new oc :D

alright, so i haven't been able to stop thinking about a/b/o elves since you replied to that ask, so as an Official Omegaverse Connoisseur (that's only mostly a joke), here's my thoughts on who would be what (keeping in mind that omegas and alphas were much more common back in the ancient days and their presence has diminished greatly):

Sophie would be a beta, purely because otherwise it would be impossible to hide her in the human realm.

Most of the main crew are betas, excluding Marella who's an omega and Fitz who's an alpha.

Alvar is also an alpha, which is another reason why he dislikes Fitz--alphas are pretty rare in the present day, and of course his baby brother had to also have perhaps the one thing that made Alvar stand out. (Especially in the Vacker family, which was proud of having lots of alphas in the past.)

Bronte and Oralie are omegas. Oralie uses it to her advantage and plays into the old stereotype that omegas are just frail creatures and manipulates lots of people that way. Bronte just hides it, especially because back when he grew up it was the one way to make sure you wouldn't get anywhere in life.

The rest of the Council are betas.

Fintan's an alpha. So is Fallon.

The parents are all betas too. (Except maybe Grady is an alpha, idk)

Jolie and Brant were an omega-alpha couple.

+ some general worldbuilding notes! lucky you.

So in the present-day, any kind of discrimination based on statuses is illegal, but, y'know, people are still shitty and both alphas and omegas will be pressured into fulfilling certain roles because of the presentations.

Heat cycles! And rut cycles. I won't go into this in detail because I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable. But it's a yearly thing.

Omega-beta, beta-beta, and beta-alpha couples are normal, with beta-beta being the most common for obvious reasons. Alpha-omega couples are seen as, like, the "best" kind of couple, leading to lots of alphas and omegas being pressured into relationships they don't want. Alpha-alpha and omega-omega couples are severely frowned upon.

These codes of conduct are way more pushed in more historically powerful & noble families, but the general ideas still pervade elven society at large. (Though you will notice differences among social classes and depending on what big city you're near--for example, Eternalia has a very different vibe than Atlantis, and the ways omegas and alphas are treated vary from place to place.)

That's... probably enough rambling for today. Figures this is what would get me thinking about KOTLC again.

victor out of everyone I know you are exactly the one I'd expect to be capable of an a/b/o breakdown of the keeper series; this popped into my ask box and I went yep! checks out!

There's so much going on and I am, disappointingly, not an Official Omegaverse Connoisseur (yet), so I can't really add. I'm curious about the Marella reasoning, and fascinated by the implications this has on Fitz and Alvar's relationship and why Alvar is the way that he is.

Does this mean that the original council was composed of Alphas? Because being part of the council gave them their legacy in canon, but if it's also a family known for its alphas does that tie the two? If so, how did omegas like Bronte and Oralie end up on the council? Did the diminished alpha and omega presence make it necessary? Is that why they're all betas now?

Idk what to do with that tidbit about Jolie and Brant though that's a whole thing on its own i think

Oho lucky me! Worldbuilding! Ah that discrimination thing might explain the council situation, I should pay more attention. But then again they're nominated for the position so the social stigma would still make it harder. *taking notes* yearly heat cycle, cool, I'll add that to my belief system.

I don't know enough to know why alpha-alpha and omega-omega relationships are bad I just have to take your word on this one. I do think it's fascinating how what you're saying here just also mirrors the elven world. The codes of conduct being more prominent in certain powerful families, discrimination being technically illegal but still very practiced. I feel like an a/b/o keeper situation would be quite simple to arrange.

This is an absolutely fascinating dip into the omegaverse via a media I never expected to intersect with the omegaverse, thank you for the thought and explanation put into this. I am a changed person

Listen so I'm really bad at sleeping and earlier today I took a two hour nap and I had a dream when I was a lizard mutant in the Rise cartoon (my dreams resemble animations a lot so it was kinda like watching a special episoda it was a very cool dream) but now the lizard I was lives rent free in my brain so meet my dream indyced self insert Rise OC

I love them they are so silly and their name is Aristotle or Ari for short

Aristotle info dump

* Aristotle is a Madagascar Day Gecko mutant made by Draxum about one year before the turtles. He was raising them as a little kid, teaching them ways of science and the mystic, but they were a difficult student, always on the move and not really interested in what their parent wanted from them. They were really independent from a young age, running away to explore the Hidden City. When they were about 8, they never came home and Draxum decided they were not good enough to waste time looking for them.

* On the Hidden City streets, Aristotle earned the name of “The Lizard Wizard”, making money as a street magician. They also love to steal, from petty pickpocketing and shoplifting to actually breaking and entering for some more expensive things they pawn later.

* They live on a big tree, lounging on the sunny branches and keeping their very limited worldly possessions in a tree hollow. No one really bothers them, except for an elderly squirrel yokai that also inhabits the tree - but they are chill, they’re roommates.

* They are aware of the turtles' existence before they meet for the first time, but they don’t really care.

* They first meet their little brothers when they attempt to steal some pizza from Run of the Mill. When caught, they ask “Aww, is this really a way to treat your long-lost sibling?”

* Raph is weirdly jealous of Aristotle because they’re a year older than him. He feels like his position as a big brother is threatened, but Ari has no intention of taking it away - they don’t have a caring bone in their body, at least this is how they present themselves. They like to rub the age thing in Raph’s face, though.

* Leo and Ari quickly become friends. At first, Leo just loves that they have similar red face strips, but they bond over playing pranks and joking together. Aristotle is more reckless, they don’t care about other’s well-being or if something would be considered bad or evil. Leo sometimes freaks out about it, saying that they should not hurt people, but Ari just doesn’t seem to understand that.

* Donnie is wary at the beginning, but since Ari is always the first to support their evil genius schemes, they get along nicely. Aristotle has zero understanding of science, for the most part, having trouble with simple math, but then they would blurt out the most genius and insane ideas that shock even Donnie - it's the residue of Draxum teaching them really advanced stuff and even tho they didn’t pay attention, a lot of info is left over in their brain. They love to hear Donnie talk about his machines and ask a lot of questions, ranging from “What does this button do” to “Could you attach a laser gun to it, and then can I borrow it?”

* Mikey is the driving force behind inviting Aristotle to be part of the family. He really, really wants to go all Doctor Feeling on them, but they are a master of diversion and always manage to flip it around so Mikey is the one confessing things. Aristotle lacks empathy, but they have been sweet-talking people all their life and they know how to pretend they do. After a few conversations like this, they find themselves weirdly protective of Mikey. They don’t understand those feelings and it makes them very angry and irritable.

* They start out as very mean and uncaring, but slowly, they get attached to their family. They still keep their distance, scared that the turtles will get bored of them or see them as unworthy of their time as Draxum once did.

* The turtles want them to start ninja training with them, mostly for family bonding purposes, but also so they could maybe help on missions. They pick out a black mask (“You guys already took all the colors I like already”) but they are terrible at it. They can fight, mostly using mystic abilities that Draxum installed in their DNA, but their strength is definitely being very fast, running around, and wreaking havoc.

* They don’t stick with the ninja thing, but they occasionally join the turtles on missions when they’re bored. They like to beat up the bad guys, but not because they’re bad - simply because it’s fun.

* It takes a lot of time for the turtles to manage to install the weakest morals in Aristotle, but with time, they start to actually think about how their actions can affect other people.

* When they are first invited to a big family dinner that includes Draxum, they panic. They made an effort to avoid their parent for all those years and they didn’t like being tricked into a reunion. They storm out of the lair and don’t talk to the turtles for weeks, just hanging in their tree, until Mikey comes to see them and convinces them they are still family and if they don’t want to see Draxum, they don’t have to.

* Draxum is surprised to see his eldest child still alive. When the turtles tell him about their mystic abilities, he regrets letting them go as a child, mourning the lost potential.

* Aristotle’s abilities include sticky feet, extreme speed boosted by their mystic abilities, being able to see colors in the ultraviolet range, and the ability to regrow their limbs and teeth (they have lost them a lot during their life on the street, but since they always grow back, they don’t care).

* Their skin gets darker when they’re scared or stressed.

* They are obsessed with orange juice but hate eating oranges.

* They don’t have eyelids and lick their eyes. Donnie hates to see that, which gives Ari an easy way to mess with them.

* They prefer eating bugs to human food. Once, Leo was freaking out about a spider in the lair, and Aristotle just ate it, horrifying their brothers. They love using that to mess with them.

* They absolutely love Cassandra and the two would often hang out together getting into trouble.

* One time, Aristotle stole Casey Jr.’s grappling hook and went to swing around New York pretending to be Spiderman. Sticky fingers helped a lot.

Who's your fav out of the chain??

Hello Anon,

I’m finally getting around to this :D

I list most of my faves in my bio but I'm just going to assume you want full details so let me shift into awooga mode. List below the cut!

I have top 3 favourites in the chain: Warriors, Wind and Four in that order.

***

1. Warriors is my number one fave. I love the fanon characterization of him being real fruity and a bit of a himbo but it's the canon characterization of him that really tickles my fancy. He's intelligent and strategic in battle of course but more than that he acts as a big brother figure in the chain. The Sunset arc is probably the best representation of his personality so far:

This mans ZOOMS to help Wolfie not even knowing they were Twi but instead under the assumption that this Wolf was an important ally to Twi. Like, HELLO??? His captainship is really *mwah* chef's kiss, here.

And then the big brother moments he has in Sunset got me sobbing. He keeps a lighthearted attitude for Twilight, which in my opinion was to distract him from whatever trauma his wounds were currently suffering. He doesn't act this way out of ego which some may interpret this as. To me, this really just shows his experience and skills in handling these types of situations... But then they are also joking around like brothers would. It’s so <3333333

BUT THEN MORE IMPORTANTLY HIS INTERACTIONS WITH WIND??? BESTIE... HELLO??? THE HAIR RUFFLE??? CUTIES! (See more cute pics here). I also just have so much appreciation for the fact that Warriors still treats Wind as the kid he deserves to be... but then I see that Wars still respects the fact that Wind is a hero and is entirely capable like the rest of them.

My last point for Warriors is that he's just so handsome, for Hylia's sake!!! I lovw him!!! Okay??? 💙 (collage images from here)

***

2. Wind is a close second or honestly probably tied for first since my views on Warriors and Wind are so intrinsically linked with their brotherly dynamic. Any content I can get of Wind spending time with Warriors is something I will FEAST on. I need more. I need to be fed!

Wind reminds me a lot of my nephew who is the same age as him so I’m a bit endeared to Wind in that way. My nephew lives in the Canadian Maritimes so his love of all things related to nature, the ocean, boating and sea life and his dream to be a fisherman when he grows up is just so Wind. Because of all this, I see him as a direct parallel to Wind and can imagine what interacting with our LU boy would be like.

My nephew genuinely acts like this:

May be an unpopular opinion but I genuinely still think that Wind deserves to be treated like a kid because the others never really got that privilege before they grew up. I think it's incredibly unfair to expect Wind to relive his cycle of trauma with the expectations and duties of being the hero. Let him be a kid no matter his protests... at least sometimes. I will die on this hill.

He’s also just a very sweet and adorable boy. I guess it’s my mature and parental attitude saying this but he shouldn’t have to grow up so fast. I mean this as there’s a difference between treating him like an adult and treating him like a kid that is skilled and has gone through a lot. I just want him to be happy and will protect my blorbo at all costs as if he was another nephew of mine 🧡 (collage images from here) 

***

3. Four is my last fave! The Four Swords manga was my introduction to the Legend of Zelda fandom so they hold a special place in my heart because of that. Four is an incredibly interesting character to me. He’s cool, level-headed, a bit sassy, sensitive, mysterious, ambiguous... *pats Four on the head*, this fella can fit so much character in himself.

I guess it’s the mystery that I find so interesting. Four hasn’t had a big spotlight yet. Honestly, his only real moment has been the last couple Sunset updates and because of this there has been so many fan interpretations of him and I LOVE the variety of it. Is he a kid? Is he an adult? How do the colours work? etc. etc. ALSO HIS MINISH STUFF??? WHEN WILL WE GET TO SEE THAT? I AM SO INTRIGUED! I genuinely can’t wait to learn more! He has so many secret powers. I just really want to know how they will be used in the story. It’s the mystery and my childhood bias, anon.

Anyways, here’s some pics of the short king himself, Four our beloved 💙💚💜❤️  (collage images from here)

***

If anyone read this whole post through, thank you for listening to me mutter on about my blorbos. I would be happy to do so again!

Lots of love, Birdo 💛💛💛

The Crow (1994)

Alright Cult of Cult. Do I really need to introduce this one? Let's get all 90s and gothy and maybe brace ourselves for a bit of cringe, but like in a fun way. It's the Holy Grail of Hot Topic, 1994's the Crow Starring Brandon Lee.

Sermon

Apparently before the auto industry totally crashed Detroit was already a total fucked to death pile of burning shit, or at least that's what the crow would have you believe. Sorry Bruce Campbell, and other people from Detroit, but mostly Bruce Campbell. According to the Crow the city of Detroit is the kind of place where gangs of warlock anarchist arsonists will bomb buildings, and murder and rape whoever they feel like and then walk around bragging about it the next day with absolutely zero consequences. Funny then that if Detroit was so bad they had to go to film this movie in Wilmington North Carolina which is definitely a fucked to death pile of burning shit. I can say that, I'm from there and I got the fuck out. My brother is going to kill me if he ever reads this. (It's okay, these are all jokes people). Did you know they also filmed the Super Mario Bros movie there ... also cuz they needed a really shitty looking distopia. Moving on ...

The ludicrous criminality of the Crow's Detroit is particularly on display on Halloween. In Detroit (apparently) Halloween is known as Devils Night and it's legitimately just a night of pure lawlessness and chaos and kids aren't even safe to get candy, except later when we do see trick or treaters. Eric Draven, hunky goth rocker who sort of looks like he could be Bruce Lee's Kid and his fiance are murdered by a gang of vicious criminals. One year hence, Eric is resurrected by a mystical crow (that is actually a Raven), to exact his revenge on the gang that murdered him.

He paints his face like sad Alice Cooper and refuses to listen to Joy Division, just covers. He murders Tin Tin (a knife guy) just for his long gothy duster, he murders Fun Boy and forcibly ejects heroine from her arms and tells her "Go be a good mom now" which actually works. (have I told you about our Lord and Savior Sting? He gave me the strength to get off drugs), he blows T Bird up dick first, and then comes for Skab? Scraap? Scooby? in a meeting of all of Detroits villains and just about kills them all.

He is supported by the most 90s little girl to have ever graced the screen, and I am here for it, and Officer Albrecht, who's played by Ernie Hudson but I like to call him Zeddemore: The Most Underrated Ghostbuster. The leader of the bad guys, who I cannot beleive wasn't played by Brad Dourif or Tom Waits, is pretty interested in the occult. He keeps his witchy girlfriend around and she makes him fun dishes like smoked eyeballs, and her main use is that she knows that the Crow is the Crows weakness. They set Tony Fucking Todd on the bird, and I guess you just have to hurt the bird and not kill it, and Eric loses his healing factor and other macabre undead powers.

The Crow, Jimmy the Raven, pecks out Dr. Girlfriends eyeballs, I honestly forget how Tony Todd gets offed, and Top Dollar gets Gargoyled (that is impaled on a gargoyle). Funnily enough that is more Gargoyle related impaling on screen then in the actual movie Gargoyle: Wings of Darkness where a Gargoyle is supposed to have impaled a guy.

The Benediction

Best Feature: Injustice League

In the Crow we have not only a set of super memorable villains but they are played by the bad guy all stars. John Polito as the most lowly of the bad guys as a kind of sleazy pawn shop owner who buys ill gotten gains. Tony Todd, who's size is really on display here, the freaking Candy Man is in this movie. T Bird is the head of Top Dollars goons and is played by David Patrick Kelly, you might know as the "Warriors Come Out and Play!!" bottle guy from the Warriors, or as Jimmy Horne from Twin Peaks, and of course Top Dollar himself is played by Michael Wincott. Wincott is not a particularly celebrated actor but has played villains effectively in Robin Hood, the Three Musketeers, and Dead Man.

Best Set Piece: Detroit Style Hot Dogs

The Set design of the Crow is perhaps one of it's most fantastic features. It's very moody and ethereal. It's just real enough to not take you out of the film, but fantastic enough to set mood and theme above realism. From Eric Draven's apartment, to the church where the final battle occurs they are all fantastic. I think that's why I really wanted to shine the spot light on a very minor set piece that would get nary a mention but just as effectively represents the qualities I was just talking about and that is the Maxi Doggs Hot Dog Stand, where a lot of the films exposition for audience surrogates takes place.

Worst Effect: Freeze Frame

At a few points in the movie the film makers made a strange decision to do these freeze frame transitions. I only noticed it twice in the movie where it was particularly stupid. I'm sure the film makers at the time thought it was a moody and atmospheric choice that highlighted the suffering that Eric Draven was going through, but it didn't age well. If you don't have the sensibilities of a goth girl from 1994 then it's very very hard not to laugh at just how self involved the movie is about it's super sadness.

Worst Feature: Tragic Accident

Solely based on the film itself, it is that very gothic and dated sensibility that hurts the Crow. The little sarcastic dance he does when he flees the police, quoting Edgar Allen Poe, and bowing to Albrecht. These affected behaviors that I'm sure seemed snarky and right on to the target audience only serve to make Eric Draven seem like an unbearable neck beard edgelord and not the troubled dark soul he's supposed to be. I'm sure at the time it seemed unique and gothy but that shit went out of style for good reason, people could see through it. It's a shame that the Crow himself was some of the cringiest parts of this movie now that I'm seeing it as an adult and not a 13 year old middle class boy with no real problems.

This however is not the low point of the movie. It's not news now and if you're reading some dudes review of The Crow on Tumblr then you probably already know the story. The worst thing about The Crow is that Brandon Lee was horrifically killed on set while filming this movie due to some negligible prop malfunctions. A series of unfortunate events that lead to the actor spending 6 hours in surgery fighting for his life before eventually passing. It was not a quick or painless death and it's really impossible to watch the movie without an appreciation for the fact that this kind of fun dark adventure was going to be a vehicle for Brandon Lee's career wound up taking his life. He was 28. I really wish I could have just bitched about the goofy goth stuff and moved on, but that's not the world we live in.

Best Effect: The Gargoyling

Maybe I should have called this best kill. But I'm not sure which it is. The slaying of Top Dollar at the Climax of the film was just super effective. The pointed wings impaling his chest and that horn coming out of his mouth, it was morbid and excellent and just fit the tone of the movie perfectly. I mean how many other movies can you say Cause of Death: Impaled on a Gargoyle.

Best Bird: The Raven

I tried very hard to look up the name of the bird that primarily performed in this movie and could not find anything. There was a Raven once upon a time called Jimmy the Raven, but that was in the 50s and I don't think birds live that long. There was a team of Ravens performing as the crow, they were chosen over crows for their larger size, and more imposing silhouettes. I just think it's so wonderful to see these often maligned birds get a chance to show off their talents. Corvids of all kinds are incredibly intelligent creatures. Im a sucker for animals, if you haven't already figured that out. I really liked seeing the ravens hit their marks, particularly the one whos job it was to drop the wedding ring into Sarah's hand at the end of the film. You can see that greedy little bastard do his trick and then look of camera at his trainer like "treat please!". It's very cute.

Best Actor: Top Dollar Performance

I'd love to take this opportunity to just put praise upon Brandon Lee, he truly gave everything for this role, but unfortunately with what was put to film we actually have very few character moments with Eric Draven. Stuff happens to him, and he does killings and fights. There's definitely some personality, but I felt like I walked away knowing almost nothing about who Eric Draven was. He was clearly a good dude but that and a few hobbies and a relationship and you don't really have a character yet. He's unfortunately not given a lot of acting to do, instead just relegated to stunts and action sequences. That were notably cool.

The bad guys in the Crow have a lot more character and among this who's who of character actors, Michael Wincott takes the cake. Hell he was standing next to Candyman himself, Tony Todd and still stealing the scenes.

Best Character: A Few Good Apples

Is the best character in The Crow really going to be the cop? The commissioner Gordon stand in? yeah, it is. Not to be political, but I don't like cops, but I guess in a world with magical birds and eyeball smoking I can suspend my disbelief and let Ernie Hudson be #1 cop dad. His character is really the heart of the film, since all Eric can do is brood and fight, we have to care about someone in this movie.

Best Sequence: Halloween Party

The best sequence of the movie is of course the scene where Eric Draven busts in on the Devil's Night party planning commission. I think Top Dollar brought Scrappy Doo there just so he could lure out the crow, knowing the baddest assholes in all of Detroit would be gathered it was likely that somebody was going to kill the beast, or if they couldn't at least Top Dollar could get a feel for his enemy. It's a bullet flying action sequence with a ton of weight. I can't put my finger on this all to common weightless third act problem that big budget super hero and action flicks have nowadays, but whatever that issue is, the Crow does not have that issue. From this point on the Climax feels earned and I am invested. For that reason, The Crow is honestly better in spite of its awkwardness, than many of the super hero movies out today.

Worst Sequence: My Guitar Gently Weeps

Speaking of brooding or fighting. The best sequence was fighting, the worst is brooding. I get that Eric was in a band or something, but didn't he have shit to do. It seemed like it was a cool idea for a shot, but for like a whole seen, watching somebody play an 80s guitar solo, that stood out so brazenly from the choices of music in the rest of the movie was extra corny. It felt like someone's( dad trying to relate to their kid. Oh you like Music. The Dresden Dolls eh? Oh man, then you're going to love Slash's Snake Pit!

Summary

The Crow is dated. It is iconic but I wonder how many of the people that hang that poster on the wall have watched that movie since they were kids. It's interesting how what i've liked and disliked about this film have changed so much sense I was a kid. It's a cheeseball fiesta. If you have matured at all beyond thinking that being sad is the same as being deep then you're going to like it a little less than you did when you were younger, but it is still solid. There's not much to hate on. I'd watch it over and over again. I was really afraid it would not hold up at all, but returning to The Crow was a completely positive experience.

Overall Grade: B

i'm curious, what are your top 10 favorite rinharu moments in high speed and high speed 2?? i love the books. i don't understand why people say is impossible to ship rinharu if you read them...

Lmao who are those “people”? As in multiple? And are they from Mars? I do not get this. You cannot be serious. You probably meant “impossible not to ship”?

I don’t know about top ten, I love all of their interractions tbh, they just remind me of my fav type of romance in general. I know what are my top 5 I think, but after that I love everything, so it’s hard to rate.

1. My absolutely favorite moment will forever be the one, where Rin describes the way he sees Haru in the water, I’m seriously forever in awe, because, I’ve read a lot of books, and like... even period dramas got nothing on Rin Matsuoka, when he describes the love of his life. I mean, seriously, find yourself a person who sees you the way Rin sees Haru lol

Rin felt like he was touched by the light, that surrounded him with warmth. He turned around to see Haruka, who was glowing. Shining. Haruka was shining with every strong and confident stroke that he made. The outstanding energy, emitted from him, surrounded Haruka with the dazzling light and Rin froze, unable to look away. Rin’s heart was beating so hard in his chest, that he forgot how to breathe. Haruka stole his heart. And the further away he got from him, the more distance grew between them, the more uneasy Rin felt, like he was losing the control over his emotions. He was possesed by Haruka’s shining. His strokes looked as if he was hugging the water, his leg movements were so effortless and so elegant, as if water herself was moving him to the finish line. But in all these deceptively smooth and unhurried motions were so much strength and power and such incredible speed, that all his opponents didn’t stand a chance. His swimming was that transcendent reality. He was like a bird dancing in the sky with its wings spread wide.”

Dude... I’m like... still speechless. I mean, and not just this, but everytime Rin talks about Haru, even when he jokes about his stupid habbits, you still feel that he finds him so beautiful, inside and outside, that it just makes my heart melt. 

2. When Aki tells Rin that if you put him and Haru together, you get a perfection. 

“That guy has no sense of humor. He should learn by watching me, don't you think?" Rin joked lightly.

Aki laughed a bit at his words. "It's true. Add the two of you together and divide by two, and it would be perfect."

But I mainly love that moment, because like... Aki starts telling him, that Haru is not what he's pretending to be (like for some idiots in the fandom who call him selfish, that was the explanation for them xD) and how everyone always want something from him, and he never asks for anything in return and doesn’t have anyone to lean on (yup that’s what I said all along, too, with Makoto’s dumb behavior in difficult situations, he’s on his own there lmao). And she waits for Rin to deny it or like be surprised, but it turned out that that’s exactly how Rin sees him and that he cracked him from the very beginning. BTW, here’s your addition to the ask about Rin loving Haru for who he is and seeing him for who he is. I’m just in love with that moment, because I’m happy that he just... not only he knows him, but bc he’s not one of those many idiots who just don’t get it.

"Nanase-kun seems like he can do anything all by himself, doesn't he? He's good at studying and sports and even art. He really can do anything, right? That's why everyone relies on him, but it would really be something for Nanase-kun to rely on anyone, wouldn't it?"

Rin certainly thought this was true. He had only just transferred, but the image that Rin had of Haruka was exactly that. But even if Haruka didn't have the will to go out and get involved with other people on his own, it wasn't like he was completely isolated. On the contrary, he was considered the most reliable person in their class, and when people relied on him, he always did his best to meet their expectations. This was the strange balance that people around Haruka had to maintain.

3. The one when Haru calls Rin by his name for the first time. And I honestly for some reason didn’t even realize that this moment was in the anime until my 3rd rewatch (lol), but, man, little Rin’s reaction is the most adorable ever. I cry.

4. When Gou meets Haru for the first time and immediately goes “ah so you’re Haruka Nanase, the one, who my brother talks about 24/7...‘Nanase is so cool, Nananse is so fast!’” and Rin just goes red lmfaaaaaooooo.

5. When Haru says that he feels the fever running through his body each time he just sees Rin, but he doesn’t understand what it means... ahem.... OH WELL

6. When Rin tells them he’s leaving and Haru gets absolutely furious and calls him a selfish jerk, but then he feels his legs giving out and he thinks that he needs to be in the water, but then he realizes, that for the first time in his life it won’t save him and he’s so lost and fucking crushed. "you can’t just mess up my whole life and leave me like that” and “this can’t be true, I can’t be this weak.” aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa fucking hellish angst... that mix of emotions was seriously hideous, at first he was so confused and in denial, he couldn’t even think, he literally went “who is leaving?” and then it just all blew up. Poor baby.

7. Just all the little moments, when Rin notices everything Haru does and falls in love a bit more each time. Like when Haru slowed down, when he saw that Nagisa is having troubles of keeping up with him.

Nagisa was earnestly trying to keep up with Haruka. If he kept up that pace, he wouldn't be able to run next to Haruka for the whole trip. That was how it had been yesterday. Nagisa's breath was coming short, and when Haruka saw him slow down a pace, he lightly turned his eyes downward. I guess that's as far as he goes.

A sigh mixed with Haruka's long breaths. Then, by just a tiny increment, Haruka let his pace slacken.

"Oh?" Rin said quietly. Haruka could almost hear him saying "You're so nice, Nanase," and he tsked inwardly. Nagisa caught up to him, smiling as if it hurt a bit. It looked like he'd lost the energy to keep talking.

Just cute, and they watched each other all the time, it’d be a bitch to count each one, but god, all of them were cute.

8. All the moments of Haru pulling Rin’s pigtails... hilarious, especially the RinRin one, but the funniest and my favorite was when Nagisa turned to Haru to ask him for a permision to call Rin Rin-Rin, like... all the rights to Rin belong to Haru and vice versa lmao I agree. “I’ll allow it” lolz shut it, Haru.

9. This moment: “Something happened inside of him that made Haruka incredibly angry, he was so pissed, that he didn’t even want to swim anymore. To think that someone like Rin could make him feel such powerful swirl of emotions and make him such a mess... he felt disgusted with himself.” Yeah, Haru, love is dat bitch when you’re 13 lol

10. The one where Haru whispers “sorry for making you feel that way” to Rin? The one where Rin’s grandma doesn’t want to go to see the relay, but then she suddenly does, when she finds out that her grandson’s future husband is in it? The “he at that moment realized that the only thing Rin was concerned about was Haruka” one? I don’t fucking know, you pick haha ANY MOMENT, ALL THE MOMENTS XD

______

BUT in all seriousness, I do not get how you can love Makoharu after the novels. Like do people just ignore these moments:

“Haru waved Makoto off like an annoying fly”, “feeling annoyed by his obnoxious care, Haruka went right past him”, “feeling like Makoto’s smile could turn into tears any second now, Haru turned away and went to the showers” (fuck this shit I’m out lmao), “complitely ignoring him, Haru kept walking”.

??????? is this... does anyone find this amazing??????!!!!!!!!!!!

Or when Haru was literally fucking losing it, cause Makoto just repeated everything after him and how he just lost all the respect in that moment.

“I feel like I should also get into running.” Makoto said it as it was a joke, but Haru knew for sure that it wasn’t. More than that, he knew, that Makoto was going to ask him that ever since the moment he found out that Haru was running this morning. Haruka fel annoyed, because he couldn’t find the excuse to refuse him.

Or this moment:

“Makoto was late and Haruka didn’t have any reasons to wait for him. Makoto can catch up with him on the way, they’ll meet at the swimming club either way. For both of them it’ll be better, if Haru went by himself, than stood there and waited Makoto, slowly losing his temper.”

“Haruka felt uncomfortable, cause Makoto looked at him, as if was a weak”

Or this:

"Did you know I was going to come out here?" Even though he knew it was impossible, Makoto couldn't stop himself from asking.

"Nope."

"Then, why…" are you standing in a place like this?

"Watching the sunset."

and I can go on and on and on

and the fishies... oh my fucking god, the fishies

***

I’m just saying, all these moments are not even funny. My point in all this, that like no matter how much Haru loves Makoto as a friend... or got used to him is what I personally think, I don’t think he’s ever gonna idk how to say this... respect him as a human being? admire him? And this whole situation... I just can’t appreciate such kind of relationships even in a friends way. 

1stly because Makoto’s behavior in general makes me have war flashbacks to some of my real life experiences (and yeah, I confess, it affected me and that’s why I don’t like his character a lot; because I don’t think many people know what it’s like to deal with these kind of people in general). 2ndly, cause Makoto fans keep trashing Haru and many call him selfish bc of the way he treats him, but what they don’t understand is that if it wasn’t for Haru being this harsh, Makoto would literally became even doormat-y than he is now (yes, it’s possible lmao). 

P.S. my favorite in the novels tbh is all the Haru “I’m surrounded by idiots” moments, like when they started to dig the frozen soil with little scrapes and he was looking at them like they’re morons and then just silently walked away and came back with a giant shovel... “if you keep doing this with your tiny scoopers, we’re gonna be here all night” and they then they just watched him as he did everything himself LMFAO I just love him so freaking much. I also think his relationship with Nagisa are incredible and so underrated, since it’s a huge and incredible part of the books. I just keep saying, Haru’d be an amazing dad, so I can’t wait for him and Rin to adopt xD

P.P.S. And what about the Free! novelization????!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAA

Helllooooo~ <3 12, 21, and 35 for the ask game, please!

Ooh Hello and thank youu hehe ^^

Tbh I haven't played MM for a while because I am one of the people cheritz decided(?) to delete acc for whatever reason plus not enought space on the phone orz but I wanna do it anyway ^^

12. Favorite chat

Hmm first thing that comes to my mind is chat in AS with Ray after kiss <3 But I like as well one of the first chats at night CS where Yoosung comes for a while and he tries to pretend he is a wolf? but eventually give up on it haha I always choose to tease him lol.

21. Favorite character interaction with each other

Except for Saeran and Saeyoung brothers moment (which is very rare) hm... Can't decide between Seven teasing Yoosung or Zen. Sometime I feel bad for Yoosung.

35. First impression for each character

Yoosung I thought he is cute and kinda similar to me. When I started playing MM he was 1 year older than me I guess. He was cute, sweet and adorably clumsy haha but back then I couldn't understand why he was failing classes all the time and thought "get a grip dude, for once. You go to the library more or less regularly. What do you do there, sleep? You could do a little bit better than F..." Now I know haha ^^; But I don't fail classes... also I'm not med student in Korean Ivy uni(?) so...

Jaehee Tbh the very first time I thought she is guy... sorry lol and Later she seemed to be very nice although reserved(?) or rather serious, until someone mentioned Zen or his musicals, and I thought "okay, so you are more normal than I thought... sort of ^^;;" An I actually treated her like big sister or good friend to almost very end. I finished her route as one of the last, because while playing I messed up something with participation, got BE , started another route and forgot about it.

Zen So he always have been the cool popular sexy flirty type... so not my taste. Since I remember I never liked such people because in the past I met at least few who were like that and they were just judging, narrow-minded, and couldn't understand that I am different from them and feel good with that (f.ex. I am introvert). For long I felt like I can't even trust too much such people. I rather avoided them if I could, no grudge, just two different worlds. I noticed Zen is okay. Still two different worlds, but I alway treated him like an older brother.

Jumin he was from the world of 'adults' so serious, boring and something I totally couldn't get. Until he tried to tell a joke sometimes, It often was awkward but I appreciated it lol I picked Jaehee over him because I was pretty sure I never could even keep up with her workload. I am allergic to cats so I have never been a cat person... First he felt distant because his seriousness, but I felt him and supported him when I noticed he doesn't want to nececerly date just anyone, he is just waiting for someone he can trust, probably doubting such person exists. I know this might be because his father's relationships and such, but back then I felt almost like "yeah, you don't nececerly need to be in a relationship or desperately crave to be in one. As a single you are not less worthy as a human". That many craves for physicality and such, which is cool, but understanding, love, apreaciation support and even platonic feeling in romantic relationship? Gosh I feel like those thing are underpreciated. And we shared the need not to just date someone but find someone who understand them. For a short moment I wanted to be such person.

Seven/Saeyoung I don't really remember, but probably I thought that for such people I am too quiet and boring so If by any chance there won't be much interaction MC with him, that's fine, but there was, he was funny, I thought about him as a good friend untill I come across breaking 4th wall thingy and got more interested, like we share a secret *sink wink* Eventually I liked him more and more and even planned to stop playing after his SE but soon after they announced something new. I am IT highschool graduate (I sucked pretty much OTL so I felt similar to Yoosung) and I still remembered thing or two and well... I choose such hs for some reason so I kinda liked his tech-savvy IT programming jokes and I was more religious than I am today so I apreaciated the christian part. I wanted to help him so badly i think. And he is kinda weirdo(in a good way), I consider myself shy weirdo, but probably less than he is.

Saeran/Ray *cracking knuckles* so... When I first met him as an Unknown my common sense tried to keep me from him as far as possible, I gave up to this but kinda I was almost like peeking throught the keyhole in the locked door lol I-it's not like i like him, he is so sus > :-( and a bit later I-I defenitely am not into bad boy kind of characteres, others might be, but I am NOT (but peeking throught keyhole of the locked doors). I was kinda interested, but never let myself actually be really interestedin him, untill the end of SE where he is back with his brother. Then I was thinking more like "preacious (angy) bean, must protect uwu". And I mostly wanted to play his route for A. curiosity because new mode(AS), B satisfaction for myself that I actually finished the game, but most importantly C. To save HIM for SAEYOUNG :)

But when I played AS for the first time, when there was only V route, I forgot everything, got few times bad relationship ending because of him. V who? Saeyoung who? Head empty only him. And then It was almost like in case of Yoosung that I saw in him part of me, plus head empty, only Ray.

Sometime I feel like it was so shallow of me, but then I think that this is a game, and maybe, just maybe I can be 'a little' shallow in that case.

Especially since for the very first time I was... obsessed? with a fictional character. I've never understood such thing.

>>MM ask game<<

OBEY ME QUESTION GAME!!

BEFORE YOU START PLEASE READ THIS!

Alright, to start off let me explain how I want you to play this. All I expect of you is to just to either copy the questions or the numbers of the questions and answer them, and once you are done, I guess just re-blog it so others can play this too. I will include my answers under each question to inspire those who aren’t sure what to write or what they would do, and for those who want to get to know me more.

I actually made this because I want to see how everyone actually would react to specific situations so I can, when it comes to writing stories for you all, make them more relatable and not something where you would read the story and think “Umm I/My MC would never do something like this.... “ alright let me stop wasting time now

WARNING THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR SEASON 1!!

Questions

1. Is this going to be about you or your OC/MC?

this is going to be about me, I think it will be about the things I would do realistically

2. What were you wearing when you first arrived? (Casual, smart, PJs, etc. Describe your outfit) 

Realistically speaking, I imagine myself arriving to devildom wearing my favourite BNHA hoodie and some black joggers/sweatpants

3. What we're you doing before you got teleported into devildom?

I actually like to headcanon/imagine that MC originally signed up to study abroad and as they go to the airport and sit on the plane, 2 hours into the flight as they are staring out of the window, they suddenly notice how the light suddenly went off around them and everything went quiet, so when they look away from the window to see what's going on they see that actually somehow everyone feel asleep around them, even the stewards and stewardess. When MC looks back out of the window they suddenly see everything is actually upside down, the plane is flying normally but the city/ land that they saw is suddenly now in the sky and the clouds are at the bottom, and suddenly the airplane starts lowering itself into the clouds which start looking more orange and grey. That is when they suddenly hear Belphagore's voice calling for them as they slowly drift to sleep and then end up waking up in devildom.

4. First reaction when you get there 

Once again Realistically speaking, I'd think this was all either A) a dream (based on Q3), B) A big joke or C) A game show or like a Darren brown kinda thing.

I would probably just be laughing at the whole situation out of nervousness and be like " ya guys are joking right? Hahaha very funny.... ok how do I wake up now?"

5. Reaction to finding out their names

The amount of times I'm going to repeat the word 'Realistically' in this post is uncountable, but realistically speaking I would start bursting out laughing when Satan and Lucifer would introduce themselves. I can imagine myself making fun of it and be like "SATAN AND LUCIFER??!! BWAHAHAHAHAHA IF YOU GUYS ARE SATAN AND LUCIFER, I'M BEYONCE! BWWAAAAHAHAHAHA"

I can clearly imagine them getting pissed at me due to this, because imagine someone laughs at you after you tell them your name, quite rude isn't it ? Lolol

6. Reaction to them actually dancing (dance battles )

In the beginning I'd start laughing but then also die out of second hand embarassment. I don't know why but seeing people dance makes me uncomfortable.

7. If you were to stand next to the characters where does your MC/ OC / Do you imagine yourself to reach up to?

(Going from tallest to smallest )

Beelzebub/Lucifer/Diavolo - around the chest area, Def not reaching up to their shoulders.

Simeon / Solomon / Satan / Barbatos - up to their necks

Leviathan / Mammon - up to their chins

Asmodeus / Belphagore - their ears

Luke my cute little sweet baby that I'm ready to kill for - he would reach up to my shoulders lmao

8. Would you miss anyone? When would you start missing them ?

My family? Lolol no, I wouldn't miss them.

I would only miss my friends and my cats probably after satan would talk about cats. I can imagine me missing them after the first week or the second week

9. Who would you be closest to ?

I can imagine myself being close to the following : Leviathan, Asmodeus and Satan. I think I'd be really good friends with levi or asmo though since they are both invested into things that I'm also really into. Ah! I forgot to mention, I'd try to be friends with Mammon if I saw the brothers getting rude to him.

I'd try to get close to Lucifer but be a bit intimidated by him though and Mammon's tsundere act would kinda hurt me, but after I would realize that he's a tsundere I would be be friends with him.

10. Realistically speaking would you go up the stairs when Lucifer tells you not to? 

Honestly, I would respect Lucifer's wishes and not go up the stairs but if Belphagore doesn't shut the fuck up and keeps telling me to come to him, I'd probably go.

11. How would you react after Belphie kills you? What would you say to him ? 

After the whole killing thing and me seeing my dead body, I would be shocked and probably start swearing worse than s sailor and then lunge at him and beat him up out of anger. Honestly If I ever got the chance to make one of my wishes come true, it would be to get in a fist fight with Belphagore, where I would beat the living hell out of him.

12. How would you react after finding out you left the original timeline?

I would honestly be sad about it, yes I get it that in this timeline we still have the same characters but honestly I would struggle accepting the new ones, and end up missing the original ones.

I think it would also result to me constantly thinking, if this Satan likes me, would the original Satan also like me? What would he have done in this situation, etc.

13. Reaction to finding out about being Liliths descendent? 

One word : shit

I would think it would be cool at first but then when I'd realize that the brothers are technically like my great-great¹⁰⁰⁰ granduncle ( ik that it says that human Lilith is not related to the brothers by blood ) I'd be a bit .... disturbed. I'd definitely crack a lot of grandpa jokes with them and joking call them "grandpapi" randomly.

Honestly though it would also make me feel bad about myself because I'd start thinking that they would start treating me as Lilith's replacement or that they are actually trying to find Lilith in me. But I guess after some time I'd get over it.

14. Reaction to the demon brothers being in their demon form ?

It's simple, if they are angry while being in their form, I'd be wary of them for a while, but if they are calm while being in it, I'd be amazed and ask a lot of questions, resulting to me jumping around excitedly and trying to touch them.

15. On the last day, realistically what would you do? Would you hug the brothers ? If you were to leave devildom who would you stay in contact with?

Honestly I'd kiss the character that I'd fall for the night before I leave. I can imagine that it's either Satan, Mammon, Lucifer, Leviathan or Solomon. It's either go big or go home!

I'd take one of those typical Victorian family pictures with everyone in it, meaning diavolo and barbs, the demon brothers, the angels and Solomon, and I'd make a copy for everyone to keep. I'd also maybe make something that they call all remember me by such as personalized keychains or bracelets.

I can definitely imagine myself staying in contact with Leviathan because... You know... Anime lolol and Solomon since he is the only human who I could talk to about devildom and everything that happened there. I'd love to stay in contact with the others but I feel like I won't be able to entertain them much via texting. I'd also love to stay in contact with the angels but I think we all know that won't be possible. Sad sigh

Would I cry? ... Yes, I would get ready eyed and hug them

16. Lastly, What would you tell your family and friends when you return, what will you tell them when they ask you about where you disappeared off to?

Honestly, I would tell my family about everything that happened, I'd tell them about devildom and everything I experienced since I know they would believe me because our family already has some history with demons and spiritual stuff.

However, I'd definitely lie to my friends saying something such as me breaking my phone when I went to study abroad causing me to lose contact as I was gone.

To be honest, this was really fun to make and answer, it really got me thinking about myself and my personality. I really hope you guys also end up doing this, and enjoy yourself. If you guys want I can also make part 2 which will contain scenes from season 2.

Once again I hope you enjoy yourself, and don't forget to re-blog this with your answers so I can see your responses and so others can play this too.

Personal SU Reboot Design(s) and Headcannon(s):

So this is just a little introduction post for my take on Sonic Underground redesigns. I've tweaked their personalities slightly and have thrown in a few of my own headcannons so I guess this could count as an AU of sorts but I'm not 100%. I just thought making an ask blog with the triplets would be fun, so below are a few things about these three and you guys are all free to ask anything you'd like. ^^

Sonic:

Age 16

He has green eyes now but when he was a baby they were hazel.

Sonic is the oldest of the triplets (obviously) and can be pretty protective over his brother and sister.

He often takes Manic's fanny pack in an attempt to keep him from stealing.

He says he's the tallest but in reality he is the exact same height as his sister.

He constantly teases Manic for being shorter.

He also enjoys teasing Manic about being the youngest.

He is extremely athletic and fairly strong so when Manic is being to lazy Sonic just carries him around.

He's an absolute dork whenever he sees something he thinks is cool, Manic teases him for geeking out.

When he makes Sonia mad he has Manic use his 'baby charm' to calm her down.

He is almost always in charge of driving not only due to being the oldest but also due to being the safer driver between himself and Manic.

He surprisingly babies Manic more then Sonia does; he has a hard time saying no when his siblings ask him for something.

He could easily sleep till noon everyday without worry, so he relies on Sonia to wake up at a reasonable time.

He has an absolutely chaotic relationship with Manic, where they literally just sit around and roast each other for hours on end.

He loses Manic CONSTANTLY when the two are alone, and always blames it on Manic being short.

He encourages Manic chaotic behaviors the most, and calls his brother a gremlin almost daily.

Sonia:

Age 16

She has bright blue eyes, she grew up with people telling her how pretty her eyes were and now does the same Manic.

She is the middle child and often complains about being the only sensible one.

She's owns the only brain cell, and claims she has no clue how her brothers survived without her.

She is constantly mothering her brothers.

She is the same height as Sonic, but let's him think he's taller.

She took gymnastics when she was younger so she is very agile.

She loves to be treated like a princess so whenever she gets the chance to be pampered she takes it.

She helped teach Manic how to keep his quils out of his face.

She has tried countless times to teach her brothers etiquette and manners, but usually gives up in annoyance.

She is easily persuaded to do things by Manic, so when they are in a city they usually stick together while Sonic does his own thing.

She often struggles with keeping Manic out of trouble without Sonic there.

She is always in charge of the map since Manic doesn't pay attention and Sonic has a horrible sense of direction.

She has a set schedule of exactly eight hours of sleep a night and is in charge of waking Sonic up.

She is always having to keep her brothers out of trouble, and fails 9 times out of 10.

She broke off her engagement with Bartleby after she caught him being rude to her brothers.

She occasionally convinces Sonic and Manic to let her do their makeup and hair; Sonic hates it while Manic couldn't care less.

She hates being dirty with a burning passion.

She has slight anger issues but is overwhelmed with guilt if she snaps at her brothers.

She refuses to let Sonic get within ten feet of a cup of coffee.

Manic:

Age 16

He has Magenta eyes; he has to constantly listen to Sonia gush about how pretty they are.

He is the youngest sibling so he is always being babied by his brother and sister (he hates it)

He is the definition of a gremlin but at the same time makes people think he's babey.

He is the shortest of the siblings and despite it only being a few inches people often think he is much younger then his siblings.

Ironically he jokes more about his small size then Sonic does. The difference is he uses it as a threat while Sonic uses it as an excuse.

He is rarely given his fanny pack when they are in a city or town due to his 'sticky fingers', so he usually only has it when they're on a mission or around resistance bases.

He gets annoyed when his bangs get in his face, so he keeps them as pulled back as possible.

He is extremely flexible and athletic, but he prefers to relax more then be active unlike his brother.

He often uses being the youngest to get his way or when he wants something from his siblings.

He also uses this same tactic to get free things from vendors in cities and towns.

Manic rarely gets to drive because he likes to purposely hit pot holes, just to annoy his siblings, so he is usually back seat driving while Sonic is behind the wheel.

He has a horrible sleep schedule and will often go days with very little sleep; after big missions it isn't uncommon for his exhaustion to make him sleep for well over a day.

He is the most danger prone of the siblings, so he is the only one NOT allowed to go or do anything alone.

He has a certain charm to him that keeps his brother and sister from staying mad at him, he uses this charm to help Sonic from time to time.

He likes to pretend to be fearless and tough, but he's actully an emotional little babey.

He has absolutely no fear of Sleet and Dingo, and will go out of his way to make them miserable. It has become tradition now for one of his siblings to tell him to be nice whenever he sees the two bounty hunters.

He only truly fears Robotnic but never admits it to anyone.

He's an absolute mad lad with zero self restraint.

THANK YOU FOR INDUCTION ME INTO JEGULILY!!!!! I LOVE YOUR SNIPPETS! AND I LOVE THE THREE OF THEM TOGETHER!!! AND THEY HAD KIDS?! I CAN'T EVEN!!! I'M GOnna go weep with joy now bie bie I love you 🌷💛

Hi! You’re very welcome! This isn’t really a prompt but I don’t have many in the way of Jegulily so I’m going to treat it like one. Thank you so much for your kind words and I hope you like this as well! 

***

           Regulus had needed to get away after his mother died. He’d never exactly been close with his brother considering their apposing views on their parents, so after his mum died Reg had no one. He’d always been horrible at dating, too severe and not romantic enough. And his friends were the kind of people you realized you didn’t want to be associated once you were out of the bubble of school. He truly had no one.

           He had thought getting away would be good for him. As the sole inheritor of his parent’s estate, since Sirius had been written out of the will, he had enough money to go anywhere or do anything he wanted. So he’d bought a house by the seaside, always having been a little obsessed with water. He kept his family home in London but he’d thought the country air would do him good.

           It had been a horrible idea. He’d never felt so alone and isolated in his life. The people were friendly compared to the people in London and he’d never had so many people say hello to him every morning. But with that came the feeling of being an outsider, reminded on a daily basis of just how different things were here.

           Fueling his melancholy, Reg walked down to the beach and sat down in the sand, looking out at the water. There was a family a little ways down the beach and Regulus couldn’t stop staring at them. The woman had red hair that whipped around her face in the breeze, a large straw hat on her head threatening to blow away. She laughed at her own misfortune, holding onto the top of it determinedly. Her husband laughed along with her, leaning in and kissing her sweetly, his own unkempt mop of hair blowing wildly in the breeze. When the hat finally escaped, the man went chasing after it.

           Their son, who looked to be about three, ran after his father with his arms outstretched. The husband leaped and managed to trap the hat underneath him. The son gigged and leapt onto his father. The husband soon brought the son and the hat back to his wife, the top of the hat having been squished under his body. The wife merely laughed and pushed it back out from the inside before depositing it on her head and beaming up at her husband.

           Regulus realized he’d been staring for quite some time and quickly looked away. He felt something ache inside him and he had no idea what. Perhaps it was just loneliness. Before he could think better of it, Regulus pulled out his phone and called his brother.

           “Reg?” Sirius said as he picked up. “You never call me! What’s up?”

           “Hi,” Regulus said, covering his face with his free hand as if ashamed. “I thought maybe you could come visit me.”

           There was silence on the line and Regulus was about to take back his stupid request when Sirius finally spoke up. “I’d love to! Text me the address and I’ll be there by this evening.”

           “You don’t have to come that soon,” Regulus told him quickly, not wanting to be an inconvenience. Christ, he still felt like a child sometimes, needing his brother to come and rescue him. “This weekend will be fine.”

           Sirius sighed heavily into the phone. “Reg, you’re calling me of your own volition. I’m coming up tonight.”

           Sirius rang off before Reg could argue with him about it. He texted Sirius his address before he forgot, even though he wasn’t sure he even wanted his brother to come. Groaning to himself, Reg tugged his fingers through his hair and buried his face away against his knees, pulled up towards his chest. He was going to be twenty-five soon. That was a quarter of a century and what did he have to show for his life?

           “Hey mate, you okay?”

           Regulus lifted his head up and the husband he had been watching earlier was standing in front of him with an easy smile on his face. Regulus blinked a few times and tried to remember how human speech worked. “Not really, but I’ll be fine.”

           The husband laughed and held out his hand. “I’m James Potter.”

           Regulus shook his hand quickly. The guy – James – was really intimidatingly good looking. His glasses framed his handsome face perfectly, his just slightly lopsided smile was hopelessly endearing, his body fit and toned underneath his t-shirt. The wind was whipping just right to pull the t-shirt across his chest and stomach and Reg was fairly certain he could make out abs. Regulus stopped himself before he went overboard with ogling this stranger. “Regulus Black.”

            “Well, Regulus Black, you’re coming over for lunch,” James said as if it were a done deal, brokering no argument, tugging Regulus to his feet. “You new to this area?”

           “Just moved in a week ago,” Regulus answered, walking side by side with James back to where his family was. His wife was packing up their stuff while their son kept grabbing a new toy to play with immediately after she’d put it away.

           “Well welcome!” James said, clapping Reg on the back. “Lily, my love, this is Regulus. I’ve invited him over for lunch.”

           Lily glanced up at her husband, her eyes searing with murderous intent. “James Potter, if you don’t help me pack all this shite up I swear to God –“

           James snickered and went over, giving his wife a quick peck on the lips and then helping pack up their stuff. “Can I help?” Regulus offered, feeling a bit awkward just standing there.

           “Oh yes!” Lily said, picking her son and depositing him in Reg’s arms. “You can hold Harry. He’s a troublemaker just like his father, I’m afraid.”

           Regulus blinked in surprise and shifted them around until the three-year-old was sitting comfortably against his hips. Harry had a little sand shovel that he was flying through the air and making plane noises for. He then flew it into Reg’s chest and made an explosion noise.

           Regulus had no idea what to do so he let Harry continuously crash a tiny plastic shovel into his chest. Lily and James finished packing up their things and smiled at Reg triumphantly. “Thanks so much for your help,” Lily said, slightly out of breath.

           “We just live a block away if you don’t mind walking,” James said, nudging Reg lightly with his elbow.

           “No, I don’t mind.”

                                                           ***

           By the time Reg got home that evening he was so utterly confused. The Potters had been wonderful, kind and inviting, and James’ cooking had been to die for. They’d laughed easily and made jokes at the others’ expense and they hadn’t even minded if Reg didn’t always laugh along with them.  But what had really thrown Reg off was the amount of touching.

           It was all perfectly innocent, a hand on his elbow here, a guiding hand on the small of his back there, but Regulus had noticed and savored every press of warm skin against his own. He couldn’t recall the last time someone had touched him. Had it been when he’d held his mother’s hand in the hospital? Was that really the last time someone had touched him?

           He’d gotten so distracted by the Potters and his whirlwind of an afternoon that he forgot about having called Sirius to come up for a visit. It was only when he heard knocking on his front door that he remembered his earlier phone call. For a brief moment he had hoped it might be the Potters but that was stupid. They had their own lives.

           “Little brother!” Sirius said once Regulus opened the door. Sirius threw his arms up and pulled Reg into a hug. “How are you?”

           “Better than I was when I called you,” Reg said honestly. “I think I made some friends.”

           “That’s great!” Sirius said, dropping his motorcycle helmet down on one of the kitchen tables. “I think I made a friend as well.”

           Regulus’ mouth dropped open in shock. “But you’ve only just got here!” he said, unable to keep the tinge of envy out of his voice.

           Sirius laughed. “I got lost on the ring road,” he explained, sliding his gloves off. “Nice stranger named Remus was kind enough to help me. Fuck, he was so cute I nearly proposed to him right then and there.”

           Regulus rolled his eyes. He’d always been a little jealous of Sirius – cool and confident – self-assured in a way Reg never could be. Despite all that he was glad his brother was there with him. “How long are you staying?”

           Sirius shrugged. “Took some time off work. Told them I had a family emergency. So I can give you two weeks at least.”

           Regulus shook his head. “You can’t do that!” He could not believe his brother’s recklessness sometimes. “Sirius – “

           Sirius turned towards Reg and crossed his arms over his chest. “I hate that job anyway. It’s boring and tedious and I don’t even like working in a call center! If they fire me then who cares? I’m only twenty-six –“

           “Nearly twenty-seven – “ Reg interjected.

           “And I’m not dead yet! They’ll be other jobs,” Sirius finished with a self-satisfied grin. “Besides, maybe I’ll be a worthless layabout and come live with you and mooch. I think I’d be a great moocher.”

           Regulus sighed, already exhausted from being around his brother, and went into the kitchen. He pulled out two beers and slid one to Sirius, who had followed him. Regulus grabbed the bottle opener from the drawer and opened his before sliding it to Sirius as well.

           “Cheers,” Sirius said, popping open his beer and taking a long pull from it. “So have they got a pizza joint we can order from in this town or what?”

           Regulus shrugged. “I have no idea.” He pulled out his phone and texted James, figuring he might know the best place.

           James answered right away, which was surprising, and gave the name of the best pizza place in town but also an offer to come over for dinner instead. Regulus explained the situation of having his brother with him. He was shocked again when James said to bring him along.

                                                           ***

           “Ten quid says he fucks it,” James said, taking a bite out of his ice cream cone and munching it loudly.

           “No way,” Lily said, shaking her head. “Even if he fumbles it he’ll get the date.”

           Regulus eyed her warily. “I sense some insider knowledge,” he said, raising a skeptical eyebrow at Lily.

           Lily grinned. “I happen to know of a certain librarian who is smitten with a certain motorbike driving weirdo.”

           “Cheater!” James said, pointing at his wife accusingly. Regulus couldn’t help laughing at their antics. They were sitting together at the ice cream parlor across the street from the library where Remus worked. It had been two weeks and Sirius had been coming to the library pretty regularly to try and chat up Remus. So far it hadn’t resulted in a date.

Now watching Sirius’ bumbling attempts had become almost a spectator sport for them. Regulus was going to have to switch to frozen yogurt if this kept up much longer. He’d been consuming an alarming amount of ice cream as of late. That or he’d have to finally go on that jog James was always suggesting.

           Two weeks and Regulus felt like he truly belonged somewhere, all thanks to the Potters. They’d accepted Regulus and Sirius completely even from that first dinner they’d all had together. Maybe they’d been able to sense just how much the Blacks needed a family or perhaps they were just wonderful people. Regulus had a feeling it was a bit of both.

           Sirius stuck his upper half out of the main door of the library and gave them a thumbs up, grinning like an idiot. The three of them broke out into cheers and applause with little Harry joining in even though he had no idea what was going on.

           “Hey Reg,” James said, nudging him slightly, not wanting to knock his ice cream cone out of his hand. “Lily and I had something important we wanted to talk to you about.”

           Regulus sat up a little straighter, his stomach churning with anxiety. “Okay,” he said softly, chewing his bottom lip.

           “See Lily and I were kind of hoping we might get a date of our own,” he said, glancing over at Lily and then back at Reg.

           “Oh,” Regulus responded, his brow furrowing in confusion. “Did you want me to babysit Harry? I’m sure it can’t be easy to find time – “

           “No!” James said quickly, interrupting Reg before he could get his sentence out. “No Reg, you don’t understand! That would completely defeat the purpose – “

           “Oh my god, James, let me handle this,” Lily said, putting a hand on James’ arm to stop him babbling. James’ mouth clicked shut and he physically deflated. Regulus looked to Lily to explain because he was completely confused. “We don’t want a date with each other, we want a date with you. All three of us.”

           Regulus looked between the two of them, scratching his head. “I’m sorry, what?”

           “It’s okay if you don’t want to!” James spoke up again, dropping the remnants of his ice cream cone in favor of taking Reg’s free hand. “We’ll still love you no matter what and you’re always welcome at our house even if you don’t want to date us. But we’d like to love you a little more completely, if that’s something you’d be interested in.”

           Regulus blinked a few times, dropping his ice cream on the ground in complete bafflement. “I don’t understand.”

           Lily chuckled and got to her feet, standing in front of Regulus and cupping his face in her hands. “James and I have had a nice long talk about this,” she explained, pressing a soft kiss to the tip of Reg’s nose. “And we’ve both quite fallen for you, Mr. Black. If you think you could find a way to love us in return we would both like that very much.”

           Regulus felt his breath catch in his throat. “I already do,” he whispered, staring up at Lily a little helplessly. He was so in love with them, afraid to even think it for fear that it might rip him apart from the inside. He’d thought it was the dumbest thing he’d ever done, falling in love with a married couple. He’d convinced himself it was just his loneliness and his desperation to have someone. He’d clung to the Potters in his time of need and told himself what he was feeling was just affection for friends – some of the first true ones he’d ever had in his life.

           He’d told himself all that to protect himself from the fact that he couldn’t have them. But as Lily held his face and James held his hand, it felt like the invisible wall he’d been carrying around him was simply floating away, stone by stone, being lifted off him.

Little Harry came and crawled into Reg’s lap, wanting to be included. He was a sticky mess of Strawberry ice cream but Reg couldn’t even care. It felt right, being surrounded by the Potters. Reg brought his free hand up and held Harry around the middle so he didn’t fall.

           “So,” James said, giving Reg’s hand a squeeze. “About that date?”

           Regulus laughed. He thought he might have laughed more in two weeks with the Potters than he had in his entire life up to that point. “You two pick the day and place. I’ll be there.“

Wishing you were my Arthur right now, lol. Omg, can write something like that? Arthur is taken by another woman and reader wishes she's that woman. A forbidden love kind of thing? I don't want him to be a cheater but I like to think it's natural for him to also wish he'd rather date the reader but can't. If that's too much, then do the first part? I'm sorry! 😦

Hello, Anon! That is so sweet, I’d love to do a scenario for you and Arthur! Tell me some things about yourself and I’ll see what I can do! 😊

This one was fun, even if it did take a long time. It’s been a hellish few weeks and honestly I don’t remember most of the things that happened. 

You stand on the edge of Horseshoe Overlook, enjoying your morning coffee. An eagle soars overhead, swirling in lazy circles in the gentle breeze. This place is beautiful, Hosea couldn’t have picked a better spot. 

You hear the sound of a horse coming up the trail behind you. Looking over to your left, you see Arthur’s horse coming up the hill with the man himself astride it. Behind him sits Mary, her arms wound around him. You wrinkle your nose in disgust as though she were a bad smell, but you go back to drinking your coffee and pretending you didn’t see them. 

Arthur knows you did, of course. He’s horribly aware that everyone’s eyes are on him and Mary. He hadn’t expected to get back together with her, it’d been the last thing he thought would happen when he received her letter. He helped her brother, of course he did. Arthur was just the kind of man to help anyone in need unless they gave him a reason not to. When he’d brought Jamie back to Mary, she’d clasped his hands and kissed him. 

“Oh Arthur,” she’d said, “I’ve missed you more than I can say. You know I… I only married Barry because it was what daddy wanted, but he’s dead now. I’m willin’ to take another chance with you if you’ll have me.” 

Arthur’s heart felt ripped in two when she’d said this to him. There was a part of him that was overjoyed, but another part that wanted to cringe and tell her to leave him alone. Deep down he knew if things hadn’t worked the first time, they wouldn’t this time. He’d only end up with a broken heart again. Not only that, he’d had his eye on you for some time. 

Although you’ve only been with the gang a few months, about as long as Charles and Micah, you and Arthur clicked immediately. It didn’t take long for you two to develop a crush on one another, but neither of you would act upon it. Arthur was handsome and too good for you. A man like him would certainly never go for you. You didn’t blame him either. Hell, you wouldn’t be interested in you. Arthur felt the same way about himself when it came to you. He saw himself as nothing more than a killer, a robber. A bad man. No way could someone as sweet and gentle as you want to be seen with a man like himself. No, Mary was what he deserved, he told himself. 

Ever since Arthur and Mary got back together, he’s been going off to see her more often. Since she already knew about the gang, no one had any qualms about him bringing her to camp, even though many of them didn’t like her. You aren’t a fan either. Sure, Mary’s pretty, smart and strong. But she’s not unique in that aspect. Mary-Beth’s smart, Tilly’s pretty and Karen could knock Mary’s teeth out if she wanted to. What they didn’t have that Mary did was her ego. It was clear to you upon first meeting her that she saw herself as better than everyone in the gang, Arthur included. It was just the way she talked to them, how she would never invite anyone to start a conversation. Most of the time when she was in camp, she acted like she didn’t want to be and she’d beg Arthur to go somewhere else with her. You had to bite your tongue, feeling sure she was dragging him off someplace to have some mind-blowing sex, which did nothing to lighten your mood. 

It wasn’t just the way Mary talked to you and the others in the gang that made you hate her. Most of it was how she talked to Arthur, always putting him down in some way. Once you’d been passing his tent when she’d been in there with him and it was clear she was trying to get him to do something he didn’t want to do. “I shoulda had you hung years ago. You’ll never change, Arthur.” 

That made you want to go in there and rip her hair out. How dare she threaten him that way? Did she talk to her late husband in the same manner? You doubt it, as he was likely a law-abiding man. You argued that following laws set by a bunch of men didn’t make people good. Hell, you grew up in a law-abiding family and most of the people during that part of your life treated you and everyone else like shit. Here, in this gang of outlaws and criminals, you’ve never known such a tight-knit family. Everyone looks out for one another. Sure, people argue and fight, but they’re still family and the whole gang would be moved to action if a single person was in danger. 

Arthur knows the gang isn’t happy to see Mary riding behind him. He dismounts and helps her off. He wants nothing more than to rip his arm out of her grasp. He regrets getting back into this relationship with her. He’s always had a low opinion of himself, but being with her has made him realize how truly horrible he is. He wonders why someone as good as her could want to be with him. He spots you by the cliff, drinking coffee in the morning light. You look so beautiful. What he wouldn’t give to be standing by your side, your hand wrapped around his arm instead of Mary’s. But that can never be. You’re too perfect for him. 

He sidles over to his tent with Mary. Dutch gives him a tense nod. He clearly wants to talk with Arthur, likely about a job, but he holds his tongue when Mary’s around. He knows, along with everyone else, that if she doesn’t like even the slightest thing, she could very easily go running off to the sheriff and turn them all in. That’s the only reason why her presence is tolerated, that and out of respect for Arthur. Arthur’s not a fool though, he knows most people walk on eggshells when she’s around. He doesn’t bring her to camp often, only whenever he needs to talk to someone or pick up something and then he heads off somewhere else with her. 

Arthur’s here to just drop off some fish to Pearson now. He’d suggested fishing when he picked up Mary. She hadn’t wanted to do it as she found it boring, but Arthur wanted to make sure his people had something to eat tonight. She’d relented at that. You eye her across camp now. Why can she not see how good of a man Arthur is? He’d break his own back if he had to for the gang. She’s not good enough for him, which means you’re definitely not either. Hell, you’ve committed almost enough crimes to get as heavy a bounty as Arthur, including murder. You go back to your cold coffee, though you’ve lost all interest. 

Before Arthur had gotten back with Mary, you two were becoming close friends. He took you out on a lot of hunting trips and you were sure one time he almost kissed you. It’d been under a tree and you’d been caught by a sudden rainstorm. Soaking wet and slightly cold, you both huddled under the tree, wrapped around each other to stay warm. Your faces had been inches apart and you desperately wanted to press your lips to his, but you wouldn’t. You couldn’t destroy your friendship with him like that, your desires weren’t worth it. You’d rather have him in your life as a friend than not at all because you couldn’t keep your crush to yourself. 

It broke your heart when he’d shown up in camp with Mary the first time and when people asked, he’d announced why she was there. You’d heard enough about her before to know she only used him for her own gains and then always tossed him aside when he was no longer useful. At least that’s what the others said. Hosea told you a bit about what their first relationship was like and why it hadn’t worked. So when Arthur showed up, his arm in her hand and a big smile on his face, you started pulling away from him. You had to in order to protect himself. 

It hurt Arthur when you did that. You no longer went hunting or fishing with him, he stopped asking you to help him on small jobs. He understood why you did, most of the others changed towards him too when he brought Mary in. It just made him regret taking her back all that much more. He wanted to end things with her already, but she had some sort of pull on him. Whenever he thought about leaving, she seemed to sense it and she’d kiss him and fawn over him and make him think things might be okay, then she’d slip back into her habits of insulting him. 

Arthur couldn’t even say that the sex was good enough for him to stay, it wasn’t happening at all. Mary had a firm stance against premarital sex. He respected her wishes, of course, he was easily capable of taking care of himself if he needed to. However, when he was with Mary, he felt no desire to be with her intimately. He used to when they were first dating, but things had ended so badly that he blamed his lack of interest on that. A voice from a dark corner of his mind told him that he wasn’t attracted to her because he wanted you. He shoved that voice out of his mind though, he’d already told himself he wasn’t going after you. He wouldn’t ruin your life like that. 

He drops the fish off to Pearson and as he turns away to go back to Mary, he bumps into you as you’d been going back to put your coffee tin in the water barrel. 

“Sorry, Y/N,” he says. 

“No, it’s okay, Arthur,” you say, quickly looking away. “You, uh, heading off with Mary again?” You try keeping the accusations from your voice. 

He shuffles his feet a bit. “Uh, yeah. She wants to go see one of them movin’ pictures, I guess.” 

“I see. Well, have fun.” You turn away quickly before he can say anything else. He realizes he genuinely misses you. Whenever he needed to talk, you were always there and easy to talk to. Not only that, you were always telling jokes, making him laugh. Your cool, easy-going temperament was infectious to him and he found himself becoming more steady and less angry in your presence. Now that he rarely gets to see you, he finds he’s gotten more angry again. He runs up behind you, calling your name softly. 

“Y/N, I just wanted to ask ya somethin’. Would, uh, would ya wanna go on a huntin’ trip with me soon? Pearson’s getting low again and, well, you’re a good shot. What you think?”

You’ve kept a steady gaze on him but when he’s done you glance over at Mary. Is that all you are to him, just a steady shot? “I don’t know, Arthur. Grimshaw’s keeping me pretty busy.” That’s a downright lie. Sure, Grimshaw’s been breathing down your neck, but no more than she always has and no more than she’s done with the other girls. “Besides, Arthur, what would Mary say if she found out you went out for three days alone with another girl? If I were her, I’d be suspicious.” 

Arthur sighs and knows what you mean. He can’t have friends who happen to be women with Mary. Because of him being a criminal she’d suspect him of being a cheater too. “Right, o-of course. Well, just thought I’d ask. Looked like ya might need to get some time away from this camp.” 

He walks back to Mary, looking miserable. He’s right, you do need a break from this camp. You’re tired, tired of Grimshaw’s barking and Dutch constantly screaming about faith and his plans. Tired of Pearson’s same stew every night, tired of everything here. You’ve missed the hunting trips with Arthur more than you thought possible. Your lip trembles as he walks away. You goddamn fool, you think. He’s just trying to help you and you can’t get over your jealousy.

Shortly after Arthur leaves with Mary, you decide to head out of camp too. Pearson gives you a shopping list, so you jump on the opportunity. You sidle into Valentine’s shop and give the shopkeeper your list. He snaps at a shopboy who starts gathering things and putting them into the wagon you drove here. As you’re browsing the shelves, the front door opens and Arthur walks in.

“Oh, hi Y/N,” he says, coming over. “You doin’ a’right?” 

You nod. “Pearson just needed some things. Is uh, Mary outside waiting?” 

He sighs and looks out the window. “Yeah, she is. I just needed to buy some provisions. I gotta go huntin’, with or without you. Camp’s gotta eat somehow.” 

Your gut clenches with a bit of guilt. “I see. You takin’ Mary with you?” 

“No. No she’s never shot a gun. I’ve offered to teach her how but she says she’ll be damned before she touches a gun. Says if she does it’s a slippery slope to turnin’ into one of the other girls from camp.” 

Your face flushes with anger. She really does think herself better than the rest of the gang just because she’s never robbed anybody. Yet here she is, abusing Arthur and judging everybody else. 

“Why are you with her, Arthur?” you ask before you can stop yourself. “I don’t have a lot of experience with dating, but I’d find it difficult to be with anyone who could so easily insult those I called family.”

Arthur dips his head, hiding his eyes. “It’s complicated, Y/N.”

“No, it’s not. Someone who can insult your family so easily can’t hold much respect for you. Seriously, why do you let her treat you this way?” 

“Why do you care?” he snaps. “It ain’t none of your business.You don’t know Mary, I pulled some bad crap towards her when I was young. She’s got her reasons for being the way she is.” 

“That doesn’t mean you have to put up with it, Arthur. Your relationship with her won’t work if she’s got no respect for you. No healthy relationship can last without it.”

“Like I said, Y/N, why do you care?” His eyes bore into yours, the blue turning cold. You swallow nervously. 

“I guess I don’t care, Arthur,” you snap. “You be with her if it’s what makes you happy. I won’t bother you anymore.” 

Before he can say anything, you push past him and march out the doors. You throw Mary a dirty look and get into the cart and go back to camp. She ignores you, though it’s obvious she’d seen. 

Later that night when Arthur comes into camp, alone this time, you completely ignore him. It’s obvious to you at this point that he doesn’t want you interfering with his life in even the smallest way, so you won’t go digging around in his business any longer. He wants Mary to treat him like the tread of her boot? Fine, let him. He walks over to you at the fire and gently calls your name, wanting to talk things through. He wanted so desperately to admit to you that he’s miserable with Mary, but you’d walked out before he could say anything. When he calls to you though, you pointedly ignore him. He gets the message and goes to his cot. 

In the morning, Arthur approaches you near Pearson’s fire where you’re pouring a cup of coffee.

“Y/N, can I talk to ya?” he said. He’d spent half the night lying awake, trying to think of how he can talk to you about Mary. He knows this fling with her can’t last much longer, but he’s afraid the more he tries to escape, the tighter she’ll hold onto him. 

You straighten up and look at him. “Why do you want to talk to me?” you say sharply. “Thought you wanted me to have no part in your business.” 

He hangs his head again. “I-I’m sorry, Y/N. I didn’t mean to get so defensive yesterday, I always do when it comes to her. But look, I… I really need to talk to someone about this whole thing with Mary.” 

“Hmm, well, go talk to Hosea. He’s good with advice.” You start walking away. You’re still stung by his words from yesterday.

“Y/N, please,” he says loudly after you’ve only taken a few steps. You can hear the pain in his voice. You sigh and turn around to look at him.

“Why?” you say, softer this time. “Why the hell would you want me to hear about anything going on in your life, Arthur?” 

He takes a few steps closer to you. “Because I know I can tell ya anythin’, Y/N, and you won’t judge me for it. Just please, give me a few minutes and then I won’t bother ya anymore.” 

That stings again. Here you were thinking you’d been bothering him. “Okay, Arthur.” 

You go into the trees with him and almost to the main trail leading to Valentine. Arthur stops there, staring off down the path to the river. He’s silent for a few moments, and you are too. You want him to be the one who speaks up first since this is his problem. 

“Yesterday when ya said I should stay with her if I was happy, I wanted to tell you that I’m not. Not happy, that is. I don’t know what it is, but that woman knows exactly how to play me. Whenever I pull away in the slightest, she reels me back in. I don’t know what to do, Y/N.” 

“You think I do?” you say quickly. “I don’t know a thing about her, except what gossip has been tossed around camp since you started bringing her around and I don’t know how much of that is true.” 

He sighs. “I know, and I got no business draggin’ ya into my problems. But, Y/N,” he turns to you and reaches for your hand. “I’ve missed havin’ ya around. I always knew I could tell ya anythin’, that I could be honest and open. I can’t do that with Mary. Seems we always fight whenever I tell her even a shred about my life.” 

“I’m sure, I uh, heard her the other day saying she should’ve turned you in years ago. Has she always been like that?” 

“Not always. In the beginning, all them years ago, she weren’t. But then I… we were gonna get married and then her awful daddy got involved. After that, I did some stuff for the gang that caused some attention and it made her mad. She left me after that, said some bad things too. Told her after that I wanted nothin’ with her no more.” 

“So why did she call on you a few weeks ago? If she knew things were over between you…” 

“Well, her husband passed away and she needed someone to help her brother. He got involved with some religious bunch of crazies.” 

“Ah, so she needed someone scary enough to go after him and you’re the most frightening person she knows.” 

“Guess that about sums it up,” he says. You look down at your joined hands and squeeze a little. 

“You’d think with her seeing you as this violent, scary person, she’d be a little less belittling.”

Arthur sighs and looks down the path again. 

“She used to know how kind you can be, didn’t she?” you say, realizing what his silence means. He looks down and nods. 

“I really loved her, Y/N, but when things ended between us and I learned she married another man, it broke my heart. I never wanted nothin’ to do with her. But when she wrote to me and asked for help, I couldn’t say no. I owed it to her. Guess I was hopin’ I could fix one of my many mistakes.” 

“And now she has you completely wrapped around your fingers.” You let go of his hand and cross your arms over your chest. “How long will this run last, Arthur? How long before you end up doing something real stupid that finally pushes her over the edge and she decides it’s over? Or worse, how long before you decide to marry her?” 

His eyes shoot up to yours. “I don’t wanna marry her, Y/N. I’d have to love her to wanna do that.” 

“So then why are you with her? If you don’t love her, end the relationship!” 

“I want to, but like I said, she’s got some kind of hold of me. I… I want nothin’ more than to end it. Truth is, there’s someone else I’d rather be with. But she’s way too good for me.” 

“Who?” you say, genuinely perplexed. “Mary-Beth? Know she’s got a bit of a thing for you. Don’t tell me you’re thinking of Karen, she’s with Sean and they fit together. Tilly, she’s cute. Can be a little scary-”

You didn’t see the way he smiled when you started rambling about the girls, but when he saw you weren’t going to stop, he put a hand behind your head and pulled you to him, your lips meeting. You’re stunned into silence, but just when he starts to pull away, your hands grip his shoulders, keeping you to him. Something in your chest purrs, a hunger you didn’t even know was there begins to melt away. He smells good, like grass and pine, old leather and tobacco leaves. His lips are slightly chapped and warm, God are they warm. His arm winds around your back and you clasp the back of his head, sinking deeper into the kiss. 

Finally, after what feels like years, you break off, slightly breathless. You stare up at Arthur, his cheeks rosy. He smiles a bit but then it fades. 

“I’m sorry, Y/N. I never meant for ya to get involved in all this crap.” 

You stare into his beautiful blue eyes. Your hand goes to his cheek, his jaw lightly stubbled. “Don’t be, Arthur. I’ve…” It’s your turn to blush. “I’ve dreamt about what it would be like to kiss you for ages, never thought it would be that good.” 

He smiles and leans forward to kiss you again. You want to so bad, but you stop him. “Arthur, we shouldn’t. Not until this Mary business is sorted out. I don’t like her, but it’s not fair to her.” 

He sighs and pulls away, nodding. “You’re right. Well, I’m supposed to go see her later today. Come with me, Y/N. I’m gonna tell her things are over.” 

You nod and smile. “Of course I will. Hell, if I have to kiss you in order to get her to leave you alone, I certainly will. I’ll take any opportunity to do that again.” 

His grin makes your heart flutter. A few hours later, you’re going along the trail with him to where Mary’s staying. She doesn’t live in Valentine, she’s just staying with a family friend in a little farmhouse just outside the town. 

Arthur steps onto the porch with you by his side and knocks on the door. A moment later, Mary opens it. Her eyes meet yours for a moment before she goes back to him. She’s certainly worked hard to make herself look prettier, even applying powder to her face and her hair plaited down her back. 

“Hello, Arthur.” 

“Mary. I um, I think you and I need to talk.” 

She glances at you again and then steps out, closing the door behind her. “May we do this in private, Arthur?” 

He looks at you a second and you nod, going back to the horses where you can see them but can’t hear them. You pretend to brush your horse when really you’re watching them. Arthur takes off his hat and says something, but his back is to you so you can’t tell what he’s saying. You can guess based off Mary’s face. Her hands clasp together and her brows furrow. She says something, looking confused and angry. Arthur responds and then she walks away from him to the other side of the porch, looking almost like she’s searching for an answer. She turns around and says something to him, Arthur shakes his head. He puts his hat on and then walks down the stairs, towards you. Mary puts her hands on the rails of the porch and hollers, “I shoulda had you hung years ago, Arthur Morgan!” 

You throw down your brush and march up the porch to her. “What the fuck is the matter with you? You treat everyone this way when they make you mad?” 

“I don’t know you,” she says, her face clearing. 

“Well you can know me from now on as Arthur’s girl, and I ain’t letting some snotty brat talk to my man like that. If you ever send a letter to him begging for his help, I will come to you and I will put a bullet between those pretty eyes, you got me?” 

Mary swallows. She looks over to Arthur, who seems stunned by your response.

“I didn’t mean… I just….” 

“You were just trying to manipulate him, you ass,” you say. “You don’t love him. Maybe you did once, but now he’s just something for you to play with and control. Well, it may come as a shock to you, Mary, but Arthur’s a person! Just because he’s an outlaw doesn’t mean he’s incapable of feeling. If you mention him or any of my family to anyone, I will destroy your entire life.” You spit at her feet for good measure and then march down stairs. When you get to Arthur, you stretch up and kiss him on the cheek. When you look back at Mary, she’s burst into tears. 

“Did you really have to do that?” he huffs softly in your ear as you go to your horses. 

“Had to get the message across, didn’t I? Now how about you and I go somewhere and have a proper first kiss?”

sucker // david dobrik

a/n: okay so this was a request and i have never done an imagine like this BUT IMA GIVE IT A SHOT AND HOPE IT TURNS OUT GOOD AND WHAT THE ANON WANTED!!!! also the idea is actually SO CUTE I LOVE

REQUEST: Can you make one with David in it where it’s inspired by the new Jonas Brothers song “Sucker”?

summary: david is whipped for you and everyone jokes him for it, but he isn’t ashamed.

masterlist

requests are open

follow my instagram (david page) <3

David had done everything in his power at all times to treat you like a princess and make you feel wanted always. Anything you needed or wanted, he would do everything he could to give it to you or get it for you. The fact you never took advantage of this was what made him love you even more. Everyone saw this and knew he was head over heels for you. Some would say blinded by his love, but no one described it that way because you were the most caring and loving girlfriend to him. Truth of the matter was, he loved spoiling you. If you needed anything, even the dumbest thing, David was there as soon as he could be with it. As much as everyone thought it was adorable, they had to joke him for it, it’s the Youtuber way.

So many comments and jokes were made, all varying in degree. David would just laugh it off always, or roll his eyes. Being his girlfriend, you saw all the footage of the boys teasing him and joking him about how whipped he was for you. He never denied it, because he knew he was. There was no question that he would go to the ends of the Earth for you.

We go together

Better than birds of a feather, you and me

We change the weather, yeah

I'm feeling heat in December when you're 'round me

With you, it was so easy. Everything came easy. The smiles, the laughs, the happiness, the love all came without effort. From the day he met you, he knew he wanted you, and you felt the same way. It was so easy and natural with him and you both clicked instantly. The whole group tried to set you two up, and before you knew it, David took you on a sort of date and next thing you knew, he kissed you outside of the restaurant. It was a spur of the moment because he saw you laugh loudly and you both stopped for a moment and he was so close to you. If he overthought it, he would have chickened out so he did it with no thought. Both of you were shocked, but you kissed him back immediately. That was just the beginning.

I've been dancing on top of cars and stumbling out of bars

I follow you through the dark, can't get enough

You're the medicine and the pain, the tattoo inside my brain

And, baby, you know it's obvious

No one had to tell you David cared about you. He made it known every moment of everyday. Whether it was through his sweet words or actions, he showed that he loved you. In his eyes, you were the most important thing and his number one priority. When you came into the friend group, David’s heart was mending. He told you multiple times and made multiple jokes on how he was never going to find love and questions if it existed. You were the one that sat by his side through it and made him laugh. His heart would beat out of his chest in your prescience and yours did the same. Both of your feelings were obvious for one another. Unintentionally, he began to fall for you. At first he did not even notice it, and before he knew it, he would have to bite on his bottom lip to stop his urge to kiss you. You had saved him from keeping his heart off limits. You showed him that love is real and that he could be loved and cared for.

I'm a sucker for you

You say the word and I'll go anywhere blindly

I'm a sucker for you, yeah

Any road you take, you know that you'll find me

I am a sucker for all the subliminal things

No one knows about you (About you), about you (About you)

And you're making the typical me break my typical rules

It's true, I'm a sucker for you, yeah

David was a complete sucker for you. Every part of you made him weak and he could not control himself around you. His heart was off limits and the second you came in and you began to mend it, he broke his rule of staying out of a relationship. From the beginning, he wanted to know everything about you, the good, the bad, and the hurt. He listened to your own fears and made sure to diminish any worry you had, just like you did for him. It was his job to make you feel happy and treat you like the princess you were. Many guys had ruined you and your own heart before David met you, and he made it his job to fix that.

He had done everything he could to make you happy and comfortable in your relationship together, you knew that. How determined he was to make you happy constantly was what made you love him.

Today was like any other day with you lounging around at David’s house. Natalie was there and so were a couple others. You had taken a nap and did not know people were coming over, so when you walked out in one of David’s oversized sweaters, you padded down the hallway. There he sat on the couch with a blanket covering his lap with Zane and Todd on the couches. Your cheeks flushed since you did not have pants on, but you were not aware of company. David’s smile shown beautifully as he saw you.

“Hi, beautiful,” he said as you hurried over to sit next to him. Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around you to pull you close to him after you got under the blanket. There was a slight chill in the house, making you shiver.

“Hi,” you mumbled, cuddling into his warm chest, still slightly sleepy.

“Are you cold? Do you want me to get another blanket?” he asked, worriedly. Todd and Zane snickered at him.

“Or some tea to warm you? Or maybe I’ll buy you a $1000 gucci heated blanket!” Zane joked, making David roll his eyes with a smile and you giggle.

“Dude, you’re so fucking whipped,” Todd laughed, looking over to him. “I bet if she even mentioned liking another car you’d buy it for her right now.” You laughed a little since a situation similar to this had happened, making you smile at your sweet boyfriend. With the thought in mind, you pressed a small kiss to his cheek, making him return the smile.

“You’re right. I would do just about anything for y/n,” David responded, confidently.

“Bro you are so pussy whipped it is actually kind of sad,” Todd laughed, a somewhat joking tone in his words. David’s normal demeanor changed. What usually would be a witty remark with a laugh, was now a tense silence.

“You know you guys kinda give me shit for this all the time,” David said, annoyed. “And I don’t know why. She is my girlfriend. She is the best to me and there’s nothing wrong with wanting to spoil her and make her happy,” David continued, as you traced patterns on the back of his hand, awkwardly.

“We’re not saying it’s bad. You just do anything she wants, like without her asking for things,” Zane laughed. Clearly, both him and Todd were teasing him about being whipped for you, like it was less manly of David.

“You do realize that, I don’t ask for him to do it, but it shows that he’s thoughtful and cares. He listens to me when i talk about stupid things and next thing I know he is surprising me with it. That’s not what it’s all about, but it is beyond sweet and very fucking attractive that he cares like this,” you said, sweetly. All of them knew you had no cruel intentions and nobody was offended.

“Look, I know I’m whipped as fuck for y/n, but I fucking love it,” David beamed. “You guys don’t get it. When I do something, even something small and stupid to you guys, she gets all smiley and happy and it makes me happy. And the sex is even better when she’s happy,” David smiled, cheekily at the end.

“David!” you exclaimed, laughing a little. His head ducked down to press a kiss to your forehead. Zane and Todd laughed loudly.

“You’re such a pussy,” Todd laughed, directing it to David.

“Maybe I am, but guess who’s getting more pussy than you,” David shot back, pulling you into his lap. Zane and you both laughed as Todd mocked being offended. “Joke me all you want, but I’m not about to stop spoiling her because you guys think I’m over the top. I mean, look at her, who wouldn’t wanna spoil her like the princess she is,” he continued and you shook your head.

“Maybe we’re all just depressed and lonely,” Zane jokingly spoke. Every one chuckled as you laid your head in the crook of his neck.

“Or maybe you guys are just sickeningly cute together,” Todd shrugged, making you grin.

“I mean, have you seen David? He’s beyond cute,” you giggled. Todd made a disgusted noise before everything settled down and they continued to watch the movie. David had his arms around you, lazily.

His head bent down to whisper, “I am whipped as fuck for you and proud of it.”

“I am crazily in love with you and proud of it,” you whispered back as he pressed a kiss to your forehead.

“And also you in my sweater right now is hot as fuck,” he added, leaning to press a soft kiss to your neck. You bit back a smile as you leaned into him to watch the movie, but really you were just watching David.

a/n: so like idk exactly what this is and i’m sorry??? i feel like i failed but it’s cool it’s fine. and i typed this on my phone bc i started it and tumblr wouldn’t let me edit it on my computer, only on my mobile app so rip.

Personally I'm so down for cute family shit. Maybe seeing the Forrest/Kiragi/etc sibling dynamic?

I’m such a sucker for cute family Leokumis

Relevant Tags: Omegaverse, Alpha!Leo, Omega!Takumi, Alpha!Kiragi, Omega!Forrest, Mama Bear Takumi, mentioned sexual harassment

AO3 Link for the interested: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15954623/chapters/39561847

He wasn’t really sure what he’d been expecting when he arrived at the school. Maybe something about their youngest son goofing off in class, or interrupting the teacher, or heck even getting caught cutting last period. What he didn’t expect was to see his son’s blonde hair and clothes stained with mud, or the beginnings of a black eye marring his tanned skin.

“Kiragi! Gods, what happened to you?”

His son was sitting in one of the chairs in the school’s office, arms crossed and fuming. Takumi knelt down in front of him and pulled his chin up so he could get a better look at the bruise forming around his left eye. There was also a bit of blood on his lip and it was slightly swollen.

“Papa! Stop, I’m fine!” He swatted the hand away testily.

Takumi sighed. He didn’t seem too hurt at least, aside from the split lip and black eye. And his irritable attitude. But he’d been a bit of a pain ever since he presented as an Alpha, and what fourteen year old boy wasn’t?

“What happened?” He turned to the principal. It wasn’t a question, he was far too furious to be polite. His baby was bloodied and hurt and he demanded answers.

“We would prefer to wait until your mate arrives.”

“You’re making Leo leave work for whatever this is?” He growled deep in his throat. “What, you think I’m not capable of handling my son because I’m not an Alpha?”

The man shuffled uncomfortably under his indignant glare. He probably wasn’t used to taking the full brunt of a mother’s fury; The school explicitly tried to deal with Alpha or Beta parents first, and tended to leave Omegas out of the equation. It was such a ridiculous policy; He didn’t even work, and Leo couldn’t leave his job for every little incident. Hell, he and Leo had fought tooth and nail to get them to call him at all for situations like this.

“No, of course not but–”

“I got in a fight, papa.” Kiragi interrupted quickly, probably to stop the brewing storm. Once he got started, there was no stopping him, really.

“Well I can see that kiddo!” He turned back around toward his son, exasperated. “What was the fight about?”

The principal felt the need to intervene once again, clearing his throat and standing a little straighter.

“Your son attacked another student.”

He glanced quickly between Kiragi and the principal, and tried to keep his voice under control.

“Why did you do that?”

“He was harassing Forrest, papa! They cornered him in the bathroom and tried flipping up his dress!”

His eyes softened, and all of his rage immediately melted away.

“Be that as it may, we do not find this kind of behavior acceptable and–”

Aaaaand then it was back again. Tenfold.

“Wait… You’re punishing Kiragi for defending his brother? What about the boys harassing my son? Why aren’t they here?”

“Kiragi was the one who instigated the fight.”

“And the people who harassed my son? Where are they?”

“We’ll be dealing with them separately.”

“You mean you’ll be going easy on them! What, because Forrest is an Omega it’s okay if he gets assaulted on school grounds?! So what if he likes dressing like a girl, that doesn’t mean people get to treat him like shit!”

He was vibrating with rage, fists balled up at his sides and face flushed as he continued his tirade. The principal looked incredibly uncomfortable as he continued laying into him, spitting out every curse word and insult under the sun. He was a good deal taller than Takumi, but he was so angry that he couldn’t appreciate the comedy in a short little Omega like him craning his neck to yell directly in this Alpha’s face.

“–I have half a mind to-!”

He barely noticed the arrival of his mate in his righteous anger.

“Takumi! Takumi, love, what are you doing?” Leo all but ran into the room and grabbed him by the shoulders. He gently pulled him away from the man.

“Some boys assaulted Forrest, and Kiragi is getting punished for it!”

“Now that’s not–” The principal tried to defend himself, but Takumi interrupted him.

“Shut up!” He snarled. “I have had just about enough of Alphas like you! This is the third time Forrest has been harassed and your spineless administration has done nothing!”

“Shhh,” Leo leaned in close and nipped the back of his neck gently. The Omega whined in protest, but he did calm down marginally. “Takumi, why don’t you take Kiragi home, okay? I’ll handle things from here.”

“You don’t need to handle this for me.”

“I know you’re more than capable, love… But you really should get Kiragi’s eye treated before it starts swelling too much.”

“Fine.” He finally acquiesced. “But I’m taking Forrest home too. Gods forbid the school encounter another incident involving our children today. Come on Kiragi, we’re going.”

He nearly marched down the hall to Forrest’s classroom to grab him himself, but the woman manning the desk had the good sense to just call him to the office over the intercom.

There were a few minutes of impatient foot tapping – and him not-so-subtly trying to listen through the door – until Forrest arrived.

“Papa, what’s going on?” Their eldest son asked uncertainty as he came down the hall with his backpack.

“Nothing, baby. We’re going home early. Do you have all of your stuff?”

He nodded and Takumi marched out to the car, grumbling to himself about “how Leo was going to go too easy on that spineless principal”.

It was a very short, very tense drive home. He could see Kiragi twiddling his thumbs in the back through the rear view mirror. Forrest must have realized what had transpired, because he was also quiet as a mouse and staring intently down at his lap.

They’d just pulled into the driveway when he finally spoke up.

“Papa? Is Kiragi in trouble for fighting?”

“What? What gave you that idea?”

“You just seem really upset about it, is all… Look, it’s not his fault.”

“Don’t worry baby, I’m not mad at him. I’m proud of him, actually.” He turned around to face them as best he could from the front seat of the car. “In fact, why don’t we all go do something fun tomorrow? Whatever you guys want, you’ve earned it.”

Their faces lit up; Kiragi nodded eagerly and Forrest just beamed at him from the back seat. “Alright, papa!”

They both grabbed their backpacks and ran inside. Or, Kiragi ran. Forrest did his best to keep up, but he still wasn’t too used to wearing heels around.

Takumi took the moment alone by himself to cool down. As angry as he was at the school, he didn’t want to let it affect his children.

Takumi paused outside of the bathroom when he finally entered the house. Forrest was dabbing at Kiragi’s eye with some disinfectant and an ice pack, and Takumi couldn’t help eavesdropping on their conversation.

“You know you didn’t have to get in a fight over it.”

“Of course I did! That guy can’t go around harassing my brother like that!”

“But you got hurt! Because of me!”

“You should see what I did to him!”

Takumi smiled as their eldest son laughed himself silly over the joke. He could just see Kiragi’s goofy little smile in his mind’s eye. Once the injuries were all taken care of they all settled into the living room and more or less went about their usual post-school routine.

Leo arrived home about a half an hour later. Kiragi had fallen asleep beside him watching TV and Forrest had just finished explaining to him what exactly had happened at school. It was more or less what Kiragi had already told him with a few added details.

As soon as his mate walked through the door though he excused himself went to their bedroom. They shut the door behind them, so the kids wouldn’t hear unless they came snooping. Leo dropped down onto the bed and sighed.

“I cannot believe they pulled me out of work for this.”

“Is your boss that upset? I told them that they didn’t have to call you over this…”

“It’ll be fine. And it’s probably a good thing they did call me, I thought you were going to bite that man’s head off! If I were any later I think they would have been calling security on you!”

“Can you blame me? Forrest has been getting harassed for weeks and the only person getting in trouble for it is Kiragi.”

“Maybe we should stop letting him dress like that when he goes to school.”

“Leo,” He said sternly. “Don’t even start.”

“It’s just a suggestion! He keeps getting teased! He’s sixteen, kids are cruel. Do you remember the kind of shit I used to say to you when we were in high school?”

“Yes, you were an asshole. But that doesn’t mean our son should have to change! He likes wearing dresses and doing his hair and makeup, so what?”

“He already has to deal with being an Omega, do you want another target on his back?”

“Are you saying that there’s something wrong with being an Omega?”

“Love… You know that’s not what I meant. Life is already hard for him, why should he make it harder for himself?”

“I just…” He sighed. “I just want our son to be himself. If that means I have to scream at the school administration until I’m blue in the face then so be it. Besides, if they aren’t flipping his skirt up in the bathroom then it’ll be something else. Maybe that really cute Alpha from his history class will corner him right before they go home for the weekend, make him think he’s going to ask him out on a date like he wanted, but then just ask how much it is for a blowjob right in front of his very protective older brother.”

“Hey, I only did that on a dare! And don’t act so innocent, we both know you were actually blowing Alphas in the bathroom”

“Not for money! I wasn’t a damn prostitute! And you’re lucky Ryoma didn’t kill you for that one! Though that split lip did look good on you.”

Leo pulled him down onto his lap and kissed him.

“I cannot believe you still agreed to go on a date with me after that.”

“Neither can I, frankly.” He rested his forehead against Leo’s neck and sighed. “So, what’s going to happen to Kiragi?”

“Two days suspension. It was originally going to be a week, but I guess you scared him.”

He hummed thoughtfully. “Hunting season is coming up. Maybe I’ll take Kiragi out with the bows?”

“You’re rewarding him?”

“Of course! You think Mama punished Ryoma for kicking your ass?”

“I… Had been hoping something like that had occurred.”

Takumi just laughed. “Nope, she took us all out to dinner after that one!”

He nuzzled the side of Leo’s neck. There were a million things that still needed done, but he allowed his Alpha a few minutes to hold him and unwind from the day. He waited until the tension in his mate’s shoulders relaxed a bit before he spoke again.

“So, I really scared the principal that much?” Something about a six foot tall, snobby Alpha being intimidated by him was entertaining.

“He was positively terrified of you, love. Can’t say I blame him either, how long were you yelling at him before I showed up?”

“Oh I don’t know, a minute or two? I can’t believe they called you! I can handle disciplining my own child without your help!”

“You don’t need to tell me that, dear. I’m fully aware of what you’re capable of.” His tone became more serious, and Leo squeezed him tight. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

He found Leo’s hand with his own and squeezed once.

“Lucky for you, I’m not going anywhere.”

They heard a shout from down the hall. Kiragi had apparently woken up from his nap, and now he and Forrest were loudly bickering over him drooling on one of Forrest’s hand-embroidered pillows.

He chuckled to himself and stood up.

“One of us should probably go tell Kiragi the bad news.”

“Mm, in a minute, love. Do you really want to walk into that?” Leo wrapped his arms around his waist pulled back down onto the bed with him. “Besides, it’s been awhile since we’ve had a moment like this.”

He settled back down on Leo’s lap and sighed.

“Fine, but you’re responsible for burying the bodies if they kill each other.”

Leo kissed along his neck and pushed the collar of his shirt aside so he could nibble at his bond scar.

“Not a problem, love. We can always make more.”

He laughed in spite of himself.

“I hate you.”

“I love you, too.”

what you think of killua I think he overrated yes he had great character development and trying his best being good brother to alluka but I hate when I point out his flaws I'm get called out for being hater like people find it cool dishing hate to gon but when I've points out killua not as perfect as they tell everyone they make me feel like the bad guy

Oh nonny….

… okay under cut because there’s a bit of salt. Just for info before that I love Killua, and i don’t think he’s overrated at all but ye I have some. Bitterness to talk about.

I can’t blame you to be completely frank. I love Killua, I really do, and I completely see why people relate to him or at least feel a lot for him. His storyline is great, he has a wonderful development, and since he’s the character we hear the thoughts of the most, he’s also the character we, as the audience, tend to trust and love a lot. And we can therefore see things from his sides of things.

Killua was my second fav when I first watched the anime but I admit now i’m probably interested the least to him, out of the main four. Which was mostly a fandom reaction ye. 

I wouldn’t go as far as saying he’s overrated, but there’s no doubt he is the fandom’s favorite character (again, for good reasons that are perfectly understandable, i love Killua too) but it can be brought at the expense of the others characters, especially Gon.

At some point, I was seeing so much hate toward Gon after the CA arc I couldn’t help but feel extremely bitter toward Killua. I became extremely judgemental of a lot of things he handled wrong.  And it’s true people seem to overlook those flaws a few time. 

After multiple rewatches and re-read though (and mostly trying to be as disconnected as possible from that part of the fanbase) I found back my appreciation for Killua.

He’s a complex character, who fucks up sometimes. And his fucks up are understandable. Most of them are rooted either on his reaction to the abuse he grew up into, or into the most unhealthy part of his devotion for Gon. 

The thing is that, I can’t blame him. His childhood was traumatizing, Gon became everything to him, and he was a kid, and all he handled wrong in the CA arc were his attempts at making it right, but ultimately failing because of a lack of comunication that he didn’t know how to bring up, and the fact he’s just a child who just recently got into that whole “caring for someone” stuff, a child put into a war situation, and a child who completely lost control of a situation he thought he could handle.

I honestly can’t blame him, even if he did wrong. 

I love Killua. He’s a multi faced character, with a lot of interesting and deep moments. and some fucks up here and there that we can completely excuse, because he’s a kid and  he’s still learning.  

And like I said he’s a relatable character, he’s the character we hear the most thoughts of, so as a result, the audience connect much more with his point of views of things. Hell, we barely ever hear Gon’s own thoughts in comparaisons, especially in the CA arc when things go wrong, so while Gon’s suffering is obvious, Killua’s is voiced and often pointed out. Which imo, is great, because the hardest blow of Gon’s storyline was of how much he internalized all of this and isolated himself, only for it to collapse completely on him.

So I can’t say i find him overrated. He’s great. I understand why people love him. I love him. For his ups and for his downs. And I guess even more than before because I had to relearn everything I ever loved about him.

But it’s also true the fandom has a major bias toward him. Which again, I understand, he’s a popular and likeable character. The problem is when it demonizes the other characters because they don’t treat Killua the way the fandom would want them to.

All those “Gon is toxic and abusive” rants are extremely misguided. I saw people get mad at Gon because he doesn’t know how much Killua loves him, that he doesn’t know Killua is ready to die for him, that he almost died for him (which like… why you’re mad at Gon for not knowing while it’s Killua who never, ever told those things? Gon can’t guess. Gon and Killua already have a lot of unsaid understanding, but at some point you can’t expect Gon to pick it up all the time, especially at a time he was emotionally unstable.)

And tbh, for diehard Gon fans, it can be even harder to hear, because say, when Gon snapped at Killua against Pitou, it was after a long while of everyone, including Killua, telling him to focus only on killing Pitou and only that. Killua legit says a few minutes later that Kite is a “magic word” (read, trigger word) to stop Gon, and he used it on Gon before Gon snapped at him. Killua knew he was trying to use Gon’s affect to calm him down, and he was right. He had to calm Gon down as he could. But he used something he acknowledge himself as traumatic for Gon to get that, and it’s no wonder Gon turned it back at him at that moment.

And the worst part? It was the fault of neither of them. Things are just complicated like that. Things don’t have easy answers, things are hard to handle. They were children, forced into a war, left alone bathing into their respective trauma, never being taken care of by anyone who could, only with people who always used their trauma to push them forward, pushing them both into unhealthy patern neither could exactly overcome on their own.

HxH is a great manga because nothing is black and white, and the situations are tragic for everyone involved. 

But the fandom bias can be extremely frustrating. 

I never exactly tried to adress Killua’s flaws because I don’t exactly feel like discussing about it. He’s great, don’t get me wrong, but i’m sure many, many other people have a better judgement on him that I would ever do. And besides, I find his storyline to be the most self-explainatory of the manga. And if not, a lot of other, more qualified people, can tell you a lot about Killua in a way i couldn’t do it. 

So I understand the frustration with the fandom’s bias that ends up just throwing shits at the others characters. 

But also………………

I know that a lot of fans actively acknowlegde those flaws and just don’t like it when other people point it  out because they don’t know if it comes from a place of love or a place of distain and dislike. I personally have this problem with Kurapika, while i find him not only understandable but also relatable, I have a lot of interests in his flaws, and I often joke or call him out about it, I can be really critical of his actions. 

But if I see someone throw bad stuff about him out, if it’s not worded correctly, if it’s not clear they have an affection for him, I can get extremely bitter and biased. Because I l just don’t know if they mean well, or if they are completely disregarding the rest. 

So at the same time, I understand the fans’s defensiveness when one points out the flaws of a character they love. People are willing, for the most part, to admit the flaws of the characters, they just need it to be presented in a way that doesn’t seem like you’re ignoring everything else about this character for that.

so it’s a really hard subject to talk about, especially for me who couldn’t stand to see Killua for a few months after too much people using him as a weapon against other characters.

Now, I personally made peace with how I was seeing Killua, and I really love him a lot. Can’t say if it’s as much as before, but I really do love him, he’s important, he’s a great character with great development, with great qualities and great flaws, he’s extremely important for people, and imo he’s extremely important for people who had to overcome familial traumatic experience and abuse, because Killua is a wonderful representation of someone who suffered a lot from what his family wanted from him, and a good representation for how a character in this situation is able to heal, recover, to find a better place, to take their time to look for what they exactly want, to come at peace with themselves, and most importantly, which is extremely important for abused children, to be able to see that the way your parents treated you doesn’t determinate your worth and it doesn’t mean you’ll be like your parents when you grow up. 

For that and for more reasons, I can’t say he’s overrated either. He’s a fantastically written character, and he deserves the love he gets.

I would just prefer if this love didn’t come with a bias against other characters or completely ignoring his flaws. 

As much as I try not to, fandom bias can make me dislike a character that I love if you keep pitying them against a character i like more or a character i have very strong feelings about. 

I always loved Gon, less than Killua at first, but I considered all that shit the fandom pulled at Gon to be so unfair it accidentally backlashed on Killua. And I was aware of that. I was completely aware that my distain for Killua came from how protective I became of Gon and because of how the fandom used Killua against him.

I just tried to hold on to not let the fandom ruin something I genuinely love and care about. Even if I have to not actively look for Killua’s content anymore and by being extremely picky about the kind of content I want to see coming from him.

At the same time, ye i can understand fandom’s defensiveness. But it’s not cool that you get to feel really bad about it ;;

SoI guess that’s my opinion on the topic? Rather controversial i suppose but well, it happens.

Take care!!

I'm slightly belated but if you're answering for the meme questz, how about silent films, Muppets, or/and Osomatsu.

Thank you so much for asking me! I was tossing up which of these three suggestions to go with, and I drafted up one for each of them… But since this is the one with the fewest “N/A” answers, let’s go with the ‘Matsus. I hope you don’t mind me mixing -Kun and -San.

the character i least understand

Dekapan.

Even in the fluid characterization of -Kun, he’s always been an odd duck. To the point I think he might have some kind of early-onset Alzheimers. Also more recently I’ve been re-watching the Japanese dub of The Simpsons, and now I just can’t stop imagining him as Homer and vice versa because they shared a voice actor.

interactions i enjoyed the most

- Suujimatsu! Ichimatsu and Jyushimatsu are both weird in such a complementary (if not straight-up codependent) way, it’s no wonder they’re so close. The skits that showcase the ways each others’ minds work are so sweet.

- Zaimokumatsu! Todomatsu and Karamatsu both have a preoccupation with being “cool,” but they have such different ideas of what “cool” looks like that they’re never going to see eye-to-eye. As someone who’s invested entirely too much energy into trying to be being cool and likeable, I appreciate the absurdity of it all. Plus Irino Miyu always knocks it out of the park in these skits, too.  

- Mom and Dad! …er, -matsu! Particularly in the 1980s series. Matsuyo and Matsuzo work so hard to support their awful children that you can’t help but feel for them. I like how you sometimes you get glimpses of the people they were before they fell into the roles as “housewife” and “salaryman,” like Matsuyo being a former ballet dancer and Matsuzo’s penchant for the nightlife. Despite all their foibles and differences, they’re perfect for each other. Oso-kun’s always had a big following among adults, and I feel like these two were probably a big part of that appeal.

the character who scares me the most

Hatab — err, I mean, “Mr. Flag.”

He used to be so sweet… What on Earth happened to that kid? Why isn’t he hanging out with Chibita any more? What happened to his cousin Jajako? How did he acquire a multimillion dollar consulting business? There’s got to be a story there and that’s the show I want to watch.

To be honest, I also can’t help but wonder if his sinister streak was the -San staff throwing in a bit of social commentary on Japan’s conservative national establishment. I mean, here’s this kid who looks cute and non-threatening enough to get away with anything, but treats his workers abysmally and is enmeshed in a number of criminal enterprises … and he’s literally got the national flag sticking out of his head all the while. Hmmm.

the character who is mostly like me

Choromatsu in -San, because he’s always talking about things and then not actually doing the things. Matsuzo’s good-natured ineffectuality also rings true with me.

hottest looks character

Iyami, no contest. What, ya thought I was joking with those “sleazy ex-husband” tags? C’mon! He’s got a car, keeps a trim figure with all that running from the cops, knows all the best soup kitchens in town… You could do worse, right?

one thing i dislike about my fave character

Sometimes I think I think a lot more about Chibita than the writers for -San did. :,) He’s a very well-developed little guy in the originals and I want justice for my boy in Season II.

one thing i like about my hated character

I don’t hate anyone, but even at the bottom of my brothers-ranking, Choromatsu still makes a great straight man. His fits and starts towards becoming a productive member of society gave me a lot to enjoy during the second cour.

a quote or scene that haunts me

Bit of a deep cut, but there’s a manga story from around the 3rd run (I think?) of -Kun that ends on a bizarrely poignant note. The scenario starts with Iyami as an obnoxious loudmouth barfly, but then a beautiful woman falls for him. So he starts getting his life together, they move in together, and they’re having a grand old time. It’s such a wonderful little sequence because it’s almost like showing that no matter how much of a weirdo you might be, there’s gotta be someone out there for you, strange as you might be. 

It’s all very silly and cute, but theeeen the twist comes at the end: she’s been married the whole time and ultimately decides to go back to her family. The last panel is just Iyami sitting there in the dark in his house with the eggs he bought to make breakfast. It’s one of the best moments of mood whiplash I’ve seen in this vintage of manga, because everything you know about these characters and their world is priming you for a punchline that doesn’t come.

a death that left me indifferent

Chibita’s manic pixie dream girl in -San. She’s adorable! And really I love her design! But the episode got a little bogged down with all the silliness with Karamatsu. In the end, we didn’t get to know her as much as we might have, and she didn’t really help Chibita learn anything in the long-term, which made the end a little unsatisfying. This is one story where the originals landed a much stronger impact. That one really twisted the knife by having Chibita inadvertently be the one that causes the flower-girl’s death. Oof.

a character i wish died but didn’t

Nobody stays dead in the Akatsukaverse, so it’s sort of a moot point.

my ship that never sailed

Maybe it’s not so much a ship in the conventional sense so much as “I just really want these characters to interact,” but Osomatsu and Chibita! I can pinpoint the exact second I started to like this series, and that’s in Episode 2 with Chibita was offering up well-meaning but useless life advice. You think it’s building up to some sweet little self-realization for Osomatsu, but he’s got the the chutzpah to chew out an orphan for not understanding family dynamics. And the best part is neither of them are even really wrong! I like that, and I wish we saw more of it. 

A lot of the humour in -San comes from poking fun at arbitrary hierarchies, whether it’s the birth-order thing with the brothers, or the fact that none of the adults in the Akatsuka-verse have done anything to deserve being in positions of power. But because these two have absolutely no respect for each other, and Chibita in particular doesn’t have any attachment to the family relationships by which Osomatsu defines himself, there’s a level playing field where they’re call each other out on some uncomfortable truths. And damn, if they both don’t need to hear some uncomfortable truths.

Again, thank you for inviting me to share my thoughts! :D

I [22 M] have only had one serious relationship that lasted a few years. It was amazing but I'm not over it. I found this out by accidentally trying for a rebound. I didn't intend for this to be a rebound, but it was, I'll admit that. It wasn't too long after the breakup between me and my ex that I met this girl who was my rebound.I'm only asking this question from you guys because I want to watch out for signs in the future for abusive behavior and knowing when you're truly over someone. I'll try to condense the story as much as I can.The girl that I met has some years on me and she is far more experienced when it comes to relationships in general. I didn't let that bother me and I was pretty comfortable when I was around her. As time played out, I caught some serious feelings for this girl. It was feelings that reminded me of my ex but I found them within this new girl, which I know is bad and a sign that I wasn't over it. I'm busy with my personal life and it's getting back on track (my life when me and my ex broke up was rough. My brother was suicidal, my family was going through a rough time and I don't live with them to help out). But now, my brother was back to his old self and my family was at ease. I even started saving for a new car and I met this girl who I thought would be my next serious girlfriend. I even let her know that she really helped me out mentally in being here for me.After seeing each other for a few weeks with on and off texting and hanging out when we could, I start to catch some serious feelings. I stay the night, no sex, just fooled around a lot. In the morning, we're romantically kissing and talking. I tell her that I really like her and I like where this is going. She agreed with me and there didn't seem to be any disconnect. I take her out for some coffee and we're just chatting and joking around. My anxiety is at ease when I'm around this girl and that drew me in closer to her. I drop her off and we continue to make plans for dates.The next date is....interesting. I was at a Barnes and noble and I picked up a book for her on a subject she thought was interesting because I thought of her when I saw it. I gave it to her and she was surprised but not good surprised, more of disappointed surprised. We spend the day at a national park far from my town and we have a great time. We get back to her place and I propose sex but she turned it down. She said she just didn't want to, but that was cool with me, I didn't want to rush anything. She asks for me to stay the night again and we fool around again. I start to notice that she keeps bringing up her ex bf. I mention it to her that it makes me wary. She then shows me saved photos that she has of him on her phone and tells me all of these stories about him. Normally, if I was in the right headspace, I would've walked away from this girl but I didn't have the self esteem at the time to do so. In the morning, everything seems ok and I don't question anything again. We setup another date the next weekend.I'm very vocal about my feelings for someone and I tell her that I really want this to go somewhere, that I'm not just here to fool around. I let her know I don't just date for the sake of dating, it's something sacred to me. She really doesn't have a response for me and the subject changed. She treats me like I'm her boyfriend. She holds my hand, kisses me in public and hugs me a lot. Since she hasn't verbally told me how she feels, I'm getting confused. I don't "white knight" her but I do nice things for her. It's just my way of showing affection. I also don't just agree with her in everything, I agree to disagree with her on many subjects but that's never a big deal. She then tells me that I'm "such a good guy" in a sort of sarcastic tone.We go out one night to celebrate her passing an exam. She pushes us to go to this bar far from my home. She looked really excited and I thought it was really cute. We see her ex there and she points him out and doesn't stop talking about him. Her mood shifts and it became pretty clear. I stick around because I was lost.While we're driving home, she keeps mentioning bands to me that I don't know and I tell her that I know them, just to appeal to her, which is dumb, I know. She even called me out on it and we laughed it off. I told her to just make me a playlist of songs she'd think I like, but she never made it. I eventually tell her that I want something serious with her. She said to give her time to think. I get it. Some people need more time than others and I didn't fight it.The next time I see her, she's rude as hell to me. She's verbally chastising things I do for her, she's getting upset over the tiniest of things and she tells me that things can't work between she and I because she doesn't think I care about her enough. She's doing all of this at a bar and I try to console her by letting her know that I do care about her. I never did anything to prove otherwise and in really confused. She eventually cools down and start showing affection again. She starts to drink more and she becomes even more affectionate.I'm turned off by this because she's drunkenly showing me affection and I'm confused on who she really is. We go back to her place and drink some more. We're both pretty drunk and she cuddles up next to me. I'm so lost because one minute she's angry, now she's suddenly happy? She wants to have drunk sex with me but I don't want to because I'm in my head with confusion and she's trying to have sex with me when she turned me down before? We're also drunk off of beer so I can't really get it up.She gets furious with me when I didn't want to have sex with her. She tells me that she thinks I'm inexperienced (which is pretty true since I've only had one serious relationship and she knew that). At this point, I'm telling my drunk self that this is all my fault. She just tugging me around, back and forth and not being direct with me. She then starts to kiss me and wraps her arms around me. We fall asleep and wake up again. She's treating me like I'm her boyfriend again and I'm lost but she tells me that she isn't sexually attracted to me and kisses me. She then tells me "just be yourself" when I was always myself, I just treated her like she was something more than a friend.I'm so vulnerable and sad. We go out again that night to get food. We're both really quiet and uncomfortable. We drink a bit, not too much. I felt fine. We go for a walk and she's all over me again. She's now into me again? Why was she behaving like this. I can't handle this back and forth behavior, I end things with her and she didn't seem phased by it.I want to know, was I an idiot for just being too eager? Is that why this fell through? I just wanted to reassure her I was about it. I know she was abusive and she had her own mess going on but did I do anything wrong? I'm letting this affect me way more than it should.tl;dr: Girl I was seeing wasn't as sweet as I thought she was and she found me at a very vulnerable time in my life without me knowing. I want to know if my overly affectionate behavior has anything to do with it. Or her just being shady and not being as vocal as I would have liked her to be. via /r/dating_advice