#it takes effort but he feels like it's important as a hero

[dustedbooksandreadingnooks]

SInce coming back to Eorzea, Kizuna's found more and more that he enjoys being where it's tall and bright and open. People tend to look up much less than down as long as there isn't something to look at. And it gives him a chance to people watch- see how they interact, what their faces are doing while they aren't looking at him, what different emotions look like. (Whether he actually practices mimicking it is another matter. He's usually making a face concentrating too hard and doing the bad habit of chewing on his lips to make much progress.)

[tsuutarr]

Yandere!Hero (Chosen One) x Saint!Reader

In all of his life, Elias only remembers crying once. It was when he was a young boy, no older than six years old. He had been taken to the Church for a baptism, only for his holy power and status as the Chosen One to be revealed. He had then been stolen from his parents and beaten black and blue until he was molded into the Hero that would save everyone.

Resigned to his role, Elias never allowed himself to feel any semblance of emotion. He only needs to fulfill the prophecy, after all. No one cares about who he is as a person, about him. They’ve put him outside to protect the borders of humanity by sacrificing his life. They’ve put a distance between him, parading him as a Hero while masking their selfish desires of having him take on the entire burden of bringing salvation to humankind. He is nothing more than a glorified sacrifice without the privilege of feeling emotions. 

But if that’s the case, why does his heart ache when he’s with you? Why does his stomach flutter? Why does a smile he had thought he lost in his youth come back when you’re around? Why does rage burn his fingers when you get hurt? Why do tears wet his cheeks when he holds your cold, lifeless body?

Please, please tell him that you’re just sleeping. Tell him that you’ll greet him when morning comes. Please, use your warm hands to brush his tears away. Tell him that it’ll all be okay.

Despite Elias’ ardent desires, the dead cannot comfort the living. 

“My child,” a voice from the Heavens calls, a beam of light surrounding Elias. “I thank you for your service.”

“Please,” Elias murmurs, voice thick with emotion. “I cannot live without the Saint.”

The voice above is silent as it observes Elias, who cradles you in his arms like you’re his most important treasure. “I cannot change the hands of fate.”

“Then I will,” Elias responds. “Turn back time for me and I will find another way to seal the Demon Lord.”

“It does not exist. You will only put yourself through the same pain.”

“It doesn’t matter to me. As long as I can save the Saint.”

The voice from the Heavens is silent, before it says, “Very well. If that is your desire.”

And so, time is rewinded back to when Elias was a young boy. He once again goes to Church to receive baptism. He is once again shown to be the Hero. He is once again stripped from his parents and beaten black and blue, but this time, he does not cry. Instead, he looks forward so that he can find a way to save you.

But no matter Elias’ efforts, bad end after bad end follows his footsteps. No matter what he does, no matter what he changes, no matter what, bad ends are the only ends he meets with. A good ending where the world is saved and you are still alive just doesn’t exist. So, Elias has no choice, really. He’ll create his own bad end, except this time, the world will be sacrificed for you.

[red-riot-unbreakable-heart]

Hawks Wants to Knock You Up | One Shot

Summary: Keigo is horny and ready to make a baby. Is this a weird biological side effect of his bird quirk? Hard to say. Whatever the cause is - Keigo is thirsty and ready to sate his thirst with your body. He's begging for you to make him a daddy. Are you up for it, sweetheart?

Important Notes/TW: All characters are A21+, Hawks is a Pro Hero, Hawks x Reader are in along term relationship, Hawks has a breeding kink and Reader is into it, consensual sex, MDNI, This is an adult only blog posting mature content

"Let's make a baby."

You drop the glass you're dying over the sink and swear as you watch it fall to the ground. It tumbles end over end, almost in slow motion. A moment later, it's back in your hands - still fully formed, no shards on the ground. A crimson feather zooms out from where it's wrapped around the glass - Hawks has used his quirk to save the day. As per usual.

"Excuse me?" You snap, holding up the glass with a shaky hand. "And stop doing that. Don't surprise me, you know I'm clumsy and break things."

"I mean it. Let's make a baby." He says, leaning across the countertop on his forearms. His hair is tussled and wet from a recent shower, his t-shirt and sweatpants clinging sinfully to his damp, slim frame. "I want to put a baby in you right now."

"Kei..." You groan, rolling your eyes. He's been saying this a lot lately, especially whenever you're being particularly domestic. You make dinner - baby talk. You take his hero costume out for dry cleaning - baby talk. You tell him not to forget his lunch - goddamn mother fucking baby talk. You often wonder aloud if his bird quirk includes some biological drive to reproduce. He honestly doesn't know.

"Come on baby - just let me fuck you. Right here. Right now." He pushes away from the counter and walks around to stand next to you. He reaches down and grasps at his package through his sweatpants - he's already hard. You place the glass on the counter to prevent yourself from dropping it again. You stare - jeez the way his sweatpants hang around his waist is absolutely delicious. The way his dick boldly bulges in his pants for you causes a spark of desire to shoot straight to your pussy.

Keigo keeps talking as he slips the waistband of his sweatpants down, revealing his hard, flushed cock. "I'll bend you over the counter, I'll suck on your clit a lil' - just the way you like. I'll eat you out and then...then...when you're nice and wet for me I'll slip inside you and fuck you until I knock you up." His pants drop to the floor and you can't help the way you moan as you look at him - his muscled thighs still damp from the shower. He steps forward, dropping his dick. He cages you against the counter, between his hard, muscled Pro Hero arms.

"Kei...we shouldn't." You giggle as he nuzzles into your neck, placing a hot kiss at your pulse point.

"Well I think we should." He whispers, sliding his hands down your sides and scooping at your ass. In one fluid movement he's lifted you onto the countertop, biceps flexing a bit with the effort of it. You forget how strong he is sometimes. It makes you swoon a bit.

A moment later, he's pulled your shorts off. They lay abandoned on the ground alongside your inhibitions. Keigo bends down and brings his mouth close to your pussy. He lets out a hot breath, smiling up at you as you feel your desire pulse and throb.

"What do ya say, birdie? Make me a daddy?"

[hawnks]

You're alpha!Keigo's personal assistant. Omegas really aren't supposed to be in such close contact with alpha heroes, liability and all that. But you need this job -- so you lie.

The deception is easy enough. Your omegan traits aren't exactly overt. You manage to hide them with a good suppressant, and religiously washing your clothes to get rid of any traces of pheromones. A few times a year you take a week or so off, visiting family you tell your boss. Anything else can be chalked up to a character quirk. You've gotten good at skimming the truth, just enough to obscure anything important. And he believes you. Trusts you.

Which is why, in the throes of his own heat, he texts you.

please come

It's the candid vulnerability that gets you. Despite your best efforts, you've become enamored with him, and even worse -- friends. How could you let him suffer alone?

When you arrive at his penthouse, he's in worse shape than you've ever seen him. You feel like he barely even recognizes you as he takes you in his arms, sweltering, hungering. He's barely lucid, shaking with need.

The bite was never your intention. It's already done before you realize what's happening, his teeth sunk into your mating gland, a moan of pure relief on his lips. And even the rush of pleasure at being owned, mated, isn't enough to overpower the sinking realization: you're in deep, deep shit.

You lied about being a beta, but that's not even the worst of it. What will the Commission do to the accidental bondmate of their pet hero? Nothing good, that's certain.

It will take two more days for his heat to completely subside, enough time (you hope) to get gone.

You don't even make it out of the prefecture before he's caught you -- you should have known you could never outrun the fastest man alive.

He lands heavy on the roof of your car as you speed down the expressway, claws anchoring with a terrible shredding sound.

You pull onto the shoulder, dread-numb.

The knock on your window is oddly polite, given the circumstances. You pull yourself out of the drivers seat, ready to let him deal whatever punishment he deems necessary.

You expect his rage. Maybe he'll kill you. Maybe you deserve it.

Instead he looks -- lovestruck.

He pulls you into his arms with a tenderness that has you reeling, boneless, as he buries his face against your throat. His lips brush the new bond mark.

"Damn baby," he murmurs, taking your scent deep into his lungs. "You've been holding out on me."

[missdynamighttt]

okay not an ask but ive been dying to see some filo reader x katsuki 🙏🙏 katsuki would be so mesmerized he would learn to cook every dish there is and ask if it tastes like home UGH MY BABY

i know its NOT an ask but ><

katsuki wasn’t one to ask for help, but for you? he’d do anything.

you had been feeling a little down lately, and he knew that one of the things that always made you feel better was your favorite filipino dish. the only problem? he had no damn clue how to make it.

which is how he found himself pacing in the kitchen, his phone pressed to his ear as it rang.

"hello? sino 'to? (who's this?)" your mom’s voice came through, warm and familiar.

"hey, tita (auntie)," katsuki greeted, a little awkwardly but determined to speak at least a little bit of tagalog. "it's katsuki. i, uh… need your help with something... po."

"oh?" she sounded amused. "what is it, 'nak? (child?)"

he cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck. "i wanna cook her favorite dish for her po, but... i dunno how. thought you could, y’know… teach me."

there was a pause, and then—laughter. "ay, ang sweet mo naman! (oh, you're so sweet!)"

he huffed, his cheeks warming. "tch. just help me out po, tita... please?"

your mom giggled but started giving him the instructions, step by step. katsuki listened intently, taking notes like it was the most important mission of his life. when he messed something up, your mom scolded him like he was her own son.

"no, no, not like that! ay nako (oh my gosh), katsuki, don’t burn it!"

"i’m not burning it!" he retorted, quickly adjusting the heat.

by the end of the call, he had the dish almost perfect—maybe not as good as your mom’s, but damn close.

"thank you po, tita," he muttered, a little embarrassed but genuinely grateful.

"of course, anak," she said fondly. "you take care of my baby, okay?"

he smiled softly. "always."

katsuki wasn’t the type to get nervous. he could take down villains, handle the most intense hero work, and push himself past his limits without hesitation.

but right now?

he had set everything up carefully—your favorite dish, cooked to the best of his ability, plated nicely in front of you. he sat across from you, arms crossed, but you could see the way his fingers tapped restlessly against his bicep.

"i know you’ve been feelin’ kinda down lately," he muttered, not quite meeting your eyes. "figured... maybe this would help."

you blinked at him, surprised, before looking down at the plate. your heart swelled. he did all of this for you?

"katsu..." you whispered, touched beyond words.

"just eat it already," he grumbled, trying to sound impatient, but you could see the way his jaw was tight, the slight furrow of his brows. he cared—he really cared.

so you took a bite.

the moment the flavors hit your tongue, a wave of emotions crashed over you. it wasn’t exactly like your mom’s, but it was damn close. the effort, the heart, the love behind it made it even better.

"this is amazing, kats," you said, looking up at him with genuine admiration. "how the hell did you pull this off? did you use a youtube tutorial? google recipes?"

katsuki scoffed, leaning back in his chair with a smug look. "tch. you think i’d trust some half-assed internet recipe?"

you raised an eyebrow. "then how—"

he huffed, looking away, suddenly seeming a little flustered. "called your mom," he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "she walked me through it."

your eyes widened. "you called my mom?"

"yeah, yeah, don’t make a big deal out of it," he grumbled, avoiding your gaze. "figured if i was gonna do it, i’d do it right. so i asked the expert."

you stared at him for a moment, your heart swelling with warmth. "katsuki... that’s so—"

"shut up," he cut in quickly, face slightly pink. "just eat, dammit."

but you couldn’t help the grin that spread across your face. he had gone out of his way to talk to your mom, to learn something that would comfort you. it wasn’t just about the food—it was about you.

you took another bite, savoring the taste and the love behind it.

"i love you, y’know that?" you said, smiling at him.

katsuki clicked his tongue, trying to act unaffected, but the way his ears burned gave him away. "yeah, yeah… i love you too. just finish your damn food."

but when you looked down at your plate again, you felt his hand reach for yours under the table, giving it a small, firm squeeze. and that, more than anything, told you exactly how much he cared.

katsuki watched you like a hawk, leaning in just slightly. "does it… y’know… does it taste like home?"

your chest tightened, warmth blooming in your heart.

"it does," you murmured, squeezing his hand back. "it tastes like home because you feel like home, katsuki."

he stiffened for a second, almost not sure how to process your words.

"tch. sappy little shit," he muttered, but you could hear the smile in his voice, feel the way his grip tightened like he never wanted to let go.

"you're my home too, sweets."

‎‧₊˚✧[ it's me, kia ! ]✧˚₊‧ ｡ﾟ•┈꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱┈• ｡ﾟ ‎‧₊˚✧[ more of katsuki ! ]✧˚₊‧

[beemochi-art]

Behold!! doodles of forte-verse Springer.

Springer is the peak wrecker and making his name know among the autobot ranks. He came seemingly out of no where. He’s charming, heroic and very handsome. It’s very important to him that others can rely on him and have a certain image of him in their head. He made the wreckers social image to a band of hero’s rather then what they used to be (or who they actually are.) a suicide squad of war criminals. He works very hard to make sure people see him the way he wants them to.

But it’s not his true personality, at least not all of it. Springer is very lonely, and gloomy. He can easily pull a smile around people but alone he’s quiet and doesn’t make a whole lot of emotions. He has a difficult time connecting with other Cybertronians unless he’s playing his character. He’s in his own head a lot and thinks more that he talks. Only the wreckers know how he actually is. Who he actually is.

Springer desperately wants a connection that is natural. He’s feels unnatural. So when springer found out he’s related to Prowl, he has the urge to speak with him and maybe get the family he always wanted. But many rode blocks lay head keeping him from doing that. His own fear of rejection being one of them.

⬇️ backstory

Springer was created by using parts of Prowls Coding, tarantulas coding and organic materials. He was Tara’s prototype for a cybertronian that could be mass produced and highly expendable.

Prowl had fled to the autobots without knowing about Tara’s side project. If prowl had know he would have taken springer with him. Things may have been very different.

He was found by Impactor during a raid when he was just a new spark. He looked very different then more like tarantulas. Impactor feeling bad about essentially making Ostaros (springer) and orphan took him back with him. Impactor really did not make a good parent, but he did try. He feels guilty because he knows Springer is too nice for his own good.

Most wreckers either ignored Springer or took a part in raising him. Impactor realizing he’s a under qualified to take care of springer fully, he introduced him to Kup. Kup feel in love with the little spider sparkling, he was very good at masking most of his emotions tho. But Springer would spend most of his time with the old mech.

Unlike most sparklings Springer would rapidly evolve. Sparklings typically don’t have control over what they’ll look like. But Springer did, the reason he looked like Tarantulas isn’t necessarily because they are related. Springer looked that way so he could better connect with Tara. So when he lived with the wreckers he began to evolve again, rapidly growing, getting bigger armor, loosing the extra legs and fur until he looked like the embodiment of the perfect wrecker. He did this as an effort to better connect with the wreckers. One notable things he gained was the large crest, mostly copied from Impactor.

Tho springer is an adult and can no longer evolve the way he used to, he still had many strange behaviors as a result of his strange creation.

[hystericalend]

was talking with a friend abt weak hero and we birthed a semi-joking hc that juntae is really into bl and yaoi and how maybe he brings some mangas to the hospital for suho as an effort to bond..... and maybe one of his bl mangas was accidentally left in the pile.... and maybe suho is intrigued by the cover that looks nothing like all the other manga juntae brought him so he picks it up and-

warning. this got way too long. read at your own risk

SO we know juntae's friend group before sieun was all the anime losers so it's not too far of a stretch to assume that he's also into anime and manga and probably has since he was a kid, and when he was 12 or something he accidentally stumbled across a bl manga not knowing what it was. at first he was freaked out bc ?? why are these boys kissing. why are these boys- woah, hey wait. hey wait a second. why am i feeling things. why do i like this.

and boom, juntae the fudanshi is born.

fun. fun. but going deeper, bl manga also being the catalyst for him realising he's gay. he starts buying his favourites and soon has a huge bl manga collection that is actually super meaningful to him because it's his outlet for his queerness that he doesn't get to express elsewhere. and yes he loves baku and gotak and sieun and YES he feels entirely safe with them, but baku and gotak are wrestling each other dudebro straight boys and sieun is emotionally unavailable 99% of the time so even tho he trusts them entirely, he's not sure he's ready to tell them he likes to read abt boys kissing. (and that he'd like to kiss boys too, if any boys were up for it.)

so anyway, he's happily gay and in the closet reading his yaoi, living life, and then everything changes when sieun's friend wakes up.

it's mind boggling to him when he meets the boy in wheelchair, to see with his own eyes the boy they've only heard about in quiet, solemn snatches. he's alive. and holy shit sieun is crying?? oh my god sieun is SMILING???

it takes a while for him to get to know ahn suho properly. the eunjang boys have seen throughout their friendship with sieun how important suho is to him, and think it's probably best if they have their space. they have it for a while, but then a few weeks after suho wakes up sieun tells them suho wants to get to know his friends, so they all nervously crowd into ahn suho's hospital room and introduce themselves.

ahn suho is pale, thin, and looks perpetually tired, but he's alive and he smiles when juntae introduces himself, and juntae's heart aches.

they start accompanying sieun to his suho visits, sometimes all together, sometimes one at a time, and slowly they get to know suho better. one day, it's just sieun and juntae, and while they're sitting with suho talking sieun stands up and says he's going to get them something to eat. juntae immediately panics bc fuck he's never been left alone with suho before?? what if he says something weird?? what if something goes wrong?? but before he can protest sieun has already left the room and it's just the two of them

in an effort to make things less awkward juntae is like, so... how have things been.... and suho immediately goes fucking BORING that's how. and juntae is like ahhhh yeah i can't imagine there's much to do here..

cue suho ranting abt being super bored now that he's gotten so much better and is conscious all day, having nothing to do in between physical therapy. juntae nods along being the empathetic listener he is until he is goes hey maybe i could bring you something? do you like manga?

and suho is like hell yeah i like manga. you got any slam dunk? and even tho his reading taste leans more towards suckin and fuckin than dribbling a ball juntae does have some sports manga sitting at home that gotak lent him so he's like yea! i'll bring it to you

juntae being juntae he doesn't waste time and he's at suho's hospital room the next day with a bag full of mangas like!! hello!! i can't stay but here's the manga you asked for :)) and suho is like damn that was quick thanks juntae.

juntae isn't there when suho goes through what he brought him, finding one manga that doesn't look like it has much to do with sports.

baku and gotak are busy with basketball practice, so the next visit is just juntae and sieun again. the minute they get there suho immediately starts complaining about how he's starving and goes sieun-ah, can you get me some food? plsplssplps. juntae has seen sieun subjected to similar teasing from baku with a 0% success rate, but as he watches sieun is up out of his seat and heading to the cafeteria without another word.

as soon as the door shuts suho turns to juntae with a grave expression on his face.

suho: juntae... i read your manga

juntae: oh!! which ones? did you like them? :D

suho, dramatically pulling the bl manga out of his hospital gown: this one

obviously juntae freaks out immediately and tries to think of an excuse like OMG GDSKJGHDSKG AHH ACTUALLY THAT'S MY SISTER'S I DONT KNOW HOW THAT GOT IN THERE AHAHHA SORRY THAT'S SO AWKWARD but then suho just looks at him dead in the eyes and is like.. can u get me more

and that's how juntae discovers that ahn suho is gay as fuck.

before they can have any real conversation abt it sieun walks in and they both go suspiciously quiet, suho all like ah! sieun-ah! you're back! (not subtle at all) but sieun is sieun so he doesn't press them and they start eating what he got from the cafeteria and talking normally.

the next day, juntae goes to the hospital again. alone.

juntae, slamming open the door to suho's hospital room: U WANT MORE BL??

suho: yea

juntae: WHY???

suho: cause i'm gay

juntae: UR GAY????

suho: yuh

juntae: ME TOO!!!!!

suho: ayo no way!

juntae: YEA :D

suho: :DD did u bring more of that manga with dudes kissing tho

juntae did, in fact, bring more.

like yes this is lowkey a crack hc but it's so cute to imagine juntae and suho having this secret friendship founded on their bl manga book club. juntae being busy with school so they exchange numbers so suho can text him live commentary as he reads and juntae will get texts from him throughout the day like "ayo this shit is fire" and "THEY HELD HANDS" .. and its mostly all fun but as they text more they actually get? super close?? and bc i personally hc suho as knowing he was gay since he was pretty young but not rlly telling anyone its super sweet to imagine him and juntae both finding their first queer friend in each other? like finally having someone to talk to abt stuff like when they first discovered they liked boys, crushes growing up n all that stuff.

juntae admits that suho is the first person he's ever come out to and that nobody else knows he's gay not even sieun and suho tells him that sieun doesn't know he's gay either and juntae is like?? how?? i feel like you guys know everything about eachother and suho is like well yeah it's awkward cause i feel like if i tell him i'm gay i also have to tell him i'm in love with him yk and juntae is like.. you what now..

bc like. he knew. he's not fucking blind, he KNEW there was something queer going on between those two but to have it confirmed so bluntly makes his brain short circuit a little and he immediately goes??? oh my god you have to tell him?? but suho is like ahhh it's complicated... and juntae is like?? HOW?? he literally waited for TWO YEARS for u suho he definitely loves you.. and suho hasn't told anyone this, but as silly as it sounds he's genuinely gotten really close to juntae through the little gay book club thing they have going on that he feels like he can really open up to juntae so he ends up sharing his insecurites abt his condition and still being in the hospital and not wanting to make a move or start something when he's still healing. and juntae is super accepting but assures him that the minute he's ready, sieun will be waiting for him. there's no doubt in his mind that sieun loves him back.

JUST LIKE!! everyone always goes on about suho x baku besties post coma suho x gotak besties but am i crazy if i say i think suho's taste in friends is the quiet ones? like if we look at beomseok and sieun as a pattern i genuinely think juntae would be the one suho would be the closest to among eunjangz aside from sieun, especially if you're like me and look at that connection through a lense of queer solidarity.

AND HOW CUTE IS THAT!! suho and juntae becoming extremely close in private until it inevitably shows outwardly and baku gotak and sieun being absolutely baffled by it?? juntae accidentally dropping in conversation "oh suho told me..." "suho sent me this...." and sieun being like?? since when did you have his number??

and it's so funny to picture sieun being maybe a little bit jealous of their connection bc?? what do they even talk about? how did they get so close?? and trying to be subtle and Not Affected he mentions it to juntae one day offhand like "so how did you and suho get close?" and juntae isnt about to out both of them by saying "he read my bl manga" so he's just like oh you know, we talked. and sieun externally is like, ok cool, but internally just screaming WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU TALK ABT???

(you, sieun. they talk about how suho is in love with you.)

idk, this is a mess. i just think that juntae and suho would be bestfriends and not enough people are talking abt it. if you made it this far you get a cookie (ily)

[tourturestarradio]

𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐈 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐌𝐀𝐒✮

"𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧. 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰. 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐘𝐨𝐮!"

☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆

Pairing: Monster trio! x reader!

Prompt: The gifts you give to the trio and the gifts they'd give you!

Warnings: just mostly fluff and fun

☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆☆ ★ ✮

𝐋𝐔𝐅𝐅𝐘

I feel like Luffy would treasure anything you gave him, like how he is with his hat

So he wouldn't mind whatever you got him and didn't understand why you got so stressed when it came to you getting him a gift

So on Christmas he was excited to see what you got him munching on gingerbread man

He absolutely SUCKS at getting someone a gift

He would think it a good gift and honestly you don't have the heart to tell him it's bad

Once you both exchanged gifts he had a bright gleam in his eye as he watched you open your gift

His grin grew much wider as you smiled at the small necklace he got you it had a little 'L' on it (Nami totally didn't throw away his gift and switch it out)

He hurried and unwrapped his gift his grin dropping as he sees a framed picture of him and his brothers, and two necklaces one with your first initial and the other one with the initials 'ASL'

You were worried you may have made him upset but when his arms wrapped around you tightly you smile as he tackled you into a hug, comedic tears running down his face

"Th-This is the best gift ever!" he shouted smushing his cheek against yours

Safe to say he liked your gift

𝐙𝐎𝐑𝐎

I can't see Zoro as someone who gives thoughtful gifts, like at all...

He would "gift" whatever he found laying around

No joke he literally got you one of his weights put it in a lazily wrapped box and handed it over to you

It wasn't until AFTER Nami cracked her fist over his head that he started putting in more effort but ONLY for you

He would be stuck and would need help from Nami and Robin to get you a gift

But it wasn't of much help Nami spouting "get them something pretty! Or expensive!" and Robin stating "Get them something they like, or something with important meaning"

So he left the women figuring they wouldn't be of much help

And don't get me wrong he would know everything you liked and dislike

He heard alll your long rambles about what you enjoyed, what you hated, your favorite food, favorite drink everything and you would never know

Which is the only reason he was so stumped, he knew too much now he didn't know what to get at all so he bought literally everything he thought you would like hoping it would make you happy.

Now you on the other hand already knew what to get him, but luck wasn't really wasn't on your side as you made your way down to a shop in town but some petty thugs tried to rob you but you weren't fazed even in the slightest you just wanted to get back to the ship

But these guys really made it hard for you, they just kept pestering you, and it's not like you could do much because you left your weapon back on the ship

Zoro leaving a store, had spotted you being surrounded by some random men

He dropped the many boxes and bags seemingly appearing behind the men and cutting them down with ease

You smiled at him throwing your arms around his shoulders "my hero!"

Zoro pretended not to be fazed by your words but the small smile said otherwise

Later he showed you the gifts he got you but you sighed leaning on him "oh you're the best gift I could ask for" you said placing a little bow on his head

"So does that mean I can take all this stuff back?"

"No♡"

𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐉𝐈

Tried to get you a ring.

I'm not kidding, he would be dead set on proposing to you, but when Robin said that'd be to much he dropped that plan, (he still kept the ring....just in case)

I could see him as someone who thinks too much about what to get you

It was very tiring for him so settled for something nice, something he was good at, cooking. Cooking like a little fancy dinner for the two of you

But that plan was also shot down when you trotted into the kitchen dressed in a cute Santa outfit while he was trying to cook

Coming up behind him, he knew you were there BUT he didn't know you were gonna touch him so he did a little when you wrapped your arms around his torso pressing your cheek again his back

He froze in his spot as if he had turned to stone, you peeked around him "Merry Christmas honey" you muttered sliding a box next to him, he could feel his heart rate increase as he heard your voice

Slowly turning to face you he knew he'd be blinded by your beauty but this! As soon as he laid eyes on you it was over

Falling back he kicked the bucket blood gushing from his nose

You only sighed at his antics as you went and got chopper

Upon waking up Sanji looked around "maybe it was just a dream..."

Oh but it wasn't looking to his right he saw a medium sized box on his nightstand

Placing it in his lap he saw a little note on top that read 'Hope you like love you!'

He smiled at the note and set it aside opening the box he was stunned on top there was a heart shaped locket, opening it it was a picture of you and him his smile grew bigger as he looked through the rest of the box, it was filled with memories of you and him mostly different photos

One stood out though, it was a picture of you and him, you were hugging his side and kissing his cheek as his face was beat red

Holding the picture close to his chest he smiled

You really were his one true love.

☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆☆ ★ ✮

A/n: I'm so mad I couldn't put this out on Christmas RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhh

[idonttakethislightly]

One cool thing about Caspar Wijngaard's attention to visual detail in The Power Fantasy is that, rather than having a specific trademark hairstyle or a single Important Haircut moment (TV Tropes link), everyone is characterized by their overall relationship to their hair. All six Superpowers change up their hairstyle, whether that's day-to-day or year-to-year- but they each have unique approaches to how they look, that offer clues to who they are as people.

As far as we can tell, Valentina's had the exact same haircut her entire adult life, but she styles it differently on different days, and in different contexts. I think she's known for a long time who she is and who she wants to be- specifically, she knows she's a Superpower, a hero or a danger or both, but she wants to be human, someone who can be kind and friendly and have loved ones. For her, that's manifesting as conventional femininity, which shows up in her overall sense of style as well as her hair.

That said- her hair was shorter as a kid, probably just for practical reasons. And when she goes full angel-self, it changes both color and texture- pure white, and a more stylized texture than the detailed strands of her usual hair.

In contrast, Eliza's changed her hair a whole bunch of times, and I feel like she doesn't have any consistent throughline to what she's going for. It's been all different lengths, usually worn loose but one time in a ponytail, usually kept straight but one time permed. Eliza switching haircuts so many times feels to me like she's never satisfied with who she is- she's hungry to be something else, something more. It's the opposite of Valentina having a very clear idea what her hair is expressing. Eliza's searching for something with her hair that a haircut alone is never going to give her.

However, she's repeated haircuts a couple times. Her long hair the day she said no penitent sinner would burn is similar to the long hair she received right after selling her soul to hell. And also, her chin-length bob the day Magus passed her over for promotion is similar to her 1999 hair, when she's so far been pretty antagonistic towards Magus. (Although the haircuts aren't identical. Like Valentina, Eliza's hair changes color and texture from her fully-human form to her descended extradimensional form.) Is the visual echo significant? It'll probably never be confirmed one way or the other that it is, but it's an interesting way to look at things. (Credit to someone on the Discord for sharing the insight that Eliza's 1999 haircut matches her 1986 one!)

Heavy is kind of the midpoint between consistent look and continual change- he's always had long hair, but the context keeps shifting. He's switched subcultures a couple different times, always conveniently to a look where it's fashionable for a man to have long hair- which means the exact style of his long hair varies.

Instead of chronological order, I laid this image out to show that Heavy also puts a lot of effort into styling his hair day-to-day- which is really a showcase of Caspar's attention to texture. The top row of images are ones where I'd say he hasn't done anything to his hair except maybe wash it- and so it's just slightly wavy, drawn with a crinkly kind of texture.

The second row is him the first scene he appears in, where his hair is incredibly silky-smooth at first, and then a little wilder after getting shot and flying around. I can't actually prove that he had someone blow-dry it for him that morning, but I choose to believe that he did. (My full headcanon on that is that having his hair done is a comfort thing. Like, he'd never admit out loud how stressed he was that day, but he'd have someone take care of him without having to directly ask for it... that's all just speculation and personal gratification, though.)

And the third row of images is all the other stuff he does with his hair. In order: he's gelled it back for Masumi's exhibition, then he sleeps on it with the gel in and it turns into a mess. Then you've got his tightly-curled perm from 1981 and a looser perm from probably the seventies. More than anyone else, Heavy's the one who's willing to put day-to-day time into his hair looking good. (For a certain definition of period-piece "good", with that perm.)

Etienne gradually moves from very short hair to locs, but I think the interesting part is how he grows out his beard. These are in chronological order, and you can see him go from a patchier beard when younger to a full, bushy beard by 1999. My read on this is that he's trying to look sophisticated- which means mature, a grown-ass man- and he's trying to compensate for the receding jawline that's more visible when he's a clean-shaven teenager. (Again, full headcanon mode is that he feels compelled to compete with Heavy's ridiculous lantern jaw. But again, that might just be me.)

Masumi, the character most openly inspired by anime and manga, comes very close to having anime/manga-style Expressive Hair (TV Tropes link again), meaning that it almost seems to move based on how she feels. The first row is three panels in order from the same scene- messy hair while she's grumpy, transitioning to smoother hair as she starts to relax. The second row is three panels from a different scene- hair that's been straightened at a time when she's trying to hold herself together, getting messier as she loses composure. Neither of those hair changes is completely impossible under the circumstances- maybe her bedhead is resolving itself, and maybe her styled hair is coming loose from sweating and moving around. But those changes just conveniently parallel her emotional arc.

And at other times, she puts her hair up in mini-ponytails that make her look young and cute. When she actually was younger, her hair was longer and naturally black. Ironically, I think that actually looks more mature... maybe she's made a move towards looking cute and nonthreatening over time?

Magus* has also always had long hair, but it was a bit shorter in 1978 than it has been since. I think it's interesting that he bothered to keep that neatly trimmed beard even though most of the world didn't see it- it was for the sake of himself and his inner circle. I think it symbolizes him being a little scruffy, a little countercultural- but not a total mess, as he clearly takes care of it.

By 1999, his* hair texture has changed a bit, messier and lanker... my original theory was that he stopped washing it, in line with how he's gotten too thin and he's not buying new clothes. In retrospect though... yeah I'm not taking any bets until next issue.

* it's complicated

And then there's Tonya, Isabella, Kid Ignition- I could say stuff about their hair too but I think I've gone on long enough. Even walk-on extras have visual characterization that extends to every part of their design, head to toe. It's kind of mind-blowing the amount of thought that's gone into just that one aspect of character design in TPF, and the amount of drawing skill it takes to carry the ideas through.

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Character Analysis – Edmund Bertram

I have a better opinion of Edmund Bertram than much of the Jane Austen fandom has, and I am going to try to explain why. It comes down to several things:

1) He probably makes more sacrifices for people other than a woman he is in love with than any other Jane Austen hero.

He has to sacrifice a great deal of the economic condition he would normally expect in order to enable Tom’s debts to be paid, and Tom doesn’t even care about this or feel guilty for it. At no point does Edmund show hostility to or resentment of his brother over this, nor does he ever bring it up to Tom to guilt him, not even when Tom is doing something Edmund considers immoral and disrespectful to their father; Edmund makes his arguments against the play on the merits, as best he can. Nor does he bring it up to Tom when the (relative to expectations) small income he can expect is one of the principal barriers to him marrying the woman he loves.

He goes out of his way to be kind to Fanny from the start (seriously, how few 16-year-old boys would take the time to listen and be kind to and help a ten-year-old girl? Most 16-year-old boys are dreadful, from my experience of high school.)

He sells one of his horses to buy one that Fanny can ride, when riding is recommended for her health. This is no small thing, given how frequently-used horses were in that time. This isn’t like, say, selling one of your three cars; it’s more like choosing to give up either your computer, tablet, or cell phone, and never (or, well, for many years) have a replacement again. Lending the horse to Mary Crawford for a couple days is a fault, but to me a fairly minor fault in light of this.

He is determined that he will live in his parsonage rather than – as would be done by many members of the clergy in that day – live at Mansfield Park and ride over once a week to preach. It is important to him that he do his job well and live among the people he is ministering to, and he is not tempted to try to modify his parsonage into a much fancier house when Henry Crawford tries to talk him into it. Nor is he willing to pursue a career that Mary Crawford would be more favourable to. He genuinely cares about his vocation as a pastor, and is willing to make sacrifices both of love and of comfort in order to do so. I don’t generally have a high opinion of the 19th-century Anglican clergy, Edmund is genuinely dedicated.

He tends to Tom gently and fairly continuously when Tom is sick, despite Edmund having plenty of worries of his own. The book says, “when able to talk, or be talked to, Edmund was the companion he preferred.” Edmund put off a proposal to the woman he loves in order to tend to Tom – and that tending is a duty that would, I think, usually have been considered as one for the women of the family. It really highlights how Edmund is the only Bertram with real feeling and care for his family members.

In light of this, I think that some of the things readers heavily criticize him for, like losing track of time one afternoon when he’s on an outing with his girlfriend, are comparatively minor and forgiveable. Edmund seems to me to put more concerted effort into doing the right thing than most other men in Jane Austen.

2) His ability to act is constrained relative to most other Austen heroes by the fact that he is a younger son, living at home, with two parents and an aunt still living. He does not have the authority to spend Sir Thomas’ money, and filial duty means he cannot outright denigrate Mrs. Norris to Fanny. The only other Jane Austen heroes who do not have their independence are Edward Ferrars and Henry Tilney (and both of them have rather different relationships with their family).

This means anything he does for Fanny, he has to do at his own expense – as when he sells one of his horses to buy one for her; as when he offers to stay with his mother while the others go to Sotherton so that Fanny can go. It’s the most effective way he has of addressing the way they treat her: oh, so you think it’s okay if this happens to Fanny? Well then, it’s happening to me instead. In the case of the Sotherton expedition, it quickly flips people to seeing that as unacceptable, making them bother to find another (fairly simple) solution that they hasn’t cared about finding before.

In a few ways, Edmund is placed in a more feminine role in the story than any other male leads: his principal good qualities are a strong moral sense and the provision of emotional support and care; he’s the bedrock of his family in the same way that Elinor Dashwood is for hers; he’s held back from the person he loves by economic precarity; and he seems to have a limited social circle outside his family (the drinking-and-gambling habits common in young male society among students of his class and time likely didn’t suit him).

In short, Henry Crawford does not care for and value Fanny Price more (or nearly as much) as Edmund does; his financial and familial position simply make it easy for him to do things, at insignificant cost to himself, that Edmund cannot do without behaving in a way that would, in his time, be deeply disrespectful to his parents and aunt. Edmund knows Fanny far better, understands her far better, and when he gives her gifts (like the necklace) it’s ones she likes and appreciates.

3) I don’t blame Edmund for being in love with Mary Crawford for much of the book because, frankly, she’s an appealing person, especially given Edmund’s narrow social circle. The combination of wit, liveliness, comsistent good humour, interesting conversation, and beauty (plus harp-playing) that she beings are not something the Bertrams encounter every day. He wants to think better of her than she is because her other characteristics are so appealing. I think that’s a very human reaction when in love. (Elizabeth Bennet falls for Wickham and makes excuses for him based on little more than good manners, good looks, flattery, and a mutual dislike of Darcy, and people don’t criticize her nearly as much.)

By the same token, I don’t blame him for being oblivious to Fanny’s love for him because absolutely everyone is and Fanny is very deliberately and determinedly concealing it. And given that, liking to spend somewhat more time with your girlfriend than your bestie is also, I think, quite forgivable in a young person.

4) On one area of frequent critique, that Edmund doesn’t listen to Fanny on several notable occasions (mainly about the Crawfords), I think their dynamic over several years is an important consideration. It’s somewhat a flipped version of Emma in that you’ve got a mentor-mentee relationship between the leads, but in this case it’s the mentor who is mistaken and the mentee who is right. Edmund has been supporting and advising and encouraging Fanny for many years, and many of those times he was right. For example, she was afraid of learning to ride when she first started with a pony, and Edmund encouraged her and comvinced her to do it, and she came to love it.

“Ah! cousin, when I remember how much I used to dread riding, what terrors it gave me to hear it talked of as likely to do me good; – (Oh! how I have trembled at my uncle’s opening his lips if horses were talked of) and then think of the kind pains you took to reason and persuade me out of my fears, and comvince me that I should like it after a littl while, and feel how right you proved to be, I am inclined to hope you may always prophesy as well.”

Fanny also, in another conversation, describes herself to Edmund as “foolish and awkward” and he insists “you have not a shadow of either, but in using the words so improperly.” The narrative is clear about how consistent and important his care, sympathy, praise, and advoacy have been for her, for many years:

Edmund’s friendship never failed her: his leaving Eton for Oxford made no change in is kind dispositions, and only afforded more frequent opportunities of providing them. Without any display of doing more than the rest, or any fear of doing too much, he was always true to herinterests,and considerate of her feelings, trying to make her good qualities understood, and to conquer the diffidence which prevented their being more apparent; giving her advice, consolation, and encouragement.

Kept back as she was by every body else, his single support could not bring her forward, but his attentions were otherwise of the highest importance in assisting the improvement of her mind, and extending its pleasures. He knew her to have a quick apprehension as well as good sense, and a fondness for reading, which, properly directed, must be an education in itself…he recommended the books which charmed her leisure hours, he encouraged her taste, and corrected her judgement; he made reading useful by talking to her of what she read, and heightened its attraction by judicious praise.

The nature of this relationship also helps explain some of Edmund’s reaction to Henry Crawford’s proposal: while Edmund is very much at fault for disregarding her doubts about Henry Crawford’s morality, he is very used to Fanny being nervous and anxious about things that, once she is used to the and no longer afraid of them or uncertain of her abilities, she enjoys. (Such as riding.) So he is seeing her reaction in part through that frame.

The basic difficulty in Mansfield Park that affects perceptions of Edmund is that it is occurring at a moment of transition: the first time Fanny has been eclipsed in Edmund’s life, combined with a transition from him being a mentor and guide to them becoming equals, and her in fact surpassing him in perception and being willing to go against even his opinion in her choice to reject Henry Crawford. It’s the story of Fanny growing up, whereas Edmund (the mentor) is put in the place of Emma (the mentee) in Emma, in being mistaken in key assessments of people, and biased into seeing what he wants to see. This reversal is what allows them to be on equal footing, and for Edmund’s benefit from Fanny’s companionship to be as apparent or more apparent, to everyone, as his from her.

However, this means that for most of the novel we’re seeing Edmund and Famny’s relationship at the weakest point it’s ever been, which can’t help but affect readers’ attitudes to him; and I do think it’s a flaw that we don’t get an actual conversation at the end between Edmund and Fanny that deals with his recognition of his errors in judgement and the value of her perception and principle.

[luna-loveboop]

Wars and Wild as knights in Lu

They have issues.

I have a lot of thoughts on Wild and Wars and their relationship (Order of this post is talking about saluting, Wild and Wars' different perspectives, memory issues, and fire) Rant time.

No saluting!!

So Wild took a formal- almost/awkwardly saluting pose when Wars confronted him in 'Entrance pt.2'

It's similar to the first time Wild addressed Wars as 'captain'. His left hand is up from where a salute should be, and his overall posture is awkward, with his shoulders and right hand raised, but it's clear he's trying to do a salute in the presence of a fellow knight.

In the second example his hand is behind his head, but his posture is very straight and his right arm stiff- he's again attempting a formal saluting position. Which is still awkward

It is less clear but his changes in posture clued me in. He goes from like a deer in the headlights to visibly sweating to straight backed and looking up at Wars- looking at the changes in his body language

Side note but I literally love how Jojo draws the champions tunic so much-

We can't see the action of Wild's body language in a comic, just the positions he went to. But he visibly leaned away from Wars before switching to a straight backed saluting-like posture. He's clearly freaked out, hence Twilight's face: >:(

I think that Wild taking somewhat military poses around Wars is important to their relationship issues because it comes from his struggle with memory and identity

.

So like. All of them have different perspectives

Wars

I adore Wars. He is baby and I love him. I think it is also important to acknowledge that he would not speak to any of the others this way.

And the scarf man cmon it's so pretty they are so cute-

Why is Wars talking to Wild like this? He's called him out and reprimanded him multiple times in front of the others. Wild has taken it well but tbh if it was Legend I think he would be on fire.

To some extent I think he is in captain mode. I think that he has trouble seeing Wild as not a knight. Wars gives Wild respect as a knight who sacrificed for his kingdom, but now it seems he's taking it away as a knight who's not doing well enough since he 'disregarded the plan'

At least I think that's the outside (or Wild's) view of it. But Wars internally really cares about Wild and he saw him run up to a giant and lose it. Different ways of showing concern perhaps?

Who wouldn't want to keep Wild from getting more scars?

I just. Don't doubt for a second Wars really cares about Wild- even if the way he's acting still isn't cool. He has no right to treat him like a soldier any more than the rest of the chain, and right now I think Wild is acting as the more mature person.

Wild

I adore Wild. He is baby and I love him. I think it is also important to acknowledge that although he is clearly making efforts after Twilight's injury, Wild has ignored Wars for the majority of Lu, by not speaking to him much, and not thanking or acknowledging Wars when he directly helped him. (Small example being walking with Hyrule not Wars when injured and not directly responding to Wars)

Wars cares about and respects Wild, but it seems Wild wants nothing to do with him, and he's been cold towards Wars for the majority of Lu. To Wild, Wars reminds him of his perceived failure. Which is valid feelings, but still not fair. And I think that ask is talking about these two.

The thing I love about this is each of them are right and wrong in some ways, leading to the tension between them. So fully blaming either of them is not logical

The rest of the chain is just vibing. Except twilight who's mad and wants them to just grow up, but. Heros of courage not wisdom @uniquevoidflowers ;)

And that ask- '''Are any of the Links ever jealous of another Link for adventures that were less difficult/life threatening?'' ''When you hear Wild say he 'hates' someone you'll have your answer.''' somewhat leads to my next point-

Wild's identity and memory issues exacerbate all of this

In Entrance, Twilight is being stressed and defensive, that's ok. What concerns me most is that Twilight has talked with Wild through stuff like this in his rough moments

Wild has tried to be formal several times- he is not very good at it

Four's face I can't didnwidkekfjej

Wild isn't and can't be 'him'- the same 'perfect' (<actually has crippling anxiety) knight he was before, and Twilight knows this. And I agree with him a bit, I think, that Wars is making things worse in Wild's mind by being that perfect soldier, and seemingly holding Wild to a standard he isn't

Wild's attempts at saluting is symbolic of that- Wars makes him feel like a failure trying to be the person he should be. But Wild shouldn't be anyone but himself.

Anyways. Fire.

Wars and Wild have issues, and I want them to work through all their relationship drama so they can reach their PEAK dynamic, which is obviously this

I mean like. We need these two to be friends

Anyways. Wild is in this constant state of identity crisis, and being around Wars has not been beneficial- neither of them is or has been showing the other the respect they deserve. Not as knights, but as people and brothers. They need a get along shirt.

All this Art is by Jojo @linkeduniverse au!

:)

[sunderwight]

The Solo Leveling anime has now reached the point of the story that, in the webcomic, almost turned me into Peerless Cucumber from Scum Villain. Which means I finally get to yell about it!

Yes this story does not want any actual interiority and is largely running on Rule of Cool, but you'd think there could at least be a TOKEN EFFORT to come up with an actual reason for Jinwoo to decline to join the Jeju raid (so that he can just sweep in at the last minute and play Big Damn Hero anyway ofc). It wouldn't even be hard! This part of the story almost coincides with the last bit of his journey to get the cure for his mom anyway! All you'd have to do is shift the timing a little bit so that his final fight with the demons overlaps with the raid, and it would make perfect sense that he'd want to go get the cure instead and decline to go fight ants.

But no. Nope. Instead he's just like, I can't participate in this incredibly important raid that might mean the difference between the survival and annihilation of my country because my mom needs help. How am I helping her by fucking around in a park instead? While she apparently does all the housework and is in perfect health? When hunting shit is literally my job that brings in the only paycheck? Who knows! She even basically gave me permission to go! I still plan on being a hunter as my day job! I'm still leveling up! But I'm not gonna participate because nahhhh.

It's not even a character development thing, we're not even exploring his trauma or selfishness or perhaps the aversion to teamwork, it is literally just because.

Even his assertion that "oh well the strike team can almost certainly handle it" feels weak, because exactly none of his prior experiences would support that mindset. Every single raid he has participated in so far has gone to shit. He doesn't have a lot of faith in anyone else's abilities. He's pretty sure he can take the strongest guy going to this thing, and the island has notoriously killed S ranks before and all the news reports are emphasizing that the ants have only gotten stronger since the past (failed) raids.

I hate this part of the story because there is no reason for it to be this stupid, except that it just is this stupid. The only reason Jinwoo doesn't go to the raid is the doylist reason that he can't arrive at the last minute if he participates from the start. The watsonian reason is so flimsy it nearly doesn't exist at all.

[notsodelirious]

The path forward — Jason Todd

synopsis: You’re having a hard time coming to terms with your disability but you’re adapting

notes: SFW, also real important: the reader is an unreliable narrator for the first half of this and if you are disabled you shouldn’t think of yourself this way—you deserve to care for yourself and it’s okay to take aid in whatever form it comes, you don’t have to wait for it to be ‘bad enough’ if you’re considering it, it already bad enough and you should talk to your GP

tags: mentions of casual ableism, hurt/comfort, talks of disabilities and mobility aids, 1.5 k words, GN!reader, no use of y/n

original prompt here

also I am not a cane user (my chronic pain is mild) and this based of personal accounts I’ve seen on the internet and my friends <3

Jason never missed the moment you winced when you stood—he was always there by your side, helping you up, letting you lean on him all in an effort to put less pressure on your knees.

You knew he could tell the moment it had begun to get worse. You’d been on a slow decline anyway but Gotham autumns were particularly hard for you—the drastic temperature changes always left you achy, slower, more fatigued than usual. Your days had begun to end near 4 or 5pm instead of being able to stick it out until 6 or later.

He knew. You knew he knew. It was hard to not notice.

But he didn’t bring it up. Because he knew you were tired of bringing it up.

Doctor’s appointments, after doctor’s appointments, you were sick of jumping through hoops and explaining what was wrong when you just wanted help.

And he was the only one to help.

You honestly didn’t think he’d bring it up. Sure, he had heard your doctor say it, explain that if the pain got worse it probably would be the simplest solution because there was no other real treatment.

“Babe, have you thought of getting a cane?” You looked up at him, tired eyes tracking his movements as he came to kneel in front of you.

“I’m fine,” you said softly, pretending like you weren’t using the headboard to stand from where you were sat at the edge of the bed, “The pain isn’t even that bad today.”

It was bullshit and you knew it—sure, it wasn’t bad compared to your last flare up, but that meant nothing; pain was relative, and relative to the normal, healthy body, you were in pain. But it felt like admitting defeat.

You knew it wasn’t, intellectually, rationally, it was the smart thing to do, get a mobility aid—but they were expensive and felt so hopelessly permanent. A cane meant admitting you needed help because nothing was improving, nothing would improve.

“Hey.”

You looked up at him again, not at the floor as if it would help your balance.

“Jason, I’m fine,” you sighed, reaching out to grab him, letting him stand before holding onto his arm.

“Hey,” he cupped your face gently to tilt your face up—he looked tired, not fatigued, just tired, the price of being a Gotham vigilante you supposed, “Talk to me; why are you shutting down the idea?”

“It’s expensive.”

“I’ll pay for it.”

“Other people need it more.”

“There isn’t a shortage.”

“I just… I don’t need it yet.”

“You’re in pain.”

And it should have been that simple—to you, it should have been that simple.

“I just-“ you dropped your head against his chest, “I don’t- I can’t, Jay. I feel like I’m just giving in-“

“No, you’re not.” He lead you to sit back down on the bed, kneeling before you as he held your face, “You aren’t giving in—you’re adapting. You have to adapt, people adapt.”

“Most people don’t have chronic pain or degenerative conditions.”

“But a lot of people do,” Jason said, “Baby, you’re surrounded by heroes—hell, look at Barbie and Dick.”

“They don’t have a choice,” you swallowed as you looked away—it wasn’t fair to compare yourself to them, they’d both been shot and Dick didn’t even use his crutches full time.

“Dick could walk on his knee on bad days if he wanted to,” Jason countered, “And Barbie has an implant.”

“Yeah and the thing backfires all the time and exhausts her.” Jason didn’t answer. “It’s not the same.”

“It doesn’t have to be,” he said—his thumb brushed under your eyes, bracing you as you leaned into the touch—his hands were so warm against your skin, safe, reliable. The whole thing made you want to burst into tears. “Baby, would a cane help you get around?”

“Yeah,” your voice was shaky—you didn’t want to admit it was but you could hear it, it was raspy and hollow and you missed feeling whole; you missed feeling alright, you missed spontaneity, you missed your freedom.

You wanted it back.

And a cane wouldn’t eliminate everything—it wouldn’t take away the bad days or the achiness when it rained or the fatigue that practically weighed on your shoulders.

But it would help, you knew it would.

“Do you want to get one?”

“Yes, please.”

He straightened just enough to kiss your forehead before resting his own against it.

“We’ll talk to your doctor, okay?”

“Thank you.”

“Always, baby.”

So, it took some getting used to. You’d talked to your doctor, found out which cane handle worked best, was taught how to use it and now it was an almost constant in your life. There was an adjustment period but the people around you always helped—Barbara promised to get you a cuter cane for your birthday and Dick gifted you your first wrist-strap, beaded and charmed.

There were times you forgot you had it all together: it happened more than once that you’d unthinkingly get up without it or lean it against something and just walk away but the habit was instilling itself.

And it helped.

It helped enough that you asked if Jason wanted to go down to Old Gotham for a coffee date at his favourite bookshop.

He’d asked you if you were sure before agreeing and the date was set.

“All good?” You nodded as you tossed your coat on before grabbing your cane and keys. It was a calm November morning, not cold enough for snow but you could feel it in your bones. You walked towards the sky trains at a leisurely pace, Jason on the opposite side to your cane so you could hold his arm—sometimes the dissonance between how he acted with you and the knowledge of who he could be, baffled you.

He was a vigilante, trained by assassins and heroes alike, he’d helped save the world multiple times but next to you, he was just Jason, strolling beside you, matching your pace as he looked up to admire the red leaves on dying trees.

Fuck, you really loved him.

He held you firmly against himself as you passed through the chaos of the station, passed the gates, up the escalators and onto the platforms. The train came to a screeching halt before you and a deluge of people swarmed out of the doors before you walked in—Jason beelined for the priority seat and plopped you down.

Would you deny that it was kind of hot when he stood over you, gripping the overhead bar? No, you wouldn’t—your boyfriend was hot and his body shielded you from the looks and glances of most strangers.

A couple of elderly people glared at you but Jason just threw it back at them in return and stepped closer to you, until they’d back off and somebody else would offer up their seats.

You hopped off the train at the Cathedral station, and weaved your way amongst wonky brick buildings until you reached your destination, a quaint little bookshop with a couple of tables and chairs for their café.

It wasn’t very popular, which is what drew Jason to it; open until late, he’d tell tales of how he used to stop by before patrols or long nights and he’d been coming back ever since—it had taken him six months of dating to finally bring you around, but you’d fallen for its charm too.

The bell rang overhead as you stepped in and the baristas greeted you warmly.

”Go grab us a table,” Jason asked softly—there were all of two other people in the bookshop so it wasn’t hard to find a comfortable little nook. You trusted Jason to remember your order so you didn’t worry when you saw him order at the till and begin to count cash.

You’d just about leaned your cane against the table and shrugged off your coat when you heard a voice pipe up.

“Oh, I’m so sorry but you have to order up front.”

You looked up at the busboy who was nervously holding a stack of plates.

“Oh umm, yeah, my boyfriend’s up there,” you said, vaguely gesturing to Jason waiting for your order, “I just needed a moment to sit.”

He eyed you weirdly, then your cane, before simply turning and walking away.

“Umm, okay,” you chuckled sheepishly to yourself.

”What was his deal?” Jason asked as he set a mug down in front you.

You just shrugged as you wrapped your hands around the mug, warming your stiff joints.

”It doesn’t matter—how was your last bust?”

You didn’t leave until late—but well before closing because you didn’t want to be a nuisance.

The streets of Park Row were always quiet after sundown, but hanging onto Jason’s arm, chatting softly about the thoughts that ran through your mind, you’d never felt more at peace.

He held your hand as you made your way up the front steps so you could unlock the door to your apartment building—you paused and turned back to him instead.

Both hands on the handle of your cane, you leaned forward, eye-level with him.

“Can I kiss you?”

He didn’t answer, only leaned forward to kiss tenderly, a hand cupping your cheek, the other placed upon yours.

”Love you.”

”Love you too, baby.”

I truly loved writing this and I hope somehow it gets back to the original anon lol

more from me here (masterlist + wips list ❀˖°) — for requests please check this post ✧˖° thank you

[pangaeaseas]

thinking again about how Ginny is both central and peripheral to the war effort' in both the context of the war as an interpersonal mystical conflict between Harry and Voldemort and the context of the war as a war. like she is harry's girlfriend but when Harry goes off on his hero's journey his quest he leaves her behind (despite the fact that she might have had important insights as the person who knows best what it's like to be possessed by voldemort's horcrux....but she must remain a peripheral character) she is this person who's had a formative relationship with Voldemort but is utterly peripheral to him he has no idea who she is she has this deep intimacy with both of them but Voldemort doesn't know it and Harry doesn't take it seriously. she would probably have the most Thoughts of any person living about the mystical Harry/Voldemort conflict have really intense and complex feelings and connections and understandings but she cannot take part in it she has to watch and not know what's happening. even though the story of the horcruxes is so central to what made her her....(harry my boy you BETTER have told her about the horcruxes post war. you better damn well.)

and then ofc she literally lives in the official order headquarters in OOTP and then the burrow her familial home becomes a de facto order headquarters and a center for war planning (especially as Harry is central to the war effort' and also a peripheral member of the weasley family unit) but she isn't allowed any information at all. she fights in a battle that changes the course of the war bc Voldemort publicly reveals himself at it and then it's just like..it makes her cool at school I guess? it doesn't transform her role in the conflict. she is sent back to Hogwarts in DH as though she's an ordinary student. and then she becomes a leader of the resistance in Hogwarts, a center of the war in hogwarts but peripheral to the outside conflict....

[phoenixglacier]

Revisiting the (Jasico) Chalice Scene

(Frank LXVI, HoH)

For a very tiny 2-paragraph moment narrated by Frank, the possibly furthest person in emotional proximity to both Jason and Nico on this ship, the chalice scene is pretty darn important.

See, this moment proves nothing. It is one hundred percent expected of everyone in this team, whether they trust Nico or not, to take that chalice of poison and drink. Hence why it's brushed over so quickly. Nothing out of the ordinary happens here.

...But that's not entirely fair. Frank does note something weird in his narration: What is Nico talking about? Why is he making a big deal of giving it to Jason? Assigning all this meaning to it? Talking about trust?

Let's look at Jason and Nico's relationship up until this moment.

Nico has no POV chapters in HoH. Jason has eight, covering two mini-storylines. The first is their mini-quest to retrieve Diocletian's sceptre in Croatia, covering chapters XXXIII-XXXVI. The second is when they're stranded "somewhere on the northern coast of Africa" and Jason is working on negotiating with Auster/Notus, covering chapters LVII-LX.

Part 1: Building Trust is part of The Job

So during the Diocletian's sceptre mini-quest... well, we all probably know what happens, but let's chart it.

Jason XXXIV: Jason's internal narration shows his strong discomfort with Nico.

He judges not just Nico's "vibe", but also Nico's moral character. He interprets Nico as challenging him, toying with him. Positions Nico as someone otherworldly and in control of himself, but in an ominous and uncomfortable way. He makes a point of saying he hopes he's doing a good job of hiding these thoughts.

It's hard to stay away from a Doylian perspective here. Heroes of Olympus is ultimately a fantasy series, and Nico isn't a perspective character. In some ways, he isn't a character at all. He is meant to be cool, ominous, otherworldly. Fantastical trappings that the audience will find cool. But Heroes of Olympus also doesn't commit because that was never what Percy Jackson did. Nico is not a inhuman cryptid, he's a kid just like the rest of them.

Jason's thoughts here are in line with what everyone else has been thinking about Nico up to this point. It proves to us that Nico is not wrong about what other people think of him. Feeling left out and unwelcome are not fantasies he's made up in his head, they are being presented to us in the internal narration of everyone on this ship.

Jason XXXV: So Jason goes on the quest with Nico. He gets a chapter to hang out with Nico before Cupid actually gets involved. Compared to the ominous setup in XXXIV, the relationship growth in this chapter actually feels a lot more... authentic. Let's look at it while trying not to screenshot the entire chapter.

In this tiny interaction, Jason and Nico are very successfully pretending their relationship is great, casual, friends, joking around, physical affection, the works. We know Nico hates physical touch. We know Jason finds Nico creepy. Jason doesn't sigh at Nico's joke. Nico doesn't recoil from Jason's nudge. But more importantly, Jason makes the social effort to interact with Nico and initiate this moment. And Nico makes a possibly even bigger social effort to joke with Jason.

Have they both done this before? Yes. This is nothing special. Jason interacts with everyone, as he's about to reveal. And Nico is notorious for dropping witty jokes all the time, welcome or otherwise. So why am I mentioning this?

Because, for whatever reason, they're both "trying".

It's a lot less genuine on Jason's end. He has a job to do, and building trust with Nico is part of that job. He is willing to push away any feelings he might have himself to build a good relationship with Nico, all for the sake of the job.

And in the service of this, Jason makes small talk with Nico. He uses the right words to get Nico to talk. And then the wrong ones, evidently. But he's trying. He's always trying.

And as you may notice here, Nico goes through three different stages here. He starts off casually, talking to himself, experiencing something alone, answering Jason's questions off-handedly. But after Jason's carefully placed words, he opens up, and it's hard. He looks away, takes a deep breath, comes to a complete stop. He tries to change the suject, talks about Hazel, talks about Bianca, even still tries to give Jason more information after that.

Jason was having a hard time figuring out what to say. But there was nothing vulnerable about it. All of that was on Nico. He struggled here, about to pour his heart out, holding back. Being more honest than we've seen him in a while. This was hard.

Jason says the wrong thing next, and Nico clams up. Because when you're vulnerable and talking about something so deeply personal, a careless remark that could mean nothing can be deeply hurtful.

And Nico's not wrong. Jason immediately goes on to speculate about Nico based largely in things he's heard about him from Percy and other rumours. Nico is largely absolutely correct that what Percy has told Jason about him has damaged his reputation in Jason's eyes. It happens to be the case that Jason finds Nico trustworthy enough and useful enough to the job that he still wants to create a good relationship with him, but that is while giving weight to those rumours.

The way he talks about Nico in his head and when he's trying to make conversation with him is like he's assembling a puzzle. "I don't get him." "I can't figure him out." "It's not easy."

Jason does not care about Nico. Everything he says is for the sake of the job. Building trust is for the sake of the job. Encouraging Nico in this moment is not to make him feel better, it's so that he'll do what Jason needs him to do.

Jason XXXVI: Watch their camaraderie change as the fight as Cupid progresses:

I have to admit that the Cupid chapter is not my favourite. But we're here to talk about Jason and Nico.

Why does this chapter change Jason's impression of Nico? Why does it make him start to care? Why does he see him in a different light?

The answer is essentially that Jason got to experience a piece of Nico's life through this. The memories Jason saw were not just still images, but detailed experiences that included Nico's tinted perspective, emotions, and interpretations of everything that happened to him. Suddenly, Jason has the full puzzle.

Except he doesn't. He isn't Nico. A few moments of getting to "be" Nico is not enough for Jason to understand. But it is enough to shift his own objectives.

From now on, Nico is not a job. Nico is a person that Jason is invested in purely because he wants him to be happy. Which is a lot harder than building trust, a task that he has already been only barely passing at.

Forgive me for brushing past the other specifics of this chapter for now or we'll be here all day.

Part 2: Things Change on the Ship

If I unshackled myself completely, I'd have included every single Jason and Nico interaction from the entire book, including from the very beginning of the book in Leo IX where Jason acts as an advocate for Nico's voice.

Does it sounds so clearly strictly professional to you? Me too. I hate that the Seven were made into a group of coworkers instead of a true friend group.

But even then, it still tells us a few somethings. Nico is diligently going to Jason with information. Jason is giving Nico the respect for the information. From the ship's point of view, Jason is completely unfazed by Nico because he's objective and inhumanly heroic while the rest of us are scared of Nico because he's scary and cryptid. (This isn't about Hazel, Hazel loves Nico very much).

An excerpt from Piper XLI, which is after the Diocletian's sceptre miniquest:

"This is new" is what Piper is saying. Piper also seems to claim that Leo is on the same page here. And considering these are possibly the only people on this ship that actually consider Jason a friend, let's take this as true.

Jason has started defending Nico when Nico's not around. Could this still tie into The Job? It certainly might make team morale better if everyone as a whole helps Nico, then maybe the onus wouldn't be on Jason to single-handedly help him be happy.

But it's new. It's different. It's different from Jason moderating for Nico when it helps keep a work meeting on track. It's different from Jason being nice to Nico to his face. If it felt like Jason turned on a switch when he went on that quest with Nico, that's because he probably did. "Yesterday's objective was to make plans, today's primary objective is to get the sceptre and the secondary objective is to Build Trust."

Jason is so quick about this moment. He tells Leo not to make jokes at Nico's expense. He changes the topic immediately. Is this logical? Objective? Useful to The Job?

The priorities have shifted. He's defending Nico because it bothers him. Because he knows it bothers Nico. It's as simple as that, but it's so much harder.

Jason LVII: Jason dedicates basically an entire chapter to another Nico update. And the contrasts here are a fascinating look at how their relationship has changed.

I have... problems with how Heroes of Olympus deals with describing Nico and other characters like Octavian by equating looking sickly to being creepy. It would have been great as a commentary, considering that Nico has just been through a huge traumatic event that resulted in very, very poor health. The text doesn't do that, which frustrates me to no end. It's not like Nico chose to do this. It's not even like Nico could actually go back to eating a full meal portion straightaway after being literally starved. But I digress. This will turn into too long of a rant.

Jason does not actually describe Nico's physical appearance much in HoH. He goes off Nico's vibes, actions, "blending into the shadows", "slept very little and eaten even less", so on. He doesn't really describe him objectively.

Jason is, very ironically, a little more objective in this description. He admits Nico still looks gaunt, but has regained a little more weight. This is fair, Nico is unhealthy and is in recovery. And there are paragraphs written about what this means for Jason's attraction to him, but I'll leave that to the allos to analyse cause honestly my aroace self is lost on this.

The way Jason describes Nico here is absent of all his previous markers of how cryptid, ominous, and scary he is. Even Nico's appearance, which previously made Jason jump, is very calm. There's no slinking in the shadows here, no appearing out of nowhere. Nico is there. Jason's not sure since when. This is not a scary thing, it just is.

Nico is not a scary, inhuman entity. He is just another person.

(Which is great, because Jason still can't be fully objective about describing Nico as is. His internal narration on everyone is riddled with judgement, which I find hilarious.)

Nico engages Jason in Professional Talk about The Job. As established, this is what their relationship probably was before Croatia. Nico is the information guy, Jason is the leader and the only one who will take him seriously.

Jason, it seems, changes the script. He doesn't keep up being professional with Nico. They both get emotional, and instead of backing down like Jason seems to have done before, Jason keeps pushing.

I have a love-hate relationship with all the books. Jason and Nico being my favourite characters probably doesn't help. Does this post matter? Do we even care about canon? I'm like a beaver that needs trees to grow before I can build anything. This book is a mighty awesome tree, perfect for me to cut down and build something cool.

Jason falls into a specific type of argument here: He wants to convince Nico of the "fact" that everything is ok. Nico is fine, his sexuality is not something wrong with him, everyone else will not be homophobic, people are good and once Nico realises that he'll be happy.

This is wrong (at least in part). Jason cannot convince Nico that he is "wrong" about the world rejecting him because it's at least partially true. And we know this because we've seen the inside of everyone's head, including Jason's. And we know they all judge him.

It does not make a difference that they might not judge him for being gay, because they already judge him regardless. Nico believes that this is the cherry on top of all the treatment he's already been getting.

Any argument that people won't judge him for being gay sounds fake to Nico because he is already judged for being sickly, for "acting" creepy, for his powers (which the Argo II regularly makes use of), for his parentage, for his looks, for his past... the list goes on.

Jason throwing platitudes of "It's just who you are" doesn't work because it originates in a social conversation that Nico doesn't know about. If anything, it makes Nico feel worse, more helpless than ever in a never-ending cycle of rejection. Did he have a choice in Jason's friendship when he was making jokes about ice-cream? When Cupid broadcasted his private memories into his mind? Now?

The fundamentally scary experience that Nico is going through is not as simple as internalised homophobia. It's not as simple self-loathing. Nico is suffering under the judgement of society, including, currently, his supposed inner circle of allies. Percy Jackson, of all people, is actively undermining his reputation to strangers, whether he intended to or not. His own sister Hazel is a candle in the darkness, but she's from the same time too. What if he loses her? Frank Zhang used to be chill with him, but now he's not. Why? Why is he losing everyone? He used to be strong enough to shadow-travel to China and back, he used to be a major force on the battlefield, an ambassador of Pluto, holding his own on both camp councils. Now he's passing out all the time, weak, tired, recovering too slowly from being starved in captivity, judged for it. It is scary.

How do you fix that?

You can't.

Nico is not a puzzle. Jason cannot fix him. He can damn well try, because he's stubborn and for once, refusing to take no for an answer, but he cannot run Nico's life.

But let's break this down. Jason cannot convince Nico of the facts, because the facts aren't exactly pretty. His view of the past and the present are reasonably grounded in truth — though the only reason why we can say this is because we're the audience and actually do have mind-reading skills. In real life, we would never know for sure what everyone is saying inside their heads.

So he makes a much more specific argument. Jason will be his friend. Maybe not yesterday. But maybe today. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe you already don't trust me. But maybe I've been trying, and you haven't been responding. Heck, maybe I've been getting it wrong, but you're not even giving it a chance. Maybe if I try, if you try, if we both try, we can make a new and better reality.

"I'll be here. But if you never give me a chance, then I can't do anything for you."

Part 3: The Challenge and The Chalice

Here's the thing: Jason is probably pretty good at forming relationships.

I will honestly ignore canon evidence for this if I have to. But Jason is good at getting people to talk. He's good at respecting boundaries. He's good at gaining admiration, respect, loyalty...

And it falls apart because people aren't blind. They eventually figure out that Jason is doing A Job. (See: Hazel, who realised this precisely because of how he voted against Nico in MoA, and continues to doubt that Jason will have her back for the rest of the quest)

We can point out that Jason is failing at Building Trust with Nico and, yes, he is. And that's because he's technically lost focus. He can certainly motivate Nico to complete The Job. Completing The Job is an easy goal. But if his goal is for Nico to be happy, that's an entirely different ball game with an entirely different brand of building trust.

Nico has already been trying. But he's also been touchy, aggressive, and operating on his own terms as much as possible. He's right about receiving never-ending rejection. He's also been rejecting people right back.

It is a dilemma on multiple levels.

If building trust with Nico is part of Jason's job, how is Nico supposed to figure out whether he's genuine? How is Jason supposed to convince Nico that he truly wants the best for him?

Also, if Jason's spent his entire life building relationships that revolve around obtaining good soldiers, what would an equal relationship look like? Nico has certainly also had a long pattern of placing someone at the centre of his world and operating around them. What would an equal relationship look like for him?

And in this scary, scary world of rejection that Nico is experiencing, what is the right answer? How should he move forward? Can he protect himself while opening himself up to new possibilities? Does he have to choose between protecting himself from rejection and opening up chances for acceptance?

Frank LXVI:

The chalice scene means nothing.

But it says a lot.

There is no grand gesture here. There is no feat of strength, no test of loyalty, no proof of conviction.

There is a question: "Do you trust me?"

And an answer: "Yes."

Let's go back to Jason's grand, messy speech to Nico in their last argument.

Jason cannot prove he is worthy of Nico's trust if Nico never trusts him with anything. And this contradicts Nico's internal order of protection, because the best way for Nico to guarantee Jason will never break his trust is to never give him any in the first place. And that leaves Nico trusting nobody, and suffering for it.

Let's go back even further to all the interactions Jason has led up until now.

In trying to get Nico to open up, Jason risks very little personally. He uses tactics that centre around Nico's life experiences and only tangentially mentions his own to keep the conversation going, even when he thinks it's for Nico's sake. It leaves Nico as the only one in the conversation who is sharing deeply personal information about himself, while Jason has a difficult but not risky job of responding and supporting. Nico tries to balance this slightly by bringing up Jason's life: "You're everybody's golden boy, a son of Jupiter." But he doesn't understand either. He's not privy to Jason's struggles any more than Jason used to be. He has no way to even the playing field.

The question: "I will take the risk of being vulnerable with you, if you will take the risk of being vulnerable with me."

The answer: "Whenever you reach out to me, I will prove to you that that trust was not misplaced."

Jason and Nico continue to have moments sprinkled into HoH, but none in their perspective anymore. And again, I'm just barely holding myself back from pouring all of them in here.

Percy LXXVII:

Why I personally find Jasico such a compelling ship is because of the relationship that they end up building. That is, fundamentally the relationship is built off of an understanding that they are both not mind-readers. They don't know what the other is thinking. Their good intentions will not magically come across. They will mess up on boundaries, on trauma, on acceptable topics of conversation, on everything. They essentially enter a relationship that requires them to stop, think, notice, communicate, problem-solve, and work to change.

Jason and Nico are both characters that suffer under their reputation in opposite ways. It gives them a unique head start in undoing their preconceived notions compared to other characters. Nico is not a dangerous invincible monster any more than Jason is a perfect invincible god. The extent to which Nico is convinced that society will not accept him no matter how hard is tries is not more true that the extent to which Jason believes that society will condemn him if he makes a single mistake.

The chalice scene is communication. It is Nico saying: "Look, I know we ended that last conversation badly. I know I told you the equivalent of it's never gonna happen. I've been thinking a lot about what you said. I want to give it a try. I want to be friends with you. I wasn't ready before, but I'm ready now. I choose to take this risk on you."

It's what Jason has been waiting for. It's his opportunity to say: "My friendship has no time limit. I trust you. I'm ready to be vulnerable with you. I'll wait for you to choose when you take these chances in your life. I'll follow your lead. I won't let you down."

It's not really about Jason, because Jason has spent the whole book pushing, and it got him nowhere. He had to wait for Nico to be ready.

And the chalice scene. Is how Nico tells him he's ready. Because Nico just had to find a theatrically perfect time to propose to Jason.

Afterword

Jasico is very dear to me and I could ramble on about them forever. But I've already got a 298K fanfic ongoing on that and it definitely won't fit in a single tumblr post.

But I do want to say that Nico really likes giving Jason these little "challenges", which Jason does seem to respond to pretty readily.

Something about Jason's character design poises him perfectly for the urge to prove himself, especially when paired with friendly competition. And Nico definitely enjoys achieving that effect. It's a cute little part of their dynamic that I really enjoy.

I'm personally not a fan of relationships that put each other down or require someone to change. Again, there's a lot of Doylian problems with the writing, and you miiiight have noticed that I'm ignoring the existence of anything that comes after HoH, a book that was already a mixed bag for me.

Jasico is meaningful to me specifically because I think it's Nico most important relationship whether it's romantic or not. It represents a new era of hope for Nico; an era where he goes on to risk a relationship with both Reyna and Coach Hedge, and is rewarded for it. It takes a lot of strength to accept that you have gone through something very difficult, and still live on hoping for a better day.

I connect a lot to Nico because of this idea. What if I have gone through something that is undeniably, clearly terrible? Is there no better future for me? Should I give up forever? What if Nico was not accepted in the camp? What if people did think he was creepy and didn't want him around? What is his way forward? How could he possibly go on with the rest of his life?

His experience with Jason shows him that things can change. That it is still worth taking those risks and opening himself up over and over again. It's hard! It's hard when you've been hurt so many times and finally learnt to protect yourself. It's hard when you're told that it's gotten to the point where you're contributing to your own problem.

I don't talk about many other perspectives in this post, but here's an excerpt from Frank XVII, earlier in the book.

We know, as the audience, that Frank is a little freaked out by Nico (for reasons unknown since he was very proud of being good friends with Nico back in SoN, and for this reason I loathe to consider this fully canon).

But let's consider what's happening here. Frank assumes Nico is shutting his singular question down, something that Frank is obviously going to take into account interacting with him moving forward. But it's way more subtle than what Nico's been saying to Jason.

In response to the famous "grabbed Nico and lifted them both into the air" in Jason XXXV:

When they're in the air, Nico makes a muffled sound of protest. Jason doesn't note anything else wrong until they've landed and this moment happens. Way before this, Jason nudges Nico about the angel and the ice-cream stand. It takes being grabbed, flown into the air, and then landing safely before Nico explicitly tells Jason not to do that again. All in all very reasonable.

Jason is the one who adds this little threatening flair to it, which is noticeably more charged than Frank's little interpretation. And in Frank's little interpretation, Nico doesn't explicitly say anything. In fact, Frank specifically notes that he goes onto speak quite calmly.

So which is it? Is Nico pushing everyone away, or is everyone reading between the lines and assuming the worst? Is Nico misunderstanding reality, or is everyone else?

It is so, so easy for any book that comes after this to be like "Naturally, Nico is misunderstanding reality. Once he accepts this, he'll be happy." Because it's so hard to change society. But it also sucks, because that's what the original Percy Jackson series was all about. We, the audience, don't think it's too much to ask to see big societal changes come into play in Heroes of Olympus. But ah, writing is hard too, isn't it.

What does reality look like for a child like Nico in the real world? If he has truly been rejected by his community, but they're not all assholes for it. Some of them are just fucking teenagers who don't know what else to do.

There is hope in a relationship like Jasico which finds support in an unexpected place, and very realistically frames them not as soulmates, but as people who want connection. Whose hearts are in the right place, who are ready to take responsibility and take risks. I'm done reading the story about the magical island where everyone is like me. Heck, Percy only got a week of that before the island found a way to make him the odd one out again. There is no such thing as a rosy little community where everyone is perfect and good and always on the right side of history. It takes work.

So yeah. The Chalice Scene isn't flashy. It makes a good symbolic picture, it definitely makes a pretty artwork. But it's not the grand gesture that anyone else had. No diving into Tartarus, no holding up the sky, no taking a knife for each other. How to do you raise the stakes when Nico has already been to Tartarus, already argued with the gods, already broken the laws of Death? How do you raise the stakes when Jason has fought a Titan in hand-to-hand combat, or jumped into a canyon for a stranger before he knew he could fly?

It comes back to the core of the Percy Jackson universe. The real monsters isn't the war. It's the abusive stepparent. The teachers and bullies at school. The system built to undermine you.

The real test of love isn't dying for each other. It's living for each other.

And that's what makes Jasico for me.

[squishytenya]

Hey Do you remeber your Tenya and Aizawa ask, with y/n Crying? What about some of the other casts like Katsuki or Ejiro?

if you dont mind please and thank you

They Make You Cry Headcanons

I lowkey had to search my own blog for this but I found it! thanks for the request <3

Pairings - Bakugou x gn!reader, Kirishima x gn!reader + Kaminari x gn!reader

Warnings - arguments, cursing, crying

Katsuki Bakugou

▹part of being in a relationship with Katsuki is dealing with his harsh personality. Even if he does calm down the older he gets, it's still probably not to the same extent of a normal human being.

▹he probably would be completely speechless the moment you started crying after an argument - straight up would not know how to respond to that.

▹his eyes would go wide and he would go to take a step towards you and then bring himself back, holding his arm to himself.

▹"hey... don't do that"

▹for all his faults Katsuki is, deep inside, a good person and he knows this is the kind of shit you lose relationships from and he really really doesn't want to lose you.

▹ but he does know he can be a bit much and he probably takes a while to come down from whatever he's feeling so he just kinda leaves for a few minutes

▹ he comes back with a cup of tea and perches gently on the bed next to you, avoiding eye contact

▹he would do his best to spit out an apology, but it's not something that would come naturally to him. Seeing your face crumple like it did is still replaying in his mind and he knows he has to fix this somehow - so he does his best to explain himself

▹eventually he would just stop rambling and take your hand in his, squeezing it gently.

▹"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that to you"

▹ he'd just sit by you, hand in his until you were ready to talk to him and talk over what had led to the argument in the first place and he really does take your words to heart about what upset you

▹he'd try to cut down on raising his voice and try to cut out teasing nicknames entirely, unless he knew you were okay with them already

▹a sweet guy really

Eijirou Kirishima

▹I cannot see Kiri upsetting you on purpose, even during an argument he isn't the type to yell or get super angry with you

▹him making you cry is most likely a complete accident on his part, or even him accidentally playing into an insecurity you have without properly thinking about it

▹when your relationship first started out, I think he probably didn't understand you might not be comfortable with the things he's comfortable with, especially during social situations

▹ also probably doesn't understand others might read his kindness as flirting, so when you two are invited to a hero party to socialise and he pretty much ignored you the whole night, he had no idea why you began tearing up on the way home

▹obviously, he's worried about why you're crying and what he did! and how he can fix it is at the forefront of his mind almost immediately after noticing

▹and when you explain it to him, he pretty much crumbles straight away - he is in disbelief that he made you feel that way

▹he falls over himself explaining that he didn't mean to make you feel that way, he was just overwhelmed by the pressure of hero society and got caught up

▹Kiri is very good at admitting when he is wrong, and puts a lot of effort into having healthy communication in his relationships - platonic or otherwise

▹pulls over the car literally just so he can hold both of your hands in his and make eye contact as he explains his actions, specifically so you understand he's being genuine

▹"I'd never do that to you on purpose, you're the most important person to me"

▹after your sniffles have subsided, he pulls you into a hug and promises never to do something like that again - and you bet he keeps his promise!!!

▹takes you to get food too, just as an extra apology and you sit in the car park eating ice cream together - he makes sure you're the center of his attention the entire time <3

Denki Kaminari

▹oh he's so stupid. he's so lovely, but so, so stupid.

▹honestly he probably says something insanely embarrassing in front of your friends and pays no attention to how that might make you feel, especially if you're close to these people

▹doesn't even notice when the room goes completely silent and nobody is talking but him, it takes one of his friends clearing their throat for him to notice your eyes filling with tears

▹in his defense, he does try to explain himself straight away and takes you into another room to have the conversation (at the very least) but it takes a little bit more explaining to him why his actions would upset you

▹doesn't really get it at first but you explaining, and your face as you cry, makes his heart hurt and he tries to rectify his actions as soon as he can

▹the first thing he thinks to do in that moment is bundle you up in his arms and rock the both of you back and forth to calm you down, which works a little more than you'd like to admit

▹runs his hands over your back, up and down, until your breathing evens out - does not give a shit about anyone outside of you two in that moment

▹once you've stopped crying, full on apology - hands and knees!

▹he seems genuinely heartbroken to have embarrassed you and takes full responsibility for what he did

▹ kicks everyone else out of the house and spends the rest of the evening making it up to you and reminding you of how important you are to him and just how sorry he is

I hope these were good! I haven't written in ages so this'll be the first comeback headcanons, hope you guys enjoyed it <3