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janluxe · 2 days ago

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WET DREAMS — CALEB/XIA YIZHOU

–summary; what has him all hot and bothered?

–contents; fluff, smut (mdni), tiny bit of angst

Some consider insanity to be the process of trying the same thing over and over again while expecting different results. But have they ever felt unseen by the world and trapped in their own wordly vessel?

There wasn't even a fleeting moment of peace in his mind – always filled to the brim and preoccupied with tasks and responsibilities placed upon him. And yet, he worried more about your safety and well-being more than he did for his own, considering he had been protecting you ever since he could remember himself, blaming it on the supposed sibling relationship until he got older.

Figuring out feelings is more difficult than what people are prepared to give credit for. He always remembers being physically exhausted from what he had to endure each day, yet when his eyes finally fluttered shut he was haunted by his thoughts, thoughts he shouldn't have while you're one room away.

After some time of observing him, you had started noticing subtle patterns in the way he slept. You watched the way his chest rose and fell with each breath he took. He looked so peaceful. Caleb's only motion was his hand moving slowly toward his face, running his slender fingers through his dark hair and brushing it out of his face. A rush of hope used to ripple through you – maybe his nightmares had come to a halt for the night. Or so you thought every time.

Today was one of the days you could hear him from the room he had given you. Caleb had changed after the explosion, he was no longer the innocent boy you once found comfort and security in – not the same boy you held a grudge on because he did not make time to play with you or hand you over sweet treats behind Gran's back. No, he was the Colonel of the Farspace fleet now. He had to leave his old self behind if he wanted to fit into that role.

The worst part was, seeing an unrecognizable version of him, and still, all you could hear were the same faint whines that escaped from your childhood friend and bounced off the walls each time he fell unconscious while you tried to soothe him.

It was different this time. Something felt off, and that sensation rotted in your gut.

He had fallen asleep in the room he had settled for. Caleb's room was spacious with his queen sized bed, minimally decorated and colored in his own personal touch and, above all, cozy. Despite his preferences, he was willing to switch bedrooms the moment you expressed your fondness for him.

Your hand rested on the doorknob, tapping the smooth material underneath your fingertips to distract your mind from the current dilemma you had found yourself tangled in. Was invading his privacy proper under these circumstances? –What if he was doing something else– But then again, what were you to do while he was audibly struggling not so far away from where you were standing?

The door clicked open by a slight push of your hand, swaying enough to give you space to slip into the room.

The sight of him, while experiencing a disturbing dream, was something you were grown used to, unfortunately. His fingers clutched onto the soft material of the blanket he had pulled over himself.

However, his expression didn't have the same fear and despair it had written all over it like it did in the past. You sat by his side, careful not to startle him further, studying his mannerisms and every small shift in his attitude in an attempt to decipher what his dream was about.

After a few moments of silence you realized how much of a bad idea was to enter his room, his harsh breaths fading into desperate whines – his hand clenched onto the blanket, before it brushed against your skin. Caleb had always been a light sleeper, plus his position in the aerospace added more to that trait of his. And this time, the coldness of your fingers on his hand was what stirred him awake.

His forearm rested over his eyes, an audible groan escaping him as he struggled to adjust to the moonlight, blinding him through the window.

“What are you doing here, pipsqueak?” Caleb began, taking his arm off of his face so he could check the time on the bright screen of the digital clock placed atop his nightstand. A major part of him was concerned that you were up and about at this hour. His voice was different from what you were used to, as it came out groggy and rough with sleep.

Taking a mental note of your facial expression upon hearing him speak, he cleared his throat, “missed me already?”

His hand enveloping yours was a sensation worth memorizing and reminiscing about later on in the future - the way his thumb glided over the bruised skin on your knuckles, lifting it to his lips and pressing a tender kiss on them right after. He wanted to make sure that you knew how much he cared, even if he couldn't quite put it into words.

You didn't hesitate when it came to his touch. He was warm compared to the silk textile of the nightgown he had bought for you a few days prior, it clung perfectly on your frame - if anything, Caleb has your measurements engraved in the back of his mind. The material was smooth, comfortable yet the only downside of it was the inability to maintain your body temperature.

The goosebumps on your skin didn't go unnoticed. Caleb slipped the blanket covering his body on yours instead the very moment he took note of a suppressed shiver rushing through you. You cherished the comfort that came with the soft fabric and his cologne staining it. Reality seemed to disappear, even for a moment, before your eyes started studying his frame; spread out right in front of you, shirt hitching up his hipbone and a bulge straining his pyjama pants.

You blinked a few times – that explains everything, his restlessness, his messed up breathing pattern and his noises weren't because of a nightmare, oh god – “I should head back to my room…and you should rest.” A quick excuse left your lips faster than you anticipated. Maybe he wouldn't doubt your very believable excuse.

Unfortunately for you, his eyes never left yours, and the way he was gazing at you was like a bucket of cold water in the face.

“Please stay.”

The whiny tone lacing his voice already had you reconsidering your decisions, but the way he tugged on the hem of your shirt as soon as you stood up from his bed was a whole different thing.

Caleb had become very well aware of how his gaze resembled one of a desperate puppy, all thanks to you reminding him of it at the most inconvenient times, like when he was on duty with you on the other side of the line, or when he was a little too full of himself.

However, after so much teasing, he had grown accustomed to it. Here he was now – the Colonel of the Farspace Fleet, lilac eyes staring up at you, just like a lost puppy desperate for affection.

It was comical, really. The way his usually sharp gaze softened, lips apart and ready to beg for your attention instead of command and all of this because of a dream.

"What did you even dream about that got you this messed up?" You questioned, with no hesitation whatsoever. It was too late to filter any thoughts or to rethink the correct way to phrase sentences. Your hand remained on top of his watching as his expression changed.

Caleb's hand shifted, leaving yours as he moved them to rest on the bones of your hips, slowly drawing you in and hoping you'd follow along. "Let me show you, pipsqueak." He murmured as if his offer was only for you to hear.

Before you was the Caleb you had grown up knowing your whole life. Always a teasing attitude and a playful glint hiding in the lilac coloured irises that you had always adored the most. He kept them fixated on you as he guided your legs to sink into the mattress on either side of his chest; his arms remaining behind your knees while his fingers massaged the soft flesh of your thighs.

His face almost looked ethereal beneath you, like a sculpture made to honor a God. A statue so carefully chiseled down to the finest details by the best of the best, capturing every playful intention and liveliness by using the brightest colors on their palette.

Not able to help the redness giving away just how flustered you had gotten over this gesture, you tried to play it off by playing dumb, "Are we about to cuddle?" – Okay maybe it was a stupid question, but it worked, didn't it? Caleb's low chuckle escaping his throat echoed in the room.

"Later? Sure." He had a habit of scoffing every time you came up with an idiotic excuse or an unreasonable question, "But I haven't finished my description yet." Caleb was a trained pilot, trained to make quick work of things.

In a blink of an eye he had repositioned himself, bringing your body to straddle his face and barely leaving any space separating you from him. "I dreamed of you just like this." It was painfully obvious how much he was holding back; his thumb tracing small hearts on the inside of your thighs to distract himself.

It was all too much, his touch, his breath ghosting over your skin. You were about to detangle yourself from his grasp. His gaze stuck on you as if he was a loyal follower and you were his religion - the only one he would ever kneel for and worship. And he made sure you'd understand his silent message.

Time spent with his pipsqueak was valuable for him, so he rarely turned down the opportunity. Hence why his teeth were already grazing your skin, leaving soft marks and goosebumps in their wake. You were pretty sure Caleb didn't have any experience with these things, so how was it possible for him to know exactly the way to run his tongue over the freshly made wounds? How could he stay so calm while you struggled to keep your moans to yourself the moment his tongue reached your core?

“You're awfully quiet, pipsqueak.” His voice was barely above a whisper, vibrating against your skin. He could never resist the banter he had with you whenever his teasing got the best of you. He knew you better than anyone, and for that, you were thankful.

Caleb sat in pure awe, his lilac eyes studying your silhouette standing out in the darkness of the room. "And wet already… you needy little thing" Giving you time to process his words and what he was about to do? Overrated. The only warning you got was the feeling of his finger hooking around the underside of your panties before he gently tugged it away, leaving you exposed.

Every single one of his moves was calculated. Caleb wouldn't hesitate to shoot a man, but if anything happened to you by his hand, he simply wouldn't forgive himself.

“This is embarrassing.” The shakiness in your voice spurred him on, teasing your entrance with the tip of his tongue and slowly licking his way up to the bundle of nerves hidden between your folds.

He couldn’t help but chuckle at your remark, “Loosen up, princess.” His voice vibrated against your sensitive flesh while the sound of it soothed you, until he started pushing a finger past your puffy lips. Starting off with a few careful pumps and before you knew it, he was in knuckle-deep with your juices coating his beautiful hand, and his lips wrapped around your swollen clit.

A choked moan escaped you, in an attempt to muffle your own sounds by biting down on your lower lip while you readjusted yourself on his face. You needed to keep your mind busy somehow even if that didn't go as planned since Caleb used his evol to restrain you from shifting any further. "I wasn't going anywhere," You managed to breathe out right after understanding what went through his mind the moment you started moving in the slightest. He sucked at hiding his feelings, for his face and body never quieted down.

"False alarm." He smiled innocently, as if he hadn't just shot you a glare, daring you to move away whilst he ate you out. What mattered now was that the pressure of his evol on your shoulders had paused.

His fingers continued caressing you, curling to find just the right spot. The boyish smirk crossing his features as soon as you could no longer contain your whines was just the cherry on top.

You could feel a familiar coil in your stomach, ready and threatening to snap if he kept this up. “You taste so good. So so good.” And with that you were over the edge, fingers removed and leaving you empty, his tongue lapping up your release without wasting a second.

Caleb didn’t give a flying fuck about his oxygen running out, your eyes rolling into the back of your head in pure ecstasy while squeezing his face in between your thighs, soaking him was all he cared about.

A faint gush of wind met your skin, making you automatically shiver in response, hyper aware of every sensation around you. However, he didn’t let you alone for too long - carefully switching positions in a blink of an eye.

His hand planted on either side of your head, “You’ve never done this before, have you?” Caleb asked, staring down at you with his characteristic smirk - a wave of possessiveness mixed very well with pride rushing through him at the thought. But he knew all about your past relationships -he never approved of by the way- and how terrible they were, in the end he still bore the title of your ‘gege’.

“Tell me what I can do to make you feel good.” He coaxed, the back of his hand coming up to brush the textured skin of your cheek, the same skin he had wiped so many tears off years before. The way he could switch between a colonel and a desperate puppy was… oddly arousing. He felt the need to please you, to hear your praises despite his cock straining painfully against the rough fabric of his pants. “Tell gege, where do you want to be touched?”

The same fingers that fucked you were now stroking circles around the sensitive bud of one of your breasts, “Here?” He murmured as he gauzed your expressions shifting with each small touch. The moonlight creeping through the swaying curtains only audience you had while his hand explored you, “or maybe… here?” He continued, gently massaging your inner thigh. “Oh, I know.” the rough surface of his fingertips brushed against your calf, adjusting you until your heel dug into his shoulder - his hands weren’t always like this, they were soft once.

He��d be the death of you, but that’d be a fair exchange, for you’d be his.

—a/n; just a little something I had in my drafts for a few months,, tysm for reading and have a nice day/night ♡

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gaintsnowflake · 2 days ago

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❆ UNTIL THE EVEVATORE CHIMED (part two)

PAIRING : dick grayson x fem!reader

ONESHOT : you try to manage your feelings when your boyfriend doesn't remember

WARNINGS : angst. pure angst. heavy loads of grief. mentions of death, test, and memory loss

A/N : im not actually that happy with this part two, but at the same time i need some comfort in my hurt....

part one | masterlist

THE MORNING AFTER Dick appeared, alive, was nothing you expected. It was quiet, not silent, but quiet enough for you to hear the people on the street and the hum of the air conditioning.

You hadn’t let him sleep in your bed. Not yet. He was still a stranger, wearing the skin of someone you loved. A man who used to fall asleep tangled in your limbs like ivy, now resting stiffly on your couch as if the cushions might reject him too.

That was, until 2 a.m. Until the nightmares hit— your name falling from his lips like a cry in the dark. Suddenly you were wrapped in his arms again. His body moving on instinct. Yours doing the same. Holding you just the way he used to when he’d come home from a bad patrol.

Soon enough, the sun crept through the blinds of the living room like a poorly kept secret. Hovering over the two of you in enough light that you seemed to forget this was technically a stranger, cuddling you in your lover's skin.

“Good morning, pretty boy,” you said, before the words could filter through your shame. You pulled back fast, like your mouth had betrayed you. “Sorry— I didn’t mean…”

And that start to made for an awfully weird day between the two of you. The silence wasn't welcoming. It wasn’t the kind you would share as lovers, not the peace after the storm. It was heavy, laced with too much unsaid and too many versions of him you weren’t sure existed anymore. Avoiding each other's pitiful stares seemed to become a dance in the hours before you made breakfast.

For breakfast, you made sure to be soft with every movement as you placed a bowl of his favorite off brand cereal down in front of him at the table. Before realizing he sat in his exact seat, it must have been instinct.

“You used to love this brand, swore by it,” you couldn’t help but laugh a bit, the feeling of uncertainty hitting your stomach. A shake in your hand as you watched him take the first bite.

“I can tell why,” he says. “Thank you!”

Two words. And they broke you.

“Of course.”

You smiled, blinking too fast, trying to hide the tears. You weren’t sure if he saw them. Maybe it didn’t matter.

The silence that followed wasn’t painful this time. More like a mutual understanding. Something old trying to find a heartbeat again.

“I called Bruce,” you finally said, watching how the name landed. It didn’t. “He’s your adoptive father. He wants us at the manor. They’re going to run some tests. Try to… help.”

“Test?” His brow furrowed like a child trying to solve a math problem.

“Just standard things like a brain scan and some questions, shouldn’t be painful,” your smile wavers slightly as you lightly lie. You in truth have no idea what they might put Dick through. “We could head over after breakfast?”

“Sounds great! Are we taking… the dog?” The name of Haley was on the tip of his tongue, yet he couldn’t seem to remember. Concern seemed to wash over you again, if he couldn’t remember Haley, the dog he basically acts like he personally birthed, how far gone was he?

“Yeah, Haley can come, I’m sure she will have fun with Titus, or any of your brother's pets really..”

“I have a brother?”

You felt yet another pang in your chest. The feeling of pieces being taken away from your heart. And you may never know if you would get them back. Yet you had to pretend that you weren’t fading away every time he didn’t remember. Because if you didn’t you knew he’d feel guilt. As if it was his fault. But how can you blame the man who can barely remember his own name.

“A few, all adopted,” You whispered, as if they’d forgotten about him too.

“What are they like? Am I close to them?”

“You have a lot of adopted family, or at least somewhat adopted, you're closer with Jason, Tim, Damian, and your ex, Barabra who is also kinda like your sister now, it's complicated,” You sighed and pinched your nose bridge trying to explain the family that took months for you to fully understand the dynamics of, “But, out of the people who will be there it most likely be Jason, Tim, Damian, Barabra, Steph, and then maybe Cass and Duke, and then Alfred your butler who you love greatly and is basically your grandfather.”

“Wait, slow down, I’m confused…” Though his brows furrowed, he felt a sense of familiarity in the names. He knew them all, even if he didn’t exactly know.

It only got worse when you arrived. The manor felt colder than usual. They welcomed him with small gestures, as confusion seemed to take over his face. They all looked similar enough to cause confusion when approaching one another, even confusing Bruce for Jason was a new low.

None of the brooding blokes willingly expressed their sorrows but it was obvious with how they rarely removed him from their sightlines, even Damian said, “You cannot do this to us again, Grayson.” Which, in evil demon child words, showed how truly scared he was for his brother.

When the time they took him away from you came, they led him to the depths of the cave to attempt all kinds of things, he only glanced back to give an awkward but comforting smile. Leaving you a broken mess.

Doubts seemed to cause you to double over as sorry sobs came out of your body. You were left to mourn your lover for a second time. But instead of burying him, it was feared he may never know you again.

The sobs were loud, sudden, and uninvited. You didn’t cry pretty. Not anymore. Not for this. And before you knew, you ended up in his old room, staring at posters from a circus that didn’t exist anymore. Trinkets half-dusted. Memories that wouldn’t stop knocking.

You didn’t even hear him come in. Too large to be Dick. Too familiar to be anyone else. Jason sat beside you, his voice breaking just enough to let you know he understood.

“How are you holding up?” he asked.

“I’m worried,” you said.

Jason gave a ghost of a smile. “What if he forgets I tried to kill him once?”

“You’d never win.”

“Damn straight,” he muttered.

The silence sat between you again. Not harsh. Just… grieving.

Then he asked the question no one else had dared.

“But how are you?”

And this time, you didn’t dodge it.

“Scared,” you whispered. “If he doesn’t remember... The man I love is gone. The one I wanted to marry. I’ll have to watch him rebuild, and maybe I won’t be part of it. Maybe I’ll just be the girl who reminds him of a life he doesn’t want anymore.”

Jason didn’t speak.

He didn’t need to.

And then, like the universe had mercy— a hand touched your shoulder. Familiar. Gentle.

“I don’t know who I am,” a voice said behind you. “But something in me still knows who you are.”

You turned.

His eyes weren’t just blue. They were your sky, the air you breathe.

“If I fell for you once, what’s stopping me from doing it AGAIN?”

#dick grayson x reader #nightwing x reader #dick grayson x you #batboys x reader #batboys x you

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sunlightmurdock · 2 days ago

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Ashes, Ashes | 0.3 | Bradley Bradshaw

previous chapter | next chapter | masterlist

Synopsis: In which Maverick didn’t make it home after the Uranium mission. He’s missing, presumed dead. There are things that have to be done — someone has to take care of the house, the bills.

So, Maverick’s daughter is back in Fightertown for the first time since she was in elementary school. There’s a gaping hole in both of their lives now, and somehow, the world’s supposed to just keep on turning without him.

warnings: bradley bradshaw x minimally descriptive oc avery mitchell. age gap (23/33), smut, angst, hurt / comfort, mentions of character death, mourning, military inaccuracies. This entire fic and my blog is an 18+ space, minors do not interact. Do not repost.

…

“Look, it’s the handling, the engine and the exhaust — it’ll cost more to fix this pile of crap than it’s worth. Impound it and get yourself something worth running, sweetheart.”

That was the conversation that had kick-started Avery’s extended stay at Bradley Bradshaw’s house.

Bradley had rolled his eyes, and stepped in, but he had walked away from the shop agreeing with the mechanic. It wasn’t about the money, or the condescending tone the mechanic had used; he just knew that the second these particular problems were fixed, another one would pop up.

“It’s not that big of a deal,” He had explained, nodding his head as he breezed along the coastal route. It’s like the 70s follow him where he goes, thrumming through the speakers and apparent in the grainy Polaroid tucked into his sun visor, observable also in his vintage Ray-Bans. “I’ll drive you around for a couple more days, and we’ll find you something to drive.”

Her style isn’t so historic. Wind swept through her blow-dried hair, her lips glossed and her t-shirt bearing sight of a band older than herself. She picked at the soft, spring shade of varnish on her nails. Practically squirming in her seat as he laid out the plan, helpless to do anything but nod.

Of course, she was grateful for the notion of this guy being so willing to put himself at an inconvenience just so that she would be able to get around. Taking a handout from a practical stranger just isn’t something that comes so easily.

She was really only expecting the car issue to take a few days. So, two and a half weeks later, she’s a little disgruntled to be still waking up in Bradley’s spare bedroom.

Formerly his home gym, there’s still a weight rack in the corner, a closet full of clutter, rubber flooring mats and a big workout bench that’s now squashed against the far wall — but there’s a futon in there too that makes a halfway decent bed.

It’s better than being at Maverick’s.

She has learned by now that he gets up early and works out in the backyard, sometimes going for a run down by the bay, makes himself — and often her — breakfast, and then claims the bathroom for an hour.

It’s his bathroom, so she can’t exactly complain, but she has started to wonder exactly what it is that he gets up to in there for so long.

Her routine looks a little different to his. Her shifts at the Hard Deck are tiring, and she often finishes late. For any finishes after 2am, Penny has been nice enough to send her home in a cab. Anything earlier than that, Bradley’s waiting in the parking lot or over by the pool table with his friends.

This particular morning, she wakes up later than usual, and the shower is already running.

The distractions help. The late nights help. The person sleeping across the hall helps. But, Bradley can’t shake his bad dreams. The same sea-sick feeling that sweeps him every single morning, the suffocating feeling of waking up sticky with sweat and tangled between sheets. Avery hasn’t noticed yet that he has washed his sheets five times in two weeks, like that’ll help.

Cold numbs his toes and stings at his sore, tense shoulders. The pouring water spills over his skin, prickling like pins with each droplet. The bathroom light has been off the whole time; that helps with the headaches.

Sitting on the floor of his shower has become a tortuous part of his morning routine lately. Sitting until his fingertips wrinkle and his skin starts to lose its flush. Until the cold shocks his system into operating normally again, maybe.

He likes having her around. It makes it easier to pick himself up and get out of the shower, knowing that she’ll worry. He doesn’t doubt that she cares for him — she’s a sweet girl, and he knows that in other circumstances, they would have been great friends. He’d like to be friends now, but he understands her reservations.

The second that this is all over, she’ll run home and she’ll never want to think about Mav again.

Bradley isn’t so sure what’ll give him reason to get out of the shower once she’s gone.

He wishes that he knew what happened between them. He wishes Mav had talked about her more — though, Bradley had been thrown head first into his pre-teens back then, and probably wouldn’t have listened. He doesn’t know anything about why she calls her dad by his first name, or why he let her drive that piece of shit car, or why she stopped visiting all those years ago.

Thinking about Avery, and the things left to settle, is what drags him out of his morning fog. Keeping her going stops him from thinking of his memories of that day.

She has to be at work today at noon. She’s fitting in well over there, and the other staff are great with her. Bradley spends most of her shifts around the bar, either watching sports on the TV or talking to his friends. Occasionally, when it’s quiet, he’ll walk over to the bar and sit with her.

She talks the most then. Tells him about the elementary school she attended, and its big willow tree, and the neighbourhood pool where she broke her elbow, and the guitar lessons she took as a kid. He likes those chats.

Neither one of them talk about the fact that he still hasn’t been given the all clear to return to work himself. There’s a voicemail on his phone from two days ago that hasn’t been listened to yet, from a Commander that didn’t even jnow Bradley’s name one month ago, now saying that he cares and would like to discuss a referral to a service. A shrink.

Bradley has been before, after he first pushed a kid to the floor in the playground, a couple of weeks after his dad had passed. He remembers the drive to the office, and the worry on his mother’s placating smile. He remembers his legs dangling off of the worn-out, felted armchair. The lollipops and the pages of colouring. He figures the service he’d get now might look a little different.

This morning Avery lays in her bed; she watches raindrops spill along the window pane to her right. Pretty glum weather for California, but the West Coast has always looked pretty in shades of blue. Rain splatters the sidewalk at the front of the house, almost matching the steady pattering of the shower running on the other side of her wall.

When the shower cuts out, the noise stops on one side.

She turns her head and looks to the closed bedroom door, wondering what time he had gotten up today. She had gone to bed at around two, and he had stayed up a little later. Last night they had watched Jaws together, and Bradley had revealed that he once hyperventilated in a swimming lesson as a kid because Mav had let him watch that movie way too young.

Mav didn’t ever let her watch scary movies. Well, he didn’t exactly have any rules at his place — but he heavily discouraged those kinds of movies. She can’t name a single thing she remembers watching with him.

She pushes back the sheets as the bathroom door clicks open, padding across the wooden floor to meet Bradley in the hallway. He has a fluffy gray towel secured around his waist and the meat of his palms are busy rubbing hard at his eyes.

He is very comfortable with his own body, and exceedingly comfortable with parading that body around his house. But, it’s his place, and she’s a guest and so forth — not that she finds much to complain about with the subject.

“Morning.” She sounds chirpy today, and he lifts one palm away to peek at her as he heads for his room. Leaning against the door frame with her knees together and hands crossed in front of her, offering him a small smile.

His voice is gruff and a little dry, tired sounding. “Morning. Didn’t wake you, did I?”

“Not at all.” It almost sounds like she’s about to follow him, just to keep the conversation going. He doesn’t hear her move though. “Have you been up long?”

And now that the conversation is still going, he can’t exactly slam the door in her face. He pushes it behind him, and leaves it open a crack as he replies. “Yeah. A couple of hours. There’s breakfast in the kitchen if you’re hungry.”

Today, Bradley sounds beat. Usually he is chirpy enough in the mornings, excited to see her because that means his brain might finally stop reeling. It just all feels too foggy to smile today.

“I was thinking,” Avery hums, thinking on the spot now, really — he does so much to keep her functioning, and what might make a man like him smile on a gray day? “Maybe we could go do something today. Like head out to the beach.”

“In the rain?” He doesn’t mean to sound as blunt as he does, but he just can’t pick up his tone. He pulls on clean socks and buttons his jeans, wondering if there’s a frown on her face out in that hallway.

Instead, her lips are pursed in consideration. The Washington state native in her almost laughs at the idea that a little shower makes the outdoors off limits.

If she knew him better, she’d make a witty comment about him being a chicken for being afraid of a little water — but, she doesn’t know him that well at all.

“Right,” She mumbles, looking towards the ceiling. She doesn’t know this city very well at all yet, either. “Well, what do you usually do when it rains around here?”

He makes a soft scoffing sound from inside the room. She listens to him shuffling around in there as he dresses himself for the day.

Brown eyes flicker to the reflective surface hung above his dresser while his hands fasten at the button on his jeans. He rolls his shoulders almost instinctively, straightening out and eyeing his chest.

He makes an effort to clear his throat as he opens the drawer with his t-shirts.

“Hole up in the Hard Deck ‘til it passes.”

Her nose wrinkles at that. Now leaning her head back against the hallway wall, where a framed photo of Bradley and some friends from flight school sits just past her shoulder, she can’t think of much she has seen in San Diego beyond the dingy ocean bar.

“Lame.” The word passes her lips before she can really think about whether the joke will be well received, and the wince starts to creep across her features. She settles at the sound of him huffing out a sound of amusement from his bedroom.

And then, the door is tugged open and he appears. Leaning his forearm against the doorframe and raising his brows in something that isn’t either surprise or annoyance, something more pleased looking.

“Fine,” He gives a short nod, not giving much away. “Let’s do it — let’s head down to the beach. You got a coat?”

She wrinkles her nose like the idea is ridiculous. “I don’t need a coat, it’s just a little rain.”

And then, he’s standing there with his coat zipped all the way up, watching her watch the waves while wind whips at her hair and fat, heavy raindrops spill across the thin sweater she had chosen to wear.

He presses his tongue to the inside of his cheek, because she has already declined to take his coat twice by now, but this just doesn’t feel right.

His hands are pushed deep into his pockets, and the cap tucked under his hood keeps the rain off of his face.

“I guess you’re used to this all, anyway,” He thinks out loud, lips pursed as he turns his head to look at the waves for himself. She turns her head to look at him, waiting for the second part of his thought. “All the, uh — grey skies and rain, huh?”

Avery thinks of Washington, and her lips twitch. It doesn’t look like any of it would come naturally to him at all, with a wardrobe made up of almost all shorts and short sleeves, curls that have been dyed by the sun and sunglasses on even now.

No, he’s California through and through.

”Little rain never killed anybody.” She answers him, resuming their walk, trailing boot prints through the wet sand. It takes her a second to go on. “I was thinking of taking a trip back home this weekend. You think you could find me a ride before then?”

Bradley’s footprints come to a standstill, enervated waves lapping at his boots. He doesn’t think before he speaks. “Well, I could drive you.”

She smiles, halfway wondering where this guy’s nice gestures will stop and kind of wondering if he was just raised to be this polite. “I’m sure you have better things to do this weekend than make a sixteen hour drive up the coast.”

No, he doesn’t — and after a week of nothing but constant company, he likes the thought of being alone even less than the thought of a drive like that. But, he knows he can’t tell her that.

A month ago, he would have had plenty to do on a weekend. Friends, and sports, and live music and sunsets — he hasn’t felt much like leaving the house recently. A lot of his friends were developed through service, and all of them seem to know what happened, and none of them look at him quite the same.

That’s why he prefers to wait by his car when he picks Avery up.

“I could drive you to the airport.” He acts like he’s correcting her incorrect assumption, playing it cool by digging his hands deeper into his pockets and strolling forward until they’re side by side.

“I don’t like to fly.”

“You’re scared of flying?” He doesn’t mean it as a challenge, or to be condescending — but he finds a little humour in the idea.

“I didn’t say I was scared — it’s just a lot of work,” She shrugs it off. “Buying a ticket, packing a bag, going through TSA, having an assigned seat, blah, blah, blah.”

“Did Mav ever take you up in the Mustang?”

“No,” Her answer carries less humour than his question had, and she turns to peer at him over her shoulder with that same look in her eyes. It’s a wounded kind of look, tainted with maybe something like jealousy. “Did he take you?”

“No,” Bradley’s lie comes as easily as it had when he had told it to his mother — who was worried sick about her baby boy, the day that he had made his mind up on how his life was going to go. “Nah, me either.”

Bradley’s first time flying was with Maverick, shotgun in that plane. It was the day he had decided to become a pilot for real, beyond the childhood wish to be just like his daddy — that was the day he had made up his mind.

He still remembered the look on Maverick’s face when he had uttered those words on the drive back home. It’s that same kind of wounded, air-out-of-your-lungs look.

Avery figures that Bradley is lying to her. She guesses that she appreciates what he is trying to do, and knows that he is doing it to spare her feelings rather than preserve some sort of image of her father. There’s no changing his absence, his disinterest. Not anymore, anyway.

“I’d come with you, though,” Bradley veers the conversation back in the direction it had come from. “This weekend. If you wanted the company.”

She stops walking as the tide creeps towards her soles. Watching him head up the surf, piecing him together like a puzzle, wondering what about Maverick makes him feel the need to be so kind to her. “Well, I’d just be catching up with my mom and… friends and stuff…”

“Right,” Bradley’s throat goes dry at the thought of his place being empty for an entire three days. He’ll have to find something to occupy himself. “By Friday. I’ll find you something.”

Work rolls around as quickly as that afternoon’s thunderstorm.

They ate together, she got ready for work while he trawled through used car ads, and then they took the scenic route out to Coronado. It’s a short drive, but it’s easy to make longer when you have as many questions and as great of a knowledge of the city as Bradley does.

Avery’s still five minutes early, and there’s a big smile on her face as he pulls into the parking lot.

Heavy, booming rumbles call across the sky. Thick, dense droplets of rain splatter the windshield almost faster than the wipers can work. Billy Joel plays softly through the speakers.

Bradley’s almost wincing but there’s a hint of a smile on his lips as she swings the car door shut behind her, his coat finally accepted and hoisted over her head like a canopy as she makes the dash for the side door of The Hard Deck.

He hadn’t been joking earlier; folks here really do pile into that place on a dreary day like this one. It’s bustling, voices and music carrying across the parking lot when the door opens and closes behind her.

He sits back in his seat, one arm propped against the door of the car, tilting his head to catch a glimpse at the far right corner. As expected, he finds his friends there. Perched around the pool table, but not playing today. Out of uniform, but with regulated hair cuts and posture that gives them all away.

They aren’t his closest friends, besides Natasha - but there’s a closeness that comes with the job. Camaraderie or something like that; they’re people that Bradley would say he trusts. People he enjoys hanging out with, for the most part. People that would be at his wedding one day, probably.

And yet, he has been avoiding them every chance he has gotten for four weeks.

He knows that Natasha asks Avery about him when she can, and he knows that Natasha still respects him enough to not make it obvious that she’s scared for him. He’ll thank her for that at some point.

The others, though, he isn’t sure. They might ask him how he’s doing, and he wouldn’t like to take the chance. They’re just more names to add to the growing lists of texts ignored. Tongue pressed to the inside of his cheek, he doesn’t give a second thought to leaving.

Avery, in a similar way, likes to keep busy.

As much as she wishes Bradley would stop bending over backwards to make her life easier, she appreciates that it means she never has to do something alone. The Hard Deck is the kind of place where alone time does not, and will never exist. Even when it’s quiet there are regulars sitting on those worn leather stools with a story and a smile.

“Newbie, I’ve got a burst keg, a line that looks like LA traffic and a bachelorette party asking for twenty Lemon Drops - pick one.” Jimmy doesn’t even have to look up to start huffing orders, handing change back to a customer and grabbing a glass to start a new order all at once.

His voice is almost lost over the Hall & Oats classic blaring from the Jukebox, but it still carries every bit of the begrudging tone that he means it to.

He’s nice enough, and he seems to have been here for as long as the place has been open — longer than the time Penny has had it for, at least. Long enough, anyway, to have decided that he knows who’s name is worth learning and who’s is not. She hasn’t taken offence to it, figuring that she’ll be out of his wispy, gray hair before he knows it.

“I’ve got the keg.” She decides, killing him with kindness and a sweet smile. He huffs in acknowledgement, or amusement, and resigns to the grinning bachelorette on the other side of the bar.

It’s surprising really, how quickly a shift passes when there isn’t a moment to stop.

In fact, she barely notices that she’s done, until Jake Seresin takes a break from bothering her while she polishes glasses. He jerks his head towards the parking lot.

“Your Uber’s outside, by the way.” Jake has made sure that Avery knows who he is already. She’s unsurprised to find him leaning over the bar with a look on his face like he’s just waiting for the penny to drop.

To aid the process, he looks over his shoulder and hikes a thumb in the same direction.

Sure enough, standing outside with his chin tipped towards the shore, leaning back against the hood of his car — there’s Bradley. Watching the night sky, totally in a world of his own.

Jake gives her a minute to stare at him while he, in turn, stares back at her. He’s not exactly counting down the seconds, but he knows the look of a woman who is taking her sweet time eyeing someone up. Fingers drumming nimbly against the bar, a smile has already stretched across his lips by the time she remembers to look back to him.

There’s a suggestion in the way his brows raise. A look in the flash of his green eyes. An absolute smugness in the smile on his face. “So, big guy taking care of you alright?”

And, in a play that Jake himself couldn’t have even hoped for, she falls right for the bait.

It’s just the cocky way his eyes glint and the subtle suggestiveness to his tone, the way his eyebrow quirks just the smallest degree.

Flush crossing her cheeks and an immediate alarm flashing across her eyes, she straightens up and puts some space between them. “No, no - it’s not like that.”

Dimples press into the corners of his lips, a mischievous glint in his eyes as he cocks his head to a twenty degree angle. His voice is pure wouldn’t-know-better, country boy innocence as he quips, “Like what?”

Realisation hits with a beat. A grin crosses her face, her body slumping in relief as her eyes roll on instinct. He’s messing.

“Ha. Ha.” She scoffs, leaning forward again to prop her hands against the bar. Just as quickly as that shock and embarrassment had crossed her face, it becomes “Don’t you have anyone worrying about you? — This late on a Friday night and it’s just you and your best buddy.”

Jake huffs out a soft laugh, checking back over his other shoulder at Coyote, tossing a round of darts by himself in Jake’s absence.

“Honey, I’m a free agent.” Jake smiles, and she gets it. She has heard the girls at the bar whispering about him every time he’s here, and she has always found him a little… underwhelming. But, the drawl in his voice when he calls her honey finally makes it click — she gets it, he’s hot.

But, it doesn’t quite work.

Her eyes flicker downward, lingering on the glossed bar top. As her mouth stretches into a smile on her own, Jake follows her gaze downward until he finds what’s got her looking so smug. His phone resting there against the surface, released absentmindedly from his palm while he had been busy getting under her skin.

She looks between him, and the bell that hangs behind her.

Now, the rule’s pretty clear about what happens to those who dare to drop their phones on the bar.

She smiles, suddenly sweet as pie, and reaches under the bar to grab her little shoulder bag. Settling it against her body, she reaches across and pats him on the swell of his shoulder.

“I’ll keep this one between us,” She hums, taking a quick glance outside at where Bradley is waiting for her, and then looking back to Jake with mischief in her eyes. “Honey.”

She leaves him with the taunt, grinning to herself about it, and just starting to think that maybe she might be able to like this place.

Brisk air catches at her hair, nipping at the thin sleeves covering her arms.

Bradley is perched against the hood of his car, his arms folded over his chest and his eyes on the ground. He hears her coming from the moment the door to the Hard Deck opens, but he doesn’t look up until she is just a couple of feet away.

He has been crying.

Instinctively, he lifts his palm and scrubs it across his face, like that will do anything to solve his red, blotchy cheeks, or still glossy eyes. He swallows thickly and clears his throat, his brows drawing together.

”Hey…” Avery slows to almost a stop, confusion settling across her face, hanging back like keeping her distance from him will protect her from what’s coming.

”Come on, we should go.” He says, his voice gruff.

Now, she does stop moving, and shakes her head.

”Tell me what happened.” She’s still soft with him, which makes it worse. It sparks an anger in him that isn’t her fault, and wasn’t her father’s — the fault is his. It’s always been his.

His breathing hitches and his fists ball at his sides. He hasn’t cried in front of anyone but Natasha in years, and now isn’t the time to start. With everything he has taken from you already, he won’t take the opportunity to grieve just because he can’t be strong.

”They left you a voicemail. You should listen to it.” His whisper is almost swept away by the coastal breeze, but she hears him just about.

Neither one of them says a word as they settle into the vehicle, seatbelts unbuckled and engine off. Avery rests her phone against her knee and lets the message play out loud, the voice of Admiral Simpson ringing out loud and clear.

As of eleven-fifty that evening, the search had been called off. The decision had been made, the paperwork was being drawn up. Maverick was gone, and there wasn’t a person in the world who could do anything about it.

…

#bradley bradshaw #bradley rooster bradshaw #miles teller #jake seresin #bradley bradshaw smut #jake hangman seresin #ashes ashes #bradley bradshaw fanfiction #Bradley Bradshaw x reader #Bradley Bradshaw x oc

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cindylou-who7 · 9 hours ago

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WE NEED TO TALK, SAMS DISCORD.

Some as many of you know in the fandom of SAMS and all other shows, there is a discord where you can join and connect with others of the fandom, join contests, etc etc etc.

The discord is mostly knon to host events for artists where some get picked and get featured in videos in the show they were based off.

However, I'd like to bring to bring to light a very serious matter. The discord and the mods running it.

Now, some of the mods aren't bad people. They're doing their jobs and are nice and welcoming. Others, not so much. In the discord, there are various rules you must follow for events and being in the discord itself. Like no fighting, be respectful, etc.

However, the rules for art seems to be....out of control.

I say this because some of the rules don't really make sense. For example (and this happened to me), when I first joined and shared my first ever fanart for Moonie and Sunny for the Femme Show, my art was deleted because "it had too many watermarks" and counted as "self promotion", which was against the rules. So I erased the watermarks and resubmitted. All good. My mistake honestly at that time. But then I saw that others were able to submit their submissions with their watermarks for YT and other platforms. So why was mine deleted then?

But I got over it. But then, Femme had announced a fashion show art event, one I was extremely excited for and wanted to join. So, I spent a full day (maybe day and a half) researching, creating and making a drawing of the sisters for my submitted it once I deemed it had no errors and was to my liking. So far, perfect. It was accepted without any problems. Until I woke up the next day and saw a message from the Helpi bot. My submission had been deleted.

One of the mods tagged me and a few other artists, saying our submissions had been deleted because A NEW RULE had been added last minute regarding Clipsy's design and we had to redo our submissions. These are the screenshots I took, along with the last minute change:

The mod and the person in charge of the events never specified WHY Clipsy's design (at that time) was no longer allowed to be used in the events and we were now being told HOURS later of our submissions that we had to redo them. Like, excuse me?? Redo HOURS of work?! "Needs to be more unique?" You know how offensive and dismissive that is? (And it bothers me because I once saw the person in charge of the events complain that people didn't "take their time" with their submissions during another event, where users could submit art as posters for the new Sun and Moon dimension, because we were given two weeks. And I get it. It's a lot of time. Yet one of the mods who is an artist as well, submitted theirs a day or so later after that no problem).

For reference, this was my submission:

And this was Clipsy's OF design at the time:

Again, NO explanation WHY her model was suddenly no longer allowed to be used and we were given absolutely NO warning that our submissions would be deleted. Again, last minute rule they added in. (Some people in the fandom have stated the reason Clipsy's design was changed was because the OG person who made this design was problematic. But I've never seen anyone confirm that). But if that was true, why not just say "due to personal issues, Clipsy's design is no longer canon. Plz recreate her in your vision". It sounds MUCH BETTER.

Not only that, but tracing and stealing art is 100% against the rules. Yet people are constantly getting away with it and most of the mods aren't being as serious about it as art submissions. Someone in one of the Sun and Moon animation reaction videos was able to steal another artist's video and submitted as their own, which Davis and Reed reacted to and gave them credit by accident. Where's the protection there??

Not only that, but no other artists well known in the fandom are being copied off of and now are being accused as thieves, while the thieves themselves are receiving all the credit.

Artists TsukinsBun is the latest victim and it's horrible. And they're already going through a lot and it's not fair. (Plz support them. Give them some love).

So, I just came to say that the discord is ridiculous and THIS is why I became 1000% disappointed and discouraged to ever join another event or anything in the discord. Because artists are not being respected or helped and people in this fandom do toxic. And it is not fair. And I'm not blaming EVERY WORKER OR THE VAS in the discord, but some of these mods aren't really helping either when they're being dismissive of this stuff.

I once called out the deletion of my spoast submissions (jokingly) and the person in charge of the events said I didn't need to have that kind of attitude. I apologized, but also explained that it was rather unfair and kinda exhausting having your work deleted without warnings. (And it's not even about joining the event, I just wanna share art man). I never got a response back.

But, that's all for me today. Fellas. Just focus on your work, your passions. Don't try and join events for validation or whatever. The right audience will find you and you are all beautiful people. Peace ✌️

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gabyiisart · 1 day ago

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Deltarune; SOUL promise Theory

To start, we need to assume that, obviously, Dess IS the Knight. We see that the speech bubble of whoever is speaking on the phone is blatantly different. At the end of chapter 4 (weird route) someone talks to Kris on the phone, the way it expresses itself is clearly Carol, in a manner that's very different from what is spoken previously in the other dialogues on the phone in the normal route. The way the black bubble individual is more direct and fragmented; in my view, someone who was missing and without social interactions (Or corrupted) would have it, I am saying that the person speaking on the phone is Dess/Knight.

There's many theories to explain Dess's disappearance, that claim Kris is part of this, even being guilty. In chapter 3 we may have a clue to add even more to this statement. If this is true, then Kris definitely feels guilty about it. Debating this is not the point of this theory in question, just keep in mind that Kris is part of her disappearance yet they WANT to somehow help Dess.

At some point in the story, Kris could have found a way to connect with Dess. And I believe that the PHONE could be their main source of communication. In that regard, Kris KNOWS the knight IS Dess, and is actively working with her since then. We know that Kris has been behaving in specific ways since Chapter 1, as if they were following a plan, a linear path to something. As if they were being ordered to do so. However, I mean the line would work like this: Dess's disappearance > Kris and family falling apart + what was once is no more > Feelings of guilt > Dess/knight starts communicating via phone > Kris promises they'll help her > The promise of the soul.

We don't know exactly Dess' motivations, what she's doing, why she's doing what she does... God, we don't even know if she's ALIVE there. I at least imagine her being corrupted, and most likely dead inside. If she knows something about the prophecy and wants to go through with it, I speculate that she wanted a vessel to become the role of CAGE in the prophecy. Or she's just really upset about being alone in the dark for so long, and Kris promised her they would help... SOME of these options here.

This promise consists of Kris possessing the human soul, to follow the prophecy. Am I implying that Kris knows the prophecy? Maybe, but just maybe they just chose to accept it without knowing the means? Or perhaps, Dess just needed them to possess the human soul for some other reason greater than the prophecy itself.

Throughout chapter 4 we see that Kris is clearly able to survive without the soul in their body, taking it out a few times n' managing to go for long periods without it. Isn't Kris who seals the fountains, it is US, the soul. They DON'T need us to survive, but they NEED us to seal fountains: for the PROMISE. For Dess.

This explains to me why Kris keeps the soul in their body, even knowing that it make bad choices for them. Even knowing the choices it made for Noelle in the weird route, even knowing THE CONSEQUENCES that this brings to their life. They take the soul away for while and put it back as a relief, but want to keep it throughout the day for the PROMISE.

Okay!! So thats the first time I work on a theory like this, I kept looking for evidences and arguments, speculations to explain it- ... My posts are 90% focused on art only, but I also want to give space to theories and cool things I think.

Since it is my first one, it probably has holes and things you might not interpret the same way I do, and that's okay! I feel like I mostly forgot to fit Carol in here, but that's for the main point of the theory, which is to explain the "promise" and the soul and how they might be related.

Anyway, I really appreciate you reading this far, feel free to ask questions, discuss, debate... that's it <3

#deltarune #kris dreemurr #December Holiday #Carol Holiday #Dess #Knight #the roaring knight #Theory #Speculation #The Soul #deltarune theory

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wolfertinger · 3 days ago

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such a nitpick, but its kinda crazy to take a transman character whos probably the most direct, raw and just... extremely upfront and aggressive about just how mentally distressing and damaging gender and body dysphoria is, just absolutely in your face about this being something almost life-ruining for someone; and make it about how you should just learn to love your body and that you don't need gender affirming surgery. Like togata is yelling at the screen about how bad he feels cursed because hes trapped in a body he hates and wishes he could change and the take away is "just learn to like it" like hell theres trans characters out there that do have a "i love my body, i dont want to change it, i'm happy like this but Im still trans!" mindset, this blog has mentioned Ladiva from granblue and thats a very major aspect of her presentation and character as a bearded, musclular trans girl and we're going 'learn to love how you were born <3' to a guy whos literally screaming about how horrible trying to just live as a woman feels. Like I get it, surgery isn't viable for everyone, and sometimes you just gotta make do... but this is clearly someone extremely distressed by being denied that

^^^

tbh. ladiva and togata, are basically 2 sides of the non op coin. the irl experience is varied from person to person. but you have ladiva, in a magical setting, where transition is as easy as a spell, choosing to keep her body as it is, and everyone is respectful of such. she is not mocked, belittled, or treated any differently for her non op choice.

togata is forced, to keep his body as it is. he expresses psychological distress and debilitating depression, often associated with irl dysphoria. due to the magical setting of his world, he will never be able to physically transition, and thus keeps himself closeted, constantly self-loathing, he is unable to be his true self due to his own circumstance.

i would say, despite the vastly different depictions. both of these are good rep, especially for mainstream media, of non-op trans people. but ironically, ladiva's presentation and setting is far more fitting of salem's identity and expression, vs togata, who feels "trapped" by his femininity.

#note. i am not a fan of either granblue or fire punch. but i do enjoy these characters separately. so take this with a grain of salt.

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b3ach-bunn7 · 8 hours ago

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SUPER SHY pt 3

You’re in desperate need of a bassist, and the only person available in the rumoured arsonist at your school.

Highschool!au, no quirks, bassist touya

—————————————————————————-

You have about four hours until you need to be in front of of stage, singing to a crowd of teenagers your own age. And even worse, younger than you.

You’re alone, right now, hidden away in a park to try and gather your thoughts. You need a little time to de-stress. Contrary to everyone else in the band, you do still suffer from a tad bit of stage fright. Not only that, but you feel a little more pressure to do well. The gig is one you know is important, but more importantly, Touya is going to be standing beside you, hearing every note you belt, which is enough to make the uneasy feeling you’re used to become way more intense.

Your feelings for Touya have not gone away. You thought that maybe it was all the time you spent hanging together in your room, all that close proximity and his fingers flying across his bass that was making you feel the way you do about him.

But, even when you aren’t practicing together, they’re still there.

When he waves at you in school, sends you stupid Instagram reels at three in the morning, argues with his siblings when they burst into his room. It fills your heart with this feeling that you’ve never felt for a guy before, one that makes your skin heat and your pulse thready.

You try to ignore it. Nana is certain he likes you back, but you’re too scared to think about it too much. You don’t mean to pry, but Touya seems cagey when it comes to relationships and feelings. You really don’t think you can live down the mortification of confessing your feelings and being rejected. You’d rather let these feelings consume you than risk losing what the two of you have.

So, that, and the show you have in about five hours, is weighing pretty heavily on you.

The park you’re in is nice. Honestly, to call it a park is probably a stretch. There’s four swings and a slide, and a hopscotch outline faded from use on the floor. The grass you’re sitting on tickles your ankles, and you’d wish you’d worn something thinner, the sun beating down on your back.

Your phone buzzes in your pocket, and you pull it out. And speak of the devil.

May 28th, 2:37 pm

Touya: Whyxthe hell are you in a park

You: ???

You: my stalker 🩷

Touya: U r the one who added me on ur snap map

You: yes cause I WANT y to stalk me

Touya: So obsessed

Touya: Why r u in a park

You: to destress

Touya: Why r u stressed

You: Oh I wonder

He leaves you on read. You frown a little, but before you can get annoyed at him, your phone buzzes once more with a phone call. You press the phone to your ear, a smile already gracing your lips.

“Hey.” You speak, and his voice replies staticy.

“Why are you moping in that park?”

You frown. “I’m not moping.”

“You are. You should be getting all dolled up for tonight.”

You snort. You hand tugs up tufts of grass and throw them in the air. “I don’t need four hours to get ready.”

“Agreed. You’re gorgeous enough.” He drawls and you roll your eyes, grateful he can’t see the red flush on your cheeks.

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Do you need a ride home?” He suddenly says.

“Touya-“

“I’m not far. I can pick you up. We can get food, or something.”

The offer is actually not a bad one. You are kind of hungry, and you’re not one to say no to spending time with him.

“Alright, fine. I’m at-“

“I’m outside.” He cuts you off.

“What?”

You scramble to your feet, squinting in the direction of the car park. And sure enough, Touya’s car is there. He always insists you drive, so the fact he’s just parked up in front of you like it’s nothing is enough to make a laugh slip past your lips.

“You actually are a stalker!” You start making your way towards him.

“I’m not a stalker.” You hear the click of his engine turning on. “I told you I was in the area.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

You hang up as you reach his car, pulling the door open. He grins the second he sees you, one hand resting on the car door and the other holding a lollipop stick. You found out recently that Touya’s obsession with candy is apparently a way to try and curb his smoking addiction. You don’t think it’s working very well, considering his car always smells faintly of cigarettes.

“Hey.” You hop into the seat.

Touya nods in greeting. “You hungry? I’m hungry.”

“I’m always hungry. Especially when you’re paying.” You beam.

Touya scoffs. He grabs the back of your car seat so he can pull out the parking space he’s in. You try to act like it's not as attractive as it is.

“Who said I’m paying?”

As much as Touya doesn’t like driving, he always looks effortless behind the wheel, his open window letting in a cool draft that ruffles his hair. You tug out the wire from where it’s caught under your chair to plug your phone in, connecting to the aux. You tap through your Spotify aimlessly.

“I say. I’m nervous and spending money is going to make me feel even worse.” You sigh dramatically.

Touya’s brows furrow. “Why are you nervous?”

“I don’t know. I always get like this before a show.” You mumble.

The playlist you land on is one you’d made together. A blend that told you your music taste had an eighty percent match.

“It’s fine. You’re good, the band’s good. You ain’t got anything to worry about, doll.”

“I guess.”

You can feel him glance at you where you’re staring out the window a little aimlessly.

“Come on, you gotta be on your game,” Touya teases. “Who else is going to stop me from beating up Ren?”

You know he’s joking. Him and Ren have reached some sort of an understanding after your first rehearsal. You’re not sure if it's respect for each other or respect for you, but their petty comments and weird masculine arguing had stopped. They didn’t talk much, but if they did, it was civil enough. You recognise his comment for what it is, though. A cute way to try cheer you up.

“You’re right, you’re right.” You sigh heavily. “I think a nice meal paid for by my dear friend will make me feel better.”

Touya knows where to go. Your favourite food currently is the ramen spot near his place. He’d shown you it, actually, and you’d fallen in love ever since. It’s quiet and pretty secluded most of the time, just like it is when you both walk in today.

The lighting is always dim, paper lamps illuminating the shop with a soft red glow. It’s cluttered in a good way, the walls filled with paintings and pictures of Masako, the owner, and her family all hung over the place. You and Touya fit easily into your favourite booth, and you don’t need the menu to know what you’re going to order.

“God, I’m so hungry. And it smells so good in here.” Touya groans.

And it did. Like spices and warmth, and your mouth starts watering already. His knees knock against yours under the small table, his fingers drumming against it.

“Want me to order for us?”

“Yes, please.” You nod.

Touya tilts his head, cooing a little. “God, how could I say no to that beautiful face?”

“Shut up and go.” You snap, pushing his laughing figure away.

You prop your face on your hand so you can cover the smile that’s creeping on your face. You watch him shamelessly seeing as his back is turned to you as he orders. His hips lean on the counter as he pulls his sleeve up to his forearms, rattling off your orders.

It’s sort of weird to think about the fact that Touya wasn't even in your life two months ago. That he was just another faceless student in the hundreds of people at your school. And now, you can’t imagine your life without him. Touya turns, and your eyes lock. He catches you staring, and waves.

“You look love-sick, darling.”

Your grin widens, despite the embarrassment the words make you feel.

Masako insists she greets all her customers, but it was obvious the first time you saw her that she had a soft spot for Touya. Him and his family had been coming here since he was tiny, and despite his annoyance at her doting and the fact he always calls her an ‘old hag’, you know he loves her more than he can put into words.

She’d taken a liking to you almost instantly, insisting that you come back as soon as you’d sat down on the rickety chairs. She was funny and sharp, spoke every thought that came to her head, and you love her.

You don’t love the way she’s looking at you, though.

“Masako, I-“ She doesn’t even let you defend yourself.

“Come now, Y/N, I’m not stupid. I’ve been alive a long time, I know what that look means.” She pats your shoulder gently.

“That look means I’m hungry.”

“It’s bad to lie to your elders, you know.” She scolds you lightly.

“Leave her alone, you old hag.”

You’ve given up trying to tell Touya off for what he calls her. Masako doesn’t seem to mind, because she only smile brightly when Touya takes his seat in front of you.

“Touya! I hope you ordered enough, you’re getting so skinny.” She frowns, faffing about him.

He shrugs her off. “I’m fine.”

“Fine my ass. And it’s too hot for all the jumpers.” Masako pinches at the material of his hoodie. “I won’t have you dying of heatstroke in my shop.”

“I’ll be fine.”

Touya’s not doing very well in hiding how much he likes being doted on. He handles about five more minutes of her doing so before he starts to get antsy.

Masako takes the very obvious hint. “Alright, alright. I’ll leave you lovebirds alone.”

Touya’s eyes dart to your face, and you stifle a laugh at the pretty shade of pink his cheeks turn. “Just- Just go!” He hisses.

Masako cackles, waving goodbye, and finally leaves you two alone.

“She’s so cute.” You smile.

Touya scoffs. “She’s always doing too much.”

You poke his arm. “Be nice.”

“I am nice. Nice enough.”

Touya fiddles with the drawstring of his hoodie. You watch as he wraps his fingers around and around, then lets it fall.

You sit up suddenly. “Oh, yeah. By the way, I don’t need a ride to the show anymore.”

“You don’t?”

You nod. “Nana wants to get ready together so we’re going to head there together.”

Touya is pouting. You laugh at the look on his face. “Are you moping?”

“Yes! You’re ditching me!” He’s almost shouting.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t think you’d mind that much.” It’s hard to apologise through your giggling, and even Touya can’t keep up his frown.

You reach forward and grab his hands. “Please, please forgive me.” You fill your voice with as much dramatic emotion as you can.

Touya’s glances at your hands in his and then back to you. He sighs, just as dramatic as you.

“I suppose it’s okay. As long as you and Nana look real sexy when you come back.”

You snort. “You freak.”

The food arrives shortly after, and the table falls into silence as you two start eating. The restaurant isn’t that full but there’s still the quiet hum of chatter, and your body feels warm as the food sits in your stomach.

Touya takes you home after that. He makes sure to sigh heavily anytime you mention Nana, and the ‘fact he’s coming alone’, and you’ve taken to just ignoring him. The ride home is fast, and Touya parks roughly in your driveway. Just before you can walk out, though, he grabs your wrist. You look back, confused, and he’s looking at you intently.

“You feeling better?” He asks.

You heart clenches again, much like it always does whenever Touya does sweet things like this.

“Yeah. Thanks for getting me food.”

And you both just stay still for a moment. You, with the car door in your hand, some takeout for you mom in the other, and him behind the wheel. And you both just look at each other, the air filling with a tension you try to ignore whenever you’re too close to him.

But the moment is broken as he nods. “No problem, doll. You’re paying next time.”

Your answer to that statement is a wave and his car door clicking shut, hoping the little flicker of disappointment is not visible on your face.

——-

“Y/N, does this shirt make my boobs look good?”

You turn around from where you’re sitting at your makeup desk. “They always look good. But yes.”

“Perfect.”

Nana always looks incredible at these shows. You and her always get to match in some way, whether it be the colours or the aesthetic of the outfits you have on. Tonight, she’s wearing a stripped top, cut at her shoulders, and low enough for the top of her lacy black bra to peek out. She's wearing frayed jeans that hug her legs in all the right places, and she looks amazing. She’d also picked out your outfit. A red top, cut just below your stomach, a tangle of lace and flowery patterns tight against your skin. You’re also wearing a long maxi skirt, the same colour as Nana’s jeans, with stars sewn into the material.

This is one of your favourite parts before a show. You and Nana, music playing softly form your CD player. She does your eyeliner because you can never get the wing right, and you do her eyeshadow because she thinks your eye for picking the colours is better than her own. It’s fun. It feels girly and soft and the kind of teenager stuff you’d always dreamed about doing when you were a kid.

“So,” Nana fiddles with the clasp of her necklace. “You finally gonna kiss Touya tonight?”

“Nana!”

She holds up her hands. “Sorry! Someone had to ask. We’re all tired of you two eye-fucking during rehersals.”

“I- We are not eye-fucking.” You splutter. “We’re friends.”

“Friends, lovers. What’s the difference?” Nana starts packing up her purse.

You pause where you’re adding the last touches to your makeup. The fact that it was this obvious to everyone else makes a little glimmer of hope flare in your chest.

“Is it that obvious?” You ask.

“Uhm, duh.”

You groan a little. “He’s just- I don’t know. I think I’m obvious. Towards him, I mean.”

Nana hums. “I think he’s just a shy guy.”

“You do?”

She nods. She sits down on your bed. “I mean, I don’t ever remember him having a girlfriend or anything during school. But that being said I never kept tabs on him.”

She doesn’t need to worry about that. You have done ample searching, scouring his social media and tagged posts on Instagram, and found nothing more than his arm around a few girl friends. At least girls you think are friends. And really hope are friends. But nothing that looked anything more than friendly.

“Regardless, I think he likes you back. And if he doesnt, then there is plenty of attractive people that’ll be there tonight for you to sink your teeth into.” She wiggles her eyebrows at you.

Shes right. Touya Todoroki is not the only man out there. No matter how much it feels like it’s the complete opposite.

“So emotive with your language, Nana.” You drawl.

“I try.”

——

The first thing you notice, much like everytime you walk into a venue, is how loud it is.

Loud, and hot, the room flowing with people your age and older, all set with the colourful lights and someone’s Spotify playlist playing in the background. You love it, though. It all just makes your skin crawl with excitement, the promise of the stage and performance that much closer.

You and Nana make your way to the front, hands intertwined as you manoeuvre through the people. It’s only half six, and so it’s still nowhere as busy as it will be, but that doesn’t stop people from crowding in every corner possible. Despite the fact it’s all local bands playing tonight, tickets have sold well, and you’re excited to perform for all of them.

“Hey, who’s that girl waving at us?” Nana nudges your shoulder and you follow her line of sight.

It’s Toga. And she’s not just waving, but jumping up and down in excitement, her grin almost big enough to split her face in half. Besides her is Shigaraki, Twice, and Spinner.

“Oh, those are Touya’s friends!” You exclaim.

Nana hooks her arm around yours. “Who’s that one with the long hair? He’s cute.”

“That’s Shigaraki. Ren will kill you if you even look at him.” You sing, but you words fall on deaf ears, her eyes trained on him.

“Well, I’m looking right now.”

You walk over, and immediately tackle Toga in a hug.

“Oh, you look so cute! And your friend does as well!” She beams, waving at Nana over you shoulder.

“You look great, too! Thanks for coming guys.”

You had only hung out with Touya’s friends very few times, but you liked them. They were funny, and always up to stuff you were probably better off not getting involved in, but still. They were good people. To you, at.

Nana pinches your side, and you wince. “Oh, yes. This is Nana, guys. She’s in the band as well.”

She waves at them all, but her gaze is zeroed in on Shigaraki. Who, you think, is definitely not used to all the attention, because his pale skin darken enough for you to notice it in the dim room.

“Hey. You here to watch me perform?” She jokes, and his Adam Apple bobs as he swallows.

“Here for Touya. And- I guess. You, too.”

Twice shakes spinners shoulder excitedly. “Shiggy’s getting laid tonight.” He whispers very loudly, and Shigaraki punches his shoulder.

“So, you guys excited for the show?” You tease, and they all nod.

“Very. I didn’t even know Touya played bass.” Spinner says, and you laugh.

“I scouted him out. He’s really good.”

Twice chuckles. “He better be. These tickets weren’t cheap.”

Toga rolls her eyes. “They were five dollars, you cheapskate.”

“Five dollars is a lot!”

“Hey, Toga,” you ask, “Have you seen Touya?”

Toga taps her chin. “I think he said he wanted a drink. So he’s probably at the bar!”

“Thank you, angel. Will you be okay on your own, Nana?”

“Yeah, of course!” She’s already sliding closer to her latest victim.

God bless Shigaraki.

You wave your goodbyes, promising you’ll see them all later, and head over to the bar. Your eyes search the crowd for that mop of white hair you’ve become so accustomed with. Instead, you find a blond one.

“Oh my god, Keigo!” You squeal, giving him no warning before you tackle him in a hug from behind.

Your relationship with Keigo is one that had happened completely by chance. You’d been paired together for a stupid project, and found out that you two got along really well. You lived in two completely different social circles, and so you didn’t hang out much during school, but you always tried to make sure you met up every few weeks outside of it.

You have no idea why he’s here, though. This sort of music is not really his thing.

“The fuck?” You relish in the confusion on his voice.

He turns around, and he gasps at the sight of you, finally hugging you back.

“Aw, hey, babe! I was looking for you.”

Keigo always smells like cologne way too expensive for an eighteen year old.

“What are you doing here?” You ask, hands on his shoulders as you both pull back.

“I came to see you.”

Your eyes narrow suspiciously. “Lie. I’ve asked you a million times and you always call these gigs too emo.”

Keigo laughs loudly. “That’s because they are. But tonight is a special circumstance.”

“It is?”

He nods, blonde curls bouncing around his head. “I’m here to see my favourite lady, and also-“

“Touya!” You cry.

Touya looks confused, his eyes darting between the two of you, flitting to your arms around Keigo. But you’re not focusing on that, because Touya looks too food for you to focus on anyone else.

He’s wearing a t-shirt, this one with a skull pattern on the front, and a plaid button up with the sleeves rolled up. His hair is styled, sticking up in perfect coils, and his arms are adorned with bracelets. You have to physically will yourself to look back up to his face, and you let go of Keigo to throw your arms around him.

“Hey! You look good.” You almost yell in his ear, and he lifts his arm to keep the drinks from spilling.

“Thanks. You look good, too.” He smiles but his voice sounds a little off. He nods at Keigo, who’s watching this all with a smirk on his face.

“You know birdbrain over there?”

Keigo rolls his eyes, grabbing his drink from Touya. “Yes, she knows me. Jealous?”

“Fuck off.” Touya grunts.

“We’re friends. Met in English class.” You explain.

Keigo wraps his arms around your shoulder, teeth glistening as he grins widely. “Isn’t that cute?”

You brows furrow, a little confused at his sudden touchiness. You shrug him off. “Get off me, weirdo.”

He pouts. “Fine, fine. Shouldn’t you two be rehearsing, or something?”

You nod. “Yeah, I was just looking for Touya. We need to head backstage. Last minute preparations, and all that.”

Touya’s face softens as it meets yours, and he nods. “Okay.”

He points at Keigo. “You can hang out with crusty and the others.”

“Yes, sir.”

You hook your arm through Touya’s, waving goodbye to Keigo. Your fingers tap against his bracelets. “I like these.”

“Stole them off Natsou.”

“Aw!” You coo. “I wish they could’ve come out tonight.”

Touya snorts, taking a sip of his drink. “As if. He’d get way too excited if he was here.”

“Fine, fine. I’ll make Keigo take some videos for us and you can send it to them.” You muse.

Touya shifts a little. You feel the muscles in his arm flex. “You and Keigo close?”

You hum under your breath. “Yeah. He’s a good friend.”

Touya only nods. There’s a look on his face you can’t quite decipher, like he’s decided on something he’s been thinking about for a long time. You want to ask what it is, but you don’t think you have the stomach for any serious conversations right now.

The crowd gets thinner the closer you get to the back of the room. You enter the door meant for the performers, and lead Touya to the dressing room. Well, it’s not a dressing room. It’s a shitty little storage room with a couch, a vanity and horrible lighting. But it feels like a dressing room, and only works to make your excitement soar.

Ren and Aizawa are playing a game of snap on the floor, cross-legged, with half empty beer bottles beside them. Ren is losing horrible, evident by Aizawa’s growing deck and Ren’s growing scowl. They glance up as you swing the door open.

“Hey, guys.”

“Hi. You look nice.” Aizawa nods and you thank him.

Ren is still scowling, but he lightens up at little at the sight of you two. “Hey. I’m getting fucked right now.”

Your nose scrunches. “Ew. Language.”

“Sorry, mom.”

You dump your purse on one of the side tables. Touya nudges his cup at you.

“You want some?”

You eye it suspiciously. “Are you drinking?”

“No.”

A beat. “Okay, yes, but-“

“Touya! We could get in trouble.” You hiss.

“I have a fake ID, it’s fine.” He shrugs you off, but his words only stress you out more

“There’s nothing fine about a fake ID!” You exclaim.

“Chill, woman. You know it’s legal to drink when you’re eighteen in the UK?”

“We are not in the UK!”

Your mini argument is interrupted by Nana walking in, a hand on her heart. She points at Touya.

“Touya, you have some very fine friends.”

Touya tilts his head a little. “You must be confused with someone else.”

She shakes her head, reaching in her purse for her lipgloss. “I am not confused, I’m in love.”

You wonder how long this obsession will last. Nana isn’t one to keep a guy in her life for longer than a few days, always insistent that her teenage years are for experimenting, and nothing long term.

“Sure, sure.” You nod.

You pull out your phone, checking your makeup. Everything looks fine, except for the fact the eyeliner on your waterline has faded. You grab it from your purse, having already known that this would happen. It's not very good quality but it’s a cheap one you’d stolen off of Nana, so you can’t really complain.

Your tongue sticks out of your mouth as you pull your eyelid down, careful not to smudge anything as you carefully paint it on your eyes. You can feel someone staring at you, and when you finish one side you notice that it’s Touya.

“Hi.” You say.

“Hey.”

You bite back a smile. “Can I help you?”

Touya hums, watching you carefully. “Can you do me some?”

“Yeah. Sure.” You mumble.

Ren and Aizawa are still playing on the floor, now arguing because apparently Aizawa is cheating. Nana is reading over the notes for the show one last time, and you are trying to not freak out at being this close to Touya’s face.

He’s too tall, and so he’s sitting down while you stand between his legs. One hand ghosts over his cheek, the other gripping the pencil tightly to steady yourself. Touya looks even prettier this close. Long lashes and the faintest ghosting of freckles across the bridge of his nose. You can make out the exact shade of his eyes, the mosaic of blues so vivid they look fake.

Touya has the same eye colour as his dad, he’d told you once, his voice sharp as he explained how much he hated them. They were a reminder, he said, of his father and all the awful things he’d done. You told him they only ever reminded you of him, and he’d looked at you with so much emotion on his face you nearly looked away.

“Don’t move too much.” You hope your tone sounds light and he can’t hear how nervous you are to be so close to him.

His breath tickles your wrist. “Don’t poke my eyes out.”

You giggle. “Stop talking.”

“Stop laughing.”

“Stop being funny.” You retort.

He tuts. “Stop talking or you’re gonna poke my eye out.”

You huff, but you’re not irritated in the slightest. The black eyeliner highlights his already vibrant eyes, the slant of his gaze. He looks good. And he does kind of look like an emo. You tell him as much and his eyebrows furrow.

“Shut up.” His voice is softer than usual.

Your hands are hovering awkwardly over his face. You bit at your lip, contemplating how awkward it would be if you just grabbed him.

“What are you doing?”

You blink. “What?”

His lips curl up. “You look so confused.”

Your hands twitch a little. “Can- Can I like…” you make a motion with your hands you hope he can decipher.

“You can touch me anywhere you want.”

Your lips part to speak, but no words come out. And he has this stupid smirk on his face, fingers toying with the loose thread on your skirt.

“You- Just, stop moving.” You mumble, ignoring the burning in your face.

He does, thank god, because his hand has moved to hold your waist just slightly, and you’re not sure if you could take anymore flirty comments with the added contact.

You step back to admire your work, tapping the pencil against your lip.

“Perfect. You really do look emo.” You sigh.

“Fuck off.”

Ren slams the cards down on the floor. “Okay! Now that those two lovebirds are finished fondling, we need to get on stage.” He says.

You shoot him a look, but quickly start making your way out.

This is when the nerves come back. They coil in your stomach, as the five of you walk down a corridor in the back to reach the stage. You're in the back of the line, wringing your hands in front of you.

“Calm down.” Touya whispers to you. He’s standing beside you as you all walk down.

You shoot him a look. “I’m trying.”

“Try harder.” He jokes, but it lands on deaf ears.

Touya reaches up and unclasps your hands from one another. He hooks his pinkie in yours, lets them swing between you.

“Calm.” He says.

You sigh. “Yeah, yeah.”

The crowd has gotten larger since you and Touya had weaselled your way through it. You recognise people from school, some of Ren’s friends. It’s hard to make out faces with the bright lights shining down on you guys, and you smile, walking up to the mic.

They clap, and cheer, and you smile wider.

“Hello, everybody! How are we doing tonight?” You yell, greeted by cheers from the crowd.

“Thank you so much for coming out to see us, and thank you to the Apollo for having us.” Ren says besides you.

Touya looks effortless on stage, bass strung around his neck. He’s not watching the crowd, despite the girls you can see near the front all ogling him. No, his eyes are trained on you.

“We are Meat Cute with an a,” you say, “And this is our first song, Back to me by the Marias.”

The opening lines of the song fill you with an adrenaline rush you don’t think you could find anywhere else. Your voice, prepped after embarrassing vocal warm ups with Nana, spills effortlessly through the mic. Much like every time you perform, any nerves you have melt away the second the music starts, and the others play around you.

The show goes amazing. It’s been too long since you guys had a proper gig, and it's evident on all your faces how much fun you’re all having. Your cheeks ache from how hard you’ve been smiling. The crowd seems to be eating it up, too. Toga screams especially loud, and when you wave during your third song at her she pretends to pass out on a less than amused Shigaraki.

By the time you’ve reached your last song, there’s sweat running down your neck and your hair is a mess from how hard you’ve been shaking your head about but you feel alive.

“God, what a great crowd!” You beam. “You guys have been great! And I hate to say this is our last song, but it is.” You pout, struggling to keep a straight face at the animated boo’s coming from the crowd.

“Come on!” Ren yells. “These people are here to listen to music, not your speeches!” He pairs his words with a clash of his drums and you roll your eyes playfully.

“Fine, fine. We’ll finish off tonight with Cologne.”

This song is your favourite to play, mainly because you think of Touya the entire time you’re signing it. Which isn’t good. Because the song is definitely not appropriate, and so, when you sing certain lyrics with your eyes sliding over to him, you can only imagine the sort of message you’re sending to the audience. Lines about kissing, and touching, and how someone’s in your head. It makes your skin feel hot, especially under the heady gaze that he sends back to you. You can already hear Nana teasing you two about eye-fucking, but you couldn’t care any less.

Because, like always, Touya looks good. Even better than normal, if you’re being honest. The erratic movement of his hands flying across the bass, the chain he has on jumping against his chest every time he moves. He fits perfectly on the stage, and you think he should be a permanent addition if it means you can ogle him like this all you want.

It ends sooner than you wish. You all bow dramatically and wave as your crowd out the back, the energy still thrumming through your veins as you all clap each other on the back. Even Aizawa is smiling, a rare sight, his guitar hanging off his back. You all pour into your makedo dressing room.

“Fuck, we kicked ass!” Ren yells, looping his arm around Nana.

“Ew, you’re sweaty.” She groans, but she looks too giddy to be too bugged by it.

She looks back at you. “I’m gonna go find Shigs. See what he thought of the show.” She winks.

Ren frowns. “Shigs? Who the fuck is that?”

“I think you of all people should know.” Aizawa drawls.

It takes Ren a beat before he realises and his face drops. “Nana. I’ll kill you.”

She only grins, kissing your cheek and dashing off towards the exit, Ren hot on her heels.

“You two were great.” Aizawa nods, stalking off to probably go smoke a cigarette outside.

And then it’s just you and Touya.

He’s standing in front of you. The room is quiet and yet there’s a tension so palpable you can feel it on your skin. White hair sticks to his forehead, his face flushed red from exhilaration or heat or something else you can’t quite place. His tongue darts out to lick his lips and you can barely draw your eyes away from them to meet his, bright blue and practically glowing as they scan over you.

And maybe it’s the adrenaline wearing off, or the fact that you’ve been thinking about Touya so much ever since you’ve met him, but your skin crawls with the urge to touch him, kiss him, do anything to pull you two closer.

He runs a hand through his hair. “You- You were great out there.”

You smile, a little breathless. “You were great, too.”

“Of course. Had to show off a little.”

You laugh. You push your hair back from your face, sighing contentedly. The two of you are still standing near the doorway, and you lean on the wall, your head knocking back against it.

“God, it was so perfect. I was kinda pitchy a couple times but I don’t think anybody noticed. And Aizawa didn’t mess up on the guitar, either! He’s always worried-“

“I really wanna kiss you right now.”

Your words die on your lips instantly. Your head shoots up, turning to look at him. And Touya looks almost wrecked the way he’s looking back.

“I- I had to say something before I pussied out. Again.” He chuckles a little, but you can see the fear creasing his brows, and you want to reach out and smooth it.

“You looked beautiful out there.”

You’re sure you didn’t. You’d caught a glimpse of yourself walking in, and your mascara is smudged and your hair is a mess. But he speaks with so much conviction, like he’s daring you to disagree, that you have to believe him.

“Thank you.” You swallow roughly.

Your lips are still sticky with your shiny lip gloss, but Touya doesn’t seem to mind. Because when he cups your face gently, his palm hot against your already warm face, his fingers tangled in your hair, he presses his lips to yours with no issue.

And it’s nothing like you’d imagined, because it is infinitely better. His nose brushing against yours, the hand that snakes to your waist to push you against the wall. The heat in your stomach that shoots through your body, the desperation that claws at your insides as you drag him closer by the cuff of his shirt. Touya makes a noise in the back of his throat, content and pleased and you want to drag him even closer, swallow him whole.

His tongue licks into your mouth, tangling with yours, and it tastes sweet, like the candy he’s always picking at. You pull away for air and nothing more, your arms looped around his neck.

Touya hums. “You taste like strawberries.”

You laugh, and when you speak, your lips brush against his. “It’s lip gloss. You taste like candy.”

“Thanks. It’s candy.”

You roll your eyes, but it’s hard to act annoyed when his hand slips up from your waist, past the slither of exposed skin to rest on your shoulder. The other is still on your face, and the room feels hotter. Or maybe you just feel hotter, struggling to ignore the coil of need in your stomach.

“You look so beautiful.” Touya says it again, and his voice is softer than usual, so gentle for you.

Your heart flutters with the careful way he kisses you then. Tender, devoid of all the urgency he had before. He’s still holding you close, but he’s not squeezing as tightly, letting his hand leisurely roam. Your head thumps against the wall once more as he starts kissing down your throat, tongue hot and biting as he licks at your pulse.

“We- They’re going to be back, you know. And I promised I’d see Toga after the show.” You mumble, and he sighs.

He reluctantly releases you, not before he places another hasty kiss to your cheek. And it’s good you split, because you hear the doorknob turn, and you have about a second to fix your hair before Nana comes striding in.

“I got his number! Ren nearly killed me, but-“

She cuts herself off at the sight of the two of you. You, face a furious red as you try and fix your hair and straighten the shirt Touya had gotten very handy with, and the man in question standing with the most shit-eating grin you’ve ever seen in your life.

Nana grins. “Kiko Milano looks very fetching on you, Touya.”

Your eyes dart to him and the mess of lipgloss all over his mouth and chin. You shove his shoulder.

“Touya, your face.” You scold.

He only shrugs, still looking too proud, as Nana cackles in front of you. “I like it. Smells like you. Tastes like you, too.”

“Oh my god!”

—————————————————————————-

guys.. writing the concert was so much harder than I thought?? it took me toooo long omg. But I hope u enjoy!! I love band aus and I love Touya so.. big fat kisses

also… I made a playlist for the band and one for Touya! I think I’m gonna do this for all the characters I write for so I’ll post them here when I do :D

I’m not sure if there will be a part four, but comment if you’d like to be reminded!!

23 notes · View notes

waitingandwishing · 1 day ago

Note

hii!!! i was wondering if you could request a like..spiritual and kinda unsettling reader? like people thought she was mute until she said something about the ‘wind whispering secrets’ or smth like that. shes kinda..a psychic. like if you let her look at you she can see into your soul. very smart, though. like quiet on her feet. OKAY TYYY!!!!

-> context: spritual!reader

-> fandom: school bus graveyard

-> warnings/tags: female reader, none?

ASHLYNN

Ashlynn knows you care. At least, she thinks you do. You care in a way that's hard to understand. You somehow always manage to help without explaining why though.

And you've got this uncanny intuition that creeps her out. You always seem to know things you shouldn’t. Who’s lying, who’s grieving, what’s about to go wrong.

The first time she met you, you had asked her if she knew the phantom noises she heard were real. That you had been haunted by the same things and wanted to help. At least, that's how she interpreted her conversation with you.

Even though you were... Odd, she still thought you were a good friend. You were someone she could be friends with, someone she could... Open up to. Even if your advice was weird, she was still grateful that you decided to help

AIDEN

Aiden doesn't exactly know personal space. Maybe it's a good (Or bad) thing that you don't either. Eye contact with you is definitely... An experience. He feels seen by you in the deepest sense, as if you know who he used to be and how he used to feel. It's not necessarily bad, but it doesn't exactly feel good to be vulnerable like that.

He also likes to look at all your small charms and herbs you have in your room.

Aiden had talked to you first during free period after noticing you had been staring at him. You had told him his colors felt off which he found weird but... His parents did just come back from a work trip so that had weirdly made sense.

You were weird, Aiden was weird, you could both accept each other as is. You didn't have to stay quiet so then your words wouldn't be seen as weird, and Aiden didn't have to "dim down" in order for you not to feel overwhelmed by his presence. In fact, you had once told him that you enjoyed it.

LOGAN

The first thing Logan noticed about you was that you weren't exactly bookish, but deeply intelligent in a terrifying way. Maybe it was the way you spoke, dreamlike and airy but always carrying a hint of intimidating knowledge.

He enjoyed listening to you explain your spirituality and the reasons behind why you did what you did. He found it interesting how softly you could give such morbid knowledge to others.

When he saw you he didn't exactly see your face at first. He was on the ground with his glasses scattered across the floor and a growing bruise on his wrist. Barron stared down at him before being pushed back by... You. You told him that he had rot in his chest. It’s why no one stayed close to him for long because they could smell it.

He likes you though. Barron stays far away from him when your around, maybe it's because you also creep that bully out too, and he gets to have a good friend. You get to talk to him about your psychic abilities and have someone to perform rituals that required two people with! It's a win-win situation.

TAYLOR

You noticed Taylor's grief almost immediately when you first met her. There was this stillness behind her smile. And you obviously noticed the way she never really mentioned her father much. “He’s quieter now, but he hasn’t gone far. You still hear him, don’t you?" You had said. It was unsettling to Taylor but... There wasn't anything malicious or condescending about you tone. It was almost your way of saying you were sorry for her loss.

You gave her many gifts. Not flowers or stuffed animals, but charms you made and threads tied around Taylors wrists. You never gave her gifts before, but when you guys were transported to Savannah, you wanted to protect her in your own way.

You two don’t talk about school. Or trends. Or drama. You talk about dreams. Phantoms. Death. And once, when Taylor asked if her dad was still around, you nodded and said, “He hasn’t left you. He just moved deeper.”

You and her are drawn to each other for the same reason. Your kindness. You respected a lot of people who could still manage to be so careful and sweet after tragedy and she liked to see something other then your quiet and sort of scary outer shell you had at school.

TYLER

Tyler is the kind of guy who shrugs off emotion. He doesn’t do grief talk. Doesn’t do staring contests with weird girls who say creepy things. So when you first say something like: “Your father never got to say goodbye. You still carry that silence.” He obviously responded with: “Okay. Weird. You rehearsed that?” But your gaze didn't waver. And somehow, it sticks in his head for days.

Your friendship isn't loud or comfortable, but real. A girl who sees too much. A boy who hates being seen. And somehow, it works. He thinks your creepy. You think he’s loud and defensive. But he doesn’t pretend, and you don't judge.

You don't exactly hang out either, your usually just always there? Sort of omnipresent for some reason? Its like, he turns around and your suddenly appearing behind him. Its funny because he always has a face of "she's right behind me isn't she?"

Tyler never says "I'm your friend." But if someone calls you a freak, he’s immediately in their face. “She’s weird, yeah. But at least she’s not fake like the rest of you.” You never thank him since you weren't present at school during that, but the next day, there’s a folded charm in his bag. No note. Just a single word burned into it: “Safe.”

BEN

You saw Ben long before he noticed you. You recognized it, not the beat, but the ache. He used to sing. You could feel it clinging to him like dust no one else saw. He looked up when your shadow crossed his desk. “I miss your voice,” you had said, like it was a memory you owned. “Even if I’ve never heard it.”

The two of you are often found side by side. In a music room no one uses anymore, on a roof under the moon, in the hallway while the world rushed past. Sometimes you brought dried flowers for... Some odd reason. Ben didn't question it though. They looked nice.

Your dynamic is basically, "He writes something down, You answer without looking before murmuring something cryptic, and he nods like he already knew"

You defend each other all the time, its surprising how protective the two of you are. You step between him and people who ask why he doesn’t talk, saying that sometimes things were better left unknown, and Ben brushes off people who call you weird or creepy. “You wouldn’t get it,” he signed once. “She hears things you’re too loud to listen for.”

#fanfic #fanfiction #x reader #sbg x reader #sbg #school bus graveyard x reader #school bus graveyard #aiden clark x reader #ben clark x reader #ashlynn banner x reader #tyler hernandez x reader #taylor hernandez x reader #taylor x reader #tyler x reader #ashlynn x reader #aiden x reader #logan x reader #logan fields x reader

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lume-ish · 1 day ago

Text

I've got a funny little theory

spoilers for tadc ep 5 btw

Guys Guys

What if Jax caused Ribbit to abstract.

Idk if anyone else has had this theory (i dont really interact with the tadc fandom that much), if someone has and I'm just repeating stuff then thats my bad.

Ok so I don't have a lot of evidence for this, a lot of this is just sort of "this feels right", l so take all of this with a spoonful of salt. I'll do my best to explain my thinking.

So.

In Episode 5 we learn that Jax had a friend (probably Ribbit) and that friend has abstracted. We also see Ragatha slowly begin to lose her patience and later lose her temper.

Something that kind of stuck out to me about this episode that I haven't really been able to stop thinking about is the interaction between Ragatha and Jax, the "Not anymore" part.

Now this might just be me, and I'm pretty bad at social cues anyway so heres why the salt's needed. The way she said it felt almost accusatory. Idk if thats the right word to put it, and we also are missing a lot of context. But its also the first time we've seen Ragatha make a deliberately "mean" comment. Even though she tries to explain afterwards that it wasn't meant to be taken that way.

It's also the first time in the episode where we see her actually kind of mad. Not mad mad, but she does look mad. Like a smaller version of the kind of angry that causes her to lash out later on.

Now I can't tell if she's looking at Pomni or just looking away in that shot but it looks like she's looking at Pomni. I mean I doubt she wanted Jax to hear anyway but something about it feels a little like schoolyard gossip yknow? like"don't play with little timmy, little timmy will bite you". Like what she was trying to say was "Yea, he used to have a friend, before he went too far"

"The first steps of a budding friendship, right Ragatha?" would also hit different with this context.

But I also think, if Jax really did cause Ribbit to abstract then why do the others put up with him? Why does Caine? If one of the members has already purposefully caused one of the other contestants to abstract then why keep that risk around? I thinkg Zooble especially would be far more antagonist towards Jax.

And yeah, this could also be summed up to them just learning to deal with Jax/putting up with him cause they're stuck with him for forever. But Idk I feel like Caine cares enough about the members to not leave a threat like that there? I mean he locks the abstractions away why couldn't he do the same to Jax?

So staying with that train of thought I think that yeah, it was Jax's fault. But what if Jax didn't think Ribbit would actually abstract.

Like he says "You guys all take this place way too seriously".

Like wouldn't that kind of fit what we've seen of Jax's character so far? Like yeah the 2 were friends, but being freinds doesn't mean you can't hurt eachoher. What if Jax did or said something, crossed a line, or what if he didn't do something? I doubt he was the type of friend that was a shoulder to cry on. Especially if Ribbit was anything like Jax.

Idk I think Jax feeling guilty instead of just sad also fits more too. I also think it'd be interesting story wise.

Jax caused the one person he considered a friend to basically die and not knowing how/or wanting to deal with the guilt and grief that comes from that, he continues doing what he's good at. Being an asshole.

Maybe thats part of why the rest of the members still semi-put up with him, even after causing Ribbit to abstract.

This also changes things for Ragatha, like with that context the moments where Ragatha's trying to befriend Pomni feel so much more idk desperates not the right word but it's close enough.

Yes she's lonely, she wants a friend and to make connections with the rest of the members, and she also doesnt want to watch another one of Jax's friends abstract cause of his stupid ego.

It adds a little layer of complexity to that last scene where she watches them leave too.

idkidk maybe this is nonsense, watch it get debunked in the next episode.

This theory is held together with red string and loose notecards don't take it too seriously.

#I'm not going back and reading through that #sorry if it doesnt make sense #tadc jax #tadc ribbit #tadc ragatha #tadc theory #tadc episode 5 #spoilers #the amazing digital circus #thoughts #might be nothing #just a silly little theory #rambles #might be nonsense #could be an interesting fanfic idea actually

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stupidlittlespirit · 2 days ago

Note

something about Ford being book smart, but lacking common sense is so... charming (other than the negative side effects of that, ie: giving us space rabies!)

Having to explain a concept that seems like common sense to most, especially in a social context??? He's so awkward it hurts. And I love it

However, an unfair advantage he has is pretty privilege, as well as such an outstanding vocabulary that he's just unintentionally smooth no matter what he says. (IMO THAT PART IS CANON. HE JUST WAS SAYING STUFF IN THE SHOW THAT WAS SO HOT, HIS CONFIDENCE IS DISGUSTINGLY ATTRACTIVE)

Him missing social cues, especially flirting would be so frustrating, but it also would be so much fun to see how far you could push it until he finally caught on. AAAUUGH

Right?? I think it's fun to balance him with that aspect. The canon gives us a glimpse at that but it often frames it as being negatively neglectful, and while I do think he is neglectful at times, there's something really nice about taking the negative edge off of that and making it a bit more of a quirk in some ways.

It's also a nice way to bring him back down to Earth gently, too. He truly believes he's the smartest in the room and in most ways he is so it's understandable, but getting to softly backhand that assertion to him over something he isn't so good on, like emotional intelligence, makes for a good juxtaposition. It's a nice way of reminding him that there's always more to learn, no matter how high your IQ is.

Describing him as having pretty privilege is SO funny ilsjdjkdkdfdsf and true!!!!!!!!!! He is pretty! When I write him, I do really enjoy letting him shine within his area of expertise and letting that confidence come naturally to him, but then snatching it away when he has to step outside of his comfort zone. He comes across as smooth when he's on one about his passions but he comes off the tracks almost in a panicked way when it shifts into the social-emotional aspect of interactions. To me, that's very charming. I really like that he's capable of so much but he falters when he's trying to express himself beyond those limits.

My partner is smart with theory but is also autistic so struggles to handle social stuff, whereas I'm the exact reverse. Stepping in to take over the social reins is really fun for me and I think I end up writing that into Ford and Reader's relationship. Reader is much more social and outgoing than he is, and Ford admires that. Thinking on your feet and knowing the 'right' thing to say is difficult and it's a skill by itself.

For Ford, or at least the way I write him, I think you would have to say it directly to him in order to make him understand. He won't pick up hints particularly well unless you're especially obvious with them, for a number of reasons. He thinks you're listening to him yap on about physics because you like physics and you think he's a good teacher, not because you enjoy his passion or find it attractive. You have to outright say 'god I want you so bad' for him to clock that that's actually why you're listening to him speak. That's not to say he won't pick up on hints ever, but just that it isn't something he consciously looks for so doesn't expect to need to pick it up, if that makes sense.

And I like that. I'm a very direct person naturally and I don't enjoy having to go all around the houses to get someone's attention. I personally prefer being straightforward (tactfully) and have found things work out better that way. So idk, for me I don't want my actions to be read into, I'll tell you if I feel a certain way and go from there. And with Ford, he's kind of ideal in that sense. He seems like the kind of guy who respects directness even if he doesn't like the answer. He doesn't want to be strung along and lied to for the sake of social expectations. That just makes things harder for everyone.

There has definitely been some friction in the MtB universe over that, though.....

#asks #anon #ford asks #god can you tell i think about him too much LMAO

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riteliso · 6 hours ago

Text

ALRIGHT jumping back in here, uh, yesterday got a little weird so I'm late to return but you don't mind because there's like 2 people reading this as I post it and maybe 8 people reading it total

Y'see, Catra looks very pensive here. I don't remember ENTIRELY what I was gonna say for this bit yesterday, but I remember I was gonna say that Catra is always mad so she's lying. I can't remember if I was saying that as a bit or not, though.

Probably a half bit, like most of the things I say

Either way, her insistence that she isn't mad is what draws Entrapta in, and Entrapta's inability to tell when Catra is mad is what gets her thrown on Beast Island in the end. Entrapta's inability to understand emotion and push past it actually assists her in becoming friends with Hordak, and makes it more difficult to become friends with Catra.

Do with that information what you will, feel free to read it as Catra being more evil, I don't particularly care

I will, however, give MY hypothesis to why this exactly is.

I think Catra doesn't really see any of her relationships as, like, real. Especially not friendships.

So when her friends aren't doing exactly as she says exactly how she wants it done, it's not a disagreement, it's insubordination. And I don't think that's exclusive to work.

I mean, Catra hates herself and still thinks she's above everyone, you know?

When her bubble gets popped, when she gets called a bad friend, that's the reason why it hits her so hard. Someone she saw as an inferior fuck-up just stepped up to her level and told her to her face something she can't really disagree with.

There's a lot of different kinds of intelligence. Sometimes we don't value the right ones. Yes, Catra is a scheming little villain who loves to ride out a good plan, and Scorpia is completely incapable of that, but Scorpia and Bow are really the only members of our cast with a notable amount of emotional intelligence.

Adora and Catra very much lack emotional intelligence. So does Glimmer, and so does Entrapta, but those both become more relevant MUCH later on.

I do appreciate that she's pensively planning, here, pacing back and forth. It's clear she's not quite yet figured out what she wants to do here.

I'm sure someone else could have a lot more to say about this note of the character-- I just think it's very nice. She likes to take evil robots, make them more powerful, and make them nicer.

She lives in her own little world, but the show doesn't treat that as a flaw. It's how she is. If you need her help, you need to wrestle her away from herself like it's nobody's business, but that doesn't stop her from being a good person and a wonderful friend.

I don't know how to use language properly here-- you're ALLOWED to be inconvenient. We all are. We're human beings. We're messy and scared and none of us REALLY know what we're doing. Flaws are subjective, and if your flaws make you happy and don't hurt you, you shouldn't need to change them.

Like, I have plenty of flaws that I DON'T like, and you can't prove I just typed all of them out and then deleted them after I realized that wasn't the point of what I was saying.

But as far as flaws I DO like go, I am a SUCKER for mania. I love getting absorbed in something and finding out every little detail about it and writing until I'm starving myself and the people around me get WORRIED. Okay I should probably tone that aspect of it down a bit but the point I'm making is I wouldn't be a better person without that. I'd just be more-- palatable. I'd lose more than I'd gain.

Entrapta is wonderful. She's a handful, but she knows what she loves and she absorbs herself in it. It really doesn't matter what situation you put her in, because she'll always find something to do and a way to love what she's doing.

I need what she has

How do I login to catjerk@yahoo which of my passwords did I use was it [email protected] or SWbl0ws or 1.r34lly.m155.h3r.s0m371m35.

Nvm it was an autogen or someth cos idk what else dyg11ly14h5pj705 could be

We've been over this, after force captain is "Shadow Weaver." It doesn't have a title that's just what it is

I'll help you out here, the LEFT goes in your LEFT and the RIGHT goes in your RIGHT

idiot

This is a fair play honestly if my children didn't put away their toys I would make them enemies of the state

You can't actually hide being a good person. You'll always slip up. You'll always show, accidentally, that you care.

But no good deed goes unpunished. Even once Hordak finds some amount of goodness inside of him he's torn to pieces.

Catra's always been a good person deep down, but here we see her finally bring some amount of it to the surface.

Shadow Weaver doesn't deserve her kindness, but sometimes that just can't matter.

She's seeing someone in pain, and for the first time she's had the time to herself and the space to think that she's willing to use some of her words to communicate.

Like I said earlier, she's of the opinion that her and Shadow Weaver are equals in the ways that she values. It's why she tries to hold onto that feeling, and why she's willing to extend an olive branch.

Good people don't belong in the fright zone. Good people don't belong in the Horde. She's practically told that to her face countless times later by prime, as she continues to insist that she's not good. That she's everything she says she is. A conqueror. Someone who seeks to destroy and control.

And nobody will ever believe her

Because between all the biting and the torment and the theatrics

whenever she takes a single breath

there she is.

One thing she very much got from shadow weaver was a sensitivity to pity. I've certainly got that too, and I'm not spectacular at hiding it either. I don't really have anything much to say on it, though. It's hard to accept warmth when your blanket is so chewed and thin.

I wonder if any of this is true. Like, at ALL. Shadow Weaver is constantly lying, but she seems to drop SOMETHING before she speaks here.

I don't know if Catra is just incidental to her, or if she actually values her as a weapon and a tool. We know they were both her wards, but she clearly always valued the powers that Adora would hold a lot more than whatever Catra would grow to be capable of.

So was Catra just there so Adora would actually pay attention and enjoy her time training, or did Shadow Weaver actually have any hopes for Catra?

Sometimes when someone hurts you you're desperate to know that at least they value you. At least they care.

But you almost never get to know.

Something we don't see a TON of from Bow outside of super joke-y contexts, here he's fretting and spiraling and believing things outside of his control were his own fault. Also you like how crusty that image is? I probably coulda found a better version of it but I didn't

This is the sharpest fucking sword she drags it so gingerly across the surface

chalk would have hardly left a mark

I don't know anything about parenting but I have no clue how to raise a kid who feels like they can talk to you

I hear about people who have, like, ACTIVELY good relationships with their parents where they actively enjoy doing things together and it feels so alien to me

I think this is a good thing to brush on because it's something most people brush against. It's hard to talk to a figure of authority at be best of times, and it's even harder if it's someone you can't escape and someone you love.

An interesting parallel we have here is Catra opening a dialogue with Shadow Weaver, attempting to be open, and being called a disappointment, vs Glimmer refusing to open up a dialogue, digging her heels in, and getting reassured that she isn't one.

As time goes on, we see how resistant Glimmer is to change. How unwilling she is to become a different person. In comparison, we see how much Catra fights for things to change, but can only change so fast, and not always for the best. Neither of them wants to change themselves, but Glimmer is happy with her environment and Catra isn't. In trying to change her situation, Catra changes herself slowly, while Glimmer is majorly static until she can't possibly stay the same. This isn't a failing on Glimmer's part, I'm not one of those insane fans who says "uhm, if you're looking or a problematic member of the group, maybe look inward, sweaty," or anything like that, it's just something she struggles with.

Meanwhile Bow and Adora are great with change. They don't always enjoy it the most, but throw anything their way and they'll manage. They don't get stuck in their ways-- Bow is much healthier with his approach, but Adora is adaptable. Catra's good with small changes as long as they better her specific situation, and Glimmer can't really handle change much at all.

Anyway

Good character beat, but I don't like its presentation. Maybe it could have been helped with more voice direction, or more work with Angella trying to get a word in edgewise, but the sudden blurting of this twist is just kinda trope-y in a way that the series tends to be better at navigating. I'm a snob so the first time I heard this I probably snorted like an asshole or something

The scene is capable of making me plenty emotional NOW, but the first line is the low point, which isn't ideal.

Also I never remember how Glimmer gets healed if I'm honest but hey I'll remember when I see it

ALRIGHT SO

Here's how we're doing things, right? We're gonna go one episode at a time, and I'm gonna give my thoughts whenever they come up. This is a train of thought type beat, alright? Unlike my usual grandstanding authorial and analytical self, this re-watch is purely for the rant factor. If you don't know me, and you just happened upon this thread because you like reading she-ra rewatches, hello. I'm a writer from Canada who found she-ra in 2025 and is currently on her sixth watch through. From that, hopefully you can discern that I like this show, even if I'm likely gonna criticize parts of it. We good to go? Good. We start with S01 E01.

RIGHT, THE SWORD PART 1! A zoom in, with an angelic singing being drowned out by digital bloopy fright zone vibes, and then Adora being a fuckin dweeb as her leitmotif plays in a decidedly crystiline synth-y tone.

Now, what do we learn from this? This, aside from one gripe I'll have more to speak on later, is an excellent introduction. With the music alone we're essentially taken from the beauty of the planet, the overwhelming dread of the fright zone, and then into a hopeful tune that isn't FREE from these sort of digital themes in the music, but is very defined and separate FROM them.

This isn't gonna be one of those things where I praise literally every single fuckin thing so keep your panties on, I'm not gonna full-on overanalyzing avatar this shit, but the most important parts of a story are the beginning and the ending.

Now, when I say that, I am speaking pragmatically. Every part of every story is important-- but when it comes to what people remember, what they love, what they never shut up about-- it's the start and the end. You need to nail the take-off and the landing, people will forget the turbulence from the rest of the trip.

Now, what does THIS bitch's intro tell us about her? Well, a lot, honestly. Most of what we know about Adora at this point is she plays by the rules, but she is a notably goofy person. She's goofy, but she's unwilling to goof-OFF too much.

And while we get a taste of the rivalry they have instantly, with "That's low, even for you." "You know nothing's too low for me~"

We instantly see that that is not the CORE of their relationship.

I'd like to praise the voice direction in this show for the first of many times here. The voice actors do amazing work in this, and the direction can be felt throughout.

"Come on, you look stupid hanging there" can obviously be a seen as a strange first line to show the warmth these two share, but the inflection from Catra's voice actor, AJ Mikalcha, makes it read as downright sweet.

Also don't get used to me using names of the crew besides ND Stevenson because I'm so awful with names I was still calling Catra Katara half the time on my second re-watch and I was like 90% of the way to realizing I kinned her at that point

Also don't make fun of me for kinning Catra there's no RESPONSE to people making fun of you for kinning Catra THAT DOESN'T MAKE YOU SEEM MORE LIKE FUCKING CATRA OKAY

Anyway, the following scene makes it clear that this is not a one-way dynamic. The two banter, and it's clear Adora knows how to get under Catra's skin and annoy her as well. This is notable in a few places MUCH further on, but it is a difference worth highlighting NOW.

Once Adora leaves, Catra's primary goal is still to get under her skin. She's angry about it, she's mean about it, but she's still just doing what she's always done. The relationship between the two doesn't actually change as much as the context does. I'd say the relationship itself doesn't change much until the final season, at a scene I'm sure I'll have a lot to say about.

On the flip-side, Adora's goal when it comes to Catra is simply to fight her off. But that's not all there is. At points, it's clear that Adora holds some sort of REVERENCE for Catra, and while Catra is very capable of very mean things, don't get me wrong, Adora sees Catra as more of a threat than she realistically is.

At a few moments I'll point out she also relishes in getting under Catra's skin, but admittedly those are few and far between.

People have gone over this introduction billions of times, so I won't BORE you to death with it, but Shadow weaver's introduction does hint at a lot of what we'll learn later. I think it's very notable that while Shadow weaver brings a dark gloom that encompasses both our leads, her vile tendrils only dare to touch Catra. We learn the specifics of the dynamic these three have later, but it is a very unique and terrible situation to be the least favourite of an abusive guardian. Especially if you are repeatedly reminded of that fact.

I'm not gonna go over all the body language shit I've seen other text posts about it there's plenty of them a lot of focus in this show goes into tiny details where characters are constantly reacting to the world around them, and very rarely do we get lame stretches where anyone's face is just frozen and unflinching while they listen to someone else.

with all due respect to the setting at this point in time the bright moon rebellion is so pathetically anemic it's the two teens, some movie night lesbians, an immortal princess queen, and a bunch of fucking trees.

And you'd think the one carrying the team would be THE IMMORTAL PRINCESS QUEEN, BUT NO, ITS THE FUCKING TREES DOING ALL THE GOD DAMNED WORK

This introduction is fine. I don't particularly like it, nor have any strong feelings about it. It establishes the relationship between glimmer and her mother, but besides that it doesn't honestly do much. And don't come at me with "Uh, all it needs to do is establish that relationship?" Yeah, no shit, but we just had a better introduction to our other lead characters. And yes, those are the MAIN leads, the sort of heart of the show, but that doesn't mean that the other characters are unimportant. Glimmer's development later on is truly interesting, and Bow becomes a massively inspiring character. Fun jokey times are fine or whatever to show that they're immature and don't know the first thing about war, in contrast to our full-blown child soldiers raised from birth in the fright zone, but we really don't learn anything particularly INTERESTING about our best friend squad compadres in their intro, nor do we really see any of it until episode 2, to be frank.

This is something we don't actually see much of-- Catra has this ideal of being a conqueror, but it's very clear that she doesn't want that. Her threats are vapid and aimless-- She can enjoy some chaos, sure, but a shit-stirrer isn't gonna use that feces to build brick shithouses that they never intend to fall.

I think this should have been elaborated on more, personally. Catra is comically terrible with authority, and her plan, as stated later, is to wait it out until her and Adora are the ones calling the shots. But we don't really see what she thinks conquering even looks like, and it's not clear whether that's that she hasn't even imagined it and just likes evil words, or if she genuinely wants to rule with Adora as her Queen.

I gravitate towards the first, but that's partially because I wake up and post shit like "I want to destroy the world and rule its dust" and then forget I posted it when someone likes it 5 minutes later. If she do, in fact, as studies point toward, "be just like me fr," then I fully understand. If not, then I'd like to understand.

aw :(

Fuckin dweeb pulling the "my mom doesn't want me hanging out with you anymore" card

HA! Ah, what a bitch. Anyway, she's lashing out, but it's also quite tragic. A lot of people seem to think Adora IS, in some way, a people pleaser, but in reality she just has such an ingrained and violent sense of justice that she wants to right every wrong she has ever and will ever come across. She believes her validity is tied to what she can provide to the world, and she's got a natural sense of charisma, so it's natural for someone who refuses to blend in and naturally tends to put people off like Catra to have this view of her.

In reality, Adora is just-- a good person. And people LIKE good people. She's not a good person with an asterisk-- a good person with terms and conditions-- someone who falls into the definition of a good person while feeling and being treated like something else. Catra is the "a tomato is a fruit" of good people. Adora is just, like, a 1 dollar costco hotdog of a woman. An inarguable good treading water on this earth, no matter how hard it tries to pull her under.

Imagine falling for a brat with mad hops, like a fucking 50 foot vertical, you say you're too tired to play their favourite board game and they go hang out on your neighbour's roof, couldn't be me. Get fucked I guess

Yeah this is sad. Empathy is very much a learned skill, and people who don't learn empathy don't GET happy FOR people. Catra's not a complete person yet. She's not ready to be. That doesn't happen for a really long time, during an exceptionally long manic spiral. We'll get there, calm down, don't think about how far away that is and how much I've already yammered on.

Anyway, if you find yourself getting jealous or annoyed instead of getting happy for people, consider empathy isn't what you thought it was, and that you might still need to work on yourself.

fucking porno framing. Immensely sexual image, really. These bitches violently gay I suppose, I think I'm picking up on that during this sixth re-watch.

Buddy you got no idea how many problems those two already have you literally lose your little tiara at some point I think it ends up in the middle of a tree in space or something it's kinda unclear

Adora elbows her square in the nose during this so to everyone accusing Catra of physical abuse I just want it to be clear that Adora started it :/

Actually I'd like to retract that joke immediately because I know how people get about these two

My feelings are that they are literally child soldiers who were likely raised sparring each-other.

I was raised sparring other children and I ended up fine! Not for war, for Karate. And I didn't end up fine. And neither did they. Anyway, my point isn't even specifically that because this is sci-fi fantasy it's ridiculous to hold real life standards to it, it's more-so that because it's sci-fi fantasy there's extenuating circumstances that are going to affect how these two characters treat each-other. I'll go into hotter takes later, I'm sure, and get people to send me plenty of death-threats, but I'm gonna go into the nuances of exactly what forms Catra's abuse takes, and how it differs given by the separate circumstances we're shown the two in throughout the show.

my girl when I'm tryna live my best life playing as blue toad in mario 3d world

also holy shit we're only like halfway through this I am an AGONIZING yapper jesus fuck

Okay, what to say about lighthope-- well, their first words are "balance must be restored," far before they say Adora's name, so it somewhat lays out their secret priorities for us there. Besides that, I dunno, they got circuits on them? I don't have particularly strong feelings about lighthope, nor their introduction. I think they serve the setting and are written well, I just subjectively am not a sucker for the way they be. Their friendship with Mara is cute tho

I was gonna point out this is cute and how often I do this exact brat tactic but instead we data moshin, nothin wrong with a little data moshin, I'm down

This is the only reason she even wears a ponytail I'd stake my fuckin life on it

Once she leaves the fright zone that thing's fucking vestigial like a tailbone or having "any pronouns" in your bio when it's pretty clear you're very much a "she/they" type of bitch by now

glimmer why don't your windows have glass

or alternatively

how the fuck do you open and close that window

you can absolutely fucking hear her from this distance what on earth are you trying to pull

you a pillow princess tho how many of those arrows are just hitatchi magic wands attatched to a stick with duct-tape after the series ends do you think

The fuck you mean BOTTOM drawer we lookin at left and right here

or is this similar to my pillow princess comment and she's just addressing him and giving him an order

"Bottom; drawer."

It's established later on that he's a tech wiz but at this point in time they don't really give us much to lead us to the fact that he made that fucking thing

she's a freak

yes it's very sweet that she sleeps this way but I don't think it's some bdsm powerplay thing or anything like that, which would honestly be more tolerable, I think she's just like that

like how the way I'd sit in high school was to get two chairs and face them toward each-other then sit cross-legged across both

even if there weren't enough chairs to go around

people would sit on the FLOOR because I wanted to sit criss-cross-applesauce across two chairs, they wouldn't even ask for one of my chairs

also since I was sitting, again, cross-legged, it would have made more sense for ME to sit on the floor

I mean I think I got asked ONCE for one of the chairs and I just said "fine" but besides that people just let me sit on my fuckin throne

She really is kinda dumb, though. Like I ain't complaining, it's a character trait, but like obviously even if just you get in trouble Catra's gonna get blamed, you've seen it like at least once a month for your whole entire life

Mind you, can't really have Catra for the next part, because Catra's reaction to Bow and Glimmer wouldn't be "just let me have the sword" it'd be murder

oh wow we hit the image limit looks like we're doing TWO SEPARATE POSTS FOR THE VERY FIRST EPISODE YEE-HAW!!!!! THIS IS GOING TO TAKE ME FUCKING FOREVER

#spop #she-ra rewatch #she ra and the princesses of power #live watch #she-ra

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tulpars-dead-pixel · 1 month ago

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can i say i feel like people saying stuff like swansea would be republican or curly or daisuke would be casual dudebro misogynists or that jimmy is just insufferable to everyone constantly AND people who say daisuke or swansea would've killed jimmy if anya told them both kind of miss part of the point of the game being about a group of normal people who you would expect far better from in a stressful situation behaving in ways ranging from heart-breakingly disappointing to downright horrific

#mouthwashing #mouthwashing analysis #many miss the fact that jimmys character is meant to be like the darkest version of an everyman #honestly all the characters are in a way. they're meant to be people you could very well know irl. they could be you #and i think that is part of why people are so quick to shun a lot of complexity and sort them into either good or bad #beyond like. poor ability to understand nuanced situations #cause it hits way too close to home #like swansea could be your dad. you dont wanna think he would act the way he did #curly could be your abusers friend who never protected you or stood up to him. of course you hate him when he did nothing for You #jimmys the abuser. the shitty ex. you dont wanna think people could like him as a person more than tolerating his presence.#but the thing is. ultimately these are characters in a video game. you do not know them personally and they are not the people in your life #and sometimes things will not go the way that would be most cathartic. in fact usually that is not what happens #the whole game shows that. nothing there happened for good reason. no one acted or reacted how they shouldve. everyone failed each other #and themselves. what was it that swansea said about how he always wanted to believe he was never one setback away from his worst self #but the thing is. he was wrong. that is an assumption made by a lot of people #that they are far away from doing Bad. from being a Bad Person #whether they were one once or not #and its absolutely terrifying to think that you are less far from it than you think #but thats what the games about. jimmy and curly are the player characters.#sorry if the tags are a little soapboxy i got excited #ive had this in drafts since february so the complaining part is probably a bit dated by now but who care

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gingermintpepper · 10 months ago

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In my Zeus bag today so I'm just gonna put it out there that exactly none of the great Ancient Greek warrior-heroes stayed loyal and faithful and completely monogamous and yet none of them have their greatness questioned nor do we question why they had the cultural prominence that they did and still do.

Jason, the brilliant leader of the Argo, got cold feet when it came to Medea - already put off by some of her magic and then exiled from his birthland because of her political ploys, he took Creusa to bed and fully intended on marrying her despite not properly dissolving things with Medea.

Theseus was a fierce warrior and an incredibly talented king but he had a horrible temper and was almost fatally weak to women. This is the man who got imprisoned in the Underworld for trying to get a friend laid, the man who started the whole Attic War because he couldn't keep his legs closed.

And we cannot at all forget Heracles for whom a not inconsiderable amount of his joy in life was loving people then losing the people around him that he loved. Wives, children, serving boys, mentors, Heracles had a list of lovers - male and female - long enough to rival some gods and even after completing his labours and coming down to the end of his life, he did not have one wife but three.

And y'know what, just because he's a cultural darling, I'll put Achilles up here too because that man was a Theseus type where he was fantastic at the thing he was born to do (that is, fight whereas Theseus' was to rule) but that was not enough to eclipse his horrid temper and his weakness to young pretty things. This is the man that killed two of Apollo's sons because they wouldn't let him hit - Tenes because he refused to let Achilles have his sister and Troilus who refused Achilles so vehemently that he ran into Apollo's temple to avoid him and still couldn't escape.

All four of these men are still celebrated as great heroes and men. All four of these men are given the dignity of nuance, of having their flaws treated as just that, flaws which enrich their character and can be used to discuss the wider cultural point of what truly makes a hero heroic. All four of these men still have their legacies respected.

Why can that same mindset not be applied to Zeus? Zeus, who was a warrior-king raised in seclusion apart from his family. Zeus who must have learned to embrace the violence of thunder for every time he cried as a babe, the Corybantes would bang their shields to hide the sound. Zeus learned to be great because being good would not see the universe's affairs in its order.

The wonderful thing about sympathy is that we never run out of it. There's no rule stopping us from being sympathetic to multiple plights at once, there's no law that necessitate things always exist on the good-evil binary. Yes, Zeus sentenced Prometheus to sufferation in Tartarus for what (to us) seems like a cruel reason. Prometheus only wanted to help humans! But when you think about Prometheus' actions from a king's perspective, the narrative is completely different: Prometheus stole divine knowledge and gifted it to humans after Zeus explicitly told him not to. And this was after Prometheus cheated all the gods out of a huge portion of wealth by having humans keep the best part of a sacrifice's meat while the gods must delight themselves with bones, fat and skin. Yes, Zeus gave Persephone away to Hades without consulting Demeter but what king consults a woman who is not his wife about the arrangement of his daughter's marriage to another king? Yes, Zeus breaks the marriage vows he set with Hera despite his love of her but what is the Master of Fate if not its staunchest slave?

The nuance is there. Even in his most bizarre actions, the nuance and logic and reason is there. The Ancient Greeks weren't a daft people, they worshipped Zeus as their primary god for a reason and they did not associate him with half the vices modern audiences take issue with. Zeus was a father, a visitor, a protector, a fair judge of character, a guide for the lost, the arbiter of revenge for those that had been wronged, a pillar of strength for those who needed it and a shield to protect those who made their home among the biting snakes. His children were reflections of him, extensions of his will who acted both as his mercy and as his retribution, his brothers and sisters deferred to him because he was wise as well as powerful. Zeus didn't become king by accident and it is a damn shame he does not get more respect.

#ginger rambles #ginger chats about greek myths #greek mythology #It's Zeus Apologist day actually #For the record Jason is my personal favourite of these guys #The argonauts are extremely underrated for literally no reason #And Jason's wit and sheer ability to adapt along with his piousness are traits that are so far away from what usually gets highlighted #with the typical Greek warrior-hero that I've just never stopped being captivated by him #Conversely I still do not understand what people see in Achilles #I respect him and his legacy I respect the importance of his tale and his cultural importance I promise I do #However I personally can't stand the guy LMAO #How do you get warned twice TWICE both by your mother and by Athena herself that going after Apollo's children is a bad idea #And still have the audacity to be mad and surprised when Apollo is gunning for Specifically You during the war you're bringing to His City #That You Specifically and Exclusively had a choice in avoiding #ACHILLES COULD'VE JUST SAID NO #I know that's not the point however so many other members of the Greek camp were simply casualties of Fate in every conceivable way man #Achilles looked at every terrible choice he could possibly make said “Well I'm gonna die anyway 🤷🏽” and proceeded to make the choice #so hard that he angered god #That's y'all's man right there #I left out Perseus because truthfully I don't actually know much about him #I haven't studied him even a fraction as much as I've studied some of the other big culture heroes and none of this is cited so i don't wan #to talk about stuff I don't know 100%#Anyway justice for Zeus fr #Gimme something give me literally anything other than the nonsense we usually get for him #This goes for Hera too btw #Both the king and queen of the skies are done TERRIBLY by wider greek myth audiences and it's genuinely disheartening to see #If y'all could make excuses for Achilles to forgive his flaws y'all can do it for them #They have a lot more to sympathise with I'll tell you that #(that is a completely biased statement; you are completely free and encouraged to enjoy whichever figures spark joy)#zeus

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electroniccollectiondonut · 5 months ago

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I have not been in this fandom long enough to reasonably judge others' takes however. "EPIC fans are so silly to characterize odysseus as feeling guilty for his actions don't you know he's a war criminal" is definitely a wild one. like first of all to each their own so settle down and let people enjoy things ok. and secondly making choices with a bad outcome, even knowingly and deliberately, does not exclude the possibility of feeling bad about it later. in fact it makes for a much more in depth character because then you get to explore what he does or doesn't feel guilt over, and why, and if that guilt ever edges into regret or not.

#and thirdly i actually find it fascinating the way EPIC had him take a very conscious role in the greying of his morality #it's interesting to me because from my point of view odysseus in the odyssey is almost a passive player in his own myth #and i enjoy taking that very active moral choice and applying it to some of his non EPIC actions #odysseus #epic the musical #uh what is the tag for the epic cycle #as far as I'm aware it's #tagamemnon #?#idk i just think that if you were to ask your character what they would do differently the answer should not be ''nothing lol''#that is either a character who needs wayy more development or a storyteller who needs wayy more practice #also. WAR CRIMES DIDN'T FUCKING EXIST IT WAS THE BRONZE AGE #regardless of how socially acceptable or not his actions may have been #none of those men on the plain of fucking troy was about to sit down and agree on what constituted a crime of war #like if achilles can get away with flaunting straight up deliberate corpse desecration #i don't think anyone gets to say a word against odysseus for being a sneaky underhanded bastard who doesn't fight fair #coming back an hour later to add yet another point. the point of the people with this take is ''haha dont you know hes a bad person''#which fine yes by modern moral standards he is and even by contemporary standards* some of the stuff he does is super yikes man #but that STILL does not preclude him from feeling guilt. 'bad people' can feel guilt #gonna go ahead and explain those quotes around 'bad person' btw um i do not believe in morality like that. no one is fully good or bad #i shant speak on THAT further unless someone asks though #*contemporary is an iffy word here i feel because the default is to call the time of the penning of the text contemporary #despite the events in the text taking place several centuries earlier.#in this particular case because i am speaking from a point of textual analysis i will use the former #however i think that the latter is also a useful reference point

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quarterlifekitty · 2 days ago

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Here it is heehee

My review of Date Everything!

The Story

Yes, it’s a little silly. The entire premise is somewhat tongue in cheek, so if you don’t have a rather tolerant suspension of disbelief, it will be hard to get involved.

On a character to character basis– there are 100 characters, so each character arc is somewhere between 1-5 conversations, typically in the 3-5 range, with some outliers that are harder or easier to connect with. Are all of these character arcs particularly deep or compelling? About as much as they can be within 5 conversations, which is to say, not very. Many of the characters have somewhat relatable struggles and dynamics which lend themselves to heartwarming moments and some heated quarrels but are you going to cry? No. Are you going to feel seen? Maybe. But it’s light and fun for the most part.

This game places a lot of emphasis on healthy dynamics and coping, which is nice, but does neuter the emotional experience of the player to a degree, in my personal preference. It’s hard to reach epic emotional highs and lows in a story where so many people are healthy in their relationships or experience large leaps in personal growth easily and quickly.

But if you can go into the experience with some tempered expectations, it can be quite satisfying. These are not epic romances, these romances feature much more of the mundanity of intimacy– of learning to live with another person, accommodating their needs and idiosyncrasies, and helping them heal from things that are hard to see from far away.

Were there stories that I found touching? Yes, absolutely. The characters cover a pretty wide range of demographics and personal issues. Without going into too much detail, Rainey was a character I thought was thoughtfully written and that I connected with. But in that same vein, Barry Styles, while relatable, had a pretty heavy handed arc in which it seemed that I magically had all of the right answers for him and that the character arc had absolutely nothing to do with me.

The Gameplay

If you’ve played other dating sims, this one will be novel to you– because you do walk around and interact with objects in a 3D space. It is slightly more than just going around and selecting dialogue options– there is task and time management involved, and if you want to find everyone and do everything, some exploration is required, which I greatly enjoyed. There are also statistics and some limited resources.

Basically, in my point of view? This game is a gigantic checklist. Find everyone, talk to everyone, gain a relationship with everyone, etc. If you like completing checklists? This game is like crack. If you prefer a linear path, this game is probably hell on earth. I personally am a checklist enjoyer.

In terms of dialogue, obviously there isn’t a New Vegas level of options. There are typically three responses that are really obviously connected to a single ending: romance, friends, or hate. I do greatly appreciate that this game allows you to complete a relationship as friends, as many dating games I’ve played either have good endings, bad endings, or endings where nothing satisfactory happens in either direction. But anyways– the dialogue typically makes it clear whether or not someone will like what you say– there is very little guessing involved in regards to “what is my standing with this character? Which answer would they most enjoy?”

There were a few moments where I thought to myself “I don’t like any of these options and I would never say this” and it felt like I was sort of being forced to act a certain way in order to spurn a character in favor of their overall arc. Not a sin, but my kiss-up, submissive, people pleasing ass did not like that. I also appreciated that there were very few moments where it was obvious that any dialogue option would have led to the same response (illusion of choice moments).

That said, there were some confounding moments where the way forward was not clear to me. While most of the character arcs trend toward personal growth, some characters don’t care for that shit at all. In some of them, you’re supposed to just be a yes man and agree with everything they say and all of their interests– in others, you’re supposed to be more challenging, and I didn’t particularly see why certain characters would be one way or the other. I think you’re supposed to intuit that some characters want to be helped, while others are beyond help, and I’m just not good at that.

In terms of QOL and accessibility, this game is pretty damn solid. The text interface is made to be extremely legible, everything is designed pretty cleanly and clearly, and the kind of information I might usually have to just remember miraculously is usually recorded. There is an entire log of every character, their relationship to you, and all the things you’ve talked about, so there was never really any “what the fuck am I doing” moments, even after putting the game down for a little while. There are some chances to do things over, no ending is ever gated behind a skill check, and you can skip certain characters that have content warnings with no consequences whatsoever. And you can turn content awareness off if you prefer that, too.

The writing, acting, art, and music

I thought they were all extremely solid. Many of the actors are people I was already familiar with, and they brought their game. I’ve seen a lot of people complain about the price of the game– but there are over 100 fully voice acted characters with multiple routes (albeit somewhat short), and there is surprisingly little overlap of actors, so the cast is pretty big, with many actors being union members, so in consideration of those people being paid fairly for their work, I don’t think the price is unreasonable at all. There is also a lot of content and replay value, in my opinion.

Anyways, the acting is all good, in my opinion. Some performances were a bit more mundane, others were amazing, but I don’t think I’d say any were subpar.

The writing was mostly very good– I think it all read out quite naturally and made sense. Some characters are really weird and speak weirdly, but there was never any time where a character was supposed to be relatively normal and I thought “no one would say this”. So, no “middle aged white guy writing teenage girl dialogue” moments from my point of view.

I appreciated the art a lot. Every character had multiple interesting, expressive portraits and it was fun to inspect all the aspects of their design and how it represented what they were. I thought most of them were cleverly done. My single complaint was solved by the end– that there were too many people wearing weird boxy clothing because they’re mostly furniture– but, without going into too much detail, the game does provide you with a way to change their outfits/styles late into the game to look, in some cases, less fucking dumb and boxy.

While I do understand why they were absent, I desperately wish there were full art illustrations– like one per character, fire emblem style.

While typically the music in a dating game is so inconsequential and boilerplate that you can turn it off and not have it impact the experience at all, this game had some interesting tracks. I was amazed that each character got their own theme with fun, interesting elements that tied into what they were. Do I remember all of them? Absolutely not. But to put this in perspective: I cannot remember a single backing track from any dating sim I’ve ever played in my life. So it’s pretty remarkable that this one has multiple memorable songs. Would I listen to them casually? Probably not because they’re designed to be loops that are inoffensive if heard repeated 100 times, but I still appreciate them.

The Erotic Angle

Is there sex in this game? Yes. But it is described only in short form by the narrator, rather vaguely and inconsequentially. Usually it boils down to “you made love, and they were a very good lover, so the sex you had together was very good and satisfying”. There is no erotica. Some people have very revealing outfits, but there is no nudity (that I’m aware of) and no art featuring sexual acts.

This makes a lot of sense because it isn’t at all marketed as an erotic game and all sexual encounters are completely avoidable– you can end up in a romantic relationship with characters and still choose not to have sex with them.

Basically, if you’re looking for an erotic experience in a dating sim or visual novel, don’t come here. My #1 recommendation for that has always been and will always be The Bell Chimes for Gold (do not get the steam version– it doesn’t have the sex scenes).

Miscellaneous remarks

I will warn that while the game is mostly polished– it currently has some not-insubstantial bugs. Dialogue loops, characters getting stuck on a certain conversations– things that may soft lock you in the current state of the game if you’re trying to do things a certain way or if you’re a completionist. There are reportedly hot fix updates in the works (the game only just came out, so it’s understandable). I mention this not only to warn you in case you’re thinking of getting it, but also to make the great confession that I myself have not yet finished a playthrough of the game fully, because it’s not possible to do on my save file without leaving a bunch of characters behind, essentially.

Overall

If you are looking for a deeply profound and emotional experience that will immerse you completely and give you a sensation of relationship fulfillment, this is not that.

It is, however, fun and enjoyable in my point of view, and more than worth what I paid for it. That said, I think this game will hit for some people and be a complete miss for others. So it’s good that there’s a free demo.

Would I recommend it? Absolutely. I’ve loved playing it and found it addictive. Overall it’s well made and thoughtfully crafted. Are there hot people? Hell yeah.

Uhmmm if I told you guys I wrote a 4 page review of date everything would you want to read it 👉👈

#kitty dates everything #not writing #dating sim review #i could honestly make a series of dating sim reviews... if anyone was interested in that

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