#i'm so excited for them to be BACK back. OBVIOUSLY

[nellie-elizabeth]

This was the first full episode of the show I watched, and I'm really excited to get back to it as I watch through chronologically! What I was so impressed by in the whole episode was the details of their intimacy, the cleverness and subtlety of the writing. Like, not to over-explain what's happening in this moment, but I kinda want to break this down.

Starsky says "You got any plans after this is over?" and the premise of the banter, as it were, is that he's making "small talk," saying the same kind of thing he might say casually at work, akin to "what are you up to this weekend."

And Hutch, he matches his energy but he tosses the ball directly back to Starsky to hit the punchline. He doesn't answer the question with a jokey fake small talk answer. Instead he says "it's up to you."

Which works on like, so many different levels for me? For one, it's Hutch just being sweet, telling Starsky that his plans are with Starsky, whatever they are. He could have deflected, but he affirms that he wants to spend his free time with Starsky. For another, he's implicitly referencing the fact that being here in this restaurant where things have gone so catastrophically wrong, was Starsky's idea, and affirming that he'd still defer to him to make plans. And then on the more serious level underneath the premise of the joke, Hutch is serious: what happens after this is wholly dependent on if Starsky is okay or not. If he makes it through this, if they both make it through this. Hutch's plans, both immediate and long-term, are completely up to Starsky in a very real sense.

And then Starsky hits us with the Butch & Sundance reference, which, you know, famously queer coded, along with being a response to Hutch's statement: Starsky, too, plans on doing whatever comes next with Hutch. The plans they make, they make together. And Hutch gives the sweetest little laugh, such open affection on his face! Starsky makes jokes because it's his only way of taking care of his partner when he's in this vulnerable state, and Hutch is being so terribly gentle with Starsky while still participating in their back-and-forth. If the banter stops, that's the sign that things are actually dire.

The bit at the end of this episode when Starsky makes a joke about Hutch getting his teeth capped, and then retracts the joke just before Hutch goes out to confront the armed baddies alone, is a good continuation of the rhythm they have going on in this ep. They keep things light and superficial in order to keep each other calm, but by the end of this episode shit is dire enough that Starsky can't keep the banter going.

When I first watched this episode, I didn't know these characters yet. I was (and am) still so new to the show. But even on that first viewing I remember being impressed by the economy of storytelling and relationship building that was happening in little moments like this. The whole show is built out of scenes between the two leads that work this way, multi-layered and performed with an impressive amount of subtlety and power. Obviously it's the domain of fandom to overthink the media we consume, to pick at little moments and dissect them beyond any possible intended meaning. But this show... man, it holds up under that scrutiny, in so many ways big and small.

[wordssoonforgotten]

I was wondering if you could do a jinx x either piltie reader or a reader that works for silco too where jinx falls HARD for this girl but readers oblivious so jinx has to make it very very obvious just some cutesyness

Jinx x Piltoveran!reader. Hope you like! Honestly one of my favorite things I’ve written so far. No content warnings. 735 words.

Jinx is so over Piltoverans.

In all honestly, she'd been over them since birth. It was simply the Zaunite way; but there was one she simply couldn't manage to hate lithe rest. You were like a guilty pleasure, except there was no guilt concerning how she felt at all. The pleasure you gave her was more rebellious than anything. However, that doesn't mean you didn't get on every single one of her nerves.

Jinx has been sneaking to see you for a year. It started as cat-like curiosity turned infatuation, but now, every time you so much as look at her a certain way, she feels herself teetering closer and closer to the edge; dangerously close to falling in love. It's new, exciting, and gives her that rush she thought was only possible from watching something explode. (It almost makes her wants to jump right off, just to see if you catch her.) Much to her annoyance, she wasn't sure if you felt the same way she did.

She likes to think she's making it stupid obvious; laying it on thick every time she comes to see you. With the way you just laugh at her, or simply don't pick up what she puts down, she's beginning to think she's not so good at all. It's either that, or you're infuriatingly slow for someone so smart.

For the second time this week, Jinx has weaseled her way through your window and made herself comfortable in your silky sheets. The two of you sit closely together on the bed as you recount every event of your day to her. You speak so softly that your voice almost gets lost with the wind. She uses it as an excuse to lean closer. Every few sentences, your eyes drift to your bedroom door, as if you expect someone to knocking it down any moment. Despite how long the two of you have gotten away with your late-night-rendezvous, you still get nervous. She tilts her mischievously. Her fingers crawl up shoulder and stop on your chin, turning your head to face her. You blush; but continue talking like normal.

That was her very last straw. She deserved more than simple a blush.

"Soooo….princess. Still not seeing anyone?" She keeps her voice light. Like she doesn't care about the answer at all. You raise your eyebrow at the seemingly out-of-the-blue question. "Not currently. Why?" Jinx smiles with false nonchalance

"Just kinda seemed like you would be by now."

"…Well I'm not."

"Are you interested in seeing someone?"

You snort and shrug your shoulders hopelessly. "Who would I even see?"

"Me." She answers immediately. Your brain short circuits and you just stare at her. For a second she thinks she's broken you, but then you very hesitantly narrow your eyes. "Are you..serious?" She barely manages to hold back a loud snort, but she nods quickly. "Very serious. Most serious I've ever been, actually." You nod slowly as if you're still processing her words so she continues. "I've been serious for a while now, you've just been too dense to notice." Playful frustration fills her tone as you suddenly become more alert. "A while!? How long is a while!?" She doesn't stop the chortle that erupts from her.

"Months."

"Months?!" You shout before quickly covering your mouth and glancing at the door. Once You're sure no one heard, you turn a fierce glare at her. "Why didn't you say anything?!" Now her brain short circuits. She looks at you in hysterical exasperation, shaking her head so quickly you're scared she'll get dizzy. "I've been very-obviously flirting for—this whole time!" You roll your eyes as your face begins to heat up. "Well you should've been clearer."

"I couldn't have been any clearer without tattooing it on my forehead!" She scoffs. "Typical dense, unaware pilties. Never noticing the extremely obvious truths right in front of their dumb faces—" She's cut off by your lips crashing into hers mid Piltover hating tirade. It doesn't take much for her to lean into it, her hands coming up to grip your hair. After a full minute of all but inhaling each other, she comes up for air. "Guess that means the feelings' mutual, huh?" You huff and give her a cheeky smirk.

"See how I made that obvious?"

She flips you off before pulling you back into another, harder kiss.

"I'll work on it."

[alacants]

The "a thread of order" blog recently referenced something Carlos said after the 2024 RG final: “In the fifth set of the final is the time to give it all, fight until you can’t fight anymore. That’s what makes you a warrior, and I consider myself a warrior.” That quote, together with his constant references to the movie "300", his on-court histrionics and the supernatural big-final-moment level of tennis he can produce, made me spiral into an idiotic sincaraz fan-theory (OBVIOUSLY inaccurate and fictional.) So here it is:

I personally suspect that Carlos perceives matches (especially important ones) as if they were movies/plays and he's the one playing the hero & warrior archetype. It's partly why he needs the crowds: they're all part of the scene, and also big reactions feel more epic. And it's also why he can sometimes reach an unbelievable level at the acme of big matches, something that would require inhuman amounts of confidence and self-belief: that's because in that moment he's not just Carlos the excellent tennis player-normal guy, he's not just himself (that would cause some amount of insecurity) but he's actually embodying The Heroic Warrior archetype! And he knows that there's a divine narrative script in place for heroes in stories (matches) which will make him prevail at the end. It's basically a narrative archetype/role he tries to live up to and embody in matches, because he needs to see the matches and himself as "something more" in order to then get more from himself on court. And when the opponent is weak or the match isn't exciting the illusion of being the Hero-Warrior is obviously harder to maintain obviously.

On the other side we have Jannik, who tries to block out the crowd and be composed, and only communicates with his team and his opponent. Where Carlos tries to see the whole stadium as part one big scene that's enacting something more than a tennis match, Jannik tries to shrink his world to the strict permiter of the singles court plus his own box. For him it's a competitive pro game, it's his career and his public role, it's exciting and fun and terrible but it's not a big metaphor or an archetypal flight of fancy. He's competing against his opponent and trying to play the best tennis possible. He's "just" himself on court, the player-version of himself.

[I wonder if this maybe would have something to do with Jannik not focusing on tennis until he was 13 (and having a more gradual and setback-prone rise) while Carlos has been immersed in tennis from birth basically (and has obviously had a more sudden and easier rise in the scene.) I don't think that can be the reason though, it's too superficial.]

op this essay is awesome. i was just answering an unrelated ask and coming to the same conclusion that carlos thrives on the narrative import of big moments. he is Aware of them in a way that not every athlete can let themselves be aware, he is Aware of what it means to rise to the occasion. classic advice is "pretend it's just another match" but carlos demonstrably performs better in Big Moments than in just another match.

also think this contributed to the post-olympics crashout. not just defeat, not just a match he could have won, but failure at the ultimate climax of the ultimate stage of the biggest theater in sport, the global superevent literally created to propagate the idea that Sports Is More Than Sports. all that, and here's where he finds out that sometimes sheer protagonism just isn't enough. narrative of choice trumped by other, bigger narrative. i'm sure that was wildly destabilizing to experience for the first time, lol, good (????) thing he's got the protagonism back on track now.

this all just boils down, again, to the question of ego and self-made mythos and can you achieve greatness without storytelling. (© user radelulu.) it is sooooooooo fun to see absolute black-and-white photonegative-inverses in a direct clash for our entertainment. tho bc the clash is taking place in the theater of sports the table is rigged and the house, aka storytelling, always wins—the only way to beat it is to remove yourself from the table.

[lush-escape]

The Vigilante's Guide to Grief

pairing: Jason Todd x f!reader wc: 1.3k a/n: sorry for the slow update - work was crazy. being a stand in hotel housekeeper is no joke. i cleaned up a LEECH. if you or anyone you know leaves their hotel room looking like a pig sty? your mom's a hoe. also I messed up on the last chapter's title - ignore that, I fixed it. prev: shock

Stage two: Denial

Hey,

It's Friday the 13th. We should be watching scary movies right now like we do every year. The classics. Halloween, scary movie, Friday the 13 obviously. A new final destination came out. You always loved watching those stupid movies, making fun of everyone's stupid choices. Christy (the stupid therapist who's not that stupid) told me it can be “healing” to keep traditions like that alive. I think it's dumb. No one will ever have commentary like you do. No one else in the family can handle horror movies like you do. It wouldn't be the same. Besides - that was our thing. You and me. Ever since we were kids.

Jason can feel those heavy emotions weighing down on his chest. For a second it's harder to breathe. He takes a second to breathe, to let his mind relax. And then his phone dings. And then again. And again.

With a sigh he picks it up. An influx of messages from the Batfam group chat. Playful warnings to stay safe this Friday the 13th.

“Jay!” You let out an excited little laugh as you curl up into your favorite corner of the couch with a blanket draped over your lap. “Hurry up, you're wasting valuable movie time.”

Jay chuckles lowly from the kitchen of your shared apartment, “‘m almost done in here, baby. Start the movie - I'll be there in a second.” He's in the kitchen getting together snacks on a tray. Popcorn, your favorite candy, cookies.

“No way, I'm not starting it without you. I've been waiting all week for this.” You look over the back of the couch and catch sight of him with his back turned to you. Big, hulking Jason looking soft as ever in your top cramped kitchen getting sweets and snacks. You let out a small sigh, your smile turning soft. There's a warmth that spreads from your chest to your stomach as it hits you just how much you do love him.

“Stop it.” He finally speaks up with a tone of amusement. He knows you so well he doesn't even have to look at you to know you're staring.

“No.” You tease him back, your smile growing more playful. “I can't help it, you're too hot to ignore.”

And even though you can't see his face you know he's blushing.

“Shut up,” You hear him mutter, bashful. “Don't say stupid shit like that.”

You laugh at him, “What? It's true.” Your voice is more loving, adoring, and it makes Jason falter for a split second.

“Whatever, you're crazy.” He teases with a shake of his head before he's in the living room with you.

“Yeah, crazy in love.” You exaggerate batting your eyelashes before popping a piece of popcorn into your mouth.

“God, you're obnoxious.” Jason smirks with a roll of his eyes as he's sitting next to you. He props his feet onto the coffee table in front of the two of you and slings his arm over the back of the couch. A silent invitation for you to cuddle into him which you happily accept.

With your head on Jason's chest and your arm around his stomach he pushes play on the remote and pulls you even closer to him.

“Ready to watch some people die?” He asks and you snort a laugh in response.

part of me hates that they don't get it.

Jason is sidetracking now, putting his every thought down.

They haven't lost anyone like I have. I know they lost you too. They all loved you love you. But they don't get it. Normal things like today? It's just another Friday to them. To me it's one of the days I can't even turn on the tv or look at my phone without thinking of you even more than I already do. It's fucking hard baby. So fucking hard

Jason stops to blink away a tear, “Dammit…” he can hear himself sniffle and he hates it. He clears his throat and continues writing.

Some days I don't want to believe you're gone…

The manor was eerily silent that day. An official two weeks after your death, one after your funeral service. It was a small gathering; the Wayne's, the Kent's, Roy and Lian and your best friend. Your parents didn't show up, blaming Jason and the Wayne family for your “mysterious” death.

Jason doesn't like to think about it. So he doesn't.

As Jason walks through the manor he already knows where everyone is, where to avoid. Duke is on patrol, Damian is doing homework in the library, Tim and B are in the cave working a case, Dick is in Blüdhaven, Steph and Cass are training in the gym.

Except Dick wasn't in Blüdhaven. Jason rounds the corner to the kitchen to find him sitting at the island staring at a cup in front of him.

Jason doesn't greet Dick, not verbally anyway, just gives a grunt of acknowledgement. Dick looks up and he can see how tired Jason is. It makes his heart ache for his little brother. There's stubble on his face, the bags under his eyes are deep and purple.

“Hey,” Dick speaks up. His voice is quiet, a little tired. A sign that he's struggling just a bit. He watches Jason pull a beer from the fridge and he sighs. For once in his life he's <I>nervous</I>. He knows Jason stopped drinking a long time ago for you. It started as a bet that turned into a habit. He's scared to bring it up but there's something nagging at him in his brain to do so.

“Thought you stopped…” Dick mumbles. He sees Jason stiffen.

“Whaddya mean?” Jason asks, he's refusing to look at Dick as he takes a long swig.

Dick hesitates, “The bet… you both-”

“Look,” Jason forces a laugh, it doesn't even sound like him, “what she doesn't know won't hurt her. Just don't say anything and I won't get in trouble.” He jokes.

There's silence. It's heavy and tense and awkward and Dick audibly swallows. He stammers for a second. While still dealing with his own grief he was having to handle Jason's as well. He felt a pit open in his stomach.

“Jay…” Dick's voice is so soft and so tender that it makes Jason turn to face him. And when he does finally turn around Dick can see how hard he's fighting to hold it together.

“What?” Jason asks in a shaky voice.

“She.. there's no one…” Dick doesn't know how to navigate this. “She's not coming back, Jay…” the words came out thick and choked one.

Jason shakes his head and forces on another smile, it doesn't even look human at this point.

“You've always been pretty funny, y'know that.” Another drink of beer. “‘course she's coming back. She just- she's just.. not,” Jason clears his throat “, not here right now. It's fine. She'll be back soon.”

Dick wonders how long Jason's been feeling like this, how long he's been in denial or if it's a new thing he's going through. But part of him is afraid to call Jason out on it, to burst his little bubble of happiness in the midst of his despair. And honestly? A small part of him also wants to believe that you're gone, that you'll be back soon from some little trip or something.

“Oh… yeah, okay. I won't say anything, Jay.” Dick is almost whispering now as he chokes on the lump in his throat.

The part of Jason's brain that knows this is just a defense mechanism is relieved.

“Thanks, Dickie.” He claps Dick on the shoulder as he walks by.

But I know you are. I hate it. I hate accepting it. This

Jason pauses his writing before finally sighing in defeat.

this isn't how it was supposed to be.

taglist: @vellichor01 @thy-crimson-king @theendofthematerialgworl @tinasdcstuff @4rachn3 @cecebookworm

[starmaker-astral]

Ok we all need to sit and listen.

We need to see this scene (yes, this one) from another angle.

In case you hadn't thought about it, in the last fifteen, we can understand that Aziraphale and Crowley are being watched (by Metatron, most likely through the bookshop windows). Aziraphale knows that and tries to make Crowley understand.

Now, let's talk about how some of Aziraphale's actions/phrases just sound wrong, and not just the mouthing he does earlier, but specifically this moment :

This moment is important because so many people heavily misunderstood Aziraphale here.

It's not "Aziraphale" who speaks, it's "Aziraphale being observed and being forced to play a role" who speaks.

I thought the horribly articulated and obviously exaggerated "work with meee..." line was pretty obvious (it's the most notable one anyway), and the fake excitement doesn't fool anyone with his frantic movements, darting eyes, anxious body language etc... But far too many people are spitting on Az by saying that it was horrible to say that to Crowley and that he didn't really understand him so we need to rethink everything.

Here's what happened, a tangle of double messages :

🟣 Az playing a role because he is being watched

🟠 Az speaking honestly/by himself

"Crowley, Crowley come back to Heaven. Work with meeee... We can be together, angels ! Doing good ! .... I need you ! .... I don't think you understand what I'm offering you. (<both 🟣🟠)

By how Aziraphale acts, breathes and furtively looks elsewhere between his sentences, we notice that he is anxious, under pressure.

IT IS painful for Az to talk like that, to say those horrible things to Crowley and at the same time having to think FAST to know what to say, to do and try to make Crowley understand what is happening.

He tries to balance between what he wants/needs to say to Crowley and what he is forced to do, against his will. And he tries to make Crowley understand this by acting strangely. Because Crowley knows Aziraphale, he knows when something is wrong with him.

This scene is not (entirely) a miscommunication issue, they were not safe, and Az, at the moment of Crowley's declaration was terrified that Metatron could hear this (and who would understand they love eachother, which would be terrible), the need to act FAST and the pressure of being observed.

They had TWO CONVERSATIONS AT THE SAME TIME. (In the entire scene of the last fifteen, not only here, but it would be very long to decypher every line in 1 post)

Aziraphale tries to keep a facade (smiling, enthousiast) because of being watched by the Metatron, but this whole conversation is breaking him inside (worried, scared, lonely)

Here's what I understood here, with Crowley's part and how he came to understand that they, both of them, had to quickly play a role against Metatron:

- Come back to heaven... Work with meeee... (I don't mean it) We can be together, angels ! Doing good !.... I need you ! (Don't leave me alone)... I don't think you understand what I'm offering you (We are not safe to say what we want right now, please tell me you understood)

- I understand. (Ok I got it now) [Pause] And I understand a lot better than you do (confirmation he understood he has to find a way out of here for them both to be safe)

- Well. Then there is nothing more to say (Okay, we're on the same page now and we can follow up with something to definitely fool Metatron and work together in secret)

Rewatch the scene knowing that, it's something else entirely and Aziraphale's anxiety is crippling.

And it makes that scene even worse : it's rushed, messy and frustrating because it shouldn't have happened that way.

They weren't safe at that time, they couldn't act as they wanted.

Of course, the whole Nightingale part the "I forgive you/Don't bother" etc... is heartbreaking. But isn't that another role played? (The kiss was honest tho) Something to fool Metatron? To make him believe that Az no longer has any ties to Earth/Crowley and therefore will be obedient and not considered a threat in Heaven?

Crowley told Azirpahale that he understood, and from that moment, a "breakup" game is played. (I still believe that this is all rushed, that Crowley is deeply hurt by his rushed declaration, that couldn't be made normally, and the horrible separation they have to go through because they have no other choice. Separated by the system and how it works.)

They had to play two different roles during this crisis situation, and Crowley's declaration made things even messier and risky.

They are all alone now, on separate sides, for the first time. But they hadn't any other choice for them both to be safe.

We could also talk about Azirphale's "random" gestures and mouthing earlier, before warning Crowley about Metatron's offer, trying to make Crowley understand the problem.

Metatron's offer (disguised obligation, see the "give me coffee or give me death" coffee metaphore : Take the coffee (my offer) or it will be death for you and your demon

"Whats that lovely human expression ?" (He never says thing like that, he use those "human expression" words to fool the Metatron into believing that Az doesn't know humanity very well while he actually does) "Hold that thought !" (Please don't say that. We are in danger let me speak)

Aziraphale looking away (at the window, nervous)

Az cant focus on Crowley's speech because they know they are in danger and Metatron should hear that Crowley loves Az or it would be worse

But that's another subject to explore further for next time ✨️

[un-till-the-end]

Ivan is not a good friend to Till

I'm just going to preface, we're setting aside Till's own behavior for now and looking at how Ivan treats Till - or specifically mistreats Till, without any other caveats involved.

This is not hate or anti rhetoric. Do not use my posts to engage in discourse. I'm examining a specific facet of their relationship for a specific reason.

Beating up an already bruised Till

The artbook says Ivan has a strong fist from growing up in the slums, but Till just assumes he's a naturally strong fighter. Ivan can easily suppress Till, even when he's smaller than him.

Instead, he's having the time of his life adding to the bruises already on Till. A segyein teacher comments they keep fighting but concludes that's just how kids are. This means Ivan is repeatedly contributing to Till's bruises.

Later, Ivan grows up to be bigger than Till anyways. Ivan tells Till he wants to stop fighting: Till is smaller than him now so it's too much trouble to avoid injuring him worse than usual. Obviously this pisses Till off.

Patronizes him

Till takes offence to Ivan suggesting he can't take him just because he's smaller now.

When Till receives a fixed restraint that restricts him even further, Ivan tugs on the leash and tells him "I told you so."

Insults him

Ivan also calls him a loser when they're young. This is right after Till defined it as someone who is a friendless moron, and it clearly hurts his feelings.

Lets Till take the fall for him

In the Anakt Garden Kit, a segyein writes Till got into a fight with a new kid named Ivan and that fortunately Ivan has generously forgiven him. This implies Ivan didn't take any blame for his participation in it.

Ivan's behavior leads to Till getting blamed for things he didn't even do.

Steals Till's belongings and lies about having found them

In the Patreon, it's written that:

Ivan would steal Till's belongings just to return them later. He would pretend to be the one who found them, and this irritated Till very much.

He steals Till's pencil which Till needs if he wants to draw or compose. Ivan repeatedly steals the recorder Mizi gave him which Till calls his "one and only treasure."

Taking into account Till's guardian, the condition of his clothing, and his excitement at receiving gifts, we can infer he probably isn't given things often and probably doesn't own much to begin with.

Ivan steals his birthday gifts as well.

Disgusts and scares him

I'm told specifically Till finds the notion unsanitary. There's any number of reasons he could feel this way but Ivan doesn't let it go right away.

Till is already upset and on edge, and then Ivan prods at the exact reason he's distressed. It's also inflicting more pain on him, even if only slightly.

"A deep love-hate attachment"

A friend who is kind to you sometimes and mean to you others is not a good friend. That's obvious, isn't it? The acts of gentleness don't cancel out the acts of violence.

But Till doesn't see him as a friend. He sees him like a family member:

Someone you're stuck with no matter what. Someone who picks on you but has your back in thick and thin. Ivan confuses, irritates, and frustrates Till, but he also soothes and cares for him. He's someone who makes his life difficult, but he's also someone Till can fall back on.

[sourpeachly]

What is love?

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Pairing: Todoroki Shouto x gn!reader

Word count:

Summary: in which he realized his feelings for you

Author's note: childhood friends trope, u and shouto are neighbors too💞💞

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"So? So? Are you guys dating or what?"

"Yeah! Spill the beans already! Everyone already assumes so anyways!"

Hagakure's and Ashido's excited and sparkling gaze peered up at him, full of expectations.

"No, we're just friends. Nothing more."

Shouto's voice came out as calm and monotone as always. His voice is devoid of any emotions. On the other hand, the two girls expressions drooped drastically.

"Aw man! I thought for sure that the two of you were an item!"

Ashido whined, her tone dejected.

"Yeah! Plus, the two of you always walk from and to school together everyday!"

Hagakure interjects, huffing in frustration.

"It's so obvious that you like them!"

"Yes, i do like them." He said.

At an almost lightning fast speed, the girl's head spun towards him, their eyes so wide it might as well have popped out of their sockets. The two of them squealed, giggling and exchanging hushed whispered, which made the dual haired boy raise his brow in confusion.

"Girls, i don't think he really understands what you meant by 'like'."

Iida placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, giving it a gentle pat.

"What!?" They exclaimed at the same time, turning to face him once more, now inching their face closer scrutinizing him with their fierce gaze. "Todoroki, what does it mean when you say that you 'like' them?"

"It means that i find them pleasant to be around and that i feel comfortable in their presence. Why?"

Shouto's watched as Hagakure's and Ashido's face got more and more disappointed with each word that left his mouth.

"So... You don't like, like them?"

"Does repeating it change the meaning?"

"Nevermind..."

The girls sighed in utter disappointment, as they walked away. As he watched them with an uninterested expression, weirdly enough he couldn't get what they said out of his head. It got him thinking—

'Like.'

What exactly does that mean? What defines like? What are the indicators that you like someone? What falls into the 'like' category? He sat there, the day going by in a blur. Before he knew it, the classroom was already empty, leaving him alone with one other student.

"Are you okay, Todoroki? The bell rang ages ago.."

A concerned Midoriya appeared in front of him, his brow forming a crease.

"I'm fine."

Shouto muttered, as he rises from his seat. Slinging his bag over his shoulder, he trudged through the quiet halfway. It was tainted orange from the setting sun. The temperature was a bit silly, since fall was nearing its end and winter was drawing ever near.

As he neared the front gate, he saw a family figure. They had their back against the gate pillar, checking the watch on their wrist every so often with a passive look on their face. It seems like they hadn't noticed him yet.

He stopped a foot away, as he called out their name.

It was yours.

You turn to face him, a bright smile etched across your face. A smile that made it seem as if the wind that chilled his skin didn't matter. He returned it with a small smile of his own, barely visible if you squint.

"I'm sorry. I kept you waiting. That was not my intention."

"That's okay! I wasn't waiting for that long anyway."

You reassured him, erasing his apologetic pout with a bright grin of your own.

The both of you walked side by side, not having the pressure of making small talk, it was nice just basking in each other's presence.

But maybe being too quiet was not the best, since he found his thoughts drifting back to the conversation earlier today.

"Are you guys dating or what?"

"Everyone already assumes so anyways!"

Why would people assume that? You were obviously only friends. He treats you just like his other friends. But maybe that wasn't the case to others. He thought back to how he treats you and how he treats everyone else. How he slowed down his pace to match yours— wait.

He stopped in his tracks, his eyes widening for a fraction. How long has he been doing that for? Without him, himself even realizing?

Noticing that he was no longer beside you, you turned around, tilting your head.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, it's..... It's nothing."

He shook his head softly, before quickening his pace to walk by your side once more.

It returned to silence, and once again, his own thoughts had betrayed him. Once again, he is contemplating over the difficult topic of 'like'. Yes, it is undeniable that he is very considerate towards you. But that's how he is with all of his other friends. But did he ever go to that extent? ......He conveniently can't recall.

Having been occupied with his own thoughts, you on the other hand were too occupied admiring the clouds in the sky, not noticing the uneven pavement ahead.

Before you knew it, you were already falling forward. As he watches your stumbling, his body began to move before his head had processed what was happening.

His arm was outstretched, ready to catch you. But you never came. He looked to his side, and saw that you had already caught yourself by grabbing onto the railings for support.

You breathe out a sigh of relief, before turning to face him, your face quickly turns into that of confusion.

"Shou? What are you doing? Is something wrong?"

"I... No, it's nothing.."

He shook his head dismissively, slowly retracting his hand and keeping it clenched on his sides.

That was stupid. He should've known that you were perfectly capable of taking care of yourself. It's not like he was your boyfriend—

Woah. That was weird. He placed a hand over his chest, feeling how fast his heart was reacting to the word 'boyfriend'. It was odd. Was he sick?

"Well, we're finally here. See you tomorrow!"

He quickly got his bearings as he realized that the two of you had arrived at your front gate. Time seemed to always slip through his fingers when he's with you.

He stood there and watched as your figure disappeared through the front door. After what felt like forever, he finally dragged his feet away, on his way to his own home. Which wasn't very far, since it was next door.

Truly, what were you to him? He thought of you as a friend. Just a friend. Now he wasn't so sure. Did friends sparkle as much as you did? Did friends make his heartbeat spike so high that he thought that he had developed a heart condition? Did friends get an unsavory feeling every time they see their friend interacting with another friend a little too closely?

He doesn't know anymore. He's never experienced something like this before. Growing up, he wasn't the most social kid in the group. He was private, closed off. His walls up high. But somehow, you managed to slip through the small cracks he had failed to patch up. But if he were to ask himself if he had regretted letting you in, he wouldn't know the answer but it was definitely not a yes.

Every time he basked under your warm smile, it was easier to breathe. Every time he felt suffocated under Endeavor's heavy shadows, you would be there, gently leading him into the light once more.

As he glanced through his window, which was coincidentally directly placed in front of your room. And you were there, putting away your bag. You noticed him, flashing him a bright smile, along with a wave. He returned it with a tiny wave back, with a smile that mirrored your own.

A smile that became his anchor. The smile that adored. A smile that he treasured. The very smile that he loved so much.

That's right.

Love.

Finally, all of the unexplainable actions he took, he finally had a name to put to it.

Who knew something could feel so warm without a fire in sight.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

[kewpiekitty]

hey so how do you think Solomon, Simeon, Diavolo and Asmo would deal with human reader just dropping this bomb on them, “I’ve been looking into a way to extend my life span, so I can be with you longer… what do you think?” (Solomon proves a human’s life span can be extended. He is immortal human). So yea, what they do with a normal human wanting to stay with them longer than they normally would be able too?

a/n: hellooooo lovely !! i'm sorry it took so long to get this request done. i have genuinely been trying to figure out how to write this and tbh i still have nothing but i don't wanna let you down so i'm powering through it !!

this one is honestly the super short and i apologize !! if i get more ideas i may come back and edit this !

∘₊✧── how asmo would react ! ──✧₊∘

once your classes are over you run home, excited to tell asmo about the information you've stumbled upon.

you quickly enter the house when you arrive, barging into asmo's room to tell him of your discoveries.

"asmo!! i have something i need your opinion on!" his arms wrap around your waist bringing you into a tight hug. he inhales your scent and exhales softly, not wanting it to leave his nose.

"what is it my darling?" he parts from the hug to look at you. but keeps his hold on your waist. your face beaming with the bright smile you're wearing

"sooo...while i was chatting with solomon today he brought up the idea of extending my life span. which means i'd be able to be with you longer! what do you think?"

his grip on your waist loosens as his arms drop to his sides. his face has a grim expression on it. he looks worried but not turned off by the idea.

he doesn't know how to feel ! he'd be split down the middle. on one hand he wants you to be able to stay with him forever and on the other he wants you to live a full life.

obviously he isn't the avatar of greed but he can't help but be selfish about this. he wants you...no...he needs you to stay with him forever.

asmo knows he'll never meet anyone else like you. demon, angel, or human. no one will ever be able to understand him the way that you do.

his selfishness aside he wants your opinion on the matter. are you doing this just for him? do you really want to live for the rest of your life?

"i think that it would be a wonderful idea honey. but i want to know how you feel about it. would you be willing to really go through with this?"

you tell him of course you want to, that's why you brought up the idea in the first place. with your assurance he agrees to the idea

the both of you run to solomon to ask him about the process of making you immortal. the feeling in asmo's chest is warm, knowing his darling wants to be with him forever.

∘₊✧── how diavolo would react ! ──✧₊∘

finishing the errands you had to run for the brothers, you go to visit the young demon lord. otherwise known as your boyfriend.

you walk into the castle greeting barbatos as he fixes something for diavolo. heading up to the ruler's room and letting yourself in.

the neutral look on his face disappearing as soon as he sees you. he gets up from his desk and hugs you, planting a kiss on the top of your head as well.

"my love it's so good to see you. i've missed you so much." the man towers over you as he wraps his arms around your frame. you giggle thinking about the height difference.

"i've missed you even more diavolo." he grabs your hand leading you to his bed, sitting down and patting the spot next to him. "here sit down my love. you must be tired from running those errands."

as you sit down next to him he sees the unsure look on your face. "what's wrong my dearest? is there something bothering you?" "no of course not! i've just been thinking about something recently." he looks at you waiting expectantly for you to coninue.

"how would you feel if i wanted to become immortal. so that i could spend a longer amount of time with you?" his eyes widen at the thought.

he would say it's a bad idea at first. he believes a human should live through their full life span. plus he feels like it isn't right to ask you to do that. of course he'd want that, but isn't that selfish to ask for?

"i don't know about that my love..." his response shatters your heart. "do you not want to want me to be with you longer?" you feel silly for asking such a question but he doesn't allow that for long.

"of course i do! i just couldn't ask you to do something like that for me. that is just such a big request. something that you can't change your mind about."

you place your hand on top of his. "diavolo i promise you this is what i want to do. i want to be able to spend as much time with you as i can."

you try your hardest to persuade him, wanting nothing more than to live the rest of your life with him. no matter how hard you try he's still hesitant.

in the end he'll say no. not because he doesn't want you with him. but because it's too big of a decision right now. this is something that you could never undo.

he'll shower you with attention since his response upsets you, but you understand where he's coming from.

∘₊✧── how solomon would react ! ──✧₊∘

you're in solomon's dorm room laying in bed with him. your head laying on his chest and your legs intertwined, his fingers trace shapes onto your back.

you lift your head up and a soft call of his name slips past your lips, interrupting the comfortable silence that settled between the two of you.

"i wanted to ask you a question my love." he brings his hand up to brush a strand of hair away from your face. a small smile growing as he sees you. "ask away pretty."

"you know how you were able to extend your life? what if i also did that? so i could stay with you longer than i'd normally be able to." the question stuns him for a moment.

his hand is still on your face as he stares into your eyes. you stare back, looking for any kind of hint on how he feels about your inquiry.

he suddenly sits up, pulling you up with him. both of his hands are laced with yours. "that's a great idea y/n!"

he would think it's a great idea ! he's biased of course but he'd still think it's a good idea.

he's been alive for hundreds of years and he's enjoyed his extended time. he'd enjoy it even more by spending it with you, he loves you s much and he'd be so happy just to be able to with you for the rest of your lives.

solomon would definitely make sure it's something you wanted though. he doesn't want you to feel like you have to do this.

once you promise him that it was your own idea in the first place he readily agrees with you, excited that the love of his life wants to spend the rest of eternity with him.

he'd begin to tell you all the steps he took to extend his life, teaching you about the pacts he made and how he made them.

you two would stay up all night talking about how to execute your plan. you've made a lot of friends here in the devildom and you. want to stay with them as long as you can. especially your lover solomon.

[peachhcs]

Samy and will in Boston for the Bauer combine

oo wait yeah like samy hangs out at will's house while he's off having fun playing hockey so she gets to catch up with grace and colleen and then one night ryan and julianne would drive out to see them too

lowwkkk hate the ending but hopefully u don't! this was fun to write :)

au masterlist

it was already a given that samy was going to boston will with when he got the invite back for the bauer combine. they went basically everywhere with each other this summer, so the two were on a plane to will's home city where they would reunite with his parents and sister for the week. colleen was more than happy to have them and she was also excited to catch up with the younger hughes after not seeing her in months.

"hi, come in, come in," colleen exclaimed with open arms when her son and samy stepped through the door. she hugged samy first, obviously, while the blonde playfully rolled his eyes a bit.

"hi colleen, good to see you," the brunette smiled.

"it's so good to see you too, my baby. how are you?" the older woman gushed and samy laughed when she noticed will pretending to be offended his mom didn't greet him first, "and yes, hello to my other baby. it's good to see you too."

"yeah, thanks mom," will hugged her the same.

"you two put your thinks upstairs. i'm making dinner, so it should be ready in an hour if you'll be hungry. i'm so happy you two are here," colleen exclaimed and the two caught sight of grace and bill emerging as well to say hello.

"samy!" grace cheered, hugging the young girl.

"hi gracie, missed you," samy hugged her tight too.

"damn, i feel like chopped liver over here," will mumbled which made everyone laugh.

"you're so annoying," grace teased but still hugged him anyway.

"you're annoying," the boy teased back. their sibling banter never ended no matter how old they were.

once all of the hello's were exchanged, samy and will went up to drop their things off in his room before fulling catching up downstairs. everything looked exactly how samy remembered it—plaid, blue and gray sheets with matching pillow cases, all of will's old medals and trophies from his younger years, boston college themed decals in the places the medals and posters weren't. his whole room screamed hockey kid who was a boston college legacy.

"wait, i remember this photo," she went to one of the frames on his dresser because she immediately recognized herself. her and will were probably 13 or something because they both looked wildly uncomfortable standing next to each other for the photo.

"oh, yeah. my mom made us take that and we hated it," the blonde laughed when he peered over her shoulder.

"ugh, we hated each other back then," samy giggled.

"good thing i don't hate you now," he kissed her cheek and she flushed at the affection.

"i miss being here. i kind of wish we came out here more. felt like it was only where we were," samy hummed while nostalgically looking around the room again. her and her brothers hardly came to boston ever. it was always michigan or toronto just because it was easier to travel with two kids than four.

"i know, kind of sad. i always feel like i'm 13 again when i'm in this room," will sat on the bed for a moment just taking it all in and looking at everything that got him to where he was now. samy joined him by laying her head on his shoulder.

"i'm proud of you. could you imagine if you told your little self where you were now?"

"i think little me would faint. thanks for coming down with me. i'm proud of you too," he kissed the top her head and they had a few more minutes together alone before going downstairs.

grace was in the living room while colleen and bill were in the kitchen making dinner. samy went to join the older girl while will went to pester his parents.

"how've you been?" the older blonde wondered when samy sat down beside her. she lowered the volume on the tv.

"i'm here. i'm good."

"good. i'm glad. how was the end of your semester?"

"it was okay. i did well on my finals..just..a little rough and maybe still a little rough," the soccer player admitted because she knew grace knew. she watched the older girl's expression soften like how a lot of people's did when samy told them what had been going on recently.

"yeah, jack told me a bit..it's a stupid question to ask but..has it been getting better?" grace wondered softly. samy bit her lip and tried finding the right words to explain how she'd been feeling.

it was still so hard to talk about.

"like..kind of. i guess? it's been hard. like really hard, but will's been helping. he always makes sure i'm never alone," her eyes flicked to the kitchen where she could see her boyfriend's back to them talking with his mom.

"good. i know it's really hard and i'm here for you too. has he been treating you good?" grace always asked to ask to make sure her little brother was staying in line still and not fucking things up again. samy giggled at the question.

"he's been really great. i wouldn't know what i'd do without him honestly."

the older girl's lips turned upward, "what else has been going on?"

"not a lot really. just trying to relax and enjoy myself. i have a development camp for soccer in a few weeks that i'll be up at school for, but that's kind of it. conditioning here and there for the season. bothering my brothers. the usual," the girls shared a warm laugh.

"jack told me him and luke are doing a lot better."

"yeah, they are. i think they're enjoying being able to slow down a bit and just enjoy themselves. it's nice having them at home since i don't see them a lot anymore," samy nodded.

"i told jack you all need to visit my new apartment in downtown boston. it's such a great view and the commute to work is so easy," grace grinned.

"wait, i want to. that would be so fun. i was telling will how much i miss being here. i feel like we never came to you guys and you just came to us all the time."

"i mean, yeah, but it was always easy for us to get to you, but just let me know when you'd wanna come down for a weekend and i will gladly have you," the two of them were such sisters and at this point they would be sisters. it was already a given and spending time with grace in the summer was something samy always looked forward to because that meant one more girl in the house full of boys.

meanwhile, will filled his parents in on the things they didn't already know while they asked him about what he'd be doing at the combine this week. it was simple conversation, but it felt so normal with samy sitting in the living room talking to his sister and he could still see her from where he stood in the next room.

colleen noticed the boy's gaze, "how is she?"

will's eyes snapped back to his parents, "she's good. better."

colleen wasn't the kind of mom to pry, but she knew about samy's situation. will ended up telling her one night after calling his mom to talk about it and he made her swear she would not tell ellen until samy was ready. it was a small betrayal to mrs. hughes, but colleen also knew how hard it could be to go to parents about things like that, so she promised to keep quiet.

"that's good. you've been doing okay with it?" mrs. smith eyed the blonde.

"yeah, i mean..i hate seeing her like that, but yeah. i'm okay."

"i get it. it's not easy seeing someone you love struggle like that, but as long as she has you by her side, i know she'll be okay. you two have always been stronger together than apart," her words made the hockey player blush. he looked back at samy again and this time she caught his gaze. they exchanged a tiny smile and will swore his heart melted on sight.

he would just keep dreaming of the day they'd be married and this would be a normal thing for them.

—

while will was at the complex, samy walked around boston with grace or colleen who offered to buy her lunch while they were out. it was nice getting to walk the city and occasionally wave to fans who recognized her on the street. ryan and julianne drove in, so samy spent one of the days with them and will would catch up with them once he was done for the day.

"it's so good to see you," julianne squeezed her tight before they all sat down. the brunette grinned, hugging her with the same intensity before turning to ryan because she couldn't leave him out.

the taller brunette hugged her tight, "damn, hughes. i feel like you've been everywhere."

"i kind of have. i spent may in herning and then i was back home for a bit..now i'm here. will and i will be in california again for the draft in a couple of weeks," samy explained her plans as they finally sat down.

"shit. you have been all over. i'm sure smitty's making sure you don't pay for a thing," ryan joked and the girl flushed, but he was mostly right. all it took was for will to put his card in or tap it before she could and he was basically paying for her every need.

it was sweet though and samy really appreciated it.

"how's he been? i haven't seen him in like forever. he isn't being an idiot this summer, right?" everyone knew last summer was hard on the couple and they were making sure it would not happen again.

samy giggled, "he's been good and yes, don't worry. i think he's more obsessed with me than he's ever been."

"good because if not, i will go over and slap him," julianne said seriously.

"i promise i will tell you if he starts acting up again, but it's been really good. i think we're glad we get to spend basically all of our time together this summer. it makes up for never seeing each other during the school year and season," the soccer player took a sip of her coffee. the other two smiled warmly, always glad to hear that.

"you might have to give me some pointers when he's all wrapped up in hockey this season," the blonde stuck her thumb in ryan's direction. the boy flushed, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

"oh come on, you guys are pros now. you've been dating as long as i've known you," samy chuckled.

the mindless conversation about college and other life updates was nice. it took samy's mind off of everything that she hadn't been able to stop thinking about and she always enjoyed julie and ryan's company. after coffee, the three of them walked around downtown for a bit to keep themselves busy until will was free again.

"dude, i can't wait to be back in mich next month. i've been counting down the days," ryan mumbled as they shuffled into a small boutique store.

"i'm really excited to see everyone in one place again. it will be really nice to catch up," samy nodded in agreement.

"you know what i like? i like how every year we seem to add someone new, but we always welcome them with such open arms. last year, it was emma. this year, it's mack and his girlfriend. i just think it's so cute and i really hope every summer we can come back to this," julianne started getting sentimental and the other two beamed.

samy and her brothers were so glad their lake house had become a place people always wanted to come back to. it was a true staple to their friend groups and that was the best part about it.

"well, quinn and jack will probably never get rid of it, so we'll have it for as long as we'll be friends," the girl hummed.

"i hope we get to bring our kids back to it and they get to experience what we did."

that would definitely be the dream. samy could picture it now. all of their kids would run around and throw each other in the lake like they did now and then maybe some of them would find themselves in the same fate as samy and will.

the conversation shifted again and the three, well mostly ryan, began talking about the draft coming up. he was excited to see where they'd place haggy and talked on about matt schaefer's career on the islanders.

it was getting closer to 6 where they'd meet will at one of the restaurants for dinner. while julie was looking at something in one of the stores, ryan pulled samy back for a moment.

"you been doing okay?" he wondered lowly and samy didn't need to ask what he was talking about. she looked at julie who was too focused on what she was looking at to hear their conversation.

it was a very select few that samy told about her eating disorder. it wasn't that she didn't trust julianne to tell her, she just didn't want everyone knowing because then that meant more pity and the younger hughes hated when people pitied her.

"yeah, i think so. i dunno," the brunette shrugged.

"i get it. it's not easy, but i'm proud of you for trying. how has therapy been?" it was the brother instinct in ryan to pry a bit and also the fact that he genuinely wanted to know how samy was doing.

"it's been helping, i think. she's nice and she lets me talk at my own pace. they have me on some medication to maybe help the thoughts. she thinks i have a bit of ocd which may explain why i get so anxious about food i eat. it's been okay. hard, but i'm getting there," samy nodded.

"good. okay is better than not okay. will's been good to you, right?"

"yeah, he has. he's been really good, actually. it helps when i eat with him for every meal, so he always makes sure to eat with me everyday," ryan would still never forget last summer when samy showed up at his house an hour away from will's a crying mess because he broke up with her.

he would probably always hold a small grudge to the blonde because of that, but he was really glad to hear that the two had been better ever since they got back together. he would do a lot more than slap will if he ever made the same mistake.

"i'm glad to hear that. i just wanted to check in. i'm here if you need anything, yeah? so is gp," samy appreciated his words and smiled.

"yeah, thank you. i appreciate you guys."

the two rejoined julie where she was deciding between one top and another and samy quickly stepped in to offer her opinion.

the three headed to the restaurant once julie bought her shirt. they were early still, but it wouldn't hurt to sit and start with some drinks. samy smiled when she saw will's texting saying how he was leaving now and would be there in 10 minutes.

"we should go on a five way date when everyone's here," julie laughed.

"at that point it'd just be us hanging out and we should just invite drew, aram, vote and fowler with us," ryan laughed too.

"okay, yeah true. we need to find them girlfriends. i still feel out numbered," the blonde said.

"hey, i'm working on them. they're not as mushy gushy as some of us are," ryan defended which made the girls laugh.

ryan and julie saw will coming in behind samy. his hair was damp from the shower he must've took on the way over and he had a backpack over his shoulders. a smile appeared on his lips when he caught sight of them. the couple smiled warmly watching as the blonde leaned down to press a kiss to samy's head before he greeted them.

"hey!" the girl giggled.

"hi, baby," will smiled, setting his stuff down so he could properly say hello to his other friends.

"good to see you, man," ryan and will did one of those bro hugs where they dapped each other up and then patted the other's back.

"you too, lean. it's been forever," will said and then went to hug julie too.

"hey, will," the girl smiled.

will quickly took his seat beside samy. he looked over at her again, silently asking if she was doing okay and then finding her leg so he could place a hand on her knee. she smiled at his affection and gave a small nod.

"what's been up with you guys?" the sharks rookie wondered once he knew samy was okay.

"honestly, not much. trying to enjoy the time off. i was just telling hughesy how excited i am for the lake house," ryan smiled.

"dude, me too. i can't wait to see everyone. it's been so long since i last saw everyone all together. we're gonna have so much fun," will cheered.

"i told samy i hope we can bring our kids back one day. like going there in the summer just becomes our thing," julie added and samy felt will squeeze her knee tighter. he looked over at again, a wide, cheesy smile on his lips.

"it will definitely become our thing."

it was so easy to fall back into easy conversation like they were never apart. ryan and will talked nonsense about hockey while samy and julie talked about girl drama from college. when dinner was finished the temperature in the city had dropped a significant amount, so will offered samy his hoodie as they walked back to his car.

"you guys wanna come back to the house? i'm sure my mom would love to see you," will chuckled, his hand securely around samy's waist.

"yeah, sure. we can stop by for a bit," ryan agreed.

the drive back to the house was uneventful and colleen happily greeted ryan and julianne in. "come in, come in. it's good to see you two," she hugged each of them, always a hugger no matter who it was.

"can we have some drinks?" will asked his mom knowing she was much more inclined to say yes in her own house.

"if none of you are driving, sure," colleen said.

"i'll only have one and i'll let it sit," ryan said and so will went to his parents stash.

the blonde let samy have at it since she was the best at mixing and creating tasty drinks. the four went outside on the back patio once they each had a drink to slowly slip on.

"here's to everyone. can't wait to see them again," ryan hummed with a happy, lazy smile. they clinked their glasses together and took the first sip at the same time. they spent the rest of the night on the patio together and ryan and julianne did end up spending the night, but mrs. smith didn't mind.

she would let any of her kids' friends stay over as long as it meant they were safe.

the rest of the week went fast. another bauer combine was done and samy and will were on their way back over to california for the draft. colleen and bill hugged the two tightly, wishing them good flights.

"get there safe. it was good seeing you two," the older woman smiled.

"thanks for having us, mom. we'll be back soon," will promised and they were going to stick to that promise. being home made the boy realize how much he missed it and he was going to try and come back a lot more frequently.

[lilacprincess7]

Hey heeeey! How are you doing? Love your blog btw ;) Could you perhaps do a Pau x reader? Something where Pau and reader are hosting a dinner at his players and invite the other players like Gavi, Pedri and Co. The other players bring stuff to not come empty-handed (I could imagine Gavi bringing store-bought cookies but having taken them out of the package so it’s not too obvious xD) The reader does most of the cooking and is midly stressed because they want everything to be perfect. Pau helps as good as he can.

Thanks in advance!

Team Dinner anxiety

summary: what the req said

a/n: I saw the 'guess who' video and think he is so cute. I love how him and Hector are so close

You were shaking. Like literally shaking. You and Pau had agreed to host the team dinner of the month and it had you quite anxious. Scratch that. Personally, you looked like a fish out of water. What even were you going to cook? How many dishes should you cook?

Since the season was still going strong you had the problem of everything also being diet appropriate so the guys could actually eat. The next problem was that there were vegeterians and vegans on the invite list. So obviously you needed to cook a little bit of everything.

That preperetion certainly needed more than a pair of hands. Who better to drag into this mess than your boyfriend? Frankly, he already knew you were stressed about and was going to offer his help anyway. You just managed to ask him before he asked you.

So here you were, talking about it in the comfort of your couch. You were currently sat on his lap, his big arms encircling your waist, his hands grasping opposite hips, big green eyes looking up and meeting your own gaze with his chin against your chest.

"Baby, you are distracting me, stop it"

"Why? I literally didn't even move!"

"I know! But I'm freaking out and I need help and you are sitting here so calm and just looking at me like I'm the best think in the world and it makes me blush and feel shy and I can't consentrate with the task at hand!"

"Okay okay, I'll stop looking at you. There. My eyes are closed. But for the record, you are the best thing in the world. You are my entire world hermosa..."

"Guapooo" you said in awe, rolling off of him and on the couch, hiding your face with a nearby blanket.

He was full on smiling with your reaction. It wasn't something uncommon per say, him saying such things and making you blush. It never failed to make you a shy and cute -in his opinion, you disagreed- mess.

"Okay, now I'm pausing for real. Look, in the kitchen I'm a mess. I will blow things up. I can't help at all...but"

"But?"

"I know how to have a barbeque... I can make some steaks, sausages, even some burgers if you want.." he suggested, looking at you with that pair of eyes that had you melting easily.

"That solves so many problems! You are a lifesaver!" you said as you climbed his lap again and kissed him full on the lips.

Now stress gave way to excitment. You would make a couple of salads, possibly put some mushrooms and peppers in the oven as well, that way vegetarians and vegans were covered. The boys would be fine with the meat and you could also throw some fish in the oven, if anyone wasn't in the mood for meat or had some allergy.

The dinner was in two days, so tomorrow you would go shopping with Pau after he got back from training and get everything you need to cook. This was going to be the best team dinner ever and you would make sure of it!

And here you were, in the middle of an isle on the supermarket, trying and failing to reach a bottle of oil from the top self. You were this close to just straight up giving up when Pau made an appearance. “Baby, what’s going on? What are you trying to reach with such a passion?” He asked, chuckling a bit.

“I want to reach that bottle of oil, but it’s too high and I can’t…” you trailed off, pouting

“You can, with a bit of help” he said

With minimal effort, your boyfriend had literally manhandled you and now you found yourself seated on his shoulders, like you weighted as much as a feather. “Now you can reach it hermosa, no?” He teased as he grasped your thigh with one hand, he looked up at you and smiled wide, his eyes lightning up in the process. He had that look of love dancing in his eyes when he looked at you and it always made you feel butterflies.

“Yes, yes stop teasing me…” you trailed off smiling back at him.

You were genuinely so happy with him in your life. A simple look, a gentle touch of his was enough to make you feel better, to make you feel whole even in the most difficult situations. He was everything you could ever need and everything you would ever want. You really hoped and he knew so that he would be the father of your children one day.

Somehow, nothing blew up. That was mostly because this time around Pau was not distracting you and was out in the backyard taking care of the meat he had chosen to cook. You were quite a bit anxious once again because you were making baked mushrooms for the first time on your own and you freaked out.

Like totally panicked. You called your mom to make sure you had the right recipe and then your grandma. They both teased you, saying that Pau has stolen your mind and you had zero braincells left. They also said that you had made this since you were five years old and laughed a bit more. You replied to both of them similarly with something along the lines of 'haha really funny, not that it isn't true...'.

Finally, after you were stack in a kitchen the whole day, your guests started arriving and you were somewhat tense at first. What if anyonw got food poisoning. Another stupid thought since you knew how to cook and Pau always praised you for your talent.

Fortunately, he was there once again to calm you down. He stopped you while you were taking a tray of cheese in the living room as a side for the wine. He got the plate from you and put it down on the kitchen table.

"Amor take a breath" he said quietly

"Why? I'm fine I swea-"

"You are anxious. And I can literally feel your hand shaking so please take a deep breath in for me.." he trailed off, looking at you straight in the eyes pleadingly. If he knew you would be so stressed about it he would have told you to not host it, to cancel it even. You were above everyone else in his heart.

So you did as he told you. He helped you control your breath and guided you for a moment.

"Now, do you feel a bit better?" he asked concerned

"Yeah, thank you amor"

"Anything for my woman" he replied as he kissed your knuckles

He hugged you for a couple of minutes after, mostly wanting to reasure himself that you were okay. He peppered some kisses on your face, one landing on your nose, another on your temple, a third on your cheekbone. He was so affectionate with you that it made you dizzy.

The rest of the evening was perfect. The wags asked you for some of your recipes even. They were quite impressed by your cooking skills and wanted to know more. In the end, it really was the best team dinner ever.

a/n: hope you liked it!!

[04tenno]

8 characters confirmed for Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, the first entry in the series to feature all faceclaims from the previous game!

[accirax]

Danganronpa: Despair Time Chapter 2 Episode 12 Dissection

DANGANRONPA DESPAIR TIME IS BACK, BABY!!!

And in the vein of what many others have being doing since the episode came out, I will here be posting my thoughts on what this latest episode has brought to the table. This post will be a mixture of pointing out things I found fun/interesting and more serious theorizing about the murder and the events of the surrounding chapter. I also tried not to read too many other people's opinions or theories before writing my own post so that I hopefully wouldn't have my immediate opinions swayed, so I apologize if I've missed any critical easter eggs that others have pointed out or if I'm just beating a dead horse.

Let the episode commence!

SPOILERS for Danganronpa: Despair Time through Chapter 2, Episode 12!

Really important/long stuff will probably have a header-y title under it as well. I also might skip around in time a bit to put relevant pieces of evidence together? IDK, I'm kinda winging this for this first episode.

The Whole AM/PM Thing

Charles: The evidence against David-- in fact, our entire line of reasoning hinges on the fact that Arei must have been killed at around 7:30 PM last night. But the primary reason we believe the murder occurred at that time is because of the fish found at the crime scene. From that, Teruko concluded that since the killer accessed the relaxation room for water, the murder couldn't have occurred during night time. So, unless I'm missing some other piece of evidence that could explain it... Why couldn't the killer simply have taken the water during daytime and stored it for later use?

Well, by this point I think that pretty much everyone (on Tumblr, at least) was in agreement that Arei was killed in the morning rather than the evening, no matter who their personal choice of killer was. So, the murder happening in the morning isn't much of a surprise.

For all my talk of trying not to look at others' theories, I did talk with my sister @venus-is-thinking in person after we watched the episode, and she brought up a really good point that I'd like to reiterate here. Sorry for stealing something that you'll certainly bring up in your post as well! I just want as many people to be aware of it as possible.

During the investigation, Nico says that they fed the fish last night after they ate dinner, and didn't notice any fish missing at that time. To be fair, Teruko tries to press them for a specific time, and Nico responds that they don't remember at what hour exactly they fed the fish or ate dinner.

However (likely relevantly to the murder) we do have specific intel about last night's dinner to get a better sense of some timing. When Teruko is talking to Charles and Whit in the Computer Room, Whit remarks that it's "past dinner time," and Teruko's stomach growls. This is likely using Whit's internal clock and sense of when dinner time is as opposed to a MonoTV-mandated meal time, but given that no one else is in the Kitchen besides Teruko, Charles, Whit, and David when the former three enter, and we know that Nico must have had dinner before the Relaxation Room closed at 10 PM, we can probably assume that Nico also ate dinner around a regular "dinner time."

However x2, we also know that, after Teruko, Charles, and Whit go to the Kitchen, Whit sends David to the Relaxation Room, and Teruko mentions that she was planning to eat there as well. That means that we have three accounts of students believing that the Relaxation Room was open at that time, so we can assert that the terucharwhit dinner scene occurs before 10 PM.

So, what does this mean? Well, we'll start by assuming that Nico ate dinner at, like... 6:30? Hu says that she and Eden have a tradition of cleaning up after dinner together, starting at 7 PM. I'm ballparking that eating a meal might take about 30 minutes, so that would mean everyone is done at 7:00. Therefore, Nico probably fed the fish at around 7:00 as well.

We'll also set egg dinner (that's what I'm calling terucharwhit + David dinner now) at, like 9:30. Once again assuming that someone could eat dinner in about 30 minutes, that means either David or Teruko could comfortably eat their dinner before the Relaxation Room closed. It also gives the culprit basically the widest possible amount of time to steal the fish, and I like to be as all-inclusive as possible.

To return to the main point for a moment, Venus' argument was that, because Nico interacted with the fish at night and didn't notice any of them missing, the culprit still must have taken the fish at night (but before 10 PM), not just at any point of the day. Based on my time frame, that means that whoever killed Arei (or someone working with them) must have gotten the fish at some time between 7:00 and 9:30. Let's run through who that could possibly be:

Teruko: There's a small window of opportunity for her to have done it before meeting with Charles and Whit in the Computer Lab, but we didn't see her do that, so I'm gonna say no.

Xander: He was dead.

Charles: I'm pretty sure Charles and Whit have claimed to be together all day, and they were at least already together in the Computer Lab working together on something before Teruko entered. Assuming they weren't in on this together, I'm going to give him a tentative no.

Ace: So, assuming that Ace was telling the truth about overhearing David and Arei on the night of Day 7, he would have been in the Gym at ~9:30 on the night the fish were taken. That is to say, if he had just taken the fish (and potentially even hid them in the Gym fridge), he absolutely could have gone to the Gym afterwards. I don't remember him having any sort of alibi otherwise. Easy yes.

Arei: Given that, other than Ace (and David) claiming to have seen her at 9:30, no one is admitting to have seen Arei since lunchtime, Arei did have a window of opportunity to take the fish. Obviously, why she would (inadvertently or not) help her killer to kill her is still a huge question mark, but we're talking possibility, so it's a yes.

Rose: Rose has no alibi ever because she's asleep. Yes.

Hu: Hu and Eden claim to have a continuous alibi together between 7 and 10 PM. Again, unless they're in on it together, tentative no.

Eden: Same as Hu. Tentative no.

Levi: Levi was "doing his laundry," which even he admits is shaky at best. He's a yes.

Arturo: J says that Arturo was by her side from the entire time between 7:30 and 10 PM. Third time's the charm-- unless Arturo and J were in on it together, Arturo is a tentative no.

Min: She was dead.

David: David entered the Kitchen for egg dinner at ~9:30, but we don't know where he was before that. Similarly, we don't know what happened at the end of Ace's story, which leaves David a window of opportunity to have taken the fish just before the Relaxation Room closed. Either way, definite yes.

Veronika: Veronika was with Teruko at the end of the night, but we don't know where she was before that. She had an opportunity; yes.

J: Arturo's alibi goes both ways. Tentative no.

Whit: Same as Charles. Tentative no.

Nico: Nico both had ample opportunity to have taken the fish before 9:30, and could have been lying about the timing of the fish despite that. Another easy yes.

So, what does that tell us? Well, it likely means that either the killer has to be Ace, Arei, Rose, Levi, David, Veronika, Nico, or someone who has one of those seven as an accomplice, or I/the students have something wrong about the timing. Venus' other point was that it's weird that that hasn't come up at this point in the Trial, so don't be surprised if we come back to it later. Or we're wrong.

And those were my notes on... the first two minutes of the Trial! That whole ramble that probably could have been a whole theory post by itself! God, I need to pick up the pace...

Dang, what a cool detail that literally none of us picked up on (as far as I remember). Seriously, how did nobody even throw that out as an off-the-wall possibility? Anyways, if the body was still swinging, that means the murder-- or at least the hanging-- was recent recent. Sadly, given that no detail is given as to who arrives in the Motive Screening Room when, I don't think we have any further evidence to pin down who this might have been at the moment. Keep it in mind, though.

Okay, so I believe that J is right about "answering her own question" here, but that does therefore lead us to the conclusion that the body probably was drenched in water at some point. I do not know why. It'd be interesting if it was to clean blood off of Arei's body, although Artruro-not-being-the-killer pending there weren't any cuts or scrapes on her body. It could have also been a mistake, it's just weirder to have a mistake that covers the entire body in water. Or, it could be a failure in Arturo's alibi, which is obviously a major point of the episode.

I literally said exactly this while Ace was talking. Thank you Charles <3

First point that I feel people have commented on already: we now know that the DRDT cast believes that they are about 18! This makes sense, given that they believed that they were about to enter their first year of college, which, in the United States, happens at about 18.

Secondly...

Arturo: I started studying medicine when I was twelve. Twelve! All that amounts to is six years of medical training!

Arturo: I was only able to get this far in such a short amount of time because I specialized in plastic surgery, and nothing else. I neglected everything that wasn't immediately relevant to my goals.

Felicity is 3-4 years younger than Arturo. Therefore, she was 8-9 when Arturo started studying medicine. I don't think we have enough info at the moment to speculate as to when Arturo might have left home to pursue being a doctor, other than that 14 is generally the minimum possible age of employment in the US, while the legal age to live alone is 18. I'd love to dive into this more, but I don't think we've been given enough to complete a full timeline. Still, important to keep in mind.

A certified W for verturo shippers. "Adorable" is such a word choice.

Oh, so that's where that came from. Convenient that it doesn't seem to be relevant to this murder, because I have no explanation for it. I wonder if it'll be relevant in the future, though, or if it was just a funny gag that DRDTdev wanted to include.

As much as I've tried to refute Whit mastermind theory in the past, I have to admit that this moment was pretty suspicious for Whit. "Because it was funny" could easily be a coverup for "that's an executable offense but I'm programmed to not want to kill my mastermind so I let it go." It's still not concrete proof by any means, but I can tell that I'll be seeing this screenshot more in the future if I try to argue against Whit being the mastermind again.

Mechanisms, you say? 👀

I have been thinking so much about what the fuck this line means ever since Whit said it. Did they actually spend the night together, and Whit is just framing it in a subversively funny way? Is he saying that he's so sure that Charles doesn't have any friends other than him that there's no possibility that Charles could have been with anyone else other than him? Is he secretly the mastermind, and knows that Charles was alone through watching a security camera? Was he just saying that to be random and banking on being correct? Sir, I do not understand you. You're the best <3

Are J, David, and Veronika Telling the Truth?

Given how popular of an option J being the killer is (and to a lesser extent, David as well), I'm sure there are plenty of people out there right now wondering if this alibi, which seemingly clears J, David, and Veronika of being the blackened, could possibly be untrue. That's what we're going to attempt to examine right now.

For starters, I'm going to eliminate the possibility that all three of them are co-conspirators in Arei's death. Like, yeah, it's possible-- I guess-- but I don't understand what any of their motivations would be, or even if they did all have corresponding motivations, why any of them would have shared them with each other prior to the Trial. It also seems like a mess narratively, with three largely unconnected characters coming together to pull off an unsupported major stunt. So, I don't think this was a planned lie to conceal their teamwork.

All of them do also have plausible enough reasons for being out early in the morning. J shared hers with the Class-- she was hoping to have an Arturo-free breakfast. David makes lots of sense, as he was probably looking around hoping that there would be a body so that the secrets wouldn't be revealed. Veronika might have been awake for the same reasons; looking around for a body in hopes of having another exciting Class Trial. Or, maybe she was just so excited about seeing all the motives that she couldn't sleep. Either way, it doesn't seem too unbelievable to think that any of them would be awake in the morning, so I'm not inclined to believe it's a lie.

The only way I think you could get out of this disqualifying these three is if you say that all three of them, but especially J, are exceptionally quick on their feet.

For this to work, J has to realize ahead of time that David was trying to draw votes to himself in order to purposefully fail the Trial, bank on the fact that this is true, and throw this fake alibi out to him, hoping that he'll accept. If J could win the Class Trial as a blackened, this would also end the killing game early, which is David's stated goal. Veronika is an easier get, given that she might agree to a chaotic lie if she found it interesting enough, but it's still a gamble.

However, this situation is incredibly niche, and still really only works if J specifically is the killer. I think we can pretty officially take David and Veronika out of the running with this. Personally, trying to see things from DRDTdev's point of view, I think he just wanted a clean sweep to remove David from killer contention, and added J and Veronika as collateral as two people who aren't the killer.

I would personally take this alibi as concrete proof that J isn't the killer, but I understand if anyone still thinks there are enough holes in its suddenness to keep J in contention. My deepest condolences to J!culprit truthers-- I'm sure that alibi must've stung. (/gen)

"Harm yourself for fun" secret go brrrrrrr.

I'm making this my new tumblr header.

Yeah, seems in accordance with his actions to me.

Oh my god another "good person" name drop AAAAAAAAAA--

Being good corresponding to sacrificing something is super interesting. Whether he's a culprit or an accomplice or what, I can't help but feel like this theme might apply to Levi in the near future.

But also, David is saying that the sacrifice is being seen as a good person, not that you have to sacrifice being seen as a good person to do good things. That part seems like it relates to David's career. He doesn't seem to like being around people very much, but he's seen as a paragon of motivational speaking because he thinks that those speeches, will, overall, do some good. David would rather be a nobody, but he'll sacrifice himself to do some good for others. Or, at least, that's the charitable reading.

And, the other "good person" jumpscare. This brings our "good people" counter up to 6, including Teruko, Eden, Arei, David, Levi, and Xander.

What the Fuck is David Talking About?

David: After all, it's still unbelievable to me... That I'm the only person here who remembered him. Even if you all lost a year of memories for this killing game, there's no reason you shouldn't have recognized who he was.

Alright. So! This was one of the biggest reveals of the episode. Probably unrelated to the Trial at hand, but very intriguing for the story overall.

I went back to rewatch some of the most prominent David/Xander scenes. From David's introduction, here's everything he says before Xander runs off to grab the pen and paper for the autograph. All of these are said directly to Xander.

David: Woah! (chime sound) Sir, is everything alright? You gave me quite the scare.

David: Yes, that's me, although I don't believe we've met before.

David: Ahaha, you flatter me. But yes, it is my goal to inspire others. I wish to make everyone realize that their aspirations are within grasp; all they have to do is find the motivation within their hearts to inspire them.

David: O-oh, wow. I'm incredibly honored, I suppose? Sorry, I don't really know how to respond.

Interestingly, there isn't actually anything to directly contradict the idea that David remembered Xander at this point, if you get a bit creative with it. Just because David "doesn't think they've met before" doesn't mean that he doesn't know who Xander is, and being "genuinely honored" could have been more genuine than most people interpreted.

There are only two points of contention, the first of which being that David calls Xander "sir." That does read more as David not knowing who he is-- he doesn't call Xander "Xander" even though Teruko already said Xander's name. However, depending on how highly David thought of Xander in the past-- because he certainly seems to think highly of Xander in the present-- David might have wanted to call him "sir" at first as a sign of formality and respect, before getting Xander's permission to be on a first name basis. Even if Xander still calls him Mr. David.

(Goddamn I typed Xander so many times in that paragraph)

The other weird point is when David says "anything for a fan" in response to Xander asking for an autograph, but that's far more excusable. Like, Xander is a massive fan of his, so calling Xander a fan is reasonable. David might have been happy that such a cool guy as Xander was a fan of his, and was stressing that fact out of delight. Or, this is after Teruko caught him slipping, so he could have also reverted into default customer service mode and said that in a more scripted mindset.

Meanwhile, in the scene where David approaches Teruko and Xander after Nico flees the lunch table...

... I CAN'T BELIEVE WE FUCKING MISSED THIS.

Do you see that? Do you see where David says "in person"? That strongly implies that David knew Xander not in person prior to the killing game. Good god, it's been there all along.

Other than that, the scene is full of David being embarrassed at Xander speaking highly of him, David speaking highly of Xander, and, of course, the mutual "you're my idol" moment. Dude, I thought that David was just gaslight gatekeep girlbossing here. You're telling me that everything he was saying about thinking that Xander was the coolest guy on earth was legit? Unreal.

Anyways, I don't have the time to rewatch, like, the entire first Trial to check up on every little comment David makes, but I find that comment about knowing Xander in person definite enough to conclude that David knew who Xander was since the very start of the killing game, not that he remembered something about Xander along the way.

How exactly David knew about Xander is still up in the air. I know that Microphony has a theory that David remembered Xander from their time together at Hope's Peak, and while it's a great theory and I don't doubt that the two did go to Hope's Peak together, I have a bit of a hard time believing that. My only holdup is that I feel like letting David remember Hope's Peak would be too powerful, and having him remember being with Xander at Hope's Peak while remembering nothing else about his time there is too... like, specific? Nit-picky? I don't have the word, but I hope you understand what I mean.

Instead, I think that David might remember what Xander did in response to the North C and Chariton incident that presumably earned him the title of Ultimate Rebel. That makes more sense to me as something that would make David idolize Xander in the same way that Xander idolized him-- if David just remembers their time at school, he would probably remember Xander on more friendly terms. It would also be super convenient to have David still be alive with memories of, say, Richard Spurling, to share with the class in future chapters, now that Xander is too dead to say anything more on the subject.

Sadly, I don't remember if there's any information in Literature Girl Insane to point theories in either direction. I'm gonna have to rewatch FF's video again sometime fr.

Is David Telling the Truth?

David: We're... in a television show, after all. That's... what MonoTV said, right? "Entertainment" is an ongoing show. If Min successfully got away with the very first murder and escaped while we all died, then isn't that way less interesting for a TV show? What's the point of roping 14 other people into one murder, only to kill them all off immediately? The killer is supposed to fail and be executed. We're all supposed to catch the killer, again and again, and participate in trial after trial. You're supposed to try to survive. All of you who are trying to survive these class trials to continue living on are playing straight into MonoTV's hands. As if I'll accept that. I don't care how low I'll sink, or how despicable I'll have to become. I'll do anything to carry on Xander's ideals by ending this killing game, even if it means that I have to dirty my hands.

Firstly, I'm so glad that we're returning to the fact that this is a televised killing game! It seems like it has to be really important to whatever the lore is, so I'm glad that the students haven't artificially forgotten that fact until Chapter 6.

Secondly, I phrased this part as "is David telling the truth" because, initially, I thought that David had a different reason for lying about killing Arei. My thought was that he thought that pathetically advocating for himself would only make himself look more guilty, so he switched up tactics by making it look like so easy of a victory that people like Teruko would wind up proving his innocence themselves. Because that seemed plausible, I wanted to examine if David could have come up with this explanation on the fly. He's known for lying and should be socially savvy, so it's possible that this argument was just a red herring to conceal his true intentions.

However, given the prior section in which I argued that it really does seem like David knew and admired Xander prior to the killing game, I'm more inclined to believe that this was the true reason. Furthermore, this was a really interesting scene, and it'd be a shame to introduce such a fascinating character idea to toss it away for an "actually, he was just trying to lie about this Chapter 2 Trial."

There's also the good ol' Literature Girl Insane, for real this time. This plan reminded me so much of the "tallying votes" scene that I had to check it out for myself.

[12] “Majority rule” is known to be the fairest method of making decisions for a group. That's why murderers never complained when we voted for them to die.

The voting results definitely sound like David's plan. If he successfully made himself the killer, everyone would be executed, and while he would have "victory" over the killing game, it would certainly be a hollow one.

The 16 vote tally is still a bit more confusing, but I think you could relate it to David's plan as well. If you assume that David is the one getting all of the votes, you could say that his plan to end the killing game no matter the cost (throwing away his career, being hated by everyone, possibly even killing someone himself) might make him guilty of a crime/worthy of being voted for, whether he literally kills someone or not. Therefore, if the majority hates him and he achieves the closest thing to "victory" that he can, there's no reason for him to complain if it means he has to die. It could be his justification for why he has to fill out his mission, even if, in his heart, he doesn't want to.

I don't know if that's the explanation of footnote 12 or just an explanation with the new scenes given, but I think it's a possibility. There's also certainly far more to dive into regarding both David's worldview and the motivations behind the killing game, but if I started looking into that now, I wouldn't publish this post until way later. I'll have to leave that analysis for another time and/or another person.

Love Hu for this. At least for someone like me, who finds David's mindset sort of relatable at times, it's important to have someone around to point out the flaws of compulsive martyrdom and give a reality check that doing something wrong in the pursuit of what you think is right is still (sometimes) an utterly fucked up thing to do. They're both such good characters, and they work off each other so well.

Furthering the above point, even if David is doing it for what he believes to be "good" reasons, he's still ultimately manipulating people! You know, like his secret said!!! You don't have to believe that everyone is stupid to believe that you're smarter than them and you know what's best. But there's also the delicious irony that, despite Hu being the one to say this to David, she's also the one talking over Nico.

I am so sorry to all the whitvid shippers in the crowd. Unless this is the dynamic you crave, idk.

I wish that this line was voice acted just so that I could hear Ace's "uhh umm" Nico impression.

Are Hu and Nico Lying?

We're back at it again.

Needless to say, this is way more suspicious than J, Veronika, and David's alibi. First of all, Hu and Nico are only two people, which makes it far more believable that they could conspire on the murder together. Second, unlike the former random group of characters, this latter pair are very intertwined. And third, this supposed breakfast occurred in a private location that only Hu and Nico could have possibly seen, as opposed to J, who said she was in a public location. If Ace or whoever had been in the public Dining Room at 7:30 AM, he could have called J out for lying, whereas no one can contradict the idea of Nico and Hu being in Nico's room.

However, for Hu to be lying and for Nico to not oppose her (despite pointing out the fact that they were interrupted) would strongly imply that they'd have to be in on the plan to murder Arei together. The easiest way to get there would be to assume that they were also in on the plan to murder Ace together. Understandable enough; I'm sure we're all aware at this point that Nico and what appears to be Hu's wire were both found at the scene of the Gym crime. They could've tried to murder Ace, got caught, and then switched targets to a different bully because Ace was too on guard? Nico would have been able to grab the fish, so there's no issue there.

I'm inclined to believe that Nico and Hu are telling the truth just because I personally don't believe either of them to be Arei's blackened, and I don't understand what either of their motivations to be an accomplice specifically would be in this situation. It would be pretty hypocritical of Hu to go off on David for trying to control whether everyone else lives or dies if she was currently the blackened trying to get everyone else to die so she could live. Or, even worse, if she was an accomplice trying to get everyone else to die so that Nico could live. That'd basically be what David was trying to do with a different coat of paint!

However, this could easily be a lie, especially given how suspiciously late it was compared to what J said. We had a whole David monologue in the middle. Those things last for ages.

WHAT THE FUCK!!!

Okay, so, obviously, I could try to go over the implications of this, but with the next episode only a week away (I cry tears of joy), I think it's in my best interest to leave whatever I'll have to say about what Levi is doing until we have more information about his mindset. What a cliffhanger, though. Levi accomplice nation, it's currently looking... iffy.

Anyways, that was a fantastic episode! I loved getting a chance to learn more about Arturo, David, Xander, and the rest of the gang, with promise of more interesting things to come in the near future. I can't believe that they still haven't talked about the actual murder method at all. And that there were literally no trial mechanics in this video. Who needs 'em?

I hope you enjoyed my perspective on the episode. If you have any additions or questions, feel free to send me a comment or an ask. There's also a chance that I'll add onto this myself after seeing other people's ideas to respond to them. But for that, I'll have to read other people's ideas. I'm off to see what my mutuals have to say >:D See ya!

[zylphiacrowley]

Forward

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[vargaslovinghours]

Say it like you mean it

[teacupchimera]

y'all I am Vibrating with excitement about this new piece I've just started working on 👀

[frenchy-and-the-sea]

After a few sessions of making difficult decisions that feel pretty shitty, I'm very excited to get back to Fortune's Favor next week and do some cool shit with dragon gods.