#Jason Nary | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

rosabell14 · 1 year ago

Text

An analysis of Bianca di Angelo's role in the narrative and why bad writing can screw over a character.

For someone with such a limited time in the narrative, Bianca is one of the most divisive characters in the fandom. I've been in the fandom long enough to see how much nuance the fandom lacks when discussing certain characters and Bianca is no difference. But it's more than just viewing the characters' actions in a vacuum. It's ignoring the larger narrative problems. At the end of the day Bianca suffers from one simple problem: she's barely a character outside of her role in Nico's narrative. Like it or not, her entire character exists to die and give Nico issues down the road but Riordan's writing decisions didn't do her any favours either.

I feel like this is a huge issue when it comes to the pjo fandom they often try to come up with Watsonian solutions to problems that are Doylist in nature and Bianca is one example of that.

Case in point: Riordan's shit math when it comes to the Di Angelo siblings and how it messes up with bianca's character.

So when we meet them they're 10 and 12. We learn that their memories of their past is kinda hazy and that they don't remember their parents but that they were in a boarding school, then they moved to the lotus hotel, then they were taken out of the hotel and put into Westover's. And at the end we learn that they're Hades's children born before the oath of the big 3.

Said oath happened after WW2 btw. So 1945 probably since Bianca remembers FDR's presidency.

Now in TLO we get an update on this backstory. Hades is speaking to Maria about moving his children to the underworld or the lotus hotel since Maria doesn't like the former option because the war has put Hades in a bad situation with his brothers and also the prophecy is out, the oath has been taken and they're running out of time to hide the kids. So logic says that it's 1945. And then Zeus immediately kills Maria and Hades tells Alecto to erase the children's memories and put them in the lotus hotel, and honestly? I like this version much better? Because why in the world would Hades Put his children in a boarding school for a few years and THEN hide them in the hotel after they were nearly assassinated? Why not immediately put them in the hotel?

And so we get to our main dilemma. Bianca having to raise Nico. This was already strange to me because it's not as if this is a Jason and Thalia situation where Jason was a toddler and Thalia had to take care of him. Nico is not a baby they have a two year age difference. But of course these kinds of things might matter more if you're young. Even then, in what situation would Bianca be Nico's main caretaker? They were put into a magic hotel that mind you, makes time go faster so for them it was a month or two at best and they would have been given whatever they needed by the staff? Same type of issue with Westover's and the boarding school if you want consider that canon. They would have been taken care of by the facility. They probably wouldn't even have shared classes or dorms? Or am I misunderstanding American boarding schools?

And then, Riordan's bad math strikes again and this time with the characters' ages. Because Nico's age in HoO becomes 14 which would have made him 11/almost 12 in TTC but that's not the big problem, no no no. The problem comes from his official birthday which is 1932.

1932... Which would have made him 13 and Bianca 15 by the time Maria dies. Which is hilarious because with the way the kids are written during her death scene as absolute non players with nary a reaction, you would think they were written to be toddlers who didn't understand anything that was going on.

That royally screws over Bianca as a character (and me as someone who's trying to write a story centered around her). Because her main thing. The one time she's allowed to have complexity is the moment where she talks about how she wants to be more than Nico's caretaker, and she's barely Nico's caretaker at all. The best in universe explanation I can come up for this is that this is how Bianca perceives things because that's all that she literally remembers. Those months in the hotel and Westovers.

Another time the plot kinda messes her up is at the beginning of TTC. One complaint that I often see in regards to her Is how quickly she makes her decision. She does not even hesitate. She does not even wait to see the camp. You know the place that would have taken care of her and Nico which would have meant she wasn't going to be his supposed primary caretaker anymore? She doesn't even wait to see if it was an actual good place for her brother? Spoiler alert: it's not camp half-blood at the time was not a good place for either of them really. Nico did not have a cabin at camp and people were not accepting of him. Hell, people not being accepting of hades and his children was something established since the first book.

But once again, this is a Doylist problem at its core. We need to turn Bianca into a hunter but we also need Artemis to leave so that she can be kidnapped for the main conflict, so she leaves before the hunters even reach camp. Half-blood. So Bianca as a character doesn't even get to make a proper choice between the camp and the hunters. To people who only look at characters on an in universe level, it comes off as very rash and not well thought out.

To be fair, on an in universe level, she's a kid so it's okay if she's stupid, but Riordan wasn't trying to make her come off as that way? He treats Bianca's decision as a legit serious choice and not the rash decision of a desperate child.

And once again, Bianca is here for Nico's sake more than anything. She needs to die. So she takes the statue for Nico. Which is so ironic and tragic if you decide to play it that way. That Bianca wanted to be more than Nico's sister, but her literal death revolves around being his sister. Normally I'd enjoy this level of angsty irony but unfortunately that's how the very narrative treats her as well. Even her post mortem decisions are there to maximize Nico's angst more than that they're there to say anything about Bianca herself. We need Bianca to only appear at the end of Botl so that Nico and Percy can have a conflict but it once again comes at the cost of Bianca herself coming off as callous. What's the in universe reason for this behavior? It's so stupid because in universe, Nico doesn't even take that much convincing? One conversation. One conversation and Nico was convinced to stop his efforts in reviving her. Does she just not know her brother enough? Maybe since they technically know each other for a year max. Does she genuinely think she's that easy to give up on? Is she that conflict avoidant? I actually like this interpretation and plan to use it. There's much to be done with a character who's rash and bold but an absolute emotional coward who'd try to avoid an emotionally charged conversation until they absolutely can't.

Hell even after Botl, it's the same song and dance. Hades makes an absolute vile remark at Nico's expense. TSATS makes it into a joke moment and has you believe that Hades simple said that Bianca would have been a better demigod. No ladies and gentlemen. Hades literally tells Nico that he wished Bianca had survived instead.(The fact that I still think that hades is the best godly parent just shows you how low the bar is more than anything.)

I swear to God I spent so much time racking my brain trying to understand what this could mean for Bianca's character.

This is how I basically look like trying to milk every scene where Bianca is there as a character or is mentioned for every drop of characterization.

At the end of the day, I can't blame most of the fandom for being ambivalent towards her at best. The story by design is about Nico. It's designed for you to sympathize with him and yeah if I'm to look at it from Nico's perspective. He DID get abandoned, regardless of Bianca's intentions. From his Perspective , which is the one most people would take, his sister took the very first chance she could to ditch him for people she barely knew hoping people either of them barely knew would take care of him even though they haven't even seen the place yet, and then ignored him for months while he was desperate for a single conversation with her. Honestly had Nico outright resented his sister for leaving, I think the reaction towards her would have even been worse.

(Another sidenote, my very hot tea Is that I like to believe that had Bianca lived her and Nico's relationship would have become worse as time went on and as the camp's anti hades sentiments really started taking their toll on Nico. But I'm just an angst lover)

Worse is that this story is told from Percy's perspective and these two only have like 3 actual conversations together. One of them is her dying, one is about her making her first main decision and that's at the expense of Nico who's probably the fandom favorite behind Percy and Annabeth and the other is her trying to explain her aforementioned decision to Percy and even then, she talks about it in such broad strokes. "I want to be more than X" tells us about who you one day wish to be not about who you are at the current moment. And even when we have Nico as a POV character, Bianca is only there for "dead family member" trope. There's barely any moment where Nico remembers anything important about her to give her any depth. The cards are just stacked against her. Even the people who are at the "Bianca did nothing wrong camp" are barely interested in her. I swear to god whenever an AU comes up where she's alive, the focus is STILL on Nico. Oh Nico would have been such a happy person had she lived! And Bianca? Uhhhhh she would have fucked off with the hunters I guess?

Can we talk about the hunters while we're here?

If we WERE to talk about in universe scapegoats, I'd honestly choose the hunters. Honestly I could make a separate post about how much I hate how Riordan handled them. But oh dear God the way they're presented just comes off as creepy. The way they initially (up until TOA) only go for young girls because apparently older girls aren't useful once they hit puberty and start developing feelings for people and lose themselves(TTC and Percy Jackson's Greek gods oh dear lord are they terrible in Percy Jackson's Greek gods). How they're basically the heroine dumping ground for when Riordan doesn't know what to do with a female character. How ultimately in universe, Zoe more than anyone is to blame to for Bianca's death by taking an untrained girl to a mission where she KNOWS two people would die at the very least. And she doesn't even watch her properly during the mission. Honestly I could barely feel anything about Zoe's death upon rereads as an adult for this very reason. Or how stupid it is to basically put a child in front of a candy store and expect them to make a responsible decision. Who in their right mind would have young girls as young as nine take a celibacy vow? Oh but you'll be safe with us (never mind that we're not just normal hunters here like the actual myths but actual monster hunters) and you'll totally be able to see your brother when you want (actually we barely visit camp half-blood) oh but you'll be a FAMILY with us! Except you know if you catch feelings or get assaulted(holy hell how Riordan depicts the myth of Callisto makes me want to tear my hair out of my scalp)

264 notes · View notes

magicshopaholic · 2 months ago

Text

One Down (Seokjin x OC)

Summary: Seokjin asks something of Nari before he leaves. Jungkook's secret no longer remains one.

Pairing: Seokjin x OC (feat. Jungkook)

Genre: Angst

Word count: 5.9 K

Rating: 18+

Warnings: none

A/N: I'll admit, even I teared up while writing this. The soundtrack made it worse. Set about five months after Interlude: Hyung Line.

Tagging: @bbl32 @quarter-life-crisis2 @dreaming-with-happiness @faearchives @margopinkerton @purpleseoul7 @confessionsofamarshlily@jiminjhang @jihopesjoint @cuntessaiii @nightappple @kflixnet (drop a message if you want to be added)

Listen to: “if it kills me" by jazon mraz

seokjin masterlist | jungkook masterlist | main masterlist

Nari pushes the trolley ahead slightly and stops by the instant foods section. There’s a load of fresh vegetables in her cart that she’s been told are required for dinner tonight, but this is the first aisle she’s stopped at that has nothing on the shopping list.

She’s reading the back of a packet of udon noodles when she hears something fall and the sound of someone swearing under their breath. It’s instantly familiar and she turns around the same time that he spots her as well.

“Hey,” she says, surprised but pleasantly so. “It’s - wow. I haven’t -” She chuckles in embarrassment because she can’t quite decide what to start with. “It’s been a while,” she says finally.

Seokjin nods, although he isn’t quite mirroring the extent of her unexpected gladness at seeing him. He lowers the baseball cap he’s wearing and smiles mutedly. “It has,” he agrees. “How’ve you been?”

She shrugs. “Not bad, considering. Busy, I guess. I’ve got onto a medical trial with one of the senior doctors and it’s taking up a lot of time. Plus I’m specialising now so I have to build up my portfolio. Plus there are rumours of a merger -” She breaks off, realising this might be a lot of information. “A lot’s going on.”

“Yeah. Congratulations,” he says after a moment. “On the trial. I know that was always a big goal for you. What’s it about?”

“Um… well, we’re trying to build cartilage through tissue regeneration. It’s a lot of research right now, but it could be really great.” Nari tries to keep the excitement out of her voice, although she doesn’t know if it’s the trial or at this serendipitous run-in with Seokjin. “How - how are you? You look good,” she adds, suddenly remembering the last time they’d met, drenched in the rain together.

He frowns curiously with some humour, as though trying to figure out if she’s lying. “I’m…” He trails off and exhales deeply. “I don’t know, to be honest. There’s a lot going on.”

Nari wants to ask, but something tells her she might be prying. “Is everything okay?”

Seokjin bites his lip and nods. There’s something bothering him, that’s for certain. He looks as though it’s taking him an effort to smile or even get out a sentence. “Actually… I’m glad I ran into you.”

“Me, too,” she says honestly.

“I, uh… I need to tell you something.” He shoves his hands into the pockets of his hoodie, looking determined, and Nari’s heart instantly beats faster.

“Okay,” she says, voice steady. “What’s up?”

He looks up at her and his face suddenly goes slack. Nari frowns and is just about to ask when Jason appears next to her.

“I couldn’t find the seasoning that Daeun wanted,” he starts to say seriously, just before realising she isn’t alone. “So we may have to go with pepper and - oh. Hey, Seokjin,” he says, good-naturedly. “It’s nice to see you again.”

Nari doesn’t know if she’s imagining how Seokjin’s eyes shutter over slightly, but he nods and returns the greeting. It’s only slightly awkward; it occurs to her suddenly what it must look like: she and Jason, grocery shopping together.

“We’re having a dinner party,” she explains, even though no one asked. But she can’t stand the silence.

Seokjin raises his eyebrows, then nods again. “Wow. Guess that explains the vegetables,” he adds, pointing at her cart.

She suppresses a smile while Jason chuckles. “That would be Daeun’s work. None of us can go against her instructions without risking mortal peril.”

Maybe she’s imagining it again, how Seokjin’s shoulders relax ever so slightly. Her eyes fall to the ground then, somewhat disappointed in herself for caring.

“Anyway.” Jason pauses for a moment, clearly being tactful. “I’ll, uh, go ask a store clerk maybe, if they have the seasoning.”

Nari waits for Jason to leave before turning back to Seokjin. “I’m just delegated with shopping,” she says, once again feeling the need to explain. “Since I probably can’t contribute much to the cooking.” Swallowing, she exhales. “Sorry… you were about to tell me something.”

Seokjin looks at the floor. Something is definitely bothering him - or is she reading too much into it again? She wants to ask, but something holds her back again. That’s his girlfriend’s job - or maybe his best friend’s, too, a long time ago.

“Yeah.” He looks up slowly. “I… I won’t be here - in town - for your birthday this year. I’m… travelling,” he finishes. “Sorry.”

Nari frowns. “That’s… yeah, that’s okay. Where will you be?”

He shrugs. “Not sure yet.”

She nods, guessing his tour schedule isn’t really in his hands. It’s the least excited he’s ever seemed to be at the prospect of touring, though, she notes. There’s something else he isn’t telling her.

“Well. A phone call works just as well, under the circumstances,” she says finally, giving him a small smile to try and lighten the mood.

He returns it, once again with a clear effort. “You got it.”

—

The group dinner shapes up to be more like a group project than anything else as the day goes on. There are delegated sub-groups, instructions, deadlines; as much as a bunch of senior residents would like a day of normalcy, the chaos seems to actually make them deliver more efficiently.

This time, Nari has been dispatched to pick up a centerpiece. She’s alone this time, feeling rather lost in a huge supermarket with no idea what Daeun is picturing in her mind, but a little afraid to ask. Her phone buzzes then.

Jason [17:35]

Okay, she says something in the dusty pink-rose family.

Nari [17:35]

What in the everloving fuck does that mean

Jason [17:35]

No idea. But I googled it and this is what came up

[image]

Nari swipes through the pictures and sighs, looking up to search for anything even remotely resembling this description. It’s in this pursuit that she spots another familiar face: Jung Hoseok, in a hoodie and baseball cap, holding hands with a slightly younger girl as they peer at a shelf of kitchen signs with whimsical phrases on them. Just as Nari begins walking towards them, they say something to each other and the girl walks away, presumably to look at something else. Hoseok looks around and spots her just as Nari reaches him.

“Oh, my God!” Seeming genuinely excited, Hoseok leans in for a friendly hug. “Wow, I haven’t seen you in forever, noona! Where have you been?”

“Busy,” she answers, for it’s the easiest one - far easier than admitting that she and Seokjin are too far apart to hang out like they used to. “How about you? I didn’t know you had a girlfriend,” she adds, giving him a knowing look.

Hoseok blushes handsomely, clearing his throat. “Oh, she’s not… I mean, technically, we’re not…” He sighs, looking both red and sheepish. “We aren’t exactly… using that word yet,” he admits. “I don’t want to scare her off.”

Nari raises her eyebrows but shrugs. “No judgement here,” she says, thinking privately that she can relate. “She’s cute. Isn’t she the girl you brought to the restaurant opening last year?”

“Yeah…” Hoseok looks back in her direction where she’s taking a picture of a potted money plant. “Things have changed a lot in a year.”

“Apparently,” she agrees. “It’s so funny running into you, though. I just met Seokjin earlier today, too, just roaming around Food Hall.”

“Oh! Of course, I forgot - but we’ll see you tomorrow anyway, right?”

Awkward. Nari keeps a straight face. “Tomorrow?”

“Yeah. I mean, I know Seokjin hyung doesn’t like the word farewell party, so we’re going with dinner,” he informs her. “We cut down about half the guest list until he agreed to have it but I guess you don’t really count as a guest. I mean, not that kind of a guest,” he hurriedly clarifies. “Like, you’re more of a friend than a guest if I really -“

“Yeah, no, I get it,” she interrupts him. Something tells her no tour is big enough - or long enough - to warrant a farewell party. Especially one she’s apparently not invited to. “I don’t know if I’ll make it, though,” she says carefully.

Hoseok’s eyes widen almost comically. “What? Why not?”

“Um…” Nari suddenly wishes someone else had been volunteered to pick up this stupid centerpiece. “I don’t know. It’s been busy. And I think Seokjin would need his girlfriend there more than anyone?”

“Seulgi?” Hoseok fishes his phone out of his pocket as it buzzes. “Dude, they broke up months ago. Shit, it’s my manager. Can you -“ He gestures apologetically before putting his phone up to his ear and answering the call.

Nari nods, a little dazed. Seokjin’s farewell party - or dinner - is tomorrow. It feels too soon and simultaneously too far away. Her phone pings then, too, and she checks it to see a message from Daeun.

“I have to -“ She mouths at Hoseok that she needs to leave, prompting Hoseok to cover the mouthpiece of his phone.

“See you tomorrow,” he whispers loudly, waving as she turns to walk out of the shop.

At the counter, she remembers what she was here for. “Um - can I have one of those vases, please?” she asks, pointing to a row of ceramic pots behind the registration counter, all with generic arrangements of different flora.

“Sure,” says the cashier, punching it in. “Any particular colour?”

Nari shakes her head. Tomorrow, she thinks and her stomach drops a little. “I don’t care,” she says. “Any is fine.”

—

It’s quiet out in the city when Nari enters her apartment later that night, alone and conflicted. She’s wide awake, though, even after leaving early from an evening of food and drink with a dozen colleagues at the end of a busy day organizing a grown up dinner party.

She feels grown up, but in an unexciting, stressful way. She has to be a grown up, because every younger version of herself she can remember had a cornerstone she can’t find anymore. She has to be a grown up because it’s a grown up thing that’s been weighing on her mind all evening, with grown up fears and a grown up heaviness in her chest that she can’t articulate.

Nari sits on the edge of her bed, the lamp she’d accidentally left switched on the only source of dim light in her room. She recalls how shifty Seokjin had been earlier today and she suppresses a slight frustration, albeit not sure where it’s directed.

Dialling his number, she turns on her bed to face out the window. Seokjin picks up after the second ring.

“Hey.” He doesn’t sound terribly surprised, but his tone still sounds low.

“Hi,” she replies, folding her legs underneath her. “It’s not too late for you, is it?”

“No. I’m up.” There’s a pause. “I couldn’t sleep, anyway.”

Right. Nari tries to recall the last time they spoke on the phone; there was a time when it was a no-brainer, as natural as thinking out loud. She wonders if he was happy to see her name flash on his phone.

“So, I ran into Hoseok today,” she begins, then pauses when Seokjin sighs, almost as though he knows what’s coming. “He invited me to a party. Sorry - a dinner.”

“Yeah. Listen, Nari, about that -” He breaks off, sighing again, deeper this time. He sounds exhausted.

“When do you leave?” she asks calmly.

“Tuesday morning.”

Nari nods, something feeling lodged in her throat. “Were you going to tell me?”

“Of course I was, Nari,” he murmurs. “I wouldn’t leave without - without saying goodbye. I just didn’t know how.”

She isn’t sure why this is catching her by surprise; on some level, she knew he would have to enlist sooner or later, especially after he’d turned thirty.

“When did you decide?”

“I applied in January. I mean, I had to,” he adds. “I really was going to tell you. In fact, I was about to this morning… seeing Jason kind of threw me off,” he confesses. “Sorry.”

Nari wants to ask if this is the reason he’s been distant lately, when she remembers something else.

“I didn’t know you and Seulgi broke up,” she states, picking at a loose thread at the end of her jeans. “A while ago, I hear.”

Seokjin doesn’t answer immediately. She can almost see him in his apartment, frozen in place with his phone to his ear, face pensive and head lowered as he thinks of what to say.

“Yeah,” he says finally. “The day after your half-birthday, actually.”

Her heart jolts without warning and for a moment, she’s drenched in the pouring rain again.

He’s really going. Before her throat can close up anymore and she risks her voice giving anything away, she takes a deep breath. “I know Hoseok invited me, but… Seokjin, if you don’t want me there, I can -”

“No,” he interrupts, and there’s a hint of panic in his voice. There’s a soft shuffling in the background, as though he’s sitting up suddenly. “No, Nari, I - I want you to come. I - I need -” He breaks off, exhaling into the speaker. “Please come,” he says, voice smaller than before. “If you can.”

There should be a lot to say. Months, years worth of confessions, apologies and comfort that’s hanging in the air between them, but Nari can’t begin to sift through them now. This is not the time.

“Yeah,” she says, nodding. “I’ll be there.”

—

It’s a quiet affair; close friends and cool weather, with food and wine and a subdued atmosphere. The restaurant has been booked out to keep it as understated as possible. It’s outdoor, off the main road and the stars in a clear sky with soft grass on the ground make it about as charming as possible.

Jungkook sits on the steps with a drink dangling from the tips of his fingers, his knees up to his chest and his eyes on the dark gold liquid in his glass. Everyone is in small groups, chatting and trying to keep the mood lively and cheerful. Even Seokjin himself, who Jungkook assumed would be in the worst mood, is borderline chirpy, going up to everyone and ensuring they’ve got their drinks and that they’re comfortable. He was talking to Nari as well a little while ago, chatting easily, as though everything wasn’t about to change in a couple of days.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

Jungkook’s heart flips automatically at the voice and he looks up to see Dilara sitting down next to him. “What?”

“It means - never mind.” She stretches her legs out in front of her, wearing clean denim jeans and a thin sweater. “Everything okay?”

He nods out of habit, his gaze going back to his glass. He can still feel her next to him, though, only inches away, her wavy hair blowing lightly in the breeze and the scent of her perfume sneaking up on him. “I just don’t know why everyone is so happy,” he mutters after a moment.

“Are they?” DIlara sounds genuinely curious. “It looks to me like everyone is just trying to stay positive.”

“Why?” Jungkook looks at her. “Why does everyone have to be positive? What is there to be positive about?” He places his drink down and shakes his head. “Everyone is just lying to themselves,” he mutters.

“I mean…” She begins slowly, shrugging. “I know I don’t know much about it, but it doesn’t seem like it can be helped. He has to go, right? All of you do,” she says, making his stomach sink. “I guess… it’s better to face it rather than be sad about something you can’t help. No?”

He doesn’t answer. Part of him is glad she’s here; after the drunken debacle he’d pulled at Taehyung’s house last weekend, he’d woken up completely certain that two of his friendships were most likely destroyed. But Taehyung hadn’t been home when he’d stumbled out of the guest room the next morning and Dilara had kindly offered him some toast and coffee before he’d hurriedly left.

Nothing much has changed since, although it’s been a fairly busy week, too. Jungkook glances at where Taehyung is, on a different side of the garden. A little while ago, he’d been swaying to a jazz number playing softly on the speakers and holding Seokjin’s hands, exaggeratedly convincing him to dance. Seokjin indulged him, his mouth tilted upwards in a half smile.

But Seokjin isn’t there anymore, and Taehyung is talking with Jimin and Sooah, deep in conversation as he pushes his glasses up his nose. In a white t-shirt, tan cardigan and loose brown slacks, he looks as effortlessly handsome as ever.

“We’ve never done anything, just us,” he admits quietly. “I mean… not like this. Not for this long, not this far away. At least, I’ve never…” He sniffles, his heart skipping a weak beat when she squeezes his shoulder. “Everything is going to change. One by one, we’re going to be separated.”

“There are breaks, though, right?” she asks. “Like, you get to come home sometimes?”

“Yeah, I guess. A few days here and there.” He glances at her to see her biting her lip, a slight frown on her forehead. “We can’t leave the country, though,” he adds.

He can’t tell if this is news to her. She nods and takes a sip of white wine, looking ahead. “Right.”

“When did this happen?” Jungkook says suddenly. “It feels like we just started touring the world and performing in stadiums and rehearsing in the big practice room at Hybe. We’re still figuring stuff out, doing things for the first time. When did it get this… serious?”

It’s rhetorical, of course; still, he turns to look at Dilara again, who’s looking in another direction, her face pensive. His gaze falls slightly to see her absently playing with the white gold ring around her neck, hanging from a plain silver chain. It’s the one Taehyung allegedly gave her years ago, when they were still only hooking up once every few months.

Back then, Jungkook had thought it was insanely romantic, giving such a personal token to a foreign girl he’d just met. Now, while it’s been a permanent accessory on her since, it sends a twinge of annoyance through his heart whenever he sees it, for it feels like a mark Taehyung’s made on her.

Dilara’s eyes flicker before she turns back to him and sighs. “Are you all planning to go this year?”

“Probably.” He raises his eyebrows. “Has Taehyung hyung decided when he’s going?”

“Not yet,” she mutters. “He’s working on his album now but he said… probably in a few months.” She swallows. “Fuck, you’re right. When did it get this serious?”

“At least he knows you’ll be here, waiting for him,” he murmurs after a moment. “He has… I don’t know, like an anchor. So does Jimin. And Namjoon and Hobi…”

Dilara frowns. “Is that what this is about? You think no one’s going to be waiting for you?”

She sounds so incredulous that he sighs and rolls his eyes. “No, I know people will be waiting. My parents and my friends and -” He glances at her very quickly before looking away. “But their lives will move on. I’m not saying yours won’t,” he adds quickly. “But it’s different.”

Dilara doesn’t say anything immediately. Jungkook panics mildly, wondering if he’s let too much slip. “It’s not different,” she says eventually. “I know it probably seems like it should be, but it really isn’t. You think I’m not going to miss you, JK?” she asks, cutting him off when he opens his mouth to argue. “Of course I am. I’m going to miss you every single day. I’m going to miss Tae so much I can’t breathe, but… I’m going to miss you, too. I’m going to miss Jimin like crazy, I’m going to miss Hobi wishing me luck before every single race without fail. So don’t for a second get it in your head that no one’s going to be here, waiting for you to come back.”

Jungkook falls silent. He’s genuinely afraid of what he might say if he opens his mouth, even as he feels his eyes filling up. He wishes she wouldn’t leave, that by some miracle, he might be the one she missed so much she couldn’t breathe.

Dilara gives him a small, encouraging smile. “I need to get a stronger drink,” she says, taking a deep breath. “When I see you next, I expect you to be at least fifty percent less self-pitying.” She grabs his chin affectionately and kisses him on the cheek. “I’m going to miss the hell out of you, Jeon Jungkook,” she repeats with the same smile, before standing up and walking away.

“I’ll miss you, too, baby,” he whispers, unable to look away as she heads to the bar. “So much I can’t breathe.”

A few seconds pass while Jungkook’s eyes continue to follow her as she gets her drink and drifts over to Taehyung. She joins the group of three and stands next to him, leaning against his side and dropping her head on his shoulder without a word as their conversation continues. Even from here, Jungkook can see Taehyung frown slightly before it disappears; a moment later, his arm comes around her as he continues talking to Sooah.

Someone else takes a seat next to him. “Jungkook,” says Seokjin gently, continuing even when he doesn’t respond, “am I wrong or… did that sound like something Taehyung should be saying to her?”

Jungkook’s heart stops for a moment - but only for a moment, and faintly. He waits for the panic he’s been dreading this whole time, at the prospect of someone finding out his darkest secret, his deepest shame. It’s there, but there’s also the slow, unexpected trickle of cautious relief at the fact that someone knows, that it no longer needs to stay festering inside him.

He tears his eyes away from her and drops them to the ground. “It’s just - just a crush,” he answers in a low voice. “It’s no big deal.” When Seokjin doesn’t respond immediately, Jungkook snaps up to look at him. “Just… please don’t tell… anyone.”

Seokjin nods, but Jungkook knows he’s caught the pause before the last word.

“It’s nothing,” he says. “It’s - it’s just… it’ll go away.” Even to his own ears, the words sound unconvincing. He’s sure Seokjin doesn’t believe him but to his credit, the older member doesn’t argue.

“How are you doing?” he asks instead. “You’re not mingling?”

“Not really in a mingling mood, hyung,” mutters Jungkook, looking down again.

“Hey, come on, now,” says Seokjin, his tone teasing as he bumps Jungkook’s shoulder. “You aren’t allowed to be in a worse mood than me.”

“You don’t seem to be in a bad mood at all,” observes Jungkook. “I saw you talking to Nari - you seemed to be having fun.”

“Fun is a reach,” he says lightly. “But, yeah, it’s nice to catch up.” He’s silent for a few seconds. “Really nice.”

Jungkook doesn’t respond. His eyes find Dilara again, now alone with Taehyung as they stand closely under a tree with fairy lights hanging from it. Her back is to Jungkook; she seems to be saying something, her curls moving slightly as she talks, while Taehyung listens intently. A few moments later, he nods and says something with a small smile which makes her hit him on the shoulder and turn to walk away. Taehyung’s smile widens as he pulls her back by the wrist before kissing her forehead and wrapping her in a hug.

It’s not the kind of hug she gives Jungkook, though; no, this one is intimate, protective, with Taehyung’s arms enclosing her and her head resting on his chest. His forearms look sinewy from here, steady around her while he rests his cheek against the side of her head. For one heart-stopping moment, it seems as though Taehyung catches his eye but the next moment it’s gone. He murmurs something to her, she nods, and he takes her hand as they walk out of the main garden towards the smaller areas flanking it.

“Don’t sit here by yourself, Jungkook,” says Seokjin softly, and Jungkook looks up to see him following the direction of his gaze. “It’s not going to help.”

He exhales deeply but nods. “Yeah. I’ll be fine, hyung,” he adds, glancing at Seokjin.

Seokjin once again doesn’t look convinced, but doesn’t argue. “Alright. I’ll check in on you later, okay?” Patting Jungkook on the shoulder, he stands up to leave.

Seokjin doesn’t feel much like drinking tonight, or even eating. There’s a physical exhaustion all the way down to his bones that’s keeping him from being able to have even the shortest conversations. He glances over at Jungkook, who’s now standing alone by the bar, looking in the direction of the garden with his eyes unfocused.

Turning away, he spots Nari by one of the gazebos, sitting on a ledge with her feet dangling a few inches above the ground. He takes a few seconds to watch her, not entirely sure what he’s seeing, but trying to drink in the fact that somehow, inadvertently, she’s here. After a moment, he begins walking towards her.

Everything they’d talked about since she’d arrived had been easy, light, right on the surface; it was nice and familiar, and all his group members had interacted with her seamlessly, a result of years of friendship by association. But it feels incomplete, especially with the unknown chasm in between now and the next time he might see her.

“Hey,” he says, passing her and taking a seat on the ledge next to her, leaving a respectable distance between them.

“Hi,” she replies, setting her phone down. “Sorry, I got a call from the hospital. I need to head out in a few, actually.”

Seokjin frowns. “Already?”

“Yeah… I’m technically on call. It’s why I’m not drinking,” she adds, waving her glass of fresh lime soda in her other hand. “How are you doing?”

He’s about to nod and say something upbeat, but it’s too tiring. “Kind of want this night to be over, if I’m being honest.”

“What?” Nari looks back at the garden. “Your friends threw you such a nice dinner. You haven’t even eaten anything yet.”

“I know, I know and I’m grateful…” He sighs and leans forward, resting his elbows on his thighs. “It’s more for them than it is for me. They need it, in a way.”

She nods but doesn’t say anything for a few seconds. “Thanks for inviting me, by the way. I mean, I know it was Hoseok who technically did but even so, after -”

“Don’t date him.” Seokjin doesn’t realise he’s interrupted her until she abruptly stops talking. “Don’t… don’t date Jason.”

The silence that follows this time is quieter, palpable in its unexpected nature. Seokjin’s heart beats unevenly; Nari’s words from earlier tonight about she and Jason just hanging out and nothing serious seemed like a mildly relieving update then, but it’s only now that he realises it’s been on his mind ever since.

Nari clears her throat awkwardly. “What?”

“I know I have no right to ask you this - I guess I’m not even really asking,” he explains quickly, shaking his head at how incoherent he probably sounds. “I just… I just had to say it.” And then, quieter, he sighs. “I don’t want to wake up one day and be in love with someone else’s girlfriend.”

“Are you?” she asks after a moment. “In love with me?”

Seokjin opens his mouth to answer but the words aren’t there. He finally looks at her to see her staring back, almost defiantly. “Does it make a difference?” he asks softly, shrugging. “I’m leaving in thirty-six hours.”

He waits for her to disagree, but her eyes flicker and she turns away. “Why didn’t you tell me you and Seulgi broke up?”

“I almost did,” he admits. But I thought it was too late. “Why didn’t you tell me you had a not-serious thing with Jason?”

“I didn’t think it mattered.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Because you were with Seulgi!” she exclaims. “Or I thought you were, anyway. And besides, it’s not like we’re gossiping about our love lives like we used to before. We haven’t been - that close in a long time.”

Seokjin bites his lip and nods, defeated. His mind is moving almost sluggishly, a mountain of emotions struggling to fall into place. “Yeah, I know,” he mutters, dropping his head. “I’m sorry I brought it up.”

“Seokjin, are you -” She breaks off, taking a deep breath. “Are you asking me to… wait for you?”

He bites his lip. “Is that really so terrible?”

She groans quietly, shaking her head. “What the fuck, Seokjin?” she whispers, running her hands down her face..

“I’m not, though. I’m not - I swear I’m not,” he says quickly. “I know I can’t ask you to do that. I just… I’m struggling with… I don’t know, just picturing what everything will be like in eighteen months and I can’t…” He exhales shakily. “I’m struggling with eighteen months. I’m struggling with…” He feels his throat tighten and tries to swallow. “I’m just struggling,” he finishes tiredly.

Nari doesn’t say anything for a few moments. Seokjin is too afraid to look at her, but he can feel the atmosphere being weighed down with notes of sympathy.

“I get it,” she says in a small voice. “As well as I can, I guess. What have your friends said?”

“I can’t talk to them about this,” he says, shaking his head. “They’re having a hard enough time dealing with all this as it is, so I can’t make it worse. The only person I can talk to about it is -” Here, he breaks off and finally looks at her, feeling a yearning for familiarity and comfort so strong that it hurts his heart.

Her body moves very slightly and for a moment, he thinks she’s about to reach for his hand. But she doesn’t and the moment passes.

“I’m glad Hobi ran into you,” he says. “He’s got a big mouth, but… for once I’m glad.”

Nari smiles. “Me, too. I would’ve kicked your arse if you’d left without saying goodbye.” Her smile fades slightly as her eyes soften. “I’m sorry, Jinnie,” she murmurs. “I should’ve realised this was coming. Especially after you turned thirty. I should’ve been there.”

Thirty. The day had been quiet, with a company schedule just like any other day. He’d realised only at the end of the day, after he’d got a text from Nari, that that was all he was going to get from her.

“Do you remember that deal we made?” he asks after a moment, a part of him knowing that he’s walking into potentially uncomfortable territory again. But what’s the point of keeping it all in? he reasons desperately.

Nari goes still. “Yeah,” she says lightly. “I remember.”

“Guess we really overshot on that one, huh?” he half-chuckles, the sound sounding hollow to his own ears.

“Seokjin.”

“I’m not asking for anything.”

“It sounds like you are.” She swallows. “Everything is too different now. You’re - Seokjin, you’re leaving.”

“I know that.”

“And I’m -”

“With Jason,” he finishes.

“Forget Jason,” she says dismissively. “You’re not the only one who’s realised we’re thirty. My mother has been setting me up with eligible bachelors since I was twenty-five and I’ve been resisting her but at some point, I’m going to give up.”

Seokjin scoffs, his heart jolting. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying eighteen months is a long time. And you can’t - you can’t do this now. Seokjin -” She scoots a little closer to him. “I’m always going to be your friend. Even when you get out. But I can’t be in this limbo for the next year and a half and you definitely can’t be.”

He can’t recall the last time Nari saw him cry. He isn’t about to start now.

“I know. I know, Nari,” he repeats, his voice weighed down. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I fucked everything up so much. I’m sorry I still am. The timing just -”

“Yeah,” she agrees in a murmur, and he wonders if he’s imagining the disappointment in her voice. “The timing’s always sucked.”

They haven’t been this close in a long time, not since the night in the rain. Their eyes meet for a moment before Seokjin lowers his gaze, the realisation that it’s too late being heartbreaking yet akin to a morbid kind of closure.

“I need to get back to the hospital,” she says apologetically, hopping off the ledge a second before he does. “And I’m sure you need to get back to the dinner, too. But I’m really glad we had a chance to talk,” she adds, sounding like she means it.

Seokjin nods, but her voice feels far away. Eighteen months. Disjointing images float around haphazardly in his mind, of ex-girlfriends, of conversations over jajjangmyeon and of Nari’s mother’s obsession with her nuptials. It’s overwhelming, but he’d promised her he wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye. Taking a step forward, he kisses her gently.

She hesitates but responds, her hands coming up to lightly rest on his forearms. After everything that’s happened, Seokjin is inclined to believe that this, at least, is one regret he won’t carry around for the rest of his life. When they break apart after a few seconds, he keeps his eyes squeezed shut for a moment longer before opening them and meeting her eyes again.

“You aren’t asking me to wait for you,” she whispers shakily. “But that’s what you want.”

It sounds almost like a question, a bit like an accusation, and nothing like a goodbye. But Seokjin is sure he isn’t going to answer, for nothing good can come of it. Instead, he wraps his arms around her, pulling her close. He can’t remember the last time they hugged; from the way her arms go up as well, almost like she’s forgotten how to return it, he’s fairly certain she’s realised it, too.

It hurts. Seokjin’s face screws up and he drops his head onto her shoulder, trying with all his energy to stay still and not let his body move with every silent lament of their friendship and everything else that could have been. He kisses the side of her head and steps away, knowing his eyes are probably red enough for her to notice.

“Take care, Nari,” he says gruffly, clearing his throat. “Keep in touch.”

Her eyes are red, too, as is the tip of her nose as she visibly clenches her jaw. Seokjin moves to leave, walking past her before he realises he never answered her question.

“You know that time we thought you might be pregnant?” he asks, stopping and turning around. He can tell she wasn’t expecting this, but she nods slowly. “I would’ve given up everything for you. I was going to. And I couldn’t wait.” He pauses, hearing his voice tremble. “I should’ve told you that.”

Nari is trying to hold back tears, too - he can tell. But it’s too late. With a half-hearted attempt at a smile, Seokjin turns back around and heads to the dinner.

—

Thanks for reading. Don't forget to leave a review :)

#seokjin x oc #seokjin fanfic #thebtswritersclub #bangtanwhq #k-vanity #wkcnet #hyunglinenetwork #bts jin fanfic #bts jin angst

53 notes · View notes

slashingdisneypasta · 2 years ago

Text

Slashers x Reader || Blurbs

Topic: How they undress you 😅 What the experience of being undressed by them is like XD

Includes: Bubba Sawyer, Chucky Lee Ray, Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Michael Myers.

Warnings: Some smutty themes.

Bubba Sawyer: His hands are sweaty and he doesn't seem to understand (or care) how your limbs work- he's just trynna get this over with as soon as possible. Either he just really wants to see you naked (If y'all are in a mood~), or he wants to get you redressed super quick (If he's helping you cuz you're injured or something) before he gets horny and mortifies himself 😅 He'll be worrying his bottom lip the whole time.

Chucky Lee Ray: Doesn't undress you. This is unnecessary and the redress effort is always too damn inconvenient (Its likely that y'all are in some semi-public place so someone could walk in at any moment). He's a 'pull the pants down to your knees, yank your shirt up over your tits and we're ready to roll' kinda man. Bing bang boom. And honestly- just be glad, because his hands are cold as hell.

Freddy Krueger: Okay so first of all, there is nary a moment throughout this ordeal that he is not verbally teasing you. Making you as flustered as possible. And he draws it out as long as he possibly can, too, because he is an asshole who likes you to be embarrassed and nervous. He thrives on it, maybe he feeds off it??- and also he's just a major tease in general, so yeah. Even if this is not a precursor to, you know, he'll still be this way 😂😂😂 Goodluck.

Jason Voorhees: He's very careful and deliberate manhandling you, like a doll he really loves. He'll raise your arms up above your head himself before slipping your top off, he'll stand you up when its time to rid you of your bottoms; he's very methodical and, depending on the mood~ it may be pretty quick or relatively slow.

Michael Myers: Rough!! Make sure that you don't stiffen up or he'll dislocate your shoulder!! He just comes up to you and schwoop go the pants, and yank goes the shirt, and you dunno where they go they get lost behind a dresser or something. Michael doesn't care. Michael wants to get this part done with. He's um... efficient? XD

#just a quick fun thing i had in my head when i woke up XD #Slashers x Reader Blurbs #Slashers x Reader #Slashers #Michael Myers #Michael Myers x Reader #Jason Voorhees #Jason Voorhees x Reader #Freddy Krueger #Freddy Krueger x Reader #Chucky x Reader #Chucky #Charles Lee Ray #Charles Lee Ray x Reader #Bubba Sawyer #Bubba Sawyer x Reader

708 notes · View notes

insanescriptist · 1 year ago

Text

Cremation is just another fun(erl) service

So blaming random 4am thoughts that have been plaguing me all day for this

----

Jason woke to a bright room, thin sheets and the smell of a hospital embedded in his body.

First as always, assess. Hospital. No affiliation printed on the walls or anywhere. Private room, but small. That door looked like it led to a private bathroom. Generic flower picture, a mounted screen turned off. Really fucking bright sunlight from the windows.

There was no fucking way he was in Gotham then. Everything was too nice. Normal by standards outside of Gotham. There were blinds, not metal shutters. The walls were cleaner than Gotham allowed outside of Downtown and he could see greenery through the window.

Okay. So what had he been doing? Jason remembered and then wished he had his Jerichos to shoot himself with. Mystic Shit™. Okay. Okay. That was not one of his better ideas, but if he's recovering in a hospital, it worked. World saved.

So recovery. How fucked was he?

His skin looked so fucked. Which meant he had been worse. He's had time to recover and lose muscle tone in, going by how twiggy his arms were. His hands looked good. Clearly someone knew he cared about those if they went through the effort of restoring those.

Hmm, that was odd. No matter how much Jason hated the Lazarus Pits and all its by-products, it would have been a faster and more simple way to recover from near-death than the long incarceration in a hospital for a John Doe.

Jason wasn't sure if he'd been abandoned yet again by those who called themselves his family because he could, "take care of himself," or if he had been written off dead. Again.

Hospital beat the coffin by a long shot.

And it was with that cheery thought, a nurse -obvious meta human nurse- came in and burst into excited Japanese, because that was of course, his luck.

It's after the nurse and doctors leave that Jason loses his shit.

It looks like he's sulking in bed, but mentally everything in his head is exploding. Imploding.

Three. Fucking. Years. Coma.

Burn victim so bad they not only expected him to die in the first couple of days, but still expect it because of the infection risk his fucked up skin represents.

Still the conversation with the medical staff -of varying degrees of bizarre- was enlightening.

No, he has no idea who he is. Did he ever get anyone visit? How did he get here?

Of course some amnesia is to be expected. No, some of the nurses visited. No one knows how he got here.

Does he know what his quirk is? Uh?

Trauma blocked amnesia, the doctor mutters.

What's the last date he remembered?

Saturday. Maybe? The last year? No, I'm pretty sure my memory is shit and I'm trying hard not to freak out over not knowing anything. So could I get the year number?

And then there's the fucking year number. Once he got it translated into more normal terms.

Mystic Shit™ said fuck you to the future.

Except Jason knows this is not his future. Again, if it was, this would have been treated as a fucking inconvenience. Effective skin restoration goop -the proper name escaped him- was easily available to those with the right connections. A normal baseline human with 2nd and 3rd degree burns would be fine in less than two weeks with it, with nary a trace to show for it.

Thanks to the three year coma, his muscles were all atrophied as fuck, despite their best attempts at physical therapy. Because of all the burns and later burn scars and infections making it basically impossible to actually do fuck all about maintaining muscle tone until he was basically burnt skin and bones anyway.

He was so fucking weak now. It wouldn't last forever. He'd escape this hospital before he was discharged, before whatever "benefactor" showed up for whatever "purpose," he was suppose to serve now, as they had the medical debt over his head or was threatening his loved ones or whatever. If one didn't show up in the next week, he was losing his genre-savviness, because shitheads always wanted to claim shit, if it looked useful.

And Jason was used to looking useful, until he was no longer useful and they just didn't care. The amnesia made him less shiny, but Jason couldn't pull off the brain dead zombie imitation without actually being a brain dead zombie crawling up out of his grave.

So under the thin hospital sheets, Jason twitched his muscles.

Two weeks of emotional freak outs, watching the news, physical therapy and drugs Jason had had enough.

And he broke out.

----

Yeah, he regretted it almost immediately. Hard not to in the stupid paper gown, barefoot and bare ass.

Thankfully people were people, even with the plethora of meta humans he had seen, so it actually wasn't hard to find clothes. Someone left a hoodie in their car and Jason broke into said car. Put on the hoodie. Hotwired the car and drove off.

Somehow for being in the fucking future by two centuries and change, cars really hadn't changed. More evidence of Mystic Shit™ slamming him sideways.

He drove to the next town over, picked another direction, drove some more. Parked the car near what looked like a chop shop, negotiated the car for some money. He probably got ripped off, but better than nothing.

He walked to a corner store, bought some flip-flops after bullshitting an excuse that his had broken. First aid stuff. You know, for his feet. Hair dye in three different colors, because Rose Wilson could pick out a bad dye job at a hundred meters and so Jason learned how to dye his own hair properly so as to avoid her mockery, only to get mockery (affectionate) anyway.

It was a mix of instinct and lifelong observation that let him find an empty apartment quickly. He stole some sweatpants and passed out on the bed.

----

The thing is, Jason doesn't regret his crimes like Bruce thinks he ought to do, with a massive pity party and flaming self-hatred and punching criminals instead of shooting them. He hates the necessity of doing crimes, even if that crime is a net gain to society, but that's why all his serious crimes are premeditated. He's homicidal, not a psychopath.

Not Pit-mad either, no matter what the rest of them might have thought.

Again, he's homicidal, not a psychopath. And when he doesn't have to be some sort of costume soldier to be discarded by family for the disgrace of disfiguring the memory of a dead boy? He's actually chill and boring.

That is to say, he crashed at that apartment for three days, felt progressively more like himself, especially after the dye job -white hair all over, now a solid and boring black- but it still didn't change all the other issues the Mystic Shit™ inflicted on him.

This body isn't actually his. Too young, scars not right where the burns didn't fuck him over. Thankfully his existing coping mechanisms for dysphoria work and it's shoved to the side.

It's also a shit body. Not even a month out of a three year coma with inadequate -by his standards- of medical care. It's weak and building muscle to do everyday civilian shit, is going to take months to do. Pushing as hard as he did during the escape wrecked him the next three days. Jason may not know what's going to happen, but with his luck, it's going to suck and training is preparing to make it suck less. The only certainty he's got is that his skin or lack thereof is going to kill him from infection if he doesn't fix it.

He's got no legal identity here. Which basically puts him back onto familiar ground of legally dead.

Beyond the lack of paperwork, he's got a lack of funds. He also has no easy target to steal funds and equipment from, even just for fun.

For more disadvantages, he's in a different country, with different laws and a whole different culture. He would be climbing on board a fucking plane to Gotham, if it existed in this world, for some familiar ground.

He really is the unluckiest Robin. It also means he is also the most prepared Robin.

---

The first six months after waking up in this mockery world of heroics were the absolute worst.

He started at one foot in the grave and crawled out of it before the casket could really eat him alive. Jason had experience in casket busting. He didn't wanna repeat it.

He still didn't know who he was -in who was he inhabiting- but it wasn't like Jason had a lot to go on. 'His' quirk was thermo-manipulation, most obviously in the blue fire he could call to his hands but he could do some ice too; it was thanks to Duke's light and shadow manipulation that he had even tried for the duality. He had white hair. Presumably Japanese heritage but quirks had really erased or blurred a lot of racial lines. Also presumed dead and young.

Access to the Quirk Registry took some doing, but again, not everyone followed basic computer security, much less what it took to keep someone bat-trained out of their systems. Again, for nearly two centuries in the future, a lot of the technological development had stagnated. Searching through the Quirk Registry hadn't yielded any result but none of his other methods had struck anything either. And he had looked at the recently dead and/or presumed dead. Sure, he had some leads that looked viable, but he wasn't going to follow those up yet.

He had fixed a few of his most pressing issues the past six months. His ignorance of the local area, the local and national politics and so on. This world supported and had an entire industry catering to making child soldiers and sell their image and reputation to make money and more child soldiers that called themselves Heroes.

His weak ass body no long cried doing daily tasks and only hated him after working out. Yes, Jason was pushing it but he was well aware of how months of preparation could mean shit in the face of seconds.

His infection risk was severely reduced after quick research bender let him make the most generic knock-off brand of the skin restoration goop in a shitty homemade lab. Did it fix his skin being patchwork fucked in places? Some. He wasn't going to get feeling back properly, but at least he looked more normal. Maybe with enough moisturizing he might look a little less Frankenstien's monster.

He also had a cash inflow. It wasn't great, but it supported his apartment. And the second set of papers. And the 2nd apartment.

Which meant in grand old tradition for Jason, time for him to bounce to the next apartment and come up with a new name.

#time for Izzy to slep #Izzy does fic #jason todd #dabi

160 notes · View notes

lavender-long-stories · 2 years ago

Text

YOU are the toxic twink dumbass.

i'm back after a month away and she's back at bullying jason smh

#nari i blame you #but jason todd is also a twink fight me

6 notes · View notes

wisteriasymphony · 1 month ago

Note

hi I saw your post on twitter about the 25th annual Putnam spelling bee and I got really excited it but I don’t really understand why adrien was chip.could u share your reasoning? I really love your writing btw and uh I hope u have a nice day❤️

1. Tolentino is, despite his arc, the closest fit to the "Perfect Boy" archetype parallel Marcy Park's "Perfect Girl". Hence, Adrien and Kagami respectively.

2. With a lot of stuff I do regarding Adrien, it operates on a level of... what I'll call fanon irony. Adrien is the infantilized innocent sweet bucket of sunshine with nary an unpalatable character trait to his name. Hence, there's a level of catharsis to putting him through embarrassing situations that, converse to the aforementioned fanon, paint him as awkward, gross, loserlike, or otherwise "teenage boy"-ish—One you don't really get with any other character because no other character is framed in such a light.

And, let's be honest... he's no Barfée, and putting him as Leaf would be a very one-note reference to the played-out "oblivious Adrien" jokes that I have always found issue with, haha.

3. The very specific delivery with which Jose Llana in the cast recording says "Oreos" in the lines leading up to the song very pointedly reminds me of Aleks Le, for some reason, and I am partial to an Aleks-Le-Adrien. Him and Jason Schwartzmann, really.

#does your name start with a z on twitter perhaps anon hehe #wissym answers

16 notes · View notes

glitter-stained · 2 months ago

Text

SO MANY thoughts about Shugo Chara Jayroy

Roy's and Jason's dreams both tying to belonging/being loved/being worth loving

Roy falling to his knees holding Lian's dream egg fragments in his hands after she dies

Bruce smashing Jason's healed red hood dream egg (with the red hood shugo inside it), apparently convinced it's still X, while he's beating him (could be rhato #25, could be Ethiopia 2.0...) and Roy finding the fragments and going apeshit demanding Bruce gives the egg back but he's having flashbacks of Lian's death at the same time and alternating between demanding Jason's red hood shugo back and demanding Lian's little egg back and demanding to give her back.

Jason's red hood shugo resented Jason for missing the robin shugo because "he couldn't protect you! I can!" while disregarding their similarities (it's always the same dream: being loved, and protected, and being worth loving). Eventually after red hood's death Jason births a new egg which is similar to both robin and red hood and a little different and is just so clearly the dream of belonging and being loved, because that dream is so intense and defining for him no matter how many times you break the egg it's going to come back, a little different, more jaded each time, but it'll come back. After Batman #138 and #148 the egg turns X, but this time, none of the batfam realizes Jason has turned X again, because he's not wrecking havoc hurting people. The new X shugo has one goal : killing Jason. And Jason isn't fighting back.

The Speedy shugo isn't dead and he and Arsenal don't get along great, because Speedy wants to run towards the titans and go back to when things was easier while Arsenal is upset at the titans and finds Speedy naive for ignoring their baggage. Arsenal is also secretly protective of Speedy though.

When Roy finds Lian back (and now with her egg cracked and her own chara nari! Cheshire cat magical girl Lian!), Roy just becomes OP. Like his love and dream and world gets so much brighter and intense he becomes far more powerful at healing X eggs, he even gets an X-egg healing AOE effect. Like, before to heal an egg he had to shoot at it/at the person's chest with his magical bow and arrow while in his chara nari, now he has a kind of flurry of arrow attack (kinda similar to Utau's seraphim song in a way) that heals all X-eggs in the periphery.

I just-

X red hood! Jason teaming up and fusing with arsenal instead of x red hood, in order to save roy as he's fused with x-speedy. Arsenal talking to Jason about how he can't just ignore his own x-egg the whole time and Jason being like ik what i am i'm a villain let's focus on speedy he's the one who needs saving. And Roy does. Jason training to use a bow while Arsenal keeps ribbing him about how much better Roy is with a bow and Jason angry crying saying like "i get it, i wish it were roy too, you know"

Roy joking about the fact that Jason and Arsenal have fused makes Jason and Roy literal soulmates but is he truly joking, really?

Roy (who just got Lian back and is thus power-upped) shooting a glowing bright arrow at post #148 X-Jason as he attempts to kill himself and the arrow hitting Jason with a glow and literally piercing his heart with the strength of Roy's love and ability to hope. Jason's chara stops being X and we see the true form of that transformation for the first time (since after the egg spawned they never did the full transformation before it turned X) which is so pretty and has like wings (i wanna say angel but also maybe eros and psyche vibes for jason butterfly wings...), and Roy's OP transformation is obviously so pretty and also has wings (i wanna say angel wings ) but since the X-egg was throwing Jason off a building, Jason is dazed and falling, and Roy flies to him and catches him just as he's falling and it's a flurry of wings and light and they're both crying and Roy is holding his waist and says "there you are" and that's when they have their first kiss.

The Speedy chibi has a drummer set bigger than himself that he inexplicably carries around in his little pocket and sometimes he'll play a bit of it to cheer Roy on.

#the red arrow chibi isn't mentioned because I don't know enough about red arrow roy (and also where emiko queen stands in here)#to include it #but he's probably also there #also jason's robin shugo looks exactly like a chibi version of dick because his robin egg didn't bloom until bruce took him in #the speedy egg spawned while Brave Bow was teaching Roy how to shoot #the red hood egg spawned while Jason was deeply dissociating in Lost Days #also mia's speedy shugo looks nothing like roy's shugo but named herself that because she admires him #dc #dc comics #shugo chara au #jayroy

16 notes · View notes

lambsouvlaki · 2 years ago

Text

For the Hell of it - Real, Alive

Character: Jason Todd x civilian! Fem!oc

Rating and Warnings: G. Description of dissociation.

Word Count: 1,589

Summary: Jason struggles after a Joker breakout at Arkham, and turns to Andy for comfort.

Masterlist

He had intended to tell her the truth. He really had.

Plans had been sketched and trashed, messaged drafted and deleted, and a purpose built hang out planned and cancelled. Keeping her in the dark was only getting harder.

He knew she was suspicious. She’d be a fool not to be. The NDA he made up to excuse never talking about his work in ‘private security’ was doing a lot of heavy lifting. Some of the other lies he’d given her at the beginning didn’t hold up under long term scrutiny. And that wasn’t even touching his own screwups.

He had told her about a few too many of his favourite restaurants and food trucks only to be treated like a stranger when he took her there. He had disappeared with a paper thin excuse in the middle of hanging out when KGBeast broke out of Blackgate in desperate need of an ass kicking.

And then there was the day he had handed her the wrong gym bag, telling her to grab the books from it. She had pulled out a handgun. She put it back in without a word and they swapped bags silently. He hoped she didn’t notice the heavy modifications and thought it was just a regular concealed carry, nothing scandalous for the Alley. She had a troublingly good poker face. He really had no clue what she thought of all his bullshit.

He was afraid. He was man enough to admit it. Andy meant too much to him to lose her over his lies, if she took it poorly he didn’t know what he’d do.

Then she figured it out on her own and all his plans were for nothing.

He was in full Red Hood gear despite it being early afternoon, speeding towards her apartment to talk about it. Dread and relief coiled in him in unequal parts. He didn’t have to pretend anymore, if he still had someone to pretend for. After all she had gone through, she had every right to never speak to him again.

His earpiece buzzed with Oracle’s signature voice modulation.

“The Joker is in the middle of an Arkham breakout. This is top priority, everyone, drop everything else.”

He gripped his handlebars so hard his knuckles ached. He leaned into a sharp u-turn and sped away back the way he came.

Every other concern was secondary. All the bats and birds converged as Batman gave terse order over the coms. Word got out and the news descended over the city, bringing a silent panic to every street. Jason hated it. In those moments it felt like Gotham gave up and admitted it was Joker’s city.

Not on his watch.

Their plan worked with nary a hitch. Oracle had caught it so early they could, for once, act before the day’s dastardly scheme was executed. Whatever their differences, the family worked together seamlessly when they needed to. Only an hour after midnight the Joker was back in his cell and sulking like a diva denied her solo.

Nothing blew up. No hostages were taken. No backs were broken and no children were beaten to death in remote warehouses. They found out about the joker toxin bombs planted across the southside with enough time to spare and sent the cops the locations and disarmament instructions.

“Not bad for an Arkham breakout,” Tim said, sitting on the medical bed in the batcave. Batman was wrapping his arm up.

Jason glowered at the report he was writing. “Two trashmen died.”

Tim’s eyes narrowed at nothing. “We always fall down at the human element. The best security in the world can’t stand up to someone turning it off. There wasn’t anything else we could have done today.”

Jason looked up. Dick looked at his feet.

“We can always be more prepared,” Batman said, neutral. He looked fixedly at the sprained wrist in his hands.

Jason clenched his jaw. He stomped out before the words roaring in his chest had the chance to escape. Before someone gave him an excuse to throw a punch.

There wasn’t anything we could have done.

Didn’t denial taste nice when the price was someone else’s life? He got on his bike and sped away from a silent cave.

He had found the two bodies discarded outside the prison. Just regular folk, paid to do a regular job. Wrong place, wrong time.

They were acceptable losses. That was what Bruce decided when he kept the Joker alive. And now, it was what Jason decided when he did the same. He sold them out for the right to operate in Batman’s city.

His own hypocrisy sickened him.

Just as he made it back to his apartment his phone buzzed with a text. He expected something saccharine or smothering from Dick. But no–it was Andy.

‘Are you okay?’

Of course, she knew who he was now and what he would have been doing over the last twelve hours. She didn’t know just what this case meant to him. She didn’t know he wanted to break into that prison and put a bullet in that maniac’s head. That he hated himself for not doing it.

‘No.’

‘Anything I can do?’

Of course not. There was no fixing it.

He methodically cleaned all his weapons and armour, checked his gear and put it away. He went through his post-patrol rituals and tried to decompress. His hands were shaky throughout. Except for when he held his reassembled pistol. Then it was dead still.

What did he come back to life for, if not this? What was he even doing here?

The sight of his comfortable bed sickened him. The fancy apartment too. What right did he have to it when there were people in his city, defenceless. Unmourned. Unavenged. Was this his justice?

Laughter roared and giggled and simpered in the back of his mind.

It was going to be a bad night.

Despairing, an idea jumped at him. He flipped his phone the right way up on the table and typed.

‘Can I borrow your dog?’

‘Of course’

He grabbed a jacket and headed back out. The city was quieter now. It felt watchful and suspicious. These things didn’t usually go so well and nobody wanted to risk celebrating too early.

Andy opened the door to him almost immediately. She stepped aside and he came in without thought. Marlow was happy to see him and rubbed against his side.

Andy was in an overlarge flannel button up pyjama top and soft cotton tights. Of course, it was the middle of the night. He remembered too late that she had an early class tomorrow. He was a terrible friend.

“Sorry for waking you.”

She shook her head. “You didn’t. I messaged you.”

They stood an awkward distance apart in her kitchen. He felt unmoored now, his anger and self recriminations strong but mixed up in the morass of his chest. She looked like she was going to ask, and he dreaded it. She opened and closed her mouth.

“Are you… Can I-?” She opened her arms tentatively.

He nodded. She wrapped her arms around him. He engulfed her in turn. He didn’t deserve it but she offered, he told himself. She knew who he was now, what he did, what he hadn’t done. She still offered. He clutched her against himself.

Her breath brushed over his collarbone. She was warm and solid, real and alive. So was he. He was alive. He was real, he was here, and he was alive.

“You are,” she whispered. “You’re in my apartment and you’re alive. I’m so happy you’re alive, Jason.”

His eyes itched. He hadn’t meant to say any of that out loud.

“You barely know me,” he rasped.

She shrugged in his arms. “Still.”

He sucked in a desperate breath. Had anybody been glad he came back? He detangled himself from her before it could be too much. She turned away and busied herself with the kettle, obviously giving him some privacy. He looked up and listed in his head physical sensations and objects he could see.

There was a glowing red digital clock on the microwave.

He walked out to the living room. The dog came with him, glued to his side. Andy reappeared and pushed a steaming cup of herbal tea into his hand. The smell was rich with licorice. It brought him back to himself a little bit.

She smiled softly up at him. No fear or suspicion he could find in her eyes.

“You remember where the blankets are, right?”

He nodded, which was about as much as he was capable of at present.

“I’m going back to bed then. Give a shout if you need anything.”

“You are far too trusting,” he said, because he felt someone should. She had to have some idea of how dangerous he was. She had been hurt before, how could she just let him back in like this?

She gave him a long look. “No, I’m not.” And she walked away. “Good night, Jason.”

“...’night.”

The bedroom door shut, taking the light with it. He sat down on the old couch. Aches he had been too stressed to notice became suddenly unmissable. Oh, he was tired.

He kicked his boots off and lay down. A very large dog climbed up and curled up on top of his feet.

“You know your mom doesn’t let you sleep on the couch,” he sighed.

“Wruff.”

He almost managed a smile.

“Fine, but I’m kicking you off when I stop feeling my legs.”

He leaned his head back on the hard armrest and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Next>>

#I swear this was meant to be a conversation over the Red Hood reveal #I guess we're not doing that #jason todd #red hood #dc #jason todd x fem!reader #jason todd x oc #jason todd x reader #my fanfic #for the hell of it #red hood x oc #fluff #angst

67 notes · View notes