#1-A Teacher Midnight

[iril-the-warlock]

Chapter 4 go brrr

Robots vs the swarm

Entrance exam Shenanigans, little bit of an exposition dump from Nezu and a bit of the green bean with some minor changes this time around since we have new people in the exams

Tags: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Dehaka/Izsha, Sarah Kerrigan, Yaoyorozu Momo Yaoyorozu, Momo's Parents, Dehaka (StarCraft), Izsha (StarCraft), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossover, starcraft elements in mha, changes to how the swarm works as a quirk, Quirk Shenanigans (My Hero Academia), Yaoyorozu Momo is a Good Friend, Ghost (Starcraft) Momo Yaoyorozu, Queen of Blades - Freeform

Sarah sighs as she walks towards the UA building alone, making her way towards the check in desk as she watches an aggressive blonde with short spiky hair shoulder his way past a shorter but heavily muscled green haired man who nearly trips as he walks onto the UA campus. Before the man can fall over he starts floating forward and scrambling as a brown haired girl helps him right his stance.

Sarah passes the two and enters the UA building proper and makes her way towards the check in desk. As she approaches a desk where Power Loader and Midnight are checking in students, Adjutant's voice comes across the speakers nearby, startling several applicants.

"Alert! Class 12 psionic waveform detected. The Queen of Blades is inbound."

Sarah shakes her head and greets Midnight and Power Loader. "I take it Melissa has already checked in then? She's the only one who would make that reference for me."

Midnight laughs as Power Loader stares into the distance before responding. "She's a menace and I have another one this year too." He puts his head in his hands as Midnight laughs again at his pain. After a few moments of searching Sarah is presented with her UA exam pass and practical booklet and assigned battle center card. Midnight asks about the Adjutant's announcement as she locates all of Sarah's paperwork. "So, what's with the Adjutant's comment?"

Sarah looks bashful for a moment, scratching the back of her neck. "Game Night a few months ago, we were playing an RTS and I kept winning with a Psionic race versus her marines and medics and Momo's mech and stealth nuke combo. She called me that as a joke and apparently she set up the Adjutant to do it as well."

"Huh, neat. Anyway, your exam room is down the hall on the right, room 2-B, follow the signs on the doors. Good luck cutie."

Sarah nods with a light blush. "Yes Ma'am" and hurries down the hall.

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After the exam Sarah makes her way to the practical briefing in the large auditorium. The lights are already down low enough she can't make out many others in the room, but spots the green haired dude she saw at the gate sitting a few seats away. She starts going through the exam booklet and finds a few notices in the larger blocks of text regarding a shutdown button on each robot beneath a weaker panel as well as detailing weak points on the robots as the stage lights come on and Present Mic struts on stage.

"Welcome to today's performance! Everybody say HEY!"

For a moment, deafening silence rang across the room before the overhead speaker let out a single "Hey."

Present Mic sighed and looked utterly defeated as he replied. "Thank you Adjutant." Quickly regaining his composure, Present Mic began introducing the exam. "All riiight, guys, gals, and non-binary pals, I'm here to present the practical exam. Are you READY?"

More silence through the stadium before the speaker crackles again and Adjutant's monotone voice trails across. "Yeah"

Present Mic visibly twitches at Adjutant's response before continuing. "This is how the test will go, listeners. You'll be experiencing a ten minute mock cityscape villain attack. You and your fellow examinees will be able to bring along any self built or approved support equipment, so make sure you check in with Power Loader after the briefing if you are using any support gear. You'll have thirty minutes to make it to your bus and then you'll head off to your assigned testing center. YEAH!"

Another momentary pause as the Adjutant's voice comes across again. "Yeah."

Present Mic mutters "when will I learn." Before bouncing back with full energy. "Each site will have three kinds of faux villains, a one, two, and three pointer. Points will be awarded for each villain destroyed based on their difficulty value. Use your gear, quirks, and wits to take down these faux villains to reach your goal listeners. YEAH! Remember though, in this trial you are with fellow heroes, no attacking each other or you'll be instantly disqualified and barred from the exam."

He's about to continue before a tall boy with dark blue hair stands and shouts. "May I ask a question?!" He doesn't wait for a response before he continues though. "There appear to be no less than four faux villains in the hand out. If this is a blatant error on behalf of UA and Japan's top Hero Academy." He looks sharply back towards the green haired dude. "And you! You've been muttering this whole time. If this is some sort of game, then leave immediately."

Sarah sighs as she looks over at the green dude cowering before speaking up. "Dude, chill out, I'm like two seats away and couldn't hear him. Let the dude process in his own way and let Present Mic get on with the explanation. If you're still confused then read the hand out." She looks back at Present Mic as he clears his throat and leans forwards. "Thank you examinees 7111 and 666, the final robot on the list is sort of an arena trap, and is worth zero points for defeating it. Best to just stay out of its way, ya dig?!" He straightens up and continues. "Alright listeners, That's all from me, I'll leave you with our school motto, Go beyond!"

As he leads off the motto the energy finally hits the examinees and everyone responds with. " PLUS ULTRA!"

As everyone starts to trickle out of the room towards their locker room or to Power Loaders station, Sarah pats the green haired dude on the shoulder. "Hey man, don't let him get to you, everyone's nervous for the test. You got this." He startles as he looks up to meet Sarah's eyes, taking in her imposing form before nodding furiously and starting to stammer a reply before she cuts him off. "Alright dude, you seem super nervous. Let's try to fix that okay, don't need to have a panic attack before a big exam so lets do a quick breathing thing. count with me breath in…2…3…4. Hold….2…3…4. Out…2….3…4." She repeats that a second time with him as he quickly calms down. "See? Okay, let's try again, I'm Sarah Kerrigan. What's your name?"

He still looks quite nervous but slowly starts to get himself under control as he starts to respond. "I-I-Izuku M-M-Midoriya…n-nice to m-meet you."

"Cool, good job Midoriya, I know I can look pretty scary so I'm proud of you dude. Anyway, we should get ready for the practical. It was nice meeting you Midoriya, I hope to see you in classes in a few weeks." She pats his back again before splitting off to her designated locker room.

Izuku stands there dumbstruck for a few more moments before startling and rushing off to his locker room to get ready.

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After a bit of a wait and a short bus ride, Sarah stands in front of a large gate with several other students milling about nearby, all in various stretches or preparing for the test in their own way. The spiky haired blonde guy is standing towards the front of the pack in a black and orange tank top and basketball shorts with a menacing face and a near growl building in his throat.

Sarah stands in an inactive underlayer of a Hazardous Environment Suit with modifications to allow her wings and tail to move freely while she moves. As the gates begin to slowly open, Adjutant's voice crackles across the nearby speakers and calls out. "Start!"

Sarah quickly darts inside and off to the left to summon a pair of larva, turning one into a queen and the other into a pair of Raptorlings to scout and target one pointers. The spiky haired guy rushes forwards into the arena at the same time and a moment later the Adjutant's voice comes across again. "Examination has begun, there will be no further countdown."

The remaining group pushes forwards into the arena as Sarah's first queen finishes growing and spawns an additional two larva. "Queen, summon three more pairs of Raptorlings and two Hydralisks, then spread creep and begin destroying robots." Sarah instructs memtally as she starts to rush into the side streets and tear through robots with her wings, taking note of the shut off panel for the Hydralisks to target.

A few minutes prior in front of another arena, a large suit of red power armor stands in a resting position in front of the exam center gate as several examinees stand nearby warily. The tall blue haired man from earlier stands nearby indignantly and approaches. "Excuse me! You are not supposed to be wearing a full suit of armor and is that a gun?!"

The powered armor turns towards him slowly before the faceplate lifts up to show a blonde haired girl inside. "Actually, Present Mic made the call out earlier, and I have my armor and weapon approved by power loader and Nezu. So long as you built an item yourself and have it approved you can use whatever support gear you want. I built both the armor and gun as part of my support course classes last year."

The boy looks very put off by her clear explanation as though it doesn't fit his worldview and so much be wrong before he snaps rigidly and bows deeply at a 90 degree angle. "I apologize, I did not expect someone to have built their own armor for the exam."

The girl in the armor waves him off. "No big deal, just don't attack me during the test okay? My armor is pretty tough, unlike the robots we're facing."

As the stiff blue haired guy was distracted by the suit of armor, Izuku makes his way over to the brown haired girl with a bob-cut unaccosted and they chat for a moment and he helps her calm down with a breathing exercise he was shown earlier. They are both smiling for a moment before the gate opens and both Midoriya and the suit of armor rush into the arena as Present Mic calls out. "Start!"

As several other students stand still for a moment he follows up his statement with. "There's no countdowns in a real battle, get going! You're wasting airtime!"

Once again the students caught flat footed rushed into the arena and started taking down robots.

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In a darkened monitor room the Pro Hero faculty of UA gather to watch the events of the exam as Present Mic slides into his chair after announcing the start of the exam in his area.

A scruffy looking man in a yellow sleeping bag chides him as he sits. "You know Adjutant would have announced battle center B if you let her, right?"

"But where's the fun in that, Sho? I can't let the Adjutant take all my fun."

"Illogical." Shouta grumbles as he directs his attention back to the screens.

Present Mic asks. "Any standouts so far? I saw two rush in quickly in my area, good heads on their shoulders."

Midnight pipes up from her couch. "Two in battle center A ran in as well. Hey Majima, check it out, your hellion is kicking some serious ass in Mic's arena."

The center screen adjusts to show battle center B as Midnight calls this out. Displaying Melissa shredding through several one and two pointer robots using her rifle, and punching a three pointer as it attempts to sneak up on her from behind.

Power Loader aka Majima Higari just shakes his head as he grumbles a reply. "I never doubted her for a second. She’s sweet when you're talking with her, but you can tell she has a lot of rage to let out when she's working in the shop. I swear, if it weren't for Toga and Josei, Shield would be blowing things up left and right. Good luck with her this year, Eraser."

Shouta shakes his head as Majima calls him out. "Don't look at me, Midnight's getting the 1-A hellions this year. I kept a few from last year so Nezu's having me stick with them. He did mention we would partner up our classes for some of the larger team exercises though."

Midnight squeals. "I know! I'm so excited to have some first year's for once."

Shouta shakes his head as he turns back to one of the smaller screens. "Hey, isn't that Shield's ghost suit on one of the examinees?"

As the main screen flips over to highlight the winged girl stabbing through a three pointer with her wings before turning to bash a one pointer's head off with her tail. "Oh yeah, let me see…" Majima speaks up as he flips through a clipboard of the examinees. "Yep, that's the one, Sarah Kerrigan, using a deactivated variant of the Hazardous Environment Suit as her mutations make a regular gym outfit hard to fit into normally for the test. It was approved by Nezu when her application was put in since it doesn't have any of the fancy fixings of the full suit."

Vlad king speaks up for the first time as he looks around the same battle center. "What're those creatures running around breaking bots? Someone's quirk?"

Nezu cackles as he focuses the camera on the Queen that has finished spawning units and has begun targeting two pointers. "That's Kerrigan's quirk actually, her mutations we're just a part of it. We're looking at this Year's classes having at least one or two post singularity quirks in them based on the examinees scores right now. Kerrigan has been racking up points both on her own and through her quirk's creatures."

There are a few hushed gasps around the room before Nezu speaks up again. "Quirks are weird and we are monitoring the quirk singularity in younger students as more and more complex quirks pop up all the time. So far it seems that rather than becoming too strong for a child their quirk will become more complex. For example, a 3rd generation quirk might be to make water from their hands at a trickle. A 6th generation might be able to shoot water out at high pressure like hero backdraft. A singularity quirk would be hydrokinesis and high pressure water production, perhaps with other secondary effects if the quirk has mutated."

As nezu finishes up his speech Midnight throws him a hand wave and points to the big red button on his console. "Uh, sir, it's about that time."

"Right, right, we can discuss this further later. Let the real test start!" As he slams his hand onto the big red button to release the zero pointers the screens split to show each arena and a section of ground breaking apart as a massive robot claws its way out and begins to wreak havoc among the arena as Adjutant's voice echos from all available exam site speakers. "Two minutes remain."

Displayed on several screens students are running from the robot monstrosity. A few others show something different.

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Sarah instructs two of the Raptorlings and the Hydralisks to dissolve while instructing the scouts to ensure students have gotten away from the giant zero pointer. Sarah has the Queen summon a new larva and begin growing into the largest of her brood. After only a few moments of waiting the egg that the larva had spawned cracked open with a screech as the greatest of Kerrigan's brood emerged, the Ultralisk.

Towering over the buildings in the mock city, with giant pincer-like claws on its face, the Ultralist charges at the zero pointer and meets it head on in combat in a clash. As both titans of the battlefield clash in a whirl of claws and fists, Sarah and her Raptorlings help to escort any examinees away from the area for the remaining minute.

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Off in another battle center, a girl is trapped under rubble as the zero pointer begins to rampage towards her. Two people rush towards her against the crowd of fleeing hopefuls as she calls out. First to arrive is Midoriya who tries to lift the rubble before the robot crushes his trapped new friend. After a moment the second arrives. Melissa, clad in her powered combat suit, stands nearby to assist with removing the rubble before the robot can crush them all. Receiving a proximity alarm in her suit she looks up and quickly asks the green haired guy next to her.

"Hey man, do you have a quirk to take down the zero pointer?"

Izuku startles for a moment as he looks up to the giant approaching robot before steeling his nerves and nodding his head.

He steps away from the two for a moment as he crouches and mutters to himself slightly before blasting into the air as his arm glows and he smashes the head of the zero pointer, it crumbling and explosions rippling through the robot as it crashes back to the ground. Melissa rips the rubble off of the girl as he leaps and notices him falling, three of his four limbs trailing behind him uselessly. She looks to the lady she rescued. "Gravity girl, any chance you can catch him?"

Looking nauseous and nearly at the limit of her quirk. "Y-yes. I'm U-Uraraka Ochako by the way." She taps her own arm and swallows thickly as bile threatens her. "T-throw me at him."

Melissa nods and has the onboard computer handle the firing solution for her throw. "Good luck Uraraka." She picks up the now weightless girl and throws her at the rapidly plummeting Izuku. As a loud slap echoes across the now silent arena and both Midoriya and Uraraka slowly float down to the ground from their new momentum they are caught in the last few feet as Uraraka's quirk fails.

Adjutant's voice echoes across the arena's speakers. "The exam has concluded. Please make your way to the exit of your battle center. If you are injured please remain where you are and a medic bot will arrive shortly."

Melissa sets Uraraka and Midoriya down carefully as he groans in pain in her arms before passing out from the pain and Uraraka rushes off a step before collapsing to her knees and vomiting. "You uh… gonna be okay over there?"

Uraraka raises a thumbs up in response as she finishes dry heaving. After a few moments a short older woman walks up with the assistance of her cane and with two stretcher bots in tow. "Anyone hurt over here?"

Melissa raises her arm in the powered combat suit and waves her over. Reading from her heads up display to list off injuries. "Over here Recovery Girl, got one with a severe case of nausea and another with three shattered limbs."

Recovery Girl taps her way over with her cane, instructing the bots to load Midoriya onto the stretcher. "Thank you dearie. Now then, let's see…" She collects a pack of gummies and hands them to Uraraka and plants a healing kiss on her hand, relieving her nausea. "Be sure to eat those gummies dear, they'll help you keep up your energy." She turns to start to heal Midoriya. "This one's going to be trouble this year." She mutters as she places a kiss on his uninjured arm, and watches as his damaged limbs repair themselves.

"I'm going to keep him in the infirmary for a bit while he sleeps off the effects of my quirk." She says before shuffling away and following the bots towards the infirmary.

Melissa nods as she leaves and waves to Uraraka. "Good catch on him, hope to see you in classes this year." Melissa says before making her way out of the city to meet up with Sarah.

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In the last few moments of her exam Sarah watches with other students as the Ultralisk clashes with the zero pointer, locked in a gnashing battle of pincers blades and fists straight out of an old mecha kaiju movie. Sarah cheers for the Ultralisk as it gets a blade under the arm of the robot and shears it off just as Adjutant's voice rings across the arena's speakers.

"The exam has concluded. Please make your way to the exit of your battle center. If you are injured please remain where you are and a medic bot will arrive shortly."

As the zero pointer shuts down from the damage and end of exam signal, Sarah calls off the Ultralisk from doing any further damage and lets it dissolve with her quirk before making her way to the arena exit to meet up with her friend for lunch.

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Waiting at the UA gate Sarah, now wearing a pair of modified shorts and a tank top over her underlayer suit waves over to Melissa. "Hey Mel, how do you think you did on the exam?"

Melissa, back in her favorite red dress, leggings and red high top converse combo, high fives Sarah when she gets close. "Well, the HUD on the suit said I got 60 robot points, so I think I did alright. How about you?"

Sarah shrugs as they make their way to a local ramen place to meet up with Momo. "I lost count personally, around 20 robots downed, but I don't know how the swarm did. Oh! You should've seen it, I had an Ultra fight the zero pointer. It was like that old mecha movie you had us watch, what was it called again?"

"Hmm, oh yeah, Pacific Rim. If hero work doesn't turn out Maybe you should get into the movies instead?"

Sarah barks a laugh. "Ha! Could you imagine? They'd typecast me as some 'queen bitch' type of villain." They both keep laughing and cracking jokes as they make their way to lunch.

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One week later finds Melissa, Momo, and Sarah relaxing in one of the lounges and reading books as their phones ping.

Sarah grabs her phone and checks her texts to see an update from her mom to grab the mail since her UA letter should be arriving today. Jumping from the couch Sarah runs off to grab the mail. "BeRightBack!"

"Don't leave any holes in the wall." Momo replies in the most deadpan voice she can manage.

Melissa and Momo hear a squawk followed by a crashing sound before bursting out laughing. A few minutes later Sarah finally reenters the room carrying two letters with the UA seal. "Still bullshit that you already know you got in Momo."

Said girl shrugs as Sarah hands Melissa her letter. "That's recommendations for you, besides, you wanted the fun of fighting robots anyway."

"Point. Anyway, Melissa, you wanna open yours first since you're already attending UA?"

"Sure." Melissa rips the top of her letter open and starts to pull out a few sheets of paper before a metal disk drops onto the table and starts to play a holographic message of All Might.

"I Am Here! As a projection! Hello Melissa! As a UA student already, you did not need to take the written exam for the Heroics Course. On the practical exam you scored 60 combat points! This is enough to pass on its own, but that's not all there is to it!"

All Might gestures to a screen behind himself.

"Behold! This video!" On screen Uraraka asks Present Mic to share her points with 'the nice blonde lady in the armor and the plain, green haired guy.' "The Heroics entrance exam was not just about beating up villains, but about all aspects of being a hero! There's a secondary scoring mechanism included as well, rescue points! For your assistance in rescuing young Uraraka, you have been awarded 30 rescue points! Leaving you with 90 total points on the exam, placing second overall! Congratulations Melissa, this is your Hero Academia!" The screen changes over to a class placements section for a moment showing that Melissa will be in class 1-A before shutting down entirely.

The trio sits in silence for a moment before Melissa laughs. "Oh wow, uncle might is going to be teaching at UA next year. This is a dream come true, I get to learn Heroics from the number one hero!" Sarah and Momo break out of their stunned stupor at that. "Wait, you know All Might?" Sarah asks, shocked.

"Yeah, he's been friends with my dad since he worked in America, dad makes all of his Hero Costumes." Melissa replies cheerfully.

"Huh, you know, I didn't think about that…" Sarah replies, somewhat shocked she didn't make that connection. "Anyway, lemme do my letter." Ripping open her letter Sarah is prepared for All Might to appear again.

"I Am Here! As a projection! You scored a 97 on the written exam, plenty well enough to be admitted to UA. On the Heroics practical exam you scored 75 villain points, plenty of points to pass normally, but that's not all! The Heroics entrance exam was not just about beating up villains, but about all aspects of being a hero! There's a secondary scoring mechanism included as well, rescue points! For your assistance in rescuing your fellow examinees from the Zero pointer by using your creature to keep it at bay, you received an additional 20 rescue points, bringing you to 95 total points on the exam landing you solidly in first place! Congratulations Sarah Kerrigan! Welcome to your Hero Academia!" The screen switches to a similar screen displaying her class information before switching off.

Momo is the first to recompose herself as Sarah and Melissa sit stunned over the rankings. "We're all in the same class! Oh this is so exciting!"

Sarah cheers "First place! Hell yeah! And Melissa snagged second too!" Sarah uses her wings to snag Melissa and Momo and drag them into a crushing group hug. After dragging both down to the couch the girls slowly settle back into relaxing until their parents come home for a large celebratory dinner later.

[fma03envy]

My mind is. Empty

[penisbutterjellytime]

Grrr so frustrated

[redgoldsparks]

I wrote a 12 page epilogue to my 2019 comic "Harry Potter and The Problematic Author" because I found, in 2023, that I had more to say. You can also find this comic on my website, and I have PDF copies available on etsy. I may sell print copies at some point in the future.

instagram / patreon / portfolio / etsy / my book / redbubble

Full transcript below the cut.

PAGE 1

Part one: Ruddy Owls!

I was in fourth grade when the first Harry Potter Book was released in the US.

Panel 1: Sometimes our teacher would read it aloud in class. “Mr and Mrs Dursley of number 4 Privat Drive were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much…”

Panel 2: I was 11 years old when Harry Potter finally broke through my dyslexia and turned me into a reader.

Panel 3: Every night in the summer before sixth grade I waited for the owl carrying my Hogwarts Letter. I cried when it didn’t come. “I have to go to Muggle school!”

PAGE 2

Part Two: Hats

I dedicated myself to being a fan.

Panel 1: I began collecting Harry Potter News article.

Panel 2: I asked my relatives to mail me ones from their local papers. I filled a thick binder with clippings.

Panel 3: I wrote my own trivia quiz

Panel 4: and participated in the one held annually at the county fair. “Next contestant!”

Panel 5: I usually got into one of. the top five spots. I won boxes of candy, posters, stationary, and once a baseball cap. (Hat reads: I survived the battle of Hogwarts).

Panel 6: In high school I sewed a black velvet cape and knitted many stripped scarves.

PAGE 3

Part Three: Double Trouble

Watching the last film in 2011 felt like the final note of my childhood. 

Panel 1: I remember driving home from the midnight showing thinking about the end of 13 years of waiting; wondering what would define the next chapter of my life. 

Panel 2: That same month I heard of something called Pottermore. “Okay, so there’s a sorting quiz… I already know my house! Patronus assignment? Mine’s a barn owl. Duh!" 

Panel 3: You can read the books again but with GIFs? Why? 

Panel 4: I lived in a place with very slow and limited internet at the time. Pottermore sounded inaccessible, but also boring. I never joined. 

Panel 5: "I’ll just read the actual books again, thanks." 

PAGE 4

Part Four: Sweets

In 2016, a series of short stories titled "History of Magic in North America” were released on Pottermore to pave the way for the first Fantastic Beasts Film. These stories display an extreme ignorance of American history, culture, and geography, but the worst parts are the casual misuse of indigenous beliefs and stories. Fans and critics immediately spoke up against this appropriation. Some of the most quoted voices included Nambe Pueblo scholar Dr. Debbie Reese who runs the site “American Indians In Children’s Literature”; Navajo writer Brian Young; Johnnie Jae (Otoe-Missouria and Choctaw), founder of A Tribe Called Geek; Dr Adrienne Keene (Cherokee Nation), a Professor at Brown University who runs the blog “Native Appropriations”, and writers N.K. Jemison and Paula Young Lee.

PAGE 5

Rowling is famous for responding to fans directly on twitter, yet she did not respond to anyone calling out the damaging aspects of “Magic in North America.” Her representatives refused to comment for March 9 2016 article in the Guardian. She has never apologized. All of this, plus the casting of Johnny Depp and the specific declarations of support by JKR, Warner Brothers, and director David Yates left a sour taste in my mouth.

For further thoughts on the new films read The Crimes of Grindelwald is a Mess by Alanna Bennett for Buzzfeed News, November 16, 2018.

PAGE 6

Excerpt from Colonialism in Wizarding American: JK Rowling’s History of Magic in North America Through an Indigenous Lens by Allison Mills, MFA, MAS/MLIS (Cree and Settler French Canadian)

Although Rowling is certainly not the first white author to misstep in her treatment of Indigenous cultures, she has an unprecedented level of visibility and fame, […] One of the most glaring problems with Rowling’s story is her treatment of the many Indigenous nations in North America as one monolithic group. […It] flattens out the diversity of languages, belief systems, and cultures that exist in Indigenous communities, allowing stereotyping to persist. […] It continues a long history of colonial texts which ignore that Indigenous peoples still exist. […] In the Wizarding world, as in the real world, Indigenous histories have been over-written and our cultures erased.

from The Looking Glass: New Perspectives in Children’s Literature Volumn 19, Issue 1

PAGE 7

Part 5: Music

Panel 1: Also in 2016 I discovered two podcasts which radically altered my experience of being an HP fan. The first was Witch Please created by two Canadian feminist literary scholars Hannah McGregor and Marcelle Kosman.

Panel 2: “If it’s not in the text it doesn’t count!” “Close reading ONLY!”

Panel 3: They talk about Harry Potter at the level you’d expect in a college class with particular focus on gender, race, class, and the troubling fatphobia, fear of othered and queer coded bodies, violence against women, white feminism, gaslighting and failed pedagogy in the books. They bring up these issues not because they hate the series, but because they LOVE it.

PAGE 8

These passionate, joyful conversations went off like fireworks in my mind. I had never taken a feminist class before. I gained a whole new vocabulary to talk about the books- and the world.

PAGE 9

Panel 1: The second podcast I started that year was Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, created by two graduates of the Harvard Divinity School, Vanessa Zoltan and Casper Ter Kuile.

Panel 2: They read one chapter per episode through a theme such as love, control, curiosity, shame, responsibility, hospitality, destruction, or mystery. Like Witch Please, they are interested only in the information on the page, not thoughts from the author. The delights and failures of the text are examined in the context of the present day, and new meanings constantly arise.

PAGE 10

What does it mean to treat a text as sacred?

Trusting that the more time we give to it, the more blessings it has to give us.

Reading the text repeatedly with concentrated attention. Our effort is part of what makes it sacred. The text is not in and of itself sacred, but is made so by rigorously engaging in the ritual of reading.

Experiencing it in community.

“To me, the goal of treating the text as sacred is that we learn to treat each other as sacred.” -Vanessa Zoltan

PAGE 11

Part 6: Tooth and Claw

In October 2017, Rowling liked a tweet linking to an article arguing that trans women should be kept out of women’s bathrooms because of cisgender women’s fears. In March 2018, she liked a tweet about the problem of misogyny in the UK Labour Party which included the line “Men in dresses get brosocialist solidarity I never had.” The author of the tweet had previously posted many blatantly anti-trans statements.

Rowlings publicist claimed she had liked the posted by accident in a “clumsy and middle-aged moment.” Yet, in September 2018 she liked a link posted by Janice Turner to her column in the Times UK titled “Trans Rapists Are A Danger In Women’s Jails.”

Screencaps of these tweets can be found in the article “The Mysterious Case of JK Rowling and her Transphobic Twitter History”, January 10 2019 by Gwendolyn Smith (a trans journalist), LGBTQNation.com

PAGE 12

Excerpt from: Is JK Rowling Transphobic? A Trans Woman Investigates by Katelyn Burns

Ultimately, the answer is yes, she is transphobic […] I think it’s fair that she receives criticism from trans people, especially given her advocacy on behalf of queer people in general, but also because she has a huge platform. Many people look up to her for creating a singular piece of popular culture that holds deep meaning for fans from different walks of life, and she has a responsibility to handle that platform wisely. (Published on them.us March 28, 2018)

PAGE 13

Part 7: Home

At age 30, I’m still not over Harry Potter.

Panel 1: I’ve recently found a local bar that does HP trivia nights. “Poppy or Pomona?” “Poppy!”

Panel 2: I currently own an annual pass to Universal Studios so I can visit Hogsmeade.

Panel 3: I love talking to kids who are reading the books for the first time. “Who’s your favorite character?” “Ginny!”

Panel 4: And I’m planning a relisten to the audio books to next year to help me get through the election cycle. “Jim Dale, I’m going to need you more than ever…”

Spoiler from 2023: I did not do this. By mid-2020 JKR had posted her transphobic essay; we were in covid; I never visited Universal Studios again.

PAGE 14

But I do want to learn from her mistakes. I never want to repeat “Magic in North America.” As I write, I will do my research. I will consult experts and compensate them. If a reader from a different culture/background than me speaks up about my work, I will listen and apologize. I KNOW I WILL MAKE MISTAKES. But I will own up to them and I will do better.

PAGE 15

Excerpt from Diversity Is Not Enough: Race, Power and Publishing by Daniel José Older

We can love a thing and still critique it. In fact, that’s the only way to really love a thing. Let’s be critical lovers and loving critics and open ourselves to the truth about where we are and where we’ve been. Instead of holding tight to the same old, failed patriarchies, let’s walk a new road, speak new languages. Today, let’s imagine a literature, a literary world, that carries this struggle for equity in its very essence, so that tomorrow it can cease to be necessary, and disappear. (Buzzfeed, April 14, 2017) 

PAGE 16

Harry Potter is flawed, & JK Rowling is problematic. But the books helped me learn a lot: 

*One of the greatest dangers facing the modern world is the rise of fascism 

*The government cannot be trusted 

*Read and think critically

*Question the news: who paid the journalist? Who owns the paper? 

*Trust and support your friends through good times and bad

*Organize for resistance

*Educate and share resources with peers

*The revolution must be diverse and intersectional

* We are only as strong as we are united

*The weapon we have is love 

MK 2019

PAGE 17

PART 8: EPILOGUE

In 2021 I removed a Harry Potter patch I sewed to my book bag over a decade ago. I took 15 pieces of Harry Potter fanart off my walls. I got rid of my paperback book set, 2 board games, and 8 t-shirt. [images: a Hogwarts a patch with loose threads, a pair of scissors and a seam ripper]

Panel 1: Maia holding up a shirt with the Deathly Hallows logo on it. Maia thinks: “Damn, this really used to be my entire personality.”

Panel 2: The t-shirt gets thrown into the Goodwill box.

PAGE 18

I wrote my zine wrestling with JKR’s legacy in 2019, after her dismissive and racist reaction to indigenous fans and critics of “Magic in North America” and after she had liked a couple transphobic tweets. Since then, she has gotten so much worse.

A Brief Timeline (mostly from this Vox article)

June 2020- JKR posts a 3600 word essay making her anti-trans position clear

August 2020- The Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Org issues a statement about her transphobia, JKR doubles down on her position and returns an award they gave her

December 2020- JKR claims 90% of HP fans secretly agree with her anti-trans views

December 2021- JKR mocks Scottish Police for recognizing transgender identities

March 2022- JKR criticizes gender-inclusive language and legislation

December 2022- JKR retweets trans youtuber Jessie Earl’s critical review of Hogwarts Legacy, starting an onslaught of transphobic harassment towards Earl

December 2022- JKR removes her support from an Edinburgh center for survivors of sexual violence with a trans-inclusive policy and funds her own center which explicitly excludes trans sexual assault survivors

January 2023- JKR tweets “Deeply amused by those telling me I’ve lost their admiration due to disrespect I show violent, duplicitous rapists.” It got nearly 300K likes

March 2023- One the podcast “The Witch Trials of JK Rowling”, hosted by a former Westboro Baptist Church Member, JKR compares the trans rights movement to Death Eaters.

PAGE 19

What are The Witch Trials of JK Rowling?

Panel 1: Maia speaking. “It’s a 7 episode documentary style podcast hosted by Megan Phelps-Roper. Nearly every episode contains interviews with JKR as well as critics, journalists, historians, protestors and fans.

Panel 2: Maia speaking. “In episode 1, JKR speaks more candidly than she has previously about being in an abusive marriage. Her ex-husband hit her, stalked her, broke into her house overlapping with the time she was writing the first three HP books.”

Panel 3: Maia speaking. “What she went through genuinely sounds horrific. I have a lot of sympathy for the kind of life-long traumas those experiences leave.”

PAGE 20

HOWEVER.

It is clear from reading the June 2020 essay on her blog and listening to the podcast, that JKR still to this day feels unsafe. Despite her wealth and privilege she moves through the world with the mindset of a victim. And the group of people she finds most threatening are trans women.

Or rather, she is afraid that allowing trans women in women’s spaces invites the possibility of male predators entering those spaces.

Here’s a direct quote: The problem is male violence. All a predator wants is access and to open the doors of changing rooms, rape centers, domestic violence centers [...] to any male who says “I’m a woman and I have a right to be here” will constitute a risk to women and girls. - from The Witch Trials episode 4 as transcribed by therowlinglibrary.com, March 2023

Image: A stem of Belladonna with flowers and berries.

PAGE 21

Let me introduce here the term: TRANSMISOGYNY. The intersection of transphobia and misogyny, this term was coined by Julia Serano in 2007. Scout Tran, on tiktok as Queersneverdie said: “Transmisogyny occurs in people who have been previously hurt by traditional misogyny. Who have been driven to hate men or at the very least to be scared of men. They will sometimes take out that rage on trans women. (March 2023)

JKR claims to care for trans women and understand they are extremely vulnerable to assault and violence. In her 2020 Essay she wrote: “I want trans women to be safe. At the same time, I do not want to make natal girls and women less safe.”

So she cares about trans women… just less than cis women, and she’s willing to throw all trans women under the bus because of her unfounded, prejudice fears.

PAGE 22

Panel 1: Maia speaking. “JKR claims to have seen data that proves trans women have presented physical threats to other women in intimate spaces, but never cites sources. She also uses “producer of the large gametes” as a definition of “woman”.

What about transmen and nonbinary folks?

Panel 2: Maia leaning on a stack of all seven HP books, the first four Cormorant Strike books and The Casual Vacancy, gesturing to a series of quotes with a tired and disgusted expression.

I’m concerned about the huge explosion of young women wishing to transition and also about the increasing numbers who seem to be detransitioning. * [...] If I’d been born 30 years later, I too might have tried to transition. The allure of escaping womanhood would have been huge. -June 10 2020 essay

I don’t believe a 14 year old can truly understand what the loss of their fertility is.

-Witch Trials episode 4

I haven’t yet found a study that hasn’t found that the majority of young people experiencing gender dysphoria grow out of it*. -Witch Trials episode 7

*No sources cited

PAGE 23

It’s hard to over emphasize how fixated JKR has become on these topics. As of the date I’m writing this, 14 out of her 20 most recent tweets (70%) are in some way anti-trans. She tweets against Mermaids (a UK based trans youth charity), against trans athletes, against gender neutral bathrooms, and in support of LBG Alliance- a UK org that denies trans rights while upholding gay rights. Here are some gems from her archive:

“People who menstruate.” I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud? -June 2020

War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. The Penised Individual Who Raped You Is a Woman. - December 2021

And in response to someone asking “How do you sleep at night knowing you lost a whole audience?”

I read my most recent royalty cheques and find the pain goes away pretty quickly. -October 2022

PAGE 24

Hashtag Ruthless Productions a queer nerd podcast company created a great guide on ethical engagement with HP. Image: the two hosts of Hashtag Ruthless productions, Jessie (They/she) and Lark (he/him).

Stop buying all official HP Products: books, movies, games, toys, etc, Universal Studios tickets, food, merch.* Boycott any new TV series or movies. Instead: buy the books and DVDs used. If you still want to wear HP merch, buy fan-made. Engage only with fan content: fic, podcasts, fanart, wizard rock, etc. Show transphobia is bad for business. None of this will change JKR’s mind. But the Fantastic Beast series was canceled and after record Pottermore sales in 2020, they fell in 2022 by 40%.

*She gets a portion of ALL tickets. In 2019, this was her largest income source. Read the full guide: hashtagruthless.com/resourceguide

PAGE 25

As late as 2019, I was still reading JKR’s murder mystery series. But by the fourth book my experience began to sour.

Panel 1: Maia holding a copy of Lethal White. “The only gay character in this book is a government official who gropes his staff?”

Panel 2: “The only genderqueer character is misgendered and portrayed as a whiny faker?”

Panel 3: “The only Muslim character is disowned by his family over gay rumors?”

Panel 4: “Even the women aren’t portrayed very well…”

Panel 5: “Why is the main female character defined by the rape in her past?”

Panel 6: “Wait, what happens in the rest of this series…?” Maia scrolls on eir phone.

Panel 7: “Is the series heading towards an employee/boss relationship?”

Panel 8: “And has a man wearing women’s clothes to commit assault?”

Panel 9: “Yeah, I’m done. I’m never reading a new JKR book ever again.”

PAGE 26

And as for JKR herself?

As tempting as it might be to tweet your frustrations at her, I don’t recommend it. In 2021, she tweeted, “Hundreds of trans activists have threatened to beat, rape, assassinate and bomb me.” Getting hate online feeds her sense of victimhood and she waves it as proof of her moral high ground. Instead I suggest you block her on twitter, then delete twitter, go to the library and try to find a new book that feels magical.

Stack of books: In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan, The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, Gifts by Ursula K Le Guin, Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane, A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik and Gideon the Ninth by Tamsin Muir.

PAGE 27

In “Emergent Strategy” adrienne maree brown writes: You do not have the right to traumatize abusive people, to attack them, personally or publicly, or to sabotage anyone else’s health. The behaviors of abuse are also survival-based, learned behaviors rooted in pain. If you can look through the lens of compassion, you will find hurt and trauma there. If you are the abused party, healing that hurt is not your responsibility and exacerbating that pain is not your justified right.

PAGE 28

Seeing anyone over age 12 wearing HP merch now makes me uncomfortable. Are they ignorant or actively a TERF? I hate wondering how much money JKR has probably poured into anti-trans legislation… This zine is a culmination of my slow breakup with a story that once brought me joy. Now it just makes me angry, tired and sad.

Image: Candle in a fancy holder burned down to less than an inch.

Maia Kobabe, 2023

[harianaswhore]

⟡ ᵐᵃˣ ᵛᵉʳˢᵗᵃᵖᵖᵉⁿ ⟡

NONE OF THESE ARE WRITTEN BY ME

ᵐʸ ᵒᵗʰᵉʳ ʳᵉᶜˢ

— ᶠᴸᵁᶠᶠ ⟡

heaven is a place on earth with you - @lumi-nescentt

private professor - @sinofwriting

good things don't last long (but sometimes they do) - @uglyducklingofthe2000s

soft boi (^)

mornings with max - @verstappen-cult

distractions - @starlost97

barking mad - @vivwritesfics

showering max with compliments - @lovings4turn

pining and yearning - @theemporium

getting spoiled (^)

drunken confessions - @formulaforza

the blue - @luviemax

love at midnight - @unformula1

what are we doing here - @ferrstappen

dude i have a boyfriend - @auggieblogs

morning kisses - @adventuringblind

go ahead and smile - @foreveralbon

i don't like a gold rush - @f0point5

— ᴬᴺᴳˢᵀ⟡

a fool's flowers - @leclucklerc

too hot to handle (injury) - @pucksandpower

drunk walk home - @everythingne

a found family (tw: jos verstappen) - @softtdaisy

a second chance - @charlesslut16

navy fury (tw: jos verstappen) - @delulujuls

are we still friends? - @ekteee

ignorance is bliss - @lilasamaaa

love me harder - @ynsbarbbb

you're my forever- @talkdutchtome

protective max (tw: jos verstappen) - @formulaa-1

— ˢᴹᵁᵀ⟡

a different light - @userlando

fallen petals (very angsty) - @captain-barnes-writes

big 'ole freak - @mariahcarreyyy

can't you see - @cherry-leclerc

flustered tweets (suggestive) - @charles-leclerizz

i can do it better - @pia-nor481

— ˢᴼᶜᴵᴬᴸ ᴹᴱᴰᴵᴬ ⟡

smitten - @chrisevansonly

hard launch - @archiverstappen

appendix touch (^)

finish line - @norris55s

we're on each other's team (^)

do-over - @maplesyrupsainz

something to smile about (^)

getaway car (there is a first part but that is more (toxic) charles) - @landitolover

children of divorce - @landonfour

bejeweled - @poetsblvd

thighs don't lie - @thepersonnamedsam

teddy bear - @astonmartinii

teacher's pet (^)

aristocat - @lewisvinga

can i call you rose? - @f1version

— ˢᴱᴿᴵᴱˢ ⟡

when i speak, he listens so i'm the villan no point in fixing it winners always win they'll never shut up - @uglyducklingofthe2000s

one two three (smau) (harry and f1 in one fic is everything) - @alonetimelover

max & the three musketeers (smau) (this is so funny i was hollering) - @verstarppen

a rival's heart two three four - @gentlyweeps-world

strawberry wine - @scuderiahoney

little leclerc gets married to max (smau) - @theemporium

pre-gala the real prize jealousy panties captivity rocky escaping thighs consquences a mile high new beginnings (each part has sexual content) - @dilemmaontwolegs

world's biggest fan two (smau) - @astonmartinii

into the arms of another two three four (smau) (^)

the cat sitter two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven twelve thirteen fourteen (smau) - @archiverstappen

please, oh please two - @sinofwriting

[sneezypeasy]

The Lightning Scene, How Azula Targeted Katara (of All People), and the Doylist Reason Why That Matters

Mention Zuko's sacrifice for Katara in Sozin's Comet Part 3 as part of a pro-Zutara talking point, and invariably you'll get a Pavlovian response of:

"But Zuko would have taken the lightning for anyone."

(Not to be confused with the similar-sounding Pavlovan response, which is "Zuko's sacrifice ain't shit compared to a mouth-watering, strawberry-topped meringue dessert"*, which is actually the only valid counter-argument to how the lightning scene is a bona fide Zutara treasure, but I digress.)

Now, I've talked in depth about how the lightning scene is framed far more romantically than it had any right to be, regardless of how you might interpret the subject on paper; this is an argument which I still stand by 100%. That Zuko would have gotten barbecued for anyone, and that he was at the stage of his arc where his royal kebab-ness represented his final act of redemption, doesn't change the fact that the animators/soundtrack artists decided to pull out all the stops with making this scene hit romantic film tropes bingo by the time it played out on screen.

(I mean, we stan.)

There's also a deeper level to this conundrum, a layer which creeps up on you when you're standing in your kitchen at night, the fridge door open in front of you, your hungry, sleep-deprived brain trying to decide on what to grab for a midnight snack, and quite inexcusably you're struck with the question: Okay, Zuko may indeed have taken the lightning for just anyone, but would Azula have shot the lightning at just anyone?

But there's yet a deeper layer to this question, that I don't recall ever seeing anyone discuss (though if somebody has, mea culpa). And that is: would you have written Zuko taking the lightning for anyone else?

Or in other words, who Zuko would have taken the lightning for is the wrong question to be asking; the question we ought to be asking is who Zuko should have taken the lightning for, instead.

Get your pens out, your Doylist hats on, and turn to page 394. It's time to think like an author for a hot minute.

(If you don't know what I mean by Watsonian vs. Doylist analyses, and/or if you need a refresher course, go have a skim of the first section of this 'ere post and then scoot your ass back to this one.)

So. You're the author. You've written almost the entirety of an animated series (look at you!!) and now you're at the climax, which you've decided is going to be an epic, hero-villain showdown. Classic. Unlike previous battles between these two characters, your hero is going to have a significant advantage in this fight - partly due to his own development as a hero at the height of his strength and moral conviction, and partly because your villain has gone through a bit of a Britney Spears 2007 fiasco, and isn't quite at the top of her game here. If things keep going at this pace, your hero is going to win the fight fairly easily - actually, maybe even too easily. That's okay though, you're a talented writer and you know just what will raise the stakes and give the audience a well-timed "oh shit" moment: you're going to have the villain suddenly switch targets and aim for somebody else. The hero will be thrown off his groove, the villain will gain the upper hand, the turns will have indubitably tabled. Villains playing dirty is the number 1 rule in every villain handbook after all, and each of the last two times your hero's braved this sort of fight he's faced an opponent who ended up fighting dishonourably, so you've got a lovely Rule of Three perfectly lined up for the taking. Impeccable. The warm glow of triumph shines upon you, cherubs sing, your English teachers clap and shed tears of pride. (Except for that one teacher you had in year 8 who hated everybody, but she's a right bitch and we're not talking about her today.)

Now here's the thing: your hero is a hero. Maybe he wasn't always a hero, but he certainly is one now. If the villain goes after an innocent third party, there's basically no-one your hero wouldn't sacrifice himself for. He's a hero! Heroes do be like that, it's kind of their thing. The villain could shoot a bolt of lightning at Bildad the Shuhite, and the only thing that'd stop our boy Redeemed Paladin Bravesoul McGee from shielding his foxy ass is the fact that Bildad the Shuhite has the audacity to exist in a totally different show (disgusten.)

But. You're holding the writer's pen. Minus crossover shenanigans you don't have the licensing or time-travel technology to achieve, you have full control over how this scene plays out. You get to decide which character to target to deliver the greatest emotional impact, the juiciest angst, the most powerful cinematic suspense. You get to decide whose life you'll put at risk, to make this scene the most intense spine-chilling heart-stopper it can possibly be.

This is the climax we're talking about, after all - now is not the time to go easy on the drama.

So.

Do you make the villain target just anyone?

Or do you make the villain target someone the hero cares about?

Perhaps, someone he cares about... a lot?

Maybe even, someone he cares about... more than anybody else?

You are the author. You are the God of this universe. You get to choose.

What would deliver the strongest punch?

If you happen to make the inadvisable decision of browsing through these tropes on TV tropes, aside from wasting the rest of your afternoon (you're welcome), you'll find that the examples listed are littered with threatened and dead love interests, and, well, there's a reason for that. For better or worse, romantic love is often portrayed by authors, and perceived by audiences, as a "true" form of love (often even, "the" true form of love). Which is responsible for the other is a chicken/egg situation, one I'm not going to go into for this post - and while I'm certainly not here to defend this perspective as objectively good, I do think it's worth acknowledging that it not only exists but is culturally rather ubiquitous. (If you're playing the love interest in a story with a hero v. a villain, you might wanna watch your back, is what I'm saying.)

Regardless of whether the vibe you're aiming for is romantic or platonic however, one thing is for certain: if you want maximum oomph, the way to achieve that is by making the villain go after the player whose death would hit the hero the hardest.

And like I said, this doesn't have to be played romantically (although it so often is). There are platonic examples in those trope pages, though it's also important to note that many of the platonic ones do show up in stories where a love interest isn't depicted/available/there's a strong "bromance" element/the hero is low-key ace - and keep in mind too that going that route sometimes runs a related risk of falling into queer-bait territory *coughJohnLockcough*

That said, if there is a canon love-interest available, one who's confessed her love for the hero, one who has since been imprisoned by the villain, one who can easily be written as being at the villain's disposal, and who could quite conveniently be whipped out for a mid-battle surprise round - you might find you have some explaining to do if you choose to wield your authorly powers to have the villain go after... idk, some other sheila instead.

(The fact that this ends up taking the hero out of the fight, and the person he sacrifices himself for subsequently throws herself into the arena risking life and limb to defeat the villain and rescue her saviour, also means the most satisfying way this plays out, narratively speaking, is if both of these characters happen to be the most important person in each other's lives - at least, as of that moment, anyway - but I think this post has gone on long enough, lol)

This is, by and large, a rebuttal post more than anything else, but the tl;dr here is - regardless of whether you want to read the scene as shippy or not, to downplay Zuko's sacrifice for Katara specifically as "not that deep™" because "Zuko would have taken the lightning for anyone anyway", suggests either that a) nobody should be reading into the implications of Katara being chosen as the person nearest and dearest to Zuko, so that putting her life in jeopardy can deliver the most powerful impact possible for an audience you'd bloody well hope are on the edge of their seats during the climax of your story or b) the writers made the inexplicable decision of having the villain threaten the life of... literally who the fuck ever, and ultimately landed on someone who's actually not all that important to the hero in the grand scheme of things - which is a cardinal writing sin if I ever saw one (even disregarding the Choice to then season it with mood lighting and sad violin music, on top of it all), and altogether something I'd be legitimately pissed about if my Zuko-OTP ship paired him with Mai, Sokka, or just about anybody else 😂

Most importantly c) I'm hungry, and I want snacks.

*The Aussies in the fandom will get this one. Everyone else can suffer in united confusion.

[azsazz]

Midnight Muse (Part 16)

Azriel x Reader [Art School AU]

Summary: You and your best friend Feyre have just moved into a new apartment for your sophomore year of college at art school. What you didn't know when you signed the lease is that you'd be living next to three rowdy boys.

Warnings: N/A

Word Count: 3,641

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6] [Part 7] [Part 8] [Part 9] [Part 10] [Part 11] [Part 12] [Part 13] [Part 14] [Part 15] [Masterlist]

_________________________________________

When the scent of coffee hits your nose, you’re instantly invigorated.

You’d thought about canceling meeting up with Lucien this afternoon after your morning from hell. It had taken the fire department half an hour to arrive at your apartment building and another ten minutes to pry the doors of the elevator open.

By then, you and Azriel were no longer speaking, after agreeing to go to his exhibition with him, so you’d occupied yourself with reorganizing your papers, now half crumpled from their fall to the floor. You’d propped your sketchbook up on your knees and made sure you were careful enough not to flash Azriel any of the drawings.

When the doors had screeched open, there were three firefighters staring up at the two of you. Turns out, the elevator had halted halfway between two floors, and you’d had to nervously slide your body from the floor of the elevator to the landing below.

Even Azriel looked less that pleased, crouching close to you as if he was going to jump forward and snatch you should you slip. The firefighters helped you gain your footing before helping Azriel out, questioning you and asking if you needed to be looked at by an EMT.

The man asking was a handsome one. In fact, all three of them were, but there was something about this one’s deep, smooth skin, his dark braids pulled back from his face. His white teeth gleamed with the grin he sent your way, offering his help. You couldn’t help but smile back, and once the firemen had made sure that the area was safe and clear for the elevator maintenance and parted with cheerful goodbyes, did you realize that Azriel was gone.

You should’ve gone back upstairs to your apartment, but the incident left you too wired. Instead, you took a few calming breaths, shot a look and cursed at the devil elevator, and took the stairs the last two flights down.

You’d already missed your morning class, but you could still make it to your mid-morning one, Art History. The worst class you think you’ve ever signed up for in your college career thus far. But, it’s mandatory, and better to get it out of the way now instead of when you’re a semester away from graduating. The teacher is an older, knowledgeable man, but the entirety of your grade is made up of only three tests, and all of the art he’s showing you looks awfully similar to one another.

You might be fucked if you can’t figure out a way to discern one cathedral from the other.

“Hey,” Lucien greets, eyes roving the packed coffee house before settling on you. He’s dressed in a pair of loose, gray trousers, and instead of his usual sweater vest that makes him look like the most good looking TA around, he’s wearing a tight black t-shirt. It’s different, seeing him in a color darker than the gray that makes his copper hair pop. The deep black of his shirt looks painted on his skin, and you’re used to seeing him in looser fabrics.

It doesn’t stop you from brushing your gaze across the musculature of his body.

His hair is pulled back from his face this afternoon. A few long strands framing his face. He brushes them back with a strong hand as he grins down at you and his bicep flexes with the motion. Your mouth dries, and you’re suddenly thankful that you’re at the coffee house, needing something to wet your throat.

“Hey,” you stumble over the greeting, stomach flipping as his ying-yang eyes gleam down at you.

“Missed you this morning,” Lucien says, ushering you into the line. It’s longer than you’d expected it to be, but with all of the pre-weekend partying that seems to go on around your University, you suppose all of the hungover students like you need their pick-me-up to make it through the day so they’re once again ready to drink themselves stupid tonight.

“You probably won’t believe me, but I got stuck in my elevator this morning,” you huff, shuddering at the thought of being trapped in that metal container once more.

Lucien’s jaw drops and you nod, grimacing at the memory.

“Oh my Gods, are you okay?” He can’t help but to laugh and the smile you’re trying to keep tucked away breaks free. “You made it out, obviously, but holy hell, (Y/N), how are you even here right now? I’d have gone right back to sleep.”

Azriel’s uncommon niceties and disappearing act had kept you from doing just that.

You cross your arms over your chest, huffing playfully. “I couldn’t miss Art History. I have no idea what’s going on in the class and Professor Harvey sucks ass! I couldn’t tell you the difference from a Gothic or Romanesque cathedral if I’d built it myself.”

Lucien snickers. “I’m so glad I don’t have to take that. Instead, I get to enjoy History of Architecture and Urban Design. So, when you think about it, is pretty much the same thing you’re taking.”

“Sounds easier,” you grumble, glaring at the backpack of the person in front of you. “Plus, you’re naturally good at this stuff, Lu. I’m sure you’re killing it.”

The freckles on Lucien’s cheeks glow as his cheeks pinken with a blush. “I wouldn’t say all that,” he trails off, and it’s obvious that he’s being modest. 

You take a step forward with the line and count the number of customers that still have to order before it’s your turn. Behind the register is a guy who looks like he would rather be anywhere else, and when you catch sight of the letters stitched into his shirt across the chest, marking him a frat member, you understand why the line is so long.

Behind the frat bro are two girls scrambling to make drink after drink. Unlike the boy at the register, they seem like a well-oiled machine, dancing around each other as if making cappuccinos and lattes is a graceful dance. You feel a twang of empathy for them even though they seem like they’re thriving back there. You have no idea how they can memorize the different drink orders, making them as efficiently as they can and giving them out to the customers within a short amount of time.

This is the kind of pressure you would crack under.

You turn back to Lucien with a playful glare. “Oh, come on. You’re one of the smartest people I know,” you don’t miss the way the tips of his ears turn red with your slew of compliments. He looks up as if nervous, while you continue. “It’s one of your better traits.”

This gets his attention. He blinks down at you. “I have bad traits?”

You elbow him teasingly. “While your intelligence is admirable, your sketching could use some work,” you poke fun at him, referring to the last time you hung out to work on your drawing projects. Instead, you had spent the night watching a terrible reality show with the bottle of wine he’d brought. Lucien had followed you to your room where you were supposed to gather your drawing supplies. He had made a joke that had you laughing so hard you nearly cried. Your stomach had ached too much to get up after that, the wine making you boneless in your comfortable bed, so the both of you spent the rest of the night there, laughing and not working on your drawing projects.

Lucien quirks a brow. “Is that so? Are you offering to be my model?”

It’s your turn to blush now, cheeks hotter than the steaming milk screaming on the other end of the counter. Your mouth parts though your tongue is a twisted mess from his flirting, knotted and thick. You don’t know how to respond, but you’re saved by a very punctual throat clearing that comes from the frat boy behind the register.

“Are either of you planning on ordering?” He asks lazily, tapping a blunt nail against the cash wrap. He wears a backwards cap, white hair poking out from the sides. You don’t miss the way that his pine green eyes drag down your body and back up, ignoring Lucien completely. You shudder in response. “Or was it your intention to hold up the line?”

You shut your mouth, teeth clacking together. So eloquently put for a boy who probably has pre-workout and pron coursing through his veins.

Lucien ushers you to the counter, apologizing for the both of you. “Sorry about that, man.”

The boy behind the counter looks as bored as ever, though his green eyes brighten when they settle once more on you. He leans forward a little, mouth tugging up in the corner in a smirk that twists his face in an unsightly maneuver. “If I offered you the moon on a string, would you give me a kiss too, baby?”

You’re surprised with the composure it takes you not to bite back at the jock, but Lucien uncharacteristically leans forward to snarl in the boy's face. “Don’t speak to her like that.”

Frat Douche leans forward, flashing his teeth in a taunting grin. He’s slightly taller than Lucien, and wider. He’s probably on the football team or something. Not that you concern yourself with his extracurriculars.

One of the barista’s spins around on her heel, gauging the way the two boys are sizing each other up. Her blazing blue eyes glare daggers between them, as if the look alone can tear them apart. Her auburn hair is slicked back perfectly, and you wonder how it stays pinned so well when she’s running around slinging coffees all day.

A crash draws your attention away from the boys squaring up before you. The other barista behind the counter is frowning, staring down at the shaker she’s dropped to the floor with a clang. The entirety of the coffee house goes still for a fleeting moment, everyone wanting to see what’s going on, but within seconds voice’s carry throughout the space as the barista swoops down to scoop the shaker from the floor, dumping it into the sink.

“Ro, quit it,” she barks, a can of whipped cream still poised and ready to add to the Frappuccino in her hand. Those icy blues flit across yours and her mouth tightens sourly. “Excuse him, sir.” 

Lucien glances at her and seems to back down a little, shoulders strained as he rolls them. “(Y/N), what would you like to drink?”

“I’ll have a caramel latte,” you nearly spit in the frat boy's face. “Iced.”

With a soft nudge at your lower back, Lucien guides you away from the conceited frat rat at the cash wrap. You slide down the counter to pick up area while Lucien pays for both of your drinks. He joins you a moment later when you’ve managed to take a few deep breaths. You will not let him ruin your mood.

“I’m sorry—”

“Don’t,” you shake your head, cutting Lucien off. “Don’t apologize for him. Thank you for defending me.”

“It was the least I could do,” your friend replies, almost bashful at your thanks.

While you wait, you scour the shop for somewhere to sit. Booths are packed full with studying students, miss-matched chairs at tables stacked with people and their friends. It’s a frenzy if you’ve ever seen one, but the coffee house is a sanctuary for the university students, especially during the afternoon hours.

Tonight, the shop will be barren, with all of the patrons getting their caffeine fixes through vodka Red Bulls instead.

“You’re taller,” you comment, “Do you see any open spots that I can’t?” You ask, because there should be more seating behind the loitering line.

Lucien’s colorful eyes scan the coffee house as one of the baristas brings your drinks over to the counter. It’s the one with piercing blue eyes and copper hair. She’s staring you down, a hard look on her face that you can’t discern is concentration or annoyance. You can’t blame her if she’s either, concentrating on the tasks at hand, making coffees left and right. She has every right to be annoyed with the customers who ask for thirteen extra shots of syrup or her coworker who apparently doesn’t know how to speak to women. You wouldn’t be surprised if he’s made comments to the two girls he’s working alongside, but you think that the one who slams your cups onto the counter with a little too much force can hold her own. And so can the one with white as bone hair and goldenrod eyes. Those sharp, long nails dipped in metallic are enough for you to know that she doesn’t fuck around nor let anyone fuck with her. You make a face but the barista is already turning away, beginning to work on the next order.

“There’s a table open by the window,” Lucien points to the corner of the room to a table in front of the large windows. You lead the way, a bounce in your step as you move quickly so the table doesn’t get snatched.

“What a day,” you sigh, finally relaxing into the cushy seat. You place your coffee on the low table between you, and while it’s not the best seat to get work done, you’re happy to be relaxing and chatting with your friend right now.

Lucien snorts at you, taking a sip of his drink. You watch his throat bob with the swallow, and you avert your gaze, looking outside of the window. 

There are students walking by in a flurry, a third of them trying to stuff themselves through the coffee shop doors, needing a shot of the drink to make it through the afternoon.

“So, what are your plans this weekend?” you start with, mentally reprimanding yourself for staring at his bobbing throat. You play with the straw in your drink, swirling the ice around to give yourself something to do.

Lucien lets out a long suffering sigh that has you looking up once more.

“I’m supposed to be having family dinner this weekend, but I’m dreading riding back with my father and brother.” 

“I’m sorry,” you offer sympathetically that Lucien shrugs off. It’s not a topic he favors talking about, but you’re curious. “A brother? Does he go here?”

Lucien sets his cup down on the table between you, wiping his palms down his trousers as he clears his throat. He looks like he’s preparing himself for war, with the way that he’s acting, and you almost feel even worse for asking.

“I have six brothers, actually,” he says, and you nearly spit out your drink. Six brothers? Holy crap, that’s a lot. “And half of them go or have gone here,” he trails off, and you can’t do anything but stare at him in shock.

“Wow, your family really likes this place,” you mutter.

“Yeah, well. My father is the Head of Civil Engineering.”

“Oh, so you’re like Vulcan University royalty,” you tease and he rolls his eyes, shooting you a playful glare. 

“If I went into engineering, I would’ve been,” Lucien answers, glaring down at his cup. His shoulders are rigid, and you’re sensing that he doesn’t care to talk about this, but he continues nonetheless. “Eris, my eldest brother, is getting his Masters in Civil Engineering, following in my father’s footsteps, and I’m going into architecture, which, and I quote, ‘is for those people who can’t solve a differential equation.’”

You don’t say that you have no idea what that is, but Lucien must see it on your face because he cracks a smile. “Yeah, tell me about it.”

“So, you’re telling me that all of your brothers are engineers?” you ask, because the odds of that happening must be some crazy statistic. Almost as crazy as having seven sons and no daughters.

Across the shop, the bell chimes again, signaling the arrival of more students. It’s as if you can feel the air shifting, becoming more electrified. The feeling draws your attention to the door, where Azriel and Mor have just walked in.

Like a magnet, Azriel’s gaze meets yours, bright and gold.

It makes you want to shrink back in your seat a little, with the way that they flick over to see who you’re with. Your stomach flips with nerves but you’re not even a little ashamed of who you’re with, so why is that happening? The gold splinters, and you can see the way his shoulders tighten from across the room. Mor senses the shift in Azriel’s mood and scans the shop, caramel brows pinched together in a threatening way, as if she’ll verbally spar with anyone who makes Azriel feel this way. 

When her eyes snag on yours, her red lips part in a genuine, red smile.

All you can muster is a soft smile and a lame wave, stomach flipping like you’ve been caught having public sex with Lucien under that harsh gold gaze. 

Dragging your eyes from the sight of them, you focus on Lucien with all of your might as you feel him watching you, reading you.

“Not entirely,” Lucien shrugs, scooting his chair closer to yours now that the coffee shop has gone up in decibels with all of the post lunch time rush. “Eris is studying for his masters. Pyrolas is on scholarship at St. Bryaxis’ University for wrestling, but on paper he’s a communications major, which is funny because everytime he talks to someone in the family they’re always arguing,” he rolls his eyes, but the smile that accompanies it tells you that he’s close with Pyrolas. “He’s never cared about what anyone thinks about him anyway, which is a trait I wish I had,” Lucien admits, and you’re agreeing with him. 

“Me too,” you sigh, placing a hand on his knee empathetically. “Are you close to him?”

“Used to be,” he shrugs a little. “Oak is the smartest, he’s a senior, getting a physics degree, which my father couldn’t complain about. Conleth is in the Netherlands, taking the semester to study bridge structure. Boring, I know,” he laughs at the face you’re making. “And the twins are juniors here, Foxe is studying Mechanical Engineering and Finch is studying Chemical Engineering. Always sucking up to dad, those two.”

“Damn,” you curse low, shocked. “I’m not sure if I’m more shocked by the fact that your entire family is a bunch of geniuses or that two of your brothers are named after animals.”

Your joke seems to crack the heaviness of the conversation. It’s clear that whatever kind of relationships he has with his father and brothers is strained, but Lucien allows the feeling to fall off of his shoulders as the two of you burst into fits of giggles.

“See, this is why I like you, (Y/N). You’re very easy to talk to.”

“Don’t forget funny,” you chuckle, grinning wide.

“Right, how could I forget. Funniest person I’ve ever met,” he jokes, nudging you with his shoulder.

“Hey,” you whine, shoving right back, “It’s true! I would never lie about something like that!”

Lucien smiles broadly, taking another sip of his drink. “You’re right, I’ll give you that one. What about you? Any plans this weekend?” 

Your stomach bottoms out at the thought of your plans for the weekend. You’re going to Azriel’s exhibition tomorrow, someone who you’ve been beefing with since the start of the year. Why had you said yes? You really want to spend your Saturday night with someone you’re not even sure you can make it through the night without arguing with? 

Parting your mouth to answer Lucien, you’re cut off by a looming figure. Looking up, you notice Azriel. His jaw is set in a firm line, golden eyes blazing like a thousand fires. There’s a steaming hot coffee in his hand and you find yourself wondering what he’s drinking, but you assume that it’s plain black coffee like the attire he’s dressed in. Mor stands a step behind, a sly smirk she’s clearly trying to hide on her lips.

“I’ll pick you up at 7:30 tomorrow night.” Azriel’s voice is cold as shadows, and you frown in response. Lucien looks confused, staring up at your neighbor as if he recognizes him somehow.

You nod shallowly, cheeks hot at the look on Azriel’s face. You don’t know why you feel like you’ve been caught in the act, but him interrupting you like this is none of his business. He could have asked Cassian for your number or told you this morning if he thought you needed the reminder. “Okay.”

Azriel stares at you for a moment longer, then twists on his heel and stalks away, completely ignoring the hard look on Lucien’s face and forgetting Mor.

You follow him, the way he moves with such grace. The crowd parts for him, more sets of hungry eyes trailing after him like yours. It makes something hot twist your gut, and you’re tearing your gaze away to Mor, who beams brightly.

“So nice to meet you last night, (Y/N),” she winks, looking like she knows something that you don’t. “I hope to see you again soon.” With a flourish of her blonde hair being tossed over her shoulder, Mor trails Azriel out of the coffee shop, just as many eyes following her as there were following Azriel.

“I thought you didn’t like that guy,” Lucien says, slumping back in his chair a little. You’d complained when he had come over to your apartment to study, when he’d told you that he ran into Cassian and his moody roommate in the hall. 

“Yeah,” you answer weakly, reaching for your coffee again. The words taste funny on your tongue as they come out. “I don’t.”

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

Midnight Muse Taglist: @going-through-shit @honeycriess @natashachelsea @thisisew @kennedy-brooke @cat-or-kitten @sourapplex @magical-mischief-makers @reiincarnatiion @ccucumbers @secret-ly-here @throneofsmut @cami26cami @torchbearerkyle @a-frog-with-a-laptop @sevikas-whore @endless-worldss @vellichor01 @bangtans-jagiya @kalulakunundrum @pinksmellslikelove @sakurafrost3-blog @imxnotxhere @bookishbroadwaybish @justdreamstars @i-am-infinite @whichwitchisthebitch @i-am-a-lost-girl16 @sia-r @homeslices @quinzzelx @carlandonorri-s @juniper-july19

[flawseer]

Jade Mountain Academy students

#Bonus - Faculty chapter

And here, as has been requested, we have the ones in charge of the operation. And so I am left pondering that, over the course of this project, I have drawn essentially all of the arc 1 and arc 2 protagonists... with the exception of Glory. That's pretty weird.

Anyway, here goes:

Sunny

Teaches subject(s) - Art, Cultural Exchange

Additional responsibilities- Founder, chief administrator, student admission, teacher-student relations, Silver winglet guardian

Tribe - Sandwing (partial Nightwing heritage)

Color - Sunrise gold

Relatives - Stonemover (father)

Physical characteristics - bright golden color; green eyes; no venom barb; small stature with slim to average build

Tsunami

Teaches subject(s) - Exercise

Additional responsibilities- "Head of School", security chief, Jade winglet guardian

Tribe - Seawing

Color - Cobalt blue

Relatives - Prince Turtle (brother), Princess Anemone (sister)

Physical characteristics - bent horns; royal wing markings; small burn scar on right side of neck, small cut in wing membrane; large build, long and burly

Clay

Teaches subject(s) - Anatomy

Additional responsibilities- Chief healer, student counselor, Copper winglet guardian

Tribe - Mudwing

Color - Bronze

Relatives - Umber (brother), Sora (sister), Marsh (brother)

Physical characteristics - curly horns; diminished mobility in right hindleg, walks with a limp; very large stature, muscular, heavy, broad

Starflight

Teaches subject(s) - Science, Literacy

Additional responsibilities- Chief librarian, chief accountant, Quartz winglet guardian

Tribe - Nightwing

Color - Midnight blue gray

Relatives - none on site

Physical characteristics - severe burn scarring across face, neck, and chest; blind in both eyes; average size and build

Fatespeaker

Teaches subject(s) - Science, Literacy (assisting)

Additional responsibilities- Assistant librarian, assistant student counselor, inventory

Tribe - Nightwing

Color - Dark violet black

Relatives - none on site

Physical characteristics - curved horns; small silver scales near eyes and along body; smallish stature, slim, slightly underweight

Webs

Teaches subject(s) - History

Additional responsibilities- Assistant healer, assistant accountant, Gold winglet guardian

Tribe - Seawing

Color - Teal green and blue

Relatives - none on site

Physical characteristics - blotty, luminous markings across body, luminous birthmark on left front talon; small puncture scar on tail; medium to large size, gaunt frame

Stonemover

Tribe - Nightwing

Relatives - Sunny (daughter)

Additional notes - Stonemover is neither a member of the Jade Mountain Academy faculty, nor a student, but remains on site as a consultant on various animus-related matters (and also because he is stuck to the floor).

[weirdmageddon]

the shift in lore literacy in homestuck’s fandom

i was thinking about how the people who got into homestuck after it ended—whose interactions with the comic are in a static, archived state, not an ongoing thing—missed out on information that was more common knowledge in the fandom at that time. i don’t know if this is true since i’m not on tiktok, but i wouldn’t be surprised if it was. the fandom certainly isn’t the same as it was before.

ive found that many people reading homestuck now simply do not understand things in homestuck that were common knowledge back in the day, with calls for “homestuck literacy classes to become mandatory” in response to baffling takes because so many people just now seem to have glazed over the comic without absorbing important plot points, and i think i know why this may be. i ended up writing a post reflecting on my time with the comic, my perspective and how ive seen this change. i still think and write about homestuck because it still fascinates me. earlier i quote retweeted that call in my thread talking about the temporal relativity of dave and rose’s god tier ascension in the green sun, saying “my homestuck literacy is 100% so guess im doing my part as a teacher by pointing out whatever i think is really cool about it”. this post im writing now started out as a reply to this tweet i got in response.

i joined the fandom in 2013. i was 11. i had been aware of it since at least late 2011, early 2012 when my friend ryan in fifth grade told me to read it but i couldn’t get past the first few pages. i remember writing a journal on deviantart around this time (late 2011-early 2012) that was mocking people who typed like gamzee, which ironically was very karkat of me. and i remember someone on flipnote hatena i was following was making flipnotes with the alpha kids.

i dont know what caused me to flip the switch into reading it but 2013. i got into it somewhere between april (i think closer to april—i remember it being quite a span of time between the last update before HOMOSUCK dropped.) this was the most recent page the comic, meaning there was no > [S] ACT 6 ACT 6 at the bottom.

i got into it during a pause in updates, which looking into it, was the year 4 megapause. i wasn’t sure of the month until seeing the news post detailing the reason for the hiatus and the status report of the comic’s development at that time. pretty cool i could narrow it down by referencing the dates of those updates and the news post to correspond with the pause!

according to readmspa, the year 4 megapause was a 59 day hiatus from Apr 14, 2013 ==> (EOA6A5) running to 12 Jun 2013, [S] ACT 6 ACT 6. then for a few months there were the first updates that i was apart of the fandom for.

and what an exciting time during the story get into the webcomic! when the updates resumed in june, part 4 of homestuck had begun. here was a glimpse of the updates in that span of time before the next hiatus began in october.

that hiatus was none other than the gigapause, the longest hiatus in the comic, which started october 2013 and lasted for a YEAR, and i already posted about what happened on the date of return.

but here were the main events happening in the story at the time i first actually got interested in it. i wasn’t aware of the full context of them then like i am now, but i was looking at the most recent updates anyway with interest:

the alpha kids just emerged as god tiers from their slabs in derse and prospit, blown up by the condesce and caliborn / lil cal-possessed b2 jack noir.

the journey to the new session started 24 hours after jack called an early reckoning in descend—for context that was about when dave entered around midnight central time and before jade even entered. it’s pretty easy to forget that side 1 of homestuck basically happens within the span of a single day—and at this point in the story, the 3 year journey (which was also 3 real life years) had just ended. john and jade emerged from the other side of the yellow yard through the fenestrated plane on LOMAX. john’s real body was asleep upon arrival in the new session, while his dreaming projection out in the dream bubbles came across vriska’s ghost ship to learn lord english lore with vriska and aranea, and go on the treasure hunt where they found the ultimate weapon at the X mark out in in the furthest ring. in the dream john stuck his hand in the juju, started warping all over canon which removed his real body from the ship on LOMAX. he zapped around for a while but eventually zapped back to LOMAX, now awake, completely out of the loop of what everyone else is up to, and bored as fuck. what was everyone else getting up to while john was asleep?

jade was now once again within the domain of the green sun. im pretty sure her space god doggy essence comes with the power to sense what was anywhere within the domain of the session since her face looks like she arrived at that spot with intent (and she literally has jack noir’s exact powers from bec’s prototyping. also this panel). she immediately dispatched b2 jack to the edge of the incinisphere, defending the newly god-tiered jane and jake. i think even if they weren’t in any danger, she would have warped to them instantly anyway because she COULD now, and i can imagine she wouldve been sooooo eager to meet everyone. even davesprite comments about her rapid departure.

the pre-scratch refugees arrived during the only time serious shit ever went down in the nobles’ months-long inert void session. the condesce used her freak psychic bronze-cerulean powers to commune with jade’s bestial side and mind controlled her, which is super dangerous as someone with the powers of a first guardian. she then used jade’s powers to corrupt jane with the tiaratop. no funtime meetup allowed!

the trolls’ meteor with rose, dave, and the remaining trolls was pulling up into the new session with no way to slow it down. grimbark jade warped there once it was in the incinisphere and took active control. she warped everyone off the trolls’ meteor and sent them to LOMAX.

as john was losing his mind on LOMAX waiting for everyone, the meteor crew warped in. after 3 years he finally reunited with rose and dave, and at least saw the trolls in person. close curtains, end of A6A5. this was the newest [S] flash page at the time, one of my first impressions of this comic, and still one of my favorite flashes. knowing the context of the flash in the story only enhances the retrospective joy i have at getting into the comic at the time i did because it’s such an anticipated moment in the story for everyone, while for someone with no context of the story it was still enjoyable.

so that’s what was going on plotwise when i joined the fandom.

from this time, through those few months of updates and through the gigapause, i was familarizing myself with the characters in the story and overseeing the state of fanbase, getting myself acquainted with the story and wrapping my head around everything.

at that time i found that a new-ish group called colab HQ who were producing a let’s read homestuck series on youtube. hearing the voices and the pacing of it like that really, really eased me into it (maybe it was my adhd that gave me trouble actually starting it?). i caught up to a certain point using lets read homestuck and from that point was able to continue with the comic on my own, and by the time the gigapause came to a close i was fully caught up. i remember the rebranding of colab hq into voxus about a year and a half after i discovered them.

but.. back to the main point of my post. even these posts from hussie’s tumblr exist in archived states. how many new fans know about hussie’s old tumblr? i don’t know, unless theyre a new fan that must scour the internet for more deep more dives on homestuck and its fandom as a whole. but since hussie deleted his tumblr (it exists archived now on homestuck.net which, alongside from the unofficial homestuck collection, has nearly singlehandedly kept the most important relics of the fandom and lore archived), that page is not an active part of the fandom now, because it’s gone. it’s a pile of bones. it’s not living and breathing. it’s in an archived state. the whole thing is already there. homestuck and its fandom history is something you now binge instead of slowly consume and meld with as it comes out. it’s now this rapid information intake that you might forget about if you read it now instead of engaged alongside it. you’re not surrounded by people actively talking and theorizing about developments anymore. the ability to have those sorts of conversations during the ongoing development of the story reinforced concepts, ideas, and lore over and over as we tried to make sense of it.

being in a fandom when the author is still delivering the story is like nothing else. it allows you grow alongside the characters and engage meaningfully with the media and people in the fandom space around you. it feels like you’re participating IN the media itself, especially if you’re interfacing with the creator. it’s in always having something to theorize or talk about and speculate. and people become very aware of these sorts of forgotten story facts because they were applying the logic of the newest official post from hussie into making their sburb ocs or something and share resources and discussion posts about “what just happened in this update?? recap????” it was this cultural osmosis thing. i think this is why homestuck literacy is now at an all time low, at least from what i can see on twitter.

reading homestuck then vs now is like the difference between serialized shows with spaces between episodes to discuss stuff and time to reflect and learn and become attached to the story, narrative, worldbuilding and its characters, vs the netflix model where it’s all dropped all at once and people forget about it after binging.

at this point in time im getting the sense that “homestuck elders” now are no longer just people who were there since 2009-2010, but now also people who were there while it was still updating, probably stretching into 2014-2015. there are many sources of lore that were common knowledge in the fandom at the time that, since becoming susceptible to the deletion of content and link rot, and with the thanosing of mspaforums, are no longer accessible at the source. and a lot of people moved on after it ended, especially following the epilogues, the kate drama, and the whatpumpkin-sarah z drama, leaving a void of information behind if not for archivists and people such as me who continue to keep old facts relevant in discussions. my friend has called me a fandom scholar before and seeing this post i think i get what they mean.

EDIT: there is a series of video essays ive watched multiple times (because theyre that good) and they are exactly what modern fans need to see more of. they really help contextualize the comic and the themes present in it help you appreciate the basic fabric of homestuck a hell of a lot more. i highly recommend them and encourage any fan of homestuck to watch them, or someone considering getting into homestuck to watch the first one.

i think this is arguably as close to the “mandatory literacy class for homestuck” that person was talking about as you can get, especially the first video.

additionally, there is also the website https://rafe.name/homestuck which is essentially a sparknotes for homestuck and can help you follow developments in the comic itself.

[lovelyyandereaddictionpoint]

Yandere Buddy Daddies x Delinquent Teen Reader (1)

You’re home was on the streets 

Practically abandoned by your parents, you relied on one of the local gangs for your family

Working to join them for some semblance of protection against the world

And as it would happen it helped 

Despite your teachers and guardian-having friends warning otherwise

Thanks to them you were eating

A far cry from what you were left to before

But past aside your doing well 

Gaining experience and becoming more of an asset to the gang before your saddled with an unlikely obstacle

“Hi there! My name’s Miri, what’s your name?”

Suddenly this bubbly smiley kid is following you around

Somehow finding you in dark alleyways and shadows of buildings 

This kid just won’t leave you alone 

No matter how much you reprimand, sneer, or blatantly insult this kid 

“Kid! Didn’t I tell you to kick rocks? Now if you don’t leave I’ll steal your shoes.”

“W-what, don’t take my shoes my papas got them for me!”

“Then. Leave. Me. Alone.”

she just won’t leave you alone and it all comes to a head when she approaches you when your with your friends

“Well well look at this little tyke!”

“Oh my gosh, they're so small! (Y/n) I didn’t know you had a baby sister!”

“I don’t.”

“Yeah! My name’s Miri.”

And despite your protests they all invite pressure Miri to join you all on a…midnight stroll

Along a train track

It goes as expected and your crew successfully go along the train track until you hear the dreaded sound of the train

And as it would have it Miri’s shoes get caught

“Is everyone off the tracks?”

“Whooo that was close!”

“Where’s Miri?”

Your group resigns to stand by and watch horrified as she struggles with the track and the oncoming train approaches 

Way too close to the train you’re able to yank Miri from the tracks narrowly missing the train hurling by

“Whoa that was clo–”

“See what happens?”

“What? What are you talk–”

“See what happens when you hang around me?!”

“W-what but I love be–”

“You! Almost died! Can’t you see?! You don’t belong here so GO! Go home before you really get hurt.”

She goes home that day with tears in her eyes

While you wordlessly turn back to your group to head back to base

hoping that you don’t see her ever again

For awhile you don’t and things are back to normal

And while you’re spray painting the gang’s sign on a wall a burly woman knocks you to the ground

“Hey watch it, punk!”

“You wanna go pipsqueak!”

Apparently she was from a rival gang, looking to contest this area

Sending a quick call to your team, you prepare to fight this lady 

Narrowly ducking her first punch 

You throw your own 

Standing victorious as she buckles 

But you too would fall to your knees

after a whopping hit in the back of your head

It was an ambush 

And easily you found yourself at their mercy 

Only being released when you hear the separate thuds and the released grip from your arms

“What the–ooomf!”

Your original attacker is silenced by a guy with blonde hair 

Who punches them into a headlock before pulling a gun with silencer

“H-hey-”

Before you could stop him he pulled the trigger, nonchalantly reaching to the sky in a stretch

“Ah man after so long it seems I’ve still got it!” 

You shakily stand holding your arm that stings in pain

You try to limp away while he continues flexing 

But he notices

“Ah ah! (Y/n) don’t run away!”

You sneered, “How do you know my name?”

“Uh…not important. But look, you need to come home with me! Miri misses-”

“Ugh are you Miri’s daddy or something?”

“Papa actually–” “Look old man, what I said to your kid is true. She needs to stay far away from me and you know what? Maybe you should try watching her better.”

“We did. And we were.”

The tired voice was right above you 

Close enough to your back that you could now register the warmth teeming off them

You jump, despite the pain you back away against the brick wall

The man that spoke had black hair pulled back to reveal a pale guy with a grave look on his face

“Ah-! What he means is: we’ve been watching after you and Mirin. And we’ve decided that we’re going to be the papas you need!”

“What?!”

“Ahem we’ve decided–” “You're coming with us.”

“What?! Huh?!”

“Rei! You can’t just say that they're not going to understand!” 

“They’ll understand better when we get them home.”

“No no but there’s a method for these things and with someone of their age–”

The blonde kept talking to the one identified as Rei seemingly dividing their attention

You took the chance to limp as far as you could away reaching into your pocket to retrieve your last line of defense

“That’s enough of that.”

In a flash of black your pocket knife was out of your hand

Briefly squealing in pain at the pressure point being hit near your neck

Slumping into Rei’s arms he moved to cradle you rolling his eyes at Kazuki’s musings

“Rei!? They obviously weren’t ready!”

“They would’ve never been ready.”

“But we did the whole save-them-be-the-saviors-routine!” 

“Does it really matter now that we have them?”

“...Mmmm….Mmmmm!...I still would’ve preferred my way.”

The sounds of tires screeching and the sound of modded engines coming to halt

Had them both perking up

“Oh! Those bad influences actually came!”

“That was unexpected. The broken brakes should have kept them busy.”

“Now here’s the question: do we handle them now or later?”

“Did you throw your back out yet?”

“Hah! Not yet, yours?”

“...”

“Then I say we give ‘em a show!”

When you next awake 

You’re in a well furnished room

All patched up and nursing a sling for your arm

Immediately you get up finding yourself at the top of the stairs before you spotted them

“Hiii (Y/n)!!!” “Ah, good morning (Y/n) did you sleep well?”

There words don’t reach you as you register the blonde man from before and the little girl who’d been following you around

Why were they acting so calm?

They kidnapped you!

And the little girl was in on it too?

“Welp, we're heading out for preschool.”

 “Yup bye (Y/n) later I can’t wait to cele–mmmf!”

The blonde’s hand goes over her mouth sending her to get her shoes before waving to you

“I’ll be back soon! Breakfast is on the counter!” 

Not long after they disappeared from sight you heard the slam of the door

Good now you can–

“Going to have breakfeast?”

Once again that voice rang from behind you

Turning to see the same man with the grave face but this time with scruffier-relaxed look to him

His eyes were still intense and they held you in place all the way to the kitchen 

While eating some regretfully delicious french toast with Rei watching diligently 

Guess this was your life now…the newest unwilling addition to the family

[pretty-sparkle-bomb]

Hi author! What do you think a Bakugo x Reader (with a quirk like Blackfire's) would look like?

Obviously she's gonna be stronger than him...language transfer, if you know what i mean.

It's okay if you don't want to respond!

-Anon

Lemme know what you think! I tried my best! Taglist: Open

Bakugo X Blackfire!Reader

When he met you for the first time, everything changed. He was amazed and threatened at the same time. You were so much stronger than him - and that was saying a lot, considering that he was at the top of his class.

Bakugo Katsuki prided himself on being the strongest, the fiercest, and the best. No one at U.A. could match his explosive power or his relentless drive to be the number one hero.

And then you appeared out of nowhere, joined the class in the middle of the year and somehow, somehow, managed to beat him in every aspect possible.

And Bakugo hated it. He hated your confident attitude and the way everyone was drawn to you. He hated that you beat him when it came to answering questions in class and he most certainly hated the fact that you were so overpowered.

He hates remembering the first time you both met...

You had walked onto the training grounds, next to All Might, causing the students there to gape in awe.

"1-A!" All Might had a fist in the air as he spoke. "Meet your newest addition, Young Y/n!" his voice boomed across the field, causing everyone to stare at you.

On instinct, your hands glowed, shiny lilac starbolts in either palm and your eyes gleamed the same colour as you rose into the air, a minimal display of your power.

Suddenly, All Might rushed infront of you as you spoke in a different language, one only a few students there understood. "She speaks English!" Kirishima shouted, grabbing onto Mina's shoulders and shaking her back and fourth.

"No shit." Bakugo rolled his eyes. You were starting to piss him off already.

You looked at the male, eyes dimming before returning to normal and then, in a swift move, you flew infront of him, causing the male to glare at you as your feet hit the ground. "Somethin' on my face, Princess?" he asked, smirking at you.

"You will do perfectly." your sentence caught him off guard. But the cherry on top of the cake was when you grabbed his hero costume and gave him a searing hot kiss. The entire class was in shock at the bold burst of movement from you.

Bakugo froze, the heat from your kiss sending shockwaves through him. He yanked himself away, eyes wide with anger and something else.

"The hell was that?" he demanded, wiping his mouth aggressively with the back of his palm, as if you were some pest.

"Aw, man. You ruined my lipgloss!" you whined in perfect Japanese, causing even Aizawa and Midnight who stood there to open their mouths with huge question marks over their heads.

"Language Assimilation. Needed to learn Japanese quickly. You seemed like a good choice." you shrugged as All Might sweatdropped in the background.

"Yes...L/n learns new languages through...well, lip-contact." he tried to explain and you noticed a greenette started to mumble as he wrote down in a notebook.

"Y/n kissed Bakugo!" A bunch of hushed whispers erupted from the class in a frenzie. Bakugo could feel the embarrassment explode across his face in a red hue.

"You… you think you can just do that and get away with it?!" Bakugo snarled, his fists sparking with small explosions.

"Oh? Little boom-boom boy over here thinks he can challenge me?" You teased as the whispers around you halted.

"Mr. Aizawa, do I have permission to fight and obviously beat this student in a quirk match?" you asked the teacher and he just replied with a small "whatever" as he dropped to sleep in his beanie.

Bakugo scoffed, though there was a hint of a smirk on his lips. "You're looking at the best right here. You think you can take me on?"

Without a word, you extended your hand, and a burst of energy shot out, obliterating a nearby training dummy. The power and immaculate precision of your attack left the crowd in stunned silence. Bakugo's eyes widened, just for a moment, before his competitive nature kicked in.

"Not bad," he admitted, his tone begrudging. You cackled. "Oh honey, that was just a warm-up."

He launched himself at you, explosions propelling him forward with incredible speed. You didn't flinch. With a swift motion, you summoned a black-bolt shield, effortlessly deflecting his attack. Bakugo landed, skidding to a halt, his mind racing.

"Is that all you got?" you taunted, a playful smile on your lips. "I expected more from the top student."

Bakugo growled, frustration and admiration swirling within him. He unleashed a series of rapid explosions, each one more powerful than the last. But you moved with grace and agility, dodging and countering with blasts of your own.

He charged forward, explosions propelling him at breakneck speed. You met his attack head-on, your superhuman strength and durability allowing you to withstand his assaults. The both of you clashed, the impact sending shockwaves through the area.

"You’re not holding back," you noted, a smile tugging at your lips. "Good. Neither am I."

With a burst of speed, you flew up into the sky, Bakugo hot on your heels. You unleashed a series of bolt bursts, the energy snapping and booming with each release. Bakugo dodged most, but one caught him off guard, sending him spiraling momentarily before he regained control.

"Nice shot," he grunted, wiping a trickle of sweat from his brow. "But try this!"

He unleashed a massive explosion, the heat and force of it roaring towards her. You formed a massive bolt wave, the energy meeting the explosion head-on. For a moment, the two forces struggled against each other, neither giving an inch.

Then, with a tremendous effort, you pushed forward, your wave overpowering Bakugo’s blast. He was sent flying back, landing hard, his back getting flown into a nearby wall.

"Impressive!" you whistled, flying up to him and outstretching a hand. Bakugo groaned and looked up at you before smacking your hand away.

"I don't need any of your fuckin' help." he sneered, limping back to the building.

Bakugo limped back toward the building, seething with rage. The rest of the class was still in shock, murmuring among themselves about the intensity of the battle and the sheer power you had displayed.

You watched him go, an amused smile on your lips. "He's got spirit," you said to no one in particular, floating gently back to the ground.

"That was amazing, Y/n!" Kirishima exclaimed, rushing over to you with wide eyes. "I’ve never seen Bakugo pushed back like that!"

Mina nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, you totally rocked it out there!"

You shrugged nonchalantly, the lilac glow from your hands fading. "Just doing what I do best."

Aizawa stirred from his beanie, eyes opening just a sliver. "Alright, that's enough for today," he said, his voice a mix of exhaustion and annoyance.

Meanwhile, Bakugo stalked into the locker room, still fuming. He slammed his fist into the nearest locker, causing a dent. "Damn it!" he growled. "Who the hell does she think she is?"

"Hey, man, calm down," Kirishima said, entering the room and placing a hand on Bakugo’s shoulder. "She’s strong, yeah, but it’s not like you to get this worked up over one fight."

Bakugo shrugged off his hand, glaring at his friend. "It’s not just one fight, damn it." He punched the locker again for emphasis, causing the poor thing to dent with the impact.

Kirishima sighed. "Look, maybe instead of getting angry, you should try to learn from her. She’s got some serious skills. Imagine how strong you could be if you combined what you know with what you could learn from her."

Bakugo stared at Kirishima for a moment, then looked away, grumbling. "I don’t need to learn from anyone. I’ll beat her. Just wait."

Over the next few weeks, Bakugo found himself constantly competing with you. In every training session, every class, you were there, effortlessly surpassing him.

Your Blackfire quirk was a spectacle, with your bolt blasts and shields, your superhuman agility and strength, and your mastery of deception and combat. You were, in every sense, a powerhouse.

But what infuriated him the most was how you never seemed to boast or gloat. You were confident but never arrogant, always helping others when needed. The other students were drawn to your charisma and strength, and even Bakugo had to admit, grudgingly, that you were a natural leader.

One afternoon, after a particularly grueling training session where you had once again outperformed him, Bakugo stormed off to a secluded part of the training grounds, his emotions boiling over. He started throwing explosions at the practice dummies, venting his frustration.

"You know, Katsuki" your voice cut through the noise, and he turned to see you hovering nearby.

'Who told you to call me that!'

Your arms were crossed, "anger won't make you stronger."

Bakugo finally snapped. "That’s it!" he shouted, explosions crackling in his palms. "I’m not letting you show me up anymore!"

You hovered in the air, crossing your arms. "Oh? And what do you plan to do about it?"

"Fight me. Right here, right now. No holding back," he demanded, his eyes blazing with determination.

You considered for a moment before nodding. "Alright, but remember, you asked for this."

The rest of the class gathered around, sensing the tension and the impending showdown. Aizawa, standing to the side, sighed but didn’t intervene.

The fight began explosively, with Bakugo launching himself at you with all his might. You met his attacks with your bolt blasts, each collision sending shockwaves through the training grounds.

With one swift move, you used your bolts and eye beams to make a circle around the both of you. The air was opaque, impossible to see through. Bakugo looked around confused.

The world dissolved into sparkly darkness. Bakugo, momentarily stunned, clawed at the impenetrable darkness surrounding him. "What the hell did you do?!" he roared, explosions erupting from his palms, only to fizzle harmlessly within the dome.

Silence. Then, a soft sound, like fabric brushing against fabric, right beside his ear. Before he could react, a pair of warm lips pressed against his.

He froze, his mind a whirlwind. One moment he was locked in a fierce battle, the next he was… being kissed? He pulled back instinctively, but you was already gone, a whoosh of air announcing your departure. Bakugo stumbled back, bewildered by the sudden intimacy and the confusing tangle of emotions it left behind.

His eyes fell on a scrap of paper lying at his feet, fluttering gently in the breeze. He snatched it up, recognizing the neat handwriting. Unfolding it, he saw a few words in a flowing script.

"Appelez-moi - Y/n" followed by a string of numbers and a short sentence.

Bakugo's brow furrowed. Appelez-moi? It sounded vaguely familiar. Then it hit him. French. He'd been absentmindedly flipping through a beginner's French textbook the other day, a leftover habit from his middle school days.

'Call me.'

Something unfamiliar ignited in his gut. Were you… flirting with him? A warm hue coated the tips of his ears, accompanied by the lingering warmth on his lips and the frantic pounding in his chest refused to be ignored. He crumpled the paper in his fist.

"Damn it, Y/n," he growled and shoved the crumpled paper into his pocket. This wasn't over. He wouldn't let you get away with this.

He'd train harder, become stronger. He'd prove to you, to everyone, that he was the best. And maybe, just maybe, when the dust settled and he stepped off of the field, claiming an injury, he might just pull out that crumpled paper and decipher the rest of that damn French phrase.

[getoed5725]

Maybe you already know: how SatoSugu gain a whole new word for their relationship

- brought to you by JJK's production team (including Gege Akutami)

The tweet above is a QRT from one of the video producers for Gojo's 11-hour long tribute video, streamed on 3rd April till midnight to celebrate the release of JJK volume 26, "Heading South", on 4th April 2024. The video title is 孤高、廻想、融独 (Solitary, remagine, [fusion/melting]), revising Gojo's nice moments in his life with his friends and students.

The tweet says:

"We were involved in the planning stage. A "best friend" (「親友」/shinyuu) is a "toxic" (「有毒」/yuudoku [1]) and "melting" (「融独」/yuudoku [2]) existence. This is just our interpretation, but with everyone's thoughts, we have the final answer. We hope to able to encourage you to get Volume 26 even just a bit." (this is rough translation)

What is really the center of attention is this word 「融独」/yuudoku [2]. This is the 3rd word of the video title, but surprisingly, this word doesn't exist in the Japanese dictionary.

It is a completely new word created by the production team to describe part of Gojo's life. At the beginning, even Japanese fans had a hard time understanding what this word means. However, after Vigneravan's (the video producer) tweet, it is confirmed that 「融独」 is related to 「親友」/shinyuu/bestfriend. Gojo only has one and only one bestfriend, so this new term points to Geto.

The producer says "a bestfriend is a 'toxic' and 'melting' existence" when talking about Gojo's bestfriend, Geto. There is a wordplay here: both "toxic" 「有毒」[1] and "melting" 「融独」 spell the same way, "yuudoku". This fact is actually realized by fans in the way they assume how these characters are spelled when parts of them are used within other more common terms (especially when the referred term doesn't exist). 「融独」 is a combination of 融 (fusion/melting) and 独 (loneliness) - in literal sense, it means "melting the loneliness". In other words, the video producer's interpretation is "Geto, Gojo's best friend, is like toxin to him, but at the same time he melts away Gojo's loneliness".

Let's go back to Gojo's tribute video. This video starts with Gojo's birth, his youth, then his days as a teacher, and ends with him joining the battle with Sukuna, and finally going to the airport in the afterlife. Out of 11 hours, Geto appears in nearly 5 of them. The common vibe of the video is Gojo's happy moments with his friends, colleagues, and students. If you notice, there are NO scenes where he is fighting or in danger. The only distressing moments in the video are: when Geto becomes depressed, when Geto leaves Gojo, and when Gojo is left mulling in his own thoughts afterwards, sitting right where his bestfriend used to:

This means that the saddest and most depressing thing that ever happened to Gojo's life is when Geto left. And we all know how Gojo never forgets about him, and in fact, delays the time to execute Geto by order, only going down on him when Geto declares war 10 years later. This can be interpreted as part of the video producer's view, "toxic".

Yet, Gojo doesn't let Geto out of his mind. At the start of the video, after the images of him as a baby, Geto is the first person to appear in Gojo's life:

The above image gradually adds Yaga and Shoko afterwards. You can say that Gojo had no significant memories as a child, because he was born with powers and expectation, and thus, as a lonely kid. Meeting Geto, he has the first ever friend, an equal, someone who can understand him. So the memories when he first had Geto in his life, also indicating the start of his 3-year treasured bluespring, is when he finally turns from a lonely child to no longer lonely.

Yet when he loses Geto, he's become lonely again. Note that, Gojo has never been "alone", but he has been "lonely" (there has been many analysis for this, from Shoko's thoughts about him right before he gets released from Prison Realm, and in c236 when he confesses). Which turns out, Geto's existence is too big for him. Isn't it unhealthy to give so much leeway to an enemy, "the worst curse user of the jujutsu society", when he's supposed to execute Geto as soon as possible before he becomes a big threat? Yet, whatever Gojo has for Geto is too much and enough for him to give Geto freedom until he can't anymore; and after that, Gojo still wishes Geto had been there to pat him on the back before the fight with Sukuna, in order to fully feel satisfied. To wish for something impossible as an existence of the dead, who was supposed to be an enemy but wasn't.

It is "toxic", but Geto is exactly the only thing that can "melt his loneliness". That is why Gojo, who's been lonely all his life being the strongest, cannot let go of Geto in his mind. Geto has been the first one to make him change for the better, to stand by his side despite his status and origin, and even though he left, he's still Gojo's main source of inspiration to build his dream of changing the jujutsu system for the better, and to not let children fall for the same fate as his best friend once did, preserving their youth. Despite all the unfortunate events, Geto still stays as the special "toxin" to Gojo, the only one that can melt away his loneliness, the only person whose existence brings him satisfaction. (there's a whole topic on how the word "satisfaction" Gojo uses to describe his feelings when fighting Toji or Sukuna and the one used when describing Geto below are 2 similar terms with different connotations, but I'll leave that for another time)

For our own assumption, it is also likely that Gege Akutami is the one to come up with this word 「融独」. As the author who created Gojo and Geto as a contrasting pair, he is the one who understands their relationship the most. But mostly because he's one of the few people (involved in the series) who has deep understanding of Japanese language and often plays around with words. JJK very often includes highly complicated Japanese words and terms (even for Japanese readers), so for him to come up with a completely new word to pay tribute to Gojo is not out of possibilities.

And it leaves you in awe again how important Geto is to Gojo.

Watch the 11-hour tribute video:

P/s. by coincidence (or not), Tatsuya Kitani, the singer/songwriter for JJK Hi/pd arc's OP "Ao no Sumika", includes "Love Song" in the album Ao no Sumika. And this song is... well. A bit familiar.

Would the song somehow reminds you of how the video producer perceives Gojo & Geto's relationship? It's up to you.

Funfact: in "Love Song", there is an interesting term: 眩しい常闇 (mabushii tokoyami) - "eternal dazzling darkness". This term is also the title of JJK volume 0 chapter 4.

[wave2tyun]

apple cider | ☆

pairing: huening kai x reader

genre: fluff, childhood friends to lovers

summary: you were foolishly blind to the feelings you held for your best friend, huening kai, until one they, they started to bottle up like soda pop

warnings: slight injury?? nothing serious<3

word count: 3.5k

notes: apple cider by beabadoobee has been ON REPEAT!!!! these past few days!!!!1!1! which is why i believed it might be the perfect time to bring this fic back!!😋 i love love love writing things based on songs, and this is (obviously asbdsjha) where the inspo for this fic came from, as well as the studio ghibli movie 'from up on poppy hill'!! :D also, is it just me or do 24 hours in a day simply not feel like enough anymore......?😖

☆ = repost from my old blog!!

huening kai was the definition of a sweetheart. grandmas loved him, animals adored him, he was the type of boy anybody's parents would be delighted to meet if you brought him home. and most importantly, he was your best friend.

you and kai met in kindergarten. your very first interaction happened when your parents were late to pick you up, so you, a sensitive child started crying a river. kai was even faster than the teacher to approach you, napkin in his hand and a sweet smile on his face. he patted your back until your parents arrived, sometimes cracking some pokemon impressions in an attempt to make you smile again like he saw you earlier that morning. during your arts and crafts session the next day, you made kai a sloppy drawing of his favorite pokemon character, which, to this day, he insists is the greatest gift he has ever received, the treasured piece of paper sitting in a frame on his nightstand to remain in pristine condition.

from that day on, you only ended up spending more and more time together. you switched seats so that you could sit next to each other during classes, played together during breaks and became lunch buddies, an unspoken promise which had been kept during primary school, middle school, and even now, as you were both high school students in your last year. kai grew up to be a piano prodigy, thus becoming the president of the school's music club. you, on the other hand, wasn't any interested in any extracurricular activities, preferring to stay in bed and sleep your day away on the days where your parents weren't attacking you with house chores. still, you and kai were stuck together like glue. you talked on the phone every day at midnight, rambling on about your day or about anything that crossed your mind; you tried your best to meet up outside of school whenever your schedules allowed, popping a cold bottle of your favorite sweet apple cider.

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

your eyes scanned the tables for kai once again. he told you to meet up at the outside dining area, but 15 minutes had passed and he was nowhere to be seen. you huffed, placing your tray down at a table where some of your classmates sat. ‘can’t believe he’d ditch me today’ you angrily pierced the straw through your milk carton.

the sound of a loud horn startled you, making you almost choke on your drink. the highest windows of the school were opened with a bang, paper scrolls coming out of them, followed by the heads of some students as they were peeking out.

“are those the club leaders?” someone at your table asked.

“yeah...seems like so” yunjin answered “what are they up to now?”

you shielded your eyes with your hand, squinting as you tried to read the words written on the papers.

‘lack of freedom kills the people’

“they’re protesting” you broke the silence, making everyone’s head turn towards you “the principal has been wanting to shut down the clubs”

some students gathered around the dining area, they moved in sync and with fast movements, taking out the grate that was placed over the water basin outside. you shrugged, going back to your meal. you weren’t exactly sure what they were going to achieve with this. not even a minute later, yunjin gave you a tap on the shoulder, pointing towards the roof.

“isn’t that-“ she stopped midway, unable to finish her sentence. your face was instantly drained of color at the sight.

it was huening kai.

“what the hell is he doing up there” you mumbled, frowning. you didn’t have a good feeling about this- whatever this was.

huening kai had a bright smile plastered on his face, the whole school’s attention being on him. he coughed then cleared his throat before loudly speaking.

“if our words weren’t enough to reach principal Jung, then that means that it is time for us to turn to actions” he inched closer towards the edge of the roof. his voice remained confident, but his hands betrayed him, shaking as he held the mic close to his chest.

you gulped. you felt nauseous, an empty feeling was taking over your stomach despite the distance between the roof and the ground not being that high.

“if you don’t want to respect us- we will make ourselves heard” huening kai turned his head, looking back at the boys behind him, who gave him a short nod. then, he put the mic down, taking a deep breath before diving into the air, aiming for the water basin.

the plan was easier said than done, and kai stumbled into a bush before landing down on his knees in the shallow water. the members of the photography club were quick to capture the moment, just like you were quick to jump out of your seat and approach the boy. “are you okay-“ you reached your hand out to help him stand up. kai’s smile never faltered away, and once he was back on his feet, he gave you a wink as he clasped your hands together. the bright flashes of the cameras surrounded you in an instant, the photographers pushing through to get “the best shot”.

your cheeks turned a bright shade of red, and you let go of his hands, mumbling as you went back to your seat “stupid- so stupid” you continued to stuff your face with the sandwich you had packed in your lunch bag. why was your face burning that much anyway- you shook your head, trying to ignore the thoughts invading your mind, as well as the hushed whispers coming from all around you. you couldn’t let such foolish actions disturb your day.

kai, as usual, still called you that night. you, however, loved being stubborn. when you saw his name coming up on the screen of your phone, you contemplated for a few minutes, before swiping to deny the call. ‘that should teach him’ you thought. barely a minute later, you were already regretting your decision. you were still mad at him, yet, for some reason, you still wanted to hear his voice, just like every other night. it never mattered to you whether it was a proper conversation. you didn’t care what kai would be talking about- you just wanted to feel like you had him, in some way, close to you, though your pride didn’t allow you to be the one to initiate another call. why was it that you wished to hear him so badly? after all, you didn’t even like him...right? or at least- you didn’t even like him that much- right?

you tossed and turned in your bed, unable to let your eyelids close.

fuck.

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

dark circles adored your eyes as a result of the poor sleep you had last night. you wished you could skip the first period and remain in bed for just a few minutes more, but your mom wasn’t having any of that. she took the blanket off your bed and opened your window, forcing you to get up and get ready for the day.

you stood in the hallway, head buried in the school’s newspaper, which teased ‘a revolution’ as well as ‘an endearing romance’ with a big image of you and kai holding hands on the front page.

“is there any way i could make it up to you?” you heard a voice near you.

you closed your locker’s door, kai’s face coming into sight, grinning as always. you wanted to ignore him for the day, pretending to be mad at him for the embarrassment that he had put you through the day before. but kai knew you too well- he had already anticipated your reaction to his stunt, and he wasn’t going to let you get rid of him so easily.

“depends. do you have anything in mind?” you crossed your arms, leaning on your side against the locker.

“apple cider, 10 pm at the playground. sounds good?”

you bit your lip to fight back the smile that was threatening to take over your face. looking down at the floor, you chuckled.

“i guess that would suffice. we’ll see”

the bell rang, signaling the end of your break. kai took the chance to quickly ruffle your hair before sprinting to his class. ‘dork’ you snorted, putting it back into place before going your own way.

you were quick to prepare dinner that day. both of your parents were taken aback by the stark change in your attitude compared to how you behaved in the morning, the sudden surge in energy being questionable. they chose not to bring it up though, afraid that they might ruin your mood. you arrived at the playground at 10 pm sharp and sat on one of the swings there, protecting the other vacant one from the kids that still lingered around until kai came. and soon enough, there he was, apple cider bottles in his hands (just like he promised) as he approached you. you smiled at the sight.

“are you that happy to see me?”

“you wish- i’m just happy to receive the apple cider” you joked, lying through your teeth.

“ah- i’m hurt” hueningkai frowned, dramatically putting a hand over his heart. you laughed at his cute antics. he took his place on the swing, handing you one bottle.

“that jumper looks pretty on you, i like it”

“t-thanks” you stuttered, looking down, failing to see the tips of his ears turning pink. you took a sip from the bottle, the taste so refreshing and all too familiar.

“so- did you manage to convince the principal not to shut down the clubs?”

kai chuckled, reminiscing the events “yeah-“ he stood up, putting his hands on his hips and clearing his throat before speaking again with an exaggerated lower voice “never in my 40 years in this field have i ever seen such- such outrageous actions” pinching the bridge of his nose, he continued “whatever, just do whatever you want. at this point it’s less of a pain to let you continue than to cancel everything”

you burst into laughter at his silly act. kai always had his imitations spot on, and to you, it was much more entertaining than any kind of comedy movie.

“i’m glad it wasn’t all in vain” your smile died down upon noticing the bandages wrapped around his hand “is your hand okay though?”

“oh- yeah, don’t worry about it, it’s just a scratch” he replied quickly, stuffing it in the pocket of his jacket before sitting back down. you sat in silence for a while after that, kicking around the pebbles underneath your feet.

“i’m sorry” kai whispered softly.

“hm? sorry for what?” you frowned.

“sorry for getting you involved in this, it wasn’t supposed to be like that- i told the other members of the club to remove the picture from the article but they didn’t listen”

“hey- it’s okay” you reassured him “it was out of your control, it wasn’t like you knew this whole fiasco was going to unfold”

“but-“ he tried to argue,

“no buts” you interrupted him, laughing “whatever happened, happened. plus- i got to drink some apple cider. even better since it was with you- so, it’s all good”

kai returned your smile, he seemed to be a bit more at ease after hearing those words. you wished that you could have found the strength to get up and give him a hug too, but you were too afraid that your heart would burst if you did that now.

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

“i’m home” you shouted as you stepped inside the house. leaving your bag on the floor in the hallway, you dragged your feet to the kitchen and put on the apron to get started on your dinner. your parents never got off work before your classes ended, meaning that the responsibility of preparing food for everybody always fell on you. you opened the cabinet underneath the sink to get some potatoes, but your hand reached out into nothingness. confused, you crouched down to have a better look. your face dropped as you realised that there was nothing left inside. that one vegetable was the whole star of the dish, meaning that there was simply no way to substitute it.

‘shit shit shit-‘ you stormed out the door, wanting to slap yourself in the face as you recalled the moment your mother asked you to stop by the farmer’s market in the morning. maybe, just this once, the traffic would be jammed and your parents wouldn’t be so quick to return home from work. you struggled to put on your jumper as you also held a basket in your hand, wanting to be as quick as possible. just as you were about to make your way down, you someone called out from behind you:

“need a ride?” kai was riding his bike to his grandparents, but stopped in his tracks upon seeing you in such a hurried and panicked state.

“god- yes, please” you fumbled over your words. the timing couldn’t have been any more perfect; you were so grateful to see him there, you could almost see a ray of light shining on him and a halo on top of his head.

“have a seat then” he laughed.

you quickly sat down in the back of kai’s bicycle. looking down at the steep path in front of you, you gulped “are you sure it’s okay for us to ride together?”

“just hold on tight” kai took hold of your hands and wrapped them around his torso before pressing on one pedal with his foot. you couldn’t even brace yourself properly for the impact as you went down the hill of doom; your head instantly hit kai’s muscular back, and you found yourself holding his body tighter. you closed your eyes, trying to shift your focus from the citizens passing by you in a blur, to the sweet scent of his fruit-punch shampoo invading your senses. kai swiftly took a turn to the left, effortlessly avoiding all the possible obstacles in his path. thankfully, you both made it to the farmer’s market in one piece.

sighing in relief, you lifted yourself up and walked to the nearest vegetable stall around. kai remained right next to you, making a purchase of his own. he munched on a freshly fried hashbrown as you did the necessary shopping, holding a second piece in his other hand.

“all done” your shoulders slumped down, the whole thing had drained you both physically and mentally. you quirked an eyebrow as you looked at kai eating.

“what?” he asked, throwing the last piece of food in his mouth “i need energy to go back”

“right” you sighed “thank you so much. i might live to see another day because of you” you tried to joke. in reality, the thought of your parents scolding you alone was enough to make your heart start beating faster.

“don’t worry about it” he chuckled “here- take this” he handed you the hashbrown he had been holding. you took it reluctantly, not having expected to receive something like this.

“eat it- it’s good. plus, you need energy too” kai grabbed his bicycle again, positioning himself on the leather seat “i have to go now, you should probably hurry too.” he smiled “take care, y/n” kai sent you a little wave before setting off. you stood on the side of the road for one more moment, smiling at the hashbrown in your hand. you took the first bite as you started to go up the hill again, the worries that were clouding your head quickly disappearing.

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

somehow, soon enough, you found yourself in front of kai’s house. you wanted to thank him for his sweet gesture from a few days ago. if it weren’t for him, your parents would have probably kept you locked in the house. you didn’t know what you were going to say to him. staring at the box of cookies you brought with you, you tried to muster up the courage to knock on the door.

knock knock knock

you waited patiently, biting your lips.

‘maybe there’s still enough time to run-‘

“y/n- hi, come in” kai opened the door, greeting you.

“hi” you blurted out. stepping inside, you took off your shoes, then silently followed behind kai as he guided you towards his room. piano sheets were spread out everywhere- on the floor, on his desk, on his bed. you’ve never seen it look like such a mess.

“oh- sorry, were you practicing?”

“tried to- the music festival is just around the corner, but the song choices are killing me”

“can you show me?” you asked, it was always a pleasure to hear kai practicing, but this time, you were also using this as an excuse to organise your thoughts properly.

“yeah, come here” kai patted the empty space beside him on the piano bench. you hugged the cookie box close to your chest, the short distance between the two of you making you feel nervous.

kai’s fingers glided along the black and white tiles, wrist playfully flicking up as he changed up the speed with ease to create a flawless, harmonious symphony. it sounded perfect- it always did.

“that was great” you spoke softly as he finished up the piece.

“wanna try?” kai offered.

“s-sure” you stuttered, putting down the box. somehow, despite all those years that you’ve known each other, you had never given learning piano a try.

kai took hold of your right hand, placing it on the keys “you have to use the pad of your fingers” he put his hand over yours, gently pressing down to demonstrate. you prayed that he couldn’t hear the loud sound of your palpitating heart “then- move your wrist up before moving on to the next set of notes, then down, like a feather falling” you started to feel light-headed, the feeling of kai’s warm hands on yours making you unable to concentrate on the task at hand. you looked up at him, his face now much closer to you than when you first started practicing. kai’s hand stopped guiding yours, yet didn’t let go of it. he glanced at you, his gaze stopping on your plush, rosy lips.

“holding you closer right now- would that cross the line?” he spoke softly, in a daze.

“maybe i want you to cross the line” you whispered back.

kai stood still for a moment, letting your words sink in. then- with gentle movements, his hand came to rest on your jawline, thumb rubbing against your cheek. he seemed nervous- so nervous to not ruin all of your built-up relationship up until that point. but fuck it- you looked so pretty with that jumper he adored, sitting gingerly on his piano chair, inviting him to finally feel his lips on yours. how was he supposed to resist? and when kai closed the gap, his mouth meeting yours in a gentle peck, it felt so incredibly right, so good and sweet.

one more peck.

his body shifted even closer to you.

another one.

his hand came to rest on your lower back, yours grabbed hold of his soft black sweater.

and once more- but this time, you both let the touch last longer, melting into the feeling.

“can i kiss you more?” kai asked, voice barely above a whisper, his thumb was caressing your lips as he spoke. you nodded, eager to indulge yourself into the taste of his sweet kiss. you hummed as he pressed his lips on yours again, the butterflies in your heart unable to settle down. he grinned into the kiss at the sound, his heart felt warm knowing that you wanted this, and enjoyed this just as much as he did. you pulled away, giving the mole at the corner of his lips a kiss, then you left another on the one near his temple, ending with the one you adored most, the one on his nose. you cupped his face, the temperature of his cheeks rising against your fingertips. kai chuckled as you hid your face in the crook of his neck, the adoration you felt towards him becoming almost too much to handle.

“do you want to stay the night?” kai asked bashfully, his fingers playing with one of your sleeves “i have some apple cider left” he looked up at you, eyes gleaming with hope.

“of course i want to” you giggled, dipping down to leave another peck on his soft lips.

3 bottles of apple cider down, you and kai laid down on the bed, legs tangled with each other as he played with your hair and you braided his. you joked around, playing with the plushies on his bed, sometimes stealing kisses on the cheek from each other and falling into another fit of shy giggles yet again. and when you finally drifted off to sleep, hand in hand, you swore you had never felt your heart feel more at ease.

@huekalover3000 @maybabe00 @sunoooism @boba-beom

[hyunjinsbelovedamericano]

Skz when their partner can't sleep

i couldn't sleep when i thought of this so

i can't sleep~

teeth rotting fluff,not proof read yet

Bangchan

He probably wouldn't be able to sleep either,and most of stays sleep schedules are wrecked so he would do a live with you.He would go on Channie's room and do whatever.Comments like"Why aren't you guys asleep?","Go back to bed" would fly through."I don't know what you guys are talking about,its 1 in the afternoon.You know time zones?"but stay know thats its 2 am where you are so your attempt on manipulating them failed

Minho

You guys would rate children's drawings,yk those tiktoks where the teacher rates their students drawings.Thats you guys but you're not teachers."Who is that supposed to be?" "Barney","Then why does it look like grimace if took he meth".You guys would probably receive noise complaints for how loud you'll be laughing,but they would laugh just as loud if they saw these drawings

Changbin

Watch rip-off movies,have you guys seen that video where benoftheweek was watching rip-off movies.Yes.Instead Ratatouille your watching ratatoing,instead of the bee movie you're watching plan b."This animation is giving me nightmares","This is torture".Changbin couldn't stop laughing at the names of the movies,"Who wrote this"he would be in tears

Hyunjin

This one is more wholesome than the previous,i feel like he would read poems to you,even better read HIS poems to you,they would be the cutest things ever😭😭,i think he would also make you some tea,massage your head whilst reading the poems.(I need a fanfic on this NOW),he would have such a soothing voice reading them and then scream in your ear(jk...maybe),he wants you to get your 8 hours even though that might mean that he can't

Han

He would eat midnight snacks with you,even though it's not midnight he'll still have snacks.You would try new foods,"This taste likes bbamba's foot","How do you know how his foot taste like?","..." ,you would go late night shopping at those 24/7 stores,han would be scared if its 3am,"why are you so scared","have you not seen those do not watch at 3am videos?"You would just laugh at him,he's such a child

Felix

As we know Felix,is a tiktok king.He would post tiktoks with you,you would explore so many trends and do almost all of them.You would also have a debate why the tiktoks should go on his account or your account,"I deserve this tiktok","No i do".You would do funny tiktoks,dance tiktoks etc.a lot of them would go in the drafts and you would also have a debate on which you should post,"I look like a rat in this tiktok.","Exactly"

Seungmin

This is also one of the wholesome ones,I feel like he would sing you to sleep.His soft gentle voice singing you melodies AHDSUDGDEIURRH that's too cute 😭,he would try to calm you down make you tired because who doesn't want to sleep.Especially with his vocals the song could be rock and he would somehow make it sound soft,he would sing your favourite songs and if you don't say a skz song he would add one in there

Jeongin

He would do skincare with you,you have a bunch of products so it would be quite time consuming."What does this do?","Something".You would take pictures with face masks on because it's a vibe.You would also go online shopping for more products,"Buy the rose jelly one ","No" he would add it to your cart when your not looking,when it arrives and you ask him about he would pretend not to know anything about it

[kopilot-pop]

[Tired] pt.1

- Le Sserafim x 6thMember!Reader

Summary: After a harsh criticism from one of your teachers, you started to fall into a bad habit again. You started staying overnight at the company, your knees are always bruised, and you probably shouldn’t have 3 cans of Redbull everyday… Thankfully, your bandmates have easily recognized your behaviors and decided to put it to an end.

Warnings: overworking, self-hate, etc.

a/n: I think I’m a bit too obsessed with hurtfics lmao. I mostly wrote this as just a platonic relationship fyi.

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

Nauseous.

That’s how you feel right now.

Sitting in front of you is the dance teacher, with her legs crossed and tapping her clipboard. This wasn't the first time, actually, this is the third time you were put in this situation this week.

You’re the main dancer of the group, so the teacher always put extra pressure on you compared to the other girls, but today she seemed extra fed-up with you.

Thus, here you were, dragged out to an old practice room in the middle of a session with your whole group.

“That’s it?” She sighed.

“That’s all you can do? Really? Did you even notice all the mistakes you’ve made? Listen, Y/n-”

There’s not much you can do. You’re well aware of the steps you missed and you’re also well aware of how talented the woman sitting in front of you is, too. That doesn’t change the fact that every word that comes out of her mouth feels like a stab wound.

“I don’t care how talented you think you are-“

‘I don’t think I’m talented.’

“Did you even practice at all? This is a special stage L/n Y/n-"

‘You watched me practice every day.’

“Are you trying to be an embarrassment on live tv?”

‘I’m trying my best not to.’

“Main dancer my ass, a trainee could do better than you-”

‘You just came back from yelling at them…’

“Are you not even embarrassed to stand next to your group? I mean, if I’m being honest here Kazuha-”

‘Ah, there it is.’

If there was anything this teacher was know for, it’s the constant comparing and belittling between teammates. You thought you might have gotten used to it by now, but that hit your throat.

You don’t have anything against your teammates - goddamit, you’d risk your life in a second for any of them. But, whenever she decided to use the girls to bring you down, it hurt just a little more than usual.

After several minutes of the teacher’s lecture, you were finally let go.

When you entered the practice room the girls were starting to pack up. You checked the clock and realised that it's almost midnight. Eunchae is curled up against the wall, wearing your jacket, while Sakura is trying her best to wake her up. Your leader noticed you immediately and walked up to you in worry.

"Hey Y/n, everything okay?"

"...Yeah. It's nothing."

Her deep frown made you sick to the stomach. You don't want her to worry- you don't want any of the members to worry. This is something you can deal with yourself, right? If you get better everything will be perfect. Just perfect.

"I was thinking of staying a bit more. Y'know, the teacher had me held up for quite while." You let out a tired chuckle.

Chaewon didn't like the idea at all and you could tell.

"I... fine. Just make sure you to keep contact, okay?"

"Of course."

"Huh- is Y/n not coming with us??" Yunjin with her tired body dragged herself towards the two of you. She gives you a tired hug and leaves for the car.

"Don't take too long Y/n." Sakura gives you a worried smile after helping Kazuha carry a sleepy Eunchae on her back.

"Yeah, I promise."

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

You're an amazing liar.

That's what Chaewon realized while staring at the sun slowly coming up from the skyline.

As the leader, she stayed up late waiting for you to come home. A worried Yunjin insisted on waiting with her, but unfortunately she fell asleep after a bit on the couch.

Chaewon called you 50 times and messaged you a 100 times, but you haven't responded to a single one of them. She was pissed off at first, but that anger slowly dissolved into worry- all sorts of concerns popping up in her head.

'What if you passed out? What if you got hurt while practicing? You sprained your ankle in the past, what if the same thing happened again? Oh, what if your trainee habits are happening again? What if-'

Her train of thoughts stopped when she heard the door lock beep. She practically sped to the front door.

You sent her a nervous look, frozen while trying to take of your shoes.

"..."

"..."

"Hey unnie.."

"Do you know what time it is?"

Chaewon folded her arms and glared you down. She started her usual lecture. How worried she was, how disappointed, and how absolutely furious she is because of you ignoring all her efforts to contact you. She was absolutely furious.

"Didn't Kkura unnie tell you to not take long? Didn't I tell you to answer my calls?? It's 7 in the morning Y/n! You're telling me you were in the practice room for, what- 6 hours?! Do you realize how dangerous-!"

"YES! Yes, I know! And I'm sorry. Just... please... can we talk about this later?"

Chaewon looked at the bags under your eyes and let out a sigh.

"..Fine... Go get some rest.... This isn't over."

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

A/N: I know this isn't the best place to cut, but like... I'm extremely tired. So sorry. I'll come back with a second part soon. Love y'all <3

[muzsmoux]

MHA headcanons bcuz the show brings me a lot of joy

If you don't agree with them or they clash with canon that's ok just scroll on, peace and love on the planet earth and whatnot.

⭐Iida is straight but is openly into BL. He's up to date on new releases, mostly pg shoujo stuff. Except for one fantasy comic that is hella explicit at some points but he is VERY passionate about the lore and characters.

⭐Bakugo has Inosuke levels of androgyny going on. He would give Shouto a run for his money in the "class 1-A's resident prettyboy" vote that was held if he 1. wasn't too scary for people to vote for him. and 2. if he stopped scowling for like two seconds.

⭐Aoyama is some flavor of nonbinary but doesn't use any labels because he HATES them. He is an ✨experience✨, a piece of art up for interpretation.

⭐Pro hero Red Riot has a line of menstrual hygiene products with cool and manly packaging because he's very popular with transmasc people and wanted to give back something helpful and validating to them.

⭐Kirishima once called Bakugo his "brofriend" and he just about had an aneurysm.

⭐ Before they got together, Kirishima wrote half the valentine's cards Bakugou recieved anonymously because he "just had so many feelings it couldn't fit just on one card!!"

⭐Bakugou is a secret romantic. He hates talking about it because it's "bad for his image" but he has a big collection of shoujo manga and internally melts whenever Kiri does something soft for him like buying flowers or holding his hand in public.

⭐Aizawa regularly gets intrusive thoughts of becoming a househusband whenever he has a particulaly annoying time. Like after his 7th parent teacher conference of the day or after a full week of falling asleep in uncomfortable beds in seedy hostels he stares at the ceiling like "Hizashi is a celebrity. He has three jobs. What am I doing here? I love him. I can't cook but I could learn 😫"

⭐Kaminari hits on Bakugo's mom every chance he gets. Bakugo's tries to blow him up, Mitsuki thinks it's fucking hilarious.

⭐Allmight has a crush on Midoriya Inko but is scared to do anything about it because A. it might upset Izuku and B. he thinks he's too old and ugly for her.

⭐You'd think Midnight would be a bad teacher based on her general sexy nature but actually she's well loved because she's the only teacher who the kids trust with advice on relationships and intimacy, especially after the dorm system set in. She has time set aside each week where she's available for anyone to pop into her office and chat about whatever they're worried about. Aizawa is endlessly thankful for this because one time Todoroki asked him what a backshot is because he heard Sero make a joke about it and he's still healing from that conversation.

⭐Since both of their quirks are food based Sato and Momo often bake together. Sato's the master decorator, Momo buys good quality ingredients and is a beast at chiffon cakes.

⭐Denki can't swim. After The Incident in primary school where he almost electrocuted a whole swimming pool of people he's been scared to try.

⭐Kirishima has two moms. His birth mom had him at like 18 and his biological father wasn't ready for that yet. Her best friend immediately stepped up to help with the baby, and that's Kiri's mama now.

Thank you for reading!! I am incredibly late to this fandom but hey I'm having fun now so. Sick.

If you liked this, you can find part 2 here :)