#also since shes reader insert feel free to change her skin colour!

[a-killer-obsession]

Just a couple of Yin sketches :3

[typicalfictosexualfangirl]

Exchanged Whispers (BNHA Fan Fiction) - Chapter 1: Vernal

A/N: i’ve been seeing a couple of fanfictions where the reader is portrayed as a villain’s daughter aiming to become a hero or something of that sort, so i thought i’d change it up a little..

this is me trying my hand at writing fanfictions for the first time, so pardon me if chapters are short, the scenes aren’t entirely accurate as the actual anime/manga, and the characters if they aren’t exactly portrayed accurately. feel free to send in any constructive criticisms (not hate mail, pls know how to differentiate) and yeah, i’ll try to entertain and edit them as best as i can :)

just a heads up, it’s in the first person pov, which made it weird for me to read since I originally wrote the reader as ‘you’. and i’m not gonna go in depth on the characters in 1-C, since they don’t exactly play a main part in the story and also because i don’t wanna portray them wrongly, in case they do get portrayed in the manga in future, but i get to describe one or two of their appearances thanks to the sports festival arc 😚

p.s. [Y/F/N] means your full name

Chapter 1: Vernal

vernal (adj.) of, relating to, or occurring in the spring; fresh or new like the spring extracted from Dictionary by Merriam-Webster Inc.

I stood in front of the stairs and ruffled my hair in exasperation. I had rounded the building too many times to count and I’m back to square one where I started my futile search of my classroom.

I’m not one without a sense of direction, which just shows how huge the building was with their floors being at least 2 metres tall, identical walls painted white with a blue border framing the upper part, and floor-to-ceiling glass windows. It was like a maze, every turn I take looks exactly the same as the corridor I just passed, except for the different labels on the doors which are the only identification of my present location, and in my current case, the counters to how many times I have ran down a certain corridor.

I took a deep breath in and exhaled to calm my impatience and prepared for Search Attempt #7. Just as I rounded the corner for the *insert large number here* time that day, I bumped into something, or someone to be more specific, and fell back onto my hands, both in surprise and exhaustion. “Are you alright?” A hand appeared in my field of vision, offering to help me up on my feet.

My eyes travelled up to the face behind the hand. The boy standing in front of me had spiky red hair and sharp teeth, and if I looked closely, I could see a slight scar above his right eye.

I dusted my skirt and nodded, “Yup, thanks for the hand.”

“No problem, I was the one who caused your fall in the first place.”

I shook my head and hummed in disagreement, “I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings, I was at fault too.”

“The name’s Kirishima Eijiro, it’s nice to meet you,” he offered me a hand again, this time for me to shake, which I gently took and did so.

I introduced myself as well, “It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Kirishima.”

“So, [Y/N],” the way he said my name sent a chill down my spine, “what are you doing wandering these halls alone when class is about to start-“ he paused to check the time on his phone- “in a minute?”

I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly. “To be honest, I’m kind of lost,” I admitted sheepishly.

He chuckled at my response, “I’m not surprised. What class are you from?”

“1-C.”

General studies, huh? “I’ll take you there.”

It was only at that moment when I realised how late I was. “Holy crap, I am so dead, and I am going to drag you down with me!” I started to panic.

“No, it’s okay, my classroom’s near yours anyway,” he tried to calm me down and gave me a reassuring grin.

“Speaking of, you haven’t told me what class you’re from.”

“Me? I’m from 1-A,” he replied, the smile still plastered on his face. “Well, we’d better get going, otherwise we’ll be later than we already are.”

I thanked him for the trouble and proceeded to walk side-by-side with my benefactor as he led me down the winding halls to my classroom.

When I walked into my classroom, my classmates were already in their seats and the teacher was briefing the class on what our first activity in UA will be. Everyone turned to look at me in question, except a boy who was sat in the corner near the back door, his chin on his palm, and staring out the window. All I can make up of him was his crazy tuft of purple hair. When the teacher hurried me to take a seat, I briefly nodded and took a quick glance around the class before realising that the only seat left available was one beside him. I briskly walked to my seat and settled down, catching up with what I might have missed as the teacher repeated what he had said (for my sake).

When lunch break finally came around, I was immediately surrounded by my classmates. “Oh my god, your parents are MIND DUO right?” The very mention of my parents made me shudder, but I smiled at my classmates and nodded.

“Ooh, what are they like? How is it like to be the daughter of MIND DUO?” their incessant questioning caused my brain to stop functioning entirely. I was clearly struggling to answer all their questions but nobody seemed to notice.

Except for a certain someone I never would have thought of.

“Can’t you see she’s uncomfortable? Why don’t you all leave her alone?” a gruff voice suddenly came from my right.

Everyone turned to look at the source of the voice, including me, even though I already knew who it was. Finally able to get a good look at his face, I could see his messy hair framing the upper half of his face and bags under his hooded eyes of a matching colour. As soon as he said that, he stood up and sighed, leaving the classroom to remove himself from the situation.

“We’re sorry if we were bothering you,” my classmates apologised before introducing themselves one at a time.

“Having parents with such awesome quirks, what might your quirk be?” a male classmate with brown hair and dark skin asked.

“Amiability,” I responded rather quickly, as if it was my second nature. “It’s not as flashy as my parents’ quirks but basically, I get along with people really well, both heroes and villains alike.”

My classmates looked at me with tilted heads and confused faces, causing me to burst out laughing. “It means that I can dupe them into thinking I’m one of them, allowing me to lower their guards and get more information out of them,” I continued with a smile.

Scattered ‘oh’s reverberated through the air as my classmates slowly understood what I said.

I excused myself and left the classroom, in search of my tablemate (sort of) to thank him for what he did earlier, but my original plan was interrupted when I heard someone call out to me as I passed by 1-A classroom. I backed up and my head popped into the classroom, peeping inside to see a familiar red head waving at me and signalling for me to go in. He was standing at the table of a boy with ash blonde hair that was styled not so differently from his. The scowl on his face made me hesitate for a moment but I managed to gather the courage to step inside. I could feel everyone’s eyes on me as I walked towards Kirishima, but the overwhelming feeling of me being in a hero class overtook the out-of-place sensation.

“[Y/N]!” Kirishima welcomed me enthusiastically as soon as I reached his side and started rambling on about something to me, although I wasn’t really paying attention to what he was saying as I felt the seated boy burn holes through my head with his glaring red eyes.

Kirishima looked over at the frowning boy and realisation dawned upon him. “Ah, I forgot to introduce the two of you. [Y/N], this is Bakugo Katsuki. Bakugo, this is [Y/F/N].”

I awkwardly lifted a hand and mumbled a ‘hi’, a subtle side-grin forming on my face. The only response I received in return was a scoff, which I was taken aback by. Before I could ask Kirishima to hold me back to stop me from beating the crap out of this r00D boi, he took my arm and dragged me around the classroom, eyes glistening eagerly, “Let me introduce you to the rest of my classmates!”

“Sure…” I barely managed to respond as I tried to comprehend the current situation I was in.

“Ooh, who’s that beauty you’ve got with you, Kirishima?” a girl with horns, pink skin, and hair a shade darker came up to the both of us.

“Oh, Ashido, this is [Y/N]. She’s from class 1-C,” Kirishima halted in his tracks, letting go of my arm and pointed back at me, who was a step behind him, with his thumb. I pouted slightly at the loss of contact.

“You’re from the general studies? How’s the curriculum like there? What do you learn? Is it any different from the hero course? Why did you apply for general studies? What’s your quirk? Do you have a boyfriend?” she was like an assault rifle, attacking me relentlessly with her never-ending questions, but her last question definitely caught me off guard.

“Um…” I was trying to find the right words to answer when Kirishima stood between me and the overly-excited Ashido.

“Hey, hey, cool it. You’re gonna scare her away.”

She gave a coy grin, “Oops, sorry.”

As Kirishima picked up my arm again and pulled me past her, my free hand covered one side of my lips and I managed to whisper into her ear, “Actually, I applied to UA in hopes of finding a boyfriend.”

I winked at her as she gaped at my fading silhouette. “Call me Mina!” she yelled before I disappeared from her sight. Without looking back, I waved her off casually in acknowledgement.

Throughout the whole introductory journey, Kirishima was a really big help in overcoming my awkwardness and insecurity, but it was also partially thanks to my quirk that everyone was really easy to get along and communicate with. Except for that one gross and creepy perv that I really don’t want to have anything to do with (you already know who it is).

I took a quick look around the classroom and saw Jiro holding an opened bottle of ice water, trying to get past Mineta. I imagined the water emptying onto his small stature and blinked, a smirk forming on my lips as it became a reality.

“Well, lunch break’s almost over. Want to go and grab a quick bite before class starts?” Kirishima turned to me once he was done, taking a deep breath and exhaling from all the exhaustion.

I nodded at his suggestion, almost too quickly to be natural.

He smiled and led me out of the class, unaware that he was still holding on to my arm.

A/N: THAT’S IT for this chapter, it turned out longer than i expected, started with 300+ words and ended up being 1,300+ words, or more than that

i do hope you enjoyed reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it (minus the parts where i got frustrated with writer’s block, and putting what i imagine into words) get ready for the escalation in the story though, you’ll never see it coming ;)

Exchanged Whispers Chapter List

Chapter 2 // Chapter 3 // Chapter 4

[hazusreaderinserts]

Legacy [Naruto Reader-Insert]

You’re definitely a Yamanaka, aren’t you?

Family and Village secrets run rampant. All you wanna do is survive long enough to see Naruto become Hokage and to find out who you really are.

[Fem! Reader x Various]

Warnings: Long Plot, Slow-burn, the slowest of burns

Crossposted on Wattpad and Quotev Masterlist

Chapter 5

You quickly walk through the narrow roads to the Uchiha compound. The journey was long and winding but it didn't stop the enthusiasm that you had about the visit. Despite being one of the biggest clans in Konoha, their main residence was much more further away compared to the other big clans. 

But the strange thing is that their clan compound is close to the outer edges of Konoha. Normally all the big clan's would be stuck near the inner circle but not the Uchiha.

The Uchiha Clan is huge. Bigger than your own. You had heard of the stories that they tell of the clan, how it produces elite shinobi, generation after generation. The Hyuuga clan comes a close contender to the Uchiha, but they will insist that they're better. It's all subjective, really. The Byakugan makes it easier to track and figure out enemy weak spots while the Sharingan makes it easier to perceive your enemies' movements? You don't know. You'll check it out in depth later.

You feel jealous. You would have preferred being born in such a clan with a powerful kekkei-genkai. But you play with the cards you were dealt and you didn't get a good draw. You had read about Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi in a couple of the Intel reports (that were definitely not for you to read) and mission logs stored in your clan's private library. Relics of the Third Shinobi War. The reports, you mean, not the boys.

They are prodigies. One of the elite. Elite even among the elites. E with a capital letter.

Shisui is famous for his shunshin. A war vet. He is said to be so proficient in his technique that it became his title in the bingo books. The reports you read also mentions that his shunshin is so fast that he could produce solid afterimages that he used like shadow clones. He is almost as fast as the Fourth.

Itachi is a war vet too. Experienced war in the front lines at four. Proficient in almost all categories and graduated the first year of academy four months after enrollment at the top of his class. Intelligent and strong, with the experience to prove it.

How is that fair? Facts say Uchiha are genetically superior.

You have always wanted to learn Shunshin to that level of proficiency. And you do. Courtesy of Shisui.

You ambush him on your first visit. He was coincidentally at Itachi's house at the time, just a quick visit to drop off some equipment for him. You take advantage of his kind and trusting nature and he eventually agrees to train you in shunshin techniques, some genjutsu and the basics in kenjutsu. 

You didn't know that he only agreed to teach you because you were persistent. Persistent to the point of using petty manipulation tactics that he is sure is too advanced for a seven year old like you. He's taking a really big gamble, to train you like this.

 The both of you meet after your classes and if he was free for a couple of hours on a daily basis for training.

 Itachi joined the both of you once and you saw them spar against each other. It was safe to say that you were lucky that they were both shinobi of Konoha. You would have been obliterated in a couple of seconds. They moved faster than your eyes could follow and performed feats beyond your wildest imaginations.

This was your fourth-no, fifth time visiting them since these couple of weeks were really busy for Brother and Mother. 

Mother is attending a series of medical jutsu conventions where the heads of all the hospitals in the Land of Fire come together to compare notes about any recent findings or research and the such. They are held on a bi-annual basis.

Having Mother away from home was normal for you. She hasn't been home for longer than three months since your seventh birthday.

Brother is sent to many long missions consecutively. He gets back, rests for barely a day or so, then gets shipped off with Hound, the person that brought him back that time he was drunk. He doesn't tell you Hound's real name of course. ANBU protocol.

Brother doesn't seem to like him that much anymore after all those missions.

No rest for the wicked, Brother says. 

There seems to be some disturbance within the political powers of Konoha itself. Some whispers here and there from the adults in your clan, and you only had the vaguest of information.

But you know for sure that waves of unrest will hit Konoha soon. The Uchiha are starting to grow discontent.

The Uzumaki kid wasn't the the most talked about in town anymore.

Regarding Uzumaki Naruto. To you, he seems like a kid who is looking for attention in the worst ways possible. He pulled pranks on almost all the Sensei, pulled pranks on the Academy principal and you even heard about the time where he pranked the Hokage. You had doubts about the latter, but you don't put it past him to try.

You don't talk to him much but you knew that Shikamaru and Choji invites him to hang out and play ninja with them on occasion. The sight of the Uchiha gates breaks you out of your thoughts. Your lips curl into a smile. You are pretty excited to be here despite the fact that Sasuke hangs around and is generally being a pest. You know that he hates that his brother showed you courtesy since you were his senpai's kid sister. He has a pretty big brother-complex in your eyes, and nothing could change your perception of him.

 You have every intention of teasing him with it in class later.

Class ended pretty fast and you skipped Kunoichi lessons for like the nth time today. Ah well, you'll just tell Ino that you were at Sasuke's house and give her something to squeal about.

You put away your slippers by the porch and made your way further inside, past the dinner table and living room.

" ... A hazard to Konoha and her people.. "

You strain your ears at the sound of a voice but you only manage to catch some words. The doors were thin. Paper thin.

" Father, Hokage-sama let them in for a reason, " A more youthful voice protests. A boy. He continues, "They're in the care of Konoha's best. You shouldn't talk about them that way."

Your throat becomes drier than the dunes of Suna. Were they talking about what you think they were?

 You push closer to the shoji door, as close as you could get without creaking the floorboards that will alert them to your presence. You strain your ears, they don't seem to be talking as loudly anymore.

 " The sword is a wild card and should not be in here with us. The demon child is bad enou-"

 A hand clamps down hard on your shoulder, shocking you out of the focused state that you needed to be in to hear the rest of the conversation. You almost let out a scream. Your heart jumps and you had to will yourself not to make a sound. Both of your hands clamp over your mouth to not make a sound. The skin around the surface of your skin crackles with static as you feel your chakra coils twist and tighten within you.

 Please don't be Sasuke. Please don't be Sasuke. Sasuke will tell on you. Please, please don't be Sasuke.

 You pray to whatever god above that this wouldn't get you into trouble. An odd feeling in your stomach makes you feel like you need to throw up. You don't think you prayed for your life as much as this moment. The idea of being caught eavesdropping in the Uchiha house makes you feel very unsafe.

 The hallway is dark, but you recognize the eyeliner on his eyelids anywhere. A sigh of relief that you didn't know that you were holding escapes from between your lips.

 Bright red eyes stare back at you, his hand still firmly around your right shoulder. The smile dancing on his lips contrasts the hard look he has in his eyes. Hurt festers in your chest when you realize that he has his Sharingan out.

 He places a finger to his lips and single-handedly signs in a language that you didn't recognize. He signs again when you don't respond. The conversation happening behind the paper door dulls. The loud thumping in your heart drowns everything else down. You couldn't hear anything else between the sound of your heart beating against your rib cage and his slow breathing.

 He furrows his eyebrows in annoyance when you realize that you couldn't understand what he is saying and tries again. This time in a language that you do recognize. 

 Hostile? Objective? Shisui gestures with both of his hands faster than your eyes could see under the dim lighting, but you could deduce what he wants to ask you. A language that was developed in the Third War. Brother had taught this to you when you were young. Well, younger than now.

 He is suspicious of you.

 You don't blame him. A stranger enters your household with your best friend and demands you, a famous shinobi, to teach them your strongest non-kekkei-genkai jutsu and you catch them snooping around in said best friend's home. You yourself would be pissed.

 Area. Clear. Canvassing surroundings. Friendly. You fumble a bit with your fingers because of your nervousness but you hope that he can make out what you are trying to say. He searches your eyes for ill-will or anything other than fear but finds none.

 The shoji door shakes and slides open. Shisui drags your body into his arms and shunshin away.  The world melts before your eyes and the colours seem to blur together in a mishmash of blobs. The scenery stabilises and your feet touch the ground. Shisui lets go and you drop to your knees, clutching at the grassy greens beneath your palms. Your pupils were shaking, and it wasn't because of the speed.

 The killing intent that was coming off Shisui made your coils go out of whack. You couldn't get up.

 "You know there's a time and place for everything right, little mouse?" He kneels down on one knee and taps your forehead with his fingers.

 Your pupils were still shaking. Scared. Scared. So scared. Your body doesn't want to obey you. Your arms and back tenses up as you dry heave onto the grass. It was mostly bile, you haven't eaten for the day. Shisui lifts your chin up with a finger and looks into your eyes.

 You don't resist. You couldn't.

 He dispels the genjutsu that you are under and your body sends you a meter away. You reach for the kunai that you hid under your skirt and hold it in front of you in a defensive kata. It was an immediate reaction. Your legs react as soon as you regain control over your physique.

 Your eyes are trained to his figure and he doesn't seem to be following up with an attack.

 Shisui looks at you with a proud expression on his face. You blink twice to check that your eyes weren't playing tricks on you. He shunshins again, closing the gap between the both of you. This time you appreciate the hours and love he put into his famed technique. From the time he used his jutsu, you didn't see him move, only the after-image of his body was left behind. Before you close your eyes to blink. he is standing before you.

 If he were an enemy. Your life would have ended even before you saw him move.

 "You could've killed me." You admit.

 Shisui laughs and places an affectionate hand on your head, "It's good that you can discern your opponent's strength. But next time do something about your chakra when you wanna eavesdrop. It's different from everyone else's you see. Consider this your last lesson."

 You swallow and look towards your feet. What did he mean that your chakra is different? Was it a hint? A warning? But most importantly, what did he mean by last?

 Your chakra control is meager at this point, nobody had taught you how to use any jutsu yet so you didn't see the point of training. You lack knowledge about chakra. Did that mean sensors could sense you no matter where you are in the village? It would make sense. Nobody seemed to care when you didn't turn up for certain classes. Now you know why.

 The fact that you were lacking in so many ways burned bitterly into your brain.

 Both of Shisui's palms cup your cheeks and forces you to meet his gaze. "I'm going to tell you this only once, got it?" He says under his breath, like he was speaking to an accomplice about something that he is plotting. You nod as much as you can in his firm grip. He brings his lips to your right ear and whispers.

 "I'm going to die soon. Someone is going to take my life."

 You grip his wrists. No, you can't let it happen. You can't afford him dying. Was these few months that he had been training you, a waste?

 People don't just tell you that they were going to die out of nowhere. There has to be a reason. Was this a trick? A test? Was he testing you? Your will? Your abilities? To check if you could be trusted with his secrets?

 Someone, he says. Who is this someone? Someone from his clan? Someone close? Someone from higher up?

 "I know that look, little mouse. " Shisui murmurs your nickname dearly. He has never used this intimate tone before. "This can't be helped, I can't change my fate and the fate of my clan. " Emotion swims in his black, black eyes and you feel a knot forming in your throat. His tone is so soft. And so sad.

 "Don't go." You manage to choke out a few words from your uncooperative larynx. "Don't leave me." Your heart feels desolate. Desolate like an empty vessel in a large expanse of water, unable to be filled.

 Shisui shushes you with a finger to your lips. "I'm going to give you something as a farewell gift, okay?" He studies your features closely and adds, "I'll miss you." Like any gift could heal your heart of what was going to happen.

 You sense chakra flaring from him and you see pinwheels in his red eyes. He allows you a moment to take in the situation.

��"Goodbye."

 A gentle brush against your forehead and he is gone.

 The youngest Uchiha boy finds you staring into space with a vacant expression in one of the fields he and Itachi frequent. He furrows his eyebrows as he looks at your curled up form, squatting by the side of a particularly gravelly part of the road. You looked small. Even smaller than usual. Smaller than your nickname reminds him of.

 "Hey, what's wrong?" Sasuke says, after a long silence. He stuffs his arms in his pockets and adjusted his weight to his other leg. He doesn't really know what to do with a girl who seems like she is upset. 

 You wipe your face with the hem of your haori and turn around. Sasuke could see the puffiness of your eyes. He wasn't dumb. He knew you were crying.

 You bite your lower lip, contemplating whether to tell him or not. This is his clan business, he should have the right to know. But you don't think he will believe you. It was Shisui's word against yours and Shisui would win.

 Sasuke's eyes pierces into you. Something in you snaps, and you run. Run as fast as your stubby little legs could carry you. The Uchiha boy says nothing as he follows your figure into the distance with his eyes.

 The sun has set and the cawing crows are echoing in your ears. Like they were laughing at you.

 You go back to an empty home crying your eyes out, as much as your shinobi pride will let you. Regardless of what he said, Shisui has made it clear that he didn't want to see you anymore.

 That night, you dream of Shisui.

 His hair is dark and shaggy like you remember. It had only been less than a day but you want to forget. Forget everything. And just pretend like he never existed. Like he never taught you in the first place. It had been pure luck that he had agreed in the first place. Manipulation was not your forte but you like using it to get what you want.

 ForgetforgetIwanttoforgetgoawaygoawayyoudontmatter.

 The moon is bright and it lights up Konoha's dark streets and he is there by your wooden windowsill. Eyes, well, eye hard and red, red like the blood moon. His left eye is hollow and empty. Just darkness. The way he carries his left hand makes you think he is holding something.

 Shisui is by your bed now. His body looming over yours. His fingers dig deep into your left eye-socket and you let out a blood curdling scream.

 You wake up to nothing of course. Shisui isn't there. Nobody is. Your room is empty. No tracks. No sign of anybody being in here. It is just you, your futon and your sparsely decorated desk by your window. A bitter laugh escapes your lips. Of course you dream of him. You miss him. It's a given. You didn't expect it to be a nightmare though.

 You press your fingers to your cheeks. It's damp.

[kilyra]

No Tip Required

Summary: While out having dinner with Shades, the waiter starts acting odd. You have a sinking suspicion that Shades has something to do with it.

Word Count: 1.7 K

A/N: Not that I’m doing a story arc exactly, but this is the same reader insert as “Damn Him”. So, again, this takes place well after season 2, but I kept the details vague so there are no spoilers or anything. Also, I went with calling him Hernan vs Shades since he is making an effort to keep the reader away from that side of him. Hope it’s not distracting!

Hernan leaned onto the table, his arm draped off the edge so his fingers could lightly trace along your crossed leg. His other arm was resting across the cushion behind your shoulders and as he pressed in close, you wondered why you always ended up at one of the large, round booths. With how little space he gave you, you both could easily sit on the same side of a small, two-person bench.

The heat from his touch sent shivers up your spine. You had to admit, you didn’t mind how close he kept to you. Nor did you mind the privacy you got from having the large booth.

“You’re quiet,” he said softly, resting his hand on the crest of your knee. The corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled at you. If he thought the smile masked his concern, he was mistaken.

You smiled back, aware yours was likely just as convincing. “Yeah. Look, tonight’s on me ok? Today was a good day and I want to celebrate.”

It had been a horrible day and you were eyeing up your favourite, but most expensive, dish to ease your stinging nerves. Along with enough drinks to make you forget everything. But you didn’t feel right making him foot the bill for that.

Absently, he rubbed his thumb against the side of your leg. “First off, you work for non-profits so no, it’s not on you. And secondly, don’t lie to me. You had a shit day. It’s written all over your face.”

His expression was so deadpan, you weren’t sure if he was lightly teasing or being completely serious. Did you just insult him? 

As if reading your mind, his cool smile returned.

Before you could say anything more, your server came around the end of the table, and immediately stopped short. He quickly composed himself but you caught his jump and sudden inhale. Even in the dim lighting, you noticed he wasn’t making eye contact with either of you. “Good evening. Very nice to see you both back again.”

“Hey Alvin, always nice to be back,” you replied. Alvin was your server almost every time you’d been here and was normally quite friendly and outgoing. His stiffness was out of place. “How are you tonight?”

His eyes flickered your direction before he resumed staring past you both. “I’m great, thank you. Did you still need a few moments to look through the menu, or have you decided?”

After you gave your orders, Alvin immediately started backing away when Hernan stopped him. “Hey Alvin, if she tries to be cute later and secretly pay the bill, do me a favour don’t let her, ok? It comes to me.”

“Yes, of course, Sha- sir. Of course.” Alvin bowed slightly before turning on his heel and leaving.Was he about to say Shades? You had heard a couple people use Hernan’s street name, but they were usually connected to the club that he bounced for. 

Something felt wrong. A small pit formed in your stomach. But you knew if you asked Hernan anything so direct, your question would be quickly brushed aside. “Did he seem off to you?”

Hernan’s eyebrows furrowed together for a quick moment before he reached over and pushed his shades further towards the centre of the table. The air felt cool where he hand had been. Looking back at you, he tilted his head slightly, his piercing eyes burning into you. “What do you mean?”

“He seemed…I don’t know. Skittish or something?”

Leaning in closely, he pushed back a piece of hair that had fallen forward, twisting it in his fingers as he ran his hand along your cheek. “Maybe he’s just having a bad day, baby. Like you did. So tell me what happened today.”

Topic change. It wasn’t surprising but he usually did that when it was related to his work or other things he wouldn’t tell you about. The pit in your stomach grew heavy. Why change topics about the waiter?

But you didn’t see a way to circle back to your questions yet. Chewing your lip, you tried to decide what to say without ruining your night by reliving everything. “The first half was alright actually. We had a corporate presentation which was good. Securing donations from them are pretty easy when you show them how positive the sponsorship is for their image.”

“Then, what’s this about?” Firmly, he brushed his thumb along your creased eyebrows and you let out a soft laugh, grabbing his hand. He gripped your fingers and pulled your hand to rest with his on your leg.

There was no smile this time to try and mask the concern on his face. Your pulse quickened from the intensity of his stare.

“I had an afternoon presentation with a potential private donor from Midtown and I don’t think he’s going to bite. They usually aren’t as easy to convince as corporate sponsors. I can’t play on their image the same and not all of them care about the tax breaks. And then there was some head-butting over the prep work for another couple private donor presentations next week.”

Hernan stayed silent as he watched you. You sighed.

“Personally, it’s a headache and I would pass on even trying, but my clients want to go after all avenues. And to be fair, since the incident, a lot of people have sprung up with serious money.”

“Profiteers?”

Lightly, you shrugged. “Maybe, or just good investors when everything crashed.” 

Breaking eye-contact, Hernan looked towards his shades that were still sitting on the table. Nodding his chin at you, he asked, “So who are you going after next week? There are always some big players at the club – maybe one of them has some good insight. Maybe even for the one from today?” 

You followed his focus to his sunglasses. “That doesn’t seem…I don’t know, ethical?” 

Hernan smiled widely. “I don’t mean anything illegal, just a good angle for you to work in the proposal. Besides, the charities you work for will do a hell of a lot more good with that money then those rich, Midtown assholes do.” 

“Well-” You stopped when Alvin came back to the table. 

Sitting back, Hernan let out a quiet, exasperated sigh. 

Nervously, Alvin looked to Hernan and dropped his head in a slight bow. “I’m sorry, I just have your bread rolls here and more water.” 

You shot a confused looked at Hernan, wondering where his annoyance came from, before turning to Alvin. “That’s fine. Great actually, I was running low.” 

Trying to overcompensate for the awkwardness you didn’t understand, you smiled and watched Alvin lean forward to grab your water glass. 

That’s when you noticed it. 

His eye was surrounded with a faint blue-green colour. In fact, you could see similar colours over his cheekbone and slight swelling over the side of his face. It might not have been recent, but Alvin had most definitely taken a beating.

“Whoa, hey are you alright? What happened?” You breathed the questions quickly, unable to stop yourself in time. 

As Alvin held your glass, his hand started to tremble. You saw the water splashing slightly from the tremor as he poured it. “I’m fine, thank you. It’s nothing." 

Grabbing Hernan’s glass, Alvin’s eyes darted up at him briefly before he focused on pouring his water.

“That’s not nothing. Seriously, who did that?” 

“Don’t pry, Y/N.” Hernan’s voice was low but firm. 

Looking at no one in particular, Alvin nodded in your direction and left. 

Your heart started to pound a little harder. This was wrong. “Excuse me? Don’t pry?” 

Hernan’s hand slipped from yours and he adjusted the front of his suit as he leaned back against the booth. “Yeah. Whatever happened, he’s probably not supposed to be talking about it at work. It’s not exactly professional. You’re just putting him in an awkward position.” 

Pressing your lips together, you paused. He had a point, but it still bothered you. And why wasn’t he even a little concerned? “But seriously, he looks like he had the shit kicked out of him.” 

Shrugging, he casually flicked his eyebrows upward. “Maybe someone taught him some respect?”

You mentally stumbled on that comment. Alvin always seemed like the sweetest person. “I-I’ve always found him to be respectful?”

Cocking his head to the side, a slow, tight smile spread over his lips. Finally, he nodded. “Good. That’s good. Still, though, you never know what someone might say or do when you’re out of earshot.”

Had Alvin said something? Did Hernan hear it? You dug your fingers into your knee as your mind raced. It would explain so much…

Sitting forward, his hard expression seemed to dissolve. His tight smile grew into the warm one you knew him for, and he clasped his hand over yours. His fingers brushed over your knee. “But, who knows. Maybe he just got rewarded for being a good guy. Terrible shit like that happens in this city too.”

As he stared deeply into your eyes and interlocked his fingers with yours, you started doubting yourself. Could Hernan even be capable of something like that? Would he beat a man just for something he said?

Were you being crazy?

Lifting your hand to his mouth, he lightly kissed your skin as he continued to capture your attention. His soft lips and warm breath started a small fire in the depths of your core – a fire that started to burn out the heavy pit of worry. 

You had a bad day and now you were jumping to unfair conclusions. All Hernan did was offer suggestions to the questions you kept asking. He couldn’t possibly know what happened to Alvin any more than you did…

Resting your hand against his cheek, Hernan closed his eyes, enjoying your touch before returning your joined hands to your lap. Shooting an easy grin at you, he reached for his drink with his free hand. “So, tell me about these Midtown rich kids you’re meeting with next week…”

Hernan kept you so focused on venting about work that you hardly noticed when a different server filled in for Alvin later that evening. 

It took a couple visits after that to realize that was the last time you saw him.

[leta-the-strange]

Spoiler-free COG feelings/essay/thoughts before I see the movie. Spoiler-free because the movie isn’t out here til the end of the week but obviously, I’ve picked up info from trailers and interviews and things like that so sort of common knowledge stuff but I guess if you’ve avoided all the promos for the year I wouldn’t want to ruin it for you now so don’t read until after you’ve seen it if that’s the case (again, I only know basic info).

I have a lot of feelings that I’ve been sitting on for a while because frankly, large parts of the Fantastic Beasts and Harry Potter fandom terrify me. It’s why in my nineteen years (okay, thirteen years – I had to learn how to read) I’ve distanced myself from engaging in the fandom too much and when I do, I try and stick to as safe, neutral content as possible.

But I’m going to write a little bit a lot (my anxiety’s poppin off the charts right now) not to antagonise anyone or personally offend people just to get this pent up crap off my chest before I see the movie. 

I have Māori and Pākehā parentage. Although I am proud to be a Māori girl and I’m definitely not white-passing, I do acknowledge that out of my family, I was born with the lightest skin and being a lighter-skinned/mixed poc among my family and friends has made me recognise my privilege. That isn’t to say I haven’t experienced lifelong struggles with racism, bullying and discrimination but I will never experience the same micro-aggressions and experiences that they have. Although, I do have light-skinned privileges and I don’t ever want to take away the struggles of my family that I won’t experience on the same level, growing up looking a little different opened me up a lot of feelings of invalidation within my own culture. When I experienced racism as a child, I was also met with disdain for being upset about it when I wanted to talk about it. This was when I was a child and I didn’t understand lighter skinned privilege or the animosity from some of my own people. I am far more educated now, but during that confusing time I, like most children, turned to literature (which in turn is what helped me make sense of the world).

I’ve gotten a little off track – this isn’t overly important to what I’m writing about, but it is introducing my opinion as coming from a woman of colour who has experienced racism and horrible bullying, but I always feel the need to clarify my position as a lighter skinned poc before giving my opinion based on those experiences.

Obviously from my content, I love Leta Lestrange. Perhaps it started out as a matter of representation, but I feel like over the past year, I have become intrigued with her for a number of reasons. She’s striking me as a Sirius, Regulus and Andromeda Black type character. Different to her family and caught in a struggle of light and dark (magic, not skin colour). Loves magical creatures. I haven’t seen it yet but it seems like she is one of the centre point characters of the film. She seems to be connected to many of the main characters in one way or another and has always striked me as the most intriguing.

I really do hope I am wrong but the ‘other’ love interest’s in the Harry Potter universe are usually treated terribly. They experience character assassination to further the development of the canon/new interest.

I really hope this film doesn’t do the whole blow out a woc character to make the white, self-insert, classically beautiful, ‘im not like other girls’ character shine brighter.

Before everyone comes for me, I wouldn’t say I’m a Tina ‘anti’ whatever that is. There’s no like extreme hatred at all! I would say I don’t like Tina as a character, or Queenie for that matter. Not yet anyway. The new trailer gives me hope that this movie might win me over finally. It doesn’t need to be upsetting or offensive to anyone. There are lots of people out there with favourite and not-so-favourite characters. A lot of people dislike Ron, Dumbledore, Snape, even Harry…and there are people who have those characters as their favourite.  

There are a lot of reasons I don’t like Tina and Queenie. I may address them in a different post if being vague upsets people more than going in-depth but at this point, I am trying to stay as unconfrontational as possible but I have seen people get extremely furious when they don’t deem your reason for disliking them to be ‘good enough’ so if not saying exactly what I find uncomfortable about them is not as preferable as telling people then I can write it up as respectfully as possible if I’m treated the same way. All I’ll say is that I think Tina is a good person, but, in my opinion, not a great character. Queenie is the opposite. I would not like Queenie as a person but I have to admit, she’s a good character. But I’ll hold the rest of my opinions until after the second film. 

Honestly, the film adaptions leave some of my favourite book characters to be desired. Maybe if FB was a novel, I’d like Tina but I really dislike her in the movies. I have seen people blow up when this is said. I try to understand the outrage. I think one of the reasons I dislike Tina is one of the reasons why people love her. She is, at this point and in my opinion (which is ONLY an opinion), a self-insert character. Any Newt x Reader fanfiction can easily read as a Newtina fanfiction and vice versa. I know. Because I’m a FB fanfiction writer myself and tried to write her. Sometimes when you attach yourself to a character so much, it can feel personally offensive when someone says something as harmless such as they don’t like then. I don’t experience this as often. Every Reader/OC fanfiction is, perhaps unintentionally, but nearly always aimed at a white person in description. In actuality, nearly every character in literature is, intentionally or not, described with textbook white features or assumed white by the fandom/readers/watchers.

I know people are going to hate this opinion because I’ve seen people jump down other people’s throats when this gets brought up. I do believe, whether it is conscious or not, Leta not being white COULD, subconsciously, be a factor as to why she is so inherently hated. I’ve seen more hate for Leta than any other character – even the antagonist! I hate what they did to Lavender Brown, book and movie wise, but even she, being as over exaggeratedly unlikable as a romantic plot device, received and still receives far less fandom hate than Cho Chang (who was also eventually written to be ‘jealous, hysterical, unlikeable’, etc, etc – I don’t agree btw I love, understand and appreciate Cho and Lavender)  who was smart, talented, kind, traumatised, and until it was no longer convenient to the main characters romance for her to be ‘likeable’ anymore.

I wish I could enjoy going through the Leta tag but often, her and Newt can’t even be in a scene or photo together and people lose their minds with anger and hate. Literally, the comments on any scene/photo they are in are all along the lines of ‘stay away from newt!/poor tina/urgh, don’t flirt leta/leta WHAT ARE YOU DOING?’. Sorry, to break it to you guys but it isn’t a love triangle. It’s a love conga line. The only person getting in the way of ‘Newtina’ is Newt. Instagram is even worse. By worse, I mean horrible beyond belief. The better comments are the ones are the ones merely (though still grossly) comparing her to Tina and how much they dislike her, the other ones are wishes that she’ll get killed or join Grindelwald. It’s literally not even hidden the fact they wish either of these things happen so Newtina can happen faster. I’m not a Newtina shipper at all (Yet. Again, this might change if the films improve) but this would be one of the worst ways to further your ship. That is literally not going to change the fact that Newt’s still in love with her (you can have feelings for two people at the same time. The filmmakers confirmed - in fact, one of the first things about the new movie that they confirmed - that Newt is ‘absolutely still in love with her’), it just makes her conveniently unattainable. I do have a feeling that Leta might die and if it happens, it better not be because she’s unwillingly in the way of a ‘love triangle’ that people have forced these three characters into. If Newtina is going to happen in a way that isn’t awful, rushed and horrible, it will be slow-burn and it’s in own time AFTER Newt has healed and properly fixed things with Leta. You can’t be best friends and in love with someone for 15+ years and fall out of love with them immediately after they die, turn bad and settle for a woman you met for like two days and collectively spent maybe ten hours with. It might be a Ron/Hermione situation where it’s slow and eventual. That’s the only way I could possibly get on board and I think it could be done tastefully if they don’t resort to lazy writing. I do have my fingers crossed I’ll start to like the Goldsteins before this happens and I can enjoy it as much as everyone else does.

To be honest, after seeing the trailers, I see only two endings for Leta (and I hate them BOTH):

She joins Grindelwald: If this is the plot twist, it’s the shittiest plot twist ever. Pretty much 90% of the fans since seeing the first film have assumed/liked to believe she’s pure evil. Probably the characters themselves all assume she’s evil from her last name. I was worried the whole ‘haha, I was on Grindelwald’s side all along!’ situation was going to happen. We know JK hates Slytherins. My ‘Leta joins Grindelwald’ theory would be that she has always been on the good side – or trying to be – and after YEARS of oppression and discrimination and being distrusted by maybe the central characters in this film no matter how hard she tries AND maybe finally realising that Newt isn’t going to ever forgive her she just snaps and goes all ‘f*ck you guys then’ (I wouldn’t blame her tbh). HOWEVER, I doubt this. In a trailer, you literally see Leta THROW a fucking spell STANDING BY HERSELF (what u doin bby?) at Grindelwald. Trust me, if this was Tina it would have been all everyone was talking about but of course the fandom was all ‘yeah, see, she’s in the same frame as Grindelwald SHE’S EVIL’. One of the trailers is literally titled Leta vs. Grindelwald. Everything in the trailers/promos points to Queenie joining Grindelwald but *shrugs, I guess*.

Leta dies: I get this may seem the preferable way to appease the Leta haters and the Leta lovers especially if she dies after redeeming herself or heroically or whatever but urgh, no. I know everyone’s like ‘DoNt MAKe ThIS AbOUT RaCe’ when the woc character inevitably is killed but I’m sorry. To have been able to sit in a theatre as a little girl and see Leta Lestrange in the wizarding world would have blown my tiny mind. Honestly, as an older teen seeing Zoe Kravitz in that little photo frame in Newt’s case in the first film was iconic enough for me. After growing up being made to believe I was ‘unattractive’ because of how I looked, seeing total dreamboats like Callum Turner and Eddie Redmayne’s characters being all heart-eyes over Leta is, like...wow!  And I do have an uncomfortable truth for people who want Leta to die. That would possibly be the WORST thing to happen for the Newtina thing (would pretty much be the last nail in the coffin for me ever coming around to it). I’ve seen it happen in my family when someone you love dies. Your feelings for them essentially FREEZE. You can’t fall out of love with someone who is dead. That’s of course not to say that you don’t love again and just as much as the first time. But it takes time (LOTS of it) and there’s a little part of your heart that’s like…permanently sealed off. I don’t even like Newtina yet and I’m hoping for the sake of the Newtina fans that Leta doesn’t die because freakin’ yikes. Just let them heal and connect and be besties again goddammit, its POSSIBLE (and bet your ass I’ll write it my god damn self to prove it if they don’t). 

I know these are highly unpopular opinions and I HOPE that I am wrong, and they do her character justice and don’t discard her via death or the dark side.

In summary, I suppose my biggest struggle with Leta’s character is definitely the overwhelming fandom hate which I still can’t quite comprehend. I really want to believe it isn’t a race thing. Though, I have seen horrible posts about Leta, mean comments on nearly every Leta promo, Zoe Kravitz literally being called a c*nt in the comments of a Leta post on tumblr, a lot of fanfictions having her be primarily evil, selfish, manipulative, in some a rapist even, ugly, cruel, etc. But honestly, she’s literally not interfering in Newt having a relationship with anyone at all??? She’s literally been villainised because her friend can’t get over her (getting Snily nostalgia). But buggered if I’ve been able to find next to anything of that calibre about Jacob’s fiancée (literally a Queenie doppelganger) who left him, like, the day he met Queenie. I get that it was a deleted scene for those non-hardcore fans, but Leta-hate was literally kicked off by a picture in a photo frame and a comment made by a, in my opinion, kind of not-nearly-as-infallible-as-people-think character that barely knows Newt breaking into his head non-consensually (after being repeatedly told not to) who had an agenda to hook him up with her sister. Sooo…*shrugs*.

Even I personally have tried to keep out of the fandom debates, but I wrote a Leta and Newt story (still ongoing) that I stopped for a while because the kind of disgusting comments I was receiving about people hating the pairing. Which, I get. You don’t like a pairing, that’s cool? Why are you going and seeking out a piece about them and then taking the time to leave a comment? Whenever I start to read a story about Leta being this horrific monster of a person and being torn apart and compared and occasionally borderline racist, I just…click out? I know it’s only a small patch of weeds in what is likely a garden of roses, but I have never come across such an insecure fandom for a literal canon ship. If the relationship was that pure and strong, you wouldn’t feel the need to kill or villainise the (non-existent) ‘threat’. I just hope the writers feel the same way. You can write healthy closures and strong women of colour characters without casting them aside for plot development/man pain/stereotypical Caucasian romance/plot device, etc... I’m going to go into the theatre at the end of the week slightly optimistic to be fair but I’m also fully expecting to be disappointed but honestly, Leta could avada kedavra every character and she’s still going to be my favourite, I don’t make the rules. 

[psychic-refugee]

Author’s Commentary: Wilted Roses - Dealing with Trolls/Flames

Annoyedchapterreader: This story is boring and nauseating. Fuck Romy. She[’]s like another boring white witch using daddy[’]s money to havr[sic] fun. She[’]s a shitbag and poorely[sic] written.

I got my first flame! I feel like I’ve really made it as a fic writer now. lol. I feel like this should be an unlocked achievement for fanfiction writers.

To start, I’m sorry Annoyedchapterreader for whatever you’re going through. I know this time of year can be really tough and it’s easy to feel like you’ve gained some sort of semblance of power by leaving a flame. The internet is probably your only venue to lash out safely and with no consequence, your real life is probably filled with impotent rage as you are helpless to change whatever frustrating situation you find yourself in. So, I forgive your unhelpful comment that served no purpose.

Or you’re just the run of the mill dick. Either way, I know it’s not actually about my story. lol

On a more serious note, I think this is a good time to show writers that comments like these should not deter anyone from writing the story they want to write. Not every story is for everyone. A story is first and foremost, written for the writer and not the readers. So, if someone personally doesn’t like a character, feel free to ignore it if the character is written in such a way to further your story. I’m confident in my writing skills and I write with purpose, so Romy is the way she is for a reason.

That is not to say to ignore every critical comment as a flame or brush someone off as being a hater. If the reviewer had actually given a well thought out review, I would totally take it to heart. But that’s not what happened here. Wilted Roses is only one chapter in and they are making a lot of assumptions that cannot be inferred by what I’ve written. Romy’s race has not been mentioned, calling her a “white girl” is premature. I haven’t even mentioned her looks whatsoever. We don’t know her hair colour, eye colour, skin tone, or any other racial identifier. It’s been hundreds of years since the Salem Witch Trials, so plenty of miscegenation could have happened between then and now.

“[U]sing daddy[’] money to hav[e] fun” shows a lack of critical thinking. AHS-Coven/Apocalypse has clearly shown that the Coven is a female dominated culture, and I’ve mentioned it plenty in the chapter. So, it wouldn’t be “daddy’s money” it would be “mommy’s money.” And yes, Romy is wealthy. Not every character is going to come from poverty (or some other ultra-horrible situation) and have their je ne sais quoi carry them through the story. Having a tragic or difficult back story is not a replacement for a personality or character traits. I think there are plenty of those out there. There are also plenty of wealthy people too, and that’s the route I’m going. I think Witch Culture lends itself more to most members being wealthy. We see this in all the haute couture the witches wear, specially Myrtle Snow. Romy’s wealth is actually a plot point. Also, while she may have money, she clearly didn’t want to use it and leave a trail. There were plenty of instances where she was being sly and trying not to use the credit cards. So, this review of Romy is factually wrong.

I want to highlight that we’re only one-chapter in. The fact the reviewer has completely disregarded Romy (and making aspersions with very little to go off of) just one chapter in, makes me think they weren’t reading and reviewing to be helpful, but saw an easy scapegoat and target to vent for their unhappy life. Romy literally hasn’t done anything yet, the first chapter as I’ve written it is to follow the show and have her inserted in a seamless way. I don’t want Romy to make such a difference to the storyline that it’s already AU, I want it subtler. She’s an observer. So yes, I think it’s fair to say the first chapter may be boring because we’ve basically already seen it. It’s essentially the end of Could It Be…Satan? and the beginning of Boy Wonder. But given the way the comment was written, I do not think that’s what they were talking about. It seemed, to me, they were trying to say the story was boring and nauseating because they wrongly see Romy as a shallow rich girl.

So, another thing a writer needs to figure out with a comment: does it use critical thinking or is it just mean to be mean? I think it’s clear this particular review is the latter. If we were several more chapters in, with Romy’s character more fleshed out then I would take it into consideration. I would probably also need more than one person to make that observation, a one off I may still ignore. And it’s also assuming I’m not purposefully writing Romy to be shallow.

I don’t know any story where a character is completely fleshed out and can be given a fair review just one-chapter in (at least not in such absolute terms the review used). Also, not every character is going to be universally likeable. So, I’m OK with people not being totally in love with Romy, or any other character, from the first chapter. I’m not even worried about her being a loved character by the end of the story. I’m more interested in writing believable dynamics between the characters and their developments.

I think it’s totally fair to disregard any review that serves no purpose and it’s just the rantings of an unhappy individual, the only people who would take time out of their day to leave nasty comments (as opposed to critical reviews). I’m going to delete this review and hope the person doesn’t make it their personal vendetta to keep bothering me with flames.

Hopefully they have better things to do with their time but given that they did it in the first place makes me think they don’t.

May I suggest writing fanfiction?