#he has to do mental gymnastics to reason why she's nice to him even though she's inherently evil (due to being a wild witch) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

draeisgrayte · 1 year

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Love Bite | Chapter One

Synopsis: "Just because your ancestors were in love doesn't mean you have to be in love with him." "It's not that." "Then what is it?" "It's fate." Great-great niece of Kanroji Mitsuri has just gotten a new job because her best friend's older brother, a descendant of Iguro Obanai, is looking to hire an assistant for his bakery. Airu has to navigate through her strong connection to Inkyo, who seems to be interested in everything except her. He only teases her when they're alone and is bland when with other people. Will she end up like her great-great aunt or finally fulfil those last words said in the arms of the one she loved?

Warnings/contains: DEMON SLAYER SPOILERS!!, fluff, mutual pining, mentions of soulmates, descendants of Obanai and Mitsuri, jealous Obanai

Word Count: 5K

a/n: This a little project I’m working on because I couldn’t live without giving somewhat of a happy ending {new beginning??} to Obanai and Mitsuri. I LOVE them and so “Love Bite” was born, a short story {this is only chapter 1 out of around 10}

In each other’s arms that’s what I’m told. That’s how my great-great aunt died, in her lover's arms. Is it weird to think that my best friend’s family could have been actually family? Yeah, it is. Though, I’m sure fate has a reason for everything. Such as it just so happened that my best friend’s older brother, mysterious as he is, needs a new hire for his bakery. That’s why I’m here, picking on the skin on my middle finger, hoping the scary Obanai wouldn’t put me through the terror of an interview. I don’t think my mental fortitude could handle that today. Not after my friends insisted on celebrating a night early for my new job. I still haven’t recovered from the alcohol they forced me to practically inject into my veins.

I was scared to even open the front door to the quaint storefront. Sora had informed me that her brother took Thursdays off and could usually be found working on new recipes and plans in his small office space near the back of the building.

“Just knock on the door and he should come to see who it is. I told him you’d be stopping by anyway, so he may just leave it unlocked for you.”

My luck wasn’t the best, so I highly doubt the door would be unlocked- With a simple push of my hand the dark wooden door slid open allowing me to be hit with a gust of air conditioning. The inside space was a dimly lit calm ambiance. There were tables tucked away in secluded areas, some out in the open, and plants were absolutely everywhere. There was a sleek wooden nature theme throughout the whole building and I felt like I was transported somewhere else entirely. There was a counter off to the left side of the entry point that housed a display case and an array of decorative items lining the space behind the counter. A sword is displayed proudly behind a glass covering in the center of the shelves that climb the wall. I take a few steps toward it and notice the deep hue of purple that shines off the curved metal. The hilt was a mix of pink and white stripes with a lime green cap on the bottom. It was breathtaking.

I catch a glimpse of myself in the glass and gasp lightly when I see another figure behind me. I turn around on my heel and come face to face with Obanai.

“Airu.” He whispers, his eyes flitting around my body. He’s very close. So close I can smell the expensive cologne he’s wearing.

“Nice to see you Inkyo.” I bow my head, nervous to meet his intense gaze. I felt like he could see through anything. Especially how he made my body react. His long dark hair covers his face slightly as he steps closer to me. I feel my heart start to do gymnastics in my chest. Im scared if he gets any closer he’ll be able to either hear or feel it.

“Your hair is different.” He notes blandly, reaching out a steady hand to swipe it away from my face. He was right. I had cut my long pink and lime green locks to a shorter, more mature bob haircut. I’d kept the bangs though. He fingers it gently and then drops his hand.

“I like it.” He moves away to move something around on the counter and I try to not let out a loud sigh of relief.

“Sora told me that you were looking for a new hire?” I decide to say. I’m not sure why I was so keen on working here anyway, I’d probably get super distracted by Inkyo and those damn eyes of his. He stops organizing things and glances at me.

“Not anymore.” He moves behind the counter and scoots a few things on the shelves over the tiniest bit. He lets out a sigh when he realizes there's dust on his pale fingers. I must’ve had my mouth open or something because his gaze holds mine for a long time now. “What?” He inquires, furrowing his brows slightly. I shake my head and close my mouth.

“Uh, well I feel like I’ve wasted your time now. I didn’t know you’d filled the position.” I bow my head and feel the urge to leave as quickly as possible but Obanai just shakes his head slowly. His undusty hand reaches up to his mouth as a small smile appears on his lips.

“No Airu, you are my new hire.” He tilts his head to watch my slow reaction processing the information he’d given me. My mouth falls open again and I slam my hands on the counter and lean in close to him.

“Really!?” I exclaim. His eyes widen slightly and then soften as he nods. “Oh thank you! When do I start!?” I clasp my hands together and hop excitedly. Money. I needed money. Plus I got to work with the man who I’d thought about for the last several years.

“Well, I’ll have to give you a list of what happens here daily. What to do when you arrive, when you leave, when you man the counter, and when I’m not here. If you want to come with me up to my place we can discuss the subject of your contract.” He shuffles some things around on the counter absentmindedly again. His place? My everything says yes, but my will says that’s not the best idea.

“Uh, well,” I try to find the words I’m looking for but draw a blank on all words I’ve learned. Inkyo positions himself in a leaning position against the back shelves, which makes his black button-up shirt clench around his torso. I gulp in, trying not to stare. “Is-Is going up to your place really a good idea?” I avoid eye contact like the plague. I hear him let out a small chuckle and suddenly he’s lifting my chin to look into his golden and blue eyes.

“Airu Mitsuri what are you thinking about?” His smirk tells me I don’t have to answer that question for him to know. Maybe it was the atmosphere. Maybe it was my crush on him. Though, maybe it was fate trying to fix a travesty and who am I to get in the way of fate?

“Fine, but I get to show you this really cute picture I took of Bean.” I reach for my phone in my pocket and he lets go of my chin. Bean was the black cat I bought when I moved out of my parent’s apartment so I wouldn’t get too lonely. In a way, he reminded me of Inkyo, except Bean was clingy while Inkyo was offputting. If I tried to cuddle with Inkyo he’d probably throw up in his mouth. Not that I was the problem, just physical touch didn’t seem to be his thing. Even though he did just grab my chin…

“You going to show me or keep dissociating in my bakery?” Inkyo teases, his voice sounding more comfortable with me. I quickly glare at him and then go back to retrieve my phone. I swipe into my gallery and try to hide the number of selfies and random videos that could be found there. I tap on the picture of Bean laying on his back, paws outstretched to the camera. My little baby looked so adorable in this picture I just wanted to gobble him up. Inkyo takes a look at the photo and gives it a smile but nothing else. I’m about to tell him he should be worshipping my baby boy, but he takes his pointer finger and swipes to the next picture. That picture happens to be me in a new black dress I’d ordered online that had a heart cutout on the chest. I’ll be frank, the dress was very short, very revealing, and if Inkyo really wanted to he could observe my pink lace bralette peaking out from the heart. I screech and grab my phone from off the counter.

“What are you doing!?” I hold my phone to my chest and I catch Inkyo lazily staring at how my arms squeeze them together. “I haven’t even started yet! This is harassment!” I exclaim turning my front away from him. He chuckles again and moves out from behind the counter.

“Sorry, I got carried away teasing you again. I just wanted to see if you were still as cute when you got flustered.” He brushes past me and walks toward the door. “Shall we move this upstairs so you can start preparing for tomorrow?” He nods his head toward the door and I can feel my face still warm from his pestering.

“Am I?” I hear myself asking. Inkyo was on his way to leave the building but stops in his tracks. His body shifts toward me again, eyes engulfing me yet again. His massive hands flex by his sides and that god-given shirt exposes how muscular he really is. I take a few steps closer to him, my phone still clutched to my chest. He watches me like a snake about to strike a field mouse.

“Are you?” He finally repeats like he’s questioning what I was asking. I sigh and shake my head, not courageous enough to ask him if he still thinks I’m cute. I should be happy enough with the fact that he even ever thought I was. I nod toward the door.

“Let’s be on our way boss man.” I walk past him and out the door. He stands near the door for a beat before catching up with me. His long legs cause him to walk a little faster than me, but he makes sure to stay on my right, the roadside of the sidewalk.

“The stairs to my place are right here.” He points out, guiding me with a hand lightly on the small of my back. I can’t help but think about how people must see this. A young woman and man heading toward an apartment. If they didn’t already think we were together they must think that he and I were about to do something together. I climb the stairs slowly, trying to avoid flashing Inkyo my underwear if my skirt were to blow up. I reach the landing and he quickly enters a code and opens the door for me. “Welcome to my abode.”

I can feel him watching me as I look around in amazement at his home. There was art everywhere, one, in particular, caught my eye. A regal-looking woman with a lovely kimono draped over her delicate-looking body. Her hair was a dark brown color and her eyes were shut gently. I felt drawn to her like I’d known her somehow or she’d done something extremely courageous for me.

“Her name is Tamayo.” I feel Inkyo say from behind me. I turn my eyes away from the painting and look up into his. He’s not looking at me, he’s looking at the painting. “She was an incredible woman.” His eyes seem to soften carefully when looking at her. I can’t help but feel a slight pang of jealousy course through my body. I wasn’t a normal-looking girl, even in this day and age. I had bright pink and lime green hair and don’t get me wrong, I loved it. Though, it did attract a lot of attention from people, sometimes not the best. My eyes were almost the same green as in my hair and my pale skin made them stand out like bright lights. Then there was my body, I was a curvaceous girl. The curved blade downstairs didn’t hold a candle to the number of dips and round areas on my body. I was ideal by western beauty standards, but here in the east the amount of food I ate and my body type were looked at with judgment. The one thing that brought me any amount of comfort was my grandmother smiling at me with tears in her eyes when I was 16.

“Come here Airu.” She whispers softly and beckons me to her side. I walk to where she was sitting on the bench. The sunlight was illuminating her soft features and light green eyes. I sit down next to her, expecting a scolding for how much I’d eaten at the restaurant, but she extends her hand and rubs my cheek softly.

“Soba?” I question, trying to understand her emotions right now. She was touching me so gently, yet there was an incredibly confused look on her face. She looked sad and happy at the same time.

“You look so much like her.” She mumbles, her fingers moving to my bright hair. She smiles when she touches it. “I had just been born when I met Kanroji, but I remember her contagious smile and beautiful braided hair.” I tilt my head in confusion. I’d heard that name before in stories my grandma would tell of her great aunt Kanroji Mitsuri, a swordswoman in the 1900s. She weaved stories about demons and a great battle against their Lord. How my great-great aunt had excitedly told my great-grandmother about a man whom she fought with. He was mysterious and more than handsome, she was sure they’d fall in love and get married after the war between dark and sunlight. Though she never got to see the sunlight of the next day, she finally found the love she was looking for in Inkyo’s ancestor. “When I pass I want you to have her nitchiri sword, I think she’d want that too.” Nitchiri?

“Soba, are you feeling okay?” I ask in the most respectful way I could muster. I was worried this was some weird way for her to tell me she was dying and didn’t have long. My Soba was a source of flowing wisdom, I don’t think I could navigate this world without her. She smiles sadly and pats the top of my head.

“Don’t worry Ruru chan, I’m not dying just yet. When the time does eventually come though, I want you to know fate has a path for you, but you can also have a path for fate.”

Soba passed 3 years later and a similar sword to the one downstairs is displayed in my own home. I looked like Kanroji Mitsuri and that was enough for me to know I was going to be just fine. Hell, maybe those genes would get me in good graces with Inkyo. Being attracted to people who looked like me is kind of in his genetics right?

“Airu? Airu where did you go just now?” Inkyo’s eyes are finally looking into mine and a small shudder runs down my spine.

“Sorry, just reminiscing about Soba.” I smile, trying to hide the fact that the memory I was recalling led to me hoping he’d be into me based on my looks.

“Obaasan Mitsuri… she was also an incredible woman.” He presses his lips into a thin line as if trying to stop himself from crying. I lower my brows as I stare up at him.

“Do you call every woman you know an incredible woman?” I huff, crossing my arms in front of me. Inkyo looks off to the side and scratches the back of his head. I must be mistaken, but it looks like there’s a hint of red on his cheeks.

“Not all.” He mumbles in response. I puff out my cheeks and lean forward, trying my best to intimidate him.

“Oh yeah then what do you say about me when you talk about me?” He shuts his eyes and lets out a sigh. Oh no, did I push him too far? He covers his face and turns away from me. “Answer me Inkyo,” I demand. He lets out another breath and turns completely around, now facing the door we’d walked through a couple of minutes prior.

“Jeez, do I have to fire you just to get you off my case?” He mumbles against his hands. I stand up straight again and grumble a few words about how he’s an asshole and then turn toward his (of course) black couch. I plop myself down on the soft cushions and huffily brush my skirt out over my legs.

“Fine, then if you’re all business, then let’s get started,” I state plainly, a little hurt he wouldn’t answer me. Inkyo turns on his heel and walks toward me.

“Well, since we are in my home I feel like it would be rude for me to not offer you something to drink.” He looks over to the steel-accessorized kitchen with the same warm wood as his bakery. I sink into the plush couch and wave my hand dismissively.

“I’ll be fine with some apple juice if you have it.” Why’d we even have to come up here again? Why couldn’t we sit at one of the tables downstairs? My eyes widen and I watch Inkyo rummage through his stainless steel refrigerator. Oh my goodness…was he…going to murder me? No…surely not. Well, I was a major pain in the ass so it’s plausible. Whatever the reason, I may have been to quick to follow him up here. Damn this lovey-dovey brain of mine. The clink of a glass being set on a coaster in front of me breaks me out of my thoughts. Inkyo’s eyes watch me carefully as he sets himself in a sleek (black again) armchair across from me. He steeples his hands under his chin a serious look on his face.

“So let’s get down to business.”

ಊ♡ಊ

It’s been about 2 weeks since my meeting with Inkyo Obanai and I had no idea how busy a small bakery on the outskirts of Tokyo could get.

“Could I get one of those small muffins?” A tall teenage boy asks, pointing to a blueberry muffin in the case. I smile brightly and nod.

“Of course! That will be 3.40 please.” I relay. The boy flushes and fumbles with his wallet. I giggle to myself and gather his purchase in the signature black and white paper bag. He hands me the money and I smile graciously. “Thank you, have a nice day.” I wave to him and he bows his head and waves goodbye. I wipe my brow and sigh. Phew, it’s not even noon yet and all our tables are packed with students, employees on break, and a few elderly people.

“Wow, it was never this busy before.” A familiar voice observes. I turn my attention to the figure in front of me and a smile instantly appears on my lips.

“Sora!” I exclaim and nearly jump over the counter to give her a hug. She welcomes me into her arms with a smug look on her face.

“The one and only.” She chuckles. “But seriously, how are there so many people in here? I didn’t think Inkyo had it in him.” Her eyes fall to my slightly shorter stature and then she rolls her eyes. “That’s right I forgot you worked here. That’s why there are so many people.” She groans and nods toward the counter. “How has he been treating you?” She asks walking behind the counter with me.

“Good, but what do you mean that’s why there are so many people here?” I question. Sora laughs and a piece of her thick raven hair falls in front of her face. Just like her brother’s. They looked identical except for their eyes. Both of Sora’s eyes are a piercing greenish-blue hue, still as intense as her brother’s though.

“You. Airu you’re absolutely stunning. People are coming to see you smile at them.” She answers with another small laugh. I pause. Really? Did people come to see me? What about Inkyo though? He was extremely attractive, people had to come for him too, right?

“Oh.” Is the only thing I can manage to say. Sora pats me on the back and looks out into the crowd.

“Just make sure Inkyo doesn’t see any of these dudes flirting with you.” She advises. I furrow my brows and look at her questioningly. “Just, keep that in mind.” She pats my back again and moves toward the small trinkets on the back shelves. I’d grown fond of a lot of them while working here. There was a beautiful handmade pot with intricate blue flowers painted on them. Then a calico figurine stood proudly with a little backpack on it. Then there was, of course, the sword. I caught myself staring at it at all times of the day. Wondering how it would feel to wield such a magnificent piece of weaponry. It made me miss my sword all alone at home. Maybe I could ask Inkyo to display mine too?

“Sora.” I whisk around to see Inkyo staring at his little sister with a blank expression. “What are you doing here?” He asks. He glances at me, but then his eyes are back on her. She turns toward him slowly and shrugs.

“If I’m being honest I was a little hungry. Lucky for you the taste of you being an asshole doesn’t get into your food.” She smiles innocently and Inkyo lets out a loud groan. “Oh, I also wanted to see Airu in her cute little apron,” Sora adds, her fingers playing with the tie on my back. I squirm under her touch.

“Sora that tickles.” I giggle. Inkyo’s eyes narrow and he catches Sora’s wrist.

“Why don’t you get your food and go sit down?” He grumbles, releasing her quickly. Sora’s eyes light up mischievously and I can tell she’s about to annoy her brother. I want to tell her to just do as he says, but she’s a stubborn girl.

“Okay, but I’ll be taking your little girlfriend with me.” She grabs me by the waist and picks up a muffin from the display on top of the counter. Inkyo’s eyes trace her arm around my waist and then flit up to my eyes. They look like they’re subtly burning with some sort of emotion. I want to ask him what’s wrong, but he turns away before I can.

“Fine. Do whatever you want.” He places his palms on the counter and greets a new customer with a tight smile. Sora leads me away to a free table near the breakroom.

“He’s so weird.” She says when we’re finally sitting down. I nod slowly but feel a bit confused by that whole interaction.

“I think you tease him too much,” I mumble absentmindedly. Sora’s eyes widen and she bites angrily into her muffin.

“He deserves it. He’s always acting like he’s better than me and it’s only because our parents favor him. You look so much like our ancestor, the great swordsman Iguro Obanai. You’re the best Inkyo. We love you so much. It gets a little old after a while.” She mutters. I soften at her plight. Her parents did favor Inkyo, I’d witnessed it all our life.

“I’m sorry Sora. I just think there are better times for you to enact goblin mode.” I reach out and caress her hand. She smiles through bites and turns to watch her brother at the front counter. “Do you want to hang out after my shift?” I ask in hopes she’ll say yes. It’d been a while since we had gotten together. She presses her lips into a thin line and turns her gaze back to me.

“Thanks, Airu, I’d like that.”

Sora leaves after we chat for a bit about our plans for later. She makes sure to flip her brother off as she leaves. He rolls his eyes as I walk back toward my station.

“I love that little goblin.” He chuckles. I bump my hip into him and he startles.

“I think she’d like to hear that from you every once and a while,” I say, enjoying the way Inkyo stares at where I had bumped him.

“Yeah, probably.” He mumbles, still engrossed in where we’d touched. Sora was right, he is weird. I grin to myself and resume standing by the display case. Since our chat, the bakery had emptied, and only a couple of the students remained working away on their computers.

“I don’t know how to thank you for this job, Inkyo.” I voice, not sure where I was going with the conversation. He looks at me and shakes his head.

“You don’t need to. I’m glad I get to work with you.” He replies, a small smile tugging on the corners of his mouth. He lifts his hand to cover it but I catch the sleeve of his dark shirt.

“Why do you do that?” I ask, turning my body toward him. He watches me with the same intensity a few weeks ago.

“Do what?” He questions back, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Cover your mouth when you smile,” I explain. His eyes widen slightly and I can feel my heart pick up speed. What was I doing? This was brave, asking him all these personal questions. We were friends, but we weren’t as close as Sora and I. Was I being rude?

“Whenever I smile around you I feel like the corners of my mouth are being ripped open. The amount of joy you bring me splits me open.” He breathes. My eyes are the ones to widen now. What did he mean by that?

“Excuse me? Can I get that last cinnamon roll please?” Inkyo’s gaze lingers on me for a beat before attending to the customer in front of us. I, on the other hand, still stare at him as he goes about running a business. The joy you bring me splits me open. I let out a shaky breath and cover my mouth as a smile forms. I can’t help it, it’s wide and almost painful.

Ah. So that’s what he means.

ಊ♡ಊ

“Oh give me a break. He’s not dreamy!” Sora rolls her eyes and punches at the pillow next to her. I laugh at her reaction.

“No really! I swear. I know describing him doesn’t paint a very good picture, but let me pull up a photo.” I scramble to find my phone.

“Bean are you hearing this shit? Your owner is bonkers!” Sora gestures to me wildly and Bean, who is laying next to her, blinks twice before closing his eyes again. Sora sighs exasperatedly and flops back into the couch cushion. I finally find a good photo of the scraggly anime character I was talking about. Sora’s eyes study him for a while before she nods once.

“Okay, maybe I will be hearing you out.” She shrugs and I pump my fist in the air.

“I told you! He’s evil but so damn attractive.” I kick my feet and hug my phone.

“You have problems.” Sora teases. I nod my head as I think about my type in men. Yeah, I do, but that’s what makes me special.

“Hey now, remember this is my house. I can kick you out.” I narrow my eyes and Sora holds her hands up in the air in surrender. I throw a pillow at her. “Get some sleep you dingus. It’s nearly 2 am.” I groan as I push off the ground to a standing position. Sora sticks out her tongue and stuffs the pillow next to her.

“Weeeeeeaaaaaaak.” She mocks and then flips herself to get more comfortable on my couch. I roll my eyes and flick off the light.

“Goodnight Soblin.” My nickname for her is a mixture of her name and goblin.

“Goodnight whore.” Her nickname for me is any insult she can think of. I smile to myself and walk the short steps to my room. I open the door and Bean scurries to come to sleep with me. “Traitor!” Sora calls from the couch. I close the door behind us and take a deep breath. My eyes catch the glint of the moon’s reflection on something shiny. I look up at the wall above my bed. There hung my sword. It had a pink and white hilt, with a guard that was four hearts around the bottom of the blade. The blade was a mixture of black and a redder pink.

“Kanroji Mitsuri, what exactly were you like?” I mumble to myself. Bean mews softly from my bed and I crawl in with him. I catch myself staring at the sword above me as I drift off to sleep.

“Here.” A voice mumbles. In front of me is a boy about my age. He wears black and white stripes and a mask over his mouth. His eyes are blue and gold, beautiful. He holds striped green socks in front of him with his head turned away from me. I smile happily and take them gingerly from his grasp.

“Thank you.” I bow my body and when I look up his eyes are on me. My smile grows and his eyes widen. He stumbles back a few steps and I tilt my head in confusion.

“It’s-It’s no big deal.” He stammers and before I can say anything else he runs away. What a strange boy. I peer down at the socks he’d given me and can’t help but feel my heart flutter slightly. What was the serpent Hashira doing giving the love Hashira a pair of socks? I look up to where he’d run off to and think about hunting him down, but I highly doubt I’d be able to find him. He probably blended in with the shadows.

“Whatcha got there?” A voice from behind me asks. Kyojuro Rengoku stands behind me, his usual wide stare looking back at me. I glance at the socks and then back at the flame Hashira.

“Some socks…” I reply. He smiles widely and studies the socks.

“They remind me of Iguro Obanai.” He nearly yells. I smile and nod.

“He’s the one who gave them to me,” I confirm. Kyojuro nods and then gestures to me.

“By the looks of your face, he set your heart ablaze!” He exclaims. I gasp and touch my cheeks. Warm. So warm. My heart nearly explodes with a feeling of excitement and happiness. Could my goal of finding a man to love me finally be fulfilled? I glance behind me, where Iguro had run off to.

“Yeah, I guess he did.”

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dendrite-blues · 3 years

Photo

For a relatively short exchange, this scene is jam packed with characterization for Loki.

It’s also our first reliable look into what Loki was like before Thor 1. Not as described by others, but first hand and from his own mouth. I think that deserves a closer look, to see what we can learn about Loki and how he thinks.

This scene is significant because it tells us what Loki’s personality is like when he’s not running for his life. It tells us who he was before his trauma and what his core beliefs are underneath those layers of humor and bravado.

Better yet, since he’s alone we can assume that every line in this scene is presumably true, or at least Loki believes it to be true since he has no audience but himself.

The dialogue centers mostly around the statement “You deserve to be alone, and you always will be.” I’m not going to focus too much on the “alone” motif since I already dedicated an entire meta post to it.

What I think is more interesting about this scene is actually the looping, and the stages Loki goes through in trying to deal with it. There’s a lot of really interesting character traits on display in that progression.

Loop 1: A Warm Bath and Glass of Wine

The first loop entails Sif lecturing Loki about cutting her hair, kicking him in the balls, and storming away. Loki kneels on the floor and he gives us this great line:

“A bad memory prison? How quaint. Some punishment. I remember exactly what I did after that. I went and had a nice, hot bath and a glass of wine, and I never thought about it again. Because it was just a bit of fun.”

So we can take this to be Loki’s default reaction to pain and criticism. When put into an unexpected conflict without any forethought or outside influence, this is what he says/does.

1) Downplay the damage/threat. How quaint. 2) Dispel/soothe the emotion. Nice hot bath. 3) Minimize the impact. Never thought about it again. 4) Deflect responsibility. Just a bit of fun.

Keep those in mind as we move forward, since we’ll be using them to make sense of what else Loki says in this scene.

Loops 2 and 3: Okay, Sif, Hang On

This bit is about Loki realizing just how bad his predicament is.

L: Okay. Okay, Sif. Hang on. S: No, you hear this. You deserve to be alone... And I always will be. L: Alright, I get it. Listen. You are a reconstruction of a past event created by the organization that controls all of time. So you need to trust me and you need to help me escape. Yeah? S: Pathetic. (she kicks him again) L: (winces and groans)

As we all would expect from him, Loki’s first impulse is to try and talk his way out of it. What he says to achieve that goal is pretty revealing though. Because he doesn’t try to ease Sif’s upset by apologizing or explaining or offering to magic her hair back.

Any of these would have been more likely to save his nads in the given circumstance, right? The present threat is Sif, and she’s mad about what Loki did to her hair. But Loki doesn’t really see that. Rather, he treats her as a means to an end.

“So you need to trust me and you need to help me escape. Yeah?”

To me, that choice reveals something of a blind spot Loki has to the feelings of others. Even if he doesn’t actively like hurting people, he does prioritize their problems below his, and quite shamelessly. And at least on his first impulse, he doesn’t seem to feel much remorse or empathy for them.

Usually in fanon we attribute this callousness to his trauma. He’s learned that no one can be trusted and no one cares, and so he doesn’t allow himself to care for others.

But between his Loop 1 sentiment of “It was just a bit of fun” for an event which caused real hurt to Sif, and his Loop 2/3 behavior of “you, stop being mad and help ME” I think it’s reasonable to say that selfishness/low empathy are traits Loki possessed pre-trauma.

Loop 4-????: Happens Off Screen

It’s unclear how many times Loki loops while the camera is following Mobius, but the implication is clear that it was been many, many repetitions. Somewhere in this his denial and deflection must break, because we come back to a much humbler, more pleading Loki.

The Final Loop: I Crave Attention

S: You conniving, craven... L: Sif. Sif. S: ...pathetic worm. L: Please, please, no more. Please, I beg you. I'm a horrible person. I get it. I really am. I cut off your hair because I thought it'd be funny. And it's not. Uh... I crave attention... because I'm... a narcissist. And I suppose it's... It's because I'm scared of being alone.

HOOO BOY, so this is quite a tough bit to analyze. There’s a lot of interpretations you could make, and a lot of topics to delve into. For the sake of focus, I’m going to ignore the narcissism question. That one really needs an entire post, and I want to focus on something else here.

That being, Loki’s way of processing conflict/punishment.

I’ve always found it strange how Loki takes such pride in being called a liar and cheat when he simultaneously has this chip on his shoulder about how nobody likes him.

Those two traits don’t seem to play well together, and I always scratched my head over how they coexist in his character. If he wants people to be nicer to him, maybe he should stop antagonizing them? Yeah?

Well, here we’re finally given a clear reason. Loki craves attention, he hates being alone. So how does he avoid it? Pranks and mischief.

Fair enough.

But then, if all his pranks lead to this outcome--outrage, retaliation, insult--why doesn’t he ever learn? How is it that after 1000 years of this behavior, he hasn’t found a better way to get the attention he craves?

Loop 1: Downplay, dispel, minimize, deflect. He accepts zero accountability for the impact of his actions, and doesn’t think at all about how they affect other people. Just a bit of fun. I had a hot bath and a glass of wine, and never thought about it again.

The only reason he reaches the level of self awareness on display in the Final Loop is because the looping forces him to contemplate his actions and the impulses within him that lead to that behavior.

This is projection on my part, but to me he acts as though this kind of deep reflection is a new thing for him. He sounds like someone sharing a revelation that he’s just had about himself. We’re being shown that Loki is a man of action. He will always move forward if he can, possibly because looking back to so painful that he can’t bring himself to do it.

Circling back around to the pride Loki has for his knavery, let’s suppose that he’s been on this negative reinforcement cycle since childhood. He’s always acted out to get attention, then received retaliation and insults for it, and then pushed the bad feelings out of his mind with creature comforts and mental gymnastics.

What happens over time, when you’re being constantly told that you’re a pain in the ass and no one likes you? Most of us would take it to heart, but Loki doesn’t. He has a big ego, big enough to resist that constant barrage of hate coming at him.

So how does he marry these two conflicting realities?

He turns it into an identity, the God of Mischief.

In his head, Loki excuses himself of blame by shifting the culpability to his moniker. It’s not that he’s immature and petty, he’s just a “trickster.” It’s in his nature to cause trouble, so he can’t help it. You wouldn’t dangle a steak in front of a tiger and blame the tiger for striking, would you? And if other people can’t take a “joke” then that’s not his fault, that’s on them for not having a sense of humor. It was just a bit of fun.

Here we see the union of these two halves of Loki, the lonely ice runt and the mischievous scamp. (And a little bit of the original Loki who Thor accused of being incapable of growth!)

By refusing to think about others, and excusing himself from responsibility, Loki successfully preserves his self worth and insulates himself to most of the negative emotions he experiences.

Pain, embarrassment, and grief aren’t pointless emotions though. They are vital feelings that serve to regulate our behavior, and that push us to conform to the ways of our social circles. Without them, we annoy and upset others. Be annoying for long enough and you will eventually find yourself, well, alone. As Loki is.

Thus “Mischief” is a self-defeating loop, and Loki is just as caught in it as the cell Mobius trapped him in.

In order to be free of both traps, Loki has to stop running. He has to take a deeper look at himself and realize how much he is getting in his own way. The entire scene is one big parallel between these two “loops.” Pretty neat, huh?

Sadly these kinds of thought loops are really difficult to break, they’re buried so deeply in our personalities and habits that we usually don’t notice them until life forces us to address them.

The cell is Loki’s wake up call, and thankfully he does seem to rise to the occasion. He tells Sif quite clearly what his problem is, and he does it with beautiful, painful honesty.

Which is why it’s so fucking awesome for Mobius to acknowledge that, and to finally give Loki a taste of positive attention.

You don’t deserve to be alone. I believe you can be anything, even something good. Whatever you two did, it was powerful enough to bring this whole place down.

It’s a beautiful scene. Well written, meticulously acted. The clarity of vision in the pacing and shot selection, it’s really something special.

#loki spoilers #loki #mcu #mobius #meta #discussion #discourse #scene study #long post #sif #time loop #tva #character study

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doppopoppo · 3 years

Text

Bundle of Feelings

|| Uramichi Daily Headcanon ||

|| Warnings: married, minor cussing, angst, argument ||

|| Uramichi • F!Reader ||

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*💙

Silence.

Everything was silent.

The only thing that could be heard were the trees rustling outside. The curtains swaying softly and hitting the glass door. The fridge is running in the background. And the heavy breathing of two adults. Hearts pounding in their chests. Both afraid the other may hear their heart wanting to explode into a volcanic mess.

Otherwise, silence.

Y/N hasn’t seen her husband this mad since she last saw him interact with his father. Uramichi was red in the face, a scowl permanently settled atop his facial features. The way he was holding her hand, squeezing it tightly for mental support. She doesn’t even remember what they were even arguing about, as her father-in-law bickered about the most minuscule of things.

Today, however, Uramichi’s anger was directed at her. She had thrown out all of his beer and cigarettes. His wife was tired of having to deal with a drunk husband more nights than she wanted. Only sleeping when he was wasted and slurring out cuss words. The heavy smell of tobacco following his trail, making her scrunch up her nose in disgust. Coughing whenever she walks by as he puffs out smoke. None of these were healthy coping mechanisms. She genuinely wanted to help her husband figure out and find better alternatives. Healthier options. One that wouldn’t harm his health.

As a gymnast, shouldn’t he know better?

Little did she know, her actions would cause Uramichi to have an outburst. The most the two fought over what to eat for dinner, junk food or protein filled. He began the argument by yelling at her. Then proceeded to belittle her, what can she know? How stupid can she be?

She cried and tried to calm him down, but he wouldn’t listen. “It's for your own good!” Y/N sniffled, “why can’t you see that?” She was hugging her own body. Unsure if it was for comfort or out of fear; maybe both?

Uramichi sighed and rubbed his forehead, “I’m a grown man. I can make my own fucking choices for fucks sake, Y/N!” He’s never used such vulgar vocabularies with her before, this was a first.

She didn’t want to change Uramichi, instead help diminish the fire inside of him. The one his father lit and kept throwing gasoline at it.

“You won’t grow like this, dear. If you want a brighter future and to help your depression, we need to start fixing your bad habits.” She emphasized ‘we’. Because they were in this together.

Uramichi had yet another strenuous day at work, all he wanted was to drink beer until he passed out. His wife’s cuddles no longer lulled him to sleep. Her sweet whispers felt meaningless. Only cigarettes could help him calm his mind down. Yet, she still tried to reason with him. Saying bullshit about seeing a therapist, hanging out with friends more often, or going outside that’s not the gym.

“I know your fathers did horrible things to you. Such as forcing you into something you didn’t want to do. But you have to stop living in the past. Stop blaming your father for your future, which is your present now.” His wife tried to get close to him to bring him into a hug.

Enraged at her words, “Oh my god, I could just hit you right now!” Uramichi threw the nearest dumbbell to him across the room. She heard a vase shatter, the one that was a hand me down from her mother.

“What the hell do you know!? You’ve lived a nice and spoiled life, no inch of worries. No wonder you’re such a stubborn brat half the time.” His words were like a sharp knife cutting through her heart.

She bent down over the broken pieces of vase. Shattered just like her heart. Uramichi’s eyes and mind were clouded in red rage. He hasn’t realized he broke an important item. One that was personally given to them by his mother-in-law. The woman who entrusted her daughters happiness to him.

“Stop.” Y/N whispered. “Stop this right now!” She shouted at him. New, hot tears fell from Y/N’s eyes as she held into the broken vase pieces. She was in shock that her husband was willing to get physical over beers and cigarettes. This wasn’t what he promised to her on the day of their wedding vows.

“You’re no different from your father, Uramichi.” She stood up. “An abuser raised another abuser. I can’t have this cycle continue.” Y/N went to put on her coat.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Uramichi was irritated that she had the audacity to leave in the middle of an argument.

“Our child doesn’t need to witness what you witnessed your father do to you.” His wife glared at him.

Those words flipped a switch inside Uramichi. Child? But they didn’t have any children. Then it clicked, his wife was pregnant. Was that the real reason she wanted him to stop? Why didn’t she say so in a better way then? It was too late to ask her these though, because she already left the apartment.

The small apartment that used to be lovely thanks to his wife, now felt cold and lonely. The way it was before she came into his life. He took a look around the room and saw the mess he made. It might’ve been minor, but it left a big impact. Uramichi noticed the important vase he broke and ran out the door to catch up to his wife. Though she was nowhere to be seen. He sighed and went back inside and laid down on the couch. He screwed up big time.

When morning came, it was raining but the smell of food tickled his senses and woke him up. He slowly got up from the couch and went towards the kitchen. He found his wife in her favorite apron cooking breakfast.

“Morning.” She chirped. “I’m making American style sausage with scrambled eggs! Go sit at the table in the living room, I’ll be there in a minute.”

Questions ran through his head as he sat at the table on the floor. The broken vase pieces are gone, but so is the vase. Y/N’s eyes looked empty, betraying the big smile she displayed. He saw his wife bring the food to the table. He quickly got up and helped her. Likewise, he went to grab some additional items to set up the table for breakfast. Was last night a dream? No it couldn’t be.

The question was itching in Uramichi’s throat, he had to ask. “Why?”

Y/N looked up from her place, “why what?”

“Why'd you come back? I even broke your mother’s case.” He thought she walked out for good. He threatened to hit her. He vowed to never be like his father, and that’s exactly who he became last night. His nightmare coming to reality.

Y/N put her fork down, “Listen, we are married, way passed the dating phase. On our wedding day we vowed to love each other until death do’s us apart. It is both of our responsibilities to make sure the other is doing okay. Physically and mentally. You��re always there for me, dear. I want to be here for you this time, in what I think will help you. I’m sorry I threw out your beer and cigarettes without discussing it with you. I just want to see you make healthier choices for yourself.” she put her hand over his. “I found out about the baby after I made the decision a while back. It’s another reason now why I would like for you to stop, but the main reason here is you. This is about you and us helping you.” she stared at his eyes. “I don’t wish to change you, but help you. As for the vase, you can buy me another one.” She winked and giggled. “As long as we’re fine, it’s all that matters.”

It was a big change she was asking him to make. But he can take small steps. That’s what the couple decided on. To limit his alcoholic intake to certain days of the week. Same with his smoking. He didn’t have to quit, but he was trying not to be dependent on it. He has the strongest support laying next to him at night. Holding him tightly. Uramichi was truly excited to know he’ll become a father! He’s nervous, but he knew he’s not alone. He thinks about what he can do to be a better father than his was.

Author’s Note:

He needs a hug. And a raise.

Remember, who your parents are don’t define you. If something happened in the past, don’t let it define you and who you are today. It might hold you back from growing. Just remember to take care of your mental health! 💜

Enjoy!

#life lessons with uramichi #uramichi omota headcanon #big brother uramichi #uramichi omota #uramichi #anime x reader #uramichi angst #uramichi x reader #omota uramichi

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jeojahari · 3 years

Text

02 | kiss it better | myg

🠒 summary: you're one of the lucky ones, everyone else tells you. finding your soulmate the day you turn 18 isn't something that happens to a lot of people... but you and your other half are going to have to make a lot of progress to be able to tolerate each other.

or, you and yoongi can feel everything the other feels, and you're hell bent on causing each other pain.

🠒 pairing: yoongi x reader

🠒 genre: angst, fluff, e2l!au, soulmates!au, college au, crack?

🠒 warnings: profanity, implied smut

🠒 word count: 2.6K

🠒 notes: omg tysm for all the love im literally about to start happy sobbing rn TT i hope you enjoy this chapter!! <3

btw if my writing is not up to par at any time pls let me know, i'd hate to give you low effort writing TT

part 02: two band-aids

(series m. list)

"I am so fucking stupid."

"I know."

"I can't believe I just ran out of there without saying anything!"

"Ah. I can."

"How is it Yoongi, though? I don't understand! How can two people who are so obviously different and have zero chance at getting along be paired like this?!"

"Hey," Jimin places a comforting hand on your shoulder, "maybe this is the universe trying to prove that you can find love where you least expect it!"

You shoot him the nastiest glare you can conjure up in the moment. "You sound like a children's fairy tale synopsis. Please shut up."

"No, but think about it!" Jimin sits upright, pulling the nearest pillow into his lap. "You don't like him, and he probably doesn't like you. You hate coffee, and he's practically in love with it. The only reason you guys ever interact is Taehyung, who you happen to be in love with."

"I'm not in love with him!"

"Sure," Jimin rolls his eyes. "Anyways, this is literally the perfect recipe for romance. I feel like I have front-row seats to the best enemies to lovers story ever."

"Don't make me hit you."

"It's true, though," Namjoon pipes up from beside you. You're sandwiched between both of them in an attempt to extinguish the growing dread in the pit of your stomach. "You don't really know what he's like, Y/N. People aren't always what they seem at first glance."

"I had more than just a glance," you snap. "And I know him for exactly what he is. A fucking sociopath."

"I mean, he's nice enough," Jimin explains. "I've spoken to him a few times in passing. Maybe he just wasn't having a good day when you talked to him?"

You pause and think, because your friends are right. It's plausible, isn't it? Not every grumpy person you meet goes out of their way to be antisocial... but you can't shake off that feeling you've harbored ever since you first met him.

"I don't like this," you whine, hiding your face under the blanket. "I don't like him. I don't want to be his soulmate."

Namjoon chuckles. "Soulmates aren't always lovers, Y/N. If he's actually a sociopath, or you genuinely despise him after giving him a chance, you're not obligated to love him."

"True," Jimin nods. "My parents were never soulmates, but you know how well they get along. They had me, after all," he adds as an afterthought. "They couldn't have done that without loving each other."

Namjoon winces. "Okay, no. Didn't need to hear that."

You let out a frustrated groan, kicking your legs under the sheets. "I hate this," you grumble. "And I can't even do anything ab — oh!" You sit up, suddenly enlightened and an imaginary lightbulb over your head. "I can!"

"You can what?" Jimin asks, clearly confused. In response, you simply beam at him before doing an impromptu somersault over his legs and tumbling right off the bed, landing on the ground with a loud thump.

"Y/N?!"

"She's insane!"

"She's gone mental!"

"Is she having a seizure?"

"Do we need an ambulance?!"

"Is she okay?"

"Joon, I'm too broke to pay for the ambulance!"

You throw them both off of you. "I'm right here, very much alive, and very sane, thanks."

"Well, what was that, then?" Jimin demands. "If you were trying to show off your gymnastics skills, it didn't work. You look like a clumsy baby koala."

You point at Namjoon. "He's the clumsy one. And no, I wasn't trying to show you my nonexistent gymnastics skills." A huge smile spreads across your face. "I just discovered a great way to release all my frustration."

"By falling off the bed?"

"No, but yes." You lean in like you're about to tell them a secret. "You know... I bet Min Yoongi is cursing the heavens right now, isn't he? For pairing him with someone like me."

Namjoon stares at you incredulously. "Don't tell me..."

"She's going to do it anyway," Jimin tells him, before turning to you. "You're just going to hurt yourself to hurt him, Y/N? Are you for real?"

"It's perfect!"

"It's stupid, and usually I would tell you to go for it if you were planning to kick some dumbass's butt, but not if you're getting hurt in the process."

"Well, I'm doing it anyway," you say. You're 100% decided; you've just found the one part of your bond with Yoongi that delights you the most, and with that comes your singular goal: irritating him to no end. "And this isn't even that bad, Jimin. Wait until I'm on my period. Then he's really going to wish he never knew me."

Actually, you're screwed.

"Ouch!" you hiss, your body jerking at the pain that courses through your arm. You're forced to stop writing mid-word, the dark blue ink a mess on your paper due to these constant interruptions of your sudden movements. "What the fuck?!"

The girl sitting across from you raises her eyebrows at you, half concerned for your sanity.

"Sorry," you whisper apologetically. "My soulmate's a jerk. Honestly, I probably caused this, but I don't regret it at all."

She laughs, eyes turning into small crescents. "Hate at first sight?"

"More like at first conversation." You sigh, letting the pen fall from your fingers. "I don't know how I'm supposed to get along with him, let alone love him. We have absolutely nothing in common, and I'm pretty sure this dislike is mutual. Which reminds me—"

You bang your knee against the table in retribution for Yoongi's attack on his own arm, a satisfied smile on your face.

"Wow." The girl stares at you, rather taken aback. "That's some serious beef you two have got."

"Yep. Can't stand him," you confirm. "What about you? Have you found yours yet?"

"Not yet," she says, trying to look indifferent — but you catch that wistful look in her eyes. "Someday soon, hopefully."

"You'll find them," you say, the exact words you've repeated to Jimin multiple times over the years. "Time is all it takes. I hope yours is less of a jerk than mine... and if they are, I'm more than happy to instruct you in the ways of torturing them."

"Noted," she smiles, before returning to her book.

You, though, can't focus. Actually, you haven't been able to concentrate on anything lately — ever since this trivial back and forth between you and Yoongi turned into something more desperate and warlike, it's all that's ever on your mind.

Sighing, you stand up, leaving your place at the table to go fetch a book from one of the many shelves lining the opposite wall of the library. It doesn't take you long to find what you're looking for, but you immediately stumble over and hit the ground, nearly knocking your head against the wood of the shelf.

"Fuck," you hear someone curse in the next aisle. You know that voice, you realize after a few seconds, immediately ducking your head around the corner in amused curiosity.

"What'd you do to yourself this time?"

Yoongi scowls at you from the ground, as irked as always. "None of your business."

"It kind of is, actually, now that I feel it too."

"Oh, really? Where was that concern when you were hurting yourself just to get back at me for doing absolutely nothing?"

"You did it back! You have no right to be telling me what I did was wrong if you decided to do it too!"

"Why the hell did you do it in the first place?"

"Shh!" The librarian walks past the two of you, giving you a sharp glare as she replaces a few books with the ones in her hands. You nod apologetically to her, head bowed.

"You're so loud," you whisper a few seconds later, just as Yoongi gets himself off the ground and has managed to gather the books he'd dropped.

"You literally started yelling first, Y/N."

A deep frown makes its way onto your face. "You know what? I still don't understand why you're like this. Can we not have a civil conversation for once? Every time I talk to you it turns into a goddamn argument!"

"Yeah, well, maybe if you'd just minded your own business, we wouldn't be having this argument!" Yoongi pauses for a breath. "You always make it an argument, Y/N, I don't go out of my way to pick a fight with you!"

"Isn't that what you're doing right now?"

"No! I just don't understand your problem with me! Look," he says, a little calmer, "I know you don't want to be my soulmate. And I'm not particularly in love with you either. But you can at least act like I'm human too, right? Or is that too much for your inflated pride?"

"Did you just call me arrogant?" you ask incredulously, trailing after him as he walks back to where he was sitting. "You think I'm doing this because I'm conceited?"

"N—"

"Well, for your information, I'm not. I just really dislike you."

Yoongi tongues his cheek in frustration, slamming his book down onto the table. "And for what?" he demands. "I like to know it if and when I fuck up, Y/N. Stop repeating the fact that you hate me and just tell me why."

You flinch at his harsh tone and the sensation that sends a painful twinge through your palm. "You're just... you're so hard to talk to," you accuse. "Like, really? How am I supposed to wrap my head around this whole thing when I can't have a conversation with you without feeling like shit?"

He's gaping at you now. "I'm making you feel like shit? And you're not doing the same by basically trash talking me to my face?"

"I'm not! I'm just telling the truth; and besides, you asked!"

"Who are you to go around judging the way people are? Not everyone is bubbly and cheery, you know? Being grumpy for a second doesn't mean being grumpy for a lifetime!"

"Well, I can't tell, can I? Not when you always act like you hate the rest of the human race!"

Yoongi doesn't reply to you, just staring back at you for a few moments. Instead, his jaw clenches as he turns away without any kind of rebuttal.

"Alright," he says gruffly. "I'll go first."

Your eyes widen slightly as your frustration dissipates. You'd only meant to check on him out of curiosity after his fall, you hadn't intended for it to escalate to this scale at all... "Wait—"

"Don't bother to talk to me next time," he interrupts you, a hint of bitterness to his voice. "Since I always make you feel like shit, anyways."

"No, I didn't m—"

Yoongi's gone before you can give him any miserable excuse from your side, bag slung over his shoulder and that cup of coffee in his right hand. You catch a glimpse of his fingers wrapped around the cup, two band-aids covering the knuckles of his smallest digits, and you can't help but wonder... did you do that to him? All those days you spent wrapping bandages around your legs and arms, was he doing the same?

But you hate him, right? No matter how closely bound you two are, you're allowed to do this, aren't you?

You don't know.

You recall the sight of his worn out expression and sigh, shaking your head. Whatever it is about Min Yoongi that draws the worst out of you, you'll never know. All you're sure of is that apparently you're supposed to love him, apparently you're supposed to be his and vice versa. But you just can't.

As you trudge back to your seat, you notice that the girl from earlier is still there, still taking diligent notes — except her eyes now follow you, a mixture of concern and curiosity.

"I'm fine," you state. The words come out far harsher than intended, but she doesn't seem to take offense.

"Really?" she asks instead. "S'great if you are, but if you're not then you're just lying to yourself, Y/N."

You blink at her, surprised. "Huh? How'd you know my name?"

"You guys were yelling," she explains. "I could hear him from over here."

"Aish. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it." She chews on her pencil for a second, seemingly contemplating something. "Mind if I give you my two cents?"

The girl's awfully blunt and gets right to the point, and it reminds you of your friends for a moment. Something about her just makes you want to trust her, to let her in.

So you shrug your shoulders and say, "Sure."

"Second chances only come once."

"Huh?"

She nods, tucking her hair behind her ear. "You don't really know anything about him," she says. "You don't know what's happened to him before. You could be his second chance, and he probably just took a blow after that whole debacle you two had over there."

"What?"

She chuckles softly, and you find yourself rethinking your stance on the situation. She's right, she's right, your heart tells you, but your brain is saying something else entirely, and it's maddening.

"Give him a chance, Y/N. Everyone deserves one."

Hours later, you're still thinking about what a random stranger said to you at the library earlier.

Yoongi? A chance? No, thank you. You don't need to waste any more of your time on guys that aren't going to give you the time of day once they're not interested.

And yet, a small part of your conscience says otherwise. He's not just any guy, it reminds you. You're soulmates for a reason.

You're so frustrated you want to tear your hair out. "Soulmates are stupid!"

Jimin walks into your room with two cans of soda, an eyebrow raised as he tosses one to you. "Yikes, Y/N. What's gotten into you today?"

"Min Yoongi," you grumble.

Your best friend gapes at you, nearly spilling his soda all over himself. "I'm sorry, what?"

"What?"

"Already, Y/N?!"

You're confused as you take a sip of the sweet drink. "Already what, Jimin?"

He's opening and closing his mouth, eyes so wide he looks like a clown out of those children's cartoons. "You and Yoongi — you guys — I can't believe you finally got laid!"

This prompts you to spit out the liquid in your mouth, dissolving into a coughing fit as you try and regain your breath.

"There, there," Jimin says, stroking your back gently. "I won't mention it again if you don't want me to, I'm sorry. Was he a bad lay?"

"A bad what? Jimin, I don't know what you think I'm doing, but having sex with him is most certainly not on my list," you frown.

Your best friend, on the other hand, looks totally dumbfounded.

"Huh? But you answered with his name!"

You smack the side of his head gently. "That's not how idioms work, dumbass."

"Okay, sheesh, sorry," he apologizes, rubbing his temple. "But really, though. Everything okay with Yoongi?"

"Not really," you say truthfully, "but it's fine. Neither of us are expecting anything from the other."

Jimin looks skeptical as he eyes you carefully. "You sure?"

"Mhm."

He tilts his head back, draining the can of soda as he swallows. "You know, Y/N, maybe you should give the guy a chance."

There it is again, that word. The one thing everyone tells you that you need to give.

But is it worth your time? Is he worth your time? Or is he just going to walk away and leave you broken again? Maybe you're being selfish, but you'd rather spare yourself the heartbreak process than willingly go into something you know won't be good for you.

"Yeah, okay," you lie through your teeth, soda can still nearly full in your hand. "Maybe I will."

taglist: @meiadore @kimnamjoonluvbot @im-gay-no-matter-who-i-date @fangirl125reader @helenazbmrskai @min-yus @janeelizabeth1216 @chimchiekookie @chimchoom @igotnotype @beach-bitch-bitch-beach

taglist is still open! send an ask if you'd like me to add you <3

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#yoongi #yoongi soulmate au #yoongi enemies to lovers #yoongi college au #bts #bts fanfiction #bts college au #bts soulmate au #bts enemies to lovers #fluff #angst #crack?? idk #yoongi series #part 2 #mine #yoongi x reader #yoongi fanfic

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raith-way · 3 years

Text

I clearly did something right in a past life to get spoiled like this, because the lovely @asirensrage made this beautiful GIF for me and it’s so perfect. I heard their conversation as soon as I saw the GIF, so it had to be written. (Thank you, Siren, for all of the amazing GIFs and the support. Thank you!!)

Fandom: Marvel

Fic: Traversing The Multiverse

Scene: Twenty Questions

“Darcy has taught me a new Midgardian tradition,” Thor announced as he walked into the common room. Kenzie, who had been contemplating the oddities of her new life, looked up from the doodling pad to watch Thor walk farther into the room. He chose to sit on the couch across from the chair that she was in, and she felt some slight apprehension as she placed her pad on the table next to her. The last Midgardian tradition that Darcy had decided to teach was the ol’ back-pat of celebration. Except, Darcy had clearly demonstrated that the pat should be quite low to show proper revelry in victory. Then again, seeing Thor in his full Asgardian gear slapping Hulk on the ass had been hilarious. It was too bad no one had caught it on camera.

“Which tradition would that be?” she asked. While she wouldn’t volunteer the information, Kenzie did enjoy Thor’s presence. He made training together fun, and his stories were always captivating.

“The tradition of twenty questions. You see, first, I will ask you a question that you must answer truthfully. Then you may ask me a question that I must answer truthfully.” That wasn’t how Twenty Questions worked at all, but Darcy was the one in charge of Thor’s Midgardian acclimation. Besides, there was no harm in talking to Thor. Be nice if someone else was around though, just in case she needed a quick out. What was she saying? She survived the destruction of her universe. She could survive a few questions from someone that she thought of as a friend.

“Twenty questions, so ten questions each?” she clarified. Thor’s head tipped to the side as he thought, he straightened as he came to a decision, and then he nodded in acceptance. “Alright. You go first, big guy.”

“What is your favorite comfort food?” he asked first. It wasn’t what she was expecting. Her confusion must have shown, damn her overly expressive face, because he explained for her. “Darcy said it is best to start with simple and easy questions.”

“Darcy was right. My comfort food is pizza,” she answered honestly. The pizza in her universe had been great, but the pizza in this universe was phenomenal. So greasy and cheesy.

“You eat a lot of pizza.” Clearly, Thor observed more than they realized because she knew what his pointed look was saying. She did eat a lot of pizza, because most days she needed a little bit of comfort. Still, they weren’t talking about that.

“It’s my turn to ask a question, and I want to know why you won’t let me cut your hair,” she said and smiled. Tonight, his hair was mostly pulled back into a low bun with some golden locks framing his face. Either he just naturally looked that good, or Darcy had helped him out. Both were a definite possibility.

“I have kept my hair long since boyhood. To change it now.” Thor stopped there and looked to the side, and she remembered the Thor from her universe when his hair had been forcibly cut. It’d been a comedic moment, but maybe there really was a deeper reason. Maybe he didn’t want to lose that last connection to his childhood, when things were simple. That was something she could understand. Clearly he’d been thinking while she had because he continued, “To change it now would be to change the last familiar thing of me.”

“Change doesn’t always have to be a bad thing,” she said like a total hypocrite. She’d spent so much time hating change, and that was before her universe went kaput.

“It is my turn to ask a question now,” Thor reminded her. She bowed her head, and the questions continued.

She talked about the bookstore she had owned, how her favorite part of owning the store had been being surrounded by the smell of books. He told her about growing up with Loki, small pranks that young boys would play on each other. Kenzie’s childhood pet dog, Romeo. Thor’s childhood pet, possibly miniature dragon, Gorm. The time she fell out of a tree and broke her arm. The time he slipped off a cliff and spent weeks waiting for the skin on his back to regrow. Her favorite time of day was sunrise, seeing the dawn of a new day. His favorite pastime was looking up at the stars, seeing galaxies that she couldn’t even imagine. She took gymnastics as a kid. He learned alien languages in school. When she was a little girl, she wanted to be a firefighter because she liked the color of the trucks. When he was a little boy, he wanted to be a Valkyrie because they were the best warriors. If she could have any other superpower, she’d be telekinetic so she could just float things to her instead of getting up. If he could have another superpower, it’d be the ability to talk to all animals. The thing she missed the most from her home universe was her routine, always knowing what needed to be done and where she belonged. The things he missed most from Asgard were his family and close friends, the people that he loved.

“Last question. Hit me,” she said and spread her arms wide.

“Are you truly disappointed that I am not who you expected?” Well, he definitely hit her with that one. He thankfully had the grace and tact to look away as she composed herself, because she had said something to that effect not long after meeting him and did regret the hasty words now. She’d been in shock! Her universe had died, she’d witnessed several universes dying, and she’d been expecting to see Alexander Skarsgard holding Mjolnir. The Chris Hemsworth look alike had been a shock.

“You’re definitely not Skarsgard,” she heard herself say. Her hand was even moving to emphasize her point, and Thor made a fair-enough expression as he took the words in stride. She thought, just maybe, that she could see a little bit of hurt in his eyes. “Don’t tell Mac I said this, because she’d never let me hear the end of it, but you are the best Thor.”

His sudden smile was too bright, too happy, that it made something in her chest flutter and then squeeze tight. Was that her heart? Possibly her lungs as she stopped breathing? Because backlit by the dark city, in his nice maroon jacket and casually messy hair, Thor looked like any other guy while still looking exactly like a god. Not some god on a throne either. An earthly god, that walked amongst mortals and could be touched. Like if she wanted, if he wanted, she could walk over to him and press her fingers against his lips to feel his smile against her skin. All that just because she said a few words? (A few honest words too. Sorry, Skarsgard, but Hemsworth really is Thor.) Kenzie pulled in a breath, laughed off her nerves, and leaned back in her chair to fight off the urge to get out of it.

“The last question is yours,” he said quietly. She suddenly had several questions that she wanted to ask him, but she didn’t think either of them were ready for them to be asked or answered.

“Kenz! I brought back pizza! Better hurry before Steve’s big mouth eats it all!” Mac’s loud voice cut through the common room, and Kenzie startled upwards in her chair. She looked over her shoulder, and she could hear Mac and Steve playfully arguing while Jamie and Bucky egged them on, and she turned back around to look at Thor.

“Would you like to go eat some pizza with me?” she decided to ask. Thor’s answering smile was just as bright as a minute ago, and her chest did that strange fluttery-squeezing thing again. That was probably something she should figure out soon.

“It would be my honor.” When Thor stood up and extended a hand towards her, Kenzie mentally shrugged and slipped her hand into his. She’d do some deep self-analyzing after eating pizza.

Forever Taglist: @jinxsflame @hughstheforcelou @uno-reverse-reversed @hiddenqveendom @asirensrage @ocfairygodmother @jewelswrites-ish @reggiemantleholdmyhand-tle

#asirensrage #oc: kenzie rowe #ch: thor #fic: traversing the multiverse #marvel #they’re such a cute pairing #and this gif is so perfect #i will be thanking you for the next hundred years or so

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ask-the-riders · 2 years

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I'm listening to Spotify while typing up a thing, and the monster high fright song came on

Being an absolute sucker for anything that's got a good beat, I put it on repeat, because why not, honestly?

But anyway. I just had this vivid mental image of a highschool AU. Nyx is the queen bee that probably thinks everyone is stupid, Kali is the notorious bad boy (bad girl?? Idk man), Val is a bad boy too (who probably also plays sports), Kazimir is Nyx's idiot twin that's really popular and known for being an absolute clown, and Custodius is either the nerd that does everyone's homework, or he's still an obsessive clean freak (maybe he's a chemistry nerd, since knowledge there would allow him to mix up his own cleaning supplies). All of them are in a clique of sorts, with Nyx and Kali secretly being an item

((putting the rest under a cut, because I had more ideas for this than I was aware of, apparently))

Connie's the new member of Nyx's clique, so she's a little awkward for a while. I feel like she's the one that's known for being nice, which is a stark contrast to her older sister, Kali

Glo is Connie's best gal pal and they're always hanging out together. Cobalt is a jock, but he's a nice jock, and he's also friends with Connie. He has a crush on her, and literally everyone sees it except for her. Abrael is a transfer student from France that ends up getting pretty close with Connie, so they start catching feelings for her too, and they end up in this playful, friendly rivalry of sorts with Cobalt, since they both want her to fall for them

Meanwhile, Connie has a crush on Death, who's probably the kid that sleeps in all of his classes and somehow still miraculously passes with flying colors. Death, in turn, is in a relationship with both Error and Geno, who are fraternal twins. Don't ask me how that works out, because I dunno. Pestilence is a science nerd, but he doesn't want that to be the label he's stuck with, so he chooses to be a class clown. Then there's War, who's in the sewing club and regularly needs to work alone because she's threatened everyone with a sewing needle at least once and they're too afraid to pair up with her now

They're dating, and they spend almost every waking moment together. Then Famine. My boy is at the top of his cooking class, but he has so many allergies (in this AU concept) that ye doesn't even bother trying to eat a lot of the time. He's dating Retribution, who's not only in the debate club, but he's also a theatre kid. Not comedic theatre, though. We're talking serious dramatic theatre. He and Famine are together quite a bit as well, but not as much as Pest and War

Betta is War's best friend, and she's on the dance team. She kinda wanted to be in choir, but she wasn't allowed to because of the hypnotic effect that her voice has when she sings. Lenore is a spectral student, and her favorite class is history, for obvious reasons. Othni's hanging around too, and he was part of the group that put together the school news, but he got kicked out because he was being weird and got caught trying to creep on Connie with his camera. Ret was the one that busted him, and as you can imagine, it didn't end well

Diamondback is one of the grouchy biology students that looks like he hates everyone, and Skink gets in trouble pretty often for skipping classes. He usually hides in the bathrooms or behind the bleaches and either plays with his phone or paints his nails or something, and he's always caught. The only class he actually cares about is biology, because he loves reptiles, and also because he has that class with Diamondback. Cosette is the other French transfer student, but she scares everyone. She's loud and energetic, and probably gets into gymnastics pretty quick, just to use it as another excuse to freak everyone out. Alex and Orion are in gymnastics too, but while Orion actually studies and tries to do good, Alex says "fuck it" and is a delinquent. Then somewhere in the background, if we're assuming Draug is in school too, he's still an undead boi, and he loves everything academic. Anything that involves reading and learning, he's immediately into

He somehow befriended War, but no one understands how the friendship works, since both of them are moody and War acts straight up homicidal at times. In being friends with War, by extension, that would mean he'd have to adjust to Betta and her shenanigans, too. Also assuming all the riders are still super close friends, that'd mean that at some point, Betta would also get to meet Skink and Glo. Which,, immediately spells chaos, to me

Potential ship though that could be cute, in this big giant disaster: Kazimir and Val. Kazimir is fresh out of a bad relationship, and through spending more time with Nyx, gets to know Val a little better. Val has a dangerous bad boy reputation, while Kazimir is both a class clown and a rich kid. Cue Val having a motorcycle or something, Kazimir seeing him on it, and immediately developing a staring problem. Nyx tries to do her brother a favor by setting up a date for him and Val, but both of them are so dense at times that they probably just think they're hanging out

Then lord, god forbid Nightmare ever has to go to the school for anything related to his kids, because everyone is very intimidated. Killer probably just graduated not long ago and is now working for him as an intern or something, and he and Nyx were a thing at one point. They fell apart though, because like in the canon Riderverse AU, he doesn't know how to keep his pants on

Since Death is so much older than everyone else, he also has the potential to be a teacher or something, too. Idk,, I think I like the idea of him as a student better, but I'm also braindead right now, soooooo

#riderverse #riderverse au #undertale #undertale au #four horsemen of the apocalypse #riders of the apocalypse #rambles #pestilence.exe #war.exe #retribution.exe #famine.exe #conquest.exe #death.exe #mishap.exe #there are a lot of names in this post #and I'm not tagging all of them #no way jose

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fishylife · 3 years

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Street Dance of China S4 Ep 3

(I’m having problems with Tumblr not saving my posts...)

- Oh no people are going to start getting eliminated! :o Well, I’m still really glad that we had two whole episodes of people just dancing and having fun and getting the opportunity to showcase who they are and how they dance.

- This question just occurred to me, but where do people look when they watch dance performances? As I watched the Go Go Brothers, I was thinking to myself, “Where do I look? If I look at one of them, I might miss what the other Brother is doing!” Just my musings lol.

- I am super shallow but people tripping makes me laugh, so yes, Nelson accidentally tripping did make me chuckle. (+ Rochka’s reaction)

- Yibo and Yixing discussing the SDOC theme song. It made me laugh because the lyrics are kind of hype but Yibo and Yixing aren’t exactly the most facially expressive people lol.

- After every performance Henry’d be like “let’s collaborate!!!!!!” Han Geng finally stepped in being like aight Henry you gotta take it easy on the recruitment because we’ve literally only seen three performances. I’m still not really sure of the format of the show from now on, so I’m not sure if they form new teams afterwards.

- Yixing was so guilty about not giving Bouboo a vote.

- Rochka’s shock @ Boubou not getting four votes.

- He’s ashamed.

- I think if a dancer gets less than 4 votes, then other dancers are allowed to challenge them for a spot to advance, but whoever loses is eliminated out of the tournament, so you have to be super confident to challenge. And if a dancer only gets 1 or 2 votes, they are eliminated.

- Yibo asked Rochka why he wouldn’t challenge Bouboo and Rochka said he’d never go against his teacher/big brother v.v They exchanged hearts but then Rochka pretended to throw the heart away and crush it lol.

- While I was expecting a bit more from Bouboo, I don’t think his challenger JC Jun was better than him. JC Jun was kind of wobbly, and I think his dance didn’t match the music as well as Bouboo’s did.

- Yixing had his head down when he voted for Ibuki too, so I think he just gets nervous about voting.

- Henry wanted to say that Ibuki was like lightning but he said the word for a flashing light/disco light and Han Geng wanted to give him shit for it.

- Yixing said that he thought AC’s waacking almost felt like krump.Yixing said that if he was to collaborate with AC, AC should do the arm swing, and Yixing would do the waacking lol. I am all for seeing Yixing doing more dance styles! Not gonna lie, I think he’d look cute doing waacking.

- Ye Yin’s performance was really nice! The music was unique and the way he danced, with the tap dance and folk-like elements really suited it.

- Rochka said he wants to know Ye Yin more and said they also have the same smile.

- Xiao Jie said he’d never battle Ye Yin but he got peer pressured by the captains into freestyling to Ye Yin’s self-produced song lol.

- To show face, you know? The entire time he was like “but this doesn’t count, okay?!!!!” since he wasn’t actually challenging Ye Yin, and it was just for funsies.

- The judges were a bit troubled by Xiaoming’s performance because at the end, he was supposed to fall but his fall wasn’t coordinated with the sound effect in the music. Xiaoming was like yeah, it’s pretty difficult but I’m hoping that my challenger wouldn’t be able to get it too and Yixing was laughing his goose laugh. But Xiaoming was eliminated with zero votes in the end.

- Kelo and Uwa had a horror mental hospital-themed dance which was interesting. Kelo said it was based on a nightmare he had as a child.

- Yang Kai wasn’t impressed though. He said he’d performed something similar with Liangliang before. He felt that Kelo and Uwa were performing but not really dancing. I can see where he’s coming from. Kelo and Uwa got three votes.

- Xiaohai ended up challenging them. He used the wheelchair too but like...somehow his expression just makes us unable to not laugh.

- I think he did really well considering he’d only heard the music once. And he returned to the wheelchair at the end of the performance lmfao

- Apparently when Xiaohai was looking up at the beginning, he was asking Li Yulong (who I assume is the person in charge of the music) for music cues but Li Yulong just laughed at him lol.

- Yibo basically said that Kelo and Uwa’s performance felt a bit abrupt in the story telling side, and that there weren’t really highs and lows to their performance.

- Rochka was talking crap about Bouboo behind his back and Yibo tattled which resulted in Rochka getting whacked in the face.

- Zyko taught Yibo and Rochka how to do his fancy leg moves.

- Yixing talking krump with Auju. Auju was like you’re really good for someone who’s only been learning for a year, but then Yixing was like, I practise 6 hours a day and Auju was like ?!?!

- Zyko + Henry (with Henry’s infamous “getting down while playing violin” move)

- Poppin’C introduced himself, saying he was from Italy and Switzerland, and Yibo and Yixing were thinking of all the things from Italy they knew. Yibo was like “...Valentino Rossi...” and Yixing was like “....pizza.....” These two spacey twinks istg.

- Anyway, Poppin’C’s performance was nice. Not only were his moves clean and impressive, but he also expressed the lyrics through his dance.

- Rochka fanboying over Poppin’C’s dance :P At one point, the lyrics were about hearts, and Poppin’C did some moves where he made a heart and Rochka here is saying how cute it was.

- Poppin’C said he missed his daughter and everybody’s like ?? a baby??? :3 :3 :3

- Also, I saw Uwa in the audience, so I think that the eliminated contestants get to continue watching.

- Poppin’C said that before, he was more fierce, but now that he has a daughter, he’s a little smoother and sweeter :3 Also he was describing that the singer’s voice in the song made his skin feel like chicken and everybody was like ??? Luckily Yixing saved the day lol. In Chinese, goose bumps are called “chicken pimples” or something like that.

- Bozi was next. In his introduction, Bozi said he was from Guangzhou, and maybe that’s why it sounded like so many people in the audience were pronouncing 波子 in Cantonese.

- Eleven said something very interesting about B-boys. He said that in their profession of dance, they don’t fear b-boys who can do tricks, but they fear b-boys who can listen to music. I think it’s a reference to the fact that b-boys are often doing their own thing and disregard the music, which makes sense. Sometimes b-boys are closer to gymnasts because they are so focused on the spins and other really athletic moves they do. But because their moves are so difficult, they sometimes don’t move to the music which is supposed to be the point of dancing.

- Bozi passed with 4 votes. And he did a bit of krump at the beginning, which Yixing admitted he fell for haha. Bozi said that Eleven helped him choreograph that part, so it’s Eleven who knows Yixing well >3

- The director asked Bozi who he thought his biggest b-boy rival on the show was. Of course, we all thought he was going to say Lil Kev, but he ended up saying Xiaoji and Xiaoji was like ?? me?? Bozi’s reasoning was that he’s more troubled by dancers with a different style from him because he doesn’t know how to beat them. From the small clips they showed, I think Xiaoji has a more animated style, whereas Bozi is more serious and reserved.

- Acky-san cheering on MT Pop lol. (”Embarrassing dad at baseball game” mode activate)

- MT Pop has really impressed me in the competition so far though. The way he moves is so cool and creative. I think he purposely goes for a kind of...monster vibe? Like he often has this creepy smile on his face lol. He’s not only dancing, but he’s using popping techniques to change how he moves entirely, including simple things like walking or how he turns his head. I think MT Pop is my favourite contestant.

- He said the monster from Pan’s Labrynth inspired this dance. So I guess I was kind of right that he does draw inspiration from monsters and other creatures.

- Low key mad at Han Geng for not giving MT Pop his vote lol. Geng-ge said he wanted to give someone a chance to challenge. Of all people, why MT Pop?? I don’t want him to goooo.

- Henry wanted to try doing the voiceover for the challenger and Han Geng indulged his overdramatic ass.

- Baby Dolphin challenged. He had some cool moves at the beginning, but I think he fell apart a bit towards the end, based on the judges’ reactions (as we didn’t see the full performance). Plus, I think MT Pop’s approach to dancing is just too unique and interesting to eliminate at this point.

- Kabamba had an interesting performance that had African and Latin influences, with big and energetic movements. Tianci challenged but he went with a general hip hop approach which did not suit the music at all. (I looked up Kabamba. Her name is Latrice Kabamba, but she also goes by 林珊娜 on her social media, which is why she’s sometimes called Nana on the show).

- Acky-san was repeating everything that people were saying around him. Stuff like jiayou!! and other words of encouragement. Dianmen who was sitting next to him was just lol’ing.

- Ma Xiaolong was performing to a song called 棋 and this word usually refers to any kind of board game. Ma Xiaolong’s first moves looked like he was putting pieces on a board and you just know that kind of stuff draws Yixing’s attention right away.

- I think Kenken’s style of dance is the kind of dance that the general public would really enjoy. Whereas some kinds of dance don’t really appeal to people who aren’t into dance, I think Kenken’s kind of dance will attract both the dance-conscious people as well as those who aren’t. I definitely got that vibe from him in the dance that he choreographed, and also his individual performance.

- Not even gonna question this. Perfection. Rochka catboy here we go.

- Okay, I agree with Colin’s performance not making the cut. Based on his introduction, he was supposed to be a popping expert, but his dance didn’t showcase that. His dance was more of a contemporary dance piece, but while we’ve had performances similar to that, his choreography didn’t stand out in comparison. After his performance he had a bit of a cry. Yixing mentioned that it was hard to judge because of the emotional aspect. But admittedly, this emotional stuff is usually the reason why I don’t like competition shows. It was revealed that Colin had lost his grandfather. Now, I’m going to sound cold, but I don’t like it when sob stories are brought in, because it makes us feel bad when we don’t like a piece of art that comes from very pure intentions. Yixing’s reasoning for not giving a vote was that he felt that the emotions overshadowed the dance, which is a problem because this is a show about dance. Han Geng’s reasoning was that he felt that the skill level could have been better. Yibo was quite moved by the performance, and I think that’s why he gave his vote to Colin.

- We got a preview for this week’s hotpot show.

- Yixing and his emotional support giant cup

- Lots of laughing (including Yixing laughing) which is good for the soul

#thinking out loud #cvariety #street dance of china #screencaps

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gubes-sweaters · 3 years

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Mind, Body, and Soul 4

Authors note: Sorry for being MIA for a bit. I was going through a lot of things with my family, school, friends, etc. I got in a terrible funk and I had no motivation to write. I’m doing much better now and I’m going to go back to posting regularly. Another thing I know in the show Spencer drives a Volvo, but for this story, he drives a station wagon like mgg.

Content warning: A brief mention of a drug deal and medication and… teeth rotting fluff if that counts.

Word count: 4.6k

You can find part three here

Chapter 4: My Safe Place

I wake up to the smoke alarm going off. It takes me a second to realize what’s going on but as soon as I realize I make a mad dash to the kitchen. In my haste, I slip on the rug in the living room that connects to the kitchen. My morning couldn’t be more chaotic. Both of my roommates are coughing up a lung from the smoke while opening windows and fanning out the area. Turns out that they decided to make breakfast but somehow they can’t even make eggs and toast without almost burning the place down. I quickly gather myself from off of the ground and join Tweedledee and Tweedledum in cleaning up their mess. It takes thirty minutes to clear the smoke and to clean up the kitchen. After all, is said and done I look over at the stove and see that it’s already 9:30.

“Shit shit shit!” I shout while running towards my bathroom trying to get ready. Stella and Raven follow me into the bathroom wondering what I’m freaking out about.

“What’s the freak out for?” Raven says before peeking her head in the bathroom door. I’m already stepping into the shower as they both lean up against the bathroom counter exchanging confused looks.

“I uh forgot... I made plans with Penelope that have been a month in the making.” I stammer out from behind the shower curtain. In my mind, I’m debating telling them what I’m actually up to. Their two of my best friends and we’ve been friends since elementary school. I tell them practically everything, but on the other hand, I enjoy spending time with Spencer without it being a big deal. Of course, my friends would be happy for me but at the same time, they also tend to treat me like a child because I’m a year younger than them and I’m their “innocent” friend. I almost feel like I’d be disappointing them if I break from that title. I love them both so much but I think for now it’s better to keep those parts of my life separate.

“Well tell Pen that we said hi. Oh, and don’t forget about Daisy’s birthday on Saturday.” Stella reminds me before walking off with Raven. Daisy is a girl that Raven and I used to study with our freshman year of college. Raven, Daisy, and I had the same psychology class, and Raven and I clung to her pretty quickly. Raven and Daisy both happened to be going for forensic psychology, but I’m getting my degree in social work, so our sophomore year I didn’t have classes with either of them. My point is I haven’t seen her in two years but Raven and Stella are both close with her still and for some reason Daisy also invited me. I’m not complaining because she was really sweet, and I distinctly remember she was the type of person who showed their love through touch. If you needed a hug she was there, if you needed a shoulder to cry on she was there. I just feel like I’m intruding now because I haven’t seen her in two years and according to my roommates you wouldn’t even recognize her anymore, so I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to talk to her without awkward small talk. I’ll have to worry about that later now I have to worry about being late for a date... an outing. I’m not sure what to call whatever Spencer and I are doing today.

I rush to blow dry my hair, put on a little bit of makeup, I throw on a sublime t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Just as I slip on my vans, I get a text from Spencer.

Spencer (pain in my ass): I’m out front :)

me: okie dokie I’ll be down in a minute!

—————————- Time Skip —————————

We’ve been driving and listening to music in comfortable silence for the past 30 minutes. Soon enough though, we pull in front of a small café. The place seems oddly familiar, but I can’t put my finger on it. No matter how many times I asked Spencer he would never tell me where we’re going. He called me boring, yet our first stop is a café. I’m not complaining at all, but it seems a little more mundane than I would expect from Spencer. Either way, I’m excited because I’m seeing him again.

“You ready?” He turns to look at me with a big goofy grin on his face. It’s nice seeing him smile I could get used to seeing it more. No. No. No. Don’t think like that this isn’t a date he’s simply keeping a promise that he made to me. This definitely isn’t a date right?

“Of course, but where are we?” I asked still not sure what I’m walking into. Despite me asking him he doesn’t answer, he just unbuckles his seatbelt and steps out of the car. I follow in his footsteps because I don’t want to look like a dork just mindlessly sitting in his car.

“We’re just popping in for some coffee don’t worry about it.” Spencer says while basically pulling me into this building. As we step in the smell of coffee brewing fills my senses, as I try and take in my surroundings I hear the sounds of cats purring and meowing. I turn my head and see that this isn’t any regular café, it’s a cat café. I remember some of these cats because this is the cat café that has adopted some of the cats from the Humane Society the Pen and I volunteer at. That’s why this place seemed so familiar.

“I asked Penelope what you did in your free time. She mentioned you volunteer and you’re a big animal lover, so I figured this was a fun way to ease you into today’s events.” He turns to me with a smile on his face while we wait in line for coffee.

“This is amazing Spencer. Seriously this is perfect.” As we're waiting in line we watch the cats in the next room over through the large window. We watch as some kittens chase after one another. A couple of the older cats are either sitting on the windowsill purring or sitting in someone’s lap instead of playing like the kittens. As we go to order Spencer insists on paying, after a while I concede. He pulls out a large wad of cash from a money clip, which I wasn’t expecting, I mean I didn’t expect him to be broke, but most college students don’t have that kind of money lying around. Maybe he gets money from his parents, or he happened to have a really good paying job. Instead of being lost my own thoughts and mental gymnastics, I focus on the cats in the room that we’re walking into.

About five minutes later we both get the iced coffees that we ordered. Spencer got enough sugar in his to give somebody a heart attack. With the coffees, we got a small little bag of catnip. A chubby orange cat immediately starts to take a liking to Spencer, the cat is sucking up to him because he’s the one with the catnip. About half an hour later we get ready to leave, but not before I watch Spencer trip more than once over himself while entertaining the cats and inevitably everybody else in the café that started watching. We decide to call it quits before falls, and he cracks his skull open. As we get back into his car he announces now that I’ve dipped my toes in the “fun pool” it’s time to kick it up a notch, but once again he won’t tell me where we’re going.

—————————— Time Skip —————————

I find myself mindlessly tapping my fingers to Kid Cudi, while looking out the window I feel a pair of eyes on me. I turn and see that he’s watching me with a big grin on his face.

“What?” I ask before he shifts his eyes back to the road momentarily.

“Nothing, I’m just lucky to be hanging out with you today. I honestly thought you were going to be sick of me by now.” He confesses, and he looks sad as if he could ever burden me.

“Spencer’s I know it’s only 11:30 and the day just begun, but I don’t think I’ve relaxed and had this much fun in a long time. Don’t think that I’m ever going to get sick of you. I promise that I’m having a really fun time.” I feel like I almost convinced him, but there’s this small little part of his brain that wouldn’t believe me regardless of what I said.

“You say that now, but I’m pretty sure after this you’re gonna hate me.” he says while gesturing to what’s in front of us. As he puts the car in park I look straight forward and see that we’re at a skate park.

“Uh, I don’t know how to skate... like at all.” I say hoping he doesn’t expect much coordination or skill out of me.

“I figured that much. I thought I could teach you, still wanna give it a shot?”

“Why not that’s the whole point of today right?”

“That’s the spirit!” He says before jumping out of his car and quickly grabs a skateboard out of the trunk. He looks like a kid in a candy store while we walk to a section that’s not occupied.

I’m glad I wore vans and jeans because I have a feeling in any other outfit I would have a very unfortunate wardrobe malfunction. He shows me two or three times how to properly kick off without falling. Then he asked me to give it a try or to at least try and find my balance on the board first. As I step on he holds my waist, so I don’t go anywhere, but that doesn’t stop me from wobbling a couple of times in the process.

“Make sure you put your back foot towards the front of the board when kicking off, if not the board will fly out from underneath you. Don’t worry about falling though I got you I promise.” He says while slowly loosening his grip on my waist. I start to learn to push off and eventually with Spencer‘s help I can go a couple of feet before I chicken out.

“Don’t worry about it. You’re not going to get it all at once, a lot of people can’t learn how to skate in a matter of hours.” He tries to cheer me up and coax me out of my embarrassment because I’m not fully understanding it.

” Yeah, I think I want to try it all by myself once maybe I’m having trouble because I’m using you as a crutch.” This is where I made my mistake because I got a little too cocky, and instead of getting it like I thought I would I fell. When I fell, I fell hard and I scraped both of my knees. Of course, this would be the day that I wear jeans with rips in the knees. As soon as I hit the ground he booked it towards me, and when he reached me, he crouched down in front of me with his hands on my shoulders searching my face to see if I’m okay.

“Are you okay? You didn’t break any bones, did you? Do you need to go to urgent care?” He asks a couple of ridiculous questions with panic very present in his voice. I’m obviously not hurt that bad, but that doesn’t stop him from freaking out momentarily.

“I’m okay Spence I promise. I only fell off of a skateboard I didn’t get shot.” I say before chuckling, trying to lighten the mood.

“I’m glad you’re okay, but you scraped your knee bad. We’re going to have to get that cleaned up, you don’t wanna know how many germs are in that cut now, let alone the various infections that you could get if you leave it alone.” He says before standing up in extending his arm out to me. He collects his board, and we make our way back to his car. We go to a drugstore around the corner, and he runs in to get Band-Aids, alcohol wipes, and Neosporin. Again I insist on paying because this is my fault, but he brushes me off and leaves me in the car. He comes back and asks me to sit on the side of the seat, while he kneels in front of me in the parking lot. He cleans my knees off while reeling off facts either about the products he’s using or about all the germs in my wound. He finishes his nervous ramble by putting a Band-Aid on my knee before placing a gentle kiss on that knee. I blush at the small bit of contact, while he collects all of the products off the ground and puts them back in the plastic bag.

“Change of plans were going to take a small detour. I got a good idea while I was in the store.” He says climbing back into the driver’s seat and starting the car.

“Let me guess I don’t get to know ahead of time just like before,” I asked hoping that he would at least give me a little hint.

“That’s correct.”

It’s 2:10 by the time we arrive at the mall. I have no clue what would make him think of going to a mall and what we're even here for. Either way, it doesn’t stop me from blindly following him right into the mall. For someone who’s a bit of a germaphobe Spencer hasn’t seemed to mind holding my hand everywhere we’ve been today. The first two times I thought he was grabbing my hand, so he could just pull me to whatever activity I had in store for me. This time is different though because as we enter the mall our fingers intertwine together as if it was second nature. He still led me but this time we’re walking side by side. He stopped me very abruptly right in front of a store that I haven’t even seen since I was eight years old.

“Spencer, mind telling me why we’re at a Build-a-Bear?” I ask while we enter the brightly colored store.

“While I was in the drugstore I saw teddy bears and it made me think of this place. Also, we need to kill a little bit of time before we make our last stop of the night.”

Turns out we’re not the only adults who had the same idea as Spencer. Two other couples looked lovingly at each other while making a bear. This seems like a date night activity and not whatever the hell Spencer and I are doing. We end up picking a light brown teddy bear and just about every employee that we came in contact with told us we were a cute couple, but Spencer nor I corrected them. It didn’t seem to bother him so it didn’t bother me either. When it came time to pick out clothes for the bear he insisted that he had “impeccable style”, and he knows what he’s doing.

”Spencer’s you’re wearing a baggy sweater, jeans, converse, and mix-matched socks. I don’t think that your style is peak fashion.”

“Hush you’re ruining my vision.” He jokingly said while staring at the clothing with his thumb and forefinger gripping his chin. We both crack jokes and make fun of each other‘s sense of style before we inevitably end up basically picking the same thing that Spencer is wearing. We dressed the bear in a red sweater, black jeans, converse, and only because Spencer insisted on mix-matched socks. Yes, we did pay for two pairs of socks, so we could mix-match his socks. Spencer finally let me split the cost on something when it came time to pay. After we made our way out of the store with our fingers once again intertwined and our son that Spencer jokingly called the bear in the store. Our poor son doesn’t even have a definite name because he insisted on naming the bear Spencer Jr. or Sativa, but I told him there’s no way I would ever let him name the poor bear Sativa and Spencer Jr. is on the fence. As we’re about to walk out of the mall Spencer gets a call and then three texts in a row. He tells me he’s just gonna wait to open his phone once we're in the car. Once we get in the car, and he checks his phone his face drops.

“Is everything alright?” I ask because of his shift in demeanor.

“Yeah, everything is good I just need to take this call quickly.” He says before stepping out of the car and closing the door.

Spencer’s POV

When I get three texts and a call from my mom‘s doctor saying that there’s a problem my heart automatically sinks. I mean she’s all I have left and my mom is the one person who’s ever been in my life consistently with unconditional love. I call my mom‘s doctor as I step away from the car a couple of feet. I ask what’s the issue and it turns out it’s her treatment, her doctor tells me that because of her recent change in medication as well as the increase in dosage I’m going to have to start paying more for her assisted living. The situation is a lot better than what I was thinking. It’s a minor problem that I can easily solve. After I talk to my mom for a couple of minutes and make sure that she’s doing okay before making my way back to the car. As if my prayers have been answered I had an old friend text me and asked if he could buy two grams of weed off of me. I hurry up and tell him I can meet him right after he gets off work. This way I can kill two birds with one stone because he works at a gas station not too far away. While I am there I can pick up snacks that I’m going to need before we go to our final destination tonight.

Readers POV

Spencer never addressed the phone call when he got back in the car, but instead just turned on music and placed his hand on my thigh. The mood totally changed from calm and relaxed to now very awkward with tension. We only talked for a couple of minutes before it went back into an uncomfortable silence. Something seemed off about Spencer as he told me that we need to go to a gas station before wherever we’re going next. It’s not because I think stopping at a gas station is odd, but it’s because he insisted on this certain one, but he wouldn’t tell me why. He also was digging through a bag in his backseat for a bit before shoving something in his pocket and walking into the store, and as much as I wanted to snoop I didn’t because I respect his privacy. I trust him a lot, probably more than you should trust someone who you haven’t even known for a week, but my mind keeps wondering as I’m sitting in the car alone once more. That’s another thing that I thought was odd because he asked me what I wanted and insisted it was pointless for me to go in as well. He’s also taking a really long time I’m trying to brush it off, but there’s some part of my brain that can’t help it profile his body language and everything he is saying. I try to never profile people because it seems unfair, but having a dad as a profiler that would always profile me every time I saw him made reading people's body language second nature to me.

I’m glad when Spencer returns he seems a lot more happy and relaxed. When he gets back in the car he has a huge smile on his face as he puts the snacks in the backseat. I ignore the change in mood for the second time because it’s probably something he didn’t want me knowing about right now. In the little bit I’ve known Spencer he’s been pretty much an open book, so for him to not share something it must’ve been very personal.

“So we have one more thing planned for today and it’s very special to me. Are you ready?” He asks sounding genuinely happy and finally his normal self.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

————————— Time skip ————————-

Before we get to this secret special location it’s already dark out. Tonight the stars are shining so bright and the sky was so clear. Since I am not even paying tension I don’t realize that we’ve arrived until I hear Spencer turn off the car. He quickly hops out of the car without any explanation whatsoever. I try and take in my surroundings and realize that we must be at some park. I see a few benches, signs leading to different walking trails, and a cute little playground.

“Stay there.” He says while opening the trunk of his car. So, I comply even though I have a feeling this is how dumbasses like me get murdered. He tells me not to look at what he’s doing, so instead, I go on my phone for a bit. He announces that he’s done and I need to come look, so I hop out of his car and see that he’s cleared out his trunk, and collapsed his backseats. He also has a lot of snacks set up with soft pillows and fuzzy blankets. He smiles proudly at me, and all I can do is chuckle because I think this is the absolute sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. I tell him thank you while giving him a tight hug.

“You’re welcome.” He says, well rubbing my back with one hand and cradling my head with the other. Before we break from the hug he plans a gentle kiss on the top of my head. After we both crawl in the back and slip under the blankets.

“Do you mind me asking why this place is so special?”

“Well… it’s because I lost my virginity here...” He tried to keep a stoic face before busting out laughing.

“I’m just kidding obviously!” He says before laughing once more. After our laughter died down a bit his face becomes actually serious. He draws in a deep breath to prepare himself for what he’s gonna tell me.

“In all honesty, this place has given me a lot of solace since I’ve moved here. Back home in Vegas I never really fit in much, so I learned to create my own safe space. When I moved out here this park became my new safe space. It’s also really special because I’ve never taken anyone here before. Mostly because that way I could just slip away from everything and no one would know where I’m at, but I also never found an occasion special enough to share something personal like this.” He admits while adverting his attention away from me and more onto his fingers. He fidgets with them as if he were nervous to open up like this, as much as I want to know everything tonight is not the night to push the envelope.

“I’m glad you feel that you could trust me with this. Spencer in all honesty who you seemed to be when I first met you is a complete 180 from who I know now. I love the side of you and I want to see more of it.” I say while taking his hands in mine commanding his attention. When I finish he looks up at me with those sweet puppy dog eyes. He moves his hands from mine and rests one of his palms against the side of my face. He stroked my cheek with his thumb before we start to lean in. He puts his other hand on the side of my face and snakes his fingers into my hair as my eyes flutter shut. I hate saying something cheesy like there were sparks, but that’s the only way I can describe the fire that was lit inside of both of us. He pressed his soft lips to mine and we moved in perfect synchronization as if we’ve done this a million times before. He swipes his tongue across my bottom lip asking for access. I wrap my arms around his waist in attempts to pull him and impossibly closer. As things start to heat up Spencer slows the pace and eventually pulls away entirely. After he presses his forehead to mine as we both pant. He grabs the side of my face with one of his hands once more before moving to grip my chin and presses a kiss to my forehead.

“I care about you so much. I get it’s stupid to say because this is all of a sudden, but you’ve brought so much joy into my life and I don’t want you to leave.” He confesses with his hand planted on the side of my face and his other resting on my waist.

“Trust me I don’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon.” I promise him.

“Plus splitting up would not be good for our son.” I joked trying to lighten the mood from the serious turn it took.

“Yeah, I don’t need to add child support payments to the list of bills I already pay.” He says before laughing and removing his hand from my face. We talk a bit more and get comfortable under the blankets before he grabs his laptop out of his bag and hands me the snacks I asked for. As we’re falling asleep he says just one word to me.

“Atlas.”

“Huh?” I ask him, trying to keep my eyes open long enough to finish this conversation.

“I just thought it was a cute name, for the bear I mean. In Greek mythology, Atlas was a titan that was called upon by Zeus to carry the heavens on his shoulders. It means the one who bears a heavy burden. I feel overcoming a huge burden or even carrying a burden that you don’t need to makes you strong and courageous.” I can tell that this story meant something to him. Something that I didn’t know about yet.

“It’s perfect.” I say before shutting my eyes as he grips me tighter.

By the time that the credits were rolling, we were both sound asleep in the back of his car. Our arms wrapped around each other and my head on his chest. I fell asleep to the sounds of a small breeze whistling through the trees and the soft thumping of Spencer’s heart.

Taglist: @rexorangecouny @haylaansmi

#criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds imagine #spencer reid #spencer reid au #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid x y/n #plug spencer #plug!spencer #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x you

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set-phasers-to-whump · 3 years

Text

gunpoint

prompt: gunpoint (alt no.9)

whumpee: malcolm bright

fandom: prodigal son

hey hi hello! back with some malcolm whump :) hope you enjoy! i wrote this as pre-brightwell but you can read them however you like :)

Malcolm stands outside the suspect’s apartment building, debating over whether or not he should text someone to let them know where he is. On one hand, if he gets into trouble, they’ll know where to find him, but on the other hand, if he tells them what he’s doing they might come and stop him from doing it.

It’s quite the dilemma, one which is solved by a text arriving from Dani: what are u doing tonight?

You can’t tell anyone

Do I really want to know?

I’m at Paulsen’s apartment building

His phone rings, and he answers it quickly to avoid the noise attracting attention.

“You’re at the suspect’s apartment?”

“I’m not inside yet.” He steps into the building behind a man that’s just come in, and asks him to hold the elevator as he hurries across the lobby. “Now I am,” he tells Dani, pressing the button for the fifteenth floor.

“You’re in - Malcolm,” Dani says. “You’re inside?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Don’t do anything too stupid. I’m coming. Give me ten minutes.”

“You really don’t have to -”

She hangs up before he can finish his sentence. The elevator reaches the fifteenth floor, doors sweeping open with a ding.

Malcolm steps out, taking a look around. This is the floor below where their suspect lives, but he’d gotten a weird feeling when they’d first come here to check the place out - apart from being the home of the suspect, the building had also been home to two of the three people who had been killed in the past five days. When they’d come asking about the murders, their suspect had been casual, unbothered, and entirely too welcoming given that two of his neighbors had just been brutally murdered.

They’d done more digging on the man, and Malcolm had completed a profile, and all evidence pointed to him having done it. But it wasn’t enough, Malcolm knew - he could tell that there was something they weren’t seeing, something missing, and he was willing to bet it was in this apartment building.

Hence why he’s here now, walking up and down the halls of the fifteenth floor, looking for something that he has no idea how to find.

Maybe something like a utility closet? he wonders, approaching a wooden door with a sign proclaiming it off-limits to tenants. It’s older than the rest of the doors on the floor, and it creaks ominously when Malcolm opens it.

There’s nothing there. A bucket. A circuit board. A water heater. A vent in the ceiling.

This seems like a room that should be kept locked, he thinks, turning on his phone’s flashlight and peering behind the water heater. A simple sign isn’t enough to keep everyone out, and he doubts building management wants people to have access to the floor’s electricity.

He heads back to the door to examine its doorknob, which does have a keyhole, as well as a chain lock on the inside. The keyhole is fairly scraped up with regular use, but the chain lock looks new. Malcolm wonders who might have a key, and who might have the motivation to install a secondary, interior, lock.

He pulls the door shut and turns back to the room, thoughts shifting away from who has access to this place? to who wants access to this place? He can’t imagine a utility person would need a chain lock, and thinks there must be a reason for it to have been installed.

Malcolm looks around, and his eyes land on the ceiling vent. It’s an average size, too small to fit a person through, but the right size for fitting smaller things through - murder weapons, for example. Among thousands of other things. But it’s an idea, anyway, so Malcolm grabs a small stepladder and places it beneath the vent, shining his flashlight up at it to get a better look.

It seems to open into the floor of a room above him, but from what Malcolm can see through the metal, it’s not another closet. In fact, he thinks, it might be an apartment. He does some mental gymnastics and works out that it’s perfectly possible for the apartment above him to belong to their suspect.

He turns on his phone to call Dani back and tell her his thoughts.

“I’m almost in the parking lot,” she says, before he has a chance to say anything. “Where are you right now?”

“I’m in a utility closet on the fifteenth floor,” Malcolm replies, “and I think I might have found something.”

“What kind of something?”

“Uhh...it might be nothing. But there’s this vent in here, and I think it might open into Paulsen’s apartment.”

“...And?”

“That’s all I’ve got,” Malcolm admits. “Maybe you can come have a look for yourself, see what you think.”

“I’ll be there in a couple minutes.”

Malcolm figures it’s best to stay where he is and wait for Dani to come. While he waits, he busies himself with again looking up through the vent, standing on his tiptoes on the ladder to get a better view.

The door to the closet opens with a loud, startling squeak, and Malcolm nearly falls off the ladder. “Dani,” he says, stepping down and turning around. “You scared me.”

His eyes fall on the person in the doorway - who is definitely not Dani.

“You’re...not Dani.”

Their suspect, Paulsen, smiles. “No, I am not,” he agrees, stepping into the room and pulling the door shut behind him. He slides the chain lock closed and switches off the lights.

“Give me your phone,” he instructs Malcolm, holding out a hand in the light of the phone’s flashlight.

“Why?”

Paulsen draws a gun from his jacket, turns off the safety, and aims it at Malcolm’s chest. “Because if you don’t, I’ll shoot you.”

Malcolm complies, handing over the phone. Paulsen turns off its flashlight, then throws it to the ground, smashing it under his foot.

“Guess I have to get a new phone now,” Malcolm complains, not terribly anxious about the whole having-a-gun-pointed-at-him thing. “I might have to see about buying a stronger one, though.”

“Shut up,” Paulsen fairly growls, stepping closer to Malcolm, until Malcolm can physically feel him standing there. He imagines the gun, aimed straight at him in the dark.

“What’s the plan here?” Malcolm whispers. “Are you really going to kill me?”

The cold metal barrel of the gun presses against his forehead. “Shut. Up.”

He shuts up. He doesn’t want to get shot. Especially not in the head.

“Now listen to me,” Paulsen says, and he’s close enough that Malcolm can feel his breath on his face. “Here’s what’s going to happen. Are you here alone?”

Malcolm nods, forehead scraping against the gun.

“Good. You’re going to leave this closet. I’ll be right behind you, so don’t think about trying anything dumb, okay?”

Malcolm nods again, swallowing hard. He can’t decide whether he wishes Dani would show up now or not.

“We’re going to walk out of here, nice and easy, down the hall, to the elevator, through the lobby. Got that?”

He nods a third time, hand starting to shake. He balls it into a fist.

“Then we are going to get into my car. I’ll drive, but this gun isn’t going to go away. You even think about running, and I’ll shoot you. Is all that clear?”

Another nod. He really doesn’t want to get into a car with this guy, but he very much believes what he’s saying. Plus, it might be a good way to understand him a little more, add information to his profile for his inevitable arrest. Which will come, Malcolm knows. Hopefully it comes before he gets shot.

They step out into the hallway, Malcolm first, the gun pressed into his back, digging into the skin with every step he takes. He feels his breath start to catch in his throat, feels his hands start to shake more, and tries desperately to stop the feeling of fear coursing through him. He’ll be fine. He’ll get out of this.

They round a corner, the elevators in sight. Just then, one of them opens, and Paulsen drags Malcolm back around the corner, pressing the gun to the back of his head. Malcolm gets the message well enough and keeps his mouth shut.

Footsteps draw near, and Paulsen curses under his breath. Malcolm’s heart is pounding now, and he has this terrible feeling that something really bad is about to happen.

Paulsen pulls him backwards as the steps get closer, backing them down the hall, putting the gun again to Malcolm’s back, and kind of leaning against him, casually, as if to disguise the presence of the gun.

The person rounds the corner, and even in the dim light, Malcolm can tell it’s Dani. She’s looking at her phone, muttering to herself, but she looks up about when she’s about halfway to Malcolm, and he sees her eyes widen in surprise.

“Bright?”

The gun presses harder still into his back. “Hey, Dani, what’s up?” he calls out, aiming for casual but failing spectacularly.

“What’s going on?”

“Who is that?” Paulsen hisses into Malcolm’s ear.

“Colleague,” Malcolm replies, eyes trained on Dani, who is watching their conversation with a look of understanding on her face.

“Make her leave,” Paulsen instructs, and Malcolm imagines his finger tightening on the trigger.

“Do you think you could maybe turn around?” he asks, trying to ignore the slight shaking of his own voice. “Just leave. Get back to the elevator, down to the lobby…”

Dani shakes her head minutely. “That’s not gonna happen,” she says, her words not directed at Malcolm. “Let him go.”

“No,” Paulsen replies, and his voice is strong, unafraid. Malcolm doesn’t like that. It’s in line with his profile of the man, which he is at this moment really wishing he’d been wrong about. The guy is ruthless, but collected, meticulous...Malcolm has a feeling that he might very well be dying tonight.

He doesn’t want to die tonight. He really doesn’t. He has to do something.

He pushes himself forwards, feeling the metal of the gun leave his back, and runs, shouting at Dani to run, too. He sees her draw her gun, hears a shot, and another, feels something hit his shoulder, sending him spinning off balance. He hits the ground with the terrible realization that he doesn’t know whose gun had gone off. Who might be hurt.

He lies there in horrible uncertainty for a couple terrible seconds, his head spinning. His shoulder feels like he’s been punched, but he knows he’s been shot. And maybe Dani has been shot, too…

He stumbles to his feet, overcome for a moment with dizziness. When his vision clears, he sees Dani on the floor, kneeling over Paulsen, cuffing him. He’s bleeding from his leg, where, evidently, Dani had shot him.

Malcolm watches silently as Dani wrestles the man to his feet and drags him along, phone to her ear, no doubt talking to Gil. She walks up to Malcolm, who instinctively backs away at the close presence of Paulsen.

“You okay?” she asks, and Malcolm can only nod. He’s not, though. He’s been shot, and he’s pretty sure it’s not serious, but he’s been shot, and for a long time he’d thought that he was going to be shot, and there had been the cold, unforgiving metal of the gun pressed to his skin to remind him of that fact, and he imagines the feeling is going to stick with him for quite some time, and his hands are shaking again and he can smell the metallic scent of his own blood, and he is overall definitely not okay. But he follows Dani and Paulsen into the elevator anyway, pressing a trembling hand to the wound on his shoulder, which, he can feel, is fortunately only a graze.

“Buses should be here any minute,” Dani says, as the group of three leave the building. “You gonna be okay til then?”

Malcolm nods again, sitting down heavily on the building’s concrete stoop. He watches Dani drag Paulsen along to stand on the curb, glad he’s farther away now. She looks down the street anxiously, and he sees her relax when the red and blue lights of police cars approach.

Malcolm feels himself relax at their presence, too, sinking his body further into the cold concrete. It’s going to be fine, he reminds himself, watching Dani hand over Paulsen to another officer. He knows it’s going to be fine.

His body doesn’t seem to care about what his brain knows, though. He’s still shaking, not just his hands, now, but the rest of him, too. He’s breathing too heavily, and he can’t stop feeling a gun pressing into his back, is hyperaware of the blood slowly dripping down his shoulder despite his hand trying to hold it back.

Dani sinks down on the step next to him and touches a hand to his arm. He startles, jerking away from her and hating himself for it.

“Hey, it’s okay,” she says reassuringly. “Paulsen’s in custody and the ambulances are less than a minute out.”

He can’t bring himself to nod this time. He feels a shaky breath catch in his throat, and before he can stop himself there are tears pooling in his eyes.

He sniffs and tries to make them go away, but it’s no use. His vision blurs up, swirling together the colors of the flashing lights around him.

“Can I touch you?” Dani asks, and he finds he would actually really like that now, so he does nod this time, and then her arm is around him, very gentle and mindful of the gunshot wound on his left shoulder. Her hand touches his back, right where the gun had been, but feeling nothing at all like the gun had.

“You’re shaking,” she points out, and carefully tugs him closer. “You cold?”

He shrugs with his right shoulder. “Not really. Just some lingering terror, I guess. Stupid.”

“Hey,” Dani says, her voice serious. “It’s not stupid to be scared. He had you at gunpoint, Malcolm. He shot you.”

“Ambulance’s here,” an officer Malcolm isn’t familiar with interrupts their conversation. “So’s Lieutenant Arroyo.”

With that information, Dani stands up, grabbing Malcolm’s right bicep and gently hauling him to his feet so he doesn’t have to let go of his shoulder. He lets her guide him to the ambulance, tears still clouding his vision. He sinks down onto a stretcher and sees Dani mouth meet you at the hospital. He nods in acknowledgement as two paramedics hover over him, asking him questions he has no idea how to answer.

“Just get moving,” he hears a wonderfully familiar voice say. “I’ll give you as much information as I’ve got, but let’s not waste time here.”

“Yes, sir,” says one of the paramedics, and with that, the ambulance doors shut and the engine starts.

“Gil,” Malcolm says, locking eyes with him from across the ambulance.

“Hey, kid,” Gil says, with a tight smile. “How you doing?”

“Not so good,” Malcolm replies, honestly. “Hurts.” In all honesty, it doesn't hurt that much, but saying it hurts is easier than explaining that he’s still scared, despite the fact that the threat has been completely removed, despite the fact that he knows he’s safe.

“I know,” Gil says, reaching out a hand and grabbing Malcolm’s bloody one. “But it’s going to be okay.”

“I know.”

“Everything is going to be okay, you understand?”

“I know.”

“Good. But don’t you think you’re off the hook for this either. We will be having a talk as soon as we get you fixed up.”

“Okay.”

They arrive at the hospital a moment later, and Malcolm’s hand frantically reaches for Gil’s when he’s pulled away.

“I’ll be right here when you wake up,” he hears Gil promise, as Malcolm is pushed through a set of doors. “We’ll be right here.”

They’ll be there for him...Gil, Dani, probably Ainsley, and his mother, maybe JT, Edrisa...the thought is enough to make Malcolm almost smile. Maybe he really is going to be okay.

thanks so much for reading this!!! i have done a lot of other writing today so this might not be like. the best. but i did have a fun time writing it! hope you liked it!

#febuwhump2021 #febuwhumpday20 #gunpoint #prodigal son #malcolm bright #at gunpoint #shot #fear #my writing #i say things

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imaginethathaikyuu · 5 years

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Hey Em! I've got a request in mind ^^ Could I get Kuroo and the buildup to and moment when he realizes that he loves his s/o (fem, if necessary)? Like they've been dating, but this is the moment it clicks? I don't really have anything more specific in mind, so let me know if this is too vague!!

anything for u, kristin! fem reader

“Hey, you’re free tomorrow, aren’t you?”

Tetsurou felt bad for asking you because he knew work has been busy lately, and he was asking you to give him your only day off.

“My cousin is getting married, and my mom said she’d kill me if I didn’t go…”

But this is what he gets for putting this off until the last second. He had tried everything to get out of this, but his mother was a serious woman. He was afraid she actually would kill him if he didn’t show up.

“I don’t really wanna go alone, so, will you be my plus one?”

You agreed to go with him with no problem. He was lucky to have you, that’s for sure, because that wedding ceremony would have been torturous without you there for emotional and mental support.

The reception, however, was a good time. Mainly because there was good food that the two of you ate quickly, and Tetsurou’s family was too busy taking photos of the newly announced wives to be bothering him about how tall he’s gotten. As if he wasn’t a 26 year old man who’s been this height for nearly ten years now.

“Tetsurou, you could’ve at least brushed your hair for this, my goodness.”

Good times can’t last forever, though. But oh how he wished they could.

His mother sat down in the empty seat next to him. That was his first mistake - leaving an opening. But around the room there was nothing but big round tables with at least six chairs at each, and he wasn’t about to sit with random family members just so he could avoid his overbearing mother.

“It is brushed, Ma, this is just the style I’m going for now. I’ve told you this.”

She scoffed at him and put her focus on you. “I’m glad to see one of you looks presentable for the wedding,” she said. “Tell me again how you reeled her in, Tetsurou?”

“I think it’s the opposite,” you said with a grin. “I’ve got him hook, line, and sinker.”

You winked at him and his mom laughed her familiar loud laugh, the one that often filled any room she was in.

“I think I agree with that,” she replied. “He’s smitten, you know.”

The less than good time became even worse when he felt a large hand clap down on his shoulder.

“There you are!” his mother said, and Tetsurou looked up to see his father was already walking toward the seat next to her.

“He needs a haircut,” the man grumbled to his wife as he sat down.

“I can hear you,” Tetsurou said, only to be ignored by the man.

“Well he’s right,” said his mom.

You spoke up again, “I don’t know if you believe it, but this isn’t just bed head, he really does style his hair this way.”

The three of you - his father included - laughed at that, and Tetsurou was less annoyed at all of you laughing at his expense and more confused about how easily you were getting along with his grumpy dad.

That’s how the reception went for a while - his girlfriend and parents making jabs at his appearance while he sat back and endured it.

Until the music started. The cheesy DJ said something about starting the evening off slow, inviting everyone to the dancefloor. And Tetsurou was ignoring it.

“Go dance with your mother,” his dad demanded, and Tetsurou sighed. So much for ignoring it.

Before he could ask the man why he couldn’t do it himself, his mom was standing up and waiting for him. Meaning he had no other choice. He looked over to you, maybe to say sorry for not being able to dance with you instead. He was expecting you’d look disappointed. But you gave him a wave and a big smile, so he shrugged and let his mother whisk him away to the dance floor.

His mom did what his mom does best: talk. She talked about the romantic ceremony, the well decorated reception, his snotty aunt and how annoying she had been, how beautiful of a couple his cousin and her new wife were. And Tetsurou did what he does best: listen to his mother. Listening was all he could do. There weren’t many silent opportunities for him to speak up.

He kept his eye on you, though. You had moved to sit next to his dad, for some reason. And somehow, his dad was smiling.

He rarely saw his dad smiling.

You were showing him something on your phone - he had no idea what it could be. But he seemed to be listening intently to whatever it was you were talking about.

This had happened at every family event he had brought you to. It wasn’t many; there was last year’s Christmas and his mom’s birthday this year - both were big deals in the Kuroo family. But at both celebrations, much like now, he noticed how well you seemed to… fit.

He was lost in thought about this, so much so that he stopped hearing a thing his mom said. And when he felt that hand on his shoulder again, it felt like a jumpscare.

“Wanna trade?” you said - you were standing next to his dad, both of you suddenly next to him. His mom laughed and happily swept her husband away, and you were left waiting for your boyfriend to do the same with you.

“Thank you,” he said. “For saving me.”

You chuckled, “what do you mean, Tetsu?”

“She was going on and on about… something,” he said. He pulled you close with his arms around your waist, and yours settled on his shoulders. “So. What were you and my dad talking about?”

“You,” you smiled. “I showed him pictures from our ski trip last month.”

Tetsurou nodded. “And he… actually listened?”

“Well, he’s the one who asked about it,” you continued. “He said you looked like a dork in the ski gear.”

Tetsurou could almost hear his dad’s words: ‘That’s my son. Dork of the year.’

“I don’t know how you do it,” he said. “How do you actually get along with them?”

You shrugged, “It isn’t that hard. They’re nice, Tetsu. And a lot like you.”

“It’s almost like you’re…”

His voice trailed off, and he was unsure of what he was going to say next. Like you’re a part of my family, that’s what he was going for. But he struggled to say it, because it was as if he’d just realized it for the first time.

For most of his adult life, his parents expectations of him finding a partner, bringing someone new into the family, creating more family members weighed heavy on his shoulders. Any time he went back home, it felt like there was something missing. And when he had brought girls home, it was more awkward than pleasant.

And usually, when those girls saw his dad’s scowl and heard his mom’s cackling, they dumped him soon after. Hell, he couldn’t even blame them for it.

But not you. You fit so naturally with him and his odd family. It was like you were really part of it. Like you were meant to have his family name. His heart was doing backflips at the thought of it - giving you his last name. Bringing you into his family. Having a wedding just like this with you one day - cheesy DJ and all.

“Tetsu?”

He cleared his throat. “Nothing,” he said. “Nothing. Uh… this is a really long song, isn’t it?”

You smiled that smile you give him when you’re seeing right through him. He sees that particular grin a lot. “What is it, Tetsurou?”

“Nothing,” he said, scoffing at your use of his full name. “It’s nothing, baby, just dance with me, alright?”

He pulled you closer, you rested your head on his shoulder, and he had a second of peace of mind before his heart was doing gymnastics again.

He’d have to propose soon, wouldn’t he?

#i hope u like it!!! o_o #i hope i didnt change it too much ahhhhh #Kuroo Tetsurou #Kuroo Tetsurou x Reader #kuroo x reader #haikyuu one shot #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu x reader #fluff #scenario

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razorblade180 · 4 years

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Sunshower 12

“Wow, That sure is a lot of you just dumped onto me.” Kali said to Ilia. The two women sat on the Belladonna porch and drunk tea, discussing the events that had transpired recently. “So, did it feel good?” The feline smiled.

Ilia slouched in her chair. “I don’t see how that is important.”

“Mmmmm I think you do.” Kali bluntly stated. “It’s definitely not the most important, but definitely top ten. Five...maybe three?”

“Can we move on from this if I answer the question?”

“Of course!” A childish smile grew on Kali, as if she was a gossiping school girl. Ilia took a long sip of her tea before looking into it. She had an answer to Kali’s question. Thinking about it was just so...much. Damn Sun, making her brain do these mental gymnastics. “It felt...gratifying. No, that’s not the word. Each time was under a different circumstance but all three times had this strange feeling I can’t quite describe. I just know the feeling wasn’t a bad one. It was very exposing, in more ways than one.”

Kali nodded, “I see. Makes perfect sense”

“What makes you say that? I sound like a riddle.”

“Yeah that’s emotions for you, they don’t make sense most of the time. Not unless you take the time to understand what causes them.” Kali watched Ilia’s face scrunch up. Kali couldn’t help but giggle. “Sorry, I don’t mean to make light of your situation by any means. I just wasn’t expecting such a face.”

“You should’ve. What exactly do you mean by ‘understand what causes them?’ I hope you’re not implying…” Ilia turned a little pink.

“Ha! That’s between you and him” Kali waved her back forth. She would never give such reckless advice, on the first go around. “All I meant was to look inward, ask the big questions you know you’re avoiding. Making mountains out of molehills is a problem both you and Blake share.”

Hearing that didn’t exactly give Ilia a warm feeling. Thinking about Blake still made her very upset. Kali caught on to the girl’s unpleasant silence.

“Sun gave off that same demeanor when he was around Blake.” Ilia snapped back into the conversation now she was looking guilty. Kali smiled softly. “Now, now, no need for that face. Like I said before, emotions take time to understand. The same way hurt needs time to heal. I do hope you both don’t remain upset with my daughter. You mean so much to her.”

Coming to Kali was a good idea. Her words were always so understanding. Neptune had been doing a good job but it felt good to have a more familiar face to confide in. Judy would’ve been good if she wasn’t so….Judy all the time.

“I know. The problem was she meant more to me than I did her, but I’d rather not get into that at the moment. Let’s back pedal a bit. What do you personally think would be a good way to start sorting things out?”

“You see I’m more of a full throttle kind of woman, but that might be too much for you.”She laughed lewdly, emotions make themselves known in the heat of the moment.”

Ilia was once again rethinking her decision to tell Kali. “Please be serious.”

“I am!!!” Kali exclaimed, her tea almost spilling. “That’s up to you though. It gets results though.” More pink spread on Ilia’s face. “Kali, that’s not an option! In case you have forgotten, I’m me!”

“So?”

“What do you mean so? Sun is outside my particular wheelhouse. That would be weird, completely out of the question.”

“Yet here you are, telling me he’s taken you to bed.”

“Hey, I took him to bed. Not the other way around.” Ilia corrected.

“Sweetie you are only making my point more valid.”

“I...well...that doesn’t change anything! Listen this is uncharted territory for me and it’s for good reason. Guys don’t do it for me. Never have, never will. Connecting, confiding, simply just being myself; I’ve learned a long time ago who brings those out of me. It would be insensitive to Sun if I toyed with him in such a way. He’s a good guy, a friend. He’s my friend.” Those words made her smile. It was nice to call him a friend. So why did it make her feel selfish too. Inconsiderate even.

Kali kept carefully watching the girl as she poured more tea. Though Ilia was fairly mature for her age, Kali had to remember most of it came from experience derived from sorrow. Outward forces had shaped her. It was tough to say just how much internal self reflection she’s done, but Kali was positive the subject of romantic feelings was one Ilia had a thorough rasp on. Still, like everyone, there’s always a few things that get overlooked or haven’t been explored yet.

“You have a good point, You would know yourself better than anyone else would. I bet this is a topic you’ve had with yourself countless times. Yet I can’t but wonder….” her voice trailed off, confusing Ilia.

“Wonder what?”

“The world is a big place with countless people. Plenty of which fall into groups we don’t usually find ourselves associating with. Like how the White Fang. Many members chose a side that resonated with them, but it didn’t mean there weren’t a few who looked on the opposing side and saw someone and felt connected with. Haven is proof of that. You’re proof of that. I know I may be out of line and even far too presumptuous, but is it too crazy to think one person who doesn’t fit into your usual ‘wheelhouse’ might work just as well; that a single boy out of billions could...invoke feelings of some kind?

Ilia didn’t know how to respond to a question like that. She wasn’t even sure if she followed the logic correctly. It had to be false though, right? One out of two consistencies in her life had already been toppled over when she turned traitor. She was so sure about Adam’s actions. Her actions, but those were called into question; until eventually she realized the cracks in those beliefs. This was different though. It wasn’t political, it was personal. Ilia knew who she was in that regard. If she didn’t then…

“If you’re right, then what does that say about me?” Ilia clenched her teacup,cracking it from the pressure from her anxious hands. She didn’t know why but she could feel herself tear up. “I’ve never known anything about myself my entire life? That can’t be true.”

“It isn’t. It just means you’re growing. What you know is gaining more knowledge.”

“That’s frustrating. It’s downright upsetting, and scary.”

“Sounds like to me you just understood your feelings”

Ilia let out a small gasp. Her eyes widened, shocked about the way Kali had gotten an inkling of Ilia’s complex feelings figured out.

Kali took Ilia by the hand. “Now then, what are you going to do with that knowledge?”

“The million lien question. Doing nothing would be the terrible option huh?” Ilia rubbed her chin, putting critical thought into what her next moved to be. “I guess…”

xxxx

“You’re skipping out on tonight!?” Judy blurted out.

Ilia put her hand over the cops mouth to silence them. “Shhhh! Why are you being so loud!? I don’t think Dan wants to hear you from the kitchen!”

The waiter in question walked out with sparking mugs filled with coffee for the table of four. “Don’t worry, one more loudmouth doesn’t sound that much different from three.”

“Damn Daniel, you gonna shoot us like that? I thought we were friends? Especially after my tip.” Neptune said. He clenched his chest dramatically as if he was actually offended. Judy laughed.

“Wow goggles, couldn’t get it on with me last night so Dan got the tip instead? I respect that. Everyone’s head turned to Judy in shock, except Ilia. She slowly put her head down to cringe. How was her parole officer the least mature person here?

“Dan I think I need a little more caffeine in mine after dealing with that exhausting remark.”

“What if I put cream-” he cut himself off. He could see the corner of Judy’s lips start to turn up. “Sugar cubes, I’ll dump sugar cubes in yours.”

Ilia gave him a thumbs up and he went on his way. “As I was saying, I’m actually just going to stay home this time around. When the partying starts. A night to recuperate, have me time.” She took a long sip from her mug. It was hard to tell if it was the mental workout or the one in her home that had her tired. This caught Sun’s attention, along with her statement. He was pretty sure that this involved him. Good or bad, now that was a little bit harder to read, but he thought best not to pry. He could use a little me time as well.

“Okay, I hope it goes well.” He said. It caught Ilia a little off guard by the look she gave him. She wasn’t sure how he’d take that news most likely. Ilia smiled and nodded at him. Yeah, they were alright. That’s all Sun really needed to know.

“Did you two have sex?” Judy said, cutting back into the conversation the best way she knew how. Neptune choked on his coffee while Sun’s brain turned to static, an option that was safer than saying something he might regret. Ilia’s eyes looked like they were going to pop out of her head. Somehow she managed to maintain the usual color of her skin, but that didn’t stop the heat rising to her face.

“Judy!” She shouted, “Why would you say that!?”

The cop shrugged, “It’s a valid question. You look tired, both of you were together for who knows how long, and anything is possible.”

“He’s not my type.” Ilia could feel herself saying that a lot in the future. It was the truth, but it made her feel a little bit of an ass. Like she was dismissing Sun in an ugly way.

Judy wasn’t convinced though and for good reason. “Ilia I’m not your type either but that hasn’t stopped us from some crazy nights.” Judy saw everyone’s jaw drop.

Neptune had barely recovered from her earlier question. “I’m...I’m sorry, you two have slept together?” He coughed.

“Oh yeah, Ilia and go way back. Oh I could tell stories.”

“Which you won’t!” Ilia said, now blushing.

“Don’t be ashamed. I’m irresistible. You could only survive so much of my flirting. I had a way of pushing your buttons, along with flipping switches.”

Sun raised an eyebrow. “Switches?”

“What kind?” Neptune added.

“Can you not!?” Ilia felt like she was going to die. How did she surround herself with three people that constantly put her in weird situations. What made it worse was Sun being at the table!

Judy could tell how badly Ilia wanted this to stop. The opportunity was too good to pass up. “You’re looking pretty flushed. We’re all friends here.” Judy pointed to themself. “Some people enjoy cuffs and a good hair tug.” Judy rubbed her leg against Neptune’s to make him blush nervously. Hopefully he’d remember that. Judy shifted their eyes to Ilia and mumbled. “Others like their butt-”

Ilia covered Judy’s mouth so fast, the embarrassment too much to handle. She didn’t even attempt to look at Sun or Neptune, who clearly knew where that headed. Neptune looked at Sun with intrigued eyes. Sun could only blush and shake his head no. If Judy was paying attention then she would’ve noticed the silent confession to her question earlier.

“Why are you doing this to me?” Ilia asked

Judy looked at the girl’s hand, which was still on their face until it was removed to reveal a smile. “Easy, I like seeing you be so expressive. You’ve been so down on yourself and less colorful until recently. I don’t know what’s changed but I’m glad the Ilia that does community service then goes home to sleep is slowly going away. The white fang was bad, but it made you lively at least.”

That was more of an answer than Ilia expected. Had she been less lively? Sure she had gotten into a pretty boring routine, but topping organized crime is almost impossible. Most things are boring once you do that. Ilia scratched the back of her head. “Be that as it may, can you not bring up the past like that. I don’t air your dirty laundry.”

“Ilia, do you have clean laundry?” Judy chuckled.

“You…” It was hard arguing against the truth. “Stop picking on me! Why are you this exhausting?” Ilia deflated. Judy rubbed her back to comfort her as if she wasn’t the reason for this! “First you weaken me and now you’re building me up?”

“Lighten up. Say, if you aren’t going to the party tonight then let’s all go to the beach right now to have fun. A lot of people party hard so it should be less crowded.

“Can we do something inland?” Neptune asked politely. All he got was judgmental looks. “Y’all are so mean.”

“Nobody is making you get in the water dude.” Sun pointed out. “You will probably get wet by the end of this, but life be like that sometimes.”

“That doesn’t make me want to go!!!”

“The beach sounds nice.” Ilia said, thinking about the opportunity to relax on the sand. “I’m not changing into a swimsuit though.” Ilia has a feeling if Judy saw a possible hickey or bruise then more questions would be asked.

“Are you sure about that?” Judy smirked.

“Yes, I’m not wearing one.”

xxxx

“Do my choices mean nothing to you.” Ilia groaned, wearing a swimsuit. Judy had somehow got her to wear a black bikini with gold stitching. She had managed to wear a black cover up skirt that matched. It actually looked pretty nice, but Ilia wasn’t going to admit that. Judy was too busy having fun in her red two piece to notice Ilia had made her own skin a little darker to hide a hickey on her chest and shoulder. “Sun needs to stop biting so hard.” Ilia thought. It took a few minutes to register what she just thought. “Wait, why am I talking like there’s gonna be a next time!?”

“You okay?” Said the man in question. Sun wore navy blue swim trunks. The upside about always having your shirt open is your always beach ready. He sat next to Ilia on her beach towel as they watched Judy mess with Neptune, who was wearing red trunks.

“I’m fine. A little surprised that Neptune owns trunks.”

“Those are just my other pair. So, I don’t mean to pry…”

“I don’t want to talk about my kinks.” She blushed.

“What? I was gonna talk about skipping the party.”

“Oh… right.” She wanted to kick herself. “Forget what I just said.”

“Okay.”

“I’m serious! We are never discussing that, Sun Wukong. So don’t get any weird ideas.” Ilia elbowed him.

“You told me not to go down on you. If that’s the line then in what world do I get to crazier stuff.”

“That’s fair. Yeah I think it is best to spend some time alone later tonight. No offense to you or anything but-”

“I get it. Take your time.” Sun laid on his back and closed his eyes to enjoy the rays.

“Will do, thanks.” Ilia noticed just how calm he was about most of this. It made her a little envious honestly. “You’re taking this well.”

“Am I? I might look like it, but I feel a little anxious. Even now. Is that normal?”

“You are asking the wrong girl. Normal has never applied to me in any part of my life. That’s on me though.”

“Crime is the spice of life.”

“Is that how you justify stealing?”

“Hehe, maybe. You should try it.” He joked.

“I did, your virginity.” Ilia looked down to see Sun look at her with the most ‘why are you like this’ look ever. She couldn’t help but laugh, which made him smile.

“This is nice.” He sat up. “I like our talks.”

“Yeah, me too. Who would’ve thought you’d be good at conversations?”

“Uhh me?” Sun bluntly stated, pointing to himself. “Remember, I’m the one who kicked Blake back into high spirits! My positivity is infectious!”

“Let’s hope that’s the only infectious thing.”

“Wh-you literally just mentioned taking my-”

“Hey you two!”

A voice cut him off from behind. Sun and Ilia turned around and had their sunny moment get a little dimmer. Blake and Yang stood with beach gear and in bikinis. Each wearing the other’s color. “Fancy seeing you two here.” Yang cheerfully said.

“Mind if we join you?” Blake smiled, genuinely happy to see two of her favorite people. “We haven’t spent time together yet.”

The pair of confused friends looked at each other, then back at Blake and Yang. No time like the present. They could only avoid things for so long. Ilia tensed up a little but was jolted out of it the moment Sun’s tail discreetly rubbed her ankle. It was oddly tension releasing.

“Sure.” She nodded, “let’s chat.”

Part 11

#rwby #rwby sunshower #rwby sunspots #kali belladonna #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #neptune vasilias #sun wukong #ilia amitola #sun x ilia #rwby au

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thattimdrakeguy · 4 years

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I’m writing this fic about the Batfamily and I’m afraid of writing them as OOC. If you are able to, could you please give some tips on each of the Batfam’s personalities and characteristics? To specify, Dick, Jason, Tim, Steph, Cass, Babs, Damian, and Duke are the characters I’m using. It would be really helpful! Thank you!!

This is a tricky question, because I don’t know the story of your fic to help you in any specific way. So if after this you wanna DM me for more specific help on how to work things out, I’ll be there to help you right away unless I’m doing something, but I have no plans.

I’m going to go from easiest for me to do to least easiest, because I obviously know Tim the best, but even then, it’s hard, because going off the character’s you are choosing, it’s set during the part of the timeline were he went OOC, but I’ll do my best just to say his general character so you can use that as a base for things. Like how he was developed in his origin and all that, and notable characteristics he’s had as he grew while still in character. With some that even if they weren’t around with some of those characters, would apply to them.

His is also going to be the longest, like way too long, because he’s a way more nuanced and complex character than anyone ever gives him credit for. So he takes a lot longer to explains by a freaking large margin. Like sorry if it’s too big, I just kept saying more as more came to mind because I feel like his nuances are what makes him interesting and easy to right. Once you get a hang of his nuances, and you get used to it, it makes it easier to put yourself into his mindset to how he works, which makes him easier to write as well.

(THIS IS AN INCREDIBLY LONG POST, AND I APOLOGIZE. I just really wanted to be thorough and give contexts to stuff. It’s less of tips and more of an overly long description of what I know about each character and what’s in-character and what’s not going off of how the character’s were developed to be, and not counting the out of character writing. So really sorry about this being so freaking long)

Tim:

Tim’s origin right off the back is having met Dick at a very very young age, I don’t think he could even strongly walk yet, so I’mma say three. He was instantly attached to Dick, he just admired him instantly just for giving him affection. He was his hero. But he was also there the day Dick’s parents died, which traumatized Tim and gave him nightmares for years. But being able to remember that night so thoroughly, he remembered a specific move that Dick could do that very few could, and that’s how he found out Dick was Batman, and logically, Bruce Wayne was Batman.

There’s a large misconception that as a little kid, Tim followed Batman and Robin around, but that was not the case. At least not physically and literally followed them around. Closest being when I believe he happened to come across Batman in his origin story, and purposely did his best detective work to figure out where Dick would be.

As shown several times but most strongly in his origin, but wasn’t as strong the more he went on, he’s sort of socially oblivious to what’s considered normal or not, or what other people are thinking of him.

For instance he just knocked on Starfire’s and Dick’s apartment, asked Kori (Starfire) if Dick was home because he needed his help, and when she said no, just bolted even when Kori asked his name. Just concerning the crap out of her. Even when he first met Dick, he just wouldn’t say his name because “NO TIME”, he just squirmed around place to place on his bike being completely oblivious of himself. In his first miniseries he searches up information on Clyde (a former government agent he saved and befriends) that he shouldn’t have, unaware that that’d obviously be crossing a line for some people. Even taking his girlfriend to a car show, where there was a lot of bikini models around, and it didn’t even occur to him what it’d look like he was there for. He was just genuinely bubbly to see the cars.

He doesn’t do any of those sorts of things out of malice, he’s always just presented as being incredibly oblivious of himself quite a bit. Most likely from not having his parents around that much as his childhood progressed, and typically just living in boarding schools, or with a nanny. So he didn’t really developed right as one interpretation, and another being (that was actually almost confirmed if it wasn’t for Tim getting a writer before another could say it) is that he’s on the Autism spectrum. Which is technically verified, as he has many symptoms of Asperger’s. But that isn’t technically canon, as it never got to be officially said. But it’s valid enough.

Tim’s main strength is his detective work, he also knows how to use a computer to his advantage. Many modern comics act as if Tim is a master hacker who could hack into anything. But he actually mostly used them for detective work, and small hack jobs, some of which he failed. He seemed to have learned more about hacking from Barbara, or at least some what implied, as Babs let him help her build a big computer, or something of that sort.

He also took karate as a kid, and is implied to have also taken gymnastics. It’s stated that he’s actually really good at gymnastics by Alfred in Tim’s origin, but his fighting skills, despite the karate lessons he had previously taken, isn’t as good as the others. Hence his staff, and having to be clever in how he goes about a fight.

How Tim operates as far as emotionally or mentally depends too. Sometimes he’ll go straight from the heart and get himself in trouble, but other times he’ll take his time to really plan something out for himself on the spot. It depends on how his emotions are at the time. If he was just picked on or beat up, he’ll be more agitated, and if something really really bad that happened, he just go so far in he just beats the crap out of everyone as bad as he can. As shown by trying to apprehend someone that shot someone he knew at school, or Batman betraying his trust (in an honestly out of character story). If he’s calmer though, or at least doing his best to be, he’ll use his brain more before he starts. I think his talents in planning have been overstated for ages, because while he’s good at it, he’s not exactly the greatest or overall good. Just enough to work fine enough to get the job done.

One of his biggest mental weakness’s, is his constant insecurity. Somethings that’s so constantly on his mind is letting someone down, rather it be Batman or his dad Jack, or even Nightwing, or his team. The reason why Tim acted so different and more of a seriously brooding personality in Young Justice, was because he was so insecure about not having powers that he thought he had to push himself to his limits. So he used some Batman leadership tactics, and fought harder than he ever fought before just to seem like he was even worth having around. When by himself though, it’s more of a sadness, an upset feeling in his gut. Tim has anxiety about things, rather or not he’s good enough. He’s not a super confident person when it comes to himself. He doesn’t think much of him.

One editorial person answering fan questions in the back of comics as they used to, even described Tim as meek. He doesn’t brag or think much of himself as super according to it.

He’s also stated and shown to be internally scared quite a bit, even shaking when he first got his own Robin suit. Another occasion saying the cold water might excuse his shivering. Which goes along with his anxiety.

Another thing about him that is more low-key and not as noticed, is how Tim, even though he clearly thinks of himself as a kid, heck even the letter column above says so, he has also said since being Robin he’s never had time to be a kid. But he is also still a kid.

As they specified his voice a bit more, he tended to use heck, Holy crud, dang, fudge, weenie, and even Pus Bucket (a reference to Ghost Busters) as his choice of cussing (if that even remotely counts).

And even if it’s not noticeable at first, is shown as having a secret teddy bear that he kept hidden under his mattress so I assume no one would see it.

He’s also a pretty innocent kid despite what all he sees. His mind doesn’t go to the gutter. He trusts people far faster than he should, even trusting Lady Shiva, the world’s most dangerous woman and know criminal right away.

Even Tim’s step-mother saying so out-loud. Showing that this is also the case in his personal life as well.

It also goes along with his social obliviousness. This stuff being rounded into not having any street smarts, which was a main theme for Tim directly in his first miniseries. As well as being naive.

Of course as life went on that wasn’t the case as much, but in the above screenshot, Dana (his step-mom) is saying that as Tim is already 16.

Tim in-general also being a super hero fanboy. As a kid he watched the news, clipped out the papers on them, collected, and even drew his own Batman art (and potentially) others to put on his wall.

Tim’s general behavior while socializing also depends on his emotions at the time. He’s normally very nice and friendly, when not super depressed or down on himself he’s bubbly. But he’s also still a kid, he can pout when he’s hurt, and passive aggressive to people he doesn’t like. Examples being, literally not listening to a jock that picks on his friends, an over-arrogant jerk he met in France, and even Steph because she kept being reckless and flirting with him when he didn’t like it.

Nothing straight up insults, but just generally passive aggressive, give them a clue he doesn’t like them very much even if it never worked. He just wants them to go away, unless they’re a straight up bully. Tim, if it’s no one he specifically knows that will invade his personal life, will beat up bullies. He really can’t stand a bully.

Another thing about Tim is that even though he’s an introvert typically, he’s also not very shy. A shy kid wouldn’t travel miles on a bike (and I freaking hope busses) to meet someone he barely knows because he believes in Batman needing a Robin. He also stands up to bullies, and unless he’s really uncomfortable could talk to about anyone. He even slept in only his briefs and undershirt in the house of someone he doesn’t know, with two people he also barely knows. With that example also probably adding up to the socially oblivious part of his personality.

As far as his relationships go, he canonically thinks of the Bat-Family as his family. Dick calls Tim his little brother, Babs treats Tim as her baby brother as well as acting like his/ Aunt/ Mom depending on the situation (I think Tim fell asleep on her couch after eating pizza while using his cape as a blanket and drooling. So Mom’s a stretch but still), Bruce is his distant but still father figure, Alfred is his grandpa (who he actually plays video games with), even Cass to an extent treating Tim as a baby brother as well.

He is very much the baby of the family. And Tim talks to them about personal stuff (bar Cass cause he was scared of her in the beginning), most of them from Alfred and Dick, to the mute hunchback in the Batcave Harold (who is a real character and I love him). He was always collecting advice from where ever he could get it.

He’s also intensely morally operated. He hates killing. He said he took an oath to let himself be killed before ever killing, getting PTSD from feeling responsible for a death, and even crying when he had genuinely thought Bruce killed someone.

As far as how he tries to present himself, he is constantly doing his best to take everything as seriously as he can, even shunning himself when he starts to stop taking things as serious, he wants to be seen as serious, trustworthy, and reliable desperately so he doesn’t let anyone down. He is constantly hard of himself, and is always trying to be what he thinks Batman wants him to be. Which is were a lot of his anxieties from. Even trying to think of what Batman or Dick would do because he regards them so highly. Even calling Bruce the great man he’s ever known I believe during one of his post-origin pre-Robin appearances.

He’s naive and oblivious of himself, as well as childish in some areas (I think his nanny yelled at him once for it), but overall what he tries to hardest at is taking everything seriously as possible, and using his brain as much as he can. He may not be the most mature, often actually handling situations very immaturely, but he does his best to at least seem like he’s mature, and to an extent he actually can be genuinely very mature, or at least as much as a naive oblivious child can be.

Dick:

This ones a lot shorter probably, because I don’t read him as much, but still have a good handle on him.

I think he’s a character very few always write correctly, because they ride too much into the friendly, compassionate guy. Which, compassion being his main motivator in how he goes about as much as he can, and he’s incredibly friendly, he’s also a very angsty and angry person deep down.

He’s a perfectionist, a trait fics tend to give to Tim more, but actually belongs to Dick. He gets really hard on himself when he thinks he messed something up badly, having nightmares over it, he doesn’t like himself when he messes up something badly. And even if he’s not a naturally angry person, when he is angry, he can be VERY VERY angry.

And until Batman writers in the early 00s started it, I wouldn’t even had considered him all that chatty. He had some jokes in him, was very light hearted when not in distress or mad, but as he was developed by Marv Wolfman, who basically created the Dick that has remained the base for him ever since, he was relatively a generally calm guy when he wasn’t emotional.

He was polite, a charming guy, the type of person you want to bring home to your parents basically. He dressed well. Did his best to keep people accommodated.

He wasn’t a goofy, constant jokester that’d talk your ear off or keep begging for hugs.

He��s not that kind of guy. He’s just a gentlemen.

He’s also not that much of a thot. He’s a “wait till it’s right” sort of guy when it comes to sex.

He’d do anything in the world he could to make sure his friends felt right too, and that they were okay.

But all this doesn’t mean he’s not just a one note personality. Depending on how bad he feels like he messed up, he’ll distance himself from people, stop caring as much about his appearance, get more violent and mean. He also doesn’t take well to Batman’s nonsense, he’s probably the person he got specifically mad at the most. He didn’t like the way Batman went about stuff after a while. He had complicated feelings towards him.

Despite people nowadays just thinking of Dick being Batman’s son officially, adopted, end of. That wasn’t exactly their relationship. Dick had a complicated relationship with Bruce. Part of him looked at Bruce as a big brother, and another half a dad, and he wasn’t even adopted, just a ward. Something that Dick was actually quite insecure about, till apparently he got adopted as a grown adult man (which I dunno is true or an edit, but I’ve seen it somewhere).

Dick’s relationship with Tim is pure big bro baby bro. He was very protective of Tim, calling him the closest thing to a brother he ever had, and little brother, before they were ever even officially brothers. He’d push Tim out of the way in times of big trouble, make him stand back, ruffled his hair all the time, and loved teasing him. But when they started off, Dick just sort of thought Tim was a weird annoying kid, given that Tim was acting so screwy during his origin, Dick really didn’t know what to make of him, but the closer they got, they got very very close. Dick cared a lot about Tim a ton once they got accommodated. Tim would even call Dick on the phone just to talk to him about anything from his day to his problems. Tim could count on Dick to help when ever he could. Tim was Dick’s dweebie baby brother who he took care of when needed. Even teaching Tim how to wash clothes personally since Tim didn’t have a clue.

I don’t think him and Jason really had a relationship. He gave him a number to talk about stuff like Robin angst, and a few pics show they hanged out at least once or twice, but nothing suggests they were close. It seems like Dick was hard on himself, because Jason died before they could get close. After the Red Hood, Dick’s just kind of a-- dick to Jason, and Tim was too, but I don’t consider that in-character. Neither Tim nor Dick would be even remotely okay about the killing, but I can’t picture them treating him like he’s a joke and less than trash. Too much emotional baggage there. Tim would be distant to Jason, and Dick would be uncomfortable and conflicted. That’s my guesses on a more accurate relationship.

Dick’s always had a really big crush on Babs ever since he was a kid to the point they were stuck in a small area together and Dick lost dignity over-- I dunno, puberty effecting him. There’s no way I can put that that’s comfortable. But Dick has a crush on Babs, that got put into a romantic relationship both ways when they aged down Babs, but for some people the relationship is relatively gross because of the age gap, and feeling the need to age down a character like Babs, who just looked at Dick like a kid, to just date him. It’s complicated, and I dunno enough about them besides that exactly. I’m not the guy to ask on that.

He doesn’t have a proper relationship with either Duke or Steph, but it doesn’t seem like Dick’s ever been the fondest of Steph. And Duke’s new, and they only ever been around each other in fan service moments. So I don’t think he has a real actual relationship with Duke.

Dick and Cass despite I don’t think ever being shown much together, also had a sweet relationship. With Dick doing his best to make sure his sister (before she was adopted, but Dick treated her as one nevertheless much like Tim as Dick’s baby brother) was comfortable, acting goofy, and to me coming across as if he’s always really wanted a sister. But they weren’t super close, but there’s enough there to say that they easily could become close.

Dick and Damian was mentor mentoree, and to a large extent Dick was Damian’s father figure as Bruce was dead. As written by Damian’s creator, Dick didn’t seem to like Damian at all in the beginning, but as Dick could realize and understand his responsibilities more, they did gain a closer bond. Dick would put Damian in line (besides when bad writers were too afraid to make Damian seem like he’s in the wrong fully), sometimes even the hard way, and could be very proud of him. They aren’t big bro little bro like how some current writers act for pandering purposes. But they did grow to be close, even if Damian’s naturally really emotionally distant. Dick always wanted the best for Damian, even if he couldn’t always handle it the right way or knew what to do. He was a guy in his early to mid 20s with the responsibilities of reraising a 10 year old kid that was raised and abused by a cult, who can blame him.

Damian

I’m kind of just getting Damian out of the way, because to be frank, he’s been a really crappily written character since his origin, because he personality just absolutely switches between every writer, and he’s just so badly written that way.

But I’ll go off of what I believe to be what his writer wanted, since that’s the most accurate you can get.

Damian was raised and abused in a cult. That dictates a lot of how he thinks.

He was not close to his mother (which is out of character for Talia, and they later switched that after the reboot, but to be frank if Talia was always in-character Damian wouldn’t exist as we know him. He’d be a total different person and character). And he seemed to despise the way his dad goes about things. He seemed very indifferent and had his mood set to angry in general when he first met.

Which made it all the weirder when an issue later Damian seems to want his parents to be together, despite making it clear he doesn’t even like or think much of either one of them at all.

He was also very entitled, because despite being treated as an experiment some of the time, he was also treated as a prince the other half of the time. He thought the world was his, and he deserved everything.

He nearly killed Tim because he thought he deserved being Robin, as Tim was just adopted and not a “real” son. Seemingly he thought that was what he had to do to have his dad accept him and treat him as he thought he should.

He also seems to think he’s above Jason as well.

He’s also shown as sexist and homophobic.

He was brash and reckless about everything. Had a talented in just about everything just because of how he was raised, and goes off on his own to do stuff, because I assume he thinks everyone else holds him back.

After Dick though, Damian learned to not be a murderer (which I also think he might’ve learned before cause he wants to live with Bruce, It’s a little weird and not given enough time to actually be developed fully in an easy to digest way. Which is another reason why I think he’s such a poorly written character), also more reserved, and reckless.

As he was originally intended, he was very tall and not cute. His height being around 5′2 to 5′4 at age 10. Meaning he was an inch taller than Tim was at 13 when Damian was 10 off of that first one, and only an inch shorter than Tim at the age he met him, where Tim was 17 going on 18. It may not be drawn that way, but you also have to remember this is 00s and beyond era DC Comics were Tim despite being described as looking 12 got drawn as big as Dick sometimes. Don’t always use the art to go off of certain information. I say he wasn’t intended to be cute, because there’s a scene were he was at a gala, where a woman clearly wanting to gold-dig Gotham City’s most eligible Bachelor Bruce Wayne by getting close to her son, but she immediately backed away when she saw him.

Which sounds harsh, but Damian’s also basically the “anti-Robin”, he was everything a Robin wasn’t meant to be and he was intended to just die and that’s it. Hence why he was with Dick to keep the Batman and Robin dynamic intact, just in reverse. As you can see, they completely forgot what made Damian interesting when his character gained some consistency with his creator.

Damian’s development was that he grew a actual caring heart even if he still carried the generally same personality. He was dismissive of people, sexually harassed Steph, was generally anti-social-esque.

And honestly because every writer after (even the one everyone seems to think is his best writer, which I massively agree times a billion and infinite more) just kept reverting him, again and again, even when they wrote stories with character development, it was gone again. And applied a whole bunch of traits that aren’t like Damian in the slightest, so if you pay attention. Ya can tell Damian’s not Damian, he’s literally not even a shell of his self. They just painted another one to look kind of like him, and even then they don’t do that because he freaking looks completely different some of the time. They botched him so much.

But that was the main thing about Damian.

I think one reason he got close to Dick and no one else was because Damian from his origin (no matter how poorly written they showed it), always wanted to have a proper parent. Which it seemed he could never have. And Dick grew to serve that purpose, as Dick was the one teaching him lessons, and making sure he was actually safe.

But of course later on DC Comics literally forgot everything that was letting him slowly become a better character. So that sucks.

I partially came into this fandom because of Damian. So when I actually got to read him, I was so freaking miserable after. I genuinely wanted to like him so bad, even voicing that to people I was chatting too as I read the comics, but I literally just couldn’t see why anyone cared for his comics. I don’t think any of them are fully well-written.

But it did help me grasp what Damian’s suppose to be like as I could tell what he’s suppose to be and not suppose to be, much like how I learned about Tim’s actual personality vs the one writers that don’t care about him write.

Steph

Just doing this one to get a more negatively centered one out of the way, because I struggle to find any personality traits I deem actually likable when put under context.

Because she’s full of her self, reckless, cynical, more or less sexually harassed Tim, kissing him against his wishes (and before ya say Tim did that first. it’s a little less offensive when Tim didn’t do it sexually or romantically. That was just for a dumb trope. A reward kiss. It’s still gross, but it’s a different context that’s less directly offensive), goes behind people’s backs sometimes, can be emotionally abusive, and shows signs of physically abusive.

So I don’t exactly find her super likable. And her spot in the Bat-Family was so contrived, that often nowadays I just don’t pay attention her anymore, but in fairness a lot of that’s just cause she has crazy stans that start fights that were barely there, be hypocritical, and group bully folks. So it’s relatively hard for me to wanna look at her these days.

But to be more specific before she seems like an actual freaking demon woman or what ever. Some of that doesn’t come across as bad compared to what it could be. Besides the emotional abuse, that was just a thing and the comics and people just elected to ignore it even though that was written by her creator.

She’s reckless in a way where she clearly doesn’t have proper training to make sure no one or herself gets hurt. She’s been shown causing herself to get hurt or underestimate stuff. She also doesn’t listen to people that know more about what they do, and she usually relies on luck to get by.

She’s full of herself, because she more or less says she’s an adrenaline junkie, and might just be beating up bad guys because she finds it really fun and exciting. She likes the thrill. And tries to put a title of super hero on herself sometimes, because she tries to seem heroric as she does it. She also does it to make up for her dad, which is more admirable, but behavior wise and focus wise it’s more pinned on her just being an adrenaline junkie.

She also just constantly just flirt with Tim even when he didn’t want it. Which is what sexual harassment is. She also kissed him for her own satisfaction twice, once nearly getting them both killed cause people were shooting at them, and another as them and other people were close to freezing to death because they were stuck under snow. That kind of behavior able to be under sexual assault given the context for her kisses was just for herself. Even the time she tried to say it was to make up for Tim’s reward kiss, she quickly makes it obvious it was just because she’s very sexually attracted to him.

She also just nearly lets criminals die a lot because “What’s one more life”, and seems to not care much for the lesson of not killing, specifically her dad. Like she still has the moral standard not to kill, but compared to the others it’s not one she takes as serious. She learned her lesson on being cynical, but it’s still ingrained in her personality.

I also have a whole very long post on why her relationship with Tim doesn’t work, and how she was abusive. I don’t feel like going over that again but that’s a thing.

Besides Tim she has no real relationship with the others besides Cass, which is another relationship I don’t fully understand, because Steph borderline insults her, and Cass thinks she gets in the way so much she just fractures Steph’s jaw to knock her out. They gave them some admittedly cute moments, but it’s never felt right to me. Always felt forced and pandery, but it’s a thing. They’ve played tag each other, and talked about how both of their parents are abusive.

She also had one with in Batgirl, but the best I can describe that is, she helps Steph so she doesn’t hurt herself, and she can be pretty gruff sometimes, but is also caring. it’s just kind of a been there done that sort of thing.

A lot of Batgirl is sort of forced. Bat-Family has reasonable criticisms of her, writer does something to make them more unlikable so readers still like Steph, Steph proves them wrong, they respect her. It’s a formula for a few stories in her Batgirl run.

People have also said her and Damian have a sibling relationship, but I don’t agree with that. Damian sexually harassed her and kept looking at her boobs. Damian had a crush on her, but he was also a stubborn entitled jerk to her. Steph just got back at Damian by making him dress as a normal kid to embarrass him, and when she saw Damian never played before got him to jump on a bouncy castle. Besides generic banter that’s about it. And given Damian’s personality, they never did anything like that bouncy castle thing again. It’s a really big stretch to call that sibling-like. And even the stuff you could stretch is still doesn’t pay attention to the Damian talking about her boobs constantly thing. Parts of it was just pandery, as a lot of that Batgirl run was.

So I don’t overall have a good opinion of her. She’s perseverance and doesn’t give up, and won’t take no for an answer, but given the context it’s not in a good way besides saving Tim’s and others lifes a few times.

Babs

Despite having read her a lot I don’t know her a lot, because she’s typically always the other character in things. The lady that gets the information.

So I only know a few things about her.

She has the perseverance and won’t take no traits, but in a more positive context. She has no use of her legs but that doesn’t stop her from fighting crime and helping people.

She’s a serious, and mature personality. Every case is very seriously to her, besides a few Tim got into because they were just very goofy.

She can also joke a lot. She has a very teasing personality in her as well. Especially with Tim, she seemed to find Tim really cute and loved teasing him.

I pretty much only have panels of her and Tim besides a rare few maybe, cause as I said she’s mostly a side character helping out.

I have read Birds of Prey but that was possible a year or two ago, and I didn’t really pay attention so I’m not as sure.

She’s very leaderly, and will direct the traffic so to say. She’s a magnificent detective and hacker. Stands up for herself. Inquisitive. Her mind always seems to be thinking of the next thing to think about.

She’s a character I can’t talk about as well without it being one dimensional.

Cass

Cass is another character I don’t have the best grasp on but been trying to learn because she’s probably my second favorite Batkid even if I don’t understand her as strongly. But I do get a lot of her basic personality, and a bit of the nuances, even if I’m not ultra confident on it yet.

She’s quirky, she knows how to tease, but she can also be a bit objective based unless she’s bored it seems, like she does watch TV, but when she has a goal she will not stop until the goal is done. She’s a fully compassionate person as well, she sees little kid needing help, she helps little kid.

Also given her upraising she can be more socially oblivious than anyone else, even Tim. She’s walked around an apartment she was sharing with others butt naked. I think she accidentally flirted with Babs (not a shippy thing, it’s a, Cass said a thing she didn’t understand thing), because she couldn’t tell the difference between a platonic thing and cheesy romantic thing as she watched TV.

She doesn’t always listen. She will just beat by her own drum unless she believes in something someone else said more.

Given her mind wasn’t raised to be socializing, a lot of this stuff makes sense and is kind of obvious when you think about it.

Cass can also be very stubborn when she has a goal, even when it’s against someone else’s wishes.

She’s mostly been a loner by herself, but she has grown to seem to genuinely like having company around to bond with.

She’s been shown being protective of Tim. Literally carrying him out of a fight zone.

Babs’s is more or less her mom.

Dick and Steph’s I’ve described before.

Distant with Alfred, but Alfred will occasionally drop by to help out. They’re still carrying if they aren’t as connected as others.

Not gonna lie I can’t remember her relationship with Bruce.

But that’s some of the basics and slight nuances of Batgirl. I’m still in the early part of learning about her. So I’ll probably understand her more later on. I genuinely really like her though. I like how she isn’t a one dimensional character like some writers make her out to be. She’s genuinely really fun to read.

Jason

I actually know Jason quite a bit because I made a big long post about his time as Robin (post-crisis only, not counting the scripts written before the 80s reboot, or anything inconsistent).

He’s anti-authority, angry, cusses, smokes, violent, murderous tendencies, aggressive, but also has a genuine heroic spirit, is appreciative of the opportunities he was able to have, loved being able to learn especially, had insecurities, and a lot of his violence was in the name of being a more aggressive way of justice. He’d never hurt an innocent.

A lot of this is explain by the fact he was raised on the streets more or less.

When ever he got especially violent was because of a bad guy hurting or killing an innocent or committing abusive acts of any sort. He probably seen a lot of bad stuff on the streets and doesn’t handle it.

He’s pretty decently cynical because of thinking that’s the best way to deal with it.

He was also moody, but after his upbringing that’s to be expected, and unlike what some thinks, Batman was actually understanding and did his best to help Jason back even if he didn’t get it as first.

Jason isn’t a villain, he is a pure anti-hero, he wants to help, he loves to help, when he feels like he should help he does. He just has his own way of doing it that lots don’t agree with.

When he became the Red Hood, all of this stuff just became amplified because of the traumatic event he went through and the feeling of not being avenged and abandoned again.

Where as before he’d nearly kill people, he outright does now with even left empathy. He had a sack of decapitated head once just so other criminals knew he wasn’t playing around.

However his moodiness came out in different ways. He was actually a very calm, chill personality as the Red Hood, until his traumas got poked at, where he’d go back into his angry bitter ways, but to a more unstoppable way. He’d be more violent, more angry, more inconsolable, more unstable.

As the Red Hood, he is a very far ahead planner and tactition. People always call Tim the planner, but to me Jason is the planner and tactition of the group. He had a large plan that took a while to do, but caused him to accomplish a lot in a short time. Tim does it in the moment or moments before and does a fine enough job, but he isn’t a good leader. Dick is a good planner tactition and leader, but it can also just be shortly before he does something. Jason thinks very far ahead and how people will react and think, how to get under their skin, what will piss them off, what will give him what he once etc.

When he’s not unstable, he’s calm and collected, and is always trying to get under people’s skin. Not in a large over the top way, but just a bit. In an almost charming sort of way. A sly way. He pokes buttons when he’s calm and collected.

As to be expected his relationship with the Bat-Family is complicated. He’s mostly just in the Bat-Family almost purely because of his past in it, more than what he is currently. He’s more of a loner type that will get help when needed, but until the New 52 said otherwise, he’s not much of a team player as he mostly works by himself.

Bat-Family wants him to get better, but at the same time I think they recognize it’s gonna take a lot for Jason to get better, and since Jason is dangerous it creates a lot of overwhelming feelings. Bruce is upset at himself and is almost grieving Jason all over again, Dick has regrets he never had a chance to know him till then, and Tim’s relationship has been so varied and never really felt right, I’d say most likely Tim would be scared of Jason, and upset at him. Jason was a Robin that killed. Going off of how Tim reacted to thinking Batman killed, he’d probably be genuinely miserable at the thought of what Jason became, and be distant from him.

Jason is sly and hard to read unless he’s emotional.

Duke

Duke is the hardest to say anything for, because he’s the newest, most obscure (even tho he is gaining quick prominence), and so therefore has less to go off of. Not helped by a lot of writers making him very two dimensional at best a lot of the time.

He is a natural leader, a dare-devil, very willing to put his life on the line at any time, and passionate and almost stubborn about helping people. He wants to save people, and he’s always wanting to help, because he wants to make his neighborhood a better place.

And that’s almost all I can say, because having read his mini-series he doesn’t have many character traits, and WE ARE ROBIN, where he was introduced and I got that from was short lived.

He’s only with the other Batkids when they really wanna pander, so I can’t even accurately say anything, and the few times you could make a guess it’s not in-character for the other. So he’s just hard to tell. Besides Cass.

I think he’d naturally get along with Bruce, Dick, and Tim, and he’s shown being closest to Cass in the Outsiders series. Considering Cass a sister I believe. They console in each other, care about each other, worry about each other, and look after each other. That’s the closest relationship he has.

But it’s hard to say a lot for him.

AGES:

To be blunt I can’t say with full accuracy because there’s so many inconsistencies plus reboots.

But I’ll go into oldest to youngest, because some don’t realize some ages.

Dick, was 21 when Tim was 13

Jason was 18 when Tim was 15

Cass is the same age if not older than Jason

Steph is two years older than Tim

I believe Duke is around the same age as Steph

and Tim and Damian’s ages off of that is pretty obvious.

Sorry this is so freaking long, but like I said, just DM me. I’m about to watch a movie, but I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. I at least hope this helped some, and if it’s too long, just message me because it’ll probably be less overwhelming then.

#long post

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currentfandomkick · 4 years

Text

Miraculous and the Batboys - Week 3

So i am back(ish) and I bring the Update. Editting is for those with patience and time that i lack. ao3 link HERE

A weekend dodging Gina was… eventful. Even moreso when celebrating ‘No More Gabriel Brand’ time was cut short by a barrage of akuma.

All weekend.

Marinette is convinced the man has too much free time.

She would admit (ONLY when no one else was around) that having someone else checking info during battles was nice. Out of the visiting bats, she had come to rank them from least to most irksome: Red Robin (most helpful), Nightwing (helpful), Red Hood (… he was slightly less annoying—he seems to understand she is the leader of the team) then Robin (who can’t get that she knows what she’s doing, AND hurts the minions more than necessary).

Okay, maybe she’s holding a grudge from when they first met (Tikki enjoyed reminding her of that new found habit—grudge holding) but you don’t go around calling a bunch of magic jewelry powered superheroes incompetent before finding out what they’re fighting and how they have to fight!

And yes, this is a hill she will die on.

Chloe and Adrien are in full agreement, well, Queen Bee and Chat Noir are.

“Are you sure we can’t just…” Chat gestured with his eyes to where Robin was perched at the edge, “just a little?”

Marinette didn’t answer him. She turned to Queen Bee. “You need to influence chaton less.”

“Never.”

Tim almost collapsed when he saw Marinette on her own. Why?

Because he was Certain that he saw a, a red thing—creature? Poke something out of her purse.

Red was Ladybug’s color. Yep. She’s. Yep—mini Red Robin hard since he’s pretty sure she’s avoiding someone too.

She was too—he knew for a fact she’s avoiding Gina excellently (either hiding at the hotel with Chloe, the teashop or one Adrien Agreste and his… legal cousin but Tim is certain there is something off about that with the Holy Doopleganger Batman! Vibe he got from checking out the pair’s apartment. He now had a fun thing to look into when he’s bored and tired of Hawkmoth Shenanigans).

She’s also… yep. Dodging a bunch of teens he’s certain are her classmates.

And… Damnit demon spawn!

Marinette managed to disentangle herself from class parkour (miraculous training as civvies) when she got a text from Damian.

Apparently he wanted to ask how she was handling the whole… Thing with Bustier and Lila.

She wonders if he’s dealt with bullying too, and was looking for advice. She was certain hers was crap, but she did say she’d be around so…

She met up with Damian not too far from the park at a café, nothing fancy, and waited for him to start once they’d placed their orders.

“I know it is a personal matter and not my place to ask, however I would like to know how you have managed to endure the repugnant behavior of our teacher and the harlot.”

Marinette forgot she should think before responding.

“Pretty sure whores and sex workers are paid. She’s more con artist for attention than anything else.”

She missed Damian’s response as the waiter put down their drinks and raised an eyebrow at them.

“Remember the girl that framed me a while back and tried to expel me the first Scarlet Moth round?”

“Ah.” The waiter turned to Damian then. “Don’t insult whore by putting them in with that, well, work and I see my boss so I can’t say what I want again, but we both know what she is, and whores are no where near that level. Politicians, most, whores? No.”

Marinette snorted into her drink as they left.

“And to answer your question, well, I don’t really have a choice.”

Damian narrowed his eyes at that.

Marinette could feel his eyes on her, but couldn’t meet their gaze with this topic. (It still hurt, even though it’s a been years since it began.)

“Lila had everyone charmed or uncertain if she was lying until two weeks ago. Bustier said I had to be a good example and class representative putting that above everything else in my life. Even though everyone knows I’ve been helping run three different businesses on top of handling my program and own business and clientele, and help take care of Fu with a few other small business kids. Nothing could come before the class’s harmony—nothing.”

Marinette took a small bite of her pastry.

“So I saw someone who could force her to listen or have to deal with actively and knowingly violating anti-akuma laws—something she’s only managed to narrowly avoid since, well,” Marinette gestured to herself. “I got tired of constant akumas in class and managed to convince the school board as my last act as class rep to require daily and weekly mental health checks and mitigate potential akuma triggers during weekly checks, daily being more ‘answer these questions honestly’ for stress levels. The system flags major changes, and the students affected see one of the counselors immediately to find ways around what’s bothering them.”

Marinette missed Damian staring at her for that, or how his mouth opened ever so slightly.

“When I stepped down, everyone noticed I wasn’t comfortable alone with Bustier, so it became a rule to stop it whenever they could. The other classes are field specialty and ours is the only one for people doing more than one program or close to.”

Marinette looked up at that with a smile. “Fashion is my official program, but since I do so much business outside of school, I kept having to take classes to help out early on. I never enrolled in the program officially like Chloe did, but the school has me credited as able to graduate with both programs, so until they can justify opening another multi-program class, I’m not allowed to transfer out of the class and stay in Dupont.”

Her eyes hardened when she said, “And I’m not letting a liar and a Bustier be the reason I left the only school that’s willing to go as far as they have for me program-wise—especially not when I only have a year left.”

Damian nodded at that, deciding he’d have to sic Drake on the harlot either way… perhaps Todd and Gina too. He was feeling spiteful.

Marinette decided that when she meets Hawkmoth, she is not only punching him in the face, she is going to do, she doesn’t know exactly what (Tikki has a few ideas that Marinette is certain involve torture) but it will hurt.

Why?

Third akuma on a Sunday. THIRD! What is this man not doing that he was before? She wants to know since whoever freed up his time is on her list now.

Robin was being less annoying (re: tracking the akuma and leaving the minions less battered than usual) while Red Robin was helping the police evacuate affected areas with Nightwing. Somehow Red Hood got it in his head to stick with Chat for “on the job training” her team is trained asshole and she is debating how far she should go when they finish off Hawkmoth for good.

Monday was… interesting. The emancipation was approved—Adrien Agreste legally required no legal guardian.

When Gabriel tried to fire Gorilla, well, Adrien pointed out Gorilla had been in Adrien’s employ this whole time as mother hired and paid him from her accounts. Which transferred to Adrien when she was declared dead.

Marinette dreaded the akuma Hawkmoth might cook up using Gabriel. How he wasn’t akumatized again was anyone’s guess.

Class was…

“So last night Damiboo said—“

Marinette put her head on her desk, and decided to raise an eyebrow at a… for some reason ill-looking Damian.

“Is it because you guys share a name?”

Damian blinked.

Adrien turned around then. “Or because someone has commitment issues.”

Marinette squinted at Adrien because… “What?”

Nino sighed. “Adrien is on another MatchMaker spree.”

“ah. Who are the victims?”

“Not touching it dudette, not touching it.”

Marinette snorted. “It’s not like he’s going to match anyone with well,” Marinette gestured at herself.

“Your infamous army.”

“They are not an army.”

“How many ‘relatives’?” Nino used air quotes.

Marinette narrowed her eyes. “Well under a hundred thousand, so not an army.”

“I am counting the fans.”

Marinette scoffed. “They do not count.”

“They do, and I’m pretty sure Adrien’s fan girl army is applicable.”

“Okay, just because they made up titles and help out during akuma evacs does not make them an army—they’d need weapons training, clear chain of command, coded strategies—”

“And the fact you know this only proves my point, you have an army.”

“Who has an army?” Chloe asked as she walked over.

“Marinette.”

“I do not!”

“You do,” Chloe agreed. “Kim!” the boy looked over at that. “Marinette’s ‘family’ is a small army.”

“I, yes?” Kim’s face scrunched up in confusion. “Any one that picked her up had how many knives on them when we were kids?”

Damian turned to her with a suspicious eye.

She blushed. “Nonna’s friends.”

Damian nodded slowly.

Marinette wondered if the earth could just… swallow her up now.

The rest of the week was in a similar vein. Constant attacks, the batboys helping, her class being weirdly fixated on her family (they aren’t violent, just… prepared.)

Her gymnastics classes were a godsend, and her instructor was checking up on her more than usual, but that might be her more or less running her own classes and lessons as she worked out her routine, music choice, and requirements for her teammates and partners for her routines on trapeze.

Tim was around more. He got it in his head that she needed “guidance” (and okay, she does) on how to conduct corruption investigations into the whole company’s practices and staff.

Then there was Damian being… distant? She was busy but they weren’t talking as much as they were at first and fine, whatever, she got it. She’s not someone he wants to be around…. It happens.

It just… hurts a little is all.

At least she had Adrien and less secrets there. He was fixated on Damian having “commitment issues” and she thinks he’s trying to set him up with someone (Chloe maybe? Why else would he be this focused…. It’d be interesting explaining she’s pretty sure Chloe like girls better than boys and that Damian isn’t her type. At a later date—she’s too busy to now).

Then she had chores and was called in for a hearing on Bustier which was… interesting…. (her duties weren’t too bad for class president. she wasn’t making lesson plans or anything. The role model and forgiving everyone for hurting her and being told to let Lila walk all over her for years was not okay at all, but any teacher would have said that, right?)

Oh and Gina was now convinced Marinette needed protection and now semi-stalking her (Jason was weirdly close to Jason now and talking to him a lot). So random Grandma Attacks when she wanted to draw in Peace.

Lord Murder was her best stress buddy, and Gina is now well acquainted her. She was also given Gina’s Seal of Approval to take over her house for the purposes of keeping Lord Murder and staying there once her current tenants were out (no seeing it until then… unfortunately. She did get dimensions for cat things though. she may browse a bit obsessively… only a bit.)

Tim froze when he ran into Jason with Civilian Chat Noir. And a giant man (Gorilla). At their base. Playing videogames.

“Hey Tim, this is Adrien, Adrien, Tim. Adrien is your mini’s buddy and this is the guy that keeps the harpies away, Gorilla—yes he refuses to tell me his real name—and they’re family now. B can suck it.”

Adrien waved at him before turning back to the game. “I have no idea why he keeps saying that.”

Tim took a deep breath. Apparently adopting strays was just another Bat-thing. “So its nurture, not nature.”

Damian came out, sighed when he saw the group still there, and took a drink into his room while saying. “I did not adopt him.”

Adrien looked back at him then. “You have too many commitment issues to. Don’t worry, though, I’m good at destroying pesky problems like that.”

Tim blinked at that.

Damian sighed as they had this conversation too often now. At school and apparently, his home now. “I am not going to—”

“That’s just your fear talking—we both know that.” Adrien spoke like he was talking to a petulant child. “Why don’t you text your friends and see what they think since I already know the answer and you need more convincing.”

Damian narrowed his eyes. “Jon thinks you are annoying.”

“I’m a delight.” Adrien turned back to his game then.

Jason grinned proudly next to him. A bit too much like a proud parent for Tim’s comfort. (He may also be realizing his keep-his-mini-from-Damian-dating may end up in vain thanks to one Adrien Agreste(?))

Dick sent Bruce exactly (1) update: You are a grandpa now—Jason has a blond cat-hero son who can’t dodge.

Bruce may have had a small heart attack as now he has a magic grandson that he never met, apparently controls raw destruction, and is deeply traumatized. (It was the grandpa part that freaked him out—the rest is par for the course as Batman. He’s a Grandpa Alfred—he’s too young for his children to pull a him and adopt tiny traumatized children and train them into (heroes) vigilantes. Alfred stop laughing, he’s being serious!)

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

HEY so thanks for patience with the updates as life is Extra Hell now between puppy training when i'm finally home and work being Extra Hell with longer shifts and more to do during.

And before anyone asks about the peacock!marinette thing, look at the two series I have going with Bronywn as those are ongoing as my stress writes.

Any preferences for next update? Open to ideas as my mind is too stressed to do more than work off a prompt of some kind for the time being, and next to none of this story has been planned so far, so ideas are very welcome to keep it moving forward.

@worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @littleredrobinhoodlum @northernbluetongue @kceedraws @pirats-pizzacanninibles @theatreandcomicfreak @daminett4life @catthhay @weird-pale-blonde-person @amayakans @chocolatecatstheron @tired-butterfly @multplelifes @yin-390 @area51qt @toodaloo-kangaroo @bzz75 @ilovefluffbutsmutisalsogreat @freshbark @soup-served-chilling @daminett4life @smolplantmum @karategirl119 @goblinwhoships @melicmusicmagic @maribat-is-lifeblood @spartanxhunterx @maribat-is-lifeblood @toodaloo-kangaroo

#maribat #daminette idea au #miraculous team and batboys #my writing #my writings #long post #somehow still alive

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gabriel-agreste-has-no-rights · 4 years

Link

(Not a new fic, I just keep forgetting to officially post this one here)

Rating: T

Summary: Ladybug's suit doesn't have any arch support. Luckily, she has a supportive partner who can help.

Word Count: 2262

Notes: Breaking my usual silly reveal fic brand for some ladynoir fluff. Inspired by lnc2’s tumblr post: https://gabriel-agreste-has-no-rights.tumblr.com/post/190301790972/lnc2-lnc2-chat-noir-has-boots-but-what-about

Please ignore the fact that I may be misinterpreting Mister Bug and Lady Noire’s costume designs as well, it’s vaguely plot relevant lol

XXX

Long-distance akumas were the worst. She and Chat had swung, vaulted, and ran all the way across Paris to catch Cyclone, an akumatized cyclist upset he’d lost his place in the Tour de France. A very very fast cyclist, thanks to Hawkmoth’s assistance.

“I think we should switch kwamis again,” Marinette grumbled as she dropped down to sit on the roof, her legs dangling off the side like the deadweight they were.

“You know if you ever want to wear the clown costume all you have to do is ask.” Chat Noir smirked as he plopped down beside her, one foot resting over his knee. “I doubt I could’ve come up with what you did with the laundry detergent, though. I probably would’ve just asked for a jet pack. Or a motorcycle. Ooh, or maybe—”

“The Lucky Charm doesn’t work like that.”

“Maybe not for you. Maybe I just know what I want.” He leaned into her space, and it looked like he might have been wiggling his eyebrows, but it was hard to tell under his mask.

Marinette bit back a laugh and pushed him back by the nose. “Nice try. I know exactly what I want in that regard, kitty.”

That statement was… not quite as true as it used to be. She knew she was after blond hair and soft green eyes, after someone who was kind and sweet and selfless. But before she’d realized it, the model smiles and loose t-shirts in her dreams were joined by teasing smirks and tight leather.

...But it was just because she spent so much time with Chat, that’s all. For all the distance she’d tried to keep, it was hard to resist getting closer to him. He was her best friend.

“The akuma right has nothing to do with it though,” she went on before she could fall down that rabbit hole again. “Well I guess it does a little. Sort of. I mean—I want your boots.”

Chat blinked. “I don’t think they’d fit you, Bug.”

“I mean,” she huffed, gesturing to her own suited feet, “I have no arch support whatsoever. The miraculous cure might fix the akuma’s damage, but I’m still left with two slabs of pain hanging at the end of my legs.”

They had (separately) dropped their transformations to feed their kwamis before suiting up again, but that hadn’t eased her aching feet either. She was still really, really not looking forward to making it all the way back home.

“Let me get this straight,” Chat said with a stifled snicker, “you want to borrow Plagg so your transformation will give you real shoes.”

“Hey, I’d like to see you run around my suit and not complain. And your Mister Bug transformation doesn’t count. Tikki gave you boots.” She crossed her arms.

He leaned back on his palms and smirked. “Careful, Bugaboo. I’m flattered you’re jealous of me, but green really isn’t your color.”

She shoved his arm, sending him flopping back on the roof with a laugh.

“I regret asking. You keep the clown costume.”

He tucked his hands behind his head before flashing a wink. “You just know you’d miss seeing me in black leather.”

“You’re impossible, you know that?” She rolled her eyes, which kept her gaze from where Chat was stretched out, practically begging to be stared at. She’d hate for her expression to prove him right.

“Im-paw-ssible, you mean.” He gave a lopsided grin. Yep, she could just focus on that, and not the way he was lounging like he was attempting to recreate one of Adrien’s model poses… and succeeding…

(Even best friends weren’t supposed to stare at each other like that, were they?)

His voice snapped her out of ogling him. “If your feet really hurt, though, there’s always something else you could ask.”

“I already tried.” She sighed. If nothing else, the pain in her feet was also a good distraction from her unfairly attractive partner. “Tikki can’t change the suit at this point. Not unless I can drastically change how I see myself, but I can’t perform the mental gymnastics to pull that off.”

“I wasn’t talking about Tikki.” He sat up abruptly and held out his hand. “You know I’ll support you, even if your footwear won’t.”

Her nose scrunched. “Sorry, Chat, but I don’t think moral support is going to heal my feet.”

“I didn’t mean moral support. Foot massage, no strings attached. For my partner who carries the whole world on her shoulders without even an insole.”

He beamed at her, as if rubbing her stinky, sweaty feet would be a favor to him.

She shook her head. “You really don’t have to, Chat. My feet are disgusting.” Especially after dashing across Paris all afternoon. Her soles had to be caked in grit from every street in the city.

“You could never disgust me, my Lady.” He grinned dopily. It should be illegal for him to show that kind of adoration with just a smile. It was getting harder and harder to remember why she kept rejecting her partner.

Because you’re still in love with Adrien. Because she couldn’t give Chat the kind of unwavering devotion he already showed her. And because he didn’t deserve anything less.

...But he did offer the foot rubs with no strings attached. With the way her feet were throbbing, to turn him down would be nothing but an act of pride.

“Alright, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

She kicked her feet up into his lap. The suit protected her from the rough concrete and debris her feet were constantly exposed to, but the magical fabric barely dulled the soft touch of her partner’s hands. All things considered, they’d shared weirder touches—they’d been tied up and tangled together more times than she could count at this point—but something about his soothing ministrations felt more intimate than she expected. Maybe she’d just expected him to play a prank and tickle her, but this…

“If I would’ve known you’d do this, I would have asked you ages ago.” Her voice was a little breathless as she laid back perpendicular to him. His thumbs continued to massage heavenly patterns into the arch of her foot.

“So you’ll admit my hands are good for something besides using Cataclysm?” His voice was teasing, but she didn’t care. Her foot had never felt this good. How much pain had built up there over the weeks and months of akuma fights?

More importantly, how could she convince Chat to make this a regular thing?

“Yes,” she breathed. “Where did you learn how to do this? You have a side job as a masseuse?”

He chuckled but kept up the motion of his magical hands. “Old friend, actually. She always found ways to make me give her foot rubs when we were younger.”

“Lucky girl,” Marinette murmured, her eyes slipping closed. He moved his attention to her other foot, working his way up from her heel towards her toes. If this was how good Chat was with her feet…

Nope, nope, she was not letting that train of thought out of the station.

“Don’t worry, LB, your feet are much cuter than hers.”

“Please tell me you don’t have a weird thing for feet,” she blurted, apparently having lost her filter to his hands.

He just laughed, though. “Only yours,” he said, and then she felt something soft press to the top of her big toe.

“Chat!” She sprung upright to see him winking again before pulling his lips back from her foot. “Gross! You don’t know where that’s been!”

That only made him laugh harder—so hard he was actually gasping for breath. “Your face!”

She snapped her jaw shut, only then realizing how dumbly she’d been gaping. “You kissed my foot! What did you expect me to do?”

“I kiss your hand all the time.” He shrugged, his grin turning sly. “So unless you have a thing for feet…”

“Oh my gosh, Chat, shut up.” She covered her blushing cheeks, mostly just disappointed that there was no way she could both keep her dignity and ask him for another foot massage.

“I wouldn’t tell. I’d give you alllll the foot rubs you want.”

“Tempting,” she muttered.

“Hmm? What was that?”

She glared out from between her fingers, but couldn’t tell from his teasing grin if he’d actually heard her or not.

“I was just wondering,” she said, beginning to spin a plan in her mind. “Foot massages aren’t that hard, really. Of course you’d be good at them.”

His grin fell to a pout. “What are you getting at?”

“I mean, a real challenge would be giving a good neck and shoulder massage. It takes a strong enough touch to ohhhhhhhh…”

She was gone. He’d moved to kneel behind her, his fingers angled to keep his claws from pricking her as he dug into the knots that had been afflicting her for ages. Anxiety and tension unraveled under the circular motions of his thumbs.

“What was that, Bugaboo?” He whispered near her ear, sending shivers down her spine—shivers that he could probably feel, considering his hands had moved closer together to massage between her shoulderblades.

“You’re… terrible.”

“Mm-hm. I guess I should just stop, then—”

“Don’t you dare.”

Gone, gone, gone. And from her quick response, he had to know it too.

His hands paused for half a second before starting again.

“As my Lady wishes,” he purred.

He didn’t hold back. His fingers dug deep into muscles tight from use, pressing hard enough to make her wince at times. But it still felt like heaven. Why was she not dating this boy, again?

Bad Marinette, she told herself. You can’t date your partner just to take advantage of his back rubs. Or the fact that he’s hot. Or the fact that he would literally die for you, and has proved so on several occasions.

Or the fact that he’s madly in love with you. Can’t forget that.

Those reasons were not listed in order of importance, but they were rather compelling. Particularly with his touch melting away her more rational objections.

She wasn’t sure how long it was (not long enough) when his hands finally stilled, resting with his thumbs gently brushing the curve of her shoulderblades.

“What do you say? Did I pass the test?” He asked, sounding a little self-conscious now.

Test of what? Seeing if he could turn her into a puddle? The answer to that was a definite yes, but she’d prefer to keep that information confidential for at least a little longer.

“Y-yeah. Thanks, kitty.”

Her skin missed his warmth as he drew back.

��Anytime, Bugaboo.”

It sounded like he really was willing to let that be the end of that. No strings attached. But—

“I still owe you,” she said, tucking her legs under her and turning to face him.

“I had a feeling you’d say that,” he replied with a chuckle. “You never do like to accept help, even from me. Or maybe it’s especially from me…”

“That’s not it.” She shook her head, scooting closer. Was that really what he thought? “We’re partners, Chat. I just don’t want to take more than I give.”

“You give me plenty, Ladybug.” His voice turned serious as his hand inched towards hers, before coming to rest on the concrete roof just a centimeter away. “Just getting to spend time with you outside of fighting akumas is a treasure. I wouldn’t ask for anything more than that.”

Despite his usual outrageous flirting, she knew that was true. If she ever wanted him to stop, he would.

But she’d never wanted him to. Maybe because she knew deep down, she’d been falling for him all along.

“Hmmmm.” She looked away, out towards the sunset horizon. “That’s too bad.”

“Huh?”

A grin tugged at her lips. “I hear your Lucky Charm gives you exactly what you ask for.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched his expression turn from confusion, to shock, to hope.

“And you… know what I’d ask for, right?”

Her shrug screamed nonchalance. She could only hope it would cover up the pounding of her heart.

“I’ve got a pretty good idea.”

Maybe she couldn’t give Chat her whole heart yet. And maybe part of her was being selfish, worn down by his teasing smiles and melting hands. But… she had a feeling that if she let down this last barrier, it wouldn’t be long before she was giving him the same smitten look he directed at her now.

“Will you go out with me, my Lady?” His hands were clasped beneath his chin, his tone practically begging. It almost made her regret what she was about to say. But she couldn’t let him off that easy.

“That depends.”

Her quick reply startled him—but not as much as the soft, slow kiss she pressed to his cheek.

She decided that she absolutely adored the stunned look on his face, the pink blooming beneath his mask, his golden eyelashes fluttering. He was still gaping when she tossed one last wink over her shoulder.

“Can you catch me now that my feet are feline good again?”

And he was still gaping when she tossed her yo-yo out to the next roof.

“Ladybug, wait—!”

She was done waiting. Maybe he had a point about the Lucky Charm—he’d always known what he wanted. She’d always gotten what she needed.

Finally, it seemed those two things were one and the same.

#fic tag #tali writes #ladynoir #love square #miraculous ladybug #chat noir #ladybug #still really happy with this one

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drunklander · 4 years

Text

Drunj!Der Yells About Outlander

Thoughts on Ep. 506

STAY AT HOOOOOOOME!!!!!

Ok, now that that’s out of the way... I kind of liked this episode. Which surprised me. Because usually I find myself neutral at best. But, considering how much I’ve hated disliked the last few seasons, I guess that feeling mostly neutral means this season has been better? The bar is low, y’all.

Could 1000% still use more Claire though. And more Jamie and Claire. And yes I know I’m saying that in the recap for an episode where the two of them bang.

I said what I said.

The title card’s powder blocker thingy looks like a plague doctor mask. We should bring those back. I found a box that had a bunch of them in it in the closet at my office once. That was weird. Also, stay the fuck at home and 6′ away from people if you have to go out on a supply run or take a walk.

Ooo, a flashback! I miss Scotland.

“Whom do I address, sir?” “I am Samuel Torrington,” said the guy who is most def *not* Samuel Torrington.

I know I shouldn’t laugh because of what’s about to happen, but looool at the girl for stepping in the literal one spot of mud.

Well that was dumb. Why the fuck would you run in between your dad and the guy he’s clearly gonna shoot?

I mean, it’s super sad, I guess. But also hella dumb.

Ah, a lavender pillow. Yes, I know it’s from the book. But between this and the BJR stuff, it’s like, do they know other smells exist?

But yeah, guess I shouldn’t talk since I have lavender hand soap, lavender lotion, lavender tea and a lavender candle.

It’s the best smell.

Ok, I get why Murcasta can’t be endgame. That was a good decision. But including Innes BeCaUsE tHe BoOk is dumb af. They got to the right decision to break up Murcasta, but for the wrong fucking reason.

Like, seriously though, can we please take a moment to appreciate how dumb this is? Like, book!Innes is from Ardsmuir. He’s been part of the squad. He’s basically one of Jamie’s most trusted friends. And he marries Jocasta. Show!Innes is literally some dude we’ve never heard of until last week because the fucking writers were like oh, Jocasta has to marry someone named Duncan Innes. Guess we should make that happen, out of the blue, for no other reason. Lazy idiots...

Jocasta has better handwriting than I do and I can fucking see what I’m doing.

Also lol at her straight up ignoring Roger saying that Jemmy won’t take her money.

Cut to Jemmy crying about the fact that he is now a participant in chattel slavery. I feel you, Jem.

Oh, it’s a cold? Ok fine, but also the whole chattel slavery thing.

ADSOOOOO! Such a good lil floofer! Look how nice he is, bringing them that excellent bug! WHO’S A GOOD KITTY? YOUUU ARE!

I really like Claire’s necklace. Also Claire’s neck. Also Claire’s collarbones. Also Claire. Can we have more Claire please? And less manpain in general?

D’awww, Lord John Grey the awkward gay. GIVE HIM AN APPROPRIATE BOYFRIEND ALREADY, YOU COWARDS.

Tryon is such a fucking douche. So is Quincy Arbuckle.

Well, it might not prevent tumultuous and riotous assembly, but not hanging out in groups larger than 10 sounds like a greAT FUCKING IDEA RIGHT NOW.

STAY AT HOOOOOOOOOOOOME. (If you are able to, and if you have to go to work, WASH YOUR HAAAAAAAAAAAANDS.)

Fergus, Marsali and Bree standing around this room being disappointed with Roger is A Mood™.

Team Give Fergus and Marsali More to Do

Oh, you’ve never been comfortable in your big fancy mansion? Poor you. *plays the world’s smallest violin*

News spreads slowly in/from the backcountry except, apparently, Claire’s medical advice.

Claire Fraser said reproductive rights!!! *ups monthly donation to Planned Parenthood*

The casting for Wylie is fucking perfect. Like kudos to the casting folks again.

I cared more about the Regulator shit in the show than the book because Murtz, but all the “Oh it’s happening! JK, it’s not! JK, it is!” that they took from the book is making me care less about it. Just happen already or fuck off.

Yes, I know it’s gonna happen next week.

Roger shoveling shit makes me happy. Because it’s gross and I do not like Roger.

“You keep shoveling your shit.” -- The Fandom Bree

Wylie should be a caricature with how fucking terrible he is, but let’s be real. We've all run into a guy like that.

Oh, Claire’s rings.

I did some mental gymnastics years ago to try to wrap my brain around why Claire would still wear an emotionally abusive piece of shit’s Fred’s ring. And the fact that the books and the show are like nope, she just likes Fred, drives me up a fucking wall every time.

“He must have been quite the man to inspire such devotion after all these years.” “Nah, he was an asshole. A complete and utter piece of shit. And instead of going with that and all the complexities it brings, we continue to gaslight the audience that he was a Good Dude. Instead of using the ring as a symbol of something more than fucking Fred, we just keep on pretending he didn’t suck.”

I hate everyone involved with refusing to acknowledge how shitty Fred was.

There is literally only one smuggler in the Carolinas.

DO NOT GO WITH THE CREEPY MAN TO A SECOND LOCATION. CLAIRE, THIS IS BEING A WOMAN 101. NEVER GO WITH A CREEP TO A SECOND LOCATION.

“I get a biblical plague.” You get what you deserve, Rog.

Jamie, chill with the extra testosterone. Just punch the bro or something.

Also don’t fucking blame the victim, asshole.

Literalol at Bree showing the women her like stick and sheet fan thing and then cut to all the people with just little squares, barely doing anything.

“Don’t stop! Keep your fires going!” *everyone stops and just stares at the bugs*

Gonna go ahead and take this time to remind folks that’s it’s fucking gross to get married on a plantation. Don’t do that thing.

I know a guy who is like proud of the fact that he’s an asshole. He talks about it like it’s one of his defining traits. This scene with Wylie being like “buddy, I love my shitty reputation” reminds he of that guy. I cannot fucking stand that guy.

*ignores Claire’s feelings about Fred’s dumb ring and headcanons in my own reasons instead because I cannot even with this nonsense anymore*

Ah, the Lindsays like Roger now. I still do not like Roger.

I fucking love this whole Murcasta scene. Can we get one of these for Jamie and Claire? I miss them having big sweeping scenes that have time to breathe and unfold and all the good shit like Murcasta gets here.

The show keeps trying to deny it, but scenes like this are where it’s strongest. But it refuses to accept that this is its lane and keeps trying to go elsewhere.

I miss Jamie and Claire.

I miss the MacKenzies.

I wanna give Jocasta a hug. She’s still trash for enslaving people, though.

Maria Doyle Kennedy is a goddamn treasure. Seriously, her casting was the best choice the show made in years.

That and saving Murtz, of course.

So fucking glad they cut the creepy-ass foot thing.

Jamie, you’re drunk, but read the fucking room. Claire’s right. Just because she says shit from the future all the time doesn’t negate the fact that she’s right about you right now. Also, seriously? You’re taking *this* opportunity to call her out?

Buddy deserved that slap.

Look, I’m always down for the Frasers to fuck. More Fraser fucking, I say. But this is just another instance like their fight at Lallybroch where the fight itself is never actually resolved like it should be. They just fuck about it and magically everything is ok again. Le sigh.

Murcasta gets a big long scene with time to breathe and talk through everything and it’s riveting af. But Jamie and Claire never get that anymore and it pisses me off tbh.

Stop shoehorning in book lines! She can’t see shit through all the skirts and stuff!

I miss the Lallybroch ring. What did they ever end up doing with it? It’s floating around somewhere.

Bonnet is so evil to 11 about fucking everything that it makes him boring. We get it. You’re a bad guy. Do you also have a tiny dick or something that you’re overcompensating for?

Can we please wrap this Bonnet shit up this season? I swear if they drag it out as long as they do in the books I’m gonna be rull annoyed.

Ok so now the war is actually gonna for real happen and I’m like legit out of fucks to give about it because Murtz aside, they’ve done the “it’s coming, jk!” fake out too many times...

Can they try to hang Murtz instead? Because I swear spending half a season with emo!Roger is cruel and unusual punishment.

#*#outlander starz #outlander 5x06 #drunj!der yells about outlander

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