#How many times I reread this line?….yes

[lekawi]

"You are a good boy, Alastair joon," Sona said, kissing him on top of his head as she rose from the table.

- Chain of Gold

Tag list: @anarmorofwords @rinadragomir @iloveallmyocs @cant-think-of-anything @khaleesiofalicante @drunkonimagination @life-through-the-eyes-of @summergrace-art @thomaslightwood @ddepressedbookworm @axoloteca @astriefer @lord-jethro @runecarstairs @laylax13s @221bornottobe @ibrushmyteeth-donttellanyone @cityofthomastair5

[longagoitwastuesday]

Something about the way Roxane with the cadets lifting their mood parallels Cyrano with the nuns lifting their mood

[scoopsahoy]

birthday boy

ぺ  word count ⋰ 1.2k

✰  tw ⋰ none :)

❍  cw ⋰ swearing, sex + fingering

៚  a/n ⋰ yes i came back from the trenches to post a fic about steve for joe's birthday. and what about it

✐  masterlist

⋆★⋆★⋆★⋆★⋆★⋆★⋆★⋆★⋆★⋆★⋆★⋆★

April 24th. The 115th day of the year had many celebrations including National Pigs in a Blanket Day, but the most important one to you was the birthday of your boyfriend, Steve. The two of you hadn't been together long, just about a year. But you knew him pretty well at this point.

You knew what he liked and what he disliked, and you knew how he liked to celebrate important events, like birthdays.

So you invited all of his friends, including Robin, Dustin, and the rest of The Party. You baked him a regular chocolate cake at his request. You rented Back to the Future, as he didn't really get to see it properly the first time. All in all, he had one of the most fun birthdays he'd had in a long time.

But his real gift didn't start until after the guests left.

You stared in the bathroom mirror at yourself, all dolled up in a new lingerie set that you bought specifically for tonight. It was a deep purple, black lace lining the edges of both the bra and underwear. The bra was just a normal bra, but the underwear tied on both sides like bikini bottoms for easy removal.

You hadn't had the opportunity for intimacy for a few weeks, as you'd been incredibly busy with work trying to save up extra money. But tonight it was just the two of you in his empty house.

When you walked to his room, he was sitting in his bed propped up against the headboard, rereading the card you got him with a small smile on his face. You leaned against the doorframe, trying to be as sexy as possible.

"Thank you for tonight," he said, looking up as he began his next sentence. "It was really-"

When he finally did look at you, his eyes grew so large you swore they were going to pop out of his head like a cartoon. You'd never worn lingerie before, as it wasn't really your thing.

But seeing the look on his face made you realize that this will probably become a recurring thing.

"What are you doing?" he asked, sitting up a bit.

"Oh, nothing. I just thought, since it's your birthday, I'd... do a little something extra."

You stepped into the room and closed the door, locking it behind you just in case. You slowly strutted over to the bed, his hand instinctively raising to meet your hip.

"You like?" you asked in an innocent voice.

"Hate it. Take it off," he joked. You couldn't hold in your chuckle as you swung your leg over his lap and positioned yourself on top of him.

Now both of his hands were on your waist, wrapping around you firmly.

"It's your birthday, you have to open the gift."

He looked at you with his brows raised. You weren't usually the perpetrator of dirty talk, so this came as a bit of a surprise to him. But he didn't hesitate to reach up and unhook your bra, freeing you from the constricting material.

His lips were on your chest and your bodies were connected before the garment even hit the floor, a satisfied sigh escaping your mouth as your hands found his shoulders.

As he reached down to your left hip to untie one of the sides of your underwear, you stopped him.

"Now you know you don't get to take those off until you've taken something off yourself."

You could have sworn that his shirt was off in less than a second. You knew he was eager to finally fuck you again, and so were you. Every fiber of your being wanted one thing — him inside of you.

His hands untied both sides of your underwear at once, throwing it to the floor on top of the rest of the discarded clothes.

Part of you wanted to make this as slow and sexy as possible, but a bigger part of you just wanted to get to it as fast as you could.

He wrapped one arm all the way around you and flipped you onto your back, his hips settling between your thighs.

"Steve," you breathed. "Take your pants off."

With zero hesitation he did what you commanded. Within less than twenty seconds, both of you were fully naked, aside from a condom.

His right hand reached down and his fingers began circling your clit, a low hum filling the room. It was the first time you'd had any stimulation there in forever, so you knew it wasn't going to take you long to cum.

"I missed you," he said into your neck. "I feel like we haven't seen each other in forever."

"I know. I missed you, too."

Without another word, you felt him slip into you, and you both gasped. You pulled his lips to yours and kissed him deeply as he picked up a steady rhythm.

"You feel so good," he said into your mouth, being met with an 'mhm'.

You raised your legs a bit and pressed them into his sides, allowing him to go deeper than a moment ago. And, noticing this, he snaked his arms behind your knees and pushed your legs higher, almost to your shoulders.

This was new for you — being this bent. But it felt amazing. And you couldn't hold back the moans that immediately got significantly louder.

"Fuck, Steve."

"Is that okay?"

You nodded frantically. "So good."

With that verbal approval, he sped up again. His lips once again attached themselves to your neck, sucking on that oh-so-tender spot that he knew you loved.

As he fucked you, the sounds that came out of you only got louder and more guttural, as this position brought a whole host of new sensations. You were convinced that your g-spot was nonfunctional up until this point, but this angle made you realize how wrong you were.

Every single thrust brushed across it in the exact way that you needed to feel something from it, and you could have sworn you grew it overnight.

Your hands gripped his biceps tightly and your eyes widened as he made eye contact with you.

"Steve, I'm not gonna last much longer."

The couple of weeks of no intimacy really did make a difference, more so than either of you expected.

"Good, me either."

It was less than thirty seconds later that you were probably able to be heard from outside as you came, his fingers on your clit not helping you keep your volume down in the slightest.

Neither of you moved for a good ten seconds. Your legs were back down at their normal position. His face was buried where your neck and shoulder meet and you kissed the side of his head, rubbing your hands up and down his sides.

"Happy birthday," you whispered. He lifted his head and looked at you with a dorky tired smile and kissed you.

"Best birthday ever. I love you."

"I love you, too."

"So... I think you should take me with you next time you go lingerie shopping."

"Well, now, that would ruin the surprise of it, wouldn't it?"

[nerd-at-sea5]

i keep seeing sm anti percabeth (idk how i am very pro percabeth tumblr what are you doing) and like. i feel like a large amount of people forget that they are both massively traumatized kids/teenagers who are in their first and only relationship.

they’re gonna fuck up, they’re gonna be a little toxic, but overall they’re is so much communication and time and like. life that we DONT see.

percy is also an unreliable narrator (no hate but he is), he’s sarcastic and sometimes people don’t pick up on his sarcasm. he insults himself a lot and he really does see some things with rose colored glasses

annabeth and him were also friends first, so a lot of how they behave is very friend-like. the teasing of being smart (god knows my friend and i tease each other religiously for being smart or not smart). honestly the judo flip as well (can’t tell you how many times my friends and i have thrown punches at one another and before you say ‘yes well he’s an abuse victim! so it’s different!!’ yeah, so are some of my friend and so am i. we’ve talked about it, and don’t step out of line) communication is important kids!! (so is consent!!!! had to throw that in there)

we didn’t see them talk about it! they 100% did, why else would annabeth be comfortable enough doing it?

anyway i know this is a long ass rant, i’m just mildly annoyed that people think these traumatized kids with absolutely no therapy experience whatsoever are going to be 110% perfect 24/7, like yeah they’re a great relationship but hey, they’ve still fucked up. we all have

* also ik i didn’t go into every single minor detail. i am not that focused. i’ve got adhd and it’s vacation so fuck that. i also haven’t reread in a while (rlly into fantasy right now) so…..sue me 🤷

[haikyu-mp4]

hi omg i love your works sm !! each one is so cute and i love your dialogue for the characters 🫶 i've read most of them but i'll be going back to reread and reblog them bcos u deserve the love 🤍

i wanted 2 ask if ur requests were open ? it's okay if they aren't ofc !! but i had this idea earlier about dentist / orthodontist iwaizumi or oikawa ! and i've been looking thru the hq writers that i've reblogged from n u came up ! the idea is pretty broad but i was thinking more of a build up from patient-dentist (?) to lovers, smth like that ! idk if ure up for it then do ur magic but otherwise i hope u have a great day and i'm looking forward to reading more from u 💞💞💞

Unusual affection

thank you so much for your love!! I never wrote much AU before so this was such a fun idea and I hope I did it justice<3

word count; 1353 – gn!reader, dentist Oikawa AU, patient-dentist to lovers, suggestive

You're not so fond of going to the dentist. Luckily, your teeth didn’t give you many problems growing up, but your parents were urging you to get a check-up appointment after you moved away to a new city. Better to establish a dentist before the issues come up, they would say.

So you did, you made an appointment with dentist Oikawa Tooru and made your way to his office a few weeks later. His waiting list wasn’t exactly short. Not that you had to wonder why for long because…

that is one gorgeous man!

“You need to floss more regularly,” he added as if it just came naturally for him, which it probably did. You lay on the seat as he looked over all the basic stuff, rinsing and picking at your teeth. Unfortunately, you couldn’t see yourself attracting him very much with your mouth wide open and lips scrubbed dry already, so you just accepted your fate.

“I’m not really a dancer but I’ll try,” Oikawa stopped what he was doing and the swivel chair he sat on slowly turned towards you. That’s like something Makki would say, he thought. And that’s not a compliment.

“How old are you, 10?” he asked but quickly cleared his throat when the secretary seemed to eye him from her desk. She always said he shouldn’t have an attitude with customers.

“Some would say I’m a 10 out of 10!” you responded, joyfully watching as his patience wore thin. Oh, how fun to find cracks in that perfect exterior.

He sighed, shook his head, and turned back to the monitor. You started looking at the ceiling, counting the dots and lines in the ugly pattern until you lost count and started over. Is that a headache creeping up on you?

Finally, Oikawa rolled back over. You blinked a couple of times to shake off the view of the ceiling and actually focus on him. “Open.” Wouldn’t mind hearing him command you like that in another setting, you thought, suddenly avoiding eye contact again but still doing as he said. Dentists are not supposed to be this attractive. “Your wisdom teeth on this side, do they hurt?” he asked, pointing to the cheek he was referring to.

You thought about it, humming in thought. “Yes, especially after eating. Lots of food gets stuck in there too.”

“We can set up another appointment to get them removed,” he informed you. “It should be mostly covered by insurance if I say it’s necessary.”

You nodded, licking your lips as they felt so dry from his gloved hands running over them. “Will…” he was about to stand up but stopped for a moment to listen to you. “…you be doing that?”

A small humorous sound left his lips, and it sounded so melodic you were in a trance. “That could be arranged.”

Two weeks later, you’re back at the reception of your dentist's office, asking for Oikawa. You agreed to do the procedure with a local sedative, as you didn’t have that many close friends in this city yet that could pick you up, so two assistants were currently making sure you wouldn’t feel anything around your mouth for the next hours. Unfortunately, this called for you to stay quiet, and you were honestly just excited to see Dr. Hottie again.

Your prayers were answered, and after they left you to soak in the numb feeling in your mouth for about ten minutes, Oikawa walked through the door. “Hey there, little dancer.” he greeted you.

“Hi!” you cooed, but it sounded odd when you couldn’t feel your lips. You frowned, trying to look down at your lips for a moment before giving up. Oikawa clicked his tongue from where he watched you, shaking his head before putting gloves on. Everything he did seemed so elegant, but you had a sense there was a dorky side to him.

“It might hurt a bit, but just tap me if you need me to adjust, okay?” he informed you, looking into your eyes for an answer.

You nodded, sucking in a quick breath. His eyes were pretty. Swirly, like chocolate ice cream. “Yes, I got it.” You bit your top lip, sheepishly continuing. “My safeword is toothbrush.”

Oikawa seemed to chuckle under his breath, he hesitated to humour you but still gave in. “Good to know. I was half expecting a stupid joke about tap dancing.” he hummed before picking up the first tool he needed and swiftly getting to it. It wasn’t very fortunate, to have him stare at your face as your cheeks flushed red, but it was worth witnessing the self-satisfied smirk on his face.

The procedure didn’t take too long. He struggled with the lower tooth, so an assistant came in to help him and the two conversed like you weren’t even there. When it was finally done, Oikawa pressed a button so you were adjusted into a seated position. You let your lips run frantically over your chapped lips, reaching for the small cup of water he provided you. And had you not been busy with the aftermath of the procedure, you would have noticed the way he watched you for a moment too long before getting up and throwing away his gloves.

Oikawa knew it was inappropriate. His breath shouldn’t have stuttered when he saw you in the waiting room for the check-up, he shouldn’t have sent you a small wave before calling your name to let you know he was ready for you, and he shouldn’t have put his hand on your back while leading you to his station. He just found you entertaining, that’s what he told himself, but he definitely looked off his game when you finally sat down for him to check the stitches from the procedure.

“Everything alright there, doc?” you asked, eyebrows furrowed. Oikawa waved his hand as if it was nothing, laughing under his breath.

“No worries, I was just-” he pursed his lips before pointing at you with the little tool in his hand. “Do you like pasta?”

Your jaw loosened in disbelief. “Pasta? I guess I do, is that bad for my teeth or something?” you asked a bit awkwardly.

“There’s this new Italian restaurant down the street. You should go there,” he said. “With me, I mean.”

Oikawa’s penthouse apartment was pretty nice, so you two basically spent most of your time there after a couple of dates led to stumbling through your front door with your lips locked together. He had complained about the small bed and creaking floor of your apartment, which led him to take you home to his place the morning after.

Now you were sitting on the marble countertop in the bathroom with Oikawa standing between your legs, and it was similar to something you had dreamed up before when imagining life with a boyfriend. The difference was, you weren’t kissing or anything like that. No, your mouth was wide open as your handsome boyfriend checked your teeth before bed after you brushed them. “This is a bit unusual, don’t you think?” you managed to say, making him pout as you accidentally left a small bite on his pointer finger.

“You’re a bit unusual, but here we are,” he mumbled, but still hummed in appreciation at what he observed. “I knew the electric toothbrush would help.”

Finally, he leaned an arm on each side of you on the counter so you could have a kiss, which you’d say was a much better reward for being good at the dentist than the ones you would get when you were younger. “You truly are a genius, Tooru.” you cooed sarcastically. He kissed you again and hummed, savouring the aftertaste of your toothpaste. The expensive kind.

“Maybe I’m such a good dentist that my kisses clean your teeth,” he said, and it shouldn’t work. It shouldn’t be charming. It was cheesy, made no sense and created some disturbing mental images. But you savoured it nonetheless, accepting every kiss he gave you and returning it with the same sweetness.

Luckily, this dental nerd is all yours.

masterlist

[modawg]

omfg i just accidently deleted an ask abt percy being suicidal when i was trying to respond WTF bruh im so sorry but this is for you i hope you see this it was anon sorry pookie

the q was simply “is percy suicidal?” and asking for context

ok so basically no one has every come out and said “percy is suicidal” rick has never said this through what i know HOWEVER

it is smth that is deeply written into the text of the series not that he’s actively grabbing a knife or smth but that he is VERY prone to this line of thinking

many ppl point to the beginning of pjo when percy would pretty often talk abt dying and wanting to die or allowing himself to drown or just dark humor in that way; when i first started reading it was smth i never really noticed as anything other then a dramatic tween but once you get to hoo (along with looking at the amount of insecurity and low self esteem percy has in pjo) it kinda hits a limit

in hoo there’s an entire scene where after getting out of tartarus he’s fighting some bitch i forget who (polybotes) and gives up not trying to protect himself when he was literally in his element and later admits to jason that he thought he deserved to choke on poison

and DIE like it’s not like he’s saying “meh yeah i thought i’d give up and give them a chance 💯💯” like he is fully aware that stopping would kill him and he was going to allow that to happen

you could also pair this with percy almost drowning both himself and annabeth in tartarus with this; after they land in cocytus (river of depression literally) annabeth (though extremely distressed) has a pretty decent time swimming and staying alive in the water after the initial shock however percy almost fully gives up pulling them under and is much harder to break out of the “spell” (the voices)

a lot of this can be chalked up to traumatic events being tired or scared or all three but an easy gateway to suicidal ideations can stem from those things and percy’s been dealing with all of those the majority of his life

so yes and no if you want to say percy isn’t be my guest ? but this aspect of his life is such an interesting thing to pull apart because his reactions to the things he’s had to live through is one that’s extremely human and i feel like really breaths life into the sort of “reality” these characters live (if that makes sense lmao)

i feel like that last para sounded rude im not trying to be but idk how else to word that LMAO

and here’s the quotes (i recommend rereading pjo for the early stuff bc i’m not picking that apart but if someone else wants to they can)

if there’s anything else lmk and i won’t delete it next time i swear :(

[jounosparticles]

jouno’s eyelashes - a quick analysis

yes im analyzing jouno’s eyelashes. im obsessed with him what can i say.

one thing i’ve noticed throughout my many rereads of jouno’s segments of the manga is that he is actually given eyelashes in a lot of the panels he is present in! often times they’re just thin white lines but they’re definitely there. here are some examples.

now, if we recall back to what harukawa said about eyes a long time ago:

the darker ones eyes are, the more tainted or corrupted a person is. someone who is doing good and/or feeling good may have whiter eyes. to rephrase, one who’s eyes are dark are typically doing something corrupt and/or are in an emotionally bad state. we see this numerous times throughout the manga with many characters, the shade of their eyes changes with their emotion at the time usually.

now what does this have to do with jouno? well, i believe his eyelashes are used to display his intentions since he keeps his eyes closed constantly.

now, there are definitely some exceptions to this. panels where his eyelashes are small could be hard to colour this way, so im looking past a few instances for that purpose.

anyways, i believe looking at his eyelashes in this perspective also hints towards his betrayal of fukuchi, since you can see he has good intent. more on this later.

i'd also like to preface this by reminding you that jouno believed he was in the right with most things he did. he was sure the agency was in the wrong for a long time, times where his lashes were white while dealing with the agency was likely because he believed himself to be doing what is good.

now, starting with his debut in chapter 57, his eyelids are almost completely black as he arrests dazai

his eyelashes appear a bit darker as he torments people i find.

such as shortly after he slices kunikida's notebook and asks tetchou to kill yosano.

one scene i actually want to put a lot of emphasis on here is chapter 78's interaction between jouno and kunikida.

here is his face when he first walks in, he's simply making small talk over how a terrorist attack is awful

we can see his lashes pretty well.

we can also see it well when he's talking about his asian pear. maybe he just really likes them.

however, as the conversation progresses onto tormenting kunikida, his eyelids casually grow darker.

they're not completely black yet, but you can tell he is enjoying bothering kunikida despite his claim of innocence.

after this, you can see his lashes are a little brighter as he announces that yosano is going to be executed.

this makes sense remembering that he is under the belief that yosano is guilty of terrorism and is getting the punishment he believes she deserves.

after this, jouno walks away as kunikida cries out in anger.

his eyelashes are almost completely black here, likely because he is getting nothing but personal enjoyment out of kunikida's grief. he isn't doing good by this and this could definitely be seen as corrupt behaviour.

a huge contrast to what i've been saying falls in chapters 71 and 72, the cafe scenes.

you can see the white of his eyelashes in nearly every panel he's in.

what makes this different than when he was bothering kunikida is that bothering the cafe owner was moving his case forward. he believed he was pursuing justice and doing what is right by extracting important information here; as opposed to doing nothing but mentally torturing someone who isn't improving his case. from his perspective, his actions weren't tainted in anyway except possibly approach, but since he was doing what was right his eyelids were painted white.

another example of this is in chapters 60 and 61, when he is fighting the agency for the first time.

and when the agency escapes and he's surprised to find out the pursued terrorist group would have allies in chapter 62.

i found that these three chapters had a lot of small panels where you couldn't really see the detail of his eyes, but generally they were white as he caught the criminals. they were also white as they escaped, since he was likely confused that people were easily supporting the group he perceived as evil.

my last example of this is his eyes being very white as he tortures the bank robbers in the flashback scenes in chapter 92.5.

he believes that he is seeking justice here. the robber gets what they deserve, and his intentions are what he believes in just which explains his eyes being white.

anyways, to summarize this all: jouno's eyelashes colour often displays his morality. his lashes seem to be coloured more white when he is doing what is morally right from his perspective. even if what he is doing is considered brutal by most, his eyes glow white if it is in pursing of justice or good. in contrast, if what he is doing has no overall benefit and he is just distressing someone for purely his own enjoyment, his eyelids often are coloured much darker.

however, as i said above i believe this subtly hinted at jouno's betrayal of fukuchi.

in chapter 92, we can still see by his eyelashes that he has the right intentions when hunting for the agency.

and towards the end of the chapter we see his eyes still have a small white streak, implying his bluff on actually being willing to switch to the other side. at the same time, the thinness of the lash could be so small because he is lying to his superior as well, which i suppose could also be seen as tainted behaviour.

however, after fukuchi's plan is unraveled we see the brightness shine again.

as i stated above, when he isn't doing what he believes is right or is tormenting people for no reason but his own enjoyment, his eyes look black. but if you look at the image below you can see his eyes are partially coloured white, hinting that he was going to do what was right. it is subtle colouring, i assume that is partially due to the fact that his face was rather small on the page. but regardless it is still noticeable.

and what do we know? he did switch up and betray fukuchi shortly after saying this.

with that in mind, there's one scene i deliberately avoided bringing up until now; the scene i believe heavily tries to avoid hinting at jouno's betrayal of fukuchi. im referring to the scene where jouno confronts aya.

as i said, if jouno is acting corrupt towards someone for his own fun, his eyelids are dark, but if he's doing something that he believes is just his lashes remain partially white. i believe that out of context his eyes would likely be black as he torments aya, however since he secretly had good intention they would have actually been white.

however, the readers had yet to know the context of his approach until the end of chapter 93, so they needed to hide the fact that he may have had good intent here.

so harukawa kept his eyes covered (or coloured his face differently) throughout the scene.

the most we see of his face in this whole scene is his side profile, which is small enough to not need to colour his eyelashes in.

i believe this was an intentional choice to keep the readers from guessing that he was doing something he believes is right here.

anyways, to sum up this segment i believe that jouno's eyelashes in chapter 92-92.5 subtly hinted at the fact that he was indeed siding with aya and was preparing to betray fukuchi.

in conclusion, i believe jouno's eyelashes hint at his true intent a lot. they show that he is a good person hiding behind a facade. the shading of his eyelids is a lot more subtle than how most character's eyes look in the manga, which i believe helps add more to jouno's somewhat moral ambiguity. he is an incredibly well-written character and i can't wait to see more of him!

[kingofthering]

january-march 2024

ao3

be sweet to me baby (rosquez) by @moonshynecybin

Not written for me but it came out on my birthday and I considered it the best present possible.

butterfly effect (dovquez) by @lestelledreams

This was so soft. And tender. I was right there with them and it was beautiful.

once and almost completely (bezz/cele) by @crozley

Hot shit. Hot shit.

ace of cups, the fool, eight of wands (bezz/cele) by @baking-soda

Do you wanna know how many times I reread this? Truth is, I don't even know myself.

A House in Nebraska (rosquez) by @austenaire

As a French person, the choice of city in this one is so funny to me but that aside, it was a really nice read, I promise. And that last line is very Vale.

steamroller (rosquez) by anonymous

Yes these two were made to be playful in bed. "So I win?" !!!! Very into the banter there, I don't like being sad but it was okay there, worth it.

this is a love story (rosquez) by @anitalianfrie

Mixed Media AU. Please look at this (on a computer) for the sheer amount of work that went into it. Insanely beautiful.

kill your heroes (rosquez) by @moonshynecybin

PWP to end all PWP. I am so in love, it's so hot and fun and perfect.

young hot trouble (enea/diggia) by @anitalianfrie

Yes. Hot. Give me more.

situations like this (casey/vale) by anonymous

Things that are absolutely delicious in this : the characterization of the two of them, Valentino's lines, Casey's internal monologue, how hot they are.

tumblr

omega verse pecco/luca by @baking-soda

rosquez feminization by @moonshynecybin

pecco/luca sex thoughts by @baking-soda

mr. and mrs. smith rosquez by @topnotchquark

virgin sacrifice rosquez by @love-leah

pecco/luca harem au by @baking-soda

abo rosquez with marc's heat by @love-leah

bezz/cele kissing thoughts by @f1vegas

ski resort dovquez by @lastlatebraker

rosquez + marc topping by @baking-soda

rosquez cyborg au by @vanillow

pecco/luca moment by @uwabbittuwabbit

pecco/bezz nightclub moment by @love-leah

rosquez abo + their bond post divorce by @moonshynecybin

rosquez + reporter marc au by @moonshynecybin

bezz/marc body swap by @anitalianfrie

royalty au rosquez by @love-leah

rosquez only fans au by @hotmessmaxpress

marc knows mean (rosquez, bezz/vale) by @thewriters-world

marc/vale/bezz threesome by @moonshynecybin

bezz/cele + confession by @yekoc

And like, this feels a little self-centered but I feel so blessed every time @moonshynecybin develop any kind of FCO AU thoughts (with me and others). Turns out you can admire artists from afar and then work with them months later, how insane is that.

[owlf45]

started scrolling through candor and ended up rereading the whole thing. here's some things that I noticed that people didn't pick up on/didn't mention in comments (ordered from most interesting (IMO) to least):

chapter arcs & stages of grief

Roughly each of the 7 chapters in Candor embodies a different stage of grief (an extended model from the 5 stage model): shock, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, reconstruction, and acceptance. because grief is inherently messy, these stages are superfluous and sometimes a chapter cycles through multiple of these moods. but, generally, each chapter shines with each stage of grief. (funnily enough, this was not necessarily intentional; I broke up the chapters in terms of vibes and readability, but it turned out quite nicely.)

theme: growth, love, and the unsaid conflict b/t AFO & Yoichi

everyone picked up on the theme of self love, but really the theme is about love despite changing. its about growing up.

you see where this theme shows the failure of love when people grow in two different directions. Yoichi and AFO in chapter 3, for example:

“You lied to me,” All For One snarls. “I told you I would take care of you. I loved you, and you lied to me.”  “The person I loved died the minute you decided to kill for no reason!” Izuku snaps.  All For One reels. “What happened to the Yoichi that cared? What happened to you?”

And:

All For One watches him curiously. “I wonder how many times my adoring little brother will watch you die,” he says simply. “I wonder how long it will take before he realizes it was his fault he changed.” 

Versus Yoichi and Izuku in chapter 6:

“When you choose to love somebody, you choose to love a different version of them every day.” Yoichi looks sad. His hair curtains his face more than usual. “Maybe, when you wake up from this simulation, you will not be the same. Maybe the person who went into the simulation isn’t the one who will come out of it.” Izuku stares.  “If they love you,” Yoichi says, “they will choose to keep loving you.” “They can’t love someone who doesn’t exist anymore,” Izuku says, defeated.  “It exists, here, in your memories,” Yoichi replies. “And it exists in their memories too.” 

it is as blatant a metaphor for growing up as I could get without starting to wax poetry. it's about changing, becoming someone so different that recognizing you is difficult. yes, it is about loving yourself, but its about loving in spite of not being the person you were once comfortable being.

the line 'it exists, here, in your memories' ('it' meaning izuku) is also a little bit funny. izuku is quite literally in his memories when this line is spoken, but he is not the person he wants to be there (he is not who he was before the simulation): instead, he is unrecognizable, monstrous, and lost. it is supposed to be paradoxical. at the same time yoichi says, "it exists here, in your memories", 'it' does not exist in his memories— 'it' is dead. the contradiction lends itself to the theme of growth often being a confusing, uncertain period.

(note that Yoichi is speaking both times here. in chapter 3 he says he loved a person who died (a younger AFO who no longer exists, who didn't kill others). in chapter 6, yoichi says that when you love someone, you choose to love different versions of them as they come. here is as close as yoichi gets to confessing that he loves afo, still, even as he hates him. what makes chapter 3 fascinating is that afo says he loves Yoichi but means it shallowly and obsessively—he means he loves a version of Yoichi that is adoring, repentant, and reliant on afo. yoichi dies with his love completely unmentioned (it's not even in the narration), though it is far more real.)

inspiration from canon

there are a lot of references to the muscular fight, and the first time is when I introduce the readers to warring identities between izuku wanting to flee and wanting to fight (civilian Deku vs. hero Deku). this dialogue is actually directly from canon (the anime, at the very least). watching it inspired that whole part of the fic.

the fourth vestige & theme: perception

less for candor, more for the series in general: people wildly overestimate the 'evilness' or twistedness of izuku's fourth vestige in perception, which is my fault because I made aizawa the POV and the man is notoriously paranoid and harsh. his personal feelings do melt into the narration quite a bit which paint a brutal picture (which I did on purpose but I underestimated how seriously people took aizawa's POV), so ill talk a little bit from behind the scenes. i find the fourth vestige to be cunning, analytical, and sort of the mastermind behind canon!izuku's brains. civilian-izuku can memorize tons of facts, but obviously, he's not much of a planner. he tends to go about things in a very headstrong way, as seen by how he mindlessly throws himself into the simulation. UA izuku (the fourth) is more creative. but much like the other vestiges, he is scared and doesn't want to be left behind. he takes satisfaction when he's seen as a person, a worthy hero, a challenge. as a result, he's much like a peacock, posturing in the way izuku does at UA to seem confident and in control, though pushed to an extreme because its hosted in a single vestige. the line that gets twisted in aizawa's POV the most, I think, is this one, where UA Izuku says this to civilian (Aldera) deku:

UA Izuku holds his hand out to the other. “I don’t want to hurt people any more than you do.” And the lie is so, so smooth.

which, if you think about it for a second, is probably not an unrealistic lie for... well, anyone. civilian Deku would cry if he stepped on a ladybug. here UA izuku is charming, knowing that civilian Deku is twitchy, frightened, and difficult to pin down, and needs to be reassured of UA Izuku's goodness and kindness. UA Izuku, understanding how explosive the other two vestiges are, has to think creatively to minimize conflict and does that by seeking out the one most likely to hurt himself to keep him safe (I find UA izuku would be the least likely). now, would UA izuku be willing to hurt others? probably, if it meant keeping himself and others safe. but that's not an evil value. hence why I titled perception the way I did... not just because more things are happening that were never seen in candor, but also because Aizawa himself, our POV and our muse for the day, brings his own biases to the table.

theme: grief, again

explaining the up-and-downs of each chapter is super complicated and circumstantial, so I wont for all of them, but I wanted to talk about chapter 3 (again! I guess it has my heart). it has a heavy focus on the warmest, most compassionate characters (fifth and seventh). as hinted above, it is also the 'anger' stage of grief. much of the chapter is about this compassionate love, but its also about loss, and the anger that accompanies it. chapter three starts with izuku whole and ends with him in pieces as he loses parts of himself in parallel of fifth/seventh's memories. candor is constantly ending at an arc where it started (but with its occupants changed, different). the material in each chapter and between chapters is circular/repetitive, much like grieving is.

fun fact, i guess

the first scene in candor is not the first scene that izuku goes through. the very first line says as much: "It’s the third time Izuku’s hit the pavement face-first... And it’s his third time dying today." It's implied that Izuku's already been at it for a while in different scenes, though it's subtle. no one seemed to pick up on that in the comments until it was shown in perception. i wanted it to be very evident what the crux of the conflict in the fic was, however, so I started with the jumping-out-the-window scene.

i dont believe this is a super inclusive look at everything candor has to offer, but here's a few things i could think of right off the top of my head. again, this is what I was thinking about when I wrote it, but I am but one person, so conveying these points might not be obvious or done poorly. nevertheless, if you ever decide to go back and reread parts of it, I hope some of my decisions are enlightening and/or interesting!!

[magnifythesun]

Hi! Are you still taking ianthony prompts? I've had this stuck in my head the time Ian's car broke down and Anthony said he begged Ian 6 times to come pick him up and I just imagine Damsel in Distress Ian who's also stubborn and a bit oblivious to a worried and protective Anthony who's always there for him in different situations.

Thank you sooo much for the prompt!!

This is definitely one of my favorite little details that they've dropped about themselves haha!! I can't believe Anthony had to ask Ian SIX whole times just to come get him 😂 Ian truly must never ask for help! Okay, I'm a little rusty in my writing but I'm excited so let's see how this goes! Let me know what you think! ^_^

(mid writing notes: writing this really made me realize just how many times SIX whole times of asking your friend to let you give them a ride is. SIX TIMES)

Read on ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/56102110

--

Leave it to Ian to get stranded in the only 'middle-of-nowhere' spot in LA. Anthony was wearing tracks into his living room carpet, caught up in rereading the messages Ian had sent.

"Car broke 😢" was the first sign of trouble, accompanied by the sad photo of Ian's car half-pulled off of the asphalt into grass.

"Where are you?" Anthony had shot back, confused by the seemingly rural background of the photo. "Got AAA coming to help?"

"In the most barren part of the whole city." Ian replied after a couple of minutes. "I'm taking a look at at it now but yeah I'm probably going to call them. Car sounds fucked."

"Shit, man. Lemme know if you need a ride" Anthony offered. It only took a second for the reply.

"No worries, I'll be good."

There had been radio silence for a while then. Anthony hadn't been too stressed. He figured Ian already had a different person lined up to get him if his car didn't start back up. Still, he kept glancing at his phone for updates that didn't come.

After about forty minutes, and a quick glance at the clock that told him it'd be getting dark soon, Anthony texted Ian again.

"Triple A fix your car?"

The response was prompt. "Nope"

Anthony stared at the message, knowing this man did not just send him only the word 'nope.' It took a minute but more followed.

"The AAA guy's still looking at it but from what I can tell it's beyond his scope. He mentioned I should probably call a tow truck so I've been looking at reviews."

Anthony glanced outside his window, frowning at the rapidly darkening sky. "That sounds like a good idea. after you call whoever, I can drive over so you have a ride once they've towed yours"

Ian responded quickly, "No don't worry I'm all good."

Definitely must have a ride then, Anthony thought. Still, he had to make sure. "Oh good, you've got a ride then?"

There was a long pause, so Anthony set his phone down, glancing at the setting sun again and went to get some water from the kitchen.

Coming back in to his phone, he checked his messages, and-

"No, I'll probably just Uber."

Anthony was flabbergasted. "Why?? Don't worry man it's no problem for me to pick you up. Let me know where you're at." It was actually just straight up dark outside at this point. "Is the AAA guy still there??"

"Nah he's gone. Waiting on the tow truck."

Alone in the middle-of-nowhere Los Angeles? Anthony thought, In the dark? Worry flared up in his chest and the pacing began.

"Ian, just drop me your map pin and I'll head over."

"It's chill, I'm not in a rush to get home." Ian replied, not a care in the world.

Anthony resisted the urge to bury his face in his hands. "that's not really the point??"

Suddenly a picture was loading in on the messages.

Anthony braced himself for a lackadaisical gif (and yes, he pronounced it jif like god and the creator intended) but was greeted instead with a horrendous selfie of Ian holding the phone at an angle an inch from his chin, smiling at him. The artificial light from his phone lit up the interior of his car behind him. Anthony couldn't help but laugh, even as the worry churned in his stomach. Another message followed.

"Don't worry. I'm a big boy now, all grown up and everything."

Anthony considered wracking his brains for a daddy joke, but decided Ian didn't deserve it right now. He grabbed his keys and wallet, flicked off the living room light, and left, locking his door behind him. As he walked toward his car, he jabbed the call button.

It rang only twice before Ian picked up. Anthony heard him take a breath to speak and didn't give him a chance. "Ian, just tell me where you're at, I'm heading to my car now."

"I-" Ian sounded surprised. There was a moment of rustling on the other end, then Anthony was clearly put on speaker as Ian's voice echoed slightly through the call. "Anthony, really, it's fine. The tow truck people have an ETA of like 15 minutes and then I'll call the Uber while they're hooking the car up."

Anthony, now at his car, pressed his eyes closed for a second in annoyance as he clicked his key. He hoped Ian could hear the pointed little beep-beep of his car unlocking in response.

"You really don't have to go out of your way to come get me," Ian continued, undeterred. "I didn't mean to derail your whole night with this," He laughed.

Anthony got in the car and leaned his head on his steering wheel in despair. "Ian."

"What?" Ian asked.

Anthony began to laugh despite himself, "I don't understand," He laughed harder, pushing the words out. "Why won't you just let me pick you up? I've asked you like five times!"

There was a moment of silence from Ian's end, and Anthony knew Ian was processing just how ridiculous this had become. Ian started snickering. Then they were both just laughing, Anthony holding the phone tight to his ear as Ian's laughter poured from it, his other hand ready to turn the car on.

"So," Anthony caught his breath, "So can you -please- drop me a map pin so I can come get you?"

"Alright, alright." Ian said.

Ian's voice was soft and breathless from his laughter. Anthony had spent a long time learning how to properly relish the beautiful moments in his life. The sound of Ian's voice right now, echoing slightly through the phone? That was one of those moments.

Anthony's phone pinged. "There. You happy?"

"Finally, my god." Anthony pulled the phone away to check. "Okay, I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Great," Ian said. "I think the tow truck gets here right about then." Anthony could still hear the smile in his voice. "I'll be here, waiting for you to rescue me."

[jienem]

Falling through his realm

Hi everyone! Thank you for reading this story. This was like my story Falling down to the Queen's roses. This was not a part 2 rather a similar to that concept. Keep in mind that you a reader is a half-fae like sebek. Thank you once again for reading this story. I really appreciate it very much.

Sypnosis: In which you got sent into another world where Maleficent or known as Malleus rule over the faeries.

How does one understand magic?" You wondered. You sat down under the protection of tall trees, away from the sun's gaze. You opted to spend your time at the library, but with exams coming around, the chairs would be quite full at a moment. Instead, you chose a spot on the botanical garden away from the students sight.

Despite being a magic-user, you still couldn't grasp the abilities of your magic. You were neither bad nor good at magic, but as you used it as a tool, you were slowly doubting if it was worth the effort.

"Does magic bring peace?" You mumbled once more, turning the pages onto another as you tried to read. Try as you might, you kept rereading the lines many times before giving up on your attempt. Instead, you gazed up high; the green leaves covered the bluish sky, yet you didn't mind the view. You closed your eyes and breathed in the fresh air, letting your head fall backward and hitting the wooden tree lightly. The leaves sway back and forth, lulling you to sleep. You were exhausted; helping your dorm for the upcoming school festival, having to use your magic for a long run, and staying up late just so you could finish your schoolwork was no easy feat.

Even as you slept, you picked up a crunch sound heading your way. Your response was to simply continue sleeping, hoping just a little they could leave. Yet they didn't. Slowly and surely, their foot made their way until they are an arm's distance from you.

"Tch, a herbivore from diasomnia is in my way, he growled. You fluttered your eyes and glanced at his figure, noticing his irritation. It seems you were at one of his hideouts. His silence continued once more, and his patience is wearing thin. You nod your head in greeting before plastering a smile on your face.

"Housewarden Kingscholar, can I help you?"

"Crawling away from my spot will help."

You sighed. "Is that so? Well, then, if you excuse me, you said, closing the book and standing up from the ground. His expression stayed emotionless, yet you didn't miss the way his eye twitched at your movement.

"What's wrong? A cat bit your tongue?" He taunted.

"None at all." You checked your belongings once more and tilted your head to look at him. You plastered a smile once more without any fight. He opened his mouth but closed it; he mumbled something under his breath and turned his back on you. You frowned in confusion before shrugging and leaving the garden. You passed by some familiar students and greet them, you hold some small conversation with Ruggie Bucchi alerting him where Housewarden Leona was and stride your way towards the mirror.

"Y/N, are you already heading back?"

"Vice housewarden Lilia. Yes, was the dorm still under preparation?" You paused in your tracks and greeted. Lilia's deep red eyes held joy; his lips curled up a smile and he nodded.

"Indeed, but it was almost done. It was fun designing the main area, did it not?" He put the back of his hand to his chin and closed his eyes, chuckling.

You shared his joyous expression and agreed. For once, the dorm was filled with more noise than before. It was usually quiet every time you came back, yet you didn't mind the change. For a while, the two of you stood there talking until you noticed the clock nearby.

"I should get back soon; I wouldn't hold you back from your duty, Vice-Housewarden Lilia."

He chuckled lightly and patted your shoulder. "Ow, don't be so formal, Y/N,

We are both in our third years. Call me Lilia."

"Ah, well then, Lilia-san. I wished you the best of luck." You fumbled your words at the sudden request before smiling.

"You as well. Stay safe, Y/N."

He returned your words and left you on your record. You turn around and

Head your way towards the mirror and step in.

But something is wrong.

.

Your magic.

.

.

Is bursting with mana engulfing your whole body.

.

.

It hurts so much.You could feel your magic slipping by. Your vision was distorted as you fell down in pain. Whimpering in pain, you tried to use your pen whispering some magic spells but to no avail. Even the world around you seems to be shaking. Your body couldn't handle anymore and blacked out in an instant.

When you woke up, your head was aching. 'Where was I? ' You rubbed your temple to ease the pain. At the very least, you still wear the uniform, and your magic pen is by your side. But you feel empty. The magic running through your course was nonexistent, as if it weren't there at all. Your heart thumps against your chest as you breathe.

You lost your magic.

No, it must be something. After all, you were exhausted.

You reasoned. You calm your nerves and focus on the bright side.

Yet... Why do you feel as if it won't come back?

A half-fae turn human now.

No, don't even think about it. You comfort yourself more before turning around and looking at the surroundings. The sun was replaced by the moon shining on the ground, and you wondered how many hours had passed. You note how everything differs from NRC's. The air was much colder than diasomnia, and the area wasn't supposed to be wide. There shouldn't be a castle in the distance or thorn walls creeping from the side. You concluded you were neither in Diasomnia nor at NRC.

Where are you?

You didn't have time to grasp everything when strange soldiers headed your way. Your eyes widened, and you turned to run. You couldn't believe your luck; what made them want to capture you?

"A human! Quick capture her!" one of the soldiers ordered, earning them to yell in agreement.

"Wait, I-" Huffing, you maneuvered your way, dodging their attacks, and almost fell down when they released a rock mere meters away. You tried to use your magic, but it was still useless. Your attention was on your pen, and failed to noticed a newcomer in front, you bumped into them and fell to the ground.

"What a surprise, human. You boldly went your way here despite the dangers lurking around."

Lilia?

"Lilia-"

Your vision was suddenly covered with a cloth, and your heart pounded as you heard the swishing sounds of bats swarming around you, carrying you in the air. You squeaked and tried to swat them away, but they held on enough that it could have hurt had it not been for the long sleeve of your uniform.

"I wouldn't try that if I were you." His amused voice filled your ears, and you couldn't help but compare them earlier; his tone was much colder than before.

"Lilia-san, what is going on? Why aren't we back at NRC? Could you please-"

"Stop asking questions. And its Vanrouge. Once we reach the king, you could give your statement to him." he sneered.

You shut your mouth when you notice a shift in the air. His tone was much colder than before. With that they continued. You relied on your ears, but the only sound you ever heard was multiple footsteps. Yet you could feel magic surging around you. You tried your magic once more, but it was the same as before. Nothing. For a while, they cackled and chat around. You couldn't hear Lilia at all. You dreaded everytime they stop from their tracks. Your nerves gets the better of you as you thout about the king.

Would he be lenient?

Without warning, the cloth on your eyes was suddenly pulled down. You blink your eyes adjusting them before meeting the gaze of the one sitting on a throne. He was already staring at you.

"My king, we have brought a human near the wall." Lilia lowered herself towards the ground, his head tilting downward as he greeted his king. You gasp as you took in the figure. His green-slitted eyes, his cool-black hair was longer than before, and instead of a school uniform, he wore a robe covering most of his body and a bit of the ground. He still had his horns, but what shakes you the most is his stare. It was much scarier than usual.

He looks at you as if your words may fail you or approve your worth under his command.

And you know he will.

Taking a deep breath, you whispered your blessings to the seven. And slowly speak with the king.

"Your Majesty-"

And its done! Stay tune for more~

Taglist

@worldussysblog @daruderuyoo @growingupnrealizing @fluffle-bean @luciel1 @lucid-stories @ykiqlvr @savanaclaw1996 @hachiko-ko

[shouldhavebeenpersephone]

In GTN chapter 36, Cytherea says “None of you have learned how to die gracefully. I learned over 10,000 years ago"

Do you know/have a theory as to how Cyth could have learned anything pre-resurrection? She was not one of the original lyctors present for the resurrection and it was only 10,000 years ago. It could be hyperbole but I am suspicious of the “over 10,000 years”.

Thank you so much for the ask! I wanted to take my time with it, I hope you didn't mind the wait.

I actually had been chewing on this with my most recent GtN reread. Bear with me as I cut and paste all the pieces that form my thoughts on this - hopefully it's somewhat coherent to read.

Could "over 10000 years" be a hyperbole? Maybe. A lot of characters tell the 'truth' as far as they believe it to be so even if it's factually incorrect. I don't think, however, that Tamsyn would make Cytherea say it in this specific way if it was a hyperbole. In GtN chapter 35 where Palamedes confronts Cytherea we get the following lines, which are what feed my intuition about this:

"Don't lie to me, please."

Dulcinea said, "I have never lied to any of you."

Cytherea has no reason to lie, especially not after being confronted by Palamedes. She tells him herself - she has been giving pieces of the truth and using those to manipulate the narrative. Because of this and because it's much more fun if it isn't a hyperbole I see no point to dismiss it as an emotional inaccuracy.

So let's say she is over 10,000 years old. How does that work?

First thing I went looking for while trying to figure this out was the question of Cytherea's birth. On the fandom wiki, it states that Cytherea was born into the established Seventh. I have been combing through the books, and I cannot find anything in canon that truly confirms this. What we do know of the timeline and her age is the following from HtN chapter 9:

"When they first brought her to Canaan House, I thought there'd been some mistake. - She was just shy of thirty then, I recall. -

-Was she the first gen, or second?"

"Second," said God. "Early second. We were still experimenting with getting the Sixth installation up and running. Some of the Houses were empty."

Mercymorn spoke up: "No. We had it running by then. Because Valancy was with us, and Anastasia."

-"Yes, you're right. We were all there to meet her. All sixteen of us -

'Some of the houses were empty' is the important line here, because in NtN John 5:4 Harrow describes how the resurrection happened:

-You resurrected some of them. You wake up fewer still. You start out with a few thousand, then, later, some hundred thousand, then millions, but never more than millions. You teach them how to live all over again. You teach yourself. -

The houses are named in order of resurrection. The Seventh, then, comes after the Sixth, which should make it obvious that by the time Cytherea arrived the Sixth was already established - or the Seventh wouldn't have existed. Yet, for some reason, for John this is not as obvious. I have found what could be an explanation in HtN chapter 2:

He said, "No. I haven't truly resurrected anyone in ten thousand years. But at that time... I set many aside, for safety... and I've often felt bad about just keeping them as insurance. They've been asleep all this myriad, Harrow, -

The difference wouldn't be as obvious to John, because he didn't resurrect the houses one by one. He resurrected a chunk of the earth's population, kept them dormant, and piece by piece woke them up to populate the houses. Beyond the fact that Cytherea is never said to have been born on the Seventh in canon (again, to my knowledge - please correct me if I missed it), the following from HtN chapter 2 really seals the deal in my eyes that she was not born on the Seventh but rather woken up for the Seventh.

The emperor said gently, "She needs to go home, Harrow."

"That was never her home," he said.

You did not look. "And will the Seventh House accept her?"

I also considered John might feel Cytherea belongs at home with the other Lyctors and therefore denies that the Seventh is her home, but then remembered the following from the same chapter:

He said, "No Lyctor has ever returned home, once we understood the reprecussions... no Lyctor except one, who knew I would come to intercept her for that very reason."

He is talking about how Harrow cannot go home to the Ninth, and referring to Cytherea going home by returning to Canaan house located on earth. John also talks about the kind of people he resurrected in NtN John 5:4:

-We'll get them all back... some of them, anyway... or at least, the ones I want to bring back. Anyone I feel didn't do it. Anyone I feel had no part in it. Anyone I can look at the face of and forgive. -

Part of the same chapter I included above in combination with this one make me itchy almost. Harrow says 'You teach them how to live all over again.' That almost feels like it should be people who recently learned how to live. Like John only resurrected kids.

Think about it. He resurrects his loved ones and ones he can forgive. People who did not take part in the destruction of earth in his eyes. Who other than children could he really be talking about? Children, babies, who have no power to decide or influence to exert, who - even if they did have the power - do not have the capacity to understand the consequences of their actions. Whose memories will be easiest to erase because there is so little to begin with.

It then also makes sense why there were two generations of Lyctors. The population he woke up had to grow up into adults first. Why else would he have half a band of Lyctors trying to settle all of the Houses? If he was able to pick adults worthy of resurrection, he would have been able to pick adults capable of establishing his houses and becoming his hands and gestures.

One final point that drives this home is the following from the very beginning of GtN in chapter 7 when Teacher tells the Ninth about Dulcinea's condition:

"Dulcinea Septimus was not meant to live to twenty-five,"-

Dulcinea's hereditary disease is the same as Cytherea's. John did not know she was sick when she first was brought to Canaan house, which means that when he resurrected her, she must have been young enough to not be actively dying yet. Perhaps a toddler or a child who had been sick for some time - long enough to know what it feels like to slowly be dying.

So, all in all, my answer is that Cytherea was not born on the Seventh. I am not sure where the idea that the second generation was born on their planets of origin came from, but I honestly doubt any of them were born instead of woken. Cytherea claiming to have learned something 10,000 years ago would be a great way for Tamsyn to give us just enough to figure it out - this is, after all, the same author who gave us the big reveal of the second book in the first sentence of the first book of her series.

[judeswhore]

written in these pages; steve harrington

summary: after figuring out the reasoning behind your favourite book, steve takes the time to annotate his own copy

pairing: steve harrington x reader

requested: yes

warnings: none

notes: you can find my masterlist here

steve harrington wasn't much of a reader. he could never concentrate long enough to focus on the printed words, couldn't settle his mind enough to really take in what was happening and to be honest, he didn't really care for stories. in school he always got brief summaries of books from his classmates, blagged his way through tests without ever actually picking up a novel. he'd never really understood the love other people had for it, never really wanted to understand. until he met you.

in the weeks leading up to him asking you on your very first date, every time he'd seen you it had been with a book in hand, barely paying attention to what was going on around you, completely in your own world. maybe it was kinda weird and robin had called him out on it a few times but he liked watching you read. not in a creepy obsessive way, just, he liked seeing you get lost in the words, found a strange sort of comfort in the way you became so absorbed. sometimes, when you both happened to be at the coffee shop at the same time, he'd find a seat where he could see you, would often let his coffee go cold because he was too busy trying to understand what was happening in the book depending on your expression.

sometimes your brow would crease, a soft worried line appearing in your skin, one he so badly wanted to smooth out with his finger. or your lips would quirk into a barely there smile, one so small that others would probably miss it but steve already had you mapped out, could read you just as easily as you could read your book. he liked those smiles, the ones you tried to hide, but when you really smiled that's when he lost his head because sometimes you'd grin so brightly his breath would get lodged in his throat.

he'd lost count of how many books you'd read in the time it took him to find courage to ask you out, but he had realised over the course of those few weeks, you often went back to the same book; little women. at first he thought it was just taking you longer to read, that maybe you were getting bored and swapping between books but no. it was your favourite book and steve later found out that it was a large comfort to you just to have it with you.

you’d explained one night, the two of you curled up beneath his sheets, words quiet as though it was a secret, that sometimes your anxiety got the best of you, made you struggle and panic over the smallest of things. you carried your old and slightly tattered version of little women with you everywhere, kept it tucked away so that in those moments, when the world got too loud you could thumb through the pages, read and reread your favourite lines until your breathing evened out and things didn’t seem so crushing. steve had felt something twist inside of him, realised that having your head in a book all those times he’d seen you was more than just enjoyment, it was something to ground you, to ease your anxiety.

it was also in that moment that steve harrington decided he was going to read his first book.

but he didn’t just read it. he stole a pack of pens from erica one night, some sticky notes too, and spent the next week or so carefully annotating the copy of little women he’d drove two towns over to buy. it was a special edition copy, different to the one you had, fresh paged and marked only by steve. he added his own thoughts to the margins, wrote a few cheesy jokes that popped to mind, circled and underlined words and phrases that made him think of you. he even wrote an inscription on the first page, signed it with a well meant “i love you” and a somewhat terrible heart. he’d took his time with the book, wanting to understand why it meant so much to you and he wanted to show through his words and attention how much you meant to him.

to say he was nervous to give it to you would be an understatement, once he’d finished reading he’d left it hidden in his sock drawer for two weeks, carefully wrapped in brown paper, a piece of string tied delicately across the middle. he worried you wouldn’t like it, worried that maybe you didn’t want to hear his thoughts on the book, that his added commentary wouldn’t be helpful during your most anxious moments and you’d never even bother to look through it. but this was you, who sat attentive at his side during movie night, almost begging to hear what he thought, who asked for his opinion on everything, no matter how small because even if steve didn’t know it, everything he had to say was important to you. and so one night as he picked you up from work he finally gave it to you.

“there’s uh, there’s a present in the glove box for you.” his words were soft, whispered nervously into the quiet car, his fingers tightening a little on the steering wheel, gaze focused straight ahead. you raised your eye brows at him, shifted in the passenger seat before tugging the compartment open, confusion clouding your features as you pulled the brown package out, set it gently in your lap.

“what is it?”

“open it and see.” he swallowed, ran a hand through his hair and glanced at you, smile small but encouraging. he felt nauseous with nerves, worried again that you wouldn’t like it because he’d never done anything like this for anyone else, had never even thought of gifting someone something so personal and thought out, a gift that came from his heart and not his wallet. he was thankful to be driving, he was worried if the car was parked he’d have to get out, would try to walk away.

you opened it quietly, fingers tugging carefully at the string and then tearing the paper, revealing the corner of the book you knew so well. you frowned, tugged more of the paper off until the novel was on full display and you could trace your finger tips over the title on the front. you turned to look at him.

“little women?”

“yeah, i- uh- maybe you should open it?” steve coughed lightly and nodded his head towards the book, watched out of the corner of his eye as you turned to the first page, the one he’d wrote the message reminding you how amazing you were, how you could face anything you wanted to. you gazed at it, mouth open, thumb brushing over the ink and your silence worried him, the way your body had fallen still making nerves lick at the furthest corners of his mind. he stumbled over his words. “i read it because you told me how much it meant to you and how much it helped and i wanted to be able to talk to you about it but then i also thought that maybe i could annotate it y’know? you said it helps with your anxiety, reading it or just going through it and i don’t know maybe i was being ridiculous but i thought maybe i could help too. i thought some of the stuff i wrote might be able to help when you get in that headspace, might be able to calm you down or bring you some sort of comfort.”

steve was blushing, face a soft pink, ears hot to the touch and his stomach was in knots, fingers drumming against the wheel. he glanced at you again and some sort of relief washed over him, settled the unsteady beat of his heart because you were smiling. that full blown smile that he adored, that made his thoughts scatter and his chest tighten.

“you really sat and annotated this? for me?” he nodded as you thumbed through the pages, smile growing bigger with each passing second, eyes tracing over each note he’d left behind, each remark about how he’d thought about you during certain moments. “steve.” it was breathless and you sounded a little choked up, eyes glassy when you looked at him.

“i just wanna help, y’know? even if you keep using your old one and just have that one at home, i don’t mind, i just wanted to do something for you. to help if things got a little too much and you needed a distraction.” you startled him when you moved across the car, pressed your lips to his cheek, his temple, the corner of his mouth, your hand cupping his jaw.

“do you have any idea how in love with you i am?” he blushed even more, couldn’t hold back his smile as you kissed his jaw. “i can’t believe you took the time to do this. i know reading isn’t your thing and i know lots of people wouldn’t wanna sit through reading little women and you have no idea how happy i am knowing that you did. knowing that you took the time to write everything you did.” you nuzzled into the side of his head, both of you grinning like idiots and steve shrugged a little, felt his body relax now he knew what he’d done was something you appreciated.

“i love you.” that was his answer, his reasoning, his why. steve had read and annotated because he loved you, because he wanted to give you something that was well thought out and personal, a show of how much you meant to him, something that, if need be, could distract you from your anxiety and the incessant crush of the world.

steve harrington wasn’t much of a reader. until he met you.

[rarepears]

Ok I was rereading your "Break news: Westeros lord marries a stranger?" Fic and I am almost sure Jinwoo would be the kind of parent that would gift those super expensive security stuff (like those necklaces that point to your ubi and stuff like that

But of course he can just teleport himself to the child and they have the shadows to protect them

But I just imagine him looking through the system's shop and seeing these jewelry that looks beautiful, maybe has a leon charm or a sword that looks like one of Jaime's drawings and he goes: why not?

So he buys some, cause the children are the kind of using different accessories for the week and he just thought that those earrings were very pretty and that bracelet wouldn't interfere with sword practice

And look! That ring would look really pretty on Tywin (cues their drama cause one of Jinwoo's books told about this tradition) and why not? :D this isn't the first gift he gave to him

So yeah, in my mind Jinwoo is the parent that buys his family everything they want and doesn't see a problem, they work very hard and deserve a reward and he likes to spoil them

Firstly, what is "ubi"? Because I'm thinking "universal basic income" and that's not what you're referring to. If you were thinking more along the lines of "gps", that wouldn't be possible since GPS requires satellites to circle the planet that Westeros is located and the GPS chip uses said satellites (on a very precise orbit) to decode and compute the precise location of said chip. Unless Jinwoo starts importing satellites to float around Westeros...

Something that I was consciously writing into this fic was Jinwoo and Jinah's kind of over the top gifting/shopping. They went from buying only the bare necessities (and some times not even that) to now having more money than they could ever spend. This sudden swing in financial purchasing power is making them go a little crazy like how Jinah is buying waaaaay too many clothes for Jinwoo to wear and paying a lot of attention to Jinwoo's PR. At least Jinah has a bit of Sudden Wealth Syndrome - a bit of an identity crisis because she can suddenly afford to spend money on her hobbies and other wants, fear that Jinwoo needs a backup plan in case he gets too injured to keep clearing gates, and also not quite knowing who she is going to be as a person (because she is just a teenager).

Then there's Jinwoo's mom who doesn't quite know if it's her place to say anything about the siblings' shopping spree. These kids are so incredibly independent from what she remembered before her coma; do they really need her, a parent, around? And it's not like they can't afford to spend with Jinwoo's current income. Their mom doesn't really know her place in the family dynamic now, so she's kind of backed off and is quietly looking on. She's not spending money if she can't because it's not her money; but she's also not sure what she could or should be doing, so she does things like make a cloak for a lion, cook meals for what she thinks are Jinwoo's friends, and try to make herself useful and not appear overbearing to her suddenly-so-mature-and-independent-children.

And then there's Jinwoo who is just a hoarder and now finally has the means to spoil all his loved ones because he feels very guilty that he couldn't give Jinah a proper childhood while their mom was in a coma. Jinah missed out a lot, he thinks, because of his inability to provide.

So yes, here's a mini character analysis about the Sung family's relationship with money and gifts.

[henswilsons]

Hey! Can i ask you for buddie fic recs with many chapters or like one shots but very long ones? You are so great at recs 😍

oh thank u so so much!!! im so glad my frantic fic reading pays off in some way haha

ok here are some faves (most of these are 40k/50k+ !)

come love, by @colonoscopys - oh my WORD this fic !! where do i begin with this fic !!!!! basically buck is like a rich ceo and eddie is a bodyguard assigned to him and UGH its sooooo good. an absolute enemies to lovers SERVE, cannot recommend enough

stranger sunlight, still by @mmtions - i mean yall know how i feel about social media aus. buck has a secret thirst trap insta and eddie accidentally ends up kinda catfishing him, oh its SO good i devoured this in 1 sitting and its so so good

let's hear it for the boy by @hattalove - oh this fic !!!! kris has several gorgeous longer fics (tell me about despair BELOVED) but this one is my personal favourite, its so beautiful and i felt so tender and squishy after reading it. buddie adopting reluctant grouchy 20yo my BEST FRIEND !!

pretty much any fic by @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels aka the queen of the multichapter buddie au. i cant even pick a favourite because i adore so so many of them but i did recently reread don't play games (come my way) which is her the hating game au and its SO good. also omg her reincarnation soulmates cowboy au too. mads im obsessed with you

stupid people by @gayhoediaz - ugh SAURRR good oml. eddie explores his newly discovered queerness by hiring a sex worker aka buck and UGH its so good if u love pining and slow burn and angst this is The Fic for u

never felt this way before (yes i swear) by @rewritetheending - dirty dancing au!!!!!!! i admittedly have never watched dirty dancing but i consumed this fic like a rabid animal, its so so good. also the idea of eddie sexy swing dancing literally lives rent free like the thought of it makes me kinda white out

hurt locker by @bvckandeddie - this is sort of like canon au adjacent if that makes any sense. basically classic eddie enlists after shannon falls pregnant but this time he and buck are already friends and buck joins with him. i cannot express how sweet this fic is, the slow burn is MAGNIFICENT and ugh. the best friends to lovers goes SO hard

keep me as your finish line by @thatbuddie - gym buddy (heh) au !!!!!! so so good, SO much fun, buck is so funny in this and its so sweet, cannot recommend even nearly enough

even when the night changes by @fallingthorns - yeah. this fic 🫶 i don't know how to describe this fic other than it's canon compliant and buck and eddie adjust to adult life together and its soooooooo soft it like makes me Ache, you know those fics?? i would get this tattooed on me if i could. so good

anyway that is so many sdafhhdsfhd and i have like 1000 more so plz let me know if u want me to make a p2 to this list because i could keep going

[dreamwritesimagines]

I just had a nap and dreamed this so bear with me. A HC where there's a meeting going on so Bucky is at her house (in my head, Bucky, Steve's territory are the closest to her father's so they tend to stick together and meetings take place at his house because her father is the oldest of the three) and she needs Ian to think she's only hooking up with Bucky, like he suspects she's plotting with him to take him down and she's a petty bitch that's just like 'how dare you be right about me' so she takes Bucky into her room and immediately starts making out with him and he is into it, of course, but also totally confused.

"Shit- Hi."

"Yeah, hey. Get on the bed and take off your shirt."

"Okay," his shirt already halfway past his head. "Wait a minute, what's happening?"

"I'll explain later," she climbs into his lap, ignoring his choked noise and threading her fingers in his hair. "I just need you to cooperate on this one, okay?"

"You can do whatever you want-" he stops when she bites his lip and rolls her hips against his. "Is this- fuck, baby. Does this mean you're saying yes?"

"Yes to what?," she looks at the door she very deliberately left open. Maybe if she unbuttons his pants her idiot cousin might show up faster, it always was the case based on the stories Becca told her about walking in on her brother and some girl.

"Huh? Yes to my proposal-"

Then Ian walks by and sees them.

OMG OMG OMG-😱❤️

HONEEEEY!😍😍😍

This is absolutely genius and amazing and aaaaaaa I love it so so much! 😍 I can literally see this scene and it needs to happen in the story and I'm so gonna fangirl over you, just-

So first of all, definitely yes! I feel like Charm's father's territory is very close to theirs as well, that's also how they were in each other's house all the time while growing up 😁 And also, making Ian think she's only hooking up with Bucky makes so much sense! ❤️ They need to make their plans subtle 😏

"Okay," his shirt already halfway past his head. "Wait a minute, what's happening?" ASDFGHJKL I can almost hear this 😂 The blood was not going to his upstairs head, that's for sure 😏

"I'll explain later," Charm honey he's going to think you're going off to your honeymoon after this! 😂

"You can do whatever you want-" HELP, THIS LINE IS SO 😍

"Yes to what?," The fact that they both have completely different things in mind about what's happening, I can't stop giggling 😂

"Huh? Yes to my proposal-" Bucky still has one braincell left during all that and it's all about their marriage 😁

Darling I just- this is so amaziiiiing! ❤️ You're so so talented, I will reread this so many times! 😍

Lollll oh once Ian sees them, he would definitely go like,

"Ugh, get a room!"

"We are in a room!"

"Maybe bother closing the door then-"

"Go away!"

"Barnes, you're expected downstairs for the meeting-"

"Ian, if you don't leave right now, I will fucking shoot you. I don't care what it does to the truce."

And then Ian would leave and Charm would get off, then fix her dress and while Bucky is still in a haze, she'd be like;

"That was great, thanks a lot. You can leave now."

"Wha-?"

"You have a meeting, you heard him."

"I don't care about the meeting, what just happened?"

"I had a plan and you helped me out."

"We can uh- you know, we can continue with the plan-"

"No need, I'll see you later."