#woo it is super late and i have other asks to answer but might wait till the morning

[miniscule-meow]

Charlie and Felix: Phone Calls

Masterpost Wordcount: ~2k Warnings: lots of swears? First Part | Last Part | Next Part

---

Sitting in her dorm room, she sighs, staring absentmindedly at the ceiling. She is supposed to be focusing on her biology homework, but she keeps replaying her conversation with Felix in her head. So, he transferred from Rosehill University. That’s, like, The number one Supers college. Her brothers all go there. Or, went there. Her two oldest brothers, Elias, and Asher, have both already graduated. Mars is a senior now, and Jeremey, her twin, is a junior. Considering Felix is a junior as well, Jeremy and Mars might have had some classes with him. She pulls out her phone and texts Jeremy.

“Hey. Do you know Felix Westwell?”

“Ya. That guy is a jerk.”

Her brother’s response comes. Shortly after, her phone buzzes again, he adds,

“He got like, expelled lmao”

She replies,

“Nah, he just transferred to Bayshear.”

“??? WTF! Dude that’s crazy. Stay away from him. He’s bad news Frfr”

“We have a class together. He seems… nice enough.”

After that message, she immediately gets a phone call.

“Hello—” she starts to answer, but she’s immediately cut off.

“Char, I am so serious. You do not want to mess with that guy,” Jeremy’s loud voice announces as soon as she picks up the phone.

“Okay. Uh, cool. I just wanted to see if you knew him. I’ve had like, a couple of run-ins with him and he—”

“What kind of ‘run-ins’? What does that mean?” He cuts her off again, she rolls her eyes.

“I mean, we have a class together. We did a group project, calm down. Aside from that we’ve had like, one conversation,” she can already tell that she does not want to tell him out about her conversation with Felix yesterday. “He mentioned he transferred from Rosehill. I didn’t ask him about you though, he didn’t really want to talk about school.”

“Yeah, no shit!” Jeremy barks a laugh, “He got his ass expelled.”

“So, you weren’t like friends or anything then," she states.

“Friends,” Jeremy scoffs, “Yeah, for a while until he decided to go off the fucking deep end. Did you know he put Mars in the school infirmary for a month? He never apologized for that."

“Wait- that was because of him?” she asks, her heart sinking. She remembers that happening. It was late last year. Mars ended up being fine, thanks to the healers, but it was a really scary time. Apparently, that’s just sort of the nature of the school. When you’re strong enough, it’s common that other students will try to challenge that.

“Yeah man, he’s fuckin’ volatile.” Jeremy confirms.

Involuntarily, her heart begins pounding. Her mind drifts back to yesterday. Felix’s ability is no joke, she can definitely see that. But it’s crazy to think that the hands that held her yesterday were the same ones that nearly crushed her brother. Not that Felix was particularly gentle with her, not that she’s surprised he’s capable of it. It’s just that she didn’t truly consider how much danger she was in, until now.

“I guess. He definitely seems to have a short temper," she muses.

“To say the least,” Jeremy says with a huff, “It’s starting to sound like you’ve maybe had more than just a couple run-ins, Char. Spill it.”

“You’re going to freak out," she winces.

“I mean, now that you've said that, yeah, I want to freak out. The more you keep stalling, the worse I'm imagining.”

“Promise me that you’ll be chill," she asserts.

“Char,” he sighs.

“Promise!”

“Fine, whatever. I promise I’m going to be so chill about whatever horrible thing you’re about to tell me," she can hear the eye-roll in his voice.

“Okay so like, he was getting picked on for being a super—”

“Which he deserves,” Jeremey interrupts immediately, she should have put money on that happening. “He like, embodies all the reasons mundanes hate supers.”

“Germ, it was like, really problematic, okay? And besides, the guys messing with him didn’t know he was a super for sure. Anyway,” she begins, before her brother can cut her off again. “He ran off into the woods and I sort of followed him.”

“Charlotte,” he sounds disappointed, “you can’t just follow people into the woods.”

“I want to point out that I didn’t know he was a super at this point.”

“Uh, that’s,” he cuts himself off with an incredulous noise. “That’s so beside the point? Super or not, you shouldn’t just follow people into the woods, period.”

“So anyway,” she says, getting them back on track, “I wanted to check on him, and he showed me his ability. We talked for a while, it wasn’t a big deal," she tried to gloss over her explanation of the events.

“Wait, wait, wait. Run that by me again. He showed you his ability?” He asks, she can already hear the freakout that’s about to happen.

“You said you’d be cool about it!” She reminds him.

“I—” He takes an audibly deep breath, “by ‘showed you his ability’ do you mean that he used it against you?” His voice has a faux sense of calm to it.

“I don’t know that I would describe it like that.”

“Did he touch you, yes or no?” He asks, his voice trembling with a rage she can hear even through the phone.

“It’s not a big deal, Germ," she says, trying to smooth this over.

“Yes or no, Charlotte I’m being so for real right now.”

“Alright, so like only a little bit," she admits, "but I'm really fine. I’m really super fine, I promise—”

“Oh my god!” he explodes. “If I see him again, it is on fuckin’ sight.”

“No! No J, it is not ‘on sight’ do you even hear yourself!”

“Do you hear yourself?” He returns immediately. “Listen, Mars is strong as hell. Did you not hear the part where I said that Felix put him in the infirmary for a month. That’s four weeks with advanced healers, dude.”

“Alright, I get it—”

“Do you? Seriously? Like, all of his ribs were broken. He literally almost died, and he's fucking Mars. You're you! You should not be putting yourself in these situations! You’re not invincible, Charlotte! I mean, you’re out there all by yourself, you can’t just—I mean, I’m not there, Mars isn’t there, like,” he heaves a frustrated sigh.

“What, Jeremy. You’re not here to protect me?” She can feel herself flash with a hot spark of anger, “Just because I don’t have powers, doesn’t mean that I’m completely helpless!”

“Stop. That’s not what I’m saying, and you know it,” he counters. “I’m saying, the whole point of you going to a mundane school was so you could just be around some normal people for once! But, Of course, you go and find the one super in the whole school. Of course, the one super at your school would be the most dangerous guy I know. Fucking great. I swear, it’s like you look at danger and just think Yeah, that looks friend-shaped, why not!”

“Whatever, Jeremy. Felix and I aren’t even friends! I told you we just had like, one conversation. He was sort of a jerk anyway. I—” she huffs, “look, I’ve got a lot of homework to take care of. I’ll talk to you later.”

She hangs up quickly, tossing her phone aside with a frustrated swear.

Jeremy has always been super protective of her. She understands where he’s coming from, and she can’t say that he’s wrong. But still. It’s so frustrating to hear him say it. Yes, she should be more careful. Yes, he’s not here to protect her. Yes, it’s scary that Felix nearly killed her brother. She didn't know that before.

Maybe she has a worse judge of character than she originally thought.

---

“Mr. Westwell, this has been an enlightening session,” his advisor says as they finish their online check-in. It’s what she always says, and it typically means that he’s done a bad job convincing her that he’s, he doesn’t know, normal? He supposes that's what she's looking for. Whatever it is she’s looking to get from him, it would seem as though he hasn’t been able to provide that just yet.

Even when he comes in, trying to answer the questions the way she wants them to be answered, he’s always met with a ‘this has been enlightening.’ She'll take her report back to the school, and he'll be stuck at this shitty mundane college. Theoretically, if he's on his best behavior, eventually Rosehill will accept him back. He doesn't think that's really going to happen.

“One more thing before I leave you, have you made any friends at Bayshear?” She asks.

“With any of the mundanes?” He scoffs, “I hardly see how that’s relevant.”

“Hm,” she says, obviously disappointed. She tilts her head, making a note of that response.

“Well, alright. I’ve made one friend, if it’s that important,” he covers quickly, crossing his arms with a huff. The coordinator pauses. The picture of her on his screen looks up at him over the rim of her glasses.

Great now he needs to think of a believable lie. Or, actually, wait. Maybe it doesn’t need to be a lie. It certainly won’t be the entire truth, but he might actually have something here.

“I met this girl. Her name is Charlotte. I don’t, uh, I don’t know her last name. She’s in one of my gen-ed classes, we were partners on a project.”

“Alright,” the coordinator does not sound terribly impressed. Now that he's heard himself say it out loud, he isn't really impressed either. Felix runs the mental math, trying to figure out if telling her what really happened would be better or worse for his record. She had asked him the story behind his black eye earlier, and he completely fielded the question, changing the subject entirely. Maybe he can actually spin this one though. It's worth a shot.

“Okay, fine. Do you want the story about my eye?” He says, gesturing to his still swollen face, The coordinator takes of her glasses, listening with a raised brow. “I’m not changing the subject, it kind of all goes together,” he sighs. “So these guys were being really obnoxious, and I know you probably won't believe me, but they actually started a fight with me. I swear I was actually trying to de-escalate and everything. But, I mean, long story short,” he gestures again to his face. “Maybe you should put in your notes that I lost a fight to a couple mundanes on purpose. If they were supers that would not have happened. But,” he raises his hands, digressing.

"I went out to the woods nearby to blow off some steam and Charlie- uh, Charlotte, the girl from my class, she followed me. I was like, ‘hey you need to leave,’ because I was going to use my ability, and I obviously didn’t want her there for that. Because I'm actually really trying to be on my best behavior and not traumatize the random mundanes here. But, she is the most stubborn person I’ve ever met, so did she leave? Of course not. So, I grew, but she didn’t freak out. She was really normal about it. Uh, we," he decides to respectfully omit all the middle parts of the story, "we just, ended up talking. Apparently her brothers go to Rosehill? I don’t know. She also said she wouldn’t tell anyone about my abilities because the mundanes are weird about that sort of thing here. And, anyway. I don’t know. That’s probably a lot of nothing. It’s a new development. But yeah, we’re totally friends. Check.”

“Felix, that is…” enlightening. Yeah, whatever. He predicts her next words, but he's surprised when she says instead, “that is really some great progress. I’m happy to hear that,” she says. He looks up. “I hope to hear more about Charlotte next time, she sounds like she could be a good influence for you.”

“Uh, yeah. Yeah for sure,” he says, and with that the videocall ends. This is great news for him. Charlie is such a social butterfly. And so far, he hasn’t really been able to get her to leave him alone.

Maybe he’ll make a friend after all.

[pocketramblr]

Idk if you've talked about this before, but how closely tied do you think the stockpiling nature of OfA is to the "passing down" nature of it? I was thinking about how Midoriya has access to the quirks of the previous holders, and I was wondering how much of that is due to the stockpiling quirk vs First's quirk. Like, if AFO had given and taken the stockpiling quirk multiple times to people with different quirks, would it have "collected" those quirks too, since it's a stockpiler? Or was it purely First's quirk that allowed the other holders' quirks to be passed on as well? Because if it's the latter, then what exactly is the original quirk stockpiling? Before realizing Midoriya could access the previous holders' quirks, All Might said OFA gets stronger each time it's passed on. Would that mean it only accumulates the holders' physical abilities unrelated to their quirks? But that can't be right because OFA has supposedly made all the quirks it contains stronger. So if it's the former, then since AfO held the stockpiling quirk at one point, did it also "collect" a copy of AFO and Midoriya will be able to access it eventually?

i did once answer an ask with a mathematical breakdown of OfA multiplying x amount of average human strength as an example to show the difference between periodic compound interest and continuous compound interest. um, because i teach economics and i always thought that making it entertaining was the best way to get it to stick. that one had showed that izuku should have a truly ridiculous amount of strength, though i dont remember the exact numbers rn. you can try to find it on this blog... good luck.

anyway, thats not really the question you're asking, so lets get into ofa and try to science a quirk that probably is just magic.

I have answered the question below the cut in three parts, plus a lightning round to try and make sure i answered all the parts of your question.

1- stockpiling quirk vs First's quirk: For this, i am going to say that i quite like the theory that First was actually quirkless, and the stockpile quirk just took a little bit of AfOQuirk with it and thats why it could be passed on afterwards. In this situation, i think what OfA does is that the Stockpile Quirk makes a copy of everything in it's holder- their memories, their dna, their energy and vitality. It does not boost any of those until it's passed on- the Stockpile was very small and could only copy AfO's genes that had the AfOQuirk, but at tenth generation would probably copy more than that if passed to someone with AfO and with a hoard of other quirks. On being passed, it then adds to the new holders strength, while working to copy their base traits. So, First got a little stronger with a boost from AfO, and his quirk though he didn't know it, while OfA ran him through a copy machine to make a vestige to paste into the next body. Second has the strength and dna of first and afo, plus some ghosts, and could use his own while it was being copied. And so on. But that's just the "First was actually quirkless theory", so lets work on the assumption that First did have a pass-along quirk

2- First's original quirk. Which doesn't even get a name, thanks guys. We know it should have something to do with passing on quirks, and on relying on consent of the giver and dna transfer, which makes it different than AfOQuirk. AfO can steal and give, but doesn't require dna. There are even some panels in the manga that imply AfO doesn't even need physical touch to take a quirk, as it appears he steals many quirks at once by jumping over a crowd of people. unfortunately, Bones decided to just cut that scene out of season five for some reason, so it's still a mystery and maybe he's using some other method. thanks, bones. hope those last two movies you had to shove painfully into quasi-canon were worth it. Anyway, different activation methods. Now, given that ofa requires on consent of the given, it does make me wonder: if someone knew about ofa, and wanted to give an ofa holder their quirk, and provided dna for it, would it stick? Can ofa both take and give, but only based on willingness? Seems like a possibility that would have never been tested. BUT i am getting super off topic bc i am writing this answer late at night, sorry. Right, so how much of this is First's quirk? Given that it's described as the ability to "Pass on his quirk(s)", i think all of the quirk-stockpiling, including the vestiges, are from First's quirk. On his own, his quirk would collect dna, which includes quirks, and quirks are just straight up haunted. On his own, without the stockpile, he could have passed on his quirk to second, and started the line like normally, but the holders would not have gotten any boost of strength, just possibly the ability to use previous quirks. Maybe only access them if they were originally quirkless? maybe not, without the 'stress' of the stockpiled they'd all be fine with multiple quirks? Who knows. Point is, thats what i think the options are. Either 1, the quirk-vestige stuff comes from afo, first was actually quirkless, and the strength is stockpile, or 2- the quirk-vestige stuff comes from first, and the strength is stockpile.

3- So what is the stockpile doing? Ok so the stockpile is like soup. bear with me. the longer you keep your ingredients in to flavor a broth or stock, the stronger the flavor will be, right? A chicken bone and some carrots in some stock for ten minutes wont' be as flavorful as a chicken bone and some carrots that have been cooking in a stock for an hour. Basically, the stock liquid is the stockpile, and the ingredients are the user's quirks. because of this, i think that it makes sense that Second's Quirk, whatever it is, has received a larger boost from OfA than, say, Black Whip has. It's been in the soup longer. That doesn't mean it's necessarily going to be stronger than black whip when izuku accesses it, because BW probably got to start off stronger, but it will have gotten more of a boost. You can also think of it as a loan- OfA took a quirk loan out from Second way before it took a quirk loan out from Banjo, so Second will have accrued more interest than Banjo, but the total sums also depend on how much was there to start with. Man i hope these metaphors make sense. BUT, but, but, but. The stockpile only has access to these quirks to boost them because of First's original quirk (or the copy of afoquirk it took) On its own, it would have just stockpiled up strength and energy- i think of it more like interest on a checking account with a bank (you get a boost just by having money in there, and it slowly grows over time.) than like a feruchy metalmind (where you would store 'strength' to use later, at the cost of being physically weaker now). While the metalmind concept does technically fit the definition of 'stockpile' to me, i don't think thats how it worked bc it doesn't sound like what AfO meant when he talked about giving it to First. and i mean, AfO has been wrong about quirks before, but still. Interest from a bank is probably how it works. On its own, the only thing the stockpile has in its bank account is physical strength. the AfOquirk copy or First's original quirk let it open up its bank account to more, including the quirks.

lightning round-

Before realizing Midoriya could access the previous holders' quirks, All Might said OFA gets stronger each time it's passed on.

Yes but AM doesn't know a lot of things about OfA. I do think it gets stronger as its passed on, either though Option One of the past user's being pasted onto the next one when it's passed, or through Option Two of it getting stronger as its used, and more passes means more holders means more use.

Would that mean it only accumulates the holders' physical abilities unrelated to their quirks? But that can't be right because OFA has supposedly made all the quirks it contains stronger.

While OFA does make the quirks stronger, i'm not sure if it did much in a user's lifespan or only after it was passed on- Banjo talks about Black Whip being much stronger for Izuku than it was in his time, but i don't remember him mentioning anything about it being enhanced significantly during his time holding ofa.

So if it's the former, then since AfO held the stockpiling quirk at one point, did it also "collect" a copy of AFO and Midoriya will be able to access it eventually?

IMO, possible- but only in Option One where First was originally quirkless. there, he'd have both a vestige and an afoquirk to deal with. In Option Two, he would have neither- except whenever tomura stops by his headspace with an afoquirk and vestige sticking out of his shoulder.

[bnhablessings]

Can I request a oneshot/headcanon for Hawks x pregnant fem!reader? I was thinking of Hawks being super cute taking care of her and showing her off proudly to other hero's. this is my first time making a request, so feel free to do with this as you please lolz! also I really want the end to have reader going into labor and giving birth at the end with a very proud Hawks at her side (you get to choose the gender!)💖

It took me so long to get to this omg but I did and I hope you like it, Hon! It is past midnight and I have a weird obsession with tomatoes right now.

Warnings: Pregnancy, just a fluff overload, Profanity, All Might is retired, Dabi and Hawks are good friends AU (we ignore the manga, only happy feelings here lmao)

*I have fixed grammar issues. My brain power was not activated when writing this lol.

Words: 2438

Takami Keigo (Hawks) x Female Reader

“Isn’t she just amazing?” Hawks questions not really speaking to anyone else as he just admires the woman waddling down the hallway.

The other Pro Heroes around him stare at him with confusion. Aizawa, Yamada, Yagi, and Todoroki Enji all take a glance at each other before they wait for the woman to make her way to them. All of them but Hawks are profoundly confused.

“Uh… This was supposed to be a parent-teacher conference so may I ask why Hawks is here as well?” All Might asks.

Hawks ignores them as he watches the woman stopping for a moment to speak to a student. She looks genuinely concerned and it makes his foolish heart swell from how caring she is. Endeavor wants to slap the foolish look off Hawks face but ignores it to answer All Might.

“I apologize. We had lunch together before this meeting. He decided to follow me but I have no idea why.” The tone to Endeavor’s voice shows that he is irritated but curious as to why the number 2 hero seems to be enamored with a simple U.A teacher.

She hasn’t noticed him yet thankfully and he has proudly gotten a video of her waddling. The closer to she gets the more the expression on her face slowly turns into one of realization. The students at U.A respect and care for her so they always make room for her.

“Hey, Honey, what are you doing here?”  You ask softly as you place a hand on your very large bump.

He goes to respond when your colleague Present Mic starts to let out an inhuman sound that turns into a surprised scream. “What?! Honey?! (NAME) YOU’RE MARRIED TO THE HAWKS?!” Present Mic screeches.

You ignore the change in volume and laugh as you nod your head. Aizawa seems to nod as he pieces it together. “Ah… You did mention Tokoyami’s internship being close with your husband.”

“BUT WAIT! You’re married? All my attempts on wooing you have been in vain,” Present Mic mumbles.

Everyone seems to freeze at this but you just laugh more. “Yamada, have you not noticed my ring? I’ve been wearing it every day since working here!” You manage to say after laughing.

He has absolutely no reply but to slowly put his hands up to show surrender from Hawks’ glare on him. Without a care, Hawks pulls you to him so he can hug you with your baby bump blocking it fully. His hands go to rest upon it and he smiles widely.

“See! I told you I have a beautiful family too, Endeavor.”

Endeavor for once has to hide the smile on his face as he looks away. He replies, “Yeah. I thought you were speaking nonsense or showing me pictures of random pregnant women.”

“Nope! I can guess why you would be confused… Since I never showed her face. We have a little chickadee coming on the way!” The excitement is clear in his voice and on his face from the happy lazy grin plastered on it.

He looks at the others and bids them goodbye. “Well, I am going to steal her so she can have her lunch with me. See ya.”

~*~

“Baby, I promise, it is okay! I’ll be fine. I’ll see you later when you get home! I’m just happy you visited for lunch,” You say into the phone. Your other hand goes to your purse to look for your keys.

You hear Hawks mumble and whine on the other side of the phone but you ignore it until you find the keys successfully. “Alright, babe. I’ll be fine. I’ll text you when I reach the house. I love you!”

After hearing his ‘I love you more’ he hangs up and you smile feeling great. This is unusual since the pregnancy hormones have made you feel like shit lately. It’s all going to be worth it though.

“Hey, do you need me to walk you home?” Aizawa questions as he enters the hall.

You think for a few seconds before you ask, “Would you be willing to walk me to the station? I’ll be fine from there since I’m planning on stopping by a store! I don’t want to waste too much of your time!”

He nods and the two of you begin the walk to the station. It starts as a comfortable silence before Aizawa speaks up with a smile on his face. “You know, I had no idea you were married to the Number 2 Pro Hero. It surprised me but at the same, it didn’t. What surprised me though was seeing the way he stared at you. You have a good thing going,” Aizawa states.

It was odd for him to give his input like that but it made you feel happy to know that Hawks’ love for you was just that noticeable. Once at the station, Aizawa gives you a look, something an older brother would a younger sibling or parent would their child before giving a demand.

“Call me if anything happens. I’m on patrol for a while so I’ll be near this area. Be safe going home, (Name).”

Today has been such a heartwarming day and Aizawa’s words only bring you more joy as you bid him a farewell.

It doesn’t take long to reach the store close to your home. You salivate at the thought of getting what you crave most. An odd combination that most people would puke from but what you need to satisfy you and your baby right now, tomatoes and frosting.

You can just imagine Hawks’ disgusted look but it wasn’t the worst thing you’ve had yet. You go to turn when your baby bump hits something off the shelf. Thankfully, it was just another plastic can full of icing so it didn’t break. Now the new problem was picking up the jar.

You know it was a near-impossible feat but you try anyway. You probably look very silly trying to reach and barely scraping the can with your fingernails but you don’t care. You are determined to do it. That is until you hear an obvious cough trying to get your attention.

You give up for now and look at the owner only to smile upon seeing the man you saw earlier. “Hello, Mr. Endeavor! We’ve met officially earlier but not formally. I am Takami (Name). It’s a pleasure to meet you and I apologize if my husband gets a bit too much to handle. He can be very chillaxed but he does take his job seriously,” You ramble.

“Pleasure.”

He merely observes you with serious eyes before he bends down and picks up the icing jar. He hands it to you. “Thank you! I would’ve been in a pickle there if I couldn’t reach it,” You murmur placing it back on the shelf where it belongs.

One of his eyebrows betray his lack of expression to show his slight confusion and you laugh. “I already have my icing in this arm! The baby bump knocked over that one.”

He doesn’t say anything in reply to that. Instead, he seems to contemplate saying something. He just needs a few seconds before he decides to say it against his better judgment.

“Hawks... He’s the Number 2 Pro Hero and extremely famous. How is it I never even heard or seen you? I thought he was fibbing about having a wife since he only produced photos of your bump and not of your actual face,” He didn’t want to ask it but the curiosity got the best of him and it was unusual to him.

The question made you smile but this time with a bit of sadness. You’ve received this question just a few times before but the answer remains the same. “We try to hide our relationship and it is easy when his fans like to think he is single. It doesn’t matter but we have private social medias for our friends. We like to keep my face hidden and such.”

The atmosphere turned a bit tense and for once (actually probably like the fifth time since Hawks had been determined in making him a better Number 1 Hero) he feels guilty. Something strange feels like it’s churning in his chest and he quickly fixes it.

“He does talk an awful lot about you though. It’s clear as day how much he loves you and your baby.” It was a simple two-sentences but it brought comfort to you.

He leaves without any more words and you are brought back to your cheerful self and go to pay for the items. By the time you get home, it is already showing signs of getting dark. You are quick to send a text to Hawks and it distracts you from realizing something odd is wrong with your door. The fact that it is unlocked.

You lock your front door once inside and go straight to the kitchen to slice the tomatoes and spread icing on them. You waste absolutely no time as you have it all ready on a plate and leave the room to go change into something more comfortable.

Of course, only Hawks’ shirts have been fitting you lately and you prefer them much more than your maternity clothing. So you wear that and a pair of shorts before coming to get your treat and hopefully take a nap. That was the plan before you have a fucking heart attack from seeing a burnt toast eating your food.

“How the fuck do you eat this?” Dabi questions spitting a tomato slice out of his mouth.

Your heart is absolutely broken at the scene. You ignore the bully of a man and stare at the red and white mess on the ground. How dare he do this to you?

“Oh fuck… (Name), please don’t do this. I’m sorry. I’ll go buy you a new fucking tomato if you want. With the fucking confetti icing and shit. Just don’t cry… Or tell Hawks,” Dabi says.

It is too late though. The damage has been done as your hormones go berserk from seeing what you craved on the ground (yes your mind is ignoring the perfectly good slices still on the plate). Tears prick at your eyes and before you can rub them away or cry, Dabi brings you into a hug.

As you cry into his chest he is already on the phone with Hawks but with your uncontrollable sobs, you don’t hear the conversation. After a few painful minutes (for Dabi) he finally pulls away only for your face to be smothered by your loving husband’s chest.

He hushes you gently and rubs soothing circles on your back all while glaring at his best friend.

Dabi raises his hand in defense. “Hey man, I just came here to visit the princess with good intentions. Thanks for bringing the tomato. I owe you one.”

Another minute later Dabi presents to you a brand new plate with a tomato covered in icing. You sniffle lightly and take it before mumbling, “Thanks. Sorry for the way I acted. That was pathetic.”

“Hey no, it wasn’t Doll. I take full blame for eating your weird food. That and it is 100% Hawks’ fault for knocking you up Beautiful. Anyway, I got to bounce but are we good?” Dabi asks opening his arms for another hug.

You smile and give in. “We’re always good. Now get out of here. We’ll invite you over for a chicken wing dinner,” You offer.

He leaves with a stupid smile on his face and Hawks smiles as he can finally full-on cuddle you without interruptions. Of course, after you are done eating. He pulls you to cuddle on the couch with him, his wings stretched out and resting against the couch.

“You good, Babe?”

You nod the exhaustion pouring in on your face, “Yeah. Sorry I ended up making you come home early. I didn’t mean to get like that.”

“It’s all good. I would do anything for you and the baby. No tomato is safe from being devoured by you if that is what you desire.”

You are too tired to even give a response to that. Instead, you try and curl up into him as you make sure your bump is comfortable at the same time. His hands rest on your belly as he hums into your ear.

“What only two months left now?”

Yeah, and they are going to fly right by.

~*~

“You had to come in through the window?” Hawks asks in a hushed voice.

Dabi only smirks before his eyes fall on your resting figure. Hawks is sitting right beside you on the bed. The sweet bundle of joy he came to meet is resting in Hawks’ arms right beside you.

“Can’t impress anyone if I didn’t. All the Heroes come by already?” Dabi asks as he takes slow and steady steps to the three of you.

You smile weakly as you recall your three colleagues coming in to check on you and meet the baby (that Hawks may or may not have shoved in their face from how proud he was). Endeavor came by as well to congratulate you and Hawks.

“Yeah. All there is left now is to meet you,” You murmur as Hawks stands up.

Dabi gets a close look at the baby’s squishy face. He wants to say it’s hideous as a joke (he was planning on how to do joke about it though) but he couldn’t. The baby was actually cute. However, to his absolute horror, Hawks starts to proceed to give the baby to him.

“What the fuck. What if I drop it?”

You answer in a sleepy voice. “Drop her and I will personally send you to hell.”

“Her… What name did you guys come up with?”

Hawks answers without hesitation. “Tomato.”

Dabi physically freezes and looks up before seeing the stupid grin on Hawks’ face. He turns to you and you smile a gentle smile and give up the true answer. “Takara, it means treasure. Takami Takara.”

“I’ll take the chair. I’ll hold her while you guys rest up for a bit.”

You thank him and Hawks silently thanks him before showing off his severely bruised hand that you no doubt, destroyed when pushing during labor.

It is a pain Hawks would gladly go over again and endure for you because you are everything to him. You and your beautiful daughter mean the world to him and he would go through this life a million times if it meant having the two of you again.

[pathological-peoplepleaser-alert]

Hospital Playlist : Season 1

So, I recently re-watched season 1 of Hospital Playlist in preparation of season 2 that’s going to be released on the 17th of June, and I have a couple of thoughts that I want to share. Warning: It’s going to be filled with spoilers, so for those looking to avoid that, please don’t read more. Also, this is a looooonnnnggg one :)

“Hospital Playlist” is a Korean Drama that follows five doctors in their 40s who have been best friends since adolescence as they form a band together. While the log-line appears simple, the depth in the script and acting will enchant any audience. The narrative is free-spirited and quirky, reverberating friendships forged by love and time in a heart-warming style.

This slice of life drama realistically tackles what occurs within the white walls of the hospital. From ungrateful patients to the long wait for donors, it has it all. This drama covered plenty of cases, each of them as sad as the next. I recall when Yang Seok Hyeong, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynaecology, had a patient who delivered a baby with anencephaly. He was considerate enough to not allow the mother to hear the baby’s cries by playing loud music in the delivery room and quickly escorting the baby away from the mother. I teared up during that scene, and I still tear up just thinking about that. I watched it as a case in a K-Drama, but it is many people’s gruesome reality, and all I can offer are my sympathies.

Despite zoning out during the technical aspects and elucidation of medical terminologies, I could feel the gravity of an operation and the burden of Atlas resting on the doctors when they held the scalpel. I liked the fact that there wasn’t any hospital politics. Rather, the show focused on the doctors, as they tried their best to save their patients. I mourned during the losses of life and celebrated with the characters after a successful surgery.

The ensemble cast for “Hospital Playlist” was flawless. The sincerity of the actors and the efforts they had put into studying and understanding their roles were clear as day. The chemistry between them was organic and the banters, natural. While they didn’t verbalise every emotion, the viewers could feel their familiarity, like they were real-life friends on screen. I was on an emotional rollercoaster as I watched this, rooting for them through hardships and cheering whenever they laughed.

“I wondered why my life was getting so difficult. It was really tough. But all of a sudden, one day, I realised how much time I was wasting. Wasting my life away like this because of what she did to me was doing a disservice to myself.”

Jo Jung-Suk did a flawless job portraying Lee Ik-Jun. This was my second time witnessing a drama with Jo Jung Suk, and while I wouldn’t applaud his performance in “Oh, My Ghostess!” (But in his defence, I found that script to be problematic) I absolutely loved him in “Hospital Playlist”. Lee Ik-Jun is an assistant professor of general surgery. He’s funny, sociable, laid-back, charming, and a dotting, single father to his son, Woo Joo.

The first time I, as the viewer, was introduced to him was gold. Naughty little Woo Joo had managed to put a blotch of super glue to a Darth Vader helmet, which was later worn by his father. During an emergency at the hospital, Ik Jun showed up decked in Darth Vader gear and bravely holding a light saber, demanding that the helmet was unglued from his head. He got his wish, but only after performing surgery while wearing the helmet.

Watching Ik-Jun and his son together is heartwarming, to say the least. You can tell how much he loves his son, as seen by the way he prepared meatballs from scratch, including the ketchup, excitedly for his son, only for the latter to claim he wanted meatballs, causing the former to trip on his way to the kitchen. I also adore how most of the bonding scenes we see between them happens over sandwiches. I find that very precious.

Ik Jun is also very friendly to everyone. He warmly welcomes the medical students, greets his colleagues with a smile, and most notably, plays as a matchmaker between Jeong-won and Jang Gyeo-wool, even if it is so the latter could assist him on more surgeries. His relationship with his sister is also beautiful. I love how authentic they are, from their bickering and the hidden ways they care for each other.

Ik Jun provides comic relief plenty of times— I nearly fell off my chair laughing when he mimicked a train, and also upon seeing how adamant he was to eavesdrop on a private phone conversation of Kim Jun-wan.

“I don’t deserve to be a doctor. I can’t control my emotions. I empathise too easily.”

I must admit, Ahn Jeong Won has a soft spot in my heart and is my favourite from the group of friends. An assistant professor of pediatric surgery, Jeong Won gets overly attached to patients and takes every loss personally. Due to his sensitive nature, he’s detailed in everything he does, earning the teasing nickname of “Buddha” from his colleagues.

Hardworking but overemotional, there have been many instances when Jeong Won swears to quit being a doctor after a patient has unfortunately succumbed, and it’s only through the insistence of his oldest brother does he continue his job. He’s immensely religious and has a close relationship with God, and considered being a priest until the season finale.

His interactions with his young patients tug on all my heartstrings. From the gentle way he gets the permission of small children to check their vitals, to the dedication with which he treats his patients and dissolves their fears.

One of my favourite quotes of this drama was said by him, “Do you know why doctors only give vague answers such as ‘We can’t be sure yet,’ ‘We don’t know yet,’ and ‘We need to observe a bit more?’ Doctors must take responsibility for their words, so we must be careful. There’s only one thing we, as doctors, can tell our patients with certainty. ‘We will do our best.’”

Despite being born from a wealthy family, Jeong Won is nearly broke, spending all his fortune anonymously covering the hospital fees of poor patients.

Chae Song Hwa summarised Jeong Won’s personality neatly in episode 12 when she said, “Lastly, there’s you (Jeong Won). Seeing others enjoy good food makes you happier than when you are eating it yourself.”

“If the doctor gives up on the patient, he isn’t a doctor anymore.”

At first glance, Kim Jun Wan appears cold and scary, but there are so many dimensions to his character. He’s blunt, assertive and has a reputation for telling his patients what they need to hear, not that they want to hear.

However, he’s possibly the most caring person, having allowed Jeong Won to, in his own words, “mooch” of him for years now. He was also always nagging and hovering over his friends, keeping a stash of chocolates for them. He stepped up as the Chief of the cardiothoracic surgery department multiple times, whether it was to act as a shield to his mentee or to reprimand his juniors about the importance of (a patient’s) life and how every single decision taken by a doctor has to be thoughtful and absolute because there’s no way to reverse such things.

A great example of his outer versus inner personality is when he’s questioned by a medical student on why he chose to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. While he claimed that he became a surgeon after asking his professor which job would allow him to get the most money, with a glimpse of a flashback scene, it was revealed that when back as a student, Jun Wan was given the opportunity to witness a surgery and then, to touch a beating human heart, and felt life, that solidified his decision to choose cardiology as his field. Recalling that scene gives me goosebumps even now. That was magical.

Jun Wan is also a huge foodie, his only competition being Song-Hwa.

“What have you done for yourself lately?”

Chae Song Hwa is an associate professor of neurosurgery. Discerning without being too critical, she is intelligent and is often the mother hen of the group. Respected by her juniors, she has also been fondly dubbed the ‘ghost’ due to her busy schedule that has left several of her colleagues wondering whether she has time to eat or sleep. She was everywhere and knew everything, which allowed her to quietly look after the residents of the hospital and the patients.

Despite being buried under piles of work, she still made the time to grade her juniors papers, and I’m reminded of one of the first instances the viewers were given of her, which was when she comforted a patient in the elevators of a hospital. The only female professor in neurosurgery, she is kind to her patients.

I adore how decisive she is, being extremely clear about what she wants, drawing boundaries while still being friendly and radiating professionalism to those around her, despite the hardships she might be going through. She routinely goes camping during the weekend and is the embodiment of positive self-love.

Some of my favourite moments in this drama was literally just Song Hwa and Jun Wan aggressively eating like they’ve been hungry since the dawn of time. Song Hwa might have claimed that the reason she ate so rapidly, so full of zeal was because of growing up with older brothers, but Ik Jun was quick to shoot her down and note that they all looked boney.

“My time is too precious for that. I want to live doing the things I like. And the things I want to do right now.”

Probably the most under-appreciated character, Yang Seok Hyeong is a treasure. My first opinion of him was ‘mama’s boy’ and while I was correct, wow, I had not expected the reason why. In his youth, Seok Hyeong was not close to his mother at all, and we could even see him ignoring her phone calls. But after everything that happened with his dad, he grew closer to his mother, developed a new sense of protectiveness and appreciation for her, and I adore that.

He was also the reason the band reunited in the first place, making that his condition for working at the Yulje Medical Center. Despite seeming aloof, he was an open book to his friends. He didn’t like to bother or intrude on people and usually kept to himself, gaining a reputation for being a loner whenever he was not around his four friends.

Throughout the season, he was trapped in a whirlwind of turmoil, from the news of his unexpected brother to his father’s death and his surprise succession to the company he wants no ties with. He maintains a calm exterior and braces through the troubles.

Seok Hyeong lives up to the sensitivity his job demands from him, softly informing expecting mothers about the risks of their pregnancies while encouraging and empathising with them when things get hard.

He prefers to stay in the shadows and allow people the opportunity to sort their messes out themselves, after reminding them that he’s only a call away if they need him. He’s an excellent confident booster and appreciates those who are responsible.

These characters stayed not only in my mind but also in my heart. Each of them has such vivid personalities I can’t entirely capture in words. Their insecurities, struggles, and feelings were so real and incredibly relatable and easy to empathise with.

As conveyed by the title, music plays an important part in this T.V. serial, by allowing the characters to reminisce their college days and also allowing them a breather from their stressful life. There are thousands of words in the English language, and yet, I can’t string together enough of them to express how I felt when Jo Jung Seok sang Aloha.

The doctors use music not only as an outlet to release their frustrations, but also to express their thoughts and feelings. To heal. Listening to the songs and the covers made by the band lightened my heart. The labour they put into practising the songs made the moments more precious.

Through the music sessions in this T.V. serial, I found my affection for each character increasing. I found myself surprised to recognise some of the songs considering they are quite old, but I hummed along and felt the air around me thrum with glee as they sang.

I also found it rather ironic that Chae Song Hwa is considered to be a bad singer (her pre-routine of gulping down raw eggs fascinated me on an odd level) although the actress who plays her, Jeon Mi Do is a talented singer.

Therapeutic and well-written, I marvel at the writer’s ability to weave together arrays of mundane subplots into endearing bliss, leaving lingering positivity after every episode along with a yearning to watch more.

I’m a huge fan of writer Lee Woo-Jung’s Reply series and was hesitant to start this drama, afraid that it would fall short of expectations. But having watched it, I can safely say that those concerns were unnecessary, and whatever expectations I had were only exceeded. I couldn’t recognise any leading plotline of this drama. To me, it simply showcased the daily life of five doctors.

As it is character-driven, there is a slow progression of the drama, which needs some time getting adapted to. It was also a little hard trying to keep track of the multiple characters initially introduced, but within three episodes, I was able to get a hang of things. The dialogues were witty, impactful and sharp, capturing my attention from the beginning to the end. However, despite containing a plethora of humorous moments throughout this serial, there was a subdued layer that focused more on the community than the plot.

I must admit, however, that I found the first episode to be subtly chaotic and slow-paced. I couldn’t grasp the concepts or connect with the characters until the second episode, after which I had no qualms.

I loved the character arcs in this story. It was a pleasure to observe their journeys and diligence as various storylines diverged or amalgamated, how they grew as individuals while maintaining their core values. The flashback scenes were fascinating to watch and compare how they are now to how they used to be.

The cinematography was stunning. I was in awe at how different shades and tones of light could impact not only the setting of the scene but also the mood of the viewers.

I recommend “Hospital Playlist” to anyone who likes to watch T.V. serials possessing the perfect amount of drama, laughter, angst, warmth and love. This serial is a truly rare gem in a basket of rocks where the storylines are solid without being too predictable.

[soulmate-game]

Part 1

After the Discovery, things didn’t change as much as everyone thought they might. “Everyone” being just Marinette, of course.

She got a lecture from Lois about worrying her, and then a joke from the older woman about no longer having another non-hero in the house to team up with.

“Wait, Dad,” Jon spoke up after that comment from his mom, bobbing up and down on his heels. Both him and Clark had long since changed out of their costumes, which didn’t take long considering both of them having super speed. “Does this mean Mari can meet Damian? And is she going to join a hero team—“

“I already have a team, Jon,” Marinette interrupted, soft but firm at the same time. Two months was more than long enough to know that Jon could talk forever if he was allowed to. “Chat Noir, Viperion, Bunnyx, and Ryuuko are all Miraculous users like me,” she had already sat down and explained the bare basics of her abilities and the Paris situation. Lois had known better than to scold her, no matter how gentle the scolding was, before Marinette had a chance to say anything.

Clark blinked, looking between both of his kids. And yes, Marinette was well and truly one of his kids already. He couldn’t hold back a soft chuckle. “She can meet Damian when school starts back up again, Jon. We don’t want to rush anything,” he started out by telling his son. Marinette was still very jittery. Two months was nowhere near enough time to recover from the trauma of watching your parents die, after all.

(In fact, Clark thought, for some people not even a lifetime was long enough. Batman briefly came to mind as an example.)

The girl still had nightmares almost daily, and panic attacks that resulted in brief spans of mutism at least once a week. Those, at least, had severely decreased in frequency, but it was clear that she was far from ready to meet very many new people. Especially people like Damian Wayne, who was hard enough for someone in perfect mental health to handle even on a good day.

“And Marinette,” Clark switched over to his pseudo-daughter. “If you have that many teammates, surely they would understand that you need a break,” when Marinette didn’t meet his eyes, Clark felt dread build up in his stomach. “Marinette, they know about your parents, right?”

The girl fidgeted. Clark closed his eyes.

“Nobody knows my identity,” She admitted after a tense silence. “I know everyone else’s, even though I only found out Chat’s by accident. But they don’t know mine, and I can’t ask them to give me time off anyway.”

“Why not, honey?” Lois asked as gently as she could, picking up on the beginning signs of Marinette closing herself off. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything any of them could do to stop it. Marinette refused to meet any of their eyes, and even before she spoke her new family knew that they wouldn’t get anything else meaningful out of her about the Paris situation, at least for the day.

“They need me.”

Clark and Jon traded a look. That statement felt a bit too familiar for them. It was something they heard from a lot of heroes who tried to justify overworking themselves. It was something both of them had said before.

But they let the topic rest for the night. Pushing Marinette wouldn’t do any good for anybody.

—*—*—*—*—*

A week passed. Lois and Clark were sitting on the couch watching TV when Lois caught her husband’s eyes darting up to the ceiling. Sighing, she turned the volume down a few notches.

“Did she leave for Paris again?” She asked even though she already knew the answer. Clark nodded grimly.

“Yesterday she didn’t get back in until almost four in the morning,” he admitted, running a hand over his face. “And now, it’s already eleven and she’s just now heading out. I know she doesn’t want me or Jon going to Paris because of Hawkmoth’s magic, but…” he trailed off with his mouth set in a deep frown. Lois could only sigh and lean against his arm comfortingly.

“I know,” she breathed quietly.

“She can’t keep working herself to the bone like this, Lois. Sometimes she’ll head right over to Paris after a nightmare, like she needs to remind herself of something, but she always comes back in less than an hour in that case. But this— when she leaves to fight HawkMoth or patrol Paris before ever going to sleep in the first place— it’s like she’s trying to avoid the nightmares by overworking herself too much to even dream.”

“I know,” Lois rubbed a hand on Clark’s back in gentle circles.

“It reminds me of Batman sometimes,” Clark said, his voice filled with uncharacteristic defeat. “Marinette doesn’t get violent like Bruce, but… never sleeping, throwing herself into heroism, she even refers to Ladybug as if they are different people, Lois. I can’t always help Bruce since he’s a grown adult and more than capable of shutting me out when he wants to, but Marinette is our kid now. I’m just not sure how to help her.”

Lois took a deep breath. “Well, she’s not Bruce so you can’t just bait her into a spar to sort out her feelings,” she mused with faint humor. “But how about we start with sending Jon to Paris the next time you guys hear her leave? The sooner we figure out exactly what the situation and her relationship with her team is like, then maybe the sooner we can find some answers.”

Clark nodded, and looked back up to the ceiling. “I know you heard that, Jon. Don’t get in the way, and come back if Marinette finds you and tells you to. We don’t want her to think we don’t trust her.”

A beat passed, and Clark rolled his eyes fondly.

“Don’t forget to go to bed as soon as she gets back, Jon. I don’t want to deal with two overly exhausted children.”

A thump.

“I’m sixteen!” Jon yelled back, clearly for Lois’s benefit as his mom let out a short burst of laughter.

—*—*—*—*—*

“Ladybug!”

“Look, it’s Ladybug!” “Woo! Go ladybug!” “Could you beat this guy extra fast, Ladybug? I’m late for a meeting!”

People in the streets were shouting in French happily, pointing up at their resident spotted heroine. Some people groused at her in mild or fond annoyance, asking her to beat the Akuma-of-the-day a bit faster for various reasons or jokingly calling her a slow poke. Most people just got pictures or videos on their phones of her as best as they could, watching her swing by in awe and admiration.

It was familiar. Too, too familiar, and Jon made sure to get it all on camera. His parents would want to see this. The pair of contacts he was wearing, a gift from Red Robin, translated everything that was being said for him into helpful little English subtitles.

And there was his sister. Marinette had been tough to pin down, and this was Jon’s third time trying to follow her in Paris. The first time, the day after that late night discussion between his parents, ended in less than five minutes. Marinette caught him and sent him home firmly, which was followed by a heart-to-heart with all four of them when she got home.

She still refused to tell them anything more than the basics about Paris’s situation. For some reason, she seemed extremely reluctant to talk about it. She had no problem comparing experiences and hero jokes with him and his dad, but the moment they tried to talk about Paris-specifics, Marinette clammed up.

It was the second of Jon’s attempts to follow Marinette, just a week after the first, that brought up a possible reason. Because Jon had watched a civilian that he hadn’t been able to get to in time get pinned under a thrown car and killed—only for Ladybug’s powers to reverse all the damage and bring the man back to life.

Jon had raced back home right after that, not even giving Marinette the chance to see him. After relaying what had happened to his parents, they all agreed to one last tail. The pieces were already falling together, and none of them liked the picture they were painting. They wanted to confront Marinette as soon as possible. So here he was, another week later.

Jon kept recording throughout the fight, watching as Marinette clearly led her team. There was no mistaking that all her teammates respected her and treated her word as law. Even Chat Noir, who was Ladybug’s deputy, always referred to Ladybug’s opinion before issuing any orders. Civilians didn’t always flee the scene, taking their time as they tried to record the fight. And when the Akuma was beaten and only Ladybug made a move to catch the corrupted butterfly, the final pieces clicked into place. Jon managed to stay still long enough to catch the crowd of fans running forward, trying to mob Ladybug with pleas for autographs or statements or interviews, before he left. Ladybug’s team had acted as a buffer between her and the crowd anyway, so Jon was able to leave with a clear conscience.

When he walked into his house, already changed back into normal clothes, he waved his phone with a serious look on his face as both his parents waited anxiously.

“Yeah. This is pretty bad,” Jon warned them as he hooked his phone up to his laptop, and played the footage for them.

—*—*—*—*—*

When Marinette got home, it was to a clear intervention. Nervously detransforming, she looked to Tikki and back to her new family. The Kwami, who had previously just been explained away as the source of her powers, gently nudged the girl forward. She knew her holder needed this.

Clark and Lois gently explained why they asked Jon to follow her, explaining that they were all concerned about how badly she was overworking herself.

“You’re getting only three hours of sleep, and that’s on the days that you wake up with nightmares,” Clark’s

voice was quiet, begging her to listen. “Every other day, you teleport to what I can only hope is Paris every time, and you don’t come back for hours. Even if you spend that whole time fighting Akumas, you still only get an hour’s worth of sleep maximum when you get back. Sometimes you don’t even sleep at all until you collapse of exhaustion,” he leaned forward over the table, worry etched in every line on his face. “Marinette, we’re worried. We wanted Jon to see what the situation in Paris was like, because we thought that maybe it would explain why you seem to care about it more than your health. We didn’t know if it was just you needing to keep busy, or something else.”

“And you’re gone during the day too,” Lois added. “And we get that. HawkMoth attacks whenever he feels like, and we all understand if you have to disappear at odd times to fight his Akumas. But this is more than that, isn’t it?”

Marinette’s hands were clenched into fists, and tears were starting to bubble up in her eyes, but she didn’t say anything. Jon slowly approached her, waiting for her small nod before laying one of his larger hands over her fists and gently prying them open before she hurt herself. He kept his hands there, holding hers for both of their comfort.

“I took a video, today,” he admitted gently. “Dad already erased it from the laptop and my phone, don’t worry. But they— we all— needed to see it. The way Paris treats you, Marinette—“

“It’s like how Metropolis used to treat Superman. How they sometimes still do,” Lois interrupted, trying to get Marinette to meet her eyes. “We all thought that Superman showing up was the end of our problems. That as soon as he showed up, the villain or criminal or whatever that was causing us problems was done for. That he could save everyone,” Lois’s eyes grew melancholy. “But we had to learn the hard way that he’s not invincible, no matter how much he might seem like he is. We had to learn the hard way that nobody, no matter how strong or how many powers they have, can save everyone. The kind of trust we had in him before is toxic, Marinette. It’s toxic to us, because we stop being as careful as we should be if we think he’s always going to catch us. And it’s toxic to him, too.”

“How?” Marinette asked, her voice impossibly tiny and her eyes glittering with unshed tears as she darted her eyes between them. “They need someone to believe in. They— I make them feel safe. I— isn’t that good?”

“You feel like it’s your job to be there no matter what, right?” Clark asked, meeting her gaze with a warm, but firm one of his own. “That you have to do whatever it takes to win every battle, no matter what it costs you, because they believe you will. You start feeling like everyone you don’t save is your fault. And that’s not okay,” he stood up and Jon slowly backed away, allowing their father to kneel by Marinette and clasp one of her shoulders. “It always hurts. You might never forget the faces of the people you can’t save, but it isn’t your fault. You told me and Jon that you don’t blame us for what happened to your parents, that it’s stupid to blame the hero for something that wouldn’t have happened if the villain didn’t attack in the first place,” his grip tightened slightly, trying to offer comfort when Marinette tended at the mention of her parents. “If you don’t blame us, even though we were the ones in costume and fighting that day, then you need to stop blaming yourself too.”

The tears finally overflowed, salty water trickling down Marinette’s cheeks and sloppy sobs ripping themselves from her throat even as she threw herself into Clark’s chest. He hugged her tightly, letting her cry.

“B-b-But,” Marinette stuttered in between hiccuping sobs. “My powers reverse damage, m-my powers bring people back,” she sniffed, burying her face deeper into Clark’s chest. “I wanted t-to help. I-I was. S-s-So close to tr-transforming and fighting with y-you, but I didn’t. I d-didn’t, so I c-couldn’t bring them b-back. I should have been tr-transformed, th-that way they would be—“

“Shh,” Clark whispered gently, rocking her in his arms. “It’s not your fault. Metropolis wasn’t your city. You were protecting your identity, and that was the right choice.”

“But—!”

“No, Marinette,” Clark interrupted, holding her just a little tighter as she continued to tremble and sob. “If you had transformed, someone would have figured it out. A French class comes to Metropolis, and one of their students mysteriously disappears at the same time that a French hero shows up in America for the first time? Maybe you could have brought them back, but none of you would have been safe. Our villains, the villains of Metropolis, of the League, they would have suddenly known about you and might have researched Paris. Maybe HawkMoth would have gained a new ally, or maybe a villain would attack you just because you’re a new hero to target,” Clark sighed, rubbing his hand gently over Marinette’s back as her sobs quieted into a few hiccups and sniffles. She was listening. That was a good sign. “So yes, maybe you would have been able to save them that once, but you could also have opened up a new can of worms that you might not have been able to handle. Things could have gotten worse, and Jon and I wouldn’t have even known to help you. You would have continued to shoulder everything on your own, but you don’t have to. You did your best, and your parent’s deaths aren’t your fault. And you have Jon and I now, and your team even if they don’t know who you are. You can rely on us a little. If you keep going on like this, though, you’re going to kill yourself Marinette,” this time his grip tightened for a whole different reason and Clark buried his face in Marinette’s loose hair. Even after only almost three months, the thought of losing her made him breathless. She was his daughter, even if not by blood, and he couldn’t stand the thought of her hurting herself like this.

“Please, Mari,” That was Jon, who had knelt down by their side and joined the hug. “Let us help you. I promise we’re not incompetent heroes.”

Marinette’s laugh was watery, and hysteric. She accepted a tissue from Lois, who was suddenly sitting down only a foot away from the three’s group hug. After a good nose-blow, Marinette took a deep breath.

“Maybe now’s a good time to give them a proper explanation, Marinette,” Tikki said as she floated down to land on her wielder’s head, giving her the best hug she could. Marinette gave another wet chuckle.

“Yeah, I agree,” she took a deep breath. “But it’s a long story.”

“Not a problem,” Lois assured the girl as she forced herself up and stretched her arms out. “I’ll get the extra pillows and blankets. We can relax on the floor and have story time, and then binge watch movies and have a sleepover in the living room. Clark, could you be a dear and move the couch out of the way?”

—*—*—*—*—*

“You have a rule against killing, dear,” Lois whispered groggily from where she was laying against Clark’s side. Marinette was sprawled in between him and Jon, safely in their cuddle-cocoon. Both of their kids were deep asleep. Clark grunted.

“Yeah, but he put so much responsibility on kids, Lo. Kids,” he whispered back, turning his head to try and lessen the chance of waking up Jon. “And he didn’t offer them any support for almost a year, made them figure out the whole hero thing and their powers on their own,” the clearing of a tiny throat made Clark stifle a snort. “With their Kwami,” he whispered, quietly appeasing the eavesdropping Tikki who was laying on Marinette’s chest pretending to sleep. “But a god isn’t exactly a replacement for an actual hero mentor, you know,” he shot at her, making the tiny goddess shrug in acquiescence. “And making her Guardian— he basically threw all his responsibilities onto kids, and ran away. And now Marinette has to heal from all the unrealistic expectations she gave herself. So forgive me if I’m entertaining a few more violent daydreams than usual.”

Lois patted his arm and kissed his cheek. “I’m sure they will be just as violent and gratifying to imagine in the morning. Go to sleep, Smallville.”

—*—*—*—*—*

It was another two and a half weeks before Marinette met Damian Wayne for the first time. She looked from the fellow teenager in a perfectly-pressed uniform and then over to her brother with a raised eyebrow.

“Does he fly in on a helicopter every day?” She asked him incredulously, making Jon grin and nod. She looked back over at Damian, who was clearly annoyed at her for speaking about him when he was right there. “I will never understand rich people.”

Damian scoffed, rolling his eyes. “And I will never understand simpletons. Kent, who is your friend?” He practically spat the last word, making the inner bully-detector in Marinette go off. Her interactions with Chloe and Lila kicked in, and sparked her old habits. Marinette flashed a bright smile, stepping in front of Jon before he could say a word and holding out her hand to Damian. Clark, who was talking to Bruce nearby, out his hand over his mouth to hide a snort. Bruce raised his eyebrows, paying close attention to the interaction now.

“Hi! I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Clark and Lois took me in a few months ago, and they said I’m already family. That means that I’m Jon’s sister now, which means that it’s my job to keep him away from bad influences. My hobbies include annoying bullies and not being a welcome mat. How are you?”

Damian blinked once. Twice, and then took her hand and shook it firmly even as a smirk spread itself over his lips.

“Damian Wayne,” he replied easily. “And I apologize for assuming you were a simpleton. I think we can tolerate each other just fine.”

As Marinette and Damian kept trading sarcastic quips with one another that got steadily less passive-aggressive as time went on (with Jon watching in dismay as somehow Marinette seemed to get along? With Damian? And they were scheming? This couldn’t end well.), Clark and Bruce watched the kids walk into their school building.

A moment of silence stretched, before Bruce finally caved and asked; “Took her in?”

Clark grinned slightly, knowing Bruce never would have been able to resist sating his curiosity over the new girl in his care.

“Lois and I practically adopted her. Technically her paternal grandmother has custody and only gave her to us to take care of while she recovers from her grief in a different country, but that’s only because trying to adopt her without being French citizens would have been almost impossible.”

“Grief?” Bruce’s eyebrows pulled down, and Clark’s smile grew somber.

“Remember the attack in late May, back in Metropolis? The one that actually had the first fatalities in months?” Bruce’s face went slack in realization, followed closely by his eyes snapping to the school’s doors. Clark nodded. “Looks like your penchant for adopting black-haired, blue-eyed orphans is contagious. She was scraping the skin off her hands and giving herself burns trying to dig them out of the rubble. When Jon and I realized that they were both of her parents, I had Lois look into her to make sure she had family to take care of her,” Clark sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “The options were a grandmother who never stops traveling or a great uncle she barely knows who only speaks Mandarin when she doesn’t. So we pulled a few strings, and now she’s a Kent in all but name.”

“I hope Damian can avoid saying the wrong thing for at least a day before I talk to him later,” Bruce said with a sigh as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. “At least she seems to have won his respect pretty quickly.”

Clark laughed. “Oh yeah, she tends to do that. No offense or anything Bruce, but I think it’s a good thing we were the ones that adopted her before you got the chance,” he turned and smiled at his old friend. “You wouldn’t be able to handle Marinette. She’s closer to a Super than a Bat.”

—*—*—*—*—*

@fantasiame @thestressmademedoit @amayakans @resignedcatservant @too0bsessedformyowngood @chocolatecatstheron

Part 3

This. Was. Supposed. To be. Fluffy. Damn it. But oh well, natural story progression calls for more hurt and comfort I guess? Maybe one part left in this story I think.

[novantinuum]

Fandom: Steven Universe

Rating: General Audiences

Words: 1.6K~

Summary: The question— incomplete, and yet bursting with long-held curiosity— emerges from thin air while he’s about to tuck Steven into bed in the back of the van one night.

In retrospect, no parenting book could’ve ever prepared him for this one.

A Greg and Steven focused fic, set when Steven is freshly four. This is one of those I had on the poll a month or so back, ahah! Finally finished it. Apologies for the wait. The good news is that my list is now whittled down to three non-Crack the Paragon WIPS! Woo! That’s rather exciting.

There’s some brief meta rambles on the AO3 version. If you read this and enjoy, I’d greatly appreciate your support through reblogs here, or kudos/comments on AO3. Thank you! <3

____

“Where’s yours, Daddy?”

The question— incomplete, and yet bursting with long-held curiosity— emerges from thin air while he’s about to tuck Steven into bed in the back of the van one night.

In retrospect, no parenting book could’ve ever prepared him for this one.

“My...?” Smiling encouragingly, he lets the word dangle unfinished in the air for a moment, and gestures to try and prompt the little tyke to continue. “My what, kiddo? My... pajamas?” he says, pointing towards each item his kid bears in succession. “My... stuffed tiger? My very own... tickle monster?!”

In the spirit of good-hearted mischief, Greg tousles his boy’s dark, flyaway curls. When he then moves his hands to tickle his sides, Steven breaks into delighted peals of laughter, squirming nonstop.

“Noooooo,” he giggles breathlessly, batting his small pudgy hands at him to stop the affectionate onslaught. “No tickles, your gem! Like mine! You ‘aven’t never showed it.”

In an instant, the small universe encapsulated inside their van freezes, and he goes momentarily slack-jawed as he struggles to process the words that just came out of his son’s mouth.

“My- w-where’s my gem?”

He lets out a low chuckle at the absurd thought— imagine that, him, having a gem of his own! Where on Earth did his kid acquire this notion? And then... his memory can’t help but drift back to a few hours earlier, when Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl spent a mission-free day with Steven on the beach, surrounded by all manners of summer tourists. Humans coexisting amongst Gems, most entirely nonplussed by their otherworldly appearances. Steven was eagerly padding across the shore in his brand new swim trunks— the pair he received for his birthday just a week ago— the quartz gem at his navel on proud display. Midway through the afternoon, though, the kiddo seemed to become strangely preoccupied by all the human beachgoers. He’d glance at people’s faces, their sternums, their exposed navels, and then scowl in confusion. At one point he excitedly ran up to a dark skinned young woman with hair like Garnet’s to give her a high-five, and returned puzzled, his lips pressed in a thin line. At the time, Greg didn’t understand what all of his bewildered, curious gawking was about, and quietly instructed him not to bother other people. But now, given this latest comment, a theory builds in his mind... oh stars, was he looking for their gems?

Did he somehow assume both from his own and from his frequency of interaction with Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl that everyone had one hidden somewhere?

Swallowing, he deliberately makes it a point to mask his nervousness about this topic in front of his impressionable four-year-old child as best he can. Oh, boy. They haven’t had this sort of conversation yet. He always kinda feared it was coming, coursing towards him like a tidal wave faster and faster with each passing moment, but never in a million years did he imagine this moment would be tonight. And now, his tongue dry as a stone in his mouth, he finds himself at a complete loss for words. As best he knows, there’s no one else even remotely like Steven in the entire universe. How does one even convey this concept to their child in terms they’d understand?

Because even if he— ignoring the rose quartz gemstone embedded flush with his skin where a typical kid’s belly button would be— looks the part, Steven isn’t human. That much is obvious. That’s simply a fact. Humans don’t glow as babies. They don’t grow so ramrod still while sleeping that they appear like they’re not breathing at all. They can’t casually lift double their body weight at the tender age of four. Not to mention, in all his years of life thus far, he’s never gotten sick. Never gotten a scrape or cut that didn’t heal up completely in less than an hour. Not once. There’s no way that’s by mere coincidence, Greg muses, there’s gotta be another reason. He’s gotta have some sort of mega-boosted immune system or something, or magically healing cells. No branch of human science can successfully justify the alien nuances of his son’s existence. He just... is. He’s a walking miracle, the light of his life.

Steven’s never been a normal child, that’s for sure.

But how is a father supposed to lovingly and sensitively explain this to innocent ears?

“I, erm- I don’t have one of those, bud,” he says slow, still desperately sorting through his thoughts to figure out what else to say about this.

The kid stubbornly wriggles free from his arms, lifting up the bottom hem of his baggy pajama shirt to showcase the glittering pink gemstone resting at the center of his belly. “But I got one, an’ Amethyst an’ Pearl got one, an’ Garnet, she- guess what,” he says in an attempt at a whisper, wide eyed as if he’s about to impart some sacred knowledge. “She even got two gems!”

“That’s right, she does have two gems!” he nods, only barely holding back his chuckle at the hilarious solemnity of his kid’s proclamation. “But Steven, not everyone has ‘em like you and them. It’s something unique to the four of you. Y’see, they are Gems, just like me and everyone else in town are humans. It’s, um—“ his speech falters as he struggles to find words someone so young could possibly begin to understand— “it’s sorta just who they are.”

The corners of Steven’s mouth turn downwards in an exaggerated pout, and it’s immediately obvious that this blind, clumsy attempt at an explanation didn’t satisfy him one bit. Greg leans back against the inner siding of the van, gently tugging at a strand of his hair as he scours his mind for any potential solutions to this parenting quandary.

Think, think, think... How does one connect this topic to things such a young kid might understand?

“Listen, uh...” he begins again, marked hesitation tinting his voice. “Pearl’s been teaching you about bugs lately, right?”

However, if Steven— bless his heart— happened to notice his heightened nervousness, he sure doesn’t let it show on his face, instead enthusiastically jumping to answer his question.

“Uh-huh!” he nods, and then proceeds to happily babble about what he’s learned, flapping his hands in front of him as he does so. “She tells me all about bumble bees an’ stick bugs, an’ these...” His brow creases as he pauses, combing his memory for the right words. “...fuzzy worms? But they aren’t worms, ‘cause they sleep for really super long and then, then they get wings and fly away!”

He can’t help but smile at his son’s animation about this subject. He soaks up knowledge like a sponge, that’s for sure. Between Pearl and him, they’ve been trying to introduce him to some of the basics lately, stuff kids his age should know. Like reading, and writing, and counting, and music, and basic science. Pearl does the math and science, (those classes were never his wheelhouse in school), and he takes care of everything else. Given, erm... given their kinda strained history, they don’t exactly collaborate on lesson plans, but so far the arrangement seems to be working out okay. Steven’s having fun, at least, which is all that matters in the end.

“Oooh, caterpillars and butterflies, huh?” he says, reaching for the thick blanket folded up against the side wall of the van. “Well, y’wanna learn a cool new thing?”

His son bobs his head, his eyes glittering.

“All those bugs you named?” he begins, unfolding the blanket for the two of them as he goes. “They’re each types of completely different creatures, or, different species, we call ‘em. And humans and Gems, they’re types of species too. And every species has something that makes them unique, different from everything else. You know how all those bugs have special things the others don’t have, like the bumble bees and their stripes, and those caterpillars’ fuzz?”

“Yeah!”

“Well, that’s what it’s like for humans and Gems, too! Garnet and Amethyst and Pearl and you, you all have gemstones, just like yours right here,” he says, tapping a gentle finger over the rose quartz embedded at his midsection. Steven lets out a small giggle at the contact. “That’s your special thing as Gems, something humans don’t have.”

“What’ve humans have?” he asks in curiosity, tilting his head.

Greg purses his lips, his fingers subconsciously massaging the blanket’s rough, time-worn surface as he considers the elements that— from personal experience— he’d consider essential to human life. “Hmm. Well, let’s see... I guess... humans eat, and sleep, and grow from babies all the way until they’re adults. Gems don’t age. They don’t really... do any of that.”

“But I can do that!” he whines, brows creasing.

“Hm?”

“I thought you jus’ said I’m a Gem?”

Greg’s breath stills upon the deliverance of this pointed question, spoken with such youthful innocence, and yet wholly capable of penetrating through every layer of his ill-formed logic. He swallows hard. Once again, he is not prepared. He likely never could be.

His son... oh, his beloved Steven. Without meaning to, he keeps ignoring the inherent humanity that sets this boy apart from the rest of the Gems. He’s similar to them in many respects, yes, but he’s also not. He’s both, but...

He’s also neither.

He’s unique from everyone, his own thing altogether. Something entirely new.

Quite honestly, the best word he can grasp at to describe him is hybrid.

And while at this present moment he has no idea if he’s doing his son a disservice, othering him from the rest of humanity at such a tender age, he figures that he at least deserves to know the truth.

“You’re kinda- uh, both, at once, actually,” he clarifies, these very words acting as a beacon to clarify a wide range of once deep-seeded assumptions in his mind. “Gem and human. You’ve got special things from both sides, how funky is that?”

“Huh.” Steven mulls this new information over, and then flashes a toothy grin. “That's cool!”

[themonkeycabal]

Wandavision Ep 5 Spoilers

Wherein I watch Wandavision at a stupid hour of the morning because I do not sleep like a regular human being, and sometimes I have things to say.

Previously on Wandavision, we all discovered that Darcy Lewis and Jimmy Woo were the BFFs we never knew we needed and now can't live without. Also Wanda reminded us that she's really scary.

We should be in the 80s now, right? Ahh the 80s. Leg warmers, Aquanet, and MTV.

Baby shenanigans with crying twins. Wanda tries to magic them to sleep and it doesn't work. "Maybe we just need some help." And in pops Agnes without waiting for them to answer the door. As you do in a sitcom hell. She's got a headband and leg warmers on and is on her way to jazzercise. Of course. Is the point of Agnes to really anchor us in a decade? Asking for real. She's very "this is the era, and these are the tropes, let's all play along now."

Vision is very protective of the babies, to such a degree and with such intensity that Agnes literally forgets her line and nervously asks Wanda if she wants her to take that again. Well, then. Agnes very super a lot does not want to be wished to the cornfield. 

The babies stopped crying during the whole "should we do this scene again" interlude. Vision noticed the weirdness and is trying to figure out what's going on, Wanda is trying very hard to pretend everything is normal. Agnes is being super duper bizarre in the background. And suddenly the twins are like three years old. Agnes has given up and got into the liquor. I don't blame her.

Opening credits. Okay, I'm sorry, 'baby' Vision is almost more stupidly funny than I can take. Like … what? I think I want that as my new icon, though. Also the credits are too long. I think they were very proud of their theme song, so we have to hear it all. These are my least favorite so far. Very 80s, but meh.

In the real world, Monica is getting x-rays and giving a report on being yeeted from Wanda World.

Jimmy Woo and Darcy are there to greet her at the end of the exam. "This is Doctor Darcy Lewis." Yes, she is! Still very proud. She's also the doctor of encouraging people to wear pants, shoving a pair at hospital gown-clad Monica. Erik's no-pants phase was very scarring.

The medic comes back and says the medical tests didn't work or something. The medic wants to do x-rays again because the first came back blank and also she's going to have to do another blood draw. Hmm. Monica is still somehow affected by Wanda World? Unclear on how that would work. Some sort of weird witchy radiation-like energy? Monica says 'no' to more needles and also wants to put pants on. Just let the woman have her pants.

Now we're on to a briefing with the acting Director of SWORD whose name I don't remember. He's very "government suit" bland, I have a hard time caring about anything he says. Also, does anybody else pronounce the 'w' in SWORD in their head when they read it? Like I cannot make my brain stop doing that. "s-WUH-ord'.

"Our initial theory had Wanda Maximoff as one of many victims. We now know she is the principle VICTIMIZER!" Settle down there, acting director guy. Why not say 'subject', 'suspect', 'perpetrator', or boring old 'cause of the anomaly". VICTIMIZER! Geez then. I'm going to guess his solution will be a tactical nuke or some such rot.

Jimmy gives background on Wanda.

Acting Director Guy: "The twins were subsequently radicalized, volunteering at Hydra." Jimmy Woo: "That's an oversimplification of events, but yes." I'm giving you heart-eyes Jimmy Woo.

"After unspecified experimentation with the mind stone, Maximoff gained telekinetic and telepathic abilities."

Then a weird aside where the Acting Director — who shall now be known as Acting Director Dick — wants to know if Wanda had a code name or a something, seeming to imply that not having one made her a bad guy?,  and then he points out how the first time she used her powers it was against the Avengers. He totally just ordered a tactical nuke from "overreacting-government-douchebags r us".  I hate this particular character trope, the government heavy who never listens to anybody and is always ready to napalm the suburbs because reasons. It's so tedious.

Jimmy points out that Wanda earned the Avengers trust and then became an Avenger herself, thank you very much. Acting Director Dick doesn't care, he's decided Wanda is a terrorist and he'll turn half of New Jersey into a glass parking lot to get rid of her. Sure am glad he's in charge of some sort of mysterious and powerful agency.

Jimmy Woo is not a fan either, and he walks back over to his new bestie and tells Darcy that while he tries not to speak ill of anybody … Darcy interrupts "then allow me", and she has no trouble saying that Acting Director Dick is, in fact, a dick. That's my girl.

Elsewhere AD Dick is blathering on about how they don't negotiate with terrorists. Well, since Wanda hasn't made any demands, or released a manifesto or anything …. Monica also points out Wanda is not a terrorist. AD Dick twists her report to make Wanda sound as terroristy as he can. I'm bored with him now.

Monica argues with him a bit and say she doesn't believe Wanda World is a premeditated act of aggression. I vote Darcy, Jimmy, and Monica wait until AD Dick is alone, and then they shove him in a locker for the rest of the season. If anybody asks he had to run back to sWUHord for meetings or something, "Darn, you just missed him. I'll tell him you're looking for him. Great. Buh-bye now".

AD Dick needs to make his big jackass point that Wanda is the most terroristy terrorist who ever terroristed, so he shows off footage of Wanda breaking into a SWORD facility to steal back Vision's body. Because that seems terroristy and not at all like some sort of emotional breakdown. As far as I can tell, she just busted open a few doors, but didn't hurt anybody. I think AD Dick doesn't know the meaning of the word terrorist.

And, yes, then she resurrected Vision in an idealized sitcom world in a small city in New Jersey. That's exactly like something a terrorist mastermind would do. Mmmhmm. Is it nice for the people trapped there with them? No, clearly not. Agnes and Herb in particular seem aware and are scared. They need to be rescued and Wanda needs LOADS of therapy. But Director Nuke the Site from Orbit over here isn't going to make anything better. Darcy, sister, shove that asshole into a locker stat.

Jimmy notes that stealing Vision's body is a violation of the Sokovia Accords. And while I appreciate his dedication to maintaining the Accords … well, I mean, look, it's body theft and all. It's not a great look; I absolutely allow that. But you can just sort of stop there. Though, that's very the Sokovia Accords "if this guy dies, his body must go to a shadowy government agency. for safety. yep."

Also Vision had a living will, where he didn't want to be used as a weapon. Sure, okay. Because I'm sure SWORD was just totally not doing anything at all with his body. Nope. Look, I'm totally a SHIELD girl and even I wouldn't necessarily trust SHEILD with that. So, who is SWORD to me? Pfft. I'd give him to Thor or something and ask him to be buried far far away. I'm just saying. I'm supposed to trust Johnny-Come-Lately S-WUH-ORD?

(In my head now is an inter-agency rivalry where SWORD is like "We have rocket ships!" and SHIELD is like "lol, our lead scientist got eaten by a rock and survived on an alien world for like six months". "But rocket ships?" "We've traveled through time a dozen times in the last year alone. We're a bigger chaotic disaster than you can ever hope to be".)

AD Dick undermines his own "SHE'S A TERRORIST!" thesis by saying she acted out of grief. And then he dismisses everybody. "Work the problem!" Uh … whut? Fine? What is the problem? That she's a WILD MURDERY TERRORIST who must be stopped! or a grief stricken woman who stole her technologically advanced boyfriend's body and probably should be talked down? Acting Director Lack of Clarity.

Jimmy wants to know how Wanda could have resurrected Vision without the Mind stone and Darcy wants to know what Vision will do when he figures it out. Fine questions, friends, fine questions. Monica is just like "acting director dick used to be a buddy but now I kind of want to punch him and am very conflicted. oh and wanda kind of freaks me out but also i feel bad for her" only she says all that without words.

Tommy and Billy are now about like 5 or 6 or something. I'm terrible with kids ages. They're up to shenanigans. Oh, they found a lost puppy dog and they're giving him a bath in the sink. It's all super adorable.

Vision wanders in and greets his family all formally and in his human face. He says he has a premonition someone might pop over. He's not a fan of sitcom neighbors either. And there's Agnes now with a dog house. How does she know whether to enter through the front door or the back door?

The dog tries to burn the house down by licking an electrical outlet? so they name him Sparky (harr harr) and Wanda magics him a collar with Agnes right there. Vision's all "wtf darling?" and she points out Agnes didn't even notice when the boys went from babies to five-year olds, she certainly didn't notice the magic collar. Agnes is trying very very hard not to notice anything. Poor Agnes.

Wanda says she's tired of hiding her abilities and Vision is Very Concerned. He's starting to figure things out.

They tell the boys they can't have a dog until they're 10, so the boys grin at each other and age themselves up to 10. That is all very unsettling. Agnes "Let's just hope this dog stays the same size." as she screams internally "save me!"

Real World. Jimmy's hustling back to the science room with coffee for Monica and Darcy. Monica is asking for some sort of wild mobile bunker to help her get back into Wanda World and Darcy's like "well, yes, but also no". But Monica knows an aerospace engineer who'd totally make it for her.  

"I can't guarantee the Hex won't just mind wipe you as you go in." "What's the hex?" "Oh, it's what I'm calling the anomaly because of it's hexagonal shape. It's starting to catch on." Darcy's so proud, but Jimmy's like 'not so much' but he's too polite to say.

Monica's determined to go back in. Jimmy wants to know who the kids are, if they've id'd them or the babies and Monica's all "oh, no, those are legit Wanda's." Darcy says if she can make stuff with her mind, and all the props and whatnot in the Wanda World are real then she's wielding an insane amount of power. Monica is sure she could have taken out Thanos if he hadn't cheated and snapped her. Jimmy thinks Captain Marvel could have done it. Monica very much doesn't want to talk about Captain Marvel.

Monica has an Idea!

Ah, she wants to see her outfit from Wanda World, which is now in the real world. So, is it real matter Wanda created, or is the perception field bleeding over to make them all see that outfit in the real world. That would have been hella awkward if Monica got yeeted out of her clothes.

Monica confirms they're real then steals Jimmy's gun and shoots them. Ahh, she was wearing a kevlar vest when she went into Wanda World, and that changed shape to be her super fly 70s outfit. "Wanda is rewriting reality." Changing things to fit the hex. So they'll send in something that doesn't need to be changed. Um. Sure. Fine. I don't know what that means, or how that would help in this context, but I'm sure I'll find out.

Meanwhile, Vision is at work, and all his coworkers are amazed at the actual computers. Golly shucks. Computers. Hey, so, computers have been around since the 40s. ANYWAY.

"Should we surf the internet?" We're progressing rapidly through the 80s. Oh, lol, Darcy sent an email. And the whole office creepily reads it out loud. Vision is very weirded out. As well he should be. He wipes the computer with his glowy synthezoid powers and then he glowies Norm when Norm tells him 'none of it is real'. Norm wakes up "please help me. what day is it? how long has it been?". Oh dear. Poor Vision. This is all going to go so very badly. Norm gets very freaked out begging Vision to "stop her". Vision resets him.

At the house the boys wonder where dad is, and Wanda tells them it's Monday and he's at work. Except the boys are all "um, no, it's Saturday". Wanda, your house of lies is tumbling down! You shouldn't have let them grow up so fast. Babies don't ask inconvenient questions about why Daddy needs some space from Mommy and her questionable choices for their shared reality.

Wanda takes the opportunity to impart the 80s family sitcom trope of the weekly life lesson about how family might fight, but they still love each other and family is forever. One of the twins asks if she has a brother. She does. He's far away. But, Sparky goes barking at the door. Wanda looks far away herself. She goes to open the door and Sparky runs out.

Monica has sent in a drone from the 80s. Well that wasn't really a thing. But, how does the 1980s rc plane look more high tech than the 2020s drone they sent in first? Talk to your design team, SWORD.

Anyway, Wanda spots the drone, but she's keeping it out of the broadcast, because she's the editor and director and producer of Wandavision, of course.

Monica announces herself and tries to get Wanda to acknowledge her. Whoops. Wanda's eyes go glowy. AD Dick says "take the shot" and Monica's all "what? no, the drone isn't armed." Except of course it is, because AD Dick is a monumental dick, and he's got a backup drone pilot who takes the shot. Wandavision goes off air. And, oh no, there's a breach at the Hex!

Lol. It's Wanda coming through, dragging the mangled corpse of the drone with her. That was entirely deserved, AD Dick. I hope she shoves it up your ass, dick.

"The missile was just a precaution". AD Dick backpedals quick, like a coward. You gave a three second attempt to talk to Wanda before you pulled the trigger, I don't like you. "You can hardly blame us."

Wanda warns him to stay out. "You won't bother me, I won't bother you." Okay, well, he does kind of have a point, in that there's a whole town of people who are stuck as bit players in Wanda World. That's not very nice. I mean, surely she could have found a nice empty spot somewhere and created her sitcom utopia. That's at least a fair criticism.

Monica tries her best to talk Wanda down. It doesn't work particularly well.

"What do you want?" "I have what I want and no one will ever take it from me again." And she mind controls the soldiers training their guns on her, to turn them on AD Dick. Whoops. And Wanda goes back to her world. The Hex glows all red as she goes.

And we go to commercial. Lagos Brand paper towels. "For when you make a mess you didn't mean to." Wow, so that was brutal. Wanda's not mad at you, Monica. She's just carrying a lot of guilt. Ouch.

Back in Wandavision, the boys are looking for their dog. They find Agnes hiding in the bushes with the dog. Poor Sparky apparently ate some azalea leaves and died. The boys are very sad and Wanda warns them not to age up. They can't run from their feelings. Oh Wanda. "It's too sad," Billy says. "You can fix anything mom," Tommy cries, "Fix the dead". Yikes.

Wanda "I'm trying to tell you there are rules in life." Poor Agnes is trying not to have a total meltdown. "We can't reverse death. No matter how sad it makes us. Some things are forever."

Billy and Tommy try to talk her into bringing back Sparky. And Vision turns up. Well, this is just brutal.

Vision is entirely outside of Wanda's control. "I spoke with Norm. I unearthed the man's suppressed personality and I spoke to him free of your oversight." Yikes. "He was in pain, Wanda."

Okay it's kind of funny they're arguing over the end credits. Vision is very very pissed. "I'm scared." Aww.

Wanda insists she's not in charge of every life in Westview. "I don't know how any of this started in the first place." Huh. Is that really true? Because she's pretty sure of it now. Somebody or something convinced her into a sitcom world and now she's just like "yeah, this is good"? really asking.

Ding-dong.

"I didn't do that." 

Vision: *doubt*

DING DONG

Wanda goes to answer the door.

In the real world, alarms are blaring but Darcy notices a new revelation on Wandavision.

Wanda Word — and it's Pietro at the door. See! I knew it had to be Pietro who'd be the surprise guest thingy. I mean it's hilariously X-Men Pietro (Evan Peters, like @lewstonewar suggested), but Pietro nonetheless. There's nobody else it could have been.

Darcy be all WTF? "She recast Pietro?" lol

Okay, Wanda seems legit shocked. I don't think she did that. And I super really don’t think she’d make him sound like a NYC cabbie. 

And end.

Well. I mean, I'm not sure what to think. Wanda insists she's not controlling everything. I don't think she created Pietro. But, she totally stole Vision's body and created the kids and seems mostly happy in her sitcom universe and she can traverse the Hex, which obviously suggests its her doing. Dunno. I have questions about Agnes and her convenient timeliness here and there.

The mystery continues.

Disney wants to know if I want to watch Age of Ultron next. How poorly you know me, Disney.

[drummergirl231-2]

I suppose I should probably talk about DuckTales ending.

It’s been a couple weeks since we heard the news. I wasn’t ready to talk about it yet because I hadn’t even made any posts about the Christmas episode and I felt like I’d be going out of order if I talked about the show ending first. And there’s still more I want to do regarding the Christmas episode, but who knows when I’ll get to it? They say “Life is like a hurricane,” but for me right now it feels more like black licorice, poop, hair dryers, beans, and turtlenecks all swirling around in a blender.

I kind of expected Season 3 to be the end, since it had been well over two years since we first heard of Season 3 but we still hadn’t heard about a Season 4.

That, and with the way each season focuses on a different triplet (and since Huey and Webby are sharing this season since F.O.W.L. is a great way to explore both characters) I couldn’t imagine what a fourth season would be about. 

In a way I’m ready. I used to get a lot of joy out of Tumblr, and lately, I don’t. I used to feel like I’d finally found a place where it was safe to be myself, and now I find myself living in fear of others, which isn’t healthy or right. Besides, with all my other losses this year, it tracks I’d lose DuckTales soon, too. At least we have a few more episodes we can all look forward to together.

The end of one season (of life) is the beginning of another, and I’m ready to move on to other things and other projects. I’m ready for a fresh start elsewhere. 

As for DuckTales, I’m really curious about how it’ll end.

I don’t follow Frank on Twitter, but I decided to check out his posts when the end was announced. He said even though the crew became super bummed when he and Matt told them it was ending, they got the fire back in their eyes when they heard the ending they had planned, and everyone who works on the show is excited to show us how it ends.

I just can’t imagine what kind of amazing ending it’ll be. What else besides defeating the villains and celebrating their victory? Frank said something about looking to the future for the Duck family, but he’s also said a couple times (when asked) that we won’t ever see HDLW grown up in the show. Sooooo what kind of looking-to-the-future will this be? Same as with Seasons 1 and 2?

Season 1 and Season 2 ended with the family being like Yay! We won! Woo-oo! Now let’s adventure together as a family because that’s what we do!  

But also, those seasons ended with cliffhangers that hinted at the next season’s plot. 

Since Season 3 will be the end, I’m expecting no cliffhanger, and it just ending with  Yay! We won! Woo-oo! Now let’s adventure together as a family because that’s what we do! But there’s got to be something more if they’re so excited to show us. There must be some fulfilling ending we didn’t know we were waiting for.

I heard some rumors about a Star Wars reference in the finale. One person speculated it could mean an “I am your father,” moment for HDL. That would be amazing and definitely something we’ve been waiting for, but it’d feel so out of the blue at the end here. Like “Oh by the way since we’re ending the show and you’ve all been asking here’s a quick explanation okay bye.” 

Frank mentioned wrapping up mysteries first mentioned in the pilot episode of Season 1. I’m guessing that’ll be Webby’s origin story.

I can’t imagine what kind of major plot twist or unexpected thing might happen in the finale. I hope they don’t kill off Beakley or Scrooge. That’d be rude. Maybe Scrooge or Della will officially and legally make Webby part of the family. Or maybe LP will move to St. Canard full-time and there will be major hints at upcoming spin-offs. I don’t know. But based on an old ask Frank answered, it looks like we have 4 half-hour episodes and 1 hour-long finale left. I look forward to seeing how Matt, Frank, and everyone else made them count.

[zontiky]

okay so i tried to save this ask as a draft and it got deleted because tumblr is just such a functional website like that <3 but the prompt was “the hargreeves as ghosts in the apocalypse with five” or something like that i’m going to scream

this is SUPER long so i’m putting it under the cut hfkjsd

pre-five: the hargreeves siblings are dead. wait i feel a drabble coming on ooh

The Hargreeves siblings are dead.

Ben isn’t very aware of this at first. He’s been dead since 2006 -- he’s quite used to it, by now. What he is aware of, first, is light. Blinding white light. And Vanya, in the middle of it. He doesn’t close his eyes because he can’t feel pain, but if he could he thinks she would have made him blind. There’s light, and heat, and power, and then he closes his eyes anyway because the ceiling is collapsing around him and it’s instinctual.

When he opens them again he sees ash. Ash -- and Klaus.

He’s gotten used to Klaus, too. Klaus has a memorable sort of face; even if he didn’t, Ben has seen it every single day for almost twenty years. He doesn’t know if it’s actually been twenty years, for him. He doesn’t know how time moves for ghosts. Klaus has assured him it moves the same as it does for the living. Ben isn’t sure Klaus, stoned out of his mind, bleeding sluggishly from his arm, knew what he was talking about.

Anyway.

Klaus.

He’s wearing the coat he’s been flaunting around for the past week. His shirt is see-through, with little stars on it, like a pale imitation of the sky. Ben remembers his pants had laces on them, he’s sure they did not a minute ago, before the brightness that threatened to wipe out his very soul -- his soul is all he has left, really. His gaze drifts down anyway, to check.

Yes. Klaus’ pants have laces up the sides.

“No,” Ben says. Klaus is laying in a heap on the ground, his fingers curled like his tendons have been cut.

His lips feel numb because they always feel numb. Because Ben can’t feel at all. He takes a step. “No,” he says again, louder, surer. “No!”

Klaus looks up at him. His makeup is smudged, like it tends to be. His lips are bitten raw, like they tend to be. His hair is a mess, like it tends to be, and like it will be, always, because Klaus isn’t breathing.

Klaus is lying in a heap on the ground. Klaus is standing above his own body. Klaus is reaching for Ben like he’s hoping to touch him for the first time in years. Just when Klaus’ cold, dead, fingers brush his face, a voice from behind says, so quietly, dripping with disbelief: “Ben?”

Ben shuts his eyes and wishes desperately he could cry.

He feels a hand on his shoulder, for the first time in so, so long, but he also doesn’t feel it at all. He feels-but-doesn’t-feel someone turn him around, until they are saying, “Ben? Ben!” and he has no choice but to open his eyes and face the music.

Diego is gripping his shoulders like he is a dying man and Ben is the answer. Behind him, Luther and Allison watch them, stunned silent. Allison’s hands are pressed to her mouth. She looks like she wants to cry. 

And Vanya. Little Vanya, painted white. Her head is hung as her shoulders shake with the weight of the destruction she has so inevitably caused. (Ben would say he always knew she was destined for great things -- but he can’t, because he didn’t.) (Nobody ever said great things had to be good.)

The Hargreeves siblings are dead. Their bodies are strewn across what is left of their childhood home, smouldering and burning, and Ben is very aware of that fact.

righto anyway. so they have an emotional reunion but its also kind of bitter? id have to actually write this for it to make sense so lets skip it for now lol

five shows up

he cannot see them obviously bc theyre all ghosts

god if i did write this it would be such a monster of a fic and would take me like 2 years to finish i already know fhkjdsk

somehow ?? they manage to influence the world around them maybe? idk maybe now that klaus is dead hes sober

or maybe hes high for all eternity?

for the purposes of this au lets say he died sober or in the late stages of withdrawal, and bc ghosts cant feel pain in action hes sober

so EVENTUALLY they figure out how to corporealize bc klaus is like blam wham ghost powers

asdlfk that sounds so stupid im sorry

he would say that tho imho,,, it sounds like something hed say,,,

if i DID write this it would be alternating povs also,,,

ok so out of all of them klaus and ben have the most experience homeless

and while being stuck in an apocalypse is not at all the same thing as being homeless it does help to have some knowledge

five doesnt eat the twinkie!! good for him

dammit okay. theres 2 options we can take here. in the comics five couldnt get back bc he fucked up his math and spent 15 years doing the wrong thing, but if u apply that here, with 6 other ppl checking his work this could be avoided and they end up skipping the whole assassin shtick and just hopping straight back to 2019, ready to prevent the apocalypse

OR five still gets hired for the commission but the sibs are tagging along

i think bc five isnt completely alone in this au unfortunately dolores doesnt exist :((

for each other the 2 paths tho theres also options?? bc they (ghosts) can go back in time and inhabit their past selves bodies? OR they could just,,, cease to exist

IM JUST NOW REALIZING HOW MANY PATHS THIS COULD TAKE,, AAH FUCK

okay gonna split this into parts. this is gonna be so long brace yourselves.

1) they go back in time because math checking and the ghosts swap out for their past selves

after multiple years of being stuck in an apocalypse together i think they would learn to get along with each other. like at least a little bit

which would make it easier for them to prevent the apocalypse

bc theyd:

trust each other more

already know abt the apocalypse and not have to wait for five to grace them all with his knowledge

are working as a team from the very beginning

have open lines of communication

yeah uh. so there

vanya is also already aware of her powers so the whole harold goading her into turning against her family and snapping to wipe out all life on earth thing? yeah that doesnt happen

oh and harold wouldn’t know how to do that in the first place because klaus wouldn’t throw out reggie’s journal! this solves so many problems wtf

there’s still commission issues bc they (and by they i mean five) are on the commission’s radar

so there’s still dope fight scenes sdlkfd pinky promise

okay idk. they stop the apocalypse and everything is okay the end hfkjd

2) they fix the math but only five can go back and the ghosts cease to exist

this is just sad! it would be sad okay! im sad! lets move on

subset of the past one: ben CAN go back with five because he was already dead and time travel affects them differently or something idk

aaaaaa

five & ben dynamic duo would be dope as shit BUT five would not be able to see him... so they use klaus as a middleman fjsdsfd

is there 2 bens? is one ben deleted in favor of the time-traveling ben? i dont know! i dont know my brain is melting

either way shit is happening yall!! obviously klaus is clued in, directly or indirectly it doesnt matter but he is on board the ‘don’t let the entire world end in flames’ train

3) they join the commission and then when five goes back in time they all go back

this is fun because now five is a highly trained assassin who is also lowkey a complete marshmallow for his siblings and once again TEAMWORK WOO

basically the first path but now five has a gun fhsdjk

4) they join the commission but five has to leave them behind and they cease to exist

five with a gun but hes sad now

i didnt go into how much losing his siblings would suck in the prev path but like. it would suck so much. he’s already lost them once if you think about it when he time traveled the first time and yeah he found the adult ghost versions but,, its different

and now suddenly hes stuck with these strange adult versions of the people he knows and he KNOWS them but also he doesnt? at all? they dont have all the years of shared experiences together? and theyre all grown up from the first ‘set’ of siblings he had which for five was like 40+ years ago??

SCREAMS

i have losing my mind disease (self-diagnosed)

subset: five has to leave them behind but they still exist because the commission is out-of-time kind of? idk but they’re still floating around somewhere and come back to impact the plot later or something

yeah idk. literally just wrote them down bc i didnt want them to die^2 hfkjwehd

subset: they still exist but instead of being just Somewhere they’re specifically at the assassination of JFK onwards because thats where five left them and they either go on ghosting and make an appearance in s2 OR they cease because them-wise they havent died yet but that doesnt make sense because ghosts can time travel so nevermind

i dont have the brain energy left to explore this one aaaa

okay jesus christ i think that’s all

I DON’T KNOW. i don’t know. i might write some more of this because honestly it is a very fine flavor of angst + hurt/comfort <3

[justsomefluff]

Could I request an Ateez reaction in which the members find out that one of the other members has a crush on their s/o (the other member possibly doesn't know their dating) please and thank you!

Ask and you shall receive!

I made this one so that you have been friends with the guys for a while anyway, so that’s why no one is suspicious of you dating.

Hongjoong:

One day you’re just chillin in the dorms right

It’s about to be movie night!!!

The best night when you have literally the funniest people with you

Once everyone figures out what snacks they need and actually sits down

you plop next to Joongie for some secretive snuggles

But as soon as you sit down, Wooyoung starts yelling about how he wanted to cuddle with you during the movie

Everyone teases him because even you know he has a crush on you (he’s not shy and he has a big mouth so you found out pretty quick)

Since nobody knows that you and Hongjoong are together, you force yourself to go over to Wooyoung instead

It’s almost impossible to ignore your boyfriend’s pout though

He’s staring at you from across the room with the saddest look on his face for like 20 minutes of the movie

you can’t even concentrate, you just wanna go back over there so bad

but you don’t want to expose your relationship just yet

Hongjoong will just have to suck it up for tonight

He does not suck it up, however

after another 15 minutes, he stand up really abruptly and marches over to you and Wooyoung

everybody is watching because no one knows what he’s doing all of a sudden

grabs your hand and pulls you back to his seat

cue more complaining from Wooyoung

“Well we’re together, I'm allowed”

everyone just kind of goes into stunned silence

eventually.... “YOU’RE WHAT”

bunch of yelling from everyone while Joong just yanks a blanket up over the both of your heads

you peck him on the lips and eventually the yelling stops and you can come out to finish the movie

Seonghwa:

possessive mf

but he was the one who didn’t want to tell anyone in the first place

So when Yeosang starts flirting with you, all he can really do is be bitter about it

He watches as you laugh along, obviously not getting that one of your boyfriend’s best friends is coming onto you

You and Yeosang had been talking together for about an hour, just catching up on life and stuff

Seonghwa is getting fed up, no lie

He knew Yeosang had a crush, but he always thought he would be too shy to ever make a move

But all of a sudden Seonghwa feels threatened

he manages to catch your eye across the room and you smile and wave

he just frowns, making you pout and excuse yourself from Yeosang

you head over to him and ask him what’s wrong

He just pulls you into a kiss, catching you completely by surprise

as your eyes flutter shut, his stay open and on Yeosang who is watching with his mouth hanging open

He mouths “sorry, hyung”

Seonghwa pulls away, nods at the younger, and smiles at you

“what was that all about?? What if people saw??”

“don't care anymore”

you don't really question his sudden change of heart

all you can think about is finally being able to cuddle with him even when the boys are around lmao

Yunho: 

(who gave him the right to look so professional here like what)

squishyyyyyyyyyyy

is hanging around the studio one day when he overhears what sounds like your laugh

he’s like “they aren’t even here today wth”

so he goes to find the source and comes across Hongjoong FaceTiming you

he is about to rush over to join and say hi to his love but stops when he hears Hongjoong speak again

sounds like a confession... Yunho’s cheeks get all red and his eyes get a little glossy just because he’s overwhelmed

he sticks around to hear what you say

he knows that you love him but, at the same time, there's a part of him that's really insecure and scared

“Aw, Joongie...that’s sweet and all but...” you’re stalling because you can’t decide if you should tell him the truth

Yunho is literally dying as he waits for your answer

“Joong, I’m with Yunho... we didn’t want people to know but I think this is a pretty good reason to tell you. I’m so sorry”

Yunho lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding

lets a tear fall because he was so so nervous poor thing

he backs out of the room so that he doesn’t hear more

he low-key feels bad about even overhearing that much but at the same time he feels more confident in your relationship 

he shoots you a text later telling you how much you mean to him and everything, but he doesn’t bring up Hongjoong

he knows that you will end up telling him anyway but he doesn’t want you to think negatively of him for eavesdropping

just so happy that you chose him

Yeosang: 

so Yeosang is really confident about your relationship and loves you a lot 

but he's shy about letting other people know

but when he notices that Jongho has been making extra efforts to be near you lately, he doesn’t take it lightly

he wouldn’t be nervous if Jongho knew you were in a relationship

but since he doesn’t, Yeosang is worried that he might try and make a move on you

Jongho had talked to a couple of the other guys about his infatuation with you

but he had suspected that Yeosang also had a crush on you so he had held off

but the other guys told Jongho to go for it, since they didn't know the truth either

So as Yeosang is watching Jongho talking to you one day, he notices that Jongho’s fingers keep “accidentally” grazing yours

He’s getting angrier as he watches

but he isn’t angry at you or Jongho, just angry with himself for being to scared to say anything

eventually, he musters up some courage and saunters over to you and Jongho and takes your hand

right in front of Jongho’s salad

And Jongho is immediately like “crap” and walks away

and you’re super confused because what in the world am I missing what just happened

But Yeosang just kinda giggles and asks you if you wanna go get lunch

San:

now San I think is one to actually get pretty jealous

like if he sees someone trying anything with you, he’s gonna be big mad right away

But it is much more difficult to get mad when it’s Seonghwa who is after you

San is definitely afraid of coming off as disrespectful to his elder if he tries to step in and stop anything

highkey hopes that you’ll say something so that he won't have to

One day Seonghwa actually comes to San

to talk about you

he’s just rambling on and on about how cute he thinks you are, totally oblivious to San’s irritated expression

San is fuming

eventually he’s gonna snap and be like “LOOK BRO WE’RE DATING”

and Seonghwa is like O.O

then San is apologizing like a mad man because he really didn’t mean for it to come out like that

he just legit couldn’t listen to someone else talk about his girlfriend anymore it was infuriating

Seonghwa’s like “...it’s cool, I get why you’d be mad”

then he assures him that he won’t try anything now that he knows about you two

But he also scolds San for not telling him sooner lmao

Gives an apology too just to make his lil bro feel a little better

Mingi:

(MY MF BABYYYYYY)

So, Mingi gets insecure, I bet

When other tall boy, Yunho, also proclaims that you are his ideal type during a revealing round of truth or dare

there is a lot of yelling from the guys, as you are literally playing with them and he just SAID THAT?

But Mingi does not think it’s funny

Suddenly Wooyoung leans over and whispers in his ear

“we are gonna try to get y/n to say she wants dare so she will have to kiss Yunho”

Like it’s sweet that they’re planning to be wingmen for their buddy Yunho but Mingi is so SAD

scoots an inch closer to you and shakes his head at Wooyoung

“why are you pouting, just help us lmao”

he shakes his head again, but Wooyoung has already turned his attention back to the game

finally, your turn comes around and all the guys start making up excuses as to why you should take a dare

“Cmon y/n we just had two truths in a row, pleaseee”

“y/n you gotta pick dare or its not fun”

and you’re laughing and about to give in and ask for a dare when you look to Mingi and he’s making big eyes at you

you cock an eyebrow at him and he leans over to tell you what the guys were planning

your eyes go wide and the other guys are like “MINGI YOU TATTLED DIDNT YOU”

so you turn your head and peck Mingi on the lips in front of everyone

chorus of “oh my god” “woah” and other things

“Sorry, Yunho” but he just shrugs like “it’s cool, Id rather you be with one of us than someone random. even if its not me”

Mingi is smiling again and thats all that matters really and he snuggles you for the rest of the game

Wooyoung:

Wooyoung is pretty well-attuned to things that happen around you

always watching you out of the corner of his eye like a stalker

it’s just cuz he loves you tho

so he notices Mingi hitting on you pretty much immediately

honestly finds it kind of amusing for a little bit

but then little things come up in his memory

fans saying that he was too short for you and that you’d be better with someone else

gets down on himself really fast thinking about that kind of stuff

still watching you and Mingi talking

wants to walk over there and hang all over you until Mingi gets the point

so that is exactly what he does

waddles over and slings his arms around your waist

head on your shoulder

kisses your neck and you squeal because MINGI IS RIGHT THERE I MEAN SERIOUSLY WOOYOUNG

and Mingi kind of laughs it off but he’s a little sad bc he liked you ya know

after Mingi goes away you hit Wooyoung softly on the shoulder and tell him to go talk to Mingi and apologize or something

He agrees but he’s like “you have to give me cuddles afterwards”

who could say no to that? couldn't be me

Jongho:

Okay so you and Jongho are coming back from a group dinner and he sat in the front while you crammed in the backseat with WooSan

halfway through the car ride home, you fall asleep and your head flops onto San’s shoulder

he’s immediately giddy about his crush sleeping on him like his dreams are coming true

Jongho’s like “imma break your dreams like my apples bro”

Woo is giggling because San is being so soft for you and stroking your hair and everything 

Jongho just kinda watches in the rearview as San takes pictures and stuff

But Jongho just purses his lips and tries his best not to say anything

the last straw that finally breaks Jongho’s resolve is when he catches San pressing a kiss to the top of your head

“Hyung, please don't kiss them in front of their boyfriend”

San and Wooyoung look at each other like “are you the boyfriend”

they look at the driver “is he the boyfriend?”

and then their two collective brain cells join together and are like “JONGHO IS THE BOYFRIEND”

San is a little sad but his happiness at the maknae finding love is more prevalent

They start squealing and demanding details about your relationship

“when did this start” “why didn't you tell us” “did you tell your parents”

Jongho just smiles to himself as they throw questions at him

then you wake up and slap San on the boob for waking you up and then flick Wooyoung for being noisy too lmao

Jongho smiles at you and when you get back to the dorms, he gives you a smooch right where everyone can see (because he can do that now)

[sodalitefully]

Enter freely and of your own will [GNR, Sluff AU]

I know, I know, I've written vampire AUs before… Several times.  But I had to write something about what a nerd Slash is for vampire fiction!  Mostly inspired by interviews Slash gave after gnr covered Sympathy For The Devil for Interview With A Vampire (so any digs at the movie adaptation are based on Slash’s opinion, not mine – I’ve never seen it!).  Occasional mentions of blood and stuff, but not particularly graphic.  This fic is expanding on an AU I originally drew here.

~~~~

In my mind, it all played out like the plot of a paranormal romance novel.  I’ve gotten familiar with those lately, thanks to the collection hidden in the bottom shelves of Slash’s library, buried below the gothic horror classics, the crime thrillers, and about a mountain of nonfiction.  Hell, I could probably write my own!  “Tall blonde unexpectedly falls for rock and roll bad boy with a dark secret,” yeah, the readers would eat that up.  Of course, our love story didn’t really start when the unsuspecting protagonist moved to a new city, or when the leather-clad love interest showed off his supernatural shredding skills.  No, I’d say it started a couple years later, when I found out Slash’s other deep, dark, embarrassing secret.   

It wasn’t a dark and stormy night… but it was a movie night at my place, a tradition for Slash and I.  Whenever we needed a break from the so-called rockstar lifestyle, we’d get together for a night in, smoke some pot and put on a movie. Slash laid back on my couch while I dug through a cabinet packed with VHS tapes and listed off a few options: 

“Let’s see, we have Jurassic Park, Alien, Interview With a Vampire – Uh, sorry, I guess that would be weird huh?”  Slash made a sour face. 

“Ugh.  I hate that movie, it’s such a bad adaptation. Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, seriously?” 

“Wait,” I dropped The Empire Strikes Back and Blazing Saddles onto the growing heap of tapes and sat back on my heels to look at Slash in surprise. "You’ve seen it before?” 

“Uh…” Vampires may not be able to blush but I'd known Slash long enough to tell when he’s flustered.   

“And you’ve read the book?” 

“… Yes?”  I laughed, Slash ducked and hid his face, obviously feeling self-conscious, but I didn’t mean to laugh at him.  It was just… 

I’d assumed that a real-life vampire would roll their eyes at the cliche, over-romanticized movie interpretations of their kind.  Instead, I learned of Slash’s (nearly) indiscriminate love for all things vampire, anything from Carmilla to Buffy The Vampire Slayer.  He was a sucker (hah, get it?) for dripping fangs, swishing capes, even those crazy accents, ever since he was a kid.  And I can’t lie, it was pretty endearing.  I wasn’t in love with him yet, but the more he told me about his obsession, the more warm and tingly I felt, charmed by how genuine he was – Hell, I barely even teased him about it!  Somehow, that conversation felt even more personal than finding out he was a damn vampire.  I was really touched that he felt comfortable sharing his interests with me, that he trusted me with his softer, nerdier, more romantic side.   

I resisted the temptation to press for more details that night, but a month or so later, I caught him in the act!  I remember waking up in the afternoon after crashing at his place so late it was early the night before.  I wandered around his big, spooky house until I found Slash curled up in one of his fancy antique armchairs, his legs dangling over the armrest and a paperback book cradled in his lap.  I couldn’t make out the curlicued script on the cover, but from the captivated look on his face it was a favorite – his eyes were bright as they darted across the page, and his lips curled into a warm, gentle smile. 

I couldn’t stand to disturb him, so I snuck off before he noticed me in the doorway, and headed down the hall to the room he’d transformed into a tiny library – The man had a library in his house; between that and the subtly gothic decor it was hard to believe I never noticed that Slash was playing up the vampire aesthetic, consciously or not!  Anyway, I poked around until I found where he hid his collection of vampire lit, and snatched a few that were, shall we say, not quite as acclaimed as Dracula or even The Vampire Chronicles.  I don’t remember the titles, but there were a couple paperback romances and a horror novel with a badass-looking dude on the cover. 

I had to see what all the fuss was about, you know?  Yeah, this kind of thing wasn’t exactly up my alley, but Slash usually had good taste, so I figured it couldn’t hurt to check it out.  Plus, if it was important to Slash, I wanted to know about it!  And not just the well-known classics either; I wanted the guilty pleasures, I wanted to see what it was that could make Slash smile like that when no one was watching. 

I’ll be honest, it wasn’t bad.  I wasn’t a big reader at the time, but I raced through the horror novel in just two days, and trust me, I barely slept the night in between!  The trashy romance was more enjoyable than I would ever admit; even with all the cliches and melodrama there was something compelling about unraveling the tangled web of forbidden love in a world full of the supernatural. 

At this point, I was very cautiously beginning to entertain the idea that I might see Slash as more than just a buddy and a bandmate.  As friends, were were closer than ever, hardly spent a day apart, and I was beginning to notice things that I hadn’t noticed before.  Things like the way he always smiled at my lame jokes, the way he leaned on my shoulder when he was pretending to be drunk, the way he tossed his hair on stage… And I couldn’t help wondering whether Slash identified more with the heroine or the love interest.  Did he want to be the cool, mysterious vampire lover, or the unsuspecting protagonist who gets drawn into an alluring new world? 

I got my answer a couple months later, in town again after a leg on the road. It was a steaming hot summer day back in L.A., and Slash was dozing on his couch. This wasn’t unusual in and of itself, Slash’s sleep schedule had been fucked for as long as I'd known him. No, what made this instance significant was that I was also on the couch, reclined with my feet over the armrest and Slash draped across my chest. Tales From The Crypt played at a murmur on a brand-new TV set, but I wasn’t paying any attention. 

See, at this point I’d recently learned that, when Slash focused hard enough, he could hear a living person’s blood pulsing in their veins and detect changes in body temperature.  And that had me wondering: Could he tell that my heart beat faster when he leaned against me on stage?  Could he tell that my ears got warm every time he turned a smile my way? 

Could he tell how much I was affected by his weight on top of me?   

He was like a huge cat in my lap, relaxed from head to toe.  If you paid attention, you could tell that he was breathing more slowly that an ordinary human should be and his bare skin was slightly cool.  Other than that he looked completely normal… Except for his teeth.  His mouth was slightly open, allowing his pointed, knife-sharp teeth to scrape against his lower lip. 

To Slash’s chagrin, they weren't gleaming white, perfectly straight fangs; instead they more closely resembled a shark’s jaw, crowded with small flesh-tearing blades.  It was rare to see them exposed, Slash was careful to limit himself to tight-lipped smiles and mumbled dialogue whenever his secret was at risk. Even in private he was self-conscious about it, and I considered myself lucky when he grinned openly in my presence. 

“Hey, Slash?”   

“…Hmm?” Languidly, he shifted until he was looking up at me.  Midafternoon sun leaked through the blinds brightly enough for me to make out a hint of red in his eyes, the other (un)dead giveaway that was usually obscured by his sedately lidded gaze.   

"You know how you said the other day that you have really strong senses? Well... I was wondering what other, uh, non-human traits you have. How true are the myths about vampires, really?” 

“Well… Hm.  My eyes are pretty sensitive to daylight.  And technically I’m nocturnal.  But I don’t have fangs, I don’t really look like a vampire and I don’t have superpowers.” I swear to god, he pouted a little.  "All things considered I didn’t really get any of the cool stuff." 

“No super-strength?  Or mind reading? Can you shapeshift into a bat?” 

“Don’t you think I’d tell you if I could turn into a bat?  At least I don’t have any of those stupid weaknesses, I can be in the sun and eat garlic and whatever.” He paused ponderously. “…You know, I might be immortal, I was around a long time before Tony and Ola took me in.  Guess I’ll find out in a few decades.” 

“That would be pretty cool.” 

“Yeah, maybe." 

“So... do you enthrall your victims?” I prodded, in a spooky, menacing voice belied by my goofy grin. 

Slash snorted a laugh and shook his head at my antics. “No, I can’t do that either.  Well, I don’t know, do you feel enthralled?” 

I laughed awkwardly and counted my blessings when Slash didn't notice that my unspoken answer was an empathetic Yes. 

Slash chuckled with me, then sighed.  “Fuck, I wish vampires like that were real, though…” he confessed softly. 

“Like what?” 

“You know, badass, seductive, awesome powers…” He waved a hand toward a pinup poster on the wall with a corset and fangs, then let his head fall back to my chest.  He mumbled into my shirt, “Is it really so much to ask for a sexy vampire to come and sweep me off my feet?” 

“Slash, I hate to tell you this, but…” I couldn’t make it through the sentence with a straight face. 

He swatted my bicep – pretty hard too, was he sure he didn’t have super-strength? “Fuck you, Duff, you know what I mean." 

And, yeah, dreaming of being wooed by a beautiful, badass, intelligent and darkly mysterious vampire?  Who appeared in my life and changed it forever, who blew me away with his capability and his passion?  Who could captivate me with just a look? 

Yeah. Believe me, I could relate.

~~~~

Happy Halloween! 

[parisakamali]

heyy bie!! if it's not too much trouble do you think you can make an icon tutorial for the ones with the shadow? if u can't thats fine ofc i hope your having a nice day <3

hello!! sorry for answering so late, i wanted to do it yday but i only remembered after i turned off my laptop. anyway!! it’s actually super simple, so of course 😌

1. find your picture. i usually get pictures with solid background cause it’s easier to remove the background that way. i have a board on pinterest full of pictures i’m planning on using at some point, but feel free to use any of them if you want.

2. remove background. this is the lazy way, to be honest, but i use this website to turn them into pngs. for this particular tutorial i’m gonna use a screenshot from the druck video cause i wanna change my icon so two birds with one stone. 

all you have to do is upload your picture, let the website do its magic and then download it. the resolution will usually be smaller than your original picture, but it’s not that important since icons are small anyway.

you can click on edit and refine the edges or whatever if you don’t like the result. i like to go on photoshop and use the eraser (with a soft brush) if i’m not content with what i have. keep in mind that the website might not always work, depending on how detailed your background is; that’s why i like simpler pictures.

3. size and background colour. 

in photoshop, make a new document. (i’m pretty sure you can use pretty much any other editing tool once you have your png!!) when i start with the icons i like to make the canvas 400x400 so it’s not super big but i can still see what i’m doing. 

click on the solid colour option at the bottom left and choose your colour.

you can select gradient or pattern too if you like. i usually like to go with a colour similar to the original bg cause it’s easier to blend, but that’s up to you. 

if you want only half of the background to have colour on it, just draw a rectangle, colour it, and place it on as much of the picture as you please. (i like it when it’s half/half but that’s a preference thing.)

4. place image + coloring. this is 100% up to you, really. place it whenever and play around as much as you like.

this is what i currently have, after messing around with curves, selective color, and color balance:

5. shadows! the part you’ve been waiting for woo. all you have to do is select your png and go to drop shadow. (or double click on the layer preview)

i either use a shade that’s lighter/brighter than the background or a complementary colour. (or whatever colour i feel at the moment, to be honest lmao)

these are the settings i have, but again you can play as much as you like. for this exact effect, everything except for your distance has to be 0 so it looks... crispy i guess. 

6. resize and sharpen. when i’m done with everything i merge all the layers and resize the icon, making it 250x250 (sometimes 300x300 or 200x200 depending on how the planets are aligned since i have no idea what’s the best icon size).

then, i go to smart sharpen. these are my usual settings, but see what works for you. (again, no idea what the best settings are, these are the ones i use and they look ok)

7. this is the final result! i made one with almost half/half bg too since that’s the “style” i like more.

hope this was made sense and it’s useful!! thank you for asking and i hope you’re having a lovely day!! 💛

[morgana-ren]

Who would win in a fight over you - Dabi or Tomura? And who would be better in bed?

Ooh! Ooh this is an interesting one!

Alright, so if Shigaraki and Dabi both catch feelings for you, you might as well put the High Noon soundtrack on repeat around the hideout because things are about to get a lot more hostile ‘round these parts. Much to everyone’s ire, they’re not exactly shy about this either. Those two don’t get along well on the best of days, so when they’re competing for something they both crave, things are going to get messy. 

But let’s start off slow, shall we?

Dabi is going to try and woo you in his strange, uniquely Dabi way. He’ll slather on the charm, turning it up to 11 and even past that. Overtly flirtatious jokes, sexual innuendos, doing his absolute best to make you blush. If you’re both walking along, his hand is going to find its way to your lower back by the time you get where you’re going. He likes touching you, likes heating his fingertips on your skin. You know the seductive look he does? The look? The deep one where he tilts his head forward and looks deep into your eyes with his turquoise ones in a way that just screams ‘I’m already half hard under my pants?’

Yeah, that one. Oh, he’s going to be doing that a lot. He won’t make any definitive moves until he feels like you’ll reciprocate it, but he’s going to make you flustered like it’s a fuckin’ Olympic sport. 

The more you nervous and shifty you get, the dirtier his jokes are going to be and the more physical he’s going to act. You’re cute when you’re all worked up, after all. Needless to say, he’s going to do everything but physically pounce on you. He won’t do that until you’re begging. Everything else though? That’s free game. He likes touching you, so he’s going to.

Getting late and you’re off to bed? He’s going to pick you up, chuck you over his shoulder, and literally carry you to your room. He’s not leaving your doorway until he’s absolutely certain he’s exhausted every last resource to get you to invite him in, even playfully. He stares a lot too. If you’re just hanging around the bar having a drink, his eyes are usually lingering on your face, waiting for you to notice and initiate conversation. It’s not that he’s shy, because he’s definitely not, but he likes the look on your face when you catch him shamelessly looking. He also enjoys offering to let you see his “other piercings” and chuckles when you realize what he means and your face blossoms bright red.

Tomura on the other hand? Tomura doesn’t play that shit. He’s not as experienced in flirting as Dabi. He just does what feels natural, and that just happens to be whatever the fuck he wants.

Dabi is a lot more laid back than Tomura, and arguably more open to the word ‘no.’ If Tomura catches feelings, it’s happening. You’re his, and he’s not asking. He doesn’t like anyone, and he likes you, so he’s sticking to you like glue. Come to peace with it. He’s getting better with cooperation and trust, thanks to the League, but being told that you’re the future King and you can have whatever you want for your entire life leaves you with a sense of entitlement that doesn’t exactly go away overnight. Granted, to his credit, he’s going to try to ease you into his presence at first.

At first.

Look at this regal looking psychopath. Does he look like he gives a fuck? No. The answer is no he doesn’t. Get ready for a whole lot of this man, because once his sights are set on you, they’re locked and he’s not going anywhere. You should be honored, you know. The future King sees you as a prospective future Queen. 

He’s going to be around a lot rather suddenly. You might not notice for a moment, but he’s always right fucking there. Hanging out in the bar? There. Napping in the living room? You wake up and he’s right there. The only place he’s not is in your room, and that’s like the only barrier he has. Even then, he has zero problem just barging in without knocking. Better hope you sleep with something on at least, because when he can’t fall sleep, he’s going to stare at the wall in YOUR room, not his. It nearly gives you a heart attack the first dozen times to wake up and find him sitting on your bedside watching TV, but eventually his presence becomes a calm constant. It means he trusts you, and that’s good, right? You take it as his extreme social awkwardness, and you’d be half right. The other half just wants to be near you, so he does.

Happen to be getting dressed when he walks in? Naturally you’re going to start freaking out, but he remains oddly calm. He just rolls his eyes, comes in, closes the door and stares at the ceiling and kills time until you’re done scrambling to get your clothes over your naked skin. No matter how many times you try to tell him he can’t just do that, he keeps doing it. You swear he’s doing it on purpose, but he gives you no real evidence of that. It’s like he has a fucking radar for the second your pants hit the floor, but you can’t prove it. With how much time he spends on the computer, you’d rather not know anyway. At least he has the decency to look away?

In public, he is constantly sitting next to you. Even odder, he’s almost always touching you. Nothing incredibly invasive, but you can tell it’s probably super intimate to him because he’s so hesitant. His shoulders are always touching yours when you’re seated together, bits of his long hair occasionally brushing your arm and making you shiver. Sometimes he just reaches over and starts rubbing your hair between his fingers or cupping your face gingerly. Its often at awkward times and completely floors everyone else, but eventually you get so accustomed to the feel of him that it’s almost weird when he’s not prodding you somehow. You don’t even flinch anymore when you feel his cold fingers stroke your jaw. You know he won’t hurt you. He’s too careful for that.

What does surprise you, however, is when he starts dragging you on all his little errands, even ones where there’s literally no reason for you to be there. Meeting with a rival leader? You’re there. Scoping somewhere? You’re there. You think he’s grooming you for some sort of position of power at first, at least until he starts dragging you on personal errands too. Small walks to clear his head? Yup. Trips to the game store? Hey, which game looks like more fun? TRICK question, it’s this one and you’ll be playing it with him all night until he says you can sleep. He even starts talking to you. Not ordering you around. Not insulting, or at least not seriously. Just talking to you about random shit. 

Where things start getting really fun is when Tomura and Dabi start realizing each other’s behavior. Tomura doesn’t like how Dabi is talking to you, and Dabi realizes he hasn’t seen you without Tomura 3 inches to your left in several weeks.

Queue the music.

It’s going to hit both of them like a kick in the nuts, and soon it’s bared teeth and thinly veiled insults, both in private and public. The truce they made when they decided to work together is rocky as is, but now that they have their eyes on the same prize? Good luck.

“Hey creep, do you think you’ll ever manage to fuck a woman without ending up having to stick your dick in a pile of ashes?”

“I don’t know, Ashtray. Say, do the women that will touch you have to help you staple half your ‘skin’ back on after sex? Or do you double up and try to play it off as foreplay?”

Things get very hostile very fast, and while they know better than to compromise League business with their feud, the second it’s over, it’s back to ripping each other to shreds. Funny enough, neither one of them looks where the opinion really matters, which is you. Instead, they just both berate you for allowing the other to act the way they do. 

Dabi gets a bit more hurtful, teasing you with a bit too much bite to truly be playful.

“I never pegged you for a suckup, dollface. Playing Leader’s pet. I thought you were better than trying to sleep your way to the top.”

Tomura, once again, doesn’t fuck around. He doesn’t play or even try to disguise his irritation. Just makes demands.

“Stop letting him stand so close to you. I don’t like it.” 

The dynamic you’ve created between the two of them is unsustainable, so eventually, you’re going to have to choose and make it clear which one you want. Preferably sooner rather than later.

Now, if it comes down to it, they will fight. Not really the way you’d expect though. They won’t charge at each other aiming for death. I mean, they might, but not until it’s a total last resort. They’ve got their reasons for working together, you know. However, they’re both petty little bitches and are going to go about it in their own way. Dabi is going to get way more invasive when it comes to your space, constantly making remarks about how gross or creepy Tomura is while keeping his hands on you just a little too much to be friendly. He’s going to try to put Tomura down in your mind, and he’s going to do it right in front of him. He’s really going to drive the point home that he can touch you with all five fingers and Tomura can’t and will never, ever be able to. Dabi plays really mean and holds no hostages.

Shiggy on the other hand won’t show that he’s affected by that, but he sure as fuck is going to abuse his position as leader. He’ll keep you and Dabi apart as much as possible, sending you on separate missions, keeping your attention away from him in an official capacity. Middle of the night and everyone is hanging around the bar? Not Dabi! He’s got a vital mission to go on. Immediately. Right now. Yeah, it’s imperative. Better hurry up now. He’s going to make Dabi so exhausted that he’s not only cranky, but he won’t even have time for you when he’s not off running around. Tomura is going to play Dabi like the pawn he is and remind him that no matter how he fights it, he’s nothing but a chess piece for him to use as he sees fit, and you deserve better than a pawn.

Those nights when Tomura is hanging out in your room? He’s going to leave riiiiiight as Dabi is walking by to finally go to bed. He’ll even wait for as long as he needs to for Dabi to come back. Even though absolutely nothing happened and you were asleep the whole time, Shig is going to make a show of it. You know, because he can. 

Arguably, Tomura is the pettier of the two, since when you pick him like he knows you will, he’s going to rub it all in Dabi’s face where as Dabi would likely accept victory and move on. We’ve all seen how much of a petty little shit this guy is. Just picture it. Yeah, now times it by two.

So as for who wins? That’s up to you. There will be repercussions no matter who you pick, so it has to be a choice of the heart. It’s an unfair position they’ve put you in, and no one but a certified dumbass (me) would enjoy it, but life really do be like that sometimes. Think long and hard about who you want. Only one route is unlockable.

Now, as for who is better in bed. 

Dabi is by far the more experienced of the two. He’s charming, powerful, and he’s got the bad boy allure down to a tee, so you bet your ass he’s either had a slut phase or is currently in it. He knows what feels good, and has built up a technique that guarantees customer satisfaction. He’s a good lay, there’s no two ways about it. Even better is he knows it too, and he’s open to suggestion. He’s not exactly a shy boy, so if you got something you’re into and you want him to comply, the absolute worst reply you’re ever going to get is “Really? You’re a strange chick, but if that’s what you want, babe, I’m game.” 

Sex is usually on the forefront of his mind somewhere, so he’s going to want this pretty quickly. It’s not that deep to him, just a physical sensation, so this is definitely not the key to his heart. Obviously he likes you for other reasons too, though, so it’s nothing to worry about. Still, as much as he denies it, Dabi can be a big softy, and he can and will cuddle you, even if it means he pretends it’s not his idea as he calls you needy and falls asleep immediately afterward. He’s just putting on a show, because truth be told, he likes feeling wanted even after it’s all over.

That being said, Tomura is the more passionate and easily the more devoted of the two. He’s not experienced in the slightest unless you take countless hours on hentai and porn sites, and he spent a good chunk of his life secluded, so if he’s doing this with you, he fuckin’ means it. This means something to him, and Goddamn if he doesn’t pour his heart and soul into everything he does. He can put on a bold facade but the truth is all of this makes him very nervous. He’s putting himself out there for someone else which is not something he thought he’d ever do.

He’s extremely intelligent and a very quick learner though, and all that pent up emotion makes for a massive libido and an even bigger ego. He wants you to want this as badly as he does, so he’s going to do everything in his power to make sure you do. After you two take this step, he’s going to be noticeably softer. He will deny it until his dying breath (or until you’re literally queen and he has nothing to lose), but a part of his soul became yours when he gives himself over to you. He never struck you as the sentimental type, but you might as well have bonded yourself to him once the deed is done. Either way, while he has his own sexual quirks and desires, his number one goal is to satisfy you.

Now tell me anon, which one holds your heart?

[just-my-sickly-pride]

Date Night || Joe Mazzello x fem!Reader

summary || the fact that you’re late to work in the morning is not your fault. the fault lies with Joe, the cute guy who works at the coffee shop that’s just a little too far out of your way to be convenient.

rating || explicit (18+ only). do not read if you are under eighteen. the smut is only towards the end - before that, it’s just fluff.

word count || 3.3k.

author’s notes || thank you SO MUCH @queenmylovely​ for your patience. here, finally, a week late, is your stl fic, and i am your secret valentine. sorry i did a bit of a rubbish job at it! thanks again to @dtfrogertaylor​ for creating and hosting the event.

masterlist

     Yes, you’re going to be late for work again. Yes, you know you should just go to the coffee shop that’s on the way. Or at least you should’ve left earlier if you knew you were going to the coffee shop.

    The coffee shop. The one with the cute boy who works there on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings.

    The cute boy who always makes you late. Well, he doesn’t make you late. But his existence makes you late, because you always go out of your way three times a week to see him, and you somehow always forget that it really is quite considerably out of your way.

    Does that make you sad? Maybe. But there are worse things in life.

    He greets you with a big smile, as he always does. His eyes are dark brown; his hair is reddish. He remembers your coffee order, as he always does, too. And your name.

    His name is Joe. You know that from his nametag. But you don’t know much else about him.

    You stand to the side and watch him work as you wait for your coffee. He has a particular cadence to his voice, a way he nods and shakes his head as he speaks. When he’s standing idle, waiting for customers, he plays with his fingers.

    It’s been six months since the first time you visited this coffee shop one fateful Monday, totally on a whim. The coffee is good – it’s better when Joe makes it, but it’s never bad coffee – so you came back the next week on the Wednesday, and that’s when you saw Joe for the first time.

    To call it ‘love at first sight’ is a bit dramatic. But it wasn’t far off. It took a few weeks to figure out his schedule, but when you did, it became part of your routine.

    You’re not super proud of it. You tell yourself you’re building up the courage to ask him out on a date. But six months is an awfully long time to build up courage. Now it just feels a bit like stalking.

    You watch as he keeps half an eye on the coffee being made behind him as he serves customers. Then, at some point, he ducks away from the register to take a coffee out of the barista’s hand, so he can bring it over to the counter. You’re standing right by, but he calls your name anyway.

    This is also part of the whole song-and-dance the two of you have: he’s always the one to give you your coffee, even if it’s not him who has made it. He always calls your name, and it makes your heart sing.

    “Thank you, Joe,” you say, taking the coffee from him.

    “You’re most welcome, [Y/N],” he says. He talks fairly quickly, in that unusual cadence, and his eyes are warm. “I hope you have a lovely day.”

    “You too,” you say.

    “Thank you,” he says.

    “You’re most welcome,” you reply.

    “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

    “Sure will.”

    “Looking forward to it.”

    “Likewise.”

    “Joe,” says the barista, smacking Joe with her tea towel, and Joe flinches. “Customers.”

    “Right, sorry,” Joe says. He turns back to you. “I’ll see you later.”

    “Yeah,” you say with a smile.

    “Joe.”

    “Sorry, jeez.” Joe shoots you an apologetic smile, and hops back to the register.

    It’s usually how the morning goes. Your boss gives you a talking-to for being late, and you apologise and promise it won’t happen again.

    It will. But it’s worth it.

    And at night, if a certain face pops into your head while you’re having some… personal time, then that’s your business, isn’t it?

-

    You check your phone as you hurry towards the coffee shop. Late again. Later than usual, actually. The neighbour’s dog kept you up all last night with its incessant barking. Why the hell would anyone get a dog if they couldn’t be bothered to train it? Now the dog’s miserable, and the owners would be miserable, and everyone on the block is miserable. Idiots.

    There’s a text from your friend Josie. We still on for brunch tomorrow?

    Uh, yeah, you text back, and almost run into someone passing you. It’s galentine’s day, can’t miss that.

    The coffee shop door opens, and you almost get smacked in the face. You apologise to the person exiting, even though you don’t really have anything to apologise for, and slip into the café.

    The walls are dotted with posters advertising the café’s special Valentine’s Day-themed lattes and snacks. You almost consider getting one – the raspberry white chocolate latte looks pretty good, actually, and maybe you could ask for an extra shot of espresso to wake you up – but then you hear your name.

    Joe’s there at the serving counter, setting down a coffee. He meets your eyes, and grins – your stomach flips – and gestures to your coffee.

    You wander over, confused. “But I…”

    “You were late,” Joe says with a shrug. “Figured you’d need it to go in a hurry.”

    You feel a beaming smile burst onto your face before you can help it, and you gratefully take the coffee, curling your hands around it. “Oh, Joe, that’s so sweet of you,” you say, and Joe’s ears turn red.

    He shrugs again, glancing away, flustered, and you giggle.

    “Let me pay, at least,” you say.

    “No need,” Joe says. “It’s on the house.”

    Your mouth falls open. “No, Joe, I can’t–”

    “Go on, you’re gonna be late,” Joe says, cutting you off. “Just – look at the cup before you throw it out.”

    You frown, and lift the cup to look, but Joe blurts out, “Not now! Later. When you’re done.”

    “Customers, Joe,” the barista says tiredly.

    “Thank you,” you say. “I’ll see you next week.”

    “Yeah,” Joe says, after half a beat too long. “Yeah, see you then. Have a good day.”

    “You too,” you say, and hurry out the door.

    You want to check the cup as soon as you can, but first you have to make sure you won’t get fired.

    You’re lucky your boss likes you so much.

    By the time you get to work and settle in, you’ve almost forgotten what Joe told you, and it’s only when you’ve finished your coffee and are about to throw it out when black handwriting on the cup catches your eye.

    It’s hard to read – it was obviously done in a rush – but it’s a message and a phone number.

    Too chicken to ask you face to face, the message says. Go out w/ me on Valentine’s Day? Joe x

    You let out a tiny squeak of excitement, ignoring the confused looks sent your way.

    You whip out your phone and send the text straight away. It’s [Y/N]. How does dinner sound?

-

    Joe insists on going all old-fashioned, picking you up and bringing you flowers. “I’m trying to woo you,” he says when you protest all the effort as you carry the flowers into the kitchen. “I can’t woo you if you won’t let me.”

    “You don’t need to woo me,” you say with a laugh.

    “I want to,” Joe says.

    You pause, turning back to smile at him, and the smile he gives you in return in excited and eager and just a little bit shy, and you say, “Okay. You can woo me.”

    You find a vase, and set the flowers in your living room.

    “You look beautiful, by the way,” Joe says.

    You look down at your outfit to avoid his gaze. You’re dressed up, sure, but you’re not exactly red carpet ready. “Oh, thanks,” you say with a chuckle. You glance up at him, and blurt out, “You too.”

    Joe beams. “Thank you,” he says. Then he holds out his arm. “Shall we go?”

    You scoff at his gesture, but hook your arm through his, and he leads you out to the car.

    It feels like a breath of fresh air to finally get to know Joe on more than a superficial level. He tells you about his family, his favourite movies and food and drink, where he grew up. He tells you about his friends, and the mischief he got up to when he was growing up.

    He asks about you, too, and you have a feeling he’s been dying to know more about you just as you have with him. He asks so many questions that you almost feel self-conscious about how much you’re talking, but he listens so intently that you can’t help but answer every single question he asks.

    He’s booked you both into a nice restaurant. Italian. Not too fancy, but still a little bit nicer than you’d usually shoot for on a first date. It thrills you to no end.

    “I hope this isn’t too much,” Joe says as he pulls your chair out for you to sit down. “I just…” He scratches behind his ear. “Y’know, I’ve sorta wanted to ask you out for a few months now, and I got really excited when you said yes, so I guess I– I just kinda went for it with the restaurant. I hope it doesn’t…” He chuckles awkwardly. “Hope it doesn’t scare you off or anything.”

    “No,” you say, shaking your head. “No, I…” The fact that you wanted to impress me and that you’ve wanted to ask me out for so long is probably the best thing ever. “I feel very much wooed. And I quite like it, I think.”

    “Oh, good,” Joe says, and the relief is unmistakable.

    First dates are usually awkward, and, as much as you like Joe, you’re still expecting the awkwardness.

    But it never comes. It’s like you’ve known each other for years.

    He’s funny, but you knew that already. You end up accidentally choking on your wine from a joke of his, and he apologises profusely in between his bouts of laughter. You both frantically try to stifle your giggles – and you your extremely unladylike hacking coughs – shrinking down in your seats as you’re given unimpressed looks from other patrons.

    You quickly find out that he’s an avid baseball fan. ‘Avid’ might be too mild a descriptor. His eyes light up when you ask about it, and he launches into a detailed description of his favourite team and his favourite player and his favourite game that he’s ever watched. You watch in awe and delight as he grows more and more animated, gesturing wildly with his hands, and it’s only after he eventually draws to a close that he realises how loud his voice has become.

    He hunkers down in his seat again. “Sorry,” he says with a sheepish grin. “I really like baseball.”

    “Don’t apologise,” you say. “I think it’s great.”

    “I know I can be really loud,” he adds. “My friends give me shit for it all the time. Sorry.”

    “I don’t care,” you say with a shrug. “You said you were Italian, weren’t you?”

    Joe snorts a laugh. “Yeah,” he chuckles. “Yeah, that also explains the, uh–”

    “The gesturing?” you say, at the same time Joe says, “The hand gestures.”

    “Yeah,” Joe says, and he laughs.

    He looks down at his meal, suddenly quiet, and he twirls some spaghetti around his fork. “Maybe I could take you to a, uh, a game,” he says, glancing up at you. “Some time. If you’d like.”

    You bite on your bottom lip, nodding. “Yeah, I’d really like that.”

    Joe’s smile, the look in his eyes, sends a bolt of heat all through your body. “Okay,” he says, nodding as well. “Yeah, cool.”

    You offer to share a dessert, and Joe happily accepts. It’s some pricey piece of chocolate cake with peanut praline that looks better than it tastes, as most pricey desserts do, but it’s worth it to have Joe’s hand close to yours as you both dig at the slice with your forks.

    The smiles you’re both exchanging now have a certain unmistakable weight to them that makes your stomach bloom with butterflies. You catch Joe’s eyes wandering down your neck a couple of times, although he does his best to hide it.

    You both eat dessert a little more quickly than is warranted.

    Despite Joe’s overwhelming need to woo, you refuse to let him pay for the whole meal. He tries to talk you out of it, saying that it wasn’t fair of you to pay when you didn’t choose the venue, but you’re not having it. You end up splitting it, and Joe mumbles an abashed ‘thank you’.

    You’re both still chatty and excitable on the drive home, but there’s extra jitters in the air. Nothing has been discussed about what comes next, but it’s easy to tell where it’s going to go.

    Joe parks outside your flat. Pulls the handbrake.

    The car falls silent.

    “Thanks for coming out with me,” Joe says, looking to you. His cheeks are flushed from the wine, and you desperately want to kiss him. “I had a really nice time.”

    “I did too,” you say. “Thanks for driving me.”

    “No problem,” Joe says.

    You both look at each other. Waiting.

    You lean in first, capturing his lips in yours. He kisses back without hesitation, cupping your cheek in his palm.

    You’d meant for it to be short and sweet, but now that you’ve started, you’re finding it hard to stop, and Joe seems to feel the same way.

    Eventually, though, you break away, and ask a little shakily, “You wanna come up?”

    “Yeah,” Joe says. You think he was aiming for casual, but it’s far too easy to read the eagerness in his voice.

-

    “God, Joe,” you breathe as Joe presses a kiss to the inside of your thigh.

    He gives you a heated smile. “Good?”

    “Yeah,” you say. “Yeah, so good.”

    He crawls up your body again, holding himself up above you, and he kisses you deeply. You coax his mouth open, and you taste traces of yourself on his tongue.

    You roll him over, straddling him, and kiss him again once before reaching over to your bedside table, yanking the drawer open and fumbling for a condom. Joe’s hands slide down your sides, over your ribs, the curve of your waist. You pull out a condom and rip open the packing, and he wordlessly takes it from you and rolls it onto himself.

    You grind against him, hissing at the feeling of him, hot and hard, and he grips your hips, gasping out, “Fuck.”

    You kiss him again, and it’s all tongue and teeth, and then he’s taking his cock and stroking the tip through you a few times. Your hand joins his, and you hold him steady as you sink down onto him slowly, taking him inch by inch.

    Joe moans, deep and rough. “Shit.” He holds your waist in one hand and the bedsheets in the other, like he’s not quite sure what to do with himself.

    “You feel so good,” you say, your breathing ragged, and you settle in his lap, giving an experimental wiggle of your hips.

    Joe lets out a laugh, and you smile. “What?”

    “Nothing,” he says. “You just feel… fuckin’ great.”

    You hum. “Thanks,” you say teasingly, and rock forward.

    Joe’s hips buck against yours. “Oh my God, please move,” he says, his voice tight.

    You do, grinding against him, and you brace yourself on his chest as you pick up speed, bouncing his lap, and he lifts his hips to meet yours.

    He hisses out your name, holding tightly onto your hips, and then he surges forward, sitting up and rolling you both over.

    You let out a small yelp of surprise, and he says a quick apology before burying himself in you again, and you yank him down for a kiss as he thrusts in and out of you. You wrap your legs around his waist, and he takes a moment to adjust to take hold of one of your knees and press it up against your chest, and you whine at the feeling.

    “Joe, fuck, just like that,” you gasp, and he drives into you hard, burying his face in your neck, and you claw at his shoulders.

    “You feel so fucking good,” he says weakly, “oh my God.”

    “You gonna come?” you ask him.

    He makes a sound you guess is meant to be uh-huh, and you wriggle a hand in between the two of you to rub your clit. He mouths at your throat, and lets go of your knee to brace himself on the bed again.

    You can feel yourself rapidly building, and Joe takes a moment to pause and gather himself, adjusting his arms on the bed. You’re both panting and sweaty, and Joe kisses you as he picks up again, just thrusting slowly, watching you carefully, his eyes dark and hot on your face.

    You’re still massaging your clit, still climbing, and you whimper, your back arching.

    “That’s it, touch yourself,” Joe breathes. “Want you to come on my cock.”

    “Shit, Joe,” you say, almost in surprise, and Joe smirks.

    “Well, it’s true,” he says, and you giggle, then gasp when he does a particularly harder thrust.

    He starts speeding up again, hitting you deep, and it feels so good, and you’re getting closer and closer.

    He drops his head to your shoulder again, and he moans, his hips jerking erratically. “Fuck, I’m gonna…”

    You grab at his back with your free hand, squeezing your legs tighter around him, urging him on. “Yes, Joe, come on.”

    You’re on the edge yourself, and your hard is growing tired, but it’s hard to care when you’re so close, you’re so close, and then Joe’s hips snap against you, and he stills as he comes, moaning out your name. His body heaves as he tries to catch his breath, and he pushes himself up and presses his forehead to yours, gripping your hip with one hand as his hips move a few more times, whispering words of encouragement. It’s just enough to push you over the edge, and you let out a broken moan, twitching and shuddering, and he dots kisses all over your cheeks, the corner of your lips, your temple.

    When you’ve come down from your orgasm, he eases himself out of you and flops down on the bed next to you. You both look at each other, and smile widely.

    “Consider me officially wooed,” you say, and Joe laughs breathlessly.

    “Consider me officially wooed,” he says. “Holy shit.” He rolls over and kisses you, and you smile against his lips.

    He breaks away to take off the condom and throw it in the bin in the corner of your room, and then joins you back on the bed.

    “You gonna kick me out?” he asks, dragging you in closer by your waist. It’s half-joking, half-serious, and you smooth your hand over his shoulder, pretending to think about it.

    “Not yet,” you say. “But I am expecting you to make me some very good coffee in the morning.”

    “I’ll let you in on a secret,” Joe says. His thumb circles your hip. “It’s about how good the coffee beans are. I don’t really do anything to make it taste better.”

    “Nonsense,” you say. “You’ve got the magic touch.”

    Joe quirks a brow. “Oh, do I?” he purrs suggestively.

    You laugh. “Oh, I see, it’s like that, is it?”

    Joe steals a few kisses. “You’re just too hard to resist,” he murmurs.

    You hum approvingly. “Well, Happy Valentine’s Day to me,” you say chirpily, and Joe huffs a laugh, then pulls you in impossibly closer, kissing you like it’s his last day on Earth.

    The coffee he makes you the next morning is the best coffee you’ve ever had.

[authenticcadence18]

30 Questions About Me

THANKS FOR THE TAG @bugaboo-n-bananoir ILY!!!!

(Nick)name: Cadence

gender: cis female

Star sign: Pisces

Height: uhhhhh I am not sure, it’s taller than 5ft at least

Time: night! (Well I wrote most of this last night, but now it’s the evening of the next day!)

Birthday: well I’m a Pisces, so my birthday is between Feb 19th and march 20th!

Fave band/group: Pentatonix! Or For King and Country. Or the piano guys, the vitamin string quartet, Voctave.....also Phineas and the Ferbtones👌

Fave solo artists: I really like Lauren Daigle, and Jackie Evancho used to be my FAVE. Aaand idk if this counts but Michael Giacchino! love his scores, especially the score for Inside Out. There’s also this guy called Clay Kramer on YouTube who makes KK Slider covers of popular music, his stuff gives me so much seratonin😅

Song Stuck in my Head: Well I’m listening to music rn and “I’m Me” from Phineas and Ferb is on so I’ll say that! (I’ll revisit this one when I finish the list and update it with whatever song i’m listening to/is stuck in my head then) (ok the music has since been turned off and now I have “Status Quo” from High School Musical stuck in my head so! There ya go!) (now it is the next day, and I’ve got “when the party’s over” stuck in my head...i think these three songs are an accurate reflection of my taste in music🤣)

Last Movie: uhhhhh oh yeah, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice! It was SO GREAT because Jay Baruchel plays the main character (and the main character is super awkward), so I felt like I was watching Hiccup from the How To Train Your Dragon franchise learn magic and it was GLORIOUS. And also Nicholas Cage is great. And I liked the love interest in the movie as well!! She had a role to play in the story and felt authentic and genuine, which I appreciated!

Last Show: ok well the last show I watched by myself was Phineas and Ferb! Specifically, the episode with the Mardi Gras block party and then the one where Candace and Stacy compete in an obstacle course against Isabella and Ginger (omg wAIT ginger and Stacy are sisters and Isabella and Candace are GOING to be sisters mY HEART I—AH🥺). I hadn’t watched those episodes in forever, so they were really fun to revisit! I think the last actual show I watched was Kids Baking Championship or something, lol. (Those kids are AMAZING. So skilled!)

When i created this blog: November 2019! It was riiiight after the season 3 finale of miraculous aired and absolutely wrecked my emotions. I had some fanfic written that I’d never posted and had been thinking about making a tumblr/ao3 for awhile, and seeing the finale made me finally go, “.....you know what, yeah. The finale is aired, no more spoilers.....it’s time to make a blog.” So I did! And I posted my first fic! And I’m so happy i did :)

What Do I Post: a bunch of multi fandom stuff XD. This blog started off as 90% Miraculous, 10% other fandoms I like...but now it’s just kind of a hodgepoge of my favorite fandoms (with a focus on Phineas and Ferb, lol). I reblog a lot of posts, and then I post original stuff too! I write fanfic, nowadays for Phineas and Ferb but for Miraculous in the past (and probably in the future!), I draw art (mostly Phinabella art because I’ve been drawing them since i was 11 and it feels good to return to my roots), and OCCASIONALLY I will write an analysis post (I’ve got one in the works rn actually 👀), attempt to make a meme, or dip my toe into salt just SLIGHTLY before quickly backing away, lol. If I were to list the fandoms I post about in the order of how frequently I post about them, I’d probably say: Phineas and Ferb, Miraculous....and thennnnn everything else is pretty random and depends on the day, lol.

Last thing i googled: Jay Baruchel 😂. Couldn’t remember how to spell his last name!

Other blogs: this is my only blog! Sometimes I think about making a separate blog for my art and writing, but I am not sure if I should or not....maybe I will someday, but idk. I also have an AO3 for fanfic and an Instagram for art! All are under the name “authenticcadence18.”

Do I get asks: sometimes, yeah!! Sometimes I reblog ask games/prompts and get some asks for those (I’ve got so many prompts in my inbox I want to write/draw things for...ah it’s fine, I’ll get to it eventually😅), and sometimes lovely people will leave thoughts or nice messages in my inbox🥺💕. I’ve got a specific tag for all those nice messages so I can read back over them whenever I need a boost!

Why this url: it’s a music pun! When a song/section of a piece of music ends with a dominant chord resolving to a tonic chord (if you’ve read a certain fic of mine you should know allll about dominant and tonic chords👀🤣), it’s called an authentic cadence! There are different kinds of cadences, and authentic ones are my favorite. One example of this is “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” I also use this blog to be my authentic, fandom-loving self! So I like authentic cadences, and also, I’m Cadence and using this blog to be authentic! Woo! (And 18 is just my favorite number, lol) I’m glad I ended up choosing a name that doesn’t tie to a specific fandom becaaaaaause this ended up being a multi fandom blog!

Following: 232!!

Followers: 292!!! (THANKS SO MUCH Y’ALL ILY 💕)

Average amount of sleep: wellllll for the past week and a half I was sick so I was probably getting 9ish hours a night (because I would sleep in really late, lol). but NOW? In my immediate future? I suspect my average amount of sleep is going to go down because I’m really bad about staying up late even when I have to get up early😅. Hoping to be good about getting at least 7ish hours a night!

Lucky number: 18! But y’all probably already guessed that, lol.

Instruments: my voice, piano, ukulele, viola (but it’s been a HOT minute), aaaand i used to be able to play guitar but then I got a ukulele and forgot all the guitar chords. (I also dabble in songwriting! I primarily use voice and piano when writing music.)

What I’m wearing: my favorite sweatshirt (that was last night, rn I have on a tanktop), some leggings, and socks!

Dream job: I’m currently learning to be a teacher, and I LOVE teaching and working with kids so that is definitely a job I’m really excited about!!! I would also love to portray characters at Disney or something (well, maybe not at Disney because I hear they’re strict, but like....I want to be Rapunzel or Anna or something, that would be so fun). OR, I would LOVE to work in tv animation somehow, be it voice acting, writing scripts/music, and/or story boarding. basically if I could do what Dan and Swampy did for Phineas and Ferb/Milo Murphy’s Law, I would LOVE THAT. (Especially the writing music part. Getting to write music for established characters and get PAID for it would be SO COOL.!.!.!) Also I think it would be so fun to write Disney storybooks! Like, those books that are about Cinderella baking a cake or Ariel befriending a seahorse, stuff like that. Those brought me a ton of joy as a child!

Dream trip: I want to visit alllll the Disney parks someday😅. (Not right now because, ya know, Covid...but someday!)

Fave food: uhhh i really like pizza. And popcorn. Also hummus and guacamole!

nationality: American

Fave songs: “Times” by Tenth Avenue North; “Can’t Help Falling in Love” (I made an entire playlist of just this song when I first started writing my fic of the same name, so I like the original and a ton of covers of it!), “Show Yourself” from Frozen II, “What Might Have Been” from Phineas and Ferb (and lots of other songs from that show, i made a whole post about that once but I can’t find it, oof); “Rescue” by Lauren Daigle; “Thank You” by Pentatonix; “I See the Light” from Tangled; “Your Hands” by JJ Heller; “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran.....i like a loooot of songs so this is just the tip of the iceberg, but I think that’s good for now, LOL! (As soon as I post this I’m going to remember another song I love, lol)

last book: I got the book Unbirthday for Christmas! It’s basically Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, but if she’d never gone to wonderland and things went horribly wrong there. (I think, I’m not that far into it yet, lol)

Top 3 fictional universes I’d love to live in: 1. DANVILLE, PLS. Especially as a kid, I SO would’ve loved to hang out with Isabella and Phineas and the rest of the gang! Danville is so vibrant and unique and people are always randomly breaking into song there, that’s my kind of place! 2. Fairytopia (from the Barbie movies!) because I could be a fairy OR a mermaid OR BOTH and eat seeweed to breathe underwater even if I wasn’t a mermaid. Like, that’s the dream right there. (I’ve always loved mermaids and fairies, lol!) 3. Maybe San Fransokyo from Big Hero 6? All of the technology in that universe is really cool! And I would love to eat a noodle burger, lol .

Oh! That’s the last one! Wow! This was so FUN!!!!!!! Thanks again for the tag, Maddy!!!! :)

I’ll taaaag @sketchy-panda @macaronsforchat @simplynewyorkbound @inkjackets and anyone else who’d like to do this! (And pls don’t feel pressured to play at all, or answer all of the questions! I was definitely vague with a few of my answers, lol)

[misterewrites]

Annabeth and the First Date

Hello everyone! E here hoping you are all staying safe and sound among these trying times. Remember to take care of yourself and others. 

I’m back with a collab! WOO! My good friend @hains-mae and I have teamed up to bring you some good times and what better way to celebrate the very conflicted feelings I have about Percy Jackson being made by Disney (Looks at the Artemis Fowl Trash fire) then by writing about it!

So we kinda just threw whatever at the AU wall to see what we wanted to do and we both settled on this college style au. It’s not completely fleshed out but the idea I have is everyone are still demigods and they still get trained but they don’t really go on quests or fight monsters until they’re 18 years old because the monsters get more of a challenge and street cred than just killing children. Yeah we just wanted to do a college style au.

So this story is Annabeth’s first date. She’s 17, in college and doesn’t know Percy but they both know Grover. I like to think that Camp Halfblood is still a thing and she’s been training since she was a child like canon but in that one year in between coming of age and not being a target, a lot of demigods go to school as a last taste of normalcy and maybe to get motivation not to die. 

Yeah we just went for it.

So Percy and Annabeth of 17 and they don’t know each other. They haven’t done their first quest.

so enjoy! stay safe, social distance, masks! not optional and I’ll see you soon with the next one. Have a great week everyone!

17 year old Annabeth Chase was not happy with her most recent life choice.

She would’ve scolded herself for using less than stellar vocabulary but between being seated alone amid a sea of smiling, joyful couples and her date now officially 30 minutes late with no word of his arrival, she was not in a great mood.

“Go on a date they said” She mockingly murmured under her breath “It’ll be fun they said. You need to get your head out of a book, it’s not healthy.”

Annabeth scoffed: How was reading a book not fun? Her mother, Athena, prided herself on knowledge. Knowledge was the single most important foundation in life and with knowledge all things were possible.

She grimaced as she blew a strand of her curly blonde hair out of her face, disliking the increasing embarrassment she felt about being stood up.

Her mistake was putting too much faith in the Aphrodite dorm rooms. The self proclaimed matchmakers had been hounding her relentlessly since the first week of college and while she had done a fantastic job avoiding their interest (if she says so herself), eventually they set their efforts upon her single life.

“Shouldn’t have caved” Annabeth frowned as she rubbed her arm awkwardly.

She could’ve outlasted them. The librarian already banned the lot of them from the library and Annabeth knew plenty of secluded spots where no one could find her for hours. Admittedly, though, it was getting more difficult when they began ambushing her in pairs: Outside her dorm, outside her classes, in the cafe where she loved to study. For people who never once did their homework or cared about things outside love, they were surprisingly vicious.

One date. That’s the agreement she negotiated with them though she could tell behind their wide smiles they were planning on multiple suitors in case this one did not work out.

“I didn’t even want to go on this stupid date.”

Annabeth sighed, unable to hide the disappointment.

Despite her better judgment, she actually was looking forward to this date. Maybe it was the idea of finding someone to talk physics or classic Greek to. To have intellectual debates and spend time with.

To not be lonely anymore.

She placed her head glumly in her hand.

She even dressed up for the occasion.

Annabeth was the definition of practical. Her usual attire consisted of shirt, shorts, jacket if it was cold and hair tied up in a messy ponytail tucked under her Yankee’s hat (go Yanks!). She wasn’t at school to impress anyone. She was there to learn and fight off the occasional monster.

She knew that was the real reason she felt foolish: She bought into this. Like everything she had ever done in her life, Annabeth threw herself completely and utterly into the challenge of a first date.

Her normally messy, unkempt blonde hair was tastefully curled and pulled back into an elegant (But still practical) ponytail. She wore a long black dress that shimmered every time she moved with a matching shawl and black simple flats. She had even swallowed her pride and asked Silena (the only Aphrodite child she ever trusted) to help her with her make up.

“I should just go….”

“Annabeth?”

Annabeth blinked, completely caught off guard and mortified someone recognized her in this fancy restaurant until she noticed the familiar brown curls under a tacky beanie.

“Grover!” Annabeth beamed happily, giving her satyr friend a quick side hug “It’s good to see you!”

Grover Underwood was an old friend of Annabeth. They had met when he was sent to bring her to Camp Halfblood safely and they had been close friends ever since. Though between Grover’s job of disguising himself as a human and bringing demigods back safely and Annabeth starting college, the two hadn’t seen each other in a while.

“What are you doing here?”

Grover scratched his goatee nervously “Working, you know.”

Annabeth gave knowing nod and raised eyebrow as she scanned the room.

“The cook” Grover’s voice dropped to a whisper as he hunched closer “I’m certain he’s a demigod. I’m here to keep an eye on him.”

Grover stood to full height once again and smiled “So what are you doing here?”

Annabeth fidgeted under his gaze “I...well...I decided to take a break from my studies.”

Grover looked unconvinced “In a fancy restaurant in an equally fancy dress?”

Her cheeks burned brightly “Grover, don’t you have work to do?”

Grover’s nearly popped out of his head, his legs thrashing so wildly about Annabeth was scared he was about to take off in a scamper “OH YOU��RE RIGHT! Umm, can I take your order miss?”

Annabeth finally noticed his well dressed attire: A nice collared shirt (With the collar anxiously chewed upon) black slacks and loafers with a little notepad and pencil at the ready.

“Oh.” she muttered as it clicked into place “OH! Y-yes. I would like to order the burger and some water please.”

Grover scrawled his friend’s order and bolted for the kitchen, moving with an unusual but panicked grace.

Annabeth chuckled to herself before the loneliness fell upon her once more.

“I might as well enjoy myself so this night isn’t a complete failure.”

20 minutes later

“Umm, excuse me? Is this seat taken?”

Annabeth scrawled furiously upon her napkin, mumbling under her breath about the possibilities of X.

“….Hello?”

“If I carry over 47 and I...”

“Look, I’m not going to stand all night and talk to air.”

The table shook unexpectedly and knocked the studious girl out of her brainstorm.

Annabeth blinked “Wait, are you talking to….me?”

Annabeth could feel her cheeks turn a bright pink as she caught sight of the person in front of her.

He was roughly her age with long dishevel jet black hair swept to one side as if he just gotten back from a walk on the beach. His eyes were shimmering green, the kind of green only the ocean could muster. His smile was mischievous yet playful, one you would often find on a troublemaker. He wore a dark blue collared shirt that was freshly pressed and a rather cute tie with seashells. His hands were stuffed anxiously into his black dress pants as he waited for an invitation to sit.

“I...” Annabeth began.

“Are you Annabeth?” The stranger asked quietly, glancing to one side uncomfortably.

“Yes” she answered slowly “Yes! Did...”

“Grover” The strange answered simply “he called me over. Said he you might want some company.”

“Grover?” Annabeth tilted her quizzically before realization hit her “Grover!”

She whirled around to find her furry friend spying through the kitchen porthole.

Grover let out a frighten bleat before ducking out of sight.

Percy. That’s who was in front of her. Grover had called Percy.

Annabeth knew about Percy for a few years now though she never met him officially. He was another demigod Grover brought to Camp Halfblood and one the young satyr was determined to have her meet.

Annabeth managed to dodge meeting the mysterious Percy Jackson through her busy schedule but it seems Grover had finally gotten his way.

“Percy, right? Grover’s talked about you alot”

But never mentioned how cute he is.

Percy scratched the back of his neck “Yeah that’s me. I live close by and Grover said you were feeling down so...”

Annabeth rolled her eyes “He figured he send you to cheer me up?”

Percy shrugged “I’m pretty sure he just wanted us on a date. I can try to cheer you up. No promises though”

Despite herself, Annabeth giggled “At least you’ll try right?”

Percy gave a goofy grin “For pretty girl like you, why not?”

Annabeth’s blush worsened “Well take a seat and let’s see I can bore you away. I tend to have that effect on people.”

“Nice try Wisegirl but I’ll have you know nothing is more boring than sitting in a class for an hour with no idea what’s going on and no escape.”

“I’ve never had that problem” Annabeth beamed proudly.

Percy playfully waved her off “Yeah yeah, you’re super smart. So you’re gonna be my tutor?”

“Whoa whoa whoa” Annabeth grinned impishly “I never agreed to that.”

“You said you never had a problem in class, I have the attention of goldfish. Sounds like you need to tutor me.”

“So you have seaweed for brains?”

Percy grimaced “It’s the tie, huh?”

Annabeth nodded, trying to stifle a laugh “Really gives it away Seaweed brain.”

“It’s my mom! Thought it be cute or something” Percy groaned unhappily.

“I like it. It is cute in a geeky sort of way. Marine biologist?”

Percy gave her a confused stare.

“Your major.” Annabeth clarified.

“Oh” Percy grinned sheepishly “Nah, way too easy.”

“Too easy because you’re smart or….?”

“I am not smart.”

“I dunno. Obtuse maybe.”

Percy shook his head “No idea what that means.”

Annabeth snorted cutely,covering her face in embarrassment before staring daggers at Percy. Percy put up his hands innocently.

“Everything going well?”

Grover appeared, a well cooked and delicious burger in one hand and a fresh out of the oven blue pizza in the other.  

Annabeth opened her mouth but Grover cut her off “Customer’s choice.”

Annabeth just nodded as Grover set down their plates.

“So” Grover began nervously “Not going to kill me?”

Percy gave a noncommittal shrug while Annabeth answered “Jury’s still out.”

“Oh, I hear someone calling me. Coming!” And as quickly as he came, Grover vanished.

Annabeth eyed the strangely bluish hue of the pizza Percy was digging into, unsure what to make of the odd choice.

“I like blue” Percy answered bluntly “Sue me.”

“I guess I’ve seen stranger.”

“Ha ha wisegirl. Just for that, we’re getting ice cream after.”

Annabeth smiled softly at the idea.

“That would be the worst seaweed brain. The absolute worst.”