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miyaur · 1 year

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7 minutes in heaven ⟢ with the hsr men !! — synopsis. your friends play a game, and force you to join, and just so happens the bottle lands on you, and you forget you're playing 7 minutes in heaven with them, and the bottle lands on your dear trailblazing friend too. — a letter from the author. sorry lord the voices win today, anyways like i said earlier, here's a hsr post! from me to you~! — heads up. nothing too smutty happens, kissing n stuff all that sappy stuff, implied that they like you btw, matchmaker is march in most of these btw bc march would, most characters are indeed here!

DAN HENG ・really calm outside, freaking out internally inside. the person he likes, in the same room with him? that was something that already made him have a somewhat red tint on his cheeks, and his fate slowly being determined, and into a closet with you instead. the person who invited you just had to be the one person who knew he liked you- march 7th. the scolding later on that he'd give wouldn't out match how much he's feeling right now. march outside the closet lowkey cheering for you two though, because she knows you both like each other back, yet, it seemed like you were blind to it, to his obviousness, it was annoying!! you both were so obvious with liking each other.. ugh just kiss! ・kind of awkward, but trust me he's just really nervous. thinking that the person he loves and admires silently is in a closet with him, the idea isn't something he thought would ever happen (in real life at least, he has dreams about you.) while he's there, you probably gotta start the conversation. it's definitely hard to try talking while people are waiting for 7 minutes to be over to see what might've happened to you two. besides everyone already knows you both like each other. ・probably really soft lips, they smell like peaches or maple, or both. and honestly and quite literally a great kisser. knows where to put his hands, probably cups your cheek while kissing you, pretty long kiss too, like after him confessing to you, will hold the kiss for pretty long, and maybe into a mini makeout session. ・when you both are out of the closet or when they open the door, whether or not you guys are still kissing she'll go eww i hope you both already confessed and kissed!! you both will get angry at her later, but it was definitely a push you both needed. so a small scolding and thanking her is better.

CAELUS ・such a gentle baby with you, always making sure you're comfortable with him. if you look at the replies in game when you use him instead of the female mc aka stelle, he's much more gentle with it. and as someone who picked stelle instead of caelus she's way more reckless with responses.. super passionate about it too. kind of shy when the kiss between you two finally happens. it was also march who set you both up by the way, no shame at all she invited you to play while he was beside her. 'c'mon! live a little! plus you could even get to kiss you know who~!' march quoted. a real matchmaker honestly. ・like i said he's kind of shy, not awkward at all, he's the first to talk, and started to confess. he didn't care if march was on the other side of the door listening to your conversations. if he wanted to stop being shy around you and stutter, this is what he had to do. and who knows, you might like him back~ march was sure that you did, because you also told her, and the only person whoever knew about you two. holds your hands in his while he confesses. all he could do was continue and turn red. after he was finished, you initiated the kiss, one that was both passionate, and definitely awaited. most likely he took so long saying that he liked you that you guys had less than 2 minutes to finally kiss, march opening the closet, to see you to share what looked like a quick peck, when it's only really you two that really knew what happened there. ・as caelus took his seat on the floor back down next to march, while you took the seat next to the opposite side of where caelus was, all could do was laugh and congratulate you both, and continuing the game. every little glance you both shared, with a smile.

SAMPO ・big tease about it. 'haha we're both here together. <3' he's had his fair share of kisses in the past, but you're his first actual romantic crush, the first to actually catch his attention, march probably didn't know you liked him and didn't mean to put you in there with someone so... eugh!!! he's such an ick it's undescribable!! - march, but honestly his slyness and attractiveness wasn't the only thing that caught your eye. inside he's a really genuine guy. teasingly sweet, that's what made your heart flutter. ・other than a few obvious red flags, he's a real sweetheart. and it's okay we're colorblind together. at the very start it's already a makeout session inside that closet. probably moans a bit to piss you off. definitely leaves hickeys on you after every little kiss he gave, now that he knows you're his, you know? overtly possessive of you too and rightfully so. he may look like a player but in the end he's also really new to all and everything romantic. march opens the closet, pinching her nose, "ew get out of there!! gosh, i hope you didn't do anything bad to them.." brushing dust particles off your shoulders, looking up and down for any bruises, and spots the hickeys, "ew.. you both really did more than just talking in that closet.." ・she took a breath of relief and sat you down next to her, far from sampo, who kept smirking at you, winking even, all you could do was look away, covering the red on your face. but march gave a disgusted look in return, mouthing the words "stay away from them!"

WELT YANG ・experienced dilf and great kisser, not shy when confessing. cups your face for you to listen to him, and okay this time is wasn't march even thought it was so obvious that you guys liked each other, it was himeko AND march. ok it was mostly march but himeko helped convince welt, that's a big part. anyways! such a romantic. total sweetheart with you, wraps his arms around your waist while you place your arms around his neck like a new years' kiss happening. ・remembers when it's time to get out anyway, so makes sure it's just you two who know what went down, but one arm still around your waist, to let march and himeko know their plan was a success, he already knew what they were planning, he just let it play out, honestly didn't think they had a plan so the bottle would really land on you and him. was it.. really just by chance..? ・march is over the moon with himeko celebrating you and him finally being together, honestly the people who cheered you both on the most during your dating phase. ・i forgot but his kind of kisses are long lasting, patient, and.. i don't really know how to explain this but just super genuinely passionate. honestly you guys probably went more than just 7 minutes... and maybe more in the bedroom

GEPARD LANDAU ・has never kissed anyone before, like other than kisses on the cheek, or forehead, he's never done that stuff. this time the person who set you two up for this was his dear sister, serval.. plus a bit of march, because march would!! serval asked for her help anyway.. new to kisses, and new to relationships / romantic feelings, so please guide him, so precious when he does confess, it feels like it's scripted almost honestly. but he's really so genuine with it i promise, probably starts as a kiss on your cheek, and escalates from there. ・probably a really messy kiss, but just tell him he did great and that you feel the same, sprinkled with i love you and kisses all over his face, you both end up going out the room holding hands <3 ・march and serval are the happiest people, like parents really, all in all he's really happy you accepted his confession, serval is so happy, even gepard takes you home after the party finishes up, all that cheesy stuff like a kiss before he goes on the doorstep, <33

JING YUAN ・who invited this hottie to the party though, it's okay i'm not complaining, anyways, he's so calm and sly with it too.. he the type to put your hair behind your ear and whisper how much he loves you, and joking around on how it took you so long to realize it, then his soft lips crash into yours, aa he's such a hopeless romantic the whole moment felt like a dream <3 ・has kissed a fairly okay amount of people, he probably smells like strawberries and cherry blossoms. or maybe trees, either of those, and his lips are super soft, and it's like he's always prepared for a kiss, especially when it's from you, and this time no march didn't plan it, more surprised than you are when she sees the dark hickeys scattered on your neck, lowkey you started smelling like him too... that's at least what professional matchmaker march 7th said! ・full makeout session with him, was literally about to strip you naked and make you his, but sadly 7 minutes isn't long, and confessing did take a great sum of time, what a shame.. his kisses are filled with passion and hunger, every kiss makes him want more, probably even when you both are already outside the closet he'd give you a kiss, a quick one, enough to make march realize what she's done, dear god.

BLADE ・it's probably kafka who set you both up instead, she knows blade liked you for longer, can't tell if you feel the same, to be frank, and that's impressive because she can usually read people pretty well. but she thought you both were a match made in heaven! but it took you so long to see his obvious hints, ever since you joined, you really hadn't realized after the asking of what you love, what flowers you like, what's your favorite food, literally throwing the smoothest pickup lines at you ever? hell i'm not even that blind and i have glasses (i am that blind) ・kafka shoves you both into the closet really fast and waits outside in excitement "oo i hope they're gonna be together now after the 10 millionth hint <333!!! what do you think silver wolf?!" "what if they end up having sex what then-" cut to the part where he's pinned you to the wall and making out with you really harshly, probably degrades you a bit, will leaves hickeys, and bites your lip when you guys kiss. lots of tongue action, honestly is not shamed at all, is willing to strip you 'till kafka opens the closet doors super happy and giddy ・"you guys together now or what??" after pulling you both out of the closet, hickeys painted on your skin, blade's face tinted ruby, and eyes glowing red, "what if you just left them there in the closet, maybe we would've had a kid on board joining us-" ・overall um, kafka and silver wolf are happy (and relieved) you guys are together now plss stop being blind.

kafka seems like the rich aunt who comes around every 2 years (click here for taglist!)

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steddieas-shegoes · 11 months

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Request: Hop & Joyce don't really like or trust Steve & he knows it. He can tell by their behavior towards him. Post spring break from Hell, Steve tears into them both after they insinuate that it's his fault for the kids being hurt. Steve YELLING at them in front of the party bc he is injured more grievously than the kids & he once again protected them, to the detriment of himself.

Joyce & Hop are forced to acknowledge that their behavior was cruel. And they have to apologize but Steve doesn't accept their apology straight away.

I am usually such a sucker for Hopper adopting Steve and treating him as his own that this was really difficult. Like, maybe top 5 most difficult things I have ever written. It's kind of short, but I wanted more of the focus to be on people standing up for Steve and Steve standing up for himself than the actual angsty part. My darling, I hope it lives up to expectations! -Mickala ❤️

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“I guess I just don’t understand how Max ended up like this if Steve was supposed to be protecting them all.”

Joyce’s words echoed in Steve’s head.

She was whispering to Hopper in the waiting room, but it was surprisingly quiet, and easy to hear just about anything.

The kids were asleep on the couches, waiting for any news on Max or Eddie, but the nurses told them it could be hours. Hours were a long time to wait when someone was bleeding out and the other someone had multiple broken bones and was unconscious.

Steve felt untethered, his connection to the earth cut the moment he saw what happened to Eddie, pushed into a dangerous orbit when he saw what happened to Max.

“He’s never really let me down like this. Did you hear Dustin say he thinks he was distracted by Eddie?” Hopper asked quietly.

“What did he mean by that?” Joyce paused. “Oh. Do you think so?” Steve couldn’t see their faces, couldn’t see the way they were having a silent conversation within a conversation. “It wouldn’t be the first time Steve let his romantic feelings get in the way of their safety.”

And that really wasn’t fair.

It wasn’t fair because he always put these kids who weren’t even his first whenever he could. It wasn’t fair because it wasn’t his job to be perfect. It wasn’t fair because they were the adults who should have been here to help and they weren’t.

He could feel tears building up, his vision getting just blurry enough that he knew he needed to walk away or he would start actually crying, and he couldn’t let anyone see that.

Especially not Joyce and Hopper.

Apparently, they already thought so little of him, he couldn’t possibly show them that he was struggling now.

“I think we’ll have to have a talk with the kids about trusted adults. They seem to rely on him for a lot and maybe if we just explain to them that Steve can’t handle it-”

“Excuse me, Mr. Hopper?” A nurse, thankfully, interrupted them.

Steve turned to see a young nurse, probably barely older than him, standing in the entranceway to the waiting room.

Hopper walked over to her, actually whispering this time, as if what was being said right now was a secret, but not the way he felt about Steve.

He glanced over at Steve, then nodded to the nurse. He called Joyce over to them, whispered something, then they both looked at Steve.

He hated what was happening. He was used to being a disappointment to adults, but in a silent way. His parents weren’t really ever around long enough to show their disappointment for long. Seeing it now, on the faces of people he respected and wanted to impress, hurt.

Hopper started walking over to him, his face serious.

“They have Max stable. She may not wake up from the coma, but they’re hoping she makes a turn for the better soon. Eddie woke up a few minutes ago while they were trying to stitch him up and he kept yelling for you. He isn’t quite stable yet. He passed back out as they were trying to put him on oxygen.”

“But they’re both alive?”

“For now.”

“Can I see Max?”

“I don’t think that’s a great idea right now. They’re trying to reach her mom, but the phone lines keep going down. I’m standing in as the adult responsible until she can be contacted.”

“So now you want to be the adult responsible? Not any other time when we needed you?” Erica said from behind them.

She’d been asleep with Lucas and El only a minute ago.

“Erica, it’s fine. I’ll just wait with you guys.”

“No, Steve, it’s not fine.” Erica put her hands on her hips, scowled up at Hopper and Joyce, who had just joined them. “Steve looks out for us every day. Even when the world isn’t trying to end. He drives us to school or from school or to the arcade, he pays for our food at the diner all the time, probably spends all his paychecks on us. And where are the parents? They don’t even know where we are most of the time.”

“But-” Joyce started to interrupt until Erica held up her hand.

“You left your kids to fly to Russia when you knew something weird was going on. You could have died, and then what? You know who would have stepped in? Steve. Because that’s what he does for us. Do you know one of his worst concussions was because he was protecting Lucas and Max from Billy? You know he drove Max everywhere she needed to go all year because she didn’t wanna be around anyone else? How about the fact that without him, we wouldn’t have even been able to get Eddie back here? But sure, blame him for this. It totally makes sense to point the finger at the one person who has protected us over and over again.”

Steve was crying.

The other kids were starting to wake up from her voice getting louder as she spoke, and it didn’t take long for them to realize what was happening.

El and Dustin surrounded Steve, cuddling into his sides to comfort him. He needed it, and he was always willing to accept love from the kids. They so rarely gave it, not because they didn’t love him, but because they were at that age where they didn’t want to.

These kids were his in almost every way that mattered, and he was just grateful that they weren’t hesitating when he needed them most.

“You kids could have died. Steve should have never allowed most of this to happen. He’s the adult, and he let you all go into this without even considering you could die.”

“You think we were just gonna sit around and wait for the adults to handle it? When have we ever done that?” Dustin asked incredulously.

“It’s what you should have done. Steve knows that.”

“Mr. Harrington?” A different nurse was standing in the doorway now, older, definitely less nervous.

“Yes?” Steve responded, wiping his tears away quickly.

“Mr. Munson is in a recovery room. He’s woken up a few times for a minute and each time he’s asked for you. Are you family?”

He was pretty certain hospital policy meant only family could go back, especially during natural disasters, so he lied.

“Yes, he’s my cousin. I can’t reach anyone else yet.”

The nurse smiled, though she probably didn’t quite believe him.

“Right this way, then.”

Dustin tugged on his arm.

“Can I come with you?”

“Sorry,” Steve shook his head. “Not yet. Let me check on him, and I’ll come right back out for you.”

“See? This is what I meant about letting his feelings get in the way! What if we weren’t here? Would you just leave the kids to sit out here alone?”

This time, El spoke up.

“Steve is always putting us first. He can put himself first sometimes. That is allowed.”

Steve wanted to hug her again, but the nurse looked like she was going to walk away, and if he didn’t follow her, he wouldn’t see Eddie.

“Go see him, we’ll be here,” Lucas said from next to Erica.

He nodded at them all, giving them a smile before he followed the nurse without looking back at Hopper or Joyce.

Eddie was asleep when they entered the room, so the nurse whispered to him at the door.

“He’s on a lot of morphine, and he’s still receiving a blood transfusion. He may wake up off and on, but he probably won’t make much sense until they lower the dose. Just be here for him,” she smiled before leaving the room.

Steve turned to Eddie and couldn’t hold back more tears.

He’d let him down. He’d let all of them down.

He was supposed to be the hero, despite the jokes about it all, they all knew he was.

But not this time.

Eddie almost died. Max almost died.

He could feel the bat bite on his stomach burning and itching, like it was already getting infected, but he ignored it.

He could wait.

He sat down on the side of the bed, slowly so he wouldn’t wake Eddie up.

But Eddie’s eyes fluttered open once, then twice, then a third time before they managed to stay open enough to see Steve.

“Stevie?” His voice rasped out, a small smile hidden under his oxygen mask. “You’re here.”

“I’m here, Eds.”

He had to be strong, but his brain was so focused on everything he’d done wrong and if he’d just been faster or got out of the vines quicker, Eddie probably wouldn’t be here and Max would be awake and-

“Stop.”

“Hm? Stop what?”

“Bein’ mean.”

Steve’s brows furrowed. He hadn’t even said anything else, had he? Was he so exhausted that he was actually talking without realizing it now?

“I’m not even saying anything.”

Maybe it was Eddie hearing things. He knew morphine was pretty intense.

“To yourself.”

“What?”

“Bein’ mean to yourself. In your head.”

“I-”

“‘S okay. Me too sometimes. Just gotta stop.”

Steve couldn’t help but smile at the way Eddie’s eyes kept drooping closed as he spoke. He would probably fall back asleep any second.

“I’ll be nice. You get some sleep.”

“You rest?”

“Not yet. Maybe later.”

Steve couldn’t really rest until he knew everyone was home, safe, and sleeping off some of the worst of their injuries.

“Yes yet.”

Steve snorted. Eddie was so high. He knew it was better than whatever pain he would feel when they eased him off of everything, but hopefully he wouldn’t remember all this.

“Sleep,” Eddie said, his hand managing to find Steve’s and tugging weakly on it.

“I can’t sleep here, Eds. This is your bed.”

“Our bed.”

Steve’s cheeks were hot, he knew if he touched them, they’d feel like fire. Eddie just had that way of completely rendering Steve speechless. He’d done it so many times over the last couple of days, Steve lost count.

“I’ll stay right here until your uncle gets here, okay?”

“And after?”

It probably wasn’t smart. It would look weird for him to stay in general, but he also had to get the kids home, try to patch himself up at home, maybe shower before he did some rounds and made sure everyone was taken care of.

“I have to take care of the kids.”

“But they have parents.”

“Yeah, well.”

They were interrupted by a knock on the door.

Hopper walked in, face as serious as Steve had ever seen it.

“I was able to contact your uncle, Eddie. You can go now, Steve.”

But Eddie gripped his hand harder, frowning at Hopper. He seemed more awake all of a sudden, but with the way his eyes kept trying to close, Steve could see it was a challenge.

“I want him here.”

“Eds, it’s fine. He’s not too happy with me right now, so-”

“What? Why? You helped save the world.”

Eddie was looking between Steve and Hopper like an answer would suddenly make itself known, but Hopper was just staring at Eddie, and Steve was just staring at his feet.

He didn’t want to get Eddie involved in this. He just wanted to pretend it never happened, maybe try to look Hopper in the eye again someday, and apologize to Joyce for not keeping the kids as safe as he could have.

But Eddie apparently took the “no running” thing very seriously now.

“Steve? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Just. I kinda let them down, didn’t keep everyone safe.”

Steve shrugged it off, but he knew he wasn’t very convincing, or really even shrugging it off. He still felt the ache of disappointing people in his chest.

“Hold the fuck up. You’re serious?”

Eddie sounded as outraged as someone high on morphine could. His voice was barely distorted by the oxygen mask on his face, and his eyes were nearly at their normal size.

Steve couldn’t look at either of them.

“Steve is trusted by all these parents to keep their kids out of danger, and he brought them headfirst into it. It just made Joyce and I wonder how often they were doing stupid things,” Hopper explained, though he didn’t even sound convinced he believed his own words.

Joyce was walking in just as Eddie was about to speak.

“Steve, I think you should bring Dustin home. Claudia is going to get worried.”

He didn’t need to look up to know that Eddie was glaring at Joyce and Hopper.

“Let me get this straight. Steve provides free rides, and babysitting services, and meals, and fun for your kids damn near every day. He protects them during this shit every time it happens, literally puts his body on the line to keep them alive. Tried to somehow keep them as safe as possible when it seemed like the world was ending this time, did keep them alive, and you’re still finding reasons to blame him?”

They both had the decency to at least look like they regretted it.

But they still didn’t say anything.

“Fuck this. I’m not gonna pretend to know everything about your little Upside Down Club, but I’m in it now. None of us wanna be here, but we are. Steve’s been doing his best for years, since he was a kid, and all you can do is complain that your sweet angels aren’t completely unscathed? This is a team effort, you know that. They volunteered. Steve would have had to lock them in a prison cell for them not to help.”

Steve looked up at Eddie, watched as he started to lose the fire that had overtaken him temporarily, his eyes dulling as the morphine dripped into his veins and flushed through his system.

“Best damn babysitter…” Eddie mumbled as his eyes fell closed.

Steve watched him for a moment, waiting to see if he suddenly woke up again. When he didn’t, he stood up slowly, didn’t want to risk him feeling the bed move, and made his way to the door.

But something hurt in his chest, something he knew wouldn’t go away unless he said something.

He turned to see Hopper and Joyce staring at each other, having a silent conversation.

“I’m used to disappointing people. I’ve been disappointing my parents my whole life. Disappointed friends, Nancy, bosses. But I have never let those kids down. I do my best with them. I try to be there for them the way I wish someone had been there for me. I make sure they’re kids because life handed them a shitty card or whatever and they deserve to still be kids. You can be mad at me if you want, but I know I did my best. They know I did my best.”

He didn’t wait for a response, didn’t want to hear them say anything else about how wrong his decisions were.

But Joyce stopped him from leaving the room, hand on his arm.

“Steve, wait. Honey, I’m sorry. I think…I think we got caught up in the moment and just needed someone to blame.”

“You do the best you can. We know you do a lot for them.”

It was nice to hear, but he couldn’t get over the uncomfortable itch in the back of his head that he deserved more than that.

“Thanks, but I don’t think I can accept the apology right now.” And then the anger really set in. It came over him so fast, he could feel his hands shaking. “A lot of things are out of our control. We all wanna blame someone for this stuff, but it just boils down to the same people over and over. Max is in a coma because of Henry Creel, not me. Eddie is in the hospital because of demon bats, not me. Eleven and Will are connected to the Upside Down because of the government, not me. I’m just trying to be whatever they need, and that’s better than I can say for either of you at this point.” Steve left this time, Joyce dropping her hand from his arm halfway through his loud speech.

Okay, he was yelling.

But Eddie slept through it, and it felt good to get all of that out.

He made his way to the waiting room, hoping everyone would still be there so he could check in.

Everything felt too fresh, too much like Vecna could show back up and take any of them at any moment.

But the waiting room was empty, not even Dustin remained.

Steve did his best not to panic. Their parents had all been contacted, so they most likely had just been picked up and brought home.

“They’ve all been picked up, sugar,” an older nurse said from the front desk.

“Oh. Thanks.”

“They left you a note, though.”

He recognized her as the woman who had been here the whole night, handling phone calls and people walking in like she’d been doing this for decades. Maybe she had been.

He walked over and grabbed it from her, giving her a small smile in thanks.

He walked outside before he opened it, not sure why he was suddenly nervous.

But as he read, he felt tears in his eyes for what felt like the hundredth time that night.

Steve- Go home and sleep. We’ll be okay for a day while you rest. You don’t ever do that. We don’t agree with Joyce and Hopper, and we hope you know you’re the best damn babysitter ever. Love, Dustin, Lucas, Erica, El, Will, Mike, and Max (if she could)

He folded up the note, put it in his pocket, and walked to his car.

He ignored the blood in the backseat, rolled his windows down to ignore the stench of iron.

Knew he would be spending most of his day tomorrow trying to clean the stains out, but figured it would be a good mindless task.

He thought about Eddie, about how quick he was to defend him. About how he’d gripped his hand like it was a lifeline.

It felt that way to Steve.

He hadn’t let Eddie down. He’d saved Eddie.

If he didn’t do anything else right, he’d done that, and nothing Joyce or Hopper said could take that away.

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things #joyce byers #jim hopper #ficlet #request #some angst but a positive ending #with some cute drugged up eddie #and some overprotective gremlins

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a-dauntless-daffodil · 2 months

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Me: don't make Charlie's habit of twirling / spinning Vaggie into a THiNG it can just be CUTE with no other headcanons behind it-

also me: what if Vaggie always loved dancing but took being an exorcist very seriously bc of the whole "learned to trust people on the battlefield" thing so the only time she felt she had an excuse for dancing with a partner was when she called it "training" or "unarmed sparing" and goaded Lute into doing it with her (Lute being Adam's second and Vaggie one of his best girls) (what, is Lute scared of not being able to keep up with her-?)

Lute: "This, is stupid."

Vaggie: "It's just like sparring."

Lute: "Then why can't I use a sword."

Vaggie: "The point is learning to read your opponent's body and move with it. A weapon only gets in the way."

Lute: "Or maybe you know which on of us would win in a real fight."

Vaggie: "OR maybe it's nice to practice WITHOUT someone losing feathers over it."

Lute: "Only losers lose feathers. If they don't like it they should start WINNING."

Vaggie: "Just put your fucking hand on my waist and do a box step."

Lute: "A what? Put my hand- where!?"

Vaggie: "Forget it. We'll dance like we're in a damn period piece ballroom scene. You can at least survive spinning me, right?"

Lute: "SPIN you?"

Vaggie: "Just hold up your hand and-"

Lute: "We look dumb enough as is! I'm not making myself look SILLY just so you can do a stupid spin."

Vaggie: "Fine."

Lute: "You need to watch yourself. Exorcist are heaven's first line of defense- we are the divine blades guarding the pearly gates. We need to keep ourselves sharp, focused- If you slip even once-"

Vaggie: "I said fine! I get it! Alright? God let's just, let's just get this over with..."

And then she's in hell, a year or so after Lute grabbed her wrist and pulled her eye-first onto a sword instead of a dance,

and it turns out the princess of hell is an eager and willing dancer, even if she's maybe not the most graceful or easy to follow- but it's the kind of challenge Vaggie loves-

(and not the only thing Vaggie loves)

-especially when Charlie's the one who cleared out a space, put on a playlist, and waved her into the middle of the room so they could laugh and bow / curtsy before making tracks across the carpet-

all of this, even though Charlie's still rusty at dancing, never was into it other much other than as another way to flail around to a beat, and here she is now, seriously trying to remember or learn all the different steps Vaggie shows her

this time it's a waltz

Vaggie's been avoiding waltzes. And sure enough she finds herself spacing out in the middle of it, coming back to the excited sound of Charlie's voice

Charlie: "I think we're doing it!"

Vaggie: "...hm?"

Charlie: "The waltz! It's been ages but, this is about right, right?"

Vaggie: "Oh uh, yeah. You've got it. Told you you would."

Charlie: (laughing) "And I told YOU if we made it through this it'd be because you're so good at making ME look like a good dancer! Even when my hooves keep snagging on the carpet... Even when you're a million miles away."

Vaggie: "Shit. Sorry."

Charlie: "No it's fine! Good practice for me leading!" (leading them onto a new patch of floor) "So! A lot on your mind?"

Vaggie: "Just remembered something, is all."

Charlie: "Waltz related?"

Vaggie: "I wouldn't compare this with that."

Charlie: "Aww, shoot." (pouts) "Well give me a few months and I'll get there."

Vaggie: (chuckling) "Charlie, you're already WAY past the last dance partner I had."

Charlie: "Wow. That bad huh?"

Vaggie: "What'd I just say about you and dancing?"

Charlie: "That at least I'm not totally the absolute worst ever?"

Vaggie: "Yeah no. Try again."

Charlie: (grinning) "I'm better than they were."

Vaggie: "You sure are. Actually trying counts for a lot, honestly."

Charlie: "You make trying things a lot easier." (hoof catches) (stumbles) (vaggie steadies her) "Case in point!"

Vaggie: "We really gotta remember to roll up the carpet next time."

Charlie: "Orrrr you'll just have to go on catching me!"

Vaggie: "I'll do that with or without the carpet."

Charlie: "Right!" (face hot) "Er so, were they clumsy too? Lacking in the whole smooth moves department?" (blushes MORE)

Vaggie: "The moves were fine, the ego got in the way a bit."

Charlie: "Ego?"

Vaggie: (sighs) (rolls eye) "Apparently twirling me would've looked too silly."

Charlie: "Wh- Twirling you?"

Vaggie: "Spinning. Whatever. They cared about that a lot and- I know I know- it's a dumb thing to still be hung up on."

Charlie: "Well I'd be honored to look silly with you!"

Vaggie: (laughing) "Okay?"

Charlie: "Can I spin you?"

Vaggie: "You really don't have to."

Charlie: "So we can do it on three? One. Two-"

Vaggie: "Really it's- watch out, table at 3 O'clock-"

Charlie: "-Wheeeeee~!"

Vaggie: "WHOA- that-" (breathless) "Now THAT was a spin."

Charlie: "Eheheh. Whoops?"

Vaggie: "Oh no, no whoopsing your way out of this one, I'm gonna need to inflict some payback spinning of my own." (grins)

Charlie: "Uh I'm kinda tall for-"

Vaggie: "You ever been lifted?"

Charlie: "I mean when I was a kid sure, but I'm like a foot taller than-"

Vaggie: "On three. One."

Charlie: "-Vaggie you come up to maybe my shoulder-"

Vaggie: "Two."

Charlie: "-not that you can't do anything you set your mind to, obviously! I'm just not sure how-"

Vaggie: "Three."

Charlie: "Hwha- OH!" (gleeful) (laughing) "Ohhh my gosh-!"

Vaggie: (smug) "There's more than one way to twirl a girl across the floor."

Charlie: "Spinning WHILE lifting!?"

Vaggie: "Fun right?"

Charlie: "SO MUCH FUN! Can we do it again!?"

Vaggie: "Sure-"

Charlie: "Ooh ohh can I do it to you too? Can we take turns??"

Vaggie: "Not worried about looking silly, huh?"

Charlie: "No! Why would-" (stops)

Charlie: (stops their dance)

Charlie: "Vaggie, I.... I really don't know why anyone wouldn't want to be silly with you. Or how it could ever be more important than seeing you happy like this."

Vaggie: "...Not everyone's like you, sweetie."

Charlie: "Or maybe everyone just needs to actually see you for once."

Vaggie: "I'd rather just stick to you for now. If, that's okay?"

Charlie: "Always."

(dance resumes, much slower, much closer)

Charlie: "It's, it's okay to miss people too, you know. I know, I mean. How much that sucks. If you, want to talk about...?"

Vaggie: "No. Thanks."

Charlie: "You're missing them though, huh?"

Vaggie: "It's not that. It's just, weird how much things change."

Charlie: "Like dance partners."

Vaggie: "Like your reasons for dancing with them."

Charlie: "....Oh."

(do they kiss???) (i have no idea) (maybe Vaggie just relaxes and rests her head over Charlie's heart) (maybe Charlie tries her best not to think about how hard it's beating)

(maybe somewhere up in heaven, an exorcist with a sword does a box step while training, slips, and slices her target in half in fury when she realizes it)

maybe Vaggie always loved dancing but had to end up in hell before finally getting to dance the way she always wanted to

or maybe

it feels like Vaggie never danced at all, until she had Charlie to share it with

#hazbin hotel #charlie morningstar #vaggie #chaggie #lute hazbin hotel #silly headcanons #I DONT EVEN CARE I DONT EVEN CAAARRRRE JUST LET THEM DANCE #IM SO #THIRSTY FOR THEM DANCING!!!!!!!#ALSO I WANT LUTE TO SUFFER MORE #BUT MAINLY JUST LET CHAGGIE SLOW DANCE PLEASSSSSSSSE

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moonlightspencie · 1 year

Text

Help Me Hold on to You

Description: Ted and the reader struggle with balancing mental health and everyday life. (Based on The Archer by Taylor Swift)

Pairing: Ted Lasso x fem!Reader

Warnings: depictions of anxiety and panic

Word Count: 8.9k

A/N: one of my all time favs that i’ve written (and, not to sound conceited, one of my favs in general bc it was super self-indulgent hehe). originally posted on tumblr. then dropped onto ao3. now it’s back on tumblr.

“Hey, Y/N. Whatcha up to?” Ted burst into your shared office, a wide-eyed look on his face.

You shook your head with a smirk, “Just going over the last game, trying to figure out what we can do better next time.”

You paused the video on your laptop, shutting it and looking up to him expectantly. He pulled a chair up next to you, suddenly looking a little nervous.

“I know that look, Ted. What’s wrong?”

He shook his head, plastering on a smile. “Nothing.”

“You wouldn’t have come interrupting me unless you had something you wanted to talk about.”

His face dropped, nodding slowly. “I’m getting kind of sick of you reading me like a book, sweetheart.”

“No, you’re not.”

He chuckled, looking back at you. “Okay, guilty. Uh, I’m not sure how to address this, so I guess I better just come out and say it, huh?”

You nodded back at him, silent, but with a reassuring smile.

He clapped once. “So, uh, nobody really knows about this, but I’ve been dealing with some anxiety lately. I, uh— I don’t really want anyone knowing about it, so if you could…”

“I’ll be quiet as a mouse in a trap.”

He raised a brow. “Morbid.”

“My colloquialisms can’t be as silly and polished as yours, friend.”

He smiled. “Guess not. Don’t really have room in my head for ‘em right now, though.”

You shrugged. “That’s okay. I like you whether or not you’re acting like a landscaper’s favorite machine.”

He paused for a moment, trying to put the pieces together. Then, his face lit up.

“Chipper?”

You simply pointed at him with a wink.

“Nice,” he said with a smile. He looked back down to his hands, smile melting. “So, um, I guess I just wanted you to know. That was the reason I had to leave the game, actually. It wasn’t food poisoning, but it just seems easier to let people believe that, you know? But, anyway. You seem to be good with these kinds of things, and I just… I don’t know.”

“Sometimes it’s nice just to tell someone, yeah?”

He nodded with a small grin. “Rebecca’s seen it happen once, but I think that’s about it. I made an appointment to speak with the doc, but I just couldn’t.”

“Why not?”

He shrugged, head shaking. “It’s bull.”

“Ted, you remember what you told me when I talked to you about my issues with trust?”

He raised a brow. “I told you nobody good would hurt you like…”

“You told me that all people are different people. You’ve said it a few times around me, I know you’ve told other people the same. And you know what?”

“What?” His brows sat raised.

“You need to start taking your own advice.”

“I don’t like when you do that.”

“Do what?” You laughed.

He chuckled with you. “When you’re right. I’m not supposed to be a quitter, either.”

“Not for the good things, anyway, huh?”

He nodded. “Thank you.”

He started standing, but you stood with him before he could go anywhere.

“Hey, there’s something I want you to know, too.”

“Shoot,” he said, gesturing for you to continue.

“I deal with anxiety, too. A lot, actually.”

He furrowed his brow. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Didn’t want you to worry.”

“Well, now I am.”

“Don’t. I can cope, I just— I want you to know you’re not alone in this, okay? I get panic attacks, anxiety attacks, I deal with more minor symptoms pretty much every day. And you know what? It doesn’t make me any less of a person. Doesn’t make you, either.”

You saw the tears that began to prick his eyes, but decided to leave that situation alone. Instead, you pulled him in for a hug. He hugged back hard, burying his face in the crook of your neck. You heard him take a few shaky breaths before he pulled back, wiping at his eyes.

“I’m sorry…”

“Don’t ever apologize for vulnerability. Least not to me, cause I know exactly how you’re feeling and it’s okay. I promise,” you reached for his hand, giving it a squeeze.

He smiled at you, trying to hold back from letting any more tears fall.

“Thank you.”

“It’s nothing, Ted. I do want you to try going back to doctor Sharon, though. She’s a good woman.”

He nodded, glancing at where your hand still held his own. He squeezed it again, then left you to get back to your work. You sat for a while, unable to focus on anything but what he’d told you. You hoped like hell he had really listened to you.

It wasn’t until the next day that you’d found he’d both listened to and simultaneously completely ignored you. You were walking down the hall from the office when you saw him.

“Hey,” you called out to him, both hands on his chest to stop him from moving when you got close enough. “Your appointment is supposed to be right now. What happened to—”

“I can’t do it.”

He grabbed one of your wrists, trying to move you. You refused to budge.

“No. Uh-uh. Why did you leave?”

“I’m not talking to someone who’s only there cause she’s paid.”

You raised a brow. “Excuse me, Lasso. Are you not getting paid to do your job?”

He huffed out a sigh.

“Don’t you get attitude with me,” you dropped your hands, but didn’t move from where you stood. “I gotta go, but you’re trying again tomorrow, you hear me?”

“Y/N—”

“You’re going. Non-negotiable.”

He dropped his shoulders. “Fine. I’ll try.”

You nodded once, a smile of victory on your face. “And by the way, I think Keeley’s smoking in the boot room. Might wanna see what that’s about, yeah?”

He tilted his head, a chuckle leaving him. You patted him on the shoulder as you passed to leave the building.

Your day from then on was a long one. You were running around with Beard for part of it, trying to work on strategy for the upcoming game against Man City. The whole Richmond team was on edge, and you were beginning to worry that the nervousness alone might end up being the end-all to the game. You were a firm believer that winning had as much to do with the power of the mind as the power of the body. If they were going in thinking they were going to lose— lose they would.

“That’s a little dramatic,” Beard said over his beer.

You rolled your eyes, sipping at your drink.

“It’s not. Same line of thinking as Ted’s ‘Believe’ sign. I’m just being a little more explicit about what I mean when I say it.”

He chuckled. “You two are more alike than I think you even realize, you know?”

“I think I realize.”

“Do you?”

You shrugged, nodding slightly.

“Both crazy about this team, and even more crazy about you,” you teased, flicking at the brim of his hat.

He hid a smile behind his glass. “Your never-ending optimism and knack for flattery is also pretty similar.”

You hummed in agreement. “Can’t argue with ya, there.”

“So, what do you think we should do, then?”

You shrugged. “Find some way to cheer up the team. Get them excited for the game rather than scared of losing.”

He nodded, brows raised. “Any way of implementing that?”

“I’ll figure it out, I’m sure.” You leaned back. “Remember that game against Kansas State? Our boys were so freaked about it all, then Ted did his thing and got them so excited to play…”

“Beat their asses.”

“Yeah, we did.”

You both went in for a quick high five before continuing.

“Remember how he did it?”

“Told ‘em they needed to loosen up. We had a dance party and ordered pizza.”

You smiled. “Yep. What do you say we make something like that happen again? Day before we travel, let’s do it.”

He smirked, a brow raised. “Sounds perfect. You gonna tell Ted?”

You shrugged. “I think he could use the surprise just as much as the players.”

He narrowed his eyes at you.

You put your hands up. “What’s that look about?”

He just shook his head silently.

“I’m not treating him any different.”

He raised a brow, sipping at his drink again.

“Ted’s been going through it lately, I just think he needs a little cheer up. Nothing else.”

He set down his drink, then sat up straight, eyes still trained on you.

“Quit lecturing me, Beard,” you chuckled. “I know you always think I have some thing for him, but why can’t it just be that I care about people, huh?”

“I see through it.”

You paused for a moment. “I hate that.”

He smirked, and you both finished eating.

You went home yourself, denying a walk-back from Beard. You appreciated the gesture, but the air was beginning to feel thick and suffocating. The last thing you wanted was for him to see you like that.

As much as you tried pretending like the state of the team wasn’t affecting you, you knew that trying to be the fixer for this situation was weighing on you. More than you thought it would.

You tried swallowing, feeling your throat pretending to swell just to spite you. You rushed even faster towards your flat, feeling that the oncoming attack wasn’t going to be so routine.

As soon as you were in your door, your knees hit the floor, head between your arms on the carpet. You tried to control your breathing, but it was no use. Tears fell, though you’d hardly noticed as you’d refused to open your eyes. The bleariness you were bound to find if you opened them would only make the situation worse. You began to worry about passing out if you couldn’t control your breathing, and decided to roll yourself onto your side, whole body pushing through tremors you hadn’t felt in a few months, at least.

The ringing of your phone didn’t aid your situation. You desperately hoped it wasn’t an emergency, because there was no way you’d be able to make it over to where you’d dropped your purse. But, it kept ringing. Four separate calls over the span of probably half an hour.

It was another good half an hour after the calls had stopped before you were composed enough to open your eyes, and pull yourself into a sitting position on the ground. Though, you wouldn’t have known. Time never seemed to make any sense in those situations.

You worked on breathing in and out slowly, wiping away at any remaining tears. The shaking hadn’t yet ceased, but at least that was manageable. Right as you started trying to stand, you heard the loud buzzing of someone asking to be let in. You made it over, asking who was there.

“It’s me. Are you okay?” Ted’s voice came through.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Hang on,” you said, letting him in.

It wasn’t long before a knock was at the door, and you wished he wasn’t so quick. No amount of post-panic-primping in a fifteen-second slot could make you look presentable enough to get past him. You opened the door, putting on a smile and hoping he would be too preoccupied with something else to look directly at you for too long.

His face dropped the second he saw you, of course.

“What’s wrong?”

You shook your head. “I’m okay.”

He walked in, leaving you to close the door and follow him.

“No way, McConaughey. You can’t hide tears from me, I got eagle eyes for that sort of thing.”

You crossed your arms. “I’ve just had a long night.”

He watched you for a moment, picking up on the fact that you wouldn’t be sharing any time soon. He nodded slowly.

“Okay, that’s fine. If you don’t want to talk right now, that’s okay,” he smiled softly, then wrapped you in a tight hug.

You welcomed it, arms wrapping around his middle, head buried in his chest.

“You were honest with me,” you started after a moment, “so, I guess I should be with you. I just came down from a pretty bad panic attack. I couldn’t breathe, hardly made it home… I just—”

“It’s okay,” he said, rubbing your back as he spoke. “We don’t have to talk about details. Thank you for telling me.”

You nodded. “Thank you for coming.”

“You always answer when I call. I knew something had to be up.”

“What if I was just in the shower?”

“You still always call me back right away. I had over an hour of radio silence from you.”

You chuckled. “I didn’t know you had it down to such a science.”

He laughed back, pulling away from you just enough to see your face.

“There she is,” he said, a smile on his face.

“And she is a mess.”

“We all get a little messy sometimes, though, don’t we?”

You nodded. “Gotta agree with that.”

He looked at you for a moment or two with a soft smile on his face, and as much as you didn’t want to admit it, especially since Beard was also on your ass about it, that was the moment you knew. You felt your heart rate pick up, and didn’t know what to do but escape. You stepped back, leaving him looking a little confused.

“I think I need some sleep, Ted.”

His eyes were wide, looking at you. “You sure you’re okay?”

“I’ll be fine. I just need time alone, now. I need rest.”

“Okay, yeah,” he nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Uh, alright, well I will see you tomorrow bright and early, right?”

You nodded, giving him a quick smile.

“Anything else I can do for you?”

You shook your head. “No. I’m okay.”

He nodded again, watching you with those big, worried eyes. You wished he would stop with that. He waved a quick goodbye, leaving you alone.

You settled into bed, though you were unable to sleep. You couldn’t stop thinking about the team. Or Ted. Or the fact that you couldn’t help but self-sabotage any chance you got. You wiped away a few stray tears, and closed your eyes, hoping sleep would take over soon.

You woke up from a couple hours of sleep to a text. Of course, from Ted.

- Excited to see you today for coaches meeting :) I’m proud of you

You sighed, setting your phone down next to you. The guy didn’t seem to have a single mean bone in his body, and here you were wallowing in the fact that you couldn’t help but feel like you brought down everyone around you. As much as you tried to remain positive in every situation, you knew your mood affected the people around you whenever you were a little down in the dumps. You got up, hoping you could at least try to disguise it as well as possible for the day. At least for the morning.

You stopped to get coffee on the way in, delivering each drink with a smile. You sat next to Ted to watch the tapes, giving him the most convincing smile you could.

“You seem better today,” he said quietly, a smile on his face.

You nodded. “Yeah.”

The next few days you were preoccupied with setting up the party for the team, and luckily it kept you busy enough to not fall back into the hole you’d had to crawl out of. If there was one thing you were proud of, it was your ability to pull yourself out of the hardest places. Maybe it wasn’t always through the best methods, but you figured that doing what you needed to was working just fine. If it ain’t broke, after all.

“Howdy, howdy!” Ted chimed, walking in.

You shut your laptop quickly, still taking pride in the fact that you were successfully keeping the event from him.

He quirked a brow, nodding towards your laptop. “What’s that about?”

“Nothing you need to worry about right now. What’s up?”

He rubbed his hands together, leaning against your desk with a cheesy grin.

“Guess.”

“You got another jar of barbecue sauce?”

He laughed. “Yes, actually, but that’s not what this is all about, buttercup. It’s about you.”

You furrowed your brow. “What?”

“Well, kinda,” he said with a light chuckle. “I’ve been seeing the doc a lot more frequently, now.”

You lit up. “Oh, I’m so proud of you!”

“You’ll be even more proud in a second. Get this, she actually said that she’s glad me and you are friends.”

You crinkled your nose, laughing. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I told her about all of your help over the past few sessions, and she told me to tell you, little lady, that I am lucky to have you.”

He nudged your shoulder as he ended the sentence, and you hoped he wouldn’t notice how you tried hiding a smile.

You felt heat rise to your cheeks as he finished out by saying, “I gotta say, I agree with her.”

“In that case, you’re welcome.”

He smiled again, hopping up to sit on your desk. “So, what are you up to?”

“You’ll find out later. Later today, actually.”

He raised his brows. “Oh yeah?”

You nodded, “Mhm. I really think you’re gonna love it, too.”

He gasped, “Did you get me those funky shoes from Gucci I showed you the other day?”

“What?” You scrunched up your face. “No, of course not. Those things were horrible.”

He paused, as if to say something, before raising his brows and nodding in agreement.

“Okay, so what is it?”

“Wouldn’t be much of a surprise if I told you, would it?”

He dropped his shoulders. “Aw, come on. Telling me you have a surprise and not saying what it is… That’s worse than telling your dog you’re going on a walk then leaving him home.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“You’re right, that’s just evil. But you know I like to know things.”

You reached over, patting his knee. “I know, but I think you can survive til after practice.”

“Training,” he corrected.

“Ted, we’re both American. You don’t need to adjust your language with me.”

“See, that’s why I love talking to you,” he laughed, poking at your shoulder.

You shook your head, “Okay, now get out of here so I can finish up.”

“I’ll see you at practice, huh?” He raised an eyebrow, looking a little too pleased with himself for switching up his terminology.

You laughed. “See you there, coach.”

Beard walked in a while later, looking at you expectantly.

“Yes, I’m almost ready. Pizza will be here about ten minutes before we’re done, so I’ll excuse myself a little early, and I’ve got Keeley and Higgins doing some decorating in the locker room while we’re out.”

“You know my favorite thing about you?” He asked as he sat down in his seat.

“Fact that you don’t have to actually say anything to talk to me?”

He smirked, nodding. “Exactly.”

You both laughed, then sat back and waited for the boys to make it to the locker room. Ted came in, a big smile on his face as he did.

“Hey, there are two of my favorite people on this whole planet!”

“Still not telling you,” you said, giving a glance at Beard.

He only shook his head, going back to his book.

“Hey!” Ted exclaimed, pointing to Beard. “You know, too?”

“Know what?” Nate asked as he walked in.

You kept talking, “Keeley and Higgins, too. Oh, and Rebecca, actually, but she can’t be a part of it today.”

Ted glared at you as he went to his desk chair, Roy coming in behind him as he did.

“You talking about what Keeley told me she can’t tell me about?”

“Yep,” you responded, leaning back in your seat.

He grunted in response, arms crossing over his chest. You all worked on the game plan for ‘training’, then headed out with the team to get started on the last home practice before the big game. You knew nerves were high the whole time, and were all the more focused on making sure your little pizza party was a relief for everyone. You excused yourself to bring in the pizzas with your two accomplices, and then waited outside the door until the team came barging in. You heard shouts of approval from them all as they saw the decor and food, smiling as the work you’d done was starting to prove to be a good idea. Beard and Ted wandered in a moment after the last boy was in the locker room, a smile on Ted’s face as he heard them all.

“This the surprise?” He asked as he approached you.

You smiled, nodding. Beard moved past you to enter.

“Remember Kansas State?”

He raised his brows, smile only growing. “You didn’t.”

You nodded once more. “I did.”

He scooped you up in a hug, spinning you around.

“You are the best,” he said, setting you back down with a kiss to your cheek. Luckily, the smile on your face could easily be chalked up to the surprise paying off rather than the show of intimacy from your friend. “Well, come on, let’s shake a leg so I can shake some booty.”

You laughed at that, following behind him into the chaos.

“Hey!” He called out to everyone. “Y’all say thank you to Y/N for all this.”

A chorus of ‘thank you’s erupted, and you laughed as Ted pulled you into his side.

“Couldn’t have done it without Keeley and Higgins, y’all. They did all the decorating, I just recycled an old idea of coach, here.”

The team chuckled, then went back to celebrating as the music started.

He looked to you, eyes narrowed. “You’re being way too modest. This happened cause you put your heart and soul into this team.”

“I learned from the best, Lasso.”

He looked at you quietly, a small smile on his face, then shook his head. He pulled you into the small crowd, and you all spent the next couple hours letting loose before you had to check in with reality again.

The party seemed to have helped. Morale was up as you prepared for the game, and at minimum you knew that even if you still lost, they likely wouldn’t take it quite as hard. That helped your conscience, if anything.

One more thing that took a weight off of your shoulders was what happened before the game even started. Ted told the other coaches about his struggles with anxiety before the game. He came clean about it all, and you knew he felt good about finally letting it go to them. As the others started walking out, you held him back, making sure he knew just how proud of him you were.

“I wish I had your confidence.”

He patted your back. “But, you also love your privacy. That’s okay, you know? You also do a much better job holding it down than I do when it comes to this type of thing.”

You swallowed. “I’m not so sure about that. I know how to cope the best way I can, but I think it’s much more brave that you decided to open up to them about this.”

“Hey, don’t be hard on yourself about this,” he said, a hand on your shoulder. “Besides, I’m only doing okay right now cause I’m seeing the doc so often.”

“You saying I need to see someone about this?”

He shook his head. “No. You helped me realize that, for me, going to see her was what I needed. I hope in some way I can help you realize that you should do whatever is best for you. We’re all different people with different experiences, right?”

“Right. Thanks, Ted.”

You sighed. Leaning into his side for a moment, then broke away, clapping once.

“Okay, now let’s go win this.”

The game was lost, but everyone moved past it. You knew most of that was because of Ted and his affection for the goldfish attitude, though he tried like anything to convince you they wouldn’t be feeling so okay if it wasn’t for the little morale boost you’d given everyone before it all started.

He’d also inadvertently managed to convince you to see Dr. Fieldstone.

You knocked on her door, and she looked up from her seat to see you staring at her with a smile from the doorway.

“Come on in, coach,” she said, gesturing at the chair in front of her.

You nodded, looking around the room as you sat. You noted the little bird next to you, tapping it just enough to get it going.

“I like your decorations,” you said with a smile, then looked back at her. “Also, please call me Y/N. I hardly let the boys get away with calling me coach outside of games.”

She smiled. “I see.”

“So, uh, it’s good to finally talk with you. I know we’ve seen one another in passing a few times, but I’ve been exceptionally busy lately or else I would have come and given a proper hello. I really appreciate all of the work you’ve been doing with the team. You seem like a very kind, compassionate woman. I’m happy to have you here, honestly.”

She just watched as you talked, a light grin on her face as you did, though most of the humor rested in her eyes.

You paused for just a moment, though when she didn’t speak up, you took it as an invitation to keep going.

“Uh, so, I’m not really sure how this goes. I’ve only been to see a therapist once before and it didn’t go great. Though, I promise I won’t hold it against you. I’ve just learned how to cope on my own after that experience, but Ted kind of convinced me to try to find what would work best for me moving forward, and I thought—”

“I see why you two are so close,” she chuckled. “I feel as though I know you already.”

Your brows raised. “Really? How so?”

“Well, between how talkative you’ve become now that you’re nervous, and the fact that I’ve heard quite a lot about you in general, I’d say I have an idea of who you are.”

You let out a quick laugh. “Gosh, I’m sorry. I get kind of chatterbox-y when I talk to someone new.”

“Or when you get nervous, yeah?”

You nodded slowly, looking down for a moment. “Yeah. That, too. Guess it kinda goes hand-in-hand with some of my anxiety business, huh?”

She shrugged, though gave you a look that implied she’d agreed with your statement. You smirked, as did she.

“You said you’ve seen a therapist once before?”

You nodded. “Yes, but it didn’t seem to help. They hardly listened to me, and then told me that maybe exercising and breathing exercises would help. Gave me that advice four sessions in a row without really ever caring to know why I was dealing with panic and anxiety and everything else.”

She raised a brow. “I’m sorry you had to experience that. Now, I know you might not be able to trust me—”

“Oh, no. I totally trust you, Doc. I’ve seen how great you’ve been with the team, and I learned from a good friend a long time ago that everyone has a different story. You don’t deserve to be compared like that.”

Her brows really shot up with that being said. She nodded slowly, writing something down as she did.

“Well, thank you for that. That was kind of you to say.”

You smiled at her. “I appreciate you. Really.”

“This need to reassure the people around you, do you think that might have anything to do with what you’re struggling with?”

Your eyes widened, almost shocked at the statement. You understood now how she’d made so much progress with Ted. You continued talking about what you needed to, but the session was coming to a close quickly.

“Uh, one more thing, doc?”

“Yes, Y/N?”

“Thanks for what you said about me to Ted.”

She quirked a brow. “And what was that?”

“You told him I was good for him.”

“You are,” she said, nodding. “I think the both of you need to be reminded that you don’t always have to turn on the personality for someone to love you. I think you do that well. Both of you.”

You chuckled. “You… Are one wise woman, Dr. Sharon.”

She laughed. “I am pretty great at my job.”

“Well, thank you again,” you said, starting to walk towards the door.

“Y/N,” she called out, and you turned. “Try to remember that the whole world isn’t on your shoulders, yeah? You believe everyone deserves to know love and comfort, but you are one of those people, too.”

You nodded, taking in a deep breath, then said your goodbyes. You pulled out your phone as you left her office. Being the last appointment for the day, you knew most people had already gone home, but you felt like getting some food. You dialed Ted’s number and waited expectantly, heading towards the door.

He answered, but didn’t speak.

You furrowed your brow, exiting the building.

“Ted?” You asked, waiting for a reply.

His voice came through, shaky and nervous-sounding. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Whoa, hold on, what’s up with you?”

“I— I’m kind of…” he trailed off, taking in a hard breath.

“Are you at home?”

You started walking more quickly, heading towards his flat.

“Yeah.”

“I’m coming to you, okay?”

You heard a sniffle on the other end, and a weak ‘okay’ in response. You hung up, and practically ran the rest of the way there. He buzzed you in, and you were up the stairs, bursting into his apartment in no time. He was sitting on his couch in his undershirt and khakis, clearly having been in the middle of undressing when he got hit with whatever ailed him.

You rushed over to the couch, standing next to him. He looked up at you, still crying.

“Do you want to talk about it?” You asked softly, reaching over to touch his arm.

He shook his head. “Not yet.”

“Can I hug you?”

He nodded quickly, standing up and clinging to you like a child. You held him, hands rubbing up and down his back as he cried, head shaking every so often, disagreeing with the thoughts in his own head.

“I can’t even…” he trailed, mumbling against your shoulder.

“What is it, hun?” You asked, still trying to calm him as much as possible.

“Am I a shitty dad? I don’t—”

“No, no. Of course you aren’t.”

“I can’t even pick up my son from a sleepover. He had a nightmare and wanted to go home and I couldn’t be there for him,” he turned his head, cheek against your shoulder now.

You reached up to run your nails through his hair. “You’re like the best dad I could think of. Even thousands of miles apart, you spend more time talking to your kid than I ever got with my dad in the same house. He knows you love him.”

“I quit on his mom. I’m not supposed to be a quitter.”

“You didn’t quit. You didn’t forfeit. Game time was up, the match was over. Nothing you could do at that point, Ted.”

He sniffled, then nodded. “You really think so?”

“You were both fighting so long for something that only hurt the both of you. It was coming to an end naturally. You just finally had the strength to let it end, even though it was hard.”

He nodded again, and fell silent for a few minutes, still holding on to you for dear life.

“Ted?” You asked.

He hummed in question.

“Can I get you some water? I don’t want you to get dehydrated.”

“Yeah,” he said, then let you go, sitting back on the couch.

You filled up a glass from the tap, handing it to him and kneeling in front of him. He drank some, then handed the glass back to you to set down on the coffee table.

“Good, thank you for drinking some,” you smiled.

He laughed humorlessly. “I’m a child.”

“You just need to be cared for a little bit right now. I know stuff like this is all new to you still, I don’t think being comforted and coddled a little is gonna hurt all that much.”

He smirked. “I guess not. Thank you. For coming here.”

You stood, going to sit next to him.

“It’s nothing. You’d do the same for me. Heck, you kind of have already, you just didn’t have to witness the crying part.”

He chuckled. “That’s… Embarrassing. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not embarrassing at all,” you said, then leaned back into the cushions. “You feel like food?”

“I don’t know if going out right now—”

“I was going to order in. Thought we could watch tv or a movie or something and hang out for a while.”

He looked to you with a soft smile, nodding.

“Yeah, I’d like that.”

The next day, you woke up feeling better than you had in a while. You felt well rested, and even went to pick up coffee for everyone despite it not being a film-watching day. You made your way to the office, though you found it much more somber than you were expecting.

“Whoa,” you started as everyone watched you walk in with the tray of drinks. “Who died?”

Apparently that was a poorly timed question.

You showed up at the funeral, heading right to Rebecca for a hug.

“Hi, love,” you said, squeezing her a little tighter than normal. “You okay?”

She nodded. “I’m alright.”

You pulled back, giving her a smile. “For what it’s worth, you look hot.”

She laughed, “Charming as always, my friend.”

“It’s what I do best.”

You heard the squeal of Keeley before you saw her.

“You look gorgeous!” She said as she hugged you.

“Babe, it’s a funeral.”

“Still look hot,” she said with a grin before moving on to Rebecca.

You gave a quick hello to Roy.

“She’s… Weird about funerals.”

You nodded. “Right. Well, I’ll be back. Ted was supposed to be here before me and isn’t picking up his phone now.”

Roy furrowed his brow. “Really? I’m shocked you didn’t come together.”

You tilted your head. “Why would we?”

“You realize how fuckin’ obvious you are?”

Your face dropped. “Nothing’s happening, Roy.”

He grunted with a shake of his head, and you headed off away from people to try giving Ted another call.

Still no answer.

When it hit his answering machine, you decided to leave it and send a text instead.

- hey, are you okay? i’m at the funeral now. if you show up, i’ll be in the back row waiting for you. if not, i’m coming to you as soon as we’re out of here

You shoved your phone back into your purse, making sure to leave it on vibrate in case he called back. Getting through the day was already hard, and you knew your anxiety was likely going to be more of a when-than-if kind of situation. It only built with the fact that Ted wasn’t getting back to you. You felt like everything was dragging on forever, and it wasn’t until Rebecca was struggling to find the right words in her eulogy that he came in. He sat next to you, squeezing your knee lightly to reassure you as he did, and you gave him a soft smile. Something was off, but even then he had the ability to comfort Rebecca all the way from the back row, continuing to sing the song she’d begun. And, of course, everyone else couldn’t help but join in.

You walked with him to the repast, and took that as an opportunity to ask him about what was going on.

“Ted?”

“Yeah?”

You fell quiet for a moment, unsure of where to start. He started for you.

“If you’re wondering, it was anxiety again. I’m sorry I didn’t respond…”

“Did you at least reach out to Dr. Sharon?”

“Yes.”

You smiled at him. “Okay, I’m glad. Proud of you.”

He smirked, then looked around the neighborhood for a moment.

“Uh, we talked about my dad.”

Your eyes widened. He’d hardly ever talked to you about what happened because he could never get through without crying.

“Wow. Are you okay? I know that’s always really hard for you…”

“She helped me see the good in him again, you know? I was always so angry with him for leaving us, but he did more than leave us. He was…” He trailed off with a shaky breath. You reached over, taking his hand, and he held onto yours firmly. “He was a great dad. She helped me remember that.”

“I’m happy you could talk to her about it, Ted. Seriously.”

He nodded, one hand going up to wipe at his eyes. “I guess it just hit me thinking about today…”

“I know. I’ve been pretty on edge today, too.”

“Are you okay?” He rushed out, looking at you.

You nodded with a smile, “Much better now that I know you are.”

He squeezed your hand, lacing his fingers with yours. You tried to stave off the sick feeling in your stomach telling you to run the other way. You wished you could just enjoy a nice moment with him, but you couldn’t help but feel guilty somehow. He was too good for most people, and you considered yourself one of the ones he was too good for. You let it happen for a few seconds longer before you pulled away, pretending like you needed to check your phone in your purse.

“Get a message?” He asked after a moment.

“Uh, I thought I felt it vibrate. Guess not,” you chuckled a little.

He nodded quietly, shoving hands back in his coat pockets. You walked silently side by side until you reached the house, walking inside and beginning to mingle with some of the other guests there. You felt anxiety building, but tried putting it off. You couldn’t tell why it was getting worse and worse, but it was. Your pulse kept speeding no matter how easy you tried taking it.

But, you knew it was about to get way worse when you were suddenly being pulled away from Ted by Beard as a woman approached him. He watched after you with eyes wide for a moment before he turned to her, and you furrowed your brow at Beard when he deposited you in a different room.

“The hell was that about?” You snapped.

Immediately, you knew you needed to get away. It was hard enough feeling anxious, but the last thing you wanted was for your feelings to manifest as anger. But, manifest they did.

“You said you didn’t feel anything for him like that,” he said, testing you.

You scoffed. “Now is not the time, Beard. Who was that, anyways?”

“Remember the name, ‘Sassy’?”

Your stomach dropped, and you could swear the air had just gotten thinner.

“Seriously?”

He shrugged, a little smug. You let out a hard breath, beginning to walk away.

“You said—”

You whipped around. “Cut the shit, Beard. It’s none of your business.”

Eyes fell on you, and the barely contained attack was coming into swing. You started walking towards the back door and into the fresh air, hoping you could contain it all until you could get out of there and go home.

The door opened only a moment later, and you turned to find Beard staring at you.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped like that, I just—”

“You have feelings for him. I know you do.” He shrugged, coming to stand next to you. “What I don’t know is what’s wrong besides that.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re shaking.”

You looked down to see your hands shaking hard as you grasped your arms.

“I—,” you felt tears prick your eyes, and looked away. “I can’t fucking tell him. I’ve known him for years, do you have any clue how shitty it’d be to drop something like that on him? Besides, clearly he’s having fun with…”

You stopped, unable to even say another person’s name.

“The doc told me I self-sabotage, but I don’t think this is that. Is it wrong to want him to be happy? I don’t think I’m the bad guy for that.”

“Nobody said you were.”

“Nobody needs to. I’m a fucking mess. I have no right being upset that he’s happy. I’m a piece of shit,” you whispered at the end, closing your eyes. “I— I need to get out of here. I gotta go, I’m sorry.”

You felt your chest heave, trying to get in air through the invisible smoke that surrounded your head. There was no escaping it, now.

Beard reached out for you, but you already started leaving. He called your name, but you couldn’t handle facing him.

“If anyone asks, please just say I got sick,” you said, back still turned to him.

He sighed, watching as you walked away, holding onto yourself as if you might crumble otherwise. He was worried you actually would, but knew you’d only get more pissed if he tried following you now.

You stumbled along the street, not really sure where you planned on ending up. The closest location was on Nelson Road, so that’s where you found yourself after it all, sinking onto the floor of the office and letting all hell break loose. It was bad enough with how you’d been feeling today, but coupling it all with how ridiculous you felt over being angry that someone else had his attention… That was the thing that nearly pushed you over the edge. Crying and shaking led to dry heaving, dry heaving led to darn near passing out, and that all led to sitting on the ground for who knows how long. You’d always been able to pull yourself out eventually, but you weren’t sure you’d be able to this time.

If people really believed that hope kills, you wished they never had to know what being completely hopeless felt like.

Pretending like you weren’t ever affected by the things that hurt you could only get you so far, and now you were feeling the hard edge of realization that being hit by the things that pained you all at once was so much worse than dealing with it little by little.

Now, a room full of people had seen you crack, too. They all saw through it. The jig was up in a small way that felt huge. Your cover-up act was all you had sometimes, and you couldn’t afford to lose it all because you couldn’t handle seeing Ted with another person, or deal with your emotions before they blew up in your face.

You sobbed, unsure of how you were still awake with how much air escaped you and how little you were taking in. You almost wished you would just pass out for a few hours. Just to escape for a moment.

You heard footsteps fall heavy and quickly down the ball, and it only worsened your panic. The last thing you wanted was for anyone to see you like this, but you couldn’t bring yourself to move. You were cemented to the ground, a crying, shaky mess.

“Oh, thank goodness,” you heard a voice that sounded far away, then felt a pair of arms scoop you up and hold you tightly against them. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

You couldn’t stop yourself this time, and just let yourself cry. Ted tried moving your hands away from your face, but you refused to budge.

“Sweetpea, I need to know you’re okay. Can you breathe with me?”

His voice was more clear now, and you heard a tone in it you almost never did.

“Please,” he whispered, and now you knew why he sounded different.

Tears fell against your bare legs, and they weren’t your own.

“Breathe with me, come on,” he coaxed, and you tried your hardest to obey his request.

Once your breathing calmed, you were able to move your hands, though you refused to look up. He pulled you into his lap from where he sat next to you, hands holding you tighter than they ever had before.

“You really scared me,” he said, quiet.

You took in another breath, face against his neck.

“I’m sorry, you shouldn’t be here.”

“What?” He asked, hands gripping you a little tighter. “What do you mean?”

You shook your head. “I’m a mess. You’re supposed to be out having fun.”

He was quiet for a moment before he spoke.

“Why did you…” He huffed out a breath. “I ran to your apartment. Then all your favorite restaurants. I went down all the streets I thought you might have taken, and finally I ended up here. I didn’t know where else to look.”

“Why were you looking?”

“I asked Beard where you were and he said you got sick. You were already not doing so hot, and I knew that was a lie”

“You have better things to be doing right now, Ted.”

“Nothing is more important than being here right now. Nothing. Do you understand me?”

He was taking a harsher tone with you than you were used to. You took a chance and looked up at him to find him in disarray. His tie and jacket were discarded, and his hair was kind of a mess.

“Don’t ever do that again. Please. At least tell someone where you’re going.”

You nodded, taking in the deep worry lines in his face.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered.

“Don’t apologize for that, I just— I was scared.”

You swallowed. “I’m— I’ll be fine. Why don’t you go see your lady friend now.”

He furrowed his brow. “What?”

“I know Beard pulled us away from you two for a reason, Ted. You deserve to be happy. Please don’t let me get in the way of that.”

He raised his brows. “You’re not in the way of anything.”

“Yes, I am.”

“No. You’re not,” he shook his head. “Do you want to know something?”

You sniffed. “What?”

He stroked your cheek with his thumb, then smiled. “She’s kinda pissed at me anyway.”

“Why?”

He took a moment to lean back against the wall, readjusting you in his lap and wrapping his arms around you so that you wouldn’t be able to scoot away. He chewed at his lip for a moment, then looked at you. You stared back, eyes wide, and mascara running all down your face. He couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight.

Hard as you tried not to, you laughed with him.

“What?”

“Your makeup ran harder than anyone on the team.”

You tried wiping away at it, but he grabbed your hand.

“Quit that.”

“Why?”

He shrugged. “It’s kinda cute.”

“Me having a panic attack is cute?”

His eyes nearly bugged out of his head, but stopped when you laughed.

“I’m kidding. Sorry, I couldn’t help it.”

He let out a breath. “Man, I haven’t been that scared since my mom looked in the shoebox under my bed when I was seventeen.”

You smiled, shaking your head. “You didn’t answer me.”

“What?”

“I asked why she was mad at you.”

He nodded slowly, chewing at his bottom lip.

“Uh, well, when I asked Beard where you were and he said you were sick, she was in the middle of trying to get me to go to her hotel room.”

You felt your stomach sink again, looking away in hopes he wouldn’t catch the shift in your demeanor.

He continued, “I told her I had something more important to do. She didn’t like that a whole lot.”

“You did?”

“Yep.”

You swallowed hard. “So, it is my fault.”

He huffed out a sigh. “Can you quit that? I turned down sex to come sit on the ground with you, and you know what? In any case I would always rather be here with you. Panic attack or not. You could literally just ask me to sit on the ground with you and I would always say yes.”

“Well, that’s just dumb.”

He pulled your head towards his chest, resting his chin on the top of your head.

“You always see right through me like I’m a dang department store window. Now, of all times, is when you decide to just… Not get it.”

You played with the buttons of his dress shirt and quirked a brow.

“What the heck are you talking about?”

“You know, I thought you might get it all the times I asked you to come get dinner or coffee with me. Or maybe every time I come bother you and stick around way longer than I normally would with anyone else— and that’s saying something. I was really hoping you’d get it when we were holding hands on our walk today, but of course not.”

He laughed, pressing a quick kiss to the top of your head before he pulled back to look at you. You watched him with wide eyes, questioning his intentions and hoping you weren’t somehow still misreading this.

“You gonna make me say it?” He asked with a smile.

“I’d prefer if you did.”

He laughed, shaking his head. He then looked up at the ceiling, trying to search for the right words to say. They must have come to him, because he looked back to you, and simply stared for a minute before he finally started talking.

“You’re one of the kindest people I know. Like, Mr. Rogers reincarnated. You always know how to cheer me up. You always know how to help me, and everyone else in your life, somehow. I think you’re incredible. I think you are so funny and so talented and crazy smart. I even think you’re stupidly gorgeous when you’ve got makeup running all over your cheeks,” he said with a laugh, then continued when he got reassurance from your smiling face. “I’ve been scared to get close to anyone since… Since the divorce. You made it so easy, though. I’ve known you forever, but now— I guess I just realized a few months ago that nobody’s ever been there for me like you. You never tell me I’m too much. You never expect me to be… I don’t know. You don’t ever expect me to be on all the time. I can just be me, good or bad, and you still treat me the same.”

You watched him with a rapidly beating heart. Though, this time, it wasn’t telling you to run. It wanted nothing more than for you to stay right where you were.

“That’s something the Doc told me. That we’re good for each other because of that,” you said quietly.

He nodded. “I know, and she’s right. She helped me realize I had feelings for you. Real feelings.”

You bit your lip, then grinned. “Are you gonna crack a joke any time soon? Because all of this serious from you is becoming a little scary.”

His face lit up, and he laughed. You smiled with him, leaning into him for a hug. He held you close, taking in several deep breaths and enjoying the moment, then kissed your cheek as he pulled back again.

“Uh, so… Is this just gonna be me confessing and you get to sit there and tell me to do a crap ton of Hail Mary’s?”

You smiled. “There’s my Ted.”

His brows raised. “Your Ted, huh?”

You laughed, wiggling out of his grip. He let you, and you stood up, reaching for him. He stood with you, not letting go of your hands.

“You’re not going to let go of my hand to check a nonexistent message again, right?”

You smiled, looking down. “You caught that?”

“I can read you almost as well as you can read me. I knew something was up.”

You shook your head, walking into him and wrapping him in a hug again.

“I see things are a little better now,” Beard said, leaning against the doorframe of the office.

You let go of Ted, turning towards Beard.

“Hey. I’m sorry about—”

He held up a hand. “Don’t be. I was kind of being an ass anyways.”

You gave him a tight lipped smile, nodding a little.

“You two figure out… All that business?” He asked, pointing between the two of you.

Ted smiled, “Yeah, we did.”

“Good.”

He waved and left with that, the two of you alone once more.

Ted grabbed your hand, lacing his fingers with yours.

“Let’s go home and maybe… Clean up. We kind of look crazy,” he smiled.

“Can we head to mine first? I want to get out of this dress.”

“Why don’t we just go to mine?”

He raised his brows in question, and you couldn’t help but smile. Now at least you didn’t have to pretend you didn’t think he was adorable.

“I need clothes.”

He quirked a brow. “I think you’d look awfully cute in my clothes.”

You laughed, “Okay, fair enough.”

“Ready to go home, then, sweetpea?”

“Of course.”

#ted lasso fic #ted lasso fanfiction #ted lasso fanfic #ted lasso x reader #ted lasso x y/n #ted lasso fluff #ted lasso angst #ted lasso anxiety #ted lasso #the archer

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crystallizsch · 2 months

Note

Random Thought, please humor me.

SURPRISE: YUUSHA GAINS MAGIC (By absorbing the Magic around her & dealing with Overblots)! Even better, she doesn't need a Mage Stone to control it! What would Yuusha's Unique Magic be & how does she use it? How would Jamil react?

"Magic makes people feel too powerful. Too entitled."

"That is not what magic does. That's just your fear. Fear is what can't be trusted."

HELPPP anon your random thought sent me down into a rabbit hole and i was hyperfixated on this for at least a WEEK 😭

THANK YOU FOR THE ASK BTW I REALLY APPRECIATE IT I HAD SO MUCH FUN WITH THIS 💕💕💕

anyways i also had an agonizing realization that yuusha is somewhat twisted elsa/anna because she has:

braid in front ✅

light-colored hair streak ✅

love interest that used her for his schemes ✅

desire to connect with people bc of years of loneliness (and emotional instability) ✅

unresolved childhood trauma in general ✅

(and probably more idk, these are the ones that stand out to me at the moment)

i haven't thought about frozen for YEARS and somehow it's still haunting me.

i have a lot of mixed feelings about this realization in general but the reason i brought this up is because i ended up basing yuusha's unique magic on frozen (not the ice powers part, but more the emotions aspect since elsa's powers work based on her emotions) while also still having aspects of yuu's own personality on it.

(also I'm sorry in advance i keep on dropping random lore about yuu and jamil's dynamic that only makes sense to myself hndsfhdsj)

I'm your friend. You don't have to hide. SHOW YOURSELF.

"Show Yourself" forces the target to say what's actually on their mind as long as she touches them. Since she's not particularly powerful and skilled with her own unique magic in the beginning, it's limited to skin-to-skin contact, and it only lasts for as long as she's touching her target.

If Yuu trained it more, it doesn't have to be skin-to-skin, just as long as she makes some kind of physical contact with her target; and it could last for as long as she wants even if she is no longer making physical contact. (But the longer she keeps it up, the more blot accumulates.) Yuusha would mostly just use her unique magic to mess with people. It'll only be rare that she chooses to use it for something serious.

To add more onto how Jamil would react to these magic shenanigans: They've both agreed on not using their unique magic on each other. To do so would be a breach of trust. (Of course there would be special exceptions but generally that's their agreement.) And since Jamil is still a scheming prick (affectionate), her "Show Yourself" unique magic would be useful. Plus, Yuu would not be against using her unique magic 99% of the time since she is also aware of the usefulness of her ability. Jamil would insist on helping Yuu out on how to use her magic because there was no way she'd get the hang of it immediately. And he knows she would refuse to ask any other (capable) magician for help.

An alternate idea that I scrapped was "Let It Go" where it's essentially Yuu telling her target to let go of their (usually negative) emotions. But those feelings can't just disappear so Yuu basically absorbs them so now it's her burden to carry instead. I scrapped it because I can't settle on how it works. (But it still had angst potential so I couldn't help but draw a bit about it anyway.)

(extra rambling below about yuusha overblot thoughts if anyone's interested hdlfhjgj)

this is a brief tangent from the original question because i also thought, "hey what if she overblotted, wouldn't that be fun"

i could see the overblot going in either two ways:

yuu accidentally hurts grim (or another friend) with her magic. she’s so distraught thinking that even with magic she can't protect those who are dear to her. and so during the overblot she will not actively try to hurt anyone but instead exhausting her magic reserves in an intentional attempt at self-destruction. (yes i also see the frozen parallels shhhh)

something happens that was simply THE LAST STRAW. now she’s too pissed at everyone that she no longer cares about what happens to her or anyone else, going on a destructive rampage. which can also be considered an intentional attempt at self-destruction.

either way, basically, if she can’t go home she’s just going to take herself out and/or the school instead. the girl is not okay.

(there's actually nothing good she can home to, but she's convinced she'll be happy again if she returns. but she doesn't know that because she can't remember shit about her home. that's a separate lore dump post hgdsjfkld)

also the blot monster behind her would look something like marshmallow (elsa's snow monster from frozen) :)

(i also used to have a similar idea for yuusha. i planned to have her be immune to magic *because* she was absorbing it and she didn't realize. leading to an inevitable overblot) (but i scrapped it because yuusha became my victim for jamil x yuu stuff) (like if i can't have the excuse to have jamil use snake whisper on yuu then what is the point)

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anyoldfandom · 3 months

Text

I just had. A devastating realization.

In episode 3, when Six says "In our line of work, we need to be careful. People we pull into this life, they can too easily get caught in the crossfire."

And that always stood out to me bc it feels pretty personal, but we don't actually know who he's talking about. Not Holiday - she was in Providence before they met. Not One, he brought Six willingly into the life, and people don't really turn due to exposure with EVOs, so Six wouldn't have "pulled" him into anything. Maybe White getting bleached, but that was more a result of his own actions.

I always kind of thought it was a character we never met, an ambigous "someone" that died in his past, but on a rewatch today, it clicked that while Rex was talking about Circe...Six was talking about Rex.

Six brought Rex to Providence when he could've brought him anywhere else. Providence would've believed the robot destroyed - they did believe the robot was destroyed. Thry definitwly had no reason to link it to this kid. But Six brought this child, this EVO, to a place where he had earlier that day watched them kill another EVOfor research, where they had other human EVOs explicitly caged to deconstruct. He took Rex into the lion's den to show Holiday, and Rex had no idea. Six could've been more careful, and taken Holiday to see Rex instead.

But he was emotional. He was tired from seeing One suffer, tired of killing people and monsters, tired of fighting an endless war. It's very possible that working for Providence is what turned Six from that shitty, cocky guy he was 20 years ago into the tired soldier he was when he met Rex. He saw hope, an opportunity to save people, to save his father and bring hope to the only other person who seemed to care about EVOs beyond killing them.

And for that, Rex suffered. White suffered. Six watched the man he loved be forced into an office and the child and hope he wanted to protect fall under Providence's grasp. He pulled Rex into the life because he wasn't careful, denied him any semblance, any opportunity of a normal life. Six became Rex's protector, but he can't protect Rex from the very thing he pulled him into - the mistake he made because he let hope and desperation drive him.

And...it also makes me wonder. Do you think he feels he doesn't deserve Rex? Do you think his heart drops when Rex jumps headfitst into danger? When he sees the kid hurt on the field, or pushing himself past his limits to save people - do you think Six feels guilty he's in that situation? If he'd been just a little smarter, this child wouldn't be suffering. More people overall would be hurt, sure - but the child he cares about, the child who made him into a better man, would be safe. It's a selfish thought from a man who has only known the selfish life of a mercenary for so long, a man we see selfishly cling to hope with One's suffering.

And part of me wonders if that's part of the reason why he trusts Rex, but he tries to play it by the rules first at the beginning of the show. Thay beyond just protecting Rex, he feels responsible for this current danger Rex is in, and that the best he can do is protect Rex as much as he can, to take the brunt of the consequences of Rex's rebellion and stunts on himself.

#genrex #generator rex #TO BE CLEAR TOO NONE OF THIS IS ME SHITTING ON SIX #These are reasonable reactions and emotions for a guy in his situation with his past to have #Calling him selfish is mostly a commentary on how the Numbers all seemed p selfish and how he was in the last #And to contrast that with how he is now. How he risks his life not for an asset and a doctor. But a son and a partner.#It's about character development and the emotions Six rarely expresses #And he was also maybe afraid of Rex having to live with the guilt of the same mistake #Idk. I'm also just thinking about Six now.#They did not fucking have to go that hard with all these characters (not you Bobo) and yet they did

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mysadcorner · 9 months

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Maybe Jason Todd x reader who has Spider-Mans abilities? Ik Spider-Man is marvel but I think it would be pretty interesting/cool little crossover thing :) bc like SPIDER-MAN POWERS>>

Jason Todd x SpiderManPowers!Reader Headcanons

-Credit to the gifs owner - Please be specific about characters wanted in headcanons -

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Jason's first reaction to your Spider powers would be pretty loud and enthusiastic. He meets heroes, villains and other vigilantes all the time but you're abilities are something he's never seen before, and since he wants to get to know you this means he wants to know all about your abilities too.

If you use them to fight crime then he's going to be pretty distracted by the things you can do when he sees them for the first time. You seem so agile and capable with the abilities you have that he wonder's what kind of training you may have had. Also, he does get slightly jealous as to wanting abilities like that of his own similar to how a child would until he realises that your ability to swing using webs would be too much like something Dick would enjoy doing.

He'd be more than willing to accompany you, or at least watch out for you on the side lines if you're used to dealing with crime by yourself. He knows that not everyone grew up in a vigilante family like he did, so he wants you to know that he'll give you all the space you need until you want to do this together with him and use both your skills to an advantage.

Jason is very curious how he may have not heard about someone with spider-like powers roaming around Gotham before, and it's because of this that he assumes you must be pretty young and haven't yet established a well known persona for yourself. If this is the case then he'll go out of his way to drop hints and make people aware that you're around to help when he's helping people in need so that civilians and kids have a natural trust towards you.

The one and only thing that annoys Jason about you having spider-like abilities is the connection to animals. Not that he's found you and he constantly surrounded by reminders of Bruce he's sick of having to hear animal related vigilantes around him, but at least yours are genuine and not just used as inspiration for a frightening costume.

He likes to watch as you use your skills and abilities for mundane and everyday things, such as using your webs to drag things towards you or being able to climb pretty much anything with ease. He usually watches while you do this, but it also makes quiet rooftop meeting with you pretty interesting.

Your senses definitely come in handy during a fight, and he's very much grateful for them. Because of your senses you're able to defend and protect people who may be in danger or other vigilantes when facing a criminal and villain better than his reflexes could ever manage, whilst this also furthers your reputation as someone there to help others once word spreads around.

Swinging through Gotham would be a fun new thing for him to experience, even though he does make his way through Gotham using grappling hooks sometimes. However, really taking the time to go through Gotham without looking out for danger gives Jason a new found way to experience the freedom that you've been experiencing for a while.

Having spider-like abilities also comes with a lot of danger, as certain villains and criminals will be on the look out for you, both to cause you serious harm and to potentially use you for their own personal gain. Jason will be on the look out for things like this and will be the first to jump into action if anyone tries to target you.

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thesherrinfordfacility · 3 months

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it's all well and good to have discourse regarding generalised theories and meta and such like, it's cool to discuss and (politely) debate stuff; maybe you can change other fans' minds by sharing your perspective/analysis, or maybe they can change yours.

what's not cool though? screenshotting actual posts (that can easily be found on a straightforward google boolean search, or hell - usually just by typing the contents into tumblr itself) of takes you don't agree with and subjecting them to focused ridicule. those are someone's thoughts and feelings. that is someone's time, their effort, and their dedication.

what's not cool is vagueing about people's posts in such a way that it is obvious that your post is about them, about that particular post, and not just the theory/theme in general. this fandom is huge but it's also incredibly small sometimes - we're all so often of the same mind that art and fic and meta pass through us like shockwaves. what im saying is that the person that that post is about? they'll probably see it. don't be bullies. a good portion of us have had enough of bullies to last us a lifetime, and it's not needed here.

reblog a post and disagree courteously, patiently, and with compassion, or make a separate post "ive seen discussion on this theme/thought, and whilst it was interesting, i personally don't agree and here's why...". send a polite ask to the op perhaps asking them to clarify some things, because you don't agree but at least want to understand and discuss, if they'd be amenable.

if the bad takes are becoming too much, or are upsetting you, or the person is doubling down despite polite debate and it's pissing you off? that's absolutely valid and you're allowed to feel like that - and if you don't want, or can't, address it politely, and it's too much... block them. block them so you don't have to keep seeing it. rant about it in the DMs to someone you trust if you really need to, but don't publicly make people - on what is (to my mind) the mostly inclusive and open-minded platform - feel like shit because they see media different than you.

don't make people feel like they're absolute scum just because you disagree. don't make them feel stupid, or close-minded. dont stick labels on them that they will likely internalise and make them feel like the worst human being to walk the earth. it's humiliating, it's alienating, and it's going make some people fear having any interest in something they used to enjoy, and that once brought them joy when they needed it most. you personally may not be bothered, but others might - have some respect for them.

god knows im not perfect and ive done it myself, im not pretending otherwise bc sometimes i catch myself being unkind, or feeding into this culture of "different thought = wrong thought", but by god im trying to do better. don't be like me, please please please just be fucking kind

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echekate · 4 months

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Zombie apocalypse AU HCs

gn!reader x Hobie Brown

tw: violence, wounds, blood, mentions of amputation

So AU where you live in a zombie apocalypse, like a year after the catastrophy. You belong to a town of survivors and Hobie is a loner who prefers to survive on his own tho he doesn't mind other ppl if they don't threaten him.

You're one of scouts of your town who go outside and search for all sorts of supplies and maybe even other survivors who might need help and want to join your commune.

You just do your usual thing, rummaging through an old abandoned building when suddenly you drop something or make any other kind of loud noise and it appears that this building is not so abandoned after all - there's quite a company of groaning monsters who now really want to take a bite from you.

So of course you run for your life but the only way is up the stairs and the small mob almost corners you in one of the corridors when suddenly a door opens and you get dragged inside by a strong hand. The door immediately closes behind you, and now it's just the two of you in a small room that seems to be safe enough.

You try to aim your gun at the stranger, but your hands shake violently and there's not much you can do, so the guy smirks at your attempts but still raises his hands to show you he's harmless.

That's how you and Hobie meet each other.

It only takes you so much time to calm down and realise he's no threat. You share your food with him to thank him and talk quietly, patiently waiting for the groaning horde to go away.

It's funny to see a guy so dedicated to certain aesthetics in the middle of the apocalypse. Wearing jeans and leather, having a bat with nails and his guitar on him, combined with an immense amount of piercings he has, he looks so unmistakably punk. Yeah, he looks like a cool guy. Acts like one, too, offering you a grin, his name, a handshake to go with it and a small talk.

"A townie, huh?" Hobie chuckles with a touch of disdain when you tell him you're not a loner, that you're from a town. Something in his voice makes you wonder if there's more to it than a simple 'i'm cooler bc i don't need anyone to survive'.

And only much, much later you'll find out that he used to live in a town, too, but the leader (might be Osborn haha) went nuts, turned into a dictator, pressured people he was supposed to protect, and Hobie organised a riot and ended up killing him. He left after that and now he doesn't trust communes and their self-proclaimed leaders.

He helps you to get out of the building when it's safe and you almost leave to be on your way when it hits you it might be useful to pair up with an experienced survivor like him. And he hasn't had company for a while now, so he just shrugs and agrees.

It's easier to travel together. You navigate zombie-crouded places with ease, watching each other's back, you talk when it's safe (and hell does Hobie like himself a good talk after only being able to talk to himself for a while). You quickly find out that teasing each other is hella fun and it takes him only about two days to come up with a nickname for you - maybe something made from your name or maybe something stupid from all those jokes you share.

Once you reach another town and settle in a house that has decent fence, Hobie starts a fire and soon you hear him strumming something on his guitar. He's glad if you decide to sing along. And if you play guitar, too, he'd hand it to you, but just before you grab it he'd pull it away for a moment and squint his eyes at you. "Jus' don't break it, luv", he smirks before finally handing it to you. And if you sing - damn, he'd definitely start missing his being in a band days and promise you to write a duet for you two.

Sometimes you try to convince him to come with you to your town but he just shrugs and laughs it off. He doesn't yet tell why he's so stubborn about it, and you know better than to pry.

Your expedition goes calmly until the last village on your way where you encounter raiders. They shoot first and you don't really have a choise but put down two of them. You find a hiding spot before any of you gets shot, but the next day when you plan to leave and head back to your town they notice you. And, well, of course they want revenge.

You flee both from raiders and zombies attracted by the gunfire, navigating the narrow alley filled with junk, and where you slip with ease, Hobie suddenly falls trying to jump off something and gets an iron rod right through his thigh.

Putting all the trouble with removing it aside, that's how you and Hobie both end up back in your town. You were supposed to part ways, but it's not like you could just leave him after everything you've been through together. His wound is festering by the time you reach safety, you tried to give him meds, but it only did so much in holding the infection back. Thankfully now the doctors can look after him.

He gets better gradually and soon enough you let him move into your place. After all, you were the one to bring him to the town, so now you're kind of responsible. He's not particularly happy to be there, but trust me, he'd choose his words of distaste less carefully if it was anyone but you with him.

He needs time to recover in safety, but the town is suffocating, so you find a harmless enough decision and start inviting him outside to hunt. Nothing but short sorties not too far from the town walls, but he feels better. And honestly? It's a good time to bond. Winter comes and you spend your nights outside in abandoned hunting lodges, resting close to each other to preserve the heat.

It's back to back first, then you share blankets, and soon enough it turns into cuddling - either it's spooning or Hobie just pulls your head into his chest and wraps his long arms aroung you. You're supposed to take care of him and help him recover, but in those moments you feel taken care of. Small. Maybe even loved. Not something you feel often in this dying shit of a world.

And when the winter passes, Hobie suddenly realises that he doesn't really want to leave. I wonder why,,,,,,

A little extra: I feel like if you ever get bitten or scratched, Hobie would NOT hesitate to take your wounded limb away. He's not the type to wait till it turns into 'either i kill them or they turn into a monster' drama, he just wants to save as much of you as he can. And knowing how good he is with crafting things, he'd probably be the one to make you a prosthesis to replace it, too.

-------------------------------------------------------

pt. 1 | pt.2

#hobie brown x gn!reader #hobie brown fic #spider punk #hobie brown x reader #hobie brown #atsv x reader #atsv #hobie brown x you

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isa-ghost · 1 month

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*insert coin*

Can I ask for q!Phil hcs BUT when he's fully un Bird mode :D

Jokes on you that's easy, those are just more plain qPhil hcs for me >:D

qPhil headcanons masterlist

Sometimes if he's in a fight that he's not taking seriously he'll put some goofy ass music on in his headphones. Some favorites include the Mario invincibility star theme, Waltz of the Meatball Man, and the kind of bubbly anime ending music that plays over an emotionally devastating scene

After way too much stress, once he gets Chayanne & Tallulah to bed and is on his own he'll go somewhere and just. Scream. For as long as it takes. And then he chugs tea or noodle broth to prevent his throat from dying on him.

Sleep schedules his beloathed <- wants to spend more time with a bunch of islanders he doesn't get to see often

Out of the 3 polycule members, Fit is best at cheering him up. He knows Phil best and the extent to which he lacks a filter sometimes is too powerful for Phil not to at least smile at

His wheeze laugh is the best thing ever to the the kids. If the two of them can make him wheeze, they know they've done their job right.

As soon as he knows something is safe (the maze, an event site like the code builds, that new mountain at old Spawn, etc) he's the first one to start exploring. He's been that way as long as he can remember ;)

*Slaps top of his head* This old man can fit so much survivor's guilt in him

He's only old in age and wisdom, if you try to imply he's geriatric he will get SO out of pocket about the things he's done with Fit & Etoiles and you will regret it

Okay so I've talked about how his worst fear is not having control, especially of himself. And I've talked about other fears of his, but I don't think I've mentioned his fear of loss yet. He tries to pretend he isn't, he'll insist he isn't, and to some degree he isn't Entirely wrong, but he is afraid. Being as old as he is means you get a bit desensitized to loss because it's natural when the things and people around you don't live for as long as you do. The part of it Phil fears, or maybe hates is a better word, is all the emotional turmoil after. That bone-deep ache of grief, the heaviness that refuses to leave his chest, how easy it is to emotionally compromise him, the hollowness that consumes him. The way he can't think or sleep properly, how his motivation is completely wiped out, how embarrassing it feels to not be at 100% in front of people. He HATES the aftermath of it all.

Excursions, Shuniji, and ofc Weirdest Year by C418 are Phil grief songs, in this essay I will

The Federation has learned that if they want Phil to attend an event he isn't particularly interested in, all they have to do is have really good food there, especially Latino food

He does legitimately gag a little when he kills a mob and flies or maggots come out of it. That's not just drama, he fr is like 🤢. It reminds him of the first time he saw Ender King's corpse

A fraction of the reason why he has people he trusts very deeply, like Fit, whitelisted on his security stuff is bc he knows if he ever got too depressed (like when the kids were missing), he'd never leave the house and just bum around feeling awful despite being restless. Having them whitelisted means they can get in and force him to get some air and stop festering in his emotions.

See I could get into a whole analysis abt this but like. So many of my angst hcs for him are abt how he's kinda shit at taking care of himself, esp when the people he cares for the most are removed from the equation. But it's not that he's incapable of it, he's not a baby or something like that. It's another part of how he's so locked into being the caretaker, the protector, the Strong One, the wise one, etc etc etc that he Hates being in the reversed role. He's gone so long without it that now it's foreign and unpleasant to him. He feels weak & like a burden. But at the same time, going so long without being in the reversed role is unhealthy and he NEEDS to be the one taken care of or protected sometimes. Everyone does. It's a double-edged sword: be the caretaker, shoulder everything & suffer OR be the one taken care of, feel awful about it for one reason or another. He can't win. He hates the latter but he needs it occasionally just like anyone else. He prefers the former, but the toll it takes over time is extensive.

It's why he'll do little things in an attempt to remedy it. To avoid being full-on taken care of for once while also not Only doing the reverse. Watching the sunset with the kids, adventuring in new and exciting places, sparring with friends, etc. His escape is making vivid fond memories to look back on and smile about, even if they don't always fix his emotional state. At least he isn't fully neglecting himself.

#qsmp #qsmp philza #philza #q!philza #qphil headcanons

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beanghostprincess · 5 months

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Hi, I would like to know what you think of Dragon and Luffy?

We recently learned that Dragon did try to look after Luffy as good as he could.

The thing is I think that Dragon does care for Luffy and that it was better for Luffy to not take him with him. But that doesn´t change that he wasn´t there if you see it from Luffys view. He doesn´t hate his father but I don´t think he really cares either. Growing up he had other people he saw as family like Garp, Makino, Ace, Sabo and Shanks. I don´t think that would change when he meets Dragon, even if he learns that his father did watch over him and protected him as good as he could. It doesn´t change that he is still a stranger to Luffy.

I actually see Dragon more as Sabos father than Luffys.

What do you think about it?

The reason why I have mixed feelings toward Yasopp but I genuinely love Dragon with all of my soul and heart and body (Live Laugh Love Revs. Revolutionaries my beloveds, all my homies love revolution) is that Luffy's relationship and behavior toward his family are wayyyy different than Usopp's (comparing these two bc the stories are similar but my reaction to them isn't).

Luffy doesn't give a single fuck about biological bonds and shit, he just cares about people themselves. If he loves someone, he'll love them no matter where they come from. To him, I think, labels like "father" are just there as a statement of "ah, yeah, this dude helped create me. Cool fact" but he doesn't care at all? Like he genuinely believed he didn't have a dad until Garp told him and his reaction was pretty much "Cool" and he never even asked about his mom. The thing about Dragon and Luffy is that I do think Luffy sees him as his father because he doesn't have any reason to not do so. He doesn't have any resentment toward him and he knows he's helping people out there, living his own adventure. Perhaps people like Shanks or Makino are way more important and influential in Luffy's life, of course, and considers them more of a family than he'll ever do with Dragon, but that doesn't mean he does not see him as his dad, you know? I don't know if I'm explaining this well, but to summarize: If Luffy doesn't have a reason to reject Dragon, he'll still consider him his dad. Not emotionally, I guess, because there are people more influential in Luffy's life, but he's still there and Luffy still sees him as such. Besides, Luffy doesn't seem to have levels of importance and priority when it comes to the people he loves. If he loves you, he'll love you and protect you the same amount he does with everyone else. This guy doesn't play favorites and we know that. So I think his relationship with Dragon (from Luffy's POV) is extremely neutral and just a "Oh, cool! My dad is a rev! That's awesome" but he doesn't feel the need and excitement to see him the way he does with Shanks, for example. He doesn't reject him but he doesn't have deep feelings about him.

On the other hand, Dragon said this thing recently about kids being a parent's weakness and it broke me completely. Because he's been watching over Luffy all of this time and he loves his kid so much he keeps being so dramatic about it (that conversation with Kuma changed my life tbh). And I think he's worried about his kid's well-being, but trusts Luffy on his own adventure too. He left because he had to help the world somehow and it was just too dangerous for Luffy to come with him (for both, because it would be dangerous for a kid to be there and because it would be his only weakness if enemies found out about how much Luffy means to him, etc etc etc). And it's kind of the same way I feel about Shanks with Uta? Like he did what had to be done to protect her (even if what Shanks did is stupid but he's a moron, so nothing new).

I also see Dragon more as Sabo's dad, by the way. They make me go insane. "We can't keep a kid here something something" but dude kept the lil bastard and I love that. Sabo found a home and a family when he was completely lost and I'm so happy about it. I love them so much. Dragon cares deeply about him and Sabo loves the revolutionary army so much,, My beloveds.

Anyway, I made a post about this before but I find it really funny how Sabo would tell people about Dragon being his dad and everyone would go "???' then you are Luffy's bio brother" and he'd just go "No :)" and not explain further.

#dragon my beloved part 345678909876543234567 #i don't talk about him enough actually #the revs my beloveds part 12345678987654323456789876543w2345678 #i talk about them a lot and i need to do it more #monkey d. luffy #monkey d. dragon #revolutionary sabo #one piece

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hajihiko · 1 year

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I interpret Kaz's relationship with his dad a little differently from that one convo. He says something like 'he knew better than anyone that we didn't have the money' and I took that as his dad wanted him to go and have fun like a normal kid and not worry about the money. Of course, I don't justify physical discipline and it is abuse, even if the parent is well intentioned. I think that Kaz does love his dad and they're relationship might be more complicated. But you know that's just one of the many things he needs to work out in therapy.

(Again this is just my interpretation and I'm not saying yours is wrong. I do love the art.)

Just gonna use this as a little jumping point to talk about this bc why not, warnings for obviously sensitive topics

I dont think you're wrong, I actually probably agree, but one thing;

It's not uncommon for public perception to weigh more than actual actions or intent. In the example given, I see it like so; yeah, Souda sr. wanted his son to go on a field trip that they couldn't really afford. Yeah, Kaz wanted to help the household by not going on the trip and saving the money. Both have good intent here. It's not about that, though, because in Souda sr.'s eyes, refusing to go on the trip is like admitting that they're poor, which is like saying the father can't provide for his family, which is like public humiliation- in his eyes. In a fit of rage (and insecurity, if it's something that's already weighing on his mind, as these things often go) the assumption isnt that his son was trying to help, just that he did something that makes the father look bad. Which is a bigger trigger than most things, often, for patriarchal authority figures.

And it not an excuse for physical harm, no, nothing is. Probably, Souda sr. knows that, and didn't mean to snap- doesnt think he committed an act of child abuse- but he's been under a lot of stress, and his son was talking back, and, well.

I think they do usually get along alright, and Souda sr. does his best to provide for himself and his son and keep their relationship good, and Kazuichi is genuinely grateful for everything his dad's done for him? But in the end, it's another person Kazuichi trusted teaching him the lesson that people will let him down and hurt him, in some way at some point. If your parent whom you trust has made you genuinely afraid of them, it's hard to come back from it, and someone as anxious and emotionally sensitive as Kazuichi will hold onto that forever, probably, even as he might internalized some of it as his own fault.

It's a lot more complicated than just "bad father, sad son" (but again, not excusable, you don't hit your kids period). It's father and son who love each other and might be the only family they both have, but they clash horribly on occasion, make up (or don't talk about it at all), things die down, stay good for a while, then there's another clash- so it goes, even if the bad times are only occasional. The biggest Thing about these kind of relationships, to me, is that it's so easy to fall into a routine and let things stagnate, and before you know it, it's just How Things Are and it's easier to just deal than start rocking the boat.

#Not an art #Talky talky #Dysfunctional relationships and toxic family is always something I have Thoughts on #cw child abuse #This is also just me blabbing with little evidence so dont come for my throat ok I'm just pondering #I could talk about the kuzuryu family too I think there's a lot more context stuff there #But that's a diff post #I also hc that Kaz started thinking about the death machines before Junko #Not in a serious manner but as a malcontent kid who felt bitter and insecure and wanted to let it out somehow #Who hasnt fantasised about pushing someone down the stairs or sth right? That's where it started for him #Blah blah the 'anyone is capable of evil' theme #But also the 'that entire class was full of kids at risk and no one noticed or helped them and that sure didnt stop them from seeking-#-release and control and company from bad people who in turn affected them'

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strangersparker · 1 year

Text

Emergency contact

Steve Harrington x reader :)

Prompt: loosely based off a modern family scene (I LOVE modern family). Where Haley runs off from her date with Arvin after meeting his parents, he then says something that upsets her and she runs off. She ended up in the hospital due to fainting (bc of the NERP stickers lol) and the nurse calls her emergency contact, which is her ex-boyfriends—my story isn’t exactly the same. But I hope you enjoy.

Warning: fainting, I don’t write so this may be terrible.

no use of y/n. could be gender neutral bc I didn’t use he/she besides the nurse and Steve.

You don’t know what happened, but somehow you ended up in the hospital. The last thing you could remember was running around the neighborhood, and a man with a British accent asking if you’re okay.

Once you looked around to see if there was any evidence of what happened earlier, the nurse came in. “Good, you’re awake,” she says. You still looked at her confused, brows furrowed, she senses your confusion and says, “you passed out. A man on the street found you fainting and called for help. Have you been drinking water? It’s awfully hot out, and it seems you’re dehydrated.”

You thought back to earlier this week, maybe you could’ve been better at drinking water but other things have been on your mind. “I probably haven’t been drinking much water, no,” you respond. The nurse nods, but further asks, “how about your stress level? Has there been anything causing you deep amounts of stress?”

Well geeze, you think. How about things you could never imagine and almost putting your life in danger everyday along with your friends. Oh, and, your recent break up with Steve. You were together for a year, but were quite close before because of Dustin.

You were his babysitter because his mom didn’t trust him alone at home even if he could take care of himself, so you—his neighbor, took care of him. Dustin absolutely adored you, you always listened to his problems and was there for him. Not to mention, you were kind to everyone including his weird group of friends. He didn’t mean for you to get caught up in the madness of demodogs, Russians, and Vecna. But that’s just who you were, you wanted to help. With Dustin being stuck in the middle of you and Steve’s lovesick confessions about each other to the little boy, he grew tired and “parent trapped” the two of you. Both of you were grateful for Dustin because it gave you both the courage to confess to each other.

You forgot about the nurse and her question, as she’s staring at you with a worried look, waiting for an answer. You sigh, “I guess I have been under a huge amounts of stress.” She jots down some notes as you respond. “What you need to do now is rest, and drink plenty of water. You lost a lot of fluid, and you running and your added stress didn’t help. We suggest you stay here until the end of the day. Just so you can fully rest and drink as much water as you can. How does that sound?”

You silently nod without saying a word, and she walks out with a tight-lipped smile. You’re glad she said that you could stay for now because you’re not ready to leave and face reality. At least you could relax a little. You sink into your bed (and drink some water) and you remembered why you were running. You weren’t even a runner—you hate running and always wondered why people did it for fun.

You were running from your thoughts, you needed to get fresh air because all you could think about was Steve. The break up was really hard for you, and it’s only been 2 months. Though, it wasn’t a mutual break up. It wasn’t him who wanted to break up. It was you. You broke up with him.

You didn’t break up with him because you stopped loving him. Oh, no, you are hopelessly in love with him. Your insecurities got the best of you.

You and Steve’s relationship grew long after him and Nancy dated. You were a bit worried at first because you weren’t sure you’d live up to Nancy’s standards. But that’s exactly what Steve didn’t want, he needed someone who loved him. Someone who knew his worth and that was you. You both cared for each other so much. The kids admired you two, and Robin can feel the love you both had for each other. Yet she was disgusted at the same time.

Something happened when the whole vecna fiasco began. You could feel Steve slipping away and going towards Nancy. You thought you were going crazy because she’s with Jonathon, she wouldn’t do that to him. But the longer you all were together, the more you could see them falling for each other again.

It broke your heart.

You felt that you were right before, you’ll never be Nancy. So when everything was over, you broke up with him. You didn’t tell him the reason, which left him in confusion and sadness. Steve missed you so much, and not talking to you for 2 months was killing him. He needed to know the reason and win you back.

It seemed you weren’t lost in thought for too long, as the nurse comes back into your room. “We contacted your parents to come get you after you’re all rested up, but it seems they’re out of town. So-,” you interrupt, “yeah they went on a trip for their anniversary. It’s just me right now, I’ll take the bus after this.” You say without hesitation. You don’t want your friends to worry about you, especially Robin. Knowing her she will, and you can’t have her finding out you ended up in the hospital because you weren’t taking care of yourself.

“Well, we really suggest you have a trusted transportation back home. Plus, you’ll be on that bus ride forever. We looked at your emergency contact list and your boyfriend picked up. He should be coming soon.” You looked at her with wide eyes, you tried to tell her that Steve isn’t your boyfriend anymore and shouldn’t be coming here. But it was too late because as she said that, he was running in. He looked out of breath. You quickly noticed he was still in his Family Video uniform, so you knew he was in quite a rush to get here.

“Oh, no, no, no, please come back. He’s not-“ you called for the nurse, but gave up in defeat as she left the room.

“I’m so sorry, I came as fast as I could. Are you okay? What happened? She said you were dehydrated and running? Since when did you run? And-“ his questions kept spewing and it was overwhelming you. You took a deep breath. “Stop! Steve, it’s okay. I’m fine. You shouldn’t even be here right now. I didn’t know you were in my emergency contact list.”

“You’re not fine. You fainted! I was worried sick when they called me. I want to be here, I don’t care that you don’t want me to but I’m staying and bringing you home.” Why did he have to care so much? You weren’t together anymore. You thought he wouldn’t care anymore, but a small part of you might be glad he’s here.

You sigh and figured to just let him. You wanted to be stubborn but knew a bus ride home was a terrible idea. He took your sigh as a “fine.” Steve grabbed a chair and sat next to your bed. “So, you want to tell me why you were running? Again, running doesn’t sound like you.” You rolled your eyes at him, you hate that he still knows you so well. “I just wanted to try something new,” you tried to say confidently.

“Liar,” Steve immediately responds. You scoff. “You know what? Why don’t you go back to stacking movies. I was enjoying my quiet time here.”

“You know I can’t do that. I also don’t want to. Now tell me, what happened?” He said with so much love and worry. He was hoping that maybe he could find out why you called things off. You felt tears building up in your eyes. You quickly looked away as you didn’t want to talk about this with him. You were still so fragile. And you wondered why he was here when you were sure he went back to Nancy.

“…I needed some air. I know that it was me who broke off things with you but I’ve been having a hard time lately. I guess I was dehydrated, and my running didn’t help.” You respond timidly without making eye contact.

“Why did you break things off?” Steve asked with hope. He needed an answer. You throw your head back to your pillow, “Steve, I don’t want to get into this right now. I’m not in the headspace-“

“Please. I need to know why. I’ve been so confused these last two months. It felt like it came out of nowhere.”

“Came out of nowhere? You were falling for Nancy right before my eyes. I couldn’t stand it!” You blurted out. You realized what you said, and silently beat yourself up because you didn’t want to tell him it was because of Nancy.

“Nancy?” He said almost with a laugh, “you broke up with me because of Nancy?”

“Look, I saw how you guys were. It was like your love was rekindling for each other,” you said matter of fact. Steve rapidly shook his head. “There was no rekindling going on between us.”

“Well that’s what I saw. It hurt me a lot. I knew that I wasn’t right for you from the start, especially after your relationship with her,” he could almost feel your heart breaking. Steve grabbed your hand gently, making sure it was okay with you. “Sunshine, that may be what you saw, but it wasn’t. I was concerned for everyone’s safety at that time. Yes, Nancy and I had some history, but we both moved on. I just wanted to make sure she was safe too. I love you too much to ever leave you.”

Sunshine. He knew that was your weakness. He loved calling you that and you loved hearing it.

But you didn’t want that to win you over. “Well, we’re not together anymore. So, it doesn’t matter.” You cross your arms and look away. This time, Steve actually laughs, which makes you look back at him like you wanted to smack him for not being serious. “There it is,” he says. “What are you talking about?”

“You were like this when we first started dating. You were afraid that I still loved Nancy. But I tried to tell you that she was in the past. You don’t know how amazing you are and it hurts. Nancy and I broke up because she didn’t know my worth, but you do. I hate that you can’t see how I see you. You’re the most caring, loving, beautiful person. I love you more than my heart can handle.”

You feel like your broken heart has been healed. You felt ridiculous for ever jumping to conclusions without talking to Steve first. A tear finally rolls down your cheek, but you try to hide it. “I love you more than my heart can handle, too,” he wipes the tear off you with his thumb while holding your face. “I said that line first, you can’t steel it,” he jokes, which makes you laugh. He missed your laugh.

“I’m so sorry for breaking things off. I shouldn’t have done that. I missed you a lot. I’ve been a mess, as you can tell,” you gesture to the hospital room. “I don’t care anymore. I’m glad I’m on your emergency contacts. I get to take care of my sunshine again.”

You couldn’t take it anymore. You missed his lips on yours. You leaned into each other, and he gently held your face and kissed you like it’s been years without you. After a minute, he pulled away, “I don’t want to take your breath away even more. So that’s enough for now,” Steve said with a smirk. You rolled your eyes and slapped his arm.

After a few “I love you’s,” kisses, and him forcing you to drink more water— instead of taking you home, he took you back to his house to hold you close again.

a/n: I wrote this in a few hours, so I hope it makes sense. I don’t write but am always reading <<<<<3 amazing stories about Steve. I wanted to give it a shot. I’m full sending this bc I liked the idea and don’t think I’ve seen a lot of this prompt.

#steve harrington x reader #stranger things #steve harrington imagines #exes to lovers #steve harrington #modern family #fanfic

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blackrabbittwst · 8 months

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Hi I was the one who asked for the Aladdin one and yeah I totally should've clarified!!! So what I mean is that I wanted their personality to be like Aladdin (charming mischievous quick-witted caring etc.) and that some part of Aladdins background in them. Like them being good at stealing things bc they need to. hope this helps. Please tell me if u need more info!!!

A/N: It’s all good! Thank you for the details! That should work!

A/N 2: I actually started writing this a year ago, so I’ll go back and proofread it later.

Synopsis: Dating an Aladdin-like S/O

Characters: Jamil Viper and Kalim Al Asim

Pairings: Jamil Viper x Reader, Kalim Al Asim x Reader

Gender/Pronoun: Gender Neutral

Warning: N/A

Kalim Al Asim

Kalim would be easily drawn to your charming nature. He already has this innocence and trusting personality, that he would be an easy person to captivate. Thankfully he has Jamil to help him avoid a lot of these people and their schemes at home. However, if you do fancy the adorable son of Al Asim, it won’t be too hard to catch him with your charms.

However, despite your charms, you’d probably be drawn into his own charms as well. While he may not act it, Kalim has his own unique charm that even draws the entire dorm to his side. So together you both would be a charming power couple! Everyone would be attracted to both of you and be surrounded with love and affection.

Since he’s such a pure boy, he wouldn’t initiate or encourage any mischievous schemes you might be pulling of they’re past the point of small harmless pranks. However if you only pull harmless pranks, he’d probably have fun setting it up with you and giggling. He doesn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings or make them sad. He would also be against anything violent since he wouldn’t want to see you hurt.

If your schemes or plans are more harsh, hurt people’s feelings, etc., he would scold you for not being kind to other people and how you’re better than that. He’d mention you’re too smart to be hurting others with your skills. You could be using them to help others instead. He might even get upset to the point of crying.

He wouldn’t really appreciate it if you steal at your older age. He’d understand and not criticize if you stole necessary items like food and water as a child to survive. However, now you attend the most prestigious magic school, so there’s no need to steal anymore. Instead he’d promise to buy you anything they wanted instead!

If you continued to steal after talking to him about it though, it will be a betrayal of his trust to some degree. He’s used to being taken advantage of by other people who want to obtain his wealth, so he’s experienced theft. The idea of you stealing would remind him of people who have hurt him in the past. He doesn’t understand why you would continue to steal if he could buy you anything you wanted.

If you wanted to give back to the poor, just tell him. He doesn’t understand what the lower privilege class goes through on a daily basis, so you would need to sneak him out to a town and show him first hand. He’s lived a life of luxury, but they doesn’t mean he’s greedy, if anything all he ever wants to do is make people happy and be happy. He’s willing to supply anything the town would need if you help him understand what they go through and what they need.

You and Kamil go into the town you grew up in while wearing hoods to cover your faces. You made sure to mention that this trip was purely to understand how people are living, and that you would help them later. If you both were not careful, people might recognize him and go into a frenzy. You did clarify that you would explain everything when you both made it back to the dorm because asking questions in earshot could also blow his cover. Holding his hand, you lead him to the back alleys where he comes face to face to starving children and homeless families begging for food. Kamil would look at them so sadly, not understanding how they got in this situation. He grew up in a home that always had plentiful of food and jugs full of water to the point where he never felt much in the way of hunger or thirst over a long period of time. Seeing these children run up to him and grasp onto his pants legs almost made him cry. The moment he’d watch you take out an apple from your bag and carefully hand it to the child, he knew he fell in love again. Your warm smile made his heart flutter and the way the child’s face lit up so brightly made him so incredibly happy when this child was crying merely moments ago. While you were handing out some food you had just bought down the street, many of the citizens asked you who was the man that accompanied you. Normally you would swing by these alleys by yourself, so seeing that you had a fried delighted them. They were all worried you weren’t making friends and that you were spending too much time there than at the fancy school you worked so hard to get into. You would reassure them it was the least you could do after all the help they gave you growing up. You did introduce Kalim to them as your boyfriend at school but mentioned he was very shy to avoid too much attention towards him.

Back at the dorm, Kalim asked you many questions, like why these people were without homes, why they didn’t have food, why no one else helped them, etc. You did attempt to answer all his concerns, but ultimately it really varies on a person to person basis. It broke your heart to see him look so dejected and sad to see all those people on need, especially since you grew up that way. After a large deep breath, Kamil hops up and exclaims that he was going to start giving back to those people! You were completely surprised, but not because you didn’t think Kalim would offer his wealth for other. It was the fact that he decided this so quickly and without any judgement towards the individuals who lived there. Of course you had to guide him on what to buy the people in the town. For example, they don’t need wine at the moment, nor do they need golden chairs to sit on. You were very gentle and passionate as you explained what are actually necessity items they don’t actually have. The list of common goods was so shocking to Kalim. He knew that they did not have much in the way of belongings, but even jugs to hold water was something they they struggled with since they could develop cracks over time. He would end up thanking you for showing him how grateful he should be about his life and that he should focus on using his ressources for the people in need. It really warmed you heart to see him so excited to help others like yourself.

Jamil Viper

Let’s be honest, Jamil would be super suspicious of you at first. He would be able to catch glimpses of you stealing food here and there or using your charming personality on the fly as you convinced people that you were not planning something like a scam (but you indeed were).

He would think you had ulterior motives when you wanted to get closer to Kalim. However what he doesn’t realize is that the reason you seemed to be getting closer to Kalim was to actually get closer to himself.

When he realized how caring you were and how you cared for the less fortunate, he would allow himself to open himself up more to you. He would act less cold towards you and not avoid your presence. By watching your good nature, he’d eventually realize you were not there to take advantage of the Al Asim family.

He’s used to keeping his guard up, so he would be apprehensive and not tolerate your mischievous side. He finds it troublesome since it causes him issues he’d have to clean up. However , if you involve him in your schemes, he’s totally game. He’d definitely want fo help if it was involving harmlessly pranking Kalim (as long as it didn’t get back to Kalim that Jamil was apart of it so his parents won’t find out), or if it involved scamming the King of Greed (AKA Azul lol). As long as Jamil isn’t responsible, he’s a lot more chill.

Like getting Kalim to run into a door opening blocked by cling wrap and seeing his face scrunch up in the transparent film! After you set up the trap, Jamil would probably be the one to lead Kalim to the door’s opening and duck gracefully under the film before Kalim runs smack face first into the stuff. Of course you’d all share a laugh afterwards (and someone might post it on magicam).

After learning to trust you, he’d also get caught up in your charm and be attracted to your quick-witt. While he does find Kalim a little troublesome, his own charm is what really keeps their friendship alive. Despite not showing it, he’d find this charming side of you endearing and special. It would be something he loved the most about you as your carefree nature won over the entire dorm

Similar to Kalim, you’d be able to convince him to do things with you despite his initial rejections. Please convince this overworked boy to relax and take a nap with you. Normally this would be impossible but if you worded it in such a way, he might be willing to listen. A decent excuse would be: enjoying himself and his free time rather than continuing to suffer and half-ass everything (so basically instead of trying to be mid, be lazy and smack off here and there), would be more worth his time. Also the moment when you quickly react to a problem, he’d be so impressed. It would be a reminder why he liked you in the first place. You had a quality that the Great Seven of Scarabia would adore, which was your wisdom.

When he finds out why you resort to stealing, he wouldn’t criticize you too much. He’s experienced his fair share of swiping food when he was in middle school, and your reason was even more heroic than his immature past self. However, he has matured since then and he would encourage you to stop the antics since it was bound to get messy and cause you more issues than benefit in the long term. He understands living as someone less privilege and trying to survive, but you’re at NCR now and there’s no reason to steal anymore. There were many other ways to give back to the poor that didn’t include the five finger discount.

He’d help you out as much as he can and maybe even manipulate Kalim to help out too. For example, he’d convince Kamil to donate money to you as a sponsor so you do not have to worry about your financial situation. He could also tell Kalim about donating his money to charities around Sage Island rather than spending it so frivolously. He’d also assist you helping others in need on his spare time like volunteering to cook for the hungry.

While in town on a free weekend, you were peacfully wandering around window shopping with Jamil and admiring the stuff you could only dream of obtaining. You noticed a small shadow moving in the corner of your eyes getting slowly closer than what you’re comfortable with. As the figure reaches in your pocket, Jamil swiftly snatch their arm and you turn to look at the thief in eyes. In front of you was a dirtied faced, wide-eyed small child not much older than 10. His face, despite all the soot and dirt smudged on his face, pales at the sight of his victim staring him down, catching him in the act of pickpocketing. His eyes water as he begins to tear up, so shocked as he gasps for air, attempting to utter a single word. Like a fish being quickly reeled in to be then eaten by a hungry fisherman, the small boy tries to wrangle out of your grasp. Before he could get free, he feels something cold hit his hand, which made him jump out of his skin. You gently let go of his arm as he scampers away desperate to get away from his captor. After rounding the corner, the boy remembers the cold sensation in his hand earlier. He slowly opens his hand to see a shiny gold coin. He closed his hand, and reopened it a few times thinking this was just a big joke.

“If you needed help, you could have ask us.” Jamil says behind him. ‘When did he even get behind me?!’ The boy thought as he whipped his head around to stare at the couple he just tried to pickpocket. Before he could zip off again, you kneel on the ground to his eye level and ask, “What do you need the money for?” Your kind voice resonated inside somewhere in the boy. It was something he hadn’t heard in a long time. The image of his late mother flashed in his head as she gently rubbed his head while softly telling him how much she loved him. Your voice alone allowed him to trust you and Jamil, just a little bit. “My sister. She’s sick. And my brother is starving.” The boy quietly mutters while looking at the ground. You hum with acknowledgement as the boy’s eyes fill with tears again, being reminded of his harsh situation. “Come back with us and we can get you some medicine and food.” Jamil says as he uncrosses his arms in front of his chest and reaches out to the boy. “B-but I just tried to steal your stuff! Why would you help me?” The boy croaked, thinking maybe their kindness was a trap. “Because I know how it feels to live a tough life.” You say with a sad smile as remember your time on the streets. He recognized that expression. It was the same as his mother’s smile as he watched her slowly lose strength from a rare disease. It was worry and guilt as she realized that she would be leaving her children to fend for themselves in this cruel world. Tears stream down his face as he sobs at your kindness. A small sigh escapes Jamil’s lips as he bends down and pats the child’s head. The boy, wishing for comfort, reaches up and clings into his arm, which surprises Jamil. After calming the boy down, the two of you go and buy the boy medicine and food for his siblings, which he was more than thankful for. After returning to the dorm, you made plans with Jamil to go back to town and check up on the child to make sure he doing alright. Jamil also suggests that he’ll cook some curry and bring it to them and any other homeless children in the area. It was then that Kalim overheard their planning, which lead to you telling the housewarden their encounter in town. Kalim’s eyes widen and start to tear up dramatically as he agrees to come along and help the children (much to Jamil’s disappointment since he’ll have to babysit Kalim, but he is thankful that Kalim is willing to help out at the same time).

#disney twst #twst wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland #jamil viper #kalim al asim #kalim x reader #kalim al asim x reader #jamil x reader #jamil viper x reader #twisted wonderland x reader #blackrabbittwst

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