#anyways enough rambling in my own damn tags

[farceargon]

asdhghgsh I'm glad to see you are excited!! Our dear Mr. Fly will have quite the part in Chivalry, and soon too if I can keep my writing going at a quicker pace. There's only one town close to the howling cliffs, after all! <3

I'm VERY excited!! I stumbled across the fic blindly when my Hollow Knight fixation picked up again and goddamn is your writing utterly gorgeous. Top tier stuff, stunning.

I'll always be glad to see that little pest. I was surprised by the lack of stuff for him in the tags and hope to remedy that a little :]

@ my followers, if you have any interest in HK I'd highly recommend the fic for a beautiful read! It's called Where Chivalry Went to Die which is super ominous but what about HK isn't.

(I hope you don't mind me linking the fic btw;; Let me know if it bothers you)

[hajihiko]

every time I come across Content that isnt my own I get the thoughts and thinks. Too tired to do anything about it except this ig

[sixeyesgojo]

all good things come in threes

☾ Summary: Winning a bet against Gojo ‘big ass ego’ Satoru isn't as easy as you thought. But you can't complain either. ☾ Characters: highschool!Gojo Satoru x reader ☾ Word count: 6k ☾ Content warning: use of petnames, implied height difference, tooth-rotting fluff, Gojo's a little shit and has negative rizz ☾ Author's note: My heart was going through STUFF. ☾ Tags: @nagumoan @heresan @peachsayshi @trueformsukuna @gojos-princesa @cursedmoonchild

White tufts of hair. Round sunglasses. An annoying facial expression directed at you. That was your view. You let out an exasperated sigh. Out of everyone available at the time, they just had to choose you to partner up with Satoru. It was to make sure the young conceited sorcerer wouldn’t go overboard or well, get ahead of himself. Sure, his abilities were extraordinary and even at a young age, he had already displayed an astonishing understanding of his cursed techniques and various other battle-related skills. Everyone knew that Satoru was set to be a pioneer and that he didn’t exactly need a partner to fulfill his missions. You knew about his abilities, how they worked and his modus operandi, already having had experience partnering up with him on various missions. But those had been wildly different as they required a partner, a second person. This one clearly didn’t. Yet they still sent you with him, knowing full well that he could handle it himself. These damn fossils.

It was understandable that Satoru had his own opinions about this rather unexpected turn of events. After having heard his initial protestations, which contained the words “no faith”, “incompetent” and how he was “not some random weakling”, you’ve had enough and it began to annoy you. Neither of you were responsible for orders being passed down as they were; and both of you knew that some of them did not make sense, some of them were plain unreasonable and some of them just seemed antiquated, obsolete, outdated. If anyone had enough power to object orders from above, it was the young sorcerer in front of you. However, he didn’t bother to do so. As for you, you had questioned the intent behind the task assigned to you, but simply accepted it as it was. There was no helping it anyway. In the end, you were just a cog in a giant and screwed system.

And so, you were stuck with him on a mission to rescue civilians and eliminate a first grade curse. “I still don’t understand why I need a partner for this. Do I look like a total wimp?” he complained and pulled a grimace.

You rolled your eyes at him, clearly displeased at the situation yourself, “I bet they assigned me to keep your big ass ego in check.”

For someone who had grumbled that much about you being his partner this time around, Satoru certainly seemed entertained in one way or another. At least, a small part of him seemed to revel in the situation. “And I’m sure you will do an excellent job at keeping my ‘big ass ego’ at bay,” he retorted sarcastically, all while giving you that damn smirk. No one else in the world could look so smug while being a prick. So what if you found him attractive? So what if his teasing made your heart skip one or two beats? So what if the smirk made you want to kiss it off of his stupid face? His personality was foul enough. At that moment, all you wanted to do was to smack him but you knew exactly that his bothersome Infinity wouldn’t let you.

“Ugh, I don’t exactly enjoy being stuck with someone who constantly complains either. I’ll just get this mission done as quickly as I can and then we’re both free from each other. Deal?” you rambled. Your keenness to end this all as soon as possible made his ears perk up and upon hearing this, the white-haired teenager dropped his empty can on the ground, “Woah woah woah, hold your horses. I am pretty sure you can’t even defeat the curse as fast as I can, so who’s stuck with who?”

You shrugged as you picked up the metal can, ever so trusting in your abilities. Although you knew he was the strongest, that didn’t mean you couldn’t beat him to it, right? You just had to be clever about it. “Fine, let’s make a bet then. Whoever lands the finishing blow on the curse wins,” you suggested and tossed the metallic container into a trashcan. Satoru raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. “Loser has to do whatever the winner wants,” the sorcerer decided. He seemed interested enough.

“Fine by me. Don’t cry about it when I win,” you said, grinning at him. He grinned back at you, all too confident in his victory already, “I’m afraid I’ll be the one wiping your tears.”

Days passed. Finally, the fateful day was here.

“Will you hurry up?” he urged you. “I’m already on my way,” you replied, annoyed at being rushed by him. Why were you two walking to the scene in the first place? “Come on, we don’t have all day,” he continued. You rolled your eyes. Not everybody had the privilege of having stilts for legs. Still, you sped up in order to catch up to him.

“This is the place,” Satoru pointed out, stopping abruptly. He held his arm out in front of you, as if to keep you out… if one was delusional enough, the gesture could have been interpreted as a protective one. Promptly, you shook your head. There was no time for such thoughts. You could daydream later—focus was more important now.

“There are still people inside. We need to evacuate them first,” he inferred, looking into your eyes. Your mind then switched to mission mode immediately.  “Then we can take it down together.”

You nodded; even without verbal communication, the allocation of tasks was successfully conveyed. Vanishing from his sight, you were off to evacuate anyone that was left in the vicinity. Sure, Satoru could find the curse and get rid of it on his own. Then he would have won the bet easily. However, something in your gut told you that he wouldn’t do that. He could be fair… sometimes—even if it was for his own enjoyment. Admittedly, he wasn’t a bad partner on missions; he just wasn’t the greatest personality-wise. But he certainly had a charm to him. That’s how he unknowingly wrapped you around his finger…

The evacuation went as smooth as it could—with one or two stray bullets that would not listen, as per usual. Since you had already done this lots of times, you were able to finish up quickly and get the civilians to safety with the help of the assistants: the Windows.

“I’m here,” you announced to him as soon as you were back. And you were right! He just leaned against a wall, waiting for you. “About time. I almost thought you wouldn’t come anymore because you got scared shitless. You ready to take this thing down?” He asked. You smirked at him, “You bet I am. Ready to kick your sorry ass.”

Chuckling, he swung himself into a proper standing position. “Alright. I see you’re being as feisty as ever. Remember: The loser will have to do whatever the other person wants after all this is over,” the tall teenager reminded you with a cocky grin. Oh, he was so sure that he would win. His eyes gleamed with excitement and he was ready to fight this curse to ensure his oh-so-sweet victory over you. Of course, he had already thought of his prospective prize.

As if on cue, the curse appeared behind him and roared. In the blink of an eye, two giant claws came swinging at Satoru. You didn’t hesitate to activate your own cursed technique, successfully blocking the slash attack at frightening speed.

“Mark me impressed,” Satoru laughed. It wasn’t his first time seeing you in action but he couldn’t help but tease you, “You’re still not on my level but it’ll do.”

You rolled your eyes, “You say this every time we’re partnered up. Doesn’t it get old?”

He simply laughed as you both dodged an incoming blow. The two of you continued to face off with the curse. Before long, both of you had landed blows on the enemy. He was holding back for some reason—that’s what you thought—otherwise you were sure that this level of curse would have been taken care of by his hands already. It was neither weak nor was it anything drastically above your level. There was one thing you were sure about: He was stalling—and you played right into his games. But your pride wouldn’t let you drop out of the bet. 

It wasn’t long until the curse crumbled to dust. You panted a little, looking at the white-haired sorcerer. The enemy was gone now but he didn’t look like he had broken a single sweat. He dusted himself off and straightened his posture.

“Now about that winner and loser thing…” he began, “I think you can guess the winner.”

You huffed. Damn. Despite holding out well, your plan was a failure. But a bet was a bet, right? “Fine, what do you want me to do?” you probed. He wouldn’t ask you to do bizarre things for him, right?

Satoru tapped his chin, pretending to think, when in reality he had already known before the fight even started. You looked like you poured your whole heart into winning, so he couldn’t help but hold back a little.

“Then… how about going out for ice cream? It’s on me. I think I deserve ice cream after working so hard,” he finally spoke. At first, you thought your brain was playing pranks on you. “Wait,” you paused, “Are you asking me out as your prize for winning the bet?”

A playful grin spread on his face. “You could definitely say that.” He specified, “But I also just really like ice cream on a summer day and I think we deserve some. What, are you chickening out now?”

You looked at him quizzically, questioning whether this was a joke on his part. You felt your heart speed up and the tips of your ears became warmer by the second. “Fair. A win is a win. I guess I’ll go have ice cream with you,” you muttered. Was he scheming something? Did he… perhaps like—

He chuckled and proceeded with a half-teasing tone, “You guess?” The laughter that followed after was soft. “We gotta report back first and then we can go.” Without further ado, he turned on his heel and walked away. The grin that was on his face was not visible to you. “Ugh, shut up,” you grumbled, still somewhat flustered. Nevertheless, you followed him. This damn heart wouldn’t let you rest.

The briefing didn’t take long at all—the mission was a success. After making a report, the two of you headed to a nearby ice cream store. As you stood in line waiting for your sweet cold treat, you looked at his face. He was even better looking than you originally thought. Come to think of it, you might have never looked at him from up close. Suddenly, he turned to you. “What flavor are you getting?” Satoru asked curiously.

You looked at him and answered, “Lime with mint.” It was one of your favorite flavors.

“Lime with mint, huh?” he repeated and looked towards the sky as if you had just asked him a deeply philosophical question he needed to ponder about. “Not a bad choice. I’m getting mango. Can’t go wrong with that.” He paid for the ice cream, as promised, and guided both of you to a nearby bench so you could enjoy the treat. His eyes were positively gleaming with delight after he sat down. It was happiness that resembled yours whenever you got ice cream. “Why lime with mint?” Satoru wondered. With a shrug, you replied, “I just like lime. With mint in it, it’s more refreshing in summer. Have you ever tried?”

Satoru shook his head, so you allowed him to have a taste. You could pinpoint the exact moment when he realized that your statement was the truth: It was nice and refreshing indeed. He made a mental note that your ice cream taste was impeccable. “Any other flavor you enjoy?” he probed. It took a moment of thinking until you came up with something, “Matcha ice cream. I like mango too.”

“Good call. Mango is one of my favorites for sure,” he said as he took a bite of his scoop of ice cream.

“I’m wondering,” you said aloud, “why did you choose to ask me out as your reward? I expected… actually, I don’t know what I expected but it was definitely something else.”

The sorcerer pondered, thinking about how to phrase it. “Like what?” he asked. “I don’t know. Maybe kissing your ass, being your accomplice for pranks or something like that. That would be on-brand for you,” you joked. You would have never expected such a turn of events.

“That would have been an amazing idea, actually,” the guy mused. In retrospect, it would have been better if you hadn’t said anything to not fuel his dumb ideas. “You absolute jackass! Nobody wants to kiss your ass!”

Even though you should have expected such a reply coming from him, you couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit scandalized at the mental image of you kissing his rear. Gross. You shook your head to get rid of the imagery.

And yet, your curiosity hadn’t been quenched at all. As impatient as you were about his reply, you further probed him on the matter, “So… about my question…?”

As if to hide any embarrassing feelings, your opposite snickered. “Right… about that…” he cleared his throat, “I just kinda like our banter a lot… and you. So I figured that I should just shoot my shot. ‘What are they gonna say? No?’ was what I thought but see, a bet’s a bet! And I won!”

Oh. Oh.

Your eyes widened. So it was like that. 

Gojo Satoru? The Gojo Satoru? The conceited prick Satoru? Your crush Satoru? And you? Together? Never in a hundred years. But… it’s not like you had any right to complain about it, seeing as your heart was threatening to break out of its bony confinement.

“Hey, hey, hey. No need to look so surprised. I’ve been trying to get closer to you, didn’t you notice?” he asked, tilting his head to the left side, as if to get a better glimpse of your surprised expression.

“You thought being the most annoying prick to ever walk on Earth would do the trick?” Your jaw dropped. A strange expression of surprise flitted across your face for a split second. He shrugged his shoulders, “Well, it definitely worked—after all I got your undivided attention, didn’t I?”

Flabbergasted—that’s what you were. However, your composure quickly made a comeback and you could only laugh. A million-watt grin greeted you. Damn this man. He knew how to charm you, intentionally or not. “It sure did, you know! But not in the most positive light… Instead of calling me weak, you could have asked me what my favorite color is, what my favorite food is or something like that… Things normal people do!” you told him truthfully. Rather than arguing back, Satoru raised his free hand in defense, “I didn’t say you were weak, I just said you’re not on my level!”

You couldn’t help but raise your eyebrow and he quickly dropped the topic. Deciding to take your advice to heart, he asked you about your favorite cake and any ‘hidden gems and recommendations’, as he called them. The sudden change in topic threw you off a little, but as long as he tried, right? You were almost inclined to reward him with a good noodle star. Not that you’d do that. In place of that, you opted to go with the alternative: provide him with the information he asked for. So you thought about it carefully before answering him. He listened intently.

“I’ll keep those in mind. Making a mental list for the next time we hang out,” he grinned at you, tapping his temple. “You want to hang out again? I’m not boring you out of your mind yet?” you asked puzzledly, still in disbelief that he showed actual interest in you outside of work. “Why wouldn’t I want to?” He seemed slightly confused and raised a white eyebrow.

“Do you not want to?” He glanced at you with his bright, sparkling eyes. The notion of spending more time with you excited him. The enthusiasm was reflected in his cerulean eyes. When you thought about it, it only made sense, considering he had just confessed that he found you intriguing. “I just assumed you couldn’t stand me because I wasn’t as strong as you because you kept being mean to me,” you admitted somewhat shyly.

“I’m not that mean!” He said, acting shocked, though you noticed he was trying to hide a chuckle.

After a few seconds, Satoru sighed and clarified, “I can be a bit mean at times but I promise I never hated you or anything.” He smiled and you swore it was a smile that could threaten to make your knees a bit weak. Lucky for you that you were sitting on a bench. It was almost unfair how blessed he was with good looks. He continued, “I actually enjoy your company. You’re interesting and fun and I can tell you’re not afraid to bite back but you can be friendly if you want to. If anything, I like that a lot about you.”

A slight feeling of abashment prompted you to avoid his gaze. This was unusual. You weren’t used to him being so openly kind. “You know, I’d think I prefer you teasing me… without being straight up rude,” you confessed. His eyes widened briefly. Yet, a smirk soon returned to his face, “I see. You’re a masochist. Just kidding! I can definitely do that. It’ll be interesting to see how you react to me teasing you.”

Of course, you wouldn’t let that sit on you and you bit back, “Don’t expect me not to fight back, though.” And there it was, the slightly awkward atmosphere from earlier dissipated and everything returned to your usual banter.

Satoru clicked his tongue, “Trust me, I don’t expect you to be anyone but yourself. But I’m still looking forward to what you’ll do when I tease you, though.” He winked. “Not only are you an interesting person, but you’re fairly cute too.”

Who? You? “Huh?” you blurted out, baffled at the sudden compliment. With the way he was grinning at you, he had to be messing with you since he enjoyed seeing your reactions. “Did I say something wrong? I wasn’t lying. You’re adorable. Do you think you’re not?” Oh, he was definitely messing with you.

“Not really,” you shot back. You knew you weren’t ugly but hearing a compliment from someone as stunning as Satoru was something else. But cute and adorable…? That wasn’t exactly the best way to compliment someone you wanted to get attention from. If anything, it fueled something almost akin to spite within you. You felt the urge to tease him back.

“Come on, it was a genuine compliment from me. That’s gotta count for something, doesn’t it?” he pouted. You couldn’t detect any kind of indication that he was lying. “Thank you, you’re not so bad yourself,” you complimented him back. “Really?” he let out a gasp that was obviously fake, “I’m not so bad?”

You nodded, prompting the white-haired man to raise his eyebrow as he contemplated. “You’re right, I’m not bad,” he nodded in agreement with you. 

“I am great,” he said, a smirk forming on his face.

You chuckled, “You know. I think if it wasn’t for your foul personality, I would have fallen for you long ago.”

“Foul personality?” Satoru gasped as he brought a hand to his chest to grab it. “Maybe you’re just as mean as I am!” A laugh escaped from your throat and it was like music to his ears. “I never said I was nice, did I?” you fired back at him and he couldn’t help but grin. “See? I think I like you more when you're sassy. Maybe we're not as different as you thought,” he spoke. After a moment, he added, “I wouldn't mind if you treated me like this all the time. I could even get used to it.”

“So the great Gojo Satoru likes being degraded, I see. Noted,” you teased him again. One of his hands moved to his mouth to cover it, pretending to be horrified. He leaned forward and you could see a mischievous glint in his eyes. “I don’t think ‘degradation’ is the right term here; I just enjoy teasing you and... being teased by you. Is that so bad?” he asked. “Then,” you began and stood up, the ice cream was long finished. You placed your index finger beneath his chin, moving it up so he was facing you as you got closer to his face. He could feel your breath. “Do you like this?” you asked. Your goal was to get back at him for flustering you earlier. So why was your heart beating so fast?

“I think I do,” he simply said. His pale blue eyes seemed to peer at you, piercing you, as if looking for an answer to a question that had been left unasked. Despite being in a sitting position, he still radiated a confident aura. Suddenly the closeness you had created between the two of you was too much for you. Your body backed away automatically but you found yourself unable to move any farther from him—he didn’t let you. Instead, he reduced the gap between the two of you even more, slowly coming closer to you.

His fingers had already sneakily encircled your left forearm without you noticing. Mesmerizing eyes robbed you of your ability to move. You didn’t notice you held your breath until you needed to inhale sharply. Who was teasing who now? Caught like a deer in headlights, adrenaline rushed through your veins as anticipation clouded your mind. That was the moment you realized that you were into him more than you’d like to admit. You swore you could hear your heartbeat pounding loudly in your ears. The tension became too much and the ringing in your ears amplified and—

And then he closed the gap between you. Your brain blacked out. All you could think about was his lips on yours. Saying that you didn’t like his lips melting into yours was a lie. Satoru was leaving a sweet hint of his mango-flavored ice cream for you to taste, as if to claim you as his.

After a few seconds, Satoru broke the kiss. The shit-eating grin on his face was telling. “I think I liked this more though. You should let me do that more often. Maybe every day,” he winked at you. He looked at your frozen expression and chuckled; he genuinely had fun flirting with you. Still dazed from the kiss, your brain was unable to conjure any thoughts. All you knew was that you wanted—no, it was a need to kiss him again. As if your body would be set ablaze if you didn’t listen to your desire, your lips chased his and you kissed him again.

Satoru blinked. He was a bit taken aback at first but quickly returned the kiss, closing his eyes. After all, he had just boldly said that he wanted to do it more often. When you broke the kiss, he leaned forward before speaking. You noticed that the tip of his ears were a little red. It was a cute detail that you wouldn’t have noticed from afar.

“Damn, you’re a really good kisser,” the sorcerer said in a low voice, smiling at you. “Can I try again?” he asked, the smile still adorning his face. “All good things come in threes, I suppose,” you smiled back at him and leaned in again. Who would have thought that you would kiss this guy?

Without hesitation, the sitting Satoru pulled you into his lap and he kissed you again, heart beating faster with each passing second. After a few moments, he pulled away.

“Yeah, three sounds like a good number… but I prefer Infinity,” he said breathlessly. His cheeks were slightly flushed, a sign that he was enjoying himself. The white-haired adolescent reached up and pulled a stray strand of hair out of your face and tucked it behind your ear. He playfully added, “We should do this more often. Don't you agree?”

“Now you’re just being greedy!” you joked as you hit his chest playfully. It was only now that you noticed that his Limitless technique wasn’t in effect. “Greedy? Who? Me? Never!” he gasped again, pretending to be hurt over your accusation. “You hit me pretty hard there. I could have gotten hurt…” He glanced at the hand you used to hit him, “Do you want me to hit you too? Or maybe I should ask for damage compensation?”

You could tell he wasn’t serious by the way he smiled. “If you go on and hit me with your lips, then sure. Alternatively, I can offer lip service as compensation. Choose your poison, choose your hell.”

For a moment, he looked at you with mock horror. Then, he broke out in laughter at your statement. “Actually, that first one sounds like a good idea. I’ll go ahead and hit you with my lips then. But gently. Because I’m a gentleman.” He tenderly placed his two hands at the side of your face and slowly pulled you closer to him. Tilting his head slightly, he leaned in until your lips met. It was very gentle and your heart was filled with excitement, with exhilaration, as he kissed you. As your hands gripped his uniform tightly, you slowly lost yourself in the kiss, getting drunk on his lips. Maybe you should curse him for being a good kisser.

Satoru ended the kiss with a peck on the corner of your mouth and looked at you with a soft gaze, the softest you had ever seen on him. The dazed look on your face made him laugh again, “Don’t get too drunk on my kisses.” Stroking your cheeks with his long fingers, he laughed once again when he saw your pouting face, “You’re adorable, you know that?”

“Correct me if I’m wrong but you’re not entirely unaffected by kissing me,” you stated as-a-matter-of-factly and raised an eyebrow at him, crossing your arms. Being called out like this was embarrassing but it was pretty clear that you weren’t the only one affected with how the tips of his ears became slightly redder with each time you touched lips.

His lips formed a smile, “They’re addictive, if I’m being honest. I don’t… I don’t want to stop kissing you. I could do this all day, every day.” 

“If kissing me is addictive, then I think I’m doing a great job at affecting you,” you chuckled. The way your mouth moved as you spoke and the way the corners moved upwards to form a cheeky smile; he couldn’t take his eyes off. His heart thumped loudly in his chest, his thumb moved along the corner of your mouth. He couldn’t stop staring, the urge to lay his lips on yours once more strong. “You’re fun to be around. I like you, a lot. I’m enjoying how I feel when I’m close to you. I love whatever effect you have on me,” he spoke clearly.

He was fixated, enchanted, spell-bound even. “Is… Is this a confession?” you asked, hopeful eyes peering up at his. You took notice of the entranced look on his face. He blurted out, “I think I already fell for you a while ago.” As he realized what he had done, his eyes widened in shock and he wanted to slap his palms on his mouth, but he didn’t because that meant letting go of you. This time, it wasn’t fake shock but he genuinely didn’t think he’d blurt it out like that. But it was okay, because you liked him too. What was the use of pretending you didn’t?

“I think that makes two of us then,” as you admitted it, you felt your ears blazing with heat. “I’m saying that I like you too.” 

It took him a moment to process in his brain. Despite being academically clever and praised for his intelligence and wit in battles, you found it took him rather long to work out the meaning behind your words. “I knew you liked me, despite your sass.” No need to hide it now that he’d taken a look inside your heart. “We’re a dangerous duo,” the sorcerer noted, amused by his realization. You agreed with him, “Just two flirty kids who give trouble a run for its money.”

“Hey,” he suddenly began after a few moments, “Have you ever dated someone before? Are there any current or ex boyfriends I need to be worried about?” Satoru’s voice came out softly and he looked at you, awaiting an answer that would please him… because if not… he felt his heart drop at the thought. You wouldn’t… right?

Uncertainty clouded his mind as he looked at your face. “I have dated someone before but it didn’t work out. I’m not seeing anyone at the moment,” you clarified and wagged your index finger at him. “And honestly, even if there was… I think you’d do a great job at keeping them away,” you added.

And then, relief washed over him. With hindsight, he should have asked that before kissing you—a small part inside him admonished him for it but his heart couldn’t help but leap at your words. Quickly recomposing himself, he grinned back at you, “I bet with all the sass, sarcasm and cheekiness you’ve got, you can keep them away just as easily by yourself.”

Obviously, you had a comeback up your sleeve, “I never said I couldn’t. But you’d do a decent job at it. Because anyone would be scared of a tall white-haired dude who is full of himself.”

A hearty laugh came out of his throat; he expected nothing less from you. You were good at getting back at him in the most entertaining and beautiful ways. There was no doubt that you were able to handle his ‘foul’ personality well. “So we’re both good at keeping guys away from us, huh? You really do think I’m full of myself, don’t you? So why didn’t you reject me before?” he questioned. “Judging from what happened earlier… I might not be that good at keeping guys like you away from me. I wasn’t born with your technique after all. And I’m not sure if I want to keep away a guy named Gojo Satoru from me,” you grin at him and pinch his cheek gently.

“I’m flattered,” he fake-sniffed and then he leaned even closer, “So did I hear that correctly? You don’t want to keep a tall, almighty and handsome guy like me away from you? Hm?”

“No, I don’t want to keep you away from me. But I think if we dated, we’d be dangerous to other people. Our superiors wouldn’t approve of it, I am sure,” you mused. It was logical but Satoru gave you a bizarre look, “And you care about what some old farts have to say? Strange thing to be worried about when you’re someone who usually fires back right away.”

“I was just saying. I don’t care about what they think; I like playing dangerously. Wouldn’t be in this line of work if that wasn’t the case,” the words coming out of your mouth made him feel delighted. The smug look on your face only added to it.

“That makes us a dangerous duo, huh? The perfect pair to take down curses and cause trouble, I kinda like that,” he clicked his tongue as he finished speaking. The thought of the two of you wreaking havoc was fun and thrilling, admittedly. Principal Yaga was sure to get white hair at this rate—not that Satoru cared too much about it, as long as the old man didn’t die of shock or cardiac arrest.

“You bet,” you shot him a cheeky smile. “Then it’s settled, wouldn’t you say? You and I are an amazing partner match, sweetheart. Just a danger to society,” Satoru established.

“That’s sort of ironic, considering that our job is to protect society as it is,” you remarked. And yet, it didn’t matter to you at all. All you felt at the moment was the pleasantness of the world, of Gojo Satoru’s presence and coming clean with your feelings.

“Hey, since you brought it up already… I’m going to assume that you’re fine with dating me…?” He briefly looked at the ground, then back at you. The little bit of uncertainty in his tone was almost cute to you. For the first time, the usually cocky and confident platinum—haired sorcerer wasn’t so sure about his words in front of you. Seeing him like this wasn’t so bad, you noticed.

You got on your tiptoes to gently place a peck on his cheek. Your actions were contradictory to your following question: “What makes you think you’re worthy of being my boyfriend?”

You were only teasing him, hoping that your sweet kiss was answer enough. Part of you hoped that he got the playful tone in your voice. But when he glanced down at you as you struggled to reach his lips on your tiptoes, a wide grin spread across his face as you leaned in and kissed him. His heart raced as he snaked his two arms around your waist to steady you.

With an eye smile so boyish that it made you blink once, twice, Satoru was quick to respond, “Opposite day already passed, you brat. I think it’s only fair to deduce that if I’m worthy of your kiss, I’m most likely good enough to be your boyfriend.”

“Hmmm, you think so?” you grin mischievously at him and slung your arms around his neck. Your goal was to rile him up a little, it was in your nature to be a little annoying about it.

“I’d say a kiss is a good sign, sugar,” he retorted with a sassy tone in his voice. He tightened his arms around your waist, effectively hugging you closer to him. There was no escape for you—not that you wanted to flee from him anyways. On the contrary: You rested your head on his shoulder.

“Then I think it’s in order that my official boyfriend kisses me now and goes on a date with me,” you murmured into his ear. A slight movement indicated that he was reacting to your whisper. He gulped and swiftly got his cool back. “That can be arranged,” Satoru smiled as he moved his hands to the sides of your face and closed the gap once more. After separating from your lips, his arms moved back to their original spot.

He snickered to himself, “I can’t believe you’re so cheeky and smooth.”

You stuck your tongue out at him—and to him, you looked so adorable doing it. “Being a menace who is cheeky and smooth is my forte,” you claimed brazenly. “How does it feel to be my boyfriend?”

“Being handsome and strong is part of my job as the notorious kid from the Gojo clan. But being your official boyfriend was not in the job description when I signed up to be a sorcerer. I’ll take my incentive bonus payment in the form of love and affection from you,” he joked and nuzzled your nose. Satoru’s warm hands found yours and he didn’t hesitate to intertwine your fingers.

“Then I guess our first date will be a salary negotiation,” you laughed back at him. This was the start of something beautiful, but also the start of double trouble for some poor souls. Not that any of you cared anyway.

White tufts of hair and round sunglasses would accompany you more frequently from now on.

[monimccoythings]

Progress

Whoah, sorry for the long delay, it’s been a long and tiring part of my life, the worst part is that most of this was already written lol.This happens between the last fic and the bonus scene.

Check previous parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Next: Part 5

tags: @loveforfandomsstuff​ @harpy-space​

Since the journey to the Kong Kingdom, your little fella had become... how to put it...more cooperative, yeah, let’s go with that. Even if he gave the others a hard time, he seemed to be considerably more pleasant whenever you or Peach were around.

Not that you seemed to notice, you were so busy cooing all over him, he was such a cute baby. Oh he was still annoyed by it, but how could he blame you when he kept giving you those little doe eyes???

With time, you were allowed to do more things with him. It had been a long probation, but Peach and the Toads were 99% sure he wouldn’t try any shenanigans if you were around. You shamelessly took advantage of your time with him to cuddle him like the chonky potato he was.

Cuddling sessions were a must. It was mandatory. Not that he was complaining. One could say he was the one taking advantage of you, given how he nuzzled you and purred. But the asshole sometimes headbutted you and bit you, like dude, you are two inches tall, chill.

He liked bathtime, or whatever that was, because hitting him with a strong torrent of boiling water coming out of a hose didn’t look like something they would offer at a spa. But he seemed to enjoy it, given how his butt wiggled in a cute little dance of happiness.

Despite his surprisingly good behavior, he had still to learn some manners. He demanded, more than asked, and apparently the words “please” and “thank you” were unknown to him. He also had a tendency to snap and try to attack Mario, Luigi, Toad or whoever wasn’t Peach or yourself. Amgery boi had to be more polite because he couldn’t use the cute card forever to get away with whatever he did. Okay, he could. Damn it.

Unbeknownst to you, Bowser perfectly knew what he was doing. He was marking territory, claiming you for himself. Peaches didn’t want to marry him? Her loss, your benefit. Okay, it was kinda offputting that you were of commoner origins and without a kingdom to conquer, but what the hell, these were modern times, he could make you his Royal Consort and then conquer the Mushroom Kingdom anyway.

He was a romantic at heart, he knew he already had you wrapped around his little finger, he just needed more time to properly prepare you for when, not if, he grew back to his usual size, because then he’ll be fully going all or nothing to woo you.

He memorized every single piece of information he could get out from your mouth, piece of cake, he just had to give you the stare and you would melt to his whims. Everything about you fascinated him he needed to know all about you, he needed to own you, to possess you as his most prized being, he needed to feel what he felt whenever you were around at all times, and even then he wouldn’t get enough of you.

For real, just say hi to him when you see him and he’s already planning your wedding and naming your children.

He gets jealous very easily, just talking to another person, regardless of their gender or even mentionng some friends from the human world are enough to rile him up. He gets all huffy and bitey and won’t let anybody come close. Those days are when he focus the most plotting your kidnapping his proposal.

He knows that the day his armies will regroup and come free him from that prision is getting closer and that he must be patient. If only he was patient enough... Luckily, the only things he has to do is act cute and keep listening to your ramblings, collecting as much intel as he can.

On your part, you are delighted that this babee is willing to give you the time of the day. You smothered him with kisses and hugs while saying sweet nonsense about how cute and tiny he is. Because he was! And everybody has to know!

But sometimes you just casually talked to him as if he wasn’t the most adorable thing you had ever seen. And he listened, which was a tremendous surprise, but maybe he was bored and had nothing better to do. Those times you spent together were as great and special as the ones you spent babying him. But reality was one hell of a party pooper because you always had to harshly remind yourself that despite everything, despite how much you adored his tiny form and enjoyed cuddling him like a plushie, he was a genocidal maniac that would remoserlessly comit his crimes all over again just for spite.

From your perspective, he just looked like a tiny prehistorical pet turtle that spit fire like a lighter and had a high pitched voice. But that wasn’t who he really was. The danger of letting him lose and allowing him to recover even a fraction of his power was a very terrifying thought for all the Mushroom, Kong and Human realm. Still, you couldn’t help but feel compassion for him, because if you all started treating him just the way he had treated them all, what would be the difference between the two sides? Okay maybe that one side wasn’t so willing to kill and maul, but if they were the good guys they had to set an example.

So you spent your free time hanging with your friends in the Mushroom Kingdom and with Bowser, enjoying what new things that new realm had to offer, completely unaware of the danger that awaited just mere days away...

[frango-maconheiro]

wow, wow, interaction.

also, there's a stupid meaningless ramble i made out of this incredible petpeeve of mine with EW x reader stuff and it's just down the cut sggkjdfjkk (it's fr just me being extremely salty)

Anyway, hello!

Haha, my curious and lonely ass really thought it was a clever idea to read 'eddsworld x reader' content because it spawned in my timeline.... thinking that maaaybe they actually got good at it and made not too ooc stuff (this is heeeeaavily on matt content)

Now, i am profoundly remorseful of that choice because when i wrote this hours ago woth no wifi, i was arguing with the air.

Like, i won't lie on this. EW x reader.. They have evolved, a loooot since those 2017 fanfics (why were the x yn fics from eddsworld all copy-paste back then???) actually, it really surprised me because i definitely don't have the most cool memories of such fanfics,, Buuuuut, they still have that STUPID FAVORITISM. IT'S SO DAMN APPARENT. YOU THINK WE CAN'T SEE IT???

i get madder from down this line, especially since i was veery hungry when writing this. That's why you should always stay fed, keeps you slightly happier.

nhamnhamnhamm, writes aaall cool stuff for edd, tom 'n tord... maybe with an ooc here and there, but enough to ignore,, but matt? Matt gets so ooc, he can be mistaken for an oc if no name is given.

like,,, did.. did we watch the same dude on screen? i know he was pretty neglected in content, but cmon, what is that?? He's practically a romance repellent with his stupidity (said affectionately)

it's the same 'pipipipopopo just a sweet mama's boy' and 'ooo, he's sooo romantic, look at how much of gentleman he is compared to otheeeers' and 'whaao he so silly ::3 *treats him as if he weren't an adult character' and so much more, all in this weird stereotype

I guess i'm just disappointed,,, all because he just, idk, still feels downright boring compared to how the other 3 are written in these kind of fanfics even thought it's 2024 already and not still 2017-2020 (don't even get me started on the weird fixation on making yn extremely specific which fr also makes me crawl away like a wet cat from EW reader interactive content, they don't even put tags of the gender, aaaaaargh).

y'all definitely have more content of him to write than just the saturation of him painting your nails, or going shopping, or acting like he's the center of the world 24/7, or making him the pure lil' angel, or having his memory issues being downplayed as him acting 'so silly lil' silly', i assure you.

When i tell you i got so invested in this useless anger i mean that i got compelled into writing down a bunch of matt x reader to try and give that man a cooler image,,, and i don't even see him that way (nor any of the characters.) , but GOD ARGHHHV I NEED JUSTICE FOR HIM.

i might be just a lil' hot headed while writing this whole stuff, but this bro got stripped out of BOTH his classic and his modern funky personality in 99% of these fanfics and nobody bats an eye, like, ever, unless they're another fan of the character. Free my ginger rat, pleeeeaaaaseee.

I need any weirdo, edgy, funky, unusual, vampire, zombie(heavily on you zombie matt my beloved), slasher, funny, whack matt written content that is not only interactive BUT friendly to all readers...

i don't even care what Matt is written, modern, or classic. Both types have their own weirdo charm, and i am willing to analyze them for a nice oneshot or spitball post.... where you don't get to a restaurant/picnic and receives flowers and it ends like that, without any more depth of such cute cliche fluff it is, and leaving you like you just licked off the scraps of a dessert from a plate given to you, so damn hungry 'n wishing you had eaten an actual dessert instead of whatever that was.

[eyeballsoup7310]

So preface. I was gonna put this in the tags of a reblog of this post about how all of the bayou boys suck (affectionate), but that post is Rolan-centric and my rant wasn’t so I’m just making my own post. But the Rolan post is really good too and you should read it. Anyways here’s the ramble

The guys are all assholes and that's the point. people are jerks sometimes and people get into bad arguments and people leave each other over stupid things, and that's the point! (to me anyways). People suck! People are the worst! And yet they still do good, they still risk everything for each other, even when angry. Rolan still dies for his town, even after it kills him, and he still trusts Rand to finish the job even after constant fights, and he still trusts kian enough -even in death- to repeat his Song. Rand still believes post-metamorphosis Rolan even after all trust has been broken, and he still believes in Kian even when Kian's basically signed his death certificate for Becky. Kian admits something he's ashamed of (on top of dropping the fact he likes guys sometimes), probably to make Rolan feel less like a 'freak' at the tree, even knowing that they'll roast the hell out of him for it in the same the way he roasted Rolan.

The bayou boys are assholes and yet they love each other and it makes them so human even if they physically aren't. It makes sense to me that that's the way the story went, with Rachel being the final boss. She's just a kid and her brother and his friends were rude to her. She never saw the other side of that, she never got an apology. You can hurt someone and, even though those moments of shittiness don’t necessarily define you as a person, it doesn’t remove the pain you’ve caused them.

I love this damn campaign and I love these characters. I’m putting them into a salad spinner and watching them rotate very quickly

[shitouttabuck]

tease tuesday

tagged by @rewritetheending @try-set-me-on-fire @eddiebabygirldiaz @devirnis @jeeyuns @athenagranted @malewifediaz <3

hi this is in tiny text because i started rambling.... from i can love you better ft buck’s sucky parents—i do not think buck thinks that family that’s blood or marriage is more important or more real or anything close, but i do think after donor baby it’s something that’s been on his mind a lot. donor, not dad. what counts as being a dad, then? his own? yikes! he’s doing a lot of thinking about ways people are tied together. and a lot of wanting, in the context of his own biological family letting him down again, and christmas being a time everyone around him is with their own families, blood and marriage or whatever. i don’t think he believes it, it’s just one of those lurking sadnesses that lies to you

“They’re my family,” he says, mouth a sad, resigned twist. You are a real family. Eddie said that to him about these very same people not so long ago. He wishes he hadn’t, offhand and flippant and like it was the most obvious thing in the world, because it’s not. Eddie and his own parents may have been patching things up and making it work, but Buck’s parents are not Eddie’s. If he hadn’t been so quick to extend the same courtesy of second, third, hundredth chance to the Buckleys, if he’d let himself be the one person telling Buck hey, it’s okay to want out of this cycle of unearned forgiveness, of the constant loop of hurt and disappointment, maybe he wouldn’t be stood here, brokenhearted and so terribly small. Eddie feels his jaw tick as he clenches it. “Not in any way that counts.” Buck blinks at him, brow beginning to furrow. In askance or objection, Eddie doesn’t know, so he hastens to add, “Sorry, I know I shouldn’t—I can’t decide that for you, but… Buck.” He says his name almost beseechingly, and he is, isn’t he? Beseeching Buck to get this. “Family makes you feel loved. Looked after. Wanted, even when… Without strings, you know? Not conditionally. Not transactionally. Tell me if I’m wrong—actually, no, don’t, because I’m not wrong, but I don’t think your parents make you feel like that.” Buck swallows, looking up at the ceiling as he blinks hard. “And you know you already have that. I know you know that. Your parents—they’re just people you’re related to. People you lived with once. You can’t choose that. You can choose to let go of any belief that you owe them anything more because of it, though. They don’t have to be your family.” Buck laughs, hollow and awful. “Okay. I know that. I just—I know you’re not supposed to care about, about being blood-related, or tied together in any capacity official enough to be, I dunno, recognised by society at large as family. I know that doesn’t mean anything. But without them, what? I have Maddie and Jee. And I have a whole bunch of friends who love me so damn much I can’t believe it sometimes.” He presses the heels of his palms into his eyes, hard. “And I’m the most ungrateful person in the world for—for wanting something more. Something tangible.”

anyway lol i lost most of this fic when my computer crashed the other day but we cry and persevere ig

tagging @onward--upward @eowon @housewifebuck @buckactuallys @zahlibeth @chronicowboy @transboybuckley if you fancy xoxo

[ellie-24]

USS Randall Ramblers Part 3

Okay, this is the 2 in 1 deal everyone's been looking forward to not!

Writing prompts:

"Are you always this shy?"

"You're staring."

Tagging my partners in crime. @vintageshanny @from-memphis-with-love @thatbanditqueen @whositmcwhatsit @missmaywemeetagain @powerofelvis @be-my-ally thank you for the support, the debates, the inspiration and the horniness.

Summary: Phone calls aren't enough. These two just can't stay apart for too long.

Word count: ~ 5.5 k

Part 1 Part 2 Part 4

Frankfurt am Main, Germany

"Talk to me, honey, whatcha do today?"

His smooth, velvety voice instantly made Mary shiver and she had to supress a childish giggle. She tightly gripped the phone and caught her reflection in the full length mirror on the other side of the bedroom, seeing herself blushing furiously and smiling. With a sigh she sank further into the matress and slowly twirled the cord in her slightly trembling fingers.

"Actually, I should be asleep already." She grinned teasingly, even though he couldn't see it.

"Aww, Come on, tell me something nice. Please. You know I can't go to bed without talking to you." He mumbled with a pleading tone. Mary could almost picture the famous pout he was probably sporting right now.

She raised her eyebrow. It's been almost four weeks since her visit to Bad Nauheim. It was then that he told her that he would be stationed at Grafenwöhr for the next six weeks, putting him even further out of her reach. But he'd call her every day. That's at least what he promised upon seeing the distressed look on her face. And he actually kept his promise.

For 4 days.

After that, his calls became less frequent. Mary didn't want to admit it to herself, but hearing his voice three or four times a week instead of every day didn't feel enough. It scared her a bit. She was falling way too fast for him and the mere thought of his calls possibly ceasing completely one day made her heart ache terribly.

That's why she sat by the phone on her nightstand every evening, waiting for him to call and ease some of the anxiety she felt. She'd stare at her phone for hours, eyes burning and heavy, stifling yawn after yawn. On some occasions Mary felt kind of pathetic, especially when she'd pass out from exhaustion while sitting up against the headboard, drool already gathering at the corner of her mouth. Oftentimes he'd call her when she was already fast asleep anyway, usually around midnight. The sharp ringing would pull her out of her dreams, which mostly revolved around him anyway, causing her to be wide awake in an instant.

If it was up to him, they'd probably talk to each other throughout the whole night. Sometimes he'd ramble on and on for hours as if he had no one else to talk to and sometimes he just wanted to listen to her talking about her day, family drama or the latest gossip at work. She found that gossiping was rather fun with him because he actually paid attention, unlike other men she's talked to.

"Well alright, you know it's Barbara's birthday on friday." She reminded him.

"Didn't you want to organize a little party at the office?"

"Yeah, scratch that, probably not gonna be a real party, but I really want to get a cake. I asked the other girls if we want to split the cost for a really fancy cake. You know with layers and frosting and decoration and the whole shebang. Now, guess who had a problem with that."

"If you ask like that, sweetheart, it's gotta be Kate." He chuckled.

Mary threw her hands up in frustration. "Of course it was her! Anyway I met up with Helga in my lunch break and her uncle owns this cute, little bakery and he'd probably do it for half the price... Hopefully Kate will be on board with that."

"Honey, just tell me, I'll pay for the damn cake."

"You don't even know Barbara!" She laughed.

"I-I know, but it means something to you." He clarified in a soft voice.

Mary pressed her lips together to stop the embarassing squeal that threatened to espace her and tightly held the phone against her chest. After taking a deep breath she put it back against her ear. "You're so sweet."

"I'm just trying to help my little girl."

Her cheeks started to hurt from smiling so much. "And I appreciate it... I'll let you know what Kate says."

"Alright, sweetheart. What else did ya do today? Wanna know everything."

"Not much I'm afraid. After work I just went straight home. It's so cold, being outside really isn't fun."

"Yeah, you tell me. This damn cold here is driving me crazy."

"And then it also started raining when I walked home from the bus station. I was soaking wet when I arrived. Fingers numb and everything." Mary continued and flexed her hand as if proving to herself that, yes, she could really move it again.

She heard him click his tongue. "Aw, my poor yittle baby. You all bundled up in your blankets now? All warm and cozy?"

Mary pulled the soft fabric up to her chin. "I am."

"And you're wearing your fuzzy little socks? Don't want your sooties to be freezing."

"Yes, Elvis. I'm all warm again, don't worry." She chuckled and watched the raindrops race down the glass window next to her.

When he spoke up again, his voice sounded clearer, as if he put the phone closer to his face. "I-I wish I was there with you sweetheart, sharing a blanket, just like on that ship. Remember? With you running your fingers through my hair." It sounded like he was smiling.

She smiled as well and bit her lip, the memory still very clear in her mind. If she closed her eyes she could still feel his soft hair on her skin. "And your cold hands nearly giving me a heart attack. But yeah I'd really like that. You're a lot comfier than my pillow."

He cooed. "You're such a cute thing. The bunk beds they have here can give ya a mighty back pain, I'll tell ya. Getting some real sleep is a damn hassle."

She sighed and her face scrunched up. "Oh, I know, I shouldn't complain. They make you sleep in these horrible beds and then they want you to walk miles and miles through that mud and I don't know what. Without getting some proper rest!"

He hummed. "And it snowed the other day. You won't believe it. We were knee deep in the snow. The vehicles nearly got stuck, and there were these stupid photographers everywhere, trying to get a glimpse. I looked like a damn idiot."

"Elvis don't say that. What are you supposed to do? And I think it's very brave of you to carry on and do your job, despite everything. And damn these photographers, I'd like to see them do what you gotta do, first."

"Language, yittle. Doesn't suit ya."

"Elvis, don't, you're starting to sound like my mother." She laughed.

He sighed. "One of us has to be the responsible adult."

"A responsible adult? Where? I can't see one."

"Very funny, sweetheart."

She shrugged. "I know. One of us has to be the funny one."

"I'll tell ya if there weren't hundreds of miles seperating us, I'd put ya over my knee now, little girl."

Mary's eyes went wide and she nearly pulled her blanket over her head, as if hiding would improve her situation. "Elvis!" She finally gasped.

"Where's that smart mouth now?" He teased.

She tucked a few locks that had fallen over eyes behind her ear. "I'm just trying to cheer you up with that smart mouth."

He snorted. "Getting on my last nerve sometimes, that's what you do, sweetheart."

She knew he was pulling her leg but she couldn't stop the words that followed. It was just too easy to mess with him sometimes. "Well, then I suppose you should just stop calling me."

There was a pause. "Now, you know damn well I could never do that."

She hummed.

He took a deep breath. "Talking to you is what gets me through all this." His voice got lower, almost like a whisper, which made it hard for her to understand him. "Honey, I'm already dreading tomorrow, ya can't imagine."

Mary squeezed her eyes shut as if actually feeling his sudden anguish just through his voice. She didn't even want to imagine the look on his face right now. Whenever reality would set in, it overwhelmed him in an instant. She never really knew how to respond to his complex and seemingly all-encompassing emotional turmoil. "Oh Elvis, I wish I could help you somehow." She mumbled helplessly.

His voice trembled. "...Cherry, I-I gotta see you. I-It's so horrible here, please I have to see you."

Mary still wasn't sure what to make out of the fact that Elvis sometimes nicknamed her after his dog of all things, but she tried to believe that this was just his very unique, strange way of showing affection.

"Elvis... you know I'd love to visit you. But I can't ask my mum to come with me again."

"I-I know, sweetheart. But they won't let me leave. I can't come over." He paused for a second. "I just... I miss you."

She took a shuddering breath. "I miss you too. Terribly."

He groaned and there was a low thud, which made her jump slightly. It sounded like he hit the phone against a wall or something. When he spoke up again his voice sounded strained. "Let me talk to your father, yittle. I need to see you. Y-You can stay at this inn, my father stayed there as well when he visited. The owner, she's a sweet older lady, she'll take care of ya."

Mary pursed her lips. "Well, I guess you can try. I'll also make sure to use my pout on him. Do you think it'll work out?"

"Trust me. I'll make it happen... Love you."

There it was again. He started saying it a few days ago, their phone call now always ending with the same sentiment. Mary wasn't too sure what to make of it. She always told her friends that she loved them. Was this the same thing? It certainly didn't feel the same, the butterflies in her stomach and the lightheadedness she would feel whenever he'd utter those three special words were proof of that. But what exactly did he mean by it? Mary didn't know if she would call it real love yet. Of course she deeply cared for him, but love seemed to be something for grown-ups. Something that she still felt too young for.

"Love you too." She'd still always reply, both out of a weird sense of obligation but also because it did reflect her feelings towards him and she wanted him to know.

He'd always let out a pleased hum before hanging up.

Grafenwöhr, Oberpfalz. One week later.

Mary looked around tentitavely. Everything here seemed to be made out of wood. She tried not too make much noise while walking around, the floorboards creaking with every step she took. The chairs and tables looked carefully crafted, albeit a bit used and discoloured in places. Mary raised an eyebrow when she looked over at the counter at the other side of the room, with various kinds of liquors stacked onto the shelves behind it. All in all this place seemed to be a bar rather than an inn but she quickly decided that she didn't care. Right now she seemed to be the only one here, except for a few faint voices that could be heard from behind the heavy, wooden door next to the counter. Mary pondered what she should do while carefully inspecting the crochet tablecloth in front of her. She even briefly wondered if she was at the right address.

"There she is! My sweet girl." His voice suddenly boomed behind her. With a jump she quickly turned and saw Elvis beaming at her as he approached, determination in his stride. In an instant she felt his arms around her, a feeling that seemed to be almost familiar by now. She leaned against him and hugged him back, her arms around his neck in a tight grip. She pulled him even closer, happy that she could actually feel him again, and he laughed.

When they parted again he smiled down at her, his eyes wandering towards her lips. Mary felt her heartbeat picking up rapidly when he leaned down and pressed his lips against hers in another short, yet incredibly sweet, kiss. She looked at up him, eyes wide open, her cheeks red.

He softly caressed her waist. "Little Cherry came here all alone just to see me. She's best. Been on my mind the whole day now."

She reached up and rubbed her hands over his hard chest with a smile. "It's so good to see you again."

Suddenly the door behind them opened and a kind looking, middle aged woman wearing an apron appeared. She threw a towel over shoulder, her gaze flickering towards Elvis, then her.

Upon seeing the curious look on her face he stepped forward and cleared his throat. "Ma'am, this is Mary. She's my guest."

Her face lit up. "Oh, you're Mary. I am Frau Feiner. It's lovely to have you here. I hope you'll like it, if you need anything just ask me."

"Thank you, that's very kind." Mary nodded with a smile and looked back at Elvis. He guided her towards a nearby table and promptly plopped down onto the wooden chair. Without warning he pulled her onto his lap and gently patted her stomach with a grin. "Come on, sweetheart, ya gotta eat something. Mrs. Feiner here makes the best Schnitzel. Ain't that right?" He hollered over to Mrs. Feiner who was still busy wiping the counter.

"That's true." She replied with a wink and disappeared through the same door she'd come from before.

"That sounds great, now we only need some Schlager music to round it off." Mary joked, eyeing the old jukebox in the corner of the room.

He snorted. "Ya really listen to that?"

"Helga sometimes makes me. It's not that bad actually. But I still prefer that other guy. That rock 'n' roll singer. You know the one we talked about before?"

"The one who's been on TV and everything?"

"Yeah, that's the one!"

"Mhm. You talk a whole lot about him, honey, makes me wonder if I should feel jealous."

His strong arms pulled her closer to him, so that she was now fully leaning against him. He winced a bit at his own action and squeezed his eyes shut with a shake of his head. Mary furrowed her brows and reached out to gently stroke his hair, just how he liked it. "What is it? You're not feeling well?"

He closed his eyes and leaned into her soft touch. "Just a bit tired, honey. And a bit of a headache. Spend the whole day at the Czech border, patrolling."

Her frown deepened. "Oh no, I hope they didn't give too much of a hard time."

"Honey, the thing is I constantly feel like I-I gotta prove my worth or something. Everyone in the Army still thinks I'm a damn joke."

She shook her head. "I only hear good things about you, Elvis. Part of the reason why my father allowed me to come here on my own is because he trusts you to take care of me. Word gets around you're doing a great job serving your country."

"Definitely don't feel like it."

"My father told me he heard that you're always the first one to volunteer if there's a difficult task ahead. Always doing way more than what's asked of you."

He threw up his hands. "That's because I'm trying to do everything in my power to show them that I'm worth my salt. Gotta work ten times harder than any other G.I.!"

She carefully patted his chest, playing with the breast pocket of his jacket. "I know, it's not fair. But it's paying off, believe me. You should be proud of yourself."

He looked down at her fingers, avoiding her gaze. "Don't know."

Mary reached up to cup his chin, forcing him to look at her. "I'll get you there. I'm certainly proud of you."

He furrowed his brows and his eyes briefly welled up before he managed to catch himself again. It seemed like he wanted to say something, his mouth opened and closed multiple time before he swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. He watched her intently for a moment before a half smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "S' good that you're here now. It's balm for the soul I'll tell ya. I already feel so much better. It's like magic." He mumbled and pressed his cheek against hers.

She giggled. "I'm no wizard, Elvis."

"Are you sure?"

She gave herself a once-over. "Last time I checked I wasn't, no."

"Maybe a little fairy then. Far more fitting. Look-wise, I mean. Although-"

"Careful, Presley." She warned jokingly and jabbed a finger against his chest, making him chuckle.

Ms. Feiner then approached them, two plates in her hands and swiftly set them down on the table with a sweet "Enjoy!" before making her way back again. Mary gave him another look and quickly kissed his cheek before sliding out of his lap onto the chair next to him. He playfully narrowed his eyes at her and pulled her chair towards him, making sure their legs were touching under the table. With a giggle she quickly started eating, feeling rather hungry because her nerves had made her skip lunch that day.

"You wanna go to the movie theatre at the base later? I'll invite some friends so I can show you off and then we'll have a nice evening, what do you think?" He asked and gently nudged her with his shoulder.

She slowly blinked at him. Actually she'd hoped to spend the evening alone with him, but the prospect of being 'shown off' sounded intriguing as well. "Uh, sure why not? Sounds fun."

He smiled at her, his mouth full and swalllwed. "Okay sweetheart, then you'll get all fixed up and I'll have someone pick you up in an hour alright? Mrs. Feiner will show you the guest room upstairs and she'll take care of ya, okay?" He lifted his fork to his mouth. "Damn, that's good." He mumbled to himself as if he hasn't eaten in years. After they both finished their plates, when Elvis finished his third portion anyway, he briefly pecked her lips again before heading off to the base again.

Mrs. Feiner took her updtairs and she quickly settled into the small guest room. She decided to call her parents to let them know that everything went well, or she'd never hear the end of it. After that she tried to calm her sudden nerves again. How would Elvis introduce her to of his friends? Who even were they? Fellow soldiers? She just hoped they'd be nice as she combed her hair, her gaze transfixed on the thin layer of snow still covering the window sill.

When she arrived at the training area about an hour later she spotted Elvis standing at the entrance of the movie theatre, along with another man and a small, brunette woman. The enthusiastic smile on Mary's face quickly died when she saw Elvis reaching out to stroke the strange girl's cheek and leaned over to softly kiss her cheek. Mary halted in her tracks, nearly stumbling over her own feet. She couldn't stop the burning feeling of jealousy coursing through her veins at the sight of him being affectionate with another woman. He had a reputation of always being very loving and warm in his interactions with the women in his life, his fans, that's at least what she knew from magazines and his many apperances on TV. But this... seemed more intimate. She didn't like it.

"Come here, Mary!" Elvis shouted and gestured around wildly. The deep breath she took formed a small, misty cloud around her face and she slowly walked towards them, careful not to slip on the frozen cobblestone ground. She tried to ignore the knot in her stomach as her eyes flickered between Elvis and the woman next to him. When she was within reach Elvis grasped her hand and turned back towards his friends. "That's her. Isn't she the cutest thing y'all ever saw?"

"Hello, I'm Elisabeth, it's so nice to meet you!" The brunette spoke up with a polite smile and a light German accent.

Mary tried to force a sweet smile as she shook her hand.

"Mary." She curtly introduced herself. The girl seemed to be nice, at least she made an effort, but Mary just couldn't bring herself to like her, no matter how hard she tried to ignore her personal feelings. She wondered if she was acting childish and tried to control the creeping feeling that maybe she did take her and Elvis' relationship more seriously that he did. Even though this was only their third time meeting each other she knew that no one ever made her feel the way he did and she was certain that no one else ever would. Her thoughts started to spiral for a horrible, incredibly long second before the other man spoke up and held out his hand as well.

"Rex, pleased to meet you."

Mary didn't look at him, her gaze fixated on the stoneground beneath her as she tried to control the chaos in her head. Elvis put his arm around her shoulders with a smile, his body pressing into hers. The feeling of his solid strength so close to her made her feel both grounded and erratic at the same time.

"Are you always this shy, Mary?" Rex inquired with a gentle smile after a few seconds of her refusing to look at him. She then absentmindedly shook his hand before it would get even more awkward.

Elvis let out a little chuckle, his body vibrating against hers. The feeling finally pulled her out of her wicked thoughts. She cleared her throat and tentitavely hugged Elvis as well, her hand gliding over his back. "Well, it's not often that you go out with a world famous celebrity, is it?" She offered and tried to look flustered instead of hurt and confused. With a flick of her wrist she carefully squeezed his side, making him jump slightly.

Elisabeth briefly touched her arm. "Don't be nervous, Mary. He's a nice man. And I should know, we're here together almost every evening." She replied with a genuine, kind smile that was probably meant to calm her.

"Is that so?" she asked and looked up at Elvis, whose face betrayed nothing, a stiff mask displaying nothing but utter neutrality. "Well then there is nothing to worry about I suppose." Mary quipped and leaned further into him.

The four of them made their way inside with Elisabeth and Rex happily chattering and leading the way. Mary barely managed to pay attention to the conversation, but politely nodded along every now and then as Elisabeth kindly linked her arms with hers and pulled her aside a bit, telling her about her stepfather being a sergeant in the Army and how he and her German mother met and got married. Elisabeth then proceeded to share the story of how she and Elvis met at this very movie theatre only a few days ago. Mary kept looking over to him, now apparently deep in a conversation with Rex. When he caught her eye he winked at her and she quickly averted her gaze again.

The auditorium was small and practical, nothing fancy, with seats that didn't look too comfortable and bare, grey walls. "I wanna sit in the back." Elvis announced and leaned in closer to Mary. "What about you, Cherry?" He whispered into her ear about a second later.

"I don't care." She replied, her expression indifferent.

He briefly frowned at her in confusion.

Elisabeth then gestured towards the seats next to her. "What about here?"

Rex nodded and Mary looked at Elvis.

"Come on then, honey." Elvis chimed in and pulled her along with him, towards the back. She turned her head and saw Elisabeth and Rex shrugging at each other as they went to sit down. Well at least she would be alone with him now, she thought as she eyes the last row where no one had sat down yet. Shortly after her and Elvis sat down, she felt him watching her intently, trying to figure out her why she's been acting so strange ever since entering the movie theatre. He was interrupted by a small group of soldiers approaching them, seemingly wanting to sit down next to them.

"Go on, get your own row, damnit!" Elvis shouted over to them, making them look at each other and shuffle away quickly.

He then let out a content sigh and put one arm around her, his hand resting at her neck. He gently smiled down at her and briefly kissed her temple. His soft, tender touches almost made her forget his earlier interaction with the German girl he apparently saw almost every evening. She still felt his gaze burning into her profile and shifted in her seat. He didn't even try to make it subtle, facing her shamlessly instead of the screen. Mary focused on keeping her breathing even and tried to act as normal as possible but despite her best efforts her head eventually turned towards him on it's own. Instead of feeling caught and looking away his eyes lit up and leaned in closer to gently bump his nose against hers.

"You're staring." She whispered.

"What, I'm not allowed to look at the prettiest girl in here?" He grinned.

She hummed, not quite believing what he said.

"What? I'm just saying how it is."

She leaned back and looked straight ahead again.

He cleared his throat. "You know, I can't help but feel like you're, uh, angry with me, honey."

"It's nothing."

His hand around her neck reached out to play with a strand of her hair, gently twirling it between his fingers. "Come on, sweetheart. You think I'm gonna fall for that? I already told ya I know everything there is to know about women."

"Really, it's nothing."

He clicked his tongue in frustration. "Stop being so stubborn. As much as I'd like to read your mind and see what's going on in that pretty little head of yours, I can't. Ya gotta help me a bit. Please, talk to me."

Mary bit her lip and looked away from him, thinking about how she should phrase what exactly bothered her. If she should tell him at all. His fingers now drew comforting circles on her arm and he was uncharacteristically patient while waiting for her to sort out her emotions. "...Alright, uh, I guess... First-" She held up a finger. "-you promised me that you'd call. Every day."

He opened his mouth.

She held up another finger, silencing him. "Second. You said 'no other girls'."

"There are no other girls, just you." He replied without hesitation.

Mary raised an eyebrow at him, her gaze flickering towards the brunette a few rows in front of them and then back to him. He lowered his face and looked at her through his lashes. "Now, don't gimme that look. Elisabeth... she's just a friend. A-And she happens to speak German, which is useful, I reckon. That's all, Cherry. Now, don't spoil the fun and be good, okay?"

She huffed. "I'm not trying to ruin the mood. And I don't want to tell you what you can and can't do. I'm not like that. Just..." She let out an exasperated sigh. "Don't make promises you can't keep."

He turned his body back towards her and gently cupped her cheek. "...A-Alright, I can see why you're mad at me. I-I get it now, trust me... I've neglected you too much. I'll make sure to take care of you more."

"Elvis, that's not-"

He lowered his head and moved to nuzzle his nose against her neck. "Mhm, that's what my widdle baby needs and what she deserves." He whispered, his hot breath ghosting over her exposed skin. It tickled her and she tightly gripped her skirt, the heavy fabric now bunched up in her fists.

"Elvis-"

He rested his chin on her shoulder. "Cherry, you're my best girl, I want you to know that."

Mary sighed and tried not to let her cheek sink into his soft hair. She failed. "...Is that true?"

He hummed and moved closer to her neck again. "S' the gospel truth, honey." With that she felt the feather light brush of his soft lips against her pulse point. She let out a small yelp when he continued peppering soft kisses along her now heated skin. He put one arm around her waist to pull her closer towards him. She could feel him grinning against her when she lifted her chin and angled her head away from him to give him easier access. While he licked, suckled and mouthed at her neck she quickly looked around the dimly lit room, relieved that no one seemed to pay attention to them. Mary had to press her legs together when his hand moved over her jaw, along her neck until it rested just below her clavicle. He could probably feel her heart beating wildly in her ribcage.

"Elvis." She whispered.

He let out a low grunt in response.

"Kiss me."

"I am." He murmured, his voice muffled.

With a playful click of her tongue she promptly moved away from him and his touch, making him whine as he tried to chase after her. She let out a small giggle at his confused face and leaned over to press her lips against his, her fingers brushing over his jaw. He laughed into the kiss before eagerly moving his mouth against hers. His hand grazed over her upper body, back to her clavicle before moving down further. Mary couldn't suppress a small groan when he attempted to slip his tongue inside her mouth and briefly squeezed her breast at the same time.

"You!" She gasped with a grin and gently tugged at his earlobe. He chuckled, his teeth clanking against hers, and boldly squeezed her breast once again. It sent shockwaves of pleasure directly into her lower belly and their lips quickly met again in an open mouthed, heated kiss. He put a hand on her knee and Mary shivered when he moved it higher and higher, fingers digging into her the supple flesh of her thigh. A small sound escaped from the back of his throat, adding to the throbbing sensation she felt. He was now dangerously close her core and just when she thought he'd touch her there and ease some of the ache, he pulled his lips away from her. When they parted they just looked at each other for a moment, both breathing heavily. His hand still soothingly rubbed over her thigh and she swallowed hard.

"All good again?" He asked with a grin, still a bit breathless.

She exhaled shakily. "Sorry, Elvis, it's just, uh, I don't know."

"Tell me, honey."

She shrugged and leaned forward to press her forehead against his. "I guess I don't know why you would want to spend time with me... I'm nothing special." She cringed at herself while saying it out loud, being openly vulnerable with others wasn't something she was particulary fond of. It's not that she didn't trust Elvis, she just preferred to deal with her emotions on her own.

He urgently hugged her closer to him. "Honey, no no no, don't say that. I don't wanna hear any of this nonsense. You have no idea how special you are to me. I-I can always talk to you a-and you never judge me. You're there when I need someone to take care of me."

"I guess." She mumbled, her eyes burning.

"You always cheer me up, honey. Lemme do the same for you now. I don't like seeing you sad. Wanna see that smile again."

She hummed and shrugged, not trusting her voice right now.

He gave her another kiss. This one was slow and sweet, his pillowy lips barely brushing against hers as he held her cheeks in his big, strong hands. Then he went on to pepper her whole face with small kisses until she couldn't stop the grin tugging at her lips. He stopped and gently ran his fingers through her hair and cupped the back of her head.

"There's that pretty smile I love so much." He mumbled.

She let out a watery laugh. "You really know how to make a girl feel good."

He bit his lip with a smile, his eyes twinkling. "Oh, my sweet Cherry, you have no idea."

Also tagging a few people who seemed to enjoy the first two parts. Please let me know if you don't want to be tagged! @godlypresley @18lkpeters @lookingforrainbows @richardslady121 @kingdomforapony @c-rosenn

[ghostxrose]

Of Monsters and Men | Bakugo Katsuki x OC

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four |

Tags/Warnings ~ Fem!OC, angst, hurt/comfort, eventual fluff, enemies to lovers, potentionally triggering content, universe-typical violence, Enji Todoroki (yes, that is a warning, he's trash), character death, (more tags to be added as story develops <3)

Note ~ Loveliiiieeessss!! Let me know what you think of the story so far!! If I'm being totally open with yall this story is my passion project and I'm a bit hyper-focused on it.. but if yall have any xReader ideas/requests don't be afraid to hit that ask button! Obviously, I love writing for Katsuki, but I'm also comfortable writing for Izuku, Shota, possibly Hawks.. If you have a request just send it in and I'll let ya know if I feel I can accomplish writing something up to your expectations! Enough of my rambles, enjoy the read! <3

Enji had managed to keep up his neutral facade despite the bubble of pride that had welled up inside of him at the sight of his daughter piloting his old Jaeger. He even congratulated himself for being correct in his assumption that Azusa and Bakugo would Drift well together. Watching the two exercise perfect control over Bravo Inferno and perform little tricks was admittedly quite entertaining. That was until his bubble of pride was harshly burst by the sound of the system’s AI telling Loccent that the pilots had gone out of alignment.

He watched with masked panic as Iida and Aizawa tried to get the two pilots stabilized again. Fear and embarrassment flooded him when he watched the arms of Bravo Inferno rise, the Jaeger’s palms beginning to glow molten red. Rangers and techs hurried out of the Loccent Command Center as seasoned Rangers cleared the observation platforms just outside.

“Pull the main power line!” Enji had shouted to Aizawa before he could even think about what else to do.

Aizawa was on the task in an instant, pulling at the large cable with all of his might. Finally, with one last grunt of effort, he pulled the plug from the control panel. Enji looked out to the Jaeger, watching with hidden relief as it began powering down. That’s when the anger began settling into his bones.

~~~~~~~~~~

“This is exactly why I wanted to pilot by myself! If she hadn’t gone out of alignment first, then none of that other shit would have happened! You’ve seen my damn sim scores, you know that I would never fuck up like that if it was just me in that Jae-”

“That’s enough, Ranger!” Enji’s sharp tone effectively cuts Bakugo off from his ranting. “You know damn well that you cannot pilot a Jaeger by yourself, no matter how good your simulation scores are-”

Bakugo exasperatedly cuts Enji off, acting like a petulant child, “You’ve done it before! You brought Mighty Endeavor back on your own-”

“Because my co-pilot died! Yes, I finished off that Kaiju and dragged my Jaeger back to the Shatterdome by myself, but I had to because my co-pilot was dead in his harness right next to me.” Enji bites out, anger twisting his features as he steps closer to Bakugo whose mouth is clamped shut with eyes averted to the floor.

“And do you know what happened after I got back from piloting that Jaeger by myself?” Enji asks half rhetorically, but he pauses and waits for an answer anyway, and Bakugo shakes his head.

“I became so sick from the radiation that I was bedridden. My body burned like I was on fire and I could barely keep conscious. For three fucking days, I was like that.” Enji grits out before he releases a tired sigh and partially turns away from Bakugo. “We still do not have the technology to run single-pilot Jaegers, and I refuse to purposefully put any Ranger through what I went through. Marshal Aizawa and I will talk about what happened today and decide what to do about your co-pilot pairing. You are dismissed, Ranger.”

Bakugo bows slightly and, surprisingly enough, leaves without another word. Enji takes a moment to recollect himself, trying to calm the anger racing through his veins, but then there’s a knock at his office door. Crossing his arms to hide his clenched fists, Enji tells the Ranger at his door to come in. The metal door squeaks as it opens and closes, Azusa walking into the office. She doesn’t sit but rather comes to stand a couple of feet in front of Enji. Her face is neutral, but her eyes hold a bit of anxiety among the rage and her anger only aids in fueling Enji’s own.

“Marshal Todoroki, I-” Azusa begins, but Enji doesn’t let her get very far with her sentence.

“What the fuck happened out there, Azusa?!” Enji starts, immediately letting his anger boil over as he lays into her. “You know, one look at your simulation scores would lead anyone to believe that you would be a strong candidate for becoming a pilot! But what I saw happen out there was pathetic and embarrassing! Who would have thought that the Marshal’s daughter would pull a fucking stunt like that causing another Ranger to fail! You let your co-pilot down today, Azusa! You let me down! You were an embarrassment to every single one of the Rangers observing!”

By this point, Enji is too caught up in his anger to even realize that Azusa has started silently crying in front of him. He can’t stop himself from yelling, can’t stop himself from spitting venomous comment after venomous comment. Deep down, very deep down, he knows that she didn’t do anything substantially wrong, but his pride and his ego won’t let him quiet down.

“What you displayed out there today was that you are no better than the Rangers that just got dropped here from boot camp! No child of mine would have made such an embarrassment out of the Todoroki name like that! You almost caused hundreds of deaths and millions of dollars in damages! Do you realize that?!” Enji spits, his shouting echoing off of the walls of his office as Azusa cowers in front of him.

What Enji says next slips too fast from his mouth to stop in time and he regrets them as soon as the words are spoken, “Toya would be incredibly disappointed in you! You don’t even deserve to pilot Bravo Inferno!”

A sharp gasp knocks some reality back into Enji along with the weight of the words he just shouted into his daughter’s face, and he looks down at her. Horrified shock fills her features as much as it does his, but sharing his shock is immense guilt. Enji is at a loss for words as he tries to think of how to take back or amend what just flew from his mouth. Floundering, he just stares at Azusa’s tear-soaked face, her hurt practically palpable in the air around them.

“Azusa, I-I didn’t mea-”

“Don’t.” She states quietly, making Enji’s words die in his throat. “I-I understood you loud and clear, M-Marshal. Permission to be dismissed, Sir?” Her voice is strained as she speaks and she’s just barely able to stand up straight and look Enji in the eye. All Enji can do is nod since the lump in his throat won’t let him speak.

He watches helplessly as she flees from the room, the door slamming shut behind her. Stunned by his own behavior, Enji slowly moves around his desk to sit down. Leaning forward to rest his elbows on the desk, he buries his face in his hands. He doesn’t know how he’s even going to attempt to fix this kind of fuck up. He isn’t sure that Rei will be able to soothe over the hurt that he’s caused. She may not even be willing to offer him advice on the situation, not that he would blame her.

Enji spends more than a few minutes recollecting himself before calling Aizawa to his office. He’s exhausted now, all of his anger replaced by insurmountable guilt. He let his ego, his pride over his esteemed reputation, win just like so many other times in the past. Enji is the one who let Toya down today, not Azusa, and he fears that he really won’t be able to get his daughter back now.

Knocking pulls Enji out of his spiraling thoughts and he clears his throat before telling Aizawa to enter.

Aizawa enters the room quietly, closing the door behind him before he makes his way over to the chair in front of Enji’s desk. Aizawa just stares at the man for a few moments before letting out his famous tired sigh.

“What happened today was nobody’s fault, Enji. We both know that the chances of something like that happening during a team’s first Drift is highly possible. I’m just surprised that it didn’t happen with more of the other teams.” Aizawa says as he leans back in the chair, tipping his head back and closing his eyes.

At Enji’s silence, Aizawa decides to move the conversation forward himself, “So did either of them request a different co-pilot? I’m sure we can switch the teams around, make it work.”

“No,” Enji utters exhaustively, deciding to end his silent brooding. “Bakugo just requested, yet again, to pilot by himself but I sorted that out already. We’ll keep Azu- Ranger Todoroki and Ranger Bakugo as co-pilots for Bravo Inferno, but we won’t send them out on any deployments until they go through a few more trial Drifts.” He states as he clasps his hands and rests his chin on them.

Aizawa straightens up in his seat, raising a questioning eyebrow at him, “I know that I kind of just advocated for them, but are you sure you don’t want to try putting them with other Rangers? I witnessed, just as you did, that they have the potential to work well together, but if they go out of alignment again and neither of them can bring the other back.. They won’t make it out in the field like that, Enji.”

“That’s why we’ll have them run through a few more trial Drifts. If this was a one-off type of situation, then they’ll be just fine. And if it happens again, we’ll either see if they can bring each other out of it or we’ll pair them off with other pilots.” Enji firmly states with a bit of frustration.

Aizawa relents with a sigh, scrubbing a hand over his face, “Fine. I’ll have their Jaeger sent to one of the Bays with less foot traffic so that when they try again tomorrow there’s less of a chance for catastrophe if something goes wrong again.” He says as he types out the message on his tablet, then sends it to the crew in the Shatterdome.

Aizawa then looks up at Enji, the man being able to read him like a book after working with him for so long, “So how hard were you on her?” His tone is knowing but free of any real judgment.

“Too hard.” Enji admits reluctantly before continuing, “I said things that I shouldn’t have.. I wouldn’t blame her if she honest to god hates me now.” He finishes quietly.

“Well, I don’t know shit about parenting, so it’s up to you to figure out how to fix it, but do you want me to go talk to her?” Aizawa offers with tired nonchalance.

The perpetually exhausted man has worked with Enji for so long that Azusa along with her siblings sees Aizawa as family, or a mentor at the very least. Azusa has always gone to Aizawa if she needed to talk through some stuff, especially after Toya’s passing. So, Enji ponders the offer for a minute, thinking that it may help Azusa to have someone to talk to after what all just went down.

“It’s up to you, Shota,” Enji says with a long sigh. “She may not want to talk to anyone right now.” He says with defeat, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his hands over his face.

“Well, I’ll try stopping by her bunk, knock a few times, and if she doesn’t answer then I’ll leave her be,” Aizawa says as he stands up, wincing a bit when his knees crack loudly. “Try not to spend all day cooped up in here, Enji. Go get something to eat, scare the new Rangers, just anything to get you out of this office.”

Aizawa’s attempt at humor doesn’t do much to pull Enji out of his self-loathing, but he appreciates it all the same, “See you later, Shota.”

Shota leaves with a half-assed wave and Enji is left alone with his thoughts, once again. He thinks about stopping by the family bunker to see Rei, hoping that Azusa hasn’t talked to her yet so that he can have a few moments of peace with his wife before he tells her himself about just how badly he messed up this time.

Note ~ Lemme know if there are any tags I should add! I love and appreciate you, Lovelies! <3

Taglist ~ @sweetblueworm

[akela-nakamura]

Akela how much bodily harm would you cause me if I asked about 'Damnit Susi 5 for Akela' 😛

You're a little shit and I should have predicted this.

I haven't opened that doc since you sent it to me and now.

Now I have to actually remember what that was? Rude.

opens doc

oh. Oh fuck right.

DAMMIT.

Alright, so this is the "What if Walker took over Arkham Asylum and simultaneously made it both better and worse." idea. That's not the exact prompt but it's what it boils down too.

(OG prompt, from Tourettesdog is this:  Sick of hearing how frequently inmates escape Arkham (from the ghosts of their victims), Walker decides to take management of the facility into his own hands)

I haven't opened this doc in a bit, nor thought about it, so the thoughts on how this would go are still very vague. But I imagine that Walker starts out pretty reasonable. As far as like. Ghosts go. He hasn't been in the human realm is SO LONG and he knows the Rules are different here but obviously whatever Rules govern Arkham they aren't working.

So he makes better ones. Rules can be adjusted based on the place and he's not dumb enough to apply Ghost Zone Rules to a living realm facility.

But the major problem is Walker runs a prison. And Arkham is supposed to be an asylum. They are not one and the same. At the end of the day, Arkham is sort of set up to try and rehabilitate and release.

And like. Walker's not thinking of that. Or used to that. Ghost Zone prison sentences may not for like, eternity, but they are usually far longer than any human lifetime.

You add in the stories he's heard of these people, and he's not real inclined to let them go.

Unsure how Danny would fit in yet. Whether he's moved to Gotham and gets Sus when no one's heard from a Villain in...weeks or if he hears some GZ gossip and has to go see what's happened now.

Either way, Arkham is very different. Many people were fired (The amount of bribery happening in this place, holy hell) and the inmates are finding it damn near impossible to bribe these new guards. Or wait for them to fall asleep. Or just get bored.

(Which isn't to say you can't bribe a ghost, but I don't think Arkham inmates would have what any of these ghost guards want lol)

Anyway, chaos would ensue. Because it's one of my WIPs.

I hope you enjoyed the ramble. It's not completely thought out yet.

If y'all want to see a list of my WIPs, here you go:

WIP Tag Game

[madness-of-void]

The Cosplay Progress (?)

Okay...I'm doing it. I'm showing off the hot mess of progress of the possibly decent, or absolutely hot garbage, cosplay of my version of human!Ink. I do have a nice chunk of the items for the cosplay - just gotta put it together. Most of the putting together can be done in a day, and I have until July to finish it all, soooo...we'll see how this goes! ^^;

Now I'll just post updates maybe every other day, or once a week, since I do have most of it in hand. And it will all be under the cut, since it'll long as fuck. So, without further ado, let's begin, shall we?

First off, this is probably the most ambitious cosplay I've ever done. Normally I do something easy. Examples: Stiles from TW, casual Keith from VLD, and recently (for Halloween) genocide route Frisk. debating on positing what garbo pics i have of those

Flowerfell!Frisk? Probably the most complex I've done, and only because I had to have help make a flower crown, actually use fabric glue for the flowers and little heart on the shorts and flower on the mask , painted up a random prop stick I had lying around no idea why i had that , and did a little bit of faint make-up. And ended up with this:

bad pic i know but it's all i got of the full thing where i don't look like a drowned rat coz goddamn it was hot af

So after that, for some damned reason, I decided it would be a GREAT idea to do a difficulty jump and do Ink! Yaaaaay...I'm so smart. I have been looking at this as a reference for what I need mostly coz i had it saved on my phone already , which has been both motivation to get this done...but also a little intimidating. But I'm already too far into this. Can't back out now!

Anyways, enough rambling! Let's start with the first update on this silly thing!

HOODIE

So, firstly, I already had my eye on the Ink hoodie from Simakai (I'll properly tag once the whole thing is done). I already have the Underfell one that I used for my Flowerfell!Frisk cosplay. I also have the Outertale hoodie, bi pride hoodie, and ace pride hoodie all from Simakai! They are all amazing hoodies, and I actually just bought Epic's hoodie from their new shop! Definitely check them out! They're comfy, well made, and I'll admit I wear my Outertale and Underfell hoodies out sometimes.

The pic doesn't do it justice (hence all the millions of links above), but tada! The hoodie! My biggest worry is maybe tripping on the scarf, but I think I can manage. place your bets coz my ass clumsy

Also, there is a little surprise in it!

Twas quite the laughing jumpscare when I was messing with the pockets.

And that's it for update 1! Stay tuned for more. >:3

~+~

Update 2 time!

Apologies for how garbage the pics are for this part. Space was a mess at the time, and I'm too lazy to redo it. With that out of the way...let's ramble!

PANTS

So, next to the sash for the vials, this was surprisingly the hardest thing for me to find. I couldn't find anything that looked "just right". The first pair that I bought did look just right...but the color was way off. Way too bright from what was advertised. Took me a while to find another pair, and I actually bought two more. one of which i may use for a ftfo!ink Now, the next pair is the right color...but it's just a nice pair of sweats/joggers. Which is a bit of a bummer, but seeings how I cannot sew/make a full blown pair of pants (can barely sew at all), and my stepmom (who can sew) isn't that insanely skilled, they will have to do.

Here is a pic of the pants side-by-side coz for the longest time I was going to go with the first pair I bought. But after putting it together with the top...no. Just...no. Did not look good. You'll have to take my word for it.

And before you ask, yes. I will have assistance sewing on the little suspenders. That will be two separate posts on their own in the future! It won't be just plain brown pants.

So that's it for update 2! Stay tuned for more! if you want i ain't forcing ya lols

~+~

Update number 3! Wooooo!

And it is actually really boring.

Like...royally boring. sorry?

GLOVES

So these were a bit easy to get. Granted, I did buy two pairs, because I couldn't decided initially. It was only after trying them on that I could make a decision.

They are a bit long, but I can live with that. especially coz I am not planning on doing the tatts, that would end terribly And, yes, they are missing that little piece on the pinky. Just like the pants are missing the suspenders. And just like with those, I will be having assistance sewing that piece on!

I could show you want I have of that, but I'm planning on making that one big update.

Okay! That's it! Stay tuned for update 4!

~+~

Update 4! Not another exciting one again. The more exciting ones will slowly trickle in. depending on what you define as exciting

Anywho! Update 4!

SHOES

Yes. Shoes. I know our favorite souless bean doesn't wear shoes anymore...but I have to. No need to get my toes all messed up! Especially at this convention center. Walking around there can be a nightmare! Closed toed or not. 😭

Anyway!

Shoes!

They were sadly kind of expensive, but these were the closest I could find that kind of fit for what I was going for and i looked at custom ones first. Plus, I will be wearing these outside of the cosplay. So I get shoes for cosplay, and shoes for whenever I wanna wear them - a win-win.

But, one more thing! I will also I guess ruin them, in a way. How will I ruin them? Well...I was thinking of adding more splatter to them. Plus, see that pesky logo? Welp...I also had an idea for that.

And I'll just leave this update at that. >:3

~+~

Update 5! Long time coming, I know. But a lot of what I have left are bigger pieces that have a few extra things I gotta do, and I just haven't been focused on doing them. But since I'm actually going to finish this one this weekend, I decided to show the unfinished product. With that being said, here we go!

VIALS

These were actually so hard to find! I couldn't find anything that worked! And I originally started looking during the Halloween season, too! When these type of things would be more around. But everything was either way too big or just straight up decorative glass. Which...yeah. Would not do!

Eventually, after searching for ages, I found these on Etsy.

They're originally for necklaces, which, even though they are glass, they're hopefully a tad more sturdy. And, if things work out, I'll have a perfect way to keep them in the sash! We shall see.

I also found these!

Figured it would be fun to have little earrings on human!Ink.

Now, for the paints in the vials, I was having a hard idea what to do. Part of me wanted to put real paint in there. Yeaaaaah...probably not the best idea. But I finally figured it out, and I'll be working on it this weekend!

Stay tuned for the final look!

~+~

[bluepluto03]

can i get a director's cut on your trolls meta fic (the one where they watch trolls)?

anon i appreciate this ask very much tyyyyy

the fic mentioned here is past hurts, future plans, meta jokes, and poppy is fed up w/ creek's bs- which i have dubbed 'trolls meta insanity' for tagging reasons, bc i obviously tend to have titles that are wayyyy too long

speaking of titles the title is kinda sorta a reference to the title of my other 'the gang watches the show fic', secrets, reveals, meta jokes, and twilight's skyrocketing blood pressure, which is a spy x family fic that i am also very behind on. both fics follow the same naming conversation of 3 things you will find in the fic + one expression of stress from one of the main characters, bc i am a nerd who likes to connect things like that

i have a real love for "the characters watch their own show" fics as a concept, for two main reasons. one, i think the concept of being trapped in a room with the people you care about, and knowing that all of your secrets are about to be revealed, and there is no way for you to stop it, is such a damn fascinating concept.

most react fics ive read have the characters just kinda go along with it, and i understand why! it's much easier and you kinda just wanna jump right into the thing everyone is here for. and i honestly didn't intend for my own fics to spend so much time with the characters just struggling to accept their situations. but also i think the moments of them panicking are intresting and i did my best to make them fun, even if they go on a bit longer than i intended

the other thing i love about the concept is how deeply meta it is. seeing your own life as a TV show or movie, watching your own life and the lives of your loved ones from the outside.... do you, as a character, agree with how things are framed? how do you react to seeing the worst parts of yourself on display and knowing that you can't refute them because they're right there.

obviously not all of those are in the fic yet, ive been busy with real life and very behind on writing all of my fic series >~<.

at some point or another i decided i wanted to make some original scenes for them to react to (obviously also not in the fic yet) especially for Branch's brothers and for Viva, bc otherwise it feels a bit lopsided. for a bit i was considering going through brozone's original scenes first (where i had them each temporarily going Grey for various amounts of time) butttt i figured i'd already taken long enough to get into the damn movie so for now those moments have been delayed

the other part of meta stuff i enjoy is just the bits that dance with forth wall. i think Bluto the troll as a character is a pretty good example of that lol. i have a bunch of rambling about them in the notes of that fic, but just having a character that's basically like a story element that gained sentience and really isn't sure if they like it was just a really fun character to mess around with. i already have a small arc for them in mind and i know they're going to choose a new name for themself, although i haven't quite figured out what that name will be

anyway! i think i've rambled enough but if you or anyone else has any other questions on any of my fics, please let me know! i could literally go on for ages lol

[wiseatom]

The end of the year is near! Give a shoutout to your favorite blogs and tag them to spread positivity before the year ends! (from: a secret anon)

ALMOST FORGOT 2 DO THIS LITERALLY RUNNING AND SHAKING AND SWEATING!!! i am putting this under a read more so that i don’t clog the dash but you can catch me in 4k for the second time tonight below the cut:

yes i just rambled abt some of these people. no i do not care. starting with people i have probably interacted with enough to be weird about:

@bylertruther - HI DENISE IT’S ME AGAIN. denise bylertruther my one true love…my first mutual fr fr….ii have screenshots of every nice thing you’ve ever said to me (real) (not clickbait). i hope tht i am in top fans on your blog bc if i am not that is a crime but i’ll do better denise i swear i will. grabs you by the shoulders and shakes you so gently I AM OBSESSED W YOU U HAVE NO IDEA. every take is so true and real and i am constantly in awe like damn ok maybe i should be watching this show like denise bylertruther is. The strongest byler soldier imo and simultaneously every single person on the frontline for will byers. i know they said no new charas in s5 but i think they should really and truly reconsider that stance just so that they can write you into the show bc 1. you deserve it n 2. i want to see mike wheeler bark at u for daring 2 talk 2 will. ty for being correct always and so funny. i am biting you every day and reiterating that every fic i write is actually for you, the Original wiseatom stan,

@andiwriteordie - i say this with all the love and affection and positive connotation in the world, but andi, you are THE most insane person i have ever met, and i am obsessed with you. you are such a pleasure to talk to and bounce ideas off of and just be absolutely batshit insane with, and you are?? crazy talented?? literally SO creative, and your willpower is so admirable 2 me. the amount of fics you churn out is impressive on its own, but the fact that every single one of them is so beautifully written and makes me cry?? even when it’s fluff??? you are also, of course, one of the first fic authors i read for byler - i remember reading the let’s hear it for the boys series on lunch breaks at work over the summer and just like. being obsessed with the way you wrote them and how real it felt, like i was reading from the show. i have done jumping jacks reading your fics. it’s embarrassing. i will continue to do jumping jacks reading your fics. it will continue to be embarrassing. anyway the point is i cherish you and your fics and our friendship so much! punting you into the sun bc i cannot bear to look at you anymore!

@astrobei - suniiii suni suni SUNNNNIIIII. my orange creamsicle my taco bell cheesy roll up my bread puddinggggg. i don’t think i hav ever connected w a person as quickly as we have connected. like wtf we are just. the same person in different fonts n it’s cruel tht we live 3000 miles away bc i just want to wrap you up in my bindle n carry you every where i go. my real n true little sister. thank you for having an aneurysm every time i send u a snippet and for telling me tht i am funny because i need the attention. with that said i would also like to say that i have an aneurysm any time i read ANYTHING you write and you are also SO funny. ty for pioneering cringefail losercore byler and just like. breathing so much life n love into your fics. every single one is just a little love letter to stranger things n i am so thankful for the ones i’ve read and can’t wait to catch up and then immediately go on a 35 mile drive abt it.

@bookinit02 - i would like to state, on the record, that before i knew haven bookinit, i read baby we’re perfect and had such a breakdown over it that i literally blacked it out in my mind. like, i was reading it in line at the starbucks at work, and i was crying in the starbucks at work, in front of guests, n then i went back to my office w my little coffee and cried some more and ERASED IT FROM MY MIND. imagine my surprise when i put two and two together that sweet ball of sunshine haven is the author of the fic tht FUCKED ME UP SO BAD. i reread it the other day n sobbed like a little baby. but haven genuinely you are so talented and your fics feel so Easy, like they just are so in character and feel so Right. i can’t wait until you are a published author one day so that i can build a house out of copies of your book. you deserve the WORLD and i will not stop until it is urs.

@smoosnoom - mooooooOOOON my petri dish pal my eggo waffle supreme thing tht el eats i am biting u so hard. i kno that u know this already but you are literally so talented. lightning struck my house and also me when you hit post on i’m tearing you asunder and neither of us have been the same since. you just have such a distinct prose tht is so poetic and crafted so beautifully and uniquely and i am absolutely in awe every time i read it. u are also just so interesting to talk to like the way your brain works is so fun and cool and i lov being silly with you! i am tying you to a rocket w bert n ernie plushes n sending you to the Actual moon bc u belong up there w the stars (bert n ernie are for company so u don’t get sad and they have walkies in them so we can communicate from space which i think is cool). brb buying sidewalk chalk n transcribing all of ur fics in my driveway

@byeler - irene i know we have interacted a handful of times so you can block me after this if you want <3 but i just wanted to say that your fics were The first i Ever read for byler and i was just. completely shook. i have been reading fanfiction for over a decade and have read fic for ~30 fandoms so i have Been around the block before and there’s this feeling when you find an author that is just. Checking Every Box and you are It, irene. i remember i had to pace myself w the fics you had bc i didn’t want to run out bc it would devastate me. i already said this to you but i can’t wait to read heavy hopes when i am not dying/afraid of plagiarizing before i finish cmbcyb. also every time we have interacted has been an absolute delight, even when it has been bitching abt twitter lol. i think you are so great and i am Going to absorb your ao3 account into my skin. no there is nothing you can do about it. deal!

@miwism - MAL MALMAMALAMAMAAMLAMAMALAMLAMAL. i am going to ask you a question n i want it answered fr i expect a 20 page paper on my desk by monday: who gave you the RIGHT. you are a triple threat in my mind w fic and art n edits and being the funniest fucking person on this godforsaken site. you make me laugh SO MUCH while also making me completely in awe tht a person who is so cool and fun decides to kick it w us Losers. if i were to write you an actual report card i would give you straight As across the board: A+ fic, A+ art, A+ edits, A+ humor, A+ theories, A+ shitposts. comments: a pleasure to have in class. i would literally die for you. i’m serious. i will buy the headstone rn don’t think i won’t. i’ll fax u the receipt. ok great.

@mlchaelwheeler - SARAH. listen i kNOW we don’t talk that much but also i think we have interacted enough on the dash for me to be weird n say that you are That Mutual to Me. like i remember when you followed me i was internally scrambling like ok boys we gotta clean this place up gotta make things nice and pretty for sarah mlchaelwheeler. your analysis is SO GOOD and i aspire to have a brain as big as yours. you are such a delight and positive presence on my dash and when you’re online i’m like ok cool sarah is here everything is going to be excellent. i also want u to know that i think of you every time i watch rink o mania sad wilted will trailing behind mike bc of your icon. Your Impact, Sarah Mlchaelwheeler (ALSO UR URL WTF. ICONIC)

segwaying to people who i think are So Cool and i am Very Normal about:

@finalgirlbyers - sierra u are so funny to me it’s insane, and also, Always Correct. sometimes u post things n i’m like damn i didn’t think tht three minutes ago but sierra finalgirlbyers said it so it must be tru. i am drinking whatever koolaid u are serving, i am part of the hive mind, i would join a cult if u asked, etc, etc. every day i say thank god sierra is fighting the good fight n not a diseased m*lvn!

@elekinetic - ella u are so cool to me fr fr. i need to sit down and just devour your script tag and blow up your notifications bc every single one i’ve read hITS SO HARD. u literally never miss and i want you in the writer’s room sooooo fucking bad SOOOO BAD. more than anyone else. i also just rly appreciate the perspective tht u bring with your education and knowledge of tv and film. it’s so cool and always really appreciated!!

@heroesbyler - stav i think you are so cool and also correct literally all of the time. another one where i’m like oh stav said it guess it simply must be true! just every single post hits and i think tht you are so fun to have on my dash. tht is all. also i am biting you.

@miwiluvr - MOUMO U ARE SO COOL N TALENTED N EVERY TIME U REBLOG ONE OF MY FICS I LITERALLY DIE. if i never am able to post again it’s miwiluvr’s fault everyone…but fr ur art is so soft and just gorgeous and natural looking and i want to eat it with my mouth. thank u.

@nnilkyway - speaking of art i want to eat w my mouth - yvie omfg. you are literally so talented n when i followed you n you immediately followed back i had 2 sit down on the floor of the stranger things experience in los angeles california n that just felt so fitting somehow. ty for providing me w the mitski bangers i needed. also we are best friends in my head sry but it’s true so ur just going to have to deal with that.

@modsisawesome - more art i want to eat w my MOUTH. WTF. expect me to blow up ur notifs in a few days or weeks or whenever i have time i can’t make promises BUT EXPECT IT WHEN U DON’T EXPECT IT BECAUSE. UR ART IS SO SOFT AND REAL AND FUN AND I AM OBSESSED W IT AND U. i kno i declared us best friends n then fell off the face of the earth but tht is still true. bother me any day of the week i will respond probably tht same day of the week bc i think u are so cool.

@light-lanterne - angel you are so cool and i am so in awe of u every day. first of all your graphics are absolutely beautiful and please direct anyone who says otherwise directly to my askbox bc i will tear them a new one. second of all i think you are The biggest supporter of the byler fic writers and i am just so thankful for that and so appreciative of what you do. i am going to fight for my life to carve out time in the new year to read your fics they are at the Top of my list bc i want to show you just as much love and support as you have shown us!! thank you!!!

@new-ronantics - eevie i have such a crush on your art it is insane. everything you put out just has so much life and fluidity and looks so natural and i know how hard it is to achieve tht so i am just in awe of your talent. also your url is top tier and you are so so funny and every time you are online i am saying THANK GOD EEVIE IS HERE!!!!

@messrsbyler - nic i want to get to kno you better bc i have seen tht u are evil and dark minded and i am also evil and dark minded so i think we would get along so well. let me know when u want to be evil and dark minded bc i am always free to be evil and dark minded. thanks .

ok i have the memory of a goldfish and i am also so tired and also should really honestly truly be writing fic BUT i am so sorry if i forgot abt anyone!! if i did it’s probably just bc i am Afraid of u or we are so new mutuals. pls everyone bother me in the new year and then i will spend all year writing novels abt u for december 31 2023. ok goodbye <3

[fainthedcherry]

Posting 2 shiptobers bc I left off at day 12, skipping 11 I think it was or 10 for now, bc 4 characters are BIT much for a single day until crap hit the fan w/ lacking time to draw due to my IRL job adfskjfodslg,,

Day 6 - Baking and / or cooking (Anisa & Mark ft. THE ULTIMATE BBY, Marco)

Day 7 - Giving / Receiving kisses (Chiri and my own design of Jackson Jekyll from Monster High, that is a combination of my own stuff, inspiration from fan-re-designs and also Hollowed-Hartlocke's redesign more heavily!)

I FORGOT TO MENTION ON THE PRIOR POST, THAT THE SHIPTOBER LIST I'M USING IS ALSO FROM MY FRIEND, HOLLOWED-HARTLOCKE ON DEVIANTART!!! Go check it out, in casee you wanna do it next year or somth, god knows I won't finish mine like I know myself jkgjksdg

I'M NOT GONNA SAY MUCH AS I'M DRAWING AS WE SPEAK WHILST I POST THIS AND EQUALLY TRYING TO POST TO INSTA RN LMAO. Tags take the longest and I damn tags for existing to hell for it sdflksdglkds. CATCHING UP IS VERY VERY DIFFICULT.

BUT I WANNA SAY I'VE NEVER REGRETTED DRAWING CHIBIS TO CATCH UP EASIER AND FASTER. SO I MIGHT JUST DO A CHIB-POCALYPSE TO CATCH UP UNTIL DAY 15. I set my goal to possibly catch up to day 15 but let it be after that or else Ill start to stress myself which is a BAD idea sdfklsdlkg

LET'S HOPE I WILL CATCH UP THO. I AM INBETWEEN THAT PUTTING TOO MUCH EFFORT INTO INKDRIANTOBER. The moment I got nothing to post for, I'm getting out the inkdriantober posts sdfklsdlg

I'LL LEAVE YOU WITH SHARING A POSITIVE THING; I actually heavily adore my Jackson redesign, even if y'all are only seeing it in chib-form sdflksklgds, I COULD post my monster high doodle refs after this, bc it'd be neat to attract some monster high lovers, I can just discuss w/ on who's the best ghoul out there, no matter the gen LMAO. Maybe some posts of my Jackson doll that arrived a good while ago might also help attract an audience I'd love to talk and banter with, and draw for even, if some day I'll be recognized enough, to do those fun Tumblr asks, I wanted to do since I'm a teenager!!! IT'D BE A DREAM TO DO TUMBLR ASKS ABOUT CANON CHARACTERS OR OCS. I love Tumblr asks so much, the best fandom stuff spawns out of them, ngl...

Btw my Jackson redesign is based on G1..But that might be obvious to- already Monster High fans LOL, but to those who don't know, MH is split into 3 gens, and gen 3 has no Jackson yet. Some people say, that Komos IS Jackson but Iiii doubt that sdfklsdlgk, ANYWAY I GOTTA HURRY AND GET BACK TO ART SORRY FOR RAMBLING I HAVE TOO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT.

[arctic-hands]

I learned what a bullet journal was by watching a few YouTube artists set theirs up and my algorithm spiraled out of control from there so I guess I have all the bujo influencers to thank for getting into it because it has been a godsend so far on my third attempt, but damn if the over emphasis on aesthetic over the actual practical organizational aspect of it doesn't rankle me a bit

[thirty rambling tags later] huh. I didn't know there was a thirty tag limit in all the years I've been on tumblr. Whatevs I can't copy paste the tags onto the main body because I'm on mobile and I don't want to write it out again so I'll just summarize the last bit here:

If you are browsing the bujo tag because you feel bullet journaling will help you but you feel intimated because you don't think you can make it look pretty, or that the bullet journal method could never help you because it looks exhausting or the inspo you see doesn't cover what you need, I am pleading with you to ignore all the pretty inspiration, take the most common and even original Ryder Carroll formats and spreads with a grain of salt and eliminate or change them as needed, and talk to people who have similar needs than you even if they don't bujo and suss out what's important to keep track of. My bujo is eighty percent important medical bullshit, because that's what I need more than a book tracker. You prolly have your own unique needs. And hell, if you want a book tracker then add a booktracker. It's your bujo to format and plan out.

So like if you want to start bullet journaling, go to Michaels and get a seven dollar Artist's Loft dot grid journal. Or a binder you have left over from school years past and print out your own dot grid paper if you have enough ink and paper and printer that can do double sided (Kevin McLeod's site I forget the name of has free adjustable dot and other grids I've used), or buy a pack of 8.5x11 dot grid paper, and grab a crappy hole punch that just barely does the job. Get yourself a nice pen you think looks and feels nice in your hand and on the paper–or if that doesn't matter to you go get pack of Bics or even pencil if that's what you prefer (I use a pencil for things I can't have be permanent, like temporary meds or the dates of yearly vaccines). If you're twitchy about messing up then get the cheapest wite out they have (but don't worry about messing up especially if you're not even showing it off to anybody). A cheap yellow highlighter if you think it'll help. And a ruler if straight lines are important to you. I lost mine so I just wobble my lines now I don't care (and it's marginally easier to get a line adjacent to straight with a dot grid)

Anyway. If you want to bullet journal but don't know where to start or how to make it pretty or how to make it work for your needs, just try it in the cheapest way possible and rearrange the guts of the bujo as you see fit. And don't worry about the optics as long as you can make sense of your methods and writing.

(and for the love of God if you're bipolar don't make an hourly mood tracker yes our moods can and will fluctuate throughout the day but goddamn was that a bitch to log and abandoned a few weeks after inking it out)

[jenanigans1207]

any advice for imposter syndrome while writing fic? i know i’m writing for myself at the end of the day, and i do love the idea of posting on ao3 but i feel like nothing i write will ever be good enough to post 😭

So, I'll be honest here in saying that imposter syndrome is a bitch and also doesn't listen a lot to reason.

That being said, for me, I usually try to spend a lot of time reasoning with it and then I force myself to do it anyways. I know that people love reading multiple fics with the same trope, so I shouldn't feel bad about writing a common idea. I know that different writing styles are what bring life to a fic and set it apart from every other fic. I know that I love reading different writing styles, different takes on characters. So why wouldn't other people feel the same? I know that there's always room for improvement, and I can't beat myself up for realizing that I may write this fic differently if I were to sit with the idea and write it some time in the future.

It's a lot of knowing and that knowing comes from a lot of experience on being on the other side of the fic-- being the reader. Like I said, I love seeing different takes on the same characters, seeing people place different reasoning behind the same actions, or give different repercussions to something. It's interesting, it keeps me invested, i love to see it. I love certain tropes (mutual pining, anyone?) to the point that I will read damn near anything with those tropes/tags so I'm thrilled beyond belief when someone new provides me with another fic that I know I'll enjoy. I don't sit there and go "another one?" I get excited for more content that I love.

It's also a lot of knowing that comes from experience as the writer. I will die on the hill that is the fact that we will always be harsher on our own work than anyone else. And that we can't really appreciate how our work will come across to others because we're so close to it. It's hard to see it as something other than a compilation of sentences that you had to struggle through. It's hard to read a sentence that has a word you're not quite satisfied with and think of the impact of the sentence instead of what the fuck is the word I'm trying to remember? I've written enough in my life to know that those things don't ever go away, as much as I'd love to tell you they do. But it does mean that other people won't think of my writing as negatively as I do because they have fresh eyes and no previous association to what they're reading. We don't have that luxury, so it's hard for us to see.

But no matter how much I know these things, no matter how much i experience them from both sides of the fic-- I still have to hype myself up sometimes to post, too. And yeah, sometimes I go "what's the worst that could happen?" and that's enough to give me the guts. Sometimes I remind myself that people haven't liked my writing before and I've survived, so I'd survive if it happened again.

But I will tell you this-- there is nothing more rewarding that someone leaving you a comment about how much something you wrote touched them. While I am a firm believer that we write for ourselves, there is no denying the connection that is made between writer and reader, and there's no denying the impact on the author when a reader is touched by their work. It's this sort of breathtaking feeling, knowing that you poured some of your heart into something and someone found value in that.

I have read many fics that have pulled me out of dark places in my life and given me a reason to get up every new day. And the knowledge that something I wrote might be that for someone else is often enough for me. Even if one person finds joy in what I wrote, it's worth putting it out there. We write for ourselves, sure, but we share it for other people.

And I don't really know if this is helpful at all or just a lot of rambling. But I guess if I had to summarize, I'd say this: imposter syndrome sucks and doesn't listen to reason. Try to reason with it anyways. Remind it that people want this. Hell, talk to your friends about what you're writing so they can want it first! Having someone close to you, someone trusted share your enthusiasm goes a long way. I've only scraped to the end of projects because of my friends many times in the past. So reason with it. Remind it that people want this, that people will enjoy it. Let people in your life tell you that they want it and enjoy it. Remind yourself the benefit that fic has had in your life and then tell yourself that you'll be giving that same benefit to someone else's life. Think of the rewarding feeling of people loving what you write. Remind yourself that the internet is kinder to you than you are to yourself (hard to believe, I know).

And if all of that fails, say that it's perfectly fine to be scared and just choose to do it scared. In my experience, the first time is always the hardest. So close your eyes and press post and know that it gets easier from there, every single time you do it. And allow the world to help you fight that imposter syndrome.

Your work will improve your fandom. It will provide happiness. It will fulfill people, get people to talk about it, share it, reread it when they're having a bad day. This isn't speculation. I am absolutely certain of it. No fandom gets worse with more content made lovingly. So write it for yourself, and then post it for other people and know that it get easier and that it's worth it.