#these aren’t accurate to my actual designs for these three but it’s fine i just wanted to do a tiny doodle to get my idea out there

[wet-mouse]

polycule

[gatormeister]

Gundam SEED Destiny Started!

Okay, first impressions. Good opening, not good enough for me to want to listen through it every episode like SEED’s first opening. Gruesome first episode, SEED does not often go into detail with its violence, but when it does it is shockingly gorey for the kind of show it is. IBO is more brutal more often for reference, but you very rarely see what actually happens to a person’s body there. Here we end up seeing bloody corpses and a severed hand and it works well to establish motivation for Shinn and a demonstration of just how awful war is for people.

Then we’ve got our not cyber newtypes who I am hoping will get better characterization than the not cyber newtypes of the previous series. They’re fine, but you don’t get to know much about them in the first three episodes. I like their designs and their Gundams. Really could have done without a “cop a feel on accident” trope. It wasn’t funny and it didn’t add anything to the show.

I already had Neo Roanoke’s identity spoiled, but wow are they not even trying to hide who he is. My only question is why is he doing any of this? It feels like something very out of character, so I can only assume something else is going on to lead to him going along with any of that.

I am so glad Athrun’s just not being allowed to get away with hiding who he is. Guy didn’t even grow his hair out and start wearing sunglasses. As for our other familiar face, Cagalli comes off as being somewhat out of her depth as a political figure which makes sense since she’s what? Just 18? And acting as a representative of an entire nation. It can lend itself to some good character growth and moments with Shinn if handled right.

The new chairman of ZAFT came off as at least somewhat genuine in the first episode and most of the second, but now he’s getting all the “oh no I’m sus” music queues. If he ends up being some sorta manipulative mastermind that’d be pretty disappointing since ZAFT having seemingly had most of its leadership killed off in the last show is actually in a pretty good position to be written as a more sympathetic group for this show.

Now for mobile suits, I like the impulse more than the Strike, and the Gaia, Chaos, and Abyss are just much better than the Calamity, Raider, and Forbidden Gundams. I like the Impulse’s multiple packs a lot more than the Strike’s thanks to the mobile suit colors changing to compliment the pack this go around. I do imagine that made its Gunpla a lot less readily customizable since it’d need multiple colors of the same parts to be show accurate.

As for the Zakus… I absolutely love their designs, I think all of SEED’s explicit redesigns of the Zeon mobile suits are fantastic and look incredible they’re my favorite designs in both shows. But why are they being used for an AU? Part of why the AUs are great is how they all have their own unique senses of style and designs, and the GINN was a perfect design that could call back to everyone’s favorite mono eyed army while still feeling unique to the Cosmic Era shows. Being so explicit as to have literal Zakus just takes some of that unique charm away if only in a small way.

All that said, I hope I end up enjoying this show. I like these first three episodes. They aren’t as strong a beginning as SEEDs, but it’s still good. I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a worry in the back of my mind about the stigma behind the show, but the only way I can figure out if I’ll continue to enjoy it is if I keep watching, so that’s what I’ll do.

[blackwoolncrown]

Thank you for ACTUALLY reading the article and providing an accurate assessment. I have three points to make:

1. The connection between central aircon and capitalism (and colonization) was the ENTIRE reason I posted the article, as I feel the related environmental harms in the face of how standard it is in the west are clear extensions of colonio-capitalist violence.

2. Given that central aircon isn’t even helping us avoid heat related death, likely due to inconsistencies and limits of the technology, I want to bring up that THIS is likely *somewhat* what scientists are referring to when they talk about how central aircon contributes to a lack of heat tolerance.

I lived in FL and in my house, in the summer, we kept the air at 76-78. It would’ve been higher but due to the stupid construction of American houses, that would turn the house into a Box Of Mold Ur Food.

My friend lived minuted away and loved keeping her ac at 65-68, just because she could.

Neither of us have disabilities that would account for what im about to say.

One day we went to eat ice cream on an outdoor patio of a restaurant. It was hot, but we were in the shade, under a fan, eating frozen food. Within minutes however, she became agitated, overheated and fatigued. It wasn’t even summer, it was spring like 2 years ago. She had to stand up, start fanning herself etc. We had to finish our ice cream quickly bc she was clearly not able to handle the heat. Me and my friend who stay in the house w the AC high were fine. My friend hates being too hot, it makes him v uncomfortable and nauseated so believe me if it was actually super hot, he’d have been bothered too.

I get why ppl freak out when they hear this, but heat tolerance IS mutable and staying in a house way cooler than it needs to be for your health literally DOES make you worse at equalizing your own body temp.

3. City cooling centers where not the only suggestion offered. “Smart design” clearly gives a lot of space to imagine updated home cooling. Additionally for urban dwelling, *cooling portions of the city would cool the domiciles in it.* Like, it’s environmental. If we can understand that having trees in a city makes it cooler for everyone, then I think we can understand that attempts to cool a city aren’t non-solutions to home cooling.

Again, I totally get why we need to be on our guard but no one is saying chuck your AC and “tough it out or die” to disabled people. This is a new conversation and an important if awkward one. That’s all.

For the past few days, a heatwave has glowered over the Pacific Northwest, forcing temperatures in the region to a record-breaking 118ºF. Few people in the region—neither Americans nor Canadians—have air-conditioning. Stores sold out of new AC units in hours as a panicked public sought a reasonable solution to the emergency. Unfortunately, air-conditioning is part of what’s causing the unusual heatwave in the first place.

We came close to destroying all life on Earth during the Cold War, with the threat of nuclear annihilation. But we may have come even closer during the cooling war, when the rising number of Americans with air conditioners—and a refrigerant industry that fought regulation—nearly obliterated the ozone layer. We avoided that environmental catastrophe, but the fundamental problem of air conditioning has never really been resolved.

Mechanical cooling appeared in the early 1900s not for comfort but for business. In manufacturing, the regulation of temperature—“process cooling”—controlled the quality of commodities like cotton, tobacco, and chewing gum. In 1903, Alfred Wolff installed the first cooling system for people at the New York Stock Exchange because comfortable traders yielded considerably higher stock returns. Only in the ’20s did “commercial cooling” appear. On Memorial Day weekend 1925, Willis Carrier debuted the first centrifugal air-conditioning system at the Rivoli Theater in Midtown Manhattan. Previously, theaters had shut down in the summer. With air-conditioning, the Rivoli became “the talk of Broadway” and inaugurated the summer blockbuster.

-another direct tie to capitalism. Everything born out of colonio-capitalism carries its toxic mark. Article totally not under the cut for those who can’t pay for Time. It honestly paints a really clear picture of the situation. Bolding mine.-

“It’s time we become more comfortable with discomfort. Our survival may depend on it.“

Keep reading

[thefanficmonster]

Phone Call Anxiety

Corpse Husband x Reader (Female)

Warnings: None

Genre: FLUFF, RPF (Real Person Fic)

Summary: When wanting to make quality merch, one needs a quality team there to produce and work on quality ideas. Great minds think alike. Great eyes see alike and great hands make alike - the three keys to the formula of creating a clothing line that will be fashionable and up to his brand. Luckily, Corpse knows just who to call.

Requested by Anon. Hi hun! Thank you so much for your wonderful request, I absolutely loved the idea! Sorry you’ve had to wait for it to be turned into a fic for so long, but I still hope you come across it and give it a read in which case I hope you enjoy it! Love, Vy ❤

He’s not a fan of phone calls. Anyone who knows him even remotely is very well informed on Corpse’s distaste for phone calls and upholding a conversation over the phone. He’d even go as far as to say talking to a person face to face is less stressful for him than that previous option.

But still, seeing as how the person he’s trying to reach lives in a different state and is rather busy all the time, arranging an IRL meeting is basically impossible at the moment, and sending her a text results in running the risk of having the text overlooked or completely lost in the sea of notifications she probably gets on the daily.

Therefore, a phone call was his only proper way of reaching her. And it’s what’s got him pacing the room with his nervousness peaking.  He doesn’t know anything about this girl, nothing concrete at least. He was referred to her by Jack who brought her up in their passing conversation when Corpse mentioned how paranoid he was regarding his upcoming merch project. He specifically stated he doesn’t want anything basic and he wants the clothes to be fashionable, suitable for anyone no matter the age or gender and to be endurable. With all the love he has for his fans, he doesn’t want to give them anything less than what they deserve - the best.

“My friend’s the person you’re looking for.“ Jack said enthusiastically and confidently, “She helped me design the latest merch line I put out and I’ve never been more satisfied with my own merch. I’m planning on offering her a position in Cloak for her birthday. Make sure not to let that one slip out if you give her a call though.“ He warned half-jokingly. 

Bottom line, with that kind of intro, Corpse couldn’t help but let his interest be piqued. And so, he asked for this girl - Y/N’s contact info from Jack before he went to surf through her social media where she thankfully posted plenty of pictures of her creations, never failing to mention specifications in the caption of each picture so the viewers would get the perfect and most detailed idea of how high the standard for her work is.

And so he’s finally managed to talk himself into dialing her number that’s been sitting in his phone for weeks now. As he paces his living room, his nerves chewing him out like a dog would with a toy, listening to the ear piercing ring of the dial waiting to get picked up by the girl he’s trying to reach. 

Just then, Corpse’s head turns so that his eyes meet the glowing red numbers on his digital clock on his desk and he damn near hangs up the call right away - it’s half an hour past midnight. Fast as lightning, he removes the phone from his ear, his thumb flying over to press the red ‘end call’ button. Just then, a faint ‘hello’ reaches his ears, coming from the phone’s speaker. She’s answered the call.

He hurries to put the phone back up to his ear.

“Hey, sorry for taking so long to pick up, I ought to clean my desk eventually cause my phone was literally BURIED under a pile of papers.“ A cheerful sing-song voice rattles his stale and sleep deprived consciousness, as if awakening him from a half-dream state. “You’re either a wrong number caller or a last minute client, aren’t you? Need something done urgently?“

Corpse is taken the hell aback by her strong and downright awing first impression. Not to mention her energy at an hour unsuitable for calls. Lord knows he wouldn’t have picked up if her were in her spot. With the intention of not wasting any more of her time than necessary, he hurries to explain his situation. “Y/N, right? Um no, I’m neither actually. I was told about you by a friend, he said you were a real miracle-doer with fashion design.” He trails off for a second, not completely sure of how to hold this conversation, “Uh, sorry for the odd timed call, I lost track of time. I’ve been meaning to call you for hours now but I...I was nervous.” He cringes the second the word leaves his lips, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. He doesn’t know why he wants to leave her with a great, better than realistic impression of himself but he does and as of now he deems his attempts as ultimate failures.

He hears her giggle from her end, rifling through what sounds to be papers, “Yeah, I’m her. And boy is it refreshing to get someone who’s calling with an actual purpose.” She sighs as if a weight’s been lifted off her shoulders, “And don’t worry about the phone call anxiety. Makes two of us, to be honest.”

This catches him off-guard. The last thing he’d expect is for this girl to have phone call anxiety. In fact, she appears to be a natural, God-given talent at carrying conversations and upholding chit-chat with people. Maybe he’s a little too quick to judge - probably, considering he’s ‘known’ her for less than five minutes and knows nothing but her occupation, her name and the state she lives in - but that bubbly persona she greeted him with gave off the impression that it’s immune to any and all kinds of social anxiety - or anxiety in general. To hear such an honest and counter-to-assumptions confession on her part rattles him a tiny bit. In a good way though.

“How does that work for you? Isn’t your whole job depending on your phone conversational skills?“ He doesn’t mind that he didn’t phrase that too perfectly or that he straight up blurted it out. He knows he’ll be understood. She’s obviously a person who understands. Not just something specific, but everything. She simply understands. How he drew this conclusion and how accurate it is, he may not know until further notice.

“Well...“ she sighs as if genuinely looking to give him a proper answer, “You see, after doing it for so long and having been caught off guard quite a few times with some absolutely absurd orders, I’ve grown prepared of literally ANYTHING and I have a line prepared for anything the caller has to say. I just no longer let them catch me off guard and it’s fine. Helps avoid any possible awkward silences.“

Corpse’s eyebrows shoot up, her explanation only raising more questions rather than providing answers. But he’s not gonna be the annoying dumbass asking those questions at close to 1AM and bugging her. After all, if she agrees to this partnership, they’ll be hearing and potentially seeing a lot more of each other soon. “Impressive, honestly. You’re gonna need to teach me sometime.“ He’s unaware he’s smiling until he catches his reflection in the window. However, he doesn’t bother hiding it. This conversation is actually making him feel good, serving as a reminder that he’s not the only one who periodically goes through turmoil over small things. 

She giggles again, this time the sound manages to draw a blush out of him, coating his cheeks, “I’d typically stray for revealing my secrets to professional success, but I’m willing to make an exception for you...” she pauses for a second as though she’s just now remembered something,��“Oh shoot, I don’t even know your name.”

He wheezes out a nervous laugh, realizing he never introduced him, “Oh yeah, sorry, that’s my bad. My name’s Corpse, nice to meet ya.”

“Nice to meet you too, Corpse.“ Y/N replies, sounding pleased but teasing simultaneously, “Now tell me, you didn’t call me about my phone call secrets, did you? What may be the real purpose of your call?“

Oh shoot, he himself almost forgot what he was calling for. Luckily, the reference designs displayed on his computer screen remind him. “Right, well, I’ve been thinking of launching a new merch line either this month or the next, depending on how long the procedure will take, and I needed someone great on my team to make some merch actually worth the money people are paying for it. And, as I said, I was told you were in that ‘someone great’ category.”

“Told by who, if you don’t mind me asking?“ She briefly cuts him off, her voice now giving away the fact that she’s half-absent-minded in this conversation, added evidence be the ruffling of more papers on her end.

“Jack. I mean, Sean. You know, Jacksepticeye.“ Corpse explains, contemplating whether he should’ve ratted Jack out like that. Hearing the sound of delight Y/N lets out eases his worries ASAP though.

“Oh Gosh, I haven’t seen that cutie in so long! He’s like a brother to me so a friend of Jack’s is a friend of min-“ this time she cuts herself off so abruptly Corpse thought the line was cut or she hung up on him. She doesn’t let him wonder for long though, “Wait, wait, wait....Merch? And you’re friends with Jack?“ She pauses for a second once again, once again not a long enough second for Corpse to speak up. “You’re a famous YouTuber, aren’t you?“

He was completely unaware of the fact Y/N hadn’t realized he was someone famous yet. In fact, he didn’t think of it because he thought it wouldn’t be a big deal to her considering she’s friends with Jack-fucking-septiceye! In his mind, his ranking is far lower than Jack’s - despite that mindset being absurd - so the last thing he expected was for her to have some sort of impressed reaction to have been talking to him on the phone this whole time. Hell, she doesn’t even know his full YouTube name or what kind of content he produces.

“WAIT!“ She shouts urgently, startling him a tiny bit, “You’re Corpse Husband, aren’t you? Oh my God, yes you are, how didn’t I put it together sooner? Ah crap, I really need more coffee for this.“

“No! No, you need more sleep.“ Corpse hurries to correct her but is very clearly ignored or overlapped with the many sounds that are coming from her end, “What are you doing?“

“You’re getting the first rough sketch of a design by tomorrow morning.“ She says, taking a sip of whatever beverage she’s acquired for the purpose of keeping her awake, “You go ahead and get some sleep, I know exactly what I’m doing. Don’t worry about it.“

“I’m not worried about the design.“ He hurries to say before she, God forbid, hangs up on him, “It’s 1AM, woman, you need sleep! I don’t need those designs done by tomorrow. Hell, I don’t even need them this week!“

“You don’t, but I do.“ Y/N says, sounding almost breathless because of what seems to be overwhelming excitement, “You don’t get it - I’m designing merch for Corpse fucking Husband! You have any idea how crazy that is?“

“I personally would say it’s underwhelming. I mean, I’m no Pewdiepie, after all.“ He says, now sat at his desk with his free hand rubbing his temple as he stares at the designs he’s pulled up on his screen, ones he probably won’t need given that he’s now working with a professional.

“Oh, shut it.“ She chuckles, “Shut it and get some sleep, ok? I’ll talk to you in the morning.“

“Noooo...“ He leisurely stretches the word, “Tell me, Y/N, do you have Discord?” She clicks her tongue instantly, giving him a signal that the question he’s asked is bordering into the territory of ridiculous. He playfully rolls his eyes, “Alright then, lemme find you. If we’re partnering up on this, we’re both staying up.”

“You know you can just straight up tell me you don’t fully trust me with this? Like, I won’t be offended, I get it.“ She murmurs in-thought, the sound of clicking evident on her end. 

“You know you can just straight up tell me you don’t want me bothering you and want me to leave you alone?“ He mimics her statement, smirking to himself as he pulls up Discord, knowing he’s already won.

She huffs and tells him her Discord info, quickly adding a small comment, “...but only because great minds think alike. I know we’ll be getting along on this design pretty nicely.”

“Yeah, yeah, right, sure, whatever you say.“ He laughs, “Accept my friend request and let’s drop this phone call.“

“Hey! - um, before we do that, I just wanna say a quick thank you.“ Y/N murmurs quietly, as if half-hoping he doesn’t hear her.

“For what?“ Corpse asks, his brows furrowing, unsure if they’re on the same page about this gratitude.

“For never once triggering my phone call anxiety.“ She admits, “I mean, I know I said I have lines prepared for every conversation scenario possible, but you totally caught me off-guard.“ She giggles a tiny bit, now sounding dangerously close to nervous, “But, not in a bad way, if that makes sense. Sorry if it doesn’t, I need more coffee.“

“No, no, it does!“ He hurries to reassure her, “It really does. And thank you too. Thank you for, you know, tolerating my BS at this hour. God knows I would’ve ignored your call if our roles were reversed.“

He hears her scoff and can’t help but laugh, “Huh ok, I see.“ She says, sounding greatly triggered and mock-pissed at his confession, “I’ll make sure to think of that next time you call me after midnight. Or at all, ever.“

Laughing his butt off, the only thing Corpse can think of in this moment is:

Damn, this girl and I are gonna get along

@maat-the-prescriptive  @simonsbluee  @save-the-sky  @itsminniekat  @hacker-ghost  @bi-andready-tocry  @imtiredaffff  @jazzkaurtheglorious  @hereforbeebo  @fandomgirl17  @chrysanthykios  @maehemscorpyus  @loraleiix  @letsloveimagines  @annshit  @i-cant-choose-a-username-help  @enigmaticmaze  @divine-artemis  @waterlilypat  @idontknowwhatthisisfam  @evi-ka  @classyandfabulous00  @redperson58  @lilysdaydreams @solowheein  @mythicalamphitrite  @axen-gers  @luckygirl144  @nj01  @buddyemily   @the-albino-lioness  @stardream14  @gdhdkfnn  @nomadicgypsyy  @preciousskye  @fluffysuicideunicornsworld  @o-kaelin  @manacharlotte  @awkward-youtube-trash  @lolalee24  @bonky-beerns  @meme-lord-and-savior-sebastian  @strawbrinkofdeath  @teenloves  @tams0527  @browneyespinkhair  @starstruckllamapuppy  @daisychains012  @y0ulooked  @tinytacosuitcaseflap @supernatural-is-my-only-life  @jula-pauline  @melodykitty  @just-that-bi-girl  @crazybutconfidentaf  @lowellshade @alphakees  @bellero  @weallneednamjesus  @starryhanji  @boiled-onionrings  @husherstan  @fockingwhore  @melaningoddessthings  @prettypastelpetals  @haleypearce  @godwhyamiawkward  @y-napotat  @daisychainyoonmin  @little-miss-rebel3  @free-wheelin-bi-sexual  @redmoon261 @darkacademic2  @wiseflamingoqueen  @into-the-end  @namikhai-i  @nastiablr  @thelittleplantlover  @mirktuan  @dont-hyuck @jjk-bunny  @vintagegothlover  @easygoingtheatre  @itsrandombooklover  @miiaivi  @emmybaybee  @befourgolden  @jjk-is-my-shit  @eternalteaaars  @spacebadgerx  @princesslunalight  @acequinn14  @samm48  @misselsbells06 @simp-lykawa  @fo-love  @marishimomura-blog  @therealglenncoco  @cinnamonbun332  @killtherandomness  @sanshinexxxsan  @fee-btheweeb  @press-lay  @cathleenpotgieter16  @jazzydoesstuff  @moonlxghtbay  @forestrain2000  @hyunjinhugs  @blood-of-fandoms  @lovellylies  @ukiyolixx  @simpforhpcharacters  @chrisdylan17  @parkerjisung  @pedernille  @theodonyous  @wineandionysus  @malfoystilinskii05  @morbid-x  @coryisagee  @jessewa26  @scoobydooluver97 @mindintheskies365  @raeanneinwonderland  @indecisive-empanada  @gluttonypalace  @loriane2503  @btsiguess-kpop  @khaoticbunny  @lucidlycactus  @smiithys  @rottenroyalebooks  @kpopgirlbtssvt  @fangirl-tc27  @fr0z3n-1  @notmesimpingfortechno  @shotarosleftpinky  @kunoi-chan  @idk-whats-wrong-with-me  @yikeroonie  @goldenstarofthunderclan  @poetry-and-tea  @ama-do-writing-stuff  @wishbonewolf  @emeraldxhope  @t0xick1tty  @kusuinko  @speakyourselfloveyourself  @sophia902103  @lo-manburg  @classsykittykat  @dmgama  @depressedpuppythatneedscoffee  @btsiguess-kpop  @akaashi-baby  @gun-jong-simp  @geschichtenfee  @yerapotato-wp  @browneyedgirl365  @thysagclub  @sparklycloudnight  @helloatomicshadow  @queentorresstuff @vtte @val-gal  @lucy-bunny17  @aaliyahh0  @katluckybear  @boyleanti  @straybids  @franchesca-791  @cosmicstorm19  @averyisbackinthetrashcan  @aomi-nabi  @xlanawriter  @allensimpsforcorpse

[gooses-trenchcoat]

so i've read a lot of fanfiction bc frankly i don't do much with my time

i decided i should impart my knowledge aka share some of my top fics

today: malec. not the ship that got me into fanfics, but the one that kept me there (is that weird to say? i've read a lot of malec fics. i've gone through like a good 1000 pages of search results at this point.)

keep reading for the recs :)

so anyways here's the list

1. a cold night for good deeds, by theprophetlemonade. this one is definitely my all-time favourite fic, hands down. settle in for 500k words of neonoir superhero slowburn, i promise it's worth it. such a good story (like legitimately well written), it's exciting, it's intriguing, and all round a good read. i just started my fourth(?) reread. i cannot praise this fic enough.

rating: explicit, graphic depictions of violence.

my top tags: love square, identity crisis, moral ambiguity

2. Families of Choice, by MonPetitTresor. another one of my all-time favourites, this time featuring fluffy family time. canon divergent pre-canon, loosely based on shameless (as the tags informed me, i myself have not watched it), and featuring two characters from another show (the magicians? i think) as warlocks, who you will instantly fall in love with. the main draw of this one: a very awesome, super cool, totally thoughtful and accurate, queerplatonic relationship- arguably it takes more precedence than the actually shippy ship.

rating: explicit, creator chose not to use archive warnings.

my top tags: family feels, platonic cuddling, not every touch is sex!

3. the A Fine Institution series, by clottedcreamfudge. read the whole series, it is absolutely amazing. clottedcreamfudge is one of my favourite authors, the series also features a full compliment of podfics and a clean edition of the series. the basic premise sounds incredibly odd, but honestly it’s so good: the institute is sentient, and she likes alec. alec is like a son to her. and she is fed up with him and magnus not getting together, so she takes matters into her own... hands? metaphorically speaking. 

rating: varies story to story, everything from gen to explicit (available entirely gen), no archive warnings apply.

my top tags: sleep deprivation, accidental baby acquisition, happy ending

4. The Lonely Hearts Hotline, by Fatale (femme). this is a funny one. in short, alec is a phone sex operator to afford living with his unpaid law internship (boo, capitalism). someone, *wink wink nudge nudge*, calls the phone line and just wants to talk about music. bonding ensues.

rating: explicit, no archive warnings apply.

my top tags: this fic only has two additional tags, and they are as follows- “phone sex, some other stuff”

5. Universally Acknowledged, by astudyinfic. a pride and prejudice fusion. (i have not read pride and prejudice). it’s historical-y, it has several balls, and almost nothing goes horribly terribly wrong. i’m pretty sure nothing on here will have an unhappy ending, so fear not. i am weak of spirit and dislike even bittersweet endings (not a fan of la la land, for comparison).

rating: explicit, no archive warnings apply (i swear i have ones that aren’t explicit somewhere).

my top tags: most of the women are awful, which i feel terrible about, internalised homophobia, supportive siblings

6. Names, by Oumy. in this fun twist on regular soulmates AUs, everyone has three soulmate names on their wrist- friendship, love, and an enemy. alec only has one. go figure. also he’s about to become emperor, which sounds like the perfect time to meet his one name. it’s pretty sweet, and has a good plot, and i’ve read it at least a couple of times. and it has assassins, and politics, if that’s your thing.

rating: teen (finally got one), no archive warnings apply.

my top tags: enemies to friends to lovers, political intrigue, assassins

7. Flawed Design, by GoldenDaydreams. another soulmates fic, this time with extra soulmarks for notable events. it begins with adorable baby alec, and stays that great. soulmate words, misunderstandings, and general saltiness abound. there is also a shorter companion fic focusing on heline in the same series, which can be read after or alongside (or before but possibly with some spoilers).

rating: mature, graphic depictions of violence.

my top tags: enemies to allies to lovers, sibling boding, pillow & blanket forts

8. One step ahead, by apathyinreverie. a different first meeting, almost pre-canon, changes a surprising number of things. in all honesty i haven’t read this one in a while, but i know it’s good (i download Really Good fics and it’s in my downloads so). from what i remember, it’s a nice, catch-all fix-it of show canon.

rating: teen, no archive warnings apply.

my top tags: fix-it, developing relationship; it’s in the collection “fics so good i want to throw my chair out the window”

9. and finally, Sixteenth Sunset, by Miss_Shiva_Adler + nhixxie. a short(er, still 29k) one to finish this post (there will probably be more, because there are several almost-entirely-smut fics i didn’t feel like fit in here). it’s astronauts and relationship development and mutual pining and cuteness. throw in some tasteful flashbacks and space things, and bam. sixteenth sunset.

rating: teen, creator chose not to use archive warnings.

my top tags: gays... IN SPACE, how do you cuddle in microgravity you ask? this fic has all the answers, NASA knows they’re pining

as i said just there i’ll probably do more posts like this but a) they’re long and hyper-specific and probably won’t interest most people (hence the keep reading button), and b) it took forever to curate this and i need to stop and go to sleep now but i’m still going to stay up reading a cold night for good deeds because it’s that good and you should all read it it is Good Literature (and i’m and english nerd).

[cowboyhorsegirl]

MCU/Marvel Characters Tag Game

Thx 4 the tags @dodqerevans & @thorlokis ! :)

Had almost written out this entire post before it deleted the first time, so let’s try, try again lmao

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most):

Unquestionably Tony Stark. He was my absolute favorite character while the first phases of the MCU were still coming out. IM3 was basically a transformative theatrical viewing experience for me, I can still remember the exhilaration I felt after weeks of anticipation when Blue started playing in the cinema at the beginning of the movie! I think at first I was really drawn to him because of the way his mental health was central to the IM movies and I was completely head over heels for RDJ, but he’s kept my interest and affection over time because of how complex his character is, he’s self-sacrificial to a fault, unwilling and unable to accurately assess his own importance to the team even though everyone else can recognize how valuable his intellect and loyalty are. Now I’m just getting into the comics, and it’s so fascinating to see other interpretations of him beyond what the MCU presents.

Long story short he’s just a guy and I’ve loved him all these years and I’ll love him forever!

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped):

Hmm, I think this would have to be Bruce Banner. He just wants to do some science!! Just let him follow the scientific method and mentor some students and hang out with his bro Iron Man in their private lab where he NEVER has to worry about getting his funding cut and he doesn’t have to put so much pressure on himself during grant apps and the university admin aren’t breathing down his neck until (if?) he can secure tenure and he can do more of what he loves which is actually getting his hands dirty (metaphorically, of course, lab safety and cleanliness is a must) doing the research!

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave):

Ho Yinsen and Abraham Erskine!! They are the entire reason I’m doing this because I admire them so much and I don’t think they get talked about enough. Which is perhaps fair, since collectively they appear in the MCU for like maybe 40 minutes but still!

I love these two characters so much because I adore Steve and Tony, and you literally cannot have either of them without Erskine and Yinsen, respectively. These two created our heroes and in doing so gave the men behind them a new opportunity to do good, and the story of how they use those opportunities is the story of whole first three Phases of the MCU. Their contribution to the series cannot be understated.

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week):

Also Yinsen and Erskine! Though perhaps Yinsen is the only one of that qualifies here, I was over the moon when he appeared at the beginning of IM3.

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave):

Loki??? Loki. He’s the most fun Avengers villain, hands down. I think his character design is really beautiful, and I like the ambiguous nature his morality takes on throughout the MCU. Most of the time, he’s just looking for a laugh, and who are we to deny him that?

But note I haven’t watched the Loki series (or watched/rewatched any MCU properties since getting my heart torn out in 2019 except for Spider-Man: NWH which is arguably the reason I’ve been sucked back into this fandom), and idk if I will. Still love him though.

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason):

Steve, I think, but only because he’s a stubborn hardass who could stand to communicate a bit better with his teammates. But I’m fine.

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell):

Probably the Red Skull, though I will say I did audibly gasp when he pulled down his hood and revealed himself to be the guardian of the Soul Stone and that was a fun little experience. so.

This was a lot more fun than I anticipated! I’m tagging whoever sees this and would like to participate! Please indulge me and let me read all your opinions on your faves!!

[wanderinginksplot]

Nobody Listens to Kix

Previous | Next | Masterlist

Case 00627: Scorch

Kix glanced up at the familiar sound of the medbay doors opening, frowning as he saw two commando troopers walking in. Their distinctively styled helmets gave an air of uniformity, but the designs painted on them spoke of very different personalities.

The commando wearing the helmet marked with red, jagged lines - almost suggesting a handprint - was half-supporting, half-dragging another commando with a simple, gray-green helmet painted with white and yellow details. Kix studied both new arrivals, but couldn't find any visible injuries on either.

"What happened here?" Kix asked, already starting toward the men.

"Scorch here blew himself up," the red-painted commando answered, with a motion of his helmet that clearly said he was rolling his eyes. "Di'kut."

"I did not!" the injured Scorch said defensively, turning to address Kix. "I had a minor disagreement with a wall."

"Yeah?" the red-painted commando asked, "What were the arguments?"

"Whether or not the blast from a thermal detonator plus my own fabulous aim would make the wall go 'boom'," Scorch replied, clearly grinning under his helmet.

"Congratulations on winning your argument, sir," Kix said dryly, already promising himself to blow up the Resolute and everyone inside before he would let Scorch and Hardcase meet. "Let's shed the armor and see how much damage that wall's rebuttal caused."

The two commandos completed their half-walk, half-drag journey to the first bunk in the medbay and Scorch leaned up against the mattress, stifling a pained groan. The red-painted one, obviously fed up with his brother's antics, unceremoniously lifted and deposited Scorch on the bed.

"Come on, Sev!" the commando complained loudly. "You know I'm injured and delicate."

"It doesn't count as an injury if you've always been stupid," Sev told him. "I'm going to report back to Boss."

"You're going to leave me here, alone and hurt?" Scorch asked dramatically. His only reply was the medbay door closing behind Sev. He shook his head and told the door, "Well, that was rude."

The door seemed unsympathetic.

Kix cleared his throat, wondering if he should crank the scanner high enough to scan for brain injuries, when Scorch turned back to him. He pulled off his gray and white commando helmet, grinned, and stuck out a hand. "Scorch."

"I gathered," Kix replied. "I'm Kix."

"Good, I'm in the right place," Scorch said, heaving an exaggerated sigh of relief as he began stripping off the rest of his armor. "But what is the best medic in the GAR doing attached to the 501st?"

"The best medic," Kix repeated skeptically, scanning the now de-armored commando.

"Oh, yeah. I've heard the stories," Scorch told him, eyes wide and sincere, though they sparkled with an edge of barely there mischief. "Granted, mostly from the pilot on the way here, but still."

"Troopers like to talk. And as for why the 501st…" Kix let some of his constant fond exasperation come through, "no one gets in more trouble or hurts themselves in stranger ways than them."

"And you like to treat them," Scorch summed up, the look on his face more intense than the situation called for. Kix was on-edge before the commando spoke again. "Makes you feel powerful, doesn't it? Makes you feel like you're better than them, more than just a regular trooper."

"Makes me feel like I've got one more living brother," Kix corrected sharply.

Scorch raised his hands in a gesture speaking of an innocence that his sparkling eyes belied. "Hey, I had to make sure you weren't one of those power-trip troopers."

Kix shook his head and silently went to gather the supplies he would need to treat his patient, unwilling to continue an insulting conversation. However, since the commando had started it… He turned to meet Scorch's eyes. "If we're asking uncomfortable questions, let me ask one."

Scorch made a beckoning gesture with his less-injured hand, as if he were inviting Kix to continue.

"Why do you sound different from every other trooper, but look exactly like the rest of us?" It was something he had been wondering since Scorch took off his helmet, but he had been too polite to ask. At least, until the commando had accused him of treating men for the ego boost. As if it did wonders for his ego to be vomited on, covered in blood, to need to help his brothers to the 'fresher, to hold their hands as they took their last breath-

"I'm an excellent mimic," Scorch answered, using Kix's own inflection. Kix stared at him steadily until he continued in his normal offbeat voice. "Sometimes, a situation calls for a voice to be different so we don't sound like normal clone troopers, no matter how much we look like them. Delta Squad is full of differences. Boss has a thicker accent than most native Mandalorians, Fixer has worked to speak the most pure Basic, and Sev's vocal cords are damaged. Me, I just talk this way because I want to."

"Yeah, you can never meet Hardcase," Kix muttered to himself, fighting a shudder at the ridiculous accent the 501st trooper would be sure to put on as a result.

"What was that?" Scorch asked.

"I said, oh excellent mimic, that you've bruised your ribs, pulled a hamstring, and most of the left side of your body will be covered in bruises for the next few weeks, maybe less if you can take a couple of days to rest up." Kix frowned down at the datapad showing the scanner's results. "You managed not to break anything, which is - frankly - a miracle."

"Commando armor," Scorch told him with a sharp rap on his chestplate, wincing as the movement strained his injuries.

"Bruised. Ribs." Kix repeated, biting the end off each word so that the commando would be sure to understand him. "I'll issue you some pain meds, but the most you can do to improve your recovery time is to sleep as much as possible and stay hydrated. Most importantly-"

Kix cut himself short as the medbay door opened and Scorch instinctively turned to see the new arrivals, hissing in pain at the twisting motion. "-don't twist or move your body in unusual ways," Kix finished, giving a perfunctory salute to the commando sergeant who stepped up to the bed.

"How is the patient?" the sergeant asked. Despite Scorch's overly casual manner, Kix had to admit that the commando had given an accurate description of his squadmates and their voices. This one with the thick Mando'a accent must be Boss.

With a shrug to answer the sergeant's question, Kix told him, "Not much I can do, actually."

"Told you those thermal dets would kill you some day," the rough-voiced Sev said to Scorch with no small amount of satisfaction.

"What? No," Kix told him, nettled by the idea that a patient of his could die from such minor injuries. "Scorch is covered in bruises and he pulled a few muscles. Nothing life-threatening, but they aren't injuries I can do much for. I'm issuing pain meds, but he could stand a few days of bed rest, sir."

Boss nodded while Scorch looked horrified. "I can't stay on bed rest!"

The last commando, the non-accented Fixer, sounded irritated by his squadmate. "Six-Two, you can't just choose which orders to follow. If Three-Eight says you're on bed rest, that's where you'll be unless you want a court-martial."

Scorch looked pleadingly at Kix. "I could die from my injuries, right, Kix? Even Fixer wouldn't try to boss around a dying brother."

"Er... " Kix trailed off, glancing around at the group of commandos. "Bruises have a notoriously low fatality rate, Scorch."

"I think his vocal cords may have been damaged," Sev observed. "Could you order a total lack of speaking for the foreseeable future? For medical reasons?"

"We'd make it worth your while," Fixer wheedled.

"Is it too late to say I don't want any visitors?" Scorch asked, though even that sounded like a joke.

"We probably should leave," Boss agreed, cutting through Sev and Fixer's gloating with a simple reminder of, "Lots of reports to write."

"Ugh. Really, sir? For a self-inflicted injury?"

"I was having a good day, Boss."

Before he left, Boss patted Scorch gently on the shoulder. "I'm glad you're okay, Scorch. Rest up or we'll leave you behind on our next mission."

"Kix?" Kix glanced over at the commando sergeant, one brow lifting in silent question. "Make sure he rests. Sedate him or strap him down if you need to."

With one last threatening look in Scorch's direction, Boss left the medbay. Kix silently held out the pain meds for Scorch, passing him a cup of water at the proper time.

"You're good to sleep now," Kix told the commando. "If the pain gets bad again, let me know and I'll increase your dosage."

Scorch nodded and had just settled back against the pillow when the medbay door opened and Kix's heart nearly stopped. He walked briskly to the front of the medbay, making small pushing motions at the new arrival. "Hardcase, get out of here. You're fine."

"You don't even know what's wrong yet," Hardcase pouted.

"Hardcase?" Scorch asked, sitting up with a manic interest gleaming in his eyes.

"Yeah?" Hardcase asked, leaning to peer around Kix's shoulder. "Whoa, a commando! I heard you guys get to deal with more explosives than anyone!"

"You ever juggled thermal detonators?" Scorch asked, giving Kix an innocent shrug when the medic glared.

"No!" Hardcase said, pushing past Kix to perch by Scorch's bedside, wearing a look of utter fascination.

In only moments, the two were swapping stories, each trying to outdo the other while both seemed impressed by the other's exploits. Kix groaned. Force willing, he wouldn't have much to do with Scorch after this, but he already expected a wild number of injuries in Hardcase's near future.

---

A/N - First off, I want to apologize to... well, just everyone. For those who are not familiar with Republic Commando, you're probably a bit confused about who these guys are and why they're here. I read a fic featuring the characters in a minor role and proceeded to inhale everything I could find with them in it. For those who are familiar with Republic Commando, I would like to apologize for any errors in characterization, background, etc. Sidebar: if you know of a good fic featuring Delta Squad, please share the name of it with me!

Please reblog this work! It helps me grow my readership!

[joon-ipersgirl]

“inked heart” - jjk oneshot

genre: friends to lovers!au, fluff, a teensy dash of angst

pairing: tattoo artist!guk x tattoo artist!reader (f)

summary: jeon jungkook, a rising star in the tattoing world, is looking to take home best large black and white piece at the 25th annual milano tattoo convention. already one to watch from his previous wins as a young artist, pressures rise when his model for the competition cancels half an hour before the show. 

always there when he needs you, you offer to be his model but jungkook is reluctant, especially when the piece is in a more... intimate place. and the fact that he’s been in love with you for the better part of two years. jungkook isn’t too sure how he’s going to survive the next three hours, not when you ask him if he thinks you’re attractive. 

caught between a rock and a hard place, does he lie to you and himself when the prize is on the line? it’s go big or go home...

word count: 5.9k

warnings: some guk pining, cursing, mentions of heartbreaker jimin, the smallest dash of angst about not winning, tattoo artist yoongi

a/n: my first guk piece! thank you guys so much for the love on the preview, especially your comments. they honestly make my day. i hope this lives up to your expectations and you enjoy it just as much. this was a random idea i had and i love tattooed guk so here we are. i tried my best to make sure all the tattoo things were accurate so if they aren’t sorry in advance 😭 this was a lot of fun to write and i’m actually debating on writing some other things for this couple (especially for guk’s birthday), but i’m not sure yet. let me know if y’all are interested though and i’ll see what i can come up with. as always, thank you vi for supporting my shenanigans and reading this like four times lmao. feedback is always welcomed and highly appreciated. enjoy everyone! 

full masterlist // drabbles

Jungkook’s body buzzed with excitement as he squeezed past the bustling bodies at the 25th annual Milano Tattoo Convention. His fourth year at the world’s largest tattooing competition with a chance to take home the prize for “Best Large Black & White” piece against four hundred incredible artists had Jungkook amped up and ready to go. Some of his inspirations - legends in the game - were mere feet away from him as he browsed the almost endless stations filled with merchandise, displays of new tattoo designs, and occupied benches with models. There was almost nothing he enjoyed more than being around the sound of buzzing guns and filling sheets of half-filled paper with sketches his brain had no issues conjuring up but sometimes struggled to complete. Well, except food. And video games. And you. Not really the point though.

He’d been tattooing for almost six years now, from the moment he’d been able to convince Yoongi to let him be his apprentice. Jungkook had wasted no time in starting his own personal tattoo collection, quickly filling in a full sleeve on his right arm going across his right pectoral and another upper half sleeve on his left. Now, he was making his own name in the art world, commissioning pieces solely off his ability to execute various styles well with very little practice. Jungkook was a jack of all trades and very nearly a master of all. He was a risk-taker and it had paid off for him during his time at Milano, taking home “Best Small Black & White” his second year at the ripe age of twenty, and then “Best Medium Black & White” the following year. Yoongi could barely believe it when the judges called his name and announced him the winner but Jungkook knew his mentor’s chest was swollen with pride. This time, though, there were bigger fish to fry - “Best Large Black & White” in a style Jungkook had just begun feeling comfortable with: fine line tattoos.

He paused at the Killer Ink booth where Hori Kashi was working on a beautiful traditional koi fish upper half sleeve design as his phone buzzed. An Instagram notification.

_petuniablooms: hey jungkook! im so sorry this is last minute but i won’t be able to make the convention to be your model. I got a bad case of food poisoning from dinner last night. i hope this doesn’t cost you the comp. but when you’re back in the country, maybe i can schedule an appt? sorry again!

Jungkook blinked slowly. She couldn’t make it? This was not part of his plan. She was supposed to be here in the next half an hour so he would have enough time to complete his piece for judging in four hours. As one of the younger artists at the convention and with immense amounts of talent, people wondered how long Jungkook would be able to sustain his efforts, especially after taking home prizes in one of the major categories two years in a row. Most of them thought he would burn out after his second year or third year, but here he was. Competitive by nature, Jungkook wanted to prove them wrong - that he really did have what it took to be one of the best in the game. A legend in his own right. He shoved his phone back into his black cargo pants pocket and tugged on his curling brown locks. What was he going to do now?

“Guk! Hey, Guk!” He could barely make out your petite frame as you shoved and elbowed your way through the throngs of folk gathered around booths. You were set on getting to him though, your smaller form not holding you back from covering the distance, your brow set in determination whenever he did get glimpses of your face in the crowd.

That was something Jungkook admired about you: your no-nonsense-get-it-done attitude. Friends for almost three years now, he’d seen the way you’d taken charge of almost every opportunity that came your way. You didn’t take no as the final answer and if you couldn’t find a way to make it happen, you created your own. Either way, you got it done. As the first lead female tattoo artist at your shop, Sin City, you’d also made a name for yourself in the tattooing world as a specialist in black and white shading. Your signature though was the three-color-combination color style you developed for your color tattoos. That’s how the two of you had met - the year he’d won “Best Small Black & White”, you’d taken home “Best Medium Color” - and the two of you hadn’t looked back since.

“Gosh, there’s so many people here. It was so hard to find you. I knew I should have checked the Kashi booth first,” you said after finding a pocket of space next to him and hugging his torso.

“Y/N, it’s a convention. Of course there’s going to be a lot of people here,” he replied, wrapping his arms around you, subconsciously looking for comfort in your touch.

Though the two of you mostly had conflicting schedules due to the demand for your work, you did your best to make time for one another. Jungkook had grown accustomed to seeing you every few weeks for lunch or on Friday nights with beer and chicken for Marvel movie marathon weekends. He didn’t dwell on it too much - how ridiculously domestic a lot of your traditions were - not wanting to shake the table and send the precariously perched house of cards pyramid the two of you had created crashing to the ground, upsetting the balance of your friendship. No, Jungkook would leave those thoughts right where they were.

He more felt than saw you roll your eyes as you said, “Yes, Guk. Conventions have lots of people. This just seems like a health and safety hazard though.” Jungkook squeezed you as you pressed closer to him, slightly uncomfortable as more people gathered in the area.

“Alright, let’s go,” he replied, reminding himself to search for the finished koi design afterward as the two of you walked away. “How’d your piece go?”

“So fucking good!” you beamed and turned your face towards him. He couldn’t help but smile back. “Though I don’t know if it’ll win this year, the guy seemed to be really pleased and that’s all that matters. Plus, t-shirt sales have gone up. Like way up! Speaking of which, you should buy one. My t-shirt design on your body?” you did the chef’s kiss, “Impeccable!” you exclaimed and grinned.

Your smile was another thing Jungkook admired about you. The faintest dimples appeared when you did and there was almost never a moment when he couldn’t not smile with you. It was a smile that reached your twinkling eyes and illuminated your face with a glow. Like right now, as you’re striking poses and modeling your black and white cityscape background covered with your shop’s name in a candy red color, a tattoo gun positioned to finish the last line of the last letter on the white tee in the middle of the crowded aisle in some of the shortest shorts he’s ever seen you wear in public. When did you get those?

“You know what would look good on my body?” you asked as the pair of you carried on walking. Me, he thought, but knew where this conversation was really going. “One of your tattoo designs!”

Jungkook sighed. “Y/N, we’ve already talked about this -”

“I know, Guk, but you literally have no reason to not tattoo me,” you whined. “You’ve tattooed every single one of your other friends! Hell, even Yoongi has a tattoo by you.”

“Yoongi has what?” the older man asked as he bumped into you two as you passed the registration booth.

“A tattoo by Jungkook,” you pouted, arms crossed.

It wasn’t that Jungkook didn’t want to tattoo you. He just didn’t want to fuck up a design that would be permanently etched into your skin for the rest of your life. He wanted to create something that was beautiful for you, something that really conveyed the importance of your presence in his life, but every time he sat down to do so, nothing seemed good enough. You’d been seriously begging him for the better part of a year to do something - anything - but he’d refused saying that he didn’t have the time. Secretly, he just didn’t want to fail and let you down.

“Ah, that age-old debate. It’ll happen one day, kid,” Yoongi said as he patted your shoulder gently. “What time are you setting up, Jeon? Your model’s supposed to be here soon, right?” Yoongi asked.

“Fuck!” Jungkook shouted, tugging on his hair and startling a few people around him. “Fuck, fuck, fuck! I don’t have one. She can’t make it. I have to find someone else,” he yelled as he took off, no destination really in mind.

“Wait! Guk -” you called after him but he didn’t stop.

Sometimes, being around you was dangerous as Jungkook could quite literally forget what it was he needed to be doing. There was just something about you that made him lose focus, just a little bit. He couldn’t have that right now. Jungkook needed to be on his A-game, scouting a model that would give him consent in - he checked his phone - twelve minutes.

The one time Jungkook needed someone to be interested in his work, there wasn’t a single soul around. Where had all the people who were begging him to schedule them in for a quick session disappeared to? None of the people passing by were interested in getting a random, floral design done by Jeon Jungkook today, unfortunately. It was as though the devil of the tattoo underworld had cursed him the one time he could have used some luck for the sole purpose of being entertained. Circling back to the D-Town Tattoos booth, Jungkook was running out of options. Shit.

“There you are!” you wheezed as you came to a halt and rested your hands on the table in front of you. “Fuck, I forgot how fast you are.”

“Y/N, I don’t have time. I have to find a model -”

“Why don’t you just use Y/N?” Yoongi asked as he calmly took a seat next to his bench, a tall young man following behind him.

“I couldn’t -” Jungkook spluttered, eyes wide.

“Like you said, Jeon, you don’t have time,” Yoongi reminded him, setting up his work station for his client.

Jungkook looked over at you, still slightly hunched over and trying to catch your breath. This was not how he’d wanted to do this. “Are you sure, Y/N? I don’t know if -”

“Fuck yeah, dude!” you said interrupting him. “100%. Let’s do this!”

Jungkook watched as you made yourself comfortable on his workbench, waiting for him to get started. The fact that you weren’t nervous only added to his apprehension, the fear of potentially disappointing you resurfacing and rising in his gut. It felt like he was taking a risk with stakes much higher than he was willing to bet on, but the trust you had in him had him saying, “Okay. Fill out the consent forms and I’ll pull up the design.”

“What are we working with?” you asked curiously, handing the clipboard back over to him, not really reading it and only signing your name in the designated spots.

“Thigh piece,” he murmured, concentrating on finding the correct sketch on his iPad.

“Sounds fun. I know it’s going to be amazing, Guk. Don’t worry,” you reassured him. He smiled warily as you gave his shoulder a tender squeeze.

Nodding more to himself than you, he showed you the design. @_petuninablooms, like her name suggested, loved flowers. So much so, she’d wanted a full piece dedicated to that specific flower as well as whatever other floral arrangements she thought Jungkook could make look pretty against her skin. She’d won his Instagram contest to be his model for free at the convention because of her sentimental design and background as a botanist, something that piqued Jungkook’s interest. Though he was proud of the design, it didn’t seem to fit you.

“I don’t know, Y/N. I don’t know if it’ll fit your style,” he said, gesturing to your upper half sleeve. The three faces of Frida Khalo, Nefertiti, and Tomoe Gozen were beautifully designed and organized by you as a symbol of feminine unity - embodying passion, leadership, and grace. A much edgier piece than what currently sat on the screen of his iPad designed for his winner, he wasn’t sure how you’d feel about the softer image.

“I told you, Guk. You could tattoo anything on me and I’d be happy. Maybe even more happy than if you’d let me tattoo you. I just want to have something of yours on me - support your craft, you know? Besides,” you said zooming in on the flowers, your gold rings shining in the light, “I like petunias.” Jungkook wasn’t sure if you were only saying this to make him feel better, but he was grateful for your encouragement anyway.

“Uh, I’m going to need you to take your shorts off,” he said hesitantly. “Yoongi, this isn’t against the rules, right? Like having another artist sit for you?” Jungkook asked, turning to give you some privacy though anyone walking past would be able to see you shimmy out of them as there was no curtain or door to shield you.

“Nope. Not that I’ve read,” Yoongi replied, concentrating on his design. Jungkook nodded, steeling himself to focus and get the job done. What he wasn’t expecting was to see you adjusting the band of some very high-waisted, very skimpy, black panties. He nearly choked.

“Does this need to be further up? If not, I can take them off for you. I don’t -”

“No!” Jungkook cried out as he tore his eyes away from the curve of your ass. “I can just move the stencil. It’ll be fine,” he continued after clearing his throat.

“Okay,” you said awkwardly. Jungkook apologized for his outburst as he wheeled himself over to sit in front of you on his little stool. He was making a much bigger deal of this entire situation that it needed to be. He’d seen you in a bikini before, but something about seeing you in your underwear sitting before him was different.

“Relax, Jeon. It’s only a thigh!” Yoongi teased, his head down but his shit-eating grin very much present as he worked on the shading on his client’s forearm. Though Yoongi would never say anything to you out of respect for Jungkook, Jungkook knew Yoongi enjoyed putting him through the wringer whenever you were around.

“Not just a thigh! It belongs to me. My thigh is prime real estate, Min Yoongi. There’s a lot of artists that have been wanting to get in on this,” you joked. Jungkook laughed as he prepped your skin for placing the stencil with rubbing alcohol, hating the fact that he couldn’t feel your skin through the latex gloves but also grateful for the sensory blocker. He knew you were right though - lots of artists did want to work on you and have you walk around with their work as free endorsement of their skill. Honestly, this was a prime opportunity and he should make the most of it.

“Would you be okay with me changing this larger petunia into a mandala? I know you like those,” Jungkook suggested.

“Guk, this is your piece. I told you, I’m good with whatever,” you said cheerfully.

“Keep talking like that I’ll tattoo my name on your ass,” he quipped as he adjusted the design before placing it.

“Make it your face and we just may have a deal,” you shot back and Yoongi gagged from his corner. Jungkook did not want to think about the potential implication of those words.

He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to survive the next three and a half hours with you making suggestive comments while standing in your barely-there underwear, but he was going to have to. Of course, as friends, you’d always had the occasional flirty banter but the “Best Large Black & White” prize was calling his name and God did he want to win. He double-checked the placement of the design as it stretched from just above your hip bone to finish in the middle of your thigh. His adjustments were so precise, it covered the expanse of your thigh damn near perfectly. Jungkook grinned.

“Ready?” he asked, holding up a mirror as you checked out the placement, twisting from side to side.

“Yeah, looks great. How do you want me?”

Jungkook paused as he set up his rolling tray filled with his ink caps and laid out his sterilized needles. There were more than a few ways he could answer that but he settled on, “However you’re most comfortable. You’re going to be here for a while.”

You laughed and climbed onto the bench, giving Jungkook a perfect view of your ass, before you settled against the leather on your left side. Jungkook adjusted the height of his seat so he could position on your thigh with your bent knee resting against the bench and angled towards him. Confirming you were indeed comfortable, Jungkook gently rubbed the A&D ointment across the first section of the design, taking slightly longer than necessary, and got to work. There was a little over three hours to get it done.

He worked diligently as he traced the fine lines of the flower petals, slipping into his professional mode. A small crowd had gathered around the booth, intrigued to see him work on you. Most of the folks there knew about your friendship from social media and mutual community-work settings, how the two of you had bonded over your shared love of tattoos, but seeing the two of you together like this was a real treat. He didn’t feel any pressure as the cameras fought to get a glimpse of him working though. Jungkook did well under pressure but there was a lot riding on this one piece. For him and for you. He wouldn’t disappoint you though. He couldn’t. Not when you looked so peaceful as he worked on the tattoo. Jungkook would win and make you proud.

“Guk, I have a question.”

“What’s up?”

“Would you fuck me?” Jungkook was thankful he’d removed the needle from your skin to wipe off the extra ointment as there was no doubt in his mind he would have fucked up had it been there.

“What?” he asked, slightly breathless.

“Okay, maybe that was a bit vulgar. I guess what I mean is do you think I’m attractive? Like -” you tucked a loose strand of your hair behind your ear, “- a woman you’d spend the night with. Date long-term. That sort of thing,” you finished. Jungkook swallowed before he spoke.

“Uh, yeah. You’re an attractive person.” Jungkook replied, avoiding eye contact with you as he went back to tracing the lines and tried not to think of you under him, around him, on top of - “Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know. It’s been a while since I’ve been in a relationship - since anyone has even asked me on a date. Seokjin never called me back after we went for drinks that one time and Jimin - nevermind actually,” you sighed and Jungkook re-lived the memory of Park Jimin with you - the second man to break your heart in a matter of months. His face soured as he remembered how inconsolable you were the first few months after the breakup and how badly he’d wanted to take a baseball bat to Jimin’s very nice, very expensive car. “Maybe I’m unapproachable. Yoongi, am I unapproachable?” you called over to him.

“Yes,” he said dryly, not bothering to look at you. You scoffed in response.

“You’re never the best person to ask, you old man! People barely talk to you,” you murmured.

“Y/N, you’re great,” Jungkook said in response. “You’re more than great actually, but maybe now isn’t the time to get into a relationship?”

“Why not? I have a stable job, I’m cool -”

“Barely!” Yoongi called over. Jungkook watched you shoot Yoongi the finger before you began speaking again.

“- and I’m charming. It would be nice if someone could appreciate that too, someone that wasn’t only me.”

“Hey! I appreciate you!” Jungkook blurted out, slightly offended.

“Yeah, like a friend. Guk, you know you don’t -”

“Don’t say it. Don’t tell me I don’t count, Y/N.”

“But Jungkook -”

Jungkook paused and set his gun down. “No. No ‘but Guk’, Y/N. I appreciate you, more than you know or understand. I get that we’re friends and I know you value our friendship, but you don’t get to tell me I don’t count because you think you know how I feel about you. Please don’t let your perception of my words and actions let you label them “friendly” when they’re something else.” Jungkook picked his gun back up, avoiding your gaze again, slightly alarmed by his unplanned confession.

“What? What do you mean ‘something different’?” you asked, confused. “Was I supposed to read this any differently after you said -”

“You weren’t supposed to know. You weren’t supposed to find out - not like this at least,” he muttered. Taking a deep breath, he said, “Just don’t count me out okay, Y/N? Not this time. Can we talk about this later though? I just -”

Before he could finish, Jungkook’s alarm went off, signaling only an hour and a half left before he needed to be taking you for judgement. “Okay, Guk. I won’t count you out. Finish,” you said softly as you nodded to your tattoo and chewed your lip in thought.

With time against him, you and Jungkook no longer conversed, though the conversation rattled in his brain like loose change in a tin can. He would need much more than a penny for his thoughts if he wanted to get out of this situation. The hasty confession had Jungkook wondering if he’s said too much too soon. Had he finally sent the house of cards tumbling down? It’s not that he hadn’t wanted to say anything, but the fear of you not meaning what you’d said frightened him. Memories of the two of you curled up on his aging leather sofa flickered across his mind’s eye and he wondered if this fuck up was worse than the time he’d quickly denied having any romantic feelings for you the morning after a drunk confession and you’d reciprocated the feelings. It had taken a few months for things to return back to any type of normal, an uneasy tension having over you both whenever you’d met up. Every few seconds his eyes flitted to your face, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever you were thinking sprawled across your forehead in your big, looping handwriting but your eyes were closed and your face fairly serene as you let him work in silence.

And work he did, shoving the thoughts to the back of his mind, finishing the last lines of the final petunia and filling in the mandala with various degrees of shading. He admired the delicacy of his work against your smooth skin, deciding it did suit you, much more than he could have hoped. Jungkook was actually slightly disappointed he was close to finishing, already missing the intimacy of working on you, but also eager to get you on stage so people could see his work. He’d gotten lost in the act like he usually did, concentration never breaking as the rest of the Milano Convention continued in full effect around him. Why had he waited so long to do this? You were a dream to work on, never flinching even as he finished up the minute shading of your tattoo, the worst part for many people. A true tattoo veteran with a hell of a pain tolerance. Roughly ten minutes left in the session, Jungkook wrapped up the piece.

“All done,” he said softly, wiping away the excess ointment and admiring his work briefly.

He heard you gasp as you propped yourself up to get a better view of it. “Holy fuck, Jungkook! It’s perfect. I love it!” you whispered in amazement and Jungkook smiled, relieved to not have disappointed you.

“Let me get some pictures, yeah?” You nodded and Jungkook snapped a few shots, promising to send them to you after the convention ended.

“Looks good, Jeon. And you got it done in time. You learned well,” Yoongi chuckled as Jungkook weakly punched his shoulder. “Are you happy, Y/N?” Yoongi asked as he packed up his spare equipment while his client waited patiently to be escorted to judging.

“Happy?” you scoffed, checking the tattoo out again in the mirror. “How about fucking ecstatic? I’m absolutely in love. Seriously Guk, thank you,” you beamed and launched yourself at him for a hug. Jungkook made eye contact with Yoongi as he held you tight in his arms, the older man relaying a silent message to his younger apprentice through raised eyebrows and crossed arms.

“Alright, alright. You can stare at it more later. We have to get to the judges and make it through all these people so,” Jungkook trailed off, letting you go while simultaneously ushering you out of their designated little space. Agreeing, you grabbed your teeny shorts and shoved your feet back into your sneakers. Jungkook stayed close behind you in an effort to cover your very visible, very exposed ass from peering eyes as you moved through the crowd. As much as he hated to admit it, he was really protective of you.

The trek to the judging station wasn’t as official as the name made it sound. It was really just a small stage raised a few inches above the ground with a table and enough chairs to seat the three judges as artists and their models were scored based on design, complexity, and overall execution. This year’s judges were Jung Hoseok of J’s Tailored Tattoos, Kim Namjoon of Mono & Moon, and Kim Taehyung of Vintage Vante. The three of them were rightfully deemed the gods of the tattoo world and Jungkook looked up to them immensely, each of them having numerous titles on the world stage in countries like Brasil, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Nerves rolled in Jungkook’s belly as he waited in the crowd with you for the host to call his name. A win with these guys as the judges would really put some of those naysayers in their place and Jungkook shuffled in place behind you, antsy.

“What’s wrong, Guk?’ you whispered to him as another artist and model headed on stage.

“What if they don’t like it?” he murmured anxiously.

“Do you like it?” Jungkook nodded. “Then that’s all that really matters. You’re insanely talented and I know they’re some of your role models, but they’re fucked if they don’t see how incredible you are. You’ve got this, Guk,” you said in a hushed tone as Yoongi took the stage with his model from earlier. Jungkook smiled into the back of your head as you stood in front of him and gave his hand a squeeze. Jungkook could always count on you.

It was now his turn. Standing with one hand tucked into his pocket and the other firmly gripping your shorts, Jungkook watched as the judges made their notes on their scoring sheets. You turned graciously to give all three of them the best view of the tattoo. And while he knows that there are probably a few people who’d be overjoyed at the challenges he faced to get to this moment, Jungkook didn’t care. Not when your uplifting words still wrapped around him, affirming his skill and talents. He was proud of what he’d accomplished today and while winning was the ultimate goal, he was also at ease because he’d succeeded in fulfilling one of your wishes and you were happy. Jungkook could only smile as you showered him with praise and tried to convince him to tattoo you again as the judging continued.

The two of you stood with Yoongi, chatting as the judges tallied up the scores. He tried to stay still as he watched the host organize the names of the winning artists, losing interest in the conversation as the judges confirmed the final results. One by one, the host read the categories and its corresponding champion. “For Best Medium Color,” the host paused for dramatic effect, “Min Yoongi!” Jungkook cheered loudly with you as his mentor took the stage with his model showing off the antique pocket watch and a royal flush poker hand on top of a wispy background.

Jungkook’s heart hammered in his chest, the sensation almost worse than his first year at the convention as Best Large Black & White was read out. Though he wanted to look calm and collected on the outside, Jungkook was sure he looked anything but. The audience created their own drumroll as the anticipation built - “Jeon Jungkook!”

Your squeal kickstarted Jungkook’s brain as he processed his win. He’d really done it? A few people around him clapped him on the shoulders in congratulations as he was pushed towards the stage to collect his prize and take his place beside the host. “Congratulations, Jungkook! One of the few artists to take home all three wins in one category,” the host announced. If only they knew what it took to get there. Jungkook felt like he was on cloud nine as he shook hands with the judges and took his picture with you and them, prize in hand. He knew he was positively glowing with pride.

“Guk, you did it! I told you that you could!” you cheered as you bounced up and down in happiness and excitement as they moved onto Best Large Color. He smiled down at you and unable to help himself any longer, he scooped you up into his arms, burying his face in your neck.

“Thank you, Y/N!” He repeated the phrase earnestly as if saying it over and over again would finally let you understand just how grateful he was but all it really did was make you giggle as his breath tickled your skin. “Seriously, I really couldn’t have done this without you.”

“I know,” you joked and flipped your hair. You both laughed and you pulled him in for another hug as you said, “Of course, Guk. I’m always here for you. Always,” you punctuated with a squeeze and a smile.

“Yeah, yeah,” he agreed. “You are always here for me,” he said vaguely as he stared down at you in his arms.

“Guk?” you queried as he stared off into the distance.

“This isn’t happening because I won. I don’t want you to think that I only do things like this when I’m any sort of intoxicated, okay?” Jungkook clarified as his confidence grew.

“Things like what?”

“Like confess and kiss you,” he stated.

“Kiss me? You’ve never-”

“Yes, I know I’ve never kissed you. But I want to. Is that okay?” Jungkook asked seriously.

“Yes. More than okay,” you whispered.

It was all Jungkook needed to hear. He was finally kissing you. A soft kiss that grew the longer you stood pressed together in the middle of the convention floor. Jungkook had had his fair share of first kisses, but yours was the one he’d remember for the rest of his life. Maybe because it was you. Maybe that’s why it would always be his favorite. He’d always refrained from putting himself in any situation where he’d be even the slightest bit tempted but now, after having you, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to let you go. The overwhelming sensation that it was actually happening was quickly quelled by the insurmountable joy he felt as you kissed because it was actually happening.

Jungkook may have ascended into another plane as your fingers curled into the hair at the base of his neck and you pulled him further into you. Though he really didn’t want you to think he was only doing this because he’d won, the courage it gave him really did help. The feeling of winning nearly paled in comparison from the brief, sweet taste that was you. Even if he’d never won tonight, he would have considered himself a winner regardless from the kiss alone. Jungkook sighed into you as he savored the moment. Through the pounding of blood in his ears, he could vaguely make out the hoots and hollers of passerbyers as he held you close. Lost in you once again, Jungkook forced himself to remember your earlier conversation.

“Did you really mean it though?” he asked, one arm still wrapped tightly around your waist and the other holding onto his golden plaque.

“Mean what?”

“Not counting me out.”

“Did you mean what you said?” you countered. “Even if I wasn’t supposed to find out this way.”

“Yes, and all the times before then,” he answered truthfully. “So, does this mean you’ll have me?”

“Absolutely. Totally. With my entire hea-” He pressed repeated kisses against your mouth, your teeth clashing as you both smiled, neither of you willing to break apart until a familiar voice cleared its throat.

“I leave for five minutes and this is how I find you. Took you long enough though. Be that as it may, are you done?” Yoongi asked, expression wry and his own prize peeking out of his duffle bag. “I could use some food before we head back to the hotel and Y/N is going to need that tattoo bandaged.”

“Right, right,” Jungkook answered and let you go albeit reluctantly. “We’ll meet you at the car?” Yoongi nodded.

“Don’t take forever. I will leave you. Both of you,” Yoongi warned as he headed off to the exit without any further questions.

Back at the booth, Jungkook applied a generous amount of ointment to the piece before securing it with a bandage and double-checking the tape. Helping you step into your shorts, he smiled at the tattoo. Not only would it be a great reminder of a great win, it would also signify the milestone in your friendship - relationship? - was taking. “Told you that you should’ve tattooed me sooner,” you quipped as you gingerly pulled up your shorts.

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?” he asked, playing along as he quickly packed up his things.

“You would have won much sooner,” you murmured, standing before him.

“Really? What would have been my prize instead? Because that plaque is pretty great.” Jungkook sat his bag on the ground and rested his hands on your hips.

“Better than me?” you grinned and he pressed his lips to yours again.

“Looks like I’ll have to come up with another design then,” he hummed.

“Or you can let me and I can tattoo you,” you suggested with a devilish grin.

“And what do you propose?”

“My name. Right here,” you pointed to the empty space on the left side of his chest.

“Only if you let me tattoo my face on your ass,” he joked and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“Deal,” you laughed.

Jungkook said nothing further, only smiled as he laced his fingers between yours and tugged you in the direction of the exit. “Great. I’ll have everything arranged,” he replied. Laughing with you in these moments meant so much to him and while he wasn’t sure what would happen between you after you left the convention and headed home, he would take pleasure in these moments for as long as you’d let him. As the two of you exited the building and hustled across the busy street to the parking garage so Yoongi wouldn’t have an excuse to leave you, Jungkook wondered if you’d known that your name had been inked over his heart a long, long time ago.

full masterlist // drabbles

ⓒ joon-ipersgirl, 2020

[fbfh]

vegas lights - piper x mpdg!bff!reader

2.3k words

wlw, friends to lovers

piper x manic pixie dream girl! best friend! reader

inspired by this concept playlist from this post (i think it’s the fourth one on the post)

You and piper met at one of those fancy boarding schools

You’ve been told you have trouble respecting authority, can’t follow instructions, and have little regard to your attitude

So more specifically, you met in detention

You had shown up to school with blue and orange hair

As you expected, that didn’t go over well

Piper hadn’t done her homework again

The teacher had left to make some copies of papers, and you were sitting one seat back and to the right of piper

“Hey, since people always talk about going back in time and making one small change that affects everything, do you think the most minute decisions we make have the capacity to change everything now?”

She turned her head and saw you leaning across your desk

Your eyebrows matched your hair, your blazer was too big and the sleeves were cuffed, and pen ink was scribbled on your arms and hands

You had a wild energy, like a strong breeze that smelled like summer you find some other time of year

“Uh…” 

She wasn’t really sure what you meant, and was still a little thrown by you

“Or like, is it the kind of thing where nothing we do matters and we’re gonna end up where we end up, so that takes off the pressure of moralizing your decisions and you end up making ‘better’ choices?”

Was this real?

The late afternoon sun cast an unsettling blue green light throughout the building, and made Piper feel even more like she was dreaming

“Maybe neither,” she mused, grabbing the first thing that came to mind

A new smile crept at your eyes, and she could almost see your perspective shift

“Yeah, like… the presence of someone who wasn’t there before was the thing to set everything off. Maybe it’s not your decisions as much as being there…” you trailed off lost in thought, “huh.” 

You pushed yourself up, and sat on the edge of your desk

“So what are you in for?”

Piper hadn’t realized she was staring until your eyes locked with hers

“D- uh, didn’t do my homework,” she sputtered

You sighed, and rolled your eyes

“God, they’re only gonna realize humans aren’t designed for constant work when we’re all dead.” 

You turn back to her

“You seem intelligent. Being smart doesn’t mean anything, intelligence is what actually matters.” 

Wow

How do you respond to that?

“... I’m Piper,” 

“Piper…” you repeated slowly

“I like that.”

Silence 

“What’s your name?”

“What do I seem like?” 

She looked confused

“What do I strike you as?”

She thought for a minute, then blurted out the first thing she thought of

“Vegas.” 

You smiled

“I love that… we’re gonna go to Vegas some time. It’ll be an adventure.”

“If I had to guess for you…” you trailed off, examining every detail of her in a way that didn’t make her self conscious

“I’d say diamond. I really like Piper too, though.” 

Her stomach fell

There it is, nothing more than a pretty face once again

“Oh, cause I’m-”

“Strong.”

Her eyes snapped up to yours

“You don’t seem like anyone can break you.”

She liked that a lot better

You asked her something about lunch tomorrow, she didn’t remember quite what, and that was the beginning of the two of you

You spent every minute you could together, which often resulted in coordinating your stunts with hers to end up in detention together

After a while the bmw story came up

You believed her without hesitation

“God, guys can be the fucking worst sometimes. I bet that piece of wet toast gave you the car to get on your good side then pulled a Nice Guy as soon as he realized it wasn’t happening.” 

Not totally accurate, but she appreciated your enthusiasm so she agreed wholeheartedly

For some reason it felt really nice to hear you say boys suck

As the semester went on, she started to get worried

You had started talking to a guy, and she had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach

She found herself having to try harder and harder to fake happy for you

She was almost surprised at how relieved she was a week later when you plop down at your usual lunch spot and denounce cynically

“Y’know that guy I was talking to? Turns out he’s not actually into philosophy, he’s a fake academic with a superiority complex.”

A weight flew off her chest

“You’re way better off without him,” 

“I know! He thinks watching rick and morty is a personality trait,” 

“Oh god…” she laughed

She had to fight a smile for most of lunch

To her despair, the cycle repeated again, less than a week later

Then again and again, you were seeing a new boy every week for a little over a month

As it progressed, she began to notice feeling worse, then better with every guy you picked up and dumped

She started to worry she was being a bad friend, possessive and jealous

You could tell something was off, and had mentioned here and there if she needs to talk to you she can

Every act of closeness from you made her feel worse and better at the same time

You had asked her to help you re dye your hair, this time a bright lime green, and she had no idea how she’d made it through the long night of just the two of you without saying something really stupid

It was almost graduation by now and she felt like she was going to break in half

“That’s it, I’m done with men. Never touching another one. Ever.”

She looked up at you shocked

“You can hold me to that.” you finish, a laugh frosting the seriousness of your statement

A flood gate opened somewhere deep inside her

Before she could stop it, the thought crept up on her from the back of her mind

‘Least now I have a chance with her,’

The organicness shocked her so much she almost choked on her food

“You okay Di?” you asked

Her pulse was racing and she felt panic and adrenaline coursing through her in a way she’d never experienced

“Yeah, I just have go to the bathroom,” she said, standing up quickly and avoiding your eyes

“I’ll come with,” 

“No! It’s fine. I’ll be right back, stay here.” 

You agreed

She rushed into the bathroom to google “does having a crush on a girl mean i’m gay” 

She tried rephrasing the question a hundred times, glad she remembered to turn on private browsing before she started

She tries to calm her breathing as she gets the same answer five times in a row

“If you keep asking if you’re gay, you probably are”

One article on realizing you have a crush on your girl best friend was actually slightly helpful

It was validating, gave advice on how to act normal, and emphasized there’s time to sort out these feelings and what they might mean later

She read it three times before the bell rang

Shit

She had half her classes with you, what was she gonna do now?

She came out of the bathroom and there you were, waiting for her

“Hey, you okay?”

“Ye- uh… yeah, I’m… sick I think. That’s why I left suddenly, and couldn’t… finish lunch,” she was a terrible liar to you, and just hoped that whatever forces had gotten her in trouble so many times could convince you this was all cause of a stomach bug

“Oh, that sucks. I have an extra bag of chips if you get hungry later, and if you wanna sleep after class instead of hang out I totally get it.” 

Her heart was palpitating

At least you seemed to believe it

“Yeah,  I probably should… and I probably shouldn’t get too close to you- like, I should stay away from you. Cause I don’t want you to get sick too.” she knew she was rambling and had no idea how to fix it.

“Okay, text me later. I’m here to talk if you wanna.” you smiled, and squeezed her shoulder, her heart squeezing at the same time

She left in a hurry to get to her next class, for once grateful you weren’t in it

Over the next week or so, the idea of having a huge uncontrollable crush on you started to be less scary

She just didn’t want to lose you

She knew everything about you

Your favorite color, violet

Your favorite singer, someone named king princess

Your favorite food, broccoli

Even your favorite lip balm flavor, cherry

She had to set all these feelings aside and be there for you as a friend, because that’s what you needed her to be

Just for another week, then you’d part ways for the summer and she could get over this before next year

She couldn’t stop the way her heart skipped a beat when you rested your head on her shoulder

Or when you were studying last night

You couldn’t figure out a problem, and put your head in her lap declaring,

“That’s it. We’re moving to a countryside cottage and becoming an old married farming couple.”

She didn’t breathe right for a second

She somehow managed to choke out

“God, please. That can be our plan b if we fail.”

Which, unfortunately, you didn’t 

You both passed, and unhappily went your separate ways for the summer

She tried to keep plans to meet up abstract, savoring that last hug on friday more than she should have

This plan will work, she’ll avoid you all summer, and come back next semester and be totally normal

It will all be fine

Or it would have if you hadn’t pressed a kiss on her cheek before she got pulled into a rented car, speeding off for the airport

Every minute between that second and seeing her dad at the airport was filled with thoughts of you

Five days had passed, and she couldn’t sleep

She had tried to keep texting you to a minimum, which only worked because of how much she was overthinking everything

Friends can kiss sometimes, right?

And yeah, you looked at her with those big sparkly eyes, but you’ve looked at her like that since she first met you

She was laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, and couldn’t get your stupid amazing smile out of her head

She was… overwhelmed

Her phone buzzed

Of course, it was you

She threw her phone on her bed without reading it

Her whole body was buzzy, her feelings had never been this strong

It was too much

She actually felt like she was going to explode in 10 seconds

She could feel a stupid impulse of some kind or another creeping up

A gentle tapping on her window snapped her out of it

‘It’s her’

No it’s not, she chastised herself, you’re practically on the other side of the country

She looked over at her window

It was you

It was you

Oh god

She scrambled out of bed, and threw the window open

You had already popped the screen off, propping it next to her window

“Hi,” you said,

“H-” she had no words

Time and time again you left her speechless

“Y-... your hair’s pink,” she choked out

You laughed and smiled that crooked little smile of yours, and she could feel her heart clench

“Yeah, d’you like it?”

“Yeah,” she said without a second thought

Something she’d read online came back to her in a rush

‘If you like your crush after they change their hair, you know it’s real’

Shit

You placed your hand on top of hers

“So… do you wanna go on an adventure?”

“Yes.” she answered, never wanting anything more

You laugh and lean forward, closer to her

You brush a strand of hair out of her face and watch as her eyes flutter closed

A surge of nerves pulse through you simultaneously, your hand still on her face

“Piper,” you whisper, sounding closer than before

“Hm?”

“... do you want to kiss?”

Relief floods her like nothing she’s ever experienced before

She nods twice, vigorously

Your lips connect in a moment of pure euphoria

You’re soft

You taste like cherry, and that gum you’re always chewing, grapefruit and pear and a little cayenne

Her lips are warm and soft and so inviting

When you finally pull away, you’re both breathless, already wanting more

Her mind is reeling

What if this is just a fling or something, what if this isn’t like, romantic kissing and it’s the kind of kissing best friends probably do sometimes?

Best friends can kiss sometimes, right???

She has to do it now, there’s no way she could possibly come back from this

She has to tell you how she feels

But how can she say it?

She can’t just blurt it out

It has to be perfect

But she also has to be able to take it back in case you say no

“Piper,” you start again

“Yeah?” she breathes

Once again you take the words right out of her, spinning them into something beautiful and easy to understand

“Do you want to be girlfriends? Like, date each other?”

She’s frozen for a second

This has to be a dream

It feels fake

She’s been dying to hear you say those exact words for months

And how much more in character could it have been than after asking her to go on an adventure

She looks into your eyes, searching for a hint of a lie

She finds nothing

And for a moment, for the first time, she sees your composure begin to crack

You look… scared

She realizes she hasn’t answered yet

“Yes!” she blurts, pulling you in to kiss you again and again

“Yes, yes, yes…” she mutters between kisses

Your giggles hit her ears, sounding different than ever before

After what feels like forever and not nearly long enough, you finally part again

“So…” you play with her hair, braiding a loose strand

“How ‘bout that adventure?”

[artemisfowlcodex]

My sister’s directly transcribed notes, taken while watching the Artemis Fowl movie...

(Absolutely no editing for grammar has been done, this is raw reaction)

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

SURFBOARD???? Wh— WHY IS MY BOY SURFING

 THis is a better start to Percy Jackson than the actual Percy Jackson movie There’s no way he’d choose the name Bruce Okay but the accents cute

 And this scene is accurate  Basard boy Absolute baby unlimited

 IS ANGELINE DEAD???????

 Bold of you to think he could lift a backpack SKATEBOARD?????????????? JEANS??????????????????

 At home w his dad yeah as if he was a good dude from the start what He taught him bout fair folk????

 PLEASE stop putting my boy in JEANS JEAAAANNNSS baby boy has a cute as hell nose

 Arty count #1

 sidenote pls don’t call him Artemis jr it’s senior and Artemis that’s it 

What is even happening hmmm

WHY DOES THIS BOY KNOW WHAT PHYSICAL AFFECTION IS  HAH NO I LOVE YOU TOO

 OH MY GOD ANGELINE IS DEAD WHY

why would you kill the person trying to put him in jeans 

The manor is cute as hell tho

LEGO??? Omg robotics

Yeah that sounds about right Hey why aren’t his pjs silk And WHERE IS BUTLER

THERE

WOW THOSE ARE BLUE EYES

NO!!!!!!! You CANT CALL HIM BY HIS FIRST NAME!!!!!!!!

baby drink MILK 

Bold of you to assume Artemis didn’t know his dad was a crime lord

Owl star?? Bruh

 DOM PLS GOD WHY  Never call him butler pfft  Oh my god why is the plot now that the folk have kidnapped him????  WHAT ACULOUS?

 “Word for word”  This boy would and then DOESNT 

 Arty count #2  WHY IS HE STILL IN JEANS how tf is this so different to the book you had 20 YEARS to get it

I vibe w haven tho  Nother sidenote why are mulch’s teef so nice don’t like that

 Hollys suit is kinda cute tho Helmet sucks tbh  I AM VIBIN W HAVEN  Why is mulch a beeg boye  WHY ARE GOBLINS HARRY POTTER SHIT UGLY INSTEAD OF REPTILES  Yep helmets SUCK  Okay yeah this is a cute holly  Fjsjfjsjfjfnsjfj yeah that’s their whole dynamic  Why tf is he going to howlers peak

 WHOMST  WAIT IS THE OTHER ONE FREAKIN OPAL

 hmm okay yeah dench good commander bad root HWAT THE HECK IS THEB ACULLUS the hats are SO BAD  BEEG eyes holly Holly looking for her dad too oh no I smell the bonding already  I wannaaaaa seeeeeeee TROUBLE and chix lol

 STOP CALLING HIM DOMOVOIIIIII OH IS THIS JULIET!? OH SHES CUTE  NEICE??????  TF CUUUUTE  haha encoded too love that 

FOALLLYYYYY OHHHHH LOVE THAT THE skirt güd THAT IS A GOOD FOALY  HE SMOL THO

 ohhhh yeah CUDGEON  so it IS opal

 Wings good IS she shielded??

 DOMOVOI STOP W THST NAME  JEANS WHY  

Yeah this scene right  Fangs aren’t big enough  Too human face hm

 GOOD FOALY THO  THEYRE REALLY USING CENTAUR TO FULL POTENTIAL  THATS NOT HOW TIME STOPS WORK  they’re literally explained in the book how th ehh work what the heckidy heck

RETRIEVAL WOULD HAVE BETTER WAYS TO BRING EM IN  holly no

 Arty count #3

 It IS opal  Thats  That’s not how coords work

 STOP CALLING HIM DOM  keep ur helmet on queen

 Aha HERES the siege  NOT HAPPY SJHFJSJGJSKFJSJFJ

 JEANS 

JULIET OMG  STOP WEARING J E A N S OKAY I LOVE THIS SCENE

 DOM FOR GODS SAKE  I’ll give her a pass tho bc it’s Jules

 SWORD????  Please give me butler beating up retrieval PLEASE I NEED IT

 is it just a Thing™️ to have Dench stare dead into the camera now? First Cats and now this  TOP O THE MORNIN

 J E A N S  HAHA SUIT!!!! SUIIIT AT LONG LAST  Scared to dead hell yeah

 WHO GAVE THIS CHILD A GUN IM??????  THIS IS SUCH A WILD RIDE

god please tell me opal doesn’t actually sound like that and it’s a disguise

 Heheheheh baby boy looks ten  Do Root and I share a bday?  Was that Frond?  STOP calling him jr he’s the SECOND

Mulch I will feed u ur weirdly nice teef  YES FIRE  But also uhhhhh WHERES MY REPTILE REP  YES BUT THAT SCENES FROM LATER BOOKS

 My father was kidnapped! YEAH WELL MY FATHER IS DEAD  AND HERES THE BONDING

 PORTALS???? WAIT HYBRAS????? 

 Oh yeah julius can’t be Julius bc woman  BOWIE A FOLK DJDHFJKS  Damn mulchs eyeliner going off doe  LET HIM UNHINGE HIS JAW! WEIRD DWARF RIGHTS!  Throat INFECTIONGNDJSJFJSJK  Hey quick observation I’m surprised there are NO fart jokes seeing as the book was FILLED w them  YESSSSSS UNHINGEDDDDDD THATS MY BOY!!!! YESSSS UNHINGED RIGHTS 

hacker voice: I’m in Burps??? Wack “Switching to xray and then Does Not”  

Lol nothing to do w the brain  PLEASE PUNCH HIM I WANT THE LEGENDARY LOLLIPOP LINE DWARF HAIR HOLY SHIT  YESSSS YESSSSSS PUNCH

 Oh it’s acorn shaped of COURSE it is  But WHAT is it  IM SORRY W H A T Is the time stop doing??

 CUDGEON YES  OH SICK TROLL TIME TROLL TIME  Darvit wheeeee there it is

 If you like doubled butlers height this would be fine bc I like the taller holly and mulch  2.97 seconds to eat humans fjsjfjsjjf JFJSNFJSJFJ MULCH STEALING THE GUN FROM BUTLER 

 They’re using the troll as a battering ram im crying that’s so dumb  Magic jammers? That’s a thing?  YEET JULIET BEST GIRL  YES MULCH UNHINGED RIGHTS!!  DOM COUNT DOM COUNT  Hmm yeah soundtrack nothing to write home about  DOM COUNT

 I vibe w neutrino design  OH DOM COUNT DOM count DOm count pls stopppppp Whyd you a) move him and b) sit him up  BUDDY????  hey ur not meant to die til book three

 Wh CHIX IS AN ELF??? WHY ISNT HE G R E E N WHYS HE CAPTAIN AINT THAT MEANT TO BE TROUBLE  WINGS ARE MAGIC??  DOM COUNT  Did I cry? Little bit lol love that 

 Oh yeah he runs like he’s never learnt how  Like he’d willingly call someone a friend before book four  Wow yeah that’s defs arctic incident 

 Fjshfjsjjfjdjfjfhfhdhfhdhghh I know it didn’t fail but WHAT IF IT DID  “Dad” wow please go back to calling him Father

 I’ll be real I didn’t view holly as a child actor the whole time lol she’s good  And white ,,, but that’s a different issue

 But also YALL KILLED ANGELINE B ITCH WE WERE ROBBED OF HAVING HIM IN SUITS THE WHOLE MOVIE  oh my god what are you on about  UNHINGED RIGHTS!!!

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

And that is the total transcript, in near-unreadable format. 

God help us all.

[365days365movies]

March 1, 2021: The Hobbit (Review)

Is “quaint” a good word here?

Maybe its the beautiful backgrounds, maybe it’s the stylized designs that make me think of Christmas specials, maybe it’s the faithful take on a classic story that I loved as a kid, but...I dunno. Quaint’s the first thing that comes to mind here for me, for whatever reason.

All I know is that I did enjoy this movie well-enough...even if it’s not my favorite. Don’t get me wrong, this is still a great story, and I do love the original Tolkien tale very much...but I don’t know if I can say this was my favorite adaptation or not.

Now, it got some things right that the Jackson movies didn’t, at last as far as I’m concerned. Thorin’s pretty good in this film, Gollum is great (as always), and it accurately sums up the story in a single movie without too much omitted (I do miss Beorn, though). But here’s the thing: the things that I think Jackson’s movies did wrong outnumber what this film did right.

You know, the weird addition of Tauriel and Legolas, the added Lake Town plot with fuckin’ Alfrid, the entire Azog thing, the fucking NECROMANCER thing, Rada...well, actually, I like Radagast. He was fun.

And that’s not to say that Jackson’s movies did nothing right. Quite the contrary! I mean, Martin Freeman is a PERFECT Bilbo Baggins, and basically everybody is perfectly cast, to be honest. And that includes what I think is the best part of the films: Smaug, as portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch. And yeah, that motion capture footage is hilarious, but it pays the fuck OFF, what can I tell ya? I mean...come on.

Smaug in these movies is fucking AMAZING, and I genuinely love him. And...well, you know what, let’s actually get into the Review. Enough navel-gazing here. Here’s the Recap (Parts 1, 2, and 3), if you’d like to read that first! OK, let’s get this done and Reviewed!

Review

Cast and Acting: 7/10

Given that this is an animated film, this is an interesting category to grade. I’ll be doing so based on their vocal performances, and...eh. For a Rankin-Bass movie, the vocal performances are a little standard. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t some standouts. Orson Bean plays a kind and contemplative Bilbo, and while I don’t know that I like him quite as much as Martin Freeman, I do still like his performance. John Huston is likewise good as Gandalf, although Ian McKellen is...well, Ian McKellen, even in The Hobbit films. And then...there’s Brother Theodore. And, boy oh boy, do I love his Gollum a lot! I think he’s legitimately fantastic as this version of the character, and specifically as this version of the character. Andy Serkis is still the better Gollum, I think, but I do think that Theodore handles Gollum’s last line in this film better than Serkis did. However, I can see Serkis becoming the devious little monster he eventually becomes a lot more.

Also, Hans Conried plays Thorin, and all I could hear was Captain Hook, like, the entire time. There are actually a lot of voice actors from the time period in here, like Don Messick, Paul Frees, and Thurl Ravenscroft, and they’re all fine. There’s also Richard Boone as Smaug, and...he’s OK. Not saying he’s great, but...he’s all right. His deep booming voice does work well for the role, and some of his line deliveries are pretty goddamn solid, but...I dunno, he just doesn’t bring the same gravelly gravitas that I expect of, well, a goddamn dragon, let’s be frank here.

Plot and Writing: 9/10

What can I say? It’s Tolkien! And they’re pretty exact with their adaptation of the original work, as adapted and written by Romeo Muller. And yeah, Muller does a good job...but he also writes this similar to how he wrote all of the other Rank Bass specials. If there’s any problem, it’s that. But even then...I don’t know if I can call that a real problem. Still, I’ll take a point off for it, even though it’s really closer to half a point. If anything, I’m upset that Beorn was completely absent. You coulda worked him in, Romeo!

Directing and Cinematography: 7/10

This is essentially judging the storyboarding, and how shots were positioned in the artistic process. And yeah, it’s...mostly good. Unfortunately, true to form for Rankin-Bass production, it often feels just a little too stiff in places. Makes sense since Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass are the directors. Not as bad as some of their other productions, but still definitely a notable quality of the film. So, points off for that, but the rest of it is honestly fine, especially for animation of the era. What came out from Disney that year?

Oh, damn, the Rescuers? Yeah...shit, yeah, that looked WAY better, and that wasn’t even one of Disney’s best looking film up to that point. Although, different budgets should probably be taken into account. OK, moving on.

Production and Art Design: 8/10

I like the backgrounds in this film a LOT, lemme tell you. They were done by Minoru Nishida, who’s done a hell of a lot of animation stuff, but was also the art director for Kill Bill Vol 1! Neat! But yeah, the backgrounds are absolutely gorgeous here. How about the rest of the art design? Characters were designed by Lester Abrams, then redesigned a bit by the Topcraft guys (specifically  Tsuguyuki Kubo), giving it the very stereotypical Rankin-Bass style that the movie is known for. And does it work? I mean...kinda. The good news is that the different races of Middle Earth are pretty goddamn distinguishable from each other, and creatively designed at that. The bad news...sorry, I never did get used to Smaug, I genuinely don’t like his design in this. Like...why the dog head? By all accounts, Smaug was a stereotypical wyrm-style dragon, with the reptilian features and I. I just...I don’t get it. Sorry, but Jackson’s Smaug wins here, hands down. But that said...I do like Gollum. It’s different, yeah, but I think his design works pretty well. After all, according to Tolkien, we’re not really supposed to know what Gollum is. And I think it works pretty goddamn well!

Music and Editing: 7/10

Glenn Yarbrough. I love ya. I SWEAR, I do actually like you and your main contribution to this movie, The Greatest Adventure. But if I have to hear that song ONE MORE GODDAMN TIME in this movie, I swear...because they chop up the song and use it in EVERY AVAILABLE INSTANCE with Bilbo. And I guess it’s his leitmotif, but they use that song...A LOT. And not instrumentally, I mean with the goddamn lyrics. Just...tone it down a little, OK? But OK, what about the other music, by Maury Laws? I like it! There are some songs in here that are very catchy, and I might actually get “Down, Down, to Goblin Town” on my playlist. Not that it’s all great, but it works for the setting and for the tone of the movie. And what about the editing? Eh. Visual editing is pretty good, bu7t the sound editing is...it’s 1970s animation editing. Hell, even the Rescuers sound editing wasn’t amazing, when I think about it. It’s fine, but it isn’t great most of the time.

Y’know...I think I can gel with a 76% here.

Yeah, I know, it’s low, but that’s because this movie was...good, but OK. I’m not necessarily saying that it was better or worse than the Jackson movies, because I think they compliment each other in some weird ways. I like Thorin as a character more here, but Smaug MUCH more in the Jackson films. While there definitely don’t need to be three Jackson movies...I’ll admit that I think this one is too short, coming in at only an hour and 18 minutes. And I gotta say, I love the fact that it’s animated...but the live-action films also look fantastic, I can never fault them for how they look (except for Dain...ugh). I think they’re similar, but different, at least for me.

But OK, here’s a question: is it just because it’s a property that I really like, and I have my own internal vision of it, which might be influenced by the live-action films? Entirely a possibility. Watch this movie yourself, make your own score! See what you think. Meanwhile, I’m going to try an experiment.

Fantasy movie, same production company, same directors, same animators, also based off of a fantasy book. And, uh...I dunno, a unicorn, maybe?

March 2, 2021: The Last Unicorn (1982)

[ordinaryschmuck]

Top 20 BEST Animated Series of the 2010s-Honorable Mentions

And now. 

What is hands down.

The Best.

Animated series.

In the 2010s.

Is…

Going to be revealed tomorrow because I'm a piece of s**t (I’ll change the title when enough people fall for it). For now, here are some quick honorable mentions that aren't bad, but just not as good as the shows I picked...in my opinion, at least.

Craig of the Creek (2018-)-From what I've seen from season one, this show is pretty charming. It understands the pure imagination that comes from being a kid and has moments when these characters are more human than cartoons. But it also has the same energy as a Beach City episode in Steven Universe, and as we discussed, not everybody is going to be into that. Plus, I haven't caught up past season one (due to just not having the time), so it wouldn't be fair to claim it's one of the best when I haven't seen how seasons two and three hold. I've heard from other people that it's good, so I'll be willing to take their word for it. And maybe you should too.

Milo Murphy's Law (2016-2019)-I've seen a handful of episodes of this show, but from what I saw, I'd say it's worth watching further. The idea of this kid, who's cursed to literally have the worst life ever, deciding to have an optimistic outlook of the hand he's been dealt is pretty admirable. Plus, Weird Al Yankovic voices the main character. I can't physically hate it. Although the ginormous issue that Milo Murphy's Law has is that it relies too much on Phineas and Ferb's recognizability. I get that both shows were created by the same people, and I'd be more than fine if there were just a few shout outs and references. But the creators decided to force one of the characters in Phineas and Ferb into Milo's Murphy's Law, making it sort of a spin-off series on top of being its own separate thing. Meaning that you don't have to watch Phineas and Ferb beforehand, but you do need to know who these characters are going in. And if you're wondering how that paradoxical concept works...I couldn't tell you. I haven't seen the show in its entirety, and from what I have seen, it's at least good enough for an honorable mention.

The Avengers: Earth Mightiest Heroes (2010-2013)-There's nothing wrong with this series. The designs are great, the representation of these iconic characters is even better, and the level of quality is on par with the Marvel Cinematic Universe...I just always forget that this show exists. No offense to the series, but I just prefer shows that I'll remember instead of shows that I'll forget in another ten years.

Young Justice (2010-)-And before you start making the audacious claim that I'm a DC fanboy, let it be clear that Young Justice is an honorable mention for similar reasons. I love the character designs, and I think the representation is on point. Plus, while it does not have MCU levels of quality, Young Justice matches up with the good DC movies. It's just forgettable...and also because I never got the chance to watch the third season yet. Instead, I wasted my limited time with an HBOmax subscription on watching Doom Patrol, Harley Quinn, and my favorite Doctor Who episodes. Don't judge me!

Harley Quinn (2019-)-And seeing how I mentioned it, Harley Quinn is a fantastic show with perfect satire. And like some of the best satirical writings, this show has a deep understanding of the source material that it's making fun of while still providing an excellent story at the same time. However, most jokes die quick, and the animation is just flat out garbage at times. I recommend it, but keep in mind that there's a reason why it's just an honorable mention.

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2018-2020)-I know I kind of trashed it with my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) review, but the truth is that I really love this show. Or, at least, I want to love this show. Because there is something amazing and worthwhile that’s hidden under a gigantic pile of poor planning and network meddling. I plan to make a full review for it in the future, so I'll save my thoughts for when that comes. For now, just know that it's something worthwhile if you're the right person.

Amphibia (2019-)-Aaaaaaand it's the same thing here. There's a lot that I like about it, but the stuff I don't makes it hard to enjoy. I'll also do a full review on this one in the future, so you're just going to have to wait...again.

Tangled: The Animated Series (2017-2020)-Another show that I really liked and even considered putting on the list. Even wrote a review and everything. But looking back, the parts that it did wrong highly outweighed what it does right, and honestly, it was a toss-up between this and Star V.S. the Forces of Evil for what took twentieth place. I ultimately went with Star V.S. because at least it had villains that were actually intriguing and terrifying characters. Unlike a specific antagonist with blue hair who was so idiotic and insane that I honestly would have felt nothing if they died in the end...I know that I just made a ton of enemies with that statement, but I don't give a s**t. And if you're nice, I might rewrite my review so I can accurately explain why this series is a tad bit overrated.

The Looney Tunes Show (2011-2014)-... I liked it...other people didn't, but I liked it.

Hilda (2018-)-Because I haven't seen season two yet. That's why. And from what I've seen in season one, this show is incredibly charming, beautifully imaginative, and is absolutely something I would show to my children if I ever have any. Maybe it forces in drama when it doesn't need to, but overall, you can better believe that this would have made the list if I saw season two before I started ranking shows.

And those are my honorable mentions. I’ll see you tomorrow for the actual unveiling of the number one spot. And for the fandoms that I ticked off...be patient.

(Also, let this be a lesson to read the tags before clicking 'Keep Reading.' Unless that's what you did, in which case, BOY, do I have egg on my face.

[a-square-minus-one]

Honey 3

Author’s Note: The ideas I have for this story are starting to become a little difficult to actualize in a series of one shots so now my story will be a series of interconnected one shots and multi-chapter arcs that lead to Garfield and Raven falling in love. This chapter will be a part of an arc. 

You can read Honey 2 here.

When Raven walks into the kitchen to make herself some chai tea she is surprised to see that it is near noon. She woke up early, even earlier than usual. 4am early in fact. When she sat up in her bed, her body felt taut. She was hyper aware of how the ends of her hair were tickling her shoulders. Something had felt threatening about the pitch black darkness of her room. When she left it felt like something was trailing behind her, waiting to grab at her ankles. For the first time since she came  to Titan’s Tower, she felt as if she couldn’t have gotten out of her room fast enough. It was only the feel of the morning sunlight on her skin that had soothed her paranoia but the tension in her shoulders was still there.  

Raven absently places a tea bag into the hot water in her mug as she questions what could have set her body off. They hadn’t watched any scary movies lately. Sometimes her body feels heavy after healing but she hadn’t been seriously injured in any of the battles they’ve had recently. Aside from last night, she was getting her regular eight hours of sleep. You’re not tired. Raven says to herself, putting the mug to her lips. 

She hears someone clear their throat. She shakes the thoughts out of her head and looks at Cyborg who is  twirling a whisk enthusiastically and smiling at her in an uncharacteristically goofy manner. He has a chef’s hat on. She raises her eyebrow in question.

“Um?” she asks. When Cyborg doesn’t say anything she speaks again. “Cooking something?”

“Not me,” Cyborg says and suddenly he pulls a dark blue apron from underneath the counter. Raven’s afraid her face is going to freeze with her eyebrow in her hairline. “You’re going to learn how to make waffles.” 

“Cybo-” she begins but pauses when she feels his excitement seeping into her bones. “It’s noon,” she says, in a feeble attempt to do this another day. 

“Is noon too late for breakfast BB?” Cyborg asks Changeling who she realizes was sitting on the couch in pajama bottoms since she walked in. Changeling doesn’t look up from his game.

“It’s never the wrong time to eat breakfast. The real question though is if it’s ever the right time to eat waffles Raven makes,” Garfield says, facing his video game but peeking towards Raven to catch her reaction. Raven unplugs his console with her powers and snatches the apron from Cyborg. 

“Hey!” Garfield grumbles half heartedly, looking as Raven ties the apron around her small waist tightly. “Well I’m clearly going to have to teach you how to make vegan waffles too.”

“Why would I need to learn that?” Raven asked, looking disinterestedly at Garfield over the edge of the recipe Cyborg had given her to skim.

“Aren’t you the one who loves learning new things?” Garfield teases, flicking some flour at her. Raven glares at him, wiping her face with a napkin.

“You’re going to need to put on a shirt,” Raven says, reaching for the flour. Cyborg shakes his head at her and takes the bowl out of her hands.

“Why? Distracting?” Garfield asks, flexing the muscles in his arm. Her eyes linger on his arm. He feels his face heat up. 

“It’s either that or a hair net for your chest,” Raven says flatly. Garfield sticks his tongue out at her.

“Women love the chest hair,” Garfield says, running his fingers over his chest. Raven takes another sip from her tea.

“Just like they love the ears?” Raven teases, smirking over the rim of her mug. Garfield wiggles his eyebrows, puts his arms out in front of him and shrugs.

“What can I say? I’m delectable all over.” Raven puts a hand to her ear theatrically.

“You said something about being detestable?” Garfield rolls his eyes and for lack of any retort he dips his fingers in the flour bowl and flicks it at her again. 

“Hey, get your germy paws out of my flour bowl!” Cyborg says, holding the flour bowl protectively to his chest.

…

An hour later, Raven is trying not to look too proud as she stands over her own waffles. They’re a little browner than waffles should be but they don’t look alive which is more than she can say for the pancakes she made for the team on her sixteenth birthday. Sometime after the trio started mixing the dry ingredients, Starfire and Nightwing had walked into the kitchen and started helping them cut up some fruit and chocolate for toppings. She almost forgets the nervous thrumming in her body.

Until they’re showered in the red light of the tower’s alarm system.

Nightwing’s lax smile immediately straightens out like a flat sheet of paper as his fingers dance over the large touchscreen in the middle of their common room.

“Reports are of an unidentified being downtown. Definitely not human. Large enough to knock down the abandoned building on 44th street. Three injured and one in critical condition. The attack is coming from the sky so we are dealing with an aerial being. It’s causing fires. Star, you’ll have to be in the forefront. Titans go!” 

And together they dash out into the sky. The first thing Raven feels when they are near the scene is a wall of  heat. Her eyes water at the thickness of the smoke. Nightwing gives out directions as they fly closer.

“Raven, Changeling, I’m going to need you two to put out the fires. Cyborg try to contain the battle to a three block perimeter. Star, you and I are going to try to take this thing down. Raven, Changeling, try to join us as soon as you can. We don’t know what we’re up against.”

Changeling transforms into an elephant before his feet even touch the ground, going straight to the nearest fire hydrant. Raven blocks out the fire’s sources of oxygen. They get ninety percent of the fire put out before Garfield changes back into human form and sways. He  coughs heavily into his arm. He isn’t able to wear the protective masks that Cyborg designed for them when he switches to animal form. Raven looks as the fire department rolls in and flies down to Changeling. 

“We’re getting out of here,” she says, putting her arm around him. “They can handle the rest.”

Changeling can’t stop coughing long enough to agree. Raven finds a roof at a reasonable distance from the fire but within the three block radius. The minute her energy dissolves Garfield falls to the ground in a coughing fit. She moves quickly to heal him but he raises an arm.

“I’ll be-” he coughs. “Fine.”

Raven debates whether she should leave Garfield here and join Nightwing and Starfire but she’s afraid he is not assessing his injuries accurately. He lays down on the roof and closes his eyes, trying to catch his breath. 

“Alright this guy’s gotta go. He’s already working his way up to my least favorite villains list,” Garfield says, getting on his feet and swaying a little.

“Garfield, maybe you should stay here.”

“I heal fast Rae, I’ll be-” he coughs, sticking his finger up when he sees she’s about to protest. “Fine Raven. I’ll be fine.” 

“You heal faster Garfield. Faster than Nightwing and Cyborg. But you don’t heal fast.”

“Fine, I’ll let you heal me halfway,” Garfield says, shrugging. 

“Fine?” Raven growls when she puts her hand on his chest and realizes how much smoke he’s inhaled. She does her best to glare at him without breaking her concentration.

“But am I dead?” Changeling jokes. Raven wonders if she should stop healing him and just strangle him now. In five minutes he’s breathing a little more normally but Raven doesn’t even try to move her hand. Garfield grabs her wrist immediately interrupting her concentration.

“We agreed on half way.”

“You’ll need your energy.”

“So will you. Now let’s go, the team needs us, ” Gar says, shapeshifting into a bird before Raven can stop him.  

…

In the past Raven has struggled to discern between her general cynicism and her intuition. But as she approaches the battle all the nervous energy in her consolidates into a certainty that something is not right. She is lost in the clarity of that feeling when she feels fireworks of pain explode at her side as a force rams into her. Her power shoots out blindly in defense but she can’t get a clear image of what she’s up against as they plummet to the ground. She is smacked against the floor with surprising restraint. Raven immediately attempts to gather her wits long enough so that she can phase through the floor until she hears it.

  “Hello my sweet Raven,” the voice sounds saccharine as it practically sings into Raven’s face. She’s frozen.

   “Malchior? That’s impossible,” she mumbles, the curse she put on him ringing over and over in her mind. It was a solid curse. He was trapped in a book. In her room. If he was out that could only mean... Raven feels heat bubble up in her stomach and shoot up her throat. She was going to be sick. 

Someone had been in her room. 

“Surely you can understand that there are things beyond your understanding. Just remember all of the things I taught you,” he says. His red eyes look as if they are twinkling as a huge claw runs down the side of her cheek. Raven moves her face away instantly. Malchior tightens his hold on her waist. Raven tries frantically to conjure up any of her power.

“Or do you only like to remember the things we did in this form.” 

And suddenly Raven feels his heavyweight transform into something more supportable. He was back in the form he originally took when he toyed with her six years ago. 

“How did you-” Raven struggles against the grip he’s placed on her wrists and legs. Surely she can bring up enough energy to displace a man who weighs 160 pounds. 

“Did you tell your friends about everything we did locked in your room? In the dark of night,” Malchior leers, voice dripping with honey. He grips her wrists with one hand as the other inches up the curve of her ribs. Her eyes darken.

“Get the fuck off of me,” she says and propels him into the air just in time for Changeling to ram into his side as a rhinoceros. 

“Friend Raven!” Starfire says as she zooms over to her friend and helps her to her feet.

“How did he get out of the book?” Nightwing asks when he lands next to Starfire. 

“I don’t know,” Raven mumbles, looking with wide eyes as Garfield engages with the dragon in dinosaur form.

“How will we get him back in?” Starfire says, her arm protectively wrapped around Raven’s waist. Raven also doesn’t know the answer to that. She’s afraid whatever answer she gives will come out of her mouth with the  mug of tea she had for breakfast.

So she doesn’t say anything.

[raven-of-domain-kwaad]

Fine, I give up

Fictober #4 (Am I a day late? Yep. But I didn’t plan on keeping a real schedule anyway. Just wanted to try and write)

1 ABY. Kalarra, the head of the surviving Kine-Rist family recovers some family secrets and puts up with a frustrating companion.

-

Kalarra Kine-Rist was not in a good mood. Admittedly, she had not been in a truly good mood for about a year, not since the destruction of her homeworld.

It was odd, thinking of Alderaan as her homeworld. She had never exactly cared about the planet itself. Her family had used it as a safe haven to escape the Republic and Jedi extermination of her people. It was never meant to be anything more than that. And yet somehow Alderaan had become important to her.

Maybe it was the shock of feeling most of her family die through the force. Maybe it was the anger at learning that those responsible had taken the name of her people for themselves. Maybe she was just human and had come to care for the place that her family had lived for three thousand years.

“So, you going to share your plan with me then or what?”

And maybe none of that mattered when she had a damned ex-jedi assigned to accompany her. Damn Alliance Intelligence and damn that prick in charge, Vernan. She had given them incredible amounts of accurate and actionable intelligence over the past year. Yet they still didn’t trust her. Or they didn’t trust her enough to not send a babysitter to watch over her.

She supposed they had their reasons. And it wasn’t as if she actually cared about restoring their precious Republic. All she wanted was to ensure that these Sith pretenders, Vader and Sidious, were destroyed along with the Empire they had built. 

“Hey, you listening?”

Gent, she doubted very much that was his actual name, waved a hand in front of her face. Kalarra ignored it and kept walking. 

“Fine, I give up,” he grumbled. “Far be it from me to wonder how the hell you plan on getting a Clan of Mandalorians to work with us.”

Kalarra rolled her eyes. If only this poor foolish jedi knew the truth. “They won’t be working with ‘us’ they’ll be working with me. That’s non-negotiable. If Intelligence or High Command has a problem with that then they can forget about getting their support.”

“And why would they want to work for some Alderaanian noble?” Gent asked incredulously. “No offense but you aren’t really the kind of person a Mandalorian would respect.”

She wanted to laugh at that. No, most Mandalorians wouldn’t respect her. But then most didn’t know just how deadly the Kine-Rists really were. “My family had a history before we settled on Alderaan, Gent.”

“About three thousand years worth of history in fact.”

Kalarra did laugh as the new voice made Gent jump and reach for his blaster. “Relax, hero. This is who we’re here to meet.”

A Mandalorian in black and crimson armor stepped out from the shadows and despite being helmeted, it was clear she was smiling. Completely ignoring Gent, she embraced Kalarra. “ Zhol uud tukodi kian letas.” Her voice then grew soft as she pulled back and placed a hand on Kalarra’s shoulder. “Nu sua liudnas lig Alderaan... ir tave jidai.”

Kalarra snorted and glanced back at Gent. “Nu sua liudnas lig tave jidai kian.”

With a hand still resting on top of his blaster, Gent scowled. “That’s not Mando’a.”

“No, it is not,” the Mandalorian confirmed in basic but didn’t say more to him. “Come. We found it.” She then turned on her heel and walked off.

“Really?” Kalarra couldn’t keep a faint tremor from her voice as she walked with the Mandalorian. She had seen images of The Graveyard. It was hard to believe that anything could have survived the Death Star’s attack.

The Mandalorian nodded gravely. “I was surprised myself but...” she shrugged. “Tsis alchemija kash midwanas.”

Kalarra nodded in response. Yes, Sith alchemy was powerful.

The trio made their way to a private hangerbay where several other Mandalorians, also in black and crimson armor, were waiting. Many raised their hands in greeting to Kalarra but all ignored Gent.

“Tym kash delsus," the lead Mandalorian muttered to Kalarra who laughed.

She took another look at Gent and could see the gears in his head turning. He had obviously recognized the cognate "jidai" but many languages didn't have their own word for jedi. He might have recognized "tsis" but from what Kalarra knew, very few jedi had bothered to learn the Sith language before they had been wiped out. Well, he would be learning the truth one way or another soon enough.

Walking into the mandalorian ship's cargo hold, Kalarra couldn't help but gasp. There it was. Her family's vault, incredibly still intact. Even the family crest was still clearly etched into the front. She supposed that no matter what technological terrors the galaxy created, the force really did render them insignificant.

Her hand raised and after a moment of hesitation, she pressed it against the dark metal. If she closed her eyes, she could almost pretend it was still secure in the Juran Mountain estate. She could still feel the faint imprints of all those family members that had touched it before her.

A cough from behind her brought Kalarra back to the present.

"Mind telling me just what the hell is going on here, agent?" Gent's voice was cold and his hand was still resting on his blaster.

The Mandalorian shook her helmeted head in disappointment. "He really is slow, this one. I thought Jedi were cleverer than this."

Gent's eyes flashed and he pulled his blaster from its holster but kept it pointed downwards. "Alright, start talking. What's going on? This obviously isn't recruitment for the Alliance."

Kalarra sighed and raised a hand to keep her distant cousin from killing the former jedi. "Well you're wrong about that. This is a recruitment run. Clan Kine has agreed to help with Alliance operations against the Empire. As for what's going on... well it might be easier to just show you."

Turning back to the vault, Kalarra closed her eyes and reached out with the Force. She could feel the old familiar mechanisms within the vault and gently nudged them into motion.

While nothing seemed to happen on the outside, within the vault a series of complex locks were carefully being moved into position. 

Kalarra, frowned in concentration. The vault was designed to only be opened by a force user. But it was not just a simple switch that any force user could flip. It was a puzzle. Move one piece too much or too little and you would find the door remained stubbornly locked. Fortunately, she had learned the solution to the puzzle before... well before things went wrong.

A small hiss indicated that the vault was now unlocked. 

Opening her eyes, Kalarra resisted the urge to throw open the door and check on the vault’s contents but she resisted the urge and instead turned to Gent whose eyes had gone wide.

"You're force sensitive."

Kalarra nodded.

"Not Jedi."

The Mandalorian snorted but didn't say more.

Again, Kalarra nodded.

"Not Nightsisters. You aren't Kel Dor, so not the Baran Do. Not the Jal Shey... no..."

A small smirk appeared on Kalarra's face as she watched the former Jedi put it together. She always wondered how the Jedi might react to learning that Sith still existed in the galaxy.

For the first time in years, fear gripped Gent’s heart and he took a small step back. Wide eyes flicked from the Mandalorian to Kalarra, only now noticing that the crest on the vault was the same crest that was etched on the Mandalorian's armor. "That's not possible. The Sith are extinct. The Jedi killed them all."

Kalarra's eyes flashed briefly with rage but she forced herself to remain calm. "You certainly tried,” she replied icily. “But you missed a family. And that family has been living in your Republic for the last three thousand years. Now it’s up to you to decide what you’ll do with that information.”

-

Was lazy and used this Sith language translator. But here are the translations anyway.

“Zhol uud tukodi kian letas” - It has been too long

“Nu sua liudnas lig Alderaan... ir tave jidai” - I am sorry about Alderaan... and the jedi

“Nu sua liudnas lig tave jidai kian” - I am sorry about the jedi too

“Tsis alchemija kash midwanas” - Sith alchemy is strong

“Tym kash delsus” - He is slow

[chromatic-lamina]

rascal: law and robin brotp fanfic

I have a lot of brotp Law and Robin in my fics, and one fic with them as a couple. I like the brotp interaction. Two cynical and supportive friends, but the writing is mostly in my multi-chaptered works, which are dark or canon divergent or both.

Anyway, I’m going to include an excerpt below. Robin’s painting Law’s toenails while they both chat about current and past loss and love. It’s from a three-chapter work that I don’t think will make much sense without knowing the rest of the world that it comes from, but hopefully this interchange can be followed and strikes a chord with some. I know the LawBin fans are thirsty. Post canon with canon-verse history and elements. This is an older piece.

🐞

Law sat back in the garden recliner in Robin’s backyard, a book over his face. He wasn’t in danger of burning easily in the late morning sun, but had no intention of making himself prey to melanoma. Robin perched on the edge of the recliner, holding one of Law's feet.

He'd spent the night at Robin’s in anticipation of the tea-towel convention they'd be visiting today. She’d spent the night trying to share his enthusiasm as he sat, tattooed arms spread on the table, poring over catalogues. His inked hands pointed out designs featuring disproportionate tulip-ensconced windmills, and disembodied body parts that had less to do with Dali and more to do with morticians.

She assumed all the creators were outliers. Commemorative tea-towels hadn’t quite taken the art world by storm yet, but they did remind her a little of Ryuunosuke, the very cute but badly drawn dragon that had struggled and succeeded in taking them all to the top of Zou. 

That was last night though and now, soon, they’d head off to gossip and gander with the convention organisers, the Dishcloth Dames, once she’d made Law pretty.

“These are so cute.” She pulled at the few black gnarly hairs curled on Law’s left big toe.

“Freak,” Law mumbled, moving his foot.

Robin laughed, righted Law’s foot and wiped the brush over the nail of his big toe.

“When did you last clip these?”

“What’s it to you? You’re the one who wanted to dress me up.”

“You’re the one who’s letting me. You’ve got old man’s feet, by the way.”

Law arched his bridge and Robin slapped it, held it down.

“The sexy surgeon’s pedes don’t please? You said they were cute?”

She studied languages. She had no difficulty with Law’s fancy Latin terms.

“Mmm. I wouldn’t go that far. But I guess you got those tattoos to distract from your tootsies.”

The ink on the bridges of his feet matched that on the back of his hands. She felt the arc of the bone against her palm as she admired the designs, although it was one of the more simple ones to adorn Law and, historically, definitely not his favourite.

“And yet, there you are, making them all presentable and shit.”

“Does Marco like them?”

“He’s got his kinks.”

“And . . . ?”

“They remain in the bedroom,” Law grinned. At times he thought the Phoenix liked every part of his body, though they’d never had a deep conversation about those particular extremities.

“Ah, you’re no fun.”

“I’ve been told.”

Law felt her move to the next digit.

“What colour are you painting them?”

“Tch.”

As if it could be anything but black.

“Well, you sent Chopper out for the colour once,” Law said to her silence.

Bubble gum. Robin snickered, remembering. Law peered at her from under his book, her shoulders rose and fell with laughter. He liked that violet t-shirt.

.

Law seemed so disinterested, and therefore, Robin guessed very trusting, when she or anyone else painted his nails. He usually paid little attention to the colour, or even the action. It was something that pleased those who found it amusing to decorate him. Just so long as they let him read whatever he was researching, he indulged them. A small compromise for a larger gain.

No way in hell could someone he didn’t trust do this, though it had been done. Robin knew that trust was hard won. Law told himself that he let them all think he was vain this way so he could go for their jugulars some other time. Plus, he liked giving the Dishcloth Dames even more to gossip about.

.

Thinking of Chopper, Law laughed as if the sound was rationed—a clipped exhalation. The tanuki reminded him of his navigator.

“Bepo. Lord, Bepo got it into his head once to paint me. Maybe he wanted to practice so he could surprise some lucky Mink in the future, and who better to be his chump than his ferocious captain?”

Robin turned to him for a second, curious, before proceeding to the next toe. Her extra hands manipulated Law’s foot for the best access. Law’s own hand kept the book in place. She liked that silver band he sometimes wore on his wrist—a solid link—a flash of sky reflected in the metal.

“His fine motor skills aren’t the best. You’ve seen his maps. Shachi and Penguin thought I’d amputated my own toes without the benefit of a Room.” A rumble lifted Law's chest and then dissolved. He smiled easily. The book didn’t cover all of his face.  “He even dabbed a paw print on my heel.”

“He chose red?” She loved that flash of teeth.

“Mmm. So. I guess it’s black?”

Robin finished the last toenail and told him not to move his feet about for a while. She then drew up the recliner next to his, lay on it, leant on her side and looked across. Law could be asleep for all she knew.

.

“Oi, talk to me endling. Of course it’s black.”

Law’s lips twitched. Only Robin could get away with that.

“So needy, terminarch. How am I meant to do that without moving?”

They may as well have just called each other Flevance and Ohara. They did at times, but neither could be feeling too off-colour when they did, or the devil fruits would come out to play. The town names as nomenclatures were off-limits to anyone else.

“Take that book off your face at least. I know you can’t read it like that.”

“Your makeup bag’s not nearby, is it?”

“Just the toes today, Dr. Death.”

Good. He was only happy for modification to go so far. He sighed, grumbled, but lifted a hand and picked the book up by its spine, and rested it—still spreadeagled—on his chest. He blinked into the sun, then tipped his head her way. Not the most comfortable of positions.

“Can I sit up?”

The grey of Law’s irises were sometimes shot through with gold. She wondered what his parents had looked like. “Give it a few.”

He turned his face skyward again, his arm over his shut lids.

.

“How about Luffy?” she asked. Luffy was before island living, before Law’s casual feet days. If they’d ever played around with nail polish, she’d never seen the results.

Law groaned.

“He approached my nails as if they were made of seastone, his hand was that shaky.” The softness in tone betrayed the annoyance in his words. “For some reason he thought a pearly pink would suit? Maybe it reminded him of marbled steak or something? Of course, he had absolutely no patience.”

Law scratched at his sideburns with his spare hand.

“He slapped it on, forgot to cap the varnish, jumped on me, bringing the sheet with him, or whatever we were lying on, wherever we were. It smeared over everything; our clothes, or more accurately, my clothes. You know, Luffy somehow always escapes his own chaos—and then he declared the whole thing stupid and boring, as if I’d dreamt up the activity and forced it on him.” Incredulity hissed through the back of his teeth.

He tapped his earrings. "Somehow the polish even managed to get on these. Nami-ya probably talked him into the whole thing for a bet."

“And you let him?”

Law didn’t need to look at Robin to know her expression; amused and bemused.

“You choose your battles.”

“Mmm.” Her captain could be quite domineering. She wondered if they were the same earrings. It wouldn’t surprise her. She’d kept the same jewellery over the years, but added to her collection with each pirates' haul. The ones that Luffy didn’t somehow swap for food.

.

She sat up and twisted her neck. They needed to get going soon.

“Phoenix?”

“Still trying to unearth his kinks?”

“Now that you bring it up.”

Law’s smile, the one Robin and only a few others ever saw, made her lips curve.

“I paint for him at times. I mean, my own nails. He’s got a lapis grounding stone, and his flames are blue when he’s in Zoan form. I try to match those shades—a balance between the two. Other times, I paint for myself.”

“Does he notice?” Marco had a grounding stone? But then again, they all had their talismans.

“Sometimes.”

“You don’t tell him?”

“Not always. Other things are more pressing.”

“Does he know you’re a freak?”

“I thought that was you.”

.

Law paused for a second. He tipped his face Robin's way again, his hand still protecting his eyes. How come she got to sit up?

“The dogs have never liked it. And you know, all that waste. It’s not really hygienic in the clinic either.”

“You operate with your toes?”

Law laughed. “When I do my hands . . . It’s not hygienic.”

.

Robin cast a glance at her back yard – the trees that offered privacy from the neighbours, the small pond. She enjoyed life in the New World now Luffy was pirate king.

“The dogs don’t like it, but Bepo can handle it?”

“Well, he’s a freak, too. Minks wear makeup, right?”

Robin nodded. “You say that as if it’s a bad thing.”

“Makeup?”

“Being a freak.”

“To the contrary, some of my best friends are freaks. You can’t all be Chopper.”

Law calls Robin a freak and gets away with it. heh. Perhaps. Anyway, I’ll put the link to the AO3 story as the source (just edited it in. This post has been up for long enough).  It’s actually about dogs and links back to another story, and is kinda sad, and features Robin, but is about Law and Marco, and there’s plenty of humour too. If you want to read it, be my guest. It’s an older one, written a few years ago. T-rated.

[tsuki-chibi]

BlackBerries (Adrinette April) Day 2: #marinettechallenge

Or see it on AO3: Blackberries

If you’re like me and had no idea WTF the #marinettechallenge is, go here.

--------

“What?” Adrien blurted out.

“What?!” Marinette exclaimed at the same time, but Adrien was pretty sure that no one else heard her over the general calamity that broke out when Lila announced that they were soulmates. He cringed as all of their classmates started talking at once.

“This is amazing!” Alya said, her eyes lighting up.

“Congratulations Adrien!” Mylène said.

“And you too, Lila,” Ivan added.

“It must have been fate that brought you together,” Rose gushed, grabbing Juleka’s arm. Juleka was smiling as she patted Rose’s hand.

“Oh my god! That is so cool!” Nino said excitedly, grabbing Adrien’s arm. “Dude, you found your soulmate!”

“What?” Adrien said again, confused. “No, I already found -” He just barely stopped himself from saying that Marinette was his soulmate, not some girl he didn’t even know.

“Alright, everyone, calm down,” Madame Bustier called out, but no one paid any attention.

“Can you feel anything?” Sabrina was asking Lila excitedly.

“I can’t believe our class has three soulmated pairs!” Alya squealed, grinning over at Nino.

“Hey! All of you shut up right now!”

“Chloé,” Madame Bustier said disapprovingly into the silence. “We don’t tell people to shut up.”

Naturally, Chloé ignored that in favor of frowning at Lila. “You’re not Adrien’s soulmate,” she said firmly.

“What?” Lila blinked, looking shocked by the statement.

“Chloé, you can’t possibly know that,” Alix said, and Chloé’s jaw tightened, her eyes flashing in a very familiar way that spoke of trouble. Adrien decided he’d better speak up before Chloé got mad.

“Actually, Chloé is right. I’m sorry, Lila. I might have said your words, but you didn’t say mine. And I don’t feel anything from you. I’m afraid that we’re not soulmates.” He pasted on his best apologetic smile.

“But… that can’t be right. I feel something towards you,” Lila said, clasping both hands to her chest.

‘What a lying brat’, Marinette thought. She came up behind Adrien, her arms folded across her chest. Adrien could feel the annoyance and frustration rolling off of her waves, not that he could blame her. He wouldn’t have been very thrilled if some guy had walked in and started saying that Marinette was his soulmate. He needed to diffuse the situation and quickly.

“What are your words, then?” Alya said, staring at Adrien.

He recoiled slightly. “What – I’m not telling you that!” He didn’t think anyone besides Chloé had been within earshot when he and Marinette first met. But if Adrien had learned one thing in life, it was that the walls had ears. The only people who knew about the words on his chest were his father, Marinette, Chloé, and Plagg. Plus a couple of doctors. That was it. Adrien was adamant it would stay that way. The last thing they needed was more people pretending to be his soulmate!

“Alya, that’s really private information,” Marinette said, frowning.

Alya winced. “Sorry. It’s just – Adrien, come on. What possible reason could Lila have to be making this up?” she asked reasonably. “Doesn’t it make more sense that you’ve been blocked? They can do that, you know. Put blocks in place before you even find your bond.”

“That’s actually true,” Max spoke up. “I read about this research study done on this girl. Her parents had blocks put into her when she was a baby and she had no idea. When she met her soulmate, she didn’t even know.”

“I’m not blocked, and Lila didn’t say my words,” Adrien said, exasperated. Though he had to admit, that did sound like something Gabriel Agreste might do…

Rose gave a quiet gasp. “Oh, have you felt something but you’re afraid to admit it because of your father?” she asked, staring at Adrien sadly. “Or because of your fans?”

“I’m not – that’s not – n-no!” Adrien stammered, unsettled that she had so accurately guessed his reasons for keeping his actual soulmate a secret. And that was a mistake.

“Oh, Adrien,” Alya said, looking at him sympathetically. Behind him, Marinette groaned and covered her face with her hands.

‘Adrien, you idiot, tell them it’s not true!’ she thought.

‘I’m trying! They don’t believe me!’ he thought back.

“If Adrien says he and Lila aren’t soulmates, we should believe him,” Marinette spoke up.

But rather than be a point in Adrien’s favor, all of their classmates exchanged significant looks while Lila just stood there looking increasingly sad and confused. Adrien wasn’t sure what was going on, and he could tell from Marinette’s uncertainty that she wasn’t sure either. He grew increasingly uncomfortable as the pointed silence dragged on, until finally Madame Bustier cleared her throat.

“Alright, everyone. As exciting as this… potential… development is, we do need to keep going,” she said. “Lila, please take your seat.”

“Madame Bustier, the second row really is better for me. Are you sure I can’t sit here?” Lila asked, not moving.

The thought of Lila sitting next to him made Adrien feel a bit ill. He had no idea what the hell was going on, but he didn’t want to be separated from Marinette. He just wasn’t sure how to communicate that in a way that wouldn’t make him look like an asshole, considering he had just renounced Lila as his soulmate. Likewise, it wouldn’t look great if the class president refused to move for a student.

Chloé scoffed. “I doubt the second row is better, but fine. Adrien and Marinette can move here. Nathaniel can sit beside Ivan and I’ll sit beside Sabrina,” she declared, standing up.

Adrien looked at her in surprised gratitude. ‘I love Chloé so much right now.’

‘I can’t believe she’s willing to move for us,’ Marinette thought, stunned. ‘Chloe never moves for other people. Ever.’

Lila’s eyes widened. “But – but then that leaves me without a seatmate. I won’t have anyone to help me catch up!”

“Fine,” Chloé said coolly. “I’m sure Nathaniel wouldn’t mind moving to sit beside you. Right?” she demanded, spinning around and staring pointedly at Nathaniel.

“Uh – s-sure?” Nathaniel said, paling a little under the force of Chloé’s stare.

“I don’t think everyone needs to move around just to accommodate me,” Lila said quickly. “Surely it’s best if I just sit beside Adrien, right?”

Chloé’s eyes narrowed.

‘Oooh,’ Marinette thought, and, barely a second after that, Marinette’s understanding washed over Adrien and he realized what was going on. His level of dismay increased.

‘Lila is a fan of mine,’ he thought.

‘She’s totally a fan of yours,’ Marinette thought back, setting her jaw. ‘That’s why she’s claiming to be your soulmate and why she’s so insistent about sitting next to you.’

Adrien fought the urge to shudder. Normally, he didn’t mind having fans. In a way, it was a little flattering to know that girls found him so attractive. But sometimes it could get downright scary. This was exactly why his father had always warned him against letting his words become public knowledge. Some of his fans could get a little too friendly. Though admittedly, this was the first time anyone had gone this far.

“You know what, you’re right,” Chloé said suddenly.

“Chloé?” Sabine said uncertainly.

Chloé flipped her ponytail over her shoulder. “Clearly Lila should have the best person in class helping her out.”

Lila broke out into a smile. “Exactly!”

“Someone who is reliable, has good grades, and a known track record for helping,” Chloé went on, a steely glint to her smile.

“That’s exactly what I need,” Lila said, nodding.

“Great! I’m glad that you agree. Adrikins, you can come sit next to me. Marinette, you don’t mind being Lila’s seatmate, right?” Chloé asked sweetly.

Marinette choked on a laugh. “Not at all.”

“Wh-what?” Lila said. “Wait, no! That’s not –”

“It just makes sense. Adrien is so busy with his modeling job. He doesn’t always get to sit through every class,” Chloé interrupted her. “Marinette, on the other hand, is always here. Plus, she’s the class president. It makes the most sense for her to help you get settled. Right, Madame Bustier?”

“That’s a good solution, Chloé,” Madame Bustier said, nodding. “Adrien, please move your things.”

“Sure,” Adrien said. He would rather have stayed where he was, but sitting next to Chloé was a lot better than sitting beside Lila. The only crappy thing was now Marinette had to sit next to her.

‘It’s fine. She’s not my fan,’ Marinette thought, helping him to gather his things. ‘I bet she won’t want to sit here long anyway.’

Adrien suspected that she was right judging by the enormous pout on Lila’s face as she slammed her backpack down next to Marinette. Chloé, on the other hand, had a smug smile on her face as she sat back down at her normal place. Adrien took a seat next to her and took out his book and pen. Madame Bustier walked back up to the front of the room to resume class.

“Thanks,” Adrien whispered to Chloé.

“I don’t like sharing you with Dupain-Cheng, but I’ll be damned if anyone else gets a piece of you,” Chloé muttered back.

‘I never thought I’d be grateful for Chloé’s possessiveness,’ Marinette thought.

‘You and me both,’ Adrien thought back, hiding a smile.

They made it through the rest of the morning without incident, thankfully. Adrien preoccupied himself with taking peeks through Marinette’s eyes as she continued to draw in her notebook. She had moved on from pictures of Tikki and Plagg and into designing a dress loosely based on the Ladybug outfit. A dress, Adrien was sure, that would never actually be made.

When Madame Bustier dismissed them for lunch, Alya turned to Marinette and chuckled. “Looks like Kim is a candidate for the #marinettechallenge. You up for it?” She pointed to where Kim was snoozing away, drooling onto his math book.

“Not today,” Marinette said with a thin smile. “Adrien and I have lunch plans.” Adrien obediently stood up and walked over.

“Oh, okay,” Alya said with a faint frown.

‘That was weird,’ Marinette thought as she and Adrien left the class.

‘What was?’ Adrien thought.

‘Alya gave me a weird look,’ Marinette thought back.

‘Well, if I know Alya, she won’t stay quiet for long if something is bothering her,’ Adrien thought reasonably. ‘No sense in worrying about it… especially when there are pastries waiting for us!’

Marinette laughed out loud and, with a surge of fondness, thought back, ‘Oh, so that’s where your brain is. Come on, then. Race you to the bakery!’