#watching it right now and it's uhhh... very interesting

[obscuremantisman]

GREAT!! so I was wondering if you could do the John Doe Rochas313 skin x reader....heh. because there is no rochas313 x reader and i love my boy💔💔 take ur time!!

SKIN!Rochas313 x Reader

CW: This shit all ooc because i created a whole ass lore, bro 💔💔. I spent most of my time drawing him instead of writing this ngl, also i have him as 21+ years old. YES, THIS FOLLOWS THE SAME READER IN THE OTHER FORSAKEN POSTS.

update: uhhh, hello! (((・・;) i've been occupied... with being a lazy ass, that's all.

Rochas thought things couldn't get worse. His world was corrupted. He was alone in it with this... this thing.

It all happened so quickly... He didn't know how to react. His body felt... numb? Not really, but it was reaching that point. He was scared... or at least he used to be? Everything feels so fuzzy, so underwhelming. Rochas313 couldn't bring himself to care...

He remembered a few things, his friends, or where they? He didn't know. Their faces are all... blurry. All he knows is that they left him behind once things got riskier, once he was like this... or did they? Weird, he couldn't remember.

Hmm...? When did he reach this place? He doesn't remember leaving his map. There is so much yeast, so much space to grow.

Who are they?

These people... They stared at him with wide eyes. The fear, the disgust, and pity in their eyes. It all had him.. flustered.

Please don't look at him... He knows he doesn't look good, knows he's a danger, knows he's nothing more than a host to a disgusting parasite, so stop looking, stop looking, stop looking, stop it, stop it now!

After his very first round, things got messy. Missing walls, misplaced decorations, glitched items, and roots everywhere. Yeah, you can bet the Specter didn't like that. Where's Rochas313 now? In the void, a place he can't mess with nobody.

The void is a map specifically designed for Rochas313. It seemingly has nothing in it except for a powerful, frequently updated anti-virus and a giant screen showing all that happens around the forsaken realm to keep him distracted from his own thoughts. The rounds, killer's lobby, and survivor's lobby are constantly watched by him. His favorite? survivor's lobby. They always put up a little show every round break, and they.. they remind him of someone.

Rochas is a biological cage. He successfully keeps the virus under check once left calm, but once aggravated enough... The parasite takes full advantage of his instability, which is why he's given access to watching others in the first place, but it's not like it could get out for long enough to cause any real damage. The specter learned its lesson once Rochas313 almost got a bite out of one of the survivors...

The Specter isn't interested in getting rid of his existence because if he dies, the parasite will find a way to remain, and it's constantly hungry for obvious reasons. The forsaken realm is full of nutrients, and that little virus is very much interested and sneaky, so yeahhhhhhh Rochas313 has to stay.

You met him by pure coincidence.

He had been particularly bored that day and, by accident, saw a glimpse of one of the survivors getting brutally cut in half. Yeah that messed him up and fucked his day up, enough to give the virus control for a few seconds and teleport him inside said round.

He just popped up behind Taph, said guy too distracted with trying to take back an explosive you were holding far up in the air just for fun.

It was definitely a surprise to the botb of you when the whole map shook and started glitching. A few of the walls even fell, and you swear some trees disappeared.

But alas, you, a curious freak, threw the explosive in your hands right away to another direction and approached Rochas313 to have a better look while Taph didn't waste another second to run off desperately once he peeked behind himself.

You only ever saw a few pictures and videos of him back in the days when you were just a normal human having an average life, and the fact he was here while there was already another killer for the round? You were rightfully curious. You didn't even realize that he was able to see you until he attempted to slash your body, wood claws phasing through your body, earning a confused incoherent grumble.

That had you even more surprised. A killer that was able to see you? You had to torment this guy affectionately.

As if analyzing you, his soulless eye stared onto yours while you poked him around, his body growing bigger as the virus was actively consumed assets until the sky turned red and suddenly... the both of you disappeared. The specter had once again sent him back to his prison.

Rochas313 doesn't usually speak. There's roots growing in his throat.

After meeting you, though.. he put an effort in cutting off these little branches so he could communicate better. He doesn't know sign language, and making gurgling noises was very much embarrassing. It hurts, but the only way to cut the roots off is to reach them with his hands, so he always makes sure to do it properly so his voice can stay for a week. It rarely doesn't leaves him bleeding but you don't need to know that.

He loves your company! If it was up to him, he would've been following you around just to talk.

Being around someone that doesn't stare at him with fear and that is nice to him even with the way he looks has definitely skyrocketed his mood and overall mental health.

Unfortunately, he barely gets to meet with you , nor see you around. The giant screen in his void can't catch your form properly, like a ghost caught on camera. That is why you proposed a simple way to have contact... a hunt.

Every new round, you, along with a few useless objects in the round, build simple things around. A 'hello' made from rocks, a chair with the drawing of a cat made out of grass on top of it, some plates piled up with a plant on top. Simple things to keep him happy, to show you cared.

One time you sticked your hand inside his empty eye socket. If you weren't able to go through solid things, you're sure your hand would've been stuck and possibly eaten.

Surprisingly, but not so much, Rochas couldn't feel a thing! That's why you made it a little hobby to stick flowers in it when you had the chance, even if they all eventually disappeared. That dumbass virus eats it every damn time. No romantic action that involves such things as gifts is allowed in its sight or it'll fucking find a way of chugging it down.

But how do you guys even meet? And how do you even leave the void??

Rochas hasn't been completely honest about the ways he gets out of the void. Sure, the virus takes over if he's unstable, that you knew, but what if... what if he's been letting, more than once, the virus take control just to get the chance of meeting you, hmmmm? Would you be nad at him? Eh, definitely not, but he's quite embarrassed to tell you he does that. He doesn't want to seem clingy.

And as to how you get out of the void... You discovered how to do so by accident. You were just chatting with Rochas after what seemed like maybe a few days after you both got stuck together in his void, and while you were pacing around, you touched the screen which Rochas uses to watch things around and sluuuurrp. Guess who got sucked out of the void.

Overall, Rochas is just a chill, kindhearted guy who just happens to be the host of a highly powerful virus. He cherishes every moment together with you and appreciates your gifts and attention with all his heart, even if sometimes all the affection overwhelms him.

Give him a little kiss on the cheek and his flesh side with be as red as C00lk1d's skin, while the wooden side will be sprouting flowers. He melts faster than butter on the pan.

The virus actually feeds off a great chunk of his emotions, so it was a surprise when he was all timid and a stuttering mess. Apparently his little parasite preferred negative emotions, which is why Rochas appears numb and tired most of the time.

But with that aside.. now you know a way to get a big reaction out of him.

there it is, sorry i took so long,,,,

[vargdottern]

misabel in mumintrollet appreciation post

[nyankoizumi]

Honestly this is why I keep calling their ship redsuits in my head because I want a distinction between normal present day spamtenna and big shot spamtenna because they feel so uniquely tasty. Do you guys understand

[enmi-land]

ʬʬʬ 𝓨OUTUBE.COM ▹ NOW PLAYiNG . . .

ⓘ MiLA AND HER FAVOURiTE OPPA . . .

(˶ˆᗜ��˵) FANMADE ViDEO. #2O24. ꗃ PREViEW A compilation of Mila being babygirl for Jay.

CLIP 1, INTERVIEW

for context: mila and kiara were asked who they thought the most manly member is in the group

“Uhhh, I don’t know about that.” Kiara laughs awkwardly at the idea. “I’m older than almost all of them, and I grew up with Heeseung since we were kids, so it’s hard to say. I don’t really… you know?”

“Ah, fair enough. They’re kind of like younger brothers, right? That would be awkward.” The interview nods in understanding when Kiara confirms. “In that case, what about Mila? Maybe not for the younger members, but you must have thought about your oppas, right?”

“Well…” Mila laughs shyly as her members all turn to face her. “They all have their charms. But when I think of the word ‘masculine,’ the first person I think of is none other than my Jay-oppa.”

The interviewer is surprised when Engenes watching the interview live start to scream at the top of their lungs. “Oooooh! I see—Jay seems very happy about this.”

The focus is now on Jay, who is smiling widely beside Mila while she hides her face behind her hand in embarrassment.

me and the ghost in my room: [*Theo slapping Keeho on the shoulder*]

“Now I’m curious. What makes you pick Jay, of all the members?”

“Well,” Mila says shyly, avoiding Jay’s gaze as he stares softly at her. “Ever since we met, he’s taken very good care of me—not that the other members don’t, but sometimes we have those times where we tease each other and all of that stuff. You know?”

The interviewer nods. “You like to play around, yes? Close friends who tease each other.”

Mila nods strongly. “Exactly like that! Jay-oppa isn’t like that, though. He’s a real gentleman. He’s always very gentle, and soft-spoken, and patient. He’s like the type of person people want their daughters to marry...”

And then Mila proceeds to hide her face behind Jay as Engenes go wild over their interaction. All the while, Jay can’t help the absolutely whipped look on his face as he smiles like an idiot.

[*Close up of Jay*] [“Boy who got you smiling like that?”]

CLIP 2, COMPILATION

to give you an idea of mila’s favouritism, let’s see the difference between mila with each of the 02z mila with jakehoon:

K-NEXT DOOR

“I was watching some of your clips, and I noticed something interesting,” Jonathan says. “Mila, you’re a 03-liner, right?”

Mila blinks. “Yes, that’s right.”

Jonathan turns to Jake. “Jake, you’re a 02-liner.”

Jake nods.

“In that case… Mila—why don’t you call Jake ‘oppa’?”

Mila bursts out laughing as if she’s just heard the funniest thing in her life, before she composes herself and turns to Jonathan. “Well, for one, we’re both foreigners and speak English when we’re alone. I got used to calling him by name, so it feels weird to call him oppa. And for another, it feels weird to call him my oppa when he doesn’t act like one.”

Jake looks at Mila in absolute shock as Jonathan’s jaw drops. Heeseung and Jungwon giggle among themselves, and Jake nods solemnly at the camera with his lips pressed into a thin line.

[*Close up of Jake with raining overlay*] [“Gwenchana, gwenchana, daeng daeng daeng daeng daeng.”]

WEVERSE LIVE

“The other day, I realised that I’m only three months younger than Sunghoonie-oppa,” Mila says all of a sudden. “Isn’t that so weird? I might as well be his friend, but he’s still considered my elder because he’s born in 2002. It’s so unfair…”

Mila pouts as she reads comments. “‘Just don’t call him ‘oppa’?” Mila laughs. “Right. I should just call him ‘Sunghoon-ssi’ from now on, haha. Or ‘Sunghoon-hyung.’ Can you imagine his expression? It would be funny…”

Mila bursts out laughing as she reads a comment.

“‘Just call him Sunghoon’? Yahhh, you’re trying to get me in trouble.” Mila looks thoughtful for a second after she says this. “But then again, I don’t really care if it’s Sunghoonie-oppa. He can just be mad at me, for all I care.”

She leans towards the camera with a cheeky smile.

“Should I do it, everyone?”

spoiler alert: she does it [*Compilation of Mila saying ‘Sunghoon-ssi’*]

[*Close up of Sunghoon’s reactions*] [“I never found you funny, I never found you entertaining—”]

[*Spongebob Narration* ‘Meanwhile’*] mila with jay:

EN-LOG

Mila is in the middle of eating at a restaurant when she receives a call. She looks at her phone to see who it is, and lights up when she sees the contact. She gasps excitedly. “Everyone, it's Jay-oppa!”

She shows her phone to the screen to see the contact which she saved him under: ‘the bestest oppa 😇’

(This is before they even date, mind you.)

[*Close up of Mila’s phone*] ��THE BESTEST OPPA” 🤭✨

[*Cardi B squinting* “That’s suspicious, that’s weird.”]

She picks up the call and holds it to hear ear. In a cutesy voice that is out of character for Mila, she leans back in her chair and smiles, completely forgoing her food. “Hello?”

“What are you doing?” Jay asks.

“I’m just having lunch now.” Mila reaches up to twirl a strand of hair around her finger. “How about Oppa?”

mila whenever jay: [*Nayeon tucking her hair behind her ear*]

Jay hums. “That’s good. I came across a new chocolate store just now. I’m going to take a look now. Do you want me to buy you anything?”

[EN-Log captions: ‘Jay-oppa is too good to me ❤️’]

And from there, the two have a sweet phone call, with Mila looking like a giddy teenage girl as she talks.

“Mmm, okay,” Mila says as they reach the end of their call, but not without a pout. “I’ll let you go, then.”

“Get back home safely, okay? Call if you need anything.” Jay’s voice is soft, and Mila is smiling as she assures him that she will do as he says. “You hang up first.”

[EN-Log captions: ‘Jay-oppa, why are you so sweet to me? I’ll cry :(’]

Mila giggles. “Okay, okay. Bye bye~” She still smiles at her phone, even after she hangs up. She then turns to the camera and smiles. “Everyone, isn't my Jay-oppa the sweetest?”

“MY JAY-OPPA” 😫

jakehoon watching this: [“I just wanna be appreciated! I wanna be appreciated!”]

CLIP 3, WEVERSE LIVE

“‘Jay, will you marry me’?!”

[*Boom*]

Mila is flabbergasted after she reads out the comment, and looks up at the camera with a look of absolute incredulous indignation. Jay simply laughs at her expression. “Why, why? What’s with your expression?”

“No!” Mila says with a huff. “You can’t marry him!”

Jay looks amused as Mila glares at the camera, trying to intimidate. “Shouldn’t I have a say?”

“You can’t.” Mila latches onto his arm, resting her cheek on his shoulder. “There’s only one Jay-oppa in the world, everyone else can go find their own.”

[“Hold up! Wait a minute! Something’s not right!”][*Mirage effect*]

mila when engenes ask to marry ni-ki [*Mila saying, “Haha. Good luck with that. He’s a lot to handle.”*]

mila now: [*Mirage effect*]

“But you have to share with Engenes,” Jay says amusedly.

Mila turns to him with a pout and a signature pair of babydoll eyes that she always seems to wear around him—and which he’ll always fold to. “Tell them to ask someone else.”

🤨 [*Dwayne Johnson raising an eyebrow*]

Jay simply chuckles and turns to the camera. “Sorry, I can’t get married to you because our Mila doesn’t approve. You have to ask someone else to be your husband.” He looks back down at Mila. “Happy?”

Mila nods. She then proceeds to continue clinging onto his arm for the rest of the live, resting her cheek on his shoulder as she looks at her with a gaze that could melt butter.

🦋🦋🦋

CLIP 4, COMPILATION

This is basically just Mila getting shy and avoiding Jay’s gaze whenever she makes eye contact with him. It’s like she physically can’t handle looking into his eyes or she’ll be sucked into a vacuum.

mila when jay looks at her: [“Oh no, I hope I don’t fall.”]

CLIP 5, COMPILATION

proof that mila is jay’s baby part 298192: she always runs to jay when she needs something

EN-TER KEY

Mila realises she made a mistake during monitoring and looks at the camera. “I messed up…”

She doesn’t seem bothered by it because she laughs. But as a few seconds pass, she seems visibly worried as she avoids eye contact with the camera and looks away more than once, as if to use her face.

(This was during a period of time not longer after debut, where she was receiving immense hate for supposedly debuted without any talent.) 

But then she seems to crack and turns her back to the camera, before making a beeline in a certain direction. As the cameraman follows her, they end up finding Jay, who is seated on a couch in the dressing room.

He immediately stands up upon seeing Mila, and worriedly asks her what’s wrong. He opens his arms to her and she immediately walks into his embrace, burying her face in his shoulder.

He brings a hand to her head and whispers something in her ear which the cameras don’t catch. But its clear that he’s doing his best to cocker her and shield her from the camera’s view.

EN-DIARIES

Mila is tasked with the mission of giving a member a makeover, which she complains will be entirely impossible to do for any of them. But then she decides to approach Jay, and follows him around the place, asking him (and only him) for help.

“Oppa, can you help me just this once?” Mila grabs onto his sleeve and tugs it to her. “Please?”

Jay pretends to ignore her, instead busying himself with looking inside the fridge. But instead of giving up and asking one of the other members, she persists, and does everything from clinging, whining, to even pretending to be upset.

“I’ve been rejected,” she mopes in the living room, purposely speaking loud enough for Jay to hear her. “No one loves me anymore.”

At this, Jay seems ro reach the end of his straw, and laughs to himself as he makes his way over to the sulking Mila on the couch. To keep the long story short, Mila eventually sits him down and happily puts a ribbon in his hair, while commenting how cute he looks.

SO SO FUN

Mila is in the middle of cooking something in the kitchen when she notices that something is a bit off. She gasps when she realises she forgot to add an ingredient, and starts to panic that she might have ruined the whole dish.

The first thing she does is take off to find Jay. “Oppa, are you busy?”

Jay looks at her with his full attention. “Why? What’s wrong?”

Mila looks slightly embarrassed and stands closer to Jay, with a hand slightly covering her mouth. He leans down closer as she basically whispers, “I made a mistake with the food. I think I messed it up…”

Jay, to his credit, seems unpaused. “Show me. We’ll see if we can fix it.”

Mila points out the food when she gets for the kitchen, looking disappointed as she walks Jay through every step she took. “Sorry,” she says with a frown as she finishes. “I’m so clumsy…”

“No, no, don’t apologise,” Jay reassures softly. He wraps an arm around her shoulders and places a comforting hand on her head. “We can still fix it. Come here, I’ll show you what to do if it happens again.”

MISCELLANEOUS

And again, Mila can be seen asking for his help or his comfort when she needs something, which he responds to like a hero to the rescue at every occasion. It’s really no surprise that he’s her favourite oppa. (Or so, JayMi shippers like to claim—just don’t let the MiSeung fans know.)

© ENMI-LAND, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. DO NOT COPY, TRANSLATE, REPOST.

taglist⠀( OPEN ! ) ⦂ @em1ejiee @menichoi @dracoslovergirl @rosas-in-the-garden @blossominghunnie @lovelypham @cornenhapovs @nee-issaire @jwnstars @tommina @queenriki7 @onlyuyu

[omnitrash]

Idk if it's okay to send asks, if it's not then please feel free to ignore this but OH MY GOD YOUR SELF AWARE DMC WRITING WAS SO GOOD!!! Self aware DMC characters, my beloved!! Your writing scratched my brain just right, it was Everything! Also, Consider, self aware V and Urizen! V remembers you from Vergil's memories and Urizen doesn't have as many memories but recognizes your voice the most (especially the excited cheering and noises of panic during boss battles) it's a thought that came into my head with your writing but anyway! Just wanted to say I very much enjoyed what you made!

UM HI??? HELLO HI I HOPE YOURE DOING WELL ANON! IM SO GLAD YOU ENJOYED IT!!AND ITS TOTALLY FINE!! Feel free to send asks and I’ll try my best to answer!

AND I LOVE THAT?? Okay lemme cook-

Idk how to tag stuff so consider this like, uhhh crack scenarios but also with some more lore and more serious scenarios…idk how to explain, I’m so sorry-

Oh! Okay, shit post. It’s mostly more like two mini oneshots and one mini shit post. Though it is a bit suggestive…I got too self indulgent again-

Also there might be grammar mistakes!! English isn’t my first language so do let me know if there’s anything I could work on or if you have any other ideas! Enjoy!!

(Ps- *Enitharmon is another character from William Blake’s stories so I thought I’d use it as V’s way to address the player since the character herself is meant to suggest “harmony”. Something V associates the player with.

And thank you @lovelylixie for adding on to the time difference between the cast and player!!)

‘_’ -thoughts

“-“ -dialogue

—————————————

Self Aware Dmc! - V and Urizen drabbles

Y’know? When you first started the fifth game in their franchise, they had a feeling you already had some idea of what was going on. Based on your reactions and your faint mutters and exclamations every now and then, they could only assume -and conclude- that you were ‘spoiled’ by some friend of yours who also happened to play the games. Not they cared of them. It’s you who they cared about the most.

Right now, they could only sigh internally as you struggled to fight Urizen the first time in the prologue…there you go again, panicking over a boss fight…though it was expected, knowing you. Fighting the power obsessed demon right of the bat with no context definitely shook you up -with Nero dealing with the worst part of your confusion and panic…it’s glad to have it back though. It’s been a while since they heard from you…though they knew it hadn’t been as long as it had been for them to you-

But what they hadn’t anticipated was Urizen’s interest in you. Sure, they knew V would eventually hop on to their…fixation on you but Urizen…? That could be a problem. He’s a dangerous demon, he could harm you -sweet, defenseless, you. They couldn’t let that happen. All the more reason to shoo Nero and V away from the scene so you could continue playing.

You gasped as everyone got blown away by the massive demon, still shaken up and confused by the sudden boss fight. But Urizen…he was interested. He had a feeling, this nagging thorn in the back of his head that…this person that was controlling that pest Nero…was familiar. He just didn’t know why…

He watched as you protested against Dante’s decision to leave -and even defending that brat after he was called a deadweight. “Oh c’mon- was that even necessary?! That’s so mean!” the demon heard you sulk- and he’d see you again. And again. And again. Coming back for rematch -and surprisingly improving each time…you were…resilient, for a mere human, he’d admit that much -after rematch with both that pesky one-armed boy and his annoying little brother.

By the time you reached Mission 17, you’d fight him one last time. Seeing Dante come up to the demon and try to get a reaction out of him. Memories? Where it all began? He had no recollection of such thing. And it mattered not, for he already had the Qlipoth fruit in his grasp. All he wanted…was answers.

He turned to the demon hunter after eating the demonic fruit, his many eyes glancing in your general direction before looking down at his brother.

“Who are they? The person sitting on that bed…controlling you and those pests? Why do they seem…familiar?” He inquired, breaking the games’ code and script. He was powerful enough to do so, so why bother beating around the bush?

Dante on the other hand, wasn’t so thrilled. If Urizen was powerful enough to alter the course of this game…he had to do something. Before you started growing suspicious or worse. Got hurt. He wouldn’t allow it.

He quickly fixed the dialogue the moment he heard his corrupted brother spoke out of script, making it so that you’d hear the original lines from both of them while he talked to Urizen.

“Woah there, Verge! You gotta stay on script there buddy! Can’t have the little sweetheart wondering why the game’s acting up, now can we?” He laughed it off, masking his animosity and concern.

“Why should I? They are…an anomaly I can’t quite understand. While I may not have recollection of our time together, I do know them…they…are rather weak, are they not?” The demon spoke again, just faintly recalling your panicked reactions in battle…but also your determination and focus to win. “Weak yet strong…intelligent, and determined…to adapt to my power so quickly in battle. Perhaps that is why I have an inkling of them in my mind…”

“Yeah? Well don’t dwell too much on ‘em. Your main opponent is me, remember?” Dante rolled his eyes, quickly getting into stance as the fight slowly started to commence. Already feeling your control seep in…he could only hope he’d keep you safe. He had to…that just made him all the more motivated to go all out. Perhaps he could tweak the fight to his favor…for your sake, of course.

Urizen only grew more intrigued. If his brother was so adamant in protecting you, you must be more important than he believed. He could see your influence, your control slowly enveloping his brother once more…like a quiet yet protective aura surrounding him…Interesting. So be it…

“Fine then…l guess I’ll have to drag the answers out of them directly once I am victorious..” The demon sighed, preparing for your final fight against him

V, on the other hand, knew who you were from the get go. His dearest *Enitharmon. He loved to hear your voice…god, he loved it. He was the more blessed out of the two halves of Vergil. Having received the memories of you, the care you put towards to the older son of Sparda and now to him…it was exhilarating.

He knew you were fond of his familiars too. Often hearing you coo over Shadow and laugh at Griffon’s remarks. Something that would make the panther purr quietly and the bird puff out its feathers with pride…attention whores-

Ahem…in any case, he could only watch with pride as you enjoyed exploring and fighting with him. Joyful that you enjoyed his familiars so much and that you seemed to do so well with them. He was your first SSS style in this game after all. Take that, Nero-

“So close, though, so close. You got a lot of heart, kid, you really do, but you're a bit of a sissy in the strength department. Hey, hey, no offense, uh, you know.” They heard you burst out laughing at that, borderline wheezing a bit at the snarky avian demon’s remark.

“God, I fucking love Griffon. Jesus Christ-“ They heard you sigh, the comment only serving to make the bird huff quietly to himself, his feathers puffing out pridefully as Shadow and V shared an exasperated glance.

As the story progressed though, they could feel your growing concern for them. To V’s debilitated state, or when they had encountered Malphas and got separated. They hated hearing you fawn over Nero when he stepped in…you sounded so flustered and giddy. V was right there, wasn’t he enough?

By the time he and Nero caught up with Dante, he was almost gone…he had to get to Urizen. Quickly.

It’s funny though. Remember how they had a feeling you knew about the game’s plot? This was one of those moments. As he approached the defeated demon, he could feel you growing suspicious. As if you knew his plan…it made him smirk faintly to himself as he got closer to his other half.

“…wait a sec…wait, is he-..? Oh shit, wait, no no no, Dante! Hey! Don’t let him get to close! Nero?! Dante?! C’mon, do something!!” He heard you warn them…how adorably naive. It’s not like it would’ve worked, y’know? Even if they reacted ahead of time before they were supposed to, all would go to plan. In his favor…it’s only a matter of time before he was restored.

“You wish for answers, do you not…? Do not worry…I shall give them to you soon enough” He told his other half quietly, inaudible enough so that it would bypass the game’s code.

As your warnings reached the other two’s ears, it was already too late to act. V had already impaled his cane into Urizen’s chest. A bright beam of light emerging and shaking the demonic tree’s core as the transformation begun.

…It was fun while it lasted. If anything V wished he could’ve thanked you personally for the time you two spend together. Alas, his time was over…right now…it was time for the Alpha and Omega to make his appearance.

‘…I’m back…my dearest angel’

————————————————————————-

Something that echoed through Vergil’s mind as he waited for Dante’s arrival on top of the demonic tree was…an earlier comment you had made while he was still split in two. During one of your many fights against who you called Urizen, you said something that now left him…uncertain of himself.

~Flashback!~

You watched as Trish and Lady got enveloped by the back tendrils…tentacles, whatever- tilting your head to the side as your face scrunched up in a puzzled manner.

“…so like…if this Urizen guy is technically a part of Vergil or whatever…does that mean he has a tentacle fetish or what? Because what is this?” You spoke up before letting out a wheeze, covering your mouth to laugh. Not being able to help yourself from making a reference from the previous game. “What the hell is this??? Type shit- hahaha!”

…you really made it difficult for them not to break character, y’know that? It took all they had not start laughing. Even Urizen squinted his eyes in confusion. What did the little human even mean by this? A fetish? It was only the form he was manifested in, nothing more and nothing less.

~Flashback end!~

“…unbelievable” Vergil grumbled, shaking his head in exasperation and slight embarrassment at the memory…though now that he dwelled on it.

Perhaps that wasn’t so far off. Seeing you tied up in his control wouldn’t be so bad…struggling to break free as you squirmed under the appendages’ touch. Eyes wide and pleading with what he could only imagine would be a mix of embarrassment and need for something…he knew you were such a shy little angel after all. You’d never bring yourself to beg outright unless coerced, he’s sure of it…what would you beg for though? To make them go faster?…or maybe for him to take over instead-

…okay. Maybe he did have a tentacle fetish-

“God fucking damn it-“

“Yo Vergil! Your portal opening days are over!…Give me the Yamato” He heard Dante speak from behind him

…and in that moment, Vergil’s never been so happy to hear his brother in his life

[not-rigel]

would you be interested in writing Sevika x (top) reader who is taller than her, stronger than her, and overall just larger than her and very masculine BUTTT is very submissive??? Kinda like a power bottom Sevika x sub top reader situation👀👀

uhhh YEA!!! hope i did your idea justice!

a little treat for arcane eve (i can expand more after arcane ends but i felt we needed a liiiitle enjoyment before losing our collective minds)

Set between s2 act 1 and 2

WC: 1.1k

Sevika honestly couldn't blame everyone for dropping ship when Silco decided to quit breathing. They have their own lives to lead. But the fact that you stayed stood out to her. When she sat in Silco’s office beaten and broken, you were the one that came to deliver the news and defend the Last Drop with her from the Chem Barons influence. You made grieving easier but the feeling was never gone. Sevika couldn’t talk about those things so most of the time she settled for drinking or flirting with you. Right now she decided on teasing you in her new office. 

“So, pipsqueak, what’ll you do if I can't fix this shitstorm?” 

You roll your eyes, you have no idea why she insists on giving you stupid nicknames, “Sevika, I could throw you across the room without even trying. Between the two of us, you’re the pipsqueak. And everything’ll be fine.”

“I argue that I can take you,” she says. Unbeknownst to you, she doesn’t mean in a fight. 

She's been attracted to you the very moment she saw you, back when Silco hired you on for muscle. She never made a move, for the sake of professionalism. Even after Silco’s death she held back, unsure how she’d emotionally handle a sexual entanglement. But she was getting better, now that weeks have passed and she changed her look. So she let herself consider making a move.

“Alright, and how many times have I held you back while you were on shimmer?” you challenged. 

“That’s in the past, pipsqueak. I'm talking now.” 

There’s that nickname again, “Fuck you, Sevika. You need to stop calling me that, please.” 

“Are you offering?” she quips back. 

Your eyebrows pinch in confusion, “I don’t know what you mean by that.”

“You said ‘fuck you’. I’m asking if you were offering to fuck me,” she clarifies.

You’re speechless. Sure, you’ve thought about Sevika in that way on several occasions but it was always just a thought. You thought about her, when she barked out orders to Silco’s goons. Or stared down at Enforcers, daring them to so much as lay a finger on her. She was always scarier than you in that regard, someone who could take real charge. It always excited you. You watch her now, for some sign that she was messing with you but you can’t find any.

“Not initially but… I’m offering now,” you say before hesitation can sink in. 

She smirks, standing from the sofa and walking over to the desk. You watch her open a drawer and pull out something you recognize. It’s her old choker, the one she wore before changing her appearance. You gulp as she approaches you. 

“What’s that for?” you asked. 

“It’s for you,” she explains. She fits the collar around your neck, adjusting the fit. You think it might be too loose but she slips a finger underneath and drags you to her by it. You let out a whimper as she pulls you by the choker to her lips. 

“You’re so strong, so tall, so fucking masc. It turns me on so fucking much,” she whispers against your lips. You could take control right now, she’s only exerting a small amount of force over you. Holding you in place by a choker, but you don’t resist her. 

She pulls the collar again, setting her lips right by your ear, “Been waiting for you to fuck me.”

Immediately you’re filled with nerves. You love to top but you’re not dominant, despite what your appearance might suggest. You want to fuck her and by all physical means you could manhandle her, but it never came naturally to you. 

“Can you… Tell me what to do? I really want you, I do,” you sigh. 

Sevika shivers. She’s never met anyone so perfect before. Sevika needs you to fuck her, but more than that she needed to boss you around. It always gave her the sweetest thrill. And to boss around someone physically stronger than her, to have you relent all the power to her? She could fall in love in a minute. 

“Would you submit for me? Let me boss you around? Tell you how I’ve dreamed about you fucking me?” She purrs into your ear. Her words are sweet drops of fire, licking your skin deliciously.

Your chest rises and falls with heavy, uneven breaths, “Yes. Fuck, I’d love it.” 

“You’re so strong and all I have to do to get you weak for me is pull you by your collar? You’re so precious,” she moans. 

“I like it when you boss people around. Made me so wet. I’d do anything you tell me to, please Sevika,” there was no holding it in now, the choker and her words eased you into subspace.

That’s how you find yourself knelt between her spread thighs while she sits with her ass perched on the edge of the sofa, shoving your head into her cunt. She doesn’t wait for you to find her clit, instead shifting her hips to move it below your lips. 

“Grab my hips,” she orders, needing you to manhandle her. Just to show that you could control her, but ultimately won’t. You grip her hips, and she shifts her thighs over your shoulders so you have to hold her weight up. You rest your elbows onto the sofa for support, and hold her hips in the air. Both of you were feeling a perfect rush, the sexual dynamic making you thrive like you never had before. 

Sevika groans hearing your sweet little whimpers as she begins to grind onto your face. You move to keep up with her grinding, trying to hold the suction you have on her clit. 

“Stick your tongue out, mouse,” she demands. She loves giving you nicknames to insinuate you’re small. You’re not little, and she loved that. Every time you convinced her to drop one nickname, she came up with another. It was a power trip for her. 

You flatten out your tongue so she can ride it, and you moan as her fluids spread over your face. She leaked onto your chin and you loved the sensation of being covered in her. Loved how she barks commands at you. 

“Shit, gonna cum on your handsome face,” she announces, knees bending to pull you closer. You keep your tongue still, letting her ride your face until you feel her thighs tremble. Her thighs squeeze your head as her hips stop their movement. You shove your tongue into her cunt, feeling her walls pulse around it. She cums loud and hard, juices leaking down your chin and neck. You shudder, feeling your own arousal drip from you. When her orgasm is over, she has you set her back onto the couch. 

“You’re not done, runt. Still need you inside of me,” she rasps. You’re alight with excitement for more of her demands, ready to beg for her all night long. 

[moonwalkingprincess]

Robert Irwin x reader

I'm lowkey obsessing over Robert even though how I HATE he's using animals as models.

co written by chatGPT.

__

Ever since those ads, people has been rushing in the zoo. Mostly women over 30, drooling all over Robert. Not what he had in mind. He thought people was going to be interesting in the animals, perhaps sponsor them? But people only came for him. Asking him uncomfortable questions, taking pictures etc.

Unlike one girl, who would still pay attention to the snakes. The women frowned as Robert left to some other girl.

"Hey there! Need any info on snakes?"

She turns to look at him, quirking an eyebrow. A beat, then she lets out a short laugh — not mocking, but amused.

"Wait... you’re asking me if I need snake info?" she chuckles.

"Uh... yeah? That’s kind of my thing." Robert grins and the girl gave him a smirk, folding her arms. "Aren’t you the guy on the ad posing with the animals?" Robert let out a disapointing sigh, but he tried his best to smile. "Guilty. But I’m always happy to help."

"Okay then, sure. Tell me something I don’t know." She turns fully toward him now, ready for a showdown. Robert raises an eyebrow, intrigued. "Alright... did you know the inland taipan has the most toxic venom of any land snake?"

"What?! No way! I’ve never heard that before... except maybe the last twenty documentaries I've watched." she mockingly gasps. She turnes around looking at the snake in the glass.

"Did you know their venom can kill a hundred men with a single bite? Or that they’re shy and rarely come into contact with humans? Or that they live in the semi-arid regions of central east Australia?"

Robert blinked "Okay, wow." he said impressed. The girl grins. "You thought I was just here for the cute koalas, didn’t you?" she asks. Robert smirks "Well, I mean, you do have koala vibes. But clearly you’ve got the venomous facts to back it up."

"Yeah, well I think I know more than you."

Did this bitch just??? Robert eyes brows went up in anger, trying to laugh it off.

"Excuse me? You know i'm an Irwin right?"

"I know who your dad is. He wasn't someone who had his Shirt half off, holding a black-headed python like it's a fashion accessory. He worked his whole life getting people to respect animals." he said, Robert's body froze at the mention of his dad name.

"I was trying to get... " the girl crossed her arms and cut them off. "You’re posing like it’s a cologne ad. These are wild animals, not props. You think making them sexy makes people respect them more?"

Robert’s smile falters slightly. He wasn’t expecting pushback.

"I’m just trying to get people interested—show them snakes aren’t as scary as they seem." he said defensively.

They are scary. And beautiful. And deadly. You don’t have to sexualize nature to make it worth caring about.

A tense silence. Robert studies her, his posture shifting from defensive to thoughtful. "Okay… fair point." he said quietly. The girl let's out a soft sigh.

"Sorry. I just care about them. The snakes. Koalas. All of them. I don’t want people forgetting what they are just because someone made them look “cool.”" Robert nods at his words. "So do I. Maybe I got a little carried away." she says, getting embarrased. They look at each other. The tension lingers—but so does a flicker of mutual respect." The moment was interrupted by a bunch of scary women asking him if he could sign magazines that had is ads.

"I would love to do that, but I just wanted ot ask first if this lady would like to grab a drink after i'm done with my shift."

You blink, the 5 women stares at you surprised and jealous.

"what?"

I just criticize him why would he wanna go out with me?

"uhhh" you said.

"I can go out with you" said one of the women, but he turned her down? He looked at you again "uhm, yeah, sure." you say.

"great, i'll see you at 5" he says and signs those magazines that belongs to very jealous women.

[fizzy-blood]

["Are you lost?"]

Ticci Toby🪓 x GN!Reader (Smut)

Not a request but I'm bored and wanna write something... Idk man. This is definitely going to be way longer than my headcanons because this is an actual story so yk.

18+ Warning

This content includes: Choking ig, Slight degrading, Hatchet fucking (if ykyk), It's one of those "I'll let you fuck me if you let me go after" type things, Dom Toby, Blood kink, kinda public? (Like, you're in the middle of the woods but...), Reader is way to horny lmao, Reader also has a pussy because it's easier to write for me (no gender mentioned tho).

It was a cold, late night. You had been walking through the woods for hours, completely lost. Maybe if you didn't decide that it would be a good idea to go off the path to find cool trinkets and animal bones you wouldn't be walking through the woods feeling like something was watching you. It wasn't all bad though, you did eventually find a lake in a clearing, you could finally see the moon again. The lake was peaceful and still, a small breeze passed by as you stepped out into the moonlight. You sat down on a rock next to the water, still unable to shake the feeling of someone's eyes on you. Little did you know that you weren't being watched by an animal, in fact the person was hiding in a tree nearby. He watched you as you sat down on the rock, staying as still and silent as he could.

He had picked you as his next target, you looked so small from up there in the trees, he couldn't just let you walk out of the woods unharmed. He slowly climbed down from the tree he was in to get a closer look at you. He began to walk towards you as you closed your eyes and sighed loudly, it was clear that you were stressed about being lost. You didn't hear him approach as you were to in your head thinking to hear him.

Finally he was right behind you, he tapped you on the shoulder to let you know he was there. You quickly whipped your head around and scrambled away from him, almost falling in the water as you did so. You looked up to see a scrawny looking man holding what looked to be a hatchet standing over you, he had a mask and goggles covering his face and a hood over his head. His head twitched and your eyes widened as he took a step closer to you, kneeling down and wrapping a hand around your throat. He tightened his hands around you only to immediately let go after the word "H-harder-" slipped out your mouth.

"W-what the ff-fuck?" He said, staring at you with a concerned look on his face, you couldn't see it though since his mask was in the way. "W-what the fuck is wrong with y-you?", you paused for a moment, he took a step back when you didn't respond. "I guess it doesn't matter n-now does it? You-you are going to d-die anyways.." he said with a sadistic look on his face. You looked up at him with a strange look, you were clearly embarrassed from what just happened and didn't really know what to do about the situation you were in. "Wait wait wait! Can't we figure something out?" You stammered. "Like-like what?" He said softly, his voice sent a chill down your spine causing you to blush slightly. This put a very... Interesting image in your head. "Uhhh- you could uhmm..." You sighed, knowing that you were probably going to regret suggesting this "I'll... I'll let you.. fuck me?" You said nervously, your face clearly a bright red. His eyes widened as you said that, clearly intrigued by the idea. "Hmm, You sure you want that? You don't even know my name and you wanna fuck me?" He slowly pulled his hood down and his goggles off, he had hazel eyes and dark brown hair. "If I do will you let me go?" You asked, clearly terrified of him rejecting the offer and killing you.

"Fine, on one condition-"he said, placing his free hand under your chin and tilting your head up,"-you can't tell anyone about this..", you agreed, face still red from asking. He smirked at you and removed his mask, you immediately took note of the large gash on his cheek. "My n-name is Toby, by the way.. feel free to ss-ay it as much as you'd like while we do this~". You basicly died when he said that, reality was going to hit you like a ton of bricks after this but you didn't care.

He got back down to your level as you were still sitting down on the rock, he crawled towards you and lent you a hand, gesturing for you to take it. Once he had ahold of your hand he pulled you in closer to him, he put his hatchet down beside him and held you in his arms. He let out a small laugh as you looked at him, you seemed tense, unsure about how to feel about the whole situation. Toby knew this, so in an attempt to make this a bit easier on you a bit less tense he kissed you. No hesitation whatsoever, he just kissed you. You closed your eyes and leaned in, you wanted this. The idea of the man you were kissing being a literal murderer was reaching out to the most depraved parts of your mind.

He started to become more needy as the kiss continued, he pulled you in tighter, feeling you up through your clothes. He pulled away and started to pull your shirt off. You didn't struggle, Infact, you helped him. Toby seemed confused by your sudden change in mood but he didn't complain. He pushed you onto your back and kissed your neck, causing you to moan at the feeling. "S-so nice, such pretty s-ounds~" he whispered into your ear, "w-whats your name.. I f-for-got to ask y-you...". You looked up at him and said your name, "Such a nice name~" he muttered as he nuzzled into your neck. He began to kiss your neck, nipping at the skin trying to find your more sensitive spots. Finally you let out a small whimper letting him know that he had found it. He began to bite and suck at the skin, listening to every little sound you made.

[Small Time Skip]

You two had been like this for a couple minutes now when you felt something tug at your belt, Toby had started to undo it. He finally let go of your neck so he could take off your pants. You looked down as he finally got them off, you gasped loudly as he began to rub your clit through your panties. "H-holy shit, how are you th-this wet already? Y-you fucking slut, you wanted th-is to-to happen didn't you.." he smirked at you as you squirmed under him. He moved his hand away making you whine at the lack of friction "Answer me o-or I'll st-stop!" He shouted. You quickly nodded, "Yes, I'm a slut, I wanted this to happen~ please- just keep going~". This answer obviously pleased him one way or another because he began to pull down your panties and suck at your clit. "Fuck- T-toby~" you moaned loudly as pulled your thighs up onto his shoulders and started to eat you out. You continued to moan and whimper as he did, placing your hand on the back of his head to pull him in closer.

Your body was so warm compared to his despite your lack of clothes. He could feel your thighs squeeze his head as you inches closer and closer to your orgasms, you were so close that you had started to shake. Just as you were about to cum he took his mouth off of your pussy, leaving you uncomfortable as the cold air touched it. "Why'd you stop..." You whined at him, "I wanted to see your pretty face~" he seemed to like the anger and pain in your eyes. "Don't worry, you'll feel full again soon.." He sighed, picking up his hatchet from the ground. "Calm down sweetheart, I'm not gonna kill you.. I have a better idea~" the sadistic look in his eyes set you off a bit. You watched him move over to the water behind you and dip the handle of the hatchet in the lake, slowly taking it out and wiping the water off with his sweater. "Hold this." He demanded, holding his hatchet out to you, you held it in your hands as you watched him pull his now damp sweater off of his body.

He took the hatchet back, "You ok there? You seem nervous again..". A stupid question really, of course you were nervous, he looked like he was about to kill you. You nodded your head, "Yeah... I'm fine..". Toby crawled on top of you again and lined up his hatchet with your hole, that's when you realized what he was doing, "I really don't need you getting pregnant on me.. after all, I did say not to talk about this with anyone.." he smiled at you.

You arched your back as he began to slide it in, trying your hardest not to moan. You could feel every little detail of the wooden handle as it entered your body, he slowly began to pull the handle out of you and back in again. "That hurts-" he ignored your crys and continued, taking off his belt and pulling his own pants down. You watched him touch himself as you continued to cry and whine from the pain, he seemed to be getting off to it. Soon enough the pain turned into pleasure as your body got used to the hard wooden handle inside of you. He began to rub himself against your clit, you could tell he was hard, it was starting to affect him too much. He continued to rub his dick against you as you whimpered from the feeling, the handle was too hard, too big, and he really wasn't helping with the overstimulation by rubbing against you. Toby placed his free hand on the back of your head again, watching small tears run down the sides of your face from the overwhelming feeling of the hatchet. He began to kiss you again, it was much slower, much softer than the first time. You gave into the feeling and wrapped your arms around him, pulling him in closer.

You both continued for as long as you both could handle it. You had placed a hand on his hardened dick and had been jerking him off for a couple of minutes. Finally he came on top of you, he moved his body up a bit out of your reach to watch it slowly drip off of you. Toby had finished, but you were still chasing your orgasm, he could see the pain in your eyes so he decided to do something to ease the pain. You groaned as he pulled the hatchet out, it had a small amount of blood on it now from how hard it was and how much it was stretching you out. You watched as Toby licked the blood off of the handle, his face had a noticeable blush on it, clearly he had been enjoying himself... He was also enjoying the blood a bit to much, maybe he had some kind of a blood kink? You didn't bother to ask him as he placed the hatchet back on the ground.

"Toby? What are you doin-nghh~" You moaned softly as his tongue touched your clit again, it was a nice change from the hatchet, much more soft and warm. You could feel his tongue work through your folds as he licked and sucked at your pussy. It felt like heaven as he licked up the blood that had been slowly dripping out of you. Did it hurt? A little... Did you care? Not really.

He eventually managed to find a sweet spot that was closer to your entrance and began to attack it with his tongue, soothing the pain as best he could. He let go for a moment and placed a finger inside of you and began to move it in and out only to return to your clit so he could still taste you, so wet, so sweet. You squeezed his head in-between your thighs and finally came undone. A wave of euphoria washed over you as he continued. A couple seconds later he finally stopped, he was pleased with how the whole thing had went.

He dressed you and put his sweater back on, picking both you and his hatchet up off of the rocks, carrying you out of the woods. He placed you down next to a tree near the path and sat down next to you slowly falling asleep.

The next morning you woke up peacefully, it was a Saturday so you did have any work. You felt a small pain in your abdomen as you stretched your body, looking over to see Toby's sleeping form next to you. The memories of last night came flooding back to you as your face went red... Did you regret it? Not at all.

HOLY SHIT!! (⁠┛⁠◉⁠Д⁠◉⁠)⁠┛⁠彡⁠┻⁠━⁠┻

I almost lost this whole post over a notification about penises and I really don't know how to feel about that....

Idk, hope you enjoyed it!! -Fizz

[ivanaskye]

(wo)men are flipping on tv, or, ivana's olympic watching experiences so far i guess

(artistic) gymnastics: the absolute classic of flipping on tv. you're probably either already watching this or not i guess. if you are on the fence men's is much, uh, more competitive than women's right now. speaking of gender the 6 men's events vs 4 women's is sure some kind of way--and of those 6 vs 4, only two (vault and floor) overlap! and of course women's floor has music and includes facial expression in judging whereas men cannot have music, that is too girly. what precisely is manly about a single high bar as opposed to two bars of uneven height? no one knows.

trampoline: speaking of gymnastics this is technically a subcategory of it, along with the above and rhythmic gymnastics my beloved (but not having yet happened). uhhh ok so in trampoline people Go, up into the Air, apparently 26 ft+. then flip. very concentrated flip per second here, recommended if you want flip. each athlete's run is very short though, which may impact followability

diving: this time we flip into water. synchronized diving is very easy to tell if people are doing well bc you just kind of go, hm, are they doing the Same thing? in all diving you know someone's done something right if they make very little splash into the water. ok ive also literally only watched one event here

skateboarding: if you take anything from this list, let it be this- please please please watch olympic skateboarding it is so fun. skateboarders attempt two 45 second runs (of which only the best score counts) and 5 individual tricks (of which only the two best count). as such they are incentivized to take a lot of risks and fall down all the time. it's great. also makes for great ease of watching: you know they did well if they landed All That, and probably didn't if they are on the ground.

bmx (jump version): kind of like skateboarding but worse bc risks are less incentivized

boxing: absolutely incomprehensible to a mere mortal. apparently the judges determine who wins each round based on.... uh..... who... seemed to be doing better. so, vibes? vibes. it's not something as pedestrian as 'who landed more hits'. absolutely mystifying. also moves very fast.

judo: moves much slower than boxing! so you can at least tell who is doing what to who. as for whether what they are doing scores points. well. uh. see. the match instantly ends if one fighter throws the other with "strength, speed and control". if they have only two of these they get a point; two points wins. how are any of these words measured? uhhhhhh. vibes!

handball: i checked into this for maybe ten minutes to see if i could figure out what handball 'is'. i still don't know. there's a ball in a hand. soccer-like but with a hand instead of a foot. how do the rules actually work? a mystery.

table tennis/ping pong: actually pretty followable though not engaging enough to me specifically that i watched much. mb not enough flipping. my god these people move fast.

equestrian jumping: in some ways like many other events, except the creature jumping is a horse. i like to imagine what the horses are thinking about this whole situation. i tried to look up what a horse's name meant and discovered he has a website (he has no idea he has a website) where his sperm is sold for hundreds of pounds (he has no idea this is happening either). very followable as there are no positive points of any kind, only penalties. did that horse clear the bar without knocking it over? congratulations that was a success.

equestrian other things: opposite tier of followability i have no idea what these creatures are doing.

track: running is the easiest thing to understand, closely followed by swimming. who gets from point a to point b fastest. we can all understand this. however mostly it is not very interesting

triple jump: jump far*. the closest part of the indentation they make in the sand to the starting line is what is judged as their distance. *technically, triple jump is 'jump far with extra steps'. long jump is the true 'jump far' but i haven't seen any yet.

hammer throw, shot put, discus: the throw things real far events. to which javelin is added but i don't think ive seen even a bit of that. wait im not sure i saw any hammer throw yet either. anyway. the builds of these athletes are so mountainous. which is great.

elsewhere in field i haven't watched any pole vault but that one guy did get betrayed by his own junk so there was that

shooting: unfortunately the memeable people everyone has seen are in air rifle which is perhaps the least interesting event to try to watch of all time. you can barely even see when they pull the trigger and you don't get to see the target itself, only a graphic of it. mystifying presentation choices. skeet and trap however are followable as moving targets are shot, scored on a pure yes/no of did you shoot that thing or not. americans hilariously uncommon in shooting events despite our gun culture; don't you know, it's not actually american to shoot something accurately!!!

[keys-hellscape-1020]

4 times you meet Red Robin, 1 time you meet Tim Drake

A/N: Sorry for disappearing these last few months. I’m not dead but I am in a serious depressive episode and you know what that means. Time to write.

Content warnings: Angst, Kidnapping, reader dissociates, they don’t get along at first, eventual fluff, this is my first time writing for Tim sorry if he’s OOC, uhhh cursing probably, let me know if I missed anything

Soulmate!Tim Drake x Soulmate!gn!Reader

————

1.

From your seat on the frosty park bench you watch the thin red thread bob in the winter wind, lit only by the pale light that is filtering down from the streetlight above you. You watch the string dance with mild interest, jerking your pinky at random intervals to make it flutter one way or another. No matter which way it sways however, you know where it will always lead. To your soulmate.

His name is Red Robin, or in other words, Tim Drake. One of the richest men in Gotham who just so happens to also be a crime fighting vigilante. A closely guarded secret that you only know thanks to a subtle design flaw in the universe. Television.

Ever since the third Robin made his first official appearance you knew. You could see the red strand trailing off his pinky, and, upon asking your father, discovered it was only you who could see it. It was at that moment, all of 14 years old, that you unofficially met your soulmate. It was at that moment, that your life was permanently altered, for better or worse.

At first, your stomach kicked in excitement. Your soulmate was a vigilante! You simply couldn’t belive your luck. You scoured the internet for any information on him, becoming one of his biggest fans in a matter of hours.

Your obsession lasted all of a few months. It came to a screeching halt when a photo of Robin kissing Spoiler was leaked. You felt your heart break, the pieces jumping up into your throat to choke you on your own disappointment and sadness.

The worst part? You knew you had no right to feel the way you did. Robin had no clue you even existed. His soulmate could be half way across the world and it become clear to you that he wasn’t intent on finding them. On finding you.

In that moment of heartbreak and spite you made a choice that would follow you for years to come. If Robin didn’t want to find you, you didn’t want to find Robin.

It wasn’t until several years later, when you were watching a broadcast of a Wayne gala out of sheer desperation to cure your crippling boredom that you first laid eyes on Tim Drake.

You sat in bored silence, letting the stream playing on your computer become background noise as you mindlessly scrolled through your phone, when suddenly an interview playing on your computer catches your attention. A man in a sleek suit with a face that you’re sure you’ve seen on tiktok before is leaning next to a man that you only recognize thanks to the name edited over the video for the sake of the viewers. Tim Drake, isn’t that guy a millionaire or something?

Pulling your attention back to the video, the interviewer is questioning him at record speed and Drake, for his credit, looks entirely unbothered. If it weren’t for the quickly concealed circles under his eyes and the way he periodically glances over his shoulder with a glazed over look, you might even say he’s enjoying the night.

As you watch Drake be interviewed, a dancing red string in the background catches your eye, stealing your breath. You watch it flitter in the background behind Drake’s head, almost as if it’s teasing you, daring you to do something with the information you now posses. You watch as Drake goes to tuck a piece of hair behind his ear, the small knotted string on his pinky finger unknowingly showing you the identity of Red Robin. It crossed your mind for a half second that they may be different people, but a quick google search reinforced what you already knew. Two different soulmates produced two different strings. You very clearly only had one.

You had laid awake all night, wondering if this changed anything, questioning if you should do something with this information. You couldn’t tell anyone, you knew that for certain. That might put him in danger and despite not even knowing the man personally, despite every fraction of your heart telling you to hurt him in anyway you could for what he’d done to you, you knew that you couldn’t live with yourself if he came to harm because of you.

And so, you bit your tongue, swallowed the ever burning desire to track down your soulmate, if only to scream in his face, and continued on with your life. Whenever the urge to track him down reared its ugly head you reminded yourself of the many photos you’d seen of him kissing someone, someone much more attractive than you. Someone who can keep up with him. Someone better. Why in the world would he want you?

The months after you found out Red Robin’s identity flew by, and despite having come to terms with it months ago, tonight you couldn’t sleep. Your room seemed to suffocate you, urging you to get some fresh air, the window of your room proving insufficient even when you stuck your whole torso out of it. It was at this point that you decided to go out, nighttime in Gotham be damned. You’d lived here your entire life, you could deal with a few muggers. And so you wrapped yourself up in a thick winter jacket over your pjs, complete with a scarf and gloves, making sure to slip some pepper spray into your pocket, where it would be easily accessible should you need it.

Nighttime in Gotham can be strangely peaceful at times, large buildings cast dark shadows which are only illuminated by weak streetlights, and depending on where you are in the city it can even be something close to quiet. You walk slowly, your boots crunching through the thin layer of ice and snow, as you navigate your way to the park.

The cold air feels nice on your face as you sit on a park bench, watching your string. Your head leaning against the back on the bench, taking in the sight of unlit buildings around you. After several minutes of sitting there in silence you finally decide to stand, a strange tingle on the back of your neck seeming to urge you towards home.

It’s only when you begin to turn that you notice the man behind you.

Before you can even register what’s going on you’ve switched the safety lock of your pepper spray and are spraying it directly into the eyes of the man with a shriek of fear.

You’re to stunned to speak as you shuffle back as quickly as possible, tripping over yourself in your panic, leaving you on your back, your pepper spray the last line of defense between you and… Red Robin? You let out a pathetic whimper of shock, which at any other moment would’ve left you horribly embarrassed but right now you’re too confused to feel anything else.

He lets out a muffled “Shit!” As he wipes at his face with the back of his glove. You stand and reflexively hand him a tissue from your pocket.

“S-Sorry.” You stutter out, watching the string cautiously float between you two in shock.

He gratefully takes the tissues and wipes his face with it, “Ah, it’s okay. The mask got most of it, just startled me was all.” He says tiredly, flashing you a weary half smile that has you feeling unfortunately weak in the knees.

“I uh-“ you find yourself at an unfortunate loss for words as you stumble through what you should say, fantasies of what you would do when you finally got the chance to meet this man face to face fleeing your mind in an instant now they you were actually in the moment.

“Are you okay?” He asks, blotted out eyes staring at you in what seems to be concern.

“Y-yeah… yeah uh… sorry I thought you were gonna try and kidnap me or something…” you said awkwardly, suddenly finding the ground very interesting as a sense of painfully strong embarrassment rushes through you.

“I knew I shouldn’t have approached you from behind.” He mutters quietly, more to himself than anything else.

“You were watching me?” You ask, creasing your eyebrows at him in concern. A hot spark of fury snaps to life in your chest. First this man breaks your heart, and then he decides to stalk you?

You swear you see him flush bright red underneath his mask. “No- no! Well, uh, actually yes- but not like that!” He stumbles through his words. “I just uh, thought you might be hurt or something, and then I uh- I saw your string and well I just thought I should say something.” He trails off awkwardly.

“Well then, what did you want to say?” You ask him, the spark of anger growing, fueled by all the painful memories that you’d acquired through the years.

“O-oh.” He looks genuinely startled for a moment at your outburst, and you would’ve felt bad had all the memories of how it felt to have to watch your soulmate flourish without you, how painful it was, not flashed through your mind.

“Well I honestly didn’t think that far ahead.” He says softly, almost shyly, as he looks at his feet and you hate how his cuteness causes butterflies to churn in your stomach. You let out a low hum as you consider your options, doing your best to ignore how adorable he looks as he glances at you and fidgets with his gloves.

“I’ve known.” You say calmly, calculatedly. If you played your cards right you could cause him a lot more pain than yelling at him ever would.

He looks up at you, a hit of confusion and concern in his voice. “Known what?” He asks.

“Tim Drake and Red Robin have one very striking similarity.” You say calmly, taking a few steps down the road that would eventually lead you home. You look back to see if he’s following and sure enough he is. You wag your pinkie at him in response.

“Ah.” He says simply, his shoulders tending.

“Relax, I’ve known for months. If I was gonna tell anyone I would’ve.” You say curtly as you begin walking home once more.

“How did you find out? Why bring it up now?” He phrases his questions as just that, questions, but you know that if you fail to answer truthfully he’ll find out quicker than you could blink. You’d looked into him over the years.

“T.V.” You say simply. “String showed up on it. As for why I brought it up, as of a few months ago Tim Drake hard launched his relationship with Bernard Dowd on Instagram. I’d be willing to bet money that the relationship had been going on for a while before that. That’d put you at dating for what, about 8 months now?” You look at him for false confirmation, you know you’re right. His shoulders are tense and you’re sure you’re receiving a scalding glare from behind his mask. You can’t help but grin in satisfaction. It’s seems your research paid off.

You see your apartment complex off in the distance and turn to face him once more. “This is all to say, you’re dating someone. What’s the real reason you approached me? Troubles in paradise?” You hum, you know you’re being nothing short of cruel right now but after watching this man completely disregard you, not care, or maybe just not realize that his soulmate would have to watch him live life without a care in the world for them, well you couldn’t help but think it was deserved.

He grinds his jaw as he looks at you. “We broke up. Not that it’s any of your business.”

“Ahh so you intended to have me be a rebound then?” You snort and look him up and down. In all your years of watching him live life without you you’d never seen him look so tense. “Well as lovely as this was, I have to wake up early tomorrow. Nice talkin’ to you bird boy.” You turn around and start walking into your apartment building. You glance behind you and see Red Robin standing where you left him, staring at you, his jaw locked tight and his mouth downtrodden in a frown. You can’t help but feel a spark of well earned satisfaction at the sight.

————

2.

You really thought chewing him out would make you feel better. You truly did. Instead all it did was make you feel guilty. You can’t even pin-point the cause of the guilt churning in your stomach, making you feel all the worse. You almost wish that he’d announce another relationship so you could feel justified. On the other hand seeing article on article about his newest love might finally drive you to the brink of insanity. Assuming you could still call yourself sane at this point.

Every night after dusk when you leave to do absolutely anything, you can see a shadow of a figure following you around. You’re sure it’s Drake, it has to be. You’ve studied videos of him and other Robins, compared and contrasted, you know how every one of those vigilantes move compared to each other and there’s only one who has the minor tells you keep seeing out of the corner of your eyes.

Red Robin. The string leading right to him just confirms your theory. He must think it’s not worth the effort to hide himself, the string would give him away no matter what. So instead he’s making sure that whenever you leave the safety of your home you know he’s there. You pour over why in your mind, you even consider the idea that he’s protecting you but in the end even just thinking the idea cause a spark of humor in you. No he must have some other motivation, perhaps making sure you know he has the upper hand? Perhaps showcasing that you can’t hide from him?

Whatever the reason, you’re sure that you’ll find out soon. He’s been getting gradually closer over the last week and a half he’s been following you. Tonight he’s been less than half a block away at all times. Every moment that you’ve been walking to and from the convince store you’ve noticed the shadow.

You’ve never been more terrified in your life.

You know you have no real reason to be. You know that he can’t wound you or bring you into the police. He has no reason and you haven’t given him anything to frame you with, at least, not to your knowledge. That’ll have to be your only comfort for now.

The subject of your fears is about to be confronted as you purposefully turn into an alleyway that you commonly avoid during the night, just as you excepted, the moment you’re half way in you hear the soft sound of feet landing behind you. You’re certain it’s only a pleasantry.

You steel your nerves as much as possible as you turn to face Red Robin. He’s looking at you with a dark expression that you can’t quite place, it causes a drumming of unease in your stomach and you can feel your heartbeat picking up in your chest. You wring your hands together tightly before crossing them over your chest.

“Can I help you.” You ask coldly, keeping your voice low.

“I wanted to talk.” He says calmly, approaching you carefully, calculatedly.

For every step he takes you take two back, and he quickly gets the message and stops approaching. He holds out his hands as if approaching a scared animal. “I think we got off on the wrong foot.”

You can’t help a short, sour, laugh from rising in you. “We got off on the wrong foot years ago when I had to watch you pretend I didn’t exist.” You grit out from inbetween your teeth. “When I had to watch you fuck around in those relationships.” A tiny voice in the back of your mind screeches that you’re being stupid. Melodramatic. That nows your chance to get to know him. You ignore it. “We got off on the wrong foot when I told you to fuck off and you took it as an invitation to stalk me for a week and half!” You‘re getting angrier and angrier, hiding your unease and sadness behind a thick later of rage, as you had for years now.

You’re pacing, back and forth, back and forth, walking on an invisible tightrope before him, trying to calm yourself, to think rationally. It seems that Drake’s very presence however limits your ability to do so. You scratch at the nape of your neck, trying to center yourself.

His eyes widen in shock, as if he hadn’t even thought of the possibility that you’ve know he was your soulmate for years. He shakes the shock off much quicker than you’d like before he speaks. “I wasn’t stalking you-“ he begins, holding his hand out as a sign of peace. “I wanted to say something, I just didn’t know what.”

“So you decided following me around was the best course of action.” You say with a scoff.

He unconsciously copies your body language and rubs the nape of his neck. “Well, I started off on my patrol route and then I got… distracted.”

You fix him with an un-impressed stare. “You got distracted so you decided to stalk me?” You deadpan.

He tightens his fists in agitation, scoffing at you. “Well maybe if you weren’t walking around Gotham at night I wouldn’t have to keep you from getting kidnapped!”

You throw up your hands in poorly-contained anger, approaching him to jam a finger into his chest. “I’ve done fine without you up to this point! I hardly need your help.” You seethe.

He grits his teeth, holding eye contact with you from behind his mask. If you didn’t know better you would say that you saw a flash of regret on his face. “Fine then. Have fun fighting off muggers.” He practically growls as he pulls out his grappling gun and disappears into the night with a gust of cold air.

You start walking back, much more content now that there’s no strange shadow following you. As you drift off to bed that following night however you can’t help but feel a dash of regret.

————

3.

You’re regretting telling Drake to leave you alone.

You’re really really regretting it.

You watch the group of large men discuss you in hushed voices on the other side of the room, all of them dressed in black. You’d been brought into a small room of what you think is the office of a warehouse. After all, this variety of common criminal are never original with their plans.

You stretch and pull against your binds, trying to find any weakness in them, you grind your teeth in frustration when you fail to find any. One of them notices your twitching and after muttering something to the rest of the group approaches you. You watch, doing your best to conceal your fear, as the rest of the men leave the room.

The man crouches in front of you, balaclava covering everything but his eyes as he analyzes you.

“What do you want.” You spit out, attempting to kick him with your bound feet. The man easily swats them to the side, huffing at you in irritation. “Your soulmate is Red Robin.” He doesn’t phase it as a question, but an objective fact, making your stomach twist anxiously.

“Why the fuck would you think that.” You growl out, baring your teeth at him, doing your best to use your anger to mask your true feelings.

A series of bangs and shouts interrupts you from outside the room, causing the man to stand and turn quickly. He stands in front of you, staring at the door a while before he turns to face you, giving you a look that you roughly decipher as his best attempt at telling you “I told you so”. He pulls you up roughly, wrapping an arm around your shoulder and shoving a gun to the side of your head, making you wince silently.

He tugs the both of you into the corner that’s immediately visible from the door way. It feels like an eternity of standing there, trying to maintain a balance of getting as far from the man as his arm wrapped around you will allow while not pissing him off enough that he decides to use the gun. In actuality only 2 or 3 minutes pass as you listen to the sounds of fighting that echo outside the door. Despite your expectation of it, you still violently flinch when the door slams open, a painfully loud crack filling the room.

Drake looks frantic, he’s covered in dust and his Bo staff is sticky with a dark substance that you can only surmise is blood. He barely glances at you, eyes finding the gun that your kidnapper presses into your skull before his eyes trail up to the man holding you.

He holds out a hand, other gripping his staff tightly, and you can’t help but remember your last meeting. “Let them go.” He says firmly, like his trying to will the man’s action with only his voice.

From where the man holds you against his chest you can feel him shake with fear, but how did he think this would go? His friends would get the drop on Red Robin? Yeah right. You silently hope that Drake finds a way to get you out of this soon.

“Let. Them. Go.” Drake says again, approaching slowly. You can see his fingers shifting on his staff, attempting to feel out the man’s next move. “There’s no way you get out of this. So let them go and you can get off easier.”

Apparently he didn’t enjoy the sound of that as he throws you to the ground, points his gun, and fires. Drake’s mind and body are both quicker than any reflex this man might have however as he ducks under the bullets with ease, knocking the gun out of hands with a practiced flow.

You don’t see what happens next, and you don’t want to. All you see as you pull yourself into a corner are the scrapes on your hands from where you caught yourself. You bury your head in your knees and try to fuse into the corner. You don’t want to be here. You want to be able to pretend this entire situation doesn’t bother you. You want your soulmate to be anyone other than the vigilante across the room from you right now who’s beating a man to a bloody pulp.

Time doesn’t seem real, you don’t seem real as you stand in the doorway, watching yourself struggle to breath in that corner. You don’t know when you reentered your body but you know that Drake is in front of you, blood on his knuckles and dotting his face as he frantically unties you.

You struggle to breath and Drake presses his palm to your cheek, you flinch at the feeling of a sticky fluid meeting your skin. “Hey, hey it’s okay. You’re okay now.”

Your soul acts ahead of your mind and you press you face into his chest with a sob, you feel him physically startle for a moment, before he slowly and tentatively wraps his arms around you. “I’m sorry.” You choke out between cries, digging your finger into the fabric on his back. “I’m so sorry.”

You’re sure that in a day or two the memory of this will embarrass you, but for now his arms wrap around you and squeeze firmly, centering you in the here and now as he mummers comforts into your ear.

And for now, that’s all you need.

————

4.

It’s been almost a month since you were kidnapped, and then rescued by Red Robin. Your parents had begged you to come home and recover with them, but you had turned them down every time they asked. Under other circumstances you would’ve agreed in a heartbeat, but your apartment had something that their’s lacked. Red Robin. The man who saved you that night, and your soulmate.

Every night following your capture he’d come to visit. As he handed you off to the police he’d promised he’d keep an eye on you, and it seemed he intended to follow through on that promise, as for the last four weeks, like clockwork, you’d awaken to a soft tapping on your window, opening it to Red Robin.

The first few nights he’d simply crouched on your windowsill and exchanged a few short words with you, turning down your offers of bandaging his wounds or a glass of water before he was disappearing into the night as silently as he came. It took you nearly a week before you managed to convince him to come inside for the first time.

You had to practically beg him to come in, promising over and over that it wasn’t any trouble and you were sure that you didn’t mind. You’d never been so happy Gotham’s rent was cheap enough for you to live without a roommate so you didn’t have to explain to someone why Red Robin was in your apartment at 4 am. It took a while for the both of you to warm up to one another, especially after the rough start you’d had, but once you two actually had a conversation without gritting your teeth at each other you found you had more in common than you thought.

That brings you to today, nearly a month after Tim had saved you from your kidnappers. You’re currently both seated at your small dining room table, cups of cold coffee in both of your hands as you chat about everything and nothing at the same time, his mask laying on the table between you. You glance at the clock on your stove and startle slightly, it reads 3am. He had come by for a brief pick-me-up before he headed out on patrol, now it was about the time he should be done. If the things he’d told you were anything to go off of, Batman would be sure to express his dissatisfaction.

He follows your line of sight and winces when his eyes land on the clock. “I guess this means you have to go…” you say softly, trying to keep from seeming to disappointed.

He leans back in his chair and lets out a sigh before shrugging unceremoniously. “Eh, it’s okay.”

You cock an eyebrow at him. “Won’t Batman be mad?”

He gives you a grin that turns your muscles to jelly and makes your stomach erupt with a swarm of butterflies. “You think Batman’s never missed patrol because of a cutie distracting him?” He asks, looking you up and down in a surprisingly respectful manner that you find yourself wishing was a little less gentlemanly.

You feel heat rush to your cheeks and you rub at the nape of your neck in a futile attempt to disperse it. “I uh- I certainly find it hard to imagine.” You stutter, suddenly finding your floorboards completely fascinating.

He lets out a soft chuckle and a warm silence settles over the both of you like a blanket. You sit there and stare at the coffee sitting at the bottom of your cup as you swirl it around mindlessly. Your trance is only broken by Tim softly clearing his throat.

“So- so uh. I was wondering if you uh. Maybe wanted to go out with me sometime? Well not me.” He says softly, gesturing to his Red Robin uniform. “Tim Drake.”

Despite the warmth gathering in your own cheeks once more you place your elbows on the table and lean forward, taking pleasure in the pink you see on him. “If I didn’t know better I would say you like me birdie.” You tease.

He fixes you with a playful glare and copies your body language, similarly leaning forward. “What if I do?”

You click your tongue and pretend to be deep in thought for a moment. “Well…” you say slowly, “I guess I won’t have a choice but to take you up on your offer.”

He flashes you a smile that could rival the sun and stands up suddenly, prompting you to do the same. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow at 5, wear something nice.” He says with a wink before he’s opening your window, slipping his mask back on, and disappearing into the city with a short wave.

————

5.

You hadn’t slept much last night. But who could blame you? After Tim had left all you could think about was what he had in mind. You spent several hours slipping in-between consciousness and sleep and when you finally woke up for good you found yourself thankful that you didn’t have to work today as your mind darted over all the different possibilities of where he would bring you.

His cryptic fashion advice did you no favors. What exactly qualified as “nice”? You certainly had no clue, and as a result spent entirely to long scanning your closet for something. You considered several outfits. Too formal. Too casual. A shirt he had seen you wear as pajamas. A pair of shorts that would’ve been perfect had it still not been to cold. A top that showed off a little to much. Nothing worked.

It took you an embarrassingly long amount of time to settle on an outfit that could be okay for a variety of activities, even longer for you decide what accessories to pair with it. After several hours you still had time to kill before Tim picked you up, which you spent doing small chores around your apartment, mind too preoccupied to get any real work done. As 5 pm drew you near you found yourself checking over every aspect of your appearance, nothing seemed quite right but as the sound of your doorbell rang throughout your apartment you found yourself grinding your teeth and having no choice but to deal with it.

You smooth out your outfit one last time before pulling the door open. Tim stands there with a soft, nervous smile on his face, a bouquet of red roses in his hand. He’s dressed more formally than you’d expected, in a simple white t-shirt, with a dark grey blazer and slacks, finished off with black leather loafers.

He blinks in shock as he looks you up and down once, his ears turning a bright red as he seemingly snaps out of it, offering the bouquet to you. “You look lovely.” He says softly, looking away from you and towards the floor bashfully.

You feel your cheeks warm as you roll your eyes playfully and take the bouquet from him. “You’re one to talk birdie.” You flirt as you move into the kitchen to get a vase.

He follows you into your apartment, closing the door and leaning against its frame as he watches you work with a fond look in his eyes. You finish filling a vase with water and place the roses on a windowsill. You gently mess with the blood colored petals, moving them around softly before you turn to look at Tim. “Thank you for the flowers.” You say softly.

He gives you a small smile and rocks on his heels, “Ah don’t mention it.” He says with a wave of his hand.

“So, what exactly did you plan?” You ask, unable to keep the excitement from your voice as you approach him.

He gives you a smirk and opens your front door with a flourish. “After you.”

You can’t keep yourself from letting out a short laugh as you let him escort you through the hallways of your apartment building and towards a nearby parking lot, where an entirely too expensive car is waiting. You startle for a moment, but recover as he approaches it and opens the passenger door for you.

“Do you even have a license to drive this?” You tease as you slide into your seat.

He balks and stares at you in open mouthed shock for a few moments, causing you to let out a full bodied laugh.

“What is that supposed to mean?” He splutters, ears turning red as he looks at you in confusion.

“D-don’t take this the wrong way,” you say breathlessly “but you don’t look like someone who knows how to drive.”

He stares at you for a few more moments before wordlessly rounding the car and getting into the drivers seat.

“You’re sure you can sit there?” You snark.

He gives you a half-hearted glare. “And to think I was gonna take you out to a nice dinner.” He mummers under his breath as he starts the engine.

You give him an exaggerated look of shock and lean over as best you can in a mock-bow. “I am so very sorry my lord. Please forgive me.”

He considers you out of the corner of his eye, trying and failing to hide a smile. “I suppose your apology is acceptable.” He quips.

You straighten and give him a large smile, giggling as you turn your head to look out the window at the streets you’re passing. There is no denying that the start you had was rough, but now? Now you wouldn’t change what you had for the world.

[sylvan-librarian]

RE: Nissa’s Retcon

* * *

About once a month, I get a comment on one of my posts saying something along these lines

“Uhhh, you left out the part where Nissa was a fascist!”

“Nissa was more interesting as an elf-supremacist, imo.”

To be perfectly frank, I think both of these points are stupid and not worth my time, but just to give these posters the benefit of the doubt, I’ll assume they mean well and respond to them, once and for all, this way:

To address the first point, you’re right: in my posts celebrating Nissa and the journeys she has taken, I do tend to leave out material that was retconned. This isn’t entirely true, however, as I wrote an entire essay about this on my Tumblr page, which I doubt people slipping into my comments to post “gotcha!” have bothered to read. But anyway, to assume the best of these posters, let’s take a brief look at this retcon. Outside of a few brief blurbs in the “Duels of the Planeswalkers” video game and her 2009-era character description on Magic’s website, the “racist Nissa” characterization comes entirely from the In the Teeth of Akoum novel from 2010. And yes! In this book, Nissa is a hilariously stupid racist (frighteningly like real racists, imo). However, many aspects of this book were retconned in Nissa’s Magic Origins reboot. To note, in the 2010 novel, Nissa has no idea what the fuck Akoum even is and lets herself get led there by Sorin and Anowon. In the reboot, we learn that, among many other changes, she went to Akoum previously in her life, as that journey is what led to her sparking. Either way, post-Origins, many aspects of Teeth are questionably accurate at best. It’s quite safe to assume that with how horrified Nissa is when she sees Lorwyn elves hunting goblin children for sport that that particular aspect of Nissa’s personality (white supremacy) is no longer a part of her characterization.

For the second point, this one is just crazy, man. I don’t know y’all come up with this stuff. I don’t even know how to address this politely. Keep in mind that I am not by any stretch saying that Nissa is now a perfect cinnamon roll that never did anything wrong ever. Nissa is at fault for not trusting Sorin and setting the Eldrazi free. This is a decision that forever will, and should, haunt her. In the newer lore, she still distrusts vampires and outsiders in her youth because of how she was raised, and this is wrong of her. But Nissa does not distrust them because she thinks she is somehow morally superior to them by nature of birth. Nissa was raised as a member of the Joraga nation. The Joraga, as even the most basic of searches into the Magic wiki tells us, “eschewed outsiders and held even the other elves of Zendikar in disdain.” Nissa carries this distrust of outsiders with her into her adult life and doesn’t really learn to let go of this until she meets the Gatewatch and learns to expand her horizons. And again, Nissa was wrong for this xenophobia. But don’t get it twisted: there is still a big difference between fear and distrust of outsiders and fascist, ‘hierarchy of races’ bullshit. Both are rooted in fear, but for all her many shortcomings, the retconned Nissa of the new lore would never advocate for elves ruling the multiverse at the top of a racial hierarchy like the older Nissa would (and did). This is hammered home in her Origin story where she is horrified by watching Dwynen lead other Lorwyn elves as they slaughter entire tribes because they think it's funny. Furthermore, on the subject of Lorwyn elves, I would argue that old Nissa is fairly boring as a villain, as “racist elves” as a concept was already explored in depth in the Lorwyn stories. An entire planeswalker with that as her bit would get boring very quickly.

Lastly, and I suppose this is subjective, but isn’t a nuanced character, deeply flawed but trying her best to shed the xenophobia ingrained in her more interesting that an unrepentant, racist dumbass learning that “goblins are people actually!” only after she condemned an entire world to death? The latter might be (darkly) funnier, I’ll give you that, but the former makes for a much more interesting and emotionally satisfying narrative arc.

[secondbeatsongs]

Hello, you said in some tags in a poll that Speed Racer (2008) is your favorite film. If you’re okay with it, I’d really like to hear more about why you love it. I love the Wachowskis’ work (they’re among my favorite directors), but I kinda ended up bouncing off Speed Racer (2008). So, hearing that it had a real impact on someone makes me very curious why. I’m not interested in criticizing your opinion or arguing with you, I’d just really like to know why you love it in the hopes I might be able to enjoy that movie more in the future.

oh god this is from seven months ago, I'm so sorry - but I do love almost everything about Speed Racer (2008) and I still think about it nearly every day.

I love that it's so bright and colorful and absurd. I love that it's an anime in live action form. and I love that at its heart, it is a story about love.

it's about the mistakes people make out of love, and the consequences of that. it's about the way children grow to understand why the adults around them make the choices they do, and maybe choose to do the same things. it's about taking risks for the people you love, and the pain of failing to change the world, because everything is capitalism and everything hurts.

(and it's also about being transgender btw. like, that's one of the main things about it - it is very much a movie about being transgender)

what if your father's choices hurt your older brother, and your older brother's choices hurt you, and now it's you and your younger brother staring down a future where you're going to end up hurting him by making the same choice?

and then...what if you can escape that? what if the broken parts put themselves back together, and the hope doesn't run out, and you're not alone with the things that haunt you? what then?

and now you're at the end and mistakes were still made, people were still hurt, but everyone's grown and changed and they're different now. and they've figured out that maybe, just maybe, you can change the world by doing something you love, by creating art and beauty and making people feel things.

maybe you really can defeat capitalism by driving a car really fast. and even if everyone thinks you can't...don't you have to try anyway? shouldn't you fight with the skills you have, the only way you know how?

what if it works?

and I'm not even gonna get into most of the Racer X stuff (because I want people to go watch this movie, and most folks probably won't be spoiled for it), but his whole deal is just...everything. I love him.

(if there's a guy from Speed Racer that I want to put in a jar and shake every so often, or maybe wrap in a blanket so he can have a nice nap, it's Racer X. he's a great character. prime blorbo material)

anyway I've been rotating this movie in my head ever since I saw it for the first time, and I think I've seen it...seven? times now? and I still cry at the final race, and I still get blown away by the intro sequence.

(the beginning of the movie is genuinely one of the best things I've ever seen - it does an amazing job of introducing you to the world and the story of the characters, and gets you emotionally invested in it right from the start. it's fantastic filmmaking)

also like. story stuff aside, from a technical standpoint, the movie is a masterpiece. it's the type of thing that people hated when it first came out, but when you look at it now and see how it was made, how it intentionally looks bizarre and cartoonish, plastic and surreal, you can see the exact vision the Wachowskis were going for, and it's brilliant.

the way they did the visual effects, the way they made the outdoor scenes feel so detailed, the way the driving and the tracks work - they put so much thought into that, and the behind-the-scenes vids show how cool their process was.

also uhhh cars go vroom, crash into each other, flip upside down, explode, maybe have bees and hammers in them sometimes?

(the above is me complimenting the unhinged vibe of the races themselves, which I love very much)

anyway I could make other full posts about the script of the film and how much I love it, or the cool side characters, or the fanfic potential of the amazing world of the film, or how I can prove that it's set in 1991...but I guess if anyone wants those rants, they'll just have to watch the film and then come talk to me. :)

(please. please come talk to me about Speed Racer.)

so, yeah! I kinda lost my mind there and made this post way longer than I intended, but I do feel strongly affected by this movie, and I hope this has helped explain why.

[mackeydoodledoo]

A Taste of Your Heart: Chapter 2

Pairing: Bridget x (Fem!)Reader: Ashlynn Hood

Chapter Summary: You gain the courage to ask Bridget to Castle Coming. So, the both of you go outfit shopping. Despite all negative eyes laying upon you, your eyes only see her...

Chapter Warnings: School Bullying

Chapter Key: Italics = Thoughts, +*+ = Time Skip, Bold/Italic = Singing, Tsf/n = Transfer's Name

Chapter Theme: Steal the Show - Lauv

A/n: N/a

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

You bring Bridget back to Ella in the main hall.

"How's Uli doing?" She asks the group, "I feel absolutely terrible... I should go apologize."

You step in front of her and press your hands on her shoulders, shaking your head in protest.

"Don't," Ella says, "She did this to herself. Serves her right too."

"Is it true that you beat Hook in a sword fight after school one time?" Tsf/n asks

"Yeah, one of the reasons they don't bully me," You explain, "They know better."

"Ella, hey," Charming comes up to the four of you, "Oh, you're the two new transfers right? I'm Charming."

"That's debatable," Ella scoffs

"I just wanted to say, that was amazing," He begins, "No one has ever stood up to Uliana like that. That makes you braver than me, and I'm a prince. Not that I'm trying to boast my royal status-"

"But you always find a way," Ella continues teasing him

"Oh, the two of you came at a perfect time too," He smiles, "It's Castle Coming week."

"Which is an outdated, elitist, boring tradition," Ella adds

"So... You're... Not?..." He looks at her

"Wear an over-priced dress, and painful shoes? No," She answers

"Well, if... You change your mind, I'll see you there," He smiles before walking off

"Was that chemistry I was watching?" Tsf/n asks

"No," She rolls her eyes

She turns to Bridget, who is smiling ear to ear.

"Okay, everyone loves him... Yeah, he's gorgeous and seems kind, but he's a prince, you know how royalty is," She says, "Except you, B."

"Ugh, I just wish someone was that interested to go with me," Bridget says, "But, everyone has plans... So..."

"Bridget," Both you and Ella say

Her eyes shift between the both of you.

"You first Ash," Ella steps back

"Uhhh... Bridget, would you do me the honor by accompanying me to Castle Coming?" You bring your hands into hers

"You're... You're that interested in taking me?" She asks, her lips curving into a smile

You nod, then lean in to the side of her ear.

"Maybe we can get Ella to have a dance with Charming," You whisper

She lets out a giggle when you straighten yourself out.

"I would love to go to Castlecoming with you," She smiles, "Ella, we have to go try on dresses right now! We only have two days!"

She looks at Ella in particular

"No, I'm not going," She says

"Come on!" She begs, "Maybe we can get you to dance with someone!"

"Why?" She asks

"One Castlecoming experience is better than not having any," She says

You watch as Ella contemplates her decision... Her contorted lips says she doesn't want to go. Yet her eyes are easy that she might want to go...

"Hmmm.... Fine," She finally decides, "Only to make you happy."

She squeals as she hugs her, "Let's go find dresses!"

"Soon," She says, "I have to get home..."

"Okay," Bridget replies, "Ash, would you go dress shopping with me?"

"Sure," You answer

She squeals and grasps your hand, pulling you with her.

"Gonna find the perfect dress!" She squeals

+*+

You follow behind Bridget as she makes her way through the town square. All eyes laying upon you as you continue following Bridget. She drags you into the first dress shop she set her eyes on.

"Hood..." The shopkeeper greets you, coldly

Your eyes avert to the ground; Bridget takes note of the interaction.

"Don't worry sir, she's with me," She says

"Doesn't matter, she's a Hood," She says

"Then I will keep a very close eye on her," Bridget replies

She grabs your hand again and takes you into an area with the warm-color dresses.

"Do you know what kind of dress you want to find?" You ask, striking up a conversation

"No, but that's the joy of finding one," She smiles, "You should look for a dress for yourself. Or, whatever outfit that makes you feel most comfortable."

As you try to spot some trousers.... No luck....

We're in a dress shop Bridge....

However, you instead lurk behind her as she grabs an array of dresses...

"Which one do you think will look best on me?" She asks, holding different outfit up to her body

"Uhhhh, really hard to tell when they aren't on you," You say

"Hmmm," She thinks, ending the thought with a smile

Perching her dress options in one hand, she grabs your hand with the other.

"You get to pick my dress out," She says

"Oh no no no, bad idea Bridge," You attempt to protest

"Nonsense! I'm sure you'll be able to find the right one!" She says

She seats you down onto some chairs outside of the changing rooms. To which you wait patiently until you hear the curtain slide open.

"Well?" She asks, giving it a little twirl

The dress... Was something... To say the least for you...

"No," You say, "Next."

+*+

Bridget nearly went through the entire shop, you could see the desperation on her face: worried that she wasn't going to find the dress.

You hear the curtain slide open again. Your eyes widen at the dress.

The dress itself was.... Wondrous.

The dress was a mix of pink, green and white. White bows topping the pink base. Green lace floral work complimented the bright fabric.

"So?" She asks

You stand up, walking towards her; holding out your hand.

"Care to dance?" You ask

"With no music?" She asks

Just then, the shopkeeper plays a song on their radio. You look back at her and the biggest smile appears on her face. The both of you attempt to keep in rhythm with the song, but the both of you step on each other's toes.

"Didn't your mother teach you how to ballroom dance?" You ask

"Taught me everything, but that," She says

"Okay, what I remember from my mom, she said that we mirror each other," You explain, "Where my foot goes, you follow it."

She carefully follows your footsteps; initially looking straight down at your feet, slowly working her way up to keeping her eyes on your face.

You take a step back and lift your hand over her head, twirling her. She smiles as the dress elegantly spins with her. She gasps as you pull her into your body and dip her.

The both of you maintain eye contact as you hold her there. Her hand slowly caresses your cheek and you slowly let her up onto your feet.

"I think this is the dress," You conclude, clearing your throat

She squeals as she runs back to change into her regular clothes. She rushes to the front counter, dress in hand. As you lurk behind as she finishes her transaction, you couldn't help but smile gently. You've always been in the shadows, alone. For once, you're out in the open, with one of the kindest people at the Academy...

"Enjoy Castlecoming darling," The shopkeeper smiles

You follow Bridget out to back to the town. You noticed how the shopkeeper didn't give you the stink eye on your way out.

"Now we have to find an outfit for you," She says

Oh no...

+*+

Throughout the adventure, she manages to find an outfit you actually liked.

"Color me impressed that you found an outfit for me," You chuckle

"It wasn't that hard when I can see your color palette," She says

The both of you approach the market in the center of town. She immediately runs out to the first stand she sees and you try to catch up to her. As soon as she turns to you, her face lights up with excitement as she puts a flower crown onto your head.

"You look so cute!" She squeals

As son as she turns her back, the corner of your lip curves into a subtle smile... You look over and notice another flower stand, You turn to find Bridget; she was off at a bakery stand...

I think she'll live for a few minutes...

You make your way to the stand; as usual, the shop keeper narrowing their eyes at you. You hold up a singular green rose and hand them money.

"Huh... A Hood paying for something... For once," They say

You turn your heel and make your way back to Bridget.

*Bridget's POV* You turn at your shoulder being tapped on. Your eyes light up at the sight of Ashlynn. You light;y gasp as you see her lift a rose and perch it on the top of your ear, tucking your hair behind it in the process.

"Huh... Green looks good on you," She says, smiling

"Really?" You ask, your hands reaching up to the flower

But, She stops your hand, "Leave it there..."

"But, I want to see it," You pout

"When we get back, you can see it then," She says

"Okay," You say, playfully rolling your eyes

Despite you could see it from the corner of your eye.

"Maybe you'll see it after all, we should be heading back. I'm pretty sure Merlin won't like it if two of his students are back after curfew," She says

+*+

The both of you walk in blissful silence on the walk back to the dorms. You expected to part ways once the both of you reached campus. But, she follows you... All the way back to your room.

"I... Had a lot of fun today," She confesses, "More fun than I had in a long while."

"I had a lot of fun too," You say, slightly smiling, "Thanks again..."

"For what?" She asks

"Accompanying me to the town, helping me find a dress... And standing up to Uliana," You say, "No one has done the for me before..."

"Someone like you doesn't deserve to be treated the way Uliana treats everyone," She says

Your heart skips a beat... Your feet works faster than your brain processes your actions as you give Ashlynn a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Someone like you doesn't deserve to be lonely," You say, "Uh... Goodnight... Ash."

"Uh... Yeah, yeah. Night, Bridget," She replies

You rush into your room. You lean against your door, deeply sighing... You finally reach up to grab the rose off your ear. Seeing the green rose for the first time....

Chapter 3

[umesakus]

𝙁𝙍𝙀𝙎𝙃 𝙊𝙐𝙏 𝙊𝙁 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙒𝙍𝘼𝙋𝙋𝙀𝙍.

𝗬𝗨 𝗡𝗜𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗢𝗬𝗔 𝗫 𝗚𝗡!𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗘𝗥 — fluff, friends to lovers, food/eating mentions, references to asahi x reader, 1.8k words.

i was struck by a vision yesterday that was meant to end up as a blurb but quickly got away from me (as it usually does). my hq rewatch has been filling my brain with things and i managed to actually do something about it! so i present this little scene. enjoy <3

There's a clang of metal and a man stumbling on his feet mere seconds after you've passed him on the sidewalk, your neck snapping back with intrigue at the sudden commotion. It's the same man who'd just looked you over from head to toe with more than a little blatancy, apparently captivated enough by your presence to be unable to prevent a collision with a light pole.

After you've finished peering over your shoulder for a beat to witness the guy's speedy, cartoonish getaway, your vision realigns with the direction you're walking in.

"I think that guy back there was checking me out," you say to your companion once the brief series of events has processed through your mind. "Guess he thought I was pretty or something."

You stop in your tracks for only a brief moment to strike a silly pose as Nishinoya strides forward ahead of you. He doesn't even hesitate in his movement nor his response to your playful statement.

"Well of course he did," he says rather brightly yet casually, like it's a fact you could pull out of the encyclopedia. It has you rendered almost static with shock as the humor is instantaneously siphoned from your bones.

"…What?"

A little dumbfounded, you gaze at Noya with confusion and disbelief, watching as he waits at the edge of the crosswalk ahead. His eyes follow the people walking on the other side of the street as he sucks on the ice cream in his hand, unbothered as though he hadn't just dropped a bomb on you out of the blue.

"I said of course he thought you were pretty," he clarifies with the same nonchalance as if you'd simply not heard him the first time.

You blink and then allow your gaze to wander with the intention of gathering your thoughts. You feel more discombobulated than the individual who had just suffered sudden impact only moments before.

"Uh… what does that mean?" you ask with a nervous chuckle.

"Am I speaking another language or somethin'?" Noya isn't quite irate with his words, just perplexed by your seeming lack of comprehension.

"No, I just…" He's so casual about the whole scenario that it makes it difficult for you to properly consider all the logical options. "Why would you say that?"

"Because it's the truth—you're beautiful. Why else would I say it?"

His assuredness continually dismantles your own. Heartbeats intensify in your chest.

"I dunno…" you pause, playing your friendship back in your mind like a film reel, scanning through the memories. "Have you always thought that about me?"

He doesn't even falter. "Well sure. I have eyes, y'know."

You've been friends for a good while now, and until this very moment you would have felt rather confident in saying that Yu Nishinoya hadn't possessed much interest in you beyond that point. With as little as he's always beat around the bush, you figured it would've been made quite clear some time ago if he'd ever viewed you as more than just a friendly companion, seeing as his behavior and vocabulary usually took a rather significant turn whenever it came to potential romantic interests. Noya wasn't the type to unnecessarily draw anything out, instead charging after his desires with little to no hesitation.

"Okay… uhhh…" you trail off, unsure of what your next words or even thoughts should be. Had you simply not noticed something so obvious all along? Or is he pulling your leg for a laugh right now?

He still seems particularly unbothered, and that doesn't help you solve this puzzle any faster.

"What? What's the big deal?" he probes, turning more to face you.

Your legs finally start moving again to take a few more steps and reclaim your spot beside him. The entire rest of the world around you feels insignificant as you're consumed by this exchange that Noya appears to find rather inconsequential, and you wished you possessed even an ounce of his composure.

"I just wasn't expecting that I guess."

His brows furrow slightly at your words, lips wrangling a few drips of ice cream before they can slide onto his hand. "Why not?"

You'd forgotten about the treat in your own hand, the evening heat having wrung several droplets out of it as it went neglected during your moments of surprise. The sidewalk is littered with a trail of it from where you'd since walked, and you hurriedly bring the stick of ice cream up to your mouth to try and salvage what remains. Your appetite has dissipated somewhat but you're thankful for the distraction the food provides.

"Well… it never seemed like you really thought of me like that. Or whatever." you reply with imprecise elaboration, though he doesn't require much more than that.

Noya huffs in thought for a brief moment. "I mean, I guess I was still just waiting for Asahi to make his move, y'know? And that guy can be kinda slow on the draw," he says, referring to your mutual friend and his much different approach to things from Noya himself. "But I promised him I would keep it cool since he liked you so much, and I can't just go back on my promise like that—especially not when he's usually such a wuss about this stuff."

The pieces are finally starting to fall into place and clear the fog that had clouded your mind. You still have several questions on the matter, but this shines enough light for the ship of your thoughts to begin moving through the water again.

You and Asahi had entertained a fairly romantic dynamic from the beginning of when the three of you had first met, but given his more gentle and hesitant nature, the slowburn element of Azumane attempting to pursue you had been dialed up to a higher degree. That mixed with the pressure of his personal life responsibilities had made Asahi a little scattered when it came to advancing things forward, and you'd both eventually agreed that perhaps it just wasn't the best fit, and you'd be better off as only friends like you thought was the case with Nishinoya. But now you weren't so sure.

Spending time with Noya was easy breezy given his dependability and the lack of expectations in the romantic department, which is why you often found yourself happily by his side when Asahi wasn’t around—just like today, when you'd both decided to take an evening stroll to enjoy the weather and grab a little something to snack on. There was never an outing with Noya that didn't leave you feeling satisfied, and you hadn't anticipated that changing any time soon.

However, it seems you've just learned that, rather than failing to have any physical or romantic interest in you, Noya was simply too good of a friend to let that very real interest jeopardize his relationship with Asahi. Perhaps this would be the first time you'd walk away from a hangout with him feeling more stressed than before it began.

After a moment, you start, "So… you're saying if it weren't for Asahi, then…"

Noya watches you with as much dedicated focus as always.

"Well… yeah," he says, only turning away after he visually seems to decide that he's prepared to shut this down as quickly as it came about, determined to hold onto his integrity. "But look, if it's gonna make things weird then just pretend I never said anything, alright? I'm not trying to screw a bunch of stuff up here." Facing the street again, Nishinoya's face shifts to a resolute, yet slightly perturbed, expression.

You realize that perhaps Yu had not been made aware of the developments (or lack thereof) between Asahi and yourself, which doesn't strike you as all that surprising given the other man's reserved disposition. But this time it's Noya's ice cream that goes untouched for several moments as his brow remains furrowed in self-restraining thought.

"Noya…" you start, trying to weave words in your mind that's zipping as quickly as his own now.

"What?" he says just as stalwartly, gaze trained forward on the moving traffic ahead. He's like a dog who's been conditioned to maintain a certain fortitude even in a situation where his chaotic nature might easily spring forth to compromise the outcome.

It seems you might be the one who can offer a spark of guiding light in the conversation this time.

You relax your shoulders a little before beginning to explain, "Asahi and I… aren't really going to be a thing." It feels embarrassing yet relieving to admit it out loud, especially when Noya noticeably softens as soon as your words hit his ears, his head turning thereafter.

"Oh…" his eyes move from your face down to the ground, presumably absorbing what you've just said.

"Yeah." you nod.

Noya looks back up at you. "For real? Are you sure?" he presses, regaining a bit of his usual momentum by quickly searching for confirmation while his heart rate picks up in speed.

"Uh…" your brows raise a bit and gaze shifts sideways for a moment before returning to him with an answer, "Yeah." You'd talked it over with Asahi and come to terms with it, assuming Noya would be kept in the loop or at the very least notice shortly after. Seems you had been mistaken.

"Huh…" he muses in acceptance after pondering. "Guess that makes sense." It would certainly explain why Asahi had relaxed a little more in your presence as of late, and suddenly everything is clicking in Noya's mind, but he almost has the urge to kick his friend's ass for not informing him of such an important detail after he'd worked so hard to maintain a certain distance from you.

(What you didn't know was that, when the onlooker from earlier had scanned you with his eyes, Nishinoya was the first to notice. He didn't assume ill intent or even think twice about it, but the thing that had always existed in his gut was still prepared to stand up for you should the situation call for it. As a seasoned guardian, regardless of his physical size, Noya's instinct to give his all for you never once wavered, even as he remained steadfast in upholding his duty to a friend.)

You watch the breeze glide through his hair, and it feels like you're at the precipice of enlightenment.

"Yeah…" you utter like a broken record at this point, stuck in an awkward loop that's followed by a silence that doesn't actually last very long.

Nishinoya is facing you again. "Well… in that case…" He straightens his back a little, quickly arriving at his next decision in front of your very eyes. "Can you and I be a thing then?"

His casually posed question rings out with colors of both hope and enthusiasm, more fresh and crisp than when your ice cream had come straight out of the wrapper not so long ago.

There are now more melted drips of it on your knuckles than there are coherent thoughts in your mind. Noya simply grins, suddenly more motivated than ever.

[pitchsidestories]

A night at the Natural History Museum II Kyra Cooney-Cross x Reader

a/n: this is for the one who requested a KCC oneshot ❤️

masterlist I word count: 1478

The Natural History Museum was already impressive from the outside. You could feel excitement bubbling up just looking at the building. It almost felt like you were a child again.

“Do you girls have everything? You know you can always call me…“, Katrinas voice brought you back to the present. She and her family were visiting London for a few days, so naturally your girlfriend had offered to babysit their daughter. The toddler was bouncing up and down on Kyras hand, a tiny dinosaur backpack on her shoulders. You couldn’t help but smile.

“We know, Mini. But you’re supposed to enjoy your date night with your wife here in London, remember?“, Kyra replied gently. Her Australian team mate gave an apologetic smile; “I know. I just want to be sure.“ “You can trust us. Harper and we will have so much fun at the night at the Natural History Museum.“, Kyra assured her.

You and Kyra had always wanted to attend one of the museum’s sleepover events and now was the perfect opportunity. “I’m sure you three will.“, Katrina laughed. You smiled brightly at her; “See you tomorrow morning.“ “Bye, mum.“, Harper waved at the same time. Katrina bent down to give her daughter a kiss on the cheek; “Bye, Love. Have a good night and be nice to those two.“ She watched as you three walked towards the entrance of the museum.

Harpers eyes went big and bright, taking it all in. With her little mouth forming a perfect O shape, she stared at the whale skeleton hanging from the ceiling. Kyra, in the mean time, was busy preparing your sleeping spot for the three of you. As soon as Harpers gaze fell on the pillows, she tugged on your sleeve; “I’m not sleepy yet. Can we see the dinos first?“ “Sure. That’s why we’re here, right?“, you replied, taking her small hand in yours. “Yes!“, she grinned happily. Kyra appeared on her side, grabbing the other hand of the toddler; “Let’s go then.“

“Girls look this one is huge!”, Harper was stopping abruptly, she was stunned by what her eyes were taking in. Your girlfriend was delighted too when she followed the gaze of the younger girl: “That’s so cool.” “What’s the dino’s name, Kyra?”, Katrinas daughter asked her in a very interested tone. While both of them were looking closer at the skeleton to try and find an answer to her question you were taking a photo of them and sended it straight to the mother of the child who immediately replied with a heart eyes emoji.

Meanwhile Kyra was licking her lips nervously: “That’s a uhhh.” “A triceratops, love.”, you tried to help her out. She shook her head in disagreement: “No, that’s definitely a centrosaurus.” “Are you sure?”, you asked smirking. The finger of the brunette was pointing to the information board below: “Yeah, that’s what this sign says.” “Damn it, but it was close.”, you cursed jokingly. Honest the midfielder answered: “To be fair, they all look the same to me.” “And I thought you were a dinosaur expert Ky.”, you gave her a teasing smile before kissing her softly.

As your lips parted ways you turned around to look after Harper, but she was not standing at the place there she was a few seconds ago:” Harps? Shit, where is she?” “What? She was just right here?”, Kyra mumbled visibly confused. Your face turned white in horror, the same colour as the animal bones which were presented in the museum: “Yes, but now she is not.” “Shit. We can’t have lost her.”, your girlfriend looked equally terrified.  So, you felt the urgence to reassure both of you with following words: “No need to panic, we’ll find her.” “Yeah, she can’t be that far, right?”, the Arsenal player said optimistic. “Right.”

Immediately Kyra started to shout the girl’s name:“Harper! Where are you?” “Maybe she’s in the main hall, that’s where the big whale is in and she loves whales.”, you thought out loud. Your girlfriend sounded sceptical:” She must have been pretty fast for that.” “True and here are way too many people for her to be that fast.”, you had to admit. “Harper?”, Kyra tried again.

You both were gasping out loud when you finally spotted that familiar little face which you feared you lost in the crowd. Harper giggled in response to your facial expression: “You guys should’ve seen your faces.”

“Harper!“, you called her and bridged the gap between you and the toddler. “You can’t do that to us.“, Kyra scolded but her voice was full of relief. You kneeled down and pulled Harper into a tight hug; “Yes, we were so worried about you.“ “But I was just hiding.“, she mumbled, her eyes round with genuine innocence. Gently, you smiled at her; “Next time you’ll tell us when you’re playing Hide and Seek, okay?“ “Okay…“, she whispered, obviously overwhelmed by the situation. You held out your hand, your pinky extended; “Pinky promise?“ “Yes.“, Harper answered, trying to hook her little pinky into yours. “Good.“

You slowly stood back up and Kyra wrapped an arm around your waist. She took Harpers hand with her free hand; “Come here, Harper. Let’s look at the other stuff here.“ The smile was back on the toddlers face as she politely replied; “Yes, please.“ “There’s so much to see.“, Kyra noted while you three walked through the exhibition. You nodded, overcome with fond memories; “Yes, I loved it here as a child…“ “You did?“, Harper looked up to you as if she couldn’t believe that you once were as little as her. “Yes, I came here often with my parents.“, you explained.

Smiling, Kyra bumped her shoulder to yours and told Harper; “But it’s her first sleepover in here too.“ “Exactly. And with you two, it’s extra special.“, you laughed. Your girlfriend kissed your cheek; “That’s so cute.“ With flushed cheeks but a happy warm feeling inside, you turned back to Harper; “Which dinosaur is your favourite so far, Harps?“ “T-Rex!“, the child yelled, followed by a loud roar. She let go of Kyras hand and pretended to have claws, holding her hands like a Tyrannosaurus. It was such an adorable display that you couldn’t stop yourself from laughing; “Yes, that one is impressive, right?“ Harper nodded quietly and came back to hold your hand; “I call him Roar-y.“ “I love that name!“, Kyra giggled, disproportionately amused about the name. “Me too.“, Harper smiled, trying to suppress a yawn. “It’s perfect.“, you agreed.

As you continued to walk through the museum, you could feel Harper slowing down. She got quieter and let herself lean against you at every stop, hiding her little face in your sweater. “Tired, little one?“, you smiled to which Harper vehemently shook her head; “No.“ Kyra grinned at you, obviously thinking the same; “Sure.“ “Not done yet.“, the toddler mumbled.

With a warm smile Kyra offered her: “Want me to carry you?”. “Yes, please.”, Katrina’s daughter nodded. “Come here.” Quickly the Arsenal player embraced her before starting to carry her.  The girl’s eyes were slowly closing: “Okay.” “I knew, she was about to fall asleep.”, you whispered into your girlfriend’s ear. The brunette was grinning: “She is too cute.” “Yes, mini did a great job with her.”, you winked at her.  “I agree.” “Love them both. Should we go to our sleeping place?”, you asked her.  Kyra who started to feel the weight of the toddler agreed: “Yes, let’s go.” “I think that’s ours.”

Carefully the midfielder let Harper down on to the sleeping back:” Perfect.” Amused Kyra demanded:” Come here, let’s lay down too.” “Fine.”  As you two got cozy with an asleep Harper in between who quietly snored the Arsenal player looked at you excited: “This is really cool.” “Told you.”, you quietly said, your eyes still shining. “Yeah, you were right.”, the Australian admitted smirking. Happily, you told her: “And Harper enjoyed it too.” “Especially the Dinosaurs.”, Kyra laughed. You fell into her laughter: “Yes, she loved the t-rex the most.”

“Roary!”, your girlfriend remembered delighted. But she was a little too loud in your opinion as you was worried that Harper would wake up from the noises around her:”Psst not so loud.” “Sorry.”, the Arsenal player apologized. A soft smile was on your lips as you reassured her: “It’s okay, she’s still asleep.” “We should buy her a plush T. rex tomorrow.”, Kyra suggested.

,You adored that idea as you were getting sleepier by each second:  ”Oh definitely, so she won’t forget her night at the museum.” “I’m sure we won’t either. Sleep well, love.” “Good night, Ky.”, you replied, already half asleep, dreaming from the adventures your night at the museum hold. Lovingly Kyra glanced at you while she tucked you in, so you were as comfortable as Harper before closing her eyes too.

[noisyquokka]

Try Again

PAIRING - Hyunjin x GN!Reader

SYNOPSIS - After a short-lived relationship ends, Hyunjin struggles with the idea of “just friends”. Three years later, it seems you haven’t lost interest either.

WORDCOUNT - 2.9k

WARNINGS - lovers to friends to …., mutual pining, jealous!Hyunjin, a lil playful banter/angst that turns kinda steamy, kinda left open-ended... part 2 perhaps? 🤨

A/N - Literal WEEKS late, but uhhh… that’s never stopped me before! 🤭 My little addition for Hyune Day! Enjoy, Darlings! 💛

(Based loosely on Try Again - PRETTYMUCH cause I've been listening to it on repeat and it feels like a Hyunjin song to me, personally. I also wrote this to satisfy my insatiable love for watching him practice, cause let's be honest... choreographer!Hyunjin just hits different iykyk)

“Would you at least take some videos if you’re gonna bury your head in your phone?”

Your eyes sweep up to the shadow of the man who pauses his movement in the middle of the studio. Hyunjin straightens up, his fingers reaching for the brim of his hat. He pulls it off and runs his fingers through his dampened tresses, already sweaty from the past hour of practice.

“Well, excuse me, Hwang,” you mutter, resting your hand on your thigh. “I didn’t know I was summoned here to be your videographer.”

“You’re supposed to be critiquing my choreo so far.”

He’s been working on this choreo for his new solo, and while he didn’t expect you to drop in, he knows Minho has some part in you ending up here. Why? Because he was stupid enough to spill his feelings to him in full confidence that Minho would keep his mouth shut. One could say he kept his word, but still, he plays with fire in his process.

“Ah, right…” God, is it fun to ponder your next remark. You smirk as you watch him reach for the open water bottle near him. “Not enough sneaker squeaks.”

His hand pauses mid-drink, bourbon eyes cutting to your proud little grin. Your eyes are already back on the phone in your grip, tapping away like you’re texting someone. For a moment, Hyunjin is itching to know who it could be. But then he reminds himself that you’re not together anymore. He tilts his head slightly, tries not to let it bother him.

“You’re so unserious, my god,” Hyunjin mutters, and swipes at his forehead with a huff.

Your grin turns into a playful lip bite, and you can’t help but tease him a little.

“I’m being completely serious.” Your eyes find him again, and he exhales heavily. “The sneaker squeaks are an essential part of the performance. How will anyone memorize your routine if they can’t count the squeaks?”

“Okay.” He scoffs, pushing his hair back and putting his hat back on, swiftly turning back to his Bluetooth. You mock him with your typical Hwang Hyunjin voice, not noticing the way he shakes his head and smirks to himself.

Hyunjin taps the play button on his phone, taking a deep breath as he readies himself for another run-through.

It’s been hours since he started working on this specific number, and while the comeback wasn’t for a couple of months, he thought getting ahead of schedule would be nice. However, your being around brought on a difficulty to slip into the choreographer head space. Ever since his conversation with Minho, and Minho's comment about how you quote-unquote very well feel the same, I mean, have you seen the way they look at you?!, he’s been the embodiment of a goldfish in a bowl. He wishes things would’ve started off better because apparently, this lovers-to-friends plot line was only digging his early grave. Hyunjin’s fairly certain that after you two broke up, you only agreed to stay friends because you made good connections with the rest of the boys.

The rational side of him knows that’s not the truth.

Fucking less than five months and the metaphorical flames fizzle like a defective sparkler.

The only problem is that those feelings never fizzled for him. Even now, his heart stutters in his chest when you lock eyes with him. When you give him one of your little grins and cock your head as if to say you’ve won in the various dumb debates that you love to drag each other into.

Like right now.

“Seungmin agrees with me,” you say, standing up and shoving your phone at him right as he begins the dance. Hyunjin’s brows raise, blinking and tilting his head in a non-verbal question to get you to move.

“Seungmin agrees with you because it’s a dumb argument… and it’s you versus me.” he mutters the last part, watching you roll your eyes and backtracking to your spot.

“If you’re so confident in this, why am I still here?”

“You could leave,” Hyunjin says, his exertion making his comment sound harsher than he meant it to be. He locks eyes with yours in the mirror, his dark tresses falling in his line of sight. The smirk that threatens to quirk his lips sneaks in when you seemingly freeze on the spot, your eyes wider than usual. “I know you’ve got work in the morning.”

You’re mulling it over in your head now — a glimmer in your eye that Hyunjin pinpoints as he attempts to keep track of where he is in the choreography. He watches your eyes sweep to the phone, most likely checking the time. It’s roughly 1:00 am. You lock eyes again, the answer clear before you speak.

“Well, now I’m not leaving since you want me to.”

He gives a sardonic laugh, rolls his eyes as his foot slips and he misses a beat. Distractions…

“I didn’t say that,” he replies lowly, snatching the towel off the top of the stereo.

“You’re mumbling…”

“I said I didn’t say that,” Hyunjin speaks up, his hand bringing the fabric to his face to pat the sweat from his skin. You watch the drops of sweat as they drip off the ends of his hair when he pulls his hat off, and you feel the need to clear your throat. And then the towel is thrown haphazardly over his shoulder. All it has you doing is a double-take on the black tee shirt he’s wearing. The way it hugs his shoulders and chest should be outlawed, you think.

But then he reaches for the open bottle of water again, and you purse your lips. It’s another short swig, a singular drop of water escaping from the corner of his mouth. It travels down his chin, slowly slipping down the length of his neck, your eyes trained on the path it follows. It stops just before the collar of his black tee and you question why it’s suddenly hotter in the studio.

You swallow, forcing your gaze away and back to your phone before Hyunjin can witness any more of your blatant ogling. As you return your gaze to your phone, you feel the heat rising to your cheeks. You’re not embarrassed, not really, but the idea of getting caught sends your brain into overdrive.

“Still waiting on some critique I can work with~” he sing-songs, placing the bottle and towel back beside his phone.

“Maybe I don’t have anything to say,” you reply, and he chuckles.

“You?! With nothing to say? That’s a first.” He walks over, leaning against the wall and folding his arms over his chest.

With the wave of feelings you’re dealing with, Hyunjin’s comment has you bristling. You glare up at him as he arches a brow at you as if challenging you to say something. That stupid smirk quirks his lips. Butterflies swarm in your gut.

“Fine, then.” You lean forward, propping your forearm on your knee as the two of you stare each other down. “You’ve been favoring your right leg through the entire first verse of the song, your hip rolls aren’t deep enough during the chorus, you seem undecided on whether the overall choreo should be slower or faster—” You list off each critique on your fingers, and while Hyunjin wanted your genuine criticism to work toward a better overall performance, he’s clocked out to what you’re saying. His eyes sweep over your face as you continue listing the things he could improve, and he grins at the way your eyes seem to glow in the studio lighting. A fire. Passion for the things he’s passionate about.

“—And another… thing…” Your voice drops to a surprised whisper almost instantly when you feel Hyunjin’s fingers curl under your chin, feather-light against your skin. You blink, realizing just how close he’s gotten, having bent down so his elbows rest on his knees. His head cocks slightly, tongue darting out to lick the corner of his lips. Brown eyes flicker down to yours a moment later.

“Another thing?” Hyunjin repeats, his tone a low murmur. His breaths mingle with yours, your heart beating erratically in such close proximity. His index finger runs the span of your jaw as he stares, a tangible connection that still feels natural and electric to him. A reminder of the silent tension that has always lingered.

The familiar scent of his cologne clouds your senses. It brings you back to the nights he used to spend at your apartment, with the two of you watching K-dramas until 3:00 am. Your bodies a mess of limbs in your bed, his distracting kisses up your neck until you’d try to playfully shove him away. He’d reach for your jaw to pull you in for soft kisses that would evolve into slow and lazy make-outs in his arms. Your eyes dart down at the reminder, and you mentally curse yourself.

“I, Uh.” you stammer out a few words before falling silent, your eyes fixated on his. The moment hangs in the air, the tension between you thick and palpable.

Something, something, boundaries… Something, something, self-control…

Hyunjin can’t help the sly grin, feeling the skin under his touch move when you swallow. All logic has left you in favor of longing for those familiar caresses you had years ago. It sure hasn’t changed, every subtle brush of his fingers ushers forth shivers down your spine. You are teetering on the edge of a cliff, the question being do you jump? You want to. Hell, with the way Hyunjin’s gaze keeps darting down, you can’t help but wonder if he’s feeling the same way.

You attempt to regain control of yourself, but it’s futile — your focus is lost, distracted by the proximity of his lips. Fuck, is he leaning in…

“Your expressions.” You finally manage, the only lingering critique swirling around in your head. “They, uh, could be sharper…” You say, watching Hyunjin sharpen his gaze like a conniving fox. And like a trickster, his fingers drag from your jaw to your neck, dark eyes following its path until the steady thrum of your pulse halts his journey. Your eyes drink him in, lips parted as Hyunjin’s brow twitches in a knowing gesture.

We can’t do this, not after all this time.

The silence crackles with anticipation. You’re fairly certain that Hyunjin knows some part of this is dangerous cause he hesitates for a moment. But then he’s leaning in, his thumb tracing circles against your neck. You mirror his movements, so close that this sliver of distance feels like a challenge. Unspoken desire hums between you two, a heat that has always lingered, just waiting for the right moment to reignite.

Just friends…

The soft brush of Hyunjin’s lips against yours slams the factory reset on your thoughts, mental gymnastics be damned. The tension snaps like a rubber band. You finally give in, capturing his mouth in a meaningful liplock. It feels like no time has passed - he still kisses you with the same careful tenderness that he always has. That familiar heat runs through your body as you sink into him, chasing his lips when he pulls away for a split second only to recapture yours with a fervor.

Your phone is forgotten in your lap, hands sliding up his chest in a new wave of confidence. You pull him closer and Hyunjin groans softly, his free hand coming up to brace his weight against the wall behind you. Your mouths move together in a seamless rhythm, your kisses growing hungrier and more desperate. The brim of his hat grazes your forehead and you slip one of your hands higher into his hair, hooking your finger around the strap. It falls to the floor with a dull thud, allowing your fingers to rake freely through his dark tresses. A subtle pull that has him smirking against your mouth.

Hyunjin pulls back slightly, his fingers sliding from your neck to your jaw. Your lips part in a sigh as you both sit there on the floor of the dance studio, panting against each other’s mouths. Eyes closed, you feel his forehead rest against yours, your noses brushing. You bite your lip, savoring the warmth of his skin on yours.

“I’ve missed this,” he tells you, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Me too.” You murmur, lashes fluttering. God, what an understatement. You’ve been close even after you ended things, with friendly shoves and your usual back-and-forth banter. But the feel of his warm hands against your skin, the comfort of his close presence, his plush lips. This is what you’ve truly been craving.

His scent lingers in your lungs, his heart beating steady beneath your palm. You feel Hyunjin’s fingers knead the skin of your jaw, tilting your head up so he can come back for another chaste kiss that soothes the ache in your chest. He pulls back, pressing his lips to your forehead as he shifts to sit beside you on the studio floor, his back to the wall. You lean back, resting your head against the wall, your eyes locked on the ceiling.

Silence… as comfortable as it’s always been with the man beside you, you despise it right now. It only has you in your head after both of your confessions. What does it mean for you two?

Your gaze wanders back to his. Only those browns are already looking back, a softness in them that has always been there when they’re looking at you. Hyunjin gives you a half grin, reaching out for your nearest hand and slipping his fingers between your own. His thumb caresses the back of your hand as you both sit there, minutes passing by.

“You’re not going to say anything, are you?” Hyunjin’s voice shatters the silence, staring up at the ceiling.

“We should be running through what not to do when you stay friends with your ex right about now,” You’re half joking, but your tone is more tense than nonchalant. Hyunjin laughs under his breath, looking at you from the corner of his eye. You don’t look at him, but you feel him squeeze your hand lightly.

“You should know how difficult it is to stay friends with an ex.”

“Oh, is it?” A small huff escapes your mouth, and you steal another glance, licking your lips.

“You don’t need me to tell you why, do you?” Hyunjin replies, his voice a low murmur. His head turns to you, his gaze fixed on your lips as you bite at them nervously. “You could have cut all contact with me. You could have moved on and we would have gone our separate ways…”

“I didn’t want to do that.” You admit. Your fingers twitch in his palm, pads running over small callouses and lines as you try to distract yourself with something. Anything. His hand wraps around yours again, squeezing firmer this time. A gesture of reassurance.

“I didn’t either.”

You swallow, picking your gaze off your entwined hands, and your heart skips a beat when you meet his eyes.

“We’re gonna have to decide what this is, aren’t we?” You say, the words sounding more serious than intended. Hyunjin does respond immediately. He just stares, his eyes awash in a mix of emotions you can’t quite decipher. He breathes in, tilting his head slightly.

“Yeah…” He says, his voice low and steady. The weight of that realization settles on his chest, but Hyunjin shakes his head and offers you a genuine grin. “Maybe after a good night’s rest.”

“And a shower.” You smirk, pulling away from him in a joking fashion. But he pulls you back into him, wrapping his arm around your shoulder. You screw your face up and he rolls his eyes.

“Didn’t hear you complaining with my lips on yours just a moment ago.” He teases, nuzzling his nose against your cheek. You huff a laugh, leaning back against him.

“Hard to complain when you’re a good kisser.” you counter, bringing a hand up to his shoulder.

“Ah, couldn’t forget that over the years?” Hyunjin mutters, a hint of playfulness in his tone. His lips connect to the junction of your jaw, slowly trailing kisses down the hollow of your neck. Your fingers dig into his shoulder blade, your lashes fluttering over your cheeks.

“I don’t think I ever could.”

Your words send a rush of satisfaction through him and he nips at the sensitive skin just behind your ear. This closeness and playful back and forth is what he’s missed. A comfort that he never wanted to let go of. Even now, as the clock nears 2:00 am.

You capture his face in your hands and pull him back up with little argument, your thumb tracing the corner of his lips.

You don’t realize he’s leaning in again until you feel his lips on yours. It’s a slow and tender kiss this time, but the passion behind it burns hot. You revel in the subtle way he pulls you in, his hand falling off your shoulder to find purchase at your lower back.

Hyunjin eases up, and you’re left breathless yet again, your heart thumping in your chest.

“You gonna be able to sleep after this?” He asks, a sly grin curling his lips.

“Old habits die hard…” You breathe, pulling him in once again.

Psst!! If you've made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read my work 💕 I appreciate you!