#despite not being muscley at all

[aimseytv]

binders are cool they’re like tank tops for trans people

[binmeister]

Thanks mum - tech (il)literate

Saja Boys x Fem! Reader

..i lost the plot on this but there was no plot in the first place, fluff fluff fluff - two "official" parts left, if you want to be tagged uh,,, just say so and i'll try to remember (i might forget)

AO3 ver here - « prev | next »

CW: crackfic, fluff, plotless fluff, plotless crackfic, not proofread

“Yep, exactly like that, now move your cursor up over here - yup mhm, great.” You’re currently guiding Jinu on how to use a laptop, it turns out he was doing all the scheduling and organising solely off of his phone and a manic fever dream.

“So I can save ‘files’ here..?” He questions as he hovers over the newly created folders on his hard drive. 

He glances over at you for confirmation as you’re sat beside him on the couch, laptop on his lap and you’re almost pressed against him with how close you are so you can directly point at what he needed to do.

“Yup.” You responded, popping the ‘P’ loudly as you shifted back to rest against the couch properly now.

You could almost cry from relief, he was easy to teach and thankfully understood interfaces enough to not be completely useless. Just, only a little useless.

But he was so much easier to teach than Romance or even Abby, bless his big muscley heart.

“Ugh.. who do you think is the best option for TV duties?” You ask, pinching the bridge of your nose as you think over who else you potentially need to teach things to today.

“Abby.” Jinu replies easily as he shuts his laptop closed.

“You’re biased.” You point out.

“Yeah, but he’s also the least likely to abuse TV privileges.” He retorts, carefully placing his laptop on the coffee table before sitting back and throwing his arms over the back of the couch and behind you in the process.

“I hate that you’re right.” You grumble, pouting slightly that his favourite child was more responsible than yours.

“We both know Baby can’t be trusted to be responsible, he’s already addicted to his phone.” Jinu continues on and you turn to look up at him, raising an accusatory pointer finger.

“Because someone spoiled him too much.” You say pointedly.

“I did not spoil him.” He says defensively. 

You raise an eyebrow.

“Okay, maybe a little bit but I spoil all of them equally enough.” He relents.

“..to be fair Baby would’ve done whatever he wanted to anyway.” You say as you give in and let Jinu off the hook, for now.

“I just can’t believe you guys know how to use a microwave and a washing machine, but not how to turn on the TV.” You comment as you think through all the appliances they’re familiar with, fascinated that they can wash their own clothes but don’t understand why a toaster shouldn’t have metal appliances shoved into it or what the purpose of a blender was.

“Given how sweaty some of them get, I thought it’d be important.” He grumbles as he leans his head back to rest on the back of the couch now as well.

“Be thankful we’re not stinky on top of being stupid.” He jokes.

The two of you sit in silence for a moment, just enjoying the peace and relaxing a little bit before something inevitably happens. Which didn’t take too long as you heard a distant yelp from Romance.

“Is it bleeding?” You shout the question, not bothering to get up from your seat just yet.

“..no?” Romance responds hesitantly.

“Ha.. is it going to bleed?” Jinu is the one to ask this time.

“..maybe?” 

The two of you share a sigh as you steadily get to your feet and head over to where Romance’s room was, tucked around the corner and directly in front of Mystery’s. By the time you guys are in the hallway you spot Romance on the ground holding his wounded forearm and Abby holding up both Baby and Mystery in air jail by the backs of their shirts.

“Explain.” Jinu says, crossing his arms with an unamused expression as Abby simply hikes the two in his hand higher in the air like they might lunge and attack at any point.

“He lost.” Baby says as he crosses his arm, trying to look cool despite the fact he’s being actively held in the air and off of his feet.

“I bit him..” Mystery states quietly, slight frown on his face as he wonders if he’ll be in trouble.

You stare at Romance and Abby, waiting for either of them to plead their cases.

“I was the referee.” Abby smiles at you before finally letting the two lankier men down onto the ground, though he still kept a grip on the back of their shirts just in case they tried to run off.

“I wasn’t even supposed to be part of it!” Romance complains as he sticks his arm out for you two to look at the bite mark.

Jinu sighs, uncrossing an arm to pinch the bridge of his nose as you rub at your temples trying to figure out what an appropriate punishment would be. Because it was a pretty decent bite given the fact that Romance is actually bruising from it.

“C’mere, let’s go patch you up.” Jinu calmly says as he walks up and offers a hand out for Romance to get up, the latter happily getting up and following along to the bathroom to get his booboo patched up.

Which left you to look at the remaining offenders. Technically Abby was a mediator so not part of the potential fight, Baby is usually an instigator but if he was fighting Mystery he would’ve kept it a relatively clean fight which left Mystery. Why was your favourite acting out?

“You all, only get a half hour of TV time tonight.” You finally decide and you try not to crack at the horrified faces all three of them send your way.

Their complaints fall on deaf ears as you pivot on your feet and walk back over to the living room to relax, the three of them following suit and huffing as they settle down nearby. 

You’re not a fan of punishments that take away their autonomy to do things but it seemed like the only way you’d be able to punish any of them - it’s just a miracle that they actually play along with it.

“No, you cannot put a knife in there.” Has unfortunately become a very common sentence from you as you have to pry the butterknife out of Baby’s hand as he was once again attempting to put it into an appliance it had no right to be in.

“You literally know how to use google, why are you doing this.” You grumble out to him and he stares blankly at you, then looks at the kitchen appliance he was about to dismantle with the butterknife.

“YouTube shorts.” He shrugs like it would explain everything.

You want to strangle him, you really do, because you never thought you’d have to explain to people that they can’t keep falling for every lie the internet tells them.

“Next you’re gonna tell me you microwaved your phone to upgrade to 5G.” You mumble as you put the butter knife in the correct drawer, only to hear Baby click his tongue.

“That was Mystery.” He snitches and you want to cry, another point deducted from Mystery.

“In his defence, I told him to do it.” Abby calls out from his spot on the living room floor as he does a set of push ups to get some of his excess energy out. Mystery was seated on one of the bar stools nearby and made no effort to defend himself, just simply nodded at Abby’s addition to the conversation.

Jinu steps into the kitchen, rubbing at his eyes with a small yawn and he nods at you with a soft ‘mornin..’ - he blinks a few times when he notices Baby hovering near you. Instinctively he narrows his eyes in suspicion, looking from you then to Baby a few times to do the mental math on whether or not something happened.

“Did he?” He asks, voice a little husky from just waking up.

“Yes.” You grumble, barely keeping your blood pressure from spiking too high.

“Yup.” Baby confirms.

“..at least he doesn’t fight you over it.” Jinu mumbles as he shuffles by to grab water from the fridge.

“I just unplugged all the shit in the kitchen because he kept trying to stuff things into it.” He continues on as he breaks the seal on a fresh bottle and starts to chug from it.

“Miracle he hasn’t shoved his dick into anything, truly.” You comment wryly as you side eye Baby.

“Yet.” Romance sings out as he steps into the room, taking a seat by Mystery and playfully winking at Baby.

“Suck it.” Baby flips him off and Romance jokingly purrs at him, a quick little ‘I would’ followed right after.

It had become a rule that kitchen appliances, aside from the fridge, had to be unplugged at all times unless directly supervised by you, Jinu or Romance. All things considered, Romance was quite responsible and the least likely to want to burn the kitchen down. He’s a lover, not a lighter.. it was also because he was the most likely to actually look at and read the text on the appliance buttons. 

Unfortunately, the microwave was taken off the list of appliances they were allowed to use unsupervised after the day you opened it to find a mug ‘cake’. 

“..boys, what is this?” You ask cautiously as you hesitantly pick up the mug that sat inside on the little dish.

There were crushed oreos in it, what you assumed is flour or baking soda, a cracked egg and some milk. But it was still liquid and actively separating from itself - like someone had forgotten to actually put the correct time in then forgot that they even made it in the first place.

“Oh.. that was me.” Romance sheepishly admits as he peers at the familiar mug, giving you a charming smile to hopefully get out of whatever lecture you were going to give him.

You looked at him and then at the mug in your hand. Exhaled deeply and proceeded to pour out the contents into the garbage disposal, giving the mug a quick rinse as well before placing it into the dishwasher to be properly sanitised in the next batch of dishes.

“This is why we said you have to remember when you put things in the microwave or the oven.” You remind him, not particularly in the mood to go into full lecture mode because it’s his first offense in comparison to the others.

“I’ll try my best, mama.” He jokingly calls out, chuckling when you give him the stink eye.

“Mystery, do you not have a phone?” You ask one day as you create a ‘family’ group chat for shits and giggles.

“I have a phone.” He replies.

You’re currently on the floor of the living room, your back rested against Derpy’s warm and fuzzy body as the tiger purrs in content underneath you. Mystery is seated on the floor a step away from you, knees tucked politely to his chest as he looks away from the TV to acknowledge your question.

“He doesn’t know how to use it.” Abby throws out, laid out on the couch on his side as he watches the show you’d put on an hour ago with his head propped up by his hand.

“No one taught you?” You direct the question to Mystery, looking up from your phone with a little confused scrunch of your nose.

“He didn’t want to be taught.” Abby drawls out in reply to your question.

Mystery nods, you’re unsure on whether it was to your question or to Abby but soon enough he’s getting up to go to his room and grab his phone.

“Be patient with him.”  Abby says as he breaks eye contact with the TV to look at you, giving you a last heads up before he focusses back on the show. “He gets upset easily.”

In no time flat Mystery is shuffling back from his room, sitting closer to you as he hands you his phone. It would’ve been a nice sleek phone if not for the obnoxious thick case on it - think Otterbox heavy duty.

You blink at it, take in the damaged corners and start nodding slowly to no one but yourself. It made perfect sense he had the fattest protective case on his phone because he clearly was not taking care of it like any of the others were.

“Can you unlock it for me?” You ask, handing it back to him.

He pauses as he holds the phone back in his hands, pursing his lips as he tries to remember how to do that. 

This was going to take a while.

You take a deep breath, think of potentially converting to Buddhism or some form of religion that involved zen and peace, then you exhale and sit up straight so you can properly teach Mystery what to do.

You point at the power button on the side of his phone, then at his phone screen. “You can use this or double tap on the screen to wake up your phone.”

He attempts to do both at the same time, frowning when the screen turns off instantly because he double clicked the power button.

“Don’t need to do both, just do one.” Your tone is gentle as you guide him again.

He succeeds in getting the screen to turn on and you hear the little happy exhale he lets out through his nose.

This little training continues on like this for the next half hour, teaching him what apps to use and then taking his phone from him and uninstalling any apps you deemed inappropriate for Mystery at least. The others you could mostly trust but you wanted to be extra safe here.

“Okay and, now here is where you send a text.” You hand him back the phone, point at the little message bar and watch as he very slowly begins to type out a message.

Theres a slight frown to his lips as he concentrates. Repeatedly typing and deleting a few letters then repeating the cycle until he finally finishes his first message and hits send.

‘Hi Abby, you are funny.’

Abby blinks as his phone pings, slipping it out of his pocket and he reads through the text he just received. He looks over to you and Mystery, a small smile on his face.

“Thanks Myst, I think you’re funny too.” He compliments in return and your heart swells at the way Mystery smiles in return.

You would later regret teaching Mystery about emojis as he cryptically sends emoji riddles to you at random intervals of the day, but a win is a win.

“Wh.. you want a milkshake..?” You’re half awake, vision blurry as you attempt to make sense of what’s happening at the moment.

One moment you’re snug in your comfortable bed, wrapped tight in plush blankets - thanks Jinu, and sleeping soundly. The next you’re being shaken awake by impatient hands followed by the continuous calling of your name.

“Wha’s the time..” You mumble out, slowly starting to sit up as you rub the sleep out of your eyes.

“S’four in the morning.” You finally make out Baby’s voice, realise he’s been the one shaking you awake for the past minute or so.

“..milkshakes at four in the morning?” You groan, tired and now cold as he starts to pull the blankets from your body as he starts pulling you to stand up.

“..please..?” He pleads quietly, you almost would’ve missed it if your head wasn’t resting on his shoulder as he essentially drags you out of bed.

Your legs buckle and he sighs, simply opting to carry you as he huffs and essentially manhandles your legs around his waist as he carries you to the kitchen. He may not be Abby, but he still is a demon with monstrous strength at his disposal.

You huff, hugging tight to the warmth his body provided and he chuckled a little at your tired antics. Soon enough he’s settling you on the kitchen counter as he pulls out the blender.

“How do I make a milkshake.” He’s not asking a question, more like a statement that said ‘you will teach me’.

You shudder, the kitchen is cold and you were dressed lightly in sleep shorts and a loose t-shirt. Your eyes are functioning but your brain is still a little hazy from sleep.

You don’t register Baby draping his oversized jacket over you or the way he’s slotting your arms into the sleeves then zipping up the front.

“Milk.. uh you need.. ice cream, what flavour milkshake did you want?” Your words are slightly slurred, coated in drowsiness as you yawn.

“Don’t care, just want a milk shake.” He replies simply.

“Mmhm.. there’s,” you pause as you try to remember what options there are, “We have bananas, and then I think there’s chocolate in the pantry.”

He grabs out the milk from the fridge, then the vanilla ice cream tub from the freezer, quickly setting those down beside you. Then he’s moving to the pantry to grab out a block of chocolate, handing it to you for you to hold as he walks on by to grab a banana out of the fruit bowl - returning back in front of you once he’s collected it all.

He waits for your instructions again, isn’t being rude either as he just. Waits. Let’s you take your time in explaining what he needs to do with the ingredients he pulled out, follows your instructions as you tell him to be careful with the knife he pulled out to cut up the chocolate and the banana.

After he’s done tossing everything into the blender, he waits for permission to plug it in and when your tired hands move to place the lid on snug and tight to the blender - he takes it from you and places it on himself, mindful of you saying to make sure it’s on properly.

“Mmk.. you can plug it in now.”

He does so, then waits again.

“This blender doesn’t, have a milkshake button. So you,” you yawn, “Need to hold the pulse button until it’s the right uh.. uh.. fuck what’s the word.”

“Consistency?” He offers quietly as his finger hovers over the aforementioned button.

“Yeah, that.” You nod.

He goes quiet as he presses the button down, not even the loud whirring of the blender is keeping you awake as you steadily doze back off from your place on the counter. 

It does apparently wake someone else up though.

“Using the blender at this time of night is ruthless.” Romance says, not a hint of fatigue in his voice as he treads over to the fridge and grabs himself some water.

“Did you need to wake her for it though?” He’s addressing Baby as he asks it, taking in your exhausted form and he frowns slightly. Both him and Jinu were awake, they could’ve supervised but for some reason Baby wanted you.

Baby doesn’t respond, just takes his finger off the pulse button once he’s satisfied the milkshake isn’t chunky anymore and unplugs the blender. 

He grabs two cups and divides out the liquid relatively evenly, then grabs a third smaller cup to pour in a little sample size - for you. He won’t say that aloud though.

Then he picks up the smaller cup, walks over to you and places it in your hands and you instinctively lift it to your mouth and take a little sip. A small hum of approval at the sweet taste hitting your tongue before you place the cup beside you and return to struggling to win the battle of keeping your eyes open.

Romance sighs, taking your cup and placing it in the fridge so it doesn’t spoil and contemplates how to get you back to bed without manhandling you without your consent.

“I got it.” Baby says as he simply just, picks you up like he did before. Loosely wraps your legs around his waist and carries you back up the stairs to your room, like it was just some regular and casual occurrence and not out of character of him to do.

“..what the fu-..” Romance is left standing in the kitchen alone now as he tries to process what just happened. Did Baby just inadvertently admit that you’re his favourite?

He doesn’t dwell on it much longer though, opting to rinse the contents left inside the blender and then leaving it to sit in the sink as he heads back to his room now. That’ll be something to unpack another day.

Baby? He’s tucked you back into bed, made sure you’re snug and then he quietly clicks your door shut. Makes his way back to the kitchen, grabs the two cups he made, then he heads off to Mystery’s room to hand off the second cup then wordlessly returns to his own room.

You woke up a few hours later confused on why you were wearing someone’s jacket and why you vaguely remember drinking something chocolatey in your dreams.

When you moved in, you had brought along a few old consoles and now with ample funds - you thought it wouldn’t hurt to get the boys a Switch. Treat them to something nice when they managed to get through a full week of idol activities without any major incidents, key word on major.

“Hello, dad.” You jokingly greet Jinu as you carry your laptop over to plop down beside him on the couch, the others currently occupied with a board game in Romance’s room - a distraction you set in place so you could discuss your plan.

“Hello, mum.” He greets back, glancing at you then locking his phone and dropping it onto his lap so he can give you his full attention. “What’s up?”

“Okay, now hear me out.” You begin and he raises a curious brow at you as you settle into the cushion, laptop angled precariously off a thigh to be viewable by him.

“I’m thinking about getting a Switch for them to play on, you guys don’t have one so,” You show him the check out screen, a Switch and a couple of extra joy-cons currently sitting in the cart, “I’ll teach them how to use it and I’ll make sure the parent features are enabled.” 

You’re trying to sell it to him. You probably didn’t have to but you thought it’d be better to discuss it with Jinu so he wasn’t blindsided by the appearance of some shiny, new and fragile object.

“I can also keep it in my room so that they don’t get too addicted.” You offer up, knowing full well that was one of his concerns as the last console you had handed off to the boys - your old PSP, had become Baby’s personal device that he was addicted to during rehearsal.

“I’m almost expecting a full presentation now with how you came prepared.” Jinu quips, taking in the price on the screen and letting out a little ‘hm’ as he contemplates whether or not it’d be worth it. 

He vaguely understood that games had to be purchased on top of outright buying the console, he could easily afford it but he still wanted to be somewhat financially responsible.

“You’re sure about this being a good idea?” He grills you, narrowing his eyes to really get you to tell the truth. You just nod at him with a cheeky little smile on your face as he sighs and starts entering his payment details.

“Thanks sweetie.” You playfully thank him.

“Happy wife, happy life, or whatever the hell it is.” He jokes back.

Which eventually leads into you now having to explain how to use the joy-cons and reiterating multiple times that yes they will have to put the wrist strap on and no they cannot grip the controller too tightly. They already broke one of your old Wii remotes they don’t get to break the more expensive controllers, hell no.

“It’s so tiny.” Abby comments under his breath as he holds the joy-con in his hand, it’s actually hilarious how tiny it is compared to his palm even.

“Fuck you, who stole my star!” Romance cries out as someone steals his stars and coins in Mario Party. 

“Boohoo.” Baby calls out despite not being the one to do it.

The two of them start bickering over it, well, Romance is complaining to Baby and Baby is just sitting back with a smug smile on his face. Mystery was actually the one to take the star and coins but no one was going to snitch.

“If you keep fighting, I’m taking the Switch away.” Jinu suddenly calls out from his place at the dining table - laptop in front of him which causes all of them to pause for a moment, look at him with wide eyes then turn to you with puppy eyes. Pleading with you.

“I’m on his side.” You pipe up, seated beside Jinu now with your own laptop as the two of you schedule their activities for the next week.

“Play nice, and no biting.” You look up from the screens in front of you, narrowing your eyes in warning as the four currently occupied with the game groan aloud before pivoting your attention again.

“..can we play mario kart after though?” Romance is the one to ask, because he’s currently getting railed side ways by RNG in this run of Mario Party as he gets stomped on by Mystery again. In game that is.

You sigh and Jinu chuckles, telling them that ‘yes, you can play for another hour’ before he’s back to finishing up the schedule with you. Then you’re writing out the list of groceries needed to restock the fridge and pantry as you hear the boys start losing their minds in Mario Kart.

Then you hear it. The snap of plastic and you both slowly turn your heads to look at them. Baby and Romance are staring at the ground in front of them, then up at you and Jinu.

“It was the steering wheel! Not the actual controller.” Romance pleads their case as he defends Baby, something you were not expecting but you simply just melt into the dining chair.

“Nope I’m not, this isn’t me. Your turn dad.” You sigh, your soul escaping your body for a moment as Jinu let’s out a deep exhausted breath.

“If anyone breaks anything else tonight, we’re not buying ice cream this week.” He hisses out through gritted teeth, eyes flashing a dangerous yellow hue as he really tries to emphasise his point.

Safe to say that no controllers were broken again and the Switch is still functional, with a good chunk of hours split into various games as permitted by you and Jinu.

🏷️ @newbieschaos @littlemochix17

[archivewriter1ont]

Shep-Centric Thoughts...

I'm plotting out a Shep-centric fic and I have come to the conclusion that this man is amazing, awesome, and doesn't get enough attention in the fandom.

Bullet points on why below...

One: His relationship with Phee.

Are they actually, biologically related? Was she instrumental in helping him and Lyana find Pabu, this safe place away from the Empire? Has she saved his and his daughter's life and now he feels like she's the greatest person ever? Was she a stray he found with a bullet wound in her side and a machete sword in her hand, snarling and snapping until he and Lyana "tamed" her? We don't know...but we're durn sure they're close and that for all anyone knows, they're family through and through.

Two: His willingness to accept Phee's friends.

Now, Phee might have called ahead to tell our friendly mayor that she was bringing friends, but even if she did Shep is so freaking welcoming. He doesn't ask how or why she came into sudden possession of three muscley ex-commandos and a smol danger child but you know what? He doesn't really care either. They're Phee's friends and so they're his friends, full stop.

Three: His eagerness to make the Batch feel accepted.

Throughout his scenes, Shep is going out of his way to make the Batchers feel safe and at home on Pabu. I ADORE that he seems to give extra attention to Hunter, who has the hardest time adjusting to a non-combat life and who is constantly on edge regarding the safety of those around him. Shep is also a leader in a way, so I feel like he understands a little of where Hunter is coming from, but because he's a normal human, he recognizes that Hunter's obsession with keeping what is left of his broken family together is breaking the sergeant. Because his accelerated life has been spent as an experimental soldier who may or may not see tomorrow and who must constantly be on guard, Hunter doesn't know how to be safe. He can't accept it because it goes against his very DNA. I think Shep clocks that and is trying to reassure the tracker that he can relax on Pabu - -that they're not threats, but also that Hunter and his brothers and sister are not a threat to the Pabuans, either.

Four: His insistence that they stay.

Shep isn't blind and I'm sure that little things reveal to him that the Batchers have all had very rough lives. Instead of pushing them away and being unwilling to take on their issues, Shep is completely sincere in wanting them to stay on Pabu, to build a new life for themselves despite what they've already been through.

When Wrecker says he's never full, what does that trigger in Shep's mind? I think he would instantly realize that these are survivors, but because he's around them, watching them, he also notices that just because they know how to survive doesn't know they know how to actually live. The Batchers are still adjusting to not being soldiers and now they're fugitives, castaways. Even before the war ended, they were experiments and viewed as canon fodder, created for a war that they didn't get to choose to fight. But more than pitying them, I think Shep would just be that much more eager to set their minds at ease and help them adapt to civilian life. That's certainly what he seems to be doing in the buildup to Season Three.

And now we just have some more pics because I love Shep so much.

[moonastro]

pick a picture⋆ ˚ ꩜ ｡ ⋆୨୧˚

𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙢 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙛𝙨 𝙥𝙩.2

left to right(top)-> 1,2

left to right(bottom)-> 3,4

*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚

°DO NOT take this as literal, take everything with a grain of salt as this is purely and intendedly for entertainment purposes.

°Don't be afraid to give feedback and opinions about this post (as i would entirely appreciate it).

° This is a GENERAL reading, take what resonates and leave and pass on what does not!

*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚

PILE 1-

ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻ੈ✩‧₊˚ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻ੈ✩‧₊˚ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻ੈ✩‧₊˚ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻₊˚༺☆༻ੈ✩‧

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚may have a significant-like a strong/muscley back or have problems with back pain--also the spine!!

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚may regularly change hairstyle often, perhaps cut their hair a lot and dye their hair often. i see them leaning towards having red/blue/grey hair.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚may like sparkly thing, for example diamonds, glitter, glass and so forth. anything with sparkles on it intrigues them.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚may also be into star shaped jewellery, stars may be an interest of theirs.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚may wear hats or like to wear hoods.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚loves sleeping, is a deep sleeper.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚may prefer winter/ autumn more than summer/spring. prefer the cold weather in general. may constantly have a fan/air con on at all times despite the weather outside.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚like cooking, preparing meals for others. are interested in learning new recipes.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚like history, are fascinated about historic events and eras.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚are most likely into skincare and haircare, have a designated routine that they do every day.

thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed!!✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

PILE 2-

ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻ੈ✩‧₊˚ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻ੈ✩‧₊˚ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻ੈ✩‧₊˚ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻₊˚༺☆༻ੈ✩‧

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚are definitely a high achiever, may have a lot of achievements academically speaking.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚are sensitive to sounds, sound is very important to them. For example, may like loud music blasting in their ears or are the opposite and hate loud sounds, like hating fireworks because of their loud sound.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚may have green eyes, blonde/red hair.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚love children, would want a family for sure. has a soft spot for kids.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚has multiple of ears piercing, may have other body piercings also.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚hate being in tight spaces, are picky about clothes and overall personal space.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚very caring and nurturing. is the kind of person to anonymously do something to protect you without craving for the attention of recognition.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚has some signature sitting position/habit that they have when sitting down. may cross their legs or bend one leg and so forth.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚love warm weather, especially watching the sunrise- are perhaps a morning person as well.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚love movies, might have a comfort movie that they watch over and over again.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚have longer than average legs.

thanks for reading!!!✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

PILE 3-

ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻ੈ✩‧₊˚ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻ੈ✩‧₊˚ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻ੈ✩‧₊˚ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻₊˚༺☆༻ੈ✩‧

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚loveee music, may make/create/produce music themselves.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚may prefer gold jewellery or may have/own a lot of gold accessories.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚may be lactose intolerant or just hate diary, cheese-- may be vegan/vegetarian or follow some sort of a diet.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚may like dark themes, clothes, style, music, aesthetic etc.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚weird way to explain it but may hate how time goes fast, may be afraid of aging or growing up. even may be afraid of death also.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚they don't get bored easily, can sit still doing nothing for hours on end.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚have a very hypnotic/sweet/classy voice. i feel like their voice makes people melt ☆⋆｡𖦹°‧★

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚keeps to themselves most of the time, and i don't mean that in a shy matter but in a energy reserved way- they just would much rather have/prefer their own company. or aren't bothered by being alone.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚might not celebrate their birthday. or may think that there is no need to.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚love thinking about the higher cosmos and the outer worldly possibilities.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚may not drink enough water/don't like water/forget to drink water.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚prefer to stay silent than to express what they think.

hope you enjoyed this reading PILE 3!!!✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

PILE 4-

ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻ੈ✩‧₊˚ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻ੈ✩‧₊˚ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻ੈ✩‧₊˚ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻₊˚༺☆༻ੈ✩‧

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚are sly with things, almost like hypnotic. their actions are so hypnotising that you cant say no to them.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚have a soft spot for old things, may like to go thrifting, collect lost things, love getting generational stuff passed down to them etc etc.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚definitely go with he flow, they may not think much of their future and are too busy thinking about the present moment.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚like to try new things, may like to go along with the current trends on the internet and social media. may like to make social media content also.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚think about others before themselves.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚may be from a hot country-may be racially mixed.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚are very loyal.

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚keep very good secrets. i feel like they are the friend who is always getting the tea☕🍵😭

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚are good with little details, are always confronted with "how do you know that" or "how do you remember that??". because they surprise people of how good they remember the tiniest of details of a situation or person.

thanks so much for reading, hope you enjoyed PILE 4!!!✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

*ੈ♡⸝⸝🪐༘⋆*ੈ♡⸝⸝🪐༘⋆*ੈ♡⸝⸝🪐༘⋆*ੈ♡⸝⸝🪐༘⋆*ੈ♡⸝⸝🪐⋆*ੈ♡⸝⸝🪐༘⋆

FRIENDLY REMINDER- paid tarot readings are available (DM or check out here for more info!!)

*IMAGES ARE NOT MINE*

[strawberryicemoon]

Text form/elaboration under cut

Liko

Airship

Art

Fantasy Spanish/Portuguese

Turtle

Airship

Blue

Hikari

Japanese

Dragon

Light(Evolution)

Photography

Only one NOT to forget stuff

Aelita

French?

Orphan

Elf

Music and Math

Creation

Liko and Hikari

Goggle Boys

Monster Partners

Matching Mon

Adventure

Timeskip

Necklace

Cat

Aelita and Hikari

Blond French Boy

Digital World

Afterschool War

Hospitalized

Angel

Pink

Aelita and Liko

Boarding School

Inherited Plot

Amnesia

Teacher Parent

ALL

PRINCESS CODED

World of Monsters

Fights Evil

Male Parallel Character

Elaborations:

Male Parallel Characters: Metaphorical Prince, characters who form a duo of sorts with the character. Amethio and Liko are both descendants of the explorers founders, Takeru and Hikari are both the youngest of the first series and veterans in the second with their older brothers also being foils. Jeremie the person who discovers the computer and is the person who gets to know it best and never goes to Lyoko and Aelita was stuck on Lyoko Goggle Boys: Taichi was the leader of the Chosen children whose initiative kept them going. Wears goggles, fire dino. Friede was the leader of the RVT whose initiative kept them going. Wears goggles, fire dragon. Taichi is literally Hikari's protective older brother. Friede is Liko's mother's former student hired as a bodyguard. Daisuke looked up to Taichi and inherited his goggles and his crest. Daisuke wasn't the leader in the traditional sense but helped the team keep going with his determination, dragon with fire, electric using forms and a general muscley form. Roy was inspired by Friede and inherited Pikachu, who inherited Friede's goggles and helped reunite the RVT with his determination despite not being their leader. Fire croc and electric bird, fighting type and association with sky dragon (Also Uruto and Roy's dynamic is also very Goggle boy sr.-jr.). Daisuke is Hikari's age and a close friend. Roy is about Liko's age and a close friend. Matching Mon: Ceruledge and (Presumably) Armarouge are matching Pokémon to reflect Liko and Amethio's parallels. Angemon and Angewomon are matching Digimon that reflect Hikari and Takeru's. Adventure: Travel the world (on foot) in order to fight evil alongside some peers and your monster friends. Digital World: Go to another world to fight evil, digital world affects reality, timey-wimey nonsense with the flow of time in relation to that digital world, can fast-travel the real world by going between computers. Covered in Towers used by main antagonists. Afterschool War: Fighting evil with a computer in between day to day school activities alongside other students. Inherited Plot: Aelita inherited the plot from her parent's mysterious past, a tragedy involving her mother's kidnapping and her father's death. Liko inherited the plot from her great-great grandparents, a tragedy involving the presumed death of her great-great grandfather and their friend. Amnesia: Liko temporarily loses her memories when brainwashed, Aelita's memory problems are a major plot point. Ironically, Hikari is the only one to remember Digimon when everyone else forgot.

PRINCESS CODED: Usually the most "protected" member of the team who has the most intrinsic connection to the plot. The Lyoko Warriors form in order to get Aelita safe in the real world, and to help her fight XANA in the mean time. Liko's family hired the RVT to find and protect her before she decided to join them and they decided to help her figure out her pendants secrets. Liko is also one of the youngest team members. Hikari is the 8th child, and the one all the other kids are searching for to protect so she can join their team. She is also one of the youngest team members and in some ways one of the most powerful. Aelita's father created Lyoko thus is its metaphorical king, and she's the one of the only ones with Lyoko's keys and special control over the computer. She is literally nicknamed Princess. Liko's the only one to awaken the sleeping Terapagos that sealed away Laqua as her great-great grandmother was Terapagos's partner. Liko's foil Amethio is (insultingly) referred to as a prince, indirectly because of something that also technically applies to Liko; being descended from the original explorers. Hikari is never referred to as a princess, but Hikari's older brother is the leader of the Chosen Children (their metaphorical king), and the pair of them were the ones to interact with the Digimon in the incident that got the chosen children chosen. She has the most sensitivity to matters regarding the digital world. Also one of the forms her partner takes is "Nefertimon" named after an egyptian queen.

[kitkatopinions]

Every single volume, Jaune becomes more and more proof that rwde posters in general aren't just "wishing a man was the protagonist" and "liking macho alpha men" like anti-rwde posters frequently say.

At the start of RWBY an argument could've been made that Jaune didn't fit the standard male power fantasy because he wasn't buff and battle-hardened and confident and knowledgeable. This argument would've been flawed because there's also a known male fantasy of being nerdy underdogs who get the girl anyway (like with Pyrrha) and who are still treated like they're super important, but it's still an argument that could've been made in the first three seasons.

Then an argument could've hypothetically been made that Jaune has non-romantic female friendships and shows deep emotions and stuff in RWBY volumes 4-6 and therefore doesn't fit a traditional mold of standard male fantasies despite having grown into a 'more built, strategist, leader role' and still getting special focus and attention. This would've been a flawed argument, because Jaune's emotional turmoil was built on Pyrrha's fridging and resulted in him taking on and holding his own against Cinder, and his lack of romantic relationships was more built on Pyrrha being his 'forever fall.' Very 'action hero who lost his wife' style of writing.

Then an argument could've been made very unconvincingly in volumes 7-8 that Jaune might be now getting played as a very muscley attractive guy that milfs lust after that keeps a cool head in arguments, but one could still argue that he was still not as experienced or skilled as Ruby, and also that he was less of a 'macho man' than the bearded older guy in charge of things that Ironwood was, and that Jaune's anger issues from the last few seasons had started winding down. Obviously this argument wouldn't be convincing, and wouldn't be a real counter argument to how he was being used and how his progress just read like a 'zero to hero,' 'kid who used to be a gangly nerd is now super desirable and cool' fantasy, but it could hypothetically be made.

But then in volume nine, Jaune becomes not only a bearded older man with all this information who is in charge of a village, but he also becomes a much more angry and prone to snapping person than ever, his emotional outbursts are now built on the deaths of two more women in Penny and Alix, and he quite literally becomes a hero of a novel he used to love as a kid, while Weiss openly is into him. Weiss, who is the girl he originally was perusing way back when who wouldn't give him the time of day. Jaune literally screamed in the face of a seventeen year old victim blaming her for stuff that either she wasn't at fault for at all or that he's at least just to blame for, and didn't get called out and instead got coddled and treated with more sympathy than Ruby. The fact that he got deaged back at the end just makes me think that the writers are intending to make him and Weiss get together eventually but didn't want there to be a twenty year age gap between them, despite the fact that he still has the memories of twenty years.

But yeah, Jaune always gave big 'male fantasy' vibes, but every single season it got worse and worse and he got more and more male fantasy vibes until he's become an angry macho man with a beard screaming in a teenage woman's faces and getting nothing but sympathy over it. And he's only gotten more and more focus and attention. So by all rights, if rwde posters actually wanted a man to be a protagonist and wanted macho manly men to be more in focus and treated as good and for them to get attention... We'd all be on board with Jaune and want more Jaune and like Jaune. Instead, with every single season, rwde posters in general dislike Jaune more and want him less. Whereas there's actually RWBY fans who do love and worship Jaune and want him around more and more and like half the fandom at this point are Jaune fanboys, but nobody actually pays any attention to them because apparently the real crime is thinking Ironwood's fall to villainy was badly written. XD The whole "Rwde posters just want men to be the protagonists and they love macho alpha men" is completely fake. It's a made up lie based in nothing that people throw around because they're mad that rwde posters don't like the writers' choices when it comes to Ironwood. XD

[itwasthereaminuteago]

|| Boss ||

I was thinking of Earth 65 Murderdock for this one, although you can imagine a Netflix AU Matt and Frank if you so wish!

Warnings: Just swearing and sort of fluff/allusions to smut.

It's like a storm has blown in the door of Frank's apartment. A blazing, angry blur of red, cut with a flash of white as the tempest hurls his cane across the room to clatter against the far wall. “-can't fucking get the staff these days! What the fuck is wrong with everyone?! As if I ask for much? Just a tiny modicum of respect and maybe, oh I dunno, just follow my fucking orders!? FUCK!”

Matt’s shoulders heave under the silk cotton of his suit jacket as he takes a breather for a second. He's angling his head rapidly, as if looking for something.

“Jesus Frank, of all the people to have no fucking hard liquor in their place… ”

Frank shrugs, he was more into extra strength coffee these days to keep himself going, but he knows Matt needs various means to unwind. Namely alcohol, beating the crap out of lowlife scum, sex with women, men… and yeah, that sometimes even included him. He grew less and less surprised each time the Kingpin came to call on him.

“So what's eatin’ ya Red?” Frank asks as he pats his thigh lazily, lowering his gaze which he knows even Matt can sense. “C'mon over an’ sit on daddy's knee. Tell me all about it.” He grins.

“Pfft!” Matt spits out a scoff, but still he can't help the side of his mouth from tugging up into a smirk at Frank's humour.

“‘Daddy’? Really, Castle?”

Despite his apparent amused disgust, the Kingpin of Hell's Kitchen perches himself comfortably on the bigger man's ridiculously thick thigh while he's sat with legs spread wide on the armchair.

“Yeah, why not? You sound like the spoiled little girl that didn't get her pony.” Frank says, risking a poke at the hornets nest.

Matt doesn't bite however, just lets himself flop against Frank's chest, letting a long, laboured sigh leave his body as Frank's arm comes around him. For whatever reason he still finds it hard to admit he likes this, that he might actually enjoy being coddled and comforted sometimes. It wasn't always easy being ‘on’ all the time although he could sure as hell make it look like it was.

“I've had an absolute shitter of a day. I want to fucking kill everyone.” Matt mumbles into the massive muscley pillow of Frank's arm and shoulder.

“There. Ain't that better now you got that out?” Frank rumbles close to his ears. Matt’s eyelids droop and close with exhaustion, as he lets Frank take his physical weight as well as that of his mental burden. He hums, exhaling deeply again as he feels the press of strong fingers tracing up and down his spine through his clothes.

“You hungry?” Frank eventually asks. He feels the soft shake of Matt’s head.

“No… I've got shit to do but I just wanna lay here for a while.”

“Well, you can do that, you're your own boss after all.”

“Urgh,” Matt groans, “remind me why I'm mayor again?” he whines dramatically, his lips brushing against the skin of Frank's neck causing him to lift his head slightly to grant him more access as he starts to lay kisses on his now rapidly heating skin..

“Well, it's always been my understanding it's because you love being a bossy lil bitch an’ orderin’ people around.” Frank responds, first with a low chuckle, then a sharp intake of breath and a grunt as Matt viciously sucks a scarlet and purple mark on the crook of his neck.

“If you think I'm letting you off with that comment you're sorely mistaken, Castle.” Matt says as he gets to his feet. He wraps his fingers around Frank's wrist and urges him up.

“Where we goin’?” He asks.

“To your bed, so I can be a bossy lil bitch and order you around.” Matt snarks, and Frank follows, wondering just what he's let himself in for this time.

[bitofanupsidedowner]

listen i'm sleep deprived and can't really word it but i keep thinking about how mike associates el with growing up & forced conformity, it's been his whole thing ever since he had to start giving up his toys in season two, & it's re-established when he and will argue in the rain about what will expected for the rest of his lives and we see that mike's insistence on the girlfriend thing is because he does not believe the things he enjoy get to exist in his new, adult life.

we also see that despite the fact mike refers to el as their mage, this doesn't seem to be an important title to el herself, if she's even aware of it at all. she doesnt understand dnd, doesn't seem to watch the movies he watches once she does get the chance to start doing that, and doesn't like his music or singing. they have nothing in common, so it does kind of make sense he thinks being with her is being without those things.

the second el is out of the picture in lenora, he reverts back to his "childish" enjoyments, re-involving himself with d&d and fiction, decorating his room in muscley lizard men and movie posters.

this is again shown when will tries to discuss their future while including el in it, aka playing nintendo and robbing casinos, and mike gets nervous about what his future looks like with her.

mike is a lot of things but he's very much a nerd. it's not even just that he seems to think he can't be mike the nerd with her, it's that he seems to see her as a ticket out of being one.

he's fighting constantly with which he prefers: the comfort of conformity, or the comfort of his true self and the freedom it gives him to express it.

will is tied into his childhood and the things he enjoys inextricably, like he'd rationed away part of his life to being will's and resigned to the rest of it being adult and the two not necessarily coalescing. when el gets into the picture he realizes he wants lives with both of them for different reasons.

will is who he is, el is who he desperately wants to be. el is what he feels has to be his life, will's what it could be if he let himself. that's why he's so devastated every time will affirms that he wants that.

i don't think he's comfortable with the idea he could pursue a life where he's committed to being himself. it's easier for him to believe he has no choice.

and i think that's a big part of why he's so scared when he realizes that his feelings for will have stopped being platonic and he's started expressing attraction to him. not only does it mean he's gay but it also recontextualizes all the things he wants but has been trying not to as possible. maybe he feels like it's wrong to think about will as part of his adult life

it's always akward to talk about puberty as an adult but it reminds me of this quote from an 80s sex education video sponsored by tampax where one of the kids in it says, "adolescents who are becoming adults are being pulled in several different directions at once. grown up feelings and sensations may be in conflict with childhood, causing you to feel uneasy or restless. this is completely normal. communicating with friends and family may clarify these feelings."

mike specifically distances himself emotionally and ESPECIALLY physically from will, even when he seems to resent having to do so (getting angry and pretending he didn't call will when dustin says for a fact that he did), whereas he doesn't do this with the other boys. it's pretty clear he's feeling deeply conflicted about will's position in his life and it AUuUhGHghHHGH. IT AUhghgh anyway. tired. this is stupid. just thoughts

[mama-ivy]

Whumpril 2024

Day 22 - Stoicism Breaks

A Prequel to The Basement

“You are a strong one, little American. This will take more time than I would like, but I will break you.” The overly muscley Russian man bent over his captured prey. He was hot and sweaty, but not nearly as dirty and bloody as his captive.

“The boss is not pleased.” The older gentleman in the corner of the room stood from the only chair and stepped towards the poor man hanging by his wrists in the center of the dark and dingy concrete cell.

The Russian turned from his toy and looked towards the spindly grey-haired man walking towards him. “I don’t care. My process is my process. I will be finished when I am finished.”

“You could be finished now.” The beaten captive raised his green eyes up to look at the conversation. “I wouldn’t mind in the least.”

The Russian laughed a deep and hearty belly laugh. “You are a funny little man, American. Very strong. Your superiors were right in choosing you. You are buying them time by not telling me what I want to know.”

“Just doing my job. It’s why I get paid the measly little bucks.”

“Despite the sexual tension between the two of you,” the older gentleman interrupted, “Madame is tired of waiting for your game to play out and will be here tomorrow morning to check on the progress herself.”

The Russian laughed again.  “Hear that, American? Tomorrow morning the fun will really begin.”

“Can’t wait.” the green-eyed American spat out.

Brian didn’t think he could take much more.  He was tired, aggravated, hungry, and embarrassed. He hadn’t slept or eaten in three days and his captors were being extremely vague about what it was they were after.  The mission did not go as planned and while the chance of a perfect plan becoming reality was close to nil, it was his first official solo mission and he had wanted to prove himself as an agent. Much more than all of that, however, he was worried.  Stephen was home alone.

Stephen. His handsome, loving, devoted boyfriend – uh, scratch that, husband.  Wow, Brian thought. That felt weird in his head. Husband. Fuck, he was a lucky duck.  He didn't think he'd ever get used to the fact that Stephen had said yes to him – a nobody.  The most popular and fun-loving guy he had ever met had said “I do” to him.  His first real relationship, the first guy he had taken home to his parents after coming out to them, the sexiest man he had ever laid eyes on, and the best chef he had ever met. Stephen had said yes.

He needed to get through this. He needed to see Stephen again. To run his fingers through the thick strawberry curls, to kiss the soft lips, to curl into the warmth and comfort of the hugs, to eat that fucking Coq au Vin. Jesus, he was hungry. Stephen’s Coq au Vin was amazing. He could almost smell it. Fresh baguette. Bouillabaisse. Tarte Tatin. And that was just the French dishes he was classically trained on. The man fried an amazing chicken, baked the best pies, and could mix a drink like a master.

He had to survive this. And get home.

The Madame sauntered into the small room with an overpowering presence.  “Ele disse alguma coisa importante?”

“No.” the spindly elderly gentleman followed her in and shut the door behind them.

“Hmm.” She stepped up to Brian and lifted his face towards her by his chin. “You will tell me, meu amigo.”

“I don’t know what you want from me.” Brian rasped.

“Água.” She said over her shoulder. “Señor Brian here is having trouble speaking.”

Brian’s eyes widened slightly. She wasn’t supposed to know his name.

The Madame smiled. “Sí, Señor. I know everything about you.”

“Bullshit.” Brian spat out. “Even if you did, it wouldn’t change anything.”

“You think so?” Madame stepped back and looked Brian up and down. “You will tell me who sent you and what they want from me.”

Brian just stared at her.

“Prepare o carro.” Madame said over her shoulder again. “We have someone to see.”

The elderly gentleman nodded and exited the room leaving the door ajar.

“If you won’t tell me, Señor Brian, maybe Stephen will.”

“NO!  NO!” Brian screamed and began to struggle against his chains. “He doesn’t know anything! Leave him alone!”

Madame only smiled and left Brian crying alone in the dark.

@whumpril

[hiccupbutpurple]

Boom this is Seki (it’s a nickname but I don’t actually have a full name for him so it’s just been Seki for years now). He’s a pirate and Snotlout’s kinda boyfriend/fling,,,,it’s probably a situationship for a long time.

- he is a pirate and runs into the riders, has a fling with Snotlout after a night of drinking and singing. He pulls the ultimate pirate/sailor move and sails away and probably sings songs about his escapes with the riders (rip Snotlout)

- at some point they meet up again, they would either be a couple or just be close friends

- they wrestle and talk about being muscley. Despite being 5’3 he could absolutely manhandle Snotlout around.

- this dude is a himbo, also kinda has Eret vibes ngl

- sad backstory (got kidnapped at a young age but eventually got escaped onto another ship. The pirates there were a bit nicer and took him in. For years he wanted to find his home again, but he had no name and very little memories, when he’s probs 19 or so he finds it and meets his family. He stays there for a year but the call of this sea is to hard to resist so he gets his own crew and sets off to sail and explore once more).

- when I was looking for old records I found that my original version of him was a mermaid girl that Snotlout saved from a prison and had blue hair. He broke off and became his own thing separate from httyd, evolving into this, but Snotlout came back due to sea shanties and sparked my memory. So now he’s trans and his blue hair tie is a reference to his previous hair colour.

- good growley/guttural singer - loves clapping and dancing in a circle while singing.

- tries and fails to keep his clothes from tearing but he’s pretty clumsy all things considered. Snotlout sewed up his outfits at one point, it didn’t last.

- the gold buckles on his shoes are just pieces of gold he stole and decided to make into an accessory and tied them onto his shoes.

- The ties on this waist come from his older clothing. He keeps them as reminders of the stages of his life.

- opposite coat/hair thing:

[amarriageoftrueminds]

something i’ve been thinking of lately is how we always associate peggy & her actress with white feminism, but when you actually think about it it’s not even white feminism. white feminism isn’t even the bare minimum and yet it still fails the quota to be considered white feminism. it’s just me feminism. she doesn’t even support white women as a collective lol.

like there’s an interview of the actress where she talks about the 2nd season of ac & her comments about the female antagonists made me violently cringe. she was like (paraphrasing), “oh yeah they’re ambitious women like peggy but peggy is a good person and they are just power-hungry narcissists”. i watched both seasons and i can tell you if her only takeaway from whitney and dotty is that they’re narcissists, she’s either not very intelligent or too self-absorbed to really think about the characters not played by her. like what’s narcissistic about being brainwashed in a spy program which you were forced into as probably a baby, or about wanting to be respected for the human genius you are?

the female sidekicks are ridiculous too. again, all good-looking able wasp women but they both have 5 minutes of screentime each + always playing the silly awkward best friend trope. & the woman playing peggy never ackowledges them or their actresses, unless of course it is to conveniently say that s3 would’ve included a peggy x angie relationship after the show was canceled, despite the fact that when asked about it months ago she’d said “we can’t do everything”

like she’s not even nice to able-bodied able-minded upper class wasp women; how do we expect her to support the interests of women who are actually marginalized??

Excellent points, 'nonny.

Funny, isn't it, that there isn't really an extant term that sufficiently describes just how egocentric she is?

(What's even whiter than white feminism? Albino feminism? Leucistic feminism?!)

And- christ, what an absolute staggering failure of self-awareness, for Atwell to call other peoples' characters narcissistic! 🤯

It's as if (she? Peggy?) lacks the capacity to see anyone beyond herself as... a real, entire person. She and the writers seem to think that merely not criticising other women is the same thing as actually supporting them.

.

Funny how the villains of AC have somehow achieved both competence and rank, despite this insurmountable misogyny that Peggy keeps telling us is the reason she hasn't amounted to anything at the nepo-job she's flaking out on.

Interesting (but not at all surprising) that the villains are also the only other WASP women / of her SEC in Peggy's show.

Connect the damn dots, writers! Your Lil Miaow Miaow is an entitled villainess!

Because if a working class woman looked as good and was as important as Peggy and was competent as well...

Well, what would there be left for Peggy to be? How would she distinguish herself, at all? She would cease to be Special in any way.

.

My mind always goes back to Pepper Potts.

Hyper-competent, classy, beautifully-dressed red-headed woman?

Who can afford to have a whole other hyper-competent, classy, beautifully-dressed, red-headed woman in the same movie as her, and even flirting with the same man, because Gwyneth Paltrow is not so easily threatened. 💅

Imagine if they couldn't have Thor in the same movie as Steve because being handsome and blonde and muscley and good is his thing. Or were only allowed to have handsome actors if they were playing villains, so as not to undermine Steve's heroic Specialness. Would be pretty pathetic, wouldn't it? 😬

.

In AC -- perhaps intending to retcon CATFA Peggy's indifference to her fellow women and failure to pass the Bechdel Test -- they try to set up token 'Peggy Supports the Women!!' moments.

But her other actions belie that.

Example: stabbing a guy with a fork for pinching Angie.

But it just begs the questions:

Why does this protectiveness only start after Angie has ass-kissed Peggy?

Why does that random fat guy get stabbed for annoying women, but sugar daddy Howard Stark merely gets a telling off?

(J/K! We know why -- she'll need his penthouse!)

And why are we supposed to see Peggy as protective of women, when it's Peggy herself who's the idiot putting their lives in danger in the first place?

(And for no better reason than because she wants someone to pay attention to her, or because she wants to show off and overestimates how clever she is, in a way that disastrously backfires -- not on her but on those lower down the foodchain, of course.)

She gets Eileen fridged murdered because she wore a blonde wig despite knowing she had a blonde civilian room-mate at home.

Pretty stupid, no?

And what's worse, then she goes out and immediately befriends yet another blonde civilian woman!

Why does she persist in putting innocent women in danger?

By her own admission, there's an entire floor full of female agents whom she could've easily struck up a friendship with at any time. Why not one of them?

(Answer: because having other female agents around reminds us Peggy isn't special... unless they're an unthreatening fat girl there for comic-relief, of course!)

Is Peggy that desperate to only be around those she can condescend to? Waitresses and housekeepers? She doesn't want equals, she wants servants? (So the writers can play with their Downton Abbey fetish?)

Then there's the way that, every time Actual Feminist Daniel Sousa tries to say something feminist in the office, Peggy shuts him down and treats the very attempt as if it's a personal insult.

These writers are so ignorant of what feminism is and how it actually works that they think a thing can only be feminist if a Woman does it.

The hypocrisy of Peggy stopping Daniel speaking up for women's rights generally because -- as you said -- she knows her value and only this one particular white woman matters.

.

(And then Atwell, in classic clueless tin-eared style, quotes that line out of context on her IG for her Pride Month. 🤦‍♀️ Is her message meant to be: 'hey folks, if you hear someone speaking up for gay rights, do what Peggy did and tell them not to! Let the oppressors carry on as they are, because... hey, as long as this one white person loves themselves?? no one else's opinion matters...' 😌

#Girlboss #Super-humble-about-it)

.

In s2, they tried to walk back that silly line (which... y'know... Peggy casually destroying any chance of career advancement those women on the other floors could've had? For a pithy soundbite? Great job!)

By having Peggy mansplain to Daniel, Rose's employer, why he should employ... Rose... his employee... 😕❓❓❓

When Rose is only there because Daniel believed in her enough to take her with him and give her a job.

(Unlike Peggy, who just took her servant and her sugar daddy. Oh and her giant wardrobe.)

And Peggy doubts Rose herself. But then -- hypocritically -- pretends to Daniel's face that she didn't. And she has the audacity to scornfully compare him to Jack Thompson, for seeing Rose that way.

(That's you, Peggy! You just described yourself!)

There's also the... very weird vibe about Peggy, when she goes to visit Violet, the new fiancee of Daniel.

Daniel, who... wasn't even dating Peggy, but nevertheless moved to the entire other side of the country to get away from her.

(Hmm... is it just me or is there a definite pattern of ESCAPE in the men Peggy battens onto? 🤔 It's giving You / Crazy Ex Girlfriend).

Anyway, Peggy put on this super weird chummy 'I'm SO super nice and Totally NOT bothered about him moving on so quick!!!' persona with Violet, which she never had with anyone else at any other time. Kind of creepy? Like an aristo trying to pass for a peasant, or something. And her idea of being Hip and Cool and Relatable to the working class was to... share a story of her triumphs at English public school? 😬 Oyvey. Read the room, Camilla.

[thegirlwiththeninjaturtletattoos]

Every Rose Has it's Thorn

-Part 2-

>Part 3

<Part 1

Universe: Teenage Mutant Teenage Turtles (Bayverse aged-up turtles)

Rating: R for swearing mostly MINORS DNI

Raphael x OC (female character)

Tags: Fluff, original character, slow burn romance, mentions of violence

-Rose wakes up after her attack and finds herself in an unfamiliar bed, only to discover and meet her rescuers.

-----------------------------------------------------

I’m dead.

Yes?

Am I dead?

Rose was having a dream about her grandparents and her childhood home when the pain of her injuries began to force her awake. She slowly blinked open her eyes and winced at the sharp stabbing sensation in her ribs and neck. Hell, even her scalp hurt.

Suddenly, she realized she was not in her bed.

Glancing around the room, she took in her surroundings. The room was cement and brick, with red accents everywhere. On a dresser there was a stand holding two sais, and several martial arts books on a bookshelf nearby. There was also workout gear strewn about the room, various weights and even some giant boxing gloves. The bed she was in was covered in silk red sheets and was absolutely huge, to the point that she didn’t know if she could crawl out with her body in the shape it was in after...

Oh yeah, that. 

Rose took a moment to take stock of her injuries, lifting the back the sheets and moving carefully. She was surprised to find that her joggers and over-sized cropped t-shirt were still in good shape, with minimal dirt and blood stains on it. She expected to see her body in shambles as she gingerly raised her shirt over her abdomen, but instead found bandages and gauze, expertly done. She knew she wasn’t in a hospital, but had no memories of the events of last night after getting kicked in the alley.

In a moment her hope shattered and she worried that the two men had kidnapped her, and brought her to some place to be held captive. Panicking, she rolled off the bed without crying out in pain (mostly) and crept towards the door in the corner of the room. Putting an ear to the solid wood, she heard hushed voices arguing.

“Raph, you completely ignored the chain of command yesterday. I understand your reasoning behind it, but you cannot just go against me like that. We are a team.”

“Leo she was gunna die, you think I’m just gunna sit back while you have a cup of tea and think? Somebody had to do somethin’, and you’re just pissed it wasn’t you.”

Another voice cut in over the others.

“Hey when you guys are done with the same argument you have every 20 minutes, can we talk about how cute that girl is? If it wasn’t obvious, diiibs!”

“Shut up, Mikey.” The other voices groaned in unison.

Rose almost laughed out loud at the banter, though still unsure at the situation she now found herself in. These voices didn't sound like the men from last night, but she didn’t remember anyone else in the alley.

All she could remember was the pain from the shoes against her chest, and the feel of the cold blade on her skin. She shuddered, and suddenly her stomach let out a loud growl.

Shit, I never ate yesterday.

The voices hushed, and she cautiously opened the door.

She was most definitely not expecting her rescuers to be giant mutant turtles.

Rose didn’t know how to react; she just stood there silently eyeing them up and down, taking everything in. They were huge. Like crazy tall, muscley, with Naruto gear on like they were ninjas or something.

And despite everything, she felt oddly at ease. 

Weird. 

She knew well enough to trust her gut, though. 

Looking around she couldn't tell exactly where they were, but it definitely seemed like a base of sorts. There was a kitchen nearby, a dining room, and a large living space with huge couches and lots of giant tv screens.

The four turtles were standing in the kitchen staring at her, plates on the table and things still on the stove. She looked over hungrily, and was excited to see pancakes and eggs being prepped.

“Nice to see you've woken up. How are you feeling this morning?” A turtle in a blue bandana spoke first, stepping forward and bowing slightly to her as he spoke. The hilts of the twin katana strapped to his shell glinted as he moved, and she took in the fact that they were all heavily armed.

Qué? Who are these guys?

“I'm Leonardo, pleased to officially meet you. And you are...?”

“Hi-buenos día-ah- good morning." She managed to choke out. Her throat was sore, and the shock wasn’t helping her communication skills. “Ahm, my name’s Rose. Nice to meet you as well. Should I ...assume that you guys came to my rescue last night?”

Leo smiled back at her, eye ridge raised in mild amusement as he watched her face come back to life. She seemed to be taking their existence well. “Ah- yes, we did intervene yesterday. And don't worry, the criminals have been dealt with. I apologize for bringing you here, but with the state of your injuries, we thought it best to make sure you were all right.” He chuckled under his breath and shook his head. "We don't normally take house guests after patrol, but Donnie here insisted." Motioning to his brothers, they all moved from their frozen places around the kitchen, finally relaxing a bit. “These are my brothers; Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo.” 

Donnie was the first to step forward. “How are you feeling this morning, Rose? Have you bled through any bandages, noticed any more swelling?” The purple-banded turtle had a concerned look on his face as he cautiously eyed the bandage on her neck, his tone even and gentle.

“No, I think everything held up okay. Whoever did the bandaging knew what they were doing, gracias.”

“You’re welcome." He smiled, a proud look glinting in his hazel eyes. “That shouldn’t scar, it was a small cut and didn’t bleed much. But let me know if you’re experiencing pain, I have medications that will help.” Donnie walked back to the table, grabbing some breakfast. 

"I do have one question, though." Rose looked over at Leo, who raised an eye ridge at her with a humored look on his face. "Why trust me?"

He cocked a half-smile, still eyeing her. "My brothers were concerned that you wouldn't be in good enough hands with anyone else, and Donnie can be very persuasive when he wants to be."  Leo laughed to himself as he turned to head to the table. "And you cleared the background check." 

Rose nodded with a laugh as she watched him head over to the large wooden surface as the smallest of the four almost ran over to her, tripping over his words and excitedly rambling.

“Yo, I'm Michelangelo, but lovely ladies like you can call me Mikey!” His blue eyes seemed electrified under his orange mask as he went on. “Raph and I were talking about that palm strike you did yesterday, that was awesome! Where did you learn that?!”

Rose chuckled, smile growing as she watched Mikey vibrate in place. “My Dad taught me a few moves when I was a kid. He wanted me to be able to protect myself.” Her smile dropped as she said darkly “much good it did me, I still got my ass beat.” She touched the bandage on her neck and winced.

“ Don’t worry about it babes, we got you from now on. Ass-kicking's free of charge!” Mikey said with a smile, squeezing her arm. “Come on, let’s eat! I figured you could use some good grub!”

Rose followed him over to the table, gingerly sitting down in the large wooden chair that Mikey pulled out for her. There was an empty seat next to her, presumably it belonged to the last brother who still stood watching her with his arms crossed over his chest.

He had been staring since she walked in the room, trying to hide it albeit unsuccessfully.

She had watched him out of the corner of her eye, taking him in. He was the largest of the four, incredibly muscular and mildly intimidating as he looked her over with ice in his gaze. They all wore athletic pants and gear of some sort, but his shorts were cut low enough to draw her eyes down, and she couldn't help but leer as he seemed to do the same. Rose's eyes dragged slowly over him, taking in the wrapping and straps on his arms and legs as her gaze slowly drifted back to his face. His hazel eyes were an almost golden amber color, and he was insanely handsome. Sexy, even.

She couldn’t help but notice the red mask, and put it together that she had slept in his bed last night.

Interesting.

Her eyes remained locked on his as he looked back up at her face, finally making eye contact, but almost seemed to blush as he quickly looked away. She chuckled under her breath; it was charming that such a tough guy would be embarrassed by eye contact alone.

She had to mess with him.

“Are you gunna come sit down or would you rather keep making eyes at me all day?” She called over to him, smirking.

Mikey laughed so hard he almost choked on his eggs.

The look on Ralph’s face was priceless; both surprise and embarrassment coloring his chiseled features. Yes, he had been staring, but he didn’t think she noticed.

She had sharp senses, then- Noted.

He fumbled to find a comeback. “ I, ah- whatever. Not hungry.”

He turned and marched off towards the weight room waving a hand dismissively over his shoulder.

Giggling to herself, Rose dug in to the breakfast Mikey had set in front of her as the brothers looked at her incredulously. They had never seen Raph subdued so effortlessly before, and with an insult too. She took a bite of a pancake and turned to Mikey.

“ Dude. These are freaking delicious. Did you make these?” Mikey nodded, with a gleam of pride on his face. “ You gotta teach me.”

“ Oh hells yeah! Pancake master Mikey in the house!” He laughed, and the both of them began chatting and giggling together as if they had known each other for years. 

Rose was enjoying the moment, though she thought that most sane people would probably be freaking out right about now. She had always been a wild girl, though, seeking adventure and new experiences, so it wasn't that much of a surprise that she had just accepted the situation immediately.

As she listened to Leonardo and Michelangelo tell her of their origin, battles, and life in the sewers, she slowly put their story together.

“So, your ninja mutants who fight crime. Damn, I thought I’d never be surprised again after yesterday. Well, thank you all so much for what you did. Seriously- had you not been there I’d probably be-”

Her words trailed off as she noticed a large furry creature in a shadowed hallway start to move towards them.

“You guys, “she whispered, rising from the table and looking for a weapon. “There is something over there. Please don’t tell me you have mutant roaches down here too.” She felt Leo's hand on her shoulder, guiding her back down to the chair gently, but firmly. She looked up at him, eyes wide. 

“Rose, I can assure you there are no mutant roaches,” Leo said with a laugh, smiling at her antics but still very aware that she was trembling against his palm. “This is our sensei, Master Splinter.”

Splinter came into the light of the main room and gave the woman a welcoming smile. The past years had given him more grey on his snout, and his eyes sparkled at the lively sight at the table in front of him.

Rose eyed him cautiously. 

“No roach here young lady- just an old rat tending his Bonsai garden. Though I may be able to scrounge up some insects if you would prefer...?” Splinter teased gently, eyeing the woman sitting at the breakfast table with his sons.

“Oh, ah- no, please don’t.” She said quickly, standing up from her chair and stepping away from the table. She bowed slightly to the rat and spoke what Japanese she could remember.

She had noticed the Japanese decor around the Lair, and Leo had mentioned that their sensei was from Japan and had studied martial arts with a well-renowned master.

He just left out the detail that he was a giant, talking rat.

“Ohayō gozaimasu Sensei.”

Pleased, Splinter acknowledged her bow and took his place at the table.

“Suwatte kudasai, doko de nihongo o manabu imashita ka?”

Embarrassed, Rose sat back down and fiddled with her earrings on her ear as she felt a flush in her cheeks. Speaking in English, she responded. “Sorry, could you repeat? I only know a few phrases here and there. “

“Of course my dear, I apologize for making you feel embarrassed. I was over eager.” It had been a long time since they had company in the lair, let alone anyone who knew Japanese. April had been busy lately, and didn't have much time to visit.  “I asked where you learned Japanese, are you from Japan?”

Rose sighed. “No, I wish. I spent some time there as a teen with my grandmother. She was visiting friends, and I picked up some words and phrases as we traveled. I would give anything to go back though, it was an amazing experience." She relaxed a little, picking up her fork again to pop another piece of fluffy pancake in her mouth, savoring the sweetness before she went on. "I'm Mexican, actually. My Dad's family came over from a small town called Torreón in the 60s and settled in the Midwest. I moved to New York not too long ago.”

Mikey's eyes popped out his head, but before he could erupt with questions, the rat raised his hand to silence him. “We would love to hear about your travels someday my dear, “he said, eyeing his son. “But perhaps another time. You should be getting back to the surface, it is almost noon.”

“Oh shit, seriously?!” Rose looked down at where her watch usually lay on her wrist, only to remember she forgot to put it on in her rush out of the apartment. That’s right, that whole mess still had to be dealt with.

Great.

“Master Splinter,” Donnie cut in. “Her wounds still need attention; I would prefer she stay here at least for a day so I can monitor her condition. I’m worried about her broken rib-” The rat lifted a hand and Donnie stopped mid-sentence.

“I don’t mind the company; I was only concerned that her life on the surface would be disturbed.” Turning to Rose he smiled, “Stay as long as you like dear. Though, Raphael may argue with the invitation if he has to continue sleeping on the couch.” Laughing to himself, he moved swiftly away from the table and walked upstairs to where a balcony with more plants sat in front of paper sliding doors. Rose smiled as she watched the rat disappear behind the screens, almost silently.

“I like that guy.” She said to herself, not realizing it was out loud.

She heard laughter and looked back at the table to see Mikey snickering at her, sticking her tongue out in protest as she turned to Donnie. “About the medical stuff, what exactly is going on with me?”

“Well, you have a few bruised bones, but one of your ribs is definitely broken. I’m worried about you moving around too much. If you rest and ice the area it should heal in a few weeks, but I’ve been working on a serum combined with the mutagen in our blood that may speed up the healing process. If you’re willing to wait a few days, I may be able to have it ready to test.”

“Wow, ah..sure, why not?” Rose was absolutely blown away; Leo had mentioned that Donnie was incredibly smart, but he clearly was a genius. She could see his lab entrance in the corner of the room, with large screens and equipment everywhere just in front of the dark doorway. This turtle knew what he was talking about, that’s for sure. And oddly enough, she felt like she could trust him. 

She looked back to Donnie, who had an eager smile plastered on his face. Placing a hand on his forearm, she felt his pebbly skin against hers. Theirs was all varying shades of green, but she had a feeling they all had this same texture. It was oddly comforting. She looked back up at the genius, gazing into his beautiful hazel eyes under his glasses. “Thanks, Donnie.”

He blushed and mumbled a “you’re welcome, no problem” before heading over to his lab to disappear behind the door.

She took note of his lean, muscular figure as it padded away, and realized that all four turtles were actually quite attractive in their own way. They were all muscular, and clearly spent most of their free time training and working out. She never thought she would meet anyone else who cared as much about physical fitness besides her, much less four mutants in the sewers underneath NYC.

Leo spoke up, interrupting her thoughts.

“If you’ll be staying here for a few days, will you need to contact your employer or roommates to let them know that you’re okay?” Nothing but concern was written on his face as he gestured in the direction of the living room. “Your belongings are over by the couch if you need them.” Rose felt a sigh of relief as she spotted her bag, neatly laid beside the leg of the couch and seemingly untouched.

“I’m actually self-employed, so I don’t need to call anyone. Thanks for thinking of it though, you’re a sweetheart.” She said the last word to the leader in blue with a playful smile, causing him to blush a little as he got up from the table. His eyes were the brightest blue she had ever seen, the color of his mask making them stand out even more as his oceans swept over her face.

Rose was mesmerized as Leo turned from her; so graceful in his movements as he interacted with his surroundings. It must come from years of calculating movements, needing to be steps ahead of everyone else at all times.

She was grateful to him; he had spent so much time this afternoon answering her many questions, smiling as little things would excite or intrigue her, his eyes twinkling behind his mask as he watched her from across the table. 

Leo was kind, she decided. 

He turned his head over his shoulder to give one last thought before he left her to help Mikey with breakfast clean-up. 

“Since you’re going to be with us for a few days, it might be wise to sort out your living situation with Raph. He’s in the weight room, just down the hall.” When she gave Leo a confused look, he smirked at her. “Just follow the noise, you’ll find it.”

Rose could in fact hear the familiar clink of weights being moved somewhere near the living room, and after crossing to her bag she agreed that she should probably go talk to the big brute.

First thing though, was her phone. She remembered dropping it last night when those men knocked her to the ground, but it was miraculously back in her purse now.

They must’ve looked for it, the sweethearts.

She smiled. Sure, they were mutants, but they were the nicest New Yorkers she’d ever met. Nicer than those bastards last night, that’s for sure. A pang of panic and pain shot through her, and she could feel the tears finally start to well up in her throat. Swallowing, she shook her head and chided herself.

“Nope, nope. We’re not gunna do this. I won’t let them make me cry.” She mumbled to herself, irritated that her body just wanted to fall to the floor in tears. She had spent so much of her young life crying, in pain and miserable; this was nothing. She had already been through hell. She couldn't break down over a little peek into the flames again. 

Instead, she forced herself to focus on the lit-up screen in front of her, looking to see if her ex had sent her anything.

Nope.

The notification screen was empty- no texts, calls, anything. He was done and had clearly moved on already.

Great.

She rolled her eyes at her own disappointment and left her phone and bag where she found them, and headed in the direction of the gym.

[hainethehero]

I'd like to add:

"You're a real jerk sometimes, Brooklyn," Dum Dum sighs as he takes up residence next to a pouting Sgt. Barnes next to camp.

Bucky scoffs and shakes his head, "Only Steve calls me jerk."

"So, go apologize to him."

"For what, exactly? Putting himself in danger? Jeopardizing the mission? For almost getting blown to bits?"

"So you care about him," Dum Dum surmises quietly, taking a drink of his whiskey. He passes the bottle to Barnes who takes a healthy sip or two.

"My whole life I've taken care of that punk," Bucky gripes, "and now all of a sudden he's big and muscley and is jumping on grenades and running after bags that worth not a damn... it's like tiny Steve but more suicidal."

Dum Dum huffs in amusement at that. "Yeah, kid's kinda crazy, I'll admit that. But he's still human, Barnes. Maybe he had something valuable in that bag. From what I've heard, he ain't got much left but you."

Bucky takes a moment to mull over his fellow commando's words, sipping the whiskey and welcoming the burn. There was a truth to Dum Dum's words, something that he wanted to believe in, despite how angry he was at Steve. He loved that little punk- didn't matter he was huge now- he would always be Bucky's little punk. And he'd be damned if Steve died on his watch.

It was easy for him to imagine just how out of place Steve must've felt, being the size of a small child one day and a huge man the next. Fighting with his best friend wouldn't have helped his discomfort either.

He sighs heavily, finding his resolve. "I'll be back."

"Take your time," Dum Dum grins, eyes glittering as he keeps watch.

.........

When Bucky enters the tent, it's dark and filled with the scent of a recently put out fire.

Steve must've been waiting for him.

Bucky chews on his lip, instantly feeling bad. He finds Steve easily enough, the familiar- no, unfamiliar outline of his body resting on its side. He's curled up on some quilts, in his combat trousers, a khaki t-shirt and socks. His head rests on the bag he'd gone back so foolishly to save. It makes Bucky irritated again but he pushes it down. Steve needed him.

When he gets closer, he makes out the glittery tracks of tears running down Steve's pretty face, a redness on his porcelaine complexion. He's been crying.

Bucky's chest quivers and he feels his own heart break. How could he have been so stupid? So he got scared, that was no excuse to hurt his best guy? Was it? Or did his panic override any sense of understanding because in truth, he was in love with Steve... in the way he'd be expected to love a dame?

"B'cky?" Steve whimpers, frowning as he's roused from his troublesome sleep.

Bucky instantly spoons him from behind, wrapping his large arms around his boy, burying his nose in Steve's downy blonde hair.

"Hey, Stevie," he whispers and Steve tries to stifle a sob but fails.

"I'm so sorry, punk. Never meant to be so mean to ya."

Steve sniffles and wipes at his nose. "Still hate me?"

Bucky shakes his head. "No, doll. Could never hate you. The opposite really-"

Steve scrambles to sit up and rounds on him with fierce blue eyes. "What?"

Bucky frowns, "Whataya mean what?"

Steve grumbles and wipes his tears away. "You saying you love me, Buck? As a joke? Cos that ain't funny."

Bucky swallows slowly, heart beating out of his chest. It was now or never. "I ain't jokin', Steve. Alright? I- I've known for a while but, with the war and your ma p- ...I just couldn't tell ya."

Steve watches him with glistening eyes for a few, worrying his lips with his teeth. He sniffs and then digs into that wretched bag. He pulls out a worn piece of paper that was torn from a sketchpad, Steve's neat scrawl dancing across the pages. He huffs, shaking his head before handing it over.

Bucky frowns, eyes scanning the page. It's a letter, written by Steve... the day he'd shipped out with the 107th.

Tears have started to flow by the time he's done reading it. They're soaking the paper in his shaking hands. Steve looks alarmed, touching Bucky's shoulder cautiously.

"Buck? Hey, Bucky,... you okay?"

Bucky glares up at him, Steve's letter clenched in his fist and pulls Steve in.

"Shuddup and come here, punk."

Stucky fight headcanon...

I hate when my faves fight but the angst-obsessed goblin in me just CAN'T stop thinking of Bucky and Steve getting into a fight about some mission-related thing, and either Tony (if it's the current timeline) or Dum Dum (WWII timeline) steps in and tells Bucky to take a walk.

Something like...

"And I told you to stay put, Steve! You just compromised this whole damn mission and yourself for what- some cargo?!"

"Bucky, you don't understand I couldn't leave it-!"

"It's a bag Steve! You could've died, for a bag!"

And Steve gets all teary eyed and frustrated because Bucky doesn't understand, he had letters in that bag and trinkets all meant for Bucky before he'd gotten the serum! Letters telling his best friend how he'd loved him as more than a friend and was ready to fight and die by his side for the rest of his life!

Tony/Dum Dum know this, but Bucky doesn't, so he just thinks Steve risked his life for nothing, being the stubborn little shit he always was back in Brooklyn. They get in between them to calm things down before Barnes says or does something he'd regret and end up hurting Steve unknowingly in the process.

"That's enough! Barnes, take a walk."

And Bucky goes, "Oh, you're taking his side like he just didn't jeopardise this whole operation?!"

To which they reply, "He's upset and you're making it worse. We'll talk about it when you've calmed down!"

Bucky scoffs and says, "yeah, whatever," as he stomps off without even a second glance at Steve who looks stricken and sick to his stomach, holding the very same bag in his shaking hands, tears dripping down his face as he wonders the chances of Bucky loving him back after this.

[rapono-writes-stuff]

Have you played Hooked On You yet?

Surprisingly I haven't, but I have been avoiding content about it in the meantime (at least until I do get it). Haven't been doing so good money wise likely and it cost more than I thought it would so that made me pause when I initially planned on buying it right away.

[anticomedygarden]

if you search for tenderness, it isn't hard to find

wolf sequel, but i think it could be read as a standalone?

-

tw mentioned blood and skin stitching, medical inaccuracies, mention of death and murder

title from billy joel's 'honesty'

fun fact this is almost 5000 words

-

In the hours since Sirius had first found the wolf-man in his bushes, things had not become any clearer. 

After the initial shock of having a shapeshifter in his house had worn off, Sirius had attempted to carry the man to the couch and failed miserably (the guy was tall and muscley; Sirius doubted even James could lift him), and then scoured the internet for information on werewolves, never straying more than five feet from the man. 

All of his searching had yielded little results, however. According to google, werewolves could either retain their mind in wolf form or not (jury was still out on that one), shift whenever they wanted or only during the night of the full moon (the night before had apparently been a full moon, so that one was still up in the air as well), were sterile or overly fertile (there was no way to check that without medical facilities or an egg and a nine month wait), incredibly ugly or incredibly beautiful (Sirius thought he had figured that one out), along with dozens of other contradictions, and he had yet to find a reliable source, shockingly. 

The whole thing had really just left him feeling like he’d stumbled into an episode of Supernatural, only compounded by the dark, cement basement of Number 12, Grimmauld Place. 

After about four hours of no information, he finally decided to just wait until the man woke up, although that posed a whole different problem. 

The man was completely bare-ass naked, and he was absolutely beautiful. 

Scratch that. There were bandages covering most of his stomach and chest as well as his upper left thigh, but other than that, he wasn’t wearing anything. 

But that had nothing to do with Sirius’ reluctance to cover him in a blanket. 

Speaking of, it seemed the gorgeous fellow was finally waking up. Sirius set his phone on the floor and watched the man blink himself to consciousness. 

Once his eyes were most of the way open (vibrant amber, Sirius noted, just like the wolf) the man scrambled upright until his bandaged back hit the hard gray wall, eliciting a wince. His eyes flickered around the basement, and he paled. 

Sirius couldn’t blame him. Grimmauld Place’s basement was creepy despite his attempts to brighten it up. The white couch, blue shag rug, and yellow armchair just weren’t a match against the faulty wiring, water stains, cement walls, and creaky pipes. 

“Who are you? Where am I? Am I naked?” He looked down and frowned. “Did you do these bandages?”

Sirius scooted forward, feeling the odd need to be close to the man now that he was lucid. And human. 

Answering his questions honestly now that he had heard the deep timber of the man’s voice with the hint of a Welsh accent would be difficult, but Sirius would give it his best shot. “I’m Sirius Black. You’re at my house in London. You’ve got bandages and a blanket but no clothes, and I’m an ER doctor, so you don’t need to worry about them being bad or anything.” He paused. “I’m actually surprised they held through your transformation.” It was a considerable feat, for sure, as the human abdomen and thighs were much different sizes than those of wolves. Sirius’ had even checked them afterward while he was sleeping, and they were still tight. There wasn’t even any stray fur stuck to them. 

The man’s eyes widened. “You saw that?” 

Sirius nodded. “How did the bandages hold between forms?” he asked, then mentally kicked himself for not asking something more important.  

The man blinked a few times as if he, too, wasn’t expecting that question. “I don’t know. It’s always been like that.” Then, “Any chance I could get some clothes?”

Actually, no. “Yeah, sorry!” Sirius stood, and the man stood with him, fumbling to wrap the blanket around his waist, though there was really no point as Sirius had seen everything while taking care of his wounds after the transformation. He didn’t say anything, however, and motioned for the man to follow him toward the stairs. “What’s your name?”

“Remus,” he said sheepishly. He was still glancing around as if expecting the walls to start closing in or shooting spikes or something equally disturbing. Again, not that Sirius could blame him. As a child, he had been just as afraid of the dark places in Grimmauld Place, though for different reasons. 

He nodded at the man’s name. “Fitting.”

Remus furrowed his eyebrows. “Sorry?”

“Your name, from Romulus and Remus.” When the man gave him a baffled look, Sirius continued. “The brothers raised by the wolf? Romulus killed Remus and went on to found Rome.” The man didn’t say anything but continued to look confused. “Sorry, I forget sometimes that not everyone was raised on the classics.”

“It’s alright,” Remus said quickly.  “I always knew it was weird. Now I know what it means.”

Sirius narrowed his eyes, surprised that no one had ever explained his name to him. Sure, most people didn’t have tutors to make sure they memorized the stories of old, but a teacher, or his parents, or some adult should have known, but Sirius decided not to comment. “You’re in good company. My name is the brightest-”

“-brightest star in the sky,” Remus finished. “Part of the Canis Major constellation. The dog star.” At Sirius’ shocked look, Remus blushed and looked down. 

Sirius paused, waiting for an explanation, and when there was none, he raised an eyebrow as they started up the gloomy staircase. “You know the stars but not the story of the most famous country in history?”

Remus’ blush deepened. “Had a bit of a weird childhood.” 

Sirius would’ve asked him to elaborate, but a sudden gasp stopped him. He whipped around to see Remus hunched over and clutching his thigh through the blanket. “Shit, I’m sorry! You must be in a lot of pain.”

Remus looked up at him through long black eyelashes. “It’s alright-”

“No, how about you go sit on the couch while I get some water and paracetamol?” Sirius gently guided him to the couch before he could protest. “I’ll be right back!”

With that, he ran up the stairs to the bathroom and took out the little bottle of painkillers then ran back to the kitchen to fill up a cup of water. Standing at the sink, he happened to glance at the little picture on his fridge of James, Regulus, and Lily and made a mental note to text them in case Remus killed him or something. 

Once the cup was full, he ran back downstairs to find Remus not on the couch, but standing with his hand poised above the door. “You’re not leaving, are you?” 

Remus looked over to him, a guilty expression on his face. “I need to go.”

“Well, I don’t know where you think you’re going without clothes, but as your doctor, I cannot permit you to leave my care,” Sirius declared, not entirely for show. If Remus left before his wounds were properly cleaned and stitched, he ran the risk of infection or reopening them and bleeding out, and Sirius really doubted the man was heading to a hospital after this. 

Remus’ expression went blank. “I’ll be fine-”

“No, you’ll get sick and die, so you’re going to sit and let me take care of you properly,” Sirius said, and pointed to the couch for emphasis. 

With one last mournful look at the door, Remus sighed. “Fine, but I’m leaving as soon as you’re done.” 

“Fine.” Sirius watched him limp awkwardly for the couch and sit down carefully. 

“And I still need clothes.”

“Fine.” Sirius set the glass of water and pill bottle on the little table text to the couch. “But you’re gonna have to deal with whatever clothes I can find down here because I’m not leaving you alone again.”

Remus didn’t even turn his head. “Whatever.”

Sirius sighed. He didn’t even know if there were any clothes in the basement; nobody but him ever came down here. He glanced around. The only place he could think of was Kreacher’s old bedroom, but the man had meticulously cleaned out his quarters once he realized Sirius, not Regulus, was to inherit the property due to a mistake in the filing of his disownment papers. There wasn’t anywhere else, however, and Sirius soon found himself entering the bedroom. 

While smaller than the rooms in the rest of the house, it was still a decent size, larger than an average bedroom, with a bare queen size bed shoved to the corner of the back and right side wall taking up the majority of the space. Like the rest of the basement, the walls were grey cement and studded with water stains, and poor wiring caused an unfortunate flickering of lights. Upon immediate entrance, Sirius didn’t see any clothes, though he hadn’t expected any. Even when Kreacher lived there, the man had been totally anal about tidiness, a trait he had failed miserably in trying to beat into Sirius as a child. 

He walked over to the closet on the left side of the room and opened it. There was nothing hanging up, but there was a small duffel bag on the floor that definitely hadn’t been there the last time Sirius was in this room. 

The good news was that it was full of clothes. The bad news was that they were Regulus’. 

“Okay, I found some, but they’re probably gonna be really tight,” Sirius warned as he walked back into the main part of the basement, relieved to see Remus right where he’d left him. 

The man simply nodded and put a hand out. It seemed he was no longer talking now that Sirius was forcing him to stay. 

Once he had the clothes in his hands, just an old grey t-shirt, black sweatpants that Sirius suspected were actually James’, and a pair of boxers, Remus sat there awkwardly for a second before saying, “Can you turn around?”

Sirius once again felt the need to remind the man that he was a doctor and had already seen everything anyways, but whatever made him feel more comfortable. He turned to face the bedroom. “You might as well wait on the pants and shirt since I have to rebandage and clean everything.”

There was a grunt of affirmation before Sirius heard the man sit down, and then a, “You can turn back around now.”

Sirius spun and tried not to stare. The underwear was sinfully tight, hiding nothing of the man's considerable assets within them. 

He shook himself off. Remus needed healing and nothing else.

He went to grab his bag off the floor where he had first brought the wolf in and brought it back over to the couch. While he pulled on gloves and took his equipment out, he said, "You should take the paracetamol. Sutures hurt."

Remus glared at him but grabbed the pills off the table, swallowing them dry. He wrinkled his nose. "You're a doctor and the strongest painkiller you have is paracetamol?"

Sirius paused in his ministrations and looked at Remus. "They tend to not like it when we take the drugs home."

Remus' brow furrowed. "Really?" The scary part was, he didn’t seem to be kidding. 

Where the hell had this guy been his whole life? "Yes, oddly enough. Now, lay down. It'll be easier that way."

Obediently, Remus shifted so he was laying horizontally across the couch, and Sirius began to unwrap the bandages and gauze from his abdomen. "I'm gonna start by cleaning out these little ones, then I'll do the bite on your thigh, and then I'm gonna have you flip over to get the wounds on your back, okay?" He pulled the coffee table closer to the couch and sat down lightly. 

Remus nodded and relaxed into the cushions, not so much as flinching when he saw the suturing needle. Sirius had to hand it to the man; he was either very brave or very stupid. Sirius had witnessed full grown adults reduced to tears upon seeing the curved instrument they were about to be stuck with. Hell, James had bawled just watching Sirius get stitches as teens.

Finally, all the bandages were off Remus' stomach, and Sirius looked down and stared. Slowly, he brought his eyes up to meet Remus’, several questions in his eyes. “These are almost completely healed.”

Remus nodded nonchalantly. “So they are.”

Sirius just stared at him. “Why the fuck are the wounds that were bleeding profusely not five hours ago suddenly gone?” 

Remus smirked, and Sirius couldn’t deny that the dimples were doing things to his stomach. “Dunno. ‘S’always been like that.”

Sirius glared at him. The man was frustrating in the best possible way, and it was terrible. “Are you always this nice to pretty doctors that save your life?”

“If I meet one, I’ll let you know.”

Sirius’ jaw dropped. “I’m fucking beautiful, and you know it.”

“Sure, pretty boy.”

Sirius clenched his jaw. It’s not like he needed affirmation of his beauty; he knew what he looked like, but still. Rude. “Is there anything else I should know?”

Remus appeared to think for a moment. “The silver thing is true.” Sirius nodded and began to stand only for Remus to say, “And bites don’t heal nearly as fast as scratches.”

Sirius turned back toward him with a huff and began to unwrap the bandages at his thigh. “You couldn’t have led with that?”

The black-haired man tried to ignore the swooping feeling in his stomach when Remus smirked again.  

Once the bandages were on the floor, Sirius set about cleaning and sterilizing the wound (which was not yet showing signs of infection but was still a considerable size and weeping blood), and was further impressed when Remus only let out a few small grunts. The process took longer than Sirius was expecting because, as Remus had mentioned, it was fresh compared to the other wounds, and it looked as if another wolf had grabbed him on the leg and not let go, resulting in several long, deep gashes. 

After a couple minutes, Remus closed his eyes and pressed his head into the arm rest. “Go ahead and ask your questions. I know you have them.”

The declaration took Sirius a bit by surprise. Sure, he had questions; he had many, actually. Really, he was dying to know everything about this mysterious man that had been dumped in his bushes, broken and bleeding, and he wanted to destroy whatever had put him there, but Sirius was a doctor first and foremost. His job was to heal, not pry, and the man had clearly come into Sirius’ life needing exactly that, so that was what Sirius would give to him as best he could. (Of course, there were the rare cases in which his job was to pry, such as when frantic parents brought toddlers in with crayons stuck up their noses or when horny and stupid adults came in with different objects stuck in the opposite end.)

However, he wasn’t going to say no to an opportunity to question a freaking werewolf, and a beautiful one at that. 

But first came first. He wiped down the needle with another alcohol wipe. “Now for the fun part. You may want to bite down on something.”

Remus set his jaw. “I’ll be fine.”

“Suit yourself,” Sirius shrugged, and pushed the needle in. Immediately, Remus tensed but didn’t make any noise. Sirius took that as an indication that he could still ask questions. “How did you end up in my bushes?”

Remus cracked open an eye. “Really?” he panted. “You’re giving a werewolf stitches, and that’s your first question?”

“Second question, technically, and yes,” Sirius said curtly, tying up the first gash. 

Remus shook his head and let out a little gasp when Sirius started on the next one. “I got into a fight with-” he gasped again “-with my pack leader, so he’s giving me a time out.”

Sirius’ blood went cold. “So you’re not the only one?” 

Remus laughed, a tight, thin sound. “How do you think I was turned? Greyback bit me.”

“Greyback?”

“My pack leader. He gives the orders, and we follow them.”

Sirius started on the third gash. “What did you argue about?”

Remus laid his arm over his eyes and grimaced. Sirius didn’t think it was entirely because of the pain. “He wanted me to turn someone.”

The shorter man’s hand quavered on the needle, and he nearly missed a stitch. “What?”

Remus nodded. “You might not believe it, but most of us would be perfectly alright with letting the whole species die out, but Greyback is a bloodthirsty bastard. He enjoys turning people, and he likes them as young as possible.”

Sirius paused, unable to make his hands move. “How old were they?”

“She’s 26. Same as I am.” His voice was tight. 

Sirius wondered idly if Remus had known the girl and if that was why he had such a reaction to her suffering, then felt guilty about the disappointment it brought him. “How old were you?”

Remus shook his head. “That’s enough questions for now. My turn.”

Sirius supposed that was fair. 

He forced his hands to move again, and Remus waited a bit for the pain to pass before biting out, “Why didn’t you call the cops?” Then, as an afterthought, “Or animal control?”

Sirius thought back to that morning. Why hadn’t he called the cops? “Dunno. Maybe sleep deprivation and hunger caused a temporary insanity.” Or it was the shock of finding a wolf-turned-drop-dead gorgeous man in his bushes. 

Remus cracked an eye open. “Wow. I’m so glad you’re healing me.”

Sirius laughed. “It’s better than letting you die in my yard. Any other questions?”

Remus was silent for a moment. “How does an ER doctor in his,” he paused, letting his slip over Sirius’ form, “mid twenties afford an estate like this?”

Sirius let a breath out of his nose even though he knew that question was coming. “Rich parents and botched disownment papers. I was more shocked than anyone, let me tell you.”

Remus nodded, though he didn’t look any more informed. 

Good. It wasn’t exactly a topic Sirius enjoyed discussing. 

“Why haven’t you sold it, then?”

That question was a surprise. The thing most people said after he mentioned his parents’ fortune and the mistaken will was if he thought he was lucky to have come into so much money. “I don’t really have an answer to that one either. I guess it was the thought of another family adding their own miseries to it when it’s already seen so much.” Sirius blinked, surprised by his own words. He certainly hadn’t meant to get so philosophical with a man he had just met. 

But it was the truth. No one in his family had been happy when they’d lived there. This house had seen more blood, tears, and suffering in the 16 years Sirius had lived in it as a child than most houses saw in their entire lifetimes. 

Remus nodded like he understood, though, and they sat in companionable silence with the occasional grunt while Sirius worked. 

Then, Remus spoke. “I was four when Greyback turned me.” 

Sirius looked up sharply, but Remus continued. “He broke in through my bedroom window, bit me, and dragged me with him to the Den, this old building in the middle of the woods. He raised me there with the other wolves to be his second in command. I worshiped him at first; how could I not? I was a child, and he told me that he saved me from the horrors of human society, and I believed him. The man has a weird charisma. I found out years later that he went back and killed my parents. That was around the time I stopped believing him.”

Sirius waved a hand. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to-”

“It wasn’t just that, though,” Remus continued, ignoring him. “Another guy Greyback had turned came to the Den. Benjy Fenwick. He was around my age. He taught me how to read and some other normal person stuff. Then, he kissed me, and I thought we were gonna run away together.” Remus took a deep breath. “Then Greyback killed him the night we were supposed to leave.”

Sirius couldn’t hold it in any longer; he gasped, loudly. “Oh my god.” 

When Remus laughed, there was no humor in it. “We’ve made life hell for each other ever since.”

Sirius looked up then to see a tear rolling down Remus’ face, and if his gloved hands weren’t covered in blood and pus, he would have wiped it away. “What if you didn’t go back?”

Sirius was lucky he had paused his suturing, because Remus’ whole body jolted. “What?”

He cleared his throat. He couldn’t quite believe he was saying it, either. “Don’t go back to Greyback. Stay here.” Apparently, he had reached the point of sleep deprivation where he offered random hot werewolves a place in his home. 

But Remus was already shaking his head. “I have to go back, Sirius.” 

Oh, how beautiful his name sounded rolling off Remus’ tongue. “Why? He’s a murderer; why do you want to go back to that?”

Remus opened and closed his mouth a few times. “I can’t just not go back.”

“Give me one good reason.” He was committed now. 

“I’m the only thing standing between Greyback and the rest of the wolves.”

Alright, that was a pretty good reason, but it was still something Sirius could work around. “How many more wolves are there?”

“Eight.”

Sirius cocked his head. “Really?” He’d been expecting at least a dozen from the sounds of this Greyback. 

Remus snorted. “Greyback’s a bit of an angry dictator, and since werewolf-ism isn’t hereditary…the numbers are running low.”

Sirius shuddered. He couldn’t even imagine the life Remus had lived up to this point, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to. It almost made him grateful for his own parents. If there was one thing that could be said of them, they had never killed any of his boyfriends. They had tried, but they’d never gone through with it. 

“You could bring them here. I have the space.”

Remus bristled. “We don’t need your charity.”

“It’s not charity! It’s…leaving an angry dictator,” Sirius argued. 

Remus rolled his eyes (but he didn’t say no). “I’ll think about it.” 

Sirius grinned. Remus would be saying yes before he left. Sirius would make sure of it. 

-

Once the stitches were finished and Remus had (regrettably) put the borrowed pants and shirt on (which were predictably and amazingly tight), Sirius was starving and exhausted, and he suddenly realized he had been up for over 24 hours, and he hadn’t eaten in almost ten. 

“You hungry?” Sirius asked Remus as he pulled his shirt down yet again over his wonderful abs. “I think I might still have some soup.”

Remus nodded, and the pair walked up the stairs only for Sirius to realize he hadn’t cleaned the soup out of the couch yet. 

Remus sniffed. “Are we eating out of the furniture?”

Sirius wrinkled his nose. “No, you arsehole. I have some leftover.” He led Remus into the kitchen and busied himself with making the soup, going for reheated in a pot rather than reheated in the microwave. If Remus was getting a hot meal, it wasn’t going to be microwaved. 

While he was rummaging around for a pot, Remus glanced at the fridge. “Who are they?” he asked. Sirius looked up to see him pointing at the little picture of James and Lily kissing Regulus on either cheek with the younger Black smiling the widest smile Sirius had seen from him in the middle. It was one of Sirius' all time favorites; getting all three of them to stand still together long enough for a picture, and then to get Regulus smiling as well was a once in a lifetime event.

"That's my family," Sirius answered as he straightened with a pot in hand.

Remus cocked his head. "I'm assuming not the family you grew up with?"

Sirius nodded, then started pouring the soup into the pot. He flicked the stove on. "Parents died a couple years ago. 'S'how I got the house." He hesitated. "The one in the middle is my little brother, though. Regulus." Then, since Remus had been so honest with him: "I ran away when I was 16 and didn't talk to him until he turned 18 and left. We're close now, though." They'd had to be, once he and James got together.

"And this one?" Remus asked, pointing at the photo.

Sirius stirred the soup. "That's James." He hesitated on the rest of an introduction, unsure how to put into words what exactly James meant to him. The two had been through thick and thin together: meeting at boarding school at 11 and becoming fast friends, sharing everything, running to him whenever things got bad. Finally, he landed on, "My brother," and his eyes widened as he realized his mistake. 

He coughed and hurried to amend himself. "Adopted brother, that is to say. I moved in with him after I ran away, and he and Regulus started dating about a year later. There's no incest, I swear. Well, none after us." He bit his lip to keep from adding anything else that might scare off his new friend.

Thankfully, Remus seemed more confused than horrified, and he didn't comment. Sirius took that as an invitation to introduce the last of the three. "The ginger is Lily. She and James got together just before he and Reg did. They started out bumpy, but they're very happy now." Sirius figured that was the best way to condense the several months of dancing around they had all done that year.

Remus still looked confused, and more than a little wistful, so Sirius said, "I think the soup's done."

A minute later, they were sitting around the kitchen table and slurping their soup in relative silence.

Remus spoke. "What about you?"

With his mouth full of noodles and chicken broth, Sirius gave him a look of confusion.

"Are you with someone?"

Sirius thought he heard a little something extra in his voice, but that was probably just wishful thinking. "Nope. Just me."

Remus set his empty bowl to the side. "Isn't it lonely, all alone out here?"

Yes. "Not really. James and them visit often enough. Besides, I'm pretty busy with the ER. And, when he's home, my neighbor comes over to bother me." And boy was he good at it. Gilderoy Lockhart had a huge inheritance and an ego to match it, and, honestly, the sex was only mediocre. "What about you? Have you got anyone?"

Remus blushed and shook his head. "Not since Benjy."

The smile slid off Sirius' face. "Fuck, I'm sorry."

Remus waved him off. "It's alright. It's more lack of opportunity than anything else."

Sirius looked over to him. "Really?" With a body like his, Sirius was surprised the man wasn't married. (Not that looks were everything, of course, but the man clearly wasn't lacking in the mind and personality departments, either.)

Remus nodded. "Benjy was the only one around my age, and that's been almost ten years ago now." He glanced up, a bashful look in his eyes. "But maybe that's changing?"

Sirius was careful to keep his face neutral as he chewed a noodle, then made a point of letting his eyes slip over the outline of Remus' abs through his tight shirt. "Do you want it to?" Sirius wasn't stupid; he knew exactly where this was headed, but the lead up was part of the fun.

Remus appeared to think for a moment. "I think I'd like that."

So Sirius set his mostly empty bowl to the side and began to slide his bare foot up Remus' leg. He raised an eyebrow upon reaching the top. "Someone's excited."

Remus gulped. "It's been a very long time."

"Is that so?" Sirius bit his bottom lip seductively and stood, making his way around the table to drape himself across Remus’ lap. “I guess I’ll just have to fix that.” 

He put a hand on the back of Remus’ head and pulled him in, closing the short distance between them with a deep kiss. Pretty soon, they were making their way to the bedroom where they both fell asleep after a mindblowing night, and Sirius wondered how he had gone so long sleeping alone. 

Until he woke up the next morning by himself, the other side of the bed still warm, and the ghost of a kiss imprinted on his lips.

-

as promised: @kaymardsa @loewenzahnblatt @plutos-still-a-planet @shirablu @stars-a-n-d-scars @wanderingdonut @msalexwp @wolffrankx @mytrashs-blog @incogn1c0 @lilonsnitch

[menelaiad]

hi! what are some of your fav menelaus headcanons??

oh anon you've done it now

tall. like. 6ft tall.

not broad. muscley and clearly strong. but leaner. aga and ajax and the like are certainly wider than him.

has been tall a long time. grew very fast. pissed of aga in the process. has a habit of curving his shoulders because of this. trying to appear shorter than he is.

a follower. hence the shoulder thing. he spent a lot of his formative years just. following aga. listening to aga. he was the second son. he wasnt set up for kingship or anything so he was kinda just left.

protected a lot by aga. i feel like menelaus' kinder nature was allowed to grow and flourish and wasnt CRUSHED by atreus because aga ... protected him. menelaus could be himself around aga.

ginger.

grew his hair fucking super long in sparta like the spartan men. even before the marriage to helen. because of the exile and tyndareus' kindness he just felt like sparta was home. so he kinda ... assimilated himself as soon as he could.

goes freckley in the sun.

he always makes a habit to use helen's name. not an epithet. or a title. her name is Helen.

due to not being prepped for kingship. menelaus can not read or write very well. if at all. he's even dictated to or gets people to write for him. after he became king he probably learnt the basics? but i feel all of atreus' energy went to aga (who also cant fucking read tbh)

i personally think menelaus was kinda ugly. or not like. conventionally handsome. but he's just such a nice freakin dude that people can't help but like him.

menelaus likes birds.

despite his. usually dormant nature. menelaus inherits atreus' anger. and it comes out in bursts. like strong. violent outbursts. like you see in book 3 with paris. when menelaus just drags him around and beats him. it's explosive and heated. it burns hot and dies just as quickly. but that is very atreus of him.

menelaus suffers from aches in his wrist after the paris fight and also he develops a limp from the wound in his thigh where he was shot with an arrow.

emotional. very emotional. with both the good and the bad. feels every emotion very strongly. feels others emotions (agaMEMNON in IOA) very strongly.

sharp features. sharp jaw. sharp nose. high cheekbones.

expressive as all hell. raises his eyebrows. makes faces. he is feeling things and his face will tell you what.

laughs a lot. not afraid to laugh and smile. smiles with his teeth a lot.

his smiles never quite reach his eyes but we'll move on from that.

develops a really close friendship with pat over the course of the war. that stems from them meeting at the suitor thing and they had lil chats then. often laments to him about how different things would be if helen had chose pat instead.

loses his fucking MARBLES when antilochus dies. i feel like the atreus anger would have come out again here.

after pat's death and him returning the body, achilles beats him to shit and menelaus doesn't fight back. he takes the blame ...... and the beating.

unintentionally always one of the funniest people in a room. is funny without even realising he's being funny. makes helen cry laughing several times.

i believe he was meant to marry clytemnestra. or at least that was the OG plan. they have a lot of fond yet awkward memories of each other.

blames himself for aga's death. and by extension - cly's.

iphigenia inherited the HOA red hair. watching her get sacrificed fucked him up tbh.

hermione is so SO SO important to him. especially as she was conceived around the whole 'sterile curse' thing in sparta. she is like a lil miracle to him.

honestly? can sometimes be a bit of a bitch.

gonna stop here cause that got REALLY long. but there's a handful of random ones that i wrote as they came into my head SDFGHJKL