#(trying to get a good grade in tumblr something that is normal to want and possible to achieve)

[kkartist]

She drew the line at animal cruelty.

[the-abyssal-system]

Stuck in a constant loop of ‘wants to be more open about being a system and maybe make system friends’ and ‘no one needs to know anything about us and if we start talking about ourselves we will shake like a dog who’s existence is an affront to god’

[charliextea]

So, I'm just trying to figure out what the norm is so that I can get a good grade in Tumblr (a thing that is normal to want and possible to achieve). I see some people tag their queue, but I also feel like there are people who are queueing posts without tagging them (it's me I'm some people). What do you do?

edit: hey guys. friendly reminder that we are all here together at the devil's sacrament. whether you dance left or right around the bonfire doesn't really matter. please be kind to your fellow heretics.

[starryhyuck]

gentle touch. (m) — PATREON EXCLUSIVE

pairing: camboy!yuta x afab!pornstar!reader

words: 3.1k+

summary: you need someone to give you an orgasm. anyone will do, even a random camboy.

genre: smut

warnings: reader is a big name pornstar, yuta is a solo camboy, fingering, nipple play, squirting, anal play, creampie

this fic is exclusive to the $5 tier on my patreon, which you can access here! below is a tumblr preview

“S-Star?”

Your head snaps up at the sound of the name since you usually hear it falling as a moan from a stranger’s mouth. A man stands above you, jaw dropped open at the sight of you.

You’ve been through this before, so you flash a rehearsed smile at him.

“I’m sorry, I’m meeting someone for lunch. Would you like a quick photo-“

“I-I’m the camboy,” he interrupts you, blinking warily. “Were you the one I’ve been speaking with online?”

“Oh,” you say shyly. “Yes, that would be me. It’s nice to meet you, um-“

“Yuta,” he finishes. You gesture to the seat across from you in this private coffee shop and he stumbles to take it. He grins nervously. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to say your stage name out loud like that. I was just shocked, that’s all. I mean, you’re one of the biggest pornstars in the industry.”

You laugh. You hope he’s not planning on making fun of you now that he knows this is clearly below your pay grade. You decide to be frank with him since the cat’s out of the bag.

“Well, if I’m being honest, I’ve been having a lot of trouble with my work lately. I’m stuck in a rut in terms of my orgasms, and I haven’t properly been satisfied by someone else’s touch in months. It’s why I responded to your ad. I’m hoping you can shake me out of this dry spell.”

He mulls over your words, seemingly pulling himself out of the starstruck expression he had on moments earlier. He studies you carefully before humming softly.

“I’d be happy to help you. I can’t say I’m all that confident in getting the Star to fall apart in my bed, but I’m very willing to try.”

You giggle. “I appreciate that. So tell me about being a camboy, how is it different? I’m really not familiar with that scene.”

He shrugs mindlessly. “For starters, we don’t require any of that fancy equipment they use on sets. Just a phone camera operates completely fine. And I think most of the couple videos I’ve seen draw down to the intimacy of it — if you don’t mind me saying, I believe that’s what you’ve been missing from your career. You don’t feel anything towards the people you’re fucking. You show up, the director tells you what to do, then you go home.”

You frown. “And being a camboy is the opposite of that?”

“You could say that. The audience who watch amateur couple videos don’t want to hear fake moans and perfect lighting. They want to see a real couple fucking like animals because they have a true carnal desire for the other. I don’t want anything to be a lie in my video. If something’s not working for you, I want you to tell me.”

You raise an eyebrow. Judging by the stern look on Yuta’s face, you gather that he’s deadly serious about this. You’ve never had a co-star be so concerned about your pleasure. The contract they receive doesn’t have an underlying clause that states you need to feel good in order for them to get paid, so it normally isn’t their first priority. As long as the camera gets a good cum shot and a smile on your face, everything else is golden.

“I can do that. So should we head back to your place?”

“Y-You want to film it tonight?”

“It’s been months, Yuta. I can’t wait any longer or I’ll explode.”

want to read the rest? access the $5 tier on my patreon here!

[deadbydangit]

Hello!! Just asking if you got an ask with Ghostface and Michael Myers with an altruistic reader who is incredibly self-sacrificial for the other survivors; apologies if this comes off as rushing. I just worry that Tumblr ate the ask and I don't exactly remember when or even if I sent it (my memory is nonexistent)

I believe I can do that. Please enjoy.

With an altruistic Reader

Ghostface, Shape

Ghostface

Weirdo.

Why are you so nice?

Like, is there something you're trying to gain?

"Because that is literally the only reason to help people."

He doesn't really understand people doing things for the goodness of it.

"So you helped Dwight find his glasses?"

"What did he do for you after?"

"Nothing?"

"Well did he give you something?"

"Then what was the point of helping the little dweeb?"

Danny doesn't like most people.

Actually, he thinks he's above most people.

Except for you.

Because he thinks he's far better, he expects that they would gladly help him with anything.

But they wouldn't dare ask for anything in return.

He's a grade A narcissist.

In a way, he's worried about you.

"Nice guys finish last, you know."

He may sound harsh, but he's trying to protect you.

He doesn't want someone abusing that kindness.

If anyone deserves that kindness, it's him.

Sometimes he'll even get super jealous of the person you're helping.

Danny doesn't really get the whole being nice to others for no reason.

But he wouldn't change a single thing about you.

Shape

Eww, being nice to people?

To him that like, the ultimate torture.

Killing people, now that's where the fun is at.

He'd rather gouge his eyes out with a rusty spoon than be nice to someone.

Micheal is that against being nice.

He's never really been nice to others.

But he has no problem with you being nice.

You can be as nice to others as you wish.

Provided they don't try any funny stuff.

Like flirting or taking advantage of your kindness.

If they do that?

Well, he'll deal with them.

The Micheal way.

He even tried being nice once.

All for you.

And to see what it felt like.

Laurie stabbed him.

And with that, he decided being nice wasn't for him.

But, again, you're more than welcome to be all kind and fuzzy.

It's really cute to him.

Not that he'd ever say that.

Even if others don't reward your good deeds, he makes sure to.

Little head pats, long hugs, and other things that Micheal would normally detest.

For you. And only you.

[dufferpuffer]

Ok, you win... not because I agree with what you say, but just because you once again managed to circle the discussion back to how dangerous and irresponsible Remus is, how he's a ticking time bomb and Severus's only hope is to set a bunch of 13 years old kids to kill him... I have lost the energy to debate. You seem to have an obsession with dehumanising and debasing Lupin's character and intentions that I simply cannot keep up with. The conversation about the appropriate responsibilities of a substitute teacher took a confusing turn. Terrorising your students can be considered good teaching as long as their grades are high. Way to foster interest and curiosity in young minds! He shows favouritism towards Slytherin (especially Draco) when he turns a blind eye to Slytherin students provoking their Gryffindor peers, but punishes Gryffindor students for fighting back with point deductions and verbal abuse. I'll give this to you: Snape can never be accused of giving more points to Slytherin as he has never given anyone any points.

I'm gonna do my typical response bullshittery underneath but I wanna say something really important to me first, even if I'm misreading tone and it doesn't apply here:

I honestly don't see this sort of thing as a win-lose sort of activity, more of a back and forth tug-of-war discussion game. I'm not trying to win, I'm trying to yap - to put thoughts and feelings into words and analyze what I think and why. Because that's fun. I'm sorry you've lost energy for it, if that's a bad thing - and not just a neutral 'gonna go play with other toys' sort of thing.

If it isn't too presumptuous of me to give advice (it is, ik it is): If you're walking up a hill into someones room (or their ask box) with the mindset of 'winning' being to change their mind... you're setting yourself up for loss. It's harder 'attacking' than it is 'defending', though I really hate to use those terms for talking about HP on Tumblr.

By that framework - I've 'lost' too. You've come onto my home turf and I haven't changed your mind.

Of course you'd be frustrated that I don't see things the same way as you when you've put good effort into presenting interesting points, I probably seem like a brick wall - but you haven't lost and I don't think of you as losing. I enjoy talking with you, Anon, and im glad you've climbed my hill to chat with me, even if it's ended up being tiring.

I really wanted to make that clear. As much as I like discussions and even getting a little heated or catty over things, I would hate to leave people feeling bad about engaging with shit we both love. I like when the internet is a passionate, happy place. If I've dampened that passion or happiness... that isn't who I want to be. I'm scared of that being my impact on people. I hope I haven't, and I am sorry if I have. That thought makes me feel sad.

I suppose I have circled around to Remus being irresponsible beyond that of the classroom - because it's difficult for me to separate it.

In a normal, non-magical, non-HP school situation: Would Severus have been a bad substitute teacher and Remus completely fair? Yeah, sure. But the situation is so far removed from that. The stakes are so ridiculously high - both in reality and in Severus' mistaken, deluded perception - that pushing it into that little bubble seems pointless.

Everything Severus did was coloured by his fear of Remus' 'plot'. Everything Remus did was coloured by his desire to stay hidden. How could I separate their actions from their motives...?

Severus thinks Remus is going to come in with a chainsaw on a murder-spree one day. That Remus is biding his time, gaining trust, pied-pipering kids into his office, making a show of crushing any respect for what Severus has to say...

Remus teaches a Defend-Against-Murderers class. How ironic. Hands tied behind his back and his collar chained firmly to the ground by Dumbledore - Severus marches in and says "Can anyone tell me how a chainsaw works? No? Of course fucking not - RIGHT: 10 million word essay on Chainsaw Murderers."

I just can't treat that as unreasonable...? To treat all that as a simple discussion of teaching tactics... It seems like twisting the complexity of it to make Severus look bad, rather than taking the context of the situation into account.

Severus teaching 13yr olds how to kill Remus:

He isn't. He wants to keep the students out of harm’s way. Protecting them is the core of everything he ever does.

He isn’t training kids to become werewolf hunters, or teaching them to identify someone with Lycanthropy among healthy people - because you can't. He's teaching is how to differentiate a dangerous magical creature like a transformed werewolf, something ranked as dangerous and untameable as Dragons and Acromantulas, from a regular wolf.

He wasn't saying "And how many days would it take for a person with Lycanthropy to recover from their full moon?" or ANYTHING that'd directly clue kids into thinking about people with Lycanthropy. (Though I'm sure he hoped it'd happen - and got his wish.) He only talks about the wolves. The dangerous form.

That isn't training kids to kill Remus for him. And if Severus really wanted to kill Remus, he could have done so in the shack when he believed Remus purposefully didn't take his potion and was about to tear Harry, Ron, and Hermione apart.

Terrorising your students can be considered good teaching as long as their grades are high. Way to foster interest and curiosity in young minds!

The point is that he doesn't do that nearly as much as he seems. The whole point of the narrative is that Harry see's all the bad shit he does - which is bad, of course it is - and ignores everything else.

The evidence being that few others particularly dislike him. Neville gets over him. Hermione defends him. Other students show mild annoyance with him at most because he is strict and an ass - but also say they enjoy his classes, and they do well in them.

They do so well that despite being an ass that holds nobody's hand he has an insane success rate - and willingly populated classes. Would he be a better teacher if he was more like Lupin and could change his teaching style to support those who are struggling? Of course he would be. I'd say Remus is a better teacher.

But Severus isn't a bad teacher.

He says mean shit - but its no meaner than McGonagall, nor is he more strict, nor does he show more house bias. The meanest thing anyone said to Hermione was probably Trelawney, whom she couldn't stand. She respects and defends Snape. Hagrid's classes range from dull to painful to endure, he doesn't teach them anything useful, mutters about students under his breath and is mainly teaching them how to torture animals to death.

None of that excuses Snape's bad behaviour - but it shows what students are used to. Severus is not a stand-out case. Harry just obsesses over him. We don't see everything Snape does, only what Harry notices - evidenced by the fact Severus has populated classes with students who choose to attend them.

It's not that terrorizing his students is 'good teaching'. It's that he is a good teacher regardless of that. He doesn't terrorize students - he terrorizes Harry, and has no patience for Hermione and Neville because they piss him off.

dehumanising and debasing Lupin's character

I'm not sure when I've ever done this, or how I managed it.

Remus Lupin is a complex guy, ruled by anxiety and self-loathing. He constantly battles guilt, overjustifying his actions to ease his cognitive dissonance. Despite this he has a habit of making rash, risky decisions - especially when it comes to affection and acceptance, which he shames himself for craving.

He bundles all his flaws in his fur coat, because thinking himself unworthy and unfixable is easier than learning to be a better man. His 'kin' are the werewolves far away from society, and it is cute that Harry has any faith in him - that's how he feels about himself.

He didn't want to be a teacher, didn't think himself worthy - but was talked into it with the promise of being able to try Wolfsbane. Wolfsbane wasn't what he hoped it'd be. He longed for the days where he could place his full moons into other peoples hands. When he felt less like something dangerous that had to be chained down. The best days of his life: having people fighting for his sake.

That's how he lives his life at Hogwarts: He tries to be the height of cool again. A fun teacher everyone likes, who gives easy work and marks leniently, who prioritizes fun over making sure all his students learn everything well. The opposite of Snape, who doesn't give a shit how his students are feeling as long as they are learning how to brew potions perfectly. You don't want a toad poisoned - or a werewolf poorly sedated.

Remus goes out of his way to peck Snape because he knows Snape can't bite back while on Albus' leash. He pushes himself up by pushing Severus down. Cheeky insults, feigned innocence, smug lies - allowing him to be humiliated. He leans on having others look after him every Full Moon, enjoying feeling normal and accepted. He turns away from his responsibility over not only his own condition but Sirius Black's behavior - fearing losing his happy place in Hogwarts and the affection he craves.

All of it - just like when they were kids. Remus hasn't changed. He knows he hasn't changed, and is disgusted with himself for it.

Like every other DADA teacher except Severus (who on a first read seems to follow the pattern but doesn't, that's the twist) Remus had selfish ulterior motives that didn't align with the children's best interests.

Is that a dehumanising, debasing read of his character...? I don't think it is. I think it is very human - and also very delicious, and also I very love him

[new-revenant]

In a Random Alleyway in Norrisville (2730 words) by FeverProject Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Danny Phantom, Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Randy Cunningham & Danny Fenton Characters: Randy Cunningham, Danny Fenton Additional Tags: Angst with a Happy Ending, Danny Fenton Has A Bad Time, Randy Cunningham Has A Great Time, that basically summarizes the fic ngl, Mentioned Guys in White | GIW (Danny Phantom), Blood and Injury, it doesn’t happen IN the fic but Danny is not doing too good, Generous Use of Ellipsis(…) Summary: For the @dp-crossover-angst-week-event on Tumblr. Prompt - July 9th: Bleeding out in an alleyway. DPxRC9GN crossover. It’s not too angsty-I mean Danny’s having a terrible time, but Randy is Randy, he’s having a great time.

Fic on here under the cut:

Randy loved patrolling. Well, only sometimes. He definitely loved playing Grave Puncher more than patrolling most days. Thankfully, this was one of those days where he was having a honkin' good time. It was just so fun to parkour up and down and all around the buildings in his town, how could he not love that. How could he not love being��The Ninja period? Sure it was definitely frustrating and unfair some-well, most times if he was being honest, but still, he was The Ninja, how bruce was that?!

Now, being Norrisville’s protector, he obviously had to help the people he came across who needed his help. Like, rescuing a kitten stuck in a tree, or stopping some random purse snatcher. The usual things people are in need of.

Helping out a guy that was bleeding out in an alleyway? That was new.

Randy was perched upon the edge of a rooftop, looking down at the bleeding, humanoid figure. He has bright white hair and tan-ish skin, and was in this weird, black and white, skintight suit. It kind of reminded Randy of a hazmat suit, if only the hazmat suit was severely shrink wrapped and was painted with tar.

And he was glowing. That. That was not normal for normal humans to be doing. His blood was also glowing. And green. Randy leaned forward, trying to get a better look at the guy. Unfortunately, he leaned forward too much, and swiftly fell off the roof, bumping on everything he could’ve possibly bumped on on his way down. He landed right next to glowing guy.

Randy shook himself off as he sprang up, looking at the guy. The boy looked back at him, eyes slightly unfocused with a bit of glowing, green blood coming out of his mouth. They looked at each for a moment, Randy being confused about what to do. He carefully stepped back and around the boy, all the way to his other side. The boy’s eyes followed him, making Randy feel a bit uneasy. But he was The Ninja, he’ll be fine.

Randy crouched down, scratching his chin in thought. “You don’t look Stanked…” Randy mumbled, a bit loudly, “but you definitely don’t look like a normal human either…”

The odd boy blinked at him, confusion evident on his exhausted face. He mumbled something back, but Randy couldn’t hear it. So he leaned over his face, ear a few inches from the boy’s mouth.

“What you say? You feeling shnasty?”

“What?” the boy croaked, “Wha-what words?”

“Hmm? You don’t know what ‘shnasty’ means?” Randy pulled away from the boy, looking down at him, “Must not be from here then, am I right?”

“…Yeah, yeah.”

“Alright! Now, how about you tell me where you’re from, and I’ll get you back, free of charge. I would take you to a hospital or something, but I don’t think they would take…this well.” He gestured all over the glowing boy’s body.

“Ha!” The boy coughed a bit, “They definitely wouldn’t.”

“Say, do you think you’re going die…soon, if you’re untreated? Because I don’t want any preventable deaths in my conscience. You seem like you’re a…teen? As well, so that would definitely make me feel worse.”

The boy laughed at that, and Randy couldn’t help but smile underneath his mask. Making other people feel better-emotionally or physically-feels great! Great for his conscious.

“Well, I’m already dead, so, I’ll probably get better soon.”

“You’re what?”

“Dead. I’m a ghost. Name’s Phantom, just escaped a ghost hunting group. You…aren’t with them, right? You aren’t wearing white, so I don’t think you are.”

“Huh.” Randy blinked a few times, trying to figure out what was just told to him. “So your name’s Phantom, you’re a…ghost, and you escaped from white-wearing ghost hunters?” Ghosts definitely weren’t the weirdest thing he’d encountered, but it wasn’t within his usual territory.

“Yep,” Phantom said with a pop to the p, “they stopped before I got here, yelling about some crazy ninja in town. Guess that’s you, huh?”

“Exactly! That’s me, The Norrisville Ninja! But you can just call me, ‘The Ninja.’”

“Great, fantastic,” Phantom let out a sigh, “Guess I have you to thank for my short reprieve. Hurray.”

“Yep! You don’t seem too concerned about those hunters though.”

“I’m more concerned about how uncomfortable the ground is.”

“Oh! Let me help you with that,” Randy lifted Phantom up by his armpits, moving him over to a wall to lean on. He was surprisingly light for a ghost-actually, he would’ve been surprisingly heavy for a ghost.

Randy stepped back to observe his work, seeing how he successfully managed to prop up the ghost boy. He looked unamused, for some bizarre reason. Randy stepped a bit closer to observe Phantom’s injuries, and a few were still bleeding. With his quick thinking, he figured out a solution to this. His scarf was magical, like the rest of his suit, and could regenerate after being cut. Which meant he had an infinite supply of makeshift bandages!

Moving quickly, Randy ran around Phantom, holding up his scarf to measure the wounds. Phantom eyed him, confused as ever.

“Uh, what are you doing?” Phantom asked.

“I’m giving you some certified Ninja-Scarf-Bandages!” In a swift motion, he cut up his scarf with his sword into numerous pieces of various sizes, showing them off to Phantom. After a moment, he gave the ninja a thumbs up, and Randy quickly wrapped the ghost up.

“Feeling any better?” Randy asked after he was done.

“Nope.”

“Great! I-I mean, not great. Yeah.”

Phantom laughed again, and it was great until he started coughing. Then he coughed some blood, which was definitely not great.

“That’s shnasty. Which is…probably not the appropriate thing to say right now, but it’s fine,” Phantom laughed at that-he seemed to laugh a lot for a bleeding guy, but he was also already dead, “A-uh, anyways…I have no idea what to do now. I guess you can stay? Here? Until…I dunno, it’s safe?”

“…Really? You’ll…just let me stay here?”

“Sure if you just don’t bother anybody here. I don’t think they would be too happy about a ghost roaming around, you know?”

“Oh I know, ha. You’re…a weird ninja. It’s weird for a ninja to be…roaming around right?”

“Well yeah, but I’m not just any ninja, I’m The Norrisville Ninja. I’ve been the protector of this town for around, I dunno, 800 years?” He said the last part with a smile. Even though he wasn’t actually the ninja for 800 years, the mantle having been passed onto him a little less than a year ago. Still, he had to keep the charade up, it’s safer and also brucer that way.

“800 years?!” Phantom shouted, which made him cough.

“Yep! You seem like you could have some water with all that coughing you’re doing. Wait, can ghosts drink? Or eat?”

“Oh, yeah, I can. Don’t need to but I can,” his voice was very raspy now, “Then I’ll talk more, and stuff. Yeah.”

“Schweet! Do you have any money or something, I forgot my wallet.”

“Heh, yeah, okay. Just…buy me a burger as well,” Phantom stuffed his hand through his chest, pulling out a wallet.

“Oh. My. Cheese! That’s so honkin’ bruce! Your body is like a locker, I wish I could do that. Actually, I’m pretty sure my suit can do that…”

“Just take my money and help, please.”

Phantom held out a handful of dollar bills for the ninja to take. Randy gracefully took the money and counted them, and he could definitely buy more than a water and a burger with this much. Maybe ghosts didn’t understand the concept of money? Of maybe Phantom was just bad at math, or money. Or both.

“You know, you should be a bit more polite,” Randy chuckled as he stored the money in his scarf, right next to his sword. Phantom just looked at him blankly, clearly not amused. “Now, don’t move. I’ll be back in like, 10, 15-ish minutes? Depends on how long the line is, if there even is any.”

“Well, I can barely feel my legs, so I’m definitely not moving anytime soon.”

“At least you can still feel them, right?”

“…”

“Right?”

“…”

“…I’ll-I’ll be going now.”

“Good luck, don’t die.”

“Not planning on it! Smokebomb!” And in a pungent puff of smoke, The Ninja was gone.

….

Danny had no idea what he was going to do. Should he try to escape and pray that he would be able to get back home now, or should he wait and trust in this-apparently 800 year old-ninja, that promised to get him a burger. He was thankfully lucid enough to not mention the GIW by name, since who know what connections this ninja could have, but he did let slip that they wore all white. There was a reason some people called the the Guys In White, and the ninja could’ve picked up on that. He could’ve know that Danny was talking about them.

Was the ninja going to sell him out to them? Was this the end for this already half dead teenager? He couldn’t contact his family, his friends, no one could help him now. Even if this ninja was supposedly 800 years old and also this town’s protector, and if he really was on Danny’s side, could he stand a chance against the GIW?

Danny missed Amity Park, he missed his home. He had strayed too far-ever so slightly too far, far enough that the GIW felt comfortable to give chase. And give chase they did, Danny was sure that he was at leasttwo states away from his home. His family would be worried about him. His friends would be worried about him. How many days has it been? How long has he been gone? Was his family even looking for him yet? Would they ever?

Danny shook his head, he needed to stop thinking. Just stop. It wasn’t doing him any good. He just needed to wait, to hope, to yearn. His stomach churned, it had been wanting food for a while. How long was that while? Danny didn’t know, he couldn’t, he didn’t get the luxury to know, to know anything.

How long has The Ninja been gone? Would he ever come back? If he did, what would happen then? Anything good, anything bad? Where was he, where was him? Danny needed to move but he couldn’t. He was tired but he couldn’t sleep, not yet, not ever until he gets back home. Where was home? Where is he? Where oh where could anybody be? Danny wanted to cry but he couldn’t. He wanted to lie down but he couldn’t. He couldn’t do anything, he could want to do whatever he pleased. But nothing would come about from simply wanting. From simply yearning.

Nothing good comes from thinking.

A soft thud came from the right of Danny. He froze, anxiety spiking from the sound, from the typhoon of thoughts crashing down onto his mind.

“Heeyyy Phantom,” The Ninja said in a singsongy voice, waltzing in front of him, “I got two burgers! Well, actually three, but I ate it on the way here. Sorry, I was hungry ha ha.” He gave Danny a bag filled with burgers and a water bottle.

“It’s…fine,” Danny sighed. He didn’t really care that he ate a burger bought with his money, he was more peeved about the ninja almost giving him a heart attack.

But that didn’t really matter in the end, Danny should just focus on not starving. The water hadn’t been opened yet, he could tell by how he had to struggle to open the stupid thing. After a few sips of that, he grabbed one of the burgers. It was still wrapped up, looking thankfully untouched. After a few bites of that, he went back to his water. He did that a couple more times until he was finished with the burger. The Ninja had a hand outstretched, napkins in his hand.

“Thanks,” Danny mumbled as he took them.

“Ah, it’s no problem,” The Ninja waved him off, “Feeling any better now?”

“Yeah, actually. Thanks.”

“Alright! Now,” he yawned, “I dunno what to do next.”

“Same.”

“Oh! Wait, I remember you said you’d tell me where you’re from, right?”

“I think you just asked me to tell you-“

“Great! So can you tell me?”

Danny really didn’t want to him. But The Ninja didn’t seem hostile, the worst thing he’d done to him was that he ate a burger bought with Danny’s money, but honestly he deserved a little snack for all the trouble he went through for the ghost.

Danny let out a sigh, “I’m from Amity Park, Illinois.”

“Illinois? That’s like…a couple states over? I’m not that good at geography, ha.”

“I’m…okay at it, I guess. I’m not good at math though.”

“Oh I’m great at math! It’s fun.”

“You’re crazy.”

“And you’re just. Math. Dyslexic. I think that’s a thing.”

“That…would make a lot sense.”

“Glad I could help, yet again,” The Ninja smugly said as he plopped down next to Danny. “Now, how do I get you back to Illinois?”

“I’ll just take a bus or something.”

“Are there any buses that go to Illinois?”

“I don’t know man, I’m tired.”

“Hmm, maybe I could get you into a hotel or something. I’m very popular around here, a local celebrity you know?”

“Ha, yeah,” Danny rubbed his temples, considered his options. If he didn’t take the ninja’s offer, he would be sleeping on the streets, wandering the streets, or get jumped on the streets. He needed to get off of the streets.

“Alright,” Danny stretched his arms, “I’ll go with your plan. Just let me finish my second burger.”

“Schweet! Okay, now we just need to figure out how to make you stop glowing. And bleeding, that’s also important.”

“I heal quickly, my wounds will likely be gone after I finish this,” Danny told him as he unwrapped his burger, “Also, you’ll figure out how I’ll stop glowing soon, so don’t worry about it.”

“Okay then. Enjoy your burger,” The Ninja put his hand behind his head and rested them on the wall, closing his eyes. It would be the perfect time to run away, but Danny wasn’t planning on doing that now. He just had to place his trust in this ninja for now.

A few minutes passed, and Danny was done. He wiped his face and stuffed the napkins into the now empty burger bag. Well, before that he took out the remaining money he had given to the ninja, who had seemingly slipped it into the bag while he wasn’t looking. Into the chest wallet it goes.

“I’m ready,” Danny said as he attempted to stand up. He stumbled a bit, but thankfully he was right next to a wall.

“You good ghostie?” The Ninja asked, standing up much quicker than Danny could dream of at the moment.

“Y-yeah, just give me second.”

Danny stretched a bit after he regained his footing. He looked over at The Ninja and gave him a smirk, before he enveloped himself in a ring of light, transforming into his regular human form.

“Woah!” The Ninja shouted, “What the juice? You look…alive! And like a normal person in normal clothing!”

“Yeah, I can do that. Now, take me the hotel please. Before I pass out.”

“Right on it! I’ll carry you there, just don’t pass out before we get there.”

“I won’t make any promises.”

“Okay, kinda wonk but alright.”

“Half the words you say are nonsense, you know that right?”

“Ah, all words are nonsense, aren’t they? Now climb on my back.” He turned away from Danny and crouched down, turning his head to face Danny and pointed at his back. Danny groaned, he probably wasn’t going to enjoy this, but it’s fine. Sleep and safety would come soon, he just needed to focus on that. He didn’t need to think, he just need to focus on staying awake. He hopped on the ninja’s back, and in a few moments, they were off.

Danny was right in not making any promises about not passing out, as he was already sleeping soundly by the time they got to the hotel.

[syoish-aot]

HOLY SHIT IT'S DONE!!

I was having some intense posting paralysis all morning (I think I reread the last scene like 15x just to make sure it was worded exactly right).

*he terrifying fear when you write something you really love and you're scared no one else will like it as much as you do*

ANYWAY -

Thank you so much to everyone that's been regularly reading slash commenting on I Found You! It was my first time posting fic to tumblr and I had a lot of fun doing it!

I always have SO MANY ideas for fics, but I get overwhelmed by the idea of seriously perusing them. A lot of this comes from the fear that no one will read them and I'll have spent all of my time writing for absolutely nothing. BUT I've been trying to humble myself lately and recognize the joy in the writing process itself and the satisfaction of getting my ideas fully fleshed out on paper aka google docs regardless of the attention they get.

Despite that, anyone who writes fic understands how shitty it feels when you work for DAYS on something and get crickets in the comments. It sucks. And that's sort of how I've been feeling with my fics on Ao3 lately- which kicks my motivation right in the ass.

In writing I Found You, I think I got some of that motivation back. Not JUST because I was getting regular commenters (again, thank you so much) but also because I was able to slip fully into my self indulgence and finally write out one of the verses that's been existing in my mind palace for MONTHS!

So, all of this rambling is to say this -

I really liked sharing this story with you guys on tumblr, and I'm for sure going to be doing more of this style in the future.

I'll be posting I Found You to Ao3 as well, but I want to edit it a bit (and possibly add a few more scenes) before doing that.

Basically the version I posted here is more of a rough draft, and then the final version will be the one on Ao3.

If you like my writing, consider checking out my Reader/Eren long fic "Ten Seconds" (100k, complete on Ao3) or the post-canon Jean/OC fic I'm working on "The Letters She Wrote"

If you read all of this, then here's your reward - a sneak peak at the VERY LONG isekai/time travel fic that I'm going to be working on next...

Chapter 1 - "You, 2000 years in the future"

Shiganshina High - 2024

You’d taken Ancient History as an elective to fill your schedule because no other class fit in the period. 

Also to piss off your dad about not taking AP calculus.

(But mostly it was the schedule thing.)

It wasn’t that you disliked Ancient History, you just found it painfully boring and mind numbing. It was the class right after lunch and every assignment was another boring paper that sounded the exact same over and over and over again.

(Although it did leave you wondering how many times you could start a paper with “the oxford dictionary defines discovery as…” before Mr. Arlert, the ancient old man who taught the class, caught on.)

Thankfully, you didn’t have to put too much effort into the class to get a good grade and because of that the class was an easy A that you could use to maintain your honor roll. Mr. Arlert was retiring at the end of the year, so he was pretty much entirely checked out. You had a feeling he didn’t actually read any of your papers and gave your grades out based on how well he assumed you did the assignment. Which, again, meant you got an A on every one. So Mr. Arlert had a habit of putting on documentaries instead of actually teaching anything. 

And you weren’t about to complain about that.

Armin was sitting next to you furiously taking notes on the documentary that Mr. Arlert, his grandpa and teacher, had put on. You understood his struggle to impress his grandpa in the class he taught on a personal level. You used to be like that when it came to math, but now you normally felt yourself doing the opposite. “The opposite”, meaning:

Not taking AP calculus.

Writing the wrong answer on a quiz, even after doing the work to prove the correct one.

Asking pointless questions in class just to see him get that constipated I-can’t-treat-you-like-my-daughter-right-now-because-you’re-my-student-but-god-do-I-wish-I-could-ground-you look.

You smiled at the memory, feeling quite pleased with yourself, until the monotone voice of the documentary playing at the front of the class pulled  you back into the present:

“The ancient people of Paradis elected large walls, presumably to protect themselves from invaders during this time.” You looked back at the projector. There was a poorly done animation of what historians suspect the three large walls may have looked like, back when they still stood almost 2000 years ago. 

The documentary, just like every documentary Mr. Arlert put on, seemed pretty pointless to show to a class of eleventh graders who were already very aware of the mysterious history of Paradis. 

You’d all grown up here and had been taught about this stuff since grade school. Paradis was a major hub for ancient history. There were dozens of museums throughout the island, all holding different ancient artifacts and pieces of your country’s history. Pieces that’s functions had been lost to time, leaving archeologists only able to guess the true history of your people and what these items were for.

“...purpose of them is still unknown, some archaeologists theorize they were used for early agriculture, although others argue they may have been used for religious reasons…”

On the screen was one of the most mysterious relics of ancient Paradis. Two metal cylinders, attached to some sort of strap. Normally, they were found with a large box of metal that was meant to hold something, along with canisters of unknown contents. The were rare, but a few dozen of them had been uncovered in the last hundred years and have only continued to add to the mystery of ancient Paradis. 

Of course, you were curious what their origins may be too, but not curious enough to look into it further than this class and the occasional trip you make to the Paradis Museum. 

“...these large man-eating monsters were an important part of Paradis folklore, some argue they were likely worshiped as go-”

The bell rang, finally saving you from your mind numbing documentary focused torture.

“Ah!” Mr. Arlert jerked awake at his desk. “Yes, well- I hope you all learned something important today!” He quickly said as he stood. “Don’t forget, your final papers are due on Monday morning. Despite it, I hope you’re able to enjoy your weekend!”

You hoped so too.

God, did you hope so...

[manygeese]

Chapter three guys 💅 Leo’s Gay Little Crisis edition!!!

Tag list AND tumblr version under the cut :)

The afternoon sun turned the wheat a pretty shade of amber, warming the air just enough to make for a nice bike ride home.

Luckily, Leo’s bike wasn’t harmed in the crash that morning. Honestly, it was dramatic of him to even call it a crash. He hadn’t even made contact with the other guy. It was more like he had lost momentum trying to not hit the man and forgot he had to keep the front wheel spinning in order to keep going.

It had been a normal day- Tina had finished painting her birdhouse, which looked gorgeous, Dave and Layla had played patty cake instead of doing their projects, and Annabeth had yet again commandeered him after school to help with the theater sets.

Unfortunately, what was supposed to be a normal day was ruined by the urge he had to keep staring at the new farmhand. What did Piper say his name was? Jason? Huh. What a coincidence- didn’t the bike crash guy have the same name?

His bike involuntarily skidded to a halt once he caught a glance of the man walking in the wheat field. The guy- definitely the same Jason from that morning- was blond, wearing a shirt with rolled-up sleeves and jeans, carrying a sheaf of wheat on each shoulder. Even from a distance, Leo could tell the man had muscles, probably good ones. Amazing ones, even. Jason probably could carry Leo if he tried (who was he kidding, Jason wouldn’t even have to try).

Leo’s first thought? Goddamn, he’s hot.

Leo’s second thought? Oh. Oh, shit. Am I gay?

For a good several minutes, Leo was rooted to the pavement, having something of a crisis. All of his past relationships were put in a new, suspiciously homosexual, light.

There was Percy, a friend of Leo’s who lived a few streets over, closer to Town Center. They had been near inseparable in middle school. He recalled all the gym classes he spent fully gawking at Percy, turning various shades of red in the dressing room, pointedly not making eye contact with anyone. He remembered all the times he spent following Percy around Town Center on Fridays, just because Percy wanted to go to the library or get some candy at the gas station. It dawned on Leo that perhaps feeling butterflies whenever his best friend clapped him on the back, ruffled his hair, or hugged him wasn’t entirely straight.

Then there was Reyna, a childhood friend from back before his mom died. She was out in California for university now, though. His mom and Reyna’s had been best friends, which led to many play dates between the two of them. At one point, Leo told his mom that he had a crush on Reyna just to make her happy. At least, he thought it made her happy. He never got to ask.

And Nico- Nico was a biology teacher over at the high school where Leo worked. They were best friends (they ate lunch together). Thing was, Nico was openly gay and in a relationship with Will, who worked at the McLean farm. Before… he had seen Jason in the field, yeah, let’s go with that, Leo supposed he was jealous of the fact that Nico had a relationship in general. But was he jealous of Percy for having Annabeth as a girlfriend? No. Was he jealous of Frank for having Hazel as a fiancée? No. Was he jealous of Nico for having a boyfriend? A voice deep down told him yes, and it was about damn time to admit that.

And, oh, Calypso. Oh, god, Calypso. Leo got nauseous with guilt just at the thought of her.

They’d known each other for a good chunk of their lives, though now she was studying abroad and they didn’t keep in touch. They had gotten together in 7th grade after her father suggested that they’d make a cute couple. Calypso had asked him out to the spring dance, he’d said yes, and the rest was history.

High school came and went, and they’d stayed something resembling strong. They had even lasted until they graduated college, certainly a feat for a first relationship.

Everything had changed when they finished college, though. Calypso’s father perpetually seemed to be asking when they would get married, if Leo was looking at rings yet, if they wanted a spring or fall wedding, things like that. Calypso had always gotten a pained look when it was brought up, masking it with a laugh and a “oh, who knows, he likes to keep me on the edge of my seat”. Leo had just sat there with Calypso’s father’s eyes burning into him and a feeling the man would never be satisfied with the answer.

Ultimately, they had broken up, managing to make it both mutual and the messiest thing ever. The months before the break up had been filled with nights of yelling, accusations of apathy, and building frustration. “We just weren’t right for each other,” they both said to questioning friends, but this… situation made Leo realize just how right that statement was.

With a shudder, Leo wheeled his bike the rest of the way to the farmhouse and walked into the greenhouse where Piper was waiting. There were no thoughts behind his eyes besides one: he’d been lying to everyone. For twenty seven years, he’d been lying to everyone.

Oh, good lord, he’d lied to Calypso. She’d wasted ten years on him. He should have known he didn’t deserve Calypso in the first place. If he had just said no to that stupid invitation to that stupid dance, she’d be happy. She certainly wasn’t happy with him- never was. How could anybody be happy with Leo?

Worse, he had lied to his mother. If she was up in heaven still thinking he had a crush on Reyna, he wouldn’t know what to do with himself. Was the smile and “that’s great, mijo” worth leading on a girl for a decade? Even with how stupid he felt, Leo could realize it wasn’t.

Percy still thought they had never been anything but friends. Hell, Leo had thought they had never been anything but friends until ten minutes ago. How the fuck was he gonna tell Percy about this?

Nico, in all honesty, wouldn’t care, but Leo’s mind had worked itself into a panic, so that thought wasn’t doing much good.

Piper shook him out of his trance quite literally. She’d been shaking him for a solid ten seconds before he finally put a hand to where hers was on his shoulder and snapped, “what?”

Piper’s brow furrowed. Leo flinched when he realized how abrasive he’d sounded. Instead of being angry at him, like he thought she would be (which was completely untethered from reality, but he didn’t care about reality right now), her face just softened. “Are you okay, Leo?”

He maintained eye contact, a rare thing. Piper’s eyes were nice to look into. They were just like home. The brown parts of her hazel irises were the exact shade of wheat swaying at night, the pale greens were just like the wallpaper in the farmhouse living room. Piper’s face blurred in front of Leo as tears started to form.

Tell her, he thought. She’s your sister, after all.

She isn’t, he thought. You’re just your mother’s son, not her father’s.

Tell her. When has she ever made you feel inadequate?

Keep quiet. This could be her final straw. She’s sick and tired of your whining, just like how Dad is, just like how Nico is, like Percy, like Annabeth, like Will, like-

“I think I’m gay,” he whispered, tears spilling over onto his cheeks. His thoughts kept yelling in the background. They wouldn’t shut off, no matter how hard he tried to calm down, and soon he was a blubbering mess.

He sobbed louder when Piper got up, even if it was just to turn off the cassette player. She came back with a quilt, probably stored in some cranny he hadn’t even spotted yet, which she draped over his shoulders.

Every time he managed to calm down a bit, he pictured Calypso’s quiet anguish when her father asked those damned questions. The sobs got a little louder after that.

Finally, he sniffled to a stop, partially due to Piper rubbing his back soothingly, partially due to pure exhaustion, physical and emotional. When the silence got too long, Piper asked cautiously, “Do you mind telling me what brought this on?”

Leo took a deep breath, which was ruined halfway through by a series of wet coughs. He rubbed at his eyes. “Jason,” he mumbled.

“Jason,” she repeated, seemingly tossing the idea around in her head. Then she got up, offered him a hand, and pulled him up when he took it. “You’re gonna go back to the house.”

“What? Why do I-” was all he could get out before he was led to the door.

“You need to rest.”

“Uh, I think I can weed the garden, Piper. It’s not like I’m sick or anything.”

“Are you telling me you’re passing up the opportunity to take a nap? Who are you and what have you done to my brother?”

That earned a pathetic chuckle from Leo. He relented, ambling towards the farmhouse porch.

Which is, of course, when no one other than Jason, causer of crises, divisor of doubts, stumbled into his path.

The man was hot, as Leo had noted before. Somehow, it made him even hotter when Leo noticed the sweat glistening on his arms and forehead. His suspicions from before were correct: Jason had amazing muscles. Leo kind of wanted to reach out and caress them, but he kept his head down when Jason approached him to avoid the questions he might ask about the tear stains.

“Leo!” Jason greeted, probably with a stunningly nice smile. “I didn’t know you lived here! Sorry again about the crash this morning.”

Leo made a sound resembling a laugh. “You don’t need to worry about it man. No harm, no foul.”

“That fall didn’t exactly look like ‘no harm’,” Jason argued.

“I’ve taken worse tumbles. One time, I fell out of a treehouse. Ended up breaking a leg.”

Jason’s eyes widened. Leo cursed himself inwardly, Jason was probably going to think he was weird now because he went around leaking his medical history to strangers. But instead, Jason just asked with childlike wonder, “you had a treehouse?”

Leo looked up a little, just to gauge Jason’s reaction. “My friend Percy did. Does, actually. See, there’s this forest behind his mom’s apartment building, and he got his stepdad Paul to help him build it when we were like, 10. Me and Piper basically lived in that thing for a period of two weeks in fifth grade. Best two weeks of my life.” He giggled nervously.

Jason looked stoked. “Damn, I wish I had a treehouse.”

Awkward silence followed.

“Your hair is really pretty. It looks like it’d feel nice,” Jason stated abruptly, starting off again for the greenhouse. Leo stared after him, equally confused as he was totally, undeniably gay.

@katiefromcabin7 @iwannascreameurekaa @froglyberrys @justlikearat @existential-life-crisis @jasonisntboring @poppitron360 @erosjournal

[robosanz]

ʟᴜᴄᴋʏ ᴍᴇ

"𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔞𝔯𝔢, 𝔴𝔦𝔱𝔥𝔬𝔲𝔱 𝔞 𝔡𝔬𝔲𝔟𝔱, 𝔪𝔶 𝔬𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔥𝔞𝔩𝔣." - 𝔲𝔫𝔨𝔫𝔬𝔴𝔫

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pairing: kuroo x fem!reader

summary: anything you draw/write on your own skin appears on your soulmate's. what happens when you need to cheat on your chemistry exam, and these formulas suddenly appear on Kuroo's arms who has to take the same test?

word count: 3,099

note: this is my first time posting something on tumblr and i'm still not completely sure how tumblr works, hehe. usually i post on ao3 and wattpad (under the same name) but i wanted to try it out here as well. I hope you like this oneshot :)

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“Are you ready for our chemistry test?”

Your best friend’s question made you stop in your tracks in the crowded hallway. A few students walked into you, complaining about you not moving and holding them up. You, however, had other concerns; the chemistry test had completely slipped your mind, despite it being the biggest test with every 3rd year having to take it. With wide eyes you looked at your friend and grabbed his arm. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner!?”

A sheepish smile grew on his lips, his warm brown eyes not looking at you. “I forgot to tell you,” he admitted with a shy chuckle, scratching the back of his neck. He knew how you were but he had been busy and forgot to remind you. 

You clasped your hands over your face. “Hayate, what am I gonna do now?!” You always had problems remembering important things concerning school, mostly because you didn’t care that much about school. However, you still managed to get good grades and that’s why you kept not being bothered by it too much.

“Hey, you’ll manage,” Hayate said with a warm smile and put a hand on your shoulder. “You somehow always do,” he mumbled. He was just as clueless as you about how you managed to get good grades. 

You took a breath and nodded. “Yeah you’re right,” you said and rolled up your sleeves, eying your inner arm. Hayate raised an eyebrow while you tried to estimate how much stuff you could fit on them. Chemistry was one of your strongest subjects so you only needed to write down specific details that were new to you. Looking up with a smile, you nodded. “You know, I guess I’ll really manage.”

Hayate shook his head with a smile. “Your soulmate must think you’re some loser.” 

You gasped and put a hand on your chest. “Excuse me, I’m actually a genius if it wasn’t for my laziness.”

Hayate chuckled and ruffled your head lovingly. “Yeah sure, keep telling yourself that. But they sure must think you’re always cheating in school because you’re stupid.” 

You pouted and crossed your arms. It was still true what Hayate said - if school stuff would appear on your arms like that you would think exactly that. But your soulmate has never written something on their arm or anywhere else before. It was mostly you who wrote on your arm; mostly for cheating on tests. “Well, they could also write something on their arm for once.”

Hayate shrugged. “Maybe they’ll finally freak out about this much advanced chemistry and write something back.” 

You narrowed your eyes at him. “I don’t want them to write anything,” you huffed, making Hayate chuckle. It was quite strange that you still hadn’t heard anything from your soulmate. Normally, people would go crazy to find out more about them and most of the people already found them by the age of 16. You were now 18 and had never even written a word with them. You weren’t too obsessed with finding them and they seemed to feel the same way about it.

Hayate had also found his soulmate about a year ago. She was a sweet and kind girl in your year. You got along with her a lot and she even became one of your best friends in a year. You were happy for your best friend and even if he teased you about possibly not having a soulmate, you didn’t make the effort to find them in order to prove him wrong.

The bell snapped you out of your thoughts and you gasped. “Shit, I’ll be back in five minutes,” you called out to Hayate before running down the hall towards the lady’s restroom. You needed to scribble down a few things on your arm before the exam. The brown-haired boy chuckled and shook his head before making his way to class.

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Kuroo was bouncing his knee up and down while waiting for the teacher to enter. The tense atmosphere in the classroom only contributed to his nervousness. It was unusually silent, only the clock’s ticking echoed through the room full of students. 

The upcoming test was taking a toll on everyone, and despite being one of Kuroo’s favourite subjects, the chemistry test was making him nervous as well. And when he noticed black lines appearing on his arms, he tensed even more; especially when the lines formed into exactly the chemistry formulas and definitions he needed for the test. He read the things appearing on both of his arms briefly before rolling down his sleeves with shaky hands and a quickly beating heart. He didn’t want to fail the test just because his soulmate decided to go crazy about chemistry. What the fuck? 

This was not the first time things about school subjects appeared on his arms. At first he thought that his soulmate was cheating themselves through their exams but somehow it didn’t make sense that they only wrote down a few specific things and not everything. Kuroo shook his head and the teacher came into the room.

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A sigh left your lips when the exam was over. You didn’t get caught cheating and the notes on your arms even helped you with some answers. You packed all your things and left the classroom where Hayate was already waiting for you. When you saw him, a grin grew on your face. “I completely nailed it.” 

He chuckled and shook his head, “yeah, but only because you cheated.” 

“I didn’t completely cheat,” you said and crossed your arms. He raised an eyebrow, making you glare at him with narrowed eyes. You two had a staring contest until someone bumped into your shoulder. You snapped your head over to the person only to see the school’s volleyball captain. You huffed and looked away from his retreating figure. Everyone at school knew Kuroo; he was one of the popular boys everyone swooned over. You looked at Hayate, “your captain is rude.” He didn’t even apologise for bumping into you.

Hayata smiled, amusement flashing in his eyes. “He’s actually pretty nice,” he said, making you roll your eyes. “You know, everyone is kinda waiting for him to find his soulmate. The girls are freaking out over him.”

You only hummed, not really interested in the whole Kuroo situation. You had other things to think about. The girls who were obsessed over him were stupid in your eyes; there were more important things to think about. Turning to your best friend you shrugged. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Have fun at practice.” He nodded and ruffled your hair before you went separate ways. 

At home, you spent the rest of the day doing nothing in particular and when you stepped out of the shower, you couldn’t believe your eyes. Tightening the towel around you, you gawked at your arm.

'I have no idea why you’re suddenly a chemistry freak, but for once your scribbling helped me in an exam today.'

“Oh my god,” you mumbled and tightly shut your eyes, cringing at all the things you have written on your arm before. “My soulmate really thinks I’m stupid.” A part of you had secretly hoped that Hayate was right and you were one of the rare cases that didn't have a soulmate. 

Quickly putting on your pyjamas, you took a pen and sat on your bed. You tapped the pen against your chin while looking at the first ever message you received from your soulmate. “What am I doing?” You shook your head and were about to put the pen away and roll down your sleeve when another message appeared. 

'You’re not gonna tell me what you needed the notes for?'

“Screw it,” you mumbled and opened the pen’s lid with your mouth before writing down something on your arm as well. 

'I had a chemistry exam as well.'

You raised your eyebrows at the coincidence. How were the chances that you and them both had a chemistry exam on the same topics? With knitted eyebrows you watched new words appear on your skin. Could it be that we are in the same school?

'What a coincidence. So you normally cheat on your tests?'

You let out a huff and crossed your arms, considering not to answer anymore. Whoever that was seemed smug and you didn’t want to keep talking to them. Pressing your lips together, you glanced at your arm briefly. A groan escaped your lips before you scribbled on your arm. 

'I normally don’t cheat, I tend to forget a lot of my exams so I only need a bit of help.'

A few minutes passed and you were still staring at your arm, waiting for an answer. But nothing came. “Whatever,” you mumbled and rolled your eyes before laying down. You closed your eyes but let out a sigh before you angrily peeked at your arm one last time. A smile crept on your face when you read the words. 

'You still helped me today, thanks. Good night :)'

Scribbling down a good night as well, you went to sleep with a small smile on your face. Maybe they’re not that bad.

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“Your soulmate really did write to you?” Hayate’s eyebrows shot up as he eyed you nodding your head. A sudden knowing smirk crept on his face, making you knit your eyebrows. “This is fucking amazing,” he mumbled to himself. 

“Oi,” you slapped his arm, “what’s that supposed to mean?” He hid something from you and being the noisy person you were, you wanted to know on the spot. And the smug smirk didn’t mean anything good. Hayate only shrugged and whistled before going to class. With narrowed eyes you followed him to the classroom; for the rest of the day you didn’t get out of him what he was smirking about. 

“You’re not gonna tell me?” You crossed your arms when you both stood in front of the school building after classes. He didn’t have practice today, so you walked home together. 

Hayate smirked. “If you really want to know,” he shrugged and glanced at you with an amused expression, “Kuroo wants to find his soulmate now.”

You sweatdropped and slapped the back of his head. “Idiot, and I thought it was something important.”

He chuckled and stepped away from you. “That’s kinda important, and I know exactly who it is.” A wide smirk crept on his lips when your wide eyes snapped over to him in surprise. “I saw something written on his arm yesterday and coincidentally I saw the exact thing on someone else’s arm as well.”

“No way!” You grabbed his arm looking up at his face. “Tell me.”

Hayate pushed you away from him before walking ahead, shaking his head. “I thought you weren’t interested in him.” He laughed internally. If you only knew.

“You’re right,” you said and jogged up to your best friend, “I don’t care.” Grabbing your backpack’s straps, you bit your lip. You really wanted to know who it was and Hayate knew it. You glanced at him. “It’s Kenma, isn’t it?” It wouldn't surprise you even a bit if it was the quiet setter. You had always thought that they were too much of best friends and partners to not be soulmates.

“I won’t tell you, but maybe he’ll tell you.”

“Idiot,” you grumbled, “why should he tell me?”

Hayate only shrugged, sending you an innocent grin and a shrug. You huffed and crossed your arms, oblivious to all the hints your best friend already gave you. Just yesterday, Hayate had seen both of Kuroo’s arms in the boy’s changing room. And they were full of the notes you had taken a few minutes prior to the exam. Hayate was glad that it was someone like Kuroo that was your soulmate. The both of you were quite similar; you were good at school, mostly introverted and both of you were calm and collected people - at least if Yaku didn’t trigger Kuroo.

“You really won’t tell me, will you?” You stopped in front of your front yard and pouted slightly. 

Hayate shook his head with a fond smile, happy that his friend would soon grow up. “Get some sleep, I have a feeling that tomorrow will be a great day.” He patted your head before walking to his house, leaving you standing there with crossed arms. 

With knitted eyebrows you looked after him until he was out of your sight. Heaving a sigh, you got into your house and immediately went into your room to take a nap. However, a message on your arm made you stop. With knitted eyebrows and a small blush you sat on your bed.

'I want to know more about you. Are you free?'

You gulped and took a pen. 

'Yes I am.'

While waiting for the answer, you quickly changed into something comfortable and got under the covers, taking a pen with you. You opened your laptop to watch a movie when new lines appeared on your arm.

'Nice, you can text me. xxx xxxx xxx'

You froze, not believing they gave you their number just like this. They may be your soulmate, but you still hesitated before saving their number on your phone. For all you knew, they could’ve just given you a random number.

Biting your lip, your fingers slowly typed hi before lingering over the send button. Shutting your eyes tightly you pressed send. When your phone vibrated, you peeked one eye open and looked at the text.

'I almost thought you wouldn't text me.'

You rolled your eyes with a small smile.

'I almost didn't but whatever.'

The both of you texted for a while and you found out that his name was Tetsuroo and he was also in 3rd year high school and even in Tokyo. He liked chemistry and was therefore interested in you after he saw all the notes. If you hadn't written all these things on your arm, he probably wouldn't have contacted you. But before you could manage to find out more about him, he ended the conversation, saying he still had something to do.

With a sigh you laid down, covering yourself with your blanket completely. "He's not that bad," you mumbled with a small smile before letting sleep take over. 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

You huffed and put your chin on your palm while the teacher was going on and on about maths. You were good in the subject and already knew all of that, boring you to death. Beside you, Hayate was busy taking notes while you looked out of the window, not paying any attention. 

When something appeared on your palm, you felt your heart skip a beat and waited for him to complete his sentence with a small smile.

'Hi, I’m bored out of my mind right now.'

You resisted the urge to giggle and took a pen to tell him that you’re in the same position as him and that maths was killing you.

'Well, we could continue our conversation from yesterday.'

You nodded to yourself already knowing which question you wanted to ask next. After all, you wanted to know roughly in which area he was living in.

'Which school do you go to?'

He didn’t take long to answer and when he did, your heart threatened to stop right there and then. Staring at the words nekoma high school with wide eyes, you sat up straighter. Immediately, you looked around the classroom, trying to find someone who was looking or writing on his palm. When you found no one you turned back to your own palm. 

'Which class are you in?'

Your heart dropped and you jumped off your seat, scaring everyone in the room with the loud scraping sound of your chair. The teacher sent you a glare to which you quickly bowed and excused yourself. Avoiding Hayate’s questioning look, you rushed out of the classroom. 

“What the fuck?” you said to yourself, leaning against the wall beside the classroom before pressing your palm on your forehead. You only knew one person in this class that was called Tetsuro and that was Kuroo.

“You don’t seem to be too happy about me.” 

You looked up when his deep voice reached your ears. Kuroo stood in front of you with one hand in his pocket and a small smirk on his handsome face. Pushing yourself off the wall, you cleared your throat quickly. “I don’t know what you mean,” you trailed off, not looking at him.

A chuckle escaped his lips and he nodded to himself. “Lucky me, I got a really charming soulmate.”

“Hey, I can be charming,” you quickly defended yourself, making him laugh. Heat rose to your face and you huffed, crossing your arms. However, you couldn’t help but feel relieved. At least, a decent person was your assigned soulmate and not someone you couldn’t stand or was absolutely disgusting in character. Unbeknownst to you, a small smile crept on your lips at the realisation.

“You sure are a cutie.” Kuroo patted your head, making your face beet red. You swatted his hand away from your head, your smile falling quickly. “Well, since we found each other, I wanted to ask if you’re free on Saturday.”

Taking a breath, you slowly nodded. It would make no sense to reject the boy now. Why not give it a try. It can’t be that bad.

Kuroo smiled and nodded but before he could add something, Hayate put his arms around your and Kuroo’s shoulder, pulling you two closer to him. “Finally, you two found each other,” he grinned, “and here I thought you two oblivious people would take weeks to find each other.”

You pulled out of the group hug and slapped the back of Hayate’s head. “You knew and you didn’t tell me, idiot.”

He rubbed the spot you had hit and chuckled innocently. “Then it wouldn’t have been fun for me,” he admitted and shrugged, earning a glare from you. He smirked and looked between you and his captain, “but you already have a date.”

“No,” you quickly said, knowing exactly what your best friend was thinking, “you’re not coming as well.” Turning to Kuroo, you narrowed your eyes at the taller boy. “Don’t tell him where we’re going or he’ll deadass come.”

Kuroo chuckled and nodded while Hayate let out an offended cry and dramatically fell on his knees, clasping his chest. “The betrayal!”

With a blush you grabbed Kuroo’s arm, and dragged him away from the scene your best friend was causing. “If anyone asks, we don’t know him.”

[2willowlane]

i've been posting silly crack fanfiction on ao3 lately, and i decided to just upload this on my tumblr. it's inspired off of interstellartoaster's kalampokiphobia: fear of corn, and the mods harvey's irrational apple hatred and harvey hates apples.

fantastic works; mind you.

gender neutral reader, sfw; not really focused on romance, as it is just absurdity

tallying his profit, of which was a big fat zero, harvey sighed; pushing up his glasses. it's been a rather long week for him, considering no one wants to buy those energy tonic muscle whatever medication that he supplies. the only time that anyone has ever purchased such a redundant item from him, was whenever they misclick- accidentally bought it; and then just sold it again. the only way that he'll ever make a good buck out of his pharmaceutical care was if he just eradicated the valley's food supply... of which, did sound tempting, but harvey loves his pickles too much to give them up.

there haven't been any appointments placed recently, so he was having a hard time trying to keep up with the expenses. right now, he could so go for a bottle of fine wine... maybe it's because he's spending too much of his expenses on plane models, rather than actually trying to keep up with all of the financial records, like an actual adult should. huh, what a foreign concept. well, he's just going to go continue complaining about his money situation, until further notice.

with the door opening, he had to them correct his shrimp posture, as he then greeted you, the almost superhuman farmer, into the clinic. normally, you just like to go behind the counter and access rooms that are off-limits to regular patients, but there was something about your gumption that made you so lovable. even if you do tend to barge into private examinations, there was something that made you feel so rebellious; that harvey couldn't help but swoon over you! also, he's a pathetic beanpole of a man, so he'll probably get pummeled into the ground by your combat prowess if he ever rejects your blatant non-filtered view of what "personal space" meant.

you were about to get some items turned into the community center; as you were carrying a basket full of assorted goods (they ranged from something simple to five highly-graded melons, a still-flopping ghostfish, and poisonous mushrooms). oh well, with the poisonous mushrooms, those are harvey's choice of decoration during the autumn seasons; so, the doctor felt rather seen whenever he saw those clumped together. he grimaced at the fish, however. other than that, he was glad to see a good friend pop in now and then; he needed something to spice up his days, and he can always expect you at around 9am, or somehow always being in the places he's trying to go to... coincidence?

normally, you'd stop on buy and get him a coffee. either you've brewed it yourself, or stopped by gus', it was coffee. you wonder how many mugs harvey has, considering you also gift him a free cup alongside the sweet, sweet ground bean liquid. it really wasn't the healthiest thing to drink due to the sugar and caffeine levels, and you were pretty worried for the guy who has been through years and years of intensive schooling to know better about those dietary concerns. you assume he probably only has a cup twice a week, considering you have some type of intergalactic force keeping you from extending that quota.

you had some apples somewhere on your person, and it was probably the only thing he'd like; you'd figure. after all, they're just funky little guys. who doesn't like a good, crisp apple? even though they're supposed to be for the community center, you can always just get one later. you'd give harvey something else, but you decided that he deserved better than just countless upon countless liters of his favourite brew. you knew harvey appreciated a good foraged, natural good—especially with someone locally grown on your acres. fishing out an apple out of your pockets, you then present it to him.

"... i think i may be allergic to this."

as harvey looked like a sad shih tzu puppy, looking off to the side, your heart sank. he was allergic to apples? at first, you really wanted to make fun of him. he seemed like the type of person who'd be allergic to peanut butter, and be the kid that doesn't allow their classmates to bring in anything homemade due to those medical reasons. holding the red delicious apple in your hands, rotating it around in your palm, you decided to test that theory.

"may?" you inquiried, and with a look of horror, harvey began to shudder. yes, he's an anxious man at heart, but due to various interesting cases at the clinic, he's grown insensitive to many things. plus, he's in front of the one and only farmer(tm), and his crush. god, what an embarrassment he is. he didn't want to talk about his irrational hatred for apples; those disgusting overblown flower ovaries called "fruit" just sicken him to death, not to mention that the apples were the first to hate HIM—it wasn't his fault that his body rejects them!

"yes, yes! just- just get it away from me!"

"i don't believe you..."

and that's where you've learnt that the phrase "an apple a day keep the doctor away" was right.

[dragon-fly34]

Hi guys! Well, I think everyone notices that I'm not posting as much or reposting posts and various things, well, I think I have to say this.

Well, I think everyone knows that I'm a student and that it's normal to get low grades, but these last few weeks my grades haven't been very good... and I honestly don't know what's happening to me.

I study a lot for my grades, so much so that I'm a good student, my mother even says that it's easier to trust me that I'll study than my brother, because he's lazy, but even so he manages to get better grades than me, and I don't understand that...

With all the bad grades, I'm not so happy, so much so that on Monday I got sick and it was probably because of that, my week is being shit and everything else, my mother says "you're a good student" or "daughter you don't need to be anxious, just take it easy", I know she doesn't want me to worry, but she's also worried about me, my father asks if sometimes I need help with the subject or if he can help, but I don't want to worry them, my friends are also worried about me, they say "don't you think you're studying too much?" or "do you need help with something?", my psychologist is also trying to help.

That's why you just read it, I'm informing you something, I'm going to step away from Tumblr, Deviantart and my YouTube channel for a while, I'm still going to keep posting, but it's going to be short, I'm not going to stop or delete these accounts, it's just until I get back to normal.

For everyone who asked me for commissions and stuff, you'll have to wait, I hope you understand me, I want to do them with love.

For my best friend @marioandsonicfangirl793-art I know I'm making a series of your favorite ship Bowselia, but with what's happening, I'm going to take a break from the series, I'm not going to give up on the series, but I don't want my pressure to ruin the series I created for you.

For @itsavee4117 and @bberetd I told you guys that I was going to do a Luaisy with Aladdin, but with what's happening to me, I would say that it will take a while for this post to come out, I know that maybe you were anxious, but I'm not feeling so well at the moment, so can you wait?

Well, I finally got it all out, I hope you understand me, don't worry about me, I hope I can get out of this situation and that it doesn't lead to something serious like depression (?)

Bye 😔

[olderthannetfic]

Reading for Context

I don’t really feel like scrolling through community profiles has taught me anything. People tend to just post normal tumblr posts and not tirades about shipping. I was told to just scroll OTNF go understand, but OTNF’s feed is just screenshots from a K-drama and idiots pestering him about pronouns for some reason. Is there like a specific way to do it? So… i’ve actually never understood the social conventions of other people in any group i’ve been in. I haven’t really had in real life friends since middle school.

This is actually kind of an interesting question.

First, let me be plain, what you've been asking repeatedly over the last couple of weeks or however long it's been is this:

How does a neurodivergent person who fundamentally is not good at social nuance, reading comprehension, and picking up on context get better at those things?

I've known people whose parents hired coaches to work with them on a weekly basis for years. "How does socializing work?" is not a simple question.

Teaching reading comprehension is hard too.

I vaguely remember a lot of times in school where English teachers spent whole semesters trying to get us to understand not only what figurative language meant in context but how to detect that it was present in the first place. I still remember this one 9th grade classmate wailing "But why does it have to be a metaphor?"

What you're asking about is something most people work on for decades, yet you want randos to summarize it simply in a few sentences.

--

The first thing that jumps out at me here is the superficiality of how you're describing engaging.

When people say to lurk, they're talking about a deep engagement with a community. They're talking about reading closely, including comments, for a month, not scrolling back through a week and just skimming the top-level posts.

Did you open the replies on my tumblr posts where other people besides me are discussing things? Did you look at the reblogs with content, and not just the ones I reblogged back onto my own tumblr?

Beyond the exact number of days you should read or the exact procedure, people are talking about a very in-depth kind of engagement in general. The point is that it's difficult to just come into a new space and know how it works without studying it.

For example, I talk about oldschool fanfic stuff a lot. A logical default assumption is that I'm a woman. Are you not familiar enough with fanfic spaces to assume that, or are you coming from Spacebattles or something?

Why on earth would you default to 'him'?

I'm not insulted: it just shows a staggering lack of clue about the context you found me in.

I've linked you to my patreon where you can see my pro writing pseudonym, which is obviously female. My tumblr itself links to my pro writing and gives my actual name, which is also fairly obviously feminine. I've also recently talked about being pregnant. Yes, it was oblique and I only confirmed it in the replies, not a top-level post, but plenty of regulars noticed. (Yes, yes, biology is not gender, but still...)

There are plenty of clues I'm not a "him", but you missed them all. I don't care about pronouns, but I do care about people who don't bother to or aren't capable of reading closely.

Quite a few people have sent me asks asking what I'm watching. I have repeatedly said that it's DMBJ and described it as "the Chinese tomb raider franchise". Yet you assumed it was Korean for some reason. This suggests that you just scrolled through quickly and did not actually thoroughly read the text of the posts or the replies. It suggests that your eyes skipped over the boring-looking short text posts in between the picspams.

It suggests you didn't bother to google what I was watching when I did say the name because you don't give enough of a shit to bother. That doesn't suggest a very high level of interest in my blog or any reason I should cut you any slack or pay attention to what you think.

It also suggests that you didn't look back all that far. I've been posting a lot about DMBJ, but I only started downloading Ultimate Note on July 15th and Tomb of the Sea on August 1st.

--

If you want to understand a community, scrolling hurriedly through one month of content and not actually reading it closely is insufficient.

This is what people mean when they say you're not willing to put in the work and want other people to do it for you.

[sugudoe]

Hello!! I hope you're doing well and hope you continue to do as well. I have recently stumbled across your account and I was wondering if I could get a JJK man match up (ITS HONESTLY SO EXCITING TO READ AND YOU DO IT SO WELL ❤️ 🥹)

So well about me:

- Considering my ethnicity, I can be considered pretty average tbh maybe 167 cm and a bit chubby but nothing on the extreme.

- For my personality, I can be considered the quite kid like not the mysterious one just someone who likes to keep to herself and just keep up a good appearance in front of professors/teachers. I can be very closed off like you can spit poison down my ears and I will not give you any reaction if I deem you to be unlikable. This often comes off as rude and at times I struggle to talk to others as well due to my high social anxiety (yes, I overthink A LOT). I fo not have that much friends either and it's a struggle when I have to talk to new people but I am pretty adaptable so if I am in a new place, I will just adjust to my surroundings without making any fuss. I hate when people order me to do something or just deem me unworthy due to their attempt at generalization. Besides that I am polite and will speak to you a lot if you're my friend and let you in about my life.

-For my likes and dislikes and interests. I am a writer here on tumblr as well as in ao3 and I like to do traditional art. In my heart, I am very girly like I love to dress up, I like make up, Taylor Swift, I love wearing heels and I do LOVE pink. In entertainment media, I watch and consume everything as long as it's entertaining let it be books, manhwa, Manga, anime, movies as long as the stories appeal me, I will watch/read it.

-As for irl i am omw to pursue my dream as a medical student and hope to be a doctor someday.

Well so... that's it for me. I hope you look into this. Thank you <3

a/n: hii, thank you!! hope you like this, and hope you become an amazing doctor someday 🤍 also, i haven’t decided the layout of the matches, so it’s all a mess, sowy!

⁀➷ 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠. . . ﹫ 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘰 ៹ ༉‧₊📬

You were extraordinary to the Jujutsu world, had just graduated high school, carrying your id of special grade sorcerer, many tried to get in your good grace, only to be met with a wall, be a blank face or your cursed technique ── the ability to change your surroundings, creating an illusion for the receiver. You would take their distraction as a lead to sneak away.

Choso, newest member of the good guys club, found your abilities impressive. Still he, much quieter than you could ever be, ignored you. Not in a rude way, more in an understandable manner. He saw how others would try to run you down, how the high ups had futile attempts of commanding you, and many tried to use you. He thought, in his innocent mind, that you wanted peace, so he let you be.

Soon, that picked your interest.

Like an apprehensive cat, you approached him slowly. And like a comprehensible human, he found adorable how your presence had become constant. Always in the background, shifting your attention anywhere until it landed on him. He would smile politely, but would never approach. You did, and thank God you did.

You didn’t speak much, just telling him of a mission you both were assigned, before leaving the room right away. If it wasn’t for your constant search for him, Choso would think that you, like many others, saw him as his past ── evil, a villain. Somehow, he knew deep down you didn’t. That was enough for him to always smile at you.

Your mission was easy, he mostly talked with curiosity in his voice, asking about anything, and you politely answered. Until, you became more and more… normal. Even craving his questions.

Choso and you were in a park, walking along a river, when he said he had never seen a giraffe, he knew how tall they were, and their colors, but couldn’t picture it. For the first time, you used your technique on him, and also for the first time, you used it for good on someone.

Then, he asked to see butterflies, a garden of magnolias, and lastly, a dinosaur.

For the last, though, you decided to take him on a museum when you both returned home. A museum turned into a stargazing picnic, to a beach sunrise date, to a stabilized relationship.

Choso curiosity wont ever go away, that’s something you learn after showing him everything and experimenting most of it. This wonder, though, has shifted mostly to you. He finds you the most fascinating thing the world could ever had created, and it’s far from being only because of your powers. For him, they are just dust compared to your whole self.

So, with a shy expression, you show him your writing, your arts, your clothes and favorite songs, how tall you can get with your heels and how much you love pink ── to your astonishment, the boy that always dress in black, has taken a liking to it as well. Obviously, he likes because you do, but you will find some decorations with pink in his house and smooch his flushed cheeks right away.

─┈ ⭑ ° ⋆ FUN FACTS 𓂃ᰔ

📥 ┊ you tell him of your plan to leave the jujutsu world and become a doctor, he believes you can, and he hopes to become a photographer, so he can picture everything he finds fascinating, mostly you.

📥 ┊ he soon learns to grow his own taste in media consumption, food and places. still, he loves yours as well, so it’s a common sight to have him by your side, sharing an earphone, reading the same books and mangas, or watching tv shows.

📥 ┊ he will throw a fit if you watch or read a chapter before him.

📥 ┊ best boyfriend ever.

[dinosaurvibe]

Log in Reward

Idia Shroud x OC A/N: This is my first Tumblr post ever!! I wrote this a few year back, when I first dipped my toes in the ocean that is Twisted Wonderland. I found it while browsing my old laptop, so I thought I might share it! (I edited the ending, so if the writing is different from the rest its normal)

Warning: none? it's an oc insert since it's really old, and the oc is male. That's all :3

Idia was a man who did not like to interact with others. He saw no use in going out of the comfort of his room to talk and meet other human beings, except if he wanted to feel the extra stress and anxiety that gave him. He was not good at that type of thing,

Idia hated to leave the comfort of his room, even to go to school. He was a firm believer that school and studies could be done from home, and that being physically present was useless and required social interaction with the other students. 

The Housewarden of Ignyhide did not enjoy social interactions a lot, in fact, he hated them. He hated that feeling that everyone was looking at him, judging his looks, talking behind his back about how weird he was. He hated feeling stressed when someone talked to him, or the fear of messing up if he answered wrong. Life wasn’t like a game, you could not log back to your last checkpoint.

This is why Idia always worked from his dorm room, only present by the high-tech tablet he created, and never failing his exams. That was something Idia took pride in, he knew he was smart and wasn’t afraid to show it by creating harder programs everyday, or always getting top grades. 

Alas, Idia promised his brother that he will work on himself and try to make friends. Which meant he had to actually go out and go to class. With everyone. Ortho said to see that as a weekly quest; finish the day and you will get the rewards. Even though it did cheer Idia up a little, the housewarden couldn’t stop wondering what kind of reward a day at school could give him.

Idia groaned as he chewed on his bottom lip, fighting the urge to jump under the cover and abandon. But Ortho would not allow that, would he? “Brother, hurry up or we’re going to be late!” He heard Ortho called him and the older Shroud held back a groan. “Commin’ Ortho.”

Ortho was waiting for him in front of the dorm door, with what looked like a frown on his robotic face. “Don’t look at me like that Ortho, I don’t feel like interacting with those SSR-social-skilled characters like Rook and Cater…” Idia mumbled, already hiding his face in his oversized hoodie. “Don’t you want to see Cupide though?”

His little brother marked a point. Out of all the things that could have happened in his high school years (like pulling 10 SRR in one pull, all otaku’s dream, or managing to hold an oral presentation without stuttering, Idia held no hope on managing that), Idia had to fall in love. And — to his great dismay — not with a fictional character like he usually does, but with a real living being that breathes and exists in 3 dimension. His name was Cupide (his last name is a real tongue twister that made Idia wonder how it could even exist), the boy was blessed with amazing grace and beauty, looking like he was straight-out of an optometrist game.

Idia gulped. The house warden loved to see his crush, but he was always too scared to talk to him. Please, the boy didn’t even dare to send him a message!

Ortho didn’t wait for his big brother's response before moving behind him and pushing him out of his dorm, like a master trying to put his cat in water. “O-Ortho no need to push me!” Idia yelped, his feet glued to the floor. “If I don’t push you, you won’t go out! You promised me that you’ll attend school today — And I have my own class too. I believe in you, big brother! I know you can do it!” Now that his brother expressed his expectations with such lights in his eyes, Idia did not dare to refuse, sighing as a sign of defeat before walking out the corridor on his own.

Today was a small day, he only had three hours of history of magic and half an hour of conjuration. Idia liked conjuration and history of magic, easy subjects. No need to talk in those classes.

Idia could do it. Yeah, of course he could. He just had to find his protagonist-energy and live the day!

Idia could not do it. Not at all. Absolutely not if Cupide sat beside him for three whole hours! Usually, no one sits beside him in history class, since students prefer to talk to each other to erase the boredom of the subject. It was supposed to be a safe place for a poor shut-in like him. He had built enough self confidence to believe he could do the entire day, until a sweet voice ringed right next to him;

“Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?” The voice was sweet, and oh-so pleasant to hear. Like the melodious singing of a siren, or the start of his favorite anime opening. Idia's body froze, not daring to look up, sweat starting to form on his forehead as he recognized the voice.

The Housewaren had arrived just before the class started, to make sure no one would notice him, and had very carefully made his way to the middle of the class where no one liked to sit, just to be alone and avoid unwanted attention. And yet. And yet… His crush of a year just asked if anyone sat beside him! His heart started to pump the blood faster in his body, his cheeks slowly starting to burn. He could have said yes and make the other leave. But… Wasn’t that why Ortho made him go to class? To meet other people? Sure Idia hated that, but he just triggered a unique event!

“N-no. No one’s here.” Idia mentally praised himself for being able to actually talk and not whisper. He glanced quickly at Cupide, just to check his reaction, but as soon as his eyes landed on the boy he could not look away. “Really? Can I sit here, then?” Cupide’s smile brightened up, his excitement clear in his pink eyes. Idia nodded mesmerized.

Cupide was the polar opposite of Idia, the kind of person the house warden tried to avoid the most. He had light pink hair that curled at the end, with a few white stripes here and there. Idia always noted how the front of his hair was longer than the back. They always had cherry flagrance, and bounced smoothly anytime Cupide would move, such an anime character thing (Idia loved it). To match his hair, Cupide had a pair of dark pink eyes with heart shaped pupils (Idia had found that so cliché at first, seriously, pink and heart shaped?). His eyes were big and round, always curious and full of life. It felt like the teen was always full of energy and love, no matter the situation or the time of the day. Cupide was also tall and slim even though he was shorter than Idia (Idia couldn’t stop noticing how Cupide only reached his chin. Idia always found it cute.)

Yeah, Cupide overall was a boring cliché in a romance anime. Yet the smile he offered Idia every time their eyes met (so rarely) was enough to Idia. Of course Idia overthought everything and thought that Cupide was mocking him for being such a weirdo with blue fire as hair. But then Cupide talked to him, asking him about his video games. Cupide was interested in what Idia was doing. They only talked for a few times, each of them being Cupide asking questions about Idia games and praising him for his knowledge. It was like Cupide did not care at all that he was a shut-in, or a weirdo, or an ugly cursed teen with sharp teeth and firy-hair. 

When Cupide was near him, the older Shroud forgot about everything else, and even though it was short, rare, he always cherished a moment with the other. But the constant fear of rejection stopped him from trying more, stopped him to invite Cupide, or initiate the first conversation. It was always that stupid fear, that paranoia that was glued to his back, these voices full of malice inserting doubt in his mind, preventing him from ever starting the conversation. It was simply easier this way: to lock himself away, to shut the voices and the fear deep in the prison of his heart.

Cupide broke that. By his simple smile, or his shy greeting, anytime Idia would set his eye on him, he would forget. He loved that feeling. And because he loved that feeling, he could not bear to have it.

“Idia, are you okay? You’ve been staring at your desk for five good minutes.” Idia flinched in surprise, lost in his analysis of his own heart, he had forgotten that the object of his love was right beside him, slowly putting a hand on his shoulder. “I-I’m fine. Just thinkin…” Eyes still focused on his desk, he almost didn’t notice that his voice was a mere whisper. “A new game in mind?”

There it was.

That question. That tone. That genuine, gentle, curious tone, and the way his head tilted to the side and his cherry scented hair would follow the movement. Just like that, all Idia resistance disappeared and he started to talk, as if he was a ball of wool that Cupide was slowly untangling.

For three hours, they talked. Their voice whispers as to not alert the resentful eyes of professor Trein. Idia was thankful, if he had to be any louder, Cupide would hear all the excitement that he was trying to hide (he didn’t know that he was terrible at doing it, a big grin plastered on his face the moment he began to speak).

And as usual, Cupide sat quietly beside him, his cheek resting on a hand and small smile never leaving his lips as he listened to Idia every word. Sometimes he asked questions that Idia gladly answered, or add a funny comment that the Shroud would giggle at and continue on his speech.

If the bell didn’t ring, perhaps he would have never stopped talking, because he didn’t realize that the time was flying by. The bell brought him back to Twisted Wonderland, then he understood just how long he talked. A deep blush spread across his face, the tip of his hair turning pink from embarrassment. The worst thing about it was that it was in front of everyone!

Cupide must have noticed his dilemma, because he held a hand in his direction. “Idia, can you follow me for a bit? I have something to tell you.” He leaned closer to Idia, nearly whispering in his ear. “Something that requires a more… private place.” The Houseward mind bugged, his interest piqued, but his heart was too shocked to even beat properly. “A-ah, uh, y-yes, sure.”

Idia was lost in his thoughts about what Cupide had to say, that he did not remember the walk to said private place. Just that Cupide suddenly stopped in an empty hallway, with an incredible amount of widows, and kissed him.

The sweet scent of cherry filled his nostrils, a soft pressure on his lips, and warm arms wrapped around his neck. Cupide pulled back before Idia, could do anything, even if he doubted he would have done anything at all.

“W-What do you want to tell m-me?” Idia wanted to hit his head on the wall until he bled, as punishment for this dumb question. Cupide giggled, and bright pink covered his cheeks. “That I love you, Idia Shroud. I am in love with you.”

Idia stared at Cupide blankly, the word registering in his mind. When finally he processed all of the information, all of his hair had turned pink and his face hot red.

“So would you give me the pleasure of being my boyfriend?” Idia looked at Cupid as if he insulted the Star Rogue storyline. “H-hold on! For real?!” What kind of surprise one-of-a-kind event did he unlock?! His crush – of the prettiest boy in school, asking him out, just like that? Cupide giggled, and Idia couldn’t stop his eyes from following the movement of his bangs as they bumped, the rise of his shoulder as he laughed. “Yes, Idia. I am very serious. I have fallen in love with you the moment our eyes met when we were first years, and I just kept falling harder every time we talked. The way your eyes ignite with passion when you speak of the things you love, the way your hair gleam even in the sunlight, it mesmerizes me. That adorable smile and softness you have when encountering a cat– Idia, are you okay?!” 

Idia was in fact, not okay. His mind had stopped working the second Cupide said “yes”, then went into complete overheat with “the moment”. Cupide was in love with him. Since they were their first years. And he watched Idia long enough to notice those things– How was he supposed to be okay? Happiness met bliss in a tornado of fear and anxiety. But deep, deep in the eye of the storm was a hint of courage. Idia decided to focus on that tiny drop of courage before it drowned in cowardice – grabbing Cupide’s shoulder and pulling him in for a kiss. Clumsy, inexperienced. Filled with long all the adoration, love and delight. Idia noted the taste of Cupide’s lips; cotton candy, overly sweet but addicting. A flavor that will keep his mind busy for months. It was almost torture to pull away, but he felt the courage fading away and he still had one dialogue option to fulfill the quest. A gasp the time to find his voice which had shy away, “Yes. I-I’ll be your boyfriend!”.

The smile that bloomed on Cupide’s face was priceless, engraved in Idia’s memory.

Ortho was right in the end: he did get a reward from going to class, and maybe he’ll do it more often now.

[the-lincyclopedia]

41, 58, 69!

41. last person you texted?

My partner's mom, actually! Yesterday I texted her a picture of a Frida Kahlo notebook I got recently, since she's a Frida Kahlo fan, and she wrote me back today and I just responded. This is the first time in my life I've felt anywhere close to having in-laws, and I feel like I'm getting a good grade in being her kid's partner, something that is normal to want and possible to achieve.

58. four talents you’re proud of having?

Ooh, you're gonna make me be proud of myself? Okay, here we go.

1) To paraphrase something one of my coworkers said about me yesterday, I am the Chicago Manual of Style incarnate. I know all the grammar and punctuation rules you could possibly want to know. I am a damn good copy editor, and I'm also pretty fast at it.

2) I'm really good at what I call "abstracting properly"--that is, I'm good at figuring out what the relevant principles at play in a situation are, and from there how to ask questions that get at the different things to consider when trying to figure out right and wrong in a particular circumstance.

To take a recent example, I responded to a post about the US Supreme Court and wrote about how "there's a fundamental tension--competing goods, I'd say--between being able to articulate, point to, share, and agree on the details of a specific set of principles, on the one hand, and adapting to the times, on the other hand." I am good at looking at problems that way, basically in real time.

3) I'm really good at being organized. It just comes naturally to me. I love sorting things (it's the autism), and I love knowing where things are and being able to find them quickly. I tag so consistently that I can find almost any post from my blog from the past few years in a matter of minutes. My Google Drive is an intricate system with layers upon layers of sub-folders. In physical space I'm a little bit messier, but I still know where almost all my stuff is.

4) I'm pretty good at language learning. I think I overstate this talent to myself sometimes, and then I run into an unfamiliar language and get frustrated when I'm not immediately fluent, but I am significantly better at language learning than average. At [location redacted], I was the only kid anyone in my cohort could remember who was placed in the highest Swedish class their first year in the program.

Meanwhile, in school, I took Spanish one in seventh grade, Spanish two in eighth grade, Spanish three freshman year, skipped Spanish four, took Spanish five sophomore year, and was one of three kids in the whole (2000+ student) school taking Spanish six my junior year. I got a five out of five on the AP Spanish test my sophomore year of high school, and my senior year of high school I got a seven out of seven on the IB Spanish B Higher Level exam and a six out of seven on the IB Swedish B Standard Level exam. Like, I know people who are better at languages than I am, and you're probably one of them, but my results are definitely better than average.

69. a fun fact that you don’t know how you learned?

This is such a good question, but I'm completely blanking! I feel like I try to keep track of where I get my information, even if sometimes it's as fuzzy as just knowing that I heard the thing on Tumblr. Occasionally I meet people who can cite the exact sources of their knowledge (like, full name of the author of the book or article they read something in), and I can't usually do that, but I try to avoid thinking I know things when I have no source.

When I was in school, I definitely enjoyed citing sources from outside the syllabus in my papers--usually books I'd read for previous classes or articles I'd run across on my own. Which was definitely made easier by the fact that I tend to remember where I learned things.

Get in on the ask game!