#you said no hate so plz read this and don't talk about it to me again

[goldenstring6123]

Hi !!! How r u pooks :3

Ignore this if u haven't played dti but what do you think the L&DS boys' reactions would be to their s/o playing dress to impress and actually raging at it like verbally LMFAO this game seriously has me TWEAKING bro but I can't stop playing it gigi please free my family 💔 (hcs plz)

Thanks for reading O_o

Lnds: Dress to impress chaos

Warning: no warning! GN!READER, crack-fic (?)

Author's notes: DTI has me on a chokehold as well pookie.

Zayne:

Surprisingly, Zayne knows about this because of the children in the pediatric ward. A good number of kids have their tablets with them and play the game; to him, it looked like some regular dress-up game. He didn't think much of it and just warned the children to lessen their screen time.

When he arrived home and was taking his shoes off in the foyer, he could hear you complaining about something. The only coherent sentence he heard was, "The theme is Y-THREE-K, NOT Y-TWO-K!" He wondered what you were talking about and who you were mad at, but when he saw you huddled around the coffee table, fashion magazines sprawled all over, and another gadget displaying fashion catalogs, he knew what was up.

"What are you getting so worked up about?" he asked, sitting next to you and placing down a cup of tea after changing into his clothes. He could see that there were figures walking down the runway.

"I don't get how those ugly layering players win first place!"

He was confused by what you meant. The outfits were suitable, donning the familiar attire of the staff at the hospital, particularly scrubs and white skirts that were too short for the protocol. "What's the theme?"

"A doctor or a nurse," you replied. As the screen turned briefly black, Zayne waited in anticipation. The scene changed, and on the podium was a mermaid with neon green wings and a god-awful dress.

You threw your hands up in frustration and wept on his knees. Zayne was dumbfounded. "I hate this game!" he heard your muffled cries on his knees. He patted your head.

He got used to seeing you so engrossed in the game, but he would never get used to your mood swings: one moment, you're insulting children, and the next moment, you're giggling because you won 1st place.

Zayne bought you a VIP pass because he loved seeing your reaction every time, although he isn't really a fan of spending money on in-game currency. But he loves you too much, so he just keeps that thought to himself.

After seeing you play, he watches the kids play as well, occasionally commenting on their choice of clothing. The nurses were pretty confused by his comments because Zayne never really commented on any outfits, much less in a game.

Xavier:

Xavier knows about the game and has tried it once, not getting the premise of it at first. He didn't know how to change patterns or delete the clothes he was wearing, so his first catwalk was a bit of a mess. But here's the thing: Xavier won first place, which made him more confused. He screenshot himself on the podium and sent it to you.

When you got home from work, excited to play with him, he was pouting while looking at his phone. You wondered why and saw that another player was walking around in the same exact fit as your partner's character. Xavier said that he kept on trying to change his outfit, but that one person kept doing the same thing. You decided to give that player a piece of your mind on behalf of your boyfriend.

When you're at work, Xavier will send you links to fashion hacks he sees on social media. "This looks cute; let's try it later," and he's more updated when Gigi is working on something. The codes—Xavier knows the codes by heart. He knows them more than he knows the date of your birth.

It was thanks to this game that he likes to go shopping with you to get some inspiration. Surprisingly, he can make a coherent outfit with the ones he sees in the malls.

When you both play together, he likes playing duo, and even if your outfits are unfinished or bad, he gives you 5 stars. But for the rest of the players, he forgets to vote more than half of the time—you don't know if it's on purpose or really by accident.

He would occasionally laugh when players fight against one another, especially if you were involved.

He once bought himself the VIP pass, but his outfits still looked too generic for your liking, but you didn't have the heart to complain. Xavier once lost a bet, and now he has to buy you the pass as well.

He once used his work account to comment on some suggestions on Gigi's Twitter, and kids were confused as to why a hunter was commenting on a kids' game. He deleted it soon after, but he amassed a few hundred followers.

Sylus:

He felt nothing about the game at first and thought of it as nothing more than your form of entertainment. It keeps you busy and out of harm's way, but he never once thought that it would cause a rift in your relationship (he's exaggerating).

Sylus would grow annoyed at how you weren't picking up his calls when you were clearly at home, so he sent Mephisto. The little snitch took a picture of you being so engrossed in your game and sent it back to his boss. Sylus was half disgruntled and 100% dumbfounded when he found out—he was laughing, but he was annoyed. Luke and Kieran were utterly confused.

At midnight, while you worked your way to being a fashion maven, you didn't notice your man sneaking in through the window. Just as you were about to hit pose 11, Sylus yanked your feet and stole your tablet from you.

"No! Give that back!"

"You're not answering my calls because of…this?" He turned to the tablet, which displayed another player's half-decent outfit for the theme "star."

"What calls?" you turned to your phone. '18 missed calls' and your heart sunk to the floor. Shyly, you turned to him, scratching your head. "Oops?"

He sat down on the edge of your bed. "Why are you so engrossed in a dressing game? Why not dress yourself with all the clothes I gave you?" He nudged to the mountain of paper bags in the corner of your room—branded ones, too.

"Because it's fun?" You took the tablet from him and showed him on screen how your outfit won first place. "See? I like winning—one more round, and let's go on a night ride."

He paused, patiently waiting for a minute while you scrolled around the game lobby. He came to a decision. "No. Screen time is over. You've neglected me for far too long." He yanked the tablet away from you using his evol, then pinned you down to the bed, burying his nose in between your breasts.

Although Sylus claims he's not interested in playing the game with you, he did, in fact, join the game secretly to spy on you. He was mildly infuriated with the little amount of selection of menswear and the ridiculous look on the men's faces, so he still really doesn't understand the hype, but he'll be generous enough to give you a three or four-star once in a while.

Once, he joined your server, and the theme was the bad guy. You dressed up as a white-haired, red-eyed man with over-chiseled cheekbones. A moment later, Sylus bombarded you with a screenshot of the game. "I do not look like that. Delete it."

As much as he says he doesn't like the game, Gigi made an update and added some dark reddish aura in-game, as well as a crow perched on the hand of the model. The bird looked awfully close to Mephisto. You confronted Sylus about this, and he denied having any involvement in it.

Whenever you sleep in Sylus' home, he would wake up to the goddamn beat of the game at 3 am, and out of frustration, he would use his EVOL to get the device away from you and place it on the highest shelf in the room. Then he'd hold you down.

Rafayel:

Rafayel introduced you to the game, but after a few times of playing it, it didn't take long for him to get banned for cyberbullying—he wasn't bullying, actually; he was just stating facts, and the other players couldn't take it, and so they reported him. He fights anyone, and he comments a lot in the game, earning him the title of a "yapper."

"You guys don't have taste. How did that thing win first place?" That thing refers to a pretty decent outfit but doesn't match the theme.

"You don't look good either, hun," said the person in first place.

"You don't get to say that when your hair looks like puke, darling." He rage-chattered, saying everything he was typing out loud.

You were cackling beside your boyfriend, witnessing him rage while you were just perched on top of the 3rd place, happy you even got to go up there against all the fashionistas.

"Kids really have the gall to compete and insult adults with taste."

"Raf, you do understand that they're adults as well, right?"

"No, they're not. They're children. This is a kids' game."

You stared at him intently. He stared back, thinking.

"Then I don't need to hold back from insulting them." he placed his hand on the keyboard.

Rafayel's fits are absolutely top-tier. He always wins first place. The layering, the color combination, the form, and the aesthetic are all on point and top-tier. He doesn't reference, and the only time he does is when the theme requires it.

This man doesn't do duos with you because he wants the podium to himself. He once did a duo with you, and it broke his winning streak. You had a small argument about it, but you just gave in, eager to make him lose. Newsflash: You failed miserably.

He secretly joins a farming server every once in a while. Rafayel unknowingly joined the same server as you, and when you asked about it, he denied it, saying only people with bad tastes need to farm for stars. You sent him a screenshot. He didn't talk to you for a day.

He files a lot of complaints and goes on Twitter about how buggy the game is and how bad the texture is. He didn't know that his graphics were on low.

Rafayel is very active in the community and contributes to it during his free time. He uses an alternate account to post suggestions when Gigi opens a post about it. A lot of people actually agree with Rafayel's complaints and suggestions.

Rafayel once freaked out when he accidentally went inside the meat room and told you about it, but when he showed you, it was already catwalk time. You pretended you didn't believe him and tried to pretend to listen when he was searching for that passable wall. You laughed at him and brushed him off, pretending that you didn't believe him.

This began the downward spiral to Lana's lore. He kept on sending you reels about it—and speculations and theories. He even once invited you to that scary horror game, but he quit because it was too creepy and full of 'negative energy.'

Author footnotes: If I'm taking a break while writing, I would be playing dress to impress and I would be fighting children (i'm not joking, I once made a player and her friends leave the server)

Layout by me, using Canva premium | Do not repost |

[byghostface]

Bring out a life/death cycle to each other. Plus they don't have healthy relationships with their families.

Have you ever considering Daminika? They're right there. And the personalities you describe in your post are just Damian and Nika.

When Damian killed Nika with an aggressive kick unexpectedly, he held onto Nika's wrist and stayed there and didn't let go until she came back to life. That's a life/death cycle and a meaningful one to Damian for him to realize that he actually cares about her and his passion to live the life he wants and needs his friend's and family's support while he still has it.

-[Robin(2021)#7]-Artist: Gleb Melnikov-

Nika cares about Damian a lot too and cares enough to steal back the shojo manga that he owns from XXL and then read it trying to understand him(during his disappearance on island), found the chance to speak to Damian when he's back on tournament and return it to him . And talk to him first about her family's views on her and the backstory of her becoming Lord Death Man's sidekick.

-[Robin(2021)#6 and #11]-Artist: Gleb Melnikov-

Then Damian chose to open up a bit to Nika about his family issues when Nika brought up the shojo manga again. And she told him her name. You can't tell me they don't have something going on and no build up, no chemistry.

And you want to take his development and Nika's importance to him away? Why? Just like how every time Damian gets the character regression treatment when he has changed to a new writer? Y'all just want Nika to be gone, and throwing excuses to erase her without sounding like a hater, when you clearly have fumes with her.

I said it was because people start shipping that crap bc this post so stop lying to yourself if it's not started by Damijon shipper out of spite, and you all flock to it.

Like, can you imagine if like things don't work out between her and Damian(🤞) and now one of the Super Son's enemies are his ex and his half-brother who hates his guts. Like imagine ALL THE ANGST!

Please for the love of god leave Nika and Respawn alone and stop spreading lies that will only bring indirect hate to the characters, you are mean to them by putting them as made up toxic characters in your head. You don't care about them both, leave them alone!!! You just want to use them as tools to fuel your own ship when you don't need to doing all that.

Like I said shipping Nika with Damian's half-brother and calling it angst is plain foul, what do you mean by that when Nika in canon clearly cares about Damian and the only direct interaction she had with Respawn is her being annoyed by him jabbing about her and Damian. Or maybe you just don't bother reading the actual comics to learn their characters and started pulling nonsense out of thin air.

I DO NOT hate Flatline by any means. In fact, I feel like she's pretty cool! Fun, actually! I think she has so much potential!

If what you said is true than maybe read the comic that had featured Nika. For example, in the newest #6 issue of Batman and Robin where Damian develops his relationship with Nika onwards. And learn more about her from her creator-Joshua Williamson who is the writer of this run same as Robin(2021)

Daminika just started to develop their relationship, so maybe you can see what Damian and Nika had in store in the current comics run and nourish this instead of pulling your hardest to talk over what they actually had and put them in the wired situations and pretend you're not doing it with bad intentions.

-[Batman and Robin(2023)#6]-Artist: Nikola Cizmesija- (look how cute they are, the bright light shines behind them and the bats flying around them…They both smiling, blushing and so happy to see each other again<3)

Respawn it's a character I feel pity for in his situation but don't like as a character that affects Talia and Ras' character( the reason I only drew him with Rose's interaction so far ). He is like Damian's half-brother and Rose's half-brother, and the proshipper already acting gross with that fact alone. Not to mention Damian and Respawn are almost like twins. And as a twins myself, I'm so sick and tired of the sh!t ppl made up in media about twins, and the gross proshipping always acts up about it (plus the sick side of fetish of a love triangle involving twins, and brothers, sisters in general). And then I have to sit there thinking to myself should I bother to draw Damian and Respawn as cute brothers with Rose, or would the harmless siblings art I could make would backfire on me with the damn porshipper showing up in my notifications? I think not, no thank you. And the sad fact that I do have fanart of Respawn for his character lore(not for shipping reason unlike some ppl), but thinking about the weird ppl in fandom towards the sibling characters just makes me more depressed and don't want to post it at all.

Then again if you don't like daminika I need you to stop your weird imagination of them breaking up and pulling sh!t onto their fresh developing relationship and leave my girl alone‼️( Damian I'm sorry I can't save you, the already existing fandom is rotting with proshipper for you😞)

Also, I woke up to a damira3 fan artist drawing Raven over Nika in the comic hug panel on Twitter(x) ( drawing over other people's art with the whole other character is disrespectful to the original artist. AI art type of mindset if you ask me, take things away and twist it then said you fixed it, you didn't!!!)

You ppl never normal about Nika always had some sh!t with my girl, BACK OFF YALL WEIRDOS YALL DOING TOO MUCH‼️‼️‼️

(and god forbid me to speak up and defend Nika, cuz some of you will still twist my words/speak over me regardless)

Thanks for reading if you're still here. I'm probably can go on venting more, but I want to go and focus on my art now bye.👍

Vent//

Also what is respawn x flatline ship I see on Tumblr here, make her a cheater in your sick head when she never was one, plus ship her with respawn who was supposed to be Damian's half-bother is plain foul. Just said you hate Nika stop pretending‼️YOUR PROJECTING HATE OF FLATLINE IS SHOWING‼️‼️YOU NEVER CARED ABOUT HER OR RESPAWN BEFORE + ONLY CARE ABOUT THEM JUST FOR THIS SPITE SHIP

Anyway steal this from my twitter(x) tl

(+PROSHIPPER & MISOGYNY‼️YALL SICK AND TWIST LEAVE MY GIRL ALONE)

[sprite-writes]

failed romantics

Leonard "Bones" McCoy/Reader (original female character)

Summary: Secrets can’t be kept forever, and what better time to reveal them than the Enterprise night shift.

Word Count: 5,902

A/N: yay another chapter!! I have been so excited to write this one since I started this series, I hope you all like it. As always very special thanks to @lightning-writes without them these chapters would literally never get finished LOL immediately after finishing this plz go check out their bucky series; good heart (faulty machine of a man) it kills me in the best way. anyways, thank you for reading plz like + comment if you enjoyed :)

Leonard can only barely make out Kirk��s face under the dim bulb, but he is pissed enough that Jim’s mug is the last thing he wants to see. The music is loud, so goddamn loud , loud enough that the whiskey did nothing for his headache. 

“This is not what I had in mind when you said you knew a place,” he yells over the music, staring down the side of Kirk's face. 

“What?” the captain calls back, still oblivious to Leonard's scowl. Kirk is absent, completely distracted by the crowd, more specifically the women . His gaze filters from person to person as they pass by the table, a dumb smile on his face the entire time. If steam could come out of Leonard’s ears, it would. 

“I said this isn't what I had in mind for tonight.” He reaches across the table and firmly flicks his friend’s temple. 

“Hey! What's your problem?” Kirk whines. Leonard is satisfied to have gotten his attention—finally. 

“You said you knew a nice place– you said it was a bar!” 

“Yeah and? This is both of those things!” 

“This is a goddamned petri dish!” 

It is. Leonard has refused to even allow his bare skin to touch the tabletop, weary of the unknown sticky substances covering it. There are so many bodies— human and otherwise— packed into the space, it's suffocating, and certainly a fire hazard. It's gross, downright unsanitary, and fucking loud.  

“You’re dramatic, Bones, it's nice enough. Loosen up! Maybe try to meet somebody. We’re only in Yorktown for a day, y’know?” 

Tipsy Kirk is a fucking idiot. 

Leonard recoils at the idea. The captain has gained this…habit lately. This advice-giving habit where he tells Leonard to relax, to get out there, to get laid, and every time it passes through Kirk's lips, Leonard becomes nauseous. He abhors this subject, he really does. The only thing he hates talking about more than his dating life is why he doesn’t have one. Sure, he hasn't had much of one since the divorce anyway, but whatever he did have quickly reduced to nothing after meeting Sunshine. He feels so childish even mulling his thoughts over, and how it feels pointless to consider any other woman interesting since he has already met Sunshine, who is the most interesting. Interesting and pretty. Interesting and pretty and kind. He shakes his head before he starts down his mental list (again). Somedays, it feels like his feelings will swallow him whole. It has been so long since he felt it, the wanting . Wanting to talk to her all the time, or hold her hand, or just be around her. It all makes him feel so juvenile, like he’s a lovesick teenager. She makes him feel like a lovesick teenager. It is the single most frustrating thing he’d ever experienced.

“I don't wanna associate with anyone who willingly steps foot inside this shithole,” he snaps, “C’mon man, let's go.” Kirk protests, of course, even more so as Leonard grabs him by the ear and pulls him up from the chair. He tells himself he’s doing Kirk a favor, that the last thing he needs is a hookup— that he’s certainly not taking out his frustrations on his friend. 

The pair weave through the bodies, with Kirk stumbling after his friend and out the door. The cool breeze hits them like a breath of fresh air, and Leonard takes it in. Kirk, on the other hand, furiously rubs his reddened ear. 

“What the hell was that for? Are you out to get me tonight?” 

Leonard feels a quick pang of sympathy, regretting lashing out. 

“Look, I’m sorry, but that place had me sweating like a damn sinner in church, there’s other bars, and it's getting late anyways–”

Kirk would usually push it, and Leonard could tell he wants to, which makes him all the more thankful he doesn’t.  

“Fine, fine, whatever but we are drinking when we get back to the ship,” he settles, leading the way home. 

Yorktown is cold and downright industrial. Leonard hates it. He would usually be thankful for a pit stop if it means he can feel non-artificial gravity, but, between the dirty club and Kirk’s antagonizing, he’s ready to be spacebound again. Both the Enterprise and the USS Endeavor are in Yorktown for the night, in the process of a personnel transfer. The streets are crawling with Starfleet members.

They walk in silence for most of the way, observing the larger-than-life city and the star crafts buzzing overhead. Leonard would be lying if he said he doesn’t feel a bit empty.  Perhaps the low-lit, music-blaring monstrosity would have felt more tolerable if a certain lieutenant was with him and not stuck with the enterprise night crew. 

“You know, I wouldn’t have even known that place existed if it wasn’t for Sunny,” Kirk laughs. Leonard scrunches his nose. 

“She recommended that barnyard?” he scoffs. 

“Oh god no, she told me to stay away from it. Said it was the grimiest place on this side of the universe. I just thought it sounded like a good time, y’know?” 

Leonard stares, really stares, and wonders why he keeps expecting better of Kirk. 

“You’re an idiot, and an ass. The woman gives you stellar advice, and you ignore it, and stick her with the skeleton crew.” 

Kirk stops so abruptly, that Leonard stumbles over him. 

“ I didn’t put her on the skeleton crew, she requested to be. You think I would make her work more than she already does? I’m not a tyrant, Bones.” 

What?  

“What?” Leonard says out loud. “Why would she ask to be holed up on the enterprise all leave?” 

“I mean, I would too if the alternative was running into my ex and all his coworkers.” 

Kirk laughs, Leonard’s head spins. 

“Her ex?” 

“Yeah her— she didn’t tell you any of this?” 

“She said she wanted Jameson to oversee the transfer, give him more experience or something, so you put her on his night shift.” 

“No? She wanted Jameson to do it because she used to be engaged to the Endeavors head of security.” 

Leonard blinks. And blinks again. 

“Dude, I don’t even know how to change the schedule,” Kirk adds. 

 Suddenly, despite talking to her everyday for close to a year, she feels unfamiliar. Engaged? He can hardly imagine it, nor does he want to. Pictures of Sunshine flash through his mind, and he clenches his fist. 

“Didn’t know she had been engaged,” he feigns a casual tone.

Kirk furrows his brows. 

“ You didn’t know? You of all people?” Leonard shrugs, as his stomach forms a knot. “She tells you everything, and she’s never mentioned Ryder?”

“Christ, his name is Ryder ?”

“I know! Douchebag name, right?” 

He doesn’t respond for a beat, which turns into several beats. The gears in his head turn and turn. Engaged . He doesn’t understand why the idea eats at him. He himself had been married for years. So what if she was engaged? There is no reason for him to be upset that his friend—a coworker��had an ex. 

He feels nauseous. 

Kirk clears his throat, derailing Leonard's train of thought.

“You’re right, it’s late, we should head back,” he says, offering a reassuring smile. Leonard follows him, hands in his pockets.

“Do y’know what happened?” he asks finally. Kirk casts him a sideways glance.

“What, between them? Not a clue,” Kirk says with sincerity enough for Leonard to believe it. “She wasn’t really keen on discussing it.” He pauses and looks at the ground as they walk. “I wouldn’t worry too much about it though, Bones, I think everyone sees she’s only really got eyes for one person these days.” 

“Don't start, Jim,” Leonard warns hotly, clenching his jaw. 

“Start what? I’m not starting anything. I’m just laying out the facts.” Jim hiccups. “She adores you, man, like adores -”

“Sunshine ‘adores’ everyone she meets. We’re friends—good friends, but that's all.” His patience shrinks as his annoyance grows.

Jim laughs mirthlessly.

“No, Sunshine and I are good friends. Whatever you two are is something else entirely-” 

“Anyone ever tell you you don't know when to shut up?” His tone is as cold as the night air, and Jim shuts up.

Leonard wishes Kirk would drop the subject, trip over a rock, or whatever it took to never have this conversation again. Really—what he truly wants is for everyone to stop dangling this hope in front of his face like a carrot. He’s not an idiot, he knows he spends more time with the lieutenant than his colleagues, hears her laugh more often, and knows her habits better.

 He knows what it looks like. He also knows that he's a bitter emotionally closed-off divorcee— 

He tells Jim that Sunshine is his friend because she is—and he denies wanting anything more because It's stupid to want things out of his reach. 

Frustration heats his cheeks and begins to bloom into a headache. He knows Kirk means well, but that fact does little to comfort him. 

“Alright, I’ll drop it,” Kirk surrenders, his voice soft. “But there is one last thing you should know,” He pauses at the crosswalk and turns to Leonard. Eerily stoic, his mouth pressed into a thin line. Leonard's breath hitched. 

“Ryder’s got nothing on you in terms of looks, okay? Seriously he's like, 5’7, and his face isn't at all symmetrical-”

Leonard revs up and smacks Kirk in the back of the head harder than he ever had and feels no regret. Not even after Kirk's high-pitched “ Ouch!”

“Would you quit it! You gossip like a damn schoolgirl!”

The sign blinks at them to walk, and Leonard drags Kirk across the street, fingers digging into his arm. 

“Ow, ow, I was just saying-“

“Wait a minute,” Leonard lets his friend go and smooths down his sleeve. “How do you know what he looks like anyway?” 

Kirk puts himself at a safe distance from the Doctor, cradling his arm. “Well, the operations manager would usually talk to the department heads during a transfer, but Sunshine passed him off to me. I said no at first, obviously, because I hate managing, but then she finally told me she was almost Mrs. Ryder Denver. So yeah, I spoke with him a few times, just business. Have to say though, I couldn't imagine them together. He comes off as a bit of a douche.” 

Leonard breathes deeply, reigning in the emotions that he doesn’t need Kirk to pick up on. The idea of Sunshine being engaged does enough to unsettle him without knowing that the man in question “ came off as a douche” . He feels something boil under the surface. 

“Yeah?” is all he can strangle out. 

“Yeah—He’s like a classic douchey security buff,” Kirk continues, unaware of his friend's white knuckles. “You know the kind– uptight, condescending, has one earring and thinks it's edgy-”

“Wears their uniform a size too small? Yeah, I know the type.” 

“Exactly, and Sunshine is so…so-”

“Heart-of-gold?” 

“Yeah! Opposites attract I guess, but I don't know, something was off.” 

To Leonard, the entire thing is off. All of it. Everything . He doesn’t understand why Sunshine decided he doesn’t get to know, why it is a secret in the first place, why she almost married a douche, why he cares so damn much . 

The enterprise comes into view like the sun on the horizon, and Leonard is relieved . 

“Your arm’s all right?” Leonard asks, an apology without apologizing. Jim knows this and breathes a laugh. 

“Yup, the ear’s fine too.” 

The Doctor nods, but his eyes remain trained in front of him. Through the glass window panes, he eyes the ship, eager to hide away in the familiar place. He would have opened the door for Kirk, as a gesture, but of course, the Yorktown Federation Port has to have automatic doors. He huffs, and the artificial lights illuminate his red cheeks. They approach their home in silent tandem, their shoes clinking against the hard floors. 

“You should talk to her, Bones,” Kirk breaks the quiet, head down while he taps the access code to the enterprise hull. “Ask her why she didn't mention the ex. I’m sure she has a good reason, probably one you'll wanna hear.” 

Leonard wants to be mean. He wants to shake Kirk's words off with an insult and go to bed. But he swallows his pride, and it goes down like nails.

“Yeah. Maybe.”

Hope. It bubbles up within his chest, and he pushes it down. Finally, the stark white enterprise interior greets him. He breathes a little easier. 

Kirk stumbles over the first step— “ Woah ”-- and Leonard steadies him with a raised eyebrow. “Andorian ale finally catching up with you?” 

“Pfft,” Kirk scoffs. “Couldn’t catch me if it tried.” 

Leonard pauses, then laughs, the first genuine one all night, and it has Kirk grinning back. 

The enterprise is empty, its residents still on the streets they just returned from. So, without restraint, they laugh, and Kirk stumbles, and Leonard forgets for a moment about the unsaid feelings under his skin. 

Kirk is an idiot, and he’s a good friend.  

He’s happy to banter about whatever comes out of Kirk's drunk mouth and to correct him when he takes a wrong turn in his own ship. Leonard claps his hand on his shoulder and drawls, “It’s this way, captain .”

“Uhh, no , Chekov keeps the good whiskey in his locker, this way,” Kirk insists with a point down the hallway, and Leonard is amazed at his eagerness to get blacked out the night before embarking. 

“Are you out of your mind? No way. You can drink like a fish when you don't need to fly a starship in the morning.” 

“What are you, my mom ?” 

Christ.

“No, but I pity the poor woman,” he huffs and gestures down the hallway leading to his quarters. Kirk frowns and scrunches his nose.

“Raincheck, Kirk, c’mon.” 

He begrudgingly obliges, having given his friend a hard enough time tonight anyway. The yawn that crawls out of his mouth a moment later corroborates Leonard's decision. He is tired, and Kirk shouldn't drink anymore, but he’d be lying if he said those were his only motives to end the night early.

“You win this one, Bones, but next time I swear we'll be out till sunrise,” he says between another yawn and a hiccup. 

“Uh-huh. Try not to trip.” Leonard reminds himself of the virtue of patience and keeps walking. 

Kirk manages to type in his room's access code all by himself, with only a moment of squinting, and a break to roll up the black sleeves of his turtleneck. Leonard is impressed, and the bar is low. 

“Drink a bottle of water, and get some sleep, We’ll talk tomorrow.” he crosses his arms over his chest and waits for protest. 

Kirk only hums. “You headed to your room?”

 The doctor's fingers drum against the doorframe. “Was thinking I’d check in on Sunshine,” he says, blinks, and rushes out, “and the rest of the Skeleton crew, of course.  Maybe medbay too, then I’ll hit the hay.” He fleetingly wonders if that sounds believable, or at least casual. 

 Kirk smiles a genuine smile. “Sounds like a good plan, Bones. See ya in the morning, and tell her I said hi .” Before he can react, his friend waves, and the door slides shut. Then, he’s alone in the hallways, and he has to put his money where his mouth is. 

Shit . 

The way to the bridge feels daunting now, like climbing Everest. Like climbing Everest with the shittiest rope ever. Like climbing Everest with the shittiest rope ever, several pounds of emotional baggage, and a Starfleet captain breathing down his neck.  He considers just going to bed, pretending he never even mentioned the whole thing. Maybe even pretend he doesn't care to get answers. He can just leave it be. 

The desire to see her trumps all of it. 

The halls are deserted, which he’s thankful for. He doesn’t need anyone around to watch him squirm in the elevator. A deep breath, a punch of the open elevator button and—

“I told you I don't have any threes! Go fish, again .” 

He sees the back of the captain's chair first, then Starfleet-issued black boots hanging off of it. The whoosh of the door draws the attention of the room to him. Eyes sweep through the vaguely familiar faces of the night crew, all six staring at him like they are waiting for an explanation, which he doesn’t really have. The heeled black boots plant themselves on the ground, the captain's seat swivels around. His heart works double time. 

“ Leonard ? Hi! What are you doing here?” 

Sunshine’s got a hand of cards between her pointer and her thumb, and a sweatshirt pulled over her uniform dress, and it distracts Leonard for longer than it should. He clears his throat, and it shakes loose the feelings stuck there. 

“Just thought I'd check in on our hard working night crew, who is surely on task.” He descends the bridge steps. 

“Well, then, you'll be happy to hear that I am, in fact, glancing at my station every 20 minutes, and I’m the undefeated go-fish champion.” 

She waves the cards at herself like a fan, legs crossed and smile wide. 

“Undefeated, huh? Glad to see your talents going to good use.” Her smile gets a bit brighter, and she does a quick breathy laugh with her nose. For a moment there's quiet, and Leonard begins scrambling for a way to ask her the thing he wants to ask her. The bridge is crowded, for a skeleton crew, he thinks. The redshirt to Sunshine’s left breaks the silence before he can. 

“I’m not sure if I’d call it talent…I’m pretty sure she's cheating,” they grumble, and Sunshine doesn't spare a moment, whipping the chair around. He can almost see the panic fill her eyes, like she’s just been accused of a heinous crime. 

“I’m not! Are you still thinking about that last round? Because that was—”  

Even Leonard winces a bit at her shrill tone, and he’s pretty sure she just woke the navigator who had fallen asleep at his station, so he claps his hands on her shoulders. 

“Sounds to me like this card game has you wound like a spring,” he interrupts her before her voice jostles anyone else awake. 

She pouts, lip jutted out and everything. 

“Let's go for a walk,” he suggests. He doesn’t even let his nerves talk him out of it. She looks at him curiously, her eyebrows drawn. 

“I dunno, I probably shouldn’t leave…” 

“I’m sure someone else can deal cards while you’re gone,” he tells her, already offering his arm. 

The Ensign, Leonard still doesn’t know their name, waves her off. “Go, Lieutenant, It's fine. I’m sure we can handle a few minutes without you.” 

She bites her lip and cautiously loops her arm around his, leaving the captain's chair to her subordinate. 

“Alright, but don’t start a new game without me,” she warns lightly. 

Leonard doesn’t get nervous with her arm looped around his, really he doesn’t. He’s headfirst into this thing now, no room for nerves. 

She drinks her whiskey neat, he learns, and it surprises him. Surprises him even more when she downs it like a shot. 

The walk there had been quiet mostly, except for when Sunshine regaled the stories of her card game wins. 

“Did you have a nice time with Kirk?” she asks politely.

“I dunno if I’d say that, but maybe Jim would disagree.” 

She laughs lightly, and her finger traces the lip of the whiskey glass. He doesn’t know if it’s the best idea, but he refills her cup. 

There is a beat of silence, and the conversation with Kirk pushes to the front of his thoughts. There's a heaviness on the tip of his tongue, the desire to ask why . Without really knowing how to. 

“Wish I could’ve gone with you guys,” she says, her gaze downcast. There's a rare melancholy to her tone, something vulnerable woven into it. 

“You could’ve,” he tells her, and her eyes pull from the table.

“I had--”

“Yeah, I know what you– I just mean–I’m sure Kirk would have given you the night off if you asked… God knows he owes you enough favors.” 

“I guess,” she shrugs, “it wasn’t really the best night for it, though.” 

He could go along with her lame excuse, vaguely agreeing that, yeah, there will be other nights. But the ache to know what exactly goes on in her pretty head has words tumbling out of his mouth. 

“Yeah, Kirk mentioned somethin’ like that,” he mumbles, nerves permeating the sentence. 

“...what?” 

Shit.

“I mean, he may have-”

“What exactly did he mention?” Her tone holds a sharp undercurrent of something rare for Sunshine– anger.

Leonard runs a hand down his face, suddenly thinking of all the much more tactful ways he could have begun this. The gentle buzz of alcohol still in his bloodstream keeps him from panicking. 

“Nothing terrible, just that there was someone in town you wouldn’t wanna see.”

“As if ,” she scoffs. “Kirk’s never been that vague in his life.” 

“…fair enough.” 

She groans miserably, fitfully pulling the sleeves of her sweater over her hands and burying her face in the fabric. 

“You were not supposed to find out like this,” she says, muffled. 

“And how was I supposed to find out?” He asks quietly, like the question will frighten her away. 

A sniffle comes from behind her hands–the sound tugs at his heart. 

“ I don't know. Maybe someone could have told you when I’m dead and then we’d never have to have this conversation.” 

He reaches for her slowly, taking her wrists in a gentle hold and pulling them away from her face, revealing her reddened nose and watery eyes. Her hands are cold, and grow stiff under his touch. 

“Sunshine. It's an ex , not a damn intergalactic scandal. There are worse conversations to have,” he reasons. 

“You don't get it,” she tells him matter-of-factly, pulling her hands from his touch. Embarrassment quickly heats his body, and he wipes his palms on his pants. 

“I’d get it a lot more if you talked about it.” He flexes his jaw, frustration bleeding into his voice. 

She narrows her eyes, punctuating her glare with a sniffle. 

“If I wanted to talk about it, I would’ve.”

“With Kirk? Because he seems to get it.” 

“Why are you acting so—”

“Concerned? Oh, I dunno because you’re my friend?” Exasperation colors his tone.

“I was gonna say entitled,” she grits out. Her anger comes out half-heartedly, sounding more like watery sadness than anything. “I don't tell you everything, and I don't have to. You’re not my-” She sighs. “Why does it matter? I was engaged for like, a year, and now, I’m not.” 

You’re not my–

Her half sentence sticks in his mind and sends blood rushing to his head. He thinks of all the things that he is to her: a colleague, a doctor, a friend. All the things he isn’t feels like a gaping hole. 

He watches her clench her fists and force her tears back. 

“It matters because it upsets you enough to work the night shift,” he sighs, the anger he’s been holding seeps out of his hands like water. “I’m not pressing you for the latest gossip, Sunny. I’m asking because it would be lousy of me not to.” 

She says nothing, taking in his words. 

“I’m no stranger to this stuff, y’know,” he prods her gently. “My ex-wife sent me running all the way to space .” He says lightly, and the corners of her mouth twitch up briefly.

“He didn't send me running, I sent him,” she confesses, shaking her head. 

“ You ?” 

“Me. The thing is,” she shrugs, “it should have worked, y’know? Like on paper, it was perfect. Ryder and I were academy sweethearts, liked all the same shit, were top of our classes, blah, blah, blah.” She rolls her eyes. “Our friends used to tease us, say that it wasn't fair, and we were too in love.”

“Sounds nice.”

“It does, doesn’t it?” she says, sighing. Her eyes drift nowhere in particular. “It didn’t feel nice after a while though. It felt suffocating. I was half a person with him, we were Ryder and Sunshine–and that was one entity.” Her tears dry on her lashes, as she becomes entrenched in the memory. 

“But the person we were wasn’t me . Because he never thought my jokes were funny, or my hobbies were interesting or my friends were cool, so I was willing to throw them all out. Eventually all that was left was him. His ideas, his wants, his needs. I was backed into a corner. I should’ve left when I realized but I loved him… and I was really scared of being alone.” 

She pushes her hair behind her ears and lets out a shaky breath. 

“I was a coward, and I couldn’t leave. I wanted to try and fix it, figure out who I was, and then maybe Ryder could love that person,” She shakes her head. “I was naive. Ryder always wanted someone I couldn’t be. Someone quieter or someone better at being a person. I’m always so all over the place you know? Too much for him.”

“You’re not–”

“It's okay, Len, you don't have to say anything.” she says, meeting his eyes again, taming the budding fire in his heart. 

The idea of Sunshine being anything but completely herself unnerves him. Her jokes are funny, he can’t recall ever laughing as much before she boarded the enterprise. Her ramblings about xenobotany and classic earth songs never fail to catch his attention, even when he barely knows what she's talking about. Being around Sunshine is as easy as breathing, and he’s starting to need it as much too. 

“Anyways, he proposed our senior year, like we weren’t a sinking ship, and I said yes and pretended like the ring wasn’t a last-ditch attempt to bring us back to life.” 

Her teeth sink into her lip, her eyes dragging to her lap.

“I don't know what it was, but one night I just…broke. I couldn’t keep pretending to be someone I wasn’t, or beg to be loved.”

A few tears slide down her cheeks, she scrubs them away with her sleeve.

Leonard wants to tell her that she should never have to beg for anything in the first place, least of all love; he wants to tell her that she's worthy just the way she is. His fingers twitch with the desire to take her by the shoulders and tell her over and over that she’s perfect, that she couldn’t be too much if she tried. Sunshine has always had a magnetic pull to her, drawing in everyone she meets with her warmth. The idea of anyone taking that away from her pulls his heartstrings tight enough to snap. He holds back his anger, refraining from telling her that Ryder is an asshole who didn’t deserve a second of her time. 

The wiser part of him knows that's not what he needs.

“We had planned to be on the USS Endeavor together, but I rescinded my application. I signed up to do on-planet research instead. I wrote a long letter, left it on our bed, packed up my things, and left.” 

She coughs in a way that he knows is covering up a sob and takes a deep breath. The sound sends a pang of emotion through him.

“It’s the worst thing I’ve ever done. We were engaged, for Christ's sake, and I couldn’t even look him in the eye when I left him. And don’t even get me started on the fallout. We had all the same friends, and our families were so close… it was all so humiliating . Everyone expected us to live happily ever after, and then, there I was, giving him back his ring in a coffee shop.”  

She knocks back the rest of her drink, like a consolation prize for getting all the words out. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Len. I never wanted you to think of me like that, as someone who would do that.” 

“ Sweetheart ,” he says like a plea, calling her attention. “No one in their right mind would think differently of you for leaving something that wasn’t good for you– or at least they shouldn’t.” 

She's shaking her head before he finishes his sentence. 

“But I–”

“I know. You didn’t go about it the way you maybe should’ve– or the way you wanted to. It doesn’t make you a bad person, it doesn’t make you any less… good.”

She hiccups, her chest rising and falling rapidly as another stream of tears drips down her cheeks. He can't help himself – and even if he could, he doesn’t want to – he brings both hands to her cheeks, wiping away the salty tears. 

“It's alright,” he says gently, swiping his thumb under her eye again. “You’re alright.”

She nods, breaths finally evening out, and his hands reluctantly fall back onto his lap. 

He remembers well the storm of feelings his divorce left him with. The gulit, the lonliness, feeling like the world was ending. 

“I get it, y’know. The shitty relationship, becoming somebody you don't wanna be,” the barstool squeaks as he leans on the counter. He hasn't talked about his marriage since he told the story to Kirk years ago. It feels odd to tell it again. 

“My ex and I met in college, fell head over heels, and I proposed a year later. I thought… well, we both thought we were soulmates. There was this connection between us that I’d never felt before, and I thought this must be it.” 

“After a year ?” she gawks. He casts her a sideways glance and chuckles. 

“A perfect year, mind you. Not a single disagreement, not a bad date– every day was straight out of a damn love story or something. Until we got hitched, that is. Then it was all disagreements.”

 He anxiously taps a rhythm on the bar top. The memory still burns him now, of the fiery conflict, of the sleepless nights. 

“We were the same in all the worst ways, stubborn, headstrong, prideful. We couldn't settle an argument to save our lives. It probably didn't help that I was in the middle of residency and pulling 100-hour weeks. It was miserable. I hardly recognized myself… I know I don’t have the best temper, but I never wanted to be an angry person.” 

He lets out a slow breath, “I was mad as hell when she called it quits, said a lot of stuff I regret. But she was right to do it. We brought out the worst in each other, I was just too narrow-minded to see it. All this to say, I’m sure I would have taken the night shift to avoid her too.” 

Sunshine rests a comforting hand on his shoulder, her thumb pressing circles into the muscle. 

“I’m sorry, Len.”

He leans into her touch without thinking about it. “These things happen,” he tells her decidedly. “When something’s not right, there's nothing you can do to change that. You do the best you can with where you’re at, that's all.” He pictures himself, young and full of fire, holding onto something that had already slipped away. “Which you did, Sunshine. I know it’s hard to see now, but I promise it gets easier.”

When he drags his gaze from the mahogany bar top back to Sunshine, she's watching him curiously. 

“What am I supposed to see?”

“That you were young, and scared, and you did what you needed to for yourself. Even if it's not shit you’re proud of, it makes you who you are. You learn, and it makes you better.” 

She says nothing, silently considering his words for several moments. “Well, it better get easier soon, because it sucks .” 

He chuckles, “That it does.” 

 She reaches right past him and grabs the half-empty bottle of whiskey.

“We should toast,” she says, the melancholy in her voice fading away, probably tucked back behind a wall. “To failed marriages.” 

She’s already refilling their glasses and lifting hers to bump with his. 

“Thought you ducked out on the whole wedding thing?” he teases. 

“Fine then, to failed romantics,” she impatiently shakes the ice in her glass, “Just do it.” 

He knocks his glass with hers and agrees, “To failed romantics, and night shifts, and all the other shitty stuff.”

Her face pinches as she finishes her drink. Gingerly, she takes both of their glasses and stacks them behind the bar. 

Like ripping a bandage off and letting the wound breathe, Leonard feels lighter. As Sunshine hops off the bar stool and straightens her uniform skirt, he can see on her face that she does too. 

“Thank you for the drink, and the talk, Len,” she says, and he waves her off. 

“Don't mention it.” 

“ Totally gonna mention it,” she grins, “and when the schedule suddenly gives you two days off in a row, you’ll know why.” 

He laughs, and shakes his head, “I don’t think that's allowed, Lieutenant.” 

“I have my ways,” she says innocently, as she saunters to the door. 

He watches her go, everything she’s told him still buzzing in his head. He can hardly make sense of everything he’s feeling at once, but there's one thought that sticks out among the rest, that sits on his chest, demanding to be heard. 

“Sunshine?” he calls before she’s gone, giving into his relentless mind.

“Yeah?”

When she turns around, he’s flooded with everything he’s ever wanted to tell her. How she has seeped into every part of his life since he met her, despite his once armored heart. How she doesn’t see it, but she's changed the entire atmosphere of the bridge, pouring life into it with her energy. How she's taught him how to be a better friend, a better man, even a better doctor. How she’s not too much, she's everything. 

 “You should know, you’re never too much, that's ridiculous. Anyone on this ship would agree in a heartbeat. Don’t know what I’d– what we’d do without you,” he rushes out. “I hope you never think you need to be anything other than who you are.”

She goes still in the door frame and observes him for a moment. He flounders in her silence, wondering if he should have just kept his mouth shut. She suddenly moves from the doorway, quickly striding towards him, the sound of her boots clacking on the floor. He has no time to react before she gently places her hand on his chest. She wastes no time, leaning down and pressing a warm kiss to his cheek. 

“Thank you,” she says meaningfully, searching his eyes for a brief moment before she turns heel again. She’s out the door without him even mustering up a word to say. 

His skin heats where her lips had touched him, a crackling feeling left in their place. He lifts his fingers to the skin, ghosting over the sticky remnants of her lipgloss. 

He sits, dumbfounded, knowing he’s gone somewhere there's no coming back from.     

[tree-obsession]

2.2 SPOILERS!! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK

this is a small lore discussion! mostly speculation and theories- i have not seen leaks about 2.3 plot yet, but i have seen a couple about boothill's character stories, so please keep that in mind!

trigger for mentions of suicide(aventurine) and mega corps(the ipc)

we have to talk about the ending cutscene with aventurine and boothill more! i'll start with my fav parts that no one really has brought up yet:

Aventurine intimidating Boothill after mentioning the guards are out- Boothill sounded so offput and hasty while reassuring him they were just knocked out, and we have to talk about aventurine himself just being intimidating more honestly his glare actually did kind of scare me.

Boothill pointing a gun at aventurine was. well. i'm sorry i did actually laugh at that. boothill i think you should research your targets a bit more honestly that guy is NOT afraid of guns. he fully walked into the nihility and pointed at least one gun at himself, and just got out of his own meticulously-planned suicide. threats of death won't work, sorry. also he has good reason to hate oswaldo schneider as well- threats didn't even have to be used, probably! he would kill him too, probably(revenge arc go go go!!)

the convo between aven and jade was. yeah. why he's betting his life again, i don't know (maybe sarcasm? or it was really just banter?) but it does seem like the two of them aren't super close at all, at least from what little i could gather. also if diamond hurts aventurine the entire fandom will kick his ass, emanator or no, so he better be prepared for that too lol. also, it was a pretty common theory aventurine would leave the ipc after exiting nihility, since acheron presumably broke his ties- i wonder why he went back? perhaps he had no plans as to where to go, or he has some ulterior motive?

how did he get out of nihility so unscathed? (for context, i haven't gotten aven's text messages yet, but i'm aware of some of their contents since they've been floating around w/out spoiler tags. the messages are mentioned a bit here if you wanna avoid spoilering!) i know argenti got him out, but 1) why was argenti there, or where did he even find him? and 2) that seems so random- both argenti and jade confirmed it, but plot-wise what's even the point of argenti pulling him out? also argenti said he was in a "woeful state" when he got out, and apparently the stonehearts are willing to give aven a break (which i'm assuming is major, since stonehearts are super important and have a lot of responsibility, plus he just destroyed a cornerstone) so him already being back on his feet when we see the phone call is a bit weird right away. he doesn't even sound sick, and ratio or any other doctor is nowhere in sight! (message spoilers start here) i'm aware the aventurine cornerstone was fully shattered/destroyed while protecting him from nihility- was he really in there for who-knows-how-long without any protection at all? he's apparently having nightmares and the ipc needed to call in a doctor of chaos to treat him, which is concerning considering his mental health and general will to live were extremely low even before walking into the nihility. like he genuinely has some of the worst will to live i've ever seen in a character or human being- walking through the nihility should have utterly destroyed him mentally and physically, but it didn't. 2.3 HAS to give us a whole lotta context, especially with nihility lore (my favorite aeon, i may be biased) and more about the ipc!

anyway, thank you for reading this poorly formatted, stream-of-consciousness word vomit about 2.2's aventurine lore. hope you liked it! drop ur thoughts in replies and reblogs plz they give me life(although i will be very busy next few weeks, so please don't be offended if you want a reply and don't get it, im so sorry!)

2.2 was peak- a bit slow, but the story was some of the best, if not the best stuff hoyo has given us in terms of writing quality. so great! i cried for sure, and that boss battle was just everything- especially the music. robin my lesbian queen if i didn't have to pull for firefly i would get your lightcone for sure...

see you all next time! thx for sticking around (:

[madiomens]

Hi! I actually have a request! Can we have noahx reader who is a musician asking him to produce her music? You can choose between fluff or smut buf I'd like to read about a relationship!

Hi! I actually really enjoyed writing this <3

You get fluff AND smut ;) It's long as hell but I hope you enjoy!

Thank you for requesting!

(I've never written anything using Y/N because I try to avoid it, but it is used once or twice in this since it was unavoidable. So don't hate me for it plz <;3)

Warnings: pure filth

Produce Me

I am not ok.

I am not fucking ok.

My friend's birthday was last night, and we all got entirely too wasted. And my drunken ass DM'd none other than Noah Sebastian, of THE Bad Omens, to produce my music. I gave a stupid, misspelled blurb about how I am a struggling rock artist who needed someone to take a chance on. Topping it off, I attached a voice note of one of my song recordings I had made in my makeshift studio in my house.

And he FUCKING REPLIED.

My hands shook as I stared at my phone in shock.

"Hey! I actually think your sound is sick and I would love to meet with you to talk more about you and your music. What if we met at the studio today? Say around 4?"

This can't be real life. I must still be drunk, right? Gotta be.

I blinked my eyes a few times and pinched myself to ensure I was in fact sober and that this was real life before typing back a message.

"Hey there! 4 sounds great. What studio?" I typed back, throwing my phone and covering my eyes as if it would erase what was currently happening.

A few moments went by before my phone buzzed and I was throwing myself across the couch to grab it. He attached the address along with a 'Can't wait' that sent me into a whole screaming fit. I looked at the time on my phone, which read 1:30 PM and I scrambled to my feet to find my belongings so I could rush home to get ready. I stumbled over the sleeping bodies spread out around the floor, gathering my things and rushing out the door.

I sent a quick text to my friend explaining what was going on before getting in my car and zooming to my house. Once inside, I took the quickest shower of my life before applying some light makeup and throwing on a pair of ripped jeans and a hoodie. It took everything in me not to throw on a Bad Omens hoodie, but I decided that would look like I was trying too hard. I grabbed my flash drive with my songs I've made and a croissant along with a water bottle from my fridge before flying out my front door. I slid in my car and gripped the steering wheel, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath to try and calm my nerves

He's just a regular guy helping a regular girl get her music produced.

He's not an extremely successful rockstar who I've had the fattest crush on for forever.

Totally normal.

It was a short drive to the studio, and before I knew it I was pulling up with 10 minutes to spare. I took another deep breath before climbing out of my car and heading inside the building. I ran my fingers through my still slightly wet waves before walking through the door, eyes instantly landing on the lanky man sitting on the couch across the room. He had his hood up over his head and was scrolling on his phone, sunk lazily down in the couch.

I tried to calm the pounding in my chest at the sight of him, taking a few moments in the doorway to mentally prepare before walking towards him.

"Noah?" I questioned as I got closer.

His head popped up and a grin slid onto his face as he pushed off the couch, putting his phone into his pocket.

"You must be Y/N." He said, extending his hand to me.

I nodded with a smile. "I am, nice to meet you." I said as I shook his hand, mine much smaller than his and feeling like a toddler's hand.

"Nice to meet you. I'm really excited to work with you. You have a sick voice." He said as he dropped my hand, grin still on his face.

My smile widened. "You have no idea how much that means to me. Thank you."

"'Course. Follow me." He said, nodding his head in the direction of a hallway.

I followed behind him down the corridor, walking into the room at the end of it. He shut the door firmly behind us and gestured to a chair at the large soundboard in the center of the room. I took a seat and he followed, scooting the chair so that his knee rested against mine.

"So," He started, messing with a few buttons in front of us. "I already set up the audio clip you sent me to play over the speakers so we can get a deeper listen. I won't lie, I already played it once and it sounds even sicker in here."

I grinned at him. "Let's hear it."

He pressed play and the sound of my voice rang out around us, my raspy tones more enhanced by the sound system set up. I looked at him in awe as I listened, Noah meeting my eyes with a wide grin.

"See?" He questioned as the clip finished.

"Holy shit." I said through a chuckle.

He nodded and rubbed his hands together. "Please tell me you have more for me."

I opened my purse and pulled out the flash drive I brought, placing it in the palm of his hand. "There's three finished songs on this. I recorded them in my makeshift studio, so they definitely don't have the production quality you're probably used to." I said, all of a sudden getting shy about my work.

He shook his head and gave my arm a light comforting squeeze. "If you knew where I started you wouldn't be saying that." He said with a chuckle.

"Trust me, I've heard it all." I wanted to say but bit my tongue, settling on a chuckle of my own.

The next hour was spent with Noah playing the songs I provided and praising them, making comments about little tweaks and twists he would do to them. He played with the sound board some to add in his vision, blowing my mind with how his own mind works. It came so effortlessly to him. He could imagine something and make it come to life with the twist of a few knobs and pressing a few buttons.

By the end of the session, it was pushing 10 PM and I was officially fully comfortable with him. We had a balance of joking around along with working on my music, making the whole process so much easier. At one point he had pressed record while I laughed at a joke he made and insisted I put it in one of my songs.

"If you don't, I'm going to. I might still do it anyways." He said with a chuckle.

That was quite hard to contain my excitement over.

We agreed to meet at the studio most days for the next couple of weeks to fully work on what I have created already and to create all the songs I had written in my home studio.

Every day that we met, Noah surprised me with different mixes he had worked on his own time at his house. He was extremely flexible with my work hours, always down to meet at the studio whatever time I got off work.

"Do you ever sleep?" I asked with a laugh when I walked into the studio at 8:30 PM a week later, coffee in hand for both of us.

He turned to look at me, stubble starting to form on his face, and letting out a laugh of his own. "Not when I'm inspired."

I shook my head at him and took my seat by his side, sliding the coffee across the table. He sighed and hugged the coffee to his chest. "You are an angel. Thank you."

I smiled and took a sip of my own coffee. "The least I can do."

He wrapped his arm around my shoulders in a side hug, causing me to rest my head on his shoulder to return it. The scent of his cologne filled my senses and sent a jolt of electricity through me. I blinked myself out of the trance as he broke the hug, clearing my throat and turning to face him.

"What have you created now?" I questioned, trying to calm the butterflies.

"You're gonna fucking love it." He said, excitement on his features as he pressed play.

It was my favorite song that we've recorded in the past week, but something was different about it. I listened closer for a few moments before gasping and smacking him in the arm.

"That's your voice!" I exclaimed as he laughed at me.

He turned down the song, letting it play quietly in the background. "You talked about wanting it to have background vocals that weren't your own so I thought I'd add some in to see how it sounds. You like?" He questioned, crooked grin on his face.

"Do I like it?" I questioned. "I fucking love it!"

He grinned and bit his bottom lip as if to stifle the size of his smile. "I hoped you would."

"Can I keep them on the song?" I questioned, poking my bottom lip out.

He chuckled and shook his head, pinching my bottom lip I had poked out. "I can't say no to that face."

I clapped, giddiness filling me up. "Noah Sebastian, you are fucking amazing."

"I'm alright, nothing amazing." He said as the song came to an end, looking away from me.

I could swear a blush creeped up his cheeks as he pulled his hood further around his face, hiding the color from me.

"No, I'm serious." I said, squeezing his arm so he would meet my eyes again. His cheeks were still a light shade of pink once he faced me again, a sparkle in his eyes and shy smile on his face. "You're amazing." I said more firmly, staring into his eyes.

He brought his hand up to squeeze mine that was still on his arm. "Thank you, Y/N. That means a lot."

I nodded. "Of course. It's true."

His eyes searched mine, hand still on top of my own and neither of us daring to break contact. My heart leapt into my throat as he slowly started to lean in, eyes darting between my lips and back up to my eyes as if asking permission.

"We shouldn't." I whispered, own eyes darting down to his lips.

He slightly shook his head. "We shouldn't." He whispered back.

"I don't want to ruin the working relationship we have." I whispered again, voice even softer as my common sense slowly started to chip away the more his scent wrapped around me.

"I don't want that either." He whispered, a huskiness taking over his voice and sending shivers down my spine.

He paused right in front of my face, lips barely ghosting against mine as we stared into each other's eyes. Our breathing sped up and mingled together, the air around us thick with tension as neither of us dared to make the move but both wanting so badly to do so.

We stared into each other's eyes a few more moments before he spoke up. "Fuck it."

He pressed his lips against mine, pulling my wheeled chair closer to him so that his knees were on either side of mine. Butterflies exploded throughout my body as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, his own snaking around my waist. I pressed my body flush against his as I opened my mouth to let his tongue tangle with mine, the taste of him filling my taste buds and causing my core to throb. I stood up so that I could straddle him in his chair, my lips never leaving his. He brought a hand up to grip the hair at the nape of my neck and causing me to moan into our kiss at the feeling. I pushed the hood off his head so that I could tangle my fingers through his hair, lightly pulling and causing his own moan to escape him.

I pulled back breathlessly, placing my hands on his cheeks. "What are we doing?" I questioned.

He shook his head, lips swollen. "I don't know. But I don't want to stop."

"God, me either." I said before slamming my lips back onto his.

He picked us up, causing me to tightly wrap my legs around his waist as he carried us to the leather couch on the back wall of the room. He sat down so that I was straddling him, his hands resting on my ass and giving it a squeeze. I ground my hips into his, the feeling of his growing erection sending a shockwave through my core. He let out a deep moan as I did this, moving my ass so that I did it again. He brought a hand to the front of my leggings and slipped it underneath the waistband, landing on my bare clit as I decided to forego panties today. I gasped against his lips, breaking the kiss so that our lips were brushing against each other's.

"Is this ok?" He questioned breathlessly, finger resting on my clit.

I nodded, eyes meeting his as my mouth hung open. "More than ok." I breathed out.

His finger started to circle my clit, causing my eyes to close as my head dropped backwards. A moan escaped me while his finger magically worked on me, easily sliding throughout my arousal.

"God, you're so wet." He breathed out huskily, placing a trail of hot kisses down my neck.

I circled my hips against his finger, the pit in my stomach growing faster than I'd ever experienced before. I tangled my hands in the hair at the nape of his neck, pulling tightly. I began to loosen my grip in worry that I was hurting him but paused when a moan escaped him when I pulled tightly. My moans got louder and I smacked a hand over my mouth to muffle them, worrying anyone else in the building would hear.

"The studio is soundproof. Let me hear those pretty sounds." He said against my neck, biting down on the skin.

I dropped my hand from my mouth and gripped his shoulder tightly, hips still circling his fingers. My moans sped up as my orgasm quickly built, my release getting closer and closer.

"Noah, you're gonna make me cum." I moaned out, bringing my head forward to rest on top of his.

He brought his free hand up to grip my chin, raising it so he could meet my eyes. "Cum for me. Let it all go, angel."

My brows furrowed and my jaw went slack as I was on the brink of my orgasm, hips speeding up as his finger did the same. My moans hit a higher pitch before my orgasm exploded, causing me to toss my head back and cry out at the pleasure coursing through my body.

"That'a girl." He praised, placing more kisses on my neck.

I brought my head forward, resting my forehead against his as my chest heaved and he worked me through my high. My body twitched against his while his finger slowly circled my sensitive clit, causing me to grip his shoulders tightly. My eyes slid shut while I took deep breaths to return my breathing to normal and he peppered kisses against my cheeks before landing on my lips. He broke the kiss and pulled his hand out of my pants, licking his fingers clean of my arousal. I rolled my bottom lip into my mouth and stifled a moan at the sight before grabbing his face and pressing my lips onto his, tasting myself on his tongue.

"Fuck me, Noah." I mumbled against his lips.

He growled into the kiss and flip us so that I was on my back and he was hovering above me. He stood up to pull his shirt off along with his pants and I did the same, drinking in the sight of his naked body. My eyes dropped to his erection, precum gathering on the tip as he slid his hand down his length.

My core throbbed at the size of him and I reached my hand in his direction. He walked closer and I grabbed his erection, sliding my hand up and down while using my thumb to smear the precum down the length of him. A soft moan escaped him before he crawled on top of me, pressing his lips to mine.

"Are you.." He mumbled against my lips, almost unable to finish his sentence.

"I'm clean and on birth control." I mumbled back, reaching between us to rub my thumb over the tip of his dick.

"I'm clean too." He said, kissing me harder.

I kissed him back, rubbing my thumb back and forth and causing him to moan against my lips. "Then get inside of me."

Those words were all it took for him to slide his length between my lips before sliding all the way into me, my arousal making it easy for him to fully enter me. We broke the kiss to gasp at the feeling, my legs coming up to wrap around his waist.

"Noah." I breathed out, placing my hands on his cheeks. "Don't go easy."

His eyes darkened as I said this. He pulled his hips back before slamming them into mine, causing me to cry out in pleasure. He placed his hands on my hips and squeezed hard as he began thrusting into me harshly, undoubtedly leaving bruises behind for later. His name fell from my lips in moans over and over the more he thrust into me. He leaned back and pulled my legs up so that they rested over his shoulders, squeezing my knees together. I gasped at the new angle, his thrusts perfectly hitting my g spot and my legs rubbing together stimulating my clit.

"Fuck." I moaned out, tossing my head back into the couch. I squeezed his thighs with my hands, nails digging into his tattooed skin.

"You feel so fucking good." He moaned, placing a kiss then a bite on my ankle.

"God, you're making me feel so good." I said, opening my eyes to look up at him.

The more he thrust into me the more my second orgasm built up, turning me into a moaning mess beneath him.

"You're gonna cum again, I can feel it." He groaned, thrusts staying at a steady pace. I nodded as my moans sped up, eyes squeezing shut. "Let go again. You can do it."

My breathing sped up before I was screaming his name, my second orgasm of the night crashing over me like a tidal wave. His thrusts slowed down to work me through my high again, body twitching underneath him.

"Fuck." I breathed out, eyes opening back up to meet his.

He smirked and leaned down to kiss me, my legs draped across his shoulders. "Good girl." He said against my lips before starting thrusting into me again.

My knees were to my chest and ankles over his shoulders as he kissed me, his thrusts becoming sloppier as his own orgasm crept up on him.

"I'm so fucking close." He growled against my lips, hand coming up to squeeze my neck.

My mouth dropped open as he squeezed me, more pleasure shooting through my body. "Cum for me, then." I breathed out, eyes locked onto his.

His brows furrowed. "Goddamn, you feel so good." He whined.

I bit my bottom lip as I watched his face contort in pleasure, a few more sloppy thrusts into me before he was pulling out and cumming on my stomach. Whines and whimpers mixed with his moans escaped him, his eyes rolling back as his body shook with his orgasm. I drank in the sight of him coming undone between my legs, committing everything to memory.

He sighed and dropped his head once his high calmed down, placing a kiss on my ankle. He slowly lowered my legs so he didn't hurt me before grabbing a few tissues from the table beside us to clean both of us off. He squeezed himself between me and the couch, turning me on my side so that we were face to face and his arm was draped across my waist.

"Hi." He breathed out.

I giggled, pushing the hair off of his forehead. "Hi."

"That is not how I expected tonight to go." He said, eyes shut in exhaustion.

I chewed on the inside of my lip to stifle the smile that threatened to slide onto my face. "Are you mad about it?"

His eyes popped open as he quickly shook his head no, causing me to laugh. "Not at all. I wouldn't be mad if it happened again, either."

I grinned and pressed my lips onto his.

"Me either."

[buttercupfiction]

Hi, hope u're well!!! So i read ur demo. And i like it 🥰. Before, i want to romance renegade. But after met him in demo. Gahhh he's so cold T^T. Do we need to start pining him or something then for gaining his attention? I mean he didn't even want to sit next to us!!! Usually i like cold and distant character that just warm toward MC, or a tsundere u know. But i don't want to experience one sided love 💔. I know it just first meeting but still, i just want to know the big picture of his route plz. Thank you and have a nice day ❤.

hiii! :3

thank you so much, i'm glad you enjoyed it! i'm doing good hahah

to answer your question, you have nothing to worry about! like you said, this was just your first meeting and he wasn't really in a very social mood. like all of the ROs, he'll have his moment in the sun, he's just very guarded when it comes to relationships with others.

believe me, i'm a huge sucker for the 'i hate everyone but you' types of characters, so i'd never even dream of doing his route dirty

more about this under the cut, cause there are some slight spoilers for the way the story unfolds :)

his route is very much a slow burn (along with ash's and elio's), and it will take some time to gain his trust, but he's definitely not as cold and unfeeling as he tries to appear.

you'll meet him again in chapter 3, you'll get to (lovingly) bother him in chapter 4, and then in chapter 5 you'll get a nice big half-a-chapter hangout with him (and the journalist), and by the end you'll be able to choose who to have a sleepover with, for lack of a better word hahah

that said, you'll still have to show interest in him, like wanting to talk to him etc, but you don't have to be super nice or pine either; there will be choices which will indicate your interest without you having to be the one doing all the work, so rest assured that things will never be just one-sided.

hopefully this eases your worries a bit, but if you still have any concerns or if there's anything specific you're curious about, do let me know :)

[loycos]

Lol can i plz have your Caitvi fic list?

haha, i wrote the tag asking people to ask for this list over a month ago and got that ask shortly after, only to go into my bookmark list and see that i have WAYYY too many saved in there. sorry it took a while.

There are a lot (A LOT) of piltover's finest fics, and a lot of them are good. this last year i've been FED like ive probably never been fed before in my life. that means i have a lot of bookmarks that i honestly don't remember much of other than "it good", but i wanted this rec list to include the fics that really left a (positive) mark on me. they aren't ordered in any specific way, and all are sfw. if you guys want my nsfw list, hit me up (i swear it wont take a month again)

Shadows at sea won't keep you from me - this is rated M but the sex is extremely vague. this one is very dialog heavy and is filled with inner vi monologue, however, it feels like a fresh take. I love the home-y vibes they give off here.

i won't let go (i left my baby teeth in your drawer) - caitlyn experiences a crisis in the shower. sounds like every caitvi fic you've ever read but i swear this one has something special to it. it feels really intimate in a way not many fics managed to capture imo, and caitlyn is written very in character.

High Tide Came and Brought You In - caitlyn's a mermaid, vi's a sailor. i'm usually not a person who actively seeks aus, especially not as extreme as this one, but this way such a sweet little thing, even i couldn't help but get swiped by the simple story.

Don't break the rules (maybe just for you) - "i hate aus! especially high school aus!" i scream again and again in every convo about fanfics i've ever had. so why is battle academia like my favorite caitvi au??? i don't know. makes no sense to me. i actively sought out this specific au tag, so i guess it makes me a liar too. what's so special about this one? idk, it has caitlyn and vi in it, it's well written and adorable, its a goddamn high school au, you know exactly what you're getting yourselves into. do be aware that BA!caitlyn is a different beast entirely than arcane!caitlyn, and so is BA!vi to an extent. (EDIT: i made it sound like im mad at this very cute fic, not my intention at all. this one is on here for a reason)

We Have Never Been Fairweather Friends- in the aftermath of the council's attack, caitlyn comes down with a mysterious disease, and vi is there to make sure she's ok. i, *cough*, might have talked about this one before. this might be my favorite fic, or top 2 at least. really good and in character writing, trippy and surprisingly authentic dream sequences, and a mystery that builds at a perfect rate.

Soaked with Sadness - caitlyn attempts catching jinx by herself, vi isn't too pleased. this is the other top 2 fic. the usual well-written-in-character compliment goes here, but also it's got that special brand of intimacy that i like, plus drunk caitlyn, and you kind of find out things in a non-linear way that make the story feel really... well crafted. i had to read it twice in a row cause i felt like i was missing things on the first go (might just be my dumb ESL brain tho).

the negative space and the pausing of time - aftermath fic. like author said, there are tons of those in the tag, and i have read probably all of them, but this one is really really good. the dialog feels especially flowy and snappy. kinda what i wouldve want to see in season 2, if arcane was just about angsty lesbians, which it sadly isn't. fics like this fill the void of the hiatus in my heart.

[teaveetamer]

I think I missed some context. What fic is it whose author is getting harrassed?

Oh our old pal Raxy decided that he was going to spork a? Dimiclaudeleth I think? Fic. It's called the Savior King and the Master Tactician or something like that and I think it has a spinoff fic called The Flame Empress in Thracia that he's also decided to shit talk.

Not only did he decide to "spork" the fic (self proclaimed spork by the way), he decided to link to the fic itself on every post. So you're basically saying "look at this piece of shit here! Here's why it fucking sucks and here's exactly where to find it so you can go shit on it!!!!!" and now he's trying to be like "wait guys plz don't harass the author I never meant for this 🥺"

Like again, if you really didn't want the author to get harassed you'd think you'd stop doing the thing that's getting them harassed but he hasn't afaik.

Which like you know. If this was the first time he'd ever done something like this then I could forgive it as an honest mistake, but he's literally an experienced sporker. He even made his own little TV tropes entry for himself on a sporker page where he gasses himself up and calls himself a "chivalrous pervert" lmfao (Wait I thought y'all hated toXiC MaScULiNe cHiVaLry?). And this has literally been his MO for the last half dozen people he's bullied. Plus like, dude isn't some dumbass 14 year old who doesn't fully think through their actions or fully grasp how their actions may affect others. He's like 35. So I have to assume it's intentional, unless he's just never been on the internet before.

Naturally, the author got a deluge of harassment, some of which was just Raxy's buddies copy + pasting things from his posts in the comment section to own the haterz so he can't even argue that they didn't come from him.

Again, I assume he's doing this because he thinks we care as much about this fic as he does about the one BWIIDT is criticizing when like. I literally couldn't care less lmao. I've never even read the fic. I wouldn't even know it existed if he didn't start harassing the author. Heck he could critique my own fics and I probably wouldn't care as much as he seems to care about his Edelgard fic, cuz I don't really hinge my self worth on whether or not random internet strangers agree with my takes. But maybe that's just me.

Anyway I'm probably not gonna answer any more asks about this, I think I said it all there. If you wanna do anything send some love to the author getting harassed, not to me.

[femmmie]

Ooh I was thinking about whumptober and one of the prompts is "not realizing they're injured" and I would like that with shian plz!

read on AO3

The fight was horrible.

"You just don't get it, Ian. I'm done. I'm so over this shit!"

They stood in the middle of the busy parking lot of the diner they just hosted a party at. The cast and crew were all there. Anthony had been in a mood from the start, though.

Every scream-laugh from Shayne, every "look it up!" from Amanda, he'd become more irritated, leaning all the way onto Ian, like he was trying to crawl into his best friend's marsupial pouch. Ian had tried to calm everyone down a bit, but big personalities and alcohol were quite the unstoppable force. He'd tried to get Anthony outside, but Anthony didn't want Ian to miss the party.

"Hey, it's okay, I know you hate these things. But it's also important that our people see you from time to time," he'd said softly against Anthony's ear.

"I just have a lot of trouble empathizing with those guys right now! They're acting like I'm not even there!"

"You know that's not true, Anthony. You're the one not talking to anyone. Aren't you at least a little stoked we have reached a new view count record?"

"Numbers are arbitrary, Ian," Anthony said coldly and finally walked out of the diner. Ian ran after him.

"What's up with them?" Angela said with a grin, but by the looks on her colleagues' faces, this wasn't a joke.

Shayne and Courtney ran outside after Ian and Anthony, who now stood a little space apart and were screaming.

"Shayne, what do we do?" Courtney hid behind him.

"I think they just need to vent a little. Let's give them some space."

Shayne looked at Ian and Anthony with pity, for he knew how stressed they both were with the burden of being owners of such an important company. But he also couldn't help to enjoy this a tiny little bit. Anthony deserved a bit of a shouting to, in Shayne's opinion. He felt like Anthony never truly apologized for all the pain he'd put Ian through, for all those years. He'd gotten a pass by almost everyone. Shayne blamed it on pretty privilege.

Shayne loved Ian so much. As his silly boss, as one of his closest friends, as someone who had greenlit his love affair with Courtney which had led to their marriage. There was always a kind of understanding between them. When Ian had been sad, Shayne's hart had broken for him. He also fantasized about carrying Ian around, weirdly. He always shrugged it off. But there was something about Ian, that just made you want to care for him.

"I THINK I KNOW HOW TO RUN SMOSH JUST FINE, I DID IT FOR 6 YEARS ON MY OWN."

"YEAH YOU DID IT ~POORLY~! YOU KNOW HOW TO RUN SMOSH ~POORLY~."

"THAT'S NOT WHAT YOU SAID WHEN WE AGREED TO BUY."

"BECAUSE I HADN'T HEARED THE ANNOYING VOICES OF YOUR LITTLE DUMB FRIENDS YET, THEY DRIVE ME FUCKING NUTS."

Ian deflated himself and sighed. "Anthony, I'm sorry, we should talk about this in private. And you don't mean that about our colleagues."

"Don't I, Ian?"

"No, of course not! You've become part of Smosh again so fast this last year, it's like, like you never left. Truly."

"You just don't get it, Ian. I'm done. I'm so over this shit!"

"Please, Anthony..." Ian's voice became small, pleading.

Shayne and Courtney knew this was their cue. They had seen Ian like this before and it was never pretty. They pushed their way through the crowd, which barely paid attention to Ian and Anthony's fight.

Anthony walked away to his car.

"Don't- don't leave me, please!" Ian cried and walked after him, not noticing the car that was coming from his right.

Shayne didn't think, he just bolted towards Ian, pushing him to the side, but getting hit by the car instead.

"Shayne!" Courtney shrieked, running up to him.

"Ian? Ian!" Anthony looked back only now and ran up to his best friend, who was still laying there.

"Ian, are you okay? Jesus, I didn't mean all that, please, I was just in a bad mood, I'm so sorry. Are you hurt?" Ian crawled back to his feet, wiping his clothes off.

"Is IAN hurt? Don't you even care about Shayne who just saved his life?" Courtney had never looked this angry before.

"Shayne, oh my god, are you okay?" Ian ran up to him.

"Hey, I gave Chanse a run for his money, I almost jumped on the car."

The driver had profusely apologized for the accident and Shayne had waved it off, but he was visibly in a lot of pain.

"You big ol' idiot," Ian smiled. "Don't you know you shouldn't risk your life for your boss? Especially when your spouse is right there. He winked jokingly at Courtney. They all grinned and laughed like big idiots.

Ian turned to Anthony, who stood alone, completely lost. He walked up to him and hugged him.

"I'm fine, and I'm sorry," he said softly. "Let's never dine here again, the echoing was appalling you're absolutely right.

"I'm so glad you're okay..." Anthony hugged Ian again. "You big dummy, I'm never leaving, you will never get rid of me because I am the co-owner, hahahaha!"

"I guess you're right. The alcohol was getting the better of me. Wanna come over to Shayne and Court and apologize?"

"Yeah." Anthony blushed and looked at Shayne and Courtney. Courtney had not forgiven him just yet.

"I'm sorry, Shayne, and thank you for saving Ian's life. Like, he would not have survived that, with his frail, dainty- hahaha! Body!" Ian was fake punching him, with a scrunched nose.

"Yeah... probably not," Shayne said in a small voice and grimacing.

"You don't have to keep your voice down for me, maybe I was a little jealous that you have the loudest laugh at Smosh now."

Shayne just nodded, still smiling.

"Shayne, does it hurt? Are you okay?"

Then, Shayne vomited up blood. A lot of blood.

"Call 911!" Courtney said while already calling themselves.

The ambulance soon came and Shayne was carted off.

Ian, Anthony and Courtney followed him to the hospital. Waiting for the doctor seemed like an eternity.

"We had to do an emergency operation," the doctor finally came out to the hall. "He is doing well, he needs to rest, though."

"Thank you so much," Courtney sobbed and hugged the doctor. He rushed off to his next patient.

"I am so, so sorry, Court. This all happened because of me..." Anthony took their hand and squeezed it.

"No, it happened because of me, I shouldn't have walked into traffic like an idiot." Ian took their other hand.

"I mean, I was literally walking away from you, something I had vowed never to do again. So I'm really the one at fault."

Courtney smiled. "I have already forgiven you two. Look at y'all, you care so much. Maybe rowdy dinner parties are just not the way to go."

"Next time we could do a house party at my place?" Ian suggested.

"Sounds good," Anthony answered, hugging Ian with one arm.

"Group hug!" Courtney demanded and Ian and Anthony were happy to do it. Courtney held them both, longer than necessary. When they finally released, they were teary eyed.

"I'm still very worried about Shayne."

Ian and Anthony patted them on the back. "Of course. He's your husband."

"And my best friend. I don't know what I'd do without him... Who I would even be."

Anthony looked at Ian, eyes watering as well. "It was a scary day for all of us. Let's vow to be responsible in parking lots from now on."

"Practice spatial awareness. We could have an in-company training. Invite Angela as well."

"Oh yes. And Chanse. Teach him to never jump even anywhere near a car."

Anthony looked at them and smiled. "You're a fun bunch, do you know that?"

[elliebean714]

Hi, May I plz have a comfort request with Atlas or Sander Cohen with a fem! S/O that's had a tough couple of days and says she's tired and doesn't wanna bother them?

Thx lovey.

Yey more bioshock! Went with Atlas cus I don't write Cohen but also he just creeps me out lol not that Atlas isn't one creepy bitch tho, still hate him promise🤞 this is a shawty deal with it❤️

You're My Lady, Not A Problem

Atlas X F!Reader

Fluff, Comfort

Pre-Game

Of course being a revolutionist wasn't easy, it never would be, but it was getting really tough recently. Every night you dreaded waking up the next morning more and more.

You'd talk to your lover, Atlas, but as the leader he was always busy, and your problems would seem microscopic compared to his. So you tried to keep everything to yourself.

But he could tell something was wrong, he could always read you so easily. Or maybe you were just easy to read, but either way, it didn't take long for him to confront you on it.

"What is wrong with you darlin'?" He asked in the dark as you laid beside him.

"Hmm?" You hummed back, too tierd to ask him to elaborate with words.

"You heard me love, don't be acting dumb now." He told you sternly. When you turned to face him, he cupped your cheek with his hand. "What's wrong darlin'?".

"I don't think it's just one thing. It's a bunch of little things that all piled up." You answered, "I don't know why, but recently I've had a rough time. I'm so tierd all day and then once I try to sleep I can't.".

He was silent, just listening. As he often was. He was a surprise when you got to know him, with an audience Atlas was a man of a thousand words, but in private, with the woman he loved, he was uncharacteristically quiet. A comfortable blanket of silence that eclipsed the two of you from the evil outside. Like the true Altas was a hidden treasure at the bottom of the ocean.

"Why don't you just take a few days to yerself, doll?" He asked eventually.

"I can't, you know that." You sighed.

"I can't, love. You can and should take however long you need. Don't worry about me or anything else for a bit." Atlas told you.

"I, I'll try." You yawn, burrowing your head in his neck.

"You better." He kissed the top of your head. After several moments of silence he spoke again, "Why haven't you told me sooner dollface?"

You sighed, trying to find the best way to let him know that you felt like a burden. Deciding the best way was always honesty with him, you took one more deep breath before you began. "You're always so busy, I didn't want to bother you. You've always got so much going on I don't want to be another problem for you to deal with."

"Hush. You're my Lady, not a problem. I might be busy but I would abandon everything else if you told me to. If you think I don't have time for you, I would make some for you." He comforts you, tucking a stay strand of hair behind your hair.

"I love you." You yawned, and whilst he never said it back, you knew he didn't have to. He proved his love for you everyday.

What I Write~

Games

TWD

~Elliebean714

♤♡◇♧☆♧◇♡♤♡◇♧☆♧◇♡♤♡◇♧☆

[labyrinthdancer]

I wrote the scene that started Monarch's Will

I didn't mean for it to get so long but it got away from me a bit. I ain't a writer so plz be nice thx :)

Twilight hated this, the ballroom was packed with nobles, ladies brushing against his arms with their noxious perfumes that made his nose burn, and gentlemen talking loudly in his ears making them ring, Twilight wanted nothing more than to escape this gilded prison. A man bumped into Twilight making him want to bare his fangs and snarl but he caught himself, The others were around he couldn't afford to be a wolf now, none of the heroes look at him the same after Wolffie, Time doesn't look at Twilight the same, they expected a Hylian and got him instead. So he quieted the rumble in his throat and closed his mouth over his fangs, grabbing a glass of champagne Twilight found himself a quiet corner to watch the rest of the party from. Twilight stayed in his corner mostly unbothered and ignored, Time glanced over at him occasionally, a hint of worry in his eye but never approached. After a while, Twilight was about to ditch the party altogether and find himself a forest to unwind in, but his saving grace finally came in the form of his queen on the other side of the room, joining the party 'fashionably late' as she liked to call it. Twilight was by her side before he realized he was walking, Midna noticed him walk over and put her arm over his shoulders pulling him closer to her as she was talking to some noble "Perfect time, this is Link, MY Divine Beast he aided me in taking back my kingdom from Zant and save Hyrule from destruction" The inflection on my didn't go unnoticed by Twilight, but he didn't mind, it was a nice contrast from Hyrule's reluctant acceptance, Dusk being the only noble who would even agknowage him without a grimace. "oh, ah- well it's JUST LOVELY to see you again Hero of Twilight, I thought you had left the kingdom on some quest? Or had moved to that Realm of Dusk or something?" The barely repressed grimace on the nobleman's face was amusing to Twilight, "Twilight Realm. Yeah, Hylia sent me on'a grand 'o quest ov'r yonder, but it ain't 'dat big of'a deal I reckon" Twilight purposely thickened his accent to really bend the noble out of shape. Twi heard Midna hold back a snort as the man's face looked disgusted, quickly excusing himself from the conversation and storming off. "Hyrulians really don't like you beasty" Midna commented readjusting their positions to use both of Twi's shoulders as armrests. "I know, but it ain'ts mess'in me up if 'couple Hyrulians ain't liken me." They chatted among themselves for a while until Merida, a Lady of Midna's court, came striding up "My Lady I have just been notified that your rematch with the Challenger was meant for today, what do you wish to do?" Midna straightened up to address her "Bring him to the plaza outside, the Queen has been wanting to see more of our culture and ways, what better way than to witness a Challenge" Merida looked exasperated "As you wish my Lady." she then portaled away leaving the two alone in the crowded room again. Midna moved to look Twilight in the eyes, softening her gaze when it met his. She leaned closer to him and said in a lowered voice "Are you alright with doing it hear love? With all these people and dumb heroes around I could move it to a later date." Twilight could hear the concern in her voice, he put his hands on her arms and met her gaze with a confident one. "We don't know how long I'll be here for or how long I'll be gone, there ain't no way to plan around dat. It don't matter how I'm feelin the Challenge is important and needs to happen." She nodded and they started making their way out to the plaza.

you can read the rest on AO3

shaking in my boots I wrote something AND posted it very proud of meself :3

[tomiesimppp]

Girl in red

wednesday addams X FEM reader

warning : i am very new to this so plz tell me if i did some thing wrong plz tell me and i hope this i good and plz give me requests.

your a new student in nevermore but of course, the gossip in nevermore about a new student was loud. your a beautiful girl but others did there research and digging, and you apparently stab and killed some one at your old school ,but you some how got away with it, Wednesday was very interested on how you got away with murder.

you went to you new dorm and to meet your new room mate, you walk down the hallway with a travel cart that has your bags and suitcases ,you walked as your red heels clicked against the old hard wood floor the clicks of your heels echoing threw the hall you stop at the door and knocked at the door a tall female figure opens the door you look you at the woman , she looks at you shes a lot smaller than she thought you would be .

your a short girl almost as short as Wednesday she let you in and you unpacking your things and decorate your side of the room she saw your things and you had black Louis Vuitton bags soon she saw her saw more designer bags shoes clothing and more then she watch you decorate your room you had one too many books tho you love reading oh so mush you could get lost in books for hours at a time but you said you would pay more attention to the real world .

soon you were done with your room and you need one last thing the beautiful black mirror it looked old to others but to you it was beautiful you looked at the girl that is consider your room mate you look her up and down are you going to sit and look dumb or are you going to give me the tour umm.... she was thinking about what to say to a pretty face like yours she got up and gave you tour like you asked she talked and walked you were wearing a headband red as blood and your hair black as can be a simple red cherry lip and a black turtle neck a red v neck cardigan a black skirt and black tights ans some pretty red platform heels and gold jewelry and a red Dior bag as you walk around others feel you charm and others fear you.

it was so weird you saw a girl she was looking at you the blond girl looks the other way and ran of you were confused about it but got over it you got your uniform and you absolutely I HATE IT you said you look in the mirror but you have to wear it Yoko said you looked at her NO SHIT SHERLOCK you yell okay you don't have to yell you roll you eyes come on its not that bad you looked at her giving a rusting bitch face okay maybe a purpler headband NO come on try it NO because i don't wear purpler try it ones NO y/n what you said turning around to face her try it this one time and if you don't like it you can never wear it ever i you life fine you try and hate it so red i was

you got in comfort clothing and you lay cross you bed a Yoko was doing homework and she had things to say to yo she spin her chair around and looked at you you look up you see her gaze what is it you ask will you answer some questions you sighed fine you said rolling you eyes okay are your parent famous or some thing because how and why do you have so much expense and luxury things no my parents are not famous they own many company's and work so much whats the company they Owen more than one how many i don't know all of them but you can do you digging on the media okay but .

but what you said Okay soo you look at the girl confused the hole school thinks you killed someone you look at her dead pan and you role your eyes WILL she yelled will what ARE YOU FOR REAL umm...yes DID YOU KILL SOMEONE AND HOW DID YOU GET AWAY WITH IT she yells at you okay one STOP YELLING AT ME okay iam sorry she calms down so can you tell me how maybe come don't leave me hanging like that you look at her fine but i think you want to sit down.

and that is part one of the story idk if you what part 2 but if you want it plz ask i will post it hope you liked the story and sorry about the paragraphs it's a habit BYE <3

[corvusthecryptid]

Hey! I'm actually really curious about Your Thoughts™ on the DSMP finale!! (Yes, this is a plea for an infodump plz)

FUCK YES SOMEONE FINALLY ASKED ALRIGHT BUCKLE UP

im putting it under read more bc i KNOW this is gonna get LONG

Everyone is talking about Tommy "forgiving" Dream and how him apologizing is victim blaming. As a victim of abuse, I don't see it that way. What it is, though, is very realistic.

See, abusers are, in fact, people. Are they shitty people? Absolutely! But they are still people. And I'm sure we've all heard the saying, "two wrongs don't make a right." This is true even with abusers.

Let me set up a scenario for you. I am in the car with my abuser, and my abuser swerves in a way that scares the shit out of me. It just so happens that it's right as one of my migraines are starting, making all my bad emotions worse. I yell at them for it, and say some hurtful things.

Yelling at people is wrong. Saying hurtful things is also wrong. So after this point, I would absolutely owe this person an apology. Because even if they later on do something emotionally abusive to me, that does not erase the hurt that I have caused. It's also not justified! So they would still be doing a shitty thing; I'm not saying they aren't.

But at the end of the day, I can only control my actions. And if my actions are hurtful ones, then yes, I owe an apology to the person or people I hurt, even if they are bad people. This does not absolve them of their abusive behaviors; but their behaviors don't absolve me of my own, either.

Tommy apologizing to Dream was for his own actions. Did Tommy deserve what Dream did, even after what Tommy did? FUCK no. But Tommy is only in control of his own actions, not Dream's. So I fully respect that he felt that the right choice in that situation was to apologize for his own wrongdoings.

That is not the same as forgiving Dream, either! I don't believe Tommy did forgive Dream. I believe that he was taking responsibility for his own actions, including the ones that made it so that none of them would get peace in that world.

Because that is what he did. Now, when he made that decision, it was before he knew peace was an option with Dream and Punz alive. So I don't judge his decision there, even if it was the wrong one with the knowledge we have now. But it was an option, and Tommy unintentionally got rid of said option. That is something fully worth apologizing for!

He wasn't apologizing for "bringing on" abuse or some shit. He was acknowledging that yes, even though he was the victim, he also was not perfect, and he was apologizing for his own misdeeds.

I think part of the problem is that a lot of the fandom sees things in black-and-white. What's funny is that I really struggle with said thinking as a result of BPD, and I'm the one seeing the shades of gray here!

But that's the thing, there are shades of gray in this series, just like in real life. Someone being a victim(of anything, abuse or otherwise) does not make them this perfect, untainted person who can do no wrong. In fact, in real life, it typically does the opposite! You pick up a lot of unhealthy behaviors when you're in an abusive situation. Sometimes you have to, in order to get through it. And sometimes those behaviors are harmful, and you have to unlearn them.

It actually reminds me of what happened with the Life is Strange fandom! Everyone ADORED Kate Marsh, who went through a traumatic event, because she was the "perfect victim." She was sad and meek and quiet. They all HATED Chloe, though, who was a victim of nearly the exact same thing. Why? Because she was at the point where she was angry at everyone, and lashing out.

Everyone wants the story to have Tommy be the Kate Marsh of this scenario. No one seems to want to see him be the Chloe. The truth is, though, that somewhere in the middle is where Tommy falls. This, to me, is far more realistic. You don't stay the perfect little meek, scared, cowering victim. You get angry, you do shit you shouldn't, and you have to take responsibility for that.

In my opinion, the finale acknowledges that! It acknowledges that you don't get a free pass on anything bad you do, past present and future, just because you're a victim of something. You still have responsibility for your own actions. Now, said actions never, ever justify what happened to you. But they are your actions, which you need to hold responsibility for.

For me, the finale gave me FAR more closure than simply "tommy is an angel and dream is an inhuman monster." I think they handled it beautifully, and I am so glad that they did it the way that they did as opposed to just making it a joke like Wilbur did or going for a fake, flowery ending. Both of those would have left a bad taste in my mouth.

So yeah, I absolutely loved that ending. I like that we're gonna get a clean slate, though I'm VERY hopeful that fragments start coming back. I could definitely see the next series being a cautionary tale: Do not let the past define you, but do not let history repeat itself, either. I also think it could provide explanation for all the memory issues on the server. Maybe this isn't the first time a wipe has happened, and maybe it doesn't affect everyone every time.

This has honestly renewed a lot of of my hope and interest for this series! I'm looking forward to seeing how things go.

but for the love of god y'all please stop calling it season 2, l'manburg was season one we've already had seasons oh my god this isn't the second season it's a spinoff/reboot PLEASE

[hotxcheeto]

ur wish is my command! ellie x reader sleepy cuddles where ellies talking to the reader about her obsession with space, reader is super interested but tiireedd and ends up falling asleep so ellie gives her light kisses on her cheeks and forehead and whispers goodnight☹️☹️💖 plz make it extra fluffy .. small details like ellie absentmindedly tracing the readers arms whilst she talks!!

━ 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄

𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜(𝙨) - Ellie Williams x Fem!Reader 𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 - I don't think there is any?

𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙? - Yeah?/Nope

𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧'𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙚 - Turned into Dr. Seuss towards the end LMFAOO but I actually kind of like this? Like I don't completely hate it

It was dark, late as rain pattered against the window. The curtains were closed, Ellie not liking the feeling of being watched. Whether you were or not. She didn't like it. It reminded her of having zero privacy out in the world. The feeling of never being truly, alone.

You smiled at that thought, as it was something she had to have. A little quirk, you might say.

You were laying on her pillow while tiredly staring at the TV. The only light in the room was a lamp on her desk and the TV light from the old movie playing. Jurassic Park, one of her all time favorites, it was a lucky find. The DVD still in good condition, enough for the DVD player to read at least.

It felt nice relaxing in the dark room, you only wished your girlfriend was laid beside you. The bed felt cold, though it smelled of her. You absentmindedly held the blanket close to your face, inhaling her scent that had always lingered within the sheets.

You were beginning to drift to sleep with this. The smell mixed with the rain sounds had slowly begun to lull you into deep darkness. But then the front door opened, causing you to open your eyes.

Ellie stepped into the room, quickly shutting the door behind her. She had her hood up on her hoodie. Covering her face and hair from the rain. She quickly slipped off her boots that she sported, knowing you hated when she'd trail water and mud through the small home.

"Hey." She turned around to see you, laying half awake in her spot on the bed. "What took you so long?" You mumbled, sitting up slightly and rubbing your eyes. "Sorry, Joel held me up. Wanted to ask how everything was going." "I'm glad you two are talking again." Ellie slipped her hood off her head, but then decided on taking off the hoodie all together.

"Me too." "Alright, now come lay with me." She adjusted her shirt and locked the door. Another thing she always made sure to do. "What are you watching?" She yawned, slipping into bed beside you, into her spot scooting you back into yours.

"Your favorite." She grinned at that, looking at the TV which displayed just what you said. Ellie then looked down at you, watching as you scooted towards her and laid your head in her lap. "I need to find the second one. Joel says there are three." "Really?" You yawned this time, your finger moving to trace the tattooed lines on her arm.

"Yeah, he doesn't remember what happens in them." "That sucks. I'll look for it next time I'm on patrol by the old store." She hummed, scooting down a bit on the bed so that your head was now more on her chest. "I just want to see what happens." You hummed, feeling Ellie's fingers rubbing circles on your hips. Her arms holding you close to her like a teddy bear.

"Which ones are your favorite?" You asked quietly, Ellie looking down at your sleepy face. Her hand coming up to run her thumb over the skin just under your eye. "I thought you knew which one was my favorite." You then smiled slightly. "Tell me again." "Fine." She returned the smile, still running her thumb along your cheek.

"I do like the T-Rex but my favorite are Velociraptors. They're smaller, but fast, mean. They remind me of Dina when she's hungry." You giggled, snuggling deeper into her chest as her hand ran into your hair, then to your neck. Her nails, as short as they were, ran along your skin lulling you back into that state before.

"They were in that museum that I showed you. The one Joel took me to for my birthday. Remember that?" "Yeah, and it had that space section. With all the suits." "Mhm. You're favorite was the orange one." You laughed, still running your fingers along her arm, as hers ran along your neck.

"White is boring. Orange is where it's at. That way the aliens can see you better." Ellie then snorted, looking up at the TV. "They wear white to blend in. They don't want to get probed." She listened to your laughter, muffled by her shirt which you'd snuggled into more and more.

"Do you think aliens exist?" You then questioned her, looking up at her face. "Mm, I think something's out there." "Really? Imagine if little green men suddenly appeared. I'd freak." Ellie took a minute to imagine it, smiling to herself while listening to you as you giggled quietly.

"I think they'd look more like humans." "Really?" You looked up at her with tired eyes. "Yeah, not like, just like us. Differences, but, like us." "Do you think they're evil?" She snorted again, laughing while you only smiled. "Some. Yeah. Just like humans."

You hummed, only half listening to what she was saying at this point, though you were trying. But the feeling of her nails mixed with the soft rain and her voice was beginning to set in. "We should go back there one of these days."7

This time you didn't answer, almost completely asleep. Her talking fell away as her eyes stayed on your face. Peaceful, for a moment she was grateful, staring down at you.

Because for a long time, she scared herself. With what she had done, what she could do. But now, seeing you so relaxed in her arms made something inside her flutter. She went to move you onto the bed, so that she could lay down.

But then she felt you squeeze her, even asleep, worried she was leaving. Ellie then took a second, looking down at you. Blank face as she thought.

Her friends would see her as someone different. So did Joel. Tommy. Maria. But you looked at her like a soft teddy bear that could do no harm. Not a killer. Not a threat. Just a girl. Your girl.

As Ellie laid beside you, face just a few inches from your own. She realized how much she loved you. Especially as she kissed your forehead. When, for just a second, she heard you mutter something.

"I love you."

She smiled to herself, listening to the rain outside, and the movie softly playing in the background. To your breathing just beside her. It was a moment where Ellie realized she was home. Not in the building, not in the bed. But with you.

So, she quietly said, "I love you too."

A/n: Changed the gif don't mind that :|

[noa-ciharu]

noa! heeyyy! i want to read something by clamp. what should i pick first?

also i saw a post a while back that talked about a psychological horror manga by clamp but i don't remember it now and i really wanted to check it out too

Ohh it's time to drag new people into Clamp! Now, there are plenty of good manga of theirs but not all are so "beginner friendly", so to put. Also the psychological horror you've heard about is most likely xxxholic but I won't go as far to call it "horror", more like it has that silent "unspoken" note attached to it, gothic vibes and looming sense of vacancy and emptiness in some moments. I'll talk more about it.

So before I start, honorable mentions: Chobits (bit echii but has its message), RG veda and X/1999 (plz don't start with these ones you'll get traumatized) and Clover. I'll include 3 and half recommendations. Also in all stories characters are beyond beautifully developed and three dimensional (honestly that's one of my fav things) and all relationship between the characters are magnificently developed and don't fall onto any stereotypical scale: be it platonic, family, romantic, met 5 mins ago or purely emotional bond it's always unique and fleshed out, so I won't mention that separately. Prepare for star crossed themes and people losing eyes because that's Clamp's signature (but it's like, so well done that even someone who hates amatonormativity and soulmates tropes like I do adores it when it's done by Clamp; it has narratives value as well as metaphorical). So without further ado:

Card captor Sakura

Classic one, probably the most famous Clamp manga. Simple yet powerful story of little girl named Sakura, her friends and family and her magical abilities. One, if not the best magical girl shows I've seen so far. One of the things that specifically stood out for me are the different types of love and connections between the characters and how Sakura doesn't discriminate and accepts people as they are. It's cute, nice plot, amazing characters, little to no angst. Also people usually credit it on LGBT representation back in 90's (Sakura and Shayoran are both bi, as they would fall for one another regardless of gender, Tomoyo had a crush/loves Sakura, Touya and Yukito are mlm couple ect...). Both manga and 90's anime are good, but manga is better imo slightly. Tbh a lot can be said about CCS but I have a feeling you're looking for something with more complex and darker themes.

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle

This is another classic one. Also to clarify: this manga is a massive crossover, Clamp took almost all characters from TRC (only notable exceptions being main characters Kurogane and Fai) from their previous works; so it's a massive slow burn AU if you'd like it in fandom terms (also found family is so strong in this one). But you can read it without reading any previous mangas as all those that appear are side characters in TRC. Also main characters Sakura and Shayoran have the same soul as ones from CCS above, but are not the same characters- to out it briefly and without complicated explanations: think of it as an AU. I've already mentioned characters and relationships development being gorgeously done but TRC deserves a mention once again since during those 233 manga chaps (28 vols) I've seen one of the most beautiful development of four main characters and complex relationships between all four of them. Plot is about following: Princess Sakura loses her memories which shattered in form of feathers into other universes, and Shayoran paired the price to travel those dimensions (with Sakura, Kurogane and Fai, those you see in pics) in search of them; but at the price of Sakura forgetting their previous relationship forever. Quite tragic and promising beginning. Story is a comedy adventure with slight drama for first 100chap, but there are questions and tensions lurking in the background as foreshadowing. Then things take on a way more serious and dark tone as conflicts, plot twists and character's past and tragedy kick in (it's like, so good). Also the subtle messages and characters backstories/ trauma, how it influences their decision and thoughts now and how they've started healing from some of it - it's A+.

Yes, tell him Kurogane. My only issue ever with this series is its complex and impossible to understand explanation of some things towards the ending. But all in all, 10/10 one of the best I've read. Also Fai is the most beautiful person I've seen like ever and kurofai best slow burn and development and - okay moving on.

xxxHolic

Okay, this one along with Tokyo Babylon is my favorite manga, like ever (they are similar in some ways). I've talked about basics before, so I'll add something new. But what I'll repeat is YUUKO!! God bless that woman and her quotes, English language isn't coherent enough to describe her. Also there's a whole philosophical thematic of wish fulfilling: to receive something, you must give up something that holds the same value to you: no more no less. According to Yuuko, " there's no coincidence, only hitsuzen (fate)" - what that means truly, I'll leave up for debate. Bonus side note: all of the clients are females (in TB all Subaru's clients are too).

Since there are many many arc stories of Yuuko's clients and their wished ("you shouldn't promise anything so lightly", "wishes come at price"), I'll retell one with a monkey's paw so you can see the glimpse of how psychologically intriguing and unique themes of this manga are:

Woman arrives at Yuuko's shop and sees monkey's paw (mystical object that grants 5 wished but at cost of misfortune) and asks Yuuko if she can have it to which she says yes. But to never open it. Woman, being overconfident in her ability to resist the temptation and curiosity, agrees. Of course, it's all doomed to failure : her first wish is to rain all night, which it does - but water is used from schools pool. Second one is to acquire that too expensive for her pocket antique mirror - mirror falls behind her from thin air, ends up shattering. Third one is to write excellent essay for her studies - which she does, but it's all plagiarized and stolen. Then one day she wakes up late for school/work and wishes for an excuse for being late - woman falls in front of her on train rails and dies thus a whole scandal and thus - an excuse. I won't go into what last one is, to leave you intrigued. So the whole point is, as Yuuko said "No one can consider themselves special enough to hold such power over fate of themselves and others". Her idea that she's better than others is wrong - she's not special and above all consequences of her wishes and actions. Monkey paw doesn't care how wishes gets fulfilled, nor does for her. Cautionary tale.

Also life messages, such as this one, this one is reoccurring theme in Clamp's manga:

I know entire xxxholic fandom jokes about Yuuko being beyond perfect but other characters are top notch as well, especially Watanuki, the protagonist. Won't spoil much, but it reminds me of following: Caterpillar in it's chrysalis, learning about world and itself, experiencing, forming connection, realizing that "human being never does entirely belong to themselves, connections to others always exists, always tangling", learning about self value and worth - and them when metamorphosis finally occurs and butterfly is ready to fly free, part of it always remains inside the chrysalis.

I read it for about 10 days or so (23 volumes I think) and it's better to prolong it rather than binge since there are a lot of implications, subtext by words/ panel presenting/ linear not sophisticated background/ symbolism, hidden meanings and life lessons as well as karma. So it's better to read it slowly and carefully to let the message sink and to think properly about it. I think even after 10 rereads I'd still miss something, bless you Clamp on being so detailed with everything.

Tokyo Babylon

Almost didn't add it but there's one thing to keep in mind when discussing this manga: before looking at the series as romance and shonen ai, at its core Tokyo Babylon is tragedy social criticisms drama with philosophical elements. One more note: I've never seen a series so spoiled on tumblr so don't search it up (to be fair, manga ended in '93). Deconstruction of typical coming of age mangas, as ugly sides of reality are always present. Also, this is type of manga that you read twice - once when you dont know, and second time when you do know. I'll never see cherry blossom in same way again, thanks Clamp.

Plot is about young medium exorcist, Subaru, dealing with cases of spirits lingering on Earth being unable to move on due to their pain which is more often than not caused by society, isolation and indifference of a big city (in this case Tokyo). Focus is on emotional, psychological and social themes and that itself (along with characters and their complexity in terms of being human) is what separates this manga from the rest of "exorcism case" media. To paraphrase a quote from series which sums it up really well " Why does this come as a surprise to you? Tragedies like this happen every day in Tokyo". And said tragedies and cases are portrayed not only narratively well, but realistically in terms of cognitive and emotional responses from both ghosts/people feeling isolated with problems and Subaru. For an instance:

Unlike previous two I've mentioned plot here is intriguing and has complex themes as well, but is far more straightforward and won't leave you with any questions about the plot after end (there'llbe other things tho...). Plus there are only 3 characters beside the side chapter-by-chapter ones. Since I can't talk about other two characters (his twin sister Hokuto and his friend/suitor Seishirou) spoiler free, I'll focus on Subaru. What strikes to me the most about him is his kindness, selflessness and empathy but not those traits themselves but rather how they've viewed and portrayed as self destructive trait and a flaw as he feels the pain of world around him and suffers as result where in return world around him (Tokyo) is unaffected and unmoved by his pain. He understands people, but only forms so called "temporary bonds" with them; is numb to his own heart and treats everyone the same (so everyone is special to him by design - thus noone stands out, but this changes within the series).

This manga has one of the best and most "never forgetting" endings I've ever seen in media. 7 volumes long which is not much but leaves the impression for a quite some time.

In conclusion:

So all in all, TRC was my first Clamp manga but I'd say go for xxxholic or Tokyo Babylon since in my personal opinion, as well as judging by a narrative and messages those two are the best. The difference is that xxxholic has that slow slow pacing that kinda lures you into that emptiness of reality and depression like state, kinda like the tarots hanged man card - slow burn waiting for your own metamorphosis, stuck in a loop unable to move on until something within changes. Tokyo Babylon experience is full tarot tower one - you walk down the street and it starts storming and raining and it never crossed your mind that you might be struck by the lighting and next thing you know you're hit by one.

Hope I was helpful :D

[charmixpower]

Brandon or Riven for the ask game? 👉👈(I can't decide lol)

First impression: both of my first impressions of Riven we're the same because I hated him them held a grudge since childhood against him for multiple years until I re watched the s1 finale. I'm not joking. "Oh hey that squire guy that Stella is dating" was both for Brandon too, did not think much of either of them

Impression now: Oh my god it's the only man ever and blorbo from my shows 💞💞💞 Riven my precious little bastard asshole jerkass, no one understands you and the way you lash out due to past trauma like I do. And Brandon! 💗💓💗💓💗💞 Best man in the world, and resident brain cell holder of the specialists. Also number on Riven and Sky apologist. Love him so dearly

Favorite moment: "I have a heart, and maybe a few friends", "IF YOU FUCKERS DON'T SING FOR MUSA IM GOING TO DO SOMETHING DRASTIC", *that expression he made when Musa dragged him into dancing*, *comforting Timmy*, and "Chillax mainframe". Vs literally ALL of s1 Brandon. That man could do no wrong in s1. Tho the time he caught Stella in s4 when she fell out of the van was so cute

Idea for a story: I would like to see what Brandon's family thinks of everything that's happened to him maybe please? EXPLAIN THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS THING RIGHT NOW!!! Riven actually joins the Trix, and does his prince of darkness thing or whatever. The specialists get to do something useful after s2 plz, that's all I ask. Sky and Brandon clothes shopping bf s1 and Sky slowly losing his mind at the horrific ass outfit Brandon is picking out

Unpopular opinion: I saw someone on YouTube say that Riven was making it up when he said she's interested in things she was never interested in before and I don't get that?? They interpreted it as him talking about her music carrier, and I always assumed he was taking about her interest in hanging out with Andy when Musa was VERY stand offish in s1-3 before the crime the writers committed on her in s4 and actively snipped at people around her. Also!!! Her fashion and her mannerisms all changed in s4!!! I was also confused on why Musa was acting different!!! Also Riven's personality stopped in s2, I don't count s3 Riven as the same person. S1-2 is one guy, s3 is another guy, and s4 is a different guy. I don't know if I have an unpopular Brandon opnion. UHHHH I think he'd look like a fucking idiot if it wasn't for his personality, and he definitely should of been the leader of the specialists because he obviously has the best teamwork skills. Sky isn't good at working with the other guys if you really pay attention to him. Like he'll work along side but he's bad at working with. If that makes any sense

Favorite relationship: Rivusa and Brella I would do anything for you. Also Briven. Ya know how it is over here. but Stella, Aisha, Nabu, and Timmy's friendship with Riven lives in my head rent free. Not to mention Sky and Riven bonding after Sky gets his own mind control trama. For Brandon....tbh I like his friendship with everyone because he is really good at reading people so he always knows™

Favorite headcanon: Riven is actually really protective of his spot at Red Fountain, and the most obvious sign that he wasn't acting completely of his own will in s1 was him endangering his spot there. But because he wasn't close enough to anyone for them to know that, no one realize that he was under Darcy's control. Being a servant has strongly colored Brandon's opinions of most royalty, nobles, and rich people in a very negative way due to they way he was pretty poorly treated by people like Diaspro. One of the main reasons he was interested in Stella romantically at first is because she caught him off guard with how nice and genuine she was. RIVEN GETS FUCKED UP AT THE END OF S2!!!! FUCK YEAH SCARS!!!!! Brandon being asexual is just a good hc to me, it's so much fun. He's constantly flirting and trying to kiss people and he doesn't experience physically attraction, he just likes it. Riven has a sibling but they take after his mom and are like a terrible person. Their the main reason Riven worked to hard to escape his home town. Brandon has had a crush on ALL of the specialists at some point