interlining dilemmas
character: spike spiegel
reader: gender neutral
content warning: lack of communication
summary: spike wears clothes. that’s normal. he can be tight-lipped about some things. that’s—well...
✩ he doesn’t actually like wearing ties
✩ he’s told you this, one day, after you asked him why he always wears them so loose
✩ “it’s an old habit,” he said, stilling your hand when you went to tighten it. “from years ago. i used to wear one—” his pause was sudden, like the smile across his lips. he raised your hand to kiss at your fingertips. “for work”
✩ “what did you do?” you asked, genuinely interested. it felt like he kept a large part of his life tucked away from you—which was fine, to have secrets, but whenever a piece dangled in front of you, you always had to chase it. it wasn’t a bad habit to want to know more about him, after all
✩ unfortunately, he didn’t want to share most of the time. “a lot of different things,” he said instead, his smile persisting. trying not to let the corners of his mouth pull too far. he bent down to kiss your forehead. a quiet apology. “we had a dress code, though. the tie was apart of the deal”
✩ he wore his ties loosely, sometimes hanging down his chest. without an outer layer, he liked to throw it over a shoulder to get it out of the way
✩ you offered to get him a tie pin, something that would help it from flying in his face, but he’s denied you every time
✩ “it’d restrict my movement too much. it’s alright, baby, i can handle it”
✩ you didn’t really think it was alright. not whenever you saw him grab it and clench it between a shaking fist. not when he spun, and flipped, and kicked, and it moved out of place, in his way, frustratingly so
✩ so, you changed tactics. you tried coordinating an outfit for him. when he asked for a tie, you told him the outfit would look better without one
✩ he stared at his reflection in the mirror for a bit. his hand went to subconsciously straighten his tie—but there wasn’t one there
✩ he stared at his reflection in the mirror for a bit. he shrugged and thanked you for the outfit
✩ you did this several more times. his reaction was the same. you tried this several more times. his reaction changed
✩ eventually, he stopped reaching for the ties. eventually, he stopped wearing them all together
✩ eventually, he opened up to you about that old “job”
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Some off the cuff 1k of Skirk & Tartaglia (skirtaru???) hcs before 4.2 proves me wildly wrong, they are very much a dynamic in process to be changed as we see more of them and as I think and consider them more, but I wanna see them interact so BAD.
Anyway. Tartaglia is an idiot who develops a crush, or at least something like a crush, on anyone who can give him a good fight. Obviously there are plenty of people who can just kick his ass- he's ranked at the bottom of the Harbingers. But they all suck, and there's no passion when they fight! They don't appreciate it the way Tartaglia does! So it's not a good fight and those assholes don't count!
So I think little Tartaglia was doomed the second he saw a very very pretty lady with a very very sharp sword and she immediately beat the shit out of him. Like she awakened something in him right then and there, unfortunately for the rest of the world haha
And then! Not only could she beat him one handed! But she took the time to teach him! And this! This was exactly what Tartaglia had wanted when he ran away from home with nothing but some food and his sword! He'd wanted an adventure! He'd wanted something new and different and wild!
And he can have that now, with Skirk and the Abyss! So his crush could have instantly dissolved right there, but it didn't, because Skirk was weird and interesting and Tartaglia adored that.
((Wheezing imagining Tartaglia trying to show off because he wants to impress his shifu, and she genuinely is impressed because Tartaglia progressed so fast, but then she pops his teenage boy ego with a pin and he deflates sjzjnskdkz))
He develops such an endless amount of respect and admiration for her. He's so happy and so proud of himself when he masters the Foul Legacy, because this was a goal laid by his shifu and hell yeah, he blew it out of the water!! And I'd like to think this was when Skirk said those words in his profile-
"You shall ever be the eye of the storm,"
"And the clashing of steel shall ever accompany you."
"The pitch-black memory of stepping into uttermost darkness,"
"Shall, at last, become the strength by which you will overturn this world."
-with Tartaglia knelt before her and her sword at his cheek, as though she were knighting him. And Tartaglia realizes then that oh. He likes it here. He likes being in the Abyss. He likes being with Skirk. He likes hunting and killing and surviving here in the Abyss with Skirk. Morepesok is and will always be home, but it was stagnant there. Too much of the same. No room for growth.
But the Abyss is boundless possibility to explore in every direction, and Skirk has never flinched away from him even once. Tartaglia can be as violent and bloodthirsty as he wants; Skirk is worse. She gives zero shits. She loves to fight and hunt and kill and make things bleed. Tartaglia is free to explore and revel in all of his worst inclinations and instincts and that is what the Abyss and Skirk become to him. Freedom.
And then he falls out of the Abyss just as suddenly as he had fallen into it. He didn't even get to say goodbye.
And it's not all bad or anything. Tartaglia isn't miserable. He's plenty capable of making his own happiness. He brings his own joy everywhere he goes (derogatory, unfortunate for everyone else ndkdjdjkd) and he genuinely likes being around other people. He would have missed a lot of things if he'd been permanently trapped.
But now there is an itch that he can't scratch. And it's driving him nuts. And he misses Skirk. She was fun to be around. He liked her.
He finds himself seeing things in everyday life and wishing he could show her. He pulls out ingredients in the kitchen for dinner and wants her to eat his special dish and show off how good he can cook. He reads through reports about the Abyss and he never finds what he's looking for (a swordswoman, an entrance, anything-), but he wants to ask her her opinions about them. He sees a really nice sword and wonders if she would like it. Little things.
Tartaglia decides he's going to find her. Even if it's just for a chance to thank her. Even if it takes years, decades. He just wants to see her again.
And then, it finally happens! They really do get to reunite! I have no idea what will happen in the archon quest of course, but like. I really like the idea that after things settle down, Skirk decides to stay for a while. She doesn't really want to live here or anything, but she's curious. She wants to see what Teyvat is like. She especially wants to see Snezhnaya, like Tartaglia used to talk about. And Tartaglia decides to go with her, he's an experienced traveler, a man of the world after all! He'll take her wherever she'd like to go.
And I'd love for them to say goodbye to The Traveler and Paimon and depart from Fontaine on a classic will-they-won't-they sort of vibe, where it's obvious that Tartaglia has Some Feelings about Skirk, but it's not clear how Skirk really feels about him yet. But it's the kind of thing where it's hopeful, and you want to root for the guy to get his love interest haha.
(The Traveler and Paimon bump into them a few months later and Paimon chides Tartaglia because Childe have you seriously not confessed yet the hell have you been doing all this time, which he responds to with hey, Skirk is a classy lady, give me time to do it right! and meanwhile The Traveler can see around Tartaglia to where Skirk is sitting at their campfire, manspreading on a fallen log, eating raw meat with blood on her face and dripping down her arms BNSKXJSMKDMD)
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Shigeo Saves The Cat
A Dive Into What The Cat Symbolises
During the Mogami Arc, Mogami had created a world in which Shigeo had no powers, and was hated by all the people he loved. In this cruel world, Shigeo was presented with a cat, and this cat died because he was unable to protect it.
During the car crash, Shigeo used his powers in public, to save the cat. He has, at this point, come to accept that his powers can be used for good, and that they're not just to be used in dire situations. He used them to help the others call a ufo, after all! That's pretty chill! For... you know, having super cool powers that you can do just about anything with.
Although he hasn't begun to use them for his own sake, he saw the danger coming, and was able to save the cat. [And, to a different extent, using his physical powers, saved the kid. But this isn't about the kid or the fact he used both sides of himself to save 2 different entities, haha]
Then he gets hit, and ??? takes the stage. He still rejects his powers as part of his personhood; (a conscious being made from his own repressed self) he can accept them as if they're a certain muscle in the body, or an extra limb, but only now is he able to see that this is a mental thing, not physical.
During the final arc, in large part thanks to Reigen (of course, also thanks to Hanazawa, Ritsu, and Dimple, but the point is Reigen's words are the ones to calm him down) this repressed self is accepted not as part of his body, the way the body is a case for the mind, but as part of himself. A part of his mind. Which he very much had been sealing up and repressing.
Then, in the after-part, Shigeo sees a cat, and assumes it's stuck. He acts, moving forward to climb the pole. He doesn't think anything like "it might be easier with psychic powers, but I should use the body I've been working on" or "I would rather use my physical body than my powers to save this cat" he simply moves. Not a single complicated thought goes through his mind. He acts. His powers are part of him; his body, his person, his ESP - all of it is him, and he simply did the most natural thing that came to mind. He climbed the pole using muscles he'd worked on, but not as opposed to his powers - just because it was the first response he came up with. [And as a muscle obsessed boy, it's unsurprising haha!]
But he does not save the cat.
Because the cat, regardless of him and his story, is just that. It's a cat. It's got nothing to do with him; it's neutral. It's an entity with its own path, it doesn't need him in order to survive. It's not on him to save or to protect it, not on him to do anything at all about it. It's on him just to want to act, to want to care. He's changed from a boy who was afraid to act at all, to one who acts without reservation.
And saving the cat was never his goal in the first place.
Tldr:
Mogami presented a cat that he needed to save, but that he was unable to save.
The car-crash presented a cat that needed saving, and that he was able to save.
And the finale presented a cat that, at the end of the day, has nothing to do with what he must do to live life to the fullest. He's just a teenage boy who has a girl he likes, and who goes to school like everyone else. His powers are just a part of him, nothing he has to pay the universe back for. There's no big magical destiny, no cats to save.
He can finally simply exist.
...
For now!! Dun dun dun...
I'm kidding.
Or am I?!
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single moms meet at boyband show
Clexa drabble
Lexa focused on the green at the tip of Serah’s braid as she followed her daughter through the never-ending crowd.
"Mom, I want to be up front for the starting band!" Serah cried from right in front of Lexa, and Lexa took three long strides to catch up with her daughter.
"Do you have your phone?" Lexa asked for the fourth time, to which Serah rolled her eyes.
"Yes."
"Full battery?"
"93%."
"And the location tags?"
Serah looked around them, biting her lips as other teens—mostly girls—ran to the front of the stage. "Yes, one in my purse and one in my belt," she said between gritted teeth, all unnecessary teen rage. Lexa nodded, reaching for her daughter’s hand. God, she would be taller than Lexa soon.
"I’ll be back at the food stalls. I’ll call you, but we meet here after the concert, okay?"
"Okay, mom, now please can I go? The opening band is about to start!"
"Alright. And Serah?"
The fourteen-year-old stopped in her tracks to turn back and glare at her mom. "What!"
"Have fun." Okay, it was true: Lexa liked to torture her daughter sometimes, but just a little bit, so she wouldn’t get completely lost in her head. One of her books said it was a way to bond with teenagers.
A small smile cracked Serah’s frown, and she nodded, all limbs and gracelessness as she followed the flow of screaming girls to the front of the stage.
Lexa had no idea what she had done to have a daughter who liked boy bands, but there she was, escorting her only baby to said band’s show. Lexa had been a hardcore punk at that age, parading black, rebellion, and a couple real, unmemorable tattoos. At the same time, that was the lifestyle that led to an early pregnancy, so maybe having a daughter who loved bands with an odd number of boys was a good thing.
Lexa looked back at the kiosks line and started to look for anything that said coffee when someone stumbled at her back. Lexa tripped forward but reacted in time to hold the person, who would for sure fall on the dirty grass if Lexa hadn’t reached for their hips and arms.
"Oh my God, mom! You’re so clumsy!"
"I’m so sorry," the woman in Lexa’s arms said, flushing a beautiful shade of pink. Lexa’s hands were warm where she touched her.
"Mom!"
They broke apart at the teenager's yelling at them.
"Are you alright?" Lexa asked, but the woman faced the teen instead.
"I tripped because you’ve been running since the gate. Now where’s your phone?"
"I have it. Now can I go?"
"Don’t lose your phone!"
"I won’t!" The teen bobbed her head in excitement, her tight curls, a coppery shade of auburn, bouncing in her head. "Now can I go? The opening band is on the stage!"
"Yeah, but stay close to your phone!" The woman’s plea was lost as her daughter rushed in the same direction Serah had disappeared into.
"They always seem to lose the phone," Lexa said, and she found herself staring at that pink blush again.
"Right? And fuck, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to trip all over you."
"It’s okay. This grass is horrible." Lexa looked down at the woman’s red converse, a stark contrast to her boots.
"Do you want some coffee? Or a drink?" Lexa looked up again to get lost in freckles and blue. "I’m sorry, maybe my daughter is right and I’m always talking too much," the woman continued before Lexa could respond. "I don’t even know if you’re here with a partner or whatever; I just assumed you’d be another mom."
"I’m mom. I mean, yes, I’m with my fourteen-year-old. She also ditched me for the opening band."
"I think they all sound the same."
"And coffee sounds good. I’m going to need some to survive the night. And—" Lexa cleared her throat, falling into step next to the woman "—No partner. It’s just me and Serah." There was that beautiful blush again.
"Coffee it is, then. And it’s just me and that thirteen-year-old you met. Lumi. But she’ll tell you she’s fourteen. This is her birthday present, actually."
They sat at the kiosk, far from the screaming crowd, with the bartender making espresso shot after espresso shot for the multiple parents. A couple dads talked about football next to their stools while a flock of suburban moms ordered margaritas.
"I’m Lexa." She extended her hand and offered to pay for the coffee.
"Clarke." She accepted the coffee with another blush, and Lexa realized she loved to watch those cheeks fire up. Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad concert after all.
0000
Lexa wasn’t sure how that happened. Okay, maybe she had a clue, since the only time she had been with a man ended up with Serah, and she had enough flings with coworkers to have a certain reputation in her station. But whatever the reasons, Lexa was not complaining about having Clarke’s tongue in her mouth or her legs wrapped tightly around her as they made out behind the dirty alley of stalls that served terrible coffee. Under the sound of broken-hearted love, Lexa pressed closer until Clarke moaned in her mouth, all velvet and want. Lexa pulled back to allow curious lips to explore her neck and moaned low under Clarke’s ears. Clarke pressed harder, uncaring that the two single, thirty-something moms were dry-humping in the dark while their daughters screamed at hairless boys.
"You okay?" Lexa whispered the question when Clarke hissed after a hard kiss.
"Oh, I’m great!" Clarke gasped, finding Lexa’s lips again. "It’s just... it’s been a while. Single mom and all."
Lexa nodded. She knew the drama.
"I wish I could touch you," Lexa confessed between blonde tresses, inhaling the lingering scent of rose shampoo. Clarke moaned in response, grinding harder on Lexa’s thigh. "I bet you’re—"
The loud ringing of their phones cut off Lexa’s, admittedly, dirty talk, and they parted at the accompanying vibrations in their pockets.
"Shit," Clarke mumbled as she checked her phone. There was a lack of endless screams in the air. "I think the concert’s already ended."
Lexa was focused on her phone, Serah’s calls and texts, typing furiously back. "Let’s go back to the stalls."
"Oh, shit." Clarke, flushed and grinning with kiss-swollen lips, placed both hands on Lexa’s abs, stopping her. "I might have given you a hickey. Sorry." Lexa’s eyes widened, and she touched her neck. "The other side… I think you should lose the braid."
And that was how Lexa found her daughter in front of the coffee stall, typing furiously on her phone. "Mom!" she yelled when Lexa approached.
"Hey, honey, how was it?" Lexa placed both hands in her pockets, running her fingers through her hair.
"Why are you acting weird? And what happened to your braid?"
"Mom!" They looked to see Clarke hugging her daughter; there was an excited squeak between them. "It was awesome!"
"I’m glad, baby." Clarke waved at Lexa, and Serah looked between them, eyes narrowing.
"Clarke." Lexa cleared her throat when Clarke approached while holding her daughter’s hands. "This is my daughter, Serah."
"Hi," Serah said while eyeing Clarke up and down.
"Hey. This is Lumi, my daughter."
"Hi." Lumi waved at Serah, then saw the pin in her jacket. "Which song is your favorite from the new album?"
Serah’s frown melted into a smile as the girls started to talk about the show. Lexa took a step closer to Clarke but didn’t touch her. "Where did you park?"
"Oh." Lexa would never get tired of seeing that beautiful blush. "We took the bus here. We’ll probably Uber back."
"Can I offer you a ride?"
"It’s alright, we’re used to it." Both moms stared at the girls as they talked non-stop about the concert and the band, and Clarke shrugged. "Yeah, a ride would be nice."
As they walked to the parking lot, Serah pulled Lexa to one side. "Mom."
"What’s up, kiddo? I hope you don’t mind that we’re giving them a ride."
"It’s not that." Serah kicked a pebble on the dirty road parking lot. "Lux is fun. I want to be friends with her."
"That’s great."
Serah kept staring at Lexa, their eyes so much alike that it gave Lexa the chills sometimes, like now. Lexa did have a reputation, but she also had a daughter who was too smart for her own good.
"Please don’t ruin this," Serah pleaded. "Don’t make it like my swim teacher. Or my violin teacher."
"You didn’t even like violin."
"That’s not the point."
"We got a discount for three months."
"Lux is nice, and she also has a PS4. Please don’t mess up with her mom, please."
Lexa scoffed. "Why do you even—"
"You have a hickey, mom."
Damn kid.
"Alright, I’ll behave. For you," she promised.
Serah kissed Lexa’s cheek. "I love you, mom."
Lexa looked behind them to find Clarke listening to her daughter, but her eyes were focused on Lexa. She winked, her cheeks flushed with the wind.
Okay, Lexa might be in trouble with that promise.
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