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edvonstein · 5 years ago

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which precures would read homestuck without being dared to

Boy howdy. There’s a question I didn’t expect. Well let’s see here and go down the list:

Nagisa: Got into it shortly after launch, after hearing Honoka talk about it.

Honoka: OG reader, has been around for most of Hussie’s stuff.

Hikari: She didn’t read it until about halfway through its publication run, but caught up in a single night. She made fanart.

Saki: She tried to get into it for Mai, but it never really meshed with her. Still learned enough through osmosis to cosplay both Dirk and Dave.

Mai: She has five sketch books that are just redraws of the entire series with everybody replaced by Saki. None of her friends must ever see. They saw. They didn’t get it, but liked the art.

Nozomi: OG reader, not the absolute biggest fan, but did walk away liking it.

Rin: Saw Nozomi read it, and tried a little herself. Then she met Kanaya. The rest was history and fanfics. And special flower arrangements.

Urara: Currently lobbying for a broadway adaption. She is undecided which role she wants to play tho.

Komachi: She has changed her writing pseudonym to John Egbert, to get a better likelyhood of getting her Pirate Hurricane series published. She writes more like a mix of Dave and Rose though. It’s fucking mind expanding.

Karen: She had it fed through her home’s in house cinema to watch it with Komachi initially. They all ended up watching it.

Milk/Kurumi: “Vriska did nothing wrong”

Love: Her and Setsuna totally are like Rose and Kanaya. She is Rose of course.

Miki: She knows she is everybody’s Kanaya. She spend some time making masks of the characters. You can imagine how well that ended. Her Kanaya cosplays are somehow still great for the family boutique.

Inori: Yeah, she read it. Each reading session was followed by a trip to the confession booth. Eventually she just started reading it in the confession booth. The priest liked it too.

Setsuna: Her and Love totally are like Rose and Kanaya. She is Rose of course.

Tsubomi: Yes she read it. No her friends must never know. She doesn’t realize all of them have read it too.

Erika: The only friend Tsubomi opened up to about Homestuck. Turns out Erika runs one of the main japanese fansites of Homestuck.

Itsuki: Main mod on Erika’s fansite. Tsubomi must never know. Nor her family. Itsuki still feels too uncomfortable in their skin for that.

Yuri: Almost OG reader, she and Honoka frequented the same forums. Upon casual mention from Honoka, Yuri tried it out. Her young friends must never be tainted by this horror. Hopefully Hussie updates soon!

Hibiki:Learned about it through Ako. Found it pretty sweet, but didn’t make it all the way.

Kanade: Also learned about it through Ako. her bi heart couldn’t be stopped as she steamed through almost all of it in one go.

Ellen: Had been following it for about a year with Hummie before Suite happened. Continued reading while on the villains side. Often plays Homestuck songs while busking, and has several rearrangements on niconico.

Ako: Has been reading Hussie’s stuff since halfway through Problem Sleuth. She was 7 at the time. There’s a reason she a) is so crumby, Karkat is her spirit animal, and b) she decided to go and become an extra af phantom thief precure.

Miyuki: She is a reading machine, and of course this would capture her attention. She came in a bit late but found it on her own.

Akane: Similarly to Rin, she saw it over Miyuki’s shoulder one day, did a bit of reading herself, and got pretty hooked for a while.The hiatuses however broke her streak. Oddly enough the main emotion she took away from it is a hate for Equius, which she shares with Nao.

Yayoi: Main fanart contributor to Erika’s fansite. Her and Reika spend hours talking about Terezi.

Nao: Never did read it, she was too busy with her family and superheroism. More recently though, she decided to kinda wiki crawl the subject. Walked away primarily with a hate for Equius.

Reika: Another mod on Erika’s fansite.She has found her path. Her parents are disappointed. Screw her parents.

Mana: Tried it, didn’t like it. Square.

Rikka: Wishes she could live on that first planet they showed, with the froggies. She tries to dare Mana, but continues to get shot down. Mana is such a square.

Alice: Found it on one of her internet binges to bring her temper down. It proofed a surprisingly good tool to keep her mellow, which is why we see so little of her inner rage during the show. Another Terezi fan.

Makoto: Somehow has never come across a single shred of evidence that Homestuck exists. As unlucky as she is, she might be the luckiest of us all.

Aguri: Unlike Makoto, she has seen what Rikka and Alice are up to. She did read it a little, and liked what she saw well enough, but didn’t stick with it. Not enough time, and her twin sister lives fifty miles in Vriska did nothing wrong territory, so clearly she must be better than her. (She isn’t.)

Megumi: Came across it on her own, read it, but lost interest.

Hime: Runs the discord server for Erika’s fansite.

Yuko: Does occasional lyrics for Ellen’s arrangements, both on youtube and niconico, and makes the occasional troll riceball.

Iona: She was in fact dared, but by Megumi of all people, after she stopped reading. There is no bigger Rose fan now.

Haruka: As an avid reader, it did cross her radar, she went through it, and came out more determined than before to be the best princess she can be.

Minami: Amusingly enough, stumbled across it during her internet binges boning up on marine biology. Feferi popped up in her searches somehow, and the rest is history.

Kirara: Fans suggested it to her. She read it. The most fabulous Kanaya cosplayer of them all.

Towa: Kirara suggested it to her after she herself had finished (by now the webcomic is done IRL) partially because nerds gotta share, and partially because she truly felt it might help her cope with some of her inner turmoil from the guilt over being Twilight. Towa is slow in reading through this particular one, so she is still going through it today. Results unclear, she doesn’t talk much about it, even with Kirara. It might be helping though.

(The remaining characters I don‘t know as well as the others yet, but I’ll see what I can conjure up. Intriguingly I feel this also marks the first generation of Cures that lived in a post Homestuck world, what with Mahoutsukai airing in 2016, and Homestuck ending in 2016.)

Mirai: Got dragged in by the hype over the ending of Homestuck. Dared Riko to read it with her. They did. They planned their wedding to be like Rose’s and Kanaya’s.

Riko: Got dragged in by Mirai. Would feel very big deja vu next year when they both became moms to Kotoha.

Kotoha: Her moms protect her from this vice. (She found it anyways. There is no stopping the corruption of the youth.)

Ichika: Heard about it, but didn’t really care. Unfortunately for her she is on a team with Aoi, Yukari, and Akira.

Himari: Closet fan, wrote several dissertations about the science in Homestuck on Erika’s fansite. Which is probably where her crush on Honoka comes from.

Aoi: Loud and proud, likes this retro comic. Has started collabs with Yuko, Ellen, Amour, and Emiru because of course.

Yukari: She was a depressed gay teen during Homestuck’s peak... what do you think?

Akira: She was a gay teen during Homestuck’s peak... what do you think?

Ciel: She would have been save. But Undertale dragged her right into this fresh hell.

Hana: Huge fan of Undertale, but never quite pulled together the energy to tackle the behemoth that is Homestuck. Did learn through osmosis, with so many of her senpai cure friends being raving lunatic homestuck fans.

Saaya: Actually dodged both the Homestuck and the Undertale bullet initially. Hana then tossed Deltarune at her, and Saaya fell down the rabbit hole.

Homare: She had some inner hangups about getting into the whole mess, but Hana did dare her, knowing enough about the series to know that it’s message might gibe Homare the kick in the behind she needed to give ice skating another go.

Emiru: Big Undertale fan, but doesn’t care about the webcomic herself. Uncertain if even a dare would work, she does her own thing... well, besides the music. She freaking loves the music.

Amour: Read the whole thing in one hour to understand its impact on culture. What else would make her crash and join the heroes? Jokes aside, she did do it, and it did leave an impact on her. She was the one who connected Aoi and Emiru.

Hikaru: What are the freaking odds that she hasn’t read through it in its entirety three times this week alone?

Lala: Had her ship read it to her as something to fall asleep to. It put her to sleep quickly, actually, like tales from home. Her ship didn’t fare as well. It’s one of the biggest crack shippers on Erika’s site. Lala only heard like ten percent of the story.

Elena: Has neither the free time nor privacy to read a webcomic that’s now a decade old. Likes listening to Hikaru’s ranting about the series. Also likes how somehow that ranting makes Madoka’s face light up.

Madoka: It is unknown how she found the time, but she is a freaking huuuueg closet fan. She wants to talk with Hikaru about it, but still feels too uncomfortable being public about it. Hikaru does however know that MoonSollux, one of the biggest fanfic writers on Erika’s site, is her, but will wait for Madoka to come out of her shell in her own time.

Yuni: Missed the whole mess being a space alien idol phantom thief. Is getting a very wrong idea about human culture from Hikaru’s ranting. A dare would totally work.

(I have zero grasp on the Healin’ Good Girls, so not gonna do them.)

#precure #homestuck #why did i do this #who are you anonymous?#actually i have a suspicion given my follower pool

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buri-art · 6 years ago

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If you don't mind me asking, how come you're able to live and work in Japan (and China?)? Where did it al begin? I'm just really curious! Thanks!

I don’t mind, thanks for asking! Turns out I’ve been doing some advising on this topic lately. (Scroll to the bottom for specific advice!)It all began with Digimon…

I’ve always had a history of moving from one obsession to another, starting back with Barney the Dinosaur. Then when I was 11-years-old I found myself very curious about that weird Japanese show on Fox Kids, which looked so different from the Western cartoons I was so fond of. What I caught of it kept me surprised–my stereotypes about it were wrong, the characters and their situations were complicated, and plot had depth? What was this and why did it make me care so much??Well, once I decided I was hooked, I was hooked. Obsessed overnight. I needed to know everything there was to know about it, including the country it came from. Guess I better learn Japanese, I thought.

That thought didn’t go away. I generally got obsessed with anime and Japanese culture, anything I could get my weeby little hands on. Wanting to know everything about Japan led to curiosity about China too, because if you’re going to stretch far back in the origins of Japanese culture, eventually you’re going to get interested in the big collection of nations and time periods known as Ancient China. (Stuff like Fushigi Yuugi and the anime rendition of Condor Hero sure helped drive that interest.)I stayed obsessed with Japan all through my teen years (and started Japanese study in earnest when I was 16) and I chose a college where I could start studying Chinese. It seemed like the natural progression in my studies by that point, but I guess other people thought it was surprising. Or they called me a traitor. (I can tell you now that lots and lots of people wind up studying both.)

Anyway, I went in to college with a pretty wide knowledge of East Asia, but studying it from all sorts of angles, getting good advising in school from nerdy professors, and studying abroad certainly made my understanding more nuanced. Going to a small school where it was easy to stick out also helped me get a good handful of work-study experiences and special attention for my particular passions. (It helps that a couple teachers were enamored with traditional Chinese culture, another loved Heian aesthetics, another wrote a dissertation about the production of shoujo manga, and another loved to give students free food. Now those are my people.)What most people find surprising was that even though I had a heavier course load in Asian studies, my major was Economics. I was concerned about finding work with only nerdy Asian studies, and I felt like I needed to save the world by working at an NGO and sacrificing my personal happiness for the sake of the poor and underprivileged. (I still feel like that, but thankfully there are more ways to support NGOs than only by working in them.) In my research topics I usually had a special focus on developing nations in Asia, and I made sure to get a good understanding of the whole region, not just, like, Edo period gay samurai fanfiction (yeah, that was totally a thing).Well, anyway, I never worked at an NGO. I went to grad school to keep working on my Chinese while keeping up independent Japanese study (including the JLPT), then I worked for the one international company in my hometown doing stuff for their Asian side of business. It was cool if you had any interest in engineering, but I didn’t. I like culture. The weeb shit, as it’s known. All according to keikaku, I became a Coordinator for International Relations on the JET Program (it’s not all English teachers!), and had the time of my life in Matsue (my love for that place is seeeeerious). That’s when I took my wide knowledge of Japan and started getting deeper knowledge, by doing anything and everything, especially practicing naginata, tea ceremony, and competitive kimono dressing. (I like to say I broke the weeb scale a long time ago.) Even among CIRs, who all speak Japanese fairly fluently, I guess I was noteworthy for my nerdy knowledge of obscure pieces of local culture, and my enthusiasm for sharing it. That’s just me being my obsessive self, folks. But yeah, lots of JET Program participants are obsessive and eager to go out and experience things. Aaaahhh, my people. After that, I felt I needed more experience in China, so I got a teaching job (which is relatively easy to do, if you’re a native English speaker). Due to my work schedule and living in Shanghai as opposed to like, Wuyishan or even Hangzhou, I didn’t devote as much as to cultural classes as I originally planned on, but I did practice tea and martial arts throughout my time there, and I continued to work on my Mandarin and gaining obscure cultural knowledge, but especially gaining experience melding with society there. Although it was more overwhelming, I do feel much more competent with my Chinese skills now, and I still love a lot of the culture and have so much more traveling I want to do there. I can still nerd out so hard for so much there.Moving back to Japan felt like a very natural course of things. I know a lot of people who have been happy to be Japan-nerds from a distance, or do the JET Program for a while and then just go back to visit, but at least for now, I don’t see myself happy with only visiting. I have personality flaws, like being very inflexible, that make me work very well in a rigid society like Japan. I’m too used to good convenience stores to live happily without them. I enjoy speaking Japanese all the time instead of taking occasional opportunities. Also, my niche skill set is kind of useless in my part of the US. I did try to find work here, really. That being said, having niche skills means that when I’m useful, I’m super useful. Job searching from outside of Japan was a lot more challenging than applying for the JET Program (which any JET applicant can tell you is not a simple process, but once you’re in, you really appreciate how much they handle for you in matters of moving abroad). It was really, really nerve-wracking to turn down two very good corporate job offers in favor of a somewhat new hotel chain. I really wanted to enter the tourism industry because this feels like the only place (outside of academia) where I can use all my obsessive studies of mainstream and obscure but especially traditional culture, and where my gushing about how much I love stuff is actually useful. Plus, it’ll make use of all three of my languages, not just one or two at a time. I hope this will work out for at least the next few years, if not forever. I also hope that if I live in the US in the future to be closer to family*, then I’ll have enough industry experience to work in hotels here or start a tour company targeted at Asian clients. (*Family is the primary reason I still consider long-term life in America, and it’s a big one, and worrying about them is the hardest part about living abroad. Excessive humidity in a lot of Asia is another reason I might choose to live in the Western US.)But like, now my hobbies are my job. While it won’t be the bulk of it, wearing kimono and performing tea ceremonies is no longer something that makes me cool and special and unexpectedly useful, it’s going to be what I need to be professionally competent in (eeeeeeep). This is the kind of stuff that obsessive teenage Buri would have swooned to know, but also totally expected. Career-Buri is a little more level-headed about it and also very grateful to have these opportunities. So anyway, advice!!—If you think you want to do anything in China or Japan, START STUDYING THE LANGUAGES NOW. Yes, I know they’re difficult. No, there’s no perfect program. Whatever you’re going to use, just do it consistently. Fluency is not actually required for a lot of jobs, but hot damn, some language skills will help. (For reference, I passed N1 of the JLPT before starting JET, and passed HSK5 while I was in grad school. I studied for HSK6 while I was in China and would have had a 50/50 chance of passing, but chose not to because it’s not actually that useful for the price I’d pay for it.)–To get a work visa in either country, 99 times out of a 100, you’re going to need a Bachelor’s degree. Your major is not usually as important as simple proof of graduation. Many places will care about your grades, though, so try to keep them up. –Teaching is still the easiest way to get there. There’s a wealth of programs to recruit you, but I suggest trying to steer clear of places that only provide a stipend instead of a salary, or small dispatch companies with questionable reputations. The JET Program is probably the best way to teach in Japan because of the level of support you get, but I’ve known people who had good experiences on the larger dispatch companies like Altia or Interac as well. For more direct hires, there are English tutoring companies (like English First (EF) or Coco Juku) where you might have students of all ages, as well as companies that focus on very small children (where you’ll basically be a glorified preschool teacher). On that note, many kindergartens and other for-profit education companies (like what I did in China) will hire directly, but your experience can vary widely. Finally, you can also look into international schools, but your teaching credentials will be much more important. Any background in teaching, or TESOL certification, will be a boon to your application (and at some places, your paycheck). –All of these places will want to see that you are a dependable, flexible person. Getting experience abroad, being able to speak frankly about challenges you’ve dealt with, and showing a willingness to go anywhere and do whatever is needed will look really good on your interviews. I say this a JET Program interviewer; the people who displayed the most patience and maturity were the people we felt best about giving a high score to. Those are the people we like to send out into the communities. –As we like to say in the JET Program, every situation is different (ESID for short). That applies to every teaching situation you might yourself in abroad.–You don’t have to be a teacher (after all, I only did JET because of the CIR position, I loved it!!). But you’re going to have to be really competent in whatever else it is you’re doing. Headhunters, such as at Pasona Global (which has branches in many Asian countries), are really, really good to work with, but they are most likely to hook you up with corporate jobs in big cities. If that’s what you want, awesome. (I wound up finding my hotel through a Japanese job searching site specifically for tourism related work. Other industry-specific fields may have their own job hunting sites, possibly in English, possibly not.) Language competency will be a lot more important if you take this route. –If at all possible, STUDY ABROAD!!! Many people will get the experience they want doing this instead of dealing with the frustrations of working and residing abroad. It’s a good way to see how much you love it and decide if the frustrations are worth it. Plus, it really helps your job applications. –Even if you can’t work abroad due to your personal situation, PLEASE TRY TO TRAVEL THERE!!!! When you’re interested in another culture or a foreign language, it means so, sooooo much to be there, even if it’s temporary. I don’t just say this as someone who has chosen tourism as my calling (though I am more than happy to give travel advice), I say this as a passionate nerd. I feel you. I get you. You need this. –Back to studies and stuff though, if you’re going to major in some form of area studies or foreign language, it is difficult to get jobs with that alone. Consider double-majoring in something that will play into that, or which will open other career options. Money is kind of important, especially if you’re going to have to pay for flights across the Pacific.

–That being said, study what you care about too. You know how oddly useful my elective class about Non-Western Theater has been!?!? And if something in anime catches your attention, for goodness sake, you’re on THE INTERNET. If you liked Jubei-chan, go study samurai, if you like Fruits Basket, go learn to make onigiri, if you like Mob Psycho 100, then go—well—um—go work out, being physically healthy is also important!!

Well, anyway, that’s long enough. Good luck to all you nerds out there!! KEN TANAKA LOVES YOU and all that good stuff!!

#wow this got long #tl:dr #I'm a nerd and that might help you too

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thedunkirkgang · 7 years ago

Text

The Gang. Chapter 1: The One That’s Not a First Date

A/N: Here it is folks! We started working on this idea about three weeks ago but wanted to make sure it was a fleshed out, well rounded story. Consequently we have spent the last three weeks writing and brainstorming ideas, we even had a ‘part two’ planned before we ever posted any writing. We are so excited to introduce you to our original characters, Addison and Ella. Each is loosely based on one of us and we love them dearly. Please let us know what you think! Lex was the main writer on this chapter and Adrienne beta’d.

XX Lex ( @lexilulove ) & Adrienne ( @adriennelenoir )

Next Part Masterlist

Word Count: 2,253

August, 2016. London

Addison sat at her table in the corner of her favorite coffee shop. It was a small local place equidistant between home and work. There was a pile of books sat next to her and she was nursing her third cup. Deeply engrossed in her writing, she hardly even registered the bell on the front door ring, signaling the entrance of another patron. Addy was currently paging through one of the books for that certain quote that would support the argument she was trying to make.

Aneurin walked in the first door he could find. No one had expected it to rain that day. He did not have an umbrella, nor was he appropriately dressed for the flash shower. The heavens dumped water with such enthusiasm that in less than a minute, he was soaked. As he looked around the interior of the building he had blindly entered, he found himself in the center of a quaint coffee shop. The small room was packed, many having sought shelter from the rain same as him. He placed an order at the counter and spied a young woman at a table in the corner. It was a one of the only tables with only one occupant, however the entire surface was covered. She had a laptop, a couple of notebooks and a large stack of books. He hated the thought of disturbing her, however, hers was the only table with enough seats unoccupied. Timidly he walked over to her, finding the confidence to ask if he might share the space.

“Excuse me miss…” A soft melodic voice pulled her out of her deep concentration. She glanced up to see a man standing before her. He was average height. Taller than her she reckoned, but at 5’2 it was hard not to be. He had dark curly hair that was drenched. In fact, as she took in his appearance, she saw that he was soaking wet from head to toe. She glanced out the window next to her surprised. When she came inside it had been a beautiful sunny day. She hadn’t even noticed it had started raining, but as she looked out into the street, it was pouring.

“Hi…” She said. A little confused by why this stranger was talking to her. Then she looked around the shop. The surprise rain storm had pushed people in off the street and there were no more tables left.

“Would you mind if I share your table? Just until the rain lets up” The man asked. She was intrigued by his accent. He was definitely from the British Isles, but she couldn’t quite place the specific part of the country.

“No not at all,” she responded “Here, just let me move some of these books.” She reached across the table and slid the large stack into the chair next to her. American, eh? Aneurin could hear it in her accent.

Aneurin thanked her and sat down pulling a book out of his bag and sipping from his steaming cup. Addison quickly reverted back into her state of deep concentration, not registering the goings on around her. This also means she didn’t notice the way the man opposite her kept looking up from his book to study her. At first it was just quick glances. But after a few minutes he abandoned his book all together in favor of watching her. She had her hair tied up in a large, hastily thrown up top knot, it was brown, a deep chocolate color. And her skin was soft and pale, her lips a dark pink. She almost reminded him of Snow White. He couldn’t put his finger on why, but something about watching her was enthralling. The way she bit her lip in thought. The way she furrowed her brow while paging through the books piled up beside her. At one point, she stopped typing for an extended period. She sat quietly staring at her laptop screen, she almost looked like she was disappointed in her computer. Then all of the sudden she gasped, her eyes lighting up and her fingers resuming their typing with renewed fervor. At that, Aneurin had to bite back a laugh. He decided he needed to talk to her.

“Excuse me, but can I ask what your working on?” She looked up at him a little startled. “Um… sure. It’s just a proposal for my dissertation.” She said it like it was not a big deal. Like it was an everyday occurrence for her. But, Aneurin supposed, that if she was sitting here writing a dissertation, then it was indeed an everyday occurrence in her life.

“Dissertation?” Aneurin responded, hoping his tone conveyed how impressed he felt.

“Yeah, I’m about to begin working on my PhD in art history at a university here in London.” she responded casually. Again, Aneurin felt like she wasn’t giving herself enough credit. Getting your PhD was a truly impressive accomplishment.

“What is your proposal about?” Aneurin questioned further. “I’m Aneurin by the way. Aneurin Barnard” He added, and as an afterthought “Most of my friends call me Ni.”

She finally glanced up from her work, truly looking at him for the first time.

“Addison Meyers. Most people call me Addy.” She smiled at the parallel. “Are you sure you want to hear? If I get started, I’m might not stop. Its a bad habit I have” She smirked slightly to herself, remembering those times her roommate, Ella, would make comments like “Oh here she goes again” any time Addison would start talking about her work.

“Well, seeing as it doesn’t look like this rain will let up any time soon, I’ve got more than enough time.” At this point Aneurin was ready to beg her to talk to him. He didn’t know why, but he just wanted to hear her voice.

Addison considered him for a moment. She was slightly taken aback by the intensity with which he looked at her. She had just assumed he was questioning her to be polite, but looking at him now, she thought he might truly be interested.

She sighed, hitting save on her laptop and closing the lid. “Alright man” she chuckled, “you asked for it. So, I’m a modernist specializing in 19th century Europe. France specifically. Do you know what Haussmannization is?” She paused to allow him to answer. Ni shook his head. “Well basically in the mid 19th century a guy named Georges Haussmann completely renovated the city of Paris. Paris as we see it today has only looked that way for 150 years, give or take. And then in the midst of the renovation….”

Ni did his best to pay attention to what she was saying. Mentally taking down questions to ask later. She was currently saying something about the psychological side effects of Haussmannization and how the Impressionist painters of the time depicted the changes in the city. If he was being completely honest, he didn’t quite understand most of what she was saying. He just knew that watching her talk was even better than watching her work. The longer she talked, the more animated she became. Her speech became faster, her hands started gesturing, seemingly of their own accord. It was like she was so excited to be sharing this information that she no longer had control over her extremities. And her eyes. Her beautiful hazel eyes sparkled. Every once in awhile she would laugh at herself and her eyes would adorably scrunch up, the sound leaving her mouth pure joy. In the midst of her speech her hands reached up and pulled at the band keeping her hair in place. Aneurin watched as what must be nearly two feet of hair fell from atop her head and fanned over her. From where he was sitting he could tell it reached all the way down to her lower back. He wanted to touch it. It looked so thick, it had a beautiful shine and a gentle wave. It looked so soft! Stop it Ni! You don’t even know this girl, you can’t touch her!! Now pay attention! He berated himself.

Before he knew it, her tone signaled the end to her speech. “So that’s basically it.” She paused, gauging his reaction. “And you are probably regretting asking me about it. That’s five minutes of your life that you are never gonna get back.”

“No, no, no,” Ni immediately hated the way she put herself down like that. She was captivating, and she needed to know that, he needed to tell her that. “That was incredible. I’ve never met anyone who was so passionate about their work. Or at least work like this. How do you remember all of that information? It’s incredible!!” He was trying to control his outburst, not wanting to scare her off.

His compliments were causing her to retreat into herself, she never knew how to respond when people showered her with praise. “Well thank you. I don’t know how I remember it all. But I have dedicated nearly a decade of my life to the subject so…” She let her sentence hang, hoping he would let up on the compliments.

Ni could tell that she was trying to end the conversation. He wanted to keep her talking, he needed to get to know her more. “Well Addy, clearly you are not from around here. What brought you across the pond?”

She laughed at his phrasing. She sat quiet for a minute, studying him. Half of her brain was telling her to be careful. She didn’t know this man. He was a total stranger, she should be careful not to give away too much information. But the other half? The other half was telling her about the undeniable connection she felt with him, and reassuring her that the look on his face portrayed his intentions to be innocent and genuine. The later half was screaming louder and eventually won out.

She started telling him about her childhood best friend Ella. The two had always dreamed of moving to London together. After they finished their undergraduate degrees, Ella started working at the English Embassy in the US and Addy had gotten her Masters degree in Art History. After finishing her Masters, Addy was looking at PhD programs in London. She started seriously considering applying, and in turn encouraged Ella to see if there were any jobs she could work in London.

“And it was just like the stars aligned. Ella’s transfer to the London office got approved, and I got accepted to the PhD program. So we took the big leap and made the move. We’ve been here for about two and a half months. She started her job right away and is crushing it! I’ve spent the summer preparing for my TA position. I’m going to teach while working on my PhD so I’ve been writing syllabi all summer.”

Ni was about to ask her what courses she was teaching when Addy’s phone dinged. She glanced down at it and mumbled a quiet “oh crap”. She looked up saying “Sorry I have to go, Ella and I planned a girl’s night and I’m late.”

She started hurriedly packing up her stuff when she paused. “I feel so guilty, I spent this entire time talking about myself. I know nothing about you”

Inside, Aneurin was practically dancing with joy. The fact that she felt bad about monopolizing the conversation hopefully meant that she was at least slightly interested in him. Outwardly, he kept it cool. He decided to take a risk. “Don’t feel bad about it. We can just talk about me on our second date”

She stopped dead in her tracks. “Second?…” She look confused.

Ni sent her the cheekiest grin he could muster. “Oh come on, corner table of a quiet coffee shop, romantic rainy day. This was definitely a date.” He winked at her, hoping that would convey his joking, yet serious intention.

She was quiet for a second, and then with a coy smile she exclaimed “Nu-uh!! This does not count, that’s not fair!! It can’t be a first date unless both parties agree that it is a date in advance of the meeting. You can’t just spring that on a girl!!”

“So does that mean if I asked you on a date, you would say yes?” Ni asked hopefully.

He adored the slight blush that crept up on her face. “It might. But I haven’t decided for sure yet.” She responded.

“Well can I have your number? I can’t ask you out if I have no way to contact you.” She took his phone and input her number, texting herself so she could get his as well.

She finished packing up her stuff and stood. Aneurin straightened up with her, realizing for the first time just how many inches he had on her. She stuck her hand out, “Well Ni, it has been a pleasure” she said smiling. “Yes Addy, it has” He took her hand, knowing she expected a platonic hand shake, and instead, turned it, bending down to place a chaste kiss on the back of her hand.

Slightly flustered, Addy withdrew her hand and muttered a quick ‘bye’. She walked out of the coffeeshop leaving Ni behind her grinning like a fool. He knew she would definitely say yes.

Addy meanwhile waited until she was just out of sight of the shop, and then began sprinting home. She could not wait to tell Ella all about the charming boy she had just met.

A/N: For the first couple chapters we will tag a bunch of our friends and followers so y’all see that we’ve updated. Once we figure out what our posting schedule will be like, we will let you know!

@deathbylowden @outofworkactress @albionscastle@ontheoddoccasioniwritestuff @scottishlowden @prettyboytgc@takemedancingmaine @disneydirectioner @platinumshawnn @lowdenfordays @from-the-clouds@sweetsugarhoneyfics @carneylowdenwhitehead @glynnecarney@dailyjacklowden @lowdenglynnstyles @lowdengcarney@livebreathelowden @jackrostov @fionnstracksuit @aneurinaestheticism @walkmeblowbyblow

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cassyblue · 6 years ago

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A very long post on my onions about JJBA

I am completely caught up with the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure manga. Took me two weeks to do it. But my brain hasn’t been up to reading novels/novellas since concentration whomst? Once the semester starts, I tend to read more comics than novels just because of time constraints. I am still on Part 3 of the JJBA anime. It’s an anime that I just can’t binge because it is a lot. I really like JJBA because it takes the shonen fighting manga and just turns it into a fever dream. So below is my thoughts on Parts 1-8, includes many a spoiler. Also as it goes on I get more sweary sorry.

Part 1: Phantom Blood

Not my favorite arc, but it is the first part so I feel it doesn’t have the same level of writing/art as the next parts because Araki is starting out. It’s pretty tightly written and straight forward. Jonanthan is my least favorite Jojo. I think my main problem with this part is the assertion that Dio is evil due to the abusive environment he grew up in. That’s pretty much what I can say about Part 1.

Part 2: Battle Tendency

Part 2 is more complex and the characters have more growth than those in Part 1. I enjoy Joseph as a protagonist since he is a good combo of little shit and dumb teenager. The enemies to friends arc with Caesar is great. Throw two dramatic bitches together and the chaos that ensues is fun. I really liked that the best user of haman is a woman because the previous part was pretty dude heavy. Liz Lisa is on the fine line between fan service and sexy. But the fanservice doesn’t happen during fighting so I can forgive Araki on certain parts. The thing about Part 2 that really stands out to me is the expansion of the worldbuilding. It doesn’t feel overwhelming and fits neatly into the narrative. My other thought is that Araki just likes drawing asses.

Part 3: Stardust Crusaders

Oh boy, so this is where I start to have a lot more onions. Everything I knew about JJBA before watching/reading was that there was this thing called a stand and everyone was gangsters. So when I started JJBA I was like tumblr lied to me what the hell is going on. Unlike Joseph in Part 2, Jotaro is just an asshole, a well meaning asshole, but still an asshole. Through this entire arc, Jotaro literally does not grow as a character unlike Part 2 with Joseph which is super frustrating. In Part 2, Joseph goes from cocky punk kid to more responsible and level headed kid with self discipline. Jotaro’s fighting ability literally gets no training whatsoever compared to Joseph. In the 45 days that the plot takes place, I would have thought that Avdol would have at least did some sort of training since he is the most experienced stand user. But nope that sure didn’t happen. The bickering between Joseph and Jotaro is enjoyable and the side characters are good humor relief. I think that’s where my frustration is -- Kakyoin and Polnareff have more character development than Jotaro does. Polnareff is in many ways a foil for Jotaro in that he ACTUALLY learns to accept help and so on.

Things I did like was the introduction of stands. Thought there could have been better explanation but it’s JJBA so you know it’s going to not be there or it will be there eventually. I think this arc has ok writing but Part 2 was more solid.

Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable

I really liked this part. It was more of a slice of life comic with mayhem. I felt that compared to Part 3, Part 4 does a better job with depicting teenagers. Josuke and his friends are literally dumbasses 80% of the time and Koichi has their one brain cell most of the time. Part 4 also dives much deeper into the origins of stands as well.

What I liked was how the mystery parts of the comic were interspersed with the comedy parts. The previous arc was pretty straight forward without much diversion to have more insight into the characters. Part 4 is much more focused on relationships and has a psychological bent to the story. Unlike until the end of Part 3, Josuke and friends work as a team very quickly. The other part that I liked was the incredibly awkward Joestar family reunion. Part 4 just has the most depth for me out of all the parts so far.

The other part that I liked was the evolution of stands -- that some stands can grow and others have remote abilities and so forth.

My biggest beef with this part is Araki totally doesn’t understand how graduate school works. Like ok first off, why the hell did Jotaro choose to do marine biology?? Want some background on that which we never get. When Jotaro is introduced, his specialty is whales and sharks (which i am sure he punched a shark at some point) but then at the end Araki decides that Jotaro’s doctoral work is on starfish? Um like ok what the fuck here. That’s a HUGE jump to do in academia in terms of changing your study organism. Like for me jumping from lepidoptera to hymenoptera was incredibly painful and that’s just WITHIN one ORDER (insects). Here Jotaro is jumping PHYLUMS. The other thing is that it takes uuuuh 6 years max to do your doctorate. So idk how Jotaro is able to do his entire dissertation in 3 months. It’s taken me two and a half years just to get my experiments done for my master’s degree. My advisor has given me two months to write my thesis, BUT I ALREADY HAVE MY DATA???? Jotaro would have had to collect all the data and speed write and I have no fucking clue how the hell he would even pass the defense even if he wasn’t also investigating a serial killer. Pretty sure the whole marine biology thing is just a cover so he has jstor access for everything related to stands.

Part 5: Golden Wind

I didn’t expect to like this arc. But I did. It’s the arc that tumblr spoke of. First off, it has the perfect balance of dumbass to incomprehensible. Part of why I like JJBA is that you can see Araki’s art evolution and this is the first arc where he has completely gone from ripped as fuck dudes to twinks. That being said this is the arc that has the first plot hole and I only have a few theories as to why. It starts with Jotaro sending Koichi to Italy to investigate Giorno who is Dio’s biological son from his return in Part 3. This entire arc when I was live texting it to my best friend probably receives the most what the fucks in her replies. TD;LR: Giorno technically Joestar because Dio stole the body of Jonathan Joestar to make his comeback because you would think Araki for once has some somewhat reasonable biology here. Surprise fucker, Giorno’s hair turns blond once his stand ability awakens because he’s Dio’s son. So the whole Jotaro investigating Giorno thing is COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN. My only explanation is Koichi is like yeah he’s an idiot kid and I don’t think he’s going to be a problem or Polnareff calls up Jotaro and is like yeah I’m keeping an eye on this kid while haunting a magic turtle.

Which brings me to the most insane part of the whole arc, the GODDAMN TURTLE. As we learned in Part 3 with Iggy, animals can be stand users and there is this turtle that is a stand user. And basically Giorno and gang use this turtle to escort the boss’ daughter while plotting to take down the boss. There are so many fights over this goddamn turtle. Turtle does what turtle wants on top of it because it’s a fucking turtle. I just. The turtle. Then fucking polnareff dies and somehow manages to possess the goddamn turtle for almost a third of the arc???? And decides to keep hanging out in the turtle after everything is said and done as a fucking ghost. Like ok, I shouldn’t be like this is the most whack shit that’s happened in JJBA because there was an honest to god alien in Part 4.

Honestly this arc also had some great character arcs. I think that somehow each character manages to grow and confront their issues. Considering that Giorno is the son of Dio, he actually is a pretty good kid. Like I was going in expecting Dio Jr. Which thank god that was not the case because I would have been like Really? REALLY WE ARE DOING THIS AGAIN? I think my main complaint was Trish was pretty sexualized. She’s fucking 15, Araki, please let her have some more clothes.

I am kinda bummed that there is no crossover between Josuke, Jolyne, and Giorno because I think it would be pretty funny.

Part 6: Stone Ocean

I don’t know where the fuck to start with this one. First off, I am from Florida. I lived in Florida for 20 some years of my life. I grew up in Florida. The first fucking thing that this manga does is say that it’s set in/near PORT ST. LUCIE (PSL). I grew up in PSL. For the longest time, PSL was pretty much known for being a growhouse central because it’s a suburbia of maze like developments. Like I am pretty sure that Araki just took a dart and threw it at a map of Florida. BUT that being said, there are several marine biology/oceanography research institutions very close to PSL so I guess I could see it considering Jotaro is supposedly a professor of marine biology now (honestly I think he just fucks around with stand research instead). Stone Ocean feels more like it’s set in Miami. It has that vibe. I have been to Miami one too many times and have nearly died in Miami (more than once). Stone Ocean is a literal fever dream for me. However, I enjoyed the hell out of it. It ranks up there with the one Sailor Moon arc where Luna has the crush on the astronaut’s boyfriend and there’s space shuttle shenanigans.

Oh and did I mention that Stone Ocean is set in 2011. This is kinda an important point since let me put some context to why half of this is me screaming. The space shuttle program ended in 2011. I saw the last shuttle return (I wasn’t able to see the launch because it was fucking crazy to even get a seat at the place I’d go watch it in PSL). ANYWAYS, let’s get on to this beautiful disaster trainwreck of an arc.

So first off, Jolyne is my favorite jojo. She’s a punk ass kid with a lot of issues. I was worried it would be endless fanservice, but actually stone ocean wasn’t too bad in that regard. Also part of Jolyne’s design features butterflies heavily so I’m like yeah this is my favorite (did I mention that I study butterflies, that I have lived, breathed, and eaten butterflies since I was 12? Ok i did eat a moth once but that’s another story). Also I thought Jolyne’s stand was really cleverly done (besides that I screamed that it had sunglasses). Jolyne gets framed for her shitty ex hitting a pedestrian which turns out to even be a whole set up. Fun fact, Jolyne’s shitty ex is from Palm Beach. The only thing you need to know about Palm Beach is that it houses Mar-A-Lago, yep that Mar-A-Lago. It’s full of rich white people. Which makes the whole boyfriend shit even funnier for me. Like I can already see how the fuck Jolyne and Romeo meet etc etc etc. Let’s just say the one high school the county over is notorious for the rich kids being absolute wankers (duis, drugs, the whole shebang) and I can fill in the blanks just from being from the area.

So it’s time to put Jotaro on blast again because he is such a fucking dick. He literally abandons Jolyne for 14 years. Jolyne is convinced that he doesn’t want her and hates her. She has every right to be angry with Jotaro. This goes back to Part 3 when I said that Jotaro literally has no character development, Jotaro still hasn’t learned a single fucking thing. He still thinks he has to do everything himself so that the people he cares about won’t get hurt. Which is partly a result of Part 3, but also he had the chance to overcome that misconception in Part 4? But he doesn’t? He like asks Josuke for help once and basically takes on the bulk of the investigation himself so Josuke and pals don’t get hurt/further involved. Jolyne eventually realizes that the reason Jotaro abandoned her is that she and her mom won’t get caught up in the stand bullshit etc and forgives him. Which like I can understand why she does that. But it’s an incredibly shitty excuse to sever all ties with your kid and divorce your wife just because you’re trying to protect your family. Like ok, I have a rough relationship with my family and it can be really, really hard not to forgive them if they suddenly start being good to you despite the fact they have hurt you so deeply and you just know it’s a bad idea to get back close to them because it’s only going to end badly. Anyways, Jotaro is a fucking dickweed.

The one thing that I really liked is how Jolyne’s determination brings other people closer to her. She’s a literal brick wall and just bulldozes through obstacles regardless of if it’s a good idea. She also will not abandon her friends. So Jolyne best jojo, fight me.

I can not believe that all of Dio’s kids except Giorno are Florida Men. I was like Araki it does not take 10 hours to get from PSL to Cape Canaveral and then I was like wait Jolyne has to fight a Florida Man like every 10 minutes so it does kinda make sense. The whole part in Orlando was like a fever dream. I lived in Orlando. When the mickey mouse shit started, I was like ofc there’s going to be a fight with The Mouse. You cannot enter Orlando without making a sacrifice to The Mouse.

I completely knew that the arc would climax at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) just because it was set in 2011. I was fucking screaming the whole way through the final fight at the KSC because I have been there like idk 5 times or so. Can you believe that you used to not have to go through a gate to get in to tickets? That was before 9/11. Now it’s not like that. Anyways it was pretty great.

I thought the ending was actually pretty satisfying considering the whole universe reset?

Anyways Araki delivered the fucking florida man experience so completely that I was happy. He literally managed to write the arc like a Carl Hiaasen or Tom Dorsey novel on crack (those two are the best known Florida novelists who write mystery/crime novels about Florida). When the Part 6 anime comes out I am going to be so ready.

Part 7: Steel Ball Run

Soooo this first arc of universe reset where everything is like do the Cupid Shuffle like 500 times while high as fuck. I think Part 7’s is weak compared to Part 4,5 and 6 in terms of writing BUT I was impressed by the originality of retelling of Part 1. I really liked the western bent to it. Also, I didn’t think that Araki could do completely new world building with stand origins without it being boring af. But he managed to make it really interesting and fucked up. I will put in a warning here: This arc isn’t great about race (not surprised at all), there is the magic cure for a disability trope (not a fan), and also sexual assault of a minor (really fucked up).

Instead of the haman or however the fuck it’s spelled, Zeppeli uses a power called the spin which is his family’s secret ability. Zeppeli enters the Steel Ball Run which is a transcontinental horse race with a reward of half a million bucks. Johnny Joestar, a disgraced jockey sees Zeppeli use the spin and enters the race despite being paralyzed waist down just to figure out how the fuck Zeppeli uses it. For the most part, the depiction of disability is pretty good until you know the magic cure trope (offensive to disabled people, I can go more into depth with this in a different post). Zeppeli and Johnny start out as rivals but then become good friends and the writing is so good. However, every fucking cover drawing of the two together by Araki is very homoerotic. I don’t know if Araki actually knows how gay his drawings are? Like from Part 1 onwards, they are like...gay. Dio is there and I was like ok he gonna be vampire again but nope DIO FUCKING GETS DINOSAUR POWERS???? LIKE HE CAN TURN INTO A GODDAMN UTAHRAPTOR?????????????????????????????????????

Steel Ball Run has several layers of plot which are masterfully tied together : the actual race, Zeppeli’s past, Johnny growing as a character, and the holy corpse. The holy corpse shit was right up my alley as being someone who loves crack christianity stuff. Like ok, at first I was like yeah it’s a saint and then I was like oh it’s the virgin mary and then Araki fucking hinted throughout the second half of the plot it’s JESUS???? Anyways that was some wack shit. President Valentine was a really good villain by the way -- completely captures Murica fuckery.

I liked the addition of the fibonacci stuff/golden ratio in terms of maxing out stands/spin.

My main issue with this arc besides race and disability fails is the handling of Lucy. She’s 14 and Araki oversexualized her. Like goddamn it she’s a FUCKING CHILD. This arc is probably the worst in terms of its treatment of women. I was really pissed at the fact that Araki had Lucy graphically assaulted and raped. So beware of that. That is part of the reason as much as I liked the originality of Part 7, I can’t really rank it high on the quality of JJBA parts.

ANYWAYS ONTO PART 8

Part 8: JoJoLion

I am up to date as of August/September 2019 issue of the magazine JJBA is serialized in (I really want to say it’s Jump, but I’m probably wrong). This arc is really fascinating because it completely skips from the 1890s to the present day . There is the ties to Part 7 as that Johnny marries a Japanese woman whose family is a big part of this arc. It is set in Morioh like Part 4, but a Morioh completely shifted 180. It combines the story of a family curse, a man searching for his identity, and a conspiracy about these magical fucking fruit?

A college kid, Yasuho, pulls this dude out of the dirt at these weird formations in Morioh. The dude has no idea who he is and Yashuo names him Josuke. Note, the kanji for this Josuke are different than those for Josuke of Part 4. The Higashitika family that Yasuho is friends with takes Josuke in because he’s a stand user and he gets drawn into their shit while he tries to figure out who he is.

The twist with Josuke’s identity and past was like fucking mind blowning. Like did not see that one coming that he’s the fusion of Yoshikage Kira (who in part 4 was the villian but in this one is the Joestar son of Holly? Not a murderer?) and Josefumi Kujo (character design resembles Part 4 Josuke). The thing with this arc is that it’s this weird combo of part 3 and part 4 with new content and characterizations. So it’s on one hand familiar and on the other hand completely unfamiliar. It continues with the corpse stuff, but I’m not completely sure how the corpse ties into the plot with the fruit and the new villains-- The rock people. It has to do with the equivalent exchange concept which is threaded throughout this whole arc. But like how exactly besides how Johnny died in Japan? Is the corpse still there in Japan? Araki TELL ME.

Bonus: Little Jolyne Goes To Morioh Doujinshi.

I found this Doujinshi on Batato and there wasn’t an author or artist attached but holy shit it is the CUTEST thing. It’s basically about Jolyne meeting Josuke because Jotaro needs a babysitter. It’s a very short one Doujinshi and the last part is hilarious. Anyways highly recommend reading this one because it’s really cute.

#erin reads jjba #i am so sorry for this long ass post for mobile users #long post

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breeeliss · 8 years ago

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[Miraculous Ladybug]: Think Alike

oh shit! update! whaaaaaaat?

so unfortunate side effect of having multiple multi-chapters is that you run the risk of forgetting about them......which admittedly happened with this one.....oops.....

so shoutout to @ladyserendipitous and others from the mlfanfiction server who reminded me that i had this, which encouraged me to update it (good thing too bc i forgot how much i loved this idea).

[Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3]

Link to Archive of Our Own: [AO3]

Title: Think Alike

Summary: Adrien never really considered himself an artist per se. He only ever considered what he did a hobby, something that he did for joy and not for obligation. But Marinette held his prints up to the light, smiled up at the glossy photos he’d spent hours shooting and editing, and looked at them like they were practically perfect. And how could Adrien not let his chest swell up at the sight of her pride?

Photographer!Adrien

Chapter 4: Shopping

“So wait, just to review. Why is this not a date again?”

Marinette threw her head back and whined. “It’s not a date because it’s not a date!” she repeated. “I didn’t ask him out, I invited him to go shopping with me because he was asking me questions about designing. That’s it!”

“Yes, but you also have a crush on him and you invited him to do an activity with just the two of you. I dunno, babe, that sounds like a date to me.”

Marinette glared at her. “By that definition, you asking Nino to help you babysit your sisters today is also a date. Boom. Deflected. Leave me alone.”

Alya rolled her eyes and scoffed. “Um, no. Not deflected. Do not twist this on me, I asked you first.”

“And I answered already!” Marinette complained.

Alya crossed her arms and smirked. “Okay no. You’re over here like ‘oh I’m not trying to get with him, I’m just helping him out like a good friend.’ Meanwhile you conveniently had to pick up your fabric orders today and you conveniently needed Adrien’s help to do it. Which yeah, ok, like this isn’t you trying to spend more alone time with him. And then, let’s please acknowledge that this happened all because you were totally starstruck after your darling sunshine prince sat with you and started showing you his camera.”

“It wasn’t a lie! Sure I was going to pick it up tomorrow, but I really do have a fabric order there waiting for me!”

“You are whipped as hell, Marinette.”

“You’re making me sound like a total creep,” Marinette complained. “Look, I honestly sat next to him because I wanted to compliment him on the shoot and see how it was going. That was totally my intention from the start. Completely platonic and friendly support.”

“Ah yes,” Alya said, rubbing her hands. “But then the plot thickens!”

Marinette winced. “And I actually wanted to know about how his camera worked because it seemed interesting! I just wanted to learn more, you know?”

Alya nodded and stroked her chin. “Yes, yes. Getting closer to the source of all this mess.”

“But he looked so cute explaining everything Alya,” Marinette admitted. “Like totally adorable. He was so thrilled and then he started asking me about my designing, and then I remembered how impressed he was with me when I showed him my ideas, and fine I’m a glutton, I’ll admit it! I wanted to spend more time with him because it’s been fun hanging out with him and talking about his photography and my designing. So I invited him to shop with me today.” Marinette pointed a finger in Alya’s face. “As friends! No ulterior motives. Not a date.”

Alya scoffed. “Don’t you even try that, girl. You are full of unadulterated crap. You are totally trying to hit on this boy right now.”

“I am not!”

“Oh yes you are!” Alya teased. She threw her arm dramatically over her forehead. “You find out he’s just as big an art freak as you are, and all of a sudden you’re trying to lure him into your home so you can lay across your sewing machine and let him ravage you!”

“You are embarrassingly dramatic. Seriously. Also, can we not pick out verbs that make me sound like the heroine of a romance novel?”

Alya shrugged. “Make fun of me all you want, but you’re pining after him like crazy. And because I care about your happiness, I will support your impressively sneaky attempts to squeeze in time with him. As always, I demand a full report on my desk by tomorrow morning.”

Marinette rolled her eyes and decided to relent the point. “Sir, yes, sir.”

“Detailed!” she commanded. “No corners cut! Thorough, my dear. Absolutely thorough.”

“I’ll write you a dissertation if you want, don’t worry. I’ll keep you updated.”

“Perfect,” Alya grinned. “It’s important I keep track of my investments.”

Marinette raised a brow. “...yeah, I’m ignoring you.”

Alya danced behind Marinette and planted her hands firmly on her shoulders, marching her at a quicker pace to the front doors of the school. “I’m getting good vibes from this,” Alya explained. “Something tells me this is the beginning of something grand.” She looked past Marinette’s shoulder and jumped excitedly. “Ah, there he is! Ready and waiting for you!”

They were at the top of the stairs outside and Marinette could see Adrien leaning into the window of one of the cars that usually came to pick him up at the end of the day, talking to the driver in the front seat. Alya grinned and muttered in Marinette’s ear. “Nino told me he was spending all of last class texting his father’s assistant and convincing her to let him stay out longer after school. Just for you~!”

Marinette grabbed Alya’s hands and gently pried them off of her shoulders. “Will you stop hovering? Aren’t you supposed to be helping Nino with his DJ equipment? He’s probably upstairs waiting for you.”

“Trying to get rid of me, eh?” Alya laughed. “I get it, that’s cool. Don’t want me to kill your groove.” She kissed both of Marinette’s cheeks. “Knock him dead, cutie, okay?”

Marinette smiled and pushed Alya back inside the building. “Will you go!?” She stuck her tongue at Alya as she watched her skip back down the hallway, grabbing her stomach and cackling at her own antics. Marinette needed to remember to give Alya a hard time later tonight when she asked how babysitting with Nino went. As much as the two of them liked to tease her about Adrien, they sure didn’t realize just how downright chummy the two of them looked in comparison. She’d definitely have to get back at them later.

She took a deep breath, did a quick couple of hops in place to psych herself up, and skipped down the stairs just as Adrien was waving off his driver who’d pulled away from the school.

“Are you all set?” Marinette asked.

“Yup!” Adrien said. “Took a bit of wheedling with Nathalie to get away with it, but I am yours for the next hour.”

“Oh perfect,” Marinette smiled. “I promise I won’t be too long. It’s just picking up a couple of things and buying some stuff I’m running out of.”

“Ah don’t worry about it,” Adrien assured. “This should be fun! I just wear the clothes my father makes, so I don’t really know what happens behind the scenes so to speak. Besides, I wanna know what you’re going to be working on next.”

“You’ll figure it out quick,” she promised. “Feel up for a walk? I go to the shop about fifteen minutes away from here.”

“Of course, lead the way!”

Marinette’s parents financially supported her designing up to a point. It wasn’t too much trouble for her mother to pass down her old sewing machine, and back when clothing design only really consisted of remaking clothing she already had, buying basic sewing kits and small swatches of fabric from the crafts store was enough for Marinette to survive. But eventually, she wanted to make things from scratch. She needed to learn how to embroider. She needed dressforms for more complicated designs. She needed books for help and reference. And, most importantly, she needed three times the amount of fabric, thread, and supplies than she’d ever needed back when she was just adding decals to her skirts and shirts.

As encouraging as her parents were, Marinette understood that it was far too much to expect them to go out and buy whatever she needed. It wasn’t exactly feasible to sacrifice lease payments in favor of bolts of fabric because Marinette wanted to try her hand at button downs that weekend. So Marinette asked to start working on the registers at the bakery in exchange for a small allowance, and learned how to be smart about how to get everything she needed for as cheap as possible.

The shop that she always went to wasn’t exactly high-end, but it was certainly affordable considering how well-stocked they were in comparison. Marinette even figured out to take advantage of all of their online-only sales and ask for large orders in advance instead of shopping in the store real time. Plus Marinette shopped there so often that the owner always liked to shave off a few euros from her purchases in order to give her a break, especially when Marinette left the store with literal handfuls of supplies. It wasn’t the type of place where she could get huge bolts of expensive chiffon and silk, as riveting as the thought was. But for a girl on a budget, Marinette thought she pretty much hit the gold mine.

She was sort of afraid of what Adrien would think of such a place. After all, she was sure his father only ever needed to dial a number in order for him to get unlimited access to some of the highest quality fabrics in the world. A little storefront like this probably wasn’t much. But the moment they walked through the doors, Adrien’s eyes immediately started darting everywhere they could, soaking up whatever he saw. “Woah! I’ve never been inside a fabric shop before!”

“Never?” Marinette asked.

“No way!” Adrien exclaimed. He immediately started moving down one of the aisles and running his hands along the shelves filled with bolts of all sorts of colorful fabrics made of dozens of different material. He started to look through a small case filled with rolls of fabric and marvelled at the size of them. “Gosh, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much fabric on one place.”

“Yeah, it’s got a lot to choose from,” she grinned. “It’s a bit pricy to buy them in bulk like this, but at least that means you’re pretty well stocked for a while before you have to start shopping again.”

Marinette couldn’t help but laugh when she saw how amazed he was at the entire wall devoted to yarn and wool. “Do you ever buy this stuff?” he asked.

“Occasionally,” she said. “Especially if I’m making things like scarves, hats, and leg warmers, it’s cheaper to just crochet it myself. I have to come back another time to get some knitting needles though. I just bought the books and I want to learn over the summer too.”

“God, how do you choose? There’s so much here, I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

“Come in knowing exactly what you want,” Marinette smirked. “Trust me, I know from experience. You walk in here without a clue what you want, and you either don’t buy anything or want to buy everything.”

“Is it just fabric and yarn that they sell? What else is here?” Adrien asked.

She shrugged. “Well, the back has more of what you would find in a craft store. So buttons, zippers, embroidery hoops, needles, stabilizers, smaller swatches of fabric, ribbons….I’m pretty sure they have a small section where you can get beads.”

Adrien twisted around and started walking backwards, occasionally bending over to steal glances at the lower shelves. “My father used to tell me how much he loved going to shops like this when he started out designing. I mean, it was years ago, but they look just like he described. Just walls and walls of almost anything you could ever want. This is awesome!”

“Yeah, I was pretty shocked my first time in here too,” she agreed. “I mean, it’s obviously not an endless treasure trove, but it’s a pretty decent place if you only have a little to spend.”

Adrien was standing on his toes and reading the labels of the highest shelves he could reach, laughing at himself all the while. “I’m so sorry, I’m supposed to be helping you shop.”

Marinette shook her head. “Ah, don’t worry about it. Roam around all you want. I might even find a couple of things for myself that I might need.”

He peeked around the aisle and let out a small gasp. “Oh my god there are like ten more shelves of fabric back here! And they’re all patterns!”

Marinette reached into her pocket for her wallet. “Have fun! I’ll be at the register up front if you wanna help me carry some stuff.”

“I’ll be two minutes I swear.”

Marinette wound up getting 6 meters of a black cotton/poly blend, 5 meters of dark blue jersey knit, a meter’s worth of four different colors of cotton, and a bundle of golden lace. One of the cashiers who had personally handled plenty of Marinette’s orders in the past didn’t even bat a lash when she gave her a 15 euro discount, asking only for pictures of all the finished products in exchange. It all wound up cheaper than she thought it would be, and she started to eye the back of the store where all the craft supplies were. Adrien finally came back up to the counter and started to help the cashier put Marinette’s orders into bags.

“Huh,” Adrien hummed. “Not sure what this stuff is for, but didn’t you have a dress with lace on it that you showed me?”

“Mmhm,” Marinette nodded. “You’re getting warm. Oh, come. I wanna grab a couple of things real quick from the back.”

Adrien followed behind her and rubbed the black fabric in between his fingers. “Uhhhh….wait! Your Eiffel Tower dress is black, right?”

Marinette grinned and Adrien’s eyes widened in excitement. “You’re gonna try for that dress first?”

“That’s the plan,” she confirmed. “I’m dreading it a little bit because of all the embroidery work that has to go into it, but I figured I’d do the more complicated thing first.”

“What’s the rest of this stuff for?”

“The lace is for the collar of the dress. The jersey knit is for this other dress I’m making. Nothing crazy, just something for some of the cooler summer days. And the cotton is for headbands! I ordered the hard plastic bands online already, so now all I have to do is put the fabric over it. I had a couple of spare pattern swatches at home that I was going to use, but I figured a couple more colors wouldn’t hurt.”

“Wow,” Adrien breathed out. “Sounds like a lot to do.”

“You underestimate my ability to perform killer all nighters,” she joked.

“I thought Alya was kidding about that.”

“I pride myself on doing my best to get eight hours of sleep every night during the school year. But during breaks? All bets are off.”

Adrien frowned. “I’m telling her you said that.”

“I have things to get done!”

“You have to sleep Marinette!”

“Oh there’s plenty of time for that afterwards,” she insisted. Adrien didn’t look pleased, but she laughed at his expression anyway and set her schoolbag down by her feet when they turned into one of the aisles at the back of the shop. “For now, if I’m really going to crack down on this embroidery, I need to stock up on a couple of things.”

Adrien set down his own bag and all of Marinette’s purchases as he scanned the shelves. “What are we looking for?”

“A new embroidery hoop. Some stabilizers. Carbon paper. Thread. Temporary adhesive. And I think that’s it.”

Adrien blinked. “Uh….well, the thread I get. What’s the other stuff for?”

Marinette let her hand hover over one of the rows of items before she plucked out an embroidery hoop from the shelves are started to scrutinize the size. “All things I need to hand embroider the dress. The hoop I have at home is too small for this dress and I’m out of everything else I need. I have some extra money left over so I figured I’d stock up.”

He hummed as he stood on his toes and looked at the row of stabilizers above his head. “What does all this stuff do? Can you explain it to me?”

“I mean, I don’t mind, but it can get a little confusing.”

“I’m sure I can keep up if I try,” he grinned. “I don’t know any of this stuff, so it’s really interesting.” He pointed to the hoop in Marinette’s hands. “So what’s that for?”

“An embroidery hoop,” she explained. “So when you’re doing embroidery, you want to make sure you’re keeping the fabric taut so that your stitches won’t look scrunched up or over stretched. So you open up the frame, slip the fabric inside, tighten it, and them you can start sewing.”

Adrien frowned and took the hoop from her and turned it over in his hands. “Hm, makes sense. There was some of that stabilizer stuff on that top shelf up there? You need that, right?”

“Yup,” Marinette said. She was reaching upwards to try to read the labels on the row of stabilizers Adrien had been looking at earlier. “Oh, could you do me a favor and grab that pack over there? Should say medium-weight cutaway stabilizers. Can’t reach it.”

“Uhhh, how long?”

“Ten meters ought to be fine.”

Adrien had to prop his foot up on the bottom shelf to reach the roll before he carefully handed it back down to her. “So stabilizers are…?”

“Well, I want the fabric taut, but I also don’t want the fabric to be damaged by the stitching I’m doing. So the stabilizer will keep that from happening. Because this is knit, stretchy fabric, the stabilizer is also gonna give the design some extra support. You put it on the back of the surface you’re embroidering, fit it into your hoop, and start.”

“So hoop keeps it taut, and stabilizers keep it from becoming damaged and offer support. Right?”

“Exactly!” Marinette smiled. She crouched down on the bottom shelf and plucked up a can of adhesive spray. “This is just to adhere it to the fabric when you’re ready to embroider.”

“So what does cutaway mean?” Adrien asked. “Or I guess what’s the difference between that and the others? There was a tear away up there somewhere.”

“Just depends on the fabric you’re using,” she told him. “So tear aways are better for tightly woven fabrics like cotton. When you’re done with your design, you just tear away the stabilizer from the back and you’re left with your design. Easy. Cutaways are better for fabrics that stretch more, like the one I just bought. So instead of tearing away the whole thing, you cut off the excess and leave the stabilizer on the back of the design. Offers more stability.”

Adrien scratched the back of his head. “I think that makes sense. Are there any others?”

“There are wash aways. You use that for really delicate fabrics, and they dissolve in water. Heat aways exist too, but I’ve never used them.”

Adrien whistled. “That’s so much to keep track of. Now I get what you mean about all this being complicated….”

“It’s a lot of trial and error,” Marinette said. “And looking up on the Internet which things to use for what. Good thing is that sometimes you can find handy charts online that tell you what materials to use for which fabrics. As you get more used to it, you just sort of know.”

He watched her as she looked through the different types of embroidery thread and picked out a couple of golden ones. “I get what you mean. I was pretty much using Google and YouTube videos when I was still figuring out some of the weirder settings on my camera.”

Marinette giggled. “Yeah, tell me about it. You should see all of my browser bookmarks. Pretty sure it’s all references for designing, and I have dozens of them.” She bit on her lip and turned to the shelves behind them. “Do you see any carbon paper?”

“What’s that for?”

“Transfer outlines of the designs to the fabric. So that I know where to sew and can keep my stitches straight.”

Adrien pointed at one of the shelves to Marinette’s left. “Is it that weird black looking paper?”

Marinette nodded and took the first pack she saw. “Yup, that’s the one. Oh, and they’re so cheap! Perfect! I think I might actually be under budget.”

“With all of this stuff!?”

Marinette snorted. “Oh please, this is nothing. You should see the days where I come and pick up bolts of fabric and have to refill my sewing kits.”

“And I was over here complaining about buying photo paper the other day….”

She picked up her backpack from the floor and nudged him in the side. “Does buying photo paper not get complicated?”

“Printing photos does not involve stabilizers, carbon paper, and adhesive spray. Just a printer.”

“Oh come on, even I know you’re simplifying that. Aren’t there different types of photography paper you can use?”

“I mean, yeah, you can get paper to give you a glossy, matte, luster, or metallic finish, but that’s easy stuff.”

“ Easy stuff. ”

“You just stick the paper in the printer! At least I don’t have to set my photos on fire to get them to come out. Wait that’s what heat away stabilizers are, right?”

“Oh my God, no , that’s not what they are. You just iron them.”

“Heat implies fire.”

“No it doesn’t?”

“Well I didn’t know that! This stuff isn’t intuitive. You’re wicked smart so this all just comes naturally to you.”

“You’re impressed because my knowing not to set my clothes on fire comes naturally to me?”

“You know what I mean….”

They checked out all of Marinette’s purchases at the counter and started walking back to her house, delving into rather long and useless conversation about how stylish fireproof clothing could totally hit the markets with a splash and that Marinette could pioneer the movement — “Think about it,” Adrien joked. “No one will ever see it coming!” — which didn’t accomplish anything other than make Marinette forget to turn down the right block to their street and make her gut hurt from laughing so hard. For some reason, she really underestimated how distracting Adrien’s silliness could be. Though to be fair, it wasn’t as if she was a stranger to it — after starting to hang out with him more regularly over the past year, it was hard not to notice that Adrien got into pun competitions with himself when he was bored.

It wasn’t until she was dramatically retelling the story of the time she left her iron on the ironing board and caused a teeny tiny fire in her room that she realized they’d been walking and looping around random blocks for the past twenty minutes. Adrien was wiping tears from his eyes as Marinette looked around and noticed that her house was well behind them, but Marinette didn’t feel like pointing the fact out. If Adrien had already noticed, then it didn’t seem like he was in any rush to get her home. Marinette certainly didn’t mind spending the extra time with him, especially since he made it sound like he could afford to stay out longer.

She was trying not to think about the smug look Alya would give her once she told her all of this when Adrien asked out of the blue, “Can I ask you one more designing question? I just had a random thought….”

“If you bring up your fireworks rant one more time….”

“No, no, not that,” he assured. “Although, that was a pretty creative idea if I do say so myself.”

She smirked up at him as they walked. “Your question?”

“Right, so….I’ve walked through father’s company before. And one time I was taking a peek at where all the sample makers work, and I saw them embroidering with a sewing machine. So can’t you just embroider that way?”

“If they’re sample makers at Gabriel they probably have fancy machines that are specifically made for doing really complex embroideries. It’d be nice to have one of those, but I don’t have the money for it right now. I’m hoping to save up for it little by little as a graduation present to myself. Besides, it’s harder than it looks. You have to have a really steady hand.”

Adrien winced. “How much?”

“A few hundred euros,” Marinette sighed. “Can’t get one any time soon. But hey! Maybe I can get a summer job and save up paychecks to buy one for myself. It’s not like I need it or anything, but it’s a cool thing to aspire to.”

“Wow, you’re saving up for it yourself?” Adrien asked. “No help from parents?”

“Nah, I can’t expect them to drop money for something like that for me. They’re supportive of my designing and everything — they love seeing what I’m working on, Maman lets me use her old sewing machine, and Papa got me those dress forms on sale at a thrift store. But a fancy embroidery machine is different. If I decide to take my hobby seriously, I should bear the burden of funding it. But it’s alright! I’ll get there eventually.”

Adrien hummed and looked down at the bags pinching around his wrists. “You said you wanted to be a designer when you grow up. Are you going to….go to school for that and stuff?”

“That’s the plan,” she nodded. “Get a job, work in a company, maybe open my own line. It’s all a little unclear right now, but my parents always say it’s a matter of just doing what makes sense to me and feels right. I’ve got plenty of time to think about a career.”

“I sort of forget you can go to school for that stuff.”

Marinette frowned. “Didn’t your father start out as a designer?”

“Yeah, but he went to school for business,” Adrien explained. “The designing was just a hobby for him. He happened to be really good at it and combined the business and designing to make Gabriel. He takes pride in what he does as a designer, but he always says he’s a businessman first and a visionary second. He doesn’t just know what looks good. He knows how to make what looks good sell , and he knows how to create success. Hobbies don’t mean much to him unless you can benefit from it.” He laughed at himself, but it sounded strained against Marinette’s ears. “I didn’t even know that designing was a thing you could go to school for until a couple of years ago.”

Marinette bit her lip and tilted her head so she could peek underneath Adrien’s bowed head to see his face. “Photography is something you could go to school for. There are a lot of good art schools in Paris. Or you could even travel somewhere else. Maybe go to America. Whatever you wanted, really.”

Adrien snorted. “It really isn’t a matter of what I want.”

She wrinkled her forehead. “Your future should always be a matter of what you want. That’s why it’s yours.”

“I mean, that does make sense,” he said. “But I guess it’s just never felt that way.”

It was too bitter a statement to come from Adrien’s mouth, and the tone was discordant enough to make Marinette curl a hand into the crook of his elbow and stop their walking. “Is there something on your mind?”

He shook his head adamantly. “No! No, no, I’m sorry. I got a little off topic. It’s honestly nothing.”

“It doesn’t sound like nothing.”

Adrien knocked the shopping bag against his shins and hesitated for a long moment before he answered. “I dunno, I guess….I guess I’ve been thinking about something Nino told me today.”

A young woman roughly clipped shoulders with Marinette and she realized with a jolt that they probably needed a different place to talk instead of the middle of the sidewalk. There was a small plaza with tables, chairs, and benches in front of a cafe that Marinette liked to sketch at on the weekends. She tugged on Adrien’s elbow until she followed him up the block and pulled out seats for them both. He looked a little reluctant to sit, almost anticipating the fact that Marinette would surely question him, so she tried to smile as reassuringly as she could to comfort him. It was very easy for Adrien to draw into himself when his father came up, and it didn’t feel right to just let the sentiment hang.

Adrien sat in the chair, nervously bobbing one of his legs while Marinette visibly struggled to find the point she wanted to make. “What do you want to do when you get older?”

Adrien blinked, not expecting the question. “Sorry?”

“I want to design when I get older,” Marinette explained. “So, what do you want to do? When you graduate and when you become an adult. What do you see yourself doing?”

He shrugged helplessly. “I never thought that far ahead,” he admitted. “I guess modelling? Or maybe helping father run the company.”

“That sounds a lot like what your father wants you to be doing.”

“Well,” he began. “Father always did want me to go into business like him. I always assumed that meant he wanted me to pick up his torch.”

“Forget what he thinks for a minute,” she instructed. “Forget what you’re supposed to be doing or what would make your father happiest. Is that what you want to do?��

His answer was almost immediate. “Not really. It’s always sounded rather dull the way he explained it to me.”

“So in a perfect world, what you want to keep doing?” she asked him. “The world’s open to you. You can do what makes you happy. You can do what excites you. You can do what you think will help you grow and learn as a person. What’s that thing?”

He smiled softly and stared at her through his bangs, as if he was already anticipating the answer she was trying to get him to give her. “I….I want to keep taking pictures.”

Marinette smiled brightly. “What else?”

He drummed his hands against his lap and stared off into space. “I dunno. I guess I just want more. I want to meet more photographers. I want to learn more about photography. I want to take more pictures. I want to do more with photography. I want….I want to make art . Nothing makes me happier than when I show people the things I can do and it affects the way they feel. It touches them, makes them pause, makes them walk away with something they didn’t have before. I can do that! And I want to keep doing that.”

“They call people like that artists, you know,” Marinette joked. “And you’re definitely an artist. You make magic with your hands. You create things that other people can’t immediately replicate. That’s art.”

“It seems so….intangible almost. Maybe that’s the wrong word,” he wondered. “I mean, I know there are artists in the world, but it never seemed like the sort of thing you could just do for the rest of your life.”

Marinette sighed. “I mean, your future’s a little more unclear. It’s not like being a doctor or a lawyer or a businessman. All those things lead you down a sure path. I don’t know what’ll happen to me or you five, ten years into the future. Being a creative person is messy, so it makes sense that your future will be a little messy too. But….I think it’s worth it! I want to give it a try and see where it can take me. What’s the fun in doing something if you know exactly where it’s going to lead you?”

Adrien winced. “I don’t know if my father would like that. He plans meticulously. Even my life, he planned. Everything I do has a purpose. Basketball and fencing to keep me fit. Chinese to keep me well-rounded. Tutoring to keep me ahead. Piano lessons to keep me cultured. He’s got all these building blocks and he knows exactly where they’re all supposed to go.”

“That’s great for him,” Marinette said, brushing off the comment. “And I’m sure it works for him. But what works for him doesn’t always work for you. You’re not supposed to be forcing yourself into a mold he makes for you. You’re your own person. He can’t dictate that for you forever.”

“Nino said the same thing.” He leaned his head against his knuckle, pressing a thumb into his temple. “And, don’t get me wrong, it makes sense. I agree. And I want to tell him, if only so that he could at least get excited about it and not call it a waste of time. But I don’t know how well that’ll go over with him. I don’t think he’d take it well.”

“Well, what does he have to say about it?”

Adrien nibbled on his bottom lip and traced the scratches on the metal tables. “I, uh….I don’t think he knows. About the photography.”

Her eyes widened. “You haven’t told him?”

“I don’t know how,” he replied helplessly. “He does what he does because he thinks it’s what’s best for me, and he’s really hesitant about me wasting my time with other things because he thinks it’s distracting. I just know that showing him a photo, showing him a new camera, or God forbid mentioning going to school for photography won’t just fall flat. It’ll go horribly. And….” He swallowed. “I don’t know how to deal with him being disappointed in me. I’ll always avoid it if I can.”

“You don’t know that for sure.”

“I’ve got a pretty good inkling.”

“Inklings are just that,” Marinette explained. “The only way you’ll know for sure is if you just say something.”

“It’s not that easy, Marinette….”

“Maybe, but how will you possibly know he’ll be disappointed in you if you don’t even give it a shot?”

The sentiment didn’t seem to cheer him up. His gaze was everywhere but on her, and she suddenly felt like she may have said something wrong. She didn’t know what it was like to have a parent who was unsupportive, or a parent who was absent in more ways than one. Adrien never really liked touching upon his family life much, and Marinette was harshly reminded why. It was jarring to think that Adrien could show so much reluctance in sharing part of himself with his own father. That kind of disconnect with her family wasn’t something she ever had to worry about. It made sense that just saying what was on her mind was something that she would do. But Adrien was clearly a different story.

It was frustrating because she wanted to help but wasn’t quite sure what he needed. It was times like these when Marinette realized how much her own nerves over her crush on him prevented her from learning more intimate things about him. They were supposed to be good friends. Surely she could think of something encouraging to tell him.

She felt horribly out of her element, but she didn’t want to let him stew in silence for too long. “If….” she muttered. “In a perfect world….what would need to happen? What would make you feel safe and supported?”

Adrien lifted his shoulders weakly. “What do you mean?”

Marinette huffed. She wasn’t saying this properly. “I mean….what has to happen to make you comfortable telling him? What would you need?”

He finally made eye contact with her, and she could see how the question made a small spark of vulnerability flash in his eyes, so quick she almost missed it. “I guess,” he said slowly. “Having someone in my corner. Father likes to think he’s right, or that he knows what’s best more than anyone else. More than me. It’s hard to get a word in edgewise to begin with. But for some reason where my future’s concerned, he’s especially adamant. It’d take more than just me to convince him.”

“Adamant about your future?”

Adrien looked up, desperately searching for the words. “He….he’s lost a lot.” The statement hung, and Marinette didn’t need him to elaborate to know exactly what he meant. “He’ll go through hell to make sure I’m safe and secured. Half of that is setting out a very specific path for me. I think me deviating from that….scares him? I don’t know.”

“You know,” she began quietly. “Your friends will go through hell to make sure you’re safe, too. We’ll also go through hell to make sure you’re happy.”

His smile slowly warmed his face, as if an entire slew of fond memories suddenly passed over him. “Yeah. I know.”

She gently knocked her knee against his. “I mean it. I can’t pretend to know what it’s like to deal with your father. I know that can be frustrating. But Alya, Nino, and I are always going to be here if you need help. And just speaking for myself, if you need someone in your corner to help get through to him, I’m just a phone call away.”

Marinette felt her heart whither when she saw him look genuinely surprised at what she’d said, as if that kind of sincerity still wasn’t something that he was used to. But it was quickly eclipsed when Adrien dropped all the bags to the floor, pushed his chair forward, and pulled Marinette into a fierce hug, letting his chin nestle comfortably against her shoulder. Her entire face was glowing, and she struggled with what to do with her hands for a long moment before she let them rest on his shoulders. “You’re a really great friend, Marinette. Thank you.”

Her nerves kicked in the moment her heart started racing. “I-It’s no big deal. Honest.”

Adrien leaned away from her and kept his hands on her shoulders. “It’s a big deal to me. I just wanted you to know that. I feel really lucky that you don’t mind spending all this time with me and helping me figure out what I want to do. No one’s ever really done this much for me before. I guess I’m just really grateful to you is all.”

She beamed at him so hard she could feel the ache in her cheeks. “I’m glad I could help.”

Their detour had to be cut short once Adrien looked at his phone and realized that he probably should start heading home before Nathalie or his father began to worry. Despite her assurances that the bags really weren’t a hassle, he insisted that he help her carry all of her supplies back to her house before he left. His phone was buzzing in his pocket periodically with phone calls and text messages, but he ignored it in favor of chatting with Marinette and giving her his full attention until they stopped in front of the bakery.

He passed off her things and helped her loop the straps around her wrists. “Got everything?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” she assured. “Please answer your phone! They sound worried.”

“I will right now, I promise.” He stuffed both of his hands in his pocket. “S-So, uh….any plans coming up?”

“Not strict ones. Why?”

Adrien bunched his shoulders up by his ears. “Just, uh….you know if you wanted company this summer while you’re designing. Or if you wanted to come with me to some shoots, you can just. I dunno. Text me, or something. It’d be cool to hang out more.”

“Y-Yeah,” she replied. “A-Absolutely! Um….I’ll have a better idea of when I’m free once school finishes, so, yeah! I’ll, uh. I’ll text you. Or you text me! Whatever you want.”

He let his head dip when he chuckled, his bangs falling into his eyes. “Cool, cool. Well, I. I guess I’ll head home. It was fun shopping with you.”

“Thanks for helping me,” Marinette said. “It’s always nice to have company.”

Adrien didn’t immediately move from his spot, still keeping his hands in his pockets and his shoulders pulled up high. It seemed like something was still on his mind, and she was about to ask him what was wrong before he suddenly moved in close, laid a hand on her shoulder, and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek.

Marinette felt her entire body jump when his lips touched, and she was sure she let out a strange high-pitched noise to boot. It was such a short kiss, but when Adrien jerked back she could see his ears turning red. “A-Anyway,” he stuttered. “See you in class!”

He jogged down the block back to his house, leaving Marinette to stand in front of her house while her entire face grew hot. It felt like her entire brain had shut off and it took her a few seconds to come back to herself and force out a quick “Bye!” before he ran too far away. She waited until he was completely out of sight before she covered her face with both hands and let out a quiet scream.

Alya was never going to let her hear the end of this.

#miraculous ladybug #adrienette #adrinette #marinette dupain-cheng #adrien agreste #adrinette fanfiction #miraculous ladybug fanfiction #my writing #think alike

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