#I MUST REMEDY TAHT

[kylecrane]

7 and 23. Aiden, Kyle, and Rahim. (I apologize in advance advance any bad memories)

Omg omg omg. You spoil me. :sobs: I'll try and make this one special for you.

7. Who do you look up to?

Rahim has always looked up to Jade. Though, sometimes, especially when he was still a kid kid, that respect was often tainted by a feeling of inadequacy. Because how could he ever live up to his sister? To her strength, her courage, her resilience? Plus, she got a lot of attention...

Then he grew up and he just loved her plenty.

These days? He will not comment, lest you might tell Crane. (Don't tell Crane.)

Pre-Villedor, Aiden hasn't exactly looked up to anyone. To be able to look up to someone, to, like, conjure that heavy feeling in your gut that maybe, just maybe, you want to be more like them, you need to first give them a chance to make an impression.

That requires time. Which he hasn't exactly been giving anyone yet.

He respects people. Spike, for one. He respects him, because, obviously, Spike must have done a lot right; someone who is in his 70s and still living a Pilgrim's life has got to have a lot going for him (yeah, I am totally holding on to that throwaway conversation in DL1 that indicates Spike just had his 50s birthday).

Crane has had a few heroes in his life! Sebastian (his best friend) is one of them. His high school math and physics teacher is another. The dude had a prosthetic arm and was an absolute badass.

... honestly, Crane is probably a little bit too quick to look up to people, much like he's very quick to form attachments. You show him you're the sort to stand up to bullies* and the sort to a burning need to live, and he'll be your biggest fan.

*I wrote "pillows" the first time here and I am still amused.

23. Have you ever had a crush on someone?  Do you have a crush now?

Ahahah, Rahim collects crushes like other people collect rocks or stamps or coasters. Schoolmates, teachers, cab drivers, Tourists (I mean, can you blame him?), young lads next door, one of Brecken's Runners, an ex-Harran University neuroscience student who likes to grow his own pot and names his plants...

...that is just a small sample.

Now? So about that neuroscience student...

Aiden understands the concept of a crush, but has he experienced one? Maybe?

Okay, storytime! There was that girl tending a farm at a settlement he visited three times in a row. She was a quiet kind of funny and she asked him a lot of questions about his life on the road. Not the usual kinds of questions mind you; not the did you murder lots of people ones, but the what interesting things have you seen? ones. Then, on his fourth visit, she was gone. And Aiden remembers feeling an uncomfortable squeeze in his chest.

But he never wanted anything from her, and there weren't any of those longing looks and subtle touches he reads about in books. So does it count? And if it doesn't, does it matter?

Eh, he's doing okay.

Crane? Okay, this depends on how you define crush. Crane isn't a crush kind of person (unless you count typical boyhood crushes). No, Crane firmly sits in either one of the following two camps:

The 'This was a real fun night, hmu later for a repeat performance ;)' camp, where he is the one to come over so he can make a strategic exit any time he wants, and the-

'Will you marry me' camp. 'cause even if he likes his adventures and he talks big about booty calls, at the end of the day, Crane wants to be called someone's someone.

What I am trying to say is, when Crane falls, he falls. And he falls hard.

[fangirlsmood]

Tomioka Giyuu x reader - inferiority complex

Summary : Noticing how Giyuu doesn't know his own worth, you try to remedy his inferiority complex.

Warnings : Spoilers about Giyuu’s past.

author notes : Seeing our little Giyuu blame and put himself down breaks my heart, it's time for someone to comfort him and tell him what an amazing person he is.

_ Tomioka-san ! 

Hearing your voice, Giyuu stopped in his walk and turned to you, nodding his head to greet you. You noticed that he was holding a bunch of papers, probably a mission report he had to return to Oyakata-sama.

_ You’re already back ! After filing your report, would you accept ...

_ No.

_ But...

You've been begging him for a while to train you. He had saved you a few months ago from a demon and since then you had only one wish: to become like him. You were infinitely grateful to him and you were so admiring. Not really knowing how to fight but wanting to be useful you had started to help at the Butturfly estate. However you wanted to do more, you wanted to save people before they could get hurt like Giyuu had done for you.

_ Ask another person.

_ Kocho-san is already taking care of Kanao, Rengoku of his little brother ... Everyone else is too busy to spend time with me. I want you to train me... please.

He looked you straight in the eye for a moment then sighed, unable to resist your perseverence :

_ Fine. I will train you but don't expect me to be a good teacher.

Since that day Giyuu trained you every time he return from a mission. You couldn't be happier. The training was difficult, tiring and sometimes painful but for you it was an honor. Even if he didn’t said it Giyuu was proud to see your progress. Besides, it was nice for him to have company. 

•••••••••••

One day, at the end of a hashira meeting, Rengoku came to approach him.

_ Tomioka ! We don't see much anymore (Y/n) at the Butterfly estate. I heard that you train her.

 He nodded, Rengoku let out one of his loud laughs :

_ It's surprising ! I had offered to train her but she had refused. Is she doing well?

_ She’s not bad.

It was surprising indeed. You told him that no one was available to train you and he learned it was a lie. Why had you been lying to him? He didn't understand what you could gain from it.

••••••••••

That night he found you serving dinner for both of you like you did almost every day since you had become his student. 

_ Welcome home ! How was the meeting ?

_ Good.

His gaze immediately made you uncomfortable. Usually he always gave you a warm look, while now he was looking at you coldly, as if he had difficulty recognizing you. He took a seat in front of you and began to eat. After a heavy silence which weighed on him as well as on you, he decided to speak :

_ Why did you lie to me ?

You did not remember having committed such an act against him. Seeing your confused stare he developed his point :

_ Rengoku told me he offered to train you. Why did you tell me that no one has time for you ?

You didn't think he would find out someday. Nothing in his attitude or his voice let show anger but you knew he was necessarily upset. Giyuu was a man of his word and honor, for him a lie was a lack of respect. You were terribly ashamed, however, you manage to stammer an explanation :

_ Oh ! It’s not what you think ! In fact it is but... I mean I didn’t really thought about it... Believe me it was far from my intentions to disrespect you, I would have never offended you on purpose ! I just... I just wanted to be trained by you.

_ Rengoku is a really good and strong man. You should have accepted his proposal. 

He marked a pause.

_ Go back to him, if you ask him I think his offer still stands.

Was Giyuu denying you? Did he no longer want you as a student? He got up and turned his back to you as if to end this discussion but you got up in turn, you wanted to stay by his side: 

_ I don’t want anyone else to train me ! 

_ It would be better for you.  He will be able to take care of you and make you evolve. 

Suddenly you realized what was going on. Giyuu thought Rengoku was a better hashira than him. Didn't he know how strong he was too? You stood in front of him so you could look him in the eye, so he would know you weren't lying :

_ You’re strong too. And you’re a good professor. 

_ You don’t know what you’re talking about. I am stronger than you that’s all. 

_ You’re a hashira ! You’re one of the strongest !

He lowered his head you saw in his eyes, him who was usually so impassive, a hint of sadness.

_ I don't deserve this title. I shouldn't be there.

_ What do you mean ? 

You noticed that his hands tightened on his haori.The words struggled out of his throat, as if part of him wanted to hold them back while another wanted to get them out :

_  Those who owned the two parts of this haorie should be there, they should be alive. Them, not me.

It was the first time Giyuu had talked about his past. You kept silent, you didn't want to rush him. You just wanted to understand him, reassure him, make him feel surrounded. 

_ (Y/n)... I know you admire me and it's nice to have someone so dedicated by my side but you don't know everything. You idealize me. I am not a strong. I am not a good person.

One of his hand clenched the red part of his haorie :

_ I wasn’t strong enough to protect my sister...

His other hand clenched on the other part :

_ I shouldn't have passed the Demon Slayer exam ... Sabito should have, he was much stronger, much better in everything, but he protected me and it cost him his life.

You were speechless. Knowing that Giyuu, who was so generous, strong and usually impassive, had suffered so much broke your heart. You wanted to cry for him but you knew it would only cause drama. You will cry another day, now you needed to cheer up your beloved master.

_ Rengoku will know how to protect you, you will be safe with him. 

••••••••••

The next morning Giyuu couldn't find you anywhere. He assumed you had chosen to join Rengoku. He was sure it was the best option and it suited him for the moment. He felt ridiculous for confiding in you last night, and was too embarrassed to see you again. Nevertheless he had become so used to your presence that he already missed you. Part of him regretted telling you to leave. 

Fortunately you came back little less than a month after your departure and with a surprise. You ran to him yelling a "tomioka-san" as a greeting before handing him a package. A little taken aback he examined it for a moment. Impatient you pressed him a little : 

_   It's a gift for you! Open it !

He followed your instructions and found a nice little bundle of papers taht were of different sizes and different colors. The writings and the ink used were also diverse. You started to explain nervously :

_ I wanted you to know how amazing you are, so I asked the hashira, your old master and a few of the people you saved to write down what they liked about you or what you had did good for them ... Oyakata-sama and Gyomei-san could’nt write but they dictated to me and I transcribed everything ... I didn't think it would take so long to contact everyone, sorry ... 

He had already started to read. Everyone had written something even Obanai, Sanemi and Shinobu had found a few nice things to say. Shinobu had recounted a mission accomplished with Giyuu and admitted that without him it would have been a failure while Obanai and Sanemi were content to write a single sentence where they said that Giyuu was not "that bad" and that "some of these techniques were quite impressive". Urokodaki gently reprimand him so that he would stop always blaming himself and telling him that he was proud of him. 

And finally there was your letter. It was the longest and as he read it he wanted to cry with joy. He wondered what he had done to deserve so much praise, he wanted to deny all these compliments but you had written a real reasoning full of examples to support your words that he was obliged to recognize his qualities. 

He felt his heart melt. it must have taken so much effort from you to collect all these little words, it was a real treasure that you had just offered him. You watched him silently in his reading which lasted a long time and since he didn't say anything you wondered if it was really a good idea :

_ Erm... Do you like it ? It's okay if you don't, but keep them anyway. That way you could always reread them when you needed to ... you know ... know how amazing you are.

A smile covered his face and you noticed that his eyes were bright like a child who discovers the world. His smile was so faint you might not have noticed though it was the sweetest you've ever seen. 

_ Thank you. It's the nicest thing anyone's done for me. It must have taken a lot of effort from you to convince Obanai, Sanemi and Kocho and put it all together.

_ You deserve all the effort in the world.

You gave him a huge smile and he believed you. He felt all the weight he had on his heart, all his guilt shut up in the face of all these kind words. For the first time Giyuu told himself not only that he was lucky to have you by his side but also that he deserved to be happy. Every time he read one of the letters he said to himself, although it was still hard for him not to doubt it, that he was worthy. More than feeling worthy, he felt loved.

••••••••••

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[ainsleyabbott]

Pepper-Up, Buttercup

@aberrantarchie

Ainsley’s ears were still smoking from the Pepper-Up Potion she had taken from The Daily Prophet’s staff supply cupboard (the Prophet understood that sick and injured writers were rarely great writers, and the news moved at a fast enough pace that there just wasn’t time to go to St. Mungo’s sometimes...especially when going there might mean admitting where and how one had acquired said injury, so they kept a goodly stock of basic --and some no-so-basic-- remedies on hand for free staff use). Unlike the usual annoying-but-swift process of recovery that generally accompanied use of a Pepper-Up, this time Ainsley was feeling, if anything, worse than before.

And to add insult to injury, her ears were still smoking anyway. If the potion was doing to be a dud, the least it could was be a dud all the way...but no. Instead, she got to bear-with the annoying trail of smoke without the accompanying relief of wellness. It wasn’t fair.

She wanted a distraction from her physical misery, so she had caught the Knight Bus (lacking a familiar Fabian face this time, alas) to the South, planning to immerse herself in a lovely little library there she knew -- not a public establishment, but Ainsley’s treatise on Runic Inversion of the Post-Nordic Revival had caught the interest of the witch who ran it, and their ensuing correspondence had garnered Ainsley access to the private stacks. Unfortunately, as the note bespelled to the door informed her, the old woman was off visiting her great-grandchildren for two months and the library was thus inaccessible.

Not wanting the trip to be a complete waste -- and wincing with anticipatory pain at the idea of climbing directly back onto the bus to rattle her way back to London -- Ainsley had cast-about for something else to do in West Sussex and hit upon a surprising option: the Selwyn-Macmillains lived nearby, she remembered. She had attended a party there only a few months ago (much to her sister’s surprised delight; Ainsley had thought it prudent not to tell Nessie that their invites had come because of her secret vigilante activities and not, as she allowed her sister to surmise, through any success of Ainsley’s at hob-nobbing with the elite) and had, at the time, made note of how close it was to the little library. At the time, it had been with the wistful thought of retreating to said library -- but, well. That reasoning didn’t matter now.

Of course, it was probably considered a great breach of social etiquette to just drop-in on people of the Selwyn-Macmillans’ standing, but Ainsley’s head was spinning and she would have nearly committed murder for a hot cup of tea just now. Surely even if they were too occupied to see her themselves, they would at least allow her to spend a few minutes warming-up in one of their superfluous parlors...

With thoughts of an impending cuppa to bolster her, Ainsley pushed aside any concerns for mere rudeness and rang the bell. To her relief, the House Elf than answered didn’t even keep her waiting on the stoop but instead ushered her straight inside (Ainsley didn’t let that go to her head; the most likely surmise was taht the Selwyn-Macmillans had instructed their elves to admit anyone from the Order, in case of emergencies) and let her flop gratefully into a soft chair. The warmth of the fire in the grate, the comfortable embrace of the cushions, her own increasingly-aching limbs, all conspired to drag Ainsley’s eyelids down into a half-doze that broke with a start when a noise from the doorway alerted her to a new presence.

“Oh!” she said, struggling to blink gummy eyes open and to push herself to a more upright posture, “Archie! My apologies for just -- dropping-in unannounced, and all, know it’s awful rude, but I happened to be in the neighborhood and just thought -- you know, thought I’d stop and see how you are. You and Isla both, I mean. How you’re doing. With everything.”

Oh that had gone well. Ainsley cringed at herself in a combination of embarrassment and bewilderment; no, she didn’t have Nessie’s bold social acumen, but she wasn’t usually this bad. It must be the brain-fog of this oddly Pepper-Up resistant cold, or whatever it was, sapping her coherence the same way it was her energy.