#but i'm just putting him to rest and using aspects of him i enjoyed bc i think maaaaaybe i gotta just let go of some oc's

[quietlyblooms-gone]

alright, based on this lore i talked about before, consider...

a veteran reaper and head of a specialized group who are tasked with finding " lost souls " and exorcising those who have lingered too long and lost their way. he should have moved on ages ago -- literally. he's served his full time as a reaper but rather than move onto his next life or become part of upper management, he continues his work. he made a promise. the guy's almost always smiling and keeping the mood light, yet you must not make assumptions of his character. no reaper got here being nice.

and then there's him. the rookie. such a haggard appearance he carries for a soul so young. his former life must have been hard; why else would this new body's chest feel so damn hollow? something was lost, perhaps taken from him, but that isn't his concern any longer. over and over he reminds himself and diligently follows after his seniors. this life is not his to live but to serve. he's rather stiff most of the time but surprisingly has a good bedside manner.

[gatoraid]

Random, but can I ask why do you love Yut Lung? What made him special? Is there a certain moment in Banana Fish where you know, this will be my favorite character?

P.s I can't believe the mangaka end Yut Lung just like that in the later manga. Are you surprised, too?

This is the perfect ask, YES you can ask me why I love my fave character. <3 This has been sitting in my drafts for a while but since the jp fandom is currently drawing a lot of Yut Lung fanart for the Mid-Autumn Festival, I feel like it's a good time to try answer this.

Yut Lung as a character is just endlessly fascinating to me. He’s the bitchy antagonist, the foil and twisted mirror image of Ash and to a lesser extent Eiji too. He has such delicious relationships with so many of the characters in the story, he's THE fandom bicycle to me.

I love how Yut Lung is full of contradictions. He’s an evil mastermind and seductress pulling at the strings, but he’s also a traumatized 16-year-old kid who misses his mother. He uses his femininity and beauty as a weapon and never fails to bring a fashion moment when going out, yet at home he only ever wears ugly grandpa sweaters.

One of the reasons why I enjoy reading about him so much is that he’s not really a good person. He’s petty and jealous. He’s been having a bad time his whole life and he wants to make it your problem too. Yet at the same time, you see how torn he feels about Shorter's death, how he just wants acceptance and for someone to take care of him. Idk, something about him showing his ugly sides and still being someone who clearly would deserve love and healing just feels so cathartic to me.

And let's not even get started on the gender stuff. I tend to latch on to characters with atypical gender expressions, and Yut Lung is explicitly referred to and viewed as feminine by other characters in the story. Is he someone who's learned to use his perceived femininity to his advantage (the ppl who have compared him to the main character of M Butterfly are so smart), or is this how he actually wants to present? Maybe both? In any case, this aspect of his character has also made him very dear to me.

Also, I actually do know the exact moment I realized Yut Lung would become my fave:

Soo yeah, despite being a fan of the manga for years, it was the anime adaptation that made his character really pop for me. Maybe it was just the right timing for me to vibe with his particular story, or maybe the fact that the anime staff clearly loved him made him stand out even more? His updated character design is just so good! Obviously I love his manga and anime versions equally now, the anime was just the catalyst.

You also asked about Yut Lung's story arc in Yasha. I'm putting the rest after a cut bc of spoilers.

I haven't read Yasha myself, but I've read enough fic and other reports to know the basics of how Yut Lung's life ends in that story. I'm very sad since I just wanted him to keep on living, taking reponsibility for the shitty things he has done. But idk if I can say I'm surprised. Unlike the anime staff, I think it's pretty clear that Akimi Yoshida did not love Yut Lung at all. I feel like she disliked him quite a bit actually, so writing an ending like that for him makes sense in a way sobbbb.

[still--kicking]

Oh my gosh hi I just wanted to say Part Time Soulmate, Full Time Problem is literally fucking killing me I am so in love. I NEVER read soulmate fics but yours has me hooked and reconsidering. "Part Time Soulmate, Full Time Problem" is a pretty fucking good title and that's what caught my eye and snagged my interest, and I am so glad i stayed because I am losing my mind and having a fantastic time Holy shit. I laughed out loud over the Shiro and Keith convo "

“I don’t know,” Keith laughs, settling back into the couch. “I think he just likes watching you and your superhuman biceps push that ancient clunker around.”

Shiro’s jaw drops, even as a flush rises in his cheeks. “Is that why he won’t let me replace it?”

Had me giggling like a fool. And I COULD NOT stop grinning ear to ear at how sweet they are with each other. Just good job on the sibling stuff my heart is GOO

Also, thank thank thank THANK for how you wrote Keith and Lance's beginning interactions. While I fully appreciate a lot of KL fics being an uphill climb to humane conversations (that's where the flavor is at Hello) it is always so refreshing to have them be on the same page (or close to lol) once in a while, especially in fics that start from S1 Ep1. I love how you've given us Keith’s perspective to fill in context when he's giving antagonistic answers, and have given us the insight that my guy is just thinking about other things and freaking out. We all do that from time to time minus the space war magic lion technology aspect yknow yknow

Also, absolutely nothing against soulmate fics, they're just not my particular cup of tea. But I appreciate how you've implemented it, and how it's really complimentary to the story. I'm only one chapter in but I'm excited to see where you take it or how you use it xx

Again, I've literally only read the first chapter, and I'm SUPER stoked that I'm a little late to the party because (I think as of when I'm sending this) that I have 6 more to delve into.

Thank you for writing and putting this out there. I've been rereading a million klance fics recently cause of the vld meta-analysis community and am so glad to see people are still getting their "kicks" (LOLOLOL) >;) from Voltron in 2025 too. Just, thank you for puttingthis out here for us to read. You're an awesome writer and I hope that this is a project that you enjoy just as much as the rest of us !!

(Totally forgot to mention ADAM ASDGHGGHJJK I LOVE HIM. MY GUY. THANK YOUU FOR THE ADAM YOU'VE THROWN AT ME LIKE CANDY IN A PARADE)

OMG HI ANON THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! your message has me giggling and kicking my feet omg thank you so much 🙈❤️💙 (no pun intended but lol kick)

I'm so happy you enjoyed that broganes interaction because I had so much fun writing it!!! I'm really enjoying exploring their relationship, and the different relationship dynamics between all of the paladins (AND ADAM!!!! IM HAVING SO MUCH FUN INCORPORATING ADAM!!!!!) And I'm so happy you like Keith and Lance's dynamic too!!! I was worried people would be bothered that they're not fighting that much but I honestly just don't always enjoy writing a ton of animosity between them. Like for sure they have their misunderstandings and their tension but I feel like in the early seasons we do also see a lot of them getting along when it matters!!

I think something so fun about klance is how much they grow as individuals and how much their dynamic evolves over time, so there's so much for authors to play with and a lot of different ways to characterize them!!! So as much as I love when people write Keith as kind of an asshole, I am personally a huge fan of writing Keith as just being awkward as hell. Like he definitely has his moments but I don't think he's intentionally a dick a lot of the time, I think he's just prickly bc of his attachment trauma and doesn't always know how to interact with people (and let's be real, he's gay panicking all the time lmaoo) He's like a stray cat that hasn't been fully socialized yet lol it's fine, he'll get there

Thank you so much for giving pts,ftp a try even though you don't typically love a soulmate au!!! <3 I appreciate you reading and taking the time to send me such a lovely message, it really does make my day!!! <33

(also, if you're interested in trying another soulmate au once you're caught up on this one and waiting for updates I feel like there, nestled against his pulse by hiuythn is THEEE klance soulmate fic, I can't recommend it enough!!!)

Thank you again for reading and for your message!!! I hope you enjoy the rest of the chapters so far <333

[ego-meliorem-esse]

I do love your takes because they mirror mine in a way, I am curious about your take on François relationship with Ludwig and partly with Antonio too. Alasdair is a free soul like him, there's not much to say about it there I think. Baby brother stole everything even the french menace and it bothers him but won't stop him. I do wonder about your take on Alfred's own relationship with Ludwig and the italian brothers. I hc he and the south get along really well but he clashes with North Italy bc he doesn't understand why Italy hides behind his airheadness. I know I'm in anon, sorry but I have many things on my mind and don't want to develop my own op right now bc it will take time to write it down

Ohh yess

Ok just a heads up, this is an expansion on the previous François post:

Ludwig and François have an interesting dynamic. At first glance it might seem like they are polar opposites in almost every aspect. And who knows that might be true, but there is an appeal to me of the sad depressed and drinking-wine-in-bathtub-at-3-am François calling up Ludwig just to chat and get reassurance that it'll be fine. Ludwig is young. He feels like he needs to prove himself on this old world continent. He feels the need to work more just to get to where the rest are. And as an economic powerhouse, he feels somewhat responsible for keeping the peace. Though, despite that, he is kind. And in the recent years (cough cough after Brexit cough cough gurgle fall over die) he and François have gotten close. As close as the ghosts of the past will allow, at least. So, if there is anyone willing to talk to, and even come over and make sure the Frenchman is not drowning in the bathtub or the wine, it's the german lad. Even if he's just sitting on the toilet, laptop on lap, doing work and listening to François' rants. It's the kinda dynamic François can relax in. He doesn't enjoy Ludwigs quiet company always, but it's a nice break from bickering with Arthur and debating with Alfred.

Antonio is a different story. They are very similar in their worldviews and mindsets. Two past empires grown up under Rome (more or less) and getting dunked on by the rat man extraordinaire and his big fat rat baby. If François is going to do dumb shit and get plastered in the town center, he's doing it with Antonio. Gil is also included. They are not the type of friends to talk about their feelings and go emotional on each other. But, naturally there is mutual respect and understanding. "The world has changed and its pace is too fast for us now."

Alasdair is someone who has seen and stood next to François for a very long time. I think he understands the inner workings of François better than most. And, in a certain way, better than even Arthur. From the fall of Rome to the 7 years war, Alasdair kept frequent contact with the man, both physical and if unable to visit, by letters. Alasdair is the one trapped between worlds and emotions after the Treaty of Versailles in 1763. Matthew, whom he adores so much, was abandoned by the man he deeply feels for. And in times like these it's very human to take sides, despite actively trying to understand each party. Alasdair chose Matthew. A boy he almost saw as his own. And François felt the shift. Less frequent letters and visits, as well as somewhat reserved communication when in person. They are still important to each other and always will be. But nations, in my hc are very human. I understand the appeal of making them non human eldritch beings, but i think they are very very human in their emotional and mental capacities and understandings of the world. Wiser and more experienced sure, but human non the less.

You also mentioned Alfred and the Italy bros. I'll do a separate post on their dynamic. However ye i do agree, Alfred and Romano are closer than Alfred and Feli. But what i will add is that Alfred doesn't dislike or find Feli off-putting due to the mask of airheadness. It's the fact that Alfred does the same and knows what it's used for and how it works that doesn't sit right with him. He knows the mask is a front for a sharp mind and knows that there is intelligence behind it.

[yoinkschief]

Do you think Tom had to learn how to be expressive? He’s purposefully animated to move around a little more bc yknow no eyes. This goes for his general eye movements too; which also move more to show emotion

I'm so glad you asked, dear Anon

I'd like to introduce you to my

Tom is Autistic Agenda™

As someone who is autistic I find myself relating to Tom a lot in that aspect, where my face is usually described as "Resting Bitch Face" or constantly looking "bored", which neither are true, it usually just means I'm relaxed/interested/focused on something

However when it does come to emotions I do tend to exaggerate them, I remember when I was younger trying to mimic the expressiveness of cartoon and anime characters because they were always drawn with such exaggerated expressions

I don't know if my expressions come off as exaggerated though, I feel as though they are because I have to put such manual effort into them, but I realize that sometimes it doesn't come off that way and my expressions still remain subtler than intended

It can totally be "it's just the eyes" things, but I'm my heart and desire to relate to characters I enjoy I like seeing him have some reflection of myself in him but it also just makes sense with him having such a monotone voice and then such an exaggerated one moments later, the drastic changes can easily be akin to a lack of understanding the projection of emotions (NOT A LACK OF UNDERSTANDING THE EMOTION ITSELF, JUST HOW IT PRESENTS ON THE BODY) as it also helps explain his bluntness

Yeah he's an asshole, but he's an asshole with an understanding that his face doesn't always show how he's feeling so he says it and why

He's not an asshole because he's autistic, he's an asshole because he doesn't care to phrase things in a way other than "I'm right you're wrong, stop that"

Again, another thing stemming from autism: a strong sense of justice, whether that justice be "just" or not, he believes it so he believes it strongly

(in an animation perspective he's animated to have exaggerated movements to further get across his emotions - facial features are a very important part of body language and language in general so to make up for a lack of expressive eyes they rely on other parts of the body. This is shown in theater where because there are audience members so far from the stage you have to over exaggerate your movements so even they can understand what tone you're using. In animation this can be seen with Tom L//ockwood from Cloudy with a Chance of M//eatballs, D//aisuke J//igen from L//upin III, and I suppose I'll count G//ojo from J//ujitsu K//aisen, though tbh that has less to do with his eyes being obscured and more him being a weird little critter. But these characters tend to over exaggerate their actions and tone in their voice to get across what they mean because the lack of eyes causes them to struggle in body language)

[okiroash-03]

Hitotsume-sama ramble (& a bit rant) I am NOT normal about this guy.. putting it in read more bc I don't want you guys be blasted with this one LOLL

I could ramble so long about the intricacies of Mah's hitotsume as well as in comparison how the other artists working with eve handled him.. how I often feel like they don't really portray it as well as Mah does (which makes sense considering Mah was the one who created hitotsume,,)

You could say Hitotsume is a paradox, from a glance he has the silhouette of a tall hatted man.. but on a closer look he only has one eye and certainly no human head or hands, he appears in the corner of your eyes as some sort of onlooker... already, he's terrifying in concept.

Yet don't let hito's looks deceive you of the abundant of whimsy-ness he has!!! he can dance and pose CUTELY, his refined outfit is not for naught! Truly possessing a gentleman disposition, little snippets of giving kindness towards others.. as well as doing mundane things with no problem...

The brief moment of comfort in the unfamiliarity is quickly pulled away again, as hito here is prone to putting his damn eye close to the screen. He too, seems to have a knack of pulling morbid tricks !? for instance he cracked a person's head, filling it with all sorts of books, while his fellow smaller zingai friends danced.. (such a surreal scene in itself, I really love Mah's work) these however does not seem to actually scar the poor lad.. as if everything was all but a nightmare

For this reason hitotsume reminds me a lot about ghosts at it's core.. (funny considering his name possibly came from the yokai hitotsume-kozo) they are mischievous but not overly malicious, it was all scary for sure! later it would kinda just felt silly? spine-chilling? to think back on, you'd go about with your day thinking of that strange encounter you will never learn or to see more of for the rest of you life. Never making sense of the intentions and felt right when you think it's just more of the instinct of the hat man (I write this in experience of my own ghost encounters) which also seems to be in line of the adam by eve movie's ending

Hitotsume is near unpredictable, the moment you'd think he'd be scary he's sitting kinda... fruity-ish.. and when you think the other way... he decided to chill in a hallway and accidentally(?) spooking a person. I think its good to note that hitotsume never seem to make himself look intimidating on purpose.. in fact he often seem to be enjoyed or amused... happily dancing along or bopping his head. The "intimidating" part really just comes to how people regard towards his "eerie" appearance, the overall mysterious demeanor, hard to read face (therefore emotions too) and especially unknown origins... but when you're a fan of one-eye characters it all becomes too endearing its sickening!!! Grown ass zingai

I have always been fond of strange humanoids, it's easy for them to become my favorite,, but God.. it's really really bad when people use them as an excuse to portray shit freak stuff that doesn't feel like it came from a nonsensical creature... and more of the artist's own intentions from a bad place. Not only that, it also feeds to the idea of strange look + behavior = bad (not talking in a moral sense)

there are sooo many ways you can portray/show that a being is weird, unpredictable, and invokes fear without needing to go into such an awfully uncomfortable territory while still make it intriguing.. this is often the case when hitotsume is drawn on the hands of some peculiar artists, even ones who worked with eve... in some aspects, it's more of how it was drawn than the idea itself...

I'm sooo late to talk about this one. ever since the eve movie came out, I have always felt uncomfortable about the bouto/mob mv (which. is why I make my own derivative story!! only really keeping the malewife hitotsume, whom adopted a kid that hates him and a cat that also hates him since it's so silly LOL.... everything else Fucking sucks though)

Using hitotsume and a citizen (that looks similar to him) to criticize society objectifying humans while also having a pretty SHITTY approach to it is... Oh.... that's gore of my comfort character dude.... the biggest tragedy that it was directed by someone I do not like for their works.... most heartbreaking thing ever

[lexa-ocean]

do u have any rolfe and earl headcanons?!?!?! NOT FORCING BTW!!!! U SAID U SHIP THEM I THINK….

I started drafting an answer and Tumblr didn't save it 😭😭 but yeah i do ship them!!!! They might be one of the ships i've into the longest lol. I even got my partner to ship em before we got together!!! (It's how I won her over lol/j)

Putting hcs under the cut!!

Ok so my biggest hc here not only re:this ship but also in general to the rockafire is that Earl is. Not actually a puppet lol??? But yeah my hc is that he's like. A monster type dude similar to Mr Munch basically ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ like in general my hcs for the rockafire rely a bit on their world running on magical realism rules, where ppl see things that we'd think Odd as ordinary. Like random furry monsters just existing lol. But anyways. Continuing w that, Earl's Specific Brand Of Creature™ is just naturally tiny and light, ergo why Rolfe can just. Swing him around like that 😭 also as I mentioned in this fic, he's also very feline like and can purr, among other things!!! Going onto the shippy aspect, as i wrote on the afromentioned fic, Earl's purring is one sure fire way to calm Rolfe down if he's having a hard time 💖💖 the downsize tho is that Earl doesn't like doing it in public :/ so it's really a thing just for the two of them

(Eventually Earl becomes trusting enough to do it around the rest of the band, but everytime he realizes he's doing it he threatens them to not go around saying it. They all agree but tbf its like an open secret at this point 😭)

Anyways, all this to say Earl had a Whole life before meeting Rolfe. And i think they had a Very Funny meet 'cute' where Earl was like. A server at a comedy club Rolfe decided to do stand up at (i think its funny if Rolfe used to do stand up by himself and SUCKED at it) and Rolfe was so bad even Earl started heckling him while waiting tables and Rolfe was SO offended bc what does this lowlife server know about comedy??? So they started to trade barbs back and forth and everyone else in the club thought it was HILARIOUS and even some ppl started wondering if it was all part of some Really Funny Bit and they had agreed to do this beforehand but. No lmao they literally just Have Chemistry when it comes to comedy. Anyways eventually Rolfe's time ran out and he was thinking like 'oh great i wasted my whole time fighting with this rando i'm gonna get booed off again-' but nah fam he was cheered on bc the fight was HILARIOUS. Rolfe wondered wtf was up but when he noticed ppl praising a very confused Earl he wised up about it and asked him if he wanted to do an act together and. Earl said No. So Rolfe just began going to the club to BEG Earl to be on his act it was High Key Pathetic 😭 but Earl did eventually agree (mostly bc word spread out abt the funny 'comedian vs server' act and the club threatened to fire Earl if he didn't do it again :'D) so yeah they eventually began hanging out outside the club, at first just to keep working on their act but eventually they started liking each others company. Like they Don't Agree with each other in a BUNCH of stuff but they could Argue about it in a fun way and they both enjoyed it. And when they Did agree it was also fun like they could talk for HOURS.

Yeah the thing is, living together and being close as they were eventually their feelings wandered into a more Flirty spot and (without quite meaning to) they began putting into their act to the point everyone was like 🤨🏳️‍🌈❓️ at them. And the club owners turned out to be... pretty fucking homophobic!!! So one day they were just like 'we know what you are' and dead up fired them. Probably called them some slurs on their way out too 😭 and the funny thing is Rolfe and Earl hadn't even NOTICED they were being flirty with each other so they were SHOOKED and frankly very fucking pissed off. They just made it back into their apartment like

Another thing that def helped their bond it's that they were both deeply lonely people and had like No Friends??? So in my hc Rolfe had a pretty awful home life and grew up Very Isolated so yeah. His social skills consisted on acting like he was better than anyone else then being Shocked when that resulted in ppl finding him annoying. And Earl once again i have a Whole Headcanon but tl;dr is that he's from Argentina (like me hi i like projecting 👋) and back then thing's were... Not Great™ so he had to leave and rebuild his life somewhere else and it was HARD and he was also Grumpy about having to move in the first place so yeah 😬 suddenly tho they found each other and become Close Acquaintes, maybe even Friends??? Dare i say even Close Friends??? It got to the point that they decided to move in together to save up on rent and work more on their act and stuff. And they were Pretty Good at it too!!! Everything was going well... maybe too well...

Rolfe: Wow I can't believe we were fired and over fake accusations too???

Earl: Yeah i mean wtf are they on?? We're not dating???

Rolfe: Yeah I mean i am gay but not at you lol ur not my type??

Earl: Yeah same i think guys are hot but not you ur a geek

Rolfe: The club owners are CRAZY

Earl: Yeah lol imagine us dating??

Rolfe: Lol that would be weird

Earl: Heh... yeah...........

Earl:

Rolfe:

Earl: ...So u wanna make out-

Rolfe: YES

So yeah lol ironically they started having a Thing bc of that whole situation. Club owners created their worst enemy fr.

I do think they didn't sit down to discuss the Terms of their relationship until MUCH later, so they never really called each themselves boyfriends or anything. They just had an Unspoken Thing™ and they figured it out as they went.

Anyways, they stayed in that town for a while and began doing their act at different clubs (changing it as they went from 'server vs comedian' to 'audience member vs comedian' bc several clubs weren't willing to let Earl act as if he worked there) but the past club owners kept spreading rumors abt them so eventually no club in town would take them :/ so they decided 'actually fuck this town' and just. Got into a van to go around the country as a traveling act. And they did very well!!!! They def had their ups and downs but it was mostly positives. At one point they ended in a club that had a STRICT 'the comedians must stay only on stage' that they weren't told about until last second so they had to change their WHOLE act with a few minutes to spare.

Rolfe: Wait hold up i have an idea... ✨️puppet✨️

Earl: Fuck off i'm not pretending to be a puppet-

*smash cut to Earl on Rolfe's hand*

Earl: I hate you

Rolfe: Love you too ❤️

That act ended up being a MASSIVE success tho so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Earl had to learn to cope

But then one day they stopped at a Showbiz place and meet Wolfman (as mentioned in my fic, he's Rolfe's older brother who he lost contact with) and well. Rolfe and Wolfman had a pretty emotional encounter and Earl decided it was better if they stayed 'just for a while'. Before they knew it they were helping Wolfman's bestie (Fatz) on making a new band since the WP5 was breaking up and they had a whole STAGE for themselves and yknow what maybe they could stay for a while longer...

3 years and a shared house later: Wait shit. We're Attached now.

ANYWAYS this thing devolved into a whole origin story huh 😭 lemme drop some actual hcs here real quick

Rolfe is older than Earl by like 2 yrs (i usually write Rolfe as 37 and Earl as 35, for reference)

Rolfe is the most physically affectionate of the two, he has an habit of getting Affection Zommies™ (term coined by my girlfriend) and just. Picking up Earl to cuddle him or squeeze him or nuzzle him 🥹 and Earl just rolls with it like "oh i'm being pick up. Ok then." It's like the meme of 'came home drunk last night and got too happy to see my cat' yknow

They both smoke, but Rolfe smokes those v long and 'softer' ones while Earl smokes a heavier type (Earl probably smokes weed too on accasion). Anyways, point is, they 100% do that 'leaning really close to light up their cig with the one their partner is smoking' thing like. ALL THE TIME. And everyone thinks they're being romantic but in reality they started doing it to make their lighters last longer 😭

They lowkey have a ratatouille style system to cooking?? Like Rolfe is ok at cooking but NEEDS the recipe. On the flipside Earl has a hard time cooking bc of his side but he just Gets cooking like he can eyeball and improv things and ends up with fantastic stuff. So what they usually do is Rolfe cooks while Earl watches him and gives him indications. And yes, their system works

They're both v good with children!!! And actually like them!!! It wasn't a huge sacrifice for them to change their act to make it more kid friendly. They're also not bad babysitters.

Rolfe loves sewing and clothing design and the like. It can be hard to find stuff Earl's size, so he'll sometimes make him clothes

(Half the time is stuff not really Earl's style but is the thought that counts?)

Rolfe LOVES Earl's voice he thinks he's the best singer in the band and is constantly trying to get him more songs. Earl himself doesn't think he's that good, but he does like to sing and has fun w it so he's also not complaining.

Even tho they usually write their skits beforehand, they're also p good at improv if things go wrong. For ex. the Frank Sinatra skit was meant to have a different ending where the song went without an hitch, but then Technical Difficulties happened and they had to run with it

Earl wont admit it but he genuinaly likes how soft and fluffy Rolfe is.... world hard and cold, fur soft and warm ( ⸝⸝´꒳`⸝⸝)

On that note, Earl has an habit of kneading on Rolfe without meaning to (cat-like creature babeeeeyyy). Rolfe feels flattered every time it happens so he doesn't say anything, even if he might ocasionally get Poked at by claws (yes Earl has retractile claws)

I said this earlier, but Rolfe's parents are pretty garbage. They keep sending Rolfe letters trying to guilt him into taking care of them (send them money), and they can cause Rolfe to spiral. Earl's solution is to check for them constantly and shred them whenever he sees them. He just takes his claws to them and goes wild

If Earl ever meets Rolfe's parents, heads will roll

They're both also very aware of each other's issues/trauma, since they were all they had for a while they ended up accidentally trauma dumping on each other early on.

Yknow that one trope where the tall partner lets stuff in high shelves so the short one has to ask them for help? Yeah Rolfe's the complete opposite. He tries makes sure everything is accesible to Earl, esp if it's stuff he uses constantly

They're both pretty early risers, with the difference Rolfe also has an habit of staying up late. As a result, Rolfe is usually a zombie in the mornings before he gets his caffeine dose. Earl ends up trying to make sure he doesn't get himself hurt by running into walls or smthn

Yeah i think that's all i have rn!!! I've actually been at this for a few hours.... lol....

As an extra, here!!! I made a playlist for them a while ago!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmHPhhJWNKI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNaHpezFjng

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Djn8yRscS8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybhNZqEnkYQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX8JmX-PJ8k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EemlA7ICn6Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LViL6-nt3wQ

(Yeah i know most of these are in spanish, sorry they just Fit)

Thanks for the ask!!! 💖

[its-all-papaya]

I think that the anxious, self doubtey vibe of overwinter Lando is exactly why it works so well, honestly. It still feels like Lando— we all know far too well how critical he can be of himself, it's no secret— but it's just as valid as, say, the party enjoying Lando, ADHD Lando, happy go lucky Lando, hesitant, sensitive to communicate Lando, confident Lando. They're all valid!

I feel like the fact that it's a real person you're trying to capture makes it trickier because there's even more facets to them than a character, but at the same time you're writing a story and that means you're going to have to reduce all those facets into something that DOES work for the story. And it's inevitable that some stuff gets more spotlight than the other aspects of them.

What matters is the context, I think. It's so easy to wonder "what would XYZ person/character do" but actually the question should be "If they were in this scenario that I want to put them in, how would they react/behave?" The context of it all is so important. And that's why it works so well, despite you or I feeling like our depictions of Lando and/or Oscar may be OOC. It still works and it's still a good read.

But I digress. I'm rambling too much anyway ahahah, I just really appreciate you feeding my thoughts!

Rest assured I'll keep revisiting your ask box hahah, it's been a delight chatting with you! I'll hop into DMs later if I'm feeling brave :'D I've had a Right annoying day today so it feels nice to unwind and think here.

Hope you have a lovely day ahead of you!!!

-⭐

okayyyyy three days late reply 🫣

all landos are valid!! and i'm so glad we have so many writers to write him from so many perspectives for us!!

second paragraph is so true... like we (me) forget that fictional characters are easier to get a grasp on because they are DESIGNED to be. all their canonical actions are invented by their original creator to serve a certain purpose, so they're obviously more consistent overall and therefore easier to imitate. real people are soooo complicated! they act impulsively and their actions vary by situation and context more than characters' generally do, because every one of a character's actions are purposely selected to "mean" something or "accomplish" something. good reminders. great reminders.

you've revisited my ask box like five times since this bc i'm behind as all hell on replies, but please never stop visiting star anon, i love chatting with you!!! about anything!! any time!!

[traflawgar]

i've come to again harass angel in her inbox because i can and i can't be stopped >:3c

one piece can admittedly be intimidating to get into because of the length so what finally got you to start and what was the arc that really got you hooked for the rest of the ride? and what were your thoughts on.... these following arcs: water 7/enies lobby, amazon lily, marineford and fishman island (underrated and overhated imo cough cough)jnfksdjfn thanks for indulging me!

(🥺and thanks for your comments on my stories, you're always so sweet)

nyla!!! you're always welcome in my inbox <3

also !!! this is gonna be a LONG answer, so let me go ahead and add a "read more" thing

I, like many people, ended up getting into one piece bc of the live action. my boyfriend had been asking me to watch op with him for a while and, like a fool, I always said it was too long for me (I watched all 15 seasons of supernatural, but somehow one piece was too much lol). then the live action came out and I really liked it. I wanted to know more about op, so we started watching the anime and I was immediately in love with everything.

the arc that got me really hooked and made me want to watch the remaining 1000-and-something episodes happened very early on, actually. it's arlong park. Nami is my favorite Straw Hat, and although I liked her from the second she was introduced, this arc really planted the seeds for my love for her to grow. fun fact, Nami's backstory was the first point in op during which I cried! during this arc I decided Nami would be my favorite Straw Hat, and she has remained my favorite ever since.

okay, now, I'm gonna add a title for each arc so it's easier to see it.

water 7/ennies lobby

it's one of my favorite arcs. if you had told me, before I watched it, that I would cry over a ship, I wouldn't have believed you. A lot of things hurt during this: usopp and luffy's fight, kaku's betrayal, robin being willing to dying bc she felt she was putting them in danger...

honestly, this arc really drove home the found family aspect in the show. the fact that they were all willing to declare war on the world government if it meant bringing robin back to them was so heartwarming, and it speaks volumes about their bonds. robin had spent so much of her life thinking she was a danger to others, that she'd never find people who'd love her as much, and seeing her realize that they'd burn the damn world for her made me tear up.

while on the subject of the straw hats, this was a key point for me when it comes to robin bc, before this arc, I didn't care about her all that much. like, of course I liked her, but she wasn't in my favorites, you know? also, this might be controversial but aside from thinking franky was sorta funny, idgaf about him at this point lol.

amazon lily

nyla, when I tell you I cried so much when they got separated, even knowing they'd get back together later on.

that aside, I enjoyed the amazon lily arc. it's not one of my favorites, but I liked it. I think I don't have many thoughts on it, if I'm being honest. I really loved the blond girl that made Luffy clothes, but as for other characters that's pretty much it.

I think Boa Hancock is pretty iconic, but I have mixed feelings about her. Medusa is one of the most prominent figures in Greek mythology nowadays (specifically, the version from the myth where she's turned into a gorgon, not born that way), and I really liked the parallels between the two. Boa is certainly a beautiful woman, whom men want to take advange of, and who uses her power to turn them to stone because she knows this. I think her backstory was very sad, and is the reason why she's so cold towards men.

my only thing against her is that her crush on luffy is annoying, but I try to think of it as similar to sanji's obsession with women which, though annoying at times, is mostly something meant to be funny and not at all taken seriously.

marineford

pain.

just, pain. i was tense and one second away from crying throught the entire arc.

literally all throughout the arc, and even though i knew from way before how it would end, i kept telling myself that luffy would make it, luffy would save ace. ace would live and i would feel so silly for crying before anything bad happened.

I was the embodiment of the phrase "The Nile is a river in egypt"

god, i cried so much when ace died. literally didn't want to watch one piece for over a week after it happened. and i don't remember if this happened during this arc or one of the next, but when garp went to see dadan? so much pain.

also, i know people say that garp helped enough by not fighting luffy seriously, but god damnit i have so much resentment towards him for not doing more. not only because ace was his fucking grandson, and he shouldn't have allowed ace's pride to prevent him from helping him (i mean, ace was too prideful to ask luffy to save him, but luffy still tried), but also because my dude!!! you're not staying loyal to the just and lawful "values" of the marines!!! you're being loyal to fuckers who say pirates are evil, but then turn a blind eye on human trafficking and slavery!!! he's staying loyal to a corrupt system over his family!!!

that made me really angry with garp, still am tbh. like, i know he's hurting and whatever, but he stood up for a corrupt system who punishes people they deem evil (even when the "evil" people do something good) and let's human trafficking go unpunished.

also I got a lil angry at ace too, cause they were so close to escaping, but he had to turn around because the lava dude was talking shit. i cried like a baby when that asshole killed him, and to this day whenever that fucker appears on the screen I cuss him out. I also refuse to say his name, he has no right to be called by his name after what he did.

fishman island

honestly, i genuinely enjoyed this arc. like, aside from sanji being in constant mortal danger bc of all the beautiful sirens, I thought it had some pretty funny moments.

then regarding more serious topics, i thought this was a solid arc. i liked that hody jones, in spite of being obviously wrong and evil, was a believable villain. I have to admit I like stories where society creates their own villain because of their unnecessary and completely stupid mistreatment of someone. I think it really reflects that sometimes, monsters are monsters just because someone thought they were and treated them as such, not because they were one to begin with (I'm thinking about Shigaraki and his villain group from bnha)

of course, this doesn't completely apply to hody jones, but I do think part of why it was so easy for Arlong to instill his beliefs in Hody and co was because humans treated fishmen poorly. even if Hody hadn't suffered directly at the hands of humans.

if humans had been kinder, arlong's hatred of them, and therefore hody's, wouldn't have existed.

I think this was also when they introduced the "voice of all things", right? anyhow, I thought that was pretty neat.

I agree that this arc is overhated and underrated. I think there's some elements to it that make it stand out, and while it's not in my favorite arcs list, it's an arc that I'd definitely rewatch.

last thoughts

out of all of this arcs, water 7/ennies lobby and marineford are my favorites.

[vv-ispy]

For the ask meme, Yun Jin! And Venti too, why not

Yun Jin

How I feel about this character: Isn't she cute? Isn't she sweet? So graceful and dignified and well-read, and... I like the detail put into her. I like how beijing opera inspired she is, how she has the flags in her skill and burst, how she does acrobatic moves (bc beijing opera is very acrobatic — and done wearing those big heavy costomes too, insane), how she kicks the spear like jianzi/chinese hackysack in her idle, how the finishing of her attack sequence is flourished with a gong sound and pose, how they got an actual beijing opera singer to sing for her, how her signature dish is one of my favourite foods! I love her! She got me into the game! I enjoy that she plays with the idea of tradition vs change, she participates in a very traditional art form, one that is very much seen as 'stuff my grandparents listen to', but also listens to rock and roll! Thinks the traditions and the elders are outdated! She works hard but she also has fun! That's about it to her though rip

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Shenhe :) Also Xinyan

My non-romantic OTP for this character: With the rest of the liyue gang, xinyan + xiangling + xingqiu + hutao + chongyun! Also I love that she calls Morax '岩王爷' "stong king grandpa" affectionately, it's so cute and almost humanizing-but-also-old-school respectful-of-your-elders kinda sense. Would love to see her interact with Gaming as the two main Cultural Representatives pfft

My unpopular opinion about this character: I haven't even seen enough opinions on her to know whether this opinion is unpopular, but she works better as a side character. Yun jin's story has been told in the jade chamber chamber quest, and her written backstory. There's not much to expand on.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: Sure, she can show up as a side character in events more. I don't have strong feelings about it though. In a world with bigger stakes, with themes of gods and control and change, I think her aspect of the story's been told. Though I guess if you really want to make an argument for it there's compare and contrast you can do with her and Venti bc they're both story tellers with a focus on humanity. Yet at the same time, they're still in such different worlds, it feels forced to use her for such big themes, I think she belongs in having-fun-with-the-liyue-gang

Venti

How I feel about this character: Stares into the void. I swear I became a Venti Fan by accident. Why did I start liking him again? Ah right nameless bard. Anyway, about Venti... By being the most human of the gods, also makes him the most multifacetted of the gods, in my opinion. The bulk of Ei and Zhongli focuses such big, almost abstract concepts, like eternity and change and what they should mean. Quite frankly, things that are detached from the average person's (or, maybe just me lol) life, at the scale they talk about it. Not to say they're unrelatable to humans, I'm sure many can relate to Ei's response to losing Makoto or Zhongli's letting past and tradition go, but not at the scale they do, where it affects a whole nation. Furina and Nahida have their own very personal battles with growing into themselves and feeling trapped, but neither of them have had enough influence over their nation's development for their struggles to intertwine on a larger scale Venti straddles this gap. As a god, one of the original gods even, he has already shaped a nation and their understanding of 'freedom', is burdened by this 'freedom' and how it contradicts with his role as a god — a god should be leading his nation, a god is trapped under Celestia. He allows one to explore the grand overarching themes of the game, of destiny and fate and order and principles. But he's also. Just a guy. He sings songs making fun of himself and gets drunk and makes mistakes and is a jerk sometimes, he doesn't take himself seriously and his actions as Venti are of no consequence. He gets to know his people personally, he makes connections on a human level, and so even his god struggles have a personal note to them

I joke that he's hard but fun to write, and he is! Both! I'm genuinely itching to write another Venti POV piece some day because he gives me an excuse to do wordplay and not take everything too seriously — this guy overthrew a god losing his closest friend in the process, then made a mistake in governing so bad in resulted in tyranny taking over again for him (with Venessa) to fix, then particpated in The Cataclysm whatever that entailed, probably knows a bunch of terrible godly secrets, and then woke up to another dear friend corrupted to the dark side for him to fix (with The Traveller + friends). Again. Yet through all that he remains silly — in Animorphs there's a quote by Marco "You have to decide whether you think life is tragedy or comedy. I long ago decided to look for the joke in life […] See, it was my mom who taught me that the world was funny" and sometimes I get the same vibes about Venti. He could easily look at his life and decide it's a tragedy, but instead he decides that no! Life is fun and life is whimsy and there's things to laugh about and experience in life despite everything terrible about the world that he's seen first hand, taught by the bard who couldn't experience the joys. And sure I think at least a part of his alcoholism is drink-the-trauma-away, and I do think a big part of him living life to its fullest enjoyment is a promise he made to his bard friend but I also don't think either of that takes away from him having seen the worst of existance and deciding to choose love and care and hedonism. But because he's had the experiences of the best and the worst and everything in between, and is good with words, he works so well bouncing off other characters. You can use him to talk about loss (he's experienced so much), of masks (he wears one too), of inferiority (self proclaimed weakest archon, started life as a weak wind sprite), of power (he's a god amongst humans), of connection (he's the one that reached out to zhongli first, makes an effort to talk to his people), of forgiveness (doesn't hate signora, possibly understands her), of change (does Mondstadt change?), of legacy (still wears his friend's face), of....... he's such a flexible character because of his scope and contradictions. You can use him for anything, he fits anywhere. And man, in the wack case he doesn't fit a theme? He'll know a song that fits the theme. This guy knows too much. And GOD I didn't even get to talking about how I have emotions about how the bard and his early life shaped him Uh also trans Venti good

All the people I ship romantically with this character: hmmm ZhongVenXiao is the one that comes to mind first, because of the way all three of them push and pull and challenge each other. Venti relieves the heaviness of the subservant dynamic ZhongXiao has going on, Xiao alleviates the heaviness of the Old Gods then ZhongVen has going on, Zhongli alleviates some of the overfocus on Xiao I see in a lot of VenXiao works, I love the three together! Zhongxiao challenges Venti's idea of freedom, ZhongVen challenges Xiao's ideas of loyalty, VenXiao challenges Zhongli's overseer responsibleness Bardven. God. First friend. First love. Understanding each other's soul. Carrying on each other's legacy. Unable to move on. Must move on for the other. Learning your own very ideal from another, and now being the bearer of that ideal. They cannot be separated, I think Venti still caries a bit of the bard into everything about him, whether conciously or not. I don't think Venti would be a bard without the bard, and I wonder if his friend didn't die, if he still would have lived his own life to its fullest to live on for his friend. Sometimes, I play with the idea of Venti not telling the bard's story out of selfishness — it's the only way he can still keep his friend to himself, untouched by history. A shinning memory that no one else can ruin. I love the angst of other Venti ships, that any ship with Venti almost has the ghost of the bard still there — the other is looking at Venti and the bard because Venti is like a white cloth that got dyed by the bard. The colour may fade, he may get dyed with others, but he was loved and changed by the bard first and there will always be a mark of that. Venti looks at the other and he's reminded of the bard constantly— he's held by his new lover and he's reminded of how safe he felt in the bard's hands, he laughs at his new lover's joke and he remembers the first time he felt joy with the bard, they talk about their future together and he's nolstogic for the times he talked about the future of Mondstadt with the bard. Not that it's constant, of course — I think he's very much moved on too. But he'll also never forget about the bard and those happier days with his soulmate, before he lost his innocence

I know I said Diluc/Venti in my answer to Diluc, but my affinity towards that is generally the silliness of I'm-kicking-god-out-of-my-tavern. Venti is such a character-focused character to me I prefer ships with a bit more potential for substance such as....... Stares at a KaeVen wip I've yet to finish because I have plot and character to iron out. God I need to finish it. It will be the culmulation of all my thoughts about this ship, probably

My non-romantic OTP for this character: Venti/everyone in Mondstadt. He is the core of the theme of Freedom that everyone in Mondstadt. Everyone in Mondstadt has their own idea and experience with freedom and the city He Made, so perfect jumping off point to explore variations on freedom Venti + Venessa. The aristocracy is Venti's first big mistake, his first second big trauma. He thought he had given his people freedom only for his own people to reinvent oppression. The themes to explore there! And Vanessa, she fought for her freedom but she's also an outsider to Mondstadt. She challenged his idea of freedom, he challenged her self-reliance. I think Venessa is the second largest affect on his life and yes this is including the other archons, because Venti is a god who is concerned with humans on a personal level. They're both saviours in a way, Venti to his people and Venessa to her people, but she's also taken up the role of looking after Mondstadt in general after being welcomed in Mondstadt. I think it also set the presidence for why Mondstadt is so welcoming to everyone from everywhere, the fact Venessa decended from another nation created Mondstadt's backbone of the KoF to care for not just her people but everyone in Mondstadt. If the bard planted the seed of what freedom means to Venti personally, then Venessa helped grow those ideas into what freedom means for Venti's nation and how his ideas of freedom affects his people Inserts Bardven here again but god this ask answer is getting long enough

My unpopular opinion about this character: This is a sideways answer to this entry, but for me Venti content is like candy. It's good and fun and I love seeking it out, but I have to keep it in moderation or else I get tired of him. For me, sometimes people are too......idk how to describe it. Too reverent of him? I liken my reaction to him with my reaction to Portal 2's Wheatley back in 2014: great character in the source material but as a consequence of being a popular character, there's a portion of fanworks that talks of him in a way, erases his flaws, that irks me. Like, in the source material Venti is a high quality chocolate, the perfect mix of has his own character + comedic relief + contributes to other's characterizations + intriguing relationships + cares about others + a divine man + wise + childish whimsy + has his own issues + kinda a jerk sometimes + just a fun guy + not a perfect god + doing his best. But fanworks, either out of wanting to explore one aspect or not fully understanding him, it's easy to fall into One Aspect (alcoholic Venti, or only-there-to-develop-someone-else's-character/others-are-only-there-to-develop-him Venti, or doesn't-take-anything-seriously Venti, or ...). And then I come out of the mirad of Venti content feeling like I ate a spoonful of sugar, or a spoonful of cocoa. Or, sometimes I just want to take a break from eating chocolate ya know? But then again there are times when I just want to eat a spoonful of sugar so ya know. Moderation, etc etc But hey that's just a me problem. It just means for things like Venti Birthday I need to take a step back from the Venti Insanity and stick to my trusted mutuals' takes on him :P

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: windblume when :(

[kunselxsoldier]

PEOPLE I'D LIKE TO GET TO KNOW BETTER !

alias / name : I don't really have an alias, my own personal blog is @kisarastrife if that counts, but only if you enjoy my own personal ramblings and YuGiOh! fangirling. :) I also have a handful of FFXV muses and two Far Cry 5 ones too.

birthday : October 15th BC

zodiac sign : Libra

height : 163cm (Just slightly under 5'4" for others who use this scale)

hobbies : Writing, cooking, playing my Playstation, small bit of reading and a lot of baking cakes and crocheting.

favourite colour : Red, childhood constant.

favourite book : This will sound soooooo odd. But I read a book called 'Fire Bringer' when I was about 9 or 10, which was based in what I believe was Scottish mythology (and I adhered to that, being Irish) and it had a deer fawn born with a prophesised birth mark and was very interesting. I believe the author was David Clement-Davies. I still adore this book a lifetime later.

* Also I adore the trilogy by Marita Conlon-McKenna (Irish Author) which chronologies An Gorta Mór (the Great Famine) in her books Under The Hawthorn Tree, Wildflower Girl and Fields of Home. Brilliant short stories which pinpoint a time in our history through the lens of children. I read them as a 8 or 9 year old and still consider them very treasured reads.

last film / show : Last show was Avatar: The Last Airbender (live action) and Shogun. I have to finish Avatar yet, but I adore the animated series and I like the live action series so far, so I'll have good thing to say. As for Shogun, I came in arse-ways and watched the 5th episode first (because my dad watched all the rest and both of us were drinking together and he put it on ... anyway, I ate, no crumbs.). Looooving it so far. Need to do my retro-watching of the previous episodes. Cosmo Jarvis is giving me Jax Teller vibes for some reason and I can't pinpoint it.

recent reads : Ooooooh, such a changeable topic. At the moment, I'm adoring the author 'Tom Marcus' - a former British intelligence agent publishing under a pseudonym. Fantastic author who plops you right into the action and faultlessly explains usable aspects of spycraft and response/operational tactics. Really puts you into the mindset of an operational agent with this kind of burden and assignment.

*Very good read for anyone interested in the Turk aspect of FFVII .. just FYI. And the author is an absolute polite gentleman on Insta.

inspiration : I don't really know. I have a terrible habit of picking up muses which are overlooked by their own creators/developers and I fucking adore them. I loved Kunsel the first time I saw him back when I was 14 (many moons ago) and he had no voice and just him with his helmet, then fell back in love with him the millisecond that security trooper mentioned his name in Remake. But 99% of my muses are NPCs or side-characters with very little input such as Kunsel [FFVII], Shotgun[female Turk] FFVII, Dave Auburnbrie [FFXV], Petra Fortis [FFXV], Nyx's mam [FFXV], Carmina Rye [FC5], Eli Palmer [FC5] and a few others - anyone want to interact, just holler at me!!!!!!

story behind url : His name is Kunsel and he's a SOLDIER. I don't like using '-' so I used 'x' instead. Simple is as simple does. :)

fun fact about me : I am an identical twin and I'm lucky enough that my twin sis also writes RP, she can be found at @proxnotxaxfool or @exiled-turk

tagged by:@holyguardian and @soldier-lodbrok Tagging: @proxnotxaxfool, @exturk, @brokeniisms, @makoblue, @speedchasing, @lockhartred, @uponthyhonor, @wingsdreamt, @wingsandsteel and anyone else who sees this and wishes to do it!!!!

[neverchecking]

NSFW Alphabet- Fierce Deity Edition

And the winner of the poll (Which isn't technically over) is, in a surprising turn of events, Fierce! Sage had the lead for a while and then it was Legend, and then the man himself pulled ahead!

I was watching it the whole time while writing this like "you better not change."

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

He's the silent broody type, but every touch of his is startlingly soft. But he's pretty good at aftercare, all things considered! He's probably the type to have a set routine that he goes through each and every time. A wipe down and then a bath and then probably letting you lay on his chest while he towel dries you off <33

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

On his partner? Everything. He can't chose. That would be sacrilegious. He loves every part of you. Every bump, scar, insecurity is what makes you, you. And he'll be damned before he doesn't worship every inch of your entire being.

On him? (I'll have everyone know I almost put hands here. AGAIN.) Probably his back or chest. Now, I know that sounds weird, but it's the first place your hands mark in glorious streaks of white when he's buried deep within you. It's one of the only places he can wear the marks you have graced him with so proudly. It's where you sign your name and place your claim on his heart, soul and entire being.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

Man cums a lot. Be forewarned. It's thick and it's creamy and there's always a lot. Another Link with those heavy breeder balls, you know? Ones just begging to be drained into your pretty little hole. Which is exactly where he does it. Every single time. Anywhere else is a waste.

And he refuses to be wasteful.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

He is always secretly terrified that he could somehow in someway hurt you. So when you take control and ride him, bouncing up and down, over and over and over again, he just feels himself fall deeper into devotion for you. Because you aren't afraid. He's slaughtered thousands. And yet, you cradle him like he is a saint. This is only proven when your above him, using him like a toy and trusting that he won't do anything to take back control.

Because he won't.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

Fierce was never one for sex. I'm gonna go right off the bat with that. In fact, you're probably his first. That being said, if he lets you sleep with him, he's probably finding ways to spend the rest of his immortal years with you. You aren't leaving him. He won't let you. He's only willing to learn your body. What makes you tick. Not anyone else. He has no care for anyone else.

And he's a fast learner.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

Missionary all the way. He'll do others, but I can't see him really enjoying them. With Missionary he gets to watch your facial features and the way you heave breath after heavy breath, watching as he disappears into your greedy little hole over and over again.

So yeah, he loves missionary. Even if a breeding press also has it's place in his chest cavity (bc I'm not sure if he has a heart hfof)

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

You're kidding, right?

This man has no sense of humor. Period. Maybe he'll give you a small twitch of his lips, but other than that, he's the same stoic faced, bare boned man he portrays. So if he doesn't laugh during the times he's clothed, there's like negative chances of him doing it when he's naked.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

I like to think every part of him is strictly uniform. Every part. His pubic hair is nicely groomed and trimmed and still the same stark white as the hair on his head.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

I could go either way with this. On one hand, he probably doesn't know a whole lot about Romance. Just devotion. And his devotion is so whole and honest in a way I don't think I could truly describe. Everything he does is for you. Your attention. Your approval. Your everything.

On another hand, if his lover wishes for romance, he shall do all the research necessary to ensure he is properly versed in every courting method there is. Anything his darling wants. Their wish is his command.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

Never. Not once. He has zero interest in touching himself. None at all. As far as he's concerned, his dick is yours and yours alone. He merely carries it around. He has no right to touch whats yours.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

HUGE CORRUPTION KINK.

There I said it. He's so into taking this pristine art of the Golden three and just absolutely ruining it. Making your eyes red and puffy with tears as you cry out for him, bruising the delicate flesh on your hips with a grip tight enough to keep you in place, claiming you in every way you claim him as the biggest fuck you to the goddesses who blessed you

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

Anywhere private. He has absolutely no interest in sharing the view of you. That is his and his alone. He believes that sex is such an intimate thing, it's his holy time.

And he doesn't share

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

Anything. Anything with you. You could breath in his direction and he's hard and ready to go. If you give him the opportunity, he'll worship you all day every day. Just give him the word.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Any form of physical harm. He refuses to do that. Absolutely refuses. His hands are stained with thousands of years of blood and he refuses to let yours be there as well.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

Giving all the way. That is his purest form of devotion and that's his sacred time. He could spend hours down there if you'd let him. So please let him. Plus, he's a god at oral. He's so focused on you and your reactions, you have no complaints regarding his head game.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

Anything his lover wants. If they want slow and sensual, he'll do it. Fast and rough? He's pinning them down. Long, hard drags? Done. Shallow thrusts that have you crying out? Anything you wish.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

Hates them. Hates them hates them hates them. SO MUCH. He refuses to rush his prayers to you. REFUSES. It's frankly insulting to insinuate he would ever do such a thing. He is taking his time in taking you apart and not speeding up even for the end of the world.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

Nope. No risks. Anything risking his time with you is a big no-no. That's his special time. His moment of prayer and devotion and it is not to be interrupted.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

All day and all night. The only thing stopping him is his partner pressing the red light. He can go forever if you'd let him. He has no limit. He is a Deity after all. <3

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

None. Hates them too. Why have something as stupid as a toy there to try and please you when he does it well enough on his own? Why have any form of an imposter when he is there? Why insult his abilities with knockoffs like that?

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

He enjoys it at any given point, but not a lot. Just enough to have his lover crying out his name. Just enough to have them yearning for him in just a fraction of the way he yearns for them.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

SILENT. Wouldn't say shit if he had a mouthful. Why bother? Any noise he makes is just taking away from what your crying out and he refuses to distract himself from that pure choir. A hymn of his own making.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

If his lover asked, he'd let them peg him. He'd bottom for his lover. He'd give away any control if it meant keeping his lover. Want to wrap him up in satin red ribbons and keep his limbs starfished for your exploration?

He'd do it.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

PACKING BIG HEAT Like, it's almost too big to take. Ten to eleven inches with GIRTH, maybe twelve when hard. Veiny too and he's circumcised. Has the prettiest head, just a lovely red that you can't help but want to suck. And BIG BREEDER BALLS <333

Just drain them dry babes <33

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

He could go at any time, he just hides it. You say the word and he's following like an obedient puppy.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

Does not sleep. He's holding you and watching to ensure you take every breath he needs you to take. He's watching you all night just to make sure you live to see the next day <3

[amhrosina]

Holidate (Frank Castle x fem! Reader)

MASTERLIST // TAG LIST REQUEST

A/N: Hi hi hi! Writing this was wild and took over my social life for a second there. This hasn’t been beta read, or edited yet (lmfao), but it’s 13k words and I’m very proud of it. Please enjoy! (Matt Murdock next????) 

Summary: Holidate – a prearranged fake date that you can bring to family holiday events to avoid awkward conversations about your love life.  

When reader realizes she’s the last single person in her family, a run-in with an old acquaintance sparks a genius idea that could get her family off her back once and for all. 

(Warnings: slow burn, pining, fake dating, brief description of a severe injury (it’s in the fourth of july section), cursing, eventual smut (p in v, oral (fem receiving)), no use of y/n, wholesome family content, Frank in a bunny suit, let me know if I missed any bc it’s 1:30am and I'm tired lmfao

New Year’s Eve: 

The bass of the club speakers pounded in your skull, sparking a fresh wave of annoyance within you. This was not how tonight was supposed to go. You were supposed to be somewhere nice, celebrating the new year with your loving and loyal boyfriend of four years, Ben. But Ben was an asshole who couldn’t keep his dick in his pants long enough to realize he had butt dialed you while he was knee deep in “the best pussy he’s ever had”.  

You rolled your eyes at the memory. You weren’t even that upset about it – Ben had become a dull and predictable aspect of your daily routine. The spark that had ignited your affection for him had died out months before you found out he was cheating. It was a brutal wake-up call, though.  

Your life, you realized, had become entirely too comfortable, which limited your ability to grow as a human being. The few weeks without Ben leading up to New Year’s Eve had taught you a lot about yourself, but you couldn’t help feeling a little lonely when you looked around and saw happy couples everywhere. 

Your sister was happily married to her high school sweetheart. Your mom and dad were disgustingly in love with each other, even after almost 30 years together. And your idiot baby brother had chosen tonight at dinner to announce his engagement to Kim, his girlfriend of 3 months.  

After the obligatory congratulatory toasts, your mother’s attention had fallen on you. You had tried so hard to get out of the room before she could open her mouth, but your mom had spent enough time with you to know your tricks and had managed to corner you by the bathroom. 

“Sweetie, I want to introduce you to someone. My OB/GYN has a new set of interns, and one of them is very cute.”  

“You’re worried about my,” you paused for effect, “vaginal health, Mom?”  

 “No, of course not, though you should probably get it checked out after the whole Ben fiasco. I don’t even want to think about where he put his pe-” 

“Okay, thanks for that, Mom. Really. I just have to pee now.” You slid against the wall until you could grab the doorknob and slip into the bathroom, effectively shutting the door in your mom’s face. You had hidden yourself in the bathroom for 15 full minutes before finally facing your family again. Then, Sammy had the bright idea to take all the siblings out clubbing to celebrate his engagement.  

That’s how you ended up here, surrounded by sweaty, drunk partygoers who apparently had so much to celebrate. It was 10 minutes to midnight, and you were doing everything in your power to make it to the exit before you had to be surrounded by sweaty, drunk, kissing partygoers.  

The club was so packed you had barely made it five feet before you gave up your efforts, deciding to chug the rest of your drink when the clock struck midnight as your midnight kiss. You watched the dance floor from your vantage point on second floor balcony. An overwhelming presence next to you had your back stiffening.  

You turned, ready to tell the guy off, but you lost your voice somewhere between “Fuck off, buddy” and “Not interested”. You definitely knew the guy from somewhere, but you couldn’t put your finger on where that might be. His size was intimidating, and you could tell he was absolutely ripped, but his eyes weren’t those of a drunk asshole. In fact, the look on his face told you he recognized you from somewhere, too.  

“Do we know each other?” You had to yell over the music for him to hear you.  

“You don’t remember me?” He was smiling, and you knew that smile, but you couldn’t put your finger on how you knew it. You studied his face, trying to remember. Dark hair and eyes, strong eyebrows, and a big nose.  

“Oh!” You exclaimed suddenly, “You’re Eagle!” 

His eyebrows furrowed. “What?”  

“You were the TA for my Psych class, right? Like six years ago? Frank, right?” You grinned at him.  

“You do remember!” He smiled wide for a second, but quickly furrowed his eyebrows in confusion again. “What did you call me? Eagle?” 

“Oh god,” you groaned, running your hand over your face. “We used to call you that. The girls in the class, I mean. You know what they say about men with big noses?” 

Frank let out a loud laugh, throwing his head back.  

“I didn’t think anyone in those classes even knew I existed. That was the easiest job I’ve ever had. The professor wouldn’t let me do anything, and I still got paid.” 

“So, I don’t have you to thank for the A, then?” 

“Sorry, I guess you did that on your own.” He shrugged, sipping his drink and smiling. “Did you come with someone? Where’s your date?” 

You raised your cup to your mouth, gulping down a mouthful of alcohol in response.  

Frank chuckled and nodded. “Ah, I see.” 

The clock began chiming, starting the 60 second countdown to the new year.  

“Where’s your date?” 

Frank smiled and gulped down the rest of his drink, copying the response you had given him. You raised your glass, and he clinked his against yours in solidarity.  

When the countdown got to 10, you awkwardly shuffled back and forth on your feet. The couples around you were gravitating towards each other, grabbing each other’s hands and holding their drinks up in the air. You and Frank watched as the clock hit 0, silver and gold confetti floating down from the ceiling and coating the kissing couples on the dance floor.   

Your brother seemingly appeared out of nowhere, tugging his fiancé behind him.  “Hey! We’re going!”  

You nodded, turning to Frank. “I have to...” you trailed off, pointing towards your brother with your thumb, “but it was nice to see you again. Happy New Year, Frank.” 

“Yeah, I’ll see you around.” He grinned, nodding. 

You waved at him as you walked towards the exit, wondering if you’d ever see him again. Fortunately for you, you didn’t have to wonder for long.  

A few days later, you parked your car in the mall parking lot, sighing as your mother continued her rant from the passenger seat. 

“All I’m saying, sweetie, is that you should get out more. When’s the last time you left the house besides New Year’s Eve? What about one of those dating apps?” 

“I don’t want to date anyone right now, Mom. I’m trying to find myself, you know?” 

She scoffed. “Oh, please.” 

You followed her into the mall, clutching the items you had bought for Ben before the untimely death of your relationship. Your one and only plan for the rest of your week off work was to return the gifts, but your mother had insisted on going with you, claiming she had some shopping to do. You couldn’t imagine what she could possibly need this soon after Christmas, but you didn’t want to argue with her about it.  

 It took forever, but you were finally at the last store you needed to make a return at. It would’ve been an easy in and out if your mom hadn’t stopped to look at every single sweater in the store. The sound of your name being called perked you out of your thoughts. 

“When I said see you around, I didn’t realize it would be this soon after.”  

Frank walked towards you, clutching a return receipt in his hand. You waved your receipt back at him. 

“You didn’t like a gift?” You asked, eyeing the receipt.  

“Oh, uh,” Frank scratched the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly, “No. I bought it for someone, but it didn’t end up working out.” 

Your eyebrows shot up. “Wow. Same. I think we may have more in common than I thought. Same girl that left you alone on New Year's?” 

“The one and only.” He chuckled, shuffling his feet.  

The sound of your mother’s voice so close to your ear startled you. You hadn’t noticed her standing next to you. 

“Who’s this?”  

She had a devious smile on her face, and it took everything in you not to outwardly groan. 

“This is Frank. He was my-” Frank cut you off, reaching forward to shake your mom’s hand. 

“Friend in college. Nice to meet you. We were just talking about regrettable Christmas gifts.” 

“Oh!” Your mom eagerly shook his hand, sending you a wink over her shoulder. “Well, I’ve been trying to tell her she needs to get out more. You know, her boyfriend ch-” 

“I don’t think he’s interested in hearing about my love life, Mom.” This conversation derailed far too quickly for your liking. 

“Honey, I’m just trying to help. Frank is very handsome.” 

You could feel the heat rising in your cheeks. You probably resembled a tomato more than a human being. 

“Thank you, Mom. Very helpful.” You gritted through your teeth. Your mother was nothing if not sneaky. She sent you a smirk and turned back to Frank. 

“It was lovely to meet you, Frank. I hope I’ll be getting to see more of you soon.”  

You gaped at her as she made her way back towards the cashmere sweaters, dreading having to look back at Frank. When you finally faced him, he was clearly trying hard not to laugh in your face.  

“I’m sorry,” You groaned, running your hand through your hair, “My mom can be very forward.” 

Frank let out a chuckle, shaking his head. “It’s okay. It sounds like she just wants you to be happy.” 

“She has an interesting way of showing it. I mean, being single on holidays isn’t that pathetic, right? Plenty of people are single. Like Emma Watson! She’s been single since forever and she’s thriving! Oh god, you probably don’t want to hear this either. I’m sorry. I ramble when I get nervous.” 

You regretted ever getting out of bed this morning. This was turning out to be the most embarrassing day of your life, and it wasn’t even 10am yet.  

Frank’s face had turned thoughtful. You were a little afraid to ask him what he was thinking about. 

“I have an idea,” he finally said, glancing between you and your mom, who was holding up a blue sweater and talking to an employee. 

“Okay?” You cocked your head to the side. 

“What if we dated?” Your eyes grew wide, “Just for the holidays, I mean. We show up together at events or parties and it keeps the questions at bay. Like a, um-” 

Frank searched for the right word, and you couldn’t help the word that came out of your mouth.  

“A holidate?”  

Frank snapped his fingers and pointed at you. “Exactly. A holidate. It’ll get your family off your back for a little bit, and you won’t have to worry about being single. For the day, at least.”  

You didn’t say anything for a long time, trying to fully comprehend what he was offering. 

“What’s in it for you?”  

“Same as you.” He shrugged. “My family’s like yours.” 

“And it’s just for the holidays?” 

“Mhmm.” 

“What about the smaller holidays? Like 4th of July.” 

“I’m fine with whatever you want to do about those.” 

“What if one of us meets someone we like?” 

“Then our problems are solved, right?” 

You studied him for a moment, weighing the idea in your head. You stole a glance at your mother, who was now standing out of Frank’s direct eyeline and smiling at you and Frank. 

You turned back to Frank, holding out your hand. 

“Deal.” 

The smile he gave you as he shook your hand sent a shiver down your spine. 

 

Valentine's Day: 

“Frank, you are not getting my mother flowers. She’s never going to let you leave.”  

“I can’t show up to dinner to officially meet your family without bringing something. My mom raised me better than that.” 

You were currently standing in the flower section of Kroger, picking out flowers to get your parents for their anniversary. Every year, they hosted a family dinner on Valentine’s Day to celebrate their marriage and the family that came out of it. This was officially your first go at this holidate thing, and Frank kept insisting that he had to bring flowers. 

“If you absolutely have to get flowers, don’t get red roses. My dad called dibs on those 30 years ago.”  

Frank grinned at your compromise and picked up the bouquet of tulips he had been eyeing. You had to give it to your mom, Frank was handsome, but the holidate deal was strictly platonic, so you turned and headed for the checkout lane.  

When Frank caught up with you, he was holding not one, but two bouquets. The tulips he had picked out for your mom were bright yellow. The other bouquet had a dozen red roses in it, and it had been carefully wrapped in expensive-looking brown paper.  

“Who are those for?” You couldn’t help but ask.  

“Well, I can’t get my holidate’s mother flowers and not buy my holidate flowers too. That’s just unclassy.”  

You followed him in stunned silence. You hadn’t been expecting that.  

When you finally arrived at your parents' house, you were nervously applying and reapplying your lipstick in the passenger side mirror. You didn’t know how your family was going to react to Frank. Obviously, your mom would be pleased, but you didn’t want to sit under your sister’s scrutiny for too long. If anyone was going to figure out what you were doing, it would be her.  

“You’re nervous.” Frank pointed out, watching you from the driver’s seat. “Why?” 

“I’m not nervous.” You scoffed, ignoring how easily he just read your body language. 

“Yes, you are, but you shouldn’t be. I’m the perfect gentleman. Parents love me. You’ll see.” 

He smiled at you and jumped out of the car, running around to open your door for you.  

“See? Gentleman.” 

You led Frank around to the side door, hoping for a subtle entrance. This plan was almost immediately foiled when your mom busted through the door, Cheshire grin planted on her face. 

“Frank! It’s so good to see you!” She brushed past your open arms, pulling Frank into a hug.  

“Hello, ma’am. These are for you.” He held out the tulips, smiling. 

“Oh, you.” She muttered, taking the flowers from him. She rushed through the door, calling out to your dad.  

“I think it’s safe to say that I've won over your mom.” He chuckled. “You ready?” He held out his hand in question. 

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” You sighed, intertwining your fingers in his. 

Dinner was as dramatic as you expected it to be. Your dad had kept up the “tough” act for a whole 30 seconds before Frank managed to win him over. All it took was a subtle nod to your dad’s “impeccable grill set-up" for your dad to shake Frank’s hand and ask him for help grilling the steaks. 

Speaking of grilling, as soon as Frank had exited the back door into your backyard, your sister immediately pulled you aside, demanding to know anything and everything about Frank. You kept your answers short but put enough detail into your responses that it seemed to win her over. Your brother had waved at Frank when you introduced him, and that was the end of that interaction. If only the rest of your family could be as relaxed as your brother was about the men in your life. 

When everyone sat down for dinner, your dad gave a long-winded speech about love and had everyone toast to your mom, who never failed to cry before dinner was served every year. Frank mixed in well with your family, holding conversations on his own with everyone at some point. 

The dramatics really amped up during dessert when your sister announced she was pregnant with her second baby. The room filled with gasps and excited squeals, mostly from your mom, and you watched as your mom wrapped her arms around your sister, teary eyed and smiling wide.  

When everyone had finished saying their congratulations and gathered in the living room for the annual “anniversary slideshow”, you settled against the back wall, content to observe the tradition from afar. Your mom snuck up beside you, pointed look on her face.  

“Don’t say it, Mom.” You mumbled, resting your head on the wall.  

“I wasn’t going to say anything!” She insisted, raising her eyebrows.  

“You were about to point out your lack of grandchildren from me, and I’m asking you to drop it, please.”  

“Oh, fine.” She joined your dad on the couch, snuggling into his side and pressing play.  

Your brother and his fiancé were also snuggling, whispering into each other’s ears and quietly giggling. It was sickeningly cute. Your brother-in-law was slowly rubbing your sister’s stomach, even though she wasn’t anywhere near showing yet. It was all annoyingly cute, and you sighed, wishing you could be anywhere else in the world. 

Frank sidled up beside you, bumping your shoulder with his. He was incredibly warm, and you couldn’t help but lean a little closer to him. You told yourself it was just because your parents kept the house cooler in the winter to save money.  

“What are you doing all the way over here?” He asked, lips so close to your ear that you couldn’t ignore the shiver racing down your spine.  

“I’m just standing.” You responded nonchalantly, pretending to be engrossed by the pictures on the screen.  

“Yes, but why are you so far away from everyone?”  

You didn’t respond, finally turning your head to look at him. His face was inches away from yours. You blinked, looking between his eyes. He was fully concentrated on you, and it was making you squirm. He was an expert at focusing his attention fully on the person he was talking to. This was something you had noticed about Frank before, but it never failed to affect you.  

“Do you want to go?” His voice was soft, full of concern.  

“Yes.” You breathed, trying not to look at his lips. 

“Okay. I’ll cause a distraction. You bolt out of the house, and I’ll meet you in the getaway car out front. But grab some of that pie on your way out.”  

He was smiling, obviously just saying something to make you laugh. You tried to stop the wide grin from forming on your lips, but when he was smiling at you like this, it was impossible not to match it. He was getting too good at reading you. 

“But seriously,” he started, still smiling, “I’ll say my friend accidentally cut his finger trying to seduce his Valentine’s date with a meal or something.” 

Frank did exactly that, and he handled it with such grace and confidence that even you caught yourself believing him for a moment. When he closed the car door behind you and began to walk around to the other side of the car, you studied him.  

There had to be something you were missing. This guy, who was seemingly full of green flags, was having the same relationship troubles as you? It didn’t make any sense. There had to be something seriously wrong with him. Otherwise, there’s no way in hell anyone would let him slip through their fingers.  

When he climbed in the car, he looked at you expectantly. “Where to, Miss Daisy?” 

“Want to get ice cream?” You asked, mouth watering at the thought. 

“What Miss Daisy wants, Miss Daisy gets.” He chuckled at his own joke, pulling away from the curb. The silence with Frank was comfortable, and you found yourself more relaxed than you had been in months.  

When you walked into the ice cream shop, you immediately regretted every decision you had ever made. You stopped mid-stride, and Frank very nearly ran into you trying to stop himself behind you. 

“What’s wrong?” he asked, scoping out the store. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but then again, to any normal person, it would seem like that.  

But you were focused on the couple sitting in the back of the parlor, sharing a bowl of ice cream. It was Ben, and he was spoon feeding ice cream to the girl he had cheated on you with. Frank narrowed his eyes at them, trying to put the pieces together.  

“I suddenly don’t have an appetite for ice cream,” you mumbled, turning back to walk out the door. Frank’s brow was furrowed, and the expression on his face read as pure confusion, but he followed you through the door without question. 

You had almost made it to Frank’s car when you heard your name being shouted behind you. Ben was slightly jogging to catch up with you, and you made a show of rolling your eyes.  

“Hey! Wait!” Ben called, waving his arm. 

Frank’s posture stiffened beside you, and you could feel the warmth radiating from him as he lightly pulled your waist closer to his side. Another shiver slid down your spine. You were going to have to get rid of that side effect as soon as possible.  

“Hey, I just saw you leave the shop. I wanted to see how you were doing after, you know.” Ben was slightly panting. He eyed Frank’s hold on your waist, standing a little taller than before.  

“I’m fine, Ben. Thanks. Bye.” You responded, looking anywhere but his face. You were not going to cry in front of Frank, and you certainly wouldn’t be giving Ben the satisfaction of an emotional breakdown at his expense.  

“Who’s this?” he asked, finally acknowledging Frank.  

“Frank, this is my loser ex-boyfriend. Loser ex-boyfriend, this is Frank. Are we good? Can we go now?” You asked, losing your patience. 

Frank stiffened, a signal that told you he had caught on to the situation. His hand crept across your waist and settled on your stomach, pulling you fully against his front. His movement was slow, barely noticeable to anyone else, but the trail Frank’s hand left behind would be burned into your memory forever. 

Ben looked between your face and Frank’s, scoffing. 

“Oh, I see. He’s the rebound.” Ben nodded to himself. 

Anger coated your tongue. You opened your mouth, ready to scream, when Frank’s voice cut you off. 

“Buddy, why don’t you fuck off, okay? She’s clearly not interested in having this conversation with you.” 

“Okay, buddy.” Ben responded, putting his hands on his hips. “I don’t think this is any of your business.” 

“You made it my business when you upset her.” Frank’s deep voice reverberated through your chest. “We’re going.” He opened the car door, guiding you into the seat with a gentle push from the hand on your waist.  

He didn’t have to tell you twice. You eagerly climbed in, squeezing the seatbelt as you buckled it. Frank joined you seconds later, starting the car and carefully pulling out of the spot. Your eyes didn’t leave your lap until the car was safely on the road again.  

“Are you okay? God, that guy’s such an asshole. Sorry about the ice cream.” Frank gripped the steering wheel with one hand, resting his other arm on the windowsill and running his hand through his hair. 

“I’m fine.” Your voice was meek compared to Frank’s deep one. 

“You’re not, but that’s okay. You’re allowed to be upset.”  

You stayed silent, counting the streetlights as you drove past them. Frank didn’t pry. He put the radio on a low volume and quietly hummed along to the Sum-41 song playing. After a while, he turned into a gas station parking lot, pulling into one of the spots in front of the store. You looked around, confused. 

“Stay here. I’ll be right back. Lock the door.” He moved to get out of the car, but stopped when you made a noise of discontent, raising your hands in the air in question. 

“Wait! What are you doing?” You asked, exasperated. 

“I promised you ice cream, didn’t I?” He smiled, climbing out of the car. Your fingers fell along the arm rest, pressing the lock button. You couldn’t help the smile that crossed your face as you watched him walk away from the car. 

 

Easter: 

Easter was a holiday that you hadn’t celebrated until you were a few years into your adulthood. Your parents didn’t press religion onto you or your siblings when you were growing up, but your sister had married into a somewhat religious family, so the annual Easter egg hunt they hosted had become a regular part of your Easter plans. 

When you called him, Frank had insisted that his family could spend the day without him. You hadn’t spoken to him much since Valentine’s Day, but you smiled when he immediately said he’d be there, holidate ready.  

He showed up, sporting a button-down shirt and slacks. The top two buttons of his shirt were undone, and he had let his hair grow out a little. You tried not to stare as he opened the car door for you, ever the gentleman.  

“Have you been okay?” he asked, lightly tapping the steering wheel to the beat of the song playing on the radio. 

“Actually, yes.” For the first time in months, you didn’t have to lie when someone asked you that question. Ben was a memory you had all but forgotten about.  

“That’s great. I'm glad you called. My family was trying to force me into dressing up like the Easter Bunny for my nieces and nephews.” He shuddered at the thought. 

Your head whipped around. “You have siblings?” you asked, genuinely surprised. He had never mentioned them before.  

“I have a brother and a sister, like you. They both have a million kids. I love them, but they couldn’t pay me enough to dress up in a giant, fuzzy bunny costume.” 

You threw your head back against the headrest, laughing loudly.  

“You never told me that!” 

“You never asked.” He responded, raising an eyebrow at you and smiling. 

“Hmmm. Let’s change that.”  

You spent the drive asking him every question you could think of. His favorite color was purple, even though he didn’t own anything that even remotely resembled the color. He didn’t have a favorite tv-show because he didn’t ever turn the tv on in his apartment. He loves dogs, but never adopted any because he thinks they should have a big backyard to run around in. He has a perfect attendance record at work because he never gets sick.  

When you pulled up in front of your sister’s house, you still had a million questions for him, but your mom’s waving hand at the front door forced you out of the car. Frank grabbed onto your hand as you walked up the driveway and squeezed it. You tried not to blush. Why did he have to be so God damned dreamy? 

He pulled his hand away to give your mom a hello hug. She winked at you over his shoulder, and your eyes stung at the thought of the holidate deal coming to an end. She was going to be heartbroken. She really liked Frank. You and Frank hadn’t discussed how long you’d be each other’s holidates, but you knew he would eventually meet someone else and have to put an end to your deal. 

“Frank, I’m so glad you’re here. Uncle Steve was supposed to be the bunny, but he fell off his motorcycle last night and can’t walk without crutches. What a shame. But we really need an Easter Bunny.” She shook her head sadly, clasping her hands together.  

The cackle that came out of you was obnoxious, but you didn’t care. This was the best thing that could’ve possibly happened. Frank looked back at you, eyebrows raised.  

“You didn’t mention that your family also did the ‘dress up like the Easter Bunny’ thing.” He muttered, expectant look in his eyes.  

“You never asked.” You responded, wiping the tears gathering under your eyes. Another fit of giggles had you gasping for air. You clutched your stomach, taking deep breaths, and then immediately busted out laughing again when your mom appeared with the bunny head in her hands. 

You spent the afternoon laughing every time Frank walked by you in the costume. He looked so defeated, but he was putting on a good show for the kids, who loved him. When it was time for dinner, Frank fell into his seat next to you. He looked exhausted, but the grin he sent you was to die for.  

“You could’ve told her no, you know?” You said, patting his hand. 

“I know, but it made you smile, so I didn’t want to.”  

Frank said this nonchalantly, but you felt his words in your gut. The chime of a knife on a wine glass stole your chance to respond. Frank lightly ran his fingers along your hand, and you spent the entire speech and prayer focused solely on the feeling of his skin against yours. If someone asked you about the speech, you’d be at a loss for words. You didn’t hear a word of it. 

After dinner, you had drunk so much wine that you excused yourself to the bathroom. Your sister busted through the door approximately 30 seconds after you had entered the bathroom, slamming it shut behind her. 

“Okay, it’s not like I’m in the middle of peeing or anything.”  

“Oh, shush. I need to talk to you.” Her hand subconsciously rested on her stomach. She was showing a little bit, and her lilac dress showed off her baby bump perfectly. 

“What is so important that you couldn’t wait for me to finish peeing?” 

She smirked, leaning against the door. “It looks like it’s going good with Frank.” 

“Oh my god. This could definitely wait until I was done.”  

“We’ve all noticed it. I mean, come on. The bunny suit? He did that for you, not the kids.” 

“Yeah,” you mumbled, trying your best to nod enthusiastically. 

Your sister’s face fell. “What? Is he not good in bed or something?”  

“What? No! I mean, I don’t know. We haven’t-” 

“Oh, is he one of those wait til marriage kind of people?” 

“No! Well, I don’t know.” You threw your hands up in exasperation. You couldn’t imagine Frank being bad in bed, but that was something you had been strictly not thinking about. 

“What are you hiding?” She asked, eyeing you. You should’ve known she would see through this eventually. You rested your elbows on your knees, dropping your face into your hands. 

“It’s not...real.” You finally mumbled. “We’re just faking it on the holidays for our families. A holidate, ya know?”  

“A holidate.” She repeated, voice full of confusion. 

“A holidate.” You sat back, looking up at her. 

“But he doesn’t look at you like it’s fake.” She shook her head, crossing her arms. 

“That’s the point. It’s an act. You can’t tell anyone, especially Mom.” You pleaded with her. 

“This could end very poorly.” She said after a pause, concern lacing her words.  

“I know.” You nodded slowly, then sent her a playful glare. “Can I wipe, now? In private?”  

Your sister left, quietly shutting the door behind her. You stood in the bathroom for an extra few minutes, contemplating the decisions that led you to this point. When you finally rejoined Frank at the table, he was engrossed in a conversation with your dad. He didn’t look at you, but he grabbed your hand, pulling it into his lap. Your sister sent you a pointed look, which you promptly ignored. The pattern Frank drew into your skin burned so hotly that it felt like a brand. 

 

4th of July: 

The 4th of July was always a huge affair for your family. Your parents rented a cabin on the lake and invited everyone and their grandmother to spend the weekend there, and this year, you were being upgraded to your own bedroom, courtesy of Frank’s presence. In the years you were with Ben, he had never joined you for the 4th of July celebration, so you had always been stuffed into a room with someone else. But not this year.  

When you called Frank, it was the first time you’d actually spoken in over a month. The few text check-ins barely counted as a conversation, and they were usually brief. You had nervously paced around the room as you listened to the ringing on the other line, hoping it’d go to voicemail. It was a big step, even if it was technically fake. Not only would Frank be spending the night with you, but he’d also be sharing a bed with you, which was a terrifying thought. 

Frank picked up, panting into the phone. His grunts were downright sinful, and you momentarily forgot what you were calling him about.  

“Am I interrupting something?” You asked, mind immediately jumping to the worst conclusion. 

“I’m at the gym, but I didn’t want to miss your call. What’s up, buttercup?”  

You explained the situation, pacing back and forth around your kitchen when you got to the ‘one bed’ part.  

“Of course, I’ll come. I wouldn’t miss it. Do you want me to stay somewhere else?” 

Your eyebrows furrowed. “What do you mean?” 

“I can tell you’re walking a hole into your floor right now. We don’t have to share a bed if you don’t want to. I can stay at a hotel or something.”  

“No! I mean-” you paused, closing your eyes, “I just meant that if you would be uncomfortable, you don’t have to come. I didn’t want to pressure you into anything. I don’t mind sharing a bed if you don’t”  

You bit your lip, waiting for his response.  

“Cool. I’ll drive. What time are we leaving?” 

And that was that. Frank picked you up in his car, so giddy about the trip that he was practically bouncing up and down. The drive there wasn’t too long, but you spent the time catching up with Frank. Besides the occasional text, you really didn’t talk to him often when it wasn’t a holiday. After the conversation with your sister on Easter, you had set boundaries with yourself. You only let yourself think about him some of the time, and you certainly didn’t reach out to him. It was better if you distanced yourself from him on the regular days of the year.  

Frank insisted on unloading the car himself and wouldn’t let you lift a finger to help. He even carried your purse in for you. Your mom hugged him so tightly you winced out of sympathy for the poor man. Frank was a big man, but your mom could summon the strength of three grizzly bears when she wanted to. 

Frank said his hellos, shaking your dad’s hand and asking your sister about her pregnancy. Being only 2 months away from her due date, she was fully showing now. When you finally made it to the room you were sharing with Frank, you were so nervous you started to gnaw on the inside of your cheek.  

The bed was big, but so was Frank. He’d take up at least two-thirds of the space. You didn’t let yourself think about tonight, or the rest of the weekend. That was a problem for future you. Your brother bolted past the doorway, stopping only to invite you both to swim in the lake before he took off again. He was only a couple years younger than you, but he had the energy of a 12-year-old boy.  

“Do you want to go?” Frank asked, flopping onto the bed. He propped his head on his hands, which were stretched behind him. His shirt had risen up, giving you a full view of his happy trail. Your mouth dried at the sight. 

“Oh, sure.” You finally responded, shaking the thoughts from your head. “Do you?”  

“Whatever you want to do is fine with me. Your mom’s not going to make me dress up like a giant firework, is she?”  

You stifled a laugh, reaching for your swimsuit. “I don’t think so, but you never know with her.” 

Frank closed his eyes, settling into the mattress.  

“You can change. I won’t peek. Holidate’s honor.”  

The idea of being bare in front of Frank was not something you had prepared yourself for, and you could feel yourself begin to sweat. You slowly closed the door, which increased the heat in the room to suffocating levels.  

You studied Frank, whose eyes remained closed. He looked peaceful in this position, unbothered by the trials and tribulations of life. You slowly unbuttoned your shorts, pushing them down your legs. Your gaze remained on Frank, blissfully unaware of what he was doing to you. Heat pounded between your thighs, and you couldn’t help the image that popped into your head of Frank’s head dipped between. You bit your lip, watching as Frank shifted his hips on the bed and cleared his throat.  

The sound of your brother’s footsteps stomping past the closed door startled you out of your thoughts. A cold wave washed over you, chilling you to your bones. You hurried to put the rest of your swimsuit on, almost falling over in the process.  

You stepped out of the room, taking a deep breath. This weekend was going to be rough, and you had only been there for 15 minutes. When Frank joined you outside, you had to look away in order not to groan. Frank was unreasonably fit, muscles bulging in places you didn’t even know muscles existed. You focused on rubbing sunscreen into your skin, looking everywhere but at Frank.  

He stopped behind you, grabbing the bottle of sunscreen off the table. You froze when you felt his hands gathering your hair, moving it in front of your shoulders. He squirted sunscreen on his hands and began lathering it across your back and shoulders. You watched the group of people gathered around the lake, taking turns swinging into the water off a rope. The only thing that stopped you from turning around and slamming your lips against Frank’s was the horrible awkwardness that would settle between you for the entire weekend if Frank rebuffed your advances.  

His hands worked their way down your back, stopping millimeters above the waistline of your bikini.  

“All done.” His voice was husky in your ear. You slowly turned around, looking up at Frank. He brought his hand up to your shoulder, rolling the strap of your bikini between his fingers.  

“Purple.” He observed. “I like this color.”  

He stepped around you, taking your hand in his and tugging your arm. You tried not to stare at his ass as he led you down to the lake.  

Later, after hours of swimming and eating the burgers your dad had grilled for everyone, you stared at your reflection in the mirror. Even though the lake water had been freezing, and you had spent most of dinner leaning into Frank’s natural body heat, you had taken an ice cold shower. Frank was in the room, already showered and probably in bed. You prayed that he would be asleep when you finally got the courage to enter the room.  

You took a breath, stepping out of the bathroom and making your way down the hall. When you stepped into the dark room, Frank was lying flat on his back in bed, scrolling through his phone. 

You crawled into the bed, doing your best to avoid touching Frank. Frank was broad, though, and your shoulder ended up touching his no matter what position you laid in.  

“Jesus,” he mumbled, turning on his side and facing you, “you’re freezing.”  

You cleared your throat. “I’m fine.”  

He gave you a flat stare, pressing his shoulder into yours. You pushed back, settling against him. Your body seemed to have a mind of its own. Frank was warm, and you really were freezing after your cold shower, so you relaxed into the touch, shutting your eyes. The back of Frank’s hand brushed yours as you fell into a deep sleep next to him.  

The next evening, you watched as Frank and your dad set up the firework area that everyone would be gathering around soon. Your sister lounged in the chair next to you, fanning herself.  

“Why don’t you just date instead of faking it? You act like a couple already.”  

“Because that wasn’t the deal, and who says he even sees me like that?” 

“Do you see him like that?”  

 “I don’t know. No.” You shook your head. “It’s not like that.”  

“That suggestive sunscreen job I witnessed yesterday says differently.”  

You didn’t want to argue with her, so you remained quiet, watching Frank’s back muscles flex as he lifted a piece of wood and chunked it to the side. When he made his way back to you, he was coated in sweat, which somehow made him even better to look at. He smiled at you, stopping to press a kiss on the top of your head. Your sister shot you a look when he continued walking towards the cabin. 

When it was finally dark enough to shoot off fireworks, your dad counted down, setting off a huge firework when he got to zero. The night took a turn for the worse shortly after that.  

It had started with your brother jokingly shooting a firework near you that landed a little too close for comfort. Frank had a competitive side apparently, thus began an outright firework war that ended faster than it began. You ran for the cabin, stopping when you heard the unmistakable sound of Frank grunting in pain.  

He had fallen to the ground, clutching his hand to his chest. You turned on your heels, bolting to Frank and falling to your knees in front of him. His finger was missing, and you did your very best not to puke all over your severely injured holidate.  

“Oh my god. Oh my GOD. Frank!” You faintly heard the sound of someone calling an ambulance behind you. You clutched the sides of his face, trying to figure out what to do. Your brother was searching the ground around you, and you balked in horror when you realized he was looking for Frank’s finger.  

“Is it bad?” Frank asked, grunting when he tried to lift his hand. 

“Is it bad?” You repeated, incredulously, “Yes, it’s bad. Where the fuck is your finger, Frank?”  

He barked out a laugh, and then groaned at the movement.  

“You’re the only person who’d get mad at someone with a missing finger.”  

“This is totally karma getting us back for lying to my parents on Valentine’s Day!”  

The ambulance arrived shortly after that, and you jumped into the back with Frank before the paramedics could tell you any differently. You spent hours in the waiting room as Frank had his finger surgically attached, drinking shitty coffee and flipping through the months-old magazines on the table. When the doctor finally told you he was ready to be seen, you had to stop yourself from running down the hall towards him.  

He was in a recovery room, lying on the bed in a hospital gown.  

“How are you feeling?” You asked, plopping down on the chair next to the bed. The hand that had lost the finger was wrapped in pounds of gauze, propped up on a pillow.  

“Like shit.” He grumbled, taking your hand in his uninjured one. “I totally ruined your family’s holiday.” 

“Frank, my brother is the one that shot your finger off. You didn’t ruin anything. I’ve gotten about 75,000 texts asking for updates on you since we got here. They’re not worried about the holiday, they’re worried about you. ” 

“This is the worst holidate ever.” He moaned, exaggerating his eye roll.  

You giggled, resting your chin on your free hand.  

“At least you still have all your extremities.”  

He chuckled, looking at his injured hand. 

“Thanks for staying.” He squeezed your hand as he said it, looking over at you. 

“Holidates don’t leave holidates behind.”  

 

Halloween: 

Halloween was something you hadn’t officially celebrated in years, but your brother was finally getting hitched, and you were actually pretty excited about it. Frank was coming as your plus-one and holidate, even though technically the event wasn’t holiday related. It was the same weekend as Halloween, so Frank had insisted on joining you. He had even gone as far as pointing out that it would be strange for you to show up to the wedding alone, considering how long he’d been attending family events with you. 

Your mother had done all of the hotel booking, so you and Frank were sharing room again, but you weren’t as nervous this time around about that. The weeks after the finger incident had changed something between you and Frank. At first, you basically lived on his couch, waking him up throughout the night to give him the medicine his doctor had prescribed him. You had to help him button his shirts for work, a task you still thought about daily, and stocked his fridge with meals that he wouldn't have to fuss over with his injured hand.  

It was now a fairly regular occurrence to hear from Frank throughout the day. A random text every few hours, or a phone call during his lunch break was something you’d grown used to in your daily routine. You still didn’t know what you were doing. The idea of actually dating someone was terrifying, but you couldn’t decide if it was worse than the idea of not seeing Frank.  

Frank’s voice coaxed you out of your deep thoughts. 

“I can’t get this bowtie to sit right.” Frank called from the bathroom.  

You moved towards his voice, clutching the front of your dress.  

“Zip me, please.” You mumbled, turning your back to him. He obliged, running his cool knuckles up your spine as he zipped the dress up. You focused on the bowtie, undoing the ridiculous knot he had wound into it while trying to fix it.  

“You look great. Beautiful.” He sighed, looking you over. 

You smiled. “You’re only saying that because the dress I’m wearing is purple.” You didn’t mention that you had picked this dress out specifically because of the color. 

“I can like the color and also like you in the color. They don’t have to be mutually exclusive.”  

You retied the bowtie, patting his chest when you finished. “You look good, too.”  

“You’re making me blush.” He chuckled, leading you out the door.  

Your sister met you in the lobby, holding the newest addition to the family in her arms. She had gone into labor in the middle of September, bringing your nephew into the world a short 6 hours later. Frank’s first interaction with him had been so annoyingly adorable that your mother didn’t stop sending you meaningful looks for hours afterwards. 

The ceremony was short, but as weird as you expected it to be. Anything your brother was involved in guaranteed a strange experience, but Frank didn’t seem to mind. He spent the ceremony clutching your hand between his and toying with the fabric of your dress.  

The reception is when it got really interesting. You finally escaped the dance floor, where your dad was thoroughly drunk and had been whipping you around in circles for what felt like hours. You stepped off the raised floor, heading directly for Frank, who had been watching you dance with a bemused expression on his face. 

“That looked fun.” He observed, passing you the glass of water on the table.  

You gulped it down, all too aware of Frank’s heated gaze. You could always tell when he was looking at you. A fiery shock would slide down your spine and settle deep in your bones when his eyes were on you. You never got used to it, but tonight you decided to welcome the feeling.  

Maybe it was the champagne, or maybe you were just tired of sitting on the relationship fence with Frank, but you leaned over him, giving him an unrestricted view down your dress as you set the empty glass down on the table. He remained unfazed, glancing over your shoulder at the dance floor. 

You tried not to look disappointed. You had spent so much time with him that maybe you had created a false narrative about him. It had been 10 months since you’d reconnected, and he’d only ever been affectionate with you when you were in front of your family. Which, you reminded yourself, was the deal.  

You shook your head, ridding the thoughts from your head. You held out your hand in question, raising an eyebrow at him. 

“Dance with me.”  

A goofy smile spread across his face. “It'd be an honor, ma’am.”  

You led him across the dance floor, swaying to the music that had changed from fast paced to slow and romantic. Your steps were clumsy and awkward, but that didn’t deter Frank.  

“Let me lead.” He mumbled, looking down at your feet.  

“I can’t not lead. I always lead.” You respond, trying and failing to relinquish your control. 

“Let me lead.” He repeated, squeezing your waist. “Relax.”  

You took a deep breath, following his steps as best you could. It was rather nice, dancing with a man that you could trust to guide you around the dance floor. With Ben, you’d always had to lead. He was a terrible dancer. Frank, though, was a natural.  

He effortlessly led you around the floor, pulling you closer every time he spun you around. Your chest was fully pressed against his, and he smiled as he rested his forehead against yours. You couldn’t hide the ridiculous smile that mirrored his. On any other occasion, you would pull away and stick to the holidate rules, but tonight didn’t feel like a holidate date, so you stayed exactly where you were, cheesing so hard your cheeks were beginning to hurt.  

His eyes darted down to your lips, and then quickly returned to your eyes. You couldn’t help it. You leaned in, just barely grazing his lips with your own. It didn’t qualify as a kiss. It barely qualified as anything, but the expression on Frank’s face had you reeling back. You couldn’t tell if he was upset, confused, or mad, but you opened your mouth to apologize anyways. 

“I’m-” 

The feedback from the microphone cut you off. Frank’s grip on your waist tightened as you whirled around, looking toward the stage. It was time for the ‘father of the bride’ speech, and you couldn’t believe how unlucky the timing was.  

You didn’t look at Frank as you made your way back to your family’s table. Instead, you grabbed your nephew out of your sister’s hands, rocking him in your arms as the speech began. You didn’t need to look up to know Frank was staring at you. He hadn’t stopped since you’d barely kissed him moments before. Heat traveled up your neck and across your cheeks. You felt like crying, but you didn’t know why. Did you just ruin possibly the best friendship you’d ever had by misreading the situation? 

The speech finished, and you went to hand your nephew back to your sister, when the worst possible thing that could’ve happened, happened. Your nephew, cute and as bubbly as could be, decided he wanted to projectile vomit all over your chest. You didn’t move for several moments, trying to comprehend everything that led to this moment. 

Your sister wouldn’t stop apologizing as she took the baby from you. The anxious ringing in your ears was back, and you couldn’t breathe. Tonight was going so poorly, and you were so overwhelmed with Frank that frustrated and embarrassed tears began pouring down your cheeks. You could feel Frank’s hand wrap around your wrist as you turned towards the exit, but you shrugged him off, moving out of the reception hall and towards the elevators in the lobby of the hotel. 

You knew you’d have to face him eventually, but all you could think about was getting out of there, away from his overpowering presence. When you finally got to your room, you couldn’t stop the overflow of tears. Your dress was ruined, probably cursed to smell like baby puke forever, and your makeup was so smeared it would have to be completely redone if you wanted to return to the reception. 

You decided you had had enough of dancing. You stripped your dress off, stepping into the boiling hot shower. You wiped your face, staining the white washcloth black. Your fists squeezed into tight balls as the bathroom door opened and shut.  

“Are you okay?” 

Frank’s voice was soft, and tears welled up in your eyes again at the sound of it. He was always so nice.  

“Why do I feel like you’re always asking me that?” You finally responded, resting your head against the cool tile of the shower wall.  

“You’ve had an off year. We all have ‘em. Are you okay, though?”  

The sympathy in his voice caused even more tears to fall down your face. You couldn’t even figure out why you were crying anymore.  

“I’m...I don’t know.” You mumbled, wiping your cheeks. “I don’t know. Is that okay?”  

“Of course. But you’re allowed to not be okay. I’m here for you either way.”  

You groaned, closing your eyes. “Happy fuckin’ Halloween.” You mumbled. 

You turned the shower off, drying yourself off with the towel hanging on the wall of the shower opposite the shower head. You opened the curtain, clutching the towel to your chest. Frank was sitting on the toilet lid, leaning against the back of the toilet, looking directly at you. His gaze was hard to read.  

“We don’t have to go back, do we?” You asked, stepping out of the shower. 

“We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.” He stood, moving to lean against the counter next to you.  

You gazed at your reflection. A few tear paths, stained with mascara, were scattered across your cheeks. You rubbed them with the palm of your hand, trying to wipe away any of the remnants of tonight. 

“Beautiful.” Frank mumbled, looking at you through the reflection of the mirror. 

“What?” You asked, meeting his gaze. 

“You’re beautiful, even when your makeup is all over the place.” 

“Oh.” You breathed, turning away from the mirror to face him. 

He took a step forward, towering over you. His hand cupped your cheek, and he swiftly leaned in, pressing his lips against yours. The spark was electric, snapping the restraint in both of you. You pressed against him, opening your mouth for him to explore. He groaned, wrapping his arms around your waist.  

You didn’t let yourself think of the consequences as you dropped your towel, fully bare before him. He pulled away, looking your body up and down, before reconnecting his mouth with yours. You pulled on his bowtie, undoing the knot you had tied so many hours earlier. The buttons on his shirt slid apart easily, and suddenly Frank was tugging his shirt off, dropping it to the floor behind him. He cupped the back of your knees, hoisting you into the air as you gripped his back and wrapped your legs around his waist. 

He carried you into the bedroom, grunting as he fell on top of you on the soft mattress. His tongue made its way down your neck and onto your chest. He licked a path down your sternum and onto your stomach, planting kisses along the way. His path downward stopped suddenly as he lightly kissed and sucked on your hip, leaving what was sure to be a mark the next day.  

He lifted your legs, resting them on his shoulders. He looked up, lustful and heated in his gaze.  

“Can I?” He asked, squeezing your thighs. 

“Oh, please.” You responded, spreading your legs wider for him. 

He dove in, tongue lapping at your cunt. The moan you let out would surely wake whatever unlucky neighbors you had on either side of your room. You arched your back, giving him more access. His tongue made slow circles up your slit, settling just below your clit. He left kitten licks all around it, grinning every time you moaned. You scoffed when you realized what he was doing. He was teasing you. 

You let out a frustrated whine, arching your back further. 

“You need somethin’, darlin’?” He asked, punch drunk on your pussy.  

“I need you, Frank.” You whined, looking down at him. 

His gaze darkened, and you were almost afraid of what would come next. He finally, finally, circled your clit with his tongue. You saw stars, letting out the most uncouth moan you’d ever heard yourself make. He flattened his tongue, licking from your clit to your cunt and back again. Your legs began to shake, and he tightened his grip on your thighs. 

He drew figure eights with his tongue, sucking and licking you until you were so close you thought you might explode. He ate pussy like a man starved, and when your orgasm finally crashed over you, white-hot and all encompassing, you thought you might never reach that level of euphoria again. 

He rested his head on your thigh, grinning as he watched you come down from what was probably the best orgasm you’d ever have in your lifetime. Your heart was racing, and you let out several unsteady breaths. Your entire body was numb, and you couldn’t feel anything but bliss inside of you. Frank had wrecked you with his tongue, and all you could think about was doing it again.  

He crawled up your body, hovering over you. He ran his hands through your hair a few times before settling his gaze on yours.  

“Let's do that again.” You sighed, skin buzzing where he touched you. 

He chuckled, pressing a kiss onto the bridge of your nose. You wrapped your legs around his waist, pulling him closer to you. He was still wearing his dress pants, and you wiggled with discontent.  

“You’re too clothed, sir.” You said, grinning. 

“Yeah?” He asked, sitting back on his heels. 

“Yes.” You replied, watching as he slowly removed his belt. The sight of him kneeling over you, removing his clothes, was drool worthy. You had to remind yourself to close your mouth as he got off the bed and dropped his pants to the floor.  

The front of his briefs were stained with wetness, precum soaking through the fabric. Your mouth watered and you swallowed thickly as he stroked his hard cock, stepping out of his pants and underwear. Frank naked was a sight to behold. His cock was veiny and long, and your legs widened out of sheer shock.  

He smirked, pumping his cock again. You bit your lip to hide the moan crawling up your throat. He leaned over, pulling a condom out of his wallet. 

“Do you always keep condoms in your wallet when you’re a plus one to a wedding?” You ask, genuinely curious. 

“Only when my dates are incredibly sexy and wear my favorite color.”  

“Oh, so this happens often?” You tried to sound seductive instead of insecure, which is the feeling that began bubbling in your chest. 

“No. Not until tonight.” He shook his head, eyes following the curve of your hips and settling between your thighs. He slid the condom on and crawled over you again. 

Relief washed over you, and you spread your legs wider, inviting him to use you as he pleased. Your groans filled the room as he pushed into you, inch by inch until he was fully inside of you. It stung a little, considering how long it had been since you’d had sex with anyone, but he didn’t move, cradling your face and waiting for you to give him a signal that he could positively fuck you into the mattress.  

You wrapped your legs around his waist, pulling his mouth to yours. His thrusts started slow, but the heat in your kiss sent another shock to both of your systems, and soon he was pounding into you. Skin met skin in a sinful, symphonic rhythm that overtook the room. He grunted into your ear when you lifted your hips, allowing him to push deeper into you.  

He wrapped his arms around you, pulling you closer to him with every deep thrust. Your heart pounded as he thrusted into you, over and over, pushing you closer to the edge. Your moans got louder, and that seemed to motivate him into fucking you harder into the mattress underneath you. He dipped his head into your neck, sucking the sensitive skin and leaving small marks in his wake. You squeezed your eyes shut, tears of pleasure rolling down the sides of your face. You’d never been fucked this good before, and the only logical reaction your body could think of was to cry. 

He kissed the tears, smiling as you clenched around him. He reached down, settling his finger on your sensitive clit. It took about 3 seconds before your body couldn’t handle the overwhelming pleasure washing over you. You moaned loudly, orgasm shattering through you. He groaned, squeezing you tighter against him. You both met your highs, hearts pounding wildly in your chests as you came.  

His thrusts slowed, until he finally stopped, breathing hard over you. Your body was so blissed out that it took you several minutes before you could open your eyes. Frank kissed your nose again, pulling out of you. You both groaned with oversensitivity. 

He disposed of the condom, falling onto the bed next to you. 

“Are you okay?” He asked, still breathing heavier than normal.  

You could barely hear him. The pounding in your chest had moved to your ears.  

“Mhmm.” You sighed, snuggling into the comforter under your head. “You?” 

“I’m in awe of you. I always am.”  

He grasped your hand, pushing the covers back and helping you crawl under them. He settled next to you in the bed, running his fingers through your hair. Your heavy eyelids tracked the movements, watching him watch you. The expression on his face was unreadable, but sleep was fast approaching, so you couldn’t find it in yourself to question it. You could barely keep your eyes open, the last thing you remember being the soft press of Frank’s lips on your forehead. 

// 

A pounding at the door woke you from your deep slumber. The hotel room was filled with daylight, and you shielded your eyes as you tried to find your bearings. Frank was next to you, lying on his stomach and hugging the pillow under his head.  

Another knock at the door had you jumping to your feet, grabbing an extra blanket and wrapping it around yourself as you made your way to the door. You opened it to your very concerned-looking sister.  

“You’re alive.” She observed, glancing over your blanket wrapped body, “And naked.”  

“Yes, thank you. Is that all?” You gritted your teeth, unintentionally snarling. 

She looked over your shoulder at Frank’s sleeping form and back at you. 

“Didn’t you agree with me that this would be a bad idea?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“Yes.” 

“And you did it anyways?”  

“Yes.” You rolled your eyes, itching to slam the door in her face and crawl back into bed with Frank.  

“You’re going to get hurt. Or hurt him. Or both.” She stated, matter-of-factly.  

“I haven’t thought that far ahead, yet.” You admitted, leaning your head against the doorframe. 

Frank shifted behind you, and you looked at your sister incredulously. “Are we done?”  

“Check out is in an hour. That’s all I wanted to come tell you.” She said, floating down the hallway towards her room. You closed the door, rolling your eyes again.  

You turned, intent on forgetting the entire interaction, when you noticed Frank sitting on the edge of the bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. 

“Hey.” You said softly, moving towards him.  

“Hey.” His response was blunt, voice hard and cold. He stood, sliding past you. He didn’t even spare you a glance as he rifled through his bag, quickly getting dressed. You sat on the bed, watching him move around the room and gather his stuff.  

You didn’t know what to say, or why it had gotten so awkward all of the sudden. You chewed your lip nervously. He finally looked over at you, resting his hands on his hips.  

“Can you check us out on your own?” He asked, seemingly annoyed.  

Your brow furrowed. “Um,” You started, trying to figure out where his coldness was coming from, “Yeah, I can do it.”  

“Okay.” He nodded, lifting his bag. “I’ll see you in a few weeks then?” His voice had softened a little bit, but the expression on his face was still cold.  

“Yeah.” You responded, not knowing what else to say. He walked out of the hotel room, not sparing a glance behind him. You watched as the door clicked shut, and you took a deep shuttering breath. Tears prickled behind your eyes, and you didn’t know what else to do besides packing your stuff. When you got to the lobby 20 minutes later, Frank was nowhere to be found.  

 

Thanksgiving: 

This was probably the most nervous you’d ever been to see Frank, even more than Valentine’s Day when you’d officially started being holidates. You had barely spoken to him since Halloween, which bothered you more than you thought it would. You’d grown so used to his daily texts and phone calls that the radio silence was increasingly frustrating. When you’d texted him to ask if he was still coming to your parents' house for Thanksgiving, he’d sent a simple ‘yes’ 12 hours later.  

You were perplexed by Frank’s behavior, but you chalked it up to overthinking your night with him. You’d never agreed to anything more than holidates with him, and you couldn’t just assume that Frank would be different with you after having sex with you. You had simply misread the signals he’d been sending you, and that was your fault.  

Your mother hadn’t stopped audibly sighing since you’d shown up on the front porch alone. You hadn’t talked to Frank about riding together, so you’d texted him that you were driving yourself. He hadn’t responded, and it was now 15 minutes past the time he was supposed to be here. 

“Are you sure he’s coming, honey?” Your mom asked, fiddling with the oven mitts on the counter.  

“He said he’d be here.” You muttered, trying not to look at the clock again.  

Your phone buzzed, and you read a text from Frank: ‘I’m outside.’ 

You walked out to the front porch, where you met Frank, who was holding two bouquets of flowers in his hands.  

“More flowers?” You asked, looking at the beautiful array of orange, yellow, and red flowers he had picked out.  

“Of course. You know I never show up empty handed.” 

“I’m surprised you showed up at all.” You couldn’t keep the bite out of your tone as you said what you’d been worrying about since Halloween.  

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Frank didn’t raise his voice, and for that you were glad, but the tone was definitely sharper than you were used to.  

“I just meant that you haven’t been very communicative lately. If you met someone else, that’s fine, but I need to know that stuff so I can tell my family we broke up.” You crossed your arms and shuffled your feet. 

“Is that what you want?” He asked, eyeing you. 

“What?” 

“To break up.”  

“We’re not together, Frank. It’s not real.”  

He inhaled sharply, nodding.  

“Okay.” He said finally, handing you both bouquets. He turned, stalking back towards his car.  

“Where are you going?” The tremble in your voice was entirely too noticeable, and you kicked yourself for being so emotional over this non-relationship. 

“Home. We're not fake-together anymore. Remember? Tell your mom sorry for the inconvenience.” 

He climbed into his car and pulled away from the curb at an alarming pace. You stood there, dumbfounded, watching his car until you couldn’t see it anymore. The tears that you’d spent the last few weeks holding in finally made an appearance, and sobs began to overwhelm your body.  

You had totally fucked everything up, and now you had to go inside and tell your family that you and Frank had broken up. The thought of it made you cry even harder.  

The door opened behind you, and you felt the soft embrace of your sister around you.  

“I’m so sorry, honey.” She mumbled into your back, squeezing you into a hug. 

“I don’t know what happened.” You said, clutching the flowers to your chest.  

“I know, sweetie. I’m sorry.”  

She held you for longer than you care to admit before you finally went inside to deliver the news. 

 

Christmas: 

You layed on your parents’ couch, watching as your mom slowly decorated the Christmas tree in the living room. You usually helped her, but you’d been a wreck since a few weeks ago at Thanksgiving, and your mom hadn’t asked for your help, just your company. 

The tree came together perfectly – it always did when your mother was involved – and you tried not to think about Frank, or the fact that you hadn’t been able to sleep or eat since you’d seen him last.  

When your mom sat on the couch next to you, she sighed, which was always a sign that she had something important to discuss. You tried not to outwardly groan.  

“Honey,” she started, taking your hand in hers, “I know you miss Frank, but you can’t let this ruin your happiness. He is very handsome and nice, and I don’t know what happened between you two, but I need you to remember that you deserve a kind and forgiving love like the rest of us. If he can’t offer that, he’s not worth your time.” 

The overwhelming urge to come clean to your mom about the entire thing ate at you as you listened to her. You responded before you could lose the nerve. 

“Mom, I made a mistake.” 

She nodded, leaning forward to listen to you.  

“Frank wasn’t really my boyfriend. We were faking it, so that you and dad would stop worrying about me. Except, I think I really fell for him, and then everything went to shit, and I think I accidentally fell in love with him, and I don’t know what to do.”  

Your voice cracked, and another wave of tears fell down your face. The only thing you could manage to do lately was cry, and it was beginning to drain you of your will to function.  

“Oh, honey.” She chuckled, squeezing your hand against her chest. “We don’t care if you have a boyfriend or not. We just want you to be happy, sweetie. And I’m sorry if it came across like we were trying to marry you off. We just wanted you to find someone who could make you as happy as we make each other.” 

She pulled you into a hug and rubbed your back in a soothing pattern as you cried into her chest. 

“You know, we’ve never seen you as happy as you were with Frank.” She murmured. 

“It wasn’t real, Mom.” You muttered, shaking your head.  

“You can’t fake that. He looked at you like you hung the moon. And you looked at him the same way. Even if it started as something fake, that’s not something you can fake for long.”  

You stayed quiet, mulling over her words.  

“You should call him.” She suggested, shrugging her shoulders. 

“I can’t call him. We fake broke-up.”  

“You can do anything you set your mind to.” She stated, raising her chin. “I didn’t raise you to give up so easily.” She flicked your nose, smiling. “Do you want some hot chocolate? I’ll make it the way you like.”  

You sent her a small smile, nodding. “Yeah, thanks.”  

After she made it to the kitchen, you pulled out your phone. You weren’t going to call him, you weren’t insane, but you could text him. 

You asked him if you could talk and watched as the bubbles next to his name appeared, disappeared, and then reappeared on the screen. Your phone buzzed, and an uneasy feeling settled in your gut.  

‘Yes. Can you meet me at the Christmas tree farm off of Jones?’ 

You jumped up, pulling on your boots and yelling at your mom not to make the hot chocolate.  

“Where are you going?” She exclaimed, briskly walking into the living room. You were already a foot out the door. 

“Frank!” You yelled behind you, running to your car.  

The drive was frustratingly long, and you didn’t remember there being so many stoplights in town, and of course you hit every red light. 

When you pulled into the lot, you spotted Frank’s tall frame looking over a sad-looking tree. You got out, slowly making your way towards him. When you finally stopped next to him, you were convinced you might bite a hole through your cheek.  

“This looks like Charlie Brown’s tree.” You stated. 

“There aren’t any good ones left. I waited too long to get a tree.” He responded, shuffling his feet. You still hadn’t looked at each other. 

“Why’d you wait so long?” You asked, stalling. 

“I wanted to get one with you.”  

You looked at him, eyebrows raised.  

“With me?”  

He nodded, finally meeting your gaze. You didn’t know what else to do, so you wrapped your arms around him, pulling him into a hug. His arms tightly surrounded you, breathing you in for the first time in weeks.  

“I missed you.” He whispered, squeezing you for emphasis. 

“I missed you, too.” You murmured. 

When you pulled away, tears threatened to spill on your cheeks for what felt like the millionth time in the last month.  

“What happened?” You asked, confused at his behavior the last two times you’d seen him.  

“You told your sister sleeping with me was a bad idea, and I know I wasn’t supposed to hear it, but I took it as you didn’t want to be with me, and I freaked out. I thought we would be together after Halloween. Like seriously together, and then when you said that, I thought maybe I had been misreading everything since I met you. And then I realized what a dumbass I am, because the sad look on your face when I left on Thanksgiving told me that you actually did care about me. And then I didn’t know what to say to you, so I didn’t say anything. But what I should’ve said was ‘I’ve been in love with you since Easter, and I want to be your holidate for the rest of my life, if you’ll let me.’” He finished by throwing his hands up in the air.  

You smiled, eyes glistening. “Remember when I was the one who rambled when I was nervous?” You asked, giggling. 

He threw his head back and let out a loud laugh.  

“I do remember that, yes.”  

“Would it help if I said I came here to tell you that I fell in love with you a long time ago? And that I’m an idiot for ignoring it for so long? And that I love you so much that these last few weeks have been absolute hell for me?” 

He grinned, cupping your cheeks. “Yes, that does help a little bit.” 

“Are you sure?” You asked, leaning into his hold. “I could grovel more if you need me to. I came ready for anything.”  

“I’m sure, sweetheart.” He softly pressed his lips against yours, and you physically felt all of the pain of the last few weeks leave your body. You wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him closer to you.  

When you finally broke away, you were breathless and on cloud nine. You nodded towards the tree he had been looking at.  

“I like this one. Wanna get it?” You asked.  

He chuckled and nodded. “What Miss Daisy wants, Miss Daisy gets.”  

You giggled, pulling him into another kiss.  

If you’d told yourself a year ago that you’d be here, kissing Frank Castle in the middle of a Christmas tree lot, you would laugh at yourself. Frank wasn’t what you were expecting, but you had learned over the last year that the best things in life usually come when you least expect them to, and that when you have something good, you shouldn’t let go of it. You weren’t planning on letting Frank go anytime soon, or ever if you could help it, and the way Frank refused to drop your hand, even when you tried to get into your own car to drive to his house, told you he wouldn’t be letting go of you either.  

End Note: I really hope you enjoyed this! If you want to see this in a series with other Marvel characters, let me know! Also, can we please figure out how to get Jon into a romcom. I need that in my life IMMEDIATELY.

Tag List:

@xleiaorgana @mukbee @dilfs5678 @kokoterainonago666 @blackwidownat2814 @mymamalife @minervadashwood @emiemiemiii @h4rrys @messymissy @mylifeispainandiloveit @mossexe @fightmilk @spikedhe4rt @fictional-hooman @alexxavicry @hallecarey1 @km-ffluv @chiaraxtargaryen

[moriartyluver]

🦢 anon is back with the song analysis again

ok but teen fl + teen idle by marina is soo real

“I wanna be a bottle blonde I don't know why but I feel conned”- her feeling like liam is more privileged than her and feeling slightly jealous of him because she saw him as a white b who got everything handed to him

“I wanna be an idle teen I wish I hadn't been so clean”- revenge revenge revenge

“I wanna stay inside all day I want the world to go away”- her being an introvert as a teen and only ever studying and maybe occasionally socialising

“I want blood, guts, and chocolate cake I wanna be a real fake”- her putting on a facade

“Yeah, I wish I'd been, I wish I'd been, a teen, teen idle Wish I'd been a prom queen, fighting for the title Instead of being sixteen and burning up a bible Feeling super, super, super suicidal”- the third line here is kinda like her being 16 and committing crimes ig?? Also fl low-key wants to unalive herself but knowing her she probably won’t try because of all her responsibilities

“The wasted years, the wasted youth The pretty lies, the ugly truth”- I know we didn’t get an exact thing abt fls relationship with Theo the pedo but I’d say it’s implied they probably did the deed. Like how when they were dancing in the Ashfordshire arc, liam said something abt fl having multiple partners in other aspects, also in the past chapter u mentioned that fl would visit Theo at night. I think she’d lie to herself and act as if she was just seducing him but really she was probably getting abused by him

“And the day has come where I have died Only to find, I've come alive”- fl having her grand duchess glow up post timeskip 👏 👏

“I wanna be a virgin pure A twenty-first century whore I want back my virginity So I can feel infinity”- fls issues with intimacy with Liam because of Theo. She probably never enjoyed the devils tango until liam came around because she was so used to using it for her ulterior motives 😕😕 also she always is getting fetishised and flirted with by the other noblemen to the point she felt she had to marry a guy she considered her biggest rival just to shake them off only for them to keep going and not understand how uncomfy she was

“I wanna drink until I ache I wanna make a big mistake I want blood, guts, and angel cake I'm gonna puke it anyway”- in the Noahtic arc, fl got drunk a bit and was probably using it as escapism for her issue of an heir. Also fls implied Ed ^^

“I wish I wasn't such a narcissist I wish I didn't really kiss The mirror when I'm on my own Oh God, I'm gonna die alone” - fl has slight self esteem issues imo so this lyric makes sense especially because she seemed to be a little meaner as a teen and rightfully so bc her brother literally died because of the British ofc she won’t like any of them. In like the second chapter fl made a comment abt dying alone and I thought that fits

“Adolescence didn't make sense A little loss of innocence The ugliness of being a fool Ain't youth meant to be beautiful?”- fl was suffering since she was like 9 and I don’t think anyone reached out to her tbh if she was really killing whole families at 16. She was probably hella merciless and numb poor girl. She also probably lost her innocence because of Theo and other weird noble guys

also she fits seventeen by marina too. If she was an mtp character she’d probably get angst edits to that one bit “I was brought up as a baby well you don’t know fuck about my family could never tell you what happened the day I turned seventeen the rise of the king and the fall of a queen”

fl is just sooo Marina coded idc

ALSO I AM BEGGING YOU TO GET SOME REST GIRLIE. u usually update like every day. We don’t need u losing sleep over false lovers I promise. Get ur beauty sleep 🙏

Stop this is literally a whole essay 😭 u are right abt most of it tho

Theo is literally such an asshole I’m glad fl killed him and tortured him

Bro was 20 and courting a 16 year old but wasn’t even following proper etiquette rules

Fl finds it so difficult to be affectionate with Liam all because of that stupid mf.

Grand duchess fl 🛐

Fls parents tried to reach out to help her with her grief when she was a kid but they were both suffering themselves and they were trying to find out who was responsible for fls brothers death while also suffering responsibilities as the grand duke and duchess. They tried but fl shut everyone out because she only wanted revenge

Fl also has really terrible self esteem issues but she doesn’t let it show at all. From her perspective William was just an asshole and she felt like it was unfair everyone treated him better than her. Paris and rory esque relationship tbh

Tbh fl would get edited with like every Marina song she’s just that Marina coded

Also I’m currently on holiday so I’m trying my best to get some rest after my exams. I’ll try to be constant with updates but tbh I don’t think I’ll update until I’m back home because my internet keeps getting fucked up lol

[moririki]

⤷ AN EIGHT-LEGGED PROBLEM

OIKAWA TOORU & SAKUSA KIYOOMI & HAIBA LEV & MIYA ATSUMU X READER -> 1.8K
you save your boyfriend from a massive problem which is currently in the corner of your bathroom )

REQUEST -> n/a
CONTAINS -> spiders, bugs, you picking up said creepy crawlies, hq boys being no! help! at! all! (but that's ok bc we love them for it), fanon-ish sakusa cos i haven't read the manga and he had like 5 seconds of screen time so i'm just going off of what i've read + seen, clear favouritism despite the fact that i know basically nothing about sakusa, manga timeskip spoilers in sakusa's
MORI'S THOUGHTS -> haven't seen one where the reader is the one in the relationship who takes care of bugs so since i'm a #girlboss who throws spiders out of my room whenever i see them without breaking a sweat i'm writing that into a fun lil thing with the haikyuu boys that i strongly believe are scared of bugs. also besides the point but look at the pretty colour palette that their banners make fjfjfjdj will go back to writing the requests after this! inspiration just struck

❍ OIKAWA TOORU

-> omg this fucking guy

-> don't let his pride fool you this man HATES bugs with a burning passion

-> he'll never admit it though

-> between you and the aoba johsai team he would never hear the end of how the great king oikawa would cower at the sight of a moth doing laps around a lightbulb

-> so when you pretended not to hear the shriek that left your boyfriend when he saw something flying around the bathroom light and he declined your offer to get rid of the moth for him, this left oikawa in a pretty difficult situation

-> it was just him alone in the bathroom, trying to brush his teeth while eyeing the bug warily

-> you came in a few minutes later, getting ready to go to bed as well

-> "you know, babe, that moth's been there for quite a while," you teased him

-> oikawa hummed in response, his eyes never leaving it as it continued its circumnavigation of the light fixture

-> "oh, you know. who am i to kick someone out of their home? i'm no monster"

-> you almost snorted at how poor of an excuse that was, but ruffled your boyfriend's hair anyway

-> "i'll take care of it, ru, you just finish getting ready"

-> "but y/n-chan, that moth has feelings! don't be mean to it!"

-> you gave tooru a very blank stare at that

-> "so do you want me to leave you alone with your new friend?"

-> "......no"

-> "that's what i thought"

-> you went up to the moth, managing to trap it in your hands before releasing it from a window

-> oikawa shuddered as you came back to the sink, giving your hands a quick rinse before resuming with brushing your teeth like nothing had happened

-> "you're so brave, my love"

-> "anything for you, babe"

❍ SAKUSA KIYOOMI

-> bless this poor boy

-> so it's no secret that sakusa isn't the fondest of germs

-> and that extends to bugs and spiders too

-> besides a normal amount of disgust that he held for them, the thought of where the insects had been or placed one of their many feet on never failed to make his skin crawl

-> that's where you, his wonderful significant other, comes in

-> as much as he loves you, he just can't understand how you always stared at bugs with wonder in your eyes

-> you'd even pick them up, cooing at the way they crawled up your arm while sakusa just stared at you in disbelief with a can of bug spray in hand

-> tonight was one of those swelteringly hot summer nights

-> you know, the ones where the air seems to be still no matter how many windows you open and every insect in a mile radius is actively trying to enter your home

-> you were spending the night at your boyfriend's apartment, ready to have a relaxing night in with him since your schedules had finally synced up and allowed you both to enjoy a day off at the same time

-> it took months of trust before sakusa finally admitted to you how much he enjoyed doing skincare

-> so whenever you two spent the night together, you decided to start the evening with some face masks and idle binging of a tv show

-> against his half-hearted protests, you had insisted that sakusa wore a headband while this happened (one that had a very cute duck face printed on it)

-> just to keep the curls out of his face, of course

-> whenever he caught you sneaking a candid of him with facemask and duck headband on, he just shot you a halfhearted glare and threatened you to never send that to atsumu or the rest of the msby team

-> (you set it as your home screen instead)

-> anyways, i digress

-> so tonight you decided to cool down from the heat with a few facemasks and cuddling in your boyfriend's heavily air conditioned living room

-> but he kept all his skincare stuff in the bathroom, so you went to go get them as he set up a show to watch along with some snacks

-> you flicked on the light, going to his cabinet when something in the corner of the room caught your eye

-> there was a fairly large spider, desperately trying to crawl up the smooth tile wall

-> you decided to take pity on it and release it

-> but when you had it cupped safely in your hands, you decided to terrorise your poor boyfriend just a little

-> "hey, omi, look what i found!"

-> your boyfriend perked up at your signature nickname for him, though his eyes narrowed as he saw your clasped hands held in front of you

-> "no"

-> "but baby, you haven't even seen-"

-> "no"

-> you giggled at how defensive he had become

-> "come on, don't you want to name it? it's very cute"

-> "i want you to throw it out, y/n"

-> "alright, alright"

-> you took the spider to a window, releasing it back outside before heading back to the bathroom and grabbing a few masks for real this time

-> sakusa gave you the cold shoulder as you sat down next to him, humming as you gave him a face mask and putting it on without a word

-> "aww, baby, i'm sorry"

-> "..."

-> "i'll give you a head massage if you stop ignoring me?"

-> sakusa turned to you, his eyes narrowed in thought as he stared you down

-> the act soon broke, though, and he smiled against the sheet mask that was on his face

-> "it better be a good one," he huffed as he tugged the duck headband off, already sighing at the sensation of your fingers against his scalp

-> "omi, come on, what do you take me for?"

❍ HAIBA LEV

-> ngl lev gives off equal amounts of being terrified of like the tiniest spider or just finding bugs insanely cool vibes

-> it's funnier to imagine this 6-foot-something guy scramble away from a fucking crane fly in terror though so this is how it's going to play out

-> when you invited your giant of a boyfriend to your flat, you didn't anticipate just how small he made everything appear

-> he even towered in your doorway, having to stoop to step through into your hall

-> "woahh, i love your place!"

-> it was his first time staying over for the night, and lev was making sure to drink in every aspect of your interior design

-> you found it sweet of him, and watched as he stared in wide-eyed wonder at the little trinkets you had collected over the years to make your small apartment seem more like a home

-> you didn't expect him to scream at the top of his lungs and practically run back to you, though

-> you jumped at the sound, watching as he scrambled away from your lamp and pointed back at it with a shaking finger

-> you squinted at it, making out the very menacing form of a crane fly as it bumped into the lampshade and continued on its path

-> "lev, you big baby," you giggled, heading to the kitchen to grab a glass and trap it

-> "y/n, don't leave me alone with it!" he yelped, and you rolled your eyes at his antics

-> you came back, smoothly capturing the insect and throwing it out of a nearby window

-> lev was sat on your couch the whole time, hands covering his eyes as he curled in a ball

-> "is it gone?" he asked, and you you giggled at how childlike he was acting at the moment

-> "it's all good, baby" you smoothed his hair and lev gratefully leaned into your touch, a sigh of relief leaving him

-> "thank you, y/n"

-> "i'll get rid of all the bugs in the world for you, lev"

❍ MIYA ATSUMU

-> gives off the vibes that he used to eat bugs as a child i'm sorry but

-> have mercy on his soul lmao

-> so twins are supposed to be identical right?

-> anyone who spends more than a few minutes around the miya twins know that that's a complete fucking lie

-> and you've had the misfortune of being friends with them for a very long time

-> like your mums were friends and you were all born around the same time

-> you've been pulled into their shit before you could walk or talk

-> so you're well aware of just how different these mfs are

-> even though they were both absolute bastards, osamu always had a slightly more mellowed out approach which would always end up with atsumu getting the blame for what they got up to

-> especially as a child, osamu loved to terrorise his twin with the unwilling help of you

-> one of the ways was through osamu exploiting one of his twins' fears

-> that being bugs and spiders

-> he always cackled at the sight of atsumu screaming and trying to run away from him due to the spider he was holding

-> as they both grew up, this became less of a frequent thing for osamu to do

-> you also somehow started dating atsumu, but nobody could exactly pinpoint a moment that signified a beginning to your relationship

-> but since you're dating the world's biggest manchild in disguise, and osamu gets annoyed with atsumu quite easily, you would have to swoop in to rescue him from time to time

-> recently the twins had been getting a little snappy with each other, and it had yet to sort itself out

-> from what you had heard your boyfriend was in the wrong this time, but you still listened to him whine and rant about it

-> you were going to the inarizaki school gym to say hi to your boyfriend and best friend before practice started, only to see absolute chaos unfolding

-> with kita yet to arrive, the twins were effectively unleashed and that much was clear with the way atsumu was practically screaming his head off as he ran around the gym

-> your eyes took in the rest of the players- aran had his head in his hands, suna was snickering with his phone out to record the newest miya twin fight, and osamu's deranged laugh could be heard above everything else as he chased his brother, hand held out in front of him

-> only one thing was capable of making atsumu scream like that, so you already knew what was happening

-> atsumu quickly spotted you hovering in the doorway, and made a beeline to where you were

-> his eyes were panicked, and you were quick to wrap him in a hug as you shot osamu a nasty glare over his shoulder

-> literally this lmfao

-> "that's enough, 'samu"

-> your best friend paused, before a smile spread across his face as he dangled the centipede in front of him

-> "you know it was rubber, right?"

-> you felt your boyfriend tense in your arms and you bit your lip to stifle a small giggle

-> but at least they would be back to normal by the end of today

back to the menu - ,, 🕷 ·˚ ༘ ꒱

[nebulaleaf]

Heh. Giving youuuuu… akira and futaba. for ask game. bc theyr neat.

they ARE neat. tey're probably one of my fave relationships in this game. this is gonna be . real bad because i am not very articulate tonight .sobs cries. this is just me word vomiting about how much i love the sakura family, akira included sorry .

your ideal/headcanon version of it? how does it differ from how it is in canon & why is this your favorite version? any other alternate versions of it you enjoy? definitely siblings. i won't shoot you dead for shipping them as it's none of my business but age gap, futaba's dependency on akira and other various reasons i see not to ship them aside... i think the main killer for me is just how familial they act... I can't ever imagine futaba having a crush on akira like. that's her older brother that's the guy she uses as a human shield in a walmart. that's the guy who'll let her sit on his shoulders to get a pc part that's too high up. that's the guy she'd sicc on a classmate like a dog!! she's so blase towards him in the romantic aspect save for like... one scene that doesn't even feel that romantic, just weird imo. i'm also down for them just being pals and not sibs but... idk there's just a specific layer to it that i enjoy far more when it's played like that. i really wish i could word it blurgh.

what do you like about their relationship, why is it interesting or enjoyable to you? I am not immune to siblings alright. i see a character who's a good older brother and has a soft spot for his sister and i weep because i know he'll probably be my fave. kicking rantaro amami down the stairs fuck you man. anyway i kinda feel bad just reducing them to that because there's so much i enjoy in how they interact but i can't put it to words. im on the cusp of futaba's palace in royal though so be on the lookout for posts where i go fucking insane .

what about the individual characters involved? what does this relationship mean to them, what makes it unique among their relationships? honestly i think akira's relationship to futaba means the fucking world to him. obviously he loves all of the thieves, but futaba specifically ... man. i should just say the sakura family as a whole... idk how well akira's home life is or isn't, but the sakura family feels like Just what he needed, y'know? caring but not overprotective, blunt but not cruel... a good mix of giving him the right space but also loving him unflinchingly and hey!! he fucking reciprocates that shit too!!!! and on futaba's end... yeah this is an important relationship to her too. when you first get her and the gang tries to reintroduce her to social situations.............. it's like autism to autism communication. akira is that perfect blend of a safe space, but not too safe where she'll never come out again. he will protect her but push her out to do things when needed and DAMB! she do be needing that. they fill that niche void in the other in ways the other thieves can't. like yeah futaba is the "little sister" of all the pts in a way, but she clearly interacts with akira differently than the rest of them... n yeah you cvould chalk that up to akira being a silent protag whup whup we need her to be clingy so you can have an UwU Gamer GF; but shut up fucka you. It's Different. To Me. and i'm serious like again the scene where all the PTs push her... she ends up reacting well to both situations in the end, but she reacts Best to akira's prompting because he's not too lax like ann and ryuji n' not too forceful like makoto was. zing. zing. i'm gonna shut up on this one now because im embarrassed Ah Hee Hee

favorite interaction they have in canon either the fire crackers scene outside of leblanc or futaba's first beach trip. the way she glances at akira for approval and then he just... gives her that soft smile... it fuckign kills me oh my god. [grabbing you] im so normall about that scene i only watched it thrice. oh my god and then the christmas scene......... that one is a close third

favorite interaction they have in your head/a situation you want to put them in so many. all the time constantly. I want them to get into shenanigans. I want Futaba to bring her classmates home to Leblanc and for all of them to laugh about Akira tripping over the mop as he delivers their coffee. I want akira to gently tuck her back into bed when she stays up too late studying or going too hard at school/social interactions in general. i want futaba nag at him to take better care of himself until she has to whip out the pleading puppy-dog eyes to one hit KO his older brother instincts. i want them to steal credit card information together and make sojiro go grey by next year from the sheer stress of having these hyper-intelligent morons in the same room.