#where someone put down the concept of vine

[koolades-world]

OKAY! OKAY! First off, have you ever seen Little Shop of Horrors?

If not, please do! One, it's essential for this ask and it's also just a great movie! No pressure though!

Now, onto the real ask! So, if possible, I'd like to request a florist!MC. But a florist who's kind of like Seymour.

(Here's where the whole Little Shop of Horrors thing comes in)

They come to the Devildom with Audrey II. It's got its roots wrapped around the MC's waist, and it's vines wrapped around their arms while snug. Of course, it's heavily off-putting because.. well. There's a humongous and terrifying plant just.. attached to this human.

But the brothers don't mind it, until months into the MC's stay as an exchange student when Audrey II starts talking. Then, they're all freaked out. They're even more freaked out when the MC is not only fine with it, but is willingly talking to it like it's normal!

(Bonus if they see the MC prick their finger and then just.. let Audrey II clean It off.)

(Yes, this came to me in a dream in the middle of a 20-minute-nap.)

How would the brothers react to an S/O/MC with a weird talking human-eating plant (Or Audrey II)?

i actually hadn't seen that movie until i got this ask, so i sat down to watch it. let me tell you, i really really enjoyed it!! will most definitely watch again

also this is just such a fun concept in general! had so many ideas

enjoy <3

Florist Mc with their own Audrey II

Lucifer

he did not know this is what he was signing up for when you were invited to the exchange program

there was enough chaos in the house with his six brothers

now he's got one more person to look after... and a plant?

he's not going to brush past it, but he's going to treat the entire situation as calmly and normally as he can to help himself avoid more headaches haha

Mammon

he's super freaked out by your... plant

you bet he's constantly asking if audrey II has to be in the room while you hang out haha

he tries his best to get used to it because if he was you, he'd want that

in a weird way, audrey II almost reminds him of his crows

Levi

you've probably heard this before but he has to say it!

you must be the main character!! of something, anything (haha get it? lol)

when you tell him you're not, he doesn't believe you

if and when he finds the series that reminds him of your situation he will insist you read it and might read it with you. as long as audrey II is in another room haha

Satan

since it's satan, he's asking all sorts of questions about audrey II

where did you find it? do you need to water it? how old is it?

lots and lots of questions that never seem to end

even if you can answer all of those, he'll forever be curious and even has a little notebook where he takes notes about it

Asmo

he probably was the first to scream upon seeing it

he probably screamed again once it started talking haha

he asks a couple times to make sure you're with this plant willingly and it didn't kidnap you or anything

if you like the plant, he has to too, so he tries his best to befriend it haha

Beel

his first question was can we eat it?

the answer is no haha

his second question was what does it eat?

he loves to see that someone likes to eat just as much as him that he manages to get past the whole talking part. they often enjoy dinner together!

Belphie

he swears up and down he's brave and is not afraid of the plant

but not once has he fallen asleep while in the room with the plant

you can tell he hates that it can talk

in all honesty? he's so real for that

[melkyt]

✨️Tarzan!LawLu au ✨️ (Dragodile, CrocoDad is a thing that is mentioned).

Luffy, the lost wild child of the jungle, raised by animals with no contact with the outside world.

Law as a historian and medic for an expedition run by Robin, when he gets a lead that he decides to follow up on and subsequently gets lost in the jungle, gets injured, and gets found by Luffy.

Luffy with long hair, no concept of human language, or even that there are others like him is immediately fascinated by Law, and his clothes xd

He takes Law, who is out of it due to his injury-induced fever and treats him to the best of his ability. Luffy has the basic knowledge of plants that treat most things thanks to the other animals.

It is too safe when Law is lucid, he has so many questions and also needs to find a way back to civilization. Finds out Luffy also knows about a ruin based on the trinkets and treasures he has around his nest/home, and most importantly the cloud necklace he is wearing. It is what they are looking for and decide that they need Luffy to find it.

Bonus points if Crocodile is the one funding/running the expedition and has a lot of money on the line with this discovery.

Luffy eventually gets Law back to civilization and well, Crocodile is there and he recognizes the cloud Luffy wears.

This leads to our fave wild child boi being captured and put in a cage, as he refuses to cooperate in a civil way, and puts more than one guy into the hospital until Crocodile subdues him.

Law argues this is inhumane, he is a doctor and the man needs treatment, not a cage.

Crocodile answers that he will let the brat go as long as he shows them the ruins, dangling the necklace in front of Luffy's cage.

Luffy gets what the man wants and refuses, he ain't going to do shit any human tells him, they hurt his friends. He has seen Croc and his men shoot more than one. So he stays silent. No matter how much they torture him.

That is until Crocodile notices how Luffy responds to Law, that they even found a language they can communicate on some level. So he makes a threat to hurt Law with clear intent that would be obvious to anyone.

Luffy growls and gives in with a nod. He will show them. They put him in chains and makes Law come with them to keep Luffy in line. The way to the ruins is past his nest, that he has called his home since he was lost.

The men start going through it. Luffy tries to fight them for disturbing it. They set it on fire, and Luffy runs in to grab the one thing he has from his life before the animals find him. It is a baby blanket, he gets burned in the process. Law takes this chance to overpower the guards and they run away. Luffy does not manage to get the blanket but it is saved from the fire by Crocodile who was trying to catch Luffy.

And he recognizes it as the blanket of someone he lost a long time ago, a loss that ended any hope of ever having a relationship again. It can't be the same child, not after all these years. He has been exploring this island/area for over a decade and never a sign?

LawLu meanwhile escape through the jungle. Luffy leads him to the ruins which is quite a climb through an overgrown area, then past a waterfall and a cave passage covered in vines. It is not surprising it was never found.

They heal up and relax. Obligatory bathing in a crystal lake scene where Law has a crisis over Luffy's muscles xd.

Luffy is determined to go back and fck up Crocodile for hurting Law and burning his home. Law tries to convince him that it's not worth it.

Crocodile finds a way to track Luffy through the winding Jungle, he comes alone. If this is his son, he has to know.

Drama, a confrontation. Luffy almost dies when they tussle and he falls off a cliff. The panic, terror. Law looking for a way to scramble down, getting a little bit banged in the process. Law being bloody and exhausted, focusing on nothing but Luffy's treatment.

Crocodile forgetting all about the ruins, for now. This is his son, he recognizes a scar or a birthmark that Luffy has, something distinct.

Law manages to stabilize Luffy. They carry him to an area where they can get helicoptered out. They go to some big hospital.

There is a lot of legal nonsense. Dragon shows up and wants to take guardianship immediately, arguing with Croc.

Law pulls some strings as quite the prominent doctor and gets Luffy signed into existence under his protection, not trusting the two people who lost him in the first place.

Robin while nobody is paying attention to her, registers the ruins and surrounding area as a historical site and an animal sanctuary, making it impossible or very unprofitable to loot it. It's on the radar now. Crocodile can't touch it even if he wanted to. Though he has bigger things on his mind.

Law is there as Luffy starts to get the basic idea of human society, but never loses that feral streak. They settle down in a home on the edge of the village, with Law studying the history of the ruins and working as a local doctor while Luffy takes care of the animals and leads tours through the woods, preferring being out in the wild over civilization but he always comes home to Law.

[scatterbrainedart]

Made this in 2022 with the intention of doing every series, but I just. Got tired trying to work out double life and gave up. And then it's been rotting in my drafts ever since. So here is as far as it went, because I still think it's kinda fun.

Life Series lives markings concepts!

I like the idea that the lives a player have left are visualized as marks on their body, so this is my approach on it! I also decided to handle each season a bit different, and here’s how:

3rd Life

So, for 3rd life specifically I think it’d be pretty cool to have the lives running along their throats (this doesn’t work for last life since the people who ended up with like 6 lives absolutely will not be able to fit them all on their neck, but I’ll get into that later), simply because I drew my life series sona like that and now I’m attached, and I have decided to simply deal with it.

Generally I like the idea that the Murderous Intent™ of the red life is visualised as red vines (or, corrupted veins. A sickness in the blood, making them crave bloodshed. That could be pretty cool) taking control of the player and corrupting them. That would also be the same for latter boogymen, albeit a lot more subtle since it’s all canonically sneaky and invisible and whatnot.

Another general rule of the markings is that once you lose a life, a scar takes its place (preferably somewhat reminiscent of how that life was lost. Got blown up? The scar looks like an explosion. Got shot? Perhaps it looks like it’s shattering or something, I dunno. I haven’t quite thought that far ahead, but it could be fun to play around with).

Last Life

Now, as for last life, the design got a bit more tricky to figure out as, like I said, six lives would not be able to fit on someone's throat! So! I figured putting them along the spine would look really neat, so that's exactly what I did. Behold!

The greens go darker the further up they go, and I also have them shine. Why? Because style, that’s why. Anyways, not all people start out with six lives. So, what does that look like?

Boom! Grayed out hearts. This would be Grian after gaining that one life from Scar. I’d imagine, if the player has some empty slots, that’s where the extra life would end up (what about when they don’t have empty slots then? Like, if someone already has six lives, or if they have used up six ones? I’ll get around to that shortly. First, let’s mention red lifers and boogeymen).

Red life, and the second chance. Just like in the 3rd life version, there’s these red vines or veins corrupting the player, except this time the player can be healed if they’re gifted a life. This is what that would look like. Like I said, the extra life fills up the empty slot and avoids the scar tissue, sort of like a lighting bulb turning on and then breaking once that life is spent. As for boogeymen,

The red life shines far brighter, and is starting to corrupt. The corruption is not yet deep enough to leave scars when healed, and should simply retract once the boogey is cured. If the boogey is cured. Now. About what I said earlier about that seventh extra life.

I’d reckon there’d just pop up a new one under the red life, and if there were even more they’d just continue down. I doubt there’d ever be an issue where someone would have too many lives to fit all their markings, so I don’t worry too much about that tbh. Oh and one last thing before we move on from last life onto everyone’s favourite romantic comedy drama (which will not happen. Curse 2022 me's positive thinking). I think it’d be kinda cool if the neck scars from 3rd life stays. Simply for angst reasons. Tho, they’d be a lot more faded than the scars from the current season ofc, but they’d still be there. Just enough to remind the players of the past lives’ bitter ends. Of the betrayals and the regret, the guilt and the weariness. Because why not.

(Might update with the other seasons. Hmmm)

[smokestarrules]

I agree with you that some people mischaracterize Amity in Labyrinth Runner. She doesn't look down on Willow like in S1, she just wants to protect her, like Amity said that herself. When Willow says she's gonna capture some scouts to investigate them, Amity says that "They're tough, not anyone can stand up to them." Amity is reasonable, I think, given the fact that Willow was kidnapped by the Scouts before in Any Sports in A Storm. Tbh, If I had a friend who's gonna face and capture her kidnappers again, I'd stop them. And some, including Gus, even misunderstand that Amity is looking down on Willow in that first scene.

However, the most controversial scene is when Willow traps a Scout with her vine, Amity says that "Lucky shot, Willow." Given that even the captured scout says to Willow that "Don't listen to her, you totally got me", it only fuels people's opinions that Amity is underestimating Willow again. They bring up the fact that Amity is oblivious cause she doesn't remember that Willow used to cover the school with her vines. This scene also confuses me more than the first one in the cafeteria. Do you think this scene is badly written? The writer makes it as if Amity was looking down on Willow again.

Sorry for the wait on this, anon---I got sick literally the day you sent it in and the very concept of Thinking Analytically made me want to die. It's now Finals Week at my university but I am getting a degree in Overanalyzing Amity Blight so fuck it we ball. Anyway---

Nah It's Not Weird Writing, Amity's Just Like That.

I've talked before about Amity's issue with assuming things. That's essentially her main problem in this episode, that she's overcompensating for her earlier actions and in doing so actually causing a different sort of rift to form. Amity assumes that she still needs to atone and to do whatever she can to ensure that Willow doesn't get hurt, even though everyone else knows Willow can take care of herself.

And it's not that Amity doesn't know that, but that's the fact that gets left behind in the face of Needing To Atone.

So when it comes to that scene specifically, it's probably a combination of that and also just. using the wrong words. Amity tends to do that sometimes too. She both wholeheartedly believes that Willow wants Amity to be doing all the work, and also she just puts her foot in her mouth. It's what makes her so goddamn funny.

That's also why this conflict is ultimately so easy and quick to resolve. Amity assumes things, it's true, but when someone actively communicates to her about whatever she's doing wrong, especially in cases where she literally just thinks she's helping, she's very open to changing her behavior.

Willow says she doesn't want Amity's protection. Willow says that she wants Amity to see who she really is. So Amity does. Amity goes, whoops, that was wrong, and makes up for it.

And because she learns of her mistake and immediately fixes her behavior, Amity and Willow are able to end the episode much closer than before.

[hellcatinnc]

Escape Into Love

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Warning This includes: SFW (Read Tags Before Continuing)

Tags: sfw, fairytale, fluff, love and deepspace, zayne, Li Shen, x reader, zayne x reader, zayne z fem! reader, Fem! reader, Li Shen x Fem! reader, Li Shen x reader, witches, magic, spells, evol, ice, ice evol, romantic, romantic fluff, love, proposal

Word Count: 2,301

Feature: Zayne/Li Shen x Fem! Reader

This takes the memory card Secret Fairytale and works off the concept and I ran with it. This is by request from discord...

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As Zayne gets to the fence surrounding what looks like a old villa thats abandoned he wondered if he had made a wrong turn, when checking out the forest behind the park he always goes to. The gate seemed locked so he ran his fingers down the side of the gate as he walked around to see if there was another entrance. As he gets further down he hears a soft voice "Who are you?"

Zayne was shocked he was so sure this house was abandoned it even looked it. He stopped walking and since he was sure you could not see him for the growth along the fence he just stayed still trying to slow his breathing. He had heard many stories about the witches in the forest and how they lure humans in at hopes to have them take them back to their world. He wanted none of this, he was a surgeon he didn't believe in some fairytale come to life, he was too logical to believe that this really could be a witch and more like kids messing with him. He finally spoke up "Who are you for that matter?" You were intrigued as you walked down to the the part of the fence where he was still standing. "You're at my home and yet you ask me who I am... I can smell the human in you."

He took a step back this time he was shook a little more as he had dropped his book that he was reading earlier in the park. He wasn't sure if he should be a little scared but as his emotions took over his fingers started crystalizing over with his ice evol he had to calm himself. He hadn't planned to hurt anyone he felt like he should just leave and not look back so as he turned and he went to walk off he heard you loud and clear right down to his heart. "So you know what its like to be different as well..." He stopped its like he couldn't move you didn't know him but yet also understood what it was like to be different. Sometimes he hated that he was different he wanted to be someone who saved people but he felt like sometimes his ice evol is what made him come off as cold as ice at times. He turned around and yelled back towards the fence "How do you know how I feel or how I am for that matter?"

There was a bit of aggression sound in his voice because if this was someone playing with him they were going to know the wrath he could do if attacked of his power. You started laughing "I can hear your heart beat and how it changes when your power comes out that is how, its the same as mine does as well." He was shocked because you talked like you could almost really know what he was dealing with. He turned to leave but something stopped him he closed his eyes and thought should he really walk away when this is a person that might understand how he felt, would it be the end of the world to hear her out. He took a breath and walked back to the fence, this time towards the gate he clears his throat as he tries to peer through the gate. "Can I see you?"

You walk over towards the door a bit scared at first but you pushed the vines back off the gate and there you were face to face finally. Your gaze was a unspoken understanding that neither of you expected. You put your hands on the gate as he was close enough to almost feel your breath but he was so caught off by your beauty. He was not expecting someone who was supposed to be a witch to be so stunning. Your hair danced across your shoulders and your beautiful shimmering eyes were captivating. Even your lightly stained pink lips were inviting. Words weren't coming to him but he was captivated the moment you continued speaking. "It must be nice in the real world, tell me about it please. I have been stuck locked in here for centuries alone."

Before he knew it he had chuckled, this caught him off guard because he hasn't laughed really since he was a kid. Then when he thought about you being there alone for centuries and he felt a pang in his chest for you being so lonely. His eyes never left yours however he gave you an honest answer. His deeper voice loud and clear and full of depth in what he was saying. "Not really as much as you think it might be. The world is heartless, and uncaring. Its unwavering and for people like me with evol power I will always stand on the outside." You cut him off not leaving him the chance to explain more of why it also could be a good place as well. "Oh then never mind, guess there is no place for me there then." You went to turn and walk away but he reached through the gate grabbing your hand and pulling you back to the gate, close enough you could feel his breath on your soft skin. He sighed as if he wanted to say something else but getting up the nerve to say it. "I meant its not always great, and it can be sometimes boring and mundane. However if you meet someone special it is different."

He was so surprised he got those words out although he had only been in love one time when he was young. However apart of him always remembered his childhood friend, but once his powers got out of control he felt he wasn't safe to be around her so he disappeared. He was in love with her for so long, never told her and its the last time he let someone into his heart. That being said he knew mundane life would be grand with a person you love beside you. As his thoughts had wondered he had looked away from you in front of him, but soon as his last words left his mouth he met your gaze again. "Well maybe I should let you just sweep me away then." You said with a soft giggle. You were caught up on his visual of him remembering what it was like. He didn't realize it but it was all over his face that he was in love once. He was shocked by your request but also didn't respond.

Things were quiet for a bit of time before you went to pull away from him when he spoke urgently afraid you would walk away without getting to respond. "Why come out of here when I can come see you everyday here?" He shook himself up a bit on why he would declare such a thing. This wasn't logical thinking at all yet the pull to this woman and the fact you seemed as alone as he did, maybe together you both could mend the loneliness. You smiled at him "You would do that for me?" You said with a glimmer of hope in your eyes. You nodded to his arrangement. It was getting late in the day and he had to get back to his apartment he had surgeries first thing in the morning. He pulled back from you before he got to far he looked back at you "Whats your name? I'm Zayne!" You yelled back to him "Y/N". Your name echoed in his head and he felt like this was going to be the beginning of something he never could be possible.

The next day went by so fast he got through the day and all he could think about is seeing you again. He actually felt excited to be with someone who wasn't afraid he would hurt her and that understood how he felt being different. No sooner he got through with his day he went home and got changed then headed to that park. He rushed through the forest all the way to the villa again. You two met at the gate and since there was a barrier around it you couldn't get out but he had no problem sitting on the ground for you everyday. You two met like this everyday for months. You two told each other how it felt to have the powers the both of you had, as well as the ups and downs in life. You two opened up to each other like never before and it did good for both of you. He grew to realize he looked forward to seeing you every day and after months of this almost every day meeting at this gate he knew he couldn't live without you at this point.

It wasn't hard to see he was growing to be a man that the cold in his heart was melted by this woman that he was falling more and more in love with everyday. You laughed and joked about anything and everything. You told him about centuries you grew up and then one day out of the blue you looked up at him. "I-I...want to...um.. say something to you, Zayne." You took a long breath as you looked at him through the gate reaching out holding his hand. "I'm in love with you!" His heart felt so full and so happy in that moment he felt the same way. He stood up and met you on his feet, he pulled you close to the gate by your chin. He looked deep into your eyes and the words left his mouth "I love you too more than you will ever know." His lips crashed into yours, with all the love and passion that had been between them for months. It was all coming down to this moment you two gave into your feelings for one another.

After that day of declaration you two continued the same everyday as you tried to figure out how to get you out of that guarded gate. One day you figured what if you both used his ice evol and your power at the same time however he needed to control it without it controlling him. You spent another month of you helping him work on it daily to be stronger until one day you two planned would be the day after a year of this you knew was the day it all would change. He had already asked you to move in with him when he got you out of there. That day he got off work early he didn't care about anything else anymore. After all this time it was coming to a point where their beginning was really going to start. He waisted no time he got to that park and ran through the forest towards her he couldn't take it anymore he wanted you in his arms. He got to the gate and you were right there waiting for him with so much love in your eyes.

"Are you ready my love, ready to be in my arms like you were always meant to be?" You met his words back with a smile and a soft coo you wanted this more than anything. You both stood back and you started with your chants that started to rattle the gate door. The wind started to howl around you as you kept chanting louder and louder. He let the ice evol shoot down to his fingertips before shooting the ice towards the gate with everything he had. The gate froze over and started to rattle and crack. You said a few other words why he continued to give it everything he had.

As he pushed all his power into it the ice started traveling up his arms and up his neck he knew this had to be enough soon before it froze his heart but he wasn't giving up. You both gave it everything you two had as the gate finally broke as he fell to his knees. You ran to his arms fell to the ground putting your hands on him as you chanted some words and helped the ice that was closing in around his heart you started melting it. Before he knew it he could breathe and not feel like the ice was freezing his heart, he stood up grabbing you to your feet pulling you into him engulfing your lips and kissing you like never before. "I love you so much, Y/N!" You met his gaze and his lips again as you breathed into his mouth "I love you too, Zayne!"

As he finally pulled back he dropped to one knee pulling out a little black box and he opened it with a beautiful diamond with blue accented diamonds lacing the sides. "Be with me forever, make me the happiest man in the world. Let me finally sweep you away from here, let me love you til the end of time. Will you marry me?" You were so happy in this moment you got down on your knees and pulled him close kissing his lips. "I would love to be your wife Y-yes Y-yes....YES..YES.. a million times yes I love you so much!" He slid the ring on your finger and pulled you into his arms kissing you with all his love and fervor. This is a story that starts your beginning with the love of your life that you met when you were at your loneliest times. You two found each other when you didn't even know there was another person to complete your heart. Now today you knew your forever starts and begins with this man.

[dairy-farmer]

How differently do you think the dicktim biosib AU would have gone if the reveal happened before Jack and Janet Drake were alive? Dick snapped by the end of the first part of the AU. He didn't trust any of the family and it was likely made worse by Tim regressing in mind.

Speaking of regressing, what if the reveal was brought on by some magical mishap. Robin aged down by some amateur magician's spell. And Nightwing was called on by Bruce who needed help watching over Gotham because the spell didn't age Tim down to the age 3 but 4 or 5, during the earliest years of Tim's ECT when the trauma of seeing your parents fall and being kidnapped was really, really fresh in Tim's mind so he's on a dissociative state. Bruce has no idea what to do. Clearly he needs to investigate what happened to Tim, both in the present and the past, but he can't leave Tim alone (he tried doing that earlier but then little Tim went into a panic attack).

Nightwing comes, albeit unsure how he'll react because he's still having a hard time with Tim sharing his brother's name and looking like him and now being the same age as him. Then he sees Timmy. In hindsight, Bruce thinks that maybe he shouldn't have called his eldest who had a hard time during his first few years, adopted. But then Tim responds!! He recognizes Dick? He called him Dickie?? Suddenly, Bruce has a feral oldest son and a dissociating almost son. Where is Alfred when Bruce needs him? In a sabbatical in England. I need him there to make sure the whole situation really blows up in astronomical proportions.

-🦆

!!!!!!!!!!OH MY GOD!!!!! THIS IS SUCH A TOP TIER CONCEPT!!! the idea that dick found out tim was HIS timmy while jack and janet were still alive would really put dick through so much trauma.

i honestly think that a lot of dick would regress to that same pained bloodthirsty hatred he had for zucco and attack anyone including bruce, clark, and his friends when they try to reason and talk to him. because as hard as he was trying to find timmy, part of him wasn't expecting to find him alive because why would someone kidnap a kid and then just keep them alive (unless they were doing truly despicable things to them)????

but then he does find timmy. he finds him ALIVE.

but terrified. scared. and sobbing in petrified fear when he's not stone cold silent and catatonic.

dick is devastated. if there was a better word to describe he'd be that. he's absolutely gutted and so relieved he could cry. he feels like he's on the verge of throwing up and crying so hard he just stops breathing. when dick finds out that tim had been hit with some magic he'd been concerned. a few magic users had been called in to help with clean up and through the grape vine dick had heard that robin had been hit with something particularly nasty, some kind of time spell.

when bruce had called him he hadn't been surprised to hear him mention tim but he was surprised to be asked for help. bruce's voice is noticeably strained and he tells dick about how alfred is out of town and he really had his hands full with gotham and normally he wouldn't ask but things have really taken a turn with tim and-

dick can hear a child start cryng and screaming on the other end of the line. he can hear what sound like little frantic fists starting to bang on a door and the muffled cries grow louder and bruce curses and presumably tries to get to tim. he can hear bruce's strained voice go from a low whisper to assurance and comfort as a little boy sobs in a way that has dick's chest going tight.

it's not that dick doesn't like tim. it's just that tim...he just...he brings back bad memories for dick and being in the cave and hearing bruce yell 'tim' or alfred say 'master tim' or even dick being forced to say the name tim and not mean his...

it hurts. dick hasn't been to see a therapist or a psychiatrist ever but he's fought enough of them and he's pretty sure being close to tim is not good for his health. he'll get over it. he'll overcome the mental barrier eventually but until he does he resolved to keep his distance.

but hearing a child cry and hearing bruce plead with tim that it was alright and he was here now and he was sorry for leaving while tim was asleep-

dick isn't heartless. and something...something about hearing some try and console a sobbing child named tim just twists something in dick's gut and he can't, in good conscience, tell the lie about being too busy that was on the tip of his tongue.

bruce sends him a batplan on autopilot to his location and dick arrives in just a few short hours. bruce tries to call a handful of times before giving up and just forwarding the case file of what he's accumulated so far.

dick reads it over, growing more disturbed the closer he gets. tim had been been hit with a spell by the magician in custody of the league. initially it had knocked him out but after getting medical attention and a consult from a magic user it was determined that tim had been affected by a time inversion spell. those spells are tricky because they can only be removed by the one who made it and as far as they could tell the magic user was an amaeteur and nowhere near the level to undo a spell of this complexity.

their recommendation was to get tim somewhere safe where he could be contained.

bruce had done that.

only to greatly regret it when tim woke up as a five year old and immediatly started panicking about being locked in a room, begging bruce to let him out.

bruce suspects tim to be the victim of some kind of domestic abuse. it hurts dick's heart to read that. bruce notes about how the sight of bruce in the cowl had frightened tim so terribly he'd urinated over himself.

somehow dick can detect the shame in bruce's writing as he reads that.

the picture painted is not a nice one. tim is anxious, skittish, he's frightened of loud noises, and of being left alone. he vomits when upset and he has a stutter in his voice. bruce has noted that tim gets out of breath quickly and is easily fatigued by too much physical or emotional activity.

the part that disturbs bruce the most is the borderline catatonia where tim will withdraw and enter a sort of headspace where he's almost... mind-controlled. he obeys bruce's every word but doesn't respond back even when prompted. he'll eat and drink if encouraged which he won't do normally because tim suffers from nausea which won't allow him to keep down food for long.

bruce has run blood panels, scans, and even pulled tim's decade old medical files. only for nothing to be physically wrong with him. tim's medical file is suspiciously thin and bruce notes how he just gets a weird feeling as he reads it over. he needs to look into it. there's something in his gut telling him something isn't right.

tim is terribly traumatized and bruce gets the feeling that it's not from him seeing dick's parents die at the circus. tim had told him about how he'd nightmares of that night for years but never in a way that told bruce that it would result in this kind of state.

tim's hair is so thin and bruce has included photos where it can seen that there are small patches where the hair is so thin it's nearly a bald spot and it's with dawning horror that bruce realizes it's most likely because of telogen effluvium. hair loss brought about by extreme stress.

tim's blood test results also show similarly concerning results. tim at five years old has the cortisol and catecholoamine levels of someone six times his age.

it's bad.

dick feels concern for tim deepen when he lands. he has no idea what he's walking into.

the cave is empty and dick remembers how the file said tim hadn't liked how dark the cave was so bruce had moved the operation to the manor. dick heads up. he changes out of his uniform first because the last thing he wants is to upset a toddler even more.

dick passes through the cuckoo clock entrance into bruce's office and can hear some soft crying distantly. so dick follows it.

he's not sure what it is in his mind that 'clicks' when he walks into the sight of bruce in a wife beater and pajama shorts carrying and rocking a little baby that can't possibly be five because he looks no older than two. bruce looks haggard and tired because he'd made it three days before calling dick for help in gotham. there are dark circles under his eyes and he looks like he hasn't shaved as he softly whispers to a whimpering child curled up in his arms. tim is in little yellow duckie pajamas. there's still a tag on the collar of the shirt hanging out of the back of it. at the sound of dick's footsteps tim lifts his head and bruce looks so relieved as they both turn to look at him.

tim lifts his little head and turns a chubby red-cheeked and tear stained face to him.

something in dick stops cold. it's like the entire world slows down and part of him distantly wonders if this is what wally feels all the time.

tim's sweet baby eyes settle on him and his expression crumbles as small arms stretch out for him and a fresh wave of tears as tim brokenly reaches for him, little voice hoarse as he yells "daddy!"

something snaps in dick. it's almost audible in his ears. it sounds like a bone buckling under pressure and just...snapping.

that face. that voice. that call of daddy that was always so joyous and followed by shrieking laughter as dick and timmy's dad would lift tim up and toss him in the air before catching him. only now that voice had none of the happiness. just pure desperation and fear and it's like dick gains tunnel vision. all he sees is his precious baby timmy who was taken from him being held back in the arms of a man who tugs tim back as tim tries to escape him.

his timmy screams and a decades worth of rage and pain races to the front of dick's mind and turns him into an animal.

dick's first instinct is to get his innocent baby brother away from the thing holding him. but he takes two steps and tim is pulled further away with that THING blocking his view and that's when dick just decides to kill it.

it'd be easy. like snapping the neck of a dog snapping at him. at some point in the scuffle dick has his teeth in the thing's arm and tim suddenly gets thrown onto a nearby couch. tim shrieks as he's in the air and starts sobbing when he lands.

and as much as dick wants to get rid of this THING as much as he wants to make it pay for scaring his timmy- dick is not about to lose his timmy again.

so dick runs. he snatches his timmy and runs, weaving and dodging and ignoring the yelling behind him. all he cares about is the little, warm body curled up against him and shaking.

dick finds an old crawlspace, a corner that sparks something in his memory about aged hands pushing food and juiceboxes in and a light shining in as his new guardian begged dick to come out.

it's a tight squeeze with timmy but dick recalls the big space at the end with a little window thining down on the lawn below. dick knows they will be safe there and that THING behind him is too big to fit through it.

timmy is softly sobbing against him, nuzzling close and hiccuping and he's cradled close and dick is only barely biting back his tears as he hastily examines tim. his little hands, his face, his little legs, and baby tummy. dick bites back a sob at tim's bald spot and pushes down the vicious snarl that wants to rip out of him. his timmy is too thin. his cheeks aren't as rosy and there are dark circles under his eyes, his timmy isn't as round and sweet and chubby and dick wants to cry at the thought of his timmy starving to death. it'd been one of the nightmares that haunted dick the worst. of timmy falling into the sewer or some big hole and crying but no one coming to save him and slowly wasting away. nightmares of timmy clutching his baby timmy and sobbing at ever rumble, crying out 'dickie! dickie i'm so hungry!'

dick trembles as he cradles the back of tim's tender head, stroking his baby fine hair and rocking the two of them, murmuring how it was okay dickie was here, dickie was here now just like he'd promised tim he would be.

and his baby timmy makes a soft sound at that.

"dickie?" he asks in that heartachingly sweet voice that haunted dick's every living moment for years. "dickie? dat you?"

dickie can't hold it back and lets a sob burst forth from his chest, sniffling as he nods, pulling timmy's sweet baby body back far enough so he can see him. timmy's eyes are dulled and there's something....broken in them. it's like he's looking right through dick.

"dickie." tim says in soft voice so low dick has to strain to hear it. "you look just like daddy."

tim breathes it so reverently but as soon as the words leave his mouth it's like a puppet with it's stings cut. tim goes limp, blank eyes somehow clouding over like a dead fish's.

to say dick panics would be an understatement. his timmy is hurt somehow even though dick has carefully checked his body, feeling every single one of his little ribs and with each one swearing he will make the one that did this pay. there is nothing dick can do but hold his baby timmy tighter to him. hot, vengeful tears burn trails down dick's cheeks and he holds back so much of his anger in favor of being able to gently touch his timmy. his timmy is in his arms now, his timmy is safe with him now and dick will make sure nothing ever happens to him again. dick will never let anyone take his timmy from him ever again.

bruce of course freaks out because dick has clearly gone completely crazy and taken tim with him. they've retreated to a little crawlspace dick used to go into when he first moved to the manor, he'd spend hours inside before coming out for the bathroom or food. those first few months with dick had been terrible. bruce had never had to care for a traumatized child but after they caught zucco dick had waited for days beside the phone, waiting for any news about tim. until it became clear none was coming and that's when....IT started. the fits of violence, the screaming, the crying, the hiding away.

it's like dick became a completely different person. he ended up accidentally cutting alfred with a shard of glass once and bruce had needed to hold him down. bruce had tried asking child psychologists, doctos who specialized in child development. they'd all wanted to get dick committed or put on medications and so bruce had stopped asking them. bruce knew grief, he knew it well. he knew there was a howling beast in dick's chest that was sobbing for that innocent baby that had been stolen away. so bruce hadn't held it against him. and eventually...dick started getting better. he didn't remember those first few months, all those instances of violence and self harm when he'd bang his head against the wall before bruce could stop him were evaporated from his memory and bruce didn't know if that was a blessing or a curse.

that flash....that glimpse of...something else that had crossed dick's expression just before he attacked was something that bruce only saw in his nightmares.

bruce doesn't know why dick took tim. what inspired such a violently animalist streak in him that bruce had only ever seen one other time in dick when he-

....

bruce is a detective. he gets all the facts and he gets the truth no matter how much it hurts. bruce's mind is not flawless and it's not perfect and sometimes it takes him awhile to put things together.

but everything starts fitting together so rapidly.

that day, that first day tim had come into their lives. when he told them that he'd been present on the day of the flying grayson's murder, that he'd been in the crowd with his parents....

this doesn't mean that the drakes, a family of significant wealth in gotham...kidnapped a child in broad view of strangers. the risk associated with such a move, the uncertainty of success....

what if tim had screamed? what if someone had seen?

it doesn't make sense. a family like the drakes don't lack resources. if they'd wanted a child they had so many options. their money gave them so many options it doesn't make sense for them to ...to see a child and then decide to take them.

but don't some of the most mentally disturbed criminals never act in ways that make sense.

and all bruce can do is think.

think about how they could've adopted, used ivf, had a surrogate. if they weren't willing to wait they could've purchased a child as well.

bruce had no proof the drakes were the kidnappers. it's entirely possible a trafficker had seen tim and taken him because the opportunity was there.

but that's not how traffickers function, not good ones at least, not ones that wanted to keep their operation up and running and away from the attention of the police. it pissed bruce off to no end to see on the internet how grossly people would spread lies and fear monger about trafficking. traffickers didn't stalk random people and then put zipties on their windshields or mark their front doors with paint so they can be identified later. kidnapping a person draws unwanted attention. most people don't even realize when they're seeing real trafficking. they think it's only poor neighborhoods but it could be anywhere and it could happen to anyone. but one thing that's certain is that it's almost always someone the victim knows. a friend, a boyfriend, an uncle, a father. somone you trust, somone you're not suspicious of, someone you might even depend on.

traffickers don't just see children walking around by themselves and decide to take them.

so it was the drakes. the drakes stole a child.

tim's thin medical file, his strange birth certificate from florida a state notoriously difficult to extract copies of documentation from, a state that hasn't yet digitized it's state clerical office and records so bruce can't just pull up the documents.

bruce knows that dick is unstable at mentions of his little brother. he's seen the aftermath of the breakdowns of how he'll become recluse at particularly brutal cases involving children. he knows that dick on some level hates him for security measures he instilled to protect him like getting his blood enchanted so enemy magic users won't be able to track him down if they ever get dick to bleed or get a lock of his hair. they were measures that protected dick but ultimately assassinated his changes of finding tim through their biological connection.

bruce knows dick's regrets, he's tried so hard to make dick not feel the pain of losing his last family member. bruce worked tirelessly those first few months because a little boy couldn't just disappear. but he had.

sometimes bruce wondered if the never-ending pain of wondering what happened to your loved one was worse than having them die. at least if they died you'd have the closure of knowing what happened to them. the uncertainty of his brother's fate tormented dick every day of his life.

and now they'd reached the climax of that lifetime of pain.

bruce hissed as carefully irrigated the wound where dick had bitten a chunk out of his forearm. he was going to need serious antibiotics for this. dick was somewhere in the manor and bruce was near certain he wouldn't hurt tim but at the same time...there was no telling what he'd do in his current state and tim was already so fragile as it was.

bruce needed to find out what had been done to tim while with the drakes. it'd been slow but bruce had managed to pry tim's birthday out of him.

timothy grayson disappeared when he was 3 years old meaning that at 5, his abduction was still fresh and who knows what had been done to tim in that time.

as a thirteen year old tim was better adjusted. he was smart and social and he didn't appear to have any clear indications of past trauma. but clearly bruce had missed something.

he'd missed something big.

he'd already dropped the ball but he couldn't again. he needed to make sure he did everything right this time. no more mistakes.

when it comes to the drakes being alive i do think that dick is fighting within himself to go after them. he knows where they are, they send tim, his baby brother, the baby they STOLE post cards of their approximate location. dick had been nice to zucco when taking him in but he was not going to be nice to the drakes- not after he sees how they've tortured his baby timmy for years.

but he also doesn't want to leave tim to go after them. and bruce knows that and for dick's sake and not the drakes, bruce is hurrying to put the case together to have them arrested and put away before dick can find away to care for tim and hunt them. dick isn't going to take tim with him to take down the drakes, not when he knows how panicked and distressed his baby brother becomes at the thought of them. but spending more time with tim only makes his hatred grow. when tim is lucid he cries about how he thought dick was dead- how THEY had told him they'd all died and tim was alone now.

tim had tried running back to the circus but he was always too slow and they caught him. they showed him posters and newspaper articles about haly's circus in other cities and told tim that they left him behind that they didn't want him anymore.

each word and confession just fuels the rage and hatred in dick's heart.

dick has spent his entire life fearing the worst and now the worst has faces and names. and although tim never says it, dick thinks the worst of them. they're murders, pedophiles, kidnappers- every horrible fate, every moment dick lay awake thinking of his timmy, he's going to pay the drakes back for every single second.

bruce gets to the drakes before dick can. but dick's hatred for them never goes away. even the barest mention of their names has him near snarling so people know not to bring it up.

tim is still a baby and bruce can't even imagine what tim will feel getting turned back to normal and learning what has transpired. dick is so possessive of tim, he won't even let clark get near tim.

but bruce can't blame him. if someone had brought jason back to him all those months ago he would've held him and never let go.

but even though these two brothers have been reunited a decade after they were tragically torn apart, it all still carries the heavy air of devastation.

tim will be back to normal eventually and when he is how will both of them cope to the changes in their lives?

bruce wishes he had an answer. but he didn't. he really didn't.

[sunflowersand-bees]

upside down concept where will and mike were stuck in the upside down and they're hiding out in the library (bc the library has a lot of importance and i can't wait to find out what importance. also the library is empty bc they killed the demogorgon who had been sticking its victims in the library and demogorgons are probably territorial or something) and they're sitting there, backs against a bookshelf. will despised being back in the upside down, every moment reminding him of that week in 1983.

will absentmindedly said, "this is where they found me."

"what?" mike asked, confused by the abrupt change in topic.

"when mom and hopper saved me from the upside down. this is where i was," will elaborated.

"oh." mike's voice shrunk. "why are we in here then? we can go somewhere else."

will shrugged. "it's fine. this place is safe." he pushed away the memories.

they both sat in silence. mike didn't know what to say.

will took a deep breath. "my heart had stopped."

"what?" it sounded like someone had sucker punched mike.

"hopper used cpr on me. i guess i probably wasn't dead," will mused.

will didn't dare look over at mike, not yet. he wasn't done.

"there was a vine, or something. and it went..." will tried to stop his voice from shaking. where had his initial apathy gone? "it..."

"will, stop," mike said softly. "you don't... you don't have to say any more."

will nodded wordlessly. he wanted nothing more than for mike to wrap will in his arms. he just wanted to be held. he just wanted to collapse into someone. he wanted to feel loved, even if it was just for a moment. maybe he could even pretend it was in the way he wanted it to be.

"when you were... gone..." mike started, clearing his throat. he sounded as steady as will felt, which was to say that he sounded terrified. "there was a situation. troy threatened to hurt dustin. he told me to jump off a cliff. and i didnt... i didn't know what to do."

will watched mike patiently, and mike glanced over, hands gesturing.

"it was already my fault that you were gone-"

will opened his mouth to protest but mike stilled him with a look.

"-or at least that's what i thought. you were riding home from my house. i blamed myself. and i just couldn't let another one of my friends get hurt." mike swallowed, and the noise seemed to echo in the stillness of the dark library. "so i... i took a step. i - fuck - i jumped off a cliff."

will put a hopefully comforting hand on mike's leg.

"el saved me. obviously, i'm not dead." mike laughed, but it didn't sound like he found it funny. "but, um, yeah."

mike's eyes darted down to where will's hand was still on his knee, and will moved to take his hand away, but mike stopped him. he took will's hand and threaded their fingers together.

"i'm so glad that hopper saved you. i don't know what i would've done otherwise."

will wanted to make a wisecrack about how mike would've been a mess, but he just couldn't seem to get his mouth to work properly. whether this was because of the somber topic and solemn confessions, or because mike was fucking holding his hand, he wasn't sure.

"and i'm glad that el saved you," will croaked.

instead of saying anything, mike just scooted closer to will. will leaned his head against mike's shoulder.

they probably needed to talk. there was a lot to talk about. but this was not the place nor the time, so they simply sat, mike rubbing his thumb along will's hand, and will leaning against mike's side.

[natalieleif]

Happy Goretober-ween, everyone! I wasn't quite able to get through all the gruesome prompts this year, but I was able to pull off 22 of them, which is a solid haul.

It was a fun challenge to try and sketch a unique character for each prompt, including digging through my old tabletop archives and sketchbooks for concepts I haven't looked at in a few years. Gonna put em all in a compilation here, I hope y'all enjoy!

(CONTENT WARNINGS: since this is Goretober, trigger warnings for blood, vomit, and general squick in the sketches below the Read More.)

Credit to On.Going.Crisis for this year's prompt list!

TEETH. The zomboy Ian himself, discovering some new changes to his undead anatomy.

2. CANDY GORE. My magical girl Harper after getting into a rainbowy fistfight with the monster of the week.

3. NOSEBLEED. This one I did for the work whiteboard, so it was fun trying to figure out how to make it not too gross. :P

4. MUTATION. The new Biology teacher, Miles, doesn't look totally normal... weird.

5. AUTOPSY. Hey Andrew, what do an android's organs look like, anyway?

6. EYES. Initiation into the mob can be pretty strict, but Shift is nothing if not determined.

7. GUTS. Captain Eiche, pirate and deliveryman for the royal isles, knows that a captain always goes down with the ship.

8. CRYSTALS. Witch-in-training Noelle discovers some new crystals that are really starting to grow on her... maybe a bit too much?

9. POISONED. Tiefling charlatan Lucas discovers why you don't sample your own potion supply.

10. HANAHAKI DISEASE. Sad hipster musician Nico is not very good at getting over his ex-boyfriend.

11. INSECTS. Changeling magician Cybil is 99% goofball, 1% professional dreamweaver with a knack for the dramatic. Wouldn't recommend visiting her nightmare studio anytime soon.

12. BRUISED. Roller derby champion Zoey Explodey shows off her lumps from a recent brawl.

13. STITCHES. Practicing self-care in an abandoned zombie-filled West Virginia town isn't easy for someone already chronically ill, but Monica does her best with what she's got.

14. PARASITE. <pops Bubble pops Bubble pops Bubble pops>

15. FUNGI/MOSS. Okay, I slightly cheated on this one. TTRPG Warlock version of Ian struggles with a more magical sort of zombification.

16. HOOKS. 1930s archivist and curator of mystical wares, Roland Chatterjee, shows off his fine collection.

17. PLANT GROWTH. Nature elemental and changeling Elijah Bell wonders if his flowers and vines go all the way down. (They do.)

18. CANNIBALISM. Impulsive survivalist Angel tries a sip of her zombie friend's forbidden juice box.

19. BITES. A sequel to HANAHAKI DISEASE above--the feeling when your toxic vampiric ex Elliot tries to use chivalry on you.

20. VOMIT. Post-apocalyptic anarchist adventurer Snap Zapcannon eats a bad ration. Oops.

21. LACERATIONS. A fanart this time! @jeanne-de-valois 's boy Uriel getting some ghostly visions. It's probably fine, don't worry about it. (Also, preorder The Hundredth Voice if you haven't already, it's good.)

22. SILVER PLATTER. Trauma psychologist Dr. Gabriel Haller has made a lot of sacrifices to get where he is.

And that's the lot of 'em! Hope you enjoyed, and HAPPY SPOOKY MONTH.

[eyeofgender]

I had this wonderful dream a couple nights ago and the concept was so good that I want somebody to do something with it but I can't do much because I'm not a writer or a video game maker so I'm putting this out here in case someone else wants to use it.

So this dream was of a video game that was a sequel to a children's picture book.

The game (and the book) had two protagonists: a guy that looked like a wizard and a cat-like creature. I don't know if the guy was actually a wizard, but he sure was dressed like one: long robes, pointy hat with a wide brim (but not as tall as classic wizards, more like Snufkin Moominvalley's hat), big grey beard (not super long, but wide). He wasn't much of a "wise old man" type of wizard either; he was pretty casual and friendly, and I think a bit younger than most classic wizards.

The other protagonist looked sort of like this.

He looked like a cross between a house cat and a polecat with lemur hands (complete with opposable thumbs) and a bit of a cocky personality. He was a completely sentient creature, and could speak. He mostly moved around on all fours, but could waddle on two legs if he needed to use his hands for something. I only drew a few spots, but he had spots like a leopard all over his body. He was larger than a house cat, and certainly longer. My dream didn't provide names for either of the protagonists, but it did provide a name for the creature's species. I don't remember what it was, but it started with an E, so I've been calling him an ergo.

The game starts with these two living together in a small house in a high fantasy medieval town. The wizard left the house for something, maybe groceries, and disappeared, because he was dragged off on a fantasy adventure by a group of heroes. The ergo goes searching for him. After some shenanigans around town, he is somehow directed to look in the magical forest near town. The ergo is reluctant to go there, because he and the wizard got lost in there as kids, which was the plot of the book. There is a flashback to a scene from the book, where the two of them have an enounter with an enormous troll.

The vines are not the troll's hair; they are in the foreground framing the shot. Most of the image was in shades of green. Even the troll was a blue-green and looked like moss growing over stone. This flashback was animated completely differently from the rest of the game, meant to look like it was pulled directly from the book, because it essentially was. The images used were images from the book, redrawn so that they could be animated. It was very heavily stylized, and looked like something out of a Cartoon Saloon movie.

Throughout the game, perspective would occasionally shift back and forth between the ergo on his quest and the wizard on his, until they finally reunite over halfway through the game. The game was in 3D, 3rd person perspective, with either a free camera or a top-down view. It was most likely a free camera, but maybe it switched back and forth, being free camera when playing as the ergo, and top-down when playing as the wizard. I think that could make for some really creative and interesting puzzles if used in an actual game.

The book was a heavily stylized children's picture book, the pictures looking like something out of a Cartoon Saloon movie, or perhaps Hilda. The plot was of these two protagonists as children, lost in a magical forest and trying to find their way home. Perhaps that's even how they met. The video game was made many years after the book by the same creator, and was meant for the adults who had read the book as children.

[desultory-novice]

Ask game let's hear it for: 2,8,9

Wah! Thank you!

2 / Favorite Thing About My Style

Probably that it's fast? XD I remember worrying early on that I'd never be a really stunning artist because I didn't have as much time to devote to it as other people. A smart friend told me to just focus on making pieces I could call "complete" in a short amount of time.

Basically, adjust my view of what my "art" would be. And it worked! I have other artist's styles that I like more, but I realized too some of my favorite fanart back in the day was fanart that looked like it was pulled right out of someone's sketchbook. With big chunky lines and little marks and forms that tell you where their focus was!

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[More Answers Below!]

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8 / Most Fun and Least Fun Parts

I really enjoy the "concept" phase. You put just anything down, and because I'm a Kirby fanartist, that's usually a circle and then you just keep adding onto it. A pair of triangle horns ears? You've got a Magolor. Big eyes? A Marx. Draw a circle on top? A Meta Knight. Draw a circle halfway below it, a Dedede. Etc...

I'll often pick a perspective at random and then start filling in what the character might be seeing/doing from that!

Least fun is figuring out things like light and where my characters are in space. I've got a vision impairment that means I can't see "depth" in RL so perspective is hard for me. I found a trick for lighting that has you douse the object in shadow and then "carve out" the light, which helps because I can imagine what's on "top" easier than what casts shadows, but I still haven't gotten perspective down. I've even used 3D models but things just get more confusing somehow!! :cries:

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9 / Finished Piece and Original Sketch

Here's two, based on the fact that I have two different brushes I use for sketching and that leads sometimes leads to two different styles.

The first one, for my Father's Day piece, I did the rough sketch in PaintStorm Studio, which is an under-appreciated little app (It doesn't work flawlessly on iPad but it's highly functional) and is my favorite app for concept sketches because it's like the FocusWriter of drawing apps. Then I imported it to Clip Studio, adjusted the size (I draw my concepts VERY small, usually starting with a box to help figure out how much canvas I want to use) and built it up from there.

The second, I did the sketch in Clip Studio using this soft painterly builder brush I made based on some other artist's brushes. This style of sketch is more "chisel-y" and I'm frequently carving out areas as I draw them by lowering the brush's alpha to zero. It's pretty easy to apply colors on top in this style (as opposed to the previous style, which requires cleaner line work.) I also started this piece as just a solemn, lonely Magolor looking "captured" and regretful. Adding the crown and then adding the reflection in the water came later on.

I was gonna have him be hanging by some Dark Matter looking vines originally, but then I remembered I'd seen someone on JP Twitter say that his magic circles in Soul form were almost like handcuffs restricting his actions, which is why I switched to those.

(You can't see it here from the sketch, but I knew from the beginning I wanted it to be color on a black background.)

One last thing because I think this is probably something weird only I do? (But maybe other novice artists will find it freeing??)

When I'm drawing sequential comics, even for the four-panel ones, because I can lose my train of thought easily, I tend to draw them completely OUT OF ORDER, going with whatever image is strongest in my mind first. Then I just scatter the rest over the page wherever there's room as I get ideas, finally using the lasso tool to re-arrange them later! You can see everything in the proper sequence here!

(You can also see that originally, Marx shows some barely concealed sorrow that Kirby doesn't recognize his childhood friend after all that he's been through. In the finished piece, I had him respond by going all fangs-out crazy instead. He IS a villain after all!)

[darsynia]

From your WIPs, please tell me about the one with such an intriguing title: Climbing Vines on Melancholy Walls

(and if that one doesn't involve My Beloved Stephen, please throw in a title that does as well😉)

I'll start with the Stephen one, just for you-- it's the one titled 'Dreamcatcher,' and it's only a concept, nothing is written for it yet. The idea is based on the dream worldbuilding from DS2, the idea that when you dream you are actually seeing an alternate universe, not random made-up stuff in your own head.

The OC in that story can lucid dream-- direct her dreams to see what she wants to see. Stephen finds out about it, and he wants to know if she's 'universe-surfing' or actually able to influence what she's seeing, as in, can she alter a universe just by dreaming? I loved the idea that the OC and Stephen can have an odd sort of shared experience in reliving things, and I envisioned some sort of final conflict where they needed to save someone and there was a question of whether or not he would still be around when she woke back up.

I don't know if I'll pick that one up, though-- I love the idea, but I don't have a solid theming framework for it like I usually like to, before I start something.

Climbing Vines on Melancholy Walls is a Steve/Natasha angst story set during Endgame. I liked the idea that they both cherished a fondness, maybe even love for each other, but never said anything. Then, as everything fell to hell around them, they agree to a friends with benefits situation, neither realizing that the other is just as dizzy in love as they are.

I intend to address Vormir in this story, and went through a really dark place (was frighteningly close to being gone) during 2022, so I put it on hiatus until I can tackle those scenes with a clear mind.

However, I'm intensely proud of the story. It is as much a 'how did Nat never find Clint in all those intervening years' story as it is a romance between her and Steve. My answer? She found him multiple times. He kept asking her to let him go and look again. The story starts with Nat visiting the farm and finding that Clint gathered up all the dirt he could to preserve it in case he needed the dust of his family to bring them back. Each time Clint sends her away, she dutifully tracks him down again. That's how she could find him when it mattered. She knew where he was. She was just holding off, like he asked her to.

As present in the story as angst is, there's a lot of sweetness and humor, too. They're teammates, they're real with each other, and at some point they're going to realize that it's okay to be loved back.

They agree to be friends with benefits at Tony and Pepper's wedding, but afterwards, both of them are too shy to broach the subject again. Things get tense, and Natasha decides to tease Steve about what he's doing instead of coming and knocking on her door at the Avengers Compound. Here's the playful, sexy chunk of story when they make the momentous decision to do it again.

“Running off some aggression, there, Rogers?” Nat asks him, when he sits down with his food.

Steve scratches his neck, looking bashful. “Yeah, a little. My body’s been moving faster than my mind. Trying to wear it out, I guess.”

“Running seems like the least fun way to do that, if you ask me,” she remarks, offering him a challenging smile.

“Well! Not sure I wanted to move faster than you are, either, truth be told,” he says after looking at her speculatively for a while.

“Steve, we’re alone here. The point was to be comforting, to blow off steam, to make the shitty parts of existence better, wasn’t it?” Privately, Natasha’s flooded with unexpected affirmation. If she’s reading him right, Steve’s basically telling her that he wants her, but thinks he doesn’t have the right to come right out and ask. There’s no way she would have ever predicted that, but she’s not complaining.

“Those are very good points,” Steve says carefully.

“So knock on my door sometimes, god,” she teases. “It’s going to be a slow few weeks, I could go make you an engraved invitation, if that would make things easier.” Nat looks down at her plate after catching the keen interest in his eyes. She doesn’t want him to be able to correctly recognize the desperate adoration that’s probably blazing in hers. 

“Thank you, I will,” he tells her. His four words are resonant, grateful, and obviously sexually charged. Natasha’s drinking when he says it, and her sip of fruit juice goes down the wrong way.

“Turn around, this is not sexy!” she flaps her hands at him as she chokes the words out. Natasha alternately coughs and wipes her eyes, adding, “And don’t you dare take it back or I’ll never forgive you!”

“That’s exactly what I’m worried about,” he mutters, but he turns his head and uses his hand to block his view of her while she’s in the last throes of persuading her body she’s not actually in danger of drowning.

Nat doesn’t know whether she wants to address that quietly expressed concern of his now or once she can immediately follow up with something more physically resonant. She decides to choose the latter option; Steve has every right to worry that embarking on a career (whether long or short) of sexual exploits together might cause some trouble between them. Since her very real former career had involved no small number of encounters between herself and people who had trusted her only to find that she was there to do them harm, she recognizes the validity of that worry. The best way to reassure him is to be consistently generous and willing, and she’s happy to be both.

Both of them fall silent. Natasha’s fork feels wooden in her hand, the food bland and unnecessary. Part of the problem is that she’d been building up her anticipation about time with Steve, intimate time with Steve, while at the same time working on her defenses to prevent him recognizing her feelings. Nat’s been basically feeding herself a diet of calming, bland mental food, and now that dietary restriction has been lifted.

“Not hungry?” he asks her, lifting his eyebrows. It had been his turn to cook.

“Not for-- not really,” she amends, but the damage has been done.

Steve sets his fork down and looks at her, really looks. Natasha’s suddenly aware that she’s been dressing and grooming herself at the facility like it’s a reconnaissance mission, with comfortable clothes, minimal makeup. Not like she is on display, not like she has someone to impress. Sure, her outfits are tight-fitting and attractive, and sure, she knows how to make a lot out of a small amount of cosmetics, but it hasn’t been in service of anything. Still, Steve’s gaze is approving, just on the edge of captivated. For his part, he’s been sweaty and exhausted nearly every time she’s seen him lately, and that’s just been fuel for a mental image she has genuine, participatory memories she can flesh it out with.

With an expression that’s determined but otherwise neutral, Steve stands up and gathers his half-empty plate. He walks around the table and reaches out a hand. Bemused, Natasha hands him her own mostly full plate and watches him walk them into the kitchen. She hears Steve scrape the remaining food into the disposal, running the water to help grind it down and presumably rinse the plates off. The sound of the dishwasher door opening is recognizable.

She has no idea what he’s planning to do, and given her particular skill set, that fact is equal parts worrisome and novel.

Steve walks back into the dining room, coming straight over to the opposite end of the table, the one that’s closer to the exit. He leans over, resting one palm flat on the table’s surface, looking her straight in the eyes. He’s focused, with the same demeanor he uses when he’s about to lead them all into battle.

Then he stretches his fisted other hand out and knocks on the table, with the same cadence he always uses to request entry.

“Yes,” she says, her breath caught in her throat for a second, more pleasant time that day.

“Where?” he asks. It’s-- it’s still his command voice, and she never ever would have guessed he’d do this, blur the lines like this, and it’s the worst and best idea ever.

Thank you so much for asking! I really did hold off on writing Stephen in favor of writing oh my god like 500k words of Tony Stark fic, so you've caught me at the very start of my Stephen journey! It's a blessing and a curse ;)

[tartglias]

Xiao, Zhongli and Venti with an immortal s/o

“Sooo 👀 can i request so some fluff hc for venti, xiao and zhongli with an immortal s/o?”

thank you so much for requesting!! this is my first time writing for more than one character at a time so it was a challenge lol thank you sm!!

Xiao

Xiao never understood the importance of time. Days, months, even years feel like nothing when you’re immortal. What a funny thing that is, immortality. He knows normal humans would do anything for it, and he despises them for that. Nothing so great came free, he knew that well. He was freed from tortures, only to get tormented by karma. He could still hear the voices and screams calling for help from tortured souls, these still haunt him daily. But the worst moments come when he sees that figure, that person who he once considered close. So close he could use the human word “soulmate”, if he believed in those, to describe who that person meant to him.

Many centuries back he met you, such a gentle person who got to break down his hard walls. A smile, a touch, a kiss. That’s all it took. So many meaningless years, and he never once encountered a person as kind yet strong like you. Someone who made the daily nightmares cease, with a simple smile and brush of fingers.

He remembers your last words like it was the day before. You were on top of one of the tall stones in Huaguang Stone Forest, Xiao laying his head on your lap and you placing small qingxin flowers on his hair. He wouldn’t allow anyone do that to him ever, but in the end, you were you. And you were different.

“Xiao” you called, once you were done placing the flowers. He opened his eyes and muttered a “hm?” in response. “I have to leave soon. Mondstadt calls me”

He sat up.

“What do you mean?”

“By tomorrow morning, I’ll be on my way back to Mondstadt” you said, quietly standing up.

He stood up too.

“When will I see you again?” he asked, now not being able to look at you.

“I don’t know” you said, reaching out for his hand and taking it. You placed a soft kiss on his knuckles, and he felt himself calm down at the gesture for a moment.

“I meant it when I said I’ll love you forever, Xiao” you said, finally locking eyes with him. You had teary eyes, he dreaded to see you like that. If it were up to him, he would swallow every bit of pain in your body and soul, just to see you smile.

And with that, you disappeared. As quickly as you broke down his walls, you disappeared just as quick the next day. Days, months and years became even more meaningless, but somehow he felt them longer. He missed you every day, he whispered to the moon every night, wishing that some archon would hear and bring you back to him. He knew you were like him, but he never heard from you again. Were you able to finally cross to the other side? He tried to erase those thoughts from his mind.

He later found himself in that very same stone, the one in which he last saw you. New Qingxin flowers blossomed, and they reminded him of you. He sat down, staring at the horizon. But then, he felt a strange swift of wind, and a presence behind him. He quickly stood up, ready to put his mask on and kill whoever dared to interrupt his solitude. But he didn’t. The mask in his hand dropped to the floor, next to the flowers.

“I’m back” you said, with a shy smile.

“You’re back” he said, more to himself than to you. Were you really there?

His question was soon answered, once you stepped closer and pulled him in a hug. He found himself wrapping his arms around you, holding you as close as he could, while trying to hold back his tears.

“I’m sorry I took so long, my beloved” you said as you locked your eyes with his. You grabbed his hand and held it, but you never once let go of the hug.

“I’m here to stay now” you whispered.

Zhongli

“You need to stop playing with people’s hearts” Zhongli said, as he sipped on his tea and looked at you questioningly. You rolled your eyes in response and put your focus back on your potion. A few petals from the most exotic flower in Teyvat, a little bit of juice made from vines and a teaspoon of slime condensate.

“Sometimes mortals need a little push in the right direction” You said, finishing up the mix and transferring it to a small bottle made of glass. “Plus, we’ve been here for centuries, I’m bored and I need a hobby”

“I don’t think that messing with human’s love lives can be considered a hobby. I don’t think it’s morally correct” he said.

“You’re very dramatic. I can feel the true desires of every being that touches the soil in Teyvat, and if I sense that the desire is mutual, I simply work my magic” You said, sitting back on your chair next to the tall man.

“Can’t you let them figure it out by themselves?” He asked.

“That’s no fun Zhongli” You said, finishing up the sweet perfume-potion you were creating.

You and Zhongli have been friends for centuries. You met when you moved to Liyue as the representative of the Dendro Archon, someone you really looked up to. Zhongli was kind enough to make you feel at home, and soon became friends with the Geo Archon. Though you must admit, you always wished it was something more.

Maybe that’s why you picked up this “hobby” of yours. Unrequited love is something painful and mortals only live a short life, you believe they should live it fully, if possible.

“Are you alright?” Zhongli asked, interrupting your thoughts with a concerned look on his face. You didn’t realize you had a sad look on yours.

“Oh? Yeah of course” You said, quickly brushing it off and proceeding decorating the small glass bottle.

“Y/n-“ he started, placing a hand on top of yours in order to get your attention. “I’ve known you for a long time. I know when something is wrong”

It was funny. He knew you like the back of his hand, he knew how to read you since the first time he laid his eyes on you. Yet he never found out how you truly felt about him, how your heart made like a million flips whenever he did something as simple as hold your hand, or brush a hair away from your face. All these little things and gestures, have been making you swoon over your closest friend for years, centuries even.

“Time and love are strange concepts, aren’t they?” You asked, looking straight at him. Here goes nothing, you thought.

“I believe those are rather simple concepts”

“You can spend a lifetime with someone, know every habit and expression but you don’t know how they truly feel about you” You said staring at him, searching for any hint that indicated he knew what you were talking about. But you saw nothing. Who were you kidding? He’s just your friend, has been for a long time.

You let out a defeated laugh, standing up and letting go of his hand. “Forgive me, I don’t really know what i’m saying” you said, grabbing the potion and starting to leave. But you felt his hand on your wrist, stopping your movements.

“You said you felt the desires of every being that stepped foot on Teyvat’s soil, am I right?” he asked, looking at you. You nodded. “Does it work on me?”

“You wanted to get close to me, as a friend”

“My apologies my dearest y/n, but I think your blessing is wrong” he said, standing up and holding your hand once again. “I did want to get closer to you as a friend at first, but not any longer. I’ve been observing mortals for a while as well, on my daily walks through Liyue Harbor, and I think I finally understood my feelings”

You were sure that if Zhongli listened close enough, he would hear the fast beating of your heart.

“I’ve been waiting for you to use your love potion on me, my dear y/n. I’m sure it wouldn’t have worked anyways since I believe it would take a lot of effort to make an effective potion that could work on me. But it would have given me the excuse to tell you how I really feel” he said.

“How do you feel then?” you asked him, looking up at the tall man.

“I think I’m very lucky to have you by my side, and it makes me want to travel to the Dendro nation and personally thank the Archon for assigning you to Liyue. I also want you to still be by my side for the centuries to come, if you’re okay with that” he said, lowering his voice by the end.

You acted before you could process your thoughts. You stood on your tippy toes and kissed his cheek gently, never letting go of his hand. He liked you, he felt the same way about you. It was real.

“I’m okay with that” you replied.

Venti

It was almost noon, almost an hour after the original time you accorded with Venti to meet. You planned a picnic date by the big tree near the statue of the Seven, your favorite spot. The same spot which later, became Venti’s favorite spot as well.

He wasn’t a person who would jump straight to conclusions. You were late. Maybe you fell asleep, maybe you couldn’t find the guitar you promised to bring so you could play a duet. Being late doesn’t mean something bad happened, right?”

He decided to wait a few more moments, but once the sun set, he had enough. He went out to try and find you. He went to your house, but noticed the door was locked and no one was inside. “They left” he thought.

He slowly but surely started to get desperate. Where were you? Were you hurt? Did you get lost somehow? He went to Angel’s Share, and not even Master Diluc had seen you. If Venti wasn’t in such a panicked state, he would have noticed the rare concerned and worried look Diluc had on his face.

If any traveler walked by literally any road in Mondstadt, they would soon encounter a big rush of wind. Venti went from here to there as fast as he could, trying to find you.

He soon enough found you in Stormbearer Mountains, fighting hilichurls and two pyro mages. You looked tired, sweat covering your body and your clothes were dirty. It was obvious that this has been going on for a while. You gripped your sword as hard as you could, and kept fighting. Why didn’t you call for him? With no exception, Venti tells you daily to call for him if you ever encounter a problem. It’s not that he doesn’t think you’re strong, oh no, he believed you were the strongest mortal in Teyvat. But in the end, to him you were still a mortal. Fragile and over-sensitive. He often told you to call his name, that the wind will carry it and he will appear there to help you out. So why didn’t you?

“y/n!” he screamed, once he laid his eyes on you. You turned around and saw a rush on wind, and felt his presence. What you didn’t feel though, was the pyro attack coming from one of the mages. The mage summoned three pyro artifacts that surrounded you, and burnt you. You felt your energy slip away, your head dizzy and your body burning. Then, you felt the cold wind, Venti quickly finishing off the mages and the remaining hilichurls.

Venti thought it was over. You were kneeled down, burnt skin, gasping for air. It was over, you were going to die. He felt his eyes water and fear running through his veins. He wrapped his arms around you, making you lean on his chest.

“Don’t leave me” he begged. “please”

“My dear, I don’t think I can” you said, letting out a short laugh.

“Please stay strong, I think I can carry you to the cathedral but you need to hold very still so-“ he started saying, now fully crying but you interrupted him by putting a hand on his cheek and wiping his tears with your thumb.

“I’m serious, I don’t think I can leave anyways. Venti, I literally can’t die.” you said, with a laugh and slowly standing up.

“You... you’re immortal?” he asked, looking up at you, not being able to leave the floor.

You nodded. “I thought you knew”

“I hate you” he said, standing up and wiping away his tears. “I do”

“No you don’t. But you’re cute though!” you said, grabbing his face and kissing the tip of his nose. “I’m very sorry I’m late though, my commission took longer than I thought but let me compensate you with dinner and a bottle of wine”

“But you’re still burnt?” he asked you, concern still in his face.

“Oh don’t worry about that, it will rip out when I start walking. I have healthy skin underneath” you said, like it was the most normal thing in the world.

“Why do I feel like this is not your first time getting so hurt?” he asked letting out a soft chuckle, suddenly feeling lighter now that he knows you’re okay and will probably be okay for a long long while.

“Eh, been there done that a few times” you simply said, taking his hand and walking back to the city of Mondstadt.

[alleycat-arcade]

Game Finish! The Seven Lords: Rashōmon

Anonymous asked: Oh my god, I LOVED how you wrote an MC with Atsushis ability and was wondering if you could do an Akutagawa like MC? Or maybe a Dazai MC as I've always wondered how they'd handle someone like either of them considering there depth as characters and they were my absolute favorites. Aku deserved better-

Hmph, you're sure that machine still hasn't bitten you? .... N-nevermind, don't worry about it.

The Mafia's Hellhound. (Part 3) (Obey Me! Dateables x Akutagawa Ryūnosuke(BSD)-like!Gn!Mc/Reader, Platonic! Luke + Akutagawa Ryūnosuke(BSD)-like!Gn!Mc/Reader)

Content Warnings: Since this character is from the same series as Atsushi Nakajima, I'm gonna put the same first bit of warning here. Bungou Stray Dogs is a series that contains characters based on real life authors, with each individual character having an ability based on a book by their namesake author. There is also a character in the series who is Sui///cidal and it is somewhat treated more light-hearted than how it is usually treated in media, and though it is explained later as to why I don't recommend anyone who is put off or upset by that type of content to watch it. Akutagawa is not this character, but this character does have a heavy impact on him. To those who are interested in the original concept as a whole, I'd definitely recommend watching up to Episode 3 first since that is the first appearance of Aku in the anime. This will have light spoilers for Seasons 1-3 as well throughout, so if you do end up really liking the anime and don't want the slightest bit of spoilers you should finish it first. The majority of spoilers lie in Aku's overall personality, but if you've seen Bungou Stray Dogs: Wan! it is not too dissimilar. There will be mentions of blood and general violence, as well as spoilers for Chapter 16-20 of Obey Me. Don't blame me, blame Belphie. And again, there will be angst. Not just because angst is my chicken soup for the soul, but that this character is very angsty. It is much tamer on Luke's part though.

(While a good chunk of the Side Character's Development lie in Seasons 2 and 3 for now, I've chosen to keep this particular set of headcanons secluded to MC's first semester in the Devildom. There may be slight nods towards the following seasons, but that would need to be a seperate request.(Especially since I'd need to figure out how to play around with the timeline to keep Aku!MC from doing certain things relating to a certain arc.)

(Takes place in between the Cannibalism Arc and Kamui Revelation Arc, which I assume Wan! is also set in. I went with this specific version of Aku because it's where the anime has left off at, and I personally believe anime watchers are more widespread than manga readers most of the time. I'll be doing my best not to accidentally water down his personality though, as even at that point in the story Aku still has quite the inferiority complex, violent tendencies, and other such issues.)

(Not writing the entire intro still 'cause that would be way too long. You can find the intro in Part 1, and Part 2 is the continuation with the Younger Demon Brothers.)

(Please note that since I don't have too many colors to work with, characters do share colors based off their glow sticks. The difference is that the Demon Brothers speak like this, and the side characters speak like this when in the same conversations as the Demon Brothers. Otherwise they just speak like this. Still working on stuff for the new three, since they don't have any set colors, so they might change off and on.)

⚝──⭒─⭑─⭒──⚝

Diavolo:

"My! You're quite the curious case of a human, aren't you? What wonderful little tendrils you have there! They very much remind me of the thorny vines of the Black and Blue Butterfly Weed." :)

If Barbatos hadn't already turned down the idea in a conversation prior to your summoning, he might've just brought you to his place instead of making you stay with the Brothers. But honestly, could you blame him for wanting to talk to you more and learn more about you? Diavolo is ever the curious type in regards to the cultures and aspects of the residents of the other two realms. Not only to satisfy his own interests but for the betterment of relationships between the Three Realms as well. So, when a human with such unique capabilities and a heavily checkered past had been selected by Lucifer, Dia was incredibly eager to get to know them.

While Diavolo may have quite the cheery and somewhat carefree demeanor at times, he's far more intelligent than he usually let's on. He has tracked down all obtainable knowledge there is to find about you in the Human World, such as your criminal record, affiliations, family tree, known documentations on your ability, and other such things. Diavolo had actually known the majority of these facts about you prior to your selection as well, but made sure to thoroughly scour any and all documents out there in the Human World for as much information after Lucifer had chosen you as the second Human Exchange Student. With all that in mind, despite your checkered and spotted past Diavolo still chose to go through with Lucifer's primary decision. As for why? Only him and Barbatos, (and everyone who's played up to Chapter 16), know.

Though your typical demeanor may be described as rough at best and cold at it's worst, Dia really doesn't pay any mind to it. He wouldn't blatantly admit it in the presence of the Eldest Brother, but you remind him of Lucifer in a way and he treats you as such. Albeit with an appropriate amount of distance between the two of you. Sure, he ultimately desires to unite the Three Realms and have peace, but there's no harm in keeping up some walls and not telling you more than you need to know. Dia's known Luci for far longer and he's not quite prepared to fully trust you in the same way, even if you do act somewhat similar.

Considering the situation of your residency, he doesn't often have the chance to monitor your well-being and progress with the Brothers outside of updates from Lucifer, idle chatter, or Student Council Meetings. To most others who would've overseen a program such as this one, this slow and steady stream of information would have been enough for them. But Lord Diavolo was a demon very much unlike most others, and as such went out of his way to get to know you whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Most of the time you were invited to outings with the Demon Prince or to his castle alongside at least one of the Demon Brothers, but it had become an increasing phenomena that you would be invited to spend time with him alone. You had been assured time and time again that Diavolo possessed no ill will towards you nor intent to cause harm, but for quite a bit these moments alone with him unnerved you. The way you had seen him in these moments was uncanny to that of the Mafia Boss you served under, and you couldn't help but squirm in your seat and await harm. Both himself and Barbatos picked up on this, and easily put two and two together based on their collected records of the Port Mafia. Dia did not relent with inviting you over though, choosing to persevere and gain your trust as you also grew closer to the Demon Brothers. To his credit he does slowly weave his way into your heart, while also failing to notice the way you'd begun to worm your way into his own. Once you've finally given Diavolo some leeway and allowed him some sort of entrance into your life, he's fully intent on staying in that position. With the comparison of your Boss buried away, now all you can really compare him to is an excitable puppy.(To your dismay.)

Returning to the fact he does have a very baseline understanding of your past and your abilities thanks to those public records of yours, Diavolo is ever so eager to fully understand you and brings up those topics often in your short meetings together should you be comfortable enough to discuss it with him. There's a constant glimmer of intrigue in his eyes whenever you choose to use Rashōmon in front of him. It doesn't matter if you're intentionally trying to show off or if you're just using it's tendrils to perform a mundane task, Dia is deeply invested on seeing your ability in action. Many a drape or tea set has been lost to the gaping maw of Rashōmon: Agito, to the dismay of a certain butler respectfully at standby outside of the Prince's office. Diavolo has trouble truly relating to the plights imposed upon you by your separation from your sibling in the same way that the Demon Brothers can, but he bears enough empathy to understand why such a thing effects you in that way and never fails to extend words of comfort in your direction as needed.

Your position as a decently high ranking member of the Port Mafia doesn't truly effect his perception of you or your species either, both since he'd known about this fact prior and he'd now gotten to know you more than just the surface level amount that he could gleam from Human World records about you. If anything, having someone like you was more beneficial to the Exchange Program than it may have seemed at a first glance. Though the media and most of the world may have seen you as a cruel murderer and self-branded mafia dog, Diavolo had slowly come to know the true version of you the lied underneath your sharp, cold exterior. Humans are certainly fascinating... No wonder the Brothers are so fond of you.

Back on the topic of the Brothers, and one brother in particular, Diavolo is quite well aware of the circumstances he was sending you into when sending you back into the past. He may have had some reservations about quite literally sending you to your demise, but Dia trusted Barbatos' abilities. Knowing that you had lain dead at the foot of the stairs just a few moments prior was slightly unnerving to him, yet he was more so thankful that he didn't have to bear witness to the scene itself and that he could simply swoop in at the end and tie up any loose ends.

Hmm? What's that MC? Dia seems to be inviting you over an awful lot more than usual lately? Nonsense, nonsense. It's perfectly normal for him to invite you out every other day, with the occasional surprise slumber party. You are his favorite Human Exchange Student after all! Just don't tell Solomon. All jokes aside though, Diavolo does start showing a bit more interest in your wellbeing that he already had after everything that went down with Belphie. He's even extended the offer to let you stay at the castle many a time should you ever feel unsafe in the presence of the Avatar of Sloth, although he is fairly certain that Belphegor will bring you no harm. (Also hooks you up with the best psychologists and psychiatrists he can find, both for your past trauma and your brand new limited edition trauma.)

Sending you back home at the end of RAD's semester is a rather difficult subject for him. Dia shares the same worries concerning what may happen to you after your return to the Human World as the Brothers do, and he can't help but get caught up on the thoughts of worst cause scenarios. You spent so much time and effort to contribute so much to his Exchange Program, only to be sent back to incarceration, demise, or worse? And yet, he's the Demon Prince and soon to be Demon King. He's more than aware of the consequences of tampering with a human's lifespan, a crime in the Celestial Realm, and the effect that prolonged exposure to the Devildom has on humans. Putting aside his sense of companionship, Dia needs to sit down and have a long hard think. Most likely, he'll have Barbatos look ahead into your future to see if it's truly safe to send you back and find some way to keep Team "If Mc goes, so do I" in the Devildom. This is a very delicate matter, one that could perhaps even change the fate of the Three Realms as a whole due to your unique bloodline.

Barbatos:

Similar to his Lord, Barbatos is equally intrigued by you. Not particularly intrigued enough to let Diavolo move you into the Castle instead of the House of Lamentation, but at least somewhat more interested in you than he would usually be. Both him and Dia have done a bit of info-gathering and timeline inspecting prior to your arrival, but since he'd been requested to not look into your future unless asked after that Barbatos would need to actively seek you out should he desire to get to know anything more about you.

As it seemed to be good information to remember, Barbatos made it a point to give himself a decent amount of memory of your files. This includes but is not particularly limited to; the variations of your ability, the pure destructive capabilities of said ability, your past, your family tree, and records regarding your time in the Port Mafia. None of these factors startled or frightened him as it would most humans though, as he'd know quite a few demons in his time that had done far worse things with very little reasoning behind them. Nevertheless, Barbatos still needed to take these factors into account when certain matters involved you, such as your reckless streak of fights at RAD or your occasional visit to the Castle. No need to spend extra money on new antique furniture, décor, or bandages unless absolutely necessary after all.

Given his position and duties as Lord Diavolo's personal butler, this left himself with very little free time in general. Let alone free time that he'd wished to spend getting to know you and not winding down after a hard day's work. It's not that he didn't want to form some sort of bond outside of a baseline acquaintanceship with you, rather he found interactions to be particularly exhausting and draining after serving Dia all day long. So, the only true opportunities Barbatos has to get to know you are made up of chance run-ins and interactions. Or at least in the beginning it is.

Often you'd occasionally run into Barb in the halls of RAD and exchange a brief few words, but if you happened to not be in the company of any of the Demon Brothers and just so conveniently got a couple of scuffs and bruises from picking fights, Barbatos is quick to sigh and drag you off to an empty classroom. Setting aside whatever he happens to be holding on a nearby desk, Barb makes quick work of inspecting and treating any injuries you might have. All the while gently scolding you for your reckless behavior. These moments are strangely more intimate than any of your minute long chats in the halls or in between servings of tea with Diavolo, and the both of you oddly begin to crave this strange form of company as the Exchange Program continues on. Eventually one of you caves and gives up your little game of school delinquent and caring nurse, choosing instead to actually hang out like normal people do.

When bonding with Barbatos, most of it is done through the enjoyment of each other's company with bits of conversation sprinkled in. You're aware of just how little free time the loyal butler has, so it makes it all the more special when he invites you over for tea or out shopping with him. A decent chunk of your conversations consist of your day to day life rather than your past, but that doesn't mean Barb would bring it up from time to time should it be relevant to the current topic. Barbatos also uses your little personal meetings to introduce you to some new methods that might help you get a handle on your temper or adjust easier to your life in the Devildom. It becomes fairly commonplace that you end up returning to HOL with an armful of calming teas, sweets, advice notes, and lists after meeting him, so much so that you've just started bringing a reusable shopping bag with you whenever he invites you over.

Out of all of the Obey Me! cast, Barbatos is the person who asks the least about your ability and it's uses. He knows enough about Rashōmon to have a decent understanding of it and has probably seen it in his visions of different timelines, futures, and pasts. Unless you offer to use it in order to help him complete simple tasks like shopping or housekeeping, he'd prefer you not to use it at all. Diavolo's curiosity has caused the end of many drapes, armchairs, and rugs, and he'd rather not have to find Rashōmon shredding something any time soon. Plus Barb does become distressed quite a bit when he sees you coughing up blood from overuse, even if his face doesn't really show it at the time. If you desire to have a space to practice your ability, you're welcome to use it on any rats you find in the Castle though. He'd much prefer feeding them to the little creature that forms itself from your clothing, that pretty much disintegrates them, than deal with the mess left behind.

Barbatos also isn't off-put by the nature of your past. Like his Prince, Barb has met plenty of creatures throughout the Three Realms that have killed far more people for less reasons. If he was being truly honest, he'd consider your actions Child's Play in comparison to certain individual's he's met over the years. He'll offer you comfort and solace should you want or need it, but if you're worried about him bearing a distaste for you because of your role in the mafia, there's no reason to. Barb is far more interested in hearing you lovingly talk about your sister or any particular Human World teas that you're fond of anyway.

As previously stated with Diavolo, both him and Barb are well aware of the events following your release from the Attic. However, the image of your corpse is something that haunts his mind, most often in the late hours of the night. He'd jumped through many timelines until eventually arriving in one where you had succeeded in his original plan, but that wasn't without seeing a fair share of your demises. Luckily, years upon years spent shaping himself into the perfect butler allowed him to shove down these suffocating feelings. They do resurface eventually, but Barbatos keeps them hidden behind the door to his bedroom and later yours.

There's an exponential rise in Barb's invitations of companionship following the incident, much to the dismay of the Seven brothers already fighting amongst themselves and the Demon Prince for your attention. Diavolo has crashed a few of your "dates" with Barbatos at times, but for the most part it's just the two of you alone. These little meetings are fairly similar to the ones that had occured before, but they oddly just feel more domestic? Barbatos's gazes just feel softer and warmer, and his touches so, so gentle. He's handled ancient porcelain dishes far rougher than he does you. You've also noticed that Barb takes any chance he can get to subtly caress your face, but he'll dismiss it every time with a barely noticeable blush. You aren't slick Barbatos, we all know why you styled their bangs so they didn't hang in their face and why it took so long to finish.

Barbatos grows more and more apprehensive as the end of the Exchange Program nears. As much as he'd like to keep you in the Devildom for the rest of your days should you desire to stay, it's ultimately Lord Diavolo's choice in the end. He's already preparing to look into your future in the Human World when Dia asks, and fully ready to change timeline occurrences as needed. Just so long as Diavolo says the word. Perhaps if you had a bit more time to bond fully, instead of the sort of puppy love mutual crush relationship you shared, Barb might have considered going against his Prince's wishes a bit more.

Solomon:

Considering how much time this old man immortal sorcerer has spent roaming the Earth, it wouldn't be unreasonable to think that Solomon does have a decent amount of knowledge about those special humans known as "Ability Users". He may not know too much about you and your ability specifically, but he's fairly knowledgeable about the concept and people involved as a whole. There's also a decent chance that Solo knows a couple of the groups run by Ability Users, like The Guild, Port Mafia, and ADA. If asked for a description based on his current level of awareness on the topic, Solomon would best describe Ability Users as magic users who are limited to one singular niche spell. As such, seeing you using an ability doesn't come as too much of a shock to him, unlike certain demons and Angels who'd come to expect the majority of humanity to be magicless and overall defenseless aside from their handmade weapons. Yet, even though he's well aware of others like you, he's still ever so intrigued by you and Rashōmon. Seeing a small tendril pop out of your coat and snatch your D.D.D. back after he'd picked it up for you had been the starting point of his fascination, and it progressively developed more and more over time. Like a sort of Snowball effect.

Since you're both humans who possess some rather inhuman qualities, Solomon decides to use that detail as a starting point to getting you to bond with him. He's not very successful in his advances at first, since the Demon Brothers had yet to even begin to whittle away and the massive emotional walls around your heart. But as you slowly begin to soften up and slightly quell your aggression, Monsolo finds just enough leeway to wriggle his way into your life. Given that you're still slightly iffy about him and make that fact obvious, he starts out his bonding with you very slow and steady. Solo lacks the advantage of sharing a house/dormitory with you like the brothers, so he has to think ahead and plan out the best ways of interacting with you and what topics to bring up or avoid. Lucky for him, it seems that you have a certain knack for getting into trouble, so extending a helping hand your way with his magic is a huge benefit to positively influencing the way that you think about him.

The time the two of you spend together start off small and somewhat insignificant, like a brief chat in the halls of RAD or small talk after a chance run-in, but as your relationship deepens from an acquaintanceship to a friendship, you begin to have actual outings. These range from going to a restaurant or café, to coming over to the Purgatory Hall for some tea or a brief study session. Solomon easily picks up on the fact that your past is a rather sore subject, so he holds off on asking about it until you are in a better place mentally.

A topic he does indulge himself in quite a bit is asking about your ability and just about every detail you are willing to provide about it. If you're up for giving him a demonstration he's rather pleased to watch and take notes, but Solo also easily notices when you are beginning to overuse Rashōmon and will stop you from doing so. After a bit of studying your ability and the ways that you can or choose to use it, should your relationship be at a comfortable enough level, he might offer to give you some advice on how to improve your control and usage Rashōmon based on spells that somewhat resembled certain aspects of your ability. He's quite happy should you take him up on his advice and potentially seek him out for more in the future, but Solo does understand should you also disregard it and choose to develop your ability in your own way with little outside help. Solomon also will offer himself up as a sparring partner if you want to ensure that you're in tip top shape at all times. Both of you are human for the most part, so you have relatively similar endurance levels, and Solomon can replicate a decent handful of abilities held by other ability users you had met.

Once you've reached a stage in your bond together where you are fully comfortable in his presence, he very subtly tries to get you to open up about your past. He backs off rather quick should it make you uncomfortable and waits to bring it up again for a bit, but eventually you give in and open up. When you're speaking about your past he's mostly silent aside from a few nods or hums that let you know that he's listening, all the while rubbing comforting circles into the back of your hand. Most days Solomon chooses to simply let you vent out all of your thoughts and emotions onto him while he calmly reassures and comforts you, but on the occasion he'll instead offer some advice on certain situations and any additional insights that you're comfortable with him adding in.

The fact that you're a decently high-ranking member of a mafia that contained some of the strongest Ability Users in Japan was a bit of a surprise at first, but given the additional details of your past before the Port Mafia and prior personality, the initial shock wears off fairly easily. It certainly would explain why you act so rough around the edges and try so desperately to not depend on anyone but yourself. Yet, Solomon's still not scared off or really even intimidated by this fact. It's reasonable to assume with how long he's been alive the he's at least had one or two run-ins with organized crime groups, and seeing as he's fairly alive and well after those experiences he's not too worried about being curb-stomped by your colleagues should he be caught hanging around you in the Human World. Though, perhaps you shouldn't have been calling yourself a "Mafia Dog" for all these years, since Solomon is now very taken with calling you every known somewhat aggressive dog breed in the book. His favorite in particular is "Akita", since you also happen to be a bit of the stubborn type.

Unlike Diavolo and Barbatos, Solomon and the rest of the members of Purgatory Hall are completely unaware of the incident following Belphegor's release from the Attic. They get a rather brief description that mostly entails just "Belphie was released, met Mc, and changed his views on Humans due to Mc's bloodline", but unless you openly tell Solomon he'd be none the wiser. Sure, he'd suspect something was somewhat off based on the very limited amount of details they were told, but as far as he can see you look to be alright for the most part. Possibly shaken up at times, but not too much out of the ordinary. By the time you've finally sat down and chosen to tell him the truth about that night, you've already had it cleared with Diavolo to be safe to talk about it and pulled him away to a secluded space where Simeon and Luke wouldn't overhear. Solomon doesn't really know how to react at first as you go through explaining the betrayal, your death, and subsequent revival, his hands simply hovering above your forearms while he stares into your eyes, desperately trying to swallow the knot slowly forming in his throat. It's silent for a few minutes once you've finished speaking, before he suddenly engulfs you in a tight hug. Most of what you hear him mutter into the crook of your neck seem to be words of comfort, but on the occasion you catch a poorly muffled sob and slight tremble in his speech.

After the night Solomon tries to pretend that nothing is wrong, mostly as not to alert the rest of Purgatory Hall, but you do notice a sudden spike in him fighting to get your attention from the Brothers. Sometimes you swear that he must've set an alarm for the most optimal times to invite you somewhere before the Brothers even get a chance, which at times gets to the point that they have to invite you out at midnight before Solomon swoops in.

As the end of the Exchange Program nears, Solomon begins to concoct plans on how to best keep you safe upon your return to the Human World. From what he knows it's likely fairly frowned upon for a high ranking mafia member to suddenly disappear and reappear months later unless ordered to, so he'd like to prevent that conflict from imposing itself on you. Honestly, it's quite likely that Solomon would either find you and your sister some place that you could live and lay low, or just simply let you and her live with him. The last option wouldn't be what he'd really prefer since Solomon can get into danger fairly often, but given that you and your sister can handle yourself decently well enough he may be pushed to reconsider. Even more so should it be requested by a certain Prince.

Simeon:

From your first meeting, Simeon can't seem to figure out what to think about you or how to properly approach. You're cold, somewhat bitter, and even aggressive at times, yet he can sense this underlying emotional injuries that you hide away in the deepest recesses of your heart under lock and key. Simeon both wants to exchange a helping hand in your direction and shy away from interacting with you outside of the bare minimum to be polite. With no real proper way to approach you aside from very brief stilted conversations, Simeon only really begins bonding with you after you've begun hanging around Solomon a lot more and become somewhat less hostile.

Deciding it to be the best course of action, Simeon approaches bonding with you in the same way he would with most younger angels that he spent time with. It's a little awkward for both of you at first, as his first couple of interactions in this manner unnerve you ever so slightly, but you grow accustomed to it overtime. Simeon also adapts his approach to better understand you and not potentially belittling you, moving from treating you like an angel in training to the same manner he usually treats Solomon, Diavolo, Barbatos, and the Demon Brothers.

Most of the time you spend with Simeon is spent in the company of the other Purgatory Hall members, but he does on occasion invite you out to do stuff with him alone. While you do enjoy hang out with Solomon and Luke, it's actually rather nice to spend some quality time with him. Most of your excursions aren't too long or too far away, but Simeon does his best to make sure that he picks places to go to that both of you would enjoy. He especially enjoys finding restaurants that serve Black Tapir or going to an escape room that he'd heard of from other students at RAD. But with how nice it is to spend time with Simeon, it's somewhat a frequent occurence that you accidentally get sent the wrong time or place due to his lack of experience in technology. Usually if you notice that the location or time looks weird you would just call him -since who would go to an arcade at 12am or some back alley right after RAD ended- but there has been situations where you waited in Purgatory Hall for a good couple of hours before the actual time Simeon had wanted you to meet him at.

Your ability is something he does find rather interesting, but he won't push you to show it off unless you're comfortable with it. Simeon can't help but inquire about how similar Rashōmon is to the power of the main character, Henry, from his series The Seven Lords, and if you're still fine with using it around him he may try and use you as a frame of reference for writing battle scenes or anything that involves Henry using his power. Often most of his referance material comes from just watching you and Solomon spar, as he is usually present to help with healing magic, but if you aren't opposed to it he'd gladly ask you to show off some of your abilities outside of the battlefield. Rashōmon: Sawarabi is his favorite of your attacks to see in action, but outside of combat he is quite fond of the little jawed creature that is created when you use Rashōmon: Agito to quickly consume something. He's thought a few times before about asking you to use the little creature to help with gardening as it could eat up any waste, but considering the size and destructive capabilities of it he later decided against it.

Simeon really isn't aware of your past unless you tell him, but even after you eventually confess of your position in the Port Mafia he makes no move to belittle you or treat you any different to how he usually would. He struggles to truly explain why, but he reassures you that he doesn't think of you any differently than he had before. Simeon doesn't bring the topic up unless you do, and does try to divert away from it when you show signs of discomfort or nervousness. He'll also offer himself up to you as a source of comfort on days you're feeling particularly homesick or just down, more than happy to reassure you or let you vent to your heart's content. In order to make you as comfortable as he can, Simeon does cast a few spells in the surrounding area that make the atmosphere more calming and soothing. The heavenly scent of fresh flowers takes your mind off the mafia and your parents, instead ushering in fond memories of your sister that you can't help but tell the Angel that is holding you in his arms so tenderly.

You initially put off even discussing anything about the Attic with any of the members of Purgatory Hall outside of the basics, but you can't help but find yourself craving to be comforted by the kind angel. Simeon is very gentle and delicate with the topic before you confide in the greater details with him, sensing that there may be some things that have been intentionally left out, but he doesn't force you to talk until you're ready. Throughout your entire explanation Simeon is doing his best to comfort you through touch alone, not wanting to interrupt your words. His thumbs rub comforting circles into your forearms, only stopping to wipe away any tears or apply a gentle pressure to your shoulder. Simeon pulls you in close once you've finished speaking, with your head resting on his chest as he runs his fingers through your hair. (If you're taller than him he does still have you rest your head on his chest, but he'll have to lay down a bit unless you really want to have a crick in your back tomorrow.) Though hearing of your demise does upset him, he chooses to prioritize your comfort over his own and make sure to do it to the best of his ability.

He's rather transparent when he begins inviting you out to spend time together after your explanation, and the places he takes you to are hand picked by him to be the most comfortable and secluded spaces in the Devildom. The Brothers are certainly jealous when they see you hanging around an Angel, but they can't complain too much on days that you and him spend time baking and bring some food home for them as well. You've noticed that Simeon has developed a sudden habit of resting his hands on the back of your forearms when walking side by side, but if you point it out he does play a rather unconvincing clueless act or tease you ever so slightly. Simeon has also started leaving his ringtone on a higher volume when going to bed just in case you happen to call in the middle of the night and need some words of comfort or just want to talk.

Like everyone else in the Exchange Program, besides Luke, Simeon does worry a good bit about what may happen to you upon returning home to the Human World. While Simeon would be more than happy to extend a hand and allow you and your sister to stay in the Celestial Realm for a bit, he's rather worried about how the other angels would react to your past. He may not judge you too much for your deeds in the mafia since he's gotten to know you as a person, but other angels in much higher positions of power very well may not be so kind. The most he can really do is try to be a comforting presence for you and hope that Diavolo or Solomon can figure something out.

Luke(Platonic):

Similar to Simeon, Luke is quite hesitant to interact with you. Honestly, he had though you were another demon upon meeting you for the first time until you had been introduced as the second Human exchange student, with how much your personality and demeanor replicated many of the stories about demons that he'd heard back in the Celestial Realm. Your ability wasn't also earning yourself any bonus points in his book, seeing as he'd nervously hid behind Simeon when you'd brought out Rashōmon to quickly dispose of the food Solomon had offered you. It's only after your sharp edges have softened up a bit and Simeon begins bonding with you that Luke attempts to approach you.

Luke's manner of approaching you in the beginning is slightly awkward, with him curiously following you around and watching you as you hang out with Simeon. This sort of reminds you a bit of the way a child gets to know one of their parents' or sibling's friends, so you try not too mind it too much. Simeon finds it rather cute at first but over time grows tired of watching Luke jump the second that you glance back at the wall he's peering at you from behind, and eventually just politely forces both of you to bond with one another.

A majority of the time that Luke spends with you is also in the company of Simeon, Solomon, and occasionally Barbatos, but as the two of you grow closer you do find the time to bake alone together or go out to a Devildom attraction that Luke had always wanted to see but not had the courage to ask Simeon to take him to. Most often you and Luke settle on just baking alone together though, as the Demon Brothers do sometimes crash your little outings to parks or Devil's Coast.

Your relationship soon blossoms from a rather forced acquaintanceship into a very sibling-like relationship over the course of your time spent together. Luke sorta reminds you of your sister and yourself when you were much, much younger, and you can't help but feel a little protective over him as he worms his way into a comfortable position in your heart. Though he's likely more powerful than you as well, you don't hesitate to at least try and protect him as much as you can. Luckily, Rashōmon makes a decent threat over most lesser demons that might pick at the young angel, and if all else fails you can subtly flaunt a pact mark or two of yours and threaten anyone messing with Luke to buzz off before you call one of the Seven Avatars of Hell to deal with them instead.

Returning to the topic of Rashōmon, it takes Luke a little bit to warm up to your Ability. In the beginning his take on it is fairly similar to Barbatos, in that he'd rather not see it or have you use it around him. The shadow-like entity puts him on edge in the same manner that demons do, even if you do have full control over it and it is formed from your clothing. But as he slowly sheds his prejudices against demons, Luke also begins to grow more intrigued than frightened by your ability. The times that you usually use Rashōmon around Luke after he's come to terms with it are still rather limited, but most of the time you simply use it to grab things off of high shelves or teasingly lift Luke in the air.

Early on into your friendship with the young angel, you decide not to bring up very much about your past. Telling him that you were a member of a rather infamous mafia would certainly scare him off, and you really didn't want him to know just how much blood stained your hands. You have to be very selective about what you do and don't tell him, as not to let any of the darker details of your past slip through, so Luke has a very limited understanding of your life in the Human World. As far as he's aware, you live alone in the suburbs of a Japanese city with your sister and work a rather physically draining job. It's not the best lie you could come up with, but it worked good enough to keep him from prying into your past or finding out about it before you're ready to tell him.

For similar reasons you also refuse to tell him much of anything about what happened after Belphie was released from the Attic outside of the basic information that had been given to the Purgatory Hall as a whole. You aren't sure how he would take it, and you'd rather not do anything that might smear the name of all demonkind in his mind more than the Celestial Realm already did. It's much nicer to just go out to try some cool new ice cream flavors or bake a cake from one of Barbatos's recipes than make your pseudo-younger brother find out about how you were literally murdered and dead for a good few minutes anyway.

Luke is somewhat confused when he picks up on just how apprehensive just about everyone around him was growing as the Exchange Program drew closer to a close, but chalks it up to the fact that once everyone returned to their respective realms that you'd miss one another. He does make sure to assure you that you will always be welcome to come and stay in the Celestial Realm if you'd like, but that insipid smile you give him when you ruffle his hair is oddly suspicious.

⚝──⭒─⭑─⭒──⚝

(There we are, Aku!Mc is all done for now! Unless y'all want the DLC for Season 2 lol. Apologies for my absence as of late, been going through some really rough mental times, but I am much better now!

I am not fully used to writing for the Side characters, Simeon and Luke especially, but I did my best! As always, any input is appreciated! Apologies is I missed any mistakes while editing and do let me know if you see any!

As they've requested, I'll be tagging @rakshamon to let them know about this fic and my upcoming BSD AU! Mc fics. If anyone else would like to be tagged as well, do let me know!)

[watevermelon]

✧ MSBY Soulmate!Atsumu x Reader

➳ Summary: You knew all about his personality, whether through the rumor vine or the numerous warnings your friends gave you. But there was no avoiding it - he was your soulmate after all.

➳ fluff; mutual pining; small jealousy; slight angst with a happy ending ➳ Navigation

—-xXxXxXxXxXx—–

When he first met you, Atsumu hadn’t wanted to hear it.

This was in the prime of his life, being scouted for a Division 1 volleyball team was his life-goal and the only thing standing in his way was the upcoming Olympics. Which, of course, he was rumored to be included on as well.

Even back in high school, there were tons of fans and girls alike who would willingly fall to his feet. Regardless of his reputation, they were eager to share a single night despite knowing it would probably be their last. And Atsumu reveled in the excitement of the attention, feeding off the cheers and shallow admiration many threw at him both on the court and in the bedroom.

Atsumu didn’t want a soulmate, someone whom he was shackled to for the rest of his life.

No, initially he didn’t want you.

As for you, the feeling was mutual to a degree. Soulmates were a touchy topic for many, conversations about colors and contrast was something you could not personally relate to. The moment you met your soulmate, it was described to you as suddenly bathing your entire life in color.

A part of you was curious about your soulmate, where he was in the world, what was he doing and who he was with. But never had you centered your life around it, more like a passive curiosity that you hoped would one day be satiated.

You were a student of Inarizaki during its prime, the members of the volleyball team very popular among the student body. You had made acquaintances with Osamu and Suna through one or two classes, but never were you particularly close to them.

Your close friends often warned you about the leader of their trio anyway - Atsumu Miya and his drove of fuckboy energy. 

There was no doubt that the twin had multiple fan-clubs and obsessive flings surrounding him. You remembered once feeling sympathetic for his soulmate - thinking about how hard it would be to get him to saddle down to a single person. Especially, with the way he lived his life, it seemed the setter could care less about the concept of soulmates to begin with.

No, Atsumu would be a terrible soulmate for whoever was unfortunately linked to him by the red string of fate.

And while he was admittedly very handsome, you did not particularly care about the setter to actively reach out to him.

Besides, it was not like he even knew who you were to begin with.

The years went by and any thoughts you had about the setter were filed away in the quiet recesses of your mind, only appearing once in a while when Miya  Atsumu showed up on some article or newspaper cover for something regarding volleyball. You were silently proud of his accomplishments and representing your school and perfecture, achieving his dream and all, but hadn’t particularly cared about him in the first place.

That was all until one day, you walked into Onigiri Miya years later.

Even though Osamu was the quieter twin, he either had a good memory or was oddly sentimental, since he remembered your name immediately when you took a seat at the bar.

“I see the years have treated ya well.” Osamu started casually, almost making you blush at how the twin could say something like that as if totally normal between old friends. “How’ve ya been doin’?”

“I’ve been working in the city, just something temporary while I finish grad school.”

“Ah, you’ve always been smart.” He complimented.

“Nothing compared to you though.” You countered, “You look really happy doing this. And you have a few branches opening, I heard.”

“Keepin’ tabs on me?” He baited.

“Just like hearing about the success of our classmates.” You shrugged.

You were sure Osamu had something sassy to say back to you before he got called away by another customer. He motioned for you to stay as he walked to the other side. 

Your eyes followed him for a few seconds, watching how despite working around food constantly, he still had an athletic build after all these years. 

(Really, the dude was built like a dorito chip.)

And while you would have liked to stay and flirt with the pretty onigiri twin, a similar voice started from the door. A light chime signaling the front door opening, you heard a greeting toward Osamu, making you turn in your seat in interest.

Only to double-over in surprise as your world was suddenly too bright.

You had no time, not even seconds to get your bearings. Your life of white and black tones was suddenly full - the table covers were black and red, the plants at the windowsill were green with different arrangements of orange. You took in your surroundings quickly, soaking up colors for the first time in your life.

It seemed the other man was just as surprised, cursing as he went before you lifted your eyes simultaneously to look each other in the eyes once more.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Atsumu asked under his breath, but you heard it all the same.

What on earth could you possibly say to that?

Within seconds, the situation was whirling around in your brain that this was possibly the worst possible moment of your life.

You were soulmates that didn’t want each other - for opposite reasons, surely. You did not want to be with Atsumu since he was too much of a player to take the concept seriously and attempting anything with him would only result in heartache. And Atsumu didn’t want you because he surely had an endless amount of women he would rather be with.

“That’s what a girl wants to hear.” You countered as you crossed your arms.

You hadn't expected your first meeting with your soulmate to be met with expletives and it seemed Atsumu finally remembered a semblance of his manners.

“Sorry, ya caught me off-guard.” He started, “Now ain’t the greatest time for me.”

“Oh boy.” You murmured as you turned back in your seat at the bar, Atsumu taking the open one next to you.

“Wait, (L/N)? From Inarizaki?” Atsumu asked after he motioned toward Osamu in greeting.

“That’s me.” You formally introduced yourself, extending a hand out to him. He regarded you quietly before taking his phone out for you to take and put your number in.

“I knew it, I don’t forget a pretty face like yers after all.” Atsumu smoothly said. This was your soulmate and all you felt in response was resentment, thinking about all the women he probably used that line with. You handed him back his phone as he continued, “Wow, look at ya all grown up.”

“And look at you, a professional volleyball player.”

Atsumu looked at you with a critical eye, not one that you could really decipher, but it was clear he was looking at you very thoroughly. “Been to one’ve my games before?”

“Only a few times in high school.” You replied, facing his stare head-on as his smirk only widened. You weren’t sure what this was, but with a player like Atsumu, you were sure he was already sizing you up in a way you didn’t want.

Something told you that if you looked away, you would lose.

And so you held your ground, matching his intense stare as your onigiri meal waited for you at the bar-side.

Thankfully, his name was called out by his twin and Atsumu’s attention was grabbed away before you could break. 

“I didn’t know ya knew each other?” Osamu started as he returned, a glass in hand as he wiped it dry with a towel.

“We don’t.” You said instead.

Atsumu’s smirk tightened as he answered, “Just found out we’re soulmates, actually.”

Osamu put the glass down and turned to you, “'Tsumu fucking with me?”

“Unfortunately, no.” You answered.

“Unfortunately?” Atsumu emphasized as he turned to you more fully, the infuriating smirk still on his face for some reason, “I’ll have ya know that Imma great catch.”

“Debatable.” Osamu countered.

You laughed at his quip before looking at Atsumu, “Yeah, but I’m sure you don’t even want to be ‘caught,’ right?” You shot-back at the setter, “Unless you’re going to try to convince me that you still don’t want to entertain the droves of women at your feet?”

“Think ya have me all figured out?” Atsumu asked as he leaned closer to you, a quirked brow on his face. You looked toward Osamu who looked strangely amused, eyes going between you and Atsumu.

“I think I know enough to know why ‘now ain’t the greatest time’ for you.” You replied sassily as you shot back his first words to you, pushing at his chest to give back your personal space.

Atsumu just took your hand and put it in his own, calling your bluff. “Oh? Like how my time and attention are on Olympics while I’d rather treat my baby properly?”

“Oh god.” You said as you laughed.

You laughed.

To his face?

All the setter could think about was how interesting you were.

He had expected his soulmate to ‘fall at his feet’ as many had in the past. To cling to him for attention and to demand an exclusive shackle to them. But here you were: beautiful and independent and even physically pushing him away.

You grabbed your hand out of his light embrace and turned back to your food, smiling at what you thought was just another line he would feed to his other one-night stands. Atsumu bit his lip in frustration and looked briefly at Osamu, who was watching the two of you like his own personal source of humor.

If you were any other girl, Atsumu would wave you off. Say that he didn’t have time for one girl who didn’t care, he had dozens who would willingly take the spot instead. 

But you weren’t just any other girl, you were his soulmate.

And he could already feel the strange draw towards you.

Not even a few months ago he would scoff at the supposed soulmate bond. All the other members of the Black Jackals had found their other half and what they ranted on and on about made him sick. Bokuto somehow found a way to insert something about Akaashi at almost every conversation and Atsumu would constantly catch Hinata, even during midgame, staring at Kageyama.

They sickened him.

And yet somehow he now understood.

Seeing his soulmate before him, you were one of the first few people in a while that he felt like he had to prove himself to. There was probably an endless amount of expectation against him, he was sure. Being old classmates and seeing his name on a tabloid almost every other month would definitely do that.

And somehow only minutes into speaking to his soulmate, Atsumu wanted something different.

“I could always prove it to ya.” He shot toward you, making you laugh again. 

Alright, this shit ain’t gonna cut it.

Atsumu licked at his bottom lip before pulling your bar stool closer to his, relishing in the way your eyes widened in surprise as he did so. “Come on, ya lookin’ at yer soulmate. Just say what we both want and we can leave here together right now.”

You shot him back an incredulous expression, a challenging look in your eye as he put the ball in your court. It was strange to feed off the provocation of someone else; a new type of adrenaline in him as he wanted to get to know you.

“Sorry, but I’d rather not leave with a man who has hickies down his neck from some other woman.”

Atsumu almost felt himself click his tongue in frustration, but you were not exactly wrong. Just a few hours ago he was inside someone he couldn’t even name with a gun to his head, but that was a world before you.

A world before color and the sassy soulmate who seemed to want nothing to do with him. 

And while Atsumu wanted to prod a bit more, or at least get you to concede that he was the greatest option in the world, his phone rang out with Sakusa’s icon flashing on the screen.

Your eyes were drawn to the noise and you commented, “I’m sure you already have plans today anyway.”

Dashing that thought away, he lifted his phone to your eyes and showcased the proof to you. “Think again, my teammate is on the other line ready to chew my ass out.”

“Oh.” That shut you up, before shrugging and turning back to your food, “Well, I’ll see you around Atsumu.”

He leaned toward you, lips dropping beside your ear and lightly stating, “Keep ya schedule open this week.”

You hesitated for a second before saying, “Maybe.”

Atsumu answered the call and started gathering his things, his thoughts only half on Sakusa as the spiker complained about his cleaning habits in the locker room.

“We should probably exchange numbers again.” Osamu took out his phone, motioning it in your direction. 

You took it with a smile, to which Atsumu scowled and made a point of reminding his twin. “Yer better know she’s my soulmate.”

Osamu sighed outwardly and you just laughed adding, “And he’s the better twin afterall.”

Atsumu’s eyes darkened, phone completely forgotten as he took a step toward you, “I’ll remind you later who really is the better twin.”

He made it so easy to tease him, to challenge the world Atsumu built-up around him. You wanted to break it for some reason, to knock him down a peg for being stuck with a player as a soulmate.

And so you shot back, “I’d like to see you try.”

Atsumu smirked as his hand casually grazed up your thigh and squeezed at the skin there. “That’s a promise.”

He shot both of you goodbye’s before returning to his phone call and walking out the door. Atsumu had the last word for now, but you weren’t going to fall to his feet so easily. Turning back to Osamu was no help either, his expression amused as he watched the entire moment play-out.

“An here I was wantin’ to ask ya out.” Osamu stated plainly before shrugging as you sat still in your chair at the irony.

You expected that to be the last you’d see of Atsumu for a while - weeks or months or maybe even years as he entertained the long list of women that would be much easier to maintain than a soulmate.

He called you the next day, inviting you over for dinner and a movie before the weekend started.

You steeled your spine, telling yourself that the gorgeous setter was not going to get to you in a single night. He lived on the better side of Tokyo, just his zip-code alone was a flex of his wallet. And so when you reached his penthouse floor, you took a deep breath in the elevator before you entered his domain.

Again, you expected him to make good on his promise before, to make a move and prove to you that he was a playboy, asshole that you knew from high-school, but instead you had a pleasant first night.

Atsumu Miya entertained you with a home-cooked meal of all things, the two of you sat across from each other at his mahogany dining table.

“Who would’ve thought you would know how to cook well?”

“Ya know who my brother is?” Atsumu joked, “As if 'Samu will me live if I was an ass in the kitchen.”

“Of course, you’re just an ass in other places then.” You shot back, receiving a playful look of offense from the setter, before continuing. “But this tasted amazing, so thank you.”

Atsumu had that smirking expression on his face, like he was carefully watching you, picking you apart in his mind as he thought about the next ten moves in this strange game.

The setter put a hand on your knee under the table and you expected that to be the move, for it to slide up the rest of the way. But instead he tapped the area twice before he stood, grabbing your empty plates and motioning for you to go to the living room. 

“Why dont’cha get comfortable for the movie while I wash these?”

You weren’t disappointed, per se. 

Just surprised, if anything.

And the night continued on just as tamely, playful and even flirty banter between the two of you over the action movie that played out. At one point he draped a casual arm across the back of the couch, resting his hand on your shoulder and pulling you to lean against him.

You had witty banter back and forth and when the movie finally ended, Atsumu commented how it was getting late. Surprised again, you took the out and allowed him to call a car for you. Atsumu walked you down to the street and only when he was opening the door for you, did he lightly pull you at the waist to chastely move your lips together.

Lasting only seconds, he pulled away just as quickly and ushered you into the car and whispered in your ear, “See you soon, (F/N).

Everything you had expected of the playboy you thought you knew was shattered, no sudden move to get you on your back on his bedsheets. Yes, he still said plenty of flirty things to you, but he had yet to actually act on it. Was that simply a bluff before? Or was he playing a longer game to get you off the defensive?

“Yer so cute, (F/N).” Atsumu complimented you once as you lounged on his couch another day, “There are days I can barely keep my hands off ya.”

And before you could recognize how quickly your life was changing, that first initial date snowballed into more dates and somehow you had gotten to the point where you would visit his place fairly often. Whether for dinner or a simple hangout, it seemed Atsumu was keen on inserting himself into your life little by little.

And somewhere along the way, you started to doubt your earlier musings of a fuck boy with no regard for a soulmate. Maybe he had changed from high school? Or maybe, he had changed when he met you?

Or at least, that’s what you wanted to believe.

He had convinced you one night, when you came over for dinner or whatever it must have been, when it started to absolutely downpour outside. He insisted that he did not feel safe sending you home in this weather, to which you countered that you had travelled in worse.

That did little to subdue his worries and instead you found yourself in an oversized jersey getting tucked into his bed that night.

“What’s that face about?” He asked as you laid there together, bed sheets up to your shoulders as he placed an arm beneath your head.

“Nothing, just thinking.”

You thought the first time you’d ever see his bedsheets would be when he was inside of you, not tamely laying beside you and kissing your forehead goodnight. And when he pulled you closer to him, cuddling you to sleep that night, that was one of the safest times you had ever felt.

If this was just a game, if you were just another one of his girls, he would have made a move that night, right?

And so you believed that Atsumu was honestly as earnest in his actions as he said, trying to get to know you for you. Not because you were just another woman to put as a notch on his bedpost, but because he was genuinely interested in you.

That was until you saw the first dating scandal since you had met the setter.

He had plenty of other scandals before this, many women had been attached to his name before, but never had you cared in the past because that was simply his reputation and you barely knew him. But now you had an active role in his life, how could you not know about some woman he was apparently also spending time with?

You did not want to believe some random tabloids over the trust of your soulmate. At least, that was until one day you overheard Atsumu on the phone with his twin.

“Listen, I took out (F/N) that first time cause ya told me to.”

That shit hurted.

The entire foundation of your relationship was based on the fact that his twin pressured him into getting to know you? Did Atsumu even want to get to know you in the first place? Was he really playing with your feelings this whole time?

You turned and went back to his living room, filing this away in your mind as you took a seat. If Atsumu didn’t actually want you in his life, then you would surely give him the space he wanted to begin with.

But you had missed the rest of that phone conversation.

“But I feel like I’ve already fallen for her. I don’t know, she’s different. Ya, ya. I know, I won’t fuck it up this time.”

And so you resolved to put between each other the space he wanted initially.

When you first met, he was pretty vocal about not wanting a soulmate at the time. But he had convinced you along the way, that maybe this was something the both of you wanted.

You were wrong.

Phone calls went ignored and you stopped replying to texts after a few curt replies. You needed distance if you were going to get over Miya Atsumu and his inevitable line of one-night stands.

Your soulmate was supposed to be the one person in the world who completed you, who understood you whole and made you feel loved. And while you were on the precipice of those feelings, it all quickly came crashing down with reality.

Atsumu Miya did not want you.

One night, as you were studying for grad-school, you were working on your part of the group project and were expecting a call any moment now from your other partners. 

When the phone rang out, you picked it up without regard to the name on the screen until it was too late.

“Hey, (F/N)? Haven’t heard from you in a while.” Atsumu’s voice started immediately and it was not like you could hang-up on him now.

“Sorry, I’ve been busy trying to make rent, y’know. Not everyone can be a world-renowned professional athlete.”

There was a small pause on his end before, “... you could always stay with me if you have financial problems.”

What?

Why would he offer that? Just to make you suffer when he brought other women home?

“Don’t say things you’ll regret, haha.” You try to put back that earlier distance, “I’m sure you have a laundry list of girls who are eager to hear back from you after all.”

“What? (F/N), that’s not--”

You cut him off there, “Listen, I’m waiting on a couple people for a school thing. I’ll see you around, Miya-san.”

Miya-san.

Miya-san.

Where had he fucked up?

In the weeks Atsumu had gotten to know you, it was a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach that he hadn’t felt for anyone. It was like the unspoken bond crap that Kita had explained to him in high school or that Suna, who recently found his own soulmate, raved about was actually real.

For the first time in his life he wanted to spend time with a woman for longer than a single night. He wanted to bring you home, kiss you good morning, and possibly have a home with both your names on the mailbox.

And while not even a few months ago he would have scoffed at shit like that, Atsumu wanted it and felt that for the first time it was in his grasp.

So where did he go wrong?

The last thing he ever wanted to do was actually make you feel unwanted and he feared that his initial words might have sparked something within you.

It was no surprise when Atsumu showed up at your apartment unannounced the next day.

Not expecting any company, you waltzed over to the door, thinking it might be a package delivery, and opened it in your pajamas.

Atsumu walked right past you and into the living room, words striking with the specificity of a cobra. “Are you just fucking with me?”

You sputtered before closing the door, “What? 

He ran a stressed hand through his hair, but maintained eye-contact with you. “Yer my soulmate and I wanna get to know you. Am I alone in wantin’ this?”

“Shouldn’t I ask that of you?” You shot back, “You made it clear as day that you didn't want me as your soulmate to begin with!”

Atsumu sighed and took a step closer to you, closing the distance to lightly grab at your elbows. “For fucks sake, that was months ago. Don’t tell me that all that time together meant nothin’ to you?”

“Of course it meant something to me!” You exclaimed back, before pushing at his chest while he did not budge a single inch away. “Don’t act like I’m the one half-assed in this.”

He scowled back, “What is that suppos’ed to mean?”

You did not hesitate, "I know you only spent time with me because Osamu told you to.”

Atsumu recoiled in surprise and you took that as your escape, pushing his lingering hands away as you made for the kitchen. But the setter was out of his stupor quickly, trailing behind you.

“Fuck, what did ‘Samu tell you?”

“He didn’t have to tell me anything, I found out the truth myself.”

You could tell Atsumu’s stress level was skyrocketing, from the way his hair was mused without care and angled strangely in certain ways.

“Ya got it all wrong, it was just that first time!” Atsumu replied right behind you.

“What do you mean?”

“‘Samu was the one who told me to call ya the next day, but I was going to eventually ‘cause I wanted to get to know ya myself.”

You slowly took in his words, but it was hard to make any sort of decision with the setter right in front of you. A part of you, one that attributed it to the soulmate bond, was basically begging you to forgive him and wrap yourself in his embrace. That part wanted to feel those muscular arms around you once again, to feel safe in the arms of the one person in the universe meant for you.

But, afraid of getting hurt and without much argue left within you, you tossed back. “Yeah, eventually.”

Atsumu put a strong grip on your waist, holding you there in place before you could run away again.“‘Samu told me to, but I could’ave easily not done nothin’ that first night or any time after.”

You bit your lip at his words, Atsumu was laying all his cards on the table and he wanted a response from you. 

And he wanted it now.

“Please, ya know me better by now.” Atsumu turned you in place to face him, leaning down to whisper his words against your forehead. “I know Imma bad deal - I can’t imagine what ya thought of me back in high school and even earlier this year. I have a bad history and an even worse reputation.”

“But after just a few weeks, I don’t want ya out of my life ever again. Just hearin’ ya call me by my last name yesterday nearly killed me.” Atsumu continued, trailing his lips further down until your foreheads were touching, “Lets give this a try - a real one. Give me the chance to make you happy for the rest of our lives.”

You closed your eyes, trying to ignore the insistent inner tug on your heart and how the setter was encompassing all your thoughts. “Atsumu… I--”

“Stop overthinkin’.” He interrupted, “I don’t want to bombard you. But I promise I won’t ever purposely hurt you.”

You took in a harsh breath, wondering how on earth this could be the same Miya Atsumu who plagued your high school. He had changed, not just from then but from the short amount of time you had already shared together. Opening your eyes slowly, Atsumu was still clutching you around the waist, but his eyes were carefully scanning your expression.

“Okay.” 

You replied, leaning into his touch more as the smile on the setter’s face widened.

He did not waste a single moment, leaning down to capture your lips with his. You stood surprised for a second, before pushing up to meet his gentle touches. There was no sudden epiphany, no instant speech of undying love after. But there was no denying the harsh flutter intensifying after every inflamed touch. 

Your heart pounded hard in your chest as you leaned more into the setter, knees going weak as his tongue roamed your open mouth. Your only focus was on how soft he felt against your mouth, how addictive it was to have Atsumu invaded all your senses. From the intense smell of his cologne to the light tickle of his blond hair against your head, Atsumu was dominating your every feeling.

And so it was quite a surprise when Atsumu gave you one final peck, before moving to your forehead and placing a light butterfly kiss there and backing off entirely.

“Fuck, just look at you.” He commented as he leaned back, looking at you up and down. There was no doubt the sight that greeted him, you messy with drool, tousled hair, and rumpled clothing. “Even in your sheep pajamas, it’s hard for me to keep my hands off ya.”

Your blush intensified at his words, putting a playful hand on his chest and muttering a small, “Shut up.”

“Never.” He quipped back, putting another kiss on your forehead before pulling away, only your hands still joined. “Now let’s get your apartment packed.”

“What?” You asked, confused. Your mind was still nothing more than a cup of spilled milk after Atsumu had all but ravaged your senses.

He smiled before pulling you back to your living room. You followed wordlessly, his previous statements slowly pouring into your brain after the intense liplock. It was hard to focus on anything when the attractive setter was making a point to kiss you at an open chance.

“As in packed to move in with me.”

[shemarmooresfedora]

Rebuilding Family

Summary: Y/N and Spencer were college sweethearts at Cal-Tech but once Spencer got accepted to the FBI Academy, he ended things deciding it was not fair to make Y/N wait for him. When they meet again years later, he discovers something unexpected.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

A/N: THIS IS THE MOMENT YOU ALL HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR. PURE FLUFF AHEAD!!!

Masterlist

Chapter 24

The doorbell rang Friday night as you were popping popcorn in the microwave for family movie night.

“I’ll get it,” you called out, walking to the front door.

You opened it to see Penelope standing there. She immediately grabbed your hand and started tugging.

“You’re coming with me, soon-to-be Mrs. Reid,” she tried to drag you out of the house.

“Spencer! Code pink! Code pink!” you yelled.

You heard Spencer dashing towards the front door.

“You’re not taking her anywhere,” Spencer wrapped his arm around your waist.

“It’s bad luck for the bride and groom to see each other the day of the wedding,” Penelope stomped her high heel in protest.

“Yes, we knew you would say that so we bought these,” you and Spencer held up sleep masks, “Me and Spence will put these on before we go to bed. I’ll set my alarm 15 minutes before his so I will be up and out of the room, headed to Rossi’s before he even sees me. No bad luck and I still get to sleep with my fiancé, everyone’s happy!”

“I should have known you guys would find a loophole. You even had a whole code name,” Penelope huffed.

“I’m sorry, Pen,” you laughed, “I will see you in the morning.”

You gave her a big hug before she returned to her car.

“A brilliant idea if I do say so myself, Dr. Reid,” you grinned.

He leaned down to kiss you as Jo shouted “you’re missing Nemo.”

-

Beep. Beep. Beep.

You fumbled to swipe your phone alarm off without actually being able to see it.

Once you got it off, you felt Spencer’s arms tighten around you.

“Keep that blindfold on, mister,” you demanded.

“Don’t go,” he mumbled.

“Do you not want us to get married today?” you teased.

You felt Spencer’s arms slowly retract from around you after giving you one final squeeze.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” you giggled.

“Bye, love you,” he tried to kiss you but ended up kissing your nose.

You put your hand flat on his face to find his lips and then guided yourself to them.

“I can not wait to marry you,” you whispered after pulling away.

“10 hours,” he whispered back and you could feel his smile as you went in for another kiss.

You slowly got out of bed and crawled towards the door to avoid hitting anything. However, you slammed your head right into the door.

“Ouch!” you rubbed the top of your head.

Spencer sat up in bed, still with his blindfold on, “Love, are you okay?”

“Yep, I found the door,” you laughed, “I will see you at the aisle.”

“I can not wait to be reduced to a blubbering, crying mess in front of my closest friends and family,” Spencer smiled.

You felt around for the door knob and opened it, taking off your blindfold once you were out of the room. You picked up your bag that you had set outside your door with all of your skincare and makeup before heading out the door to Rossi’s.

By the time you had gotten there, the driveway was full of trucks and vans dropping off decorations and setting up the canopy and tables.

The second you rang the doorbell, you were pulled inside by JJ and Emily who were already in their dresses.

“You both look gorgeous!” you exclaimed as they dragged you up the stairs.

“Here’s a muffin,” JJ said as she sat you down.

Emily was already assessing your hair and combing it out.

“Penelope told us what you did last night,” Emily smiled, “I think it was extremely adorable.”

JJ nodded in agreement as she pulled the makeup products out of your bag.

“I would just feel weird if I was away from him for a night now since we are so used to being right next to each other. Speaking of Pen, where is she?” you asked.

“She needed to make sure they put the lattice trellis in the right place so the sun would set directly behind it,” JJ informed you.

You and Spencer would be getting married in front of a lattice trellis covered in vines and an assortment of flowers right at sunset.

“What would I do without her and you guys?” you laughed.

-

Spencer groggily answered the door to see Derek standing there, holding both of their tuxes.

“Ready to get married, Pretty Boy?” he grinned.

“Yes,” Spencer rubbed his eyes to wipe away the tiredness, “Let me wake Jo up.”

Spencer walked back up the stairs and opened Jo’s door, sitting at the edge of her bed.

“Time to get up, Princess,” he whispered, “You get to wear your new dress today.”

Jo’s eyes shot open and she got out from underneath the covers, revealing she was already in fact in her dress.

“You got up already?” Spencer laughed, picking her up.

“I tricked you, Daddy,” she giggled.

“Yes, you did,” Spencer smiled, “There’s someone here to see you.”

“Uncle Derek!” Jo exclaimed.

“Jo!” Derek shouted, accepting the little girl into his arms, “Well, don’t you look nice. Auntie Penelope was telling me how excited she is to do your hair later.”

Jo nodded enthusiastically.

“You get ready,” Derek pushed the tux into Spencer’s arms, “I’ll get Jo breakfast.”

-

You stood at the back of the line in front of the glass double doors leading out to Rossi’s backyard.

As the violins and piano began to softly play, you heard Penelope say, “Jo, go see your Dad.”

The doors opened to let Jo out, holding her basket of white rose petals.

You sneakily watched from a nearby window as Jo took her job very seriously, throwing a handful of petals every other step and then taking a seat in the front row next to Henry and Will.

JJ, Emily, and Penelope all proceeded down the aisle one by one, standing on the opposite side of Derek and Rossi who were standing next to Spencer.

You ran back from the window to in front of the doors, grabbing your bouquet from the table. You had decided to walk down the aisle alone. Your parents were in the audience here to support you but you were your own woman, you didn’t need to be “given away” to Spencer.

The doors opened for the final time and you stepped out. Spencer turned to face you and you could see the tears already glistening in his eyes.

You smiled and mouthed ‘I love you’ as you walked down the aisle and he mouthed ‘I love you too’ as the tears quickly began to form in your eyes as well.

You took your spot in front of Spencer and Jo waved to you both which elicited a small chuckle from the crowd.

“Hi, baby,” you waved back.

You don’t even think Spencer noticed because his eyes were laser-focused on you.

“Shall we begin?” Hotch asked and you both nodded.

“I would like to thank everyone for being here to help Y/N and Spencer celebrate this special day in which they attest to their love for one another. Spencer, would you like to read your vows first?”

Spencer nodded, “I have never admitted this to her until now but the first time I spoke to Y/N is because I offered her a sweatshirt. I actually brought that sweatshirt to the library with me that day, hoping the pretty girl who was always shivering would finally have a reason to acknowledge me. That was the single best decision of my life. Unfortunately, a little over a year later, I made the single worst decision of my life by letting you go,” Spencer started to get choked up, “I honestly think my ‘genius’ title should be taken away for that alone. Somehow, I was graced with the opportunity to come back into your life even though I didn’t deserve it. And your life now revolved around one particular little girl that I grew to love more than I thought was ever possible. So, I just wanted to say scientists learn from their mistakes so while I can’t promise I won’t make any more in the future, I can tell you for sure that I will never let go again.”

“Oh wow,” you sniffled, taking a kleenex and your little journal from Penelope, “How am I supposed to top that?”

“I really don’t care what you have to say, you marrying me is more than enough,” he whispered.

“Oh my god, you’re still coming up with better vows than me on the spot,” you whispered back.

“Much like Spencer, I also wrote about our first encounters in college. Spencer and I quickly formed an unspoken agreement that we would always meet at the same table in the library. One night, when he was taking the time to repeatedly explain to me a calculus concept I just wasn’t getting even though I knew he had a paper due tonight, I thought to myself ‘this one is too good to let get away’. So at our next meeting, I ordered takeout from his favorite restaurant and set up a little dinner for us. It was all worth it when I saw him walk in with his textbooks only to be soon lost for words when I asked him if he would go on a date with me. I never really dated anyone in the time we were apart, I just had this feeling that our story was far from over and I’m so so glad that feeling was right. I promise I will never stop loving you, no matter what, because I don’t think I could even if I tried” you stated.

“Spencer, with this ring, do you take Y/N to love and to hold, to cherish and respect her in sickness and in health, in sorrow and in joy, from this day forward?” Hotch asked.

“I do,” Spencer smiled as you slipped the band on to his ring finger.

“Y/N, with this ring, do you take Spencer to love and to hold, to cherish and respect him in sickness and in health, in sorrow and in joy, from this day forward?” Hotch repeated.

“Absolutely I do.”

Spencer slipped the ring on your finger.

“By the power vested in me by the state of Virginia, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride,” Hotch smiled.

Spencer cupped your cheeks, pulling you as close as he could and kissing you deeply. Everyone cheered as you both interlocked your hands and headed down the aisle.

As soon as you were inside, Spencer pulled you in for a more passionate, sloppy kiss.

“I didn’t want an audience for that,” he grinned, pulling you back in.

“Bleh,” you heard Derek say, who had Penelope on his arm, “Do you guys need to go home already?”

“No, we can wait a few more hours,” you giggled but Spencer whined.

JJ and Will had offered to take Jo for the night so you and Spencer had the house to yourself. You had opted for just spending one night away from Jo rather than a long honeymoon. You were going to take a family vacation all together instead.

A few minutes later, you heard Penelope and Derek announce on the microphone, “Now introducing for the first time ever, Dr. and Mrs. Reid!”

You exited the glass doors once again, holding you and Spencer's interlocked hands up in the air as everyone cheered under the big white canopy with fairy lights.

“Please clear the dance floor for their first dance together as husband and wife,” Penelope smiled.

Bloom by The Paper Kites faded in as Spencer’s arms wrapped around your waist. You rested your head against his chest and wrapped your hands around the back of his neck.

You felt him rubbing small circles on your side with his thumb as he planted a kiss on the top of your head.

“I love you so much, my husband,” you whispered.

“I love you more, my wife,” he smiled.

You swayed gently back and forth until the music faded out. Spencer leaned down and kissed you as you stopped swaying. You completely forgot you were in front of an audience until you pulled away from Spencer and the crowd erupted into a cheer.

You looked into the audience to see Diana twirling Jo around in a circle. Luckily, an aid was able to bring her on such short notice.

After everyone had enjoyed the banquet, Hotch and Emily took the microphone this time.

“Time for the cutting of the cake!” they cheered.

You and Spencer both stood from the main table to go get the first pieces. You both held the knife together, cutting out two pieces.

You grabbed the plate that your slice was on and gently shoved it into Spencer’s nose, laughing as he pulled the plate away, his face covered in white frosting.

“You think that’s funny?” he grinned, grabbing his piece and pressing it into your face.

You continued your giggling fit as he cut another piece.

“Princess, come here!” he called out.

Jo ran up, eager to get a first taste of the cake and you and Spencer pressed another piece right into her face.

Jo stuck her tongue out and licked some off her face, “It tastes good,” she smiled as you and Spencer continued to laugh.

[lwt28brave]

LT2 masterpost

If it was up to me, we would get an autumn or winter EP. Since it’s not up to me at all, here, enjoy this post with everything we know so far of LT2, which is to say, not much at all. Everything here is hypothetical. I’ll be updating every time I see something relevant. A little disclaimer that while this is a masterpost (kinda), it could be read as discourse (duh, it’s also a theory), AND it’s also by me, and you shouldn’t expect me to be serious at this point.

Due to me restraining myself, there’s no reference to any of the times he’s mentioned his guitar skills and him improving but I hope you know I cried every single time.

I’m also linking my old pinned here. It was written before AFHF and around the free merch thing that didn’t lead to much, but I still think I made some good points.

Possible tracks:

Copy of a Copy of a Copy

Change

Faith in the future??

369??

Possible names:

369

Faith in the future

When is the album coming out?

Your guess is as good as mine

Friday 28th of January 2022. Almost two years after Walls. It’s a Friday. It’s a 28th. What else can I say?

Here you can find @want-to-be-loved timelines for every month.

Here you can find @berlinini’s timeline of what Louis has been up to this year (2021).

The rest is under the cut. And here you can find a PDF version where Tumblr can't tell me how many pictures I can add.

2020

He said back on May 2th 2020 he wasn’t writing anything new yet.

(x)(x)(x)

Interestingly enough, he’s said many times after that that the album’s not ready cause he has no new experiences to drawn from. I won’t call him out because he does it himself.

May 4th. He liked a tweet from DMA’s Johnny Took saying they had to go write together again. Louis has been credited as an influence for them and (kind of) participated in their previous record, so I’m assuming he meant for their music and not his, but you never know.

Nothing(literally nothing??? how did we survive) until 11th of July. We all know what happened that day. We all celebrated it. Nonetheless, that’s not what I’m talking about here.

(x) So, by the beginning of July 2020 he was working on concepts and ideas for the new album. That was fifteen months ago. I know perfection takes time but…

Brief summary of important things that happened from then until the next mention of new music:

Louis left Syco!!!! 10 days later he rescheduled the tour for the first time. He followed Matt Vines on Twitter, probably so we could publicly shame him into doing something. Also, the 10thanniversary. He followed more people I wish he hadn’t.

Then more nothing until September. Not even a single tweet. The first merch drop was on the 28th of August but he just RT’ed the tweet. He first mentioned Free my Meal on the 25th of September. Then on October 1st Walls hit #1 on a lot of countries and Louis was incredibly happy and excited about it ^^

And then, that same day, October 1st, 2020, he dropped this bomb:

(x)

He also said it was too soon to be sharing new lyrics with us (x)

And, obviously, this tweet which is actually what made me start this whole post. I would hope you know mate.

(x)

He also told us he was cooking "banger after banger" and that he was incorporating more social themes into his music (x)(x) (I believe any social issue is a political issue but that’s not the point rn).

COPY OF A COPY OF A COPY?!?!

These next paragraphs are brought to you by my mind not remembering things and me not having any links. I’m assuming COACOAC came from those writing sessions that supposedly happened in October. Or in LA but I have no idea if he actually was in LA at any point other than a Daily Mail article putting him there on December which would have been too late, but I do remember that someone said he was in the studio in LA last autumn???? A rumor. Maybe. IDK. Did I mention already all of this is very hypothetical?? Well, this is it. I can’t even remember if this was October or November or what. So, take this with a grain of salt.

I’m also… taking the liberty to assume, if you must, that Copy wasn’t meant to be a Walls reject because it sounds more mature and darker and it has a vastly different tone that Walls songs. I know he’s said that song probably isn’t getting into the album, but I want to have faith (in the future) that I’m getting a studio version. (But also, Louis, if you’re reading this, first of all GET OUT OF MY BLOG second of all, please don’t ever feel pressured again to add a song to the album because we have already heard it before. It’s your art and it should always be under your own terms).

So yeah, I believe that Copy is either one of those four songs (then imagine the other three??!!) or was written around the 1st of October date.

---End of the Intermission---

Then not much important (other than sharing more about Marcus Rashford fight against food poverty and the 2nd merch drop) until he announced the livestream on the 24th of November. (x)

It wasn’t until a few days before the livestream date we even thought again about new music (jk, I know we’re always thinking about new Louis’ music). So, December 9th/10th, 2020. Nine months ago. We got our first taste of new music!

He made sure we knew Copy of a Copy of a Copy isn't a cover! (x) (x)

(x)

Ok, so that’s it for 2020. (I feel like I’m missing something from September 17th because tweet was deleted but maybe he was still talking about cucumbers. We might never know. Unless I understand how Tumblr tags work). Expected, cause Walls was released in 2020. We needed to let it sit for a while.

2021

Another Summary: Louis third tweet of the year was telling the UK government off. So was the fifth. What a good beginning. On the 26th of January, he said he prefers pancakes over waffles. I hope he meant pancakes other than his own. More importantly, he tweeted the infamous “you lot read into things too much”. Don’t get me started, Tomlinson. Don’t. Then the 31st came around and Walls was one. He tweeted this. How wise. And Project Defenceless happened!!

15th of February!! Who cares about Valentine Day when the next day we got this? ♥

(x)

(x)

So…AN EP?? AN EP?? PLEASE RELEASE AN EP.

“I’m sure I will have something out this year but unlikely that will be the album”. Unlikely but not impossible. Also. A single would be good. This is the second time he mentions releasing something in 2021 and he sounds surer about it than the first time around.

He also said that he isn’t sure we will get a studio version of Copy. And that the best bridges from Walls to LT2 are Walls, OTB, KMM and Copy. Can’t wait!

Then we jump to March 6th when he announced he was going to create his own management company. “Sometimes action is needed first to encourage the motivation and belief”. As we can tell he was already manifesting some stuff which will lead us to the numerology stuff/Tesla… kidding. Or not. We might never know.

On the 22nd of March he answered some questions:

He told us music was still his main focus ♥ mwha. (x) I included this tweet to guilt-trip him into giving us music in case he’s reading this even after I told him to leave. ILY.

(x) I’d love to get a visual EP this autumn. Just saying. It sounds like a lovely concept.

(x)

…next (I will get into it, I promise. I’m just mad).

On the 25th he left for Mexico until April 10th. You could assume it was just for the documentary where we got ten seconds of footage or admit the obvious: LT2 its a Mexican baby!!

On the 26th (so, not so far apart from that first 369) we got the first Faith in the Future mention: (x)

Back then we were innocent people who had no idea what was coming upon us. We still have no idea because what the fuck does he mean with these. Please explain. I have one braincell and I don’t use it enough for this. I’m linking some theories.

On the 30th of March he confirmed he was already working on the documentary. So AFHF was already on the works. Will it take this long for us to get the Veeps numbers? We also got this tweet: "Got a decent chorus idea down" (x).

Same person that got the “something out this year” exclusive. If you know something share with the class. Also. Is this Change? I feel like this could be Change but I also assume he wrote Change after hanging out with his friends or being in Doncaster. But who knows.

(x) And the second mention to 369.

(x) 15th of April. The second "Faith in the future".

On the 19th of April he announced that he had something BIG for us later on the year which turned out to be the Away From Home Festival ♥♥ (x) I love him so much.

Then on the 28th he announced the 369 merch drop (which it’s probably the Walls drop? Except that the TOU and KMM ones were “drop 1 and drop 2” and this was drop 369 which, again, makes no sense) but we still don’t know what 369 means.

Into May’ 21 we go.

He rescheduled tour again. And dropped another bomb (x).

He announced he has signed with BMG as an independent artist by RTing this tweet on May 10th. The article also says that he’s already working on writing and recording LT2. The timing… we don’t know. What this deal involves… we don’t know either. Bear with me here because I have a lot to say about this.

I think the deal is only a distribution one, but that BMG are interested in Louis and what he (us) could bring to the table. They were either present at the festival or watching it, but officially they had no involvement at all with it (everything is credited either to Louis own company, 78 Productions, or Charlie Lightening’s company). That’s the case for both giveaways too; the vinyl one and the tickets for the festival.

I think it would be an unbelievably bad move not to test the waters with BMG now or soon-ish. At least a single, to see how it performs. Due to the circumstances, it’s obvious there’re certain limitations on place but I want to see how they push it, whether the radio play exist this time around and if the song is playlisted and promoted and all that… I would also love to know, since it says he signed with BMG UK, but it also states it’s a global deal, how things are going to go on the US and other countries.

Yes, yes. I know those are all questions and no answers. But I know the same as you, sadly. If any of you know more than you’re letting on… again, share with the class.

Where was I? Yes, on the 25th of May Louis had a great day writing (x). Since the first time he had mentioned he was officially writing to this date there’s almost eight months. And I believe he was writing before October’ 20.

He followed Robert Harvey that day and, on the 28th of May (why is it always the 28th???) he was spotted at the studio for the first time.

June was an interesting month for the fandom ♥. Lots of LHL content which I will love and cherish for the rest of times. On June 4th, June 9th, and June 10th he was spotted at the studio, but I believe he was there more days.

(x)

This was posted on June 6th and captioned Studio. Charlie also shared it with “Mega tunes being put down, can’t wait for this @louist91 #louistomlinson #LT2” as the caption. This gives me 2019 (Elton-Joint) vibes. I like it. Feels like we’re getting closer to something.

He added the Milano date on the 9th too which I’m mentioning because I’m going alone. Anyone wanna go with me please? I’m nice and I never eat anything before a concert so you can have my food. On other news. It didn’t come home.

During July he was at the studio at least three days too. Probably more. Feels like more with all the fan pictures we got. Or was that June? Anyway, July 1st and 9th we got some videos from Robert Harvey and wearesuperhi, which is who Louis has been working with the most, that we know of. I don’t know for sure they’re from that day. And on July 5th we got an article and lots of pictures of Louis looking really good outside the studio.

On the 12th of July the first fans started getting the free, 369 bucket hat and print. We still don’t know what the purpose was other than to thanks fans. Maybe that was it. I want answers and I still think it relates to a future project (see theories above), but it could also just be a bridge with the Walls breaking.

He didn’t tweet about anything interesting for a while, mostly because he lost his phone (he either throwed it in the air or smashed it who knows). Then on the 29th of July he announced the festival!

I’m glossing over it because there’s already been a lot of talk about it (rightfully) and while it was a wonderful thing, it doesn’t have much to do with LT2.

Let’s talk Change!

On August 3rd he tweeted this about the setlist.

(x)

And this (x) on the 28th! I can’t stand him.

We didn’t get it, obviously. Because who was going to get that. But we read too much into things. Alright.

On the 16thof August Dave Gibson shared this post tagged #LT2 with the eyes emojis 👀👀👀. I believe this has to do both with Change but also with whatever else came out of that Mexico trip.

(x) Last relevant tweet related to LT2 is this one.

So, on the 30th of August we got Change and we cried, and we know that Change is going in the new album. He said it. With those exact words. He also said he was “getting a feeling for it”. This has to meant he already has a general idea of the vibe of the new album and what’s going in it!!!!!! (Right? RIGHT?).

Anyway, let’s go back a few weeks because some other things happened on August. He was at the studio a few more times. Or it was suggested that he was there. On the 17th and the 18th. (Why was it so time-pressing to be at the studio instead of rehearsing for the festival? There was no studio at all on the documentary. Which makes sense, but again, then why?).

On the day of the festival we got another mention of Faith in The Future that made me feel part of a cult ngl. The words were flashing on the screen for less than a second. Okay.

And then he tweeted those words again after watching the livestream/documentary on the 4th of September (x). This is what makes me suspect it's either the name of the album or of the single.

On the same day, we got some interesting quotes about LT2 on the documentary.

“Soon I’ll have to think about me second album, which in my head I’ll get the tour out of the way and then I’ll address that. So, I hadn’t really given it much thought, to be honest”.

“When every day is the same is hard to feel creative and it’s hard to have any kind of proper inspiration”.

“As season started to come back, I started writing again and it was great and some of these songs turned out alright”.

And I think this is it. I might be overlooking some important details but that’s what we know and what we don’t know.

So. Conclusions. That’s what you missed on Glee. I do believe the album is, if not mostly done, partially there. And yes, this post is pointless and never-ending but it’s all in here if you need to tell Louis “Hey, you said this, mate”.