#this blog isn't for kids if we didn't figure that out already

[aimasup]

Material this is referencing is for 18+ audiences. Children get OUT 🧹🧹🧹🧹 GET. SCROLL. 🧹🧹🧹

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[barleyo]

Daddy's Girl.

Step Dad! Leon Kennedy X F! Reader (smut)

A/N: Don't like? Don't read! Either way, READ THE TAGS. I'm starting to get pretty weird on this blog, so expect more stuff like this! A girl has to feed her fetishes, so feel free to tag along with me and enjoy what my sick little mind thinks up. Thanks for reading!

Tags: stepcest, step-dad/step-daughter relationship, cream pie, daddy issues, use of "baby girl" and "daddy's girl," daddy kink, oral sex (f receiving), swearing, infidelity, p in v, cream pie, unprotected sex, LARGE AGE GAP (legal), 2nd person POV

Word count: 2.1k

As far as your mother was concerned, your father was worth less than the sum of his parts. He was fleeting idea, a mere concept in both of your lives ever since you could remember. Sure, you remembered a few odd Christmases with a surplus of gifts, all tagged "from Daddy," and a few daddy-daughter dates here and there, but that wasn't enough to make up for his true absence. 

It wasn't a surprise when your mom eventually left him, scooping you up with her. Just you and her, and the rare postcard that your sperm-donor decided to ship off once a year or so. It was good enough then when it was just you two finding your way in the world, but it went downhill when your mom found a new boy toy. 

Leon.

He wasn't a bad guy, by any means. Wasn't pushy, didn't make you call him "dad" or try to impose his will onto you, but his presence made the absence of your real father that much more obvious. You tried to ignore him for the most part, letting your mom have her little relationship with him to tide her over. 

But then they got married. Leon became a more permanent fixture. That was no bueno. 

You toughened it out, being cordial with him until you finally hit that mark of independence: sweet, sweet 18! The big one-eight, your ticket to freedom! 

Everything was planned out for your big day. Mom and Leon made a cake, presents were given, and all birthday wishes granted, except for one. What you really wanted, was for your dad to show up for just this one day, just this once, to have him and not just his money. 

You could never get that lucky, though, and that thought was cemented in your head when you found yourself waiting for him outside of your house. The driveway was empty, not even your mom's car was out there, she still had to head off to work. The world couldn't pause for a birthday girl, it seemed.

Stepping back inside to the house, you slammed the door behind you, practically throwing yourself onto the leather couch in the living room. The tears started faster than you could contain them, and quite honestly, you didn't want to contain them. It was your party, damn it, and you would cry if you wanted to!

"You okay, kid? I heard the door-"

Fuck. Him.

Leon's heavy footsteps made their way down the stairs, leading to his place in front of you. "(Y/N), are you crying?"

You sucked back a breath of air, steadying yourself as much as you could before speaking. 

"No, 'm not, just-- go, just leave me alone." You let your face drop into your hands, staining your sleeves with tears.

Leon, being just the right amount of pushy, took a steps next to you a placed his hand on your shoulder. "Can we talk about it? I mean, I probably know what it is, but we could- you could say whatever you need to say." His face cringed a bit at his own words, feeling like he was already fucking this up. "No judgement."

You kept your face covered but obliged, knowing that talking about it, even with Leon, would make you feel a little better.

"My dad isn't here. He's been promising for weeks that he'd show, but he isn't here."

"Oh."

Your step-dad bit his lip trying to figure out how to make you feel better. He knew you weren't exactly fond of him, but he felt a twinge of responsibility.

"Fuck 'em," Leon finally decided on. "He's a liar and you don't need him. So, fuck 'em. Why would you want a deadbeat to bring you down on your special day?" 

"Because, he's my dad," you said, like it was the most obvious thing. He was right, of course, but the absence still hurt you.

"No dad would stand up a sweet girl like you on her birthday. You only turn 18 once. A real dad wouldn't miss a birthday this monumental for anything. What's he worth, if he can't keep to his word?"

"I guess nothing." You sat up straighter, trying to make yourself calm down. "D'ya think it's, like, my fault? Why doesn't he want to see me?"

He suddenly got really serious, making his grip on your shoulder firm.

"Not at all. You are a wonderful girl. Your mom thinks so, and so do I. You are brilliantly smart, kind, responsible, sweet, gorgeous-- you're perfect and if that scumbag can't see that, then he's beyond saving." 

He loosened his grip, letting his hand fall down to your lap, a bit close to the crotch of your jeans. You didn't look down, trying to convince yourself it was an accident, but he didn't move his hand either.

His other hand came up to your face, holding your cheek and to your own surprise, you leaned into his hand. His big, calloused, confronting hand.

Fuck him.

Something snapped in you when he leaned in for a kiss. God, it was wrong, so wrong, but you were so conflicted. Is this what a father's love really felt like? Hell if you knew, this was close enough in your book.

"Hmph-! Leon..." You pulled away from the kiss, wiping at your mouth roughly to get rid of the salvia strings connecting the both of you. "This is wrong, this isn't okay, my mom-"

"Is not here." 

He placed another kiss on your lips, this one chaste and sweet, so unlike the passionate one you shared before. 

"Just you and me. I know your dad isn't here, but I am. Let me make up for him, baby." His whispers pricked goosebumps over your body, lighting a fire deep in you. "Let daddy love you. Can I show you?"

His big hand looked nearly comical resting against the small button of your jeans, pawing desperately at them. So, so, so wrong. So fucked up, so not okay, so....

"Yes," you said breathily. "Okay, I-I want you to show me. Just be careful please, 'cause.." you trailed off a bit, feeling the pop of your pants opening. 

Leon yanked them down, tossing them away quickly. "Fuck, that's good," he said, pressing his tongue flatly on your mound through your panties. 

The fabric slowly grew a wet patch that clung to you, getting sticky. He placed a soft kiss on your clothed clit, then rested his head on your soft thigh.

"Anybody ever touch you here?" he asked, running a finger over your pussy. 

You softly shook your head, mumbling out a 'no.'

"Mm, more for daddy, yeah? Gonna make you feel so good," he said, slipping your panties to the slide. His mouth made quick work, tongue already gliding up and down on your clit. 

Your face was already twisting up in pleasure, eyebrows knitting together tightly.

"That's cute," he blew cool air over your cunt, keeping his eyes on your face. "You like it? My mouth all over you like this?"

"Mhm, please- don't stop. I wanna feel it again." 

You reached your hand out to hold his head, wanting to push it down before bringing your hand back nervously.

"That's right, push my head down if you want. 'M here to make you feel good, so you use me. Just a wet mouth for you today, sweet girl."

You nodded eagerly, running your hands through his blond hair and taking taking firm purchase of a section of it. Your hands greedily pushed his face into your cunt. The feeling of his nose rubbing against your clit while his tongue dug into your tight hole made you feel fuzzy inside.

Leon was so vulgar with his noises; he almost enjoyed it more than you were. Slurp after slurp came from his mouth, accompanied by a moan or two while he tried to get himself off by palming himself through his pants. 

The sight of him was just as good as the feeling of him. You had never been taken care of so thoroughly. Leon was opening a whole new world to you, a world where you could be selfish and take, because your daddy would provide, no questions asked.

"Lemme try somethin', yeah, baby?"

He shook your hand off and spat directly on your clit, spreading the fat glob with his fingers. Tight, fast circles were traced over your bud, back and forth. It felt like hypnosis, the way he reeled your body in closer to an orgasm. 

"Daddy, please, 'm gonna cum," you said, face flushing of all color. "Your mouth, want your mouth," you shot out quickly, already obsessed with the feeling of his hot mouth tonguing you down.

He obliged, of course. How could he turn his princess down? Leon's lips again wrapped around your clit, sucking on the bud like it gave him life. 

You came soon after. You seized and convulsed and the feeling of his eyes taking you in made the waves of pleasure crash down that much harder over your body. 

"If he knew what a sweet fucking pussy you had," Leon said, licking a final stripe over it, "he'd never wanna leave."

"Wha--?"

"I said," Leon pulled away from your pussy, lifting his head to your ear, "that even your dad would wanna be tongue deep in your sweet, tight cunt. But it's all mine, isn't it?"

The sound of his belt unbuckling made you wetter, if that was possible, but it also sent a sense of realization through you.

You had your pussy in your step dad's mouth. And you liked it. And now, you would let him fuck you. And you would love it. 

"I know you're a virgin, but fuck, baby, you're so tight." His voice was grumbly and strained while he tried to push into you. "Maybe I need to eat you up a little more," he teased.

"No, I need you inside, wanna feel it now." You let yourself go completely. Here you were, whining like a brat while Leon's fat cock stretched you. The pain with sharp, but immediately worth it. He fit inside perfectly, easily hitting your sensitive spots with a few thrusts.

He hissed, feeling you clamp down on his length. "Shh, come on, gotta get used to it baby. Don't want me to cum too quick, do you?"

"Yes, I do," you whined, desperate to know for certain that you were making him feel good too. 

Leon's laugh softly rang in your ears. "No, I wanna make it worth your time. Wish I could take you all night long," he muttered, leaning down to press a kiss to your lips. 

He swallowed all of your moans, slipping his tongue into your mouth while he rocked into you. He tried to find a rhythm, but he was too lost in pleasure to be neat about it. 

He'd fuck you nice and orderly another day, but for now? He just wanted to feel you gush around him, and feel your cunt get sloppy while he took you.

Your breathless moans caught his attention. He found the angle that made you get oldest and stuck with it, lifting your hips up with his hands so he could piston into your g-spot.

"Oh my god, right there! That feels-- oh my god."

"I know, baby," he said, thumbs digging into your hipbones. "Feels good f'me too. You're so good for daddy."

Your heart, and cunt, pounded the more he spoke. You were close and you knew it, you just needed him to keep talking you through it. "I am?"

"Yes, baby, you're perfect. Daddy's perfect little princess, taking my cock so good." His cock twitched, so he clenched his jaw, refusing to cum before you did. "You know what good girls get to do?"

"Hmph?" Your face was red and hot, mouth hanging open while he continued to fuck into your spongey walls.

"They cum hard on daddy's cock. Can you do that for me? Cum all on me?" He traced his hand over your cheek, letting his thumb land on your bottom lip while he egged you on.

Your body had never reacted faster, immediately creaming on his length. Your hole milked him, each contraction gripping his length and sucking the cum right out of him. 

Leon let a shaky breath out before pulling out of you, scooping the mixture of your cum in his fingers. He rubbed it between two fingers for a moment and popped it into his mouth, groaning at the taste.

You came down from your own high and looked over at him, feeling guilt pull at your chest.

"Leon."

"Hm?"

"What about mom? She's gonna freak if she ever finds out. Did we fuck up? What's gonna--"

"Hey," he said, shushing you with his finger over your lips. "She's not gonna find out and she doesn't need to know. I might be married to her, and I get why you're stressed, but what we have is different."

He pulled his finger off of your mouth and pressed a kiss to your forehead cheekily. "You're daddy's girl. That makes you special."

[lotusarchon]

nezha is a child in the show isn't he? why are you shipping yourself with a minor and writing romance with him?that's so creepy,,,, how are you talking about dynamicsimp when you're doing worst 🤮

Found this cute Nezha fanart anyways

I knew I had to deal with one of y'all eventually but I didn't think it'd be this soon. Damn, at least let me hit 100 followers first 😞

Anyways uh. Nezha's first introduction in season 3 came out in like, what, 2022? I'm assuming it is, because I started LMK in March of 2023, before s4 was released and already found the show up till s3 by then. S5 just released this year, of which we've seen a weird increase of Nezha screentime of which I'm not complaining.

Point blank. The Nezha age controversies are getting old and boring. New fans and old fans need to chill out with those issue about the age business.

1) It's confirmed the Lego Monkie Kid version of the deity known as Nezha is an adult.

2) This is a god of an Eastern religion who is still very much worshipped to our modern day. If you did your research, you should be able to take note that Nezha isn't only seen as a child god, but even portrayed as someone older. I'm not a Daoist nor Chinese, so I advise you check this blog ( @/ruibaozha ) for more information on the subject matter.

3) As is the case with modern media and adaptations, different shows will portray religious figures according to what works for their plot. In the movie Nezha 2019 (forgot the title whoops), Nezha is portrayed as a child, as we are seeing a comedic but angsty interpretation of his origins. In the Legend Of Hei, we see him portrayed as a child, assuming for comedic purposes and to bond with the MC Hei.

3.2) If LMK wanted to portray Nezha as a child like his appearances in Journey To The West, and the Fengshen Yanyi (?), you must understand then his design and personality would've been portrayed more childish or at the very least a mixture of mature and childish. We can see this by comparing LMK Nezha and TLOH Nezha = both are stern but where one acts, looks and often shows childish traits, the other acts like an exhausted 25 year old who needs therapy. LMK HAS made children in the past, as we've seen with the Lady Bone Demon's Host and in season 1 a few kids here and there as background characters. If the show wanted Nezha to be a child, I'm certain they would've given him a similar model.

4) If in the instance that, let's say, the god known as Nezha was a child, and LMK Nezha is an adult, you SHOULD separate fiction from religion. Do keep in mind that Sun Wukong is still very much worshipped, however, I have seen fans, in and outside of LMK, who have written heavy NSFW and simped for him. A god is not the same as a fictional character, because by that logic we shouldn't be simping much less writing NSFW of Wukong either, given his story in JTTW where he becomes a Buddha.

5) I do not like proshipping much like any sane person. I also HATE aging up minors in fiction just for something like self shipping or to write nsfw. I have been in fandoms before this one: Jujutsu Kaisen, Tokyo Revengers, and My Hero Academia specifically, and it makes me uncomfortable seeing porn written of actual minors with excuse of them being aged up. I'm not so hypocritical I'd dare to want to do the same, not when I'm uncomfortable with anyone else doing it. If LMK Nezha was a minor, and there were sources to even prove as well within the series he's a child, then obviously, I would NOT be shipping myself with him, much less write romantic/nsfw content with him. I'm an adult, and I don't feel comfortable with minors in general, so why would I want to write romantic content about a FICTIONAL minor??

If you can find any source that proves me wrong, I'd like for you to do so. But until then, you, and everyone else who still wants to entertain Nezha's age; please stop.

I get it. Some of you like to headcanon him as a child so as such, seeing content with him as romantic or nsfw is uncomfortable. I understand, I do; I headcanon Mei as an aroace lesbian so sometimes it's uncomfortable finding any kind of content with her being paired with others. I do understand where you're coming from with your discomfort.

But I feel like, considering season 5 and hopefully if there's a season 6, the whole thing is just dust now. S3 must've been released in 2022, so it's been nearly two years since Nezha's appearance in the show. People headcanon he's a child, and people prefer to like the confirmation he's an adult. We get it, that's what fandoms are, different views etc.

But calling people proshippers or creepy or pedophiles for not adhering to YOUR headcanons is not only fucking stupid, it's just hilarious and way too old, AND just...boring. Especially considering I feel uncomfortable around minors and hate proshipping with a passion. There's genuinely nothing wrong with liking a headcanon, but if someone likes something that isn't problematic and doesn't adhere to your preference, I think you need to breathe a bit.

I was saving this off for last however, you hit the nail on the coffin with this. There is a literal document talking about the disgusting actions of DynamicSimp. If you still choose to like them that's fine, but forgive me for pointing out how hypocritical it is for you to bring up the person who purposely shared porn with minors to someone who avoids minors like they're the rat plague of the Middle Ages. 🤔

"you talk about DynamicSimp but you're doing worst"

Do you mean writing porn for a character who is confirmed to be an adult? Do you mean ensuring that my 18+ blog isn't found by minors and if it is I'll block them? Do you mean supporting someone who's harassed others about Nezha's age?? Do you mean being an absolute creep around children?? Do you mean breaking the boundaries where people have clearly expressed discomfort? Do you mean romanticizing abuse amongst other things for an au clearly being consumed by minors with no regards or wellbeings?

I wonder who's the worst. Me, the adult who only recently turned 18 and has limited his interaction with minors outside of family members, or the however old they are person who has a literal document and their victims speaking up about their actions, and who to my current knowledge has not spoken up about this and is still posting and carrying on without a care in the world?

Well zoinks Scoob, guess we're not making outta this one alive 😟

Edit: .....*disappointed sighs* I think some people really oughta chill out in my comments. Anon, I blame this on you 😭 why did you bring this here holy fucking shit dawg.

Alright. Alright uh.

Okay, so while I do appreciate being told the reasons as to WHY Nezha was "aged up", because a writer wanted to justify shipping Wukong and Nezha...I feel like the entire, "ah, but this says, and that says here-" about Nezha's age is just ridiculous at this point.

Yes, I understand, this is justifiably weird.

However.

Has anyone else refuted Nezha's age?? And I mean the canon show writers? Has anyone working on Lego Monkie Kid made a statement saying: "This person is disgusting, LMK Nezha is a child." Because, respectfully, unless canon sources provide information on it, I'm not going off based on the fandom opinions.

I'm not happy I have to edit this post to add this, much less try to explain anything, but, oh well.

1) "Ali, you're just trying to justify yourself and keep writing for a child." Listen. I've been groomed and dealt with fucking weirdos my entire life. Trust me when I say whenever I hear about proshipping it SICKENS me to the core. I HATE proshipping. I don't care what the excuse is, proshipping is disgusting.

I'm not mentioning the interesting fellows in my comments because it's pointless and honestly to make drama over this is stupid. But I was given some context to understand where they're coming from, and I do in fact appreciate it. Justifiably I don't blame them for their annoyance/disgust towards the writer Sarah (?).

What I will say though; typically in a situation like this, I'm certain someone in the team would've made a statement about this to explain that the writer is wrong. I'd assume at least one writer, someone OFFICIALLY on the team would've denied this proclamation of Nezha being an adult. I have not seen ANYTHING that says the show denies Nezha being an adult.

2) My friend, who was also in the comments (hi), is a native Chinese and a Buddhist for six years. I also have another friend who I'm not mentioning but ALSO is Chinese and WORSHIPS Nezha. They have more knowledge than someone like me does have on this matter, and I find it really odd how people immediately cite wiki and website sources to say, "Nezha is an eternal child!", and, "No where else says Nezha is an adult."

As I've said. If there are sources including the staff from Lego Monkie Kid that claims Nezha is a child, then I am more than willing to delete any content I've made with him. Full honesty, I have no intention of keeping any content with canon, confirmed minors on my blog.

But not only have I found anything that says the official story writers deny Nezha's an adult, but my friends, who are again, both Daoist and native Chinese, are aware that he ISN'T an eternal child.

If you are Daoist and/or worship Nezha, then by all means you can tell me that what I'm doing is wrong and correct me about Nezha's age. I'm willing to listen. If you also find information where the writers claim Saraha is wrong for her statement, provide it. I'm a person that likes reasoning, and I'm willing to see reason.

3) "Ali, you're not gonna see reason you're just trying to defend yourself again-"

Okay, backstory time: last year when I joined LMK, when I myself was a minor, I thought it was okay to write nsfw content for the character who was Lady Bone Demon's Host. My friends at the time did not tell me what I was doing was bad, so of course I kept it up, until someone pointed out that Bai He (fan name) is actually a minor in the show and was also confirmed by the show's producers. I felt so disgusted about it I deleted all my posts made on my old AO3 about her (which is faeriicrafts and still up surprisingly) and offered a sincere apology to the fandom about writing nsfw content for her. I changed and learned, and now I feel grossly uncomfortable seeing anyone writing nsfw for her despite the canon confirmations.

Justifiably, if more information about Nezha is released within Lego Monkie Kid, of which it's confirmed he's a child, I am more than eager to delete everything I've written about him, and even apologize again for writing nsfw with a minor.

To be honest, I just feel uncomfortable with the comments who are denying actual Daoists for the sake of; "I've done my research, no other sources has said Nezha is an adult, you're lying about worshipping him!!"

It's uncomfortable and really off-putting how you can tell someone that about their religion. Yes, this is for you specifically, that one commenter who jumped in and on my friend. Even if she has long since stopped worshipping Nezha, she very much did once. And I've gone to actual Daoists to ask more information about Nezha and the religion in general, who has in fact confirmed Nezha isn't just a child. I get that this is the internet, people can lie about anything. But it's still uncomfortable, solely because had anyone else claimed they're Daoist or ex Daoist and agreed with your opinion, you wouldn't have said that.

I'll reopen my comments within a few minutes, but don't be a disrespectful cunt. And can you maybe not deny someone about their religion? Even if you don't believe them, that's genuinely not an excuse. Because I know damn well, had she agreed with your statement, you wouldn't have pulled that.

Gods. I can't say I'm not surprised, but I'm just impressed about the lengths people will go for something.

Anyways, I've said my piece. If official show writers (because my Daoist friends have already told me what I needed to know) claim Nezha is a child, I'll delete my stuff with him. If not, then I'm not stopping posting Nezha content.

Toodles.

[bvidzsoo]

Love Me Like A Rockstar (7)

ー☆ Chapter 7: Figure It Out

Author: bvidzsoo

Pairing: Song Mingi x female reader

ー☆ Warning: cussing ー☆ Word count: 5.7k ー☆ Genre: university!au, enemies to lovers!au, rockstar!au ー☆ Rating: sfw ー☆ Summary: Love. You wanted none of it. You had already been heartbroken very badly once, you didn't wish to go through that ever again. But the Universe works in intricate ways and, somehow, you found yourself webbed up in a local rockstar's life, Song Mingi. He was everything you expected him to be, yet nothing like you imagined him he would be. What happens when you find mutual understanding and have heartful conversations? Will he be able to break down your walls? Will you be able to chase away his darkness?

A/N: Hey, lovelies! I'm back with another chapter, sorry for the longer wait, but I had to finish a veeery lengthy oneshot (you can check it out if you want, it's another Mingi one and it's part of my pirate series). I really liked this chapter, it isn't very charged with action, but I think we can finally see the progress in their relationship (or maybe it's just me haha). You know the jist, but please listen to this chapter's song Figure It Out before or while reading the chapter! Let me know your thoughts, and I hope you enjoy and have a nice rest of the week! <3

Taglist: @orshii @or5i @lovely-red2 @scarfac3 @sunaswifes-blog @voicesinmyhead-rc @teez-the-time @maru-matt @kyeos4ng @deathbyyeekies @chicksmoothie @mjlbn01 @xhexy @sharksandminhos

⟨Series M.list ↭ Previous Chapter⟩

♫Playlist♫

『Nothing here to see

Just a kid like me

Trying to cut some teeth

Trying to figure it out』

            Mingi’s studio wasn’t so big compared to how it appeared from the outside. But it felt cozy and rather homey with a few polaroid photos stamped up on the wall above a small dark green couch, which had a dozen of colored pillows, and a yellow blanket thrown haphazardly on it. I slipped the straps of my backpack off my shoulders and placed it by the couch, clearing my throat, feeling a bit awkward as I disregarded my jacket, and placed it next to Mingi’s on the sofa. There was a small window, but blinds were covering it, and the lights were rather dim as I turned to face Mingi. He was grinning, hands gripped together in front of himself, and I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Well, what do you think?” He asked as he gestured around, and I chuckled, letting my eyes roam around for a second time. His desk was long and seemed rather organized, a few notebooks opened and pens littered around it. His whole setup took up a lot of space, but you still had enough to be able to write comfortably. He had yellow little notes scattered all around his wall in front of his desk, and for some reason I found that adorable. Mingi tended to be forgetful, it wasn’t a surprise that he’d have to jot down his thoughts quickly while working on his songs.

“It’s cool,” I muttered with a shrug, pushing my hands in the pockets of my jeans, “I’ve never been inside a studio before.”

“Glad to be your first.” My eyes narrowed at Mingi’s words, and judging based on the cheeky smile on his face, he knew what he was doing. I huffed and rolled my eyes, feeling a little weird being cooped up in a small space, alone with Mingi. We’ve never really been on our own before, despite texting and talking at university as well, I couldn’t help but feel a little bit awkward still. It’s like the feeling never truly went away, but maybe it was just me as Mingi seemed rather relaxed and nonchalant. I cleared my throat when Mingi didn’t say anything else, suddenly a question pressing on my tongue.

“Uh, have you had lunch today?” I asked as I shuffled on my two feet, Mingi’s eyebrows furrowing in an almost adorable manner. And as if on cue, his stomach growled loudly, making me chuckle as I shook my head at him, “I’ll take that as a no, then.”

“Yeah, I didn’t get the chance.” He sighed, pouting, “I kinda overlooked the date of the deadline and now I really can’t afford wasting any more time.”

“Then why would you drive me home? Isn’t that wasting your time?” I asked as I went to retrieve my bag. I had bought some butter croissants this morning that I never got to eat as I had a smaller stomachache, to which the cure was a good, warm, soup. If I ate these croissants, it would’ve only upset my stomach more.

“It’s raining.” As if that was reasoning enough, but I stayed silent as I unzipped my backpack and dug into it, looking for the plastic bag, “And to be fair, I kind of need a break. I feel like I’m slowly losing my mind.”

“I thought you didn’t have a mind.” I teased with a pointed look, making Mingi roll his eyes as I finally found the plastic bag and grabbed it out of my backpack before I lowered it back onto the floor, “Here, eat these.”

Mingi’s eyes widened in surprise and he seemed reluctant for a second, “Just take it, I won’t eat them and I’d rather you eat it then I throw it away later.”

“Aw,” Mingi cooed as he took a few steps to come closer, batting his eyelashes at me in a cringe worthy manner, “Did you buy this specifically for me?”

“I bought them for myself, did you not hear what I said?” I deadpanned, and whiskey my hand away when Mingi went to grab the plastic bag. He quirked an eyebrow and I gave him a long stare, slightly glaring, “I wouldn’t waste my little money on you, you’re not special.”

“In that case, I don’t want it.” Mingi’s face slipped into a neutral mask, and I gulped, suddenly regretting my words. Perhaps I was being too harsh with him when he was always rather nice to me. I cleared my throat and grabbed his hand, ignoring the warmness of it, and pressed the plastic bag into his palm.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.” I muttered and quickly released Mingi’s hand, looking off to the side as Mingi tried to fight off the smile on his face, looking rather pleased with himself.

“You’ve been making progress.” He grinned, as he opened the plastic bag and grabbed a butter croissant out of it. My eyebrows furrowed as I watched him take a big bite, smiling in bliss as he quickly chewed the food in his mouth, basically inhaling the pastry in mere seconds, making me rather amused.

“What are you talking about?”

“You recognize when you make a mistake, and you apologize for it.” Mingi said through a mouth full of croissant, and I grimaced at his antics. He wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand and balled up the plastic bag, aiming for the trash can which was next to the door, just a few feet away from it. He made a show of throwing it, only for it to land on the floor merely two steps away from us. I snorted in amusement as Mingi cleared his throat, flashing me a small embarrassed smile, “Anyways, I want to show you something.”

“Won’t you pick it up?” I raised an eyebrow as Mingi ignored my question and grabbed my right wrist, dragging me towards his desk, “And don’t get too used to my apologies. I know you’re only pretending to be mad at me, so I’ll stop being apologetic.”

“I’m not pretending,” Mingi huffed, throwing a quick glance at me as we reached his desk, and he reached for a chair pushed off to the side, “You have a special way with your words and you always manage to hurt my feelings somehow.”

“You’re just too sensitive.” I quickly snapped, defensive for no reason. Or maybe not for no reason, but because I knew he was right. I couldn’t help myself. I might’ve started growing more accustomed to having Mingi in my life, in a very friendship sort of way, but I still couldn’t help but have my doubts about him. I could never know. He was Yunho’s best friend after all, and whoever associated themselves with that man, wasn’t the best kind. And I know judging Mingi based on who he’s friends with is rather wrong, but it only felt right as of now. We didn’t know each other too well yet.

“I’ve been told so before,” Mingi gently pushed me in the chair he had fetched for me, pulling his own chair behind himself to take his seat, “Yunho always says despite my tough exterior I have a rather soft heart, easily harmed. Hence why I cried a lot as a child—”

“You were a crybaby?” I asked with a chuckle, watching Mingi amused as he huffed, leaning back in his chair, looking as if he regretted admitting that.

“Of course you’d make fun of me for that,” He rolled his eyes before he leaned forward, pulling his chair closer to the desk, grabbing his mouse, “But yes, I still cry.”

“A lot?” I teased, biting my lower lip when Mingi gave me a pointed stare.

“Says the one who looked like a kicked puppy abandoned by the curb when I found you at the restaurant.” Mingi muttered under his breath as he turned his computer on, clicking through various folders rather quickly. I scoffed and crossed my arms in front of my chest, narrowing my eyes at him.

“You didn’t find me there, we just happened to be at the same place.” I corrected him, “Much to my dismay.”

“Yeah, right,” Mingi scoffed, pulling up a file of various recordings on his computer screen, “if I remember correctly, you were rather grateful that I drove you home that night.”

“You kept insisting.” I pressed, giving Mingi a look when he turned his head to look at me.

“You must always have the last word, don’t you?” He raised an eyebrow, not looking too impressed, “Even through texts.”

『Nothing better to do

When I'm stuck on you

And still I'm in here

Trying to figure it out』

I just shrugged and remained silent, not admitting to his correct observation. Mingi just shook his head with a quiet tsk and then went and unplugged his headphones from the computer. He licked his lips and grabbed his glasses off the desk, pressing them up on his long nose, ruffling his black fluffy hair. He seemed to be a bit nervous as he swiveled his chair around to face me, interlacing his fingers in front of himself as he rested his arms on the armrests of the chair.

“So, uh, this isn’t finished yet,” Mingi spoke up, chuckling almost awkwardly, “it’s just a sample, still raw and shit. I started working on the track this week, but I’ve been writing the lyrics for a few weeks now. Found some inspiration for it quite recently, actually.”

“Why’s that?” I found myself asking curiously, glancing at the screen of his computer before looking back at him.

“Well, just…reasons.” Mingi was evasive as he averted his eyes, but I didn’t press the matter as he clearly looked like he didn’t want to talk about it. So, I just hummed and nodded my head in understanding, waiting patiently for him to speak up again.

“Anyways,” He cleared his throat and clapped his hands, turning back to face his computer, “you’ll be the first one to hear it. And don’t laugh, like I said, it’s far from being perfect.”

“I would never laugh, Mingi.” I said seriously as my eyebrows furrowed, making Mingi glance back at me. He studied my face for a second before he nodded once, ruffling his bangs quickly as he pressed start on the player. The song started out as a steady beat accompanied by the guitar playing softly, the melody rather comforting. It was a delicate way of easing you into the song, and as it flew naturally, Mingi’s voice suddenly made an appearance, his rasp not as noticeable as normally as his vocals were soft, completely in tune with the music and the beat.

“My head is haunting me, and my heart feels like a ghost/I need to feel something 'cause I'm still so far from home/Cross your heart and hope to die/Promise me you'll never leave my side.” I gulped as I leaned back in the chair, eyes fixated on the big screen of Mingi’s computer, soaking in the words, trying to be less aware of Mingi sitting next to me, trying to ignore my unsteady heartbeat.

“Show me what I can't see when the spark in my eyes is gone/You got me on my knees, I'm your one-man cult.” Mingi’s leg was bouncing up and down rapidly, his lower lip between his teeth as his eyes were fixed onto the screen of his computer, something suddenly dropping in the pit of my stomach as I took a glance at him from the corner of my eyes, “Cross my heart and hope to die/Promise you I'll never leave your side.”

I gulped as my fingers wrung together, lightly bobbing my head to the steady rhythm of the song, enjoying the instrumental as I drunk in Mingi’s words, his deep voice warm and pleasant to listen to, feeling goosebumps erupt on my arms, underneath my long sleeves.

“'Cause I'm telling you, you're all I need/I promise you, you're all I see.” I took a peek in Mingi’s direction as was slightly startled to find him watching me, his eyes trained on me intently. His eyebrows were very lightly furrowed as his right hand was fisted, and he sniffed loudly, holding eye contact as the next words flew smoothly against the melody, my cheeks suddenly flushed for no reason, “'Cause I'm telling you, you're all I need/I'll never leave.”

The melody was light, instrumental smooth as Mingi’s voice almost faded with the next words, that is until the drums kicked up and the beat became heavier, Mingi’s strong voice easily accompanying the instruments, rasp harsh as Mingi’s voice audibly shook with emotions poured into the song, “So, you can drag me through hell/If it meant I could hold your hand/I will follow you, 'cause I'm under your spell/And you can throw me to the flames/I will follow you, I will follow you.”

And just as I blinked, the music stopped as Mingi hit the pause button, clearing his throat loudly as he rubbed at his chin, averting his eyes as I noticed a deep flush on his face. He swiveled his chair a little towards the desk, angling his body away from mine, “Uh, like I said, it’s still raw, so it’s not that good. I recorded the first two verses like yesterday, and was playing around with the chorus before I noticed you…yeah.”

I couldn’t help but smile softly as I looked at his profile, meanwhile Mingi quickly closed the folders he had open, “Mingi, it’s…like, really good. I have no idea what standards music majors and your professors have, but to my painter ears this is…a masterpiece or something.”

Mingi froze for a second, eyes wide when he faced me again, “Really? You think so?”

“Of course!” I exclaimed with a huff, growing embarrassed as Mingi continued to look at me with a surprised expression on his face. Perhaps I really should stop teasing and playfully insulting him so much, what if he doesn’t believe my compliments when I’m being genuine?

“I’m glad.” Mingi suddenly muttered, a soft smile settling on his lips before he chuckled, turning his head away, “I’ve have to finish the chorus and then we can go, is that good with you?”

“Sure,” I smiled, grabbing my phone from my pocket as Mingi went and plucked the headphones back into the computer, throwing it around his neck, “Take your time.”

『Getting hard to sleep

Blood is in my dreams

Love is killing me

Trying to figure it out』

He hummed and then put on the headphones, clicking away on his computer as the music file opened again, and I could hear the soft melody quietly slither through the headphones. I found myself looking at Mingi a second too long before I snapped out of it, clearing my throat as I unlocked my phone and looked down at it, checking for any unread messages. As expected, there was nothing from my mother as she preferred calling even for the smallest things. From Seulgi there was also nothing as she was on a date with Wooyoung, probably too preoccupied by each other to pay attention to anything else around them. I could only hope they would finally make things official, their feelings way too obvious to be beating around the bush for any longer. They were rather cute, but also extremely annoying. I’d rather prefer Seulgi gush to me about Wooyoung as her boyfriend, than the guy she just has a massive crush on, repeating the same things over and over again, completely ignoring the advice I give her.

As there was nobody else I would be texting, other than Mingi, I clicked out of the app and absentmindedly opened Instagram, scrolling through my feed, sighing quietly. There was a light tapping sound coming from Mingi’s direction, and I looked up to see him hitting his pen against the table rhythmically, following the beat of the song, probably. There were a few new words jotted down in his notebook, the page looking like a mess of jumble to me, but probably to Mingi it was quite organized, and clear what he had scribbled down there. I looked back down at my phone, smiling as cute puppy videos popped up in my recommended, watching the video until the end before I left a like on it, scrolling past it. There were a few other posts from my acquittances from my uni classes, and I liked them all as I sighed, realizing a little get-away sounded rather nice now that I saw pictures of people traveling. I scrolled some more down, and froze for a second as Yunho’s familiar username popped up, three pictures posted one after another. There was one of two coffee cups placed on a small round table, with the view over the city in the background. The second picture was of the sunset, the sky purple and pink. And then the third one was of two intertwined hands, and I didn’t fail to notice the tag on the picture. It was probably that new girl, but I found myself not wanting to actually check, to actually confirm that it was her. I sighed, eyes lingering on the last photo, yet quickly realized, rather startled, that I didn’t feel as bitter about as I once used to. It didn’t make me react as badly like the first time I had seen his story with his new girlfriend, and my eyebrows furrowed as I ruminated on the feeling, taking my lower lip between my teeth. Yes, I still felt rather bitter about it, but it left me rather…cold? Unimpressed, maybe? Unphased, even? My eyebrows furrowed further more at the sudden confusion of my feelings, and I went to scroll again, when a username down at the comments caught my eyes.

minkiprncess: u never invite me out on coffee dates, im jealous

YuYu🌻: i thought u liked picnic dates more?

I quickly shut the app off and cleared my throat, finding my eyes glued to Mingi instantly. Seeing him talk like that to Yunho…was strange, but certainly not unexpected. They’ve been best friends since kindergarten. Their bond ran deep, and the way Yunho would often gush about Mingi, it only seemed right to see those words typed out by Mingi. But I still couldn’t quite wrap my mind around their friendship, and how it worked, since Mingi seemed to be…quite genuine as days went by. I hated to admit it, but he really wasn’t as bad as I had thought at first. Perhaps I was prejudiced, but it felt too soon to let my guard down, to truly open up and let him in like I once had done with Yunho. That was a mistake, and I was scared of committing the same mistake twice. With my eyes on Mingi, and seeing as he was rather occupied at the moment, I allowed myself the luxury to truly look at him, to take him in as he was. His profile was pretty as his black hair fell over his forehead in soft waves, definitely not styled, as I had seen Mingi run his fingers through it numerous times since I had arrived. His brow bone was rather defined and it came more forward, his brows thick and dark, seemingly a perfect fit for his features. His nose was tall and long, the bridge straight and almost perfect, probably leaving many jealous for not having a nose like his. His glasses framed his face, and they were once again slipping down his nose, but Mingi made no sign of wanting to fix that, of pushing them up as you were supposed to wear them. The distance between his upper lip and nose wasn’t too big, even from the side, his cherry red lips were plump and had a rather pretty shape, forcing me to swiftly try and look down at my own lips, wondering why a guy had better and prettier lips than a woman. I followed the sharp line of his jaw, chin not too forward, perfectly aligned with his nose, his well-defined cheekbones visible even from the side. My eyes lingered on the small mole on his jaw, way too familiar with its placement already as I had drawn it numerous times in my portraits of Mingi. I gulped and subconsciously licked my lips as my eyes ventured further, slipping down his exposed neck, his tan skin soft looking in the dim lights, his characteristic silver necklaces hanging around the base of his neck. Mingi sighed loudly and I looked at his face alarmed, thinking that I had been caught, but his eyebrows were furrowed as he took the pen he held in his hand between his white teeth, biting down on it as he looked frustrated. I had noticed before already, but his front teeth were slightly more ahead, protruding a little, and I couldn’t help but chuckle quietly, finding this trait rather…adorable. Not wanting to linger too much on that thoughts, my eyes found themselves fixated on Mingi’s fingers, and I frowned upon just realizing something.

『I'll let it go 'cause I won't see you later

And we're not allowed to talk it out

I said I'd go, put myself on show

But I'm still trying to figure it out』

His nails were painted black, with rather abstract looking designs, and as I squinted, absentmindedly leaning forward in my chair to catch a better glimpse at his middle finger, I could read the words, fix on, painted on it. My eyebrows furrowed as it made me wonder whatever that meant, and I decided to ask Mingi about it later if given the chance. I allowed my eyes to linger on his nails longer, gulping as I noticed almost each long finger of his was decorated by a ring. I wasn’t foreign to his rings, I have noticed that Mingi loved wearing rings, and the one on his middle finger, with the big red gemstone seemed to always catch my attention. I hummed silently, taking my sweet time to closely analyze each one of his rings, noting which were new, to me, as I haven’t seen them on him before, and which were the ones he wore almost daily. He seemed to have two silver ones that he never failed to leave at home, both littered with small stones, prettily shining under the sunlight each time. Mingi’s fingers flexed for a second, tightening around the pen he was holding, and I watched as he started tapping the table, a low humming sound coming from his lips. I blinked as I realized what I had been doing, memorizing every bend of his fingers, every line and any scar decorating it, storing their shape and length deep in my mind for the time when I would have to recall it in order to draw his hands. In the process of all this, I couldn’t help but also notice that his hands seemed rather big, they would probably engulf mine nicely. The thought made me lightly flush as I remembered us holding hands in his car after we shared some personal stuff, and I shook my head lightly, trying to get rid of the memory. There was a light shuffle as Mingi cleared his throat, making me very slowly drag my eyes up, until they fell on his face. More particularly on his sharp and small eyes, which were on me, his eyebrows raised curiously as a smug smile seemed to be plastered on his lips. Fuck. I would’ve face palmed myself if it wasn’t for Mingi watching me, so, instead, I tried to flash him my best poker face while I totally, and absolutely, flushed red in embarrassment.

“Were you…” Mingi pursed his lips, narrowing his eyes playfully, “checking me out?”

“Like hell I was.” I snapped with a loud huff, definitely way too fast.

“Oh, you weren’t?” Mingi feigned confusion, “But—damn, then I must be mistaken. You certainly weren’t like…totally ogling my face and then salivating after my hands, right?”

As if to prove a point, he wriggled his fingers, making me clench my jaw as I forced a pathetic excuse of a laugh out of myself, giving him an unimpressed expression, “I wasn’t checking you out nor any of those things you just said—”

“Are you like, really sure?” Mingi huffed, tapping his lips in an annoying manner, “Because now you’re making me feel crazy—”

“Oh my God,” I exclaimed exasperated, eyes widening as I huffed at Mingi, “fine, I was looking at your hands, but before it gets to your head, bro, I just simply think guys painting their nails is hot, okay?”

There was a long pause, Mingi’s eyes boring into mine as a smirk made its way on his lips, looking all smug and pleased with himself, “So…”

I gulped nervously as he suddenly pushed his chair slightly back, and started leaning in towards me, the look taunting on his face, “You think I’m hot?”

“Not you.” I snapped, glaring at him, “That’s not what I said—”

“But you indirectly admitted that I’m hot—”

“No, Mingi. I didn’t admit anything, God, this is why I don’t talk to you.” I huffed and pushed my chair back, feeling uncomfortable as he was siting so close to me, making me gulp nervously. I quickly stood from my chair and went to walk to get my backpack, but Mingi quickly reached out and grabbed my wrist.

“Where are you going?” He asked, smugness and smirk gone from his face. I rolled my eyes at him, but didn’t pull my wrist out of his grip.

“Home, obviously.” I huffed, and Mingi very gently pushed me back towards the chair, making me sit in it.

“Let me finish this up, and we’re leaving.” He quickly turned and went back to clicking away on his computer, pursing his lips as with his left hand he closed his notebook, throwing the pen absentmindedly on his desk. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms in front of my chest, but didn’t say anything else, waiting for him to do whatever he needed to do before we would finally leave. Some fresh air would certainly serve well for a wakeup call.

            The light drizzle had turned into rain after we’ve reached Mingi’s car and waited for the engine to warm up a bit. Mingi wasn’t as embarrassed about it as last time, and I found myself feeling the need to reassure him that I didn’t give a shit whether his car was a fucking rocket or a simple carriage, as long as it was safe to drive and shielded us from the rain. Perhaps it was one of the very few times when I heard Mingi’s rich laughter, his head thrown back against the headrest and mouth wide open as he repeatedly hit the wheel, prompting me to match his laughter until my stomach hurt and I had to ask him to stop, unable to breathe anymore as tears sprung into my eyes. The radio was playing softly in the background, neither of us actually paying attention to it as Mingi had asked about my art class, inquiring about the painting I was currently working on. I briefed him about it as we had taken off, the rain making it rather hard to see well, but Mingi was a careful driver and he didn’t speed at all, being extra careful as the wipers of the car were placed on the fastest setup, the rain hitting the car loudly, making us raise our voices in order to be able to hear each other well.

“I assume you know Wooyoung and Seulgi are on a date.” Mingi spoke up as we had stopped at a red light, people running as they crossed the road, umbrellas doing almost nothing to shield them from the harsh rain anymore.

“Yeah, I hope they chose to go somewhere indoors, this rain is merciless.” Mingi chuckled, but nodded his head in agreement, leaning his head against the headrest. The cars in the lane to our left took off, their traffic light having turned green.

“Wooyoung mentioned about them going to the cinema, or at least that’s what he had in mind two days ago.” Mingi explained, shifting into first gear as the light turned green for us.

“Seulgi said something about a new place opening up where you could paint pottery while enjoying their delicacies.” I said in thought, wondering which one they have chosen.

“We should go there sometime,” Mingi took a right turn, mindful of the pedestrians and the huge puddles on the side of the road, “just the two of us.”

I hummed, thinking about it for a second before I looked at Mingi, “Sure.”

“Sure? Did you just say sure?” Mingi’s voice slightly raised and I chuckled, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, I said sure.” I repeated, Mingi’s mouth falling open.

“Did you just agree to going out with me?!” Mingi almost exclaimed, making me snort as I looked away, focusing on the road ahead.

“You didn’t ask me out.” I corrected.

“But I still could.” Mingi quickly said, making me shake my head with a small smile.

“Anyways, I hope Wooyoung makes his move soon.” I sighed, rubbing my forehead tiredly, “I’ve had enough of listening to Seulgi whine about how much she’s into him, but is confused of what Wooyoung wants.”

Mingi chuckled as he took a left turn, driving off the main road, barely three blocks away from my neighborhood, “Good to know I was right.”

I looked at him again curiously, and he quickly explained himself, “I’ve been telling Wooyoung she was into him, but he never believed me. He did say he’d ask her out today, but knowing Wooyoung…he might chicken out, again.”

I chuckled, amused by these two idiots, “Well, knowing Seulgi, she won’t chicken out. She also planned on asking Wooyoung out today.”

Mingi laughed, turning left, slowing down as he drove down my street, looking for my house closely. I smiled subconsciously and undid my seatbelt, planning to help him out by pointing my house out to him, but I didn’t have to. He was quick to come to a stop in front of it, placing the gear in neutral. He turned his head and looked at me, smiling, “Arrived.”

“Yeah.” I whispered and grabbed my backpack, looking out the window, eyebrows furrowing at the sudden downpour, the car’s windshield wiper good for nothing at this point, “Damn, why is it raining so hard?”

“I hate it.” Mingi whined as he looked ahead too, lips jutting out in a pout, “I can’t even drive home now.”

“Yeah, you shouldn’t.” I agreed as my eyebrows furrowed, “It’s not safe at all.”

“Yeah,” Mingi sighed and turned the engine off, undoing his seatbelt, “I’ll just wait for it to settle down, and then I’ll drive home.”

“Yeah, you should do that.” I agreed, looking at him, the rain hitting the roof of Mingi’s old Honda Prelude loud, “And text me when you get home, so that I know you’re safe.”

Mingi’s cheeks flushed, but just ever so slightly, and my eyes widened as he tried to avoid eye contact the more persistent I became, “Yeah, uh, I will. Promise I won’t forget this time.”

“You better,” I chuckled, rolling my eyes remembering all the times he would forget to text me that he had gotten to his destination safely, “I’m going now.”

“Okay.” Mingi’s head turned and we made eye contact for a second, before I offered him a small smile and pushed the door open, springing out of his car. It didn’t even take a minute for me to be completely drenched by the rainwater as I very quickly slammed Mingi’s door shut, gasping as my clothes got instantly soaked, hair sticking to my head. I turned and took off towards my house, running, but realizing it didn’t matter since I was already soaked. Well, so much for Mingi driving me home to save me from the freezing cold downpour. As I reached the middle of the driveway, I dared to take a peek at the sky, realizing that the almost black clouds looked menacing, and God knows when they’d pass, when the rain would stop. I stopped and turned, looking towards Mingi’s car as I bit my lower lip, having to blink my eyes fast to be able to see something. No car was driving down the roads anymore, no person out on the streets. What if the rain wouldn’t stop at all? It’s happened before, not even once. Would Mingi stay out in the car? He wouldn’t be able to leave if that were the case. Taking a deep breath, I made my decision as I raced back to his car, yanking the door open as I leaned down, Mingi’s wide eyes falling on my soaked form.

“Come inside, who knows when it’ll stop raining.” I called out loudly over the sound of the rain and the sudden rumble of the sky, making me shiver. I hated the thunder perhaps more than the flashing lightning. Mingi opened his mouth, probably to refuse my offer, but I didn’t leave room for him to argue, “Come on!”

And as I slammed the door shut again, he was out of the car in a second, closing his own door and locking his car quite clumsily, exclaiming as he got soaked in seconds, just like myself. I laughed as I took off towards the house, Mingi racing after me, giggling loudly as we reached the front steps of the porch, both shivering as I struggled to grab my keys out of my pocket.

“Oh my God, this sucks!” Mingi exclaimed just as another thunder shook the ground, and I jumped, throwing a glare towards the sky. Mingi saw it and chuckled, urging me to unlock the door, “Doll, I’m freezing my ass off, please open the door!”

“Who’s the drenched puppy kicked to the curb now, huh?” I asked with a teasing grin as I unlocked the front door, pushing it open. Mingi chuckled and rolled his eyes, but not before playfully pushing me forward, urging me on to step inside the house first.

We could only hope the downpour would stop soon enough.

❱❱ Next chapter

[just-my-latest-hyperfixation]

hi!!! congratulations on your 1k followers!! your blog is so great and you deserve each one of them!! i wanted to request a ficlet with the following picks: P, zombie apocalypse au, hurt comfort and 🔪!! can't wait to see what you come up with, congratulations again!! -@steveseddie

Aw, that's so lovely, thank you! This one was a lot of fun to figure out, and of course it has grown a little plot already. 😅

My world ends (without you)

Rated: E (for blood and violence)

Words: 997

Tags: Zombie Apocalypse AU; Established relationship; Blood and violence; Steve Harrington whump

One time, shortly after they lost Eddie, Max asked Steve if he never got mad. She didn't look at him, just continued staring ahead, knees hugged to her chest. Her face was dotted crimson from their latest run-in with the dead, like a smattering of extra freckles.

“Do you even care at all? About what happened to Eddie?” 

“Of course,” Steve said, fingernails digging crescents into his palm. “He was my friend.” 

She huffed. “Friend, yeah. Whatever. Point is, I'd be furious at these undead fuckheads, but you? You're so calm. I don't get it.” 

Steve hummed, thinking about how to explain. 

“Of course I'm mad,” was what he settled on. “But you gotta keep a level head, or you'll do stupid things. I got you kids to protect. And besides, you think those undead fuckheads asked for this? It's the damn virus that's screwing us all over.” 

It's funny how he remembers this now, months later, huddled into the shelter of a tree and peeling his pants away from his bleeding leg. Part of him is still hoping it's something else - that he cut himself falling through that window, that one of his last bullets ricocheted and got him, fuck, please anything but this. 

But it is. 

The teeth marks in his flesh, the way the wound is already festering and turning black, tell him all he needs to know. 

“Fuck!” he swears, falling backwards and staring up at the darkening sky through stinging eyes. His hand twitches for his gun - he'd rather end it now than happening upon Robin or the kids later - but then he remembers he's out of ammunition. There's nothing he can do. 

Nothing but lie here and let the fever take him and hope that whoever finds him puts a quick end to it. 

*

He doesn't expect to wake up again, not as himself. When he does, his head is cradled in someone's lap and for a moment, he thinks he's back at their camp with Robin, that it was all a nightmare. But then he realizes he's still in the forest and the pain in his leg hits him like a ton of bricks. 

“-quite the number on you, huh, big boy?” 

Steve's groan turns into a gasp. 

“Eddie? This isn't real, you're dead.” 

Eddie grins, briefly. It tugs on the big, gnarly scar covering his jaw and the side of his face, just where Steve saw him get bitten. Then, his face settles back into grim determination. 

“How long?” 

Steve blinks against the confusion and the fever. “Huh?” 

“Your leg, Stevie. How long since the bite?” 

“I … I dunno,” Steve slurs. His head is pounding. He's burning inside. “Few hours?” 

Eddie nods. “Gotta be quick then. Sorry, this is gonna hurt like a bitch.” 

He places Steve's head on the ground, bustling around with something in the fire he has built next to their spot.

“What’re you-” Steve starts to say, trying to sit. That's when he realizes his wrists are tied above his head and panic kicks alive behind his ribcage. “Eddie?” 

When Eddie turns, he's holding a knife. The blade is glowing orange.

“No,” Steve breathes, feebly straining against his bonds. “Nonono, Eddie, please!” 

“Hey,” Eddie says. “Remember when we first met?” 

The question comes from so far out of left field that Steve forgets to struggle. Eddie’s eyes are dark and serious in the firelight. 

“You said to make it outta this, we gotta trust each other. You trust me?” 

Steve doesn’t even hesitate. He nods. Eddie smiles, brief but pleased. 

“Then let's go.” 

Something nudges against Steve’s lips, something dry and leathery - a belt. 

“You'll wanna bite down on something,” Eddie says, regret in his eyes. “Believe me.” 

Swallowing down the humiliation burning in his throat, Steve opens his mouth. 

“Atta boy,” Eddie praises, but the joke falls flat between them. “Let's fucking do this.” 

And Steve's world disappears behind a wall of pain. 

*

“Y’know,” Eddie murmurs. He's propped them up against the tree trunk, Steve’s head tucked under his chin, fingers combing Steve's sweat-soaked hair from his forehead. “I'd be lying if I told ya I never thought of tying you up and gagging you with my belt, but this was not what I imagined.” 

Steve scoffs weakly, eyes straying down to his bandaged leg. “Did it work?” 

Eddie shrugs. “Think so. Henry says you gotta cut the infection out before it spreads, but how much time you got depends on a lot of factors. Your fever seems to be under control , so that's good, but lemme know if you develop any unusual cravings. Brains, raw meat, that kinda-” 

“Woah, hold on, who's Henry? Did he …” 

Eddie interrupts his ramble when Steve’s fingers find the new scar on his jaw. He allows Steve to map the shape of it for a while before catching his fingers and pressing a kiss to them. 

“Yeah. He's head of a safe zone, about twenty miles north from here. He's a scientist … well, used to be, and … Stevie, he thinks he knows how to cure it.” 

“What? Eddie, that's incredible, where- We gotta tell the others, we gotta-” Steve has hardly startled upright when Eddie guides him back down. 

“Right now, honey, all we gotta do is let you rest. Plenty of time to break the good news to the others tomorrow.” 

And maybe it's the pain, or maybe it's the blood loss, or maybe it's the overwhelming bliss of having Eddie back, but Steve doesn’t find it in himself to argue. 

“Alright,” he whispers, letting his head sag against Eddie’s chest and allowing the gentle rhythm of his beating heart to lull him to sleep. “Just … don't leave again.” 

Eddie kisses the top of his head. “Wouldn’t dream of it, sweetheart.” 

He's broken that promise before. There's no guarantee he won't break it again, not in this fucked up nightmare they live in. But Steve trusts him. 

That has to be enough. 

Man, that Henry sounds like a swell fella, I'm sure nothing will go wrong.

More celebration ficlets

[aitadjcrazytimes]

It's been a good run

But it's time to bring this to a close!

The saga is over, C, T and I are all together. T and I are in the swing of it, C approves as much as it is possible for him to approve of anything, everyone knows about the blog and is chill.

C is back at his rightful place of walking his sister down the aisle.

I'm getting everything I want, and we're all free to make each other miserable until the day we die.

I'm not going to be updating this blog anymore! Nobody else involved with the situation will be submitting any more AITA posts either, because they are either not on tumblr or agreed it would be annoying.

I will say that there is some stuff on here that I've alluded to that isn't necessarily 100% in the spirit of things, so I've included some stuff below the cut for the folks who have caught onto that. I would not suggest reading it if you like how all of this played out and want to keep it that way. I know that's incredibly vague, but I'm not sure how to phrase it without making it weird?

Thank you all for listening and talking to me over the past few days! That's where I'm leaving it!

...

...

...

...Is everyone who wants to keep believing in the disaster polycule gone? Yes? OK!

So, this was fake. I made up the whole thing. TK and C and T and everyone else are fictional characters. Did I lie? Yes. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

Q: All of it? Even the og AITA post? The followup AITA post? The screenshots?

A: All of it.

Q: Wh... Why did you do this...?

A: Well, first this all started as a Red vs Blue fanfic for the ship Chexer (Church/Tex/Tucker)-

It started as a fanfic for Chexer. However, I was already working on a different fanfic for RVB that was totalling about 15k words at this point (+ at least 90k to go), and I knew I would never have the time or energy to write this one. I thought: yknow. this would be really funny as an aita post.

Q: It was a fanfic of a Halo fanfic series.

A: Yep!

So, I submitted Tucker's perspective. I did not expect for it to get more than maybe 100 notes at most. I totally thought someone would call it out right away.

The funny part is, if I'd dedicated all this energy to a fic instead of this blog, I'd probably have about 15-20 thousand words of fic already, but whatever, can't ruin my personal day!

Also, I wanted to see how many people would figure it out/how long it would take for it to become too obvious that this was a fandom thing. I was dropping names and RvB lore since the beginning. A few people did figure it out, and I DMed them in private to let them know.

Q: But why make the blog then?

A: Because I love to lie and be a nuisance to the general populace! <3

It was always my intent to wait until Carolina's perspective got posted (i am honestly still shocked i got away with "Carey/Georgia/West Virginia/Alabama/Miss Louisiana 1988"), let it simmer for about a day, then come clean. Which is what I'm doing now!

The reason I'm coming clean now instead of dragging it out is because I don't want anyone to feel stupid or like they got duped. You're not stupid! You were a part of this story! This was, as one anon said, a creative writing project. It was a collaboration! Thank you so much for helping me!

That said, I'm sorry to anyone that finds this disappointing! I had a blast doing this, but I will not be doing it again. I have gotten my fill. I have had my taste of being an influencer, and now I can go on with my life without ever feeling like I need to start a youtube channel.

Q: How did you keep up with a consistent timeline?

A: I didn't, especially at first. But in my time as a liar who lies about things, I have found that usually people are willing to believe you when you say "yeah, i lied about that".

Q: Wait, what about the thing with your kid?

A: Yeah, I fucked up on this one. In the other fic I was/am writing, Tucker was around 33. So, when I was saying what Junior's age was, I subtracted it from 33 and got 18. It wasn't until I was showing my partner the blog and they said "Wait, he had his kid at 13??????" that I realized I had fucked up. Oops!

Q: Was it really ALL fake?

A: For the most part. I will say that I did actually drop chocolate cake all over my tits that one time and had to shower by myself like a fucking loser. That one was true. I did also get my nails done for the first time ever, which did actually affect my typing. And I am in a band (but so is Tucker, canonically)! There are a few other things as well, but I don't want to list all of them.

Q: DID you ever read homestuck?

A: Nope. And I never will.

Even the title, though I will say that the title I came up with was "Leonard "Alpha Bitch" Church's Decidedly Not Lo-Fi Beats to Get Nasty and Get Clean To: The Movie"

Q: So there was never a combination sex/bathtime playlist?

A: Maybe! But perhaps more accurately: the combination sex/bathtime playlist was inside of you all along. You can make it. There are only three songs on there that are canon to the lore of this blog. Those are No Children by The Mountain Goats, Take It Out On Me by Thousand Foot Krutch, and one unknown song from the album Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV by Coheed and Cambria (Yep, the call was coming from inside the house, I gave Church my music taste). I had intended this to be Wake Up, but it's out of my hands now. The rest is yours to fill in.

Q: What's your main blog, so I can follow you?

A: Hi, this is aitadjcrazytimes. You're not getting that.

Q: Your AO3 handle?

A: Nope, not that either.

You will never find me. And that's the way I want it. You will see me in every blog. Every new follower. Every stranger you meet on the street. You will look into your discord kitten's eyes, and you will absently wonder if he was the one behind aitadjcrazytimes. And you will never know for certain.

Q: But-

A: Let me live on in your memory. The only person who knows both who I am and the fact that I did this is my partner, who is not into RvB or commonly on tumblr. I am not a RvB blog. I am not a writing blog. I am a nobody on the fringes of tumblr society who's been here long enough to know how to remain in the shadows.

And, even if you do manage to find me, against all odds:

No one will ever believe you.

I am closing my askbox. I am also closing my messages. If you have anything to say to Tucker or Me (tumblr user aitadjcrazytimes), you are welcome to do so in the replies or reblogs, but you will not be receiving an answer. I'll keep this blog up for anyone that wants to go through after the fact and do a deep dive or what have you.

Thanks to everyone who made this into the wild ride it was! Live long and get fucked or whatever! Xoxo <3

[bcbdrums]

👛 your favorite rare pair?

♟️a character you feel is overrated?

🤍 a fandom you’ve only recently discovered?

thank you for the ask!! since you didn't specify a fandom, i'm gonna go two.

👛 your favorite rare pair?

For Kim Possible - Ron x Yori. Is it rare? I dunno. I never see it. Maybe it didn't used to be. But maaaaan I think there's SO much incredible character development potential there for Ron. I still think of Ron x Kim as endgame, but...could be interesting to explore the boy figuring out his life without Kim and with someone else for a bit. Ultimately to make him better for Kim. I don't say any of that against Yori, I just don't think she's the one in the end. And I also don't see him dumping Kim for Yori, more a thing of happenstance.

For Soul Eater - This was a hard choice. And I don't want to call a pairing with less attention but clearly an obvious pairing "rare." Like, Ox/Harvar doesn't get much notice but I wouldn't call it rare. So.... here we go. Spirit x Azusa. Hear me out... You've got two extremely driven, hardworking people. They went to school together. You have Azusa who's a bit of a feminist and so would naturally see Spirit's actions in a negative light, since on the surface he appears to treat women as objects at least as a teen, and then there's the drinking too which she likely wouldn't see positively toward academic/career success. Then there's Spirit who is in fact genuinely hardworking despite his faults, and he makes death scythe before her. She probably doesn't think he deserves it. There's also the age difference; Azusa is the youngest (except she's probably older than Sid, but she's younger than Marie and we know Spirit is the oldest so yeah). So Spirit probably did think of her as an annoying bossy tattletale brat. But thinking of them in the anime especially, stuck in the Death Room during those crucial moments... And just her time there in Death City after all those years apart. She'd have gotten to see Spirit shine. He'd have gotten to see her grown up and shining in her role. They're not kids anymore, a lot has changed, and they have so much in common now... This would be a wild one. This one would be hard work. This isn't some fall into lust/infatuation romance. This would be a relationship built on respect over time. But I can see it... There's some great art of this ship on the blog "Illogicat" sorry I can't tag it.

♟️a character you feel is overrated?

For Kim Possible - Wade Load. He's just the deus ex machina guy. He exists to give Kim a magical way out, and there's nothing else to him... Well, actually I see a LOT of villain potential in him. But in terms of people acting like he's an important main character... Well, yeah, I guess. Kim would have died many times over if not for him. But that's all he does... A quick phone call, magically he's already put exactly what she needs in her backpack without her knowledge somehow for that exact predicament that no one knew she'd be in... Yes, it's a cartoon, this is part of the humor, I get it. But the only real he interest he holds for me are his villainous tendencies that show up at times. But in his assigned role... Sorry, he ain't nothing.

For Soul Eater - Crona comes to mind first... I likely wouldn't have thought so if not for the fandom obsession, but it's like... There's not much to Crona? Crona is sort of a....blank slate. For self-projection. Yeah... All Crona ever seems to get noticed for is "cute when shipped with Maka" and never acknowledged for the things that matter like, abuse by parent/"sibling" and madness (serious, serious mental health issues here) and we could use Crona to talk about those topics in ways that matter. I'm not saying it's not valid to make a ship cute because you like cute, absolutely nothing wrong with that. But there's other issues (I briefly addressed in a prior ask maybe even today actually) and it's just... Crona could be so important. But that's never what I see in fandom. Overrated for the wrong things, underrated for the right things. (And like, the fandom targeting random ppl who haven't read the manga to tell them it's bad cuz you don't like Crona's ending... Come on, fandom.) I'm keeping this extremely brief for the sake of post-length.

🤍 a fandom you’ve only recently discovered?

It's been some months now, but, Psycho-Pass. 😌 I have a Soul Eater crossover fic to thank for this (my GOSH if any characters ever belonged in another universe.... SE chars belong in Pyscho-Pass my GOSH). I'm stalled on season 3 though because there's no dub and I haven't had the energy for the sub in months.... But I've been itching to get back to it and heh I just may have energy now...

Psycho-Pass is an anime crime drama. Pretty gory actually, so for me I do have to look away from the screen at times (also - two SE voice actors star as the main characters!). Each season/movie jumps to a different point in time, but it's all one big connected story in the end. Season 1 is the best (so far) and my goodness... The themes are mature. If you enjoy deeply intellectual shows, you'll enjoy this. It's also a lot of mystery. I like the animation style too, it's really stunning.

Here have some amazing Soul Eater x Psycho-Pass crossover art because IT'S AWESOME.

[halfmoth-halfman]

I want to start off by saying I’m so happy you’re back! Hope your brain got the rest it needed before it reigns terror on us. Last chapter was fantastic! There’s too much for me to write down and analyze so i’m just doing my fav moments (i’m still writing a damn essay on this series after it’s done). Btw I wrote this in my notes at 4 am so very mush brained incoherent.

I loved seeing Canary’s quick wit make it’s appearance again when she stood up to Adler, he gave her tools but no instruction manual just said “figure it out” and him blaming her for his failure just shows he’s only her donor, not her father in my book,I can just imagine her mom whooping his ass after he died, “you did what to my baby!?”. Her biting back was like the first step to justice for herself because she’s coming back stronger than ever, she’s healing. Yes queen, use that tongue of steel (one of my mom’s saying, “we don’t have silver tongues, we have tongues of steel bc we spark when we speak and slice when we need to”).

Canary is finally finding her fighting spirit again and I can’t wait for her to rain some brimstone on her enemies, or just be comfortable in herself and know she regained her autonomy. Finally Price in jail made me laugh because all I could see was Canary in the “I lived bitch” meme.

As always you’re one of my favorite authors and will forever have me running to your blog when I get your alerts- 🔥

i'm happy you're happy, but you're like the third person to say they're happy i'm back and i??? never left??? did i get shadowbanned for criticizing staff LMAO

anon pls know i already love the asks you send me and i will cry if you write an essay on this series

canary def got her wit and quick comebacks from adler, it was kind of a necessity given how he raised her and what he was raising her to be. you're so right, he gave her the tools but never told her what to do with them. he expected her to be smart enough to know how to use them, but she didn't have the same life experiences he did so of course she wouldn't do things exactly how he wanted. and i think his blame for her stems from a disappointment and anger toward himself because deep down i think he knows the responsibility of her failures fall back on him. and canary's at the point now where she's not afraid to tell him that.

i can say that canary's mom will only be mentioned once or twice more, so this isn't really a spoiler. adler is very much the way he is/was with canary because of her mother's death. had she lived, this would've been a very, very different story because i think of adler and his wife's relationship much like price and canary's (though maybe a bit more possessive on adler's end). adler would've (and did) move mountains and burn down empires for his wife. she was his entire life, and he would've left everything behind and started living a mob free life if she asked him to. i headcanon that if she lived, canary's mother would've wanted adler to step down and settle somewhere peaceful and quiet and away from the blood and chaos. and i think adler would've done it in a heartbeat.

her mother would've been much more hands on and open with canary, but adler would've been like those dads that don't talk much and are kind of awkward with their kids but still love them very much. he'd still run his gang, but from afar with not as much input and leaving the big decisions to someone he trusted. canary would've grown up with a much more solid family dynamic, growing into a confident and proud woman, and (in my own little headcanon) would've met price at a gala hosted by one of her adler's friends and they'd have a series of casual flings before getting serious and eventually married.

canary's finally decided enough is enough and she's so ready to get her revenge and begin to heal from everything she's gone through and i love that for her honestly.

asdlaksdlkj i just imagine like gaz playing into canary's not-death just like-

gaz: this year, i lost my dear, sweet canary

canary: quit telling everyone i'm dead! >:(

gaz: sometimes, i can still hear her voice

or he'd just send a blurry bigfoot-style picture of her to price with a text that's like "manor's haunted"

thank you so much babes, please know i always appreciate your asks and i hope you have a wonderful day!! 💜

[slytherinwolf-16]

Zenipapa AU

Jigen

It had been a long day at work, juggling the usual motions of police work, along with dealing with the four kids cooped up in the office he was given. So being back home that evening was a relief.

Zeni isn't sure what exactly happened, but he accidentally bumped one of his glasses off the kitchen counter. He'd quickly scooped Fujiko and Goemon up, placing them on the couch so they wouldn't step on it and told Lupin to stay where he was sitting on the kitchen counter while he grabbed the broom and tray to sweep it up.

When he returned to the kitchen, not a minute later, Jigen was crouched by the glass, picking it up with his bare hands, while Lupin watched, confused. He isn't even sure where Jigen had been just a minute ago.

He was trying to figure out if he should admonish Jigen or just chase him away from the glass, when a single dark red drop dripped off one of his hands and landed on the tile. It could have echoed with how Zeni was focussed on it.

Jigen flinched slightly, but didn't stop picking up the glass or even drop what was in his hands already.

"Jigen" Zeni said, in hopes of getting the kid to stop. It worked, but not how he wanted. Jigen flinched and froze for a second before continuing to pick up the glass, now with more urgency.

"Jigen, stop," Zeni tried again, propping the broom against the counter and walking over. Jigen flinched, shrinking in on himself as if he expected to be hit. It broke Zeni's heart.

"Drop those in the bin, I'll take care of the rest of it," Zeni decided to try a different route. That seemed to snap Jigen out of his stupor and he made quick work of dumping the shards in his hands into the trash.

"Lu, take Jigen to the bathroom to wash his hands" Zeni said to Lupin, trying to get the kids out of the kitchen entirely.

Lupin moved to where there weren't any glass shards and jumped down from the counter, grabbing Jigen's wrist to drag him to the bathroom. Neither of them seemed bothered by blood, which worried Zenigata more than he'd like to admit.

Zeni cleaned the rest of the glass and wiped up the couple drops of blood before heading to the bathroom to see the extent of the injury. He stopped when he heard them talking.

"Pops was gonna fix that, why did you interfere?" Lupin asked, accompanied by the sound of crumpling toilet paper.

Jigen was quiet for a moment before he said, "My dad always dropped bottles and if I didn't clean it up, he'd get mad and throw the next ones at me instead of just dropping them."

They went quiet again for a moment before Zeni heard shuffling and the familiar sound of the first aid kit he had in the bathroom clicking open.

"What are you doing?" Jigen grumbled, getting a hum in return. "We need to clean and wrap your hand. It doesn't look like you need stitches." Was Lupin's reply.

That's when Zenigata knocked on the door and slowly opened it to help them. He wasn't sure why Lupin knew basic first aid at 4 but he'd find out at another time. He was more worried about Jigen's hand at the moment.

Blog tags:

@bookshop-cryptid

[codeblogs]

Reflections on Detective Conan, 2023

As a forward to this, I started watching Detective Conan with some friends midway through this year, and we are now nearly 100 episodes and 1 movie deep. Its been a long journey, and I see it continuing for a while, so I figured I may as well write up some thoughts on it.

Detective Conan itself is a mystery.

On the face of it, it shouldn't be too great. It's one of those standard Sunday morning kids TV anime, something that you'd probably imagine sitting alongside Anpanman, and its tight cultural grip on Japan would lead one to think that it might have some impenetrable barrier for western audiences. Mix in that Gosho Aoyama's prior works, at least in my experience, aren't that popular divorced from Detective Conan's explosive success (that last part was specifically to single out Kaito Kid), and generally aren't regarded as too great, and yet, Conan persists.

Too smug

Honestly, as someone who had already been a Detective Conan fan, reading all the way to the end of the Vermouth arc nearly a decade ago now, I really didn't expect to fall in love with the anime, especially considering how reliant it would be on anime original content as it went on. Yet, something about it manages to shine even when a mystery story isn't that great or is even outright bad.

There's something in these characters that makes it easy to latch on even when nothing is happening, even when the Black Organization has vanished from the narrative for too many episodes to even count after a point. The soft jazz and rocking climactic tracks keep everything feeling ethereal, like you've been dropped into another plane of existence solely to watch this show.

The childish antics of the Detective Boys, Kogoro's Mr. Satan like appeal with moments of genuine charisma and skill, Ran's often overprotective and harsh love, it's all fun. It's like this gooey inside you're rewarded with for overcoming the various barriers to this, whether it be the already mentioned aspects regarding Aoyama's prior works or the cultural barriers, or even just the sheer length or the odd concept.

But, what really makes this series is the titular character, Conan Edogawa, or rather, Kudo Shinichi.

After every session where we watch the anime, I tend to look through Conan related media. Whether it be old boorus to search for obscure fanart, the recent uploads for the tag here, or, my personal favourite, old independent blogs that happened to talk about it. In one of these ventures, I found someone describing their own experience with the anime, watching them fall in love with it almost in real time, and they offered this interesting insight, one that particularly resonated with me during Episode 78 of the TV anime.

The blogger had said something along the lines of "Kudo Shinichi isn't cool because he's an adult. He is cool because he is Kudo Shinichi." Even as Conan, even through all these childish antics, Conan still puts on a serious face and challenges every criminal with his idea of justice- and no matter the crimes committed he wants to ensure that nobody else will die or be harmed. The one time he was forced to watch someone die resonated with him, and seeing a follow up to that 67 episodes later, and seeing Conan make declarations about what it means to be a detective, that is cool. That is the heart of the show for me, and it just never gets old. Kogoro could get knocked out in every episode from where I am, Conan and the crew could be walking right into piles of suspicious dead bodies every session, and I would still love every single moment where Conan drops the act and becomes Kudo Shinichi.

I guess I really do love anime.

[dollkichi]

QUESTIONS QUESTIONS AND ANGEL IS HERE FOR ANSWERS!! 💕 Alsoo how could you tell Kokichi was my favorite how did you knooww/silly in all honesty he was my first DR crush he makes me wanna fucking punt him!!!! (romantically) also also, yeah!!! I do YouTube for funises and I have videos on these 4!!! (Hayase has only gotten one because that one drained the life force out of me the pain of being a gachatuber is real....)

Angel originally wanted Roselyn to be the Ultimate Actress cause it fit her past a little more to me (Acting her way through life. Acting so she didn't get targeted next because her family has this wonderful little habit of absolutely slaughtering each other apparently- also Acting so she didn't get hurt for showing anything more than at least blank discontent, Acting to protect herself and her emotions from being flushed out so she wouldn't get eaten alive. The business world is harsh, after all.) and it helped develop her personality and the fact that she didn't really have one, at least she thought. I mean, in one-shot fics I've written, Kokichi was the only person to ever get under her skin where she shows actual personality, while the others usually saw her sweet and proper fake outside persona before chapter 1. Liars know liars I suppose~

But the Pediatrician talent came when my big bro figure suggested it, since Rose and some of her backstory (at least, her side of the bigger story) was based on Mikan (it still is, the actress talent was just a different way she handled it) and my friend said it suited her, and I guess I can see it? Taking care of kids because she wasn't taken care of. But I'm thinking of sticking with Actress since it made me super proud for my first ever DR OC to finally be fully fleshed out!!!

Sukoshi's Talent... she didn't know how she got it either. She was guessing it's cause she was constantly outcasted for one reason (whoring herself out) or another (having a son and being a single mother), or maybe because she was responsible for her family's death. Though she didn't mean to set their house on fire. They were already dead, why wouldn't they believe her? The second fire was her fault. But she didn't have a choice, she had to, lest she died in a house with residents that wouldn't cry nor care if she died.

Nothing was wrong with her. Sure, she talked to herself, but that's because she didn't have friends at school. She tried to make some, but she was either never acknowledged, and even if she did make any, they'd all distance themselves and leave her anyway. She didn't get it. Nothing was wrong with her, so why did they outcast her like this? Maybe she was crazy. That's why everyone hated her. So, she had her mind to keep her company. At least then she wouldn't feel judged with her friends in her head. They feel real, so it isn't harming anyone, right?...

She also pops up post V3 because she wasn't really supposed to be in any game? She was going to be a sort of OC in my head I fleshed out from a dream, but I decided to make a blog for her and here we are! She's thrown into the loop but she fights and kills for her family<3

Ai's whole thing is being stigmatized and stereotyped because she's a demon. Despite all of that, she was raised by a caring mom and and very sweet papa!!! She also made it out of her stepmom's house because Kaede was there she'd probably died otherwise- She wasn't broken down because her mom always taught her to see the best in people, so she tries that motto, sometimes, it gets her hurt, other times.. it actually works. So, she keeps trying no matter now bad it hurts her to do it. </3 Demons, and specifically Succubi aren't and were never treated well, usually either killed to cleanse the world of them, sometimes just ridiculed and judged, and in Ai's case, Used as sexual relief, whether they want it or not, only to either be cast aside or killed to keep their mouths shut. Most humans even HATE Succubi with a passion they'll become priests or demon hunters just to get rid of them, and other times a few judgemental glances, derogatory terms sometimes and whispering is enough to show how much people hate them.

Fun fact!!! All of the Kokichi ships other than Rose wasn't planned to happen at least mostly on my end I just went along and ended up loving them <33

Aaah I ended up rambling-- (｡Ŏ ᗜ Ŏ ̆ ｡) Sorry about that I'm very normal about my DR OCs (III╥_╥⁠)

– 🩷🎮

I AM SO SORRY FOR THE LATE REPLY. I’VE JUST BEEN SO BUSY AND TIRED.

YIPPEE!! THANK YOU FOR THE ANSWERS!!! Also don't worry about rambling, I love reading your asks! They're always such a delight 2 get :3

Oh my god, I used to love watching gachatubers as a kid. I never understood how to use the apps very well myself though. I have a couple friends who still use them and it amazes me what they can do with it!!

CRYING OVER THE REASONS GIVEN FOR BOTH OF ROSELYN’S TALENTS. SOBBING. ESPECIALLY “taking care of kids because she wasn’t taken care of” OH MY GOD THAT’S SO SAD. I’m sure whatever talent you give her will suit her, congrats on fully fleshing her out!! Always fun to finally figure out what you wanna do with your OC

Omg. Poor Sukoshi, the people around her failed her :((

Would totes be her friend. I am hoping she is much happier now post game!! That’s really cool that she came to you in a dream. If she wasn’t supposed to be in any game though, how does she get her talent? Don’t you need to attend the school to be given your ultimate title?

Oh yikes, doesn’t sound like it’s very safe for demons & succubi in your canon. I’m happy for her in the sense that what she went through didn’t break her down and she was able to continue going!! I love characters like that RAHHHH!!! What is Ai and Kaede’s relationship like? Are they close with eachother?

Sometimes unplanned ships are the best!! It’s fun when something isn’t planned between two characters and they end up just having the best chemistry :3

[yr-obedt-cicero]

I think it's incredibly depressing that Alexander always wanted his family to be close and together, and dreamed of the Grange being this house that all the family would live in and grandkids would come to visit, but just after his death and all the effects it caused the family seems to have split apart and just hated each other

This took me a bit to getting around to answer because I had to think it over a lot, but honestly, they really weren't?

Don't get me wrong, they weren't perfectly accommodating for each other, and they definitely had their fights and sqaubbles. But a particularly important detail being that; usually, the strain or disagreements were between siblings, which is rather normal. I know when often scrolling through my blog you'll find me more than not talking about their fueds, but that is really because I find it moreso entertaining. There are plenty of affectionate letters between many of them, and they seemed to have been a tight knit family.

They all seemed to have regularly kept in contact, and although finding their correspondence is difficult, in some letters at the Library Of Congress you can see mentions of one sibling talking to another. So, while we don't have these exact letters today, that doesn't mean they didn't exist. The grandchildren speak affectionately of seeing their grandparents, like James's house, Nevis, was a particular favorite for when they were hosting parties or family gatherings. And John and James often worked together when getting Hamilton's papers all back, or trying to propose statues and other memorials for their dad's memory.

Of course though, there is Alex Jr's story, and how he seemed to have been eager to run off and start his career; completely ignorant to his mother's depressed state after losing her eldest son, husband, and her daughter becoming mentally impaired. Which left a lot of the “eldest son” responsibilities dumped onto James when he was quite young. And he just overall seemed arrogant and inconsiderate, like snatching off with his dad's letters without permission while the brothers were trying to settle Holly's will. But I've already done plenty of analysing and theories on Alex and his characteristics that you can find here too. Which I would consider to be the only note-worthy fight, as I have talked about John's and William's slight distance but that isn't really severe by any means or even important. And honestly, the major reason the brothers even fought was because of politics. As they were Hamiltons, and what do you expect other than political egotists? Even then, James was still checking in on Alex, asking Phil II about their letters between each other.

Elizabeth and Holly truly seemed to have been the glue holding that family together, in all honesty. There are many records of them visiting the various boys, even traveling way out West to see William. And Holly kept in contact with all of her siblings, even after her mother's death. Who, by the way, I think did a fine job raising all the kids on her own after Hamilton's death. Sure, she didn't take the best route of just remarrying and financially stabilizing her children or their futures, additionally giving them a father figure to help guide them. But she did her best to overview their education, kept them housed, and they all remembered her fondly and affectionately.

The only thing I think even gets close to constituting as dysfunctional, is the biography drama. Which I will admit, clearly caused the worst strain between Elizabeth and John, which is where they start to edge out of simple sibling rivalry. I think that is where Elizabeth mistakenly treated John as a paid biographer, rather than her son who had agreed to do such out of familia obligation. But he also had his own bad traits, and his family kinda saw him as lazy. But I'll delve deeper into that later.

And if anything, we have no idea what their lives would have truly been like if Hamilton had lived. In fact, things could have been much worse. Surely some things would have played out better, but there is no doubt that Hamilton would have immensely disagreed with most of his sons about their politics, and with them all being egotistical politicians; you can imagine the discourse. So if you think Alex's and James's fued was bad...

If anything, I think their attempt to all stick together despite their differences shows that they were trying to keep Hamilton's ideal of a close family alive. Especially Elizabeth who tried very hard for such.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

Howdy! Same person who stayed anonymous so I wouldn't get harassed by fans here, and I have another thing to say.

People think that media like this may not have an outside influence on the world, but in reality it does. It may seem stupid, but the media portraying relationships like these as normal caused me to stay in an abusive relationship for two years. I apologize if it's oversharing, but I used to watch shows like this all the time when I was younger (Not sharing my age because then people will try to claim I have no idea what I'm talking about.) and this, paired with other personal events in my life, made me think that relationships like these were normal and healthy. Luckily, I now realize they aren't.

The glorification of bad characters who have little-to-no redeemable qualities or ways to justify what they did just because they're "hot" or "sexy" needs to stop. It causes people to glorify abuse and abusers. I used to be a major SPOP fan and, shamefully, a Catra simp, so I could keep going on about a LOT of stuff this show does, but I won't.

I, once again, apologize for oversharing and for how long this post is. Thank you for addressing all this in the show despite the criticism you're getting.

you don't need to apologize! i'm so sorry you had to go through that and i hope you're out of that relationship now. this is exactly what i've been saying. i can understand why some people may want to believe that c//a is a good ship, especially considering that this is one of the very few queer representation we have. it especially concerns me that kids watching this may take this as good representation, i've already seen posts saying stuff like "i want what they have" or "i want someone to look at me the way catra looks at adora".

the only reason i spotted the toxicity in the show early on is because i was also in a close (platonic) relationship with a person who was very much like catra, and i was in the process of figuring out that this isn't normal. i tried to get myself to root for catra, but i just couldn't. and it confused me that the fandom didn't see the problem with this show and instead acted like it was the biggest masterpiece to ever exist.

relationships in the media are rarely realistic, especially the enemies-to-lovers trope. it may look exciting in a story but it very rarely works out irl. more often that not, when it does work it, it ends up being an abusive relationship like c//a. but there are healthy fictional relationships that you can look up to, and those ships don't get the attention that these toxic ones do, because they are labelled as "vanilla" and "boring".

the point of this blog isn't to start unnecessary beef with the fandom or demonize the show. it is to help people understand the red flags in catra's and adora's relationship. when consuming a piece of media, it is always wise to be open-minded and critical, because even the best of the best can have flaws. it's the same as reading the classics while also acknowledging that they were a product of their time, and most likely had some problematic ideals embedded into them.

i think it's still okay to like catra as a character. i like a lot of villains myself, because they are complex or sympathetic or just plain fun to watch. but you need to still acknowledge that these are objectively bad people, regardless of their motives. i've seen a few catra fans who admit that catra's redemption was rushed and that they didn't like c//a either. i respect these types of fans a lot, because they are able to like a character without being blind to said character's flawed treatment.

anyway, if any of you want to see actually healthy relationships and good queer representation in media, i suggest shows such as The Owl House, The Legend of Korra, Infinity Train, The Dragon Prince, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, Steven Universe and Arcane. please don't settle for the toxic relationships. not only are they not good representation, but they are actively harmful for the community. it's time we stopped romanticizing abusive relationships just because they are angsty and have "sexual tension".

[curseofbreadbear]

hey howdy hey! i figured it's high time i discussed gregory's emotional state throughout sb and why he isn't, y'know, freaking out as much as he should be in-game. i have a lot of thoughts on this and i've already discussed them a bit with @securitybreachdd but i wanted to ramble about them more in-depth here!

Okay, so something I reference to myself a lot is the fact that some of Gregory's voice lines were cut from the game, lines that included him crying or reacting to injuries (i.e. the cut he got in the vents that made Freddy rush him to a first-aid station). I think that taking these lines out was a very deliberate move, and although I KNOW the twist the book is going to give us, I'd like to tackle this from a different angle (the one that inspires how I write my Gregory).

I think Gregory is a kid who has been forced to be brave and shut his own emotions down for a very, very long time; the only signs we get that he is actually frantic throughout the night are those rare instances where he lashes out at Freddy ("All they've done all night is try to get me! They get what they deserve.") or when his breathing becomes panicked in one of his hiding spots. As somebody who lingered in those spots a LOT the first time I played, that aspect actually messed me up more than the crying might have -- that feels more raw. I don't know how else to describe it.

Now, anyone who's read through my blog will know that my Gregory has cried before -- but I try to write it in a very specific way. Gregory will only cry in moments of perceived comfort, and only with those he completely trusts (i.e. Glamrock Freddy & Gabriel, his twin). Otherwise, it will not happen -- not when he's being chased, not when he has a moment to hide, not when he's alone. If he cries, and he lets his fear get the better of him, then he will not survive.

As I said earlier, I believe that the cut audio is intentional; they could have made Gregory an emotional kid who is going through a traumatic, stressful situation, and reacting to it accordingly, but they didn't. Instead, they chose to make Gregory power through it, and even showcased him getting "revenge" on the robots who tried to hurt him. It always felt like it connected to me, like Gregory was getting back at something more, and like his emotional "maturity" throughout the night could be thoroughly explained if you read between the lines.

I mean, when you choose to have Gregory leave, you find out that he's HOMELESS. That could mean a number of things; he could be a runaway, his parents are dead, etc.. No matter what, though, you can deduce that his familial situation isn't GREAT. Gregory might have been taking care of himself for some time now, which would be a big contributing factor to his emotional state throughout the night (forcing himself to be tough, doing almost everything on his own, etc.).

So, yeah. I think the reason Gregory's lack of panic, aside from scattered moments (i.e. security offices, hiding spots, etc.), really gets to me is because I can relate -- which is why I'm gradually getting more and more pissy about the "plot twist" the book is gonna throw our way, but whatever. Anyway- I think my point is that Gregory (based on SB alone) is a realistic portrayal of a kid, because I was literally LIKE THAT. I still kind of am. Bottling up all of your anxiety and tears can be devastating to you, but you really don't realize it -- you think it makes you tough, and others kind of perceive you that way, which really doesn't help. I'm sure Gregory's the same way, so that's how I try to write him.

TL;DR: Gregory is a kid with a bad home life, so he's probably had to take care of himself for a while now. A lot of kids develop a state of emotional """maturity""" after that sort of hardship, and Gregory's mostly involves bottling up his emotions, including the panic and stress he feels throughout SB.

[southernbrainspiders]

Seven Years Later

Hey, y'all. So here's a final post for anyone who's still following this blog -- I expect that, over the past seven years, nearly everyone who used to follow it has left, but there might be a few still around, so I just wanted to put this here.

If you're trying to remember who this is, I used to blog about my experiences working the graveyard shift at a gas station in Mississippi. I was an angry 20-something misanthrope who had left my grad-school program due to various conflicts and was working at a gas station while I tried to figure out what to do next. I had a lot of complaints about the customers (because, you know, it was retail, and customers really are pretty terrible even when you're not bitter and misanthropic already). The blog kind of trailed off when I got a secondary-school teaching certification and landed a job teaching 11th/12th-grade English at a school in the next county over -- because, of course, it just wouldn't be right to talk about my students in a public forum.

Anyway, I’m kind of back, just not on this blog, so I thought I’d give anyone still around an update on the last seven years of my life and where you can find me now. Oh, and this probably goes without saying, but I will deny all knowledge of this blog. I look back on my younger self and cringe, as I think we all do, and would prefer to leave that here -- I've matured, I like to think, and all that angry misanthropy is much more contained now, rather than just flailing around undirected.

So I wasn't at the high school long before I left that too. The turnaround was actually extremely quick -- by October, I was filling out applications to return to grad school. There were a few reasons for this, which I'll enumerate, but it all really boils down to the fact that I wasn't a cultural fit. (This was originally basically an essay in itself, but I'm trimming it down to a bulleted list.)

This was a school that did not believe in education except as it pertained to test scores. My job was 50% babysitter, 40% prison guard, and 10% ACT Prep. There was a weird current of anti-intellectualism among the faculty, and that carried over to the students.

The prison guard thing isn't as much of an exaggeration as I would like -- my morning duty was helping keep the students kettled in the auditorium until the first bell rang, because the administration didn't trust them to be out in the halls. I had to accompany my class to the cafeteria to make sure they sat in their assigned seats and didn't make too much noise.

On a related note, several members of the faculty frequently bemoaned the fact that corporal punishment had been recently banned from the school system. (Our student rosters still had a column on them indicating which parents had given permission for the school to hit their kids.) They pretty casually talked about the fact that the parents still did that part at home, though, describing things that, where I grew up, would have been called child abuse.

One of my duties was to teach students to write for basically the first time ever -- a writing section had been added to one of the tests, so it had to be incorporated into the curriculum now. Because, of course, since it hadn't been on the tests before, the school had been just not teaching writing at all. Students were very against the concept of writing assignments.

This was a very conservative and very religious area. I'm neither of those things. A standard "getting to know you" question was "what church do you go to?" Faculty meetings started with a prayer session. I didn't try to hide my lack of religion, and even tried to use it as a teaching moment when students asked about it, breaking down the word "agnosticism" to its roots and affixes. A number of students decided I needed to be Saved and started trying to witness to me or whatever you call it.

Between the backlash to the writing assignments (seriously, the students hated those to a degree that shocked me) and my general status as a cultural outsider, a number of the students developed a severe dislike of me. And it was a small town, so they quickly found out where I lived. Within the first month, my home was egged thrice and my tires slashed once. This was when I started filling out grad-school applications.

It was an intensely stressful experience, is what I'm saying. I should have picked up on the red flag when I noticed I was one of... I think half a dozen? new teachers that year. (There were at least four, but I can't quite remember the number.) It was a small school; the turnover rate was just insane. Most of the others left before the year even ended -- in fact, one of my students told me that I was the first high school English teacher they'd had that lasted the whole year. The new math teacher just packed up her classroom and left one day, no notice or anything. The only new hire that stayed for the next year was actually an alumnus of the high school in question and thus was already part of the community & didn't have much adapting to do.

I stayed for the whole year because I needed the money; if I'd had a spouse's income to fall back on like most of the other new teachers did, I probably would have left mid-year too. It was hellish and I was basically in a constant state of mental breakdown. I'm not ashamed to admit I cried in school multiple times -- never in front of the students, thankfully, but once in front of the principal. I decided that even if I didn't get into another graduate program, I had to leave this place because it was turning me into a person I didn't like -- I was starting to yell at students for acting up, which is just intolerable.

Luckily, I did get accepted into a couple programs. One of them offered funding and a TA position, so I took it without a second thought even though it meant starting over as an MA student. (So now I have two Master's degrees, one in English Literature and one in English Language, which is extremely redundant.) I moved across the country to Indiana.

Turns out I'm actually a pretty good teacher at the college level. When I can focus on education rather than babysitting, I can genuinely thrive. Most of my students still weren't that interested in learning English -- I was teaching a freshman-year writing class -- because it's a STEM-focused university and the humanities are barely tolerated, but just the fact that they actually want to be at the school and have some motivation to learn makes all the difference. I got multiple awards from the department based on student evaluations.

My TA position expired at the end of last year, because I was supposed to finish my PhD and graduate, but my dissertation is still in progress. (My mental health is still pretty shaky, but that's just the baseline of who I am as a person, not the result of the environment I'm in this time... it leads to me not being as productive as I probably should be.) I was able to get a position working for the university library instead, though, so that's where I am now.

As a side project, I do a podcast, The Maniculum, where a friend and I read, discuss, and joke about medieval literature, then try to adapt it to TTRPG games. We have a small audience of a few hundred, but I think it's going quite well. I've been managing our Twitter presence, and as Twitter started looking like it might go down, I saw a lot of jokes about people fleeing back to Tumblr. This struck a chord of nostalgia within me, and yesterday I went & made us a Tumblr account. I haven't posted anything there yet -- I'm planning to do an introduction post later today -- but if anyone reading this wants to go follow it and see what happens, it's @maniculum.

And, for anyone who does go there to check it out, remember: if you knew me as Southern Brain Spiders, no you didn't.

[allseeinganalyst]

Quick Thoughts - Mob Psycho 100

This wasn't how I really intended to start this blog, it's not something I planned or even something I was really that desperate to do, but as this blog was created for me to post my analysis and thoughts on the things I watch or read or... consume, and my partner and I just so happened to have finished Mob Psycho 100 - I figured I'd post my thoughts.

This isn't a full analysis. For one I didn't take any notes (something I'm going to make an active habit of doing when I do start my proper analyzing of things - I'm tired of forgetting my points - and I also never really intended to pick apart the series. These are just my thoughts. That being said - I'll go ahead and share them now:

(Image from IMBD.Com https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5897304/)

Why'd I watch it:

I started watching Mob Psycho 100 because my partner wanted to watch it. It's not a series I'd have picked out for myself. I've been semi-aware of it since the days where One Punch Man was the big thing on the anime block, and vaguely knew a similarly-toned thing by the same creator (at this point I had no idea it was a webcomic) existed, but it wasn't grabbing my interest. No particular reason, it simply didn't grab me.

If we fast forward toward the later part of 2022, my partner's other partner got access to the Funimation streaming service and shared it with us. This provided us a chance we hadn't had in a while - the ability to watch fresh anime on demand.

I won't go into the story of why or how or when, but for a few years, our consumption of fresh anime content had been shrinking. We were mostly re-watching older shows, occasionally dipping our toes into something new-ish if we could get it on blu-ray or DVD. Sometimes we'd watch a Netflix series like Aggretsuko but our viewing habits had really dried up. There's lots of reasons why - none of them were that we didn't like anime anymore, and none of them are worth going into. To be honest, I've spent too long on this part already. Let's just skip to the part where I say that my partner asked me if I'd like to watch Mob Psycho with her.

(And yes - if you've kept a track of the dates and you're thinking:

"Hmmm, wait a minute... later 2022, a new interest in Mob Psycho... THAT MUST MEAN--"

The timing wasn't coincidental, but I don't think that was the only reason my partner wanted to watch the show. Even if it was, who cares? People should watch things because they want to watch them for whatever reason!)

Anyway - The series is described as being an "Action Comedy Supernatural" series by Wikipedia, and is also what I like to call "Shounen-Ajacent" - It might not strictly be a shounen anime, but it's sitting close enough to the crowd that fans of one will likely have some degree of interest with the other. My partner is a shounen fan, and so, with the series being up her ally, she wanted me to come along and experience it with her.

I will admit, I was my usual grouchy self about it to start with - Anyone who knows me will tell you, and I must admit, that trying to get me to try something new I haven't picked out myself is like pulling teeth. It's a habit I'm trying to break.

Now that we've discussed why I watched it, we can talk about what I thought.

(Image from Rotten Tomatoes - https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/mob_psycho_100_2016)

STORY:

I've seen Mob Psycho called a deconstruction of the typical "super powered school kid" anime, and I think that's an excellent way of putting it. I won't dwell too much on this, because - again, I didn't prepare myself for a full analysis of the show - but it's worth noting that this goofy, funny, and for the most part, pretty upbeat series is a "deconstruction". The word tends to get thrown around as a substitute for "edgy and violent" in a lot of circles, so it's good to remember that, no - "deconstruction" just means taking apart a typical premise and examining it in other ways.

With that being said - Mob Psycho has a solidly founded story , which is focused on the personal journeys of it's characters. Although there are antagonistic forces, and the plot does deal with them in impressively paced arcs, there's no real "quest" that runs through the show. The heroes are not on a journey to bring down an evil empire (although that does, more or less, wind up happening). Indeed, oftentimes the series feels like a slice-of-life style show, with the twist that the character(s) we're following happen to have some pretty atypical lives. There's episodes about typical school issues, like graduation or finding the kind of club activity that suits you mixed in with some monster-of-the-week style plots and Reigan shenanigans.

Neatly slotted in between these "daily lives of middle school psychic boys" style episodes are a few arcs, consisting of batches of episodes where the tone shifts - most often to be somewhat more in-line with a typical shounen style anime - and this is where the big fights and visually stunning action sequences fit in. There's a lot of hype around these, and it's very well justified. The loose style of the animation looks incredible in such fluid motion, and - although the style of fighting isn't any different from most "battle manga" style series with lots of explosions, energy auras, mixed in with some "special techniques" that ultimately boil down to "energy attack" or "super powered punch" - it doesn't feel repetitive because the characters react and engage with the fight in less conventional ways; oftentimes being well aware of the expected outcome and defying or subverting it. Since our main character is already the strongest psychic around, a lot of the fun comes from watching him be bombarded by a DBZ Style villain, complete with named techniques and appropriate ranting, only for him to shrug off the attack and counter with a blank expression and minimal effort.

This approach will likely not be a surprise to you if you have seen any of One Punch Man. It's obvious the author (who I believe goes by "One") likes this kind of subversion. It's carried out well, and manages to keep most action oriented scenes entertaining. There are a few more standard fights - characters going back and forth, making actual efforts - sprinkled in here and there for characters that aren't Mob as well.

While the action and big fights are well done, they're solidly not the focus of the story, and probably my favorite thing about the series overall though is how consistent it remains throughout. See, it's not uncommon in series, especially those with multiple seasons, to change as they go on, and in the process, "lose" a small part of their early identity. Stories are supposed to progress, of course, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about how, for many different reasons, the series is markedly different at the start compared to the end. Things like Early Installment Weirdness or a shift in the setting. Maybe it's injecting more fight scenes, or maybe it's a setting that just vanishes from the plot, or maybe the characters act a little different (and not in the "proper character development" kind of way, I mean in the "the writers decided they wished they'd made things this way from the start" kind of way)

Mob Psycho doesn't do that. The story is solidly the same story - essentially a wacky "growing up" adventure - all the way through. While the status quo does change, it does so very naturally, and as a result of the characters actions. It's very careful to balance it's tone, so the action doesn't overshadow the comedy and the comedy doesn't overshadow the drama. It's all very well used, following eye-catchingly gorgeous fights up with breather episodes, and mixing in closer examination of characters gradually as it goes.

Honestly, I think it would have been very easy for the anime to tip in the direction of more standard shounen fare. As it got more popular, I wouldn't have been surprised if things boiled down to the standard "series of wacky episodes at the start -> transition into a super dramatic fight arc -> goofy resolution as credits role -> escalate the threat next season" formula many anime wind up taking. This approach surely would have stagnated its characters into their well defined roles, and inadvertently prevented any meaningful growth, but it doesn't do that. Although there's a fair bit of "serial escalation" from the first to the second season, especially in terms of antagonists, the third season dials it back to focus on the individual characters, introducing new conflicts not through a bigger bad, but by capitalizing on previously established personal arcs and goals.

At this point, any further story discussion is going to be about the characters anyway, so I might as well dive into that section.

(Image: https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/entertainment/1420433-mob-psycho-100-season-3-what-other-characters-can-return-apart-from-mob)

CHARACTERS:

There's definitely more to say about the story, but this is already longer than I planned it to be (good lord, if this is a quick take, what the hell is it going to look like when i do a full analysis?), I'll say that for the most part, baring a few hiccups here and there, the story is a solid one. A story is nothing without it's characters anyway, so I'm going to talk about them next.

This show has a lot of characters. Like a lot. While it's roster isn't as extensive as some of the longer running Shounen like Bleach or One Piece, it's still got quite a big cast, all the more notable because the show does go out of its way to check in on many of them, even after they've finished up their roles in the plot.

I'm not going to break them down one by one - again, this analysis has gone on for way too long already, and I'I'm not going to break them down one by one - again, this analysis has gone on for way too long already, and I probably wouldn't do a full character breakdown even if I was. There's simply too many of them.

I will say I think Mob/Shigeo is a great lead - Unlike a lot of anime characters, who despite being in school, will act and be treated more-or-less as though they were adults - he very much acts his age, regardless of his almost infinite powers. The recurrent theme of the series - that what makes you special doesn't make you better than others, nor does it necessarily make your life easier - is nicely encapsulated within Mob. All the telekinesis in the world won't help him overcome his natural social anxiety, won't help him talk to the girl he likes, and won't help him become "popular". (Although, he winds up being pretty popular anyway without realizing).

This is balanced well by Reigan - A character who's almost Mob's exact opposite in terms of character traits. He's a fully grown adult, who's close to 30 (a rarity in anime), he's naturally confident and charismatic, and he more-or-less can achieve just about everything Mob wants to, but can't - but he lacks not only any kind of supernatural power, but any kind of real "talent". He's not a genius, or a super athlete, or wise beyond what you'd expect of someone of his age. Beyond being a good con-artist, he's supremely "normal"

Better analysts than me have gone into deeper details about how these two characters play off each other well, learning and growing from each other, becoming better people because of the other, but also are not reliant on each other. The two characters are walking individual paths that happen to be side by side. It's entirely possible to split them up and continue to have them develop - and the show does in fact do this for a time, providing some really interesting insight, especially to Reigan.

As I mentioned, there are a lot of other characters, most of whom feel like a very lighthearted takes on common tropes or characters. There's Ritsu, Mob's brother and the shows version of the "super talented student council guy". Dimple, the show's frequent comic relief/semi-sorta-reformed-but-not-really evil spirit (who has an incredible arc come right out of nowhere in the third season). Teruki, who in any other anime would be a Vegeta/Sasuke/Kaiba style rival, but this series quickly turns into a kind of friendly foil for both Mob and Ritsu. Tome, who I'm pretty sure is a gentle parody of Haruhi Suzumiya with her interest in telepathy and aliens and her slack-off club members. Serizawa, the ex-villain who becomes another apprentice to Reigan and parallels Mob in many ways. The Body Improvement Club members, the most wholesome bodybuilders you ever met. The evil organization Claw, it's evil leader, his rebellious son, it's elite Quirky Miniboss Squad, it's 7th Division and their Quirky Miniboss Squad. The other Psychic KIds, who're really a bunch of useless wimps, but none-the-less try as hard as they can. The list goes on and on. Like I said. There are a lot.

Which is where I probably have to confess that - AND THIS IS SIMPLY ME PERSONALLY (for the love of the gods, please don't tear out my throat) - I didn't really have a favorite, or get overly attached to any of these characters. None of them are bad, per se, they're all doubtless fun to watch, but none of them really grab me in such a way that I'd miss them if the show wrote them out.

This is where my experience of the series differs from a lot of others, in that I don't feel super strongly about how amazing these characters are. Mob and Reigan are fantastic, but neither of them inspires the typical fan response of "HE MUST BE PROTECTED" (for Mob) or "OMG MARRY ME BABYGIRL!" (for Reigan) in me. It's really a "me" thing, I certainly see why people do find these characters very compelling, especially as I imagine a lot of people really can relate to that awkwardness that Mob endures. It might just be that, even though my own school experience had a few similarities, I don't feel quite so invested in the life of someone like Mob. Again, he's not a bad character, he's written very well, I personally just don't connect with him, or feel especially compelled by his story.

I do relate to Reigan a bit though. As a nearly 30 year old guy, who often feels like he's somehow gotten himself over his head despite appearing somewhat successful, there were a couple of times I found myself thinking "same dude, same." He's probably my favorite character overall. It helps that he's hilarious and steals every scene he's in.

(Image: https://butwhytho.net/2022/10/mob-psycho-100-iii-episode-2-review/)

OVERALL:

Like I said at the start, I probably wouldn't have picked this series to watch on my own. It's one of those ones where, if my Partner hadn't asked, I'd have never watched a single episode. That being said, I'm absolutely glad I did watch it. Not only did it allow me to experience all the great points I mentioned above, but I'm positive in years to come, this series will be regarded as one of the greats, getting referenced and parodied in many works to come. It's always good to be aware of the stuff that becomes ingrained into the collective pop-culture memory, because it'll enhance your experience.

I want to rate the series a:

7/10

Overall, with my own personal enjoyment being closer to a:

6.5/10

Just because I didn't as invested in it as others. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it though!

As I said, in years to come, I'm quite positive that Mob Psycho 100 will absolutely be regarded as one of those "cultural touchstones" of the anime community, which means it's worth checking out for that fact alone. Should I revisit the series, I'd be interested to see if I was more invested in the characters the second time around. We'll have to wait and see.

WOW! This really got away from me! I wanted to post my thoughts, but as I wrote, I just couldn't stop! I'm going to be watching an old favorite of mine soon and hope to do a proper analysis. Break down the series and what I think of it, and see if I still love it.

Hopefully these'll be a bit shorter in the future - I think the long stuff should be reserved for my actual analyzing.

Anyway!

That's that!