#these are the kind of little things that i adore about secret identities well done

[tillydouspart]

mannerisms

[consoledacup]

Ode to the Street Scene

I really thought my favorite scene was the wedding dance. It cuts away to no one in the room, and my heart just swells from the romance. And that cheek caress at the end? Butterflies!

But every time I rewatch, I have to pause the show and just sit with certain beats of my actual favorite scene because I'm so overcome. The writing is so fantastically good. Verica's directing is perfect. The scoring is angsty and beautiful. And Luke and Nicola deliver incredible performances. The give-and-take of this fight is exceptional, and their chemistry is electric.

This confrontation is one that is years in the making. And as they fight, they address all of it. He's only known about her Whistledown identity for a short time, so this fight was always going to be incredibly heightened and passionate. But we also get so much truth in this exchange, too.

Colin's leaving the saddest stag party ever. I'm sure he also felt weirdly guilty for not being ecstatic about it. Especially because the three gentlemen with him witnessed Colin-heart eyes-Bridgerton not a week ago. So they notice something is wrong, and he really doesn't want to talk about it.

Penelope's leaving her good friend and business confidant. And I love the little hesitation Genevieve has before asking Penelope if she'd continue publishing. She adores Penelope and has been such a fantastic support for her. So although Penelope feels like she's unworthy of Colin after everything that has happened, Genevieve is steadfast in encouraging her to not give up a huge part of herself.

So they run into each other, and Colin is immediately furious. He is shocked to see her, his Pen, out alone at night. And then he's like, well, she's Whistledown. She was doing this all along, right under my nose, having a laugh. And Penelope can probably smell the alcohol on him and is fed up with being the bad guy at this point. So she bates him because good grief, can he just look at her??

And he immediately lays into her. I really love Luke's rhythmic delivery here:

After all of the secrets you have kept, all of the things you have written over the years, all of the damage you have done.

And I love how Penelope immediately takes responsibility and apologizes. Two people have found out about her identity prior to Colin. Genevieve needs no explanation for why Penelope did what she did. And Eloise is so heartbroken and betrayed and humiliated, she has no room for Penelope's motivations.

But as angry as Colin is, he listens. And they go through her past transgressions, point by point. He asks about Eloise, as the protective brother he is, and receives a somewhat satisfactory response.

And then he asks about Marina, and Penelope is essentially like, I was saving you. For White Knight Colin Bridgerton, that is almost too much for him to take. If we go back to that scene when Penelope tells Colin about George, she purposely leaves out her pregnancy. That was deliberate. She might've gotten dismissed by him and interrupted by Marina, but she was always going to lead with, "well, she has a lover back home." Because she was terrified Colin would mount his white horse and see it as his duty to rescue Marina all the same. As a 17-year-old girl, who had incredible power, she saw no choice but to manipulate his future. That was a bad move, and she knows it.

Which is why he's like, do you really have that little respect for me? Because he reveals what cuts him the most. Whistledown called him out, belittling him. And then he finds out that the most important person in his life, his entire world, wrote that about him. And is that truly how she feels about him when he thinks she hung the moon and stars?

And that's when this fight takes a turn as Penelope lays bare everything she loves about him. She was like, I missed you just like you missed me. Here's where I praise Nicola's rhythmic delivery:

It's you. Kind, feeling, occasionally excitable good-hearted man who I love.

Even the way she says "man who I love" is just so matter-of-fact. Of course she loves him. When is he gonna get that?

Every episode this season, we see Penelope subtly gain more and more confidence. Which is why this payoff is so delicious because she has finally developed the confidence, that he helped her find, to stand up to him.

So he takes that all in, and in an almost hopeful way, he's like, well, I helped you gain confidence, and you have me now, so you really don't need Whistledown, right? You don't need to be more powerful than me. And she's a little taken aback by his plea but stands her ground, patiently explaining why Whistledown is important. Which breaks his heart because he feels that, deep down, Penelope surpasses him in talent and ambition.

Remember their engagement party when Penelope and Eloise take turns answering the riddles? He is proud of Penelope, and he is concerned something is going on with her, but he is also, plainly, jealous. Anthony obviously steals the scene with his competitiveness, but you see Colin sitting up a little straighter, wanting to impress everyone else with his quick wit. And each time Penelope or Eloise get the answer right, he deflates a little. He's always known Penelope to be incredibly smart, but now that he's desperately in love with her, he is terrified that she doesn't see him as her intellectual equal. And his fears are confirmed when he finds out she's the sharpest tongue in the ton.

He's honest about how patronized he feels, thinking about her hyping up his journal. His eyes are welling up because good god, he does not understand why she just won't choose him over Whistledown. And he chooses that moment to assert his physical dominance and join her on the step so he towers over her. He goes for broke, berating her for her carelessness, and she's not having it.

And this interplay between Luke and Nicola is like a perfect volley:

I have been careful.

You have been foolish.

Colin, I can take care of myself.

Then what good am I to you?!

And Penelope just snaps. She tells him she loves him which snaps him out of his spiral, and they finally allow their passion for each other to take over. And their physicality shows how relieved they feel in each others' embrace. Their kiss is like coming home, and they're like, thank GOD you want me like I still want you.

They're not thinking much else, but I do wonder if Colin in the back of his mind is like, she may not need my brain or my protection, and I have no title, and I can only provide her a townhome, but by god, I can give her pleasure. I think it says something that Colin's go-to move is his hands. He wants to bring her to ecstasy as expediently as possible, finding his own pleasure in hers.

Thankfully, they are interrupted because they really don't need another scandal. They were debauching each other in the street! That is an absolutely wild thing for them to do, and Colin has enough wherewithal to keep her shielded, quickly falling into his coveted protector role.

He holds her hand and walks her to her carriage. Their goodbye is tense, but he assures her that she doesn't have to worry about him. He will be at the church on time. He is still choosing a life with her, and is, of sound mind and body, intentionally entering into a union with Lady Whistledown. And then he watches her carriage leave.

Perfect, heartbreaking, passionate, angsty, emotional, sexy, honest, cathartic, electric, romantic scene from start to finish.

[lousirs]

I really love your art!!! Ever time I see it it feels so exciting!!! Thoughts on mpas/tmpass? I also really adore how you draw Mr. Peabody!!!

thank you very much!! such kind words <3

ooh, i have quite a few thoughts about both, sorry if i start rambling a lot xD (i probably won't mention everything)(we'll be here for years)

both of them have good parts and bad parts, to be honest (as does most things) and i'll yap extensively about it under the cut:

like, i've watched the three versions of peabody and sherman, and i think the film has the best dynamic of the two? it's just this honestly pretty wholesome depiction of a single father raising a chaotic but well-meaning child, and struggling with how others treat him due to his identity. big ol' comfort film for me (cause i've been in sherman's position), and has been for a while. also love the little call backs to the classic... i own the artbook to this film, and it really does feel like a respectful adaptation, love to see it.

though, some of the ideas are a little muddled, like... i get that one of the film's messages is about allowing your kid to grow up and be independent (whilst still giving support, of course) but peabody was out here like "here, my son, drive this high-tech time travelling machine" by the end of the film xD. i get that they were working together to sort out the wormhole issue, but sherman is seven (and a half)... a big responsibility to put onto such a young kid to drive that thing (even if he wanted to). it's like if peabody gave sherman the keys to his car and told him to have a test drive lol. amusing, but confusing.

also penny. i don't like her at all xD. i hate that sherman went from "she hates me! and i hate her!" to "ooh i wanna see her brush her hair~" like. what. she was insulting your dad for something he can't help, and choking you 10 minutes ago (they should've been friends by the end of the film, not love interests). penny is the reason the conflict with grunion happens in the first place, and she basically gets away with bullying sherman. realistic? sure, they would likely believe the innocent smart girl with a traditional family over the new boy with an non-traditional family, but she seems to have no remorse for what she did. like, one scene that irks me is that she brought up the whole grunion thing to peabody with sherman (who didn't know about it) also there, and blames peabody for it happening. i think the line was "if you're such a great dad, then why is ms.grunion trying to take sherman away?" or something... she started ALL of this happening by her jealousy of sherman knowing more than she does, and then blames peabody after sherman bit her in self-defense?? yikes girl.

i at least love that peabody is 100% done with her. same, king.

as for tmpass... i love the art of it, especially the backgrounds and colours. heck, i've taken inspiration of the backgrounds for my own art (shoutout to sylvia liu) and the animation is very unique and expressive. and i love that they have all these outfits for peabody and sherman too. and that secret agent episode ruined my life in a good way xD. and that apocalypse episode was fun too. yesss give me that one-eyed crazy canine

(also love how the tmpass tumblr's last post was just "mr.peabody is a homosexual" and then just. left. fuck yeah honestly)(thank you for confirming tmpass team)

buuuut ehhh the show is kinda hit or miss for me :') at least it's entertaining lol

i've seen other people bring it up, and i agree: they treated peabody so harshly in this show. like, he's been through enough with the discrimination bs, and yet there were multiple episodes of him lowkey having a mental breakdown because something doesn't go right or he's overwhelmed by everything, and it's sad to watch. i think sherman's chaotic energy rubbed off onto him too, cause he also lost half of his braincells and his going crazy ahh going stupid ahh. take that dog to therapy

i think the film had peabody at his best, ngl. i love the classic, i love how snarky he is, how he's basically playing god with how he's able to bend logic to suit him xD. but idk, the film balances this sass and intelligence with something more wholesome and sweet. i like. tmpass made him a little too chaotic for his character, me thinks... sherman is fine in all versions though. no matter what it just works for him lmao. go lad!

aaaaaand i get that tmpass is it's own separate thing, but there's two things that really irk me about it when you think about the other versions:

so in the classic, the wabac machine was made as a gift for sherman's birthday, so he could get more running room. heck, peabody even altered the machine so that sherman could understand the historical figures, and the historical figures wouldn't be rude to him. it was honestly such an adorable main part of their dynamic. AND THEN TMPASS CAME ALONG AND WAS LIKE "hey so what if peabody made the time machine BEFORE sherman and his main inspiration was this RANDOM SAUSAGE MAN". whyyyyyyyyy!! peabody originally made it for sherman, and tmpass stripped away that nice moment!! and how does a sausage man have anything to do with the wabac?? oh, he didn't give up on making sausages?? good for him?? i don't know how that inspired peabody. maybe bro was just hungry, idk.

i really don't get why peabody has foster parents in the show... it's explained in the film (which tmpass carries on from) that peabody came from nothing, no one wanted to adopt him, so he made a life for himself. king got on that GRIND. he even says something like "and now, i want to give him (sherman) the one thing i always wanted. a home", implying that he never had it when he was younger. but then in tmpass he has foster parents? and he DID live in a home? not even the dog shelter, mind you. but an actual house. somehow these two feral dogs got a house? meanwhile peabody was fighting to get custody of sherman and to keep him around?? unless those foster parent dogs HAD owners??

i can get by him having a great great great great ... uncle (duke) because idk, perhaps he did an ancestry tree test one day. but the foster parents thing just doesn't click with me, sorry to say.

but idk, maybe this is some alternative universe peabody cause bro has blue eyes in tmpass and green in mpas.

...my god do i yap. no one ever ask me to talk about that dog and boy again-- jk please do i need to dispose my insanity somewhere

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

You: *writes two small essays clearly, cleanly, and thoroughly going through issues you have with the writing in Miraculous, and how they affect what the show is actually saying vs what the writers are going for vs what the audience is taking away from the show, without treating the characters as autonomous people who actually exist a single time*

Someone who pisses on the poor: 'oh so you think this abused child, who was magically created from a feather, deserves to be maliciously lied to by his lifelong romantic partner and fellow 14 year old? After everything he's already been through?'

Media literacy classes should be a requirement everywhere

Thank you for your kind comments about that post. Comments like yours have been very validating after what was initially a really disheartening series of events.

I was quite pleased with what I wrote and thought that I had done a good job focusing on the writing and emphasizing that I was talking about the big picture of the narrative, not chastising or praising specific characters for what the writers had them do. But after I had multiple people go off on rants defending Alya and Adrien, I started seriously questioning my own sanity and communication skills. I even looked up the definition of betrayal to make sure that I wasn't somehow misusing it since that word really seemed to upset people. In case anyone was wondering:

Betrayal is the breaking or violation of a presumptive contract, trust, or confidence that produces moral and psychological conflict

After verifying that I hadn't been using "betrayal" wrong for well over a decade, I got a little annoyed and did my angry rant in the hope that it would save me from further backlash.

While it has been super validating to see that my two initial essays did in fact make sense to a good number of people, that last post did go a little viral, which I didn't see coming, so I want to take a moment to make it clear that I DO NOT want anyone go after the people who did the rants that spawned my rant. Nothing they did or said was worthy of any sort of pile on. They were just expressing opinions and that's fine. I even get it to some extent because a lot of people have unfairly salted on Alya, acting as if she's the problem and not the writing. And that can be really upsetting when you like her because she doesn't deserve those pile ons any more than Marinette does. They are both victims of bad writing!

I get the desire to treat fictional characters like real people, I really do, but Miraculous is frankly not a good enough show for you to do that. The hand of the author is far too blatant, making characters do whatever the writers want instead of what makes sense for what has been established. One of my favorite quick examples is that the writers gave us a full episode where Gabriel "proved" that Adrien wasn't Chat Noir only to have him figure out Adrien's secret identity because he heard his son use the words My Lady as if that's a super unique pet name that would make Adrien's secret undeniable.

It's all nonsense, which is why I focus on the writing issues, treating the characters like the tools they very clearly are. I simply can't do the kind of character analysis you can do in well written shows where the characters feel real and their actions make sense in the established narrative.

I'll close with this statement to explain how I try to run this blog: the characters in the show are fictional, the people you're talking to on here are not. In the grand scheme of things, nothing about Miraculous is bad enough to be worth fighting over. That's why I enjoy talking about it. With all the truly important fights going on in the world, it's nice to come on here and relax by talking about writing - a topic I adore - without having to care if people agree. It's also why I have this as a side blog. I want people to be able to avoid my content if it upsets them as my goal is first and foremost to have fun dunking on a show that is bad in interesting ways. If I only ever got upset replies to my posts, then I would not run this blog because Miraculous is not worth being miserable over. No piece of fiction is.

[kandisheek]

FIC REC WEEK 12 – OTHER MARVEL SHIPS

PEPPER/NATASHA

Shallows by Lise

Pairing: Pepper/Natasha Rating: T Words: 3,780 Tags: Secret Identity, Female Bonding, Drinking

Summary: A good assistant's hard to find. Natalie Rushman from legal is - well - certainly not a bad one.

Reasons why I love it: Natasha being an absolute badass will never not be awesome. I love how this ties into canon, and I adore the dialogue throughout the whole fic. Also, the ending puts the biggest smile on my face every time I read it. This fic is amazing, and you should definitely read it!

Bidding Hard And Fast by Salmon_Pink

Pairing: Pepper/Natasha Rating: E Words: 1,019 Tags: Dirty Talk, Public Sex, Charity Auction

Summary: When Pepper volunteers her time for a charity auction, she's expecting the bidder's will be interested in business propositions. Natasha has a different kind of proposition in mind.

Reasons why I love it: I could cut the sexual tension with a KNIFE, Jesus. How the hell anyone can manage to put this much hotness in so few words, I don't even know, but Salmon_Pink done did the damn thing. This fic is spicy and lovely, and I hope you go and check it out for yourself!

Useless in Different Ways by Reioka

Pairing: Pepper/Natasha Rating: G Words: 5,001 Tags: Hospital AU, Useless Lesbians, Didn't Know They Were Dating

Summary: Dr. Potts and Dr. Stark make a cute couple, Natasha has to admit mulishly. Too bad no one told her that she was actually the one dating Dr. Potts.

Reasons why I love it: Oh my god, look at all these idiots in love, I am LIVING. This fic is so cute and funny too, it made me chuckle so many times. The dialogue is super sweet, and I love Pepper getting turned on by Natasha respecting the fuck out of her. The whole fic is wonderful, so go and read it for yourself!

Boy Toy by seriousfic

Pairing: Pepper/Natasha Rating: E Words: 2,566 Tags: Crossdressing, Strap-Ons, Undercover

Summary: There are many things Natasha can do to maintain her cover as Pepper's male secretary. Bind her breasts. Wear glasses. Get a blowjob.

Reasons why I love it: This is that 'PDA makes people uncomfortable' scene taken to the nth degree. Watching Natasha's control slip as Pepper gets really into their little show is incredibly satisfying. And holy hell, this fic gets steamy, it's so hot. I love it, and I bet you will too!

it's the little things you do by starkly

Pairing: Pepper/Natasha Rating: E Words: 5,365 Tags: Size Difference, Extremis Pepper, Fluff and Smut

Summary: Pepper looks down on Natalie Rushman from legal, not in any sort of metaphorically disapproving way, but because even wearing heels Natalie Rushman from legal barely reaches Pepper's nose.

Reasons why I love it: Okay, I gotta admit, I never thought about the implications of Pepper getting souped up on Extremis, but now that this fic has opened my eyes, I don't want to think about anything else. This fic goes from sweet to heartfelt to scorching hot in the blink of an eye, and I am here for it. I hope you check this one out, because it's amazing!

[imnobodyuknow]

"All right, it's time! Here's ImNobodyUKnow to tell you all about his..."

"Er..."

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

"...Seriously?"

*snort* Hmm? What? ...Oh! Oh, yeah. I guess I should do this part myself. So sorry! *AHEM*

So! What sort of antics do you think would take place if the Forger family decided to go on a family "ooting" to the countryside of Asahigaoka, whether for a vacation or a mission disguised as a vacation, and visit the Miyauchi family? I bet I could write volumes on the subject (and given the chance, I probably would), but we'll just focus on one possibility for now -- I can easily imagine Anya getting along well with Renge and her friends, even though they live in very different worlds (very, very different, in fact), but what sort of things would they do together? I don't know about you, but one of the first things that came to my mind was this: Renge and Shiori inducting Anya into their secret organization!

Which secret organization am I referring to, you may wonder?

I hope they don't mind me blabbing about it. 😅 See this video for the (mostly) full context.

So with that idea in mind, allow me to introduce the complete crew with its newest member from Ostania!

As you can see, the grown-ups with them are thrilled to see them proudly representing the forces of good! ...Well, at least the women are. 😏

Shiori and Renge were relatively easy to draw -- as you can see, they're wearing the same outfits and expressions as they are in the screenshot and making the same poses:

Anya might be their newest member, but she's a natural at making the same pose!

She might believe the Cosmos Detectives are a real organization, knowing her. 😄

Since she's never actually made this pose (as far as I know, anyway), I did my best to duplicate it for her, using some official art for her expression (changing her eyes a bit to make her look more assertive) and a figurine picture for her outfit:

I'll be darned if that summer outfit doesn't have some crazy detail. 😳

Meanwhile, Loid's wearing a simple green shirt and a "What are they doing?" sort of expression:

For him, I used a screenshot of his profile and rotated it a bit:

The ladies, on the other hand, are delighted by the girls' enthusiasm.

For Yor's face, I used a screenshot of her profile and one of her smiling.

As you may have noticed, her outfit (or at least what you can see of it), is identical to the one in the second screenshot, but with a more summery-looking headband.

Kazuho's pose, expression, and outfit also came from a screenshot:

Both of the ladies were rotated as well, as you can see. I'm not entirely sure, but I think I might be getting a little better at drawing perspective. I'll let y'all decide that one, I guess. 😊

And finally, the environment is largely based on the one in the screenshot of Shiori and Renge. I definitely could've done the trees in the far background a little better, but that kind of shading is a little tricky to do with colored pencils (and not something you can undo if you mess it up). It was tricky for me, anyway, so I guess that's something I'll want to work on that. (Or at least I could sharpen them a little more next time. 🙄)

But overall, I'm pretty pleased with how this picture came out. I'm not surprised, considering how adorable the characters in it are, plus the idea was a fun one to illustrate. 😊 Again, I'd probably go wild with ideas about these two families meeting one another (or rather, this family and this pseudo-family meeting one another), but I'll save that idea for another time. Besides, a glimpse is better than nothing, right?

And with that, Operation Spy x Family x Non Non Biyori Drawing is complete!

...G'night. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

[spiteful-opossum]

“Alright kid let’s see what you got.” Jason said as he walked into his office. He had Bill stay outside in case the kid got anything incriminating off one of his siblings. The kid, who was prime adoption bait if he’s ever seen it, looked like he really could use a meal. He had black hair, blue eyes, and slightly pale skin, and he couldn’t be much more than 14. Jason only had a second to wonder if he was turning into Bruce, albeit younger, cooler, and better, before the kid started moving.

The kid pulled out an assortment of items, lining them up on the desk before taking a step back. Jason walked over to them and leaned down to examine each item. Looking through them he instantly knew these all belonged to the Waynes. However there were 7 Waynes but only 6 items. Still it was impressive the kid managed to grab:

A half full, still slightly warm cup of coffee with an amount of espresso shots on the receipt that meant it could only belong to Tim

One of Damian’s knives that had his initials engraved into the hilt

Dicks car keys, if the little Nightwing keychain was anything to go by

Duke’s phone case, but oddly enough just the case not the actual phone

A pair of Cass’s ballet slippers

A flash drive that Jason recognized as being the one Bruce used in his civilian identity for WE related work

“Well I would congratulate you but it seems like you’re missing one of them.” Jason said smirking slightly under his helmet. He was slightly relieved and a bit excited that he would be able to hold it over his siblings’ heads that they got pickpocketed and he didn’t. However as soon as he turned back to the kid his smirk was instantly gone and replaced but utter shock.

“No, I just saved the best for last.” The kid corrected in an oddly midwestern accent, clearly amused by Jason’s reaction. His hand was held out between them holding on of Jason’s guns. Except it didn’t belong to ‘Jason Todd-Wayne,’ it was Red Hood’s gun. A gun Jason had been cleaning less than half an hour ago. The kid must’ve taken it while he was looking through the other stolen items.

Jason was officially impressed. Not only had the kid figured out his secret identity AND stolen from the entire bat clan without getting noticed, but he also had the balls to steal one of Red Hood’s guns right out of the holster on his thigh, in the middle of one of his warehouses. And he had the skills to be able to pull it off without getting caught. He looked the kid up and down again and he was instantly horrified at what he realized.

At that moment Jason gave up. He had truly become what he feared most, his father. As he looked at the kid he realized that he found the kid kind adorable and he wanted to protect him from the world. He wanted to adopt the kid and take him in as his own. Jason briefly contemplating jumping off the nearest building without his gear or a grappling hook when he realized that, but that would mean Dick, his fossil (not really) of an older brother, would outlive him, again, and he couldn’t let that happen.

He was never going to hear the end of it from his friends, his siblings, or even his siblings’ friends. But this had to be done, he basically promised it on the flyer and Jason already liked the kid way too much anyway. So he did the only thing he could think to do. He took off his helmet since it wasn’t hiding anything anymore as he asked, “What’s your name kid? And do you have any family anywhere?”

The kid looked contemplative for a moment clearly debating whether to lie or tell him the truth. Jason very very secretly hoped he was about to tell Jason something that would let him adopt in the kid. Not that he would ever admit that, no, he was taking that to his second grave. He apparently settled for, “Danny and no, not anymore.”

“Got a last name?” Jason asked trying to hide how hopeful he was about this.

“From the look in your eyes I don’t think that’ll matter much longer.” Danny joked with a teasing grin.

Jason sighed, exasperated. Fuck, he really liked this kid. He hated that he liked him and even more so that Danny was right. That little tiny part of Jason that he was trying and failing to ignore was ecstatic that Danny was adoptable and didn’t seem too opposed to it. Well at least it’s a good thing he knows where the old man keeps his emergency adoption papers.

Danny, for his part, looked endlessly entertained at seeing Jason’s expression. As enthused and on board as Danny seemed Jason figured it would still be best just to make sure. “Look you don’t have to if you don’t want. I can always just give you whatever money you need. I won’t force you to let me adopt you. It’s your choice.”

“I figured there was a non-zero chance of this happening given your family history.” The little shit’s smile grew as he continued, “And I’m all for it as long as joining the emotionally underdeveloped furry brigade is optional.”

“Of course. Why don’t I take you back to my apartment so you can eat, shower, and get some sleep in a real bed while I go steal soon to be grandpa bats’s emergency adoption papers.”

“About that…” Danny started as he pulled a folded up piece of paper out of his pocket and started to unfold it. “I may have taken a bit more than just a flash drive from Bruce. But I didn’t know how this was going to go so I decided to wait to give you this.”

Jason just stared dumbstruck by his amazing soon to be son as he took the stolen adoption form. Jason was really hoping neither Babs nor Tim were hacking his security feed right now. Unfortunately for him the sudden rapid buzzing of his phone in his pocket meant at least one of them had been watching this whole conversation. Oddly though he couldn’t seem to care at the moment what the others thought. Instead of checking his phone, he pulled his new son in for a hug promising to himself that he would never let Danny down.

“Let’s go home. I think you deserve a nice homemade meal to celebrate.”

Pickpocket for Hire

Dpxdc Prompt #61

It started off as a joke.

No really, it was something that Jason felt the Bats would laugh about, while also helping out some street kids along the way.

He put out a job for the kids of Crime Alley, anyone who could pickpocket the entire Wayne family would get all necessities paid for them by Red Hood until they turned 18.

Most kids that saw the challenge would think it was a joke.

Most kids that believed it was real would think it wasn't even worth trying.

Most kids that tried would be caught immediately, and subsequently get a meal paid for by their Wayne of choice and suddenly have some doors opened for them, because Jason knew his family and knew they had a soft spot for kids.

Except the one thing he didn't account for was Danny Fenton, who most certainly was not most kids.

[gnar-slabdash]

I suddenly woke up stupid early on my day off with multiple weird random aches and pains and a revelation about the Leverage chess metaphors.

They’re all wrong.

Look, I obviously adore the white knight/black king motif, and it works really well for that very specific discussion of Nate’s shift in morality and position at the opening of the series. But the show as well as I and other fans have then tried to take that equation and apply it to other jobs and to the crew as a whole. This is fun and awesome, but I believe you’re going to get it wrong every time if you start from the white knight/black king line. 

Because in all other situations, Nate is not the king.

Couple important things about kings in chess: 1. They don’t move much. They can only move one space at a time, and for most of the game they stay in their own little box, well guarded by other pieces. This is because 2. When the king is checkmated (threatened with capture and no possible escape), it’s game over. There is no more hope. This is the sole requirement for losing the game. No matter who else is in play, if the king is down, you lose.

This is NOT how Nate operates. Yeah, he makes the plans, but he doesn’t just hide in the office while everybody else carries them out. He’s almost always right up in there playing the most obnoxious guy you’ve ever met or smashing windows or something. And if Nate gets captured, it’s not game over, in fact, it often isn’t even a PROBLEM. Let’s look at a few times that happens, just for fun: - In The King George Job, Nate’s getting beat up and Eliot slightly panics and is about to run to help, when Sophie says “NOPE, don’t do that, I can fix this without blowing our cover” and saunters in at her leisure. The jig isn’t up and she’s not even particularly concerned about him getting punched. I love it. - In the Maltese Falcon Job, Nate sacrifices himself to save the team. This is a classic thing to do in chess and chess metaphors, but, I cannot stress this enough, you cannot sacrifice your king. That’s just called LOSING. -In The Long Goodbye Job of course the whole con is structured around Nate getting caught. I guess this one kind of makes sense because the whole point is to look like they HAVE completely lost, but then at the end it appears that Nate’s going to secret prison and everyone else is escaping WITH the black book, so they STILL would be losing Nate but winning the job. 

So if Nate isn’t the king, who is?

Hardison.

Let’s look at our points about kings again:

1. Doesn’t move as far or as quickly: Yes, Hardison ALSO gets out there and participates in the cons, everybody does. But Hardison does stay in the background more often, because that’s where his power is. He does the behind the scenes tech stuff and the remote stuff, he can wreck your shop without showing up through the power of the internet. He also does the forgeries of identities and objects, which are also done in his own space. At the same time, he has less physical power and less range -- you don’t want him in a fistfight, or a gunfight, and his grifts are notorious for being a little. . . uh. . . interesting. So he has limited physical range and power but at the same time. . . .

2. The game is over if you lose him. That far-reaching behind the scenes power is absolutely vital for 90% of the jobs. He does the massive amounts of research and hacking legwork needed just to START a job, even before you get to actually completing the job. You are pretty much dead in the water without Hardison. But that’s just from a practical standpoint. Losing Hardison is also a crisis from an emotional standpoint. He’s our moral compass and our sweet baby brother and when Hardison gets in trouble there is no “well he’ll be fine for a few minutes” and no “well he kinda had it coming.” No, when Hardison is in trouble everything else grinds to a halt and everyone comes running. (See: The Experimental Job, The Grave Danger Job, The Long Goodbye Job.)

So like, yes Nate is in charge. But the king isn’t in charge on a chessboard, the king is just a piece with a very unique role, which Hardison fills much better than Nate does. So, now that we have our real king, who are our other pieces?

Queen: Parker. This has nothing to do with her dating Hardison. The thing about the queen is she can do a little bit of everything -- she can move in any direction, making her the most dangerous piece on the board. Parker’s whole character arc is about learning all the different roles and how to access the whole playing field. She’s the only one who plans and executes an entire episode-length job by herself (okay, with a little help from her girlfriend). Plus, the other cool thing about a queen is she has a built-in transformation story -- a pawn that crosses the board can become a queen, which Parker mimics by initially being dismissed as “the crazy one” and ultimately becoming the mastermind.

Knight: Sophie. I know, I wanted Eliot to be the horsie too, but this makes more sense. The knight’s deal is that it’s sneaky -- it’s the only piece that can turn corners -- and it can jump over obstacles. Sophie’s whole philosophy of grifting is that she shouldn’t need to know about safes or security systems, she should be able to bypass (jump over) all that by insinuating herself with the mark (being sneaky by playing a character to get behind enemy lines)

Rook: Eliot. This is the straightforward one -- it goes in a straight line. It also literally represents the castle walls. It’s also so, so fucking helpful to have around, I fucking hate losing my rooks. It’s your solid right hand man, basically. Is this a little reductive of Eliot? Absolutely, but I’m jamming five complex characters into five predetermined boxes, it’s not all gonna be nuanced. And I think Mr. Punchy would like being seen as the fortress that everybody depends on, and to let all the nuance go under the radar. That’s where he likes it. 

Bishop: Finally, here’s where Nate is hiding. While the rook can only go straight (lol), the bishop can only go diagonally. Nothing can be straightforward for the bishop, he always has to come at things from an angle. Like, you know, constantly looking at all the different angles of a situation and finding the right angle to come at a mark from. Also, the bishops sit right in the middle right next to the king and queen. I don’t know that this is historically accurate, but when my dad taught me to play he told me that was because the bishops were important councilors to the rulers, they were the ones who had important wisdom that would tell them the best plan of attack. So the king here isn’t necessarily the one making the plans -- that’s the bishop. And finally, apparently the bishop is called lots of different things in other languages, but we’re operating in English, which means it makes Nate a priest, and that makes me happy.

[luminnara]

So you see I ADORE domestic fluff. So this is 💛 anon part 1 of domestic fluff (feel free if you ever wanna turn any of this into actual writing pieces, I'll message you and reveal my secret identity ;))

So. Billy and Steve have never really experienced the wonderful world of polyamory before. Like the boys, especially since I headcanon that most of them have turned throughout the 60s and 70s, theyve probably, ahem, experimented.

I can imagine Billy is a little skeptical at first. Like, he never knew he liked guys, let alone four of them. Now he's already protective over his boys but when old king Harrington comes into town, oh boy. Billy constantly is like, holding Reader's hand, or him and marko are inevitably making out in alleyway somewhere. David and him probably have an arm over each others shoulders.

Steve, he comes in and it's actually Dwayne and Reader who become attracted to him first. He helps Laddie out when he doesnt have enough pocket money for an ice cream.

Now steve isnt as physically protective, or at least not with someone like david, him and dwayne are usually holding hands or paul and him touching in some way.

Marko and Reader they are little creative bastards and they see that 6 people trying to PDA it's kind of awkward. So, they each take each others jackets (like, nick them when they're asleep) and on the sleeve of everyones jacket, they embroidered initials.

P, M, D, D, S, B, (whatever readers initial is)

So, even when they're not together, they're together

:)

I think Billy would have a lot of jealousy problems early on, because he would be afraid of someone taking one of his partners away (even if it’s another partner). I can see him trying to settle in and navigating this new world where he’s suddenly in the middle of this very chaotic—but very loving—poly THING, and managing to accept and say out loud that he IS into guys and he ISNT afraid of that, and having to deal with so many conflicting emotions all at once. He wants attention from everyone, because if it isn’t on HIM then they might be looking at someone ELSE and decide he isn’t worth the trouble, or decide that they’re done playing with him, or just leave. He’s afraid of being abandoned by this new wonderful thing he’s found because he can’t believe that it won’t suddenly go away, just like every other good thing in his life…and he can’t accept that he actually IS good enough to deserve all of those sleepy “I love yous” just before dawn.

BUT

Steve knows that Billy is a mess of emotions. I like to think that he found out more about Billy’s life after Starcourt happened, or maybe it all came out over a bottle of booze. When he sees the way Billy is so unsure of himself and how everything is manifesting as that jealousy and that anger that he’s so well known for, Steve just gets SO fucking protective of him, because that’s HIS mess of a boyfriend and if ANYBODY makes him feel bad then HE’S GONNA—

Call a in vampire actually because he would really rather not fight but if he has to he’s got a Louisville slugger ready and waiting, baybee

And the boys know all about jealousy. They still feel it, but they’ve had so much practice that it doesn’t usually get in the way of things anymore…except when it comes to Billy and Steve (and reader) because those are their NEW babes

[astaroth1357]

Ok but like, what if MC's fandom starts to make ships with MC and the guys. Just think about the ship wars, the fancams, the fanarts, the absolute CHAOS when the brothers find out. It would be even worse if they start shipping MC with the undatables, one day everything is normal and the next day there are ship wars fighting over MC x Barbatos vs MC x Solomon (who are both very smug about it)

The MC's Fanclub are… Shippers?!

Perhaps… The italics blurb has been fulfilling its greater purpose all along…? Perhaps in its state of existential angst, it has in fact developed a plot of its own… An arc of introspection and self-discovery in which its own longing for purpose has forged a meaningful identity… It now has… a story…

Lucifer

As if they couldn't get any MORE frustrating…

He's not an otaku. He's not a part of ship culture. He's not even sure why anyone would care about who dates who around this school, but apparently it's a big deal to some people...

He only became aware of their interest in him and the MC's relationship through some very… subtle clues…

Like the groups that would follow them around in the hallways with their phones out.

Or the multitude of fan rumors about their relationship that Satan spams him with from time to time just to irritate him.

"MC refused hug from Luci in halls today!! Are they bout breakup??? 🥺"

"Tots got pic of kiss today!! Relationship upgrade??"

"IS ARE MC+LUCIFER SECET LVRS?!? PLEASE RESPOND"

It only got worse after he found out the MC gets shipped out a loooooot….

If he had to pick his least favorite ship, it'd be MC x Mammon. He can kind of see it with any of his other brothers (admittedly, Levi is also a little mystifying) but the idea of them ending up with Mammon makes his skin crawl...

He once found a drawing of the MC and Mammon in an… explicit position in one of the classrooms and he was so disgusted that he wouldn’t even touch it. He just set fire to the paper outright. Disgusting...

Mammon

Shipping, eh…? More money making opportunities!

Has some passing idea of what shipping is from Levi and, from what he knows of it, shippers eat cutesy couples stuff right up!! If all he's got to do to make bank is to look all couple-y around the MC then sounds like a win-win to him!

He'll happily pose for a photo or two (paid in advance) of him throwing his arm around the MC or something. Want him to hold their hand? Sure thing!

But since this is still Mammon we're talking about, the second MC actually starts getting into any of it he'll still turn into a blushy, stuttery mess...

For WEEKS the headline picture on so many of their fans' blogs was an image of him turning beet red while the MC kissed him on the cheek. (A fan really got their money's worth there... 😏)

Though he doesn’t exactly like the MC getting shipped with other people, he'll still totally sell pictures of any of them together. He almost paid off an entire credit card with the money he got from the t-shirt sales of the MC and Satan!

If he had to point to one ship he doesn't like it's either MC x Asmo or MC x Levi. His opinion, but Asmo won't treat them right and they could do waaay better than a shut-in. Like him. Ship the MC with just the Great Mammon, got it?

Leviathan

… Lowkey super active in the MC shipping community but is a self-shipper to the extreme.

Like, he never uses his real name on anything (and would probably die from embarrassment if anyone ever found out) but a lot of their fans probably know a couple of his aliases.

He does everything from mod forums, runs a couple blogs, even anonymously posts his own work of him and MC that are totally not his secret fantasy dates or AU versions of themselves, shaddup.

It’s a lot easier for him to keep his involvement secret because he’s hardly at RAD, but the few times he does show up he tries to keep an eye out for anybody prowling for pictures so he can get in a good pose and save the image later.

Mind you, his version of a “good pose” rarely gets more spicy than linking pinkies, but even then he’s still lit up a Christmas Tree throughout.

Naturally, he’s also not a big fan of any ships that aren’t just him and MC and he can find a reason to be jealous at almost anything. But he keeps a special corner of hate for MC x Mammon and MC x Diavolo. Like, the first one doesn’t even need an explanation but MC x Diavolo?? Really??? Do those two even talk?? (please, please, please make sure they never actually talk because a guy like him versus literal royalty? He’d lose MC for sure….!! 😫)

Satan

He hates to actually agree with Lucifer on something, but their fans are starting to get out of hand...

Knows what shipping is in concept, he may have done it once or twice to characters in his books, but he was kind of surprised how it could evolve into such a… group activity?

He was pretty quick to pick up that the MC’s fans had a bit more interest in them together than they did when they both were apart…

I mean, those hideous shirts that Mammon was pedaling were kind of a dead giveaway…

Considering he finds their fanclub all rather annoying, even without their bizarre interest in his love life, when they started actively meddling with him and the MC he was ready to smash some heads.

No. He will not stop for pictures. No. What things they do together is none of your business. No. He has zero interest in seeing your explicit fanart and if you don’t start running that will be the last question you ever ask.

He DOES, however, appreciate the cringy “annoy Lucifer” ammo. They could keep that up for a lifetime... 😏

He doesn’t have a least favorite ship because he doesn’t care about any of this, leave him alone. (That’s a lie, it’s MC x Lucifer. He pokes fun at Lucifer, but he can’t stand it either. Big shock, I know 🙄).

Asmodeus 

Oh he is shamelessly a part of the community, are you kidding?? 

He could practically call “Shipping the MC” one of his favorite pastimes. He’ll openly gossip with their fanclub about who they’ve been with, who they’re seeing, who’s got a chance, etc… He lives for this shit!

He’s the only person who knows that Levi is also in the community and what his aliases are (not because he told him, but because Levi’s not as subtle as he thinks he is… Who else would call themselves “SupremeRuri666” and speak mostly in outdated chat lingo?) but he doesn’t out him because he thinks his very obvious crush is kind of cute. 

Plus, Levi needs the outlet waaaay more than him…

Doesn’t stop him from constantly trolling him and getting into arguments over who the MC would be better with though (the two are “virtual nemeses” as far as Levi is concerned).

Appreciates all forms of expression that comes out of the community (especially the saucy kind 😏) and will happily feed into his own shippers without a care in the world.

Truthfully, Asmo will say that there isn’t a ship he doesn’t like but if someone mentions one that he thinks is kind of “eh,” he’ll just add himself into the mix. “Oh, you like MC x Barbatos? Well how about Asmo x MC x Barbatos? That sounds loads more interesting doesn’t it??”

Beelzebub 

Oh, Beel… Sweet, sweet Beel… Beel doesn’t even know what their club is doing…

Because Beel has a reputation of being pretty protective of MC - and against the fanclub in general - the club keeps a healthy distance… but that doesn’t mean they’re not going to sneak in some picture or make a SHITLOAD of fanwork about them.

Between classes and practice Beel is a busy guy, so sometimes he just doesn’t notice that there’s people hiding behind trees when he’s out with MC. 

Honestly, his complete ignorance of it all makes it even cuter because when he acts sweet, it’s not just for the camera. That’s the real deal.

Mammon was the one who eventually let it slip that there was even shipping happening and Beel was… kind of creeped out because isn’t this stalking? But also kind of weirdly happy(?) that MC x Beel was so popular… Very conflicted boy here.

He never actually acknowledges the community, though, and just keeps on being Beel (which still gave the fans more than enough material so all’s well that ends well?)

Beel genuinely doesn’t have a least favorite ship (because he believes the best ship is whoever makes the MC happy) but his second favorite under himself is probably MC x Belphie. They look very cute together...  😊

Belphegor 

Ride or die, Beel x MC x Belphie. 

Just kidding (kind of), Belphie isn’t into the shipping but if asked he’d be pretty okay with that one.

His campaign against the MC’s fanclub and their attention stealing ways means that he found out about their shipping thing only slightly ahead of Beel when Mammon was trying to get pictures of them napping together…

Honestly, he couldn’t care less if a bunch of weirdos were weirdly invested in their relationship, but he’s not about to let Mammon just make a quick Grimm off of it. Belphie makes sure that he gives him NOTHING to work with. 

Since Mammon is the main dealer, the shippers in both the MC fanclub and Belphie fanclub aren’t nearly as well fed and pretty desperate for anything... You best believe he plays that to his advantage (because it’s okay if he does. He’s not Mammon).

Really helps that MC x Belphie is legitimately a very cute looking couple, carried by Belphie’s cuteness alone if nothing else. Add an adorable MC and you reach levels so cute it could actually melt people into puddles of goo... They could be a registered weapon.

Least favorite MC ships are any that don’t involve him or Beel. Any others may as well just not exist, he won’t even acknowledge them. MC x Who? Yeah, that’s what he thought.

[voiceless-terror]

I am so completely enamored with Danny as jons ex and I would be forever in your debt if you finished that

i wasn't expecting people to like this idea so much, its definitely one of my weirder ones xD since im not sure when i'll get around to actually finishing it (if ever) you can have a very rough chunk of it instead. you'll have to forgive any mistakes, im not up to editing it.

In a surprising show of athleticism, Jon ducks under Sasha’s chair before the specter of his past manages to see him.

Sasha swears at the action, backing up in her chair and peering down at Jon in bafflement. “What on Earth are you doing, Jon?”

Instead of answering her question, he backs up even further, tucking his feet out of sight. He thinks Sasha’s umbrella must be under here, and judging from the sharp point currently jabbing at his thigh, he probably broke it. “Is he still there?” he hisses, tilting his head to avoid bashing it into the desk.

“Who?”

“That- that man!”

A pause. “Tall, dark and handsome?”

Jon’s turn to pause. “I suppose you might call him that,” he replies stiffly. And it’s true. The man, from Jon’s brief, panicked glimpses, is at least six foot, with thick, dark hair and a bright grin.

And he looks exactly like Jon’s ex, Danny Stoker.

He’d done an almost comical double-take after a cursory glance; at first he’d thought Danny was the new hire, but this man was more angular, like a sharper, leaner version of his ex. So no, it couldn’t be him.

That didn’t stop him from diving under the nearest object, ergo Sasha’s desk. Not the wisest of decisions, considering his throbbing side, but he’s never been known for grace under pressure.

He’s not exactly sure why this fight or flight mode’s been activated- he and Danny had parted on fairly good terms, each recognizing that although they cared about the other, they simply weren’t compatible in the long term. They’d dated for a little over six months when Jon was a freshman, and he’d fallen hard.

Danny had been his first real relationship, and Jon was shocked that someone like him even looked his way. Impossibly handsome, incredibly fit, desired and envied in equal measure, and he dated scrawny, shy, insecure Jonathan Sims; the rumor mill went wild. They’d met at a party, and not even a good one. In a brief moment of liquid courage, Jon managed to insert himself into a group and fit in one snarky joke that sent Danny into stitches, the rest of the partygoers following his lead. For one second, Jon felt like he truly fit in, like he was someone worth knowing.

Danny had a way of making someone feel special. Big, romantic gestures, surprising him after class, taking him on little expeditions beyond campus. Jon didn’t drive, still doesn’t, and Danny wanted to show him the world outside of their privileged little campus.

But, like all of Jon’s relationships, it came to an end. Jon wasn’t ready for such overwhelming affection (didn’t think he deserved it, quite frankly), and Danny needed someone who could handle his fast-paced lifestyle. Jon was not that man. They broke up amicably, even if Jon shed a few tears in private, saw each other on campus a few times. Danny tried to reach out more than once, just as friends, but Jon’s never been able to handle more than one relationship at a time, and by then he’d met Georgie.

But now it seems the past is unavoidable, and standing near the circulation desk. Well, now walking in his direction, if the steady footsteps were any indication. Jon’s heart begins to hammer in his chest as it hits him that he is, in fact, hiding under a desk because a man who sort of looks like his ex is in his general vicinity. Coward.

“‘Lo!” God, even the voice is similar, if not as deep. “Tim Stoker. Reporting for duty.”

Stoker. Tim Stoker. Jon startles, slamming his head against the desk with a yelp.

Somewhere in his spiraling thoughts and throbbing head he remembers- Danny had a brother. An older brother that he adored. This must be the famous Tim- Danny made him out to be a saint, and though Jon never met him, he felt some fondness via Danny’s descriptions. But Tim’s going to have no fondness for him, especially considering Jon’s current position, hiding in pain under his coworkers desk.

“Pleased to meet you!” Sasha chirps, very clearly amused by the situation. “I’m Sasha James. And this-” she tugs at one of Jon’s legs, dragging him a few inches into sight. Jon buries his head in his hands and wishes he were invisible. “-is Jonathan Sims. We’ll be training you.”

“Excellent.” Tim’s voice holds the same good humor Danny’s always did, and sends a pang of nostalgia through his chest. “Er, you alright down there?”

“Yes,” Jon responds robotically, scrambling to his feet and standing behind Sasha’s chair, unwilling to meet the man’s eyes, lest he be drawn in. “I- uh, lost a pen. P-Probably left it in the copy room, I’ll just be going...there.” With that incredible performance, he fled.

And only tripped once on the way out.

________

So Jon’s kind of cute.

Tim doesn’t normally go for tiny disgruntled academics, but Jonathan Sims is an interesting fellow. He’s got a reputation for being the ‘problem child’ of the Research Department, awkward and prickly and always available with a snide word. He wields his books and files like a little suit of armor, and the only person he’s seen him open up to is Sasha. Besides their little conversations, Jon is all work and no play.

Except with Tim.

Sasha says she’s never seen anything like it, with one of her secret little smiles. Jon’s always staring. Usually, the man can’t hold eye contact to save his life, but he’ll spend full minutes looking at Tim when he thinks he can’t see. The first few times, Tim would turn around and smile, but that practically sent the man into convulsions, dropping his papers and jumping out of sight like a spooked cat. It was funny the first few times, but Tim pitied him enough to ignore it now. He hopes Jon enjoys the view.

God forbid he ask the guy a question. Jon will look around the room, as if waiting for someone else to answer, when it’s clearly directed at him. He’ll blush and stammer his way through every explanation, keeping a wide berth of at least two feet between them. Even when Tim wants him to look at his screen, he’ll squint from far away. Tim starting to think he smells bad, or has some sort of communicable disease unbeknownst to him.

“It’s not that,” Sasha assures him, again with that unreadable smile. “Trust me.”

Time to try something else.

He prints out his latest follow up, a rather elaborate statement regarding mistaken identities and absolutely nothing supernatural. He knows Jon prefers to look at things on paper, as screens ‘trigger his migraines’ if Tim understood his mumbles. Maybe if he can engage with him on familiar territory for the both of them, he’ll be able to hold a conversation. Tim specifically requested his help on this one.

“If you could just look it over, make sure everything’s up to snuff, that’d be great,” Tim says to the top of Jon’s head, as the man refuses to lift his own to meet his gaze. “You know how Dr. Walker is. Always-”

“Finding mistakes where there are none? I’m familiar with her methods,” Jon snorts, and Tim feels like he’s getting somewhere. A whole sentence! With classic Jonathan Sims snark! “I-I can give it a look. I’m rather busy, but -”

“Take your time,” Tim says with a dismissive wave of the hand. “I finished a bit early, so I don’t need it for a few days yet. Don’t want to put you out.”

“You’re not.” Jon meets his eyes for about ten seconds before ducking his head back down.

Progress!

[decaffeinatedparadisemaker]

2022 Year in Review

 Tagged by @kitausuret hiiiii kita <3

1. Number of stories posted to AO3: 8, 2 of which are in-progress

2. Word count this year: 81,374

3. Fandoms I wrote for: MCU, Spider-Man (comics, Webb, Raimi), Spider-Gwen

4. Pairings: Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, Peter Parker/Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker/Michelle Jones, Michelle Jones/Gwen Stacy, Jian Mei/Peter Parker

5. Stories with the most...  Kudos: Long Road Home - 24 Bookmarks: Long Road Home - 3 Comment Threads: Long Road Home - 15 Complicate Me, Elevate Me (Symbiot3) - 8 Word Count: Long Road Home - 38,375

6. Work I'm most proud of... Amazing Jian Mei, hands down, no contest. I have never seen any take on a Chinese MJ Watson, or an Asian MJ Watson outside of Meera Jain, who hasn’t had a lot of page time and has had zero screen time (a travesty). So, I rolled up my sleeves and tackled it myself, and I’m doing my absolute best to represent Chinese and Asian culture and traditions and everything and still make her MJ Watson, and y’know what? I kinda like what I’ve done. And her story is just beginning! Please please please I am begging you please read it and comment and recomm to others; I really really really want more people to understand appreciate Chinese culture outside of the usual food

7. Work I'm least proud of: Probably Unfamiliar & Unknown, but only because I’m stuck tbh hahaha

8. A favorite review I received: Honestly, anytime I see a comment on Amazing Jian Mei I die of love, but if I had to pick a few (no way can I just pick one):

@weoffendedshadows ‘s comment on Chapter 1:

As promised - there is something amazing about seeing a character whom I have built up an image in my mind, of how they look, act, and just generally exist, and then is challenged so thoroughly and deeply that i can't help but look and see the same character in a new light. This is MJ, the same one I've been reading for years now, and I am loving how that same personality shows up here.

I also love the importance of culture within this story, how MJ struggles with the new world she finds herself in, while holding onto what is herself. I'm looking forward to seeing Peter here.

- Honestly after I had posted the first chapter I was so petrified that people would hate the idea of a Chinese MJ Watson, and to see this comment gave me so much encouragement and justified my decision to put this out. Because writing AJM isn’t pulled out from nowhere; I’m ethnically Chinese myself, and almost everything culture-specific is something I either experienced myself or something that I personally know has.

Em jeet ‘s comment on Chapter 6:

Oooh MJ got a lil spicy in this chapter! I adore the way you write her btw. She’s so perfectly wonderfully in character while also being Chinese. Idk, it’s just nice to see you let her be both, because some people can only manage one or the other.

Good lord, but the tension building (in her head) between her and Peter is fantastic. I hope to get a confession— Spider-Man or otherwise— at some point

- Em has been one of my more consistent commentators, but if I had to pick one this is it. The balance between being Chinese and being recognizably MJ Watson is, well, something I had dearly hoped I hit, and to see someone recognize my efforts? No words

@kitausuret ‘s comment on Chapter 7:

WHEW finally I made it to the last of the updates!

Oh! I forgot to mention earlier I think it's interesting that Liz is a journalist in your universe! I wonder if she's ever worked with Betty, or Robbie, or anyone kind of adjacent to the Bugle fam like Ben Urich. Fascinating stuff!

I like the conversation between May and Mei, it's so good. May knowing Peter's secret identity is also kind of a neat development here, but at least it sounds like here she didn't discover her nephew was Spider-Man because he was collapsed half-dead in her home. Little things~!

Aaaaaand of course, gotta love that little bit of tension between Peter and Mei. It's fate. ;)

Oh, one more thing: what inspired you to have Mei pursue medicine, out of curiosity? I really liked in 616 how MJ started pursuing a psychology degree so that's what I immediately thought of, but I love learning where people pull inspiration from. 💖

- @kitausuret is completely unhinged because of Mei, but this comment dug deeply to me, because she picked up something so important - the medicine thing, which is an important cultural discussion. I am so, so, so glad she picked up on how important this was to me <3

9. A time when writing was really, really hard: It generally is hard because I think the fandom is dry right now, but two periods in particular tested me: the first is right now with regard specifically to Unfamiliar and Unknown, simply because I find writing a Far From Home adaptation Very Hard. The second was when I was writing that certain scene in Chapter 3 of Amazing Jian Mei - you’ll understand what scene I refer to if/when you read it (although I will not judge you if you wish to skip it), but I literally cried while writing it and was crying myself to sleep that night.

10. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you: Hmm not sure. I’ll have to think about this one.

11. A favorite excerpt of your writing: I’m not sure I can call it my absolute favorite, but this scene from Chapter 1 of Amazing Jian Mei is definitely up there:

Mei blinked and focused on the screen, where, truth be told, she had the fewest requests from Rainbow’s list of models. Part of it was undoubtedly because she was new, but… “I do not understand what that has to do with my name.”

Andy grimaced, looking visibly uncomfortable. “Mei, in my years working, I’ve noticed that models with more, uh, Western names, tend to get more bookings. It’s why I changed my stage name myself; my real surname is Karim. I’m an American citizen, was born and raised here, and Andrew Joseph are my real given names, but for a while it was difficult for me to find bookings with an Arabic surname, so I picked O’Conner from a phone book. In the same way, Jian Mei is an obviously Chinese name, so…” he spread his hands helplessly. “I don’t like it either, Mei, but it’s an option I recommend.”

Mei nodded. “Dawn told me something similar, but she only said it was because she was tired of people mispronouncing her name.”

Andy nodded. “She chose Dawn from her surname.”

Mei raised both eyebrows. The surname 萧 had absolutely nothing to do with the word “dawn”, but thinking about it, she realized that the almost identically-pronounced 晓 (minus the vastly different intonation, which any Chinese speaker would immediately pinpoint, but which most non-speakers would probably hardly notice) translated to Dawn. So… “What if I make a stage name similar to mine?”

Andy nodded. “Most non-speakers would butcher your name into Jane May, which is a start.”

Mei thought about it. “Is that a good name?”

Andy rubbed his chin in thought. “It’s just, they’re both first names, and they’re not so catchy.”

“How about May first? It is the correct pronunciation of my real name anyway.”

“Hmm,” Andy was visibly perking up, and looking intensely at Mei (which gaze, however, she didn’t mind; unlike the other gazes she was used to, Andy’s was pure thought and focus and creativity). “May Jane, May Jane. It’s still a little softer than I’m used to, but-ah!” A snap of the fingers. “How do you feel about Mary?”

Mei thought about it. “Mary Jane is not so far from May Jane.”

“Mary Jane, Mary Jane, yes, I can see it.” Then she saw Andy realize something, as his shoulders slumped and his eyes defocused. “But that can’t be just it, because Mary Jane can also be slang for marijuana, and we don’t want your stage name to be immediately associated with, well, that.”

Mei sat back and pursed her lips. “How about if we add something to Mary Jane?”

Andy’s eyes refocused on her face. “Like a third name? Something Western? Yes, yes, that could work. Do you like anything?”

Mei slumped. This was hard; she didn’t know that many Western surnames that she liked. Chewing her lip, she looked around Andy’s office for inspiration, and finding none, thought about the contents of her bag-ah.

Mei smiled, and Andy immediately noticed.

“What is it?”

She reached into her bag, pulled out the book she had bought the previous week, and showed it to Andy, who tilted his head to one side in puzzlement. “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes? Mary Jane Holmes?”

Still smiling, Mei shook her head. “I was actually thinking of Dr. Watson.”

Andy’s eyes lit up in excitement. “Yes, yes, yes, it’s excellent. Excellent! A good addition to our team.” Rapidly, Andy snatched back his laptop and started typing furiously, then hit the enter key and leaned back. “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the newest model of Rainbow International, miss Mary Jane Watson.”

Letting a grin spread across her face to match the one on Andy’s, and feeling a surge of confidence and adventurousness, Mei stood up and reached a hand across the table. “You can also call me MJ.”

12. How did you grow as a writer this year: I started writing. I have never written anything before, except for the usual creative writing classes way back in high school and college, which were all more than a decade in the past.

13. How do you hope to grow next year: If I can continue bringing Mei to the page that’ll be the greatest thing ever.

14. Who was your greatest positive influence this year: Too many to mention. Uhh. @seek--rest of course, @promiseofthepremise, @jenniboo311, @pepperminttegan @kitausuret @dyde21 @evil-pony @mysterycyclone @anarchyduck @inkpenparker @weezly14 @demigod-of-the-agni GOD I AM FORGETTING SOMEONE I’M SORRY I’M SORRY I’M SORRY PLEASE LMK I WILL ADD YOU HERE I’M SORRY

15. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year: Like I said. Everything culture-specific in Amazing Jian Mei either came from my personal experience, or from something experienced by someone I personally know

16. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers: Just write. I know how scary it is. But I promise you, there will be that one person who reads it and loves it and tells you that they love it, and you’ll fall in love.

17. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year: I’m looking forward to continuing Amazing Jian Mei (not sure so much about finishing, but definitely continuing). Plus another couple ideas marinating.

18. Tag some writers whose answers you’d like to read: I think everyone I tagged has already answered this but again if I forgot to tag you as a positive influence please don’t pitchfork me I am sorry again

And before I forget:

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR BELOVED @seek--rest !!!!!

[baku-bowl]

broke 1,000 followers (the fuck? I don't even make content people), so decided to write up a list of some (but not all, I'll make other lists later) of my favorite Bakugou-centric fic recs. my tastes run towards hurt/comfort, as you'll probably figure from the list. if there are some Baku-centric fics that you've enjoyed that aren't on here, please add them - this is definitely not a complete list of the ones I've read and love, but I'm always up for some recs. <3

fair warning, most of these are wips.

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

Social Media 101 by WindsChild8178

Part 1: Survival Guide to Fucking Up

[Solely Bakugou’s point of view]

Katsuki Bakugou doesn’t have a gentle bone in his body. He’s aggressive in everything he does and does everything with 100% of his heart in it. After the Sport’s Festival, Katsuki starts to get harassed by strangers for his unheroic demeanor. It starts with letters but it doesn’t end there. The moment Katsuki realizes the harassment has entered dangerous territory and he needs to tell someone, it’s already too late.

Part 2: Post Traumatic Life Disorder

[Point of View opens up to Bakugou, teachers and classmates]

When the Dorms are finally built, everyone is settling in well, but things become tense as people begin to realize something isn’t right with the recently rescued Bakugou.

[Cannon compliant right up to after the License Exam]

hands down my favorite fic in the fandom right now. it’s the one that converted me into a Bakugou lover. if you have any fondness for Bakugou as a character then it’s likely you’ve read this one already, but if not, I can’t recommend it enough. incredibly depressing, but with the hope that comfort is coming soon in the next few chapters.

The Kids Will Be Alright, Eventually by NotWithThatAttitude

Bakugou is spiraling in the aftermath of Kamino and his friends are starting to notice. He's stubborn, aggressively independent, and less than willing to dig into his past, but after a breakdown that ends with a painful secret revealed, he starts to get help.

Whether he likes it or not.

Meanwhile, a new kind of villain threatens an uneasy peace following the loss of Allmight. Whispers build as a new narrative slowly takes shape:

Hero society needs to change.

Feat. Therapy, Dadzawa, best boy Kirishima, dysfunctional families, healing, growing up, and the mortifying ordeal of being known

guys.. the medical accuracy of this fic is just... *chef’s kiss*

I rarely see mental health genuinely handled well in fics, but this one goes above and beyond. kudos to the author for doing such excellent research into psychology, and making the application of it in here not-boring. also, while this one does have abusive!Mitsuki, it’s done in a way that feels realistic, and how I usually will see it occur in real life, rather than just for the hurt/comfort feels.

fair warning, the fic can be incredibly triggering (themes of severe depression, PTSD, panic attacks, rape survival, abuse survival, suicidal ideation/attempted suicide, among other things), so be safe and heed the tw’s if you decide to read. legitimately one of my Top Favorite fics in this fandom.

Lock and Key by autochorystalize

Bakugou made a choked, gravelly noise before croaking out a low, “You can’t be serious.” His fingers ached to blow up everything in the room.

“I’m sorry, young man, but you can’t change reality! This sometimes happens.” Recovery Girl clicked through his file, adding a new symbol in a previously empty slot.

- - -

A pair of eyes discreetly locked on to an explosive blond plowing his way forward, parting people in his path. He recognized the kid, of course. Anyone in the underbelly of society would recognize him, after the publicity of both UA’s Sports Festival and the events leading up to All Might’s fall. The uniform he was wearing cast away any doubts about the young man’s identity.

It was a bit of a surprise that the little firecracker presented as an omega.

- - - - - - - - -

Or: there are certain types of evil that seemed too distant, archaic violations and perversions that would never actually threaten bright-eyed heroes-in-training in the clean, modern world...but sometimes those evils aren't as distant as one might think.

remember when I said that I love a/b/o fics that are full of plot and world-building and gender-induced tension? that’s this one. the OC’s are fabulous and you love to hate ‘em. also, it’s the fic that made me fall head-over-heels for the TodoBaku dynamic, so it’s got a special place in my cold, dead heart. 

be warned, there are rather explicit non-con scenes between an adult (OC) and a minor (Bakugou) in this one, but the author warns for them in advance, and you could likely skip those parts without missing too much if you need to.

Never and Always, Eventually by Wawa_Boonliang

"Katsuki can remember the exact moment that he and Deku…that he and Midoriya Izuku became friends. He can also remember the moment he and Izuku became fierce rivals, a time when they were almost enemies.

However, what he remembers most clearly about their relationship is the moment that they moved passed rivals and became something more close than mere friends. Something more like brotherhood, something forged in fire and secured in the middle of a battlefield or in the midst of natural disaster where the number of the dead was climbing ever higher. And then it was torn from him."

Katsuki is given a second chance. A chance to save everyone. A chance to change everything.

But should he?

y’all. I’m a slutty, slutty whore for time travel fics. a time travel fic with autistic!coded Bakugou? it was love at first read.

Lessons Learned by Sif (Rosae)

Rather than the police station, Katsuki's friends bring him to a hospital after rescuing him from the villains. His wounds were minor, but it didn't make having them treated any less important. As it would so happen, Best Jeanist was also brought to this hospital after the attack.

Sometimes, small choices have a big impact on how a story plays out.

classic Bakugou hurt/comfort. this fic opened me up to the potential that could be a genuinely good Best Jeanist & Katsuki mentor-mentee relationship, and I kind of dig it and search ravenously for it in other fics now. I’m also a huge fan of the behind-the-scences Pro Hero Chat group.

Slope by sunfleurmoon

“I’m not a hero. Or a good person,” Katsuki says, giving Aizawa a pointed look, “So leave me alone. I don’t care about the League or UA, or you—” The two years he’s been away have been fine, more than fine, fucking fantastic actually if you ignore the bi-monthly near-death experiences. He doesn’t need this place. He doesn’t miss this place.

And yet, longing, a childish desire to tear up, or maybe blow something to bits, they all twist in his chest like a band of traitors regardless. “—I just want to go home.”

Or: the one where Katsuki and Izuku fail the first term exam, Aizawa discovers their pasts, and Katsuki is booted from UA. Featuring questionable descriptions of villain organizations, a slightly illegal moving shop, and your favorite emotionally constipated badass in distress with a newly discovered penchant for collecting strays.

paaaaaaiiiiiiiin. the hurt is ALIVE in this one. lots of tortured, angsty exploding child goodness. the OC’s are excellently crafted, and the Bakugou & Eri relationship? beautiful. definitely deserves a read.

Ground Zero by WindsChild8178

In the wake of Kamino, Katsuki is tested more than anyone could imagine. Bound by a villain’s quirk to keep his silence or die, he lives each day knowing it might very well be his last. He continues to work towards becoming a hero, keeping his secret from his classmates and teachers, focusing on making it through each day and trying not to allow the panic or depression to get the best of him. When the villain finally corners him with demands in exchange for his life, there is really only one answer Katsuki Bakugou can give.

honestly don't know which I want updated more - social media 101 or ground zero. this author's fics are amazing, and I really wasn't expecting the twist in this one. can't wait for windschild to come back to this fic some day.

The Defect by LadyGreenFrisbee

"Why do you want to win the Sports Festival so badly?" 

Because I want to see if the defect could usurp the masterpiece.

(In which Endeavor holds a terrible secret and Bakugo has to suffer since childhood for it.)

a great concept, and I adore the shouto and Katsuki sibling interaction here. hoping the author will come back to this one some day.

A Name That You'll Remember by Heronfem

Kirishima Eijirou is a Hero. Bakugou Katsuki... is not. Trapped in his toxic workplace and increasingly desperate to get out, Red Riot's days are only brightened by a new villain known as Caution, who's not exactly villainous and keeps accidentally doing good deeds. But when a real villain appears, a threat from the past that demands that Red Riot make the ultimate sacrifice to keep the public safe, Bakugou is forced into saving the day... and eventually, Red Riot himself.

sob story good guy villains are my weakness, this fic is a gem, and I'd kill for the sequel.

Our Hero by AnonymousTwit

He felt everything jerk to the side and throw his balance off before he saw anything, dust clouding his vision and irritating his lungs as the earth itself opened up to swallow them whole. For a single moment, in a millisecond's time, his wild eyes locked with Raccoon Eyes', hers alight with fear and adrenaline-fueled desperation. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he realized that it was the first time she'd looked at him with something other than long-deserved hatred in days.

And then he was free falling.

Or

After a particularly nasty encounter between childhood friends, the class learns about Bakugou and Midoriya's dark history and practically ostracizes Bakugou while trying to defend Midoriya. An earthquake during an outing has all sides regretting their decisions.

just fucking tear apart my self-sacrificing faves in every way imaginable while their loved ones watch on in terror. 💖🥰💖 this one is heavy on the Bakusquad and Class-1A feels, and VERY heavy on the Mina & Bakugou relationship (platonic).

Running back the tape, watching it replay by Faralyne

For someone ripped from their time, ripped from the few but strong relationships built by time and personal development, by self-reflection and swallowed pride, ripped from the one thing that made him feel worthwhile and needed and put-together, and forced to forge everything over again—Katsuki thinks he is handling it pretty fucking well.

Or

A villain’s quirk sends a 29-year-old Bakugou back in time to his middle school days.

am I a sucker for time travel? yes. am I a sucker for vigilante!bakugou? also yes. am I a sucker for this fic? literally refreshing the page in wait for an update as we speak.

Liability by sandelf

After All-Might dies rescuing Bakugou from the League, Bakugou is determined to prove it wasn't for nothing.

But the world is against him, his grief is overwhelming, and his stability is splitting at the edges.

very self-indulgent bakugou angst. tw for harassment, severe depression, and suicidality.

Special Mentions:

How To Win The Sport Festival: A Step By Step Guide by mhwright

Short re-imagining of the Sports Festival Arc if Shinso had planned a little better and worked a little harder to win the Sports Festival and if the match-ups had been slightly different. Self-indulgent fic of watching him succeed.

this is completely Shinsou-centric, not Bakugou-centric, but I love and adore it and am dying for a sequel. Shinsou is Best Boy here and you'll be rooting for him the whole time.

[freddie-weaselbee]

April Fools//F.W.

Pairing: Fred Weasley x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Silly pranks and a little angst, a tiny bit of small language

Summary: April 1st was a special day for many reasons, and it’s about to get a whole lot more special once Fred asks an important question.

Word Count: 2.4k

A/N: Here’s a special fic for the twins birthday, as well as April Fools’ Day!  Fourth fic in Abby’s Week of Weasley. 

~Abby’s Week of Weasley Masterlist~   ~Masterlist~

Message me to join the taglist!

March 31, 1995

For the third time that night, Angelina Johnson rolled her eyes at you and hit you with her pillow. Hard. So hard that you ended up toppling off of your bed due to the excited, unbalanced position you were in, practically standing at the edge of your bed. 

“Angie!” you screamed from the floor, your smile cracking through the angry façade you were putting on. 

“Oh you deserved it Y/N!” your roommate yelled. “If I have to hear you talk about Fred for one more minute I swear...”

“I second that,” said Alicia Spinnet from her bed, rolling her eyes for the umpteenth time that night. “Just grow a pair and ask him out already!”

 “You’re crazy, absolutely insane,” you replied, climbing back onto your sheets only to be knocked down by your friend once again. 

 “Ok I swear I’m done now,” Angelina said through her giggles. “But Alicia’s right. It’s been two bloody years, why don’t you get up off your timid ass and actually do something? What could go wrong?”

 “What could go wrong?” 

 Alicia groaned at your incredulous tone, knowing exactly what Angelina had just started. She covered her ears with her pillow, hoping to drown out the next barrage of rapid fire words from your mouth.

 “Would you like the possibilities listed alphabetically or by order of significance?” you quipped, not giving either of the girls any time before you started again. “First of all, he would laugh at me. Then he’d realize how sad it was that I thought I actually had a chance with him and he’d make fun of me to the entire school. And you know that Fred can’t keep his damn mouth shut!”

 The girls murmured in agreement, knowing firsthand to never tell Fred any secrets unless they wanted the entire student body and population of England to know as well.

 “So he’d tell everyone,” you continued, “and they’d all make fun of me and talk about me behind my back. ‘Oh there goes poor Y/N, she’s so sad that she thought that the hottest guy in school would be interested in her! What a stupid stupid girl.’”

 “I personally think his brother is hotter, but to each his own,” Angelina murmured.

 “Bloody hell they’re identical twins, they’re practically the same,” said Alicia.

 “They’re not the same,” you and Angelina replied in sync, turning to each other and giggling before you finished your rant.

 “Anyways, the whole school would think I’m a moron, all of Fred’s family would think I’m a moron, and I’d probably be a laughing stock at The Burrow and I’d be too embarrassed to spend another summer there with everyone making fun of me! So that is why I will not be confessing my feelings any time soon.”

 Your friends just sighed and rubbed their temples, used to hearing this kind of talk from you. 

 “You know you’re hot as fuck, right?” said Alicia, gesturing up and down and seeming to check you out.

 “I know that,” you replied confidently. Something about being friends with Alicia and Angelina had brought out your confidence and you knew your self worth, but not when it came to the love of your life. “But there’s plenty of girls here who are hotter and haven’t had their hair held back by him while they threw up their guts into the toilet.”

 Alicia choked on the drink she was sipping, remembering that party a few months ago. “Yeah, remind us not to let you have firewhisky again you lightweight.”

 You tossed your pillow at her, making her spill her drink and grumble in your direction. 

 “Alright if you won’t tell him, why don’t you hint at it and hope for him to make a move?” Angelina suggested. “His birthday’s tomorrow, what did you get him?”

 “I, umm, I didn’t have that much money, so I had to be more... creative about it.” You pulled a sweater from one of your drawers, a deep purple color with orange stitching along the sleeves and collar. “Molly taught me how to knit over the summer and I’ve been working on this ever since. Do you think he’ll like it?”

 “That is the sweetest thing ever, Y/N,” said Angelina. “And Fred doesn’t care about money or wealth, I’m sure he’ll love it. Trust me, give him this and flirt with him all day tomorrow and I’m sure he’ll get the hint.”

 “He hasn’t gotten it yet, and I’ve done nothing but flirt all year!”

 “Then flirt harder,” said Alicia. “Give it all you have, and if it doesn’t work out then he’s a good for nothing prick. That’s how I live my life,” she said shrugging.

 “Great advice, thanks,” you drawled. “But alright, I’ll try harder. Tomorrow’s gonna be a day to remember!”

 ------------------------------

 April 1, 1995

 You and your roommates slowly snuck out of your room the next morning, being as quiet as humanly possible. On a normal day you wouldn’t bother to be this careful, but today was not a normal day. It was April 1st, the twins’ birthday. Also know as their favorite day of the year, April Fools’ Day. 

 Alicia stubbed her toe on one of the steps and let out a small peep, making you and Angelina turn to her in horror. Your cover was blown. 

 “Well, well, well,” came a voice from down the stairs. “What do we have here?”

 You shoved Angelina in front of you, clutching the back of her uniform for dear life. “You go,” you whispered. “You’re the strongest.”

 “No,” she said quickly, “Alicia’s the fastest, she can outrun them and cause a distraction!”

 “You know I wouldn’t even make it out of the common room,” Alicia replied. “Y/N can go first, she can talk them out of doing anything.”

 “Yeah, right,” you scoffed. “Like that’s ever worked before. I ended up going to bed to find a giant snake my sheets.”

 “Well, someone has to go first!” Angelina hissed. 

 The three of you continued your argument in low voices, none of you wanting to be the first to face Fred and George's wrath. You were so caught up in your conversation that you didn’t even notice the figure behind you until they cleared their throat.

 You all screamed and you tripped over Angelina, causing you all to tumble down the few last stairs. The second you made it to the bottom, you felt a warm, gooey liquid dripping down your head. Reaching your hand up to touch it, you saw that it was a green goop that was now covering you and your friends. 

 Laughter erupted from both sides of you. The person who had been standing behind you, who you now realized was George, was holding Colin Creevey’s camera and snapping a picture. Fred, standing practically over top of you, was doubled over clutching his stomach from laughing so hard.

 You sighed and looked down, already defeated. “Happy birthday, Freddie.”

 “I think you mean,” he said through giggles, “happy April Fools’ Day!”

 Angelina and Alicia were shooting daggers at the twins, who were still laughing and snapping photos.

 “This makes quite the pretty picture, doesn’t it Freddie?” George asked, showing him the camera.

 “Ah, yes it does! Y/N, you look beautiful as ever darling, even covered in goo.”

 You put your hands out, expected for him to help you stand up. Once he hoisted you to your feet you threw your arms around him, wiping as much substance as you could onto his clothes. 

 “Hey!” he said, trying to escape your death grip. 

 “What?” you asked innocently. “Can’t a girl hug her friend on his birthday?” You emphasized your words by grabbing some goo from your hair and reaching up to ruffle his, spreading it through his ginger locks. 

 “You’re a handful, love,” he said, finally giving up on escaping the revenge. 

 “But you can handle me, can’t you?” You winked at him and let him go, turning around to see George pinned to the ground by Angelina, face covered in green. 

 “I give, I give! I’m sorry!” She got off of him and offered him a hand up. You looked around at everyone to see that you all were a mess, covered head to two in Fred and George’s prank. 

 “Well,” said Alicia, “this is not how I wanted my morning to go, but I didn’t expect anything less. I’m gonna go get changed.”

 “Me too,” said Angelina and George nodded as well, heading to their respective dorms. 

 This left only you and Fred. Your heart started pounding. How were you supposed to flirt even more than you usually did? Were you supposed to make a move, maybe confess your feelings?

“I, umm, I have your present upstairs,” you said finally. “It’s not very good, but I can go grab it for you now if you’d like. After I’m clean that is.”

He bumped your shoulder with his, making your heart beat even faster. “I’m sure I’ll adore it, love. And actually, I was wondering if I could ask you something?”

“Yeah, of course, what is it?”

Fred avoided eye contact, fidgeting with his messy uniform. “Umm, why don’t we hang out today and I can tell you then. We could maybe, go on a picnic for lunch? You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

A large grin grew on your face, spreading slowly but surely. Maybe you didn’t have to be the one to make a move after all. “Of course I want to, Freddie! It’ll be fun.”

“Great!” he said relieved. “I’ll see you then.”

You nodded as he ran to catch up with George. As soon as he left the common room you nearly fell over, having to hold onto a wall to keep yourself up. You sprinted to your room, mind racing with exactly what you were going to wear this afternoon. 

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

“Hey, love,” Fred called from across the entrance hall. “You look great.”

You blushed a little, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear and trying to subtly look him up and down. Fred had dressed a little nicer than usual for your picnic, which made you feel better about putting in so much effort yourself. 

He came over and grabbed your hand in his, linking your fingers together and pulling you out the door. You wished your hands weren’t so clammy, and you hoped that Fred couldn’t tell. 

He took you to a secluded part of the courtyard, the corner where most kids would go to make out. Was that what was happening? Did he want to kiss you?

Fred spread out a blanket and opened the picnic basket, containing both of your favorite foods. 

“Looks so good Freddie,” you said. “Snuck into the kitchen again, didn’t you?”

“What can I say,” he shrugged. “Guy’s gotta eat.”

“You said like Ron.”

“Don’t ever insult me like that again, woman, or I will never speak to you”

You rolled your eyes at him and leaned back on your elbows. “Having Fred Weasley actually leave me alone for five minutes? That would be absolutely horrible. What would I do, not being able to hear about your pranks and projects?”

He leaned forward to tickle your sides, making you flail around and kick him away. “You’d be so desperate for me back, you’d probably lock yourself in your room all day.”

“Oh I’m sure,” you replied, sarcasm dripping from your tongue. 

The two of you continued to eat and talk, mostly about his plans for his birthday and how he was going to terrorize his mum once he got home for the summer because he could now legally do magic outside of Hogwarts. After what felt like forever of laughing and rolling around on the blanket and grass, your curiosity was finally getting the best of you. 

“Alright Fred, enough’s enough,” you said, turning partly serious. “Why did you ask me out here with you?”

Fred got nervous once again, grabbing some more food to shove in his mouth to buy him some time before answering. 

“I’m waiting. What, you wanted to ask me out but got too nervous? Huh, is that it?” You were completely joking, but Fred didn’t seem to correct you. He just turned to you and gave you a small nod, shocking you to your core. 

“What?” you asked, needing clarification. 

“Uh, well, Y/N, there’s something important I need to say.” He looked jumpy and excitable, but there was also a cocky gleam in his eye, which was always present with the boy. “I’m madly in love with you. I have been since we were 15, and I just needed to let you know. I want to hold you and kiss you and grow old with you, my darling princess. Will you do me the honor of being my girlfriend?”

You sat there in complete surprise. This couldn’t be real, could it? Fred Weasley had loved you since you were 15? The tingles you always got when he said something to yo couldn’t compare to what you were feeling now.

Fred opened his mouth in a wide grin about to say something, when you cut him off with a hug. “Oh Freddie, you don’t understand how happy that makes me! I’ve loved you for forever, you’re perfect. Of course I’ll be your girlfriend.”

You held him tighter, burying your face in his neck and soaking in the feeling of being Fred’s girlfriend. But Fred had a completely different feeling running through him. 

He made eye contact with George, who was hiding in the bushes with his camera ready. He mouthed a question but Fred just shook his head in confusion. This wasn’t supposed to happen. 

You were supposed to laugh at him, become super uncomfortable. Fred knew that you only saw him as a friend and flirted with him jokingly. He’d never in a million years expect for you to confess your feelings back to him. 

He didn’t know what to do. You were just so open and vulnerable, confessing everything you’d been holding back. So, acting against George’s frantic suggestions, he completed the hug, resting his head on the top of yours.

What was he supposed to do? You were his best friend, he couldn’t bear to see you get hurt. How was he supposed to tell you, that this was all an April Fools?

Tag List: @famdomhideout @amourtentiaa

[mrs-i-have-too-many-biases]

Stray Kids as your Secret Admirer

Scenario: They are your secret admirer. Genre: Fluff/ Humour AU Prompts: College AU/ Office AU/ Idol AU/ Fan AU/ High School AU/ Non-Idol AU/ Bakery AU Pairing: Stray Kids Members X Female Reader Word count: 7,4K Warnings: None really, maybe some swear words.

Chan: (College au)

“Just talk to her already!” Minho whined at the music major next to him. Chan, one of the biggest heartthrobs of the campus and known for his confidence, his kind nature and his amazing songs, was right now trembling in his boots because his crush walked by and almost caught him in his tracks.

Minho sighed as he spoke up again. “And how long do you think you’ll be able to keep this up?” “As long as I need to.” Chan murmured back, his face seemed to have heated up as his eyes followed her figure. Minho shook his head in disbelief at his smitten friend. It was time for another step and both of them knew it.

Chan continued his secret admirer act, writing Y/n love letters and notes of adoration.

‘You looked ethereal today, I’ve learned about this word the other day and I couldn’t help but think of you. ‘Extremely delicate and light in a way that seems not to be of this world.’’

Y/n blushed under the tree she was sitting under as she read the note over and over again. The little notes of adoration were the highlight of her day. She couldn’t believe that there was someone this good with words and this sweet who was possibly interested in her.

And Minho on the other hand couldn’t believe that Chan still was keeping up the same act like he has been for the past 4 months. But today things were going to change, Minho made sure of it. Especially since Chan didn’t notice Y/n sitting behind the tree.

“Is that another letter of affection mister Bang?” Minho teased as he noticed the familiar envelope in his friend’s hands. “Yeah.”  Chan simply giggled. The younger lad would playfully roll his eyes at him as he continued his not-so thought through strategy to make Chan confess. “When are you going to give this to Y/n?” “She has a free period right now, so I have no idea when I can sneak this into her bag or locker.” “Why don’t you just do it right now.” Minho said as they abruptly stopped walking, Minho’s hands on Chan’s shoulders to turn him around.

Causing him to finally face his crush who looked at him with a surprised expression. “Good luck buddy.” Minho simply said, patting his frozen friend before he walked off.

“So, it was you all along?” Y/n asked him as she got up on her feet to face the shy boy. “Y-you sound disappointed.” Chan mutters softly under his breath, feeling like he was going to be rejected any second now. She noticed his trembling hands and his sad eyes under his hair that was hanging over his face. She rushed to him and took his face in her hands. “I’m not disappointed, not at all! I love these notes! I cherish them dearly. They are the highlight of my day. It’s just I can’t believe that it’s you.” She giggled shyly as she made him look at her, this time her eyes filled with adoration as she looked at her admirer.

“So, your feelings are mutual?” “I fell in love with the words you’ve left me, now it’s time for me to fall with the man who’s written them.”

Minho: (Office au)

“Sometimes I really wonder why you’re my co-worker.” Y/n whined as Minho took the small stuffed animal from her hands that she was trying to hide from him. For the past few weeks Y/n had been receiving notes and small gifts almost every day from her ‘secret admirer’. And her best friend Minho, who happened to be her colleague as well, couldn’t miss a second of teasing the living hell out of her for it.

“Seems like this guy really is whipped for you huh? Did you blackmail someone to make it seem like you’re loved by somebody- ouch!” Minho whined as he rubbed his punched arm that was hurting because of his friend. She quickly took the stuffed animal from him and placed it back on her desk.

“Shut up and no, I didn’t blackmail someone or bribed them before you even start asking.” Y/n mutters, huffing as she sat back on her seat. Minho only laughed and secretly stole a glance as he saw her look at the small soft toy in adoration.

When Minho sat across from her he had a hard time to not stare at his crush, especially with a big monitor dividing them both. He would have often have to tease Y/n and annoy her just a little bit, only to gain her attention. Her rolling eyes would be enough for him, not the best kind of attention, but it worked for him. Besides, he couldn’t make it obvious that he was the one gifting Y/n all of this or that he was her secret admirer. He wouldn’t hear the end of it if she found out that it was him.

Minho was done with his tasks and had nothing better to do, so he went to search online if there would be anything cute or anything his friend and crush would like that he could give her. If he could, he would’ve given her the world. It was a natural thing for him to admirer her. She was excellent at her job and she shined independently, so he often wondered if she even thought of him as more than a friend.

Y/n had wondered the same, she knows her best friend is eye-candy. And sadly the other colleagues of the department saw that too. Many people were all over him during breaks or would find any reason to talk to him. And all the teasing and bickering she and Minho had going on between one another, didn’t really make it look like he was interested in her like she was in him. So, this secret admirer came almost at a perfect timing as Y/n was slowly giving up on Minho and her feelings towards him. “Psst!” She heard him whisper not so subtly. ‘Dinner?’ The blue note said that Minho held up. She chuckled to herself and gave her friend a thumbs up as confirmation.

Hours passed and the two of them were now seated in their favourite restaurant. Minho was grilling the meat in between you as the two of you complained together about work.

“Let’s talk about something else.” Minho eventually proposes. “About what? You probably just want to tease me for having a secret admirer.” Y/n pouted as she munched on her food. “I mean, you’re asking for it. You have that thing on the table as we speak.” Minho laughed in disbelief. “Hey, it’s a highlight of my day, shut it.” She pointed her chopsticks at her friend as a threat, causing him to burst into laughter once again and throwing his hands up in the air. “Am I not enough for you?” Minho joked, but not receiving an answer from her cracked his heartstrings.

He looked back up after sighing softly, seeing her being too busy munching on her food. He wanted the kind of attention that she was giving everything else but him. “Maybe I should gift you a filled lunchbox next time.” Minho muttered under his breath. But Y/n’s gasp and the sound of her choking on her food made him panic and realise what he just said.

“I-it’s you who’s been gifting me things?” “Uhm-“ “You are my secret admirer?” She asked with wide eyes. “This wasn’t part of the plan.” Minho sighed as he put down his chopsticks, knowing he had to get this over one day. “I-“ “So, you are my secret admirer? Yet, you make fun of ‘him’, which turns out to be yourself?” “I’m not going to hear the end of this, am I?” “Yup.”

Minho groaned, but was sooner enough stopped by the sudden touch of her hands on his. “You’re pretty stupid you know.” “I know, but you like me. Or well, at least the gifts I gave you.” He chuckled before taking another bite of his food to avoid any kind of awkward tension. “You know that I like you better, right?” Minho breath was caught in his throat and he almost spat out his food in surprise by her confession. “Really?” “Yes, you dummy. You better get me that lunchbox you were mumbling about! Thank you baby!” She shot him a smile and pinched his cheeks playfully. Making him shake his head before he fed her some food this time. He knew better to let her make fun of him.

Changbin: (Idol AU)

“Changbin-“ Chan was cut off by his younger friend jump up in his seat. “Why?” Changbin sighed as he tried to calm his heart, his phone clutched in his other hand. “Our manager is now even asking me, to ask you to stop.” Chan simply puts out. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Changbin lied as he tried to focus again on his phone. “Mate, I literally saw the email you were writing. You know exactly what I’m talking about.” His older friend sighed. “Chan, I really just want to work together with her.” Changbin whined as his phone was taken from him by his leader. “I get that. She’s incredibly talented and your favourite rapper, but she’s also your crush and that’s why you’re acting like this.”

“Don’t you have any dignity?” Chan asked as he read parts of the mail. “Nope, she’s taken it. My sanity as well.” Changbin stated with a sheepish smile. “Well, I’ve noticed that, but you need to tone it down a little. Her manager might even think you’re a saesang or tell Y/n about all of this and you might never be able to work with her.” “I know, but she’s such an inspiration and so great. I just can’t wait.” “Time will come around, just tone it down for now.”

And time did pass. The boys started to work on their new album and it was time for them again to start promoting. Changbin had kept his promise and toned the emails down. He had hopped on the Instagram DM-train. He would compliment her on his fan-account, so that his identity would stay safe and that his members won’t tease him as much like they used to do. Changbin even hopped onto the trend of making fan-edits, to make his account seem legit okay, nothing else… 

That’s what he’s trying to tell himself.

He has so many pictures of her on her phone. Lots of ones where the concept of the pictures were ‘girlfriend material’. Binnie is an absolute sucker for those. He even found a couple edits where Y/n and Changbin himself were edited together, his fans knew about Changbin’s adoration for Y/n and some couldn’t help but ship the two. He would gush at the edits and whine to himself in wish for it to be reality. The buff rapper received weird but commons looks from his team as he was orientated on the pictures on his phone.

“Do you think he knows that Y/n is here tonight?” Hyunjin asked his leader in a whisper. “I don’t think he does. He’s a super fan, but he’s too busy crushing on her to be able to know when and where she’s actually promoting her stuff.” Chan laughed in responds.

The two teammates then had a ‘brilliant’ idea and told the others that they would be back in just a second, before they left the waiting room. Changbin was in the meantime too busy to notice them leaving as he was scrolling through his fan-account and others that posted things about Y/n.

“Changbin-“ Chan once again was cut off by Changbin who jumped up in his seat in surprise. “Again. Why?” Changbin whined as he clutched his chest. “We’ve got someone waiting for you who you’ve been wanting to meet.” Chan states as he dragged his friend with him. “Wait what-“ “Changbin meet Y/n! Y/n meet Changbin!” Hyunjin chirped as he pushed his friend closer to his crush. “Wait-“ “Welp, we got to go for now, it was lovely to meet you Y/n and I bet that we will meet each other again!” Chan grinned before he dragged Hyunjin with him back into the waiting room.

“I didn’t know you were here.” Changbin stuttered shyly, not being able to look her in the eye. “That’s an honest surprise, since my manager has told me a lot about you.” She teased as she shot him a smile. “Of course, he did.” Changbin was able to mutter out, his words seemed to be stuck in his throat.

His hands were clammy and he felt like he was sweating all over the place. He hoped he looked reasonable and that he didn’t gave her a weird impression. “I’ve heard that you wanted to do a collaboration with me?” “Yes! I mean, yes I would love to. I think that we would be able to work together greatly and that our music would go well together.” Changbin could mentally slap himself for not being able to pull himself together. “Could I give you my number then? I’ll be up in twenty minutes. So, sadly I don’t have too much time on my hands right now.”

Changbin could feel his stomach do flips in his body and his heart skip a beat. He unlocked his phone mindlessly and handed it to her as he stuttered out a ‘sure’. And then it hit him. Especially when he saw her surprised expression: his fan-account. “Wait!” Changbin stressed as he quickly took the phone from her, but she saw it already. The damage was done.

She must think that he’s a weirdo now. “You’re that sweet fan who’s been sending me all those nice messages?” Or not?

“Wait, you’ve read those?” “I’ve seen the account pop up in my DM’s quite a lot and I once accidently clicked on it and read the messages you wrote. I thought you would be able to see when I read a message you send, but I guess not. They really motivated me and they were truly the sweetest thing. My manager even teased me for having a secret admirer. Turns out that those nice emails and the sweet DM’s had a connection to each other.” Y/n said with endearing eyes to the guy in front of her.

“I guess you could say that I’m very fond of you.” Changbin shyly admits. “I’d say I’ve become quite fond of you too, but I still would like to know you better and maybe in the future work together one some music. You could say that I’m also a pretty big Stray Kids fan.” “Oh yeah, who’s your favourite then?” “Let me think, his name starts with a C and ends with an N.” “Chan?” Changbin blurts out sadly. “No silly, you Changbin.” She giggled.

Hyunjin: (Fan AU)

“You know you will never meet her, right.” Jeongin, Hyunjin’s best friend, teased. “Shut up! You don’t need to rub it in my face you know.” He sighed as he tried to push his younger friend in the bushes next to them. “I know that it’s a hard pill to swallow, but she’s an idol. We’re not from that world, it’s not likely for our roads to cross.” “But not impossible.” Hyunjin states as a matter of a fact, causing his younger friend to sigh.

“You’re impossible.” “I’m just living my life man, just let me be.” Hyunjin cried out dramatically as he tried to continue drawing during their break. They were seated outside of the campus grounds under a nice tree, sheltered from the sun as it shined brightly.

“I get that she’s a great artist-“ “The greatest artist of all time.” Hyunjin bummed in to correct. “We’ll see about that-“ “I’ll fight you baby bread-“ “Anyway! How’s your artwork going? I still can’t believe that you build a fanbase within Y/n’s fanbase based of your art.” “I know, I’m just so inspired by her and her music, her beauty. It’s all so overwhelming I just feel like she’s unreal sometimes.” Hyunjin sighed as he stared of into the distance. “And I feel like you are unreal sometimes.” Jeongin mumbles as he stared at his ridiculous friend.

“Got anything new planned to make?” “No, I only have this one drawing that I want to finish and post.” Hyunjin answered as they continued to enjoy the warmth of the sun. “Maybe you should find an actual job that pays you money, besides trying to sell your sketches or artwork that you make off miss Y/n.” Jeongin teased. “You’re starting to sounds like my mom. At least she’s supportive of me.” He cried out dramatically, before receiving a punch from his friend. “I’m just saying, you need to do something else besides dedicating your life and all of your time to her.” “I’m perfectly fine, honestly. Sleep is just a little-“ “Dude.” “I’m kidding.” Hyunjin assured. “Well, I hope you’re not lying, because I rather not find you in a hospital due exhaustion and I got to go now, I don’t have a free period like you.” “Actually, I’m already done for the day.” Hyunjin smiled as he started to pack up as well. “What the hell are you still doing here then?” Jeongin exclaimed. “Bothering you, got to go now! Good luck on your lecture!” Hyunjin chirped before walking off.

Hyunjin had gone home and started to work on his assignment and homework. Not necessarily because he was a great student. No, he really wanted to finish of the drawing he was talking about with Jeongin earlier that day.

And he did, but then he received a notification. His breath was caught in his throat. Y/n had posted an announcement that she was holding a special concert in Seoul, where he was living and breathing. Well, not so sure about breathing. Jeongin neither.

“Hyunjin breath!”  He yelled over the phone as Hyunjin had called him to rant. “I want to go so bad! But you know what the ticket sales are like!” Hyunjin cried out late at night. “Dude, just post your art for now and go to sleep. I have a test to study for-“ “But-“ “Goodnight!” Hyunjin groaned as he put his phone away and grabbed his laptop to post the artwork he had finished.

Hyunjin sighed and contemplated on sleeping in early tonight, or at least what he dares to call early at it was one o’clock already. But he decided to spam his group chat instead.

HJ: HAVE YOU SEEN HER ANNOUNCEMENT FL: IKR YJ: FELIX DON’T ENCOURAGE HIM HJ: HE’S THE ONLY ONE WHO TRULY UNDERSTANDS (⌯˃̶᷄ ﹏ ˂̶᷄⌯) HJ: *sends a picture of one of the promo photo’s* YJ: Wait a minute FL: Jinnie I also saw your new art post! I loved it HJ: Thank youuu~ YJ: Are you two really going to ignore the fact that Y/n’s promo photo’s look a lot like Hyunjin’s art style? YJ: or….? HJ: ┌╏ º □ º ╏┐ FL: ┌╏ º □ º ╏┐ HJ: No it doesn’t YJ: DON’T YOU DARE START THIS BOII FL: BRUH HJ: YOU’RE SEEING THINGS MAN MAYBE YOU SHOULD GET SOME SLEEP YJ: YOU’RE THE ONE TO TALK FANBOY FL: BURRRRN HJ: DUDE DON’T GET ME STARTED ON YOU AND YOUR BINGE GAMING- FL: ...･ヾ(。￣□￣)ﾂ

A couple weeks had passed and Hyunjin got was in his room as usual as he checked his Instagram. He never bothered checking his notifications, but he wished he did. ‘Y/n_Official’ The account read.

‘It couldn’t be.’ Hyunjin muttered to himself. He checked the message and the account multiple times to see if it was legit. The young artist tried to calm himself as he read the message one last time:

‘Hi! I just want to say that I love the art that you make and I feel very humbled and flattered by it! I would love to meet you at one of the concerts that I’m holding soon. Please send your personal information to this email if you’re interested! If not, I totally understand. In that case I just wanted you to know that I really appreciate it! Thank you for supporting me!

With much love,

Y/n’

Hyunjin’s heart was about to malfunction or jump out of his chest he didn’t know. All he knew was that within the next two weeks he was now finally standing in front of his celebrity crush. Jeongin and Felix couldn’t believe how lucky their friend had gotten and even called it a fanfiction moment.

After the concert Hyunjin was taken backstage to where he’d be meeting Y/n. She had changed into a big hoodie and looked cute and comfortable. “So, you are the amazing artist behind these?” Y/n asked after they greeted each other. Hyunjin simply nodded due to his nervousness, causing his crush to giggle. “I can’t believe you’re hiding behind your own art when you yourself are stunning!” Y/n exclaimed as she shamelessly stared at the boy in front of her. “You’re the stunning one here.” Hyunjin mumbled to himself, but loud enough for her to hear. “Why don’t you give me your number I think we look stunning together, but I’d like to get to know you a little better. I would like to hear more about you instead of reading those sweet and supportive words you left for me under your artwork my pretty admirer.”

Hyunjin knew her confidence was unattainable, but that’s what he liked about her.

Jisung: (High School AU)

Jisung sprinted through the hallways after slipping a note in her locker. He caught his breath in the hopes that she hadn’t seen him. ‘You need to be careful, otherwise you’re going to get caught.’ He scolded himself.

This is the result of falling in love with your best friend. One day they’re hanging out together, cosy on their couch and Jisung stared at her.

‘Her lips are pretty when she pouts like that.’ ‘Has her eyes always been this sparkly?’ ‘Gosh she just looks so cute and cosy I want to hug her to death.’ ‘Her cheeks look very kissable- wait what.’

Right there and then, two months ago to be exact, he realized that he had the biggest crush on his very own best friend. Suddenly she shined brighter than the sun and the stars at night. She was the only one he could see in a not-too big crowd, Jisung doesn’t really like crowds that were too big. She’s so comforting and sweet, always there for him, as a friend.

Jisung sighed once again as he made his way to class where he’d be waiting for her to join her as they were desk-mates after all.

“Sungie~” She sang whilst walking towards her own seat next to him. “You look happy today, Y/n.” Jisung states as he wiggles his eyebrows. “Another note.” She sang once again as she waved the paper in his face. “Your secret admirer?” He teased, receiving a hum in responds.

“I wonder who it could be.” “I think I might have an idea who it could be.” Y/n mutters, causing Jisung’s heart to stop. “Who?” He managed to stutter out. “I hope it’s Hyunjin to be honest.”

The answer was like a dagger to Jisung’s heart. Never she had mentioned to have feelings for Hyunjin and why didn’t he know? He could feel his heart break little by little as seconds passed by. He wanted to run away and go home to hide in his bed, but he had an entire day of school to survive. Running wasn’t an option.

Y/n on the other hand, wasn’t being honest. She was well aware that her best friend has been crushing on her. He hasn’t been very subtle about it. He was always staring at her, hearts in his eyes as he did. Y/n had to contain herself into spilling her own love for her best friend to him as she was enjoying his tactics a little too much.

She caught him putting notes in her locker, she’d wait on the corner of the hallway so he won’t notice her, but he wasn’t fast enough.

Now, days later. Jisung was at home, he hadn’t gone to school ever since Y/n’s ‘confession’. He hadn’t been feeling well, physically and mentally. He felt drained and like no hope was left for his feelings. Y/n had missed him at school and decided to surprise him. And surprised he was as he jolted in his bed when he saw his best friend stand in the doorframe of his bedroom one afternoon.

“Why haven’t you been at school?” She asked blatantly. “I’ve been sick.” “You don’t look sick to me. You don’t feel hot either, your cheeks are glowing though.” She states as she cups his face, knowing exactly what she was doing. She knew why he was home, but she wanted to hear it from him and she was growing impatient. “I just haven’t been feeling well, okay?” Jisung mumbles as he shook his head a little to try and get her hands off his now-burning face.

“Because I said I hoped that the letters came from Hyunjin instead of you?” The words made Jisung spin. “What?” He stuttered, shocked at her blunt words once again. “Sungie, c’mon just say what I want to hear.” She whined as she dropped her hands on his shoulders. Looking at him in desperation. “What?” He stuttered once again, this time confused. “Sungie, I know you like me, but I want to hear it from you! I’m literally begging you at this point to confess to me.” Y/n chuckled in madness, she was losing her mind over her dense best friend who she has falling deeply for.

“You know? How-“ “You’re not very subtle mister so-called secret admirer.” She laughed, caressing his cheeks to calm him down. She could feel him shaking after all.

“But you…” He mutters whilst his voice trailed off. “Do you want me to say it?” His silent was his answer as he didn’t know what to expect. “Han Jisung, I like you. I like you more than a friend. I want to stay best friends, because you are my best friend. But I’ve fallen deeply for you and I have started to love you.” Y/n states in a soft tone, causing Jisung’s heart to skip a beat. “I love you too.” Was all he could say before he sat up and pressed his lips onto hers.

Lee Felix: (Idol AU)

As a foreigner and an idol in South Korea, Felix was still working on his Korean every day. He’d still learn and try to improve himself every day in order to ‘survive’ in Korea and to communicate with the locals.

And as he was doing that he tried to perfect his handwriting, which his members found cute. He didn’t know why, but he just had a certain way of writing that his member’s adored.

Felix might be an idol, but that doesn’t stop him from fanboying over his own favourite idols, which was Y/n. He had discovered her through a livestream that he was watching of a gamer that he really likes and he was surprised to see and Idol do stuff like this, she seemed to be free in whatever she wanted to do.

The freckled Aussie really liked that and he became curious about her. He wanted to know her name, but ends up falling into a pit that’s called her and now he’s pretty much stuck and whipped for her. He didn’t know how to approach her, he knew he could. He’s a public figure and so is she, but that made it tricky. He wanted to love and appreciate her, without her knowing who he was. What if she knew who he was and that she could possibly think that it could be a publicity stunt of some sort?

He had been overthinking the situation before it even had started. That’s when he started to send her flowers and handwritten letters or notes to her with words of adoration and praise. Y/n had received them all, today as well in her very own dressing room. She wondered who it could be and if the mysterious person ever wanted to show their face to her, she was curious to know who this romanticist could be. “Flowers once more?” Her stylist teases as Y/n had been busy reading the sweet letter over and over again, whilst the flowers had been resting in her arms. “It’s just so sweet and thoughtful, no one has ever done this for me. In a romantic way at least.” Y/n sighed, putting the gift away so her stylist could get to work. “I know you would like to meet your secret admirer badly, but on the brighter side your favourite group is here.” Her stylist chirps in hopes to cheer Y/n up just a little.

“Suzy stop, the girl isn’t going to let us hear the end of it once she starts about those 8.” Y/n’s makeup artist jokes. “You shh and make her even prettier, she has to meet her favourite people very soon.”

In the meantime Felix ‘only just now’ heard the news about Y/n being in the same building as they are for their promotion. “You already knew, didn’t you?” Chan simply asks after he didn’t get the reaction he hoped to receive. Felix simply nodded and hummed in responds, looking at his best friend with big and happy eyes.

The younger Aussie couldn’t sit still, he was all smiley and was very excited to hopefully meet Y/n today. He hadn’t stopped gushing about her and the boys all knew by now that Felix was hopelessly in love with this girl he’s never met before.

“Are you ready to MC with your favourite girl?” Chan teased as he shook his friend playfully. “I’m shaking,” was all Felix could say, causing his friend to laugh. “You’ll be fine. Plus, we better put on a memorable performance for her and the fans of course. Make sure she’ll never forget you.” Chan chuckled before letting his younger friend rehears his lines.

Felix ran through his notes once more as he was led to where they would be filming. His breath was caught in his throat when he spotted Y/n from the corner of his eye. Chan and his manager were across of him, sending him a thumbs up whilst staying to support him.

“Hello.” Y/n greeted cheerfully before bowing politely to Felix, whose knees were buckling. He bowed as well as he greeted her, receiving a smile from her. ‘Contain yourself Lix,’ he thought to himself before going through his notes once more. Y/n was trying to find the confidence to talk to Felix, but she couldn’t help but notice the small notes that he was busy reading and she recognised the handwriting.

“Did you write the notes?” The question made Felix freeze, but he quickly realised that she must meant the ones he’s holding, right? “Yes-“ “We need to talk- We’ll be right back! Felix needs to help me out with something!” Y/n said to the staff before dragging the freckled boy behind her.

“What wrong-“ “You’re the one who’s sending me love letters and flowers right?” Y/n asked bluntly. “What-“ “I recognise that handwriting anywhere, I’ve read this note already fifteen times and I only received it today.” Y/n states as she showed Felix the note she’s kept with her the entire time. “I… I don’t know what you’re-“ “Please don’t lie to me. It would make so much sense! You’re an idol! Your manager can get information on where I am when it comes to promotions! Not even fans know all of this! Besides, the handwriting is spot on!” Y/n stresses, wanting to know desperately if it is him or not.

“Lix?” The nickname. That was it. That was his breaking point. “Are you disappointed?” He asked carefully, not daring to look at her. Also for the reason hat his face was burning up from shyness and the adrenaline that was rushing through his body. “Of course I’m not disappointed, if anything I’m flattered and happy that you’re behind all these thoughtful and sweet gifts. They’re something that always made my day and if I felt down I’d just remember that there’s someone out there who’s so loving and caring that they would go all the way to do this for me. What if we talked more about this after promoting? I’d love to treat you for all the generosity you’ve given me.” Y/n proposed holding his hand, hopeful that he’d say yes.

And he accepted the offer within a heartbeat, knowing that today was definitely something that he won’t forget and that that performance wouldn’t have to swoop Y/n off her feet. He’s got her already.

Seungmin: (Non-idol AU/ Bakery AU)

There she was again.

Y/n, the girl who’s been coming by on a regular basis and Seungmin had lost it all for her, because of her. All her. He blamer her for losing his sanity.

Ever since the day she’s walked in for the first time, he started losing control. Everything seemed to go wrong whenever she was around him. It was like she has put a spell on him. He always became noticeably clumsier whenever she was around, his colleagues have discovered the pattern as well and they couldn’t help but tease Seungmin for it whenever she walked into the bakery.

“Could you not drop the cakes mister Seungmin.” His boss laughed, which was Chan, a good friend of him as well. “Stop it, I don’t know why this keeps happening as well, okay?” Seungmin mutters, slightly frustrated as he picked up the now-ruined cake off the floor that he had dropped. “When are you going to confess to her? She must have noticed the small things you’ve done for her to show that you like her? You know, giving her a free drink or giving her extra things with her order?” Chan sang playfully.

“What? I don’t do that.” Seungmin scoffed in denial. “Yeah sure, that’s why you never give other customers extras.” Chan laughed, before patting the youngster, who could only sigh.

He took a quick glance of Y/n, who was sitting in her usual booth. She was hidden behind her laptop and was writing down things in her notebook. ‘Probably studying’, he thought to himself as he tried to continue working.

What he didn’t notice was that Y/n was peeking from behind her laptop to look if Seungmin was still there. She sighed and sat back. She’s been coming here regularly and not only because of the amazing pastries and drinks the bakery sold, but also cause there’s a cute employee who works here: Seungmin.

She’s been ranting to her friends about this cute boy for ages, but never had she the confidence to actually talk to him or to ask him out. She has been noticing odd behaviour coming from Seungmin’s side. He’s been stumbling over his words whenever she was in front of him, whenever other people didn’t seem to have the same experience as her.

Y/n also couldn’t help but notice the small extras he’s been giving her. ‘Keep him.’ Is what her best friend had said as soon as she mentioned the extra and free goodies from the bakery. ‘How come you never bring me stuff if you’re going to get it for free?’ ‘I’m not getting all of it for free, just something. And if you want to taste it, come see it for yourself.’ So that was it, she was not nervously waiting for her best friend to arrive as she tried not to burn holes into Seungmin’s head as she secretly stared at him.

Lucky for her, he didn’t notice. He might be just as dense as her for not noticing the mutual pining. When Y/n best friend Minho walked in and sat beside her, he noticed it within the heartbeat. “Just tell him!” Minho yelled in a whisper after hearing her rant on how cute Seungmin looks today.

In the meantime Chan was listening to his younger friend on how he might’ve lost his chance as he saw his crush sitting with another guy in her usual booth. “Just tell her!” Chan whined, taking matters in his own hand as he pushed Seungmin towards her.

Minho was doing just the same to his best friend, causing the two crushes to fall into each other. “Well, we’re going to leave you be.” Minho states, before walking off with Chan, in hopes that the two of them would finally confess so everyone could go on with their lives.

“Hi.” Y/n mutters shyly as she stood across from him. “I like you.” He blurted out, causing both of their eyes widen in shock at his forward confession. “I’m sorry-“ “I like you too!” She squeaked, not being able to look him in the eye. “Thank God, I’m not very good at being a secret admirer. I’d rather be your boyfriend.” He blurted out with newfound confidence. “Take me on a date first.” Y/n grinned, happy that he felt the same, applies for Chan and Minho as well. They wouldn’t have to hear about their rants of the other hopefully liking them, instead they now must deal with a lovey-dovey couple. But, that seemed manageable.

Jeongin: (High School AU)

“You even received a muffin this time Y/n!” One of her classmates yelled through the classroom as soon as Y/n walked into the room.

Y/n had been receiving cartons of milk every morning with either a cute sticker on it or a sticky note with encouraging words. At first she found it very sweet, but after a while the notes became more emotional and more loving.

The class as well as Y/n had realised that she had a secret admirer. She’d say that it’s pretty exciting and flattering, but with the entire class and her own schoolyear watching her, it’s a little overwhelming to get all the curious eyes pointed at her.

Y/n put down her stuff and went to sit down before she read the note that was attached to the carton of banana milk. ‘You look lovely today! Even though I haven’t seen you yet, you’re always the one who embodies beauty. You’re doing great! Have a nice day <3’

Y/n sighed in adoration, the notes were so sweet and she kept all of them in a little box at home where no one could touch them.

Eventually, class had started and she caught someone staring at her. It was Jeongin. He was pretty quiet compared to the rest of the class. He was usually to himself as most of his friends were in a different class and since his older friend had already graduated. Jeongin didn’t notice the fact that she had caught him red-handed and it caused him to blush harshly as he quickly shot his gaze away from her.

Y/n never really paid attention to Jeongin as they weren’t close, but she had to say he’s very good-looking.

Days went by and the cartons with milk and adoration notes continued. One day, Y/n decided to go to school early so she could study for the test they were having that day. When she was about to enter her classroom, she saw Jeongin standing at her desk, with a familiar carton in his hand.

“Jeongin?” She asked, causing the boy to jump up in surprise. “Hi! Good morning Y/n.” He stuttered as he placed the carton back on her desk. “What are you doing at my desk?” “I… I was curious on what was on the note from your secret admirer. I’m sorry I shouldn’t go through your stuff. I’ll go for now.” Before Y/n could tell him that it was alright, he had already ran out of the room.

Y/n didn’t think too much of it and sat down to study, but before she did that she was curious as well to see what her secret admirer had to say to her today. ‘It’s like you’re becoming more beautiful every day, more talented, more loving. It’s almost unfair. Also, I know you’ll do your best on your test today! I’ll be rooting for you! <3’

The message of the note had been on her mind the entire time before class started, she only jolted out of her train of thoughts when the teacher asked her to hand out the tests. After she did that the test soon enough started and ended just as fast.

She was worried if she had done well or not, she’d have to wait until the results. “Y/n, could you please collect the tests and place them on my desk?” The teacher asked her, before she got up and did as she was asked to.

Her mind was still worried about the test that had just taken place as she went by every student’s desk, but her eyes caught something familiar when she picked up Jeongin’s test. The handwriting, why was it so familiar? Could it be… him?

She would’ve never thought that Jeongin would like her, or that he was capable of saying so many thoughtful, encouraging and flattering words, as he usually wasn’t the one to talk that much during class. Or to her.

Class soon ended and she went out to find Jeongin. He has been avoiding her since this morning when she caught him at her desk. It made sense to Y/n the more he thought about it. He had the same carton of milk on his desk every morning. It might be a popular brand, but still it couldn’t be a coincidence.

She found Jeongin outside with his friends and she took a deep breath before tapping him on his shoulder. Jeongin froze at the sudden touch and turned around slowly, only for him to widen his eyes in shock as soon as he saw her.

“Y/n?” “Can I talk to you for a moment?” She asked. Jeongin agreed and soon followed her to somewhere more retreated. “Is everything okay?” He asked slightly worried, feeling his heart pound in his chest as he was standing, for the first time, across his crush.

“Are you the one who gives me the milk cartons every morning with the notes?” Y/n blurted out after minutes of awkward silence. “I…” “I’m not sure if it’s actually you, but it makes sense to me. You always drink the same brand as the milk carton I receive every morning. Besides, I caught you at staring at me the other day. Plus, I caught you at my desk this morning way before school actually started.” “Uhm…” Jeongin didn’t know what to say, there was a big lump stuck in his throat, because he knew he was caught.

Again.

“If it’s not you then I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m really wondering at this point who this person is. I wanted to thank them for everything, from the beverages to the lovely notes-“ “They are from me.” Jeongin blurted out, causing him to smack his hands over his mouth in shock by his own confession. “They are?” Y/n asked surprised. The boy in front of her only nodded shyly, hoping that he wasn’t going to be rejected too harshly.

“Please don’t reject me too harsh.” He asked as he bowed politely, surprising Y/n once more. “Who said I was going to reject you?” She giggled. “You aren’t?” He asked. Him being the surprised one this time. “Of course not! I would love to get to know you, maybe we could hang out after school some more and see where this goes?” Y/n proposed with a smile. “I would love that.” “Good, I’ll get to thank you for these thoughtful gifts after all this time.”

Gifs aren’t mine.

[thoughtfullyrainynightmare]

Can I have headcanons of jack, juliius, magna, william, and zora with a tall tattooed boyfriend with piercings everywhere. He also is a very powerful vampire and is kinda has the powers of Dracula or alucard . He’s strong enough to go against the wizard king and his magic knights all at once but is really lazy and clingy. And also stays in his cute small bat form on top of there heads.

Hello~! ^_^ Of course! I wondered for a moment about where I should direct the focus, but I absolutely adored the idea of being a cute little bat on their heads. So... These might have a lot about that 😅 Anyways, I do hope that you enjoy! Pairing: Jack x m!reader, Julius x m!reader, Magna x m!reader, William x m!reader, Zora x m!reader Fic type: headcanons Genre: fluff

Jack

Jack really doesn’t mind your piercings, actually, if anything, he is inspired by them. So he might take a few piercings himself. Which would be a nice bonding experience in case you’d want to take another one with him.

Jack is energetic, most of the time, so it definitely helps with your desire to hold onto him, that you can turn into a bat. That way you could stay with him at all times, though it’s be an adjustment at first, since while out training Jack moves around a lot, which makes resting on top of his head difficult.

You’d scold him for that. Asking him if he needed to bounce around that much. Because if there was danger, you’d take care of it. So, what if you two would just cuddle?

But Jack would tell you that he wanted to hold his own end of the relationship. So that it wouldn’t all fall onto your shoulders. Plus, he liked slashing through things. Though that wasn’t to say that he didn’t like cuddling you too, but cuddling wasn’t the only thing that he wanted out of life.

You thought about it for a while, and though you didn’t mind being the strong one in the relationship, pulling his own weight and ‘giving something back’, was important to Jack too. Plus, you did like other things than cuddling too, so there was a point there.

So, really it wasn’t a matter of anything else than adjustment. You could use your powers to simply hang onto him by magical means. You were able to walk over walls and ceilings, so it wasn’t that you were pulling his hair all the time.

And during the few times that you were observing his training from the side lines, you couldn’t say that he was uneasy on the eyes… So, there was really nothing to complain about. He loved you, and you loved him. Which was all that mattered.

Julius

Julius would be so curious about your powers. And he would throw every single question in the book at you, along with additional ones on top of that. He’s just be so excited about it all, and would ask you to show him more of your capabilities quite regularly.

But he does value you as a spouse, of course he does, so when he realizes that you’re not in the mood, he’d step back. And you would be his boyfriend, so he doesn’t want to and wouldn’t, treat you like a wonder put on display. He’s simply intrigued by you, and he’s interested in your knowledge and abilities, but he’s interested in you as a person more.

He’d take you on his adventures of… avoiding paperwork, because he’d much rather sneak out with you and explore, than sit in his office with his nose buried in piles and piles of documents. And if you felt too lazy to travel in your human form, he’d be more than happy to have you dangling in his golden locks.

Though of course many would wonder about why there was a bat in his hair, especially those who were less well versed in magic, but you’d work with it. I mean, no matter what you decided to tell them, there’d be no harm done. Because since there was never worry of being threatened, it really was about how many questions you wanted to answer.

And even during the times that Julius was actually sitting in his office, doing work, he’d enjoy feeling your presence right there. Your chest, rising and falling, against him. If you ever sneezed because of his hair tickling your nose, he’d smile to himself. It would be just too adorable.

Magna

Magna would also love your tattoos and piercings, perhaps even get a few of his own just to match with yours. It’d be a bit silly, but in the adorable way. As in, one day he’d sneak away, only to return with a tattoo that was identical with one of yours.

His hair would be really fluffy. Almost like a proper “bat nest” for you to curl up in. At first it might be difficult to settle there, but after some time, his hair would adjust to you being there.

He’d also be amazed by your power, and he’d lowkey feel bad about only having so little power in comparison. He knew very well that you didn’t need protection, but he’d still like to be able to stand up for you and carry his own weight.

He’d sometimes be too stubborn to ask for you help when it came to his duties as magic knight, because he wanted to help keep people safe. And you’d scold him for that, but after he’d give you a long and a hard-to-follow explanation about why he wanted to fight on his own too, you’d kind of understand him.

Which is why you didn’t mind him training, and you were always with him. A couple of times he almost burned himself, and you, in the process. Not that it would’ve actually hurt you, but… had Magna’s attack been aimed at you, he wouldn’t have been lacking in attempting to do so.

But he tried his best. And he was absolutely adorable as he did so. It was something you might never tell him, or then perhaps you would. Only time would tell.

William

William would enjoy spending time with you, just the two of you, as well. Though it might take him a while to get accustomed to being cuddled often. Simply because he hasn’t really experienced affection, especially physical, such as being held, in his life.

It’s not that he’d mind cuddling with you, or having you perched on top of his head, it’s just something that would take time to get used to. Though his mask would slightly help with it during the times he had to step outside of the base, and you’d be there, on his head.

The mask, however, would perhaps feel less personal, and you’d prefer resting on his head with his mask off. But since he wasn’t yet ready to be seen in public without his mask, you’d roll with it, trying to tell him that he shouldn’t care about people’s opinion on his scar. And you’d hope that he would become comfortable enough to go out without it. For his own good as well, and so that you’d be able to get closer to him.

But soon, just being able to feel you there, would bring him a lot of comfort. It would assure him a lot, of the fact that you’d be there, by his side. And his smile, it’d come so easily whenever you were there.

And your power, it’d bring him comfort as well trough not having to worry for your safety. Of course he would worry. He would worry because he cares for you, but it’d bring him comfort to know that you had nothing to worry about.

So, he could better concentrate on loving you, holding you, and getting more and more comfortable with cuddling with you, under the branches of his worldtree, or anywhere really. As long as you’d be together, he’d be happy.

Zora

Zora would enjoy having you resting on top of his head as he spends his late nights in his secret study. He wouldn’t mind cuddles otherwise, but it can be difficult to study while wrapped in an embrace. So, you resting on top of his head, amidst his red, soft hair… It’d be perfect.

But he’d enjoy spending time with you in that solitude of the study, just staring at the stars, or talking about anything really.

He’d ask you about ways to improve too, given how you were powerful, he’d ask questions about mana in the hopes that he could advance his own. You’d answer his questions, but magic in itself wasn’t a passion for you, so your replies would be rather short. Which in itself wasn’t bad. Because having concise answers to questions was most often straight forward and easy to follow.

Zora is laid back too, so his attitude would well work with yours. Though Zora is a bit more of a vigilante since he can’t just overthrow the kingdom if he so wished, but he’s be perfectly fine with just spending his lazy time with you as well.

Plus, having such a strong spouse as you, he’d never need to fear losing you. He wouldn’t have to live through losing another cherished person in his life. It would really sink in during the rare occasions when you’d display your power, but he’d feel such a relief because of it. He wouldn’t wake up one day to find out that you’ve been killed, just like his dad was.

So, he’d be happy to sink into your arms and concentrate on you, and only you.