#well this got away from me whoops XD

[apollosgiftofprophecy]

I saw a couple of posts here and on ao3 where you talked about how TOA Apollo has a stilted view of romantic relationships. Would you be comfortable explaining that, it got me really interested!

OKAY

SO

gonna be putting this under a cut for length

Apollo and relationships. Specifically, ToA Apollo and relationships.

let's see if I can formulate the thoughts into words.

Right off the bat, Apollo does have a hard time avoiding those red flags (hello, Commodus), so much so that he can see them...he just ignores them.

This already tells us that he doesn't have the healthiest view on relationships, or what specifically a healthy partner would be like.

In RRverse canon, these are all of his confirmed, canon relationships/love interests;

Hyacinthus

Commodus

Naomi

Darren

Latricia

Cyrene

Daphne

Sibyl

(I probably missed some asdfhjk)

Anyway, I've noticed that in canon, Apollo's relationships tend to fall into two categories; Sweet or Sour, we'll call them.

Now the majority on the list are Sweet! They are fulfilling relationships with no indication of any bitter feelings- Apollo is not shy about telling us about his love life, and certainly doesn't keep it from us when a relationship went south.

What I find interesting is that all three of the Sours can help pinpoint Apollo's more jaded/stilted view on romance.

Let's kick off with Daphne.

First things first, Apollo is quite literally forced to fall in love with her. Like. That has GOT to screw with a guy. What's more, is that when Apollo explains to us how Eros's arrows work;

What people do not understand: Eros’s arrows can’t summon emotion from nothing. They can only cultivate potential that is already there. Daphne and I could have been a perfect pair. She was my true love. She could have loved me back. Yet thanks to Eros, my love-o-meter was cranked to one hundred percent, while Daphne’s feelings turned to pure hate (which is, of course, only the flip side of love). Nothing is more tragic than loving someone to the depths of your soul and knowing they cannot and will not ever love you back. The stories say I chased her on a whim, that she was just another pretty dress. The stories are wrong. - The Hidden Oracle

There's an implication that he and Daphne may have actually been...friends. Or at the very least acquaintances.

It's never stated in canon when Daphne happened, and the mythology itself is weird about the timeline, but it certainly happened earlier in Apollo's life.

Imagine being forced to fall madly in love with someone you know and they are made to despise you.

The self-confidence definitely took a blow here.

What's more...

When she begged Gaea to turn her into a laurel tree in order to escape me, part of my heart hardened into bark as well.

Apollo tells us plainly that what happened with Daphne shook his views on romantic endeavors. Though, it didn't keep him from engaging in romance, either.

Now, back to Commodus real quick. We already covered the No Red Flag Bell with him, and honestly, I won't spend too much time here because I got a whole meta list waiting to dissect these two XD

But Sibyl reveals something else about Apollo and romance- sometimes, he sees it as transactional.

The story of Apollo and Sibyl does differ from the mythology of them- in mythology, Sibyl tricks Apollo into granting her a long life, and he kinda just shrugs and says 'okay, but you didn't ask for eternal youth either so...whoops?'

In ToA, Rick switches it up a bit by having Apollo grant Sibyl a long life after she jokes about it, and when she further rebuffs him, he curses her with no eternal youth.

Alas, I knew what I’d been thinking—that she was a pretty young woman I wanted to get with, despite the fact that she was my Sibyl. Then she’d outsmarted me, and being the bad loser that I was, I had cursed her. - The Tyrant's Tomb

I promised you life, not youth. You can have your centuries of existence. You will remain my Sibyl. I cannot take those things away, once given. But you will grow old. You will wither. You will not be able to die.

Yeah, it sounds like Apollo more or less curses her with no eternal youth here.

(Daily disclaimer that mythology Apollo's love life is actually very good and you should read up on it :3)

Back to the transactional thing-

"You cannot refuse payment." “Payment?” She balled her hands into fists. “You dare think of me as a transaction?” “I didn’t mean—Obviously, I wasn’t—”

Now, do I think Apollo sees all relationships as transactional? No. But let's consider the Olympian influence for a moment here.

Olympus in the RRverse is rather fucked, no doubt about it. The gods do not help without first being given something, and that permeates through their whole lifestyles.

Apollo's not being transactional because ✨misogyny✨. He's being transactional because that's what he's been raised to believe. If he gives something, he gets something back. That goes for all the gods, male and female and everything in between.

Bacchus helps the demigods in Mark of Athena because they paid tribute to him. Whenever a god extends aid, burnt offerings are made in thanks- which is probably part of the reason why Hera got angry with Annabeth when she refused to give her burnt offerings in The Battle of the Labyrinth after she helped her on her quest.

Apollo doesn't seem to be as picky as some (ie, The Titan's Curse, where he helps out to help out. You can argue he got his sister back in exchange but that's not really typical godly exchange lol), but it's clear that mindset has somewhat transferred over into relationships.

Now, I also want to talk about how Hyacinthus affected him- because let's be real, he was the one that affected him the most without outside interference (looking at you, Eros).

Apollo has told us time and again that Hyacinthus was one of, if not his greatest, love. His death really left a mark on him, and I am of the firm belief that it's that mark that made him wary of forming too close of a relationship with others- even when he tries to convince them and himself they are his One True Love™️, it falls flat inside his own head.

Because let's face it- that spot is occupied by Hyacinthus, and the hole he left in Apollo's heart.

This isn't to say Apollo loves his other lovers less- heck no! Love is one of his defining qualities. He has much love in him!

It's just that Hyacinthus had a particular impact on him, and how he views relationships.

*vibrates in Hyapollo multific* I have...my own personal ideas...on what that entails...

And we see how touch-and-go Apollo is with other lovers! As soon as Commodus becomes emperor, he's gone. And only comes back in disguise, never revealing himself until he kills him.

Naomi, Darren, and Latricia are all obviously loving relationships from what we can gather, but it's clear it was never long-term.

Cyrene, really, is where I'd argue he got the closest to a long-term relationship with a mortal-ish person, but even so, they aren't in a permanent long-term relationship either.

Hyacinthus, however? I can see he and Apollo maintaining an everlasting romance.

...Also because that is exactly what happens according to the Spartans and who are we to deny what the Spartans declared about their national hero?

The only other exceptions to this I can see are his relationships with the Muses and (hello, fellow Apricity shippers) Boreas.

But even so...the Muses give off like, 'married co-workers' vibes, if that makes sense, and Boreas is more or less a winter fling (fandom forgive me, you know I am a shipper🫡)

Anyway. Hope this rambling makes sense or at least provides a platform for someone to put coherent thoughts together lmao

In conclusion: sometimes Apollo is transactional in relationships because of the culture he was raised in, and he has commit issues because of just how hard Hyacinthus's death hit him :)

have fun pondering :3

[hyunsvngs]

This is literally a whole essay y'all, I'm not sorry xD

My last Channie ask was such a simp daddy Channie ask but what about good boy Channie who just want his lovers strap-on??

He's been fidgeting all day with your strap-on on his mind. He knew you had it tucked away in your closet somewhere cuz you're pan and your previous partner (ended on good terms and are friends still) also had a vagina but who would throw away a perfectly good strap after that?

Exactly

No one would

You were hanging out with your ex and Channie in the kitchen when you asked him to go find your old baby-photo album buried in your closet so you can show your ex some funny baby pics you had. So he went to your shared room and went to the closet. he thought it was in that little black box buried under everything else.

He pulls it out of the closet and his pupils blow up the size of softballs once he sees what's inside. He got this curiosity from all the stories you'd tell him of how fun it was to use the strap with your ex but he'd just shake off the curiosity as something that would just pass because he'd never used one so of course he'd be curious.

Then he quickly hides it away again in your closet perfectly back where he found it so you wouldn't bat an eye. He quickly spots the photo album sitting up top on the shelf, covered in a layer of dust, and he runs it out to you and quickly retreats to the living room to get away from you two.

The day passes by quickly for you but it drug on for years for him.

You two are just cuddling on the couch watching Salt Burn (i haven't watched it yet LMAO whoops) and he abruptly sits up at one of the scenes. You pay no mind to it because you figured he was just getting a boner and was embarrassed for some reason (and let's be real, you're probably soaked by now too) but the movie wasn't exactly the reason why he got a boner.

He keeps subtly looking over at you occasionally, eyes darting everywhere if you catch him (which you can always see him in your peripheral, he just doesn't realize that) so you pause the movie and ask him "baby, what's going on? Are you okay? You wanna stop watching the movie and just get some sleep?" But of course he says he's fine.

15 minutes later and he's rocking back and forth trying to distract himself but he didn't realize it was also distracting you.

"Okay clearly you're not fine, tell me what's going on."

"No, it's nothing. The movie is almost over. Let's ju-"

"Chris."

And my god he looks at you with the biggest puppy dog eyes before dropping his head and saying "I.. I found your strap today.. looking through our closet.. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have looked in the box"

And you just start laughing at him. He's just so cute and embarrassed and he's just your little baby : ( your Channie : (

"Baby it's fine. But why are you so worried about it? You knew I had it, I don't mind."

"It's not that. I know you won't care if I seen it.. I was just thinking.." and he looks up at you, pupil blown out and slightly glossed over "... What if *we* used it..?"

"Baby, I can just use you anyways, you're so much better than some piece of rubber"

He looks down again with his ears turning bright red-

"I didn't mean use it on you.."

Oh.... OHHHH..... oh what a dirty boy.

A crazy smile is spread across your face from one ear to the other and you pick his head up and hold it in your hands

"Of course we can! Why don't you go pick out your favorite dildo of mine while I go grab the strap?" You say as you give him a little kiss on his pouty lips.

In a matter of seconds, his head shoots up and out of your hands and he's completely surprised at your response

"Wait.. what??? You.. you'd wanna do that?? Isn't that a little.. I don't know.. weird??" He says scratching the back of his head

You laugh at him again while shaking your head.

"Baby, I've wanted to peg your pretty ass from day one. Remember how you fucked me on my bed with my standing mirror at the end of the bed? Well I was watching your ass the whole time. Who said I don't wanna turn you into a subby mess while you're desperately fucking yourself on my cock"

And the way his cock twitches in his pants while his eyes roll back in his head 🥴

"Now are you gonna go pick out my cock to use on you or are we gonna finish the movie"

and he RUNS to the room leaving you giggling on the couch.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOD I'm a mess at work over this 🥴

SUBBY CHANNIE IS SOOOO REAL TO ME IM SERIOUS

i have nothing to add HES JUST DELICJOUS

[hrefna-the-raven]

Heart for hire

Fallout masterlist - main masterlist

Summary: It has been some time ago since MacCready and you found each other when you first stepped into the Third Rail. On the same day, after a year, you met again, same spot, same time to cherish in the memory of your first encounter.

Warnings: none I think...

Notes: slightly off canon and I haven't played MacCready's affinity arc yet and no review, this was typed and posted^^ living on the edge despite constant anxiety *whoop whoop* xD

Part 1

Robert spotted you as soon as you walked down the stairs, wearing the exact same blue vault suit you had donned a year prior when you first stumbled into Goodneighbor. A genuine grin unfurled on his face as you casually ambled towards him. The notion that, after all that happened with Lucy, he was fortunate enough to discover love again, still seemed surreal to him. But he knew better than to turn away from the blessing that slept 210 years in a vault only to find him shortly after waking up. Your steps halted in front of the table he was sitting at, humming innocently to yourself as your gaze trailed over his figure. From his seat, MacCready lifted his gaze, his eyes squinting marginally as he mustered all his fortitude to maintain a neutral expression.

"If you're preaching about the Atom, or looking for a friend, you've got the wrong guy. If you need a hired gun… then maybe we can talk."

A soft chuckle echoed within you as he reiterated the same statement he had flung at you one year ago.

"What makes you think I'd be an Atomite? And who knows? Maybe you'd want me to be your friend?"

He snorted softly, the corners of his lips curling into a familiar amused smile from back then. His little vault dweller sauntering through the Third Rail, tossing back her audacious retort with the same bravado.

"I don't make friends", he threw back at you playfully, followed by a flirtatious wink, "I fear we'd get too close and our lips might accidentally touch."

Innocently, you shrugged, drawing a chair beside him and settling down. You evaded his look as if it were a blazing inferno, fearful of being consumed by its flames, incapable of continuing the little teasing game the two of you were playing.

"Oh you know, I was told that accidents tend to happen quite a lot in the Commonwealth."

Grinning devilishly, you reached for his beer, took a hearty gulp before putting it back on the table, finally holding his gaze. His face contorted into a mock surprise, melodramatically placing a hand over his heart.

"The nerve of you!"

You signaled to Whitechapel Charlie for another round and shifted closer to MacCready, inhaling deeply to steady your nerves as you savoured the unique blend of Gwinnett pils and gunpowder that marked his scent.

"You seem a little young to be a hired gun. Tell me your story and the next few drinks are on me."

Charlie's interrupted you, the robot hummed cheerfully as he placed the beverages on the table and disappeared again. Robert exhaled sharply, consuming half of his beer in a single gulp to steady his nerves.

"First you're drinking my beer, and now you want to hear my life story… What's next? My social security number?", he quipped.

You chuckled at his comment, your heart almost melting at the fact that he would remember the little things you told him about the life you lead before the war.

"I'm simply intrigued by this handsome man sitting all alone in a place like this, plus I have no other engagements for tonight, so if you'd be so kind and satisfy a lady's curiosity", you whispered enticingly, your fingers playing around the bottle's neck, moving up and down before taking a drink.

The more your fingers played with the bottle, the more MacCready found himself fixated on them, suppressing an urgent groan that welled up in his throat.

"Handsome man, huh? Well, there's not much to tell… stuck in Little Lamplight, never knew my parents."

He finished off his drink, releasing a contented sigh as the mild buzz from the alcohol gradually spread through his body. A calm evening, no impending disaster in sight, there was no other place in the whole Wastelands he'd prefer over this very spot.

"My, my, what a tragic story", you gently stroked his shoulder, your fingers leisurely tracing a path down his torso, "but the poor handsome merc hasn't told me his name yet. Or is that as mysterious as his past?"

Your hand settled flat against his chest, sensing his heart rate quickening beneath your touch. His lips quivered subtly under your gaze, struggling mightily to suppress the temptation to kiss you.

"That's a mystery for you to figure out", he leaned closer to you and whispered, "but I have that very close friend who calls me Mac."

A soft laugh escaped your lips as you recalled the moment you had chosen that nickname for him when he first revealed his name. It took him some time to get used it, persistently expressing his displeasure at the moniker you had chosen until the day his heart succumbed to your affection. Since then, the once hated nickname became the song your heart sang to his each day, a tender tune he would never tire of. MacCready felt the threat of drowning within the craving sea of his desire for you, the screaming of his longing for you grew deafening, making it impossible for him to continue denying your lips. His arms wrapped around your waist, drawing you from your seat to his welcoming lap, as his lips passionately locked with yours. Only when breath became a necessity did you part, gasping and laughing softly as you affectionately rubbed your nose against his.

"Having met you, having you this close to me has made me happier than I've ever been before", he murmured, his face nestled in the curve of your neck.

A year ago, he lingered alone in the Third Rail, drinking to numb his mind, a desperate attempt to escape the sad truth of a dead wife and a son in the merciless grip of an unknown plague, well aware that the gunners might show up and finally put a bullet through his head to end his despair-ridden existence. But instead a different kind of trouble found him that night, the kind of trouble that would plant its roots in his heart, flourishing and growing into the most beautiful thing he could have never dreamt of. It took him quite some time to finally see the true blessing of you choosing to annoy him that night, stubbornly clinging to his side and dragging him along while fighting for the freedom of the people in the Commonwealth and to free your son from the clutches of the Institute. You were the silver lining on his horizon, the sunshine he had eagerly waited for after enduring numerous calamities in his existence. His thoughts fleetingly flitted back to the silver ring he had spotted in Fallon's basement shop back in Diamond City. Maybe he'd quickly drop by tomorrow, praying that it had not yet been purchased by someone else in the meantime. He had not yet planned on how exactly he'd ask you How he would propose was yet to be determined, but his conviction was unwavering - he desired, no he needed, you to be his wife, being bound together in love. Eventually, he dreamt of a time when your sons both would reunite with you and in good health, finally enabling you both to enjoy the serene family life that both of you longed for.

Feel free to reblog if you enjoyed the story :)

[elithilanor]

For a new friend: @sotwk

Eleniel, Daughter of the Stars

Elen- stars/starlight in Sindarin and Telerin

-iel daughter of

Tw: pregnancy; mention of a graphic injury but no details; mention of spanking

I think I took a lot of liberties with bonds and óswanë.

According to Tolkien, elves choose when they beget children, but I’m playing a little loose with the concept. Elves choose to beget a child, but are not always immediately successful. Also, symptoms show much like a human pregnancy.

I meant to write down a draft of thoughts and then go to bed, but it got away from me and I started and finished it instead. Whoops. XD

.

.

.

.

“Haldir!” You smile happily at your husband coming out of the washroom as you set the basket of flowers on the table. “Welcome home at last.”

Haldir stands in the doorway, freshly washed and in a clean pair of leggings, his hair falling in loose strands down his shoulders as it just begins to dry. His hand is frozen on the doorframe and his eyes are wide in the unnaturally pale skin of his face.

“Oh.” You smile softly and place a hand on the swell of your stomach.

“I thought-” His eyes are locked on your movement. “I thought it didn’t- it didn’t take.” His voice is hoarse and his hand is shaking.

“I know. Neither did I, at first.” You say, watching him. He’s as unstable as you’ve ever seen him since your wedding night.

As if to prove your point, he stumbles forward and collapses to his knees at your feet, hands coming up to cup your stomach, easily spanning the width. Wonder and shock fill his eyes.

His gaze hasn’t left your abdomen since he walked into the room, rapt with attention. His breaths are shaky.

“Mine?” He asks then blinks as he realizes the absurdity of the question, shock scrambling his thoughts. You tilt your head back to laugh.

“Yes.” You grin and card your other hand through his silver hair, “yours.”

He tilts his forehead to touch your stomach, but can’t seem to close his eyes. Like if he looks away, you and your bump will disappear.

“How long?”

He shakes his head, as if to dispel webs long left by Mirkwood’s dark spiders.

“Five months.” He murmurs to himself and lets out a trembling breath. He runs his thumbs down the sides of your stomach and shakes his head, adoration singing through your bond.

His eyes suddenly snap to yours, worry evident.

“Five months. Five months, Meleth, why didn’t you say anything? Had I known I would’ve never left.”

“Ah.” You breathe out, tears suddenly welling up the corners of your eyes and spilling over.

“Oh, meleth.” He murmurs with a slight frown, your difference in height makes it easy for him to reach up and brush them away with a tender touch.

You shake your head, trying to get him to understand. “No, no. It’s not. Im not - it’s just that. We both thought that it didn’t work and then by the time I realized that it did, it was only a week until you were supposed to come home so I figured I’d give you the surprise in person. But then-,” you pause to wipe more tears away, overcome by emotion.

Haldir’s frown deepened, “But then Teli’en.”

You nod as his hand moves to rub soft circles on your arm, the other doing the same on your stomach.

“But then Teli’en basically got bisected and their whole patrol had to come in due to injury so pretty much everyone got extended until the far out patrols on the Eastern side returned for relief.

And I just figured that that I might as well wait because you couldn’t come back anyways. You-you couldn’t! There wasn’t anyone else since you were already short and and- I I’m sorry. I just didn’t want to distract you and worry you and I I should’ve said something, meleth, I’m so sorry.” You choke out, sobs wracking your form, surprised at how much worry and stress you had been holding back over the last few months.

Haldir hushes you gently before picking you up into his arms and moving you both to the couch. He cradles you to his bare chest and rocks you in his arms, pressing soothing kisses to your temple while whispering soft endearments as your sobs slowly calm down and stop.

“Sweet wife. Oh, my sweet, silly wife.” He murmurs and tilts your head up to meet his with a finger under your chin. He kisses you softly, holding your face between his hands.

“How could you ever think I’d be angry with you?” He asks gently and presses another kiss to your lips.

“Sweet wife,” he repeats and presses your foreheads together, eyes locking with yours while he begins to stroke your stomach, hand over top of yours.

“I love you. I’m not angry.” He says honestly, “I’m unhappy with the loss of time with you and our little one, but you’re correct in that I wouldn’t have been able to leave post. But please,” he adds, begging. “Please tell me in the future. I would not lose this.”

“I will. I- I’m sorry. I will.” You whisper, clinging to his hand on yours. You lean closer to him and press kisses to his jaw. “I promise.”

“Good.” He says kissing back before raising an eyebrow at you. “Lest I take you over my knee for risks to your health. I don’t think spanking my pregnant wife,” - his breath hitches - “is the safest thing either.”

You flush deeply and press back against his hands.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Marchwarden,” you reply breathlessly.

His eyes darken and he uncharacteristically growls, “Reckless minx. Do not test me today.”

“No?” You giggle, but settle willingly.

“Come here then,” you say.

“I want to show you something.”

As you take his other hand in yours and place it over your heart, you kiss him deeply and open your bond with him.

You barely register his moan as you’re suddenly consumed with Haldir. The taste of him on your lips, his mind melding with yours, his hands on your skin, and the scent of him flooding your senses. The sweet, pungent scent of musky Mallorn in the autumn rain, the parchment covering his desk, and the leathers he rides to battle. Haldir, your husband.

The soon to be father of your child.

Hello, mela. He whispers along the edges of your mind for the first time in months and whimper, clinging to him. It’s ridiculous to think you denied yourself of this. Of him. How foolish of you to think this was the better option.

But you know you’d always settle for some loneliness if it meant he returned home safe to you every time.

Hello, husband. Let me show you our daughter.

He chokes but before he can react you’re pulling him into the fresh bond you’ve built with the new life in your womb.

She’s small still, to be sure. There’s another seven months left of growing and of bonding left before she’s ready to meet the rest of the world, but she’s there.

As you connect yourself more fully to your daughter, you string the bond between her and Haldir, binding them together and in your family unit. Formerly two, now of three.

Your daughter’s weak fëa dances between yours and Haldir’s, delight and safety ringing clear in your minds.

Hello, little one. He reaches out towards her and she sings stronger to him.

You smile up at Haldir only to realize that he’s sobbing, head against your stomach, and tears tracking down your skin. His hands are clutching you so tightly that the skin is stretched white over his knuckles, yet his touch so gentle that you feel no pain.

“Oh, meleth.” You brush his hair out of his face and he kisses your fingers, unable to stop his tears.

“I wasn’t sure when you asked for children. I thought surely this dying world is no place for such innocence and joy to live in. That we best wait for when we sail.”

“Oh, Haldir. My sweet ellon.” He stops you, shaking his head.

“I was wrong. To think that I would forsake this” his voice trembles, “in my fears and anguish. No, my sweet love. You have given me the happiest moment of my existence and I am so grateful for you and our our daughter. I could not imagine life without either of you, surely.”

You’re crying again now too, pressing kisses to his hair. How lucky you were to have this elf as your husband. How proud you were.

Your voice is rough with emotion when you ask, “What will you name her?”

Haldir looks floored. “That is your honor, not mine.”

You shake your head. “I will decide her mother’s name later. Give me her name, husband. Give me your daughters name.”

Suddenly an image unfolds in your mind: the last night he was home. Both of you laid out on a blanket beneath the stars, your hands entwined together in the grass as Haldir takes you again. His thrusts gentle, but unrelenting as you both meld your fëas and plead your case to the stars above. Asking, hoping, praying for a new life to bloom within you.

This is surely your daughters begetting night.

“Eleniel.” His voice is hushed. “Eleniel, daughter of the stars.”

You blink back tears and nod. “Eleniel then. Her name and her fëa are known.”

“Eleniel.” He whispers again, in awe.

He laughs and kisses you gently.

“She is known.”

[lycanlovingvampyre]

MAG 154 Relisten

Activity on my first listen: apple cutting + sitting thrilled on the couch.

Ah yes, I remember it so clearly when I heard that episode the first time. I was almost done cutting apples, but I didn't quite feel satisfied after MAG 152 and 153, those are statement that were a bit subtle for me. So I thought "Okay, I'll give one more episode a shot" (even though the episode title didn't sound particularly interest-piquing) and then it’s a Gertrude tape and I had some problems following a lot of Gertrude statements before, I don't know, her voice makes me sleepy xD And I was already prepared to drift away during this episode again and felt a bit demotivated. But I kept going. Well, best fucking decision ever. As soon as I realized she's reading from the Catalogue of the Trapped Dead I was like "Ohhhhh!"

JON: "And I started to pay attention to the ones I… wasn’t drawn to. The tapes I instinctively wanted to discard." That's very clever, go against what the Eye wants!

JON: "There was one, this one, that my hand… pulled back from. I dropped it, twice, when I went to pick it up." Lol, that actually sounds funny. Like "Whoops! I dropped it... Woaa, dropped it again, ahaha, clumsy me."

JON: "I am the avatar of awful knowledge and revealed secrets." Oh Jon, you theater kid!

GERTRUDE: "“When he opened his eyes, he of course saw nothing" Ok, she already read that part and still couldn't guess what was necessary to quit. Already talked about this in MAG 111 - because of this I think those memory-ghosts of the Catalogue work like the appearances of people plugged into the Matrix, a mental projection of their self. How they most liked seeing themselves. So when it comes to depicting Book!Eric, I think he'd still have intact eyes. Cause he says he "destroyed them completely", I can't imagine how one could not see that, if the appearance is the same as in the moment of death.

I love how similar Eric and Gerry sound, and I don't think it's because of the ghostly echo. After all, we do have a recording of Gerry without that effect. Very good VA choice!

ERIC: "I know that I’m not really Eric; I’m just a memory someone wrote down. It hurts, most of the time." Primarily it's probably meant to be an effect of the Catalogue's nature, of the Fears just doing their job. But I guess the knowledge of not actually being you also makes it weird and uncomfortable. Sometimes I think about that, like what are we anyway? Isn't the memory of oneself's entire life basically what makes one that particular person (+ hardwired personality probably)? Because it still matters on which hardware we run. Otherwise, how would we explain body dysphoria?

ERIC: "You too. (beat) You got old." GERTRUDE: "Better than being dead." ERIC: (short sigh of a laugh) "Fair enough. To be honest, I’m impressed, more than anything. Hard to get old in this business. You either die, or you, uh, stay young. (short, uncomfortable pause) …How did Mary look?" GERTRUDE: (same sort of short laugh) "She got old, too." Well, let's see, this is in 2008. My educated guess from MAG 35 was that Gerry was born sometime around 1983 or 1984. Perhaaaps 1985 when we'll go with the most extreme numbers from MAG 35. We don't know when exactly Mary killed Eric, Eric says he left the Archives months before she killed him. So, Eric died.. what? 1984 or 1985? So he hasn't seen Gertrude in over 20 years! He probably saw Mary a few times since she summoned him to bounce off ideas of him. But even if she kept doing that for a few years and then stopped, 15 years would still be a long time with visible changes^^

ERIC: "And Gerry? Have you seen my son?" Nawwww... He actually calls him Gerry, like he always wanted friends (and probably loved ones) to call him.

ERIC: "Yeah, it doesn’t feel great. But being dead, I s’pose you don’t feel things quite as strongly. Little bit – flat." Ha, flat like a piece of paper!

ERIC: "Elias? Elias Bouchard, seriously?!" GERTRUDE: "Hm, he’s changed a lot." <.<

GERTRUDE: "So. What did they not want me to know?" ERIC: "I quit." GERTRUDE: "You – Sorry, you quit?" ERIC: "Yeah. I figured out how." Well, on my first listen I was sitting at the edge of the sofa at that point, staring wide-eyed at the TMA logo in the YT video on screen.

ERIC: "You know, you were never actually all that nice to me when I worked for you, Gertrude. Not like Michael, or Emma." Hahahaha, very good, let her dangle a bit! I'd like to say I'd do the same but I know that in the end I never want to give people, one: what they did to me, and two: something they could hold against me in return.

Eric: "I don’t know what she saw in me, not really." Not-really counter of S4: 20!

ERIC: "You were almost there, you know, with your theory that James could watch us from any eye, even an illustration. What did you do? How did you sever that link?" GERTRUDE: "My God!" Yeah, at that point I said "Fuuuuck" out loud... My spouse was sitting on the couch next to me was like ?? and I just kept saying "Fuck" over and over again. First: Eyes are one of the body parts I find the most horrific... I can watch every body horror torture splatter movie without problems but when it's about eyes... Fuck off! If I'd be in that position I'd be like "Yeah, you know what, I actually like the Archives! Screw that, y'all go ahead and do what you must do, but keep me out of it." Second, I love moments like this in fiction! The last one like this I remember was when I read The Last Wish (The Witcher) by Sapkowski, specifically The Lesser Evil. When that innkeeper (or whatever that guy was) explained what happened in Tridam and it dawned on me what Renfri was about to do (just like it dawned on Geralt in that moment. I love having the same reaction like characters. When I can discover huge things alongside them).

[TAPE CLICKS ON.] [JON SIGHS HEAVILY.] JON: "Fuck." [TAPE CLICKS OFF.] Yah, same...

JON: "I know. I know what you said, but I just – (inhale) I think I’ve found a way for us to leave the Institute." [BRIEF PAUSE.] MARTIN: "O-kay…?" JON: "Yeah. But it’s – (heavy inhale) It’s pretty drastic." MARTIN: (hah) "What, you going to gouge your eyes out, or something?" [BEAT.] MARTIN: (gets it) "Fuck off!" Such an iconic piece of dialogue xD

MARTIN: "Erm… like, I mean… permanently? Or…" This has the same energy as answering "In general?" to the question of "Haven't seen a dog, have you?"... Those idiots^^

JON: "But we could leave here, you and me. Escape." Eeek <3

JON: (squawk) "Uh, I, I don’t know. I don’t – know. But… maybe it’s worth it? The risk – y-you and me, together, getting out of here –" [MARTIN SNIFFS.] JON: "– one way or another." MARTIN: "Jon." Double Eeeek <3

So what's going on here has a name, URST or UST. It stands for UnResolved Sexual Tension, although I don't like that term cause it's just as well used for unresolved romantic tension. Especially when we're talking about a couple with an ace character, or when it's used in a show for minors about minors (Miraculous is a textbook example). So basically it's a trope to keep suspense going on by having all kinds of obstacles to keep the love interests from actually getting together, usually also having them pine after each other over and over again + once in a while giving them a scene in which it looks like they finally get somewhere. Full disclosure: I'm a sucker for that trope. I loved that in Inu Yasha, I love this in Miraculous (although it's getting a bit destroyed by all the What-if-episodes with a subsequent time reset or memory wipe) and of course I love it in TMA.

JON: "I mean, whatever their plan is for me, I am damn sure that doing that isn’t it. I’d derail everything – we could derail everything, and then just – leave!" Time travel fix-it for TMA is extremely difficult because you basically have these powerful forces which had it all planned out. I think there are actually two points in TMA where it could really take a very different turn. One of them is here. If Jon blinds himself, he won't belong to the Eye anymore and can't complete the ritual. And given what Annabelle says in MAG 197 it sounds like Jon will even survive being cut off from the Eye. (There’s of course still the problem of just going ahead with a new Archivist, so it’s only a temporary resolve...)

MARTIN: "Nothing; It’s just – (one more laugh) It’s just ironic, that’s all." That's totally in the sense of "At any time before taking Peter's deal I would have run away with you in a heartbeat. But back then you never came to me and now when you do it's me who won't do it"-ironic, right?

@a-mag-a-day

[lavenoon]

So, I was wondering! In canon we know the reason Robin and Dusk started to bond was because he bantered back with them and kept up with their rhythm, creating a fun rivalry that eventually turned out into a closer relationship, with them worrying about the other a lot. In AU AU AU, what is exactly that makes Dawn reconsider his first impression of them? Was it like seeing them in action, or maybe they pushed themselves to their best performance after declaring him their rival? Or did he not even notice until one day he realized he was looking forward to seeing them and then had an Oh moment where he was like huh. Well time to turn up the charm! (and then internally cry because it doesn't work for the longest time XD). Totally not asking to have a better feel for Sun's characterization or any other writing reasons, nope! (I realize I adore reverse Sun a lot kjhkjh)

A multitude of things, in a way!

While the ankle-grabbing certainly set the tone (for Robin), there were many little moments that made Dawn just stop for a moment and reconsider them.

From "Why is this human so determined to make this job as difficult as possible" to "Wait huh they're actually not half bad" to "They take me seriously even as other agents invalidate my work. That's why they act like this."

Because other agents trying to explain away Dawn's (and Dusk's) quick rise of rank isn't just a thing of canon! Robin would be much more direct, though only when they assume Dawn isn't listening/ watching (he is, whoops, didn't wait long enough), and they go off. They're proud, and it is a little self serving, but they confirm that the rank is earned - "Why do you think we get paired up that much? If you could motivate me to improve by getting even remotely good enough, maybe I wouldn't have worked solo for so long."

Sun is used to people underestimating him, with his permanent grin and sunny demeanor - he half encourages it, even, or maybe better leans into it, to fly under the radar or surprise targets. It still chafes, but of course he wouldn't admit that. It's a mental adjustment to realize that this one agent who seems to have had it out for him since day 1 only did so because they assumed he's a threat to their position - a few things click into place for him then, and he sits up and takes notice.

Oh. Interesting.

It's not quite a crush (yet), but it's interest, and he's paying a lot of attention now!

Before that, he respected Robin as fellow skilled agent, though the jabs were rather harsh then, still. After this? He starts leaning more towards flirts and flustering, enjoying those reactions much more than the cutting remarks Robin opted for before :3c

(You and me both at Reverse Sun/ honestly Rival Sun in general because canon Sun got the same spunk if a different dynamic, I am constantly looking at myself with the "non judgemental, but very aware gaze" any time I write about him FGHDJSK)

[the-alice-of-hearts]

the concept of angel!jason/demon!tim has been living rent free in my head since i saw your post about it, & i just wanted to say thanks xD

Whoops just saw this.

You're welcome!

I am obsessed with it and want to work on it next because I love the idea of writing them as kids, and just exploring more touch-starved Tim becoming Robin.

If you are interested I have actually explored the concept some in my no capes college au for them. here that's the series, mind the ratings on the individual fics, some are explicit.

in honor of I have thoughts and you prompted them:

Tim shivered and looked around the large ballroom of the museum. His parents expected him to be good tonight, but it was hard when he was so lightheaded. They had fired another one of his nannies so he had been alone all week. The books his mother had given him said he should be able to go longer without attention, but he was beginning to think that they were wrong. His father steered him toward another couple who were dying to get their attention and introduced him to them. "This is of course my son Timothy," Tim looked up and shook the man's hand and then kept his head down. The grownups were going to be talking for a while, so he had time to watch others. When he got the chance to slip away from his father and the business associate he took it and quickly got out of the main hall.

Jason sighed and rolled his eyes. Dick was talking to one of the girls his age and she seemed to be enthralled by the Djin act he was keeping up. Jason was just bored, and he wanted out of the stupid suit. His wings were molting so everything was itchy and he just wanted to go home and take a hot bath. Unfortunately, he was stuck here. Bruce was putting on his 'Brucie Wayne' act and Dick was ignoring him so he decided to slip away. He had gotten out of the main hall and was slipping down one of the side hallways on the way to the star exhibit when he heard someone else's footsteps. Jason pressed himself against the wall and looked around the corner. There was a kid who looked a few years younger than him walking down the hall humming to himself. Jason stepped around the corner and smiled. Maybe he and the kid could ditch together.

"Hey," he called out.

The kid spun around but tripped over the air and fell onto the ground with a loud thud. Jason ran over and knelt down.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!" He reached out and pulled the kid up slowly. "Are you okay?"

The kid's eyes fluttered open. "Sorry, I think I fainted."

Jason looked him over. "Whoa, you don't look too hot. Should we find your parents?"

"No!" There was a flash of fear on the kid's face. "It's nothing. I'm fine, don't bother them."

"You tripped over nothing and passed out." Jason raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't spell fine to me."

The kid mumbled something in return, looking away from him.

"What was that?" Jason asked, tilting his head.

"I said, I'm just a little touch starved. I'll be fine."

Jason blinked and really looked at the kid for a moment and then sighed. "Oh," he breathed out.

"I should go." The kid pulled away from him but Jason didn't let go.

"You're gonna pass out and hurt yourself if you don't feed, kid," Jason reasoned.

"I'll be fine." He pulled again.

"Feed on me. I have the energy. Besides, I'm not gonna let some baby incubus die in the museum." Jason offered. He hadn't seen an incubus since he had been living on the street, but this kid clearly wasn't in any shape to be looking out for himself, and Jason was full of raw energy.

"I'm not an incubus." The kid responded, glaring at him. "This wouldn't be a problem if I were an incubus."

"You said you're touch starved?"

"I'm a succubus." The kid mumbled.

"Oh..." Jason looked at him again. "Well, how do I feed you?"

The kid looked at him with wide eyes. "I'm not gonna feed from some stranger!"

Jason smiled. "Well, I'm Jason Todd, what's your name?"

"Tim Drake."

"There, we aren't strangers anymore, and I don't want you to starve here. So, how do I feed you?" Jason tilted his head trying to be as noncombative as possible.

Tim blushed and looked away again. "Just, uh, hug me?"

"I can do that." Jason pulled him into a hug and Tim buried his face in the crook of Jason's neck.

"You're sure?" he whispered.

"Absolutely. I have more than enough energy, just don't bleed me dry." Jason laughed holding Tim tight.

"Okay," he whispered again, and then Jason felt the pull on his energy. Slowly Tim stopped shaking and then the pull was gone. Tim pulled back to look at Jason in awe. "You're amazing."

"You look a lot better." Jason couldn't help himself and he leaned in and kissed Tim on the forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"A lot better." Tim giggled.

"Jay!" Dick's voice came from the entrance to the hall. "There you are!"

Jason looked over and Tim scrambled to get out of his lap. "Sorry."

"What is it Dick head?" Jason asked, standing up.

"B was looking for you. It's time to go." Dick looked between them and tilted his head.

"Hello." Tim gave a shaky smile and Dick beamed at him.

"Are you a friend of Jason's?" He asked.

Tim looked at him and he smiled and nodded. "Y-yeah. We're friends. I'm Tim."

Dick laughed. "Well good, Jay needs some better friends."

"Shut up." Jason rolled his eyes and turned back to Tim. "Call me sometime okay?" He pulled out a pen and grabbed Tim's arm.

Tim smiled as he finished writing his number on his hand. "I will. See you later! Thank you again!"

Jason pulled him into another hug and then turned to follow Dick.

"Soooo, someone made a friend?" Dick asked.

"Shut up," Jason growled.

[demetriandelibinaryboyfriends]

@ckfemslashnetwork

COBRA KAI SAPPHIC SUMMER WEEK 1 GOLDEN

***

HEY YALL

So uh. Remember that 10-minute All Too Well YasMoon fic that I’ve been teasing for well over a year now ???

WELL

LO AND BEHOLD!!! A few months ago, I started writing more than just lil ficlets and started creating this bad boy in FULL!!! So for cksapphicsummer, I’m posting a proper preview because a) fall color is a big thing here and it kinda accidentally fits the “Golden” prompt perfectly and b) god. I’m so proud of this funky little snippet. I’ve had so much fun working on this angstfic and I HAD to share my progress with someone. Writing the out-of-order slow burn of Moon becoming a simp who’s in way over her head has been fantastic tbh.

Also she only gets a mention here, but I had WAY too much fun creating Rosalie, Yasmine’s older (and to most everyone’s mind much cooler) influencer sister. Actually might end up including her in unrelated YasMoon fics too, because god, am I a sucker for sibling character foils :O Also it’s not fair that only Sam gets to have a sibling!!! Like give the other kids siblings!!!

…ironically, despite how spoiled she seems to be, Yasmine is one of the few Cobra Kai kids who doesn’t give off huge Only Child vibes XD Like idk. Idk. So much of Her Whole Deal strikes me as Bratty Overcompensating Younger Sister behavior XD

@karatecaulfield BIG pspsps, here’s a preview from A Big Fic coming up!!!

Preview under the cut!!! Enjoy :3

CW for some pretty crude language, and a character shouting a slur basically for shock value. But it’s one that applies to said character, so…I guess it’s reclaiming?

***

“You can travel the world But nothing comes close to the golden coast”

They were belting the lyrics as Yasmine swerved down mountain roads, rounding bends at what couldn’t possibly be a safe speed. It was times like these she thought she was invincible—away from the suffocating smog, under an endless blue sky, surrounded by fresh mountain air, free from the rest of the world’s expectations. Moon couldn’t tame her if she tried.

“Once you party with us, you’ll be falling in love…”

Moon glanced at Yasmine, and the words melted in her mouth. She burst out laughing.

Yasmine was never that unperturbed. She was all confidence and composure and power, holding onto her throne with tooth and manicured nail. Now she was just a silly, dancing teenager, shimmying back and forth and rocking her head from side to side like some kind of puzzled bird. One arm flailing about like the tube men outside of car dealerships while the other drifted on and off the steering wheel to lazily make turns.

She was grinning like she left all her inhibitions in LA.

“California girls, we’re unforgettable Daisy dukes, bikinis on top Sunkist skin so hot we’ll melt your popsicle”

Yasmine affectionately jabbed Moon’s tanned arm. Moon took a moment to be grateful the very ever-present spray-tan responsible was probably also hiding her blush.

“California girls, we’re undeniable Fine, fresh, fierce, we’ve got it on lock West Coast represent, now put your hands up!”

Yasmine did exactly that, whooping for several seconds. Moon worried they were going to hit the guardrail.

West Valley High’s queen bee self-corrected at the last possible moment, just like always. She grabbed the wheel and they made the turn.

There was something so exhilarating about her when she was like this. When she wasn’t projecting an image that didn’t match what was inside. Her voice was off-key and her movements were the opposite of graceful and every bit of control she usually gripped onto with iron strength flew out the window and into the alpine air.

And somehow, it felt like it used to when Moon finally came home after a long, shitty day of middle school, surrounded by stuck-up classmates and scornful, apathetic teachers. It felt like relief.

The song ended, and an ad came on from that annoying kick-the-competition auto dealer guy. As Yasmine complained for the seventh time about her parents not getting Spotify Premium, Moon looked out the window.

The road to Big Bear had more fall color than she’d ever seen. Only 20 miles outside of LA, and it was a whole different world—cherry reds and fiery oranges and sunset golds mixed into the deep green of impossibly tall pine trees.

It was all so foreign to her, always immersed in year-round flowers and greenery and subtropics. It seemed like something out of a Sunday morning dream, or a good shrooms trip. Strange—unnatural, perhaps—but tranquil all the same.

The aspen trees quaked in a sudden breeze. Several golden leaves peeled off their branches, glinting blindingly in the sunlight as they drifted to the ground.

Moon couldn’t quite explain it, but something felt just right. The energy…it was somehow perfectly aligned, all the stars and moons and planets in position for her to be driving off on a wilderness adventure with Yasmine Pyne.

The universe itself was humming in concord, like everything else that came before and after revolved around that moment.

Like it was the beginning of something too immense to see.

“What’re you gawking at?” Yasmine’s voice had a teasing snicker in it. “Have you never been to the mountains before?”

Moon shrugged. “Not since I was little. We only ever drove up here in the summer, though.”

“God, you should see your face.” There was a note of derision in Yasmine’s voice, but Moon barely noticed. “You look like you popped an E tablet or something.”

“Sorry, it’s just…” Moon smiled, shaking her head. “The trees are so beautiful. They’re reminding me of the healing crystals I still need to buy.”

“Um, what? Where is the connection there?”

Moon turned. The bridge of Yasmine’s nose was scrunched against her eyebrows, the way it always did when she was completely perplexed.

 “The colors, Yas.” Moon couldn’t help but laugh. “The leaves look like citrine. Or…” Her gaze strayed back out the window. “Empowering jasper. Or harmonizing tiger’s eye. Or vitality ruby. There’s so many hues!”

“You are so weird, girl.”

Yasmine laughed, but there was no disdain in it this time. It was an affectionate kind of amused—amusement at Moon’s expense, perhaps, but with an underlying fondness that caught her off-guard.

Moon looked at the autumn trees zipping by, fiery shades gleaming almost as brightly as gemstones in the alpine sun. She started to shift them in her mind, imagining clusters of leaves as giant, glimmering jewels instead. A whole forest of ruby and citrine and jasper and tiger’s eye and topaz and carnelian, polished stones budding from the ends of delicate white branches. A beautiful, serene place, quiet and peaceful. A place of healing. No sound save birdsong and babbling creeks.

She wondered how much more vivid the image would be with caps.

“I’d actually love to trip out here,” she admitted. “It’d be like…the most spiritual thing ever. I feel like there’s a certain kind of ‘oneness with the universe’ around these trees, you know?”

“What, and then wander off the side of a cliff because you’ve convinced yourself you can fly? No thanks.”

Moon sniggered. Yasmine couldn’t sugarcoat something if she tried.

She didn’t pull punches when it came to teasing out the worst-case scenario and she never hesitated when deciding that’s what would inevitably happen.

A wooden sign post flitted past. Moon pressed her palm into the window glass, eyes widening.

A trailhead.

“Let’s go for a hike!”

The words spouted from Moon before she could stop them. She blinked, wholly unsure where the sudden determination came from.

Yasmine spluttered, uncharacteristically lost for words.

“Please,” Moon added plaintively. “Just a short one?”

“Why?” Yasmine demanded, finally finding her voice.

Moon bit her lip, staring at the dashboard.

“I’ve never been.”

“You’ve never been hiking in Big Bear.”

Yasmine scoffed, punctuating the statement with a smack to the steering wheel.

“Nope.” Moon chuckled nervously, hoping this wasn’t something Yasmine decided was worthy of giving her shit about.

Her friend only snorted in disbelief. “You haven’t been hiking up here,” she said again. “Aren’t your parents like…tree-hugging mega-hippies or something? Seems like they’d be all about that meditative outdoorsy shit.”

Moon laughed, shaking her head. “Well, they’re more like…smoke-a-bunch-of-stuff-in-a-sweat-lodge-and-see-the-entire-pagan-pantheon kind of hippies. Not really the one-with-nature kind of hippies.”

“But you are, huh?”

Yasmine raised her eyebrows, and Moon’s cheeks grew hot.

“I don’t know. I guess so. Nature calms me down when I’m stressed. Helps unblock my root chakra when it gets a little clogged.”

They passed a particularly beautiful grove of red maple trees, and Moon sucked in her breath.

“If we could just…stop and take a little walk somewhere…”

“Mooooon.” Yasmine dragged her name into a whine. “I’m wearing designer boots. If I get too much dirt on them, my mom will skin me alive and use my eviscerated corpse to make another pair.”

“Oh my god.” Moon snickered. “Don’t be so dramatic. Your mom is nice! She’s not going to flip out over a little dust.”

“You don’t know her,” Yasmine grumbled.

“I’ll take the blame if she gets mad. Promise.” Moon gave her friend her most pleading look. “I’ll say…I don’t know. I got you really high and we ran around in the dirt or something. But mountain trails aren’t usually that dirty! At least I don’t think.”

Yasmine whimpered, glancing from the car clock out the window and back again.

At the next trailhead, Yasmine slammed the brakes. Moon yelped, lurching forward as the range rover screeched to a stop in a pullover surrounded by soaring pines and gold-tinged scrub bushes.

“Oh, fuck it. Rosalie’s not expecting us until 4 anyways.”

Moon smiled at her lap. She got the feeling Yasmine could have fought her harder.

***

“Tell me a secret.”

“What?” Moon’s sandals dug into the trail, grinding her to a halt.

“Tell me a secret.” Yasmine turned, hair backlit by mountain sunshine. “Come on. If you’re going to insist we trek out into the middle of buttfuck nowhere, you’d better have some juicy gossip for where absolutely no one can hear us.”

She leaped onto a nearby boulder with surprising grace, boots deftly clinging to the gaps in a way that suggested she hadn’t always been as averse to physical exertion as she was now.

“DICK AND BALLS!” Moon was completely unprepared for her friend to cup her mouth and shout at the top of her lungs. “MOTHERFUCKING COCKSUCKING SHITHEADS! GODDAMN PUSSY-EATING DYKES! I’LL PISS IN YOUR MOUTH!”

The forest only answered Yasmine’s abundance of profanity with wind, songbird calls, and one or two annoyed crows. Not another human soul to be heard.

“See?” Yasmine turned, her grin conniving. “No one’s going to hear any of this shit besides us. You can literally say anything you want out here. It’d be a waste not to spill some tea.”

She spread her arms, and for a moment, she looked like a bird. An elegant, dainty little yellow warbler, about to take flight or break into song.

“No one can fuck with us out here!” she crowed. For a moment, Moon felt almost as free as her.

Moon laughed, shaking her head. She hadn’t known what to expect from the blonde girl in the yellow designer sundress, making snide comments in her math class, but these unrestrained dramatics were definitely not it.

“So come on, then.” Yasmine scaled down the rock as easily as she’d climbed it. “Tell me something scandalous, Moon.”

Moon frowned, quickening her pace to catch up. “Why?”

“Because. Maybe I want to get to know the girl I’m hauling up into the mountains to see my sister, huh?”

“We don’t need deep, dark secrets for that, do we?”

“Not technically, but I’m bored of all the other shit.” Yasmine groaned. “‘Where’d you go to middle school, did you grow up here, do you have any brothers or sisters,’ blah blah blah. We covered all the small talk crap when we ditched for brunch. I want something more interesting.”

Moon’s cheeks grow hot. “I don’t know if I’m hiding anything that interesting.”

“Oh, bullshit.” Yasmine turned, gray-green eyes boring into Moon. The blonde started walking backwards just in front of her friend, maintaining very intense and very judgmental eye contact the entire time. “Everyone’s got a little dirt on them, Moon. You just have to scrape it up.”

Feeling a sudden rush of bravery (perhaps the empowering jasper-colored leaves were to blame), Moon crossed her arms and returned Yasmine’s smirk. “And why should I give you my dirt?”

“Because.” Those stormy irises had a cunning gleam in them. “What’s a few secrets between best friends?”

“Best friends!” Moon laughed in surprise. “We barely know each other. And I’m your—well, I mean.” She found herself stumbling over her words. “What about everyone else at the table? Your middle school crew?”

“Oh, well.” Yasmine rolled her eyes dismissively. “Jenna, Harper, Aubrey—they’re all fake as fuck. Dumb sluts are using me to get a taste of what it’s like at the top. I know the knives come out whenever my back’s turned.” Her lips curled into a sneer. “It’s whatever, honestly. I’d just as soon get rid of them as soon as they stop making us look good. But you…”

For the first time in a while, the scornful look dropped completely.

“You’re different, Moon. You’re…real. Not basic and boring like every other bitch that follows me around.”

If Moon’s cheeks weren’t on fire before, they certainly were now.

“You really mean that?”

“Yeah, duh. I wouldn’t take you out here if you weren’t worlds better than all the other losers at our trash-ass school. Now…”

The genuine look that briefly shone through morphed into a smirk. Mood wondered if she’d imagined it.

Yasmine leaned forward, smirk widening. Without warning she grabbed both of Moon’s hands, tangling their fingers together as she continued to effortlessly saunter backwards. “Tell me a secret, Moon.”

“I…”

Moon could feel what was hovering just behind her lips. The words threatening to tangle with the mountain air and wash over Yasmine like a cold breeze, causing her hands to jerk away and her face to twist in that oh-so-familiar disgust.

I’m not normal.

It was something in the way that all through elementary school—and all through the turbulent tides of middle school, too—her eyes weren’t only drawn by soccer players showing off at recess, or the track stars who could run more gym class laps than anyone. Boys who dripped confidence like sweat and gleamed like fresh-minted coins, the names inside the hearts every girl doodled.

Just as often she found herself drawn to the ballet dancers and the child beauty pageant winners and the sirenlike voices of the girls in choir. Often as not, her mind was on billowing hair and purple nails and the scent of fruit shampoo as much as the testosterone and cologne of the ever-boisterous boys.

And it was a fascination that went beyond friendship. Moon knew that much.

She was able to join in with the other girls, gushing about the guys they liked and making bets on who would ask who to the next dance. But there was always half of it left unsaid.

She’d never told a soul. Not her easygoing parents. Not her middle school gang. No one. It was an anomaly that belonged to her and her alone.

And Moon wasn’t about to drive away her newest friend, in all her power and mystique and sheer magnetic energy.

Yasmine must’ve seen the gears turning behind her eyes. She groaned, yanking especially hard on Moon’s hands with an exaggerated eyeroll.

“Oh, fine. I’ll go first if you’re not gonna spill.”

Moon raised her eyebrows. “That was an option?”

Yasmine scoffed. “I mean, if you’re just going to stand there looking constipated…”

Moon couldn’t find a response.

Which probably made her look even more constipated.

“I don’t actually wake up like this.” Yasmine grinned mischievously, giving those flawless yellow locks of hers a graceful flip. “And it’s not Maybelline, either. I have to wake up at 5 fucking o’clock every morning to straighten this bitch. But better that than go to school looking like a fucking hobo.”

Moon laughed.

“So you don’t wake up with perfect hair? That’s not very scandalous.” Yasmine gasped, sounding half offended. “It is if you’re someone with my rep!”

“Well, if it’s that important to you…” Moon sniggered. “I won’t tell anyone. But for what it’s worth, I think the other kids would be impressed you put so much time into looking perfect.”

“Oh, no way. They need to think it’s like…an inherent part of my personality that I’m flawless and untouchable. Otherwise they might start getting ideas about replacing me if they style their hair for long enough.”

She had to laugh again.

“I don’t think you need to worry. The entire school knows they could never hold a torch to you.”

For a moment, uncertainty flickered through those stormcloud eyes.

Like the fear of being dethroned was greater than Yasmine let on.

“Damn right,” she said, smug expression returning. She tugged Moon’s hands again, bringing the girls close enough that Moon could smell traces of the strawberry-and-nutella crepes she had for breakfast.

“Your turn,” she purred.

“Um…”

Moon paused, pushing thoughts of her unspoken strangeness away. Yasmine didn’t need to know that.

“I’m worried that people think I’m kind of stupid,” she said instead.

Yasmine looked genuinely thrown off for a moment.

“What do you mean?”

Her expression turned…not serious exactly, but more thoughtful and curious than Moon was used to. None of its usual smugness.

“My friends from middle school, they—they all went to these private Ivy League prep schools. I, uh…I think some of their parents bribed their way in, but some of them were genuinely just that smart. Either way, my parents weren’t willing to pull strings to get me in. They’re really, um…‘go with the flow’ in a way that they, like, don’t like to exert a lot of effort on anything they don’t need to. Which includes keeping me with my friends, I guess.”

Moon took a breath, almost hoping Yasmine would interrupt.

Yasmine didn’t. Only waited with uncharacteristic patience for her to finish.

“I told them at 8th grade continuation I didn’t make it into Harvard-Westlake. They, um…they looked at me like I was some kind of reject. And they started talking about all the things they were gonna do in high school.” Moon winced at the memory. “Kelsey was gonna learn Latin. Rachel was gonna get into Hollywood. Tess was gonna figure out how to become like…some political diplomat or something. And I guess it was just like…we’d been together through the thick and thin of everything, and suddenly I was some dumb bimbo who wasn’t even worthy of licking the dirt they stepped on. And after that night, I never heard from any of them again.”

Yasmine’s only response was a curled lip. “Ew.”

Moon’s stomach sank. “You think I’m also…?”

Yasmine’s scowl deepened. “No, your stupid friends. They sound like a load of self-righteous bitches.” She scoffed. “Girl, you’re well-rid of them. You stuck around and they’d try to make you into a fucking lame loser nerd just like them. Who the fuck uses Latin in their day-to-day existence, anyways?!”

Moon found herself laughing.

“Yeah, I guess Kelsey was always kind of prissy that way.”

“Half the shit they teach in high school doesn’t matter in the real world, anyways.” Yasmine rolled her eyes. “And yeah, even at prep schools, too. Take all the acting classes and political science you want, but if you don’t know someone important in the industry, you’re not getting shit. The world runs on nepotism, so…your old bitches are going to get fucked over so bad.”

Something about Yasmine’s overconfident scorn soothed her. No one who spoke that surely could be wrong…right?

Moon chuckled. “Is it bad that I kind of hope they do?”

“Nah. Would serve the dumb fucks right.” Yasmine’s smirk returned—bigger than any she’d worn all afternoon. “I should be thanking them, really. They ditched by far the coolest person in their group, and now I get you all to myself.”

Moon only hoped Yasmine didn’t see how red her own cheeks were turning.

“For the record, though…”

Yasmine seemed to search her face, expression suddenly unreadable.

“I don’t think you’re stupid. I mean…not that it matters anyways, because pretty people get jobs more than smart people do, but being good at the crap they teach in school doesn’t mean anything. Being able to read people, knowing who you can open up to and who’s a damn snake, figuring out how to talk people into giving you what you want…that’s what matters. And you’ve got more intuition than anyone I’ve met in a long time.”

Well, if having intuition was what mattered…

Moon only hoped she was reading Yasmine right.

***

Some random author’s notes, in no particular order:

Love that Yasmine is canonically a terrible driver. Like she accidentally kick-started the entire plot because her dumb ass was texting and driving and rammed right tf into Johnny Lawrence’s car. I have every reason to believe she’s this bad of a driver in every situation 💛 Absolute trash queen 👑

Writing S1 Yasmine is so much fun because she’s SO unapologetically shitty, like. You can have her say the most deranged shit and it’s completely in character??? Delightfully challenging to figure out how fucking anyone could fall inconsolably head-over-heels for her, especially someone as naturally good-natured as Moon!!! Like she was simping—I know it in my soul—but how the FUCK did that happen???

Also no I absolutely do not count Demetri’s “feelings” as falling inconsolably head-over-heels for her—mans was faking being straight to get Miguel not to abandon him and then felt he had to Commit To The Bit. I WILL die on this hill btw.

On a related note, though!!! I’ve probably watched the S1 Yasmine scenes DOZENS of times for this fic (not a single fucking one without her girlfriend btw), and after a while you start to pick up on some like…unexpected softness you didn’t notice before? Like she seems genuinely pleased Sam is enjoying throwing her party! She plays wingwoman and sets Sam up with Kyler! (Granted, there could have been ulterior motives here—namely distracting Sam so she doesn’t notice That Gay Shit going on between her two new best friends—but the act in of itself didn’t seem malicious.) She’s a tad overprotective of Moon when she believes Sam has been talking crap, and tells Sam to get the hell out of Moon’s car!!! She genuinely looks hurt when Moon chooses Hawk and Co. over her!!! Like it’s few and far between, but she definitely seems to care about her friends on some level, even at her worst. With that in mind, it’s a lot easier to write Moon getting smitten with her!

Adding onto this—rewatching the S1 Yasmine clips, it’s kind of striking how often she refers to herself and Moon as a unit, especially during the 1x05 car scene with Sam. “Kyler told us what you said.” “You think you’re better than us.” “We know what went down.” She says “Moon, let’s go” when about to ditch the beach party instead of just storming off because of course she’s not leaving without Moon (who she chose to stay with over going with Kyler btw!). She doesn’t even consider it a possibility until Moon outright says it. Not only is this a cool parallel to a thing S1 Demetri also does (I.e. frequently uses “we” to speak for both him and Eli from a place of misguided-ish overprotectiveness and the confidence that “I know what’s best for both of us as a unit”), but this is something a lot of long-term couples I know irl tend to do!!! When I talk about movies with my roommate, he tends to say “we (I.e. him and his fiancé) did/didn’t like it.” When my married friend thanked me for catsitting, he said “we really appreciate it.” Point being that even at her absolute worst, Yasmine is never actually just thinking about herself—she’s thinking about herself and Moon, right up until Moon chooses to ditch her! Anyways yeah these girls were a Thing sorry. If they have a tendency that immediately calls to mind my married and engaged friends, that’s. A little gay???

Also worth noting that Yasmine only really breaks from Moon in 1x09, and then as SOON as she appears again in S3, she’s once again glued to Moon’s hip. Girl literally cannot stay away from Moon akfssrfuhbi

But all that aside!!! S1 Yasmine genuinely sucks so bad. Like GIRL. You fat-shamed a girl for no fucking reason. You verbally eviscerated an ugly sweater kid just minding his business and probably jump-started his Evil Journey tbh. You slut-shamed your ex-friend all over the internet after she almost got sexually assaulted. You cut off your closest friend and fuck buddy because she dared to ask you to stop being horrid. What in the actual hell is wrong with you. I am horrified and fascinated. I want to study Yasmine like a bug.

And I am, via this fic!!! God, am I having a blast with it. Fully intend to continue delving into why she’s the actual fucking worst and giving her the nuance the showrunners never bothered with 💛

I spent like 3 hours researching “prep schools” in the San Fernando Valley, and watched a whole-ass tour video for Harvard-Westlake to determine what Moon’s shitty (or shittier) ex-friends went off to study that made her feel inadequate. Please be proud of me for doing a deep dive into this weird niche topic to make my weird niche pairing fic feel authentic XD

Deadass role-playing as an Uber-wealthy Encino parent looking for a good, respectable high school for their spoiled 8th grader was. An incredibly bizarre experience. I do not want kids, I could not afford them even if I did, and I do not have anything anywhere close to a rich suburban husband to discuss a kid’s school options with. I guess this is the essence of trying to explore lived experiences that will never belong to you???

I legitimately do think Moon is smarter than she comes off as (Demetri wouldn’t fuck with her otherwise!) and is somewhat insecure about being seen as “dumb” because she’s bubbly, hyperfemme, conflict-averse, and in touch with her spirituality. I don’t think she likes admitting this, though—she doesn’t like “burdening” others with her own demons!

Considering Yasmine’s “natural” hairstyle in S3 appears to be more wavy, girl probably spent an ungodly amount of time and effort straightening her hair in season 1. Like yeah, she was mean at, but can you blame her??? Bitch was probably running on like 4 hours of sleep a night!

Jenna, Harper, and Aubrey are some of the extras at the Rich Girls Table! I’ve mentioned in other posts, but I’ve always kind of wondered about them, and What Their Deal Was that they’re only sometimes worthy of hanging out with Yasmine XD Git hyped to see more of them in this and other planned YasMoon fics!!!

Continuing to love looking into crystals/spirituality/incense/other kinds of Wiccan-adjacent things I think Moon would be into! As a woman of science, I’m not sure if I buy into that, but I do think it’s genuinely fascinating and fun to explore and research! There’s a lot of pretty cool and interesting belief systems out there to explore when you go in without obsessing over whether something’s 100% true or false and whatnot.

Yes, Californians really do get that hyped about seasons. I would know—I moved there after growing up in the Midwest, and seeing Californians get hyped about seeing snow or massive amounts of fall foliage for the first time is just about the most pure thing ever ;_____; But it’s definitely not out of the question for Moon to get that pumped about fall color aksssdtchh

I kind of love the idea of Moon always knowing she was bisexual, but not building the confidence to proudly tell it to the world until Piper helped her to 💗💜💙

Bitches be holding other bitches’ hands on an isolated hiking trail and think that’s a Straight and Normal thing to do. Like come on. We all know what you are, Yasmine.

Can’t give y’all an exact posting estimate for the whole fic, but I’m not giving up on it anytime soon (having WAY too much fun with this angst to do that!!!) and will try to get the rest of it done as soon as I can!!! Hoping ideally by sometime this coming winter :3

[the-fourth-knower]

Sonic Underground: Last Resort: A Re-telling: chapter 3

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |

Here it is, the next chapter of the story! In which hte Underground trio plus Tails attempt a dramatic escape! Well, maybe not so dramatic. XD

Chapter 3: Traffic

Tails kicked his feet back and forth atop the van, his tails swishing behind him as he hummed amidst the wreckage of all the badniks scattered nearby.

“They sure are taking a long time - I hope nothing bad happened to them…”

As if in answer, a familiar blue blur rushed into the building - flanked by a green and magenta one.

Tails’s face lit up at once, the fox leaping down from the van to tackle the person responsible for the blurs.

“Sonic!”

Sonic looked just in time to see a speeding ball of yellow and white heading for him Right until it collided with him.

“Woah!” Sonic cried, falling down backwards as his little bro nestled into him. “Heh heh. Heya, Tails! These two been giving you trouble?”

“Not really -” Tails started, at least until Sonia stomped hard enough to get Sonic’s attention - and to crack the concrete underneath her.

“Sonic!” she yelled, fists balled up at her sides. “What have I told you about running with me!”

“Heh heh, whoops. Sorry, Sonia.”

A shadow blocked out the sun for a moment, passing by as quickly as it came. Then another shadow. And another, each as fast as the one before.

“Maybe we catch up after we make a daring escape, hmm?” Manic said, sticking his thumb towards their van. “Or, you know, we could just stay until the Egg Robos say ‘hi.’”

This, of course, was a poor decision. Even if you happened to be a fan of Egg Robos, their programming dictated that they capture you if you were a known troublemaker.

And the four in the room happened to be some of the biggest troublemakers of all. Excluding Sonia and Manic, as Sonic and Tails were outliers and caused the bulk of Eggman’s headaches.

“Right. You guys get in the van and get ready to go,” Sonic said, running in place, “I’ll clear a path for you!”

“Oh no!” Sonia whirled around on Sonic, stomping towards him. “You are not running off on us a-”

“See ya!” Sonic gave a salute to Sonia, revved up, and shot away.

“-gain.”

Sonia stared at the space occupied by her other brother mere moments ago, as the sounds of badnik trashing filled the air. If such a thing were possible, the whistle of Sonia’s mounting frustration could be heard as well.

“Ohhhh, why you little-”

A hand grabbing hers cut off Sonia’s fuming. Manic pulled on her, dragging her towards the van.

“Seething Sonia routine later!” he said, as the two walked towards the van. “C’mon!”

Sonia blinked as her mind - fresh off processing Sonic running off yet again - caught up with Manic’s choice of words.

“Wha -” Sonia scowled, glaring at Manic. “Oh, you did not just say what I think you did!”

“Priorities, sis!”

Tails stood atop the van by the time the hedgehogs reached it, watching his brother’s siblings as they approached.

“Right, time to bust on outta here,” Manic said as he came to a stop in front of the door.

“I’ll go and help Sonic cover you guys!” Tails hopped off the van, taking to the air above it.

“Oh, come on,” Sonia threw her hands into the air, before putting them on her hips as she glowered up at Tails. “Not you, too!”

“One of us needs to do it, and I’m the only one other than Sonic who can keep up!” Tails balled his fists up, face scrunched up with a determined look in his eyes.

“He’s got a point there, sis." Manic said, opening the van door.

“Nnngh… fine.” Sonia released an exhale she didn’t even know she was holding. “You be careful, okay Tails?"

“Will do!” Tails gave Sonia a salute, before taking off.

“He’ll do fine, sis.” Manic tugged on Sonia, pulling her into the van. “Now c’mon!”

“Right, right.” Sonia moved past Manic, hopping up the van’s step inside. With Manic close behind her.

Entering the van, Sonia strapped herself into the passenger seat. Manic slid himself into the driver one.

“You know what, Sonia?” Manic said, his hands dancing around as he coaxed the van to life. “We should try slapping guns onto-”

Before Manic could finish, Sonia slapped him in the head without so much as a glance.

“Ow!” Manic rubbed his head where Sonia’s slap landed, giving his sister a sheepish grin. “Okay, maybe I asked for -”

“Drive, Manic!”

“Yes, ma’am!” Manic said, giving Sonia a salute. “Driving now.”

Tails bounced between badniks, as the Underground van peeled out of the hiding spot. With one quick turn, it raced off down the road, Tails close behind.

A few dozen Eggman robots later, the trio began nearing the edges of the city outskirts.

“Just a few more miles to go, and we’re home free!” Manic said, grin on his face as he steered the van past obstacles.

“You know, I would’ve thought that we’d attract a lot more attention…” Sonia said, gripping tight to her seat from Manic’s driving.

As they turned the corner, they discovered the answer to Sonia’s pondering. For in front of them stood a squadron of Egg Robos, with more hovering in the sky above them.

“Annnd there they are…” Sonia felt a pit form in her stomach. Or perhaps slammed into it.

Well this will suck…

“Robo barricade, dead ahead!” Tails’s voice chimed from the van’s radio. The fox came into view to the left, readying himself to bash badniks.

“I see ‘em.” Manic said, a grin still on his face. He kept the van straight on course, not even bothering to slow down.

He was not slowing down.

In fact, the van felt like it was...

Accelerating.

“..Manic.” Sonia’s voice was quiet, with a hint of a waver.

“Uh-huh?” Manic’s own voice was kind he’d use to talk with someone about what they wanted from the store.

“You’re not slowing down.”

“Yep.”

“In fact, you’re driving us faster.”

“Yep.”

“...Are you… going to go around them?”

“Nope. We won’t need to.”

“Wha -” Sonia whirled around, wide eyed as she stared at Manic. “What do you mean we -”

Then it hit her. She turned to face forwards, slumping back into her seat in a pout. “Oh. Right. Him.”

From behind - and then straight ahead - a flash of blue rocketed past. Within a second, a fireworks display of exploding Robos began flashing in front of them.

“And there he is, right on cue!” Manic’s grin turned into a full on beam, eyes lit up as he pushed his foot down.

The van got ever faster, racing towards the action. And where Sonic was now showing off - at least if anyone decided to ask Sonia.

“I hate it when he does that.” she said, her face twisted into a frown.

“Aw, lighten up, sis.” Manic leaned over, giving Sonia a nudge with his elbow. “It’s all smoothing sailing from here.”

“Smooth, sailing.” Sonia growled out, a small twitch in her eye. “Not 'smoothing sailing', that’s not a real phrase.”

“Eh, what’s the difference?” Manic gave Sonia a side eye, his grin more smug than ever.

“I will slap you.” Sonia muttered, the words sliding out between teeth.

“Ha hah…ahhh.” Manic returned his focus to the rapidly shrinking roadblock - he knew better than to risk teasing an already angered Sonia.

Several of the surviving Egg Robos raised their blasters as the van approached. Energy charged at the tips of each gun, the Robos ready to unleash a salvo upon their target.

A salvo that never fired.

Bang.

Crash.

Two by two, the Robots were smashed into by blue and yellow orbs, speeding around.

Sonic and Tails landed beyond the Robos, bumping each other’s fists as a chain of explosions set off behind them.

Barrelling through the smoke and debris came the van, Manic raising a hand in the air as he drove through the sparking remains of the blockade. As the van sped away, Sonic and Tails took off after it. Sonic flanking it on the right, Tails in the air on its left.

“See, Sonia?” Manic looked at Sonia, a smirk back on his face. “It wasn’t that bad!”

“Urgh…” Sonia stared straight ahead, not even giving Manic the dignity of a return look.

Manic’s brows furrowed as he frowned. Was his sister sick from his driving?

“You’re not car sick, are you?” he asked, looking for any signs of sickness. She wasn’t pale, so maybe she wasn’t.

“I’m brother sick, Manic…” Sonia tapped her fingers against her arm, her glare focused on Sonic.

Oh, so she’s just annoyed about Sonic! That’s good.

“Aw, c’mon sis. That’s not a real medical condition. Pretty sure, anyways.” Manic gave Sonia a bump to her shoulder, a grin plastered over his face.

Sonia looked at Manic through the corner of one opened eye. Brows furrowed, only part of her pupil was visible. Somehow it seem that there was a low, smoldering fire in her eye.

“Uh -”

“Focus on the road, Manic.” she said, pointing out the window. Then her face took on a sinister look as she smiled. “Or, I’m driving.”

Manic blinked at Sonia, before making a large gulp.

“Ha ha haaaa… Focusing on the road!” And he did - making sure to keep his gaze focused on the road.

“Good. Stay like that.” Sonia reclines back in the hair, returning to her grouching. The mission was a total bust, and on top of it all her scatterbrained brother decides to run in and save her.

Truly, asinine. Still, there were worse scenarios. She was not the worst loser from today, after all.

The city outskirts were miles away now, growing ever further and further away. The two bounty hunters stood amidst the wreckage of the Egg Robos, watching the distant dust trail fade away ever slowly.

“Well, looks like they got away again, Sleet.” Dingo said, voice echoing outwards. “Maybe we should've blown the tunnel after they walked into the trap?”

“Oh, yes.” Sleet fought down the urge to roll his eyes as he glared after the hedgehogs, “just damage the infrastructure of our employer's city! That would go well with Doctor Eggman, wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah!” Dingo raised up his hands, delighted that Sleet agreed. Even his tail was wagging.

Then he realized what Sleet actually meant. All excitement vanished as Dingo deflated. “…Oh, yeah. Right.”

Sleet ducked down, scooped the head of an Egg Robo, then chucks it straight at Dingo’s head.

Dink.

“Ow.” Dingo barely reacted beyond his vocal grunt, rubbing his head where the head bounced off of him.

Sleet turned around and strode away from the debris, not bothering to wait for Dingo to catch on. Which was not long, granted - the larger anthro catching up to Sleet with ease.

“Oh, so we're going after them, then?” he said, looking down at his not quite as tall and scrawnier partner.

“No, we’re going to go on a relaxing drive...” Sleet hissed out, eyes straight ahead as he stomped forwards. “Of course we’re going after them!”

“Alright!” Dingo grinned as he pounded his fists together. “Was getting tired of seeing metal buildings all day."

Sleet didn’t bother to respond - for he was lost in planning on what he would do when he finally caught up to the Underground and brought them before Eggman. Oh the riches that would be his!

As long as he survived the hurdle of Eggman Land bureaucracy, of course.

[ofmoonlily]

"I get why you never told me, but... All this time... Everything I said to you about things we'd do in the future, didn't that hurt you instead?" Much as he wishes he would have known, he can kind of get how someone not knowing could lift the mood. Gloom and doom sure had seemed to haunt the party's every step and he'd never quite understood why until now.

That's not to say he doesn't also have his own revelations to contend with, because those do keep him awake at night when no one is watching to notice Tidus acting 'out of character', but he'd always kept those things hidden from the others as best he could. Zanarkand, Sin, Auron... Those were all things he couldn't burden the others with, questions that were hundreds of years removed from the present couldn't be put to rest by bothering his Summoner about it. She had plenty to worry about all on her own, and that was when he'd just thought all she had to do was gather the aeons.

"Well, if this is how things are going to be then I'll keep thinking of a way to change things, okay? And in the meantime we're going to have some fun, too! If we might not get to do all of that stuff later, we'll just have to find the time to do as much as we can now!"

There's no way he's going to manage sleeping tonight, huh? || Tidus || this literally went from 'hmm i should add a bit more context ig' to 'whoops, it got away from me—' xD

Free ask | Always Accepting | @worldly-diversity

Not once did she experience any type of negative response to Tidus's boasting about the future. Although, she understood the complexity behind his concern, or why anyone else would have been dismayed with his behavior. However, he wasn't from Spira. He did not know of their customs or what being a summoner truly entailed. Tidus knew next to nothing, and he made that abundantly clear the more Yuna and everyone came to know him.

Thusly, she could never be mad at him for the secret everyone intentionally concealed. In fact, his encouragement was what kept her going. He was her cheerleader, guiding her down the turbulent road in order to bring her before violence incarnate, and usher peace to all of Spira.

"No, of course not" Yuna chuckles, repositioning herself on the multicolored ground of lake macalania, "it made me happy. The pilgrimage takes a toll on all of us, you know? Normally, summoner's and their guardians keep a straight face, baring the weight of the responsibility of their pilgrimage with grace. And yet...when you joined, everything changed.

"You looked at the goal with a smile on your face, determined to take down Sin and jump through every obstacle. Every day was full of cheer, and you always applauded me with every hindrance I overcame. And you know, I felt like the most powerful summoner in the world...with you by my side."

Yuna laughs, enthralled with his proposition. And yet, she knew it wasn't to be. Still. It didn't hurt to wish for the same things; to defeat Sin and stay alive. That was the wish of all Yevon's children, indeed.

"Hm.~" the lightest giggle was all she could muster. She could not push herself to agree nor deny his claims. There really was only one way to destroy Sin... And if Tidus thought of another way? That would certainly be wonderful.

However, Yuna remained steadfast in the tradition of the final summoning. She will destroy Sin either with the tradition, or Tidus's undiscovered plan.

[dealingwithdemonsrp]

@forevermonsters sent an ask! || "The moon looks pretty tonight…" // to alex from petal

» — † — » There was something comforting about winter. Even though Alex barely had a penny to his name and no warm bed to rest his weary bones, the crisp night breeze nonetheless felt refreshing through his layered shirts and ragged jeans. Snow had already fallen that morning, and the obsidian sky with its silvery moon promised more tomorrow, if the temperature drop held.

Maybe that was why Alex liked it so much, even if the dry air left him licking his chapped and cracking lips. A blistered spot drew a hiss, and he sighed out a puff of steam, smiling as it rose and twisted in the air. Nights like this always reminded him of the first time his mother took him outside to build a snowman.

But Alex wasn't here to reminisce. He reached into his outer pocket, wrappers and paper crinkling as he rummaged around, and pulled out a piece of hard candy along with a crumpled piece of newspaper. 'Midtown Murders Continue...' read the headline as he unfurled it. In his other hand, he undid the candy wrapper before popping the bright red treat into his mouth, sugar and chili powder and a hint of watermelon melting in his mouth as he read over the article again.

'Abigail Beatty, 23, was found dead on E 19th St earlier this week. According to interviews with authorities, her death is being treated as a homicide, though the official cause of death is unknown. Sources say they suspect a possible connection with other similar deaths in the area. . . .'

Alex sighed. Four deaths, and this would make five if it was connected. All young women. All within middle Manhattan. All ruled as exsanguination with no known motive, method, or suspects. Normally, this wasn't his kind of thing and he'd just leave it to the authorities--but that was before he caught wind of the rumors.

The brunet folded up the paper clipping and tucked it back into his pocket, rolling his candy in his mouth with a loud, wet pop! as he stared up at the sky. A tuft of cloud floated past the full moon, like an errant brush stroke on the vast black canvas, and Alex sucked on his treat thoughtfully. These people were dying of blood loss, but if the rumors were to be believed, there wasn't an ounce of blood to be found anywhere near the bodies. So was it cultists, then? Draining and collecting blood for sacrifice?

No, Alex thought. Slashing throats is messy business and draining and collecting a corpse is even messier. You'd need a slaughter room of some kind for it to be efficient, and these are all out in the streets. . . .

Not to mention the absolute lack of demonic activity. If someone was collecting the blood for a ritual, there wasn't anything around to bite, and demons weren't known for being patient when they smelled a ritual in the making. And one eyewitness had said the body had been unmarred when they found it.

"The moon looks pretty tonight. . . ." A voice caught him off-guard, drawing Alex out of his thoughts, and he turned. His bright blue eyes widened with surprise to see a young woman standing nearby. Given the look of her face, she couldn't possibly be more than 20 at most, the same age as the victims he was investigating. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his battered and stained windbreaker, squinting at her curiously.

What was she doing out here? And at this hour of all times? Wasn't she aware of the current danger?

"Uh . . . yeah," Alex replied as he glanced her up and down once more, and he swallowed what remained of the candy. "Yeah, it's real pretty. Um--I'm sorry, but what are you doing out here, miss . . . ?"

[purplelea]

did anybody give you the obligatory twewy ask yet?

THANK YOU!!! Nope, the only two asks I got were from my kh mutuals, so they didn't ask me that XD

ANYWAY. LET THE FUN BEGIN

Blorbo

Neku 100%. CALL ME BASIC ALL YOU WANT, BUT NEKU FUCKING RULES OKAY?? He's everything to me. He's just a guy. He got shot thrice. He's a fashion disaster. He tried to kill the person who is now his best friend. He's a mom friend. He's so powerful he can one-shot Minamimoto. He's a walking stick. He's friends with the local divine being. I love him.

Neku "best character development ever seen in a video game" Sakuraba. Also he's a bi icon.

Scrunkly

SHIKIIIII

She's. sooooo shaped. The girl ever. Almost gets killed and then goes "whoops my bad it was my fault anyway hehe". Her self-esteem is lower than the Mariana Trench. She's so obsessed with details and clothing that she forces a guy she met 4 days before to strip in the middle of the street. Her stuffed cat will make you eat your words if you talk shit about her. Scolds Neku like a preschool student when he tries to fight the final boss without her and Beat. Calls him a chicken when he runs away too much from fights. Absolute Queen.

and... BEAT!!!

I had to put my boy somewhere. And he's so shaped too so. That works. Fun fact: He's actually the most consistent character alongside Kariya and Uzuki in the twewy franchise. These three really go together, I love them. ANYWAY. I love Beat. If you don't, get out of my house. In this blog we love and support Daisukenojo "Beat" Bito, proud owner of zero (0) braincells because he gave them all to his sister when she was born, and of a heart of pure gold. And a really cool skateboard. Never forget the skateboard.

Beat is just the sweetest guy ever. He also gives the best hugs and that's a canon fact because I said so.

Scrimblo bimbo

SHUTO DAN, AKA SHOOTER, THE BEST SLAMMURAI IN TOWN (DUH DUH DUUUUUH)

Also called "the tin pin guy" by anyone who doesn't even remember his nickname. The number of people who actually know his real name could be counted in one hand I think. Anyway! I love him!! He's so cool!!! He's just there and he wants to play Beyblade with everyone!! He's 10 years old and he can't draw to save his life! He's super dedicated and always looking to improve! He's also a really good and fair player and accepts his defeat without contesting it- which is something super important and really cool to see especially considering his young age.

Glup Shitto

ERI. THE FASHION QUEEN. Do you guys have ANY IDEA how MAD I am because we didn't see her in neo??? "It was to avoid spoilers about Shiki in the first gam-" FUCK YOU. GIVE ME THE GIRL. She's so great. We saw her for like 5 dialogues in the og, 4 scenes in the anime but I will never ever stop talking about her. She envied Shiki just as much as Shiki envied her. She loves Shiki just as much as Shiki loves her. She met Shiki and saw her as the most talented girl she ever met. And then Shiki died, and Eri was ready to give up on her dream because it didn't have any sense now that Shiki was gone. She went to put flowers on Shiki's grave everyday because she didn't want her best friend to be lonely. She probably pushed Shiki to make Mr Mew the face of their brand- and it worked! The bestie ever.

Poor little meow meow

Haha. This is the tricky question. Previous ones were easy to guess, but this one? Man how alone I feel in this fandom... AS A HAZUKI STAN >< yep. Hazuki Mikagi, a well known mass murderer, famous for wearing crocs and for his excessive use of the word "friend" as punctuation in too many sentences and with people that are absolutely not his friend. People hate him for killing people, which, in all honesty, is absolutely fair and understandable, but I love him for his character development. "What character development are you fucking talking about Léa" well dear reader, may I offer you this link that will take you to my little character study of my favourite mass murderer so you may understand more what I meant. Enjoy~

Horse Plinko

Here I will put Joshua, because it's always fun to torture Joshua (the whole fandom can agree on this) and also because I've always been too nice with him in my fics (with one exception hehehe) So yeah. Get in the plinko twink <3

Eeby Deeby

I actually can't remember who I meant to put in here. I think he was a Player? No, a Reaper... Urg, why can't I remember? Oh well, I'm pretty sure you see who I mean.

Ask game: give me any fandom!

[griffintail]

I’ll set the scene, cause I feel like this needs a lil explaination, but imagine this:

One of the The Parent Gang (this is how I refer to the characters you’ve written all the wonderful parental stuff about) is wandering around an area they’re unfamiliar with, mainly just lookin to get some new resources or find a decent mine, when they stumble upon a water well in the middle of an empty field. The first thing off about this is there isn’t a village around for MILES, secondly the well is completely dry and empty, and third of all when they look into the well (which goes down pretty deep compared to the usual village wells), they see a CHILD at the bottom of it. The kid’s clearly malnourished, clothes in rags, dark circles under their tiny eyes, and when they see the Parental Gang member everything about the child brightens up; whoops, guess who’s gonna be a dad~!

- from, an Anon Who’s Trapped in Their Own Love of the Found Family Trope and Never Wants to Leave❤️❤️❤️

Yeah, I love those tropes. I love any child reader tropes though! XD

Wilbur is also my favorite thus, I picked him from the gang!

Well Met

Pairing: Parental! Wilbur x Child! F! Reader

Warnings: Mentions of malnourishment, Implied Mistreatment, It’s light angst that rapidly turns into fluff

        Wilbur was hoping to find a place to loot to get a few bits of equipment for L’Manberg. Maybe he could even find a village that would like to trade for a few bits of good gear to keep in case of emergency. He really didn’t mean to wander so far out though.

        “I should have brought a horse.” He muttered as he put his hands on his hips, looking up at the sun at the highest point in the sky.

        He needed to head back if he wanted to get home before the night struck. Looking around, he hoped he could find something that would be a good enough landmark to remind him where he stopped when he came back out with a horse. Instead, he squinted thinking his eyes were playing tricks on him.

        In the middle of the spruce forest, there was a well that Wilbur would usually see in a village, but there wasn’t one for miles, hence his search. Taking another quick look at his surroundings, he went over to the well. It was an older well, moss growing along the sides and a severed rope where the bucket would hang. He heard no water, so, he looked down, nearly falling in as he startled seeing something that was most certainly not water.

        He stared in surprise as he looked at the small figure of what he could only assume was a child. As they looked up at him, he had to restrain himself from just jumping down the well. Big, innocent (E/C) eyes met his, looking so dull for a moment with bags under them before they sparkled with hope. When she, Wilbur assumed looking at them, looked up at them, he saw the rags she wore and how tiny she was. She opened her mouth but only a cough left her lips.

        “Relax.” He quickly told her as she whimpered at the pain the cough brought her. “I know you’re here. I’m going to get you out as soon as I can. Just give me a moment.”

        Desperately, he dug through his bag and breathed a sigh of relief that he did pack rope in case he found any sort of temple.

        “Alright, darling.” He talked to her to keep her calm while he tied the rope to the nearest tree, not trusting the possible rooting well wood. “I’m going to come down and get you. We’ll see what to do when I get you up but we’re going to do this one step at a time.”

        He gave a hard tug to the rope and it held. Carefully, he tossed it down and he felt so much relief that it ended close enough at the bottom for him to get down.

        “I’m coming love.” He told her as he climbed in.

        Scaling down the wall, he tried to think how this poor small child got in this situation. If someone left her there, he would not rest until he found those people. But one situation at a time.

        He hit the floor and he saw how skinny the poor girl was. Not a drop of water was on the floor so he could only assume she was dehydrated as well after that violent cough. Carefully, he crouched in front of her, giving her a gentle smile. She couldn’t be any more than six as well and it made anger grow in the back of Wilbur’s head.

        “Hi, sweetie. Let’s get you out of here, ya?”

        She gave a small, slow nod.

        “Alright, well I’m going to pick you up and you’re going to have to hold onto me like you’re giving me a big hug, ok?”

        She gave a similar nod.

        “Ok, here we go.”

        He picked her up carefully, noticing how she flinched slightly and how cold she was. Since he was so warm, she gave no hesitance to hold onto him as she nuzzled into his chest to take in the warmth. He hesitated in surprise before wrapping his other arm around her, patting her greasy hair, which made him wince at the feeling.

        “It’s ok, we’re going.”

        He held her with one arm now and grabbed the rope with his free hand.

        “Keep holding on like this.” He reminded her lightly before starting his climb.

        It was much more difficult with a passenger to climb up and even more difficult when he could only use one hand. He stayed determined though to get out, not for himself but the little girl clinging onto him. The climb was long but he reached the top, hugging the girl tighter as he swung himself out. Sitting on the ground, putting his back on the well wall, his breath came out rapidly as he tried to catch it while the little girl stayed nuzzled in his chest.

        “We made it.” He let out as he closed his eyes for a moment.

        He waited till his breathing calmed down before he took in his situation. He had a possible starving and dehydrated child, miles away from L’Manberg. The sun would set soon and he’d be slower with the extra weight to bring along. So, he needed to set up camp.

        “Alright darling, I have some water and an apple in my bag. I’m going to put you down and give you that while I set up a quick camp for us to rest in till morning. Ok?”

        The little girl gave a nod and he lightly squeezed her before putting her down instead against a tree, kneeling in front of her as he went through his bag.

        “Drink slowly, don’t want to make yourself sick.” He gently told her, giving her the water before taking a cloth and the apple.

        Carefully, he cut apple using an unused arrow as she slowly drank. He put the cut-up apple on the cloth giving it to her.

        “There were go, darling. You rest up and I’m going to get a fire going to warm you up.” He gently patted her shoulder before he stood up.

        He took off his jacket and hat before working on getting a fire going. As he worked on getting materials, he took off his walkie.

        “Tommy.” He called out on the public L’Manberg channel.

        “Wilbur! Where are you?” Tommy questioned.

        “I’ve gotten held up exploring, I’ll be back tomorrow. Keep everything together for me alright?”

        “Of course, I will! I’m the Vice President!”

        Wilbur chuckled lightly. “Right, thank you, Mr. Vice President. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

        “Ok. Be careful out there.”

        “Will do.” Wilbur nodded before putting his walkie away again.

        He came back and started the fire. The little girl scooted closer to the warmth coming off the flames as he tried to set up a little shelter for the night to hide from mobs using large branches.

        “Alright, we have somewhere to sleep little one.” He smiled as he sat next to her, wiping sweat off his forehead. “I should introduce myself now. I’m Wilbur, I’m President of a nation called L’Manberg.”

        The little girl played with the rags she wore before she looked at him.

        “I’m (Y/N).” She let out quietly, her voice still having a slight rasp.

        He smiled wider hearing her speak. “That’s a very pretty name. Do you have a home?”

        (Y/N) paused as she scrunched up her nose when she thought.

        “I-I don’t remember things very well Mr. Wilbur. I don’t know.”

        “Hey, it’s ok.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “I can take you back with me and you can think about it somewhere safe ok?”

        She nodded. “Ok.”

        “Then we’ll do that in the morning darling.”

        When night fell, Wilbur shepherded her inside the shelter and made her comfortable little corner, laying his jacket on top of her. He stayed up during the night just incase with his bow at his side. As the night went on, he’d glance at the little girl to make sure she was alright. He was worried about how she might have gone down the well.

        Was her bit of memory loss from how long she was down there? How long was she down there?!

        He’d make sure she was ok though.

        In the morning, he went out to check for any stray mobs before he woke up the little girl.

        “It’s morning darling. Let’s get to L’Manberg.” He smiled gently as she rubbed her eyes sleepily.

        “Ok, do you have more water, Mr. Wilbur?” She asked.

        “No, I’m sorry love. I wasn’t planning on being out so late last night.” He apologized. “I’ll get us back as fast as I can so we can get more water.”

        “Ok.” She muttered.

        “Why don’t I carry you so you don’t tire out?” He offered as he put on his hat and his bag. “You can put my jacket on and then ride on my back.”

        He helped her out before picking her up.

        “Here we go (Y/N).” He smiled before making the walk home.

        It was another half a day’s journey but he moved as quick as he could. As he walked, he told her dorky little stories to make her give little giggles and even sang a few songs to her, just wanting to keep her entertained. Before even he knew, half a day was gone and he grinned as he saw the welcoming walls of L’Manberg.

        “There’s home.” He told her. “L’Manberg.”

        “It looks pretty.” She mumbled.

        “It is. And it has very nice people inside. I have a friend in there, Niki, I’m sure she’ll make you some cookies if you ask her nicely and we’ll get you some water.”

        His own stomach grumbled but he didn’t feel it as he felt the little girl squeeze onto him lightly.

        “That sounds nice Mr. Wilbur.”

        “Just call me Wilbur. I’m going to be taking care of you until we see if you have a home, so no need for all that mister stuff.”

        “Ok.” She smiled this time, hiding in his shoulder.

        “Now, let’s get down there and get you cleaned up. Then, we can go look around with some cookies.”

        He went down, smiling to himself. He didn’t know if (Y/N) had a home. He’d look, but he doubted there was any place that she belonged to but she’d have a home now if that was the truth. He’d give her the best care and live in one of the best nations, where he’d always keep her safe.

[notchesandbullets]

Tangy Starfruit and White Sea Foam (Tiger!Todoroki x Reader)

Warnings: none, unless you count ridiculous amounts of fluff and shenanigans (oh and cursing). hints of BKDK and Kami x Jirou, pro-hero AU, aged-up!AU, Todoroki’s a tiger as a result of a quirk accident that happened on the job. Todoroki and reader are in a established relationship. Bakugou gets tied to a tree, Shinsou and Tsuyu are good friends, you and Todoroki may have a mishap on your hands in the near future. Featuring the rest of class A + Shinsou.

A/N: third and final piece for @ultimate-astridwriting​ ‘s hybrid collab!! i had an entirely different thing written out for tiger todoroki, it was 2.5k words full of angst bc real life is shitty atm but then bam, i got an idea while eating dinner and now here we are xD. get ready for sun and sand at the beach with a graduated class A!!

Words: 7k

Golden sun raised high in the sky scorched the earth below, turning the pristine white sand into scalding hot lava. But that didn’t hold back the group of 22 from surging forth.

Happy squeals that tumbled from the girls as they caught sight of the sparkling blue waves dancing on the horizon turned into wheezing laughs and yelps as the sand burned their bare feet.

Jirou whooped, a wide smile stretched across her face as she grabbed Yaoyorozu’s hand. “Last one in is a rotten egg!!”

“No fair, Kyoka-chan!!” Uraraka huffed as she pumped her short legs to go faster and catch up. 

Kaminari hollered obnoxiously, screaming all the way into the ocean as he tore right past you. 

“Do not run!!!!” Iida yelled, trying to make himself be heard above the clamor but to no avail.

You smiled at him sympathetically but he merely shook his head and followed after them to make sure none of his former classmates hurt themselves. 

They’re lucky to have you… You thought to yourself, clapping a hand over your mouth when the sound of him scolding Mina and Sero reached your ears from all the way across the deserted beach. 

You had found this isolated spot a long time ago, back when you lived on your own and had yet the privilege of calling anyone family. This was a place of comfort for you, a gem hidden away from the greedy eyes of the world looking to corrupt anything and everything that was pure. 

Here, you found solace. You found peace.

After you graduated from UA and everyone was giving each other teary goodbye hugs in the common floor filled with all the boxes of things they all had to move into moving trucks, you offered up one day. One day, if everyone wanted to come, you would show them a place very special to you.

The girls had a vague idea of where you guys were going based on the swimsuit dress code. In all honesty, maybe you should’ve made it a little harder for them, but they were your friends. And you were too excited. 

Here, on this beach hidden by dense foliage and sheer cliffs, your little piece of paradise remained a secret. Until now.

“Y/N, come on!!!” Hagakure shouted, waving excitedly for you to join them.

“In a minute!!” You yelled back, looking back to see if your boyfriend was following. “Shouto?”

You spun around in a full circle when you couldn’t find him, a frown twisting your features until Shoji came up behind you and tapped you on the shoulder.

“He’s coming.” He told you, jerking his chin back a few paces the way you guys came to signal where he last saw him.

You shot him a look of relief for his well-timed reassurance. “Thanks.”

Shoji dipped his head, hoisting the basket slung over his shoulder higher as he motioned for Tokoyami to pass you. “No problem.” 

A skeptical Tokoyami followed the gentle giant, muttering under his breath why the use of quirks had to be banned for today. Koda waved to you shyly and you smiled.

Iida had made it a rule for the day that no quirks were allowed to be used unless in case of an emergency. This was to do damage control and hopefully prevent a fight between Bakugou and literally anyone else. 

No one had any arguments. They were all here to relax, not think about their work life. All villains and life outside of this paradise was put on hold until tomorrow came.

You decided to wait until Todoroki caught up with you, and since everyone had raced on ahead, eager to soak up as much sun as they could on the one off day they were all able to get off together, you leaned back against the rough rock and tilted your head up to the sky.

Sighing wistfully, your eyes fluttered shut as the sun’s blazing afternoon rays warmed your body.

You knew what showing them this place meant, and you knew that your friends were fully aware of it. It had been something so special to you for so long that you sharing it with them meant that you trusted them a great deal. 

They were honored.

As rising pro-heroes in the world, they were constantly swamped with malicious villains, endless paperwork, press conferences and training the next generation. There was no time for rest.

But your former classmates were insistent that time be taken out for that purpose amidst all the craziness, especially Bakugou. 

Down time was important. It was necessary. Or else you all would burnout and then none of you would be any good to save anybody. 

This is why you chose this place. 

It was secluded enough where there was no paparazzi, no cameras, no exposure and no one was the wiser. Here, you guys could be as loud and as free as you wanted because there was no one around to threaten that fragile bubble of happiness. 

Heaving the bulging bag full of food and other amenities that you had swiped from Yaoyorozu as soon as you guys arrived higher on your shoulder, you wiped the bead of sweat from your forehead as it started to drip down your face.

“Shouto, c’mon!!” You encouraged aimlessly, since you didn’t know where he was. “Don’t you want to join the others?”

A faint rustle came from the bush a yard away from you and then it stilled. “No.”

You fought back a smile at the curt reply. You could almost envision that pout on his lips. Cheeky boy.

“Shouto~” You sang, fishing out a piece of his favorite food and waving it in the air, knowing that he could smell it. “I have a present for you…”

A beat of silence passed, and then two fluffy ears, one white and one red, poked out from the brush.

You suppressed a smile, knowing that would only make him leave in a huff and then his stubbornness wouldn’t let him come out and joy you for another hour. You couldn’t do that, he would miss all the fun!!

Waving it a bit more so that the enticing scent of the delectable food encouraged him out of his hiding place, you opted to hold your ground. “C’mon, Shouto. I promise, no tricks.”

His facial expression didn’t change but his ears perked up a bit and you couldn’t help the small giggle that escaped you. He was adorable.

Todoroki’s face fell the second he heard you laugh. “You’re laughing at me.”

You stopped immediately and straightened up, shaking your head. “I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.” He pushed back, crossing his arms over his chest as he stepped out of the bush with stray leaves clinging to his fur and branches sticking out of his head. Plopping down on the dirt, he puffed out his cheeks.

Your eyes softened and you set down the heavy bag, keeping your form relaxed as you tuned out the splashing and shrieks of laughter coming from the ocean.

“I’m sorry I laughed.” You apologized sincerely, never once breaking eye contact with your boyfriend. “I just thought you were very cute.”

Todoroki snorted, a sound so unlike his normally stoic and guarded demeanor, burrowing his face into his arms resting atop of the knees tucked into his chest. “That’s not funny…”

Your smile saddened a fraction as a memory washed over you as though it just happened yesterday. 

Trouble had a habit of finding your beloved boyfriend and last week was no different. 

The villain he was fighting against had a particularly interesting quirk, since he could manifest certain traits of people into their animal counterpart based solely on their personalities. 

Todoroki wasn’t put off until someone pointed out that he must have rage like a tiger, making him internalize everything and now a good seven days later, he still had yet to come to terms with his appearance and strange habits involving a diet of primarily meat. 

Fuyumi had sobbed how grateful she was that you were willing to take care of her brother in your apartment until the effects of the quirk dissipated. He was arguing with his father a lot more than usual and the tension in the Todoroki home had skyrocketed.

You brushed it off, merely telling her it was the least that you could do. 

Your boyfriend had a tough time adjusting to his new normal. Things were hard for him to grab and he couldn’t cuddle you like he was used to. He liked walking on all fours since he found he could go a lot faster when he used all his appendages instead of only half. 

His quirk, however, had been giving him a particularly rough time and the finesse he had honed of over the years disappeared overnight.

To say that Todoroki was upset about it was an understatement. 

He would do nothing else but sit in his room for days when you brought him home with you, refusing to let you in unless you came with a peace offering. 

That always smoothed things enough for you to talk to him and you were hoping it wouldn’t fail you now.

Todoroki eyed the fish skeptically, tilting his head curiously when you offered it up to him once more. With the pace of a snail, he uncurled from his protective ball and padded forward slowly, raising his nose in the air to sniff.

“Hungry?” You asked sympathetically. 

Todoroki hesitated a second before nodding slowly. 

Your shoulders dropped and you knelt down, holding it out to him. “Here.”

His eyes lit up and his tail flicked back and forth, gaze darting to you instinctively as though to ask if it really was okay.

You bit back a smile but the corners of your eyes still crinkled and you inclined your head to give him the go ahead.

Before you could blink, the fish was swiped from your hand and as soon as your eyes focused, you burst out laughing.

There, Todoroki crouched on the ground, chomping on the tasty treat.

Wiping off the palm of your hands on your hiking shorts, you beamed down at him, offering out your hand for him to take. “Feel better now?”

“Maybe…” He mumbled quietly as he polished it off before reluctantly accepting the invitation.

It wasn’t that he didn’t love you or love to shower you with affection, it was just that he was used to doing all of that when he was fully a human, not a hybrid. 

It was weird.

He found himself clinging desperately to your old t-shirts when you left the home to go on patrol, waiting around for you to come back. He heard when your heartbeat would speed up whenever he was around and how your breath hitched when he leaned in to kiss you goodnight.

Ever since the start of your relationship, he had been the one to take care of you. And he liked it that way.

This dynamic was foreign to him. And he wasn’t sure if it was because he truly disliked you taking care of him, or if it was because of something else. 

Todoroki was broken out of his deep thoughts the instant you came to stand right next to Iida. 

Before he knew what he was doing, the edges of his mouth pulled back in a menacing snarl and he pounced.

The unsuspecting Iida landed hard on the white sands with an ‘oomph’.

“Todoroki-kun!! Please control yourself!!” Iida shouted, doing his best not to hurt him as the tiger hybrid clawed at him.

You gasped. “Shouto!! Oh my gosh, Iida, I’m so sorry!!”

Pulling him off of the other, you went rigid as your boyfriend whined in your ear. The sound was too low for anyone else to pick up on, but you heard it. 

“What’s wrong?” You whispered as Iida brushed off his swim shorts, thrusting his hand straight up into the air to stop Kaminari from drowning himself in an attempt to prove to Sero and Mina that he could hold his breath longer than they could.

Todoroki wrapped his arms around your waist, mouth pressed in a thin line as he buried his face into the crook of your neck. 

You allowed yourself to relax against him as he pawed feebly at your sides, getting as close to him as possible. 

With the increase in physical contact, the tension melted away from Todoroki’s broad form and you heaved a sigh of relief. 

“Awwwww~” You cooed teasingly, reaching behind you to pinch his cheek gently and tugging until his smile morphed into a scowl. “Who’s the big scary tiger?”

Todoroki swatted you away, scrambling back until he was free from your affectionate hold on him. It wasn’t his fault he couldn’t control his protective instincts and it certainly wasn’t his fault for reacting the way that he did when he smelled Iida’s scent all over you. You were his.

Of course he was going to protect you.

Baring his teeth at the tease, he hissed, tiny fangs on display. 

You shouldn’t have found that as cute as you did.

Two more bodies shouldered their way past you and you grinned. 

“Took you two long enough.” You smirked, wrangling your boyfriend back when he struggled in the firm grip you had around his arms to prevent him from knocking another person over.

The power couple had a habit of falling behind their ranks while getting lost in their own world. It was disgustingly cute.

Bakugou rolled his eyes angrily and gnashed his teeth. “Now you’re counting, dumbass? You’re worse than the shitty nerd.”

Midoriya ignored that comment as he sidled past you warily, forest green eyes sympathetic once they fell on your significant other. “Todoroki-kun still hasn’t changed back yet?”

He had seen the news coverage on it when the incident happened. Luckily, he wasn’t physically harmed, just physically altered, but it didn’t look like it was going away anytime soon.

Planting your hands on your hips, you yelped as Todoroki ripped himself from your grasp to tear off after Shinsou and tackled him next when he got too close to you. “No, not yet.”

Spraying white sand everywhere with his hind legs, it was almost endearing how his head raised and heterochromic eyes blinked back at you as soon as your voice sounded, silently begging for permission. 

You followed his gaze to the ocean spray behind you and shook your head fondly, suppressing a smile as you jerked your head in Yaoyorozu’s direction. She would watch over him and make sure none of the other boys bullied him.

“Go on.” You encouraged softly, and that was all he needed.

While Bakugou set up the tent for him and his boyfriend so that Midoriya wouldn't get sunburnt, not that he would ever admit to doing it for that reason, your best friend eagerly asked for updates on all the latest changes.

Whipping out his hero notebook, his eyes shone with enthusiasm. “What has he been eating?! Does he prefer tuna or white cod? Oh, oh, oh, is there a difference in his quirk?! How does it impact his—” 

Midoriya’s endless and excited rambling was cut off by his fuming boyfriend as he smacked him over the head and he cried out in pain, clutching his head. “Wahhhhh, Kacchan!!!”

“Shut the hell up, Deku.” Bakugou snarled, stomping past him to throw a bottle of sunscreen at you. “Put this on, shitty woman.”

You grinned, already squeezing the tube to squirt some onto your hand and slathered it on your arms. “Aw, you do care.”

“Go die.” He hissed, turning on his heel so abruptly that he almost slipped.

You refrained from giggling as he furiously, yet meticulously, took out various food items from the picnic basket that he had brought with. No matter how much he claimed he didn’t care about any of you, actions sure spoke louder than words. 

Class A had graduated from UA all together and each and every one of you had secured a spot as a sidekick for many top pro-heroes all around the country. Before a year had even passed, all 22 of you had made a name for yourself, so much so that you were all almost as famous as the pros.

Midoriya was the first one to start his own agency, no surprise there. But what was a surprise was Bakugou following right after to build one right next to his.

The general public suspected it was because that area where their agencies were was riddled with violent crime, but you knew better. You all did, really.

How could anyone miss the lingering gazes filled with adoration and passion?

“Y/N, come on!!” Shinsou hollered, ducking under Shoji’s arm to sprint back towards you. “You’re missing all the fun!!”

“Be right there!!” You shouted back, rearranging the tablecloth on the ground so that it would lay flat.

You still needed to grab the bag you left at the foot of the cliffs because it was getting too heavy for you to carry. But you chanced a glance up and the glimpse of your friends had a wide smile breaking out on your face. 

Todoroki was splashing in the shallows, completely soaking his fur. Jirou and Hagakure shrieked as Mina chased the two of them around, sparking an impromptu game of tag. Koda was in the middle of showing Tokoyami his seagull friend when Uraraka bumped into him. 

Tsuyu and Kirishima were beachcombing for shells a little bit away when Kaminari skidded to a halt in front of them with Yaoyorozu in tow.

Aoyama, Ojiro, Sato, Iida and Mineta were playing beach volleyball with the inflatable ball that the former class president had brought along with them. 

Dragging the beach bag behind you over to your spot that you set up far away from the shore so that when the tide came in, it wouldn’t wash everything away, you took out an array of towels, more sunblock, floaties, snacks, water bottles, coverups and a pair of sunglasses for Aoyama in case he forgot his again.

Standing up tall, you cupped your hands over your mouth and yelled, “Lunchtime!!!”

Several whoops and hollers pierced the salty air and you snorted when Midoriya almost tripped over his boyfriend’s outstretched feet in his haste to get there first. 

Amidst the clamor and friends swarming around you, you twisted around, looking for your tiger hybrid boyfriend. “Shouto—”

“I’m here.” 

You jumped as the low rumble sounded right by your ear, shivering unconsciously as his warm chest pressed up against your back. 

“Hey…” You murmured as he mashed the top of his head in between your shoulder blades before planting a soft kiss there. “Did you have fun?”

He nodded, resting his chin on your shoulder to look over it as everyone rearranged themselves in a large circle. 

You and Bakugou took care of the food prep while all your friends engorged themselves on the pre-made sandwiches and finger food.

“Oi, half-n-half bastard.” Bakugou growled, breaking the bubble of peace you two had with his temper that came out the longer your hands stayed motionless. “Stop bothering her, she’s not doing shit.”

Normally Bakugou’s crude language didn’t bother or upset Todoroki in any way, so you were shocked with a snarl echoed, washing over the group and effectively silencing them.

You squeaked as his arms tightened around you almost protectively and landed with an ‘oof’ as he pulled you to the ground.

“Shouto?!” You cried out incredulously as he unabashedly nuzzled his face into the hollow of your throat, setting his thick thighs on either side of you.

You rolled your eyes when Bakugou went rigid with anger. You could feel the heat emitting from your beloved’s glare as he locked stares with the pomeranian who was furious that the dumb extra thought he was flirting with you.

“That’s enough.” You scolded, though it was unclear who you were really talking to. 

Neither wavered.

“Icyhot, you dumb fuck.” Bakugou spat, never once breaking eye contact, even as the chatter picked up again. 

Todoroki snarled but the expression of rage contorted into meek sheepishness as you ran your fingers lightly through his hair, being mindful of his ears. 

Humming softly, you coaxed him back down to earth long enough for common sense to return to him. 

Todoroki bundled you up in his arms, tail swishing back and forth lazily as he held you. “Sorry.”

You shook your head at his apology, knowing he couldn’t fully control his impulses sometimes. “Not your fault.”

Bakugou snorted, smacking Kirishima in the face with a fish fillet when he asked to see what he was cooking. “Yes it fucking is.”

He just barely managed to dodge the shoe you launched at his head, straightening up with an enraged scowl etched on his features.

“OI!!!!”

You giggled, wiggling back to get comfortable against Todoroki’s chest. “You deserved it.”

“TAKE THAT SHIT BACK!!!!!” He thundered, smoke coming out of his ears.

“Kacchan!!” Midoriya cried out, wrestling back his boyfriend before his temper tantrum could reach the two of you. 

He begged Jirou or Kaminari to help him but the two of them simply flipped the bird to Bakugou, and he exploded. 

Literally. 

What happened next was a flurry of the class rep containing the situation and a spark of green lightning before it was over as quickly as it started. 

“I’m going to fucking kill all of you.” Bakugou seethed angrily, eye twitching from where his loving boyfriend had used One for All to pin him to the ground, tying him to the trunk of a nearby coconut tree until he calmed down.

“Ah…” Midoriya winced sheepishly as his glare turned on him. “K-Kacchan—”

Jirou’s loud slurping of the smoothie that Sato just made interrupted him and she regarded the fuming grown man disinterestedly. “Who’s up for a game?”

“Oh, oh, oh, meeeee!!!” Hagakure shouted, raising her hand high in the air alongside Uraraka and an intrigued Tsuyu. 

“MEEEEEE!!!!” Mina screamed, nearly blowing out Kaminari’s eardrums as he collapsed on top of his girlfriend.

Jirou pushed him off without hesitation, fighting back a smirk when he let out an overexaggerated whimper of pain, knowing full well that he wasn’t actually hurt.

Shoji stopped what he was doing to pay attention and even the usually shy Koda looked interested in her proposal on how to deal with the tied up pomeranian thrashing in place. 

Jirou raised an eyebrow slyly and everybody held their breath in anticipation.

One.

Two.

Three.

“PIN THE TAIL ON THE BAKUGOU!!!!!” Jirou screamed, holding up a sticky dart that they all regularly used for training.

How she managed to sneak equipment out of the agency she worked at was beyond you.

Jirou whooped, scrambling forward and held it up high. “I’m going first!!”

“Me next, Kyoka-chan!!!” Uraraka pleaded.

“Class A, this is highly inappropriate!!!!” Iida shouted, trying to curb the situation before it got out of hand.

Too late.

As the girls, save for Yaoyorozu, clustered gathered around a livid Bakugou, Tokoyami uncrossed his arms and pushed off of his post from where he had been keeping watch over the perimeter of the beach.

“I will join.”

You and Todoroki were both surprised, not expecting the normally reclusive individual to join in on the shenanigans. 

Your dropped jaw caught Tokoyami’s attention and the corner of his mouth twitched in amusement. 

“I find great satisfaction in tormenting the souls of the wicked.” He declared impassively and a light bulb went off in your head. 

“Ahhhhh,” You drew out with a grimace. “I get it.”

Back when you guys had lived in the dorms, Bakugou had made the fatal mistake of scaring Tokoyami during Halloween, making the latter let out an inhuman scream that traveled all the way across campus. Even though he had sworn to the moon and back that it was accidental, that there was no way he was actively participating in the game that Raccoon-Eyes and Flat Face had going on, Tokoyami never forgot it.

And now it was time for his revenge. 

Tokoyami caught the tomato that Sero threw his way and tossed it up in the air with the most menacing glare on his face as everyone advanced to the struggling pro-hero.

“Bakugou, you ready?!” Kirishima shouted excitedly, removing the gag from his best friend’s mouth.

“PISS OFF, SHITTY HAIR!!!!” Bakugou exploded once he was free, yanking at his restraints even though he had no chance of getting out of them. 

His boyfriend tied them.

Hagakure tapped Jirou’s shoulder warily. “You think we should’ve left it on?”

The other girl shrugged nonchalantly, unbothered by the rage rolling off of him in waves. “Eh, he would’ve found a way out of it eventually.”

Shinsou twirled a piece of Tsuyu’s hair that he was braiding, boredly looking on at all the chaos as they all pushed and pulled each other. He had asked Aizawa to teach him how back when he lived in the dormitory so that he could do it for Eri whenever she came over to visit. 

“Shinsou-chan, are you going to take a turn?” She asked curiously, staying still so that he could braid her long hair properly.

He shrugged even though she couldn’t see him. “I don’t really see the point in it.”

“Kero,” She ribbeted thoughtfully. They were the only two not contributing to the shouting other than you and Todoroki. “I see.”

“Ehhhh?!?!” Kaminari exclaimed, losing his footing as he accidentally tripped over Kirishima’s foot and crashed into Shinsou.

Shooting him a sharp glare as all his hard work undid itself, Shinsou pushed himself off the ground, not sparing him a glance as he marched back over to the frog girl to fix it.

You giggled to yourself at Kaminari’s expression of mock hurt but pursued your lips quickly when his head snapped towards the sound. Pure smile dripping with innocence, your shoulders shook with laughter when he turned all the way around suspiciously, piercing gaze landing on his girlfriend as she doubled over with laughter at something Yaoyorozu said.

Bakugou thrashed helplessly against the coconut tree. “I’M GONNA FUCKIN’ KILL YOU, EARPHONES!!!!!”

But Jirou’s boisterous chortling was all that answered his threat.

You sank back against Todoroki, sighing blissfully despite the war raging on as they started the game, Bakugou protesting violently all the way. 

Angling your head up, your eyes squinted against the sun but you still smiled as soft fur brushed your cheek.

“Are you happy, Shouto?” You asked softly, quiet enough to not catch the attention of the others as they yelled for Midoriya to keep his boyfriend still.

He paused, choosing to play with the fringe of your shirt instead of responding right away. “Right now?”

Your smile dimmed a fraction, not expecting that answer. “... I suppose I meant just in general, but you could answer with whatever comes to mind…”

You trailed off, leaving the question itself open ended so that he could opt not to answer it if he didn’t feel comfortable.

Todoroki hesitated. “Where… Where is this coming from?”

Outright frowning now, you pushed off his knee so that you could sit across from him to see him better. 

“I was just wondering...” You said slowly, trying to keep the defensiveness out of your voice. 

Was he not happy? Why did he hesitate? Would he be happier with someone else? Did he not want to be with you anymore?

You shook your head at the insecure thoughts invading your head. That wasn’t right. He would’ve told you if he didn’t want to put work into this relationship anymore. You two had made that pact when you started dating, to break it off if one person no longer wanted it instead of stringing the other along and ended up hurting you both in the long run.

Taking a deep breath to calm yourself down from spiraling too far, you steadied your heart before opening your mouth again.

“I asked because I wanted to know.” You told him honestly, speaking from the heart. “Your happiness matters a lot to me, I always want you to be happy. That’s why I wanted to ask.”

Placing a hand on his knee, you smiled apologetically at him and the shenanigans from your friends faded into white noise as you tuned out everything else besides him. 

Your Shouto. The person you loved the most in this entire world. The one who had been with you through thick and thin and the one who swore he would never abandon you. 

He knew what those words meant to you. He had your heart.

And you had his. 

Todoroki’s heterochromic eyes softened a fraction and his ears and tail drooped as he realized that he had acted so defensively out of reflex.

“I—”

“You don’t have to apologize.” You reassured him swiftly, clearly. You knew what he was going to say. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Todoroki’s rapid heartbeat steadied at the loving conviction in your voice and a breath he didn’t know he had been holding in whooshed out of his lungs.

Reaching out, he laced his slim fingers with yours and tugged you closer to rest his forehead against yours. 

He closed his eyes and sighed. 

“I am happy.” He murmured quietly so that only you could hear him, emphasizing the soft declaration with a gentle squeeze of your hand. “I feel… the most when I am with you.”

Despite his words growing softer and softer, you still heard them and your heart leaped in your throat.

Swallowing thickly, you gave him a wobbly smile at his admission and fought to keep the tears at bay as you leaned in to press a quick kiss to his lips, commending him for his bravery and vulnerability when it came to expressing his innermost thoughts. You knew it wasn’t easy for him to do.

“I’m glad.” You sighed, trying not to get too caught up in the moment so that your emotions didn’t run away from you. “And I’m honored you feel that way around me. I will continue to do my best to make you happy.”

This time, Todoroki was the one to frown, his nose twitching in displeasure. 

“You do not need to do anything.” He stated matter-of-factly, tilting his head in confusion. “It is your company, I believe, that makes me feel this way.”

That was an understatement. You elevated his heart and spirit in all the best possible ways. With your encouragement and kind nature, he felt like he had the strength to do anything. Including tough out this quirk incident that was causing a huge inconvenience in everybody’s lives.

Todoroki ducked his head and hid a smile, recalling to mind the time you blurted out in passionate fervor that it was not an inconvenience to anyone, let alone you, when he confessed thinking such to you. 

You really were too kind to him. He was going to make sure you were protected forever and always. 

Nudging your temple softly with his nose, Todoroki purred contentedly as your sweet scent washed over him like the summer breeze. 

“Starfruit and coconut?” He questioned curiously. 

Ever since his temporary transformation, he had been picking up more and more of what you smelled like, and he loved it. But this certain combination was brand new to him.

The tips of your ears burned red and you gnawed on your bottom lip shyly. “Y-Yeah… it’s a new lotion. I liked the scent.”

Todoroki hummed thoughtfully, another throaty purr emitting from his chest as waves lazily crashed upon the shore. His arms tightened around you in silent request and his ears perked up as you repositioned yourself so that your back was flush against his bare chest.

“It smells good.” He finally admitted, glancing down at you.

You shifted in his hold, stretching out your legs and crossing your ankles. “Yeah?”

Todoroki buried his nose into your soft hair and inhaled deeply, eyes fluttering shut as he thought about how lucky he was to have someone like you in his life. How much tragedy and hurt he had to go through, what he had to sacrifice almost to the point of giving up, when he met you.

You were his light, his partner, his everything.

Vibrant turquoise and cloudy grey hues softened imperceptibly as they gazed down at you, his tail coming around to wind around your thigh, clutching it almost possessively. 

“Yeah…” He whispered, allowing his eyes to finally slip shut as the sun got to him, exhaustion washing over him like a tidal wave. 

And you, you sat there in his embrace, ready for whatever this life threw at you next. Because in spite of the hardships, you knew that you could face it together. 

Playing with his fingers, you relaxed against him and wriggled more comfortably into his side. 

“Hey, Shouto,” You murmured under your breath, fully aware that he couldn’t hear you based on the even rise and fall of his chest. “When we get home…”

Hooded eyes darted to the bag you brought with you, honing in on the small cube outline bulging from the pouch on the side. The size of a ring box.

“I have something to ask you.”

Bonus: 

Everyone had worn themselves out. Night had fallen, the ambiance only broken by the occasional remark of the ocean spray as they made themselves known. 

Stars twinkled high in the sky and the group of 22 felt the most at ease that they had been since they assumed positions in society as top pro-heroes. 

Well, all except one.

Bakugou glowered at his boyfriend sitting a couple paces away from him. “Deku, I swear to fucking—”

“Kacchan, shh!!! I’ll never get this opportunity again!!!” Midoriya whisper-shouted at him, furiously scribbling in his hero notebook. 

He glanced up once in a while at your sleeping form draped against Todoroki’s white and red fur. 

He had turned into an actual tiger halfway through the night when everyone else had fallen asleep and Midoriya had no idea if it was because he felt at ease enough that he let go, or if this was another step in the quirk manifesting itself. Either way, it was incredibly interesting and he was jotting down everything he noticed.

Rolling his eyes when his fanboy of a boyfriend didn’t put down his pen, Bakugou tapped his foot impatiently. “Of course the fucking Number One Hero still is hung up over these shitty extras.”

Midoriya squealed excitedly despite the other’s discontented grumbling, clutching his notebook close to his heart. “Kacchan, it’s so cool though!!!”

Bakugou huffed, turning away but that was so he couldn’t see the pinking of his cheeks.

Alright, look, it wasn’t his damn fault the shitty nerd was so fucking cute when he got like this!!

Tugging at his restraints purposefully, Bakugou burned a hole in the back of Midoriya’s head when he refused to look his way.

“Oi, let me out of this shit.” He demanded hotly, trying to blast his way through, only to find out that the ropes were made of some kind of quirk-cancelling material.

Fuck.

“In a minute.” Midoriya babbled, waving him off as he scrambled closer to his slumbering friend to get a better look. “Todoroki-kun is so cool!!”

Bakugou’s eyebrows scrunched together at that and he frowned. “What the fuck, you shitty nerd?!”

Midoriya yelped as a red aura emitted from him. “Eep!!! K-Kacchan?!?!”

“IS THAT A CHALLENGE, DEKU?!?!?!?!”

“N-No, of course it’s not!!!” Midoriya replied desperately, waving his hands to ward him off and hopefully stop him from waking everybody else up.

That hope was diminished as quickly as it came as Bakugou roared. “WAKE THE FUCK UP, ICYHOT!!!!!” 

“I really rather not.” Came the dry reply, catching the both of them off guard.

Bakugou recovered quickly and his expression contorted into fury. “WHAT THE FUCK?!?!”

Midoriya approached him cautiously, hoping to placate him. “K-Kacchan, maybe we should—”

“HAH?!?!” His head whipped around towards him, wrists already chafed from how hard he was yanking against it. “YOU STILL THINK FUCKIN’ HALF-N-HALF IS BETTER THAN ME?!?!”

“I didn’t say that!!!” Midoriya cried out.

Bakugou leaned back against the trunk, vermilion eyes glinting dangerously. Every muscle in his body was coiled and ready to strike. “Get the fuck over here, damn nerd.”

Midoriya’s feet moved before he knew what he was doing until he came to a standstill directly in front of his boyfriend looking at him with an entirely different expression on his face. 

One of mild interest and pure determination.

Bakugou smirked. “I’m gonna make you eat your damn words, Deku.”

His eyes lit up at the implication and he ground his fist into the palm of his hand before untying the bonds. 

“Bring it on, Kacchan.”

.

.

.

“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU TWO DO?!?!” You shrieked, horrified at the sight that greeted you in the morning. 

The two of them were covered head to toe in bruises and scrapes, and absolutely soaked. 

Iida was the most upset. “NO QUIRKS WERE ALLOWED ON THIS VACATION!!!!”

Bakugou stuffed his hands in his pockets and scoffed. “Vacation’s over, Emergency Exit.”

“THAT IS NO LONGER AN APPROPRIATE NICKNAME!!!!” Iida corrected and you pinched the bridge of your nose.

“I can’t believe this.” You mumbled to yourself exasperatedly. “You guys actually sparred all night?!?!”

“L/N-san, it was awesome!!!” Midoriya rambled enthusiastically, the glow in his eyes never faltering even as Iida continued to chew out a bored Bakugou. “Kacchan was so cool!!!”

You sputtered. “This was supposed to be a vacation!!!”

“It was!!” Midoriya insisted with a determined pout and you shook your head.

“You don’t understand the concept of a vacation, hospital boy.”

“Hey!!”

Tokoyami nodded, satisfied as Iida punished Bakugou with a week’s worth of chores despite the fact that none of them lived together anymore. “Vengeance is served.” 

“Anyone got any food?” Hagakure chirped while Mina whined in the corner about how hungry she was.

Kaminari was already rifling through the beach bag you brought with you, fishing out every single piece of food you had left. 

You looked on fondly at them as they handled the food emergency themselves. You were lucky to have friends like these. Ones that could goof off whenever and be as silly as you were, as well as be there when it counted. 

Todoroki tapped you on the shoulder with the tip of his tail, offering up a bagel he had managed to snag before everyone else emptied out the reserves. “Hungry?”

You shot him a thankful look, breaking it in half to share with him before munching on your piece happily. “Very.”

The two of you basked in the momentary peace the sunrise brought as Bakugou argued against Iida that he wasn’t even the one to start the brawl, even though it fell on deaf ears.

You bit back a smile as Todoroki’s tail looped around your waist, pulling you into his side and you laughed lightly. “Is this your way of telling me you want to cuddle some more before we have to go back?”

“Maybe.” He mused, gaze filled with adoration and humor as he fixated his eyes on you.

Todoroki blinked slowly, dipping his head down to draw your head close to his. “Y/N?”

You tilted your face up at his inquiry. “Yes?”

The depth of love in your eyes was reflected in his heart.

“Later today, if you get a chance, stop by my agency.” He requested somewhat timidly and you raised an eyebrow in surprise at the odd desire.

“Yeah… okay, sure.” You affirmed with what you hoped to be a reassuring smile to put him at ease, even though you had no idea what this was all about.

Todoroki chuckled softly at your lost expression. You looked cute when you were trying to figure out what he was thinking. No chance though, you could think about this one all you wanted, you were never going to figure out where he was going with this. 

“There is something I would like to ask you.” He hinted with a mysterious smile, unlocking his grip around your waist to stroll over to Koda and help him pack up the picnic basket.

It took a second for you to process. And then another passed before you realized what he meant.

“W-Wait a minute— Shouto!!!!”

Ringing laughter was all that accompanied your cries and torrent of questions as you asked over and over again if he was insinuating what you thought he was.

In a moment of bravery, he threw you a wink. “You have to wait to find out, Y/N.”

“No fair!!!”

“Patience.”

“UH UH, YOU CAN’T JUST LEAVE A GIRL HANGING LIKE THAT!!!!”

“I don’t see how it’s any different than what you pulled last night.”

“... I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Todoroki shrugged nonchalantly, aiding Iida and Yaoyorozu in packing up the rest of the supplies. “Okay.”

“TODOROKI SHOUTO, GET BACK HERE!!!!”

“Wait six hours, Y/N.”

“SIX HOURS?!?!?!”

Your wailing only made that grin on his face grow. “I could double it.”

You shut your mouth at that ominous threat. Like hell he was going to do that to you. 

Todoroki smiled triumphantly but it only lasted for a second when you glared at him.

“You’re a cruel, cruel man, Todoroki.” You proclaimed dramatically, stumbling back when Kaminari took that opportunity to plop a heavy basket in your arms to make you carry it.

Todoroki’s shoulders shook with laughter at your attempt to catch yourself. You were as clumsy as a newborn deer. “I learn from the best.”

Your eyes glittered with mischief and throwing down the basket, you sprinted over to somewhere behind the rocks, disappearing from sight.

But your voice still carried.

“BAKUGOU, I’M GONNA KILL YOU!!!!!!”

[lycanlovingvampyre]

MAG 154 Relisten

Ah yes, I remember it so clearly when I heard that episode the first time. I was almost done cutting apple, but I didn't quite feel satisfied after MAG 152 and 153, those are statement that were a bit subtle for me. So I thought "Okay, I'll give one more episode a shot" (even though the episode title didn't sound particularly interest-piquing) and then it starts with Gertrude and I had some problems following a lot of Gertrude statements, I don't know, her voice makes me sleepy xD And I was already prepared to drift away during this episode again and was a bit demotivated. But I kept going. Well, best fucking decision ever. As soon as I realized she's reading from the Cataloque of the Trapped Dead I was like "Oh?"

JON: "And I started to pay attention to the ones I… wasn’t drawn to. The tapes I instinctively wanted to discard." That's very clever, go against what the Eye wants!

JON: "There was one, this one, that my hand… pulled back from. I dropped it, twice, when I went to pick it up." Lol, that actually sounds funny. Like "Whoops! I dropped it... Woaa, dropped it again, ahaha, clumsy me."

JON: "I am the avatar of awful knowledge and revealed secrets." Oh Jon, you theater kid!

GERTUDE: "“When he opened his eyes, he of course saw nothing" Ok, she already read that part and still couldn't guess, what was necessary to quit. Already talked about this in MAG 111, but because of this I think those memory-ghosts of the Catalogue work like the appearances of people plugged into the Matrix, a mental projection of their self. How they most liked seeing themselves. So when it comes to depicting Eric, I think he'd still have intact eyes. Cause he says he "destroyed them completely", I can't imagine how one could not see that, if the appearance is the same as in the moment of death.

I love how similar Eric and Gerry sound, and I don't think it's because of the ghostly echo. I do have a recording of Gerry without that effect. Very good VA choice!

ERIC: "I know that I’m not really Eric; I’m just a memory someone wrote down. It hurts, most of the time." Primarily it's probably meant to be an effect of the Catalogue's nature, of the Fears just doing their job. Put I guess the knowledge of not actually being you also makes it weird. Then again, what are we anyway? Isn't the memory of oneself's entire life basically what makes one that particular person? And still, it matters on which hardware we run. Otherwise, how would we explain body dysphoria?

ERIC: "You too. (beat) You got old." GERTRUDE: "Better than being dead." ERIC: (short sigh of a laugh) "Fair enough. To be honest, I’m impressed, more than anything. Hard to get old in this business. You either die, or you, uh, stay young. (short, uncomfortable pause) …How did Mary look?" GERTRUDE: (same sort of short laugh) "She got old, too." Well, let's see, this is in 2008. My educated guess from MAG 35 was that Gerry was born sometime around 1983 or 1984. Perhaaaps 1985 when we'll go with the most extreme numbers from MAG 35. We don't know when Mary killed Gerry, Eric says he left the Archives months before she killed him. So, Eric died.. what? 1984 or 1985? So he hasn't seen Gertrude in over 20 years! He probably saw Mary a few times since she summoned him to bounce off ideas of him. But even if she kept doing that for a few years and then stopped, 15 years would still be a long time with visible changes^^

ERIC: "And Gerry? Have you seen my son?" Nawwww... He actually calls him Gerry, like he always wanted to.

ERIC: "Yeah, it doesn’t feel great. But being dead, I s’pose you don’t feel things quite as strongly. Little bit – flat." Ha, like a piece of paper!

ERIC: "Elias? Elias Bouchard, seriously?!" GERTRUDE: "Hm, he’s changed a lot." <.<

GERTRUDE: "So. What did they not want me to know?" ERIC: "I quit." GERTRUDE: "You – Sorry, you quit?" ERIC: "Yeah. I figured out how." Well, at that point I was sitting at the edge of the sofa staring wide eyed at the TMA logo in the YT video of screen.

ERIC: "You know, you were never actually all that nice to me when I worked for you, Gertrude. Not like Michael, or Emma." Hahahaha, very good, let her dangle a bit! I'd like to say I'd do the same but I know that in the end I never want to give people one, what they did to me, and two, something which they could hold against me.

Eric: "I don’t know what she saw in me, not really." Not-really counter of S4: 20!

ERIC: "You were almost there, you know, with your theory that James could watch us from any eye, even an illustration. What did you do? How did you sever that link?" GERTRUDE: "My God!" Yeah, at that point I said "Fuuuuck" out loud... My spouse was sitting on the couch next to me was like ?? and I just kept saying "Fuck" over and over again. First: Eyes are one of the body parts I find the most horrific... I can watch every body horror torture splatter movie wihout problems but when it's about eyes... Fuck off! If I'd be in that position I'd be like "Yeah, you know what, I actually like the Archives! Screw that, y'all go ahead and do what you must do but keep me out of it." Second, I love moments like this in fiction! The last one like this I remember when I read The Last Wish (The Witcher) by Sapkowski, specifically The Lesser Evil. When that innkeeper (or whatever that guy was) explained what happened in Tridam and it dawned on me what Renfri was about to do (just like it dawned on Geralt in that moment. I love having the same reaction like characters, when I can discover huge things alongside them).

[TAPE CLICKS ON.] [JON SIGHS HEAVILY.] JON: "Fuck." [TAPE CLICKS OFF.] Yah, same...

JON: "I know. I know what you said, but I just – (inhale) I think I’ve found a way for us to leave the Institute."[BRIEF PAUSE.]

MARTIN: "O-kay…?"

JON: "Yeah. But it’s – (heavy inhale) It’s pretty drastic."

MARTIN: (hah) "What, you going to gouge your eyes out, or something?"

[BEAT.]

MARTIN: (gets it) "Fuck off!"

Such an iconic piece of dialogue xD

MARTIN: "Erm… like, I mean… permanently? Or…"

This has the same energy as answering "In general?" to the question of "Haven't seen a dog, have you?"

JON: "But we could leave here, you and me. Escape."

Eeek <3

JON: (squawk) "Uh, I, I don’t know. I don’t – know. But… maybe it’s worth it? The risk – y-you and me, together, getting out of here –"

[MARTIN SNIFFS.]

JON: "– one way or another."

MARTIN: "Jon."

Double Eeeek <3

So what's going on here has a name, URST or UST. It stands for UnResolved Sexual Tension, although I don't like that term cause it's just as well used for unresolved romantic tension. Especially when we're talking about a couple with an ace character, or when it's used in a show for minors about minors (Miraculous is textbook example). So it's basically a trope to keep suspension going by having all kinds of obstacles to keep the love interests from actually getting together, usually also having them pine after each other over and over again + once in a while giving them a scene in which it looks like they finally get somewhere.

Full disclosure: I'm a sucker for that trope. I loved that in Inu Yasha, I love this in Miraculous (although it's getting a bit destroyed by all there What-if-episodes with a time reset or memory wipe) and of course I love it in TMA.

JON: "I mean, whatever their plan is for me, I am damn sure that doing that isn’t it. I’d derail everything – we could derail everything, and then just – leave!"

Time travel fix-it for TMA is extremely difficult because you basically have these powerfull forces which had it all planned out. I think there are actually two points in TMA where it could really take a very different turn. One of them is here. If Jon blinds himself, he won't belong to the Eye anymore and can't complete the ritual. And given what Annabelle says in MAG 197 it sounds like Jon will even survive being cut off from the Eye.

MARTIN: "Nothing; It’s just – (one more laugh) It’s just ironic, that’s all."

That's totally in the sense of "At any time before taking Peter's deal I would have run away with you in a heartbeat. But back then you never came to me and now when you do it's me who won't do it"-ironic, right?

[storytellerofuntoldlegends]

gods and the mortals they worship

A/N: honestly this idea started out due to the fact that scott and jack are gonna be housemates, and a friend and i were like "haha what if c!scott moved into Innit Hotel with jack" which turned into "haha what if c!scott was the god of mcc but he just seemed like a Dude to everyone else" which made my brain go brrr and think "haha what if god!scott and goddess!kristin met for tea" and then this fic happened. it got much angstier than i intended it to whoops

Warnings: implied/referenced temporary character death, grief/mourning, hugs, emotional hurt/comfort

Summary: Kristin, the goddess of death. Scott, the god of champions. Two deities that at first glance, have nothing to do with the other. But all the same, the two deities are close friends, meeting for tea and talking about the mortals they adore. However, some conversations painfully remind them of the mortality of their loved ones.

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Kristin rather enjoyed it when a fellow deity joined her for tea. Not many would, XD was a little wary of her, being her opposite in a sense. And his sister Drista visited her often enough, but the young goddess was a bit on the rambunctious side, which was expected for the trickster. But the deity's whose visits pleased her the most were Scott's. The god of champions was always lovely to chat with, and she looked forward to each event he organized- always rooting for her husband's team, of course.

They met for tea weekly, but this visit... something seemed off about Scott. He seemed cheery enough, talking about how he had recently moved into the Innit Hotel with Jack and the other servers he was drifting between. But there was a melancholy expression on his face for a brief moment as he traced the flower pattern on his teacup, and a lost, faraway expression would come over his face from time to time. These were expressions Kristin recognized all too well- grief. She saw it in the faces of many mortals when she called their loved ones to her side- and it was unnerving to say the least to see such an expression on a god's face.

"Who are you mourning?" she asked, startling Scott slightly. The god's ever color-shifting eyes refused to meet her.

"The loss of my mcc team, of course," Scott countered with a half-hearted smirk. Kristin gave him an expression of disbelief, and the smirk melted away to something more downcast as he fiddled with something on a chain around his neck. A ring.

"Oh Scott," she said softly.

"Tried the married life thing. It was nice, for a bit. But it was a modified hardcore world, and it didn't end well. For him... or for me," Scott said, hand drifting to his throat with a grimace. Kristin set down her tea, placing a comforting hand on Scott's shoulder. Scott had a unique position as a god- he was one of the few who felt the sting of death. As he willingly lived among mortals most of the time, his godly power had to be diminished to do so. Which meant he could die- but it would never truly stick for him. Granted, death didn't really stick for most of the crowd he stuck around with. They would be reborn into other servers, maybe retaining impressions of the ones before- but Scott was the only one who truly remembered each server he had been on.

"I'm so sorry. Is he..." Kristin trailed off, unsure if she wanted to know if Scott's husband had been reborn into a different server.

"He's on another server with me now. Empires SMP. Calls himself the Codfather these days. I keep hoping he'll remember... but I don't know if I want him to," Scott said, eyes watery.

"Why not?" Kristin asked. If she was in a similar situation with Phil, she absolutely would want him to remember her.

"Because what kind of god can't even keep his husband alive?! I couldn't protect him before, who says I could do it now. Besides with my luck, by the time he'd remember me, I'd only lose him again. Why waste the effort on more heartbreak," Scott said, something vengeful in his tone. The aura around him tinged red, and Kristin drew her hand back with a jolt. Scott took notice of his surroundings, and with a sheepish smile his aura shifted to something more neutral and warm.

"That's why you're hiding in the Dream SMP with Jack, isn't it? You don't want to risk him remembering," Kristin asked softly. Scott let out a sigh.

"I'm not... hiding, exactly. Just lying low, somewhere where I don't have to pretend I'm not a god," Scott explained with a faraway glance.

“What if you were to tell this... Codfather," Kristin suggested. Scott wrinkled his nose in disgust in the name.

"Jimmy. His name is Jimmy," Scott corrected, sounding reverent as he murmured his name the second time. It was almost silly, a god worshipping the ground a mortal walked on- not that Kristin was one to talk. But then again, Phil wasn't exactly mortal.

"Then why don't you tell Jimmy the truth about who you are," Kristin prodded. Few knew the truth about Scott's godly status- Phil, most notably, and Wilbur. And now, she supposed, all who were on the Dream SMP. Otherwise, most knew Scott as someone who had a connection to the god of champions, and carried out his invitations to the games- not that Scott himself was the god in question.

"I... I don't know. Maybe it's safer for him if he never knows," Scott said with a sigh. Kristin squinted at him suspiciously.

"Scott, I've known you for centuries. Tell me the real reason you don't want to tell him," she said pointedly. Scott laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. With a deep breath, his expression settled into something more solemn.

"I don't want things to be different between us. I liked the way it was, on that modified hardcore world. We had a flower valley, with a pond and overgrowth and- and his silly insistence on wanting to protect me, like I was the fragile one, not him. I even experienced a brief afterlife with him, after we had lost all our lives on that world. And that... that was beautiful. But then things reset, and he was reincarnated. And how could I not follow him?" Scott said wistfully. His eyes shone with bittersweet tears, a fond smile on his face.

"You truly have the heart of a mortal, my friend," Kristin said with a soft smile. Scott chuckled, shaking his head.

"Well I certainly can't let anyone know that, think of my reputation," he joked. Kristin laughed.

"Oh please, we all know how much you cherish your champions," she teased.

"Don't tell a soul," Scott said in a mock-serious tone.

"Oh please, the only souls I know are dead ones," Kristin replied with a chuckle. Scott laughed too, but it fell short as his eyes landed on the flowers that decorated the teacups.

"I think the worst part is that he sees me as an enemy. I guess rightfully so, I pushed him away because I was afraid of letting him back in. I don't think I'll be able to look him in the eyes if we end up on the opposite sides of a battle," Scott said, voice fragile as the delicate teacups on the table before them.

"Maybe there's still time to make amends. You could extend some token of peace towards him?" Kristin suggested gently.

"Maybe. I just..." Scott trailed off.

"You just want to mope around in a world of constant hardship and destruction?" Kristin teased lightly, smirking. Scott laughed.

"I guess the Dream SMP isn't the greatest place to hide out," he said, still chuckling. Kristin was relieved to see her friend back to his more genuine smiley self, multicolored eyes glinting with amusement.

"Maybe not. Are Phil and Wilbur staying out of trouble?" Kristin asked, picking her tea back up to sip at. Scott laughed again.

"Staying out of trouble is asking a lot for your family. But I think Phil has forced Wilbur to make friends with Ranboo," he replied, picking up his tea as well.

"Oh? How did that go?" Kristin asked.

"Not sure, honestly. I think they opened a burger place? I've mostly been keeping to myself in the Innit Hotel," Scott said with a shrug.

"I'm sure Tommy loves that," Kristin said dryly.

"Oh yes, cussed me out until I threatened to not let him on mcc anymore. He changed his tune pretty quickly," Scott laughed.

"Doesn't Jack actually own the hotel now?" Kristin asked.

"Yes, but Tommy doesn't seem to know that," Scott answered with a sigh, shaking his head.

"I'm sure he'll get over it. Probably still a little jumbled from being brought back," Kristin muttered, unable to help looking miffed at that. She wasn't exactly fond of people being torn from her domain, especially by an overzealous mortal and the god who he eerily resembled. Although she couldn't exactly blame XD, the book had called him and he was forced to answer.

“Maybe life and death shouldn’t be toyed with anymore,” Scott said softly, after a few beats of silence. Kristin thought of Scott’s struggles with death and rebirth, then thought of her own family. Her husband who survived and lived, never dying- and her son, who fought and died, but ended up living.

“You wouldn’t see me complaining,” Kristin replied, voice coming out more melancholy than she meant it to. Scott looked to her with brows creased in sympathy.

“What a pair we make,” he said with a humorless laugh. Kristin laughed too, just as bleak as Scott’s own laugh.

“The goddess of death whose loved ones live, and the god of champions whose loved ones lose,” she said, voice forlorn. Scott set down his tea, dropping his gaze from Kristin’s.

“I do tend to be drawn towards the lost ones, don’t I?” he said with a weak smile.

“Nothing wrong with rooting for the underdog,” Kristin pointed out with a shrug. Scott looked at the flowers on the teacups, and his smile was a bit brighter this time around, less sad and bittersweet.

“I guess not. Maybe you’re right, maybe there is time to smooth things out with Jimmy,” Scott said, looking back up at Kristin.

“Good! Being mopey doesn’t suit you. And telling him the truth couldn’t hurt either,” Kristin insisted brightly. Scott rolled his eyes with a chuckle.

“Okay Mumza, no need to get on my case. I said I’d try and smooth things over, not reveal that I’m an all-powerful god that was married to him once because I like playing mortal,” he replied, dragging out her nickname with a teasing grin. Kristin grinned back.

“I guess your situation is a little different than when I told Phil I was a goddess,” she said semi-sheepishly.

“Phil was also hopelessly head-over-heels for you when you told him. Jimmy is decidedly not,” Scott pointed out with a laugh.

“Oh Jimmy will come around eventually. If he knows what’s good for him,” Kristin said, sipping at her tea. Scott blinked at her in confusion.

“Are you threatening my ex-husband?” he asked, tone so adorably baffled that Kristin couldn’t help but laugh.

“All I meant was that he doesn’t know what he’s missing. Any man would be lucky to have captured your attention," she clarified with a teasing grin. Scott flushed in embarrassment, the aura around him tinging pink.

“You’re acting like an embarrassing mum trying to convince her son to get out there and start dating,” Scott huffed, trying to play off his flusteredness.

“You’re the one who called me ‘Mumza,’” Kristin pointed out, still grinning.

“This is rude, I’m being attacked and you’re twisting my words against me now-” Scott cut off with a laugh, unable to keep up the mock-offended act as his aura shifted back to being a neutral warm color. Scott finally looked the most himself that he had been all day- aura full of warmth, a smile on his face, and color-shifting eyes sparkling.

“Oh, whatever will you do?” Kristin teased. Scott shook his head, picking up his tea and finishing it off with one last sip before standing from the table.

“I think I’m gonna leave, actually. It’s about time I head out anyway,” Scott said. Kristin looked at how low her own tea had gotten, and sighed before standing with a gentle smile.

“Well as always, it was wonderful to have you. I hope everything works out,” she said softly, holding out her arms. Scott hugged her without hesitation, and Kristin got the feeling he was silently thanking her for her advice through the hug.

“See you next week?” Scott asked after he pulled away.

“I look forward to it,” Kristin replied. Scott smiled, giving a two-fingered salute before disappearing in a burst of color. The lightshow faded, leaving Kristin in her rather gloomy domain. The loneliness after a fellow deity left was always the worst, and the heavy conversation from before didn’t help matters much. Scott and Kristin were very similar beings for two deities that ruled over extremely different things- both of their hearts were too big, too smitten with mortals. Scott could at least compete alongside mortals if he so chose, but Kristin was in a plane of existence that her loved ones could only reach through tragedy. Perhaps Scott had it worse- Kristin could at least distance herself from mortals, while Scott stubbornly refused to. But all the same, Kristin was hopeful that things would work out for the god of champions. And maybe, things would work out for her family as well.

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