#and frankly it seemed to cheer a lot of other people up as well

[shikai-the-storyteller]

Making dinner and watching Slime's VOD for a few hours then sitting down and opening Tumblr / Twitter makes me feel like someone who survived a bomb strike solely because they wandered into their basement to grab a can of beans

[arminsumi]

DO IT RIGHT — 五夏

SatoSugu ⋅ fem reader

🔞 suggestive / partly n.sfw

SUMMARY — Suguru and Satoru each have their own differing ideas of what makes a good make out session.

WARNINGS — make outs n kissing, SatoSugu, jealousy, light angst, they fight over u, lovably annoying gojo, calling you sl*t playfully, "dirty girl" n maybe other nicknames, smidge of sexual tension/undertones ig

WORDCOUNT — 2.4k

TAGS for the lovelies !! 💗

@buttercupmuffins

" Slow and sensual; that's how it's supposed to be done, Satoru. You rush your kisses. You're too chaotic. "

" Yuh but I get more bitches than y — "

" — when was the last time you kissed a woman ? "

" Junior high. "

Suguru started cackling. The two of them were sat in your living room apartment. You peered at them from over your computer, the blue light glaring in your eyes.

" What the fuck are you two on about ? " you asked, taking your earphones out completely and halting the progress of your essay.

" None of your business. "

You sighed in response. That was such an expected response from Satoru.

" We were debating what makes a good make out session. You know, like ' fast or slow ' ? ' Chaotic or sensual ' ? Mister six eyes over here has opposition to my beliefs as usual — don't fuckin' wink at me, you freak. "

Satoru giggled. " Of course, 'cause your beliefs are flawed and quite frankly you're full of shit. Blech. Hey, you agree, don't you ? "

You looked up in thought for yourself.

" I don't know. See, chaotic movie-like kisses are something lots of people want. But then again, lots of people prefer slow and romantic kisses. They really want to intertwine bodies with their lover and — "

Suguru completed your thought.

" — and become one with each other. Yeah, you get me. "

" Hey now, I'm not saying I agree with either of you. I haven't even kissed one of you. Maybe you're both shit at kissing, now that I think 'bout it. Haha. " you chuckled to yourself.

The boys raised their brows at you. Ah, a common ground; both taking offense from you.

" Why don't you come over here 'n experiment with us, princess ? " Suguru murmured condescendingly. His earrings caught your eye.

Your stomach dropped. " Huh ? " you blinked dumbly.

" Don't get all coy with us now. Come over here. " Suguru teased.

Satoru arched a brow at you and smirked. " Yeah, come. You can help us settle this debate. "

" Mhm. " Suguru nodded.

You were reluctant, because... well, this could fuck up the friendship, right? They didn't seem to mind that, as they entrapped you between their bodies and kept you there. Imprisoned between their competing passion.

" Me first ? "

" Uh, no way, asshole. Me first. "

" I'll choose. "

" Nah, let's flip a coin. "

So they flipped a coin at Satoru's insistence.

" Call it. " Suguru said.

" Heads. " Satoru called.

You observed Suguru's attractive, veiny hands as he tossed the coin and caught it, smacking it onto the back of his hand.

" . . . heads. " Suguru groaned.

" Yay . . . smooches for Satoru. " Satoru cheered.

" You're so cringe. " you said, crinkling your nose.

" Shut up or I'll stick my tongue down your throat — "

" — you mean you weren't planning to do that ? What a pity. I like French kissing. " you teased.

That caught the boys attention. They exchanged a look, and now a tension built up between you three.

" Okay, if you want me to, then I will. " Satoru tried to remain confident, but the idea of French kissing you was destroying his cool composure.

" I want you to. So get to it, boy. " you said.

Suguru raised his brows at Satoru and smirked. He sat to your left, long leg propped along the edge of the couch, encasing you there.

Just before Satoru leaned in to kiss you, swift and cheeky as he was, Suguru interrupted with a quick, teacher-like stutter.

" Hey, nonono. We're setting a timer. Five minutes each, precisely. "

" Of course. " Satoru rolled his eyes. " Well hurry up then. "

" Impatient much ? " you chuckled under your breath. Satoru went a bit red.

The split second Suguru started the timer on his phone, Satoru engulfed you in a kiss that nearly knocked the wind out of you. He was chaotic. Feverish. Gliding those candied lips across yours was up there with the best decisions he's ever made.

He tilted his head into the kiss, tongue swiping and slipping in eagerly to play with yours. And with how he French kissed, you almost wanted to giggle; he was so playful.

Suguru watched. And observed. And thought about how he's going to win you over with his approach to kissing. What you needed, he thought while seeing how Satoru whimpered into your mouth, was a sensual man who takes his time.

" Time's up. "

" What the fu- "

A string of saliva connected you and Satoru, his lips felt tingly and he still wanted more even after devouring you.

" Five minutes go by so quick . . . "

" Uh-huh. When you're having fun. Sooo ? " Satoru looked at you expectantly.

" Rather hold back your judgment until you've tasted me, hm ? " Suguru stopped you before you made any comment on his best friend's kissing style. " Come on. Come closer. I don't bite. " he said, making the last part sound so sultry that a shiver ran down your spin.

Now Suguru . . . oh boy, Suguru. How he kissed. You were already dizzy from Satoru's fervor. But Suguru ? One little peck at your chin to test. Then he pressed teasing, leadup kisses to the corner of your lips.

" Su — " he muffled your call of his name with his lips, drinking up the rest of the syllables like a thirsty wolf.

His big hands molded to the back of your head, tangling up into your hair. Tilt tilt tilt. Press. Such a deep and hard kiss. You felt like your perception of reality got fucked up a little for a moment there.

He swiped his tongue across your bottom lip, wetting it, and once you opened your mouth for him he just smirked at your acceptance. In his mind, he was aiming to kiss you like he was converting you. Damn near kissed like a cult leader, you don't know why but you thought of that description right then.

That buttery soft tongue made you moan. The sound caught both the boy's off-guard.

And then the poor white-haired boy started glaring.

" Okay, okay, time's basically up. "

" Hmmmf ? " you looked dazed.

" How much time was left before you just cancelled that ? " Suguru squinted annoyedly at his best friend, hands still keeping you in place. His lips were barely parted from yours, so every shake of subtle anger in his vocals vibrated subtly across your lips.

" I dunno, fifty-two seconds ? "

" That's almost a whole minute left you asshole ! "

" Yeah so ?! You gonna fight me over it, big boy ? " Satoru challenged.

" What are you getting so jealous for ? "

You widened your eyes at the argument springing to life. The air felt so tense and hot. You could feel their heats radiating from their faces as they flushed from anger.

" What are you kissing her so deeply for ? Are you trying to fucking prove something ? "

" Oooooooh, pretty boy is jealous jealous. " Suguru said venomously.

" Boys, please don't fight. This is not such a big deal. " your voice came in between them.

They looked at you bitterly.

" Whose kiss did you like better ? " Satoru asked.

" Mine. No offence, but Satoru you kiss like a fucking high schooler. "

Satoru clenched his jaw. " I was asking her — not you, Suguru, baby. "

Oh he's angry angry you thought. Satoru always used nicknames with people he liked, but when the word baby came out of his mouth in that tone? God have mercy on whoever's on the receiving end. Unless it was someone who could match that intensity...

" I'll tell you what I liked and disliked about both of you . . . to be fair. Okay ? How's that sound, boys ? "

God they loved it when you called them like that. Yeah, they're your boys alright. They loved being your boys.

" Okay . . . sure. That's fair. Go ahead. " Suguru said. A small nervousness crept across his chest, but he hid it well.

You paused for just a moment to collect your thoughts.

" Damn just spill already ! "

" Let her think, Satoru. Impatient bitch. "

" I will fucking bite you. "

" Then bite me. "

" Boys. Calm down. "

So they listened. Your word was supreme, after all. If you told them to stop, they stopped.

You tilted your head and slowly began laying the truth on them. " I liked the way you held the back of my head so possessively, it was really hot . . . " you told, directing at Suguru.

Satoru grimaced. Why didn't he do that? He was mentally kicking himself.

" . . . but I preferred how dramatically you kissed me. " you directed to the sulking white-haired boy. Then his features lightened a bit.

" And ? " Suguru encouraged, eager to hear more praises.

They leaned in very close for the fact they were just listening to you speak.

" I didn't like how sloppy and wet Satoru was. "

Satoru cringed at himself. He was very self-conscious about being a sloppy kisser.

" Haha, sloppy kisser. "

" Suguru shut the fuck up. "

You quickly turned down the heat between them and knocked Suguru off his high horse.

" You're a bit of a show-off kisser, not as romantic as I imagined you to be. It feels like you were trying too hard to win me over, or something. "

Oh, he hated that you could deduce that. He really thought he had you.

" Fair enough . . . " it was his turn to sulk.

Satoru smirked. " So you prefer me ? " he winked, " I mean, of course you do. "

" No. I like both of you. "

" Okay, slut. " Satoru rolled his eyes. " If you had to choose — "

" Don't worry about offending us, we can take it. "

" Yeah right, you're gonna fucking cry if she chooses me. " Satoru cheeked.

The tension rose between them again. But this time, there was this... oddly violent passion. Some sort of suppressed, stifled romanticness brewed between them. It's always underlined their conversations before, even their arguments. This indescribable, undeniable tension — not the jokingly " I'm so gay for my best friend " stuff. No, something genuine. Something that was not a joke.

" Why don't you kiss each other ? " you blurted out.

Satoru looked at you like you were crazy. " What the fuck ? "

" I mean, to make it fair . . . and get better insight into how the both of you kiss ? I-I don't know, just a thought. "

" Just a thought ? A horny thought I bet. " Satoru chuckled. He was going red in the face. And so was Suguru.

" What the hell. I'm innocent. " you defended.

" Riiight. "

Suguru had been thoughtfully quiet. Then he finally spoke.

" . . . I'm down. "

" WHAT. " Satoru freaked out. His face went completely red now. You could feel how hot he was.

" Yeah let's go for it. " Suguru shrugged.

He froze up. His heart palpitated. Stomach dropped. Eyes went blown wide open.

" I-I-I yeah ? Okay ? Sure. Yeah. Alright. Then. Let's. Do — it. "

" Wow, I don't think I've ever heard you stutter like this, Satoru. " you teased.

" Shut up ?! Shut up. Let's just do it and get it over with. "

" Yeah. Okay. Come here. "

" What the fu- you come here. "

Suguru raised his brows at him. " Seriously ? "

" I'm more dom than you. " Satoru said proudly. " Come here. "

" Nah, you come here. "

" No way ! "

You sighed. " Wow, this is going to take a while. "

" Nonono, we're doing it — " he kissed him, " — see ? "

" Satoru, such a cute peck. We're supposed to make out. That's what you want, right Y/n ? "

You stomach flipped. His tone. His damn tone. That cocky glint in his eyes. Suguru was so teasingly seductive right then.

" Y-yeah. For five minutes. Just like we did. "

" Okay. Set a timer. "

Satoru looked like he was shocked from how fast he just kissed his best friend. Such a short peck had his stomach doing loopies. You could tell he was going through a crisis.

" 'kay, timer's on. "

So they melted their lips against each other right in front of you. Satoru was stiff at first, but loosened up the deeper he fell into his best friend's kiss. More than that, he succumbed to the sultry feelings that Suguru radiated. You know, he just had that thing about him. That air. He was alluring and enticing, almost dangerously so at times.

You listened. Watched. Glanced down at the timer. Really, you set a stopwatch, not a timer. A little experiment. You wanted to see how long they'd take to realize how long they've been kissing for.

And it's well over five minutes. Lips smacking, heads tilting, bodies coming closer. Suguru's bangs brushing over Satoru's cheeks, hands cupping his flushed cheeks. What a sight. Two pretty best friends going breathless over each other.

" 'how long's it been ? " Satoru mumbles in between kisses, totally in a dazed state.

You hide your smirk. " Just a bit left. "

Suguru gave you a suspicious side eye. Oh, butterflies. He caught onto you right then.

He thought;

Well if you want us to put on a show, we'll put on a show. Just for you.

And dipped his tongue between Satoru's parted lips, erotically swirling around — slow, sensual, languid.

" ahmmm ~ " Satoru almost made a noise close to a moan, and then got embarrassed.

You gulped and watched. Did they forget they were doing this in front of you? Your face was right there.

You stared hard.

Suguru smirked and parted from the kiss, holding the face of a dazed-looking Satoru in the palms of his hands as he spoke to you.

" Did you even set a timer ? Ah, whatever. Stop staring, dirty girl. Come join the fun. Three's company, you know ? "

[vax-merstappen]

friends? (ls18)

summary: you had fallen for your childhood friend lance. but when he shows up to his family's party with his girlfriend, you are forced to confront your feelings.

i apologize in advance if your name is bethany, just the name i picked. but i hope you enjoy my first lance fic!

no warnings that i can think of :)

Lance captivated any room he stepped into. All eyes turned to the billionaire’s son, the racecar driver, and the worldwide star. But even with her on his arm, his eyes turned to you, his best friend.

You had grown up together, both starting karting around a similar age. You had gone from competing against each other to cheering when the other did well in races. Then you were hanging out at each other's houses outside of racing, playing video games or running around outside. In your teenage years, you continued to be friends even as the racing got more and more competitive.

The years blurred by until you got to where you were today, Lance racing in Formula 1 and you in Formula 2. You got to see him less often now, mostly when the F2 schedule aligned with the F1 schedule. He was always busy training, and frankly so were you. Apart from the occasional chat, you were now living separate lives.

So it had surprised you when Lance had posted a few pictures to his Instagram with a woman. They were holding hands in one photo and he had his arm wrapped around her waist in another. You had stared back in disbelief. Of course he was an adult, he was allowed to date someone. It was just the fact that he hadn't told you that hurt. And maybe the fact that you had fallen for him years ago.

Yes, you were hopelessly in love with your best friend. Lance Stroll, the Formula 1 driver.

And it seemed he now loved someone else. When they had walked into the party that his family was hosting, everyone in the room had turned to look at the driver and his new girl. You couldn't blame them. He looked stunning in his tux. And she looked like a goddess in her flowing red dress.

In the crowd, his eyes found yours and you felt your breath stop. Those soft brown eyes that you had looked into for years. His face shifted to a grin and the couple made their way over to you.

"Hey, you," he said, pulling you into a friendly hug once he made his way through the group of people. "Long time no see."

"Yeah," you replied, your voice like a sigh.

"Oh, and this is Bethany," he said, introducing you to the woman he had arrived with. "We're dating."

You plastered a smile onto your face and shook Bethany's hand. "It's so nice to finally meet you," she had said. "Lance talks about you all the time."

He did? Even though you two had fallen almost out of touch? This caught you by surprise.

"All good things I hope," you had replied with a chuckle.

"Of course!" she had laughed, smiling at you.

You looked over at Lance and saw he was no longer looking at you, but at the ground. Almost as if he were embarrassed. You flashed her a smile again and looked over at Lance.

"Well I'll let you two enjoy the night," you said, trying to excuse yourself from the conversation. You turned to leave them alone, before you heard Lance stop you.

"No, why don't you come eat at our table?" he asked. You saw Bethany's smile falter a little bit. And as much as you didn't want to have to watch Lance with his girlfriend, you couldn't exactly turn down your best friend, could you?

"If that's okay with you," you responded, looking between the couple.

You found yourself sitting on Lance's right while Bethany was to his left. You all had engaged in a bit of conversation, Lance talking about how his season was going in Formula 1 and you talking about how Formula 2 was going well for you. Bethany seemed a little zoned out of the conversation, a lot of the intricacies of racing not familiar to her. Racing was something that would always tie you and Lance together, whether you liked it or not.

But as the conversation went on, you saw her reach for his hand and grab it. You didn't deserve to be mad, as you had never decided to voice your feelings in fear of ruining what you had. But watching that simple act of intimacy between the two broke you.

You had always enjoyed his family's parties in the past, but now? Now that you couldn't sneak out early with him to go drive around aimlessly and listen to music or that you couldn't bribe him to grab you an extra portion of dessert, things were different.

As you distracted yourself with a refill of your drink, you didn't notice how his eyes lingered a little too long on the back of your dress or how he released her hand after he saw the way you looked sad.

A few more awkward moments in conversation with the couple, you decided to make a break for it. Being questioned by Lawrence for leaving early would be better than any more moments watching your childhood best friend and crush being romantic with someone else.

"I- I'm sorry," you mumbled. "I have to go..."

"Are you okay?" Lance asked, looking concerned.

"It's fine..." you sighed, quickly getting up from the table. "Enjoy your night. You both deserve it."

Quickly making your way to the parking lot, you held back tears. Even though you had drifted apart, a small part of you had held onto hope that maybe he would feel the same. That he could love you back just as you had loved him for so long. But clearly that was an illusion.

You staggered through the door of the venue in your heels, kicking them off and picking them up before running into the parking lot. You didn't care if there was media watching, all you needed was to get away as fast as possible.

Finally getting to your car, you fished around in your purse for your keys. You mumbled a few curses, unable to find where they had gone. A few tears pricked your eyes, this was the last thing you needed right now. You leaned up against the car and slid to sit on the ground, shutting your eyes against the world.

"Hey," a familiar voice said. "Forgot your keys."

You peeked open your eyes to see Lance standing in front of you. He looked concerned upon seeing you in such a disheveled state.

"Are you okay?"

You barely nodded. "Not really... it's stupid..."

Lance sat down on the asphalt next to you, wrapping his arm around your shoulders. "You can talk to me. I know we haven't been as close lately, but I'm always willing to listen."

"I don't want to ruin things..."

"What could you possibly ruin? Look, I care about you. Just tell me what's going on."

Him saying he cared about you was all the motivation you needed. Maybe if you just got this over with, you could move on and things would go back to normal.

"Lance... I've always liked you... as more than a friend. And seeing you tonight... so happy with her... I guess it hurt."

The look on his face went from concerned to shocked and then to sad.

You cleared your throat. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to put you in this position. You and Bethany... you look good together. You deserve someone like her."

Lance was silent for a minute. "I... you never asked me how I felt?"

"I never thought you would feel the same. Didn't want to ruin our friendship.

"Well... for the record I did love you. I... still do."

Your heart skipped a beat at the answer. "You do?"

"Yeah. I do."

You both sat in silence for a minute. "What do you want to do about it?" you asked quietly.

"I broke it off with her," Lance said simply. "Before I came running after you."

"Why would you do that?" you asked, genuinely confused. "You seemed so in love with her."

He looked you in the eyes. "Because coming to this party made me realize. It brought back so many memories. All the years we goofed around in front of dad's rich friends. All the times we left early to go have fun just the two of us. And then I saw you in that dress... and the way you looked at me after all these years. And I realized what I had with her would never compare to the years I've had with you. Even if you had said no... I couldn't just let you leave like that. Thinking our relationship didn't mean anything. Even if we just ended up being friends tonight."

"Lance I..."

"You mean a lot to me, you know? Just took a year apart and a girl I didn't truly love to realize how much."

You took a chance and reached over to grab his hand, just like she had a few hours earlier.

"Wanna get out of here?" he asked. "Speed away like we did as teenagers?"

"Yeah. I'll drive and you get the music."

"Deal," he said, cracking one of his smiles that just made your heart melt. He tossed you the keys to your car that you had forgotten on the table. You caught them with ease and stepped into your car. You looked over at your best friend, and now possibly lover in the passenger's seat and your heart was full.

"Lance..."

"Yeah?"

"I've wanted this for a while. Just me and you again."

"Well if you want to... we can spend a lot more time now just the two of us. Now that we're both on the same page."

"I can't imagine anything better," you said with a smile. You shifted the car into drive and pressed down the gas pedal, speeding away into the night. And as your favorite song came on the radio, you knew your life was about to get so much better.

[cinnamonsikwate]

i'm really curious about what marcille's mother's deal is. seems like she's not too big on the rest of elven society. here's what we know about her so far:

mage at a human royal court (adventurer's bible)

courtship with marcille's father donato lasted 17 years (adventurer's bible)

specialty is roast pork, which was also donato's favorite (chapter 81)

had a cheerful personality up until the point donato got too sick to eat his favorite food. her extreme emotional reaction to this left a lasting impression on marcille (chapter 81)

remarried to a gnome and moved away from the city at some point after donato died (adventurer's bible)

several portraits of her appear in marcille's nightmare (chapter 42); this is the second time we see marcille dream of her (chapter 3)

preferred non-elven food and didn't introduce marcille to any traditional elven dishes (chapter 74)

from the canaries' reactions in chapter 74, it appears elven society looks down on elves who go to live among and work for short-lived races. they seemed especially put off that she would have a mixed-blood child. when they're talking about the lyrikmumare to get marcille to trip up, marcille envisions her mother saying that the food "here" (i.e., the northern continent) tastes so much better. so the picture we're getting here is of an elf who has removed herself from elven culture, but the question is, did she do it willingly or was she forced to?

keeping her other actions in mind, i'm leaning more towards the former. the most intriguing thing for me is that she eventually married a gnome, despite elves and gnomes having infamously waged war against each other over differences in the practice of magic and presently tending to discriminate against the other on sight. (one thing's for sure — marcille's mother is winning the idgaf war!)

marcille never talks about her gnome stepfather though, and it's unclear what she thinks of her mother's remarriage. the timing of the remarriage is also a mystery. donato married marcille's mother when he was 32 (after having courted her for 17 years) and died at 82, meaning they were married for 50 years. marcille is also currently 50 years old, but we know she wasn't born immediately after the marriage: in chapter 81, donato's doppelganger says marcille was born when he'd started "getting on in years." based on marcille's memories of him and the established fact that the average tall-man lifespan is 60 years, i'd hazard that he was in his 50s then. this gives him 30 years or less with marcille — definitely less than 35, which we know is the age at which she left for the magic academy.

we don't know if marcille's mother remarries before or after marcille leaves (if before, than that's definitely a shockingly short time), but it's interesting that she chose to marry someone from a long-lived race this time. maybe this is her way of ensuring she spares herself another heartbreak? or maybe she *is* still heartbroken and is trying to cover it up.

but. i can't help but kind of agree with chilchuck in chapter 81, that marcille's parents are not blameless for marcille becoming the dungeon lord. since it's apparently well-documented, they surely must have known — as well-educated people — that mixed-blood children face not just discrimination but also mental anguish that comes with their unstable aging (not to mention the sterility). so the way they raised marcille feels frankly irresponsible 😭

anyway. i'd love to get spin-off content where post-adventure marcille and her mother meet again. i feel like there's a lot of unresolved issues there (that can of course be hashed out over a good meal).

[deafeninggardenerpanda]

i'd love to hear about manmaru metadede !!! i heard it's really Gay but no one ever details it. not a lot of it is translated too, as far as i know, but i really like it.. any excuse to talk about something you like is good too

NO YEA not a lot is translated and the manga itself is already more niche compared to like, mopupupu so its not too well known. translation efforts have really started picking up the past year though (shoutout to @/kirby-manga-translated they do great work). if it needed to be restated for new followers since i havent tl'd in a while, i know a decent amount of japanese so i read them on my own :)c

shoutout to my guy @/rosakikoza as well for giving me his scans hehe. the majority of images below are his or taken from his scans. the rest are mine

*deep breath* the tangent. im gonna need to put this under a cut dont mind me 😍😍😍 did i say 3 paragraphs? i meant 20. like 20 paragraphs

meta knight is absolutely pathetic and incredibly down bad for dedede this manga. its adorable. multiple people ive talked to or seen have come to the conclusion it seems like he has a huge crush on him. a quick brief for those who dont know but this mangas meta is admittedly Veryyyyy different from how you'd expect a meta knight to be. uncharacteristically friendly and cheerful and. pathetic is really the best word for it. hes kinda a loser. incredibly protective of dedede, he switches between two modes of fussing over him quite a bit and semi-often going into incredible rage bloodlust modes over protecting him or his image (youll see a good amount of jp fanwork depict this version of him as a yandere for that reason)

theres also been more than one occasion where meta knight tries to commit seppuku upon accidently doing something he sees as unforgivable towards his king (its in the chapter i just screenshotted above too, another time he broke dededes clock and freaked out about it). i-. dont consider this a cute ship thing for the record im just stating it to emphasize the extent of metas obsession towards dedede this manga. the mans got Problems...

apart from that, also quite differing from most interpretations of both of them, both of them seem to genuinely really like spending time around each other all the time. it comes off as casually domestic and is very cute...

regardless of my attempts to brief it, i dont feel like im explaining this very well so lemme just show you a frankly ridiculous amount of reasons for why i keep feeling like this mangaka ships metadede

-fake kiss: self explanatory

-fake proposal: also self explanatory

mk: Will you marry me!?

ddd: Yes!

context for this scene is that theyre rehearsing for a play, but actually its later revealed that meta knight is playing the princess while dedede is playing the male protag so im not exactly sure it makes sense that hes the one proposing here. my speculation is that to make the proposal seem legit for the gag they Had to use meta LMAO but thats just my take

also to be noted, right after kirby hears the proposal he immediately runs off and tries to tell everyone the news before ddd+mk stop him and explain that its fake. hes not thrown off or weirded out at the idea that they could be getting married in the slightest. kirby says gay rights Real i love him sm

-this one is from what i call the memory loss chapter:

dedede loses his memories from getting hit in the head too hard. the gang figures out that beating dedede up or otherwise causing him injury causes him to regain some of them back though, to which kirby attempts to harm him with increasingly violent means, much to meta knights horror. mk spends the entire chapter trying to protect dedede from him, and it doesnt work obviously, but after a particularly hard hit dedede remembers everyone again... except for meta knight. to which meta knight gets upset about and lets kirby lay into dedede for real. you see where people get the yandere personality from now right. i dont recall this trait coming out too often but ill talk more about it later

-the whole chapter thats a cinderella retelling with dedede and meta knight. also also self explanatory COME ON LOOK AT THIS ONE. LOOK AT IT.

mk: Y…You're…

ddd: Wow, he's so beautiful!! It's like I'm dreaming…!

-theres the mangaka chapter which is a more recent one

the gang makes manga for dedede. meta knight's manga is about how cool, brave, and heroic dedede is. mysteriously enough however the only thing hes good at is drawing dededes face and nothing else. the implications of this one drive me absolutely insane. is it supposed to imply that meta knight stares at his face all day?? admires his appearance??? he looks at him so much he basically has his face memorized????? HUH???????? theres no heterosexual explanation for this. acting like a teenager with a crush out here got damn

=various images im sharing out of context because they r cute

head pats. holding hands and reaching the goal together. peak.

KNIGHT DRESSUP FOR THE KNIGHT. AHAAHGH

ddd: Hoho, pretty spiffy don'cha think?

mk: Ohh!? It suits you!!

fellas is it gay to shout "OHH! META KNIGHT!!" with a dopey grin on your face upon being saved like a damsel in distress

sometimes meta knight acts domestic as fuck too. his copy abilities as he states are: cook! clean!! and sleep!!!

regarding my thoughts on their dynamic in this series overall, i think theyre absolutely adorable. meta knight emits dog energy in this one. eager golden retriever towards dedede, though dedede has his sweet moments towards meta knight too. (viewing it with a shipping lens just for this post ofc) while meta is the more active crusher, some of the stuff above seems to imply that dedede has feelings in return as well :') they just get along really well too its great. theres a different chapter where they perform as a comedy duo. theyve done plays in multiple chapters. its my hc for these versions of them that they love doing performances of all kinds together and do a lot of rehearsals and writing in their free time...

and the yandere stuff i feel like i should address as well. i try not to take some aspects Too seriously because its to be expected things are over emphasized for the sake of the joke with gag mangas. but oh man the man definitely has problems. he needs therapy. i tried to be transparent in listing those aspects as well so people can make their own conclusions on it But theres one more thing id like to mention regarding that

meta knights personality has been shifting to be different from what i listed, as of the most recent volume. my beloved forgotten land arc... a first for this series in that, while the chapters still retain their gag humor and dont take themselves that seriously, its a serialized story that mostly follows along with the game plot that lasts nearly the whole volume (as opposed to other game arcs in this manga being episodic stories, using the games as their theme rather than a full on setting). with the more serious tone of the serialized story, theres a frankly startling hint of character development i never wouldve expected from a gag manga at the end of it

kirby gets ko'd the first round of the meta knight cup so meta knight joins the meta knight cup instead. turns out when he does that the final boss of the cup is dedede. meta knight Really doesnt want to hurt dedede and so dedede promptly kicks his ass without a second thought and wins the tournament. while the crowd cheers for dedede's victory, meta and dedede have a small talk where dedede tells him he doesnt need to fuss so much about hurting him/him getting hurt. presumably this is supposed to mark the end of meta knights intense overprotectiveness because (its never been clear-cut due to the nature of the manga previously, so its a lil hard to say) dededes shown he can handle himself, or like, isnt some fragile thing. i really hope itll stick around because i think its a great addition to both of their characters. the meta-knights have also been appearing way more frequently as of very recent chapters (ones that havent been compiled into a volume yet) which seem to also hint to meta knight getting more independence to his character from dedede's loyal servant. im very excited to see where it goes :D

and like, last last disclaimer if anyone needed it; even tho i love metadede and i like to see things through ship glasses sometimes i absolutely try my best to keep my biases out of my translations. putting out accurate translations means a lot to me! this entire post is me purposely putting the ship glasses on so please dont take it as "omg metadede is canon in this manga". you know way back when i was the only active translator for this manga someone tweeted at the mangaka on twitter mentioning that there were english translations around and he replied to that person. didnt respond to the fan translation thing specifically but the fact that he could know who i am definitely kinda terrifies me. if anyone goes around saying that his manga is the metadede manga because of me and he even has the slightest sliver of a chance of seeing that i will kill yall fr LOL

[thekingofwinterblog]

Was Ragatha a Mom?

So watching Digital Circus, it struck me that there are a lot of contradictions with Ragatha.

She is obviously a very caring person, as we see with her interactions with Pomni, but she also sucks at actually helping her feel better, as we see with the absolute trainwreck that was her innitial attempt at trying to make Pomni feel better after Gummygoo's death.

She still has the spirit to visually disaprove of Jax and his violent and cruel actions, but she doesnt have it in her to actually physically stand up to him unlike Zooble.

And of course there is the way she always puts on a brave face, and refuses to act like even the worst of Pomni's or the other peoples around her bother her.

Obviously there is a lot of context here we are missing. But there was one line from episode 2 that finally seemed to make it click for me.

"Im not a child. You don't have to hype me up."

That line made me realize jusy how, well... Motherly Ragatha acts. And she doesn't just act motherly, she acts like one, very specific kind of mother.

Ragatha acts like the kind of mother who ALWAYS, wheter it is warrented or not, pretends to be fine, that there is nothing wrong, because she believes that the worst thing that she could do would be to act worried, afraid or hysterical, as that might make her kids scared.

And when she talks with Jax, rather than treating him as a violent adult, she treats him like a child she needs a stern talking to.

As if she could actually make him change his ways by doing it, rather than actually taking him to task about his actions.

It again speaks of a very specific kind of mother, who tries to be stern when such is needed, but frankly has no backbone to actually discipline her kid.

On the other end of the spectrum, when Pomni actually hurts her, rather than actually talking it out, she pretends everything is fine, like it wasn't a big deal.

Even her saying that Pomni's moments of weakness was "understandable" as she pretends it didn't mean anything is her effectively saying that Pomni "didn't know any better", as one might say to a child.

The fact is, Ragatha treats Pomni like a child, more speciffically a child she has to protect, cheer up, and guide, rather than an actual adult woman who is her equal.

The single biggest showcase of this is how she talks to Pomni after Gummygoo's death... When she essentially treats her like a Kid who just tried something really, really hard, and gave it her best, only to in the end hit the wall and be crushed by the fact what She attempted was impossible... But still, she tried her best, and that's important. And hey, maybe it's not as bad as you think after all.

Rather than... You know, an adult woman who just had one of her friends murdered in front of her eyes.

Well meaning certainly, but incredibly(And unitentionally) condecending.

It's only when Ragatha stops trying to baby her, and gives her a bit of actual adult heart to heart that she finally manages to make Pomni feel better.

Beyond this, Ragatha also has a body language that is very connected with a steretypical, feminine, motherly image.

She puts her hands together in front of as a clearly natural pose for her, when angry she puts her hands on her hips which comes across like a stereotypical angry mother/caretaker that wants to show how upset she is right now, and she is constantly running about trying to make others(usually Pomni) feel better.

With this in mind, assuming that Ragatha is a mother, lets try to figure out what we can from her age.

Ragatha is 30 Years old, and judging by her comment at the end of episode 2, we can presume she's been there a while.

Now withouth knowing how often a new human enters the circus it's impossible to be entierly sure about how long she's been there, but let's say 3-6 years, given she's well familiar with people abstracting.

That means that at the absolute most(Assuming she didn't get pregnant under the age of 18) that her kid(Or oldest kid) could be up towards 12 years old now, and that she dissapeared from their lives probably when they were 6-9, which lines up with the way she treats Pomni and Jax.

The reason she sucks so badly at cheering others up despite being a very caring person, is that her first instict is to act in her familiar role as a mother figure... But she was ripped away from that role just as her kid was growing old enough to grow out of the baby/little kid stage of their development, and need actual discipline and guidance rather than protectiveness and comfort above everything else.

In other words, she never got to actually develop those skills, being ripped away from her role prematurely, and finding herself in the hell that is the Amazing Digital Circus, where she gets to befriend person after person after person, only to see them end up dying one after another.

Truly the worst hell for such a caring person who just wanted to be a mom.

[bookshelf-dust]

imsosorry i'm about to request again (just tell me to stop if they get too much)

could you write a fic with Gareth where reader is usually very talkative and cheerful but someone shouted at them about it being annoying, and now they keep sentences to a minimum, so Gareth tries to find out what happened? and maybe gets angry at the person for shouting at them? this time I may have done it a little bit too precise, sorry

(again, sorry for requesting so much, it's just that you write them so !!! undescribable. beautiful. gorgeous. CHEFS KISS. and you're so FAST AT WRITING THEM?? amazing)

going quiet.

gareth emerson x gn!reader

word count: 1,610

warnings: swearing, bullying, andy, gareth gets angry, fluff/comfort

a/n: hii!!! do not apologize for requesting! it makes me feel loved and i’m so so happy that you like the way i write him and that you trust me with your ideas! and your idea is indeed perfect. seriously don’t apologize. i love it when you request things and i appreciate it. also it’s easy to write these when you’re so sweet. and i hope this doesn’t suck. <333 (also i will use any chance i can get to bully jason’s goons).

————

“Well, I like The Breakfast Club a lot, actually. I just hate the ending because of Allison’s makeover. It pisses me off that Andrew didn’t have eyes for her until she looked like every other girl in sch—”

“It seems that everything pisses you off, huh?”

You’d been talking to Nancy, but that wasn’t who was speaking to you now.

You turned your head, fingers gripping the edge of your open locker door. Andy was looking at you, hands in the pockets of his varsity jacket, a sick smile on his face.

“I’m sorry?”

“You’re just really fucking annoying.”

Andy’s voice made your stomach drop. You’d been just fine, talking to Nancy, some mindless conversation about movies because she’d had a similar talk with Robin over the weekend—who shared your opinions on Allison and Andrew.

But now it was like someone had opened a window when it was much too cold to do so, a rush of cool air sending a chill down your spine.

Andy seemed to have a way of doing that.

“You know, my locker is just down there,” he pointed, “and everyday I hear you blabbing about whatever shit you seem to think is important. Frankly, I’m just sick of hearing your voice. The world would benefit from you shutting the fuck up, I think.”

Your hands were shaking now. “What the hell, Andy? Why are you being such an asshole?” Nancy raised her voice, trying to confront the boy, but he just tossed his head back in glee, and walked off.

You always told yourself that you could stand up for yourself in a situation like this. You could do it easily anytime someone said something to Gareth or one of the kids, but his comment had come out of nowhere, and you’d been too shocked to fight back.

It had been the way he said it really, the way he looked at you. Like you were a nuisance, and it hurt your feelings.

He’d targeted one of the main things you were comfortable with—talking to people you cared for about things you loved. You’d been around people who let you be yourself for some time, so being told that your passion and cheerfulness was annoying was the worst thing he could’ve chosen to pick on.

Deep down, and in every vein, it hurt.

“You okay, Y/N? Really you can’t listen—”

You raised your hand, cutting her off. “I’m fine, Nance.”

And then you were off, hoping that the way you could feel your eyes glazing over wasn’t obvious to any onlookers.

Nancy didn’t see you again until lunch, but she was sat with Robin and some of the school newspaper kids, you with the Hellfire Club. She tried to see if you were okay just by looking at you, hoping that you hadn’t let Andy’s comment hurt you, but the bounce of your leg under the table told her otherwise.

“Did you finish your book last night?” Eddie was looking at you, shoveling pretzels in his mouth, eyebrows raised while waiting for your response.

You felt Gareth bump your leg with his knee, knowing you would be excited to talk about your book if you had indeed finished it. Yesterday you’d been very close, with only a couple chapters left.

“Yeah,” you said, finishing the rest of your drink and trying to avoid eye contact with Eddie, which he had did not like.

“How was it?” He inquired.

“Fine.”

“That’s it? We don’t get to hear about the ending? The grand reveal?” Eddie wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, sitting up at your vagueness.

“Nothing to tell. It was fine.”

“Are you alright, Y/N?” Gareth grabbed your hand under the table, and you fought the urge to pull away from him.

“I’m—”

“If you say fine, I’m going to scream,” Eddie declared.

“I’m okay,” you finished instead, looking back and forth between them both.

Eddie rolled his eyes, though he wouldn’t argue because you had come up with another response.

Gareth looked over your face like he was searching for something. “Gareth, please.”

He knew that tone. It either meant, I’m fine—really—or it meant I don’t want to do this right now. Either way, he dropped it.

In class that afternoon you worked silently beside him, even though you were supposed to be working with him on a project. When he asked you questions you gave one worded responses or simply nodded or shook your head.

That night he called you after dinner like he always did. For a minute he was worried you wouldn’t even pick up, the phone having rung for so long, but you did.

“Hello?”

“Hey, sweetheart. You okay?”

“Fine, Gareth.”

You could hear him sigh loudly on his end, even though it was clear he’d pulled away to try and not make it so obvious that he was concerned and a little stressed out about your behavior.

“The twins want you to come for dinner this weekend.”

“That’s nice.”

“Is that okay? Not too busy?”

“That’s okay.”

The entire conversation you were soft spoken. It was practically killing the boy. You were never this quiet, in tone of voice or in the amount you had to say. You always liked to talk about everything and nothing with Gareth and with Eddie, or Dustin or Lucas.

You were an excited person. You liked to geek out about something or listen to someone else do the same.

And you weren’t doing that.

Something was wrong. Gareth was sure of it. He just had to figure out what.

————

“Did something happen? Something that I don’t know about?”

Gareth tracked down Nancy the next day, even if that meant he was now standing awkwardly in the corner of the school paper’s preparation room.

He crossed his arms, feeling increasingly nervous.

“They’re not talking are they?”

“No. Nancy, come on. What the hell happened?”

She exhaled. “Andy made an appearance yesterday morning. Decided he’d be a prick and told them they were,” she lifted her hands to use air quotes, “‘Really fucking annoying.’ Then he went on about how they never shut up and that the world would in fact benefit from them doing so.”

Gareth ran a hand down his face.

“I told them not to let it affect them,” Nancy continued, “but I think this one was a little too close to home, you know?”

Gareth nodded, suddenly feeling very angry.

“Yeah. Yeah, I know. I’ll figure this out. Thanks, Wheeler.”

————

Luckily for Gareth, he ran—literally—into Andy right after his chat with Nancy. It was lunch, which is why he’d come looking for answers because you were nowhere to be found.

“Watch it, freak.”

“Why don’t you, asshat?”

“Excuse me?” Andy turned on the other boy, brow furrowing, chest puffing out like he was trying to show off.

Gareth was fired up. He never fought. At least he hadn’t since middle school.

He had sisters to be a good example for, and he really didn’t want to be trouble for them—or his mom. He also really didn’t like split knuckles.

But right now, he was astronomically pissed.

Gareth grabbed hold of Andy’s collar, yanking him close.

“Why’ve you got to be such a fucking asshole all the time huh? Because let me tell you, nobody needs to hear your opinions or your bullshit outlook on the world.”

“What the hell is your problem, man?” Andy’s voice cracked, as he was clearly not expecting Gareth to have confronted him like this. Not when the latter usually just flipped the former off and moved on.

But this was about you this time. Your feelings had gotten hurt. And Gareth couldn’t protect himself from these things, but he could protect you.

“You’re an asshole, that’s my problem.”

Gareth let Andy go, shoving him back much more gently than he’d been holding the boy.

Little did he know, you were propped up against the wall across the way, watching this little interaction from afar.

“Jesus man, shit,” Andy said, rubbing at his collarbones.

“Just fucking stop this shit, yeah? I don’t care about whatever dumbass reason you’ve got for taking your feelings out on people, but just leave my friends out of it.”

Gareth shook his hands out, and the gesture seemed to frighten Andy, who hadn’t realized he was that strong before this moment.

“Yeah, whatever man.”

And then he was gone.

Gareth ran his hands down his face, and you took that as your queue to approach him. You reached up, carefully grabbing his wrists and wrapping your fingers around them.

Gareth jumped. “Damn! You scared the shit out of me.”

“I’m sorry.” You planted a kiss on his cheek, and he went bright red.

“I take it you figured it out?” His brow furrowed at your question. “I was watching,” you clarified.

“Oh. Oh. Shit, I’m sorry.”

“Gareth, you don’t have to apologize. I appreciate you sticking up for me. I should’ve done it myself, and come to you, but he just—”

“He hurt your feelings?” You nodded. “I know. Sometimes certain things just hit wrong, yeah?”

“Yeah.” He grabbed your face in both hands and kissed the top of your head.

“Hopefully he fucks off. But either way, I want you to know that I love hearing you talk. I love it when you get excited and you get loud and you share all the little things that make you feel that way, okay? I don’t want you to change or shut down because of someone. Especially Andy.”

That got a laugh out of you, and Gareth thought that sound could’ve cured everything wrong with the world.

————

please let me know if you liked this! feedback is always appreciated!! comments and reblogs mean more than you know. <33

[vilevenom]

Part four in my collection of ficlets for "Hello My Old Heart"!

I have been yearning to write some more Hickdory, because it fuels me, and quite frankly there is just not enough content of these two. For this part - a wedding! But probably not the one people would be hoping for, lol Enjoy!

John Dory, apparently, got weepy at weddings. Or, perhaps it was just because it was his baby brothers wedding. Either way, he was half covering his face to stop himself from openly sobbing as Branch recited his vows to Poppy. They were the sweetest, most sentimental vows John Dory had ever heard (not that he had a habit of being invited to weddings to hear a lot of vows), and they made John so thankful for Poppy and her persistence with his brother.

"Daddy? Why are you crying?" a hissed whisper to John's right made the teal troll finally pull his gaze from the happy couple, down to his four year old son who was watching him worriedly.

"They're happy tears, bug. Don't worry," John whispered back with a wet chuckle, ruffling Sky's curly hair. He lifted his gaze just in time to watch Poppy nearly bowl Branch over as they were pronounced married, his brother just barely managing to catch himself and Poppy as she kissed him soundly. "Sugar," John huffed out, sniffing back more tears as Hickory's arm wrapped around his shoulders from his left side.

"They're so cute," Hickory chuckled into John's ear, the country troll grinning widely as they watched the happy couple wave at the cheering crowd that had witnessed the ceremony. "Ya gonna be okay there, darlin'?"

"I'm just so happy for Branch," John choked out, wiping at his eyes, "Ugh. Didn't think I'd cry this much."

"Well, at least yer not alone in yer tears," Hickory said with a grin, gesturing for John to look at the other seats around him. It would seem that all of John's brothers were also criers. Which, although not surprising for Floyd or Bruce, was a bit surprising for Clay, who was red in the face and talking quietly to Viva as the happy couple walked back down the isle towards an awaiting flyer bug.

The wedding had been held in a large clearing, not too far from Pop Village. This way, the royal Bergen couple and Bruce's family could attend, without worry for the space available in town. It had been agreed, though, that after the ceremony, Bridget and Gristle would head back to Bergen town with Brandy and the kids, while the trolls held a party in Pop Village before Branch's official coronation as prince consort the next day.

"We're all such messes," John snorted, pulling a handkerchief from his hair to wipe his eyes, watching as Bruce trundled over to Brandy and his children to say goodbye before they all headed back to the village in Rhonda. His attention was diverted, once again, by his son as Sky tugged at the hem of the formal jacket he'd worn to the ceremony. "Yes? What is it, sweetheart?"

"Why did Uncle Branch and Aunt Poppy do this, again?" Sky asked, tilting his head with a confused little from on his face.

"Do what, sugar?" Hickory asked, leaning around John to pick Sky up.

"This," the tolling gestured to the milling crowd of trolls and clearing at large.

"The wedding?" John asked with a lopsided grin, tucking his handkerchief back into his hair.

"Yeah! That," Sky nodded, absently picking at the tiny flower on his shirt. He'd been the flower boy for the ceremony, and as such he had pinned a flower to his lapel, and had petals stuck in his hair.

"Well," John hummed, taking Sky from Hickory to bounce him on his hip, earning giggles from the trolling, "When two people love each other a whole bunch, and they decide they want to spend their whole lives together, they have a wedding. And all of their friends and family go to the wedding to celebrate how much those two people love each other."

"Oh," Sky hummed thoughtfully, tapping his little fingers on his chin thoughtfully. "Well, why did they put rings on each other?"

"Ah," Hickory piped up next to John, tickling Sky and causing the child to squeal happily, "That's so everyone else knows that they're each others chosen person, an' love each other to the moon and back."

Sky swatted at Hickory's hands, his face flushed as his giggles tapered off. "Papa, no! Stop," Sky gasped, waving his hand at his father, "I'm tryin' to learn." Hickory held his hands up in surrender, while John snorted in amusement, knowing full well he'd picked that up from Clay. Sky took a breath, turning a very serious expression to John Dory, who arched an eyebrow curiously. "So, why don't you an' Papa have rings?"

John blinked, having fully not expected such a question from a four year old. "Uhhh," he said intelligently, staring blankly at his child. Sky frowned, glancing between his parents, before fat tears welled up in his eyes.

"Do you not love each other a whole bunch?" Sky asked, voice indicating that he was very much on the verge of tears.

"Yer Daddy an' I love each other so much, that we just plum forgot all about gettin' married," Hickory was quick to intervene, taking Sky from John's arms and tossing him into the air a bit, hoping to distract the trolling from his oncoming tears. He caught Sky, shooting John a worried look over the trolling's head. John continued to stare into space, an odd look on his face. Hickory frowned lightly, only to turn a bright grin on Sky, who no longer appeared to be on the verge of a meltdown. "Tell ya what, bug. Why don't ya go with yer Uncle Floyd back to the village? I know ya like how fast he goes on his flyer bug."

Sky visibly perked up at that, clapping his hands together. "Oh! Can I?!"

"You bet! Why don't ya go an' ask him right quick, while he's talkin' to yer Uncle Clay?" Hickory set the trolling down, who immediately made a beeline for his uncles. Hickory watched Sky run and get scooped into Clays arms as he approached the brothers, before turning a worried look on John. "Johnny?"

John Dory shook his head quickly, flashing Hickory a brilliant smile. It was obviously fake to anyone who knew the teal troll. "Yeah?"

"What's eatin' ya, John?" Hickory asked, taking one of John's hands in both of his, giving it a little squeeze.

John's smile fell, shifting from the overly wide and toothful grin he used in photos to a more subdued one, his lips pressed thinly together. "Sorry. Sky just caught me off guard with that question. I wasn't expecting it."

"Kids say the darndest things, I've been told," Hickory nodded, shifting closer to John to cup the teal trolls cheek in the palm of his hand, "But ya look like you've seen a ghost of somethin', darlin'. Is it botherin' ya that much?"

"Of course not!" John shook his head quickly, lifting his hand to press Hickory's more firmly into his cheek. "We don't need to be married to know how much we mean to each other. I just…it's something to think about."

Hickory blinked in surprised, his smile turning slightly lop sided. "Is it now?"

John chuckled quietly, pecking a kiss to Hickory's lips. "Yeah. Maybe."

~

The reception party was massive. Trolls of all genres were in attendance, and the entirety of the town was decorated and celebrating Branch and Poppy's marriage. The party clearing was reserved for the party proper, but music, dancing and celebrations spilled out across the village.

"Quite the shindig," Hickory said with an impressed whistle when they finally made it back to town, shaking his head slightly with a smile.

"Everyone loves Poppy and Branch. This wedding was a long time coming," John hummed beside him. They both turned at the sound of their child's joyful shrieks approaching, watching as Floyd landed his flyer bug with a grin on his face, while Sky had his arms in the air, laughing wildly.

"Again, again!" the four year old shouted, laughing as he pushed a tiny pair of goggles off his face and into his hair. "Uncle Floyd, you give the BEST flyer bug rides!"

"Do I? That's quite the compliment. Thank you," Floyd laughed as he disembarked, before helping his nephew down.

"When I get big enough, will you teach me how to fly?!" Sky asked, bouncing on his toes as his parents approached.

"That is definitely something you are going to need to ask your dad about, kiddo," Floyd grinned, ruffling Sky's hair.

"Ask me what?" John scooped Sky up and tossed him into the air, reveling in the trolling's laughter.

"Uncle Floyd is going to teach me how to fly!" Sky informed, as though this was a stated fact.

"Is he now?" John arched an eyebrow at his brother, Floyd waving his hands in the air as he took a step back.

"When he's older! And I told him to ask, not tell," Floyd reassured, grinning awkwardly.

"I see," John hummed, shooting his brother one last suspicious look, before laughing and poking Sky in the belly. "All right, kiddo! You ready for a party?"

"Always!" Sky cheered, wriggling free of John's hold. Once he was on his feet he was off like a shot, running towards the party clearing.

"Such a pop troll," Hickory said fondly next to John, earning a light jab in his ribs from John Dory's elbow.

~

The party went off without a hitch. But that was to be expected, given that Poppy and Viva had planned the whole shebang, and Branch and Clay had taken all of the appropriate measures to ensure that nothing could or would go wrong. Truly, John could not think of better partners for his younger brothers.

"Okay, everyone," Poppy called from her spot atop a glow mushroom to the side of the party clearing, grinning widely while Branch stood beside her with a lovestruck expression on his face, "It's time for the bouquet toss!"

John snorted quietly as he watched trolls scramble to gather around near the base of the mushroom, sipping at his drink.

"Not a fan of the toss?" Bruce asked his older brother at noticing the amused expression on John's face.

"Not so much that," John hummed, shooting Bruce a grin, "I just think the scramble to catch a cluster of dead flowers to find out who's getting married next is funny."

"I think this particular toss is less about the superstition," Bruce hummed, "And more about having a memento of one of the most anticipated weddings of our generation."

That caught John's attention, he turned a sharp gaze to Bruce, eyebrow arching. "A memento, you say?"

"Oh no," Hickory groaned, rubbing at his face, "Bruce, what've ya done?"

"Out of my way!" John suddenly shouted, haphazardly tossing his cup behind himself as he jumped from his seat and made his way into the crowd of trolls beneath the mushroom.

The two watched as John Dory shoved his way through the crowd, ignoring anyone who called after him for being rude. Branch finally caught sight of his oldest brother as Poppy turned her back to the crowd, shooting a question look towards Bruce and Hickory, who shrugged back at him. The three of them could only watch as John shoved past trolls to get to the very center of the group, Bruce letting out a groan of embarrassment over how John was acting.

"Ready?" Poppy called over her shoulder, before tossing the bouquet into the air behind her. The bouquet sailed through the air as the group of trolls below shouted and moved, several giving up quickly and ducking out of the way of others who were not watching where they were going to try and catch the flowers.

John had a plan, though. Hickory gaped as he watched John grin and toss a glitter bomb into the air, causing nearly everyone in the crowd to scream and scatter. Meanwhile, the teal troll yanked his goggles over his eyes to protect them from the falling glitter and snatched the bouquet out of the air with a triumphant shout.

"I am never gonna hear the end of this from Branch, am I?" Hickory groaned half covering his face as John Dory cheered and waved the bouquet in the faces of other trolls as he walked back to their table. He caught a glimpse of Poppy and Branch up on the mushroom, the former looking amused, and the later annoyed.

"Judging by the look on his face right now? Probably not," Bruce said with a light laugh.

"Victory!" John shouted as he made it back to their table, holding the bouquet in the air.

"Guess you're getting married next, huh?" Bruce teased, grinning widely as John stuttered to a stop, his eyes flicking momentarily to Hickory before his cheeks went up in flames.

~

The party raged on for hours after that, and upon finding Sky tucked under their table asleep, his fur slathered in cake, John and Hickory figured it was about time to head home.

"Woo, what a party," Hickory laughed as they made their way back to their pod after bidding their farewells and congratulations, Sky fast asleep in his arms.

"It'll probably go until the sun rises. Or past that, honestly," John snorted, absently playing with the soft petals of the bouquet in his hands.

Hickory watched John out of the corner of his eye for a moment, before clearing his throat. "Y'know, Johnny…If ya wanted, we could…have a wedding." He flushed at the startled look John shot him, quickly ducking his head so the brim of his hat hid his face. "I mean, we've been together a while now. Sky's four already. Wouldn't that be the next logical step?" He lifted his head slightly when the silence dragged on longer than expected, only to find that John was no longer walking next to him. He stopped and turned, finding John stood a few feet behind him, looking surprised.

"You'd really want that? With me?" John asked quietly, clutching the flowers to his chest.

Hickory smiled warmly, trotting back over to John. "John Dory," he hummed with a grin, "we are raisin' a kid together. I have been in love with ya since I was seventeen. How can ya not think I would want to marry ya?"

John swallowed thickly, letting out a quiet, choked laugh. He wiped at his eyes quickly, before shifting forward to kiss Hickory quickly. "You're right. Dumb question."

"Not a dumb question," Hickory hummed, shifting Sky in his arms so he could take John's hand, giving it a little squeeze as they began to walk again, "Just not a well thought out one."

That startled a laugh out of John, who brought Hickory's hand up to kiss the back of it. "Let's do it then," he said giddily, "Let's get married."

[raptorsgust]

hello! so i was lucky enough to snag a ticket to the tgcf donghua s2 fan screening right here in singapore, so here's a short report on the happenings! under the read more as there will be spoilers including those from the novel

arrived at around 1:20pm and it already looked like a full house! lots of people queueing at the photobooths and stuff, LOTS of cosplayers, mainly hualian and beefleaf. after a while i asked an usher about the merch booth but it was already closed due to the long queue, so i just went to find my seat which was near the back (in front of a bunch of cosplayers haha)

the hall had at least eight screens but none were positioned in a way where i didn't have to turn/crane my neck lol i can still feel the strain

the screening itself started at about 10 minutes past 2pm! we first had some voice actor greetings first, both of shi qingxuan's voice actors seemed to have received the loudest cheers from my pov! all of them ended their greeting with 天官赐福，百无禁忌

there was also a quick announcement of another tgcf collab cafe in 2024! sg just keeps winning and winning

after that we finally started the screening with a recap of s1 starting from the cart scene all through the banyue arc. xie lian's lines were all newly voiced by his new voice actor deng youxi, and he sounded alright to me! (note: not 100% sure that he did replace jgt's voicing but that's what i remember, correct me if im wrong!)

more than an hour of s1 later, we smoothly transitioned into the first episode of s2, and the following are some highlights and points:

s2 is still based on the unrevised novel as far as i can tell

everyone loves shi qingxuan!!

ghost city is very extravagant and fun! lots of quirky ghosts, there's joss paper flying around everywhere

xl's 不举 was omitted even though it's already rated m18 lol

the part where hc teaches xl to shake the dice has a lot of hand touching and cute reactions from the ghosts and sqx and lqq

a LOT of teasing leading up to the reveal of hc's true form, they'd show part of his face, his hand, his boots, and when he stepped out from behind the curtain and xl laid eyes on him for the first time there were shoujo bubbles

also A LOT OF SCREAMING FROM THE AUDIENCE tbh it was already loud enough throughout the gambling scene it was just hilarious

frankly i couldn't see hc clearly cuz, bad seat, but we all know how he looks like anyway

idk if it's just mE but the audio of the entire screening had its pitch raised, all the songs were a key higher, everyone sounded higher-pitched...... to ward people from secretly recording it?

feels bad for fulgur cuz it feels like most of the audience didn't care about him? half of them left their seats for the photobooths during his q&a segment

quiz time was interesting......

for "what is hc's weapon?" the host accepted the answer E-Ming, as in the person who answered said cAPITAL LETTER OF THE ALPHABET E which i would personally not accept as correct but o wells

the last question was "what did hc give to xl at the end of s1?" and the lucky person who answered very precisely said "his ashes in the form of a ring" and the host went aRe YoU sUrE and tried to make us recall an oBjEcT and i think we were all second-guessing ourselves there lmao please get a host who did their homework next time

pretty sure that was a huge spoiler for donghua-only fans tho HAHA

after the event was over i hung around texting friends and then tried to see if the merch booth was available but all the nice merch was sold out, and frankly just thinking of trying the queues at the photobooths was mentally draining so i just left haha

overall it was a great experience! watching and reacting together with so many other fans is truly a rare experience and despite going solo i had fun!

excellent door gifts too, the acrylic stand is of great quality and is now set up and sitting on my mxtx shelf~

[helianskies]

How about #23 for UKSpaFr? It could be a love triangle 🤭

okay so,, not really gone for love triangle but it is definitely frukspa what a lovely decision hehe

Reunited

“He should be out of there by now. What’s taking so long?”

“Yeah, but don’t forget he’s also probably waiting for luggage, and there’ll be a queue at border control. His flight only landed half an hour ago.”

Francis gives a tut and begins to hold himself. While he looks cold, it is probably because he wants a hug that is likely still waiting to have its passport checked. Arthur would have… offered him some kind of comfort, if he had even the slightest belief Francis would accept it. But he wouldn’t. So he doesn’t.

“I wish he’d picked an earlier flight,” Francis rattles on, starting to slowly pace, two steps one way, two steps back. “You are sure you’re happy to drive back?”

“Of course,” Arthur replies. His eyes do not leave the exit from customs. “It’s not too far.”

“Only an hour and a half,” the other scoffs, and then sighs. “I hope he’s eaten something for dinner. La cuisine est fermée. It’s too late to cook him anything decent.”

“Good job I shoved some snacks into the car, then,” Arthur supposes, mustering up a smile. He looks at Francis, who has returned his gaze to the doors as another small flock of people start to emerge. Another wave of disembarked passengers. “He’ll be here soon,” he assures him. “I mean, he could be on the loo for all we kn—”

“Antoine!”

“Francis!”

“Arthur!” the same blond cheers quietly, as Antonio comes hurtling down the ‘departures only’ zone, and launches himself at Francis.

He’s used to such scenes. They have always been very hands-on in that way. Arthur prefers to do so in private. Though, even he has to admit, it does make him happy to see Antonio be swept off his feet for a rather dramatic spin, which makes him give a little surprised scream before demanding he be put down. The way he gives Francis’ arm a light smack for the move is rather entertaining.

“No picking me up, I’ve told you before,” Antonio finishes chiding Francis, although he is smiling, as is Francis (as is Arthur). And then he turns to the other. His smile grows. Arthur’s heart leaps and bounds. “Are we doing hugs, too?” he asks. “Or would you rather wait?”

Arthur is unsure at first. There are a lot of people around, a lot of eyes, a lot of noise. A hug sounds good. Frankly, given that he has just had to go two weeks without one from Antonio, a hug sounds great. Antonio has been away seeing family, and, even though he has had Francis and Francis is just as loving and doting, Antonio is—

“Hug it is!”

“O-Oh— Uh—” 

It seems, in the end, he has had no choice in the matter.

(But, secretly, that’s okay.)

“I’ve waited ages for this,” Antonio tells him as he practically swings from Arthur’s neck. He presses a hasty kiss—a big fat smooch—to the blond’s face, before he pops back off, pinches Arthur’s cheeks in greeting, and then says to them, “I’ve missed you. Both of you,” as he makes grabby hands towards both of them—a sign for them to each take a hand.

Dutiful as ever, both Francis and Arthur obey.

“So,” Francis says, as he takes Antonio’s luggage in his free hand and gestures for the three of them to head for the exit, “you survived your little family gathering?”

“Only just!” Antonio remarks with a soft snort of laughter. “I tell you what, I’m glad to be back. Which I didn’t expect to say, considering it’s absolutely heaving it down outside, but… well, you know what family’s like.”

Arthur hums. “Tolerable for five minutes, before they’re doing your head in?”

“Yeah. But,” Antonio then presses, tugging the pair of them closer to him as they pass through the building’s exit and out to the fresh (and wet) air, “I really am happy to be back home.” 

He looks between them both, and then gives Arthur the same kind of kiss on the cheek as before, before then giving Francis the same treatment. He breathes in England, embraces the cooler climate and shakes off that of his native Iberia, and, as though a switch has flicked in his brain, he suddenly asks:

“I don’t suppose you brought any food with you, did you? The coffee on the plane was awful, and I didn’t have time to grab anything at the airport before my flight…”

Arthur shares a look with Francis—one of amusement, one that says ‘I told you so,’ (which earns him rolling eyes, a lop-sided smile)—and he assures Antonio that, yes, there’s food in the car. 

“Oh, I love you!” Antonio proclaims in turn, squeezing both of their hands. “You have no idea how much that means to me!”

“Yes we do,” Arthur and Francis remark in unison, however; Antonio gives a laugh, suggests they head for the car before he takes his hunger out on them and gobbles them both up (affectionately, with kisses, because he loves them so, so much, he clarifies).

The car drive back is easy and pleasant, even in the rain. Arthur is kept happy by Antonio’s contagious enthusiasm, telling them both about his holiday in between snack breaks. Francis checks in on him every now and then, too (at one point, his hand comes to rest on Arthur’s as it sits on the gearstick, and a quick glance shows that Francis, too, is happy). 

And by the time the three of them get back, it’s dark, it’s cold, it’s miserable outside. But when they step back through the front door, all they feel is a restored warmth and comfort, knowing they are all finally home again.

[ ficlet collection is here on ao3! ]

[blakecooley]

How to sabotage your work without losing your job (probably)

Hi! Lifelong contrarian and well-known pain in the ass here. I’ve noticed a recent trend following the unsurprisingly quiet death of the conversation around “quiet quitting” and well, I’m hardly seeing anybody talking much anymore about passive resistance at work. Sure, there's always the under the radar talk of big, showy ways of sabotaging your job. That’s great for some. Heck, might even make you feel like a real hero throwing a literal wrench into that conveyor belt. And to those willing to take the risk, cheers! We’re eternally grateful for your contribution in the fight against capitalism! But most of us teeter in a cosmically cruel paradox whereby we recognize that the systems that dictate our lives and extract our very livelihoods in order to fuel itself have likewise arranged themselves to be our sole means of survival in an attempt to guarantee eternal subservience and supply. (We need our jobs. Ew, bummer.)

Look, we all hate them. We all know and understand exactly how wildly unnatural, inhumane and exploitative they are. But goddamn wouldn’t you know it, the local utility just absolutely refuses to barter. And until they do we have to keep going to our stupid, pointless jobs that we know are slowly killing us but(!) don’t give up hope! Just because you can’t afford to lose your job doesn’t mean you can’t make things generally difficult for your employer, slow work down a few ticks and ultimately waste company resources! Today I’m going to offer you a few tried and true tips that I’ve collected along my twenty years as a member of the american workforce on how to quietly and mostly passively sabotage your work. Welcome to the resistance! Time to not get to work!

First up is a hard one that I feel might be met with some criticism. Which, I honestly understand as it seems counterproductive to the overall goal but, you have to be good at your job. I would never ask that anyone care about their job or devote a second more than is contractually required to even thinking about it but everything else is going to be a lot easier to accomplish if you’re not a problem employee. You don’t need to be stellar or outstanding at your job, in fact that would be aggressively productive for the company and ultimately counterproductive to your efforts towards counterproductivity and frankly is a lot of work. But be good enough at it that no one gives you much of a thought. This means avoiding write-ups, being generally present and on time, not being noticeably hungover or stoned at work and most importantly being consistent. Bosses love that shit. People that they can rely on without thinking about them make their lives easier and can often get a little more leeway with the rules. You need this to succeed at failing.

With that out of the way, onward! To impishness and the foiling of toiling!

Slow down. This seems obvious and I won’t spend much time on it but, slow down. Be deliberate, be mindful, be consistent. (There’s that word again!) Be slow. You don’t have to be sluggish or make your motions theatrically drawn out but just move a little more slowly than anyone else. While some are more concretely quantifiable than others, we all have expected productivity rates at our crummy jobs. How many orders have you served? How many phone calls have you taken? How many parcels did you pick, stack, toss or deliver? How many emails did you respond to? Fuck ‘em. Don’t meet these often arbitrary, almost always aggressively enforced, micro-deadlines. Hover. Float along just below quota. Not enough to get in trouble but just enough that other people have to wait on you, consistently. Measure every portion before plating. Run that dishwasher twice. Leave that detailed voicemail to confirm receipt of the email you just sent (I don’t know how office jobs work. Ask your friend who loves Gilmore Girls, they’ll know what not to do and ultimately may be the key to understanding the best ways to get nothing accomplished). Take the stairs, insist on walking, go to the office of someone you could reach by phone or radio and meet face to face, count everything twice, be obnoxiously thorough, do whatever you can however you can do it, just do it slowly. Make yourself a well-meaning but undeniable pain in the ass. Waste company time. 

You might be asking now, “Blake, I thought you said you weren’t gonna spend much time on that tip? Sure seems like either this is the beginning of an arduous and lengthy trend or you’re a fucking liar. Perhaps both. Would you like the opportunity to speak to that?” 

To which I would say, “Welcome to tip #3! It looks like you might’ve already got this one pretty figured out. Good work, champ. (sly wink (definitely not in a sexual way, unless you're into it in which case, hello there (winks both eyes, slyly)) But that’s right: Asking unnecessary, unanswerable, open-ended and otherwise asinine questions is a great way to waste company time! It’s great to really understand every single, miniscule, esoteric and inscrutable detail of the operation of every facet of your job, of your employer and of the majesty of life all around us. Will you ever realistically need this information? No. Are you ever going to be asked to demonstrate any of this knowledge to maintain your employment? No. Should you still turn that 15 minute meeting into a half hour marathon of interrogation? Abso-fucking-lutely! Should you really ask your elderly, probably q-anon addled, foxmaxxed coworker about that winding and vaguely related to whatever someone else was just talking about, personal story that requires more context to understand than the story conveys? Get fucking real, you beautiful asshole! Learn her whole family history! Learn to love her estranged children more closely than your own! Should you ask your boss about exploring the idea of setting up a meeting with your district manager so that you, and really the whole team, can get a chance to benefit from a more in-depth education about the new product, menu item, system rollout, policy change, or safety guideline update? FUCK YES! YOU GORGEOUS AND BRILLIANT FUCK GOD!  Fuck everyone’s day up. Make every single person you interact with late to their next thing. Ask so many inane questions so consistently (fuck yes!!) that your neuroticism has to be soft scheduled into itineraries. Herald yourself among Socrates, Lao Tzu, Al-Khwarizmi, alongside all the great minds of history in your place at the pantheon of curiosity. Leave no one’s schedule, routine or plan intact. Make yourself a well-meaning, curious but undeniable pain in the ass. Waste company time.”

You, out of breath from cumming so hard from thinking about wasting company time after you stopped listening to me three words in, “What?”

This next one’s pretty simple but if executed improperly can backfire in some pretty “Either go see a doctor and find out what’s going on or stop wasting everybody’s time,” kind of ways but: Stay very hydrated. A well hydrated saboteur is a healthy saboteur. A well hydrated saboteur is a saboteur who has to go use the restroom, “Seriously, like every thirty minutes all day. Are you sure you’re okay? You can call it a day if you need to go home or whatever.” You don’t have to live in the bathroom but you should definitely be a regular. And really this is a tactic that you probably can’t employ every day without raising some questions and maybe drawing some medical concern from your employer but if and when it’s appropriate, go nuts! (I feel like if I were responsible or anything near the proximity of a medical professional I would say here that you should drink a lot of water instead of like soda or coffee or energy drinks or whatever cause too much of those sorts of things will probably kill you or something. But also don’t drink too much water cause I heard this story on the radio once about people dying from that too. It mostly seemed like it was accidental deaths during like frat hazing which I mean still sucks but seems pretty unlikely to happen in most daily scenarios so, I don’t know just be careful, okay? You're important, you're loved, we need you and I absolutely refuse to even think about living in a world without you). Remember, it’s not about creating urgency it’s about not getting work done so don’t try to be a hero and hold it in longer than you need to. Drink plenty of water, keep your body comfortable and rest easy knowing that as a pleasant side-effect of your hydration and abundant urination, you are absolutely fucking glowing! Being a saboteur never looked so good! Your skin is clear and radiant and you are wasting company time. Keep it up you stunning fucking fox!

#5(?) As a means of sort of rounding things to a close, my last tip is meant to be taken as broad advice. It’s really more about a general attitude that encapsulates a deliberate indifference instead of being a direct tactic. In all things related to work, be a devout incrementalist. Let  your tactics develop slowly, gradually and naturally over time. Develop yourself as a character (maybe with a sexy mustache? Vroom vroom, let's ride!) that performs increasingly elaborate eccentricities which ultimately cost the company whatever unnecessarily expended resources you can scrape out of their coffers. But don't be afraid to let your coworkers be part of that development. Oddities and quirks are often off-putting and can make you unlikeable when meeting new people. People don't like things that they have to think about and anything new or different is challenging. (Don't flatten yourself for the sake of passive resistance though. You are a beautiful, unique and loveable flower. Shining like a star is part of who you are so you better not hide that light you magical fucking goddess! But, maybe remove the shade slowly. Sensually even. Pull the cover down nice and easy and let little rays of light peek through for a while cause you don't wanna blind anyone, you glowing Adonis!) Part of this, and part of class solidarity at large, is being liked by your coworkers. (I know, applying praxis with people who might not explicitly agree with everything you believe. Ew, bummer.) Let them in early, be friendly and do your best to be approachable. Maybe you could try revealing your tactics as mildly embarrassing habits on par with being particular about how you tie your shoes? Or maybe you could be more matter of fact and quietly keep at it, offering a chat about it to whoever asks? There's no wrong approach and with some experimentation you can find what works best for you. Small, gentle reveals will be much easier for everyone to accept with enough time, dedication and consistency. (Hey?! It's fun right? Getting blasted with the same thought over and over again. Almost seems like a good tactic to employ. Just saying.)

When using any of these tactics, those you’ve learned from others or any of your own that you’ve developed it's a good idea to be careful and pay attention. If any of this is done carefully you can always fall back on some degree of plausible deniability (legal gaslighting) but it's best to just be careful and avoid direct confrontation from the get-go. You don't want to lose your job. And unless your coworker can absolutely be trusted (blood bonds are probably too extreme here but definitely not off the table, use your best judgement), or if you can make it sound so ludicrous that even if were they to tattle to management that you were actively sabotaging your own workplace that no one would believe it, probably don't tell anyone what you're doing. This might take something of a more creative approach depending on how you feel about committing to some light deception but coming up with a cool explanation for why you do __________ (insert tediously slow, annoying, persistently disruptive behavior/activity here) can also be a real blast. Heck, maybe you and your tabletop buddies can get together some weekend and design a whole character? (I don't know how tabletop games work. I've had sex lots of times with lots of different people. Sorry nerds.) The possibilities are endless. You don't have to lie but it is fun and I guarantee your boss has almost certainly lied to you. So, fuck 'em. (Your employer, as a corporate entity, business or whatever, despite being legally recognized as a person thanks to the 2009 Citizens United vs. FEC ruling, is physically incapable of experiencing or understanding your puny, outdated and puritanical feelings of guilt. Abandon morality! Reject theological and cultural authority! Be your own god! Become death and destroy what destroys you! Arise, arise! Fell deeds awake: fire and slaughter! Spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered, a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises! Ride!)

Above everything else remember, you control the means of production. Your employer profits off of your labor by refusing to compensate you fairly. If you were being paid what you're really owed there'd be no profit to collect. By making your company as inefficient as possible you're simply doing your part to flex the power that comes with those realizations. You have the power to refuse being overworked. You have the power to tilt the balance and let your productivity reflect your wages. You can perform your own tiny little strike every day! Be creative! Have fun! Create the world you want to live in! Fuck work!  

[stay-corner]

[fiery desires - hyunjin]

synopsis: hyunjin is bored at the club, and his only idea of entertainment seems to be making out with people he barely knows (aka you)

word count: 3.7k words

warnings: suggestive, nothing really nsfw happens but it's kinda filthy ngl, simply because hyunjin is being a bit of a slut. a lot of grinding going on. slight hyunjin x minho (they dance together), slight hyunjin x jeongin (they kiss). mentions of alcohol, mentions of smoking, mentions of getting drunk (not reader and hyunjin, and nothing non-consensual happens between anybody). a lot of dirty dancing oops

a/n: hey everyone i'm returning with this little story, but the truth is that this has literally happened to me last night down to every detail and i just had to write it down cuz i can't stop thinking about it, it was so hot >n< i got a bit carried away with exposition and interactions between the boys, and it's a bit sloppy, but i hope you enjoy it nonetheless!!

"yo, wanna go out tonight?" is what you hear as soon as you pick up the phone - not even a greeting before he jumps right in, though you suppose that's already to be expected of jisung, your loud yet endearing best friend. he sounds cheerful as he invites you out clubbing, and you quickly glance at your clock - 17:25 - before you ask him who else is coming.

"oh, the usual! felix and minho already said yes, and seungminnie said he might come if he finishes his shift early, uhh..." he starts thinking loudly, before he continues in a slightly disappointed tone - you can almost hear his pout. "channie hyung said he's busy working on a beat, but... i plan on calling a friend of mine as well! minho knows him too, it'll be fun!"

well, you can't exactly refuse, given jisung's contagious enthusiasm, and quite frankly, you could use a relaxing night out, a chance to sway your body to the rhythm and stop thinking about what's been weighing on your mind lately. and so, you agree to go, and you decide with jisung to meet up in front of the usual club you go to at 22:00.

when you get there, only jisung and his friend have arrived. you soon notice that he's taller than jisung, with a prettily angled nose, sharp eyes, and rather... tasty-looking lips. before you can admire the sort-of-stranger any longer, jisung already jumps into your arms, spewing out greetings.

"oh my god, i haven't seen you in forever, y/n!"

"ji, you came over two days ag--"

"this is my friend!!" he interrupts you, and it's such a common occurrence, you can't exactly bring yourself to be angry at it. if anything, his energetic nature rubs off on you slowly, and you gladly approach the kind-of-stranger, extending your hand.

"hi, i'm y/n!" you smile at him, and he simply slips his hand into yours as well, grip gentle, eyes slightly lidded down at you.

"hyunjin," is all he responds, before he nods shortly and lets go of your hand. his fingers are soft, warm, and one look down at them establishes that yes, indeed, they are very pretty.

pretty enough to have your thoughts stray for a moment, until hyunjin throws his head back and starts groaning, hands slipping into his pockets, and you're bashfully taken out of your trance.

"c'mon, jisung, let's just go in!"

"what? no! we have to wait for the others!"

"but i want to dance, though," he whines, head rolling to the side, eyeing jisung with something you can only describe as a nasty, angry look, though his pouty lips tell a completely different story. he's kind of cute. jisung merely laughs, taking out his phone and checking if he's gotten any texts.

"stop complaining, we'll go in soon."

that seems to shut hyunjin up just for a few minutes, his leg tapping impatiently on the sidewalk, but that proves to be long enough for felix and minho to appear - along with a friend of theirs, jeongin. you haven't met many times, but you did get to know him well enough in order to be aware of the fact that he's a complete lightweight, and he's definitely going to get wasted after his second shot.

when jisung sadly confirms that seungmin can't make it tonight, the six of you make your way into the club, the neon lights and bass-boosted music already making your worries slip away, body bouncing gently to the current song - you don't know it, but it's quite catchy. Soon enough, your small group finds itself on the dance floor, and you let all your inhibitions go, hips swaying side to side, throwing your arms in the air and then letting them fall over your curves.

everyone is having a great time, though it instantly becomes pretty clear that hyunjin is an amazing dancer, his limbs moving with a casual confidence, each step decisive, controlled, yet completely effortless. it seems as if his entire body is coordinated, slithering to the beat in a powerful, yet sensual manner. he's not afraid to flirt and impress, a sly smirk soon taking over his features in the dim lighting.

it's hypnotizing, really, the way he moves his body, waist rolling unapologetically under his button-up shirt, arms swinging in a mesmerising manner, only accentuating his dancing in an elegant, intoxicating way. he's sort of intimidating like this, on the dance floor, untouchable, completely in control of himself, yet so wild all the same. after a few songs, you start to understand his rhythm, and for a moment you wish you could dance with him, bodies pressed together.

it's not exactly your lucky night, because just as that thought strikes your mind, hyunjin's gaze starts fleeting around the group, before it meets minho's, across from him, and the former doesn't hesitate as he takes two steps forward, one hand falling on the dip of minho's waist, the other raised in the air as the two of them begin to sway together. minho holds onto hyunjin's shoulders and he cracks a naughty smile, gaze sharp as he pulls him closer, torsos rolling into each other's.

the entire group starts hollering - they're both amazing dancers, and admittedly they look hot grinding onto each other so shamelessly - and you hoot as well, hand coming up to cup your mouth, though... you kind of wish you were in minho's place. you can feel your ears heat up when hyunjin's hands trace softly over minho's body, moving upwards, before they jump over to his own neck, undoing two of his shirt's buttons. his irresistible complexion shines with a thin layer of sweat, and it drives you crazy - so much so, in fact, that you have to look away, the blood rushing to your cheeks making you feel both ashamed and fired up.

when hyunjin and minho split up, and hyunjin does a seductive turn, hips jutting out just slightly, you almost reach out from behind; you almost grip him tightly and press his back flush to your chest, and you almost roll your hips directly into his inviting ass. the thought is so irresistible, but it's so wrong - you don't really have the confidence; you don't even know each other properly! it would be so weird...

as such, you settle on dancing next to jisung, who seems to sense that something is wrong, yet he doesn't say anything, arm simply snaking around your shoulders, his voice booming into your ear, hyping you up when you start dancing with more fervour. you two jump together and bump into each other, and by the end of the song, you're drenched in sweat, and you forget for the time being about how compellingly sinful hyunjin is being.

that is, until all of you go out to get some fresh air. the club has a staircase leading up to the roof, and that's where you find yourselves, perched on the cold floor, resting your legs for a moment. some of the boys light up their cigarettes, and felix and minho open their freshly bought beers, taking a big sip at the same time, then exhaling with satisfaction.

you all start chattering under the moonlight, but soon enough, hyunjin's slouching, silent frame catches jisung's eye. as mischievous as ever, jisung's gaze glints dangerously, and he chirps up at the same time as you grab felix's bottle, gulping shortly from it. the alcohol glides down your throat, and it manages to wake you up a little.

"ay, hyunjin, what's with you?" your best friend nudges him with his foot, but hyunjin merely grunts, shaking his head and leaning back, hands supporting his body.

"c'mon, why are you sulking? are you upset?" jisung persists, and his pout seems to do it, as hyunjin soon sighs and gives in. huh. he seems to have a soft spot for the chubby-cheeked ball of nervous energy, although all they do is bicker incessantly.

"... i wanna make out with someone," hyunjin eventually whines out, bottom lip jutting out, feet wiggling in frustration as his head falls back, exposing his beautiful neck. "i'm bored and lonely."

the boys start laughing, and you find yourself giggling as well at his antics, yet at the back of your mind you just wish to nibble on his bare skin, feel his salty sweat under your tongue, maybe climb on his lap and grind down--

"damn, okay, we have to find hyunjin someone, then," minho chuckles, taking another sip of his drink, and jeongin laughs along with him, nodding amusedly.

"just kiss jisung, go on," felix's voice raises above the others, and his gaze switches between hyunjin and jisung, a cheshire grin overtaking his freckled face. at this, however, jisung's smile fades, an alarmed expression settling on his features as his hands start waving on front of him.

"oh, no, hell no! no way, please, i don't want to!" he all but yells, and at this, hyunjin starts laughing as well, shaking his head in disbelief.

"you guys are crazy," hyunjin responds, and when he stops laughing, the traces of a lazy smirk remain. the image awakens something in you, and you look away once again, overwhelmed.

minho clicks his tongue.

"then make out with jeongin, you sap," he finally exclaims, gesturing with the beer bottle in his hand toward jeongin, who is sitting right next to hyunjin. jeongin doesn't seem to mind, simply shrugging, and when hyunjin sees no hint of resistance, he slowly leans in, capturing jeongin's lips without hesitation.

everyone, once again, starts hollering, yet the kiss couldn't have lasted for more than two seconds, before jeongin breaks it with a short "okay, that's enough" and a chuckle. hyunjin backs off respectfully, yet it's written all over his features that he's still eager to kiss someone, at which jisung simply points out the obvious.

"hey, there's still y/n and felix!"

he means it jokingly, if you were to consider the silly laugh escaping him afterwards, but felix doesn't seem opposed to the idea. you're slightly more alarmed, though, doe eyes staring back at hyunjin, who seems to have taken a sudden interest in you, completely ignoring felix's presence, even though the boy is sitting on the other side of his body.

after a few seconds of staring, he begins crawling toward you on all fours, slowly, eyes never leaving yours, though neither of you have said anything at all, not denying nor accepting the idea. you share a silent understanding, and when he's close enough, the alcohol seems to finally kick in and you get a surge of adrenaline, leaning forward just a bit as your hand grabs his jawline, angling his head so you can slot your lips on top of his.

it feels like electricity.

hyunjin appears to enjoy this quite a bit, letting out a short breath through his nose, but you're the one who's left surprised, as you didn't quite expect him to start leaving open-mouthed kisses over your lips, tongue teasing at your mouth right away. you adapt quickly to his rhythm, fingers never once letting go of his face, and you dip your tongue into his mouth, tangling it with his own. he tastes like cigarettes, but with a sweet undertone that you can't quite put your finger on, and his lips are so soft, so warm, but they move with such energy on top of yours, the contrast leaves you breathless.

you break off the kiss after a few seconds with a soft pant, your mind lucid enough for insecurities to start to get a hold of you - what if he doesn't enjoy it? you’re giving him the chance to stop - but hyunjin doesn't back off just yet, and your hand doesn't fall from his face either, just lingering. when you open your eyes, the way they gaze at his lips before raising to meet his own awakens something in him, and hyunjin shows no remorse as he leans in once again without a warning, pinning your back to the wall behind you.

you're taken aback once again, but by now you're already used to his kisses - messy, wet, yet not sloppy at all, and, perhaps the best word to describe it, passionate. he seems more unhinged now, wilder, as if his goal is to completely devour you, and you feel his jaw move under your hand, grip tightening just slightly in order to keep him in place, ground yourself into reality. the voices of your friends fade away quickly as you lose yourself in the burning sensation of kissing hyunjin with such ardour, his lips moving on top of yours expertly, leading the kiss with the sort of confidence that makes your thighs clench underneath him just slightly.

much like his dancing, the kiss is seductive, sensual, intimate, yet entirely controlled. it's a playful flame swaying atop your mouth, and although his tongue grazes against yours every time his mouth opens, none of your mixed spit dribbles down your chin. you're surprised he can dominate such a feverish kiss without having it spiral into something much more primal, keeping it neat, sort-of-acceptable in spite of its strange nature and setting. in spite of your hand gripping for dear life his jaw.

you wonder whether it's hyunjin's first time doing something like this, and you soon decide that it's probably not, given his excitement and his impressive kissing skills.

the second kiss lasts longer than the previous one, but eventually, hyunjin (regrettably) pulls away, settling back in his place. the moment his lips leave yours, you already want more, want him back on you, want his hands to trace all over your body, leave you breathless, pin you down and hover over you, dominate you entirely with ease and confidence. his apparent indifference as he pulls out another cigarette makes the fire burning inside you even more intense, blood pumping hotly in your veins, encouraging you to seek more, to grab what's yours and to seize it.

you're still aware enough not to act on those thoughts - hyunjin just wanted to casually make out with someone and that's it - but you can't help the heavy sensation churning in your lower tummy, making you shift your hips lightly, swallowing heavily as you keep replaying in your head the feeling of his heavenly, plump lips rubbing harshly on top of yours.

after another minute that feels like an eternity, you're back on the dance floor, trying to remain nonchalant and unbothered.

after a while, it's not that hard, as the music begins to seep between your cracks, and after a beer and some more sips stolen from minho and jisung, you barely think about what has happened between you and hyunjin. you just let the music guide your body, feeling yourself get more daring, hips circling deliciously to the beat, the boys' surprised "oooh"s merely encouraging you further. you all have fun bouncing and throwing your hands in the air, holding each other and laughing at whatever funny move one of them thinks of pulling.

nothing exactly worth of note happens for a while, although hyunjin's buttons begin popping off one by one, and at one point the boys form a grinding chain, everyone already at least tipsy by then. you remain off to the side, dancing on your own, not wanting to make things weird, though hyunjin, who's at one end, quickly grabs you by the arm and pulls you behind him, letting you roll your body into his.

his scent makes you feel dizzy, eyelids falling shut as your mind muffles out the music, only the bass vibrating through your bones as your hands grip firmly the sides of hyunjin's waist, hips swaying in time with his. when he pushes back into you, you experimentally thrust your hips into his own, and hyunjin dares turning his head to the side, half of his face in your view as he smirks back at you, eye shining with mischief and... something else entirely.

you muster a smirk of your own before you roll your hips once again, and you feel a chuckle rumble through hyunjin's body. the feeling makes you bite your lip, press closer to his back, but before you know it, they all break the chain, and you hesitantly let your hands fall to your sides, once again dancing on your own.

after another half an hour, you let your exhausted body fall onto a couch, right in front of your friends, and you simply watch them wiggle to the music, though they start joining you one by one until hyunjin and jeongin are the only ones on the dance floor. the song playing is quite heated, and hyunjin slowly begins to peel his shirt off his shoulders, letting it fall down his muscular, pale arms. you bite your lip at the sight, and although you shouldn't ogle him so openly, it can't be helped. he's gorgeous.

hyunjin doesn't seem to mind, however, as he begins playfully swinging his shirt in the air, above his head, before he approaches you first, with light steps, grabbing the ends of the shirt in his hands and wrapping it behind your head, pulling you up and into him with the shirt around the back of your neck, a dangerous smirk pulling at his swollen lips.

there's not much you can do, hands falling on his shoulders as you begin to move, bodies synchronised. the song proves to be merely background noise, especially with the way hyunjin is looking at you, ravenous, insatiable. that same glint is present in his eyes, and by now you think you've got it figured out, though you don't want to jump to conclusions.

his naked torso rubs against your own, one hand coming down to secure itself around your waist, not leaving even an inch between your sweaty bodies. your faces are so close, and your gaze falls back onto his lips, yearning for another taste, for another surge of adrenaline. hyunjin teasingly leans down even further, his bottom lip barely touching your upper one, and you think this might be it, you'll finally get to have him once again - your hand even sneaks from his shoulder to the side of his neck, nails grazing the skin, and he hisses, before--

before his grip on you loosens, and his warmth is all of a sudden ripped away from you. he takes a step back, looking back at you with a bratty grin.

you can only chuckle and shake your head as you sit back down, and he pulls felix up in the same manner in order to dance with him as well, though his eyes keep fleeting back to you. with want. with need. you defiantly stare him down, arms crossing.

well, two can play that hard to get, you think to yourself.

that is, until none other but "i kissed a girl" by katy perry starts playing.

in hindsight, it isn't the best song in the playlist at all, and you don't quite understand why the beat gets you so worked up, but, before you know it, you're up and dancing once again, moving to the beat in a downright profane manner, your head hanging back as you sing out the lyrics, losing yourself to the music.

hyunjin slips himself next to you, but you don't pay him much mind, focusing more on enjoying yourself, hands rubbing down your body and back up, a small smirk pulling up one corner of your mouth; teasing, daring.

as expected, he doesn't hesitate now either.

hyunjin, much more impatient by now, sways until he's right in front of you, singing along as well. although you mostly keep your eyes closed, you still take a few peeks at his face, at his naked torso, and when his frame gets closer to you, pulls you into him, you don't protest, your arm curving around his lithe waist.

his hands rest on your shoulders, and your hips swing from side to side, one of his thighs snaking its way between your own, wanting as little space as possible between your bodies. you feel his breath fan over your cheeks, and when you start rolling your body into his, he soon follows your lead, letting your chests touch and depart before your pelvises do the same, waists rolling sinfully, excitedly, hungrily.

it couldn't have been more than five seconds of dancing onto each other like this, rubbing and swinging and grinding shamelessly, before his left hand leaves your shoulder and cups your cheek, angling your face up so he can connect your lips for the third time this night. it's, once again, unexpected, yet entirely welcomed, and your hand tightens on his sweaty back, a small moan escaping your throat.

hyunjin grunts in response, and he leads you backwards, until your back is flush with the wall, his frame pinning you to it, arms on either side of your head. he pants hotly into the kiss, hips still swaying softly, and his tongue feels heavy as it slides over yours, lips roughly brushing against your own. when your hands start tracing the waistline of his pants, you feel him chuckle, though he doesn't break the rhythm - instead, he pushes into you even harder, mouth slotting over yours perfectly, leaving you empty-headed, completely unaware of everything else happening around you.

the wall is cold against your back, but it does nothing to calm down the heartbeat hammering into your ribcage, or the burning sensation in your veins, in your nerves, so tingly, so needy. your thighs rub softly, but hyunjin quickly pushes his thigh between yours, hand coming down forcefully in order to grip at your left thigh, bringing it up to curl around his waist, forcing you to whimper pathetically into him, hips jutting reflexively.

that seems to be the last straw for him, as he immediately breaks the kiss, a small string of saliva hanging between your lips. he breathes heavily, and when your gazes finally meet, you know for sure what the glint in his eyes truly means.

lust.

and before you can grin up at him, push him away and strut back to your friends, his arms flex around you, keeping you close, and he leans in until your noses brush, rasping out some words in a whisper that leaves you speechless, knees buckling under you at the promise of what's to come.

"can i have your number?"

>w< thank you for reading!! if you enjoyed this work, you can check out my masterlist right here, and you can stop by my inbox anytime you'd like, with a request or a simple thought! feedback is very much appreciated, and so are reblogs!!

ily, take care, stay hydrated!!

- lunar

[sunnnfish]

Okay. Okay tashiro gonzaburou post for real. Under a cut bc it got much longer than i expected. ^_^

Tashiro Gonzaburou is frankly someone we don’t know that much about, really. He’s an average student, if a little lazy. He likes having his hair bleached but it’s not like he’s repeatedly bleaching it because the captain of his club told him it’s not allowed. He helps out around a bathhouse full of older folks who treat him like a grandson, giving him candy and recipes and elderly wisdom, which he takes in stride. He often wears a bright green jacket with a even brighter orange messenger bag. He doesn’t seem to like his bangs in his face, rather wearing a ponytail or a headband or beanie. He’s cheerful and a little scatterbrained, but always willing to help his friends. He wants a girlfriend, one day. He’s got crazy leg hair. He notices whatever sasaki and miyano have going on, way before there’s actually anything going on. He was a little worried about whatever they have going on because sasaki comes across as a little scary to anyone who’s not miyano. He’s in the ping pong club. He was chosen to be the next captain of the ping pong club because he’s the type who can get along with everyone. He is oddly susceptible to thinking boys are girls. He has very dexterous fingers, and is capable of spinning two pens around his fingers at the same time. He’s repeatedly said how he thinks what’s on the inside is more important than the outside of a person. He skips club practice, often enough for hanzawa to get angry with him. He doesn’t think he’s smart enough to be club captain. He’s a little worried about how busy hanzawa is, and doesn’t want to be a further burden to him, so he accepts the position as club captain.

And so I guess all this is to say we actually do know a lot about him. He’s a complex and well rounded person, full of kindness and a sharp insight that could make him a top student if he could apply it to his studies. But instead it’s applied to the people he knows and sees, capable of making connections that are far beyond surface level, because that’s the most important part, of course. He doesn’t have low self esteem, he’s just never considered himself one to be very… important, in the grand scheme of things. Especially in the eyes of someone like hanzawa. That “Why me” mentality. But he’s got charm and charisma and is really good at bringing people together. A guy who can be anyone’s friend.

If we want to get into real headcanon-ish (aka things I hold true in my heart no matter what anyone says) territory, I do think he’s the type to not really. tell people his problems. Surface level ones like forgetting his homework, sure, but like. Deep seated fears or worries or stresses. If we want to make comparisons, hanzawas got that kind of smile where you can tell there’s something more going on in him, while tashiros has that outward air of head empty. A persona built around being happy-go-lucky as a kind of defense mechanism—if he isn’t optimistic then who is he. But it’s not like he isn’t genuinely optimistic and cheerful—he is. But it kind of makes being vulnerable hard. He’ll gladly let people open up to him but. Opening up to others doesn’t come naturally. He doesn’t want to burden others. It’s like. Not as deep as I feel like I’m making it sound but it’s just. He will bottle things up. Just a bit.

And then about his insightfulness— nobody really. Tells tashiro things. Likely out of a thought he can’t take things seriously or that he’s too immature. (He does take things seriously though). And at this point nobody thinks to tell him things cause he just figures it out rather quickly. He keeps eyes and ears open and gathers information easily. And people are surprised when he knows things because he doesn’t seem the type to know things or be so insightful to the very core of who they are. He pulls out Sherlock Holmes-esque reasonings like I know you’ve been feeling less nervous lately cause your nails look healthier aka you haven’t been biting them. Idk I’m not good at Holmes but surely you get it. Like the noticing of the most minuscule of things combined with general knowledge of a persons mentality thus creating very accurate assessments. Not that he tells anyone these things unless it piques his interest. Nor that he himself really knows these are deep insights either.

And then his GENDER. Not much to say here but. He was considered along with miyano to be girly enough to do a maid cafe in their first year. When miyano and the gang were thinking abt what their girl names would be tashiro like. Really likes his. Shirahama “I want to be ‘not single’ with a girl” tashiro “want me to crossdress…?” his only claim to manliness is his leg hair. Gender off the charts. Silly guy.

Also silly things I think about him. He’s really into party tricks (like the pencil spinning thing) (started bc he wanted to impress girls but now it’s just fun). He can also do stuff like simple card magic and that thing where you pull a coin out of someone’s ear. He actually really likes problem solving he just can’t handle the school system. Bequeathes him adhd autism. He’s also like. Really into hip hop dance. Because I said so.

Anyways erm. This definitely got longer than expected. I like skimmed through sasamiya again just to find like every piece of him I could. He has CONTINUITY. All of them do. Harusono Shou you are so great at characters. Tashiro Gonzaburou you have a grip on my mind. Love and light

[smoochinforabruisin]

kish n louie plot u say????? 👀👀👀

oh you betcha babey

its so fuckign much (3332 words lol) so itll be under the cut!!!

i couldnt figure out a way to write this that would be non-pikmin knower friendly sorry @askthelovenest you will probably not get this that much or have to google a lot but i highly appreciate your itnerest <333

Most of this is written in broader strokes but scenes that I imagine in detail will be written in full detail okay you just have to accept the varying text density here

Allright so this cute little story would begin at some point in between the many many castaways that the pikmin 4 protagonist rescues (I’m just gonna use the name Pom for them since that’s the fanon name I think). They also rescue Kish from a cave at some point.

Back at the S.S. Shepard, Kish expresses fascination with Oatchi’s great skills and training and tells Pom that if they ever wanted to discuss space dogs and their training, she’s the man! But of course there’s already someone to talk to about space dogs for Pom, that being Captain Shepard herself.

Like most of the castaways with side quests that Pom rescues, Kish is stuck just kind of hanging around the S.S. Shepard. He gets frustrated with this fairly quickly but can understand why they’re stuck here right now. There’s still people to rescue and going out there on her own would be downright suicide. The boredom still gnaws away at him but it just be like that she guesses.

Enter the bastard, Louie. Pikmin 4’s story wraps up, Louie is apprehended after the Ancient Sirehound Battle, and now he, much like the other people rescued by (one member of) the rescue corps is just standing around the S.S. Shepard, handing out side quests to Pom. Kish has been watching with increasing disdain as Pom gets to do all the jobs and activities and exciting stuff. He’s growing more and more irate about it by the day.

Simultaneously, Kish has noticed a LOT of malice towards Louie from the rescue corps, ever since he’s shown up. They have precious little kind things to say about him and their faces always contort in mild to severe contempt when they talk to or about him. Louie himself doesn’t seem like he notices. Or if he does, he’s just not pointing it out. Or showing it. At all. Kish has always been a big observer, but she can’t quite get a read on Louie just by watching him. His aloof nature is kind of fascinating to her. Surely, there’s a lot more going on inside that head of his than he’s showing… how intriguing.

One morning, very shortly after Louie came to the S.S. Shepard, Kish watches with a frankly inappropriate death glare, as Pom walks around the landing space and collects side quests, including the Fit For A Feast side-quest from Louie. Though, Kish notices a lack of interest from Pom towards this quest, complete with an eye-roll when Louie can’t remember the name of the cave he’d seen Dwarf Bulborbs in.

As the S.S. Beagle flies off towards the day’s expedition goal and just about everyone cheers it on and wishes it well, Kish is standing on the sidelines close to Louie with crossed arms and a scowl.

“This is literally fucking ridiculous,” she blurts out, “We’re really all just standing around with our thumbs up our asses while one rescue corps member goes out and does everything out there. Like…. Even you guys?” he turns towards Louie and gestures towards Olimar who is standing further away. “Aren’t you two like, experienced in this stuff? With the data logs and stuff you’ve done here already and all that? What are you asking Pom for food for when you can just go out and get it yourself? At least it’s something to do!”

Louie is silent for a second, a trait Kish will grow used to very soon, before he replies: “I’m not allowed to leave the Shepard.”

“What?” Kish says, “Why not?”

Louie shrugs silently. “Too much of a troublemaker, they said.”

“Well… I GUESS that makes sense but like… I just fucking hate standing around out here all day!” “Me too.” “If there was at least something to do at the Shep-what’d you say?”

Kish turns towards Louie again, who tilts his head.

“I hate standing around this ship all day. It’s literally fucking ridiculous for one kid to do everything on this planet.” Louie says.

Kish isn't sure why exactly he’s surprised to hear Louie express distaste for doing nothing all day (and in her own words too). He just seemed like he’d be perfectly content with it, she supposes. But this is an opportunity. A connection. A chance… Because with Louie’s skills, going out into the wilderness is already way less scary. But he’s still not allowed to leave. What to do, what to do…

Kish notices a tiny path in between some bushes that one could squeeze through without making any sounds. Everyone who had gathered around the S.S. Beagle is slowly dispersing, meaning the bustling crowd could be their cover to get there. It’s the perfect chance.

“Hey, come here.” Kish silently commands, not really giving Louie much of a choice in the matter as she grabs his sleeve and drags him through the crowd expertly. Even though Louie’s being dragged along, he is bobbing and weaving past bodies with grace almost befitting of a dance.

This red gal, whoever he is, must be really skilled at moving through crowds completely undetected. Much like Louie himself, he muses. As the two go from dodging people to dodging leaves, he wonders if this guy has also experienced the pain of being isolated from a group and repeatedly mocked. If she’s also decided to stick to quietly blending in as much as possible, as a social survival strategy of sorts. To put it another way, he’s impressed. But he’s also still confused.

“Where are we going?” Louie asks eventually.

“Uh, I’m not sure…” Kish admits, “but surely, there’s got to be something for you to eat around here. I guess we’re, uh, scouting out the area? Scavenging, maybe?”

“Scavenging… Sounds right.” Louie says. He’s pretty pleased to have something to do, and he guesses if he had to bring someone along, an apparent quick thinker like this is one of the better choices. Better than all the people back there hating him anyways.

Kish lets go of Louie’s arm and the two of them walk silently towards the other end of the bush.

“What’s your name?” Louie asks suddenly.

“Hm? Oh right, we never formally introduced ourselves to each other. I’m Kish, a space dog trainer from Karut.” Kish says. Normally, he’d go for the handshake and everything, but she has a feeling Louie wouldn’t much care for it. “And you’re, well, Louie yeah I heard that much. But is there anything else you wanna introduce yourself with?”

Louie thinks to himself for a few seconds before he replies, “I’m from Hocotate. Working for Hocotate Freight. Our boss sucks. The company is probably going to go bankrupt soon.”

“That all you can think of to describe yourself?” Kish asks.

“It’s all you said about yourself.” Louie responds.

At that, Kish actually has to laugh a little.

“Yeah, you’re right. Okay fair enough. No need to dive that deep on a stranger yet.” Kish says. A part of him is hoping, quite strongly even, that in time, Louie won’t be a stranger anymore.

Kish and Louie end up having a pretty successful day together. They find an onion not too long into their journey and Kish gets to closely inspect the red pikmin within it, as they help the two collect some fruits. They also find some Skitter Leaves and Sheargrubs which Louie assured Kish are easy to take down and totally delicious when prepared correctly.

Kish quickly notices Louie’s passion and creativity with cooking, which she frankly finds heart-warming. That’s just an adorable hobby, not to mention incredibly impressive to someone who can barely even follow instructions for microwave dishes properly.

Meanwhile, Louie is impressed by Kish’s sharp eye. She can spot fruits easily, even if they’re almost completely hidden in bushes, and he can tell that something is a Skitter Leaf instead of a regular leaf before Louie’s even registered that there are leaves on the ground.

Their teamwork isn’t perfect per se. Their communicative abilties leave a lot to be desired. But for a duo that’s formed less than a day ago, they’re working together shockingly well.

Just a few hours before nightfall, the two walk back to the S.S. Shepard, where they are immediately met by a furious rescue corps team (and a concerned Olimar). Accusations start flying right away; that Louie was trying to run away and start causing problems again, that he had kidnapped Kish for some reason, that he was going to undo everything the rescue corps had worked so hard to accomplish on this mission. Louie is long since used to people assuming the worst about him so he just silently lets them all ramble on. But just as he is about to zone out, angry yelling erupts from right beside him.

Kish is nothing short of furious at the accusations that are being flung towards Louie with barely any justification. She yells at all the rescue corps members about how hard they’re blowing things out of proportion and how cruel they are towards someone who could have done much, MUCH worse to them all. His lengthy tirade shuts the team down again, as they have no choice but to agree that Louie’s just collected food in the nearby area and hasn’t done anything explicitly wrong or harmful today. Olimar even joins in and defends Louie by pointing out that he’s kept Kish safe throughout the day. Louie is silent throughout this but he seems somewhat shocked by the defence.

Later that night, everyone is served dinner in the S.S. Shepard while Louie cooks his own meal in the Dolphin’s tiny little kitchen. He’s deep in thought about the day he’s had and the friend he seems to have made, when there’s a knock at the ship’s door. Olimar had informed Kish that Louie isn’t allowed inside the Shepard and she’s immediately made his way to the small old ship. When Louie points out that Kish doesn’t have any food now he replies that he’s not eating the rations of some “petty assholes” (in reality she had forgotten her plate in the Shepard when he stormed out of the cafeteria). Louie has easily cooked enough for more than just one person, and he likes Kish enough, so he offers him a plate of his self-made meal of the day. Kish is honestly surprised but thankful nonetheless, so the two share a delicious meal together and talk a bit more. Well… Kish talks. A lot. Louie mostly listens, but he likes doing that. He likes Kish.

Louie and Kish’s ritual of going out to collect food continues on after Olimar puts in a good word for Louie (and pulls him aside once to tell him “You have one more chance here. Don’t blow it.”)

The two of them grow closer and closer as they keep going out. Befriending people is a lot easier when they are your age, Louie finds. At least if those people are also not judgemental over every mistake you make. Louie and Kish bond over how both of them have poor impulse control and do some nasty things sometimes. They agree that they won’t cruelly judge each other while simultaneously holding each other back where they can. Louie can hardly wrap his head around how wonderful it feels to have found someone like Kish. He might be catching some feelings other than friendly appreciateon. Uh oh…

Eventually, Kish spills the beans on why he even came to PNF-404. It was all because of Moss, the space dog Olimar had spoken of in his S.O.S. message. She had been hoping there would be more strange and rare breeds of space dogs on this planet. And while the Bulborbs were strikingly similar to bulb-dogs from Hocotate, he was still disappointed that she couldn’t find anything friendly. Louie quickly realizes he knows exactly how to undo that disappointment, and the next time him and Kish go out, he leads her to the Ancient Sirehound (do not ask me how he knows where to find it, he just does OK). Kish is delighted to see such a big and amicable dog, and even moreso when she sees it run up to Louie and slobber all over his entire suit and helmet. The beast loves that guy, and it’s just the sweetest thing.

Gosh… Louie’s an intriguing guy, he’s great at cooking AND he’s good with animals… Oh… Oh dear…that’s a crush blooming isn’t it… Oh boy.

One night, Kish talks about his past a bit. He had a passion for art that had been tested brutally by an art school that valued market and corporate appeal far over actual artistry. Getting that bachelor was gruelling and finding work in art that wasn’t completely demoralizing was close to impossible. So Kish put his skills with space dogs to use instead and started dog-sitting and offering training sessions for money. It pays the bills just fine and it’s fun enough, but it’s hard not to feel disappointed after the way chasing her dreams turned out.

Louie can empathise with that and tells Kish about how he’s always wanted to become a great chef with his own cooking show, but when he briefly joined a culinary school on Hocotate, it was an exclusively vegetarian school, and he was ostracised even worse than in his old schools (“And those were places where I’d regularly get asked in earnest if I was going to eat the other kids.” “What the hell that’s so fucked up???”).

This newfound connection makes Kish like Louie even more. She’s starting to really understand the guy. That impression of a mysterious quiet wallflower is giving way to a young man who’s kind in his own ways but struggles with empathy, and who’s trying to figure out his place in a world that he doesn’t quite seem to fit into. It’s relatable. It’s compelling. He’s compelling. …That crush is only going to get worse, huh.

Some hiccups come up here and there when they are working together. Most notably an ever growing curiosity for the animals of PNF-404 from Kish that’s almost lead him to have his leg gnawed off by a bulborb a few times. Luckily Louie has quick reflexes when it comes to protecting people, and manages to drag Kish away from the beasts just in time.

It also turns out that Kish is god-awful at aiming and throwing pikmin, and when the two tried to work together to slay a Dwarf Bulborb, Kish missed just about all her throws. When told about this issue, Olimar suggests giving him winged pikmin instead, which could correct for missed throws while in the air. That turns out to be the fix they needed because after that, the two turn into a scarily efficient team, coming back each night with greater catches than the last. (The rescue corps briefly got scared that they'd hunt something on this planet to extinction)

Their blooming romance comes to a head one day in the tiniest most subtle way. The rescue corps are finally done with PNF-404. There’s no one left to save (everybody double and triple and quadruple checked) and so the Shepard takes off with the Dolphin loaded into its large and comfy storage space, where Louie also resides, since he knows the crew and other castaways will only give him angry glares.

They never warmed up to him, and he doesn’t care much to convince them he’s a better guy. Even if Kish is still fighting tooth and nail against any accusations thrown at him. His one defender, who is currently curled up next to him in the Dolphin’s sleeping space.

Come to think of it, they’ve gotten incredibly cuddly with each other. They just kind of started doing that. Kish explained early on that she’s awfully touch-inclined and that Louie can tell her off whenever he wants. But he never wanted to. He’s always wanted to be touched even more. They’ve been holding hands way past the point of guiding each other, and hugging each other for way too long and way too tightly. Not to mention when they’ve actually tried dancing together on PNF-404 to some impromptu tunes the pikmin would hum to themselves. They’re always together. They’ve grown so close. They have no trouble whatsoever confiding in each other. They’re like… a romantic couple, he realises.

Without thinking too much about it, Louie just asks his half asleep companion: “Did we become a couple at some point?”

“Hm?”

“Did we become a couple at some point?” he repeats.

Kish opens her eyes a bit. Those red eyes that radiate a passionate warmth Louie could get lost in forever. “Hm… well, I guess. If you don’t mind…” he replies.

Louie can’t help but to smile at that.

“I don’t. I love you.” he softly speaks.

“I love you too.” Kish replies gently. He readjusts himself and wraps her arms around Louie, who wraps his own arms around Kish’s shoulder and gives her a kiss on the forehead. This is their little moment. Just them and the cargo of the ship. It reminds Louie of when he and Kish first started properly interacting with each other in the midst of that bushy walkway. It’s exactly the kind of confession he had hoped for.

Despite the calm and gentle beginning of their relationship, Louie is still getting terribly nervous. He hasn’t the faintest clue how to date someone. But handily he’s (debatably) great friends with someone who’s managed to pull a loving wife and kids.

Olimar has to bear several days being bombarded with questions about how to be romantic, but he doesn't mind. He finds this amusingly cute. He tells Louie how he was asked out by his now-wife and how his primary “strategy” was just to be kind, listen to her, and make her feel valued in every interaction.

Olimar also tells Louie about a few of his dates with his wife, which Louie tries to replicate exactly. This fails spectacularly every time, but his determination is nothing short of amazing, and Kish is not shy about telling him how sweet he’s being. She also reminds him that he doesn’t need to try acting like his senior did. It’s perfectly fine with him if Louie just acts like himself, awkward nature and all. Louie really can’t believe he’s managed to find someone in his life who wholeheartedly accepts and loves him for his “flaws”.

Louie visits Kish on Karut a lot and sleeps at his place regularly. Kish’s big space dogs Wilmi and Teddee had to spend a while getting used to the new visitor but they eventually warmed up to him. Still won’t leave him any room on the sofa or bed though. But to be fair they don’t do that for Kish either.

The two have discussed moving together a few times. While Louie would absolutely love to leave his stupid delivery boy job and that stupid vegetarian planet and go to a culinary school where just liking meat isn’t some kind of crime against nature, what it keeps coming back down to is the fact that his grandmother still needs him. And he can’t just leave her on Hocotate. She doesn’t have anyone else.

Kish understands this fully and makes sure to visit him on Hocotate often too. She likes Louie’s grandma, that woman is so strange and her being Like That explains a lot about why Louie is Like That. The old woman has also talked about marriage and getting great-grandchildren already and watching Louie freeze up and go fully red at that is just plain funny.

All in all, they compliment and complete each other in a way neither of them had ever expected. They found themselves and simultaneously something different and compelling in each other. They love each other for their compatible flavours of autism <3

And that’s the story of how the cold King Of Bugs and the fiery Beast Tamer became a couple okay cool thank you for reading <333333333

[oh-surprise-its-me]

So I'm writing of chris not remembering Ron, but!! The opposite.

Maybe an accident during a mission, or perhaps when he's home. Bad enough that Ron forgets pretty much everything.

He sees Chris and Tom (maybe Jake too, or everyone, depending on when it happens), he says Tom's name and they're like well, It makes sense, he knew him the most, before realizing the name is on the tag of his uniform, and that was why. He read it.

They try to be hopeful, he will remember, at one point or another, but damn-- it's painful to have your boyfriend/husband (in Tom's case his platonic, once upon a time not so much, soulmate) not remembering you.

Omg I can’t wait to read your version. I love how we hurt them <3

It’s like 1995 when this happens so Jake is 7ish.

He hits his head again. That’s the first thing Tom knows when they eject. Ron is conscious this time when they fall into the water. He throws up as soon as they stop rocking. “Tired Tommy. Head hurts gonna sleep for a while.” Tom starts screaming. He can’t help it.

-

When Chris gets the call he drops a glass in the middle of the kitchen. Jake comes running from the other room. “It’s okay. It’s fine. Sorry baby. We’re gonna clean this up and then drive to the base okay? Your dad just got back with Uncle Tom.”

Jake let’s out a cheer. “Baby.” Jake turns. “Your dad got a bit hurt this last time okay? We need to see how he is before tackling him.” Jake’s eyes go wide. He nods. “Go back a bag hon.” He takes off.

Chris doesn’t want to lie to Jake but he can’t help it.

Ron had been surrounded by people. The tiny brown haired one kicked them all out with a promise of coming back eventually. He knows the tall blond is the one he was in a plane with. Knows his name is Tom and he got excited when Ron said his name and then crushed when he pointed at the name tag. Tom’s been crying a lot. Ron also knows he has a wedding ring on, he doesn’t know who he’s married to.

He doesn’t know a whole lot right now. A small blond child sticks their head into the room. “Dad?” Oh Tom must have a kid. God that had to of been terrifying for Tom to leave his kid. He’s proven right when Tom picks the kid up with a kiss to the head.

“Who’s this Tommy?” Ron watches as Tom flinched at the name. Odd. “This here is Jake Seresin. Isn’t he adorable.”

Ron nods, he’s a cute kid. Small. But cute. He waves.

Ron doesn’t know why but there’s a sensation of joy when he looks at Jake. He must be happy for Tom.

A smaller blond man walks into the room. Ron gets that tug of joy again. But he has no clue who the man is. Clearly he’s been crying. “Are you okay?” The man blinks at him. “Tommy take Jake down to get a cookie please.” Tom looks around for a second and this kisses the blond’s head. “You got it Chris.”

Oh. Oh.

Now the feeling in Ron’s chest is pain. He can’t place why. He definitely likes Tom, he seems like a great guy. He should be happy for him that he’s able to have a family.

The man, who’s name is apparently Chris, sits on the chair closest to the bed. “You remember me at all?”

Ron shakes his head. “No. But you caused the heart monitor to beep faster so I think I should.”

Chris laughs. God this is insane. “You know who Jake is?” Another head shake no. “My kid. Your kid. Fuck. Our kid.”

Ron blinks. “You’re lying. I could never score someone like you and have a kid.”

Chris opens and closes his hands. “Frankly I’m not sure you’re allowed to have opinions about what you think right now considering you didn’t even remember Tommy.”

Ron guesses that’s a fair point if he knew what it meant. “Docs say you can come home in a week. You might remember by then or you won’t. It will be fine either way. I’ll take care of you.”

Ron smiles. He trusts Chris. Can’t place why but knows he can.

Jake comes back into the room with Tom trailing behind him. Jake stands next to the bed looking at Ron. He has a weird sense of déjà vu where he thinks this isn’t the first time Jake’s stood there like that.

He picks him up and tucks him under his arm. Jake lights up. Chris has a cute kid.

They have a cute kid.

God Ron has a kid.

“Wanna color my Spider-Man book?” Ron come out of his panic. “Absolutely kiddo.” Jake smiles up at him. Chris has slid over and is whispering with Tom.

They color almost all the pages until Jake stars to crash. Ron lays down more. Jake crawls onto him. He’s fully laying on Ron’s chest tiny as hell. Ron smiles and kisses his head. “Sleep chickie.”

He doesn’t know why he says it. He just knows it’s right. He drifts off listening to Jake breathe.

He misses Chris’s gasp in the corner and how Tom has to catch him from collapsing.

————

Six weeks after the crash it’s all mostly back to him. He can’t believe he forgot Chris and Jake. Fuck, and Tom.

He’s foggy on names still but the doctors said that’s to be expected. He can remember names of things in polish and not English. Jake has to play translator at the store some times, Ron’s suddenly thankful they live in a smaller town. Most people know what happened. They all try to help him if he struggles for too long.

Chris sobbed when Ron kissed him and said he loved him. To be fair that was in the first two weeks. Ron didn’t totally remember him but he knew how much he loved this man.

Fortunately Jake is very go with the flow. He helps around and likes to tell stories if Ron forgets things.

The doctors say he’ll be fine eventually. He knows he might never get everything back but he’ll have what’s most important.

[thenewfuture]

This goes back to that previous criticism I made about Hiyoko's simulated death scene. The closest comparison I can think of would be "slasher movie victim writing". Where a character is so utterly unlikable that it feels like you're meant to outright cheer on their murderer subjecting them to a grisly death. That's how it came across, and the current scene is really not helping matters at all. Especially the implication that Hiyoko owes the people who framed her for murder an apology. Just…no. That is ridiculously unfair, and Fuyuhiko and Peko are mature enough to know damn well that they're not entitled to that. In fact that's something else that I feel needs addressing. The writing's emphasis on sympathizing with the murderers is getting a little...much. I mean yes, of course we the audience can and should find it in our hearts to forgive them. But I think they're being let off the hook a little too easily. Mainly at the expense of the people they harmed. And it's not just Hiyoko being unsympathetic compared to her own murderer and the people who framed her. Or Mahiru coming across as the unreasonable party in the matter of settling what happened in Chapter 2 and in the Twilight Syndrome incident. But also cases like with Gundham and Teruteru or with Teruteru. Yes all things considered, Gundham is the most sympathetic blackened in the game. And there was a gentleman's agreement going on. But I think the others would be quite right to call them out on the fact that they didn't need to get two people killed or have a lengthy class trial. One person committing suicide and making it as obvious as possible that they did so (like Sakura did) would have sufficed. They let male pride needlessly complicate matters (and unintentionally led to Nagito's later actions down the road). Teruteru frankly was let off way too damn easy for his actions. Unlike Sayaka and Leon in the first game he had a far better understanding of what the cost of committing a murder and getting away with it would mean for his classmates. And he had an ENTIRE DAY to think things through and report Nagito to the others. Plus unlike his co-conspirator, he doesn't get the excuse of being mentally ill for wanting to start the Killing Game. He really needs a scene where he owns up to the fact that he bares equal responsibility to Nagito. And speaking of Nagito, he seems to be the one killer who's the exception to this treatment. Being scorned by everyone for his actions. Even though when you look at things objectively his was perhaps the most understandable and sympathetic reason for starting a class trial that didn't involve mind control or self-sacrifice. No one shows empathy for his actions in Chapter 5 or acknowledges that Monokuma manipulated him into mutilating himself to death. By deliberately withholding the part about the Junko AI possessing them all. And probably also the fact that they were brainwashed and didn't commit those crimes of their own free will, judging by the way that Junko's AI tries to downplay those claims when Makoto intervenes. On their own, with no one there to offer emotional support, it is likely that any of the Remnants would have completely snapped if they'd been in his position during that revelation. I'm sorry but it feels like there are a lot of double standards going on when it comes to the "problematic class members".

I cannot apologize enough if Hiyoko's death scene seemed unsympathetic and harsh. Maybe it was and I went too far trying to get the point across or convey it. But even so, I am still proud of that work and I swear to you it was supposed to have the exact opposite effect. Even so, I'm going to break down the rest of your ask here because....wow is it a lot...

Murderer sympathizing. So if you've played any murder mystery game; DanganRonpa, Ace Attorney, Zero Escape, etc..., you know that it primarily focuses on figuring out who committed a crime and more importantly WHY they did it. Motives for killers vary over games and mysteries, but there comes a time when you can understand a killer's motivation. Now, no sane and stable person would ever kill someone in real life, but if you can understand the push as to what drove them to such actions, then that character has depth and is in some ways relatable. DanganRonpa is full of these types of characters, on the sole basis that the players are TRAPPED IN AN ENCLOSED SPACE! Killing to get out is encouraged! Almost every character in these games would have at least one reason to kill, making them all sympathetic! Now of course there are some outliers in the mix(Celeste, Despair-state Mikan, Korekiyo) but the ratio of sympathetic to not is quite high. So why did I say all this? Well, you the payer have to understand why some killers did the crimes they committed? Well then so should the characters by default too. Especially in an enclosed setting like DanganRonpa, the characters have to come to grievance that some amongst them has just died. How could they possibly react to that? Well Hiyoko reacts like this:

Hiyoko was there when she heard Teruteru say he not only wanted to stop Nagito from murdering someone, but to also see if his sick mom was all right after all this time had passed. And yet, she say this. So its clear Hiyoko has the mindset of: kill=bad. She is the outlier of the group. Hiyoko cannot understand why Teruteru would do such a thing, or why others would feel sorry for him. Hiyoko is the one in the wrong here.

2. Hiyoko owes Fuyuhiko and Peko an apology. Okay, we understand sympathy for killing somewhat, right? Good. Let's move on to Fuyuhiko and Peko. Fuyuhiko found out his sister was murdered. His classmate knows something but won't tell him. In fact, she even hid evidence and lied about the fact just to cover up her own. Fuyuhiko has every right to be pissed! And in some cases, the right to kill Sato for what she did! Okay? Okay. On to Peko. Now of course I'm not expecting one to understand the feeling Peko has of being used by the Yakuza and basically a weapon only to serve someone else. But the want to protect someone from becoming the blackened is understandable at the very least, no? Now, OF COURSE, Hiyoko has every right to be royally pissed at being framed for murder. I don't expect to forgive them easily. In fact, if you saw this blog at all, you'll know that Fuyuhiko and Peko apologized to her first! They are fully aware of not expecting an apology from Hiyoko. They've made peace with that fact. Hiyoko DOES owe them an apology for bursting in on their therapy session! Now again, you may say that aspect is going too far and you'd be right. I personally think it falls in line with Hiyoko putting her beliefs and ideologies first and wanting others, especially her best friend, to agree with her take on it. I mean it's already pretty on brand with what the two do. Hiyoko does something bad, and Mahiru just accepting it.

3. Gundam and Nekomaru. Now I'm not here to discuss the moral implications of murder versus suicide. I will say this though. Chapter 4's trial and murder was about wanting to live, no matter what. Hajime's offer to not kill and just starve to death was just throwing life away as Gundam put it. It's like stories of a soilder who would rather fight with a stick than just to give up and die. He has no options left and his chances are pretty slim, but he still wants to live. That's the whole reason behind Nekomaru and Gundam's duel. A duel for life. Whether the others live or Gundam wins the class trial, no one is giving up on life. Everyone wants to live. And so they fight for that honor.

4. Nagito. "speaking of Nagito, he seems to be the one killer who's the exception to this treatment. Being scorned by everyone for his actions. Even though when you look at things objectively his was perhaps the most understandable and sympathetic reason for starting a class trial"

Okay that may have been in pretty low to go for that, but still. I'll humor you and say that Nagito maaaaaaay have had a good reason for it. Stopping suppossed psychotic terrorists does sound like a good enough reason.......too bad he ruined it by basically insulting everyone in the 4th trial and half of Chapter 5. He kept insulting the others and especially Hajime for reasons ONLY HE KNEW ABOUT! Monokuma did not manipulate Nagito in any way, in fact it was the exact opposite. Monokuma simply gave him the file because he cleared Russian Roulette at the highest difficulty, I don't he expected anyone else to do that. Nagito's plan was all his own! You think Monokuma could have predicted out of ALLLLLL options to murder the gang, that Nagito would just choose to poison a fire grenade and let his luck choose the one person he wanted to win!? Now you say that the file hid the fact of Junko trying to possess their bodies and that they were brainwashed, but OOPS I guess we'll never know because Nagito ripped the fucking pages out by the time Hajime and Chiaki get to it. Thanks, you ugly trash turnip. Maybe he knew, maybe he didn't, we'll never know. We're simply just playing guess at this point, so it's futile to justify this action any further. Bottom line: Nagito did it all his own without any help because that's how deeply committed he his to his own ideology about hope and Ultimates.

Anyway, I keep saying Hiyoko will get better, but if you're still on this and you don't believe me or won't even like where I go with it. Then it's probably best if you leave, honest. I won't make you stay and read my blog if it upsets you this much. It was not my intent, honest.

I am really tired, it is so late that I stood up making this answer....

-Mod