One thing that really gets my goat about how Sakura is written is that she does occasionally start to do something, but the narrative shuts her down. Like this:
Sakura goes to leap into the arena to see Lee after his fight with Gaara. Kakashi shuts her down. Contrast this to the panels that immediately follow this one:
Naruto does the exact same thing and no one bats an eye!
It’s not that I think characters shouldn’t be stopped from doing what they want— it’s just that when it’s a consistent pattern it makes reading about the character really frustrating. When Haku traps Sasuke in his mirror prison thing, Sakura hurls a kunai to help… and Kakashi tells her to guard Tazuna. She does this obediently for the rest of the fight, INCLUDING when she literally thinks Sasuke is dead (Tazuna has to offer to go to Sasuke with her to get her to move). Sakura’s willingness to do this is actually an interesting character trait, but because it’s couched in this weird lack of agency, it makes her seem complacent and cowardly, especially when the take away of a lot of fights seems to be “try no matter what.”
Here’s another example: in the first part of the chunin exam, they’re all told they can pick to answer a final question and risk being banned from promotion, OR they can back out now and take the exam again later. If Sakura were alone, she’d take the question because she’s confident in her abilities.
However, she starts to raise her hand to back out because she wants to protect Naruto.
She backs off when Naruto gives a speech about never giving up, even though her making them all back out is arguably the more mature choice (why would you drag a teammate along on a mission you know they’ll fail?). She also tries to pull them out of the prelim tournament because Sasuke needs urgent medical attention, and he shuts her down AGAIN. Like, looking at this with the wisdom of an adult, Sakura was definitely in the right there.
To be clear, I don’t mind Sakura being a cautious killjoy to Naruto’s “Believe it!” Shonen protag energy. It’s just that whenever she tries to exercise that caution, it gets shut down and that makes it seem like a negative trait to have. (Also: contrast this to Shikamaru being REWARDED for exercising caution and knowing when to back out). I’m not even arguing that the scenes I cited need to be changed, because they do character work for Naruto and Sasuke. I’m just saying that Sakura could have gotten a few more scenes where her choices were plot relevant, and she’d be a more fleshed out character.
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I’ve been thinking of Miles thinking he has a crush on Hobie and not really understanding that he’s just really enjoying being his friend and assumes anything outside of “friend” in this box he’s mentally constructed around himself and Hobie means “crushing” because i personally don’t think he’s . good at social/romance stuff. Anyway Hobie does not like this and it makes him so upset/uncomfortable because he sees Miles as WAY younger than him, and in this scenario he isn’t, he’s just perceiving the gap between him and Miles being so huge from his mental baggage and fear of “chaining” people down, and also just wouldn’t return the feelings anyway. and Hobie doesn’t want Miles to see him like that either. So he just starts calling Miles kid in the “you’re too young to know anything lol go home” way because he knows Miles hates it, and hopes this pushes him away and gets rid of the “crush” so they can return to normal again. The final push is Hobie physically shoving Miles away and giving him mean ass looks, which causes a fight, which results in the usual “because i love you! I want to be with you! / no, you don’t! You don’t know what you want!” dialogue that im a sucker for esp when it’s true. Oh waiter, more difficult and uncomfortable situations to put Hobie and Miles in that are a result of poor communication, fucked up societal standards, and autistic traits please!!!
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hiiii! long time, no headcanon, but i'm back with a doozy!
imagine this: robin and steve signing up for a ballroom dancing class (why? doesn't really matter, it could be because robin's cousin is getting married and her parents force her to take classes or it's just them picking up a new hobby, who knows), only to have their jaws dropped to the floor and then some when they see the instructors with their matching curly hair, bright eyes and tight black clothes.
eddie and nancy show the dance they'll be practicing the next couple of weeks and let's just say that steve and robin having trouble keeping the focus on the dance routine because holy shit nancy looks so graceful and holy shit eddie just picks her up and spins her around with such ease, and on their way home steve and robin are both having a full-on crisis because holy shit how are they going to survive the nextclasses if one night alone was torture enough??
things only get worse when robin trips over her feet a couple of times a couple of classes later (this is why she doesn't wear heels), spurring nancy on to help her with the steps (this obviously does not work on bit) and eddie swoops right in to waltz off with steve, who had been left alone to fend for himself. steve is freaking out because eddies's hands (!!!) on his waist (!!!) and he's complimenting steve's form and how good he's doing before he spins steve around, leaving steve dizzy in a way that's not just from dancing.
eddie keeps coming back to him after that, giving him pointers and compliments were needed, paying him much more attention than the other students. steve is left wondering if he's not keeping up with the rest of the class (his teacher wouldn't be paying that much attention to him otherwise right??) so after class, he asks eddie about private lessons, to which (obviously) agrees and let's just say, that private lesson doesn't involve as much dancing as steve had thought
idk that's as far as my brain got but there's just something about eddie in dirty dancing-like dance instructor clothes, his hair in a messy ponytail, and being all suave on the dance floor. 'kay byeeee
Hello!!! Okay so I've trying to come up with a way to answer this that isn't just a keyboard smash because i am INVESTED! GIVE ME DIRTY DANCING RONANCE AND STEDDIE!!!! Steve and Robin 10000% watched dirty dancing and were SQUEELING at the lover boy scene, I JUST KNOW IT!!! Steve wants to be Baby and Robin wants to be Johnny and they both have huge crushes on Penny. I desperately love everythign you said!!!!!
Nancy and Eddie spotted Robin and Steve from the moment they walked through the door and Nancy is nothing if not a Determined Woman so as soon as she see's an opening to swoop in on Robin she takes it. Nancy lets out a sigh and tries to hide as smile as she sees Robin struggle with the steps. Eddie is standing right next to her and mumurs a ‘go get your girl Wheeler'
and Nancy laughs 'I know your game Eddie, you just want her partner freed up. Good thing I'm all about charity and helping the hopeless.'
Eddie doesn't reply, just sticks out his hand and Nancy grips it, they shake hands with a shared 'good luck.'
After the first encounter where Eddie complimented Steve's rhthym and literally anything else he could think of he decides to up his game the next week. Eddie slides up to Steve after Nancy plucks Robin away again. 'so I was thinking, last week I was the lead. And that isn't the way you'll be dancing with your friend, right? So lets switch it up this time around' and with a smile that somehow doesn't betray the bone shattering nerves Eddie is experiencing. He guides Steve's hands, one to sit on Eddie's hip and the other to hold his hand. Steve doesn't move, just stands and stares at his hand on Eddie's waist, wanting to squeeze the warmth radiating under his hand, wanting to drag his fingers over the skin, slowly, and lower, so much lower. But he snaps himself out of it with the hint of a blush on his face and locks eyes with Eddie
'So, ready to tell me what to do?'
Steve feels Eddie's grip on his shoulder tighten for a fraction of a second and absolutely resolutely does NOT think about it when he's on his own later that night (he does).
The next week there's an odd number of people that turns up, normally Eddie would just dance with this person himself but he can't face the thought of not touching Steve. So he brings the single woman and Steve together and says they are going to dance together. Steve panics, worries he'll step on this lady's feet or trip her up but Eddie has a trick up his sleeve.
'Oh don't you worry sweetheart, I'll be guiding you all the way'.
Steve doesn't know what this means, but imagines it will involve Eddie circling around him and his dance partner, telling Steve exactly what to do and when. Infact it is so much worse. Eddie tells Steve and his partner to find their first position together and then, then, Eddie comes up close behind Steve, both hands on his hips as he presses on Steve's waist, talking close to his ear
'I'll keep nice and close Steve, show you exactly what I'm looking for. Exactly how I want you to move'.
In that moment, Steve swear he dies. He stares hard over the shoulder of his partner and prays to god he doesn't let out every sound that is begging to come out of his mouth. He gives as good as he gets though, swaying in close to his partner when he needs and pressing back into Eddie when he can. The pair of them are a complete mess. What Steve doesn't know is his dance partner was a ruse, somebody Nancy invited after she realised she'd have to do something if she didn't want to spend another evening listening to Eddie lament about Steve's smile or his eyes or his eyebrows
('Really Eddie? His eyebrows?'
'You dont understand wheeler, this man is perfection. i'd pet his toe hair if he wanted me to.')
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