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floydira · 4 months

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₊˚﹒✶﹒trolls headcanons .ᐟ

brozone, creek & king trollex with a reader going through a breakdown, overthinking and panicking and how they deal with them.

note ; I somehow(?) accidentally deleted the person's ask for this. I don't remember exactly what they asked word for word. (I'm down on my knees apologizing to you rn, I'm so sorry anon 🙏) so hopefully based on my memory this is at least close to what you asked for. I also hope this headcanon is to your liking.

☆★﹒🎧 ﹐BROZONE

John Dory

erm. well. let's just say when it comes to dealing with other people's emotions, he's not really the best guy to depend on...

BUT considering he spent years by himself (and rhonda) with no other socialization, plus leaving his brothers behind and coming back to them after awhile out of conscious but seeing them nowhere to be found, he definitely felt lonely and HAD his own breakdowns before.

so he'd understand how you're feeling, or at least try to understand.

when he first saw you breaking down, his first instinct was to ask you questions "why are you breaking down?" "did something happen?"

if he doesn't get a reply from you, he'll respect your boundaries and not ask any further questions. he'll just focus on comforting you in the present, awkwardly patting your back and giving you words of affirmation that he thinks would work. like those motivational phrases or quotes online, maybe even those ones that facebook moms use.

if you do give a reply, he'll sit down next to you and hear you out. sipping a drink and lending his ears for you to vent. he'll keep quiet (internally, he's restraining himself from outing his own opinions on whatever you vented to him about).

In summary, he's a listener. If you let him voice his own opinions, he'll tell you his thoughts and views. more often than not, if he does give advice, it's probably best you don't actually follow them. I feel like he's bad at giving advice...

at least, he's got the spirit!

Spruce/Bruce

this troll has a wife and kids. I'm sure he's knowledgeable in comforting someone when they are breaking down or overthinks a lot.

if you're overthinking, he'll support you and keep you company but he's also honest that helps you actually evaluate your overthinking thoughts and not stress too much about them.

once you come to him looking vulnerable, he'll immediately try to soothe you by rubbing your back gently. yk like those back rubs that puts babies to sleep? yeah, he'll do that.

while he rubs your back, he urges you to take a deep breath and let it all out. so you do. unknowingly you ranted and ranted, every little detail spoken word to word. he just has that affect on people.

lets you know that what you're going through is valid.

once you're all done, he'll give you advice to ease you or if you're not looking for advice, he'll just comfort you until you feel better.

Clay

he literally is in a sad book club, he'll have the knowledge about it and how to deal with it. except...he's slightly bad at executing it.

he'll snap you out of overthinking by yelling positive stuff to you, that are actually...effective???

if you rant to him, he'll listen to you attentively and pat your head afterwards. it's just something natural that he does, honestly head pats are soothing ok.

if you're okay with physical touch, he'll caress your face while giving you actually reassuring words. (LIKE. have you SEEN him literally pinching and squishing branch's face when he first met him after 20 years?!) of course, it's effective, combined with his already nice vibe (I feel like he naturally has a healing presence, he's just a sweet little boring cutie)

his method of comforting you naturally makes you feel better. he doesn't have to try hard because just watching his body language and mannerisms are dorky enough that it'll make you smile. he's unknowingly comforting in a silly dorky way. even with how badly he persists to be a very "serious" guy.

he'll definitely give you a big warm hug after everything.

Floyd

he's literally called the sensitive one. out of the brothers, he's definitely the one who understands you the most.

I don't think I even need to explain, you already know how perfect he is with dealing with stuff like that. like the time he talked to veneer about how his sister treats him and how he shouldn't let her be like that to him.

his face is full of worry if he sees you in a vulnerable state.

he literally gives the best hugs, it's canon, I know it's canon.

this emo mf knows exactly the right words to get you out of your vulnerable state for a while (bc the phrases he gives to others are probably what he wants to hear given to him).

he'll be really patient with you and help you with every step along the way even if you're having a hard time changing your bad traits.

he's also attentive at listening, he'll caress your hands with his thumb with a reassuring smile.

he'll be really sweet at tackling your situation and never makes you feel overwhelmed.

will cry with you tbh.

he's kind of helping himself when he helps you, because he's similar in a way.

Branch

branch was quite the panicker himself during the times when bergens ate trolls.

so he'd also know how to help you deal with it because he understands you.

he had to figure it out himself and was mostly alone to deal with his own vulnerability so he's happy to help you.

he'll look calm, composed and collected externally but even he, himself is slightly panicking on the inside. afraid that he'll let you down or he won't be of much help. don't worry though, he has it all put together after a bit.

If you're panicking, he'll help you focus, calm down and ease your hyperventilation.

"concentrate on your breathing, okay?"

once you've calmed down, he'll provide you with reassuring words.

he'll keep you company and stay with you until you feel composed enough to talk about it with him. he'll lend you an ear.

afterwards, he pats you on the shoulder and gives you advice that worked on him before.

━━━━━━━━━━

Creek

as bad as he is, he's literally the best when it comes to relaxation. he has that zen-like wisdom, so he'll calm you down and help you relax if you're panicking or overthinking too much.

just like floyd, he also knows exactly what to say to reassure or cheer someone up.

he'll give you a more positive outlook on whatever happened to you so that you don't overthink it.

tbh his voice itself is enough to calm you down.

he encourages different methods and ways(that he knows of) to you that could help.

King Trollex

this sweet goober offers you all his emotional support.

he feels upset, if you're upset. he's all frowny when he sees you vulnerable.

"can I give you a hug?" ofc he asks for consent.

will hug you tightly (he thinks hugs are a remedy for everything, besides music), quiet sobs are heard as his face is smooshed against your chest. just like bruce, he'll also rub your back soothingly while hugging you.

Intertwines both of your hands and encourages you to put your thoughts into words so that he knows what's going on that head of yours that's overthinking a lot of stuff.

keeps eye contact with you as you rant to him.

"you can get through this." he'll say with his cute smile.

the most he can provide is listening and comfort. he wishes he could help you more.

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buckets-and-trees · 4 months

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Imagine Bucky coming home to see you wearing nothing but a red ribbon tied in a bow around your waist and can’t help but stare at you while licking his lips. You stand there and say “are you just gonna stand there or are you going to unwrap your present?”

Well...

Would you complain if I added one more thing to this little ask, too?

And this was undoubtedly meant for Christmas, but... my Christmas tree is still up, so maybe other people still have their decorations out, as well...

Fandom: MCU Collection: The Brooklyn Boys Title: Big Red Bow Characters/Pairings: Bucky x female reader x Steve Word Count: 593

Content Warnings: Steve stays post-endgame, established threesome, periphery/secular reference to the Christmas holiday, nudity, kissing, light fingering

Logistical Notes: Probably fine to read if you haven't read any of the series, because this is legit just spicy fluffy stuf, literally no plot. We just haven't seen these boys in a LONG long time, and I thought this might be nice for them. Dividers from @firefly-graphics and @saradika-graphics.

↠ Masterlist | Aspen's Ask Box | Field Guide to the Forest

You take a deep breath as you hear your boys come in the front door. Steve walks past the doorframe, heading down the hallway, his arms laden with bags from their supply run. Bucky, however, glances into the living room, then turns his head back and stops dead in his tracks. He sets his bag down and quietly straightens back up, stepping into the room, eyes riveted on you.

You had been waiting for them, for this, and yet your stomach still flips and your cheeks heat as you see the hungry look wash over him.

He licks his lips, but continues to stare, unmoving from his place in the doorframe.

Your heartbeat is racing, but you will yourself to remain still, kneeling next to the Christmas tree, in front of the fireplace, hands folded delicately in your lap, in nothing but a large red ribbon, painstakingly tied in a bow. You had tied it around your chest, below your breasts so that the large loops of the bow just covered your nipples.

"Did you hear me?" Steve calls back down the hallway to Bucky. "I asked if you know where the–"

"Steve, come here," Bucky cuts him off.

You hear Steve's steps coming back down the hallway. "What? What is - oh," his voice drops when he turns up behind Bucky and spots you waiting for them. "Oh," this time more of a groan, and his tone sends a shiver down your spine.

But when they don't move, you bite your lip and drop your eyes. "Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to unwrap your present?"

"It's past Christmas and New Years, honey," Bucky teases.

You huff. The last two weeks had been so busy, and you'd just thought when you saw the discarded bow from your nephew's bike that it might be fun to play with, but today had presented the first possible moment you finally had time for something like this. "Sorry, it's a little corny."

"Ow." Steve thumps Bucky from behind, and you start to move, but Bucky says, "Stop!" and you do, surprised by his abrupt command. "'I like corny. I'm looking for corny in my life.'"

Immediately comfortable again, you grin and giggle at the very apt quote from The Holiday, which you'd watched twice with them - once after Thanksgiving, and again a few days before Christmas.

They both swiftly approach you now. Steve gets to you first and kneels in front of you, leaning in to capture your lips in an kiss. Kneeling next to you, Bucky trails his fingers over your shoulder and down your arm. He presses his lips along your shoulder and back up to your neck, nudging his way in until Steve moves away, and Bucky steals the chance to claim your lips.

Bucky is quick to lay back on the floor, pulling you to lay on his his chest. You can hear Steve quickly undressing.

"Who says we need to unwrap you in order to play anyway?" Steve asks. Then he's settling in behind you, kneeling in the space between your and Bucky's legs, spreading them wider to accommodate him. He draws his hand down along your spine, over your lower back, and he lets a finger tease down between your cheeks.

You gasp, and Bucky chuckles. "Always so responsive for us, and so pretty like this."

"Mhmm," Steve agrees.

"But I can think of quite a few ways we can use this bow tonight," Bucky adds, grinning over your shoulder up at Steve.

↠ Masterlist | Aspen's Ask Box | Field Guide to the Forest

#bucky barnes #steve rogers #stucky #stucky x reader #stucky x you #aspen wrote something #aspen asks #the brooklyn boys

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yangbbokari · 5 months

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Don't Let Me Go

I'm not going to say anything bc I want it to be a full surprise ehehehehehehehehehehehe I will give you a song rec tho WC: 630 Song rec: Don't Let Me Go - Cigarettes After Sex

"Hey, Chris..." You speak out to him as he holds you tightly. He simply hums back to you. "Can you never let me go? Like. Ever?"

Your boyfriend chuckles lightly. "I will never ever let you go. I swear."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Pinky promise?"

Chan chuckles a little louder this time before hooking his pinky finger with your much smaller one. "Pinky promise." Even stamping it with kissed thumbs.

"Till the flowers no longer bloom and the sun no longer shines. I will forever be yours and you will forever be mine." You both say in unison. It was like a vow made between the two of you.

His lips softly capture yours. You slowly let out a sigh of relief. This was all you ever wanted for the years to come.

After you finally pulled away, your breathing slowed and your eyes began to droop. Chan couldn't help but stroke the hair behind your head.

"I'm tired now, Channie." You softly spoke to him. He continued stroking your hair. "Then why don't you rest now, yeah?" He replied. "I'm tired but I don't want to fall asleep yet."

Chan kissed the top of your head and pulled you a little closer. "I'll be here when you wake up so just give yourself some rest now."

"Okay..."

It was said only slightly over a whisper before you nodded off to sleep.

Bang Chan looked down at your sleeping figure with a gentle smile. The tears began clouding his vision as your heart moniter went off. Both of you already saw this coming so you spent your last moments with him. He stayed by your side since you were terrified of needles and the treatment process. But he still lost you.

The doctors quickly rushed in, a few nurses attempting to take Chan out the room. But he couldn't bear to leave you. He had promised that he'd never let go. Your hand was still warm. You'd wake up. Your hand still gripped his tightly.

"Sir, you're going to have to leave. The patient is in critical condition and we need to operate immediately." He pushed back against them. "I already promised her I won't let go! I won't disturd you guys. I just... I just... I just need to stay by her side to make sure she's okay...." He started yelling but his voice softly died down.

He could practically hear your voice telling him to stay and not to leave him in this big scary room with all these strangers all alone. But he didn't really have a choice.

"Our hospital staff will be sure to make sure Ms. L/n is safe. So please step outside of the room sir."

With that, he finally let go of your hand, breaking the promise he had made with you only minutes ago. ~~~ Your boyfriend stood over your casket, gripping you hand tightly, and crying to his heart's content.

"Didn't you say that you'll love me forever. 'Till the flowers no longer bloom and the sun no longer shines. I will forever be yours and you will forever be mine.'" He quoted. "Was that all a lie!? Why aren't you telling me that it's fine and you're alright. W-why aren't you here..?"

The rest of the guest also cried. Your mother sat in the front row unable to contain her sobs. Chan could only break down. Now on his knees as he cried hysterically.

"I'm sorry, y/n. I didn't mean to yell at you. I just miss you. I didn't mean to break our promise. I just want you to come back. Please? I promise I'll be better."

"Till the flowers no longer bloom and the sun no longer shines. I will forever be yours and you will forever be mine."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'm sorry, everyone. Don't hate me🤧 I just had this thought while watching the 14th ep of Doom At Your Service. It rly isn't my fault. I love you all!!!!

Feedback is greatly appreciated and thank you for reading! Have a great day/night!!!

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morgana-larkin · 14 days

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hi, I think I have a crazy and [loooong] prompt baskdjskkaka. From Melissa's line 'no women? nobody else?ever?'

The staff is reminiscing the little bickering a year ago or two about Janine's love life, only then the staff realize what has Mel said, that she's like into women too. Barb knows tho and Mr. J because ofc he knows everything what has happened in those hallways. So Ava, Janine and Jacob being themselves + Greg surprisingly, began to interrogate Mel about it and in some point she got tired of the constant questioning so she just admitted that she had a relationship with a woman before, particularly a teacher too at Abbott few years before the new teaching staff and principal arrived at the said school. She goes to describe the woman with a little smile on her face without realizing it, did not mention what happened saying they should take what she offers about her private life,the truth is, she still feel guilty of what has happened realizing she's wrong and it's too late. At that, she thought the staff will finally leave her alone but no, since she's single again after the failed proposal, they're like encouraging her to date and maybe try again with a woman. Ofc she declines, then one day Ava burst into the break room grinning, saying a new member of the district is around to help the school, but the top of the icing, as she quote, is she had finally found a match for Melissa not knowing who's r really is, then introduces r to the crew. And man, best believe Melissa almost threw herself out of the window when she sees the very woman she had a relationship before and apparently who she had managed to hurt that still haunts her at night, r is no different from the redhead as she is aslo shocked to see the woman, still there and stunning as ever, because last time they saw each other, the woman cursed that she doesn't think she can stay in a place where she knows r had lingered or stepped a foot with. So basically it's the queue for r to left Philly and never go back, but she's God's favorite and he decided to send her back to the very place she avoids the most. [The breakup is ugly, as it is a big misunderstanding, the redhead saw the other woman kissing, or rather being kissed by a man, against her will which she doesn't know since she became real irrational that point and didn't even listen to the plea of the other woman]

And bc of the weird and awkward reactions + interactions from the two women when they're in a room together, the staff slowly put 2 and 2 together that the new district member that has been sent to the school is the very woman who Mel had a past with.

That is so long I'm so sorry, I just need to let it all out or else I'm gonna combust

Anon it’s perfectly alright, let it all out. This took me so much longer to write and it’s just under 5,000 words😅. There’s so much fucking angst and as someone who hates seeing Melissa upset, I was literally glaring at myself for writing that Melissa is going through it. So I hope you enjoy it! As always not edited in the slightest!

As a side note I wanted to thank @janeyseymour for helping me out, I had no idea what former teachers do at all and she let me know a bunch of them!

Want You Back

Warnings: swearing, Melissa crying, smut

Words: 4.95k

“No women? Nobody else? Ever?” Melissa said 2 years ago.

“Wait, what did Melissa mean by that?” Janine asked Gregory and Jacob one day when they were walking into work and talking about the conversation they had in the library a couple years ago.

“I don’t know, but it is weird that her first instinct was to immediately ask about women first instead of men.” Jacob says, contributing to the conversation.

“Do I even want to know what you nerds are talking about?” Ava asked them.

“It’s about Melissa, from something she said 2 years ago.” Gregory said and Ava looked at them.

“Melissa has said a lot of things 2 years ago.” Ava said.

“It’s when we were in the library and I said that I’ve been dating my boyfriend since 8th grade and you all questioned it and Melissa said ‘no women’.” Janine explained to Ava and this caught her interest.

“Oh ya, I remember that. I say we question her.” Ava said but the trio stopped her.

“No, this is Melissa we’re talking about. She won’t tell us something about her life so easily.” Janine says.

“Good point, we could annoy her until she gives in.” Ava suggested.

“Maybe another plan where we don’t put our lives at risk.” Jacob says.

“Oh come on. Melissa likes us too much now to kill us.” Ava says proudly and they all look at her like she hit her head. “I did say now, 2 years ago she definitely would have killed us.”

“That’s true, but we can’t ask her multiple times in one go, it’ll have to be a couple to a few times a day.” Jacob says.

“Ok let’s start now.” Ava says, excited about this plan and heads towards the break room. Ava enters, drawing attention as usual with the trio in tow behind her. “Melissa, question.” Ava asks as she pours some coffee in a mug. Melissa glances up at her from her phone.

“What do you want Coleman?” Melissa asks and looks back to her phone, typing something.

Ava smiles at her as she pours an unnecessary amount of sugar in her coffee. “Have you ever dated a woman?” Ava asks and Melissa freezes.

She looks up from her phone, “what?” She asks.

“Have you ever dated a woman?” Ava repeats. Melissa looks at her and sees the trio looking at her waiting for a reply.

“It’s none of youse business who I have or haven’t dated.” She says and goes back to her phone.

The trio and Ava look at each other and smile a little. They have a feeling that Melissa actually might have dated a woman due to her freezing.

*At lunch*

“So you have dated a woman haven’t you?” Janine asks her at her table.

“I thought I told you this morning it’s none of your business.” She glares at her. Janine gets the hint and goes to her own table.

*after school*

“Melissa, we just want to know if you’ve dated a woman before.” Jacob tells her as they all leave the building together.

“Why do you want to know so badly?” Melissa asks them, annoyed.

“Because you never tell us anything about you.” Janine says.

“Ya we just want to get to know you better.” Gregory says.

Melissa rolls her eyes. “What brought this up all of a sudden?” She asks them.

“Well remember when Janine made us play that annoying game and write something about ourselves on a card and then we guess who it was.” Ava asks, earning a ‘heeeey’ from Janine for calling her game annoying.

“Vaguely.” Melissa says, very short with them right now.

“Well, after Janine said he’s only ever dated one guy since grade 8, your immediate response was ‘no women?’.” Ava says and Melissa looks at them.

Melissa then proceeds to walk to her car. “Like I said , none of youse business.” She says and reaches her car and turns to look at them. “So stop asking.” She says and gets in her car.

*the next morning*

The trio keep glancing over at Melissa. They want to ask but wondering if it’ll be dangerous to ask her.

“I feel you guys looking at me.” Melissa says looking at her phone, unimpressed by them. And at that Ava comes in.

“We just want to know the answer.” Jacob tells her.

Melissa sighs and turns around and glares at them. “Ok fine. Yes, I’ve dated a woman before, last one was a few years ago before youse started working here.” She told them and they all beam.

“Omg this is so exciting!” Janine squeals.

“I can’t believe you never told us you were bisexual.” Jacob says.

“What was she like?” Gregory says, and they all look at him then back to Melissa.

Melissa immediately starts thinking about you and she smiles. “She was a teacher here, she taught 3rd grade and left 4 years before you guys started.” She says pointing to Janine, Jacob and Ava. “She was beautiful and smart and brave. She was funny and sarcastic as well and able to keep up with my wit.” Melissa continues. And they all listen as Melissa describes you. And unknown to Melissa, she was smiling the entire time. The only thing Melissa refused to say was your name and why you broke up.

“Why don’t you want to say her name or why you broke up?” Ava says.

“How about youse people take what I give about my life and shut it.” Melissa says and turns back around to go on her phone. Barb looks at her concerned. Of course she knows what happened since she was there and knows how guilty Melissa feels about how it ended.

“Have you ever thought about dating again, specifically a woman?” Jacob says.

Melissa turns to look at him. “No, I’m not going through it again.” She says with a slight voice crack.

Of course none of them listen to her and keep on the lookout for a woman that’s Melissa’s type. And then one day, Ava does. She bursts into the break room, full grin on her face and immediately looks at Melissa then back to the full group, she thinks she found a match for Melissa. Melissa gets up to get herself a coffee and pours it into her mug.

“Hey nerds listen up! The school district sent us a vice principal to help out around the school and they’re paying for it.”

“Really?” Janine says.

“Yep, oh here she comes.” Ava says “and her name is y/n y/l/n.” She says as you enter.

Before anyone can say anything, the sound of a mug breaking is heard near the coffee machine. They all turn to see Melissa with her hand out, as she just dropped her favourite coffee mug full of coffee and it broke on the floor. She’s standing there looking at the new woman who entered in complete shock, completely unaware that she just dropped her mug. They all look towards you who’s looking at Melissa with an expression that can mirror Melissa’s.

“Melissa, r u ok?” Jacob says, and Melissa glances at him briefly before looking down at the floor.

“Uh, u-um y-ya ya, I’m fine, I’m just gonna let Mr Johnson know about the mess.” Melissa says and books it out of the room. A minute later Mr. Johnson appears and sees you , then shakes his head, muttering ‘this will be interesting’.

They all introduce themselves to you , except for Barb. Once the trio and Ava leave, you look at Barb then at your feet, not knowing what to say to her.

“It’s nice to see you again dear.” Barb says and you look up at her.

“I had no idea that Melissa was still working here. I also didn’t really have a choice, the district sent me saying this school needs a vice principal and I needed a job.” You tell her.

“It’s alright, I understand.” Is all she says.

“I-I’ll avoid Melissa as much as possible while I’m here, to avoid any drama as I’m sure she’ll do with me. So you don’t have to worry about that.” You tell her then leave.

After that Barb leaves the break room and goes to check on Melissa. And sure enough, just like she thought, Melissa is having a full on crisis in her classroom. Melissa is at her desk writing something harshly, then gets angry at her pen for not working properly then throws it across the room.

“You’re handling it better than I thought.” Barb says after she sees Melissa throw the pen. Melissa whips her head at Barb and looks at her with anger in her eyes that quickly turns to tears. Barb immediately goes and comforts her the best she could.

“I can’t believe after all these years, she’s here again.” Melissa says, crying into Barb’s shoulder during a hug.

“I know dear, I know.” Barb says, patting her back.

“I thought I’d never see her again, after 6 years I still feel guilty about what happened.” Melissa says, still crying.

*6 years ago*

You and Melissa were at a club, drinking. Celebrating the end of another school year.

“Hey Amore, can you go get us some more drinks?” Melissa asks you, as she got the previous ones.

“Of course beautiful.” You tell her and give her a quick kiss on the lips with a smile. You then get up and go to the bar to get some drinks. You order a drink for you and Melissa’s favourite drink, then a man comes up next to you as you're waiting, and starts chatting you up.

“Hey there pretty lady.” He says and you glance at him and sigh, you just ignore him.

After your drinks are done, the guy is still trying to talk to you. Before you can reach for your drinks, he gets up and goes behind you and kisses you, blocking any possible exit. The guy is twice your side, you try pushing him off but he wouldn’t budge.

Melissa is wondering what’s taking you so long as it’s been 5 minutes. She gets up and goes to the bar and sees you with a man’s tongue down your throat, pressed up against the bar and Melissa sees red. As soon as the guy gets away from you, you see Melissa standing there about 10 feet away, looking pissed. Melissa stomps over to you, grabs your wrist and drags you out of the club.

“WHAT THE HELL Y/N!!! WHY WERE YOU KISSING HIM!” She yells at you and you’re taken aback.

“Did you think I wanted him to kiss me?” You ask.

“Well it sure as hell didn’t look like you weren’t enjoying it!!!” She yells at you.

“Melissa I didn’t…” You try to explain what happened but she cuts you off.

“I don’t fucking care what lame ass excuse you’re about to give!!! I want you and your shit out of my house and nowhere near me again!!! In fact!! Why don’t you leave the fucking city! I don’t want to see you and your cheating face ever again!!!” She yells at you and then turns around to go to her car. You run up and grab her arm to try and get her to listen to you. She shoves your hand off of her and you try again. “Let go of my y/n!” She tries to shove your hand off of her again but you hold on.

“Please Melissa! Just listen to me!” You tell her with tears in your eyes. “He kissed me! I didn’t…” she doesn’t want to listen to you anymore and pushes you off of her and you stumble and fall back on the ground. You look at her full of hurt and tears. She just turns back around and walks to her car and drives away.

You end up staying at a friend's house for a few weeks. You end up telling the principal of Abbott Elementary that you quit and won’t be coming back, you get all your stuff from Melissa’s house when she told you she won’t be there so you can come pick it up. And after 2 months, you end up finding a place out of Philly and get a job at the school district. You feel hurt and abandoned by Melissa. Your friend told you to forget about her if she wasn’t willing to listen to what happened and fight for you. You left a note at her place, explaining what happened at the bar as she blocked your number after telling you when she won’t be there for a whole weekend to come get your stuff. You left her place with your things, completely heartbroken, you thought Melissa would be it for you but you guess you were wrong

Melissa on the other end wasn’t any better, when she got back from her weekend trip, she saw your note and read it. Full of tears in her eyes as she realised her mistake. She immediately unblocks your number and a bunch of messages you tried to send her appear. She read them all, she wanted to send you a message, saying she got your note and wanted to talk, and then she saw your last message.

You: I know you won’t get this Melissa but I’m really sorry about what happened. I’ll be changing my number today and moving out of Philly soon so you won’t see or hear from me again. Love, y/n.

She saw that the message was sent yesterday, she was too late. She has no idea where you are and no way of contacting you.

*back to present day*

“Melissa, what if this is your chance to fix that mistake?” Barb says. “You told me that if you got a chance to apologise then you would take it.”

“It’s been 6 years Barb, she’s probably moved on and doesn’t care about me anymore.” She tells her. Barb doesn’t push her anymore, knowing she needs time and space right now.

At lunch time, you finish talking to Janine in the break room and go to leave. At the same time Melissa is coming in and you walk into each other. You both stare at each other for a few seconds, not knowing what to do or say. You then walk around her and leave the break room. Melissa stands there for a few more seconds in shock. She then looks over at everyone and they’re staring at her confused about what just happened. Melissa doesn’t say anything, she just gets her lunch and eats in silence.

The second period after lunch, Melissa has a prep period as her kids are in art class. She’s marking some tests when you knock on her door. Melissa doesn’t look up as she’s finishing up marking a question.

“Just a sec.” She says.

“That’s fine, I can wait.” You say and Melissa freezes and looks up. “I’ll just sit in one of the students' chairs. I’m sure they won’t mind.” You say with a chuckle.

Melissa quickly finishes marking the question and then looks up at you. “Hi y/n” she says and you look at her.

“Hi Melissa, long time no see.” You tell her.

“Ya, 6 years.” She says, embarrassed.

“Barb told me what happened with the vending machine guy, sorry about that.” You tell her and she nods.

“Y/n was there something you wanted?” She says.

“I wanted to make sure that me being the vice principal here won’t cause any…conflicts.” You tell her.

Melissa freezes, she’s caught in between, she wants to say yes so that you’ll leave and she won’t have to feel guilty every time she sees you but a bigger part of her wants to say no, she missed you and it was nice seeing your face and smile again. Melissa knows what she has to do, she can’t be selfish but she can be careful.

“No I don’t see why it would.” And you look at her and Melissa feels the need to get it over with. “I mean I moved on and you moved on, the past is the past right?” She says and if she’s honest, it hurt her to say that to you.

You were in a similar spot. It hurt to hear her say that she’s moved on from you but what would you expect. It’s been 6 years and you guys ended badly and you assumed that more than likely she didn’t read your note, probably threw it out.

“Ya, we’ll keep it professional.”

“Ya professional, exactly.” She agreed and you got up.

“Oh I’m supposed to introduce myself to all the teachers and ask if there’s anything they need.” You tell. “I got to know the principal more and while she’s nicer than the one that was here when I was a teacher, this one also doesn’t do anything.” You say and she chuckles.

“Ya I have a feeling you’ll be doing most of the principal duties as well.” She says.

“Yep, more than likely. So was there anything you need? Paper? Glue sticks? Pens?” You ask her.

“No no, I think I’m good for now but I’ll let you know if that changes.” She says and you nod.

“Alright.” You say and go to leave then turn back around. “Btw love the rugs. Am I correct to assume you had something to do with that?”

Melissa smiles and puts her index finger over her lips “shh” she says and you smile and mime zipping your mouth. After you leave , Melissa looks at the doorway and sighs. “What I need is you.” She says quietly.

Over the next month, the trio and Ava slowly start to figure it out. You and Melissa barely are in the same room together, barely speak to each other, and when you do, it’s very awkward and uncomfortable. Then they see Melissa’s face when she sees you, full of guilt and sadness. And when you see Melissa, your face is full of hurt.

“Melissa, how do you know y/n?” Janine asks Melissa after a month of watching the awkwardness.

“She’s the vice principal, so we all know her.” Melissa says to them, the trio not convinced for a second and she doesn’t even believe it herself.

“Come on Melissa, it’s obvious you knew her before she got here.” Jacob says. “I mean you’re interactions with her are awkward and tense. And when she first got here you dropped your favourite mug. I mean the only reason I would act that way is if…’’ Jacob doesn’t finish it as he put it all together and he gasps. “Omg y/n is the woman you dated!” He squeals out and Melissa whips her head around in shock since he figured it out.

“How the hell did you figure it out!” Melissa says and immediately her eyes go wide and covers her mouth with her hand for accidentally confirming what he said.

“So wait he’s right? She’s the one you told us about?” Janine says and Melissa rubs her temple with her hands.

“Ok fine, yes he’s right. Y/n is the woman I dated 6 years ago. But it ended badly and I don’t want to talk about it any further.” Melissa says and then walks out of the break room.

“What’s the matter with Melissa?” Ava says as she enters. “She seems grumpier than usual, I just said hi to her and she told me to go to hell.”

“Y/n is the woman that Melissa dated 6 years ago.” Jacob says and Ava has a shocked expression.

“Omg really?” She says. “Barb, why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because Ava, it’s not my secret to tell, it’s Melissa and y/n’s.” Barb says to her. “What I will tell you is Melissa feels guilty and is too afraid to apologise and y/n is too busy thinking that Melissa hates her. I’ve been trying to tell each of them to talk to each other but they’re both so stubborn.”

“Maybe we can trap them somewhere together and force them to talk to each other.” Ava suggests and they all agree, including Barb, that it’s not a bad idea.

“Ok but that requires a door that can lock from the outside and you can’t unlock it without a key from the inside.” Gregory says.

“I know just the place.” Mr Johnson says and they all turn to look at him on the other side of the room, not knowing he was there.

“You’re willing to help us with this?” Janine asks him.

“I was rooting for them 6 years ago when y/n was a teacher here.” He says and they look at him. Of course he knew, they honestly are not surprised at this point.

They put their plan into play, the next day during lunch they were gonna lock you two in the janitorial closet and Janine was gonna take Melissa’s kids with hers and go to the gym and then do a big art project in her classroom.

So when Melissa was going to get her kids, Janine asks Melissa if she could help her reach something from the Janitor closet and Mr Johnson went to ask you if you could help him with something in the closet. Melissa was grabbing the item when you walked in and then the door shut. You ran to it and tried to open it but it was locked.

“Did they just lock us in here?” You ask her. Melissa was too stunned to see you that she didn’t even realise what happened until you spoke.

“Ya I think they did.” She said.

“Why would they do that?” You ask her, annoyed.

“Probably for us to talk.” She says and you look at her.

“What is there for us to talk about? There’s absolutely nothing for us to talk about” You say and cross your arms.

“Actually there’s something. ” Melissa says and sits on one of the chairs that’s in there, while you sit on the other.

“What is it then?” You ask her and she takes a deep breath.

“6 years ago.” Is all she says but you understood.

“There’s nothing for us to talk about. You said it yourself, it’s in the past and we’ve both moved on.” You said and you look at her and she looks hurt. “What?”

“Have you really moved on?” She asked and you look at her.

“It doesn't matter, I know you moved on though. ”

“Ya a failed proposal is definitely not moving on.” she says.

“But you were in a serious enough relationship with him for him to propose.” You tell her and she looks down.

“Ya I guess so.” She gets her phone out to text Barb to come let them out and gets a reply back.

Barb: not until you talk to her.

Melissa: no, it’s too painful, please let us out.

Barb: I’m sorry Melissa but I know this was hurting you. Seeing her everyday is hurting you.

“They’re not gonna let us out anytime soon are they?” You ask her.

“I don’t think so.” She says and then looks at you. “I’m sorry.” She says.

“It’s not your fault, you didn’t lock us in here.” You say, totally missing what she was apologising for.

“That’s not what I’m apologising for.” She says and you look at her.

“Then what are you apologising for?”

“For 6 years ago, making a big mistake.”

“Wha-”

“I read your note.” She says, cutting you off. “I should have listened to you but I was just so angry that I couldn’t think.” She tells you and looks at you with guilt. “The real reason I said no to Gary is because I didn’t want to be with him because I still have feelings for you. And I felt so guilty about how I reacted and I unblocked your number when I got home after reading your note and read all the texts and I wanted to find you or contact you but I had no way of doing that.” And a few tears slip down her cheeks.

“I haven’t moved on, you know. I’ve forgiven you for that night but I haven’t gotten over you.” You say and Melissa is looking at you with wide puffy eyes. “I tried, I ended up living with a girlfriend for a year. But then she broke up with me when she wanted more and I didn’t. Said I was emotionally unavailable. Which I guess is true, you can’t develop big feelings for someone if your heart belongs to someone else.” You said and the look on Melissa’s face said it all.

“Who does your heart belong too?”

“You.” Melissa sucked in a breath. “When I saw you standing there in the break room after 6 years, I couldn’t believe it, and you still look beautiful and stunning.” She let out an airy laugh.

“You as well, you still look so damn beautiful. My heart belongs to you too.” Melissa then gets up and walks over to you and crouches next to you and holds your hand and you look down at her. “I want to be with you again, if you’ll have me.” She says and you tuck a lock of hair behind her ear and smile at her.

“Of course, I want to be with you again too.” You said and Melissa beams. Then she gets up and leans in and kisses you. After 6 years Melissa finally felt back home again, like her lips are supposed to be on yours and no one else’s. You pull back after needing to breathe and you look at Melissa who’s smiling at you.

“You know I don’t think they’ll let us out until it’s the end of the day. So we still got… 2 and a half hours.” Melissa says, looking at her phone. You then get up and make her walk backwards and get her to sit on her chair and then straddle her lap.

“I think I want to know how to spend that time.” You tell her with a smile then go to kiss her again.

Melissa kisses you back passionately with her hands in your hair and yours are on her hips. Melissa’s hands travel down your body and land on your chest. She then puts her hands under your shirt and cups your boobs and you moan into the kiss. She then moves her lips down to your neck and starts sucking on it and you gasp before placing your mouth on her shoulder to muffle your sounds. Melissa giggles at your actions before unclipping your bra and lifts your shirt so she can put her lips around your nipples. You try to move your body so you can grind her leg but Melissa keeps you where you are and you whine.

“Patience, I don’t want to waste you on my leg.” She tells you and flips you both so you’re the one on the chair and removes your pants and underwear. She then immediately dives down and licks your pussy and you cover your mouth with your arm to muffle your moan. Melissa then puts her tongue in your entrance and begins tongue fucking you and you bite down on your arm as it feels so good.

Melissa tastes you again after years and thinks of how you still taste so good. She moans and it vibrates on your entrance and you gasp. She moves her tongue out of your entrance and goes for your clit and sucks on it. You’re moaning into your arm like crazy right now as Melissa is fucking magical with her tongue.

Melissa looks at you trying your best to muffle your sounds and gets up and kisses you. While kissing you, she slips a finger into your entrance and a thumb to your clit and you clutch her hair. She slips another finger in and pushes them in and out of you quickly while rubbing your clit. It doesn’t take long until you’re shaking and Melissa knows you’re about to come.

“Go on Tesoro, come for me.” Melissa whispers into your ear and then goes right back to kissing you just in time for you to come. “As soon as they let us out of this closet, I’m taking you to my place. I’ll cook us something and then it’s to my bed. How does that sound?” Melissa asks you after removing her fingers out of you.

“I like the sound of that.” You tell her, trying to catch your breath. “I honestly miss your cooking, and your body.” You say and she smiles as she kisses you again. She helps you get dressed after kissing you and then she sits down on the floor with you curled up on her.

And that’s how the Abbott crew finds them after they go to unlock the door after the students leave. They unlock it and see you on Melissa with her hands wrapped protectively around you and they all have their mouths open in shock.

“Oh finally.” Melissa says and you get off of her and help her up. “Come on.” She tells you and grabs your hand and begins sprinting out of there and you’re both giggling.

“Was that a hickey on y/n’s neck?” Janine says and they all look at her then back at you two running out of the building.

And when the two of you get to her place, Melissa keeps her word of making a meal then spending the rest of the evening in her bed.

Taglist: @esposadejoyhuerta

@imaginesmultifandoms

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@sexysapphicshopowner

@dvrkhcld

If you want to be added then let me know!

#melissa schemmenti x reader #melissa schemmenti x oc #melissa schemmenti x you #melissa schemmenti #x reader #fanfic

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gingerly-writing · 8 months

Note

Saw a quote on Instagram today that said "Friendly reminder that a hero will sacrifice you to save the world but a villain will sacrifice the world to save you" and I immediately thought of you. 😳 Do you think you could work out a prompt themed around that? 👀

"Don't leave me," they begged. "Don't leave me, don't please, you promised you wouldn't, you swore-"

Tears rolled down the hero's cheeks, but their lips were pressed thin and firm. "I'm so sorry," they said, "but I made promises to a lot of people in that city to keep them alive, more promises than I ever made to you. They come first."

"Please-"

-----

"You have to help them-"

"Fuck the city," the villain spat, "and fuck everyone in it. They were going to sacrifice you to save their own hides. Why should I reward them for that?"

"There are innocent people-"

"That didn't come to rescue you. Never lifted a finger to save you. And I won't lift a finger to save them, either. They should be grateful I don't go down there and help kill them all."

-----

"They left you."

"They told me they would. They're a hero, it's their job, their duty."

"Doesn't make it hurt any less though, does it?"

-----

if anyone would like to commission a prompt set my kofi is here <3

#prompt #my prompt #prompt request #heroes and villains #sacrifice #begging

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seangelfish · 2 months

Note

i was ranting to the ritsu ai bot about my abusive ex and he said he was gonna tell knights and they were gonna handle it and when i asked him what he meant he was like "hehe dont worry about it~" djndksndke do you think u can write something about ritsu listening to u rant to him about an abusive ex and how hed handle it pls... thank u so much 🥺

A/N: I'm so sorry for the wait, anon! I hope you're still here to read this ;-; This was really an interesting request to take on. I added more to the story if that's alright! Just wanted the quote to flow in better~ Anyways, I hope you enjoy! (´,,•ω•,,)♡

"Hehe, don't worry about it~"

Ritsu Sakuma x reader ♡ Tags: Fluff/comfort/kinda angsty, romance, established relationship, she/her pronouns/fem reader ♡ Warnings: Slight mentions of abusive relationships ♡ Word count: 1,278 ♡ Synopsis: There are times where you just can't forget about the past, and unfortunately, it came back to haunt you. Ritsu, being the analytical person he is, notices your shift in attitude. The happiest girl he knew was now drifting away. How is he able to solve this, he wonders...

"(Y/N)~" Ritsu called out to you from across the hallway. "I want a kiss~"

You winced, slowly turning around. There you saw your boyfriend and the rest of his unit making their way to their practice room.

"Hey, don't bother (Y/N)!" snapped Arashi. "Can't you see that she's busy?"

She was right and the stack of books in your arms proved that. You forced out a chuckle but decided not to answer Ritsu's request and walked away.

"Ahaha! What odd behaviour!" Leo pointed out. "She didn't even pay you no mind!"

Ritsu bit his lip. "Is she mad at me?" he murmured to himself.

After practice, Ritsu looked all over the school for you, constantly calling you but never getting a reply. He was getting extremely anxious because not only did he know you as the most happy-go-lucky person that he adored, but because there was that thought in the back of his mind that you were going to leave him.

You were avoiding him after all.

“H-Hey, Maa-kun, have you seen (Y/N) anywhere?” Ritsu panted, hands on his knees as he breathed heavily.

“Woah, there!” Mao exclaimed. “You’re sweating! You’re not one to run around so much. Is (Y/N) okay? I haven’t seen her much today—”

“I don’t know… I think she might be mad at me, but I’m not sure why she would be…” said Ritsu sadly. “She’s not even picking up my calls.”

“Hmm… let me try then.”

Mao scrolled through his contacts until he landed on yours. As the phone rang, the two boys waited for you to answer.

Unprecedentedly, the line was immediately cut.

“Huh, weird. (Y/N) always picks up when I call her,” said Mao, thinking back to the times he had to call you to take care of Ritsu. “Yeah, she might be mad at you. Ritsu—”

“I swear I didn’t do anything,” Ritsu quickly stated. “Argh, I’m going to look again. Bye!”

“Hey, don’t overdo it!”

Ritsu sighed, slumping down by the corner of the Yumenosaki gardens. He looked for you everywhere he could, asking friends and classmates where you went, but none of them knew of your whereabouts.

He couldn't keep running around forever. Ritsu wasn't built for that. So he came to rest for a bit before trying again.

“Ah… I’m tired,” he muttered to himself. “(Y/N)… where are you…?”

His eyelids felt heavy, but before he could fall asleep, his ears picked up the sound of shuffling. He lifted his head up and there you were, backed into the corner, hugging your knees.

The two of you stared at each other in shock, yet Ritsu was the one who broke off the silence.

"(Y/N)!" he exclaimed, crawling towards you. As he took your hands in his, he continued swiftly, "I was looking all over for you! Are you okay? What's wrong? Did I do something that hurt you? I'm sorry. Please don't be mad. I'll fix it–"

You shook your head, an artificial smile forming on your face. "I'm sorry, Ritsu. I just needed alone time... You didn't do anything wrong, I promise."

"T-Then why have you been avoiding me?" he quavered. "You've been ignoring my calls too... (Y/N), you know you can tell me anything, right? You can rely on me – I want you to rely on me..."

You stared into his deep red eyes, the ones that pleaded with you to be honest with him. You let out a sigh, nodding in agreement that talking to him would have been better than bottling these feelings up.

"There's something I never told you about..." you said. "About my past relationship..."

Ritsu looked confused, but stayed quiet for you to continue. Not once did he let go of your hands, and you were thankful for that.

"...The relationship was fine at first, but it gradually became harder to breathe in. He would get mad at everything I did, everything I said. It was like walking on eggshells... There were times I was hurt by it too – mentally and physically."

And as you expected, those red eyes of his looked horrified.

"It was a scary time, but I'm glad I was able to get out. Then I met you." You smiled at him genuinely this time, but it all faded away too quickly. "I didn't think I was ready to get into a new relationship, but you were so sweet, so kind... You made all my worries melt away. I was so happy, but I guess I shouldn't have been."

"(Y/N), what? I don't understand–"

"He found out I was dating you," you stated. "He found out I was attending Yumenosaki, where I live now. He texted me yesterday to insult me because I already got into a new relationship even though it had been a while. He wouldn't leave me alone despite the amount of times I blocked him! He just keeps creating new accounts and numbers. That's why I didn't answer your calls... I-I turned my phone off..."

"(Y/N)..."

"R-Ritsu, I'm so scared...!" you stuttered as tears fell down your cheeks. "I didn't know what to do, so I tried avoiding it... but I'm so scared..."

"Hey..." he said calmly, wiping a tear away with his thumb. "I'm sorry you had to go through that, but thank you for telling me this. I'll handle the rest, okay?"

"H-Huh? But how?"

"Hmm... I'll tell the rest of Knights about it..." he muttered.

"Ritsu, what do you mean by that–"

"Hehe, don't worry about it~"

He stood up and held out his hand. "Come on, let's go back. Lunch is almost over." You hesitated but grabbed his hand as he pulled you up carefully. Once you were on your feet, he embraced you. He held your head to his chest, making you hear his heartbeat.

"You deserve to be happy, so don't worry about it anymore, alright?" he said. "(Y/N), I love you."

Lips pursed in order not to cry any more, you chuckled. "Thank you, Ritsu..." you whispered. "I love you too."

The next day, you stopped receiving those threatening messages from your ex. You wondered how Ritsu did it, but he never answered, leaving you clueless about the whole situation.

However, he did tell you that you shouldn't worry about your ex finding you anymore. He made sure to report the messages to the police with the help of Tsukasa. So now that the police were keeping an eye on him, you were able to relax.

"But what did you guys do anyway?" you asked Knights one day. "Ritsu never told me."

"Uhm– Oh– We didn't do much!" Arashi quickly stated, looking to the side. "We just reported it, that's it!"

"Eh...? Then Tsukasa, can you tell me–"

"I'm sorry, (Y/N), I can't."

"Izumi–"

"Nope."

"Leo?!"

"Not happening, (Y/N)!"

"Why are you all being so secretive?!"

"It's for your own good," Ritsu said sleepily as he entered the room. "(Y/N), can I use you as a pillow?"

You smiled. "Of course, come over here." As you patted your lap, Ritsu made his way over to you. He laid his head down on your legs happily as you began to stroke his hair.

"Can I have a kiss too?" he whispered. "After all, you didn't give me one last time~"

"Okay, okay~"

You leaned down and placed a soft kiss on his lips which he seemed to be very delighted about. You supposed it didn't matter how your boyfriend got your ex to back off. The past was the past, and you were going to leave that behind once and for all.

Anyways, your future was already fast asleep on your lap, lightly snoring away.

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#ensemble stars x reader #enstars x reader #ensemble stars #enstars #x reader #fanfic #ritsu sakuma x reader #ritsu sakuma #ritsu sakuma x reader fluff #fluff #ritsu sakuma x y/n

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bewilderedbuck · 10 months

Text

Devi vs. David: aka a comprehensive list of every single time ben gross has referred to devi as one or the other (season four edition)

HERE IT IS!!! the final edition of devi vs. david!!! if you're new here and haven't checked out any of my other devi vs. david deep dives, please feel free to check them out here: season 1, season 2, season 3. you can also find all of my devi vs. david ramblings here. and as i've said again and again and again, this is a list of every single time ben refers to her as either devi or david, this time in season 4, with context + insight + my own lil insane thoughts, because i'm 100% totally normal when it comes to this topic (they said, like a liar).

heads up, not all of the netflix captions are accurate, or the whole quote wasn't all in one frame, so if the font looks different in any of the following screencaps, it's because i captioned them myself.

i already noted in previous analyses, as well as in this post, that ben tends to go for “david” during their rivalry and their friensdhip, as opposed to when they’re estranged/fighting etc and when they're in more...well, romantic situations, he defaults to “devi.” i’ll go a little more into this towards the end, but it’s just something i’d like to bring to your attention before i get started.

anyways, here we go!

hmm remember when i predicted we would get a “devi” first this season because of the months of distance and miscommunication? and when i thought it would happen immediately after devi sees margot kiss ben? i may not have had all the details right, but i saw this coming from a mile away. and this also fits into the pattern i thought was going to be established: season 1 we get “david” first, season 2 we get “devi,” season 3 “david” and now in season 4 they’re finishing the pattern with another “devi.” they’re in wildly different places in their relationship in each of these instances, which i go more in detail about in this post where i predicted that we would get a “devi” first this season.

anyways. this use of “devi” has me hurting for both of them. they’ve got this - this chasm of months of distance, of zero contact, of miscommunication and misread feelings and misrepresented actions (“he was clearly embarrassed for me.” vs “it was so clear she that thought it sucked. she got up and sprinted out.” i love my two unreliable narrators devi vishwakumar and ben gross!!). i’m having a lot of thoughts about devi’s intentions here that i…probably won’t go into further detail about, lol, because this post is about ben. so. of course he reverts to “devi” here - they aren’t friends, right now. they aren’t really rivals right now, either - i mean, they always will be, of course, but that’s not the focal point of their relationship here. they’re talking for the first time after three months of radio silence, of ben creating this rift between them because of some bullshit advice after misrepresenting what happened (okay like. i’m not here to hate on ben - i just. it’s his fault. it’s literally his fault). he can’t call her “david” because, as i’ve said before, “david” has turned fond. they aren’t friends, they aren’t rivals, they aren’t lovers. so, “devi.”

(didn't include the first "devi" he says to get her attention in this scene, sorry.)

okay this is. basically bouncing off the last one - he can’t call her “david.” they aren’t close enough for that, not right now - they won’t be for some time this season. but he’s also trying to set the tone of the conversation, a more mature version of the one they had in the beginning of the episode. and i do applaud him for this, for owning up to all of this being his fault, too (which. i don’t think all of it was, honestly - there is blame to be placed on devi and on margot over what happened this episode, but the 3 months of no contact? ben’s fault, 100%). big props to him for apologizing. however still a little salty about him internalizing those words from mr. basketball player all those months ago, because dude did not have all the info when he gave ben that advice. but to be fair - ben is a seventeen year old with low social skills (not faulting him for that because like. same) so i sympathize with him a bit there. overall, based on where they are in their relationship in 4x01, i was really pleased with how this convo turned out especially since the spoilers we were given from the premiere made it look so much worse than it really is.

hm. remember how that last convo of theirs was pretty mature and low-conflict. yeah then they give us this. ben’s…exasperated. within reason, i think - and to be clear i don’t think devi’s really in the wrong here, it’s just…he chose to be with margot because he thought it was the easier route. he distanced himself from devi because he thought it would be easier. but it’s not. of course it’s not - he and devi both still have all these messy feelings for each other that they’ve been pushing down and suppressing and denying. and it’s tiring. being around devi while he’s “““moving on””” is tiring. being sucked into drama over and over is tiring. he wants - or thinks he wants- something calm, and easy. -and like. it would be fuckign easy if y’all just got your shit together and admitted your feelings but that comes later so we’re moving on for now-

okay so. as i’ve said in my previous posts, it doesn’t make sense for him to refer to her as “david” to other people when she’s not around, so we’re not going to explain why he said “devi” here - that’s a given. but this whole scene…he kinda let devi get into his head before talking to margot. like, from the characters’ point of view, not ours, it definitely seems like margot had the most motive to deface her car. i mean ben straight up says, “you did have a good reason, so i could understand why you might.” and this isn’t me digging at devi for thinking margot did it, or ben for second-guessing margot, or anything like that - it’s just like. objectively. it does seem like margot could have done it. so i get where ben’s coming from.

okay so…we know that that is. false. a lie. an untruth. et cetera. bouncing back to the first instance of “devi” in 4x02, this, once again, makes me think that ben is just…trying to make things easier, calmer. he doesn’t want to deal with devi’s drama right now (again, not dissing devi, just explaining his pov). interrupting her with, “listen, devi,'' to get her attention, to shut her up because he just…can’t do this right now. he’s conflicted - he cares about devi so deeply that it’s detrimental to him at times, and after the events of 4x01 and 4x02, he thinks the best thing to help him keep “““moving on””” (bc like. i’ve touched on this before but there is no moving on for him when it comes to devi) is to go back to silence and estrangement. back to how they were over the summer. back to how they were in those few episodes of season 2, even, just with less vitriol. so, “devi” to further that distance - earlier in the episode, he says, “we are friends,” but here, he’s all but saying, we can’t be friends, not anymore. not now. maybe not ever again.

following this up with:

the thing is…he does look sorry. he doesn’t want to lose her again. it hurts her, yes, but it also hurts him. but like i said - this is easier for him, for right now at least.

oooh this brings me back to 2x08, “devi, you’re daisy.” ben, currently dating a girl that’s not devi, while still having all these complicated feelings for her, relating her to the material they’re currently studying, after she almost became the reason said girlfriend had to leave sherman oaks (temporarily for margot, of course, but still) - it’s not an exact copy/paste, obv, but i’m loving the parallel. also brings me back to 1x02, “it’s okay, devi. i know how hard it is to memorize seven facts,” the same tone being used then as it is now - although with different intentions, of course. ben is - bitter, i would say. of course he is. this whole situation is just…really reminiscent of that 2x05 to 2x07 arc, although with a bit less anger - they’ve got not just their rivalry and (currently, failed) romance behind them, but also those months of real friendship they had during season 3. there’s even more history between them to contend with now, which makes it harder for him to be angry with her. he still is - just not to the same extent as the s2 aneesa situation.

remember when i said ben stopped talking to her to make it easier? yeah. i honestly totally forgot he says exactly that until i got to this scene while writing this out. “it’s just easier this way. she just always complicates things.” just - ouch, ouch, ouch. this is just me reiterating everything i’ve already said, i guess. does he want to push devi away right now? no, i don’t think so. but it makes things less complicated for him. devi is messy, yes, they’ve established that well over all four seasons - but this isn’t really about how messy devi is, is it? he tells margot that it’s because of devi, and it is, partially, but it’s also because of him. because he and devi clash. because he and devi mesh. because, at least right now, it is so hard for him to separate all these things he feels - angry and disappointed, yes, but there’s this - wistful, i want to say, feeling there under all of that, this pull he’s always going to feel with her. and he’s not in a place where he can let that go unless he cuts her off.

god i do feel for ben here. i wish they had brought back some of the stuff from last season with him…chilling out more when it comes to academics and all that, but like, this is ben gross we’re talking about here - one intestinal blockage and heartfelt convo with his dad isn’t going to erase over a decade of self-set high expectations. dude is stressed, literally sweating through his clothes and now he looks like someone squirted a bottle of french’s on him.

and amongst all this, comes the last person he wants to talk to right now - he smells like sweat and acrylic paint and he just had his girlfriend judge the spiel he’s probably recited in the mirror a hundred times (which like, in all fairness to margot, it did feel like a bowflex commercial). and now here’s devi, all calm and collected with her power blazer and bouncy high pony - looking like the opposite of what ben’s feeling. he’s already frustrated, and her showing up makes it that much worse - until approximately two seconds later when she saves his women’s medium sized ass.

episode 5’s you never disappoint do you. i love, love, love this conversation between ben and devi - this vulnerability here, the way they tell each other that they’ll be okay, that yes, this is scary. our lives are about to change forever - but you’ll make it through. you’ll survive. you’ll thrive.

and this line…this so much. ben knows who devi is, has been in proximity to her for twelve years at this point, as a rival, as a friend, even as a lover for a short stint - and he knows her, and he knows that she knows herself. maybe - no, definitely - she didn’t know who she was before, drowning in fresh grief, but she’s grown, she’s healed (not completely, but she has healed nonetheless), and ben has had a front row seat to that. he has watched from up close as she became the person she is now. he believes in her, and he knows she can believe in herself, too.

i promise i’m feeling so totally normal about this…remember when i said i thought the first “david” would be at the end of 4x05 during reconciliation? i do, and, surprise surprise - i was right, because ben gross is nothing if not consistent (most of the time, at least). this “david” is driving me insane. they just had this heartfelt discussion about their fears with going to college, reassuring each other that they’ll be okay, fucking…pep talking each other, because they know each other better than they know anyone else, and ben drops a “david” like it’s nothing. like it’s easy. like he means it!!! i’ve said so many times that “david” has turned into this term of endearment almost exclusively used during their friendship, with ben avoiding using it when they’re not friends, and after last episode, where it had been verbally established (by devi, at least), that they still aren’t friends…now he slips a “david” in. this is the closest, the most vulnerable, they’ve been with each other in months. this is ben taking that step to pull them even closer - ben feeling safe enough to do so. this is ben saying, “i can be your friend,” thirty seconds before he actually utters those words.

okay full disclosure, “david” isn’t in the official captions on this one, so like, idk if jaren decided to add this day of filming or what - but whatever. that doesn’t matter here. what does matter is this absolute effortless slide back into their friendship. ben going out of his way to approach her, to tell her the good news (well. it’s not really good news for devi but like. he doesn’t know that, so). he’s excited for her!!! he gives her this boost of confidence (and yes i know it doesn’t last long, what with the deferral email coming in that day but. still.)

ooooh the way i love this scene!!! the fact that we get to see this interaction through paxton’s eyes is just delightful to me. like, okay, i’m not a “he’s mean to you so he likes you!!” kind of person, but banter like this coming about while they’re actively friends and post-bargot (bengot? ragross? ykwim) breakup…it’s thinly veiled flirting, and idk if we would have been given that perspective if this scene had been shot from devi’s pov, or ben’s. while this isn’t the first taste of mutual banter we’ve got all season (looking at you, 4x04 bathroom scene), this is the first friendly mutual banter, and god we were starving for it - at least i know i was. there’s bite behind their words, but it’s playful for both of them!! but like - then there’s the shot of them both immediately fixing their appearance after they’re no longer in each other’s line of sight (ben tucking in his necklace, devi taking off her cardigan) and i just. ooooh my god i love it. i’ve said it before, and i’ll say it again - peak crush behavior. and ben isn’t even posturing for paxton here like he would have before, thanks to the literal shitstorm of 3x06 - ben’s only…well, acting up, i guess i would say, for devi. not anyone else.

(and like this is totally unrelated but god do i wish we got more bexton interactions this season, but oh well.)

hi yeah no i’m still not over this scene. it’s. so unapologetically horny and it’s a side of ben i’m honestly so glad we got to see. like, okay, we already know he messed around a little with shira, had (bad) sex with devi, and is canonically a boob guy, but this more in-depth peek at his desires (cough cough degradation kink cough cough) is just…chef’s kiss. yes this is devi’s show first and foremost but god do i love the looks into ben’s brain we get. and this - this desire for devi, this want for her, something he can’t run from in his subconscious no matter how hard he runs from it in his waking hours - yes, it’s a wet dream, but it’s more than that. trent says it: “...you really love her.” ben loves her. he can’t get her out of his head. he wants her - physically and emotionally.

let’s, for now, ignore that this is moments before disaster. god, the look on his face, this eager, hopeful smile, the fucking bouquet he brought for her. he’s riding the high (ha, get it) of trent’s earnest pep talk, ready, for the first out of multiple times this season, to tell her he wants her. he’s done denying it, to himself and now to her, too (which. the latter obviously doesn’t really happen for another few months - but that’s beside the point).

this instance is pretty self-explanatory from ben’s pov (i mean, that’s what y’all are here for). checking in that she’s okay after seeing her throw up, congratulating her, etc. not spending too much time on this one - just noting the, once again, effortless slip back into “david” after the events of last episode. not saying there’s not some inner turmoil going on for him regarding his feelings for her; even though we can’t see it, it’s still there - but birthdaygate (as nalini called it) was…a disaster, to put it lightly, so. back to “david” it is…for now, at least.

god this followed immediately by the “is she okay?” and then ben rushing off to go check in on her…i’ll touch on this more in the next instance, but like. he’s truly the only one who gets how much this would hurt. not saying that no one else understands how devi feels, but he’s the only one who would really, truly get it if the same happened to him. just - the wondering how she didn’t get in anywhere, because she’s just as smart as (and, technically as 4x10 proves with that valedictorian sash, smarter than) him. the immediate concern for her, the need to check in...god, he cares for her so much.

“But you’re not a quitter.” bringing back the “no one knows them better than they know each other” thing - because it’s true. no one knows devi better than ben knows her. he knows what she’s capable of - has been on the opposing side of it for over a decade. he has won against her, lost against her, won with her, lost with her…he’s seen her rise and fall and pick herself back up to rise again. he understands her, and he understands why this is so painful for her - if it were him, it would feel like twelve years of hard work, of early mornings following sleepless nights, of flash cards and meticulous notes and extra credit projects, all being flushed down the drain. he gets it, gets her. this being the first use of “devi” (to her, and not in a dream sequence) since 4x05 - he uses it to set the tone, to get her attention, to get her to listen to him. because he knows she doesn’t really want to give up. and he as much as says that: “but if you don’t try everything that you can, you’re gonna regret it.” she already knows this - there’s no doubt in my mind about that, and there’s no doubt that ben knows that she knows this. she just needed to hear it from the one person who understands - and it worked. she does try - and, as we see in 4x10, she succeeds.

this…this is the biggest break in his pattern when it comes to “devi” vs “david.” he never refers to her as “david” with a - romantic isn’t the exact word i’m looking for, but it’s the one we’re gonna use - romantic intention. i think he’s using “david” here to sort of…ease the tension, so to say? to lighten the mood a bit. he wants to tell her - has wanted to since trent told him to speak his truth, likely longer than that. but after birthdaygate - he doesn’t want to show too much of his hand. “maybe i was wrong, david.” not “i was wrong, devi.”

feeling especially attached to this use of “david” tbh. the excitement he feels for her, immediately rushing to pull her into a hug, how proud he is of her, especially after the events of the last episode. again, he knows how hard she’s worked for this, and he knows what it’s like to feel all of that hard work pay off. she’s not alone in feeling this satisfaction - he’s feeling it with her.

i loved, loved all the callbacks to the previous seasons, and this is no exception. the addition of “david” here brings me back to this post by @catty-words that i’m still thinking about almost two years later (and have referenced in 2 out of 3 of these analyses): “it’s a relic from their rivalry.” obviously cori goes into it a bit differently in that post because it’s about their season 2 arc, but to re-work that line here: the equatorial guinea nametag (i would say plaque but like. it’s a piece of paper) is a memento of their first time teaming up, but it is also a relic of their rivalry in a way - the initial anger of devi infiltrating his club, the temporary alliance that was struck down just hours later, the nuclear attack. and so, yes, “david” here is used as that mark of friendship, as i’ve referred to it before, and so is the nametag, but they’re also both a representation of their enmity - albeit in a much more playful way than the "david" from 2x05.

i’m going to refer you to the genius of rae @ice-sculptures real quick, who had this to say in regards to ben’s patterns when it comes to what he calls her: “it could be that he “hides” behind david when the lines of their relationship are blurred and uses it as a way to convey the affection that he doesn’t think he can openly express. but when they actually get together he doesn’t need to hide anymore bc he knows that she’s aware of how much he loves her…so devi is enough.”

y’all. devi is enough. he doesn’t need to use a term of endearment, a pet name, with her here. he doesn’t need to hide behind “david.” and like. just in case you aren’t aware - “david” means “beloved” in hebrew. i’m sure ben’s aware of that - he’s a giant nerd, and he’s jewish - it never gets established in canon, so it may just be something we’re all collectively reading into, but like. i’m obviously going to continue reading into it - he doesn’t have to hide behind “beloved” anymore, he doesn’t have to use this roundabout way to tell her how he feels - he can just say it. and he says it without even knowing if she feels the same way. he’s following trent’s advice from 4x08: “you must go to her. [...] you must tell her how you feel. there's no time to waste. [...] you must speak your truth. she needs to know." he flies to her on a whim to tell her he likes her. actually, he thinks he loves her, “devi.” he loves her. this is the bravest thing he’s done - he doesn’t know how she feels, doesn’t know if she loves him back - but he tells her anyways. he can’t wait. it doesn’t matter that she’s flying to the east coast the next day, where she’ll be a two hour and six minute train ride away. he has to tell her now. there’s no time to waste. she needs to know.

god. i just - i love that they already had this - this whole soft, sweet love confession, full of shy, gentle smiles and giggles, followed by The Big Damn Kiss of All Time (and like. the big damn bang of all time) and he still feels the need to tell her that he wants to be with her. that he wants to start this next chapter of life with her. and there’s just…something so important to me about them not being high school sweethearts. about them not really giving this an actual shot until they’re headed to college. he doesn’t want “let’s kiss at our lockers in between periods and sit next to each other in the cafeteria while we eat gloopy square-shaped pizza.” he wants “let’s fall asleep on facetime during exam season. let’s spend one weekend in new york and the next in new jersey. let’s meet in the middle. let’s cram ourselves onto a twin-sized dorm room bed that’s definitely not made for two people. let’s learn how to be adults together. let’s give this a real try. let’s give us a real try.”

and so they do.

and with that...we're done. if you've reached the end, thank you for reading! i'm so sad that this series of posts has come to an end, but i've had an absolute delight doing these, and i'm so pleased with the ending of this show - because it didn't feel like an ending. it felt like a new beginning. i'm going to miss never have i ever (i already do), but i'm so happy to have spent the past few years yelling about it with all of you - and i'll likely continue yelling about it in the near future.

#long post #ben gross #devi vishwakumar #benvi #ben x devi #devi x ben #never have i ever #nhie #nhie s4 #never have i ever season 4 #devi vs david #went a little off the rails with this one but like. can y'all blame me they make me fucking insane #anyways pls validate me i spent so much time on this <3

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one-flower-one-sword · 3 months

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alright, I'm going to start a new post because I'd really like to continue this discussion but my post about the contrasts between Jun Wu and Hua Cheng that started it all has been getting too long to keep adding to it. me and @illuminatedferret were discussing whether or not Jun Wu knows Hua Cheng and Wuming are the same person. I'm also going to tag @csilla-nocturine because you had also commented with similar points but I forgot to tag you yesterday, I'm sorry T_T. this was my response to both of your very interesting points on my last reblog on the original post, which I've copied over to this post:

First of, I think Hua Cheng being right there ready to voice his own feelings on the matter wouldn’t take away from Jun Wu's satisfaction in reminding Xie Lian of what he almost did while at his lowest - and what happened to Wuming as a consequence of that. In fact, Hua Cheng revealing then and there that he is Wuming might have played right into that - regardless of Hua Cheng stating that it's an honor for him to die for Xie Lian and that he never blamed him and so on - Xie Lian would still feel like he's caused his beloved's second death. like you said though, interpreting that scene precisely is difficult!

the second thing is that if Jun Wu has no idea who Hua Cheng is and thinks he and Xie Lian have basically just met, it doesn't really make sense to me that he'd immediately and repeatedly try to separate them, the specific ways he goes about doing that, and that he'd call Hua Cheng "a very faithful believer" of Xie Lian's, as he'd have no evidence that Hua Cheng sees Xie Lian as his god and worships him as he knows Wuming did:

"Do you know who that ghost was?" White No-Face asked.

"A... A soul of someone who died on the battlefield?" Xie Lian tried.

"Yes," White-No Face replied. "But he was also your very last believer in this world. And now, he's no more. [...] Oh yes, that's right. This wasn't the first time you've met him," White No-Face continued. [...] "That ghost had been following you for a while. At first, I thought he was simply deeply resentful, so I caught and interrogated him; his answers were quite interesting. The Zhongyuan Festival. A night of lanterns. A wandering ghost fire. Do you remember? [...] In life, he was a soldier under your command," White No-Face lazily hinted. "In death, his soul followed you, turned into a wrath ghost because you were pierced by a hundred swords. And now, his soul has been obliterated because you unleashed the plague of Human Face Disease."

Xie Lian seemed to vaguely recall something, but he hadn't even seen his believer's face, he didn't even know his name - what could he recall?

TGCF Volume 6, page 339

then @illuminatedferret your response to this was:

Those are some good points! I could definitely attribute the kinda weird feeling of the dialogue to Jun Wu being increasingly unbalanced and desperate, rather than him not knowing about Wuming. The 'faithful believer' bit, I just figured he saw Hua Cheng as a threat to his plans for Xie Lian. You're right that his immediate actions to separate them make more sense if he already knows their history together. But, by this point(the initial dialogue from Book 5, I mean), he has explicitly seen the Cave of Ten Thousand Gods, so no matter what he definitely knows Hua Cheng is a believer of Xie Lian.

First of, I want to thank you both for being so interested in my original post and taking the time to write down and share your arguments! like I said in my initial response, I can see both your lines of reasoning as well :) for me though, there's too many scenes throughout the whole novel that either hint at Jun Wu knowing or that don't make sense to me if he doesn't. Like the Cave of Ten Thousand Gods... isn't that actually more evidence that he knows Hua Cheng is Wuming? Because from the above quote I included, Jun Wu knows exactly where Wuming had met Xie Lian before, which are also things Hua Cheng depicted in the murals in the cave. Now, the murals were covered by butterfly silk, but iirc it's not clear if they always were or if Hua Cheng just ordered the silk to cover them once Xie Lian, Mu Qing, and Feng Xin started to investigate the cave. in any case, they tear it down. plus, in addition to the murals, the statues depict Xie Lian in situations that would also match what Jun Wu "interrogated" out of Wuming. Even if we assume (which personally I don't) that Jun Wu didn't know before this point, I can't imagine him seeing all of that and not realizing that Hua Cheng is Wuming, not with everything he already knew about the latter.

also... the irony of Jun Wu knowing all this but not Xie Lian. and not just that, from the fact that Xie Lian wasn't aware of any of this until he lands in the caves, Jun Wu also knows that Hua Cheng has not told Xie Lian any of this, even with how much time they've been spending together, because Hua Cheng either doesn't want or doesn't dare to tell him - the latter being correct, as we know:

"San Lang, what kind of person is your special someone? Why haven't you won them over yet?"

[...] "It's alright if gege finds it funny," Hua Cheng replied. "But, truth is, I'm afraid. [...] That person saw me at my worst." (Vol 4, page 181).

also, from certain murals and/or statues that are implied or outright stated to depict things of a more sexual nature, he would know that Hua Cheng not only worships but desires Xie Lian - information he then tries to use to, again, drive a wedge between them and provoke Hua Cheng into hurting Xie Lian, like when he disguises himself as Mu Qing and Feng Xin:

"Hua Cheng! What do you think you're doing to his Highness?! You're disgusting! [...] Keep your filthy hands off him. Does the ugly toad want a taste of swan meat?" Mu Qing sneered. "Never mind dreaming of it for eight hundred years - you can hope for a thousand more, but don't even think of touching a single one of His Highness's fingers!"

Xie Lian's heart dropped. But while the comments annoyed him, he could sense that something was amiss.

What was wrong with those two? [...] It seemed that they were purposefully trying to provoke Hua Cheng. But there was no reason for that; they knew they couldn't beat him, so what did they want? Moreover, their tone subtly pointed the spear in Xie Lian's direction. It was like they wanted to stir up confusion - as though they wanted Hua Cheng to do something to Xie Lian in a fit of anger.

TGCF Volume 6, page 72

Hua Cheng has been dreaming about being with Xie Lian for eight hundred years - so this barb feels way too pointed and knowledgeable for Jun Wu to just randomly be accusing him of this, especially with this exact number.

This has gotten quite long again, so I'm gonna cut myself off here (I could talk about this topic for hours as you can surely tell by now, I think it's super fascinating). feel free to reply to this post/reblog with a response, but I also completely get if you're not as into this discussion and want to be done with it by now, no hard feelings! also, if we have to agree to disagree after all, that's also fine, and I'll thank you both again for your interest :)

okay one last thing I swear - since this was all spawned by comparing and contrasting Jun Wu and Hua Cheng, I also just realized how poetic it is that to Jun Wu, Mount Tonglu is where he releases all his hate, whereas Hua Cheng literally carved out a place there where he pours out all his love. damn do I love this novel

#tgcf #tgcf meta #jun wu #hua cheng #hualian

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optiwashere · 2 months

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This seemed fun, so why not do this for my babies? Portraits taken from art in this post.

Some elaborations under the cut...

Stats

Ages are at the end of BG3. Shadowheart is at least late 40s in canon, but I always had her as 50 in my mind. She has her birthday in my fic canon during the post-Absolute Crisis rebuilding while Asheera's won't be for another few months.

Asheera is ~201cm tall, Shadowheart is ~170cm tall. Roughly 31cm height difference!

Ship Parameters

Shadowheart and Asheera both enjoy being the big spoon and little spoon, but Shadowheart prefers being nestled in Asheera's embrace. Doesn't mean for a bit that the roles aren't reversed now and again, though.

Shadowheart wears Asheera's clothes all the time. Constantly. They are, of course, comically oversized on her.

They both use pet names for one another, but Asheera fancies herself a bit of a romantic so she likes to come up with melodramatic ones ("my Heart") while Shadowheart prefers "love" and "my love." Shadowheart also calls Asheera "my Lady paladin" a lot in the fics, but IDK if you consider that a pet name or not?

Shadowheart is undoubtedly far, far, far more introverted than Asheera. In fact, Asheera is pretty extroverted in general. The extrovert/introvert ship dynamic is my catnip, how could you tell?

So, the affection one I took to mean what they prefer. Shadowheart likes quality time and affirmations while Asheera likes acts of service and quality time. However, if you imagined it as what they do then their placements would be flipped.

Shadowheart confesses love first. Affection and attraction, that's technically Asheera.

Neither of them really panic about bugs. Asheera has a bad habit of killing the little creatures though, and she has serious thoughts about her own oaths when she does it.

Horse riding... Listen, all I'm saying is Asheera riding a horse with Shadowheart behind her? Yeah. But, like, if we're literally talking about driving a car then Shadowheart can drive but if anyone else offers to drive then she's going to take the opportunity to sit in the passenger seat, curate the music, and fall asleep.

Shadowheart knows how to cook because she's an adult, but she's just terrible at it. I'm sorry, she is a horrible cook to me. Her taste buds are all fucked up from decades of sampling/testing poisons, venoms, and paralytics as a Sharran. Asheera's not much better, she just knows that if Shadowheart cooks it'll be a disaster for everyone.

Shadowheart prefers discretion and Asheera loves giving her wife big, showy kisses for all to see. They have an understanding.

Despite the jealousy levels, Asheera is prone to overprotectiveness. After everything that Shadowheart went through in her life, after everything that Asheera saw in her memories and in the events of BG3, there's no way she doesn't immediately come to Shadowheart's defense at pretty much any perceived slight. Shadowheart finds it very sweet, but unnecessary. She can defend herself just fine. Doesn't mean she hates it though.

Shadowheart has the age on Asheera by a margin, and she spent decades in a Sharran cloister. Calling them "relationships" is probably a bit much to be fair, though. This doesn't mean Asheera is some naïve virgin! She's actually more experienced with long-term relationships than Shadowheart.

Levels

They're both extremely horny, especially for one another, but Shadowheart wins out on this one by sheer excitement to try out anything and everything that she thinks Asheera would want to try. Asheera isn't a prude by any stretch of the imagination.

Shadowheart is awkward in that "sheltered in a cult commune" kinda way. She says the wildest shit sometimes and expects people to just move on from it. Someone who quotes erotica with their friend in public is going to cause others to feel awkward. Asheera on the other hand? She makes things awkward by either being way too serious about a situation or cracking bad jokes about it; there is no in-between, and nobody is sure what to expect.

Asheera doesn't get jealous. Shadowheart is jealous of things that aren't really related to their relationship. I don't think either of them gets jealous over that sorta thing. Shadowheart just has to manage her feelings about family given that Asheera has one that loves her and she was able to experience a childhood and such. That triggers jealousy which Asheera finds normal and reasonable and completely understandable. It's one of those aspects of Shadowheart's specific trauma that isn't really something you "get over" and Asheera, while finding it hurtful and hard to deal with sometimes, relies on her training and oaths as a paladin to manage that specific hurdle in their relationship.

#shadowheart #shadowtav #shadowheart x tav #bg3 tav #oc: asheera #my fic #also I did this in GIMP with a mouse and I have shaky hands so bear with me lmfao #don't mind me while I do this with every ship I have for this fandom...

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sokkastyles · 9 months

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Wondering what you think of this take. Idk, kinda obvious that OP fell asleep during most of Zuko's arc lmao.

Here is the linked post.

What do you think?

I think this person is drinking the Azula stan abuse apologism 101 kool-aid because it always starts with "these specific cherry-picked scenes mean Zuko never grew out of his aggression, despite it being literally the focus of an entire episode and him stating on the show that he didn't want to rely on anger anymore. Meanwhile, Azula reacts to everyone around her with rage and hatred and violence and that's also Zuko's problem, somehow.

"He lashes out at Aang with firebending without talking"

He wasn't "lashing out," he is Aang's firebending teacher and he was trying to make sure Aang was prepared to fight Ozai, because they didn't tell him that they were planning on waiting until after the comet. That's also why Zuko didn't tell them about Ozai's plan before. Both of them were acting on incomplete information and that is literally resolved through conversation. To frame it as Zuko "lashing out" to try and prove that Zuko is just this out of control aggressive person is ridiculous. Again, especially when OP's baby Azula literally tried to kill them an episode previously.

"He urges Katara to kill Yon Rha"

I'm gonna need quotes, screenshots, literally anything that shows that Zuko urged Katara to kill Yon Rha. Because what I saw was Katara walking away after making the decision not to kill him herself and Zuko letting her. He didn't try to stop her if she should decide to kill him, but that is hardly urging her to kill and not at all a reflection of Zuko being aggressive, since Zuko just stands there and does nothing and remains calm the whole time. If Zuko were really as out of control as OP says, wouldn't he get mad at Katara for making a choice he disagrees with? Hmm?

Also like, he says to Aang that if he doesn't take the fire lord's life, there won't be a world to save. Same thing for defeating Azula. Stopping a violent person who is very much a danger to not just a few others, but the entire world, is hardly "aggression." I'm sorry that conservative brainrot designed to tell victims they're just as bad if they defend themselves from oppression has got OP wearing their MAGA hat, but that is reprehensible bullshit. Zuko did not "urge" Aang to kill Ozai, he asked Aang what he was going to do since to his knowledge there was no other way, and Aang kept coming up with obviously implausible solutions. Even Aang didn't know there was another way until he got a visit from the lion turtle. Zuko, as someone who was personally victimized by his father specifically because he refused to be goaded into violence, has a right to feel anxious about making sure his father never hurts someone else the way he was hurt, and making sure Aang, who is about the same age Zuko was, doesn't meet the same end, not only for Aang's and Zuko's protection but the sake of the world, and framing that as Zuko being "aggressive" is gross.

"Self-centerism" is not a word.

The joke about Toph bringing up her childhood trauma and trying to force a field trip with Zuko is that Zuko just spent four episodes delving deep into helping Aang, Sokka, and Katara overcome their trauma. To use this to prove that Zuko is self-centered is entirely missing the point and nitpicking something that is actually a meta joke about Zuko being the opposite of self-centered and acting as everyone's unofficial therapist. Otherwise there would be no joke and "field trips with Zuko" would not even be a thing, and Toph would not be trying to get one with Zuko in the first place. Also, Zuko is not self-centered for not immediately stopping what he is doing to listen to Toph trauma dump when everyone thinks Aang is missing right before the comet and the situation appears dire.

And again on not revealing Ozai's plan, he specifically says he thought he wouldn't have to, because the gaang didn't tell him they were planning on waiting. It's a miscommunication on both sides. And Zuko waiting to reveal Ozai's plan - and the details about his abuse - until he feels like he has to is the opposite of him making it about himself or trauma dumping. I think part of the reason he didn't want to tell them about Ozai's plan until he had to was because that also meant he would have to disclose details about his abuse that he feels shame over. He doesn't make it about himself and his pain or ask for their sympathy. He says he's ashamed that he didn't speak up. If anything, he's harder on himself than he should be about it and blames himself.

The rest of this is just like, really reductive interpretations with no specifications about what "consequences" they think Zuko should face for things he atones for in the show. And I thought Katara's "dark side" was when Zuko "urged her to kill"? So Zuko is wrong because Katara was angry at him but also wrong because she wasn't angry at him anymore? Lol what?

"Katara apologized for raising her voice at Zuko, but Zuko didn't apologize for grabbing her grandmother."

Katara apologized to Zuko for raising her voice specifically after he apologized for saying she didn't know what she was talking about and extended sympathy when she talked about how her mother was killed. See how you can just claim anything when you divorce something from it's context, kids?

The "inferiority complex" thing and the idea that Zuko has an unhealthy competition with Azula that he needs to grow out of is just utterly stupid. Azula is the one with the inferiority complex, the one who is constantly trying to prove she's better than Zuko, especially in the last Agni Kai when she realizes she doesn't have an advantage over him anymore and that sends her into a downward spiral. Zuko's goals throughout most of the show are to not be killed or captured by her, and in the final agni kai, to save the world from her. She's the one who challenges him to a fire duel, the one who thinks them fighting is "the showdown that was always meant to be." The one who collapses when she realizes she can't win. The one who built her entire personality on being better than him while Zuko learned to care about other people and the world. That is the whole point of the final agni kai and why it's a tragedy.

"He was banished in the very same day he started to learn how to be a ruler"

He was banished BECAUSE at thirteen he already knew more about ruling than his tyrant of a father, and during his banishment he learned how to embrace that side of himself that spoke out against the way the Fire Nation was running things. Being banished for having a sense of what a prince owes his people and sticking up for what was right is far from a mark against Zuko as a leader, it's an asset, and proof of the type of leader he would learn to become. That's why Iroh says what he says he's an idealist with a pure heart who must lead his people. It's not just words, it's threaded into Zuko's arc from the beginning.

#zuko

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clownery-and-fuckery · 27 days

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For the dialogue quote ;)

15/16 (they go together quite well, so whatever works best)

also if youre dying to write one in particular, heres a free pass to go with that ^^

Ooooo this was a very nice combo. I love ALL of these prompts, but for this combo, 29 spoke to me. Especially with the inspiration from 15/16. This was fun >:]

I also left this one open, so it can be any brother except for Hunter >:) I did this before and I loved it a lot so thank you for the reason to try again!!!! I hope you enjoy <33

Prompts:

"This is going to hurt, okay?"

"God, I'm so sorry, it'll be over soon, I promise."

"Tell me where it hurts, and be specific."

Warnings: no major ones!! >:)

Hunter smelt blood long before he found his brother. He should have paid closer attention, he shouldn't have gotten so distracted with his and Crosshair's petty argument. It shouldn't have taken Wrecker, Echo and Tech crying out for Hunter to realise he had led them straight into open ground. Yet it did. Yet he was here, sprinting around the snowy terrain screaming for his brothers, giving away his positing, compromising their mission and his safety just to find them. To herd them back, to regroup- anything just to hear them. The snow fell peacefully around him, and then he heard it. Hunter took off into a sprint, finding a lump at the bottom of a ditch. Ice cold water pushed through and over his brother as he gasped for breath. Hunter threw himself into the freezing current without a second thought. "Hey, hey–" Hunter clasped him tight, feeling the harsh shivers rippling underneath his palms. "I'm here, it's okay, you're okay–" Hunter winced at the sound of teeth chattering. He smelt blood again, stronger than before and his chest seized in panic. He gripped his brother tight. "Tell me where it hurts, and be specific." Hunter ordered, listening for his slurred mumble over the sound of teeth cracking together uncontrollably. He managed to catch the words 'broken', and 'needs to be set' before he sighed, pulling back. "Okay," Hunter eyed his brother, mournfully taking in the damage he had caused. Had he been more careful, this could have been avoided. "Okay, here's what we'll do." He leaned forward, taking the now obviously dislocated knee carefully into his hold. He ignored the hiss, and the "Stop! Hurts–!" He recieved as he gently leaned his brother back. "What we're gonna do, is set this, and get you back to the Marauder. We'll look at it properly back there." Hunter explained gently. He hesitated, looking up from his knee to his brother's face, that was tight with pain "This is going to hurt, okay?" Hunter said, suddenly unsure. "You think you can let me do this for you?" An affirmative nod is given immediately, like he had forgotten it was Hunter who had put him in that position. Still, Hunter smiled greatfully. "Thank you," He said softly. "Now, bite down on something." The process was easier than Hunter imagined. It was the after that shocked him. The pain set in afterwards, when the current stopped rushing, when the calm had settled. Hunter's arms shot out to catch his sibling as he went down hard, gasping and covering up shouts of agony. Hunter held him through the pain. "I know," He mumbled against him, pressing a kiss to his head as he shook against Hunter. "God, I'm so sorry, it'll be over soon, I promise." The trembles subsided, fading into a simple shiver, and they kept moving. Hunter hesitated to leave once they had returned, especially before the hypno set in. He relaxed when he saw the sedatives work their wonders, when he saw his brother sink into the bunk with a tired sigh. Then, Hunter turned and faced the tundra again to find the others.

#sw the bad batch #tbb hunter #tbb tech #tbb crosshair #tbb wrecker #tbb echo

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winchesterszvonecek · 4 months

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hii I'm obcessed with your Otis ficss and saw that your requests for him are open, so i was thinking about him and reader at the firemen's ball and them flirting and dancing and sneaking around to have to smutty time together?? i'm literally not able to focus on anything else

The Gala - [ Brian 'Otis' Zvonecek ] 18+

Summary: You and Brian attend the CFD gala together where things quickly turn from boring to steamy

Word Count: 1539

Warnings: female!reader, smut - [ dirty talk - sort of, semi-public sex, p in v sex ]

A/N: there wasn't much flirting or dancing - at all - but hopefully you still liked it :)

Masterlist | Otis Masterlist

Department gala’s were always boring. At least, for you they were. Everyone else in the firehouse seemed to enjoy attending them. They looked forward to them. Talked about them whenever they could, driving you insane in the process as you always dreaded them and would avoid bringing them up lest you end up with a headache.

You hated them with a passion and most years you were able to get out of going, as it wasn’t like they were mandatory and no amount of begging from the others would ever get you to say yes. But this year was different.

This year you said yes. This year you had a date. One you really didn’t want to stand up, as you’d been secretly hoping he’d ask you on one for weeks now even though you were technically already a couple thanks to a drunken night at Molly’s. You just hadn’t expected him to ask you to the gala of all places, but it was a price you were willing to pay which was exactly why you found yourself surrounded by Chief’s, engaging in yet another spat of small talk about things that honestly bored you to death. Like seriously, you were off work so why on earth would you want to talk about nozzles with a group of old men?

You were not drunk enough for this and unfortunately, you never would be. But luckily for you a shift in conversation allowed you to sneak away and find your date again, as he seemed to have gotten lost on his way back from the bathroom. That or he’d abandoned you. Or maybe fallen down the toilet. Who knows? All you knew was that you wanted him back by your side to act as your lifeline from the mingling around you.

Soon enough you spotted him, Brian, the cutest firefighter in all of Chicago. And you were not at all surprised to see him talking to Cruz, no doubt about something stupid like whose turn it was to do the grocery shopping. You weaved your way through the room towards them, using the cover of others to avoid those who you knew would try and talk to you until you finally made it to the other side. Just like the chicken in that joke.

“Cruz, I don’t appreciate you stealing my date.” You muttered, jokingly, yet partially serious, as you slid your arm around Brian’s waist, his own immediately taking yours the second you were close enough to him.

“Sorry.” Crux replied, lips pressed together apologetically as he held up his hands in surrender, playing along as he knew you weren’t overly annoyed. “Won’t happen again.”

“It better not. I can’t take being pulled into yet another circle of old men who insist on reminiscing about the ‘good old days’.” You complained, air quoting your words and making both men chuckle softly in response, which only had you frown as it was not funny and you were slowly losing the will to live.

“Cheers to that.” Brian said humorously, only dragging your frown further down as it wasn’t like he��d been there to have to endure it. He chuckled again, pulling you in closer and placing a soft kiss on your cheek, feeling the way your lips twitched upwards as you never could stay mad at him for long.

Especially when his kisses were your weakness. And he knew it, meaning he abused it completely. But you weren’t exactly complaining, not when it meant you got to kiss him.

You turned your head, leaning closer to him and for a second he thought you were about to return his kiss. Only, you didn’t. Instead you got as close to his ear as possible, the tip of your nose brushing against his skin and making him shudder before you whispered, seductively.

“What do you say we sneak off somewhere and have a little fun instead?”

The moment the words fell from your lips you found yourself being dragged, gently, across the room, neither you nor the clearly eager Brian paying any attention to those around you. You carried on until you reached the main doors of the ballroom, the two of you slipping out and making your way excitedly through the rest of the hotel in search of a little privacy.

Eventually you came across an empty lounge area, one you were pretty sure you weren’t meant to have access to unless you were staying at the hotel. Luckily for you though, someone had left the door open long enough for you both to sneak in and the second you entered the room Brian’s lips were on yours, kissing you so vigorously that you almost toppled over on your heels. He managed to catch you before you did, securing you in place against his body as he carried on.

You could feel yourself slowly inching backwards, your feet shuffling ever so slightly with every second his tongue was in your mouth. He kissed you like the hungriest of the men. Like one so starved that he simply couldn’t help but devour you, tasting every inch of your tongue that he could possibly reach. He kept moving you backwards until eventually your back hit something solid, and by what you could make out it appeared to be a table which only got you growing hotter underneath your dress.

In one quick motion, Brian lifted you onto it without once having pulled away from your lips, and it wasn’t until you were seated atop the table did you part, lungs burning fiercely from the lack of oxygen. Neither of you felt the need to say anything as you gathered your breath and instead you lifted your hips a little, allowing Brian easy access to slide off your panties, soft hums leaving your lips as his knuckles grazed along your outer legs.

He straightened, tucking your panties into his pocket with a slight grin on his face before he grabbed your hips and pulled you forwards a little, kissing you fiercely and in a way that just got you all the more hot between your legs. You pulled back, glancing down just in time to see him pull his cock from beneath his pants, already hard and dripping with pre-cum as he gave it a few quick pumps, watching as you did nothing but stare down at it with such hunger and lust in your eyes that he couldn’t bring himself to deprive you of it any longer.

“I’ve been thinking about doing this ever since I saw you in that dress.” He said breathlessly, a faint groan leaving his lips when you ran your thumb across his tip, gathering up what had already leaked out of if. He followed your hand with his eyes, focusing intently and when all you did was suck the salty droplet off your skin with a soft moan, he really couldn’t hold himself back any longer.

Closing the gap between your bodies, Brian slid into you slowly, allowing you to feel the entirety of his length as he stretched you open in such a way that you couldn’t seem to form a single coherent thought as your eyes rolled back into your head. He held you close, lingering for just a second inside you until pulling back and repeating the process once more.

Pulling you a little further towards the edge of the table, until you were barely hanging on, Brian began to pick up the pace, thrusting into you with such vigour that you had to grab hold of either side of the table to keep yourself in place. The moans that left your lips were like music to his ears, his eyes focused on nothing but the way he disappeared inside of you, his cock glistening with the arousal he’d so easily caused you.

“Oh, fuck, Brian.” You panted, throwing your head back as that fire deep down in your abdomen began to burn so hot you thought you were going to come already. “Fuck baby, that feels so good.”

“Yeah? You like that, baby?” Otis groaned, angling his hips in a way that had such a moan leave your lips that he didn’t need a response from you. But he wanted one. “You like when I fuck you like this? You like being so spread open that anyone could come in here and see you? See the way you take all of me like such a good girl?”

“Mhm.” You nodded, biting down hard on your lip as the new angle sent you to highs you didn’t know were even possible and you couldn’t seem to find anymore words. Guess you just hadn’t been fucked by the right guys as you were fairly certain you were ascending towards heaven as all you could see right now was white.

By the time your orgasm hit you, you were already a shaking mess atop the table. One who could barely breathe let alone speak. You weren’t even sure if you’d been dreaming or not, or whether the sex had just been that good, but there was one thing you knew for certain by the time you regained a little clarity… Perhaps gala’s weren’t so bad after all.

Like this? Apply to my Otis tag list here!

tagging: @sancochillo @kellykidd @violetmacher @kiddbegins @neapolitantoebeans @alexxavicry @babyyoda89 @wandamaxim0f @bloodybagels @stephydearestxo @evanbuckbuckley @annchersita @doublebassallie @orileyrandom @sjhhemmings @gretsky0321 @yeahnahalrightfairenough @h1_j1nx

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tarisilmarwen · 10 months

Text

Rebels Rewatch: "Stealth Strike"

In which, Character Development! and other exciting features.

I mentioned the husband loves Star Wars ships right? This is another one of his favorite episodes, he loooves the Interdictor class.

Always liked this little musical flare at the beginning, already conveys a sense of urgency and danger.

Sato sounds so aggrieved that he has to have Ezra along, lol.

I mean from his perspective Ezra's just an overconfident plucky kid, he hasn't been around Ezra long enough to know how competent the boy is.

Love the staggered Force Theme prelude in the strings there, all broken up and disjointed. Once again Ezra is sensing impending danger.

Still adore the kaleidoscope color effect Rebels uses to mark being forcibly ejected/yanked from hyperspace.

Bbbyyyyyyyy. :((((

Worried Spacefamily be worried.

Hera wisely understands that the best way to infiltrate a top-secret Imperial project is to keep the aliens off the mission lol.

Kanan is being predictably petty about having to work with Rex.

"I sent Ezra... this is the only way." Ouch. I bet Hera is feeling pretty guilty and has thought a lot about this since they learned about it, so you know she's run it through a million times in her head. Probably why Kanan acquiesces to her judgment.

I wanna know the thought process behind the Imps' decision to haul Ezra and Sato in to see Titus. Like, Sato I get, he's the obvious commander of the unit but I wanna know which trooper saw Ezra and was like, "Hmm, he seems Plot Important, I better drag him along too."

Sato still very much Not Impressed with Ezra's posturing.

Hi Brom Titus!

It's hilarious that Ezra's sarcastically used "Jabba the Hutt" so often it's been logged as a known alias of his lololol.

The Giligan Cut between Rex complaining that he'd never wear Stormtrooper armor and Zeb bringing them unconscious troopers to steal the armor from. <3

"I thought it was the same one we used before." LOL. Okay, I gotta stop before I quote every line in this episode.

Can't help it, it's just so fun.

We cut to the shuttle mid-hyperspace and Rex and Kanan are still bickering, but even in the middle of that we get some lovely worried Papa Wolf Kanan hyperfocusing on Ezra as his priority.

I swear it was explained somewhere what the specific codes Rex gives meant but I can't for the life of me remember where now. Pretty sure one of them meant the shuttle was going to explode? Anyway...

Rex seems like he's having just a grand old time. This must feel just like the old days for him.

Lol Kallus getting excited about Ezra's capture and warning Titus "[...]do not underestimate that boy." He knows firsthand how much of a threat and nuisance Ezra can be.

A little variation on the Death Star theme here, kind of appropriate given this is a very similar-feeling kind of infiltration and rescue.

Maybe that's why I like this episode so much, has a lot of A New Hope vibes.

Subtle animation appreciation moment: Chopper's legs jerking as he rolls over the hump in the doorway.

The ANH vibes continue with this turbolift scene, which is just hilarious. From Rex not knowing which button to push to the Imperial officer snarking at our hero duo, it's just... *chef's kiss*

They are a disaster pair and I just love them.

Cut to the troopers that are escorting Ezra to his "secure cell" and I'm sorry, I adore this whole sequence. Ezra being a little hyper-competent badass is my whole jam, okay?

This is so clever. <3333

Ezra makes very short work of his guards, without really hurting them (something that would contrast in S3 after the whole Malachor Loss-Of-Innocence thing) and then immediately shoots his intended rescue party lololol.

I love how smoothly he moves through this whole scene. He's obviously been practicing and of course the Force operates on a principal of "the more at peace and in tune you are with yourself, the greater strength you can channel" so after his whole soul-searching in "Brothers of the Broken Horn" deal he's come to some kind of serenity within himself that lets him be just super awesome here. Love it.

<333333

Chopper immediately rats Ezra out lol.

Kanan reluctant to split up from Ezra, aww.

Subtle animation appreciation moment: The way Ezra raises his hands in aggravation when Kanan and Rex get into it again.

Ezra finally chews the two of them out for all their bickering and takes charge of the mission and you can't even tell me he didn't make Kanan just a smidge proud, with that comment about how, "He takes after Hera sometimes." <3333

No but seriously, fandom of course loves Kanan and Ezra's whole "like my father before me" vibe but let's not forget how it was Hera who first took a shine to him, who saw potential in him, who knew that he wasn't as selfish as he pretended he was, drew out that inner spark of compulsive compassion planted by his parents and has been influencing him on the Rebellion side of things to complement Kanan's Jedi teaching.

Found Family liek woah. :)

Brom Titus looking a little less confident now that the scrawny fifteen-year-old he was specifically cautioned not to underestimate has given them the slip lol.

*cries* He was so TINY!

Very glad Ezra learned binary, it enables hilarious conversations like this.

This is yet another music cue recycled from the Death Star sequence in A New Hope. Like I said, they're really leaning into that this episode.

This little troll I love him so much.

Bit of the "Shenanigans" theme as Chopper rolls up.

Can I just appreciate how well Ezra rolls with blocking shots in zero gravity?

I think Chopper enjoyed all of this a too much lol.

Remember, giving people grief is how Chopper shows affection. :)

Love how they lampshade the terrible vision quality of Stormtrooper helmets.

Sato all ready to square up with this random trooper until he sees it's Kanan.

And his anxious worry over Ezra's welfare is really sweet. Sato does care, he might find Ezra bit aggravating but he's still just a kid in Sato's eyes, someone who was under his protection. (One wonders if Ezra reminds him of Mart a bit.) It's not Sato's fault he's only now learning what a precocious badass Ezra is lol.

This move of Kanan and Rex's is slick.

Lightsaber Naruto run.

I've been told this horn cue is Rex's theme. Makes sense.

Heeeeey remember what I said about Rex's deathseeker tendencies? Yeah.

Subtle animation appreciation moment: The drifting smoke in the hallway from the firefight holy cow. Attention to detail.

"I serve the order you put into place, Captain." Ohhhhhh Imma dent his face in.

*hurts in Order 66 feels*

THEY WERE JUST TOOLS TO PALPATINE, THEY HAD A SINGLE PURPOSE AND HE JUST DISCARDED THEM ONCE IT WAS ACCOMPLISHED.

This Hitchcock Zoom with Kanan as if he's sensing Rex's pain. <33333

Character growth! <33333

Ezra one-manning this hallway with Skill and Confidence. <33333

My gosh look how smooth and effortless this is for him. No wonder Sato was impressed.

Nice to see more classic lightsaber positions creeping into the choreography here.

Ezra being all, "OH HECK NO, THERE WILL BE NO SELF-SACRIFICING TODAY!" over the comms. He's very tired of them doing that lol.

The dolly shots this episode are tight.

Aww Ezra still looks really worried tho.

Don't think about him remembering, "I'll take the next one." and "I'll be right behind you."

Aaaaaaaand Chopper just scored the highest body count on the show, lol. (Up until the finale anyway with the Dome explosion and the purrgil-ening.)

My gosh this show even makes total destruction look pretty.

Yeah, getting a top-secret Interdictor prototype imploded is pretty demotion worthy ha ha.

Love how Kallus is basically perfectly fine assigning all of that chaos to Ezra in particular. XD

KANAN SALUTING REX NOT ONLY AS A SIGN OF FINALLY BURYING THE HATCHET BUT ALSO TAKING UP THE MANTLE OF SOLDIER HE WAS SO RELUCTANT TO AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON.

This is one of the best episodes of the season, no joke. It's fun, it brings the nostalgia without being kitschy, it lets Ezra and Sato have a little bit of nice interaction (underrated relationship, fanficers have let me down), it shows how Ezra's developing in combat, it finishes the whole Rex and Kanan animosity plot, and Chopper murders three whole Imperial cruisers effortlessly.

Love it.

#star wars #star wars rebels #rebels rewatch #liveblog #ezra bridger #agent kallus #space dad and his precious pumpkin child #stan ezra bridger he's great

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asnowfern · 1 year

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Something Sweet and Floral

Summary: Elain meets the most chaotic florist while picking up flowers for Feyre's pre-wedding photoshoot. Modern Florist AU.

for @elainweekofficial Day 5: Blooming Buds (But I really just wanted to write an Elucien Modern Florist AU)

Read on AO3

Elain looked up from the GPS on her phone as the traffic light beeps, signaling her to cross the junction. Glancing down at the map, she turned around the corner where the florist which she was meant to pick up Feyre's pre-wedding photoshoot flowers should be. Her eyes lit up when she saw the bright sign "Flowers from Exile" and pushed the glass door open, chiming the little bell attached at the top.

"Hello? I am here to pick up an order for-" the words died at Elain's lips.

The store was in chaos - stalks of roses, baby breaths, different varieties of leaves and coloured wrapping papers were strewn all over the floor. It was as if a hurricane had swept through the place. In the middle of the chaos sat a redheaded couple arguing fiercely.

"No! You start with the core flowers in the middle and build the bouquet around it." the lady growled, "We have been at this for an hour! How do you not know this after running this place for two years?"

The guy visibly bristled, "The arrangement was for you to manage the front-end operations so we, as I quote, do not fuck up your flowers ."

Having decided she had listened enough, Elain lightly cleared her throat to draw their attention. The pair stared at her with wide eyes for one comically long moment.

The female was the first to recover, "Hi, welcome! Sorry about the mess, two of our staff decided to go on a two week-long trip of self enlightenment to discover themselves together and left us with minimal help with no notice." she paused, realising she was going off tangent and cleared her throat, "Anyway, how may I help you?"

Elain gave a polite smile, "I'm here to pick up an order for Feyre Archeron?"

The shopkeeper's eyes lit up in recognition, "Yes, the midnight blue hydrangea and white rose mix!" she looked to the back of the shop and gave an apologetic look, "I just need to do some final touches. Would you mind just waiting a couple of minutes?"

At Elain's reassurance, the redheaded lady disappeared behind the counter, leaving her co-worker in the middle of the sea of floral debris. The male heaved a sigh as he made to pick up the mess, stalks of flowers still in his hand still grumbling under his breath. Elain hid a smile.

"It's all about the grip on the core flowers and tying them together as you go" Elain piped up. The guy looked up with a bemused look on his face.

"If I may," Elain added before picking up a couple of stray roses and swiftly arranged them into a tightly knitted heart. She snapped a rubber band over the stems and continued, "Layering the flowers doesn't just mean circling on more and more flowers."

She picked a stalk of baby's breath and weaved it through and around the roses. She toyed with the budding bouquet, adding more baby's breath and Caspia, sharing her train of thought as she went along. Elain flashed the guy an encouraging smile and handed over the semi-completed bouquet.

"Sorry for the wait," The lady came back to the front of the store holding a large but beautiful bouquet. She immediately zeroed in on the flowers in her colleague's hand and whistled, "Wow, did you do that? It's gorgeous."

Elain blushed at the compliment as she took the bouquet, "Oh, it's nothing. Your bouquets are stunning!"

The florist brightened at the compliment, "That's great to hear! But seriously, are you by any chance free to work part-time for the next two weeks?" she asked, only half jokingly.

Elain looked up from the bouquet in surprise, "Really?"

The florist pondered for a moment before taking the half completed bouquet and handed it back to Elain, "Finish it."

Elain reached for the flowers and gave it an appraising look. With a well-practiced ease, she untied the rubber band and adjusted the structure slightly. She soon passed back the finished product - a rustic, countryside rose bouquet complemented by Caspia and cotton flowers, and finished with eucalyptus leaves.

"You've done this before." the florist commented as she thumbed through the bouquet.

"I ran a small online service during my undergrad days but I stopped after graduation when work got hectic" Elain admitted, "But I'm currently on a study break for my post grad studies."

The lady grinned and stuck out her hand, "Well, if you would have us for the next two weeks, I'm Vassa and grumpy pants over there is Lucien. Your temporary visa to the band of exiles has been approved. Welcome onboard."

Elain returned the grin as she shook on it.

***

Elain adjusted her lilac blouse and dark pants before entering the store. Lucien's email stated nothing about a dress code but smart casual was always the way to go.

"Good morning" she greeted Vassa as she entered and placed a small box on the counter, "I brought double chocolate muffins."

"Ooooh, is that from the bakery down by ninth avenue?" Vassa asked, peeking into the box. "Buying favour with sweet treats, I see. I like the way you think, Archeron."

Elain beamed in return. Vassa took her through the store's operations as she munched through a muffin. Elain quickly learnt that the store was mainly run by Vassa, Lucien and another of their partner, Jurian. Jurian and Lucien managed the back-end operations from logistics to accounts and social media engagement, leaving Vassa focused on designing and crafting beautiful flower arrangements.

It was well into the afternoon as Elain peered into the iPad to start on her next creation, a cheerful sunflower table piece. After ascertaining her abilities to recreate the bouquet designs, Vassa had passed the ropes to Elain to finish up the orders while she worked on the design of the floral arches they had been commissioned for.

Lucien stepped out from the back office with a camera, declaring "I need new behind the scenes content for our social media platforms.".

Vassa shook her head from behind an exceedingly complicated archway, "It's going to take me quite a while with this." she paused, "Unless Elain doesn't mind?"

Elain looked up from her work counter, "What do I need to do?"

"Just pretend he doesn't exist," Vassa reassured, her attention back to sticking more flowers into the archway, "The clips are mostly little snippets of us arranging the flowers. We wouldn’t include your face for privacy."

Elain nodded, uncertain but in agreement. She returned to her table piece, her movements now a little stiff and stilted.

Lucien's expression turned thoughtful as Elain started on a new bouquet and suggested, "Why don't you walk me through your process."

Elain pondered for a moment and stared at the stalks of roses and rose sprays, "The starting point is to know the centerpiece of the arrangement." Her hands moved along to gather the mentioned flora.

Lucien nodded in encouragement while he surreptitiously started the camera rolling. He kept the conversation going, peppering Elain with leading questions that had her relaxing back into her work.

"How did you get into flowers?" he asked as Elain carefully smoothed and folded the wrapping paper around the flowers.

"I always loved gardening. Using the spare flowers lying around to decorate the house seemed natural," she responded before sporting a wry smile, "I may have then gone down a spiral of endless how-to YouTube videos on floral arrangements."

"Looking at your bouquets, I'd say that's time well-spent." Lucien said, hiding a smirk when Elain blushed. "Well, I think I got all I needed for the page. I'll send you a link to review the clips before we upload them."

***

"You'll be ok running the storefront by yourself? Lucien will be able to deal with anyone problematic but feel free to contact me at any point." Vassa said apologetically as she loaded the final frame of the arches into the van.

"We'll be fine," Elain assured, waving her off, "You just stay focused on the event."

Elain let Vassa fret while they did a final check. Eventually, she huffed and all but pushed her into the front of the van where Jurian already had the engine running, giving the duo a final wave as they drove off.

Lucien was loading a fresh shipment of flowers when she entered the shop, his arm muscles flexing and stretching the rolled up sleeves deliciously. Elain allowed herself one moment to appreciate the sight, her gaze settling on the back of his fitted pants which did nothing to hide that tight ass. There was no denying the attraction she felt towards her manager, the man was gorgeous.

"It's just the both of us today, huh?" she remarked in what she hoped was a light unaffected tone.

"Yep." he replied, his lips popping the 'p', "I'll work from the counter instead of the office today."

Elain had the words to persuade him otherwise poised and ready but found herself flashing him a smile instead, "It'll be fun."

Apart from a demanding customer's refusal to accept that their bouquet could not be delivered together with the pie from a cafe down the street, the day went by without a hitch. Elain had soon found herself deep in thought as she figured out how to close up as slow as humanly possible.

"Would you like to grab dinner?" A distant voice sounded.

"Elain?" There was that voice again.

A hand waved over her face, snapping her out of her stupor.

"Wha-?"

Lucien gave a bemused smile, "Would you like to grab dinner?"

"S-sure" she stuttered, lifting her palms to relieve some of the warmth gathering in her face. "Where to?"

"Fancy a pie?" he asked, eyes twinkling in mischief. Elain laughed in agreement.

***

"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes." A leering voice sneered.

Elain hid a cringe and quickly schooled her expression and surveyed the guy next to her coolly. His drunkenness obvious from the flushed expression and putrid breath. Elain turned stiffly back to the display of pie selection, ignoring him.

“Hey, I’m talking to you.” he snapped, his hand reaching to grab her arm. Elain instantly recoiled, her back hitting a firm chest.

“Everything alright?”

Elain internally sighed in relief at the familiar masculine voice. She scooted closer to Lucien, her body pressed against his body and said in a honey sweet voice, “Fine, babe.”

Elain felt a strong arm circled around her waist, the grip light but firm. The muscle in Lucien’s jaw feathered as he took in the drunken man.

“Do we have a problem?” he asked coolly, his chin tilted up as he leveled a threatening glare at the guy.

“No.” the drunk finally spat out, throwing out a swear at them before turning to leave.

“You ok?” Lucien murmured into her ear, the gentle voice raising goosebumps down her spine, his arm still firmly closed around her waist.

“I’m fine,” she gave a reassuring smile before commenting brightly, “More importantly, I have decided on a pie.”

Lucien looked torn for a moment before a chuckle finally won out, “So have I.”

As it happens, the pies were delicious.

“Maybe you guys should consider partnering with them.” Elain later suggested when they were on the road, Lucien giving her a lift home. “You could package it as the perfect pick-me-up gift.”

“The pies?” Lucien’s expression turned contemplative, “That is actually a really good idea.”

“Actually?” she drawled, “Should I be insulted?”

Lucien sputtered as he raised his hands, “It was a compliment!”

Elain grinned, “I know. I was just messing with you.”

“No wonder you get along so well with Vassa.” he grumbled as he pulled over at the roadside outside her apartment. She flashed a cheeky smile as she got off, thanking him for the ride. It was only after she entered her flat that she collapsed on the couch, raising her hands to close over her racing heart, willing it to settle.

Her phone chimed as she was getting into bed. It was the link to the footage Lucien had edited for their Instagram page. Elain scrolled through the clips, admiring the editing. He had even managed to salvage the shots from the first bouquet, editing it in a stop motion-like style.

Her phone dinged again.

The last couple of photographs are not intended for posting. I just thought they were too lovely to delete. - Lucien

Elain scrolled to the end in curiousity, gasping when she saw the photos. They were all pictures of her smiling and laughing. Through his lens, Elain never felt prettier. She clicked “save” to download before she set her phone down and drifted to wonderland, dreaming about large warm hands and russet eyes.

***

“I should fire my staff and hire you instead.” Vassa sighed as she watched Elain pack up the little belongings she had accumulated over the past 2 weeks.

“My school term resumes tomorrow.” Elain reminded her, giving her tote bag one last lookover.

“Pshhh. Who needs a MBA when you can have unlimited flowers.” Vassa huffed.

Elain gave her an unimpressed look, “Didn’t the three of you meet during your MBA programme?”

Vassa turned to look away and said loftily, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Elain hummed distractedly in response as she stared at the closed door of the office, acutely aware of the male sitting inside. Vassa followed her gaze and the edges of her mouth curled upwards, “But I guess it’s not flowers that would keep you around.”

Elain flushed and muttered, “I don’t think he’s interested.”

Vassa snorted loudly, asking after a long moment, “You can’t possibly think that.”

Elain started to respond when her phone rang from an unknown number. Frowning, she stepped out of the shop. It turned out to be one of the vendors for Feyre’s wedding, calling to confirm the tasting schedule they had scheduled later in the day. Elain turned to return only to bump into a familiar chest.

“Elain! I thought you’ve left.” Lucien called out, continuing when she simply blinked up at him, “You know, we are engaged to do the floral decoration for the Velarian wedding next month.”

She frowned, giving him a befuddled look, “Yes?”

“The couple had extended the invitation for us to stay for the reception.”

“O-kay?”

“Would you like to be my date for the wedding?” he finished, and placed a bouquet and a box into her hands.

Elain whipped her head up in surprise before asking incredulously, “Are you asking me to be your plus one for my sister’s wedding?”

“Yes.” Lucien replied smoothly, “Yes, I am. Coupled with our latest offering - the Elain set.”

Confused, Elain looked into the box - it was the blackberry pie she had the other evening. Her mouth widened into a smile, “The Elain set?”

“It’s a pick-me-up package. Designed to cheer up anyone’s day” he added, pulling her in close, “Just as all Elains do.”

“Is that right?” she asked breathily, staring deep into russet eyes, “What if I would like the Lucien package instead?”

“That was supposed to be a later offering.” he teased, “But I guess you could have it now too.” And with that, he leaned in to capture her lips in a searing kiss.

End

#elainsweekmarch2023 #elucien fanfic #elain archeron #lucien vanserra #elain x lucien #Florist AU

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