblahhhxvx]

I think Dazai's backstory is really cool in how, despite having more information about it than most other characters, majority of his life is just one giant noodle incident.

Yep, that's the line I'm going with as an introduction to this analysis. Just bear with me.

To start off, for those who don't know, the term "noodle incident" originates from the (amazing) comic Calvin and Hobbes. In it, the whole idea is that Calvin did this unspecified thing in school that involved noodles, but it's never confirmed what exactly happened. It's only referenced in passing, and it is clear that it was not good. Applied to general fiction, the term Noodle Incident refers to an event that is often referenced, but never clearly explained, and what is important is the characters' reactions and feelings towards it. The principle idea behind it is that imagining what said incident could be is way more significant and impactful than anything it would actually be if it was said. It's not the event that's important, but the effects and responses to it are. *for more info, I recommend Overly Sarcastic Productions trope talk video about it*

Now, how this plays into Dazai's life is that, while it is extremely evident that he likely has a horrible, tragic backstory, we never really get to see much of it. The earliest we are introduced to him, he is already suicidal, and he has lost most in hope in existence. These feelings are tempered a bit when he first joins the Port Mafia, but they come back all too quickly. And while you could argue that him being in the Mafia is a large contributor to his depression,the main reasons why he seeks escape clearly transpired before he ever met Mori.

Dazai was already trying to commit suicide at fourteen, which is how he met Mori. Something happened earlier in his life, but we don't know what. Asagiri himself says that he left Dazai's core, the reason he wants to die, vague on purpose. We aren't given many details, and honestly, we aren't given much backstory to it either. The two biggest hints that we get is when he is speaking to Odasaku. First in The Day I Picked Up Dazai, and the second from Dazai and the Dark Era.

We have no idea who or what Dazai is referring to. From all that we have seen, all the backstories and light novels we are given, the only people that we know of whom Dazai actually lost were Ango and Odasaku-for Ango, it was that special friendship, and Odasaku, it was his life. And even so, it isn't much of an explanation, because he was obviously suicidal before he met them, as evident from how he speaks to Odasaku, and losing them wasn't a catalyst for Dazai's depression. (As a matter of fact, it was actually the first step towards improvement, but that's a different analysis).

Yet for how much we don't know about Dazai's life, I think it's done in such a way that it doesn't really matter. It's a noodle incident, in that sense. Because it's not about the events that actually transpired, it's about how that affects Dazai and the way we see him. Don't get me wrong, I would love a full, confirmed backstory, but Asagiri doesn't seem to intend to write it, and that makes Dazai's character so beautiful. It's also one of the reasons why the dark era, especially the light novel, is so tragic. Because yes, you can argue that as far as tragic backstories go, losing two friends isn't near the most awful, especially not in this universe (I'm not trying to play the "which character has more trauma" game, but compared to, for example, growing up in an abusive orphanage, it's relatively not as inherently tragic. That doesn't make it any less horrible though). But the point of the backstory isn't just to explain the reasoning why things ended up the way they did, why Dazai left the Mafia, boo hoo his friend died, but Odasaku and Ango represent everything in Dazai's life, everyone from his past we never got to meet and I'm not sure if we're ever going to. They symbolize all the things in his life that mattered to him, everything he never wanted to lose but did. The last scene in the bar, where the three of them meet up for the last time, Ango leaves, the picture with the three of them laughing and smiling, the whole thing is meant to serve as a microcosm for Dazai's life as a whole. That he feels he's always going to lose everything, and that's why he wants to die. We don't get details, we don't know the specific events, but we're left with the emotions that gives us an important glimpse into this character's mind, more than his life, and that's what makes him such an interesting character that's left open to interpretation and analysis. We aren't privy to the tragedy, but the aftereffects of it. And, almost as if to prove the point, Odasaku dies the next day. Right after Dazai says he always loses everyone, further cementing the idea that there's almost a curse surrounding him, a void of loneliness that may never be fulfilled, which is as much as Odasaku tells him when he dies.

Whatever happened in Dazai's life before fourteen was probably something horrible and tragic. Maybe he had a family. Maybe he had other good friends. Perhaps he even believed in the goodness of life and humanity. But what's really cool about the way he's written is that the exact events are not important nor necessary to understanding his character. His life is one big noodle incident, yet because of that, we're able to glean an almost deeper understanding about him, by leaving the details in the dark and exposing only the raw, humane emotions left behind. The most important part about any backstory in fiction isn't about what actually happened, it's about how does this affect the character now? What lasting impact did it leave on them, and how is it evident in the way they interact with the story in the present? This is something that Asagiri nails on the head when it comes to his backstories. And I think the lack of clear information about Dazai's backstory, yet all the information we do end up getting about him, is one of the reasons why Dazai is such an interesting and intriguing character in the series.

Thank you all for you time. You may now return to your procrastination.

[miryum]

"HalloVeen"

Summary: Detective!Jason Todd x detective!Reader based on Jake and Amy’s relationship

Series Warnings: Swearing, descriptions of violence (but nothing descriptive), guns and other police stuff

Series Masterlist

At the strike of two in the morning, Y/n woke. “Halloween,” she whispered. “Mua-ha-ha-ha,” she cackled, sitting up in bed. “It's heist time!”

Suddenly, Jason bolted up next to Y/n and she shrieked. “Thought you could get a head start on heist prep?” he asked, raising a brow. “I'm already dressed.” He threw back the covers to reveal his jeans and red button up shirt.

“I'm also dressed, and I made breakfast,” she boasted. She threw back her side of the covers to show an empty plate that had residue of syrup and pancake chunks.

“Wait, where are my pancakes?” she mumbled.

“In my belly,” a new voice thundered and clicked the bedroom lamp on. Y/n screamed loudly and Jason immediately threw himself on top of her to protect her, grabbing the gun from the bedside table. Captain Wayne sat by the lamp ominously. “Now get a move on. It's heist time!”

From underneath Jason, Y/n whooped and exclaimed, “I fucking love Halloween!”

“Some of you have asked me why I have joined this heist,” Jason monologued at the front of the briefing room. “Was it the fun activities? Don't be stupid. Was it the precinct comradery? Of course not, I hate all of you.” He waved a hand around to brush off all of the offending comments. But as Y/n looked sadly up at him, he sighed and grumbled, “except my lovely girlfriend. But no, the only reason I have joined this heist is because I have been tired of being a background character in these heists. So today, I pledge to win this Halloween heist. It is the most important Halloween heist of them all.” He cleared his throat and added, “because it’s the fifth one. Obviously.”

Wayne interrupted, shoving Jason out of the way. “This year, we compete for the most elegant and regal of all prizes…” He held up a large championship boxer belt. “A championship cummerbund.”

“Or belt, as normal people call it,” Y/n muttered. 

“Belt,” Wayne scoffed. “I'd like to see the pair of slacks whose loops are large enough for this belt. No, it is a cummerbund.” He gestured theatrically to it.

“Well, whatever it is,” Y/n began.

“Cummerbund,” Wayne coughed into his hand.

Y/n rolled her eyes and continued, “it's inscribed with the words, ‘amazing human-slash-genius.’ The objective is to have it in your possession at midnight.”

“Every woman for herself,” Cass grinned.

“It's like ‘Bachelor in Paradise,’” Steph commented. She looked at the spot next to her to high-five Damian, only to remember that he had taken the week off to study for a big test he had in law school.

Dick stood up and clicked his tongue. “I’m gonna sit this one out.” The rest of the group shouted at him, calling him out and booing. Dick simply held up his hands in surrender and walked out. 

Jason spread his arms and began, “all I will say is–”

“You are the human equivalent to a participation trophy,” Wayne interrupted him for the second time.

Jason crossed his arms and glared at his Captain. “Insult me all you want, for I have only this to say–”

“Victory shall be mine!” Y/n yelled along with her boyfriend. At Jason’s surprised look, Y/n hissed threateningly, “I heard you practising in the shower. You can't surprise me. Letting me into your life was the worst mistake you ever made!”

“Fun take on our relationship,” Jason muttered.

“Well, I for one thing you're perfect for each other,” Wayne snarked.

“Feel like there's gonna be more,” Y/n mumbled.

“Because you're both losers,” Bruce finished.

“There it is.”

“Now, if everyone would rise,” the Captain instructed and lifted his arms dramatically.

Y/n’s eyes gleamed with mischief as she added in a whisper, “rise like the army of the dead, and follow me into the bullpen of destiny.” After everyone did her bidding, she snatched the cummerbund from Wayne and explained, “this heist, the belt will not be locked up or hidden away. It will be suspended from the ceiling in plain sight – for all to see.”

“How poetic,” Jason said simply. “It will hang just out of reach, like Tantalus' fruit.”

Y/n’s face scrunched in confusion and disgust. “Yes, that's where I got the inspiration from; Greek mythology, not an episode of the Nickelodeon show ‘Guts.’” 

Jason rolled his eyes affectionately and helped his girlfriend up onto a small step stool. “Darling, will you please do the honours?” he asked, holding firmly onto her hips so she wouldn’t fall.

The female detective hooked the belt onto a thin string and announced, “the belt is in place. Whoever has it at midnight will be declared the–” Suddenly, all the lights cut out and there was a chorus of screams.

“What's going on?”

“What's happening?”

“I can't see!” someone added helpfully.

“Everybody grab something,” Captain Wayne’s voice boomed out.

Y/n shrieked out, “he didn’t mean me, Jay!”

The lights then flashed back on and Bruce held up a fist. “Silence,” he demanded slowly. He then pointed at the empty string that was swinging from the ceiling. “It’s gone,” he muttered. “The cummerbund is gone!”

“Who took it?” Y/n asked.

“We're all here,” Jason glanced around to confirm.

“Where'd it go?” Steph patted her pockets as if checking for the huge cummerbund.

Y/n gasped and then hissed out, “nowhere. It's still in this room!” She whirled towards Wayne and as she exclaimed, “in fact, it's right here!” she slapped her hand against her captain’s stomach. Feeling nothing but skin, she grumbled, “nope, it's just your tummy.”

“I don't have the cummerbund,” Wayne retorted, rounding on Jason, “because it's right here!” He slapped his hand against his detective’s stomach. His brows furrowed and Wayne commented, “that is surprisingly toned, Todd.”

Ignoring Wayne’s odd remark, Jason turned around and punched Dick in the gut. “Or is it right here?”

Dick groaned and doubled-over. Y/n looked up at her boyfriend and asked quietly, “how come you didn’t hit me in the tummy?”

“Because I didn’t want to hurt you, sweetheart,” he murmured back. “And I wanted to punch Dick.”

“Oh. Okay.” She accepted that answer and smiled at everyone in the precinct.

A new voice rang out, surprising everyone as they turned around. “Over here, losers.” A man stood by the door to Captain Wayne’s office, a hoodie zipped all the way up to the top, even obscuring their face. “This is Damian al Guhl. All of you truly thought you could do this without me?” The figure had their hands stuffed in their pockets and the detectives could almost feel his deathly stare.

“Dami!” Y/n accused. “I should have known it was you, you punk.”

“Yeah, you punk,” Steph jumped on the bandwagon, smirking. “Why aren't you showing your face, you punk?”

“Yeah,” Damian scoffed. “I am studying for a test. I have not showered in three weeks.”

“Oh.”

Damian presented the ultimatum. “Now, if any of you wish to find the cummerbund, you must work for it. Behind my desk are files of paperwork I have not completed and notes I need transferred into index cards. There is a clue for each file you conclude.” He then threw up a very un-Damian-like peace sign and walked out of the bullpen.

Y/n scoffed, “this is crazy. I mean, no one is actually gonna do Dami’s dumb chores, right?”

“Right, absolutely not.” Jason crossed his arms.

“It's completely ridiculous,” Wayne agreed.

Everyone exchanged suspicious looks before collectively lunging towards Daimian’s desk. “I got the murder case!” Steph screamed.

“You can all suck it!” Cass growled, clutching a thick folder and running out of the room.

Y/n snuck into the archives. She turned to see Stephanie already there, grinning. “They fell for it,” Y/n said, throwing her folder of paperwork to the side.

“Hell yeah they did!” Steph high-fived her bestie just when the door opened. The two women whipped their heads to it, ready to fight off an intruder or spy, but it turned out to be a familiar friend. 

“Hey, guys,” Curran greeted with a smile.

“And right on time, here's Curran.” Y/n pressed her hands together and bowed. “Welcome.”

“So, did you have any issues getting into the vents?” Stephanie asked.

“Went like clockwork,” Curran reassured.

As Curran tried to pry open a vent, an officer tapped him on the shoulder and said in a gruff voice, “sir, only authorised personnel are allowed up here.” Curran turned around, ready to defend himself, when the officer corrected himself and said in a much lighter tone, “oh, Detective Todd, I didn't see it was you.”

Curran’s eyes narrowed and he nodded slowly. “Yes. I am Jason Todd. Goodbye now.” He then disappeared into the vents.

The man continued, “anyway, once I got in the vents, it was smooth sailing.”

As the lights in the precinct went out and everyone screamed, Curran reached down from the vents and snagged the belt. He wiggled down from the vents and shrugged into a sweatshirt after clipping the belt around himself. When he zipped up the sweatshirt, it hid the belt perfectly. He then emerged and greeted the detectives as Damian. “Over here, losers.”

“I gotta say, man, your Damian impression was spot-on,” Steph complimented.

Curran informed them, “yes, I’m known for being a good impersonator. I use it to trick people into thinking their boss or spouse found out that they’re involved in the mob and am able to blackmail them.”

“Right, I forgot you were in the mafia,” Y/n put her hands on her hips, nodding along.

“Here's the belt…” Curran unzipped his Damian hoodie and revealed the cummerbund. 

Y/n made some grabbing hands and her eyes were wide with reverence. Maybe a little drool pooled in her mouth, who would know? “Ah…” she murmured, “she's a beaut.”

Brown stepped up beside her bestie and pretended to examine the belt in Curran’s hands before suddenly slapping handcuffs on Y/n and latching her to a shelf that held boxes of old cases. 

“Ow! Steph, what are you doing?!” Y/n cried. 

The detective shook her head and replied in a solemn voice. “The hardest thing I've ever done: betraying you.” She held her hand out to Curran. “The belt, please.”

As Curran handed the large golden belt to Stephanie, Y/n gasped. “Curran, you're in on this too?”

“Yep. She paid me. I’m in a horrid debt to the mob.”

Y/n looked around desperately. “No, look, listen to me, don't do this, okay?” she pleaded. She looked like she was about to beg, but then switched tactics and huffed, “this is crazy. You're never gonna get out of here with that belt on your own.”

“I'm not on my own,” Steph corrected. “I have an alliance.” In walked Cass and Dick, standing next to Steph in solidarity. 

“An alliance,” Y/n gaped. “It's not ‘Bachelor in Paradise.’ It's ‘Survivor!’ And Cass, I am very disappointed in you.”

“Your approval means nothing to me.”

Y/n didn’t look hurt at all, almost like she suspected it. “Copy that. And Dick, I knew you were playing. Last year was a setup.”

The sergeant scoffed and freely admitted, “hell yeah, it was. I’m playing the long game. I'm sick of you, Tim, and Wayne winning. You're all so damn smug about it.”

“Yeah,” Steph grinned. “You guys may be champs, but this year… This year belongs to The Tramps!”

“Stephanie, that's a bad name.” Y/n grimaced and shook her head.

Her best friend shook her head back and stuck her tongue out for extra measure. “You're just jealous. Everyone loves it.”

“No,” Cass muttered.

“It’s… not the best,” Grayson tried to let his detective down easy.

Steph brushed all their insults off. “Curran, keep an eye on her,” she ordered. She turned dramatically and called, “let's go, Tramps.”

“Steph, no! No!” Y/n yelled out as the door clicked shut. She was now stuck with fake-Jason/fake-Damian while handcuffed to a shelf. She continued screaming for someone until she saw her boyfriend walk past. “Jason! Jay, in here! In here. Help! Help.”

“Hello, fake me,” Jason greeted once he entered, nodding his head in greeting.

Curran raised a hand. “Hi.”

“Hello, tied-up Y/n,” Jason leaned forward and gave his girl a small kiss on the cheek before taking a step back.

Y/n smiled sweetly and greeted him softly as he kissed her. But then she whined, “will you please help me get out of this? It's not for the heist. I just really have to pee.”

“I know you only pee once a day,” Jason commented simply. “And you went this morning.”

“Damn it, you know me so well!” Y/n cursed. “All right, how about this? I've got top secret info about various dealings. If you let me out of these cuffs… I'll share it with you.”

The man raised a brow. “What kind of info?”

His girlfriend smirked and bartered, “well, first off, Hoodie Damian–”

“Was just a ruse so you and Steph could steal the belt,” Jason finished.

Y/n spluttered a moment before saying, “yeah-huh, but also–”

“Steph teamed up with Cass and Dick to form The Tramps,” Jason completed.

“Gah! How did you know that?!” Y/n exclaimed.

Jason smirked, copying Y/n’s smug expression from a moment before. “I gave her the idea last year.”

“Damian’s one of the champs,” Steph muttered exactly a year ago as everyone celebrated in Odin’s bar. “And I'm just one of the tramps.”

Jason gasped. “Ooh, The Tramps,” he repeated. “That's a great name for something. I just don't know what.” He shook his head sadly and walked away.

Steph grinned and murmured under her breath, “but I do.”

“I told you,” Jason said smoothly, leaning down closer to Y/n. “I'll always be one step ahead of you. You can't surprise me.” Curran awkwardly watched the rising sexual tension from the side of the room.

“Look, there are three Tramps,” Y/n stated. “The only way we're gonna win is if we team up.”

Jason hummed and mused, “good point. I guess my response is… rot in hell, doll-face! Also, I love you, and I treasure you so much.” He smiled softly at Y/n and kissed her cheek again. “I promise I’ll make it up to you tonight, okay? I got something planned.” 

“God, you're being so contradicting,” Y/n scoffed. “Geez, man, I love you too, but just so you know, the Devil and I would be besties.”

“Buh-bye, sweetheart,” Jason waggled his fingers in goodbye before sweeping out of the room.

Steph and her accomplices hurried into the mainframe room where the large technological structure stood. “Looks like we're all clear. Good job, guys,” she praised. “Oh, nothing can stop this Tramp train.”

“Brown, please stop finding variations on a word we hate.” Cass rolled her eyes.

“Okay, you two, lift up the super heavy thing that no one else is strong enough to lift by themselves,” Steph instructed. Cass and Dick exchanged a look before each squatting down and lifting the server up by a couple of inches. They grunted under the effort, but Steph took her sweet time sliding the cummerbund under it before the two officers let the structure drop.

After Cass caught her breath, she said, “I set up an electric eye yesterday, so if anyone enters, an alarm will go off.” She clicked a button on her phone and a series of red laser lines appeared in the doorway. “Let's move.”

Cain easily lept over the beam with her years of ballerina training. Dick lifted himself up on the doorway using his acrobatic skills and added an extra flip for flair. “Cool, yeah, that's something I can do, without any problem.” Steph stared after them, still on the opposite side of the alarm. She took a running jump and fell flat across the lasers. A shrill beeping emitted from Cass’ phone. “Alarm works,” Steph grunted out.

Meanwhile, back in the archives, Y/n tried pulling on her handcuff. When that didn’t succeed, she hyped herself up, saying, “all right, fine, looks like I'm gonna have to ‘127 Hours’ this fucker.”

“You're gonna cut off your own arm?” Curran asked from where he was sitting against the wall.

“Is that how it ends?” Y/n exclaimed. “Oh, man, I got busy with a robbery and my rental period expired.” She added, “I thought he just wiggled out.” After a moment of silence, she groaned out, “come on, will you just please uncuff me? You gotta, man. I've never treated you like a mobber.”

“You just did,” Curran pointed out.

“Touché. Alright, how about this?” Y/n bargained, “I will pay you… double the amount Brown paid you.”

At that, Curran raised a brow. “Three thousand?”

“What?!” Y/n cried out. “She gave you over a thousand grand?!” She let out a loud groan, stomping her foot. “Alright, fine, I'm in.”

Captain Wayne had a stack of Damian’s scribbled notes to his left and a stack of blank index cards to his right. He carefully underlined and highlighted words and phrases before muttering, “and where is the Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission case? I pity the law school al Guhl attends.” He huffed and pedalled a bit harder. Under the table was a contraption that looked like a bicycle, but the tires and handles were missing. The chains were connected to a thick rope that stretched to a hole behind his desk that in turn, connected to the server room downstairs. The more Wayne pedalled, the more the mainframe lifted off the ground.

Tim knocked on the door before sticking his head in. “Hey, Captain, something's going on with this heist. You tell us everything you know, and I’ll tell you everything we know.” His voice slurred a bit and Wayne studied him carefully, eyes narrowing.

“I'd rather not.”

“Jokes on you,” Tim huffed, his hand raising to knock on the door again. In his other hand was a large mug of coffee. “We don't know anything. And by ‘we,’ I mean me and the voices in my head.”

“Well, good day then,” Wayne nodded, excusing Tim from his office. The mainframe lifted enough for Ace, Wayne’s dog, to scurry under the lasers and grab the championship belt in his teeth. He saw it all on the security cameras. 

Tim nodded back. He turned on his heel and Wayne sighed in relief. A small bead of sweat ran down his temple. Then Tim turned back slowly, squinting. “Wait, why are you sweating?”

“I'm not sweating.”

“No,” Tim sneezed before continuing, “I've had enough almost heart attacks and coffee attacks to know what sweating looks like, and that's sweat.”

Wayne puffed up his chest and rebutted, “well, if I'm sweating, as you claim, it's because I was watching an… exciting video on the net.” Ace made it past the lasers, cummerbund secured. His owner released the pedals and the server fell back down with a thud.

“Really?” Tim glanced at his computer like he wanted to see. “What was it?”

“It was,” Wayne slowly weaved his story, “a video of an American gymnast. His leotard ripped, exposing his butt.” He cleared his throat and said in the most Captain-y voice he could muster, “it was highly erotic.”

Tim said instantly, “you're lying. I.T. just installed blocker software, thanks to Damian researching if it was legal to kill a coworker.”

“Uh, yes, but they didn't install it on my computer, because I'm a captain.”

The detective scrutinised his superior. “You don't look hot and bothered at all to me,” he grumbled. After a beat, he demanded, “show me the erotica.”

“Good sir, I assure you, there's nothing to see.” Wayne glared, ending the conversation. He stood up abruptly. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to grab some fresh air.” He briskly walked out to the roof, just in time for Ace to scurry out with him. “Good boy, Ace,” he commended. “Bring me that cummerbund.” He knelt down and Ace dropped the belt before chasing his tail with a bark. “Wait a minute…” Wayne peered at the belt and realised, “this isn't the championship cummerbund. This is some common cummerbund.” He glanced down at Ace and did a double-take. He sneered, “and you're not Ace. You're just some common bitch.”

“Just get me out of these,” Y/n grumbled, twisted in her handcuffs as Curran fiddled with the lock.

Steph threw open the door to find the scene. “Hey, what's going on here?” 

“Didn't think I could get out of my cuffs, did you, Brown?” Y/n laughed just as Curran got her cuffs undone. She rubbed her wrists thankfully. “But you forgot about one important thing…”

“Curran’s crippling debt!” Both women exclaimed at the same time, one in realisation and the other in victory. Y/n quickly twisted Stephanie’s arm behind her torso and slapped the handcuffs onto her. “Sorry, Steph, but I really wanna win this year! Watch her, Curran,” she instructed before hurrying out the door.

The detective ran to Wayne’s office and easily pulled up the security camera footage on his computer. “What have I missed? What's going on?” she muttered to herself. She easily deduced, “Wayne used Ace to steal the belt. But that's not Ace. Wayne and Ace always walk in a perfect lockstep. Which means someone took Ace, and that person has the belt. But who? Who took Ace?” Her eyes locked on her beloved Jason just as he sneezed. “Bless you,” she said automatically. “Wait. He sneezed. Mild dog allergies. Which means that Jaybaby took…”

“Ace!” Wayne bellowed from the bullpen, making all detectives stand at attention. Y/n ran out to see what was happening. “Where is my dog?” their Captain demanded.

“Aren't you standing right next to him?” Dick asked.

Wayne scoffed. “This bitch? Please. Watch this.” He bent down and held out his hand. “Shake. Shake.” The faux-Ace did no such thing. “Idiot. I know one of you took Cheddar, and you did it for the sake of the heist, but if anything happens to him, I will end you.” He threatened, staring each of his detectives in the eye. “I couldn't bring myself to neuter Ace, but I will neuter you all.” Just then, a dog that looked exactly the same as the canine sitting beside Wayne trotted into the room. “Ace? Ace?!” Bruce squatted again and held out his hand. “Shake.” Ace held out his paw and placed it firmly in his owner’s hand. “Ah, good grip, pristine coat,” he evaluated. “That's my doggie!” he crowed. He then remembered, “you betrayed me. You'll explain yourself later. Return to my office.” Ace did what was instructed.

It was that moment, after Wayne’s monologue, that Cass realised, “wait, where’s Brown? Did she betray us?”

Dick shook his head. “She wouldn’t do that.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Bruce held up a finger as his phone beeped. “I put a GPS tracker on the belt. It's on the move, and it's going fast!”

“Let's take my bike,” Cass exclaimed, turning to Dick. “They'll never catch us.”

Dick chuckled dramatically and threw up a peace sign. “Later, dorks.” The pair ran out of the bullpen.

“Should we follow them?” Jason asked Wayne and Y/n.

Wayne scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Good luck keeping up with me. I've done my morning callisthenics.” With that, he began power walking out, muttering, “heel, ball, toe, heel, ball, toe.”

“Oh, I'll keep up with you,” Y/n poked her tongue in her cheek. She jolted forward as if she was going to chase after him, making Wayne pick up the pace. “In hell,” she added maliciously. “Mwahahahahahahaha!” She turned towards the evidence room, skipping towards it.

She saw her boyfriend crouching down by the boxes and strolled up to him. “Hello, Jason,” she greeted formally. 

Jason jumped at the sound of her voice. “Ack! What…? Y/n! What are you doing here? And why aren't you out looking for the belt?”

“You and I both know the belt never left the precinct,” Y/n answered easily. 

“I don't know that,” Jason said quickly. Almost too quickly. “Nobody knows that.” His nose wrinkled a bit.

Y/n made a show of walking around the evidence room. “My only question is, which box is the belt in?” she wondered aloud.

“Well, good luck figuring it out,” Jason smirked. “Because the clock is ticking, my dearest sweetheart.”

Y/n pointed to a box on the lowest shelf. “It's that one,” she said simply. “The dust pattern on top doesn't match its neighbours.” She walked to the box and picked it up. Resting on her hip, she boasted, “you see, Jay, I'm always gonna be one step ahead of you. You've lost the ability to surprise me. You’re just boring.” She shook her head sadly, taking the cummerbund out of the evidence box.

“Again, weird take on a very loving relationship,” Jason muttered.

“And it's midnight, so I guess I'm an amazing human-slash-genius!” Y/n grinned proudly.

“Yeah.” Jason cleared his throat and then added, “Although… you might wanna read the inscription on that belt.”

“Why?” Y/n’s face dropped and she held up the belt. “Oh, no, what does it say?” Her brows furrowed as she read off, “Y/n L/n, will you marry me?"

“Surprise,” Jason whispered, now kneeling on the ground in front of her, holding out a ring box. The diamond sparkled against the precinct lights. But Y/n wasn’t looking at the stone. She was looking at the love in Jason’s eyes.

Y/n sucked in a breath. “I'm so confused…” she admitted, tears beginning to prick at her eyes. “I don't know what's happening right now.”

“‘I'm so confused, I don't know what's happening right now,’” Jason listed off. “Title of your sex tape.”

“Oh, my God, I'm shaking,” Y/n laughed, wiping at her tears. “Wait, is this really happening? Is this part of the heist?” she asked desperately. “If this is part of the heist, I will dump you so hard.” She pointed a finger at him, but her hand was shaking slightly.

“No, please, Y/n, it's really happening, okay?” he murmured, reassuring her. Only his girl would think that. “It's not part of the heist. I promise you, this is real.”

Y/n’s chin wobbled a bit. “It is?”

“Yeah.” Jason himself was tearing up, sniffling a bit. “Sweetheart, I love you. I love how smart you are. I love how beautiful you are. You're kind, and you're funny, and you're the best person I know, and the best detective. Also, for reals, I love your butt.”

“I love yours too,” Y/n reassured him, laughing at the inside joke.

“Y/n L/n… With all the love in this world, will you marry me?”

“Jason Todd, I will marry you. I love you so much.”

“To Y/n and Jason!” Dick raised his glass in toast. Everyone was at Odin’s bar, celebrating the engagement.

Everyone parroted, “to Y/n and Jason!” The couple beamed and shared a quick kiss, Y/n tucked under Jason’s arm. 

Wayne cleared his throat. “Wonderful, wonderful. So, since Todd altered the cummerbund, no one won the heist this year. Is that what everyone's thinking?”

Everyone’s faces fell slightly and Dick warned, “Captain…”

“Right, right, sorry,” the older man apologised. “It’s not the time. I'm so happy for you both,” he said truthfully, raising his glass again to the pair.

“So, Jason,” Steph grinned. “Tell us everything.”

“Did you call Y/n’s dad first?” Tim asked.

“I actually did,” Jason said, looking very proud of himself.

Jason paced the sidewalk anxiously, talking quickly into his phone. “Mr. L/n, I'm calling to inform you that I plan to ask your daughter to marry me, but since it's the twenty-first century, I am not asking you for your permission, as she is not your property, nor would she be mine, if she chooses to say yes. She's a strong independent woman, and she doesn’t need a man. That being said, I truly hope she says yes as I love her very much, but it's her decision, so respectfully, back off!”

“Aww, that was perfect,” Y/n cooed. “What did he say?”

“I have no idea, I left a voicemail. I'm terrified of him.”

Steph laughed and then prompted, “how’d you decide to ask?”

Jason exhaled, smiling softly. “I decided to ask Y/n to marry me on July 28th,” he said, looking down at his fiancée.

Y/n and Jason sat on the couch one July night. Y/n was wrapped in one of Jason’s sweaters even though it was seventy degrees outside. She took a huge forkful of Chinese food and shoved it in her mouth. “Oh my god, this is so good,” she moaned. “Jay, you have to try some, love.” She stabbed at the food, but then glared at it and shook her head. “Wait, no, that’s not a good part. Let me get you a better bit.” She dished around for a piece she found acceptable before handing it out to Jason.

From across the couch, Jason could only smile lovingly at her.

“I don't get it,” Tim said bluntly.

Dick agreed, “Yeah, it seems pretty normal.”

“I don't know what to tell you.” Jason shrugged. “That's just when I knew.”

“Romantic epiphanies are dope,” Cass declared.

“Thank you, Cass,” Jason huffed, looking towards everyone else expectantly. “They are dope.”

Stephanie then let out a squeal. “I'm so happy you two are getting married! You’re made for each other!”

Y/n laughed joyously and turned to Jason. “Oh my god, we're getting married.”

“We're getting married!” he repeated, grinning and kissing her squarely on the lips.

“And no one won the heist,” Wayne declared.

“Captain!”

[gilverrwrites]

Sionis!Reader with Jason is a genre handcrafted by a fanfic deity, but Sionis!Reader who is classmates paired together on a project to unlikely friends to lovers with Tim Drake is untapped potential

Callin’ you captain, 'cause you've got one hell of a hook, boo!

But if I may add one thing: Sionis!Reader who actually has a moderately decent relationship with their pops, so they were raised with a chip on her shoulder, especially when it comes to the Wayne family. Thus; academic rivals to lovers/academic rivals to unlikely friends to lovers.

Excuse me while I do some yapping:

Tims always thought you were cute, if a bit annoying. Always trying, often succeeding to one-up him at any chance, to get a higher grade, to be a class rep or group leader, checking out books from the library before he gets a chance. But for you it's personal. It's ingrained deep in your bones to hate him and his swoopy hair, and his pretty eyes, and his cheeky laugh.

You hate the way he quietly contradicts your statements during lectures, hate his hushed tone as you whisper-argue over it until you get told off.

You even hate the way he rides to classes on that damn skateboard, and how his posture makes his dumb butt look cute.

So when you’re paired together on an important assignment it’s like your world is crumbling, how can you trust him? God, your dads gonna be pissed and sneaking him around is only gonna cause stress which will affect your ability to work.

Basically, you’re expecting the worst.

Which is why it’s so darn surprising when you actually enjoy his company. Confusing even, it goes against everything you believe but he’s actually, nice? Fun?

You stop arguing about who’s wrong during that one class, instead bitching about the professor you both dislike instead.

It takes a while to compromise, but eventually, you find a way to evenly split the workload. For the first few weeks, you take it upon yourself to secretly do his half of the work anyway, but that stops after he impresses you by consistently delivering week after week.

You’re a little harsh in your feedback but he only bites back when you go too far, and eventually, he coaxes an apology from you for being intentionally overly critical. When he doesn’t lord that over you, you start to relax around him.

Sneaking around turns out to be kind of exhilarating, actually. He’s like forbidden fruit. Well, if the forbidden fruit was studying and Eve had to eat the fruit in order to stay in the Garden of Eden. Certainly not any other interpretation of that story.

And he’s pretty flexible about meeting you in places your dad won’t find out about, so long as it’s before sundown. A few times he surprises you by throwing rocks at your window in the middle of the night like he’s John Cusack or some shit just to swap notes and tell you about his latest idea. You’d never tell him but once you got over your paranoia, you actually kind of enjoyed your late nights together.

There’s still witty banter too, you still act like you’re adversaries a lot of the time, but by the end of it, there’s no venom behind your snide remarks. It’s like your inside way of showing affection.

Although he does keep borrowing all your pens and never returning them which is infuriating, but endearingly so. Not that you’d ever tell him that.

When you get your joint grade back on the final submission,obviously you get full marks. You’re not sure what comes over you, but when you find out you pull him in for a tight hug, his hands linger on your hips a little to long, your eyes are drawn to his lips until he speaks;

“So… are we friends now?”

“No.” Embarrassed, you pull back, pushing on his shoulders despite your waists still being joined.

“Oh, well, good. That means it’s okay if I kiss you then.”

“What?! Why would that be okay!?”

“Cause you so clearly want me to kiss you, and doing so won’t ruin our nonexistent friendship.”

You're dad is not gonna like this, but really Tim’s not so bad. Your dad will have to understand. He can’t honestly be mad at Tim for the sins of his adoptive father, right?

[onceonafullmoon]

Convos With Rin

Rin x Gn! Reader

No warnings! Just pure fluff, also you can ignore the last 2 lines if you want to read this as platonic!

Aka: maladaptive daydreams by yours truly that I cleaned up and formatted. Part 2 here

“Sometimes I wonder if the idealized, romanticized version of relationships I’ve built up in my head are subconsciously affecting my navigation in reality.”

“What?” Rin asks, rolling over from where he lies on his bed to look at you, his teal eyes switching from his phone to glance over at you.

“Sorry, that was word vomit.” You say waving a hand dismissively before speaking again. “It’s just… I mean that I wonder if my expectations of romantic relationships have been distorted because of all the media I consume. And I wonder if that would ruin any chance I have of a healthy relationship.”

You absentmindedly start fiddling with your fingers as you speak.

“Like, for example dating sims, every love interest is over possessive and jealous, and that’s fine, cause it’s a fantasy. And obviously it’s not endorsed in real life, because if you date someone who foams at the mouth every time you look at another man, you’ll have issues. But… sometimes I wonder if I’ll think back to those dumb games when I’m in a relationship and choose something unhealthy for myself.”

A comfortable silence lapses after your ramblings and you wait patiently for your best friend's response.

“…you sure do think a lot more than I expected.” He says after a while and you can’t help but roll your eyes.

“Wow thanks.” You drone out. “You know what? I’d rather you have just flipped me off and called me a dumbass than whatever attempt of a compliment that was.”

“Didn’t mean it like that, I meant that I’d never once thought about that.” He says cooly, in a way that makes you unfairly jealous of his demeanor.

“Yeah? Well, I’m not surprised. Your brain is composed of 50% football and the other half is basic motor skills. I doubt you’ve even thought of anything outside of that.”

“…not true.”

“Oh yeah, you’re right. Somewhere, squeezed between the cracks of those key areas, is your vast knowledge of horror trivia.” You joke, your eyes darting over his sprawled form.

“…” He hesitates to respond before muttering out. “That’s not what I meant.”

“What’d you mean then?”

“…nothing, never mind.”

“Oh boo, you whore.” You scoff, sitting up in his desk chair to devote your attention to him. “Come on tell meeee! I tell you everything… well, almost everything but— nonetheless…”

He glares but you simply smile at him before waiting eagerly for him to finally loosen his tongue and spill whatever he has locked away from you.

And maybe deep down he knows that there’s no winning against you because he ends up opening his mouth to speak.

“I…I think about romance sometimes.” He eventually admits, his eyes darting back to his phone in embarrassment.

“Oho?” You straighten up further, a goading grin on your face much to his annoyance. “Our little Rinrin is growing up!”

“Fuck you, this is why I don’t tell you shit.”

“Aww come on, I won’t tease you anymore I promise! Please tell me more!” You practically beg, looking at him with prying eyes.

“This is lame.” Rin scoffs.

“You’re lame! Romance is perfectly natural. Anyways, is this a crush? A passing fantasy?”

“Why do you care so much?”

“I live vicariously through my friends’ love lives, now spillll!” You say, dragging out the last syllable deliberately to piss him off.

“I’m not having this conversation with you.”

“Why not?” You say a pout on your lips.

“Because you’re annoying and you’re only asking to make fun of me.”

“What? Me?” You gasp out in faux surprise. “Never, could I ever make fun of you, after all you’re my dearest most important–”

“Save it.” He cuts you off, content to ignore you now, engrossed in his phone.

“Kill joy… I’ll get it out of you one of these days.” You say darkly before leaning back to sulk in his chair.

“Over my dead body.” He mutters, but if you looked over to him again, you’d see the tell tale way his gaze fell back to you.

Unfortunately for you, Rin’s crush would stay a secret for just a little while longer.

[gaybananabread]

For the TT prompts, how about Lee!Miguel and any ler for day 5 or Ler!Peter B. with any lee for day 24?

TickleTober Day 5 - Boo!

~I can’t believe I haven’t written anything for Lyla yet! Really wanted to do the “lee mood spook” trope with Miggy; our AI gal was the perfect candidate! Got back into writing after a particularly bad slump with this one, so hopefully it’s okay. Thank you for requesting; have a happy spooky season!~

Lee: Miguel O’Hara

Ler: Lyla

Summary: Miguel is having one of his famous “I’m not in a lee mood” lee moods. After spooking him and catching on, Lyla decides to give her boss/bestie a hand…or eight.

Warnings: none! This is a tickle fic, so if you don’t like that, scroll away!!

Miguel was a closed-off man, to say the least. Few ever knew what was going on in his head, and those who did only knew what he wanted to reveal, which was never much.

Most of the time, that was how Miguel liked it; in a place where everyone had the same base traumas and sad backstories, it was nice to keep some air of mysterious individuality. Other times, he wished people could tell when he needed things… Not that he’d ever tell them, of course. He could handle himself, with or without support.

It was when a very specific problem arose that he started to second-guess himself.

The irritable Spider-Man had woken up feeling oddly giddy, a fluttery feeling in his chest. He craved a certain, very embarrassing touch. While he wished one of the other spiders would help him, there was no way in hell he was gonna tell anyone about his predicament.

That’s how he ended up in his office, door locked, scrolling through the fluffier side of the internet to try and deal with his mood in the most indirect way possible. The teasing audios, blurbs, and sketches were sort-of helping, allowing him to let out a giggle or two and relieve a bit of the giddy pressure in his chest.

He was fully absorbed into a short tease, squirming a bit as he read each word. The man imagined everything mentioned happening to him: the squeezes, the nibbles, the stupid teases, the affection in it all… He didn’t even think to check and see what Lyla was up to.

Turns out, she was up to terrorizing him.

“BOO!”

Letting out a sound he wasn’t proud of, Miguel jumped, immediately closing his floating screens. He did his best to glare at the holographic woman, but the blush on his cheeks dampened the effect. Lyla noticed almost immediately.

“Wait, are you blushing? Aww, Miggs, no need to be embarrassed! Everyone gets spooked sometimes.” She teased him, zipping over to float above his shoulder.

Thanks to Miguel’s need to overachieve with tech, Lyla had the capability to “touch” things when she wanted to; he’d spent months developing that part of her base code. So, when she playfully poked his ear, he felt every bit of the slightly sparky contact.

“Grk- LYLA! W-what have I told you about disturbing me when the door is locked?!” Miguel tried to scold her, sounding like a disgruntled father. She just rolled her eyes, a small scoff leaving her tiny mouth.

“Oh, c’mon. I made sure you weren’t doing anything important! The website you were on wasn’t naughty or marked as admin, just-” Lyla paused, her digital brows furrowing at the URL specifics. “Tumblr? Why were you on Tumblr?”

“I was…checking some potential members’ digital footprints,” he lied, struggling to stay still and stoic. Her attention made him squirmy, but he couldn’t busy his hands with the screens; if he tried, the very teasy post he was viewing would be on full display for the digital menace.

“Since when are we stalking new members?” She rolled her eyes, obviously not believing the man. Floating up high above his head, she checked his screen specifics.

“It can't be that- oh.” Lyla paused when she read the post, her digital eyes widening for a moment. It was…very specific, to say the least.

Miguel pinched his temples and groaned at her realization. How could he have been so careless as to forget Lyla could just check his browser whenever she felt like it?

“Are you in a…lee mood?” Lyla tried the words out, trying to understand what was going on with her boss. It wasn't the first time someone in the Society had the liking for those things, but it was the first she'd heard of it from him.

“Cállate, Lyla.” He was being a bit nasty, but Miguel was embarrassed, ashamed, and flustered all at once. How could she just ask that so casually?! It felt like an attack, though he knew it wasn't.

The sentient AI was at a crossroads then. She could have backed off, surrendered, and left Miguel to be a moody little shit-fuck. Or. She could deal with his mood head-on and get him to quit being such a jerk. It was an obvious choice.

“Shut up? Really, Miguel? To think I was trying to be nice to you.” Rolling her eyes in mock anger, she jabbed his side. Sure enough, he growled, swiping a claw at her; it went right through her, of course.

“Lyla, I swear, if you even-”

Before he could finish his empty threat, Lyla attacked. The three-inch tangible hologram zapped behind his head, fluttering all ten of her fingers against the back of his neck.

Miguel squeaked, jerking his shoulders upwards to try and protect his neck. Lyla pursued the sound, using her digital body to her advantage to avoid his claws while still tickling him.

“L-Lyla! Gehet away from me, now!” He tried to growl at his assistant, but the underlying giggles took away the venom in the sound. The giddy feeling in his chest swelled, a blush settling on his cheeks.

“You don’t really want that, do you, Migs?” Lyla teased, moving to scribble along the backs of Miguel’s ribs. Arching his back, he swiped at her, a strangled laugh catching in his throat. It was taking everything he had not to laugh or giggle, but her insistent, unstoppable scribbling was driving him crazy.

“Yes I dohoho!” He cursed the giggles that slipped out, hugging his ribs in an attempt to hide from her evil fingers. While he did want to be tickled, he preferred not to give her any more teasing ammo against him; Lyla was evil enough as it was.

While she was enjoying his attempts at stoicism, Lyla was after a more audible response. She could only reach so far with her small hands… Unless she got more, that is.

Backing off for just a second, the AI made a few copies of herself. She hadn’t used the feature since Miles’s grand escape, since it took quite a bit of focus to maintain. That just seemed like the perfect time to abuse her power.

The man’s eyes widened, filling with subtle excitement before narrowing dangerously. “Lyla, I swear, if you so much as think about touching me-”

Forty little wiggling fingers cut off Miguel's empty threat, a strangled squeal warbling in his throat. Staggering, he gripped the edge of his desk console hard enough to leave claw marks, unable to repress his reactions any longer.

“L-LYHYLAHAHAHA!”

There were ten fingers on the backs of his ribs, ten on his neck, ten on each hip, and ten alternating between his two ears. He did his best to try and grab her little projections, but she was purposefully sticking to his blind spots.

Miguel was in contradictory hell. On one hand, the fluttery feeling was being acknowledged, swelling in his chest quite pleasantly as she tickled him.

On the other hand, it was so fucking embarrassing; he was at his weakest when he was being tickled, much less in the workplace. Where anyone could walk in on them. It made him nervous in the most giddy way.

“What’s wrong, boss? Ticklish?” Okay, maybe she was pushing her luck, but c’mon! Miguel was such a hardass; it was nice to see him laugh so freely, especially when he was enjoying himself.

“SHUHUHAHAT UHUHAHAP!” Miguel pretty much lost it, stumbling back to lean against his desk as he laughed. It was hard to focus on anything but the tickles; he wasn’t sure he wanted to try anyway.

While Lyla would’ve been willing to carry on the silly moment, a motion sensor alerted her of an incoming spider: Hobie Brown. He probably would’ve just found the scene amusing, but she didn’t want to push Miguel’s boundaries.

At a moment’s notice, two of the copies glitched out of the air. Her main form went to greet the punk while the other hung back to rub each side of Miguel’s neck soothingly; it was the closest she could give to a calming back rub.

Miguel clamped a hand over his mouth, muffling the leftover giggles that streamed out of his mouth. He was about to ask why she stopped when he heard the door to his office slide open. A warm glow of appreciation swelled in his chest when he heard Lyla help and politely redirect the teen elsewhere. Lyla truly was a good friend, if a touch evil.

Once Hobie was gone, Lyla focused her efforts fully back on Miguel. “You okay, boss? Need me to request anything from the cafeteria?”

“I’m fine…” He grumbled the words into his palm, trying to hide his affection for her. The lack of annoyance in his tone told her everything she needed to know. The tickles helped, whether he would tell her that or not.

“Good. And hey, if you ever need a good giggle again, I’ll always be here~” She teased him, dragging one digitally manicured nail up the back of his neck. The squeak her action received was worth his glare.

“If you don’t stop talking, you’re gonna be filing new medical records all weekend.” Miguel’s growl was hardly up to par with its usual menace, giving him away. He couldn’t help it; having that lee mood dealt with, while quick and embarrassing, put him in a good mood.

“Sure, sure. I’m gonna go scan in the latest mission reports; see ya later, Miggs!” With a knowing smirk, she blipped from the room, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

That was…fuck. He felt lighter, a small smile tugging at his lips; in the privacy of his office, he let it come. While there was no way in hell he’d ever live it down, he was glad to have someone to help. Even if that someone was an evil little sass queen.

He closed the inciting Tumblr page and got back to work. The thought of later giggles and teasing conversations kept a small, manageably happy grin on his face for the rest of the day. Maybe some secrets were worth sharing.

[zamoimagines]

Women of Abbott Elementary Having a Crush on You (Headcanons)

A/N: I hope I did these ladies some justice because I love them all very dearly. If you guys would like more Abbott content, please let me know! Headcanons are under the cut

Ava Coleman

✧･ﾟ The most obviously flirtatious out of everyone here 

✧･ﾟThe moment she sees you, she knows you’re fine and she wants a piece of you

✧･ﾟ And whatever Ava Coleman wants, she gets 

✧･ﾟShe’d come to the teacher’s lounge every morning just to say good morning and tease you

✧･ﾟGregory Eddie who? 

✧･ﾟEver since you got to the school, any time he speaks when you’re in the room she completely ignores him or tells him to be quiet 

✧･ﾟCalls you a whole bunch of nicknames like baby girl, princess, sugar boo, etc

✧･ﾟWhen you walk away, she’s always staring off after you and proceeds to tell the rest of the staff how gorgeous you are 

✧･ﾟIt gets annoying and uncomfortable for them when she’s constantly like “I hate to see her leave but i love watching her walk away. That body was blessed by Beyonce herself, damn.”

✧･ﾟYou become the first person to know any of her shenanigans 

✧･ﾟAlways calls you into her office and says it’s important, but really she just wants your opinions on her amazon orders 

✧･ﾟLittle do you know she’s just keeping tabs on what you like so she can shower you in surprise gifts here and there 

✧･ﾟYou catch little moments of her being really genuine, and while she’d usually brush them off with the others, she lets them linger when she’s with you

✧･ﾟThat’s how you know she’s got it bad for you, when she breaks that composure and shows you the vulnerability that she doesn’t let anyone else see 

✧･ﾟWhen she catches on that you’re into her just as much, she definitely doesn’t see a point in waiting anymore 

✧･ﾟNo one’s around when she asks and she definitely hovers over you when she asks you out

✧･ﾟMaybe leaning up against the door frame/wall with one arm up to make sure you don’t run off, or she circles you like a vulture- anything to make sure you stay right where she wants you 

✧･ﾟ“Look, baby, you know we got this Kate/Leo Titanic thing going on. Let me take you out. We can see where this goes.” 

✧･ﾟIn which she takes you on the date of a LIFETIME, the rest is history

Barbara Howard

✧･ﾟBarbara Howard is a lady of class. She takes her time with things, even if she wants something very badly 

✧･ﾟBut with that, she wants to make sure that she does everything *right* and with precision 

✧･ﾟWhen you started working, she didn’t seem to notice you much. She made sure to be polite and endearing when she needed to be, but nothing more than that 

✧･ﾟThen, you started making light conversation. You’d even made her laugh a few times, and when you got her on a tangent about gardening or about her favorite music, she noticed something change 

✧･ﾟShe certainly looked at you different and she was sure that she liked you much more now than most of the teachers, maybe as much as she liked Melissa

✧･ﾟSo much so that she started to invite you to sit at her lunch table, and she’d make sure to stop by your room every afternoon to check on you while her students were at recess

✧･ﾟPeople knew it was serious when she went out of her way to do so

✧･ﾟEveryone whispered and drew their theories, but Melissa would be the one to ask in which Barbara Howard would admit… Yes, she liked you more than a coworker.

✧･ﾟWhen she’d realized even more what she liked about you, her affection grew stronger and she started doing little things for you like giving advice on how to deal with difficult children, offering you a hug here and there whenever you needed one, offering to join her during her nail appointments between school hours if you were feeling particularly overwhelmed, and there were even a few times that she’d stood up to people for you that caught the others and yourself completely off guard 

✧･ﾟAnd every time that happened, she’d turn right around and that hard exterior would melt. She’d immediately go soft for you and make sure you were okay and that you weren’t hurt

✧･ﾟBarbara would really wanna tell you at the absolute perfect time, but of course, life doesn’t really work out that way

✧･ﾟShe’d probably save it for something big, like at the Christmas party she and Melissa always have together and she’s even planning it so that it really really means something 

✧･ﾟBut it definitely would just go completely wrong and there would be plenty of mishaps that would get her frustrated enough to retreat back into her room 

✧･ﾟIn which you’d seek her out and knock on her door to ask her what was wrong 

✧･ﾟShe’d close the door behind you and the lights would be dim since it was after school hours and she’d reach for your hand very delicately to say, 

✧･ﾟ“Y/N… Sweetheart, I- I like you very much. And in more than a professional coworker way. You are everything I’ve been looking for, and I’d like to take you out to dinner sometime.” There would definitely be a moment of silence between the two of you before she’d start second guessing herself once again and say, “I’m very sorry if I’ve crossed any boundaries. I should’ve never said anything at all.” 

✧･ﾟYou’d have to tell her that you liked her too almost immediately or else the whole thing would be called off. When you did admit your feelings, though, she’d smile very softly and hold you closer, maybe she’d even give you a very soft kiss to your cheek 

✧･ﾟShe wouldn’t even ask you where you wanted to go or what to do because she has had the perfect date planned out for MONTHS, but you’d love it regardless. Barbara Howard knows exactly how to make things perfect always.

Janine Teagues

✧･ﾟSweet baby angel Janine is so obvious when she has a crush

✧･ﾟSeriously, the minute she first saw you she was like *heart eyes motherfucker* 

✧･ﾟShe’d be really sweet and would be the first to welcome you to Abbott, and would probably ramble your ear off about the other teachers, advice to deal with the students, and then would have a whole bunch of questions about you 

✧･ﾟShe’s like the personification of sunshine whenever she sees you and it’s adorable 

✧･ﾟEvery morning, she’d make sure to say hello to you and would hype you up like

✧･ﾟ“We’re gonna have a great day today, Y/N!” and would try to high five you 

✧･ﾟLots of unintentional innuendos when she’s trying to be wholesome, to which she’ll listen to herself and then immediately be like “I didn’t- Ya know what, I gotta go-” 

✧･ﾟAlways sits next to you at lunch and tells you everything that’s going on with her day

✧･ﾟAnd vice versa, she’d listen to everything going on in your world and offer you support and validation because to her, you deserve every last bit of it 

✧･ﾟWhen Melissa had her over for cooking lessons, she’d bring you leftovers from the next day because she’s always thinking about things she can do for you 

✧･ﾟJacob would finally be the one to tell her she needed to go for it, and she’d be incredibly nervous to tell you (as if you don’t already know) 

✧･ﾟShe’d probably find you walking out at the end of the day and would pull you aside right out of the school and say something like 

✧･ﾟ“Okay- Okay, this is scary and weird, but I’m just gonna do it, okay?” She’d take a deep breath and very quickly admit, “I like you a lot, Y/N. And it’s okay if you don’t like me back- We can just stay friends! I don’t want to ruin everything we have, but I also can’t ignore that I really *really* like you a lot, I’m just really sorry if that’s weird or overbearing-” 

✧･ﾟTo which you would cut her off and admit that you liked her too

✧･ﾟShe’d give you the BIGGEST, prettiest and goofiest smile you’d ever seen her wear in all the time you’d known her 

✧･ﾟDefinitely would be kinda awkward because she wasn’t expecting to get this far, but she’d make sure to plan a very cute, personal date with you full of the fluffiest romance 

Melissa Schemmenti

✧･ﾟWhere to begin with Melissa Schemmenti 

✧･ﾟWhen she likes someone, she knows it and she has every intention of winning them over. Out of all the women (even Ava), Melissa has the absolute most game 

✧･ﾟThe moment you arrive she knows that she thinks you're cute. It only gets better the longer she talks to you and the more she gets to know you 

✧･ﾟDefinitely calls you little pet names like “hon”, “sweetheart”, “angel”, the works

✧･ﾟShe’d always be knocking on your door during her breaks and invade your classroom while you were teaching, just smiling ear to ear to see you in your element with the kids 

✧･ﾟShe’d also wait for you in the halls before classes, before breaks, and before it was time for the end of the day. She always insists on walking you out to your car to make sure no one tries any funny business with you 

✧･ﾟWhenever she got her fancy latte in the morning, she’d always bring you one just to cheer you up 

✧･ﾟAnd any time you were having a hard day, she’d be the first to find you to offer you comfort. Sometimes that meant telling you a weird Schemmenti family story that sounded unreal, other times it was cute joke, and when it was dire, she’d make sure to offer you sweet words of affection and try to let you know how wonderful you are to build you right back up 

✧･ﾟPeople would know it was getting real because Melissa would absolutely start getting territorial over you 

✧･ﾟIf someone so much as breathed around you and it *seemed* like they were interested, she’d start that growling and pacing back and forth like a menacing linebacker 

✧･ﾟIt would get to a point where she couldn’t take it anymore knowing that you weren’t officially hers that she’d find you after everyone was gone from school, maybe in your classroom once Mr. Johnson left for the day

✧･ﾟYou’d ask her what was wrong and she wouldn’t waste any time making her way right up to you and kissing you right on the lips, caressing over your hair sweetly just to drive it home even more 

✧･ﾟShe’d say something like “I like you. I like you a lot, actually, and I think you should come to my place for dinner this week… If you’re interested.” 

✧･ﾟAnd how could you say no to her after a kiss like that? FIND MORE GAY SHIT HERE

[waitmyturtles]

Final Thoughts on The Trainee! (TL;DR That Last 4/4 Quarter Was a Major Fumble, But It Didn't Ruin the Whole Show For Me)

I had promised my friends @lurkingshan and @shortpplfedup that I honestly wouldn't write too much about The Trainee while it was airing, because I was mad sus about the crew of this show. Many of the crew of The Trainee had worked on an ill-fated GMMTV het drama called UMG, which aired last year, and which starred Nanon Korapat, Namtan Tipnaree, and Milk Pansa in an unfortunate, chemistry-devoid love triangle. It was a flop and I never finished it.

I had thought to think about where this crew came from about four episodes into The Trainee, when I realized that the MO of this series was to center not Ryan's and Jane's budding romance, but the inner workings of an office, and the infrastructures of making filmed content instead.

UMG was framed in a similar way. While the show struggled to contextualize romance among its characters, the center of each episode was actually about describing concepts regarding extraterrestrial life -- things like crop circles and whatever. (There were aliens in this show.) (Dammit, I can't find a gif of the aliens!) (Here's Milk with some boogie eyes instead, whatever.)

As @lurkingshan wrote often during her watch of the series, The Trainee was ultimately a workplace BL, and I'd add to that that it was meant to serve as an educational series to GMMTV's unique audience. I wondered, early on in The Trainee, if I was just too damn old, as a working professional, to be an audience to this show. GMMTV's audience, of course, skews Gen Z and maybe very-late millennial -- GMMTV's shows are equivalent to shows airing on MTV or The CW by way of its majority audience market.

I certainly had a lot of experience by way of how interpersonal relationships mostly played out in this series (although I reeeeeally needed Judy to acknowledge her kissing Ba-Mhee and to talk about it, the way Jane acknowledged the power gap between him and Ryan after they started dating).

But, honestly? I ended up LOVING the breakdowns of how creating filmed content works, especially in regards to how viscerally and intensely these concepts were depicted.

And The Trainee stepped into some other territory, y'all! Many of us had intense discussions regarding bisexual inclusion and erasure once Tae and Ba-Mhee got back together. These concepts are sophisticated and important to ruminate on -- again, especially for a younger audience being fed most binary male-male and female-female queer media and concepts by a giant like GMMTV, which makes a ton of money on branding same-sex actors together. Queerness has a lot of spectrums, and bi inclusion was something I was glad this series unexpectedly took on.

So, against all this good stuff, that last 4/4 quarter sucked. I felt terrible for Ryan's 20-something hormones. Jane went to get a masters', and didn't even *call* his.... his boo? (Ryan wasn't Jane's boyfriend, obviously, maybe we could call Ryan his crush, his boo-boo, whatever.) Like. Jane didn't even come back to Thailand to visit, ever? Come awn now. If a show is feeding realism to a young audience by way of how corporate workplaces work, and how the art of an industry is made, at least please make the final romance a little more realistic!

(All y'all 20-somethings who were watching this show and wondering if you should wait five years for a potential boo to come back from overseas, please listen to your auntie here, GO DATE OTHER PEOPLE. Don't be like Ryan. Focus on *YOUR* NEEDS. This has been your reality-based PSA.)

But the rest of the finale was lovely for me. Jo, to me, was a realistic boss. He had a priority in keeping on Jane as an assistant director, because Jane was a great assistant director, and served well in that role, which served well for Jo's company. When Jane expressed an interest in growing, Jo knew that Jane couldn't do it in Jo's shadow -- and Jo said so. Jane taking a risk to LEAVE is a kind of risk I've had to confront time and time again in my own career, as I grew out of a workplace, and grew out of what that workplace was demanding of me. It's a wonderful notion for young people to contemplate on -- that movement in one's career must be first and foremost driven by the individual themself, for the sake of their own accountability to their growth.

I was thrilled to see Sea Tawinan in them white pants Ba-Mhee and Tae's engagement, Tae setting guardrails for himself to focus more on Ba-Mhee, and omg Pie's and Ba-Mhee's breakdown had me howling. Poon's a new fave as well. The Trainee confirmed my continued deep love and appreciation for Piploy, I think she's cute and great-great.

I truly enjoyed this show. The crew ultimately de-centralized romance for most of the show to focus on how work lives and personal lives realistically intertwine. We are the same people at work as we are at home, with all of the messiness we bring to those tables, including unrecommended romances that may traverse age and power gaps. Things can get messy, but I think, other than the whole Judy thing and Jane ghosting Ryan for years (wtf man), The Trainee handled that messiness with empathy for the young people who did a lot of growing up during the course of this series.

[de-sterren-nacht]

The Fae of the British Lostbelt

This is gonna be a long one, so strap in.

The fae and other creatures of the British Lostbelt take heavy inspiration from real-life legends; almost every major character is named after a type of fairy or mystical creature from British folklore. Many of these names are not English; I've added a pronunciation guide for these in brackets after the word. In this post, I'll go over the beings and concepts these characters are named for and compare the legend to the original. This won't include Morgan or Oberon; those figures are complex enough to deserve posts of their own.

Aesc [ASH]

Aesc is more accurately spelled Æsc. It's an Old English word for the ash tree, and also doubles as the word for the rune for the letter Æ. This is pretty much a direct translation into Old English of Aesc's Japanese name, Tonelico (トネリコ), a word meaning "ash tree".

Albion

Albion is a poetic name for the island of Britain, from Greek Albiōn (Ἀλβίων), the name used by classical geographers to describe an island believed to be Britain. The name probably means "white place", which is how it's connected to the Albion of Fate. The Albion of Fate is the White Dragon, a symbol of the Saxons from a Welsh legend. In the most well-known version of the legend, the King of the Britons at the time, Vortigern, was trying to build a castle on top of a hill in Wales to defend against the invading Saxons, but everything he tried to build collapsed. He was told by his court wizard to find a young boy with no father and sacrifice him atop the hill to alleviate the curse. He sent his soldiers out and found a boy being teased for being fatherless, but when he brought the boy to the hill, the boy, a young Merlin, told him that his court wizard was a fool and that the real reason for the collapsing castle was two dragons inside the hill, one red and one white, locked in battle. The red dragon represented the Britons, and the white dragon represented the Saxons. Merlin told Vortigern that nothing could be built on the hill until the red dragon killed the white one. A red dragon is the symbol of Wales to this day, and a white dragon is occasionally used in Welsh poetry to negatively represent England. This white dragon is Albion in Type/Moon lore.

Baobhan Sìth [bah-VAHN shee]

A baobhan sìth is a female fairy in Scottish folklore. The name literally means "fairy woman" in Scottish Gaelic. They appear as a beautiful woman and seduce hunters traveling late at night so that they can kill and eat them, or drink their blood depending on the story. They're unrelated to banshees except in terms of etymology (Banshee is from Old Irish "ben síde", meaning the same thing as baobhan sìth). They're often depicted with deer hooves instead of feet, which is probably what inspired Baobhan Sìth's love of shoes.

Barghest

In the folklore of Northern England, a barghest is a monstrous black dog with fiery eyes teeth and claws the size of a bear's. The name probably derives from "burh-ghest", or "town-ghost". It was often said to appear as an omen of death, and was followed by the sound of rattling chains. The rattling chains probably inspired Barghest's chains. Her fire powers are also obviously based on the fiery eyes of the barghest. Otherwise, she's not very connected to the folkloric barghest, which is never associated with hunger or eating humans.

Boggart

In English folklore, a boggart is either a malevolent household spirit or a malevolent creature inhabiting a field, a marsh, a hill, a forest clearing, etc. The term is related to the terms bugbear and bogeyman, all originally from Middle English bugge, or possibly Welsh bwg [BOOG] or bwca [BOO-cuh], all words for a goblin-like monster. It usually resembled a satyr. It's not really ever depicted with lion features, so it's anyone's guess why Boggart is a lion-man.

Cernunnos [ker-NOON-ahs]

Cernunnos, probably meaning "horned one", was an important pre-Roman Celtic god. His existence is only attested by fragmentary inscriptions and the repeated motif in Celtic religious art of a "horned god", a humanoid figure with deer antlers seated cross-legged. This fragmentary evidence is often led to assume that Cernunnos was a god of nature, wilderness, animals and fertility. There exists no evidence that Cernunnos was a chief deity of any kind, since we have barely any evidence he existed at all in the first place. Cernunnos might not even be his name; it's just the only name we have. Needless to say, the only thing the Cernunnos in the British Lostbelt has in common with the real figure is his large antlers.

Cnoc na Riabh [kuh-nock-nuh-REE-uh]

Cnoc na Riabh, Knocknarea in English, is a hill in Sligo in Ireland. The name means "hill of the stripes", referring to its striking limestone cliffs. It's said to be the location where Medb's tomb lies, so it's connected to Cnoc na Riabh through Fate's conflation of Medb with Queen Mab, a fairy mentioned in Romeo and Juliet; this etymology of Mab as derived from Medb was formerly accepted, but has lost favour with the advent of modern Celtic studies due to the lack of any concrete connection between the two figures.

Grímr (don't know how to say this one, apologies; Germanic myth is not my strong suit)

Odin (Wōden in Old English) was a god worshiped in many places, basically anywhere the Germanic peoples went, including the Anglo-Saxons that became today's English people. As such a widely worshiped god, he had a very large number of names, titles and epithets. Grímr is one such name, literally meaning "mask", referring to Odin's frequent usage of disguises in myths, which is fitting for how Cú disguised himself as a faerie in the British Lostbelt and hid that he possessed Odin's Divinity from Chaldea.

Habetrot

Habetrot is a figure from Northern England and the Scottish Lowlands, depicted as a disfigured elderly woman who sewed for a living and lived underground with other disfigured spinsters. She often spun wedding gowns for brides. Cloth spun by her was said to have curative and apotropaic properties. All the Habetrot of the British Lostbelt has in common with this figure is the association with brides and with spinning cloth. "Totorot" is not a real figure; the name is just an obvious tweak of Habetrot.

Mélusine

Mélusine is a figure that appears in folklore all across Europe. The name probably derives from Latin "melus", meaning "pleasant". She's a female spirit of water with the body of a beautiful woman from the waist up, and the body of a serpent or a fish from the waist down. In most stories, she falls in love with a human man and bears his children, using magic to conceal her inhuman nature. However, she tells her lover he must never look upon her when she is bathing or giving birth. Of course, he invariably does so, and when he does, he discovers her serpentine lower body, and she leaves, taking their children with her. Since Mélusine is just the name Aurora gave her, the Mélusine of the British Lostbelt has very little to do with this figure, but an analogy can be drawn between the Mélusine of folklore hiding her true form as a half-serpent to maintain her relationship with her lover, and Fate's Mélusine suppressing her true form as both a dragon and an undifferentiated mass of cells to ensure Aurora continues to love her.

Muryan [MUR-yan]

A muryan is a rather obscure Cornish fairy. The word is Cornish for "ant". Muryans are diminutive figures with shapechanging abilities, cursed to grow smaller every time they use those abilities until they eventually vanish altogether. Muryan, of course, is connected to muryans through her ability to shrink others.

Spriggan [SPRID-jan]

A spriggan is a type of creature in Cornish folklore. The word is derived from the Cornish word "spyryjyon" [same pronunciation], the plural of "spyrys", meaning "fairy". They're usually grotesque old men with incredible strength and incredibly malicious dispositions, and are often depicted guarding buried treasure. Spriggan is not himself a faerie, and the name is stolen from a faerie he killed, but it's still appropriate due to the greed and selfishness spriggans are usually depicted with.

Woodwose

Woodwose is a Middle English term for the wild man, a motif in European art comparable to the satyr or faun. The etymology is unclear. It has little to do with wolves or animals, despite its association with wildness, but there is at least a thematic connection with Woodwose's character, since the archetype of the wild man depicts a figure who cannot be civilised or well-mannered no matter how hard he tries, much like how Woodwose barely restrains his temper by being a vegetarian and dressing in a fine suit. Woodwose's predecessor, Wryneck, is named for a type of woodpecker with the ability to rotate its neck almost 180°.

[lilislegacy]

i saw your post about percy and annabeth kiss in boo and how you think it’s ridiculous that people think percy and annabeth are better as friends. well guess what? i’m one of those people. i hate how the main male and female leads are always forced together and that’s exactly what riordan did too. percy and annabeth would have been so much stronger if they had stayed this super amazing platonic friendship where everyone thinks they are going to date but they are like nah we just besties. and i think seeing that is a lot more powerful than just another badly written teenage romance. their chemistry feels forced and unauthentic, they obviously get annoyed with each other way too easily to be in a relationship, and they become dangerously co-dependent. and fine, maybe they would date for a few years since everyone would make them feel like that’s what they are supposed to do. but then i think they would realize that they are better off as friends and don’t actually have romantic attraction for each other. and that’s exactly what i think would happen if the author was true to their characters and not just writing for himself. but honestly i think there is a solid chance that they are both asexual, which there is a TON of evidence of, and wouldn’t even want to date in the first place. so sorry not sorry but percy and annabeth are definitely better as friends, and the people who don’t get strangely obsessed and attached to a basic and forced romantic pairing can see all the evidence in the books as to why.

ok this has been sitting in my inbox for a bit. i have almost answered it in several different ways, one being just saying “that’s an opinion!” but i think im just going to react to it honestly.

you have every right to believe whatever you want to believe. your imagination is your own. go crazy. or don’t. but it’s your own opinion and you have every right to have it.

however, to openly claim that the author isn’t staying true to their characters is not your right, because he is the one who invented them. they are his creations, so he’s actually the only one who knows exactly what’s right for them. the characters are based off of him and his wife who he has been married to for many many years - who are still very much in love with each other to this day - so i think percy and annabeth are actually one of the most authentic romantic pairings of all time. i am sorry that you don’t pick up on their naturally written chemistry and attraction for each other, because i think it’s a very important part of the story. it’s a very important part of their characters and their actions.

and you are absolutely right about one thing: they are best friends and love each other very much in a platonic way, and we DO see that a lot! it’s very clear that they are best friends first, and have that as a strong foundation. but they also have more there. they have strong romantic, and some implied sexual, feelings on top of it. and that’s okay too. it’s possible to have both a strong friendship and a passionate romance. that’s what makes them such an incredible pairing, in my opinion. they grow together. they start off as platonic friends and turn into young adults who are very much in love. it’s very natural, especially given everything they go through together.

so you can totally hc them as being just friends. thats okay! but i don’t think it’s okay to call other people wrong or blind or “strangely obsessed and attached” for believing in a romantic pairing that is very much supposed to be romantic.

thank you for the ask. have a nice day :)

[pomefioredove]

hiiii

could you make a list of ur ocs and their descriptions from ur noble bell college fic at some point i am itching to draw them already

JUMPING UP AND DOWN!!! I actually wrote something like this for the first two characters who have appeared so far but I didn't post it cause I was like "eh, not that important"

SO I'm just going to copy and paste it here

the other original characters (I have... three? rn) I'm still working on

Pierrot Gregoire

I'm sure a lot of people kind of went "who the hell is this supposed to be" since Pierre himself was not in the Disney adaptation

...which is kind of the reason I wanted to include him, since he's my favorite character from the novel and is almost never adapted accurately (stop making him cool and romantic and interesting!!)

the naming choice was rather easy. obviously, it sounds like his name. "Pierrot" is also a pantomime character, and I thought the connection to the theater was fitting. he is literally like a sad clown

appearance:

tall, taller than rollo (around 183 cm/6 feet)

thin

thinner face/long nose

round, green eyes

hair is more of a muted blond, cut just below his chin, obviously a little unkempt (curls and sticks out in odd places). he has bangs too

I don't know if I could describe his stupid little hat. but he has a stupid little black hat. it looks like the tall cousin of a beret

he looks kinda sad and tired all the time and his uniform is always a little worn down

nonetheless he is very smiley. to me. he loooves to chit chat. he talks to himself in the third person

sort of resembles rook (which could mean nothing at all!!!)

this artwork and this artwork of Pierre himself are close to what I envision

Gregoire more or less plays a role similar to ADeuce at NRC. I'm still trying to figure out how I want to write him, but he will be novel-like more than anything. so he's like... clumsy and socially unaware and loves to talk. his fatal flaw is cowardice, but otherwise he's... niceish. compared to everyone else, at least. I already know I'm going to write him nicely

Bou de Neige

a very long time ago I saw an oc of the h.rose. the horse. disney frollo's fuckass evil horse. and I cannot remember anything about the oc, but the very concept left such an impression on me that I could not help but make my own

for those of you who are blissfully unaware, Frollo's horse is named Snowball. Bou de Neige is a play on boule de neige, which is the direct translation of snowball. according to the internet, "Bou" also means ox in Catalan. close enough! and it sounds like "boo", referencing the scary nature of the horse. I'm not going to add a picture but those animators really knew how to make a scary horse

the design I have in my head is loosely based off this npc model:

except his hair is the same style but darker, he has sharper features (CRAZY winged eyeliner) and maroonish eyes? he's not even a horse beastman he's just some freak

at the time the fic takes place he's kind of an asshole, so he always looks a little pissed. he gets better before glomas dw :)

this freak is the vice president of the student council

picture also reminded me to say that these outfits are most certainly not every day wear. to me, they're equivalent to the ceremonial robes at nrc. the actual uniforms are less... intense. I can draw clothes so I'll deal with that later, these are good references for now