#bc it’s easier than admitting he misses his brother !!!

[romanarose]

Hi Roman! Loooove your HCs re: the TF boys. Could I pls ask you what you think would be the biggest sources of contention when it comes to each guy and their SO & how they handle relationship conflict?

Hello, wonderful human! Sorry it took so long for me to respond. Been cranking out fics to catch up and prepare for everything lol!!!

Happy to answer you! I'll be focusing mostly on the guys issues, not so much readers, but we all bring out own things into relationships.

Warnings: Addiction, ptsd, general relationship issues

I think everything should be gender neutral, correct me if i missed something.

More HC's here

Santiago

Commitment.

My dude can't commit to a thing.

I imagine after the movie events he went to see yvonna.... and then left after a few months bc he's a mess.

First arguement you get into he;s like "fine! I'll just leave then, clearly this isn't working"

And you give your best ????? face.

Santi you dumbass.

But you don't give up that easily! You're a menace to society.

You make him face down the issue, talk to you, and *gasp* share how he feels!

When its resolve, you tell him he can't just threaten to leave when he gets frustrated. If he wants to leave he needs to be honest, but he can't hide away under one small issue.

You ask if he really wants to leave. He says no so fucking fast.

He admits he hasn't had any stability in his life like... ever. Immigrant family, military, then his less-than-legal missions... but he wants to make it work with you

You have to work to find a balance between not letting him run away but not forcing him to stay.

But it works. Santi finds you easier and easier to talk to about things and soon enough, he's been with you for a year and theres still no itch to leave.

Ben

Benny Miller is a goof ball.

That's why you fell in love with him in the first place!

But he's not the most mature. He struggles to be serious, even when he wants to. That's the issue. You don't want to dampen his shine, you love him how he is

Thing is, you've been together 6 months and you still feel like you're casually dating.

There was no big "I love you".

He simple kissed your cheek saying goodbye, said "love you!" and dashed off to his friends.

But you did love him, you loved him so much but you weren't sure he was invested as you were. Maybe he wasn't ready for a serious relationship or you were more of a casual date to him...

Benny notices your mood change pretty quickly. He may be dumb but he's not stupid

(This is a joke Benny is canonically a highly skilled and talented individual I love him so much.)

"What am I to you?"

You ask him and it starts a whole discussion. You're surprised to find he's listening intently to what you have to say, takes in your words well.

You express how it hurts that every time he says "love you" It's the same tone of voice he uses with his friends or brother. He makes you feel like you're "one of the guys" but you're having sex.

Benny pauses and gathers his words before expressing that he does love you, very deeply. He thinks about marrying you... he just struggles to express it verbally. After some talking, you introduce him to the idea of love languages.

You figure out Benny loves receiving with words of affirmation and thats what he gets stuck on. He can't express well through words, so he thinks he's fucked.

You take the time to talk about the other four, and ways he can express through those.

After this talk, you feel much better and Ben makes you feel so, so loved and special.

(He also makes sure to say his "I love you" during sex or more initmate moments, not just in passing, letting you know that he really, really does.)

Will

Fear.

You probably expected PTSD, didn't you?

Well thats a part of it. His PTSD does affect his life but I think he's scared to lose you and scared to hurt you.

Will keeps you at arms length. Maybe you're a friend of Ben's and are around a lot and clear chemistry!! But nothing is happening

Finally you confront him. Bestie you can't keep lingering touch on my arm if you're not gonna fuck me about it.

Will is def the most straight forward and self aware so he's gonna be honest.

"I choked a man out in a grocery store for not moving his cart fast enough and almost killed him, my fiance left me after that, I've got 33 confirmed kills and also I watched one of my best friends die and carried his dead body over the fucking Andes, man."

A lot to unpack there!!!!

He tells you he's afraid he's going to lose you if he lets you get too close. He's afraid of hurting you.

You tell him he's sweet but he should also go to therapy.

You go with him to the first appointment.

Will I think is the easiest bc I just think hes the most mature and open

Frankie

Addiction

My dude hates himself.

And literally any feeling he's like "well time to do some coke about it."

It wasn't a big deal when you just started dating. You knew he did coke sometimes on weekends and rationalized that it can't be that big a deal, it's like drinking, right?

(Im 26 now and realizing how many people casually do coke is wild to me. None of my business tho.)

But soon you realize just how bad it's gotten. He's high almost all the time. Then his liscense comes under review. Then the trip to south america...

You don't think he's ever even sober, and you're worried about him, worried his heart is going to give out. Sometimes you stay awake watching him breath just to be sure.

Finally you can't take it anymore. You never wanted to to be the ultimatum party but you can't do this, you're suffering and so is he. He either gets sober or you leave. You didn't care how long it took, you didn't care if he relapsed but he needed to start trying.

Frankie ops to go to rehab. It's best, because he's gonna need to detox first.

You visit often, almost every day, making sure his friends all knew when visit times were and sometimes going as group, sometimes separate but always making sure someone came by every single day so he knew he wasn't alone.

90 days later, Frankie comes out a new man. He's cheeks fuller and pants tighter but his smile bigger.

He's gonna be okay and so are you.

Tom

He's dead

THANK YOU FOR THE ASK!!!! I love tf boys head cannons <3

[cat-autism-wizard]

imagine casper high goes to a school trip to a museum a few hours out of the amity park and every senior gets paired up with two sophomores. fentons were paired up which is easier for danny if theres a ghost emergency but still unhappy bc pairing up with your genius sister that you are always compared to in a school trip sucks. and whos the second sophomore you may ask, its wes fucking weston.

danny blames the fenton luck for that. none of them are happy with the arrangement other than jazz. jazz heard about wes but never got to meet him and she wants to psychoanalyze him so shes happy.

at the trip the three of them goes to some kind of a shop and as they were paying, the cashier asks jazz if she brought her brother and his friend. she laughs and says yes then the cashier points at wes and compliments him and jazz about how similar they look and jokes about strong genes.

danny was OFFENDED. at first wes was also offended but after seeing how much it bothers danny he decided to play along. the rest of the trip wes acted like jazz was his sister just to piss of danny. which wasnt that hard wes was the youngest of three, he didnt have a sister but had two brothers (easton who was almost five years older and kyle who was just a year older but wouldnt stop shove it in wes' face that he was older) so it wasnt that hard for wes to act like a little brother. after a while he actually enjoyed 'having a sister'. jazz didnt really mind wes but took a mental note to ask about his family to understand him better.

danny was still pissed (and jealous that he was 'sharing' his sister but he would NOT admit this to anyone) but find it oddly fun to pair up with wes (other than the parts where wes acted like jazz was his sister or trying to ask questions about ghosts). wes knew a lot about different things. especially about the ancient greek. he says its bc he likes searching stuff he sees. and for wes even though he would rather DIE to admit he enjoyed danny's company. as much as people way danny was the stupid one in a family of geniuses wes knew it was wrong. the trip proved it to him once again.

danny wouldnt shut up about how some machines worked and ancients forbid when they entered the space part of the museum danny took over all the explanations with too much details. jazz on the other hand could see how much the two boys would get along if they dropped their stupid beef.

jazz listened both of them infodumping about their interest with a smile on her face, sometimes adding her own opinion or the missed little informations or fun fact about them. on some occasions sam and tucker would flee from their own groups to join them and quite enjoyed it. when wes talked about ancient greek sam would join in and when danny talked about mechanics tucker would join in with him.

in the end of the trip jazz bought little souvenirs for both of the boys and for herself. a little matching key chains. they acted like that was cringe and that they would never use it.

a week later jazz saw that little key chain on danny's pencil case. a few days later she also saw it hanging on wes' bag.

[marshmallowprotection]

Okay so I know Mc in Seven’s route got to see those pictures of Saeran in the floppy disc. But in regard to GE Saeran route, you think Saeyoung would show Mc (and Saeran) what’s in the disc at one point?

A part of me would get emotional bc baby/childhood pictures of people always make me wanna cry. He just looks so pure, he’s baby and I want Saeran to know that he was an adorable child 😭

But another part of me wonders if Saeran would even want to see those pictures or show them to Mc given the context. He looks happy and calm in those photos but it’s been stated in game that even in those peaceful times in his life, he still missed Saeyoung so much.

I think it would be difficult for GE Saeran to see those photos. He had no idea those photos were being taken of him, and he missed so big brother so much at the time those photos were taken.

He is aware of the fact that Rika and V have photos of him, not too many of them... but they exist. He had one in his diary that they took of him in the tiny garden at the cathedral, after all. He knows they exist, but it's easy to suggest that he assumed they were destroyed when he was taken to Mint Eye.

It's difficult to see those pictures. He doesn't hate the fact that those pictures exist, he hates the fact that he's the one who has photos of himself at that age. He should not blame himself for that, but it’s hard not to feel guilty. Saeyoung doesn’t have photos like that. They might be twins but they're not the same person. It must be difficult to have no evidence that he existed at a young age. That’s what Saeran thinks.

He knows Saeyoung would never whine or complain, but he would never admit that he wishes things had been different growing up. He wishes he had a photo of the two of them at that age. It doesn't feel fair to share these photos of himself when Saeyoung doesn't have a photo of himself. Sure, he would say it's no big deal to him, but it isn't fair to Saeyoung! Mother Choi and Saejoong made it so they boys did not have any way to exist comfortably, and it's one of the reasons we see Saeyoung feel so desperate to leave proof he exists on his MC in the Secret Ending.

Saeyoung doesn't have proof he existed. It wasn't just the agency that made him feel that way. It started with his parents. Saeran is sincerely aware of that fact and I think one of the reasons he picks up photography after his After Ending isn't just because he wants to be able to take photos of everything he experiences, it's also to give his brother a chance to see himself on camera for once in his life. That's one of the ways they're healing together, you know!

But, I know no matter how difficult it is for him to see those pictures, the sentiment behind them means much more than anything else. Saeyoung wasn’t lied to at first, Saeran was being taken care of and he was happy for a short time, even if he couldn’t be as happy as he would’ve been with Saeyoung around. His brother never forgot about him. His brother always had a piece of him by his side.

That goes against every ounce of brainwashing that was committed against him, and having tangible evidence to know that his brother was tricked just as much as he was, really helps him overcome the paranoia in his heart. He can't believe his intrusive thoughts when he sees just how much his brother wanted to come back to him but felt like he couldn't. 

I don't think he would be opposed to showing his MC the photos. Yes, the context behind the photos isn't happy, but it does have a happy ending. That's why it's easier to stomach looking at the photos then it would be if he discovered them before his brother gained his freedom. Sometimes, I think about what would have happened if the player had stumbled across the floppy disk during the time before the After Ending, because Saeran and MC have been staying in the bunker for a little bit! 

That would hurt Saeran. It would only hurt him because he wouldn't be able to talk to his brother about how he got those photos and what they did for him when he felt ashamed by his choice to leave. It would be the context he needed to know that his brother was lied to for sure, but it would make it all the more difficult because no matter how much he wants to talk to his brother about it, his brother is still missing and there's nothing he can do but continue to fight. 

The good news is that if you saw those pictures and called him cute, it would make him feel better about himself. His insecurities are still with him even though he's learning how to overcome them, and hearing that he was a cute kid will make a difference. There were a lot of insults hurled his way as a child about his appearance, so anything to overcome that does have a lasting positive impact. 

[saturnsorbits]

Omg saturn I’ve been watching windbreaker and I was telling Kitten how Umemiya makes sense for you and then I looked at your header and saw him how CUTTTEEEEE

How do you and Umemiya meet? What’s your first date like if I can ask?

Ah! Am I really that transparent? I am curious as to why you thought we’d be a good fit though… 🤣

Okay, so I’ve been holding onto this for a little while bc honestly I’ve had to have a little think… But I think we meet as kids? We don’t occupy the same space for long, maybe a month or two and then life happens and we both get swept up. I move, we forget each others names - typical shit, y’know.

Then, years and years later I come back and he’s just: there. Perched on the edge of a stool in Pothos, hair swept back, smile itching at his lip.

I don’t recognise him.

But, he recognises me.

‘You don’t remember me, do you?’ His eyes are sparkling, his smile smaller now, but no less there, threatening to overtake his face. These days he’s not great at containing his excitement, but he does, the emotion held back by the small, panicked hands of the boy he used to be.

‘I’m sorry?’ It takes a moment. A blink or two. Until it clicks. ‘Fucking Hell, Umemiya?’

The hug that follows feels natural, if long and we sink into the kind of shallowly, deep chatter that only two friends who haven’t seen each other in over a decade can. We lose more time than expected, but we don’t exchange numbers. Interrupted by Sakura, he’s whisked away… An almost hopeful ‘see me again soon?’ tripping off his tongue as he’s practically dragged out the door.

We miss each other repeatedly after that, but hear about each other almost constantly… Sakura saw me buying flowers last week, and Kotoha always has an update on her big brother whenever I stop for a bite to eat.

And yet, it begins to feel like fate - our not meeting a universal indication, our reintroduction nothing more than an absent blip in our lives.

Until…

(A not so official first date)

It’s months later. Almost 11pm and the last bus has just pulled away from the curb. Unfortunately, I’m not on it.

‘Hey!’ His strides are impossibly long, eating up the ground as he almost catches the bonnet of a car in his hast to cross the road to me. He offers to walk me home, which I accept and I hate to admit it - but it was right then, as I watched him dodge traffic, eyes set on me, that I knew I was fucked.

We talk about everything.

Under the cover of darkness, the past comes out easier - the hard bits, the ones he talks about, but can’t quite heal from. He tells me about the bridge, about Tsubaki and Furin and I tell him about the phone call, university and the job that came afterwards.

We talk about everything, but when we finally reach my door there’s still more to say.

So I invite him in.

He stays for two days. We order in. Talk more. Realise that we were closer than we thought back then, when I was just a worried little girl reaching out to a boy with too high walls.

And we fuck. Because ofc we do. It’s slow and he’s needy, but settles into the palm of my hand like putty.

It’s all too easy. It is.

Because after that, I don’t see him for another month.

It turns out Umemiya Hajime has a secret. The secret? He doesn’t lose, not people, or fights, not anymore… And that, sadly, that includes you too.

[pinkpruneclodwolf]

Here to Have Fun—Ace Never had True Friends.

Idk why, I just get the vibes that before NRC Ace was definitely the type of person that would float around groups in search of his clique that he could permanently hang out with— Like, let's not deny Ace has a big ego and he seems to have "baby of the family" syndrome but he gives off Cater vibes in that he surrounds himself with people and decides whether or not he wants to drop them as opposed to Cater trying to cover up the loneliness of moving around so much and never being able to cement himself as a person with his family basically overwriting him.

Ace was wildly out of pocket during Heartslabyul —don't get me wrong it was kinda funny with him being slightly insensitive during and after (the scene where Riddle was apologizing) and I wouldn't be surprised if he'd nearly miss his cousins funeral bc he owed him $20 but it also says a lot about him.

He's right—saying sorry doesn't mitigate the damages done, Trey's enabling was basically leading up to this whole debacle but he doesn't actually understand why Trey had been doing it—he understood that Trey was simply doing damage control and wanted his friend was in the wrong, that he'd made the most logical judgment with the priorities he had: keep Riddle in line and from hurting other's without ruining his relationship with him.

Was it a bust in the end? Totally. But Trey was doing his best. Spoiling (shielding) Riddle like a big brother would instead of confronting the issue.

Ace was right to say that it was Trey's fault but he refused to understand— which leads to another point I'm gonna make.

When Riddle came down from his Overblot, apologizing and all Ace bust out by saying apologizing was useless because he was inconvenienced—not just everyone else, him. Yes he made good points about the labor, and how he'd been punished to severely but here's where I make my case!

Ace can't grasp that people are their own, fully realized, dimensional characters.

Ace admits that he broke off with his girlfriend because she wasn't fun—childish asl I swear—but I'd also say that's he's biased and an unreliable narrator.

Ace probably broke off with her because he fell out of love with her or because he wanted to try something new and fun and exciting. Kids have jumped in and out of relationships for less—I remember wanting to date kid because he had a lot of crayons and thought that if I was in a relationship with him, I'd get my share of crayons.

It wouldn't be farfetched to say that Ace essentially did the same—for his own reasons.

He wanted to see what a relationship was like and realized that it required too much commitment—more commitment than he was willing to give. It's easier to say she wasn't fun.

I don't think this is a front that Ace is putting up, I just think Ace struggles with connecting with those around him on a deeper level I'm not projecting i swearrrr Which is why I see him struggling to connect with his peers. Ace pulls up on Yuu and Grim with violence on the brain in the morning on a school day—i can barely function when I wake up let alone in the morning what kind of "school fight at 7 in the morning" behavior is this?

You can also see it with his interactions with Deuce—they're frenemies because Ace wants to challenge Deuce to see what makes him tick which is why in Chap 5, Deuce screams "I want to be stronger than Ace" because they're constantly trying to one up each other—Ace is the type that constantly has hot air in the brain and doesn't understand how to interact with other's normally without being big ass and Deuce, who needs approval to better himself for his mother's sake and for his dreams, sees that as Ace being antagonistic.

Ace and Deuce are both put in leadership roles as well—Ace is naturally good at being a people pleaser without sacrificing himself and Deuce because he can command a room—in starry robes Trey and Jamil even comment that his enthusiasm makes up for his horrible dancing skills, or the Halloween event where his old gang members showed up and he was able to command them just as easily (b4 folding them like clean laundry).

He said it himself—he's there to have fun and dassit—Cater has fun in order to cover up the shitstorm of insecurities and vulnerabilities he has, rounds up friends and flatters others in an effort to get what he wants to curb the loneliness he feels. Cater is bitter because of unresolved feelings.

Ace isn't bitter and as far as we know he's got a loving family with his brother being a bootyhole to him for shiggles.

Ace thinks he's the main character lmaooo. And who wouldn't think that with how prodigious he is? Dude learned one of the nichest animal languages bc he fucked up and Riddle was gonna kill him. He was able to do the mental math of how much they'd all get, in cash, from VDC in Chap 5. Ace scored higher than bothe Deuce and Grim in Chap 3 which implies that he didn't need the notes in the first place he just didn't want to study.

Ace has a big ego as well and we can see that with his interactions, he also has a bug disconnection problem with realizing other peoples' feelings—so I can see him never truly having friends or a group he permanently wants to hang out with because he can't see outside of himself—he's not a bad person bc of that he just can't see why people are willing to go the highway instead his way.

He wants to have fun and with Wii music playing nonstop in that head of his, he doesn't really think about how his actions end up hurting others or when they get offended by what he has to say because of how provocative his manner of speaking is.

He can't see how someone could be upset with him or why.

It makes him lonlier than he wants to be.

[giogiohcs]

Brothers x Trans man!MC

I didn’t write for Asmo bc I didn’t feel like it😖

Also how am I a trans man yet I sucked at writing this??💀

Lucifer

-When you come out to him, he accepts you, of course, but that doesn’t mean he understands.

-He’s a boomer, a sexy boomer but still a boomer😔.

-He’ll understand the concept of “being born in the wrong body” but if your journey is any different than that, it’ll cause him to be confused but he won’t ever admit that.

-He will need a through talking to, an honest and frank discussion about it, like what you plan to do, will your relationship change? Etc.

-When you mention wanting to get surgery or taking testosterone to change something about yourself, it’s hard for him to come to terms that you’re not doing this because you hate yourself but the opposite. You’re transitioning because you love yourself❤️.

-When he realizes that last point, he’ll be helpful and listen to what you want. He’ll even help you financially to transition if you want to.

-He doesn’t like the thought of you staying extensively on Earth for surgery and recovering but he’ll be patient for you.

-Will be a strict enforcer of your pronouns and new name, if you have one. He’s taking NO shit. A three strike rule? No it’s actually a one strike rule :). Get it wrong once and you’re done for.

-Is he using that one bit as an excuse to punish others especially Mammon? Maybe... He’ll stop if you want him to, but don’t✨.

Mammon

-When you come out to him, he’s confused, very confused.

-Of course, he loves you but he doesn’t understand at all.

-“Why do you want to change? I thought we were fine!?!?” His insecurity will come out when you come out.

-Thinks that you’re coming up with a weird way to break up with him, honestly.

-Along with Lucifer, will also need a talking to. You need to reassure him that you still love him and that your relationship is FINE. Even when he’s being a insecure little baby about it.

-After, he understands why you want to transition and wanting to take testosterone or getting surgery.

-He’ll look up the costs and even if it hurts his very soul, will start saving money to give to you for your next birthday. Expect him to be busy with modeling shoots.

-Will complain about having to memorize your new name and pronouns, if you have one. But suddenly like magic✨ will memorize and get it tattooed to his brain when you tell him that you’ll let him go on a shopping spree if he gets them right.

-Will never admit it but he’s excited to start calling you his boyfriend.

-Also he will brag to his brothers that you came out to him FIRST. He’s your first everything now! Little ego boost, as a treat.

Leviathan

-“We’re just like that one couple in ‘I’m Transitioning and I Don’t Know How To Tell My Demon Lord Boyfriend!’!!!”

-He accepts you and understands that you’re trans, no need for a discussion.

-But that’s AFTER he freaked out when you sat him down and tried to come out to him.

-Just like Mammon, he thought you were gonna break up with him so he didn’t allow you to speak before running away to his room and locking the door.

-🚪🏃🏻💨 🏃💨 WHY ARE YOUR RUNNING? WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?

-Reassure him that you still love him and that your relationship won’t change and he’ll be fine❤️.

-Levi is also gonna recommend trans and other queer animes to you.

-He’s trying to be a good boyfriend and order you questionable transitioning stuff from Akuzon.

-Have you gotten a cursed binder from him? Yes.

-Are you still wearing it because you literally can’t take it off? Yeah...

-But does it make you look flat af? 🥴Definitely yes.

-Is Lucifer gonna have to get involved to get you out of the cursed binder? Also yes.

Satan

-Completely understands and accepts you, he’s done extensive research in humans queerness, genders and sexualities

-He’s grateful that you love and trust him enough to come out to.

-Will offer to help you transition, whether it’s helping to convince Lucifer to let you leave Devildom to get hormones and/or surgery or helping you transition with magic 🪄.

-Don’t take the latter option.

-He’ll help you navigate through the nonsense that doctors and counselors try to put you through and speed up your medical transition process.

-“Oh? The doctor said you can’t get testosterone without going through [insert time-consuming bullshit]? Well actually, what he’s doing is considered medical malpractice due to law IQH.175 that was recently passed and it’d be just awful if he got jailed for it :).”

-Very helpful.

-Like Lucifer, a one strike policy is put into place.

-Also like his brother, he’s gonna use it to punish others ESPECIALLY Lucifer.

-Let your man have his fun❤️.

Beelzebub

-Doesn’t understand at all but accepts you. Says if you’re happy, he’s happy.

-Memorizes your new name and pronouns, if you have one, like that *snaps fingers*.

-You thought you were so glad to have just a caring and sweet boyfriend.

-That was until you start talking about transitioning through surgery or testosterone then he gets worried.

-Why would you want to change yourself? You’re already perfect in his eyes.

-...He really doesn’t get it.

-Thinks you want to change yourself because you simply don’t like yourself so he starts viewing transitioning as a bad thing.

-You need to sit down and talk to him about, well, everything.

-You’ll probably need to keep things simple but frank for him. Maybe make a comparison to exercising, a person doesn’t need to hate themselves to start working out right?

-He begins to understand why you do the things or want to do the things you do.

-Beel still views you as perfect no matter what you look like, but starts shifting his complements from “you’re perfect the way you are” to “you’re really handsome.” And complements your changes.

-He’s very proud by how far you’ve come.

Belphegor

-When you sit him down for a serious conversation, he, just like his other brothers, gets worried.

-Are you breaking up with him? Did he sleep away on too many dates? Is it because he killed you before? Etc etc.

-He becomes a cranky baby from all the bad thoughts in his head but then you come out to him.

-He’s surprised but also not really.

-He’s mostly just glad that you weren’t breaking up with him.

-Says he accepts you and just sleeps again.

-Memorizes you new pronouns and name, if you have one, very easily. He loves you after all.

-All’s well that ends well.

-That’s until you needed to go to earth to transition then he become a cranky baby about everything again.

-“Why can’t you do transition here? With magic? It’s so much easier and you won’t have to leave..” He tries to reason with you.

-Starts thinking that you’re just trying to escape from him, to go back to earth where you know he can’t get to you.

-Against all of his fears, he lets you go to earth.

-He has to start cuddling with his brother again because he just misses you so much.

-His heart is broken and honestly thinks that you’re never coming back.

-When you do come back, first time since you left, he’s gotten up from bed just to drag you down with him under the covers.

-You two have a lot of catching up to do.

[smells-like-mettaton]

44, burgerpants bc i want him to suffer

This one is a sequel/bonus chapter to Burgerpants Screams into the Void [Dubstep Timeloop Remix], so I highly recommend reading that first!

Rating: T (for the first chapter) Word Count: 2192 Prompt: fighting against the urge to cry Read on AO3: here

---

Brad wheezed as he struggled up the mountain path. No matter how many times he trekked up here, it never seemed to get much easier. He’d finally managed to kick cigarettes for at least a few weeks, but the smoke had probably damaged his lungs for good already. It would figure.

“DO YOU NEED A BREAK, MY FRIEND?” Papyrus asked, placing a gloved hand on Brad’s shoulder.

Brad wasn’t sure he’d call the tall skeleton a friend. Brad was only doing this as a favor to the old goopy guy. Assuming they were even able to see him today.

“I mean, I wouldn’t say no to one.” Brad leaned against a rough-barked tree. If he were any less exhausted, it would’ve made a good scratching post.

“I BROUGHT SNACKS, IF YOU WOULD LIKE SOME!” Papyrus shook a ziploc bag. Where had he pulled that out of? Nevermind, Brad didn’t want to know.

“...Are those dog treats?” His brow furrowed.

“THAT’S JUST A MARKETING JAPE! THEY’RE BELOVED BY MONSTERS OF ALL KINDS!” The skeleton pulled one out and tossed it in his mouth, crunching loudly.

“Uh… thanks, but I’m good.”

Brad sat down on a flat rock and pulled a thermos out of his backpack. The water was cool and refreshing, and the ice still clinked inside the metal container. Man, having easy access to ice was one of the best things about not living in Hotland. Right after everything else about not living in Hotland.

“YOU KNOW, IT’S GREAT TO HAVE A FRIEND WHO APPRECIATES THE GREAT OUTDOORS AS MUCH AS I DO!” Another series of loud crunches. “AND WHO WON’T GET US ARRESTED BY SUPLEXING ALL OF THE TREES IN RESTRICTED AREAS.”

Brad opened his mouth, then promptly shut it again. The less he knew about his “friend’s” criminal activities, the better.

“IT’S TOO BAD I COULDN’T CONVINCE SANS TO HIKE WITH US. IT WOULD BE GOOD FOR HIS BONES!”

Brad shrugged. “Hey, if I could teleport up to the top, I’d be right up there with him.”

Papyrus groaned. “NOT YOU TOO!!”

Brad knocked back another gulp of water, then kept walking. Papyrus constantly had something to say about the beautiful view, or the sounds of the birds, or how healthy they were being, or how much his brother was missing out. The background noise made the hike less relaxing, but at least it gave Brad something to focus on other than how out of shape he was.

“WOWIE! WE’RE HERE ALREADY! TIME FLIES WHEN YOU’RE HAVING FUN, DOESN’T IT?”

Brad took deep, gasping breaths of the mountain air. Time had felt like it was crawling as slowly as he was. But here they were, standing at the peak of Mount Ebott. Finally.

“Hey, bro. Long time no see.” Sans winked at Papyrus, then nodded at Brad. “How are ya holding up?”

“Terribly,” he groaned honestly, prompting Papyrus to pat his back and laugh.

“BRAD’S A HIKER EXTRAORDINAIRE! HE ONLY THREW UP ONCE!”

“Nice.” Sans grinned.

“I’m regretting everything about this,” Brad grumbled.

There was only one reason he’d asked the skeleton brothers to come to the top of the mountain today. If he could somehow get them to see their dad, then the goopy man wouldn’t be so lonely, and Brad could stop feeling so bad for him. No more guilt-driven hiking trips. No more playing chess on a board scratched in the dirt, or listening to bad science puns, or discussing Brad’s doomed acting career.

Brad frowned. Hell, he wasn’t getting sentimental, was he?

“Not that I don’t love a good view,” Sans started, “but I know we’re not your two favorite monsters in the world. We’re probably number three and four.”

Brad snorted. Sans might be annoying, but he wasn’t stupid.

“You’re wondering why I wanted you to come here.”

“IT WAS RATHER SURPRISING,” Papyrus admitted. “NOT THAT I WOULD EVER ACCUSE A FRIEND OF HAVING ULTERIOR MOTIVES!”

Right. Papyrus wasn’t so quick to be fooled, either.

“Yeah, yeah. Just didn’t want to get your hopes up,” Brad admitted, scratching the back of his neck. “If this whole surprise is a bummer, you at least got a day off for it.”

“Hey, can’t complain about that,” Sans said.

Brad let the two of them over to the cave. The entrance to the Underground. The hellhole that had been his prison for the first nineteen years of his life. After months of visiting, it just felt like a regular hole.

Papyrus’s eyesockets narrowed.

“I’M NOT SURE I LIKE THIS SURPRISE.”

“You leave something behind you need our help to bring up?” Sans asked, shifty-eyed as well. “Cause ya know, there are cheaper moving services. My rate’s 5,000G per item. That’s, uh, 1,000 in dollars. Don’t know what kind of job you’ve got now, but I’m sure you’ve got better stuff to spend your money on.”

Brad didn’t actually have a job yet. Thankfully, despite everything else that sucked about it, the MTT-Brand Burger Emporium had given him a good severance package. He got the feeling that Mettaton was just thrilled to have him out of his perfectly-oiled hair.

“C’mon, old man. I know you’re around here.” Brad squinted into the darkness. “Don’t make me look like an idiot in front of your kids.”

“What,” Sans deadpanned.

“IS THIS A JOKE? SANS, DID YOU PUT HIM UP TO THIS??”

Brad snorted. Like he’d let Sans put him up to anything. He’d had enough wacky skeleton hijinks to last several lifetimes, thanks.

“If this is payback for the codeword thing, there are way easier ways to get back at me. Like paying my tab at Grillby’s. Or laughing at my hilarious jokes.”

“If anyone’s getting pranked here, it’s me,” Brad muttered before shouting out into the void. “Hey, Goop Man! Throw me a bone, here!”

His voice echoed back from the darkness.

“Welp. Thanks for this, uh, interesting break—”

Sans was cut off by a bone flying out of the cave. Brad narrowly managed to duck, and it hit Papyrus in the clavicle.

“NYEH?” He caught it before it fell to the ground.

Brad’s fists clenched. Throw him a bone. The goop monster had actually thrown him a bone.

“Oh, so you can make puns, but you can’t just talk to your freaking kids,” Brad called. “I was doing this to help you, you know! You could at least TRY to meet me halfway!”

More bones appeared out of the darkness. This time, though, they hovered in the air, spelling words in the way Brad was used to by now.

I TOLD YOU.

THEY CANNOT

SEE ME.

“Uh. Burgerbrad. Don’t know who your weird bonefriend is, but I can definitely read what they’re saying.”

“See! You can talk to them!” Brad’s grin was maybe just a little unhinged. “You care about them, right?? You wouldn’t just leave your kids on the surface and never talk to them again!”

“I’m sensing a lot of projecting, here.”

“Shut up.” Brad whirled and poked Sans in the sternum. “Your dad loves you, and you’re going to get a happy teary reunion, and you’re going to like it.”

Papyrus blinked down at him. “...WE HAVE A DAD?”

A crackling sigh echoed from the cave. Brad jumped, his tail standing on end.

I AM SORRY

MY SONS.

Out of the shadows, the melting skeleton finally slid forward. That lopsided grin was still present on his skull, but after months of sporadic visits, Brad didn’t find it so unsettling anymore.

“You can see him, right??” Brad gripped Papyrus’s shoulder. “Please tell me you can see him.”

“I… YES.” Papyrus’s voice was surprisingly quiet. He shook off Brad’s hand, stepping towards the darkness. “DAD?”

Black tears congealed under the monster’s eyesockets. His grin split wider than Brad had ever seen it.

YOU CAN?

SEE ME??

!!!!????

“Dad,” Sans breathed. “I… how did we… how could we forget…?”

The goopy monster slid forward, his form flickering a bit in the light.

DO NOT BLAME

YOURSELVES

PLEASE.

I NEVER

WANTED

The floating bones shook, the letters falling apart faster than the man could spell. The goopy skeleton wiped his eyes, and tar-like tears stuck to his holepunched hands.

“Can you guys read signs?” Brad asked. “He’s better with those. Probably. I mean, I can’t actually read them, which is why he talks like this—”

Sans’s hands started moving so fast Brad could hardly see them. The goop man’s eyelights went so bright, they practically lit up the whole inside of his skull.

“Great.” Brad let out a sigh of relief. “I’ll leave you to it.”

Papyrus caught his shoulder before he could step out of their way.

“BRAD.”

Suddenly, he pulled him into a hug tight enough to pop Brad’s back.

“THANK YOU,” he whispered. “THANK YOU.”

“Don’t mention it,” Brad grunted out, then sucked in air when the skeleton finally released him.

He crept over to the edge of the cliff while the skeletons had their tearful reunion. It sounded just as dramatic as he’d hoped, punctuated with laughs and sobs and hugs on all sides.

He’d done his job. The goopy skeleton had his real family now. He didn’t have to rely on Brad for contact with the outside world. The man wouldn’t have to pretend to be interested in Brad’s life or his dreams.

He plopped down at the cliff’s edge, blinking back the tears that pricked his eyes. Just from staring too close to the sun, that was all. It wasn’t like he was going to miss these boring hiking trips. He had plenty of other things to do in his spare time. Like making friends who weren’t trapped in the shadow of his old home.

Oh, who was he kidding?

“BRAD! WHAT ARE YOU DOING OVER THERE?” Papyrus called. “DAD WANTS TO SEE YOU!”

Brad stood, squinting in confusion. Why would the old man want to see him?

Still, he joined them—and nearly screamed when the guy wrapped him in a goopy hug.

“He says thanks,” Sans translated from the extra set of hands that were floating next to the man’s head. “And that, uh, that you’re the connection. That’s why he can see us, apparently. Thanks to you.”

The man released him with a muffled squelch. Thankfully, the black substance evaporated as soon as it lost contact with the man’s body.

“HE ALSO SAYS YOU’RE AN HONORARY GRANDSON!” Papyrus grinned.

“Heh. Which one of us do you think should be his dad, then?” Sans grinned back.

“Oh geez.” Brad rubbed his forehead, pushing down a hysteric laugh. When he’d been jealous of their family reunion, this wasn’t what he had in mind.

But… maybe it wouldn’t be so bad? At least these monsters didn’t hate him. Or pretend he didn’t exist. Or tell him he was stupid or worthless and not even good enough for a dead-end food service job.

“Thanks, uh, goop man,” he said when everyone looked at him expectantly.

Sans burst out laughing.

“Goop man?”

“He never told me his name!” Brad protested, his face going hot. “Besides, he called me Burgerpants!!”

MY NAME

IS

WINGDINGS, the man spelled out in bones, grinning all the while.

Brad blinked.

“You’re kidding,” he deadpanned. “Wingdings?”

“WINGDINGS GASTER!” Papyrus clarified. “W.D. FOR SHORT. HE COULDN’T HAVE TOLD YOU HIS NAME BEFORE, SINCE HE ONLY JUST REMEMBERED IT.”

Wingdings shrugged apologetically.

“If you’re really gonna be a Gaster, you’re gonna have to learn to sign,” Sans said. “Can’t go making Gramps spell everything out for ya.”

Brad groaned.

“DON’T WORRY! I’M A GREAT TEACHER!” Papyrus beamed.

“Yeah, if you can get me a job with work hours that’ll allow it,” Brad said sarcastically. It was hard enough for monsters to jobs on the surface, much less a total screw-up like—

“DONE! UNDYNE’S LOOKING FOR NEW EMPLOYEES AT HER GYM. NOW YOU’LL BE ABLE TO EXERCISE YOUR BODY, AND I’LL HELP EXERCISE YOUR MIND!”

Brad’s jaw dropped. Undyne? Like, the head of the Royal Guard Undyne?? Well, there wasn’t a Royal Guard anymore, but still—Brad didn’t care how out of shape he was, a job like that would make chicks dig him faster than a lifetime of free burgers!

“Deal.” He held out his hand, and Papyrus shook it.

They hung out with Grandpa Wingdings for about another hour, until the sun started to get low on the horizon. Brad introduced Sans and Papyrus to Dirt Chess. The skeletons introduced him to Bone Charades, which like regular charades, but using bone attacks as props. Brad put his acting skills to good use and got them to guess that he was an astronaut.

“Welp. Same time next week?” Sans smiled at Grandpa Wingdings, who nodded back, eyelights still shining like stars.

Brad wasn’t sure if he could handle all three skeletons every week. But, he figured he could give it a try. Especially if Sans could “shortcut” them all next time.

“What do you MEAN you can teleport other people too??”

“Hey, you told my bro you wanted the exercise.” Sans winked. “It’s good for your bones.”

There was no one else around. Brad made good use of that fact, and screamed.

[haikyuu-scenarios-drabbles]

Shower Friends (Miya Atsumu x F!reader)

The dorm you live in has co-ed bathrooms. Why that’s remotely a good idea is beyond you; and recently, your precious shower time is being interrupted by a certain blonde haired setter for the volleyball team. When he lies to his teammates that he has a girlfriend, somehow you get roped into his scheme.

genre(s): college!au, fake dating, angst, fluff, mutual pining, enemies to lovers (kinda), eventual smut (maybe)  words: 3.5k

a/n: ah the sweet sweet smell of mutual pining. also 3 more chapters are planned, not written yet though bc i just decided i’d be writing them lmao. hopefully can get started on that this weekend and post them next week 🤗

taglist:  @apollochjld @kurosarium @vicassa @carbs-need-more-love @underratedmage @idek-at-thispoint @wtfeverbrandi @food8me @yikes-buddy @ntimacy @nyxiie @oikawasbooty @chocolate3010 @sugawarabby @greenyiplier @kritiiiii @tokyosdawn @youstydiaa @h3llok1ttygirl 

one | two 

Chapter Three

“You want me to help you with what?” You ask, a bit stunned when he showed up at the door, a terribly annoying but also cute pleading expression on his face.

He groans, his shoulders hunching forward in exasperation. “Ya really gunna make me repeat it?”

You peer closer at the top of his head and see that he’s being serious. The roots of his hair growing in are a dark brown and it had never even occurred to you that he dyes his hair the blonde color you’re so used to. “No, but why do you need my help?”

This is so embarrassing. Normally his roommate or a teammate can help him but none of them are available today and he’s already let the roots grow longer than he likes. But when one of them suggested you help him out instead, something inside him rebelled. For some reason, the thought of having you dye his hair for him made him uncomfortable, like he’s showing you an intimate part of him. This hair has been a part of him so long he can’t remember the last time he’d let it grow out.

“I can’t see if I got everything,” he admits. It took a lot of pacing around his room and staring at his roots for him to get up the courage to come over here to ask you. He can’t really explain why he was so against it, especially since you don’t seem to mind after you got over the initial shock of realizing this isn’t his natural hair.

A wave of relief washes over him when you sigh, conceding, “Alright. Just let me change into something I can get bleach on. I’ll meet you at your dorm.”

While he waits for you, he busies himself with mixing the dye together so it’s ready for you, and when you arrive in a t-shirt and shorts with paint splatters all over them, he mentally kicks himself for thinking about how even wearing something so simple you still look better than anyone he’s ever seen. Crossing your arms, you motion for him to take a seat at his desk. Before he does so, he reaches behind his neck to grab at the collar of his shirt and pull it over his head.

You stand there dumbfounded for a moment, it taking you a second to process that he’s now standing before you shirtless and you’re free to ogle his muscular chest and arms to your hearts content. He doesn’t pay any attention to you, knowing if he meets your gaze, he won’t be able to stop the heat threatening to crawl up his neck. Instead, he wraps a towel around his waist to protect his shorts and sits in the chair to wait for you.  

Except now, you have free reign to stare at his back, which is just as defined as the front of him and you need a few more seconds to reel your thoughts back.

“Whaddya waitin’ for darling?” He drawls, throwing you a glance over his shoulder, not expecting you to be standing there frozen, eyes pinned to his now bare chest.

He opens his mouth to tease you further, but your eyes snap to his and you practically shout, “Do you have another towel?” He just cocks a brow and then points to his closet where another towel is hanging on a hook. Snatching it, you return to him and drape it over his shoulders, hiding most of his annoyingly toned body. “Don’t want to get any bleach on your skin,” you explain, no way in hell ever admitting to him that you’re finding it hard to focus with him on display like that.

Absentmindedly, he hands you one of the clips he bought a long time ago, one that’s almost completely bleached itself and you start running your fingers through his hair to section it. He closes his eyes, focusing intently on the soothing sensation of your fingers on his scalp, doing his best not to groan out loud at how good it feels. With anyone else, this isn’t anything special, normally he sits as patiently as he can whilst trying not to annoy whoever is doing his hair (lest they decide to ‘mess up’ as punishment). But with you, it’s a different feeling entirely.

It's jarringly intimate as you clip his hair back and reach over him to grab the plastic gloves that came with the dye. Lathering up the applicator brush, you start slathering it onto his hair, trying your hardest to make sure it’s evenly distributed and surrounding each strand. As you do so, you ask, “How long have you been doing this?”

He resists the urge to shrug, not wanting to jostle you, replying, “Osamu and I started in middle school.”

“Osamu dyes his hair too?”

“Yeah, he goes for gray. But I’d heard blondes have more fun so—here we are.”

He grits his teeth as your fingers skim over his scalp, glad for the towel you wrapped around him to hide the goosebumps skittering along his bare skin.

“Let me guess,” you muse. “You guys did it because people couldn’t tell you apart?”

“That,” he laughs, “And we thought it would look cool. The first time we did it, it looked like shit.”

Your answering laugh warms his heart as you unclip a section of hair and keep working. “I can’t imagine your mom being too happy about it.”

“Livid. We got bleach everywhere.”

You laugh, continuing to move through his hair methodically. It doesn’t take very long as you’re just dying his roots and they weren’t that bad to begin with, contrary to what Atsumu thinks. When you finish, he gives you a sheepish look and has to swallow his pride to ask you to help him wash it out. Every time he’s tried to do it himself, he always ends up leaving a huge chunk of bleach somewhere.

You oblige, following him to the bathroom, not bothering to care about the looks you get along the way. If they want to stare at a shirtless Atsumu and then glare at you for having that all to yourself, that’s their prerogative. It does wonders for your confidence, regardless that all of this is a ruse.

Luckily, the bathroom is empty and Atsumu dutifully bends over the sink to let you start washing the dye out of his hair. He’s immensely grateful his eyes are shut, and his face is shoved into the sink to hide his flushed cheeks as he thoroughly enjoys your fingers running through his hair. The sensation of your fingernails lightly scraping over his scalp makes him ball his fists as he has to bite his lip to keep from making any sounds.

You’re unbothered, until you notice the towel has slipped from his shoulders and with the way he’s bracing himself against the counter every muscle in his back and arms is on display for you to see. It’s an effort to continue your task as if nothing is wrong and force yourself to look off into the distance instead of eyeing him up.

It’s no easy feat. Especially when you finish and he rises, scrubbing at his face with the discarded towel before moving on to his hair. You press your lips into a firm line and let yourself indulge just a little bit looking at the way his muscles flex with the movement, droplets from his damp hair trailing down the planes of his chest towards the waistband of his shorts and—your attention is broken at the sound of him chuckling and you snap your gaze to his.

You find him staring at you with mischief sparkling in his eyes, so you speak before he can tease you. “Is that it?”

“We have to actually dye it now.”

“Oh.” You turn on your heels desperate to escape his gaze. “Let’s go then.” A smirk plays across his lips, but he refrains from teasing you, solely because he very much enjoyed the way you were looking at him and doesn’t want you to stop.

And yeah—sue him if he thinks about your hands in his hair for the rest of the day. In the end, he might be a little grateful no one else was available to help him.

When mid-semester break arrives, it comes as a surprise that you actually miss each other. What surprises you even further, is that he’s the one to bring it up. Within the first night, he video calls you, a sheepish expression on his face, explaining he needed someone to complain to.

“What do you mean?” You teased. “Sounds like you’re getting stuffed with good food from Osamu and you have plenty to brag about.” You winked, smiling devilishly at him and pointing to yourself. You’re only joking. Slightly. You aren’t sure what will come about if he tells his family about you, or if that’s even a good idea. It’d be much easier to break this off cleanly without the involvement of each other’s families.

He sighs, flopping down on his bed and scrubbing his face with one hand. “They’re just dyin’ to meet you now.”

Your brows lift, half-expecting him to have tried to keep this a secret. “You told them?”

“I wasn’t gunna,” he explains. “But apparently some college sports news channel caught um—,” he coughs awkwardly, remembering very vividly this day, yet the two of you haven’t acknowledged it since. “Our—uh—celebration.”

Eyes widening, you stare at him a moment before the both of you burst out laughing. Between your giggles you manage to say, “Oops.”

Laughing alongside you, he grins, despite the pang in his heart at the voice in his head desperately trying to remind him all of this isn’t real. You aren’t his girlfriend and the moment all of this ends, you probably won’t bat an eye at him ever again. He hates how much that hurts.

Forging onward towards his demise he discloses, “I am now a very proud owner of a very jealous brother now, so thank you.”

That only makes you keep grinning, setting a hand on your cheek and dramatically saying, “What? Of little ol’ me?”

He fights the urge to tell you that yes—jealous of little ol’ you. The girl who is slowly becoming the girl of his dreams. The beautiful, funny girl who deals with him and everything that comes with him. He swallows all that, keeping the mood and saying, “He refuses to let me try any of his onigiri. A crime, really.”

“Of the highest caliber,” you agree, stifling your laughter. “Though I’m sure you steal some when he isn’t looking.”

“Yeah, but he caught me and hit me on the head with his spoon.”

“How dare he. Lucky for me, my family is clueless.”

“What do they think yer doin’ right now then?”

Shrugging you say, “I told them I had a project to work on with a classmate. Which isn’t entirely a lie, I do have a project to work on. But someone interrupted.”

He smirks. “Wonder who that could be.”

“Beats me.” His responding grin does something to you that’s been happening a lot more frequently lately. Making you feel like all the air has been punched out of you and like your heart is going to beat out of your chest. Though, you’ve gotten quite good at hiding it.

In the distance, you hear someone calling his name. He panics, it’s bad enough his family knows about you now, but he isn’t sure if he’s ready for them to meet you. Especially Osamu, who he has the sinking feeling is already suspicious of this. It’ll be a miracle if he can slip this by him.

“Gotta go!” He says quickly, and before he ends the call, he hears you chuckle and say, “Beware the spoon.”

Every day his situation only gets worse.

The next night he can’t get Osamu off his back. Enough that when he tries to retreat to his bedroom to give you a call, pathetically missing you again, Osamu bursts in when he’s about two minutes into the video call with you. He tries to shove him out, embarrassed and afraid Osamu will see straight through him. But Osamu is stubborn, and he hears you laughing on the other end of the call before saying, “Aww, Atsumu won’t you at least let me try to charm the pants off him?”

He grits his teeth, the thought that he wants you to charm the pants off of him, not his brother flitting through his head before he can stop it. But he relents, letting Osamu sit backwards on his desk chair to join the conversation.

He isn’t sure how, but somehow you get Osamu to believe this is real in a matter of minutes. You have him laughing and talking about culinary school and he almost feels jealous that your attention is now on Osamu instead of him. It’s a ridiculous notion, he knows it, but it doesn’t stop him from keeping the camera on him as much as possible.

When the call ends, Osamu looks at him seriously, and for a moment Atsumu thinks he’s just been pretending to believe you this entire time. However, he breaks into a smile and smacks him on the back saying, “Got yerself a keeper, there.”

Atsumu tries to grin with as much sincerity as he can. Yeah—he knows he does. But that isn’t going to stop this from ending.

That night, both of you go to bed feeling like you’re getting in too deep.

And as per usual, when school starts back up again, neither of you bring it up. You’re happy to keep ignoring it, hating yourself for liking this arrangement and him more and more every day. It sad really, how much time in your day is spent thinking about him. Wondering if there’s any possibility that the two of you could just transition to a real relationship. Because to you, that’s already what this is. Nothing would change, but at least you’d stop feeling guilty every time you enjoy his hand in yours or the soft press of his lips to the top of your head.

A few days after returning to school, you find yourself alone with him in his dorm room studying. He’s sitting at his desk, hunched over a textbook while you lay on his bed, head propped up by an elbow. You can feel your eyes drooping, the words blurring together, it becoming harder and harder to stay awake. His bed is too comfortable and smells overwhelmingly like him, a scent you’ve come to enjoy every time you’re pressed up against him. A mixture of his body wash and the ever-present faint smell of the volleyball court. Eventually you’re powerless against the solace of sleep.

When Atsumu notices you, his heart jumps into his throat. You look so serene and peaceful, your chest rising and falling ever so slightly, part of him wants to crawl in beside you and press his face into your neck and fall asleep right along with you.

But he too has begun to feel like this game has gone too far. The moment he had to tell his family, lie to Osamu, he knew he’d crossed a line. It isn’t fair to you. No longer does he need to pretend for his teammates that he can have a serious relationship, there isn’t a reason to torture himself and keep you tied to him anymore.

Yet, thinking about not being without you, no longer eating lunch together, studying together, or having you in the stands at his games wrenches his heart in such a way he actually feels like it’s crumpling inside his chest. He hasn’t been able to admit it, but at some point along the way, he thinks he fell in love with you. And it just hurts too much to keep pretending. Especially when you’re only doing this for peace and quiet during your showers.

For you, he shouldn’t drag this on any longer.

So, a couple days later, you texted him telling him you were in the library and can join him anytime if he wants. A harmless text, one you’ve sent him many times since this whole thing started, but this one makes his heart sink. Knowing this is the opportunity he’s been waiting for to talk to you. He tries to not think about it, trying to let volleyball take over his thoughts, but it’s futile. All he can think about is saying those words to you, and how it’s quite possibly going to utterly destroy him.

But you take it well, as he expects, squashing the hope that you might feel something for him too.

That night in the library feels particularly lonely. There’s no quick-witted remark from the boy who carved himself a place in your life, no one there to make you laugh when you’re struggling with a problem. Instead, you’re met with nothing but the darkness and silence of the library. It’s almost too much to bear, and once the silence starts closing in on you—you force yourself to leave, refusing to let yourself wallow.

The next weeks are hard. He never imagined that he’d think that after all of this was over. He keeps showering in the mornings to avoid you and uphold the deal you two struck months ago. He ignores the empty hole in his chest when he eats lunch without you, or studies late alone. The most jarring thing is your absence at his games. He constantly finds himself searching the crowd for your face, before remembering you won’t be there. He misses that intense gaze he could always feel on his back, the one that kept him awake at night when he let his thoughts run wild.

He feels as though something has been ripped from his life, leaving nothing but a gaping hole behind that seems intent on devouring him whole.

The same can be said for you.

Who knew you’d ever miss his teasing remarks while you shower? Or miss how you could complain to him endlessly about classes and then have him comfort you in the warm solace of his arms? Even the little things like walking to class together, now that you do it alone, it feels like there’s something missing.

The two you go on like that, thinking of the other every night before sleeping, tossing and turning with the thought of what could have been.

And eventually, you reach the point where you’re over it. Over pining after him day after day, peering out your door to make sure he isn’t around, or taking detours just to avoid him in the hallways. You’re over it. Enough that you’re willing to swallow your pride and confess to him, even if he doesn’t feel the same way—maybe you can fucking move on then.

Before you can talk yourself out of it, you stomp to his dorm room, his roommate opening the door; his eyes widening upon seeing you. Immediately, he grabs his keys saying into the room, “I forgot I need to go to the store Atsumu, see you later.”

He leaves no time for Atsumu to protest, out the door in a matter of moments, leaving you standing in the doorway. Atsumu is just sitting in his desk chair, looking dumfounded at you, having fully expected to never see you again.

The gears in his head grind to a halt as you say, “This is stupid.”

He gives you a bewildered look, unsure what exactly you mean by that.

You steel your courage and press on. “I like you. And you like me. I think. And all this pretending that we don’t is stupid.”

After a few moments, his lips curve into a smile, the mischievous one you used to hate but now feel relief seeing. He can’t help the joy building in his chest at your confession. How many sleepless nights thinking about this very moment did he endure?

“You said it,” he teases.

Despite giving him a look, you do nothing to stop the grin rising to your lips. “Well, it didn’t seem like you were going to.”

His smile only widens, and he motions you into the room. “Get yer butt over here already.”

You move on instinct, striding into the room and climbing into his lap, settling your legs on either side of his you wrap your arms around his neck. The overwhelming sense that yes—this is exactly where you want to be, washes over you. He smirks up at you, his large hands resting at your waist, waiting for your next move.

“I can’t believe I actually missed that stupid smirk,” you say, lowering your lips to his, fingers slipping into the short hair at the base of his neck.

His smile hasn’t faltered, muttering against your lips teasing, “Does this mean I can shower at night again?”

A laugh bubbles out of you, but he smothers it in another kiss and refuses to let go.

[spicyizuku]

mha boys & cooking headcanons

hi ❤️ heres my thoughts on the boys and if they'd cook for u!! enjoy -🌶

Includes: Todoroki Shoto, Bakugou Katsuki, Midoriya Izuku, & Iida Tenya

warnings: mentions of food

genre: general, fluff, opinion piece

01.04.21

Todoroki Shoto

𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮?

hmm he does sometimes!! he usually makes lunch for you when he has time off, but it's mostly stuff you can make without using an oven. he makes a GREAT sandwich

𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫?

yes! and by yes i mean he watches as you cook. he'll probably prep the kitchen for you- he cleans up the kitchen and helps chop vegetables so you dont take extra prep time

𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤?

hmm i think he'd like baking more! he's not much of a sweet tooth but its easier to mess up when you cook rather than just sticking something in the oven and waiting for it to rise

𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥?

he's decent!! he doesnt like handling hot liquids for reasons (except soba duh) but anything other than that hes fine! it might take two tries to get a recipe right. he doesnt really make anything fancy

𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫?

absolutely!! he loves finally being able to sit down with you after a long day. the first words that come out of his mouth is usually "how was your day?" nd you two easily fall into a pattern. he almost NEVER misses dinner

𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞?

you already know!! baby loves his cold soba!!

𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐤𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬?

if you had a claim on a room in his house it would be the kitchen. yea he lives there but thats YOUR kitchen.

Bakugou Katsuki

𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮?

Everyday!! He strongly believes providing and cooking for you is one of the easiest ways to show you how much he loves you. his food speaks for him. He loves trying out new recipes for u!! nd theres no snark if you ever request something for dinner. When you two first got together he'd make breakfast and then say he "accidentally made too much" so you can have some. It gradually evolved to "What do you want to eat?"

𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫?

rarely. he doesnt want u anywhere near the kitchen. On rare occasions when he's done cooking u make desert, but usually you bake in advance bc he doesn't want anything in his way when he's ready to make something

𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤?

hes the cook and ur the baker!! He doesnt see the joy in baking and thinks it's useless to him since he doesnt really enjoy sweets. that is- until you make KILLER Shu kurimu. he cant get enough of the cream puffs you make and does not know when to stop. u usually only make them once a month. he gets mad if you make them more bc he knows hes going to ignore his meal plan and inhale them lol

𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥?

You already know Bakugou is Gordon Ramsey 2.0!! man can make anything. every time you see him head to the kitchen you get excited. you KNOW he's abt to go hard and make the best food you've probably ever tasted

𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫?

hmm not much- You know bakugou is an overachieving perfectionist. He works and works and works until he drops. He doesn't have time to sit down and eat, he's always on patrol. That doesn't mean he leaves you with nothing to eat, though! He'll get up early to make you both bentos and makes sure to prep for dinner if he isnt cooking in advance. On off days (rare) he'll make you American styled breakfast in bed 🥰

𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞?

Tantanmen! its the japanese take on Sichuan Dan Dan noodles. u know baby loves his spices

𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐤𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬?

HIS. dont even THINK about trying to get in that kitchen while he's cooking. he needs his space and cooking is his time to shine!! he'll get irritated if ur in the way. he likes when you sit at the bar top of his kitchen and talk to him while he cooks. even distracted he cooks perfectly. he doesnt add much to the conversation since he's still focused, but he loves hearing ur voice and knowing you enjoy being around him enough to just sit and watch

Midoriya Izuku

𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮?

ummm- he tries?? He makes you two a lot of no-cook dinners since hes not good with cooking yet. But babyboy definitely tries!!

𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫?

all the time!! izuku is usually watching you cook. whenever you're in the kitchen, hes there. He watches and takes notes so he can get better. He helps with all the non cooking parts- chops up everything and preheats the oven. He'll help clean up your mess as you go!!

𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤?

hmm both! he's a decent baker but he wants to learn more about both. baby never gives up on learning something new

𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥?

hh at first? NO. You're surprised he's survived this long. You have no idea how he follows meal plans to stay in shape for hero work when the man barely knows how to boil water. He's admitted he used to go to Bakugous and annoy him until he was kicked out with a full stomach. but!! Once a week, you'll give him a lesson and watch over as he cooks, you know he'd rather die than give up trying to perfect something. He's a really fast learner and is actually starting to get good!! Next thing you know you'll be coming home from work and finding that dinner was already made- maybe a bit dry, okay. But its not that bad!!

𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫?

He tries- he really really tries. He loves eating dinner with you, but being the #1 hero takes sacrifice and dinner with his loved ones is exactly that. He's too busy for his own good; completing patrols and missions, attending events, making appearances, writing reports??? Its all a LOT. He'll probably come home to eat dinner with you once (twice, if hes lucky) a month.

You know how hard it is on him. He would always sit down and eat dinner with his mom when he was younger and not being able to sit down and relax was stressful. One day you decided to surprise him! You two share your locations so you made dinner and went out to bring him food. You two ate on this agency's fire escape- He was so happy!! You remember that scene when spiderman ate a churro while sitting on the ledge of a building? thats yall. After that, he makes sure these midnight picnics are a daily thing- he wouldnt miss patrol dinners for the world

he always wraps an arm around you when you two eat during a patrol. He gets grumpy because you never bring a jacket and he doesn't have one on him to give you since hes in his hero suit ): you sit side by side, arms brushing against eachother as you two eat whatever you made

𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞?

Tonkatsu!! its one of his favorite foods and it doesn't take that mich effort or time to make

𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐤𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬?

Yours!! you're usually in charge of food- he's too busy and if he rushes cooking the food will turn out inedible. He doesnt have time to clean up after you- so he hires someone to clean the kitchen daily. A hero's salary has its perks!

Tenya Iida

𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮?

not usually- its not because he doesnt want to. It just doesn't cross his mind. Cooking for him is more of a chore- He'd rather take you out someplace nice

𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫?

All the time!! You two work around the kitchen with eachother effortlessly- never getting in eachothers way. He'll stop to watch you work your magic sometimes. Cooking with you is such a mundane yet enjoyable experience

𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤?

baker!! he mostly makes rolls and baked goods that arent too sweet. I strongly believe Iida likes to bake bread

𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥?

He's decent- he follows all recipes to a T so if its a bad recipe the food will turn out a little bland. u know when you see a recipe and it has little to no spices so you add some? Iida doesn't do that- a recipe is made to be followed

𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫?

Yes!! You two try to eat together at least three times a week. On fridays his brother comes over for dinner- its always a grand time! The dining room booms with laughter and chatter

𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞?

beef stew!! thats one of the meals he makes thats really really good!

𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐤𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬?

shared! you both cook and bake equally and u never kick eachother out the kitchen. He loves being in the kitchen with you!! He'll press up against your back, resting his head on your shoulder and wrapping an arm around your waist as he watches you cook

he's tried being romantic and dance with you in the kitchen. poor baby just doesnt know how to dance. but humor him!! he loves dancing with you! Theres a speaker in the kitchen just for when you want to hold eachother in the kitchen and listen to music

Thanks for reading 🥺 If you wanna leave constructive criticism i'd really appreciate that ❤️ I take requests btw! lemme know if i should do a pt 2 w the other boys & shinsou! hope u enjoy ur day

- chili 🌶

[arsenicxarcana]

arsenic/m6 compatibility chart

via @firefly-child​

i don’t know how accurate this will actually be bc i haven’t read all the routes and may poison arsenic with some of my (and possibly lucio’s) Bad Opinions

6/10 - friend

arsenic’s opinion: don’t get me wrong, he’s great. they’re a successful magician and they understand the gender stuff better than anyone. plus, you know, he taught me everything i know about magic and took care of me when i was -- you know. *vague zombie motions*

but i can’t help feeling something’s missing. like they expect someone else to be here and have to settle for me, you know? looking straight past me in my own eyes. there’s a history i’ll never know about and a person i’ll never be again, and it’d probably be better for everyone if we just.. start over.

assuming, of course, he can stay in the damn city long enough..

4/10 - simp

arsenic’s opinion: countess... hot

way out of my league, though. and i wouldn’t want to disappoint her with the uh, inherent class divide. what does she like? does she like bones?

(author’s note: this doesn’t change much for her route sdfh)

9/10 - partner

arsenic’s opinion: just, hold on. give me a second.

this man is scientific proof you can be highly intelligent and a fucking idiot at the same time. breaking him of that self-destructive streak is like pulling teeth, except the teeth are glued down and also weigh like 50 pounds each. he is a beautiful disaster. a wreck of a human being.

i just want to kiss his stupid face with that stupid grin and that stupid nose and the stupid eyebags big enough to fit a family of four and those STUPID EYES that look at you like you’re the only thing in the world for him. i want to listen to him recite anatomical terms like it’s goddamn poetry. i just want to listen to him say anything, really. i want to kiss him until his mouth is raw and fuck him until everything else is raw and just--

is this what they mean when they say ‘coming out of your shell’? because he should overwhelm me and sometimes he does but then it’s so easy to let that energy wash over you and carry you out to sea

the pain thing is a little weird, but i mean, he looks so cute when he’s into it so it evens out

???/10 - who?

arsenic’s opinion: no, seriously who is this??

10/10 - friend

arsenic’s opinion: one of the many benefits of knowing julian is knowing this ray of sunshine right here. AND HER CAT. I LOVE HER CAT. i would steal pepi if i could, and i’m not ashamed to admit this. i wonder if she’d let me reanimate her when the time comes

there’s a LOT of energy in her, though, more than julian, so it’s easier for me to get overwhelmed while hanging out with her. i have to bring her brother to absorb some of the off-set, but this doesn’t always work because they can also amplify each other’s energy..

all of us in the pillow pile is pretty good. i like the pile.

???/10 - complicated (9/10 partner)

arsenic’s opinion (most routes): he was already dead when i was finally a person again, i never really knew much about him before the uh-- all the stuff. i was not expecting quite that much supernatural bullshit at the bottom of a murder investigation.

despite everything, i don’t really hate him. i wouldn’t invite him for dinner, but i don’t hate him. i wonder what drives a man to get that involved in that sort of stuff. i find him kind of fascinating. from a distance. he is beautiful, though.

arsenic’s opinion (his route): who hurt you???? don’t answer that

it’s just, so easy to see that there’s nothing holding him up. that bigass ego is a front, built on the shoddiest infrastructure that WILL tumble down if you hit it in just the right way. i don’t know if he was always like this, being a cute goat probably didn’t help

and yes, he’s fucked up a lot. but at a certain point it feels a lot less like he’s getting what he deserves and more like the universe is just rubbing his nose in it

the further down you go the more there’s stuff that’s fucked up, and i’m trying to work him past this as well as i can - but sometimes i feel like he needs a lot more TLC than i can give.

oh, but the TLC he gives -- it’s intoxicating. kind of overwhelming. he kisses like he’s starving and you’re the only food for miles, he holds you like he expects you to vanish if he lets go -- which i guess, considering some stuff, he probably does

the sounds he makes when you touch him, no matter where it is, he can’t get enough of it and he makes sure you know that. he can’t get enough of me. i’m everything to him and i don’t know how to feel about that

[moonlit-imagines]

Headcanons for being best friends with Klaus Hargreeves

Klaus Hargreeves x reader

warnings: drugs/alcohol, blood, smoking, guns, death mention

a/n:

prompt: anonymous: “Hi! Could you write a Klaus Hargreeves x best friend reader headcanon, just the random shenanigans they get into together, the fun they have together. No hidden romance or anything, just complete and utter platonic LOVE. If you have ideas for some angsty point in the headcanon feel free to put them in, I just want to be best friends with Klaus so bad and this is my way to fulfill it XD thank you so much!!”

meeting each other pretty much the day he left the umbrella academy

he was cheering in the street, which you found absolutely amusing

“hey, what’s got you so happy?”

“i’m so glad you asked! today’s my eighteenth birthday, which means im free at last!”

“wow, well, happy birthday”

“i have the greatest idea, do you want to spend it with me?”

you didn’t have anything else to do, so why the hell not?

klaus was a wild child, anyone could have told you that

he paraded down the streets with you, arms interlocked as he skipped around town

you two were singing whatever tune came to mind

“where are you staying tonight?”

“wherever i please!”

“would you like to crash on my couch?”

“do you have a tv?”

“i do”

he agreed and made you watch movies with him until you both passed out

after that night, you two became best friends

he was a lot to handle, but you could take it

plus, you didn’t mind having some crazy unplanned fun, either

to be honest, klaus did have some rough patches, though

he’d call you from the police station time and time again, asking for you to come pick him up

klaus magically was able to talk them out of any charges, you thought only his sister could do that

oh! i forgot to mention, he opened up to you about his powers and the way he was raised

you had heard about the umbrella academy before, so you believed him

you were just surprised that he was one of ‘em

“yeah, yeah, dad said i’m supposed to ‘commune with the dead,’ but he has no idea how hard that actually is! the mental toll it has on a person!”

he told you about ben, who was actually present at the time, you just couldn’t see him

you and klaus went on to be friends for years, sharing so many memories together

some of them were drunken, you must admit

you weren’t a fan of klaus’s addiction, though, especially as time went on

“klaus, you need to pull it together. i really think you should go to rehab. just try it out?”

“but i don’t want to part with you for that long! i’ll be lost!”

“don’t worry, i’ll still be here when you get out”

patching him up when he got hurt, which was often

“aw, my shirt has blood on it. that’s too bad, i liked this one”

“you know, klaus, the blood gives you some character”

“you know what? you’re right!!”

he would go on the wildest tangents about his family sometimes, five superpowered siblings (+ vanya), a billionaire for a father, a robot for a mother, and monkey.......totally normal childhood

sometimes he’d see his sister, allison, on the tv and watch whatever it was she was in, he thought she was magnificent

he really did miss her sometimes

“you know, they were all the worst siblings you could ask for, but they are my family. i wonder how they’re doing right now...”

“do you want to visit them sometime, i can come with”

“oh, nonono, you don’t want to do that, we may try to kill each other!”

“i believe that”

him finding vanya’s book and reading it with you in tears

“i know, klaus, i know. she didn’t mean to hurt you, i’m sure. she made the wrong decision”

“she just told the world about very private family matters! what else was she trying to do?!”

klaus and you stuck together for a few more years, but the day he found out his dad died was....it was something

he was laughing, crying, popping open the champagne, crying some more, hugging you tightly, and singing happy songs

“y/n...will—will you come to the funeral with me? please?”

“yeah, i can do that”

the house he grew up in was HUGE

he insisted on giving you a tour while he snatched up trinkets to sell

“put it back...”

“but it’s mine!”

passing by his other siblings and awkwardly waving

“who are you?”

“excuse you, this is my very best friend in the whole wide world!”

okay, it was a lot more uncomfortable that you expected it to be

especially when “number one” dumped the ashes at the funeral and then “number two” started shit talking their dad, and klaus started laughing when they started fighting

passing his cigarette back and forth

okay, and then he suddenly had a 13 year old brother fall from the sky

“klaus, are you sure we were smoking a cigarette?”

“i’m never sure of anything anymore, darling”

“that’s reassuring”

the little brother did not give a flying FUCK who you were

smth about the apocalypse

babysitting klaus as he spiraled out of control bc of his family

uh, losing klaus several times

and then he got kidnapped

and then he time traveled to the 60s and fell in love???

he told you all about dave

“he sounds amazing, klaus. do you think you could conjure him?”

“that’s not a bad idea! i just need to stay sober!”

easier said than done

apocalypse apocalypse apocalypse

now you were all in on that

you never thought that your accompaniment to a funeral would lead to several shootings, murders, and traumas.......wow

you really felt out of place

his sistee ended the world. you know, vanya, the one you thought had no powers

so his brother, five, time traveled the lot of you to the 1960s, but you landed alone in texas

“klaus? klaus?! anybody???”

having to cope with the fact that you were going to have to acclimate to living in the past on your own, it could be worse

you could have died in 2019

you went on for another year or two trying to keep your head low

but you ran into a familiar face soon

“allison?”

“y/n?”

although you didn’t know each other very well before this, you were ecstatic to find someone in the same situation as you

soon everyone began finding each other and also the world was gonna end again

reuniting with klaus

sobbing while you hugged him

“y/n, oh, my god, i can’t believe it’s really you!”

“i missed you so much, this has been such a wild ride”

“welcome to the hargreeves family”

ben, who you couldn’t hear: “he wouldn’t shut up about you!”

this new timeline was decidedly not a vibe

“you know, the 60s fashion i can live with, but everything else? complete trash i would like to go home”

everyone had to protect you because you didn’t have powers and they actually kind of cared about you?

klaus would also absolutely lose it if you got hurt

he would tell you all about his cult every moment he got

also he let you hang out at his mansion

but there was no time to hang out, you guys REALLY had to fix the timeline in any way you could

after becoming fugitives, you went to a barn for an epic *final battle* where you died lived bc five changed the timeline

getting back to 2019 only to find that it was......not the same at all

“i think...i think we may have fucked up”

“yeah, i’m going to have to agree with you there”

taglist: @alwaysananglophile // @cullens-stuff // @lotsoffandomrecs // @takethebladeawayfromme // @tessacabrera // @teenwaywardasgardian // @spidergirla5 // @sheridans-dynamos // @freya-xo // @johnmurphyisbisexual // @jay-is-groovy // @ravenmoore14 // @purpleskiesstorm //

[calamitousrpgarchive]

THE WINDS ARE CHANGING, 

There’s never a quiet day in the state of Calamity. 

And if there is. 

It’s the quiet before the storm. 

THERE’S WAR ON THE HORIZON. 

The mortals have suffered catastrophic loss already, Bram Mackie; a formerly prestigious hunter has fallen in with the wolves in order to strengthen himself and increase his chance of protecting his family. His friend Michael “Mike” Fothergill is offering his house for refuge whilst the newly turned wolf adjusts to his new self. This information is only known to those closest to him, and those who have been told via word of mouth from said people.Sabrina Mackie, Lucky Jones Adams and the rest of the Mackie clan seem supportive of his choice, though Cardelle Mackie would express the opposite. Begs the question, is the sacrifice worth it in the long run?

The former Commander Damien Alanis is another tragic loss for the Hideout ranks; attacked by rogue vampires, and only discovered in his last moments by his lover Malcolm “Mal” Davenport who acted against Damien’s will be transformed into one of the very creatures he used to hunt. 

The news broke out in waves, and chances of alliances across the westside remain to look slim. Malcolm and Damien have both been contained in the basement of Kazimir Mikhailov’s manor for their own protection, and the protection of others. It had been adjustment after adjustment. Jessie Davenport, Axel Reyes and Kazimir have been between diplomatic meetings in order to damage control and repair the human and vampire relations. 

Malcolm will be punished severely for the murder of one of his own via Jessie, Demitri & Jakoris “Jack” Davenport’s will. 

Axel Reyes, former Second in Command in the Hideout, has stepped up to Commander role and is heading the human relations, tightening security and doing everything he can in order to protect his people where it appears his predecessor failed. There has been a private meeting between the Commander and the Overlord after the rather large indiscretion; to prevent a Westside war that would be more blood than anything else. 

The former Second also took it upon himself to hunt down the former Commander, as the two of them had a long lived agreement that they’d not let one another turn into another species. With this in mind, Axel managed to convince Damien to meet him in neutral territory. He brought Lucky with him, wanting to make sure that the deed would be done, whether Axel finished the job or her. Unfortunately for the two of them, Kazimir found them and stopped it before either of them could do damage to one another.

They have come to a shaky agreement that Axel will donate blood to Damien for training purposes, in exchange for the vampires providing supplies that would be too difficult to acquire safely on their own, or risky. However, a miscommunication between the two leaders may mean that it doesn’t hold for all that long, because the Commander wants a guarantee that the humans in his ranks would not be touched, which the Overlord seems to agree to at first, despite the orders given. For an entire hierarchy of vampires to go against their nature, it seems like a dream that would only go on so long...

Outside of the Darklands ranks, Claude Jones has become a vampire once more, Scarlett Jane Grey her maker in a reversal of roles. Due to her lack of memory, she cannot remember much of her first maker Fox Crathorne. This transformation has left little reflection of Claudette and she is using her practice to lure unsuspecting humans and fae in for counselling and entertain her newly unhinged mannerisms. SJ has been at the reigns of handling the reprimands for Lydia Cragore and her misdeeds that pitted her as disloyal to the vampires. This led her to also become aware of Daniel Wright’s involvement in regards to trying to help Lydia with an escape, or at least attempting to encourage her to try and leave. Meanwhile, not long after this - and with incredibly poor timing as a diplomatic member - Scarlett has left Calamity on a temporary hiatus from the state. Few know of this (Claude and Jessie), and her absence is noticed but unquestioned when those might pester Jessie Davenport for answers about her Bite Club’s second lady. 

Demitri Davenport remains to be unlike himself after his own punishment a couple months ago after he acted off orders and tortured Malcolm. He is attempting to be better in his role and stay out of the firing line of Jessie Davenport because of it. Unknown to him, Jessie is considering him among the names she might suggest to Kazimir about filling their Consul position - believing that with the diplomatic relations as they are, the more voices offering a partial democracy would benefit them all. The vizier also managed to recruit Rosalie Winters into accumulating blood for Kazimir. But will she follow through? There are whispers of Rosalie and Fox Crathorne co-hosting a dinner party. 

Giselle Stoneheart has also been in contact with the Diplomat in order to discuss terms of a potential alliance, as has Josiah Maxwell as representing the Mer Kingdom, so the vampire has been attempting to fortify relations across the entire state in order to secure the continued survival of her race. Giselle, before this has been keeping a relatively low profile with the absence of an acting High Court among the fae, and has been acting on her own ideals for the benefit of her people. 

And in a hit to the vampires themselves, Teddy Byrne has taken a silveriron bullet to the shoulder by a rogue mortal and has been spending some time recovering. His old flame, and former pet (perhaps?) Matias “Matty” Desoto has been helping aid in his healing process, and both men trea thin water, considering Matty’s position at the Overlord’s side as a private feeder and companion. A secondary concern, one thinks to the diplomatic mess that Kaz has been busy with - slipped beneath his nose for a smidge longer than it usually would, maybe? Matty has also been pursuing Kaz to turn him into a vampire, but has been grossly denied until he has levelled his own personal deep seated issues, in order to make the transition easier. His brother Ace Remington, continues to antagonise him - and he persists to try and help the psychopath.

Under Axel’s new leadership, Cardelle Mackie approached him about the potential to be Second, pending a trial period that would be to prove himself as a leader. Daniel Wright has been tasked with hunting additional medical supplies for Sabrina Mackie, Aiden Kinsey, Ellie May and Diego Garcia to potentially use to develop and synthesis new medicine. Sabrina has been also developing her own skills in research development, including such things as vampire repellant, haemotology in order to further the knowlegde they have on how it works (species), hybridising plants and a multitude of salves that would be for the betterment of her people; friends and family. Her other half, Lorelai Mackie still remains to be missing, and her family are refusing to give up any hope. 

Unbeknowst to them, Lorelai Mackie is under the name Mackenzie and has been abducted to be a feeder between the two rivalling clubs on the Westside, BC and Voci. There has been the briefest of revelations in her search when Bram Mackie nearly slaughtered Jakoris “Jack” Davenport in the SRS where there was an information exchange that somehow, salvaged the vampire’s life but offered an in for the Mackie about the woman he was searching for. Jack now suspects a connection based on the two somwhat tense interactions they have shared, whilst Bram has a likely lead about Lorelai’s whereabouts. 

Along with Daniel’s orders to bring supplies into the Hideout, he’s also secretly helping the far, Cordelia Darkwood with a baby; picking up small trinkets and baby things that he delivers to her in private. He plans to inform the Hideout of this little secret in due time; when tensions have lessened. Daniel broke Gabriel Fothergill’s nose, brushed his scent onto him and may have put himself in danger by crossing paths with Michael “Mike” Fothergill, who is experiencing the backend of Liliana Solar’s punishment of being trapped in a silveriron cage that left him even madder than usual. Gabe has made it his life’s mission to press Mike’s buttons and the mad wolf sports the burns for all to see his injuries. And despite common knowledge of being enemies, he is tangled in leige with the Vociferous Owner, Oberyn Cortez and there’s something more than just unlikely flings between them. Though, it isn’t public. 

The very same vampire has been manipulating Aiden Kinsey and fabricating the mortal’s memories with compulsion. With the help of Avery Arden, a troublesome fae, they have gradually been uncovering the vampire’s handiwork to the discovery of Oberyn using Aiden as a blood source for his own personal gain. He has acquired a magical necklace that allows Avery and he to communicate telepathically, and has been self-questioning a route to elongate his lifespan to spend longer with the fae; perhaps taking the same route as Bram Mackie? 

On the less volatile side of the wolves, the oldest pack have been running amok on the Southside, troubled in their own ways - the usual pack warfare. Alpha of the Syndico’s Enzo Sinclair has been dealing with difficult family and lovers drama, Jaxon Reed has admitted the truth of Sinclair’s heritage and revealed that he is the Alpha’s father which has proven to be difficult for Enzo. With this, Jax has also confessed to having intimate relations with a member of a rival pack and the exchange of secrets has only made the Alpha make his Beta keep it hush. The only other person who knows of this familial truth is Izyk Vissar, the Alpha’s husband and formerly Exiled wolf. They are all trying to keep the inter-family drama outside of pack business, and Jaxon has found himself engaging with those he may want to avoid to cope with having to keep his confessions secret. 

Adding to Enzo Sinclair’s family carnage, his mother is heading back into town to scorn the man’s choice in husband; express her absolute disapproval. Izyk’s dealing with that, alongside his new position within the Syndico pack, and gaining acceptance as a valued member. 

Aslyn Bishop remains to be wavering with her loyalties to the wolves, and ongoing relations with Logan Crest Cree, of the vampires. Jaxon Reed has been attempting to keep her out of this trouble. 

To add to the wolves despair, Max Roper remains to be cursed to wolf form, and Phoebe Gallagher has been doing her best to cope and help with this, and has been searching for magical remedies to reverse the curse. Though, she’s not the only one trying to help the wolf. Haylee Dubois seems to think she might have a cure for the spell that is plaguing Max, while Esme is also doing her best to help. With all of this help, Max may be appear human once again.

In the ocean, the Mer kingdom remains to be recovering from their stroke of constant bad luck, death after death amongst the royal family implies they would be overdue something good. Andrew and Saylor Zander as reigning monarchs oversee their people and continue to attempt to keep them safe given past events. King Andrew and Katya Tilki have both recently returned from their travels to neighbouring kingdoms in order to recruit allies to aid in the silent war that threatens the Forgotten. Andrew is angry since his father ran his twin out of town and just as motivated by that, as he is the near assassination on him at his own wedding. Queen Saylor, privately, acted on her own in retaliation to that by targeting the demons at the latest Party of the Century, and dropped numerous with her potent concoction The Exitus. Nobody knows who was responsible for the toxic drink, but Azarius and Jahi of the Dominion have opened up their own investigations, and began dropping their own suspects across the state of Calamity in a hunt for the culprit, each pointing fingers in other directions. Azarius suspects his assassination attempt with Azagi Rabaz at the royal wedding might have something to do with the targeting. 

A silent war of the East remains under the radar, for now. 

In the diplomacy side of the underwater kingdom, Advisor, Josiah Maxwell has been reaching out for allies, whilst balancing his own personal interests in the Queen and the contract they drew up months ago that vowed the royal circle, himself and Kondor Tarren to secrecy in regards to inter-personal relationships that may jeopradise the integrity of vows, and hierarchial traditions. Greyson Zander has expressed his upset in conversation with his sister, but they all signed themselves to silence. Love is pain, no? Kondor Tarren caught between Greyson and Andrew whilst Saylor has her head turned by her Advisor. 

Saylor continues to plan for a war, has recently secured an alliance with the Syndico Pack and with her Advisor’s help, is working on allying with more. Dayanara “Daya” Lighcrest, in the background is hellbent on her pursuit for the throne, and has taken a private leave under a false guise where she was instead attempting to recruit her own people from neighbouring kingdoms to her cause, and has been planting seeds in her compatriots that antagonise the Zander’s, the potential that Azarius and Azagi may be part of her recruitment after the demon’s lazy attack on them may pose a different degree of threat. She is greatening her force, making no moves but is a reckoning force in the rear view of  the Zander’s gaze.

Among the demons, post-attack on them, and an absence of any particular unit of force, few care to act on it, others, want to terrorize the state as a result. Azagi Rabiaz is caught in a triangle of carnage, Jack Davenport, Lan Darquen and Azarius all have varying interests in the demon, but never as first choice. A complicated turmoil and mixture of monsters that serve as entertainment, toxicity and terror in one package. Lan remains unaware that Azagi and Jack have been more than just passing acquaintances, and both Jack and Azagi have learned during their jibes that they share a common partner in crime; they aren’t looking forward to letting that slip to the Invidias; the demon of envy. Nor is the little secrets of Azagi taking impromptu naps in the Davenport’s bed particularly eager knowledge they want broadcasted. 

Jakoris “Jack” Davenport in amongst the diplomatic trouble of the Darklands, is growing to put it on the back burner; disagrees with some decisions made and it might jeopradise his standing. Evanora Bile, his best friend and witch, admits to her magic waning (due to age) and that her lifespan is being reduced to that of a mortals - much to the vampire’s distaste and is currently in the pursuit (and somehow, pushing down rage) of some magical cure that might stop the mortal process of aging as he gradually wars with denial and truth. But his likely bloody chase for answers, might put himself in predicaments that derail all diplomacies on the Westside.

Ezekiel “Zeki” Amari has founded and opened his own bistro by the name of Polaris, and its a welcome reprieve for a lot of patrons of Calamity, Izara “Kit” Levine among one of its first customers on opening night and unaware that its founder had been one of her oldest companions from when they were both affiliated with the Hideout. This goes before Kit has crossed paths with her long time ex fiance, Axel Reyes and they balance a love, hate relationship amongst the diplomatic stress the Commander is dealing with. 

The state’s local good source of all things tasty, Zane Saxena has been manufacturing his own supplies of drugs and poisons in order of the growing demand. War? Brings about something with a little more potency, Pixie still a big first choice for most of the users, Ace Remington and Harley Xhanthi among his best customers, if not best friends - if it would be called such a thing. He is taking orders directly through Havelowe’s in the black market. The same Harley that has transformed species more than once, first a fallen, later a mortal via the powerful concoction at the Winter Ball, before Luella Edwards turned him into her protege and has been training him through fledgling hood. Her maker, Elias Reyes is still as insane as ever. 

Northside, the witches are as divided as ever, Esmeray Black alongside Esme Darcy are both heading the sorcerers and Black, newly given the position is still learning of the secrets that are bestowed upon the Arch Conduits. There is plans to potentially steal a child to fulfill missing gaps in her soul and assist Rhysand Darkwood in murdering Andrew’s father. Freyja Carter, without knowledge of witchcraft or the magic in her blood, is on the cusp of connecting with Luca Whitmore to help her realise what she is, but reluctantly. Aurora Lightwood, a ticking time bomb if there ever was one, the Tamperer with more power than any moertal body could handle, is trying to get a grasp of what her past has left her with. 

The High Sage keeps the Naturals in order, except her own Shaman, Haylee Dubois who appears to have wavering loyalties and rushes of impulsive behaviours, perhaps from being on such a tight leash til now? Atemu Elmasry, a poor choice in companion, dealing with his own past haunting him in the form of lost love - pitted against a complicated back and forth with the Shaman on the opposite side of the civil war of the witches, and on the brink of losing one of his oldest allies in Evanora Bile. He finds comfort in Valdana Romanov and cannot work out why he keeps finding himself in life and death, back and forths with Haylee; stops her from plummeting into dark magic and yet tolerates it. Daphne Groves is one of Haylee’s closest, and is defending all her choices, but quietly hopes she will remain on the side of light, and repel darkness. Daph is also getting a little too close to Yara Clementine, the vampire that stands as the only link left back to the witch’s mother and begins to question the High Sage’s values; instead stands to believe all species should be helped; anti-war. Still a believer, even after Azagi Rabaz presented the eyes of a loyalist in a terrifying act to coax information out of the witch?

A grand opening Southside, Coveted offers something new, founded by Adonis Romero he has found that it benefits him beyond the obvious. In some complicated thing with Teddy Byrne that seems mutually beneficial, Adonis is attempting to get the vampire addicted to his fae blood in order to manipulate the vampire to do what he wants. The trickery of the fae knows no bounds, it seems. The fae of Myre Grove seem relatively tame, Jasper Dalton’s step-brother Samuel Dalton has strode into town again to cause all kinds of trouble. Already found his long time companions in the Davenports, and Jessie has warned him off leaving messes that could caue diplomatic problems. 

Jasper has however antagonised Quentin Miles’ boyfriend when in The Bloom anda fight broke out, Kane Harrison bit Jasper and the situation grew extreme - Malakiah’s arrival worsened the situation, and the flower shop became a warzone that ended only when Quentin agreed to assist in Jasper’s injuries. What was said about how love hurts? Fortunately, an isolated indiscretion between the fae, fallen and the wolf was nothing more that lovers’ spats. 

Speaking of Jasper... He also seems to have caught the eye of his Manager and supposed friend, Amos De Leon. The man, usually seen surrounded by luck, seems to have a couple of people wrapped around his finger. Giselle, darling, are you having fun? It’s unknown if some of his games are for shits and giggles, or if he intends to blackmail those around him. All that luck is bound to run out at some point... 

Under the noses of the rest of the fae, Avery Arden plans to help conduit the human and vampire alliance in a negative direction, possibly with the assistance of Dalton and this would be detrimental to stopping a war of the West. 

Dojermaur “Dodger” Dros has been getting increasingly closer to Lennell Moore, but a Letharger’s interest in a mortal seems suspicious, no? Nira has been trying to assist in wakening the Unawakened and helping them blossom into their true potential, and Jack Riley seems to be a perfect candidate - on the road to recovery from his substance abuse, and trying to help his new Commander, and Hideout with supply runs and being support. 

Alexander remains to be under the thrall of the demons in the Dominion, continues to work as a bartender at Hypnos and is irrefutably flirting with his best friend. He’s gained custody of his child within the confines of the tunnels. The same tunnels that Atemu Elmasry and Teddy Byrne almost fought in when they reuinted for the first time in a decade and spurred the hundred year old feud that runs deep between them - Fallon Knight the only reason that the two only part ways with new scars, and their lives. 

/ END

This is the briefest of reference materials we could compile together based on what we know, and what the muns of Calamitous have sent us. If there is anything incorrect, or misinterpreted - or you lovelies want something added/included, let us know! 

We didn’t receive updates for everyone, but we’re happy to add something in, we hope this runover of the latest events helps you guys who don’t have the time to follow everything on the dash! 

[ectonurites]

Batcest shippers read comics, actually. And they write them, and draw for them. Please continue to make a fool of yourself pretending otherwise.

i got ranty here so the tldr: yeah no shit, you’re taking something i tweeted entirely out of context, i’m well aware of those facts and im not ‘pretending’ anything lmao

onto my full response:

i see you must have come from my twitter! and yeah, i’m unfortunately aware there are people who ship batcest working for dc, its super upsetting! the person who designed the current red hood outfit just posted j*ydick on their twitter today, which is horrifying to see.

like listen im not... im not gonna go out and harass people for shipping batcest. I literally do not have the energy, and I know I’m not gonna be convincing anyone of anything bc the people who chose to ship batcest have made their choice there.

but I’m always gonna advocate for like, those people TAGGING THEIR SHIT so that especially minors but also anyone else who doesn’t want to see fuckin’ incest doesn’t need to. And like, the creation of lists of what creators are making that stuff so people can block and move on? I also think that’s good. Like I don’t think people should go harass anyone over this because its just... theres no point. But letting people who don’t want to see it know who to block so they can move on? that’s a good thing.

The comments of mine I think you’re specifically talking about were about a specific but common type of fanon batcest shipper, because like... immabe real! its very clear a lot of the batfam community on here in general don’t read the comics, (like, as in many people will OPENLY ADMIT that they don’t) and thats not even an inherently bad thing, like people are allowed to interact with media how they want to! But when people get so divorced from canon by only reading fanworks or versions of characters that have been altered and their relationships altered, its easy for misconceptions about all of it to spread, and people to be shipping pairings that literally bear no resemblance to the canon versions/relations of the characters. This isn’t even exclusive to the people shipping batcest. However with the people shipping batcest like... its when those relationships in canon get blurred by just a fanon game of telephone that it becomes easier for them to justify shipping it, you know? That was the point I was trying to make on twitter (i think it was last night? this morning? i dont remember. its 1am rn time is fake)

but like, i’m sorry but in current canon Jason, Dick, Tim, and Damian all consider each other siblings (and Jason had even made a comment at one point in rhato about having four brothers, meaning he probably includes Duke too!). That is... canon. You can see multiple instances of this if you’re reading current comics. And while they have complicated relationships with Bruce, they do all consider him a father (even when Jason says he doesn’t- he literally flip flops on it depending on how he feels in a given day because of his trauma and stuff, but like there will be times only a few issues apart where he will or won’t admit Bruce is his dad). All of these characters have been adopted (or in Damian’s case obv adoption wasn’t necessary) by Bruce in canon at different times (and Cass also, but that’s only in pre new 52 as of right now)

If you are chosing to ship any of the siblings together (or any of them with bruce) you are chosing to ship incest. That is an active choice you are making, and you have to accept the consequences of that. Any judgement/backlash you face for shipping incest is something you are accepting by chosing to ship it.

And if you go “oh but they’re only adopted siblings not REAL siblings-“ you’re an asshole, because adopted siblings are real siblings. I don’t care if they didn’t grow up together, do you realize how invalidating that is towards like, real life people? The amount of people I’ve seen who are adopted themselves get insanely triggered and upset by that kind of content (not just in this fandom btw!) because it just shows people don’t see those familal bonds as being real? It’s not insignificant.

I know ‘media affects reality’ is a controvercial topic, and like obviously ‘i see this thing in media thus i will do it’ is NOT how it works, but the things you normalize/glorify in media you consume says a lot about your thoughts on the topics. Framing matters. Like obviously ‘haha i watch hannibal, gonna go eat people now-‘ is not the case. especially because that media doesn’t frame it as a good thing. That’s the thing I think people miss in these discussions a lot of the time. If you are like ‘i am going to explore how traumatizing incestual relationships could be through these characters’ with batcest? like go off! that could be interesting honestly, and that’s not glorifying it. But acting like ‘omg i just think its so romantic ❤️’ with stuff between characters who canonically are siblings... again you are accepting the judgement that may come your way by publicly doing that.

anyways, i’m well aware of how prevalent batcest is both in the comics industry and around here, i’m aware plenty of them do read comics, and you definitely missed the context in my tweets of me saying things like “a lot” “it feels like many” etc when saying batcest shippers don’t read comics. Context matters my dude ✌️ (also wanna point out, a lot of really gross people work in comics. Racist people, antisemetic people [even today there was some controversy abt that in some hulk comic i believe?] these people being in those industries is... not a good thing even if its normalized???)

But really I think its kinda funny to uh call me a ‘fool’ for something you think I’m doing because you took my words out of context. And maybe you weren’t trying to come off as smug but you absolutely do here and it just strikes me as very funny that you like... are acting like you’re smarter than me or better than me for being okay with incest being normalized in a fandom for superhero comics, a type of media that MANY KIDS READ AND PARTICIPATE IN DISCUSSION ABOUT, while I’m bothered by it.

I don’t talk about this stuff much on here because again, I don’t want to fight about it, I’m not gonna go out of my way to try to change people’s minds on any of it because I know that won’t accomplish anything, I much prefer to just... ignore the content I don’t want to see, maybe warn other people especially minors who also don’t want to see it, and move on with my life. You really didn’t need to bring this to my inbox here, but like go off I guess 🤷

editing this quick just to add in the tweets i made i think this anon is referencing that i very clearly started with ‘so many of them’, not me saying it applies to all of them

[sleepdeprivedheretic]

Heart of the Wild (Ch.2)

Notes: Originally it was suppose to be two Chapters, but alright, three. Apparently tigers can’t purr in real life? Well in this fic, he can bc of reasons.  I just wanted to add in Izuku being the adorable, helpful younger “brother” that he is in the fic :3

Warnings: Consensual smut. Like, right in the beginning when you first start reading, there’s some self stuff, but that’s about it.

He bit the back of his hand, pupils blown wide as he let out a growl of frustration. He was far, far away from his hut, but the lingering smell of an omega’s heat, could be carried away from miles. He tried not to let his mind wonder, to let his frustrations and pent up sexual desires get the best of him.

Of course, he had felt guilty, wanting to just fuck and claim the rabbit as his, but he refused. She wasn’t coherent, they were strangers, and he rather crawl in a trench and never see the sunlight again, than to take advantage of somebody like that.

His trousers were looped around his ankles, letting the chill of the cold air hopefully douse out the heat of his lust-filled mind. Ever since traveling far away from his parents, everyone was too scared to touch him, lest look at him in that sort of manner. Those who he was close to, he saw as sons and family, they were never close to the rabbit’s image that popped into his head, at this moment. He hissed, finding his hands wrapped around himself, tugging at the head as his hips moved on their own whim as he leaned forwards against the tree.

This was dangerous, he knew. Elbow in front of his face as it rested against the bark of the wood, he bit his bottom lip in a growl, letting the feral beast in which was his pent up lust, consume him. Although his length was barbed, it was soft flesh that didn’t hurt his hand. He knew that it was mainly a purpose to keep seed within the womb, not to hurt, and with that thought, his hips stuttered before he quickened his pace, thumbing the head as precum leaked out, letting his imagination run wild, before the guilt would settle in.

 Would she be shy? Or tell him bluntly in what she would want? He shouldn’t even be thinking of her like this, but it was tough not too, him having the primal urge to just wreck the omega in all of the right ways, preferably with a mating bite. He bit the back of his fist, hissing as his hips stuttered, painting the poor tree white with the gunk of his shot.

It wasn’t his first thought, or usual way of marking his territory, but it would have to do, for now.

…………

Sunlight had poked through the hut at this time. You, being freshly tired and worn out, had tried your best to feed the fire with what wood had been there. As for the bedding, you didn’t have an inkling on what to do with it, deciding to set it aside with your shame and guilt, and yet, relief.

A slow, slight knocking, had rung on the door, snapped you out of your thoughts as you froze with fear.

“U-um! Excuse me! My name’s Izuku! Tai-chan sent me here to check up on you!” A squeak on the other side announced, and your shoulders relaxed at the familiar name. He, like you, was a rabbit omega, if anything, he would be immune to your scent, and could help tidy up.

“Come in.” You announced after making sure that you were clothed well. The door creaked open slowly with shaky hands, a mop of green hair, eyes, twitching ears, and a freckled face peeked in as his scent, sweet grass mixed in with a slightly spicy tone, wafted towards you.

“Oh, good, you’re dressed and coherent!” He sighed with relief, inviting himself in, holding a bucket full of wool blankets, as well as a walking stick. Before you could speak, the other rabbit jumped in, first.

“Oh, gosh! I bet he didn’t say anything about this, didn’t he? I think Tai-chan knew what he was getting into when caring for an injured, heated omega, but he probably didn’t tell you that it was okay to get things a bit messy. Messes like slick are easily to clean, luckily, thus I brought the bucket. Oh! You must be hungry! There should be some leftover stew, Tai had said!” The dwarf rabbit rambled, his short ears twitching with excitement as he laid out spare blankets out from the bucket, as well as a hairbrush, twine, soap, a spare tunic, and a small jar full of a dark green substance.

He handed you the stick, rushing over towards the still bubbling stew as he hummed excitedly, introducing himself.

“Omegas are pretty rare, did you know? So I hope that we become good friends! The bucket is to drawl water from the nearest stream, and we can wash those dirty sheets, as well as you take a bath. Thus the hairbrush and twine, so you can put up your hair, if you want.” He explained, glancing at you with a sweet smile as he plopped several spoonfuls of soups into two separate bowls.

You thanked him, telling your name and your story as the two of you ate, talking between swallowing bites of food. The cheerful omega was younger than you, yet was in his late teens or early twenties, him stating that he had found Eiji, his mate, when the two of them were nineteen summer’s old.

“Are you around many omegas in heat?” You tried asking. For a second, he stilled, looking at you with surprise, and then shook his head.

“Our dynamic is so rare, it’s comical. Of course, I’ve had to find ways to spend my own heats, and found it easier when you bite somebody, or creating a mating mark. Also, when your mate covers you in their own scent, giving off your status as ‘taken, don’t bother’.” Izuku finished, setting his bowl next to your empty one, as he grabbed the bucket and used sheets and utensils.

“There’s a safe path to the river, I’ll give you some privacy, but be near enough to sense if you’re in danger. Since this forest has probably less than ten occupants, you should be safe with us around.” He explained, and you thanked him as you hoisted yourself up with the stick, avoiding to use your hurt ankle.

……….

You didn’t get a clear outside view of Taishiro’s hut, but when you did, you admitted freely, that it was beautiful and well built. As Izuku rambled, he shown you the small beaten path in which led to a clear, cool stream. Of course, he promised you your privacy as he gave you a bar of lard soap, the tunic, and the oil within the jar was to clean your hair. Laying the spare tunic and essentials on the bank of the stream bed, he rushed off, promising you that he’d be near.

You didn’t waste any time, slipping into the cool water, setting your walking stick onto the bank as you sat in the shallow stream. Being from a nomadic lifestyle, you were use to taking baths within rivers and streams with your fellow women, each keeping a lookout for troublesome snoopers. Since the forest was pretty dim, all you really had to worry about, were the smells of strangers. Feeling a sense of security, you relished in having your heated skin flushed down by the slow moving stream, helping matters greatly as you sunk lower, taking off your old wet clothing, setting it aside to lather yourself and it in soap.

When you were done, you were freezing, but cleaned and wet hair out of the way. Newly clothed and leaning on your stick, you shouted out for Izuku, and waited. Immediately, your new friend popped up out of nowhere, smiling as he held a bucket of clean, yet wet clothes.

“Let’s head back, warm up, and dress your wounds!” He smiled, brightly.

………..

Having Izuku around, had helped matters, greatly. Of course, he went home during certain times, refusing to part with his mate for a while, and you were left alone, yet safe, clean, and dry within the hut as you swore that the sweet yet earthy scent was stronger than ever. You guessed that he had came back when you and Izuku were gone, eating quickly, and reorganizing things.

Although grateful, you tried your best to help around within the weeks of your heat. You learned from the smaller rabbit, how to cook, clean more regularly around you, and even garden a little when your heat wasn’t at it’s most terrible state. Of course, you were apologizing heavily to Izuku from the other side of the door, stating that you couldn’t have visitors on some days, and he had understood, promising to be back, later.

While feeling gross and tired, you didn’t dare enter the forest, alone, opting to keep busy, tidying the small hut the best you could, and brushing out your wild hair, neatly braiding it, thanks to your new friend’s teachings. You didn’t see or hear from Tai, but his scent was always around, close and promising to protect, and that itself, comforted you at your most stressful times. Heat being heat, only lasted two weeks, and then the post-smell, had to fade.

By this time, it was safe for you to meet Eijirou, Izuku’s wolf mate, as well as Tai’s other adopted son, Tamaki, the ever elusive snow leopard who had promised to guard the area around the forest as a favor. Although strangers, you knew that they were trustworthy, putting their time and effort in making sure that you were alright, and of course, you couldn’t be thankful enough, making supper for them.

“Now that your heat’s over and ankle’s healing, where will you go?” Eijirou asked, and you felt yourself stilling. You didn’t think about that. Instead, you just smiled, and handed him a bowl of stew, telling him that you think of something. After everyone had left, you cleaned had cleaned up. The last time that you’ve seen the tiger, was when he had rescued you, and already, you couldn’t help but miss the person who was responsible for your safety.

It wasn’t right for you to stay, you admitted. Although he stated that you could find a place in the forest, if you wanted to, you had felt that you’ve already taken too much, especially his home and food. Your ankle was healing, nicely, and a week from now, Izuku had said that you could probably walk, but not run onto it.

“Somethin’ on yer mind?” Taishiro’s voice snapped you out of your thoughts. Quickly turning towards him, you’ve noticed that the man was holding the door open, looking at you quizzically. Seeing your surprised expression, he rolled his eyes.

“Been tryin’ to get yer attention for a bit, now. Mind tellin’ me what’s goin’ through that head of yers?” He asked, shutting the door behind him, as he sat down on a nearby stool. Your ears flickered before laying back.

“Where have you been staying at this whole time?” You questioned. At first, he had a blank look on his face, and then realization hit as his tail swished heavily, ears flickering wildly.

“You…were worried ‘bout me?”

You gave him a deadpanned look.

“Why wouldn’t I be? I’ve been living in your home, using your food- Tai, you’ve looked out for me, a practical stranger, sacrificing your own safety and shelter…do you ever look after yourself?” You couldn’t help but blurt out, but then gently asking the last question. He swallowed thickly, casting his eyes to the side as warmth spread across his cheeks.

“I usually don’t do this for others, but it seems that you’ve shown yer gratitude by helpin’ out as much as ya could. Talked to Izuku, learned that you were really doin’ well, and given that ya’re concerned ‘bout me an’ tryin’ to pay it back, I don’t regret my choice.” He finished, warm amber irises daring to meet yours in his decision. It was your turn to break away from the oddly heated stare.

“I don’t know what’re gonna do, when yer ankle’s healed, but, I’d like to get to know ya, a lil’ more. If…if ya wanna stay.” He said it so quickly, but you heard it loud and clear.

“Tai-” You began, but he hummed.

“If ya wanna live in the forest, we could always build ya a small den, or a hut. Won’t be much, but it’d be somethin’.” He admitted. Without thinking, your body acted on it’s own accord.

“Wai-wah?!” He grunted in surprise as you hugged him tightly, burying your face in his chest as heat rushed to your face as you realized in what you had just done, but you didn’t regret it, especially hearing the sound of his fluttering heartbeat, and his natural scent in which calmed you down.  

“Thank You.” Was all you could say, really. To your small surprise, you felt his arms wrap around you as you heard very, very subtle purring rumble through him.

“Notta problem, Sweetheart.”

…………….

         It didn’t take your ankle long to heal. Being in the forest for the last month, you’ve admitted that not only had time passed, quickly, but you were getting more mentally mature and physically well. Of course, you were confused by your own feelings for the nurturing man, but you didn’t mind the too long hugs, the subtle touches in fixing bandages, and eye contact. You favorite had to be a border of pillows were between the two of you, as you both laid on the big bed, talking about everything and nothing while the fire crackled and lit up the dark room. It was a platonic distance, you refusing him to sleep on the harsh wood, and insisting that a pillow wall could work on the giant bed.

You never really shared one, but you liked his company as he talked about his family, his past, and how he came to adopt Eijirou and Tamaki. You listened intently, ever so curious, learning that he wanted to find a place of his own, like his father had before him, and settle down with a mate and cubs. You were lucky that the pillows had hid you, for you couldn’t help but feel your face begin to redden as he, oblivious to your small plight, went on about how basically everyone was scared of him, or didn’t want to do with him.  

   Your racing heartbeat slowed as he hummed that he was glad that he found his boys, the small wolf furiously protecting the slightly older leopard cub against stray coyotes.

“Winter’s cruel, but so are the lousy parents who leave their pups n’ cubs.” He said icily, a spike of anger seeped into his scent.

You liked him. Even when your ankle healed, he housed you as the two of you made plans to build a small space for you to live in. Fear of rejection had kept your tongue tied into silence. Your inner demons, although small, caged your rational thoughts as time crawled forward slowly. Since you have been able to properly walk, you’ve foraged, gardened, and explored more of the forest, collecting things that could be useful, as well as venturing towards the icy cool river to wash dirty plates and blankets. It was more so of your gratitude, rather than it being an actual chore, that you didn’t mind doing these things.

Taishiro himself, not only prowled to keep the area safe, but he had a lot of times shared time with you, insisting that it was his mess, too, as he scrubbed the soup bowls into the icy water. It being winter, he wasn’t as active in the spring, yet he had wood chopped not only for his small fireplace, but to be turned into logs for a couple of buildings, one was a small house for actual chickens.

You cocked you head.

“Chickens? Where would you get those?”

 As if surprised by your answer, he palmed his forehead.

“I’m kinda dense, Hon. I didn’t tell ya that there was a village nearby, didn’t I? Well, not really near, maybe a couple of day’s journey, but I thought nothin’ of it since I don’t really go there, often.” He admitted guiltily, but you were surprised that a village was within the reach of the tundra. Speaking your thoughts, his tail twitched as his ears perked, seemingly glad that you weren’t upset of his forgetfulness of the place.

“They’re alright, a lil’ skittish. They use clothes an’ food for currency, and every once a great while, I get some trousers or somethin’ from there.” He mulled over the idea, sneaking glances at your weathered tunic.

“Might not be so bad in getting’ some chickens. Fried eggs sound great, right about now.” He murmured, instead.

[ethelphantom]

Like You Could Be Family

And I’m back with new soulmate AUs. This is my Maribat Secret Santa contribution to @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry​. I hope you like it even though it seems my brain took some liberties with the instructions. There shouldn’t be anything you specifically said you didn’t want, though. I think. So yeah. I hope you like it. (It’s Timari, by the way). There’s also a piece of art of one of the scenes that I ended up doing bc I’ve got absolutely no self-control at the end so don’t miss it!

Ao3 | Part 2 | Part 3

“Dick, are you seriously trying to model on the cheese shelf? I swear I’m going to disown you as soon as we get home— hey, miss, do you want a new embarrassing brother? You look like you could actually be family anyway.”

Marinette stared at her wrist. Of all the things she was expecting to read on her skin once she turned 18, she wasn’t— it really was not, well, whatever the hell this was.

She massaged her temples, trying to make sense of the sentence her soulmate would say to her as the first thing after today. She could not believe that she would actually have to see someone modeling on the cheese shelf in a grocery store judging by how it all sounded like.

Yeah… What if she just didn’t go on her trip to the States with Uncle Jagged like she had meant to? After all, the sentence was in English — in all likeliness, she was going to meet her soulmate there. Marinette most certainly was not ready.

Then again, fate had a funny way of making things happen anyway, so it wasn’t like she could just avoid it. Besides, she did want to meet her soulmate, so maybe she just should resign to her fate and go regardless of how much she was not waiting for it to happen.

So. Everyone got to see the first words their soulmate would say to them after their 18th birthday, and as it was, it was Marinette’s 18th birthday. She had earlier that day heard from Uncle Jagged that he was going to take her with him to the States to go around the country and to perhaps meet new people that might want to commission her or possibly sponsor her. It was very sweet of him and Marinette really did want to go with him — after all, she was finally able to travel since there was no longer a threat of akumas because Gabriel Agreste had been arrested; He could just rot in prison for all she cared because of how he had treated Adrien and for endangering the entire City of Lights for so very long — but she really was not ready to meet her soulmate, not so soon.

Especially not if this was how she was supposed to meet them instead of a peaceful, not so strange situation.

But, as all things always went with Uncle Jagged, she gave into him and told her parents she would be gone for the summer at least. Maybe longer, since if she got enough commission work or someone to sponsor her, there was a chance she’s stay. Then there was the fact she might meet her soulmate, which also meant there was a chance she’d stay with them.

Really, she just didn’t know if she would even come home after this or if she’d start a new home there, but she told her parents that too. Her maman and papa just smiled at her and embraced her, telling her that it was fine, that they would support her no matter what. She just needed to tell them where she was going to live so they could visit.

And as she had guessed (and hoped), they were there too on the day she left, stood in front of the aeroport and told her their goodbyes and shed a few tears. They wanted to wait with her for her uncle. After all, she would be travelling with him and Aunt Penny. And Fang, obviously. One must never forget Fang. Oh, yes, she couldn’t leave Adrien out either — Uncle Jagged had insister he come with them since he was her best friend, his aunt had given the go-ahead when they asked after hearing Marinette was going as well, and he really didn’t have a family outside the Graham de Vanilys and Dupain-Chengs.

Her parents hugged her and told her she would always be welcome home, as was Adrien, and that they loved her more than anything. Marinette smiled back and told them she was going to miss them. Then they — along with his aunt Amilie — made sure they hugged Adrien as well and told him he was like the son they never had (well, Amilie did not say that) and that they all loved him, too. Marinette was glad, seeing he now had a family as well.

That’s how their journey began.

Adrien was, as one might have guessed, excited about the trip. He hadn’t gotten out much in the years before this and now he was actually free from his father — no, just Gabriel; That man did not deserve the title of a father — and allowed to actually travel with his best friend and his idol. There was no Gabriel to stop him from actually living. He too had received a soulmark (“I doubt he would. So, your best friend is the soulmate of mine, huh? Wait… that’s weird, I could’ve almost sworn— It’s you??”) a year earlier, on his eighteenth birthday, and as that too was in English, there was  good chance they’d both meet their soulmates on the trip. The average age for meeting one’s soulmate tended to be between ages 10 and 23, after all.

Thank god both of them had oddly specific things on their wrists; it would make recognising their soulmates a whole lot easier.

They ended up visiting many beautiful cities (New York City, Los Angeles, Charlestown, Metropolis, Salt Lake City, St Louis and Portland) before Jagged decided he wanted to show his niece and her best friend his home city. Adrien was excited. Marinette was a little excited, but knowing Jagged, also suspicious. Penny tried her best to convince him out of it, but no. That did not help.

(If you asked Marinette, it was because she was weak when it came to Jagged being actually excited about something, and since it wasn’t messing with any actual schedules, she ended up giving in to him.)

And just like that, they were headed to Gotham.

“Listen up kiddos! I managed to contact my friend whose oldest kids I used to take to different places to have fun whenever I could, and he says he’s got room for us all! How does that sound like to you?” he asked, basically bouncing on the balls of his feet as they were on their way towards the aeroport. He had switched to French to make it easier for them to talk about it — it was a big decision to make, after all. On one hand, that person was Uncle Jagged’s friend, and to both Marinette and Adrien that meant it was unlikely they were going to run into another Gabriel Agreste. On the other hand, in reality they knew nothing about him and all those years spent as superheroes had taught them to be cautious of anything new. New could always be good, but the problem was, new could also mean a bunch of evil butterflies attacking the city, possessing people and torturing absolutely everyone in the city for years.

“Well, Chaton, it’s your call. I’m going to trust Uncle Jagged not to have chosen a serial killer to take us in—” Adrien snorted at that, “—but you’re the one who’s gone though more shittiness from rich people than I have, so yeah. I’m making this your choice. Please don’t feel pressured to say yes.”

Adrien looked thoughtful for a second before nodding. “Yes. I want this. I want to see new people that could maybe prove me wrong about what rich people are like.”

Marinette grinned. “That’s the spirit! Though, Chaton, I have to say, you are a rich person, Jagged is a rich person, Kagami is a rich person. I think you’ve got rich and not horrible people around you as well, and all of them also happen to be close with you. But yeah, I think I get what you mean.”

Adrien punched her in the shoulder lightly, grinning back at her. Marinette almost had to cover her eyes because it looked like he was brighter than the sunshine itself as he beamed.

Jagged seemed ecstatic to find out they wanted to try meeting his friend and spend time with said friend’s children. Penny rolled her eyes fondly at her husbands enthusiasm and excitement, but went along. After all, someone needed to make sure all of them got there alive.

Once they arrived at Gotham, Marinette was surprised to find the first thing they did was not going to whoever Uncle Jagged had said was his friend but to go to a grocery store.

To buy the ingredients to the favourite food of the mysterious friend was apparently the reason why. Marinette hoped the friend’s taste was better than Jagged’s, she could not handle another week of weird smelling, suspicious foods that Jagged wanted (thank heavens for Penny and the fact she had made ordering edible food an art of mastery.)

Marinette sighed, resigning to her fate. She snatched the shopping list from her uncle’s hands and dragged Adrien along before anyone could protest. “Alright, so we gotta get all of this… Could you please go find the vegetables? And actually the rice, too. I’ll text you which vegetables are needed in just a second, okay?”

Upon receiving a positive answer as Adrien nodded and walked off, Marinette went to search for the meat. It turned out to be a task more difficult than she would have liked to admit — the store was rather big and she didn’t even know where to start.

Finally she found her way to the milk products, proud of herself since usually milk products were placed somewhere near the meat. It wasn’t good enough just yet, though, so once she noticed a small group of guys goofing around (This is what it means boys will be boys, she thought, not when they don’t leave a girl alone even after she tells them no). She was just about to ask them if they knew where the meat was when she saw one of them walk to one of the shelves and lie down, propping one leg up as he posed himself to look like he was…

Modeling.

God, did Marinette wish this was not was she thought it was.

Marinette sighed and walked closer to them, watching as one of the shorter ones in the group groaned and buried his face in his hands. “Dick, are you seriously trying to model on the cheese shelf?” he asked. Marinette’s eyes widened but she walked even closer, not sure if she really had heard right. She needed to know whether she’d heard him right. “I swear, I’m going to disown you as soon as we get home—” The man turned around and looked Marinette up and down before putting a smile on his face. Then he walked to her and spoke as though what he was saying was completely normal and not weird at all. “Hey, miss, do you want a new embarrassing brother? You look like you could actually be family anyway.”

The man still lying on the shelf laughed. “You’re right about that, Timmers. Blalck hair and blue eyes, fits the picture. We gotta keep Bruce from adopting her somehow. You don’t happen to have a tragic backstory, kid?”

Marinette was still staring at them in shock, mouth hanging slightly open before she took a quick glance at her wrist. Indeed. She had heard right. Then she looked at the man who had first spoken to her and, summoning willpower and confidence she didn’t even know she had right now, spoke up. “I don’t think disowning him is even necessary to make him my brother, and it seems there’s a chance we might become family regardless of whether this Bruce adopts me or not,” she blurted out, grimacing at her strong accent. She knew she spoke better and with cleared English, but the shock of meeting her soulmate had her relapse to the accent of her natice tongue.

All of the laughter quieted down as though cut off and their smiles fell, all four of them now looking at her like they had seen a ghost. The first to recover was a guy a little taller than her with auburn hair and — were those eyes yellow? — whose smile was probably brighter than what she’d ever seen on Adrien , and well. Adrien was the literal sunshine personified. She had barely even managed to blink before he was standing in front of her, having shoved her soulmate away.

“It’s great to meet you, miss! We were wondering already when we’d get to meet you, if he’d try to hide you from us or if he’d let us meet you right away,” he said laughing and winked. “Turns out, we got to meet you at the same time as he did! I’m Bart!”

With a light tilt of her head, Marinette smiled back at him. “Marinette, it’s lovely to meet you as well.”

The man still lying on the shelf was the second to collect himself (the other two guys who weren’t her soulmate seemed to recover as soon as he got up, but both of them stayed silent). He stood up (god he was tall, she didn’t deserve this. Marinette seriously wished the rest of the family would not be as tall so she wouldn’t need to look up to be able to talk to them easily — she had enough of that with Adrien) and was in front of her with a few graceful strides. He too greeted her with a smile on his face.

“Name’s Richard, though I have to say, please do not call me that. Especially family should call me Dick. And, since you’re apparently the soulmate of Timmy here, welcome to the family. I’m his oldest big brother, and that scowling kid (“I’m not a kid, Grayson!”) over there is our little brother, Damian. There are a whole lot more of us though, but you’ll meet them later (“Not if I can help it she won’t”). Actually. You don’t happen to be free tonight, do you? We’re having dinner with the whole family for a change today, it’d be great to have you there as well.”

“You are aware Father invited his old friend and his companions to the manor today, aren’t you, Grayson?” the scowling kid — Damian, wasn’t he? — asked from behind them, arms crossed over his chest.

“Well, yes, but I strongly doubt Bruce would mind at all if we invited Timmy’s soulmate over as well. His freaking soulmate, Damian. It’s more likely that he will be happy we did so.”

“Er, I’m sorry, but my uncle wants me to be with him, his wife and my best friend today,” Marinette said, hopefully cutting off whatever argument was starting to form between the two. She was still standing in the same place, not completely sure how to act. She had never thought there would be this many people who were important in her soulmate’s life near at once. It was overwhelming — after all, it meant she had to manage to make a good first impression right away.

The last of them, the one who had yet to speak, was still staring at her, though now he no longer looked like he was shocked to see her. No, now he was scowling, glaring, looking like he was examining her. Marinette took a step away from him and closer to her soulmate unconsciously, her eyes never leaving him. Yet another thing years of fighting villains had taught her: do not let your guard down near people that looked even the slightest bit threatening — which this guy definitely look like.

She really wished she didn't need to be alone here.

“Maribug! What are you standing around for?”

Thank heavens for Adrien and his timing.

Adrien threw an arm around her shoulders and leaned forwards a little, whispering “I’m sorry it took so long to get here, my hearing and smell aren’t as good when in this form. Did they try to do anything to you?” in French.

She found it sweet that once he’d understood why flirting with her so much was not okay, he’d researched sexual harassment thoroughtly and now was quick to act and make sure she was okay if things ever looked like there was even the slightest chance someone was harassing her, just like she did with him and his fangirls (especially Lila.) Dear god did she love her best friend.

“No, there’s no problem. Thanks Chaton”, she replied, shaking her head. Adrien squeezed her lightly before he let go, now apparently having a staredown with the kind of scary guy. Marinette let out a quiet laugh before tugging him by the hand to look the other way, to her soulmate. “Adrien, I’d like you to meet my soulmate,” she said, easily switching back to English. That seemed to finally shake him — she recalled Dick calling him Timmy and Timmers, so his name was probably Tim — out of his trance. He shook his head and stretched his hand out to Adrien.

“Hi. I think I might’ve seen you before somewhere. I’m Tim, her soulmate,” he said, smiling at the two of them.

“I’m Adrien, her best friend. You better take good care of her.”

“Adrien!”

Tim just laughed. “It’s fine, I suppose mine will try to have that conversation with you later as well. I’m sorry, I didn’t introduce myself to you earlier either. Like said, I’m Tim Drake, it’s wonderful to meet you. I love your outfit, is it an MDC?”

Okay, wow. He recognised her outfit as an MDC — which, of course, was her own brand so it just meant she’d made her clothes herself, but it wasn’t like she had made her identity public information yet anyway. This guy was a keeper. “Ah, yes, it is! How did you know?”

Now that he had made it clear he knew who MDC was, she started examining his outfit for anything familiar — of, wait, his shirt. She’d made it as a commission as few years back. She was also pretty sure that the hoodie Bart was sporting was from her autumn line based on superheroes from last year.

Adrien shot her a knowing look and a smirk which had her want to just flip him off before he turned to look at Bart who was making his way to Adrien.

“The signature on the hem kind of revealed it,” Tim replied.

Marinette arched an eyebrow. “But it’s almost invisible. It couldn't be that easy.”

“I know how to look for details. I love MDC by the way, I have a few of her designs as well.”

“I noticed. The shirt is hers, isn’t it?”

“Yeah! I commissioned it from her a while… back…” Tim’s voice trailed off. “...how exactly did you realise it was hers? I know for a fact the signature is hidden and on the flip side, so that cannot be it.”

It seemed Adrien had been listening to their conversation instead of talking with Bart as it didn’t take him even a second to chime in. “Yeah, that’s because she made it. Oh, and I might look familiar because I tend to model most of MDC’s — Marinette’s — designs for men for her website. If you like MDC and are that familiar with her work, that’s probably were you’d know me.”

“Well, there goes that secret. Hi, I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng, better known as MDC. I’m glad to hear you like my designs.”

“Wait. Timmers, you got MDC as your soulmate? That is so unfair,” Dick said, leaning against Tim’s shoulder.

Tim didn’t even grace that with a reply. He was — once again — staring at Marinette, his mouth hanging open. It was a miracle he’d even managed to shove Dick away. Marinette just smiled sheepishly and shrugged, letting her gaze wander to the side and the suddenly very interesting floor.

The man who still had said nothing walked to them, placed a finger under Tim’s chin and closed it. “He’s just a big fan — as is a big portion of their family, apparently — couldn’t stop talking about how ‘amazing it was that MDC accepted his commission’ at all for weeks at the time. Hi, I’m Conner, also one of his best friends. You better treat him well, or…”

“Yeah, that’s enough, Kon, let’s not threaten her too much so she won’t run away. I think he’d probably like to keep her,” Dick snorted. “You can give her the shovel talk once they start dating — if they start dating, that is.”

Marinette didn’ t know what to say, so she just kept silent and smiled, instead opting to listen to Adrien talking with Bart next to her. It helped her ground a little, knowing her best friend was right there with her.

“Nah, sure I love her, but just platonically. She’s my best friend, like a sister to me, so he doesn’t need to worry about me coming in between them. Well, unless he hurts her, that is.”

In front of her, Conner stopped talking with Dick and turned to look at the two. Tim did the same. Marinette soon understood why, as well.

“I doubt he would,” Bart replied, an obvious smile echoing in his voice. “So, your best friend is the soulmate of mine, huh?” Marinette’s smile fell and she turned to look at her best friend, who seemed to recognise the far too familiar words coming out of Bart’s mouth as well. Bart was looking at his wrist, now mumbling. “Wait… that’s weird, I could’ve almost sworn—” Then his gaze snapped to Adrien. “It’s you??”

“Oh mon dieu.”

“Oh mon dieu vraiment.”

With a quick glance, it seemed that everyone was now looking at Adrien and Bart. There was a smile growing on both their faces, though it was there far faster on Bart’s definitely. Grinning, Adrien turned to Marinette.

He grabbed her by the shoulders and started speaking in rapid-fire French. Understandable, it was much easier to both of them to deal with feelings in. “I cannot believe this! We both got to meet our soulmates on this trip, almost at the same time, and in Gotham of all places! I swear this was the last place I would have expected to find them at and I am so happy about this and just look at him he’s so adorable and precious I can’t even! I have known him for all of three minutes but I already love him. Oh my god, Jagged is not going to believe this—”

“Oh my god, Uncle Jagged. And I forgot the meat. We have to hurry, we can’t let him and Penny and his friend wait for us too long. Please tell me you didn’t forget anything I asked you to find.” Thankfully, Adrien shook his head.

Of course she had forgotten something. Now, it meant that she was starting to panic. “I am so very sorry, but I forgot that I was supposed to find ingredients for my uncle and I have to go now. I’m so sorry. We’ll still be in Gotham for some time, maybe I’ll run into you later again? Bye!” And with that, she dragged Adrien with her, leaving both her and Adrien’s soulmates behind. Adrien just waved to them before running beside her.

She left them behind having completely forgotten about asking for any means to contact any of them.

This she, obviously, only realised when she was in the car with Uncle Jagged, Aunt Penny and Adrien, already on their way to Jagged’s friend.

“I cannot believe I forgot to ask for his number or anything. I had to clear my inbox a while back, too, so it’s going to take me ages to find even his email address,” she moaned and buried her face in her hands. Adrien just patted her head, trying to comfort her. Yeah, that’s right, she had dragged Adrien away from his soulmate as well. That made her even worse.

“Wait, who are you talking about, kid? Whose number did you forget to ask? A potential new client?” Jagged asked, confused about what his niece was on about.

Marinette lifted her head for a moment to answer him. There were tear streaks on her face, she realised, when the air was a little too cool at only some places on her cheeks and hands. “No, my soulmate’s. I finally met him but then I realised I was late and Adrien met his soulmate as well but I just dragged him away too and oh god I’m such a horrible friend.” Then she let her head fall into her hands again.

“You met your soulmates? In Gotham?” Jagged gasped. “I’m so happy you met them here.”

“Jagged, you do realise this is Gotham, one of the most crime-ridden cities in the world, right?”

“But Penny, I’m sure these kiddos’ soulmates aren’t bad! They are so pure, not even fate would be so cruel! Anyway, kid, you should have stayed with him or asked him to join us! There’s nothing as rock and roll as meeting your soulmate! I would have been fine with waiting for you so you could get his number.”

“His brother actually asked me to come over to his place and have a dinner with his family. I said no because I was supposed to come with you to your friend’s place.”

“You should’ve said yes, Mari! I could have told Bruce you weren’t able to come ‘cuz you met your soulmate and he would’ve been okay with it!”

“What’s done is done, Uncle Jagged. Can we forget about this now? I want to wallow in self-pity.”

Adrien just shook his head and took her hands to his. “No, and you’re not a bad friend, Buginette. I know how you get like when things start becoming hectic, but one, I’m already used to it, and two, maybe we’ll see him again. He lives here and he told you his name, didn’t he? And you told him yours? You can probably try to find him tomorrow. I’m sure you will. And, once you find him, I’ll get to mine as well because he said they were best friends. There’s really nothing to worry about, Mari.”

“You’re way too good for me. I don’t deserve you.”

“Yes you do. Now take this tissue, dry your face and we can go inside.”

Oh. They’d already arrived at the manor Jagged’s friend lived in. Marinette took the tissue Adrien handed her, wiped the tears off her face and then stepped out of the car, Adrien following right behind her. There was a man with a white streak in his otherwise black hair waiting at the door, a cigar in his hands.

“Hi Jagged. B said you were coming soon. Get in. It’s a little chaotic right now, babybird apparently met his soulmate and then lost her just about immediately, so he also invited his friends over,” the man said, drawing a breath out of his cigar. It seemed he recognised Jagged immediately, which was probably a good sign.

“Seems like we’er not the only ones with soulmate problems today,” Adrien whispered to her. Marinette just nodded. While she wasn’t one to take joy in others’ problems, she was kind of a little glad to hear that they weren’t the only ones who had to suffer with them right now.

“Well, hello Jay-lad, you’re alive again!” Jagged exclaimed as though being alive again was totally normal and squeezed the man. What the hell. When Marinette looked at Penny, hoping for some sort of an explanation for this, she just shrugged. “Great to see you’ve grown into a big boy now. These are Marinette and Adrien, my niece and her best friend. Oh, and Penny, my wife.”

“Oh give it a rest, won’t you, I wasn’t actually that small back then either. Where’s Fang?”

“Left him in my brother’s care.”

“The one that works at Arkham?”

“That one. He said he’s gonna take him with him to work today.”

“Great, let’s hope he bites Joker’s head or at least hand off. But yeah, good to see you’ve gotten yourself a family now so you don’t need to borrow me or Dick to have children anymore. Now, get in, it’s not too warm a night.” Once Adrien and Marinette got near him, he nodded as greeting. “I’m Jason, B’s second son and the kid Jagged used to borrow every now and then when he wanted to take a kid to concerts or the amusement park or somethin’.”

Adrien snorted next to Marinette who just chuckled. “Sounds like something Uncle Jagged would totally do. He basically adopted me as his niece after I designed him an atrocious pair of glasses,” Marinette laughed. “And Adrien got in because his father is an ass, and my family has joint custody of him with his aunt, which then led to Jagged wanting to take him with us as well.”

“Of course he did. Only Jagged and B would, I swear. Only them.”

They followed Jason inside (Jagged had already taken the liberty to just march in like he owned the place and announce he was back in Gotham, dragging Penny with him), marvelling at how gorgeous and beautiful everything looked. Even Adrien, who had grown up in a similar house, did, perhaps because while this manor was as big (if not far bigger) and just about as decorated as the Agreste Mansion had been, this was also warm and felt like home, like someone actually lived there instead of just… occupying the space. It was amazing.

A broad-shouldered man walked to them to welcome them in. It was probably B (Bruce? Marinette was pretty sure that was what Jagged had called him), based on how Jason greeted him, punching him lightly in the shoulder while he just ruffled Jason’s hair.

“It’s wonderful to meet the family Jagged speaks so fondly of finally. I’m Bruce Wayne. Come inside, I’d like you two to meet my children,” he said, smiling warmly at the two of them. Adrien was a little wary, but followed him anyway, never leaving Marinette’s side and his hand in hers. It wasn’t surprising and Marinette didn’t judge him for it — after all, as far as Adrien was aware, this man could be just like Gabriel (even if by all likelihood he wasn’t).

Jason snorted behind them. “He speaks of his children like there are only a handful of us instead of like, a million, like there in reality are. He’s a serial adopter, I swear. Be careful or he adopts the both of you — Blondie Locks sounds like he has a tragic backstory, and you have at the very least the blue eyes and black hair.”

Marinette rolled her eyes, somewhat ready to meet new people. But, once they actually got to the living room, they weren’t met with a bunch of unfamiliar faces, no. Instead, Marinette immediately recognised four of them, one of which was her soulmate.

How else. Fate had a funny way of doing things, making sure you couldn't avoid your soulmate.

Not that she wasn’t glad about it for this once.

Bart looked up and basically appeared next to Adrien — how fast was he anyway? — who then immediately hugged him. Well. If Bart was here and he was indeed every bit the precious sunshine he seemed to be and Adrien claimed he was, Marinette could safely leave Adrien to him. She squeezed Adrien’s hand once more before making her way towards Tim who met her halfway.

She smiled sheepishly at him. “Sorry, I kind of tend to get stuck in my head when things start to get hectic and forgot to ask you for your contact information,” she chuckled, tilting her head.

Tim just smiled at her, arching an eyebrow. “Well, we got to meet this soon anyway, so I think I can forgive you that this once.”

“Hey!”

He just laughed at her and crossed his arms over his chest. “Besides, you told me you were MDC — I would have been able to get in contact with you rather easily,” he reminded her.

Oh yeah. That too.

“It’s wonderful to meet you again, Tim. I can’t wait to get to know you better.”

“You took the words right out of my mouth, Marinette. I’m glad I got to meet you, soulmate.”

Marinette opened her arms slightly, and once Tim nodded and she got the go-ahead, she hugged him tight. Glancing at her wrist and the odd words written on it, the corners of her lips quirked upwards.

Perhaps, perhaps it wasn’t that bad to have “Dick, are you seriously trying to model on the cheese shelf? I swear I’m going to disown you as soon as we get home— hey, miss, do you want a new embarrassing brother? You look like you could actually be family anyway.” written on her body permanently.

After all, those words led her to the young man called Tim she could already tell was a wonderful person, and later on, Marinette couldn't have been happier to call him her beloved soulmate.

(click for better quality)

_____

@kris-pines04​ @thethirdwheelfriend​ @daminett4life​

[chillyravenart]

since people were asking u for ur opinions, what is ur opinion on androw and elissa farman? im so conflicted over them both bc i love rhaena but at the same time, at least in elissas case i kinda see why she did what she did :// grrm is truly great with morally grey characters

Let me start by saying, I ADORE Rhaena Targaryen with every fibre of my being. I love that badass, she never put a foot wrong in her life and oh how I wish her life could have been easier on her... but alas, George loves kicking you when you’re down lmao. If I'm going to be completely honest, the Farmans really f*cked Rhaena over in the long run lmao but I shall try and explore a little bit deeper into Rhaena’s relationships with both of them: Androw the neglected husband and Elissa, the adventurous lover. It’s fairly simple to examine both their motives, they did what they did because of personal ambition as well as revenge, but as we know, it wasn’t as straightforward as that. I shall add a cut below because this post might be long and rambling as usual, so I beg forgiveness in advance!

I will preface this however by saying that I’m really glad Rhaena was able to find love with Elissa Farman after a period of turmoil and unhappiness in her life. Androw unfortunately was just a cover, and younger than Rhaena too so it’s understandable that he may have been entranced and besotted with the idea of marrying a Targaryen princess as reputable as Rhaena. Androw was unassuming and wasn’t the typical martial lord like his father or brother,

at his own father’s court there were those who scorned him as “half a girl” himself, for he was soft of speech and gentle of nature...

We all know the type of person Rhaena was however, she was firm and stern, had lost her brother/husband Aegon to Maegor, been married to Maegor and  had her daughters taken from her, had escaped him and had generally endured a great deal up until then.

Later, when asked why she had chosen such an unpromising spouse, Rhaena Targaryen replied, “He was kind to me.”

It’s completely understandable why Rhaena should seek comfort and solace outside of the royal court and King’s Landing in general. Similarly, Rhaena had always found the company of her female companions much more desirable and is largely implied to lesbian-coded. She had enjoyed the company of Melony Piper and Samantha Stokeworth as a girl, and found the same affinity for Elissa.

“The queen found her true love on Fair Isle,” Maester Smike wrote to the Citadel, “not with Androw, but with his sister, Lady Elissa.”

Elissa on the other hand was vivacious and outgoing, fond of dogs, horses, and sailing. She dreamed of sailing beyond the Sunset Sea and had ended both her betrothals too. Rhaena was similar in spirit, she too had been fond of animals and enjoyed flying her dragon Dreamfyre.

In Rhaena Targaryen, however, she found a like-minded companion, and in her the queen found a new confidant.

Going back to Androw, he was never really included amongst Rhaena’s circle, despite being her husband as stated in Fire and Blood

Androw Farman, Rhaena’s new husband, was admitted to their circle from time to time, but never so often as to be taken for a fifth head. Most tellingly, Queen Rhaena never took him flying with her on the back of her dragon, Dreamfyre, an adventure she shared frequently with the ladies Elissa, Alayne, and Sam...

I’m going to try and condense the next few years as concisely as possible for fear of rambling too much, but in the long run, Androw was never taken seriously as Rhaena’s husband and was ridiculed by lords and ladies alike. People doubted the fact that his marriage to Rhaena had been consummated at all. Back on Dragonstone, 

His wife was still a queen, but no one mistook Androw for a king, or even a lord consort.

Meanwhile, Rhaena held her court at Dragonstone as the Queen in the East and remained in the company of her own companions, as well as new ones from the surrounding regions. Her cousin Lianna Velaryon soon became a favourite too, and her story soon became intertwined with the fall of Androw Farman (pun intended lmao) but let’s focus on Elissa for a while.

Lady Elissa was no happier on Dragonstone than Aerea herself, however; she missed her wide western seas and spoke often of returning to them.

Elissa, true to spirit, wasn’t going to sit around at court her whole life, and desired adventure and travel as she always had done.

Denied any part of the incomes of Fair Isle by her brother Lord Franklyn, Elissa asked the Dowager Queen for gold sufficient to build a new ship in the shipyards of Driftmark, a large, swift vessel meant to sail the Sunset Sea. Rhaena denied her request. “I could not bear for you to leave me,” she said, but Lady Elissa heard only, “No.”

Already, the cracks were appearing and the discord was sowed. Elissa took her leave of Rhaena, 

She had heard the sea calling, she told Queen Rhaena; it was time for her to take her leave. Never one to make a show of her emotions, the Queen in the East received the news stone-faced. “I have asked you to stay,” she said. “I will not beg. If you would go, go.”

Rhaena was proud but I cannot deny that losing her lover would have been an immense blow to her, especially since her life of privacy and companionship was about to be taken apart at the seams in the aftermath of Elissa’s departure. This is when the dragon eggs went missing, and it became very clear that Elissa had made off with them to fund her voyage.

If this betrayal by one she had loved wounded Rhaena Targaryen she hid it well, but there was no hiding her fury...

This would have been a huge betrayal for Rhaena. She had placed her trust and love with someone who had clearly desired a different path, which is fine, but to have that paired with the theft of a priceless and potentially dangerous object would have been an added blow. Dragon eggs were strictly a Targaryen possession, something personal and almost sacred to the them. They had been coveted by Lyman Lannister during her stay with him at Casterly Rock, and despite his support and the refuge he had given her, dragon eggs were off the cards. Notwithstanding the fact that the theft by someone Rhaena had loved and the potential for those eggs to reach the wrong hands... This situation only made the relationship between Rhaena and Androw worse.

She even went so far as to summon her husband, Androw Farman, demanding to know if he had been complicit in his sister’s crime. His denials only goaded her to more rage, until their shouts could be heard echoing through the halls of Dragonstone.

Androw himself was affected by his sister’s departure, not to mention the fact that Rhaena’s fury made him a culprit in her eyes too.

Androw Farman’s discontent on Dragonstone only grew worse after his sister’s departure. Lady Elissa had been his closest friend, mayhaps his only friend, Culiper observed, and despite his tearful denials, Rhaena found it hard to accept that he had played no role in the matter of her dragon eggs.

Their relationship deteriorated further and further at this point. When Rhaena meant to fly to Storm’s End, Androw was excluded from the trip.

As her husband, he said, his place was at Rhaena’s side, to give her comfort. The queen had refused him, however, and not gently. A loud argument had preceded her departure, and Her Grace was heard to say, “The wrong Farman ran away.” Her marriage, never passionate, had become a mummer’s farce by 54 AC. “And not an entertaining one,” Lady Alayne Royce observed.

Again after Elissa’s departure, Rhaena disassociated from Androw further, particularly when it came to dealing with the matter of the stolen eggs. She clearly did not want him around, nor did she care for his input.

When Rhaena flew to King’s Landing to inform King Jaehaerys of the theft, Androw had offered to accompany her. His wife refused him scornfully. “What would that serve? What could you possibly do but fall off the dragon?”

When her mother, Queen Alyssa died in childbed, Rhaena’s fury was famously unleashed upon Rogar Baratheon (it’s what he deserved too lmao). 

By the time Rhaena returned from her mother’s deathbed, he was well past any desire to comfort her. Sullen and cold, he sat silent at meals and avoided the queen’s company elsewise. If Rhaena Targaryen was troubled by his sulks, she gave little sign of it. She found consolation in her ladies instead, in old friends like Samantha Stokeworth and Alayne Royce, and newer companions like her cousin Lianna Velaryon, Lord Staunton’s pretty daughter Cassella, and young Septa Maryam.

Androw at this point, began concocting his revenge and the mysterious “sickness” that took Rhaena’s companions proved to be poison. Alayne Royce, Septa Maryam and even Samantha Stokeworth all died in quick succession leaving Rhaena bereft. Lianna Velaryon, Rhaena’s cousin also perished in Rhaena’s arms as she wept bitterly.

“You weep for her,” Androw Farman said when he saw the tears on his wife’s face, “but would you weep for me?” His words woke a fury in the queen. Lashing him across the face, Rhaena commanded him to leave her, declaring that she wanted to be alone. “You shall be,” Androw said. “She was the last of them.”

When it was discovered that poison was the reason behind all the deaths, Rhaena realised who the culprit was and had her men search for Androw.

He made no attempt to deny the poisonings. Instead he boasted. “I brought them cups of wine, and they drank. They thanked me, and they drank. Why not? A cupbearer, a serving man, that’s how they saw me. Androw the sweet. Androw the jape. What could I do, but fall off the dragon? Well, I could have done a lot of things. I could have been a lord. I could have made laws and been wise and given you counsel. I could have killed your enemies, as easily as I killed your friends. I could have given you children.”

His motives were very clear and to a degree, understandable, but seriously, what a PUNK move. tired of being ridiculed and ignored, Androw had taken his fury out on Rhaena’s friend instead of confronting her or dealing with her directly and that, in my eyes, is a bitch move indeed. I can totally see his side in this, but Rhaena had faced so much adversity in her life, the loss of her daughter Aerea, her mother, her lover had just culminated into a deep pit of heartbreak and Androw’s “revenge” was just the cherry on top. When Rhaena commanded his execution, Androw took matters into his own hands one last time.

And so saying, he slashed ineffectually at the nearest man, backed to the window behind him, and leapt out. His flight was a short one: downward, to his death. Afterward Rhaena Targaryen had his body hacked to pieces and fed to her dragons.

I mean, it’s what he deserved. 

The remainder of Rhaena’s life ended up being a lonely affair. Losing everyone she loved, particularly Aerea was the last straw for her I guess, and she withdrew from the public eye even further, and left Dragonstone too.

It was a melancholy time. Dragonstone was still hers if she wanted it, Jaehaerys told his sister, but Rhaena refused that as well. “There is nothing there for me now but grief and ghosts.”

It just makes me so heartbroken for her. I’m not going to pull a PooR BaBy a la Tumblr and call her a tragic and downtrodden woman in the conventional sense lol but her life was a very tough one, and would have broken a weaker person. Rhaena Targaryen was STRONG. As she said so herself, she was much like Visenya and doesn’t need our pity, but there’s no denying that Rhaena really got the short end of the stick. She absolutely did not deserve those betrayals. You’re absolutely right in calling Elissa and Androw grey characters, which they are in various degrees. I think they create the conflict and heartbreak very well in the life of Rhaena Targaryen, love, loss blood and betrayal all woven in expertly by George as always. I really wish Rhaena could have found love and peace with Elissa, and lived out her life amongst her beloved friends but alas, that was not to be. Anyway, these were my opinions on both Elissa and Androw, I hope this answer was somewhat helpful!